Tag-Archive for ◊ Marketing ◊

Do as we say, not as we do

If you are even remotely involved in marketing, communication or PR, you have no doubt heard of Ragan Communications.  The good folks at Ragan have been providing expert advice for years.  Ragan, like many others in their field, have been getting more involved in Social Media, e-marketing and even Search Engine Optimization (SEO).

One of Ragan’s staff writers recently posted an “aticle” (UPDATE: Original article now resides in member’s only area.  Here is a Google cached version)on how to land on the first page of Google.   In the story, author Michael Sebastion summarizes for us a presentation made by John Spagnuolo at a recent Ragan conferance (which generally are quite good - you should go to one).

Michael’s summary was well-written and John’s suggestions, aside from implying Web teams are slow and difficult to work with, were accurate.

How many SEO rules can one article break?

The page this article is on breaks many of the rules talked about by John, and a few other  important rules of SEO. more…

I’m a Search Engine Optimizer (SEO).  I like to think I do a good job - not great, but good.  By no means am I an SEO industry rock star.  While I’ve done a few site reviews for friends and made some suggestions on how they might improve site rankings on Google and the other Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs), I primarily work on my employer’s corporate Web sites.

Because I don’t consider myself an SEO Expert, I find it curious that for each of the phrases below I rank on page one of Google (tested on 12/10/2008).  These rankings are not just here in Austin, Texas. Thanks to testing done by some of my Twitter pals, I know the pages have similar ranks in other parts of the country and the world. more…

A while back I wrote that email marketers need to do their homework about to who and when they are sending messages.  To say I am shocked that these companies did not read my article and immediately change their processes would be…an exaggeration.  If they paid any attention to the world of e-marketing they would have already done the research and I wouldn’t be ranting (again).

Now I’ve decided to name names.  Hopefully they have the sense to at least have a “Google alert” set up and will read this.  If you are one of THEM, congratulations for getting here.  The messages listed below were all received within one week, Sunday midnight to Sunday midnight and arrived outside of regular business hours (CST). more…

Communications can be a challenge

You’ve heard it a 1,000 times over, you must advertise to keep your business afloat.  For many businesses though, effective communication with consumers is one of their biggest challenges.  You must try to think like your customer, put yourself in their shoes. That’s not always an easy task.  Often advertisers are so caught up in the copy, the design, the music and the ‘call to action,’ that they forget to consider the surroundings and circumstances under which the ad will be seen consumers often end up seeing advertising which probably cost more money to create that it brings in.  Not all mistakes are so big that they jump out at you, little ones happen too - but they can damage your image just as easily.  Whether you are a do-it-yourselfer or a big agency it can be easy to over-look mistakes when you are so closely involved in a project.    Larger advertisers may have the time, money and resources to do A/B testing or focus groups.  It’s my opinion though, that because humans like to make others happy the people being watched and/or tested will inherently try to figure out what the tester wants and give it to them.  Testing, if possible, is an important and useful tool - just use the data you acquire carefully.  Lastly, I strongly urge you to have someone without a vested interest in your advertisement, and who has never seen any version of it, look at it to make sure that it gives the intended message and does not make you look like a jack-ass.  I hate to tie this back to lawyers, but much of what they quote is based on what a “reasonable person” would do.  Put your ads to the same test - what would a reasonable person see, think and feel when they experience your ad?  I offer a few samples I think should have a “reasonable person” test. more…

A few weeks ago I wrote an article asking “What Twitter Name Should Jack Use?” I wanted your help in deciding whether or not to change my Twitter name from @web_guy to @JackLeblond.  While the concensus was by far in favor of the change, there were a few folks with a valid reasoning to leave it alone.

I decided to follow the majority of advice, switched over a few days later and never looked back.

Today while attending the eMarketing seminar at InnoTech Austin, my decision was proven to be the right one - multiple times.

I was fortunate enough to actually meet several people from my tweet stream, and a few more that follow people that follow me.  The spark of recognition when I introduced my self was obvious.  I have no doubt in my mind that had I stayed with @web_guy on twitter, those people I met today would have had no clue who I was.  Yes, we may have figured it out eventually, but that immediate recognition helped to jump start conversations because we already (sort of) knew each other.