HFTB Marketing Blog

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No such thing as a free lunch?

How about, no such thing as a free link.

Christopher Ross publishes a web design and marketing blog I read and comment on frequently. The blog has a lot of useful content, including tips, how to lists and recommendations for online marketing and site/blog design. In fact, I list it on my blog roll here.

One of the tactics Christopher has used to drive comments on posts is a free page rank 5 link from his site to the top 10 commenters – by number of posts. Interesting idea. Incent visitors to comment – those that comment drive traffic – both his site and his top commenter’s sites’ page ranks go up as a result.

Only one small problem. There was no subjective measure of a post’s worth. And as a result, many virtual spammers (my words, not his) climbed to the top of the top 10 commenter’s list. Comments soon became more about quantity than quality. Those looking to grab a spot in the top 10 barraged the blog with short comments that best case had little to do with the post, and worst case were completely devoid of any type of thought about the topic at hand.

So Christopher made the tough call of taking down the backlink incentive.

The reaction – entitlement.

For some reason, people had come to believe they were entitled to the links – regardless of the quality of their contribution.

As a frequent contributor, but someone who never scratched the top 10 list, it seemed a reasonable thing to do. After all, a comment that actually contributed to the topic of the post was less valuable under the old system than a quick and dirty comment posted to get into the top 10. The assumption being that more comments were better than quality comments.

So I wasn’t really that surprised when the practice was dropped.

The same cannot be said for many of the other visitors to the site. Christopher actually chose to address the issue in a post following a number of emails and posts from commenters who felt they had a right to their links. They had grown accustomed to getting the links, regardless of their contributions to the blog community.

In other words – they felt entitled.

To me, entitlement is lazy. It fosters a belief that no matter what happens, you deserve whatever benefit, right or privilege you currently have (or think you should have).

In business, entitlement is deadly. And from a marketers perspective, will almost certainly lead to the loss of sales, clients or your business.

So how do you fight the entitlement urge?

Constantly deliver value. Whether it be new and better products or services, impeccable customer service, or relevant and valuable web content, the idea that you have to earn your clients and their continued business every day is a hallmark of a successful and enduring company.

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Links, Marketing, SEO content, customer relationships, linking strategy, links, Online marketing

Attended a great webinar put on by Hubspot this week.  Brent Leary, co-founder of CRM Essentials, presented on How to Use Social Media to Attract More Customers.

You can find the video and slides for download here. Check it out!

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New Marketing, SEO, Social Media, Web Design Add new tag, blogging, content, customer relationships, digital marketing, New Marketing, Online marketing, Social Media, social media marketing

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.

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SEO coding, content, optimize websites, search engine optimization, SEO

Should content always be free, or can you spare an email address or two?

In David Meerman Scott’s work “Lose Control of Your Marketing,” he makes the case that offering content on your site that requires some user information is an old tactic which is ineffective in the world of new media.  Of course I paraphrase, but this is the general gist.  He goes on to say that to be an effective new marketer (my term, not his) one must give up control.  This includes putting your information out there for anyone to access… no strings attached (or info requested).  While I agree in principle with the giving up control part, I’d ask you, how valuable is your email address?

Of course, I have a couple addresses that I consider extremely valuable.  But then I also maintain addresses that I use for content offers.  As a marketer myself, I’m more than happy to play the game.  I figure that if someone can get my attention through email, great.  But I want to know how they did it.

In other words, it’s not just the content that is interesting.  I also study their methodology and tactics.  We all know how crowded the email space has become.  But there are still those that stand out.

Scott’s idea that all information should be free is fine.  But for the majority of the content that I request online, I don’t mind providing an email address. With CAN-SPAM I can always unsubscribe if I find I don’t like the content showing up in my inbox.

The idea of giving up control where measurable marketing ROI is concerned I largely agree with.  If you are putting out bait pieces strictly to grow your list, bad idea.  The content must be relevant, valuable and timely, or I would suggest not putting it out there in the first place.  But assuming these criteria are met, why not ask for a name and an email address?

While Scott assumes this is an ROI tactic relegated to CMOs intent on pleasing CFOs, I advise my clients to simply use an email address as the first step to a longer relationship.  A relationship that is not sales-based until a certain level of expertise and trust has been built up.

I get the idea that if you provide compelling, valuable content people will come back to your site.  Think it’s a great idea in fact.  But quite frankly, there are a lot of very good sites out there putting out very valuable info.  I don’t have time to get to all of them on a consistent basis.  But if they are willing to remind me of their content, and every once in a while their products, in an unobtrusive and convenient way that I agree to first, my email address is not all that much to ask.

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Email Marketing, Social Media content, Email Marketing, marketing ROI, new media