Internet Marketing Blog » English

Hey Gmail, cut it out with the tampons

Dror — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 08:32:49 +0000

A client asked me this week if I think it’s a good idea for them to extend their Google Pay Per Click (PPC) Adwords to run on additional non-search networks. So My answer? Definitely not yet!

Google explains that they are using contextual signals that help predict which ads are likely to be relevant to you.

Oh really?

Here are some hysterical examples I happened upon in my Gmail inbox. I’d say these examples of Adwords showing up on my screen, in my gmail interface kind of counter any claim that the system is even remotely accurate. The AI semantic algorithms just aren’t there yet, especially when I read my gmail from outside of the US, by the way.

If I was not confident in my masculinity, I might be feeling a little insecure with the products Google seems to think I am in need of recently.

Now how about this Google translate suggestions? (for Hebrew speakers)

How to Please the Google Panda – SEO Best Practices in 2011

Sheryl — Sun, 26 Jun 2011 13:52:26 +0000

So Rand Fishkin of SEOMOZ took time to get around to this since Google’s Panda update of March, but now he has zoomed in and explained the key elements to successful SEO in this decade – actually to successful websites. Or at least for the remainder of 2011! If you ignore his wisdom, you may be in for a rough ride online.

Panda, (also called Farmer), was the Google update in March of 2011, that completely shook up Google search results and a lot of people’s nerves. Sites that enjoyed high ranking were pushed down in the rankings and some sites found themselves suddenly enjoying better rankings. It’s been the talk of SEO, webmaster and Internet marketing forums for the last few months and people are worried.

For us here at WebWhile, we initially were critical of Panda. But there is evidence that maybe the update and the small updates to Panda since March, are doing good, at least for anyone who is interested in a better online experience. If what Rand tells us is true, it is heartening and supports the kind of Internet strategy we have been leading our own clients to ever since we’ve been doing this. It also supports everything I tell clients about SEO. We don’t want clients to buy SEO by the kilo (or pound), like so many newbies, Indian companies and automated tools offer. Those companies and their naive clients are going to be taking a bashing. Can you outsource development of a compelling online user experience to Mumbai? Can you automate the development of good web content?

Seriously, I have a lot of initial conversations with companies who think that Internet marketing = SEO and it is something you can hand off to some contractor to take care of for you. And to make it even more annoying, many small-mid size Israel based companies believe this work should be done for peanuts, turning it into a commodity. Over the years, like Google is learning to weed out the junk sites from the quality sites, we’ve learned to weed out the wise clients from the not so wise.

Rand Fishkin comes out and says it well: “It’s almost like the job of SEO has been upgraded from SEO to Web Strategist.” In other words, the typical “Internet Marketing” path of the company that is not web savvy, is going to be useless, as Panda gets stronger. What is that path?

Develop a website as cheaply as possible. Make choices based on price.
Higher a group of Indians to build links and submit the site to indices.

What should you be doing now to face the Panda head on?

Don’t show the Panda that you are scared. Be bold.

Stop producing content with the Search Engines in mind. Focus on the user experience – optimize for your visitors. Stop counting keywords, paying for backlinks and posting articles to Ezine. Use your time and budget on making your visitors happy.

A great test for quality content is whether someone who is not specifically interested in your subject matter would actually enjoy the piece of content. Think of CarTalk http://www.cartalk.com/ , the auto repair radio show that’s been running for over 20 years on NPR and has a devout following of fans that have absolutely no interest in cars (like me!).

Optimize with user metrics in mind – you want visitors to spend time on your site anyway – and now you know that Google will notice.

Google knows what people are doing online. They are finally taking those metrics and using them to determine what really is quality content. Now you need to seriously understand and consider:

Time spent on your site
Page visits
Geographical location of your visitors
CTR in SE results

Bottom line – searchers are getting a better experience from Google, which is what Google must provide to continue to excel. So don’t expect them to reverse this trend. As a website owner, you need to focus on your users. Did you hear me? Stop looking for “SEO experts” and put together a team that knows how strategize, make a great site and amazing content and has the ability to define a vision for the future.

This entry was written by Dror Gliksman.

Everyone Knows Someone Like This

Sheryl — Sun, 22 May 2011 16:37:26 +0000

XKCD comic used by Creative Commons license

Does Medical Social Media Really Empower Patients?

Sheryl — Sun, 27 Mar 2011 09:25:23 +0000

It’s a fascinating debate. We are all patients at one time or another so it concerns us all. 80% of us go online to find health related information. Doctors no longer look surprised when their patients are able to recite medical protocols or describe experimental procedures they want to consider.

As a patient, I feel 100% sure that I am empowered by the medical information that I can access on the Internet. I also happen to be a highly experienced internet marketing consultant with a hyper-sensitive sense for weeding out the valid information from the crap, a skill I have honed over years of spending most of my workday online. So I I am not the typical e-patient.

The Internet has made a tremendous contribution to participatory medicine – which includes a range of ideas from patients being involved in their care by making behavioral changes that can improve treatment outcomes to patients forming support groups through which they share information about a medical condition or disease and build up a database of valuable anecdotal data.

But there are some very significant dangers that we face in having access to so much information. Just last year, Novartis received a warning letter from the FDA concerning their Facebook widget. They failed to communicate any risk information associated with the use of the drug they were promoting and made misleading statements suggesting off-label use of the drug. Novartis removed the widget.

In a complaint filed with the FTC in November 2010, four advocacy groups asked for “Investigation, Public Disclosure, Injunction, and Other Relief” against several online health giants, including Google, Microsoft, QualityHealth, WebMD, AOL, HealthCentral and Healthline – all sites we have probably run into in any given health related search.

“Digital marketing raises many distinct consumer protection and privacy issues, including an overall lack of transparency, accountability and personal control, which consumers should have over data collection and the various interactive applications used to track, target, and influence them online (including on mobile devices). The use of these technologies by pharmaceutical, health product, and medical information providers that directly affect the public health and welfare of consumers requires immediate action.”

But there are even more subtle dangers that we face, as patients. The average e-patient, goes to Google and searches for whatever ails him and he is delivered a bunch of results — 10 to be precise because there is room for jsut 10 organic results on a page. Most do not usually click past the first page. Most believe that Google is delivering them the 10 “best” results to their query. Typically, the results page, will include sponsored listings as well. Some users recognize this and some don’t. The fact that they are sponsored does not actually mean they are less valuable than the organic results. . . . Why?

Because some companies pay even more to ensure their top position in Google than they put into advertising. Let’s take a random example. Take a patient on seeking information about “medication for depression”. Look at the results delivered by Google.

The first entry is an ad for the medication Seroquel. The ad suggests nothing about a specific medication and the text and URL listed indicates the site is informative in nature. The URL redirects to the Seroquel website and the site unabashedly promotes the med. The second ad takes a similar approach, redirecting to Lexapro. I am surprised these ads were not rejected by Google for being deceptive.

Then there are organic results – those that Google decided, after reviewing the 34 million results it discovered, are the most relevant to my search. They are filled with some good information, including the latest news on the topic from CNN.

But the 8th result blows me away. This is an article by someone who claims they suffered from depression and know the real answer to curing depression WITHOUT medication. But I was looking for “depression medication”, surely Google could have come up with 10 good quality articles that fit my search for that first page of results. There are lots of affiliate banners on the page – meaning ads for products that are tracked and if a purchase is made, the site owner earns a commission. The person running the site did a great job at fooling Google into considering his site to be a quality site. For the e-patient, it’s a huge disservice and dangerous.

The point I am making is that the average e-patient may naively trust their research to Google. They enter the search string that they think should bring them good answers. But they don’t realize all of the manipulations and challenges going on behind the scenes to bring them those 10 results. Google is not an altruistic, objective engine created and refined to serve our health needs. And it’s not only about Google anymore with Social Media now rising to the occasion. The pharmas will have us believe that they are taking the opportunity to engage with patients in order to provide a better, personal service. But I caution that there is room for manipulation. Take a look at what Ortho-McNeil-Janssen Pharmaceuticals has done around their leading ADHD medication, Concerta.

Free Trial Offer After all,why not try a med if you can get a free trial?

Videos of Parents These videos are so compelling, even if you don’t suspect ADHD, you may want to give Concerta a try.

ADHD Moms -Facebook Almost 20,000 Facebook users are following this support group. It is transaprently sponsored by McNeil Pediatrics. However, followers may not realize that the content is controlled by paid employees of McNeil Pediatrics, the makers of Concerta, the leading medication for ADHD.

Healthcare Industry in Panic Over Social Media

Sheryl — Tue, 22 Mar 2011 10:02:41 +0000

The growing trend in the sharing of medical data via social media can not be ignored. The most private details of our lives are getting shared – either we do it ourselves or someone else is doing it for us, but the data is out there for the world to see . . . and to use. It will have an impact on healthcare like we have never seen.

Sites like PatientsLikeMe, provide a platform on which anyone can share their experiences coping with a medical condition – from their symptoms, to the treatments they use to the medications they are taking. It provides a methodical way to gather the endless anecdotal stories that exist and to start giving that priceless data shape – -to identify new trends, new ideas and to empower not only patients but the average physician as well.

Today, when a doctor prescribes a medication, the typical patient looks it up online. And the search engine results are no longer only for websites run by the drug manufacturer or other marketing oriented sites. It goes beyond Wikipedia and beyond scientific articles that a patient may have trouble understanding and takes them right into the actual experiences being had by tens, hundreds and even thousands of other patients using that medication.

Sites like Sermo, specific to US physicians, have grown to over 100,000 members – physicians sharing information in an informal, online setting. Patients are using applications that allow them to upload their calorie intake, their blood sugar levels, their blood pressure.It’s endless and it is growing.

The healthcare industry is a bit of a panic about all these developments – from hospitals to pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturers, there is an understanding of the need to be out there, actively connecting to patients, but there is an understandable fear — fear of the regulatory issues, fear of screwing up, fear of negative exposure. But with that, more and more companies are recognizing that 1. They no longer have a choice, because if they don’t control their own social media presence to some degree, they are still going to be out there; and 2. Done right, they can leverage social media to their benefit in incredible ways that it would be a crime to ignore.

We are seeing more and more medical companies in Israel waking up and exploring how they can leverage these trends. There is a big learning curve, lots of fear, some suspicion . . . but the potential benefits are tremendous. Now it is still early but social media marketing in the medical field is rapidly taking off and quickly becoming a must in the marketing mix of any company that wants to succeed.

How to Get Mentioned on Wikipedia

Sheryl — Tue, 28 Dec 2010 13:13:17 +0000

Everyone knows Wikipedia. Barely a Google search can be made without a wikipedia entry showing up in the top 10 results. A search for Microsoft and there it is -the 8th result is the Microsoft entry in Wikipedia. Search for the Mayo Clinic and Wikipedia is right there in the middle of the first page Google results. Are you on Wikipedia? Is your company on Wikipedia? Is your product on Wikipedia?

First of all, don’t be fooled by the “anyone can be an editor” policy. It should read, “Anyone with a lot of patience and a lot of spare time to spend editing, can be an editor. But it is no doubt one of the top authority websites today and should not be ignored.

Many SEOs or marketing folks are fooled by the tempting “edit” links on every Wikipedia page and may get overzealous in thinking they can edit a competitor’s entry or add a link to your own site. Resist the temptation. It can cause you a lot of trouble.You will be amazed how quickly a wikipedia editor will remove your edits – it can seem that that’s all they do in their life.

Is the Web Dead? Is the App the Future?

Dror — Wed, 08 Dec 2010 12:04:17 +0000

A panel on the future of apps and mobile with Hugo Barra, the Google executive in charge of mobile platforms; Christian Hernandez, Facebook’s head of international business development; Ilja Laurs, founder of cross-platform app store GetJar, and Raoul Roverato, in charge of new growth businesses at Orange.
No, the web is not dead, but it is changing so fast and you better start getting a good grasp of where it is headed.

The Social Media Health Network Goes Live

Sheryl — Sun, 05 Dec 2010 13:19:05 +0000

I’ve been following Lee Aase for a while now. Lee is the Social Media manager for the Mayo Clinic. Actually, he is the the Director of the Center for Social Media at Mayo. Now you can understand he is not just Tweeting and blogging and that the Mayo Clinic takes their social media presence seriously — they have a Center!

And now, Lee and Mayo are launching The Social Media Health Network, a service of the Mayo Clinic Center for Social Media. The Network will provide access to tools, resources and guidance for organizations and individuals that want to apply social media in health and health care.

I admire Lee because he carved out a niche for himself and is probably now one of THE experts in healthcare social media. That is no small thing and the healthcare industry is still in its social media infancy. For most companies and caregivers, their social media presence has not even been born yet. So it is natural that many are looking to Lee to set the standard.

Lee Aase recognized something very simple and very powerful just a few years ago. When patients have a good experience at Mayo, they tell others. in fact, he found that over 90% of patients that had a good experience were telling others about it. And they don’t just tell one or two people. On average, they tell 40 other people about their experience and many advise others to go to Mayo themselves for treatment.

Today, over 33,000 people “like” the Mayo Clinic on Facebook. Take a look at the page and read some random comments left on the wall. Past patients share photos of themselves living healthy lives, thank you notes to the staff, comments on Mayo Clinic related publications, etc. It’s impressive.

Funnily enough, I found out about Lee through a YouTube video that had quickly accumulated over 7 million views within a few weeks last year. It was a video filmed by a Mayo clinic patient in the lobby – an older couple playing an adorable piano duet together. The video was written about in major news publications across the US and brought incredible exposure to the Clinic in a way that no planned campaign could ever do, with the couple even getting a spot on Good Morning America. It was completely spontaneous and emotional. Lee simply leveraged it well. Over 1 million views of the video came via the Sharing Mayo Clinic site. You can not buy that type of exposure!

Another technique that Lee is using is to reach out to patients and to make it really easy for them to share their stories – via text, pictures, video, etc. On the Mayo Clinic site, via Facebook, Twitter . . . The Sharing Mayo Clinic website (http://sharing.mayoclinic.org/share-your-mayo-clinic-story/) provides a platform for patients and Mayo Clinic staff to share their stories. Check out the guidelines provided for patients who want to share:

You can upload a video to YouTube and let us know about it by email.

If you’re on one of the Mayo Clinic campuses we may be able to meet you to record your story on video. When you’re on campus, call and ask for the Sharing Mayo Clinic team, and we’ll try to schedule a time that works with your appointments. Call from any campus phone.

If you would like to schedule a time to video tape your story in advance of your visit, you also can send us an email with your availability.

Every Page is Your Homepage

Sheryl — Wed, 24 Nov 2010 13:11:54 +0000

Traditional website design presumes that we can manage our users’ experience on our site. The user arrives to the homepage and navigates to where he wants to go. But most people arrive to your site via search. That means that many of your website visitors are going to land on a page INSIDE your site and not on the homepage. What does that mean for your site design and navigation?

Basically, it means that in order to deliver a positive user experience and capture your audience, you should take into consideration that any page in your site is a potential landing page. And what does it mean to take that into consideration? It means that wherever a visitor lands, there are several elements that you need to make sure you have covered:

From whatever page a visitor lands on, they should be able to navigate through your site and not be left stranded.
Call to Action – from every page a visitor may land on, there should be a clear call to action. Be ready to capture them from the moment they arrive.
The page should not assume anything about the visitor’s knowledge of the brand, product or company. Remember, each website page may be the visitor’s first engagement with your company.

German SEO – Me?

Sheryl — Mon, 22 Nov 2010 07:59:31 +0000

As part of an Internet Marketing project we are doing for a medical device company, I took on working on the SEO for their German website. I don’t speak German (well, I can count to 10 and recite the dialog I learned in 6th grade about someone studying in Heidelberg).

Admittedly, this was a little risky. Command of the language and the content is an important part of doing good, quality SEO work as well as contributing to the overall online position of a product or company. But I found that the challenge was manageable, in part due to the incredible convenience of Google translate, but also due to the thorough and professional techniques with which we approach each online marketing project that we do.

Having already been working with the client for a few months, I knew the product and the market well. Furthermore, I suspect that the German SEO industry is not as advanced as the US and so optimizing may be less competitive, although still quite competitive – at least in the particular medical market we are working on in this project. But no matter what market or language we are talking about, ranking for any single keyword looks like a fantasy today. I will admit that I am quite shocked that within 2 months, we succeeded to not only start ranking (I consider “ranking” anything in the top 200 places at the early stages of a project) but to reach page 1 of Google for single work keywords – not long tail, not short phrases – single words – in this case a particular medical condition for which our client is providing a medical device solution.

Again, I don’t aggressively market our SEO services in Israel because we are so much more than an “SEO company”. We work with clients on their overall online marketing of which SEO may be a tactic that we use to accomplish the goals that are defined. I call it Intelligent SEO. My belief that this is the right way to work and the right solution for our clients gets reaffirmed over and over.