SEO vs. Content: Not a Battle After All

October 12, 2009

Search Engine Optimization gets people to your site. It boosts your page rank. It performs magic tricks, prints money and cures cancer. It’s the golden god of content management, at times, and it’s the number one goal of a company: get your name out there, and get it noticed.

If I sound a little sarcastic, you’ll have to understand that I’m a writer. Which means I have one goal over any other: create interesting content.

It’s this goal that makes me cringe when people say that SEO is the most important part of putting together a successful Web site; that copy should be manufactured with the robotic eyes of a search engine in mind.

And it’s this goal that often leads me astray, railing against SEO in the name of art and literature and everything the act of writing stands for.

Because the truth is – SEO isn’t king. And neither is content, anymore. Seems that both have to work in harmony.

See? Now I’ve just upset both sides of the debate.

There are two arguments in the battle. For SEO champions, it’s, “If your content is good, but no one sees it, is it worth it?” And for the content wonks, it’s “If you get people to your site, but they aren’t interested in staying, is it worth it?”

The real answer lies somewhere in between. It isn’t all or nothing for either side. You need both. In fact, one should naturally lead to another. Great content should generate positive SEO, as great content relies on communicating in a way that gives the reader exactly what they came for. And great SEO means you’re covering all of your bases – that you’re thinking for the masses instead of your little corner of intelligentsia.

It means more than compiling lists of regurgitated facts and keyword-laden copy. Conversely, it means more than developing beautiful prose more akin to Steinbeck than Sergey. It’s right in the middle. It’s what we sought out when we redesigned our Web site. And it’s helped us in both cases: better content and better search results.

No, it’s not SEO über alles. Nor is it content without regard to searchability. Simply put, it’s writing the way people will read. Will think. Will care. It’s managing content logically and creatively.

It’s copy written for robots and people. How futuristic. Are you doing it?

By Corey

Filed Under Technology, Marketing, The Process

A Web Message From HenkinSchultz

September 17, 2009

The New HenkinSchultz Web Site!

(And now a message from the corporate sponsor…)

We’d like to take a moment to re-introduce www.HenkinSchultz.com.

What? Re-introduce? Huh?

Well, yeah. We’ve re-designed the site. It’s been up for a few weeks, but this is the official launch, my friends, so let’s rock this joint.

But it’s more than a re-design. It’s a re-imagining of what our Web site is here for: namely, providing content to current and potential clients and the community as a whole. Our clients wanted more access to the awesomeness we’re providing, and we were happy to oblige.

So we’ve got constantly updated portfolios, HenkinSchultz’s Greatest Hits, easy contact to all of our other outlets – Facebook, Twitter, Post Haste – and the same devotion to our people.

It works because we’re all in on it. Every employee has a chance to update as necessary. It’s crowdsourcing at its best: when it works together for one common goal and not against each other for a cheap fix.

So welcome. We like what’s going on over at www.HenkinSchultz.com. And we hope you do too.

(We return you to your regularly scheduled Post Haste post.)

By Corey

Filed Under Advertising, Technology, Post Haste, HenkinSchultz, The Process

UX by MTLB

September 8, 2009

We’ve been thinking about the cross between impressive technology and customer usability a lot around the HenkinSchultz offices as of late.

So it’s a pretty awesome surprise that my good friend (in a strictly “blogging-on-the-same-Internet” sense) Bill Green of Make the Logo Bigger summarizes the User Experience discussion in a series of Pac-Man and vehicle side mirror analogies.

From “Why is this user experience [swear word] so hard?”

However, if I want to incorporate more features into my Facebook page, the effort it’s taken hasn’t been worth it. A simple thing like incorporating YouTube videos or my Flickr account has been a major pain. I’ve wasted so much time with what I thought “should” be an easy task, and still not gotten it right.

It’s like Pac Man: I just need to get from Point A to Point B, but instead, I have to do a bunch of stuff first and avoid some very bad things along the way.

Cue endless pokes and virtual beers thank you very much.

(If Pac Man isn’t to your liking, then how about this metaphor: Trying to do something on Facebook is like entering your front door by first going through the garage, then walking around the house.)

Read the rest here. And rock on, Bill Green. Keep fighting the good fight for all of us.

By Corey

Filed Under Technology, Design, Criticism, The Process

Avoiding Social Media Weak Sauce

June 29, 2009

A lot of small businesses are using social media. But it is interesting to see how few businesses are actually using social media well. Unfortunately, not many of them do.

Most still approach social media as if were just another place to put their billboard. How many times have you seen a Facebook page or Twitter post history that consist of nothing but product blurbs?

What they fail to see is that they are missing great opportunities to start conversations with potential customers. They aren’t harnessing the ability to build community around their brand.

Often times, there seems to be a correlation between companies with weak interaction skills and companies that don’t really seem to have a coherent brand. If a company doesn’t even understand brand, then of course they won’t get how everything can be an extension of their brand.

Could it be that the same mentality that doesn’t understand the concept of “brand” can also be linked to organizations that don’t even want to venture in to social media?

Like social media engagement, early brand management was stymied by an inability to show direct quantifiable results. Despite that, there were some who rode the hunch – who understood the power of a strong brand and used it to build business empires. Today the value of a strong brand is not only quantifiable, but often times what failing businesses lack most of all.

I am not contending that Social Media alone can bring in these kinds of numbers, but it can strengthen a brand. After all, isn’t a Brand ultimately a means to build a group of people who favor your product. Isn’t that what successful social media does as well?

A few companies really do understand how to leverage the power of social media when it comes to a more practical aspect – like customer service. You’ll see a lot of great examples on Twitter.

Companies like Zappos or Quicken Loans aren’t just using the web to make the customer feel a little more empowered or validated – they’re giving customers – and, in turn, the customer service rep – the power to instantly address concerns.

They realize what other companies miss: that the interaction doesn’t end once the service problem has been addressed. It continues beyond the transaction – as the satisfied customer spreads the story of the experience through e-mail, word of mouth, Twitter. In doing so, these customers are strengthening a company’s brand and helping secure future business.

For many companies, the step into social media is be a big one. For those that not only adopt it, but really use it to its potential, the rewards can build and sustain platforms to gain valuable insights and future revenue.

If you have seen any other good examples using other web venues, we’d love to hear from you.

By Mike

Filed Under Technology, Marketing, The Process

Behind the Scenes: Filming with The RED ONE

June 23, 2009

You’ll have to excuse us if we get a little geeky for a minute.

A few months past, we were lucky enough to get our hands on a genuine marvel in digital video – The Red One, an HD camera that is poised to revolutionize digital video as we know it.

We put it to test – with help from Bill Gerring and the crew from Spectrum Films – on a recent Avera Heart Hospital shoot. And it was all we expected – and more.

Check us out, on location: playing with the fancy camera, executing beautiful videography, and rocking out with Avera Heart Hospital.

By Corey

Filed Under Technology, HenkinSchultz, The Process

The Decline of Television and its Effects on Local Advertising

May 26, 2009

In an article on AdAge.com, Akamai CEO Paul Sagan points out that we’re witnessing the tipping point for web video vs. television. (Not surprisingly, he details this out in a web video that accompanies the article.)

In advertising, television’s superiority was that it reached the most people. Despite their diminishing reach, they continue to raise advertising rates. As a result, things start looking bad for local businesses. It will be more expensive for them to reach fewer people.

Enter the rise of online video. Hulu.com, for instance. Right now, Hulu’s ad breaks each consist of one very short spot. In addition, like Tivo and DVR, Hulu’s platform allows program pausing. These factors combine to give the viewer a superior experience over traditional TV.

The problem for local advertisers is that all the ads are a part of large national campaigns from big blue-chip companies. Which brings us to the big solve.

Technology has a funny way of creating new opportunity where it has wrecked the old. Local television advertising does not have to be an exception to this. Hulu, like all web video platforms, offers increasingly flexible and accurate ways of targeting consumers. More than simply targeting a demographic, web video can, through IP information and GPS in laptop and hand-held devices, make it possible for advertisers to literally know a person’s location.

If online video sites really want to show mastery of reaching specific markets, local advertising will be in its best interest. Right now, if you watch an entire program, you often get redundant commercials in the ad breaks. As a viewer, this is boring and annoying. Instead, fill some of those spots with local ads, offering a valuable layer of variety. In break A sites like Hulu could charge a larger rate to bigger companies. In break B, they could reserve one spot at smaller rates to local companies to make up the difference.

Local advertisers will also be able to show their clients much higher levels of analysis in tracking the impact of the online campaigns - something that is harder to gauge from traditional television spots.

But, it won’t be enough for local advertisers to just stay on top of web video marketing capabilities and technology. They will need great ideas for content and creative presentations that are engaging for the end viewer.

In that, some things never change.

By Mike

Filed Under Advertising, Technology, Marketing, The Process

No Use in Walking with the Bulls

May 22, 2009

If you’re typically courting clients under a cloak of secrecy – for example, if your clients demand proprietary restraint, or if they are well-known, well-endowed or well-heeled…

If you provide a service geared toward those who typically don’t use computers…

If you’re bound by regulations (see: insurance, health care and public service industries)…

If you’re only interested in offering coupons, and not in creating a conversation…

If you have no one dedicated to working the wires or keeping track of mentions…

Most importantly – if you’re only interested because it’s the cool new thing, and not because it’s the right thing to do…

…there’s a good chance that social marketing might not be for you.

Let’s be honest. While social marketing is a valuable marketing tool, it’s not the only tool. Contrary to rumblings on the Internet, print, broadcast and traditional Web marketing aren’t dead – but they certainly can’t be relied on as the only marketing source.

Just as social marketing can’t be relied on as the only marketing source.

Today’s marketing landscape demands not a plan, but a web – a full-out interconnected brand development that reaches from one medium to another.

One strand in that web is social marketing. But if you’re not going to do it right – if you’re not going to keep up with it, and if you’re targets aren’t going to recognize the value – sometimes you simply need to step back and let it pass.

In other words, either grab the bull by the horns or think about vacationing someplace other than Pamplona.

By Corey

Filed Under Technology, Marketing, The Process

Inside the 500 Error

February 3, 2009

My wife, Kerrie, sent me this ad from the inner bowels of The Nation’s web architecture.

Apparently, their server isn’t working correctly. I keep clicking around, and 500 Errors keep popping up. I suspect it’s the same for most people.

Thankfully for them, they’re able to sell some advertising space. A 500 Error - or the more common 404 Error - typically brings you to one of those “The page you are looking for is not around” pages of which, surely, you’ve cursed out on numerous occasions.

In the case of The Nation, they put it to good use with this advertisement from The Reality Coalition:

500 Error Coal

I’ve seen cute acts of wordplay. I’ve seen seemingly thousands of Fail Whales. But I’ve never seen a contextual ad like this. Nice work The Nation. And nice work Reality.

-

(For the record, I couldn’t get this to work on my computer. But, I have ads like this blocked through Firefox. So there you go.)

By Corey

Filed Under Advertising, Technology

Knowing (What You’re Doing) is Half the Battle.

January 13, 2009

CVGadget is a search engine aggrigator that pulls together and organizes search results for any name. Really, it’s just an organized way to Google yourself.

It’s not perfect. For example, using my name, clicking on “Blogs (By Google)” brings up six entries - literally, six blog posts from one of the three blogs I contribute to. And as Cuil.com proved, image search can be a pain - of the 17 image search results that pop up, only six are connected to my name or any of the sites I write for. And, naturally, anyone with a common name is going to find trouble searching for specifics, just as with Google (My friend John Scott brings up 200,000 results).

On the other hand, it does correctly identify my Facebook, MySpace and Linked profiles, and “Documents (By Google)” brings up .pdf and .doc files with my name embedded within.

It has potential. But it suffers from two crucial flaws.

1. It’s being done better elsewhere. Why go to a special site to Google yourself when you can, you know, just Google yourself?

2. It’s not ready to receive public scrutiny. It’s not complete. It’s not ready for launch. Search problems aside, it hasn’t even been proofed.

Video's

Video’s. Yup.

Technology, like creative marketing, is only as good as the first time you encounter it. There are too many choices. Too many distractions. If something doesn’t work correctly the first time you try it, you’re significantly less inclined to return. First impressions, after all.

If your first attempt is Bush League, you’ll forever be branded as Bush League until you can prove us wrong. And it’ll be harder to convince us the second time around. There’s a reason most people haven’t returned to Cuil.com since their first visit. They may have fixed everything, turning the site into the Google Killer it was supposed to be. But I’ll never know. It’s not worth my time to check.

Your customers. Your targets. Your bosses. Competition is rising, and resources are dropping. I don’t want to pick on CVGadget - after all, there are thousands of similar examples out there. Examples that feature unsound techniques, incomplete thinking and “good enough” execution.

With CVGadget, the unpredictability of the search results and the oversight in spelling won’t kill the site. But it will damper its respectability, painting the site as an unprofessional application that’s worth a look but not worth the time it will take to integrate it into your life. It’s “good enough.”

Unfortunately, “good enough” isn’t good enough anymore.

(Via brandflakesforbreakfast.)

By Corey

Filed Under Technology, Criticism

New. Improved. And all of that.

August 7, 2008

The New Site.It’s been a while, but we think the wait is certainly worth it.

Introducing the new HenkinSchultz Web site - a new look, with easier navigation and prettier pictures of, say, yours truly. Copywriter extraordinaire. Guitar Hero champion. All around great guy. Etc.

We’ve freshened up, cleaned out the corners and given you what you’d need in an agency Web site - the people, the work, the ideas and the philosophy. In the immortal words of Outkast, We’re “so fresh and so clean. (Clean.)”

And, we’ve even given Post Haste a facelift. Hooray blogs!

If you’re new to the site, go ahead and click the RSS feed and get Post Haste updates whenever we make them. Or, enter your e-mail for e-mail updates. Whichever you prefer. The choice is up to you.

And if you’re a seasoned veteran of Post Haste and HenkinSchultz, well, we hope you like the new look.

By Corey

Filed Under Technology, Post Haste, HenkinSchultz

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