DanyaShea Digital Marketing www.danyashea.com Digital Asset Optimization Beginner s Guidebook Whitepaper Creative Commons License Granted with Citation By Danya Shea Glenny
1 Table of Contents What is Digital Asset Optimization?... 2 Why is Digital Asset Optimization important?... 3 Is Digital Asset Optimization really that complex?... 4 5 Who can help me with my Digital Asset Optimization needs?... 6 References.....7
2 What is Digital Asset Optimization? Let s start by reviewing search engine optimization (SEO), which is how we help content get found on the web by people who are searching for it. By using research to determine keyword use and statistics, using web content writing principles, properly entering meta data and various other techniques we identify our content in such a way that search engines can find our content better than our competitors (ideally). Then, when a consumer conducts a search for our product or service, the content we have developed and the way we have identified it allows our company s listing to appear in the top search results. That s the elementary overview of search engine optimization. Digital Asset Optimization (DAO), therefore, is the newest term applied to the evolving field of search engine optimization so as to intentionally include ALL forms of digital content you produce (your digital assets ). One of your digital assets is your web site but now you have other forms of digital assets such as whitepapers, podcast, videos, images, pdf files and more. That content has to be accurately identified, too, so it can be found by the people who are looking for it. So, we use the term DAO (also known as SEO 2) to signify that we are applying old and new SEO principles to all of your company s digital assets, better identifying them to be found by search engines and other social search sites across the web.
3 Why is Digital Asset Optimization important? That s a fair question. If it used to be enough to have your web site found by people searching for your products or services, why do they now need to find your other digital assets such as images, video and whitepapers? Part of the answer to that question is in understanding the new way searches are being made and the new way results are being delivered. No longer do web users (users) feel compelled to exit their current social media site to launch their favorite search engine when making an inquiry. Now, many social sites incorporate search directly into their own site, delivering results for the users from the major search engines, but also from within their social networking spheres. If you ve never run a social search, log on to your Facebook account and search for coffee. You will get results of relevant pages, posts by friends and Bing search listings all on one page. Even the major search engines like Google and Bing incorporate video results, image results, social network stream results and more for any search you run. Everyone is delivering results that include more than a link to your web site. If your competitor s digital assets are being found in search results, shouldn t yours? Obviously users want search results that deliver the information they need in the format they want. This is why digital asset optimization is crucial to your business success.
4 Is Digital Asset Optimization really that complex? Yes it is. The development of digital assets, their marketing and their overall management has led to major industry revolutions in digital asset management tools. These complex management systems give a peek into the value of digital assets and the necessity of their careful care and marketing. Consider the following partial list of potential digital assets your company may develop, your target market may be searching for and your competitors may be marketing: Web Site Facebook Page (& up to 200 other social site profiles!) Whitepapers ebooks Mobile Applications Images Videos Podcasts Slideshows Business Flow Charts Instructional PDFs Press Releases Blog Posts And More
5 In preparing to properly identify your digital assets to be found on the Internet, consider this partial list of essential tasks for successful optimization: Research appropriate keywords for each asset and each niche market the asset is targeted to Register the assets in the appropriate directory or social sharing site Generate interactivity around the asset by target market Gather comments and reviews about the asset Stimulate social sharing of the asset Use these keywords in the right density, in the right places, as follows o File Names o Alt Text o Page Names o Captions o Product Names o Video Scripts and Transcripts o Tags o Descriptions o Links o Tweets o Status Updates o URLs o Headers o Meta Data o File Properties o And More
6 Who should help me with my Digital Asset Optimization needs? Prefer an optimization specialist who demonstrates a macro perspective of both the history and the future of optimization. Look for a moderate attitude from your consultant; don t let them make it sound too easy or like a simple solution, but don t let them convince you DAO is a new, incredible, awesome, dynamic, revolutionary, bleeding-edge (or any other exaggerated adjective) quick-fix solution, either. Proper DAO takes patience, an eye for detail, tolerance of repetition, commitment to steady growth and creative exploration paired with smart risk management of new ideas and methodologies as they emerge. DanyaShea Digital Marketing strives to give you the information you need to make the right choice for your organization. We re happy to help with all your DAO needs. Give us a call today or request a quick quote.
7 References Casneuf, P. (2011, January 31). Digital Asset Management, Whats Next? Retrieved March 5, 2011, from Digital Asset Management: http://digitalassetmanagement.org.uk/2011/01/31/digital-asset-managementwhat%e2%80%99s-next/ Gold, H. (2010, March 29). ClickZ. Retrieved March 6, 2011, from Digital Asset Optimization: Social Media Meets SEO: http://www.clickz.com/clickz/column/1717009/digital-asset-optimization-socialmedia-meets-seo Sannino, G. (2011, January 31). Will Digital Asset Optimization Be the New SEO? Retrieved March 5, 2011, from Search Engine Journal: http://www.searchenginejournal.com/will-digital-asset-optimization-be-the-newseo/27508/