Following on from this morning’s post on Bing and Google user insights I just had a look at what Alexa say’s my blog readers demographics are – quite an interesting bunch of peeps aren’t you

And finally…

So do you fall into these catchments:

• Most of you are aged 45-54
• Most of you have children
• Many of you have been to college
• A few of you have a post grad qualification
• 50% of you are female and 50% are male
• And most of you prefer to read my blog at work but a lot of of you read it at home…

Let me know below

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No one would deny that Google and Bing are two of the most used sites on the web – (on Alexa Google ranks 1st Bing is 11th) – but the people that use them vary…

Google and Bing Demographics

1. Bing’s audience is older and tends to have 35+ old individuals using it, however, the 55-64 group favours it
2. Bing receives 40% of its traffic from the US and Google gets 34%.
3. Bing has an increasing number of users in China (Bing’s 2nd largest users) – and don’t forget that Google has had problems in the past with China (posted on 14th January 2010)
4. Because of point 1 above, Bing users have more children than Google’s due to the age difference. According to Alex, Google users are less likely to have children

If you’re into PPC (pay per click) then you’ll be delighted to hear that Bing users are more likely to click on PPC ads

So, when you look at Alexa’s data, Bing’s users are older, more likely to live in the US, respond better to PPC and more likely to have children.

However, Bing users will tend to be more affluent – as older individuals are more likely to be better off financially but because of they have more children it possibly means that they have less disposable income.

Why is this?

It doesn’t need a degree to understand that, probably, the main reason is that Bing is the default search engine for Internet Explorer. However, what is interesting is that people that either switch the default search engine or use a different browser generally prefer Google.

Could this then mean that Bing users are less ‘tech-savvy’ than Google users? – ‘Only Smarties have the answer…‘

And finally… should you target Bing users?

Well, if you product or service is aimed at the type of people highlighted above then taking the time to optimise your site for Bing could well be worth the time investment.

But don’t ignore Google completely! Google has the greater market share and even if the Bing user demographic ticks all your boxes you’d definitely find other relevant people using Google – it’s just that they make up a smaller percentage.

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These were emailed to me today… so I thought I’d share…

1- Find the C below…do not use any cursor help.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOCOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

2- If you already found the C, now find the 6 below.

99999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999
99999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999
99999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999
69999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999
99999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999
99999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999

3 – Now find the N below. It’s a little more difficult.

MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMNMM
MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM
MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM
MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM
MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM

This is NOT a joke. If you were able to pass these three tests, you can cancel your annual visit to your neurologist. Your brain is great and you’re far from having a close relationship with Mr Alzheimer.

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It was great evening at the SME 2.0 ‘tagtribe’ event last night. The room was split between experienced Linkedin users and some fairly new to it…

There were a few questions on certain how tos which I said that I would blog about today – but rather than write it all out – I’ve done them as vids… which I hope will be easier to understand – but let me know if they’re not.

How to alter what is publicly visible on Linkedin

How to make all your LinkedIn connections details private

How to change the default anchor text for your LinkedIn website links

How to export your Linkedin contacts to CSV file

How to create a Personal URL on Linkedin

And finally…

If there are any others that you’d like to know about just post a comment below and I’ll add them to this post…

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I get a lot of questions asking about how to communicate with people online, which may seem simple to some but it appears to cause hours of sleepless nights to others…

• What if should I do if no-one replies?
• What should I do if someone replies?
• What tone of voice should I reply in?
• etc etc etc

Communicating online, especially with brand advocates, isn’t as difficult as might be first perceived: if people are talking positively about you – simply thanking them is quite often enough to get them talking even more positively about you.

For example: I recommended Vodafone’s mobile network to someone on twitter:

RT @shelleyfishel @leesmallwood thinks u have best deal for iPad. Just got 1 & am @vodafoneuk Customer. How do I get a sim? #orangefail 10:37 PM Sep 21st via Twitterrific

@shelleyfishel … and definitely best network coverage – 3G all the way from Bath to London & back again cc @vodafoneuk #OrangeO2Fail
10:48 PM Sep 21st via Twitter for iPhone

and Vodafone replied:

Makes you feel all warm and fluffy inside doesn’t it…!

Now, the next time I’m in a position to recommend a mobile network who do you think I’ll recommend? Not rocket science is it!

And this is a global company taking the time out just to say ‘thanks’. They didn’t try and sell me anything – just a warm felt ‘thanks’.

Online Adocates and Influencers

click to enlarge

For any company or organisation, identifying who your advocates and influencers are is vitally important – see it like an extension of customer service.

These people may continue to speak highly of you without any engagement from you… but are definitely more likely to continue to do so if you acknowledge them publically.

What’s even more important though is that their networt of friends, family colleagues are also seeing the ‘conversation’ you’re having with them – and the positive experience they’re having with you, which they might not be experiencing with their own supplier, provider etc…

The Power of Reach

Conversion paths are fulled by ‘reach’ (how far will a message travel) and generally follow a simple route (see image on the left):

• a message goes out
• it’s picked up by an influencer
• an advocate amplifies the message
• and it finally lands in front of the people that you’re trying to reach

And finally…

When a message moves this way WoM or WoW (word of mouth / word of web) it has a far greater impact than if you were trying to broadcast the message your self. And as James Poulter wrote in his blog post “The DNA of a Recommendation“:

This new culture’s currency, the recommendation, when automated, facilitated and propagated efficiently can become a very powerful tool – one that can move financial markets as well as social ones.

So… don’t be complex or cryptic… be yourself and let others see what the people that already use your products or services see…

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If you have ever had to tender or submit PQQs (pre qualification questionnaires) for work you’ll appreciate what I’m about to say. As someone that writes a lot of proposals, I generally have to spend many hours (days/weeks) of writing proposed strategy, implementations, timelines etc for contracts that have, in many instances, 200 + other businesses competing for the same work and that is just putting together one contract…

From the opposite side, I’ve talked with many organisations that put these tender notifications together and they have to spend exactly the same amount of time clarifying points, processes and answering questions etc then the work really starts as they have to scrutinise each of the tender responses in order to reduce the ‘pile’ down to a more ‘manageable’ list.

This system is, like many businesses process and procedures, a relic of days gone by when there were less organisations competing for the same business and, because there is no better alternative, has to be used.

That is of course until now…

What is Profinda?

If you don’t know, Profinda.com is a platform, that simply put, helps you to win work by offering your services to the marketplace AND conversely is a much easier and efficient way to find and engage relevant processionals for any of your business projects and work. Think of Profinda.com like a dating website for businesses…!

You may have picked up on a tweet I sent out on Wednesday that I managed to negotiate a free one year membership to Profinda.com for everyone in my network or that knows me… So this is a great opportunity if you’re looking to get new business or if your company/organisation wants to promote new work and reduce the filtering process!

What’s especially interesting is that Profinda.com has access to over 250,000 UK companies that will post a variety of work, and when membership numbers hits 1,000 professionals, they’re going to open the ‘work flow’ up, which means that for anyone involved in Business Development(which everybody is right) that this could generate some fantastic business opportunities – and of course a way for you to find that perfect lawyer, accountant, developer, salesperson marketeer etc.

And finally

What more can I say other than that it takes just 3 mins to register on Profinda.comand is free – it could easily be the best 3 minutes you spend today…!

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I was having a chat with someone today and the topic of ‘how should I write for the web?’ came up so I thought I’d just make what I talked about into a quick blog…

On Page SEO Elements

Together, the following elements are known as ‘onpage’ seo – and, if your website is ‘static html’ then they are manually coded into each page by the programmer/web manager. But if you have a dynamic website i.e. Database driven where you’ll have an administration access panel to create, manage publish content then the following elements ‘should’ be created [automatically] by the system but can be manually edited if required…

The important point to remember is that each of the onpage seo elements need to be unique…!

1. Title tag – Google loves title tags, so make sure that your keyword is in here. This will also appear as the link in the search results.

2. Header tags

h1- only one of these per page. Google puts a lot of emphasis on the h1 tag – so ensure that your main keyword appears in here.

Then you can use as many of the following tags for subsequent headings: h2, h3, h4, h5 and h6. The only difference between them are their default font sizes: e.g. The h2 tag is largest font size and h6 is the smallest. However default sizes can be changed …

I personally use h2 tags for my subsequent headings and then occasionally use h3s when I need a further sub heading within a main section – if you get what I mean…

3. Bold tags, Italic tags, Underline tags – are not only great to let search engines know that your content is relevant but they are great to encourage people to keep reading – as they stand out from the rest of the copy on a page.

I use them to highlight the keyword I’m targeting on the page.

NOTE: just an aside, people only read 15-20% of the copy that is on a web page so keep it as punchy as possible and if you have to have ‘more copy’ on a page – then use the bold, italics, or underline to grab the readers attention…

4. Keyword repeat rate – after the first paragraph remember to repeat your keyword every 100 words.

5. Keyword prominence – is all about keyword balance and is where many online writers fall down. To keep it simple, ensure that you have your keyword in every paragraph that you write (and keep in mind the keyword repeat rate)

6. Meta description – this is what shows up in the search engine results – and will ultimately act as a key decision element for the searcher when deciding which search result to click.

And finally…

So just to sum up, if you’re working with a web developer, let them do the coding elements of the on page seo – but just remember to check that they are following the rules above by making all the elements unique. This then leaves you to take care of the following:

- Keyword in your title
- Keyword in 1st para
- Keyword in 2nd para (then repeat keyword every 100 words)
- Keyword in last para

Hope the above makes sense let me know if you have any questions

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There’s a lot of talk online at the moment relating to Google’s ‘Instant Search’, and I’ve received a fair few questions from clients and friends asking what the implications are from an SEO perspective; to the extent that I thought a quick blog post might be the order of the day…

What is Google Instant Search?

Google Instant Search is a form of Incremental Search – or ‘search-as-you-type‘ that starts producing ‘suggested results’ as soon as you start typing – basically it guesses/pre-empts what you’re trying to search for, which Google thinks it will deliver matching results faster.

But before we go into the ins and outs of it, ‘search as you type‘ isn’t new, infact Yahoo did something very similar back in 2006:

And Microsoft (i.e. Bing) have been developing an enhanced search experience using HTML and Apple’s Safari 5 browser:

Google Instant Search: SEO/SEM implications

For years now, Google have been advising site owners/managers/SEOs to optimise for the longtail as that’s where conversions take place: not just for organic listings but also for Google Adwords (PPC – pay per click) so my immediate thought was that we have to go back and start optimising again for the ‘short tail’ keyword because the search results change dynamically as you’re typing!

This particularly effects PPC as the sponsored links also change and there (at least at the moment) are more sponsored links than before. What impact will this have? More revenue for Google through Adwords listings and an increase in PPC costs for advertisers as keywords bids become more competitive. But from a usability perspective, we now have to go through 5-6 times more PPC ads than we had to before in order to find the actual results that we were looking for: this is because Google Instant Search performs a new query with every time you type a different letter and changes the sponsored links to reflect this.

From an organic search result perspective, if an individual didn’t want to click on a sponsored link then they now have to scroll a lot further down to find a relevant result. But more so than before because websites will have to compete against so many more search verticals (news, shopping, video, images etc) and from a variety of different sectors…

But doesn’t this defeat the whole purpose of Google Instant?

There will undoudtedly be an increase in costs (expanentially) for companies that want to get their website to appear as early as possible within the dynamic search result listings – and this may cause a return to the days of ‘keyword stuffing‘

And finally…

I don’t think this is the best Google update we’ve ever seen – in fact I’d go as far to say that it’s a bit of a false starter… I can see Google Instant Search benefitting those people that have never used a search engine before however for the majority of us that know how to use a search engine, in my honest opinion, makes it complete a distraction.

The ‘Instant’ search results have so much more emphasis on sponsored links, which begs the question, is the the main aim of this update actually to increase Google’s Adwords revenue rather than to enhance the users search experience?

Personally, I don’t need Google to search for things that are of no interest whatsoever to me, I don’t like to be interrupted whilst I’m typing and when I use Google Instant Search it feels like Bart Simpson asking Homer, “Can we go to the fair? Can we go to the fair? Can we go to the fair? Can we go to the fair? Can we go to the fair? Can we go to the fair? Can we go to the fair? Can we go to the fair? Can we go to the fair? Can we go to the fair? Can we go to the fair? Can we go to the fair?” …. ARGHHHHHHH!

Displaying new search results again every time a new character is definitely a Bart Simpson moment… but that is purely my subjective opinion… The good news is that Google Instant Search only works if you’re logged into your Google account and I suspect that not many people are logging into or have a google account. But this can also be turned off. Google Instant Search also doesn’t work when a person is searching directly from the browser search field…

As always, happy to be challenged and educated

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Yesterday I posted the start of a mini series ‘Defining the elusive meaningful metric‘, where I discussed:

Engagement for me is when someone cares enough about what you have written to such an extent that they felt compelled to do something about it.

and

Metrics I like to use to understand the effectiveness of online communications are based upon the number of people that:

Stage 1 – read it (easy to measure)
Stage 2 – saved/embedded/downloaded it
Stage 3 – rated it
Stage 4 – repeated/quoted/retweeted it
Stage 5 – commented on it
Stage 6 – recommended it (challenging to achieve)

In this series of posts, I’d like explore different ways to encourage people to move from just reading what you write…to recommending it.

Know your Audience

Question:

Do you know about what people want to read or find information about in the space that you operate in?

If you don’t then the chances are that your content is probably stuck ‘Stage 1 – Read it’ I see a lot of new fangled gadets and widgets on peoples sites that help people share content with their readers’ networks, but how many are actually tracking what their readers do with the content they’ve just read…?

Without this information we’re a bit like a mushroom – left in the dark and covered in sh*t(!) Yes, the likes of Tweetmeme counts how many retweets but what is the total amount of reach that has been achieved?

ShareThis Analytics

There are of course platforms out there which produce reports on reach, levels of engagement etc – I personally use Radian6 (through 6consulting.com) however, there are widgets out there which will help you analyse what your audience is doing.

You may be familiar with ShareThis – known for it’s social media sharing widget, but what you may not know is that they’ve recently made an amazing addition… Social Reach and Audience Indexing. This is pretty unique as it provides a bigger insight into the type of people visiting your site, whilst also allowing you to compare results to other sites in a similar category to your own.

It also categorises your site visitors and profiling the type of people your content is attracting. This provides a complete view of your content online and how people are engaging with it, as it measures and tracks shared media across the social web, beyond the standard metric such as how many shares on Facebook and how many retweets on twitter.

Both the Social Reach and Audience Index options will be available in the reports you receive from ShareThis, though they haven’t currently been rolled out for all users…

How to set up ShareThis on WordPress

It’s easy to add ShareThis to your WordPress blog/site. Simply download and install the plugin to get started. There are two ways to do this:

• Automatic Installation (see below) – search, install and activate the plugin completely within WordPress.
• Manual Installation – download and expand zip files, upload to server, and activate.

Automatic Installation for WordPress Self Hosted sites

Manual Installation

1. Download and unarchive the plugin folder.
2. Place the uncompressed share-this folder in your wp-content/plugins directory. You should end up with up with wp-content/plugins/share-this/.
3. On the Plugin page in your WordPress Administration area, activate the ShareThis plugin.

Plugin Options

Once you have successfully installed and activated the ShareThis plugin. A link to a new settings page in the sidebar will be generated where you can customize the plugin.

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When you write a post – whether it’s a tweet, blog or comment etc – and people read it, repeat it and they like it – this can at times lead us to feeling ‘I’ve done it. I’m finally reaching people’

But in point of fact, this is only the beginning. Because even though tracking what people think about what you write is good and establishing whether their feelings towards you and your content are great or not so great is important, measuring the results of your communication efforts is actually key.

In an offline world, and to quote Guro John Popolini (the world leader in ‘sucksess’ coaching) “When you are in a room full of people it’s important you get as many business cards as you can. The more you have… the more money you will make”

This of course is BS and just ‘more’ online ‘whatevers’ are not a measurement that we should focus purely one.

Yes, more can be good, but simply having more friends, more followers, more likes etc than your competitor is not a metric to measure the success of how well you, your company or your brand are successfully engaging with people that are interested in what you do.

From a deeper perspective, more isn’t an end unto itself… it’s only a means to an end…

Just counting the number of people who follow you on twitter and or subscribe to your blog/newsletter is easy … What you should be measuring is how many of them are actually engaged!

Engagement for me is when someone cares enough about what you have written to such an extent that they felt compelled to do something about it. E.g. This blog post came about after reading @SuButcher ‘s post from yesterday http://www.justprofessionals.net/2010/09/how-to-work-out-the-size-of-your-audience-on-twitter-in-4-steps/

Seeing a level of active participation from the people that follow you etc is a much more rational metric than the number of bums on seats that registered – but missed what you were saying because they were in the loo, blinked or at the bar when you said it…

Metrics I like to use to understand the effectiveness of online communications are based upon the number of people that:

- read it (easy to measure)
- saved/embedded/downloaded it
- rated it
- repeated/quoted/retweeted it
- commented on it
- recommended it (challenging to achieve)

And finally…

So over my next few posts I’d like to explore different ways you can use to encourage people to move from just reading it…to recommending it. And as this is an evolving medium it would be great if you share what is working for you too and or what isn’t.

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