Monday, December 14th, 2009
I have to admit I don’t always do a lot of keyword research when I’m writing blog posts. However last week when I wrote about the iPhone competition in Singapore, I did make it a conscious effort to check out Google Insights for Search to see what search terms people were searching for (click for bigger image):
iPhone Singapore Searches
Although I had originally intended to title the post a little different (something like “What happens when you don’t compare yourself to the competition”), I realised that when it came to the subject matter (the iPhone in Singapore), branded keywords were the way to go. Almost every phrase in the screenshot above has some variation of a brand name + iphone, and that’s why I included all 3 brand names and the iPhone into my title eventually.
The results?
Just looking at top level data the results are stunning (click for bigger image):
iPhone Referral Traffic
iPhone Search Traffic
- On average, people who entered via search spent 44 seconds longer (that’s 25%) on the site than people who had entered via referring traffic (which included heavy hitters like Singapore Daily).
- Not only that but both the % of exits and bounce rate averages were lower for search than for referring traffic.
- Finally search traffic came from 95 keywords. That is a lot of long tail traffic that can be really valuable. To put this in perspective, my 2nd most popular post this month on 2010 social media trends had all of 15 keywords.
Two takeaways from this:
- Do not ignore search, it’s definitely the low hanging fruit. Three extra minutes spent on keyword research just for the title tag could create a lot of value when it comes to your on-page copy.
- Don’t think it’s about choosing referral traffic or search. Go for both.
Finally, it’s different for me because I run a blog. If I was one of those telcos I would make sure that for this landing page, there would be something, anything, that consumers can do to encourage conversion. Whether it’s entering their email to be kept up to date with the latest plans or getting them to leave their number so customer service can call them back or some digital collateral to download – there must be a call to action.
How are you using keyword research and SEO to make your content work for you? Are your initiatives producing results? Would love to hear from you in the comments.
Tags: iphone, iphone data plan, iphone singapore, m1, referral traffic, search traffic, SEO, singtel, starhub
Posted in SEO, Singapore, case studies, social media | 1 Comment »
Wednesday, December 9th, 2009
For the last year and a half, only one carrier, Singtel, had the rights to distribute the iPhone here in Singapore. Two days ago the other two telcos, M1 and Starhub announced their price plans and entered the market, generating lots of chatter everywhere.
Something interesting happened during this pricing scheme, which later led to somewhat of a “price war” between the three telcos. I think this is a really good case study to illustrate why you shouldn’t compare yourself with the competition.
When Starhub released its pricing plans earlier in the day, they modeled their pricing plan after Singtel’s. The basic plan started with 1gb of data usage at a price comparative to Singtel’s.
When M1 released their pricing plans later in the day, they didn’t even bother with what Singtel and Starhub were doing, and launched their basic plan at 10gb of data usage at a similar price to the other two.
In one bold move, by not limiting themselves to the existing paradigm, M1 turned the perception of data and price on its head. A day later, Starhub and Singtel upped the ante by increasing their basic plans to begin with 12gb of data (which really begs the question of how high the margins were on the original 1gb….).
In other words, they forced Starhub and Singtel to play on their terms, whether or not their networks could theoretically support that kind of data.
While this isn’t a perfect example because price is easily mimicked, this illustrates the power of not benchmarking yourself to what’s already existing in the market or what your competition is doing or offering.
For your next business decision, are you going to be a Starhub and mimic the status quo, or be an M1 and lead the way forward? You decide.
[also check out Daphne's take on the iPhone data war on her blog and Weimeng's take as well.]
[image credit: hongkiat.com]
Tags: data plan, iphone, iphone plan, m1, price plan, singtel, starhub
Posted in Marketing, case studies | 6 Comments »
Friday, October 9th, 2009
At best, you’ll be as good as them.
Today the BLUE blog is finally going live after about two months of planning and preparation. It was literally handed to me on my first day of work and I was told to make it a reality. I gotta say, it has got to be the hardest blog I’ve ever set up, compared to signing up with Wordpress with a click.
But one thing I really enjoyed about working on the blog was that I was never told to look at company X or firm Y. It was really built on the belief that we’d get it started and it’ll evolve organically as time goes by. And when you aren’t thinking within the “box” that competitors or other firms have set, then you have much more room to grow.
Maybe you notice one competitor is on Facebook and another is on Twitter so you decide to go on both just to “keep up”, when that money could have been spent on paid search or SEO and doubled your conversion rate, but you didn’t because your “competitor wasn’t doing it”.
Where would the iPhone be if Apple looked at the existing competitors in the market at the time? How about the Wii if all Nintendo did was look at what was in existence in the form of the Playstation and the Xbox? How much money would then-presidential candidate Obama have raised if he chose to do it the same, “tried and tested” way every presidential candidate had before him, through fund raising parties intead of going straight to the voters via new media? Where will your company end up if all you’re doing is looking over your shoulder?
I’m not saying scoping out the competition is a waste of time, definitely not. But you’ll have strengths that they won’t have and they’ll have weaknesses that you don’t. So whatever they’re doing may not work for you and vice versa.
Take my limited real world “experience” with a bucket of salt, but give me the choice and I’d choose to cut my own blazing path than be a follower. Innovation is key.
Tags: apple, blog, blue, competitive analysis, facebook, iphone, nintendo, obama, playstation, social media, twitter, wii, wordpress, xbox
Posted in social media, social media business | 4 Comments »
Monday, May 18th, 2009
This is a quick overview of Day One of Youth Connect! which I had the privilege of attending and being a panelist at today, and I had a really good time.
For the first time in a long time, I could listen to people who actually knew their stuff go up there and tell us about their social media efforts, demonstrate some form of ROI, and hold up under scrutiny. I admit I was all ready to roll my eyes in cynicism when a speaker went up and said he was well-versed in digital marketing with an advertising agency, but then he actually knew what he was talking about. Very different from some speakers who just talk a lot, but don’t really say anything.
So my highlight was really speaking at the youth panel with four other people from the other universities, and I have to give Graham Perkins (@grayperks)props for really revving up the crowd even though it was the last session of the day. It was by far the most interactive session I’ve had the chance to speak at, and I think the smaller size of the conference helped people get used to one another and ask questions.
One thing that I “feel” intuitively at this conference, is that people understand more about social media than they did a year ago. The types of questions I had to answer a year ago and the types of questions I had to answer today, were quite different, and basic knowledge of what Facebook is, what Twitter is, what iPhones can do, can be pretty much be assumed, which makes a lot of difference when you’re trying to answer questions without leaving anyone behind.
As always, my favourite topic of newspapers came up again (which I will blog about soon), and I did have to answer one question about the effectiveness of advertising, and whether youth actually notice them. The room gave a slightly audible gasp when I told them Gen Y is pretty much trained to “ignore” interruptive marketing and advertising, but I think it’s not an exaggeration to say that.
When one other attendee asked if anyone of the five of us saw a physical ad (print, tv, outdoor) and went online to do research on that product or service based on the ad, the answer was a resounding no. So there you have it.
Lots of other stuff I want to talk about, a few great case studies that I really enjoyed listening to, I hope to blog them soon. It’s going to be Youth Connect! Week on the blog this week, but I think you’ll enjoy reading about it.
I will say this about the organisers: It’s not a big event, but I think they brought in great speakers. Companies who paid money to attend this (especially in this recession), should be very satisfied with the value they got out of it.
Tags: advertising, day one, digital marketing, facebook, Gen Y, graham perkins, ignore interruptive marketing, interruptive advertising, iphone, newspapers, outdoor ad, panelist, physical ad, print ad, ROI, social media efforts, tv ad, twitter, youth connect, youth panelist
Posted in Events, Singapore, social media, social media business | 2 Comments »
