If a pre-existing relationship doesn’t already exist with a digital marketing agency it can be a challenge for companies to tell the difference between all the different consultants and agencies offering their services. Businesses use a variety of resources to find marketing consultants and when they do, there are several “signals” of credibility than can make the agency stand out over others.

As a “walk the talk” agency, here’s a list of such signals that TopRank is either implementing itself or for clients. It’s also an invitation to share which you feel are the most reliable or unreliable in the comments.

• CEO, Executive and/or Company Blog – Blogs can be exceptionally effective at communicating an agency’s point of view and corporate personality. Company web sites tend to be dry and careful or conversely, full of hype. A well written and promoted blog can do absolutely amazing things for an agency’s reputation in an industry. I think it’s safe to say that TopRank’s  Online Marketing Blog is a good example of that.

• Social Media Footprint – The boon in social network usage by members of the search marketing community gives abundant opportunity to see another side of an online marketing agency. Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn get most of the attention but there are niche networks and groups that may be smaller in numbers of members, but very rich in influence with buyers. Promoting unique knowledge through social media formats and networks can give important indications of an agency’s expertise in formats that can match the information consumption preferences of a variety of potential clients.

• Rock Star Employees & Thought Leaders –  The ability for motivated staff to share their perspectives easily through numerous publishing channels online creates attention to talent that in the past, would have been squandered. Rather than seeing these brandividuals as potential liabilities, agencies that embrace and encourage smart expression of expertise can gain a significant advantage. Empowered employees that work with strong leadership within the agency are a powerful force.

• Conference Speaking – Baring it all in front of an audience so to speak, can go both ways. If the speaker knows their subject matter and can entertain as well, speaking at conferences, regional events, on webinars and at Universities can be very productive. However, if the speaker does not present well or “know their stuff” things can go badly. Presenting “too much” secret sauce to impress potential customers can also fuel the competition, so there is a fine line between being a standout and being an competitive liability.

• Client Testimonials – Client success stories are often one of the first things that catches the eye when looking at different marketing consultants. Common mistakes include testimonials that are too enthusiastic or those that are benign but packed as if they’re something special. Most importantly, testimonials should reflect issues of interest to the target audience.

• Case Studies – With more complex situations, companies want to drill down into specifics of how a company does what it does. The changing nature of the search marketing industry means a continuous set of problem/solution exercises. Case studies present a picture of a company’s breadth and depth of ability to solve a variety of issues.

• Industry Awards – Getting recognized by a respected third party can mean a quick trip to the credibility club. However, such awards are only as meaningful as the credibility of the entities giving them out. There are an increasing number of awards in the digital marketing space and if an agency’s accolades are made up entirely of awards and nothing else, you’ll probably find them looking in a mirror before you see them in front of a computer.

• Being Quoted by the Media – Being cited as an authority on a particular topic in a high profile publication can transform an agency’s reputation and credibility overnight. Getting profiled with a photo on the cover of a regional print publication had amazing effects for TopRank but not nearly as much as getting mentioned in a very favorable light in The Economist or mentions online by sites like Mashable, ClickZ, Yahoo SEM Blog, Microsoft Advertising Blog, Seth Godin’s Blog, eMarketer, Search Engine Watch and Search Engine Land.

• Web Site’s Design & Functionality – A web site still says a lot about a company. A properly designed and informative web site can foster a sense of authority and credibility. Increasingly, agencies are adding social features to their websites such as blogs or syndicating external feeds from social channels and curating that content for readers.

• Editorial Contributions to Industry Publications – Contributing articles to prominent online or print publications gives companies an opportunity to show their unique problem solving abilities and expertise. By association with the publication, the agency also gets a boost in the credibility department. We’ve done this more in the past with publications like MediaPost, iMedia Connection and American Express OPEN Forum.

• Advertising – One way of “buying your reputation” is to advertise in all the places your target audience looks for credible information. Creative advertising on and offline over a period of time can do wonders when implemented with a strong editorial and social media marketing program. This takes a crack creative team and a very healthy budget.

• Conference Sponsorships – Primary sponsorships of the Platinum, Gold and Silver sort at prominent industry conferences can put companies front and center of the most desirable audience: Companies looking for more information on the industry and vendor sourcing. This also takes a healthy budget and as such, gives the impression that the sponsoring agencies are also very healthy. Media sponsorships are another avenue for promotion with most going to prominent print publications and some online pubs. Rarely if ever, is an agency allowed to be a media sponsor unless their blog or newsletter is highly visible and relevant.

• Frontline Staff - Answering the phone, speaking to prospects in meetings, networking online and offline, front line staff behavior can have leave a big impression (good or bad) on potential clients. Account Management and Client Services staff that work with existing customers also have a big impact on word of mouth between clients and the other companies they might refer the agency’s services to.

• Existance or Lack Thereof, of Embarrasing Employee or Executive Photos/Videos Online – If you’ve been to industry conferences, especially search marketing or blogging related events, then you know that attendees are “packing”. Packing smart phones that is, equipped with cameras, livestreaming video, Twitter and Facebook. Why some companies actually promote irreverent behavior of employees, I don’t really know. In fact, some agencies might even take seemingly blase photos and make them seem somewhat irreverent in the name of “humor”. Without context, such images can be as damaging to a brand as if they were true.

• Client List – You are who you associate with. Big brand clients brings a whole other set of challenges and opportunities. But seeing those big names often gives lesser known brand prospects a certain kind of warm fuzzy feeling, “If this agency made it through the vendor sourcing process with a Fortune 50 company, then they’re probably of the right caliber for my $500m company.”

• Search Engine Visibility on Competitive Industry Terms – I can’t tell you how many times companies have said, “We found you on Google by searching for (insert industry term here) and we figured if you can do it for yourself, you can probably do it for us.” I know, I know. There’s so much wrong with that kind of ranking logic these days, but it’s a fact of life in the search biz. Search engine visibility is a form of public relations and showing up for relevant, broad terms (as well as your niche specialties) makes your brand name (if your Title tags are written properly) associated with those terms.

• Brand – Message, Identity, Logo – There’s a lot that goes into creating a brand. I like the definition: “A brand is a promise kept”. Each interaction between a prospective company and something that communicates information about the agency is an opportunity to make a brand promise. Repeat interactions provide the opportunity to keep that promise. Thoughtful messaging and a well designed logo also convey important messages that evoke feelings which can either build or detract from credibility.

• Press Releases – Sending out non-news press releases, “We just moved to a new building” or “We launched a new web site design”, is worse than not sending any press releases at all. But sending out press releases to wire services and directly to cultivated lists of relevant industry publications sends signals of your credibility. And with clever pitching, they might even get you some press coverage.

• Research Published – In the same way that faculty at Universities gain prominence and reputation by publishing research in professional journals, companies that have the insight and resources to conduct real research and publish their findings create very strong signals of credibility. It is not only the execution of such research that makes it an effective “signal” though. The intelligent promotion of these learnings is as much or more important.

• Industry Association Involvement – Investing in the future of the overall industry through association involvement can give the impression that a company has a higher level commitment than those that are not involved. Being involved with setting industry standards, guidelines and even training programs can set an agency apart and give an indication of their expertise.

• The Agency’s Offices – While many internet marketing agencies operate virtually, most maintain physical offices. Depending on the manner in which the agency pitches potential clients, those offices can give an impression of the agency’s style, personality and health.

• Word on the Street, Buzz, Word of Mouth – First and foremost, doing good work is the cornerstone of building positive word of mouth. At the same time, successfully engaging the tactics on this list will build positive buzz, but the longevity of that buzz is only sustainable if the agency has something significant in it’s ability to deliver results, to back it up. There is such a thing as over-marketing and people are smart enough to realize that one company can’t do everything. Making it easy for clients to pass on the good news or making sure testimonials are properly promoted can extend a company’s reach with nominal marketing investment.

• Being Included on Industry “Lists” of Top Agencies – No matter how you slice and dice it, getting included on a list sends a signal. Lists are inherently controversial because getting included means others are excluded. If you know how to create and promote the right signals, like doing great work for clients and letting the world know about it, getting on the kinds of lists that build credibility is pretty straightforward. Leaving it to chance and expecting inclusion based purely on merit is flat out naive.

If you have experience hiring outside marketing expertise, especially online marketing services, what signals of credibility carry the most weight? What signals have you found to be unreliable? Please share in the comments below or join the conversation on Facebook.

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Using keyword research tools provided by the search engines and third party keyword platforms can help you a great deal in writing for your target consumers. Not only can you learn what keywords people are using, but keyword research can also help you craft your content using the words and phrases that your audience searches for most frequently. This helps you attract the widest audience possible while also focusing your words using higher traffic and better converting terminology.

There are three things that good keyword research will help you uncover: who your audience is, what they are interested in, and what their needs are.

Target Audience

Who is your target audience? Your research will tell you quite a bit about who they are by the searches they perform. Look at the keywords. Are they looking for business solutions? Information that will help them with a hobby? Or maybe something that will help them with their personal or professional education? Even looking for the same product or service, different searchers will use a variety of search words and qualifiers based on what interests and needs they have.

You can use the research to weed out a lot of people simply because you know you don’t provide what they seek based on the words they use in their search. They may be looking for a niche you don’t provide or a variant that you are unable to supply. Either way, by focusing on those terms you can help, while moving away from those you can’t. You’ll find yourself reaching out to a greater percentage of your target market.

Areas of interest

Next, you need to use your research to learn what it is that your customers are interested in. Depending on who they are, each visitor is often searching because they have a specific interest that needs to be satisfied. Some may be looking for information, others education, and still others might only be looking for ideas.

Using this research you can uncover the interests of your audience and use that information to build content that speaks to those interests. With this knowledge, you may be able to create a page, or even multiple pages of content. By looking at specific interests, you are able to engage with your audience on their terms, within the confines of their area of interest. This will help you produce better content that has a stronger chance of converting.

Needs to be met

People are needy! Most searchers are doing so because they need to get answers, solutions, or information. Figuring out what your target audience needs is critical to ensuring you are able to create content that provides them with the answers.

When writing your content to meet visitor needs, you may have to cover a lot of ground. Each searcher wants to know, “what’s in it for me”, and it’s your job to tell them! It all boils down to letting them know what benefits they’ll get from what it is you have to offer. But the benefits won’t be the same for every person. Or rather, the desired benefit won’t be the same, so be sure to hit as many benefits possible.

As you work through your keyword research, you’ll find that there is a lot of crossover between these three categories. Some industries clearly cater to one type or another.

Some business people are looking for ideas, some for information, and still others may be looking to build up their education. Similarly, the same can be said of students and hobbyists as well. You don’t have to be a student to look for education, or a hobbyist to want some new ideas. You need to determine the degree of crossover and whether there is enough to go after those in a category different from your primary audience.

Using your research to uncover all the keyword gems will help you determine the course of your content and maybe even who it is that you want to attract to your site. Some sites can be a catch-all, but many times you’ll find that trying to appeal to everyone appeals to no one. Only you can make this determination.

Keyword research will help you determine how best to reach your target audience. Without it, you’re just struggling around in the dark.

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Luckily we have Matt Cutts to answer the questions for us once and for all (and in a video too!)

The question that was posed to Matt was:

Some people are under the impression that blogs are good for SEO only if they’re updated frequently. How much does frequency play into PageRank for blogs & other dynamic sites? Isn’t the content more important than the simple # of posts per day/week?

Matt’s answer (which you will see in the video below) is that although freshness of content is good for a user or reader of your blog/site, the quality of your content will be better when it comes to the search engines and determining your ranking.

Here is how Matt puts it:

Whenever you’re thinking about search engines, it’s much, much, much more important to think about the quality of your content. For example, on my blog, I don’t post every day. Sometimes I don’t post every week. But I try to make sure that each post has something useful about it…

While readers may be happy to see you update your blog with new posts daily, if these articles are simply a re-hash of other news or thoughts then it won’t attract as much attention (and not as many people will link to it!)

I have to agree with Matt. There is so much news appearing all day, every day online that it is easy to simply report on what somebody else has said. Don’t get me wrong, we do this sometimes on this very blog. However we want to share the latest news with our readers, so by reporting on existing news we are getting all the important information to our readers and quickly. In saying this, some of our most popular blog posts are our DIY tips and tools posts which delve deeper into a topic rather than simply reporting on the latest Google or Yahoo news.

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This core information is unique to each business and rarely changes, so it’s easy to see why it is important to the Places algorithm. Simply put, the more trusted sources from which Google draws matching NAP information about a business, the better. But if it sees conflicting data, especially on trusted websites, Google loses confidence in the core data and that loss of confidence can push your Local Business Listing down in the Places rankings. Generally speaking, the more data confusion there is, the worse it can affect rankings in Google Places.

Unfortunately, we are finding that many businesses with an otherwise strong presence on the internet – and perhaps even top rankings in the organic results – can’t seem to crack the Local Search nut because of data confusion. What are the most common reasons for data confusion?

Careless Submissions and Data Entry
While a human being living in the area may be able to tell that 1001 Kings Highway East and 1001 E King Hwy are really the same place, the Search Engines don’t necessarily make the same connection.  And when a business name appears in various web places as Joe’s Fingerlickin’ Chicken Joint, Joe’s Chicken, Joe’s Joint and The Chicken Joint, the Search Engines may not be sure that all those names refer to the same place.

It’s important that everyone who represents your business uses the same core data when they are entering information online. They should also use the same core data offline, because the information they provide on behalf of the business when joining groups, applying for licenses, making donations, etc. often ends up on the web in some form. To clean up sloppy NAP, searching for your business name and common variations of it, your address and your phone number in Google web search and in Google Places. Look at the results to find web pages and duplicate Local Business listings which you should then update.

Moving/Changing Phone Numbers

Businesses do move and they sometimes change phone numbers, but when old data remains out on the web that associates it with a previous address and/or number, this creates confusion about where it really is.

If you have moved your business location or changed your phone number, you need to diligently ferret out the old NAP information on the web and update it to the new data. Do this by searching for your old address on Google web search and looking at the pages that appear in the first 20-30 results. Then, do the same thing with your old phone number. This will give you a list of web pages which you should update.

Promoting Non Existent Locations
For a very long time in web years (since 2004 when Google Local was born until late 2009), Google Local/Maps/Places was pretty much a free for all. The guidelines were not clear. Home based and service businesses seemed locked out of the game. Obvious spam was rampant. And Google offered very little in the way of user support. As a result, businesses and their marketing companies came up will all sorts of ways to try to rank better than their competitors. One of the prime methods used was to create listings for businesses and business locations that did not really exist.  Sometimes, these virtual locations were supported by listings created on trusted sites, which helped them to rank well and reinforced the idea that the tactic was okay with Google.

Whether a business employed this tactic maliciously, out of ignorance or out of desperation, chances are it is has lost its effectiveness over the past 6 months and is now hurting its Places rankings. If you are in this position, you must first research what core data is published on the web for all locations, real or not. Then, you’ll need to determine where the data comes from so that it can be corrected there. If you don’t take care of this critical step, incorrect data will keep reappearing and causing problems for you. Next, you’ll need to reinforce the correct core data by submitting it through trusted primary data providers that will help it propagate across the web.

Then, I recommend making a prioritized task list, rolling up your sleeves and getting to work. It can take several months to make all the updates needed and 3-6 months for source changes to take effect other web pages.

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At any rate, there is a very interesting segment of businesses that deserves extra special attention with regard to social media. These are companies that are in industries or verticals where social media adoption has been slow for many reasons that run the gamut from “not enough time” to “What’s social media?” and all stops in between.

Some of these categories are listed below with a rating we’ll call the Social Media Adoption Opportunity (on a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being the equivalent of a snowball’s chance in hell and 10 being “Let’s start right now!”). This rating will reflect just how open they might be to getting involved in social media for their business.

Traditional Marketers. Companies that have been around long enough to have the “Flywheel Effect” in place (read the business classic by Jim Collins “From Good to Great” for more flywheel theory). Success is a result of many years of doing the right thing, doing it well and possibly doing it without any real promotion other than traditional word of mouth. These marketers have hit their critical mass and move forward on the momentum that has been created. They are, however, smart enough to know what is a true opportunity, fighting through any roadblocks to ensure continued success. Social media adoption opportunity: 8

Fearful Marketers. This group has heard all the commotion about social media as a tool to do business into the future but has fear around the unknown, fear about job security, fear of failure, and fear in general that have all kept them from pushing the envelope in their organization. This group offers a “glass half empty” mindset to anything they are unfamiliar with, so social media will be fraught with issues rather than opportunities. Social media adoption opportunity: 3

Stuck Marketers. Many people confuse this group with the traditional marketers, but that’s not the case. This group has the attitude that “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” They are comfortable with what has worked for them over time and are resistant to anything that might threaten the marketing stalwarts they have relied on for years. This group will, however, be moved to change if there is compelling evidence presented to them that simply cannot be denied. Social media adoption opportunity: 5

Relationship Marketers . This is an interesting bunch that is more common than we might imagine. This group has been working with a specific agency or account representative for so long that they wouldn’t know how to move to another option for fear of offending their long-term vendor or hurting a personal relationship. I have heard stories where companies stay with vendors out of pity (I am not making this up, honest) rather than make a business decision that would benefit the company. Healthy relationships are good but when they exist at the expense of good judgment and common sense then there may be trouble. The hope for social media adoption here is when leadership changes so do the long-standing relationships. Timing is everything with this group. Social media adoption opportunity: 6

I realize that this is not painting a picture of “low hanging fruit” for social media adoption and integration. The truth of the matter is that these companies make up a rather large percentage of businesses in the U.S., so there is both need and opportunity. Can that need be turned into action? That’s the $64,000 question.

I believe that until these marketers get on board, social media will be limited in its scope. This is very different than limited in its success. Success using social media for business benefit is already proven many times over. But much like the search marketing industry, the prospects for growth will be determined by when the early adopters and influencers have run their course, and the larger group of marketers listed above decide to play or stay.

What do you think? Do you know any companies like these? If so, what will it take for these marketers to make the jump into what many believe is a significant part of successful marketing efforts in the very near future?

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Enterprise Java credibility
It’s fairly easy to conclude that Google has lacked credibility within the enterprise Java cohort prior to the VMware partnership. For instance, the GAE/J Google Groups forum had a grand total of 4,962 members as of this writing. Considering the millions of Java developers in the world, five thousand or so interested in GAE/J is a rounding error at best. While Google is a strong supporter of open source, and open web standards, Google has chosen to take a less than pure route when it comes to Java standards. This is true with the open source Android platform, where applications are written in Java but don’t compile to Java bytecode; causing consternations to the “write once, run anywhere” Java marketing proposition. It’s also true for GAE/J where Google has decided to support only a subset of Java Enterprise Edition (Java EE) specifications. I don’t know of too many enterprise Java decision makers who want to check a “Will it Play in App Engine” page to see if a Java specification or framework their company relies on will work in GAE/J. This clearly has played a role in the relative lack of attention that GAE/J has received from enterprise Java shops.

VMware lends Google enterprise Java credibility
Will VMware & Google’s new partnership addresses enterprise Java user concerns surrounding GAE/J? The overwhelming coverage of the announcement seems to suggest that VMware’s SpringSource division does lend Google credibility with enterprise Java developers, administrators and decision makers.

Readers familiar with the enterprise Java market will recognize SpringSource as the founders of the open source Spring Framework and other Spring-related open source projects. The non-standard Spring Framework is developed in the open by VMware/SpringSource. The Apache 2.0 license associated with the Spring Framework has proved historically sufficient to set aside fears of application lock-in to a non-standard framework. In many ways, the Spring Framework has become a de facto standard which competes against the open standards-based Java EE platform. It’s this “de facto” nature of the Spring Framework that Google appears to have been drawn to.  Although, the open source nature of Spring likely played a role as key parts of GAE/J are based on open source projects.

Forrester analyst Jeffrey Hammond writes:

“VMWare gives Google a significant boost in enterprise developer permission. While Google is the darling of developers outside the firewall, they still struggle inside the firewall. The reality is that enterprise IT development shops are just different than Web startups or Web giants. And enterprise Java development is something that the Spring folk understand. While I question the magnitude of the adoption percentages that SpringSource GM Rod Johnson quoted yesterday, our own research with Dr. Dobbs and Eclipse developers confirms that Spring is indeed one of the most popular frameworks among Java developers at large shops (with a fair amount of Apache Struts and homegrown frameworks as alternatives).”

Open versus de facto standards

For this discussion, one has to consider whether “de facto” of Spring will be enough to get enterprises over the sparsely supported standards on GAE/J.

On one hand, Spring’s “de facto” nature adds to GAE/J’s issues. Like GAE/J, Spring is not Java standards compliant. One can clearly argue that a lack of open standards compliance hasn’t affected Spring’s adoption. However, history and the future are seldom related. I recall sharing with SpringSource CEO Rod Johnson a tweet to the effect:

“Enterprises didn’t much care about lock-in to the non-standard Spring portfolio when it was from SpringSource a small, friendly, company. Now that it’s coming from VMware, a large enterprise software vendor with well established profit motivations, it would be wise to get behind a relevant Java spec, like Java EE 6 Web Profile.”

Over the past nine months, and as recently as a WebSphere conference two weeks ago, I’ve heard of large enterprises using Spring that are planning on migrating to open standards. As predicted, being open source is no longer enough to alleviate fears of lock-in now that VMware is part of the discussion. To be clear, I am in no way suggesting Spring usage in the enterprise is not going to decline by half overnight or anything ludicrous like that. However, enterprises are starting to consider their future freedom of action with applications locked into a framework controlled solely by one of the largest software vendors on the planet.

The CIO is the last to know
On the other end of the spectrum is a quote from my friend James Governor of Redmonk is ringing in my head: “CIOs are often the last to know”. James’ would argue, and I’d agree, that developers selected the Spring Framework, standards be damned, well before their managers or CIOs knew or had a say. Some subset of these developers are likely to try deploying their Spring applications on GAE/J simply to see what works and what doesn’t. Of these developers, some will be able to convince their management that GAE/J represents a lower cost deployment environment than the traditional data center for Java applications. The application’s business criticality, and more importantly, the sensitivity of data required or generated by the application will have an impact on whether an enterprise IT decision maker will approve a GAE/J deployment. Using GAE/J for development and testing, with the actual production deployment not on GAE/J, is another potential use case for Spring with GAE/J. For its part, VMware is positioning the Spring Framework as a path towards portable Java in “any” cloud platform.

Where does your company fit on the de facto versus open standards spectrum? Will you give GAE/J another look now that Spring applications are supported?

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My answer to them is they should start the conversation with something like, “Web Analytics is Money” or “Web Analytics helps companies make more money” etc.

When you say those words, you are very likely to get audience who want to know more. Money invokes curiosity.

You should not tell the CEO how web analytics can help the company understand customer behavior, find bottlenecks in the site, improve bounce rates etc. You should show him/her the impact in terms of dollars (or Euros, Rupees etc.).

Every web site analysis can lead to actions that have an impact on the money. You can tie web analytics to:

• Additional revenue
• Cost Savings
• Profit
• Doing more with less money (particularly for non-profits)

Example:

Let’s take a simple example to illustrate this.

Reducing Bounce Rate

If you are not getting any traction, I assume your analysis might look something like:
“Home page is the top most landing page with 80% of the visits entering through this page. However, 60% of thevisits bouncei.e. leave the site immediately, after landing on this page. 60% bounce rate is very high as compared to the industry average.* There is a huge opportunity for us to lower the bounce rate on this page by testing the page layout…..(you provide your reasoning on what should be changed and why).”
Great. As an analyst I can understand and you can understand it. But what about CEO of the company? Will he/she understand it? Why should he/she care about the bounce rate?

*Typical Bounce Rates by Anil Batra

Now, try the following:

Generating More Revenue

“Our analysis shows that there is an opportunity for us to increase our revenue by $300,000 for the year by optimizing our home page. Home page is the top most landing page with 80% of the visits entering through this page. However, 60% of the visits bounce i.e. leave the site immediately, after landing on this page. 60% bounce rate is a very high number compared to the industry average.* There is an opportunity for us to lower the bounce rate on this page by testing different page layouts. Lower bounce rate will help us drive more people to the purchase funnel and even if our funnel completion rate remains at 20%, by sending more people to the top of the funnel we will have additional 3000 sales leading to $300,000 in additional revenue for the year.”

Tying your analysis and recommendations to money makes it easier to understand the benefit of Web Analytics. Money will make it easier for you to overcome organization barriers and make you a hero.
Web Analytics is money!!!

What do you think?

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Publicare Marketing Communications in Germany issued a very short press release this week stating that web conferencing service providers reported an average increase of 58 percent in conferences compared to regular workdays.

I was interested in how they came up with that figure, so I contacted Publicare’s managing director and asked how they were able to get quantitative data so quickly. Robert Harnischmacher helped fill in some of the background for me. He pointed out that the information was self-reported by a variety of web conferencing providers which are named in the press release. There was quite a bit of variance in the reported increases, ranging anywhere from 7% to 130%. He had contacted Cisco as well, but their information came in too late for inclusion in his average. And he also wanted to acknowledge that the figures are not weighted in any way to account for the base number of web conferences for each vendor used as a starting point.

The 58% figure isn’t really as important as the indication that web collaboration has been seen as not only a standard business practice to help supplement in-person meetings, but as a viable emergency measure to replace business travel when it becomes impossible.

I did a little checking myself with some of the European-based web conferencing vendors I know, asking if they had anecdotal evidence of increased business attributable to volcano effects. All my contacts reported extra work caused by the travel embargo. I was particularly interested in larger webinars and webcasts as opposed to small ad-hoc web conference meetings. The larger web events are traditionally planned and scheduled far in advance, so scrambles on this front might not be as numerous, but would be significant.

Rob Holmes at Podia, based in the UK, told me they had scrambled to provision three impromptu webinars for clients who had already arranged large meetings and couldn’t get their people to them.

Joe Garde at Online Meeting Rooms in Ireland showed me some clips where meeting speakers had webcast their presentations to groups in physical halls because they couldn’t travel to the event (including a professor who webcast his violin playing to an audience in the National Concert Hall). Joe summed it up as: “Put it this way… I’m exhausted!”

Roland Steinmetz at Meeting.ie in Ireland agreed that he was seeing more inquiries and signups since the travel ban went into effect. He pointed out that audio conferencing also got a big boost from companies or smaller groups that couldn’t arrange or afford video production services.

And even though America is not in the path of the ash cloud, we have felt the effects as well. I spoke with Nick Balletta, the CEO of TalkPoint – a webcasting technology and services provider here in the States that handles large events. He gave me two examples of webcasting filling in for stranded travelers. Goldman Sachs had an international emerging markets conference in New York. The European contingent of attendees was unable to attend, so TalkPoint changed their support from what had been planned as just recording some sessions for archiving purposes into a last minute full-fledged live webcast of all sessions at the conference.

Another TalkPoint example was McDonald’s worldwide convention in Orlando, Florida. They had planned to include some limited webcasting of a talent competition, but were suddenly forced to provide live webcasting of the entire conference for all the attendees unable to get international flights to Florida. Nick told me that the call for support came in on Saturday and they went live with the international webcast on Monday.

Therein lies the greatest benefit of webcasting as an emergency backup. Instead of needing to book physical spaces, arrange seating and stage setups, food service, and signage, you add your extra arrangements once, at the delivery point. Everyone else just logs in from wherever they happen to be stuck in the world.

Web conferencing, webcasting, webinars… Call them what you like, but remember that they just might save your bacon the next time travel becomes an issue.

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Are all links really the same? If a link statistically according to SEOMOZ or other tools, PR, trust, rank, etc, are the same, are they really the same in the eyes of Google?

The easy answer is no. The explanation is bit more involved. Any tool or service that is not put out by Google  is going to fall somewhere between a really good approximation and an educated guess because, at the very least, Google has access to a lot of information. Since the general public doesn’t isn’t using the same data, it’s impossible for them to come up with the same answer.

Here’s an example: this is a link to the website for Cake Boss, a popular cooking show about cake decorating. Here’s a link to page about the merger of the Internet Public Library and the Librarians Internet Index. If you look at both pages, they have a pagerank of four. However, that value doesn’t show the trust and authority scores. Anyone who has been around SEO for a while knows that getting a link from IPL.org is a really big deal, and it’s one of the sites Google really trusts. That’s the value that an experienced SEO can bring to the table.

Now I’m not knocking SEOMOZ or any other tools. I use the SEOMOZ tools on a regular basis and am a paid member. But we know that Google has internal scores for a website’s trust and authority. Without being able to see them directly, it requires experience and bit of guesswork to try and figure them out for yourself. Most tools are not sophisticated enough to manage those calculations.

So, at the end of the day, you need to use your brain. Don’t just blindly follow what any tool or report says. Things may look equal on the surface but there may be underlying differences that require you to dig to find the truth.

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The use of Search Engine Optimization, in relation to online marketing and branding, can work in the same way. If you’ve ever brought up a topic in conversation, and had someone reference a website they’ve visited, you can see this idea in action. If that person fits the profile of most internet users, he or she came to that site by way of a search engine while looking for information online. The site (or sites) found by that person appeared in the search results because they were properly formatted for search engines to read and index. A line of other web pages, stretching into the millions of results, went unseen for one reason or another, and therefore did not enter into the attention span of the visitor. Without Search Engine Optimization, all the businesses represented by these sites remain virtually invisible.

SEO is also very useful if you have a business model with a long sales cycle or a small group of potential users. If you’re selling enterprise level CRM solutions, one good sale can keep your company in the black for years. Even if a handful of people look for your service offering by way of search engines, your presence in the results can result in inquiries from motivated customers, which are the easiest sales leads to close. When it comes to networking, some of your visitors may not be a good match for what you are offering, but may still bring up your site in conversation with colleagues (and even competitors) in the course of conversations and business conferences.

What can you do to increase your chances of getting more “word of mouth” via search traffic? Aside from the obvious advice to ensure that you have the most search engine friendly website, there are a few ways to make the site “sticky.” If your site has any useful tools, “how to” information, or unique features on your site, you can get people in your field to keep coming back. Users may also link to your site from their own websites, which is the kind of “networking” which Google and Bing reward with better rankings. Many respectable businesses will send white papers to readers in exchange for an email address or other contact information. In the same way that you hand out collateral at a trade show, you can also have PDF documents available online for visitors.

One of the most aggravating things for a website owner involves analyzing traffic, through a program like Google Analytics or Omniture, and seeing all the visitors who come to the site and choose not to take an action. Most of the online public seems to be doing “window shopping” even when your website is aimed at a very specific audience. However, you may not know that these window shoppers can become your unwitting evangelists when they talk about what they found on your site.

As most people in the sales and marketing field know, it can take a while to build a good pipeline, but after enough time it can become self-sustaining and quite profitable. In the online world, the presence of your site can help build the critical mass of eyeballs necessary to generate direct and indirect leads over time. In networking and SEO, patience can be the watchword when starting out, though it pays to get a head start and keep at it until you achieve the results you want to have. While you’re refining your approach, watching your search engine rankings grow, and getting more leads, you’ll also be building a network that can represent millions of potential prospects. All of these people can spread the good word about your products and services, but only if they can find your website.

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