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Search marketing may be the most promising new media channel yet

As a result of my success with search-based content relevancy, I was recently asked to contribute to new bog on new marketing strategies, called the Inspire Blog on smartmarketers.com. My debut entry is the first installment of a podcast discussion I recently had with IT media guru Sam Whitmore, founder and editor of Sam Whitmore's Media Survey. The entry makes the case for the power of content in search relevancy. The next installments will deal with how to actually create the content that ranks best.
Written by Dana Gardner, Contributor

While I cover application development and deployment strategies as an IT industry analyst, I'm also a practitioner of Web 2.0 content creation and distribution efficiencies. For some two years now, I've been using new publishing tools, methods, and distribution channels to deliver my market insights, as well as knowledge about my clients.

One of the beneficial consequences of creating a lot of online content and sharing it with a lot of publishers is that the content gets powerfully vetted -- its relevancy to viewers diagnosed as it were -- by the major search engines that track online behaviors. And that has meant that essential keyword searches on topics near and dear to me and my clients generates high ranking for my podcasts, blogs, videos and transcripts.

For example, do a Google search on "application modernization" and a blog I did on a podcast on the topic is at or near number 7 rank out of 97,000 results. Do a Google search on "SOA analysts" and the first results page is dominated by my content, out of 10,500 results. Not too shabby.

I think this is the most powerful new rationale for making online publishing a core competency for any company, organization, or community. As search becomes, in effect, the new media -- constant online publishing of high-quality content is the most cost-effective means to reach and educate your most important global audience ... directly. Both the long tail and "short head" are served, and you only need to create compelling and relevant content on an on-going basis -- and not necessarily spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on advertising and/or SEO.

As a result of my success with search-based content relevancy, I was recently asked to contribute to new bog on new marketing strategies, called the Inspire Blog on smartmarketers.com. My debut entry is the first installment of a podcast discussion I recently had with IT media guru Sam Whitmore, founder and editor of Sam Whitmore's Media Survey. The entry makes the case for the power of content in search relevancy. The next installments will deal with how to actually create the content that ranks best.

On that note, I've also been creating videos based not on talking heads but on a webinar -- existing high-quality rich content that can be repurposed for search relevancy and global reach. Take a look. It's the first step of what could end up a popular model for reaching audiences through YouTube. That is, take all those webinars no longer getting many hits and give them new life online via video search.

More targeted search opportunities may be brewing, and we should soon expect media search engines designed just for B2B commerce. Rumors are that Jason Calacanis may be at work on just such a business niche-focused search platform approach. All that's needed now is the content to make such engines the new power-plays for online ecommerce.

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