Webfly blog

Yahoo, Google and Microsoft Join Forces.

It's not often that the three big search engines collaborate together to make life easier for webmasters and marketeers alike. However, the 'big 3' have launched sitemap.org 0.90 a site developed to make the job of submitting web pages for indexing by the search engines much simpler.

Historically, ensuring that your site was visited and indexed by the various search engine robots was a bit of a 'black art'. This was eased somewhat when Google introduced it's original sitemap service back in June 2005, created to enable sites to 'push' content to Google rather than wait (And hope) the robots would visit and index your site. The latest collaboration see's the concept of sitemaps evolve even further and should prove very popular with website owners looking to streamline their submission processes.

For more information about sitemaps including why they are important and how to implement them please visit http://www.sitemaps.org/ or to view a short video on why the search engines are collaborating on this project please visit webpronews.

And finally, go check that your IT team are implementing sitemaps (we still see lots that don't). If not, tell them they need to read, review and implement sitemaps - it's good for your business!

Franglais?

    

The image above is taken directly from my Inbox and is a result of me booking a rail ticket (online) to travel through France last summer. I was just about to delete the email, when it occurred to me that this was a good example of the type of opportunity I have been discussing with one or two clients regarding the targeting of specific nationalities. In this instance, I know that if I click through to the SNCF website I will struggle to understand their offer due to my limited language skills, even though from the title I'm fairly sure it is an attractive offer.

One example of a company that has turned language barriers into opportunity (albeit not online) is the well documented Polski Herald, an eight page supplement published every Friday in Dublin's evening Herald. The supplement is published in Polish to target the growing immigrant population and has added around 3000 sales to its 90,000 circulation. The supplement contains information regarding EU citizen rights, jobs and other issues concerning the Polish community.  The newspaper is also now reviewing options to target the 100,000 strong Chinese population and possibly the 50,000 Latvians. Another example is Reed Recruitment, who offer both employment advice and job searches in different languages. If you visit their UK site, you can see an example of their Polish language services offering information targeted at this growing community.

Globally,the fastest growing language within online users is Spanish, with some 420 million Spanish-speakers worldwide currently only 80 million (18%) of these are online. Figures suggest that Spanish-speaking Internet users has grown 231% in the last six years (2000-2006) whilst English-speaking users increased 135.2% over the same period. A full breakdown of online language populations is available at Globstats.

With over 1,500 people per day arriving to the UK and the already well established overseas communities, maybe it's time to consider how you can turn these language barriers into opportunities. We know that wherever people live, they form online communities based on their native language and it seems logical to target these users in their own language. Unless you are a company with an established global presence and dedicated foreign language personnel, the most cost-effective options are either online translation services such as the one provided by Google or some form of automated machine translation software hosted on your own servers. The Google translation option is not really suitable as a means of establishing credibility and commitment, whilst the latter will may not provide totally accurate translations. However,despite the limitations of machine translations to always be 100% accurate, as we all know from our own travel experiences, a little effort to communicate in the native language goes a long way to building relationships.

The net effect of these language barriers/opportunities will vary from business to business and sector to sector, but will almost always include a review of your website, microsites, pay-per-click and search engine optimisation strategies.

To find out more about machine translation software please visit: www.worldlingo.com

Everyone's an Expert (about something)

Acclaimed writer and leading Internet entrepreneur Seth Godin has launched Squidoo which he describes as:

"An Experiment: A big experiment. It's an exercise in amplifying the voices of people with something to say, at the same time that we build a community, a site that's free to use, a co-op that pays royalties to it's members, and a way to raise millions of dollars for charity - from New Orleans to Tanzania."

Squidoo enables users to create an online page called a 'lens' (think photo lens) that is created and maintained by an individual and provides a central focus for a subject that's close to the authors heart. A key premise of the concept is that as an expert in your chosen area, you can help other web users who might be looking for information on your subject. Ideally, your lens will assist others to quickly grasp the fundamentals of their search and enable them to move forward safe in the knowledge that they have researched their subject comprehensively. As a neat twist on the typical user generated content model, Squidoo also displays Google Ads on the lens and credits the author with royalties in the form of Pay-Per-Click revenue.

Squidoo draws parallels with 'word of mouth' recommendations, that typically influence our decisions in the 'real-world' and are usually based on a trustworthy source. Whether that level of trust can be achieved online is open to debate, however, given that the service is free I expect I'll set up a site or two and will report back on how things progress.

To read more about Squidoo download Seth's ebook: Everyone's an Expert (about something)

DropSend put up for sale on Blog

Ryan Carson of Carson Systems has decided to sell one of its key products DropSend and is documenting the whole process via its blog Bare Naked App. DropSend is a file transfer application which allows users to send large files (Such as photos, videos etc) that are normally too large to email.

Carson claims that as a small company with little or no experience of selling a business/product they hope to de-mystify the whole process and provide a useful learning experience for everyone.

Currently, potential bidders can access a range of commercially sensitive information via the blog that ordinarily would not be readily available to the casual viewer. As a fairly groundbreaking idea, Carson has already admitted to making his first faux pas by naming one interested party and subsequently having to make a public apology.

No doubt, as the story unfolds over the coming months this will turn into an interesting and possibly riveting case study, demonstrating yet again, the speed with which the online medium is evolving.

MarketingExperiments to acquire MarketingSherpa

MarketingExperiments one of the leading providers of primary research is buying MarketingSherpa, a company that conducts secondary research via benchmark studies and case studies.

I have long been a fan of MarketingExperiments (and their Lab Director Flint McGlaughlin) frequently reviewing our programmes against the results of some their online marketing experiments. In fact, over the years, many of our clients have benefited in one way or another from the findings of various MarketingExperiments research projects.

MarketingExperiments has for some time maintained a fairly low profile outside the mainstrean SEO industry, however this looks to be changing given their purchase of MarketingSherpa.

For those interested in finding out more about the 'Do's and don't's' of online marketing written in an easy to read style I would recommend a visit to MarketingExperiments, in particular their regular online seminars are particularly informative.

You can view the official press release here: MarketingExperiments

How to get it so wrong!

Many of our clients will know that here at Edgeworks we are very fond of blogs, especially their ability to help build an effective online 'thought-leadership' programme. They are particularly useful for professional service companies, who need to build trust in their brand in order to successfully market their services.

Well, as some of you may already be aware, there has been a story doing the rounds online that really is a masterclass in how not to launch a blog.  In short, the London law firm Watson Farley & Williams launched a trainee blog to much fanfare and was even trumpeted on Legal Week as follows:

Watson Farley & Williams has launched possibly the most fashionable law firm marketing initiative to date, by getting its trainees to write a weekly ‘weblog’ on the firm’s website.

However, all was not as it appeared and the site was no more than a list of pdf documents and was rightly named and shamed on many sites including the popular Human Law which also includes links to further criticisms.

Given that Watson Farley & Williams got it so wrong, what lessons can we learn from their mishap? Without stating the very obvious which I'm sure we can all identify, I think the last word should go to Binary Law who provide some salutary advice and I quote:

This is not a blog: anyone familiar with blogs visiting it will see that it exhibits none of the hallmarks of a blog. Approach via their Publications page and you’ll see that it’s just a category in their CMS.

This was misguided spin: blogs are hip, so let’s call our initiative a blog.

So what lessons do we learn?

1. Know your stuff. Find out what blogs are about before you claim to have one.
2. Call a spade a spade. Your effort may be worthy, but sell it for what it is.
3. A corporate blog should aim to engage, not deliver thinly disguised PR.

And a lesson for journalists/bloggers: check the source, don’t just regurgitate their PR

Having recently visited the Watson Farley & Williams so called 'blog' I'm amazed that they have continued to post, despite all the negative publicity!

I'd be very interested to hear their marketing managers perspective on how they intend to deal with all this attention and what plans they have for the site.

Happy Blogging!