Topics in Technology and Marketing Week 4 Recap

Assignments and Grading Mid-term assignment (individual) - 20% of final grade: Identify an actual/imaginary business to create an internet marketing plan for, based on the internet marketing principles discussed in Modules 1-4 Due at end of Week 6. Submit questions via class blog/ after Week 3. Graded on: Insightfulness of proposals Effectiveness of communication Mastery of course

Mid-Term Cheat Sheet Remember the "Secret Formula" - Connect with Community + Reasons to Buy = $$$ Are there significant numbers of people who are passionate about a particular topic? If YES, then... Can you build a community of people passionately interested in that topic? If YES, then... How would you go about doing that? What features would your website offer to build a sense of community? Read the article with the Trent Reznor example What could you give away for free to attract people to your site? What MORE could you give away for FREE to get people to join your community for FREE What types of product packages could you create? Yes, you could sell stuff online. But anyone can sell the same stuff. It's a business that's not unique, and very easy to duplicate. You'll have to worry about warehousing, shipping, returns, sales tax by state, etc.

Mid-Term Cheat Sheet Remember the "Secret Formula" - Connect with Community + Reasons to Buy = $$$ Is there any way that you could sell CONTENT? If YES, then... Could you sell information/knowledge? Check out a few of the Eben Pagan videos links Could you sell access? Could you sell exclusivity? What format would the content take? Whitepapers? Widgets? Webinars? Podcasts? Live consultations or events? How would you charge for your products? 1x fee – OK Monthly subscription - Great!

Assignments and Grading Classroom participation - 10% of final grade: Graded on interaction with instructor/peers

What Is Google? A search engine? An internet app developer? Google is: A media publisher that makes money selling advertising – just like a newspaper or magazine 99% of its revenue is from advertising

What’s Visible, What’s Not The only content that search engines can “read” is text Images, videos, audio, and Flash cannot be read, therefore invisible Example:

2 Pillars of Search Search ranking is proportional to Google's assessment of BOTH: How well the content matches the intent of the query The authority of the content Authority is earned through: Content and factors within a web page The authority of pages associating with a web page

King Content More content is better than less content Interesting is better than boring Fresh content is better than stale content All things being equal, the page with the most content, updated most frequently, will rank higher Digital writers get $1 per word

Google’s Key Innovation Good content will have more pages linking to it. Essentially an information meritocracy. “Social” way before its time. Backlinks are an indication of the page's value (authority). All things being equal, the page with the most backlinks will rank higher.

Not All Backlinks Are Equal Backlink value determined by: The authority (PR) of the linking page. Links from pages with higher PR – great! Links from pages with lower PR – can’t hurt. Similarity of subject matter between linked and linking page: Links from veterinarian website to a pet groomer’s website – great! Links from plumber’s website to a pet groomer’s website – can’t hurt. Backlink context determined by anchor text: “For more information on teacup poodles, read more.” – bad “For more information on teacup poodles, read more.” – good

Creating Link Bait Passion = Market Knowledge = Links If you are passionate about a topic, know more about it than anyone else, and openly share information, then eventually people will notice and link to you. Become a Platform Popular bloggers search to see what people are saying about them. If you want someone's attention, linking at them from a blog post on your site is an easy way to get them to notice you. The Web is a Social Network Want to get thought leaders to promote your site? Create a community project or contest and ask them to participate. Or give out awards. Be Credible For people to take you seriously you need to make sure your website adheres to good web credibility standards.

Learning To Think Like Google “All things being equal, which web page would I prefer?” A page that lots of people like, or one that hardly anyone likes? A page that people who know about the topic like, or one that unrelated people like? A page with lots of frequently updated content, or one with small amounts of stale content? A page from a business with roots in the community, or one from an unknown business? A page from a business with a professional website, or one from an amateurish website? A page from an established business that is committed to the future, or one from brand new business that isn’t confident about its longevity?

How Google Works – A Primer

Questions?