Day 4
Track 2: User Generated Content & Search
Platform Members:
Andrew Goodman of Page Zero Media
Matt McGee of Marchex
Lee Odden of TopRank Online Marketing
Lets dive right into it. In this blog, all you will do is simply reply to this message with comments below. In a nut shell, that’s user generated content. Now get busy. My rankings depend on it. Come on now….don’t you want to support your friend with traffic?
Okay, okay, I’ll share my notes.
Reasons UGC or User Generated Content Is Good For You:
1. 51 % of all consumers participate in USG
2. Consumers EXPECT to contribute!
3. Consumers trust UGC over traditional sources.
4. Sites that contact UGC have better conversions. Wouldn’t you be more likely to by with a good review!
5. Creates SEO generated content to target long tail keywords and other terms your users call you product or service.
So what is User Generated Content?
Interaction of sites users. For example, you can leave a review at Walmart.
Quick Tip: Don’t make like Zillow and offer the opportunity to update content but then have no one participating in the discussion boards. People want to join a party 🙂
Is UGC Right For You?
1. UGC is trusted.
2. There can be SPAM
3. There may be false or outdated content created.
4. Who owns the content? – Create policies that define ownership and liability.
5. Structure can be challenging with tagging.
6. Negative info about you or company or industry (see above).
UGC Tips:
1. User generate content = Content Management System SEO. be sure to make your URLs crawl-able, no hidden links and only 3 parameters in page names.
2. Site architecture – Allow for tagging. You wan to also have predefined tags. it will encourage your users to use your keyword optimized keywords in addition to creating their own!
3. Optimize your meta data!
4. Content needs to rock! Allow your users to submit articles, images, videos, applications and more!
5. Functionality
Next up, Matt McGee who starts us off with my favorite, stats!
92 %of 2000 online adult shoppers find reviews and other UGC VERY helpful.
28 % of websites offer UGC.
The Case For User Reviews:
1. SEO – USG uses the natural language of your target audience
2. Sales/Conversion – You’ll see fewer return!
3. Educate the retailer – Find out what product to expand on or remove.
4. Increase in sales!
Overcoming Fears:
1. Negative Reviews – Get over it! People are going to talk about you whether you want to be part of it or not. You need to be there to manage the negative reviews. By handling, it creates trust in you and your products. Besides, users want to know their faults. They want to see if they can live with them.
***NOTE: Bazaar returns 80% positive results and Yelp has 85% positive user feedback.
2. Fake Reviews – From your competitors, etc.
a. Track IPs
b. Require login
c. Make it a manual process
d. Just offer basic answers to questions like “What this helpful?”
3. Implementing
a. Post a policy
b. Make sure search engines can crawl.
c. Allow sorts for ratings
d. Create “Top Rated” section
e. PROMOTE!
Quick Tip #1: Offer encouragement through contest and other rewards like “review to win”, or “(keyword phrase) coupons”.
Quick Tip #2: Use email management to follow up requesting user reviews.
Where to get UGC:
1. Do it yourself
2. Bazaarvoice
3. PowerReviews
4. Amazon
5. Inods
6. ExpoTV – Video review!
Cal Coast is offering $20 off your next bill if you submit a testimonial or review to Info@CalCoastWebDesign.com!!!!!
Still have remaining questions? Want more?
Check out…
Matt McGee’s Let Your Users Do The Talking
Posted By: Angela Collins
Cal Coast Web Design
