Blue Ocean website positioning Technique — Whiteboard Friday

When you’re accustomed to the blue ocean marketing strategy, you already know that website positioning is inherently a “pink ocean” business. With fierce competitors to achieve rankings, hyperlinks, and authority, SEOs are always attempting to one-up their rivals. On this atmosphere, is there any hope for making a “blue ocean” — innovating to keep away from the uneven waters of the present market? 

In at this time’s Whiteboard Friday, PJ Howland of Leaders.com suggests {that a} blue ocean website positioning technique is achievable by means of creating sensible content material on your clients. Watch to study extra! 

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Video Transcription

Hey, Moz followers. Welcome again to a different Whiteboard Friday. I’m PJ Howland. I’m the Head of website positioning and Evergreen Content material at leaders.com. So my background is form of that candy spot proper in between in case you’ve received website positioning over right here and content material and editorial over right here, that center floor the place website positioning and editorial and content material collide.

When you’re accustomed to that world, you already know that we’re coping with thinner margins, we have now fewer assets, and we have now much less clear path. So that is the world we function in. It is a spot the place we’re attempting to simply get somewhat little bit of a bonus over our rivals, and it is form of created this fastened mindset of simply attempting to scrape by to simply get somewhat little bit of a bonus.

Nevertheless, I feel that there is a mindset that may actually assist break this mould to be sure that each single month is definitely your greatest month ever. So it is the blue ocean website positioning technique. 

What’s blue ocean technique?

So what’s blue ocean website positioning technique? Nicely, begin with what blue ocean technique is. 

Possibly you’ve got learn the guide “Blue Ocean Technique.” Possibly you’ve got heard the time period thrown round. Possibly you have not heard of it in any respect. Give me only one minute and I will form of clarify this with a narrative. 

So again within the days when circuses have been touring the countryside, there have been two predominant circuses, Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey, and they’d spend a number of time, power, and assets attempting to at least one up one another.

They have been producing who can have crazier stunts, who can have weirder clowns, who can have extra eccentric animal methods or no matter. It received to the purpose to the place they have been competing so laborious with one another that they forgot what their clients actually cared about. The feelings of the day have been that, hey, we do not wish to see a number of rings. We do not like wanting in all places. Put it again down to at least one ring. We do not just like the animal methods. They’re merciless. They’re outdated. However these circuses have been so fastened on competing with one another that each of them ended up dropping out. 

Then who ought to come alongside? This new participant, Cirque du Soleil. Now, in case you’ve been to a Cirque du Soleil present, you most likely know the place I am going with this. It is in contrast to a standard circus. The truth is, it is in contrast to the rest on the market. However what they did do is that they took what labored and excluded what did not work from a standard circus. So that they reduce out the merciless animal acts. Additionally they stored within the clowns and the acrobats, as a result of these have been working within the conventional circus, they usually introduced in this sort of third warmth of this theater ingredient, this tremendous theater expertise.

When you’ve been to a Cirque present, you already know what I am speaking about. There’s positively a story there. So what they’ve finished is that they’ve created a blue ocean. They’ve created a world the place there actually isn’t any direct apples-to-apples rivals. 

Now, Cirque du Soleil is not the one participant on the market who’s finished this. We may discuss iTunes. What have been your choices earlier than iTunes? Netflix, similar factor. Earlier than Netflix was on the scene, the place have been you watching your stuff? Airbnb. You see the place I am going with this, that each one three of those companies or merchandise launch, there actually wasn’t something on the market. It was a real blue ocean. 

Blue ocean website positioning

So how will we get that from an website positioning perspective?

Nicely, we have to begin by realizing the place website positioning is correct now. So website positioning is a hard and fast mindset sport. Inherently it’s a pink ocean technique. When you do not imagine me, let me illustrate it this manner. You’ve got this case the place you’ve got received a key phrase.

You take a look at your competitor and also you see, hey, they have 100 hyperlinks. You say, “Huge deal. I will get 200 hyperlinks.” Their web site velocity rating is 80. I’ll make it 90. We will have 90. They write 1,500 phrases. You see the place I am going with this. We write 2,500 phrases. That is not blue ocean pondering. That’s fastened, pink ocean, fierce competitors mindset pondering, nevertheless it’s the place loads of SEOs discover themselves. Heck, I have been there. That’s primarily skyscraper content material.

It is skyscraper article constructing. Hey, there’s been a spot for that, however at its core it truly is pink ocean, fastened mindset pondering. So how will we recover from that? How will we as SEOs, digital entrepreneurs, content material entrepreneurs, how will we recover from the truth that we’re taking part in a pink ocean sport? 

Begin with the client

Nicely, it begins with the client.

So image this. Image you are sitting down with a buyer, besides you are not a marketer anymore. You perhaps work on the achievement or service or product facet. You sit down with them and also you say, “Hey, we’re enhancing our product, our service, our achievement. What’s going to make it a greater answer for you?” Simply image an awesome dialog the place they are going backwards and forwards with you.

You accumulate beneficial perception, and on the finish, you produce a greater product and that buyer is grateful for it. Now image that very same buyer besides swap out your self as a product marketer and now you are a marketer marketer. You are speaking about your website positioning technique and also you say, “Hey, so what we do is we take a look at the rivals and we add extra phrases. We see the hyperlinks that they construct and we add extra hyperlinks. What do you consider that? How does that profit you?”

The shopper goes to take a look at you and say, “That does not assist me in any respect. That is not what I requested for. That is not what I would like. That is not the deal of how companies work. You are right here to make my world simpler.” Fact be instructed, after we add extra phrases to a web page, typically we’re simply making extra phrases on the market. Are you aware what I imply? It is one thing that the shoppers do not wish to take care of.

Set your writers up for achievement

So we reside on this actuality although, the place as SEOs, as editorial professionals, as content material entrepreneurs, we’re on this place the place we’re tasked with virtually an unattainable process. How will we ship distinctive content material when the individuals producing that, perhaps it is an website positioning, perhaps it is a author, aren’t essentially the subject material consultants?

So it begins with what you give the author or the website positioning to really start this mission. So I’ve discovered so many individuals begin with they only say, “Hey, this is the key phrase. Go for it. We’re attempting to rank for this. Simply get that piece of content material out.” Inevitably, you’ll produce a skyscraper piece of content material with that. That units everybody up for failure.

No one wins when all you do is begin off with a key phrase. As an alternative what I’ve discovered is it actually takes detailed write-ups that start with interviews with material consultants. My outlines that I produce with my group, I’ve by no means seen one beneath two pages. Most of them are between three to 5 pages that we produce for these particular person matters. That each one has to return from your personal perception with like your group. I am unable to actually produce what your buyer needs. That is one thing I invite you to determine by yourself. Nevertheless, I’ve discovered that clients, it doesn’t matter what business you are in, I do not care if it is B2B, B2C, I do not care in case you’re promoting SaaS, or in case you’ve received an e-commerce platform, no matter, the individual that says, “Sure, I wish to purchase that,” is all the time an individual.

Folks need actuality

Ten occasions out of ten you are coping with individuals. So what do individuals need? Folks need actuality. They need authenticity. So there are three issues that I feel may help anybody, whatever the business that you just’re in, increase up your content material. After I’m speaking about content material, that may very well be articles. It may weblog posts. It may very well be touchdown pages. It may very well be white papers, no matter. The purpose is that individuals need actuality. 

1. Tales

So this is how I have been capable of finding actually good supply strategies for this. Tales. My world is much more article centered, however we attempt to begin each article with a narrative. Folks love that.

I discover a a lot larger time on web page after we lead out with tales. I do know what you are pondering. It is like, “Nicely, Wikipedia is somebody we’re competing towards, they usually do not begin with a narrative. No one begins with a narrative.” Okay, resolve if you wish to be a pink ocean participant or a blue ocean participant. 

2. Recommendation

The following factor is recommendation. Now, once more, going again to the fact of it’s that we’re coping with conditions the place we have writers who aren’t material consultants.

That is okay. No one is in bother for that actuality of the scenario. However it does matter that you just search that recommendation out. So schedule interviews with material consultants. Purchase your group a guide. Have a guide membership inside your group. Just be sure you’re constructing experience inside your group.

3. Examples

Lastly, examples. Folks need actuality. They need authenticity. When you have buyer knowledge, when you’ve got case research, I do not suppose you ought to be gating all of that essentially. There’s an awesome use case to be made for simply letting that stuff on the market. Folks wish to see actual examples occurring within the wild. 

Easy methods to measure success

So that you provide you with this blue ocean technique that solely you possibly can produce, since you ought to know your buyer higher than me, and also you wish to determine how you can measure it.

Nicely, in case you’ve been doing content material advertising for greater than, I do not know, the final half-hour, you already know that there is a massive hole between the primary piece of content material produced and the {dollars} within the pocket of the group. There’s quite a bit that occurs in between there. So how do you really just be sure you can come by means of on this with correct measurement? I’ve discovered that point on web page is the very first thing that goes up.

So earlier than we form of rolled out this with leaders.com, we have been seeing common time on web page between 3.5 to 4 minutes. Not good, not dangerous. Advantageous, no matter. However after rolling this out, we’re seeing common time on web page of between 5.5 to six.5 minutes. I’ve pages which can be virtually 3,000 phrases in size that really get learn.

We’ve got articles which have common time on web page of eight minutes or larger, and that is a extremely validating factor. I imagine that after time on web page goes up, then you can begin seeing in case your rankings and site visitors go up. Now you possibly can see proper right here there is no tinfoil hat. I am not making a direct insinuation that there’s a correlation between time on web page and the rankings that Google goes at hand out to you.

What I’m saying is that good content material will get observed, and when it will get observed, you are going to see these hyperlinks are available. You see how this works. We’re beginning backwards. Like loads of the occasions we lead off with saying, “I would like extra hyperlinks.” However in actuality, is that basically going to serve us? I might moderately play a sport the place hyperlinks come as a byproduct of excellent content material. So what’s actually the takeaway right here?

I feel it is a mindset takeaway. In my group, we have buried skyscraper content material. It is lifeless. It is within the floor. Now it doesn’t suggest we do not take a look at rivals. Clearly, that will be foolish to not do. We’re in website positioning.

Nevertheless, I feel that if you wish to actually transition to a blue ocean, limitless mindset, there must be some form of actuality verify the place you say, “Hey, sooner or later I am not going to be listening to the rivals for each little phrase that I write on my net web page.” Thanks for watching the video at this time. I look ahead to listening to your feedback. For anybody that is finished such a shift within the group, look ahead to participating with you in a very good dialogue within the feedback under.

Thanks for stopping by at this time. See you on the following Whiteboard Friday.

Video transcription by Speechpad.com