Ever since Google’s last significant evolution of its search engine algorithm, known as Hummingbird, the marketing world has been treading water trying to understand how to drive search traffic to digital campaigns and websites. In the pre-Hummingbird era, search could be gamed by gaining multiple links back to a page and installing keywords throughout the content. So-called “Black Hat” experts charged a lot of money to get around the rules. In today’s Hummingbird era, it’s no longer only about keywords, but rather having good content with a smart keyword strategy that is relevant to the target audience. Attempting to manipulate the system through meaningless links and keyword overload no longer affects the search results.

While the Google algorithm is extremely complex, SEO itself is not complicated. It’s actually very easy to understand. In sum, Google’s algorithms are designed to serve the best, most relevant content to users. That’s the filter that any company or organization needs to use when deciding whether any particular activity that is part of your online strategy will have an impact on your SEO.

It’s just difficult to execute.

For example, if you’re thinking about blasting a request to bloggers to link back to your site, don’t bother. If they haven’t created good content, it won’t make a difference. Want to change the title of every page on your site to your key search term? It won’t work. Thinking about jamming every keyword into a blog post? If it’s not good content, don’t do it.

The challenge is determining the definition of “good content,” at least as far as Google is concerned. That’s where the hard work begins. Good content is not a subjective evaluation, but rather an analysis that the web page or blog post is relevant to users as measured both by the type of content and the extent of its sharing by other influential users. Let’s break those apart and take a closer look.

The merit of the content is important because if Hummingbird detects that it’s crammed full of keywords, or that it is copied from other sites or even within other pages of the same site, it will quickly discount the relevance. The Google algorithm will see right through those types of attempts to create SEO-weighted pages. Good content needs to be original and unique.

More importantly, good content is also a measurement of how much that content is linked to or shared by influential sites and individuals. When you have created a blog post or web page with good, relevant content, it is vital to share this with your intended audience and with influencers that they trust. This is the hard part. There are no shortcuts when it comes to developing good content and in getting it in front of your audience. Nor are there easy ways to identify trusted influencers and get the content in front of them.

For the content itself, the goal is not just to be informative and provide the types of information that the target audience is seeking, although that is important. The goal is also to have that information shared, whether via social media platforms or through other sites and feeds. That means it must be interesting and sometimes even provocative so that the intended audience takes the next step and slips it into its own networks. It should challenge the conventional wisdom, offer valuable and actionable insights and educate the audience with information not already known. And it must be relevant to the audience.

How do you find the right influencers for your audience? That’s not easy, either. At Bluetext, we do in-depth research into who is talking about the topics and issues important to our client campaigns, and then evaluate each of those potential influencers to determine the size and reach of their audience. These can include industry insiders, trade journalists and columnists, government officials, and academic experts.

A solid SEO strategy takes time and patience, and a lot of hard work. It’s not complicated, but it is difficult.

Last week we launched a new digital experience for Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business. The new website, msb.georgetown.edu, gives alumni, global executives, prospective students, master’s candidates, faculty and staff a world-class digital experience. It is specifically designed to show how the McDonough School of Business helps its students succeed in their goals and the institution move up in the highly competitive business school rankings.

Site launches are always an exciting time for the Bluetext team, and McDonough was no different. It’s opening night, the curtain is raised, and the target audience will determine if the strategy, creativity, discipline and hard work have paid off. Shortly after the site launch, we gathered the team to review the project, discuss lessons learned, and identify ways to apply those to current and future projects.

The session was also an opportunity to further refine our core approach to innovative digital experiences to Higher Education as a market. Here are some of the key take-ways:

• Build a strong and sophisticated brand connection. Clean, bold, and straightforward design lets the institution’s brand speak for itself. The design, imagery, headlines and copy should convey confidence. Videos, infographics and interactive functionality can showcase the value proposition and the work of faculty and students.
• Address Return-On-Investment up-front. Students are savvier than ever. They want to understand the value proposition and why the degree at any particular institution is worth the cost. Address the question up-front in a way that students understand, speaking to their concerns and goals.

• Show the “bigger picture.” How will the education experience help students make an impact or shape their world in a positive way? Talk about how their education correlates to what’s relevant today. Depending on the discipline, it could be entrepreneurism, clean energy research, transforming the public education system, or even global citizenship.
• Engagement is essential, just like in the real world. It’s about social engagement and community. Smart use of social tools will put a face on the educational product, faculty and institution.

• Simplify. Put phone numbers and contact information at their fingertips. Clearly describe the admissions process and what they need to know to get started.
• Deliver a coherent digital experience across all touchpoints. Digital audiences are more connected, more empowered, and more distracted than ever before. They are constantly interacting with one or more devices that place data from websites, apps, and social media at their fingertips. Responsive design can give a consistent brand experience across multiple devices. What’s also important, but often neglected, is making sure that content is structured in a way that makes it reusable across desktops, laptops, mobile devices, social media and digital campaigns.

These core principles provide a solid foundation for creating a successful digital experience that drives ROI for any institution. Today, the user experience is about how a broad range of audiences interact with the brand and product across multiple contexts. That requires thinking of the .edu presence as a digital platform, not simply a “website,” to drive enlistment, revenue, and engagement goals.

At Bluetext, getting the messaging right before we execute any campaign or strategic endeavor is critical. We had a great meeting this week with a prospective client to discuss our approach to messaging in advance of a large rebranding effort. They have spent a lot of time inside their own walls discussing the right words to describe the business. We compiled some thoughts on the inputs required to develop an effective messaging platform. Here are six areas to think about for developing a corporate messaging platform. I am sure that others have many more to add. Would love other thoughts you have that may be missing here?

• Get the inside perspective. Talk to executives, customer facing staff, and other staff who can provide valuable insight into product, solution or strategy.
• Get the outside perspective. Talk to partners, customers, and prospective buyers to understand their needs and preferences.
• Make sure your messaging is a direct response to a clear and measurable market challenge. Use your research to ensure there is a clear and measurable market challenge; make sure that your messaging can address the “so what” factor.
• Conduct an analysis of how your competitors are messaging to identify opportunities to drive differentiation.
• Ensure your messaging speaks commandingly not only about who you are and why people should care, but also provides a market perspective to drive thought leadership; customers like working with thought leaders.
• Don’t forget to perform an SEO analysis to ensure word choice and structure align with the words the market is searching for.

Contact me at michael@bluetext.com to discuss your messaging challenges.

How do you provide effective communications support to a high-ranking individual whose behavior is out of control? Not easily, Bluetext Partner and crisis communications expert Don Goldberg tells CNN. Asked to compare Toronto Mayor Rob Ford’s situation to President Clinton’s during the impeachment scandal, Don says that there’s a pretty big difference, and it has to do with not knowing what’s coming next. Watch the video to hear Don’s perspective on the ongoing crisis in Toronto.

Company Adds Leading Industry PR Content Marketing Executive and Global Clients to Its Growing Roster

WASHINGTON June 12, 2013 “ Bluetext, one of the nation’s fastest growing digital marketing, branding, and strategic communications firms, today announced that it had acquired Lustig Communications, founded by Brian Lustig, one of Washington’s top public relations specialists. Lustig Communications’ clients joining Bluetext’s growing roster include Broadsoft, GCE, and Canvas. Brian, who is joining Bluetext’s team as Partner, brings more than 17 years experience in media relations, public affairs, content marketing, social media and digital strategies to the growing list of Bluetext clients.

Lustig Communications was founded in 2007, following Brian’s successful career at some of the largest public relations and public affairs firms. Lustig Communications focus on emerging and established technology brands and its record of success with media relations and content marketing make it a strong fit with Bluetext’s global brands. He has worked closely with Bluetext’s founding partners for more than a decade, and has supported many of Bluetext’s largest clients.

The melding of Lustig Communications with Bluetext brings an incredible mix of creative thinking and proven client results said Bluetext Partner and Co-Founder Don Goldberg. I have worked with Brian and his team for more than a dozen years; he is not only the best media relations specialist in the business, but also one of the most creative minds in Washington. The successful campaigns he has executed for his clients will be very beneficial to our current growing list of clients.

Brian’s expertise includes working with technology companies at all stages of development, and across the business-to-government, business-to-consumer, and business-to-business sectors. Brian’s work also extends beyond technology to include a diverse range of clients, including law firms, non-profits and trade associations, consumer brands, and real estate firms.

“Having worked with the Bluetext team for several years, I have been consistently impressed by the creative work and communications campaigns they have been developing for leading local, national and global brands”, said Brian. I’m thrilled that Lustig Communications is now a part of Bluetext, and believe it is a move that will greatly benefit our existing clients, and uniquely position the agency to serve additional clients going forward.”

About Bluetext

Bluetext delivers comprehensive digital marketing, branding, and strategic communications services to our clients, who range from global leaders in their industries to emerging companies at the forefront of innovation and technology. Organizations turn to Bluetext because of our reputation for developing robust and highly scalable digital platforms designed to optimize brand performance in an increasingly digital environment. Our team has delivered some of the most creative and effective campaigns for organizations looking to increase their presence and brand in this market. We have successfully positioned lesser-known organizations as thought leaders, and taken better-known organizations to a new level, differentiating and delivering a brand promise that resonates with the market. There is no one-size-fits-all approach. Our goal is to get a seat at the table with you, understand your goals, audit what you have done and what resonates with your audience, and deliver an integrated strategy that will give you a long-term platform for success.

by Brian Lustig, Partner

Today I officially join Bluetext as a Partner as Lustig Communications becomes a part of Bluetext.

Joining a communications agency – in any capacity – is in all honesty not something I ever planned to do after founding my own firm six years ago. Even though Lustig Communications has worked closely with Bluetext since its inception and my work with the Bluetext Partners dates as far back as 13 years, this decision should have been much harder than it was. Any individual who has launched his/her own firm can tell you that it becomes your ‘baby’ that you work tirelessly to nurture as it grows.

Greater Washington does not suffer from a lack of talented PR agencies and practitioners, and I’ve had the good fortune to interact with many of them. But in watching the work Bluetext has been doing for organizations since its 2011 launch, I was repeatedly blown away by the creative, high-impact communications campaigns the Bluetext team created and delivered. It is not an accident that the world’s leading brands – ranging from Google, Cisco and Adobe to the USO, Reznick Group and APCO – have turned to the Bluetext team to solve their communications and branding challenges.

The path leading Lustig Communications to Bluetext began nearly 18 years ago. Some people might say that makes me a PR veteran, but to me it just kind of sounds like I’m really old. After spending the early years of my public relations career working on behalf of political campaigns and policy initiatives, I eyed a buzzing technology community in Washington, DC and could not help myself from gravitating towards the energy of the dot com boom. It was August 2000.

Within weeks, of course, the boom busted. It turns out that getting a sock puppet to interview people on the street does not mean that your company has figured out how to sell and deliver pet supplies online. But despite the ups and downs in the tech sector that succeeded the bust, I was hooked on technology…not just technology really, but helping growing companies and entrepreneurs with big ideas.

It was this passion that led me to go off on my own and found Lustig Communications six years ago and to assemble a team focused on working with technology innovators, growing firms and startups. I’ve always felt there is a right way to practice public relations. To me, this meant investing my team in each client fully, challenging clients when a kick in the rear was needed, and ultimately, walking into work each day with a goal of developing a new idea (or ideas) that could help the client succeed.

I could start rattling off the tired old buzzwords you often see when two firms align, how it is about synergies and complementary services and how the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. None of that matters, they are just words really. Ultimately, it is about two firms committed to working with any organization, of any size, in any sector, that has a challenge to solve, and figuring out how to help them solve it. And I’d like to think that with this move today, we are better positioned to do just that than we were yesterday.

Read the story at WashingtonPost.com here.

Bluetext was excited to see this month that three of our clients are in the top 10 of Fortune Magazine’s just released 100 Best Companies to Work For: Google came in at number One, The Boston Consulting Group at number Four, and NetApp at number Six! Another client, Cisco, is not far behind.

Now, we’re not taking credit for their high results, but we do think there is a strong correlation between companies who have established the kind of workplace culture that earns them such a high ranking, and the willingness to push the envelope with creative campaigns and communications efforts that make people sit up and take notice.

It takes that kind of work environment to give their marketing professionals the self-confidence to try new approaches, seek out cutting-edge creative, and be strategically focused to reach new audiences in different ways. The conventional approaches may be safe, but trying something a little more creative is how you can get ahead in a tough market. One cool thing about our clients on this list—they are always asking for campaigns that are different and that will set them apart from their competitors. They’re not afraid to take chances, and if we present them with a good idea, they will always find the support for it.

That, we think, is a result of a corporate culture and work environment that gets them to the top of the Fortune list every year. Congratulations for believing in your team, and giving them what it takes to be among the best!

Google announced some significant changes to the way it ranks page results this past weekend to better weed out low quality sites that are used to prop up companies seeking to game the system. This move, chronicled best in The Wall Street Journal, follows the high-profile cases of J.C. Penney and Overstock.com, who both got caught using spam-filled link farms to capture the results of hundreds of searches. The ongoing cat and mouse game will continue as long as there are cats and mice, of course.

But here’s what I found most interesting in The Wall Street Journal’s article Saturday reporting on Google’s changes: widely-followed scholar and academic VivekWadhwa pronouncement that he had written off Google because of its allowing spammers to take control of search. When someone like Wadhwa dismisses the value of a Google search, that’s a problem for Google. Wadhwa does say that Google’s improvements made him “optimistic that they may well get this under control.” But more alarming, he told the Journal that, “It’s not rocket science; they know who the bad guys are, they compensate the companies” by letting them post Google ads and share revenue.

I wanted to know more about what’s behind Wadhwa’s dark view of internet search, so I went to his blog site to find out. Let me quote from a recent posting:

“But what has really changed in search [over the past 15 years]? We still go to the same text boxes, enter expressions that we hope the computer will understand, get back lists of web pages that reference those words, and click on links to find the information we are looking for. The only real difference is that now the top links take you to spam sites—which want you to click on other links that make them money and that make Google money. Creating low-quality, low-cost information pages has become such big business that the leading content farm, Demand Media, just went public and is valued at $1.9 billion. According to Blekko’s spam clock, over 1 million spam pages are created every hour. So the web is becoming one giant heap of trash.”

For organizations truly hoping to provide quality content across the internet in a legitimate desire to attract viewers, this isn’t good news.  First, it makes every result that much more competitive with the spammers.  Second, it undermines confidence from key audiences that search results will provide quality results.  And third (and this isn’t really bad, just another challenge), it means that companies trying to target their audiences will have to broaden their outreach– through social networking sites such as Facebook, Youtube and Twitter, through traditional media and paid advertising, and through new avenues that emerge every day.  Google will remain important, but if it doesn’t get the spam results under control, it may be soon relegated to oblivion.

The unseen and often unseemly world of search engine manipulation came into full public view recently when the New York Times ran a brilliant piece of enterprise reporting after noticing that J.C. Penney’s kept coming up at the number one result in dozens of Google searches for common household, clothing, and consumer items– even if Penney’s would not be the first store you would think of for those items. Enter “bedding,” and Penney’s, not Bed Bath & Beyond, for example, would come up first. Try “area rugs,” and again it would be Penney’s, not, say, Crate & Barrel. Put in “Samsonite Luggage,” and yes, Penney’s would be number one– above the more obvious Samsonite.com.

After enlisting computer scientists who specialize in search engine techniques, the Times discovered that Penney’s had achieved these page rankings through a massive placement of links on hundreds if not thousands of web sites often created for exactly that purpose– to fool the search engines (read the Times article if you really want to know how they did it). Penney’s, of course, has denied any knowledge of this trickery and has fired its social media firm.

Those of us in the online reputation management (ORM) business have been well-aware of how to game the search engines, and are only amused when these things backfire by becoming public. Google and other search engines pride themselves on using sophisticated algorithms that return search results based on the number and importance of the links back to that page, and a couple dozen other factors that they won’t divulge. But there’s always a way to game the system, and as the Penney’s case demonstrates, if you get away with it, it can pay off.

“Link farms,” as we in the trade call them, actually aren’t very sophisticated– they just take a lot of manpower. Political campaigns often employ computer scientists who can write sophisticated algorithms placed in the meta-data of positive content to drive it up towards the top– and driving the negative stories down far enough that no one will see them. When dealing with ORM, the goal is often to push down negative content any way you can. But there’s a significant risk if you get caught.

Google will blacklist you for a long time. Once Google was alerted to the issue and it corrected for it, Penney’s page rankings dropped down so far that no one wold ever really come across them during a search.

The challenge, of course, is using techniques that fall within the bounds of sound ethics and good business practices rather than succumbing to the dark side. From a practical standpoint, getting caught and outed is too high a price to pay. Public embarrassment of the kind that Penney’s faced following the Times expose simply isn’t worth it. In addition, Google’s punishment is severe and long-lived. Getting good search engines results the old-fashioned way– by earning it– is still worth the time and effort.