I'll admit that as a marketing manager I'm typically slow to allocate budget and time towards a new trend until I start seeing concrete examples of that new trend providing some ROI? Well, an example fell right into our lap and I'm sold.
Universal SearchThe term Universal Search has almost become mainstream now. Since all the buzz at this year's SES San Jose conference, many websites and blogs have focused articles on the new art of optimizing images, news, video, and blog posts for the search engine results page (SERP). Universal Search has opened up an opportunity to grab some real estate on the SERP once reserved for plain text results. Although some feel Google has given some hint of backing away slightly from Universal Search, I (and many others) think the concept is here to stay. More and more people will be looking for that rich media search experience and will classify those as quality search results as they currently do with the plain text variety.
The VideoJennifer Laycock
referenced a Universal Search post I had written and in the comments of her post was a real-life case study. Michael Dorausch of
ADIO chiropractic realized the very positive results that Universal Search can bring. His posted video showing the use of a "drop" table in adjusting a patient's spine brought thousands of views and even new clients via exposure to organic search. We started an email dialogue and Michael was excited to share his experience with me.
I asked Michael what prompted him to make the video and what were his expectations:
"Like many other things online, it basically came out of an opportunity to try out something new. When you think about it, what is there to lose? I already owned a video camera, and had enough knowledge to know how to create a short video, and upload it.
I didn't have any expectations other than to see what would happen, and map the results. I had no awareness that universal search would've come into play, injecting my video into organic search results. Had I known that, I may have spent some more time titling and describing the video itself. Fortunately I included phone numbers and URLs in the video footage. The first client that I had as a result of the videos stated they were a motivating factor for coming to the office. He was tech savvy and traveling on business. He told me later that he figured if I was smart enough to market with online videos, I'd have similar skills in my practice. I love business and tech savvy clients, because they really understand your intentions, and they're often more than happy to share their input."
Let's take a look at Michael's video:
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(Unpaid placement - FreeFind is a Search Engine Guide partner.)