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Will Qwiki Really Rule The World?

Cathy Burke Monday, January 24th, 2011

The buzz surrounding the new enhanced search engine, Qwiki, sets it up as a game changer. I have even heard it referred to as the possible “Google Killer” by some enthusiasts. Hmmm. It sounds cutting edge and cool, but I wonder if the typical user is really looking for that much of an enhancement to their everyday search queries? What made Google and Yahoo so life-changing was the ability to ask a question and then have the answer delivered quickly and directly. It simplified life in a revolutionary way. The enhancements of real-time search and local search have built upon that concept without creating any delayed gratification. However, I am not so sure that Qwiki will do the same. Its proclaimed bells and whistles seem as though they may be complicating a very functional concept. While it seems like a researcher’s dream, a real encyclopedia on steroids, how many of the millions of searches a day are looking for that much information?

If I am out and about in a particular area of the city and want to know what restaurants are recommended nearby, do I really need a full visual experience at that moment or do I just want “the shortcut answer”? I am hungry and wandering. I want to know where to go quickly to satisfy my appetite, what quality of food I will be getting and how much I can expect to pay for it. This can all be delivered in text form.

While I understand the want and need to bring more enhanced content to the user and I am excited to see the newest, most cutting edge technology; I think that the Qwiki experience may turn out to be “not so Qwiki” after all. There will be times when it will be advantageous and inspiring, but it may not always be needed for a typical search query. Bing, also promoted as a game changer when it launched, struggled on its own and eventually needed to partner with a traditional search engine. This makes perfect sense as Bing is great when there is time to shop, compare and investigate. However, when one is just looking for the short answer, Yahoo or Google do the trick just fine. So, it will be interesting to see where Qwiki lands for the long term in the ever expanding world of search. My guess is that it will be a strong player, but not necessarily ever the new Emperor in town. That said, I look forward to seeing behind the curtain at what Eduardo Saverin and Jawed Karim (no technology startup slouches!) are betting on. There is no arguing with their track records.

Posted in advertising, digital marketing, search, Uncategorized | No Comments »

Gourmet Strategy

Cathy Burke Thursday, June 3rd, 2010

I often get asked the question, “What is Digital Strategy?” As strange as it may seem, the way I explain it is in reference to a delicious gourmet meal. While it is easy to determine that cilantro, oregano, basil and dill are all wonderful ingredients, it is also true that not all of them work in every recipe. Although Chilean Sea Bass and Grilled Lamb Chops may be two of your favorite dishes, you would not necessarily pair the same wine or side dishes with them both. And just like every fine meal is unique, so is every brand.

When planning a meal, a great chef steps back and looks at the main course and then builds around it with only the most complimentary of ingredient combinations. Similarly, while planning a Digital Strategy for your brand, you must step back and determine what combination of ingredients would work best for your particular goals. Just because there is a big buzz around a new digital tactic at any given time, it does not necessarily mean it would work best in your recipe for success. Alternately, the amount of the budget carved out for a given tactic may need to be smaller (a pinch) or bigger (3 cups) depending on the evolving goals of your brand.

When putting together a digital strategy, you should start by asking the questions that will marry your short term and long term goals as well as your offline marketing plan to your digital plan. Where do you want your brand to be in 1 year, 5 years, and 10 years? Who is your core customer and what is your expansion market target? Are the offline initiatives being complimented by the online campaigns or operating in a silo?

Once your goals and challenges are clearly defined, you then begin to put together the best combination of tactics to achieve the desired result. While email may have proven to have the best ROI in the past, how much is too much? If you are ranking organically for a number of key terms, can you divert the paid search budget away from them and to others that are not performing as well organically– or will having the double presence on these particular terms be more powerful? At what times of year will it be best to raise the display or search budgets and when can a well executed social media campaign bring you to the next level? The list goes on and on. Like any fine meal, every ingredient should complement the others and work to create the best overall result. This starts out with a strategy.

Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

If You Build It, Will They Come?

Cathy Burke Wednesday, September 16th, 2009

SEO is certainly not a new topic. But, it continually astounds me that there are still sites representing large brands that are practically invisible to search engine spiders. That old tree falling in the forest analogy comes to mind. If you are selling the best jeans out there, but you don’t have a store or placement in a store in the mall where your customers are shopping for jeans, they will likely buy jeans at a store that IS in that mall.

Why then, would you not want to be front and center when a potential customer or client is actively looking for your product in the biggest mall in the universe—the virtual mall. Pretty homepages with great experience only go so far if nobody can find the site. And just incorporating SEO best practices really doesn’t do the trick anymore. The competition is out there vying for the best positioning, just as they would with store placement in a mall. Best Practices barely levels the playing field at this point.

SEO is not just about tagging anymore, although that is still very important. It’s also about strategic marketing. Crawlable content, SEO copywriting, strategic linking and social and PR optimization are all ingredients in the recipe for SEO success. In my opinion, SEO is one of the best digital marketing investments that any brand can make. The upfront cost will be made back manifold if your brand is ranking at the top of the search results.

When building a site, carving out the cost of SEO from the beginning will alleviate the larger cost of going back to fix it later. You don’t have to give up experience for SEO, you just need to put the pieces in place to ensure that there is a balance. Make sure that whoever is building your site has strong SEO experience and success. Ask to see examples. In the end, if you build the site, put the extra effort in to make sure “they” (aka your potential customers) will come.

Tags: SEO
Posted in search | No Comments »

Come Out, Come Out, Wherever You Are

Cathy Burke Wednesday, August 26th, 2009

Model Liskula Cohen sued Google to attain the name of the anonymous blogger who was defaming her. Now, the no longer anonymous blogger is suing Google for giving out the information. This case has stirred up a debate that will likely lead to new regulation on what people can post anonymously and I, for one, think that is a good thing.

There is a fine line here and I have landed on both sides of it at different points over the last week. Ultimately, while a personal blog should not be censored, an anonymous blog, could, in the wrong hands, become a vehicle of hate and defamation. Not holding people accountable would not only be anarchy in the making, but it would open up a very toxic can of worms. Social media should not support anti-social behavior. As much as I value the first amendment, it cannot be a shield for cowards to spew libelous hate from behind a black curtain.

Tags: google, Liskula Cohen
Posted in blogging | No Comments »

Not Your Father’s Newspaper – Or Is It?

Cathy Burke Tuesday, July 21st, 2009

I cannot remember a time when my father did not enjoy reading the Sunday paper. A man’s man when it came to most things, especially team sports, the newspaper has always been his form of quiet relaxation. Since his retirement, he has expanded his subscriptions to include 7-day delivery of several papers, which admittedly creates quite the visual at the end of the driveway in the morning. When the weather is not golf-friendly and his grandkids don’t have a game or meet to attend, he has been known to devour 4-5 papers a day.

As for the internet, Dad has been happily stunted in email – golf jokes forwarded amongst his buddies and keeping up with family and friends across the world. It actually took a month to teach him how to open videos and save pictures to the desktop. That was as digitally savvy as he had any interest in being.

Then, several months ago, out of the blue, Dad asked me how he could bookmark his favorite papers online. “You just add them to your favorites” I told him, rolling my eyes as if he’d ever actually do it. But, together we added the NY Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Washington Post, the London Times and several others. We searched out some sports related papers so that he would never be more than a click away from any score anywhere in the world. When we finished, I told him that if he read all of these papers every day, he would become a computer hermit. He laughed and said “no, now I can just skim them when I only have an hour or so.”

The other evening I entered his house to find him at the computer, tea in hand, getting the European football scores (soccer to us) from the Irish Times. “I added a few more papers to my favorites” was his first response to seeing me. He went on to tell me that he used “The Google” to find them.

Although he says he will never stop reading the Sunday paper as long as it is being published, even Dad sees the positives to online access. We have been hearing lots of news about the over 60 crowd joining Facebook at record numbers, but when they start putting down the physical paper and bookmarking the New York Times, that is when I know that there probably is no hope for the failing newspaper business. Having majored in Journalism in college, it saddens me a bit, but it excites me even more.

Tags: news, newspaper, newspapers
Posted in other | No Comments »

Author Archive

Will Qwiki Really Rule The World?

Gourmet Strategy

If You Build It, Will They Come?

Come Out, Come Out, Wherever You Are

Not Your Father’s Newspaper – Or Is It?

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