Getting to #1 On Google…
Read Harry’s post on how he got to be #1 on Google. Lots of SEO wisdom and smarts:
"I’m telling you this so that you will:
- Integrate your weblog into a coherent and scalable sales process that tightly conforms to how your ideal prospect actually buys, and …
- Invest in a URL that clearly telegraphs your unique selling proposition to that prospect…"
Tom On Things Learnt…
Tom has a great list of things learnt in 2005. I especially like his first three:
-
Blogging is the most honest form of self-promotion bar none because if you can’t walk the talk you won’t get the clicks.
-
Content will be king because all those links have to point to something of value–otherwise they are pointless.
-
Every company is part media company–it is both publisher and publication and tells stories all the time.
Aside from being a pretty good bloke, Tom was one of the first hacks to jump ship and become a fulltime blogger.
Big Brand Campaings On The Way…
Will be interesting to watch how SBC/ATT and Intel handle their new brand efforts and what, if any, role Participatory Communications will play in that. The WSJ covers how Intel is about to embark on a major transition:
The changes include a new version of the company’s blue logo — without the dropped “e” that has long been a part of Intel’s branding — along with a new tagline “Leap ahead,” which emulates such campaigns as “Think different” from Apple Computer Inc. or “Just do it” from Nike Inc.
Intel will no longer use the well-known “Intel Inside” logo but is keeping the related marketing program that provides incentives to companies for using its products. – WSJ
Alaska Air’s Near Disaster Unfiltered…
I Hope Jeremy has big bandwidth and a big server because his account of the Alaska incident is scarry – and it’s going to attract zillions of eyeballs. Via Jeff Jarvis. Compare his account with news reports– some of which are featuring Jeff’s photos.
“Citizen Journalism” in action. Jeremy P makes a really interesting point that one lesson for any PR practioner facing a crisis is that you are going to need to manage transparency. It seems that Alaska employees are going nasty-comment-happy on Jeremy’s (the Jeremy on the plane) blog. Assuming he would never know I guess, they commented away. Jeremy simply looked at the originating IP addresses, which were from Alaska. And he was gracious enough to suggest that they might have been hackers using Alaska’s IP addresses. Not likely mate!
So, if your communications policy doesn’t cover commenting on blogs as an employee – then you might want to make sure it does.. and then make sure employees know it. And, if your crisis communications plan doesn’t feature monitoring of and communications with the blogosphere – better get on that as well.
Where Are PR’s Media Planners…
Media planners can provide real insight into who is reading what, when and where. I wonder how much of PR practioners enthusiasim for the media is guided by emotions rather than hard data? Tim Porter recently posted on some of the trends taking place in the more popular regionals. It ain’t a pretty picture:
- San Francisco Chronicle (down 16.6%): ""We cut a lot of what you would call unprofitable circulation around the first of the year. We made a decision that we want quality, profitable circulation that better serves our advertisers." – Publisher Frank Vega.
- Chicago Tribune (down 2.5%): "A report this year by Northwestern University’s Media Management Center estimated only 9 percent of people in their 20s will read a newspaper daily by the year 2010 if current trends continue unabated."
- Boston Globe (down 7.7%): Led with the 4 percent decline in the daily circulation of its tabloid competitor, the Boston Herald, even though the Globe’s percentage decline was higher. (The Globe said it disclosed its own loss a month earlier.)A Globe executive was quoted saying the paper’s "emphasis should be on higher-quality circulation" – a phrase that seems to be a trend (see Chronicle bullet above.)
As Tim says: "One clear trend: Big regional papers are shedding non-core circulation faster than you can say rising fuel costs. This means opportunities for smaller local news outlets (local papers, hyper-local web)."
Romenesko has more on this over at Poynter with this little snippet: "Of the nation’s 20 biggest newspapers, only two — the New York Times and the Star-Ledger of Newark — reported gains in their weekday circulation."
