inter:digital strategies

Publishers Aim to Kill Their Business (Title slightly rewritten from the original.)

Actually, it’s a bit more complex than this. Reading between the lines, I believe that what’s going on is that these publishers want to allow search engines to crawl and index their content, but NOT allow search engines to make use of snippets of that content or aggregate the information.

Kind of a situation of wanting to have their cake and eat it too, as I see it.

In addition, the article states:

In one example of how ACAP would work, a newspaper publisher could grant search engines permission to index its site, but specify that only select ones display articles for a limited time after paying a royalty.

Although this is a poorly written sentence, it appears to say that this program would allow publishers to control what search engines were allowed to access their content when, in addition to requiring royalties be paid by those search engines.

Andy Beal describes this as publishers building a new robots.txt file, but I think there’s really a bit more to it. The publishers still see that search engines are a great way to get users to their information. They don’t want their content removed, they simply want more control over how it’s used.

The article also says:

What is required is a standardized way of describing the permissions which apply to a Web site or Web page so that it can be decoded by a dumb machine without the help of an expensive lawyer.

A robots.txt file does meet this description. However, a robots.txt file is purely a binary decision maker: either you can come in, or you can’t. This project, I suspect, is designed to build a more complex permissions system, allowing robots to visit at some times but not others, to view articles provided certain criteria are met, etc. None of this couldn’t be done by combining a robots.txt file with some sort of server-side decision making, but why not centralize the logic?

This isn’t to say that I think it’s a good idea. I’m pretty confident that there are much simpler ways to accomplish their goals - starting with effective monetization of their own sites. But it has to be acknowledged that the publishing industry has been undergoing a groundswell of change over the last decade. Access to information has changed radically during this time, and more traditional publishing companies are simply trying to keep their business models alive.

Images are a critical part of almost any website. Having a well-communicated brand identity can make a huge difference in convincing visitors to return - and having high quality product images can be the difference between a sale and an exit page.

I’ve had too many cases where, in an otherwise beautiful design, I’ve had to work with clumsy, out of focus, poorly optimized images. All the copy in the world may not help you if you’ve got low quality pictures.

The internet is a place where people can make decisions based on concrete issues - they can look at how an item is manufactured, what materials it’s made of, whether it’s non-toxic, and read reviews. But at the end of the day, gut feeling will inevitably play a part - and part of that gut response is going to be based on whether they can visualize your product in their life.

When you’re purely dealing with issues of search optimization, your written content is absolutely the most important single issue to focus on. But that only solves part of the overall marketing question: getting targeted visitors to your site. Convincing them to purchase your product can be greatly helped by strong visual impact.

Tips for Better Images

1. It’s not JUST about the product.

   Setting the stage for your product isn’t just a matter of going into your shop and taking a picture of it on the shelf. Do your storage room’s utility shelves help sell your product? NO. Depict your product either in use or in an appropriate abstract environment.

2. It’s ABOUT the product.

   Yes, I know what I just said - but even though the picture isn’t just about the product, it is mostly about the product. Don’t make people search for the product in your picture.

3. Work large.

   Assuming you’re not going to have a professional take your pictures, don’t make the mistake of reducing all your images yourself. You should always do any editing work at full-size - and you should always deliver full-size originals to the web professional who’s working with your site. You may think that they’re just too big to be useful, but trust me - your marketing team wants the best possible image to start from!

4. Never get rid of the originals.

   Thought you’d save yourself some hard drive space by deleting all your full-size digital images or scans? Whoops! Now all you’ve got to work with is your web-scaled .jpg. Face it - you never know when you may want to re-purpose an image.

5. Don’t be satisfied with just one shot.

   How do professional photographers work? They take a lot of pictures. Yes, professionals also have the benefit of years of experience and training in photo composition and lighting, etc. But anybody can take a great picture with patience.

6. If you don’t like the picture; don’t use it.

   You are a good judge of your product. If you don’t think that your picture is presenting the best view of what you’re selling, you’re probably right. Sometimes deciding between different great pictures is difficult - but you should always be able to eliminate the bad ones right away.

Take the time on your images that you do on your copy - it’ll pay off. Remember that a picture is worth 1,000 words. Google can’t read them, but your customers can.

One question it can be useful to ask yourself when beginning an SEO study is how, exactly, you would go about finding the product you’re trying to emphasize. It’s not enough to simply brainstorm synonyms or chain together descriptive terms: you need to think like an amateur.

The vast majority of customers for any web site are amateurs. Amateurs buying ski gear, amateurs buying computer equipment, amateurs looking for medical information. They aren’t likely to be professional researchers, either. So you should never assume that they actually know anything specific about your product.

After all, why would a beginning canoe enthusiast know that your particular brand of tortured plywood kayak is the best? For that matter, do they even know what "tortured plywood" is? Probably not. But they do know that they’re looking for a boat which is light, easy to portage, hard to overturn, and they may even know whether they’re going to be using it on whitewater or flat water.

Even assuming amateur customers, you’ve got to assume some knowledge at some point…

But the key point here is that you can’t just describe your product - also describe how it’s used and what advantages it has. Not only will this provide you with a wider variety of search phrases to be found for, but your potential customer will be able to learn more about your product sooner. It’s a win-win situation.

A good practice technique to use when thinking about product searching and product descriptions is to go shopping for something else. Specifically, some product you don’t sell and don’t know a lot about.

Searching for gifts is a great way to explore this whole avenue of thought. You’re looking for a product which you know little about and you can’t ask the nearest expert without giving away the secret - the perfect opportunity to try and discover what a good product description is in this industry.

Escaping the barrier of your own knowledge is such a challenge in writing product descriptions. When you are an expert in your product line it’s easy to find yourself focusing on the nitty-gritty details and ignoring the more widely known characteristics in your writing.

Providing your detailed specifics certainly doesn’t hurt you - but don’t write your description just for the product’s designer.