I just noticed that Ken Underwood founder of Stereofame has 3300 followers on twitter, not a huge amount by twitter standards but pretty damn impressive considering that he gained them all in about 2 weeks and that they are relevant followers (i.e. music lovers, bands and fans who use Stereofame). I thought it was worth a mention.

Stereofame keeps growing by leaps and bounds, they have nearly 9000 bands sharing and selling music on the site, users of the site tend to stay on it for hours at a time and it recently got an honorable mention for a Webby. They are seriously pushing the envelope in the social marketing realm. But where is the blogger love?

So far the blogosphere and the media has not caught up to Stereofame. It seems that the people who really “get” the site are the bands and music uber-geeks who, like me, listen to music all day and are constantly jonesing for new styles. When Stereofame goes viral and hits big-time, remember where you heard about it first - from Ryan Nagy.

Today, I was reminded of another aspect to google’s tracking: They show you customized search information based on your search history. For example, if you do multiple searches for “widgets” and you tend to click the #4 listing “sexy widgets for geeks,” then over time, google will begin to show that #4 listing at a higher place, perhaps even #1. Someone else doing that same search will see the listing at it’s #4 rank.

Does the idea make sense? In other words, #1 could be #1 to you and not to another searcher on on another computer.

I have noticed this phenomena several times over the last couple of years, most notably when doing a search on my laptop and then doing the same search on a another computer at a public library or internet cafe. However, I noticed it again this morning when switching browsers. When doing a search on Firefox I get a pattern of results that was different from doing the same search on Safari. Until recently, Firefox has been my preferred browser, so presumably Google has more history on my Firefox searches.

Whatever the cause, the idea of relative searches and search results raise some interesting ideas. Taken to an extreme, it could be that every searcher has search results tailored to his or her unique behavior and needs (as surmised by google). The cluster of first page rankings for one keyword search for a user could be totally different from the cluster of results for another user doing the same search.

I have to admit that I like the idea. I don’t think google could actually go this far just yet. But it could be that searches could become contextual and based on the the users unique behavior. In other words, #1 for any particular search becomes relative to the user and not to a particular outside standard.

Getting ready to attend the week-long Web 2.0 Expo in San Francisco next week (That’s the SF Museum of Modern Art to your right) and I thought now might be a good time to return to an important topic: Landing Page Optimization. Web 2.0 is great, and needs to be a part of many companies branding strategy. But landing page optimization is also very important. Having a continual, rigorous, testing process, even if only done on a quarterly basis, can pay huge dividends, giving you more leads, mores sales, and the knowledge that you are doing what it takes to keep growing in today’s competitive economy.

Here’s a brief primer. Remember to download the whitepaper if you want more information.

What is Landing Page Optimization?

Landing Page Optimization is the process of testing multiple versions of your website or online process to see which one creates the most “conversions” such as a purchase or information request. For example, if you want to increase the sales of a certain item, you would create a second version of the sales page. The second page might have a different headline or value proposition, it might have a new “buy now” or “add to cart button” or a different image or product description.

You would then use a program such as Google Website Optimizer to “split test” the two sales pages. When a visitor comes to the website, the program would randomly assign the person to see one version of the website or the other. After several days and a certain number of visitors, the program would be able to tell which version created the most sales. For example, you might find that 1% of people purchased from the original sales page, while 1.5% of visitors purchased from the second version. The difference of .5% would represent a whopping 50% increase in your sales.

Why Optimize?

Optimization can dramatically improve the efficiency of your online marketing campaigns and increase your return on investment or ROI. By testing alternatives to your current landing page you can create better-performing versions. Many approaches and tools are available for testing. The one you select depends on a number of variables, including; your website traffic levels, available in-house skill sets, the number of variables you want to test, and the quality or “confidence level” of your desired results.

Tests can be implemented via Google’s Website Optimizer and other free or low-cost tools. Larger tests may require a more complex solution. Complete or partial outsourcing of conversion testing is available, with some vendors offering pay-per-project and even pay-for-performance plans.

Download the Landing Page White Paper:

If you are interested in knowing more about website testing, make sure to download the free industry overview. No registration required: Landing Page 101

Social media, or Web 2.0, is the integration of online technology with social behavior. I like to think of it as:

People + Social Media = Worldwide Interaction.

Interaction on a scale never seen before. When the internet first began, most websites were not interactive. They had an assumption behind them that was not much different from the assumption behind broadcast T.V., newspapers and radio: They were passive modes of broadcasting and consumption. Websites were not much different: You would go to a website and “consume” the information

Yes, the early internet was amazing and you had access to huge amounts of information. But to a large extent, you could not interact with what you found. And other than through email, you could not interact with other people.

The New Internet

In contrast, the new social media websites are about engagement and interactivity. That is, you can talk, share, express your opinions and have conversations. And you can do so 24 hours per day, all over the world, and relatively cheaply.

Anyone can communicate and collaborate anytime using social networking websites like Facebook, LinkedIn and YouTube or tools like blogs and podcasts.

And the next generation of the social websites have arrived - sites like Stereofame and Ning that allow you to create your own social network, brand or even record label (!). In the social media arena, everyone is a publisher now and can create multiple “presences” and identities. You can create your own bookmarks, profiles, podcasts, videos, pictures and music and put them online.

Again, social media is the story of people using technology to participate across borders and time zones on a scale that has never seen before. There are people helping one each other simply because they want to help. And business brands? As you may know, they are being created and, yes, destroyed by conversations on the internet.

Social Media Implications

You - and anyone with an internet connection - have the power to unleash ideas upon the world, to create communities, and to collaborate. And that “you” can be anyone - a mother, 13-year old child, marketing manager, IT manager, CEO or business owner.

Engaging social media is a bit like buying a house or choosing a business location. You will need to pick and choose the elements that that are most important to you and your business. A few things to consider:

• What ideas would you like to share online?
• What do you want people to know about you?
• About your company and it’s products?
• What do you want people to know about others’ products?
• How and where could you begin communicating these ideas?
• Where are the conversations happening and how will you join them?
• If they are not happening, how will you create them?

If you don’t know where to start, I can give you one quick hint: Take a few minutes and create accounts at some of the networks that I have mentioned. Look around. Leave some comments and get familiar with the technology. Gain some first hand experience so that you can begin the process of learning about social media and social marketing.

But do you really need social media?

And let’s remember that everything above presupposes a business or organizational outcome. This my surprise you, but I often tell my clients that they do not need social media marketing. It’s not always the best and most effective solution and in fact it can be a huge waste of money and time. If you have a website that needs more traffic, you may be better off spending your time and money doing search engine optimization. If you need more leads, you may simply need to do a split-testing of your lead generation page to create a page that capture leads at a higher rate. Don’t get caught up in the hype of social. Personally, I love it and use it. But only when it serves a business or personal function.

Social Marketing:
What It Is

Online social media websites, often referred to “social marketing” or “Web 2.0“, are the various online platforms that encourage user sharing of information and opinion and help individuals to create and post their own content.

Blogs, Wikis, Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, Ning, Twitter, YouTube and Flickr are all examples of social websites. The user could be anyone - a customer, prospect, child, CEO, your Mom - anyone willing to go online and use the websites.

Social media websites thrive on user-generated content. In fact, they depend on user-generated content: Users create accounts, create profiles and then post content, whether that content is a blog post, picture, video, music, a link to another website or something else entirely.

This content is largely unfiltered except for certain website’s prohibitions against spam and adult-content. The unfiltered nature of social media content is both the peril and opportunity for businesses engaging the social marketing world. Why? Anyone with access to the internet can go online and post information about you or your company - good or bad. And anyone can pick up that information and redistribute it.

Social Marketing: What It’s Not

Social Media is not traditional “command and control” marketing. In other words, you are never in control of your message like you would be if you purchased an advertisement on television, radio, or a newspaper. You are not purchasing someone’s attention. You are hoping to get their attention by being interesting, thought-provoking or even controversial. And you are not “paying per click” as you could with Google’s PPC program.

However, you can attempt to use social marketing to “seed” conversations about your company. That is, you can put your ideas on the social media websites or on your company blog. But if people don’t like what you put up or worse - find it boring or irrelevant, you are doomed. Online, people can’t be forced to go to a website or watch a video or read a blog post they don’t like. They will simply click away.

If you DO manage to create provocative content, if you put content online that users WANT to share, and send to their colleagues, and link to from their own websites…then you are in the game. You have gone “viral” and you may have the beginnings of a successful social marketing campaign.