The New Rules of Marketing and PR Assignment 3

Chapter 20 talks about search engine marketing. I found some inspiring points as follow:

1.       Scott first introduced several concepts including SEO. One thing I want to say is that besides SEO as art and science of letting people know about your work, there are some company and people truly using the service of search engine advertising. I’ve never paid attention to the ads showing up when I search for information on Google, but I know they are there. Combining with the first New Media class in Novi and the learning of Google Adwords, I do think it’s necessary for me to learn about how to use the service.

2.       Another point I see from Scott is that SEO is a consumer-oriented service. Actually, after weeks of reading, I’m getting a general scene that new media marketing is actually very consumer-oriented. From websites to blogs, we are trying to figure out what they are thinking about, and trying to create something cool for them to talk about. For SEO, it’s the same. Content should be the core part regardless of your communication tool. Research and figure out your buyer persona is always the first step. An article talking about how Google decide which website is worth reading for customers seemed really interesting to me. See it at TED Blog: Google's quest for the perfect links.

3.       The Long Tail, a third important point in this chapter, is another “platitude” in today’s marketing. For SEO, a crucial element to let your content be ranked highly in search engine is using specific but broadly targeted key words to differentiate your company from those “Big Fish”. I personally think this is a really challenge for companies, as it takes lots of time and money to research which term is the one that is actually used by consumers when they seek for information. The term could not be either too narrow or too broad.

4.       Scott then argued that a brand or company name really matters when optimizing the search engine marketing. It’s pretty easy to understand that the name of your brand or company would be the first and the most frequently searched word or phrase, and that’s important.  I actually found an interesting website helping with getting a brand name from a key word. See it at Brand Name Generator.

5.       The last point is actually my favorite one in this chapter, as I’ve never thought about the landing page behind the searching click before. I really agree with Scott that this landing page is almost as important as the tags. I’ve also experienced clicking on a specific searching result but disappointed by the generic home page of a company. Therefore, I do think it important to make a good and targeted landing page for different buyer personas.