Influence Finder uses a trillion link databases and page crawlers to find relevant and influential link partners for you.
The problem with having a huge webmap and the ability to search source code for keywords in specific places like the page title, external link anchor, internal link anchor and 20 or so more places is, if you put garbage in, you get garbage out.
For those of you who are on the beta program of Influence Finder you will know what I mean when I talk about the need to understand what you want to get out of a project to really unlock the software full potential.
This has meant spending time talking beta users through:
- How projects should be planned, all of the possible uses of data that is rich in valuable information.
- What the presence of keywords in strategic places tell you, in both an explicit and an implied way.
- How individuals and teams can make the most of their most precious resource – time, to maximize output.
So here are a few key thoughts, strategies and findings that we’ve put together that I don’t mind sharing with everyone.
I am going to split this into 3 posts, so you may want to subscribe via Twitter or RSS to ensure you don’t miss the next couple.
Plan a media landscape
Whether you’re using google link commands, tools like SEOMoz’s Linkscape, Yahoo Site Explorer or our software, Influence Finder, having a clear objective for the project or suite of projects you’re going to run is key.
So for example, an SEO with a brand like Toyota given the task of targeting the hybrid car market might construct a suite of reports that will combine to create a media landscape. Here’s a graphic to explain.
Here are the stages:
1. Own Brand – Knowing who has linked to a brand before helps an SEO and PR know whom to talk to again when there’s a story to run. There may not be a huge volume of domains to engage with but the conversion will be high.
2. Competitors – If you then do the same exercise for your direct competitors you’ll gather a big slice of the media landscape with a high conversion.
3. Vertical Media – If you then take a look at the key media influencers in that vertical you’ll get a wider slice of media landscape talking about that topic. In this case I looked for the top blogs in a category in Technorati.
4. Interested Media – Now this is where you need to think more laterally. The types of site that may be interested in a hybrid car may talk about other related environmental topics, but still be open to a new hybrid car story. The conversion is lower, but if you could narrow your efforts to the influential ones the rewards could be there.
Now you’ve got a huge media landscape, with hundreds of thousands of URL’s you’re going to need to narrow the list to find those that will ‘show you the money’. Which is something I’d like to talk about in more detail next week.
Please comment away on this as it’s an area we can all learn more about through debate. It’s also an area that is not discussed that much.
