I recommend the SEO Toolbar (Firefox only). You should download and install it now.
Why? Because your prospects and wider stakeholders may stumble across your products and services in social interaction, on- and off-line, but they also revert to search engines to find what they're looking for.
Search is important.
Aaron Wall of SEOBook explains that the tool "was designed to make it easier to evaluate how strong a competing website is. The SEO Toolbar pulls in many useful marketing data points to make it easy to get a more holistic view of the competitive landscape of a market right from your browser. In addition to pulling in useful marketing data this toolbar also provides links to the data sources so you can dig deeper into the data."
Some of this stuff can be confusing to SEO newbies, but what better way to learn? You can't break anything by installing it, so you have nothing to lose and everything to learn.
Best regards, Philip and the MarCom Professional team.
Social networking is being hampered by lack of understanding
by Graham Jones of Internet Psychology
Millions of people are joining social networks every single day. The growth of Twitter, for instance, has reached an astonishing 1382% per year...! Facebook has almost 200m users, LinkedIn grows daily and the growth of Ecademy is now also reaching exponential proportions. We've all gone social networking mad. However, things are not as they seem, based on these raw statistics. Three years ago, the usability guru Jakob Nielsen found that only 10% of people registered with social networks were actually active within them. More...
The U.S. Air Force and social media: A discussion with Colonel Michael Caldwell
by David Meerman Scott of David Meerman Scott
On Wednesday I delivered a presentation at the United States Air Force World Wide Public Affairs Professional Development Conference. The Worldwide as they call it, is a chance for everyone who works in public affairs (PA) to get together to share ideas and learn what others have been doing by discussing communication techniques that run from traditional media relations, to partnerships, to Combat Camera and Defense Visual Information.
A big focus this year was New Media Tactics and you can see some of the discussions on Twitter. More...
Top ten tips for incredibly successful public speaking
by David Meerman Scott of David Meerman Scott
I've been to something like one hundred conferences and corporate events in the past several years as I travel the world delivering keynotes and running seminars. I've seen a few great speeches. Sadly, most speeches I see are not very good. Some are downright terrible. I've been collecting some observations on what makes a good presentation and also drawing from my own experience.
Most of us have an opportunity to speak, perhaps at your industry event, or your company's sales conference, or to a local club. More...
Social Media in B2B Marketing
by Scot McKee of Birddog Ltd.
The B2B Marketing Magazine seminar on ‘Exploiting Social Media in B2B Marketing’ was quite an eye-opener for me. For a start the Century Club was rammed. Social Media is no longer a fringe subject. It may not be the panacea or indeed pancetta of the B2B world, but nor is it the dirty word(s) of just a few short months ago. I have the impression we’ve successfully managed to flip a very impressive bird at the traditionalists who have been hoping that it would all just go away because they had a pressing lithograph issue to deal with down at the typesetter’s. More...
15 Punchy Copywriting Tips
by Matt Ambrose of The Copywriter's Crucible
“They were easier to read than ignore” - Victor Schwab
It’s often said that copywriting can’t be too long, just too boring. And sales writing is often only tolerated at the best of times. So if your copy is to weave its magic it needs to be light, easy to read and captivating.
Here are 15 tips for making your sales writing more punchy and compelling for readers:
1. Aim for an average sentence length of around 16 words.
2. Vary between short and long sentences to give your writing rhythm. More...
Conversations start with something interesting to say delivered in an interesting way - Part 2
by Philip Sheldrake of Racepoint Group UK
I posted a few weeks back about how organisations must engage stakeholders in dialogue, and how this conversation starts by not just having something interesting to say, but delivering it in an interesting way.
After all, whilst marketers consider the 30 second ad to be on its last legs because it tries to wallop all and sundry, you can take longer to get your point over if you're talking to those whose interest is already sparked and who want to find out more.
My last post featured a video and an animation, and I promised to come back with some more formats for starting a conversation in an interesting way. More...
Journalists using LinkedIn profiles to vet interviewees?
by Andrew Smith of escherman
As I noted in my recent Online PR whitepaper, there are some novel digital twists occurring within traditional media relations. Take the good old journalist interview. In the past, a journalist would probably have to take at face value a bio provided by the PR person of a prospective interviewee. On LinkedIn, although the background info provided by the person themselves might be of relevance, more value is to be had from what other people think of them ie LinkedIn recommendations. Here is a practical example. More...
New PR consultancy Speed launches
by Stephen Waddington of Rainier PR
I’m lousy at keeping secrets. But this is a big one that I’ve been sitting on for the past six months or so. The formal announcement follows. For more information check out the Speed web site, our blog network, the Speed channel on You Tube, or give me a call.
New PR consultancy Speed launches
Combination of five specialist firms creates top 50 UK PR consultancy
Marketing services group Loewy today launched a new PR consultancy called Speed Communications.
Speed specialises in the consumer, technology, business and corporate sectors, and has been formed by bringing together the teams of BMA Communications, Custard PR, Lighthouse PR, Mantra PR and Rainier PR. More...
The Human Network: The Social Economy is Influenced by How We Communicate Online & Offline
by Brian Solis of PR 2.0
I’m just returning from the SXSW Interactive festival where thousands of “geeks” stormed Austin Texas to learn, share and celebrate what I call the Social Economy.
It’s something so special that I’m struggling to truly capture and convey the emotional essence and inspirational spirit that uniquely brings together innovation, ideas, and the people who galvanize change and evolution.
While the economy has crippled or altogether eliminated conferences and tradeshows that usually serve as the catalyst for potential engagement, SXSW represents a spiritual and intellectual journey for many of us, fortifying the strength and future of the Social Economy and the relationships that bind us. More...
You cannot ignore social networking
by Graham Jones of Internet Psychology
Social networkers are going to be more important to your business than you ever thought possible. Data from several different sources is revealing just how important social networking has become online - and how the search engines are beginning to suffer as a result. Let's look at some basic data to begin with. According to All About Market Research, at the end of 2008 there were 1.57 billion people online and a year prior to that there were 1.31 billion - a 19.85% increase during the year.
As always, these additional online users all want different things. More...
All SEO Clients Should Learn about SEO
by Mindy Gofton of I-COM International
Yesterday I taught a training course for a new client about basic SEO. During the course, the company's web developer wondered if I found it frustrating having to spend 3-4 hours answering very basic questions about SEO so another business could decide what aspects of its optimisation to outsource and what to do in-house.
My reponse was simple and entirely truthful - I wish every business would proceed that way because it would make my job much easier.
Anybody who has worked in SEO has experienced More...
