Internet Summit 2015

Internet Summit 2015 is a widely known conference for internet professionals – about 2,500 in attendance this year in Raleigh, NC. The most successful leaders in the industry were the attending speakers and it was a big hit. 

Key Internet Marketing Takeaways

1. Content is King

Content is still important, and may be the most important search ranking factor in the future, according to Rand Fishkin (SEO Keynote Speaker). Writing content is tough, but the payout is substantial. For instance, if you do a quick Google search for “Fiberglass pool cost”, this well written article is the top result. It’s from a mom and pop pool company in Virginia. The reason this nabbed the #1 search result is because it is the authority on fiberglass pool costs. It’s important to write quality content, and if you’re running out of ideas, use this Keyword Tool to come up with topics.

2. Email is still the #1 activity online

We all check our email several times a day (some of us never get away from it). It’s the best way to interact with your customers. Email is a great, non intrusive way to let folks know of upcoming specials and discounts. But remember, you don’t always have to be selling them something. This is the perfect time of year to wish your past, current, and future customers a happy holidays.

3. Content Creation and Repurposing

Content creation can be tough when getting your new site up and running. The same content can be repurposed in many ways such as:

– Info graphics

– Videos

– Translated in to different languages

– Reimplementation to SlideShare

– Webinar uses

Each of these repurposing uses can be tricky but with a little creativity can make a huge impact on the way the user converts. Content that you create should lead the conversation and guide the user to the point of sale. This can be completed by knowing your topics / business and creating a relationship through your content. Always remember “Customers need a business that wants to lead the conversation.” So be knowledgeable – and to the point – in a way that promotes your service in an interesting way.

4. User Experience For Better Customer Experience

The primary focus for any website is to engage the user to stay on your site as long as possible – and ultimately convert. One of our (White Fox) conversion tricks is by placing a contact form on (almost) every page. Some of our customers have increased their website leads by 400% just by making it easy for the visitor to contact. While this is effective, it is just one of the many steps needed to ensure the website is geared towards sales.

These “fill in the blanks” below will help you gear your content toward the target customer:

We are a __________.

For ___________.

Who ___________.

Unlike _________.

We are a ____________.

That ______________.

We deliver ______________.

This will help you understand more about who you are as a business and who your customers are . Creating a connection between you and your customer will help orchestrate a strong loyal bond which leads to the customer returning – and word of mouth becoming more prominent.

Why Is User Experience Important?

User Experience (UX) refers to a person’s emotions and attitudes about using a particular product, system or service. User experience includes the practical, experiential, affective, meaningful and valuable aspects of human–computer interaction and product ownership. (Source: Wikipedia). User experience is the key to a successful website with your focus ultimately being converting the visitor to a user.

It is always important to remember that people expect to have things work like they should without thinking about it. Failure to do so can be detrimental and cause you not to meet your goals for your website. When a user first gets to your website they will expect some usual features that most websites have such as:

– Navigation

– Searchable content

– Informative content

– Location of key features: search bar, home button, logo position

– Don’t force the user to relearn the web experience just to use you website.

Generally speaking users will ask themselves these 3 questions as they navigate and read your content:

– Why am I reading this?

– Is the information correct?

– Am I learning?

A great approach to the user experience is to give the user what they want. What do my users want you ask? Well this is determined by, as mentioned before, creating a persona for your customer that directly corresponds with your business’ persona. We want to make the customer smarter by visiting your website. Doing so will enlighten the user/customer to make an informative decision. Usually the customer will go with the business that helped create the best idea of what they need.

5. Social Media Trends

Facebook may be the #1 social media platform, but that won’t always be the case. According to a recent study, teens prefer twitter and instagram over Mark Zuckerberg’s blue and white baby. What does that mean for us? Right now, nothing. But as soon as teens reach adulthood, we could see Facebook waning, and Twitter and Instagram becoming the key way to interact with your customers. Better brush up on those hashtags!

The Psychedelic Party Bus Story

After day one’s lectures – they advertised an after-party at Crank Arm Brewery. Of the 2500 attendies, only about 15 people showed up. Me, Michael, Byron and Kyle walked over for a pint of Raleigh’s finest. After one pint, we decided to leave – and as we’re nearing the exit I overhear someone say “SEO”. So I convince the boys to crank up a conversation and we approach them to network, on the front patio. We met Bill, Patrick & Jim, who are big names in the industry and were very friendly. Jim wanders off over to a bus that just pulled up and gets on. Intriqued, we also walk over and a sign says “Get on the Bus!”:

So we got on!

Neon lights start flashing and a band starts jamming out as we enter. The driver says they’re going to take us back to the Marriott while they play a few songs for us. She goes on to tell us they’ve been on the road for over three years playing for anyone who gets on – visiting a different city each night. 

We arrive at the Marriott (and decide not to get off) and Rand Fiskin gets on – who is the biggest name in SEO (and keynote speaker at the conference), who founded one of the fastest growing software companies of our time. We have a couple more drinks with Rand and his wife Gerladine, who were a pleasure to hang out with – for the rest of the evening. 

Here is a video of the Interstellar Transmissions in action: