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Here’s a tip about writing press releases. Simply put, never ever ever do this!!!
The basic concept of how a television station makes money is simple. Provide interesting and entertaining content to draw an audience and then sell advertisers time to promote their products and services to your assembled audience. Every show that is on the air is designed to draw the interest and attention of as many people as possible. The fact that these shows are designed for a shot at grabbing the largest market share is no secret with one exception: The News.
Although it is presented as an unbiased update of current events, the nightly news has become the worst form of reality TV. The difference between House or Survivor and the news is that we aren’t duped into thinking that the shows are anything other than entertainment. We don’t make decisions about our daily lives, nor have our views and thoughts influenced nearly as much based on who gets voted of the island or who the new cast member is. These shows know this and do not attempt to tell us otherwise.
Search engine results pages are generated as a response to a specific informational need. Unfortunately serps are often full of resources that don’t adequately satisfy that informational need. Kind of like empty promises. The title and description claim to have what the searcher is looking for, yet fail to deliver if selected.
Destination Marketing is about creating an creating an exceptional web resource that inspires visitor loyalty by delivering on the promise. When a user clicks through, they find what they need and more.
All of the recent movement by SEOs to be very open and forthcoming with information about their business finances has stimulated a lot of discussion here at the office about the inherent value of various aspects of search marketing. One clear question remains in my mind:
Should there be a standardized valuation scale which assigns reasonable price-ranges for various search marketing activities?
Search Engine Marketing as a profession doesn’t yet recognize a governing body which sets forth industry standards and best practices. Perhaps it never will, more importantly; perhaps it doesn’t need to. Based upon my observation of what the majority of SEOs consider “optimization” I certainly don’t want my own work to be stifled by a majority-rules idea of what SEO should be.
The Culture Code
Author: Dr. Clotaire Rapaille
Paperback: 272 pages, $24.95
Published: June 2006
Pros – Dr. Clotaire Rapaille is a genius. His innovative approach to understanding the unconscious associations all people make to their world and everything in it is ground breaking. By applying his knowledge of human psychology and anthropology, he shows us how he cracks the “culture code” for a variety of topics. The hypothesis is that we are all subject to imprinting during our formative years. These imprints have a permanent affect on our perception of everything in our lives. The key to accessing these imprints is The Culture Code. The system goes on to explain why different cultures are drawn to or repulsed by the same product. Why was Chrysler’s PT Cruiser such as success in the American market? Why did Chrysler’s German executives think the project was going to be a disaster? The answer to those questions is: The Culture Code. When applied to the marketing goals of his clients, Rapaille is a force to be reckoned with. His system allows the advertiser to directly access the public’s subconscious perception of their brand and tap into those primal urges. His proven methods are behind many of the marketing campaigns of the Fortune 500. The reptilian brain, as Rapaille calls it, always wins.
Cons – Dr. Clotaire Rapaille is a genius, and he makes sure to tell you that. His ideas are great, but allowing the reader to make that deduction on their own would have made for a better read. The results speak for themselves and I am convinced of the merit behind the concept and the methodology of The Culture Code. I do not need to be told, repeatedly, about the brilliance of the culture code. I can draw my own conclusions.
I had just returned from lunch when I caught some interesting news off the web regarding the choice of two prominent magazines to use different covers for their current issues. My initial reaction, to be offended, was based on my personal and political world views, but then I realized something else is at work here.
The current issues of both Newsweek and Time magazine have been published with a very different version for the USA then the rest of the world for a reason.
TIME – World Edition
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The biggest mistake writers make is to write without knowing their audience. This is, without a doubt the #1 killer of conversions. You don’t just start writing and decide afterwards who you’re going to send a letter to, so why do so many people just jump in and start writing website copy without having a clue who they are writing to? How can you possibly communicate with site visitors if you have no idea who they are, what they are looking for, what problem they face, and how they hope to solve this problem?
You Can’t!
Would you want to be part of a business network that has to lie to you to get you to join? Me neither. There is no worse way to try to gain legitimacy than to attempt to gain subscribers through illegitimate methods. I recently received an email from a company attempting to do just that. Below is a screenshot of the email I received from a business networking service similar to Linkedin.
This post is a slight departure from my norm and is the product of my increasing disgust with what I like to call the “Macintosh March”. Ok, I’ll keep this short and to the point.
The aura of non-conformity which is aggressively cultivated by Macintosh through a slew of anti-PC advertising campaigns designed to establish the Mac brand as a sort of hip anti-hero, cleverly positioned against the clunky and counter-intuitive PC which symbolizes a robotic established norm that is out-of-touch with today’s ultra-cool, carefree, “down-with-the-man” computer user.
The problem is that the Mac campaign has been too successful and now every gutless-yuppie-thrill-seeker type is filing into the Macintosh March where they too can join the ranks of the tech-rebellious and “Stick it to the man” in a very controlled and safe way. So much so that the Mac is in fact the very antithesis of true non-conformity: It has degenerated into a “non-conformity fad” (uber-oxymoron). A predictable outlet for the masses to be “hip” and different, while marching alongside a million other mindless idiots who purchased their Macintosh not because it was the logical solution for their unique computing requirements, but because “it’s a freakin Mac”.
My saga of bad customer service continues…
The Charter Fiasco
A couple of months back my monthly bill for internet service at home changed from $34.99 to $39.94. Raises in fees are a fact of life and I never gave the $5 monthly increase more than a couple of seconds thought. That was until I got my bill last month which added an additional $15 to my newly increased monthly bill.
After being a customer for several years Charter has suddenly decided to charge me a $5/month fee for use of their modem. OK, not a big deal. That’s a standard charge and I had often wondered why I wasn’t paying that to begin with. But the real kicker is the other $10 they added because I don’t subscribe to cable TV.
(Don't wait for the movie!)
E-Marketing Performance: Effective Strategies for Building, Optimizing & Marketing Your Website Online
