Marketing Is Essential

A Little Fun With My Own Google Listings - Melissa Cartagena

2013-10-30T09:35:00.000-04:00

These days with so many people out of work many folks are really trying to set themselves apart. It just sparked an interest in me to have a little fun with my very own Google search results.

Love...by Bob Marley

2013-05-16T10:40:00.001-04:00

I read this and just really felt I needed to share it....

“Only once in your life, I truly believe, you find someone who can completely turn your world around. You tell them things that you’ve never shared with another soul and they absorb everything you say and actually want to hear more. You share hopes for the future, dreams that will never come true, goals that were never achieved and the many disappointments life has thrown at you. When something wonderful happens, you can’t wait to tell them about it, knowing they will share in your excitement. They are not embarrassed to cry with you when you are hurting or laugh with you when you make a fool of yourself. Never do they hurt your feelings or make you feel like you are not good enough, but rather they build you up and show you the things about yourself that make you special and even beautiful. There is never any pressure, jealousy or competition but only a quiet calmness when they are around. You can be yourself and not worry about what they will think of you because they love you for who you are. The things that seem insignificant to most people such as a note, song or walk become invaluable treasures kept safe in your heart to cherish forever. Memories of your childhood come back and are so clear and vivid it’s like being young again. Colours seem brighter and more brilliant. Laughter seems part of daily life where before it was infrequent or didn’t exist at all. A phone call or two during the day helps to get you through a long day’s work and always brings a smile to your face. In their presence, there’s no need for continuous conversation, but you find you’re quite content in just having them nearby. Things that never interested you before become fascinating because you know they are important to this person who is so special to you. You think of this person on every occasion and in everything you do. Simple things bring them to mind like a pale blue sky, gentle wind or even a storm cloud on the horizon. You open your heart knowing that there’s a chance it may be broken one day and in opening your heart, you experience a love and joy that you never dreamed possible. You find that being vulnerable is the only way to allow your heart to feel true pleasure that’s so real it scares you. You find strength in knowing you have a true friend and possibly a soul mate who will remain loyal to the end. Life seems completely different, exciting and worthwhile. Your only hope and security is in knowing that they are a part of your life.”
― Bob Marley

13 Most Contemptuous Corporate Speak Terms

2013-03-06T10:32:00.001-05:00

In these days of digital connectedness many of us take advantage of online media to keep abreast of what is going in the world. Some of us just like to read funny anecdotes to get our blood circulating in the morning. Then there are those of us who just read what catches our eye and sometimes we come across something worth sharing. My daily website of choice is Ragan.com, they not only offer quality content on social media but also on writing and editing which always make me giggle. I read this and it made me laugh these terms are truly atrocious and the unfortunate part is people use them every day despite that they are just fluff.

I give props to the original author, Paula Kiger, who writes about the 12 supercilious corporate speak terms, but I did have to add one more for flavor…..

1.Synergy - People say this if they want people with complementary talents or resources to find a way to do something that would be impossible without working together.

Translation: "You have something I need. I have something you need. Let's make something great together."

2. Leverage - People say this if they want to use something that has already been done, bought or said to move a project forward without having to start from scratch.

Translation: "Joe already has his project management certification. Let's take advantage of that instead of paying for someone else to get theirs."

3. Pedagogy - The person who says this is someone in the field of education who chose to use four syllables when two would do: "teaching."

Translation: "Teaching educates students." – Just a side note on this one, I have NEVER heard this term being used in corporate America, but now that I have I think I feel compelled to find a way to use it just to see what other people would say. J

4. Deep dive - This is a legitimate IT term that means to immerse a group quickly into a topic to brainstorm an idea or solve a problem. But as a layperson in meetings where people use the term, it always makes me giggle a tiny bit and lose track of my corporate-speak tick marks.

Translation: "Let's all think quickly and rapidly about this concept so we can get some good ideas going."

5. Scalable - People say this when they want the work done in step one to be something they can make bigger and easier without recreating the wheel. Like "deep dive," it is legitimate in IT.

Translation: "We're going to program this function for your 10 users, but if the idea catches on and a million users want to do the same thing, it will be easy to do that."

6. Ping - Someone who wants to communicate with someone else quickly and electronically without looking him in the eyes says this. There's no translation, but if you really want to throw someone off, walk two doors down to his desk and look him in the eyes. I love this term I use it all the time J

7. Actionable - The person who says this is someone who is seriously hoping what he wrote on paper will, in reality, work.

Translation: "It will work." ”Hoping”, is the key word here...

8. Mitigate - People say this if they are facing a lengthy Gantt chart or project plan, and seriously hope to prevent something from derailing progress.

Translation: "Let's make sure things don't go wrong." Always have a mitigation plan, don't learn the hard way.

9. Granularity - This is what the person taking the deep dive has to wade—or swim—through: a bunch of very specific details.

Translation: "You will need to read 200 pages in that work plan to make sure there is a plan to close the door when it gets cold outside." IMHO, don't use this term if it’s not necessary. It just sounds silly despite the fact that you might think it makes you sound intelligent.

10. Seamless - People say this in public programs where the goal is for fifteen entities to make it look like they are one from the client's end. Seamless doesn't happen often. When it does, there's a lot of hard work going on in the background.

Translation: "It took five entities with lengthy names to make your 'one-stop' application a reality. Five more will handle it before you get an answer."

11. In the weeds - This is where you are while you deal with granularity and are on the verge of taking a deep dive. It is where you are threatened with losing sight of the main objective. I don't think I have never heard anyone in corporate America use this term unless they had some history of previous employment as a waiter.

Translation: "While you are re-writing a letter no one will need to receive for two years, someone else is getting credibility points for saying, 'Let's break this process down into manageable pieces. The weeds are a bad place to be unless you have a way out.'"

12. Robust - This means we want to keep the contract—we really do. We have a plan.
Translation: "Our plan/project/product is no lightweight." I am guilty of using this term, I don't think it is a bad thing.

Finally the one that the author missed:

13. Level-Set - To get everyone on the same page, singing from the same choir sheet. This phrase just sounds to me like it has an I-am-slightly-smarter-than-you-all ring to it.

Translation: "While you thought it meant this it really meant that, just making sure you were all paying attention."

It’s the little things that make me smile sometimes. J

This 93-year-old has a message for us: “A beach body at 90 is no longer a dream”

2012-12-06T09:21:00.001-05:00

This 93-year-old has a message for us: “A beach body at 90 is no longer a dream”

Beware Online Filter Bubbles?

2012-12-05T21:59:00.000-05:00

Very interesting....Google needs to be way more transparent....

Link Buying - iAcquire Gets Shafted!

2012-05-25T21:24:00.002-04:00

I don’t blog much these days, which is probably a mistake, but once in a while I come across a story that tugs at my soul which in turn gives me an opportunity to present my own opinion about the subject.

I have been a digital marketing professional for over 9 years and as a result I have seen my share of online tactics and strategies for both paid search and SEO. In the last year Panda, as well as the mighty Penguin update, affected websites that I have worked on personally, for SEO. I have seen sites get completely de-indexed and then later re-indexed in addition to just receiving penalties due to unnatural linking. I have been a part of content marketing, spinning content, as well as link buying. I have seen it all…black hat …. white hat…. been there done that. But the most recent issue that surfaced with regard to Dun&Bradstreet’s ignorance has literally “taken the cake”. These fortune 500 companies hiding behind the “we didn’t know what our SEO Agency was doing” is really getting old, get with the program folks!!!!

The reality is link buying has been a part of the overall SEO strategy forever. There are link brokers who have been around for YEARS who make no qualms about link buying, or building link pyramids, link wheels etc. and continue to “be in business” with no issue. Then there are those who are publicly made an “example of” for practicing bad tactics, like iAcquire. This issue is near and dear to me because I have worked with this company, and they were specifically hired to ‘build links’ – what does that mean? It means creating relationships with relevant sites and making “deals” with these sites to ensure a link will be placed the way “we,” as a company want it. Who ultimately drives that need? At the end of the day, the company who hired them, of course!!! They provide the keywords and tell the agency this is what we need to do, right???!!! What did you think they were going to do? Did you think that webmaster's would give away links out of the kindness of their hearts?? C'mon there has to be an incentive, that is the reality.

It is so disappointing to see the SEO community turn their noses up and totally act as a subset of hypocrites when one of their own gets called out for doing what EVERYONE else is attempting to do and for that I am disgusted, its just not right. For goodness sake, look at what GOOGLE did!!!

Listen folks, start taking responsibility for the vendors you hire and the work they do. As a business understand what it takes, and to those who want to point the finger, make it a point to “roll your sleeves up” like you expect your middle management team to do, and stop making excuses. Furthermore, as an SEO professional, accept the fact that SO many people are doing exactly what they did, deal with it and then get over it!

I have said my peace, I stand by it and feel much better that I got it off my chest! Onward!

10 Things You Need To Know About Google+

2011-11-09T20:41:00.003-05:00

This is a presentation given at this year's Pubcon Conference in Vegas that I am very sad to have missed out on. Presented by Jay Berkowitz of Ten Golden Rules.

Google+ Pubcon Presentation

View more presentations from Jay Berkowitz

From @MarkRaganCEO: Communicators share their favorite smartphone apps. Are yours on the list?

2011-10-28T11:47:00.001-04:00

Integrated Social Media - Study Done by Ogilvy-ChatThreads

2011-10-24T12:01:00.003-04:00

Ogilvy-ChatThreads Integrated Social Media Sales Impact Study 2011

View more presentations from 360 Digital Influence, Ogilvy PR Worldwide

First Google Wallet Customer

2011-09-18T21:12:00.003-04:00

This really just made me laugh....

New Dodge Ad Campaign Taps in to YouTube Users

2011-09-11T20:33:00.004-04:00

I was watching the start of football season today when a new commercial caught my eye. Dodge has unveiled a new ad campaign which taps into the use of YouTube, in which they are giving away 3 brand new 2012 Dodge Journey’s.

“Find the Hidden Journey and it’s yours!" I thought to myself, well that is really clever. The commercial directs viewers to their YouTube channel for details, then there are a series of videos one has to watch in which unlocks clues on how to find this new SUV they are referring to as, "The Search Engine for the Real World."

The contest ends on September 27th and is open to all US Citizens, one car has already been located on the West Coast, the Mid-West is next (9/16), and the East Coast will follow shortly after (9/23). Following the clues is one thing, but actually racing to the location is completely different. It is definitely a pretty cool way to give away a car.

Check out the how-to's below:

Incubus - New Approach to How Social Media Meets PR

2011-08-19T21:16:00.008-04:00

I have seen a lot of different social media campaigns in my day but one that struck me as very clever has been what the band Incubus has done. In preparation of the launch of their 7th studio album "If Not Now, When?" and kickoff of their U.S. tour in over 3 years the band has setup what they refer to as "IncubusHQ".

IncubusHQ launched on June 30th, the campaign enabled the band to interact with their fans regularly through multiple events most of them via the web. For 7 days (6/30 – 7/06) Incubus was inviting fans in the LA area to undisclosed locations for the most unique, personal and up-close fan experience - I have to admit I was wishing to be there with them.

Incubus' official statement about the kickoff stated:

"In “Incubus HQ Live” the web meets reality; it’s where web technology combines with fan-to-band interaction complete with impromptu live sets, live web streams, instructional clinics, and full performances from the band all being captured in a real-time documentary. Basically anything is possible and anything can happen!" http://on.fb.me/rbQBAm

But that's not all IncubusHQ was focused on, they also heavily promoted the album, and US Tour via email, on PING (iTunes Social Network - awesome), Facebook and Twitter - they also had press on sites like Mashable. The emails were great because it gave any fan a step by step rundown of what the band is up to, and how to connect with them as they were approaching the first day of the US tour. All the hype was to lead up to the live feed of their 1st show at Red Rocks on August 17th.

I have always known that PR and Social Media cross paths but this particular campaign has really brought a new element for musicians and how they now can approach new ways to promote their music without the help of MTV, David Lettermen, and Jay Leno, and I have been enjoying the hype from a social media distance.

Social Media Faux Pas - E-470 Twitter Mistake

2011-06-16T21:19:00.005-04:00

I recently spent some time in Colorado and as I was driving along highway E-470 I noticed an interesting social campaign unfolding before my eyes. On the emergency digital road sign, which is typically used for Amber Alerts, Highway Accidents, and Emergency Road Announcements, the sign said, “E-470 Live Twitter Chat - Tweet 2 Win June 15th 11AM” – while I understand the intention of a Social Media campaign, I could not help but think to myself how people can misconstrue this for a promotion to tweet while driving – can you say dangerous?? I don’t believe that signs like this should be used to advertise a sweeps or anything for that matter other than what it was intended for. With all the hype the story hit the local news, it seems many others felt the same way I did and I was not surprised. A spokesperson for the highway said the message was never intended to promote tweeting while driving at all. Well I bet they learned their lesson and I am sure they will think twice now about promoting the use of social media on their emergency road signs.

Check out the news story here, "E-470 Twitter Signs Cause Controversy"

2010-05-19T20:12:00.001-04:00

Social Networks for Business

View more presentations from Katie Laird.

Google Ad Rank Video - How Adwords Ranking Works

2010-04-01T19:56:00.005-04:00

The Best SEO Tool is SEO Power Suite!

2009-11-28T19:32:00.005-05:00

Everyday I go to work and find myself buried in “what ifs”. What if I had more time, what if I had more staff…

I work with a company who owns 30+ websites, and I am only one person doing the best I can to follow the best practice I know how of going after linking opportunities, creating compelling optimized copy, and monitoring all the sites to ensure we are staying on track with increasing traffic that will benefit the organization. Now granted I probably need a couple more people to help, but I also need good tools that will help streamline all strategies.

There are many free tools out there that can help with watching your rankings, help build a link strategy, analyze your on-site optimization efforts and determine if your content is relevant for keywords you wish to rank for, but many of these free tools are limited.

Lots of SEO folks find that the paid tools are worthless. Why should I pay for a tool when I can get information like that for free? I know you can get it for free but how much time do you have to invest? I am a busy person and I cannot afford to take too much time to search for links, run ranking reports and constantly keep up with what my competitors are doing. So I did some research on paid tools and I found software that has made my life SO much easier. The software is called SEO Power Suite. It is one of the best ones I have seen on the market so far. I have used Web CEO, IBP, and SEO Elite and this software by far has so much more to offer. It has several tools in one suite:

Rank Tracker - this tool allows you to customize ranking reports so you can monitor what is going on with your search results. You can automate it so that it will run when you need it to run.

Website Auditor - this tool will allow you to view what your competitors have done to their web pages to rank well in search engines. After analyzing the data you can use the same techniques and apply them to your site. Brilliant!

SEO Spyglass - this tool alone was the reason I bought the entire SEO Power Suite! The one tool I felt was a tremendous asset. You can literally spy on your top competitors and see what linking strategies they have employed. You can run customized reports easily and the tool will tell you what links they have, where they came from, what their PR is, and even if they actually purchased the link or not! Amazing!! If you are tired of doing the tedious work searching for links yourself this tool is amazing and completely assists in the time factor that is involved of doing this research.

Link Assistant - helps you find additional link partners and assists in providing you with their contact information so you can establish a relationship and hopeful earn that link partnership as well as monitor your link popularity over time.

I would recommend the entire suite of tools, but if you cannot get the entire suite then at the very least try the SEO Spyglass and Link Assistant, you won’t be sorry you did. But if you do decide on the SEO Power Suite, for a small business owner they offer a Professional license. But if you are a Search Marketing Firm or a large organization that hosts many websites then the Enterprise license is for you. Now there is a way to manage your clients or your own websites easily and stress free and gain more insight than you may have in the past as well as cut costs with effective time saving methods that work.

Feel free to leave a comment if you have purchased the tool and let me know what you think of it.

Get a Free Website and Get Found Today

2009-10-13T20:21:00.002-04:00

Just saw a commercial for the new Intuit quick site builds. What bugged me about this commercial was how they were quick to say “Get a FREE website and get found today,” If the offer is too good to be true then it probably is. I don’t think it is right that companies offer products like this and essentially prey on people who really do not understand what it takes to be found on the internet. You don’t just slap some content together click publish and “get found” in the search results as their commercial implies. This may be far-fetched but I just think that companies should be more forthcoming with consumers who are looking for ways to make money online with a brand new website. Buyer beware, if you are looking to start a new business online do the necessary research and find out what it will really take to market your site to the masses. Get educated and understand the essentials of marketing your website online.

Just my own $.02.

Twitter For Business

2009-03-12T09:12:00.004-04:00

I recently read a great article on the 50 Ideas for using Twitter for business. It was originally written by the very smart Chris Brogan, check it out:

First Steps

1. Build an account and immediate start using Twitter Search to listen for your name, your competitor’s names, words that relate to your space. (Listening always comes first.)
2. Add a picture. ( Shel reminds us of this.) We want to see you.
3. Talk to people about THEIR interests, too. I know this doesn’t sell more widgets, but it shows us you’re human.
4. Point out interesting things in your space, not just about you.
5. Share links to neat things in your community. ( @wholefoods does this well).
6. Don’t get stuck in the apology loop. Be helpful instead. ( @jetblue gives travel tips.)
7. Be wary of always pimping your stuff. Your fans will love it. Others will tune out.
8. Promote your employees’ outside-of-work stories. ( @TheHomeDepot does it well.)
9. Throw in a few humans, like RichardAtDELL, LionelAtDELL, etc.
10. Talk about non-business, too, like @astrout and @jstorerj from Mzinga.

Ideas About WHAT to Tweet

11. Instead of answering the question, “What are you doing?”, answer the question, “What has your attention?”
12. Have more than one twitterer at the company. People can quit. People take vacations. It’s nice to have a variety.
13. When promoting a blog post, ask a question or explain what’s coming next, instead of just dumping a link.
14. Ask questions. Twitter is GREAT for getting opinions.
15. Follow interesting people. If you find someone who tweets interesting things, see who she follows, and follow her.
16. Tweet about other people’s stuff. Again, doesn’t directly impact your business, but makes us feel like you’re not “that guy.”
17. When you DO talk about your stuff, make it useful. Give advice, blog posts, pictures, etc.
18. Share the human side of your company. If you’re bothering to tweet, it means you believe social media has value for human connections. Point us to pictures and other human things.
19. Don’t toot your own horn too much. (Man, I can’t believe I’m saying this. I do it all the time. - Side note: I’ve gotta stop tooting my own horn).
20. Or, if you do, try to balance it out by promoting the heck out of others, too.

Some Sanity For You

21. You don’t have to read every tweet.
22. You don’t have to reply to every @ tweet directed to you (try to reply to some, but don’t feel guilty).
23. Use direct messages for 1-to-1 conversations if you feel there’s no value to Twitter at large to hear the conversation ( got this from @pistachio).
24. Use services like Twitter Search to make sure you see if someone’s talking about you. Try to participate where it makes sense.
25. 3rd party clients like Tweetdeck and Twhirl make it a lot easier to manage Twitter.
26. If you tweet all day while your coworkers are busy, you’re going to hear about it.
27. If you’re representing clients and billing hours, and tweeting all the time, you might hear about it.
28. Learn quickly to use the URL shortening tools like TinyURL and all the variants. It helps tidy up your tweets.
29. If someone says you’re using twitter wrong, forget it. It’s an opt out society. They can unfollow if they don’t like how you use it.
30. Commenting on others’ tweets, and retweeting what others have posted is a great way to build community.

The Negatives People Will Throw At You

31. Twitter takes up time.
32. Twitter takes you away from other productive work.
33. Without a strategy, it’s just typing.
34. There are other ways to do this.
35. As Frank hears often, Twitter doesn’t replace customer service (Frank is @comcastcares and is a superhero for what he’s started.)
36. Twitter is buggy and not enterprise-ready.
37. Twitter is just for technonerds.
38. Twitter’s only a few million people. (only)
39. Twitter doesn’t replace direct email marketing.
40. Twitter opens the company up to more criticism and griping.

Some Positives to Throw Back

41. Twitter helps one organize great, instant meetups (tweetups).
42. Twitter works swell as an opinion poll.
43. Twitter can help direct people’s attention to good things.
44. Twitter at events helps people build an instant “backchannel.”
45. Twitter breaks news faster than other sources, often (especially if the news impacts online denizens).
46. Twitter gives businesses a glimpse at what status messaging can do for an organization. Remember presence in the 1990s?
47. Twitter brings great minds together, and gives you daily opportunities to learn (if you look for it, and/or if you follow the right folks).
48. Twitter gives your critics a forum, but that means you can study them.
49. Twitter helps with business development, if your prospects are online (mine are).
50. Twitter can augment customer service. (but see above)

So how are you using Twitter for your business?

Tips for Local Search Campaigns

2009-03-02T20:17:00.002-05:00

There are many businesses that are local in nature. What I mean is local businesses who look for an increase in visitors to their website via local traffic online. The goal of many local businesses is to turn to search engines to advertise their websites online in search of this local traffic. Geographic targeting is an easy and sometimes an inexpensive way to reach this goal but there are a few things one must consider when building out these local pay per click campaigns.

In Google Adwords you can choose your geographic location. Not only can you choose the city and the state you would like your ads to appear in, but you could even include a zip code to narrow down your locations.

Choosing keywords is critical, you should not just target general words, consider targeting words that include the city and state as well like:

Blue Widget Ft. Lauderdale
Blue Widget Ft. Lauderdale Florida
Blue Widget Ft. Lauderdale FL
Blue Widget Ft. Lauderdale 33316
Blue Widget Ft. Lauderdale Florida 33316

Assuming you have an ad of interest these keywords should bring you some pretty targeted qualified leads.

Take it one step further; for those who are familiar with Google Adwords and understand the ins and outs of keyword matching you can take your Geo Target campaign to a whole other level.

Once you have your geographic campaign setup create an additional, or companion campaign that is “Nationally” targeted. Yes, I said nationally targeted. But make sure that ALL of your keywords used are listed as “EXACT” matches ONLY. This way you can ensure that you cast an additional net to those folks who may not be in the city of your specific location at the time of their search online.

This is important for businesses like, limo services, or spa services. You might want to just advertise to your cities location, but those who live elsewhere who may be traveling to your city would benefit from seeing your ads appear for services they might be interested while in your city.

Remember when building pay per click campaigns be smart about your local advertising. Should you ever need assistance seek a professional who is well versed in local search and paid search advertising.

Google Pulls The Plug On Yahoo Advertising Deal

2008-11-05T11:48:00.001-05:00

After vowing repeatedly to go through with its search advertising deal with Yahoo no matter what the Justice Department does, Google reversed course today and pulled the plug on the deal.All I can say is WHEW! Not sure this was a good thing anyway!

read more | digg story

Google Tweaks AdWords To Reward “Quality” (And Juice Revenue)

2008-10-31T12:47:00.002-04:00

Google is ready to make some more changes to way they are currently ranking Adwords ads. What does this mean for advertisers? It means you really need to be sure your keywords in ad groups are very relevant, along with your ads and landing pages. We know that is important but now it is crucial that you ensure your keywords are grouped together as tightly as possible so that your ads become that much more relevant!

read more | digg story

Marketing Through Tough Economic Times

2008-10-22T10:42:00.005-04:00

Typically the first reaction to a market trending downward is to cut marketing spend. In these tough economic times savvy brand, and search marketers alike are seeing this time as an advantageous opportunity. Well how can THAT be, you ask!?

When things get quiet in the world of our competitors opportunities may present themselves in a way you have not thought about. Think about it, if you are considering cutting back on marketing spend what do you think your competitor is thinking, potentially the same thing, right? Therefore, continuing your marketing efforts as you were, or even increasing your spend, to gain more exposure can open a door of opportunity to increased brand awareness and higher profits in the end when all is said and done. As a business owner you just need to be wise in how you spend those marketing dollars. Tune into your customer base and present a message that will stick as well as make sense in these tough economic times.

Now you might ask yourself, well what do you mean by “stick” or “make sense”? If you are running a Paid Search Campaign in Google, Yahoo! or MSN, now is the time to be creative and test new ad copy that could have a positive affect on your traffic and overall sales. Change your call to action to something like, “Shop Online Now” vs. “Buy Now,” if you are running a special promotion try, “Save Now,” instead of “Shop Now.” Get it? You can also call more attention to your products or services by stating they are more “efficient” or “provide a better value.” These slight variations can really hit home with what consumers “want” to hear instead of what you want to tell them.

The bottom line is to be innovative, don’t be afraid to try new things, stand strong through tough times. Tailoring your message to consumers can really grab their attention and make a difference in your success. This is the time to be more visible, and emerge with a stronger brand when things get back to normal. Spending money wisely is the key, and focusing more on your consumers needs is crucial. But please be careful when you begin to ask untrained employees to make critical decisions for your business just to save a buck. Be smart, yes these are tough economic times but that does not mean you need to lose sight of your business goals. Plan ahead with thoughts to replace companies that probably won’t survive this economy, this should make your pain a bit more manageable don’t you think?

The 10 Truths Every CMO Should Know About Search Marketing

2008-10-14T10:40:00.005-04:00

Last week I attended Search Engine Land’s SMX East show in New York City. What a great time of year to be in New York. My first day there I attended a couple of seminars, day one was not the best for me, but the one that really stood out to me was The 10 Truths Every CMO Must Know About Search Marketing.....
What amazed me about this track was how trivial it was...if you are a CMO, Chief Marketing Officer, I would think you should already know what those 10 truths are.
1 - SEO is an ongoing process – as an executive in a company please don’t ask for miracles, you cannot just optimize your meta tags and think everything is “A OK,” now where are our rankings!!!???
2- The #1 position is not always everything and sometimes not even possible--- NO KIDDING!!! Multiple positions can and should be a blessing...
3 - The long tail is your friend --- if you are a CMO and do not know what the long tail is and that it can bring in extremely qualified traffic then maybe you should not be a CMO! Sorry just my opinion.
4 - Both paid and natural search are equally important. Ask yourself, do you want to increase brand awareness??? Well being seen more often will allow that and then some....
5 - Customers -- hear “their" language not "yours" -- yes by golly darn you betcha -- you should be speaking to your customers telling them what they WANT to hear not what YOU want to say!!
**SIGH** half way through what a CMO should already know!!
6 - Web pages are not the ONLY assets you need to optimize -- come on folks there are Press Releases, blogs, articles so much MORE than just the web pages which should be optimized and even bidded on at times in paid search arenas.
7 - Integration is a must! -- if you are NOT sending the same message in print, that you are on the web there is a serious issue, get it together!
8 - Tools simplify everything -- well I was hoping to get some golden nugget from this statement, and well I didn't, yes tools simplify everything and yes you should be using them to make your life easier, but is there a new one, a better one????? I didn't get anything from this one other than if you are able to utilize tools to make your life easier and it does not have a negative affect on your consumer then good for you ... I already knew that – **SIGH**
9 - Bid on brand terms - if you are not doing this you are completely missing the boat ....enough said..
FINALLY – Number 10!!!
10 - Set goals -- ya think??? All CMO’s should know that goals need to be set, but you need to understand what you are trying to accomplish before you set those goals, be clear, and don’t be unrealistic, please!
Someone told me there were 11 things a CMO should know but I didn't buy it, this pretty much covers it unless someone else can think of something I might have missed. If so, please do chime in!!!

Google Says, Don't Rewrite Dynamic URLs To Static URLs

2008-09-23T11:01:00.002-04:00

Google says that it's better to leave the dynamic urls as they are, than to rewrite them to look static, So now Google says do not rewrite dynamic URLs, they can crawl them just fine?? Well I tend to think that it would be easier to index, as well as being more user friendly, like this:

whereever.com/camping/tents/accessories
VS.
whereever.com?product_cat=camping&sub_cat=tents&sub_sub_cat=supplies

Who knows maybe this is a good thing for all those who do not know much about this, it will keep them from doing it incorrectly and could save a lot of headache. I am anxious to hear more about this at SMX-East!

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Google Releases Keyword Search Numbers

2008-07-14T20:43:00.004-04:00

Keywords. It is always the hot subject of every online marketing campaign. How do I find them? What is the best tool to use? Can you tell me how many people search for this phrase or that phrase! There was a time when Yahoo offered up tons of information with their keyword selector tool. But alas that tool is old and not updated. Sure there are others out there, like SeoBook keyword suggestion tool, keyword discovery, wordtracker and even SpyFu although it does not really provide search volume data it does provide some very useful keyword information and I was quite upset when they started to charge a membership fee for their keyword data services.

So what is the hype about Keyword Data? Well I was happy to hear that Google FINALLY released keyword search data after years and years and years of advertisers waiting for the information we have wanted to know for so long. Is it good information? Of course! Do I think it is accurate? I am sure it is somewhat accurate, but Google has been so evasive when it comes to releasing data that will "really" help online marketers, but it is helpful and also a great gauge for keyword research. So, now if you need to determine how many searches were done per month for a specific keyword on the Google Search Engine, have at it, the new and improved Google Keyword Tool will give you that data and all I can say is it’s about time!!!