SEO and the rest of your marketing efforts

A new report from iProspect, conducted by JupiterResearch,  says that 45% of search engine marketers do not integrate their search marketing efforts with offline channels.

In addition, it uncovers a big disconnect between search engine marketer strategy and search engine user behavior…The study finds that just over half of search engine marketers (55%) intentionally integrate their efforts with at least one offline marketing channel.

Other key findings: The two integration techniques most frequently employed by search marketers are prominently including the company Web address (84%), and the company name (66%), in offline marketing initiatives.

Only 26% of marketers utilize the same keywords in offline campaigns as are used in search marketing campaigns in their integration efforts.

24% of companies do not participate in offline marketing at all.

Can you hear me grinding my teeth on this one.

It’s articles like this that bother me as a marketing professional. I have been saying for years that it is not about Search Engine Optimization but Web Optimization that must happen which includes getting your PR efforts and branding materials to all be utilizing the same language, content, tone and keywords.

It irks me more to know that small business owners everywhere get sucked in by some so-called SEO expert that this will solve their marketing woes when in reality what they get in sales goes right back out in word$.

If you are working with an SEO “professional,” challenge them on this. Question how they plan to cross-train your SEO with your direct mail piece planned next month. If they give you a deer-in-headlights look or it’s silent on the phone, cut your losses and find a true marketer that gets it the first time.

See full article here.

Done ranting.

Information Architecture: Why You Need It

Information architecture determines the overall structure of a web site – the flow from home page to sub-level pages to thank you pages. Usability is a large part of information architecture. Does the visitor feel oriented? Do visitors know where to go for the information or functionality they want? Is the navigation intuitive? Is the user interface empowering and informative? The nomenclature and organization of that information, the ability to sort through and customize it, will determine the success of the visitor’s experience. Like any good sales pitch, it’s anticipating the question before it is asked and presenting a thoughtful answer.

The major content categories should be easy to grasp and they should align with specific target audiences. It is also important to surround any individual document or issue with related materials. This approach helps pull users into the material and establishes broader relationship to your brand, even if they originally pursue very specific information.

The information architecture will also form the basis of the guidelines for content length and layering. Information should be presented in a layered manner, allowing users to get a solid overview and then choose to drill down to more detail if they are interested. Supporting information to the primary text on any page should be presented as second reads on the page, drawing users to pertinent facts and recognizing the propensity of Web users to skim as they read.

Information architecture for the web is much like the design of a library or supermarket. The idea is to provide paths to information by showing relationships. Of course, web sites do not consist solely of linear relationships. Pathways through sites can be varied and few users will take the exact same path. Navigating is subjective, based on someone’s own preferences, interests and experience. Sites must be designed with a full understanding of the medium. Vertical pathways through the information must be straightforward and reliable, while lateral pathways should surface related information elsewhere on the site. Finding a balance between the way information “wants” to be organized and how the users want to find it is the key to successful information architecture. Once the relationship between the major content groups, the target audiences and the audiences’ expectations are established, the site mapping can begin.