Archive for November, 2011
Exquisite Eats + Divine Drinks = Philadelphia
Posted by Michael McNulty | Filed under Culinary, Dining
Any Philadelphia resident knows there is no shortage of great places to eat and drink in the city. It’s home of Iron Chef Jose Garces, whose restaurants are popping up like porcini mushrooms in every neighborhood—giving top restaurateurs like Georges Perrier, Stephen Starr and Marc Vetri a run for their money.
Some of Philly’s best bars and restaurants can be found off the beaten path. Take The Franklin Mortgage and Investment Co., a tribute to the speakeasies of the 1920s, for example. Here bartending is an art, not a shot chased by a beer. You can count on the staff going out of their way to concoct the right cocktail for you.
Philly’s variety is virtually endless—whether you want to hit a local bar for a pint of craft beer and some good pub grub or you want to woo a date over a hand-carved steak at Butcher & Singer while taking in the low lights and dark wood of old Hollywood. With so many offerings around every corner, how do you go about choosing where to indulge your taste buds and quench your thirst? Just follow me!
Rittenhouse Square
Parc Restaurant
Village Whiskey
Butcher & Singer
The Franklin Mortgage and Investment Co.
Le Bec-Fin
Davio’s
Washington Square
Tellula’s Garden
The Farmer’s Cabinet
Varga Bar
Tria
Chops
El Fuego
Old City
Philadelphia Bar & Restaurant
Serrano
Alma de Cuba
National Mechanics
Zahav
Nick’s Roast Beef
The Mexican Post
University City
Pub’n’Grub
Distrito
Get out there and taste Philadelphia! And let me know your culinary discoveries…
Myth Buster: Chasing the Google Algorithm
Posted by Mark D’Amico | Filed under Interactive, Red Hot Topics, SEO
We hear it all the time: Google is constantly changing the algorithm—you must continually adjust strategies and tactics to keep up. Often this strategic advice is coming from an SEO professional. Nonetheless, I don’t buy it.
It’s an accepted fact that the first part of the statement is true. Google regularly makes minor changes to the formulas that determine organic ranking. And occasionally, they make more significant ones. At Dana, we don’t believe in continually “chasing the algorithm.” Our approach to SEO comes directly from our digital marketing communications philosophy — content is king.
Sure, you certainly could continue to adjust your content and strategy based on changes in Google’s method for calculating results. It’s just that you don’t have to. And, we would argue, you shouldn’t. Let’s take a look back…
The first iterations of the Google algorithm were relatively simple. Google crawled the Internet’s content and linking structure to determine what each website was about. Sites that mentioned specific keyphrases could often rank well for those phrases.
But to beat the competition, people began keyword stuffing and using link spam to gain better ranking. Google, in turn, adjusted the parameters and added more measures of content value. Smart, motivated people came to understand those changes through trial and error. Then Google adjusted again, and the profession of SEO was born. Now, site rankings are significantly more difficult to manipulate.
One thing hasn’t changed since 1997—Google’s goal is to deliver the most relevant webpages for a specific search, at the top of Page 1. It can be argued that every change to the algorithm is a reaction from Google to SEO attempts to improve ranking. This constant game of cat and mouse has pushed Google to develop an extremely complex and elegant algorithm, but it has not changed the search engine’s objective of providing the most valuable content at the top of search results.
At Dana, we envision Google’s objective as a distant point on the horizon. Google is working toward a system that can’t be gamed, an algorithm so well thought out that no matter what techniques are employed, only quality, relevant, non-duplicated results will appear at the top of a search result. While Google isn’t there yet (as evidenced by the temporary success of JC Penney’s attempts to gain an advantage), the search engine has made great strides in this area.
That is why Dana’s strategy is to give Google what they want: quality, transparent content. Instead of trying to exploit Google’s limited and diminishing weaknesses, we strive to produce deep, rich, usable websites that deliver content that site visitors want to link to and consume.
Our strategy is to aim for that same point on the horizon. Consider some of our SEO recommendations that work regardless of the changing Google algorithm:
- Understand your site traffic and the keywords that describe your property or product and deliver ROI.
- Design a site architecture that search engines can index.
- Fill it with real, solid content that is sensitive to your keyword research—but not a slave to it.
- Create copy, images and navigation designed for human consumption.
- Establish page and domain authority by looking for linking opportunities with respected sites that have relevant content.
- Claim all of your local listings in Google Places, Yelp and others. For travel clients, this includes CVBs, travel directories and niche bloggers.
There are real advantages to this approach. You can work constantly and steadily towards your goal without danger of getting on Google’s bad side. Google may have only penalized JC Penney for their attempts to defeat the system, but a smaller site could be removed from the index entirely.
As an agency, we work for a wide variety of very strong brands. For our clients, the benefit/risk calculation of using gray hat techniques doesn’t add up. Temporary gains from keyword stuffing or link spamming would be dwarfed by the amount lost by our clients if they are absent in the results of crucial brand and generic search.
The final word: Be who you are, emphasize transparency, develop valuable quality content and attract relevant, quality links. Aim for that point on the horizon, and sleep well at night.
Red Hot Topic #7: Generation Gap or Flap?
Posted by Liz Jordan | Filed under Red Hot Topics, Travel Marketing, Trends
The question: do Gen Y, Gen X, Young Boomers, Older Boomers and Mature Travelers in the U.S. approach their leisure travel decisions differently? Logic says “yes,” but some statistics* help make the case that the generation gap may not be as wide as you think. Consider the takeaways from these five travel trends the generations have in common.
1. Researching travel online (but not loving it).
Travelers of all ages participate in online research—but that doesn’t mean they love the experience. Well over half in all ages found online research easy enough, but when asked if they enjoyed it, the percentages dropped around 20%—no matter which generation they fell into. Trend Takeaway: make sure your online content satisfies the traveler’s need for information and value.
2. Booking online.
It’s no surprise that Gen Y and Gen X account for 52% of online travel. But look at that statistic again: that means that 48% of online travel falls in the Boomer and Mature Traveler segments. And older travelers tend to book directly with suppliers. Trend Takeaway: make sure your online booking engine is user-friendly for older travelers as well as younger.
3. Staying within budget.
It’s hardly any revelation that Mature Travelers are most conscious of staying within a travel budget. But what’s interesting is that a good-sized percentage of all generations will forgo their first choice destination rather than go over budget. The spread between Gen Y and Mature Travelers is less than 10 percentage points. Trend Takeaway: price and value continue to be important to all U.S. travelers.
4. Willing to splurge on travel for the right reason.
However, almost as many travelers (with very similar percentages across all generations) are willing to splurge on a special vacation. Trend Takeaway: highlight emotional reasons to splurge on travel, such as special milestones, and create packages to address those triggers.
5. Relying on friends and family.
All generations rely heavily on the recommendations of friends and family for travel purchases. In fact, a tip from someone trusted is likely to be twice as effective as a travel ad. What happens when you combine this trend with the growing acceptance of social media in the Boomer and Mature Traveler segments? Trend Takeaway: ramp up social media strategies and make it easy for travelers of all ages to share your content on their social networks.
*North American Technographics Travel Online Study, Q1 2010
They Draw & Travel
Posted by Charisse Gallagher | Filed under Design, Travel
They Draw & Travel is a sister site of They Draw & Cook, which contains the biggest and best collection of illustrated recipes anywhere. Nate and Salli, a brother and sister design and illustration team, were blown away by the creative energy artists worldwide pour into their recipe illustrations, and they realized that artists have similar passion for their favorite places to live and visit. They launched They Draw & Travel as a place for artists to express that passion, and for readers to discover their creations.
Each map is one-of-a-kind, highlighting off-the-beaten path sites and activities that are local favorites. Below are just a few examples—explore some new destinations!
http://www.theydrawandtravel.com/
Red Hot Topic #6: Google+ vs. Facebook
Posted by Chris Buckelew | Filed under Red Hot Topics, Social Media, Trends
Can loyal Facebook users be tempted to expand their social engagement to include Google+? Maybe, maybe not, but don’t discount Google+…yet. It has some interesting advantages, the first of which is Google itself. Our advice is to keep watching, especially to see how Google+ will handle business pages.
1. The Advantage of Google
Google owns the largest market share of search engine traffic, an advantage that Google+ can certainly leverage. When its Twitter contract expired, Google disabled its Real-Time Search, but it could be resurrected with Google+. The opportunity to come up in organic search is a pretty good incentive to create a Google+ page and start posting regular updates. And there’s more. Google+ is also included in Google’s full product line, YouTube, Picasa and the Google Apps for Business Productivity Suite. If Google+ can provide full integration of a social networking platform into a company’s web presence, it begs the question: why seek alternatives?
2. The Advantage of +1
The +1 button could be huge, predicts HotelMarketing.com (October 04, 2011/Online Marketing). Why? If you own a brand page and use +1 on other owned sites, you have now linked them in a way that enhances search results.
3. The Advantage of Mobile and Location-Based Tie-Ins
Google+ is integrated into Android, which has rapidly become the most popular operating system for smartphones worldwide. Add Google+ Business Profiles into the already extensive listing of Google Places, and see what happens. Android users would be able to see static information (like hours of operation, menus, reviews, etc.) about a particular business and communicate in real time with the business itself and their Google+ Circles.
Take it a step further by integrating Google with Android’s mobile payment option through Near Field Communication and the Google e-Wallet. Now imagine being able to search for a take-out restaurant, get recommendations from your Circles, ask the restaurant for its daily specials, place your order, map its location and pay for it—all with your phone. On the flip side: what if this restaurant could track when you clicked the ad or search result, how long you spent on the website, what you ordered and how much you spent? Google already has proven models to do this. Facebook has no equivalent.
4. The Advantage of Expectations
Just speculating here—but is there a feeling that Facebook controls you, while you have some control with Google+? One of G+’s unexpected advantages is user expectations. It can quietly change, adapt and improve without creating an uproar among users. Not so with Facebook.
5. The Advantage of Being New
If you were late to social marketing, Google+ may offer you a chance to be a leader. People are already on to the marketing strategies of Facebook (for instance, many companies block Facebook), but Google+ is still frontier territory. This could be your chance to get ahead of your competition.
Last word: Facebook is an undeniable force, but Google+ has some neat features and the power of Google behind it. Is there a place for both in your social networking marketing strategy? Stay tuned.
