Dave Lloyd

M Posted 10 years 8 months ago

t 9 min read

In November 2014, Forrester Research released a report entitled Predictions 2015: Most Brands Will Underinvest in Mobile. The report touched upon budgeting and leadership problems for many companies. This is particularly concerning in light of the recent Google mobile algorithm update of April 2015. A marketing strategy based only on responding to algorithm updates is a poor one. Your strategy should be focused on creating an ideal customer experience on your site. In today’s increasingly mobile world, that includes having a viable strategy in place to handle all devices - desktops, tablets, and smartphones. If your organization’s not already aggressively focused on mobile user experiences, the info below will help you play a role in developing a strong mobile strategy for your brand.

The Importance of mobile growth

According to the Measuring the Information Society Report, “mobile-cellular population coverage has reached 93 percent globally: in other words, almost every person on the globe lives within reach of a mobile-cellular signal and, at least theoretically, has access to mobile communication services.” This means that the vast majority of the global population can potentially access mobile networks. This is particularly significant in developing countries, where populations may have better access to mobile than they do to landlines. The numbers are equally significant in the United States. According to Pew Research:

• 90 percent of American adults have a cell phone
• 64 percent of American adults have a smartphone
• 42 percent of American adults own a tablet computer
• 32 percent of American adults own an e-reader

Mobile also now exceeds desktop internet use, demonstrating how powerful the mobile market has become in just a few short years. Companies that do not have a viable mobile marketing strategy are losing customers each day since people cannot access their sites easily on the go.

Designing a mobile-friendly site

Let’s start with some common sense – mobile devices and search engine bots should have access to pages that are easily read on mobile devices. Consider the example of Metrarail, the Northeast Illinois Regional Commuter Railroad Corporation. The system serves more than 300,000 passengers a day throughout the Chicago metropolitan area. They know that people accessing their website from handheld devices are also struggling to hold onto a briefcase, bags or a child’s hand, so they made an easy to navigate site that focuses on crucial passenger information, such as train schedules and weather advisories. Take a look at the screenshot below:

The desktop version of www.metrarail.com, however, is designed more for customers who are ready to read leisurely and learn about helpful information and promotions.

Look at the below Metra desktop screenshot for contrast.

This example shows perfectly why designing a mobile site is about more than just making a screen fit a mobile device. In a recent article on CickZ I talked through how best to implement a mobile web strategy. There are three main techniques you can use to create your mobile site.

Responsive Web Design

This means that your site will automatically detect the screen size upon which it is displayed and resize to fit. Google specifically states that they prefer responsive design. You are at a disadvantage, however, with older devices that do not support the necessary CSS code. There are also occasional problems with slower page load times.

Dynamic Serving

Dynamic Serving allows you to have separate HTML pages that can be optimized for load time on varying devices. The ability to have mobile-specific content on a separate HTML pages can be a big plus. You can also leverage keywords that can be context- and location-specific. The downside is the bandwidth & logistics needed to manage two sites – full of potential problems.

Separate or Dedicated URLs

With this system, both the HTML pages and the URLs are separate for desktop and mobile versions. This provides maximum flexibility across the various platforms in terms of content, page loading, and navigation. You again have to consider the financial & time costs to run two sites. Those interested can read an additional case study on mobile SEO strategies.

App Optimization

No discussion on mobile would be complete without including mobile apps. Apps can help customers access your site and content faster and easier while increasing engagement. Competition is fierce though. There are roughly 60K apps added on iTunes each month and 50K on Google Play. And an estimated 23 percent of iOS apps are used only once. For your app to be successful, it has to stand out from this crowd.

• It has to be a high-quality app that is engaging and easy to use
• It has to align with your organization and brand message
• The focus should always be on the customer experience
• You should leverage relevant and opportunistic keywords along with engaging descriptions
• All images, including the icons, should be visually pleasing and useful
• Keep an eye on ratings and reviews

Keep in mind that optimizing your apps is not a one-and-done approach. It’s best to continually refine your apps and implement best practices whenever possible. App store optimization, like all optimization activities, is ultimately about improving the user experience, not just search results. Mobile is now a dominant force in the world of digital optimization. Not only do you need to factor in the Google update, but your marketing strategy should account for the growing popularity of smart devices and the consumer base who uses them.

About Dave Lloyd

Dave is a veteran in the search marketing space and this will be his 3^rd year speaking at Share15. A valued customer, and partner, Dave also writes for Adobe.com and ClickZ. We look forward to continuing the conversation at Share15 in just a few weeks.

If you have not registered to join us, sign up now!

Conference Details September 21-23 Westin St. Francis San Francisco, CA 

A BrightEdger

M Posted 10 years 8 months ago

t 9 min read

This week Binti Pawa from Time Inc. shares insights into content and site migration challenges and best practices in this Share15 interview. Binti presently heads SEO for Time Inc., working on such brands as Travel + Leisure, Food & Wine and InStyle, where she is responsible for leading, developing, and integrating SEO and content strategies.

Binti Pawa from Time Inc. at Share15

BE: Can you tell readers a little more about your session?

BP: I’m very excited to speak again and be back at Share! This year I’m talking about “Surviving the Perfect Storm” of Content Migrations—a popular industry topic and challenge for us all. For audience growth, businesses or marketers have to make a call on what to tackle—whether it’s a CMS platform migration, domain migration, re-design, or content overhaul. We’ve all been there. The question that always comes to mind is this: How to migrate with least impact to natural search traffic? Attendees at my session will walk away knowing how to mitigate natural search referrals by touching on key areas and learning best practices. One of the Time Inc. brands will be used throughout the presentation as a test case in how to survive the perfect storm. Attendees will also take away learnings and “gotchas” that will help them in future migrations.

Expectation management and SEO challenge

BE: What do you think are some of the biggest challenges facing people in SEO?

BP: I think the biggest challenge that SEOs face is mismanaged expectations. “There is no one definition or one right way to do things in SEO—but there is a wrong way.” This can often lead to mismanaged expectations. It’s important for SEOs to ensure that stakeholders or clients understand what to expect from BIG changes to their site. Many times I see SEO programs fail because the expectations were not set up front or the teams were not educated. Keeping up with the constant algorithms is also up there. Just when we think things are settling another wave of updates are announced-- the most recent with Google’s April Mobile update. With big projects already underway for most SEOs it can make it difficult to introduce new projects into the roadmap, especially when the impact is uncertain.

Time Inc. and BrightEdge product innovations at Share15

BE: How does BrightEdge help you elevate your business performance?

BP: I love the speed at which BrightEdge adds new features and functionality to its platform. Last year at Share14, they introduced the concept of the Story Builder and enhancements to Data Cube. A few months later, the products were released. I particularly enjoy the Story Builder, and think it’s a great feature when you want to share a narrative about a particular campaign or a project vs. just having dashboard with graphs.

I love the speed at which BrightEdge adds new features and functionality to its platform.

BE: This is your 2^nd year at Share15 – why do you attend?

BP: I also enjoy attending Share because it’s not your typical conference. There is a genuine sense of learning and takeaways from real-life case studies that Share15 speakers relate to the audience. It’s a good-size conference where you don’t feel overwhelmed—perfect for networking and meeting different individuals from many industries.

Networking with experts and making the most of Share15

BE: What are you looking forward to the most?

BP: I’m really looking forward to networking at Share15; it’s a terrific place to meet some of the greatest experts in the industry. I’m also very eager to hear about new capabilities and technology enhancements that BrightEdge may possibly announce at Share15. To make the most of your trip Share15 I would advise you to plan ahead. Know which sessions you want to attend in advance as some get full fast. Don’t skip the morning breakfast or lunches; it’s a great time to network and bounce ideas off of leading experts in the industry.

If you have not had the opportunity to register for Share15, make sure you head over to our conference page and sign up. We look forward to seeing you there!

Conference Details September 21-23 Westin St Francis San Francisco, CA 

A BrightEdger

M Posted 10 years 8 months ago

t 9 min read

Cindy Phan is the Senior Manager of Digital Marketing Strategy at VMware and this is her 3^rd time at Share15! Cindy first joined the company back in 2011 and since then has largely created her position. As the company went through organizational changes and shifted towards digital marketing, she found herself leading the digital marketing strategy for the group. We thought her insights into the industry and the ever-changing digital marketing space made her an excellent resource and we were excited to have the chance to chat before Share15 kicks off on 21 .

Excitement about Share15

BrightEdge (BE): What are you looking forward to most about Share?

Cindy Phan (CP): This is my third time attending Share. I have always tried to attend at least a few sessions and networking events each year because it is an exciting few days. I love having the chance to meet the different industry greats and exchange ideas at Share. Of course, the fantastic food and fun times at the parties do not hurt the experience either!

BE: What are you planning on speaking about at Share?

CP: I plan on sharing a case study that we did here at VMware. We focused on determining the value of our social and major components, starting about a year ago, and we have some exciting insights to share. I plan on diving into the information and explaining how we plan on putting it to good use and how to optimize and leverage this value at your own organization. Many people do not consider all the levels of optimization. For example, in-channel optimization is big. You can optimize pieces within your social media presence, such as your LinkedIn page or your Facebook page, to attract more traffic and enhance the value of these profiles. I really want to help people see the big picture and how all the little things they do along the way can come together to make their brands an online success.

The Role of BrightEdge in Digital Success

BE: How has BrightEdge helped you accomplish your goals?

CP: BrightEdge has always been the backbone of our website. When I was a part of the web team we were focused on going international and leveraging BrightEdge to make sure that all the pages had relevant content. Producing content for an international audience has its own type of challenges, including the struggle to understand the local audience and what they want to read. BrightEdge made it possible for us to monitor our websites closely so that we could see how they were performing. We used a number of the different components available on the platform: Share of Voice, keywords, traffic monitoring, recommendations. The platform allowed us to amplify our efforts and really grow our online presence.

Common Marketing Mistakes to Avoid

BE: What do you think is one of the most common mistakes of marketers?

CP: I think that people spend too much time measuring metrics that really do not matter at the end of the day. It is fantastic if a lot of people are reading and sharing your content, but that does not really put money in the bank. You have to see how much your material actually contributes to your pipeline and ROI. When you are beginning a marketing campaign you are given a budget, and you need to spend that money like it was your own. Chances are, you do not go out and spend your money without thinking about the consequences. You make decisions wisely about what will best serve you. When you start a new campaign you want to carefully measure and execute the campaign according to what will best serve the brand best financially. You need to choose the best tools and tactics and then track everything from a-z.

How to Become a Successful Marketer and Elevate Your Career

BE: What do you think makes a successful marketer?

CP: Marketers are an interesting bunch. Successful ones are hybrids. They have to be both creative and analytical. It takes a special type of person to be both. You have to really enjoy the field and be willing to always try new things. It will get boring very fast if you are always doing the same thing day in and day out. If you are willing to experiment and look for new things to try, it can be an incredibly exciting field.

The Fun Stuff

BE: Can you tell us something fun about yourself?

CP: I actually ran a tea shop for a about 4 years. I think that gives me a unique perspective on the role of a business. This really helps me remember the importance of being customer-centric. It is a lot easier to remember the customer when you deal with them every day as they come into your shop than when you are a large business locked away in an office building, but keeping the customer is critical no matter how big you get. It was fun having the opportunity to speak with Cindy before Share. We look forward to seeing her again in just a few weeks at the event.

If you have not had the opportunity to register for Share15, make sure you head over to our conference page and sign up. We look forward to seeing you there!

Conference Details September 21-23 Westin St Francis San Francisco, CA 

A BrightEdger

M Posted 10 years 8 months ago

t 9 min read

As the Director of Digital Marketing for Maxim Integrated, Robert Reneau is in charge of managing the user experience, site planning and international business strategy for the group. Robert leads a team of marketers in the development of useful web applications and finding new ways to enhance the experience of a website visitor.

Robert will be joining us at Share 15 to speak about scaling content and how you can develop internal content-building processes that help enhance your digital marketing efforts while also creating a culture of content throughout your group. He was kind enough to sit down with us to talk about the latest in the industry and give some insights about his upcoming presentation.

About Maxim at Share

BrightEdge (BE): Can you tell us a bit about your presentation? You do not have to give away the game, but give us some teasers about what we can expect.

Robert Reneau (RR): I am going to explore the art of repurposing content. I have found that many companies are challenged to produce consistent content at scale, so I will discuss how to take content and repurpose it so that it supports mass usage across multiple channels. I will share some of the best practices we use here at Maxim and I hope to provide some valuable insights for attendees about how to best succeed with content development.

Scaling content is something that is faced by many companies, so the topic should be relatable for just about anyone in the audience. I work on a global scale with the Maxim brand, developing successful marketing and business strategies. I believe that many attendees will be able to take away some great ideas for making content work for their businesses.

About the BrightEdge platform

BE: How has BrightEdge helped you succeed as a brand? RR: As I already mentioned, at Maxim we are dealing with a global audience. We needed a system that would allow us to monitor our progress and see how our sites were performing.

“BrightEdge allows us to do that. Its capacity to scale to handle our traffic from around the world and monitor the performance of our SEO efforts and our site rankings is incredible.”

Recommended reading

BE: Have you read any great business books lately that you would recommend?

RR: I really enjoyed the book Sound Investments by Neville Goddard. The book is about making solid decisions that help you continually grow in abundance. This does not only apply to financial decisions, but also to a general way of living your life so that you can be successful in the areas that matter most to you. I have found that the lessons from the book are excellent from a personal standpoint. It really reminds you to look at factors, such as where you are spending your time, and how that impacts your success and your goals in life.

About the industry

BE: What do you think are some common challenges for people in the industry?

RR: I think demonstrating ROI, especially financial ROI, is critical for many businesses but struggling with accurate metrics is common. You have to track ROI across all your different channels and that can be a challenge, particularly for those in the B2B sector. I am regularly concerned with being budget conscious-- and I cannot imagine that I am the only one with those concerns. I find that the key to accurately tracking financial ROI is looking beyond the basic metrics that tell you how many people read your content or how many people shared your content. You have to measure your cost per lead during your content marketing campaigns as well as your cost per sale. Use this information to refine your campaigns and gain a better understanding of your marketing financials.

BE: What new marketing frontiers are you excited to explore?

RR: I am really looking forward to trying advanced personalization techniques - taking user information and leveraging it to provide the most relevant content at a user’s fingertips. The techniques have been evolving for us at Maxim and we have been looking to build out a platform. We are now in a position to dive in deeper during the next fiscal year and it should be an exciting adventure. It was wonderful having the opportunity to speak with Robert Reneau in preparation for Share15. We are just weeks away from the start of the conference and it will be fantastic to listen to Robert’s presentation.

If you have not signed up yet, register today. We hope to see you there.

Conference Details September 21-23 Westin St. Francis San Francisco, CA