James Richardson

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Archive for the ‘Youtube’ Category

If Youtube is not in your SEO Strategy you fail

Posted by admin on October 17th, 2010

Through Twitter recently I stumbled across a nice article on Search Engine Watch, which presented an interesting fact about search and SERP:

“Videos, properly submitted, are 53 times more likely to generate a first page Google ranking than traditional SEO techniques, according to a recent study by Forrester Research.”

Now, I have always known about the potential of video SEO, and have touched on it for clients over the past few years – but never really given it the attention it deserved

After reading the above article, I started doing some research on some key areas to find the competitiveness of key local search terms on Youtube, just to see what I was up against.

To somewhat surprise, I discovered the Australian local video optimisation landscape is next to non-existent. People are making videos, and there is certainly some savvy business owners out there who are taking the first step, but the optimisation of the video listings has a lot to be desired.

Some current results:

  • Financial Planner Melbourne
  • 59 Search Results
  • 11 “All in title” Results
  • Melbourne Accommodation
  • 428 Search Results
  • 28 “All in title” Results
  • Melbourne SEO
  • 239 Search Results
  • 30 “All in title” Results
  • Real Estate Melbourne
  • 1580 Search Results
  • 55 “All in title” Results

Note: ‘All in title’ results means videos that have those keywords in the correct order. This gives us an even better idea of the number of other videos we are competing against. To search ‘All in title’ results, just type “allintitle: keyword” and replace ‘keyword’ with your chosen niche.

The above results are some pretty competitive terms. As an SEO company, if someone were to call to me wanting to rank for any of those local terms I would tell them to expect no quick results, and a lot of hard work form both my team and the client to help them get there.

Video marketing on the other hand may be the ‘backdoor’ we have looking for.

According to the same Search Engine Watch article goes on to say “Results begin to appear in days, and some publishers succeed in getting 25 percent or more of their videos to produce first page results.”

I am certainly one guy who is more than convinced. I have opened up iMovie on my macbook, and am firing up the webcam.

3-2-1….Action!

Over the next few weeks I will be running some video optimisation tests using video sitemaps and various Video optimisation techniques so stay tuned.

Source: http://searchenginewatch.com/3636282

Why SEO always beats Social Media

Posted by admin on July 16th, 2010

Facebook this, Twitter that, Social Media is taking over the world, and the marketing budgets are now starting to be stretched to focus on this new ad exciting medium.

Don’t get me wrong, I am a social media junkie-I use them all and most likely, more than the next guy, but its should never be the core-it should be a secondary channel.
I have noticed recently brands are getting caught up in the hype, and forgetting about the online marketing fundamentals – SEO and PPC.

By concentrating on SEO and PPC as the primary-with some Social Media work to help build communication channels with current and potential customers-your going a long way to having a well rounded online marketing strategy.

Here are 3 reason why SEO and PPC are better than Social Media.
  1. SEO looks after the ‘Homebase’
    This principle was coined by Chris Brogan, and later Darren Rowse and resonates perfectly in this case. When approaching Social Media, remember-its not your website-you don’t OWN it. 
Social media outlets do change as new players come on the scene (Think Myspace.com), so by all means use social media as a marketing outlet for your brand, but use it as a way to draw people into your ‘Homebase.’
    By spending time, money and efforts improving your SEO, or spending money directing PPC traffic to your site-you are looking after your business long term and creating more direct leads and visitors to your website.
  2. SEO does not require full engagement
    Don”t get me wrong, SEO requires plenty of time and effort-but you can manage and control it through use of third party SEO companies, or available internal resources. 

    SEO does not require you to check and monitor things on an hourly basis, and does not require a sense of humor or any creativity.
  3. SEO and PPC is measurable and provides a direct ROI
    Yes, I’ve heard the @dell story! Getting a direct ROI from social media is difficult, and hard to measure. SEO and PPC were at that point when people were still spending thousands on print ads, but today, you can track things down to finer details.

Social Media is great. I certainly encourage all brands, companies, and individuals to invest time in the technology, but never lose sight of the end game.

Disclaimer: I do work for an SEO company, but to be honest-it doesn’t change my thoughts on this matter at all.

2 Things I learnt from the Old Spice man

Posted by admin on June 30th, 2010

Old Spice: a brand making a great comeback from its origins as an ‘Old Man’s’ option for mens bathroom products, has take social media to new levels.

What began as a very clever television commercial series (By very clever, I mean hilarious and silly), has morphed into something of an internet phenomena in the past few days.
Moving past the hilarious ads, the marketing team behind the campaign took to social media platforms to engage directly with fans and address comments, with the use of the actor from the ad, and some clever use of writing and youtube.
At last count there was 116 video responses to intent user questions, some absurd, some funny, and others that were a clear marketing ploy to reach influential users – and all executed perfectly.
Now, we don’t all have access to a team of writers, high quality video gear, or the fandom of internet celebrities (Just yet), but we can still take some great learning’s from this campaign that we can implement for our own brands:
  1. Video content is compelling and well received: Video content is a great way to promote your brand. Everyone has fast internet, and short attention spans. By hitting them with meaningful video content-you will have an easier job engaging them quickly.
  2. People share cool stuff: The great thing about social media is that things can take off really quickly if someone likes it. Social Media is built for sharing, so if you create something compelling, clever, amazing, the masses will do the spreading of the message for you. Use this theory in everything you do, especially when writing blog content-good content spreads.

To see more, visit the Old spice Youtube page, or visit him on Twitter

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