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Digital Marketing Strategy, PR and Messaging

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The PPC Ad Fail; A Click That Generates No Customers

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ALT="PPC Ad, Shower, Soulati.com"Your PPC ad via Google that costs you a fortune? Yep, that one; it’s failing. I have a customer experience to prove it, too, and I bet you can cookie cutter my experience into your business.

My bathroom is under construction; has been for three months for various reasons (my contractor being the primary issue). The last major purchase I will make is the shower door.

One evening, equipped with iPad, I launched a Google search for ‘shower door, Dayton’ and was met with an entire first page of local search PPC ads. This is what Google has done to local search marketing — put all the paid ads in a row on the first page, relegating organic content to the second and third pages.

While it’s maddening for owners of owned content, it is a boondoggle for buyers of a PPC ad campaign, or it’s supposed to be. Here’s what happened and why your PPC ad is failing.

Your PPC Ad Fail

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PR Is NOT Press Release

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news-release.jpgHello, my SEO colleagues and internet marketers. For several years now I have cringed when I hear the word “PRs” emanating from your neck of the wood over to mine. Upon the first hearing, I wasn’t sure my ears had picked up correctly, must be that invisible hearing aid.

PR Is Public Relations

For, the abbreviation PR has always been for one thing and one thing only – public relations, my discipline, my profession, and my world for many decades – yes, I’m ancient.

Your continual delivery of PR as “press release” is confusing because people in PR, the practice of public relations, are migrating over to the word news release. And, I’ve share why on many an occasion.

When SEO folks get a turn at a “press release” to optimize it and push links, it’s not a press release at all; it’s merely a communication tool we can call a news release IF there is news within it. The point I’m trying to make to save anyone from having to go hunting down a rabbit hole is this:

Back in the day, the press corps was everywhere following folks and the press conference was a gathering of journos listening to a spokesperson shoving mics in his face (yes, it was always a he back then).

Today? Not so much.

Press Corps

There really isn’t a mass grouping of press, the print media, covering companies like groupies. The press corps is relegated to U.S. federal government officials, like POTUS and the secretary of state.

So, when the term press release is used, I switch it out for news release because that’s the goal of the communication tool – to be a vehicle of news.

When an SEO professional uses “PR” for press release and not public relations, I will kindly correct your vernacular and inform you to kindly remove that abbreviation from your vocabulary and call it a news release.

Wouldn’t you agree the word “news release” is so much more powerful than a “press release” anyway?

Note: Jayme Soulati is a veteran public relations practitioner of 30 years; she has a right to defend the purity of her profession.

Discern If SEO Marketing Pitch Is Spam

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credit: Innovative Outsource

My website contact form returned a pitch from an SEO company informing me my company, (1) Soulati Media featured on https://soulati.com was “not ranking top in Google organic search for many competitive keyword phrases.”

(2) Your website profile is not available in most Social Media Websites (sic).

(3) Your site has 8 Google back links, (sic) this can be improved further.

Blah, blah, blah…glad to provide you with a detailed analysis in the form of a WEBSITE AUDIT REPORT for FREE.

PS1: blah, blah, blah

PS2: I found your site from online advertising but did not click.

**************

Sound suspicious? I agree, but I wasn’t fully certain so I consulted with none other than the kingpin of SEO, big data and analytics – Sean McGinnis of 312Digital. 

I was particularly confused about “8 Google back links,” having never heard of that before. The second suspect was PS2 in which the woman (who gave me a Gmail contact and not a company email address) said she found me “from online advertising but did not click.” (I have never done PPC campaigns.)

Sean McGinnis Weighs In

Sean suggests, “This person is doing either shoddy work or being untruthful.”

As per the Google backlinks, Sean doesn’t know anyone who calls them “Google backlinks.” He says, “It sounds like a ploy to just invoke the mighty G word in hopes they will sound more authoritative.

“Inbound links have been and continue to be a critical component of ranking well for search phrases in both Google and Bing. GOOD links are more difficult to get than ever because the Penguin update devalued the types of links that were “easy” to acquire.

“This person also obviously lied about the NUMBER of links https://Soulati.com has to the site. A quick review in Open Site Explorer (a link analysis tool) shows you have hundreds and hundreds of inbound links. Granted some of those links include the no-follow tag and therefore pass no link value, but many are good, solid links.

And, finally, King Sean added, “Speaking of ‘invoking Google’ – this one is a favorite of mine:

“Be wary of SEO firms and web consultants or agencies that send you email out of the blue.” ~Google’s very own page that defines SEO. 

 312Digital Launches in Chicago

What a great segue into Sean’s announcement yesterday that 312 Digital has re-launched as a training company that provides in-person digital marketing courses to business owners, marketers and consultants.

The first course, Introduction to Digital Marketing  is December 3-4 either near O’Hare airport one day or in the Loop on day two. Other markets are on board to get training course offerings by way of content marketing; SEO; PPC; email marketing; social media; analytics; storytelling; and video.

Thanks, Sean, for the help here, and congratulations on the new venture, too!