This is no truer than in the world of sport. The most expensive team in baseball, the New York Yankees, are sitting in their mansions watching the rest of the world series with a pained expression on their faces… again. Chelsea FC, funded by a billionaire, spending money like it’s going out of fashion, have yet to win the European Champions League, and last season didn’t even win the English Premier League. For years, the New York Rangers had the biggest payroll in Ice Hockey, yet each year (apart from 1994) they saw teams with lower payrolls, and lesser known players take home the prize.

So what’s this got to do with this blog? Nope, we’re not changing to a talk sports format. What I want to talk about here is the concept that throwing money at a situation will make a company the best in the marketplace. If that were true then the big companies with all the money would control everything, and the little companies would never have a chance. Smaller companies have the natural advantages of being nimble, quick to adapt, and less encumbered by bureaucracy. All of which are ideal traits in the fast moving world of the internet, traits that can mean more than having full coffers.

As far as SEO, having more money just means that you can throw more people at your site, which is when you will at one point or another run into the law of diminishing returns. In other words, nine women can’t produce a baby in a month. Sure, they may have more clout in the market with their name, which may provide some benefit for them, but maybe they have to pass everything through ‘corporate’ before it’s approved? Maybe they have conservative corporate guidelines that prohibit using social media sites & tools? Maybe they’re stretched in so many different ways that they are not able to concentrate on search marketing as effectively as the small company? Maybe the area where the smaller company operates is such a small piece of the overall strategy of the larger company, that it’s not seen as a high priority to concentrate resources.

True, with PPC (pay per click), the company with the deeper pockets can spend more than the smaller company. However, if the smaller company is smart, and uses their analytics wisely, they can maximize their ROI to generate much more business for every dollar of ad spend than the larger company. Plus, the way that the PPC engines work, they don’t allow any one company to buy up all the spots, in fact each domain / account combination is limited to one slot at a time, so even if they’re willing to spend the money to be at the top, that still may not be the best for them if their ad copy isn’t great / their landing page isn’t optimal / their quality scores are lower.

Whatever the reason, the playing field on the internet represents the best, and fastest way for a small company to compete with the big companies even with their huge financial advantage, just so long as you make the right moves, remain open to new ideas, and flexible enough to implement when the situation requires that you do so.

A recent Marketing Sherpa article delivered some really interesting email link test results that improved click performance significantly.Within their own list, they isolated and tested some link language to see which would have a better click through rate:

• Click to continue
• Continue to article
• Read more

In this case the ‘click to continue’ link peformed much better than the other two. Not really a suprise to me because I have tested calls-to-action frequently and found that you have to be very direct in your link language to get any sort of responses. (you may have a hard time getting away from the less-is-more “read more” language argument though)

I’m a strong believer in testing email since it’s easy and provides almost instant gratification/results. But, i’m a geeky data-head that thrives on proving my email theories with intense testing.

If you haven’t already, you should create an email test plan to start increasing your email performance.

There are many schools of thought when it comes to creating an email test plan. What to test, when to test, when to re-test, etc. Should you test to your entire list and risk interrupting a normal communication stream or do you isolate a portion of your
email list by segment? (That is IF you have a normal communication stream AND are able to segment your list, but that is another entry for another day…)

Don’t be afraid to test. BUT don’t rely too heavily on creating a ‘control’ as the industry and technologies chage, so will the way people interact with email communications. Be ready to change your strategy quarterly. Luckily the email environent will allow you to test to your controls on a regular basis.

Roger Craver and Tom Belford over at www.theAgitator.net also
weigh in on this topic – you should be reading their posts just as frequently as Marketing Sherpa for additional thought leadership.

Yesterday I ran the Philadelphia Distance Run, a half-marathon race, along with 11,628 of my closest friends. I was doing fine the entire race, measuring my pace with the mile markers, ensuring that I was on track for where I wanted to be. Then I hit the 9 mile mark and my left leg began to hurt. Despite this, I carried on and at the 11 mile marker was still on pace for my ‘best case’ goal, however the leg continued to become more painful, to the point where I couldn’t even jog. I kept walking, and testing the leg, running in spurts, until I got over the finish line, not meeting my ‘best case’ goal, but still recording a personal best. Had I determined that I was doing more damage to the leg by continuing, I would have stepped off the course and quit the race, regardless of whether I was only 1/2 mile from the end. On some levels I was disappointed that I didn’t get to that ‘best case’ goal, but on another level, I was proud of myself for keeping going, and finishing in the time that I did, despite the unexpected challenges that came my way.

So why isn’t this on my personal blog? Why am I talking about it here? Well I think that it’s a good analogy for talking about Search Marketing, or really for that matter about any time you try to do something to improve your business. I believe that these 6 steps are fairly comprehensive:

1. Identify the problems / Issues that you want to address
2. Identify potential solutions
3. Determine your goals for those solutions, identifying your bounds for each – your upper and lower tolerances
4. Implement the solution(s)
5. Monitor the solution(s), correct for the unexpected, determine whether these changes push potential results outside of the predetermined tolerances.
6. Reap the rewards / identify reasons for any failures, and return to #1

So, taking SEO as the example, part 1 could address the issues that your company faces. Does your site need more traffic? Are you attempting to increase brand awareness? Are you looking to collect email addresses? Increase sales? A combination of these? Part 2 would involve identifying what could be done in-house, and what needs a partner / vendor with experience / bandwidth in those areas. Part 3 would then be done in conjunction with the in-house team, or external partner / vendor. Part 4 is fairly intuitive, although you have to also ensure that there is support for the implementation, and that it is done at the appropriate time. Part 5 would involve reviewing your analytics solution, to determine the changes. Has a particular change had a knock-on effect on another piece of your site, or is it on track? If there is an issue, what corrective action should take place? i.e. a change to your orders page has increased sales, but has decreased your newsletter signups, is that something that you can live with, or should an alternative version of that page be tested? Part 6 is what it says. When something works, identify why it did, and the same for when something doesn’t go to plan. Then, identify what now needs to change, and start the whole process again.

As for me? Well, for my next race, I’m going to wearing a knee brace on my left leg, to give it added support, and given that my next race is twice the distance, we’ll see how much that helps, and I’ll make adjustments as I need to during the race.

Another live blogging report from Search Engine Strategies – San Jose 2007

This session is on what you need to know to be a search marketer, and is moderated by Misty Locke.

First up is Pradeep Chopra, talking about the opportunities that are available in the industry.

The internet has created a level playing field, independent of

• time
• distance
• capital

The SEM industry is growing at an incredible pace, making this the best time to be an SEM professional.

Why a career in SEM?

• Skills are portable
• Flexibility: Anytime, anywhere
• Innovation and adventure
• You don’t need a professional degree
• Salaries are attractive
• Entry level salaries – 30-45k
• Specialist 50-75k
• Expert 75-90k
• Director 95-150k
• VP – 300k+

What skills do you need?

• Comunication
• Passion about the internet
• Networking
• Quick learner
• SEO – Technical, HTML, Optimization
• PPC – Creative (copy writing), analytical & quantitative
• Sales & Marketing

The future:

• Web2.0 – social networking
• Rich media advertising
• Behavioral advertising
• Conversions / Analytics
• Beyond US

Hot Verticals

• Retail
• Travel
• Finance
• Education
• Social networking
• SEM

Key to success:

• Use SEM
• Continuous Learning – Certification
• Leadership Role – Teams are expanding, Ability to apply SEM

Next up – Dan Perry who is going to talk about the interview process.

Expect to meet with at least 3 people

• HR – did you lie on the resume?
• Boss – can you do the job
• Boss’ Boss – Corporate fit

Prepare for the generic questions.

Interview Process

• Never bring up money
• Don’t say you have offers elsewhere
• Don’t ask for more vacation
• Know your number and stick to it
• Consider the entire package – insurance, relocation, 401k, etc
• Ask questions
• Be specific – no culture questions

Final thoughts

• Be prepared to compromise
• Develop Diplomacy

Next up David Wallace. He advises using free resources such as blogs and forums. Paid eBooks, online courses, conferences and seminars. But hands on is the best way to get experience. If you don’t have a site, go set one up to play with. Pick a niche, secure a domain name, and establish the website. Then optimize and play with the site.

Network with not only partner, but other search marketers. Develop business partnerships – ad agencies, web design firms, etc. Network online with search marketers – forums, blogs, social media sites. Network in real life with everyone – conferences, trade shows, etc.

Brand yourself as an expert:

• Write informative articles
• Participate in forums
• Participate in Social Media
• Start an informative blog

Things not to do

• Don’t spam forums and/or blog comments
• Don’t steal content or sales copy from others
• Don’t be a know-it-all
• Don’t promise more than you can deliver

Michael Gray is up to talk about the common mistakes

• Promise what you can deliver
• Set reasonable expectations
• Set reasonable limits – how much time you’ll be spending with that client. Avoid the temptation to bcome the defacto in-house SEM
• Disclose any potential conflicts.
• Avoid competing with your clients
• Don’t let your business depend one one client
• Don’t expose your clients websites to unnecessary risks
• Pick and follow your favorite blogs. Limit yourself to a handful
• Use recap or roundup bloggers
• Use subcontractors to scale up/down quickly
• Use subcontractors to compensate for areas that aren’t your strengths
• Be carfeul using subcontractors for mission critical functions
• Know when you need and don’t need a contract
• Large companies won’t work without a contract
• Understand “work for hire” and copyright.
• Get a good accountant
• Learn how to use accounting to your benefit
• A good accountant will save you more money that you are paying them each year.

The last speaker is Jessica Bowman. She advises reading Google Hacks to learn the in and outs of search functionality, as well as Shari Thurow’s newly revised book (released today). Find the blogs of the speakers you liked.

Don’t be afraid to outsource portions of a project to more advanced search marketers.

At a minimum read Search Engine Watch, Search Engine Land, Search Engine Roundtable & Sphinn daily.   Keep on top of changes in SEM.  Expect to spend 2 hours per day readin, just to keep in touch with the market.

As you work, systematize and document your process for consistency and productivity.  You will have gaps between client meetings, organizing helps.  Outsourcing becomes easier.  Productivity increases.  Document your rankings, keyword data gathering, competitive link data, directory submissions, portions of a site audit, optimization Q&A.

Once again – Network, build industry camaraderie.

The CEO blog has been around for a while now, and has been used effectively by some, and poorly by others. So what makes it the right move for your company?

1. Does your CEO have the time to devote to writing the blog, or is the plan to farm the writing out to interns and pretend it’s written by the CEO? If the CEO doesn’t have the time to commit to writing regularly, then there’ s no real sense in having them author a blog, as they’ll have a very hard time building up an audience, let alone retaining it. As for having ghost writers, if that information ever were to come out (as information has a tendency to do), then the audience will quite rightly feel cheated, and the backlash will most likely not be pretty. Note: regurgitated press releases are not content.
2. Can the CEO write well enough to engage the target audience? If they’re writing for technical audiences, do they have a full grasp on the issues that they need to talk about? If they’re writing for a more relaxed crowd, can they write with a sense of humor, putting across a personality for the blog?
3. Does the CEO have enough content to appeal to the target audience? Is the CEO close enough to the workings of the company to be able to first recognize topics of interest, and secondly be able to write about said topics effectively?
4. If there’s an urgent issue that comes up related to the company that needs to be addressed, can they make the time to blog about it, and make themselves a source of information for the outside world? Or, are they going to clam up and let the ‘regular channels’ deal with the issue?
5. Can they be candid about issues / controversial topics that face the company / industry, or are they going to gloss over issues, and address only fluff topics? Again, if the CEO doesn’t address issues that people are concerned about, then the blog will not have the level of credibility that it could have. Also, used effectively, the CEO blog could serve as a very good reputation management tool.
6. Does your CEO have the ability to self-censor, responding appropriately to criticism, and also knowing when not to respond to unreasonable comments? The last thing a corporate blog needs is a CEO that either ignores comments, or gets into a public ‘flame war’ on a company sponsored site.

So when should your CEO blog? When they give the right answers to the above questions.