More on search

I’ve received a number of comments from students about expanded information on SEO best practices.  I’ll do my best to provide relevant (and not too technical) articles as I find them.  A few to start you off are below.

• The idea of social impacting search has now become a reality. Have you heard about Google’s new social search? It could have impacts on  your company’s SEO efforts, as illustrated on Mashable.
• If you’re not signed up for the High Rankings newsletter, I’d recommend you do that now. This article on title tags was posted in the latest issue and provides a good background.
• For those of you with brick & mortar stores, setting up a listing with Google Places isn’t a bad idea.  But as this article indicates, even if you offer totally separate services, it’s not a good idea to set up more than one listing.
• There’s a difference between good SEO and great SEO. Which one are you implementing?

Not seeing what you’re looking for here? Let me know what specific topics you want to see more of in the comments.

Online branding ‘don’ts’ + digital communication strategy

• I came across this New Yorker article on YouTube, which profiles the video site’s attempt to broaden its offerings in order to remain competitive.  It’s a good example of how the digital communication strategy continues to evolve as technology and consumer consumption habits shift.
• Remember the ‘damage control’ section of Module 4? A very recent example of how not to respond comes from Snowbasin Ski Resort, after a customer posted a video detailing an exchange with a ski patroller that was posted online and generated a lot of responses.  Snowbasin’s error? Not responding immediately.
• VW is another brand recently caught in the headlights.  It was accused of deleting comments on its Facebook page when it was deluged by negative comments against the stand it took on the EU climate target (it was against it).  This is seen as particularly hypocritical, as the company does tout its green credentials.

Useful Email Marketing Articles

Since your 3rd assignment is all about email marketing, I thought the following articles would elaborate on Module 3 and the assignment reading.

• Email marketing vocabulary (some might say ‘jargon’) – a great rundown of commonly used words.
• The history of email (infographic)
• While this is more relevant to business emails and not consumer newsletters, I think it’s very useful.  Especially if you’ve ever hit ‘reply all’ without questioning if it was needed.
• While decidedly ski resort specific, this blog post about email newsletter development has takeaways for other businesses. There’s a part 2 post as well.
• And it’s probably no surprise that a lot of companies are looking to integrate email with social media.  What I found interesting is that email still plays an important role in building customer loyalty & retention (see the illustration on the right).
• Email subject lines can determine whether someone opens your email or not.

HTML5, SOPA updates & more

I realized that in Module 2 I omitted mention of HTML5, which is the newest HTML standard.  There is excitement over it for a number of reasons, including its ability to work across platforms, and that it can replace the Adobe Flash player, an application used for rich media content.  Flash is notoriously not something supported on Apple products.

Also, the White House has issued a response to recent protests against SOPA (along with two other pieces of legislation).

More on website considerations

TGI Thursday! A few more Module 2 relevant articles for you…

• Things to consider before hiring a website designer.
• Navigation tips for your website (hint: make it easy for your user to get to any page on the site)
• How a well designed website can help customers in various stages of the sales funnel.
• More web design tips.

Usability, SOPA and Website Tools

This week we move into website design and usability, which includes everything from copywriting to information architecture. I’ve found a few additional articles that complement the modules and reading.

• There are lots of sites out there that provide examples of inspiring site designs, though Web Design Ledger is one I like because it breaks down sites into categories.
• While I note a few website solutions I include in Module 2, there are plenty more out there. 
• The Stop Online Piracy Act was covered last week in Module 1, but I liked CNET’s article (very thorough) on the background behind the legislation and its potential effects.
• Some more website usability testing tools.  You all probably have #1 already.

Welcome to the Winter 2012 Quarter!

If you’re reading this post, chances are you’ve registered for BSN 251: Intro to Online Marketing at Lake Tahoe Community College. I’ve developed this blog as a supplement to the class, offering current articles, research and issues for you as you go through this course.

To start things off, here are some interesting/relevant articles as they pertain to Modules 1 and 1a:

• While we’ll be focusing on technology as it relates to marketing, understanding general marketing principals is still important.  And you know what? Much of it is not complicated, as Seth Godin illustrates here.
• A recent editorial in the Reno Gazette Journal looks at the two sides of net neutrality.  (Hint: this might help you with your response to the discussion question on this topic)
• While a bit long, I found this infographic on the history of computing (not just the Internet) interesting.  I think it provides a larger context for this course.

For a quick 5 points extra credit, leave a comment telling me why you signed up for this course!

Why Social Media?

As this is the week you’re working on your final projects, I won’t burden you with reading.  Instead, I’ve found an updated version of the Social Media Revolution video that I posted here years ago.  It doesn’t talk much about measuring social media, or developing a strategy, but instead shows some interesting figures and statistics over who is using it and how technology is impacting media consumption.

SEO and how technology has impacted education

Just a few tidbits I came across today that might be useful.

• SEO can be seen as complicated and difficult to the uninitiated.  This visual assist, in the form of a periodic table from Search Engine Land, is a great tool for better understanding the role and importance such elements like inbound links play in an overall strategy.
• As you might know first hand, online technologies have had an enormous impact on education.  Mashable’s got an interesting infographic on it, with information on additional distance learning resources.

Custom reporting, local PPC campaigns and measuring social media

This week’s theme is ‘tangible takeaways’, and I hope these three articles/tutorials fit the bill.

• For those of you considering using Google Analytics (which is a free and powerful resource), you’ll want to check out this step-by-step article on how to create custom reports.
• If you know your way around Google Analytics already and are interested in setting up a way to track social media to determine its value to your website, you’ll be interested in this article.
• Finally, if you’re a local business using local Google ads and are considering setting up specific landing pages, this article on SEO Book might be of interest.