Companies need tension: Avoiding the 'You Go' effect

I had a discussion yesterday with Ed Lopit, one of the most insightful businessmen I know. That discussion led to this blog post. If you want to learn to master this stuff, talk to him

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I’ve been called a lotta things over the years. Most of them can’t be written on a PG blog. But they all tend to point out that I’m “confrontational” or “litigious” or “an a—hole” (ok, PG13).

It’s actually not true.

Seriously.

I don’t like to argue. I don’t mind it either. It’s a necessary part of keeping organizations, teams and projects strong.

The ‘you go’ effect

In college, I played a lot of volleyball. Our coach had only one offense for which she’d send us running around the gym 30-40 times: If two people stand on the court while the ball comes towards them, look at each other and say ‘you go’ while the ball bounces, untouched, between them.

Every time we did it, she’d roll her eyes with disgust and point to the wall, as if to say “Start running, nubwits.”

That’s the ‘you go’ effect—everyone stares at everyone else, waiting for someone to do something.

When companies fall into ‘you go’ mode, they die.

Two things will fight the you go effect:

Clear hierarchy

One way we avoided running around the gym was to agree, in advance, who would go for a ball that was in no-man’s land. A clear hierarchy meant we divided the court into sections. Each person policed one particular section. If that person was out of their section, another person knew they were supposed to cover for them.

That structure handled some of our problems and indecision. But it wasn’t enough, on its own.

Tension

Structure only helps, though, if the people within the it enforce and own it. Aggressively. If I casually walked towards the ball, it’d fly by me or bash me in my large proboscis. Players had to be on the balls of their feet, always ready to scamper towards a ball.

In fact, if a ball headed anywhere in your direction, you could almost feel it pulling you. The best players (not me) told me they had to actively resist the urge to dive after every ball that came within 12 feet of them.

That creates tension. In a way, the whole team is resisting the urge to dogpile on top of the ball. Which would be fine in American football, but not so much in volleyball.

That same state has to exist in a company, or on a project team. Marketing, Information Technology, Finance and Operations may all be resisting the urge to dive on top of, I dunno, the web site. That may lead to a lot of intense discussion.

That’s a good thing.

It’s a hell of a lot better than all of them standing around, or one person/group totally taking over. It’s a constant tug of war.

What the leader has to do

My coach would let us compete and exist in that state of ‘get-the-ball-now-dammit’. If we collided, though, she’d step in and point out how to avoid it next time.

A good leader at a company does the same thing: All those teams and individuals exist in tension because they give a crap about what they do. That’s good. The leader’s job, in part, is to step in when necessary to keep things running smoothly.

My point

When I’m in a room, contradicting what another SEO, or a developer, or a designer is saying, I’m not doing it to be a jerk. Just like they’re not doing it to be a jerk when they contradict me, either. And I take none of it personally. It’s part of that necessary tension.

What will drive me bonkers is when a disagreement is allowed to continue for weeks/months/years while nothing gets done. It’s the leader’s job to break that logjam and own the decision. If he can’t, he’s a lousy leader.

I find it sad that so many people now just ‘let it go’ when they know they’re right, or hang on by their pitted fingernails when they know they’re wrong. Letting it go means they no longer care. Hanging on means they’re taking it personally to an unhealthy degree.

I find it tragic that so few in leadership positions will step in and respectfully get things back on track.

Other stuff

• I’m on Twitter. You should follow me there.
• Don’t be a literary prude: How to write with personality
• 10 phrases that mean your blog post is worthless
• Kenneth Cole’s real mistake: Tactics without a strategy
• 10 reasons you’re not an ‘advanced’ SEO
• Everything I ever learned about marketing I learned from Dungeons and Dragons
• You can now buy Conversation Marketing, the book, in digital format.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/conversationmarketing/MRJI/~3/FeDtpk7frKw/companies_need_tension_avoidin.htm

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Google?s Quality Score Patent: The Birth of Panda?

In 2005, Google’s John Lamping gave a presentation to a class at Berkeley on the Quality of Information, titled On the internet, nobody knows you?re a dog (pdf). In his talk he raised questions such as:

Why is the Daily Californian advertising German pages? How much can the spam industry make by spamming search [...]

Source: http://www.seobythesea.com/?p=5636

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20 reasons you shouldn't listen to a word I say

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I feel strongly about full disclosure. So, here it is—20 reasons I'm full of crap:

1. I don’t have a best selling book. Nor, at this rate, will I ever.
2. Major marketing conferences bark with laughter when I submit a speaker’s pitch.
3. I haven’t made $10 million. I haven’t even made $1 million. I’m just a guy who writes a lot.
4. I have been known to play Dungeons and Dragons, and we know what those people are like.
5. I’m a cat person. And a dog person. And a guinea pig person. And an octopus person. I’m wishy-washy.
6. I’m a Democrat who believes in free enterprise and Atlas Shrugged. Again with the wishy washy.
7. My blog earns me a whopping $350/month.
8. I didn’t sell my first company for millions when I was 25.
9. I’m not a l33t hax0r.
10. I once worked as a telemarketer. I was really good at it. I quit because it made me nauseous.
11. I don’t have throngs of people following me around at conferences.
12. Good wine does nothing for me. Diet Coke FTW.
13. I don’t get the whole Charlie Sheen thing.
14. Not one major magazine gives a crap what I have to say.
15. I think They Might Be Giants are artistic geniuses. There. I said it.
16. Baseball feels like 30 minutes of action crammed into 5 hours. I’m un-American.
17. My legal research & writing professor gave me a C-, telling me I had ‘little promise as a writer’. Of course, she didn’t last as long as I did at UCLA Law—I graduated. She quit after 2 semesters.
18. I look nothing like Don Draper. I look more like a tall, slightly overweight Woody Allen with a gland problem.
19. I don’t believe that anyone can run a successful business. I actually don’t believe sane people can run a successful business at all.
20. I promise nothing. There are no guarantees in marketing. It’s total chaos, and you don’t control your own destiny. The best you can do is maximize the chances that something good will happen. Which is what it’s all about.

Other stuff

• The Potential Misery Index: Ranking potential clients
• Conversation Marketing: A definition
• Fast pages convert 2 times better
• 10 tips for writing that sells
• The agency employees’ guide to bosses
• A marketing agency boss’s guide to employees
• 15 report writing tips
• Elizabeth Marsten’s new 2-part PPC e-book for small business. $37 for books 1 and 2, and a money back guarantee.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/conversationmarketing/MRJI/~3/7k8wgv7C26I/20-reasons-listen-say.htm

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SEO ? What Does The Future�Hold?

The dilemma for any SEO company; is how search engines change their algorithm (how they rank websites on the web). As the internet is growing, more and more websites are starting up and diluting each market; which makes SEO a constant job that is never finished. SEO Today The tactic that worked last year does not [...]

Check out the SEO Tools guide at Search Engine Journal.

SEO ? What Does The Future Hold?

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/SearchEngineJournal/~3/vXjy4gOE9BA/

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My deep, dark secret (w/ some free training for you)

I have a secret to confess.

I actually run an agency. NO, WAIT. Don’t go away! This involves free, no-strings-attached learning stuff. And a cool web site! Bear with me.

I know you probably know I have a job. But whenever I meet folks at a conference, they seem to assume that money just sort of… manifests in my pockets. I gotta earn a living!

My company is Portent Interactive

We just relaunched our web site.

It has some pretty neat new stuff on it. Most important for you all, we have 3 different email training series. They’re all free.

Really free.

Spam-free, e-mail free, sales-free, cost-free. We won’t contact you, bug you or otherwise try to wrench a few shekels out of your fingers.

The series include:

• SEO: How it works and such
• PPC management
• Internet marketing strategy

You can sign up for all of ‘em at once, here.

There’s some other stuff I kinda like about the new site:

• All pages load in 4 seconds or less.
• It’s super-readable. I finally persuaded my creative team to use a font size larger than 9pt.
• It’s easy to tweak. We’re going to be constantly perfecting the new site. It’s our new favorite fun project.
• It actually has a books and resources page, where you can find all the non-services stuff we offer and/or sell.

It’s not 100% done—what is, really?—so if you see any problems, let me know.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/conversationmarketing/MRJI/~3/pE2Ob9rxVJw/dark-secret-free-training.htm

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Turning Traffic Into Customers

Why do we try to rank sites high in the search results?

Obviously, SEO is a traffic acquisition strategy. We seek to direct audiences who are interested in our products, services or ideas to our sites, rather than those of our competitors.

We expend time and energy getting a site to rank a few places higher, or for a wider range of keywords, but it also pays to focus our attention on what happens after visitors arrive. If visitors arrive, but click-back because a site isn't what they expected to see, then the effort we've put into ranking is wasted.

PPC marketers tend to focus a lot of their energy on what happens after the click. Because they are paying per click, there is significant jeopardy involved if visitors do click back, but it's also a discipline that can prove lucrative for SEOs. Many SEOs do this already, of course, however if you're new to the field, then it is easy to get bogged down in ranking methodology without giving much thought to what happens next.

Let's look at ways of making better use of the traffic we already have.

The State Of The Internet

In times past, producers could dictate to markets. You may recall Henry Ford's maxim when he talked about the Model T Ford: "You can have any color, so long as it is black!"

Producers were able to dictate to consumers when there wasn't much in the way of consumer choice. Markets weren't deep with competition. This was also sometimes a result of market sectors enjoying regulatory protection against new competitors.

The internet is the opposite.

The internet is a deep amalgamation of markets. Anyone, anywhere, can set up a "store front" - web presence - in a few days, or even a few minutes. There are few barriers to entry, and there are many new sites launching each second. This environment shifts the power from producer to consumer, as the consumer can exercise choice. On the internet, exercising that choice is often little more than a click of a mouse.

In such an environment, user-centric marketing is primary. If we don't satisfy visitors, it's very easy for them to go elsewhere. There is little point positioning #1 if the visitor is dissatisfied with what she sees, clicks back, and clicks on your competitors result further down the search result page instead. It could also be argued Google are using user behavior as a metric, so if enough users don't find what they were looking for on your site, this could, in turn, affect your ranking.

So what makes a visitor decide to leave or stay?

Typically, visitors will judge quickly. User testing has shown that visitors will first scan your page to see if it answers their query. If not, they go elsewhere. If you look at your stats, you might find this is the behavior of high proportion of your visitors. Visitors are also unlikely to wrestle with a site they don't intuitively understand, unless they really want what you've got, and you don't have any competitors.

Keep these points in mind:

• users have choice
• users will be quick to judge
• users don't want to think

Three aspects need to work in tandem in order to get visitors to engage - design, usability and utility

Visual Design

First impressions count, hence the reason for appropriate graphic design.

What is "appropriate"? Naturally, it will differ for every site and audience, and largely comes down to how well you understand your visitors. A high-end fashion designer, who focuses on desirability and image is going to use a different visual design approach to a webmaster running a site for the academic community. The latter site design is more likely to focus on function as opposed to glossy form as commercial gloss can be perceived by an academic audience as being frivolous.

What both approaches have in common is that the visitor will be shown something they expect to see. This underscores the need to understand visitors. We'll look at ways you can approach this in the steps section below.

The next concept is.....

Usability

Once the visitor decides they are in the right place, the next step they need to take should be patently obvious. Usability is a practice that involves making sites easy to use. In terms of operation, sites should be made as simple as possible, and not indulge in complex navigation schemes.

Because users can easily go to another site, there is little incentive for them to wrestle with your site, so if you make it difficult for people to engage with you, many will not bother.

Utility

So, if we've got the visitor this far, they like the look of our site, and the visitor can find their way around easily.

But that isn't enough.

The visitor also needs a good reason to engage with us. What are you offering them? What do you offer them that is better than what the other guy offers? This is where your business strategy is important, especially your unique selling proposition. Do you offer something they really want? If not, rethink your offer.

Not only does the visitor need to be provided with a good reason to engage with you, this reason must be stated clearly. It must be self-evident. If the user has to go hunting for it, because it is buried in dense text on page three, then the visitor is likely to click back. Make sure your offer is writ large.

So, those are the three areas that need to tie together if we are to keep users: visual design, usability and utility.

Let's look at the practicalities.

Practical Tips

1. Create An Appropriate Design

Evaluate your competitors, especially your most successful competitors. Are there similarities in approach in terms of visual design? "Steal" ideas from the best, and twist them into something fresh, yet familiar.

Know your visitors. Who are they? What do they expect to see? You can often get demographic research reports from marketing companies that will help you profile your visitors. Surveys, polls and enabling comments are some other ways to get feedback.

Test. Use a/b testing to see how visitors react to different designs. There are free tools you can use, such as Google's Optimizer

Intuition and experience. Design often comes down to intuition, and what has worked in the past. If you're not a designer, employ someone who understands user-centric design and usability. Many web projects are blown by designers who focus on bells and whistles, as opposed to what is most appropriate.

2. Ensure Your Site Is Easy To Use

Read up on usability. Recommended resources include UseIt, Don't Make Me Think, and A List Apart (Usability Section)

Test. Track your logs to monitor user behavior. If you can, stand behind test users as they navigate your site. Look for any common impediments to their progress, and redesign as necessary.

3. Have you Articulated A Convincing Reason For People To Engage

Go back to your business case. Do you have a competitive offer? What is special about your pitch that will appeal to visitors?

Once you have identified the key points that differentiate you, ensure that these points are obvious to visitor. One good way to test this is with a spoken elevator pitch. Make an elevator pitch to your friends, and see if they are clear about what your offer is. What parts of the offer are they most responsive to, and why? Once you have honed a compelling pitch, translate this into the written word - or video - or sound file - on your website.

Address their objections. Not only do you need to appeal to what visitors want, you must also anticipate any objections they may have. Spell these out, then answer them.

Want to see an example of how this stuff comes together? Check out the front page of SEO Book.

Test :) As any PPC-er will tell you - always test.

Categories: 

marketing

Source: http://www.seobook.com/turning-traffic-customers

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New Hootsuite Analytics Reporting: First look

Hootsuite just launched a new analytics tool, and it's pretty slick. It doesn't do anything new, but it integrates Hootsuite, Google Analytics and other data in a really elegant, white-label-able interface.

Cool features include:

• Nice PDF report export;
• Basic branding: Put in your logo, contact info;
• Track Google Analytics against retweets;
• Track Facebook likes/unlikes all on one page;
• 'Quick analytics' looks at clicks on ow.ly traffic, Facebook response, Google Analytics data (these aren't new, but they're easier to find).

It's simple, elegant and easy to use. Here's a quick report I set up. I haven't used Ow.ly much, so you'll have to use your imagination a bit:

Other stuff

• 25 tips for building your own agency
• Trash the web sites: What Gawker Media (probably) said
• 11 signs you're not ready to run your own company
• Groupon’s days are numbered
• Discounts: The vicodin of internet marketing
• Companies need tension: Avoiding the ‘you go’ effect.
• My SEO copywriting e-book - $7

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/conversationmarketing/MRJI/~3/6_vU9-8WsJY/new-hootsuite-analytics.htm

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7 Repeat Business Strategies for Small�Businesses

The Internet is no longer an untapped resource of revenue for small businesses, as it once was in the past. Competition is extremely heavy, and it would now seem that every small business on the planet has a website. Yes, those early days of being successful online simply because a company was one of a [...]

Check out the SEO Tools guide at Search Engine Journal.

7 Repeat Business Strategies for Small Businesses

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/SearchEngineJournal/~3/zP3mpwRO_YQ/

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Google Hosts Summit on Violent�Extremism

Violent�extrism�happens in many forms, and while most Americans think of�jihadists�? radical Muslims who believe that they are in the moral right to wage a holy war on the United States ? we can find a variety of examples in locations throughout the world. In the U.S.,neo-nazism�and extreme ends on the right and left of the [...]

Check out the SEO Tools guide at Search Engine Journal.

Google Hosts Summit on Violent Extremism

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/SearchEngineJournal/~3/L6aO3B1FGSI/

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Ian's Angriest Posts

Ian's on vacation this week, to a place with little or no internet and he asked for a volunteer to do a CM post and to have "fun" if so warranted.

Well, it's warranted. And I am leaving the country while he's gone and not coming back for a couple of weeks after he gets back. Perfect timing.

He suggested a "best of" or "favorites" type of post. But he didn't say what kind of favorites. My favorite posts are when he blogs angry.

So I bring to you-

Ian's Angriest Posts of All Time.

(For now. I'm sure there will be more later. Like when he gets back from vacation.)

8. Blogging Tip #1: Don't Post Angry (Oct 27, 2007) You don't actually need to re-read this one, but it was the #1 search result for "angry" in site search. He also went to bed without any supper that day since he broke his cardinal rule of blogging.

7. I'm Not Mean. I'm Just Angry. (December 7, 2009)
   This explains his iTunes library of Sarah McLachlan, scented candles and the fist sized holes in the wall. Any post with H2s like "What pisses me off" and "I don't get it" is always good stuff from the mind of Ian Lurie.

   
   

6. Kicking a Bully's Ass (November 29, 2010)
   A highly warranted angry post about the awful site Jew Watch and the "literary achievements" of said site. This site still ranks in the top for the word "jew" when searched but- it would appear that Google's not letting it just slide by completely:
   
   Sometimes you should get angry. Like this time.

5. Content Thieves: I want to punch you in the face (February 24, 2010)
   Now if you've ever imagined Ian trying to punch someone- this gets funnier. He does immediately admit in the first line of the post that it's not possible though. But he is right, don't steal. Why is there no internet overlord to report this to? Some sort of trademark/copyright agency that levies huge fines and spankings? Who does Disney employ for this?

4. E-Commerce Lessons (a rant) (October 13, 2008)
   In this case he calls it "rant" but once you get in the post he clues you in on what's really going on. "I'm angry (angrier)." (Phew. For a moment there I thought he lost it.) Then begins the age old rant on developers and how good they are at getting in the way. A Lurie classic to be enjoyed by anyone who's ever been told by a dev, "Yeah we could do that. But we won't." Or "That's easy," only to arrive at the end of 3 months with something totally broken, done wrong or unfinished.

3. 22 Things I've Never Said (September 22, 2010)
   This one just makes me laugh. Real things people have said and what Ian would have liked to have said. A true "snarkfest" that will leave you giggling with glee.
   "18. Go ahead and try running a contest that trades links for prizes. After that, try dancing naked in front of Google while yelling "HAHAHAHA I'M A SPAMMER". It's much more subtle."

2. The Stupid Shall (not) Rule The Earth (May 26, 2010)
   I remember this day. Ian let us see the papers. It was glorious. Re-live rant after rant after rave after rant. 25 blank pages received from a law firm broken down in cost per packet sent, who let this atrocity happen and how you can stop stupid events from happening yourself. They're like forest fires you know. Caused by lack of responsibility and thinking. Except for the lightening ones. Those happen when someone at the law firm angers the gods.

   
   

1. Stop Plagiarism in 3 Easy Steps (October 30, 2008)
   Why this is #1? Ian got mad. But then he got even. Every time I've seen him present on this or re-tell about it, people laugh maniacally and take notes. That's when you know anger is going to good use. For the uniting of community, the raising of spirits and the crushing of souls. It's also apparently how you get on the front page of Digg.
   

All right, back to work while I'm still employed here. This guest post brought to you by Elizabeth Marsten at Portent Interactive. I don't get as angry...but I did write a post of internet marketing jokes you might enjoy wasting some time with.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/conversationmarketing/MRJI/~3/gsKycNdJzx4/ians-angriest-posts.htm

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Resources for Learning About PPC

I?ve previously written about how to keep up to date in search and offered tips for paid search newbies. This time I?m focusing on resources from the search engines that will help anybody working in PPC ? newbie or seasoned hand ...

Source: http://feeds.searchenginewatch.com/~r/sew/~3/ZjML6d_bWBI/Resources-for-Learning-About-PPC

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5 instant internet marketing upgrades

I've made a bet with myself that, by adding 'instant' and the number '5', I will get triple the normal traffic to this post. If I win, I have to buy myself a chocolate bar.

No fun intro today, so I'll just get to it—five utterly random but simple little things you can do to boost your internet marketing campaign, or at least reduce the damage:

1. Use negative keyword matching. If you're running any kind of pay per click campaign, negative keywords might just save you a lot of money. A negative keyword tells the search engine "Don't show my ad for this word. Ever." That can save you if you're selling, say "hot dogs", and don't want to show up every time someone types in "cute dogs". Go add 'em to your campaign. You'll thank me.
2. Send out 2 useful Tweets a day. Come on, people. It takes about 5 minutes. Find a useful article by someone else, on another web site. Could be the New York Times, or CNN, or a web site about cycling. Whatever you normally read. Then Tweet it. You'll get more followers. Use Hootsuite and you can send the same thing to Facebook, too. At the same time. Without extra work. Later, we can advance to 3 useful Tweets a day. And so on.
3. Ask. You know that gorgeous photo you've got on your home page? The one with your product, or a huge photo of your office? Add the words "Order now" or "Contact us" with a link to the relevant page on your site. You'd be amazed how much that'll improve sales or lead growth.
4. Simplify. Remove 25% of the links you currently have on your home page. Do it. Find the least-useful 25%. Or look in your analytics software and remove the least-clicked 25%. Forget the politics that led to those stupid links in the first place, and yank 'em. You'll get more people sticking around, clicking what you want them to click.
5. Skip one discount. I'll be writing more about this tomorrow. You're about to send out a discount code, aren't you? Discounts are great. But they're also addictive, for you and the customer. Swap one discount for a nice reminder of why your product is so cool. Try it. If you still get orders, maybe you can get by with fewer 10% off emails. If not, you learned and can go right back to the stuff that works.

OK, so none of these were instant. But they're pretty quick, yes? I dare you to try 2 of them.

I double-dare you.

I triple dog dare you!!!!

Other stuff

• Companies need tension: Avoiding the 'you go' effect.
• Don’t be a literary prude: How to write with personality
• 10 phrases that mean your blog post is worthless
• Kenneth Cole’s real mistake: Tactics without a strategy
• 10 reasons you’re not an ‘advanced’ SEO
• Everything I ever learned about marketing I learned from Dungeons and Dragons

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/conversationmarketing/MRJI/~3/vpXsG1Ffm3I/5-instant-internet-marketing.htm

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The shame of linkus interruptus: 9 things to check before you click publish

Some new, some not—my pre-blog publication checklist. I don’t follow these as well as I should, but do as I say, not as I do:

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1. Check links. Make sure they work! I blow this one all the time. It feels really stupid. Spare yourself the embarrassment of linkus interruptus.
2. Delete the 1st two sentences. Whenever I write a post, the first two sentences turn out to be me prattling on about raccoons or some such. They’re never relevant. So, I either delete them, or move them to the end. Check your post for the same thing. You make your point a lot better when you actually get to it.
3. Count lines per paragraph. Sounds silly, but try to keep your paragraphs to no more than 5-6 lines each. It’s easier for folks to read. If your paragraphs are longer, give ’em a trim.
4. Turn two words into one. If you’ve written something in a long form, but know it could be shorter, make it shorter Tighten up your sentences. Your readers will thank you.
5. Link to related posts. A couple years ago, I started adding the ‘other stuff’ list to each post. My page views immediately went up 25%.
6. Preview your post. Don’t just review it in your blog editor. Click ‘preview’ and make sure it looks OK. I’ve maimed my poor blog beyond all recognition by ignoring this rule.
7. Check your spelling. That will catapult you into the top 5% of all bloggers.
8. Check your grammar. A little intentionally bad grammar is fun. But make sure you’ve got the right their there. Readers take you more seriously.
9. Think for a second: Should you publish this right now? I’m horrible about this. When I write something, I want it out there right now. Ideally, though, I should consider the time of day and day of the week. For my audience, earlier in the day and earlier in the week is generally better. A Friday post is rarely read. A Tuesday morning post, on the other hand, gets lots of readers.

OK. Now click ‘publish’.

Other stuff

• 3 rules of great writing, taught by Vogon Poetry
• Infographic: The internet marketing planner
• Stop crying, start writing
• Disarm the ICBM of Goodwill: Write a smart social media policy
• What bayonet-wielding professors can teach you about online marketing
• Automate Linkscape reporting with Google Spreadsheets
• Analytics plus SEO equals content
• Follow me on Twitter
• The Real World Unscary Guide to SEO Copywriting

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/conversationmarketing/MRJI/~3/6mFHHQTki6k/linkus-interruptus-check-publish.htm

internet marketing search engine search engine marketing seo shelly long len lesser sem

Eggs and Baskets: How Second Life's Facebook Marketing Has Backfired

"Don't put all your eggs in one basket."


We've all heard that phrase, and it's true, quaint as it is (particularly when you handle a lot of eggs, like I do). But time and again, for various reasons, people ignore that age-old advice and learn th...

Source: http://feeds.searchenginewatch.com/~r/sewblog/~3/1QQc9Bd1eg0/Eggs-and-Baskets-How-Second-Lifes-Facebook-Marketing-Has-Backfired

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Blatant Pluggery: The PPC E-books you gotta buy

I am biased here. I’m writing a review of a PPC ebook that one of my own staff wrote. You might think that that means I’ll give her a glowing review.

Wrong. I'm biased towards ripping teammates' writing apart. I edit. I niggle. I ask for changes. I rewrite stuff. When the author is within reach, they may get kicked. I’m downright harsh. So yeah, I’m biased. The fact that I’m saying these books are good means they've met the Ian Stamp of Neurotic Approval.

Carrying on...

Elizabeth Marsten, Director of Search at Portent, just finished this two e-book series about PPC for small business. It taught me a few things.

If you’re going to understand the niftiness of these books, though, I have to start with the story of the author.

About Elizabeth

We hired Elizabeth 4 or so years ago. When we hired her, we mentioned ‘pay per click’ marketing to her. But over the phone she thought my COO had said ‘paper clip marketing’. So she spent a day before coming in for her interview trying to figure out what the hell paperclip marketing was.

In spite of that dubious start, she’s gone from an utter PPC neophyte to:

• Writing the entire PPC section of the Web Marketing All In One Desk Reference for Dummies;
• Presenting at SMX Advanced on PPC (by the way, I’ve never been accepted to speak at SMX Advanced, so I’m jealous);
• Directing the entire search team at Portent;
• Took and passed every certification exam the search engines threw at her;
• Refereeing intern races at Portent. We take our sports seriously;
• Striking fear in the hearts of PPC slackers worldwide.

In short, she started clueless about PPC and, in a few years, became a top expert. So she not only knows PPC, she knows how to explain it.

About the books

Here’s the tables of contents for the two books:

Book 1

1. What is PPC and how does it work?
2. What should my budget be?
3. Which product and service to try first
4. Ready to Start an Account

1. Which keywords to use
2. How to determine what terms people are searching
3. Match types
4. What match types to apply
5. Figure out how much to bid
6. Negative Keywords
7. What to write in ads
8. Ready to Start Bidding and Buying

1. Where to start
2. Important account settings
3. How to determine if PPC is working
4. Where to send visitors
5. Do you need a PPC specific landing page?
6. Now What?

Book 2

1. Troubleshooting

1. Have you already started or tried PPC but think it's eating all your money?
2. Important account settings
3. Getting more out of your budget.
4. Expanding Your Account

1. Advertising on the Content (Display) Network

1. Adwords Tools and Features

1. Sitelinks
2. Product extension ads
3. Conversion optimizer
4. Enhanced CPC
5. Now What?

Just buy it. There's no risk.

These books are worth it. Yeah, they cost $37 for both, or $23 for one, and in today’s world of cheap, crappy e-books, that seems expensive. But these aren’t cheap, crappy e-books. They’re real, with quality info.

Buy both books for $37

Buy e-book 1 for $23

Buy e-book 2 for $23

And I’ll make you a promise, since I’m the guy running the store: If you buy these books and hate them, e-mail me, mention you read Conversation Marketing and I’ll refund your money.

Other stuff

• 15 report writing tips
• Great ideas from Guy Kawasaki’s Enchantment
• Fluffy rainbow bunnies devour marketing agencies
• The content revolution is here, and it’s full of crap
• Log files bring sexy back
• 25 tips for building your own agency
• My SEO copywriting e-book – $7

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/conversationmarketing/MRJI/~3/pq0khcW9VRw/blatant_pluggery_the_ppc_e-boo.htm

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Google Acquires Girafa.com?s Image Preview Patents

On December 12, 2007, Girafa.com Inc. filed a lawsuit agains Amazon Web Services and a number of other parties for patent infringement over a patent titled Framework for providing visual context to www hyperlinks (6,864,904).

The case claimed that defendants Amazon Web Services LLC, Amazon.com, Inc., Alexa Internet, Inc., IAC Search & Media, Inc., [...]

Source: http://www.seobythesea.com/?p=5692

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Site Reviews Of Five Of My Top Recommended Blogs

I was very fortunate very early on to come across several blogs that to this day (a year and a half after I?ve started blogging), that still has an impact on me in one form or another. Can I be completely transparent with you? Recently, if you haven?t read about it yet, I decided to [...]

Source: http://www.newbizblogger.com/interviews-reviews/site-reviews-top-recommended-blogs

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Google Turns Off PowerMeter, Discharges Google Health

Citing lack of "broad impact," Google has announced they will be retiring Google Health and PowerMeter. "They didn't scale as we had hoped," Google reported in their Official blog.





Google Health was launched in 2008 and was intended to be a p...

Source: http://feeds.searchenginewatch.com/~r/sewblog/~3/_jJiDuRSyEY/Google-Turns-Off-PowerMeter-Discharges-Google-Health

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