Tag Archives: Google

Long live the gatekeepers

Gatekeeping is a Unique Value Proposition ✎ By Wayne K. Spear

Content marketers have a big problem.

Over 95% of website visitors aren’t paying attention. They don’t “engage,” they don’t “convert.”

They land on a web page, and they move on.

Ask any marketing pro. You have, at best, five seconds.

1 … 2 … 3 … 4 …

… and they’re gone.

Forever.

It was a case of cosmic improbability that they were ever on your website in the first place. There are hundreds of millions of websites in the world. Every day there are many thousands more.

Every Google keyword search is the spinning of a giant roulette wheel. And keyword searches are what’s driving most traffic to most websites.

This is why we have Internet content marketing.

And it’s getting tougher every day for the marketers, as more online content generates more market fragmentation.

But not really. The Internet is, in fact, tiny.

Tiny?

Yes, tiny—because most of the Internet doesn’t matter. The marketing people have confirmed this, over and again.

We skim and then skip over 99% of it. How much of the Internet do you really use?

Maybe one one-hundredth of one percent?

In reality there are a few major “channels” on the Web, just as there were a few major players in the days of Old Media.

We’re not yet finished sorting out who the big players are going to be, but there will be big players.

And so, our topic today is: the common wisdom is all wrong.

There are still gatekeepers. There are going to be gatekeepers. And gatekeepers matter—maybe, in fact, more than ever. Because the gatekeepers simplify, and make sense out of, the tangled information jungle.

This is the textbook definition of marketing—having a unique value proposition.

Gatekeeping is a Unique Value Proposition.

Google is a gatekeeper. It’s not the only one, but it’s one of them. And we love it because it is a gatekeeper.

How do you cut through the noise? How do you identify and connect with an audience? How do establish your brand in a crowded marketplace?

These are marketing questions, and the answer is: become a gatekeeper.

Plus ça change, plus c’est la même.

My Bad Advice, For Free, Just For You

Screen Shot 2014-11-19 at 11.08.50 AM

SO THE OTHER DAY, just for fun, I Googled “google autofill is not working.” Then I got thinking, what would you do if Google autofill was not working and you wanted to find out why, but you couldn’t remember the term “Google autofill” and needed Google to auto-fill it in for you so you could get your answer?

That’s when I stumbled on the greatest idea of all time.

Continue …

The Roundtable Podcast 57

Week of 14.12.2013

Mandela

Nelson Mandela: July 18, 1918 – December 5, 2013 | Josh Matlow urges council to hit pause on Scarborough subway | Top Ten List: How to celebrate Canada’s 150th anniversary in 2017 | Game: Finish the Headline | Beyoncé | Featured Article: The End of the College Essay, An essay | Police In Thailand Lay Down Vests and Barricades In Solidarity With Protestors | Music: Greg Ashley, “True Love Leaves No Traces” | Google is now funding numerous Tea Party groups | Bots now ‘account for 61% of web traffic’ | Public-health advocates pushing for graphic, cigarette-style health warnings on wine, beer and liquor containers

Download entire podcast (320 kbps mp3) | Visit The Roundtable on Facebook.