Real genius in web copy happens when you marry best practices for creative copy and search engine marketing & optimization goals.  True, true, you nod along, but what about these clunky phrases, then, that treat the audience like skim-and-scan robots that don't deserve the respect of fluid sentences?  Who, indeed, thinks that a phrase like, "search engine marketing optimization" is going to make sense anywhere but in a Google toolbar?

Well, we copywriters have our tricks, as I've just shown you (a little bit, only a little bit--call us; let's talk), but I have a theory, too, that all the hyper-referencing of thesauri and SEO reports is no match for true lexicographical command, whereby understanding the flexibility of a language allows me to play within the rules of an essential, soulless algorithm and thereby meet your marketing objectives better than anyone else can.  

SEO reports are fine and dandy.  I use them regularly, but what I really use is my brain. I think about the connotations and denotations of words, the contextual penumbras that shade your perception of meaning, and how each increment of texture influences the message as a whole.  Our vocabulary forms a matrix of ideas and impressions, and this matrix is the foundation of relevance as it relates to writing for strategic communication.  One word impresses us this way; its cousin impresses us that way; the search engines know the two are related--I write to that.  

But I don't actually know Google's exact take on best practices for search engine marketing or optimization, so I can't be particularly rigid.  Strategic communication is only successful if it allows for uncertainties, and what Google considers the bullseye is a gigantic uncertainty for me.  I need to know everything I can about what meaning people attach to words, so that I can create messaging that is likely to fulfill the highest number of marketing objectives possible at the highest level of practice possible. 

In other words, if I am going to be the best, I have to know everything it is possible to know about what everyone else may not realize they know about vocabulary, so that I can use words with insane precision in order to hit narrow search-engine targets and broad ideas to inspire your customers.  It's an amazing job and it's super fun.

So, that’s me writing to search engines.  What about the fact that search engines determine relevance based on how people search?  There’s a nifty study from the University of California that indicates that emotional connotation is difficult to conceptualize.  If you ask people to figure out how written words next to each other relate, they aren’t very good at describing the contextual penumbras that make creative web copy so much fun.

Sure, it could be a limitation of the participants—if you do not think in terms of strategic communication, you just sort of “know what you mean” and expect others will, too—but, when we apply these results in a broader context, it also means that whatever relatively static vocabulary people use to communicate is what search engines read in order to develop new ideas of relevance for words that relate to your offer.  Intuitive, emotional understanding is a huge part of communicating between people, but not as much when we “talk” to our computers.

The point is that strategic communication is about balance.  One of my challenges is to balance the words that perform to metrics with the emotional shades that engage creatively.  When search engines begin to shift ideas of relevance based on the connotations we communicate to them, my use of words needs to shift, too.

You see this throughout this post, because I am purposefully showing it to you.  I found ways to take an extremely bizarre phrase (“search engine marketing & optimization”) and massage it, so that my syntax is comfortable for my audience.  I do this regularly and with quite a bit more finesse, because search engines now influence the ways we use words.  

Let’s talk next time about how you can become a leader in your market with branding and messaging that leverages the different points of syntactical change for search engines and creative copy.

Especially in light of the current economic climate, I’m happy to say that there’s a lot going on at Flightpath these days.  To keep up with this growth, we’ve added a number of great new members to our team over the past few months.

Back in the day, we used to have great success finding smart digital marketing, design and production folks via Craig’s List.  We still use this tool regularly but we’re definitely not seeing the quality or volume of candidates that we used to. 

We’ve also had decent success recruiting copywriters on Media Bistro or hiring technical developers via sites like Monster.com.   Word of mouth or employee referrals don’t hurt either. 

But when it came time to hire a Social Media Manager – a very key position where we wanted to see a good number of candidates – we opted to try a new approach and posted the job opening on LinkedIn.

I’m happy to report that this was an incredibly successful endeavor and we’ve landed what we hope will turn out to be an exceptionally strong candidate.  My only regret is that we were unable to offer positions to the many other qualified, knowledgeable candidates that we had the privilege to meet and talk to.

While the pool of candidates on LinkedIn was very strong, I’m sorry to report that use of its tools to virally distribute the job opening via my LinkedIn network didn’t yield great results.   Though I bet this will improve in future.

Maybe it seems like a no-brainer to use a social network like LinkedIn to recruit for a “Social Media Manager.”  Perhaps if we were looking for other types of recruits we wouldn’t have experienced the same results.  (We’ll be experimenting in the months to come so watch this space for details.)   But in an interesting way, I think this is a very strong illustration of the power of social networks to address business challenges.  A lesson that our new Social Media Manager will surely point to as a case study during her tenure at Flightpath.

The Pew Internet & American Life Project published a report last week outlining Generations Online in 2009.   The findings of this report are two fold: first it illuminates that there are a growing number of older users engaging in technology (and specifically the web); secondly it distinguishes between the different activities each generation is engaging in.  From online banking to social networking the reach of the web is steadily growing and in somewhat surprising market sectors.

Understanding how each generation uses the web can give us further insight into how to design for our users.   The table below represents a small portion of the study and was taken from the Pew Internet & American Life Project study mentioned above.

Source for Online Teens data: Pew Internet & American Life Project Surveys conducted Oct-Nov 2006 and Nov 2007-Feb 2008.  Margin of error for online teens is ±4% for Oct-Nov 2006 and ± 3% for Nov 2007-Feb 2008. Source for Online Adult data: Pew Internet & American Life Project Surveys conducted August 2006, Feb-March 2007, Aug-Sept 2007, Oct-Dec 2007, May 2008, August 2008, November 2008, and December 2008.  Margin of error for all online adults is ±3%, the average margin of error for each age group can be considerably higher than ± 3%, particularly for the “Matures” and “After Work” age groups.  See Methodology for average margins of error for each generational group.

* No teen data for these activities  

If your user demographic is of an older generation, adding that social networking piece may not be the cost effective way to reach them.  Instead, harness their natural tendencies and invest in Search Engine Optimization so that you can be found easily when they are doing their research.  Also, adding a robust search engine within your site and articles with good copy directly responds to their methodical approach to the web and research.

For users who are younger and using the web for social networking, creativity, content sharing and their primary source for communication and entertainment, creating that Facebook page may be the wisest investment and may reach the widest audience.  Harnessing their more techno-savvy natures also means using creative means to become more engaging.  Utilize video, music, and technology that fits into the palm of their hands.

Many times we see companies eager to have a real presence “on the web” and in doing so a desire to use the latest technology to reach their users without knowing what current user trends are.

To be fair, these rules are not hard-and-fast.  There are many older adults who use social networking online, though usually via Twitter and not necessarily Facebook or MySpace.   As techno-savvy as they are, younger users who are using MySpace and Facebook, do not know of Twitter’s existence.  Search Engine Optimization is important for all users and all websites, and I would always recommend making your site easier to find.

Online strategy and marketing means really understanding who your users are and what corners of the web they occupy.  Shot-gun approaches that hit the latest fads aren’t necessarily hitting the bull’s-eye.

As is my habit, last week I printed a web article to read on the train home and grabbed it from the printer. When I stepped on the elevator I recognized an icon from my youth, the man I knew as the future of the funk, LL Cool J. So in honor of that moment I have written this blog and weaved in my favorite LL song along with my favorite work related topic: usability.  

Many marketers are trapped in “Ivory Towers” with cloudy windows that don’t allow them to clearly see what the customer needs on the web.  Nothing can beat a good usability test when it comes to verifying a web design.  Skipping usability to save money is pennywise and pound-foolish.

Marty Nemko’s article on USnews.com proclaims that Usability Specialist is a hot job for 2009. I wonder if that is really going to be true for the web, where in a world of shrinking budgets, usability line items seem to become more often than not. He goes on to explain, “This profession has a hard time agreeing on a name for itself… user experience specialist, interface designer, information architect, usability practitioner, user-centered design specialist, and usability manager.”

LL: “Don’t call it a come back [we]’ve been here for years.” We, the web usability folks, have been around for years (since ’98 in my case). As Nemko astutely points out, the nomenclature has been varied, I myself have been called Customer Experience Designer (Bankone/Chase), User Experience Designer (Citi), Webmaster (Revlon), Website Manager (ESPN), and many other things I simply can’t repeat here. We have a staff person here at Flightpath who is officially called an Information Architect and yet she often talks about herself as a User Interface Designer or a Human Factors Expert.

LL: And I'm just gettin warm…Why do u riff with me? It always seemed so obvious to me that when you re-design a website you should take the time to ask people in the target user audience what they think as you go through the process.  Find out which design variations work best and adapt them.

LL: BLAAAAW, how ya like me now? In my new business development role, I have remained true to my usability roots. I pitch clients on usability as a must have rather than a superfluous ala carte item that is at the top of the chopping block when the budget gets squeezed.

LL: Listen to my gear shift. Then, at lunch the other day, my good friend Lon Taylor of First Insight’s reminded me that the father of usability for the web, Jakob Neilsen (shown with his head on top of LL's body ;), asserts that every $10 dollars spent on Usability saves $100 in re-work down the road.

LL: I'm goin insane, startin the hurricane, releasin pain. Lettin you know that you can't gain. So why do clients so often ask to cut this corner or see it as a luxury they can’t afford? Will usability remain the redheaded step child in the world of web design or is that about to change as Usability Expert becomes a hot job as Nemko predicts?

I welcome your comments...and look forward to the next time I see LL in the elevator.

Here is Marty’s Article:
http://www.usnews.com/articles/business/best-careers/2008/12/11/best-careers-2009-usability-experience-specialist.html