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Business 1060AM interviews Chief Marketing Officer of Backbone Media
about Search Engine Optimization and Search Engine Positioning
BOSTON MA - Mark Mills, the host of "Market Wrap",
interviewed the Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer of Backbone
Media, for the @Internet
Speed segment on WBIX, Business 1060am. The segment, which is produced
in conjunction with the Massachusetts Interactive Media Council (MIMC),
aired live during "drive time" at 4:55 p.m. on Tuesday, February
26, 2002, and a recorded version was repeated at 6:55 p.m. You can also
listen to an audio clip of the interview:
Listen now with
Real Audio.
Listen now with
Windows Media.
Here's a summary of the interview:
Q: What does Backbone Media specialize in?
A: Backbone Media specializes in search
engine optimization, which is also called search engine positioning.
We also provide other Internet marketing services.
According to Forrester
Research, "Search engines are the top way consumers find new
web sites online."
An estimated 325 million searches are conducted daily, quadruple the
1998 volume.
Many searches produce thousands of results. So, the goal of search engine
optimization is to have your web site appear in one of the top 10 positions
when people search by key terms and phrases.
Q: How do you accomplish that?
A: Backbone Media uses a variety of positioning tactics that are considered
best practices in the industry. This includes optimizing meta tags, page
titles, and body text; creating information pages that provide useful
information to human visitors as well as search engine spiders; and linking
to related businesses in your marketplace.
Q: What do you find to be the biggest reservations companies have for
making online investments today?
A: The biggest reservation companies have could be called The
First Law of Wing Walking: "Never let go of what you've got until
you've got hold of something else."
Companies have a firm grip on the more traditional marketing tactics.
Even when these traditional marketing tactics become more expensive or
less effective, companies are reluctant to grab hold of something new
until it has proven itself to be reliable.
Well, search engine optimization has proven itself to be a very reliable
marketing tactic.
For example, one of Backbone Media's clients is PressKits,
a custom printing and packaging company. They had a web site but it generated
very little new business. In just three months after hiring us, PressKits
was pleasantly surprised to realize that their web site was contributing
"more
than half of all new business sales". Since then, their client
acquisition costs have dropped dramatically and the web continues to be
their best source of new business.
Q: Companies today are working on a shoestring budget. How can you optimize
your marketing initiatives and build a brand with little to no budget?
A: Search engine optimization and positioning has been called "the
ultimate cost-effective, online guerrilla-marketing tactic." Even
small programs can produce large results.
For example, another Backbone Media client is A
Hundred Monkeys. They are naming and branding consultants. Last year,
we helped A Hundred Monkeys get more press than their biggest competitor,
which is about a hundred times their size.
Q: It's been a tough time out there. What trends do you see in the industry?
A: Right, Mark, it seems like we were hit with a triple whammy. First,
the dot com bubble burst. Then the recession hit. And finally, click-through
rates on banner advertising dropped. But the bright spot in all this has
been search engine optimization. That's why Backbone Media strongly believes
that search engine optimization is a need-to-have, not a nice-to-have
part of a company's marketing mix.
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