A Whole New Reason to Say Yippee!

Posted by on October 31, 2006 at 02:17 PM

So, I popped into my local, independent bookstore this weekend in search of something to occupy my evenings now that the sun sets at 5:30 PM in northern Michigan. Just inside the door I was greeted (read: stunned) by a head shot of a well-weathered Suzanne Sommers. Evidently the actress of Three's Company fame has published a new book.

Well this got me to thinking: "What ever happened to Joyce DeWitt, the actress who played zany roommate Janet Wood in the late-70s / early-80s sitcom?" According to my research, Ms. DeWitt most recently reprised the role of Gypsy Rose Lee, the manipulative stage mother in the Bucks County Playhouse (Allentown, PA) production of the Broadway classic Gypsy. Can you say campy?

Comebacks are amazing things, almost as amazing as the efforts some will attempt to achieve them.

I was reminded of this yesterday while sifting through my inbox. I happened upon an email heralding Yahoo!'s newest online effort, The Yahoo! Search Marketing Blog. Yippee! Undoubtedly created to draw attention to the staged release of their new advertising interface/platform "project Panama;" this blog is just another move in Yahoo!'s attempt to save themselves from obscurity, irrelevance, and a third place seat behind MSN.

Yahoo!'s got a lot riding on "Panama" to be sure. In the wake of near-catastrophic revenue statements and projections Yahoo!'s top brass have been on a mission to breathe new life into their gasping Search Marketing division. They're counting on "Panama" to hold on to market share, boost sagging profits, and ultimately keep investors happy.

Instead of the pseudo-clandestine "project Panama" moniker, the number two search engine should have dubbed their new advertising platform "project comeback." And here's hoping that it's enough to keep Yahoo! on Broadway, out of Allentown.

"Sing out, Louise!!"

Tags
yahoo search marketing
yahoo blog

Working Like A Dog

Posted by angie on October 30, 2006 at 10:37 AM

What would it be like taking your dog along with you to work? Would you be able to work longer hours, having eliminated the need to rush out the door at 5:00?

Many companies, even corporate giants such as Google, allow employees to bring dogs to the workplace. Most company presidents probably haven't thought of having a dog friendly policy, but all that is changing.

Pet Sitters International promotes Take Your Dog to Work Day. The day might seem a little less productive but according to a Blue Cross study, over 90% of businesses say they have noticed a positive change in the working environment since allowing four legged friends into the business world. Half of small businesses surveyed noticed a decrease in absenteeism.

An additional advantage of having your pooch in the office is that it can make those long hours more bearable. Stopping for just a few moments to pet your dog could seem like a distraction, but it can actually lower blood pressure. Instead of forcing down a quick lunch and heading back to work you could be getting some much needed exercise walking your dog.

K9's in the office are not only beneficial to the employee. According to the American Humane Association, benefits include increased productivity due to stress reduction, increased camaraderie among employees, and happier employees, which are all better for business.

The key to making dogs work well at the office is having guidelines that everyone agrees on in advance. Setting boundaries such as making lunch rooms off limits and keeping your pet away from coworkers who aren't dog lovers could make the overall situation run smoother. A supply of antihistamines on hand might not be a bad idea either!

The next time you're at your desk working like a dog, stop and ask yourself: Would having your best bud at your side make this more a walk in the park?

SEO Strikes Back

Posted by dave on October 27, 2006 at 01:24 PM

Quick, everyone off the SEO boat! It's sinking, again. Oh wait. False alarm. As the latest to throw their hat into the "death of SEO ring" Did-it President David Pasternack, earlier this week, brought us his insightful article, Troubled times for SEO firms in which he explains the rudimentary tactics, skill set and processes for optimizing a web site.

Profound and penetrating, Pasternack cuts right to heart of SEO with his compelling SEO isn't rocket science argument in which he likens those in the SEO industry to Sci-Fi convention groupies playing Star Wars. Don't get me wrong, I like Star Wars, but at no point have I ever put on a robe, brandished a light saber and run through the office yelling "The force is strong with you!"

I'm not going to sit here and tell you that the SEO community is comprised strictly of summa cum laude Princeton graduates who sit around on Friday nights analyzing search engine algorithms until the wee hours of the morning when the coffee and Mountain Dew wear off, but those that I know in the industry are not what I would call slouches either.

In his next point, the fix it once theory, Pasternack bestows upon us the wisdom that SEO is a one and done solution. Apparently, after your site has been optimized, you can sit back and just watch your positions grow. I wonder if I can apply this logic to other facets of life as well? I did just get the oil in my car changed, I guess I don't need to worry about that ever again.

Now, before I continue, let me clear the air. Although I work primarily on the organic side of the fence, I have a great deal of respect for those who effectively manage paid search campaigns. With that said, I would like to offer back to Pasternack PPC is not rocket science either. Thousands of small businesses create PPC campaigns every day. Many of these people have absolutely no experience with PPC, and yet they manage to get their ads displayed, get click-throughs, and even sales. Speaking of a once and done program, both Google and Yahoo! give you the option to submit a keyword list, provide a budget, and forget about it. In fact, if you want, they will even build out the keyword list for you.

Bottom line, neither organic or paid search programs need to be rocket science, and both can be a one and done solution. Here is the difference. To be done effectively, both paid and organic search require a great deal of work and skill. They both need to be dynamic and be able to anticipate a constantly changing and evolving market.

So, instead of belittling one another, and trying to claim supremacy, let's agree that both can be important elements of a successful online marketing plan, and both require a unique skill set that is developed and honed over time.

Tags
SEO
search engine marketing
PPC

More Momentous Mobile Milestones

Posted by chip on October 25, 2006 at 01:35 PM

Once again, it's time to tip our hats to all those innovative ideas and developments that are helping to usher us into the brave new world of the mobile internet.

While it would be virtually impossible to talk about everything that has been happening in this ever evolving sector, some of the most significant items from recent mobile history include:

Mobile Browsing
Opera's mobile browsers, which I mentioned in my last mobile update, have now all been released and are available for download on their site.

Mobile Search
Ask.com has recently taken some steps towards improving mobile search with Ask Mobile, their new mobile content search engine.

The main contribution being made by this is the ability to narrow your search down by categories before you even begin to type. Since most mobile devices are fairly limited in both their typing ability and their screen size, narrowing your search down from the start can make it much easier to find what you're looking for, limiting both the time and number of keystrokes involved.

Mobile Marketing
Leaping head first into the world of mobile marketing, automaker Peugeot recently made a mobile web site the sole focus of a broad advertising campaign in Ireland. Supported by traditional media outlets including billboards, direct mailings, print and radio spots- the only call to action for this campaign was to send a text message which returns a link that can be used for visiting a promotional web site on a mobile handset.

While Púca, the mobile marketing company behind the campaign, claims to have received a large volume of responses, I think what's more impressive is their conversion rate. 40% of respondents provided their personal contact information in the form of requesting a brochure or a test drive. Kudos to Peugeot for taking a mobile leap and having it pay off so handsomely.

Mobile Photo Sharing
Using the mobile web to make it easier to share digital photos and videos, Pictavision has a new application that allows photo sharing management with mobile phones. Making it quick and easy to go from snapping those photos to sharing them with friends, Pictavision 6.0 is already compatible with many photo sharing sites including Kodak EASYSHARE Gallery and Flickr, and it even allows users to tag their photos with text or voice messages for that personal touch.

Mobile Platforms
Taking steps to make the use of any of these other mobile advancements easier, Nuance Communications announces a dictation technology for mobile devices that will allow users to send text messages and compose e-mails with the convenience of speech recognition technology. Said to do a good job at detecting natural speech patterns, this could help drive widespread mobile device adoption by making it much easier to use.

If you happen to know of another contribution to the mobile landscape that is worth mentioning, I welcome your additions; just post a comment.

Tags
mobile search
mobile marketing
mobile technology

Before There Was Facebook...

Posted by on October 24, 2006 at 01:37 PM

This summer, before I joined the staff of Oneupweb, I stunned an intern who had spent a morning "hard" at "work:"

"Guess how old I am," I said. (Not particularly, I like to think.)
"I have no idea," she responded.
"I'm so old that, when I was in college, we didn't even have Facebook."
Finding her sufficiently speechless, I walked away.

The conversation made me, in a twisted way, wistful for the actual freshman facebook all incoming students were given when I entered school. Page after page of senior picture, alphabetically arranged, listing the student's high school, hometown, anticipated major, and two hobbies. Nowhere to list our favorite movies or bands, and certainly nowhere to post photos from Friday night. Just headshots, and what you selected when you filled out the checklist in June is what defined you for your time at school.

For all its limitations, it was pretty cool. A jumping-off point, perhaps, for a conversation with a new hallmate. Or an inefficient-but-useful way to find out the name of "that" girl - the one who sat in the fourth row, two seats from the aisle, and arrived three minutes late every day in Psych A10.

Also, a fantastic resource: I've got friends who, eight years later, can tell you the name of the person with the most ridiculous mustache or the biggest forehead in the incoming class of 1998.

The person who would become my roommate for my final three years at school had the right idea when he was filling out his Facebook checklist during the summer of 1998:

Hobby 1: Soccer
Hobby 2: Other - Jazzercise

In 1998, it wasn't particularly funny. It confused some, amused others, and gave us a source of jokes for those hours of free time that kids now spend "Facebooking."

In 2006, it still wouldn't be particularly funny, and he'd probably be served ads for leg-warmers.

Search Arbitarge = Naked Greed

Posted by vern on October 23, 2006 at 05:07 PM

There a have been a number of recent articles examining the positive and negative effects of search arbitrage. The practice, the search marketing version of bait-and-switch, is a testament to the greed that abounds online.

Email spam and its ugly cousin search arbitrage are reprehensible practices meant to line the pockets of their practitioners with no consideration of the consequences.

The typical search arbitrage experience manifests itself when a click on a PPC ad lands the searcher on a page of more PPC ads. What purpose does that serve other than to make a "publisher" a quick buck? Absolutely none!

InvestorWords.com defines arbitrage as: "Attempting to profit by exploiting price differences of identical or similar financial instruments, on different markets or in different forms."

The keyword here is "exploiting" which TheFreeDictionary.com defines as: "The act of utilizing something in an unjust, cruel or selfish manner for one's own advantage."

No kidding!

I'm reminded of the 1987 hit movie, Wall Street, where Gordon Gekko proclaims "Greed is good!"

Search arbitrage fuels the fires of bid inflation as legitimate businesses struggle to maintain their position on the SERPs as they react to artificially high bid costs. Bid costs are getting to the point that small businesses are getting squeezed out of the PPC marketplace because they can't afford to compete with the Wal-Marts of the world.

The search engines are in a tough spot in regulating such abuse. If they come down too hard on the practice their bottom line may suffer due to fewer clicks. But that's short-sighted. Nail the bastards to the wall and gain back the trust and respect of legitimate businesses and search engine users. Greater profits will follow.

To be fair, Google continues to move forward with algorithm changes aimed at improving user experience. And in my experience, Yahoo has been very willing to investigate suspicious click activity in a timely manner.

These are commendable actions, but why stop there? How about proactively banning search arbitrage practitioners to protect legitimate advertisers. The search engines should examine what will truly benefit them in the long term, not just the next quarter.

Enabling the fantasies of exploitative Gordon Gekko wannabee "publishers" will certainly alienate those who are the life blood of future success.

Resumé to Podcasting

Posted by anne on October 19, 2006 at 12:02 PM

I turn on my iPod and am greeted with my most recent download. It begins with the tune "I'm Your Number One Fan" by the Depots; I hear a voice from afar that begins the narration with "My name is..." and I think to myself, "This may be the one."

The narrator begins with a soft introduction and summary about themselves: their past work history, their present skills and a sampling of their duties from past employers. Each employer is introduced with a slightly different instrumental backdrop. The narrator describes each employment experience with vocal passion and excitement. This normally monotone portion of a resumé now leaves the listener with energy surging through their circulatory system. And if that is not enough to grab the attention of the most experienced recruiter, the speaker’s goals and objectives are announced with cymbals and sirens bringing the resumé to its conclusion and leaving the employer with two little words, "Hire me."

If by now you haven't a clue as to what the above scenario is describing, let me explain a little further.

As a human resources professional, I find resumé reading to be a laborious and tedious task and one that reminds me of how little sleep I had the night before; but certainly a necessary step in the recruiting process. I can think of no better way to spice up a resumé but with the exclamation and excitement of a human voice. Think Podcasting.

When I read a resumé, whether it's one page or six pages (no need to write a novel), I am still left with no sense of personality or character; that’s why interviews are so vital. But resumé podcasts can offer further insight before one absorbs the cost of flying a potential candidate to an interview. I'm not suggesting that employers should disregard resumés altogether, I'm simply suggesting that in addition to forwarding an attached resumé, job-seekers should consider creating a podcast as well.

References? Great, all employers need them and depend on them to ensure that a good hire is just that, a good hire. Testimonials from both personal and business references could be incorporated into the podcast. Think about it. Your friends and business associates would be elated to describe you with their favorite adjectives explaining why you're their best bud.

This resumé format will fit any industry. What? You say that you recruit for a local construction company and are looking for a carpenter. I can see it now; you download resumés from e-mail, grab your cappuccino and begin your morning by listening to the soft sound of resumés. Then you hear it, "If I Had a Hammer" by Peter, Paul and Mary playing in the background as the prospective candidate begins talking about their career with a flair of enthusiasm and energy. You're thinking, not bad, like the style, like the creativity. Your interest is further peaked when the podcast comes to a close with a familiar song, "If I Were a Carpenter..."

Well, you know what I mean! A little far fetched, maybe. Possible? Definitely. I may be on to something.

So if you're in the process of job searching, be the first one to send a podcast about yourself to a few prospective employers. This form of resumé media is just waiting to be unleashed. Your children tell you that you're a great singer, right? Let me hear you hum a few bars...

Tags
podcasting
resume podcast

Creating Content for Holiday Shoppers

Posted by steve on October 18, 2006 at 01:32 PM

Shoppers....start your engines! The holiday season is just around the corner (mind-bogglingly, I already heard a Christmas song on the radio!!) and retailers across the country are gearing up for a swarm of holiday shoppers.

I want to take a moment to focus on online retailers in particular and offer some helpful advice for gaining more of a web presence during this crucial time of the year.

As more and more people take advantage of internet conveniences to both research and purchase products, so too do retailers. This convenience, which allows shoppers to quickly and easily compare a multitude of products, results in the need for online retailers to distinguish themselves and their products from the competition.

Keep in mind, though, this competitive advantage will only help if users can find you. Why wouldn't they be able to?

It has become customary for online retailers to use product descriptions on their sites that have been supplied by the product manufacturers. And why not? It's quick, easy and accurate.

Here's the problem:

For any given product, there is fierce competition. So there may be literally hundreds of online retailers that offer the same products you do. If all of these retailers use the same product description on their sites, where are you going to fall in the search engine results when someone searches for "Playstation 3"?

With all of this duplicate content floating around on the web, what are the chances that the engines will ignore all of it except the description on your site?

Not good.

It's important to make all of the content on your site unique. If you want to give yourself a better chance to gain a favorable presence on the web this holiday season, don't put up content that the manufacturer supplies - create your own product descriptions and give the search engines, and your potential customers, something they've never seen before.

Tags
online retailers
holiday shopping

Tigers World Series Tickets Hidden in Gmail?

Posted by duncan on October 17, 2006 at 08:55 AM

This weekend the Detroit Tigers will proudly take the field to play in the World Series for the first time since 1984! Since I caught myself day dreaming about actually going to a game, I decided I might as well do a few searches to see what World Series tickets are selling for. I always need to add a little twist to the way I do things. So I decided to use the ads Google furnishes to my Gmail account to find the tickets.

I went into Gmail and composed a simple message to myself last night:

My email's subject line: World Series Tickets

The only text I put in the email: I want to go to the Tigers game this Sunday.

I sent the email at 8:45 and checked it a moment later. And "kablammo" there were two ads near the body of my email message. I use kablammo as if I was excited. I was. I will be honest here and admit that I can not think of one time where I looked at the ads embedded in my Gmail messages. Really, not once. I have been a steady Gmail user for 2 years. Never looked at the ads. They never bothered me, and I never bothered them. I just happen to like the free email service Google offers. So far there has never been any added benefit to having the ads Google places there for me, until this time.

I will let you know in advance that I was pretty disappointed with what I was given. Here's why:

There were two ads there. One was from a well known online ticket seller. Another from a t-shirt vendor. The ad from the ticket vendor took me directly to a page for Mets playoff tickets. What? The Mets? They aren't even in the World Series. They may not even make it to the World Series. At this point they are fighting with the Cardinals to see who gets the honor of playing my beloved Tigers in the World Series. Although, I must give a bit of credit to the ad because at least it was related to baseball tickets.

The second ad just took me to the homepage of a site that sells nothing more than sophomoric team spirit t-shirts. Most of the shirts had a Philadelphia or Boston theme. Only a couple of the shirts had anything to do with baseball, and to me those were a stretch. If you don't know the Boston or Philadelphia athletes, these shirts may not mean anything to you. For instance one of the shirts simply had the words "Johnny Sucks" on it. My guess is they mean Johnny Damon sucks for leaving the Red Sox for the Yankees. Anyway, I wanted to see ads for World Series tickets, or at least something to do with the Detroit Tigers.

You may think the goal of this blog post is to slam Google for putting untargeted ads in my Gmail emails. Google may be partially to blame for something slightly off in its relevancy algorithm, but my beef isn't with Google. It is more important to me to place the blame on the owners of the two sites that showed the ads within my email message. They need to do a better job of determining if their ads are showing at the right time to the right audience. Google didn't twist their arms and force them into my Gmail. They may want to opt out of this content match advertising option, or at least make sure it is more targeted to current events before continuing.

For the record I did a couple of searches at Google.com for World Series Tickets and Detroit Tigers Tickets. The well known online ticket seller that I saw in my email ads nailed these searches with well placed Google AdWords ads. The AdWords ads put me a click or two away from buying a ticket for Sunday's game. The only thing is that I don't have the $8,500 for the ticket. Well, maybe a "Johnny Sucks" t-shirt for $19.95 was what I needed after all.

Tags
world series
gmail

Escape from Yahoo! Advertising

Posted by drew on October 16, 2006 at 09:23 AM

Actually, you can't do that. Now that Yahoo! has rolled out their new Mobile Sponsored Search service, they can reach out and touch you wherever you may be in the world. Or can they?

Keeping Up With the Mobile Times

I don't have a fancy cell phone. When I bought it more than two years ago, it supposedly had web capabilities. I think they expected me to stretch my imagination a little when I attempted to access the net, as the web services were lacking quite a bit. What it lacked in the web, it made up in reception. This phone is a workhorse and I'm fighting my urge to get a new phone because of that reason.

With those facts in mind, you can understand how I feel slightly left behind when I find out that there are now mobile ads. I'm not even on the mobile web with my phone. Not yet, at least.

Yahoo! Mobile, Not Flexible

Instead of being left to wonder what this technology looks and feels like, Yahoo! has made a nice landing page with views of its interface and some basic information. But that's it. If I want to learn more, I have to actually sign up for the beta testing. What's up with that? Can't I just continue with my Curious George antics and learn all there is to learn about Yahoo! mobile ads?

They did do better than Google, who only has a text help section on their mobile ads. That's right, no images. I even did a Google search for a mobile ad image, and only found one slightly usable image. This image also happened to not be hosted on a Google page.

We need a little more info on the mobile ads if they're going to catch on. Informed advertisers won't place an ad without knowing what it will look like or how it will operate. So get busy, Yahoo! and Google. Don't leave us on call waiting.

Tags
Yahoo
Google
Mobile Ads

Local Marketing Horror Story - This Could Happen To You!

Posted by on October 13, 2006 at 11:17 AM

Happy Friday the 13th everyone. It's that time of year again here in Northern Michigan - trees are tinged with red and gold, leaves crackling underfoot, pumpkins and mums, goblins and ghouls, snow... Yes, it's also snowing here today. Please don't ask.

Anyway, last night I went online to search for some vintage clothing stores in the Ann Arbor area. Since I don't live there, I needed some online directory assistance. Little did I know that I would find myself pitted against a sinister force of marketing ignorance that was truly bone chilling in the number of unsuspecting users affected.

To my utter horror, I found that there are millions of businesses missing out on a major online marketing opportunity - one that you don't even need a web site to take advantage of.

I'm talking about local search - specifically, online local directories and yellow pages. If you have a brick and mortar store, then get thee to your local directory!

Don't have a web site? That's no excuse. You need to make sure that you are listed - in DETAIL - on online local directories. Many local search engines let you list information even if you don't have a web site, such as:

• In-Depth Description of Services
• Customer Reviews
• Store Hours
• Address & Phone
• And more

Of course, it really helps if you have a web site too, but if you don't, the in-depth description and customer reviews of your services will be an absolute godsend to desperate web users such as myself.

Otherwise, the only thing that distinguishes you from your competitors is your name. A name isn't really enough for me to go on. Google Local tells me, for example, that there's a vintage clothing store named "Getup" in Ann Arbor. But since there's no description or link to a web site for more information, the only thing I could possibly do is give the store a call.

How ghoulish! Who would ever call a store when you can research it online? Oh wait, I can't. That's precisely what is so annoying.

Anyway, here are just a few of the many free sites you should enhance your store descriptions on if you have a brick and mortar presence:

Free Directories:

• local.yahoo.com


• local.google.com


• judysbook.com


• yelp.com


• insiderpages.com


• superpages.com


• infousa.com


• switchboard.com


• yellowpages.com


• truelocal.com

Paid Directories:

• citysearch.com

I also recommend that you get listed on local and regional directories (for example, even though Apple Annie's Vintage Clothing doesn't appear to have a web site, their listing on Michigan.org goes a long way to enhancing their listing on Google Local).

Anyone else reading this - please respond if you have other favorite local search sites you'd like to recommend.

Until then, happy hunting...

Bad Math & B2B Research

Posted by on October 12, 2006 at 09:08 AM

The person who first convinced me that I wanted to be a copywriter was the owner and principal writer for a highly successful industrial ad agency.

My initial visit to his cluttered corner office came after-hours where I found Mr. Alexander pounding at a forty-year-old manual Underwood typewriter. He offered me a seat on the literal lawn chair that dominated his office. Although the industrial stuff sounded pretty dry, I knew then that writing and marketing was the career for me.

On the way out of his office I noticed a small plaque on the wall with Alex's name, "Inducted into the Industrial Copywriter's Hall of Fame."

As Alex's agency grew and succeeded where many failed, I decided to look up some of his award-winning ads. What I found set me back a bit. The ads were copy-heavy tomes wedged around a seductive glob of lubricating oil dancing on a shiny black background. The headline was something like: "The 10 Most Important Reasons Why Cretol 390 Is Your Best High Viscosity Lubricating Solution."

And there it was: a list of 10 benefit-laden reasons and a dizzying recital of specifications and statistics.

These ads were known around his agency as "Alex's lists". While his clever consumer and B2B agency peers turned up their noses, they repeatedly failed when foraying into the industrial realm. Alex just plunked at his trusty Underwood, laughing all the way to the bank.

It took me some time to appreciate the supposed genius in this "know what they want and give ‘em what they crave" approach.

The online marketing business is perpetually starving for original research, especially about the B2B market. The smallest new study is pounced upon by writers looking to spin the new numbers in some self-serving fashion. This occurred a few months ago when Marketing Sherpa released a study on "Business Technology Marketers".

Immediately, writers began lumping the buying habits of business technology purchasers - individuals who require all the specialized and technical data they can lay their hands on - with those of business purchasing managers who negotiate the price of everything from file folders to accounting services (cost, delivery, and convenience are the traditional motivators here). The two audiences couldn't be more different.

Unfortunately, as soon as the Marketing Sherpa research hit, the B2B online buying behavior articles started flying, as if there were no difference between the two business buyers.

"Technology Purchasers" were mentioned in the first one or two paragraphs, then forgotten as the authors charged ahead, applying the data to every B2B purchasing manager and decision maker.

Even the usually careful Marketing Sherpa began blurring the line in a Powerpoint on their latest study. They started by talking about "Business Technology Purchasers" but by mid report they began labeling their results with titles such as: "How Effective Are New Marketing Channels for B-to-B Marketing?" Good question. Too bad they didn't have any research to support it.

It sounds like knit-picking; the title of the study was quite specific. Unfortunately, the people lifting the research for purposes of editorial couldn't or wouldn't make the distinction between two very different data sources. They assumed all B2B purchasing behavior is essentially the same. And the results - or at least the headlines - were terribly misleading.

My friend Alex would have enjoyed the confusion. He would have courted the technology buyer much as he would his beloved industrial engineers. More is better. Longer and detailed, better still. And at the end of the day when my highly clever, short and hard-hitting headlines fell on deaf ears, he would have sprawled out on his lawn lounger and basked in another successful campaign.

GooTube and Yougle - A Cautionary Tale

Posted by Christopher on October 11, 2006 at 04:58 PM

Disclaimer: this post in no way reflects the author's seething jealousy over two guys who had a pretty good idea being made insta-billionaires by two other guys who had a pretty good idea, and are already billionaires.

Flannery O'Connor wrote a story, and then Shriekback made a song out of it: Everything that Rises Must Converge. Here's the thing: imagine every potentiality as a sphere, and moving up or down said sphere a scale of success, of fulfillment of said potential; were that sphere a globe, you and I and most of the rest of us would be hanging out around the equator. Maybe Southern Florida. Google and YouTube would have razed and gentrified Santa's workshop. They rise, they converge. They become one at the pole.

Disclaimer: the former was an extremely poor analogy illustrating a principal I only somewhat grasp. But do you get what I mean? It was, in the world of near-cartoonish financial wherewithal, inevitable.

So what's the verdict? Is YouTube going to be completely filled up with ads? Yeah, probably. Will you have to endure a 30-second OxyClean ad in order to see 15 seconds of a sixteen year old from Akron poorly parody Lord of the Rings? Yeah, probably. Will the cognoscenti, en masse, leave YouTube in a flood of reverse-bourgeois outrage? Nah, probably not.

Is there a cognoscenti?

Go into an SEO forum, any SEO forum, and you'll see about 1.65 billion posts ranging from rabid anti-capitalist rants to equally rabid pro-capitalist "Yay, Google!" diatribes. Either GooTube is going to fail miserably (see: cognoscenti) or Yougle will enjoy success unparalleled at any point in the history of the world (see: the rising, the converging).

OK, you want to hear something scary? I predict neither; I predict it was maybe kind of a bad investment, but not really horrible. I predict a gradual loss of interest, an unseemly and somewhat sad lingering in the shadow of something better. I predict a withering up, an eventual uneventful shelving away. I predict an eventual "I Heart the 00's!" (how do you even pronounce that?) with somewhat attractive comedians/actors/etc. you've never heard of saying things like, "Remember YouTube? Where else would you spend 30 seconds watching an OxyClean ad to be able to watch 15 seconds of a sixteen year old from Akron poorly parodying Lord of the Rings? Ha ha ha!"

It's like what's going to happen to MySpace now that it's been invaded by parents and realtors.

Now that’s scary.

Tags
GooTube
Yougle

YouTube Needs Google

Posted by on October 10, 2006 at 01:53 PM

Bandwagon here I come. We had a family computer outing recently when my husband discovered YouTube.

"Hey honey, have you seen this!" (Of course, I had.)

The three of us sat patiently while downloading several funny animal videos. Our favorite, by far, is a clip from America's Funniest Videos. It's a cat montage put to classical music. Dozens of cats fly across the screen, in mishap after mishap.

We must have watched that very clip a dozen times. Not because it is that funny. No, because in our search to find different clips, we kept getting this same one.

So I'm glad that YouTube will soon have Google as an organized parent to straighten up its content. Maybe then we can watch even more feline fun with the family.

Tags
YouTube
Google

Straight Up Site of Interest - A/V Usability

Posted by keirsun on October 06, 2006 at 04:21 PM

It's time once again to rotate the tires and go for a spin in the Straight Up Site of Interest. This monthly post focuses on forward-thinking internet technologies and the websites that drive them. After taking in the view, you'll have another answer to this very important question: "How can I market my website?"

This month's topic: Audio & Video File Usability

Straight Up Site of Interest: veotag

In Their Own Words: "veotag is an exciting new service that lets you display clickable text, called 'veotags,' within an audio or video file."

First Impression:

If you host audio or video files on your website that clients can view/listen to for more information about your products and services, veotag may be of interest to you.

In a nutshell, the veotag player allows you to create a readable, and clickable, table of contents for A/V files. For example, if your site offers a video tour of your production warehouse, veotag can help you create links to each location on the tour, so viewers have the option to click ahead to their specific area of interest.

veotag also touts that these links are actual text, which can be indexed by a search engine web crawler. This would give your site additional content for both search engines and users.

However, I was unable to find information on the veotag site explaining whether that text resides on the host's domain or veotag's domain. From a search engine perspective, indexable content is only beneficial to the web site it's hosted on.

Regardless, veotag is definitely pushing forward with an audio/video file player that puts the user in the driver's seat.

Don't forget to read September's Straight Up Site of Interest for Local Search.

Backin' It Up With Customer Service and Care

Posted by teal on October 05, 2006 at 04:33 PM

Throughout my life, whether in college or in my professional career, I have always worked with clients. I enjoy speaking with people who are interested in what my company or institution can offer them and usually, by the time they get to me, they are already on board and are looking for answers and assistance.

Whether lifeguarding, waitressing, working at an RV park in Fairbanks, Alaska, a JCrew store, or now, as a SEO project manager, I have always enjoyed working with people as they choose their dinner, business suit, or keywords for a SEO project.

As a lifelong customer care junkie, I have always felt it important to represent my company to the best of my ability and create strong relationships with my clients. I also feel personally responsible for these relationships and in addition to making a good impression for my employer, I also want to create business relationships that are open, honest, and professional.

Because I have strong feelings about customer care and the importance of taking care of customers and clients, even after they have handed their money over, I felt compelled to write my post about backing up products and services with customer care.

This urge was also spurred a few weeks ago when speaking with my best friend about the trouble she was having getting her iPod replaced/properly fixed. See my friend is a dedicated runner and without her iPod to help her through the miles, she just isn't a happy girl.

I asked Amy what happened when she called Apple and, long story short, she was put on hold for close to a half an hour, finally spoke to a representative, and was sent a replacement iPod... that was also partially broken (one of the earpieces doesn't work). She tried calling them again and after sitting on hold for close to 30 minutes again, hung up. Amy isn't asking for a better product than she normally had, or even a brand new one. She just wants a product that works - like the one she bought less than a year ago.

She is discouraged now and frankly, I believe that Apple lost a customer. This is what I mean by "backin' it up with customer service". Even with companies who sell nice, useful, enjoyable, fun, etc. products, the whole deal can be blown with poor customer care... or hours and hours of listening to The Black Eyed Peas through your right ear only.

Tags
customer service
Apple
iPod

LOST Season 3 Premier Gets Me LOST in Podcast Land

Posted by on October 04, 2006 at 12:36 PM

Last year I spent weeks listening to my co-workers Mike and Erin talk lively about each new episode of the TV show LOST on ABC.

During that time my wife and I were busy with newborn twins and watching television was a luxury we couldn't afford. So, seeing my friends get so involved in the plot, characters and all their theories about one stupid TV show left me baffled.

On a whim, a few months ago my wife and I decided to see what the hype was about. We rented the first season of LOST. That led to the second season and now... well, I'm waiting with baited breath. It took me about year, but I've been saved, I'm a believer and there’s a season three of LOST starting tonight. Hallelujah!

Now I'm left with the dilemma -- how best to get my LOST fix. One show a week, with commercials mind you, is just not enough. So I've started reading forums, of which there are hundreds. Finally, I turned to my favorite pastime - podcasting.

I thought there would be at least a couple podcasts on LOST, what I didn't expect was over 50 of them! Where do I start? After listening to the first half dozen or so, I became exhausted with the sub-par podcasts (with the exception of the ABC podcast) and gave up. Looks like I'll have to plod through the masses to find a good one to feed my habit.

Then my thoughts turned to LOST podcast positioning. So, what’s’ in a name? Out of the 50 or so podcasts I looked at, a handful of the titles grabbed my attention:

The Official LOST podcast (best produced)

LOST Podcasting Network (Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz)

Delta park gets LOST (who, what, and why would you choose this name?)

The LOST Experience (Hmm, tell me more)

And my favorite title - LOST 4 8 15 16 23 42 (but don't waste your bandwidth)

Then there’s LOST podcast art. Four podcasts were creative enough to use the same poster art that ABC's Get LOST podcast had. But when you scrawl a random font across the beautiful artwork, what’s the point? Be original. The one I liked the best was the Dharma grate logo with an iPod in the middle.

A few things to keep in mind when approaching an original podcast: take the time to do a little research, give your audience something thoughtful. And most important, be different. This will ultimately help you gain popularity in iTunes, soar your podcast to the top, and keep you from getting "Lost".

For some more detailed thoughts about how to produce a podcast worth listening to, try OneUpWeb's white paper called Corporate Podcasting 101. And, oh by the way, it's also available as a podcast.

Tags
Lost
Lost podcasts

Internet Marketing - Time to Think

Posted by drew on October 03, 2006 at 12:16 PM

Today is my birthday. With another year under my belt (nothing hanging over the belt... yet), I feel like I should reflect back on what has happened during the last year, at least the internet marketing related parts.

Podcasting

Podcasting certainly has been released from the clutches of the underground and gone mainstream. Any company that knows a trend when they see it has jumped on the bandwagon. Instead of hiding behind a brand or logo, companies are suddenly stepping out to talk to their markets.

Why wouldn't you want to do this? Podcasting is direct marketing at its best.

The people who want to hear what you have to say are now getting the chance, and most likely are appreciative. The podcasters are just as appreciative of their fans. A recent WebProNews article speaks of the love that podcasters have for their new art.

Social Networks

Social networking has definitely become a new avenue for advertising. How soon will it be until MySpace or Facebook have a Google Adwords-esque interface for advertising?

Granted, this area isn't controlled as much. By that I mean when you search in Google, you're given ads relative to your search query.
To my knowledge, there's nothing currently like that in MySpace. Users are most likely looking at people profiles or, the original reason for its creation, bands. Can the content viewed by MySpace users be targeted by advertisers?

Facebook has moved ahead of the game; the social networking site already has targeted ads.

In my opinion, Facebook is the wrong forum for this because it's advertising to college and high school kids who (mostly) don't have much money. MySpace needs to jump on this.

Paid Search

In paid search campaigning, the trend seems to be follow the leader. Google has solved the paid advertising solution with Adwords, and everyone else wants in on the action.

Yahoo seems to be constantly saying it has a new interface pending, probably more like Adwords. MSN's AdCenter already feels a lot like Adwords, and isn't that old. I even heard rumors of an Ask redesign as well!

Are Google's competitors changing face to capture some of the trust that Google has established with Adwords advertisers? Or is it simply that the Adwords interface works better for marketers and customers? We'll find out more in this next year, I'm sure.

On that note, I think it's time to wish myself a happy birthday. So, self, congratulations on surviving another year in the SEO jungle. Next year will certainly have its share of industry changes and advances, and that's what makes it exciting.

Tags
MySpace
Facebook
Google Adwords

The Power of Podcasting

Posted by tim on October 02, 2006 at 02:02 PM

It's fair to say that Podcasting (gasp! maybe we shouldn't use that word anymore), ahem - audiocasting - is in its infancy right now. Certainly not breaking any ground with that revelation, I know.

As with most new media, businesses are scrambling to figure out how to use it. And many are left scratching their heads.

The beauty of the new electronic media though, is that you can grow, evolve, and change quickly. Clearly these are pioneering days, even as the format is maturing with independent casters and fans; it's only the earliest of days for business application.

Right now, the game is timing. The spoils will go to the companies willing to enter the fray and make something happen. It may not be perfect with the first show, but then, rare is the show - in any format - that is flawless at the beginning.

In mere months, what will be remembered about businesses audiocasting, won't be the content of the first show, it will be the company who got there first and is leading the charge. The biggest names in any field are often the biggest because they've been there the longest. Same rules here.

If there is still some question about the value people are seeing in audiocasting, ask Podshow what they think, now that they've been infused with another $15 million in investment funding.