It’s all about the content right? That’s what Google tells us at least…

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIY3g4_y8u4[/youtube]

We all know that relevant, current, keyword rich content has become Google’s favorite thing to index and provide in SERPs (search engine results pages). In the last year or so we have seen more and more elements of Google’s “universal search” within the main search results page. So much so, that clicking on a video or image result has become second nature to us.

So what does Google have up their sleeves next…? Try this one on for size:

Google is bringing us up to the minute coverage of all the content that’s being generated about our search topic, across every form of online interaction – including social media sites like Twitter, Facebook, and Myspace!

Give it a shot! Do a normal Google search, then click on “show options” and then “latest”. For the last couple of days, I have become so infatuated with this nifty search tool that I can’t stop watching it!

The search engine game is changing – and quick… Just plain having a good website isn’t enough. You have to start generating new content on a more regular basis to stay in this game.

Here are some things you can do to help your company appear in this new Google search option:

• Start blogging! – We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again.
• Create a twitter account – Twitter has the power to make you a thought leader, use it.
• Build out a facebook page and keep it current – especially you B2C businesses out there.
• Engage with people online – Social media has made this very easy and efficient.

So what are your thoughts? Is this the future of Google, or will this remain a semi-hidden feature in the worlds most popular search engine?

We look at web analytic information all the time to measure a lot of things and certainly conversions and contacts are top of the list.  As advertising dollars continue to shift from offline to online methods and as Pay-Per-Click word costs continue to soar a lot more emphasis is being placed on measuring the return on the Internet marketing dollar.  Companies that rely upon online reporting methods alone to determine the value of their SEO, PPC, or Social Media efforts are probably only looking at 40% of the picture.  The folks at ThomasNet (112 year old industrial sourcing kingpins) did an interesting study a couple of years ago.  They ran a beta test of a 100 or so of their industrial B2B clients websites.  Called Mirror Site Imaging, they generated carbon copies of the beta sites and placed them on a different server.  The mirrored sites were invisible to the search engines so the only online traffic that could find its way there was from ThomasNet.com.  They placed a tagged phone number into the header of the beta sites and even recorded the calls that went to the participating clients businesses.  What they found was that just over 63% of the conversions took place offline!  I bet 99.9% of B2B companies do not have an accurate way to track offline conversions to Internet marketing dollars. There has to be a top down dedication to doing so.  It’s not an easy process and you cannot rely on the folks answering the phone to ask and track “how did you find out about us?”.  I recall a few years back reviewing a list of tracked calls with one of my clients in Upstate NY that we had put onto a service from Kall8. The way it words is a virtual phone number is placed into the header of the website pages and when called it rolls to the clients existing phone number.  Unless the caller is using a blocked or unlisted number online reports will show you who called you.  Anyways, I am reviewing this list of calls from the first 21 days with my client and it wasn’t a huge list.  Maybe 24 calls.  He’s moving down the list when his finger stops and starts to laugh.  He tells me that it’s a good thing we decided to track the phone calls to our Internet marketing efforts cause he just signed a 750K deal with a company on the call report.  We never would have gotten credit for the sale without this visibility.  Before I left that client asked me to come up with an increased scope of work.  Two weeks later he doubled his contract with us.

I’ve been reading a lot about ClickPath and they seem to have also covered the bases pretty well with offline conversion tracking.  Anyone have any experience with their product or others?

A good friend of mine and very accomplished Marcom professional, Rick Short, just turned me onto something that I have run up against more times than I wish to recall.  Specifically, he referenced a post by Jennifer Laycock, Editor of Search Engine Guide.   Jennifer’s post speaks so very well about her frustrations with businesses that jump into a website development project without giving prior thought to the importance of SEO.  She makes a great correlation to the public service announcements advising homeowners to call before you dig to avoid planting your shovel into underground electrical lines or other hazards and creating a costly mess in the process.  Businesses that hook up with web designers and developers without the inclusion of an Internet marketing firm or SEO strategist to lead the effort are throwing their money away.  I am bewildered to think that this is not exceedingly evident, a no brainer.  Yet, in my travels throughout New England, Upstate, Central and Western NY, I still see owners and business leaders making this very critical mistake.  The end result is either a site that is found only by people who already know who you are, or a costly rebuild to put into place what should have been from the start!