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November 30, 2007

How to Annoy & Alienate Customers In 4 Easy Steps

(aka Why I Won’t Be Getting a Verizon Voyager for Christmas)

Your main objective as a business owner and Internet marketer is to make your site easy to use and functional for your customers. You want to make sure that there aren’t any obvious conversion traps, that you adequately answer all of their questions and that you let them use the site the way they’re comfortable using it. Your site, ultimately, should be about their needs, not your own. Internet marketing is all about delivering a satisfactory buying experience so that your customers are left with a positive brand image and will recommend you to their your friends.

What you don’t want to do is annoy and alienate them. You don’t want to get in their way, act deceitfully or fail to deliver what you promised.

Below I present you with some surefire ways to frustrate and drive away your customers, as demonstrated by my recent dealings with Verizon Wireless. Here’s what you don’t want to do.

1. Make It Unnecessarily Hard For Customers to Do What They Want

As a business owner, you should understand that your customers have options and that it is in your best interest to help them do whatever it is they want to do on your site, even if what they want sounds odd to you.

For instance, I understand that I live in Southern California and that as of January of 2008, I will have lived here for four crazy years. But that still doesn’t mean you should make me adopt a California area code if I don’t one. If I want to keep my Long Island phone number for sanity and sentimental reasons, let me. Don’t make me have to conform or try and guilt me into doing what you want me to do. Because, as Susan will tell you, I’m not going to abide by the path you set out. I’m going to find the loophole that allows me to keep my Long Island phone number and I’m going to silently hate you for making me spend 20 minutes trying to figure out how to do it.

It’s not your job as a company to tell customers what to do. It’s your job to help them do whatever it is they want to do and then get out of their way. Verizon makes a lot of money off of my inability to stay within my data plan. If it warms my heart to hold on to my 631 area code, so be it.

2. Be Deceptive

People don’t like the old bait and switch. Your customers want you to give them all the information regarding a product up front so that they can decide if they’re interested in it before they make the emotional attachment. They don’t like to feel tricked.

There were no prices mentioned when Verizon first began teasing the Voyager. This wasn’t surprising. I expected I’d see a price when Verizon was ready to sell, it would be far out of my price range, and then life would go on. Instead, when Verizon put Voyager on its Web site with a hard price, it looked like this.

Eureka! I mean, sure they make you sign a two-year contract, but the listed price is only $349.99 and there’s a $50 online discount? I can totally afford that. Huzzah! I’m pre-ordering!

Or at least I tried to.

As soon as I placed my order, I received an email to give one of the Verizon reps a call. I did and was quickly informed that the pretty price I saw was only for people who qualified for an upgrade. I’m still 6 months away from my upgrade date. For me, the price would be more like $500+ once the tax and fees were applied to it. Take a look at that image again. Is there any mention of the upgrade condition for that price? Is there any hint of what the full price may be? Mmm, bait and switch.

Don’t try and trick your customers. If I’m looking at a $500 phone, tell me I’m looking at a $500 phone. You won’t believe how angry people get when you suddenly double the price on them. Funny how that works, isn’t it?

3. Be Ambiguous

I decided to go ahead buy the phone anyway (thanks to some father-produced financial assistance). I re-placed my order and within seconds had several emails from Verizon instructing me to give them another call. I did, I clarified a few things, and I began to get very excited over the super cool phone I was about to receive!

Only, I’ll probably never actually receive it. Because when I was instructed to give the nice Verizon man my order number, I didn’t realize I had to give him all three. Instead, I gave him the original number, my name and the last four digits of my social, assuming he could look up my account and see everything they had sent me. Apparently not. Or maybe he was just as confused as I was. All I know is that by the time the mess got sorted out several days later, Verizon was sold out of Voyagers and I was told they “couldn’t make me any promises”. To add salt to the wound, my little brother, who ordered his phone more than a week after I tried to order mine, was already receiving his shipping notification. Cue broken heart.

4. Blame Your Customers for Your Missteps

Even if it’s their fault, don’t blame your customers for their failure to understand your Web site. You don’t have to fall on the sword entirely, but at least acknowledge that sometimes mistakes are made and promise them that you’ll your best to make it right. That’s really all your customers want, your promise that you’re going to help them meet the goal they were going for. Because you care about them and that they matter to you.

When I tried to explain to the nice Verizon man that I was confused by the customer service process and that I didn’t understand that all three emails had to be reference separately, he quipped, “well, why do you think we sent you three?” Well, alas. I don’t know. Clearly, I am too dumb to do business with. Maybe I’ll give T-Mobile or AT&T a try.

Your customers are your bread and butter. No amount of SEO is going to do you any good if you’re dropping the ball when it comes to giving customers what they really want, an easy to understand conversion path and a sense that their business matters to me. If you don’t care about your customers, however, please feel free to abide by the four rules listed below. Your competition will thank you.

Posted by Lisa Barone on 11/30/07 at 5:50 PM | Comments (2)
See more entries in Branding

Friday Recap

It’s Friday! And even more exciting, it’s the Friday before PubCon. My first ever PubCon! Huzzah!

If you have made the wise decision to attend PubCon next week (not that visiting Chicago in December isn’t totally fun…), be sure to track down the fellas of SoloSEO and ask them for your free schwag. Boys, do I get a present for announcing your offer? Do I? Please… ;)

If you looked at our conference coverage schedule, you know that we’ll once again be letting Susan out of her cage so she can do some liveblogging. For those of you who have never met Susan, you may be unsure of what to expect. Susan is the one on the left.

You’ve been warned. [Normally this is where I would fire you, but that's pretty accurate, actually. --Susan]

Shoplet.com presents the office supplies that can kill you. That BIC Pen Cross Bow is sure to take an eye out. Want!

AskMen presented the ten hottest women in technology. I excitedly went from page one, to page two, to page three only to be let down that my pretty face was somehow left off it. Robbed, I tell you!

Daily Rumors gives us the 15 brilliant timed sports photos. Just skimming through it will make you wince. That poor, poor volleyball player.

From Oomsa: Why you shouldn’t order a cake from Walmart, otters holding hands, and shoes that will probably still get me in trouble at the office.

The indecisive beware! When someone asks you what you want to drink, tell them. Otherwise you may get stuck with the Anything or Whatever. Isn’t carbonation scary enough as it is?

Also, be sure to tell your older family members what you want for Christmas. Otherwise, you’ll get this.

The Daily Mail reminds us of some outrageously politically incorrect ads you may have forgotten about. Oh, heavens.

An 18-year-old teenager received a metal pole through the head when the bus he was riding in was hit by a lorry (that’s a truck!). Remarkably, once the pole was removed he was left totally unharmed. I, however, can not get dressed without undergoing some sort of injury.

Look, it’s a pink dolphin. I wonder if he gets made fun of by all the other dolphins. I bet he does.

Just a tip: If you win $600,000 in the lottery, you have to tell your wife. Banning her from watching television will not do the trick.

You must watch the battle at Kruger. It is the most kickass, camaraderie-inspiring video of all time. I know it starts off a little slow, but resist the urge to skip ahead. It’s worth it.

The aliens are coming. And they’re taking your children!

And for Susan, the 10 benefits of owning a pet. For her, the main benefit is that it at least makes it appear like she’s not talking to herself. [I thought that was the point of having a Bluetooth headset? --Susan]

Things I Learned From Boing Boing This Week

• The moment Google went evil.
• A kitten with two faces! A kitten with two faces!
• This weekend LA residents can learn how to grow their own skin. Um, ew?
• Winter means it's okay to wear silly hats. [I want one. Yes, really. --Susan]
• White cockroaches are even more disgusting than regular cockroaches.
• Pie cut to look like George W. Bush makes me giggle.
• Some people have way too many pencils at their disposal.
• A Christmas tree made from books. This looks far more cat-friendly than the tree that’s currently lighting up my apartment. Seriously, it’s a trip to the vet just waiting to happen.

Posted by Lisa Barone on 11/30/07 at 11:50 AM | Comments (4)
See more entries in Fun Stuff

November 29, 2007

SEO Expectations, Choose Your Own SERP and Blogger Burnout

Search Engine Optimization Expectations

Over at ClickZ, Steve Haar did a great job outlining some necessary SEO expectations and commitments that search marketers can use to help explain the SEO process to higher ups. His list includes things like gearing up for the long haul, being patient, setting clear objectives, keeping all team members in the loop and setting realistic expectations. All very, very good stuff.

For me, the biggest thing you need to explain to the executives and those writing the checks is that search engine optimization is not a one-time thing. And if you’ve taken a look at our SEO methodology, you know that there’s no way that it ever could be. SEO doesn’t just end after the first round of edits and content creation. There will always be testing and tweaking and polishing that needs to be done. In order to see long-lasting benefits from search engine optimization, you must continue to add relevant, keyword-rich content, to seek expert links and to monitor to competition and what they’re doing. That’s what you need to explain to the big shots.

Choose Your Own SERP Page

Today’s why-are-we-so-excited-about-this story came when it was reported that Google was running a new closed experiment that allowed users to directly influence their search engine results page by adding, moving, and removing search results. Sounds fancy, eh?

Let Google explain:

This experiment lets you influence your search experience by adding, moving, and removing search results. When you search for the same keywords again, you'll continue to see those changes. If you later want to revert your changes, you can undo any modifications you've made. Note that this is an experimental feature and may be available for only a few weeks.

Currently, Google will only store modifications per user and they’ll have no impact on the general search results. Or at least that’s what they claim. You have to think that regardless of how long this experiment stays live, that Google will be taking a look at how sites get voted and tweak their algorithm accordingly. It wouldn’t make sense for them not to. This whole thing is actually very reminiscent of the experiment Mike Grehan reported on over the summer where Google was allowing people to add URLs to their individuals SERPs.

What I find interesting is that Google seems to be allowing users to create their own keyword-specific bookmarks. I mean, what’s the difference between storing URLs on a SERP page or just keep them in a folder. Google’s gone from organizing the Web’s information for you to making you do the work yourself.

Formulating Ideas and Combating Blogger Burnout

There’s been some really great posts lately dealing with the issues that bloggers face every day, things like coming up with blogworthy ideas, finding a blogging schedule and combating that all too familiar burnout feeling. This morning, Donna even asked her audience, would you care if I only posted now and then?

No, I wouldn’t care. We hear a lot about how bloggers should post every day or at least three or four times a week in order to maintain consistency and keep readers coming back. You want to remain in their top of mind to increase branding, bring in links and do lots of other things that are good for search engine optimization. But, as Jennifer Laycock mentions, RSS has somewhat changed that concept, even if just a little bit.

Before RSS, blog readers connected with their favorite writers by physically visiting their site and reading what they had to say. If you didn’t update for a week, there was little reason for users to keep coming back. But with RSS, once you’re in someone’s feed reader, you can talk to them whenever you have something to say. And I think that’s gone a long way to changing how people blog. You don’t have to be the person in their ear all the time, as long as when you do speak up you’re providing something that they can’t get anywhere else. Of course, you can make the argument that if you never post, people will unsubscribe from your blog feed, but look at Todd Malicoat. He updates his blog every other full moon. Have you unsubscribed from his blog? Probably not. You know why? Because Todd is awesome.

Fun Finds

Vandelay Website Design had a great post about the 21 Factors that Influence the First Impression of Your Website’s visitors. Great, informative post, horribly wordy title.  We’ve actually touched on many of the issues they bring up, including logo and typography issues.

Eric Lander gave me the warm and fuzzies with his post Appreciating Family From 40,000 feet. Eric is my favorite SEO-loving Red Sox fan that I’ve never met. :)

Posted by Lisa Barone on 11/29/07 at 3:07 PM | Comments (1)
See more entries in SEO, Search Engine Optimization

November 28, 2007

Are You a Social Media Idiot?

Mitch Joel says Facebook is crushing your personal brand and you don’t even know it. I disagree. Facebook isn’t hurting your brand, you being a social media idiot is.

Mitch chose to pick on Facebook, but what his post really does is highlight the problem that arises when marketers jump into fads without first deciding why they’re there and what they hope to accomplish. If you joined Facebook to build professional brand equity and now spend your days throwing sheep at your colleagues and trying to bite your customers to turn them into vampires, well then, yeah, you’re a social media idiot and probably hurting your brand. That sure ain’t Facebook’s fault.

Mitch is right in that marketers who leap into things with no purpose and spam everyone around them will absolutely tarnish their image. No one wants to be friends with the guy who’s going to sit next to them, talking during the movie and then stick their finger in your ear all day. Marketers have to be cautious when they enter the social sphere. If you don’t know why you’re there, you’re likely to spend your days gift giving, cause-hopping and SuperPoking your day away while branding yourself as a total annoyance.

Those of us who are not social media idiots know that participating in sites like Facebook or Digg or StumbleUpon or even Twitter help build our personal brands, not destroy it. It allows us to break down the cold exterior we sometimes give off and invite people into our lives to get to know us, or at least the version of us that we want them to know. It’s about building personal recognition and associating your name with warm, fuzzy things. Looking at the experiences I’ve had with Facebook and the connections I’ve made, it’s impossible for me to buy into Mitch’s theory that my personal brand has been tarnished. If you don’t know how to play well with others or manage your privacy and notification settings, that’s your flaw, not Facebook’s.

The thing with Facebook and most social networks is that you have to be clear what your purpose is for entering that space from the very beginning. Are you using it as a tool to reconnect with lost faces and current friends? Or is it a marketing channel for business? Often times, you have to choose one or the other. It can’t be both.

Depending on how you answer these questions, your interaction with the site will be quite different. If you’re using it mostly for business and as a branding tool, you probably won’t want to befriend that guy you went to college with and had that total wild rager with that one night. You don’t want to give him permission to leave inappropriate wall messages or do naughty things to you via SuperPoke while your boss, colleagues and clients are watching.

Most of you reading this are probably using social media as a branding tool. In that case, you have to know who you are and what your brand is about. You have to know your audience and respect their tolerance level. For example, this is what my Twitter feed looked like yesterday.

It was all Rae Hoffman, all the time. And you’re just looking at a glimpse of what I had to suffer through (Hi Rae!). There was way more. But this works for Rae because she’s built herself a brand of being a loudmouth, lion on the loose, search marketer who will bite your head off if you make a misstep (she’s so going to hurt me). She can post 87 consecutive twits without annoying or angering her core audience. But that doesn’t work for everyone. Scoble has gotten a ton of flack for spamming his Twitter followers into oblivion with how often he updates, so have people like Guy Kawasaki. It’s up to you to know the brand that you’ve created and how best to promote it.

But you can’t throw the baby out with the bathwater and blame the network for what people choose to do with it. There’s an enormous potential for marketers looking to use sites like Facebook to build brand equity. There’s Facebook’s new advertising platform, the ability to not only create, but do something with Facebook Fan pages (the “do something” part is important, otherwise you’re just spamming me), and there are applications you can create to promote whatever it is your company does outside of Facebook’s walled garden. You can make it work for you.

You build your personal brand every time you participate intelligently in the community and act like a good social media citizen. The more users are able to associate your name and your brand with positive, thoughtful things, the more likely they are to remember you when it counts. The more smart decisions you make, the more you’ll be able to expand your personal network and have more eyeballs tuned in to see what you’re doing. The more you add to the community, the more influence you’ll have over that community.

Being a social media idiot on Facebook is no different than the marketers on MySpace who spam their friends with worthless bulletins, bloggers who post nothing but noise, the chain letters once ever-present on AOL or the constant twits people send each other. You have to know how to use the medium to work for you and build your brand. And that’s your responsibility, no one else’s.

Posted by Lisa Barone on 11/28/07 at 2:26 PM | Comments (3)
See more entries in Social Media

Coverage Schedule for PubCon & SES Chicago 2007

Are you ready for the battle of the search conferences? Are you? Well, too bad. It is nearly time to welcome in both WebmasterWorld PubCon and SES Chicago 2007. That’s twice more search engine optimization education than normal. Huzzah!

As we’ve mentioned approximately 208 times already, the Bruce Clay posse will be attending PubCon Las Vegas this year. Bruce will be speaking during Tuesday’s SEO 101 – The Timeless and Classic Hits session, you’ll be able to catch some of our fun and intelligent analysts mingling in the booth, and Susan and I will be running around like crazy people as we attempt to cover a double set of sessions.

[I’m sure all of the livebloggers would like to thank Brett Tabke for scheduling approximately 0-5 minutes between sessions. No, really, I like running in heels while carrying an 89lb laptop. This should be tons of fun!]

Below you’ll find the list of sessions that Susan and I will be hitting during our time in Vegas. And, because we didn’t want to leave the attendees of SES Chicago out in the cold [rimshot], you’ll also find a list of sessions going on in the Windy City that we’ve covered in the past. We hope this helps you optimize your session schedule, as needed.

Enjoy!

PubCon Coverage Schedule

Date/Time	Lisa	Susan
Day 1: Tuesday, Dec. 4, 2007
9:00am-10:00am	Kickoff Keynote	Kickoff Keynote
10:00am-11:30am	Contextual Ad Programs – Vendors	Duplicate Content Issues Duplicate Content Issues
11:35am-12:50pm	Monetizing Social Media Traffic	Optimizing Your Site for Contextual Ads
1:30pm-2:45pm	Keyword Research, Selection and Optimization	Universal and Personal Search – This Changes Everything
2:45pm-4:00pm	Content Creation – Cranking it Out	Link Baiting – 96 Different Strategies
4:00pm-5:30pm	Link Buying	Analytics Tracking Performance – Beyond the Page View
Day 2: Wednesday, December 5, 2007
9:00am-10:00am	Keynote	Keynote
10:15am-11:30am	Local and Mobile Search	Domain Names and Trademark Legal Issues
11:35am-12:50pm	Local Search	SEO Design and Organic Site Structure
1:30pm-2:45pm	Hosting Issues and SEO/SEM	SEO and Big Search
Day 3: Thursday, December 6, 2007
9:00am-10:00am	On the Hot Seat with Matt Cutts	On the Hot Search with Matt Cutts
10:15am-11:30am	Effective Action-Based Copyrighting	Brand Management
11:35-12:50pm	Search and Blogging Reporters Forum	International and European Site Optimization
1:30pm-2:45pm	Multivariate Testing and Conversion Tweaking	Startup Costs – Getting in the Video Game
2:45pm-4:00pm	Competitive Intelligence	Word of Mouth Marketing
4:00pm-5:30pm	Tools of the Trade	Press and Public Relation Campaigns

SES Chicago

Here’s a list of the sessions being offered at this year’s SES Chicago that we’ve covered in the past.

• Meet the Web Analytics Players – called “Issues in Analytics” during SES San Jose


• Universal & Blended Search -- covered in SES San Jose


• Organic Listings Forum - covered in Chicago


• Usability & SEO - covered in Chicago and San Jose


• Are Paid Links Evil? – covered in SMX Seattle


• Personalization, User Data & Search – covered in SES San Jose


• Podcast & Audio Search – covered in SES San Jose


• CSS, AJAX, Web 2.0 & Search Engines – covered in SES New York


• Images and Search Engines – covered in SES San Jose and SES Chicago


• SEM Pricing Models – covered in SES San Jose


• So You Want To Be A Search Marketer – covered in SES San Jose

And don’t forget, we’ve also covered the live Webinars for Chicago’s Search, Privacy and Community in the Digital Age panel and Seth Godin’s keynote presentation. Show up prepared for those sessions by reading our recaps before you sit down!

Posted by Lisa Barone on 11/28/07 at 1:07 PM | Comments (6)
See more entries in SEM Events

November 27, 2007

Yahoo Structures Search, the Mobile Web & Outsourced Caring

Yahoo to “Structure” Its Search

Macworld reports that Yahoo is planning to create a “structured search” system that will allow users to search around select terms, rather than get a traditional SERP. Like when you do a product search and you get a list of available retailers and pricing information. The feature will allow users to better “compare results”. Not surprisingly, it will first be implemented on product-based searches.

As Barry Schwartz pointed out over at Search Engine Land, we’re already seeing a structured approach from Ask, which pulls structured results from Ask Shopping, and Google, which lets users access dropdown menus when doing searches on things like renting information. It’s nice to see Yahoo is finally joining the party.

I suppose the idea this useful, but it’s neither new nor exciting. Just more of Yahoo playing catch up. Where was this feature when they were crashing during yesterday’s Cyber Monday? I’m tired of all these little incremental changes the engines announce that in the end mean nothing. I want to see something exciting. Someone surprise me before the year is over, okay?

Eh, I won’t hold my breath.

When Will We See The Mobile Web?

I’ve been in this industry two years and seems like experts have been harking that this year, whatever “this year” is, will be the year that the mobile Web takes off. According to the New York Times, however, we still may be some time off. What say you?

If you’re talking about mainstream use, then yes, the mobile Web is clearly some years off. It’s going to be quite a long time before the wireless networks are up to par and before my mother is ready to use her cell phone as a browser. Right now all we’re seeing is the birth of the technology. The networks (I hear) are improving and gosh knows the phones are. Between the iPhone, Yahoo Go, and new Voyager, the phones are becoming easier to use and more browser-like.

This isn’t the year for the mobile Web, neither is next year, but it’s coming. I’m not a big mobile surfer these days, but having just ordered the Verizon Voyager (My dad says I can’t open it until Christmas. Seriously.), I know that will likely change in the next few months.

Have You Outsourced Your Caring?

Heather B. Armstrong relives the trauma she experienced while trying to use the self checkout at her local grocery store (with three year old in tow) to explain the concept of outsourced caring. It’s a problem that’s affecting business and Web sites world-wide. What is it exactly?

“…when a company cannot be bothered anymore with basic service and hires someone else to do the caring for them. It's why you're always getting transferred to someone else when you call customer service, because the person who answered the phone doesn't get paid to care. In this instance they are so fed up with caring that they've hired ROBOTS."

Don’t outsource the caring of your customers to someone else. Design your Web site to meet their needs, not yours. Optimize your Web site to help them. The minute you think you’re too good to deal with the customers is the minute they’ll go somewhere else.

Fun Finds

The greatest post ever offered up by SEOmoz: 50 Perfect Gifts for Webophiles, Bloggers & Internet Marketers. Seriously, I can’t tell you how appreciative I am of Rand and Mystery Guest for putting this together. [Me too. I've been needing those laptop feet! --Susan]

Matt Cutts presents Anatomy of a Search Snippet. Oh yeah, it’s as riveting as it sounds. The word on the street is that this may be an Oscar contender. I’m sorry, I’m kind of snippy today. If you’re more a reader than a watcher, Eric Enge has done a great job explaining the search snippets video.

Posted by Lisa Barone on 11/27/07 at 5:13 PM | Comments (3)
See more entries in SEO, Search Engine Optimization

It’s the Holiday; Where Are the Images? The Video?

Yesterday was the god awful Cyber Monday. The day when customers’ inboxes were filled with messages from their favorite retailers demanding that they stop working and spend the day shopping. Right now! Quick; you want to take advantage of lame offers like free shipping and 20 percent savings, right? Yawn.

I don’t know how you felt, but I found the whole thing a little bit disappointing. It was a nice illusion the businesses offered. They made it look as though they were Web savvy and interested in reaching customers the way customers like to be targeted. But in the end it fell flat. I was especially disappointed in the smaller mom and pops. They were virtually nowhere to be found yesterday.

Having once worked for a company whose ability to stay alive heavily relied on what it pulled in during the holidays, I know how important it is for small businesses to convert during this time of year. It can make or break you, and the competition is fierce. How is Joe’s House of Electronics ever going to compete with the likes of Best Buy or Frys? How are they going to steal eyeballs? Well, you have to get in your customers' faces and fill in all the holes being created by the big guys. You have to take advantage of blended search.

But the idea of blended search or image optimization doesn’t seem to have penetrated the minds of business owners yet.

It’s the holidays, people. The time of year when people allow themselves to get caught up in the moment and spend more in a few weeks then they will all year. Why the hell are you not pulling out all the stops? Why are you not taking advantage of blended search? Why are you not helping users buy your products?

Knowing that the search engines are taking increased steps to index video and images, I’m still shocked by all the sites out there not offering large, delicious images and short, informational videos about their products. How hard would it be for Joe’s House of Electronics to create a video demo’ing the latest stereo system or HDTV system they have, optimize it, and then feed it to Google or Ask in hopes that it will appear in the blended search results? That’s how you’re going to attract users onto your site. By taking the time to provide the information that most of the big dogs just don’t care about. You have to make yourself more relevant, more exciting, and better than your competition.

Amazon has been doing a good job using video to excite and engage users. I’ve actually been doing a lot more of my holiday searching on that site this year. It’s not because I have any type of affinity for Amazon (I don’t), but they’re integrating video in a way that’s smart and helps users understand what they’re looking at. Check out their listings for Super Mario Galaxy, the Air Hogs Helicopter or The Nerf N-Strike Disk Shot. They’re great.

How does a blended search-savvy Internet marketer beat Amazon? They create a video showing off the cool graphics and features of Super Mario Galaxy and then they upload it on YouTube and include a link back to the product page. Chances are, thanks to YouTube’s high PageRank and Google affiliation, you’ll get your video ranking above Amazon’s listing for the product, entice users to click through, and maybe even get the conversion when they use the product description link you’ve provided for them. They never even had to look at that little Amazon listing sitting at the bottom of the SERP.

And what about image optimization?

When I see small business not optimizing their images for blended search it really makes me want to throw Susan through a window. It’s no secret that users like to get a visual feel for the product they’re interested in buying. They want to see it, to use the 360 degree view to spin it around, and check out all the nooks and crannies. Sometimes the image is what helps them figure out what the heck it is and whether or not they can live without it.

I’ll give you an example. My little brother wants an iPod Touch for Christmas. He spent a few hours with Tamar and now he’s convinced that he needs both an iPod and a Wii to survive. He mentioned it to my mother and she quickly summoned me to the computer while I was back East last week and made me explain to her what this “touch pod” thing was. I did a quick image search for the product, showed her what it looked liked, explained the purpose, and gave her all the info she needed But take a look at the Image results when you query [ipod touch]. They’re all blog entries or manufacturer sites. There’s not one retailer in the bunch. That means, in order for my non-computer-savvy mother to buy one, she’d have to go back and conduct another search. Guess what? My mother can’t do that. She’ll get lost and so will your $300. Sorry.

It’s time for small business to get smart about blended search. If you’re selling a product, make sure you’re optimizing your images so that they come up in the search verticals. This idea was important last year but it’s even more important this year now that blended results are popping up everywhere. Including images and video for you products increases the informational aspect of your Web site and the chance that you’ll show up on the first page of the SERPs.

If you need some tips for optimizing your video and images for the blended search, check out our session recaps for Merging Video and Search Engine Optimization and Images and the Search Engines.

Posted by Lisa Barone on 11/27/07 at 12:49 PM | Comments (1)
See more entries in SEO, Search Engine Optimization, Social Media

November 26, 2007

Ghost blogging: A Moral Quandary

[Just to prevent any confusion, this post was written on Saturday. I’m not still out of town. I do come to work sometimes. I have to; otherwise I’d lose that deep, deep bond I have with Susan.]

According to my JetBlue-supplied Google Map, I’m writing this while 36,517 miles over Nebraska. Since there’s nothing on my mini TV, Susan’s not here to poke, and I’m doing my best to ignore the foul-mouthed, has-a-staring-problem boy sitting next to me, I figure now is as good of a time as any to tackle that ghost blogging post that’s been circulating inside my brain for the past couple of weeks.

The issue of ghost blogging was raised during a panel on Corporate and CEO blogging held during this month’s BlogWorld. After discovering that there was a ghost writer in the room, moderator Debbie Weil questioned the panel, and ultimately the audience, on their feelings regarding the subject. Is ghost blogging ethical? Is it necessary? Why is it looked down upon in the blogging industry? Or is it looked down upon at all?

I’m not sure if the panelists were simply trying to be respectful of the individual in the room or if they didn’t have any real feelings toward it, but no one really tackled the issue. The only one willing to really take a stance was the admitted ghost writer himself. His main argument seemed to be that ghost blogging is the same as speech writing and that people shouldn’t throw things at him just because he makes money off pretending to be someone else. (Okay, that might have been my interpretation.) President Bush doesn’t write his own speeches, chances are your local representatives don’t either, so who cares if Bill Gates is using a ghost blogger when he turns to the Internets to get his point across and engage readers?

Well, to be honest, I do.

I’ve gotten into a bit of debate with my ghost blogging friends regarding the ethical nature of all this. The thing is, to me and to a lot of others, blogging wasn’t designed to be just another marketing channel. It’s not supposed to be the same as speech writing. Blogging was designed to be a new channel. One that wasn’t controlled by legal, tainted by public relations, or left smelling like “agenda”. It’s supposed to knock down the invisible wall and open up a two-way dialogue between you and your audience. It’s about the conversation and when you change that and instead turn it into scripted dialogue, you lose what makes blogging impactful. It’s like going to a fancy restaurant, ordering an expensive, perfectly cooked steak, and then drowning it in ketchup. Dude, don’t make me hit you!

There’s an implied authenticity and transparency with blogging that isn’t there for speech writing. When George Bush looks at me and stumbles over his State of the Union, I realize that he hasn’t written it. That there’s a good chance he had some help formulating his words and crafting his message. That the grammar has been perfected and that someone was very careful to include certain buzz words and talking points for him to hit. And that’s fine for a speech. Speeches are old form communication. It’s okay if they sound like a press release. It’s not okay if your blog sounds like one.

Your blog is your chance to be genuine, why would you not take advantage of it? How can you have a conversation with someone if you’re not the one talking? It’s like on Saved by the Bell when Zack would be on a date with the Blond of the Week and Screech would be in the bushes feeding him his lines. That never ended well. Why? Well, because (a) it was a 90's Saturday morning TV show and (b) because the interaction was fake. You can’t make people fall in love with you or your company when you’re not the one addressing them. Actually, you can’t make someone fall in love with you at all; they kind of have to do it on their own. And they can only do it after they’ve formed a connection with you, the real you. It goes back to the authenticity issue.

And fine, I understand that not all CEOs and marketing executives have time to sit there and write a blog entry. I also understand that not everyone is, um,qualified to blog, but then find a way and a conversation medium that works for you.

Cisco’s CEO does a monthly 3-5 minute video post that allows him to connect with readers. It’s a great strategy. If your CEO is a talker, hand him a tape recorder and let him record an audio post while he’s stuck in the airport waiting for Southwest to call his magic boarding number. Or create a company blog where the CEO only chimes in from time to time when his or her schedule permits. Or do what Bruce did and hire someone to blog.

If the success of people like Robert Scoble or Matt Cutts has shown us anything, it’s that it doesn’t have to be the CEO writing for the blog to be considered authentic. It’s not the fancy title that makes your blog successful; it’s the passion behind the author. If you want your customers to be excited by your blog, give the blow horn to the person in your company who is the most passionate. I don’t care if that person is the CEO, the marketing person, the IT guy or the guy who passes through the office on weekends to clean out the trash. He’s the person your readers want to hear from. He’s the one who will get them excited.

To me, that’s the biggest con in the ghost blogging fight, that it’s unnecessary. Why are you pretending it was your CEO hosting the conversation? If you have a team member who’s passionate and insightful and smart, let your customers meet that person. They’ll have more respect for you in the morning. People like companies that are secure enough to highlight more than one voice. It makes you appear more stable and well-rounded.

If you are going to hire a ghost blogger, I think you have to disclose that to your readers. As the great Billy Joel once said, it’s a matter of trust. If you found out that this “Lisa Barone” person doesn’t exist and that it was just a penname for someone on the Bruce Clay marketing team, wouldn’t you feel betrayed? Of course you would. Because if we’re lying about who’s writing the blog, what else are we lying about?

Posted by Lisa Barone on 11/26/07 at 4:35 PM | Comments (3)
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Things I missed the week of 11-19-07

[blows off dust]

No, no, don’t unsubscribe; the blog is back in action this week. Because I’m a dedicated little blogger, I opened up a bunch of tabs while enjoying airport WiFi and gave myself some in-flight reading material. Here are the stories that caught me eye from last week. They’re new for me so maybe they’re new for you too!

Google: Shared IPs Just As Good As Dedicated IP

Last week, a Google representative confirmed what Google has confirmed many times before, stating that Google doesn’t care if your site is on a dedicated IP or if you share your IP with a bunch of different sites. There is absolutely no penalty.

No, there isn’t a penalty, but there are plenty of benefits that come along with placing your site on a dedicated IP. We recommend it to our SEO clients, not because we want to make their lives difficult, but because it’s important to your search engine optimization efforts that your site resides on a fast server in a good neighborhood. Matt Cutts and the other assortment of Googlers can confirm all they want that there’s no penalty for not being on a dedicated IP, it doesn’t change the fact that it’s clearly stated in the Google Webmaster Tools that the speed of your server does matter.

And really, for a few bucks of month (which is what it costs to get an IP on a sparsely populated server), isn’t worth the investment? We think so.

Google Switches Out Video for Products

Philipp Lenssen was first to report that Google had removed the Video link from its home page navigation and replace it with a link to their Product search. The video link has been banished into Google’s dropdown menu. What say you, smart move or not?

I’m going to have to go and say no, it wasn’t. I’ve heard arguments that Google made the switch both because video is no longer exciting to users and because they’re prepping for the holiday season. That last reason has some merit until you realize that most searchers probably don’t even notice those navigation links in the first place. They simply head to Google and type in their search. How many people really have the foresight to select the search vertical they’re interested in? Um, not many.

I think it may do more harm than good, only because people assume that if they do a search for [Nintendo Wii] that they’ll get product results back. They may not know, however, that if they do a search for their favorite artist that a video will appear on the SERP.

If Google wants to help out with the user experience, they should insert a holiday human edit that has products ranking higher in the search results than they normally do. Let’s see those Universal Search features in action.

Who Has the Better Blog Search: Google or Ask?

Barry Welford started a thread over at Cre8asite commenting on how powerful Ask.com’s Blog Search is, arguing that it’s filling a Google vacuum. I love Ask but really? Is it really filling a Google vacuum?

Personally, I think both blog searches need some work. If I had to commit myself to using one and only one, I’d probably go with Ask, but I’m not exactly jumping up and down on the couch over how fabulous they are.

As it is now, I use both Google and Ask’s blog offerings in combination (with a little Technorati thrown in). Doing it this way ensures that I’m not missing anything, since both engines have their quirks. Google is top dog when it comes to indexing speed but their index is chock full of spam. Ask takes a little longer to get things appearing in the index, but when the content is there, it’s relevant and better and smelling like roses. The other pet peeve I have with Ask’s Blog Search is that it doesn’t associate my name with the Bruce Clay blog the way Google does. Perhaps that’s a vanity quirk, but it bugs me just the same.

How about you? If you had to promise to love and cherish one blog search engine for the rest of your life, which one would it be?

Other Fun Finds

VentureBeat tells us that Zoho released an online word processor that lets users edit their work regardless of whether they’re online or offline at the same time. See, now that would have been helpful while traveling. I need something to replace the always quirky Google Docs. At BlogWorld, I was mocked for still composing my blog entries in Word.

Eric Enge interviews Bloglines Eric Englemen, and they discuss lots of cool stuff. They don’t, however, mention the fact that their names are almost identical.

China may get the Ask.com experience in as little as two years.

And, just as expected, searchers went Black Friday crazy.

Posted by Lisa Barone on 11/26/07 at 4:29 PM | Comments (2)
See more entries in Search Engine Optimization

November 21, 2007

SMX London Day 2 -- Diagnosing Search Problems

Guest Author Marie Howell of Bruce Clay Europe continues her excellent recap coverage of SMX London.

I wanted to dip in and out of the different tracks available and so I attended a Fundamentals & Tactics Track, moderated by Andy Atkins-Kruger of WebCertain, which introduced a truly excellent panel of experts to discuss diagnosing search problems.

Dixon Jones from Receptional began the presentations (whilst wearing a white tie and a white hat as a counter offensive to a comment in a bar recently about the black trilby he was sporting) by discussing the most fundamental issue affecting many sites: that of duplicate content. He introduced how lots of people think they haven’t got duplicate content issues on their site but, in actual fact, they have. He discussed the perception of getting penalised for duplicate content, getting your brand / domain getting split between different versions of the same URL. Dixon covered some of the reasons for duplicate content:

• Blogs
• Tracking URLs with (source= )
• Alternative domain names: more than one domain pointing to their web site.
• www vs. non www
• Session IDs - when you try to make a SEO friendly version of a URL incorrectly
• Scraped or syndicated sites
• When the Search Engines mess up – e.g. 302s on Microsoft right now

He went on to talk about the different types of redirects: 301 vs 302 and ‘named and shamed’ the Royal Mail and demonstrated how a series of incorrect redirects are causing numerous difficulties for the domains.

Matt Paines from XSEO picked up the baton by looking at the 3 main hindrances to ranking – as, at the end of the day it is all about ranking and anything that gets in the way of ranking is perceived as a problem.

1. Crawler accessibility – does the site have a cache? (Has it been crawled?) Ensure that the site is linked to in some way, the Search Engines need to be lead there.
2. Page relevance
3. Site credibility

Matthew "Chewy" Trewhella, Customer Solutions Engineer at Google was up next looking at Google Webmaster Console and sitemaps. With a beautiful, clear presentation style, Chewy showed how the two tools can help you to spot simple configuration errors and how the analysis tool of the robots.txt file can help– i.e. if there is a wildcard in the wrong place, Google may stop indexing your site. Within the Webmaster Console, he demonstrated some of the features, such as being able to inform Google which canonical domain you prefer - www and non-www – which helps you to get started whilst you fix your issues.

Jake Bailie of STN Labs didn’t do a formal presentation but picked up on the issues raised by the other panellists. He listed out the 6 ways to easily generate duplicate problems including tracking URLs, printer friendly pages and core architecture.

His Golden Rule is to have unique content on sites supported by one corresponding URL. Do not use this URL to track visitors, toggle displays, etc. The URL is solely to identify the location of the content. He continued his advice encouraging attendees to do the fundamental housekeeping: to make sure Title tags are unique, to try to get a <h1> on every page (although don’t be excessive with it), to have a good link structure, use simple anchor text, not to use Flash for primary navigation.

He also picked up on the earlier point of crawler accessibility and discussed this in terms of large corporate sites. He suggested that you only want to give a sample of every level of your site tree on to the search engines via your sitemap and let them find the rest. Never use 302 redirects, he advised. Other people do; let them. And fire your host if they won’t let you do 301s.

A superb, informative and lively session with much frankness and helpful suggestions from the panel, much interaction with the audience and expertly moderated by WebCertain’s Andy A-K. An enjoyable session which was well worth attending!

Posted by Guest Author on 11/21/07 at 11:44 AM | Comments (0)
See more entries in International, SEM Events, Search Engine Optimization

November 20, 2007

SMX London Day 2 - Search Marketing for Financial Services

Guest entry from Marie Howell, Bruce Clay Europe.

Marie sent along her observations for the first panel of Day 2 of SMX London. As the week goes on, she'll cover more from last week's inaugural London show.

The morning kicked off with the Case Studies track looking at Search Marketing for Financial Services with great input from panellists Gillian Muessig of SEOmoz, Chris Cathcart of Bigmouth Media, Jonathon Beeston , Efficient Frontier and Aisling Blake, Interactive Return and excellent moderation, as always, from the delightful Danny Sullivan.

Chris Cathcart from Bigmouth commenced with his presentation on working in general with financial institutions and the importance of setting manageable objectives and timelines, naturally, understand the individual company proposition. Those of us who work with large financial organisations understand it is not just about loans and credit cards, it could also be sharedealing, CFD trading, credit insurance, or one of a plethora of financial services. Chris stated an essential fact of our business: it is vital to understand your client and his business. Chris then went on to suggest a vital shopping list / consideration list:

• Do not make assumptions about the client business.
• Who are key stakeholders?
• How will conversion be measured?
• What constitutes success?
• How regular is reporting required?
• What will communication structure be?
• How will campaign changes be agreed?
• What other parties are involved and can we share data?
• How does company sit within current marketplace?

He then went on to stress how uccessful planning = successful implementation and that spending the extra time in the planning phase delivers much better ROI. Chris discussed how it is necessary to refer to objectives regularly; meet agreed objective dates; evaluate reporting / available metrics; communicate effectively with the whole team; capture campaign status regularly and stick to the plan. With that last point, I would agree to an extent: yes, stick to the overall plan, but within the plan-do-review cycle to ensure that the plan is adjusted to take into account external internal and external variances such as a new branding campaign / traditional media campaign, a fluctuation or news within that market sector, etc.

In his clear, detailed presentation, Chris stated that “review time was not relax time” - an excellent statement – where it is important to address if the objectives are being met? Can we see new objectives? Etc. The review logs performance of the campaign as a whole and allows a detailed look at progress; to investigate and understand success;
investigate anomalies / variances; look at marketplace movements – e.g. seasonality;
patterns for PPC– anything capitalise on – times of day / week greater traffic. During the review, the client will ask:

• Were objectives / targets met?
• What went well? Not so well?
• Why?
• How can we avoid similar issues?
• What can we improve on?
• What is the campaign evolution?

Chris reiterated the Plan – Do – Review mantra:

Plan – sets precedent for do and review – don’t be scared to ask questions of the client.
Do – clear communication between campaign team – more discussion, more actions agreed
Review - use reviews to power future planning.

Chris concluded his presentation by stating that not meeting targets is not a crime if you learn and take actions for the next review (month / quarter).

Danny next introduced the powerful Gillian Muessig, President of SEOMoz, who discussed the financial case study of the Avatar Financial Group. Although not a company with which the UK / Europe are familiar with, the company and the excellent work Gillian and her team did for the organisation set a very high standard and benchmark what customer service means.

For those who are not familiar with Avatar Financial Group, it is a national lender in the US. In 2002 it was an unknown entity, by 2004 – thanks to Gillian - it was top of the game.

Avatar makes loans for construction, land, etc. When a construction project is 80% complete (or greater) and a bridging loan is needed, they are a private lender who can help out. Apparently in the US banks are not allowed to help out at this stage of a project and only private equity firms, such as Avatar, are able to undertake this ‘higher risk’ lending. SEOMoz did print media for them, created a corporate identity, a web site, etc. and worked with them under a profit sharing agreement. She then listed some of the ways to work with financial clients:

• Search
• Social media
• Email marketing
• Melding traditional and search media

Within Search, they also did Link Building, which was a learning curve as they bought bad links and had to then repair the damage caused by that. They also created reciprocal links, but it is important to remember - who is your friend, who isn’t, why not? They linked, for example, to major aggregators within the industry.

Within Social Media they created link bait - what qualifies as relevant to individuals. For instance, the site was created in cakephp – they included a ‘how we created the site’ which interested the php community who then linked to it. They put this onto the financial site. Gillian and her team also worked to find vertical market communities and wrote articles under the name of the CEO / President of company.

They undertook email marketing for the client, which was a struggle and not something they do as core business and they worked to refine a system that worked, there, too.
The final part of the process was to meld traditional media and search media. Initial search successes were bringing calls. Unfortunately the calls weren’t converting so Gillian had an extra line put in and has the calls forwarded to the SEO offices. They answered the phone as if they were the receptionist and this allowed them to get the data they needed and, where Avatar was not the most appropriate lender, could recommend the brokers on to other companies. This soon gave Avatar the name as the company which could help. Traditionally, hard money – non conforming loans which charge higher interest rates – was seen to be the province of hard edge, grumpy men. Suddenly Avatar became helpful, passing leads to someone who could help. This earned them a great reputation and Avatar became the first stop for brokers.

In concluding her highly intriguing and intelligent presentation, Gillian identified the main lesson learned from this client: success is dependent on performance in all sectors. Avatar had nothing for 18 months then SEOmoz picking up the phone was what started to turn campaign around.

Jonathon Beeston and Aisling Blake went on to make their superb presentations using MotleyFool.com and Rabodirect.com as case studies to conclude an interesting and very informative session.

As an audience we want to hear about the successes of clients and how campaigns can go from strength to strength, after a little thought, time, care and ‘pro-activeness’. Although I have heard Rand speak many times – and thoroughly enjoyed his sessions - I have never been fortunate enough to be able to attend one by his ‘boss’. For me, Gillian Muessig gave one of the best presentations of the conference and I was thoroughly impressed with the way she was open, honest and frank about challenges in the project and how she, ultimately, overcame them with this client to a resounding success.

Posted by Guest Author on 11/20/07 at 9:25 AM | Comments (0)
See more entries in International, Pay-Per-Click, SEM Events, Search Engine Optimization

November 16, 2007

Friday Recap

Hey kids. It’s Friday Recap time.

First, a quick shout out to let you all know that Bloglines is looking for volunteers to get a better idea of how people use feed readers. They’ve already heard from power users and loud mouthed bloggers, now they want to hear from normal people. So if you’re a normal person (your friends will tell you if you qualify) living in the Bay Area, give them a shout.

Congratulations to Courtney Tuttle for writing the worst blog post in the universe. Some of you may not know this, but that title was previously held by our own Susan Esparza for all the work she did on the blog between 2004 and early 2006. We’re glad to see the crown moving elsewhere. [I hate you. --Susan] Yeah, I know. :(

Oomsa explains why you should always be nice to the people you have power over. Especially if they’re Siberian huskies and you’re just a common spaniel. Susan learned this rule early.

The Consumerist warns us from ever drinking Vitamin Water again. Apparently, in some places, it comes with skin. Or like, part of a finger or perhaps just a slice of the inside of your mouth? I don’t know, I can’t tell. Either way, I like my vitamin water sans human.

The San Francisco Gate printed a retraction this week because they want you all to know that Paris Hilton never made any comments about helping drunken elephants in India. That could be the greatest piece of anchor text ever written.

A brave 5-year-old boy proves that all you need to perform a heroic feat is the right outfit. Girls everywhere feel validated.

If cute and slightly retarded kittens are your thing, here’s a video of what happens when you put a kitten in a laundry basket and then throw a ball around the room. Good times. Still not as impressive as when my Jack Jack opens, closes and locks himself in my bathroom cabinets, however. I should have named him Houdini.

And with all the bad things kids sometimes do to kittens, it’s good to know there are a pair of brothers who will jump down a manhole to rescue a handful when they hear their pathetic cries. And they say chivalry is dead.

If you were wondering what happened to the Dell Dude, well, it seems he’s now a waiter at a New York Mexican restaurant. Guess they don’t have any kind of work transitioning program at the Dell headquarters.

The Morning News gives you 100 ways to say ‘I love you’ in case just uttering those three little worlds is so reprehensible that you’d rather do almost anything else.

You would think that a Super Mario Brothers/Pac-Man hybrid would be pretty cool, right? Yeah? Well, it’s not. Lame, I say.

One really smart (and drunken) woman was hit by a freight train after she was being “silly” and waving at the train trying to get it to stop. Um, yeah.

The best reason not to drive to work on Monday. That is disgusting.

Oh, I forgot to ask. Butt bra? Anyone? Anyone? No? Okay.

The end of the year is quickly approaching. You know what that means, right? No, not Pubcon. It means it’s time to print out your 2008 LOLCalendar. I can has pie?

That concludes this week’s edition of the Friday Recap. I’m heading out of town tomorrow to get an early start on the holidays. From everyone at Bruce Clay, we wish you and yours a very happy Thanksgiving. Don’t forget to take a break from all that turkey to enjoy the Starbuck’s Christmas cups!

Posted by Lisa Barone on 11/16/07 at 5:19 PM | Comments (4)
See more entries in Fun Stuff

SMX London Day 1 Insights

Guest entry from Marie Howell, Bruce Clay Europe.

Marie was kind enough to act as Bruce Clay’s roving reporter during SMX London and comment on her experiences. We hope to have her thoughts regarding Day 2 either this weekend or Monday of next week. And with that, we present Marie Howell…

After hearing fabulous reports (and reading the truly excellent blogs of Lisa Barone) about the inaugural SMX Seattle event, and then hearing all about SMX Stockholm, we were delighted with the touchdown of the Conference Team in the guise of speaker extraordinaire Danny Sullivan, the quietly intelligent Chris Sherman and the Rising Media team in London. The SMX London conference, hosted at The Hilton Metropole Hotel, commenced in style with a keynote address from Mario Queiroz, VP Products Europe, Middle East & Africa for Google and was quickly followed up with sessions in 3 tracks, offering a wide experience for attendees: Fundamentals, Search Ads and Advanced Organic.

With a wide range of quality panellists and presenters, excellent information and a great set-up, the SMX team has pulled off a coup within the search conference space. From an introduction to the Global Search Universe, to SEO for Multimedia, to Creating Search Ads That Convert, to Competitive Paid Search tactics, superb sharing and insider tricks and strategies abounded. Brand and industry names like Shari Thurow, Mikkel deMib Svendsen, Dave Naylor, Andy Atkins-Kruger, Jon Myers, Mel Carson of Microsoft presented beautifully. We also saw emerging speakers like Rob Kerry and Lisa Ditlefsen present an excellent set of sessions, where they shared insider information to make the day a success for attendees.

I was surprised to see only two exhibitors making up the conference hall, but with just a few months notice, firms had little opportunity to find additional budget for this show. However, Matthew Finlay of Rising Media assures me that bookings are coming thick and fast for June 2008, as advertisers have seen what a quality event this has turned out to be.

Particular events of note on the first day were the Cutting Edge Linking Tactics session and the Fundamentals Track of The Elements of Search Friendly Web sites, which gave an excellent account of the basics one needs to take into consideration when designing for both user and search engine. And of course, a highlight for many was that the lunch didn’t come in a bag or box! Attendees were truly well taken care of.

The day rounded off with a marvellous networking session which started downstairs and continued upstairs in the bar. There was lots of search networking and also corporate – agency interaction, which is great for all concerned. Attendees reported a truly successful first day – well done SMX!

Look out for greater coverage - including reporting on selected sessions - on SMX Day 2.

Posted by Guest Author on 11/16/07 at 12:12 PM | Comments (0)
See more entries in SEM Events

Quick Tips for PPC Optimization

Guest Entry by Nick Guastella, Search Engine Marketing Analyst--Bruce Clay, Inc.

In April of this year, Yahoo took a cue from Google and began requiring advertisers to create shorter ads of 70 characters or less, in addition to the longer 190 character ads also available to them. Prior to this announcement, Yahoo had already been shortening longer descriptions when ads were displayed on their site and some partner sites. In terms of PPC management, this means search marketers must work to master the art of conveying their message effectively in a very limited number of characters.

While the initial idea of this may have caused some difficulty and confusion for advertisers at a loss on how to create effective ads with such a limited length (I myself had fun mastering the so called Google Ad Haiku.), it presented a good opportunity for PPC optimization and for advertisers to tighten up messaging to prospective customers.

As most people know, PPC optimization is a lot more than just picking keywords and then choosing bid amounts. In the past, many advertisers tried using the long ad format to stuff keywords as a laundry list rather than providing a clear message. Other times they tried to work their URL into a title or description hoping that searchers would just copy the URL into their browser, saving themselves from paying for a click, perhaps also earning them some branding juice. Not surprisingly, these practices often did not result in more clicks or increased conversions.

In the world of PPC ad creation, I think the often used saying “less is more” is very appropriate. Shorter ads may be harder to write, but they force us to be better marketers and to work harder at creating more effective ad copy.

So, to help those who spend their days in an endless circle of PPC optimization, I offer up the following tips that I use in my day-to-day responsibilities as Bruce’s Clay Pay Per Click Guru.

Let’s start with that all important title that we craft to catch a searcher's eye. Thankfully, titles are still allowed 40 characters. There’s nothing more annoying than having to abbreviate a word to say what you want. For example, using “PPC Mgmt” instead of “PPC Management” may get the message across, but it doesn’t look good, at least to me. It would be nice if Google and the rest of the PPC platforms would give us 5 more characters to make titles more readable. (Google, are you listening? What do you say?) .

Yahoo and Google both argue that putting a keyword in the title increases clicks. While this is true, it does not always mean you’re going to see better conversions, and really, that’s what we’re after. Conversions equal money.

Instead, what I try to do is to create a clear message that highlights what is most important about the site or what I think will draw in the searchers most likely to convert. I will often use keyword insertion to help me accomplish this. In order to test the effectiveness of keyword insertion, create two ads: one with static content and one utilizing keyword insertion. Then, use A/B testing to run them against each other and see which one converts better. Many times a regular title, while it might get less clicks, will still convert far above a keyword title.

One personal preference/pet peeve of mine are the ask-a-question titles. When I search, I don’t want to see a title asking me if I was looking for what I just typed in. Obviously I was. While some search marketers may find this effective, to me, and probably to most searchers, it’s very annoying.

Thankfully, Yahoo’s shorter description of 70 characters, while similar to Google’s, does not have the restriction of 35 characters per line. This makes it a little easier to write an ad without the fear of a word getting chopped down the middle.

With only 70 characters, now is not the time to write the great American novel. Try not to chop up sentences into fragments. You want your copy to flow naturally for the person reading it. Fragments are often jarring and could result in lower clicks.

Each word in a description should ad to your marketing message. Be direct. Highlight your features and benefits. Why should I choose your ad over another advertiser? Talk about your pricing or special offers.

Avoid using “Free” in the beginning of a sentence. This will definitely result in a higher click through rate but, depending on the goal of your site, may not result in the type of conversions you’re seeking. Saying you offer free shipping is appropriate but should be saved for the end of the message.

Try not to use needless words. An ad that reads “Now vitamins on sale Bargain Prices” can be shortened and made more effective by changing it to “Vitamins at Bargain Prices”.

Get to the point. Instead of saying “We deliver Fresh Baked cookies” write “Fresh Baked Cookies delivered to you”. Make your customer the focus.

Use a positive message. Writing “People have been known to love our cookies” is not as strong as saying “People love our Chocolate Chip cookies”.

These are just a few things to get improve your PPC optimization. Paid search advertising can be a tricky art form. With practice and analysis, your ad campaigns will succeed.

Posted by Guest Author on 11/16/07 at 10:38 AM | Comments (2)
See more entries in Pay-Per-Click

Live Webcast: Search, Privacy and Community in the Digital Age

Do you know what time it is? It’s time for some more liveblogging! Yey. Because I totally didn’t get enough of that last week!

This time around we’re very lucky to get a sneak peak at the Orion Panel that will happen at SES Chicago entitled Search, Privacy and Community in the Digital Age. Once again, this morning’s Webcast is to accommodate those of us that won’t be attending SES Chicago due to that whole Pubcon thing. A big thanks to Kevin Ryan for wrangling Jack Myers, president of JackMyers.com, into the room to allow us to join in the conversation.

Kevin talks a bit about the concept of bringing The Orion panel to SES Chicago. He says was designed to help bring together thought leaders to lay down some high level strategy to help attendees execute the tactical sessions. Great, let’s get things started!

Kevin starts off by asking Jack about his piece The Facebook and LinkedIn conundrum, which Jack released on Aug. 27. That post was actually a follow up on a three-part Facebook series Jack wrote. Kevin asks Jack to expand on it.

Jack says it’s a fascinating dynamic for people who are coming into social communities and social networking without the experience of having been participating in the text message phenomenon (he must be talking about all the old people). Most young people are texting more than they’re emailing. All of a sudden you (the old people) realize that you’re going to a new party and you have to make a choice as to how active you’re going to be. If you join Facebook but aren’t active about your involvement, it’s like going to a party and sitting in a corner the whole night. That’s no fun.

Jack asks, how do you make a decision to be friends with someone you don’t know but who may be connected to someone you do know? What happens when you get a friend request from someone you know in real life but you ignore it because you’re not there? All of a sudden we have a new online dynamic that we have to pay close attention to. We have to determine what the social and societal implications are.

Kevin comments that just as he was signing into this Facebook account he received an email from Incisive asking people not to use Facebook while at work (hi, creepy much?) But if you get an email from someone you know and don’t respond quickly, that could have serious implications.

Jack agrees and says that he’s getting emails from people he knows and people he doesn’t know. He also comments that people email him through Facebook instead of using his personal email account. It’s gotten to the point where he has to watch his Facebook messages just like he watches his personal email. People use it for business reasons. They’re going to their IT departments and asking them to unblock it. Heh. When you have a group of middle age white guys who are jumping into Facebook pretty actively, you know there’s something pretty different going on there.

Kevin decides to have a bit of fun and reads off a number of his high profile Facebook friends. People like Chad Hurley from YouTube, high level people from AOL, Ann Coulter, Bill Maher, etc.

Jack says you have to wonder if it’s them or their publicists. He says he’s friends with Heidi Montag from MTV’s The Hills. There are a million Paris Hiltons, and then, of course, you have Perez Hilton.

Kevin asks if there’s a long term play here for Facebook or are people just asking their publicists to create profiles for them?

Jack calls that a conundrum and it's a danger that personalities and those who are on Facebook for promotional reasons need to understand. If your publicist is doing it and not performing well or misrepresenting you, that deceit becomes very transparent and obvious. They’re jeopardizing their brand instead of enhancing it.

Kevin says that in his mind and a lot of people’s mind, search touches everything. The idea of only optimizing for text has been long gone. It’s another question of “are we making the right choices?” What choices do we have to make?

Jack comments that the amount of information people are listing about themselves online is scary. He thinks we’re going to see across search engines and in social communities and in Feb 2009 when all TV goes digital that privacy is a real issue. More and more there will be opt-in. Not only what you’re including on your profile, but what you’re allowing to be transmitted. What you’re allowing to go into the search engine aspect of social communities. He’s telling more and more people about these issues. He talks a lot to high schoolers and college kids about their MySpace and Facebook profiles. They’re going on record in ways that will affect them in the future. They need to begin making choices about what is okay to share and what is not. There needs to be that discrimination. We’re going to see social communities be the open networks that we consider Facebook to be.

Kevin shares a story about Peter Shankman (big PR guy) and how he had a post the other day about a guy who told his boss that he was going home for a family emergency and then there’s a photo of him on Facebook from a Halloween party dressed up as a fairy. The photo was tagged with his name and then sent around the entire office. You have to be careful.

Kevin asks Jack about a post he wrote where Jack were talking about the changes occurring at Yahoo. Wall Street is not in love with Yahoo right now. Obviously they’re still the number 2 player in the US. Jack noted a lot of the changes that are occurring with senior management moving around. Kevin wants to know if Jack thinks Yahoo has a shot and if the changes are positive?

Jack answers that Yahoo is massive. It’s an incredible reach vehicle for advertisers. Clearly as they incorporate video more aggressively they’ll have a tremendous growth opportunity. Yahoo failed to really define its brand capabilities. They became a massive distributor of content without creating the network affect. Certainly, as their search engine and Panama are more effective, and as they move more towards contextual, behavioral targeting in search, they’ll continue to be a major player in the marketplace. Where they have to identify themselves with a better focus is on the content areas. They have to take a leadership position in the market.

Question and Answer

In your opinion, what companies are mining [the information being shared in social networks] best right now? Who’s using the access to personal information to boost sales?

The whole area of using search as a marketing tool is evolving. Clearly, Google continues to be out in front. They’re expanding their programmable search engine for semantic search. You have emerging companies like Hakia all working on natural language. Ultimately, we have not yet made the leap of really utilizing the search component in social networks. You can go into Facebook and search for terms and identify people who have included those terms in their Facebook profile. The next step will be a more behavioral and contextual level. You’ll be able to track Facebook users’ use of the Internet. You’ll know if they’re looking at car sites or where they’re spending their time. There will be more of a tie back in a behavioral and contextual way to their overall online habits and activities. That’s where opt in will be a critical component.

Do you think at this point people are just getting carried away with the information they’re posting?

We’re just at the early stages. What we haven’t factored in is this whole virtual world phenomenon. We’re going to see people building multiple online personalities and carrying them throughout their virtual world. For example, people will use their Second Life personality and move it onto Facebook and MySpace. Kids coming up in Club Penguin will be able to keep that avatar and age it and move it. We’re at the early stages. We haven’t even begun to see the implications of Twittering.

If you’re a forward facing personality can I put all this info out there about me?

Kevin says the answer is usually no. If he’s out there and he lists that his favorite movies are Texas Chainsaw Massacre and the Saw trilogy, that would say something about him. (Yeah, that he has seriously bad taste in movies.)

Jack says that we might want to be a little more cautious about what we’re putting out there about ourselves and be more discriminating about who we’re friends with. We’re going to see companies searching Facebook and MySpace looking for “warning signs” and potential issues.

He just did a post about avatar identify theft in Gaia. It’s been one of his most successful posts because this is a tween and teen and kid site and when he reads the responses from people saying he doesn’t get Gaia, these writers are clearly not teens. It’s a concern that these passionate advocates appear to be adults and most likely male adults. We’ll see more and more monitoring of what could be considered to be questionable online behavior in a lot of the social networks.

Someone told him that a company is actually capturing and storing MySpace and Facebook pages now and will be using them in a search program where potential employers can go back and find the MySpace page of a potential employee from ten years earlier (!!). Just because you eliminate information from a site doesn’t mean that info is lost and gone forever.

Kevin mentions the Internet Archive, but says he has yet to hear of a company that’s cataloging that information and using it. You accept friends of friends and you don’t realize that by extension you’re friends with John Wayne Gacy.

Are virtual words that exciting? [There was some reference to mind expanding drugs but I’m ignoring that part. It’s too early to be talking about drugs. – Lisa]

Social networks are opening up new worlds and new concepts. They’re enabling us to explore multiple aspects of ourselves and get feedback from our community in a fairly fake context. That’s allowing us to respond emotionally to others much more proactively than we can in our physical life where we’re told to think before we act. What virtual worlds and social communities are doing is allowing us to respond to our gut instinct more pro actively and make our brain more of a secondary processing agent. He thinks our younger generations are going to come into their teen years with a more emotional openness than previous generations.

What effects will Google’s social efforts have on Facebook and MySpace?

Facebook information is being made available through Foogle. Google is not in the business of developing original platforms and content. They’re in the marketplace for partnering and that’s what they’ll continue to do. They’ll proactively partner with social communities as they evolve. In terms of Yahoo, they, at one time, would have been well positioned to be a social network and they may still move in that area, but I don’t expect that they’ll be an effective social network, at least with their current team. AOL has clearly moved away from that model. MSN has a chance with Xbox Live. Microsoft is actively in the social networking space in the gaming area.

Kevin talks about Microsoft and says that he’s consistently blown away by the culture that’s evolving around Xbox. There are entire worlds being built which is reminiscent of Dungeons and Dragons. They had their own hierarchy and subculture there but it was clearly a game. He doesn’t know that the Xbox kids really believe that it’s a game.

If we are at the early stage, how long until the burden of managing all that info will result in fatigue and abandonment?

The issue of fatigue and abandonment is a huge one, but people will narrow their choices. As options become more abundant, they’ll find the ones that are more closely aligned with their own individual needs. Facebook will begin to segment just like broadcast television did (cable, etc). That’s how the marketplace will evolve. What we are witnessing right now is the introduction of a complete new category of time consumption that will take away from phone calls, personal meetings, other media consumption, etc. We’re on a huge growth curve in terms of time spent with social networking.

Are we going to get to the point where Facebook is going to become “the thing I did last year” like MySpace and Friendster did?

That’s always possible and these trends come so quickly and then disappear quickly. It’s like saying that CBS will disappear because we have cable. There are certain established companies that are there and have a model and will sustain themselves. Technology is the key. They have to move quickly to embrace mobile. He thinks the open platform that has been introduced will help them stay current and contemporary.

And that’s it. Kevin thanks everyone for joining!

If you enjoyed the conversation and you’ll be at SES Chicago, make sure you hit the Orion Search, Privacy and Community in the Digital Age panel happening on Monday, Dec. 3 at 11:30am.

Posted by Lisa Barone on 11/16/07 at 10:17 AM | Comments (0)
See more entries in SEM Events, Social Media

November 14, 2007

Is Your Search Engine Optimization Campaign Broken?

You’ve done the work, you picked your keywords, you’re using them in your site text and beyond, and still nothing. No visitors. No conversions. Just silence. Were all your search engine optimization efforts for nothing? What’s going on?

That’s the subject of a thread over at Sitepoint right now. An SEO has been approached by a client who says, despite ranking number one for many of their keywords, they’re still not getting many leads or bringing in conversions. They want to know what to do.

The first thing I’d want to do is take a look at the site’s analytics and see what keywords are bringing converting users into the site. I don’t care how many number one rankings you have in Google; if they’re the wrong rankings, they’re not going to help you or your site. Search engine optimization isn’t about collecting visitors on your site. You’re not a museum; visitors who do nothing but look at what you have to offer are of little value to you. You want visitors who will convert.

If people are landing on your site and then leaving once they see what you’re about, then it’s time do some keyword research, to choose the right keywords and learn how to use keywords once you’ve got ‘em. Use WordTracker or Overture’s keyword selection tool to pinpoint high activity search terms for you industry. Personally, I think Google Suggest and Yahoo’s Search Suggestions are two of the strongest keyword research tools out there. They give you a totally unfiltered view of what users are actually searching for. Google and Yahoo wouldn’t be populating their search boxes with those terms if that’s not what users were interested in. And better yet, because those are the terms being pre-populated by the engines and already in users' search box, they’re more likely to use them. Running through these tools should help you discover new opportunities for keyword and content development.

The second thing I’d recommend the site owner do is run through his site, identify the conversion funnel and plug up all the holes. Users are landing on your site, right? Where are they exiting? Is there a common point where people jump ship? Maybe there’s a 404 problem or a complicated form or copy that could be written to be better optimized. Once you know where the problem areas are you can fix them. Simplify the conversion funnel to make it easier for people to convert. Unless this your aerobics workout we’re talking about, there’s no need for unnecessary steps. Give users what they want and then get out of their way.

Going along with that, make sure you have a clear call to action. Don’t be the site owner that gives customers so many choices on things to do that they get confused and do nothing. If you want them to click through to a different page, tell them that. If you want them to buy the product right there, tell them that too. The most compelling call to actions, whether created for search engine optimization or PPC, are those that include a compelling benefit. Encourage users to buy now in order to take advantage of free shipping or to click to read about how they can increase page views tenfold. Let them know what’s in it for them.

Related to plugging up the conversation funnel, I’d also recommend the site owner take a look at his site architecture and make sure that the high traffic pages aren’t buried 10 directories deep.

There are plenty of reasons why a user might visit your site and then leave without converting. Maybe it's a site architecture problem, a copywriting issue or a sign that you don’t understand your core users. However, I think by analyzing your keywords, repairing your conversion funnel and engaging consumers, you’re sure to better any site or search engine optimization project.

Posted by Lisa Barone on 11/14/07 at 3:21 PM | Comments (2)
See more entries in SEO, Search Engine Optimization

SEO Favs, Personal Branding & BC Housekeeping

What’s Your Favorite Search Engine Optimization Task?

Tamar Weinberg alerted us to the conversation going on at WebProWorld where SEOs are talking about what they love about search engine optimization. Aw, it’s like a giant hug fest over there! I want to play.

My favorite thing about search engine optimization is being able to write keyword-rich copy for clients’ Web sites and then watching those sites gain rankings. I know the upward motion has a lot to do with how our smart our analysts are and our clients' ability to implement the changes we set out, but sometimes, late at night, I like to pretend that it was my ability to write smart, keyword-rich content that helped that client to rank better. For me, SEO copywriting is really challenging. I can come to the blog and rant and ramble and be my adorable self, but when I’m writing and representing someone else, that’s a huge responsibility and I take it very seriously. I very much enjoy being able to write something from scratch, weave in keywords, and help customers to find the stuff they’re looking for.

I know this will sound way dorky, but I also like the feeling that I get when a client puts content that I wrote up on their site. I almost feel like I’m part of that site, their community, and the larger Internet as a whole. Okay, I’m going to stop before I start talking to plants about their feelings.

What’s your favorite part or task related to search engine optimization?

Building Your Personal Branding

If there was one lesson I took from BlogWorld, it was the power of personal branding and the responsibility that bloggers have to reach out and expand their communities. That point was drilled into my subconscious so hard that I’m still having dreams about it. And now, even though I’m back in California, it’s still following me. Yesterday, Blog Herald called networking the most important blogging skill, while Neil Patel (who was at BlogWorld and didn’t tell me…jerk) says it’s now who you know, it’s who they know.

The moral of the story is that for a blogger, if there’s anything as important as your ability with the written word, it’s your ability to network and continually expand the reach of your blog. Personal branding is something we should all start becoming more serious about, even if you’re not a blogger.

As the Internet is becoming increasingly more connected, it’s time for Internet marketers to start thinking about the brands and relationships they’re creating online. Your site can’t exist in a vacuum. That ginormous, comprehensive Web site you created five years ago can no longer stand on its own. It has to become part of a greater community and in order to do that, you have to become part of the community as well. So stop being antisocial and go make friends and target your customers where they live on the Web.

Most UK Businesses Still Not Investing in Search Engine Marketing Services

A recent ClickZ article reports that 62 percent of small businesses in the U.K. are not investing in search marketing, despite knowing about the search engine optimization tools available to them and that 76 percent of those doing so report an increase in sales.

So what’s with the hesitance?

I’m not sure. Maybe business owners think it's too hefty of an investment or maybe they’re working with CEOs who don’t understand all the benefits a search engine optimization campaign can bring; either way they’re missing out. As Peter Scargill, IT chairman for the Federation of Small Business, said:

“It is absolutely vital that small businesses realize the importance of investing in search marketing. Creating a Web site is absolutely pointless if no-one can find it."

Amen, brother. If you’re a business owner in the UK, the United States or living in the back woods of New Zealand, it’s time wake up to search engine optimization. Don’t count it out just because your competitors are missing the boat. Their loss is your gain.

Attention BC Blog Readers: 4 +3 = 7

Have something to add to the conversation we’re having on the blog? Super! Click on [comments] button and leave yours. But before you hit post, make sure you answer the spam protection question. No, I’m serious; you have to fill in that little box with the math question. If you ignored the question, your comment will go straight to the spam folder and I won’t see it. And though I do my very best to go through that folder regularly and move stuff into the approved list (coughPatcough), it may take a day or two and we don’t want to silence you for that so long. So, answer the math question (Tip: The answer is 7) and help us see your comment.

Capisce?

Fun Finds

Interesting. The boss of Warner Music finally admitted he was wrong for declaring war on customers. Hmm, you think?

Marshall Kirkpatrick alerted me via Twitter yesterday that there was a new Ze Frank video up on Blip.tv. That’s right, my Internet boyfriend has returned to the Web. Huzzah! So go check him out.

If you’re a touch bored today, you can head over to Mozland give the Mozzers job titles. I worked up a few for Rebecca Kelley but I’m not allowed to write bad words on the blog…

Oh, and the SEO Newsletter will be arriving in inboxes on Thursday. If you’re not subscribed, why don’t ya go ahead and do that now. ;)

Posted by Lisa Barone on 11/14/07 at 3:18 PM | Comments (2)
See more entries in Branding, SEO, Search Engine Optimization

November 13, 2007

How BlogWorld Was Different From an SEO Conference

You’re probably tired of me talking about last week’s BlogExpo, huh? Yeah, well tough, there’s more to come, so you’re just going to have to deal with it.

(I’m kidding, I love you all. You know I do. We’re still friends, right?)

(Photo credit MorgueFile & Mary R. Vogt)

I believe it was the opening day of BlogWorld when I made my way over to Facebook and updated my status message commenting that it was good to finally “be with my people”. Placing that update on Facebook (instead of say, Twitter), was not a wise decision on my part. Why? Because most of my Facebook friends are SEOs. Pretty soon I began receiving emails asking me why I identified more with the bloggers than with the SEOs and how BlogWorld differed from the many search engine optimization-related conferences I attend in a given year.

Well, here’s your answer, along with some of the most noticeable differences between BlogWorld and a search engine optimization conference:

• Meeting Other Bloggers: Participating in BlogWorld gave me a unique opportunity to meet and network with other bloggers. In my day-to-day SEO life, I’ve gotten to meet some incredible search marketers who, when the mood strikes them, also blog. Obviously, I love all the SEO blogging friends I’ve made (especially the conference bloggers circle), but getting to met people who blog because they’re passionate about the act of blogging itself was incredibly powerful and motivating for me. It has inspired me to finally get back into my own writing. Personally, I’ve never been comfortable identifying myself as a search marketer. I understand the optimization and search marketing industry to some degree and I cover it the best I can, but at my core, I’m a writer. I’m never going to be able to optimize your Web site, so having the opportunity to talk to other writers, to share blogging war stories, tips of the trade and experiences was incredibly valuable for me.
• New Mentors: Listening to and learning from new voices is a great way to keep yourself balanced, while extending your circle of influence at the same time. I look up to and respect the Barrys, the Kims and the Michael Grays of this space, and now, having attending BlogWorld, I’ve added a host of other faces to that rolodex. I have a greater respect for Jeremiah Owyang, for Chris Brogan, Leo Laporte, Alex Hillman and the guys from b5media. It’s also allowed me to expand my social circle, especially through the use of Twitter. Yes, I am finally using Twitter. Last week, I saw what a powerful marketing and personal branding tool it can be. It’s allowed me to chat and share and discuss things with a whole set of new people.
• Blogging Anonymity: One of the most fun things about BlogWorld was getting to run around unknown. I knew very few people at last week’s show so I was forced to introduce myself and interact with new faces. And even more fun, was that if you did already know me, you may not have recognized me since I was running around in jeans, sneakers and whatever cute sweater I happened to bring with me that day. The biggest difference between BlogWorld and an optimization conference was that there was no Bruce Clay shirt or large SEO posse walking beside me. People actually got to know me before they realized who I work for and that I have some pretty cool friends. Though I love my SEO posse dearly (and I’m counting the days until PubCon), sometimes, especially as a writer, it’s nice to fly under the radar and watch everyone else around you. It’s good to meet new people and to be respected for who you are and what you do, instead of who you do it for.
• Specialized Sessions: To the organizers of SES, SMX, PubCon and AdTech, I love you all, I really, really do. But to be honest, I’m not interested in watching site reviews, analytics still melts my brain and all the paid search offerings sound exactly the same to me. At BlogWorld, I was immersed in session revolving around blogging and personally branding and creating your own voice, being authentic, and tools that I can use to better all of my blogging efforts. It was like that moment in college when you finally started taking classes related to your major. When all of a sudden you’re in a room with people who are interested in all the same stuff you are. Having the chance to attend BlogWorld was just like that.

Those are just the top reasons by being at BlogWorld was different from a typical search engine optimization conference, at least for me. Specialized conferences, regardless of their topic of focus, help you to learn about your industry and its mission. Last week helped me to realize that I’m part of two industries – the search engine optimization industry, as well as the blogging industry. And I feel very lucky for that.

Oh yeah – BlogWorld also taught me that Mark Cuban is a human being and actually quite likable. Who knew? Next you’ll try and convince me that Jason Calacanis is human, as well. Blasphemy.

Posted by Lisa Barone on 11/13/07 at 12:04 PM | Comments (10)
See more entries in Blogging

November 12, 2007

Using Your Blog To Keep Fires on Your Own Site

Entry to be subtitled: “Southwest Airlines: Treating Customers Like Cattle, One Priority Group at A Time”

One of the key takeaways from last week’s BlogWorld Expo was how blogs give site owners a unique opportunity to keep fires on their own site, preventing them from spreading through the blogosphere where they become infinitely more difficult to put out. This has always been blogging’s key strength – its ability to bring, keep and focus the conversation on your own site where you can control it. Knowing that, it always puzzles me when seemingly blog savvy companies fail to utilize their blogs correctly. We’ll use Southwest as a glaring example.

Thanks to the hectic conference schedule Bruce and Susan have laid out for me, I’m a pretty heavy flyer. If there’s an event to liveblog, there’s a good chance Lisa is going to be there. As much as I fly, heading to Vegas last week was my first time flying Southwest Airlines. Ever. It was a great opportunity for them to win me over and encourage me to do all my West Coast flying using their airlines. But that didn’t happen.

Between the time I flew to Vegas and the time I flew back home, Southwest changed their boarding policy, taking it from Marginally Confusing to Human Bingo.

In case you’re not familiar with the airline, before last Friday Southwest was working under an open boarding policy. This confused me to no end at first, but after a nice boy in a Red Sox cap explained that I really could sit wherever I wanted, things worked out nicely. However, it doesn’t work that way anymore.

Under the new boarding policy, unsuspecting Southwest passengers will see both a letter and a number on their boarding pass. This is not a seat assignment, as that would actually make sense. Instead, this letter/number combination enters you into Southwest’s warped social experiment where passengers are treated like cattle and expected to talk to strangers. [Note to self: Fly anything but Southwest. I'm opposed to any time I have to talk to strangers --Susan] Seriously, can you imagine my horror when I finally got the airport and had to talk to people? It was horrible.

When your boarding group (either A, B or C) is called, passengers must find their place between a series of metallic columns intended to divide passengers up into groups of five. Once you find your corresponding column, you get to make friends with your neighbors and ask them what their