An Email Excerpt

Here is a portion of an email I sent out this morning detailing the importance of quality when it comes to building and deploying SEO campaigns. The larger part of the email offered our existing clients an insider offer on having us create some fancy schmancy link bait viral assets, though for you, the casual blog reader, I think just getting an idea of how we view SEO progressing might be helpful.

Inbound marketing, link bait, white hat SEO, the technique of putting something of value out in order to get priceless link value in return has many names, not the least of which is the title good strategy. While many online business owners pay thousands, and in many cases, tens of thousands of dollars to have SEO’s buy links for them, or create massive troves of content for link building article submissions, a few smart-thinking CEO’s are testing the waters with a strategy that’s a bit more focused.

If you have 100 articles in search that all read like they were written by a defected robot, what happens when people actually read said articles? Are Google’s spiders savvy enough to detect the lack of literature in such articles? At best the articles help gain you a link or two, at worst they create a negative content situation (NCS) which can profoundly affect your search campaign. Just look at Google’s now infamous Panda update, and the tens of millions of dollars it cost sites like Demand Media. Quality content matters.

It is our theory that one really good link is worth more than 100 crappy links. One link on Mashable, or TechCrunch, or if your industry is outside digital, on Martha Stewart Living, or Rachel Ray Home, is worth an infinite amount more than any collection of contrived links could ever be. But how do you get there? How do you, time-crunched owner of a business just fighting to survive, get to a place of high linkage with the residual PageRank and organic traffic that follow? With a creative asset that offers VALUE to the outlet.

After taking a few paragraphs off, the buzz words are back. Inbound marketing, social media marketing, viral marketing, all these tricky phrases point to a sort of exposure built upon something of value to the end user. At a loss for what that might be? Here are a few of them-

• Infographics
• Targeted Surveys
• Video Workshops
• Video Focus Groups
• Interactive White Papers

This is just the tip of the high value content creation glacier, and as you might be thinking right about now, many of the above can work in concert with one and other, and aren’t all that hard to create.

Given the speed at which search engine algorithms are evolving, it is safe to say that concepts like the above play towards an evergreen, old-as-paper-itself concept of appealing to influential media in hopes of bottling some of their thunder when it comes to eyeballs, links, and most importantly traffic. 

Chasing Suzy Socialite

There is just something about the way she looks in sundresses. Like a lush rose standing alone in the middle of the 10th fairway at Augusta National, Suzy stands out.

She walks with such confidence, instead of one foot in front of the other, she glides, no, floats across the floor. Suzy never smiles, but looks far from smug. Her hair is never too long, or too short, and always perfectly matched to that of her television sitcom sisters that she’s so destined to become one day. She just has it, what the hell is it?

Everyone in school knows her, how could they not? Senior class president, captain of the cheerleading team, she’s hard to miss. Suzy Socialite steams up each classroom she blesses with her attendance from boys panting like dogs, hormones ensure they can’t help salivating at what they most desire.

How did this happen to me? I’m president of the cultural acceptance club, I like video games and bingo, how did I fall for Suzy Socialite? Understandably, love is never an easy emotion to explain.

I’ve never once had a meaningful conversation with Suzy Socialite, not once had we ever shared even a laugh together. The one time I did bump into her, literally in the hallway, she reacted as if a minor assault had just taken place, one part disgusted, one part determined to never let it happen again.

Connie Caregiver on the other hand, when don’t we laugh together? When don’t we have fun? She sends me cards on random holidays I’ve never heard of, and helps pack my stuff up for me when I’m running late for my next class. She’s vice president of the cultural acceptance club, so we are obliged to see each other at least twice a week. When we’re together we never run out of things to talk about. How come I feel so numb to the idea of chasing after her? I’m pretty sure she’s a really good person.

Tune Into Channel: Little Voice in Your Head

I’ve been on a terrible night schedule as of late. Not long ago I caught a glimpse of a bumper sticker that read “My Sleep Schedule is Fu****” of course it wasn’t censored, but you get the idea, that sticker really resonated with my current situation. I sit wide awake at 3 AM emailing clients, some that share my owl-like schedule actually email back right away, which kind of frightens me more than the thought of doing work that late at night.

Always one to try to pull some good out of the odd, bad, and strange in life, I started to look at what’s good about staying up really late. For one it’s quiet, though I live on a quiet street to begin with, which makes the late night so quiet I can almost hear that portly old squirrel stretching out on a branch in my backyard, or that pesky ladybug as it summits my glass-enclosed porch door, and kicks it’s six legs up to relax atop the metal frame.

When not focused on the bustling nature preserve that is my back yard, I start to listen in to questions that feel appropriate for the time of night. Why do I carry a cell phone when I hardly get any calls? Or how being 31 feels better than being 11, but not as good as 21, why is that? Or how I used to think I’d get my PhD and spend my days encouraging young dreamers not to stop, instead of helping businesses improve their bottom line with ninja-like internet marketing tactics, what happened? My pondering often leads to more serious thoughts, like how those tornadoes just devastated a community in Alabama not so different than my own in Columbia. What if it had hit Columbia, what if I died in that tornado? Am I called to do more with my life? Is that permissible?

The thoughts one has when it comes to deeper meaning and life’s calling are, what I like to title them as, 9/11 moments. A lot of people will tell you, especially in the NY/NJ area that after 9/11 their priorities shifted. The tragedy was so massive, that even in a city as populous as New York, its ripples could be felt by nearly everyone that lived there. If someone we know wasn’t killed in the attack, we certainly knew someone that knew someone that was. Having a 9/11 moment is like that great reality check, what are we called to do, let’s answer this now, because life is not eternal on this earth, our time is short. A lot of people doing all sorts of things will tell you they decided to take the plunge after 9/11, because it just seemed like they had to do it, because they didn’t know if they had time to wait anymore.

I’m not advocating for you to quit your job or school tomorrow and go to India to save goats from slaughter, rather, I wonder if there is a balance, a way to listen to that little voice, while still staying true to the duties that life so blatantly requires of us. Can we do something special and fulfilling, and still work our job at the UPS store packaging people’s crap for storage and eBay deals? Can we still rock as an employee and at the same time become the boss of our own lives, delving into a sense of greater good, and thus the fulfillment that follows?

What does your little voice say to you when all the noise of life calms? If you were in a vaccumous state, say standing in a room alone with nothing to distract you, what is that little voice inside urging you to do, and why aren’t you listening to it? If life as you know it really isn’t here forever, what are you waiting for?

Postscript-

The above operates on the assumption that doing good feels good. If you don’t yet buy into such a conclusion, volunteer at your local pet shelter, or homeless facility, or take a few calls from domestic violence victims, give it everything you have and take note as to how you feel after. As someone that volunteers on occasion, I personally believe it’s the most rewarding, endearing, heaven-on-earth like feeling humans can have. But hey, maybe that’s just me.

We choose to accept mediocrity not out of fear or regret, but often out of the societal norms that tell us to just keep plugging along. The shows, movies, songs, and everything else that is our popular culture tells us to maintain the status quo, for that is acceptable. Being unacceptable creates unease, raises eyebrows, and can be polarizing. Understanding the above will ensure an easier transition, than trying to accommodate a self-interested material culture with your actions.

Greatness arises from personal conviction, that when tested, stands firm. I challenge myself, and you too, us all, to have that conviction not just when things are going great, but when they aren’t. To have the ability to do more with our lives, even when life, culture, and our world is so evidently ambiguous to such effort. Our time is now.

Social Media Report: How to Run an Effective Social Media Giveaway

Most of my posts are esoteric observations, this one however is not. Rather, this post is of the self-promotional variety.

I recently wrote a report detailing my thoughts on how to properly run a social media giveaway, and why just tossing out iPad 2’s and Visa gift cards does more harm than good.

Download it free here-

http://www.socialworkr.com/socialmediareport/

Life reflections will return next week with a fresh take on something abstract.