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SEO Sales Spammers Make the Rest of Us Look Bad But We Should Keep Marketing Anyway

Dec
03
2008
By

Unlike many in our industry I’m not against what some consider annoying forms of advertising and marketing. I don’t have a problem with cold calling, I don’t think all unsolicited emails are spam and I don’t think there is anything wrong with direct mail.

Many of these things are frowned upon in the SEO industry, and I understand why. It’s because there has been an abundance of “SEO” companies that engage in these methods, perform crappy service and ultimately rip people off. Every industry has its thieves. The ones in the SEO world have created a black mark that makes the entire industry look bad and has caused many in our industry to frown on legitimate forms of advertising.

Before I go any further, let me state I’m not for blind cold calling or email spamming. Good marketing via direct mail is highly targeted, not just sent to random addresses. The same holds true for cold calling and email marketing. Good and proper marketing rules must be followed if you want your business to succeed long term.

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Speed Dating | SEO Style

Apr
21
2008
By

Speed Dating Networking

Have you ever speed dated? I’ve been married long enough that I’ve not ever had the opportunityneed to attend a speed dating meeting, yet I’ve seen it on TV. (wow I feel like I just almost made a bad quote, “I’m not a doctor, but I play one on TV.”)

Last Night I attended Charity Speed Networking as part of Small Business Marketing: Unleashed and it was FUN. Honestly, if I were single, I may seriously consider speed dating if I was looking for someone with common interests.

Do you know how this works? Well let me tell you. We had one long row of tables, and along one side we had the “movers” and on the other side, the non moves. We were given three minutes to talk to the person across the table from us, and then the movers got up and moved down one seat to talk with the next person.

What a great way to force everyone into talking with other people who they otherwise might not ever speak with. My most memorable date discussion was with someone who had no idea what Search Optimization or PPC were. I got to TEACH! Problem was, three minutes wasn’t enough time. I ran out of time in talking to other people too, where I was learning information from them.

After the Speed Dating Networking, we had time to catch up with whoever we may have missed (due to time limitations, the movers didn’t get matched up with all the non movers) or may have wanted to follow up with.

Things to bring if ever speed date network

  • Big stack of business cards
  • Hand sanitizer ;)

Top 10 Most Useful Open Source / Free Software Programs

Jan
03
2008
By

Buying software is so 1999. I mean seriously, who wants to buck up and spend upwards of $500 on an office suite when you have bills to pay and lattes to drink. Plus, with everyone’s exciting New Year’s resolutions in full swing, saving money may be even more appealing. Enter the world of free web-based software and open source software. This list is obviously not comprehensive, nor authoritative, however, these ten programs are the ones I found most useful during 2007.

Top Ten Free Open Source Software 2007

Mozilla Firefox

Mozilla Firefox is the greatest open-source browser available. Firefox offers users complete control over the browser featuring tabs, pop-up blocking, useful toolbars, and many themes. Firefox is W3C compliant which means developers will not have to slave to make sure CSS is rendering correctly like IE. In addition, the browser has thousands of extensions that will aid developers and SEOs alike.

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Still in Awe of Mystère

Dec
11
2007
By

Thanks to PubCon and the Sales and Marketing department of Treasure Island in Las Vegas, I was able to finally take in my first real production in Sin City last week – “Mystère” …for no cost at all.

This Cirque Du Soleil show has been creating an awe-inspiring visual spectacular for over 10 years. I found the quality and level of entertainment provided by the musicians, acrobats, dancers and those handling the staging and lights to be astounding. Mystère provided the opportunity to the viewer to interpret the performance in many ways. Was it is intended to share the potential of the individual as one makes her way through life…or was it all the dream of a small child?

Every act was unique and exotic in its own right, and all together the show left me breathless and dreamy. The longevity of the show itself proves that Mystère is a must-see attraction in Las Vegas, and I hope my personal praise encourages you to make this experience yours!

Team Reading List 11.7.07

Nov
07
2007
By

Team Reading List 10.25.07

Oct
25
2007
By

Search Engine Strategies – San Jose – Day 1

Aug
21
2007
By

I have survived Day 1 of the Search Engine Strategies 2007 conference … albeit on information overload. It isn’t really that there was so much information that it was overwhelming. Taken in small pieces everything is perfectly digestible. It’s when I over fill myself that I waddle away overloaded. All that aside, I have to say that my first day was pretty good. I attended 4 sessions and learned something new from each of them.

Stoney introduced Rob and me to some pretty fun people. Rob asked me how it felt to be going to dinner with 12 guys, and I said: “Popular.” I also felt quite popular with all the rubber necking our Pole Position Marketing team shirts caused. We were quite the collective object of many a heads turning and fingers pointing. You could read people’s lips Check out the cool shirts. I bet next year there will be impersonators.

The first session of the morning was “Introduction to Search Marketing.” Having learned on the fly most of what I knew about SEM, I felt it would be good to sit in on a session where the majority of attendees would be the newbies. There wasn’t a whole lot introduced that I hadn’t already been exposed to. This session was not specific to paid advertising, but what I did appreciate was that I was able to take somethings that were mentioned and was able to apply them in my head to how I want to utilize that idea in one of my client accounts. The message that everyone should have come away from after this session, is that search marketing is all about three things. TEXT, TEXT, and TEXT.

The second session was titled “Ads in a Quality Score World” where we were introduced to many different aspects of the elements that figure into the Quality score, both for keywords and AdGroups. We got to hear from Clay Bavor, the product manager at Google, David Pann, Vice President of Marketing Design and Matching, Yahoo Search Marketing, and Brian Boland, Group Marketing Manger from Microsoft adCenter.

The third session I thought I was going to fall asleep during, but that was only because it was just after lunch, and lunch was good! The session was “Search Advertising 101.” This session really made me feel better about what I already know. Which isn’t to say there wasn’t something valuable to take away from the hour and a half. I didn’t take many notes during this session, but I enjoyed the Q&A that took the last thirty minutes. What I was glad to hear is something I’ve tried telling our PPC clients. Using Google to find your ad (using your keywords) just to check and see where your ad ranks, actually hurts your ranking. It was explained that Google can tell when the same URL searches for the same term, and doesn’t CLICK THROUGH any of the ads. When they notice the same URl search time and time again, it will start serving them a different set of ads, the thinking being this: If they’re repeatedly looking for widget A and don’t find anything to click on, we must be serving the wrong ads. Instead, use the Ad Preview Tool.

The fourth and final session of the day I was tired. I didn’t even realize how brain dead I’d gone with information overload until I sat down here to write out all about the sessions. Having lost complete track of which sessions I attended, I pulled out my schedule and checked. Only then did I realize I sat in on the wrong session. (shhhh, don’t tell Stoney) I was supposed to have gone to the “Contextual Ads & AdSense Clinic,” where instead I went to “Advanced Paid Search Techniques.” For having gone to the wrong session, I think it was an excellent choice. I think this session was the one that I got the most new information from. Matt VanWagner of FindMeFaster discussed Dynamic Keyword Insertion. I’ve done quite a bit of this but still enjoyed hearing about it.

By the time you’re all reading this little update, I’ll be sitting with eager ears through another day. Day 2, assuming I don’t forget what sessions I’m supposed to attend, I expect to learn about “Ad Testing: Research & Findings,” “Converting Visitors into Buyers,” “Creating Compelling Ads,” and finally “Landing Page Testing & Tuning.” The evening will be capped off with the GOOGLE DANCE 2007. We’ll be wearing our shirts. I’ve promised Rob that he doesn’t really have to dance.

Really Bad Adventures in Search: The Case of the Round Bed

Jul
17
2007
By

Really Bad Adventures in Search

I’m starting a new series here at EMP dedicated solely to the horrible “black hole” experiences we all have from time to time- Really Bad Adventures in Search. Join me, won’t you, while we explore our latest, the Case of the Round Bed.

Lately my wife and I have been giving our place a makeover of sorts (translation: tossing out all our crap and buying stuff we actually want.) Last week she threw me a bit of a curveball.

“Hey! I just found this really old round bed on craigslist- it just needs a new mattress. Oh honey let’s get it!”

“Round bed?” I asked, “how does that make any sense- it will make the room all off… plus how do I find a mattress for it?”

“Do you have any idea how much sex we’ll have if you get me this?”

*gulp* “I’ll grab my laptop.”

And with that I was off to find a round mattress for a bed we hadn’t yet seen, in the hopes that I would soon be a very, very busy man. At this point in the story I’d like to say that through my great and awesome powers of search-ninjary that I found what I was looking for.

If that was the case, I wouldn’t have the time to make this post.

My goal: find a round mattress (or even whole bed) that costs less than $1,500.00 including shipping.

After 3 hours of seriously abusing Google, here are my results:

The number one result for “Round Bed” is actually a hammock with some memory foam
Note to actual makers of round beds: a key phrase you may want to rank highly in is “ROUND BED.”

The number one result for “Round Mattress” takes you to a site where there is almost no indication that they actually sell round beds.
Usability issue: If I found your site via a search for “Round Mattress,” don’t make me click around for 5 minutes looking for it.

Of the 4-5 companies that actually sell round mattresses, none of them is under $4,000.00 and none of them is anywhere near me.
Another note: if you happen to sell affordable round mattresses, you would do well to optimize your page so people know.

There is a company in my area who is paying to show up in the search “Round Bed,” and yet they don’t sell any round beds.
Looking for a company to manage your PPC campaigns? Call me. *hand up to face with pinky and thumb out*

The L.A. Times believes round beds are making a comeback.
I’m such a trend setter.

Now, here’s where it gets good

Hours into my search, a friend walked into our house and told me she had just seen round beds for about $900.00 at the nearest IKEA.

This is the same IKEA who’s site didn’t come up in my search at all.

A couple sites mentioned that IKEA might have them, but when I had searched the site, the nearest one that offered them was in Canada, and on the message boards people were beginning to believe it was a myth.

So I did the 1980′s thing and picked up the phone to call IKEA – where I was forced to listen to a message which told me over and over to just hang up and use their website.

Hey IKEA: If you value my sexlife (and your profits) you really, really ought to take care of your optimization issues. *Call me.*

Be Creative In Your Keyword Merger

Jul
13
2007
By

What do you do when you have to incorporate too many keywords in too little copy or you have a group of keywords that don’t easily fit into the existing web page? Besides the obvious solution of creating more copy to accommodate these situations, use your right brain to help you out here.

What do you do when you have key phrases that are personal in nature i.e. “make my writing better” as a core term? You could use it as a headline to spark your readers curiosity, but at times that may be an awkward act to follow. The most simple way to do this is to use customer quotes or testimonials.

“I took the course hoping to make my writing better and now I’ve published four short stories this month!”

Make it a little more believable than this, but you get my drift. This method can also be read like an aside, commonly used in Shakespeare’s plays to inform the crowd. The quote should read as if the visitor is talking out loud or overhearing someone else’s conversation. However, if you are using the key phrase in a testimonial, get permission to make your changes from the original author of the testimonial.

Another clever way to incorporate those tricky, personal key phrases is to point out that the visitor probably never thought they would be looking for that specific key phrase.

Now that you’ve finished grad school, you never thought you’d enter “make my writing better” in the search field of Google.

A secondary gain to this structure is that you are now speaking directly to the visitor. You’ve made direct contact and can keep your visitors attention by speaking in the present tense and second person.

You don’t have to ignore high-traffic, personal keyphrases because you can’t work them into the copy. You just have to be a little creative.

Social Media's "Original Sin"

Jun
21
2007
By

Catherine Toole’s at e-consultancy set out to develop what she calls the 7 Deadly Sins of Writing for Social Media. While the whole list is pretty spot on, number one seems to get to the “root of all marketing evil,”

1. Not setting a strategy before you start. “We should have a blog” says the CEO. And so it begins…

Tossing your company’s hat in the social media arena is extremely popular right now, and you might even feel pressured to “not be the last on your block” doing it, but failing to chart your course before you begin can doom your efforts.

Are you thinking of leveraging social media for your company’s marketing efforts? Have you taken the time to draft a strategy that’s in line with your company’s overall plan? Do you know the landscape? Do you have the resources (it’s not as “free” as it looks)?

Take a minute to check out Catherine’s post and avoid the temptation of the deadly social media sins.

HT goes to Jennifer Laycock

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