I'm sorry. As bad as that sounds... there is absolutely no other way in which I can politely stress my point all the while still express the frustration that I have for the Ask Sponsored Listings platform. It's time for a rant.

Let me be clear... I have no beef with their technology or even their sponsored search network. I happen to think that Ask has done very well on both of these fronts. However, the problem I do have is with the platform's interface. I find their interface to be extremely difficult to use which in turn makes managing a paid campaign very difficult to do - almost to the point where I'd rather my clients didn't advertise on ask. This is a problem and it needs to be addressed.

In my 6 year tenure as a search marketing professional, I have not once come across a PPC interface as difficult to use as Ask's is. Not Google. Not Yahoo!. Not MSN. Not Kanoodle. Not Enhance. Not 7Search. Not FindWhat. Not anyone. To me, it is almost as if Ask took a long look at what other PPC platforms had done with their interfaces and decided to do an about-face and march the other way. I certainly understand the need and desire to be unique, especially in a space as competitive as search, but to ignore certain industry standards when it comes to navigating the platform or even creating and editing campaigns is a horrible mistake.

Originally, I wanted to share specific details about the interface and why I believe it is both difficult and confusing. However, in an effort to avoid further badgering on my part I've decided to axe those paragraphs and cut this post short. I may or may not come back to this subject in the future.

In any event, am I sitting alone on an island here, or do you feel the same way? I'd love to hear your thoughts as they pertain to the Ask Sponsored Listings platform.

Labels: commentary-rants

While the title of this post may suggest something completely different, I'd like to demonstrate the effectiveness of well-written and relevant website and marketing copy - specifically content that has been created with one's target audience in mind.

We, as marketers, understand the need for reaching out to our site's visitors. We understand that creating a conversation, rather than just a one-way dialogue, is crucial. More importantly, we understand the real value when engaging our target audiences in a way that makes sense to them. However, what we don't understand is how to actually do so.

My inspiration for writing this post actually stems from a real life event that happened to me just a few months back. It had been nearly a week after being married, and my wife and I were sitting down to write out our "thank you" notes. Personally, I really didn't want to participate - I have horrible penmanship, and Jackie's handwriting is perfect. However, in the interest of fairness (and to avoid my wife's Sicilian temper - I'm joking, she's a sweetheart) I decided to be a team player and help out.

It was decided that I would write the notes for my family and friends, and she would do the same for hers. One by one we sat at our table and wrote out our thank you notes until we were each finished. The next day, we mailed them. About a week later, Jackie and I both received a text message on our phones from Ryan, one of my life-long friends, which said:

"That was the best thank you card I've ever received, thanks. That's how they all should be. LOL. I'm going to frame it and hang it on my wall."

Now at this point in time Jackie and I had been together nearly 8.5 years, and to say that she knows my friends is a true understatement. She knows that Ryan is the last person in the world you'd ever expect to receive a "thank you" text from, especially for sending him a thank you card. The jig was up. She immediately turned to me and asked "what did you write?"

I told her the truth. I wrote: "Ryan - Thanks for the Cash F@cker! We'll use it to buy stuff. Sincerely, Karl and Jackie."

At first, Jackie remained speechless as she stared at me. I remember looking on waiting for her eye to twitch - a true sign that she was upset - but that didn't happen. Instead, she began to laugh. She said, "That's Ryan".

And it was. It was Ryan to a "T" - immature and straight to the point.

When I began writing out Ryan's thank you note, I knew that not only would he have recognized any one of our 4 canned responses as being B.S., but that if I didn't make personal enough we'd run the risk of turning him off, appearing lame, or worse yet coming across as being unappreciative as is the case with most canned "thank you" cards. I decided to call an audible and go off script. And it worked.

Going back to my original statement about writing for your site's target audience, I'd like to tie in my real life example. While I certainly understand that writing page copy for a website or a marketing campaign in general is complex and is not going to be as easy as personalizing a thank you note for a friend, I believe the process for doing so is the same. In my real life example, I was able to trigger a positive response from Ryan (my audience) by simply engaging him in a way that made the most sense to him, not to me, Jackie, or our other family and friends. To do this, I needed to have a great understanding of my target audience and be willing to follow through, despite other's opinion.

Know Your Target Audience
Knowing your target audience isn't the same as knowing the general age and sex of the people that buy your products and services. Instead, I'm suggesting that website owners need to have a much deeper and more personal understanding of their customers. Owners should know what their customer's exact needs are, as well as any number of other concerns that may influence their purchase.

For example, liquor store owners know that the average customer stepping through their door is going to be male and over the age of 21, but how does that help them sell more alcohol? It doesn't. However, should this liquor store be conveniently located next to a major college university campus, then we'd all agree that he or she would benefit greatly knowing that college students in general tend to have very limited funds and in most cases prefer quantity over quality. True? With this knowledge, the liquor store could stock up on and advertise 30 packs of Keystone Light beer for $10, as opposed to $55 bottles of Grey Goose vodka.

My point is simple. The more you know and understand about your target audience, the better you'll be at engaging them in a way that makes sense to them. In my earlier example, I was very fortunate because my target audience happened to be one of my good friends. While coming up with "Thanks for the Cash F@cker" wasn't exactly rocket science, the verbiage was unique and targeted, and in return generated a positive reaction.

Follow Through, Despite Other's Opinion
First and foremost, the only opinions that matter in regards to your site's content and marketing messages are those of the people it is meant for. That's it. Your best friend's opinion, your neighbor's opinion, and even your own personal opinion on the matter are not valid.

When writing Ryan's thank you note, several scenarios went through my head. What if someone other then Ryan reads it - Jackie, his family, his friends? What will they think of it? What will they think of me? How will they react? When it all comes down to it, the only opinion that mattered was Ryan's.

The same can be said for your site's content and marketing efforts. Your goal as a website owner is to capture the attention of your target audience and then influence their decision through special, targeted verbiage. If you do this, you'll have no problem with getting customers to open up their wallets (or, whatever it is you're trying to accomplish), and you'll put yourself on the right track heading for success.

Labels: commentary-rants

Well I guess it depends on what "it" and "they" are.

If we're talking about the idea of building a baseball diamond in the middle of your family's farm with the notion that doing so will allow the ghosts of major league baseball to appear and play, then you would be correct. Hell, if Kevin Costner can do it... I don't see why you can't either.

However, if we're talking about the idea of starting a website as way to sell your company's products and/or services with the notion that doing so will result in immediate exposure to thousands of online shoppers eager to spend their hard earned money with you, then you would be mistaken.

Apparently, it is much easier to wake the dead for a baseball game then it is to corral the living into shopping on your website. And, I'd have to agree.

Not a week goes by where I'm not responsible for killing the dreams of some small business by simply informing them that there is more to online success then just putting up a website. I mean, sure, we'll build you a company website so that you can sell your products and/or services, but unless you plan on investing in some form on online marketing (or, offline for that matter) - mainly search engine marketing - then what's the point. You're simply padding our wallets and not yours.

It's absolutely crazy to think about how many people out there are willing to spend their very last coin on having a website created - like it's the answer to all of their e-commerce prayers - but fail to even plan/budget for what they're going to do after their site is built.

I don't get it... how do you suppose e-commerce ever got such a reputation? This shit is not a cake-walk, people!

Labels: commentary-rants

Me: I'm hungry, let's order a pizza.

Mom: Sure, from Casey's.

Me: Ummm... yeah. Taco, or sausage and mushroom?

Mom: Taco.

Me: Sounds good. What's their number?

Mom: I'm not sure. You'll have to look in the phone book.

Me: What's a phone book?

Now, obviously I know what a phone book is. However, I like to be a "smart-ass", as my mom would call me, and so I decided to give her a hard time. She hates it when I make her feel old. I find it humorous.

You see, I consider a phone book to be "old school", and my mom knows this. In my opinion, a phone book is a lot like the TV Guide - a resource that is quickly being replaced by alternative faster digital technology. So when I asked my mom "what's a phone book", she took it as a jab. And, rightfully so.

What's my point? Well, I don't really have one. Rather I have a question.

I don't own a phone book, and I haven't since I first moved out. I get them - each year I'll find one at the end of my driveway - but, I never keep them. Instead, I rely 100% on search technology to provide me with those sorts of answers... specifically Google Maps. Google Maps is the best local search tool ever, and I'd much rather use it and my computer to find the information I need then flip the pages of the YellowBook. I imagine quite a few people feel the same. For me, it is just more convenient that way... especially now that I have an iPhone (via the Google Maps app.).

My question is this: do you think as more time passes, and more mobile technology becomes available that phone books will become at thing of the past? My money is on yes. If this does happen, how soon will it be before all of those small businesses pull their YellowBook advertising, and begin to invest in local search marketing? I image sooner, rather then later.

This leads me to believe that those companies who currently know about and practice local search marketing have a monster advantage over their competition - small fish in a big pond. I predict that over the next few years that "big" pond will become over-crowded. Take advantage now!

Labels: commentary-rants, local-search

Welcome to the new year. I hope everyone had an enjoyable holiday season. I sure did. One of my favorite parts about this time of year is being able to get together with friends and family and catch up on each others lives. Well that, and of course all of the food, booze, and gifts that come into play too.

I ended up having one of those sit-down discussions with a close member of my family who just happens to be completely oblivious to what I do for a living. Actually, I can pretty much say that about all of my family. They understand that I drive to work every morning, sit at a desk, operate a computer, and work online with websites, but that's about the extent of it. I try my best not to confuse them with talks of search engines algorithms, link juice, and paid placement techniques. However, in this particular case, I was asked several questions that needed detailed answers. I did my best to explain my position as a search marketer.

During our conversation, we kept coming back to this idea that a website owner could in fact be doing their own search engine marketing... especially those that are budget-conscious. Instead of shooting down this notion that a search marketer is nothing more then an expendable middle-man of sorts, I actually validated it. Hell, it's true.

I explained that my clients could certainly be running their own search marketing campaigns if they had the time, money, and inclination to educate themselves on how to do so. I then followed that with "I could also self-diagnose and treat my own medical needs too, if I had the time, money, and inclination to go to medical school. But, I'd rather just leave it to the professionals". Flick, flick, and flick... the light bulb went off. The analogy worked.

Later that evening while driving home I began to think about this particular conversation and came up with probably the best analogy that I have ever thought of to describe why a search engine marketer is so valuable to a website owner. I was late thinking of it and so it never did make it into my discussion, but maybe you can use it in one of your own.

It goes a little something like this:

Search engine marketing is like running through a forest. Both, while seemingly easy on the surface, can be quite the opposite once you start to consider the tasks associated with each. Now in either case, you could choose to have someone guide you through the process or you could take the task upon yourself. It's your call.

In regards to running through a forest, wouldn't you agree that it is in your best interest to have an experienced and knowledgeable guide with you at all times to explain to you, in great detail, the many dangers that exist? Wouldn't you also agree that having someone tell you when, where, and how to jump or duck as you ran would be better then the alternative... that is falling in holes and hitting your head on low-hanging branches? This kind of foresight is priceless! I guess the alternative is that you could just start running through the forest by yourself and deal with each situation as it arises, but then again you wouldn't really be running now would you?

And that's my point.

When a company invests in a search engine marketer they aren't just paying for someone to submit their website to the search engines and edit a couple of meta-tags. If that is the case then I'd certainly encourage those companies to "optimize" their sites themselves. Instead, companies are employing someone to be at the forefront of their online marketing efforts and, to some extent, share with them year's worth of hands-on experience and industry know-how. Having a search marketer guide you through the many dangers that exist with the search engine marketing process, as well as to tell you when, where, and how to jump or duck is priceless information.

Well, I guess it's not completely priceless. We all have a price, but you get my point.

Labels: commentary-rants

My friend Taylor Pratt shot me over this question via LinkedIn:

"On his most recent post, John Ellett asks the community 'why do advertising agencies neglect search marketing?' Why do you think that is?"

You can read John's full post here. BTW, I read a few of John's other posts too... a fantastic marketing blog. It would also appear that it's a relatively new blog, so let's help him out will a little RSS love, shall we?

In any event, in addition to responding to Taylor, I also thought it maybe worth it to my readers if I publicly weigh-in on this topic as well. Here is my response:

"In my opinion, advertising agencies neglect search marketing because they fear it. Simply put. Search marketing, as we know, is a very powerful marketing channel for both small and large businesses as it is able to provide what most other forms of marketing are not able to... relevant, targeted advertising. Search allows businesses the ability to place paid ads or organic listings directly in-front of the most-appropriate audiences, and only charging for those instances too.

In addition, due to multiple advances in our industry, search marketers are capable of tracking a search marketing campaign from search to click to sale. Meaning, we have the ability to provide our clients with revenue data and the necessary information needed to help them to fully understand the return on their investment. Try getting television, radio, and newspaper marketers to do that.

It is for these two reasons (targeted marketing and ROI tracking) that advertising agencies fear search marketing and will probably never incorporate such services into their offerings. If they did, they could pretty much kiss their hundred-thousand dollar commissions good-bye because I believe their client's, after learning the benefits of search marketing, will put all or most of their marketing dollars into search, and very little into traditional marketing channels."

Not to steal the thunder from John's post, but let me ask all of you that very same question. Why do you suppose advertising agencies neglect search marketing? I'm very curious to know what you readers think?

Labels: commentary-rants, shout-outs

Just now, while trying to access my Twitter account, I was interrupted with a weird login session (for employees only) as well as another screen prompting a 401 Authorization Error. Weird. Maybe Twitter has had its last Tweet.

Here are a couple of screen shots.

Hat tip to Peter.

UPDATE: Twitter is up and Running Again.

Labels: commentary-rants, social-marketing

Ready for a shocker? No, not that kind of shocker you pervert (Greg). The shocker that I'm referring to is the one that leads a person to disbelief and is usually attributed to hearing or discovering something that is completely unexpected. Ready? Alright, brace yourself. Chances are... the website analytics that you've come to know and love - you know, the one tool that you count on most to help with making those very tough marketing decisions - is probably faulty, or at least in some way miscuing it's numbers. Scary thought, isn't it.

Did you know that most analytics programs currently offer what is referred to as the "last-touch" method to tracking - meaning that whichever marketing channel "tags" the visitor last before he or she makes a purchase is ultimately going to get full credit for that sale? That's a problem, and a huge one at that.

For instance, let's say that a person, wishing to research the differences between several brand-name MP3 players, had placed a search on Google for the term "mp3 players". This person stumbles across your highly ranked organic listing, clicks through, reviews your products and pricing, and then moves on to yet another store for additional research. After a week of researching website after website, the person decides to purchase an 8GB Apple iPod Touch from your store - and why not... your products are competitively priced, right? There is only one problem... the buyer had forgotten the exact spelling of your web address, and so in order to re-find your store he or she placed a search on Yahoo! for your company's name. The buyer sees your paid ad, clicks through, and buys an iPod.

Under this scenario, any analytics program using the "last-touch" method for tracking conversions has just awarded 100% of the sale to your Yahoo! PPC campaign, while it's quite obvious that your Google SEO campaign is well deserving of some, if not all, credit. If this happened once or twice a month, this would be no big deal. However, imagine a scenario where this is happening with 20%-30% of your monthly orders and across multiple marketing channels - Yahoo! PPC stealing ROI from Google SEO, Google SEO stealing from MSN PPC, Yahoo! SEO steals from email marketing mailings, and on and on. What a mess that would be. The problem is... its most likely happening to you right now.

In fact, this happens everywhere... even in sports. Consider this, when a basketball player steals the ball and then passes it up-court to an open player, and that player dunks it, who does ESPN credit? The scorer. In baseball, when a pitcher throws a "no-hitter" he gets the credit. The credit is not awarded to the third baseman for his incredible defensive play or even the center fielder for lying out to make a grab. It's awarded to the pitcher.

Now I won't go on record and reveal which analytics programs do this, nor the ones I've tested - that isn't what this post is about. However, if you're currently using or researching analytics programs then I would certainly encourage you inquire about that company's cookie settings, specifically if they employ the "last-touch" method of tracking.

As a person who is responsible for the well-being of several online marketing campaigns, I can't afford to be making decisions (i.e. increasing or decreasing PPC bids, adjusting email marketing offers, or tweaking highly ranked pages on a website) based on faulty data. And, neither can you.

Labels: commentary-rants, web-analytics

Labels: commentary-rants

WARNING: The following post contains a half-intelligent and over analyzed thought to which was spawned from deep within the depths of the author's brain. While in most cases, such thoughts would immediately have been acknowledged and then erased from existence, this particular thought seemed to have evaded the quality control police - the tiny little beings inside our brain that understand the difference between a good idea and a bad idea, and ensure that only good ideas are ever shared. In other words, this thought is armed and dangerous, and readers should proceed at their own risk.

I had a thought the other day, and while I am certain it is one that I should have left in limbo and forgot about, I just can't seem to let it go. For some strange reason or another, I feel the need to share it with someone... and why not all of you?

Ok, so I have come up with the perfect solution for ridding all junk mail from your email inbox. Scratch that. The perfect solution would be to permanently remove all spammers responsible for such junk email from earth. However, seeing how that is not likely going to happen anytime soon we'll just have to proceed with the second perfect solution... creating spam-filtering technology based off of the general male personality. I know, right? It's so brilliant.

It's certainly no secret that men and women communicate differently. While it would seem that both men and women understand the concept of talking, and thus have the ability to speak, I would argue that men and women don't quite share the same skill-set for when it comes to listening. I am of course referring to my fellow men, and our ability to block-out parts of any given conversation, if not entire conversations. Now usually one would only see this happen when conversing with a girlfriend or spouse, but I've personally experienced it outside of an intimate relationship. I'm sorry fellas, the jig is up!

Very similar to how pop-up blockers, email spam-filtering, and TiVo operate, a man's vocal spam-blocker is nothing more than his ability to filter out unwanted information from being pushed on to him. However, what sets it apart from the "all or nothing" blockers mentioned above is that a man's vocal spam-blocker offers a customizable experience in which each conversation is analyzed separately by a completely different set of rules.

For example, my internal vocal spam filtering technology understands that when I engage into a conversation with my mother in which she proceeds to turn a simple topic of discussion into a 20,000 word thesis, it needs to block me out from 100% of that conversation. However, when having a similar conversation with my fiancée, my spam filtering technology understands that the rules are different. Rather than blocking her out completely, it knows that I actually value her opinion and will want to hear what she has to say on a variety of topics.

I believe comedian Henry Cho explains it best in the opening seconds of this skit:

Pop-up blockers block all pop-ups. TiVo blocks out all commercials. And, generally speaking, email filters block out all messages pertaining to sex, Viagra discounts, and the like. While this would seem like an ideal solution to some, it leaves a lot to be desired for. For instance, what if I didn't mind pop-up advertisements or television commercials as long as each one I viewed was something worthy of being interrupted with? Or, what if I was someone who enjoyed viewing smut via email and wanted to save 50% on Viagra? These tools would be working against me rather than for me.

The idea of using a customizable approach, like the male vocal spam filter, is that each user would automatically apply different rules according to their interests at any given time throughout their life. When their interests change, so does your email filtering, pop-up blockers, and TiVo.

Sounds like a killer idea, doesn't it? Now if only if it were possible! The way I see it, we'll need a super-duper smart computer that can tap into our brains, understand what's important, what's not important, and what's desired at every moment of every day, and turn around and apply it to Internet, email, television, and the rest of our lives... thus saving us from having ever being exposed to unwanted information... aka spam.

Hell, it would have even saved you from wasting 3 minutes of your life reading this very post.

Labels: commentary-rants

This should make for a good laugh.

The following is an email marketing campaign that was forwarded on to me from my good friend Gene Carbonell who just so happens to run an online store over at My Health Management.com. Gene and I are always talking SEM, and so when he received this email, he immediately forwarded it on to me... and I of course immediately began laughing.

Move over Sam's Choice Cola and Sam's Choice Drinking Water... there's a brand new product offering hitting the shelves. Introducing Sam's Choice Pay Per Click services:

That's right... America's "favorite" retail chain is offering online advertising packages starting at the low, low rate of $100 per month.

If you're like me, and you're sitting there, reading this, and thinking to yourself WTF?... my only logical guess as to why the Wal-Mart / Sam's Club organization has decided to step into Internet marketing is because they've either A) lost their damn minds or they're B) getting tired of running the mom-and-pop stores of the country out of business and are now looking to bring their fight elsewhere.

Whatever the reason is for Wal-Mart offering PPC services... I can't help but smirk a little. What do you think?

Labels: commentary-rants

Does anyone have a clue as to what's going on with Microsoft's Live Search URL Submission form? The web address is live and the page loads perfectly, but the form seems to be broken. In fact, when trying to submit a website for inclusion, the form displays the following error: "Please enter a valid URL with the format: http://www.example.com". Obviously, I've quadruple checked my submission and have ruled out the possibility of there being a URL format problem.

I just wanted to see if anyone else was experiencing this same problem. I've already checked around on a few of the forums that I participate on, but the subject doesn't appear to have a thread.

Labels: bing, commentary-rants

My post today is in regards to a recent Search Marketing Guru's blog post that I happened to publish just yesterday. The post is titled "My First 'Sphinn' Submission", and while it wasn't anything too grandiose... just a few notes on my recent experience with the Sphinn platform, I found the comments to be quite interesting.

Debra Mastaler says:

"Karl - I've found you need to get a submission "hot" so it's taken to the first page of the site where it has potential to take off. Giving it a little push by contacting friends to Sphinn helps get that process going. Good content should take it from there."

Lyndon Antcliff says:

"Sphinn is interesting because I think people use it in different ways. As a way to drive targeted traffic and raise profile in the industry I think it's very useful."

"However, there is a bit of manipulation going on with friends voting each other up, which is fine and dandy. But when it pushes sub standard content to the fore it reduces the quality of the whole site."

In both cases, Debra and Lyndon alluded to the idea that one has to game the Sphinn system in order to be successful - or in this case generate a large number of "spins". I have a few thoughts that I'd like to share in regards to that.

First of all, Sphinn, as most of you know, is a pretty big deal for us in the search marketing community. While the idea of submitting a story and having a community vote on its worthiness is not exactly an original concept - need I mention Digg or Slashdot - Sphinn is unique in that it is a social community specifically for search marketers.

With that said, my question is this: Why would there be a need to "game" Sphinn for votes? For the sake of a little extra traffic... a few extra spikes in one's Google Analytics report? It just doesn't make sense. Granted, Sphinn traffic is indeed targeted, no doubts there, but in the end it doesn't lead to any sort of monetary conversions. Well, that is unless stroking one's ego is some how profitable.

Sphinn is our community, and while the fact remains that we are a community of marketers and have a natural desire to leverage such social mediums to gain maximum exposure, doing so in a community filled with other marketers just doesn't seem necessary. For search engine marketers, attaining traffic from Sphinn is the equivalent of buying booth space at SMX. Sure you're probably going to have a lot of visitors stop by and shoot the breeze, but at the end of the day you're not going to sell search marketing services to a group of search marketers. My point being... there is no really benefit for getting one's stories spun, other than to contribute to community, so there shouldn't be a need to "fix" the voting. It should be understood that if a story merits a "spin", than the community will provide it.

I think Lyndon was dead on when he said a community where friends voting each other up pushes sub standard content to the front and reduces the quality of the whole site. That maybe ok for Digg and other social communities, but not for our own. Sphinn is a relevant resource... we should do our best to keep it that way.

Labels: commentary-rants

The other day, while on phone conference with a potential client, I was asked if I knew what the industry standard was in terms of Pay Per Click (PPC) management fees, and where All Web stood in relation to those standards. Honestly, I was a bit taken back by this question. I had never once been asked this and know very little about the pricing models of other PPC management providers. Although I couldn't really provide much value to the client's question - I certainly couldn't speak intelligently on the subject or bullshit my way through it - I was able to fork up the following response:

So I ask you... how accurate was my response? The few PPC management companies that I happen to know of either bill a flat rate for their services or a combination of a flat rate and a percentage of spend. For you PPC providers out there... what do you charge for management services? For you clients or individuals who've done some research lately... what kinds of pricing structures are you coming across?

Labels: commentary-rants, paid-search

There are numerous benefits to employing a Search Marketing firm to manage your company's Pay Per Click advertising. Two of the bigger benefits that easily come to mind are time-management and professional assistance.

Pay Per Click campaigns should be monitored multiple times throughout each day. If a merchant is going to be successful online, he or she will be responsible for many hours each week managing bid changes, writing and adding new advertising copy, reconfiguring daily, weekly, and monthly budget figures, and reviewing and acting on analytics data. There is a lot to do, and very little time to do it... especially if the merchant is a single-person or smaller operation.

In addition to that, PPC marketers spend a great deal of their time learning. We read industry focused blogs and newsletters, test new products and services offered by the search engines, and attend several yearly PPC seminars and conferences. Therefore, when you employ a Search Marketing firm to manage your company's advertising you are essentially buying their wealth of advertising knowledge as well as their past years of experience in dealing with PPC accounts, platforms, strategies, and techniques. The resources that professional PPC managers bring to the table are endless and are typically without additional costs.

Employing a Search Marketing firm to manage your PPC advertising means having the peace of mind that your company's campaigns are being run correctly, in addition to now having the necessary time needed to effectively attend to the many other daily tasks associated with running an online business.

Labels: commentary-rants, paid-search

Managing campaigns across multiple platforms can be a little problematic in the sense that a company has to create and maintain an internet presence at multiple locations (say Google, Yahoo! MSN, Ask, and any other PPC provider). This typically translates into a larger work-load and more advertising spend. However, the benefits certainly out-weigh any of the hassle that goes along with doing so.

The most obvious benefit to advertising with multiple search engines is the sheer amount of additional exposure a company will receive. Each major search engine has its own advertising network consisting of smaller search engines and website partners. With only a few buys, one can literally have their brand or message exposed to hundreds of millions of internet users daily... rather than being limited to the reach of just one search engine and its network.

The same pretty much applies for niche and vertical search engines. Pay Per Click advertising is all about being where your target audience is. Setting up local PPC campaigns or those campaigns that allow you to advertise in niche areas is another opportunity for a company to gain exposure. As with all forms of marketing, the more exposure an advertisement receives, the more leads it will be able to generate, which, in turn, could ultimately mean an increase in sales or conversions.

Labels: commentary-rants, paid-search

So this is what it's like when worlds collide... totally freakin' sweet!

I happen to be a huge video game fan, and have been for most of my life. That shouldn't be a secret to most of you though as I've mentioned this several times here on the Klog alone. I even had an opportunity to outshine a few of you SEMs with my gaming talents this past June at Microsoft's adCenter party (during the SMX Advanced conference in Seattle).

Just in case you forgot... here's a picture to remind you:

Now with that being said, it shouldn't come as surprise to any of you to know how excited I am that just yesterday Microsoft, in all their greatness, inked a deal with Electronic Arts (specifically the EA Sports brand), one of the biggest developers in the gaming industry, to provide in-game advertising for a number of popular sports games. For you gamers out there, this translates to Madden football, EA's Nascar, Tiger Woods golf, NHL hockey, and several upcoming skateboarding games.

For those of you who don't understand how in-game advertising works, Microsoft will act as a broker (through "Massive" - a company they purchased sometime ago) between companies that want to get their ads in front of gamers and game publishers whom are eager to tap new sources of revenue to offset higher development costs for flashy new games... which can cost upwards of $20 million to make. It's actually pretty cool. As a gamer, I love seeing actual advertising in the background as I skate through the streets of a major city or play inside an official MLB park. It adds that realistic feeling.

Now I know what you're all thinking... buying ad space in a video game isn't exactly search marketing. Well, as true as that is, neither is utilizing YouTube, Digg, or any other social media platform for traffic... but you'll still find such services offered by many elite search marketers. Maybe, just maybe, All Web will one day be buying video game advertising for their clients. One never knows in this industry.

And for those of you out there who think I'm absolutely off-the-wall crazy for even suggesting that search marketers may one day manage in-game ad buys... you must have forgotten about Google's recent $23 million acquisition of Adscape last February. In that one single purchase, Google gained the technology needed to serve in-game video game advertising.

We all now that when Google, the king of search and online advertising, makes such a move the search marketing industry in most cases will always follow. And why wouldn't we, in-game advertising was worth just $50 million in 2005, now nearing $200 million in 2007, and is expected by many analysts and industry executives to increase to $1 billion over the next few years.

Labels: commentary-rants, paid-search

So there I was walking into my local Target store when out of the blue it hit me... I was a changed man. At first I didn't know what to think. I was a little frightened, but eventually came to terms with the notion and continued onward deeper into the store. The cause for my revelation was quite simple. I had veered to the isle on the right after passing the "fork in the isle" just past the carts, and not my normal path which was to the left.

Now, before you readers out there start scratching your head like "what the hell is he blabbing on about", let me explain. I am a person who has a routine or game plan for almost every situation. That's just who I am. With that said, I even have a "normal" routine for when it comes to "just browsing" at my local retail stores. Normally, in this exact situation, I would have turned left at the junction and proceeded down the isle to the electronics department. There I would have scoped out the latest and greatest in TVs, movies, video games, and other guy-like toys before moving on to the automotive, sporting goods, and seasonal departments. However, on this day I unconsciously took the opposite path.

"Where in the hell was I going?" Well, I'll tell you. I was well on my way to the housewares department to see what Target offered in matching kitchenware, and then onto their grocery department to see if I could score some deals on frozen pizzas, condiments, and Gatorade. Somehow, and without me knowing it, my priorities had shifted. Instead of catching a great deal on a digital camera or a new Nintendo DS game, it was made apparent that I was more interested in a new toaster or Faberware spoons. It's quite sad really.

How could that be? How could my scope on shopping change so drastically and without notice? Well, it's quite simple really. Like with most things, change is reflected upon the decisions we make. A month or so ago, my girlfriend Jackie and I bought a house... I know I know... it's a big step, right? (Absolutely no comments from you monkeygirl) In any event, this decision to change my lifestyle caused an unforeseen change in how I now shop/browse stores (both online and offline), newspaper flyers, or anything else really. It's not a bad change by any means... it was just a shock is all.

This same kind of thing happens all the time in business.

To quote one of my all-time favorite movies: "If I can change... and you can change... then we all can change" - Rocky Balboa (played by Sylvester Stallone) in Rocky 4 as he addresses the Russian people after his fight with Ivan Drago. As odd as it may sound, I find this statement to still hold true in today's ever changing world of search marketing, as well as business in general. It may not portray exactly how Rocky had intended it to, but both people and their companies do change, and with them their business responsibilities, perspectives on the industry, loyalties, and even priorities change too.

We all have an understanding of this... right? Changing with the times, with your client's needs, and with the latest product offerings is just smart business. However, what's not so well understood is that much like my Target example above, the decisions one makes today could very well have an unforeseen change in the way that person's company operates in the near future. Think about that the next time you, your boss, or the people in power make decisions that affect your company's policies, product or service offerings, staffing, or even employee benefits.

Take a look at your business. What recent decisions have you made? What recent changes have you implemented? The slightest change could start an uncontrollable, unforeseen chain reaction that could just end up to bite your company in the ass... well that, or make you all extremely rich.

Labels: commentary-rants

If there is ever a certainty in life it is that people change. Over time a person's needs, views, and desires will undoubtedly change to reflect the events that have taken place throughout the course of his or her life. What was once important a year ago may be seen as trivial today.

Changes like this occur all the time in business (especially in the SEM industry), and it's not always for the good. If there ever comes a time when your company feels that they no longer need a certain resource, manufacturer, or business partner then its best that you cut your losses as soon as possible. Otherwise you'll be responsible for dragging both parties through a long, ongoing, and messy separation.

Take my recent fall out with PSM (PlayStation Magazine) for instance. Their magazine was easily my favorite monthly read a year ago (and to be honest years before that). It seemed that I was always waiting for the next issue to be delivered and when it was, I usually had it read front-to-back in a day or two.

Over the past year my feelings toward the Sony PlayStation brand have changed greatly, and sadly, this also means that my feelings towards the PSM magazine have changed as well. I no-longer find myself dying to get my hands on the next issue, and to be honest it's gotten to the point where I actually could care less if I even receive the next issue.

Just for kicks... here is the email that I sent to PSM informing them that I no longer wished to receive their magazine, and that I (jokingly) wanted them to refund me for my unused issues. I wonder if I'll even get a response. Better yet, I wonder if they'll address my email in their next issue. Should be interesting.

Title: It's Not You... It's Sony

Dear PSM ~

There comes a time in every gamer's life when he (or she) must stop, put down his controller, and re-evaluate his priorities on gaming. This week was my time. Today I made the single most difficult decision of my gaming life. Today, I officially turned my back on Sony and the PlayStation brand.

To be honest... I've been tossing this decision back and forth in my head from as far back as last November when Sony tanked the launch of its own PS3 console. That day, it was made very clear to me (and apparently other readers of your magazine) that Sony isn't focused on doing right by gamers, but rather out to claim an even bigger stake in the future of the movie entertainment industry. Why else would they launch a $600 videogame console in November with 2 million consoles shy of what was originally planned and with only one quality launch game to boot? It's beyond me!

In any case, before the mistake that was the PS3 launch, I went ahead and signed up in advance to receive your magazine up-and-to April of 2009. At the time, I was dead set on getting a PS3 (there was no reason not to) and I knew you guys would have the better PS3 coverage (previews, reviews, and commentary) that I've come to love. It was a simple no-brainer. However, with this recent change in my gaming lifestyle, one that is free of all things Sony, I really no longer see the need to carry on my subscription with PSM magazine.

So with that being said... what I propose is that you consider ending my subscription starting immediately and refund me for the remaining two years that I have left. What do you say... sound like a plan?

Finished laughing? It's ok... I'll wait.

If that is something that you're not up to doing than may I propose that you give the remaining two years of my subscription away to a fellow loyal reader... maybe as a prize to a contest? After all, it's not PSM that betrayed me... it is Sony, and unlike Sony I'm willing to give back to gamers!

To the great staff at PSM I'm sorry you had been caught in the middle. It's not you... its Sony!

Thanks for the memories.

Karl Ribas

Labels: commentary-rants

I was flipping through the latest Search Marketing Standard magazine (the Spring 2007 edition for those of you keeping track at home) and came across back-to-back advertisements for this April's Search Engine Strategies (SES) conference in New York City and for June's Search Marketing Expo (SMX) in Seattle. Seeing them both together like that really got me thinking... can our industry really support yet another major search marketing conference, or is one ultimately doomed to fail?

I guess only time will tell, but I'm interested in knowing what you all think.

My thoughts are simple and rather straight forward on the subject. Honestly... my perception of Search Engine Watch and of the Search Engine Strategies conference has changed slightly now that Danny isn't going to be chairing future events. I'm not sure why... it just is. I think as his SMX brand continues to gain top-notch sponsorships and attract our industry's elite speakers that eventually industry folks will need to make a choice... and that choice will be Search Marketing Expo.

Why will the industry need to make a choice? Well, for now I think sponsors and speakers are ok with shelling out the money and time in order to support both conferences, not to mention other industry conferences such as WebmasterWorld's PubCon or Ad:Tech. However, there will come a time when SMX will end up doing 5 - 7 shows a year and pulling in 1,500 - 2,000 attendees per show. It will begin to run in a similar rotation as the SES conference. With that, I think traveling back and forth to all these shows and spending all that money in either sponsorship fees or conference passes will catch up to most individuals and companies... and thus they'll need to make a choice.

Why will the industry choose Search Marketing Expo? Two words... Danny Sullivan! He is no doubt the Dali Llama of the Search Engine Marketing industry, and as Greg Boser once said, "where the Dali Llama goes... the industry will follow". I certainly believe that.

Anyway... that's just my 2 cents. What are your thoughts?

Labels: commentary-rants, conferences

Here's the plot:

A princess of a very popular place has been kidnapped by a large and powerful dragon. Oh, and just not any dragon... the most feared and hated of all dragons. This dragon has been terrorizing her kingdom and kingdoms like hers for years now. Needless to say, the dragon is a huge threat, and the princess remains helpless and in need of rescuing.

If this were your story, and going with what I've just given you, who would you cast to be the hero(s)? Who would you send out to find and save the beloved princess, slay the evil dragon, and bring peace to all the lands?

• Her father, the king, and his guards
• Her brother, a prince and his loyal followers
• Her love interest, a prince, and his men
• The knights of the round-table, sworn to protect her
• An ancient, magic-wielding wizard

Who would it be?

Well, for Shigeru Miyamoto of Nintendo, it would be a couple of over-weight, fire-ball throwing, and warp-pipe mastering plumbers in red and green over-alls. Doesn't make for an exciting story... or does it? Enter Mario and Luigi, the Mario brothers. They're just your average "Joes" and they've been saving Princess Peach Toadstool and the Mushroom Kingdom from the evil dragon Bowser Koopa since 1985.

The story of the Mario Brothers absolutely rocks to no end! These characters have been featured in dozen's of Nintendo titles and scenarios, and are legendary icons in the world of video games. Simply put... Mario and Luigi are the Dahlia Llamas of the gaming industry.

A couple of years ago, while I was brushing up on my Adobe Illustrator skills, I created this uber-cool poster. (Sorry... the picture's not straight and a plastic cover is creating a glare... but you'll get the point).

I have a copy of this poster hanging on my cube wall (yes... I work in a cubicle) as a constant reminder that success means having the courage, the determination, and the will to be different and break the barriers of traditional concepts.

If you consider the time of when "Super Mario Bros." was created, it was quite common to see a game that featured a damsel in distress and a knight in shining armor. Never was the knight in shining armor a short, chubby commoner. It was always a tall, handsome hero with ties to royalty. In the midst of Nintendo's huge NES console launch (the videogame system that would ultimately change the gaming industry forever) they decided to headline an innovative game that broke those traditions... and it worked. 22 years later, Mario and Luigi games continue to fly off the shelves and Nintendo continues to profit.

"To think that Nintendo Bet the house on a couple of Plumbers"

Does your company offer new and innovative products or services, or do you follow the same old traditions set forth by those before you?

Labels: commentary-rants

I've got a proposition for someone, and no I don't mean that kind of proposition. I need someone to drive on over to the DMOZ offices (currently owned by AOL) and pull the plug on their poor excuse of an existence. Seriously... any takers? Someone really needs too.

DMOZ, for those of you who don't know, is a very powerful online directory (human-edited). It has a very large index of websites, lots of daily visitors / users, and offers huge rewards for those websites lucky enough to be included. However, lately they've really been sucking it up. Actually, they've been sucking for quite some time now, but it's only been recently that I've become bothered by their suckiness (I know "suckiness isn't a word - Microsoft Word already pointed that out - but work with me).

For the past few months now, DMOZ hasn't been accepting submissions. This is to say that they're not allowing new websites into their directory by way of their "submissions" page (who knows what actually goes on behind the scenes). When trying to access the directory's "suggest a URL" page the following "Service Temporarily Unavailable" error comes up instead:

As you can see from this screen-shot... this scheduled down-time was only supposed to last a day or 2. DMOZ was supposed to take a little nap while the team solved their technical problems. Ha... looks like that nap turned out to be a 3 - 4 month coma! Serves them right!

For years now, I've been submitting sites to the DMOZ directory. I do so in accordance with our SEO strategies at All Web Promotion, and also with many of my own projects too. I can honestly say that out of the 100 - 150 or so websites that I've submitted in my 3 year run in this industry that not one of them has ever been approved. That's not good. At first, I used to think that it was due to an error on my part. However, after reviewing several online articles and resources, including DMOZ's own editorial guidelines, and speaking with others in the industry regarding the matter, I've since changed my point-of-view and now point my finger directly at DMOZ. They're to blame.

The general consensus seems to be this: in order to have a website included within the DMOZ directory, one either needs to know an editor... or bribe one. Well I say to hell with that! Who needs that kind or corruption? If that's how things are going to be with DMOZ, than maybe its best that they remain in their current coma state... we'd certainly be better without them.

On a side note... I guess it just goes to show that maybe human's don't do it better!

Labels: commentary-rants

Labels: commentary-rants, guest-posts

Time to get sentimental (hold back the tears). The end of 2006 is upon us and it's time to reflect on all of the great articles and posts we have read and discussed with each other over the past year. For me, it seemed like there was an abundance of Top 10 Lists popping up all over blogs, which is great! I love Top 10 Lists! They're direct, straight to the point - I can skim through them and read the points that catch my eye and I'm done! So with that, I (and others) thought it would be beneficial if someone compiled a list to remind us of all of the great Top Whatever's of the past year related to the industry (if it wasn't, this list would be chock full of Letterman jokes). I'm happy to present my Top 10 List of (but not limited to) Top 10 Lists of 2006 + 2, or as it is known in Europe, Listmania Haus 2006.

1.) 12 Different Types of Links and How to Get Them by Stuntdubl.
What better way to start a Top 10 list post than with the king of Top Whatever/Reasons, Stuntdubl. As someone who knew the benefits of linking, I didn't quite know alternative ways to go about getting actual quality links from web sites other than sending out blind emails begging for a link (exaggeration). This post is an excellent guide to have on hand on not only showing what kind of links to aquire, but also what to look for to identify a particular quality link, examples, and additional notes on how to go about getting this link.

2.) Top 7 SEO Mistakes For New Site Owners by Mr. SEO.
This is an excellent list of SEO Mistakes that new site owners should have folded up in their back pocket. Simple and easy for the newest of newbies to understand, he outlines many of the things I tell my clients to avoid or should be doing at the very least. This is a list anyone can do and should be doing.

3.) 101 Ways to Build Link Popularity in 2006 by Andy Hagans and Aaron Wall.
The mother load of linking tips. Broken up into categories and sections, this list is an invaluable resource of knowledge and ideas. It is so huge and such a great resource that ANYONE should be able to pull at least ONE great idea from it and act on it. In fact, I'm acting on the first category right now: "Love for Lists." Print this baby out!

4.) 10 Remarkably Effective Strategies for Driving Traffic by randfish.
The team over at SEOMoz does an excellent job of cranking out useful, informative post after post that you would have to think they are in fact not humans but Data-like characters who sit 24/7 writing posts to make benefit glorious industry of SEO (a Star Trek and Borat reference all rolled into one.) Seriously though, this list outlines different ways you can drive traffic to your site through the use of either great design, a creative Keyword campaign, or simply attending your industry events and writing about it. When you read it, you can realize how you can use the tools around you to actually improve your site easily.

5.) Top 10 Business Mistakes Search Marketing Firms Make by Marketing Pilgrim.
Maybe a lot of us search marketing agencies spend so much time improving the quality of our clients businesses that we forget to update our own businesses ways of operation! Here, Andy details how Search Marketing Firms may be missing the boat on how to effectively benefit their business, which in the long run, will make you and your clients more successful. Not only can this list come in handy for Search Marketing Firms, but you can most likely apply it to any business.

6.) Do Your Users Trust You?: 21 Tips for Improved Website Credibility by stuntdubl.
In this list, Todd outlines different ways any online business can give themselves the credibility they need to attract more business. It is so easy to be a fly-by-night operation on the internet that savy customers are now looking for ways to make sure you are a credible business they can safely transact with. For instance, by simply adding an 800 number with your business hours, or by adding a physical address you can build some confidence within your customers. What have you done to improve your customer confidence?

7.) 7 Reasons Why You Should Add More Content to Your Website by Jim Boykin. Conference after conference, agency after agency, you are told to add content to your site, and here is why in 7 sweet and short reasons. Let's do some role playing, I'll be Jim, you can be an inquiring mind.

You: "So Jim, why do you think my site isn't showing up in Google?"
Jim: "You've got the same content on your pages as 50 other sites have."
You: "And this is a problem how?"
Jim: "Google will try to choose the 1 page it thinks is the 'real' one, will it be yours? Or will yours go supplemental?"

Read the rest of his reasons to find out why you may not be showing up on the SERPS.

8.) 11 Best Practices for URLS by randfish.
If you're thinking about adding a whole new product line to your web site, or are in the process of developing a new web site, then this post is a must. Your URLS are important in not only that search engines are becoming pickier and pickier about what they'll like better but they also can improve your click through rate. For instance, if you're URL is http://www.example.com/acf934.html and the URL right next to your listing is http://www.example2.com/product-i-want.html, which would you be more inclined to click on? This list outlines many more ways to make the most of your websites URLS.

9.) The 12 days of Christmas by Paul Boisvert.
Ok, ok, maybe this isn't exactly along the same lines as the other posts, but it is still a list and an excellent one at that. Paul from the official Yahoo! Store Blog gave 12 great tips on how to maximize the effectiveness of your Yahoo! Store. Start implementing these tips into your store and I'll bet you'll see some vast improvements in your store through the year.

10.) 99 Branding Tips for Poor Web Startups by the Aviva Directory.
You know what's great about the internet? Is that anyone can pretty much start up their own business from the comfort of their own home. You know what isn't so great about the internet? Is that not everyone can afford to market their web site from the comfort of their own home. Check out this list for 99 different ways you can market your web site with even the smallest of budgets.

Bonus!

Jill Whalen's 10 Signs That your SEO is a Quack! If your SEO mentions the items in this list, then maybe it's time you moved to a new agency.

+

While doing my research for this post, I came across a post by Neil Patel who did a post on his Top 50 Favorite Blogging Resources. He lists some great web sites where you can get the know-how and find the resources you need to create a successful blog.

Bonus Bonus!

While Karl didn't want me to mention any of his posts in this article because it would look bad (and I think he only did one list post anyway), he did do an excellent article: How to Attain Repeat Business. He offers some great ways you may not have thought of to keep customers coming back to your store. For instance, by simply adding your business card with your order or offering free samples with each order, you can increse the chances of your customers returning to your site. It's worth a read.

So this concludes my Top 10 List of Top 10 List posts of this year. Do you agree, disagree? Who and what did I miss? Does this even matter because it'll all be irrelevant in a few months anyway? :P Please share your thoughts - and have a great New Year!

Labels: commentary-rants, guest-posts

In a previous post, I mentioned ways that website owners and online merchants could benefit and even learn from the mistakes that Sony made in its recent launch of their PlayStation 3 (PS3) console. As good as those suggestions were, I've since come across another source that I feel is also worth looking into... her name is Jackie, and what she can indirectly teach us about Search Engine Marketing, specifically Pay Per Click Management, is worth... well... an SES Conference Badge.

Jackie is a music director for a local Illinois grade school (2 of them actually), and she also happens to be my loving girlfriend (whom I absolutely adore). Neither of these facts has any bearing on her hidden abilities to be an excellent Pay Per Click marketer... however, I still thought they were worth mentioning.

So what can Jackie teach us about our industry? Well, I must admit that at first this story will seem to be a bit off-topic, but bear with me and I'll do my best to pull it all together.

Jackie and I love to play "MarioKart" for the Nintendo GameCube. It's not my favorite game, but I do enjoy playing it... and besides, it's always nice to find a game that she's interested in as well. She absolutely loves to play MarioKart, and does so often as a stress reliever... which I can totally relate too.

MarioKart is a racing game which features Nintendo's most well-known trademarked characters, such as Mario, Luigi, Toad, Princess Toadstool, Donkey Kong, and many more, and the goal is to race souped-up go-carts around 16 or so tracks. The kicker is, that unlike other versions of MarioKart, this one is titled "Double Dash" and forces you to race in a 2-man cart (with 2 characters).

Jackie and I are both very, very good at the game. In fact, we always seem to be competing for bragging rights on one particular track called "Baby Park". She claims that she is the best at the course, and I, being a guy, certaintly can't let her one-up me. We've decided that the best way to determine who was better between her and I at "Baby Park" was to compete in "time-trial" mode... meaning that whomever had the best race-time for the course, would ultimately be #1.

For months now, I had owned the top record for "Baby Park" making me the better player. I was very confident in my record, and thought that her every attempt to beat me was a lost-cause. I had a couple of seconds on her best time and she didn't seem to be making any ground. Did she stop... nope, not one bit... and it paid off.

I recently returned from this past SES Conference to find that she not only beat my top record, but had completely destroyed it. I was shocked. How could she have topped it? After begging for what seemed like hours, she let me in on her little secret. First of all, let me start by saying that she made every turn, cut every corner, and took every possible short cut that I did... so the difference in her time wasn't a change in technique. Her response: "Easy. I just kept partnering up different characters with different carts until it worked. Once I beat your record, I continued to tweak the combination of carts and players to achieve better results."

Absolutely Genius!

Jackie tested 306 2-player character combinations across 10 possible go-carts until she found the right player-player-cart combination that would allow her to initially beat my record. Once she did that, she continued to test alternative combinations in order to shave milliseconds off of her already untouchable record. She didn't beat my record with one session... rather with many sessions of testing, tuning, and trial and error. She literally beat me a millisecond at a time, and cracked an unforeseen algorithm that was not allowing her to succeed.

Now stop and apply that same message to Pay Per Click marketing. See where I'm going with this? It's not that her strategy is complicated or difficult to understand by any means... as Search Engine Marketers we're all aware of the need for testing and tuning. In fact, if I learned anything at all during this past SES conference it was the importance of testing and fine-tuning Pay Per Click campaigns. And now that I think of it, maybe I should have just stayed home and played MarioKart with Jackie. I would have learned the same lesson and would have saved boss-man a couple of C-notes in the process.

I was so certain of my initial accomplishment that I left well enough alone. That's not what a true marketer does. A true marketer does as Jackie did... they poke and prod and continue to improve upon their successes.

In MarioKart there are characters and carts. In Pay Per Click marketing there are titles & descriptions and landing pages. Whether you're attempting to achieve a higher lap-record or a higher click-through and conversion rate... the secret lies within testing.

Labels: commentary-rants

Do you really trust yourself, or someone with little to no experience, to handle all of your company's search engine marketing efforts? If you do... should you?

Forget that for a second... let me ask you this instead: Would you do your own taxes or let someone who is inexperienced with tax laws and regulations do them for you in order to save a few bucks? Ok... some of you might, but I'm going to go out on a limb and say that a large majority of you don't. Why do you suppose that is? My guess is because you, like I, understand that an error in our taxes can be very costly in more ways than just one.

Sure there are tools and resources available just about everywhere, both online and offline, that can help guide us through our tax forms, but knowing that there is a lot at stake, especially in a monetary sense, we tend to let those with a little more experience take care of us. The same can and should be said for your search engine marketing efforts.

There are tons of great articles, blogs, tools, and online resources available that can make optimizing a website or managing a paid-placement campaign seem easy. In fact, I am the author of several "how to" and "do it yourself" type articles, blog posts, and resources. However, I, in no way shape or form, would ever suggest to anyone that they begin making search engine marketing related changes or advances to their website, or at least without first reviewing the project with a Search Engine Marketing Consultant.

My reasoning: The negatives, such as having your website banned from the search engines or being charged several thousand dollars more than expected for a PPC buy, out-weigh any and all positives.

Wouldn't you agree?

Labels: commentary-rants

By now, you all are aware that Sony and Nintendo launched their newest consoles over the weekend: the PS3 on Friday and Wii on Sunday. With television commercials, news updates, eBay buys upwards of $4000.00, and the super long lines (and tents for those who lined up days in advance) outside of retail stores, it was quite the frenzy. Before you cast judgment on the entire ordeal, or begin to think how crazy people are to be standing in lines just to get one... I should probably tell you that I was among them.

I've been playing videogames since the age of 5 and now own several game consoles, subscribe to 3 gamer magazines, and read the many gamer websites online... basically I follow the industry pretty closely as it is a huge interest of mine. With that said, it shouldn't be that much of a shock to anybody reading this that I would be among the few who attained one of these very limited consoles.

Those who know me know that I am a huge Sony fan when it comes to videogames. In my opinion, no other videogame console to date has been able to compete with the Sony PlayStation counterpart of that same time period. Nintendo 64 was no match for the first Sony PlayStation, and neither Nintendo's GameCube nor Microsoft's Xbox could hang with the PS2 (PlayStation 2). The same can be said for today's generation of consoles.

When Sony unveiled the PS3 2-years ago, I knew then that I would be getting one on release date... no matter what. When Sony dropped the bomb that the price would be $599.00 for their premium model... I didn't bat an eye! When Sony failed to meet expectations and would only be shipping 200 - 400 thousand consoles to all of North America on launch date... I stood firm. The truth is, I had expected the price to be high and was prepared to stand in line for long hours just to get my hands on one. I even started a PS3 fund which consisted of spare change and some extra that I'd been taking out of each of my pay-checks.

So with all of that said... can you guess which console I stood in line for over 6 hours to get? Well, if you guessed the Sony PlayStation 3 than you're absolutely... wrong! I bought a Nintendo Wii. A shocker? Yeah... it was to me too.

I've been a loyal customer to Sony for over 10 years... putting their consoles and games before every other that it contested. A week or two ago, I made the decision not to buy a PS3. Why you ask? Well, my reasoning is simple. It wasn't because I didn't feel that it was a superior machine, because it is, or because of the expensive price tag, or even because of the shortages, but rather it was because it is lacking some very much needed game support... meaning that it didn't offer any games that I was interested in playing. And that is a deal breaker. What good is owning a brand-new $600+ game system when there is nothing of interest that I'd want to play on it?

On the flip side... there is Nintendo, which I happen to also be a fan of and own their products as well. They are offering their new console at $250 and with several game options that I'm interested in. Seems like a very logical choice doesn't it?

I obviously wrote this to share my weekend experience with you, but I also believe there is something to learn from all of this... at least in the business sense.

• Know thy customer. Knowing your customers is the first step to being successful. You should know what the general customer wants and the price range they're expecting to pay for it.
  
  In the case of the Sony PS3, a large majority of their audience is going to be kids (ages 5 - 17). With that in mind, releasing a product that is $600.00 is probably not going to be well received... especially when the competition is offering it for half. So what happens in the future? Well, my guess is that Sony will lose ground as parents won't splurge to buy one. Thus there kids will grow up to be Nintendo loyalists and not Sony... meaning 5 - 7 years down the road the lines waiting for the new Nintendo will be larger than that of the PS4.



• Understand the demand for your product. Plan for each occasion/holiday and be prepared to spend a little more to ensure that products remain in stock.
  
  Sony was not able to meet the demand for their PS3, and thus if you weren't lucking enough to have gotten one last Friday you probably won't until March 2007. I can't help but wonder how many more Nintendo Wiis and Microsoft Xboxes will be sold on the account of the PS3 being out of stock. Sony has no doubt irritated many of their customers, and will probably loose their fans to other consoles.



• Understand the expectations of your customers. Knowing what your customers are doing with your products may in turn help you to be both innovative and successful. Simply put, if your product doesn't appeal to the needs of your customers they're not going to buy it.
  
  When people buy the PS3 or any other game console they aren't buying them for the sake of buying them. They want to play games, and games that interest them at that. If there are no games fans will go elsewhere, as was the case.

By failing to understand these 3 points, Sony will not only lose this round in the videogame console war, but future ones as well. My suggestion to you: Don't be like Sony... understand your customers and their needs, and be sure not to disappoint them with products that are "out of stock".

Labels: commentary-rants

I, like most, am not a big fan of interruption marketing, otherwise known as television commercials, irrelevant email offers, and the like. However, at the same time, I'm not one to object the slightest bit of entertainment they provide either. Sure the true nature of a commercial or email SPAM is annoying, mostly because they interrupt us from doing what ever it is we're doing, but there are some good laughs to be had at their expense.

Take for instance, this little bit of email Spam that I received over the weekend:

(Note: I've removed all link references for obvious purposes)

This Email has been sent to you because your web site has DROPPED out of the Search Engines!

You have probably noticed that you have NOT received many enquiries lately!

Can this be changed? YES!

YOU may be unaware of this Shocking fact: Your web site designer and your host are NOT responsible for getting your web site seen! Yes, they may submit your site to a few search engines periodically but to stay on the Search Engines and at the TOP is an aggressive business.

As world leader in Professional Web Site submission we can help!

We guarantee that your web site will be FOUND and SEEN! Click here to see how we can help!

As a website owner, the first line had obviously gotten my attention. Dropping out of the search engines is a very scary thought, which I'm sure many of you would agree with me on. However, a couple of other thoughts immediately went through my head:

1) First of all, qualified search marketing professionals don't cold-call people, and they certainly wouldn't solicit potential clients via email, or fax for that matter. Instead, it works just the opposite. I found that qualified search engine marketers have no need to solicit potential clients as those interested in their services will tend to contact them.

2) Secondly, I happen to know that my website is indexed within the major search engines and that it's ranking pretty decent for my fair share of keywords. If it wasn't, I sure as hell wouldn't be first learning about it via some email.

3) These people obviously didn't do their homework, and probably sent this email via an email blast... meaning to any email address they could get their hands on. I am a search engine marketing consultant, as my website clearly points out, and I certainly wouldn't be interested in outsourcing my SEO needs. Therefore, their efforts are a waste.

The last few lines are what I personally get a kick out of reading... "they may submit your site to a few search engines periodically but to stay on the Search Engines and at the TOP is an aggressive business", "as a world leader in professional web site submission", and "we guarantee that your web site will be FOUND and SEEN!".

Ok... maybe it's just me or maybe I've been doing this SEO gig for a bit too long or maybe it even has something to do with this being total and utter BS, but I find it to be somewhat humorous. If you're interpreting this how I have, the author is claiming that submitting to search engines is not good enough to help get a site top search engine positioning (which I would have to agree with), but then they try to justify themselves as being a "world leader in website submission". Kind of contradictory... don't you think?

Do you really think that they wanted their marketing message to be: "We're the BEST at something that we KNOW isn't worth doing... click here to see how we can help you"?

Review over your marketing message. What is it implying?

Labels: commentary-rants

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) ethics and best practices have been long debated within the search engine marketing community. Many discussions take place daily as to what constitutes a good SEO technique versus a bad SEO technique, and quite frankly I'm getting pretty sick and tired of reading about it.

People need to understand that SEO ethics and best practices ARE very similar to that of politics and religion: There are more than two sides, all sides are strongly opinionated, and seldom do people choose the same path to arrive at the same end. Ethics and best practices will in fact differ from search marketer to search marketer, and the terms "Good" and "Bad" can only be determined in the eye of the beholder.

We all have different opinions on what works, what doesn't work, what's search engine friendly, what's not search engine friendly, and what's plain and blatant spam... and these opinions will never be shared by all. We'll never have an industry set of standards, and Search Engine Marketing techniques and strategies will never be uniform.

I'm ok with that... are you?

So, you may be asking yourself, what's Karl's opinion of "Good" and "Bad" SEM techniques? Well, I'll tell you, but just understand that I'm not expecting you to agree with me. In my opinion, any technique used to trick, confuse, or side-step a search engine into ranking your website at the top of its results is considered bad and in most cases spam-like. I believe that using such techniques are dangerous to one's overall search marketing campaign, and may result in getting their website banned.

Now before everyone jumps down my throat... I am a very, well-diverse person. I can acknowledge that there is no one way to market a website, and those strategies that work best for one website may not be all that beneficial to another. Like most people in this industry, I understand that a foul is not a foul until the referee blows his or her whistle. However, at the same time, I also understand that the more times you foul, the more you increase your chances that the ref will notice, blow their whistle, and penalize you. Well in this case, Google, Yahoo!, MSN, and Ask are your referees, and its best that you play by their rules (guidelines) when you're playing on their court. Simply put... if you don't foul, you can't be penalized.

That's my 2 pennies worth anyway... any comments?

Labels: commentary-rants

Wondering which search engines and directories you should submit your website too? If so, this post is for you.

Submitting your website to a search engine is a rather simple process as it typically involves filling out a few form-fields, usually with a short description and the site's URL, and clicking a "submit" button. The outcome is that you've notified the search engine of your website so that it will visit, crawl, and index your pages.

Pretty simple stuff... right? Of course it is, but that's not the question that's currently residing on everyone's mind. The question that should have been asked is if it's even necessary for you, or a search engine marketer acting on your behalf, to submit your website to search engines. Well, is it?

In the past I would have said "yes, absolutely". However, today is a completely different story. I'm not going to lie and say that search engine submission is a necessary step in building a successful web presence... because its not. Search engines have improved greatly in their crawling abilities over the years, and possess the necessary elements to locate, crawl, and index a new website on their own and without your help. However, at the same time, I'm not going to say that submitting websites to search engines is completely worthless either, because there are definitely benefits in doing so. One, of course being, that it provides newer websites with an opportunity for a much faster inclusion into the engine's index.

I guess whether or not submitting to search engines is important really just depends on you, your business, and how quickly you want your website to rank. In my opinion, there are only 3 or 4 engines even worth submitting to, and in fact, most of the time submitting to one search engine could automatically get your site listed elsewhere as well... like Yahoo! for example. Submitting to Yahoo! automatically places you on AllTheWeb and AltaVista (remember them?).

Web directories, on the other-hand, are a completely different animal altogether. There are literally hundreds of thousands of directories that can be found online (hell, I even had one), and understanding which are worthy of your submission (and in most cases, your money) and which are not is a little difficult.

Unlike search engines, a directory does not have a "spider" that actively crawls the net. Instead, directories rely on site submissions to feed their index... meaning if you choose not to submit your website to directories than your site will never appear within one. And that's ok.

While it's true that a lack of directory-inclusions never hurt a website, directories can, however, help them. In most cases web directories are a great source of website traffic. Directories such as DMOZ, JoeAnt, and the Yahoo! Directory are great resources to many people, and having your website included within their listings could mean extra eye-balls for you. In addition, as a website owner you're probably already aware that having quality links point to you (meaning links from websites with relative information to yours) can DIRECTLY dictate how your website ranks within the major search engines. Submitting your website to key web directories is a great opportunity for you to attain those kinds of links.

Labels: commentary-rants

I've got a really quick update regarding my "'Karl Ribas' on Amazon?" post that I feel is worth sharing, and instead of going through the effort of adding to and editing my original post, I figured that a new post is the way to go. If you haven't yet had an opportunity to read my first entry, please do so:

http://blog.karlribas.com/2006/09/karl-ribas-on-amazon.htm

Before I dive into this, I'd like to 'thank' Michael Roebuck, who after reading my original post decided to do some research of his own. He provided some great feedback, and most of what I'll be adding today is based on his findings. Ok... on to the good stuff!

According to Overture's search tool, a quick check for the keyword "Internet Marketing Consultant" shows that the keyword "Karl Ribas Internet Marketing Consultant" was searched 66 times last month. Here's a snap-shot:

Now I happen to know, just call it a hunch, that these searches relating to my name are indeed inflated... meaning that there is no value in optimizing for that exact term because nobody is actually searching it. However, Amazon and the rest of the world wouldn't know this. They, as well as everybody else, would be under the assumption that the term "Karl Ribas Internet Marketing Consultant" gets about 66 searches each month.

The THEORY that Michael and I have (and I stress THEORY) is that Amazon, in an attempt to rank higher for popular keywords in general, has "optimized" a page for the term "Karl Ribas Internet Marketing Consultant". From here, Amazon's goal was to simply get traffic, redirect this traffic to do a search within Amazon, and serve up anything that might be somewhat related. Well, in this case, I am in no way affiliated with Amazon and so there was nothing to serve up.

So the question now becomes, why did Amazon choose my name? Obviously there is a few other options with even higher search totals than I... why didn't they get chosen? Well, the answer is they did. Michael and I searched out the other keyword options that Overture's tool provided and found that Amazon.com was indeed listed on the first page for what seemed like every one of them, some mind you had over a million pages ranking for that term. Here are a few snap-shots from Yahoo's search results:

So, again, how is it that a website, such as Amazon.com, comes to rank for a term without actually having the term, or a variation of it, on its pages? Furthermore, how does Amazon.com outrank a million or so other relevant listings (17 million for the term "Internet Marketing Consultant")? Gosh... I just don't have a clue.

To sum things up, what you've just read is a THEORY and a THEORY only. I would never suggest that Amazon.com is actually doing any of these things... or even using spam-like cloaking to get their pages to actually rank for keywords they have no business ranking for. That would be wrong. Instead, we'll just have to continue to blame Yahoo! and their ranking algorithm, which is obviously flawed if it's showing up such irrelevant results.

Labels: commentary-rants

I was doing some routine "Karl Ribas" searches to see how my website currently ranks as well as to see what else was showing up in the results, something I do quite often, and I came across something... well, interesting.

When searching Yahoo! for "Karl Ribas" (no quotes), the number 5 spot belongs to Amazon.com. The last time I checked, I was not a seller on Amazon, nor was I ever sold on Amazon... that I can remember anyway.

Here's a snap-shot of their listing:

Nice title eh... "Karl Ribas Internet Marketing Consultant"?

Here's a snap-shot of their landing page:

What a surprise... "No results match your search for 'karl ribas internet marketing consultant' in Amazon.com".

So, how exactly does a website, such as Amazon.com, come to rank for a term without actually having the term, or a variation of it, on its pages? Do I dare suggest cloaking or other spamming techniques? Well... no! But that's only because Amazon has more lawyers than I currently do, and I hear they don't take well to accusations. I guess that just leaves Yahoo! to blame.

Labels: commentary-rants

Ok... it's quickly nearing mid-night and I still find myself making an effort to catch up with last week's emails, industry news, and Blog content. The funny thing is... I have already published 2 times earlier today (1 an hour ago and another an hour before that) featuring a couple of new things going on with Google. So why am I Blogging again when my attention is obviously needed elsewhere? Well, because I feel that now is a great time to rant and share with you all my personal feelings towards the Microsoft AdCenter team. Point blank... they're all a bunch of INCOMPETENT ASSES!

I'm going through my stack of emails and come across one titled "Microsoft adCenter Survey". Now I usually never look at shit like this, especially when I have so many other emails to check into, but today I felt different and left it in my inbox to decipher through later. Actually, to be perfectly honest, I kind of wanted to fill it out and provide feedback to MSN regarding their ad-platform. You see, I want Microsoft to succeed in the Pay Per Click search industry mostly because Google and Yahoo! need competition... and we all know competition breeds better services and products for end-users.

Up to this point, Microsoft has done a lot to implement a new way of managing paid placement ads, but they've also failed in many ways... mostly, in my opinion, in their customer service efforts and with their platforms design and usability. I'm assuming that Microsoft understands that they have many kinks to work out and soliciting the feedback from advertisers and adCenter users is apart of their ongoing attempt to better themselves.

So I go back to the email just a few moments ago, after spending all of this time deciding whether or not I really wanted to take part in their survey or just trash it, and begin reading it again.

Here's what it said:

I thought cool, and to top it off their going to give me a $10 gift certificate to Amazon. So I start filling in my information as shown with this screen-shot:

I clicked the action button to proceed and got the following message (I'll quote it because the screen-shot is fairly large):

Are you kidding me? After all that time deciding whether or not I should participate, I finally decide to do so (which is not typically the case with surveys) and I get that B.S. message. I was even promised a $10 gift certificate... damn you people!

To be perfectly honest, I'm more frustrated at the fact that Microsoft closed the survey after only a day. Forget the fact that they wasted my time. Forget the fact that they promised an Amazon gift certificate that will never be delivered. How do they ever expect to top Google and Yahoo! if they can't even do a simple survey.

I wonder how many surveys they were able to collect in the past 24 hours. 1000? 10,000? Whatever the number is it's not nearly enough. Their team should be willing to receive feedback surveys for as long as a year from now if they're ever going to get their ad platform on par with that of Google's and Yahoo's.

Addressing the Microsoft adCenter Team:
Simply put... don't ask for my opinion/feedback if it's not worth waiting 24 hours to hear. Had I been able to take your survey I would have informed you that your call-center sucks and is lacking the necessary knowledge to take phone calls. Also your platform is very confusing and often does not let me make changes to my ad's creative and/or keyword's list... a big problem if you haven't yet realized it.

There... said and done with.

Labels: commentary-rants

First off, before I even begin, I want to send a well-deserved "Thank You" to Barb Wilcox, one of my long time Blog readers, whom actually inspired me to write today's post. Thank you barb... your comments, suggestions, and questions are always welcomed and appreciated. And that goes for every reader.

I imagine that many, if not most, of you have already heard about the "Net Neutrality" debate/bill that's currently heating things up in Washington... at least in some form or another. Today I plan to shed some light on the subject, by introducing the ideas behind the debate, as well as sharing my own personal thoughts regarding "Net Neutrality".

What is "Net Neutrality"?
In the simplest terms... net neutrality is a term used to describe the idea of treating every Internet user the same. Under this idea, all users should have the right to access all of the Internet's content and they should be able to do so at the same speed and without additional fees.

The Debate / Bill
As with most debates/bills, there are 2 sides. In this case there are telecommunications companies, specifically your telephone/internet providers, (Side A) and then there's everybody else (Side B).

Side A - The Telecommunications Industry
The telephone companies believe that they should be the ones to regulate the Internet. Essentially, these companies want to end the idea of "net neutrality", and create a two-tier system that would allow these Internet providers to charge website owners at different levels pending on how fast they wanted their content delivered.

The Telecommunication industry is responsible for creating the infrastructure the Internet runs on, and they spent billions of dollars doing so. Now they find themselves seeking additional revenue to pay for the necessary upgrades needed to handle today's Internet, specifically the new broadband and video-rich content. Setting up a two-tier system, such as the one they're proposing, will allow them to generate it.

Side B - Everyone Else
Obviously by "Everyone Else" I mean those that don't stand to profit an excess of $2 Billion a year from ending "Net Neutrality". These people, and frankly I'm one of them, believe that the Internet is an intangible space in which everyone should have equal access to everyone else, regardless of how large or small they are or how traditional or unconventional they become.

"Side B" believes that on the Internet, a business shouldn't need the permission from their Internet provider to communicate with a customer or to begin a new and innovative service. This group wants to keep the Internet as is and without additional taxation and limitations set forth by the Telecommunication industry.

How does this affect you as a user?
Should the Telecommunication industry win this debate, they'll forever change the Internet as we know it. Everything from shopping to browsing to researching will have changed. Small businesses and content providers who cannot afford the new Internet tax will be limited by slower Internet access and thus make their sites less accessible as well as less appealing. To sum up this idea a bit futher, Telecommunication companies want to turn the information super highway into two lane road... one being a fast lane in which website owners must pay to use, and the second being a slow lane that nobody wants to use.

Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google, describes it best in his recent statement:

What Can You Do About It?
If your one of the millions of Internet users who side with "Side B" and oppose the idea of a two-tier Internet that's based on additional fees than I encourage you to rise up and make your voice heard. Internet companies such as Google, Microsoft, and eBay have already begun leading this fight, and hopefully as more and more take an active part in this issue the more congress will realize that this is a bad idea.

Please call your representative in Congress at 202-224-3121. For more information on the issue, and more ways to make your voice be heard, visit Its Our Net.org.

Labels: commentary-rants

This week, our top 4 favorite search engines have added some tools to their game, which will help personalize the over all experience for their users. I get the feeling that the general public doesn't realize the features and capabilities search engines have and are making to improve their online experience. So, for those of you who don't subscribe to the search engines blog or keep up to date on what's going on, here is a quick recap of each addition.

Ask.com
With the official start of summer nearly upon us, Ask.com unveiled their Weather Search tools just in time to help provide users plan their vacation days. What I like about this new search feature, is that like on Google and Yahoo, you do not have to download a pesky toolbar, or have an annoying pop up show whenever a storm is brewing 80 miles away. Simply type in "weather, your city" (zip code, county or state) and you can see today's projected temperatures, current temperature, and weather condition. You also have the option to view the 7 day forecast, and view your choice of Celsius or Fahrenheit. Also, Ask provides you with seasonal weather, so you can start to plan your next winter get-a-way vacation to Hawaii. Interested in surfing conditions and ski conditions? Ask is the only search engine that I found to offer that information when entering a specific search like surf conditions San Diego or ski conditions for Falls Creak, Australia.

What I've come to find out though, is that it seems Ask only seems to consider people on the coasts to be interested in boating and surf conditions. I suppose the 94,000 square miles of water known as The Great Lakes and the 10,900 miles of coast along the U.S. and Canada border isn't considered a significant large enough body of water to attract any boating or tourism during these summer months, therefore, who possibly is going to be searching for that information? Well... me. I personally am very interested in surface temps for Lake Michigan because of the fact that I live 3 or 4 hours away from any decent beach (that doesn't have garbage or toxic waste floating around). I don't want to travel all of that time just to find out that it's July 5, and the surface temp is still 45 degrees! So if Ask is going to go to the trouble of making it easier for people on the coasts, why not me?

I also don't see, why doesn't Ask and the other search engines offer weather information when you simply type in a location. Obviously, if you are entering a location you are either interested in information about that specific area or are planning on traveling to that area, therefore you will ultimately be interested in the weather there. If they decrease the size of the space designated for the weather report, it will hardly take away from the rest of the search results, and therefore help users refine their searches even more while providing useful information.

It is just a few days in with this new search feature and I'm sure as time goes on they'll add new features and information. It does remove a few extra steps for Ask's users to take, and for that I applaud their efforts.

While the remaining 3 search engines did make additions to their services, they were to tools that I don't normally use, so this will be a quick run down of what was updated.

MSN
For those of you who use, or are interested in using Windows Live, they announced that they are bringing email and search one step closer with their Active Search for Windows Live Mail Desktop Beta. Here is what they announced on the 2nd:

Active Search bridges the gap between your inbox and the broader web using the power of search. Using Active Search is essentially the same as conducting a ton of related searches the old fashioned way - by cutting and pasting terms from your emial into a seperate web browser - only without all of the effort

So what happens is if you are reading an email or an RSS article about the video iPod, what Active Search will do is show keywords they pick up from your message and show you search results related to the video iPod, so you can see real results, without having to open a new window. MSN also provides a search box right underneath, so you can search for the video iPod or anything else for that matter, without the hassle of opening a new browser. If you are already an MSN mail user, and you don't care for the new feature, you can go ahead and close it down. MSN also keeps your information confidential according to the agreement you have already agreed to when you signed up for their services, so those worried about what they are receiving in their email, can be assured that that information will remain confidential.

What I've come to find out in reading and learning about search behavior is that people tend to be impatient and dare I say lazy and want to take as few steps as possible to find what they are looking for, I myself included. So with Active Search, this truly does cut half the work in half and I think will be an invaluable service to it's users. It is also great for businesses, because if someone who has just read an email and now is intrigued more about this information or product, they will be more likely to make a purchase sometime soon about that product they searched for using Active Search.

Google
Attention Firefox users, Google has announced a new tool titled Google Browser Sync. This tool allows you to synchronize your browser settings on all of the computers you install it on. So the bookmarks, history, saved passwords, and persistent cookies you have saved can now transfer from your desktop to your laptop and even to your work computer. It even allows you to keep open tabs and windows across different browser sessions and computers.

So, if you have been dedicating your life to solving the mystery of JFK's assassination and have been spending the past few weeks digging through and book marking documents on your desktop from the CIA's web site, you can easily transfer those book marks over to your laptop by installing an extension on your laptop and synching the two computers together. So how does this differ from just copying and pasting your bookmarks onto your laptop? Well from then on when you add a bookmark to your laptop, you can go back to your desktop, who will then automatically update it with your laptops new additions. Nice, huh?

Yahoo
Yahoo just updated the design and look of their MyWeb service. MyWeb is a service like del.icio.us that allows users to save their bookmarks in a place they can access by just logging in with their Yahoo account. You can also share your bookmarks with other friends and family members. The idea is, to provide people with common interests the opportunity to find useful sites that people who have the same interests have found and bookmarked as well as your own bookmarks. Obviously, if the page is worth book marking, that means it is worth sharing. You can also search for terms, such as travel tips that will bring up sites others have found useful and bookmarked.

Along with the MyWeb design update, came some feature updates as well. "Top Tags" and "Interesting Today" shows users what are the most popular terms being searched for in My Web. Also, now when you do a search, not only do book marks show up, but also a list of people who share a same interest in your search. So I did a search in the Tag Finder for one of my interests, archeology and there I can see that Elric (yeah, Elric) also shares my interest. I can then click on Elric's name and see sites he found interesting enough to bookmark related to archeology.

I am actually interested in beginning to use some of these new additions for myself in the future. What current tools do you regularly use that is offered by search engines?

Labels: commentary-rants, guest-posts

Up until last week, Google sold text, flash, and image-based online advertising to online merchants and those looking to buy a little bit of search traffic to their websites. This week Google has taken the next step in what they believe is moving-forward and now offers "click-to-play" video ads which are set to show throughout its publisher network (but not its own sites).

Unlike many video ads that automatically play when a visitor goes to a web page, Google's ads will not start until the user clicks on them. Viewers can advance the video, pause it, adjust the volume or click through to the advertiser's site.

Via Google's automated auction system, advertisers will bid on a cost-per-click basis, where they pay when a user clicks an embedded link, or on a cost per thousand impressions (CPM) basis. Fees on a CPM basis are expected to range between $5 to the low double-digits, compared with the current online video prices, which can run as high as $100.

There's no question that video is becoming more and more popular on the Internet as the success of YouTube and viral videos illustrate, however, I'm not yet sold on the fact that video advertising is necessarily the next generation of online advertising.

I mean do people really want to be bothered by video ads? I don't believe they do. I think people want to find the information they are searching for and find it quick... not watch some 15-30 second "online commercial" that may or may not help them in their search.

Does Google believe that people want to see video ads, or that video advertising is even at all helpful to its users? Well, I'm not a spokesman for Google, but I'd say no, they don't. If they did, than one must ask why aren't they placing these ads on their own site (search, local search, maps, news, etc.), instead of just their publisher network? My guess is that Google had discovered during early testing that people aren't all that interested in clicking on video ads as often as is seen with text ads, and their probably not ready to disrupt their gravy-train to know for sure... which by the way pulled in more than $6 Billion last year.

What do you think? Is video advertising the next phase in online marketing?

Labels: commentary-rants, paid-search

Have you seen the recent Dilbert Cartoons? If not, take a moment and check them out... they're pretty funny, and even search related.

For the past week or so (since May 12th) I have been following Dilbert as he develops his own search engine technology, avoids death from a death-ray controlled by Google founders, Larry Page, Sergey Brin, and Eric Schmidt, and eventually finds out that he is not the owner of his search engine technology, rather his former employer is. Tough break!

Have a look:

Disclaimer: Dilbert Cartoons are a copyright of Scott Adams, Inc./Dist. UFS, Inc.. For more information on Dilbert Cartoons or their copyright please visit the Dilbert Website.

A "thanks" goes out to Jessica for directing me to these cartoons.

With that... what is your favorite comic strip/book?

Labels: commentary-rants, industry-happenings

I was Googling "Karl Ribas" today, along with some other keywords relevant to my own marketing efforts, and found that some schmuck company called Communicate 2.com is bidding on my name.

Here's a snapshot of their Google Adwords Ad:

I of all people know that the name "Karl Ribas" is worthless... it hasn't done me a damn bit a good and I've invested in it my whole life. I doubt very much that Communicate 2.com will be having better luck.

I imagine what had happened is that these "marketers" did a little keyword research at some point in time, and according to Overture's Search Term Suggestion Tool the term "Karl Ribas" had shown several hundred searches (which in the real world translates into like 10). They probably figured that they could capitalize on this term and so here they are bidding away.

Here's a tip: Forget my name and buy the terms "Danny Sullivan" and "Bruce Clay"... you'll definitely maintain a better click-through rate.

Labels: commentary-rants

As I sit here this afternoon with my headphones on and with the company's iPod playing a past episode of the Mr. SEO Podcast, I began to think about my new Podcast addiction. Over the past few months, I've found myself tuning into more and more SEO-related Podcasts, and in my down-time, I'm often looking for new and better programs to download.

My addiction doesn't just stay in the office... oh no. I find myself listening to SEO shows while working at home, in between watching Baseball games and other TV programs, and with the help of an FM Converter I'm listening to Podcasts as I drive to and from work.

For those of you not familiar with "Podcasts", a Podcast is, in its simplest form, a recorded radio show saved into a file that is easily downloaded (usually for FREE) and played on iPods and other MP3 players. An SEO-related Podcast is just an SEO-focused radio show.

The weird thing is... Podcasts are not even my primary source of SEO/SEM information, nor are they my secondary. Yet, I love them. I tend to monitor newsletters and Blogs to stay on my toes regarding new industry announcements. Instead, I listen to Podcasts primarily because the hosts associated with each show tend to recap everything I've already covered in reading Blogs and newsletters, but they do so in fun, humorous kind of way. Trust me, there's nothing funnier than reading a Blog that bashes fellow industry SEM Shari Thurow and her new Click Z article... that is except listening to Oilman and SEGuru do so on the hit Podcast "That's A Wrap".

Don't get me wrong. Podcasts are a great way to get SEO information, but in my case, an average Podcast is about 10% educational and 90% entertainment. Again this is only my take on things. By the time I actually listen to a Podcast, I've already learned about whatever it is the Podcasts covering from reading Blogs, articles, and newsletters. Obviously the education vs. entertainment percentage will tend to tip according to each individual listener.

In any case, if your looking for alternative ways to stay updated with the latest from the SEO industry, Podcasts are definitely worth looking into, or in this case, listening to. Here is my shortlist of the better industry-related Podcasts (or at least of those that I have found)... consider this my PodcastRoll.

- The Daily Search Cast
- The Mr. SEO Podcast
- RainMaker
- SEO Rockstars
- That's A Wrap

If you know of any other great shows, feel free to chime in. I'm always looking for new and better programs to help fill up the company's 2Gig Nano iPod.

Labels: commentary-rants

The one thing that bothers me most about being in this industry, and trust me very little actually does bother me, is when I'm chatting away with a potential client and he/she asks that one question all "real" Search Engine Marketers hate to be asked... "Can you guarantee us number 1 in Google?"

Before I dig too far into this, let me help those people not familiar with the SEO industry to understand the full complexity of this question. Asking a Search Engine Marketer if they can guarantee your company the number 1 listing in Google (for whatever keyword) is the equivalent of asking a professional baseball player if he could guarantee a home-run with every at-bat. Unless that player is Barry Bonds, and even then he'd have to be hopped up on some major steroids, the answer will ultimately always be "no". The same applies for search engine optimization.

As with the baseball example above, there are several uncontrollable factors that come into play when trying to rank a website. Granted there is much we can do to influence the rankings, but the decision of which websites rank and where will always be up to the search engines, and in this case Google.

No big deal... right? Explain why this is not possible to the client and everything will be fine. Well not exactly. The reason why I am bothered by being asked this question is because it's usually followed by... "Because I just finished speaking with a company that could and I am highly considering going with them." And thus, this is where my problem lies.

I do not have a problem with clients checking into other SEM firms, hell that's just smart business, but I do have a problem with SEM firms guaranteeing such crap as the number 1 "organic" position in Google. Everyone in this industry knows or at least should know by now that such a guarantee is complete and utter bullshit, but convincing the potential client that you're in fact speaking the truth and the other company is full-of-it is quite difficult, and in most cases impossible to do.

Well, if that company can guarantee you the #1 "Organic" position in Google, than your best bet is to go with them. But hey, no hard-feelings... I'll see you again in a few months when your website is either permanently banned from the search engines or when your pockets are near empty.

To my knowledge, there are only 2 reasons why a company could make such a guarantee. One is if the SEM company plans on using some serious "black-hat" or spam-like techniques, which will no doubt get you desirable search engine rankings for a few weeks, but eventually Google and the other engines will find it and ban your website. Or, two is if the SEM company plans on using some very non-relevant keywords with little to no competition. In most cases this would mean ranking high for keywords that no one is searching for and thus your website does not receive the traffic it needs to justify the cost of your SEO program... and you go broke!

Think about it.

Labels: commentary-rants

I received some fax-spam the other day (you know... it's just like any other unwanted garbage that you receive expect for it comes to you via fax) and thought to give it a quick read before throwing it away.

Apparently for $330.00, the "Official Internet Registry & Optimization Bureau", "License #7234Z45" will provide me with an "annual Website Marketing & Monitoring Bundle" which just so happens to help increase my search engine exposure.

To think that I am being solicited by an apparent "SEO company" (and I use this term in quotes, cautiously, and very loosely) to provide me, a Search Engine Marketing Consultant, with SEO services is absolutely hilarious. I guess it's not as off-based and humorous as when a woman receives a "Penis Enlargement" email or when a guy receives a "breast enhancement" email, but it ranks right up there.

What I really don't understand is that the people over-there at www. Internetoptimizationbureau .com took the time to create this personalized fax by adding my name everywhere and by partially filling out the payment coupon with my information, but they didn't bother take an extra second or two to actually review my website to see what it's even about? But... what can you expect... its spam, and like all spam it's just annoying and a waste of time.

An excerpt from this fax states:

"Your payment is due for your annual Website Marketing & Monitoring Bundle. When your payment is received we will send your updated website analysis report and keyword suggestions to increase the search engine results for your website. Don't miss out on improving search engine results from the major search engines: Google, Yahoo, MSN, Ask, Lycos, AOL and more."

So, let me see if I understand this correctly. For $330 you're going to send me an "updated website analysis report"... which does what exactly?... and a list of your personal recommend keywords geared towards increasing my, an SEM, search engine visibility.

Give me a break. It's because of crap like this that I have to spend extra hours on the phone ensuring my potential clients that, regardless of their past experiences, I am not going to rip them off. Its hard enough for us real Search Engine Marketers and Search Engine Optimizers to explain the quantum physics that is Search Engine Optimization... we definitely don't need companies such as the "Official Internet Registry & Optimization Bureau" making it any more difficult.

Labels: commentary-rants

Here are a few pictures that were passed around the office and I thought I'd share them with you all.

Michelle Plym's baby boy Ethan is sporting a Yahoo! cap.

Michael Roebuck's baby girl Zoe is wrapped in a Yahoo! Blankie.

Michael's oldest daughter Toni is show-casing a Google Towel.

It is for this reason that search engines pass out free stuff at tradeshows and maintain gift-shops. They know Search Engine geeks like team All Web will proudly buy/wear this crap. I can't really complain though... I own my fair share of Yahoo! ball-caps and specialty pens.

Do you think if I were to plug "Karl Ribas.com" on a towel or a hat that somebody, other than my mother, would actually wear it? Who knows? Jessica had an idea to have little wooden Klog key chains made up or "I Heart Klog" T-Shirts printed and passing them out at the next SES Show... that would be pretty funny.

Labels: commentary-rants

Labels: commentary-rants, guest-posts

2 weeks ago I made this statement while ranting about some of the issues my colleagues and I were having with Yahoo! Search Marketing, specifically their customer service teams. Little did I know, my "voice" would carry so much weight as to be heard by not one, but a few Yahoo! employees... all of whom I might add were very concerned with our issues and more than willing to sit down and address them.

Yesterday, team All Web and I took part in a phone conference with Yahoo's Landon Armstrong, Customer Solutions Manager, and other representatives from Yahoo's elite management team. 45 minutes to an hour later we were off the phone and immediately feeling better about our Yahoo! Search Marketing partners. Although I am not at liberty to discuss the exact details of our conversation, I will comment on the fact that our communication issues with our district representative and the YSM Gold team have been addressed.

In addition, it appears that Yahoo's keyword automation system does have its faults and we were not the first to come across this issue. To bring everybody up to speed, this is the process of submitting search terms to YSM so that, as advertisers, we may bid on them. Our problem (and it appears a lot of other people's problem) is that the system would decline a large number of our submissions for reasons that just didn't fit the bill.

Yahoo!, in our conference call, had no problems acknowledging this issue and even commented that solutions would soon be in place to correct it. They could not disclose specific information as to when the problem would be solved, but it's just nice to know that the problem does exist, they are aware of it, and it will be taken care of shortly.

The question now remains though... will we receive and continue to receive the level of assistance needed to manage our Pay Per Click accounts or will our issues just be "scribbled down in a black notebook", as they have been before, and forgotten about. I, being the optimist, believe things will be different this time for the simple reason that it was Yahoo! Search marketing who went out of their way to contact us and to address our problems. I guess only time will tell.

Furthermore, I'd like to take this moment and thank Landon and his team for their willingness to chat with us. I'm glad that we could solve our differences and I look forward to our future.

Labels: commentary-rants

Labels: commentary-rants

Labels: commentary-rants

Labels: commentary-rants, google