Will You Add? - Internet and Businesses Online

Gmail is the Way to Go
Gmail is spreading like wildfire. It's a great email solution for anyone. It has many features that current big names do not. Let's look at a few key features that put it ahead of the rest.Forwarding: Gmail allows you to forwarding your mail to another address. This allows for easy consolidation if you use multiple addresses.Searching: Ability to search messages. Can't remember if someone sent you a message? Search for it. The power of google search in your inbox. What could be better. Never lose a message again.Spam blocking: Not sure how they do it but I have yet to get a spam message in my inbox. Gmail has a special folder where spam is dumped. Unlike junk folders on sites like yahoo and hotmail I have not had a message from someone I know get placed there by accident. Even if that did happen there is a quick, easy to locate button that will mark the sender as not spam.Alias: Yo

e magazine ads you saw for them? That TV spot? Wait — I don't think they do that stuff. What they do is a lot of spending to show up in search engines when you search for “shoes” and related terms. You did a generic search, you keep seeing a particular provider, and you learn about that brand."

I heartily agree that excellent search positions for generic searches can lead to one sort of branding for savvy online businesses. With the billions of searches done at the top search engines in a typical month, if one brand comes up in results for generic phrases more often for your product, you have achieved the type of branding that Sullivan refers to - at least among web savvy searchers.

While the advertising spoof site is fun and causes a lot of chatter in the forums and blogs, it points to

Added Value-The Key To Creating Irresistible Offers That Get Action Now
Added value is about giving more to your customers than they could possibly get anywhere else. Most people today are value conscious. It’s not the price that matters most -- it’s the value they get as a result, that makes your widget worthy of the price.Give far more in use value to your customers... than you take from them in cash value. When you offer more with every purchase, the perceived value customers get from that purchase increases. It’s this added value that gives you a clear and distinct advantage over every other business selling similar products.The idea here is to pump up the value of whatever it is you’re selling. Make it far more beneficial and worthwhile to the customer to buy from you. You want to make the buying decision a “no-brainer” in your favor because of the tremendous added value you offer.Added value is as simple as throwing in additional premiums with each purchase. That mig

There's a new blog called Tribble Ad Agency, spoofing ad agency (lack of) knowledge of search engine optimization that has SEO community chuckling and traditional advertising types fuming. http://www.tribbleagency.com The spoof site takes on ad execs by suggesting they are wasteful of client money with the tag line, "We look cute, but boy do we consume resources!"

The reference, for non-trekkies, is to a classic Star Trek episode about furry little adorable aliens that reproduce at an unbelievable rate and threaten to destroy the crew of the Starship Enterprise. More at: http://www.badmovies.org/tvshows/startrek/tribbles/

The Tribble Agency site takes a jab at traditional advertising by suggesting that the industry is clueless when it comes to the web and especially organic search engine visibility and ranking. The following quote comes from the main page of the new site:

"Our Business Model is simple, never build something that could really help your company without our billable fees ... Tribble Ad Agency got the rug swept out from under us and we never realized it until it was too late. The entire planet moved to Google, Yahoo and MSN organic results and we were making print ads for magazines and our online marketing efforts yielded 100% unspiderable Flash websites that generated no traffic."

A traditional advertising and branding apologist has posted a rant on the comment section of the Tribble Ad Agency blog. The post featured two jabs from the advertising supporter showing precisely the lack of understanding of SEO the spoof site is poking fun at when he says, "The only thing you SEO/SEM clowns know is how to add text to web documents." Which is true at the end of the day. This is clear proof he doesn't understand the value of text. He downplays the importance of search with the comment, "Search engines are pretty much a big generic network hub that focus on keywords, not branding."

Showing no understanding of the value of text in web pages, nor any clue about the importance of search engines, er "generic network hubs", (which do billions in business each) he amplifies the schism between advertising and search oriented minds. He clearly doesn't understand the value of ranking well at search engines for generic keywords, which can't be achieved by traditional print or broadcast advertising. People search for keywords online, and if a business web site ranks well for generic keywords which describe the brand, they'll sell more products, both online and offline.

Danny Sullivan, of Search Engine Watch, created a blog post on June 16 discussing the branding vs. search tug-of-war.

http://blog.searchenginewatch.com/blog/060621-112240

Sullivan points out that he believes that branding DOES occur due to search when a particular brand shows up time and again for any particular generic search phrase. Sullivan gives a couple of examples in his comments to another blog where Scott Karp of Publishing 2.0 has taken an anti-branding approach for search. (Sullivan comments are partially quoted below and the Karp post is linked from Sullivans post above.)

"What do you think made Zappos a brand name when it comes to buying shoes online? Those magazine ads you saw for them? That TV spot? Wait — I don't think they do that stuff. What they do is a lot of spending to show up in search engines when you search for “shoes” and related terms. You did a generic search, you keep seeing a particular provider, and you learn about that brand."

While the advertising spoof site is fun and causes a lot of chatter in the forums and blogs, it points to a

The Industrialized World Isn't Safe From Pandemic
The recent cover stories in USA Today, beautifully depict the potential spectrum of disease and the implications of human vulnerability to pandemic flu and specifically the H5N1 avian flu strain.But the real threat lies not in the obscure genetics of a common virus or in the family lineages of its victims. The true impact of this disease lies in the numbers. In 1918 100 percent of the entire world was exposed to what would later be called the Spanish Flu. This new strain of avian flu had never been encountered before by a human population, and as a result, there was no immunity to this particular strain. Of that world population, one third would ultimately fall ill, in fact, 50 to 80 percent of the youngest, healthiest, and strongest would fall ill when future generations would divide out the victims.Of those that fell ill, half ultimately required some assisted care. They were placed in infirmaries or mak

e visibility and ranking. The following quote comes from the main page of the new site:

Danny Sullivan, of Search Engine Watch, created a blog post on June 16 discussing the branding vs. search tug-of-war.

http://blog.searchenginewatch.com/blog/060621-112240

While the advertising spoof site is fun and causes a lot of chatter in the forums and blogs, it points to

My Clients will Keep Coming Back Surely? Here's How to Encourage Them
Building Customer Loyalty is always difficult if you find that your clients come one and you never seen them again – you are sadly losing money. It costs far more to obtain a new customer than it does to sell more to your existing customers. The way you do this is to keep in touch and make them feel valued. Some ways of doing this are:  Newsletter: Start up a small newsletter and send this to your current and past clients. This can be done my mail or preferably email. Please give your clients the option to opt out of this service. Your newsletter should include information, chat and articles that people will find interesting and are relevant to your own business. 2 – 3 pages are all that you need. If you find the cost a little prohibitive – then pair up with a complimentary local business and share the costs and efforts as well as the mailing list of course. You can also include re

he only thing you SEO/SEM clowns know is how to add text to web documents." Which is true at the end of the day. This is clear proof he doesn't understand the value of text. He downplays the importance of search with the comment, "Search engines are pretty much a big generic network hub that focus on keywords, not branding."

Danny Sullivan, of Search Engine Watch, created a blog post on June 16 discussing the branding vs. search tug-of-war.

http://blog.searchenginewatch.com/blog/060621-112240

While the advertising spoof site is fun and causes a lot of chatter in the forums and blogs, it points to

Lapsed Donors: How to Write a Fundraising Letter That Wins Them Back
Your definition may differ, but I define a lapsed donor as someone who has not donated to your organization within the last year, two years or three years. Donors who have not sent you a gift in over three years are not lapsed donors. They are former donors.Lapsed donors are valuable. Unlike strangers, they have supported you before. And they believe in your mission enough to have sent you a gift (or gifts). That means they are worth mailing to. You can expect to receive an 11 percent response rate from a mailing to lapsed donors if your results are typical, says fundraising expert Kent Dove (Conducting a Successful Fundraising Program. Jossey-Bass, 2001).Here are some tips on writing an appeal letter that will win them back. In the fund development profession, the letter you write is called a recovery letter because it aims to recover donors who have lapsed.1. Write to one personanks well for generic keywords which describe the brand, they'll sell more products, both online and offline.

Danny Sullivan, of Search Engine Watch, created a blog post on June 16 discussing the branding vs. search tug-of-war.

http://blog.searchenginewatch.com/blog/060621-112240

While the advertising spoof site is fun and causes a lot of chatter in the forums and blogs, it points to

Superbloggers Secrets
Blogs are extremely hot right now. Everyone is starting them, and the more successful ones are driving unprecedented amounts of traffic and cash to their owners.Superbloggers take what they do best and increase their value by placing their business on the internet.“The impact of the Internet on the media business will be in forcing it to become more participatory,” says Tony Perkins. Tony Perkins invented the technology business magazine when he founded Upside in 1988. With the blogging exploding on the internet, in which everyone has a voice, the next generation of media revolution is on the horizon. The proof is with the internet - bloggers participate on the media sites and that resource can be tapped into after it’s bundled up, polished and then you commercialize it.The secret is to take what you do best as a business and expand on that theory.Put your creative juices on the internet with

While the advertising spoof site is fun and causes a lot of chatter in the forums and blogs, it points to a real issue and a glaring shortcoming in online work by many advertising agencies. That issue is that most ad agencies lack SEO capability and often downplay the importance of SEO to their clients rather than hiring an in-house agency SEO or SEO consultant. It is about looking good, rather BEING good. A good website performs on both branding and on search levels.

The SEO process for ad agencies, marketing firms and web development companies often runs into a twofold difficulty. 1) Visually oriented designers often insist on image-laden (or flash) sites with little or no text on the web pages. 2) Database programmers (php, cgi, asp gurus) rebel at any process that can NOT be automated - like SEO. The image heavy (or flash) site has almost no hope of gaining good search positioning without text, while the dynamic, automated site actually holds out some hope. Page titles and important page elements can be automated if original data entry into content management systems is done by someone with basic SEO understanding.

Content management systems don't, by themselves, offer any obvious automated method of intelligently titling and tagging new pages of content - especially if those routinely adding content via those systems are not trained in basic SEO techniques. There are clear and simple methods of properly titling pages effectively for best search engine visibility that can be taught to those charged with adding web site content. The In-House New York Times' SEO, Marshall Simmonds, recently offered guidelines to reporters and editors for headline writing using keywords in place of being cleverly obtuse as they have been taught for print versions of their headlines. That headline SEO effort is discussed in a SearchDay article by Danny Sullivan & Chris Sherman at:

http://searchenginewatch.com/searchday/article.php/3613561

Marshall Simmonds' NYT in-house SEO advice was taken to mean boring to one particularly uncreative reporter at the New York Times when he penned a piece titled "This Boring Headline is Written for Google." I wrote a piece about that story titled a bit more creatively, "Google SEO Sleeping Pill: Yawning at Dull News Headlines" http://snipurl.com/sbmq (Pandia Search Engine News)

Branding does occur through search. Organic search ranking for generic search phrases is critical to online success. Web page titles can include important keywords and still be creative and interesting. The same is true of titling company web site news, product web site information, web site press releases, or even everyday web site product descriptions on ecommerce sites selling widgets. The problem is that keyword titling requires more knowledge than guessing at important keywords and using them in the titles. Keyword density, page placement of keywords, word order, along with some structural details of HTML are all part of a basic formula for determining best titles.

Content management systems post those titles to the page when new pages are created. Ad agencies need to train their web development arms in the above-mentioned basics of SEO. In-house content managers should be trained in SEO basics for major national brands. Content creators and managers will

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Compensation Resources, Inc. Releases Its 2004 Turnover Survey

Compensation Resources, Inc. has released the results of its 2004 Turnover Survey. The purpose of this study was to obtain turnover statistics and trends. Data was compiled from survey questions that were developed by CRI and distributed to companies in over ten industrial classifications, in addition to Not-for-Profit organizations.

Catch Your Staff Doing Something Right

As a manager, are you constantly juggling problems that crop up unexpectedly? Do you end up reacting to things instead of being ahead of the curve? Or, do you simply wish you were more plugged in to the every day workings of your department? There's a simple cure for all these problems. Read on...

5 Paths To $100,000 Per Year Part 3: Mac Daddi's Way

Last time we were together I introduced you to Fast Freddie who had a Fanatical Fan Club but really didn’t take the time to develop any other skills. In spite of his inability to sell many CDs, and his pitiful booking schedule, Freddie still managed to bring in a six-figure income. This time we are going to take a look at the next of our five artists on his quest to make $100,000 a year. Today you’ll meet MacDaddi, who is a graphic designer and hardcore rapper from south Philly. You’ll see how his constant craving for new merch helps him to arrive at his $100k.

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