• Cost/Value… Uncertain the value of SEO/SEM outweighs the cost
• Time/Commitment… concerned about their/staff time commitment
• Fear of the Unknown… deluge of work or not  enough work

By far, cost is the primary barrier to SEO implementation.  There is no short-cut to successful SEO! A considerable amount of time and expertise is required to deliver sustainable and actionable online visibility. This doesn’t come free … even if the services are performed by in-house staff. What these decisions makers fail to realize is the true cost of lost opportunity/sales heavily outweigh the cost of SEO services.

The following information contains actual data recently mined for a potential client.  This is just a snippet of the entire report, but the numbers support our position.  Just 10 keywords deliver nearly 22,000 searches/month which equates to nearly 265,000 searches/year.  A conservative 3% click rate would yield 10,500 leads.  Furthermore, a very conservative 2% conversion rate would produce 200+ sales.  Imagine the potential if hundreds of keywords were properly optimized and not just 10!  With an average sale of $1,000-$1,500.00, revenue would exceed $265,000!

In this case, lack of search engine visibility resulted in $265,000 of lost earnings potential!  This is a huge price to pay for any business.  An annual SEO investment of less than $20,000 can yield double-digit returns.

Google has been in the process of building what they call a “Knowledge Graph” for years now. This is different from a typical search engine as we know it, rather, it tries to link information contextually- much like how a typical human brain works. By building this Graph, Google can serve up better results as its now not just looking at the term you are searching for, but also the context. This becomes extra important as we witness the rise of Voice Search.

Only recently has Google introduce Voice Search on the desktop version of Chrome. The Android operating system has had Voice Search for longer and as time progressed, it got smarter and smarter. When Google introduced Google Now for Android (and eventually iOS), Voice Search was a huge part of it. But, it’s a smartphone- there is more than one way to interact with it (voice and typing). This is where Google Glass will help shift the paradigm.

To (mainly) interact with Google Glass, you have to use your voice. Yes, you can navigate menus by touch, but if you want any sort of text entered, you have to say it. And, if you are like most people, you usually speak slightly differently than you type. This is where the Knowledge Graph comes into play. Now, not only can Google search for the specific term you state, but the context around it (Where is the closest train station to me? is an example). Based on the large pent-up demand we have witnessed around Glass, we predict that the amount of searches by voice will skyrocket once Glass is released to the public.

Don’t believe us? Google even has an HTML webform to embed in your own site (must be using Chrome to see):

<form method=”get” action=”http://www.google.com/search”&gt;
<input type=”text” name=”q” size=”30″ x-webkit-speech/>
<input type=”submit” value=”Google Search” />
</form>

From better searching, to finding translations, to interacting with devices in a new way- Voice Search is here. Are you ready?

http://www.google.com/insidesearch/features/search/knowledge.html

http://www.google.com/insidesearch/features/voicesearch/index-chrome.html

Image via CrunchBase

For most people, Alerts notifications are trickling to a halt. There hasn’t been a major update to the service in years, and it seems that internal development on it has stalled. Google Alerts is a free service that monitors indexing that the Google search engine does to the web. If a search term matches what is indexed, you will get an email alert. These indexing alerts seem to be slowing down, even when someone is posting a ton of content of the internet.

Users from Danny Sullivan of Search Engine Land to Christina Warren of Mashable are reporting missed terms or outright outages of coverage. With the sudden death of Google Reader, even pro-Google advocates are worried that this is the next service that will go. So what should you do?

It’s time that you consider moving off Google Alerts to a different service. Not only will your reliability improve, but you are less likely to be blindsided by a the sudden demise of a beloved service. There are many other services available now, such as Mention or Infoxicate.

Do you have a favorite alert service? Let us know in the comments.

Related articles

• An Open Letter to Google: Google Alerts Now Useless (thefinancialbrand.com)
• Are Google Alerts Dying? (mashable.com)
• Looking for a Google Alerts Alternative? Try This (mashable.com)

Product placement.

(image courtesy of Engadget)

Popular tech blog Engadget has noted that in one scene, there are 9 Apple devices on a table and screens turned on. Even for a congressman, it seems excessive? According to one of their sources, Apple provided them with equipment to use in the film. While no money exchanged hands (officially), having a company gift equipment to use in film saves a significant part of the prop budget (and the overall budget of the film). Not only are actors/actresses using the products on the show, they are often talking about them, thus feeding into the thought that it’s a “personal recommendation” of a product. Also, since the entire season is available at once, there is nothing stopping people from pausing to research a company and/or product.

This trend comes as good news to most companies. It’s much easier (and cheaper) for companies to provide products to studios then pay exorbitant amounts of money to have their products be featured. As long as everyone plays by the same “rules”, it also levels the playing field. (Coincidentally, only Apple has admitted to not pay anyone for product placement) The question remains if consumers will wise up to the trend and start tuning out the products.

What do you think of Netflix’s choice?

Related articles

• Netflix’s ‘House Of Cards’ Is Internet TV-Funded Original Programming But Don’t Kid Yourself It’s Ad-Free (Spoiler Alert) (techcrunch.com)
• Apple product placement in Netflix’s House of Cards (tuaw.com)
• House of Cards and effective product placement (thecommentator.com)
• Apple And Netflix Deal May Hurt Public Image (valuewalk.com)
• How Netflix’s House of Cards Breaks TV (tested.com)

As originially reported in the Marketing Land blog, this year there were some big brands that put hashtags in their ads:

1. M&Ms – #betterwithmms
2. Audi – #braverywins
3. Hyundai – #pickyourteam
4. GoDaddy – #thekiss
5. Doritos – #doritos
6. Best Buy – #infiniteanswers
7. Disney Oz – #disneyoz
8. Fast & Furious movie – #fastandfurious
9. Toyota – #wishgranted
10. Doritos – #doritos
11. Calvin Klein – #calvinklein
12. Cars.com – #nodrama
13. Bud Light – #herewego
14. Hyundai Sonata – #epicplaydate
15. Volkswagen – #gethappy
16. Subway – #15yrwinningstreak
17. Subway – #FebruANY
18. Bud Light – #herewego
19. Subway – #FebruANY
20. Bud Light – #herewego
21. MiO Fit – #changestuff
22. Pistachios – #crackinstyle
23. Speed Stick – #handleit
24. Budweiser Clydesdales – #clydesdales
25. Tide – #miraclestain
26. Samsung – #thenextbigthing

Advertising is ramping up in 2013… especially on the second screen.  Take advantage of the many opportunities available!  Give us a shout so we can show you how to level the playing field and build your brand.

Here was the most tweeted hashtag ad: