Search Engine Optimisation.  (Yawn!)  Sssss Eeeeee Ohhhhhhh!

We’ve not said much on this and that’s not because it doesn’t matter.  I guess rather than hyping it up and pimping buzz words we just see it as integral and part of what ‘just gets done’.  So while I consider this a really dry subject I do think I should say a bit about it as we’ve been asked some tricky questions lately about strategically engineering SEO into projects from the ground up in large mass market projects.

Keeping SEO Simple

Here be the basics of what ye do at FM (pirate voice required):

25/75 rule re onsite/offsite effort

In our experience thus far (working with our exclusive outsourced UK partner) onsite optimisation is purported to deliver 25% of our objectives and offsite i.e. backlink profile building is 75%. 

• One is not mutually exclusive of the other insomuch as relevance of external links needs to align to internal and onsite copy etc. 
• And, any noob who thinks they can get huge results from simply making onsite changes has a long way to go… on a hard road.

Wholistic strategy for competive segments

In a super important site in a massively competitive segment (sorry for overuse of adjectives) we involve our partner on a consulting basis through build/planning/copywriting.

Post build reviews for general work

Generally speaking though we build to best practice and then get our partner to come in at the end and do a site review as soon as it’s gone live.  This is so they can strategize and report against a real (live) asset.

Stage 1 in SEO

So a first stage SEO for a project is like this:

• A review based around key word metrics and typically a key word theme that clearly has value and is currently drawing traffic on the engines.  Plenty of people struggle with this. 

“oh my god – I can only optimise for one main thing….  but I’m about A,B,C,D and what if people want XYZ!!!!”

• Baseline report on current positioning is produced
• Directions to make alterations (inclusive of sample CSS) to page titles, some page structure, certainly page footers, custom written copy for front page or key target landing pages…. All based around targeted key word densities and relationships around the key word theme.

We implement all these changes and at the same time we get our partner to start on backlink profile work.  This involves placing links on sites, writing themed articles about the key word targets and integrating links in those on external sites. 

Our partner helps us to do our reporting and show movement against historical positions and competitors etc.

Stage 2 in SEO

A second stage to any of this kind of SEO work is:

1. Building themed social pages and staffing them with copywriters to work as funnels to the sites.  Some call these micro-blogs and so on.
2. Pushing a fixed number of themed links, editorial links and review links each month to keep building profile
3. And of course, subject to site progress/changes re-enter stage 1.

Basically, I tried to express that there should be a philosophy behind his work and that he needs a body of evidence regarding that in terms of an expression of applying that philosophy.  It was a pretty heavy set of advice but I had hoped to get him on track at a root level.

Anyway, after chatting for a while he mentioned a new group that had been forming in the north of Tasmania for Web Professionals and that the group had asked “are there any real web strategists in Tasmania”?  To which my young associate had said “yes, I know one”.

It reminded me that we’re thin on the ground here in Hobart.

Considering the designer in front of me and how he’d arrived at calling himself ‘a designer’ it occurred to me there’s a number of ‘web strategists’ or ‘digital strategists’ popping up too.  And, I’d argue with a great weight of evidence in my pocket that these self-proclaimed ‘web strategists’ suffered from the same founding issues as the designer in front of me.

It sounds cool to be a digital strategist doesn’t it?

From http://bentremblay.com/en/category/social-media

Sums it up pretty well really.

The emergence of web strategists / digital strategists

This is not a new title.  Go back in time to big tech companies of the last decade and they’ve been around for ages.

I remember meeting with a director of a recruitment firm 4 years ago and said to him “keep an eye out for the emergence of a new role that will become very important in the crossover of marketing to digital – digital strategists”.  I stated that there would be few but they’d be of high demand as media convergence became common place.  I expected a bit of gold fever by the end of last decade.

Where there’s a gold rush the mining experts (or should I say hopefuls) emerge.  And, with there still being limited web education processes I haven’t seen a Web Strategy Degree being offered at Uni.  We have to piece the role together through specialisation in certain areas.

Is web strategy and digital strategy just gobbledegook for online marketer?

There are plenty of people around that have been commercially involved with the web for some time now and the role is often bandied about and usually in the context of marketing.

But is a digital strategist just about marketing?

What I’m observing at the moment is this:

1. Ran a website before
2. Been involved in planning a website
3. Taken a website from concept to go live state
4. Done a bit of digital marketing i.e. ran a few SEM campaigns in Adwords
5. Created a facebook page or similar
6. Maybe worked in or ran a project team

Done those things more than once and you might call yourself a digital strategist.

Well to the low end of the market you’d clearly know much more than the average bear.  But you’d fall well short of my view of a digital strategist.

What characteristics and experience do we look for in digital strategy development people?

Strong depth of knowledge of the following:

1. Business process, business models, and business fundamentals including budgeting and financial flows
2. Marketing process, brand development, brand strategy, path to market, value propositions, productisation and product / service segmentation, market trends, direct marketing, digital marketing, and convergence of media platforms.
3. Creative direction, visual differentiation, market relevance, marketing platform integration and cohesion
4. User behaviour, usability testing, demographics, recruitment of test subjects, focus group management and unbiased processing of user feedback
5. Technical development, web technologies, mobile technologies, understanding the software development lifecycle
6. Systems integration, database development, data warehousing, and back-end platforms such as CRM and core business software.
7. Project Management, stakeholder management, methodologies such as agile, communications strategies, risk management, and governance.
8. Social Media, influence, viral, and touch points.
9. Conversion methodology, persuasion architecture, design optimisation.
10. Reporting metrics; not just traffic and conversion but behaviour interpretation, and how to leverage this
11. Consulting frameworks and processes for extracting organisational needs and converting them to digital roadmaps.
12. And more I’ve probably looked over…

And if you really want to set all that apart: 

1. Innovation capacity, ability to distil concepts into commercially applicable but boundary pushing results, an ability to step back and see the big picture and the trends
2. Hands on experience in architecting, designing, developing actual solutions
3. Leadership capacity to drive multiple stakeholders, teams, suppliers, and resources to common goals.

Lastly, how much experience is required?  How did the ‘web strategist’ earn their title?  What body of work shows their credibility?

That’s up to you to decide.

So is digital strategy all about marketing?

In many ways I’d have to say yes as sales drive organisations BUT sales don’t equal profits.  Profit comes from so many other areas such as effectiveness of support, service costs, consumer relevance, transactional and operational flow awareness etc.  And, whilst digital strategy work may be seeded by marketing types I believe a proper digital strategist is a helluva lot more than a marketer.

How can you be a master of all these trades I mention?  Won’t they be jack of all and master of none?  Potentially yes.  More likely you’ll find strength in only a handful of the areas I look for.  The ones that can cover all areas well are incredibly rare.

…so, coming back to my young design friend.  He can ‘do’ design but does he have what it takes to put together a design with a rationale and strategically justify how it will work for the client and hence minimise their risk in releasing it?  Not really, and this is what worries me about the emerging ‘web strategists’.

“I can get someone to make me a website for $120 a month”, says the builder working on my kitchen.  “Good for you”, I thought.

Isn’t it great that the web industry has progressed to the point where traditional tradesmen are now thinking about the web as an important part of business?  More to the point, accepting ‘pay for use’ licensing rather than ‘build from scratch’.

What’s interesting is the level of sophistication you now get from pre-packaged web deals all over the place.

Every man and his dog, or should I say every willing designer working from home, can now offer pretty comprehensive solutions almost turn-key.  Others out in web-land are ready to take care of your hosting, your content management structure, support, and even customer relations issues.  Wow!

So what is this doing to the web market?  As richer core functionality becomes expected rather than a bonus it’s logical that the baseline has changed for web development.  What once was written from scratch is becoming modular and a commodity.  As we’ve adopted the internet, and value it so much, we expect a lot more from it.

Package sites have put real pressure on the price point of custom solutions.  Custom work is now vastly more expensive and the customer benefits aren’t as clear anymore.

So is a package template website going to work for you?  Well maybe.  Think of it this way – is your business unique?  Do you believe you have a unique offering that has to be communicated in a unique way?  If not, then a package is just fine for you.

If you don’t want to be forced into a mould then you’re going to have to think smarter.  I know most marketing people worth their salt will be standing up right now and saying that they want their client to have a unique offering.

So it stands to reason that if you’re really serious about the web then you need a custom built site.  Right?  Well maybe not.  Find a supplier that has a strong base of technology at an affordable price yet also focuses on identifying your ‘real’ needs and then customising to suit.  That’s a smart compromise.

I fear that as the web industry matures all prospective website owners will fall into the trap of judging solutions on features.

It’s not unusual for this to happen.  Look at Plasma and LCD TV’s.  A few years ago you’d be stoked just to have one – but now, how many HDMI inputs, what res., what refresh rate, contrast ratio…. etc. etc.

The market for those goods has matured and hence consumers think they need to know all this techno-stuff.  They’re buying on features under the guise that this equals quality.  That’s just not so in my opinion.

It’s also like the crazy remodelling of cheap sound systems back in the late 90’s.  Gosh!  They started making them look like something out of Aliens, sticking lights and blinking garbage all over them, and to top it off ghastly numbers to tell you how POWERFUL they were.  None of this made them sound any better.  The more discerning customers turned away and went back to proper component HIFI with as few knobs and whistles as possible.  And why?  Because those items did exactly what they wanted and exceptionally well.  Nothing more, nothing less.

So when it comes to effective web design, less ‘is’ more. But there’s a disclaimer around that.  Doing less has to be done better (which is harder) and that means proper strategic architecture to suit users and not the confines of some package.  Buying for features at the back end doesn’t equal a better user experience even if it costs less.

So you’re bound to get a great package website now if you look carefully.  My advice is to focus on what your users need.  This will pay dividends early.

I’m reminded of a dilemma that one of our clients faces now.  A six figure investment in a custom solution that plays to the hearts and minds of his target audience as effectively as it can.  Or, one quarter of the cost for an out-of-the-box solution that ticks all the features he wants.

I ask, if it doesn’t look the part and isn’t tuned to users specific issues, how much damage will it do?  What long-term value should you place on the reputation of your brand?

Over the last two years, the TSO has been working with Hobart based website developer Future Medium Pty Ltd for a digital strategy and the delivery of a new public website as part of a major sponsorship deal.

Future Medium is utilising its Strategic, Creative and Technical strengths to deliver a state of the art website redevelopment to promote the TSO’s goals and objectives. This will benefit the TSO by presenting a new site that is visually engaging and strongly aligned to the TSO brand, and will act as a powerful communication and education tool. This work will be seamlessly integrated with the TSO’s current back-end systems, facilitating increased business efficiencies. Both parties see this as a ‘Win, Win’ situation.

During the initial stages of the process, Future Medium discovered the TSO required assistance with its branding position and prompted the TSO to establish a new brand strategy and identity with the assistance of Inspired By Marketing and subsequently Clemenger Tasmania.

With the arrival of the new brand material the web project went into full swing – for the last four months Future Medium have been designing and developing an exciting new website.

“Along with the new ‘Ignite’ look and feel, the website will include many new interactive features, bringing the TSO to the front of the pack on a global scale” said Glen Johnson, Managing Director of Future Medium.

An interactive timeline of upcoming and previous events has been created for users to browse both upcoming and historical events. Similarly, a browser has been created for users to view and purchase recordings produced by the TSO.

Facilities will be provided for user reviews and feedback of events and albums. Users can book tickets and purchase albums online via the new integration of the Tessitura booking system.

An array of information will also be available about the TSO, its venues and concerts.

Launch of the new website is scheduled for late 2009 and is sure to be a classic hit.