I just got the new SEO plugin for wordpress called Scribeseo. It’s a paid plugin that analyzes the SEO on your blogpost and gives you great tips on how to improve your blog post.

The plugin is compatible with wordpress, but you need to have a theme that supports it. I use Thesis (The best, no contest.)

At a first glanze Scribe seems to deliver. Not really a surprise since the developer team include Brian Clark, the person behind the superpopular blog Copyblogger.

Some of Scribe‘s features include:

• Checking for custom title tags
• Making sure you have the correct Meta description
• Tells you how the bots are looking at your site
• Does a keyword analysis of the words that you have written in your blogpost
• Analyzes the keyword density in your blogpost

And a whole lot more of the techy stuff SEO-nerds love. ‘Cause let’s face it: SEO is a headache.

The whole reason I bought the software is to NOT have to think about Search Engine Optimizing my blog, but still enjoying the benefits of writing good content for the bots. I’m hoping that Scribeseo is my new virtual SEO assistant.

And me, not being a huge fan of SEO, it’s a relief to be able to not focus on it – but focusing on delivering good content instead.

The reason for me not being a big fan of SEO is that I don’t believe that the top 10 results in Google is the most relevant to what I search for; instead, they are the most optimized. So the whole game with SEO for me seems to be rigged. Thank goodness for social media, so that we can get enormous amount of traffic for user filtered content.

With all the hoopla about SEO said and done, content is still king.

And there is an added bonus with Scribeseo, since it also takes readability of your blogpost into consideration, which is something new I have not encountered before. So it’s not just a Search Engine Optimization tool, its a write better blogpost tool.

But I think my new favourite feature is that it gives me the relevant tags for blogpost, so that I can just cut and paste them in. Timesaver times 10.

It’s early still, but I really recommend checking Scribeseo out.

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Any business can use this one. It’s very simple. But powerful.

I gave it the name OTR-strategy, just so that I won’t forget it again.

OTR stands for One Thing Right.

The goal of the strategy is to do one thing right every day.

Hold on! Before you start ‘hating’ the strategy because of its simplicity, let me show you what it can do for you.

Ok.

So, you have to do one thing right, and that one thing ought to be something that lasts in the business. It could be a process or a system. It could be a vision statement or setting goals.

In short: The goal is to do something that won’t come back and haunt you again.

Most people’s day looks like this. They plow through a pile of work. Shoveling papers, answering emails and what not. The entire day. Every day.

The productivity is often measured of how big of a pile of work you got rid off that day. But this is really an illusion. How much stuff you go through ultimately won’t make that big of a difference, because it doesn’t offer you any form of leverage. The next day there’s going to be a new pile.

Here’s how to use the OTR strategy for leverage.

Get rid of something that won’t return.

1. Got a low margin activity that is sucking time and energy? Write a process map and outsource the damn thing.
2. Write that Autoresponder series so that it’s done. You can’t measure effectiveness before you got it installed.
3. Install the analytics software, so you can track your key metrics.
4. Don’t know your key metrics? Set them according to your goals.
5. No written down goals? Set your longterm goals to match your vision and also quarterly for continuous feedback.
6. What! No clear vision? Write a vision statement, so that you know which direction your company is heading so that you can identify opportunities and distractions.

Note, that’s stuff you can do in six days. Take Sunday off. Rest.

What happens in a year? Imagine: What would it do for your business having 250 things done. Hundreds of systems with proper tracking. Hundreds of processes mapped out so you can both outsource and maintain quality control.

I do hope you see the magic. Imagine how much of that pile would be gone. Stuff that you don’t have to do again. Ever. This frees up your time for high-margin activities and time with your family.

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Positioning your brand is crucial for any company. No news there.

But how important? Very – here’s why.

First, three factors to consider.

No 1: Information Overload

Let’s look at it this way. If you are reading this blog, chances are very high that you are already suffering from information overload.

The amount of information made available because of the PC, internet, websites, blogs, social media is enough to overwhelm anyone. We need to unplug sometimes.

What happens then. Well, we get bombarded through radio, direct mail, adverts in magazines and TV. More information.

It isn’t called the information age for nothing.

Factor No 2: Performance demands

With increasing globalisation, we need to perform at a higher productivity rate.

The illusion is therefore that multi-tasking is the most efficient way of doing things. It’s not, but that’s what the consumers are doing. It’s a lifestyle.

The consequence is that we are training our brains to have shorter attentions spans. Or to put it in another way, we as marketers have less of an attention window to communicate to our prospects.

Factor No 3: Limited mindspace

That’s right. Most of our heads are already filled with stuff. And even though we have a lot of problems, our lives generally work just fine.

Just like a fully packed fridge, we have to pick and choose what we let occupy our limited mindspace. We have to filter information.

Here’s the reason brand positioning is important:

If you don’t position your brand in a way that instantly communicates what your company and products are about – then you lose the opportunity.

Branding happens in the customers mind. Nowhere else. And if you can’t get your point across, immediately, you are going to get filtered.

Brand positioning is about presenting your product as the better option for the consumer.

You have to convince the customer to store your information in the ‘fridge’, instead of something else.

And brand positioning is more that just a fancy headline. It’s the whole enchilada. Instant commucation once you own the mindspace. But until that happens, you’re just another information provider. A damn marketer that wants the customers attention.

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Here’s a perfect example of how to create a customer experience.

Check out the video. It’s brilliant. So is the talent. But where does that little bit of extra come from?

You know. That little extra bit that makes some things rise above everything else. (Believe me. This dance group is going to make it)

Watch the video first. Now.. Yes.. Click the link below

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6GrOMLylvhQ&feature=related

Ok, so now you know what I’m talking about. Geez. Even Simon gave a standing ovation.

Here’s the point

That little bit extra. That thing that created the experience. Where did it come from?

Answer: Everything is congruent. The customer doesn’t have to contemplate or think about anything. Everything is delivered to perfection. Ba-boom!

1. Name (Flawless)
2. Visual communication (Suits, appearance)
3. Verbal communication (”Yeah, we are a dance act”)
4. Vision, values och goals (”Chase the dream, not the competition”)
5. Passion (”We Love Dancing”)

Here’s how it’s done

The name: Flawless – What does that tell you?

“Flawless”, the name itself sets a standard for the vision and values. Qualitylosses are not tolerated. It’s supposed to be flawless. The name comes from the vision and the values – not the other way around.

The group has come to an agreement on the vision and the goal -“Chase the dream, not the competition”. Where does that come from? Well, “We LOVE dancing.” This isn’t a job for these fellows! It’s all about PASSION. And passion gives you energy. That’s why they practice every single day: “We rehearse everyday, even Valentines day”.

See. Everything is coherent and that enables them to deliver a fenomenal customer EXPERIENCE for the customers/the audience.

Don’t forget either that they are friends from the same area. They have a common story.

All about these guys are 100% AUTHENTIC. Just like the said from the very beginning. No surprises, except that you got more than you hoped for. You got an experience.

And all of this was possible because everything just flows naturally for these guys. They do, what they are.

Simon says: “With Focus, Commitment, Confidence and Hard work, you can achieve something”.

That is a description of HOW they got to this point. That’s important, BUT don’t confuse that with how they communicate what they do.

Flawless communicates everything CONSISTENTLY. Brilliat!

There are two ways you can be CONSISTENT: Fake everything to perfection all the time – Or… Be Yourself.

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Definition: Branding is when you associate things like design, signs, symbols or words with a particular brand. It’s something that that identifies a product and differentiates it from its competitors.

My notes: Branding is important, because it is an opportunity to connect your corporate values with your product or service. You get to tell customers what your company is about.

Probably the best way to illustrate what branding can do, is by contrasting it to positioning. (No, it’s close, but not quite the same.)

Let’s take a brand like Gucci: The brand can be knocked off. It’s positioning cannot.

That’s the difference.

Southwest Airlines: Take a look at this. It’s from their website.

The brand is heavily connected to the heart and the word ‘Luv’. It’s what Southwest is all about.

Their positioning is ‘freedom from fees’. Southwest are the ones offering the low price. That’s how they compete.

Isn’t that a great way of putting it?

Got to ‘Luv’ it.

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Definition: Positioning is how you differentiate your product or service from the competition, and present your brand on the marketplace.

My notes:
Positioning is what’s done in your advertising, by your products and employees. Actually, everything you do in the marketplace should communicate your positioning, however; Positioning is NOT something that happens in the marketplace.

Positioning happens in one place, and one place only: In the customers mind.

So, positioning is all about mindspace, and how the customer perceives your product in relation to their life and others products.

This is huge, people. Because if you can’t get attention and get through to the customers mind, and make a relevant impact – all of your advertising efforts are absolutely useless.

Think about it. If you want to position your product, here’s what needs to happen.
1. You have to get the attention of the customer

2. The customer has to become interested

3. The customer will have to spend energy evaluating your product in relation to others

4. The customer has to make a choice, to keep you within their mindspace or not

And all of this happens in an instant.

Here’s what can go wrong:

1. You don’t get attention

2. Advertising is not appealing enough or shown in the wrong context, hence ‘no interest’

3. You are communicating something the customer can’t relate to instantly
(Trust me. People do not have the time or interest to listen to the extra buttons on widgets they never heard of.)

4. You don’t convince the customer that you can make their life any easier or better now, or anytime in the future – therefore: The customer won’t have to waste mindspace on you.

In any of these cases: Game over. No positioning.

Solution: Use visuals, use headlines and use the Unique Selling Proposition in a cohesive and coherent manner to INSTANTLY communicate the benefits that you offer, in a way the customer can RELATE your stuff to others.

The RELATE part is very very important, because the truth is that people barely have mindspace available for NEW stuff, but we can always make room for BETTER stuff.

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