AA asked the bloggers on the Power 150 blog-ranking index to tell what technology marketers should be paying most attention to in 2008.
Here's some of what they said and things that we have been preaching!
Andy Wibbels - Findability
Local search. Consumers are learning they can find resources not just across the globe, but down the street. "Findability" is crucial, whether you are a global organization or local mom-and-pop.
Marie Lena Tupot - Mobile
Mobile apps. But not in a whiz-bang, over-the-top manner; the sort of incremental mobile apps that make ordinary things even easier, like let you pay back friends on the fly, split the check at restaurants, pre-order your coffee so you can bypass the line at a local café, pay your belated phone bill, donate to your political candidate ... It's the little things that take us by storm.
Joost de Valk - SEO
The technique/technology most worthy of any marketer's attention is SEO. It's the cheapest and best way of getting quality traffic to your domains. Especially due to the emergence of so-called universal search, ie. the integration of the results from vertical search engines like images, books and local into the "main" search results, more chances of driving cheap, high-quality traffic have come up.
Joe Pulizzi - Content Marketing
The single biggest issue/technology that deserves the most attention is not a site or an application, but more an organizational philosophy. It's the content marketing movement -- which is the philosophy of marketing services not by traditional methods, but by delivering valuable, relevant and compelling content to customers and prospects on a consistent basis. This is being done through all media platforms, and we are seeing companies like P&G and Nike put a large amount of money and resources into these efforts.
Brian Keith - Search Marketing
Search marketing. This includes search engine optimization, search engine marketing (also called pay-per-click), and dealing with universal search. When Jeremiah and others say that your corporate website is less relevant than ever, they're right. But if you ignore the basics in favor of the hot new technologies, you will fall behind those who made sure they built a strong foundation. Are you highly ranked for your most important keywords and phrases? Have you done the research to know what those phrases really are? Are you paying attention to how you are spending money on search engine marketing?
Martin Calle - Keywords
The most overlooked piece of digital technology today is the simplest and most overlooked: the keyword. With 81 billion blogs and websites, business owners depend upon keywords to drive site visits. But we all use the same keywords, so it becomes impossible for Google's AdSense for Search and Content Optimization Teams to help you build truly effective campaigns, regardless of the business you are in. If you are an ad agency, "ad agency" would be a keyword, so would "branding," "strategy," "product positioning," "differentiation," "marketing" and a plethora of other terms we all use. So using keywords, differentiation becomes impossible unless you find a way to identify keywords that only your site can offer.
Kevin Tomczak - Blogging
Blogging continues to be one of the most influential communications channels for B2B marketers in 2008. This channel is a precursor to a true social network, and allows companies to continue the conversation beyond our traditional touch points. Yesterday's mass marketing strategies don't work -- we're on the customer's time, and by keeping conversations going through blogging, we're increasing the chance that we'll be present when the customer needs our product or service.
We've also just begun to scratch the surface of the SEO benefits of blogging. In the US, roughly 80% of internet use (excluding e-mail) begins with a search. And a majority of business purchasers use the internet for research before a purchase is made. Blogging gives a company a lot of content containing a lot of keywords, and, with a lot of incoming and outbound links, that's SEO gold.
These were our top 7! What's funny is that we have been preaching these for 2 years now! I think businesses are finally starting to get it! Read the full article at Advertising Age!
Derrick Sorles and Michael Snell - We Help "Pull" New Business To You!
Your Business MD's- Business Blog Consultants -Web 2.0 Consultants and Strategists
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