Clicksharp Marketing

It’s a slippery slope. That’s why Wikipedia has so many editors in the public at large. You won’t know if you don’t try…and a lot of smart marketers already have.

In the world of SEO, there is only one true currency, and that is content. And right now, compared to ad dollars, that content is relatively valuable. Sort of like the Euro in relation to the U.S. dollar.

This is a clear indication number of tactics which used to work are either dying or already dead. But in light of these trends, which approaches will work better in 2008?

The concurrent top placement in organic and paid search results creates a synergistic appeal which makes users more likely to click on either link…as if the pairing generates an additional dose of authority for your website.

A small business should not set up and run a website as a carbon copy of its offline business…the digital channel is by its nature a different medium, implying different customers and different methods of engagement.

A lot of small business owners have tried advertising on Google, only to find out that they were throwing money away. With a fundamental understanding of the search engine ad model, and an appreciation of the opportunity provided by advertising in digital channels, you are almost certain to do better the second time around.

Coming [...]

Google wants its algorithms to decide who is #1. SEOs want to wiggle through the algorithms and force their clients into #1. The bigger guns tend to prevail, which is why SEO’s will almost always fall short of their guarantees.

Measurability, scalability, momentum, competitive insight. These four points begin to explain how a small business can leverage its risk for marketing success, even with a much smaller margin of error than its larger competition.

What’s nice about using paid search advertising to promote your products and services is that programs like Google AdWords give you a vast amount of analytical insights and optimization tools. With a reasonable budget to get the campaign off the ground, its manager can cover it from every angle: well-chosen keywords, smartly written ads, [...]

This SEM Strategy Matrix (published by Elliance, pictured below) is a useful tool for matching the elements of a good digital marketing campaign with the appropriate methods of execution:

Notice how SEO (search engine optimization) is the tactic most broadly applicable across all marketing goals? This is particularly impactful for small businesses, who have nothing [...]

In Part 1 (“Push vs. Pull: Internet shoving match, or marketing tug-of-war?”), we discussed push vs. pull strategies in the context of traditional marketing theory. The next question is, which digital marketing resources apply? Here are some examples.
For a PUSH strategy:

Email marketing. Using email, you effectively sidestep a lot of the filters that [...]

If you’ve been following Small Is Beautiful, maybe you saw Matt McGee’s post on October 4 entitled Which Google Products Should a Small Business Use?
It’s a worthwhile read — here’s where you learn that Google is offering your growing business much more than just those little text ads. And what’s more, these resources are [...]

2. At the start, aim for the long tail.
What do we mean by the long tail? This is a business development concept very germane to marketing in the evolutionary phase known as Web 2.0. In short, we’re learning that while your top handful of customers might generate an impressive share of revenues relative [...]

“Many companies tend to treat their websites like fancy brochures instead of in-your-face marketing tools. (AdWords entrepreneur Mark) Vurnum’s approach, by contrast, is straight out of Direct Marketing 101.”
<From Business 2.0 editor-at-large Paul Sloan, entitled “Turning search into sales.”>
Look closely, small business owners. You may not be surprised to know that Google AdWords [...]