This is from the WSJ article:

“GM marketing executives, including Mr. Ewanick, met with Facebook managers to address concerns about the site’s effectiveness and left unconvinced advertising on the website made sense, according to people familiar with GM’s thinking…”

Given that I don’t know GM’s campaign particulars, I can only guess why the ads weren’t performing. That being said, I can’t help but think GM’s marketing agency got it seriously wrong somewhere along the line. This has left me with a number of questions and quite a bit of confusion.

Are GM’s Low Click-Throughs Really an Indication of an Ineffective Platform?

First of all, Business Insider reports GM’s  $10 million Facebook ad campaign suffered from a low click-through rate (CTR). Business Insider suggests part of the problem could be the fact that Facebook ads have a lower than expected ROI in general. I’m not so sure you can make this assumption, or lay the blame on Facebook’s ineffectiveness.

With a budget of that size, I think it’s fair to assume that the company was paying for a huge number of ads. Combine that with a low CTR, and I can’t help but think targeting and segmentation were significant factors here. It suggests to me (keep in mind that I’m purely guessing at this point) that one (or more) of three things happened:

• They targeted far too wide of an audience.
• They targeted the wrong audience.
• They approached the right audience, in the wrong way.

Can You Really Compare Facebook Ads to Other Platforms?

I also question the comparison of Facebook and Google AdWords. (Before I go any further, I want to say that I have a huge amount of respect for Wordstream. I will happily recommend them to anyone, and I do so regularly. This is not critiquing the company, their report, their quality, or their work. I’m merely exploring the topic and questioning BI’s use of the study in this context. With a bit of luck, I’ll maybe even inspire a bit of healthy debate that I can learn something from.)

With no way to see the data, how it was collected, or where it came from, I don’t feel I could confidently make the assumption that Facebook ads are less effective than Google ads. (Not that I’m 100% confident with any of my other assumptions in this big rant little post, either.)

Another reason why I don’t think it was an appropriate use of the study in this instance is because Google AdWords and Facebook ads are far too different. It’s like comparing apples and oranges.

I enjoy these kinds of studies and find them helpful, but at the same time, I don’t think the Wordstream team intended the study to be used in this manner. I think it was merely intended to make people think about where their money is going and make sure they consider all the options. I think it was also a great way for them to publish their findings and encourage discussion.

To put this another way: The scientific or healthcare communities don’t make major decisions based on a single study. They subject the study to a peer review and perform multiple studies on the same subject before making a broad, definitive decision like cutting a $10M ad campaign.

So, do I think Facebook ads are less effective that Google’s paid ads? Not yet. I think they’re two very different systems, with different users, different advertisers, and as a result, the two systems are worlds apart.

And while we’re on the topic, let me present this idea: When users search Google, they’re actively searching for a solution to a particular problem. When users are on Facebook, I don’t think their sole reason for being there is to research a product. So, the idea of measuring the ROI of your Facebook ad campaign by the number of sales and click-throughs you get is a bit flawed.

(According to one Oracle study (Word Doc), “24 percent of consumers say they incorporate their online purchasing activities on social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace, nearly the same number of people said they didn’t even know this is a possibility.”)

The Buying Process, Yardsticks, and How Facebook Ads Fit Into It

Now, I don’t know about you, but the buying process I go through when I want to purchase a vehicle is quite a bit different from the one I follow when buying a pair of shoes, a magazine subscription, or music. I have, on rare occasion, been known to click on a Facebook ad to purchase a Christmas gift. BUT, I can promise you that I’ve never clicked on a Facebook ad to purchase a vehicle. I don’t research vehicles on Facebook, either. (I usually talk to mechanic friends of mine to find out what they’ve been fixing lately.)

What if 5% of these click-throughs resulted in a sale? What’s the value of a click-through, anyway? How many of those click-throughs are converting? It could be very little. It could be almost all of them. In truth, you just don’t know. Someone could be clicking on the GM ad, checking out the car, and looking at the vehicles offered by their competitors, before stopping in at the dealership on his or her way home from work the next day.

Alternatively, let’s say a wife saw an ad with the picture of a car she likes. She realizes it’s the car from the TV ad she saw the night before. So, she turns to her husband and says, “This car looks really interesting. I hear it has x, y, and z features. Maybe we should get one of those?” The husband then stops at the dealership to look at the car. They may not make the final decision for weeks or even months after that. Are they going to say they heard about the car on Facebook when they made the purchase? Not likely.

Because GM has a fairly strong presence on Facebook, it might not notice much of a difference, but I’m worried that they won’t realize what they’ve missed out on. That’s like saying you lost the $5 million lotto prize because you forgot to buy a ticket for Monday’s draw.

I’m not the only one considering the validity of the Business Insider article and GM’s decision to pull the ads. Marty Weintraub of Aim Clear also has doubts and published his own rant on the topic, which has a number of other issues I didn’t bring up here. Business Insider also made some interesting arguments on both sides of the fence.

I don’t know. Am I way off base here?  The only thing I’m completely sure of is this: I would have loved to hear the arguments GM’s marketing team gave against the campaign. I think it would have been quite interesting and informative.

The problem with all these toys is finding ones that work well AND save time. Lots of times, I find ones with one or two helpful features and this usually means entering the same information into multiple locations. Or, I end up tracking several applications at the same time.

Well, you’ll be happy to know I’ve found some brilliant programs. They’ve made my life easier, and as far as I’m concerned, they’re a must-have for anyone creating content or running a website.

Project and Strategy Planning — Trello

Fog Creek Software call their wonderful new program “a collaboration tool that organises your projects into boards”, but Trello is so much more.

A free collaborative organizational program, Trello lets you create lists and cards you can add to a virtual board. These cards can then be dragged and dropped between the boards as needed. You can label and filter them, add comments, a voting mechanism, checklists, due dates, and more. (Did I mention you can collaborate with others and even publish the boards publicly?)

Currently, I’m using Trello to organize and track:

Books I’m Writing – I name the board the title of the book. Then, I create a list for each chapter. The subheadings and topics in each chapter are represented by cards in the list.

Marketing Strategies – I have one list for ideas, one for onsite marketing, one for offsite marketing, and one for promotion/advertising. Then, I create a card for each segment. (The email marketing list might contain cards labeled “signup strategies”, “pitches”, and “landing pages” for example.) To help flesh out the concept on each card, I add URLs, ideas, checklists, due dates, and notes in the comments section.

Website Planning and Building – Trello is excellent for keeping up with the constant changes that come with new websites. I create a list for each parent page, cards for each child page, and add links to additional boards in the comments.

For larger websites, I create multiple boards: The first board is divided into steps. So, I’ll make a list for market research, design, structure, content, marketing, etc. Then, each of those lists contains cards that represent and link to yet another board for each of the major steps. (Under marketing, for example, there might be a card for social media with a link to a social media board, one for SEO with a link to the board with all my SEO plans on it, etc.)

Content Creation — As you might imagine, I work on a ton of content for clients, my sites, and sites I run in collaboration with others. While I use Google Calendar and RememberTheMilk to keep everything straight, I found I still needed something to keep track of ideas and what stage each piece is at. So, I created a board specifically for content creation.

To do this, I made a list for each step in the process (ideas, currently writing, waiting for editing, ready-to-publish, published). Then, I drag each idea from one board to another as I get them done.

Easy peasy, right? Trello could use a few tweaks to improve its usability, but they’re pretty new and they’re working like crazy to add new ideas and features. Overall, I am absolutely loving it.

Trello Pros:

• Able to keep up with constant change (drag and drop)
• Excellent collaboration
• Flexible (boards/cards/lists can be used for just about anything)
• Free
• Labeling, filtering, and card customization

Trello Cons:

• Unable to make a card represent a board
• Comments get lost on extremely active cards
• Inability to integrate with other software programs like iCal, Basecamp, and others

Email Marketing and Newsletter Management — MailChimp

For effective email marketing and management, you can’t beat MailChimp. I’ve seen it in action for businesses of various sizes, and it always impresses me.

MailChimp starts with easy-to-build signup widgets and forms. These simple forms collect and automatically add respondents to a list. Then, you can use an existing template or create one of your own to make your own HTML and text emails. (Recipients can choose which format they prefer when they sign up.)

You can schedule the emails to go out at a specific time, create and drip feed an autoresponder series, or send them out immediately. You can send an email out to everyone, or segment your lists to personalise the emails and get a higher conversion rate. MailChimp’s reporting feature and live statistics make it really easy to see how your campaign is performing.

MailChimp offers a number of other services as well including an inspector to ensure safe delivery, an RSS-to-Email tool, geo-location, split testing, and more.

MailChimp Pros:

• Super simple for non-tech types
• Make campaigns as simple or as complicated as you’d like
• Integrates seamlessly with a variety of other software programs
• Flexible campaign creation
• Free or very affordable
• Solid list management
• Excellent reporting feature
• Easy campaign duplication

MailChimp Cons:

• Takes a bit of tinkering when you first start if you’re inexperienced and have no techie know-how
• Would love to see more data collection involved
• A bit clunky when dealing with late sign ups or sending to a single recipient
• Can’t disable social sharing on some emails and not others in a single campaign

Product Marketing and Membership Software — Your Members

A membership plugin designed for WordPress, Your Members isn’t something I’d normally recommend for anything other than creating a membership site, but wait until you can see what it does.

Your Members includes full user management, payment gateway integration, content management, and a ton of other features. It also includes add-on packages for Facebook membership sites, secure video streaming/distribution, and more.

Currently, I’m using Your Members strictly to manage and market the ebook series I’m working on. This plugin will make it possible sell my ebooks individually (choose the ones you want), in bundles of four for a small discount (buy all the books on a specific topic), as an annual 12- month subscription (for all 12 ebooks), or for a significant discount. It will also allow me to offer additional content and ebooks, as well as deliver courses and other features.

I think this is brilliant for anyone who creates content. You can use Your Members to sell your works of fiction (think: a novel and a series of short stories, or releasing the novel as a series), videos, podcasts, products and educational courses, blog posts, web designs, images…If you can make it, Your Members can sell and manage it.

Your Members Pros:

• Create flexible packages and memberships
• Full content control (Hide or show full or partial posts)
• Tons of opportunities to upsell and cross-promote
• Super easy to install, set up, and customize
• Ability to create your own messages and emails
• Integrates easily with other software
• Excellent customer service

Your Members Cons:

• Requires an initial investment
• You need to plan how you’re going to offer your content very carefully
• Must make sure the right people have access to the right content

Social Promotional Tool — inviteApe

Social sharing and word-of-mouth marketing are becoming more and more important. A recent Neilsen study showed more than 70% of consumers trusted socially shared content over brands and official media sources, so why not use this to market your products and services? That’s where the inviteApe WordPress plugin comes in.

This tool allows your followers to share links and information to your website and rewards them when that share pays off! So, if I share a link about my buddy Glenn’s book, and you click the link, I get a free copy. Ok, maybe just a discount or some other free material, but you get the idea. I used it to share initial copies of my first ebook and I don’t have a single complaint.

inviteApe uses Gravatar to create personalised pages for you and all your followers without lifting a finger. You can redirect users and customise the offer however you’d like. It’s a brilliant, quick little app.

inviteApe Pros:

• Easy way to encourage others to share your content and expand your reach
• Very little setup required
• Works for just about anything, and with a little customisation, you can even use it to sell and sign people up to mailing lists
• Works easily with pretty much any theme

inviteApe Cons:

• Need an established social-based following that’s already sharing and paying attention to your content
• Must have a main offer and something to give. This “something” has to attract others who aren’t as familiar with your work and tempt them to share

Invoicing and Bookkeeping — Freshbooks

I love that Freshbooks has a dashboard where all of my clients can log in and see what’s happening with their accounts. The UI is pretty and easy for everyone to use, and it tracks everything involved in my projects including my time, expenses, how long it takes them to pay, how much is outstanding, and how much I’ve been paid for. Best of all? It’s priced at a level that’s suitable for individuals and small businesses.

Another thing I really enjoy about Freshbooks is that it integrates with tons of stuff. This means I don’t have to worry about setting up PayPal requests or copying and pasting the same information multiple times. I just set it up and go.

The time tracking is probably good for people who remember to turn the silly thing on and off, but for me, it just doesn’t work. I need something with automatic tracking, a desktop app that works on my Mac, and something that lets me assign the time to a project, without having to go back to the website. For this, I use Paymo.biz.

Paymo’s time tracking app still needs some tweaking because it’s a bit clunky, but it’s new. And I have to say that it’s the best I’ve found for Mac so far. (Paymo is actually another really good alternative to Freshbooks. However, I find it has more of a project management focus, which is why I chose Freshbooks. I also don’t generally use time to invoice, so it isn’t much of an issue.)

Freshbooks Pros:

• Slick, brandable interface for clients
• Easy and fast to track and send invoices
• Uploading options means you can keep all of your client’s files in one place where they can access them whenever they need to
• Snail mail and email invoicing. Also does recurring payments
• Affordable
• Integrates with Basecamp and numerous other programs small businesses already use

Freshbooks Cons:

• Time tracking is helpful, but it doesn’t auto-track movements on your desktop.
• Another set of log-in details for clients
• Initial setup takes some time
• Frequent tab switching when locating and setting up projects

Customer Relationship Management — CapsuleCRM

CRM programs have been a particular pain for me. I’ve tried a bunch, and I’ve found they all had major issues for me:

• Desktop-based — Really sucks when you travel and frequently switch machines, not to mention a huge resource hog.
• Affordable, but don’t do what I want — I hate having to track everything manually!
• Fantastic, but expensive — If I have to work six months to pay for client management software, I don’t care how well it works. It’s not worth it.

Capsule CRM integrates completely with Gmail, so I never have to re-add information. Just click the button to upload the email and it’s done. It automatically matches the email with the right client.

It manages sales leads, as well. As a small business, I don’t find this section as helpful, but I’m trying to get into the habit of maintaining it for that inevitable day when I realize I’ve once again grown bigger than I thought. Overall, the entire thing is quite intuitive and I no longer have to worry about losing emails to a server crash. (Just be sure to back this up.)

CapsuleCRM Pros:

• Stores contacts individually and as an organisation
• Integrates with other software and apps, as well as social networks
• Makes contacts and organisations easy to find, including any projects or opportunities associated with them
• Change an individual into an organisation or an organisation into an individual
• Merge multiple contacts

CapsuleCRM Cons:

• Doesn’t allow you to make a case into an opportunity or an opportunity into a case
• Doesn’t include cases and opportunities on the dashboard
• No way to search the content of emails? (There may be one, but I haven’t found it yet.)
• Tasks and calendar don’t integrate with iCal and Gmail tasks or other calendar/to-do apps

Content Collaboration — Gather Content

I’ve been looking for a suitable way to share and revise content with clients, and this quest brought me to Gather Content. It basically gives you a way to design mockups and insert content. You can then invite clients, designers, and others involved in the project, so they can revise and tinker with the layout and the various elements. You can assign pages, due dates, and upload content. When you’re done, you can export the whole kit ‘n’ kaboodle in one full swoop.

I don’t think I’m using it the way the developers had intended it, but so far, I’m pretty pleased with it. At the moment, I’m using it to design and layout new website content. I’m also using it as a temporary home for all the new content for my existing sites. I couldn’t care less about the design options, but I did have a play with them and thought they worked quite well. I’ll be testing this one further before adding it to my existing client routine.

Gather Content Pros:

• Easily create and move pages
• Files, comments and everything you need is in one place
• Project organisation is fantastic
• Keeps track of what’s due and when
• Easy for others to change things and make comments. (Revisions are all saved, so you can easily move from one revision to the next without losing anything.)
• Free!

Gather Content Cons:

• Having to play with the design is a bit frustrating when you just want to use it for content. You need to add a text box to the page before adding content
• Reloads the entire page when you switch from one page to another. Avoid this by opening pages in multiple tabs
• No integration with other software or apps yet

To Do List — Pegby

I’ve used RememberTheMilk to handle all my to-dos since I started my business. I enjoy it, and find it’s really convenient, but I have been playing with Pegby recently. It’s another one of those pretty drag-and-drop apps that you actually don’t mind playing with. You create one card for each item, and from there, you can add notes, files, and tags. You can push it off until later, or share the board with someone else and delegate the tasks.

This is fun for me, but not practical when things start getting overly complicated. Not to say it won’t work for someone else, but my brain simply doesn’t work that way. That’s why I’m still using RememberTheMilk to handle all of my long-term tasks. But, I’ve found Pegby’s Trello-like information radiator layout is a great option to manage my daily to-do list. (I’m still playing with it, so opinions here may change.)

Pegby Pros:

• Pretty, fun, and makes me want to get things done, so I can move the cards around
• Information radiator layout is ideal for daily task lists
• Free (Works on a pay-what-it’s-worth model)
• Collaboration is pretty simple
• Email cards to the board
• Paying members can make boards public and give them their own branding

Pegby Cons:

• Can’t simply tick off completed tasks if it’s an item with multiple steps
• Not really designed for long-term task management

That’s it for me.  What sorts of tools have you recently adopted or been testing? Anything I should try?

*** Update ***
The other day, I tweeted a blog post and made a comment that I really liked the tag cloud the site was using. Today, Infomous replied to my tweet with a thank you and a gift! Turns out, it’s a tool. And they have a bunch of other really neat tools for analysts and publishers like this nifty alternative navigation system. Very nice, yes?

Blog Tag Cloud

Twitter Tag Cloud

SEO and Content Publication

I came across two great business-type links this week. The first is Matt McGee’s post on the downside to publishing content at specific times of the week or day. I published my thoughts on AngieNikoleychuk.com, but overall, it’s a good, quick read, if you haven’t seen it yet.

The second is from Monica Wright. She did a guest post on Raven Tools that addressed the worries non-SEO site owners often face when they start working with an agency or SEO professional. Again, she brings up some really important points and gave some really good tips that should help you get more from your SEO dollars. This is never a bad thing.

Internet and Website Security

ARS Technica covered a story on the .secure TLD. In it, the author introduced readers to a security researcher who just received $9 million dollars. And what is he going to do with this kind of money? Why, create a private area of the Internet for organizations like banks and governments, of course. This left me with quite a few questions, but you can read more about that on AngieNikoleychuk.com.

What If Your Copywriter Had a Dark Side?

On the fun side, I discovered a great site called The Depressed Copywriter. If you like good ads and Internet memes, this is the perfect site for you. While some of them are creepy, or just plain wrong, some of them are absolutely brilliant. They got more than just a few chuckles out of me.

3 New Tools For Creating Better Stuff

I enjoy Problogger, and I love trying out new tools, so this post by Neil Patel was right up my alley. (I’ve been following him on Twitter for quite some time. Super smart fella with some brilliant 140-character revelations, but I digress.) In the post, Neil recommended IFTTT. I’ve looked at this tool a few times during the past few months and have considered using it in a number of different ways. I think it has amazing potential, but I just can’t seem to sit myself down long enough to have a play with it.

I already use the last tool Neil recommends regularly for keyword research, but the second tool he suggests is the answer to my prayers and a fantastic alternative to the now-missing Google Lists and Google Wonder Wheel.

If you want to know what these tools are, you’ll have to read the post for yourself. It’s called 3 New Tools That Can Help You Create Better Content, Convert More Readers, and Conquer Higher Search Rankings. (Dear Neil, you need shorter headlines. On a side note, it worked. lol)

Speaking of tools, I’ve been looking for ways to easily manage multiple WordPress sites. Today, I came across InfiniteWP. It’s free at the moment, but I see there are premium addons coming. At first glance, it looks slick and easy to use, but I was wondering if any of you have tried it?

Anyway, that’s it for my wanderings this week. Cheers!

(Photo Courtesy of ICanHazCheezburger)

Penguin was next, and it caused just as much panic, if not more. Sites that had sat in the top ten for years suddenly vanished. And practices that had worked well for a good many years suddenly had negative effects on the site’s rankings. The result? Even more legitimate sites felt the slap of the penguin.

While Google said this last update was designed to affect those using crap tactics like link networks and keyword stuffing, it seemed to do much more than that. Duplicate content, (which has been an issue for quite some time),  large amounts of copied or republished content, and pages created specifically (and solely) for SEO purposes also seem to be creating hassles.

This has left website owners with more questions than answers. Now what are they supposed to do?

Consider Your Audience

I really thought this was Marketing 101, but after seeing tons of posts recommending that you focus on keywords and link building tactics, I’m not so sure. I’m not saying I disagree, but you need to use basic common sense. If you’re building a brand (as opposed to a turn-and-burn site), you should always consider your audience. That’s the whole point of creating the site in the first place!

Sadly, far too many website owners focus on what they want to tell everyone, rather than what their audience wants to hear. And to these people, I have one thing to say:

You don’t matter.

No one cares about a brand or a company. They don’t care about what you think, and they certainly don’t want to hear about the next big idea you have. They aren’t going to hand over the cash just because they like you.

Customers care about the benefits and value you can provide. That’s it. And without providing them with some sort of payoff, the rest doesn’t matter. It’s only after you’ve provided this value and built up a rapport with your customers that loyalty, devotion, and other important elements in the sales process come into play.

(Photo by Jurvetson)

Stop Creating Content for the Sake of Creating Content

Lots of websites create and publish content simply because they’re trying to maintain a regular schedule, or because their SEO professional told them to publish x number of articles monthly. This is all well and good. These things definitely have benefits, but eventually, you’ll run out of things to say and start publishing junk.

(While James Chartrand didn’t specifically mention SEO or marketing benefits in her post about abandoning her editorial schedule, she did talk about how the constant need to create great content can ruin your image. The comments are also full of good information and ideas.)

And your customers want something in return for investing time and energy into your company (even if that “investment” is nothing more than clicking a link to your site). Stop providing that value, and they might not come back.

Think of it like this: Every time you come home, the family dog greets you at the door and you give him a treat. Then, you run out of treats, so you shout at him. Run out of treats often enough, and the dog is going to stop greeting you at the door (or bite).

You might not be yelling at your site visitors (and I’m not saying they’re dogs), but you get the idea. Everything you create, publish, and spend time on should have a purpose and a point. And if you keep your audience’s needs in mind, this step should happen naturally.

If It Seems Too Good to Be True, It Probably Is

“All you have to do for a number one ranking is distribute 30 articles a month to 2000 different sites. These articles cost $10 each, so you can be number one for just $300!”

Ready for the bad news? If an SEO strategy seems really easy and cheap, it’s probably not going to work. And if it does work, it won’t work for long. As soon as Google updates its algos, the value will disappear and all that money and time will be wasted.

Bad article marketing is just one example. Even great link building techniques can be a bad thing if they’re overused. Your marketing strategy needs to be customer-centric and have variety, if you want to get anywhere and avoid animal updates like these.

To do this, you need to take three steps:

• Assess what you’ve already done and what you have access to.
• See where your industry is in terms of news and information.
• Identify things your target audience isn’t getting from your competitors.

The resulting strategy you create should be as unique as your website and the customers who frequent it. (As a side effect, creating a strategy like this should also naturally eliminate low-quality tactics like keyword stuffing and constant content republishing.

(Photo by Cayusa)

Resist the Urge to Put a Band Aid on the Issues

It’s hard to resist the panic when your site’s rankings and traffic drop, but don’t scramble and take desperate measures to fix things. You could very well end up costing yourself far more than you gain.

For example, I recently spoke to a website owner who removed all the backlinks to his site that didn’t come from standard websites that had a Toolbar PageRank of 3 or higher. This sounded good, at first. But think about it: Now, all his links are the same. There’s no variety. And there are now no low quality links, which would appear naturally anyway. He also spent the better part of a week getting rid of these links. (The value and accuracy of Toolbar PageRank is a whole other post…)

My suggestion? If the links and content you’re worried about are really bad and likely having a significant negative effect, get rid of them. Otherwise, forget about the low quality stuff and start investing in higher quality content and links. Take the opportunity to do it right. Create a link bait strategy and build better links, for example.

Here’s something else to be aware of:

In the process of trying to fix things, this site owner obliterated all of his content, except the site’s main pages. This worked. The site rose in the search results. But, a short time later, the site’s rankings started to fluctuate, and eventually it plummeted beyond its previous position.

What happened?

It could have been a few things. First, he may have very well eliminated content and links that were keeping his site afloat. Interestingly, Google had also released another algo tweak while he was making changes to his site, so that could have done it, too. But because everything happened so quickly, he has no idea which actions helped the site and which one harmed it.

All the time and money he had invested in his site is wasted. Customers that might have landed on his site through various links will now get a 404 page. And, instead of a few tweaks, this site owner now has to start over from scratch.

If you feel the best way forward is to remove content, links, or make other changes to your site,  do yourself a favour and make the changes slowly.

• Keep track of what you do and when you do it.
• Give the search engines time to assess and rank everything, before making additional changes.
• Make sure the changes are reversible, at least at the start.
• Try to change a small area first. This way, you can get an idea of what the results will be, before you invest heaps of time into making the change.
• Get a second opinion and do some research. This way, you can be sure that the problems you’ve identified are actually problems.

Variety, Creativity and the Desire to Stand Out

Perhaps the best thing to come out of all this is the challenge Google has presented to the billions of brands trying to be found online. With these last few changes, the search engine has upped the ante and challenged website owners to go beyond blending in. Take advantage of it.

Get creative with your strategies, your content, and your branding. Take risks. Have fun with it, and don’t be afraid to branch out a little. You’ll give your readers some relief from the same old stuff and  improve your rankings and authority in the process.

Focus on variety. Use different mediums, markets, industries, and strategies to give your site (and link profile) as much variation as possible. Not only will this help immunize your site against future updates, but it will also help expand your reach and capture the eye of different audiences.

Remember: Nike didn’t become an industry leader by fitting in. This company created amazing products, took chances, and did things differently from everyone else. And today, thousands (or even millions) of people won’t wear anything else but Nike brand sneakers.

Want to know more? Head over to Success Works to watch Heather Lloyd-Martin’s video on the subject. In the meantime, what tips do you have for recovering from Google’s algorithm updates?

Today, I thought it would be fun to share a sample of it with you. Enjoy!

Boost the Strength of Your Content

Congratulations. Things seem to be rolling along nicely. Your link bait may even be ranking well in the search results, thanks (at least in part) to a little known ranking factor called ‘Query Deserves Freshness’ (QDF).

(The search engines believe newer content is better, so they often list new content higher in the search results to see how it does. It’s also the result of the high number of links, traffic, and attention new content gets compared to older content. And without maintaining this momentum and establishing your piece, it will start falling in the search results.)

To make the most of your new rankings, and the attention your fresh, new piece of link bait is getting, you’ll need to increase its strength and visibility almost immediately. In fact, I make this part of the pre-planning phase because it takes work and time.

Link Back to Your Own Link Bait

Usually, when I create an important piece of content, I also develop a guest posting strategy to go with it. This way, I’m generating links to keep the content up in the search results, but I’m also driving fresh traffic to the piece, while expanding my reach. (I’ll write more on this later, but in the meantime, check out The Fine Art of Creating a Guest Posting Strategy.)

This strategy is almost identical, except for what I choose to write about, and how I choose my targets.

For example:

Let’s say we’ve created link bait for a car manufacturer entitled ‘The 20 Strangest Cars on the Road’. For guest posts, I would create content that looks at customizing cars, odd cars from history, unique uses for various cars, and other content that touches on the subject of the link bait piece, but doesn’t duplicate it. If it fits, I may add a little extra intrigue by borrowing an image or video from my link bait piece, to use in the guest posts.

Then, I publish a few of the guest posts on the same day as my link bait, a few more the next day, and so on. Why? When readers click through from the guest post to read more of my content or see what I have to offer, they’ll land on the link bait piece, and continue reading. After all, if they were interested in the guest post enough to click through, they’ll likely be interested in our link bait as well.

The transition is smooth, and readers are more likely to read further, rather than returning to the first site. (I should add that I normally don’t publish additional blog content immediately after a link bait piece. I like to milk my link bait for all it’s worth, before moving on.)

The second reason for this is to create a safety net. If something goes wrong with the piece (it attracts the wrong audience, feedback is negative, it’s not getting attention, etc.), I have time and the opportunity to make changes and get things back on track.

When choosing sites to guest post on, I tend to stay away from others in my industry. Instead, I search out sites that are target rich. This means their readers are interested in the content, use my chosen social media networks, and own websites (are likely to link back).

So, in our example, I would look for sites such as car magazines, companies that specialize in customizing cars, high-end recreation websites, and others who attract people with a high income, and an interest in expensive cars. I may even create pieces that look at cars driven by top CEOs and target business magazines and websites.

Blog posts aren’t the only format you can use, of course. Other types include:

• Videos
• Slide shows/presentations
• Ebooks
• Articles
• Press Releases
• An app, widget, game, software, or tool
• White papers
• Case studies

You can use anything really. The only rule is that whatever you choose has to link back to your site and target the right audience.

Continue to Generate Interest

It’s no shock that people lose interest in your content the second you press publish. So, if you’re going to keep people coming back in the weeks ahead, you’ll need to keep working with it.

One I way I accomplish this is to create…

Want to read the rest and find out how I keep traffic coming to my link bait? You’ll have to get your own copy of Copywriting Master Class: Creating Successful Link Bait.

Drum roll…

Copywriting Master Class: Creating Successful Link Bait

Designed for beginners, and those already creating their own link bait, this 40-page book and accompanying workbook will make creating quality content and generating links a breeze.

Unlike many of the others out there, this ebook doesn’t start with how to write the post or article. It starts right at the very beginning, with a look at what link bait is and isn’t. Then, I walk you through the entire link bait creation process, step-by-step, including what you need to do after you’ve published your content.

You’ll learn how to:

• Identify your target audience.
• Research and find out what they’re interested in.
• Plan your content.
• Write a powerful headline.
• Format and present your content.
• Market and push your link bait.
• Monitor traffic and make changes on the fly.
• Perform a content audit

Find out more about Copywriting Master Class: Creating Successful Link Bait here.

If we’re going to sign up for a newsletter, we want to get something for it. We want something of value that every other man and his dog who visits the website doesn’t get. That’s why we created Hot Topics from Angie’s Copywriting.

A New Kind of Newsletter

By signing up to our email list, you’ll get access to unique, in-depth information you can’t get anywhere else.

You’ll also get:

• great discounts that actually amount to something
• access to products/services before anyone else
• opportunities no one else will get
• and insider news about Angie’s Copywriting, tests we’re running, contest we’re holding
• much, much more

In short, this is a newsletter you actually want to be on, and we know you’ll be upset if you miss it!

Your Sneak Peak of This Month’s Issue

We won’t give you all the goods found in this month’s issue of Hot Topics. (You can get access by signing up here.) That would be cheating, but but we will let you in on a few of the juicy tidbits you’ll find inside it.

If you’ve been searching for a decent book on SEO copywriting, look no further than Practical SEO Copywriting, by Glenn Murray. We’ve reviewed the book here before, but if you look in this month’s issue of Hot Topics, you’ll get a huge 35% discount on this and other books Glenn has written.

He’s never given such a huge discount before, so combined with his money-back guarantee, you can’t go wrong. Get it. You won’t be sorry.

We also gave list members access to our exclusive report on writers, education, and quality content. If you hire writers, are a writer yourself, or produce quality content, you definitely want to see this report.

Inside the exclusive report, you’ll find out what 8 of the industry’s biggest experts had to say about:

• hiring writers
• how much education plays a role in producing quality content
• what they look for in a writer
• what degree a writer should consider to improve their content
• what university education (or lack thereof) has done for their business
• what traits content has to have to be effective
• and much more insider information

This report is huge. We learned a ton doing it, and we’re sure you will, too.
In fact, those who got a sneak peak at it were shocked by the huge amount of information in it. They also said it’s a really engaging read (which convinced us to release the entire report, instead of just half of it.).

(Courtesy of April Allen of Aprill.net)

Wanna know something else? It’s also the only one like it available online.

What are you waiting for? Get signed up and get your copy now!

This poll led to some great discussion and I added my two cents as well (I’ll let Mike tell you about that on his blog) . The truth is, I’m just not that excited about it. I don’t see it doing well, and while it may rope a few businesses, and a number of sites will likely use it, it just doesn’t have the power.

Is +1 Really a Social Thing? No, but Yes

When people originally started picturing +1, they compared it to the Facebook ‘Like’ feature. There’s no denying the similarities, at least not after it is out in the wild and on your favourite sites.

Unfortunately, for social media lovers, +1 is missing a key feature known as aggregation and conversation. Facebook does this, and does it well. So, other than seeing an ad that some guy from Tuktoyaktuk I know through Twitter clicked or +1′d (which is a social failure all on its own), it has no real purpose.

That isn’t the only role +1 is speculated to have on the Web, however. And really, iIt isn’t exactly meant to be social.

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+1 As a Business Thing and Cash Grab

Not long after it launched, Search Engine Watch published several speculations about the real purpose behind +1. Aaron Wall and Loren Baker said it’s purely a business thing, created specifically to push Adsense ads, Google Accounts, and other features. I completely believe it. Anyone who read the Adwords blog that day would too, and let’s not forget Google is in this to make money.

By launching +1, it can push businesses to use Place pages and other local, business specific features it has been known to monetize in the past. This is fully their right, and just may work, but I highly doubt they’ll be successful.

Ruud Hein of Search Engine People also spent some time speculating how the data gathered through +1 could be used for ranking purposes. Ok, I could maybe see that working too, but…

Google Forgets About One Important Thing

There is no doubt in my mind that, if business owners see their ads will be found more easily because someone clicked a button, they’ll pay to opt into the feature. This side of the feature will likely fly.

What they did forget about, however, is that people actually have to click and use the +1 feature, and they have to be in your social network. Will people really use it? I honestly can’t see it.

Facebook’s ‘Like’ and Twitter buttons already do this and have already been adopted by users. Why would they switch now? I sure wouldn’t. Right now, I have two groups of people I share things with. Business associates, with whom I share things on Twitter, and family/friends, who I share with on Facebook. What incentive or benefit do people have to switch?

The other issue is that people actually have to go back to the SERP at this point to +1 something. Now, I don’t know about you, but I spend a fair amount of time wandering online. I jump from link to link, switch tabs, and do a fair bit of digging. Why in the world would I waste time researching something or pressing the back button repeatedly to find a stupid button that may or may not be seen. Others, such as Lee Odden and Jon Henshaw have expressed similar concerns.

Here’s another conundrum Google has: I have three distinct social circles: 1) Friends and family who don’t know and don’t care about what I’m mumbling about, using, and sharing online because it’s usually work related. 2) Work related people who actually may be interested in the things I share. 3) Friends and acquaintances, who understand and may be interested in the odd tidbit, but really could care less for the most part.

Why would I share personal things I like with group #2? Why would I share work related things with group #3? In the SERPs, they get it all, even if it’s research for a client project. On my social networks, I can share it with people who are already looking at what I have to say. If it’s personal, I share it on Facebook. Work related stuff gets shared on Twitter. Why would I need a third?

I would also like to add that what I find relevant, quality, and interesting is only shared by a small percentage of my social connections. Many times, I pass up the links they share elsewhere because they simply aren’t that valuable, in my opinion. Having these same links show up in the SERPs isn’t going to make me any more interested.

(Photo: Derek Gavey)

What Google Needs To Do If It Ever Hopes To Go Social In Any Way

I think marketers and Web-savvy people pretty much agree that Google sucks at anything social. They just don’t seem to grasp the concept, and either mimic things other companies already do well, or create something so disjointed it’s essentially useless as a collaboration or social tool. Google has yet to decide where it stands in a world out of its control.

The way I see it, businesses are jumping into social media with both feet and figuring out what to do with it all afterward. Many of them post without any real central location or any way to access it all. They fail to create a hub of value.

Google, one the other hand, has already been including features such as tweets and status updates in the search results. What it really needs to do is aggregate all social content and serve it up much like it does in the search results already. However, give users an option to filter it globally, within their social circles, and divided by lists.

Give users a global dashboard, much like some social apps already do, where they can see all of their social networks at once, search their content, and find what they need. Create a hub that consumers can use to see a company’s social interactions and reviews all in one place.

Greplin is already very much like this for your own social stuff, and Trunkly is great for aggregating several sites into one place, but they both still have a long way to go, if they intend to become an aggregated social hub. Sadly, they need access, power, and money. Sort of like what Google already has, but has dedicated mostly to neat toys. In short, Google needs to stick to what it does best: search.

The other thing Google needs to do is connect all of its services together so that they play nice with each other. My Motorola ATRIX phone automatically picks up all of my contacts, including those stored in Google contacts, and puts them all together in one central location where all of my apps can access and use them. Why doesn’t Google do that?

Of course, I’m not sure I’d want Google having quite that much information about me, but it already has way more information about me than any other company on the planet, most of which it can gather without permission or a password. Make things like Google Docs easily sharable and workable right from the major social networks. I’d love to be able to share a calendar or item from Google Docs with a quick push of a button or two, or define groups for collaborative work, without having to set up each site separately. Remove the repetition! And for goodness sakes, make sure all it’s current offerings are integrated and work together!

They have true potential here, and simply are failing to use it.

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Angie’s Copywriting is no exception. The company and I both experienced exponential growth last year, which has prompted me to make a number of changes in order to serve you better and achieve even more success.

Angie’s Copywriting Brings On Some Extra Help

Currently, Angie’s Copywriting has a full workload, and with upcoming changes, it’s simply more than one person can handle alone. So, I’m thrilled to announce that Annetta Ribken of Word Webbing is joining Angie’s Copywriting. She’ll be taking on much of the article and blog post writing, as well as editing and researching tasks.

I’ve known Annetta for a number of years, and am honored to call her friend. Her delightfully creative flair is unmistakable. She has an amazing ability to make the boring topics interesting, and is an excellent researcher. She works hard and knows her stuff. I can’t wait for you all to meet and work with her!

I’ll still be editing and approving all pieces before they go out, but I’ll be able to dedicate more time to various other projects and plans, as well as the sales and web copy.

On a side note, we’ve also partnered with a number of product, software, and service providers over the last year, so watch for these announcements (and maybe even savings) soon!

Your Very Own In-House Copywriter

You know how you need an in-house copywriter, but you don’t have enough work or the budget to hire one full-time? Angie’s Copywriting has the solution.

Starting January 1st, 2011, Angie’s Copywriting began offering a Copywriter-On-Call service. You can get a copywriter when you need one, without paying for one when you don’t. As an added benefit, the work is done as quickly as possible, sometimes even immediately. It’s the affordable alternative to hiring a full-time, in-house copywriter.

Here’s how it works: You pay a flat fee per month, and in return, you’ll get a copywriter who will edit your documents, assist with emails and internal memos, create correspondence, and much more. You’ll love this fast, flexible service.

The End Of Discounts

Discounts have caused a lot of headaches, and after examining them and their effects on everyone, I’ve decided they’re not providing the value you deserve. So, after a lot of thought and consideration, Angie’s Copywriting will no longer offer discounts to new clients. No exceptions. This is effective immediately.

The only discounts offered will be to loyal clients who regularly support Angie’s Copywriting. We feel this is the way it should be, and think you will too.

Customer-Specific Service Packages Now Available To the Public

Previously, certain packages and products were only available through special promotions, sponsorships, and arrangements. No longer!

Soon, all packages and services (as well as a few new ones!) will be available to everyone. This should better meet your needs and make it far easier to order. I’ll be sure to publish more on this later.

Pricing and Communication Changes

Yes, we all hate the idea of price changes and I hate to bring it up, but along with all the new information, skills, conveniences, and offerings, prices have changed. On the bright side, you’ll receive an even better value for your money than you receive from Angie’s Copywriting.

During the last six months, I’ve enjoyed speaking and interacting with you all very much. However, I’m working a lot of odd hours and have a very busy schedule, which makes it extremely difficult for me to take everyone’s calls. I’ve also found it much easier to have a record of our correspondence in my email where I can refer to it at a later date.

So, to reduce the number of interruptions and allow me to be better prepared, phone calls, instant messages, and direct meetings will only be available by appointment. However, you are free to leave a message via Twitter, Skype, or email, and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can.

The Soon-To-Be-Famous Angie’s Copywriting Email List

In case you haven’t noticed, Angie’s Copywriting now has a mailing list. If you haven’t signed up already, you’ll want to do so right now. Very soon, people on that mailing list will start receiving monthly content you can’t get anywhere else.

Mailing list members will also receive free copies of books I release, tips, hints, news, special products, services, and much more. Most of them won’t be offered to the general public, so you’ll want to make sure you get on that list as soon as possible.

I promise not to spam you, share or sell your information, or use it for anything else other than sharing news, information, offers, and tips that I personally approve of and wouldn’t use/enjoy myself. Plus, it will only come out once per month, so it shouldn’t stuff your already full inbox.

Angie’s Copywriting and Search Marketing Wisdom

Alan Bleiweiss recently honored me with a position on his elite team of search and internet marketing experts at Search Marketing Wisdom. This amazing opportunity will have me appear alongside people I both enjoy speaking with and admire a great deal. I promise you this site will be publishing some amazing content, so make sure to add it to your RSS reader and follow the site’s Twitter account. (The first two posts are already up.)

To kick things off, Alan is giving away an iPad and some other amazing stuff, so get your name in for them while you’re having a look around!

I have many other great announcements coming soon, along with some huge changes I can’t wait to tell you about. Those will come as soon as I can safely share them with you. You’re going to love it!

Before I end what was supposed to be a quick note, however, I’d like to thank you all for your support, patronage, interactions, and giggles over the last few years. I’d have never gotten here without you!

Here’s hoping your holidays were amazing and 2011 is even better.

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Well, there’s more to it than just saying ‘we’ll do a little bit of x, y, and z’. Your UGC needs to match your marketing plan and business goals, but it also needs to cater to the needs and desires of your client base. In short, the strategy must satisfy everyone involved and provide value on one side of the conversion process or the other.

User-Generated Content Basics

You’ve been hearing the chatter about this type of content for months, so I’m not going to go into the basics. If you’d like to know more on those, you’ll find some great posts on TopRank (stats and integration), WiseGeek (nitty-gritty, point form ABCs), and Chris Grannell (Psychology of User Generated Content PDF).

We’ll add a great slide presentation here, too:

The Strategy’s Target

While it’s tempting to do it all with one strategy, you have to decide which product or service is most important. Which one needs the most attention and will hopefully leave you open to integrate other offerings? You can offer multiple opportunities at some point, but focus on one main goal at a time.

There’s a bit of a trick to this. If you get too granular, you will have to push really hard to get user-generated content and run the risk of not getting any at all. Not to mention, the views and interest in the subject will be lower. If you get too broad, your message and the purpose gets too muddled and diluted to be effective.

If you’ve become too general, you’ll have to start creating multiple sections, complex systems, and lots of rules or hands-on editing to keep it going. And while this is occasionally pulled off with flare, it usually just makes the system difficult for everyone. If you make it difficult, people just won’t bother using it.

Here are a few examples: An auto sales website might focus on Fords or used vehicles. A web designer can likely get away with pushing website designs or logos. If you are a shoe manufacturer that only creates one type of shoe, on the other hand, you can get away with pushing the shoe type and cover the entire site.

Gathering the Ideas For Your UGC Strategy

Every time I create a user-generated content strategy, I have to start be creating pools of information that we can manipulate and tweak in order to generate the ideas that we can either ditch, use, or put on hold. Sounds simple right? Just start listing off ideas, right? Well, not quite. Not saying that you won’t get lucky and hit a winner, but it’s not exactly a methodical approach.

To get this pool of ideas, I create lists of information we can pull from users and how those things can be integrated into a website.

Pre-Sales Funnel Needs — What do users need before purchasing your product or service? What do they have? What do they need to know if they’re going to buy from you?

Product Needs — What do users need while using your product or service? What sorts of things do they use with it? What can they do or use to get more from the things they purchase from you?

Post-Purchase Needs — What sorts of needs do they have after using your product or service? What’s their next step? What sorts of materials do they have to offer after use?

Website/Marketing Capabilities — What sorts of mediums do you have at your disposal that would make use of the previous three lists?

Under each of these, I just start listing all of the things that fit including information, products, services, ideas, and problems users will encounter at each stage. Then, I wander through various target-rich environments and see what the chatter is all about, what questions they’re asking, and what they’re praising. These get added to the lists, and by the time I’m done, I’ve got massive lists of ideas I can pull from.

In your last list, mark down the types of mediums or concepts your website either currently handles, or could handle with a reasonable amount of tweaking. Photo albums, membership areas, video uploading, audio collections, user-generated blogs…the list is endless. At this point, list them all. You never know when something odd will become a unique streak of brilliance. (Hey, it happens!)

Associate a Need, Want, Or Desire With an Idea

Here’s where your creativity, cleverness, and insanity come in handy. Look at each item and think about how you could present that information to others. While I’m in the middle of the process, I give myself extra brownie points if I can come up with something that will make people laugh, prompt a trip down memory lane, go ‘aaaahhh how cute’, or drive (healthy) controversy. You’ll also want to give yourself extra brownie points for any ideas that naturally show off the benefits or traits you’d like to highlight in your products and services.

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Consider User Habits, Interests, and Preferences

Hopefully, by now, you’ve already profiled your target audience, your complementary businesses, and vendors (and know which of these three you’re focusing on here). This should be a complete profile which includes everything from demographics, beliefs, habits, economic situation, and any other little tidbits you can gather together.

Then, compare these details to the ideas you generated in the previous step, tossing out anything that might be offensive or otherwise unusable. Next, mark anything that’s likely ineffective because of these same traits and move them to the bottom of the list.

Choose the Best Concept

At this point, I’d move the ideas with the most brownie points to the top of your list, go through them, and try to find reasons to keep or discard each one. Be ruthless! (Oh, and do yourself a favor and write them down. Trust me. You only have to forget once to figure out why.)

Don’t toss out the ideas you didn’t use. You’d be amazed how many of these simple ideas can fit together. Also, if your idea *gulp* fails, you’ll have plenty of other ideas to fall back on.

Go ahead! Try it!