Google doesn’t employ a full time blogger for any subject, people get paid to do their job and part of that job sometimes includes a blog.  If it works for Google, why doesn’t it work for the rest of us?

One thing that Karen said that hit home was that if the blog feels like a homework assignment that you will tend to put off, then maybe blogging isn’t for you.  It becomes one more task in a crowded week and the tone of the blog will show that.  If you are uninspired, how can you inspire your readers?

She then went on to say that blogging can be fun and whimsical at times.  Small companies especially can post about the culture of the company, like “Donut Friday” or other humorous topics and include pictures.  Other times, the posts will be longer and more focused on a topic of interest to your industry and community. Posting about news items works as well.  If someone is making a presentation somewhere, announce it on the blog.  If the company wins an award, let people know about it on the blog.  If you are changing business direction, or have a PR issue that develops, discuss it in a post or two. Invite your community to weigh in on these topics.

On the Google blogs, there are also many writers. No blog is owned by just one employee.  There are established guidelines and best practices that they follow, and someone who thinks like an editor who manages the whole thing.  There is no one with sole editing responsibilities.  Suggestions are made along the way on a topic or a post that is circulated internally prior to posting, but each author is responsible for their own posts.

At Dinkum, we understand the SEO benefits of blogging.  We know the value of building a community and keeping our community informed and engaged, and we teach that to our clients as well. It was good to hear Karen Wikre from Google expound on some of this information, and also that Google follows the same guidelines and principles in their blogging campaigns that we consider important.

How is blogging working out at your company? Have you run into the “blogging as homework” dilemma? And Rick, how about Donut Fridays?

Regina Sillitti is Project Coordinator for Dinkum Interactive.  She has worked in programming,  design, business analysis and quality assurance. Her background in design and data processing give her a unique perspective on client – tech translation. You can reach her at regina@dinkuminteractive.com.

Anywho, I believe the Wild Wild West nature of the Internet has created an issue of just what will we, as users, of the medium adapt to versus adopt. First, let’s define the words. From Wiktionary, to adapt is “the capacity of an organism to be modified by circumstances”.  Adopt, on the other hand, is “To take by choice into relationship”.

There are certain things we may adapt to but either feel we have no choice or it may be temporary – like changes to Facebook – often times we adapt knowing the powers that be will finally figure out they goofed and change it – yet again. (Okay I will save my rants about Facebook for another post and I have a few).

There are, however, things we take up and adopt willingly. The difference is not subtle and I believe more attention by the major providers of Internet sites should pay attention to it.  Adapt has a breaking point, adopt does not and we will support and magnify the change. It increasingly becomes easy to adapt then figure out we will not adopt and can choose to abandon.

When you make changes to your site, services, or customer service policy – do you know if your customers and prospects are adapting or adopting? I continue to see major companies thrusting changes upon us – changes that people will not adopt or adapt to. The tools to market test have never been better – why is it not done more often?

Is it arrogance – I believe when you reach the 500,000,000 mark it becomes arrogance and I will review that in more detail on a future post.

Where do you find yourself adapting versus adopting?

Rick Simmons is a principal at Dinkum Interactive, a firm specializing in online marketing solutions for small and medium sized businesses around the globe. With more than 25 years of experience in advertising and marketing, Simmons has spent the last four years focused on search engine optimization, and other Internet marketing strategies.  Reach him at 267-626-9094 or rick@dinkuminteractive.com.

Here are some tips that I employ for keeping myself and our team focused and on-track:

1. Keep Strategy Top of Mind. First off, if you don’t have a Social Media strategy with goals defined, then don’t even bother reading past this point. A Social Media strategy is meant to be the roadmap that helps you get from point A to point B.  A carefully planned strategy will help you stay focused in the long run. Revisit the strategy often to measure your actions. Are you meeting the goals defined in the strategy? If not, why not? Are the tactics being carried out as planned? If not, why not?
2. Revisit & Rewrite Goals As Needed. If you find that the original strategy and goals are impractical then you absolutely must recalibrate. The sooner the better. Also, if you become confused about new goals to set, take a step back and look at what others are doing. Seeing what others (possibly even your competition) are doing, can be inspiring and help stimulate new objectives!  (Read more on Social Media goal setting on Mashable)
3. Create a Schedule. Establishing milestones and deadlines is essential to managing Social Media.   If you’re not using a Project Management tool like Basecamp or ActiveCollab, then try setting up tasks for yourself using Google Calendar or your favorite task management software. Receiving reminders of Social Media tasks due can help you keep focused.  Do this until scheduled tasks become routine; part of your everyday life.
4. Communicate! Communicate! Communicate! Communication is the key to keeping your team focused and committed to the Social Media plan. Schedule regular check-ins or Social Media status meetings. Make sure that everybody is on the same page!  Also, be honest. If there is something you’re not comfortable doing or don’t have the time to do, then let the team know. Tasks can (and should) be re-distributed or re-scheduled if needed. Additionally, if you’re feeling a lack of creativity, ask your co-workers or peers.  Brainstorm ideas together!
5. Keep Track of Activities. This may seem like a no-brainer, but it’s imperative.  Whether you wrote & published a blog, updated a Facebook fan page status, or tweeted a few things, it’s always a good idea to keep track of those kinds of activities. You can then compare them to what you’ve done previously. Note them on a document somewhere. It can be a Word doc, Excel spreadsheet, or on your Project Management software. Either way, your team to should have easy access to review what has been done.
6. Analyze and Tweak. It is important to know if your efforts are bearing fruit. In other words, keep track of the numbers and measure/review any impact on your efforts.  Over time you’ll see the type of things (and channels) that do well and don’t do well. Spend less time doing the things that don’t work and maximize your opportunities on areas that are strong.  As we’ve mentioned before, setting up and monitoring Google Analytics can help you determine effectiveness.

Social Media may seem like an intimidating, hard to manage venture. But following these few simple suggestions can make it a lot easier to handle.

What are some things you do to stay focused?

Marilyn Moran is an Internet Marketing Consultant for Dinkum Interactive. With more than 15 years online experience and over 10 years in developing & marketing websites and Internet communities, she has spent the past 4 years focused on Web Strategy, Search Engine Optimization, and Social Media Marketing.  Additionally, she is an officer in the Philadelphia Chapter of the Social Media Club and sits on the Board of Directors for Philadelphia Area New Media Association. You can reach her at Marilyn@dinkuminteractive.com or follow her on Twitter @PhillyMarketing.

Something I do understand is Search Marketing which has its own set of justification requirements, some of which carry over to measuring Social. Fortunately, to a certain extent, Search is a much easier activity to demonstrate value even though questions still arise and the gap that exists with the data is still problematic. So I understand Social Media to be an even tougher challenge. In thinking about the “proof” that many ask of Social Media Marketing, even if you’re just dipping your toes into this brave new world, I can see a few key areas that you should pay attention to.

Listen – this has to be the primary reason for adopting social media for your business. We’ve spoken about this before, and since it’s not a huge time investment for us its a no-brainer. Set yourself up with a simple company name search in Twitter, get your Google Alerts going and you’re underway.

Analytics – you knew I’d bring this one up. At the very least measure traffic. While not directly able to justify your campaign, it should be one indicator of its effectiveness. I assume you’ve set up your goals and possibly your funnels; if you have you’ll be able to determine who converted and where they came from.

Engagement – definitely a tough one to track. I’ve seen folks set up a basic database system that simply outlines social mentions, comments, feedback, DM’s, whatever. Can also be easily done on an Excel spreadsheet. I imagine it’s got to be pretty painful to keep track of but the conversation is one of the great benefits of participating in a Social Media Marketing campaign.

Brand - While I don’t really want to get into this area due to its poor measurement ability, I can see the benefits of using Social Media to enhance your brand and image. I have to think that the number of social mentions can be a contributor. If you’re a small company and can regularly discuss your activities with the customer service reps to help determine if there has been a reduction in complaint calls or the like, one should probably look to your online activities as possibly being a reason for this.

So while the contents of this post are uneducated and based solely on my own experiences (hey I didn’t even consult with our Social Media expert), the main point here is to think about some form of measurement. I still don’t think that “proof” should be the overall goal here but like most marketing activities an objective or outcome must be part of the strategy.

Cheers,
Paul

Paul Fleming is co-founder and VP of Interactive Services for Dinkum Interactive. A trained teacher, Paul has worked in a variety of forms of Internet Marketing but with a focus on SEO. Originally from Australia, he now resides in Philadelphia with his wife, son and another on the way.

Big Banana in Coffs Harbour

I’m a big picture person. This served me well as a special education teacher as I would rarely sweat the small stuff, choosing to focus instead on what really mattered which generally involved some form of learning as well as some form of safety i.e no-one gets hurt. So in this world of SEO that I’ve been absorbed for a decent portion of my professional career, I am also more about what I feel really matters (like conversions) rather than some of the specifics (like rankings). Sometimes though, these things come together and that is why I enjoy analytics so much. Identification and tracking of data has become a bit of an obsession of late particularly with smaller businesses that have so many holes because they’re often wearing multiple hats or focused on providing services than worrying about their marketing infrastructure.

When we first opened shop, we found the easiest way to reflect the work we offered was to add analytics and then target the most important aspects of their website for our reports. A contact form was most likely. Possibly a digital download or a unique URL. That’s kind of where it stopped. So for that person who sent our client an inquiry after going to Google, typing in “Graphic Design Company”, a phrase that they didn’t rank for before but now are front and center on Search Engines, unless the client asked how the prospect found them, we really don’t know where that new client came from because, for whatever reason, there is no inquiry form on their website or the prospect called them on the phone and they never asked how they found them.

So that new client who will be spending $50K in the next year with you came through an initiative that you’ve been questioning about spending $5K/year for mostly because you didn’t ask how they found you. That’s a significant return on your investment but if you don’t know about it, that’s a problem.

Obviously e-commerce makes it a lot easier because we can actually set up revenue tracking and it takes us through the whole process, we’ve also set up call tracking so the client can close the gap between the web and the telephone. Nice and clean thank you very much. Unfortunately most businesses don’t work that way. A prospect may have originated from the Web but there might be several touches with the prospect throughout the sales cycle, several staff members may have to become involved to help seal the deal and in the end, when you close the deal, SEO may well have been the forgotten source.

Having worked in or with larger organizations or agencies, I’ve seen how integrated their initiatives can be. A big CRM that is actually tied together with analytics and fully integrated into the website makes for an incredibly seamless data source. It relies less on staff input  and more on actual hard and fast data and the reporting can be amazing. These things will show you every little detail from a go to whoa. Very impressive. Our aim is to be able to do this on a small scale which is the greatest challenge. Having to rely on workarounds and hacks to get what we need can tighten things up only takes you so far. The gaps still exist.

While these challenges will continue, if you’re a client of ours or working with another Internet Marketing company there are a few basics that you should be covering.

1. Make sure you have analytics installed on your website. We generally prefer Google Analytics because of the price point for smaller companies but there are a bunch of others out there that are affordable and really help to give you a better understanding of your website’s performance.

2. Identify and create conversion points or as we often refer to them, Key Performance Indicators (KPI). If your website doesn’t have an inquiry form, we’ll generally insist on adding one. Phone tracking has also become a pretty significant requirement and while it’s not necessarily cheap, it’s not outrageous and is well worth the investment.

3. Analyze and assess your campaign at least every month. We do monthly reports for our clients which allows us to get a solid overall perspective on our clients’ website performance and will then review with them. We do encourage them to go and have a look for themselves regularly as well.

4. Ask your prospects how they found you. Sure this is pretty challenging in many circumstances but it’s pretty important especially if you’ve invested a good sum of money into your Internet Marketing campaign.

Don’t assume that we won’t obsess over search rankings because there is still a pretty close relationship between a strong keyword position and conversion points but obviously with personalized search and geo-targeting and all the other initiatives that search engines are famous for, it makes for a pretty difficult justification of our activities. For us, analytics is the sweet spot and allows us to not only obsess over every little detail of your campaign, but give us a much clearer big picture.

Paul Fleming is co-founder and VP of Interactive Services for Dinkum Interactive. A trained teacher, Paul has worked in a variety of forms of Internet Marketing but with a focus on SEO. Originally from Australia, he now resides in Philadelphia with his wife, son and another on the way.

About six months into my tutelage, Rick asked me to post to our Facebook Fan Page.  I have taken the task to post daily (or almost daily) trying to give our fans useful information about social media, SEO, marketing, etc.  Every day, I learn new information that excites me to share with people who ‘like’ us.  While I was doing research about some upcoming posts, I came across an article about increasing your Facebook fans from All about Facebook: The Unofficial Blog.  This article fascinated me in that the fan base and feedback increased in an extremely short amount of time.  I am working on taking some of the advice and using it to create a better page for our fans.

What are some things you’ve done to increase fans on Facebook? We’d like to hear from you!

In the meantime, check out the links above and also “like” Dinkum Interactive on Facebook – where we share articles and links daily.  As always we welcome your feedback!

Kelly Dunning is a Sales Consultant for Dinkum Interactive. With 10 years experience in sales and marketing, she keeps Dinkum’s new accounts, and Rick, in tip-top shape.

Ally and Jill in graduation gowns

At the same I am trying to decide if I will be attending my high school reunion next month. The reunion is being organized as best as I can tell on Classmates.com (which I refuse to join) and other types of reaching out including Facebook and the good old phone.

I am still close friends with just one person, Dan, who I hung around with in high school. I asked his sister, via Facebook, whether she was going to attend and she responded. She asked me if I had remembered anybody and I answered her that among the list of folks who RSVP’ed, I couldn’t remember much about any of them.  Since we only had 550 in my graduating class, they are including the class who graduated the year before (so add another 500 or so).

But then I got an really interesting post from Dan’s niece who saw our discussion and her answer was  “I’ve never been 2 any of my reunions. Anyone I wanted 2 keep in touch w/I already do. I can check on FB 2 C pics if I want 2 know who went bald, who got fat, who got thin, etc. LOL!”

HMMMMM! I think she has something there so I must admit that I am leaning towards not going but here is where I went further. How do Dan and I keep in touch? Just this week – Facebook, texting, email, phone – now a question.  How will my daughters keep in touch and with whom?

What are your thoughts?

Rick Simmons is a principal at Dinkum Interactive, a firm specializing in online marketing solutions for small and medium sized businesses around the globe. With more than 25 years of experience in advertising and marketing, Simmons has spent the last four years focused on search engine optimization, and other Internet marketing strategies.  Reach him at 267-626-9094 or rick@dinkuminteractive.com.

The crossover to Internet marketing isn’t as hard as you might think.  In fact, it comes down to babysitting – or as I like to call it during my ‘day job’: adult supervision.

Social media, like most aspects of a successful Internet marketing campaign, is about three things:

• pacing (e.g. a schedule)
• relevance (e.g. attention span)
• strategy (e.g. mature decision making!)

Without those three elements, you’re pretty much sunk, even with the best SEO keywords or targeted landing page in the world.

Part of my job at Dinkum Interactive is to help guide our clients along the path that we’ve mutually decided upon.  This means stepping up and helping to get a blog entry written, an article produced, a facebook event posted, or an email newsletter Tweeted.

At Dinkum we are strong proponents of what we call “adult supervision” when it comes to Internet Marketing activities like social media.  Instead of doing it for our clients (something I don’t recommend for a variety of reasons), we help to monitor our clients’ activities and online behavior – essentially, social media babysitting!   If you’re a client, you’ll catch us reminding you before there is a problem and watching out for the opportunities and trouble spots that lie ahead.  We’ll proactively suggest blog topics to you and your staff, point out LinkedIn conversations in which you might participate, or feed relevant news or blogger musings we stumble across for distribution on your Twitter page.

The reason we believe in this approach is simple: we use it ourselves.  I’m currently being supervised by our own Social Media expert Marilyn Moran – just this past weekend she pointed out a few LinkedIn conversations I was able to dive into, and she gave me a heads up today that my last blog entry was over a week old.  With two kids, a busy work schedule, and keyboard fatigue I’m sure glad someone is watching out for me, and helping our company execute on our Social Media strategy.

Who is watching out for you?

Jacob Smith is a Senior Project Manager and Web Strategist with Dinkum Interactive and has led over 150 high-level consulting and website development projects over the last 10 years. He is active in both the internet and cultural communities, and serves on the board of Philly Car Share, the largest car sharing organization in the United States. Originally from Southern California, Jacob and his wife, Meghan, now live in Center City Philadelphia with their young sons Rory and Duncan.

To get on with the story – Jill has a friend named Kara Vogelbacker whom I have gotten to know through soccer mainly. Kara is set on attending Pitt in the Spring, but before she heads off to Pantherville, she has an incredible opportunity with Google this summer and I felt this was something to share with you all.

Kara has been selected to participate in Google’s Computer Science Summer Institute. Once she graduates on June 16, off to Mountain View, CA she goes.

Over 1,000 students with an interest in computer science applied and only 35 were chosen for this opportunity (Kara being one of the 35 chosen). The program runs for 3 weeks and she will get to work at Google – contributing to actual projects and have time to network with Google employees and other computer science folks.

Photo above courtesy of Bob Raines who is a staff photographer for Montgomery Newspapers and shows Kara with her computer science teacher, Tammy Pirmann, who pushed Kara to apply for the program.

How cool is that? From having an interest in computers to working at Google headquarters for 3 weeks – nice way to start a career – even before attending college.

Very Cool Kara and Very Cool Google!

Rick Simmons is a principal at Dinkum Interactive, a firm specializing in online marketing solutions for small and medium sized businesses around the globe. With more than 25 years of experience in advertising and marketing, Simmons has spent the last four years focused on search engine optimization, and other Internet marketing strategies.  Reach him at 267-626-9094 or rick@dinkuminteractive.com.

Search engine optimization (SEO) isn’t just about optimizing your web presence for search engines (that’s important of course!); it’s also about optimizing for your human readers and understanding how humans use your website. Or, what I like to call, “HEO” – Human Experience Optimization. Wish I could take credit for the coined phrase; alas it’s been used before.

Here are Five Things You Need To Know or Do Before SEO

1. Know Your Unique Value Proposition (UVP). According to Wikipedia, “a value proposition is an analysis and quantified review of the benefits, costs and value that an organization can deliver to customers and other constituent groups within and outside of the organization”. In other words, your value is what makes you relevant, worthwhile, and beneficial to current or potential customers. Additionally, it can explain what sets you apart from your competitors and why customers should pick you over the competition.
2. Know and Own Your Message. Choose a message and stick to it. Don’t waffle. The message will, naturally, convey your UVP. But it is a brief statement that says “This is who we are, what we do, and why [you] should pick us.” The message needs to be clear and understandable to all who read it. Don’t weigh it down with jargon or fancy words. Uphold that message – in your branding, on your website, off-line – everywhere!
3. Know Your Target Market. This seems like a no-brainer really. But it’s super important to know WHO you’re talking to and cater your website’s content and offerings to them and their expectations.  This is actually where Social Media is becoming handy. Social Media is allowing us a unique opportunity to listen to our marketplace in real time. Check the pulse of your target market by listening on Social Media channels such as Twitter or on blogs.
4. Be Real. Today’s connected consumer is as savvy as ever. They can spot a scam or a bogus website a mile away. You don’t have to be over the top to get your UVP or message out there. You also don’t need to be wordy – give people what they want or need, in a genuine way, without wasting their time!
5. Install Google Analytics on your website. Believe it or not, we talk to new clients who don’t already have Google Analytics installed on their websites all the time. You don’t need to be an advanced analyst to understand Google Analytics. Reviewing your analytics regularly can provide insight on how viewers are getting to your website and how they are using it. This intelligence should help shape how you change and/or optimize your website in the future.

In summary, don’t get caught up in “Marketing Tactics Gone Wild”. Stay true to yourself and your customers – give them what they need when they need it and you’ll see good results from your web efforts.

Need to HEO your web presence? Contact us today.

Marilyn Moran is an Internet Marketing Consultant for Dinkum Interactive. With more than 15 years online experience and over 10 years in developing & marketing websites and Internet communities, she has spent the past 4 years focused on Web Strategy, Search Engine Optimization, and Social Media Marketing.  Additionally, she is an officer in the Philadelphia Chapter of the Social Media Club and sits on the Board of Directors for Philadelphia Area New Media Association. You can reach her at Marilyn@dinkuminteractive.com.