This video outlines a free way to get your local business to appear higher in Google’s search results by having a Google places page, and asking your customers and clients to review your company there.  By the way, we are practicing what we preach here, too. If you are a satisfied client, would you please review us?

Words. I love them. Sometimes too much. I have been known to string together sentences with upwards of 60 words. I habitually gravitate to 4- and 5-syllable words. This is for my own enjoyment, not yours. I just love words. I think I love them because I love ideas. And words are nothing if not elegant conveyors of ideas.

But then I started Twittering. And the imposition of 140 characters was a real tough one to embrace. My earliest tweets lamented this fact frequently.

Then something happened. The limitation made me wrestle with words in a new way. I started looking for conciseness. I had to have faster, clearer, better ways of expressing myself. In the process I discovered that flowery prose is not always the best way to communicate, after all. In fact, the 140 character discipline has made me a better writer, by reigning in those tendencies, and reminding me that comprehension is more important in the message than getting to use that shiny new abstract metaphor.

I still love them, though. Twitter hasn’t changed that. And I’ll be damned if I’ll let it.

Much has been said about HTML 5 and CSS 3 lately. While this post is not seeking to add revelatory statements to those made elsewhere, I am seeking to aid the average layperson – people like our clients – in understanding why this updated code stuff is so important, and how it represents yet another sea change in web site visitor expectations.

You may remember a time a few years back when you couldn’t go an hour without someone using the buzzphrase “Web 2.0″.  Many of us felt it was a kind of hyped up way to say that the web was changing, and with it people’s expectations.  As with any mass hysteria, you have to wait for the dust to settle before real meaning and understanding can be gained.

What Web 2.0 was then is exactly what Web 3.0 and 4.0, etc. will be about: Evolution. The gradual change that takes place along a continuum.

What was touted as a destination by those caught up in the hype has turned out to be the next logical step in the evolution of web technology and computer-aided human interactivity.  Whatever Web 2.0 was about, it wasn’t a stopping place.  There are no real stopping places on the internet.

We have been pushing the limits of our web since the first day two computers could talk to one another.  Big surprise then that we would continue to rearrange the virtual furniture.  We will never be completely done decorating the spaces within our browsers. (And that’s the big lesson for any business that wants to remain relevant.)

Whereas the previous wave of disruptive technologies centered mostly on the cool stuff you could build and run on web servers (those glorious and all-but-invisible computer boxes that fueled the growth of countless social startups), and to a troubling extent a “glassy button” graphical look that almost supplanted the actual advancements being made, this upcoming wave of change seems to have as its beach the browser itself.

And that’s as technical as I am going to get.  Why?  You’re busy making your company work for you.  You don’t need to know the difference between server-side and client-side actions.  What you need to know is that as this new wave gathers strength and presses inexorably toward landfall, your web site visitors – the people from whom you’d like to extract a measure of value while providing the same in return – are about to get even more sophisticated in their expectations of what a web site should be and do.

So if this article is seeking to add anything to the conversations happening around the release of new web standards, it’s this: You cannot afford the luxury of a set-and-forget web strategy.  You must continue to invest and innovate in order to keep pace with the evolution of your market.

The end of the year always makes me think differently about my business. Perhaps it’s the little bit of down time I afford myself with family during the holidays, the free-flowing wine and food, and the reflection that so easily comes with both. Or maybe it’s the realization that an entire year has just flown by me, a thought that always leaves me a little breathless.

Either way, the week between Christmas and New Year’s Day is usually one spent thinking critically about what I have accomplished in the previous 12 months, and thinking strategically about how I plan to spend the next 365 days. I write. I chart. I plan. I get very intentional about every area of my business, to make sure I understand what is working and what isn’t.

As we go into 2011, I hope you are thinking as strategically as I am about your own business. Evaluating your marketing. Examining where your time is going. Determining if what you have been doing is going to be the thing that gets you where you want to go, or deciding that you need to try something new. I hope you’ll stretch yourself. Find new opportunities for growth. Prepare yourself to become the business you want to be in this coming year.

I thoroughly enjoy helping our clients realize business success. I take great pride in the work we do each year that contributes to a bigger bottom line for your businesses, practices, and shops. Rest assured that as you think hard about what you want to accomplish in the coming year, we are primed and ready to help you get there.

Here’s to continued success and growth in 2011! Happy New Year to all of you!

Unless you are Superman or Wonder Woman (and we know she reads our blog.. hey there!), you’re going to require a helping hand now and then in generating the mountains of digital content expected of any thriving business with an online presence today.  You don’t have to hire content strategists like us, but it’s important to begin building a Content Dream Team that can crank out various multimedia, social and SEO/SEM content.

So, we asked ourselves, if we were stranded on a desert island, which three players would be indispensable in helping us generate our marketing content? (This is assuming that we would care about such things, being recently stranded on a desert island, and all…)  These are our answers:

1. The Multimedia Pro. This is the person who can easily and effortlessly crank out video after video from their cool iPhone4, and upload them to YouTube seconds after catching a poignant story moment in the office or out in the field.  Make no mistake, the person who is a natural for this role is the person who is already engaged with the technologies to make this sort of thing happen, and that means that this person is particularly hard to source.  If you’re lucky enough to have one on staff doing something else, then make it part of their job description to follow around people and get this content captured and published to share with your hungry public!
2. The Social Butterfly. I bet you never thought that the person who spends 2 hours a day on Facebook and Twitter while at work could ever prove to be an undiscovered asset to your company, huh? Well, maybe, maybe not. They’ve certainly proved how enticing and potent the medium can be.  And they certainly have an understanding of the workings of the various online social spaces.  But if they have an interest in helping you develop an authentic voice in those spaces, you may have just just hit pay dirt.  Ask them to give you a written proposal on how Facebook or Twitter could become a part of what they do for you on a daily basis.
3. The SEO/SEM Robot. Writing articles, blog posts, submitting a site to multiple directories, and increasing the number of inbound links coming to your site from good sources is the bane of most small business owners. Who has the time?  Well, if you can add someone who has a penchant for technical details and obscure strategies, it’ll take most of this tedious-yet-essential stuff off your plate.  The best person for this job is someone who finds the Zen in keyword research and loves to get lost in formulating vast charts and spreadsheets of links and potential links to go after.

So there you have it. It’s not going to be easy to find natural fits for each of these roles, but we cannot see how you’ll be able to keep the content coming in any meaningful quantities without them.

I recently had a conversation with a doctor about search engine optimization.  He was excited to talk about the idea that he wanted his name, and to a slightly lesser extent the name of his practice, to pop up all over the front page of Google.  He was disappointed when he googled himself, not to see his name popping up at the top.  He wanted to know how much it would cost to get that kind of result.  I told him it wouldn’t be expensive at all.  He got excited.

I then told him that it would be money down the drain, with no real return on investment to speak of.  He looked puzzled, so I went on to demonstrate my point by pulling up a keyword tool on my iphone, and showing him the volume of people searching for his name. Zilch.  Or so few that the keyword tool wouldn’t embarrass him further by showing him just how few there really were, after you subtracted his own vanity searches.  His doctor-ego had just taken a hit, so I decided I’d better channel his energy in a positive direction.

Next, I asked him if he had any idea how many people searched for the name of the primary disease with which his particular specialty dealt.  We did the numbers (the name of the disease plus the name of the city in which he practiced), and he was astounded to see how many monthly searches there were.  Then I asked him if he would like for his name to appear all over the front page of Google for THAT phrase. To his credit, the light bulb sparked to life without much delay.  He asked me how much this strategy would cost, and I just smiled at him.

Rule # 1 of Search Optimization: There is a direct correlation between the number of searches a term gets, and the amount of money, effort, and time it will require to move the needle.

Rule # 2 of Search Optimization: There is a direct correlation between the number of searches a term gets and the potential returns to be had in going after the front page of the SERPs.

The work of SEO must always consider these rules when forming and deploying a meaningful strategy.

So what kinds of scenarios don’t make sense for a comprehensive SEO strategy?  I asked our SEO team to answer that, and this was their list:

1. The market-busting product. If it’s so new and revolutionary that no one in the market even knows that they need it yet, then SEO is not going to help at all.  The real expense of marketing this kind of category-defiant product or service is in directly educating existing customers and potential customers about what your product is and does, and why it’s needed.  If no one knows what term or phrase to enter into a search engine to find you, they won’t be searching that way for you yet. (One exception is the revolutionary product that fits well into an existing, clearly defined market need, such as a new vacuum cleaner technology, or an amazing new spatula.
2. The invisible Brand Name. Branding is a necessary function of marketing, but not necessarily the first priority of SEO. It’s not the low-hanging fruit.  Again, this comes back to knowing what keywords people use to find your product or service.  Getting the sale is the first priority, and if your brand name alone does not yet have the cache to move the market, stick to optimizing the keywords that describe your product or service until your other concentrated branding efforts catch up.
3. The tangential product, or Red-Headed Stepchild. Many companies have a core competency they are known for, but there’s still this great little product or service on the side that seems to get far less attention.  SEO the heck out of it, right?  Well, maybe, maybe not.  If there is not a clear connection between the core offering and the sidebar deal, there may not be a smart way of leveraging the strength of the one to infuse the other with deserved attention.  Remember, Google doesn’t care that your company is branching out. It only cares about returning relevant search results to its visitors (and arguably making Gazillions in the process).  If your New Thing isn’t the same thing as your Tried and True Thing, the amount of effort necessary to get noticeable results begins to look a lot like an entirely separate SEO strategy, complete with its own budget and structure.  Diluting the strength of your tested and profitable web pages with large doses of The New Thing is not going to help anyone get rich(er).
4. The low-profit per sale deals. We’ve had to talk some clients out of SEO, simply because the price point (and more importantly, the profit margin) on their typical sales didn’t justify the expense.  Quite simply, if the research shows that you can expect to pay the same price or more than you’ll net on a sale to acquire that sale through organic or paid search optimization activities, then either raise your prices, or find a different, more cost-effective method of marketing your goods or services.  We love to see clients who fundamentally understand the expected net value over time of a new customer relationship, because these are the clients we can truly have rational discussions about ROI expectations.  Don’t spend too much to acquire too little.

It is said that creativity often flourishes under constraint. When certain defined limitations are imposed on the creative process, it can free the brain to focus on finding the best creative expression within those boundaries, and the results are often compelling and engaging. And as creative marketers, engagement that leads to action is the name of the game.

I shudder to think how many professionally-produced brochures and web sites I have seen over the years that have missed the critical marks of action and engagement. Not as defined by me, but as defined by measurable market response! It is almost as if the creative team tasked with showcasing a business simply ignored everything except their own creative self expression, and delivered something beautiful yet absolutely worthless to the business they purported to serve.

And on the other hand, I have seen Microsoft Word template-based designs (note the utter disdain in my tone) that offended every sense of style known to the western world, and yet when evaluated based on the results, they were compelling, effective and engaging. For creatives everywhere, this is troubling.

This observation should set us on a lifelong path of learning about what makes one thing engaging, while something else is wholly ignored. I have found that the distinguishing characteristic time and time again is this: Market Intelligence.

The best, most engaging creative content is not created in a vacuum. It doesn’t begin in meetings that start with creative briefs and specs. It doesn’t even find much footing in the sophistication or brilliant swagger of the creative shop doing the work. It starts with a tangible, working knowledge of who the market really is, what they really want, and how they want it.  Market intel.

Market intelligence is the constraint that any creative marketing firm seeks to define before one single bit of creative work gets done. It’s the size and shape of the canvas. It’s the color palette and the style. It informs and defines and shapes and limits in essential ways, all of which help to deliver the final results that justify the price tag: action and engagement.

How intelligent are you about your market? How much do you know about how they interact with your brand, your products, your services? How much sharper could that understanding be, and how would having better market intel shape your next marketing effort and budget allotment?