Thinking outside of the search engine

You don’t need to stick to the rules when you’re an SEO.  Here’s 5 ways to get creative with your search marketing and get noticed too!

1.  Your roof is your new business card!

Google earth and maps are getting increasingly popular choices for people searching for local businesses.  Why not paint your business card onto your roof and wait for the next satellite update?  Couple this with a business listing on Google local and hey presto!  Free, stand out (apart from the paint) advertising for life.

2.  Get creative with Pay Per Click

Okay so you’ve only got 35 + 25 + 25 characters to play with when you’re creating your ad but that doesn’t mean you can’t inject some creativity and fun into it.  A recent multichannel campaign I ran for Arista insurance aimed to capture people who’d just received a sachet of coffee through the post and then searched for Arista.

Smelt the Coffee yet?

Agency application on-line in

Less time than a [_]D of Coffee

www.aristainsurance.com/coffee

Click throughs rose exponentially and the brand got a boost for having a ‘joined up’ campaign.

3.  Get controversial

Lyndon Antcliff is one of the best link baiters around and he always impresses me with his blogging abilities.  You could do far worse than following some of his advice or even employing him to do a bit of linkbaiting for you.

For example, a laboratory equipment resellers blog may seem like a sterile read but throw in a few stories of exloding chinese bunsen burners, famous scientists secrets and listings of the best and worst lab equipment and suddenly you have compelling content that scientists want to read (and link to).

4.  Trendy SEO

You don’t have to have a fixed number of keywords that you optimise for day in and day out.  Why not optimise for zeitgeist keywords (possibly using another Google tool, Google trends)that relate to your product or service in a less obvious way?  The Sun newspaper do this magnificently by buying up and optimising pages for cheap keywords such as ‘Jade Goody’ (Z list UK celebrity) just before they know a story is about to be released on her which will see thousands of searches.

Since this tactic has been employed, The Sun has soared ahead of its nearest rival (The Mirror) in online visitors and revenue generation.

5.  Create a creative space

Everyone has their own ways of getting creative.  The important thing is to realise that you need to get into that state of mind in the first place.  Here’s an excellent guide to getting more creative should you need a little help along the way.

Feel free to add your own creative SEO ideas in the comments below.