Conversation MarketingRuminations on the world of internet marketing, by a grown up. We won't use the word 'synergy' once, we promise...The Internet Marketing Unlist: 49 Things You Probably Are Doing But Shouldn't- March 28, 2008 My Internet Marketing List of last week got one heck of a response - 22,000 unique visitors in 3 days. Even though most of you losers didn't subscribe to my RSS feed, it gave my limp, damp ego a nice boost. In the interest of beating a good idea to death, I bring you the Dark Side of that list. 49 things you really should not do in your internet marketing campaign (but I'll bet you are): Have a useless Flash intro on your site. HAH. I'll bet you thought I'd pull that after some of...http://www.conversationmarketing.com/2008/03/the_internet_marketing_unlist.htm CNET Cuts Staff 10%. We're All DOOOOOOMMMMEED!!!!- March 26, 2008 No, we're not. Yes, CNET just cut 10% of their workforce. And we're seeing far too much of that lately. But before I go outside and commit hari kari with a USB thumb drive, let's get a little perspective. CNET's problems are a valuable lesson in internet marketing, but don't run for the hills just yet. A comparison with their competitors shows this has been in the offing for a while, and it has nothing to do with the economy. It's about their strategy. CNET got bloated CNET cut 120.http://www.conversationmarketing.com/2008/03/cnet-cuts-staff-internet-marketing-lessons.ht... I'm the Snidely Whiplash of SEO!- March 25, 2008 Yesterday Michael Martinez wrote a post about Real Advice from Bad SEOs. It's a bit of a rant, and you know how I love internet marketing rants and SEO mythbusting, so I loved the sound of his new post. His overall point is great too: If the search engines start bouncing your site up and down like silly putty on a grill, RELAX. Don't start taking rash actions. Wait and see how things shake out. But I do have to differ with a few of his examples, 'cause if I don't, then I'm an "amateurish".http://www.conversationmarketing.com/2008/03/im-the-snidely-whiplash-of-seo.htm Google Analytics Benchmarking: Tutorial, and Things that Make You Go Hmmmmm...- March 24, 2008 Google Analytics now has their nifty benchmarking feature all set up. If you're running Google Analytics you can see how your site traffic compares to others. First, here's how you set it up, and why you should: Open Your Kimono, Just a Little First, you have to give Google access to your analytics data. "OH MY GOD," you say, "THAT'S CRAZY. Let a giant software and internet company have access to my data!! Forget it." Do it. Strictly speaking, Google already has all of this data....http://www.conversationmarketing.com/2008/03/google_analytics_benchmarking.htm The Internet Marketing List: 59 Things You Should Be Doing But Probably Aren't- March 21, 2008 Internet marketing is about lots of little things, not one big one. This list is half-list, half-procedure. If you go down these items in order it might give you a decent internet marketing plan for the next few months. If you have others, post ’em as comments: If you have a Flash introduction on your web site, delete it. If you don’t agree, try this: Shove your head into a bucket of water. Stay in there, not breathing, for 10 seconds longer than is comfortable....http://www.conversationmarketing.com/2008/03/the_internet_marketing_list_59.htm Screw You: Alaska Airlines Teach Us About Internet Marketing and Customer Service- March 20, 2008 Update: The point of this post is internet marketing, and the fact that honesty - and apologies - go much further than ignoring the problem. A few folks pointed out that I spent more time bitching about Alaska Airlines than talking about the marketing stuff. My bad. I usually try to sandwich my posts in some story from real life. It creates a connection, makes stuff make more sense, plus it's a lot more fun for me. This time, I leaned a little too far toward reality, I guess. If you want to...http://www.conversationmarketing.com/2008/03/screw_you_alaska_airlines_teac.htm Internet Marketing Is About Discoverability (Not Yelling)- March 18, 2008 I was listening to Joseph Jaffe's most recent podcast and one concept blew me away: Old-style marketing was about interruption. No news flash there. But Jaffe's statement that marketing is now about discoverability really resonates: You must be present at the customers' convenience and request, not screaming at them 247.You must answer their questions when they ask, not when they happen to be watching TV.And you'd better give them an easy way to ask further questions. You...http://www.conversationmarketing.com/2008/03/internet-marketing-about-di.htm Multivariate Testing: What it Is, Why You Need It- March 16, 2008 Friday, someone told me it's hard to convince folks they need to use multivariate testing in their internet marketing campaigns. Once my mouth closed, I decided to write this post. What Multivariate Testing Is If you already know, you can skip down to why you need it, below. I can't define it without twisting my own brain in a knot, so I'm going to use an example, instead. Say I have a landing page. On this page, I want to test the headline, the body copy, and maybe how I link to...http://www.conversationmarketing.com/2008/03/multivariate_testing_what_it_i.htm Conversation Marketing: The Book (buy it!)- March 15, 2008 Sometimes I forget to remind folks: I wrote an internet marketing book. It only costs $19.95. Yes, you can read it online for free. But for less than $20 you get the feel of crisp, recycled paper and the smell of printer's ink. And the warm fuzzy feeling that you helped keep Conversation Marketing afloat. Click here to buy it.http://www.conversationmarketing.com/2008/03/conversation_marketing_the_boo_1.htm If You Give A Corp. A Web Site...- March 14, 2008 ...It will want to get lots of visitors on its new site. So you get a few visitors on the new web site through some clever internet marketing. When you get visitors on the web site, you'll remind the CEO that the website exists. So he'll go look for it on Google. When he sees he's not on page 1 for the word 'the', he'll ask you why. So you'll explain how search engine optimization works. When you explain how SEO works, he'll tell you to go do it. So you go do it and traffic...http://www.conversationmarketing.com/2008/03/if_you_give_a_corp_a_web_site.htm |