‘Online Marketing’

 

You may have heard that Google takes videos serious and if you want to attract traffic in future that you will have use videos in combination with solid and fresh content at your website. If you have wondered about how to market on YouTube, it is your lucky day.

Why Marketing On YouTube Works

One of the benefits of marketing with videos is that you have viral marketing work in your favour. When a user sees something at YouTube that they like, they tend to share the link with friends. Most people share their likes and links at Facebook, Twitter and Google Plus. Once there others like it and share it again. Your only important task when you market on YouTube is to get the video noticed, liked and shared. Once done you can be assured that the grapevine will do a lot of the work for you. Rapid exposure can thus be gained at a fraction of normal web marketing costs.

How To Market Effectively With Videos On YouTube

Certain principles must be followed to ensure maximum exposure and optimal return on any video marketing campaign. Note that content must still be good if you hope to attract a large audience, but instead of focussing on long videos giving away everything, you want them to be bite size, just enough to spark interest and a viral campaign.

Short Is Better

As mentioned, long videos are not the best. Keep the videos short ensuring that the user doesn’t have to wait for buffering. Most users want video clips that are shorter than 60 seconds. Respect their time and you are already one step closer to an effective YouTube marketing campaign. If you can, make the videos 30 seconds or less. Rather break up the video than have one long video.

Break The Video Apart

When the YouTube video is broken up in short pieces, you have more videos and thus more exposure. Chances are that once the viewer enjoyed or appreciated the first part that they will also click on the second and third parts.

Remix Concept

You may not like the idea of someone remixing your video, but if you want it to become truly viral, you should make it as easy as possible for others to remix and use the clips in their own videos. Note that they will do you a favour when remixing and reposting. As such help them to do their part of the job.

Stay Away From Direct Advertising

Few people go to YouTube to watch boring ads. They want something funny, crazy, shocking or useful, but don’t give them a straight advert. Viewers may click on the video if it is a straight ad, but don’t expect them to share such. Only ads like the latest Nando ads get viral status. If you thus want to create a straight advert video, know that it will have to be awesome.

Get Attention

Create a public outcry through the shocking technique or one that is so useful that someone will want to return to it often or will want to share it with others. Here the headline will play an important role. You want the YouTube viewers to become curious.

How To Attract Thousands Of Views

Once you have created the video which will be used in the YouTube marketing campaign, you have to get the views. Fortunately YouTube already has tremendous traffic and all you have to do is to tap into the audience power to market your videos. To get the views, you need to land the video on the Videos page and preferably on the most viewed videos for the day. This will make the video more prominent and one that will get the clicks because it will no longer have to compete with millions, but only a few for that specific day. The ultimate goal is to get it as high on the video page rank as possible for maximum exposure.

How To Market The Video To Get To The Top Viewed Page

The vehicles to use for getting to the most viewed page of YouTube can vary. Don’t use only one. The idea is to create an effective marketing mix. Blogs are excellent vehicles. Allow for embedding of your videos in the blogs of viewers. You can even pay blog sites to embed videos. They will become affiliate marketers. Another place to get the wheel rolling is a relevant forum or two. Be careful though, as you don’t want to spam the forums. Just start a thread and then embed one of your videos.

Although MySpace may seem dead to some, it is still effective enough. Announce the new video and then embed the video at one of the sites which will allow for such. Next stop is that of Facebook. With millions of users and people loving the idea of sharing, linking and conversing about hot topics on the Internet, you will have a whole community marketing your YouTube video in a short period.

Start by sharing the video with everyone in your friend list and do the same with your Google Plus account. Next, give incentives for people to share the videos. Place an advert at Facebook to let people watch the video and like or share it. Use the Facebook setup to link back to the original video at YouTube.

Use newsletter campaigns where the link to the video is shared with the subscribers to your company newsletter. Your video, once it reaches the top viewed list for the day, will feature for two days and then will go to the most viewed list for the week. Make sure it is a hit and you will have an awesome number of people view it over seven days.

It is hard work, but if you struggle with doing it even when you know how to market on YouTube, get in the help of experts such as iLeadOnline. Such companies can also assist with the title optimization, commenting on the video and releasing it together with other related videos in your profile. In addition, the team can handle the tagging and tracking part to ensure ongoing success.

The SA Blog Awards for 2011 lists three top South African blogs for each category and there are several:

• The Groupon – Best Science & Technology
• The Groupon – Best Entertainment & Lifestyle
• Photographic
• Travel
• Music
• Environmental
• Fashion
• The Pick ‘n Pay Best Food & Wine
• The Evox Advanced Nutrition – Best Sport
• Business & Political

The winners of each category of the SA Blog Awards will be announced on 10 December 2011 at the Crystal Towers. Getting the prestigious award is an honour not to be taken lightly. Various sponsors are involved including that of Evox, Pick ‘n Pay, and The Groupon, Ogilvy, and African Pride Crystal Towers Hotel & Spa.

Science & Technology

The three top South African blogs in Science & Technology category are that of:

• D Chetty – a blog about technology also featuring political satire and opinions from the author about cars and business.  The author is 29 years old and has some strong opinions shared in a relaxed manner. (dchetty.co.za)
• Lazygamer – blog features reviews of the latest games, videos, and updates. It covers handhelds, pc, Xbox360, Nintendo Wii, and Playstation 3. (www.lazygamer.net)
• BWTH Blog – Another tech blog, but with loads of information about the latest news, developments, gadgets, and events. It features interviews, game reviews and the top 5 lists. (www.bandwidthblog.com)

Entertainment & Lifestyle

The top South African blog contenders in the entertainment and lifestyle category are:

• Watkykjy? – Afrikaans alternative blog catering to the not so conservative Afrikaner with updates on events, guide, letters, opinions, and a place to sell stuff. (www.watkykjy.co.za)
• Baydu –  Baydu Adams blogs about entertainment related news, events and also opinions about actuality related topics. (www.baydu.co.za)
• Just Curious – blog with several contributors looking at African related entertainment news and topics (www.justcurious.co.za)

Photographic

In the photographic section the top blogger sites are:

• Londolozi – blog about the African wilderness with opportunities to share photos and experiences. (blog.londolozi.com)
• Rikki Hibbert Photography -  blog page of the photographer containing a profile and loads of tips on photography. (www.rikkihibbert.co.za)
• Diary of Ward – Profile blog of photos taken at events. (www.diaryofward.com)

Travel

The travel section for the best South African blogs contains three rather compelling blog sites:

• Safari Interactive Magazine –  blog of Safari Travel Magazine that provides interactive multi-media travel related content.  (africageographic.com/safari/blog)
• Getaway -  blog of the Getaway Magazine with loads of travel tips, fun stories, photos and destination guides. (blog.getaway.co.za)
• South African Travel Portfolio – contains snippets and opinions of travel destinations, restaurants and more. (travelblog.portfoliocollection.com)

Music

On the music scene, the three top sites are:

• Durban Is Yours – site about Durban featuring a gig guide. (durbanisyours.co.za)
• Alles Gevaarlik – an Afrikaans blog with a personal touch and reviews of bands which includes a guide to events and parties. (gevaarlik.com)
• Funzunzi & Me East Coast Durban Radio – as the name suggests music and entertainment based. (ecr.co.za/kagiso/content/en/east-coast-radio/east-coast-radio-blogs-ecr-life/)

Environmental

The environmental section contains a gardening blog amongst the top contenders:

• Sprig – South African blog about gardening and that is run by garden enthusiasts from Durban. (sprig.co.za)
• Ranger Diaries – a place to visit if you want safari stories, pictures and information. (rangerdiaries.com)
• Africa Geographic  Safari Magazine Blog – the blog features in two of the top contender categories.(africageographic.com/safari/blog/)

 

Fashion

 

On the trendy scene the following blogs made the short list of three for top SA blogs:

• Kim Gray – a beauty shop, fashion tips, news about the latest trends, places to shop and items which you simply must have. (www.kimgray.co.za)
• Superficial Girls – A Cape Town fashion conscious girl blogging about everything a trendy young person should know about what’s hot and what’s not. (www.superficialgirls.com)
• Pop Ya Collar – Street fashion blog by La Muse about fabulous clothing and accessories in Cape Town. (www.popyacollar.co.za)

Food & Wine

For the connoisseur of tastes three South African blogs that stand out are that of:

• Food And The Fabulous – Ishay, an independent blogger shares her recipes, photos, ideas and restaurants in a fun and fabulous way.(www.foodandthefabulous.com)
• Drizzle & Dip – a blog by Sam X for the finer tastes in life; full of recipes, travel and restaurant reviews, as well as some of the best food photos ever. (www.drizzleanddip.com)
• Ask Namina? – a home industry portal with recipes, information about charity and projects, a newsletter and some travel info. (www.namina.co.za)

Sport

For the active sport viewer and conversationalist the contenders for the best South African sport blogs are:

• The Bounce -  a blog for men with bounce girls for every month and a lot of talk about sport.(thebounce.co.za)
• Compleat Golfer – blog of the Compleat Golfer Magazine. (www.compleatgolfer.co.za/subscriber/3062)
• Jabu – lists of sport stars, discussions about team sports including hockey and then also interviews. (www.allthingsjabu.co.za)

Business & Political

For the actuality orientated reader, the three main blog contenders in the business & political category are:

• Road Trip 2011 – Old Mutual Sponsored blog taking the reader on a journey through South Africa.(www.oldmutualfoundationroadtrip.blogspot.com)
• ZANews – political humour at its best with videos and commentaries.(www.zanews.co.za)
• Hayibo.com – political satire about contemporary South African politicians and situations. (www.hayibo.com)

To qualify as one of the three top South African blogs for the 2011 SA Blog Awards,  blogs had to be registered  and had to meet specific requirements such as the blogger residing in South Africa. Only two categories per blogger are allowed and then the public vote phase started. Once a blog has taken up one of the three top spots in the public vote phase, it moves to the top three category list and then the judges decide. The winner of a category is one with the most first places as selected by the judges.

Should there be a tie, the two contending blogs go back for another public vote to decide the outcome. The judges are experts related to the specific fields and most of them are already well respected in the social media fields.  The SA Blog Awards 2011 is a prestigious award that gives recognition to efforts and commitment of South African bloggers.

 

Just as you think that now you have seen it all, the tech world stuns again with something as amazing the Siri personal assistant in the iPhone 4S. It is the ultimate replacement of the secretary on the go. Not that secretaries will ever be replaced, but if you want a mobile one in your pocket then you will adore the stunning new features of the iPhone 4S.

What can the Siri Personal Assistant Do For You?

Say you are driving and want directions without having to type in a search in Google Maps. Simply speak to your iPhone 4S and get it to locate the place on the map. If you quickly want to find a restaurant nearby ask the assistant to locate such. It will take some time to learn exactly how to phrase the question, but once you have cleared up any misunderstandings with the Siri you will find it to be rather responsive and accurate.

Directions are not the only reason for getting the iPhone 4S with Siri. If you for instance, want a meeting to be setup with one of the persons in your contact list, all you have to do is to give the command, and the Siri will check your calendar. If it is open for the particular time frame, it will request permission to go ahead in notifying the person about the meeting. Once given, the phone will do such and schedule it as well as remind you about the meeting in due time.

Two functions don’t make for the perfect mobile phone, agreed, but if you want the Siri to play a particular song or remind you of something that has to be done or even write a note, it can be done by simply speaking to it. The best of all, it will be done immediately.

Glitches as Part of Growing Pains

The Siri personal assistant is not without flaws, not yet. It has to deal with network problems which may occur from time to time and then there is the problem of sounds in the background which can cause confusion.  You have to learn how to structure questions to ensure it understands such and you will also have to refrain from talking again until it has carried out the instruction as to avoid confusion. Siri is the voice recognition feature now available with the iPhone 4S and with it also being part of the Apple product stable, it can be seen as a direct threat to Google, especially the controlled searching features of Google.

Is Siri More Accurate Than Google?

With Google one gets the familiar list of blue lined results. Although Google is certainly known as an accurate search engine, it does save time to just ask Siri and get the perfect answer.

Is Siri a Serious Threat to Google?

With the Siri concept, artificial intelligence is optimized and with thousands of users added in a short time, one can expect a large database of knowledge to develop in a short period. The estimate is that the personal assistant will shortly be able to answer questions with the same speed and accuracy as can be expected from a human. Shortly, however, means around two or three years of learning. This should give Google enough time to develop a counter strategy, although some feel that Google doesn’t have enough time to respond to the artificial intelligence threat posed by Siri.

At present Google allows interaction, but not at the extent offered by Siri. You have to speak in a voice similar to that of a bot. It still has to grow a bit before reaching the ideal level, already accomplished by Siri. Speech recognition is still at infancy stage with Google, whereas the personal assistant is more natural and allows for greater interaction. You will certainly not feel that you are speaking to a robot. With an eloquent voice and a human like feel, it leads the way for human and computer interaction of the future.

The iPhone 4S is the Next Generation Phone

Gamers have become used to bots and on many forums, bots answer the questions. Teaching your computer to answer you is not new, but having an intelligent phone with the potential of becoming just as efficient as a personal assistant on the move, is something that is revolutionary.

Apple is Happy with Siri

Apple apparently did not anticipate the many uses and popularity associated with the personal assistant, but with all the potential now discovered, it is possible that Apple will allow for other developers to create even more applications to ensure a competitive edge in the mobile market and especially to oust all the Android driven phones.

Third party developers, at this stage are not involved since the basics are not yet fully established. Although the personal assistant has an exceptional accuracy level it is not at a rate of more than 96% of the time. The day is coming and with that then the preference of users to rather interact with Siri than ask a human a question. Humans tend to have moods and can be slow at times. A reliable machine doesn’t have all that and if consistency is what you want then a mobile personal assistant will be the answer in future.

Personalisation is the Key

The Siri can be personalised to understand a particular user and the general queries, commands and needs of the user. It may very well become the next best friend of many mobile users. Apart from travel arrangements, entertainment location, and meetings, the personal assistant can further more do a bit of ecommerce bargain hunting. For people regularly buying online, Siri can develop a profile of preferences and do automatic buying without involvement of the user. Let’s hope the personal assistant never gets shopping mad.

Google has a real contender with the iPhone 4S Siri personal assistant. If a consumer has the choice of not having to deal with ads, the choice seems obvious and the days of structured searches may be at an end.

Google SSL Search has been developed specifically to help protect search terms and the interpretation of the search results pages. In short, it gives a private search facility to protect against malicious attempts to apply keyboard logging and other types of actions to steal personal information.

How Does the User Know That SSL Search is On?

The user can identify the on status by looking at the URL. The normal unprotected URL will have http whereas the secure socket layer or SSL activated URL will have an ‘s’ afterwards such as https. Some of the browsers in use will also give the user an indication that the secure socket layer is in use. The browser indication is normally in the form of an icon.

An alternative method for ensuring that the user will be searching in the SSL is to navigate to the secure socket website of Google upon opening of the browser. The full address will then be:

https://www.google.co.za or https://www.google.com

Another means for SSL searching in Google entails going to the URL:

https://encrypted.google.com

Users with Google accounts, can login to their accounts to ensure secure searching.

More about Secure Sockets Layer Technology

The Google SSL allows for all Internet related communication and data transfer to be more secure through an encryption process. When the browser thus makes use of the technology when conducting searches or transferring data through an Internet connection, such searches will not be accessible to other parties.

How Does SSL Work?

Although the information about the user’s query is encrypted, the landing page will still recognise the user as from Google, although the query lodged will not be seen.  One should note that schools using non-secure socket searching will not have encrypted searches. Another instance, where the initial query will be in unprotected mode is when the user directs the browser to make use of the Google unprotected URL. Upon entering the query and clicking for the search to take place, the query will be redirected to the SSL.

One should note that advertisers can see certain information, which can be used to improve their marketing to the user. If a person is uncomfortable with the idea, it is recommended that the user then makes uses of the encrypted URL (encrypted.google.com). One can further secure the search through a browser that allows for disabling of any referring parties.

Where is SSL Available?

At present the Google SSL can be found for all the search modes in Google. The only exception to this will be when one does a map search.

Does the Secure Search Affect Speed of Searching?

Unfortunately users can expect a bit slower searching than with normal searches. One does, however, need to take into account that the importance of securing the query may be more important than to be too concerned by the slight delay in search speed.

Does Google Log the Searches?

Even in secured mode users can still expect Google to log their searches. Google receives the same amount of data about the search whether encrypted or not. The web history will also still reflect the searches.

Google SSL in the Educational Environment

Should a school experience difficulties with the secured searching they can opt for the NoSSLSearch and the searches can then be pointed to such when the DNS configuration changes to www.google.com.

How Secure is Secure?

Instead of a third party being able to view the results to user searches including that of Internet Service Providers it is possible that the parties could still identify the sites visited once the user clicks on the search results and exists to a destination which does not reside on the SSL. One should take care not to think that all attacks can be blocked. The browser must be set to trust specific root certificates.  If a computer is already infected with malware or any type of spyware program when the user logs on to the Internet, it will then still be possible for another party to track the queries.

Is Google SSL Available for Google.co.za?

Unfortunately for South Africans SSL is at this stage only available for Google.com. The company has indicated that they will in future also offer the secure searching on other Google domains including the .co.za one.

SafeSearch and SSL for Education

SafeSearch allows for the blocking of adult content from normal search results. It is seen as important not only for parental control regarding what kids view, but also when it comes to educational authority of what school children as well as college students do with the institution resources. One should, however, still take other precautions as the filters cannot be 100% spot on every time.

The user can decide on the level of safe searching. At present there are no-filtering, moderate and strict filtering options. It is recommended that users in addition, to using the SSL facility from Google also make use of safe search features to block third parties from viewing their searches and delivering unwanted and explicit content when searches are done.

More Secure

Parents and educational administrators can lock the safe searching feature at the Search Settings for specific computers. A person with a Google account can further lock the strict SafeSearch to prevent other users of the same computer from changing it. The filtering level will then be applied to any of the Google domains.

With the Google SSL feature then users will have more search privacy and will not have to be concerned about third parties collecting information about their searches. This will also help to build trust amongst users regarding payment systems and will help to reduce some of the computer attacks related to Internet usage.

Users should still enhance their computer security through firewalls and anti-virus software, in addition to applying specific settings for their browsers. The Google SSL feature is not meant as a replacement of all other security for computers. It is, however, a step in the right direction to protect Internet users from becoming the victims of fraud.

Google changes AdWords algorithms to improve the user experience and in the process even the innocent can get caught up, just to find their campaigns suspended without any warning. It is essential to get and stay informed about search and sponsorship algorithms if you don’t want to find the door closed even if you have paid for the ads already.

What is the Idea Behind the Changes in Algorithms?

It has happened to a few publishers making use of AdWords to drive traffic to their sites. According to Google the idea is to get a balance between the ads, content at the landing pages and the relevancy of the keywords in the sponsored ads. All three the above will be considered when ranking a landing page for relevancy and quality. Google wants to improve the user experience and that may mean a few suspended AdWords accounts along the way.

Responses of Campaign Owners

AdWord campaign owners whose accounts have been suspended complain about the lack of communication channels and getting back into the game. For some every day lost can mean hundreds to thousands of hits lost.

Positive Points

On the positive side landing pages showing good quality content, relevant to the keywords selected for bidding and the wording of the ads, can get a boost up in the rankings. Do it right, and you will be a jackpot winner, do it wrong and you can find your website out on the cold.

 Prior Testing

The Google AdWords algorithm changes have not come without any prior testing. Latin America was the test base and but the gloves are off. Website owners, web marketers and AdWords campaign managers should immediately take note of changes and respond quickly to ensure that they will not lose valuable traffic and of course, sales which go along with such.

Variation in Quality Scoring

One can expect variation in the quality scoring, but with a few bumps and bruises to be expected, mostly on the part of AdWords campaign managers, Google has indicated that users will within a few weeks be able to get more relevant, better structured and high quality landing pages when they hit the sponsored ad buttons.

If your AdWords campaign has been run the right way without over optimization, selection of relevant keywords, and you have given the user a quality landing page, you should not expect a lot of change during the next few weeks. After that you may see more hits and maybe even more sales because of the new algorithm.

Tweak for Incentives

The better the pay-per-click ads are in answering the user query the higher the score. With such also will come improvement in the PPC Ad Ranking. Your landing pages will be higher in results page positioning and you may also see a drop in the cost per advert. At the end of the day, not only the user, but supposedly also the AdWords and landing page owner will benefit.

Contrary to what one may feel such as that it is just another penalisation method, the changing of the AdWords algorithm is indeed based on an incentive scheme. Keep in line and you will be rewarded for playing according to Google’s rules. Come to think of it, the idea is not too far off. As the company that enables website owners to generate traffic and sales through sponsored ads, Google certainly has the right to change the algorithm for improved overall results and user experiences.

Quality Score

It is simply a way for Google to measure the relevancy of the keyword and the landing page as well as the quality of content on the site. Several factors are considered such as the matching of the user query with the keyword and the text at your landing page. It is thus a relevancy score.

Every time a user enters a keyword and it is matched with your keywords, you have the opportunity to deliver an ad. If the ad works out to be relevant based on the text at the landing page, you score.  The whole system is updated on a regular bases and your AdWords quality score can thus fluctuate accordingly.

Factors Taken Into Consideration When Calculating the Quality Score

If you want to know whether your campaign will benefit from Google’s alteration of AdWords algorithms you must look at the click-through rate, relevancy of the keywords and the landing page quality together.

Click-Through Rates

Google assesses whether the click-through rates (CTR) of the selected keyword matches the sponsored ad and also assesses the history of such. The next consideration is the click through rates of the display addresses in the specific ad group and then finally, also the account history. If there are sudden changes, expect alarm bells to go off at Google as well.

Relevancy

This is where it becomes important to ensure that the keyword is relevant to the adverts in the group and that the keyword matches the search queries. In addition, the account performance for the region where the ad is delivered is also taken into consideration.

Quality

Have you ever clicked on a sponsored ad and then wondered how the landing page is relevant to your query? If so, you will understand why Google is going through the AdWords fine-tuning motion. The user experience must be improved and as such good quality, relevant content to the keywords, region where keywords are displayed and the transparency of the page will be important. This means that the user should not have to think whether the right page has been delivered, but must immediately know that the page is relevant and of high standing quality.

The transparency factor should not be ignored. If your page has any form where the user will enter data, there should be enough information regarding for what purpose the information provided will be used.

Minimize Navigation Difficulty

The focus is user experience improvement and to do so Google has to change the AdWords algorithms to also consider how quickly a site or page loads and how many irritating pop-ups there are. The best way ensure ongoing campaign success is to adapt. If you don’t know how, get in expert SEO and PPC management help.