Archive

Archive for March, 2009

Why Do Readers Unsubscribe?

March 17th, 2009

A good opt-in email list is worth its weight in gold.  And most good lists are the result of long running campaigns and continued customer relationships.

But the work is not done once you get the sign-ups.  No, maintaining the list is just as important as building it in the first place. After all, the “U” word lurks in the back of the mind of any email marketer.  Unsubscribes can quickly kill an email list.

So why do people unsubscribe to content they were initially interested in?  Marketing Sherpa released an interesting chart this morning on just that subject.  The chart lists the top 6 reasons subscribers choose to become unsubscribers.

Check it out here.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

Email Marketing , , , , ,

Coding vs. Content: Is there an SEO magic bullet?

March 10th, 2009

For some reason there is a pervasive belief that SEO is a process that can be applied to any website.  I have clients ask us to optimize websites that were written years ago without a thought about how they would be found, or more accurately, searched for on the Internet.

I guess this idea has been talked up by a lot of firms that are proponents of the coding side of the argument.  In other words, most optimization work takes place behind the curtain – a process that few would understand and is too high-level to be explained anyway.

This idea makes sense, in a self-perpetuating kind of way.  After all, if it is so difficult to figure out the inner workings of the Google algorithm, barriers to entry in the SEO space are high.  Effectively keeping those without genius IQs and degrees in Computer Engineering out of the business.

Of course, there are those (myself among them) that believe the barriers to SEO aren’t daunting at all.  In fact, they aren’t really even there, from a high-level coding and computer science perspective.

In my experience, the most effective optimizers are those with a compelling story to tell.  Simple as that.

Once again, we default back to the time-tested rule: content is king.

So if you are looking for search rankings and a robust presence on the Web, focus on what your customers want, need, and are likely to search for.  Then tell them your product story and how it satisfies their want, fulfills their need, and is the product they are searching for.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

SEO , , , ,