Search engine optimization (SEO) is a sticky wicket, especially for me – basically a “marketing/branding guy.”  I’m still very green, but I’ve learned quite a bit from the HUGE brains of local developers (and friends), as well as those I follow through blogs and other sites.

One of the things that always confused me about achieving a good web ranking (see WebsiteGrader.com) is the number of inbound links you have to your Web site or blog.  One of the items that they score for “marketing effectiveness” are the inbound links to your Web site. I realized the importance of this after checking my own site’s ranking (right now it’s 96.9/100 with 205 inbound links). Inbound links are a big part of Google’s criteria for ranking your site.

How do you get inbound links? According to Website Grader (and most of the HUGE brains), there are a lot of different ways.  For a great overview of the levels of inbound linking available, Website Grader has a post on “Graduating from Inbound Marketing High school.”

One of the easiest ways to create inbound links is to…  do it yourself.  How? Here are five simple steps to start increasing your web site’s effectiveness:

1. Find other thought leaders in your preferred field (marketing, branding, cooking, whatever…).  This is easy to do if you search your preferred topic through Google Blogs or social media bookmarking tools like StumbleUpon.
2. Review and evaluate, looking for high-ranking, relevant blogs and Web sites.  Many sites will be basic aggregation of content.  Be very perspicacious and find the blogs/sites that provide the most optimal content and ranking to follow.
3. Bookmark and/or subscribe to the RSS feeds for these blogs.
4. Track and act upon blog posts that you can add value to by posting a comment. Make sure your comment is succinct and intelligent, using key words and phrases pertaining to your field of expertise.
   
5. DO NOT SPAM! Most (aware) blog administrators will blacklist you if you start posting comments irrelevant to their blog or have an ungodly amount of links within your comment. If you’re transparent and add value with your comments, and don’t overtly push links to your site; the click-through rate will start jumping.

And there you have it.  You have an inbound link to your site! Rinse and repeat… Simple.

Here’s a bonus.

That blog comment will also be indexed when Google crawls that Web site. So, when someone searches on your name, your Web site, or blog, they will see your comment as part of their Google return.  Brilliant!

Leaving comments on other blogs is a daily ritual for me.  At first it was simply to be social (it IS social media, you know), but as I discovered it’s value as a SEO/marketing strategy, I made sure to comment on other blogs, adding value (and backlinks) as often as possible.

I learn the most from other blogs and friends throughout the “interweb.” As I continue to post, comment, track and act, my foundation as a marketing and branding thought leader is building. It takes time, but trust me, being social pays off.

Food for thought…

Keep Cooking (strategic reciprocal value)!
Andrew B. Clark
The Brand Chef

Welcome to 2009! Man, it’s been a pretty wild ride.

Think of it… a short skip back, just five years, shows us that America can completely bungle a Presidential election and live (so far) to tell the tale. Counting errors blamed on both computers and humans made us realize that we can’t solely depend on one or the other any longer.

And if you remember, just nine years ago (this week), we were all wiping the sweat from our collective brow, having survived Y2K! My computer didn’t crash, did yours? (heck, I used a Macintosh… still do… did that really matter?)

If you think back just a little further – only 12 years – you may remember, Europe decided (all together no less) to pool their economic tender into the Euro. Contrary to naysayers, I don’t remember their exchange system crashing to a cataclysmic halt… heck I don’t recall even one report of change being counted back incorrectly.

Fascinating. I call it “Progress in spite of technology.”

So, why the somewhat tweaked glance back in time? Perspective. From what I can see, and whether we want it to or not, technology will continue to integrate itself deeper into our daily lives. And for marketing and communications, Web sites, blogs, e-mail marketing, micro blogging are all here to stay. So the time for being “technophobic” or a skeptic is over. Honestly, if you haven’t embraced implementation of technology in your communications (personally AND professionally), you’re already WAY behind the curve… but there’s hope.

So for 2009, what can we do to “tech-up” our marketing, our communications — our brands?

Here are some simple, yet TRUE steps – A Baker’s Dozen:

1. 1. Weave A Technology Culture – Use it to facilitate personal interaction, not replace it.
2. 2. Get social – Work within the culture, not against it, to facilitate technology adoption.
3. 3. Keep your message consistent – across all channels/platforms (from traditional print to new media).
4. 4. Maintain transparency – Technology accentuates the negative and brand ownership needs to be positive!
5. 5. Use technology strategically – get information to the right people at the right time.
6. 6. Start small – build on incremental successes. Turn the flame up too high and you’ll get burnt.
7. 7. Always Learn – Plan on and budget for extensive support and training for new technologies.
8. 8. Rethink Your Collateral Flow – Keep print materials available—just use them strategically.
9. 9. One Channel Is NEVER Enough – Use overlapping channels to communicate to a broader audience and “spread the love.”
10. 10. There Are No Stupid Questions – Ask for feedback and act based on it.
11. 11. Measure Twice, Cut Once – Obtain metrics where you can and make strategic decisions.
12. 12. Find Your “Special Purpose” – Don’t use technology only for technology’s sake—make sure it has a communication purpose.
13. 13. Always Chalk BEFORE You Misque – Test your message before you send it—and check everything, to the smallest detail (from spelling to links!)

In short – Embrace the future or it will come up an kick you in the shorts! History (even the shortest sampling of it) has proven that fact…

“I think there is a world market for maybe five computers.” Thomas Watson, chairman of IBM, 1943

The Brand Chef would like to wish you all a Happy New Year!

Until Next Time…

Keep Cooking!
Andrew B. Clark
– The Brand Chef

This weekend, The Brand Chef traded in the ‘ol toque blanche for something closer to a mortarboard. I just returned form a weekend seminar hosted by The Agency Management Roundtable on the workings and strategic approach to building an interactive agency. As promised, (via Twitter) I wanted to give everyone a sweeping update of how it went.

Considering I was somewhat disconnected (my hotel didn’t have working wireless), I found the seminars to be greatly reassuring and informative all at once. There were things that we discussed that, thankfully, are already being done. And then there were things that opened my eyes to huge potential for agencies and for our clients.

Here is a quick list of 10 Takeaways from the weekend (as outlined in the seminar overview):

1. Become an avid user of interactive: Generally a given, but if you use interactive to further educate yourself and stay up-to-date on emerging technologies and social tools; you’ll be even more prepared to strategize those ideas into profits for you and your clients.

2. Realize that online initiatives DO build brands: With interactive and social media growth, as marketers, we have less and less control of our (and our clients’) brands from day-to-day. Identify ways that your agency can become “Brand Stewards” for your clients.

3. Create a dedicated Interactive department – no matter how limited: Whether that’s simply assigning one person to become “Interactive Strategist,” you need to commit the staff and the time. Evaluate, promote, hire – however you approach it, make sure that person is right for the job.

4. Take the first step – test an interactive marketing plan on a past/current client: Once you have the resources to back up the plan, present it with confidence.

5. Pick from the “low hanging fruit” a project that sets the ball in motion: Create a “limited” interactive plan for a client to fit within a campaign you’re already executing. Build experience and confidence with baby steps.

6. Rethink your Public Relations department: PR professionals have a huge opportunity to utilize the social media landscape. Use blogs, etc. to spread the story.

7. Rethink your Media department: Traditional media (T.V., Radio, Print) can (and should) be augmented with online advertising. And don’t fall into the “banner ad” rut. Innovate your solutions with sponsorships, contextual advertising, etc.

8. Stop pricing what you don’t know: Create a process for interactive. Don’t just package “a Website” and sell it to anyone. There’s a LOT of money being left on the table if you don’t plan, work through a system and strategically build from the ground up. psssst… Brand your process…

9. Set up a standard for measuring your interactive initiatives: Basically, you need to prove what you’re providing garners results. That measurement can be as basic as Google Analytics or something more complex. But don’t just measure clicks or impressions… make a call-to-action that’s trackable… then report and change to improve.

10. If budget is a concern, partner-up: So you may not be able to build the perfect Interactive department today? The answer can be as simple as partnering with the right person(s). Be litigious, be wise, be the advocate for your clients’ brands. And watch them grow.

Basically, what I learned from this weekend was interactive media is a force. If, as an agency / company / individual, you don’t embrace what change is happening, you’re going to be left behind.

“If you don’t like changes, you’re going to like irrelevance even less.”
General Eric Shinseki, Chief of Staff, U.S. Army

Let’s move this conversation forward. Are you ready to embrace interactive? Or have you just been sticking your toe into the water (or worse – head in the sand)? Has your agency / company taken interactive to the next level (whatever that level may be)? Because, after all, isn’t conversation interactive?

Thanks to SiteWire for the information and their fantastic presentation.

Keep Cooking!
Andrew B. Clark
The Brand Chef