Entries for May, 2009

The Fate of the Paper News
by Loren Skaggs
March 18, 2009

I was recently at a conference discussing local advertising for a specific industry. When our expert in media buying discussed the channels for a particular campaign, he mentioned only one daily newspaper, The Seattle Times.

Now, as of today, the print version of the other major Seattle paper, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, has ceased to exist, moving to an all-online format. And the Eastside Journal-American is long, long gone. But I was a little more surprised to see that The News Tribune of Tacoma hadn't made the media buying cut. The Tribune has long been a player in the geographical region covered by this particular advertiser.

After the conference, I asked the media buyer about this omission, and he said that he doesn't expect the Tribune to last much longer, either. I guess I shouldn't have been surprised, but I was "“ I guess it's a form of denial that something could ever happen to my hometown newspaper.

But it doesn't stop there "“ speculation is now that the venerable Seattle Times itself may not be around much longer, leaving the bulk of the Puget Sound region with no daily newspaper at all.

Well, allow me to rephrase that, slightly: no daily newspaper. The news isn't going anywhere, at least not right away. The Hearst Corporation, which owns the Seattle P-I, will almost certainly continue to operate the news organization as an online-only entity. The Tribune and Times would likely do the same. What isn't going to continue is the printing of news on paper.

So, does this mark the long-anticipated transition to the paperless society? Has the Internet finally triumphed in the battle of page vs. pixel?

Well, probably not. Not yet, anyway. Smaller community and specialty papers (sometimes called "shoppers" by traditional news people, usually with some level of derision) still seem to be doing fine. I can still pick up a copy of The Seattle Weekly and The Stranger on any Seattle street corner, and the Sammamish Review still shows up on my driveway every week. But I suspect that will change eventually, too.

The newspapers have yet to fully adapt to the new realities of the Internet. It'll be interesting to follow the experiment that the Seattle P-I has embarked upon. I wish them all the best, but I suspect that it's eventually going to be a very different animal in a very short time. What will it look like? I wish I could say, but it's a question a lot of people are asking.

Internet guru Clay Shirky takes a stab at it in a recent post on his blog. He compares the current state of affairs in communication to the period 500 years ago when the printing press was beginning to supplant the previous forms of communication. It's an apt comparison; at the time, not even the smartest people could possibly foresee what the printing press would come to mean, and how to adapt the then-current communication models to the new medium.

Sorry to say this, as I am a newspaper lover, but Shirky is pessimistic. His answer to the question, "How will newspapers survive?" is simple: They won't. They will just "“ disappear. And nobody knows what will rise to take their place.

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Learning the search engine optimization industry and its process is half the battle for people interested in either a career in the SEO field or optimizing their own web site online. When clients approach our online marketing department about search engine optimization, it usually centers around one goal and one goal only. High Search Rankings (more specifically Google). Most times, these clients are unaware of the costs and time schedule for a successful SEO campaign.

A truthful and ethical "white hat" SEMP (search engine marketing professional) will help explain the process and techniques of SEO to their client, along with realistic goals for their budget. Let's begin with a general overview of SEO and a timetable for SEO campaigns.

Search Engine Optimization involves optimizing a web page(s) to improve search engine rankings and visibility among the natural or organic search results. Organic search results are listings that are unpaid and are ranked by search engines algorithms. Algorithms are a set of rules that are used to rank websites within their index for a specific keyword phrase. In short, SEO improves natural search rankings which are ranked and filtered by a unique set of rules for each search engine.

Now let's talk about length of time. There are two different timelines. One is for a brand spanking new site and the other is a site that has been established for period of time. For the new site, it will generally take 15-120 days for the search engines to index your site and your keywords. Search engines typically don't rush to index new sites, in fear of posting content irrelevant to the search engine phrase.

For sites that have been established before the optimization process begins, the length of time to index shortens in half. If a site has been up, it has been crawled for content and keyword in the past and is entered into the search engine's indexed list. Just because your site has been indexed, does not mean you have high search engine results. It will take an additional 30-120 days to see specific and quantifiable results for your site. Sometimes, though rare, an overnight success can occur for keywords that lack serious competition. But usually, moving up the search rankings, takes time, increased optimization and additional costs.

We will stop there. I will continue to add to the beginning lesson on SEO in the coming blog posts. As always, if you have questions about the industry or comments, please feel free to post. I will answer every comment.

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I have compiled a list of SEO terms, phrases and words that will help readers get accustomed to the search engine world. At times, the public can be overwhelmed with buzz words, industry trends and standard practices. I will continue to update this glossary as words appear in stories and blog comments. If you have any you would like to add, please feel free to comment and I will add them in. Please also feel free to dispute or edit my entries.

Search Engine Optimization : (SEO), a subset of search engine marketing, is the process of improving the volume and quality of traffic to a web site from search engines via "natural" ("organic" or "algorithimic") search results. SEO can also target specialized searches such as image search, local search, and industry-specific vertical search engines. (source: Wikipedia)

Search Engine Marketing (SEM): In internet marketing, SEM, is a set of marketing methods to increase the visibility of a website in search engine result pages (SERPs). (source: Wikipedia)

Pay Per Click Advertising: (PPC) advertising uses sponsored search engine listings to drive traffic to a web site. The advertiser bids for search terms, and the search engine ranks ads based on a competitive auction as well as other factors. (source: Wikipedia)

Algorithms: These set of rules are how the search engines rank web pages within their system. A major part of SEO is figuring out relevance within each search engine algorithm, in order to make certain pages target certain keywords.

Link Building: The process of gaining inbound links to your site. The search engines view these links as "votes" from these websites and improve your rankings and visibility online.

CPM: If an advertisement isn't PPC, it usually falls within the CPM cost system. CPM means cost per thousand impressions. Example: CPM = $5.00. You pay $5.00 for every 1,000 ad impressions you receive.

Cost Per Click (CPC): Also refer to as PPC or pay-per-click advertising.

"White Hat" SEO: This process is the natural and organic SEO practices that are used to improve a site's rankings and visibility online. White Hat techniques are ethical and follow the search engines standard practices.

"Black Hat SEO: Involves unethical, questionable and sometimes illegal search engine techniques used to improve site rankings and visibility. These techniques include hidden text and links, bait and switch methods and are usually geared for short term results.

Click Through Rate (CTR): This term refers to the effectiveness of advertising online, through determining how often an ad is clicked on. CTR Formula = Impressions divided by Clicks.

Backlinks: All the links pointing at a particular web page. Also called inbound links. Source: Webmaster World Forums
Banned Pages: When the search engines no longer index your site because of possible spamming or failing to follow search engine guidelines.

Conversion Rate: The relationship between visitors to a web site and actions consider to be a "conversion," such as a sale or request to receive more information. Often expressed as a percentage. If a web site has 50 visitors and 10 of them convert, then the site has a 20 percent conversion rate. Source: Webmaster World Forums

Crawlers, Spiders, Bots: Tools used by the search engines to crawl through web pages to scan for keywords, text and links. After crawling the web pages, this information is indexed by the search engines.

Directories: A type of search engine where listings are gathered through human efforts, rather than by automated crawling of the web. In directories, web sites are often reviewed, summarized in about 25 words and placed in a particular category. (source: sempo.org)

Index: The collection of information a search engine has that searchers can query against. With crawler-based search engines, the index is typically copies of all the web pages they have found from crawling the web. With human-powered directories, the index contains the summaries of all web sites that have been categorized. (source: sempo.org)

Organic Listings: The "natural" or "organic" results a search engine displays for search engine phrases. These listings unpaid listings are categorized and ranked by the search engine's algorithm.

Meta Tags: Information is placed in the coding of a web page that gives a description of the web page you are viewing. This tag is often the description used by the search engines.

Meta Keywords: Information placed in the coding of a web page to indicate which keywords summarize this page of content.

Reciprocal Link: A link exchange between two sites. (source: sempo.org)

Return on Investment (ROI): As known as rate of profit or rate of return. In regards to the internet and search engine, ROI is determined by the total amount spent on website development or online advertising in comparison to how much business is generated. If you spend $1,000 in advertising that brings $3,000 in revenue has a 300% return on investment.

Submission: Submitting URLs to be indexed by the search engines. This process can be done manually or through automated programs.

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earlier today, google announced their newest homepage personalization, the igoogle interface. the igoogle personalized homepage will help localize search and also features "non-programming" gadgets for the everyday user, including a photo tool, a mini blog tool, a youtube video favorites and more. (source: google blogoscoped)

the igoogle product will affect search by taking into account your prior search history and your physical location. the caveat is you must be signed into your google account while searching with igoogle. by logging into your account, your physical location is connected to your search query. you must also be signed in for google to record and file your search history for future searches. (source: searchenginewatch.com)

one example of how this localized search would help; if i am searching for an italian restaurant close to my house, i no longer need to be location-specific in my searches. my search query changes from "italian pizzeria seattle" to simply "italian pizzeria." although it isn't a dramatic change, the igoogle product corresponds with google maps, in hopes of targeting your search more geographically.

prior search history helps out if you are searching for terms that fall under multiple categories. for instance, without using the igoogle feature, when i search for one of our clients, baden sports, i am shown search results for baden, germany. if i had searched for baden in the past, while logged in, the igoogle feature would have logged that and transitioned my future "baden" searches to show baden sports.

the downside to this feature is that not everyone logs into their account. i use several google products, including adwords, adsense, gmail and more, but i am not always logged into my account while searching. plus, if you have more than one user for your computer but only one login, the computer will only show results catered to the whole family, not the individual.

in conclusion, i believe this is a positive step forward in localizing search. the hope is that everyone can compete in the search engine world if search is localized. for instance, a self storage company in los angeles may have the strongest seo foundation, but they do not need to dominate the entire market if they cannot provide to the entire market.

although i am scared of google's potential to create a monopoly in the search engine world, they continue to try and improve their services, which at least creates some optimism from this semp.

as always, if you have any questions about this blog or your own seo/m campaign, please feel to comment on the blog or email seo@fgi.com.us

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yesterday, i attended the webtrends (web analytics and tracking company) marketing seminar at the grand hyatt hotel in seattle, washington. i wasn't sure what to expect from a free seminar. i experienced some things i expected and was pleasantly surprised by others.

the seminar started with a few keynote speakers including the chief marketing officer and president of web trends, along with a key microsoft exec speaking on a personal web trends experience. they touched on new industry trends and the direction they foresee the internet medium heading. there weren't any eye opening findings but they did, however, touch on the advancement of consumer generated web content and how the consumer is now in complete control of internet advertising flow and spend.

after the keynote speech, the seminar was broken into breakout sessions to highlight specific areas of web analytics and tracking. i attended the "delivering effective online campaigns." the initial presentation covered precise tracking and was geared around a specific web trends product. the case study that followed was given by kettle foods' vice president of marketing, michelle peterman. she explain the "accidental marketing" path her company took to achieving greater conversions online. it was a helpful insight into how companies can research, implement and track their online marketing campaigns.

the second breakout sessions revolved around tracking web 2.0 technologies, including rss feeds, ajax, rich media content and more. during a beneficial qa session, several questions were asked about tracking rich media programs. the overall consensus from the panel members was to create individual tags for each call out. however, a basic programmer would have trouble implementing these tags and should seek high level expertise.

the third breakout session featured building customer profiles through cross-channel information. marketing to specific clients and making sure each department is interacting with each other were the highlighted points of this presentation. i asked a question about tracking offline advertising through vanity urls (ex: fgi.com.us/tv for a television ad). bill bruno from stratigent recommended sub-domains and website search boxes as showing greater conversion rates for tracking traditional media advertising.

overall, the presentation was a strong sales pitch for web trends products but i was able to understand where top level companies like web trends view the current marketplace.

if you would like to hear more about this experience of have specific questions, please comment to this blog and i will respond promptly.

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of course i am bias to claim that businesses, small or large, need to make sure they have a web presence (the ability to be found easily and readily on the web). it's my job. but i am noticing there is less and less difference between small and large companies and their devotion to build their business online.

outside of the fortune 1000 companies, (who most likely have multiple people devoted to their web presence) i am encountering medium (10-25 employees) to large (25+) companies who haven't made it a priority to build their business online. on the same token, i have dealt with business owners who have spent virtually everything in their pocket to build their presence online. some large companies have stalled while the small business owners have seen a return on their investment (roi).

why is this occurring and where is the disconnect?

i believe part of this is because larger companies haven't made the transition to devote part of their marketing budget to the online medium. they have stuck with a strict, conservative marketing budget that has allowed them to grow, although at a minimum, in the past. "if it isn't broken, don't fix it, right?" the problem is the shifting market and the amount of business acquired online each day (6.9 billion searches were conducted in feb. 2007). this leads us to the small business owner.

in order to compete with the big boys, small business owners are turning to the web for more potential customers and increased sales conversions. with "˜staying ahead of the game' these business owners are attracting and converting visitors of their website.

recently, we had a client (we will call them bizx) come to us with a desire to build their business online. the industry they are in is heavily inundated with franchise businesses, making it seem hard for a small business to compete. after building an initial site and optimizing it for the search engines, we researched and compare the competition. we found that if they devoted six months to the process, they could create a 24/7 sales tool that would attract additional business. the franchises had neglected the online medium and were allowing the small business owner to compete online.

by initially spending 10% of their monthly revenue to build the online infrastructure and 5% to market and advertise, april was their largest month of sales ever. they are "˜staying ahead of the game' and continue to devote time and money to converting clients online.

if you would like to hear more about this case study or have specific questions, you can either comment on this blog or email seo@fgi.com.us.

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According to Google Engineer Matt Cutts and his blog, Google is going to pay more attention to paid text links in the future. His blog postings have caused an uproar because a large weight of Google's search algorithm is the number of links to a website.

Mr. Cutts claims that many paid links are hidden, irrelevant and should be removed from a website's search profile. While many aren't arguing against hidden or misleading links, many SEO campaigns include human edited paid linking services. With the news of Google paying more attention to paid links, SEO professionals are asking, "How are they going to track "˜paid' listings?

To put it simply, there is no way for Google to tell unless they have been given access to the financial books of the webmaster or create a self-edited reporting system. Not likely to happen. Cutts states in his blog that the "best practice"¦is to provide a human readable disclosure that a link/review/article is paid." These recommended changes add to the discontent for Google from webmasters and SEO professionals.

Kevin Newcomb for Search Engine Blog states "One of the major concerns with this is the basic idea of whether it's really Google's problem, for having an algorithm that relies on links for ranking. Should webmasters be forced to change the way they do business to adjust for a shortcoming in Google's relevance algorithm?"

I completely agree with Mr. Newcomb. Google can recommend a change, but they will have a tough time enforcing it.

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on tuesday, in FGI's backyard (seattle), bill gates spoke at the strategic account summit advertising conference. many people in attendance hoped gates would touch on the rumored microsoft/yahoo merger, but were treated to a speech filled with claims of a "dramatic shift" to digital media.

gates claimed that traditional media will see a vast decline in the coming years and that "˜almost everyone under 50 will stop using the printed yellow pages within five years." (seattle p.i). he also added the newspapers faced a tough challenge to retain subscriptions and that the engaging, interactive online experience in the future will trump any other form of traditional media.

while i agree that traditional media faces an uphill battle when competing with the interactive world; eliminating the printed yellow pages within five years may be stretch. some people are still traditionalists and will want to open, search and find businesses through a printed medium.

however, using an unscientific study with employees of FGI (all under the age of 50), only one person claimed to use the printed yellow pages in the past month and that was because they had recently switched physical locations and did not have internet access. online access is quicker, easier and doesn't take up physical space.

behind every claim is a motivation. microsoft sells online advertising and will benefit from gates' comments. they are also trying to reinvent their own advertising model after witnessing google rake in $10.5 billion in advertising revenue, compared to $1.5 billion for microsoft in the 2006 fiscal year.

i think claiming that traditional media will decline doesn't come as surprise to most, but putting a timetable on it does. the younger generation of consumers are using the digital media as their main source of information but gates' comments and microsoft's intentions leave them as a company reactively responding to the industry instead of proactively pursuing a new, improved direction. a label they have been trying to shed for the past half dozen years.

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hope everyone is doing well in the online world. instead of writing my own opinion piece this weekend, i thought i would point you in the direction of some well-written articles from the past seven days.

as always, if you have any specific questions about the industry or your own online marketing efforts, don't hesitate to respond to these posts or email seo@fgi.com.us


"how local businesses can win with local search" 5/10 "“ imedia connection

"the resurrection: pagerank, sitewide links and meta tags" 5-10 "“ tropical seo

"from online research to offline shopping" "“ 5/11 "“ search engine watch blog (our favorite)

"microsoft and yahoo: match or misery" "“ 5/11 "“ clickz

if interested, i highly recommend search engine watch for news and articles that are updated daily.

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