Central Perk

joi, 20 iunie 2013

App Store SEO: The Inbound Marketer's Guide to Mobile

Posted: 19 Jun 2013 07:42 PM PDT

Posted by iseff

The app ecosystem is growing quicker than almost any other ecosystem has before, and the shift from desktop web to mobile app is happening faster than even the most optimistic predictions thought. Traditionally, the Moz blog hasn't included much content about mobile, the app ecosystem, and app marketing. Rand has written before about his thoughts on App Store Optimization (ASO) and mobile apps, but with the dramatic shift in consumer attention to mobile, times are changing. Your goal as a digital marketer is to reach customers where they are, which increasingly is their mobile devices (smartphones, tablets, etc.) and through the app stores.

As CEO of an app store optimization and app marketing tools startup, I'm deep into the world of the app stores, following the algorithms and helping our customers make sense of this brand new playing field. We are still at Day One in the app ecosystem. It's changing fast and every new announcement (like iOS 7) brings big changes to app marketing.

Today, I'm incredibly happy to be writing a beginner's guide to mobile app marketing on the Moz blog. I'll talk briefly about all app marketing channels, but I'll focus on ASO (SEO for the app stores). This post is a high-level overview of app marketing; not meant to make you an expert in any one aspect, but meant to give you the spark you might want to begin looking at specific parts, such as ASO.

Mobile App Growth Continues to Explode

Let's start with a quick overview of the app ecosystem.

The ecosystem as a whole is very young, with the iOS App Store launching just five years ago in 2008. Generally speaking, over the last five years it has quickly become a two-horse race, with iOS and Google Play being the main competitors. No doubt, there are other viable contenders playing for third, such as Amazon, Microsoft, and RIMM, but iOS and Google Play are clearly leading the pack.

Both iOS and Google Play are very close in total number of downloads, with iOS surpassing 50 billion total downloads and Google Play surpassing 48 billion in May. With exceptions, the general rule is that iOS apps produce far more revenue than Google Play apps. Internationally, the game can change quite drastically depending on your country. For example, in developing countries such as India and China, we see other Android platforms and app stores coming up quickly. Here's a great look at international market share in mobile.

App marketing has matured tremendously, just as the ecosystem as a whole has. It started with very simple channels such as CPM banners in other apps (these were basically the equivalent of, "Honey, I shrunk the web banner"), then came more complex, but less user friendly channels such as incentivized installs ("Out of poker chips? No problem, get 10 more just by installing this other app"), and then quickly moved towards better paid channels (CPI - Cost Per Install, video, and so on). App marketing is now moving towards a better blend of paid and organic channels, such as app store search, social, and more. Sound familiar?

How Do Users Find Apps?

Unlike the web, there's no great way to determine exactly where your downloads come from. Instead, app marketers rely on studies, anecdotes from other marketers, and data from platform owners (Apple, Google, etc.) to find out what the most effective and used channels are for app distribution.

Two big studies which many ASOs point to come from research firms Nielsen and Forrester (click through to see the full study results, rather than my edited versions below). Both studies show that inbound, organic channels in the app store are the biggest drivers for downloads. In particular, both agree that search in the app store is the single largest channel, with 61% of consumers finding apps through app store search.

Moreover, some of best data, if not fully complete, comes from the platform owners themselves. Google Play's Head of Search and Discovery, Ankit Jain, recently shared a wonderful quote about the magnitude of app store search in his presentation at Google I/O:

Just like on the web, organic app store search is only one component of Inbound App Marketing. Inbound in the app ecosystem comes in many different flavors, including search, social, top charts, web-to-app, and more. One in particular to note that is different from the web is the Top Charts in an app store.

Distinct from app store search, the Top Charts can be an incredible driver of downloads for your app, especially if your app is a general consumer app. Getting into and managing your Top Charts position is an art and science in and of itself, one which could warrant an entire series of blog posts. One of the most interesting facets of the Top Charts is how you can use paid marketing as lighter fluid for inbound marketing, by essentially buying your way into the Top Charts.

Be careful, though: Apple doesn't like those who blatantly game their system, and could try to find a way to reject you from their store (think Panda or Penguin for apps). Additionally, I believe that the Top Charts are a short-term game in the app stores: they were moderately interesting with 100,000 apps, they're bought by marketers at a couple million apps, and they'll be useless with 100,000,000 apps.

How Does App Marketing Differ From Web Marketing?

In many aspects, app marketing is significantly different from web marketing. It's important to recognize which of your skills will translate and which additional skills you'll need to learn.

First, the app ecosystem really is a two-horse race, and those horses couldn't look any different. In the web world, if you're thinking about search, there's really only one contender most SEOs look at (sorry, Bing). In the app ecosystem, however, you have to make a very specific decision as to which platform(s) you want to focus on based on developer resources, marketing resources, and so on. Each platform works in a completely different manner (especially in search), so it's important to know that you'll really have to focus on each one independently.

Photo credit to Paolo Camera

The web and app ecosystems differ because there is no attribution in the app ecosystem. By default, the app stores are gatekeepers, and it's very difficult to see where your installs come from. This can depend on which platform you're on (and is certainly more the case in iOS), but it exists in both platforms. So, while on the web you often get to see where your visits come from (even if Google is hell-bent on user privacy and increasing the (not provided) keyword), it is the norm in the app stores to never know where your installs come from, even at a high level. There are some tricks to this which I'll outline below, but just remember, attribution in the app stores is hard.

Lastly, it's still Day One in the app ecosystem. That means we still have a lot of growing up to do. In particular, the long-tail is still growing and learning what it will take to build successful businesses. I often equate the app ecosystem to the web in the late 90's: search algorithms are still being created, and the money is still concentrated in the head publishers. This provides a great opportunity for those willing to take the plunge and be around early on in the process, but it requires an understanding and willingness to put in the time to try to help mature the entire ecosystem through education and evangelism.

Here's a graph I often draw of how I see the app ecosystem landscape: a few publishers make a lot of money, while the majority make very little, with almost no middle. Compared to the web ecosystem, where there is a fat middle of businesses who make an interesting amount of money, the app ecosystem needs to continue to grow and push this curve out to look more similar to the web. I believe this will happen, just as it happened with the web over the years.

How to Optimize for App Store Search Engines

Let's dive into search in the app stores, and how the search engines differ based on platform.

First things first; remember I mentioned that the app ecosystem reminds me of the web in the mid-to-late 90's? Keep that picture in your head when you think of search. App store search hasn't been "figured out" in the same way that Google "figured out" search on the web. Simply put, we're still in AltaVista mode in the app ecosystem: something better than Yahoo's directory provided, but not incredibly sophisticated like Google would become in a few more years.

Just like the web has on-page and off-page SEO, apps have on-metadata and off-metadata ASO. On-metadata ASO include factors totally within your control and are often things dealing with your app store presence. Off-metadata ASO include factors that might not be entirely in your control, but which you can still influence. Here are a few of the most important knobs and levers that you as a marketer can turn to affect your search performance, and some quick tips on how to optimize them.

On-Metadata

App Title

An app's title is the single most important metadata factor for rank in ASO. It's equivalent to the <title> tag in your HTML, and is a great signal to the app stores as to what your app is about. On the web, you want your title to include both a description of what you do (including keywords) as well as some branding; both elements should also exist in the app store. Be sure to include the keywords, but don't be spammy. Make sure it parses well and makes sense. Example: "Strava Run - GPS Running, Training and Cycling Workout Tracker"

Description

Patrick Haig, our VP of Customer Success, likes to break descriptions down into two sections: above the fold and below the fold (sound familiar?). He says, "Above the fold language should be 1-2 sentences describing the app and its primary use case, and below the fold should have a clear and engaging feature set and social proof." We'll dig into some of the differences about the description field across platforms below.

Keyword Field

The Keyword Field in iOS is a 100 character field which you can use to tell iTunes search for which keywords you should show up. Since you only get 100 characters, you must use them wisely. A few tips:

When choosing your keywords, just like on the web, focus on relevancy, search volume, and difficulty.
Don't use multiple word phrases; break out to individual words (Apple can combine them for you).
Don't repeat keywords that are already in your title (and put the most important ones in your title, leaving the keyword field for your secondary keywords).
Separate keywords with commas, and don't use spaces anywhere.

Icon

Consumers are finicky. They want apps which are beautiful, elegant, and simple to understand. Your icon is often their first interaction with your app, so ensure that it does a great job conveying your brand, and the elegance and usefulness of your app. Remember, in search results, an icon is one of the only ways you can convey your brand and usefulness. Think of it as part of the meta description tag you'd create in SEO. For example, SoundCloud does a great job with their icon and branding.

Screenshots

The most important rule to remember when creating your screenshots is that they should not be screenshots. They are, instead, promotional graphics. That means you can include text or other graphics to tell your app's story in an interesting, visual way.

Especially in iOS, where the card layout shows your first screenshot, it is incredibly helpful when an app displays a graphic which explains the app right up front, increasing conversions from search results to viewing the app page and, ultimately, installing the app.

The best app marketers also use their ~~screenshots~~ promotional graphics together to create a flow that carries the user through the story. Each graphic can build off the previous graphic, giving the user a reason to continue scrolling and learning about your app.

Here's a great example of using the screenshots effectively by our friends at Haiku Deck.

Off-Metadata

Outside of your direct control, you'll also want to focus on a few things to ensure the best performance in ASO.

Ratings

Every app has a rating. Your job as a marketer is to ensure that your app gets a great overall rating. Rating is directly tied to performance in app store search, which leads us to believe that rating is a factor in app store search rankings.

Reviews

Similar to ratings, you want to ensure that the reviews your users write about your app are positive. These reviews will help increase your conversion rate from app page views to downloads.

For a great product to help you increase your rating and reviews, check out Apptentive.

Link-building

This is discussed further below, but suffice it to say, link building to your app's page in the app store matters for Google Play apps. Given you all are SEOs, you know all about how to rock this!

How Do iOS and Google Play Differ In App Store Search?

The differences in the platforms mean that there are different levers to pull depending on the platform. Google Play and iOS act completely independently, and often, quite differently. The differences are wide-ranging, but what are a couple of the main differences?

In general, the way to think about the differences is that Google is Google and Apple is Apple. Duh, right? Google has the built the infrastructure and technology to learn from the web and use many different data points to make a decision. Apple, on the other hand, doesn't have indexes of the web, and comes from a background in media. When in doubt, imagine what you'd do if you were each of them and had the history each of them has.

Here are a couple concrete examples.

Description versus Keywords

In iOS, there's a keywords field. It's easy to see where this came from, especially when you think of iTunes' background in music: a song has a title (app title), musician (developer name), and then needs a few keywords to describe the song ("motown," "reggae," etc.). When Apple launched their app store, they used the same technology that was already built for music, which meant that the app title, developer name, and keywords were the only fields used to understand search for an app. Note that description isn't taken into account in iOS (but I expect this to change soon).

On the other hand, there is no keyword field in Google Play; there is only a description field. Thus, while iOS doesn't take the description into account, in Google Play the description is all you have, so be sure to do exactly the same as you do on the web: cater your content towards your keywords, without being spammy.

Leveraging PageRank in Google Play

Another big difference in iOS and Google Play is that Google has access to PageRank and the link graph of the web, while Apple does not. Thus, Google will take into account the inbound links to your app's detail page (for example, https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.symantec.mobilesecurity) as a factor in Google Play search, while Apple has no such factor.

How To Measure Success In App Marketing

It's very difficult to measure success in app marketing in the same way you can measure success in web marketing. This is especially true when you're working with inbound channels. It's still early, but it's continuously getting better, with more tools and services coming out all the time to help marketers understand success. Here are some of the ways I recommend measuring success in the app store today:

Search Rankings

Just like on the web, a great way to measure your success in app store search is to track your ranking for specific search terms you care about over time and versus your competition. Rank tracking is incredibly valuable for ASOs to understand their progress.

Top Charts

Top Charts, especially Top Charts within a particular category, do a great job of allowing you to understand your success in relation to the rest of the apps in your category.

Ratings and Reviews

Just as ratings and reviews will help your ASO, they are also great metrics to track over time for how you're doing with your app marketing. Keep track of what users are saying, how they're saying it (pro tip: listening to their language is a great way to do keyword research!), and what they're rating your app.

Downloads

Taking it one step further, correlating your search rankings to downloads will allow you to understand the effect your increased ASO is having on your app performance. One way we do this is to integrate with iTunes Connect and overlay your search rankings with your downloads so you can visually see how closely related any one keyword is with your downloads. It's not perfect, but it helps!

Conversion and Revenue

At the end of the day, revenue is the most important metric you should be understanding. Of course, you should be tracking your revenue and doing the same correlation with search performance. In addition, you should watch your conversion rate over time; we often see apps whose conversion rate soars with an increase in ASO because the users are so much more engaged with the app.

Tools And Resources To Use To Help With App Marketing

To conclude this post, I want to quickly talk about some tools and resources to use to help your app marketing process.

Sylvain has written some great content and has some incredible insights into app marketing and ASO on his company's (Apptamin) blog.

I mentioned Apptentive above, and they really are the best way I know to impact your ratings and reviews, and get great feedback from customers in the process.

In addition to having a great, free, in-app analytics product (Flurry Analytics), as well as an interesting paid advertising product (AppCircle), Flurry also posts some of the most interesting data about the app ecosystem on their blog.

If you're looking to obtain some amount of attribution for your paid advertising (inbound can't be split out, sorry!), MobileAppTracking is where it's at. It allows you to understand which paid channels are performing best for you based on the metric of your choosing. Best of all, you only pay for what you use.

This is, of course, a shameless promotion. That said, our product is a great way to understand your performance in app store search, help you do keyword research, and give you competitive intelligence. We offer a free (forever!) tool for Indie developers and scale all the way up to the largest Enterprise customers.

Now It's Your Turn

By now, I hope it's clear that there's a lot going on in the app ecosystem. It's still Day One, but there is far more opportunity in front of us than there is behind.

This guide was meant to whet your appetite; to show you some of the amazing things happening and help you understand the game, mostly at a high level. I didn't cover even one percent of the entire app marketing spectrum, but I hope I've taught you some things about the ecosystem and ASO in the process.

Now it's your turn: get out there and start working in the app ecosystem! If you've been working with apps already, or you're thinking about doing so, but have questions, please light up the comments or send me an email anytime (iseff@mobiledevhq.com). I'll do my best to answer anything I can as transparently as possible.

Sign up for The Moz Top 10, a semimonthly mailer updating you on the top ten hottest pieces of SEO news, tips, and rad links uncovered by the Moz team. Think of it as your exclusive digest of stuff you don't have time to hunt down but want to read!

Copywriting tricks to turbocharge your meta data for conversions

Posted: 19 Jun 2013 01:45 AM PDT

Welcome to another of my mammoth-but-hopefully-useful blog posts! This month I've been reminded of the challenge (and dare I say it, enjoyment) of writing title tags and meta descriptions, having written them for a couple of clients in the past few weeks. Meta data puts the skills of even an experienced copywriter to the test. With such a small character limit, the writer must combine impact with brevity (the latter, I fear, not a quality present in this post) to achieve what is effectively a strong advertising message designed to drive traffic and ultimately increase conversions.

I thought today I'd share some of the things I've learned from my experience as a copywriter that should help you craft better meta data for your website or that of your client.

So that you can skip the bits you might already know if you're pushed for time, here's a list of what I'm going to cover in this post:

A new way of looking at meta data
What makes great copy?
Best practice for title tags and meta descriptions
What to do before you begin writing your meta data
Tricks of the copywriting trade
Looking at the bigger picture – branding
SEOs or copywriters – who should write meta data?

A new way of looking at meta data

Meta data should not be viewed as just another field in your code or CMS that can be ignored, or worse, stuffed with keywords. Meta data is an advert for your site and will often constitute the first impression someone will have of your brand – and online or offline, first impressions count. Meta data plays a pivotal role in driving traffic to your site, and as such, it should be approached as a way of introducing your brand to your target audience.

It may help you to imagine meta data as being a bit like a shop window.

A set of search engine results pages is like a huge street full of shops all selling the same thing, with numerous brands all competing for the attention of potential customers. When you look down the list of results, you are effectively window shopping. Which of the brands on display has a good enough offering to tempt you in?

Retailers hire window dressers to lure customers in with attractive window displays and banners advertising deals. Online, you effectively take on the role of a window dresser; writing your meta data is just as much a form of advertising as a shop window, clearly communicating your USP in a compelling way to entice visitors onto your site. In the example above, M&S neatly highlights a primary USP in its window display – its longevity: "125 years of deliciousness", backed up by "Food for the nation since 1928" and other statements such as "quality you can count on". This engenders trust and combines with the colourful display to tempt visitors into the shop.

In the search engine results pages we don't have the luxury of an attractive space to display our products (unless you count Image search), but we do have a reasonable number of characters in which to convince potential customers of our benefits. Why should a customer enter your shop and not the one next door?

What makes great copy?

The art of successful copywriting lies in communicating a core concept clearly and concisely, preferably in an original way. Meta data is copy – it's just very short copy.

Great copy does the following:

Appeals to its target audience, making them feel comfortable and good about themselves.
Communicates a clear message, quickly.
Sells the product benefits rather than the product features – people don't care if product A is X times longer than product B. They want to know how that extra size will make their life easier.
Avoids cliché – your potential customers have seen hackneyed phrases such as "ticks all the boxes" many times before, so it will have little if any impact.
Is easy to read, avoiding long words, jargon and complicated sentence structures.
Is consistent, maintaining and conforming to a clear brand identity.

So, now we've established the basics of good copy, let's run very briefly through the basics of search engine best practice for meta data, just to be clear about the limits within which we're working when we write it.

Title tag best practice

Title tags are currently a pretty significant ranking factor, as they help Google understand the content of a page and the search terms to which it is relevant. However, I wouldn't be surprised if Google places less emphasis on them in the future, as they're open to over-optimisation. I would aim for a balance of including a keyword and a USP or call to action, for example "Cheap Italy Holidays – Book Your Trip Today". Title tags should also conform to the following guidelines:

70 characters or fewer.
Should contain a keyword at the start of the tag that accurately summarises the content of the page.
Maintains a consistent structure throughout the site, with the brand name at the end separated by a pipe – for example, | SEOptimise
Places the brand name at the start of the homepage tag.

Meta description best practice

Unlike title tags, these aren't a ranking factor. However, they play a significant role in click-through rate, and as such, should ideally conform to the following best practices:

160 characters or fewer, otherwise they'll unceremoniously get cut off in the search results.
Compelling, giving users a reason to visit your site.
Should contain a call to action – encouraging users to take the action you want them to take, e.g. "book your winter holiday online now".
Contains keywords if natural and appropriate, because they will be emboldened in the search results and will therefore appear more relevant to what a user is searching for, as in the example below:

What to do before you begin writing your meta data

Given the fact that most people skim-read the web, you have precious little time to capture someone's attention, so it's important to get it right. A little preparation will go a long way, so start by laying the groundwork.

Write down your USPs – what makes you different from your competitors?
Get into the mindset of your target audience – what will be going through their heads when they search, and what will they be trying to accomplish?
Do you have any audience personas written down? If so, have a read of them before you begin writing.
Take a look at your Analytics data to see which pages are driving good traffic from the SERPs. Then look at the meta data for those pages and see what may be helping to drive traffic.
Also in Analytics, identify any keywords that are sending decent amounts of organic search traffic.
Talk to your sales team – they're the people in the business who probably have the best idea of what it is about your products that appeals most to customers, and what's the best way of convincing them to buy.
Take a look at the SERPs and get a sense of what your competitors are doing – do any stand out particularly, and if so, why?

Some tricks of the copywriting trade

You're now ready to start writing, so here are a few techniques that you may find useful. They won't all be appropriate to your brand, but they should at least get your creative juices flowing.

Solve a problem – the staple of the copywriter's repertoire, this technique shows how your product improves the customer's life, focusing on its tangible benefits and not the features themselves. For example, rather than saying that a pack of crisps contains 50% less saturated fat, describe it as "helping you get that perfect beach body".
Fear, uncertainty, doubt – this involves making readers question themselves. It's effective in that it draws readers in, but it can come across as scaremongering. For example, posing the question, "Cybercrime – do YOU know all the risks?" makes readers ask themselves whether they do and then click to find out what risks they may not know about.
Word play – clever word play can be memorable, witty and make your copy stand out, but make sure you don't alienate your target audience and don't go for anything too obscure (for example, a literary reference that nobody will understand). From a Birmingham-based murder mystery party company, the strapline "Dying to entertain you" is a good example of clever word play.
Being provocative – how many girls out there started buying Yorkie bars as a result of their "it's not for girls" packaging? Be careful with this technique though, as the playful can easily cross the line into the offensive.
Knocking the competition – not generally advised; most brands want to avoid this because it makes them look mean and may get them in trouble with the ASA. However, done subtly it can work well. The warm and friendly Innocent Smoothies brand does this on its cartons by saying that its products don't contain "any weird stuff" – implying that competing products do.
Intrigue – imply a secret waiting to be told and you'll find that people won't be able to resist clicking to find out what it is. This can be done simply by using words and phrases such as "find out more", "discover", or "see what everybody's been talking about".
Gimmicks – special offers, use of capital letters (in moderation!), a boldly short description – anything that catches the skimming eye.

Other copywriting tips I've found useful include:

Rhetorical questions can be used to appeal directly to your audience – for example, "Looking for a great deal on your car insurance?" (in their head, they answer "yes, I am" and click to find out more).
Use the language of your audience, if appropriate. If there's more than one way of referring to something, research monthly search volumes in Google's AdWords Keyword Tool to find out which is more searched for. Avoid jargon; if you sell consumer finance products, for example, use the language your customers will think in, not the financial jargon you use internally.
As you write, ensure you look carefully at each and every page to ensure you're summarising its content accurately. The language on the page will also give you a starting point for what to write in the meta data, which may end up becoming a condensed form of the content on the page itself.
Proofread and sense-check your meta data thoroughly when you're finished.

Looking at the bigger picture – branding

When you're chipping away at hundreds of title tags and meta descriptions, it's easy to lose site of the fact that meta data is only one part of a much bigger body of content associated with your brand, spanning a variety of media that is likely to include on-site web copy, off-site web content, offline publications, advertising and more. It's important to remember that although meta data serves a specific need, it's still vital to create a sense of unity across all forms of content to achieve a strong brand identity. It won't do to write meta data that's markedly different in style and tone from the business's other written content.

It's also important to consider the user's experience after they click to view your website. Don't overpromise in your meta data. It must be an accurate reflection of what customers will find when they click to view the page, or they will simply go straight back to the SERPs and find another site. To maximise conversions, ensure that the on-site copy guides them further into the site and that the messaging on the page supports what they've read in the meta data.

SEOs or copywriters – who should write meta data?

I'll end by emphasising the importance of not skimping on quality when it comes to meta data. I’ve always argued that it should be written by copywriters, who know how to write for different audiences, not by SEOs, who may be brilliant at SEO but don't know much about adapting to different writing styles. It also reflects poorly on an agency or consultant if they send meta data to a client containing grammatical errors such as errant apostrophes, not to mention that such errors will give a very unprofessional impression of a client’s business if they make it as far as the live site. Meta data should be seen as part of the website's copy and branding, and as such, should be left to the copywriter.

What do you think? Who writes your meta data? Do you have any tips to share for writing better title tags and meta descriptions? Share your thoughts in the comments below or get in touch on Twitter @RachelsWritings.

Further reading
Copywriting – Successful writing for design, advertising and marketing by Mark Shaw is a great introduction to the subject for those who want to learn more about copywriting.

Image credits

Typing on a MacBook by Hakan Dahlstrom on Fotopedia.com

M&S shop window from Geograph.org.uk

Yorkie bar by Leo Reynolds on Flickr

SAScon 2013 – Our Top Takeaways

Posted: 13 Jun 2013 06:25 AM PDT

We really enjoyed our two days up in Manchester at SAScon 2013. Unfortunately, with three tracks going on and only two of us, we couldn't get to every talk. However, we did our best to attend as much as possible. So here are our top takeaways from our favourite talks.

Day 1

Keynote – Alistair Thornton, Marketing Director thomsonlocal.com

The big focus of this talk was on local businesses and local search.
Some quick stats:

£1 in every £3 spent in the UK is spent in small businesses
20% of UK business revenue comes from SMEs
20% of desktop search and 40% of mobile search has local intent
In total, 61% of local searches result in a purchase

As such it's more important than ever for small businesses to optimise themselves for search. However, it can be hard to balance the volume of leads they need to generate in order for it to be worthwhile with the costs of doing so.

To provide anything of real benefit to local businesses, you can't use organic, paid, or local search alone. In isolation they don't drive enough search volume at a low enough cost. Self-service isn't a good option either, as it requires too much time and effort for the business owner, which they won't get back in terms of leads or revenue.

The best option for local businesses is a solution which is as automated as possible and which will deliver multiple benefits. It needs to combine local, organic and paid results and deliver the maximum amount of benefits at the lowest possible cost per lead.

Small business owners are more interested in leads and conversions than they are in search rankings, so that's what your focus should be. It can be best to find areas where they have already made some investment and build on it, rather than start from scratch – it'll help lower overall costs which is essential.

The bottom line is to drive as much traffic as possible for the lowest possible cost. Small businesses can't afford to spend too much time or money on search, but clever strategies can help to drive lots of traffic, improve conversions, and generate revenue. There is a huge market for local search, you just have to tap into it effectively.

Big Industry – Big Data – James Murray, Hitwise & Richard Rowley, Mindshare

Users nowadays expect a seamless, consistent interaction with brands – regardless of what channel they're interacting through and whether they're offline or online. As such, it is essential that businesses don't silo their departments too much. All areas of the business need to join together in order to provide this unified brand experience.
An example used was of NatWest's "NatYes" campaign. Advertising encouraged viewers to search for "NatYes" online. However, the SEO team hadn't been involved in this decision by the marketing team and, therefore, the "NatYes" search didn't yield any results.

With the vast amounts of data that are being generated online every day, there is a huge amount of information which brands can use to get to know their customers, find more people like them, and keep them. However, it is the understanding of this data that is vital. Use big data to analyse trends and behaviours – in other words, use it to gain insights. It is these insights which are truly valuable and which can make a real difference to your ability to capture and retain customers.

Use these insights to provide an integrated, optimised, interactive customer experience. The more you know about your customers the more individualised and targeted your messaging can be, meaning it will be more effective.

Use your teams together within your company in order to create a consistent multi-channel approach which makes use of your data insights in order to target customers more effectively.

In case you doubt how much brand matters, Richard Rowley showed us some data on how brand awareness affects click through rates.

Normally, we expect the top organic results to get the most clicks, with the top three results gaining the most. This is generally true; however, there are some industries where it isn't. For example, in the finance sector a search for "current accounts" provides more clicks through on the second result MoneySupermarket, than the top result Barclays. A search for "compare loans" resulted in more clicks on the fifth result GoCompare, than the fourth result Tesco.

This demonstrates clearly how brand power can affect click through rates, and further drives home how important strong, consistent branding is for businesses. Ranking at number one doesn't guarantee you traffic – you have to ensure you are targeting the right keywords and that you are picking terms which you are both recognised and relevant for.

Making it Personal – Barry Adams, Pierce Communications & Matt Roberts, Linkdex

Google are making search increasingly personalised. They use location, search history, browsing history, social circles, and known interests to try to provide the search results that they think are most relevant to users.

Of course, they aren't entirely altruistic. Google's users aren't customers, they're products, so Google will deliberately promote the things which are most beneficial for them to promote.

All of this means that search rankings will become increasingly useless, as every user will receive personalised search results. This links with and highlights the importance of points made in the "Big Data" talk, such as ensuring your search results provide relevant, useful information which has been tailored to users based on your insights into them.

In order to create better marketing and content, you need to ensure that it is personalised. This is really just another form of direct marketing, and Google is the world's biggest direct marketer. They use the principle of analysing three data points: recency, frequency, and monetary value. You can do this too.

Great content is important because it can help you to influence people – by which we mean alter their behaviour. You can change what they chose to buy and directly affect their actions.

When looking to influence people, the people to target are those who are influencers in their own networks. Everyone is part of a network, so the easiest way to start doing this is by influencing networks which you're already a part of. You can then move into different circles, and start building relationships there.

It is important when forging relationships to invest time and to treat people as individuals. It may take longer, but finding and making friends with online influencers can bring in big benefits, so it's worth the time and investment. Make people feel good about themselves, and demonstrate how you can be of value to them. Also, don't forget to maintain these relationships properly and keep them going – you never know when someone may become useful again.

Finally, ensure the content you're producing is really good quality, as even your best friends won't share rubbish content. It has to be good quality – something you're proud to share and which people will genuinely want to read and talk about.

Stalking the Zebra – Life After Panda and Penguin – Dixon Jones, MajesticSEO, Paul Madden, Manual Link Building & Dave Naylor, Bronco

This was done as a panel session.
The discussion focused on the latest Penguin update. The general consensus was that it had all been a bit of an anti-climax and that Google hadn't actually changed that much, which was surprising.
Even with the perceived lack of an effect of Penguin, it was agreed that it is still worthwhile to clean up back link profiles.
However, not everything was so straightforward. The three of them felt differently over the topic of Google Authorship. Dave Naylor was strongly against authorship saying, "If I want a local plumber I don't want the guy who can write the best content. I want the guy who can fix my leak".
Each speaker was asked for one tip for the future:

"Try and be an authority on your subject" – Dixon Jones
"Understand your link profile" – Paul Madden
"Evaluate where your site sits today and where it will be in 6 months. If it will cost too much to resolve the issues, sell the domain and start again" – Dave Naylor

Maximising Brand Reputation Online – Nils Mork-Ulnes, Beyond & Robin Wilson, McCann Manchester

As we've heard in several of the talks, brand awareness and brand reputation play a big part in click through rates and user search behaviour. As such, managing your brand reputation online is vital.

A few key tactics for this are:

Constantly monitoring what's going on and what people are saying about you
Thinking things through properly – including worse case scenarios
Knowing your audience inside-out and tailoring advertising to them
Responding quickly and consistently to any issues raised
Going direct to detractors in order to find the root of any issues
Being human and using common sense in order to deal with problems
Remembering that everything you say is on public record and acting accordingly

In order to help maximise brand awareness, coordinate your PR, SEO, social, and advertising departments to ensure you're all delivering the same, powerful, brand message.

If you can make use of word-of-mouth recommendations then do – they are the most powerful, most trusted type of recommendation. People like to share good experiences more than negative ones, so encourage them to do so and utilise what they say.

A top tactic with brand marketing is to find areas where your brand propositions can overlap into your customers' daily lives and emphasise them.

Online Consumer Psychology – Bas van den Beld, State of Search

It is essential to remember that all customers are different and to treat them as individuals. To find out more about them you can use social media – it can provide a huge amount of insight into people. Social media can act very effectively as a mirror of the offline world.

One of the best ways to engage with people is by finding out what they enjoy and what makes them happy, and going through that. You can feed their egos by allowing them to offer solutions and help, which makes people feel good about themselves. You should also be highlighting the benefits of whatever you're selling – people are ultimately interested in fulfilling their own needs, so using the word "you" can be a powerful tool.

People are also heavily influenced by those around them. As such, finding people who are key influencers can be a fantastic way to spread awareness of your brand and find new customers. For example, Universal Studios in Florida marketed the launch of their new Wizarding World of Harry Potter park by releasing details to just seven incredibly influential Harry Potter fans. They gave them information, maps, photographs, videos etc. and allowed them to spread the word. It worked fantastically well and cost them very little.

However, it is important to remember that people use social media as a space to relax in and talk to their friends. As such, you don't want to be pushing direct sales at them through their social media.

In essence:

Use data to tap into consumers' interests
Tap into and focus on their needs
Put yourself in their shoes by being aware of your medium of communication
Focus on what makes them feel good.

Doing this should help to cultivate a positive image of your brand, increase awareness, and ultimately drive sales.

Day 2

Content Outreach – Getting It Right – Bas van den Beld, State of Search, Kevin Gibbons, Blueglass & Lisa Myers, Verve Search

Content marketing needs to be about more than just link building. Nowadays, it ought to be a strategy which incorporates all of your content, including your onsite content and social media.
In order to satisfy clients you need to be broad ranging and able to cover all areas of content across a wide range of channels. However, it is important to remember that all your pieces need to be high quality – simple quantity won't work.

You can use news stories as a way to create new content, but you need to be agile and create topical content quickly in order to leverage the news angle successfully.

One way to improve your content outreach is by ensuring everything you produce is top quality. You can also try creating articles which are specifically aimed at the website's target audience. To do this, start by pitching a range of individualised topic ideas to the website you want to publish on, and work with the feedback they provide in order to create something that works for their website as well as for you. This is also a great way to develop relationships, something which are essential to content outreach.

Another tip for writing great content is to make sure that, whatever topic you're writing on and whoever you're writing the piece for, you find the human element in the story and bring it to the fore. Thus helps to engage people, making the piece more easily accessible and better for sharing.

Understanding the culture and communication methods of the countries you're targeting is also key to successful outreach. Make sure you know how best to talk to the people you are asking to publish your content, as well as what is and isn't appropriate.

Great content teams need to be able write engagingly but also need to have a good technical SEO background to ensure what they are producing and publishing will bring in real benefits. They also need to be able to adapt and change quickly as timing is vital, particularly for topical/news stories.

Integrating Search and Social with the Wider Marketing Mix – Andrew Warren Payne, Econsultancy, Jon Myers, Marin & Judith Lewis, Beyond

Cross-channel market integration is where things are heading. Agencies are starting to understand this, and more and more of them are offering a full range of services.

The stats from Econsultancy show that:

52% offer full service
12% offer just SEO
10% offer SEO/PPC
7% offer just PPC
7% offer search/social mix
4% offer just social media
1% offer just display

On top of this, content is becoming more and more central to SEO. Nowadays, 59% of companies and 66% of agencies have integrated their SEO and content strategy. Social media is also becoming integrated with search although, currently, only 40% of agencies are doing this.

As this integration increases, the importance of determining attribution will also grow. Integration also means there will be a lot more data available, which means there's a great opportunity to gain further insights into user behaviour, so long as you analyse your data properly.

This is a key point. The role of the marketer has changed – being able to analyse data is now a huge part of successful marketing. In order to create successful marketing campaigns you need to:

Track your data
Determine attribution
Utilise what you've learnt to optimise your campaign

You should make sure you're analysing your data from all channels. This includes social media, in particular Facebook advertising, as there is a huge amount of information you can draw from it.

67% of all offline marketing results in online search. As such, it is vital that you have all your marketing channels working cohesively together. To re-iterate, this means you need to integrate your advertising, social media, online marketing and offline marketing.

Integration is important because it helps to engage the entire brain, increasing user awareness of the brand as well as increasing trust levels in it. This is why consistency across all channels is so essential to integration. A great example of this is 3's Dance Pony Dance campaign, which used TV ads, paid search, organic search, and social media, in one coherent, successful marketing campaign.

It's also important to try to achieve a balanced blend of owned media, paid media, and earned media in your campaigns. They each have their own benefits and play a role in marketing.

For a successful integrated marketing campaign, you need to have one fully developed, overarching strategy which will ensure everything works together to provide a consistent brand message. You should also ensure that you're measuring everything so that if you tweak anything you can be sure all the elements will still work together coherently.

So, that's what we felt we learned from this year's SAS con. Which talks did you enjoy? What were your top takeaways? Let us know in the comments section below.

Seth's Blog : Adopting the post-obedient mindset

Adopting the post-obedient mindset

It's not uncommon for teenagers to whine that there's nothing to do in this town.

Or for college students to talk about the limits of their institution, about the paucity of opportunities at the placement office or the lack of campus activities.

And of course, those that complain that the boss won't let me.

All three complaints are based on a view of the world that requires permission and easy access.

In the connection economy, the valuable asset is the ability to convene. When we are able to initiate, to make something happen and to be trusted, we not only create value, we create a life.

So in the post-obedience world, that means that the entire world is available, not just what's on campus or within a skateboard ride of your house. It means that the best jobs are off campus, and that the limits of any (every) institution are actually magical boundaries, because knowing where they are makes them easier to cross.

And crossing boundaries is where we thrive.