By Kyle McCabe | August 31, 2010

Search Engine Marketing... it's not voodoo

There’s still a lot of confusion out there about what a search engine marketing firm does – and doesn’t do – and I think this confusion is holding businesses back or causing people to waste a lot of money on false expectations.

Put simply, search engine marketing (SEM) is just what it says it is: marketing. It’s not search engine sales, or search engine lead generation, or search engine voodoo…it’s just marketing; bringing your products and services to market.

I can bring your product to someone …Read more »

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By Kyle McCabe | August 19, 2010

Lego Ninja is serious about content strategy.

In the late ’90s content management systems (CMS) were rare. Those that did exist were either underdeveloped, by today’s standards, or just slightly customizable template systems (RIP Geocities).

Back then we hand-coded websites, for the most part, and clients had very little access to make updates to those websites. The internet gods looked upon this and saw that it was good. So, of course, they changed it.

Enter the CMS

These days you can’t throw a cat without hitting someone who wants full access to change their websites. It’s now common for clients to ask for a CMS-based website, and I can’t blame them. …Read more »

By Kyle McCabe | May 27, 2010

...since sliced bread.

Q: I get a lot of clients asking me a number of variations of this question: “What’s the Next Big Thing?”

This is good! They’re interested, they’re anxious – they observed the boom of social media and they want to get in on the ground floor of whatever new craze comes along.

A: So here is the answer: it doesn’t matter. The corollary is that no one really knows for sure. Yes, you can speculate all day long – and people have – but the reality is no one knew Twitter was the Next Big Thing until it was.

Well I can tell you the Next Big Thing is data and communication implants, but it’s nothing more than wild speculation. Also, scary.

Among people who are reluctant to get involved in the web, social media, SEM, and mobile marketing, I get the sense they think they’ve already missed the boat, and so they ignore it. They’re waiting around for the Next Big Thing, instead.

Well yeah, you’re missing the boat. But guess what: Das Boot is a ferry – there’s always another chance to hop on and join the party on the other side. Stop waiting around for the Next Big Thing, because if you’re not already involved in This Big Thing, chances are you’ll completely miss the next one.

–

Photo courtesy of cogdog

By Tarah Heupel | April 29, 2010

Me, in a bad dream last week:  “So, tell me why you want to be on Facebook/Twitter/YouTube?”

The phantom client:  “Because everyone else is.”

Still not using a plan? Time to wake up and smell the bacon.

Me: (Shuddering)

To be fair, we spend a lot of time talking about how important it is for businesses to have a social media presence, and a lot of people are ready to get on board, which makes us really happy. However, when we see a business with a lackluster fan page or a silent Twitter feed, it makes us sad.

Social media is seductive – it’s new, exciting, and a relatively cheap initial investment (in both dollars and manpower), requiring only that you choose a clever screen name and upload the perfect photo.

But then what?

Like everything else on the web, social media is a twisting, turning, ever-transforming thing, and you have to be prepared. It’s like having a baby, but with (hopefully) fewer dirty diapers: you need to nurture it, respond to any messes, and eventually …Read more »

By Tarah Heupel | April 27, 2010

The MacGyver of marketing.

As first-time home buyers, my fiancé and I have discovered that we are woefully unprepared for jobs that require a certain level of handiness. While I have a small (pink) toolkit that has been deemed unfit for manly use, his tools are limited to 1) a hammer, and 2) a Swiss Army knife. Apparently, that little knife is a miracle worker.

In the world of interactive marketing, we have our own pocket-size tool complete with screwdriver and bottle opener, à la social media. Social platforms are serious workhorses that give businesses an opportunity to connect with specific people who might be interested in products or services, learn about them, listen to feedback, stay informed, build the brand, and more.

While a lot of businesses have fully embraced the new frontier, there are still a few hold-outs who want to see concrete proof …Read more »

By Kyle McCabe | April 20, 2010

Think of your face.

I wrote previously about my experience at OTA Sessions a few weeks ago, and highlighted some of the topics discussed. It all boils down to changes in the way we do business; whether you like it or not, these changes are occurring.

In this (holy crap it’s long) article I am going to outline what some of the speakers at OTA Sessions said about how to approach this new marketplace–and the new “consumer”–we’re faced with.

Social communication isn’t new

While social media like Twitter and Facebook are new, they are simply vehicles for an activity we’ve always engaged in. Humans are fundamentally social and always have been. We are drawn to each other and impelled to communicate and belong to social groups; something greater than ourselves.

The difference now is the marketplace is shifting to media through which human interaction is enabled–necessary, in fact–rather than muffled or disabled.

Here’s what our speakers had to say …Read more »

By Kyle McCabe | April 6, 2010

Last week I wrote about OTA Sessions, which I attended the week before, and gave some overall thoughts about the experience. For the next couple of posts I will attempt to dive a little deeper and find out what it all means for you and I.

Most of the ideas discussed by the event speakers can be boiled down to one thing: changes. Changes in the marketplace and marketing; changes in the “consumer,” and the “user”; changes in the way we interact as people, and changes in the way we do business because of it; changes in our thinking and our actual physiology.

So how exactly has the marketplace changed? Here’s what some of our speakers had to say about the current state of things, with a little commentary thrown in: …Read more »

By Tony Dodd | March 30, 2010

How can we solve this?

Using the internet is now mainstream; a way of life for the great many people who buy products and services online. In light of this, you might think more businesses would have a better online presence. So why don’t they?

Low budget = cheap website?

In my experience the top reason is budget. Businesses, usually those on the smaller side, tend to have limited financial resources to devote to web marketing. Now no one wants to settle on a poorly designed website, but some do because they think it’s all they can afford. Unfortunately a poorly designed website can often seem shady or unreliable …Read more »

By Kyle McCabe | March 2, 2010

Who cares what the glass looks like...is the beer any good?

Who cares how a website looks if it doesn’t work?

Well, the owner of the site, usually. Many of the websites I’ve built over the years have been for clients who care very much how their websites look, and often make decisions to enhance that aesthetic quality at the expense of usability (the ease with which a person uses the website).

Of course the “look” of a site is important. A website needs to draw and engage the eye quickly, or at the very least, not make the visitor puke on their keyboard (here, this might help you with that).

But drawing the eye is only part of the equation. Readers familiar with this subject might here expect me to talk about “function”, and how it needs to take precedence over “form.” In other words, don’t sacrifice usability for flashy eye-candy. But we all understand that, don’t we? …Read more »

By Kyle McCabe | January 19, 2010

Blogging is a waste of time?

Seriously, why bother? Isn’t this kind of a waste of time? It’s not like blogs really matter – it’s just throwaway content, after all. What really matters is the website.

False.

Look, the web is about two things: content and search. Content because that’s what you’ve come for, and search because that’s how you find the content. Nothing else matters.

In light of this, a blog can be the most important tool you employ for two reasons: …Read more »