It is really quite amazing…considering only a few years ago for most of us it was Yahoo or bust when it came to search engines of choice. But, Google made searching better…easier…cleaner and well, cooler….so we switched. Now I would say for most searches you could get equally relevant results with either service; but then Google also has all of the ad-ins that are so darn handy (Google Documents, Google Reader, iGoogle page, Gmail, GChat, Google Analytics…the list goes on). So why would I go to two places instead of one? I won’t…and most people won’t either.
Stick with me on this quasi-parallel…so I really like Jay
Leno --- yes, I have realized with the writer’s strike that he isn’t as funny
without great writers; but I think he is great.
So I used to watch Channel 8 for the 11pm news, but then would have to
change the channel to Channel 13 for Leno --- doesn’t seem like much work,
right? Well…I would often miss the first
minutes of the monologue and decided one day to check out the other news
channel --- guess what? I liked it
better and I didn’t have to change the channel…and now I am hooked.
Back to the focus --- as Chris Baggott often says -- brand doesn’t matter much in the world anymore and merely gets you a potential buyers consideration. But it REALLY does NOT matter on the web (think Yahoo!, Dogpile, Friendster). Something better comes along…and it is as easy as typing a new address in the toolbar or searching to get where you want to go. And finally to the point --- there are a few ways this relates to corporate blogging:
- If you believe brand
doesn’t matter as much as it used to stop spending your marketing budget
otherwise. Take some of your print or billboard and put it towards SOME type of new media...just make sure you do the research and have a purpose behind your new media campaigns.
- So you think brand does matter still? You’re wrong, but I will say the people behind the brand do matter…and I might just go to the more expensive grocery store because the deli manager is more helpful and friendly than the 17 year old kid at the superstore that could care less if I get the best cut. Let your employees have a voice and show their passion--- through their own blog.
- Be found! No one cares how much flash your site--- they care about you solving their problem (i.e. - I need a vacuum that is good for pet hair….Where is the best place to eat fish in Memphis, etc.). If you can, be there on search results --- that's step one and blogging for SEO is a great way to get there (step two would be having an awesome web site that tells the whole story and provides interaction).
- Go Organic. Solve the problem, don’t sell (the sales adage – we don’t sell, we provide solutions). You solve the problem by having the most relevant information; this information shows up on a search result in the organic (natural) section versus the PPC area that is rarely clicked on simply because it doesn’t provide relevant information.
