 B2B Copywriting Hints
Search Engine Land
"B2B copywriting is tough stuff," says Galen DeYoung. "Instead of, 'Wipes clean with a damp cloth,' you may find yourself trying to simultaneously explain and extol the virtues of some complex mechanical system while being creative and persuasive at the same time." B2B copywriting for SEO is even tougher, so DeYoung offers some tips for getting it done right.
Pepper your copy with both branded and generic terms. "Go ahead and use the brand name in copy, but make sure you also include the generic terms just as much, if not more," DeYoung says. "In most cases, B2B searchers are more likely to use generic terms than brand names." Also pay attention to word order, as well as usage of plural or singular terms. You need to maintain consistency, because shifts in word order or plural usage can cause dramatic differences in rankings.
Meanwhile, don't be afraid to wax poetic -- just don't forget to break up chunks of copy with white space and keyword-rich headers. "In B2B, long copy is a good thing," DeYoung says. "It gives you the opportunity to explain attributes and benefits that aren't readily apparent. Longer copy is also good for the search engines. It gives them a better opportunity to assess the focus of the page and the depth of information on the page." - Read the whole story... Unexpected Link-Building Questions
Seer Interactive
Adam lists some unexpected questions that you might want to ask your client when it comes time to discuss link-building efforts, starting with whether the company provides scholarships. "There are hundreds of sites listing companies that provide scholarships," he says. "Not only can you land a deep link, there's a good possibility it could be a deep link from a .edu or k12.state.us site."
Keeping with the "charitable" theme, ask if the company sponsors any events. "If your client sponsors a 5k race, bike race or adventure race, make sure they're listed on these sites," Adam says. "Up attendance and links." Then, find out if the company has any female or minority C-level execs.
"Yes, your client will most likely be defensive and hesitant to answer this question, but do you want to remain in the shadow of PCness or get some juicy links?" Adam says. "There are local, national & international sites listing women, African American, Asian, and other minority owned/operated businesses. Act and ask in their best interest. Apologize later if necessary." - Read the whole story... Teaching Kids To Search Well
Search Engine People
The next generation of searchers (and possibly, search marketers) is already scouring the Web for help with their homework, as well as product info and random fun Web sites. Ruud Hein digs into the way kids search and why parents (and teachers) need to help them understand how the results are chosen and displayed.
"It's not only important to teach that the results of these searches aren't impartial, objective or in some logical order but that they're ranked according to a calculation which combines measures of relevancy and popularity," Hein says. "It's important to show how [the way] this is measured and calculated differs from search engine to search engine. Doing [an] .edu search about 'political freedom' on Google, Yahoo and Live returns quite different search results."
Hein offers some examples for how to explain to kids the way that engines rank results, as well as future thought points, like teaching them how to verify the validity of the info that a result links to. - Read the whole story... Case Study: Hotel Franchises Not Using Local Search
Hotel Interactive
Mariana Mechoso serves up the dish on how most hotel franchisees are leaving money on the table by not tapping into the local search market. She argues that while hoteliers often run stellar national PPC campaigns, they can't capitalize on the various flavors of local traffic.
For example, there are the people traveling locally (i.e. the drive-in market), people on the hunt for accommodations near local attractions, those searching for a room in conjunction with a sporting event/conference, etc. -- and the list continues. "No major hotel chain can adequately address and capture these local business opportunities via its national marketing campaigns," Mechoso says.
Mechoso suggests a number of tactics, including link-building on a property level (as opposed to the main brand page), as well as email marketing and cross-promotional events with local businesses. Of course, she also says that hoteliers should be buying locally targeted keywords. - Read the whole story... Didit Offers Clients Performance Guarantees
DM News
- Read the whole story... Tap AdWords For Your Market Research
SEO Book
You can use AdWords to run quick and dirty market research for a new business idea, or even a brand that's set to revamp, and Aaron Wall tells you how. First, do some keyword research with one of the (many) free tools out there. "Include every keyword term in your Adwords campaign that you expect to rank for in your organic campaign," he says. Then, build a small site made up of landing pages for the ads. "What you want to know are three key pieces of information: actual search volume, response to offer, and competition levels," Wall says.
Examining search volume is key, as you'll be able to tell relatively quickly if your business idea is on the right track. "If not, you might [want] to rework your idea, but at least you haven't undertaken a time consuming SEO campaign only to find this out there is no real traffic," he says.
If there's enough traffic, then move on to the final next step, which is evaluating the competition according to bid prices. "Obviously, the higher the bid prices, the higher the level of competition. If you're failing to get on the front page with reasonable relevancy and bids, you're in a fairly competitive area, and the SERPs will be likewise," Wall says. - Read the whole story... |
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