Let the fans run with the brands!

Take a look at that very eye-catching image above. Looks great, doesn't it?

It's a screenshot from a film trailer. Watch it here:

Wow, Marvel Studios are coming out with a Black Widow film!

Nope. What you just watched was an imagined trailer for a non-existent (so far!) film created by a student called Christopher Haley. It was a project he put together for his film editing final, no connection to a major studio or funding involved. It's just because he's a fan of the genre and thought it would look cool.

It looks great and is a fantastic tribute to Marvel Studios. He did them proud and has had over 160,000 views on the video so far. (Also great free PR for Marvel Studios.)

Many brands become nervous when fans play around with their image. I think it should be the opposite: people don't waste time creating magic like this video if they're not enthused with the brand in the first place.

Christopher enhanced Marvel Studios' brand in an excellent and respectful way, and that's something that Herb Communications is striving for too.

We also think that Christoper should be commissioned to create the REAL trailer for Black Widow if it ever becomes a reality!

John.

That's a little forward, isn't it?

Why, yes. Yes it is. A little forward. In relation to domain names.

Domain names. It is still amazing how many brands come up with a contest or new campaign ... and they don't buy the domain name first! They print brochures, flyers, publicize it -- and then find out some cybersquatter has swooped in, grabbed the domain for $10 and then is holding it to ransom for thousands.

Sometimes this happens because of a disconnect between the team creating the campaign, and the digital team putting the whole thing together. Takes five minutes to pick up the phone, call a colleague and ask, "Just checking, we bought the domain name, right?"

I digress.

Busy world, bombarded with information all day, easy to forget things. You're driving home along the highway and spot a billboard. It's promoting a contest for something. Looks interesting, and it's caught your attention for 10 seconds. Might want to check it out.

So you get home, have dinner, spend some family time, then go to the computer. Now what was that URL for the great contest? You know it was run by a certain brand, but was it brand.com/contest/freecar or brand.com/freecarcontest?

Can't remember, giving up = one less visitor to the contest page for the brand's digital team to report back to management when they compile the weekly analytics stats report. Hashtag fail.

Just grab a different URL and forward it to the hard-to-remember contest page. Most premium domains are long gone, but with some clever thinking by going for a different suffix such as .click or .rocks. may produce some good results.

gohomeand.click / thiscontest.rocks etc.

There's lots of choice available.

Forwarding is free for most domain name registrars. Or -- and there's different opinions on this -- build a separate microsite around that unique domain and base the contest or promotion there.

• Pros: targeted, specific, easy-to-remember domain, disposable after the promo
• Cons: another site to update, remember to renew the domain, waters down the brand

Each to their own, as they say. But domain names still have a lot of value if used in the right way for specific projects.

Sometimes you have to be a little forward in life.

John.

Bad content is still the same on mobile or desktop

Google gave a lot of notice back in November 2014 that they were going to be changing their search algorithms to put more emphasis on the mobile side of things. They even provided a quick little tool to check how mobile friendly your website is.

In February 2015 they stated, "Starting April 21, we will be expanding our use of mobile-friendliness as a ranking signal. This change will affect mobile searches in all languages worldwide and will have a significant impact in our search results. Consequently, users will find it easier to get relevant, high quality search results that are optimized for their devices."

[Quick update: And, by pure coincidence, just hours after this blog post, Bing announced they too now have their own mobile-friendly algorithm change.]

So, that begs the obvious question: does your site look great on a mobile device? Smartphone ... laptop (come on, it's portable) ... tablet ... phablet (hate that name!)

Do your website users have to squint to read the content, or pinch the screen in a clumsy way to zoom in and out? If so, you're making them work for it.

Optimize your website, and then ... run a content audit.

Most people have a short attention span. If they don't find the information they want very quickly, they're either taking another step of using your search function (not bad, at least they're still a potential customer) or heading off to a competitor's site (worst case scenario).

Check the new and improved mobile version of your website and be tough. Do you really need all that content now? Is it a little bloated?

In the "good old days" most journalists and writers only had so much space to play with on a printed page. They had to be very tight on their word count, or make the Copy Editor their best friend. (It usually takes a third party objective set of eyes to chop lovingly crafted copy. I know, been there, done that. It hurts!)

Pretend there's no scroll bar on your web page. Or, two screen lengths, top. Make your content fit that size, and it will also be a reasonable length on a mobile view.

Get your call to action in there, make it easy and clear what the navigation leads to and help your website user out.

Herb Communications is optimized for mobile. Resize your browser window and try it out. We can help enhance your content if need be. Just give us a shout.

John.

Google seems to love blogs

Herb Communications launched its website yesterday, and I was pleasantly surprised to see it on the first page of Google already ... albeit position #9. I'll take that!

What's interesting from an SEO standpoint is that it's not the Welcome (home page) that's featured, but the Blog page. I'm reasoning that it's easier and more flexible to pepper blog posts on a more regular basis with keywords, rather than the other main navigation pages that are "set" or don't change very often.

As I write more blog posts on issues of interest over the coming weeks, I'll be experimenting with keywords to see if they affect the rankings and tweak as necessary. I'll also be keeping an eye on the analytics.

I built three separate analytics tools into this website for the purpose of cross-referencing the stats to look for common patterns. Every analytics tool has its own nuances, and because there's always (roughly) a +/- 10% margin of error, I want to ensure they're as accurate as possible.

In my experience of doing this, it's not an overnight success ... but there are ways to speed things along and I'll be implementing those. My aim is to reach the coveted #1 spot on Google's first page of results.

Stay tuned!

John.

Herb Communications is open for business

It's a very sunny Saturday -- May 9, 2015 to be precise -- and I have spent the last three weeks getting Herb Communications up and out the door. A lot of running around Toronto signing paperwork, speaking to small business experts and generally getting all my ducks in a row.

I've been wanting to do this for a while = start my own business. Take the reins, be accountable, make decisions, plan and adapt, network ... and help organizations to enhance their brand by offering a range of services.

After 20 years of working in the media -- nearly 30 years of earning a crust if you count my very first job in 1986! -- I want to create something of my own. Herb Communications is that something.

Suffice to say it's very exciting for me personally. I've done freelancing in the past, a lot of side projects of my own to keep me interested and so on. But this is more of a formal step. It's up to me how well Herb Communications performs for others, and I take that very seriously.

Those who know me or have worked with me have seen my integrity, honesty, transparency and willingness to sometimes deliver the bad news that most people don't want to hear. But I sincerely believe that if you don't stick your neck above the trenches and say how it is, then things can't be fixed and improved.

It's not personal! It's just because I believe in doing the best work I can and delivering the best results possible.

I hope that Herb Communications will be able to gain your trust over the coming months and that, if we work with you and you're happy with the service that you receive, that you'll refer us to colleagues.

Many thanks for reading.

John.