Tag Clouds - SEO Function, Passing Fad or Web2.0 Design Standard

Fact 1: User generated content (UGC) encourage the exploitation of the long tail of search.
Fact 2: User generated links (UGL) encourage the exploitation of the long tail of search.

Tag Clouds have become the design standard for displaying a weighted list of links based on frequency and user input. The links flow juice down to pages lower pages in the hierarchy, throught contextually relevant anchor text therefor they have SEO benefits to large websites.

Are tag clouds just a passing fad?

Yes! I think Tag Clouds could be perceived as a passing fad, in so much as they have become a Web2.0 design standard. Design standards change! Drop shadow effects (Web1.0) replaced by Reflections/Wet Floor effect (Web2.0)

However, tag clouds or label clouds in general provide a dynamic link structure which doesn't require human maintenance and is powered by participation. Perfect if you're business is heavily effected by seasonal variations or driven by pop-culture.

See this example of a Superbreak's new destination cloud. (Built very quickly by Stu - AKA Bluegroove)

Manchester United - Adding Fanaticism to the Affiliate Marketing Mix

Since I mentioned micro-niche affiliate opportunites in a previous post and since I've also posted about how to ride mass media driven affiliate opportunities.

So this time I thought I'd post another micro niche opportunity that taps into big budget, media driven demand but this time I've adding I've added heavy fanaticism to the mix.

Fanaticism - Fans are fanatical by nature!

The benefits of targetting a marketing campaign which leverages fanaticism are (in retrospect) obvious! I learned this first hand when I took on a chart topping UK pop band as a client. As well as redesigning their website, built their e-commerce, optimised their site for the search engines and managed their email marketing.

The conversion rate for this band was like NOTHING I'd seen before and was driven by the fact that I was targetting a fan list... and fans, by their very nature are FANATICAL.

• Fan's don't care about price point (although to be fair all their merchandise was competitively priced and good quality.)
• Fans want the product NOW!
• Fans don't want to miss out on a limited availability!
• Fans can be mobilized easily!
  

Here's what to do to leverage mainstream fanaticism...

1. Find a mass media driven brand with a fanatical following.
2. Target their fans.
3. Find some product that the fans will love.
4. Sell it to them!
   

This all seems quite obvious and it is. Ticket touts have been making money like this for a long time.

Man United! Hmmm they've got a reasonably fanatical following...

For the sake of this experiement. I'll use Manchester United as an example of a brand with a massive media driven fan base.

Once again I'm using Superbreak's affiliate program to supply the micro-niche product. Largly due to Superbreak's high EPC (average earnings per click) - a product of high commissions and great conversion.

To make this quick and easy, I've built a squidoo lens dedicated to Manchester United Museum and Tour - The lens is still under construction, so watch this space.

Evangelizing Your Affiliate Network - Give Them The Cream

Some time ago, when I was an affiliate marketer selling online hosted (ASP) solutions and information products. I recall a number of instances, where new products were rolled out to the affiliate network, prior to them being made available to Internal mailing lists and indeed existing customers.

This conveyed a clear message to me... That the affiliate merchant was prepared to put the affiliate publisher first!

They removed the dominant competition of the merchant, enabling the small, agile affliliate (like myself, to quickly benefit)

As a result, I become more and more evangelical!

Today, Superbreak will launch a brand new airport hotels section with 2 new micro niche products. Providing their affiliates with the following benefits.

1) Better conversion - addition of airport specific landing pages.
2) New product 1 - airport lounges
3) New Product 2 - airport rail tickets

Here's the best part!

They're NOT providing specific pages for airport lounges!! or airport rail tickets!

So… The smart affiliates who quickly optimise pages for these terms will benefit from the micro-niche products WITHOUT competition from the merchant - Superbreak.com

Looking at the Overture keyword suggestion results for Airport Lounges in particular, this means easy money for the agile affiliate marketers (providing they can rank well for airport lounge variations.)

Searches done in March 2007
Count Search Term
2106 airport lounge
237 airport lounge at newcastle
205 manchester airport lounge
174 heathrow airport lounge
148 usa airport lounge
147 newark airport lounge
141 gatwick airport lounge
100 edinburgh airport lounge
98 airport lounge at glasgow
85 aberdeen airport lounge
80 stansted airport lounge
76 airport cardiff lounge
72 bristol airport lounge
72 airport lounge luton
70 airport lounge access
69 airport liverpool lounge
65 airport bradford leeds lounge
62 executive lounge at manchester airport
60 airport executive lounge
53 birmingham airport lounge
39 airport humberside lounge
38 vip lounge manchester airport
33 east midlands airport lounge
32 airport lounge pass
29 airport executive lounge pass priority
22 airport lounge norwich
21 access airport edinburgh lounge
21 airport area gatwick lounge
21 dubai airport lounge
21 airport lounge leeds
20 airport harbour island kermits lounge
18 escape lounge manchester airport
18 airport executive gatwick lounge
18 airport glasgow lounge sky
17 aberdeen airport executive lounge
17 uk airport lounge
17 airport vip lounge
16 airport lounge offer
15 airport knoxville lounge
14 airport boca lounge raton
14 lounge sanford airport
12 airport akron lounge
12 airport albuquerque lounge
12 airport beach daytona lounge
12 airport belfast lounge
12 book airport lounge
12 cheap airport lounge
12 airport el lounge paso
11 airport lounge terminal 3 heathrow
11 airport lounge heathrow terminal 4
11 airport executive lounge newcastle
11 airport lounge worldwide
10 airport and business and lounge
10 credit card airport lounge
10 airport lounge card
10 airport doha lounge
10 glasgow airport executive lounge
10 airport fresno lounge
10 airport harrisburg lounge
10 airport lounge priority pass
9 airport executive lounge access
9 executive lounge birmingham airport
9 airport city lounge oklahoma
9 airport free lounge
9 airport lounge membership
8 1 airport lounge manchester terminal
8 free airport lounge access
8 airport lounge manchester airport
8 airport aviance lounge
8 bcp airport lounge
8 airport cairo lounge
8 heathrow airport executive lounge
8 vip lounge at gatwick airport
8 airport lounge nassau
8 sydney airport lounge
7 2 airport lounge manchester terminal
7 airport arrival lounge
7 athens airport lounge
7 diner club airport lounge
7 discount airport lounge
7 airport dominican lounge republic
7 dublin airport lounge
7 all executive airport lounge at stansted
7 airport free heathrow lounge
7 airport gatwick lounge viewing
7 heathrow airport vip lounge
6 access airport card credit lounge
6 airport ba lounge
6 bangkok airport lounge
6 airport book dominican lounge
6 manchester airport business lounge
6 cheap airport lounge at heathrow
6 hong kong airport lounge
6 airport lounge moi
6 airport lounge orlando sanford
6 airport lounge schiphol
6 airport lounge tucson
6 airport lounge wilmington
5 airport amsterdam lounge
5 airport book lounge schiphol

It looks like quite a gold mine