Calm Mediacentre

Not quite! But as in most industries, terminology exists to differentiate between types of services-here’s an overview of some of the terms that you might of heard whilst talking to people within the industry…

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) and Search Engine Placement (SEP) are terms used to describe the practice of modifying or tuning invisible website content according to the key search terms it is required to be found for. Some parts of this process are on-site: the modifying of the actual website – some work involves establishing external links (link building) from other websites to yours. Careful work with site content that is efficient (and useful for the site visitor), organic and well structured is usually the first step of a long, but well worthwhile journey to becoming a website of authority status.

Search Engine Marketing (SEM) is a natural evolution for SEO, but is more far reaching in terms of using other methods to achieve high numbers of visitors and general exposure. This is a form of on-line marketing that seeks to promote websites by increasing their visibility in search engine results through the use of paid inclusion, paid placement or contextual advertising i.e. Google Adwords (PPC).

Social Media Optimisation (SMO) is related to SEO, but the main focus of this is on driving traffic from other sources, rather than search engines. i.e. RSS feeds, social news buttons, blogging, social media sites and other media exposure can contribute extensively to a website popularity.

Conversion Rate Marketing (CRM) is the science of detailed analysis of a website to goal settings and funnelling strategies of all on-line traffic. This procedure often involves highly detailed visitor data for the website (metrics). An in-depth refinement process can be be conducted through multivariate testing, heat maps and other other methods that constantly refine and improve the sites structure, layout and also navigation. All text content, ‘calls to action’, persuasion paths and other elements of design are changed to convert more visitors and massively reduce bounce rates. Raising visitor retention considerably (often in excess of 50 percent) makes interesting reading from the point of view of a Return of Interest on moneys invested.

I hope this helps! If you have any questions or require any further information regarding these or any other terms, please give us a call or check out Calm Digital.

I was at a digital conference recently when a conversation broke out between a presenter and a member of the audience about accessing content from the websites they are interested in keeping up to date with.

The guy in question mentioned that he hadn’t physically visited some websites in over 18 months as he accesses the content he wants when he wants it through his RSS reader. It made me ask myself the question “is there a fundamental shift in the way people are accessing web content”…I guess I already know the answer to this just by looking at my own reading habits. It did however reinforce to me just how important really content is.

In my experience, from talking about websites in both a personal and a business context, many of the conversations (certainly with clients) are weighted towards the ‘look and feel’ – colours, navigation, and image style etc…basically the form, not the function. If the answer to my question is what I think it is, such a focus on form is becoming a dangerous game to play. Of course a website must be presented in a way that is relevant for its audience but looking good just isn’t enough anymore.

Don’t get me wrong I love using the web, experiencing all the good, bad and sometimes very indifferent ways some site authors present their information and allow users to interact with their websites. However, due to an increasing number of sites and decreasing available time, website owners should be aware that I, and many others, have been drawn in recent months to begin picking and choosing the sites that I actually physically visit.

In the same vein, this also applies to the barrage of content from email newsletters that I get sent each day promoting all manner of things, some of which I have chosen to receive, some of which I haven’t (I don’t have the money to invest in a Nigerian Mine, and I already have a watch so don’t need a new Ralex or Rolax). When I subscribe or sign up to something I am happy, and expect to, receive content from that source, but not from a raft of other content sources targeting me with ‘once in a lifetime opportunities’ or ‘extra special offers’…the stuff I didn’t sign up for!

So, although the conversation at the event initially seemed strange I asked myself how long it would be before I am just like ‘that guy’ accessing ALL my favourite content through selected, targeted, and incorruptible RSS feeds.  They provide me not only with text content, but now with accompanying links to other rich media such as related images and multimedia content. Just what I need….the content I want, when I want it.

The answer for me is not soon enough. Although, there are some sites that I like to visit that have not embraced RSS to allow its regular users to be updated when fresh content is available…come on guys catch up because chances are your users will be way ahead of you!…