Behind the scenes: SEO

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the process by which you can use techniques to improve rankings on the Search Engine Results Page (SERP). This can be done through a variety of tactics --some more effective than others. When implementing SEO for a website, it is important to understand your desired audience. Strategically choose what tactics you implement and make sure that your campaigns, blogs, social media, and advertising drive traffic back to your site. If your marketing efforts are integrated in this fashion, you will have a greater impact overall.

Search engines produce web links on their results pages by combing the Internet, looking for key words that relate to a particular user's search. After noting which sites embrace those key word concepts, as well as other characteristics of the websites, search engines classify them for future searches. Depending on the value of the content, the search engine will rank the site for that particular search on the results page; this is called the page rank of the site. Page rank is not set in stone and can improve with good SEO and popularity of the site (i.e. user traffic). SEO provides webmasters and marketers the opportunity to equip their sites so that they will come out on top for related search engine results. The challenge with SEO is to make sure that you are targeting the right audience, so that your site gets traffic from users who are actually interested in your content and may later be turned into loyal customers/patients, etc.

To establish good SEO, it is critical that you build on-page and off-page SEO in order to drive traffic to a website and increase visibility. On-page SEO includes content, code, and site architecture. Strive for well-written content that is concise and comprehensive. Keep your site fresh and up to date, but also comprehensive. If you are a site that offers articles or lengthy blog posts, consider posting only 2-3 times per week, instead of every day.  According to DiTesco, " Google, is now looking for “fresh” content. Obviously, if you are talking about something that is “hot” or trending, the more updated the information is, the better." (1) Also, make sure that you are giving users what they want. Think about answering their search question directly -- if you envision your website as the top result in a search for a new medical procedure, make sure that the story about that procedure is featured front and center on your site.

Make sure your code is clean. Code is really just the signals that a programmer establishes to ensure that a site is optimized for the search engines that crawl the web. Meta tagging and keywords can help search engines find your info. As Erin Everhart says on Mashable Tech, "People search in Google because they have a question. Anticipate those questions — whether about the best style of yoga pants or where to get the lowest mortgage rate. Your keywords and the content on your pages should reflect the answers to those questions. Keyword research is tedious, but it’s arguably the most important aspect of SEO." (2)

You also want to think about the design of your website and the navigation path that you have set for the user. Is your site navigation intuitive? Can the user easily find his or her way from one page to another? User-ability can play a key factor in capturing the attention of a user and not immediately boring your audience (this would result in a high bounce rate for your page, if everyone who arrived immediately left the site).

Off-page SEO ranking can play a much bigger role in influencing the success of your website. Build links into your content, highlighting keywords that will take the user to another part of your site or to an external site of relevance (make sure that the link opens in a new window, so the user does not leave your site in the process!) Breadcrumb trails or anchoring text are other ways to show people where they've been and to allow for the user to orient him/herself. Form relationships with other like-minded organizations and host referral links to each other's websites. If the other site has a good reputation, their referral will give your site increased legitimacy and it will also improve your Google Page Rank.

If SEO is done right, it can greatly improve your ROI; whatever that may be. SEO can generate a great deal of revenue for websites that support a PPC (Paid Per Click) advertising method. As stated in Payperclickuniverse.com, PPC ads are display or bid-based ads that appear only on high ranking webpages or search results pages. PPC metrics employ a quality score, determining which ads should appear. As advertises pay for the placement, the ads are certain to appear instead of having to compete with other search results, as can sometimes happen with SEO (3). Advertisers pay the publisher (website owner) when the ad is "clicked." The more a website leverages SEO, the more traffic will result. Advertisers will then be attracted to sites that are well-built, with good user friendly interfaces, and a high volume of traffic. A happy user is more apt to click on an ad and linger on a site; therefore, revenue potential is high.

Social media is another area of interactive marketing that should be directly tied to the SEO of a website. Use your company's social media platform to help your website's page rank, start a dialogue, and build trust with your audience. A recent article by Ragan.com states that Google search (debatably the best and most popular search engine out available) is now actually favoring social media activity -- "likes" and tweets -- over key words and other more traditional aspects of SEO. (4) Social media can be the perfect place to tie together your website, media coverage in the news, advertising campaigns, and blog posts or reviews. Share these things with your audience and keep a close eye on your analytics for your website. Trial and error is often the best approach when crafting a message, as the audience is different for every brand. Test it out to see what works. Sometimes something as simple as the time of day that you choose to post can slightly alter the demographic of your viewers.

SEO is only one piece to the larger puzzle of what is called "inbound marketing" for a brand or company. If you take a look at this Infographic on hubspot.com, it is easy to see the strong relationship between SEO for a website and the overall ROI for a marketing strategy. The Infographic "helps inbound marketers understand the entire inbound process from start to finish -- from getting found online, to converting visitors into leads and customers, and then measuring the entire funnel." (5)

After considering all of the points made above, it is critical to remember that like most things on the web, best practices for SEO are forever changing. It is important to update and freshen up SEO periodically, staying abreast of the latest developments. As DiTesco says on his iBlogZone, " SEO is not dead as many would like you to believe, but it is constantly changing and as new factors come into play, others go." (6)

This article is the part of a series of posts that I will make throughout my graduate studies in Marketing and Communications. With a focus on both healthcare and interactive marketing, I hope to gain a better understanding for effective health messaging--which I think plays a key role in a happy, healthy society. Please leave your comments or write to me: camorous@gmail.com.

References

(1, 6) Perez, Fransisco (2012). The Best SEO Practices and Tips 2012. Retrieved from http://www.iblogzone.com/2012/01/best-seo-practices-tips-2012.html

(2) Everhart, Erin (2011). 6 Best Practices for Modern SEO. Retrieved from http://mashable.com/2011/11/08/seo-best-practices/

(3)Pay Per Click Universe (2012). Organic SEO and Paid Search: Friends or Foes? Retrieved from http://www.payperclickuniverse.com/pay-per-click-search-engines-articles/organic-seo-and-paid-search-friends-or-foes/

(4) Kramer, Shelley (2012). Google favors Facebook shares, 'likes,' and comments more than keywords. Retrieved from http://www.ragan.com/Main/Articles/45186.aspx

(5)Vaughan, Pamela (2012). How Inbound Marketing Works, From Start to Finish [INFOGRAPHIC]. Retrieved from http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/31271/Inbound-Marketing-From-Start-to-Finish-INFOGRAPHIC.aspx/

Common Craft (2011). What is Search Engine Optimization/ SEO? Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hF515-0Tduk 

Addicted

With a lot of my focus centered on social media these days (for work, in class, in the news), I took one of those long pauses to consider why networks like Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and blogging play such an important role in our lives today.

On any given day, I will probably access and engage in social at least 6-8 times. I login to Facebook in the morning to check our brand page for work. I wish my friends a happy birthday, if their special day happens to be popping up in my newsfeed and I will continue to browse content for my brand page related to my field of health care. I then read straight news articles and make a post for my healthcare organization on some relevant material.

If I am not in the middle of running a planned campaign, I will usually post something educational and link to an online resource. Other times I'll choose to link to a news article or program offering. Typically, I monitor the site for 1-2 hrs after posting, leaving the browser open so that I can pick up on any negative activity immediately, while I move on to other marketing work. I will check back at lunch and in the afternoon, depending on work meetings and the structure of my day. I always have my mobile phone on hand, which will alert me to activity regardless. Right now my evenings are spent studying, but inevitably, I will return to social media for personal browsing and updates on my friends and family.

Wow. You probably think I'm addicted, now. Which may be the case -- but it's a good thing. I manage the social media platform at work, which is a big task. I am responsible for growing our fan base, with significant outcomes each year. As a nonprofit, we has chosen to use only organic efforts (campaigns, interactive marketing, and creative ideas) to promote our social media. We do not use paid advertising. It is also critical to our success that we target the correct demographic, ensuring that our efforts will yield the proper results.

And it's all about the metrics! Seriously, everything these days is measurable and this is a tool that is invaluable. Measuring the value of a LIKE or the virality of a message on Facebook allows for analysis and tweaking that can greatly improve your marketing method and legitimize your brand. If you learn as you go and stay abreast of the latest developments in social media, you are on your game. The potential ROI for interactive online marketing is unprecedented.

There are many thought processes that make a marketing campaign a success, but the most important thing to keep in mind is why are people using sites like Facebook anyway? What makes these sites addicting? Why is it that people stay on these sites for MUCH longer than the average web search or page visit?

Because...

1. You can connect with friends who live in all parts of the world or from different stages of your lives. These are people that you cannot see on an every day basis, but you can keep up to date on some of the ins and outs via Facebook. Sharing challenges and triumphs with people you care about is one of the greatest joys of life.

2. You can get useful info -- current news stories, job opportunities, education on topic. All of this info can be accessed and shared by valuable individuals, your "friends." A recommendation for a restaurant or a promotional deal for a local store is much more believable and reliable coming from a friend. Trust is at the base of all Facebook interactions; trust breeds sharing.

3. You can keep yourself busy stalking people (not literally, although that some times happens). When you get bored or need inspiration, Facebook is the place to go! It is possible to suck up hours and hours of time on internet and sites like Facebook are big culprits.

Good things to keep in mind. Why does social media matter to you? There's a good chance that it matters to your next door neighbor for many of those same reasons. Of course there are always differences between different populations and the marketer must take that into account, as well.

This article is the part of a series of posts that I will make throughout my graduate studies in Marketing and Communications. With a focus on both healthcare and interactive marketing, I hope to gain a better understanding for effective health messaging--which I think plays a key role in a happy, healthy society. Please leave your comments or write to me: camorous@gmail.com.

www.what the heck am I doing.com

When working in PR/Marketing, it's only a matter of time before you will be asked to help redesign a website. If you are one of the lucky few who never has this task (not to say it's not enjoyable, it's just tedious) then "Lucky you!" You still need to understand the ins and outs of a good site, in order to strategically place ad campaigns. 


Tell the Brand Story
A website serves as the "home base" for your brand. The strategy behind a website should be to create an accessible and easy-to-use website that embodies your organization's brand and legitimizes your message. When a marketer is speaking on the phone to the media, referencing his or her company to clients, or providing feedback to a board of directors, it is important to have a website that represents the entire company and highlights the significance of the work being done. In some sense, a website should tell a story on its own -- as a website visit can be a one time chance to capture the attention of the user.


Aesthetics 
Web layout and visual appeal are key. It is important to keep the branding consistent across the board for an organization or company, so the color palette for the website should align with the logo and other existing branding. A website should also use color combinations that make the text readable and easy to recognize (sometimes dark colors on dark backgrounds can make text undetectable). Consistent branding is also important as often users visit the site after tying a keyword into a search engine, such as Google. It is important that they recognize where they are and that the site branding confirms that they have come to the correct place. Otherwise, they will immediately exit the site and, thus, contribute to the "bounce rate" in your site analytics (something you'd rather keep low - trust me!)


Navigation & User Experience 
Visual appearance is only part of the equation for the perfect website. The navigation and layout of the site are also critical to creating a comfortable, easy environment for users. The "user experience" is what determines popularity of a site, the number of page visits, and the length of time that one user will spend browsing content. If a site is easy to navigate - meaning the navigation is intuitive, well marked, and fast- then the user will be happy. From that point on, good content will speak for itself. Interesting reading, helpful material such as downloadable PDFs, and interactive video will capture the user's attention. Content should be written in plain English- no clinical jargon or academic prose.


Know Your Audience
Keep in mind the unique needs that your users may have, as well as their expectations. You want their experience at your website to be a memorable, pleasant experience. Whether that means going out of you way to make online accommodations for vision or hearing impaired users; streaming news feeds or stock market updates to maintain user attention; or providing a "one stop shop" portal for users to access a list of resources, in addition to your site, that might meet their needs if they did not find what they needed at your site.  Much of the reasoning behind choosing a site layout should be to make the user experience easy for all audiences: community members, educators, physicians, students, and patients who may be accessing the site as a resource. When considering a patient, it is important to remember that some times symptoms of an illness can make everyday tasks challenging. Just another reason to tailor your user's web experience as best you can. Enabling access for people of all abilities is key to building a sustainable website.


Personalize it!
Website personalization is an area where health communicators have to proceed with great caution. Any app or login feature would need to be highly secure in order to protect patient health information and confidentiality. A login feature gives users who frequent a site the ability to participate in multiple event registrations, surveys, or webinars without re-entering registration info each time. Instead, the form would pre-populate with their info, made possible using cookies. Personalization does greatly enhance user experience. The information that users volunteer when they login, becomes an important piece of intel for marketing strategy. We will discuss this in a future post. 


Mobile Ready
Finally, in the current times it is crucial that a website be "skinned" for mobile devices. Everyone accesses the web via iPhones, Androids, iPads, eNotebooks, etc. and a company can miss out on an opportunity to engage a user if the website shows up in very poor quality on a mobile device. Nothing is more frustrating to a user then finding a website and then realizing that it is impossible to access half of the site because it goes off the screen. 


Do the work for your user - make the content easy to access. For me, this is the real message when it comes to website best practices for websites.

References:


http://www.homebaseprogram.org/ http://ask.enquiro.com/2010/a-big-list-of-user-experience-best-practices/

http://www.webdesignerdepot.com/2009/11/best-practices-for-6-common-user-interface-elements/

http://mobilewebbestpractices.com/user-experience/


This article is the part of a series of posts that I will make throughout my graduate studies in Marketing and Communications. With a focus on both healthcare and interactive marketing, I hope to gain a better understanding for effective health messaging--which I think plays a key role in a happy, healthy society. Please leave your comments or write to me: camorous@gmail.com.

Understanding Cookies

What are cookies?

Let's be frank. You hear people talk about cookies all the time --no, not the chocolate chip kind, the internet kind. Everyone pretends to know what they are, cause who wants to look like an idiot? But let's face it - do you really understand them? Honestly, I'm not sure I'm there myself. But, I just wrote a short piece on them for class and I thought I'd share this batch : )

Cookies are small data stores that live on a computer's web browser. The browser will use cookies to store data about that user's web activity. According to the BBC's Webwise Blog:

When you visit a site that uses cookies for the first time, a cookie is downloaded onto your PC. The next time you visit that site, your PC checks to see if it has a cookie that is relevant (that is, one containing the site name) and sends the information contained in that cookie back to the site. The site then "knows" that you have been there before, and in some cases, tailors what pops up on screen to take account of that fact. [1]

This means that cookies can store info about the number of times you have visited a page, the length of time that you spent there, what links you clicked, and what types of browsers you prefer to use. This information can help make your user experience easy and more enjoyable by removing duplicate information, remembering favorite info, or giving you the content that you requested in a search.

Benefits

Cookies have enabled online shopping to expand through the use of a shopping cart feature that "remembers" desired items and "holds" those items for you, even if you exit the site. With a login feature that references info in your computer's cookies, you can return to that site and keep browsing with the same contents in your shopping cart.

The information captured through cookies can also provide key intelligence to inform brand-marketing strategy. By understanding what sites a user frequents, how often they visit, and where user's general interests lie, a company can effectively place ads. Ideally, the brand can target the user with ads for a product or item of interest and there is a higher probability that the user will actually click on the ad and generate revenue for the site host and the brand (if the user purchases the product).

This method of targeted advertising can be very cost-effective, as it matches marketing efforts with the targeted audience: an engaged population that is actually seeking the product and looking to fill a need. Cookies also give the brand a great advantage and insight into understanding user behavior. Cookies allow the brand to capture real time research data on the users interest, which can influence their entire strategy, constantly keeping an approach fresh and relevant.

Controversy

There is a downside to cookies, however, which is that users are often skeptical of the idea that information is being stored about them. Many feel that their privacy is infringed upon and this unease can affect a user's trust in a brand. Despite the fact noted by Larisa Thomason from NetMechanic that "Cookies cannot store any personal information about the user that the user doesn't voluntarily supply to the Web site,"[2]  people are still uneasy about the presence of cookies.

Some users dislike the idea of being targeted by marketing campaigns or having their web browser ads tailored to their interests. There has been some controversy over the legality of cookie use.  In the Guardian, Joanna Geary makes the "sneaky" function of a cookie clear:

The cookies that appear to cause the most controversy... are for managing the advertising you see on a website. This is particularly the case when websites set a cookie from a separate advertising delivery company. This cookie can record when and where you saw an advert, where in the world you might have been when it happened and whether you clicked on it. The cookie will send this information to the cookie owner, who records this data and uses it to make sure you don't see the same advert too many times.[3]

The consensus seems to be that cookies are harmless. For users that dislike the idea, there is always the option of blocking cookies-- which may make the web experience less fluid, as many sites do not operate well without cookies. Most sites have a cause within their "Terms and Conditions" that states that by using the site, you are agreeing to download the site cookies. A good site will also take the time to explain how the brand uses cookies and why they do so.

---

[1] http://www.bbc.co.uk/webwise/guides/about-cookies

[2] http://www.netmechanic.com/news/vol3/beginner_no5.htm

[3] http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2012/apr/23/cookies-and-web-tracking-intro


This article is the part of a series of posts that I will make throughout my graduate studies in Marketing and Communications. With a focus on both healthcare and interactive marketing, I hope to gain a better understanding for effective health messaging--which I think plays a key role in a happy, healthy society. Please leave your comments or write to me: camorous@gmail.com.

Personal vs. Professional Brand Marketing

The potential ROI for internet marketing is astounding. For little to no cost, a company or individual can successfully market themselves on a global level through hundreds of web apps, social media channels, email marketing campaigns, and blogs (to name a few). This is an exceptional development and one that certainly levels the playing field between large companies and small businesses/nonprofits. The power to increase visibility and the reach of their message or brand is exponential.

The laws of both Moore and Metcalfe attribute to this. Moore's Law states that every 18 months processing power doubles, while cost remains the same. Metcalfe proposes that the value of a network grows by the value of N squared, when N = nodes (devices or users connected to the network). Cookies (more on these later) contribute greatly to the processing power of the internet, as networks like Facebook become wiser about the interests of individual users, enabling customized advertising and more direct marketing. At the same time, however, it is important to utilize internet marketing in a strategic manner. This is where the difference lies between personal and brand dialogue on the web.

Over time, I have come to realize that with the internet, sometimes "less is more." As a healthcare marketing professional, I always want to be aware of developments and understand how people are using sites -- but this doesn't mean that I jump on the band wagon and create an account for my company immediately. Sometimes, it is better to observe from a distance. Not all social sites are successful and it is important that you check out a site, before choosing to create an account. Affiliation = endorsement and in order to protect your brand, you have to implement a strategy for which sites you choose to use and scout things out in advance.

The difference between a personal account on Facebook, for example, and a brand page is substantial. Personal accounts are often used to share personal info (duh) about relationships, emotions, and daily life in a casual manner. Where this can be a very friendly, inviting approach to online interaction, it is not appropriate for a professional entity or healthcare organization. On a daily basis, I observe how my friends and family manage their personal accounts on Facebook, Twitter, or other social networking sites. Many people do not give much thought to how what they say on their page or sharing private information. They say what they want, to whomever they desire and they don't worry too much about the repercussions or how they appear to the outside world.

Professional brands cannot afford this luxury; they have a reputation to uphold and an obligation to their clients, investors, etc. The need for careful monitoring and clear strategy is especially true for healthcare organizations or hospitals, as they have a very high standard to adhere to and must follow protocol to protect patient confidentiality, in line with HIPAA. How can hospitals and healthcare orgs use social sites? I will discuss this soon in an upcoming post, but here's the short and sweet of it: healthcare orgs can use social media to share important health messages, improve visibility, market programs and services that they provide, and offer a place for dialogue. However, the web is NOT a place for medical diagnosis, clinical care or instruction. There may be some hospitals that employ secure chat rooms or LIVE interaction where patient health info is protected. Facebook is not one of these places -- yet.

Moral of the story: with the development of so many new technologies, it seems that the possibilities for interactive marketing are endless. A small company or program can gain a large national presence through the internet in a very short amount of time. Through Google and other search engines, brands can find out exactly what their clients want and put their product right in front of the target audience, satisfying both parties. However, without proper application these powerful tools can do more harm than good. It is important for a brand to set in place proper protocol for both internal and external internet marketing policy (including one specific to social media). The brand must consider what sites or apps it chooses to use and how these efforts will integrate into the overall marketing strategy.

This article is the part of a series of posts that I will make throughout my graduate studies in Marketing and Communications. With a focus on both healthcare and interactive marketing, I hope to gain a better understanding for effective health messaging--which I think plays a key role in a happy, healthy society. Please leave your comments or write to me: camorous@gmail.com.

Are we like the People of Panem?

For those of you with a PR day job, you must understand this sentiment: I come home from a long day at work and bask in the freedom to browse the internet for the fluffy stuff. I spend my 9-5 day staying up to date on hospital policy, clinical care, and research studies. In the evening, I ride the social wave. Interestingly, more often than not, my evening reads connect back directly to my day job. Several weeks ago, the hot topics on the internet were: the #HungerGames and #HealthCareReform.

Ever since then, I've been itching to dig into the on-going health care debate, especially after listening to a very compelling piece that NPR did several weeks ago on the second day of Obamacare hearings for the US Supreme Court. So for a moment, let's talk universal health care reform and then maybe we can get to the Hunger Games. 

I understand the reason for all of the hype. It's a big deal for the government to try to mandate something like health care, passing a law like this would set an impressive legal precedent. Even if one argues that the mandate would not infringe upon the constitutional rights of American citizens (which it could, the Supreme Court Justices have yet to determine this), it could also open the door to future legislation that crosses farther over this line. But here lies the problem: health care is essential to life and not everyone can afford it. Does everyone deserve it? I think most would agree that the answer is yes, but there are so many other factors at play here that add to the complexity of the issue.  The largest of which, I think, is freedom of choice. 

What's more interesting to me at the moment, is how the American public is reacting to the Supreme Court Hearings. So my thought is, let's take it to the people and see what they have to say via Twitter: 

@Vision365 @darbus69 it is your RIGHT to work and pursue thosethings you want, such as healthcare. I choose not to buy insurance.

Good point. RT “@BorowitzReport: Americans should not be forcedto spend money on healthcare that they could be spending onguns.”

RT @KateClinton: Shouldn't Supreme Court judges who havehealthcare recuse themselves from this case?

Dumb tweet of the day MT @Jimi_We If SCOTUS kills ACA allAmericans should refuse to provide healthcare for congressmenand SCOTUS.

Hands off my Healthcare! We need #Obamacare!

Why don't we apply successful principles of Internet (transparency, choice) to health care? http://bit.ly/GZ7GoR 

Healthcare going down? Back 2 millions being uninsured. RSupremes makg that the American way? Canucks think we're nuts! 


So single-payer healthcare not only would have been cheaper & more equitable, but it also would have been more legally resilient.

Read the above (just a small sampling of one night's discussion on Twitter). To sum it all up: people are uneasy about change. That's old news, but, is it just the element of change that poses a threat? No, people are concerned about putting their own health in jeopardy. For this reason, we have been teetering on the edge of health care reform. We want to take the plunge, but we are scared of the consequences.

The fight over health care reform is just like the Hunger Games. The government has nurtured a society that promotes the Games (universal health care) and encourages tributes to fight to the death (provokes citizens to a place where they feel trapped); without freedom of choice. Each tribute, just like each American citizen, wants the chance to choose life (or medical care), without having to take it from their friends and peers. Therein lies the problem: when the government takes away their choice, they feel forced to protect themselves and they become animals - caring only for their personal well-being. It's survival of the fittest. They no longer trust the men and women in power.

Americans are caught between a rock and a hard place. Altruism is a strong force within democracy and they want to provide medical care for everyone, but they do not trust #Obamacare. People are too afraid that, like the Hunger Games,  the system is rigged; that when they really do get very sick, they won't get the timely, high standard of care that they need and feel that they deserve. And it may be a matter of life or death. Acts of kindness and universal health care may risk the loss of their own quality care. Like so many things in life, it all boils down to self preservation, as the Tweets above show. People are suspicious. Just like in Panem, they do not trust the government to make these decisions; this can cause a great deal of unrest and unhappiness in the nation. 

In MA, we pay a high percentage of our annual salary to healthcare benefits, as the result of the Massachusetts Health Care Reform Law (2006), implemented by Mitt Romney during his time as governor. For many single workers, like myself, this translates to 1/3 of my monthly pay check - a high price to pay. I am rarely sick enough to need medical attention, so this number does feels unjust.

I understand the resentment towards #Obamacare. However, this is no excuse for neglecting those who need medical attention. So what do we do? What if Americans want both free choice and universal health care? Can we have our cake and eat it too, or is this one big Catch 22?