Can SEO Be Future Proofed?

SEO marketing has been a mainstay of Internet marketing ever since it made the transition from an IT function to be the domain of marketers. Over the years the main consistency has been that SEO is ever changing. Google and other search engines do their programing and then crafty marketers figure out how to game the system and then Google strikes back and changes the rules starting the game over. Many marketers, myself included, are starting to get the hint Google has been hitting us over the head with time and again and that is: don’t try to cheat the system, publish good content that user will make use of. The questions still remains; “How to Future Proof SEO?”

This past week I attended a webinar put on by Nate Dame, the CEO and Founder of SEOPerks.com, and he addresses the topic of future proofing SEO. It was a good seminar with a lot of great takeaways. I want to share a few of them with you that I found the most interesting.

One of the first things he covered is that SEO is now a full part of a good digital marketing program. All the parts of the machine like Content, Social Media, Demand and all the rest need to work in unison and SEO is part of that machine. I like that concept and know from personal experience that not having all the parts of the machine working together make SEO almost impossible–or at least difficult and takes all the fun out of the work.

One of Nate’s key points was “Don’t Chase What Works”. I know this sounds crazy and I thought so to when he said it. However, he went on to explain that we should not spend time on the new fads or way to game the system, instead stick with what works– publishing good deep content that is of value to users among others. Again he is saying it is not worth it to try to cheat the system. My dad always taught me that “If a job is worth doing, do it right the first time.”

Another point he hit on was “One-Page SEO”. This seems so simple. I cannot understand why people still want to stuff keywords on the backend of a site on every page, even if the page in question is not about all of it. I know I still have clients that want a whole laundry list of keywords on every page and don’t want to listen to the idea of make the SEO for each page specific to that page and not the site in general. It was nice to hear a professional talking about the right way to do things.

One thing that I learned that I did not know before was about Google Rank-Modifying Spam Patent. In a nutshell what this means is Google will randomly rank a website that has undergone SEO changes for a period of time to keep marketers on their toes and to avoid them coming up with new ways to game the system. The big impact that this has for me as a marketer is I need to let website owners what to expect when we start working on a website and making changes so they don’t freak out every day with the ranking changes right up front. (To learn more about it here is a link to a good article by Bill Slawski of SEO By The Sea. http://www.seobythesea.com/2012/08/google-rank-modifying-spammers-patent/)

All in all it was a great webinar that I learned a lot from and will be looking for the next one to learn from.

http://www.seoperks.com/about

http://www.seoperks.com

http://www.seobythesea.com/2012/08/google-rank-modifying-spammers-patent/

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Ethics and Law in Global Marketing

Ethics and business have gone hand in hand for as long as business had been around. They have not always gotten along and often time’s one hand does not know what the other one is doing, but in the end they always end up facing each other. I once found myself in an ethical situation in business. I was working as a mortgage broker and was approached by a client to do a mortgage for them on a vacation home. It was a client I had done several loans for and the property purchase price was 1.5 million dollars. I stood to make a lot of money on the loan and to be honest; at the time I needed a good payday. The problem was I knew they could not afford the property, so I had to talk to them and let them know. As I was talking to them they asked about a special loan program that let a borrower state their income and assets and wanted to use that loan program. I knew the program was not meant to help people get into homes that they could not afford and by doing what they asked of me would work but would still not be right, but I needed that payday. So without having to think about it at all I told them again I could not do the loan for them, as it was not ethical. I am sure they got another loan office to do the loan for them and that’s their prerogative. All I needed to know was that I did what I felt was right and found another way to get the money I needed.

In researching business practices in China for a video game company that is looking to release a video game in that country, I wanted to pay attention to how business is done in that country to ensure the project had no major issues and so I was looking into what issues with the product we might encounter. I found that the Chinese government has put a ban on gaming consoles. This took me by surprise, as China is a lucrative market for video games. In researching the issue I found that PC and mobile gaming are strong and health markets. Based on the research, the ban on consoles in China pose not issue for this project.

China has a long and dirty reputation as far as business goes as well as working with other countries. It does appear that China is working to improve that, however tariff and import fees and taxes are still very high. There are some less than savory business practices that could pose issues if any of the work was being done in China, however with this project, the game is being produced in America and all we will be doing is selling the game on the Android and IOS platforms that have most of the bugs worked out so we get the luxury of dodging that bullet. In general, the target market is not concerned with such issues and only cares about whether or not the game is fun.

Chinese laws concerning piracy are a lot different than in the US and I am sure that causes many businesses real issues. One of the strengths of this game in regards to this issue is that the game is free to download and play the regular version. Free is hard to compete with so that is not a worry, however the question arises of will gamers in China make the In game purchase as that is how the game makes money? In an article published on the Huffing post website I found a quote by Tian Lipu, head of China’s State Intellectual Property Office saying “China is the world’s largest payer for patent rights, for trademark rights, for royalties, and one of the largest for buying real software, We pay the most. People rarely talk about this, but it really is a fact. Our government offices, our banks, our insurance companies, our firms … the software is all real.” I am sure some people will find ways to get the paid for assets in the game with out paying for them and many players will only play the free version, however many other consumers will pay for the items and it does seem the people of China are willing to pay for what they use so I feel the outlook in still good and the piracy issue will only be an issue if we let it. That being said, with all the legal issues and tariffs and other potential issues I will be advising that local legal counsel to be consulted. A well known business advisor in media in China is also consulting on the project for us so we have some very good local help on the ground watching out for us.

With this video game project it has several advantages over other business seeking to do business in China that I have touched on. I feel fortunate that this is the case as conducting business in anther country can be tricky. It really helps that the product is in a popular and growing category in China making it a good business decision to enter this space and that makes all the difference in the world.

Ben Balnchard, (2012) Posted on The Huffington Post, “China’s Copyright Piracy Problem Isn’t As Big As Media Makes It, Says China” (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/11/china-copyright-piracy_n_2112319.html)

My Marketing Plan To Take The Solar Games To China

Cultural Context, Technology, and Internet Marketing

A few years ago I had the opportunity to go on a cruise to the Yucatan Peninsula. One of the stops on the trip was Roatan Honduras, which is on a small but beautiful island. We had no plans made ahead of time and as we got of the boat we met a taxi driver that said she would take us on a tour of the island. It sounded fun so off we went. We visited places like the local mission, a homemade arts and crafts shopping center and we went past the local elementary where the kids were more interested in pick pocketing tourists than actually going to school. We saw the really amazing beaches and had lunch at our guide’s favorite place to eat. We saw the home of the richest person on the island and even stopped off at the guides home to drop off the leftovers from lunch for her kids. We got to experience the touristy stuff as well as the real life local life –our guide shared her life with us and we saw how they lived and for the most part it was a poor, yet happy people. It was an educational and fun time.

One of the things that caught my eye as we spent time among the people of Roatan was how many of them had cell phones. We asked our guide about this and she let us know that cell phones were a big part of life for the people from adults to kids, as it was really the only affordable way they had to access the Internet. Only the wealthy (of which they were few) on the island could afford a computer and the Internet. The locals used cell phones from everything from talking with friends and family to shopping online to get better prices than local to doing business with tourists. In an article published on FairWindsPartners.com it estimates that in 2007 roughly 2.7 billion people had mobile devices. So in other words that is once mobile device per every 2.5 people. “According to Eric Schmidt, Chief Executive of Google, “the biggest growth areas are clearly going to be in the mobile space.” As a leader in the Internet, Google’s focus on the mobile space is indicative of what is to come.” It seems quite clear that mobile media is on the rise and is used more than we as Americans would ever think, especially in poorer countries.

Internet marketing for years has been focused on desktop users (people in front of a computer accessing the web). For years, that was the only way to access Internet content. Mobile technology has made it more possible to access the web almost anywhere one goes. In some cases like Honduras, mobile Internet access is the only real affordable means of web activity. In other areas of the world like Japan, mobile usage is high as many people spend less time at home or with access to computers and mobile is more convenient. No matter the reason, mobile web access is on the rise and is expected to keep going and become the most common method of web access.

As an American, I grew up in the cyber world as a desktop user. That’s where I learned to research, play games and enjoy entertainment. Still to this day I prefer certain activities on a desktop because that’s what I know. For other things, like social media, I use more on my smartphone and like it better than on a desktop. It all comes down to experience and what device I learned the activity on. Culturally this is the same wherever you go. As a marketer you need to understand this and know how the target audience was brought up online. The US is behind the times and needs to catch up when it comes to mobile online usage, but it’s hard to teach an old dog new trick.

Due to the fact that each country has their own unique cyber upbringing based on accessibility, affordability and culture, we find that each market has different needs and expectations for mobile usage and marketing. As an example, I live in Salt Lake City, Utah. I drive my car anywhere I need to go and because of that I don’t use a mobile device while I am driving. There are not a lot of location based marketing methods in use in my area because of the fact we drive everywhere. I have found that the little location based marketing I receive as I drive around is not helpful and annoying as I am trying to drive and don’t have time to look at my phone. Now let’s look at Japan, where I have spent some time. Trains and bikes are the main method of transportation and because of this on the go Internet usage is high, making location-based services in high demand.

More and more mobile is taking over the web and as marketers; it is our job to figure out the best way to get the message to our audiences, not the method we like best. As mobile marketing is one the rise, it is up to each one of use to learn as much as we can about our target audience and how they like to receive information. If you ask me, there is not one right answer anymore, we need to make use of every tool we can, especially the one consumer are using. Its not about us, its about the user. So give them what they want, it’s just easier that way.

FairWinds Partners (October 25, 2007) “Perspective: Mobile” Volume 2 Issue 7 published at Fairwindspartners.com (http://www.fairwindspartners.com/our-resources/perspectives/mobile-web/)

What Research Style Works Best For You?

Sometimes it just all becomes too much and you feel like you’re drowning. That was me this past Monday and that was the Executive Producer that I am working with on The Solar Games day today. When trying to get a new project off the ground everything needs to be done and there is never enough time or resources to go around. Research is just a part of the work that needs to be done and if you don’t understand the value of the research then it becomes hard to put it on the list of things to be done.

The Solar Games it is a start up company so for the most part we are working from the ground up. One of the challenges that we face right now is determining the value of the company before a game is actually made. One of the big questions that we have (as well as some potential backers that are looking at this project) is market size and expected revenue. To add to the challenge of finding answers to these two questions, we have to also consider the impact side of this project and how that will affect in-game purchases for this game.

For research into market size and expected revenue we will be looking at secondary research and using data already available. The big time consuming part of this is collecting the data from various sources examining it and turning it into something usable. For this research I feel we need to use both Qualitative and Quantitative research. For data on market size we will want to look at a large and random sample to get an idea of the size and that is Quantitative research. Quantitative research can also be used to look at what the average spend for game users in current games is. However to get an understanding of how the social impact of the game will affect revenue we are going to want to look at open-ended responses, interview and observation to identify patterns and trends is Qualitative research. To research more into the effects of the social impact of the game and how it will affect in-game purchase I think we are going to need to delve into the field or primary research. I am thinking about using a survey of gamers that are into “Games for Change” type games might be a good way to conduct that research.

Some of the Questions we are going to need to consider are those that fall under Qualitative research:

– Number and demographics of mobile and console game players?
– Percentage of game players that spend money in-game for freemium style games?
– What types of game elements are being purchased in-game?
– Growth of mobile and console device sales?

There is a lot to cover here so any thoughts are more than welcome.

So Which SEO Tool Should I Use?

Recently I found that I was in need of a new socket wrench. I thought I was in for a good day because I got to go the hardware store and get a new one and that’s always fun right? As I arrived in the tool section to my surprise there were a ton of wrenches to choose from–all shapes, sizes and functions. I was not expecting to have to have so many options when all I wanted was a simple wrench. At any rate, I left with anything but a simple one. SEO tools are a lot like this; there are so many tools available to choose from that sometimes it is harder to choose the tool than it is to do the job. Sometimes we use SEO tools to improve our own efforts and sometimes we use them to see what the other guys are up to.

In starting with this new project with The Solar Games I don’t have the company history to work from, so it is important to take a look at my competition so that I can make sure my work is on the same level and learn from them what not to do so I don’t have to go through the same growing pains they did. The site I selected to use for this exercise is that of Need for Speed, another social race game. In order to get this spying operation underway I first needed to select my tools. So let’s get down to it and go through the highlights of my research.

I have been a fan of Moz.com for a while now and have used many of their tools, so let’s start the list off with their Open Site Explorer. This tool has some features that you can use for free and some that come at a price. From the free features that I tried out I liked the Compare Link Metrics tab. This tool allows one to view data from several websites side by side. I found this helpful to be able to compare and see what website to borrow ideas from. I also liked the new Beta tool with the “Just Discovered” tool that shows you what websites are new on the block so you can compare that information with the old pro’s.

In setting up a new website, we looked at as many websites as we could to come up with the layout we have designed. A tool that I found useful in this pursuit was Built With . This sneaky little tool lets you look under the hood of someone else’s website and see what exactly they did to create a cool website. I liked that not only did it show the techy stuff like code and scripts–it also shows what tracking and analytics tools are in use and most interesting to me was what the site is doing about marketing. With this tool one can expose the competition for what they are and use it for any number of purpose, just keep in mind that like Votaire said–With great power comes great responsibility.

Of all the tools I reviewed and took for a test-drive, the one that I liked the most was WooRank. The tool was user-friendly and easy to read but in-depth all at the same time. Right at the top of the finding it shows what the site got right, has room for improvement and what errors need attention now. No hunting or guessing if you are looking at the right information it just spells it out for you all black and white. The Top 5 Priorities make putting the tool into action a breeze. Also this tool gives you demographic information for the visitors to the sit as well as what social media is linked to the site, SEO content breakdown and all the rest of the data you would expect like keywords and links. This is a tool I plan to put into real world use today.
Other tools that I liked were:

Spy On Web – Lets you see what other cyber assets the website owner has

Majestic SEO – Backlink list show Citation and Trust flow built into the report

SEMRush is a tool that I have used a few times and really like, however it is a big tool and because of that it does not always have information on smaller or niche sites. In the case of Need For Speed SEMRush came up empty.

Now that all the test-driving is done it is time to pick my pony and get off to the races and start using the tools. I know the more I use them the better I will get with them and there is no time like the present. Any thoughts on what Tools I might be over looking? I am always looking for input.

http://world.needforspeed.com

http://www.opensiteexplorer.org

http://builtwith.com

http://www.spyonweb.com

https://www.majesticseo.com

http://www.semrush.com/info/http%3A%2F%2Fworld.needforspeed.com

Which SEO Tools To Use?

A few years back in what I like to call “the car dark ages” (because I had a crappy car), I was having some car troubles and needed to replace the starter. Now, I am not a car guy, however I had replaced a starter in a car before so I figured I would do it again and save some money. So I went and bought the part, popped the hood and got down to work. I found the starter and the bolts I was going to need to remove and that’s where things went sideways. One of the bolts was in a really tight spot and no matter what I tried I just could not get a good hold on the bolt to get it off. A neighbor of mine was a car guy and worked as a diesel mechanic so I asked his advice. He told me it was simple, for the type of car you had to have a special tool to get the last bolt off. At this point I was feeling pretty dumb that I had not thought of that, anyway he had a tool that would work and offered to help. With the right tool, a job that I had spent a couple hours on getting no where was done it no time at all. Having the right tool for the job saves lots of time and makes one able to do quality work. SEO is no exception to this.

Recently I have been introduced to a couple of new SEO Tools. And not only have I found the right ones for the job, but they speed things up and make it so I can focus on solving problems–not finding them. The first one is the SEO Tool bar by our friends over at Moz.com and the second one is SEOquake.com. Both of these are tool bars that plug into Chrome or Firefox and give you quick SEO information at the top of the web browser. The information loads the same time as the web pages does and gives all kinds of great information. Like any other tools, it’s what you do with the tools that counts so let’s look at just a couple of the many things these tools can do.

Right now I am working on a social media campaign for a social impact game startup and am doing a lot of research on our target demographics and other game companies. Because I am looking at a lot of webpages and companies I don’t have the time to go into in-depth research on all the sites I am surfing. Using the SEOquake tool bar has been extremely helpful in getting some basic information quickly so I know what website I want to dig deeper into or when to keep moving along. Some of the information that I look for is Page Rank and what kind of following they have in social media channels. I love the fact that the information’s just there and with a quick glance I can tell what social channels they are active on and have a general idea of their influence as the toolbar shows me how many people are following them and where. This has been a great time saver. In researching game companies to see which ones to follow and learn from this information has made it easy to see what they are up to and if I should spend more time looking into the site. One website that I found is that of Double Fine, a successful game company with a decent social reach as you can see from the toolbar screenshot below. Also as it turns out this company used Kickstarter to get this going and that is my current project and they have been very successful so it’s one I want to learn as much as I can from. My biggest complaint with SEOquake’s tool is that the links in the tool bar don’t always want to work–other than that I like this toolbar.

Once I have found a webpage I want to look into a bit deeper I then turn to the Moz.com SEO tool bar to get a quick look at what the site has going on. Working with a start up company with a website getting ready to go live by next week I want to make sure we have all our bases covered with regards to SEO. The Moz.com tool gives me a snap shot of basic one-page elements to see how the other guys are doing it and a whole lot more. With any new website link building is a big need. I want to make sure the links are the right ones for the website and are helping, not hurting ranking efforts. The Moz.com toolbar has a pull down window that show all kinds of information including link data. This quick look gives me the break down of Page Authority, Internal, External and total links and how well they have been followed. Looking at Double Fines data I found they have over six thousand external followed links and the window will take me right to the full link analysis with just a click to get ideas of what websites I can approach for link building.

Looking at the link data we see that Double Fine is not showing any internal followed links. This could be caused by any number of reasons, however Double Fine could use this information to start looking into the internal link following issue and thus improve the site SEO. I do wish this tool worked with Safari as well, maybe one day.

I find that I like both of these tools and have started using them quite a bit. I know I am not making full use of the tools yet, however as I use them more I will get better with them. Remember a tool is only as good as the use they are put to, so use your tools well and often.

http://moz.com/tools/seo-toolbar

http://www.seoquake.com

http://www.doublefine.com/

http://www.kickstarter.com