1. Tap into a larger creative pool of talent for ideas.
2. Larger test audience for proposed initiatives before they go generally public.
3. Given that the average employement time is shrinking, IBM can keep close to a pool of trained people for staffing up during times of need.
4. Make it more likely that current employees can find mentors without an internal agenda.

1. Access to the significant corporate resources that were once available to me as an employee
2. Connections to other ex-employees with whom I feel a real camaraderie
3. Endless opportunities for doing business with other ex-employees regionally, nationally, or globally.
4. Involvement in initiatives of mutual interest such as community projects with other ex-employees, non-profits, and socially responsible people
5. Knowledge of IBM’s open contracts for vendors

Grab it by the Long Tail.

While others are participating in a virtual feeding frenzy over the most coveted keywords, I always advise my clients to expand their marketing using “Long Tail” thinking. This concept, first introduced by Chris Anderson in Wired magazine in 2004, describes how the Internet has made it possible for a company to generate as many sales from “fringe” products that aren’t bestsellers as they do from their bestsellers. These sales come in over a longer period of time (hence the term “long tail”), but can eventually equal half of the total company sales. The Internet makes it possible for a company to have limitless virtual shelf space, whereas a brick-and-mortar business would end up telling the customer, “I’m sorry. We don’t stock that item.”

How does “Long Tail” apply to your keywords?

Many SEM companies focus exclusively on tracking 10 to 20 top keywords, thinking that 80% of their clients’ sales will come from them; but a closer look at actual site analytics paints a different picture. Site analytics shows traffic for the most used keywords first and filters down to the least used ones. There is always a dramatic drop in traffic between the high numbers for the optimized keywords and all the other keywords.

These “lesser” or “long-tail” keywords, often hundreds of them, form a long list of search terms visitors regularly use that goes unnoticed and untracked. They slip in quietly under the radar – a few visits per keyword every day – drip…drip…drip. When you add them up, this group of overlooked keywords can actually be responsible for as much as 80% of your clients’ sales.

Track your long-tail keywords.

Start tracking your long-tail keywords’ connection to actual sales. The results will be eye-opening. You will uncover key search terms of untapped, niche markets that you can begin to optimize and easily dominate. Use these overlooked keywords to expand your thinking about your overall marketing. It can revolutionize your business and your SEM results for your clients.

Many people in the SEM (Search Engine Marketing) business have gotten very good at implementing vertical marketing strategies for their clients. They know how to drill down and grab every keyword configuration uncovered by their keyword research. Even with all of their research, their organic optimization methods and their paid search techniques, it can still be difficult, if not impossible, to crack the ranks of the most used keywords because the competition is doing exactly what they are doing.

For you, the business owner or corporation looking to expand its online market, it’s time to get out of that one-way, vertical mode of thinking about SEO and expand your horizons with a complementary strategy that can eventually double the results of any vertical SEO strategy.

I’m talking about “Lateral Thinking.” Here’s how it can dramatically enhance results for your web properties:

Example: You have a web property which sells Opera CDs. So far, as a result of your vertical marketing mindset, you’ve concentrated on keywords connected to specific opera singers, opera titles and composers of operas. Unfortunately, every other SEM effort for selling opera CD’s is taking a similar approach.

Look what happens when you add “Lateral Thinking” to your strategy. Lateral thinking looks more closely at the whole person who buys opera CDs. Who are they? What does their lifestyle community look like? If they buy opera CDs, what else would they tend to buy?

How about tickets to the opera, books and movies on opera, books on Italy and the world-famous La Scala Opera House, opera collectibles and memorabilia, vacations to Italy, subscriptions to National Public Radio …and the list goes on. Once you look more closely at the buyer’s lifestyle, instead of just one specific purchase, you can begin optimizing for these much less competitive keywords. The added bonus: even paid search utilizing these lateral search terms will cost far less and will generate just as much revenue over a longer period of time.

Then watch how your web properties traffic begins to rise.

• Banner Ads Drive Search
• Influence Drive Optimize
• This blog is published on Amazon Kindle (pending a...
• Trademark Keywords can be used in Google Ad compai...
• Google Introduces Rich Snippets
• Shoppers Shop Around
• Market Smart
• Being Human
• Sharing is not always a good idea
• SEO People

• November 2005
• December 2005
• January 2006
• February 2006
• March 2006
• November 2006
• December 2006
• January 2007
• May 2007
• June 2007
• July 2007
• August 2007
• September 2007
• October 2007
• November 2007
• March 2008
• April 2008
• September 2008
• October 2008
• March 2009
• May 2009
• June 2009
• Current Posts