Crest, Andy Wibbels and Popular Posts
power of blogging SEO andy wibbels crest pro-health Turbo Tagger
When I consult with companies and potential clients about launching a blog or expanding their web presence, I try to explain to them, "It's not all about SELL SELL SELL! It's about you, talking, making observations. Communicating with others. Starting a conversation. Let your website do the hard sell. Your blog is the soft sell, which can bring new eyes, "pull" new potential clients to you and your business."
Today I was at Andy Wibbels blog and he had done a post about his most popular post ever.
"One of my most popular posts of all time has nothing to do with marketing or blogging or anything connected to any of my interests. I was probably lurking Metafilter and saw a thread about Crest Pro Mouthwash turning people's teeth brown. I blogged it as an example of a large consumer products company most likely rushing a product through or not caring about side effects or burying testing data and realizing a backlash on sites like Amazon.com and assorted health forums.
My post was titled: Crest Pro Health Mouthwash Turning Customers Teeth BrownA few weeks later I started to get lots of comments on that particular post. People needed help!
I am another victim from this product. I bought Crest Pro-Health about 2 weeks ago and my first symptom after the 3rd day of use was salivary gland infection, which I thought had nothing to do with this product but I believe it does now. Now the bottom of my teeth as well as the top are brown.
And so on and so forth for 146 comments. The deluge of comments pointed me to the fact that I was the top non-Crest result for crest prohealth mouthwash and the #1 result for the search crest mouthwash brown teeth.
I think this is a great example of the power of blogging, search engine optimization and how businesses can maximize it.
* Blog about an urgent problem. My teeth are brown!
* Use language people actually might type into a search box. Not discolored or dentrifice but brown teeth! Call it what it is.
* Use an obvious post title.The search request matches the search result which matches the post title:
Sure there's lots of nuances in SEO and positioning and all that other madness - but this is a 15 second case study. Go to your blog's stats. What similar searches are you capturing?"
This proves my point! This is the Web 2.0 effect in action. Set up Google Alerts around topics that make sense for you. Or simply watch for news items you may want to comment on.
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
Great post about viral posting. BTW, I hope that those poor people with brown teeth found help.
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HI Laura -
thanks for stopping by and the comment. Web 2.0 and blogging is all about the "viral" aspect. We bang our heads against the wall trying to explain this to clients. They just want to post about their services and ME, ME, ME! - You have to look at this platform as a way to express yourself and your views - humanize you and your company. Share your knowledge. Share your thoughts and idea's. Personalize it. The reader can go to your website for the "hard sell".
Derrick
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I always find your posts thoughtful and worth reading, Derrick!
My first question before writing a newsletter or blog entry before used to be "what is interesting?" I now am trying to ask, "What's a problem?" By linking insights to a problem I'm hoping to draw people to my site.
Reading your advice above seems to reinforce this point.
Plus now I know why my teeth are brown. :)
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Thanks!
That's a great observation. And it needs to be a mix, I think. Some posts could be around what is interesting, some could be what's a problem, I always ask myself, what is someone searching for? would they search for this post title and find me?
And we have one client that talks about his services in a great way! He gives case examples on how he solved a particular problem for a client. So someone possibly seeking an answer to a similar problem can find his site. Become a reader. Look up to him as the expert. That's the soft sell! You are giving free information and positioning yourself as an expert in your field.
Derrick
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