Yesterday, many of the big blogs woke up to find their PageRank lower by up to 3 points. And here I thought Pagerank became irrelevant two years ago…

Google PageRank is (theoretically) used by Google to weight pages in their search engine. The higher the PageRank, the better a page would do in the search engine. However, the PR system has been gamed and abused time after time, and Google’s Jaguar update in 2005 reset the criteria for PR, killing link farms and a lot of black hat SEO. When I wear my SEO hat, the last thing I look at is PR; it doesn’t tell me much. However, evidently many site sell advertising based on their PR. The Neilsen ratings system for TV has many of the same problems - see James Surowiecki’s analysis in his book The Wisdom of Crowds.

The remarkable thing about this PR shift is that (on one day’s data) these sites do not seem to be losing traffic.

Is PR, or even search engine marketing/optimization, even relevant in the social media sphere anymore? Yes and no, depending on the site. I’ve argued before that SEO is not dead, but there are better ways to get qualified traffic.

Many commerce sites still rely on the search engines for their traffic - the organic and paid listings are critical to their success. Strong organic optimization and good AdWords campaigns are the lifeblood of most businesses. But how relevant is this to bloggers, and are bloggers relying on the SEs for traffic? If they are, they’re hooped.

Referrals from other sites accounts for over 75% of my traffic. StumbleUpon is, by far, my biggest traffic generator, and Digg is a solid second place (I’ll talk about my traffic sources tomorrow). Admittedly, my numbers are not huge, but for a two-week-old blog and minimal marketing of the blog, I’m pretty happy. Social bookmark sites and referrals from other blogs have helped me far more than the search engines, and I’ll bet that other bloggers with strong SMO and SMM will say the same things.

Optimize for the search engines, keep the Google in mind, but don’t rely on them - there’s better ways to generate traffic.

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Everyone wants to get the word out, and for business blogging, this can be very important for getting traffic to your blog. Are you doing these things?

1. Make sure your blog posts can be shared. On many blogs, you will see buttons or links for “Subscribe” (or “RSS”), buttons for del.icio.us, StumbleUpon, Reddit, Digg and so on (see the “Share this” at the bottom of this post). People us these tools to subscribe to your posts (use a feed program like Feedreader or a web site like Bloglines to see your subscriptions).del.icio.us, StumbleUpon, Digg and Reddit are “social bookmarking” sites; if people like your blog post, they will submit it to these services where other people can find your blog. These services can bring tremendous amounts of traffic to good blog postings.To install these tools, you can sign up for services at Feedburner.com for RSS subscription tools, and there are lots of plug-ins for syndication tools. I use a WordPress plug-in called “Share-this”, and the individual syndication sites have snippits of code you can put on your site to facilitate sharing.
2. Submit your own content to the syndication services. Once. Digging and Stumbling your own content is fair, but do it only once. Let others find your post, and if it is good, the traffic will come. The places I syndicate my content: Google Bookmarks, StumbleUpon, Digg, Technorati, Reddit and del.icio.us.
3. Comment on other people’s blogs. Most blog commenting tools have a place where you can enter a web site address (see below) - use this to create a link back to your own blog. Rule when commenting: don’t comment for the sake of commenting, make it good and relevant to the discussion. The links from other people’s blogs are very search engine friendly; Google likes blogs and links from blogs. Incorporate this strategy as part of a SEO strategy.
4. Write compelling, easily readable content. There are many reasons people read blogs, and there are a few formulas for writing popular postings. My rule, and the goal of this particular blog: give people some tips and advice on design and marketing they can use immediately and every day.Easy-to-read content is also key. Long blocks of text with no breaks is difficult to read; lists are very easy. Use bold and italics to highlight important points and provide places where people’s eyes are automatically attracted. Good web typography is important.

Any other ideas? Share your tips in the comments!

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One of the core components of social media is the community web site. Flickr is a general photo community, Facebook et al is the ultimate digital society with many, many subgroups. There are also a lot of niche groups following a SM structure. And, as a designer, this is one I can’t live without.

COLOURlovers.com

There are many facets of this site that make it a great social media/community site, at least for those of us who love colour.

1. All content is user-generated. This is a hallmark of a Social Media site. User-generated media, or crowdsourcing, is a model followed by many sites, including Digg.com, YouTube.com, Wikipedia.org and iStockPhoto.com.
2. There are strong commenting, rating and bookmarking tools. The ability to engage with others on the site through commenting on palettes, making friends, rating people’s palettes and colours, and bookmarking and saving colours is very easy, and heavily encouraged through a points system. This generates a high degree of contact between the community members.
3. The site is based around people’s profiles. The profile - a page about you - is a core feature of social sites. It provides an anchor in the site, and a place where people can learn about you (like the small talk of any cocktail party), and you can learn about others. Facebook.com is a profile site; other sites use profiles to create the community aspect.
4. There is a strong and continual sense of branding on the site, but is not intrusive. Everybody on COLOURlovers.com is a “lover”. All of the text, down to the 404 page, revolvers around this theme. If you want to leave the site, they’ll understand because not all relationships work out, and they hope that we can still be friends. The consistency of this theme is incredible - rarely has this been executed so thoroughly and consistently.
5. The blog establishes the site’s expertise, and selected members of the community guest blog. The site has established itself as an expert in colour through sharp commentary in the blog, and selected experts within the community share their observations in the “official” blog.
6. The crowd contributes heavily to social bookmarking. The blog posts get Digged frequently by the community, and occasionally show up on Digg’s front page driving even more traffic to the site.
7. COLOURlovers.com maintains and encourages a Facebook group. Using other social media sites to promote your site’s community is a very basic SMM tactic.
8. The site’s founder - Darius - is front and center in the community. And the site’s not so big that you can’t get a personal email from him. That’s socialbility.

There are at least a dozen more ways that this site is a textbook example of a vibrant web community. It is very much a niche site, but the web site facilitates, not hinders, the community building.

Check out my palettes!

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Have you seen the Wal-mart ghost on Facebook? Trying desperately to escape the cellophane package it’s trapped in?

(If not, see Rob Maguire’s post at The Dominion for picture and commentary).

There has been a lot of excellent commentary about Wal-mart’s venture into social media, but time and time again, they prove they just don’t get it. I’ve argued that social media is not just another channel for traditional marketing, and Wal-mart seems to prove this over and over with kludgy Facebook pages, failed social networks of their own, and a failure to address their criticism at a grassroots level.

What can Wal-mart do to revamp it’s strategy? It’s a long road, but here are a few ideas (no, even if approached, I wouldn’t consult for Wal-Mart - I’m not sucking up, just trying to illustrate a point. Oh. wait, the mortgage is coming due…  :)  )

1. Comment on the critical blogs.
   The social web is an excellent place to address criticism and make your side of the argument heard. But tread lightly.
   • Admit to mistakes (very, very hard to do, but you look humble and you open a dialogue instead of a diatribe).
   • Don’t get defensive or aggressive. Don’t allow your marketing people to write anything - it must come from the top levels of management; remember that this is a conversation with those who are in a position to make a difference.
   • Don’t let “spin” or “damage control” enter your mind. Be honest and open and genuine.
2. Revamp the Facebook strategy.
   Don’t promote - it’s too transparent. Treat us with a bit more dignity, please. If you *have* to use Facebook “to connect with your target audience” (markety-speak), make it social, make it interactive, make it fun. I’ll join becuase there’s something there for me, not to listen to you. Target is fun (with a bit of selling), Walmart is selling (with not much fun). There’s a reason Target has 14,000 members screaming that they love you and Walmart has 1200 members screaming that they hate you. Make something fun, like this from milk (I love this, have I mentioned that?).
3. Connect with your fans.
   Find the people that love you (not your staff), and get them talking about you. If enough fans talk about you loud enough, it’ll drown out the critics.
4. Don’t give people anything to criticize (well, that’s my own 2 cents).
   Honest and fair dealings. Quality for a good price. Be the company that everyone admires. Is goodwill more meaningful to you that good prices? Can you have both? I’m looking at you, Mountain Equipment Co-op…

Stop talking at me and start talking with me. There’s your SMM in a nutshell.

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Social media seems to bring out statements like “let’s spread our brand virally” or “blogging will drive traffic to our web site”. I’ve talked with marketing people who see SMM as just another channel to promote their brand and are not treating it like a brand new communication channel that has its own set of rules. And they are missing the one and only thing they must know abour social media marketing:

Be genuine

1. Be genuine in your desire to talk to people.
   Social media is social. You need to start, join and participate in conversations. Marketing is about talking at people; social media is about talking with people. If you are unwilling to talk with your audience, good and bad, SMM is not for you.
2. Be genuine with your content.
   Blogs that pitch, pitch, pitch don’t get returning readers. While it is OK to occasionally pitch your company, readers quicky tire of advertising. Educate, amuse, inform or editorialize; this makes good content. Rohit Bhargava has an excellent presentation: The 25 Basic Styles of Blogging … And When To Use Each One
3. Be genuine in your reason for wanting to do social marketing.
   Why do you blog? To drive traffic to your web site or because you have something to say and share with people who will find it useful? Social media marketing is not about “campaigns”. It is not something that you can take or leave depending on market conditions. SMM is about a genuine desire to create and nurture genuine links between you and your audience. It take energy and commitment, and if you are not passionate about your audience, don’t try to fake it.
4. Be genuine in your interest in the social web.
   Read blogs, Digg stories, spruce up your Facebook profile, comment, get involved. The social web is a difficult place for dilettantes. Commit to understanding social media.

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My current employer, Officejobs.com, is a strong supporter of the Calgary Drop-In and Rehab Centre, a local homeless shelter. Every year, we run a clothing drive, and this year, I will be creating a Facebook group to reach out to the community for help. I expect moderate success - I’d love to see 50 members in the first two weeks of the campaign, and lots of donations, of course. The second part of this is, of course, to raise the profile and awareness of Officejobs.com.

(Shameless promotion: I have a Facebook group of my own, “Calgary Cares About Its Homeless“, started as a personal thing. Please join and promote.)

Is it easier to rally people around a cause if there is no corporate name attached to it?

Should companies adopt a cause so they can use Facebook in this manner?

How can your company use the reach of Facebook to rally people around a cause?

Is it cynical or against unspoken Facebook etiquitte to use Facebook in this manner?

Discuss.

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Um, no… 

Give me a reason to click into your blog/video/article/whatever. If I think I am going to be bombarded by “markety-speak”, forget about it. Give me content - information, opinion, entertainment. Don’t give me the same old stuff you publish in those glossy brochures; I don’t care. If I do care, I will seek it out when I am ready, not before.

Engage me. Talk to me like you are a human and I am a human. What are you offering that I *have* to share with my friends (corporate spam I will send to my enemies)? You won’t start a conversation with me if you are screaming “LIMITED TIME OFFER”. If you teach me something new every week, I will tune in every week. And when I am ready for your company, you are front-of-mind.

If I want to be talked at, I’ll watch TV.

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The last year has seen a pretty radical change in how web sites are getting traffic. Social media is changing the face of web traffic, and a business that is social media savvy is going to do a lot more, and better, business that companies that rely on Google searches.

 Not that Google is dead - far from it - but social media marketing is all about connecting with and engaging your customers and clients. Marketing departments have always paid lip service to this, but real SMM forces them to do it in a real way that ends up having real payoff. Afraid to talk with, not to, your customers? Maybe social media marketing isn’t for you. But if you want to create a genuine dialogue with people, you cannot avoid social media.

 Social Media Marketing uses tools like:

• blogging. Keeping a regular online journal about the things going on in your company and industry. Blogging allows you to:
  • keep people informed about things going on in your company - news, job postings, etc.
  • show your expertise; give people tips and tricks about your business or industry, discuss trends, etc.
  • inform your customers of sales, promotions, contests, etc. - helps drive sales
  • get feedback about your products or services
• social bookmarking. Said something interesting? Allow people to bookmark infomration to share with others on sites like Reddit, Digg, del.icio.us and StumbleUpon. Ask what “The Digg Effect” is…
• social networking. Connnect with your customers on sites like Facebook, MySpace and LinkedIn. Some sites have strict rules against corporate spamming, but smart marketers can engage people voluntarily in ways that don’t break site rules or people’s goodwill.
• shared media. How can you use Flickr, YouTube, SlideShare and others to show your expertise?

The biggest difference between search traffic and social media traffic is the level of engagement from users arriving at your site.

Search engines usually drive traffic based on keyword searches. For example, someone might arrive at the Future Shop web site because of a search for LCD TV. Future Shop still needs to immediately convince the visitor to engage with the site right on the home page, and every other page of the site, since users may not come in the “front door”. It is a very difficult and expensive job to create trust, engagement, etc. quickly, and many companies fail this job completely.

However, if you can create this trust level elsewhere and people come to your site because you have established you cred elsewhere, most of the battle has been won long before people come to your site. For example, if Future Shop posts a “What you need to know about LCD TV” on YouTube (how-to videos is one of the biggest categories on YouTube), they have established trust and expertise through non-”markety” media, and the visitor arrives ready to engage. And they have arrived outside of the Google channel.

Google and search engine traffic isn’t dead, dying, on life support or even in need of medication. But there are better ways to bring qualified traffic to your web site.

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Seth Godin blogged yesterday on creating a good web site, and today on creating a great web site (and here I vowed not to mention Seth’s blog more than once a week, but it’s too darned good).

Too many designers I have worked with take a very narrow view of what design is: they concentrate on the great colour schemes, great typography, flashy photos and so on, but ignore other aspects of web site design.

Web design originally stemmed from print design, which is pretty much exclusively great colours, typography, etc. The mindset of designers even today is based in print media, while the web is really a brand new beast, and the design must be treated as so.

The role of a web designer - either a single designer or a small team - encompasses several different roles beyond the “look and feel”.

Dave’s Hierarchy for Web Site Design:

1. Information architecture. This is the foundation for the web site; the way the information is organized. Even basic web sites have a lot of information, and without strong organization, the information can become jumbled and incoherent.
2. Navigation design. How we  move around this information is critical to the success of the site, and the complexity of the navigation increases exponentionally with the amont of information or actions within the site. I particularly like Steve Krug’s Don’t Make Me Think book, philosophy and principles.
3. User experience. What kind of experience do you want your users to have when using the site? Peter Morville’s User Experience Honeycomb  lists 7 facets of user experience (click the link to read about the details on these items):
   • Useful
   • Usable
   • Desirable
   • Findable
   • Accessible
   • Credible
   • Valuable
4. Identity and Branding. Your brand is the public perception of your company. Without a good brand identity, you will just be another company out there, not a Pepsi, Nike or Chanel.
5. Look and feel. This is where most designers concentrate because it is what they know and have been trained to do.

(I just realized I have both of Peter Morville’s books, Information Architecture for the World Wide Web and Ambient Findability on my desk, standing beside Don’t Make Me Think)

Seth goes on to explain (my paraphrasing) that web design is not about reinventing the wheel; there are a lot of tried and true techniques and processes to draw upon. While every web site is (or should be) unique to the company, objective or purpose, the web design process is not unique, or even that difficult. With standard processes and systems, web design should not be that difficult.

Are you talking to your user or at your user, or are you just talking to yourself - showing off? The best designs facilitate interacting - talking with your user. How does your design accomplish this?

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Just finished a web site for George Eynon, local Calgary watercolour painter. Beautiful artwork - check it out!

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