Michael Roebuck's Blog

Search Engine with Most Relevant Search Results

noreply@blogger.com (Michael Roebuck) — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 00:04:56 -0500

Congratulations to Yahoo for receiving the 2008 Search Engine Strategies Award for the Search Engine with Most Relevant Search Results.

I knew that Merchant Solutions was the best hosting platform, now we know you have the most relevant search results as well.

Congratulations!!

More info on the: Search Engine Strategies Awards - 2008

Yahoo Store The Best E commerce Platform for SEO

noreply@blogger.com (Michael Roebuck) — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 17:43:08 -0500

I was eating lunch at the Hotel here in San Jose and decided to check email from my phone. I received a blog post that really caught my eye. Scott Smigler of Exclusive Concepts had written a great article on why Yahoo Store was the best e-commerce platform.

Scott's company is like mine and they are also a Yahoo Partner. Anyway, I highly recommend you go and read his article titled: Yahoo Store | The Best E commerce Platform for SEO.

I don't want to copy any of his text because it's a new post and I want to be sure Google picks his article up first. But in my opinion, it's a good read all but one major flaw.

He specifically states Yahoo Merchant Solutions is a great platform if you plan on or are doing a minimum of $500,000 annual sales. I respectfully disagree. Yahoo Merchant Solutions is an excellent platform for EVERYONE, with no suggestion of minimum annual sales. Where else can you have an easy to design website that includes a secure shopping cart for $39 month? He does mention it's scalable so as your business grows you can access more features but for the new person starting out, it's an excellent vehicle. We too looked at other platforms and seriously considered designing eBay ProStores at one time but no-one, and I mean No-One comes close to what Yahoo Merchant Solutions offers. As Scott mentions, That probably explains why 1 in 8 e-commerce sites are hosted by Yahoo!

So, great story Scott! I enjoyed reading it. And maybe you placed a minimum to ward off the low end design clients. The ones who want a site like Amazon for $300. That's OK. We have a $299 package and can work with them! (No Amazon though. Not even close for $299)

If you are on the fence about if you should use Yahoo Merchant Solutions, Go read Scott's article!

McAfee Secure Updates.....

noreply@blogger.com (Michael Roebuck) — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 16:03:26 -0500

In reference to my post yesterday titled, "Hackersafe - McAfee Secure vs. ControlScan" as well as a post by Cresta Pillsbury titled, "What is McAfee thinking?????", and to quote Bob Dylan; "The Times They Are a-Changin'".

Karl Ribas came into my office today asking what yesterday's post was supposed to mean. "It doesn't make sense," he said. After pulling up a website to show him, I see McAfee Secure changed there secure page and removed the link to the shopping sites. I really wish I has taken a screen shot, but I didn't.

It looks like McAfee has removed the big link to the shopping sites but replaced it with a smaller text link under the content. The second large link now reads, "Stay Safe From Online Threats" and links you to there Site Advisor product. Using Cresta's example, below is the screen shot of what her client site now looks like with the text link:

But, Wait.... Below is a screen shot of one of my clients and they don't have the text link:

What's going on McAfee? Are you testing landing pages? Anyway, if you look at the fist screen shot, the text link I pointed out now takes you to a listing of all the McAfee Certified Sites. I admit it doesn't take you directly to the McAfee Secure Shopping portal like yesterday, but it does have a rather large listing of alternative sites for you to browse as well as a really nice link smack dab center of the page that will take you to secure shopping portal.

Below is a screen shot of the landing page you go to if you click on the company link as shown in the first image:

If anything new happens, I'll keep you posted. Maybe McAfee Secure is testing landing pages. Maybe they have read our posts and maybe companies have complained. Whatever the reason, as long as traffic stops being diverted to shopping portals, I would think clients will be satisfied.

Hackersafe - McAfee Secure vs. ControlScan

noreply@blogger.com (Michael Roebuck) — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 15:28:31 -0500

It's been a while since my last post. The summer has been slow with major events but I'm currently watching a new event slowly unfold.

Back in July, 2007 I posted about HackerSafe and compared them to ControlScan. (Should you use Hackersafe? ControlScan?) HackerSafe has now merged with McAfee and has been re branded as "McAfee Secure." I won't go into the price increase of using McAfee Secure but will touch on some changes that I and others are seeing.

Last month I was talking with my good friend Cresta Pillsbury who used to work for Hackersafe. She was made redundant and now works for the E-Commerce Merchants Trade Association. We were discussing the HackerSafe merge as well as the benefits of ControlScan. She has recently posted her own blog post about HackerSafe here: What is McAfee Thinking??

Basically, she exposes McAfee's attempt to steal traffic away from there own merchants. I was dumbfounded when I originally read her post because I was completely oblivious to this trick and I usually look for this type of stunt.

Cresta writes, "Anyone who is currently using the McAfee seal on their site is actually paying McAfee to take their traffic and send it to their competitors. What?!! I know but check out this link. www.gothamcityonline.com, now click on the McAfee seal https://www.mcafeesecure.com/RatingVerify?ref=www.gothamcityonline.com , once you do this their are two different links that will take you to McAfee's secure shopping portal which lists your competitors products. one is the "Attention Shoppers" the other is your company name directly under your URL... So tell me this, how is McAfee helping to increase your conversion if you are spending money for good traffic and they are directing it elsewhere? How is that good business practices?"

I don't need to write any more on this. After you have paid top dollar for Pay Per Click, Email Marketing, SEO, or whatever you do in order to get a customer to your site, McAfee comes along under the guise of "Secure Shopping" and offers them an option to buy from someone else. And you pay McAfee for this service?

Needless to say, I've brought this to the attention of some of my clients and suggest if you use HackerSafe / McAfee Secure, please look into this.

Now, for my rant on third party security......

I'm not too sure I think paying for a third party secure shopping logo is a good idea. I specialize in the design of Yahoo Stores and Yahoo Stores are already secure. I make my own "Secure Shopping" icon and link it directly to Yahoos' Secure Shopping page.

As my previous post on the comparison of HackerSafe and ControlScan stated, we were really testing brand recognition to see if the third party security banner increased conversions or not.

I feel in todays marketplace, PCI compliance mandates security. In order to accept credit cards on your web site you must be PCI compliant. I've filled out several exceptionally long questionnaires sent to me by clients whose banks required this information as well as required the site be scanned by someone other than HackerSafe or ControlScan. (One of the other companies, www.securitymetrics.com has there own "secure" logo as well.) Therefore, I think it's the bank who dictates who ultimately needs to scan the web site. Also, if the web site wasn't secure, they wouldn't be able to accept credit cards.

In closing, while it's a hot topic right now, maybe this will eventually die away as the online credit card industry evolves. Whoever gets to the banks first will win and everyone else will try to hang on and tout increased conversions due to "Brand Loyalty." Wasn't the reason these companies started up in the first place to increase customer perception that the site they are giving financial data to was secure? I admit I'm a fan of the brand McAfee Virus Protection whereas others in my office prefer Norton and some even use AVG. But when I think of McAfee or Norton, I do not think web site security. Nor will I condone McAfee Secure as long as they continue to try to steal my customers by linking to a private shopping portal.

Google Phishing Emails - Update

noreply@blogger.com (Michael Roebuck) — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 12:32:33 -0500

Last week I posted a quick comment about a recent rash of Google Phishing Emails I have been receiving. I stated that everyone at some time or another has probably received a fake PayPal or Credit Card email stating to log into your account immediately or else it will be shut down or something like that. These are from the bad people who want your login information so they can buy stuff with your money. I was a bit confused why someone would want access to your Google Adwords account because anything you link to could be easily tracked down. One of my clients fell victim to this fraud and I'm still confused as to why.

My client had an ad group created for "Ringtones." His settings were adjusted to accept a $25,000 daily limit with each keyword set at $18.00 max CPC. The fraudster then bought dozens of ringtone related keywords. The puzzling part was the actual ad was jibberish and the desitination URL was an invalid domain. In fact, it was available to purchase. The fraudster was either testing something out or just had too much free time on his hands.

Either way, we worked with Google to fix everything, but the only thing the fraudster really did was waste several hours of time.

I'm not going to post screen shots of the ad or what everything looked like as I don't want to give this guy credit, but we did get the clients password changed and everything seems to be running smoothly now.

So... What did we learn? Change your passwords to something not easily guessed or figured out and most of all, never click on a link to log into your account from anyone! Actually go to the website and login. I would like to think that if your account is about to be shut off, the company would put some kind of message on the site once you logged in without having to click on any links within an email.

For your reference, below are copies of 3 different Google Spoof emails that I have received:

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dear Google Adwords Customer, Your ads have stopped running because we were unable to process your billing information.
To activate your account and start running your ads, enter your billing information.

In order to activate your account and start running your ads, enter your billing information.
Pease sign into your account at http://adwords.google.com/select/login, and update
your billing information.

Once your account is reactivated and your billing information has been processed,
any your ads and campaigns can begin running immediately on Google.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This message was sent from a notification-only email address that does
not accept incoming email. Please do not reply to this message.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Google Adwords Team

Dear Google AdWords Customer,

Your ads have stopped running because we were unable to process your billing information. We will reactivate you account after you update your billing information. In order to reactivate your account, please sign it to your account at http://adwords.google.com/select/login, and update your billing informatio

Dear AdWords Customer,

The ads in this account are not running. All other account activity has been stopped.
Any edits you make here will take effect only if you reactivate the account.
If you would like to reactivate your account, please sign in
to your account at http://adwords.google.com/select/login,
and update your billing information.

Google Phishing Emails

noreply@blogger.com (Michael Roebuck) — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 16:44:00 -0500

I just wanted to write a quick post pertaining to a rash of Google Phishing emails I've been receiving lately. Everyone at some time or another has probably received a fake PayPal or Credit Card email stating to log into your account immediately or else it will be shut down or something like that. These are from the bad people who want your login information so they can buy stuff with your money.

Apparently they now want to increase traffic to their websites by writing fake Google Adwords ads from your account. Anyway, whatever the reason, be careful.

Here are copies of 3 different Google Spoof emails that I have received lately:

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dear Google Adwords Customer, Your ads have stopped running because we were unable to process your billing information.
To activate your account and start running your ads, enter your billing information.

In order to activate your account and start running your ads, enter your billing information.
Pease sign into your account at http://adwords.google.com/select/login, and update
your billing information.

Once your account is reactivated and your billing information has been processed,
any your ads and campaigns can begin running immediately on Google.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This message was sent from a notification-only email address that does
not accept incoming email. Please do not reply to this message.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Google Adwords Team

Dear Google AdWords Customer,

Your ads have stopped running because we were unable to process your billing information. We will reactivate you account after you update your billing information. In order to reactivate your account, please sign it to your account at http://adwords.google.com/select/login, and update your billing informatio

Dear AdWords Customer,

The ads in this account are not running. All other account activity has been stopped.
Any edits you make here will take effect only if you reactivate the account.
If you would like to reactivate your account, please sign in
to your account at http://adwords.google.com/select/login,
and update your billing information.

Google URL Policy Update

noreply@blogger.com (Michael Roebuck) — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 16:33:27 -0500

Google will be updating it's display URL policy beginning April 1st. This change marks the beginning of a stricter stance on display URLs. No more re-directs or vanity URL's will be allowed. Google states that this policy will be strictly enforced regardless of past approvals and will apply to all advertisers.

Basically, the new rules state the display URL will need to match the destination URL. Most exceptions that were allowed before will no longer be approved.

Here are a few examples that will not be approved:

www.Google.co.uk - this URL leads to a different site

www.Gogle.com - this URL simply redirects to www.Google.com

www.Gooogle.com - this URL leads to a page showing content identical to www.Google.com
Google will also not allow the use of multiple domains or branding and vanity URLs.

What about Yahoo Tracking URLs?
Google understands that many advertisers utilize tracking URLs within the destination field of their ads. Therefore, if the URL of your landing page matches that of your display URL, your ads will be approved.

For example:
Display URL: www.mydomain.com/widget
Destination URL: http://store.yahoo.com/cgi-bin/clink?yhst1234567+a1B2C3D4E5+widget.html
--> Landing page URL: www.mydomain.com would be acceptable

Display URL: www.mydomain.com/widget
Destination URL: http://store.yahoo.com/cgi-bin/clink?yhst1234567+a1B2C3D4E5+widget.html
--> Landing page URL: http://store.yahoo.com would not be acceptable

Are sub-domains or extra text still acceptable?
Yes, the use of sub-domains and additional text within the display will continue to be acceptable provided the top-level domain matches the URL of your landing page.

For example, display URLs such as the following:
sub.google.com
google.com/extratext
www.google.com/extratext
would all be acceptable for the landing page URL below, as the top-level domain of google.com is matched:
http://sub.google.com/miscellaneous

Finally, note that you don't have to change your ads. Existing ads within your account will not be immediately affected by this change. However, if Google receives complaints regarding specific violations of this policy, they will review and take the appropriate action. (Usually at 5:00pm on a Friday night). I would however, suggest that everyone check their account for potential blatant violations.

For more information regarding the update, look at the Google Blog

Nice New Yahoo! Feature

noreply@blogger.com (Michael Roebuck) — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 21:52:58 -0600

A few new features have been announced from Yahoo. One of which spurred this blog entry. I normally don't blog about regular updates as other people already do that. But imagine my surprise when I received my American Express bill and saw several hundred dollars worth of credits! I didn't have to do anything either, it happens automatically. Very Cool!

OPEN from American Express: 5% discount for Yahoo! Merchant Solutions and Yahoo! Search Marketing with your American Express Business Card

Through this partnership, small business owners can use their Business Card to automatically reduce their costs of doing business with Yahoo! Search Marketing and Yahoo! Small Business services. Business Cardmembers will receive a 5% discount on Yahoo! Search Marketing's online advertising and promotion services in addition to Yahoo! Small Business's comprehensive, easy to use services, including Web site hosting, e-commerce, business e-mail, and domain name registration.

OPEN Savings is a benefit embedded within all American Express Business Cards. American Express Business Cardmembers simply need to use their credit or charge card for purchases with any OPEN Savings partner to take advantage of discounts. The savings will automatically appear on the Cardmember's monthly statement and can be tracked when accessing an account at www.open.com. OPEN Savings discounts are calculated on the full transaction amount, including any taxes and surcharges. Terms and conditions apply.

Since I mentioned one, I feel obligated to mention another......

American Express CID Codes

The payment gateway that Yahoo! Store uses, First Data Merchant Services (FDMS) Nashville Platform, now supports CID (Card Identification) codes used by American Express credit cards. Using the CID functionally give you added security and can qualify your transactions for better rates from American Express. Merchants who would like to accept American Express as a Payment Method with the CID code on their Stores will need to publish their order settings with the proper risk tool setting once this functionality has been released.

New Yahoo Form Regulations

noreply@blogger.com (Michael Roebuck) — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 17:02:49 -0600

In an effort to improve security, Yahoo! will be upgrading the pro-forma script (form submission) functionality. If you are using the Yahoo! Form script, this applies to you. Merchants typically use this for newsletter signups, "contact us" forms, or price-quote requests. The pro-forma script security changes will ensure form submissions are properly associated with a store ID and that all email recipients of form submissions are approved. Once the changes are in place, your site will be automatically protected. However, you must take immediate action to use the new approved format for the pro-forma functionality. Otherwise, you may not receive submissions using the old format.

---------------------------------------------
WHAT STEPS DO I NEED TO TAKE?
---------------------------------------------

New URL for form submissions.
The following change will be required within your form tags sent to this script:
<form method="post" action="http://<accountname/yhst1234>.stores.yahoo.net/cgi-bin
/pro-forma">
where "accountname" is your store ID or yhst number. You will need to confirm this revised tag is used for each form sent to this script on your site. After updating the URL for form submissions, you will need to publish your site.

Approved email recipients.
Previously, any names listed within the form as values for owner received the email:
<input type=hidden name="owner" value="me@myname.com">

With this update, merchants must now enter the list of approved form submission recipients in the "Email To" field of the Form Submissions section in the Order Emails page (or the Fax & Email page for Merchant Solutions Standard and Professional merchants). Email addresses should be entered one per line. If you have a form that uses an email address not specified in the "Email To" field, that form submission will not be delivered.

Thank-you URL and Continue-URL under your store domain.
Previously, merchants could specify any URL to take shoppers to for the confirmation page (thankyou-URL) or after leaving the confirmation page (continue-URL):
<input type=hidden name="continue-url" value="http://anydomain.com">

Now merchants will need to specify a page within their store domain to send shoppers to.
<input type=hidden name="continue-url" value="http://merchantdomain.com">

---------------------------------------------
HOW DO I KNOW MY FORMS ARE SET UP CORRECTLY?
---------------------------------------------

If you have active forms on your site but are not receiving form submissions, then you likely have not made all of the required changes.

Confirm your form is submitting to the new URL:
<form method="post" action="http://<accountname>.stores.yahoo.net/cgi-bin/pro-forma">
and that you are using the correct account name.

Ensure that any email address listed in your forms also appears in the "Email To" field on the Order Emails page (Fax & Email for Standard and Professional accounts). You should receive emails of the form submissions to the owner addresses specified in your form, provided you are submitting the form to the new URL and have specified all email addresses.

Ensure your shoppers are being directed to a confirmation page under your domain after submitting the form and after continuing from the confirmation page.

For full details about the newly revised pro-forma functionality, please refer to Yahoo! help documentation.
http://help.yahoo.com/l/us/yahoo/smallbusiness/store/edit/regular
/regular-12.html

Unlimited Email - Not Unlimited

noreply@blogger.com (Michael Roebuck) — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 16:45:37 -0600

The other day I tried sending an email to a Yahoo! Merchant Professional client and it was promptly returned to me stating the account had been suspended. This concerned me as I maintain the website and wasn't aware of anything. The website was live and working, but why wasn't this particular email address?

I logged into their email control panel and saw a message in red stating the email address had unusual activity and the account was blocked from sending, saving or receiving emails for up to 48 hours.

This was unacceptable as who can be without email for 48 hours? I called Yahoo! and had the engineers take a look around. A little later I received an email stating it was fixed. I responded it wasn't. Time ticked away and eventually I called back and was then advised to delete the over 416,000 unread messages in the account. Basically, my client saved copies of orders, delivery confirmations and apparently everything else that they ever received via email. I deleted the sent mail and few folders containing older confirmations and everything started working again.

Moral of the story.... If you use the webmail feature on Yahoo! Bizmail, delete some email every now and then!

Another Moral..... Deleting 100,000 emails 100 at a time via an Apple iPhone while sitting on the side of the road is not fun.

One Laptop Per Child

noreply@blogger.com (Michael Roebuck) — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 09:46:50 -0600

I can remember hearing about this mythical $100 laptop and thinking how cool it was. To be able to produce a computer that could be given to the masses. What a cool concept! I joined the chat groups and immediately wanted to buy a bunch of these laptops (at $100 each) to give to the local schools or families that couldn't afford a computer. Unfortunately the computer hadn't been made yet. It was only a concept.

Well, the concept has materialized. Many of you know that I have 5 kids; my wife runs a daycare; we are foster parents; adopted from China; visit and donate to a school in Mexico; basically love kids and want to help every single child we can. So when the opportunity to buy these universal laptops became available, I jumped on it. Partly because I want to help and partly out of curiosity. The plan is to give one to the school I help in Mexico and let the All Web employees determine the fate of the other.

My laptops were delivered yesterday and I started playing. Honestly, I thought they would be a little more user friendly but I don't know the Linux operating system and assume I'm unfairly expecting them to be like Windows.

I was able to get on my secure wireless network at home and surf the net with ease. I made a video with the built in camera and played a few games. I couldn't chat with anyone but was able to find my way around fairly easily. The battery life seems great and the whole thing is extremely lightweight and compact.

I gave the computer to my 6 year old and he had a great time with it. Along with my 16 year old son. Even my daughter was impressed, but only after she could log into MySpace.

My initial blog plan was to review the laptop in detail but decided against it. The program is new and apparently open source so developers can write programs as needed. I'm so excited that this One Laptop Per Child initiative has become a reality that the only thing I can say is praise. Congratulations to Nicholas Negroponte (Founder) and I hope you continue the effort.

Please check out the website at www.laptop.org for more information. This is truly a phenomenal concept and needs the support of everyone.

Cyber Monday Red? Thanks Yahoo!

noreply@blogger.com (Michael Roebuck) — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 10:41:56 -0600

Cyber Monday. The biggest on-line shopping day, named because this Monday is the on-line equivalent to Black Friday; the largest shopping day of the year. On-line merchants were expecting a great day and we were prepared to make fast web site updates as merchants needed to make quick tweaks and updates to there sites. Unfortunately, Yahoo Merchant Solutions had a hiccup. Or maybe it was a Heart Attack.

I'm not going to bash Yahoo. Others are going to do enough of that for me. We all know Yahoo had issues. We all had a false sense of security and most of all, we all lost money. How much money? It's unknown as of this post, but the Yahoo Shopping Carts were down for most of the day so you can do the math.

What does this mean for Yahoo? Will clients jump ship? I certainly hope not. While this is certainly a problem and serious money has been lost, it is not a regular occurance. We very rarely have problems with Yahoo and they are always operational. I've been monitoring sites every 5 minutes for years now and can only remember one instance where a client site went down because of Yahoo: (Early April, 2004. PAIX telephone line issues.)

I still believe that if we owned our own servers and this happened, we'd be on the phone with outsourced techs trying to resolve it or the one IT person would be trying to figure it out. It would probably take days to resolve and happen more often. I would guess that Yahoo has more than one IT guy and there are probably numerous people with lots of letters after there names working very hard at fixing this. Yes, Yahoo is going through troubled times and yes, this outage is a serious problem, but as a whole, Yahoo has been very stable. Before you jump on the Yahoo bashing wagon which I'm sure will appear, think about all the good things that happen because of Yahoo. It's still early and we won't know the full effects of this problem for a while yet. That aside, I imagine we'll muddle through. Hopefully Yahoo has learned something and this won't happen again and hopefully we'll be able to create some sort of backup system. But think about this: Where else can you get so much with a scalable solution that benefits the small guy? Yes, there is other competition, but there isn't any other like Yahoo!

Don't know what happened to Yahoo? Here is a Link to Bill Hartzers' Blog with links to various news stories.

Yahoo! Cross Sell and Keyword Features

noreply@blogger.com (Michael Roebuck) — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 09:55:34 -0600

Wow! It's been a month since I've uploaded a post. Where does the time go? It's definitely been a busy month and I have several ideas for posts, but time escapes me. My wife and I are still looking for a house and that seems to be taking up most evenings. We really don't want to build, but because she runs a home business, most new subdivisions restrict what she can do. Anyway, that's a blog post in itself and should be titled something about why I don't drink because buying a house will certainly make you start!

Anyway, A couple new features at Yahoo! that you need to know about. The new Cross Sell feature and the Keyword Finder feature. Both are wonderful tools that will save you time and energy.

The Cross Sell Feature allows you to cross sell items on both your shopping cart page and the actual item pages. This is beautiful! If you are already using cross sell, you know the headache of having to create the cross sell list based upon item codes. Unfortunately, that headache is still there, but they have introduced a new feature that will automatically make suggestions based upon past customers' purchase and navigation history data to suggest products that are most likely to convert to sales. This is nice!

If you are not already using Cross Sell, please give it a try. All of my stores using it have shown sales based on this feature. In short, it works! And now that it can be automatic, it's easy! More information can be found on the Yahoo! Cross Sell help page.

The other new tool is the Keyword Finder. This is a great tool that will highlight specific keywords that have helped lead shoppers to your on-line store and make a purchase. The system automatically identifies the most relevant and effective keywords by using data from activity on your store, as well as traffic driven by search marketing campaigns on Yahoo and other search engines. You can then download the list of keywords to use in your existing campaigns or start new ones.

You might already use a keyword research tool that suggests keywords based upon Search Engine use. The Yahoo! Keyword Finder suggests keywords based upon your own sites history; thereby suggesting keywords that are generating sales. Be careful though, it only suggests keywords where people have bought something. You still need to be aware of industry keywords because you might be missing sales if you aren't aware of specific industry terms. More information can be found on the Yahoo! Keyword Finder help page.

The next time you have a few minutes to play around, I highly suggest looking at these two new features. Especially with Christmas right around the corner, you may have the opportunity to increase sales a bit. That would be nice!

Is YouTube the reason for world plight?

noreply@blogger.com (Michael Roebuck) — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 10:48:15 -0500

YouTube has certainly been in the news regularly lately. I've been reading some posts about the speculation of how much money YouTube will make with the new ad structure (Estimates range from Billions to Millions.) And these articles are usually followed by some sort of Lawsuit. For example, A billion in ad revenues won't mean much if it goes out the door to settle the Viacom lawsuit.

Further reading shows German Jews are contemplating a lawsuit because YouTube shows neo-Nazi videos. I don't think Google will do much about that if Yahoo! didn't do much about the arrest and imprisonment of a few pro-democracy Chinese. Note, "German" Jews. They aren't American and we have the Freedom of Speech rule over here. I'm sure some American Jews will join the suit, but we still have that Freedom of Speech thing. Sorry.

I'm not Jewish and don't mean to be disrespectful, but don't worry Jews, I'm sure you are not alone in your quest for morality right or wrong. I was watching a TV show last night called I-Caught. A show where they show various YouTube videos and such of what's hot or not. Last night I learned that YouTube shows videos of how to make a bomb, flame throwers made from childrens' toys and how to pick locks (Although they did feel obligated not to show which childrens' toy was used in the flame thrower.) They also told me that the Internet has web sites I can go to and see the identities of undercover police. Hmmm. That is certainly newsworthy!

All I need to do now is watch the 6 o'clock news and they will have some expert who will tell me that if I were to make one of those bombs and place it at some very easy to access precise location, something really really bad will happen.

YouTube obviously touches and affects everyone whether you have a computer or not. Maybe in a few years YouTube will be like Gun Control. Here are a few bumper stickers we will be seeing:

When YouTube is Outlawed. Only Outlaws will have YouTube.

YouTube Doesn't kill people. People Do.

Insured by YouTube

Ted Kennedy's Car has Killed more People than YouTube

Criminals Prefer Computerless Victims

Keep Honking While I Refresh

I'm actually not Anti-Google or Anti-Youtube. I use both quite often. I'm just pointing out the questions everyone must be thinking. I certainly understand the Jews point of view and I understand Google. My wife always tells me to choose my battles. Therefore, I usually choose to let her deal with it but do I want my kids having access to such anti-semitism and weapons making instructions? Maybe as a parent, I could restrict what my kids do on the Internet. You know, take an active role in raising them. If only the law allowed me to discipline my kids. But that's another post in itself!

Why is YouTube getting all the heat? We have other major crises in this Country. In last night's paper, I read a letter to the editor where this woman's son was the sole survivor in an attack in Afghanistan because the group of soldiers he was with decided to let some sheep herders go who found there location. Apparently the sheep herders alerted the Taliban who then attacked in force. Killing all but one, including a few dozen rescuers. Also, the men knew that letting the sheep herders go would most likely spur a huge attack, but killing them would mean murder charges back in America. Talk about your ethical dilemma's! I say it's war! Get the camera's out and let our troops do there job. Instead, it was suicide.

Too far from home? Not your worry? How about the next time you buy gas at the corner gas station, look around on the counter. How many different kinds of Speed or stimulants are on the counter? How many cans of energy drinks are in the cooler beside the counter? look at where the rolling papers are placed and flavored tobacco? Heck, we have a local gas station that sells steel wool and glass tubes. (That's used for smoking crack.)

Come on people! Look around your own neighborhood and open your eyes. You'd be surprised at what you can see. Maybe it's about time the news crews and lawyers look around a little closer to home. Oh wait, that doesn't make as much money and sell enough newspapers.

So I'll leave you with two final bumper stickers. One should certainly fit your point of view:

Visualize World Peace

Kill 'em all, let God sort it out

Monetizing YouTube and Buying Links

noreply@blogger.com (Michael Roebuck) — Thu, 23 Aug 2007 12:26:27 -0500

Before going into how Google is going to monetize YouTube, this article was originally titled, "To Buy or Not to Buy Links" as it started out as a recap of the Search Engine Strategies conference session regarding buying paid links and whether they are bad or not.

For the first time since it's inception, I did not attend the Search Engine Strategies Conference in California. I thought I'd miss this show this year and catch up at the Chicago SES instead. In reading several blog posts and articles about the show, the session on buying links caught my attention. However, since I wasn't there, I didn't really think I should comment in detail. However, I will state a few paragraphs:

Search Engine Strategies had a session on Paid Links and Dave from rentvine.com made a video about the session. Apparently Google is still saying that buying links is bad. I can understand Google's point of view, but I can also see the flip side. An example is the rebuttal regarding commercial web sites. Most people don't link to commercial web sites and therefore they need to buy links. Fully understandable! But back to this video....

I received word on this video and when I first saw it, it was uploaded to YouTube 22 hours previously, has 852 views and was already awarded with a most linked award with 112 links. Today, about 15 hours later, it shows 1624 views with 423 links. A 90% increase.

Watch the video and you'll see that while the video is completely relevant for search engine topics, it has absolutely nothing to do with home rentals. What does Google say about this? Apparently creating a video such as the one below is creative and allowable. Even though the video has nothing to do with the company itself.

According to Matt Cutts from Google; If I understand correctly, his first sentence goes something like, Are paid links evil? He says that this is the wrong question. But the right question is - Do paid links that pass PR violate search engine quality guidelines? The answer is yes.

If buying paid links pollute the web, what does this video do? buying a link creates trash yet the video was created specifically for what? The web site rents homes? You think maybe link love? Apparently paid links create trash and clutter the Internet whereas non-related video's don't?

I guess we'll just have to wait and see. Or adopt one person's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy!

Ok, now about Google's monetization of YouTube. I've read several articles on Google's $1.65 Billion purchase of YouTube and how are they going to make money on the deal. Similar to eBay buying Skype, some people didn't see the connection.

Today I read a few articles on how Google is adding semi-transparent ads that appear as strips across the bottom of videos. The ads will show for 10 seconds and the watcher can either click on the ad to watch it or ignore it altogether. Watching the commercial will pause the video while the commercial is played. Interesting!

I guess these commercials work as Google is claiming as many as 5-10 times more people click on the video ads as click on regular display ads or other web site ads.

Great YouTube video showing how the ads look from Shawn Collins:

Great article by Elise Ackerman - San Jose Mercury News:
Now playing on YouTube: in-video ads

What do you think? Are the ads going to a positive side to YouTube or a negative?

Gas Station Usability and Service

noreply@blogger.com (Michael Roebuck) — Mon, 24 Sep 2007 08:41:05 -0500

This post has been edited on Monday, September 24, 2007 because of the comments received. I'm not afraid of writing a controversial post, but while the post was about usability in relation to a gas station after a recent visit, I think I may of inadvertently attacked a single person. It certainly generated a response from a Shell Corporate Office and I understand the owner of the gas station circulated the post to all employees.

In retrospect, I probably should not have listed the location of the Shell gas station I visited. Granted, I was really ticked about the response I received from the employee and might write the same thing if happened again, but I'm really not out to get anyone in trouble. I'll agree that I might have been quick to chastise an individual and there are always two sides to every story. We'll assume that I was the 10th person to complain about the printer that day and the employee was just fed up.

Anyway, thanks to Anonymous for there comments and letting me know what was going on. Below is the edited post:

I got gas at a Shell Station one day. I travel frequently and it was a store I have visited several times in the past. Several times though, the receipt printer wasn't working on the pump and I had to go inside for my receipt. I find that irritating because if you offer me an option to pay at the pump, make sure it works. I complained several times and usually get the same excuse about the service guy coming and have a nice day.

The other day was different. I got my gas and the receipt printer wasn't working again. I swore a little bit and went inside. I told the gal behind the counter I wasn't ever buying gas here again assuming she'd apologize and tell me to have a nice day. Something to calm me down again and make me leave a happy customer. Was I wrong! In fact, I was speechless. After complaining to her, she looked me square in the eyes and stated firmly; "Doesn't bother me. They've been by here...." and she kept rattling off something but all I could think about was, "Doesn't bother me" and the manner in which she so boldly and matter-of-factly told me.

I left the building flabbergasted at her uncaring response. I wanted to fire her on the spot for her attitude and talking to a customer that way. Needless to say, there is another gas station across the street and several more off the next exit. I will not be a Shell customer again. In fact, I probably won't be a Shell customer anywhere again either.

After running this scenario in my head several times, and because I believe if I owned the Shell Station I would have prevented this scenario from happening. I thought how could something this trivial have caused Shell to loose a customer? I drive a truck and get gas about every 2 weeks. Assuming this was my regular gas station where an average fill costs me about $40.00. 52 weeks year, every other week is 26 times $40 for an annual customer value of $1040. Throw in drinks and gum and you've probably got another $100. For sake of argument, say I was worth $1000.00 year to that Shell Station. Usability wise, what could have saved Shell from loosing $1000.00?

Easy, A sign on the pump reading, "Printer Broken. Sorry." Could a little post it note be worth $1000? Sure! Why? Because I would have been informed up front that the printer was broken. Sure, I may have laughed a bit and thought, "Broken Again??" But I would still have gotten my gas and probably still be a Shell gas customer today. Even if I really wanted a receipt at the pump and left, I would have been back the next day or two weeks later to try again. I might have even moved over to a different pump. Virtually any way you look at it, I would still be a Shell customer today.

What is the moral of the story? Listen to your customers. If I complained several times, how many other people feel the same way but might not have complained? Did Shell really only loose my $1000 or do you think other customers were treated the same as I was? Run your web site like you would run a brick and mortar business and listen to feedback and react. It's just as easy to go to another web site as it is to go to another gas station. I spend my money where it's appreciated.

You are aware Yahoo has the feedback rating system right? Do you use it? I receive the feedback rating comments sent in for several of my clients. Every comment gets sent to the store as well as me and any comments relating to the web site get analyzed. If it's negative, they get a personal response from me either asking for more detail or what we can do to fix it.

As my Dad always told me, "If someone is willing to give you there hard earned money, thank them very much!" It's hard enough trying to make money without bad customer service and usability roadblocks working against you.

Your Boss Is Not Your Friend

noreply@blogger.com (Michael Roebuck) — Mon, 30 Jul 2007 13:50:23 -0500

I was recently alerted to a couple posts regarding whether or not you should link your boss as a "friend" on Myspace or other social networking site. Apparently it all stemmed from a Wall Street Journal article, "OMG -- My Boss Wants to 'Friend' Me On My Online Profile." Lisa Barone then posted her blog, "Your Boss Is Not Your Friend."

As a boss, I can certainly understand the fear that this would have with some employees. I have worked for a few companies myself where the boss is certainly not my "friend." But then, those bosses wouldn't ask to be my friend and most probably wouldn't be on a social network to begin with. I also live by a golden rule my mother beat into me that states don't write anything I wouldn't want her to read. Therefore, that eliminates the pictures of me doing keg stands or other graphical representations or writings that may give a potential employer/employee a bias against me should they google my name.

Googling people is prevelent and it is amazing what you can find out about people with a little search. Of course, my background as a Private Investigator gives me a little insight as to where to search as well. Maybe employers shouldn't be worried about a picture of a keg stand as much as they should be validating education and past employment backgrounds.

In todays technological society, college students and people entering the job market or working for technology companies are fully aware of the power of the Internet and how nothing is sacred. Unfortunately, that Spring Break in Cancun where you ended up on the "Girls Gone Wild" video is going to follow you around forever. Regardless if your the girl or the cheering guy.

All Web Promotion is a fairly small company with only 10 of us. Because of our small size, we tend to be a bit more personal. We often go out together and know quite a bit about each other. Me being the "boss" is included in that. Employees know as much about me as I know about them. I don't think twice about what the employees do and don't feel it's my responsibity or my even my place to question what is done outside working hours. I feel I've done my job by hiring qualified people who will represent All Web positively and professionally.

Don't forget the employees should be googling employers as well. The emplyee should be looking to see if the potential workplace is agreeable to there beliefs and standards.

The whole purpose of the social networking scene is to network and be social. It's not all work. Don't be afraid of rejection. I don't have everything in common with employees and if they don't want me as a friend, they should feel comfortable in rejecting me as I might reject them. I want my Myspace account to reflect a business type atmosphere and will not accept friends for the sake of bulking my friend list.

Who to accept as a friend and what you post online should be based upon your own personal beliefs and be based upon what you want portrayed. If you feel proud to be selected as the covergirl for "Girls Gone Wild," stand up and be proud. But remember to live in the real world. That image may not fit with the job you are applying for or the people you will be around. Some things that might fit your lifestyle don't fit others and when multiple people have to be side by side for any length of time, some things are best left to the appropriate time and place. You don't have to be an open book at work. That what makes us all different and exciting.

So in closing, keep everything about you in the closet. Just kidding. Everyone has skeletons and different belief systems. I'll leave you with a golden rule of your own, "If you don't want to know the answer. Don't ask the question."

Should you use Hackersafe? ControlScan?

noreply@blogger.com (Michael Roebuck) — Fri, 13 Jul 2007 11:41:48 -0500

The question of whether or not you should use the Hackersafe or ControlScan type security logos on your Yahoo! Store has always been a mystery to me that I've been fighting with for some time now. On one hand, they claim to make users feel safe and secure and thus increase sales. On the other hand, Yahoo Stores are already scanned and already secure. Why pay for a service when I can create my own logo and link to a page describing Yahoo! Store Security?

I've recently had the opportunity to meet two wonderful people. Cresta Pillsbury from Hackersafe and Savannah Finney from ControlScan. By "wonderful", I really mean "wonderful." You won't find two nicer, more professional people anywhere, who bend over backwards to help you. My life has improved just by knowing them. Yes, they are that great. Unfortunately, this is business and my clients expect me to make and save them money.

HackerSafe Test

Hackersafe allowed us to run an A/B test on one of our clients. Half of the visitors saw the Hackersafe logo, the other half didn't. I felt the Hackersafe A/B data was a little skewed as they tagged duplicates by the same IP address. I fixed this by manually removing repeats who didn't have an order number. What I found was Hackersafe counted 112 legitimate orders as repeats and thus weren't included in the results they provided. In actuality, these 112 orders were repeat customers and should have been included. I have 25 days of data comprised of 1831 orders.

To throw another wrench into the test, this client sends an email blast out about every 2 days. Apparently, email can skew the results because existing customers already trust us and the HackerSafe logo has less of an impact. Because of this, I went one step farther and looked at each of the 1831 orders. Yahoo! gives me the ability to track if they are new or repeat customers so I looked at the days where new customers placed more orders than repeat customers. Of those days, it was a fairly even split of orders placed whether they saw the HackerSafe logo or not.

In aggregate, in the 25 day test period, I noticed an increase of orders of 4% (as opposed to the 12% HackerSafe claims). Because of the increase, I'm still skeptical, but we are willing to continue the tests. We'll run the HackerSafe logo on a full time basis for a few months and see what happens. Until then, I'm afraid I still haven't answered the question of whether or not you should pay for the HackerSafe logo. You should though, test it and be sure to look at the data file provided and review that data yourself. If you need any help or find any flaws in my methodology, give me a call.

ControlScan Test

ControlScan was going to let us do an A/B test but they use a third party software package that isn't that compatible with Yahoo. Because of that, we had to go by sales alone. In a 3 week period, the sales after ControlScan was added were fairly level with the 3 weeks prior. We think we could squeeze a 1% increase to ControlScan. Certainly not enough to justify itself.

This was actually very surprising to me because ControlScan consisted of tall skyscraper banners as well as a banner on the top of the website and check-out pages. HackerSafe was only a tiny little banner on the top of the website. I really thought ControlScan would outperform HackerSafe. Needless to say we removed the ControlScan banners and will follow up with a HackerSafe A/B test.

Final Word

Test, Test, Test. Results will differ on everyone's website. The websites we added the banners too already had a link to Yahoo security. We were really testing whether or not the name recognition of the banners would increase sales. Everybody I spoke with at the client site hadn't even heard of HackerSafe or ControlScan and nobody cared or said they would click on the banner to see what it was. The Marketing Director recently went to a site and noticed the HackerSafe logo but only because she knew we were testing it with her site. Is a commercial logo really better than just writing that your order is secure on the website headers? Does a customer really recognize "HackerSafe" or "ControlScan" as better than, "Your order is Secure" or a homemade "Site Security" banner linking to a descriptive page on your own website?

I can't show you the client banners we created and I'm not sure if I can copy the HackerSafe logos, but what would mean more to you:

Hackersafe Banner reading:
"HackerSafe tested July 13, 2007"

ControlScan Banner reading:
"verified July 13, 2007 - Verified Secure"

Client A:
"Secure Shopping - learn more"

Client B:
"Site Security - Yahoo Shopping"

Client C:
"ECommerce by Yahoo!"

I guess I still have to fight with myself on whether or not we want to recommend this product or not. Certainly bigger companies are using it, but does that make it right? If anybody has any information on these or other site security services, please comment or let me know.

PayPal Customer Service Update

noreply@blogger.com (Michael Roebuck) — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 12:14:21 -0500

Woo-Hoo! I got the name changed on my client's Paypal account. If you haven't heard my dilemma, you can read all about it here: PayPal Customer Service.

Thanks very much to Alex with PayPal Australia and Mike with Yahoo who both contacted Jen at PayPal. She called me and changed the name while I was on the phone.

While talking with Jen, we both realized that the problem was not handled as well as it could have been. I should have been able to talk to someone higher up when needed. I'd like to know what happened to the supervisor who was supposed to escalate my situation though. I don't see any evidence of him following through.

This still leaves the question of what to do when you need help. Should you blog about your one bad experience and not talk about the numerous positive ones? I am not one to blog about everything that doesn't go my way but this seemed to drag on and on. Had it not been for my blog post, I probably would still be fighting with customer service trying to get the account changed. That is just not right.

Fortunately, Jen is high up enough with PayPal that not only can she see my challenge, but she has the power to do something about it. Hopefully this can lead to certain changes and future problems can be resolved faster and smoother.

So what can you do? Follow up. If the first call doesn't seem to solve the problem, call back and ask to speak with a higher up. Apparently, higher ups are able to receive calls. Stay on the phone until you get someone who can assist you further. Also, get names. I wish I had all the names of everyone I spoke with. Not to slam them, but to allow PayPal to give proper training where needed. For all I know, I got some newbie who had good intentions and tried to help me, but didn't know the correct path to take. By allowing PayPal to train them, this wouldn't happen to the next guy who had a problem.

As Alex from PayPal Australia pointed out, Change takes time and PayPal is a large company. However, not so large that he didn't know who Jen was another Continent away.

All in all, my problem got solved and hopefully some good will come out of it. I've been a fan of Paypal for several years and this was my first major bad experience with them. Not too shabby when you look at the big picture.

PayPal Customer Service; or Lack Thereof

noreply@blogger.com (Michael Roebuck) — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 12:09:46 -0500

I have written several articles on the need to accept Paypal as a payment method. People want additional methods to pay and Paypal seems to be a great method. And it works! Unless you need something changed on your account. PayPal Account Management is awful.

I have a client who needed the account name changed as the employee listed was no longer with the company. Seemed easy enough. On May 29, 2007 I faxed a copy of the new drivers license and utility bill along with a statement of what we needed changed. This was faxed over and I thought I was done.

Apparently PayPal needed more information and sent an email requesting this. Since all email from Paypal goes in the spam folder, we never received it. I found out after I called to follow up that they also wanted a copy of a bank statement. Fine, I re-faxed all the information to them.

Am I done now? Nope. Apparently PayPal needed more information, but don't plan on getting the email request they send as it gets filtered as Spam. You have to call them and funnel through the automated system to get a live body to check on the status. Apparently they need more information. This time they want a credit card statement, copy of paystub displaying social security number and a letter on company letterhead stating we wanted a name change. Keep in mind, we aren't changing the company name but only wanted to change the name of the employee listed on the account. This was faxed over on June 21, 2007.

Am I done now? Nope. I called PayPal again after a few days wondering what the status was and they tell me they now need a copy of the signature card from the bank. Interestingly enough, this employee also tells me that it's easier to set up a new PayPal account rather than try to change the name. He told me exactly what I needed to do. I find it nice that employees are telling customers how to get over on the system because even the employees know it sucks. I'm determined to get this changed though. And I don't want to loose the history with the existing account.

Funny though, On June 25, 2007 I received an email from PayPal asking for me to answer a survey about my experience with PayPal. The letter reads, "As part of PayPal's commitment to excellence, I want to make sure I met your needs in my response. Would you please take a minute to answer a few questions to let me know how I did?" Well, I told them how my needs were not met. Apparently that was all they wanted because I haven't heard back from them. Apparently "Commitment to Excellence" means something different to me then it does them.

Anyway, Today, July 2, 2007 I call again wanting to know the status and the PayPal guy tells me they sent me an email today wanting more information. I can't wait to see what they want now. Unfortunately, I can't tell you because the guys computer is running slow and he can't pull up the information. I give him my email address and he assures me he'll send it within a couple minutes. He actually follows through with his word and I get an email several minutes later. Apparently, now they want a copy of the Social Security Card as well as a paystub. What, the paystub displaying the Social Security Number isn't enough?? Here's what they wrote:

"Please submit a clear copy of your Social Security card and a recent pay stub displaying your SSN and the address matching your PayPal Account. Please ensure that your Social Security number is clearly displayed on the documents you send.

In order for us to complete the verification process, please print this email and complete the fields of the Social Security Affidavit below. Once completed, please fax or mail the information to:...."

You have got to be kidding! So, I call them one more time. After sitting on hold for 32 minutes, I ask to speak to the verification department and as usual get told they don't accept phone calls. I then request a supervisor. I get a supervisor who I tell my story to and he assures me that he can see that they have all the documentation and I don't need to fax anything over. He will contact the verification department and explain what I told him. He then says to wait a couple days and the name should be changed. I won't hold my breath because I want to live long enough for this change to go through. As I hang up the phone, the PayPal supervisor tells me to have a nice 4th. Is he being sarcastic or just trying to be nice? Who cares, just get my account fixed!

My next step is to start some tests with Google Checkout. Perhaps Google Checkout will generate similar positive results and I can suggest all my clients stop using PayPal and switch to Google. This is ridiculous.

Internet Retailer 2007

noreply@blogger.com (Michael Roebuck) — Thu, 31 May 2007 14:59:52 -0500

I will be in San Jose attending the Internet Retailer Conference and Exhibition from June 4-7. Internet Retailer is the world's largest conference in e-retailing, where more than 4,000 online merchants from retail chains, catalog firms, web-only merchants and consumer manufacturers will share ideas and experiences on the one thing they have in common: web-based retailing. This is usually a good show and I come back with some great ideas for all my clients.

This year Kelly, one of our RTML Yahoo! Designers, is coming with me and we will be exhibiting with Yahoo at there booth. We recently exhibited with Yahoo at the PESA conference in Chicago and had a great time. Yahoo invited us to this show and we will be in the exhibit booth on Tuesday, June 5th from 11:00am to 3:00pm. Please stop by and say, "Hello!"

Karl Ribas, All Web's Project Manager will be attending the Search Marketing Expo in Seattle at the same time. It seems to be a great week for trade shows!

If you are in San Jose or Seattle, be sure to let us know. If not, I'm sure I'll post an update throughout the week and Karl will be updating about the SMX show.

Tin Foil Surprise

noreply@blogger.com (Michael Roebuck) — Mon, 28 May 2007 19:05:52 -0500

My birthday was Friday the 25th. As manager of All Web, I usually do not participate in birthday wishes as I'm really bad with remembering dates. Unless I'm told it's a special occasion, I'll forget. Thus, forgetting some people's special days and remembering others. So rather than forget someone's day, I choose to forget everyones.

Anyway, I happened to be at a client site all day on Friday and not in the office. I called in several times throughout the day and all seemed to be running smooth. Apparently, as I find out later, too smooth.

I got back into town about 7pm and on the way home was paged several times that one of the network drives was down. Since it was the beginning of a long weekend, I needed to stop by the office and reset it. Karl also gets paged but he must have worked too hard during the day to come back and reset the drive.

I get to the office and was stunned with what I saw. My first thought was, "How did this happen without Cindy noticing and blowing a complete gasket?" Maybe she did see and is waiting until Tuesday. Just have to wait and see.

After getting over the initial shock, I leave and reset the drives. Good thing too, as our entire network was down. Thanks Karl!!

Anyway, I had plenty of time to ponder, chuckle, laugh out loud and think, "Holy crap they got me good."

Yes, everything is individually wrapped. My mouse, computer, telephone, pen, everything!

I came back to the office on Saturday to show my wife and kids and take pictures. I then unwrapped my desk only so I could be somewhat functional Tuesday morning yet still leave enough items wrapped so other people could see it. A lot of time and effort went into wrapping every individual item in tin foil and I wanted to ensure others saw it as well. I showed pictures to lots of people over the weekend and it did get lots of comments ranging from the fact everyone must have way too much free time and weather or not I got billed for the tin foil.

We have a good group of employees and we all like to have a good time. This just sets a new level to the good times.

Anyway, Thanks for the birthday surprise everyone. I'll admit you got me this time. But what you failed to remember is; I don't get even. I get ahead!

It's On.

Interview with Mr. SEO

noreply@blogger.com (Michael Roebuck) — Fri, 25 May 2007 15:48:59 -0500

My good friend and co-worker, Karl Ribas was recently interviewed by Joe Balestrino with Mr. SEO. I'm a bit behind in my podcasts and finally got to hear his interview this morning. It was a great discussion about PPC advertising. As with every great discussion, I feel my two cents worth will only make them better. So, as you listen to this great podcast, here is my 2 cents worth....

1 Cent: My first cent involves the ability to run A/B tests with Google Adwords. Joe briefly stated the ability was there but I feel that topic needs more time. The ability to run an A/B test will help virtually every aspect of PPC advertising, from landing page design to ad copy. When asked what to avoid in ad copy, Karl mentioned each business was different. Well, how can you tell what works for your business if you don't run A/B tests? Google make the ability to test so easy, that not to test, is a crime. Changing one word in your ad can make a big conversion difference. (Karl mentioned Rob Snell; Our friend and Yahoo Store conversion expert) By running against a control, you can guage just how much of a difference you'll get.

By testing different landing pages within same viewable ad, you can test various aspects of your landing page copy. Yahoo trackable links make testing not only your ads but the landing pages easy as pie!

By the way, Yahoo Search Marketing also allows for ad copy A/B testing as well.

In short, the ability to do A/B testing is easy to do and a necessity. Call me (or Karl) if you get stuck or need any help.

2 Cent: My second cent involves Karl's comment about his use of Yahoo Search if he wanted to buy something and Google search if he was researching. I think he's wrong. Some people might say that different people search using different engines and different styles, but since he doesn't follow my style, he's wrong. (Joke)

I search differently. If I'm looking to buy something, I use Google Adwords because those people are paying for the ad and therefore want to sell something. If I'm researching, I use the organic results and Alta Vista. I like to read reviews on Amazon or other sites where people review. Organic results are chock full of independent reviews on why something is good or bad.

For example, Kelly sold me on the Cingular Blackjack phone. Before I buy, I want to see other reviews so I search Google for "Cingular Blackjack" and read the organic results showing me various opinions and reviews that have been published. When I'm ready to buy, I click on the paid links. Alta Vista provides good organic results as well.

OK. There you have it. My 2 cents worth on Karl's interview with Mr. SEO. Please be sure to listen to the Podcast and all Joe's podcasts as they are very educational and informative for the seasoned SEO person as well as the do it yourselfer. It's full of legitimate information and not fluff about what the speakers did over the weekend. Karl's blog is great as well! Check them both out:

Karl Ribas Blog

Mr. SEO

Integrate PayPal into your Yahoo! Store

noreply@blogger.com (Michael Roebuck) — Tue, 01 May 2007 14:05:55 -0500

If you haven't read my post on accepting PayPal as a payment option within your Yahoo! Store, you need to read it. Then, you need to read on....

PayPal and Yahoo! have partnered to launch a major new promotion for Yahoo! Store Merchants. Recently they completed an updated checkout flow for Yahoo! Stores that allows customers to checkout quickly by using PayPal Express Checkout.

Yahoo! clients that take advantage of this new checkout flow get a special shopping cart icon next to your Sponsored Search ads to show searchers that you accept PayPal for payments.

In addition, clients get $100 credit in Yahoo! Sponsered Search credit.

A $100 credit is nice, but the best part is you will pay no PayPal transaction fees through the end of the year on orders completed through PayPal Express Checkout. Did you catch that? NO PAYPAL FEES. It's a beautiful thing!

More Details can be found here: www.paypal.com/yahoosearch or contact us. We'll be glad to help you get set up.

Confirmation Bliss

noreply@blogger.com (Michael Roebuck) — Sun, 29 Apr 2007 21:51:00 -0500

I'm sitting here Sunday night reflecting on a wonderful weekend and as a proud parent. As you know, I have 5 wonderful children and this weekend focused around one of my daughters; Toni. This weekend was "All About Her." She participated in the local "Band-O-Rama" where the local elementary school band students played in a concert Friday night followed by individual competitions on Saturday. It's a really big deal for the kids and watching all the kids play was truly amazing. They all did very well and I'm proud to say Toni performed wonderfully and received high scores in all of her sections. She plays the Clarinet and fumbled a bit with her Chromatic Scale, but more than made up for it with a perfect solo and wonderful duet with a flute played by one of her friends.

Sunday was a day of celebration as Toni was confirmed in our Church. She had been working hard towards this day along with about a dozen other kids and it was exciting to participate with her. It's such a heartwarming experience to watch my sweet, innocent and adorable little baby girl gain admission to Gods world! Below is a picture of of her with proud Mom and Grandma.

After the services we invited a few close friends and my wife's parents over to have lunch and cake. You know, enjoy in the fellowship and solitude of this day that the Lord has made. A nice quiet day where we can reflect on the Church and enjoy each others company. Well, at least that was how it was supposed to go.

My dear, sweet baby girl has grown up with a mean streak. If I was Alec Baldwin, I guess I'd have a few choice words for her but certainly not a thoughtless pig. I spent my hard earned money on a perfectly good cake to celebrate this joyous occasion with friends and family where my daughter is supposed to be getting closer to God and this is what she does....

Her and her girlfriend decide it would be funny to attack me with the cake. Ha-Ha! Real funny girls! You both have ruined this cake now. You think people are going to want to eat it now after it's been all man handled and squished?

Who teaches them this type of behavior? When I was growing up, this would never have happened with my family. Why? Because I respected my parents. Or at least was scared enough of my Dad not to throw cake at him! I can't believe the level of disrespect these kids have nowadays.

I guess I'll just have to go to bed wondering where I went wrong. What did I do, where did I fail? Why do these kids nowadays feel they can attack elders with cake? At least I'll sleep well knowing that I smeared cake on them too (And the fact it was easier to wash out of my hair)!!