This goes to the heart of every company’s SEO strategy. The clues come in a patent filing for something called an “implied link.” Before I explain why this is important, let’s first take a trip back to the early days of SEO and link-building.

Early on, Google would evaluate where a site ranks for any given search by looking at how many other sites were linking back to that page. If you were a valuable site, visitors would link to you in order to share that with their audience or to cite you as a good resource. That type of analysis would seem like an obvious way to measure the quality of the site.

But SEO gurus are always trying to stay one step ahead, and once link-farms and other shady techniques for creating myriads of back-links became prevalent, Google recognized that there’s no way to verify whether a link was added because a user genuinely likes the content or whether the link was paid for. The quality of a link can be corrupted through a wide variety of Black Hat tricks, and thus the value of all links came into question.

And while Google has updated its algorithms on numerous occasions over the years, that doesn’t mean that links aren’t still valuable for SEO. They are just much less valuable than they once were. Google is now much more selective about the quality of the site that is doing the linking. The New York Times continues to be the gold standard for the most valuable links.

But what if a publication like the Times mentions a brand or its product without a hyperlink? Shouldn’t that carry some weight, even though it doesn’t include a url?

That’s where Google’s patent comes into play. SEO insiders believe that the patent is related to last year’s Panda update, and that it describes a method for analyzing the value of “implied links,” that is, mentions on prominent sites without a link.

Let’s say the Times mentions in an article the website of NewCo as a great resource for a particular topic, but doesn’t include a link to NewCo’s website. Previously, there really wasn’t a measurable way for NewCo to benefit from that quality mention. With implied links, Google sees the mention in the Times article and factors that into its search ranking.

Implied links are also used as a sort of quality control tool for back-links in order to identify those that are most likely the result of Black Hat tricks. For example, if Google sees numerous incoming links from sites of questionable quality, it might search for implied links and find that no one is talking about that brand across the internet. Google looks at that evidence from the implied links to determine if the back-links are real and adjusts the rankings accordingly.

Here are four tips for adapting to Google’s focus on implied links:
• Don’t abandon your link-building strategy. Earned links are still effective when they come from valued sites. The most valuable links will still be for relevant, unique content.
• Brand reputation is key. When asking for mentions on other sites, try to have them use your brand name as much as possible. The same is true when you are posting on other sites. Use your brand name. Do the same in descriptive fields such as bios at the bottom of contributed content.
• Engage your audiences in conversation. Similar to word-of-mouth marketing, the more your brand name is being mentioned, even without links, the more it will benefit your SEO. Encourage that conversation as much as you can.
• Be creative and flexible. Google is always evolving its search engine algorithms. It’s difficult, but not impossible, to predict how they may change over the next year, or how effective today’s best practices will be tomorrow if you know how to follow the clues.

Recently, Bluetext has been engaged to design and develop several global, enterprise class websites that have required a significant amount of user experience research. This more immersive step in the full lifecycle of our design process has become increasingly more critical given the role corporate websites play in the overall go to market strategy of any successful brand – and as such often begs the question – what is the difference between market and user experience research – and which is more important?

The short answer to the first question is that market research uses both qualitative and quantitative methods – focusing on a large sample size that verifies insights with large numbers – primarily to get an understanding of what people want to buy and why. User research is exactly the opposite – it’s not about demographics, markets, pricing or trends that capture generalizations – it’s about how your customer feels about using a product or service – preferable yours. User experience research is more valuable than its market brethren in that it provides direction about what aspects of your experience will meet your customers needs that we identify during the UX research process and answers the question of how and why they buy your product. User research helps us understand how your buyers live their lives, so that we can respond with an informed and inspired design strategy that creates a more direct and effective pathway to their innermost needs. And since we are creating design solutions for customers who are typically nothing like our clients – user research also helps them steer clear of their own biases

Because UX research isn’t interested in the statistical validity of large sample sizes, it focuses on smaller audiences to delve into the innate desires of the user to discover how your customer will actually engage with your product, providing us with the window to see what they actually do during that experience to uncover needs that could not otherwise be articulated.

We have discovered that research of any kind is far less about designing a product to address the demand of a specific market than it is about capturing deeper insight into the subconscious motivations of your buyer to create an experience that people actually want to use – before the market for it even exists. So if you want the answer to the second question – just ask Apple.

 

Spider Chart, Spider Chart,
Visualizes whatever a spider can
Spins a chart, any size,
Catches insights just like flies
Look Out!
Here comes the Spider Chart

A spider chart plots the values of each category along a separate axis that starts in the center of the chart and ends on the outer ring. These charts are great ways of visualizing the strengths and weaknesses of your current or future state website user experience. At Bluetext we have a deep focus on the science of user experience. After all, when you design and build sites for Fortune 500 companies, every fraction of a percent counts.

Bluetext likes to help visualize the various states of our analysis in spider graphs.

Competitive Analysis Visualization Through Spider Graphs

In today’s fast moving digital marketing world it’s critical to be a watchful eye for our clients to ensure they have a competitive advantage. A real time pulse and visualization of where they fall in the competitive marketplace can be very valuable. The below sample spidergraph can show a marketing leader where they stack in many categories. They can review these sequentially chronologically to see how they are progressing and ensure they have the best opportunity to capture and convert users across their desired journeys to achieve the key performance indicators the site is measured against.

SEO and Landing Page Optimization Visualization Through Spider Graphs

If you really want to impress during a presentation, this is the chart for you. It allows you to display multivariate data easily while also impressing with the visual appeal of its radar shape. Check out the chart above which shows SEO traffic by landing page. This Spider Chart stylishly displays SEO traffic for each series of pages in a specific time frame. This kind chart allows you to easily see real SEO traffic rather than just keyword ranking reports like those  from Google Analytics. At the end of the day, the quality and amount of traffic matters more than just keyword ranking. translations The Spider Chart can be used to hold the attention of your audience as you explain the insights you’ve discovered in a way which won’t scare them off.

These charts are just the tip of the data visualization iceberg. Talk to us at Bluetext about your story, brand, or data visualization needs.

Brand Strategy.  Brand Presentation.  Brand Delivery.  Bluetext.

“If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?” The age old philosophical question that actually has a lot of applicability to modern marketing. The truth is that the best marketing campaign with the perfect message will fall flat if there is not an audience of people to see it. data mining At Bluetext, our go to market can be divided into three areas that must work in concert to be successful:

 

• Brand Strategy, which focuses on creating the right message and brand positioning;
• Brand Presentation, which focuses on taking that message and making it visual; and
• Brand Delivery, which focuses on taking that strongly designed visual message and delivering it out into the market via multiple channels.

 

The dirty little secret is that so many companies focus on their strategy and their presentation but then fail to really attack the proper channels for the delivery of their message. So here are four things you should be asking yourselves or your marketing agency to ensure that your message is delivered to the right audiences in order to properly achieve your goals:

1. Do you have a database and are you leveraging it? There are many modern techniques for properly leveraging your corporate database to drive awareness and interest in your products or services beyond sending out HTML email blasts. Just this week Google announced a new product called Customer Match that will let advertisers upload lists of emails and match them to signed-in Google users on Gmail, Search and YouTube. This same functionality is available inside of Facebook for very specific targeting.
2. What conversations are you a part of or could you be a part of? What assets (people) do you have that we could insert into conversations to better position your company as thought leaders to drive thought provoking agendas? Have you created an editorial calendar that you review each week and track against KPIs?
3. Are you putting any budget to paid media? If you are looking to drive leads as opposed to straight awareness then taking a portion of the budget and putting it toward paid channels (for sponsored content, advertorial, infographics, etc.) is critical for success. Think about going programmatic as well to maximize every dollar. My partner Rick Silipigni wrote a blog post about this approach recently – check it out here – https://bluetext.com/planning-a-digital-media-buy-get-with-the-programmatic/
4. Are you thinking outside the box? Every company has a handful of activities that they take on from a marketing standpoint every quarter, but only the most successful companies carve out budget to launch innovative campaigns to drive differentiation in the market. Every quarter you should be asking your team and your agency for ideas that would be considered innovative and outside the box. Check out this amazing pop up book my team just created for Workday to help them tell their story in a unique way…http://www.workday.com/payroll_evolution.php

 

If anyone is looking for a strong example of the impact of website personalization, they don’t need to look any further than this year’s redesign of ESPN.com. ESPN’s move shouldn’t come as a surprise—after all, most enterprises redesign their websites every 18-to-24 months. But the reason that ESPN received so much attention is that it made one very significant strategic shift—its new website adapts to the person who is viewing it.

Some of the techniques that were built into the site allow it to reflect the location, preferences, interests and the device of each of its visitors. For example, it can predict (within reason-more on that later) your favorite team based on its best guess on your location. Once preferences are determined, it can prioritize relevant content every time you return to the site. That means the dynamic delivery of relevant content, a tailor-made river of information that is constantly updated.

ESPN certainly isn’t a pioneer in website personalization—after all, Amazon has been delivering that type of individualized content for years. But ESPN has figured out what every enterprise company needs to learn: Website visitors across all industries and sectors now expect at least some level of a customized experience. In fact, according to one recent survey, three-quarters of online consumers get frustrated when websites offer content that has nothing to do with their interests.

In other words, enterprise organizations that don’t start offering a more personalized experience will soon see their target audience abandoning their websites—resulting in lost opportunities for conversion, and, ultimately, lost revenues.

Here are four tips to help get you on your way to a better customized experience for your visitors:

Go Mobile First. This means installing technology that identifies the various devices that visitors use to view your content. First and foremost, Google rewards mobile-friendly sites in its page ranking, and is beginning to penalize those that aren’t. Viewers using their mobile devices need to be easily able to access content on those devices, and that requires a far different design than for a desktop or laptop.

Recognize the Buyer’s Journey. A first time visitor is going to need different types of content than someone who has already visited the site on several occasions. That means more general explanatory content for first-time visitors, with content moving towards specific questions and specifications as they move through the journey and towards a purchasing decision.

Use the Best Tools for Persona-based Content. Cookie technology is a necessity to understand and track where returning visitors have been on the site, what types of information they have sought, and what they might need next. Anticipating their needs and interests will result in a significant increase in conversion, and a decrease in frustration.

Allow Visitors to Contribute Their Own Personalization Settings. In the case of ESPN, it might seem obvious to assume that a visitor from Washington, D.C., was a Washington Nationals fan. translate But they could just as easily be a Baltimore Orioles lover. Checking in with that visitor directly will deliver better engagement, and better results.

Programmatic buying for display ad inventory hit an inflection point this year and is expected to account for 70% of total display expenditure in 2016. This major shift is being driven primarily by digital agencies like Bluetext who are leveraging rapid advances in advertising technology systems such as Demand Side Platforms (DSPs) that automate the buying process with real-time bidding (RTB) – the backbone of programmatic buying. Programmatic media buying allows agencies to manage and purchase inventory from multiple ad networks through the single interface of the DSP – allowing advertisers to buy a select set of algorithmically filtered impressions across a range of publisher sites simultaneously – all targeted at a specific user persona.

With RTB, a media buyer can create a set parameters such as bid price and network reach, and can combine those with demographics and attitudinal data and auto adjust dozens of performance based variables in real time to determine the right campaign settings to achieve the desired ROI.

So what are primary advantages that programmatic media buying provides to marketers?

1. Speed

The automated buying process allows marketers to place ads through the DSP enabling quicker turnaround and increased speed to market, both of which become more critical as planning cycles get shorter, and more stringent performance goals call for dynamic testing and optimization of new strategies that can be obtained via RTB.

2. Targeting

Programmatic buying in its purist sense isn’t media buying – its audience buying. DSPs allow marketers to target a specific segment of users, wherever they are – and with retargeting capabilities built in – wherever they’re going based on previous interest in a specific product or service.

3. ROI

Increased ROI is achieved by the buying efficiency that programmatic platforms afford marketers – from both a time and cost perspective – as well as the ability to target and optimize in real time. The ability to gain traction in the market at an increasingly rapid rate with new technology also allows marketers to test various strategies simultaneously and shift budgets to the best performing channels

As advertising technology advances, approaches to programmatic buying are sure to become more sophisticated. With the addition of RTB to social networks – and even more traditional channels like print, tv and radio as some predict – new strategies will present themselves that weren’t previously possible. At Bluetext – 100% of our online display buying is programmatic – so I recommend taking a peek over your agency’s shoulder to make sure they are buying smarter and giving your brand the best opportunity to win in today’s highly charged competitive environment.

Ok all you Thornton Mellon fanatics, the stats are in and the truth must be told. Some interesting data points I hope you all reflect on as you gear up for going back to school.

DATA POINT NUMBER ONE – DEDICATED TO OUR FAVORITE TEACHER SAM KINISON
The mobile revolution is complete. Smartphones account for more than half of searches in 10 countries—including the U.S. and Japan—according to Google, which didn’t release exact percentages or a full list of countries.

Why this is important?

Is every aspect of your digital infrastructure optimized for mobile?

You shouldn’t just stack your desktop elements. You should think through the human factors of mobile design and what your users truly want in the palm of their hand on first visit. Mobile first should be in the DNA of your marketing organization.

DATA POINT NUMBER TWO: THE TRIPLE LINDY OF DATA POINTS

60% of B2B marketers use web traffic to measure success instead of using sales lead quality or social media sharing.

Why this is important?

Success comes down to the key performance indicator and the analytics that you can generate. It’s much easier to track performance and measure return on investment with reliable website traffic data. Great data gives you a clear picture of an online campaign’s viability, but traffic isn’t your only solution. This stat also shows the immaturity of marketing measurement in the majority of organizations and the need for more in-depth data and analysis. If you can ramp up your content marketing analytics in 2015, you’ll be leaps ahead of your competitors.

DATA POINT NUMBER THREE: EMAIL GETS NO RESPECT

63% of consumers prefer to be contacted by email

A new study by Adobe claims that marketers are failing to engage ‘email addicts.’

While 63% say they prefer to be contacted by email, only 20% favor direct mail, 6% social media, 5% the brand’s mobile app, 4% text message and 2% phone.

Why this is important?

Surprisingly, this shows that email campaigns are favored way above even the second most-preferred form of contact from brands, suggesting that email marketing should still be high on every digital marketer’s agenda.

 

Last week some very interesting data came out of Parse.ly, an analytics firm which collects data for 400 digital publishers including Conde Nast, Reuters, Mashable, and The Atlantic. The headline is that, as of June 2015, Facebook is driving more traffic to websites than Google’s sites including google.com and Google News.

HUH you ask? How is that possible? Google is the king of referral traffic, right? It is all about search engine optimization.

Not so fast. The data points to some recent shifts in how Facebook focuses on driving content to its site, and validates the fact that this is not some random stat that will course correct. The trend line has actually been going this way since 2012.

So as a marketer, what are you to do? Well, don’t ring the alarm bells too quickly. Search engine optimization is still critical for success and needs to be a big part of your marketing mix. But don’t ignore Facebook and write it off as a nice place for consumers to share pictures with friends. That is an uneducated and naïve viewpoint and one that is clearly not valid based on these numbers.

I think it is safe to say that Facebook is just getting started, and optimizing your content to play off the Facebook algorithms, as much as that is possible, is a very smart approach. Some of the concepts that we continuously share with clients include:

• Make your Content snackable and consumable
• Encourage social sharing
• Create conversation and dialogue
• Be unique, relevant, or different, but never be boring

How is your organization optimizing social content? Are you seeing an uptick in conversations due to your efforts or are you just scratching the surface?

Since my last post was on “Mobile First” I thought it might make sense to opine on mobile marketing…specifically mobile apps where Bluetext has waded deep into the water this summer.

While we are all waiting for mobile browsing to overtake desktop – mobile apps screamed past PC websites in terms of Internet usage. As this trend is bound to continue in 2016, marketing strategies should evolve to keep up.

Approximately two-thirds of the world’s population are mobile phone users, with the total number of mobile subscriptions globally approaching 8 billion. The mobile market is continuing to explode with no signs that it is going to slow down anytime soon.

These broad advances in technology and interaction create the need for new tactics and strategies that will keep brands strong and customers loyal. Users spent almost 25% more time in apps last year than they did the year before, and 2016 is more than likely to see an equal, if not more precipitous increase.

As new mobile apps continue to flood the market, the way that users engage with them is going to continue to change. And as app makers respond to these changes, app marketers will need to analyze and predict trends to keep their brands one step ahead of the game.

Mainstream marketers put more value on organic versus acquired users, however from an engagement standpoint, paid search and ad networks are by far the two of the most effective channels by which users are brought to apps. And while both are of equal value once they’re using the app, our analytics show that users who find an app through an ad network are more likely to return to download and use the app than organic users. This would certainly suggest a sea change is coming in how brands will approach mobile marketing.

As this change is taking place, user retention will remain a top priority for app developers. Users already inside the app will come back to it again and again and, in turn, become more inclined to make an increasing number of in-app purchases.

In this scenario, app loyalty is the ultimate goal. In order to better engage users, apps will have to start using more sophisticated methods to foster loyalty and that’s where the advertisers come in. The rapid increase in in-app purchases will result in a race to produce more ads, both externally and within apps, to engage the growing user base once they are committed to the app.

As apps are becoming an increasingly more important aspect of daily life, developers are becoming smarter and more creative, encouraging users to embrace technology in every aspect of their lives and attracting advertisers like yourselves to reward them for it.

 

 

 

We get a lot of requests from companies of all sizes looking to “rebrand.” These requests can range from changing some colors and messaging, to completely overhauling a brand and website to address a new market or opportunity where the current brand identity may not be sufficient to address emerging corporate goals.

Enterprises across all industries face a lot of tough questions when deciding on the degree of their rebrand. Is the logo in play? Should the company consider a name change? Is there a mascot or other brand element that drives the culture? Have they gotten as far as they can with the current brand? Are there situations whereby they want to enter a new market and their current brand can actually be detrimental to future success?

To answer these questions we combine insights from both inside and outside the corporate walls, as well as the competitive environment and external market factors to define a path forward that helps them achieve their future corporate goals while addressing different budgetary requirements.

Sometimes there are brand elements that are so ingrained in the culture that tough decisions emerge. A great example was the first time we were asked to rebrand Sourcefire. Sourcefire rose to fame with the commercialization of its open source intrusion detection software product Snort in the 2000s. The product included a massive community of loyal and dedicated supporters who were passionate about Snort and its technical capabilities. They helped the company grow in terms of revenues and fame, and were closely aligned with the company’s mascot Snorty the Pig.

Snorty the pig was always associated with the brand, and all marketing materials including an annual calendar were very popular across the IT security community.

They engaged the Bluetext team to drive legitimacy for the company and brand as they looked to diversify their revenue base into Government. This was a new audience and there was a feeling that the Snort Pig mascot and company attitude would not play well. Following a thorough discovery process our recommendation was to tone down Snorty without eliminating him from their marketing efforts. Our goal was to present the brand as more stable and conservative. The results were tremendous. When they came back to us three years later to rebrand again, Snorty was playing a significantly less prominent role but they continued to leverage the pig in ways to embrace the old while expanding into new markets. The rest for Sourcefire is history as they were sold for $2.7 billion to Cisco in 2013.

The lessons learned from Sourcefire are quite valuable. Many factors need to be assessed to measure the value of your brand equity with your current and prospective customers, including search equity, brand equity and association, and name recognition. If your current customers are loyal and you are in a position of strength with them, but you need help entering a new market, they should understand the reasons for the rebrand and what it means to them without disrupting their relationship with you.

As brands mature, what has gotten them to one point may not be the best path to get to the next level. Many factors should be addressed. Weigh the pros and cons, and don’t make judgments based on gut. Look at the market, assess the opportunity, and make sure to give your brand the best chance at long term success. While you may be succeeding in many categories, it is possible that you have to take a step back in order to move forward. Here are six questions that must be answered when embarking on a “rebrand” effort:

1. How will this rebrand impact current customers?
2. Have you taken this brand as far as it can go?
3. How will your current brand play with prospective customers in new or adjacent markets?
4. Have you thoroughly analyzed the market to see what the outside world thinks about our brand and market positioning?
5. Are you positioning around how customers search for and consume products or services, or how you internally orient your business?
6. Do you want to zag if all of your competitors zig?

A rebrand effort can come in many shapes and sizes. Make sure you do a thorough assessment of your needs and growth opportunities, as it is critical to never disrupt your business as you embrace the market through a rebranding effort.