blog

This post is from from my other blog here

This is a bit of a “duh” tip, but it’s related to yesterday’s post.

If you’d like to see how the pages on your domain rank against each other within Google for a given keyword, just type the following query – keyword site:domain.com.

Here’s an example.

If you’re a smaller site, or not organically visible within the SERPs for a given keyword, this can be very useful. It’s helpful to see which page Google thinks is the best fit for which keyword. But as I mentioned yesterday, what Google thinks is best may not be the best. Page rankings can be very dependent on internal anchor text.

This post is from from my other blog here

So, a recent post about the Scope of SEO and a few discussions around the office have had me thinking about the process of SEO. I have a feeling everyone in the SEO webspace understands keyword research, title tags, alt tags, headings, content, anchor text, robots.txt,  link acquisition, link bait, blah, blah, blah. We get it. Are the concepts really worth posting about anymore? I know they aren’t worth reading about. Lately I’ve been more interested in process…improving efficiency, impact, etc. So this post is about an aspect of the keyword research process I haven’t seen written about. I’m guessing it comes intuitively to most SEOs, but in case it doesn’t I’ll spell it out…

Arguably the most important aspect of search engine optimization is keyword research. Without a doubt, keyword research is the easiest aspect of SEO to screw up…and as we all know, if your keyword research is screwed up, then your SEO is screwed.

So, what is the #1 mistake SEOs make when it comes to keyword research?

They assume keyword research comes before linking.

I, myself, have made this mistake before. I’ve started with my product & market research. I’ve looked at my site content and generated lists of keywords. I’ve pulled search counts, categorized keywords, selected pages to optimize, and jumped head first into making content & meta changes. I’ve completely ignored linking during the keyword research process.

Wrong Approach.

POP QUIZ!

You have two pages on your site about widgets. One page has zero inlinks. The other page has 100 inlinks. Which page do you optimize for the keyword “widgets?”

It’s a no-brainer, right? (If it’s not a no-brainer, the answer is Page 2). Let your external links do the heavy lifting for you. While this situation is an obvious one, most of us aren’t so lucky to have sites this simple. And once more variables are thrown in SEOs tend to lose focus. So, let’s look at a couple of more complicated, and likely, scenarios.

KW Research & External Links

Your site is optimized or was at some point, or maybe the site was just built with SEO in mind. Either way, every page is about a specific idea or keyword-cluster. Every page has a decent amount of links. However, after digging into your external links, you realize people are linking to your Buying Widgets page with anchor text like “widget information.” Basically, people aren’t linking to your pages with the anchor text you expected.

Anchor text is a powerful thing, and it’s easier to follow it than fight it. Webmasters, web designers, and SEOs alike tend to think they decide which page is useful to which person, which page is most appropriate for which keyword. At the end of the day though, the user does. And anchor text is a way users show you how they use your page. In this scenario, it’s obvious that your Buying Widgets page has useful content for people in need of widget information.

So, what do you do? You change the title tag of your Buying Widgets page to make it more information-related. You possibly add widget information content to the page. You change your internal links so the anchor text is appropriate. As for your original Widget Information page, you title it something else so it doesn’t compete with your newly optimized page. Basically, you end up reoptimizing both pages without making drastic changes to content.

KW Research & Internal Links

This scenario is the same as the one before, but the SEO is smart and looks at their current rankings before they begin keyword research. They do a search for “widget information” and two pages on their site rank. Widget Information ranks on Page 3 of Google. And, while Buying Widgets has way more inlinks with the anchor text “widget information” it only ranks on Page 5.

It seems like Widget Information would be the obvious choice to optimize for the keyword “widget information.” It’s already on Page 3. Pushing it to Page 1 won’t take  as much effort, right? Wrong.

If you’re working with a strong domain, it’s likely internal anchor text plays a major role in how your pages are ranked for keywords. Your rankings really can’t be looked at without considering  internal linking.

So, in this situation what do you do? You do the same as you did in the previous situation. You reoptimize without making huge changes to content. And you change all of the internal anchor text within your site to match your reoptimization. It’ll take less time to make those onsite changes and for Google to take notice, than it will for you to link build.

Conclusion

So, the point of this post: If you’re not looking at your external links as you build out keyword lists, you’re likely causing yourself a lot of time and frustration down the road. You can’t choose keywords based on site content alone. You can’t choose keywords based on current rankings and traffic data alone. If you have an understanding of how your site is being used, how it’s being linked to, you’ll make better optimization decisions. You’ll save time in future link building, and you’ll likely see the impact of your onsite changes more quickly.

This post is from from my other blog here

So, a recent post about the Scope of SEO and a few discussions around the office have had me thinking about the process of SEO. I have a feeling everyone in the SEO webspace understands keyword research, title tags, alt tags, headings, content, anchor text, robots.txt,  link acquisition, link bait, blah, blah, blah. We get it. Are the concepts really worth posting about anymore? I know they aren’t worth reading about. Lately I’ve been more interested in process…improving efficiency, impact, etc. So this post is about an aspect of the keyword research process I haven’t seen written about. I’m guessing it comes intuitively to most SEOs, but in case it doesn’t I’ll spell it out…

Arguably the most important aspect of search engine optimization is keyword research. Without a doubt, keyword research is the easiest aspect of SEO to screw up…and as we all know, if your keyword research is screwed up, then your SEO is screwed.

So, what is the #1 mistake SEOs make when it comes to keyword research?

They assume keyword research comes before linking.

I, myself, have made this mistake before. I’ve started with my product & market research. I’ve looked at my site content and generated lists of keywords. I’ve pulled search counts, categorized keywords, selected pages to optimize, and jumped head first into making content & meta changes. I’ve completely ignored linking during the keyword research process.

Wrong Approach.

POP QUIZ!

You have two pages on your site about widgets. One page has zero inlinks. The other page has 100 inlinks. Which page do you optimize for the keyword “widgets?”

It’s a no-brainer, right? (If it’s not a no-brainer, the answer is Page 2). Let your external links do the heavy lifting for you. While this situation is an obvious one, most of us aren’t so lucky to have sites this simple. And once more variables are thrown in SEOs tend to lose focus. So, let’s look at a couple of more complicated, and likely, scenarios.

KW Research & External Links

Your site is optimized or was at some point, or maybe the site was just built with SEO in mind. Either way, every page is about a specific idea or keyword-cluster. Every page has a decent amount of links. However, after digging into your external links, you realize people are linking to your Buying Widgets page with anchor text like “widget information.” Basically, people aren’t linking to your pages with the anchor text you expected.

Anchor text is a powerful thing, and it’s easier to follow it than fight it. Webmasters, web designers, and SEOs alike tend to think they decide which page is useful to which person, which page is most appropriate for which keyword. At the end of the day though, the user does. And anchor text is a way users show you how they use your page. In this scenario, it’s obvious that your Buying Widgets page has useful content for people in need of widget information.

So, what do you do? You change the title tag of your Buying Widgets page to make it more information-related. You possibly add widget information content to the page. You change your internal links so the anchor text is appropriate. As for your original Widget Information page, you title it something else so it doesn’t compete with your newly optimized page. Basically, you end up reoptimizing both pages without making drastic changes to content.

KW Research & Internal Links

This scenario is the same as the one before, but the SEO is smart and looks at their current rankings before they begin keyword research. They do a search for “widget information” and two pages on their site rank. Widget Information ranks on Page 3 of Google. And, while Buying Widgets has way more inlinks with the anchor text “widget information” it only ranks on Page 5.

It seems like Widget Information would be the obvious choice to optimize for the keyword “widget information.” It’s already on Page 3. Pushing it to Page 1 won’t take  as much effort, right? Wrong.

If you’re working with a strong domain, it’s likely internal anchor text plays a major role in how your pages are ranked for keywords. Your rankings really can’t be looked at without considering  internal linking.

So, in this situation what do you do? You do the same as you did in the previous situation. You reoptimize without making huge changes to content. And you change all of the internal anchor text within your site to match your reoptimization. It’ll take less time to make those onsite changes and for Google to take notice, than it will for you to link build.

Conclusion

So, the point of this post: If you’re not looking at your external links as you build out keyword lists, you’re likely causing yourself a lot of time and frustration down the road. You can’t choose keywords based on site content alone. You can’t choose keywords based on current rankings and traffic data alone. If you have an understanding of how your site is being used, how it’s being linked to, you’ll make better optimization decisions. You’ll save time in future link building, and you’ll likely see the impact of your onsite changes more quickly.

This post is from from my other blog here

I’ll preface this by saying that when it comes to SEO, I’m a content and linking girl. If you want to rank well in the SERPs, you build decent content and you get people to link to it. Those two steps are the most important in SEO. They involve a lot of forethought and strategy. You have to understand your audience and know what they want from you. But this post isn’t about that.

This post is about what everyone writes about when they write about SEO – Title Tags!

I was making Title Tag recommendations the other day. I was a bit out of practice, so I decided to Google a few terms and see what others were doing with Title Tags this season. I found something interesting…

A lot of ranking pages weren’t using keywords in their Title Tags at all.

So, I did a 10-minute unscientific study in which I Googled 10 competitive keyword phrases and counted how many of the 1st page results used keywords in the Title Tag.

I purposely chose keywords I thought would be over-optimized and disprove my theory. The results:

As the MythBusters would say: Myth Busted!

Well, not scientifically – my little chart doesn’t prove anything. But, personally, I’m over Title Tags. Only 50% of ranking pages used the entire keyword phrase in the title. 25% of ranking pages used an unordered or disrupted version of the keyword phrase (ex. Cable TV, High Speed Internet and Telephone Service) And 35% of ranking pages didn’t include the keyword phrase or only had a partial phrase.

So, can we please stop writing about title tags as if there is some super secret SEO art to writing one.

In 2007, a bunch of SEO experts pulled together and ranked Google Search Engine Ranking Factors. Keyword Inclusion in Title Tag was hands down number one.

Rae Hoffman wrote: I still think the title tag is one of the most important on page elements from an algo perspective as well as a click through perspective.

Jill Whalen wrote: Probably one of the most important factors in determining rankings.

Christine Churchill wrote: If you have time to do only one SEO action on your site, take the time to create good titiles.

I think times have changed.

Back in ’07, SEOs were writing Title Tags that looked a lot like: Brand Name | Keyword Phrase #1 | Keyword Phrase #2 | Keyword Phrase #3.

And then everyone was saying “LOOK NATURAL! LOOK NATURAL!”

Now, I’m saying don’t sweat Title Tags.

If you have an old domain and a shitload of backlinks, well yeah, you could change a few title tags and rank just fine.

For everyone else, investing a bunch of time in writing that perfect natural-looking title that includes all your keywords is a waste of time. Title your page whatever it’s about and move on to finding links. Your time is better spent there.

This post is from from my other blog here

I’ll preface this by saying that when it comes to SEO, I’m a content and linking girl. If you want to rank well in the SERPs, you build decent content and you get people to link to it. Those two steps are the most important in SEO. They involve a lot of forethought and strategy. You have to understand your audience and know what they want from you. But this post isn’t about that.

This post is about what everyone writes about when they write about SEO – Title Tags!

I was making Title Tag recommendations the other day. I was a bit out of practice, so I decided to Google a few terms and see what others were doing with Title Tags this season. I found something interesting…

A lot of ranking pages weren’t using keywords in their Title Tags at all.

So, I did a 10-minute unscientific study in which I Googled 10 competitive keyword phrases and counted how many of the 1st page results used keywords in the Title Tag.

I purposely chose keywords I thought would be over-optimized and disprove my theory. The results:

As the MythBusters would say: Myth Busted!

Well, not scientifically – my little chart doesn’t prove anything. But, personally, I’m over Title Tags. Only 50% of ranking pages used the entire keyword phrase in the title. 25% of ranking pages used an unordered or disrupted version of the keyword phrase (ex. Cable TV, High Speed Internet and Telephone Service) And 35% of ranking pages didn’t include the keyword phrase or only had a partial phrase.

So, can we please stop writing about title tags as if there is some super secret SEO art to writing one.

In 2007, a bunch of SEO experts pulled together and ranked Google Search Engine Ranking Factors. Keyword Inclusion in Title Tag was hands down number one.

Rae Hoffman wrote: I still think the title tag is one of the most important on page elements from an algo perspective as well as a click through perspective.

Jill Whalen wrote: Probably one of the most important factors in determining rankings.

Christine Churchill wrote: If you have time to do only one SEO action on your site, take the time to create good titiles.

I think times have changed.

Back in ’07, SEOs were writing Title Tags that looked a lot like: Brand Name | Keyword Phrase #1 | Keyword Phrase #2 | Keyword Phrase #3.

And then everyone was saying “LOOK NATURAL! LOOK NATURAL!”

Now, I’m saying don’t sweat Title Tags.

If you have an old domain and a shitload of backlinks, well yeah, you could change a few title tags and rank just fine.

For everyone else, investing a bunch of time in writing that perfect natural-looking title that includes all your keywords is a waste of time. Title your page whatever it’s about and move on to finding links. Your time is better spent there.

This post is from from my other blog here

Lead generation and lead nurturing are no doubt important aspects of customer relationship management. Yet so many businesses seem to forget the nurturing. They create a form, collect the data, send an automated email, and stop when they should be going a step further.

When someone fills out a form on your website, what happens? Do they receive an automated email and then a string of monthly newsletters/announcements? Do they get a sales call a week later? If they do, then you’re probably missing opportunities and losing leads.

You have to follow up on those filled out forms – quickly, personally, and hopefully with another medium.

Examples of Form Follow Up

My friend signed up as a volunteer on my.barackobama.com. She was required to fill out her name, address, and phone number. Within an hour someone called her to discuss volunteer opportunities. Talk about fast.

Now, his campaign is a very large organization with an urgent purpose and the resources (both monetary and human) to be that fast and responsive. Can any volunteer-based organization afford not to be though?

I’ve given all my contact info to more than a few organizations with the intent of volunteering. I’ve never once been called. And truthfully I haven’t volunteered with a few places because a) I was too lazy to look for a phone number or b) My temporarily philanthropic spirit wore off. Even when organizations do call, they tend to do it slowly, taking up to a week to respond.

Following up quickly and by phone is so important for any business that depends on recruitment (i.e. education, staffing, etc). But it can also be beneficial to any business. Following up isn’t about selling. It’s about inviting people into your brand – giving them a branded experience – communicating what you’re about.

MyShape.com’s form follow-up attempt was all about communicating the idea behind the brand. Notice I said attempt. I still haven’t received my tape measurer. On with the example though…

MyShape.com is a great concept. When you set up an account you can enter your body measurements, not only will MyShape show you the types of clothing flattering for your body type, they will automatically determine your size across all the different brands they carry. Brilliant, right?

Like most e-commerce sites, MyShape.com, doesn’t require you to fill out your address when you set up an account. But, they offer a free tape measurer if you do. (I’m not sure if they still do, as I signed up a few months ago). Sending a gift like this is a small thank you. It keeps the brand top of mind and differientiates it from the competition.

The Bottom Line

If you are only sending automated emails, you are not doing enough.

1. Make a friendly phone call.
2. Mail a free gift…everyone loves free stuff!
3. Mail a hand-addressed letter for that personal touch
4. Send a personal email…people know when it’s fake.

If a new lead does not hear from you within a week, you are not fast enough.

Your response needs to be immediate. If you’re mailing a package, mail it the same day. If you’re calling or emailing, do it within 3 days. Don’t leave people hanging.

Remember: A lead will not become a customer without a little love and attention.

For more internet marketing articles, subscribe to Passing Notes.

This post is from from my other blog here

Lead generation and lead nurturing are no doubt important aspects of customer relationship management. Yet so many businesses seem to forget the nurturing. They create a form, collect the data, send an automated email, and stop when they should be going a step further.

When someone fills out a form on your website, what happens? Do they receive an automated email and then a string of monthly newsletters/announcements? Do they get a sales call a week later? If they do, then you’re probably missing opportunities and losing leads.

You have to follow up on those filled out forms - quickly, personally, and hopefully with another medium.

Examples of Form Follow Up

My friend signed up as a volunteer on my.barackobama.com. She was required to fill out her name, address, and phone number. Within an hour someone called her to discuss volunteer opportunities. Talk about fast.

Now, his campaign is a very large organization with an urgent purpose and the resources (both monetary and human) to be that fast and responsive. Can any volunteer-based organization afford not to be though?

I’ve given all my contact info to more than a few organizations with the intent of volunteering. I’ve never once been called. And truthfully I haven’t volunteered with a few places because a) I was too lazy to look for a phone number or b) My temporarily philanthropic spirit wore off. Even when organizations do call, they tend to do it slowly, taking up to a week to respond.

Following up quickly and by phone is so important for any business that depends on recruitment (i.e. education, staffing, etc). But it can also be beneficial to any business. Following up isn’t about selling. It’s about inviting people into your brand - giving them a branded experience - communicating what you’re about.

MyShape.com’s form follow-up attempt was all about communicating the idea behind the brand. Notice I said attempt. I still haven’t received my tape measurer. On with the example though…

MyShape.com is a great concept. When you set up an account you can enter your body measurements, not only will MyShape show you the types of clothing flattering for your body type, they will automatically determine your size across all the different brands they carry. Brilliant, right?

Like most e-commerce sites, MyShape.com, doesn’t require you to fill out your address when you set up an account. But, they offer a free tape measurer if you do. (I’m not sure if they still do, as I signed up a few months ago). Sending a gift like this is a small thank you. It keeps the brand top of mind and differientiates it from the competition.

The Bottom Line

If you are only sending automated emails, you are not doing enough.

1. Make a friendly phone call. 2. Mail a free gift…everyone loves free stuff! 3. Mail a hand-addressed letter for that personal touch 4. Send a personal email…people know when it’s fake.

If a new lead does not hear from you within a week, you are not fast enough.

Your response needs to be immediate. If you’re mailing a package, mail it the same day. If you’re calling or emailing, do it within 3 days. Don’t leave people hanging.

Remember: A lead will not become a customer without a little love and attention.

———–

For more internet marketing articles, subscribe to Passing Notes.

This post is from from my other blog here

This post is dedicated to one of my favorite brands, Zoho.

I’ll start off with a few facts about myself. I write short fiction for fun. None of it is publish-worthy, but I find it’s an enjoyable way to spend a Sunday afternoon. Between the desktop, laptop, and school computer labs I probably work on 10 different computers within one week. On a rare day, I can also be clumsy and forgetful. (Translation: I forgot my flash drive was on the floor and stepped on it.) I can also be cheap. (Translation: The thought of spending 20 bucks on a replacement is killing me.)

All that being said, I try to keep most of my work online.

I discovered Writely.com, the online word processor, the same month it was acquired by Google. Writely.com stopped accepting new members because it was slowly being converted to Google Docs. I didn’t have a membership at Writely, so I was out of luck. I began searching for another online word processor and discovered Zoho Writer.

I eventually did test out Google Docs for a few months and came to the conclusion that Zoho is better than Google Docs, period.

A list of all the things you can do with Zoho that you can’t do with Google.

1. View margins as you type 2. Pick one of 19 fonts, vs Google’s 11 3. View as page 4. Add Anchors 5. Insert HTML 6. Insert Layers 7. Create a table of contents 8. Insert emoticons

That may not be much, but Zoho also has a better design - usability wise. Google Docs requires you to use two windows or tabs. One with a list of your documents and the other your document. The more documents you open, the more windows/tabs you have open. Zoho is in one window. Zoho also uses small, recognizable icons so almost every feature is one click away. Subscript in Google Docs is two clicks. A simple page break is two clicks. Both are one click away in Zoho. Changes to the margins can only be made under the print menu in Google, while you can do the same visually by moving bars in Zoho, as you can in Microsoft Office.

Zoho seems like a pretty complex online application, but even with its constant background saves, it has never made Firefox unresponsive on my computer. And with my tiny 128MB of RAM, I can’t say the same for applications as simple as Gmail.

And how does this all relate to internet marketing?

Months ago, I wrote the following blog post in one of my writing communities:

30+ Online Tools for the Amateur Writer

Hey, I came across this post in one of the blogs I read: http://mashable.com/2007/10/25/30-tools-amateur-writer/

I thought some of the writers on my flist might find it interesting.

It’s a list of a bunch of tools. I haven’t checked many of them out yet. They listed Zoho Writer, which is cool. If you’re currently using Google Docs, formerly known as Writely, I would suggest switching to Zoho. Way more functionality.

Not a raving review of Zoho by any means, right? It’s actually a bigger pimp for Mashable, one of the blogs I read. Yet I still got this response from Arvind Natarajan, Zoho’s blogger:

Thanks for recommending Zoho to your readers!!

Isn’t that nice and simple? I just noticed the comment today, months later, but it did make my day. I’m guessing he saw the pingback in Mashable’s comments or used Google Alerts to find my post. He took the time to leave a comment, which made me want to write this post.

Many companies have this “build it, and they will come” attitude about blogging. They write a few posts, hear the crickets, and then ask their marketing guy “Why aren’t people commenting? Where are all those brand evangelists you keep talking about?” The answer: Your brand evangelists are doing their own thing. Creating a community around a brand takes work. It requires reaching out and finding people that will support you and your brand.

Arvind reached out to someone that had already written about his brand and his results were tri-fold:

1. I geeked out over his comment, and now I love Zoho even more than before and will recommend it to anyone who will listen.
2. I was so geeked about his comment that I had to share my love of the Zoho brand with all my (very few) readers.
3. The next time I fire up Zoho, I’ll probably check out their blog for updates and leave a comment or two.

If you’re a blogger, personal or corporate, and haven’t used Google Alerts before, I’d recommend it. Go to www.google.com/alerts, sign up for your company/brand/given name, and you’ll receive emails, at your desired frequency, listing links to where your name appears on the web. It’s like eavesdropping on what everyone is saying about you behind your back, good and bad. It’s a great way to find brand evangelists and maybe get a little feedback.

bookmark to:

This post is from from my other blog here

This post is dedicated to one of my favorite brands, Zoho.

I’ll start off with a few facts about myself. I write short fiction for fun. None of it is publish-worthy, but I find it’s an enjoyable way to spend a Sunday afternoon. Between the desktop, laptop, and school computer labs I probably work on 10 different computers within one week. On a rare day, I can also be clumsy and forgetful. (Translation: I forgot my flash drive was on the floor and stepped on it.) I can also be cheap. (Translation: The thought of spending 20 bucks on a replacement is killing me.)

All that being said, I try to keep most of my work online.

I discovered Writely.com, the online word processor, the same month it was acquired by Google. Writely.com stopped accepting new members because it was slowly being converted to Google Docs. I didn’t have a membership at Writely, so I was out of luck. I began searching for another online word processor and discovered Zoho Writer.

I eventually did test out Google Docs for a few months and came to the conclusion that Zoho is better than Google Docs, period.

A list of all the things you can do with Zoho that you can’t do with Google.

1. View margins as you type
2. Pick one of 19 fonts, vs Google’s 11
3. View as page
4. Add Anchors
5. Insert HTML
6. Insert Layers
7. Create a table of contents
8. Insert emoticons

That may not be much, but Zoho also has a better design – usability wise. Google Docs requires you to use two windows or tabs. One with a list of your documents and the other your document. The more documents you open, the more windows/tabs you have open. Zoho is in one window. Zoho also uses small, recognizable icons so almost every feature is one click away. Subscript in Google Docs is two clicks. A simple page break is two clicks. Both are one click away in Zoho. Changes to the margins can only be made under the print menu in Google, while you can do the same visually by moving bars in Zoho, as you can in Microsoft Office.

Zoho seems like a pretty complex online application, but even with its constant background saves, it has never made Firefox unresponsive on my computer. And with my tiny 128MB of RAM, I can’t say the same for applications as simple as Gmail.

And how does this all relate to internet marketing?

Months ago, I wrote the following blog post in one of my writing communities:

30+ Online Tools for the Amateur Writer Hey, I came across this post in one of the blogs I read: http://mashable.com/2007/10/25/30-tools-amateur-writer/ I thought some of the writers on my flist might find it interesting. It’s a list of a bunch of tools. I haven’t checked many of them out yet. They listed Zoho Writer, which is cool. If you’re currently using Google Docs, formerly known as Writely, I would suggest switching to Zoho. Way more functionality.

Not a raving review of Zoho by any means, right? It’s actually a bigger pimp for Mashable, one of the blogs I read. Yet I still got this response from Arvind Natarajan, Zoho’s blogger:

Thanks for recommending Zoho to your readers!!

Isn’t that nice and simple? I just noticed the comment today, months later, but it did make my day. I’m guessing he saw the pingback in Mashable’s comments or used Google Alerts to find my post. He took the time to leave a comment, which made me want to write this post.

Many companies have this “build it, and they will come” attitude about blogging. They write a few posts, hear the crickets, and then ask their marketing guy “Why aren’t people commenting? Where are all those brand evangelists you keep talking about?” The answer: Your brand evangelists are doing their own thing. Creating a community around a brand takes work. It requires reaching out and finding people that will support you and your brand.

Arvind reached out to someone that had already written about his brand and his results were tri-fold:

1. I geeked out over his comment, and now I love Zoho even more than before and will recommend it to anyone who will listen.
2. I was so geeked about his comment that I had to share my love of the Zoho brand with all my (very few) readers.
3. The next time I fire up Zoho, I’ll probably check out their blog for updates and leave a comment or two.

If you’re a blogger, personal or corporate, and haven’t used Google Alerts before, I’d recommend it. Go to www.google.com/alerts, sign up for your company/brand/given name, and you’ll receive emails, at your desired frequency, listing links to where your name appears on the web. It’s like eavesdropping on what everyone is saying about you behind your back, good and bad. It’s a great way to find brand evangelists and maybe get a little feedback.

This post is from from my other blog here

This post is dedicated to one of my favorite brands, Zoho.

I’ll start off with a few facts about myself. I write short fiction for fun. None of it is publish-worthy, but I find it’s an enjoyable way to spend a Sunday afternoon. Between the desktop, laptop, and school computer labs I probably work on 10 different computers within one week. On a rare day, I can also be clumsy and forgetful. (Translation: I forgot my flash drive was on the floor and stepped on it.) I can also be cheap. (Translation: The thought of spending 20 bucks on a replacement is killing me.)

All that being said, I try to keep most of my work online.

I discovered Writely.com, the online word processor, the same month it was acquired by Google. Writely.com stopped accepting new members because it was slowly being converted to Google Docs. I didn’t have a membership at Writely, so I was out of luck. I began searching for another online word processor and discovered Zoho Writer.

I eventually did test out Google Docs for a few months and came to the conclusion that Zoho is better than Google Docs, period.

A list of all the things you can do with Zoho that you can’t do with Google.

1. View margins as you type 2. Pick one of 19 fonts, vs Google’s 11 3. View as page 4. Add Anchors 5. Insert HTML 6. Insert Layers 7. Create a table of contents 8. Insert emoticons

That may not be much, but Zoho also has a better design - usability wise. Google Docs requires you to use two windows or tabs. One with a list of your documents and the other your document. The more documents you open, the more windows/tabs you have open. Zoho is in one window. Zoho also uses small, recognizable icons so almost every feature is one click away. Subscript in Google Docs is two clicks. A simple page break is two clicks. Both are one click away in Zoho. Changes to the margins can only be made under the print menu in Google, while you can do the same visually by moving bars in Zoho, as you can in Microsoft Office.

Zoho seems like a pretty complex online application, but even with its constant background saves, it has never made Firefox unresponsive on my computer. And with my tiny 128MB of RAM, I can’t say the same for applications as simple as Gmail.

And how does this all relate to internet marketing?

Months ago, I wrote the following blog post in one of my writing communities:

30+ Online Tools for the Amateur Writer

Hey, I came across this post in one of the blogs I read: http://mashable.com/2007/10/25/30-tools-amateur-writer/

I thought some of the writers on my flist might find it interesting.

It’s a list of a bunch of tools. I haven’t checked many of them out yet. They listed Zoho Writer, which is cool. If you’re currently using Google Docs, formerly known as Writely, I would suggest switching to Zoho. Way more functionality.

Not a raving review of Zoho by any means, right? It’s actually a bigger pimp for Mashable, one of the blogs I read. Yet I still got this response from Arvind Natarajan, Zoho’s blogger:

Thanks for recommending Zoho to your readers!!

Isn’t that nice and simple? I just noticed the comment today, months later, but it did make my day. I’m guessing he saw the pingback in Mashable’s comments or used Google Alerts to find my post. He took the time to leave a comment, which made me want to write this post.

Many companies have this “build it, and they will come” attitude about blogging. They write a few posts, hear the crickets, and then ask their marketing guy “Why aren’t people commenting? Where are all those brand evangelists you keep talking about?” The answer: Your brand evangelists are doing their own thing. Creating a community around a brand takes work. It requires reaching out and finding people that will support you and your brand.

Arvind reached out to someone that had already written about his brand and his results were tri-fold:

1. I geeked out over his comment, and now I love Zoho even more than before and will recommend it to anyone who will listen.
2. I was so geeked about his comment that I had to share my love of the Zoho brand with all my (very few) readers.
3. The next time I fire up Zoho, I’ll probably check out their blog for updates and leave a comment or two.

If you’re a blogger, personal or corporate, and haven’t used Google Alerts before, I’d recommend it. Go to www.google.com/alerts, sign up for your company/brand/given name, and you’ll receive emails, at your desired frequency, listing links to where your name appears on the web. It’s like eavesdropping on what everyone is saying about you behind your back, good and bad. It’s a great way to find brand evangelists and maybe get a little feedback.