The tone from the presenters and attendees at SES New York this March was excited and eager. The changes in the search space from a year ago had people enthusiastic to learn new and innovative ways to share their business or their client’s business across new platforms, many of those platforms being social. Although so much has changed over the past year, it was apparent that the same general best practice principals apply across platforms new and old. While people are using different online mediums to access information, shop and find entertainment, you still have to consider the audience you are targeting and make sure that they are an integral part of your processes when marketing your business on the web.

Many general best practices are still in place, whether they are being applied to new or old platforms. However, the way that content is being distributed, the way that we report on online activity, and the way that we conduct research has continued to progress considerably. The sections below highlight some valuable points that were made during various sessions at SES New York.

On Content:

• Lose control of your content. If you remove registration requirements before someone can access content on your site, you are likely to get 50 times more views or downloads.
• Speak to your buyer personas in their own language… not in yours.
• If the content you are developing is going to have a lot of competition, take a different angle in order to gain exposure.
• Communicate your unique value proposition on every page of your website and through your conversion process. This reminds visitors of the value that your product or service offers in comparison to your competitors.
• Maintain a “scent” throughout your website so that it is obvious your pages are related.
• Develop content that benefits users directly. By determining what content would benefit your users and developing it, you can help build your organic visibility and inbound links.

On Analysis and Reporting:

• Long tail search is generally more valuable than the head-of-the-tail terms, so don’t forget to optimize and analyze long tail terms. People in the long tail don’t usually know what they want, so it is even more valuable to get out in front of them.
• Tag clouds can be a valuable way to analyze keyword dominance among long tail terms.
• If you want to understand your users better, implement an “on-site” search function and analyze it. The searches conducted in your on-site search box are likely content areas that are missing from your site, or areas that your users are having trouble locating.
• Set up multiple points of conversion on your site. These additional conversion points can help you determine what the rest of your website visitors are doing while they are not converting.

On Keyword Research:

• Be aware of which keywords you are targeting have universal search results, and try to optimize for those spots.
• Use multiple tools when deciding on what top-level terms to target for your site.
• Think outside of the box when conducting keyword research. If you are optimizing for a viral topic, try finding out how many tweets per day include the keyword you are considering. Tactics like this can help reinforce online demand and interest on a larger scale.

While not all of these points are groundbreaking, it does give you an idea of the direction that the industry is moving. The ways that we can deliver and access information are becoming increasingly complex. Content on the web is growing incrementally, and the tools that are available for us to analyze activity online are growing in number and complexity. It’s important to find a consistent way to optimize, report on and analyze your online marketing efforts while keeping an eye on the newest and most innovative tools and processes to continuously improve your marketing efforts.