SEO is Dying... Actually it's Just Changing but That Doesn't Make for an Exciting Title

As I was browsing Flipboard the other day, I came across a story that caught my eye, Why Traditional SEO is Dying. Classic clickbait alarmist title. 

Reading on, of course, it turns out that traditional search engine based SEO is not dying. Search choices available to folks are just evolving. Alternative searches like voice search and in-app searches are providing competition to the monolith of browser-based search engine searching (say that three times fast).

The article, which appeared in the US edition of Huffington Post, features the thoughts of Baruch Labunksi the CEO Rank Secure, a global SEO leader. Though the title is overblown and Mr. Labunski is trying to create a sense that you are being left behind and position his company as a leading player in post-browser search - that doesn't change the fact that it's an interesting article with some valid insight about the future of SEO.

You can read the article here.

Free (kinda) Digital Marketing Tools

It's pretty much impossible to think about setting up a digital marketing campaign these days without a suite of helper software to pick keywords, estimate costs, schedule posts and the list goes on and on.

Murray Newland's article on Entrepreneur is a helpful guide for those of you just getting started in digital marketing, content marketing, search engine marketing or social marketing and trying to figure out what tools to use. He provides a nicely curated list of digital marketing tools that are free to use or at least free to try (many are just free introductory offers). 

If you are looking to kick-off your first digital marketing campaign, his article is a good place to start. Read the article here.

These are the Rules!

In her article Rules for Modern Navigation on UXBooth, Stephanie Lin cites research that says in "extensive task testing with a technical audience, 70 percent started the task by clicking on a link, 30 percent used search." 

In today's search-focused world, site designers sometimes forget the importance of great navigation design. The site architect and client have a lot of upfront work to do in defining a content architecture and a flow that meets the needs of the various audiences the site serves. But that is only a start.

Then the UX/UI team needs to deliver on making that architecture intuitive and easily discoverable. Many design shops think navigation design is old hat, boring, its all been settled. Not so. 

While SEO and SEM, digital marketing, sales funnels, CRM and analytics all play important roles in finding and converting leads in sales, navigation is still the skeleton of your website. It is the bones on which you hang all your content and functionality.

You can read Stephanie's great article on the importance of rigorous and consistent site navigation here. Preach! 

Pure Cobalt - Digital Marketing Decoded

Hi! I'm Spike and this is my first post on Pure Cobalt's Digital Marketing Decoded. I've been working on websites and digital communications in general since the very beginning in 1995 and the first web project I managed was for McAuslan brewing here in Montreal way back 96. So I'm an old man of the web.

Once upon a time web development was just that, developing websites. Today it's a whole constellation of related disciplines that need to work together to generate traffic, enchant the customers, created brand loyalty, generate leads and ultimate sell!

We created this blog explore and share some of the technologies, approaches, and issues that continue to reshape the digital space on an almost daily basis.

We are going to talk about UI/UX. We are going to talk CMS. We are going to talk SEO/SEM and analytics. We're also going to take a look at the crazy world of digital advertising, social media marketing, and content marketing. Most of all we are going to try to how where all the pieces fit together to create an effective web presence.