#i mimic his speech patterns sometimes after i watch a video

[minedcraft-peonies]

I think watching bdubs has given me very specific brain worms.. I can't say sporeblossom without parroting how he says it.

[writing-for-me-at-this-point]

ii. Fun Facts About The Cast | Actor Au | Obey Me

Request: Its not, I love this AU tho

Word Count: 2303 words

Page Count: 6.5 pages

A.N. Hope you guys all like this! Fun facts about the cast lmao

[ Actor AU Masterlist ]

Fun Facts

Benjamin ( Lucifer )

- Is the dad of the cast.

- In any scenes with Dmitri ( Luke ), he makes sure to know if he is alright, and often will stop scenes to ask.

- He also is an overall joker, so he has trouble filming most of his scenes, will often start laughing in the middle of filming and can break character the easiest.

- Best with kids overall, probably due to having his own, keeps their lives private tho.

- His hair was white for a past show, but the directors liked the look, so that's why he has white tips.

- One of the few male characters who cannot do those diets to accentuate his abs- so that's why his character is always covered up.

- He's in shape! But, he likes the fat that protects his muscle, he says he needs to stay soft to hug his kids.

- Known diabetic, so there's a table full of foods so his sugars are stable, the cast has glucagon shots all over the sets to be safe.

- Is in his early thirties, but people say he can pull off early twenties- he just snorts at this.

Avery ( Mammon ) 

- Takes the job seriously, and his scenes are easiest to film.

- Dark humor and often is the "Lucifer" of the cast.

- Seeing him switch from Avery to Mammon leaves the rest of the cast and crew fucking s h o o k.

- Will always be seen looking his finest.

- No, no one has seen him in public in sweatpants or anything like that. His image is very serious.

- Is a sweetheart when with the rest of the cast tho.

- His eyes are actually that blue.

- No one is sure if his hair is actually white or not, the way he speaks about it is vague, and fans are always theorizing.

- Watching over Benji ( Lucifer ), and is usually the one to tell him to check his sugars, since the other is quite forgetful.

- Is an immigrant from Turkey, so he has an accent, makes people thirst for him more.

- Helps aspiring actors and directors get into the field, and goes on hard work and talent, not who tries to pay him off.

Jackson ( Leviathan )

- Is the resident fuckboi.

- Always with males and females hanging off him, at this point the pop gave up, no- they aren't his partner.

- Flexes a shit ton.

- Wearing chains, a Rolex, and anything designer.

- Donates half of his salary to ocean reserves and protection funds, he has the money for it, and the show pays him well.

- Always at the beach, or near lake houses and shit, the one ( 1 ) thing he likes about his character.

- Hates the fringe he wears with a passion.

- His hair is actually a light shade of brown, his eyes are a darker shade, but still pretty light.

- First generation, his parents are Korean, so you can pick up hints of their accent in his speech patterns. Gets heavy when he's sleepy. 

Ross ( Satan )

- Is a stoner.

- Goes on Instagram lives with either MC and gets high, talking about the dumbest shit or he's alone in his room and his cats join in.

- "So, if you think about- oH MY GOD PRINCESS. YES, COME TO DADDY."

- Has a kitten curled up on him, purrs loud as hell because mf is so warm, and the lives turn into purring ASMR sessions.

- Into self care, has a line of vitamins, face masks, and everything you can think of.

- Calls his fans his SaStans.

- Dmitri ( Luke ) is his younger brother.

- Will never let him out of his sight, and they love to be as mean as they can to each other, they love each other but love to bully one another.

- Is from the Bronx, so his accent is what Avery ( Mammon ) mimics for his character, often just records Avery's lines and sends them to him so he can practice.

- Owns an animal shelter he funds.

- "Carol Baskin? Who's that?"

- The REAL tiger king.

- Gets all his cats dyed to look like tigers.

Micheal ( Asmodeus )

- Chill as fuck.

- Has like 5+ kids, so the role fits him perfectly, and now it's an on running joke among fans that they are all his illegitimate children.

- You know why Asmodeus on the show wears so much makeup? 

- His eldest daughter is one of the makeup artists, and she loves to try new looks on him, and the producers think it would fit the character well.

- People speculate his age, looks young but is in his late 30's.

- His first child was born when he was 16, so he likes to support safe heavens and things like that for struggling youths- from being kicked out to needing assistance with mental health.

- Tired af.

- Always in sweatpants, him and Ross ( Satan ) are the trademark bums of the cast.

- Thinks it would be hilarious that when Micheal is revealed, in the show, that he plays the character.

- Is a writer as well, TSL is a real series and he writes it, so they let him use it in the show.

- Vlogs in his car, in a Wendy's parking lot, eating a shit ton of food and talking about the most random shit.

- Half asleep in all interviews, wearing a hoodie and sweatpants, it's gotten to the point where everyone memes it too.

James ( Beelzebub )

- Himbo.

- One of the few cast members closest to their character.

- Absolute sweetheart.

- He's 20 years old.

- But how is he so fucking big???

- Comes from a big ass family, the middle child, he's baby 4 out of 9.

- All his siblings are redheads too.

- Very playful tho, with the cast always going along with his antics, making for the best bloopers.

- The contacts he wears make him blind af, which doesn't help since he's so tall, and will bump his head on the doorways and such.

- Can speak Scottish-Gaelic, and even has an accent to top it off.

- He is an absolute unit, and one of the characters who does the stupid diet to show off his form.

- Literally on the verge of passing out sometimes, so he needs to rest with Benjamin ( Lucifer ).

- All pictures, shirtless scenes, and such are filmed first so he can rest after and go back to a normal diet.

- Quiet guy, but loves talking about sports and his siblings tho.

- Is always carrying MC and Dmitri ( Luke ) around, now there are many off-guard photos posted to the casts shared twitter+instagram accounts

- Still pretty new to acting, but is amazing at emotional scenes, to the point fans actually think he's having a breakdown.

- Nah, he's just thinking about being alone, without his family- and it gets him bawling for said scenes.

Conner ( Belphegor )

- Crackhead 

- Will not stay still, either for filming or just when everyone is chilling.

- Scenes where he's asleep? He's usually turned away from the camera, cause the idiot is smiling and giggling.

- Has tripped over his tail multiple times.

- Comes from a farm-life, literal cowboy, his southern accent just hits hard.

- He hides it very well, but it comes out at times or with certain words.

- Sees Benjamin ( Lucifer ) as a mentor, he's in his early twenties and new to the scene, but they are best friends.

- Benjamin ( Lucifer ) has now acquired a new child.

- A living meme.

- You know how Tom Holland can't keep a secret?

- Yeah, he's worse.

- Rest of the cast have all had to physically stop him from talking at one point.

- The cow pillow? It's actually his, when he got the role his father has sewn it himself, so he will bring it with him.

- It's basically free promo for the show and comforts him in the city space.

- Gets overwhelmed in large crowds, so he usually makes sure to have another cast member close by, or he will literally leave to a less crowded place to take a breath.

- Apologized to MC after the scene in which he kills them.

- His mama raised him right, so he takes MC to his house for a movie, in which they cuddle and relax for the night.

- Felt really bad for like... a whole week.

- "Country boy I love you~"

Thomas ( Barbatos )

- Brat.

- This is one cocky man, he's smooth as hell, and one whisper can make you weak in the knees.

- Grew out the one side of his hair, but he slicks his hair back or will pin it back, dyes it himself when it's time to film.

- Loves to piss Alex ( Simeon ) off.

- Has a true crime podcast with Roman ( Diavolo ), Alex ( Simeon ), and Benjamin ( Lucifer ), because they're all old friends.

- Donates to the cold case foundation because he knows what it's like to lose someone and not know what happened to them.

- He has a twin who is his stunt double, they love to fuck with the rest of the cast, both of them are little shits.

- Is the motherfucker who makes a channel and reads the crackhead fanfics

- Loves every word of it tho.

- Responds to every fans dms. Every. One. As a whole account for this shit.

- Walks with a bit of a limp, so he wears a brace to help even himself, but during wide-shot scenes you can catch it sometimes.

- Took actual classes to be a butler for the role.

Roman ( Diavolo )

- Himbo 2.0

- Catch this man tweeting what he's trying to search up at 2 in the morning.

- Leaves them because it's hilarious, makes videos where he reads them out sometimes, it's all in good fun.

- He has a set of triplets at home, so that dad energy radiates into the show too.

- You know how Diavolo seems sus at points of the game? Yeah, he's still like that IRL.

- The rest of the cast was put off at first, but that's how he is, and everyone eased up pretty quickly.

- Makes jokes that he has family in the Italian mob, but needed to stop once his father called him, saying that there were too many eyes on the family now.

- Man was s h o o k.

- Has sensitive skin, so all his makeup and body paints need to be specially made, made with all natural products.

- The bags under his eyes are baby bags.

- Will bring his kids on set, to which everyone will gush over, and watch them when they aren't filming.

- Very private with his kids ( to the public ), doesn't post about them much, and only the cast really sees them.

- Wine dad.

- Catch him bringing the whole cast out for "family trips"

- People nicknamed him Caesar

- So many JoJo references now

- "SHHHHIIIIIZZZAAAAAAAA"

- "Please, no."

Dmitri ( Luke )

- Is actually 12.

- Quotes vines, tiktoks, and other memes.

- Is one of the few people that Alex ( Simeon ) is openly nice too.

- Also has an accent, but since he's young and is learning, can now mimic every other cast member's accent.

- Wear earplugs for certain scenes, because of how raunchy and dark the scenes can get, so Simeon and Barbatos are always conveniently in the way, hiding the plugs.

- Is Ross' ( Satan ) younger brother, and if he isn't hanging off of him he's with James ( Beelzebub ), Benjamin ( Lucifer ), or MC.

- They know there are some sick fucks in Hollywood so he has an adult with him at all times.

- Posts pictures of him cuddling up to his brother and the kittens, new foods he is trying, and some pictures with family.

- He often is considered the new Gordon Ramsay.

- Had a collaboration with him.

- It was amazing.

- Best boy, catch him taking a nap in his ( and Ross' ) trailer, surrounded by tiger kittens.

- The TIGER PRINCE.

Alex ( Simeon )

- Avatar of wrath who?

- The embodiment of "No talk me, I angy"

- Jkjk, though he does have a temper, he only loses it with Benjamin ( Lucifer ), Roman ( Diavolo ), and Thomas ( Barbatos ).

- A sweetheart with all children though, like you know Simeon on the show? 

- Yeah, he's only like that with kids.

- And respectable adults.

- Mama raised him well 2.0

- Grew up in NY

- Born in Gucci and Balenciaga.

- Was a child model and slowly expanded to acting.

- Dark humor galore.

- If Simeon met Alex, he'd probably have a stroke, cause THOSE WORDS are coming out of HIS mouth.

- Says the weirdest shit too.

- "Put your hand on my ass and call me a virgin."

- Bro are you okay???

- He is fluent in five languages and has a high IQ.

- Speaks: English, French, Italian, Arabic, and Mandarin

- Has a support system for children who struggle to learn conventionally, with trained tutors who are affordable, he knows what it's like to need certain needs met to learn, and he wants every kid to get that chance.

- Rough around the edges but has a heart of gold.

Derek ( Solomon )

- Loves to smoke with Ross ( Satan )

- He is more aloof than chill.

- One of the more awkward members, doesn't know how to socialize well, and is very shy.

- Watch out for Dmitri ( Luke ) on the down low.

- Didn't have the best life growing up, so he is a lot more street smart than book smart.

- Doesn't have a big social media influence.

- Very nice to fans, gives full hugs to them, and everyone feels so appreciated.

- Has a husky named Blue.

- Also has an owl, who he took in when he found it on his porch with a broken wing, and nursed it to health.

- He set it free, but she comes back often, and has a nest in the tree closest to his house.

- Named her Lovely.

- Animal person, so he helps Ross out with his animal shelters.

- Uses Blue as a living pillow, and only sleeps in his boxers when Blue is on his bed, because goddamn does that dog radiate heat.

- Him and MC live together, having grown up together, and made their livings together. 

[mhdiaries]

Wave 3 Toralei Stripe Diary

July. Two. Five.

Ooh they’re telling math jokes now...

Q: What do you get if you divide the circumference of a jack-o-lantern by its diameter?

A: Pumpkin Pi!

The math geeks I’m stuck on this bus with think that this is funny. So funny in fact, that the harpy sitting in front of me shoots milk out of her nose when she hears the punch line. I don’t think it’s funny at all. I’d rather be listening to the music I have stored on my iCoffin but two hours into our five-hour ride home my iCoffin gave up the ghost. It should have lasted the whole trip and then some except that one of my math camp roomies “accidentally” unplugged my iCoffin charger last night when she plugged in her fright light. I don’t even know why a ghost needs a fright light. What? Was she afraid she would trip over something and go “bump in the night?” I realized what happened when we woke up this morning but we had to leave first thing so I didn’t have time to put a full charge on it. At least I got enough battery life to block out the two hours dedicated to the singing of “X Number Bottles of Ghoul Juice on the Wall.” To add to the misery the seats on this bus only have room for two monsters and Meowlody and Purrsephone are of course sitting together which left me stuck in a seat next to a troll named Teala who had never been away from her bridge for more than a day until she came to math camp.She cried herself to sleep every night. Not that any other monster but me noticed but then again I notice everything. I also noticed Teala wasn’t laughing at any of the math jokes either. In fact she seemed to be more miserable than I was. Well now, here I was thinking she was missing her bridge but if that were the case why didn’t she seem excited about going home? “Dish,” I said. She turned and looked at me for a moment and then stared back ahead. “Okay - suit yourself then,” I said and then tried to curl up in the seat to take a cat nap which I had almost accomplished when she said; “My boy-fiend broke up with me...by text...the first night of math camp.” She still wasn’t looking at me but she wasn’t crying either. “He was my first real boyfriend and...and I don’t know why I’m telling you ‘cause you don’t seem to care about any monster besides yourself and you’ll probably figure out a way to use this to make me even more miserable.” I didn’t show it, but that really hurt. Just because I enjoy the chaos that a good practical joke brings doesn’t mean that I’m intentionally cruel does it? I don’t think it does and besides; where’s the fun of kicking some monster when they’re already down? It’s a lot more fun to see the surprise on a monster’s face when they think they’ve got it all together and you can “help them” see that they don’t. So I said, “Guess you better tell me the whole story then so I can do a thorough job.” That actually brought a ghost of a smile to her face. Teala told me that her ex boy-fiend was applying to colleges and that he decided he needed to keep his “options open” in case he might meet his “intellectual equal” at school. At first I didn’t believe he actually wrote that and then she showed me the text. “Does he really think he’s that smart,” I asked. She kind of shrugged and said, “He’s scary smart but not as good at math as I am, especially withy differential equations.” She told me he really wanted to get into this one school because his favorite mad scientist taught there. I’d never heard of the school but I knew who the mad scientist was because Mr. Hack made use watch a bunch of his videos in class. The videos were deadly boring but the mad scientist had this odd accent and strange speech pattern. I used to mimic his voice in class to make Mr. Hack jump. I’d wait until Mr. Hack’s back was turned and then scream, “Huhhacckkk - theeese stuuudannts reeelease youuu wuh-ill ah-yuat wa-unce!” It cost me several days in detention and a trip to Headless Headmistress Bloodgood’s office the last time I mimicked the mad scientist but even Mr. Hack admitted he couldn’t tell the difference between the scientist’s voice and my imitation of it. We talked about a few more things and then Teala finally fell asleep. I was able to finally fall asleep as well but not before having to hear another math joke followed by an explosion of milk from the seat in front of me.

July. Two. Eight.

I went to MH today to pick up some pictures I left in the FearBook office. When I was done I went up to the belfry. It’s a good place to keep an eye on things without other eyes watching you. It’s also a good place to take a nap. Usually the hunchback who rings the bells...the bells...works up there but he was on summer vacation in France or somewhere so I had the place to myself; until Spectra came floating through that is. She thinks that she’s very stealthy but it’s almost impossible to sneak up on me and I heard the rattle of her chains long before she actually appeared. I pretended to be asleep for a moment then with my eyes still closed I said, “What do you want Spectra?” “Oh, hello Toralei. Did you hear the news?” Most monsters don’t trust anything they hear from Spectra. I know better. There’s always an element of truth in her “news”. You just need to know how to listen. Here’s an example; Spectra told me she heard that Nefera is moving back to town and will be taking over for Ms. Kindergruber in Home Ick. Not only that but Ms. Kindergruber is also going to quit teaching to become a roadie for her favorite rock and roll band. Now as much fun as it is to imagine Ms. K. climbing stacks of amps while wearing a sleeveless leather vest, bandana and steel toed boots it’s not going to happen. Although when compared to the thought of Nefera actually “lowering herself” to teach, it’s practically a done deal Ms K will be hitting the road. I’m pretty sure out of that confusing jumble of information the one true fact is that Nefera is moving back to town and probably sooner rather than later...now there’s a monster who enjoys kicking some body when it’s down.

July. Three. Zero.

Got an email today from Teala, the troll girl I sat with on the ride home from math camp. Apparently her ex boy-fiend told her that he got a call from the mad scientist he wanted to study under. The scientist told her ex that his test scores indicated a “skuhh-ill weeeakness in diffuhh-wrenntial eeeequay-shunns” and that her ex should find some monster that was intellectually superior and “geeet sah-ummm tuutorr-ing”. Her ex was certain it was the professor since “no monster could fake that voice.” He also apologized to Teala for being an arrogant jerk and asked if she would tutor him in differential equations. Teala told him that she would have to check her schedule. Sometimes it is just purrrecious the way things work out for the beast.

August. One. Three.

I bought a ball of dragon thread today for Sweet Fangs. It’s just about the only material that’s strong enough to survive more than one play session with her. I don’t know what I’m going to do when Sweet Fangs gets bigger because I’m probably going to need the whole dragon and I’m not sure mom and dad are gong to be good with that.

August. Two. Five.

M&P came over today. They’re like my sisters and I can’t imagine how boring unlife would be without them. We do just about everything together and some monsters even think we’re related but we’re not. Not that it matters since we don’t really care what other monsters think anyway. We are who we are and any monster or monsters that want to try and herd us better get ready for a long miserable day. Today we weren’t worried about being herded, today was a brainstorm session. Our mission, repay Cleo de Nile and her minions for not only ruining our perfectly planned graduation prank but also for taking away part of our valuable summer vacation by “arranging” our trip to math camp. Knowing that it was Cleo who got the better of us is almost as irritating as being wet or having my fur stroked the wrong way. I can’t believe that I actually helped her when she first wanted to be a part of the Fear Squad. Cleo didn’t even know how to do a cartwheel, much less a round off. So I took her under my claw and taught her everything I knew and since I’d been doing gymnastics from the time I was a kitten I knew a lot. I finally got Cleo to the point where she started to “get it” and instead of being a liability she started contributing. I figured that for all my hard work and leadership Nefera would make me the Fear Squad captain when she graduated. Only she didn’t - she passed it onto Cleo. I can still remember what Nefera said to me when I confronted her about it. “I didn’t want Cleo to succeed - I wanted her to be humiliated but since you helped her, you get to deal with the consequences.” Then Cleo acted as if she deserved to be the captain and that she automatically knew everything there was to know about leading the Fear Squad. She should have showed some humility and stepped aside. She didn’t so now it’s up to me to teach her some new lessons and I can’t wait for class to be back in session.  

August. Three. One.

There’s a meteor shower tonight, which will give us the purrrfect opportunity to practice the three D’s. Divert. Design. Demure. First I divert attention away from myself - although tonight the meteor shower should do that for me, next I design a “surprise” for my intended victim student and then after the unexpected happens I demure - “Oh my, what happened here?” More later...

Ended up scraping the three D’s tonight, mostly because the meteor shower diverted me. I was supposed to meet M&P at this coffee shop down close to the beach - it’s the only time I go to the beach since sand + water + fur = unhappy werecat - but they were late so I grabbed a catnipuccino and waited. The owner turned down the lights of the shop so it was almost dark and then the sky was falling. The ghouls showed up just as somewhere down the beach a monster started playing guitar and I said, “Just because we’ve got nine lives doesn’t mean we need to rush through this one.” And we didn’t. 

[endlcss-possibilities]

“Alter”nate Forms of Help

Sometimes Robin could almost forget that it wasn’t Jack that he was talking to.

And other times, it was painfully obvious that a murderous, revenge-bent glitch was currently taking up residence in his friend’s body.

Especially when Anti decided to glitch through Jack’s computer and Robin’s own to pay the editor a “visit” at three in the morning while Robin was working.

One minute he was peacefully editing a video of his own to put up and the next, he was being pinned against the wall by his throat by a virus wearing his friend’s face.

“Hello to you too, Anti,” Robin said, trying to seem casual despite barely being able to breathe. “Nice of you to drop in.”

Anti’s hand spasmed around his throat, the electricity crackling around it stinging Robin’s skin. He’d have mild electrical burns after this, something he’d unfortunately become accustomed to having to deal with.

“The video today,” Anti hissed, his strange garbled speech more jarring in person than through a screen. Robin always wondered whether Anti’s vocal patterns were simply meant to mimic static and glitches, or if it was a side effect of the slit throat of the body he was wearing.

Anti’s hand tightened momentarily around his neck, bringing Robin painfully back to the present. The glitch wouldn’t necessarily kill Robin, since he needed him to help edit the videos to make things seem normal, but he wasn’t above a little physical harm.

“The video?” Robin repeated as soon as Anti had eased up the pressure on his neck enough for him to talk.

“Do you think I’m stupid?” Robin winced at the feedback-like screech in Anti’s tone. “Did you think I wouldn’t notice your little stunt?”

“What little stunt?”

“Don’t play dumb. I saw the magician and your “message” to Jack.” Anti’s hand squeezed tighter around Robin’s throat to the point where the editor was gasping for air, hands automatically coming up to clutch at Anti’s wrist. “If you’re in contact with them, I’ll kill them and then you.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Robin rasped. “I swear, I don’t!”

Anti growled softly, but released Robin, the editor slumping back against the wall with a hand to his throat.

“I’ll let it go this once, I suppose. But if I see anything like that again, I will kill you. Stay away from the others. I’m the only one you’re to be speaking with about Jack.”

With that, Anti glitched back through Robin’s computer, presumably back to Jack’s home in Brighton. Robin sighed softly, wincing at the soreness of his neck. He’d have some nice bruises and burns to cover up for a while if he was going to go out in public.

Robin’s hand fell from his neck to hit the wall in a brief spurt of anger. He felt so goddamn helpless sometimes about this whole mess. Sometimes he felt like it was partly his fault that they were in this situation to begin with.

If he hadn’t encouraged Jack to go along with that Halloween prank…

If they hadn’t given Anti so much attention…

But that was neither here nor there now. Things were how they were and Robin had to find a way to fix it.

Being able to sneak Marvin into the last video had been a great idea at the time, but Robin wasn’t sure how long he was going to be able to keep in contact with Jack’s other egos before Anti found out for sure that he was doing it. And Robin wasn’t sure how subtle he could make it and still have the fans notice it.

He had faith though.

They were pretty perceptive.

Still, he did wish there was some other way to get Anti under control enough so that Jack could wake up and take back control of his body. It would be so much easier if he had some kind of help, from someone that he could actually talk to and keep in contact with, but that Anti didn’t know about.

Robin dropped back into his computer chair, rubbing his hands over his face roughly. He hadn’t been getting much sleep lately, even less than usual, because he’d been so busy trying to keep his contact with the other egos a secret and working on sneaking hints into videos without Anti noticing. The editor laid his head down on his desk tiredly.

There had to be another way to go about this.

He needed help…

But he had no one else to go to, no one else knew what he was going through…

“Did someone say something about help?”

Robin jerked upright at the soft voice, banging his knee against his desk as he did so. A soft laugh filtered through the air and Robin turned in his chair, trying to locate the source of the voice.

“I hear you have an unruly glitch that you’d like gone?”

“Where are you? Who are you?” Another laughed followed Robin’s questions and now the editor could see the dark figure slouched in the doorway. There was something off about the silhouette of the person though, and he couldn’t quite put his finger on it.

“Who am I? I’m someone who can give you the help that you need.”

“How? How do you know about Anti?”

“Well, I helped create him, for starters.” Finally the person moved forward into the light so that Robin could see them more clearly. The same sandy blond hair as his own, only with a jet black streak at the front. The same face.

The person looked exactly like Robin.

And Robin was pretty used to seeing other people with Jack’s face that weren’t Jack.

But there was something different about it when it was your own face staring back at you and it wasn’t in the mirror.

The not-him smirked, a look that he definitely hadn’t ever seen before on his own face and stepped forward more.

And now Robin could see why the silhouette of him had looked so odd.

There were two massive wings protruding from the not-him’s back. They were a purpley black in color and as Robin watched, they stretched out before retracting back to their original folded position.

“You helped create Anti?” Robin asked, finally finding his voice again. “Who are you?”

“Yes I suppose this is a little odd for you, though I thought you’d be aware of the possibility that other people besides your Jack could have alter egos.”

“You’re my...you’re my ego?”

A hand was held out for Robin to shake.

“That I am. Nice to meet you Robin. My name is Crow. And I can help you get Jack back.”

~~~

Buy Me A Coffee?

[artlessictoan]

I dunno if this is too mich but: 3, 26, 43, 46 and/or 49 +Sand sibs 2.0

holy fuc k okok dw i got this yallbetter go get yourselves a cuppa this is gonna take a while

Brothers, sisters? Who do they like? Why? What do theydespise about their siblings?

well obvs all these kids love the hell outta each other! Theyhave a very close bond, almost on thesame level as the Sand Sibs Classic Flavour, there’s a lot of unspokencommunication between them and understanding that even their bestfriends/partners/dad don’t have with them, bc of their shared history

none of them really have a ‘favourite’ sib, they all likeeach other equally, but in very different ways; while Araya and Yodo are thetwo who hang out more often and do more stereotypically sibling stuff, that’smostly bc Shinki just isn’t interested in those sorts of things, he’s happy tojust sit and watch as he’s working on a puppet or something, generally though,Araya is the best at comforting, Shinki gives great advice and Yodo is always ready to give bullies a goodass-kicking

as for what annoys them.. well Yodo does love her pranks andcan be quite exhausting bc she’s so much more hyper than her bros, Araya is abit of a forgetful ditz, so he’ll often need to be reminded about a promiseseveral times and Shinki still has some trust issues – even with his sibs whohe trusts more than anyone else – he’ll often try to solve his problems withoutgetting them involved which can cause arguments between them. fights betweenthe three don’t usually last long though, as soon as someone apologises they’llforgive each other pretty much immediately

What does your character’s home look like? Personaltaste? Clothing? Hair? Appearance?

the sand fam home is mostly quite simply decorated, the sameway it was when it was first built, but the few rooms that are actuallyused tend to be a terrible clash of Every Style Under The Sun, with each personhaving a small area of the main rooms that’s basically all their shit clusteredtogether, from Gaa and Shinki’s minimalist practicality, to Araya’s cutesy nicknack’s, Kank’s Paint It Black and random puppet limbs everywhere and Yodo’s chaotic mess of video games, electronics and band posters (after so long nobody even notices how weird it looks anymore, visitorsare always very alarmed/amused though)

Shinki: don’t let his ninja outfit fool you, this boyis a Fashionista to the core, while he favours neutral colours he LOVES avantgarde shit, especially the look of mixed textures and bold, postmodern silhouettes,neo-punk is so much his thing it’sridiculous….. unfortunately he also has hypersensitive senses due to his autism,which makes certain textures and types of clothing physically uncomfortable forhim to actually wear, he’s a bit annoyed by that, but he’s into dressmaking andembroidery, so he just makes things for his sibs and lives vicariously throughthem

Araya: PASTEL PRINCE! loves anything cute, bright and feminine,he wears lots of ruffles and glittery makeup, loves over-sized jumpers and sweetpatterns (especially animals and plants!), sometimes he’ll ask his bro to do areally detailed piece of embroidery on a plain jacket, which he always wearswith so much pride! experiments with hair and makeup a lot, with help from hisuncle Kank, his ninja gear is totally different to his preferred style – so muchso that people often don’t recognise him when they first see him out of it –but that’s just bc he doesn’t wanna ruin his nice stuff during battle

Yodo: punk rock to her soul, she loves grungy,distressed, androgynous clothing and goes to great efforts to look like she’s not put in any effort at all. shelikes a lot of variety in colours, while most of her outfits are built aroundblack staples, she’ll throw all sorts of different colours on top (her favesare dark/rich shades of purple and blue though) and she loves bold,intimidating makeup, she mimics Gaara’s eye-rings bc she’s such a fuckingdad’s girl and rocks the heck outta dark lipstick

Does your character have any secrets? If so, are theyholding them back?

Shinki: he does have secrets about his past beforeending up at the orphanage, secrets that not even his siblings or dad knowabout, though they all have their suspicions, but he would rather not talkabout that time in his life and they all respect him enough not to go digging. ingeneral he’s a very open and blunt person – perhaps a little too much, but since he doesn’t talk oftenit’s not a huge issue

Araya: cannot keep a secret to save his life, if askeda question, he will almost immediately cave and tell the truth (unless it’s somethingsuper important, like.. national security level important), he’s not allowed inon pranks and surprise party organisation anymore, he’s honest person bynature, he just really doesn’t like feeling that he’s deceiving someone, or withholdingsomething from them

Yodo: has a metric shitton of secrets, of varyingimport, from exactly how all thosebiscuits went missing, to some of the more illegal things she had to resort towhen living on the streets, mostly kept bc she finds it difficult to trustothers, or bc she’s a forward-thinking person who doesn’t want to be dragged downby the past, so, outside of her family and closest friends, she doesn’t sharemany secrets. unlike her bros, she is a practiced and enthusiastic liar; thougha little clumsy at it as a child, she quickly learns how to hide them once shestarts living with Gaara and Kank (much to their dismay) though she mostly justuses the skill to get out of trouble

Is your character tall? Short? What about size? Weight?Posture? How do they feel about their physical body?

Shinki: average height and weight, he wouldn’t standout much in a crowd. he holds himself quite straight and formally though, in asimilar way to Gaara actually! he doesn’t have many thoughts about his body,either positive or negative, so long as it can get what he needs done done hereally doesn’t give a fuck

Araya: TALL! TOO TALL! he was always a little on the lankyside as a kid, quite skinny and with those awkward spider limbs, but he didn’tget really tall until his late teens(the day that Kank realised Araya was taller than him now, he locked himself inhis room for a whole week), he used to be very self-conscious about himself,but as he grows into his body and stops feeling so gangly he starts to quitelike it! he tends to slouch a lot though and habitually bends over slightlywhen he’s indoors (after one knocked head too many)

Yodo: an utter fuckin short arse. she was short and skinny as a kid, she was short andskinny as a teen and she’s short and skinny as an adult (though she’s stillsuper buff and toned, just built more like a sprinter than a weight-lifter), afact which she loathes, her only comfort is that she’s still taller than herdad by like.. half an inch (a fact that she lauds over him at everyopportunity). even though she wishes she weren’t so short, she still loves thefuck outta her body and will show off her muscles constantly when around hergf, she also tends to stand and walk in a way that makes herself look biggerthan she is, all wide stances and swinging arms

What about voice? Pitch? Strength? Tempo and rhythm ofspeech? Pronunciation? Accent?

Shinki: low and surprisingly soft, he doesn’t talkmuch, but has the kind of voice that draws attention when he does! his speech tendsto be quite halting and slow though, since he likes to think very carefullybefore saying anything, doesn’t outwardly emote much, has a typical Suna accent,as do all the kids (which i generally imagine as like.. Iranian-ish, orsomething??)

Araya: he has a very sweet and gentle voice, not very high,but not low either, just a relaxed mid-level tone, it’s the kind of voice youcould easily fall asleep to bc it’s just so calm and soothing! whether it’sfast or slow depends mostly on Araya’s mood, he’s very expressive, so when he’shappy/excited he talks quicker and when he’s sad it slows down, even though hepretty much never shouts, you can tell when he’s really mad when he starts giving very short, abrupt sentences

Yodo: in the words of Shikadai, ‘Yodo sounds like whatyou’d get if you gave a hamster speed, put it in a blender and then put theblender in a washing machine’ (Yodo cackled about that analogy for three hours),her voice is high, squeaky and generally pretty grating, though how much of thatis natural and how much is put on to annoy everyone around her is debatable,she does speak in a much lower, calmer way when she’s relaxed and around herfamily though. talks super fast and loud, sometimes with a song-like rhythm andif she’s feeling something, you’re gonna know about it

[reputationiseverything]

SEO 2018: Will This be the Year of the Story Brand?

email marketing getting started

Certain people always seem to know what’s going on in digital marketing. They are able to predict the “Hot Topic” months in advance.

For as many years as I’ve been in this business, I have been flabbergasted by the knowledge of others, and how they give that knowledge away, seemingly for free. Of course, they monetize their voice. We all try to do that for ourselves or for our clients.

But, as I was writing this article, I was lucky enough to get insight, yet again, from industry leaders I don’t really know because of other people willing to help me.

Without getting into specifics about “hyper-local” and “geo-social” (hot new buzzwords for 2018), my research and discussions centered on common themes around the Story Brand:

Create a story around your brand, and stay consistent with that

Develop a brand that demonstrates transparency, authenticity, emotions, and facets of that story

Leverage content generation and syndication, link building, social media, and publisher influence to promote your story

Recently, a friend of mine told me: “Publishers are going to continue to outrank businesses more and more in 2018. Look at Houzz.com… Where did they come from?!?! I keep telling clients to ‘become a publisher.’ Why? Because they rank, and they rank because they aren’t trying to sell a product. They are telling stories.”

In other words, if people hear about you, and they like what you do when they get there, they’ll convert. You don’t need to sell them on a product. You need to sell them on you.

And, so, as 2018 begins, I hope this article will provide you with the best resource of all – knowledge. Without further ado, here is my short list of four “Thought Leaders” and what they think about the year of the Story Brand.

1. Mark Jackson of Vizion Interactive

Mark Jackson has been a regular contributor at SearchEngineWatch for nearly 7 years now and has been in search and/or marketing for well over a decade. He’s been at big brands, including AOL in the early days, and he understands “brand messaging” better than most.

I got the chance to connect with him here recently, and this is what he had to say:

“While many will talk about the importance of the more recent ‘P Updates’ (Panda, Penguin, and Pigeon), I am more inclined to fall back on an update of yore – Google’s Vince Update.

“Known as the ‘brand’ update, I believe that this set the stage for what was to follow of the now ubiquitous P Updates. Google believes that ‘Brands are the solution, not the problem’ in delivering a more positive set of organic results for its users. (See this AdAge article from 2008.) Since that time, Google has made tremendous strides in ridding its results of spam. It has also shaped what SEO is today.

“You must create a brand to be relevant to Google.

“How do you create a brand? As I referenced in my Search Engine Watch post way back in 2012, reach and frequency are key. So many talk about ‘content marketing’ being vital to organic search today (and it is), but what may be lost is the importance of amplifying your message so that it reaches your intended audience.

“Influencer outreach / PR efforts are one thing, but other forms of promotion are also vital to the effort. Sometimes your organic search endeavors may require a paid component (and, no, I’m not talking about buying links). I’m talking about advertising your message to your audiences, so that you can gain share-of-voice and gain the reach and frequency to have your content efforts ‘mean something’ (to Google, and to your target audience).

“The more folks who see your message and are exposed to your brand, the better chance your content will be shared and, yes, linked to.”

2. Troy Ireland of Digital Current

When I contacted Troy Ireland, Managing Partner at Digital Current, he responded to my question with excellent insight into how brands need to focus on showing their human side to consumers in order to be successful in 2018 and beyond. I listen closely to what Ireland has to say since he is one of the few marketers I know who has had success with thousands of SEO clients over the past thirteen years. This is his response:

“It may sound like a stretch, and biologists would argue otherwise, but any company adept at turning everyday customers into engaged communities knows this: brands are human. “Not convinced? Stay with me. Humans dream up brands and bring them to life. Other humans – living, breathing consumers – keep them alive by doing business with them. We’re social beings, after all. And, while that has always been true, in my experience, success in the digital marketplace increasingly depends on how authentically a brand is able to convey its humanity to consumers.

“How? At a minimum it requires a willingness to express emotion, a clear sense of purpose, and, perhaps above all else, meaningful communication. With so many communication channels available, it’s imperative that a brand’s digital, social media, and content marketing efforts alike share a voice.

“In today’s current landscape, search engine optimization experts are beginning to realize the value of having a voice as they attract increasingly humanized Google search results. We see this clearly in the transition that SEO experts are making from concentrating on search rankings for keywords to focusing on answering audience questions.

“And, in fact, the key to Google search has always been its humanity. We’re so used to thinking of the Google algorithm as our robotic librarian that we often forget that humans designed this storied algorithm to mimic human intelligence and to anticipate human needs, desires, and thought patterns. What Google is searching for, in other words, is humanity.

“This is important to keep in mind across all digital marketing, not just search. For most brands, the key to staying competitive isn’t technology, but applying time-tested marketing methods to new media, in new ways. Intrigue, humor, empathy, or beauty conveyed through evocative images, and dramatic storytelling, colorful video, a well-told narrative, or compelling social media engagement, can resonate deeply in ways a search engine text box alone just can’t.

“Build deep relationships with your audience. They will open up and voice their questions. Knowing what they need for content, aligning the intent behind those needs to your sales funnel, and guiding them properly through the process will lead to a stronger ROI. Once you have your content marketing plan in place, deploy your SEO, link building, social promotion, and influencer outreach strategies to get your story in front of your audience.

“Companies that lose sight of the fact that brands are human (and that customers need to connect with them on an emotional level) do so at their own peril.”

3. Kevin Spacey of Trigger Street

Yes, you read that right. Our third thought leader is the Academy Award winning actor, Kevin Spacey. You may think he is an odd choice to discuss online marketing, but you’d be wrong. In fact, Spacey recently gave the keynote speech at Content Marketing World 2014, an event sponsored by the Content Marketing Institute.

Spacey didn’t talk about his wealth of knowledge on SEO or his marketing strategies, because he doesn’t have any. Instead, he talked about what he knows best – telling a story. And, not just any story, but YOUR story.

During his speech, he said: “The story is everything, which means it is our job to tell better stories.” He went on to say that, “Building a story comes down to three things: conflict, authenticity, and audience.”

Conflict, according to Spacey, is what builds engagement with a story. People like to hear a story in which the characters take risks. In the advertising world, you can create conflict by “going against the settled order of things.”

Authenticity is the next important ingredient. When people feel they are being deceived, or that you are not being true to them, they are turned off. Stay true to who you are and what your brand stands for. Don’t try to do what another company is doing simply because it is working for them. Be authentic with your audience, and they will respond to you.

Audience may be the hardest part of all. In order to gather an audience, you need to do something that is unique and that other people want to share. This is becoming harder and harder to do as more companies attempt the same, but if you can find an idea that works, you will be rewarded.

What was the main point of Spacey’s speech? Simply this: If you want to reach a wider audience, you have to apply a personal touch. Audiences want a story, something they can connect to. If you can make your audience feel a part of the story, you will be able to engage with them like never before.

4. Pam Didner of GlobalContent.Marketing

Pam Didner is a voice I had not heard of before, but recently found out about from Lee Odden’s TopRank blog post.

These are among her predictions:

“Digital marketing will continue to morph and promotion channels will be further fragmented. The major change is NOT about digital marketing. The major change will come from Marketers by going Back to Basics: reevaluate the target audience, determine what works and what doesn’t.”

In other words, don’t worry about your search engine rankings. Go back to the essentials of marketing, but apply them to the new technologies. Focus on connecting with your audience and building up your brand.

This is from Chapter 1 of Didner’s book:

“I am part of the 75 percent, the 44 percent, and the 110 club! About 75 percent of Americans bring phones to the bathroom. Approximately 44 percent of cell phone users sleep with their cell phone by their side. And according to figures collected by a screen lock app, the average user actually checks his phone around 110 times a day.

“I’ve concluded that our phone is the adult version of a security blanket or our favorite stuffed animal. Marvelously, this little device does much more than act as a security blanket or substitute for a stuffed animal. It lets us consume content anytime and anywhere. Studies have shown that the typical social media user consumes 285 pieces of content daily, which equates to an eye-opening 54,000 words and, for the truly active, as many as 1,000 clickable links.”

After reading this, I think: produce GREAT content, fairly regularly, promote it through influence, optimize it for local and mobile, and then, finally, if it’s getting traction, the “numbers are there” to justify throwing some dollars at it to promote the piece.

But, behind it all, create a great story, and brand it through the human element of what companies do. We have an unprecedented amount of access to our potential customers, so we need to use it to our full advantage by giving them what they want – authenticity and great content.

What about My Thoughts for 2018?

My thoughts on 2018 are essentially this: I feel it’s just “more of the same.” Some people will be able to market their brand well, while others will not. And, Google will continue to try and refine their algorithm, while also making it harder for people to figure out what it is. So, instead of trying to “game the system,” we should be looking for a better alternative.

Specifically, don’t worry about what Google is doing with its rankings algorithm, just worry about how you are spreading the message of your company and marketing your brand (or, as the case may be, your clients’ stories).

You don’t have any control over how search engines will rank you. The only thing you can control is how you interact with and widen your audience. In 2018, the best way to do this comes down to storytelling.

Link building, content, promotion, PR, social… These strategies really are starting to become one, in my opinion. While they are important, they must be focused around the central story of your company. In order to be at the top of your game, you need to know all the strategies. But, if you are not properly telling your story, how you use them won’t matter.

Take the time to get on the same page with your clients and their consumers, so that you know what the story is you want to tell. Once you have it figured out, you can use all the other tools you have to the best effect.

So, for 2018, make a resolution to focus on storytelling. Figure out what your own voice is, or the voice of your clients. Only YOU can tell YOUR story, so make sure it is being told in the way that you want.

Happy New Year (albeit belated), everyone, and I truly hope this helps build a prosperous 2018 for all of you!

About the Author: Asher Elran is a practical software engineer and a marketing specialist. He is the CEO at Dynamic Search and the founder of Web Ethics.

Google

[alissaselezneva]

SEO 2018: Will This be the Year of the Story Brand?

Certain people always seem to know what’s going on in digital marketing. They are able to predict the “Hot Topic” months in advance.

For as many years as I’ve been in this business, I have been flabbergasted by the knowledge of others, and how they give that knowledge away, seemingly for free. Of course, they monetize their voice. We all try to do that for ourselves or for our clients.

But, as I was writing this article, I was lucky enough to get insight, yet again, from industry leaders I don’t really know because of other people willing to help me.

Without getting into specifics about “hyper-local” and “geo-social” (hot new buzzwords for 2018), my research and discussions centered on common themes around the Story Brand:

Create a story around your brand, and stay consistent with that

Develop a brand that demonstrates transparency, authenticity, emotions, and facets of that story

Leverage content generation and syndication, link building, social media, and publisher influence to promote your story

Recently, a friend of mine told me: “Publishers are going to continue to outrank businesses more and more in 2018. Look at Houzz.com… Where did they come from?!?! I keep telling clients to ‘become a publisher.’ Why? Because they rank, and they rank because they aren’t trying to sell a product. They are telling stories.”

In other words, if people hear about you, and they like what you do when they get there, they’ll convert. You don’t need to sell them on a product. You need to sell them on you.

And, so, as 2018 begins, I hope this article will provide you with the best resource of all – knowledge. Without further ado, here is my short list of four “Thought Leaders” and what they think about the year of the Story Brand.

1. Mark Jackson of Vizion Interactive

Mark Jackson has been a regular contributor at SearchEngineWatch for nearly 7 years now and has been in search and/or marketing for well over a decade. He’s been at big brands, including AOL in the early days, and he understands “brand messaging” better than most.

I got the chance to connect with him here recently, and this is what he had to say:

“While many will talk about the importance of the more recent ‘P Updates’ (Panda, Penguin, and Pigeon), I am more inclined to fall back on an update of yore – Google’s Vince Update.

“Known as the ‘brand’ update, I believe that this set the stage for what was to follow of the now ubiquitous P Updates. Google believes that ‘Brands are the solution, not the problem’ in delivering a more positive set of organic results for its users. (See this AdAge article from 2008.) Since that time, Google has made tremendous strides in ridding its results of spam. It has also shaped what SEO is today.

“You must create a brand to be relevant to Google.

“How do you create a brand? As I referenced in my Search Engine Watch post way back in 2012, reach and frequency are key. So many talk about ‘content marketing’ being vital to organic search today (and it is), but what may be lost is the importance of amplifying your message so that it reaches your intended audience.

“Influencer outreach / PR efforts are one thing, but other forms of promotion are also vital to the effort. Sometimes your organic search endeavors may require a paid component (and, no, I’m not talking about buying links). I’m talking about advertising your message to your audiences, so that you can gain share-of-voice and gain the reach and frequency to have your content efforts ‘mean something’ (to Google, and to your target audience).

“The more folks who see your message and are exposed to your brand, the better chance your content will be shared and, yes, linked to.”

2. Troy Ireland of Digital Current

When I contacted Troy Ireland, Managing Partner at Digital Current, he responded to my question with excellent insight into how brands need to focus on showing their human side to consumers in order to be successful in 2018 and beyond. I listen closely to what Ireland has to say since he is one of the few marketers I know who has had success with thousands of SEO clients over the past thirteen years. This is his response:

“It may sound like a stretch, and biologists would argue otherwise, but any company adept at turning everyday customers into engaged communities knows this: brands are human. “Not convinced? Stay with me. Humans dream up brands and bring them to life. Other humans – living, breathing consumers – keep them alive by doing business with them. We’re social beings, after all. And, while that has always been true, in my experience, success in the digital marketplace increasingly depends on how authentically a brand is able to convey its humanity to consumers.

“How? At a minimum it requires a willingness to express emotion, a clear sense of purpose, and, perhaps above all else, meaningful communication. With so many communication channels available, it’s imperative that a brand’s digital, social media, and content marketing efforts alike share a voice.

“In today’s current landscape, search engine optimization experts are beginning to realize the value of having a voice as they attract increasingly humanized Google search results. We see this clearly in the transition that SEO experts are making from concentrating on search rankings for keywords to focusing on answering audience questions.

“And, in fact, the key to Google search has always been its humanity. We’re so used to thinking of the Google algorithm as our robotic librarian that we often forget that humans designed this storied algorithm to mimic human intelligence and to anticipate human needs, desires, and thought patterns. What Google is searching for, in other words, is humanity.

“This is important to keep in mind across all digital marketing, not just search. For most brands, the key to staying competitive isn’t technology, but applying time-tested marketing methods to new media, in new ways. Intrigue, humor, empathy, or beauty conveyed through evocative images, and dramatic storytelling, colorful video, a well-told narrative, or compelling social media engagement, can resonate deeply in ways a search engine text box alone just can’t.

“Build deep relationships with your audience. They will open up and voice their questions. Knowing what they need for content, aligning the intent behind those needs to your sales funnel, and guiding them properly through the process will lead to a stronger ROI. Once you have your content marketing plan in place, deploy your SEO, link building, social promotion, and influencer outreach strategies to get your story in front of your audience.

“Companies that lose sight of the fact that brands are human (and that customers need to connect with them on an emotional level) do so at their own peril.”

3. Kevin Spacey of Trigger Street

Yes, you read that right. Our third thought leader is the Academy Award winning actor, Kevin Spacey. You may think he is an odd choice to discuss online marketing, but you’d be wrong. In fact, Spacey recently gave the keynote speech at Content Marketing World 2014, an event sponsored by the Content Marketing Institute.

Spacey didn’t talk about his wealth of knowledge on SEO or his marketing strategies, because he doesn’t have any. Instead, he talked about what he knows best – telling a story. And, not just any story, but YOUR story.

During his speech, he said: “The story is everything, which means it is our job to tell better stories.” He went on to say that, “Building a story comes down to three things: conflict, authenticity, and audience.”

Conflict, according to Spacey, is what builds engagement with a story. People like to hear a story in which the characters take risks. In the advertising world, you can create conflict by “going against the settled order of things.”

Authenticity is the next important ingredient. When people feel they are being deceived, or that you are not being true to them, they are turned off. Stay true to who you are and what your brand stands for. Don’t try to do what another company is doing simply because it is working for them. Be authentic with your audience, and they will respond to you.

Audience may be the hardest part of all. In order to gather an audience, you need to do something that is unique and that other people want to share. This is becoming harder and harder to do as more companies attempt the same, but if you can find an idea that works, you will be rewarded.

What was the main point of Spacey’s speech? Simply this: If you want to reach a wider audience, you have to apply a personal touch. Audiences want a story, something they can connect to. If you can make your audience feel a part of the story, you will be able to engage with them like never before.

4. Pam Didner of GlobalContent.Marketing

Pam Didner is a voice I had not heard of before, but recently found out about from Lee Odden’s TopRank blog post.

These are among her predictions:

“Digital marketing will continue to morph and promotion channels will be further fragmented. The major change is NOT about digital marketing. The major change will come from Marketers by going Back to Basics: reevaluate the target audience, determine what works and what doesn’t.”

In other words, don’t worry about your search engine rankings. Go back to the essentials of marketing, but apply them to the new technologies. Focus on connecting with your audience and building up your brand.

This is from Chapter 1 of Didner’s book:

“I am part of the 75 percent, the 44 percent, and the 110 club! About 75 percent of Americans bring phones to the bathroom. Approximately 44 percent of cell phone users sleep with their cell phone by their side. And according to figures collected by a screen lock app, the average user actually checks his phone around 110 times a day.

“I’ve concluded that our phone is the adult version of a security blanket or our favorite stuffed animal. Marvelously, this little device does much more than act as a security blanket or substitute for a stuffed animal. It lets us consume content anytime and anywhere. Studies have shown that the typical social media user consumes 285 pieces of content daily, which equates to an eye-opening 54,000 words and, for the truly active, as many as 1,000 clickable links.”

After reading this, I think: produce GREAT content, fairly regularly, promote it through influence, optimize it for local and mobile, and then, finally, if it’s getting traction, the “numbers are there” to justify throwing some dollars at it to promote the piece.

But, behind it all, create a great story, and brand it through the human element of what companies do. We have an unprecedented amount of access to our potential customers, so we need to use it to our full advantage by giving them what they want – authenticity and great content.

What about My Thoughts for 2018?

My thoughts on 2018 are essentially this: I feel it’s just “more of the same.” Some people will be able to market their brand well, while others will not. And, Google will continue to try and refine their algorithm, while also making it harder for people to figure out what it is. So, instead of trying to “game the system,” we should be looking for a better alternative.

Specifically, don’t worry about what Google is doing with its rankings algorithm, just worry about how you are spreading the message of your company and marketing your brand (or, as the case may be, your clients’ stories).

You don’t have any control over how search engines will rank you. The only thing you can control is how you interact with and widen your audience. In 2018, the best way to do this comes down to storytelling.

Link building, content, promotion, PR, social… These strategies really are starting to become one, in my opinion. While they are important, they must be focused around the central story of your company. In order to be at the top of your game, you need to know all the strategies. But, if you are not properly telling your story, how you use them won’t matter.

Take the time to get on the same page with your clients and their consumers, so that you know what the story is you want to tell. Once you have it figured out, you can use all the other tools you have to the best effect.

So, for 2018, make a resolution to focus on storytelling. Figure out what your own voice is, or the voice of your clients. Only YOU can tell YOUR story, so make sure it is being told in the way that you want.

Happy New Year (albeit belated), everyone, and I truly hope this helps build a prosperous 2018 for all of you!

About the Author: Asher Elran is a practical software engineer and a marketing specialist. He is the CEO at Dynamic Search and the founder of Web Ethics.

from WordPress https://reviewandbonuss.wordpress.com/2018/03/15/seo-2018-will-this-be-the-year-of-the-story-brand-2/

[filipeteimuraz]

SEO 2018: Will This be the Year of the Story Brand?

Certain people always seem to know what’s going on in digital marketing. They are able to predict the “Hot Topic” months in advance.

For as many years as I’ve been in this business, I have been flabbergasted by the knowledge of others, and how they give that knowledge away, seemingly for free. Of course, they monetize their voice. We all try to do that for ourselves or for our clients.

But, as I was writing this article, I was lucky enough to get insight, yet again, from industry leaders I don’t really know because of other people willing to help me.

Without getting into specifics about “hyper-local” and “geo-social” (hot new buzzwords for 2018), my research and discussions centered on common themes around the Story Brand:

Create a story around your brand, and stay consistent with that

Develop a brand that demonstrates transparency, authenticity, emotions, and facets of that story

Leverage content generation and syndication, link building, social media, and publisher influence to promote your story

Recently, a friend of mine told me: “Publishers are going to continue to outrank businesses more and more in 2018. Look at Houzz.com… Where did they come from?!?! I keep telling clients to ‘become a publisher.’ Why? Because they rank, and they rank because they aren’t trying to sell a product. They are telling stories.”

In other words, if people hear about you, and they like what you do when they get there, they’ll convert. You don’t need to sell them on a product. You need to sell them on you.

And, so, as 2018 begins, I hope this article will provide you with the best resource of all – knowledge. Without further ado, here is my short list of four “Thought Leaders” and what they think about the year of the Story Brand.

1. Mark Jackson of Vizion Interactive

Mark Jackson has been a regular contributor at SearchEngineWatch for nearly 7 years now and has been in search and/or marketing for well over a decade. He’s been at big brands, including AOL in the early days, and he understands “brand messaging” better than most.

I got the chance to connect with him here recently, and this is what he had to say:

“While many will talk about the importance of the more recent ‘P Updates’ (Panda, Penguin, and Pigeon), I am more inclined to fall back on an update of yore – Google’s Vince Update.

“Known as the ‘brand’ update, I believe that this set the stage for what was to follow of the now ubiquitous P Updates. Google believes that ‘Brands are the solution, not the problem’ in delivering a more positive set of organic results for its users. (See this AdAge article from 2008.) Since that time, Google has made tremendous strides in ridding its results of spam. It has also shaped what SEO is today.

“You must create a brand to be relevant to Google.

“How do you create a brand? As I referenced in my Search Engine Watch post way back in 2012, reach and frequency are key. So many talk about ‘content marketing’ being vital to organic search today (and it is), but what may be lost is the importance of amplifying your message so that it reaches your intended audience.

“Influencer outreach / PR efforts are one thing, but other forms of promotion are also vital to the effort. Sometimes your organic search endeavors may require a paid component (and, no, I’m not talking about buying links). I’m talking about advertising your message to your audiences, so that you can gain share-of-voice and gain the reach and frequency to have your content efforts ‘mean something’ (to Google, and to your target audience).

“The more folks who see your message and are exposed to your brand, the better chance your content will be shared and, yes, linked to.”

2. Troy Ireland of Digital Current

When I contacted Troy Ireland, Managing Partner at Digital Current, he responded to my question with excellent insight into how brands need to focus on showing their human side to consumers in order to be successful in 2018 and beyond. I listen closely to what Ireland has to say since he is one of the few marketers I know who has had success with thousands of SEO clients over the past thirteen years. This is his response:

“It may sound like a stretch, and biologists would argue otherwise, but any company adept at turning everyday customers into engaged communities knows this: brands are human. “Not convinced? Stay with me. Humans dream up brands and bring them to life. Other humans – living, breathing consumers – keep them alive by doing business with them. We’re social beings, after all. And, while that has always been true, in my experience, success in the digital marketplace increasingly depends on how authentically a brand is able to convey its humanity to consumers.

“How? At a minimum it requires a willingness to express emotion, a clear sense of purpose, and, perhaps above all else, meaningful communication. With so many communication channels available, it’s imperative that a brand’s digital, social media, and content marketing efforts alike share a voice.

“In today’s current landscape, search engine optimization experts are beginning to realize the value of having a voice as they attract increasingly humanized Google search results. We see this clearly in the transition that SEO experts are making from concentrating on search rankings for keywords to focusing on answering audience questions.

“And, in fact, the key to Google search has always been its humanity. We’re so used to thinking of the Google algorithm as our robotic librarian that we often forget that humans designed this storied algorithm to mimic human intelligence and to anticipate human needs, desires, and thought patterns. What Google is searching for, in other words, is humanity.

“This is important to keep in mind across all digital marketing, not just search. For most brands, the key to staying competitive isn’t technology, but applying time-tested marketing methods to new media, in new ways. Intrigue, humor, empathy, or beauty conveyed through evocative images, and dramatic storytelling, colorful video, a well-told narrative, or compelling social media engagement, can resonate deeply in ways a search engine text box alone just can’t.

“Build deep relationships with your audience. They will open up and voice their questions. Knowing what they need for content, aligning the intent behind those needs to your sales funnel, and guiding them properly through the process will lead to a stronger ROI. Once you have your content marketing plan in place, deploy your SEO, link building, social promotion, and influencer outreach strategies to get your story in front of your audience.

“Companies that lose sight of the fact that brands are human (and that customers need to connect with them on an emotional level) do so at their own peril.”

3. Kevin Spacey of Trigger Street

Yes, you read that right. Our third thought leader is the Academy Award winning actor, Kevin Spacey. You may think he is an odd choice to discuss online marketing, but you’d be wrong. In fact, Spacey recently gave the keynote speech at Content Marketing World 2014, an event sponsored by the Content Marketing Institute.

Spacey didn’t talk about his wealth of knowledge on SEO or his marketing strategies, because he doesn’t have any. Instead, he talked about what he knows best – telling a story. And, not just any story, but YOUR story.

During his speech, he said: “The story is everything, which means it is our job to tell better stories.” He went on to say that, “Building a story comes down to three things: conflict, authenticity, and audience.”

Conflict, according to Spacey, is what builds engagement with a story. People like to hear a story in which the characters take risks. In the advertising world, you can create conflict by “going against the settled order of things.”

Authenticity is the next important ingredient. When people feel they are being deceived, or that you are not being true to them, they are turned off. Stay true to who you are and what your brand stands for. Don’t try to do what another company is doing simply because it is working for them. Be authentic with your audience, and they will respond to you.

Audience may be the hardest part of all. In order to gather an audience, you need to do something that is unique and that other people want to share. This is becoming harder and harder to do as more companies attempt the same, but if you can find an idea that works, you will be rewarded.

What was the main point of Spacey’s speech? Simply this: If you want to reach a wider audience, you have to apply a personal touch. Audiences want a story, something they can connect to. If you can make your audience feel a part of the story, you will be able to engage with them like never before.

4. Pam Didner of GlobalContent.Marketing

Pam Didner is a voice I had not heard of before, but recently found out about from Lee Odden’s TopRank blog post.

These are among her predictions:

“Digital marketing will continue to morph and promotion channels will be further fragmented. The major change is NOT about digital marketing. The major change will come from Marketers by going Back to Basics: reevaluate the target audience, determine what works and what doesn’t.”

In other words, don’t worry about your search engine rankings. Go back to the essentials of marketing, but apply them to the new technologies. Focus on connecting with your audience and building up your brand.

This is from Chapter 1 of Didner’s book:

“I am part of the 75 percent, the 44 percent, and the 110 club! About 75 percent of Americans bring phones to the bathroom. Approximately 44 percent of cell phone users sleep with their cell phone by their side. And according to figures collected by a screen lock app, the average user actually checks his phone around 110 times a day.

“I’ve concluded that our phone is the adult version of a security blanket or our favorite stuffed animal. Marvelously, this little device does much more than act as a security blanket or substitute for a stuffed animal. It lets us consume content anytime and anywhere. Studies have shown that the typical social media user consumes 285 pieces of content daily, which equates to an eye-opening 54,000 words and, for the truly active, as many as 1,000 clickable links.”

After reading this, I think: produce GREAT content, fairly regularly, promote it through influence, optimize it for local and mobile, and then, finally, if it’s getting traction, the “numbers are there” to justify throwing some dollars at it to promote the piece.

But, behind it all, create a great story, and brand it through the human element of what companies do. We have an unprecedented amount of access to our potential customers, so we need to use it to our full advantage by giving them what they want – authenticity and great content.

What about My Thoughts for 2018?

My thoughts on 2018 are essentially this: I feel it’s just “more of the same.” Some people will be able to market their brand well, while others will not. And, Google will continue to try and refine their algorithm, while also making it harder for people to figure out what it is. So, instead of trying to “game the system,” we should be looking for a better alternative.

Specifically, don’t worry about what Google is doing with its rankings algorithm, just worry about how you are spreading the message of your company and marketing your brand (or, as the case may be, your clients’ stories).

You don’t have any control over how search engines will rank you. The only thing you can control is how you interact with and widen your audience. In 2018, the best way to do this comes down to storytelling.

Link building, content, promotion, PR, social… These strategies really are starting to become one, in my opinion. While they are important, they must be focused around the central story of your company. In order to be at the top of your game, you need to know all the strategies. But, if you are not properly telling your story, how you use them won’t matter.

Take the time to get on the same page with your clients and their consumers, so that you know what the story is you want to tell. Once you have it figured out, you can use all the other tools you have to the best effect.

So, for 2018, make a resolution to focus on storytelling. Figure out what your own voice is, or the voice of your clients. Only YOU can tell YOUR story, so make sure it is being told in the way that you want.

Happy New Year (albeit belated), everyone, and I truly hope this helps build a prosperous 2018 for all of you!

About the Author: Asher Elran is a practical software engineer and a marketing specialist. He is the CEO at Dynamic Search and the founder of Web Ethics.

Read more here - http://review-and-bonuss.blogspot.com/2018/03/seo-2018-will-this-be-year-of-story.html

[adolphkwinter]

SEO 2018: Will This be the Year of the Story Brand?

Certain people always seem to know what’s going on in digital marketing. They are able to predict the “Hot Topic” months in advance.

For as many years as I’ve been in this business, I have been flabbergasted by the knowledge of others, and how they give that knowledge away, seemingly for free. Of course, they monetize their voice. We all try to do that for ourselves or for our clients.

But, as I was writing this article, I was lucky enough to get insight, yet again, from industry leaders I don’t really know because of other people willing to help me.

Without getting into specifics about “hyper-local” and “geo-social” (hot new buzzwords for 2018), my research and discussions centered on common themes around the Story Brand:

Create a story around your brand, and stay consistent with that

Develop a brand that demonstrates transparency, authenticity, emotions, and facets of that story

Leverage content generation and syndication, link building, social media, and publisher influence to promote your story

Recently, a friend of mine told me: “Publishers are going to continue to outrank businesses more and more in 2018. Look at Houzz.com… Where did they come from?!?! I keep telling clients to ‘become a publisher.’ Why? Because they rank, and they rank because they aren’t trying to sell a product. They are telling stories.”

In other words, if people hear about you, and they like what you do when they get there, they’ll convert. You don’t need to sell them on a product. You need to sell them on you.

And, so, as 2018 begins, I hope this article will provide you with the best resource of all – knowledge. Without further ado, here is my short list of four “Thought Leaders” and what they think about the year of the Story Brand.

1. Mark Jackson of Vizion Interactive

Mark Jackson has been a regular contributor at SearchEngineWatch for nearly 7 years now and has been in search and/or marketing for well over a decade. He’s been at big brands, including AOL in the early days, and he understands “brand messaging” better than most.

I got the chance to connect with him here recently, and this is what he had to say:

“While many will talk about the importance of the more recent ‘P Updates’ (Panda, Penguin, and Pigeon), I am more inclined to fall back on an update of yore – Google’s Vince Update.

“Known as the ‘brand’ update, I believe that this set the stage for what was to follow of the now ubiquitous P Updates. Google believes that ‘Brands are the solution, not the problem’ in delivering a more positive set of organic results for its users. (See this AdAge article from 2008.) Since that time, Google has made tremendous strides in ridding its results of spam. It has also shaped what SEO is today.

“You must create a brand to be relevant to Google.

“How do you create a brand? As I referenced in my Search Engine Watch post way back in 2012, reach and frequency are key. So many talk about ‘content marketing’ being vital to organic search today (and it is), but what may be lost is the importance of amplifying your message so that it reaches your intended audience.

“Influencer outreach / PR efforts are one thing, but other forms of promotion are also vital to the effort. Sometimes your organic search endeavors may require a paid component (and, no, I’m not talking about buying links). I’m talking about advertising your message to your audiences, so that you can gain share-of-voice and gain the reach and frequency to have your content efforts ‘mean something’ (to Google, and to your target audience).

“The more folks who see your message and are exposed to your brand, the better chance your content will be shared and, yes, linked to.”

2. Troy Ireland of Digital Current

When I contacted Troy Ireland, Managing Partner at Digital Current, he responded to my question with excellent insight into how brands need to focus on showing their human side to consumers in order to be successful in 2018 and beyond. I listen closely to what Ireland has to say since he is one of the few marketers I know who has had success with thousands of SEO clients over the past thirteen years. This is his response:

“It may sound like a stretch, and biologists would argue otherwise, but any company adept at turning everyday customers into engaged communities knows this: brands are human. “Not convinced? Stay with me. Humans dream up brands and bring them to life. Other humans – living, breathing consumers – keep them alive by doing business with them. We’re social beings, after all. And, while that has always been true, in my experience, success in the digital marketplace increasingly depends on how authentically a brand is able to convey its humanity to consumers.

“How? At a minimum it requires a willingness to express emotion, a clear sense of purpose, and, perhaps above all else, meaningful communication. With so many communication channels available, it’s imperative that a brand’s digital, social media, and content marketing efforts alike share a voice.

“In today’s current landscape, search engine optimization experts are beginning to realize the value of having a voice as they attract increasingly humanized Google search results. We see this clearly in the transition that SEO experts are making from concentrating on search rankings for keywords to focusing on answering audience questions.

“And, in fact, the key to Google search has always been its humanity. We’re so used to thinking of the Google algorithm as our robotic librarian that we often forget that humans designed this storied algorithm to mimic human intelligence and to anticipate human needs, desires, and thought patterns. What Google is searching for, in other words, is humanity.

“This is important to keep in mind across all digital marketing, not just search. For most brands, the key to staying competitive isn’t technology, but applying time-tested marketing methods to new media, in new ways. Intrigue, humor, empathy, or beauty conveyed through evocative images, and dramatic storytelling, colorful video, a well-told narrative, or compelling social media engagement, can resonate deeply in ways a search engine text box alone just can’t.

“Build deep relationships with your audience. They will open up and voice their questions. Knowing what they need for content, aligning the intent behind those needs to your sales funnel, and guiding them properly through the process will lead to a stronger ROI. Once you have your content marketing plan in place, deploy your SEO, link building, social promotion, and influencer outreach strategies to get your story in front of your audience.

“Companies that lose sight of the fact that brands are human (and that customers need to connect with them on an emotional level) do so at their own peril.”

3. Kevin Spacey of Trigger Street

Yes, you read that right. Our third thought leader is the Academy Award winning actor, Kevin Spacey. You may think he is an odd choice to discuss online marketing, but you’d be wrong. In fact, Spacey recently gave the keynote speech at Content Marketing World 2014, an event sponsored by the Content Marketing Institute.

Spacey didn’t talk about his wealth of knowledge on SEO or his marketing strategies, because he doesn’t have any. Instead, he talked about what he knows best – telling a story. And, not just any story, but YOUR story.

During his speech, he said: “The story is everything, which means it is our job to tell better stories.” He went on to say that, “Building a story comes down to three things: conflict, authenticity, and audience.”

Conflict, according to Spacey, is what builds engagement with a story. People like to hear a story in which the characters take risks. In the advertising world, you can create conflict by “going against the settled order of things.”

Authenticity is the next important ingredient. When people feel they are being deceived, or that you are not being true to them, they are turned off. Stay true to who you are and what your brand stands for. Don’t try to do what another company is doing simply because it is working for them. Be authentic with your audience, and they will respond to you.

Audience may be the hardest part of all. In order to gather an audience, you need to do something that is unique and that other people want to share. This is becoming harder and harder to do as more companies attempt the same, but if you can find an idea that works, you will be rewarded.

What was the main point of Spacey’s speech? Simply this: If you want to reach a wider audience, you have to apply a personal touch. Audiences want a story, something they can connect to. If you can make your audience feel a part of the story, you will be able to engage with them like never before.

4. Pam Didner of GlobalContent.Marketing

Pam Didner is a voice I had not heard of before, but recently found out about from Lee Odden’s TopRank blog post.

These are among her predictions:

“Digital marketing will continue to morph and promotion channels will be further fragmented. The major change is NOT about digital marketing. The major change will come from Marketers by going Back to Basics: reevaluate the target audience, determine what works and what doesn’t.”

In other words, don’t worry about your search engine rankings. Go back to the essentials of marketing, but apply them to the new technologies. Focus on connecting with your audience and building up your brand.

This is from Chapter 1 of Didner’s book:

“I am part of the 75 percent, the 44 percent, and the 110 club! About 75 percent of Americans bring phones to the bathroom. Approximately 44 percent of cell phone users sleep with their cell phone by their side. And according to figures collected by a screen lock app, the average user actually checks his phone around 110 times a day.

“I’ve concluded that our phone is the adult version of a security blanket or our favorite stuffed animal. Marvelously, this little device does much more than act as a security blanket or substitute for a stuffed animal. It lets us consume content anytime and anywhere. Studies have shown that the typical social media user consumes 285 pieces of content daily, which equates to an eye-opening 54,000 words and, for the truly active, as many as 1,000 clickable links.”

After reading this, I think: produce GREAT content, fairly regularly, promote it through influence, optimize it for local and mobile, and then, finally, if it’s getting traction, the “numbers are there” to justify throwing some dollars at it to promote the piece.

But, behind it all, create a great story, and brand it through the human element of what companies do. We have an unprecedented amount of access to our potential customers, so we need to use it to our full advantage by giving them what they want – authenticity and great content.

What about My Thoughts for 2018?

My thoughts on 2018 are essentially this: I feel it’s just “more of the same.” Some people will be able to market their brand well, while others will not. And, Google will continue to try and refine their algorithm, while also making it harder for people to figure out what it is. So, instead of trying to “game the system,” we should be looking for a better alternative.

Specifically, don’t worry about what Google is doing with its rankings algorithm, just worry about how you are spreading the message of your company and marketing your brand (or, as the case may be, your clients’ stories).

You don’t have any control over how search engines will rank you. The only thing you can control is how you interact with and widen your audience. In 2018, the best way to do this comes down to storytelling.

Link building, content, promotion, PR, social… These strategies really are starting to become one, in my opinion. While they are important, they must be focused around the central story of your company. In order to be at the top of your game, you need to know all the strategies. But, if you are not properly telling your story, how you use them won’t matter.

Take the time to get on the same page with your clients and their consumers, so that you know what the story is you want to tell. Once you have it figured out, you can use all the other tools you have to the best effect.

So, for 2018, make a resolution to focus on storytelling. Figure out what your own voice is, or the voice of your clients. Only YOU can tell YOUR story, so make sure it is being told in the way that you want.

Happy New Year (albeit belated), everyone, and I truly hope this helps build a prosperous 2018 for all of you!

About the Author: Asher Elran is a practical software engineer and a marketing specialist. He is the CEO at Dynamic Search and the founder of Web Ethics.

from Online Marketing Tips https://blog.kissmetrics.com/seo-story-brand/

[reviewandbonuss]

SEO 2018: Will This be the Year of the Story Brand?

Certain people always seem to know what’s going on in digital marketing. They are able to predict the “Hot Topic” months in advance.

For as many years as I’ve been in this business, I have been flabbergasted by the knowledge of others, and how they give that knowledge away, seemingly for free. Of course, they monetize their voice. We all try to do that for ourselves or for our clients.

But, as I was writing this article, I was lucky enough to get insight, yet again, from industry leaders I don’t really know because of other people willing to help me.

Without getting into specifics about “hyper-local” and “geo-social” (hot new buzzwords for 2018), my research and discussions centered on common themes around the Story Brand:

Create a story around your brand, and stay consistent with that

Develop a brand that demonstrates transparency, authenticity, emotions, and facets of that story

Leverage content generation and syndication, link building, social media, and publisher influence to promote your story

Recently, a friend of mine told me: “Publishers are going to continue to outrank businesses more and more in 2018. Look at Houzz.com… Where did they come from?!?! I keep telling clients to ‘become a publisher.’ Why? Because they rank, and they rank because they aren’t trying to sell a product. They are telling stories.”

In other words, if people hear about you, and they like what you do when they get there, they’ll convert. You don’t need to sell them on a product. You need to sell them on you.

And, so, as 2018 begins, I hope this article will provide you with the best resource of all – knowledge. Without further ado, here is my short list of four “Thought Leaders” and what they think about the year of the Story Brand.

1. Mark Jackson of Vizion Interactive

Mark Jackson has been a regular contributor at SearchEngineWatch for nearly 7 years now and has been in search and/or marketing for well over a decade. He’s been at big brands, including AOL in the early days, and he understands “brand messaging” better than most.

I got the chance to connect with him here recently, and this is what he had to say:

“While many will talk about the importance of the more recent ‘P Updates’ (Panda, Penguin, and Pigeon), I am more inclined to fall back on an update of yore – Google’s Vince Update.

“Known as the ‘brand’ update, I believe that this set the stage for what was to follow of the now ubiquitous P Updates. Google believes that ‘Brands are the solution, not the problem’ in delivering a more positive set of organic results for its users. (See this AdAge article from 2008.) Since that time, Google has made tremendous strides in ridding its results of spam. It has also shaped what SEO is today.

“You must create a brand to be relevant to Google.

“How do you create a brand? As I referenced in my Search Engine Watch post way back in 2012, reach and frequency are key. So many talk about ‘content marketing’ being vital to organic search today (and it is), but what may be lost is the importance of amplifying your message so that it reaches your intended audience.

“Influencer outreach / PR efforts are one thing, but other forms of promotion are also vital to the effort. Sometimes your organic search endeavors may require a paid component (and, no, I’m not talking about buying links). I’m talking about advertising your message to your audiences, so that you can gain share-of-voice and gain the reach and frequency to have your content efforts ‘mean something’ (to Google, and to your target audience).

“The more folks who see your message and are exposed to your brand, the better chance your content will be shared and, yes, linked to.”

2. Troy Ireland of Digital Current

When I contacted Troy Ireland, Managing Partner at Digital Current, he responded to my question with excellent insight into how brands need to focus on showing their human side to consumers in order to be successful in 2018 and beyond. I listen closely to what Ireland has to say since he is one of the few marketers I know who has had success with thousands of SEO clients over the past thirteen years. This is his response:

“It may sound like a stretch, and biologists would argue otherwise, but any company adept at turning everyday customers into engaged communities knows this: brands are human. “Not convinced? Stay with me. Humans dream up brands and bring them to life. Other humans – living, breathing consumers – keep them alive by doing business with them. We’re social beings, after all. And, while that has always been true, in my experience, success in the digital marketplace increasingly depends on how authentically a brand is able to convey its humanity to consumers.

“How? At a minimum it requires a willingness to express emotion, a clear sense of purpose, and, perhaps above all else, meaningful communication. With so many communication channels available, it’s imperative that a brand’s digital, social media, and content marketing efforts alike share a voice.

“In today’s current landscape, search engine optimization experts are beginning to realize the value of having a voice as they attract increasingly humanized Google search results. We see this clearly in the transition that SEO experts are making from concentrating on search rankings for keywords to focusing on answering audience questions.

“And, in fact, the key to Google search has always been its humanity. We’re so used to thinking of the Google algorithm as our robotic librarian that we often forget that humans designed this storied algorithm to mimic human intelligence and to anticipate human needs, desires, and thought patterns. What Google is searching for, in other words, is humanity.

“This is important to keep in mind across all digital marketing, not just search. For most brands, the key to staying competitive isn’t technology, but applying time-tested marketing methods to new media, in new ways. Intrigue, humor, empathy, or beauty conveyed through evocative images, and dramatic storytelling, colorful video, a well-told narrative, or compelling social media engagement, can resonate deeply in ways a search engine text box alone just can’t.

“Build deep relationships with your audience. They will open up and voice their questions. Knowing what they need for content, aligning the intent behind those needs to your sales funnel, and guiding them properly through the process will lead to a stronger ROI. Once you have your content marketing plan in place, deploy your SEO, link building, social promotion, and influencer outreach strategies to get your story in front of your audience.

“Companies that lose sight of the fact that brands are human (and that customers need to connect with them on an emotional level) do so at their own peril.”

3. Kevin Spacey of Trigger Street

Yes, you read that right. Our third thought leader is the Academy Award winning actor, Kevin Spacey. You may think he is an odd choice to discuss online marketing, but you’d be wrong. In fact, Spacey recently gave the keynote speech at Content Marketing World 2014, an event sponsored by the Content Marketing Institute.

Spacey didn’t talk about his wealth of knowledge on SEO or his marketing strategies, because he doesn’t have any. Instead, he talked about what he knows best – telling a story. And, not just any story, but YOUR story.

During his speech, he said: “The story is everything, which means it is our job to tell better stories.” He went on to say that, “Building a story comes down to three things: conflict, authenticity, and audience.”

Conflict, according to Spacey, is what builds engagement with a story. People like to hear a story in which the characters take risks. In the advertising world, you can create conflict by “going against the settled order of things.”

Authenticity is the next important ingredient. When people feel they are being deceived, or that you are not being true to them, they are turned off. Stay true to who you are and what your brand stands for. Don’t try to do what another company is doing simply because it is working for them. Be authentic with your audience, and they will respond to you.

Audience may be the hardest part of all. In order to gather an audience, you need to do something that is unique and that other people want to share. This is becoming harder and harder to do as more companies attempt the same, but if you can find an idea that works, you will be rewarded.

What was the main point of Spacey’s speech? Simply this: If you want to reach a wider audience, you have to apply a personal touch. Audiences want a story, something they can connect to. If you can make your audience feel a part of the story, you will be able to engage with them like never before.

4. Pam Didner of GlobalContent.Marketing

Pam Didner is a voice I had not heard of before, but recently found out about from Lee Odden’s TopRank blog post.

These are among her predictions:

“Digital marketing will continue to morph and promotion channels will be further fragmented. The major change is NOT about digital marketing. The major change will come from Marketers by going Back to Basics: reevaluate the target audience, determine what works and what doesn’t.”

In other words, don’t worry about your search engine rankings. Go back to the essentials of marketing, but apply them to the new technologies. Focus on connecting with your audience and building up your brand.

This is from Chapter 1 of Didner’s book:

“I am part of the 75 percent, the 44 percent, and the 110 club! About 75 percent of Americans bring phones to the bathroom. Approximately 44 percent of cell phone users sleep with their cell phone by their side. And according to figures collected by a screen lock app, the average user actually checks his phone around 110 times a day.

“I’ve concluded that our phone is the adult version of a security blanket or our favorite stuffed animal. Marvelously, this little device does much more than act as a security blanket or substitute for a stuffed animal. It lets us consume content anytime and anywhere. Studies have shown that the typical social media user consumes 285 pieces of content daily, which equates to an eye-opening 54,000 words and, for the truly active, as many as 1,000 clickable links.”

After reading this, I think: produce GREAT content, fairly regularly, promote it through influence, optimize it for local and mobile, and then, finally, if it’s getting traction, the “numbers are there” to justify throwing some dollars at it to promote the piece.

But, behind it all, create a great story, and brand it through the human element of what companies do. We have an unprecedented amount of access to our potential customers, so we need to use it to our full advantage by giving them what they want – authenticity and great content.

What about My Thoughts for 2018?

My thoughts on 2018 are essentially this: I feel it’s just “more of the same.” Some people will be able to market their brand well, while others will not. And, Google will continue to try and refine their algorithm, while also making it harder for people to figure out what it is. So, instead of trying to “game the system,” we should be looking for a better alternative.

Specifically, don’t worry about what Google is doing with its rankings algorithm, just worry about how you are spreading the message of your company and marketing your brand (or, as the case may be, your clients’ stories).

You don’t have any control over how search engines will rank you. The only thing you can control is how you interact with and widen your audience. In 2018, the best way to do this comes down to storytelling.

Link building, content, promotion, PR, social… These strategies really are starting to become one, in my opinion. While they are important, they must be focused around the central story of your company. In order to be at the top of your game, you need to know all the strategies. But, if you are not properly telling your story, how you use them won’t matter.

Take the time to get on the same page with your clients and their consumers, so that you know what the story is you want to tell. Once you have it figured out, you can use all the other tools you have to the best effect.

So, for 2018, make a resolution to focus on storytelling. Figure out what your own voice is, or the voice of your clients. Only YOU can tell YOUR story, so make sure it is being told in the way that you want.

Happy New Year (albeit belated), everyone, and I truly hope this helps build a prosperous 2018 for all of you!

About the Author: Asher Elran is a practical software engineer and a marketing specialist. He is the CEO at Dynamic Search and the founder of Web Ethics.

[mhdiaries]

Diary of Toralei Stripe

Better have nine lives if I catch you reading my diary. 

July. Two. Five.

Ooh they’re telling math jokes now...

Q: What do you get if you divide the circumference of a jack-o-lantern by its diameter?

A: Pumpkin Pi!

The math geeks I’m stuck on this bus with think that this is funny. So funny in fact, that the harpy sitting in front of me shoots milk out of her nose when she hears the punch line. I don’t think it’s funny at all. I’d rather be listening to the music I have stored on my iCoffin but two hours into our five-hour ride home my iCoffin gave up the ghost. It should have lasted the whole trip and then some except that one of my math camp roomies “accidentally” unplugged my iCoffin charger last night when she plugged in her fright light. I don’t even know why a ghost needs a fright light. What? Was she afraid she would trip over something and go “bump in the night?” I realized what happened when we woke up this morning but we had to leave first thing so I didn’t have time to put a full charge on it. At least I got enough battery life to block out the two hours dedicated to the singing of “X Number Bottles of Ghoul Juice on the Wall.” To add to the misery the seats on this bus only have room for two monsters and Meowlody and Purrsephone are of course sitting together which left me stuck in a seat next to a troll named Teala who had never been away from her bridge for more than a day until she came to math camp.She cried herself to sleep every night. Not that any other monster but me noticed but then again I notice everything. I also noticed Teala wasn’t laughing at any of the math jokes either. In fact she seemed to be more miserable than I was. Well now, here I was thinking she was missing her bridge but if that were the case why didn’t she seem excited about going home? “Dish,” I said. She turned and looked at me for a moment and then stared back ahead. “Okay - suit yourself then,” I said and then tried to curl up in the seat to take a cat nap which I had almost accomplished when she said; “My boy-fiend broke up with me...by text...the first night of math camp.” She still wasn’t looking at me but she wasn’t crying either. “He was my first real boyfriend and...and I don’t know why I’m telling you ‘cause you don’t seem to care about any monster besides yourself and you’ll probably figure out a way to use this to make me even more miserable.” I didn’t show it, but that really hurt. Just because I enjoy the chaos that a good practical joke brings doesn’t mean that I’m intentionally cruel does it? I don’t think it does and besides; where’s the fun of kicking some monster when they’re already down? It’s a lot more fun to see the surprise on a monster’s face when they think they’ve got it all together and you can “help them” see that they don’t. So I said, “Guess you better tell me the whole story then so I can do a thorough job.” That actually brought a ghost of a smile to her face. Teala told me that her ex boy-fiend was applying to colleges and that he decided he needed to keep his “options open” in case he might meet his “intellectual equal” at school. At first I didn’t believe he actually wrote that and then she showed me the text. “Does he really think he’s that smart,” I asked. She kind of shrugged and said, “He’s scary smart but not as good at math as I am, especially withy differential equations.” She told me he really wanted to get into this one school because his favorite mad scientist taught there. I’d never heard of the school but I knew who the mad scientist was because Mr. Hack made use watch a bunch of his videos in class. The videos were deadly boring but the mad scientist had this odd accent and strange speech pattern. I used to mimic his voice in class to make Mr. Hack jump. I’d wait until Mr. Hack’s back was turned and then scream, “Huhhacckkk - theeese stuuudannts reeelease youuu wuh-ill ah-yuat wa-unce!” It cost me several days in detention and a trip to Headless Headmistress Bloodgood’s office the last time I mimicked the mad scientist but even Mr. Hack admitted he couldn’t tell the difference between the scientist’s voice and my imitation of it. We talked about a few more things and then Teala finally fell asleep. I was able to finally fall asleep as well but not before having to hear another math joke followed by an explosion of milk from the seat in front of me.

July. Two. Eight.

I went to MH today to pick up some pictures I left in the FearBook office. When I was done I went up to the belfry. It’s a good place to keep an eye on things without other eyes watching you. It’s also a good place to take a nap. Usually the hunchback who rings the bells...the bells...works up there but he was on summer vacation in France or somewhere so I had the place to myself; until Spectra came floating through that is. She thinks that she’s very stealthy but it’s almost impossible to sneak up on me and I heard the rattle of her chains long before she actually appeared. I pretended to be asleep for a moment then with my eyes still closed I said, “What do you want Spectra?” “Oh, hello Toralei. Did you hear the news?” Most monsters don’t trust anything they hear from Spectra. I know better. There’s always an element of truth in her “news”. You just need to know how to listen. Here’s an example; Spectra told me she heard that Nefera is moving back to town and will be taking over for Ms. Kindergruber in Home Ick. Not only that but Ms. Kindergruber is also going to quit teaching to become a roadie for her favorite rock and roll band. Now as much fun as it is to imagine Ms. K. climbing stacks of amps while wearing a sleeveless leather vest, bandana and steel toed boots it’s not going to happen. Although when compared to the thought of Nefera actually “lowering herself” to teach, it’s practically a done deal Ms K will be hitting the road. I’m pretty sure out of that confusing jumble of information the one true fact is that Nefera is moving back to town and probably sooner rather than later...now there’s a monster who enjoys kicking some body when it’s down.

July. Three. Zero.

Got an email today from Teala, the troll girl I sat with on the ride home from math camp. Apparently her ex boy-fiend told her that he got a call from the mad scientist he wanted to study under. The scientist told her ex that his test scores indicated a “skuhh-ill weeeakness in diffuhh-wrenntial eeeequay-shunns” and that her ex should find some monster that was intellectually superior and “geeet sah-ummm tuutorr-ing”. Her ex was certain it was the professor since “no monster could fake that voice.” He also apologized to Teala for being an arrogant jerk and asked if she would tutor him in differential equations. Teala told him that she would have to check her schedule. Sometimes it is just purrrecious the way things work out for the beast.

August. One. Three.

I bought a ball of dragon thread today for Sweet Fangs. It’s just about the only material that’s strong enough to survive more than one play session with her. I don’t know what I’m going to do when Sweet Fangs gets bigger because I’m probably going to need the whole dragon and I’m not sure mom and dad are going to be good with that.

August. Two. Five.

M&P came over today. They’re like my sisters and I can’t imagine how boring unlife would be without them. We do just about everything together and some monsters even think we’re related but we’re not. Not that it matters since we don’t really care what other monsters think anyway. We are who we are and any monster or monsters that want to try and herd us better get ready for a long miserable day. Today we weren’t worried about being herded, today was a brainstorm session. Our mission, repay Cleo de Nile and her minions for not only ruining our perfectly planned graduation prank but also for taking away part of our valuable summer vacation by “arranging” our trip to math camp. Knowing that it was Cleo who got the better of us is almost as irritating as being wet or having my fur stroked the wrong way. I can’t believe that I actually helped her when she first wanted to be a part of the Fear Squad. Cleo didn’t even know how to do a cartwheel, much less a round off. So I took her under my claw and taught her everything I knew and since I’d been doing gymnastics from the time I was a kitten I knew a lot. I finally got Cleo to the point where she started to “get it” and instead of being a liability she started contributing. I figured that for all my hard work and leadership Nefera would make me the Fear Squad captain when she graduated. Only she didn’t - she passed it onto Cleo. I can still remember what Nefera said to me when I confronted her about it. “I didn’t want Cleo to succeed - I wanted her to be humiliated but since you helped her, you get to deal with the consequences.” Then Cleo acted as if she deserved to be the captain and that she automatically knew everything there was to know about leading the Fear Squad. She should have showed some humility and stepped aside. She didn’t so now it’s up to me to teach her some new lessons and I can’t wait for class to be back in session.  

August. Three. One.

There’s a meteor shower tonight, which will give us the purrrfect opportunity to practice the three D’s. Divert. Design. Demure. First I divert attention away from myself - although tonight the meteor shower should do that for me, next I design a “surprise” for my intended victim student and then after the unexpected happens I demure - “Oh my, what happened here?” More later...

Ended up scraping the three D’s tonight, mostly because the meteor shower diverted me. I was supposed to meet M&P at this coffee shop down close to the beach - it’s the only time I go to the beach since sand + water + fur = unhappy werecat - but they were late so I grabbed a catnipuccino and waited. The owner turned down the lights of the shop so it was almost dark and then the sky was falling. The ghouls showed up just as somewhere down the beach a monster started playing guitar and I said, “Just because we’ve got nine lives doesn’t mean we need to rush through this one.” And we didn’t.

[adolphkwinter]

SEO 2018: Will This be the Year of the Story Brand?

Certain people always seem to know what’s going on in digital marketing. They are able to predict the “Hot Topic” months in advance.

For as many years as I’ve been in this business, I have been flabbergasted by the knowledge of others, and how they give that knowledge away, seemingly for free. Of course, they monetize their voice. We all try to do that for ourselves or for our clients.

But, as I was writing this article, I was lucky enough to get insight, yet again, from industry leaders I don’t really know because of other people willing to help me.

Without getting into specifics about “hyper-local” and “geo-social” (hot new buzzwords for 2018), my research and discussions centered on common themes around the Story Brand:

Create a story around your brand, and stay consistent with that

Develop a brand that demonstrates transparency, authenticity, emotions, and facets of that story

Leverage content generation and syndication, link building, social media, and publisher influence to promote your story

Recently, a friend of mine told me: “Publishers are going to continue to outrank businesses more and more in 2018. Look at Houzz.com… Where did they come from?!?! I keep telling clients to ‘become a publisher.’ Why? Because they rank, and they rank because they aren’t trying to sell a product. They are telling stories.”

In other words, if people hear about you, and they like what you do when they get there, they’ll convert. You don’t need to sell them on a product. You need to sell them on you.

And, so, as 2018 begins, I hope this article will provide you with the best resource of all – knowledge. Without further ado, here is my short list of four “Thought Leaders” and what they think about the year of the Story Brand.

1. Mark Jackson of Vizion Interactive

Mark Jackson has been a regular contributor at SearchEngineWatch for nearly 7 years now and has been in search and/or marketing for well over a decade. He’s been at big brands, including AOL in the early days, and he understands “brand messaging” better than most.

I got the chance to connect with him here recently, and this is what he had to say:

“While many will talk about the importance of the more recent ‘P Updates’ (Panda, Penguin, and Pigeon), I am more inclined to fall back on an update of yore – Google’s Vince Update.

“Known as the ‘brand’ update, I believe that this set the stage for what was to follow of the now ubiquitous P Updates. Google believes that ‘Brands are the solution, not the problem’ in delivering a more positive set of organic results for its users. (See this AdAge article from 2008.) Since that time, Google has made tremendous strides in ridding its results of spam. It has also shaped what SEO is today.

“You must create a brand to be relevant to Google.

“How do you create a brand? As I referenced in my Search Engine Watch post way back in 2012, reach and frequency are key. So many talk about ‘content marketing’ being vital to organic search today (and it is), but what may be lost is the importance of amplifying your message so that it reaches your intended audience.

“Influencer outreach / PR efforts are one thing, but other forms of promotion are also vital to the effort. Sometimes your organic search endeavors may require a paid component (and, no, I’m not talking about buying links). I’m talking about advertising your message to your audiences, so that you can gain share-of-voice and gain the reach and frequency to have your content efforts ‘mean something’ (to Google, and to your target audience).

“The more folks who see your message and are exposed to your brand, the better chance your content will be shared and, yes, linked to.”

2. Troy Ireland of Digital Current

When I contacted Troy Ireland, Managing Partner at Digital Current, he responded to my question with excellent insight into how brands need to focus on showing their human side to consumers in order to be successful in 2018 and beyond. I listen closely to what Ireland has to say since he is one of the few marketers I know who has had success with thousands of SEO clients over the past thirteen years. This is his response:

“It may sound like a stretch, and biologists would argue otherwise, but any company adept at turning everyday customers into engaged communities knows this: brands are human. “Not convinced? Stay with me. Humans dream up brands and bring them to life. Other humans – living, breathing consumers – keep them alive by doing business with them. We’re social beings, after all. And, while that has always been true, in my experience, success in the digital marketplace increasingly depends on how authentically a brand is able to convey its humanity to consumers.

“How? At a minimum it requires a willingness to express emotion, a clear sense of purpose, and, perhaps above all else, meaningful communication. With so many communication channels available, it’s imperative that a brand’s digital, social media, and content marketing efforts alike share a voice.

“In today’s current landscape, search engine optimization experts are beginning to realize the value of having a voice as they attract increasingly humanized Google search results. We see this clearly in the transition that SEO experts are making from concentrating on search rankings for keywords to focusing on answering audience questions.

“And, in fact, the key to Google search has always been its humanity. We’re so used to thinking of the Google algorithm as our robotic librarian that we often forget that humans designed this storied algorithm to mimic human intelligence and to anticipate human needs, desires, and thought patterns. What Google is searching for, in other words, is humanity.

“This is important to keep in mind across all digital marketing, not just search. For most brands, the key to staying competitive isn’t technology, but applying time-tested marketing methods to new media, in new ways. Intrigue, humor, empathy, or beauty conveyed through evocative images, and dramatic storytelling, colorful video, a well-told narrative, or compelling social media engagement, can resonate deeply in ways a search engine text box alone just can’t.

“Build deep relationships with your audience. They will open up and voice their questions. Knowing what they need for content, aligning the intent behind those needs to your sales funnel, and guiding them properly through the process will lead to a stronger ROI. Once you have your content marketing plan in place, deploy your SEO, link building, social promotion, and influencer outreach strategies to get your story in front of your audience.

“Companies that lose sight of the fact that brands are human (and that customers need to connect with them on an emotional level) do so at their own peril.”

3. Kevin Spacey of Trigger Street

Yes, you read that right. Our third thought leader is the Academy Award winning actor, Kevin Spacey. You may think he is an odd choice to discuss online marketing, but you’d be wrong. In fact, Spacey recently gave the keynote speech at Content Marketing World 2014, an event sponsored by the Content Marketing Institute.

Spacey didn’t talk about his wealth of knowledge on SEO or his marketing strategies, because he doesn’t have any. Instead, he talked about what he knows best – telling a story. And, not just any story, but YOUR story.

During his speech, he said: “The story is everything, which means it is our job to tell better stories.” He went on to say that, “Building a story comes down to three things: conflict, authenticity, and audience.”

Conflict, according to Spacey, is what builds engagement with a story. People like to hear a story in which the characters take risks. In the advertising world, you can create conflict by “going against the settled order of things.”

Authenticity is the next important ingredient. When people feel they are being deceived, or that you are not being true to them, they are turned off. Stay true to who you are and what your brand stands for. Don’t try to do what another company is doing simply because it is working for them. Be authentic with your audience, and they will respond to you.

Audience may be the hardest part of all. In order to gather an audience, you need to do something that is unique and that other people want to share. This is becoming harder and harder to do as more companies attempt the same, but if you can find an idea that works, you will be rewarded.

What was the main point of Spacey’s speech? Simply this: If you want to reach a wider audience, you have to apply a personal touch. Audiences want a story, something they can connect to. If you can make your audience feel a part of the story, you will be able to engage with them like never before.

4. Pam Didner of GlobalContent.Marketing

Pam Didner is a voice I had not heard of before, but recently found out about from Lee Odden’s TopRank blog post.

These are among her predictions:

“Digital marketing will continue to morph and promotion channels will be further fragmented. The major change is NOT about digital marketing. The major change will come from Marketers by going Back to Basics: reevaluate the target audience, determine what works and what doesn’t.”

In other words, don’t worry about your search engine rankings. Go back to the essentials of marketing, but apply them to the new technologies. Focus on connecting with your audience and building up your brand.

This is from Chapter 1 of Didner’s book:

“I am part of the 75 percent, the 44 percent, and the 110 club! About 75 percent of Americans bring phones to the bathroom. Approximately 44 percent of cell phone users sleep with their cell phone by their side. And according to figures collected by a screen lock app, the average user actually checks his phone around 110 times a day.

“I’ve concluded that our phone is the adult version of a security blanket or our favorite stuffed animal. Marvelously, this little device does much more than act as a security blanket or substitute for a stuffed animal. It lets us consume content anytime and anywhere. Studies have shown that the typical social media user consumes 285 pieces of content daily, which equates to an eye-opening 54,000 words and, for the truly active, as many as 1,000 clickable links.”

After reading this, I think: produce GREAT content, fairly regularly, promote it through influence, optimize it for local and mobile, and then, finally, if it’s getting traction, the “numbers are there” to justify throwing some dollars at it to promote the piece.

But, behind it all, create a great story, and brand it through the human element of what companies do. We have an unprecedented amount of access to our potential customers, so we need to use it to our full advantage by giving them what they want – authenticity and great content.

What about My Thoughts for 2018?

My thoughts on 2018 are essentially this: I feel it’s just “more of the same.” Some people will be able to market their brand well, while others will not. And, Google will continue to try and refine their algorithm, while also making it harder for people to figure out what it is. So, instead of trying to “game the system,” we should be looking for a better alternative.

Specifically, don’t worry about what Google is doing with its rankings algorithm, just worry about how you are spreading the message of your company and marketing your brand (or, as the case may be, your clients’ stories).

You don’t have any control over how search engines will rank you. The only thing you can control is how you interact with and widen your audience. In 2018, the best way to do this comes down to storytelling.

Link building, content, promotion, PR, social… These strategies really are starting to become one, in my opinion. While they are important, they must be focused around the central story of your company. In order to be at the top of your game, you need to know all the strategies. But, if you are not properly telling your story, how you use them won’t matter.

Take the time to get on the same page with your clients and their consumers, so that you know what the story is you want to tell. Once you have it figured out, you can use all the other tools you have to the best effect.

So, for 2018, make a resolution to focus on storytelling. Figure out what your own voice is, or the voice of your clients. Only YOU can tell YOUR story, so make sure it is being told in the way that you want.

Happy New Year (albeit belated), everyone, and I truly hope this helps build a prosperous 2018 for all of you!

About the Author: Asher Elran is a practical software engineer and a marketing specialist. He is the CEO at Dynamic Search and the founder of Web Ethics.

from Online Marketing Tips https://kissmetrics.wpengine.com/seo-story-brand/