Milk the Spider

Increasing Web Traffic with Online Video - 60 sec Podcast

Increasing Web Traffic with Online Video - Click to Play or "right-click and save" to download.

The Value of Podcasts - 60 sec podcast

The Value of Podcasts - Click to Play or "right-click and save" to download.

Social Media for Small Business - 60 sec Podcast

Social Media for Small Business - Click to Play or "right-click and save" to download.

Google loves Video

 

Google loves video       

About a year ago Google changed the way they assess and rank websites and for some strange reason many businesses haven’t realised that the good old SEO techniques are not as important as before.  Yes, sure it’s still good to have well constructed text, keywords and the like, but these days it’s the web 2.0 tools that are really driving the search rankings.

Today, the best way of  getting  good “Google Juice” (or good rankings), is by using video, followed by podcasts, blogs, links and last static web pages – in that order!

Why? Because they help drive new visitors to websites and they encourage visitors to stay for longer.

Estate agents and recruitment agencies around the world cottoned on to this some time ago and have seen dramatic increases in page views. For example a recent survey in the USA found that having 16 videos on your real estate sites increased page clicks by more than 30%.

But it’s not simply a matter of dusting of the handy-cam and telling the world why it must buy your product.

There’s a big difference between producing television adverts and online videos. Sure they’re probably about 30-60 seconds long and both use the same kit. But that’s missing the point.

TV advertising is about the viewer  “leaning-back”  - watching whatever’s put in front of him (or her) whilst online video is about the viewer “leaning-forward”  - where they are in total control of what they’re watching.

So, if you’re going to succeed with online video try to make sure it’s relevant, engaging, sharable (use hulu, YouTube and the rest) and, last but not least,  don’t forget the meta-data and file names (for Google’s sake).

 

Social Media Issues for Recruiters 60 secs Podcast

Social Media Issues for Recruiters - Click to Play or "right-click and save" to download.

Social Media Benefits for Recruiters 60 secs Podcast

Social Media Benefits for Recruiters - Click to Play or "right-click and save" to download.

Rich Media gets easy

No need to write it all down.

You've finally settled into a comfortable routine of updating your blog regularly, making sure the content is fresh and has plenty of colourful pictures. 

After countless hours spent making sure it updated other accounts you work with, such as twitter and facebook so that your exposure levels were  keeping up with the latest trend, you're satisfied that you've got the foundations of a good campaign that will grow over time and you're getting regular feedback and building relationships.

But what if you're not good at creative writing?  Sure twitter has condensed this down to a couple of lines, but if you're trying to build a following, you need that following to be led to something more substantial every once in a while.  That can be daunting if the only place to send them looking for new content is a blog you struggle to fill.

So what else is available to produce interesting content easily and cheap?

Four years ago I would have given you an answer of "not alot", but 2005 was the year of the blog, now we have options.

Video, audio and still image.  I will not waste time explaining what Youtube is, you already know, and for most it is not seen as the ideal replacement to a blog or addition to their social media marketing. 

I want to look at the subject of video as a means to engage, whilst highlighting a couple of sites that have made the process as easy as putting an update on twitter.

Firstly, I think it's necessary to point out that, if the video process is to be a simple as a twitter update, it still needs to be given thought in order to make it engaging and relevant.  Most of us don't have anywhere near the experience of working with video that we have with writing, so the key to working well with video is to keep it short until you get better.

Secondly, the issue of the right equipment - used to be an expensive area. Got a webcam? Now you're ready.

So who's here to help?

I'm highlighting two sites that I feel have covered all of the above well. the first is 12second.tv

It's obvious what you are expected to do and they give you plenty of ideas for content and quality, (they even have competitions for the best vlog that day).  Whilst at first it may seem like most people are using it to show off their gorgeous pet that only they love or yet another head and shoulders comment, the advantage is the shortness of the media. 

For businesses who need to produce quick updates on time sensitive offers, 12second.tv is a perfect opportunity to get the message out fast.

If you're the point of contact that the customer sees when they enter your business, and it's your face they've seen on the vlog, you've already established a relationship without ever meeting them, they will feel like they know you, makes it easier to sell.

The second site is twitvid.io  It's the same concept as 12second.tv except that it directly associates itself with Twitter.  The use of short video messages combining with twitter was inevitable considering you have always been able to view web links and images through twitter.

twitvid.io appears to be used more predominately by business who want to engage whilst at their place of work as opposed to pet lovers.

The ability to share and tag your videos on both sites makes them powerful tools for seeding the message fast.

Combined with their capacity to communicate seamlessly with your webcam and the fact that they provide options for other cameras if you don't have an integrated camera, takes the cost issue and throws it away. Time is now the only cost in getting your message out there, (and perhaps a bit of make-up) whatever media you choose.

Having a website is not enough!

Having a website is not enough!

The days of relying solely on a website to drive online business are well and truly over. These days businesses need to consider other online opportunities to raise their profiles and build new business. 

We recently completed an audit of potential networks for a client and were staggered to find we had more than 40 alternatives to consider.  Bearing in mind this company could be described as your typical SME, it’s difficult to see how they were ever going to handle such a workload.

One useful outcome from the exercise was our grouping of the types of social media available:   

        Blogs

Often forgotten about but still one of the main ways to engage with audiences. Check out typepad, wordpress and blogger

 

        Micro blogging

Copy limitations mean short, frequent messages.  The best example being Twitter

 

        Forums

One of the origins of social media and especially useful in specific sectors. Check out Web news and discussion site webmasterworld

 

         Social networks

The highest profile networks with the greatest number of members. Originally the domain of the general public but businesses have more recently realised the commercial benefits. Sites include Facebook, My Space

 

        B2B networks

Business orientated networks often with industry specific groups. Leading examples include Linked In and Xing

 

        Sharing sites

These can be broken down into sub-categories such as:

            Photo sharing sites (flickr, Photobucket)

            Video sharing sites  (Youtube)

            Presentation sharing sites (slideshare)

            Audio sharing sites (audioboo)

            Music sharing sites (napster, limewire, last.fm)

 

        Collaborative networks (Wikis)

Often referred to as the simplest database available, Wikis rely on users to generate the content.  Most famous is the wiki encyclopaedia, Wikipedia

 

        Social bookmarking

Allows you to store distribute information via the web. Have a look at Digg or Delic.io.us

 

        Review and rating sites

Often over looked but sites like amazon were one of the first to encourage buyers to comment on products.  Ratings and reviews have proved very powerful tools in the past.

 

How you use these networks will depend very much on your business, your products and your audiences.  Before starting out, develop a social media strategy that also takes into consider your other marketing and communications activity and your resource limitations. And finally set some objectives so that you can gauge your success later on.

Over the next few weeks we'll be exploring each of these types in more detail.

 

 

Social Media for Recruiters - 60 sec Podcast

Social Media for Recruiters - Click to Play or "right-click and save" to download.

Qype - The UK's largest local search & recommendation site

A brief introduction to Qype

According to their "About Us" Qype was founded in 2005 and has grown to become the largest user-generated local review site in Europe, with several million unique users a month.

It covers over 6000 cities across Europe and is the brainchild of Stephan Uhrenbacher from Germany.

Qype has grown so fast because it is based on the premise that people make their decisions from others' experiences - particularly if those experiences are produced as reviews and aggregated.  Which is true.

Qype has a mobile version like rival Yelp but whereas you would be hard-pushed to find a review outside of London on Yelp, Qype seems to have reviews available everywhere.

Users are able to upload photos of what they are reviewing such as a restaurant, cinema or pub and it links nicely with Google Maps.  It's also possible for users with an iphone to do this from their mobile.

Being available for mobile makes the site very useful if you're out and about and need a good restaurant for a client or other local service.

Qype isn't just a user-generated review site, it also provides business listings, so that, even if your business hasn't received any reviews it can still feature in a search query.

Overall Yelp makes a better job of the features available to both, (the google map integration plots a set of results and also shows which is the easiest to get to from your current position).

However, Yelp really is poor outside of London, so whilst Qype will give you reviews and listings for recruitment agencies in Torridge for example, Yelp currently may draw a blank.

Sites like Qype will grow in importance to Social Media Marketing in the coming years as users find their mobile phones to be the indispensible information resource on the go, (they do already don't they?).

When a consumer needs to make a quick decision, if your business is competing in a tough market against local rivals, the competitive edge will go to the business that manages what is being said about it good or bad and where.