Monkbam Pro Audio Marketing Blog

iPad Review

I was speaking to someone very familiar with Apple today and he asked me what I thought of the new iPad. I said that I liked it – it’s not meant to replace a laptop nor be a device you put in your pocket. It creates or fits a new category between those two products.

What makes the iPad stand out is that it does things a little bit better in one device than everyone else does in multiple products. Books? It looks better than the Kindle and has Apple’s interface and OS. It’s has a better implementation of a book store. Not by much, but I think it’s a step up from Amazon’s offering.

Movies? It has a nice screen that it big enough to take on a flight, but not so big it gets in the way. The iTunes store is the complementary product that makes this feature stand out from the rest. Same with music.

As a personal organizer, the current set of Apple apps and 3rd party ones give it a huge edge and frees Apple from having to develop tons of proprietary software.

The App store and the ability to use all of the apps already developed for the iPhone and iPod (backwards compatibility) is hugely appealing. And think of all the apps that will be developed specifically for this new device. I really do think this format will work, even though there have been some big crashes and burns in the past within this product category.

Apple’s Email Strategy

We then got in the topic of corporate communications. Every single email vendor I’ve spoken to over the last five years is head over heels for selling personalization and segmentation in that channel. There’s so much of a drive to get away from mass email campaigns and yet, Apple still has little to no personalization in their email strategy. I’m a huge Apple product fan and have been since I was 6, yet I’ve never gotten any recognition of this or special offer or anything from them that acknowledges my continued support of their brand.

How could they do this? They collect a lot of personal information about you from the registration and warranty. On the computer side, I’ve never gotten an email saying that my warranty period is about to expire (spam folder’s fault?). The computer could have a birthday too!

It’s the iTunes store and iPod customers where they could really do a lot of segmentation, since they know so much about the music you buy. The App store has the same value. Surely there are some products out there that are complementary to some of these “soft” items.

Forget that I’ve forced certain people in my life to go to the Apple store and buy stuff because I knew they wanted it before they knew it. It kind of ticks me off the more I think about it. It’s not going to be too long before the company is going to need to get into this personalized experience through email. Unfortunately, most companies begin to look at this option once they’ve screwed up pretty badly and need to reclaim all their former customers.

Article Highlights:

• Step 1: Start with keyword research via free tools and private data sources
• Step 2: Group your keywords into tightly themed groups
• Step 3: Map your keyword groups onto your information architecture

When you’re launching a new website, it can be tempting to just get it out there and worry about search engine optimization later. Websites are pliable — you can always change them when you need to, right?

Don’t make that mistake. Procrastinating on SEO can have a number of harmful effects on your site and your business:

• New domains often experience a “sandbox effect,” or a period of low (or nonexistent) search engine rankings. Neglecting SEO will only worsen the effect.
• The longer your site is live, the more complex a redesign becomes. A good redesign that takes SEO into account can be time-consuming and costly. (And it could be a while before you find the time and capital.)
• Redesigns often disrupt URL structure, so you lose the link equity you’ve earned over time.

All told, it’s much easier to build solid SEO into your site’s foundation before you launch. These three steps will help you create a well-organized information architecture that is friendly to users as well as search engines.

Step 1: Start with keyword research

You can’t do SEO without keyword research. Keywords are your building blocks. So don’t whiff this step by relying on brainstorming, purchased keyword lists, or a limited tool set. Be thorough and aggregate a comprehensive, accurate list of keywords from multiple data sources:

• You can seed your list with free, public keyword tools such as WordStream’s Free Keyword Tool or the Google AdWords Keyword Tool. Try entering both words and phrases related to your business and the URLs of competitive sites. Look at synonyms and related terms. Focus on relevance, not popularity.
• Whenever possible, use private data sources too. If you’ve been operating a related website, mine your log files or web analytics for real keywords that drive traffic and conversions.

Step 2: Group your keywords

This is the single most important step to transform a raw list into something truly useful and actionable. Segmenting your keywords into tightly themed groups will create a map for the layout of your website:

• Broad, high-level groups will correspond to the top-level categories on your website, so potential customers can easily find what they’re looking for. For example, a home goods site would have keyword groups (and site segmentations) devoted to bath products, bedding, kitchenware, and so on.
• Narrower subgroups of keywords will further help site visitors drill down to find their exact needs. Keyword subgroups under the kitchenware parent group might include pots and pans, small appliances, utensils, etc.
• This grouping process will save you lots of time in the end. You can create a series of focused, optimized pages that each target a small group of related terms, rather than needing to craft a unique page for every single keyword.

To ensure that you haven’t missed any potential keyword niches and groupings that could benefit your site, use The Free Keyword Niche Finder as a supplement to your research. This is a great way to uncover niches within your niche and check your keyword grouping work.

Step 3: Map your keyword groups onto your site

The last step is to map your keyword groups and subgroups onto your information architecture. Start with your homepage and top-level category pages, then build out your website by creating a hierarchy of optimized content filed under the appropriate category.

For a new business, SEO-friendly design is every bit as important as attractive design. With an organized, logical site structure that is easily navigable by humans and spiders alike, your site will be primed to enjoy better rankings for relevant keyword searches. After all, what good is a nice-looking website if your customers can’t find it?

Ian Hughes is owner of Monkbam Creative.

This entry came about as I tried to think of something useful for the music industry. You hear of new companies entering the industry all the time: SonicBids, Reverbnation, etc. Are they really all that useful, or just a fleeting waste of venture capital?

If, for instance, you focused on a group of industry components that co-exist with each other, you might come up with the Artists, Internet radio gods, and Venue booking agents. Of course, there are other people involved in the industry, but I’m only focusing on a few that seem to never quite get what they want.

Artists

Artists don’t have much of a problem recording and distributing albums, or getting on iTunes these days. With digital, all the distribution problems burst away quickly. If they do need to move thousands of physical albums, there are companies in reach that will do just that. I was thinking of the typical trajectory for many artists: produce album. figure out promotion strategies via internet. tour. (then do it again, even though the van broke down, they lost money going across the country, and one of them is getting married and has the workings of a “real” job). So many musicians spend all of their energy getting right to he touring phase and then are disappointed when they realize that touring is really just a bunch of smelly guys in a broke ass van with no money. How do they go further?

Remember when radio actually broke bands? I’m not talking about FM radio – thanks to the Federal Communications Act of 1996 that deregulated much of the industry, the soul of radio was lost to the likes of major conglomerates like ClearChannel. But radio didn’t die – it just moved to where everything else new lived – the interweb.

Radio
What bands don’t have is a direct connection to the multitude of internet radio stations that exist across the country. Let me tell you: some of these guys have awesome taste in music. Just browse iTunes to start! Many of these stations are college radio stations, and as any graduate of indie band touring knows, colleges pay serious money for you to play on their campuses. If bands had that college or local radio connection, they’d have a huge head start when they arrived at said touring destination.

Venue Booking Agents
These guys are an interesting breed. You’d think they had no trouble finding bands, but they do. More often than not, they’re overrun with requests from bands wanting to play at their venue. Their problem is not of bands finding them; it’s twofold: the wrong bands find them, and there’s too much noise in the stream for the right bands to get in. To make their job easier, they need to filter the crap out of the stream and allow the “right” bands in. Who are the right bands for the “right” venue? There’s surely an answer, but the the answer to that question deserves a prize.