The Day the (SEO) Content Penny Dropped

The Day The (SEO) Content Penny Dropped!

Psst. Want to hear something funny? I don't care if anyone ever reads this. Because today, the SEO penny dropped.

I was reading a post on SearchEngineWatch's blog called 'Building a CRAP SEO Content Strategy' and was just thinking how on-message it was for 21st century SEO, when it happened.

There's little point diluting their message, but CRAP is an acronym that pulls together a lot of different, but great, ideas, about SEO and content.

If you're at all interested, I suggest you read it yourself when you've finished here.

Nobody Cares About Your Logo

The last time I set up a blog (TheKeywordCracker.com) I held off launching because I didn't have a logo I was happy with.

Then I hated the layout, so didn't launch.

Then it was the lack of paid member content.

But then it occurred to me that nobody cares about the logo. Visitors don't click through to the site because of the logo. Except under rare circumstances, they'll not see it until they visit the site.

When they get there, they're not going to leave because I don't have a logo. They won't stay because the logo looks pretty.

They're too busy reading the content and deciding if it's crap or CRAP.

So Why Don't I Care?

Okay, I was exaggerating for effect. Of course I care. 

However, if nobody ever reads this, it's because they're not interested enough in the content. Or that I haven't provided enough content, or that it doesn't engage them. If they don't share it, it's because it is without value.

Search engines can't really rate value. They can infer from Tweets, re-Tweets, social bookmarking and sharing that visitors value it enough to share it, but they can only guess at why.

For those who think that they can tell an image from a textual message; think of an info-graphic. They often have more information than a 600 word blog, so are probably as valuable, if not more. But if search engines apply a strict image/text rule, they'll be classified as 'less' valuable than the text.

Even if they're not.

Is a post with a mix of images and text more 'valuable'? Maybe. Maybe not. Only a human can really answer that question.

How Does This Rant Relate to Start-Up?

I'm glad you asked.

When you start up a business, be it a blog or a lemonade stand, if your product is good, it will succeed despite not having a logo.

Don't let the unimportant details slow you down. Learn what is important, and concentrate on that, and get to launch as fast as is reasonable.

Create value, and you'll be successful. Create a pretty logo, and all you've got is a pretty logo.

The Three Best Ways to Stay in Business - For the Long Term!

According to statistics* 71% of all start-ups fail in the first 10 years.

That's not the scary number.

The scary number is that 25% of them already taste failure in the first year. Another one is that less than half make it to year 4.

And there are more, but this was supposed to be a helpful post, so let's see what a start up business can do to avoid becoming just another number.

The Danger of Product Multitasking for Start-Up Businesses

Putting aside for a moment basic incompetence, and lack of preparation, knowledge and so on, 30% of start up businesses fail due to over-expansion.

Sure, you have big ideas, or you wouldn't be an entrepreneur. But, especially in the beginning, try to concentrate on getting the process to produce a single, good, revenue generating product or service worked out, before you try releasing anything else.

As Barbara Cochran once said on Shark Tank - "You're moving too fast with too many things, and that's usually a formula for disaster in any young business."

She ended up investing, but only after making sure that the company understood that they had to concentrate on one product at a time.To pick another example - Levi Roots, the UK entrepreneur launched a single sauce "Reggae Reggae Sauce" on Dragon's Den.One awesome product.

So - product multitasking reduces overall quality, so make one awesome thing at a time.

3 Top Tips to Keep Afloat in Year 1, 2, 3...

Here are my own Top 3 Tips for staying in business long-term:

• Tip 1 : Pick the right business, and the right business for you. 

There are certain businesses with a high failure rate - think plumbers and restaurants - and others with a very low one : like religious organisations.

Now, I'm not suggesting you go off and found a religion, but I am suggesting that if you choose to open a restaurant your heart had better be in it, and you'd better have the skills. Top aggregate reason for going out of business? Lack of knowledge, and wrong reason for going into business in the first place.

• Tip 2 : Keep it Simple. Do one thing well. Not a hundred things averagely. 

I'm not the first to point this out, I'm actually paraphrasing from Sam Carpenter's excellent "Work The System". You should check it out if you're starting a business, or trying to live life to the full.

• Tip 3 : Cut Out The Emotion. 

Okay, that's a tough one, because if you've picked a business that's right for you, as I pointed out in Tip 1, you're probably also going to have an emotional investment in it.

However, if you can make decisions based on numbers (and that's the purpose of having a system, as I pointed out in my last blog post) or other objective information, and remove the emotion from the equation as far as possible, those decisions will likely be better than if you are guided completely by your passion.

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*Source : http://www.statisticbrain.com/startup-failure-by-industry/

Building a Solid Business Around a Solid System

Recently I was listening to an audio freebie that came with a Dan Kennedy book (No BS Marketing to the Affluent, link pops out, I recommend it, this'll still be here when you get back!) and he said something that struck a chord.

Now, I'm paraphrasing because I want to get this down and don't want to dig out the CD right now, but the general theme was around creating advantage in your business offering - commercial advantage, financial advantage, market advantage, and so on.

Some of these I'd expect most people to think of: You want to be the best in your market, or at least define a niche for yourself that has no competition; you want to be able to outlast the others in your market, even if that means waiting a long time to get your money back, or you want to be justifiably the most expensive in your market.

But then he said something that had echoes of a bunch of other bits and pieces of wisdom I've absorbed recently - systemic advantage.

The advantage of having a system.

As I was walking along, Dan continued his train of thought, but mine had spun off to other avenues (sorry, Mr. Kennedy!)

Here are some others who extol the virtues of a system - Dane Maxwell, creator of the 6-figure Recruiting Ninja business, and currently head honcho at The Foundation (TheFoundation.com) has a unique system that he teaches and which takes a market, creates a product based on feedback from that market, and then sells it before it's even available!

The system has been used by, among others, one Sam Ovens. Look him up, it's a worthwhile story.

Sean Ogle, the Location Rebel, has a collection of frameworks and systems. Dave Risely (of Blog Marketing Academy fame) has a system (which he calls the Blueprint) that can help you build a business from nothing.

The fast food industry is home to one of the most successful systems of all - McDonald's.

I could go on - Michael Senoff (HardToFindSeminars.com) has a system for marketing consulting, Dan Kennedy teaches a system for creating sales letters, and works a system for selling his stuff, etc. - but you get the point.

The one thing your business needs to have, if it is to be successful, is a solid foundation, built on a system that can be deployed, used to measure results, tweaked to get better results, and followed when times are tough and you lose direction.

That's the advantage of having a system.

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"Don't run away from price." - Dan Kennedy

If you're not familiar with Dan Kennedy, I advise you to do a search on the internet, your favorite MP3 search engine, or a well-known video sharing site, and prepare yourself for a lot of research.

The man is a genius, and even if he admits to borrowing a lot of his wisdom from the observation of the way that markets work, and the marketing that professionals in those markets do, it take a special kind of intelligence to join up all the dots.

That's how he can charge upwards of $1,800 per day. Per day. Upwards of.

One of my favorite quotes from Dan Kennedy is "Don't run away from price." Even in a recession, you should never try to be the cheapest, because there'll always be someone cheaper. The reason why is very interesting.

Why People Get Hung Up On Price

One reason is simple enough - to appeal to as many people as possible. Your potential market may well feel bigger if you're cheaper, as more people ought to be able to afford your goods or services.

That's only true if everyone in that market is shopping on price, which isn't true. Very few people in that target market shop on price, and those people will be the ones that cause the most problems.

There's a saying - if you pay peanuts you get monkeys. You can flip that around and say - if you charge peanuts, you'll get monkeys.

Two Ways To Charge More

That's the first way to charge more. Just do it. You'll become attractive to a market that expects to pay a high price, simply because they have the money to spend. They're also the clients who are less likely to cause problems, as long as you deliver to the value of what you are charging.

That deals with the willingness to spend money. But you still have to make the product or service attractive.

Doing that requires that you are different from the other offerings on the market - usually at all levels. In other words, you need to differentiate from the cheaper products as well as the same-priced or more expensive products.

This means having a good USP (unique selling point) or EVP (extra value proposition.)

That USP needs to fulfill a need or (better) solve a problem, offer a guarantee, with a specific limit (time, cost, etc.) This was made famous by Domino's Pizza, who nailed it with their slogan offering freshly cooked pizza, delivered, inside 30 minutes, backed up with the guarantee that if they failed, you got to eat it for free.

Any mention of price? No. They don't need to, because their USP is so strong and specific that they can charge pretty much whatever they want, within reason, and will only attract the least painful customers.

So, work on these three principles - not getting hung up on price, raising prices, and developing a great USP - and you'll build a better business.

What's So Smart About the Breathometer?

On a recent episode of Shark Tank, a neat little gadget called Breathometer received a lot of interest and investment. Daymond John (owner of FUBU, and notable Shark - and I mean that in a good way!) made a very shrewd statement:

"You're very smart. I like to surround myself with people smarter than me..." (check it out here)

Now, that's good advice. In fact, it's great advice. But what's so smart about Breathometer? After all, there are many breathalyzers on the market.

The technology isn't that new, but typical breathalyzers tend to be bulky.

What was so smart about the Breathometer is that its inventor, Charles Michael Yim, combined three very important pieces of the party-goers jigsaw:

• breath analysis in a small packet, plugged into a smart phone;
• an indication of the time it will take to sober up;
• a link to call a taxi, right in the app!

The unique combination of a small adapter, plugged into a smart phone, capable of linking the reality of being over the limit with a need to get home (or at least know how long it might take to get under the limit again!) was the genius of the product.

That's what you need to be able to do with each end every product - find a targeted market with a problem, solve their problem, and give them an alternative - do that, and your products will be irresistible.

But, there's a problem.

Just because you have found a market, and a way to reduce its pain, that doesn't mean you can turn your vision into reality. We've got the answer - Total Outsourcing. Join the Business Start-Up Advice Inner Circle, and we'll help you outsource whatever you want!

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