Social Networking Opens Job Doors
Posted by anne on November 30, 2006 at 03:14 PM
The face of the employee recruiting process has changed considerably when compared to a mere five years ago. The days of pouring over resumes to learn of an individual's work history and level of education are quickly disappearing.
Since I handle recruiting for an online marketing company, I am frequently on the prowl for talented graphic designers. These days however, I no longer have to meet in person with a candidate for an initial glimpse of their creative design and artwork. By placing a hyper-link within their resume, a talented graphic designer has the ability to "woo" even the most experienced recruiter within a few short seconds.
Also, with the ability to "Google" an individual's name and e-mail address, it's possible to open a window to his or her personal and professional background.
However, the most interesting new technology impacting the hunt for job candidates is the arrival of social networking websites, similar to MySpace and Facebook.
One such site, LinkedIn, includes an online network of 8 million professionals spread across the world, including executives from all of the Fortune 500 companies.
A LinkedIn press release states that more than 3.3 million professionals find jobs, people and service providers through this existing network of business relationships. By simply typing keywords into LinkedIn's search function, recruiters can graze the entire network to find high quality candidates for any desired position.
For job seekers, this site provides a great venue to market yourself. Simply setup your own profile that includes work history, educational level and specific skills and experience. Again, keywords are the key. Loading your profile with the right keywords makes it a relatively easy process for recruiters to find you. In addition, privacy controls allow you to maintain, control and revise your profile.
Being new to the possibilities of LinkedIn, I am excited to find out more about this new recruiting tool. It won't replace my past hiring practices but will help to enhance them by allowing me to search the Rolodexes of working professionals online.
The long and short of it is face to face interviews will never become obsolete but the ability to tap into a professional pool with a simple click will make my job a whole lot easier. Just don't tell my boss, deal?
Is Podcasting Still the Next Big Thing?
Posted by dave on November 29, 2006 at 04:55 PM
Check the headlines:
Podcasting falls on deaf ears
Podcasting: It's not just for geeks anymore
What Podcasting Revolution?
The line in the sand has been drawn. You either believe that podcasting is the next big thing, or just another over-hyped fad that will fade away and join the 8-track as an obscure Trivial Pursuit answer.
Given this seemingly "either or" outcome, many companies have shied away from dedicating advertising dollars to this new potential revenue stream.
As a subscriber and regular listener of numerous podcasts, all I can say to these companies is "You're missing out." Rarely do you get a chance to connect with such a targeted, attentive audience. Even if the audience is not as large as other advertising mediums, you are speaking directly to potential clients.
In addition to its pinpoint targeting, podcasting also provides the opportunity to create a level of customer loyalty unobtainable through other marketing channels.
Although the estimates vary, the number of Internet users downloading podcasts seems to be falling in the range of 7-12 percent. For ease of use, I'll use 10 percent as my baseline.
Using a little math and the helpful statistics found at Internet World Stats, which say there are 229,138,706 internet users in North America, we'll estimate that 22,913,870 people in North America are downloading podcasts.
Drawing on this number, and making an assumption that 1/2 of a percent of podcast listeners are interested in your topic - if you were to produce a weekly podcast you are looking at 5,957,588 opportunities to speak directly to your target market every year.
Make that a daily podcast, and you are talking about 29,902,509 opportunities every year.
Given this potential reach, maybe the question advertisers should be asking is not, "Is podcasting the next big thing", but "What other advertising medium offers this type of targeted volume?"
Tags
podcasting
podcast
Internet. Radio.
Posted by on November 28, 2006 at 09:43 AM
I recently relocated hundreds of miles for a new job. If you've made such a move, you know it carries its own concerns: housing, finding local merchants and doctors, figuring out which channel ESPN is on the new cable service... you know, the usuals.
One thing I don't have to worry about this time, however, is radio station withdrawal. My favorite local station was The Banana 101.5 out of Flint, Michigan. Like many radio stations, The Banana also broadcasts online. Taking it one step further, though, DJs Eric Thomas and Carson Lee use the Internet to really reach out to their listeners.
They have established a significant online presence through The Banana's home page, myspace, and other local websites, using the Internet to promote themselves and their show in a way that goes beyond basic or traditional advertising. Further, they encourage listeners to contact them through Instant Messaging–they use three different IM services–and often address comments received through IM, as they are received, live on the air.
This type of online interactivity not only bridges physical distance that airwaves can't, but it creates a greater closeness to their fans, whom they endearingly refer to as "sickos", in a way that traditional DJ-ing doesn't. Could this be the future of radio? Could the future of radio not involve the radio at all? It's an interesting idea.
I first started listening to Eric and Carson years ago, because they were funny and they played music I liked. Now, hundreds of miles from my old stamping grounds, hearing those familiar voices and knowing I can interact with them in a few simple keystrokes means a lot more. And while I learn the in and outs of the new job, unpack some boxes, and find a couple of new jogging routes, it's nice to have some "old friends" who are just a mouse click away.
800 Miles from Christmas
Posted by on November 27, 2006 at 11:38 AM
The turkey has been roasted and the stuffing is now just a memory in my mind and a good feeling in my stomach. Thanksgiving has past and now it's time to get back to work.
After moving to northern Michigan to work as a graphic designer 2 months ago, the Thanksgiving holiday for me was especially interesting after a long 12 ½ hour drive to Omaha, Nebraska, to see my family and enjoy a much anticipated Thanksgiving dinner.
As a 23 year old single male I don't eat much, and I rarely decide to cook a full course meal, so you can understand my excitement. However, there is a downside to this story.
As I said my goodbyes and began the drive back to Michigan at 3:00 am Sunday morning, I realized something that would be the deciding factor of my Christmas holiday experience. There was no way in the world I was driving another 1,600 miles (back and forth), spending another $200 for gas, or experiencing another lonely Midwest country drive in the next 30 days to visit again for Christmas. You may be asking, "Why not fly?", but as I mentioned I just started a new job and the bills are tight; the road is my only option at this time.
Needless to say I will not be singing "I'll Be Home for Christmas" this year. Instead, for the first time I will be spending the holiday by myself in a studio apartment. This is intriguing while at the same time scary because I am use to spending Christmas with a family of 12, opening presents, and helping to put up lights on the tree. Unfortunately, this year I will wake up and say Merry Christmas to myself.
In an effort to make myself feel a little better, I started thinking about some of the good things involved with spending Christmas away from everyone I love. First off, I'm in northern Michigan where it snows like crazy during the holidays (so I'm told). Maybe this year I will finally see snow fall on Christmas Eve, just like in the movies. In Omaha it always snows way before or long after Christmas and you lose the whole feeling. Secondly, I'm sure my family will feel sorry enough for me that they will ship some pretty nice gifts my way to make me feel like I'm right there with them!
With all joking aside, there is a lesson here. Moving away from home to begin a career is common. I'm sure there are other people spending their first holiday season alone this year. Moving to northern Michigan has reminded me to cherish every moment spent with family and friends. So for everyone who has the privilege of spending Christmas with your loved ones, remember to take advantage of it and milk that time for what it's worth. For all those people away from home… remember it will only make us stronger.
Flood Meets Web Shopping
Posted by on November 24, 2006 at 10:19 AM
One year ago my family met with disaster. We arrived home from a Thanksgiving holiday trip to find a pipe had burst on the second floor. I could hear the water before I turned on the lights.
Waterfalls flowed down the walls; the bathroom ceiling had caved in and water sprayed in every direction hitting all four walls, ceiling and floor at the same time. It was raining on my living room couch, piano, and my mother’s hand-painted artwork. My newly-installed hickory floors were warping in three inches of water. My cedar walls were black with oils that seep from the wood when it gets wet. The furnace made a gargling sound.
That evening started a full-time, eight-month journey of gutting and rebuilding, battling with an unsympathetic insurance company, managing contractors, moving to rental homes (seven times!) and making endless renovation and purchasing decisions. Enter web shopping.
I’m a web shopper but I never imaged how important both paid and natural search results were going to become. I live an hour away from any meaningful home improvement store, lumber yard, or plumbing supplier. I had to move extremely fast to make hundreds of decisions from door knobs, flooring, lighting, faucets, windows, stair railing, decking, paint, appliances. . . aughhhhh! The web became my best friend.
Not only did I find everything I needed, I found great online deals. I did my homework. I used Google to search for a multitude of home products. I clicked on all first-page paid ads (sponsored links) and on any natural listings that seemed relevant. My search results became a lifeline to what I needed.
I hear people say that they don’t pay attention to the little ads because it’s “just advertising,‎ or “I never click on the top ad on a page.‎ They don’t know what they’re missing! I found most ads to be highly relevant to what I was searching for. Not only did I find the products I needed very quickly, but I was able to comparison shop, find the best deal, get wholesale pricing, and purchase from companies that offered free shipping. Plumbing supply store. . . “Good bye!‎
My search experience wasn’t all pleasure. I found poorly designed websites. Some were cluttered with pictures and text. Others were difficult to navigate or required many levels of searching to find what I was looking for. One of the most frustrating experiences was clicking on an ad and landing on a search results page that was completely unrelated to what I was searching for. I have no patience for this and departed for more functional websites.
Web shopping is on the rise. According to the Census Bureau of the U.S. Department of Commerce, e-commerce was up almost 21% in the third quarter of 2006 over third quarter 2005.
Marketers: Market your products or services on the web but do it right. Your website should be optimized. Include paid advertising that is targeted and relevant to potential consumers.
Shoppers: Click on the sponsored links as well as the natural links that come from your search. Both are there to help you find what you need.
As for me, I’ve decided to stay home this Thanksgiving, give thanks for the blessings of a rebuilt home, and start my Christmas shopping . . . on the web, of course.
Thanksgiving To Go
Posted by on November 22, 2006 at 10:54 AM
The days of the traditional homemade Thanksgiving dinner are changing for many.
“Meal time in America is changing.‎ says Michael Sansolo, a spokesman for the Food Marketing Institute in Washington, D.C. “An increasing percent of the population might not have the time or know-how to prepare these giant Thanksgiving or Christmas meals.‎
Twenty years ago, the thought of ordering Thanksgiving Dinner over the internet never existed. In fact, many would feel guilty if they didn’t make everything completely from scratch. Today, companies like DineWise offer Thanksgiving Dinner with all of the trimmings, delivered to your door.
On one hand it makes me a little sad to think of the most homespun of holidays going so commercial. I certainly can appreciate the time and effort that my mother and grandmother put into their traditional holiday meals and the pride they felt as they served them. I looked forward to dishes like my grandmother’s mashed potatoes or my mother’s pumpkin pie, which may have been made with the same ingredients as the supermarket version, but sure didn’t taste the same to me.
On the other hand, is getting up at 4 a.m. to put in the turkey all worth it? If ordering a prepared Thanksgiving Dinner online, through a caterer or the local supermarket helps to reduce the stress and expectations of the holiday meal, traditionally put upon the women of the family, why not?
After all, the meal, whether made at home or somewhere else is only one part of Thanksgiving. It’s really about bringing family and friends together, giving thanks for the people that we are lucky enough to have in our lives.
Last Minute e-Shopping - A New Holiday Tradition
Posted by chip on November 21, 2006 at 01:30 PM
Well this week marks the official start of the holiday shopping season, Black Friday is upon us, and I know that we can all feel the excitement. While I personally don't plan on hitting the stores at 5am to battle crazed crowds of people looking to score the greatest deal since a Snickers was a nickel - incidentally my wife does each and every year - I do plan on engaging in a different holiday tradition, which I have been diligent in practicing for a few years now.
What is this new holiday tradition you ask? Regrettably it's not raising the aluminum Festivus pole. Much to the contrary, it's getting the majority of my Holiday shopping done from the convenience of my home office. That's right, I whole-heartedly embraced online shopping several years ago and have not looked back since. I know that I am not alone in this either - JupiterResearch predicts 114 million people will spend a combined total of $32 billion online this holiday season.
Don't think for a second that it's going to stop there either. According to eCommerce Times, AOL drove $1 billion in holiday sales during the 1998 season, $7 billion in 1999 and by 2011 online shopping is expected to make up 9% of all retail sales totaling $270 billion.
If you've not yet embraced online shopping you may be wondering what drives groves of holiday shoppers to the internet. There are 2 primary answers to that question. The first is price. Not to be outdone by the brick and mortar after-Thanksgiving bonanza, many e-tailers routinely offer great deals as well as a plethora of free shipping offers and special discounts. And don't be discouraged if you think your net skills aren't savvy enough to sniff out these deals; there are many helpful sites, such as Fat Wallet, out there to help you track down deals.
Another motivator driving people into the realm of online shopping is convenience. I have to admit, this is the primary reason that I turn to cyber-space for my shopping needs. The many conveniences that online shopping has to offer are almost too many to mention, but I will do my best to touch on the highlights here:
- Comparison Shopping - I can't think of an easier way to compare prices, features, products or retailers than with comparison shopping engines like Become.com.
- Direct Shipping - If you have friends and family spread all across this great land like I do, you are bound to appreciate the fact that many e-commerce retailers will wrap your gifts and ship direct to your recipient's door. It doesn't get much easier than that. I even use this feature for my nieces and nephew's birthdays throughout the year.
- Local Pick-up - Most major retailers will even allow you to do your shopping online and then pick up your merchandise directly from your local outlet.
- Specialty & Niche Stores - I don't care where you live, from New Amsterdam to New York, you are guaranteed to find many specialty stores online that are not available in your local area.
- Gift Ideas - Even if you don’t have a clue what to get that hard to shop for person on your list, there is no reason to waste time aimlessly wandering the malls hoping inspiration will strike, you can employ tools like The Gift Ideas Generator to help you find the perfect gift.
- Save Gas - Just think of all the gas you can save by eliminating the running around associated with Holiday shopping. You may even be able to use these savings to spread your budget a little further this season.
Even if you're not quite ready to give up the black Friday tradition of storming the after-Thanksgiving sales, there are several sites that can help assist you from tracking down the best black Friday deals to locating local businesses that sell the products you need.
So in the spirit of the holidays, go forth and spread cheer this season by finding the perfect gift that will be cherished for years to come. And keep in mind that utilizing all that the internet has to offer will help make the process a little easier this year.
Dedication or Waiting for Wii
Posted by on November 20, 2006 at 04:46 PM
This weekend a co-worker and I met outside the local Best Buy around 4:30 Saturday afternoon to set up his tent. You see, Saturday was Nintendo Wii launch eve, and we were determined to leave Sunday morning with one for each of us. It turns out that at 4:30 we were already as far back as number 17 in a quickly growing line.
Continue reading "Dedication or Waiting for Wii"
Session IDs vs. Cookies: The Great Standoff
Posted by on November 17, 2006 at 12:11 PM
Ever heard of session IDs? They seem to be an ingenious way to track user behavior on your web site. Every single user who visits your site gets a unique ID, which is added onto the end of a URL like this:
http://www.mysite.com/index.asp&id=globbetygook
2DS385023KDSLFIEG832353K32moreuglyglobbetygook234KKK325
Cool. Now you can track the entire click path of every visitor to your site, just by following the ID tag. And even better- session IDS let you track every single visitor to your web site, unlike cookies which only work if a user has them enabled in their browser.
Sound too good to be true? IT IS.
Yes: succumb to the siren song of session IDS, and they'll drag your web site down to the bottom of the SERPs.
Why? Let's let Google answer this one:
"[Best practices are to] allow search bots to crawl your sites without session IDs or arguments that track their path through the site. These techniques are useful for tracking individual user behavior, but the access pattern of bots is entirely different. Using these techniques may result in incomplete indexing of your site, as bots may not be able to eliminate URLs that look different but actually point to the same page."
"Minimize the number of redirects and URL parameters [Ed. Note: I'd keep it to 1-2 parameters if possible]. And don't use &id= in the URL for anything other than a session ID. Since it generally is a session ID, we treat it as such and usually don't include those URLs in the index."- Vanessa Fox (Product Manager for Google's Webmaster Tools and Webmaster Central)
Search engines have difficulty deciphering sites that provide a different version of every URL every time they pay you a visit. And if your URLs actually do make it into the index, then you'll be faced not only with duplicate content issues, but the very fact that you now have URLs with session IDs indexed. That lets people enter your site through old session IDs: so much for data integrity.
Okay, you're probably wondering, so now what do I do now that you've shattered my dreams about session IDs?
Use cookies. Yes, it's true that about 10% of users do not have cookies enabled, but 90% of them still do. And personally, we'd rather have you be able to track 90% of regular visitors (and you'll get a lot of 'em if you use SEO best practices) than 100% of no visitors. Because no visitors is what you'll likely get if you use Session IDs.
Google, Yahoo & MSN Support Common Sitemap Protocol
Posted by steve on November 16, 2006 at 11:01 AM
It's been almost a year and a half since Google first launched a new service called Google Sitemaps. Back in June 2005, when it launched, Google Sitemaps had two goals:
1. Optimize Googlebot's ability to crawl web sites and provide more timely, relevant search results, and...
2. Allow webmasters to more easily communicate with Google to get their new content crawled faster than ever before.
Since then, Google Sitemaps has undergone a name change (now called Google Webmaster Tools). The name change came about to reflect a growing list of features offered to site owners. Combined with the potential for enhanced visibility, Google Sitemaps/Webmaster Tools has sparked a tremendous amount of positive feedback.
Well, Yahoo and Microsoft finally took notice. For months, Google's two closest competitors did not officially support Google's Sitemap Protocol, even though Google encouraged it by making the technology open source.
But it's a new day:
Google, Yahoo and MSN are now teaming up to support Sitemaps 0.90. Now webmasters have the ability to use one format to generate a mass catalog of their site and keep the major search engines up-to-date about any changes made. Details of the new Sitemap protocol can be seen here: www.sitemaps.org. Don't worry - if you already participate in the Sitemap program, there's no need to change your XML file.
And it's a good day:
As webmasters continue to provide both positive and negative feedback about how to make the Sitemaps protocol more effective, improvements will continue to be made. And as Google and its competitors continue to take this feedback into account to improve and expand upon the products and tools offered, we're all going to benefit.
Weeee!
Posted by on November 15, 2006 at 03:57 PM
So today marks the opening day of firearm deer hunting season in Michigan. This is a big thing. Really. By some estimates nearly 750,000 hunters taking to the woods & countryside of our great state in search of the prized, antler-topped, male white-tailed deer.
Around our house, the 15th of November has slightly different significance. It is, number one the end of (safe) mountain biking on most of the great trail systems in the state; and number two the official beginning of the Christmas shopping season.
You see with fall trail riding no longer an option (at least not without body armor) the last lingering bits of summer are now gone. It’s time to hang up the bike and focus on the holidays - particularly, the run up to Christmas.
The big prize that I have my sights fixed upon this year is something called a “Nintendo Wii‎ for my niece & nephew. I wanted to get them skis, but my sister…well, never mind. I’m not even sure what a “Wii‎ is, but will gladly do an uncle’s duty and find one. (I freely admit that the last time I touched something with a Nintendo logo on it was about 20 years ago.)
I guess that I should be grateful that I’m not hunting for a PS3. Again, don’t know what it is, but I do know that they’re hard to come by. Nonetheless, I am plagued by images of people camping in stores’ parking lots waiting to purchases a Wii.
The strategy for my hunt is as follows. Use any and all online means possible to acquire this device. Here’s hoping that online electronics retailers were smart a few months back and started online marketing initiatives in time to peak with the holiday shopping season. Similarly, I sure hope that they’re working hard right now on their paid search campaigns, and local search listings so that I can find them and their products (particularly a Wii) quickly and easily.
So, blaze-orange hats off to all of this season’s hunters!
1980's Southern Alt-Pop, Google, & the YouTube Revolution
Posted by on November 14, 2006 at 10:05 AM
It was a snowy mid-November night in northern Michigan, (Mid-November. Snow. Lots of it. Sigh.) and, for the first time, I participated in a time-honored tradition: Wasting hours of time on YouTube.
The good people at Slate magazine had published a relatively inconsequential article about one of my favorite bands, R.E.M., and a band I’m basically indifferent to, U2, and their two divergent paths since being the two coolest bands of the 1980’s.
Included in the text of the article was a YouTube link – not my first, but the first I’ve been really excited about – of R.E.M. playing “So. Central Rain‎ on Late Night With David Letterman in 1983. From the interview with Peter Buck and Mike Mills, to Michael Stipe hiding behind the drumset, to Dave Letterman looking tall and gangly and awkward, to Michael Stipe’s floppy perm, it was awesome on about every level. (No, seriously, click the link. It’s for your own edification.)
And I continued searching for R.E.M. videos. A few live performances, a few music videos I had never seen, just the general junk that causes millions to get lost on YouTube every day.
As I was searching and clicking and watching and being entertained but not completely engaged, I realized that, yes friends, Google will be able to make money, and lots of it, off of YouTube, and in the not-too-distant future.
I’m envisioning a Google ad front-and-center. Probably three of them, directly above the user comments. R.E.M. just released a “best-of‎ of their early years and, had I seen an ad for it on that snowy night, I’m probably a buyer.
There are hurdles to clear, as some of the material I watched is copyrighted, and some is probably owned by NBC. But we all know how YouTube works - something copyrighted is pulled offline, and someone posts the same thing days or hours or minutes later. Everything on YouTube, copyrighted or not, is tagged and searchable. We know quite well that short, targeted text ads work for search engine queries, and I have no doubt they can work on YouTube as well.
SEO Ho Ho
Posted by Christopher on November 13, 2006 at 05:10 PM
At around this time every year, I'm hit with the horrifying realization that Thanksgiving is next week.
Not that big a deal, as it's a holiday I, in general, enjoy. I like eating. I, for the time being, have abandoned vegetarianism and the resultant turkey-eating-related guilt ebbs daily (prodded by knowledge that ranch turkeys, if left unattended in a rainstorm, will drown because they won't stop looking up with their beaks open).
No big deal, except for the panic generated by the holiday's attendant imperative (in the dwindling but still audible voice of my conscience):
"Christopher, Christopher, Christopher for the sake of everything holy PLEASE don't put off buying gifts for another four weeks! Like last year, the Year of the Gift Card."
The situation is made worse by the fact that my mother has, in all likelihood, completed her shopping. Some years she's done by Halloween. She has no compunction against talking about it, either.
Mom: "You done shopping?"
Me: "Mom, come on."
Mom: "I finished last week."
Yeah, that's great, ma. Thanks for that.
Here's where I get to the point - if you're considering implementing an SEO campaign, and your business is seasonal or holiday-dependent, emulate my mother. Give yourself 3-4 months. Six months is even better. It takes time to get substantial results.
As with the ever-increasing number of potential gift options (and no, a cookie jar that oinks when you open it does not a good present make -- take it from me on that one), the variables affecting search engine results and your site’s visibility are many. Plan ahead with best practices and good solid SEO, and you won’t find yourself digging through the search engine bargain bin.
Apple Hitmen & Google Bodyguards
Posted by drew on November 10, 2006 at 04:20 PM
In contrast to what Vern mentioned below about Apple replacing radio with digital media via the iPod, essentially killing radio's advertising budget, Google recently took a step toward aiding the crippled print ad industry. Google has announced its purchase of print ad space in 50 newspapers across the country, to begin serving ads from 100 of Google's current advertising customers.
Bully Buys You Lunch
Google AdWords is cleaning house in the advertising world; there's no doubt about that. Google is effectively making every magazine or newspaper nervously check their wallets every minute, even though the industry has never been extremely lucrative. This could be a gesture of friendship on Google's part, like saying "Hey, we're all advertisers. Wanna kick it?"
Second Time's the Ad Charm
This three month test is the second testing of such kind by Google. A year ago they attempted serving ads in magazines, such as PC Magazine. The response was slow, so the idea was scrapped. With the lower cost of newspaper advertising, this new experiment may pay off. Isn't a Google ad nothing more than an online classified ad anyway? It's a small box with not much writing in it. Google should buy an entire classifieds page and just serve Google ads. In Russia, online ads get served to you offline! What a country! Thank you, Yakov Smirnoff.
Hipster Silhouette DJs
Could Apple do the same with their assassination attempt? Of course! Although Apple is not in the advertising business, they certainly are in the business of serving music. Imagine, if you will, Apple sponsored radio stations (deregulation, what?) that play a wide variety of music from the iTunes catalog, in addition to Podcasts and audio feeds from otherwise unknown, online radio stations. Sure, throw in a few ads for featured artists on iTunes or new Apple products; it'd be worth it. Forget about Clear Channel, get under the Apple umbrella! Diversity to the max!
Google is doing the right thing. Although I'm not certain the newspaper ads will pay off, I hope they do. Apple should make a move as well; they could essentially get a large amount of free advertising, or break into the advertising market themselves. There, I've planted the seed. Now go read the funnies.
iPod Killed the Radio Star
Posted by vern on November 09, 2006 at 05:29 PM
I'm usually an early adopter. I can't resist getting my hands on the latest sports gear and electronics. I don't know why, but when the iPod was introduced by Apple so many years ago I didn't bite. I was content to surf the radio dial during my 45 minute commute. AM 580 for the local weather, NPR for national news and then settling on a classic rock or alternative station depending on my mood. Sure, I have iTunes on my home Mac and listen to a wide variety of artists regularly. Maybe I'm a creature of habit. Maybe, heaven forbid, I'm getting old-fashioned. But I never had the urge to buy an iPod and take my music library on that daily commute. Well that's all changed with the introduction of the new iPod Shuffle. It's the size of a matchbook with 1GB of storage. The design of the device is Apple-cool and cutting edge, well thought out and for me - irresistible.
I shared news of my purchase with a colleague and he asked "has it changed your life?" I replied "not yet" and didn't give his question much thought. I loaded my iTunes library on the iPod and have been enjoying my commute more than ever. Then I thought of my kids and how their iPods are a permanent fashion accessory. And being a marketer, I thought of how their not listening to the radio, ever, may impact radio advertising. Not to mention marketing in general. The iPod will likely put radio stations out of business as their ad revenue disappears. Podcasts will rule the day. And portable video will be the medium of choice.
No my new iPod hasn't changed my life. But the way my kids are marketed to will be nothing like advertising when I was their age thanks to Steve Jobs insanely compelling iPod and the new marketing opportunities it makes possible.
What is Yahoo! Food Cooking up for the Holidays?
Posted by teal on November 08, 2006 at 04:13 PM
With the holiday season right around the corner, Yahoo! has perfectly timed the launch of its newest service, Yahoo! Food.
Potentially a competitor for Bon Appétit, the Food Network, and CNET's Chow.com, Yahoo! Food is intended to provide users with helpful tips from celebs like Rachel Ray, Wolfgang Puck, and Martha Stewart, not to mention features like Yahoo! Food Videos, food Q & A, and much more.
As I prepare to host my very first Thanksgiving dinner (don't worry, my grandma is coming a few days early so no firefighters will have to pull themselves away from their own feast on my account), there are some things that I need a bit more information about. For instance, even though I am getting some professional assistance from my Gram, I am in charge of buying the turkey and some other popular ingredients beforehand. Having really no idea what to buy, I began my search through Yahoo! Food to see what sorts of information it can offer the amateur hostess.
From a usability standpoint, Yahoo! Food is lacking. In my profession, I am pretty aware of usability issues that can hinder users from finding what they need, or returning. Yahoo! Food, while offering a plethora of useful information, could stand a good re-organizing.
The main navigation at the top of the page is fairly consistent, and quite often, I was very unsure of how I even got to the page I was viewing. The overall structural hierarchy is unclear, thus making it difficult for users to return to an area where they found something useful. Moreover, because there is no virtual recipe box or recipe saving option, I found it frustrating as I reviewed the recipes - plus, I wasn't even sure if I was seeing all of the available recipes.
I also think their search tool needs a little scolding. As a test I searched two terms - "foxy festivities" (a Yahoo! Food blog) and "holiday recipes" - a branded term and a popular search term. There were no results for "foxy festivities" in Yahoo! Food, however Google places the Yahoo! Food blog in the #1 position in its results. When I searched the term "holiday recipes" I again was told, "Sorry, no matches were found for 'holiday recipes'."
As far as business goes, I think that this is an interesting addition to Yahoo!'s roster of features and again, I couldn't imagine a better release time. Food is in the air (or at least thoughts of it...) and Yahoo! is taking advantage of frantic hosts and hostesses (like myself) or veterans who are interested in trying out a new recipe for the holiday season. Additionally, I think that entering into the food and entertainment area expands its business to people who Yahoo! wouldn't normally reach. The site's Foxy Festivities blog also offers some fun entertaining tips for the holidays or any other time of year.
Overall, I think there is some work that needs to be done - first and foremost, a little organization could make the information more available to users, frantic hostesses and seasoned veterans, alike.
Tags:
Yahoo! Food
Food Network
Bon Appétit
Chow.com
Borat Reviews, 2006 Election Results, Blogs & Search Engines
Posted by duncan on November 07, 2006 at 09:47 AM
Have you taken the time to make sure your blog will rank for the keywords you are targeting? If not, you may not be getting everything out of your blog. Blogs and search engines truly are an important part of the modern media and information age. My blog today should help exemplify this point.
Now why did my headline list election results? Easy. Today is Election Day and I knew that if I mentioned it, and added a little optimization to this blog post, I'd get many readers to take a look at my write-up. Millions of people will be scanning the news search engines and other online sources for up-to-the-minute election news. I apologize. I don't really have any election results, but the next paragraph is quite interesting and on topic for politics, blogs, and search engines.
Search engines now play a big role in politics. People trust the search engines to do a pretty good job of helping them find information on products, services, history, and more. So why wouldn't they go to search engines for political information too? These days search engines results pages are filled with both flattering and insulting information about most major political candidates. It seems that the candidates that come out looking the best may have had an army of bloggers, or some smart search engine marketers, to help them keep a clean image. These same bloggers and optimizers may be responsible for the negative political material in the search engine results pages.
Not sure what I mean? Well you could search for your favorite candidate's name in Google. Or better yet, for a well known, politically-based search engine result, follow this link: Politicized Search Engine Results
Are you curious about how this happened? Go back to the results page and read the post from Search Engine Watch.
In today's blog I also wanted to reprise a blog I did back in August after seeing the film Borat at the Traverse City Film Festival. That blog was meant to point out that you can do some powerful things with your blog and the search engines if you find a topic of interest and be one of the first to write about it.
I was one of the first to write a film review for Borat, and now it is a well ranked listing in the search engine results pages. Here's a link to the Borat blog post from August 9, 2006: Borat Review.
Well I hope you get my point. Search engines and blogs are here to stay and together they contribute a great deal to the ideas we share in the modern world. If you want to market your thoughts, ideas, or products, you can get in front of many eyes by knowing how to use these channels effectively. If you are not sure how to optimize your website or blog, contact a professional search engine marketing firm. They can help.
What? Borat for President? Now please, let's get carried away, NOT.
Tags
election results
borat
Keep Your Holiday Shoppers Shopping
Posted by keirsun on November 06, 2006 at 11:01 AM
Since the holiday shopping season now starts in October (thanks a lot Target!) I guess it's past-time to offer some advice to online retailers. And with eMarketer predicting online sale to increase more than 20% from last year, we better get a move on.
As eMarketer points out, experienced online shoppers choosing to spend more money at their favorite internet retailer are driving the increase in online sales. Makes sense to me. After all, if a first-time customer is WOWed by your level of service, chances are good they will come back for more.
With that tidbit of info in mind, let's point out a few items that will make your ecommerce site more customer friendly.
Since I'm a ski bum at heart, who learns best from practical examples, let's pretend we're shopping for a new ski helmet. Gotta keep the gray matter intact, right?
Search that Works - Chances are, your ecommerce site is going to have a variety of product categories listed in nice big text links right there on the homepage. That's beautiful. However, I don't have time to read all those words. I'm on my lunch break - don't make me work. Give me a big, bright search field to type "ski helmets" just like I did 2 seconds ago on Google. Make sure it works too - so I actually get a page of ski helmets, not just more product categories. Also, I'm fickle; I may decide it's a good year to refresh my long underwear ensemble, which translates to: your search function should appear on every site page.
Most Popular/Best Sellers - Show me what helmets other people are buying, or the helmets you want to promote, right there at the top of my landing page. Even if I don't buy one of those, it gives me an idea of the helmet styles I prefer.
Photos - Now, why would I buy something I've never seen? This may seem obvious, but I still come across ecommerce sites with the default Photo Not Available image text sitting next to the product description. C'mon. I'm not buying anything I can't see. What if my new ski helmet comes with flame decals and "Rad Racer" etched on the back? (Ok, the flames might be cool.) I'm just not willing to risk it. And give me lots of photos. Like any serious online shopper, I'm paying for broadband so I don't have to watch images download anymore - I can take it! Give me so many photos it's as if I'm holding the helmet in my hands.
Sort Items By - Brand, Product Name, Price, User Ratings - These are just a few of the sorting options that will make it easier for me to find the ski helmet of my powder dreams.
Comparison Charts - When it comes down to nitty-gritty product comparison, it's tough to beat a chart with features on the left, products on the top, and check-marks down the columns. Let your shoppers pick the exact items they want to compare.
Easy Checkout - Putting my ski helmet in your site shopping cart and checking out should be as easy as putting my ski helmet in a physical shopping cart and running to the self-checkout aisle (without the line). Keep the check-out process simple and secure. And don't forget to give me options to keep shopping.
Freebies - Who doesn't love free stuff? Free shipping, you say? Sold. Even though it will cost me more in gas to drive to the mall than to pay for product shipping, I may still choose the former. But with an incentive like free shipping or free hand warmers, you're more likely to tip the scales in your favor.
Shipping Updates - Send me a "Thank You" email soon after I place my order. This gives me assurance that my order was actually placed and that you appreciate my business. Send me another email when my order ships, with an ETA for when I should see a package on my front porch.
Membership Incentives - Entice me into being a member so I can write product reviews (provide a list of my product "posts"), subscribe to your members-only RSS feed that gives me a heads-up to sale items, keep a list of favorite product manufacturers, order history, gear recommendations, etc.
Bookmarking/Add to Favorites - Sure, using my browser drop-down menu, it's easy to add your site to my favorites. Make it easier. Give me a big colorful graphic to click-on. There's a better chance that I will actually remember to bookmark you.
Don't be Pushy - Unless I request emails from your company (aside from 2 shipping related emails) don't send anything to me. I have enough stuff clogging up my inbox while I'm making turns at the ski hill. Instead, focus your energy on turning your site into an online destination that I will choose to revisit. After all, ski equipment wears out - chances are good I'll need to restock.
Think of your website as a working ski resort. As the owner/manager you need to take a few runs down through your own site, as if you are a first time visitor. Make sure everything is in working order and that your service staff is lending a hand when needed. Give your customers creative options for cruising down the hills, straight to your check-out. They'll be inspired to get back on the lift for another run at it.
Tags
online retailers
holiday shopping
Madonna Gives Birth to 3-Headed Alien & Other Tales Not Told
Posted by on November 03, 2006 at 08:56 AM
I've never actually purchased a National Enquirer, but have read enough of their headlines in the grocery line that I can claim a certain level of expertise when I say, not only did Madonna not give birth to a 3-headed alien, but the story written under that headline never said she did.
This is more than just a tabloid excess. How many times have you read your local newspaper and started an article whose headline didn't agree with what was written beneath it? There's a reason for this in the mainline press: the writers rarely get to pen their own headlines. That job goes to an editor whose only function is to tease readers to the text below. Unfortunately, many of those editors only skim the articles and the results can be somewhat puzzling.
Recently, the Internet celebrated a milestone - there are now 100,000 million actual websites with content. Add to that more than 50 million blogs by some estimates. Needless to say, it's getting more difficult each day to stand out in the log-on/log-off check out line.
Online journalists and bloggers are increasingly turning to "tabloid headline journalism" as a means to be noticed. Read some of the commentary feedback under many bloggers and you'll see that there are a lot of angry readers each day who feel sucked into a story that didn't deliver.
But for the most part, blogs are editorial. Editorial is opinion, not fact. But "news" articles in major online journals? These should be reporting fact and analysis. And the two should be clearly labeled as such.
Unfortunately, in an effort to be noticed, some fairly respected online "news" sources are resorting to tabloid headlines. Recently, I read an online marketing journal article entitled: "Relevance Good! Advertising Bad!" Since advertising - online and traditional - is a bazillion dollar industry older than fire and it has put food on my table for a many a year, I admit to more than a passing interest.
Surprise, surprise, the article didn't deliver anything beyond mild conjecture and unsupported argument. Furthermore, it never says advertising is bad or even ineffective. It states that "relevance advertising", a term that has grown in popularity lately, isn't as effective as people make it out to be. No supporting data mind you, just a little self-serving reasoning from a self-espoused expert.
To these people and the many more who are jazzing up their headlines for the sake of readership, may I make a humble request - leave the aliens to find their own birth mothers. Madonna is cruising Africa for her family planning these days and for the life of me I can't find any reason why the readers of the Journal of Astrophysics would want to know.
Tags
online journalism
online marketing