I’ve taken a lot of writing classes and sat through a lot of truly bizarre interpretations of my work as a result. There’s nothing like being hailed as a genius when you don’t deserve it. After one class I told the professor (confessed, really) that I didn’t understand how on earth people could have liked my flat-out terrible poem so much. He told me something very simple.

“You’re entitled to whatever your audience gives you.”

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As a writer, I tend to think that my work is all about me and my message but that’s not really the case. Once you create something and release it into the world, you lose the ability to control response. Was my poem terrible? Yeah. I spent five minutes on it right before class just so I’d have something to present. But did anyone else know that? Not in the least. They were looking for (and found) depth and connection that had absolutely nothing redeeming behind it. I got an A on the strength of their reviews, not on my writing.

Every day someone looks at your product and sees something in it that’s unique to them. Their vision, their perception and their needs shape what your product means. Brand building, at its heart, is about trying to tell people how to think about your product. You want them to think about your company, your product, you the way you think of yourself.

Sometimes, though, your audience gives you more credit than you deserve. When that happens, don’t argue with them. Realize that you’ve been given a gift. Smile and accept it.

The Unexpected Audience

The audience is fickle, however, and they can remove meaning from your work just as easily as they instill it. It’s a lesson that author Gregory Levey just learned for himself. Gregory, you see, wrote a book called Shut Up, I’m Talking, a memoir about his time working for the Israeli government. He dutifully created a Facebook page to promote his book and gathered a few fans. Then, out of nowhere, he got a LOT of fans. 700,000 of them, in fact. More than Dan Brown, New York City and The New York Times.

But Gregory’s 700,000 fans haven’t read his book. They don’t even know there is a book. They just like the phrase “Shut up, I’m talking.” And that leaves him in an awkward place. Does he write to them all? (“To be honest, if I wrote what I really thought about them, it probably wouldn’t be too flattering.”) Does he ignore them and try to touch his real fans only? Does he embrace what’s been given to him by his audience, even if they’re (as Gawker calls them) “Facebook’s dumbest users”?

With publishing in such precarious shape right now, I suppose authors should embrace any kind of attention they can get, even if it’s completely misguided.

Getting the right kind of traffic is always a marketer’s goal. If you find yourself with an influx of non-targeted traffic, you have two choices, try a different message or adapt to meet the new audiences needs. If everyone’s telling you that you’re about THIS when you think you’re about THAT, you have to decide if you’re wrong or they are. The trick is that even if it’s them, it’s still your job to change it. Your audience is finding meaning in something you never intended. What are you going to do about it?

I’m Deep if You Say I Am was originally published on BruceClay.com, an SEO services and SEO tools provider.

Today’s episode of SEM Synergy, our weekly Internet marketing podcast / industry lovefest, was a blast. As usual.

Quick highlights? Guest Steve Plunkett illustrates Foursquare gripes care of Hooters. Jessica makes her show debut. And Susan predicts the whole Internet thing is a passing fad. [SEO is dead! Newspapers are the way of the future! —Susan] Care to tune in?

Oh. You’re not easily seduced by non sequitur teasers and orange hot pants? Wow. Tough crowd, but you’re right. I owe you more than that. I owe you some nitty gritty. It’s time to get a dirty in Web data.

Web Usage Shifts

Bruce, Susan and I started the show discussing Web usage trends. Internet users are now spending around 22 percent of their online time on social networks. Online video viewing has reached an all-time high. And time spent online is rising and falling, depending on what metric you’re looking at.

Regarding the last point, I’ve pulled together some data from Nielsen Company on the average Internet usage in the U.S. for January, February, March, April and May of 2010.

Examining the Evidence

Here are charts I created to visualize the data. (Note: If you compare the Nielsen reports linked to above to the data on the chart, you may find inconsistencies. There were occasions where the figure reported for a month was different in the following month’s “previous month” column. In these cases, I opted to use the following month’s “previous month” data with the logic that numbers may have been refined as more data is made available.)

So basically, people are firing up a Web browser a little more than they did at the beginning of the year; the number of different sites a user visits in a month seems to be fluctuating; the number of individual pages a user visits in a month is dropping, and so is the overall amount of time spent online.

Now take a look at those last two graphs. I’m no scientist, but is there some kind of correlation between the fewer numbers pages visited and the lessening amount of time spent online? This brings up a chicken-or-the-egg problem: are people A) spending less time online because they’re visiting fewer pages, or B) visiting fewer pages because they’re spending less time online? To narrow down these options, I considered the first and second graphs. People are hopping online more often now than in January. At the same time, the number of different sites they’re visiting is all over the board. With these additional pieces of info, I’m leaning toward hypothesis A. People are going online more, visiting more or less the same number of sites, and yet they’re not visiting as many pages, leading to a decrease in overall time spent. So why the fewer number of pages visited?

Theories Off the Top of My Head

Less Searching: There’s no question that Internet users are becoming increasingly savvy. So it stands to reason that they may be doing fewer searches as they’re better at finding what they’re looking for. This could be because:

• Their queries start out more targeted so they do fewer refining searches.
• They’re better at recognizing the most relevant result in the SERP.
• They’re less likely to use the search bar as navigation.
• Search engines are continuing to improve the relevance of results with blended search and personalization.

On the other side of the coin, as sites become more optimized and evolved, the number of searches performed may decline. This could be because:

• The results displayed in SERPs may be more likely to satisfy a searcher’s need.
• The answer is displayed in the SERP itself, either called out by the engine or in a result page’s description.
• Fewer searches are required thanks to Sitelinks.
• Social media is answering questions before a search is needed.

Mobile Surfing: I’m not experienced in Web analytics, but does time spent in a mobile app get counted in Web usage data? Like, when I’m using the LA Times shiny new iPhone app, is that time being counted by the folks at Nielsen? If I’m reading my news feed on Facebook’s app, can Compete.com see that?

Furthermore, when I’m using a Twitter app on my smartphone, I’m following links and bouncing around to lots of different domains, but I’m not digging into the site or viewing multiple site pages. Actually, my behavior on my phone looks a whole lot like those four graphs above. Overall, I’m going online more than ever because the Internet is in my pocket. However, my sessions are shorter and my visits to sites are bouncier — I’m just visiting one page, usually through a link on Facebook or Twitter, and then leaving.

Of course, no one really knows what’s at the bottom of the Web usage mystery, so why not make a game of it? It’ll be like Clue! I’ll start. I suspect adult Internet users visiting links from Twitter with mobile phones. Your turn!

Web Usage Guessing Game — SEM Synergy Extras was originally published on BruceClay.com, an SEO services and SEO tools provider.

For years now companies have been polled regarding search engine optimization and according to eMarketer nine out of every ten companies polled have either increased their SEO budgets or left them unchanged since 2007, which just goes to show you that this industry is in store for a very interesting ride that is bound to bring in heaping amounts of changes in the not so distant future.

The report that was recently produced by SEMPO was a combination of 1,500 marketers and agencies. Paid search was up as well which maybe leads us all to believe that we might be inching away from the dreaded recession that has plagued us all. I’m not the surprised how a great deal of the shift comes from the print industry. Businesses that have spent many years relying on the print industry are starting to shift over to digital marketing which is very important to realize. Print is a very expensive form of communication and many businesses are starting to realize that being online is where it is at. Technology is only growing and more and more companies are trying to lay their path in the online space. As younger generations come into their own and increase in corporate rankings over the next decade or so what do you think is going to occur in the online space again? Another boom is likely.

Read more…

Wow the big G has been busy lately, rolling out this, debuting that. Two of the newest innovations that have been revealed are the new keyword data within Google webmaster tools and a redesign of the Google homepage, not only in the US for chrome users but now in Australia for most browser users, most of the time.

Google Redesign of their homepage

Now the new Google homepage on the face of it seems like a purely aesthetic change, but if you delve a little deeper, we start to understand that Google had redesigned their homepage as regular, everyday searches are becoming power searches. As a result of this, they are demanding more from the search engines and I believe the new homepage is a result of this demand. Essentially they have added a left hand navigation, full of options that look like this: Read more…