I hear this question often from new clients. It’s as if the magic Google bullet will cure all website ills. Often these clients could spend time and money elsewhere, like improving conversion, making their site easier to use, or adding another site. But those are topics for another post.
Today, we discuss the same thing that I have been discussing for years: “Content is King”, meaning that the more information you provide on your website the better chance someone will find it. Google has long ranked sites with lots of pages highly. In addition to links from other websites, content is one of the most important factors in search engine optimization.
In addition, lots of content is not just for SEO, it is helpful to customers who want to make an informed decision about your products and services. You can develop strong customer relationships if you’re site becomes a trusted source for information.
Sites such as hubpages.com and about.com are good examples. These sites list many topics in a structured, deep hierarchy on their site. Due to the large number of pages in these sites, they often gain front page status on many Google searches.
In a future post we will discuss content on social networking sites and how that is the Queen to your King. But until then, go write another couple of informative fact filled pages on your site today.
This may be the question of the day, but not necessarily the first you should be asking yourself. When it comes to promoting your company, the first question I encourage people to ask is “why”. Why am I or my company getting involved and what, if anything, do I (we) intend to contribute? In essence, I’m asking that you consider what your social media strategy is and define in detail what you want to get out of it.
Define, evaluate, observe and engage
Define – What do I want to get out of participating? Why am I here? To listen and discover? To stay on top of trends? To promote and educate? To sell?
Evaluate – See what social media tools are available and which align with your company objectives. Research and discover where your audience is, they may not be where you think.
Observe – Follow thought leaders, competitors and companies with a purpose driven strategy for social media. Listen and discover what is being said in your industry and by your target audience.
Engage – Decide which media is right for you and get started. Remember to be consistent and that the purpose of any social media involvement is to enable a more interactive relationship between people.
Putting together a social media strategy, like any other business strategy, will help greatly in gaining a faster return on your investment. Design your strategy with a specific business purpose in mind. Let’s face it, although many of the social tools are free, the time it takes to truly engage and get the most from this opportunity can be significant but at the same time very rewarding if you’ve defined your goals and measurements of success ahead of time.
What happens when a product or process is erroneously labeled “patent pending” and it is not? This occurs more often than one may think. Not surprisingly, it is illegal to intentional mislabel a product as “patent pending” if a patent has not been filed, if the mislabeling is done with the purpose to deceive the public. The penalty is a maximum of $500.00 per mislabeling act so one can easily envision this fine adding up quickly if you ship a lot of products which are mislabeled. Ship 10,000 mislabeled products and you could be looking at a maximum of a $ 5,000,000 fine.
What do you do if you inadvertently discover that you labeled something as “patent pending” and, in fact, no patent has been filed? Again, this happens more often then you may imagine. Serendipitously, this issue just came up today. Consider the following, typically fact pattern. You intend to file a patent application before you roll out new software. As a result, within the software start-up screen is the label, “patent pending.” However, right before you roll out the new software, the world economy falls apart, and you are short of capital resources, so you decide to release the software without first filing a patent application. Unfortunately, you fail to realize that the software includes the label “patent pending.”
Based on the facts as outlined above, there was no intent to deceive the public. Nevertheless, you have mislabeled the product as “patent pending” and it is not. Rather than pulling all product from the store shelves, one simple solution would be to file a patent application is relatively short order, after you discover the inadvertent mislabeling. (See future posts regarding the timing of when to file a patent application.) Please note, failure to remedy the oversight within a reasonably time after it is discovered could be used as evidence that you did intend to deceive. Should you discover that you have mislabeled a product or process, it is recommended that you consult a patent attorney so that he or she can review the specific facts of you case and advise you accordingly.
Fumble Free Demo: There’s nothing worse than an awesome concept, strategy, and months of development than stumbling when presenting your idea to the public, or worse, venture capitalists. Use your friends, peers, small sample groups to practice your “elevator pitch” and get your demo to work 100% no matter the conditions that may be present. Don’t rely on anthing, don’t assume there will be power or internet access. Prepare as if you are presenting outside in the rain. You never know when that one “big” opportunity will come to knock it out of the park so get it right every time.
Also the demo should be impactful but short. You want to leave with the audience wanting to ask questions and learn more about what you’re doing. Try and keep it under 10 minutes if possible which should provide time to explain the concept, impact to user(s), and then quick demo. Don’t cover too much but be prepared to answer obvious questions such as monetization strategy, time to release, problems in development and if solved, etc.
Not everything has been solved, Google is not the best at everything.
I am surprised at the number of people with entrepreneurial spirit that discount any new idea, just because “its already been done”. Or “Google already does that”. Search is still in its infancy, its still barely works in my opinion. Here is a test you can do right now, find the best doctor/hotel/restaurant in your town for what you need right now.
If you search Google for the answers to the above, you may find general answers from many different people each with their own opinion and views, or you might not find an answer at all. Even if you do find an answer, more often than not, those views are not the same as yours.
The missing piece is personalization – the content that links you to the answer. The part that is the right answer for you and, potentially, no one else. Each person has unique situations, needs, and goals. What is the right restaurant or doctor or hotel for one, is not right for all.
If you have an idea, it need to address someone’s pain, and it has to solve that problem. It doesn’t matter that it is loosely grouped into “search” or another topic that is already “done”. Go out, address a pain and build a solution, especially if its around personalization on the web.
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