So I'm on my first business trip in two years to Warwick, Rhode Island and I chose to stay at the Radisson. Why did I choose Radisson? 1) unlike many other hotels in my company's system - this one didn't say it was under construction (which it is), 2) Food - the kitchen is partially open and I can sit in a conference room to eat so it's not a lie but clearly not dinning either, 3) work out facilities (I just want to hope on a bike for half and hour and watch sports center) - that's a block away - no, I'm not getting dressed and walking to a non-Radisson facility with god knows who.

Their customer service center doesn't open until 9:00 AM EST, hello, business travelers are up and checked out and in meetings by that time.

They have a form on their website for comments and feedback but it just has one field for the city and no submit button - I tried several browsers.

So bottom line is, Radisson sucks, they lie by omission and they definitely don't want to hear about it.

Too bad for Radisson, but I blog and I'm pissed. My little post may not do a whole lot but something like a million zillion billion people start blogs ever 2 seconds, so if every person that got screwed by Radisson recently posts to their blog then they'll have a pretty big problem.

Thanks Radisson, Rhode Island for sucking so much, this is my first post in over a year - enjoy!

I have a new blog that I've started around fantasy baseball and baseball card collecting.  I'm an avid fantasy baseball player and small time collector of cards (mostly T206s), autographs and stuff like that.  Ultimately I want to design and build a baseball card display case so I'll be posting updates about the display case project as well. 

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Check it out

http://bloopsingle.blogspot.com/

ad:tech and to a lesser extent OMMA are THE Internet marketing summits each year and this week I had a chance to stop by the one in New York.  Unfortunately The Man had me pushing papers and cleaning up other people's messes all week so I only had a few hours to walk the floor.  Here are some observations:

 

A little less T&A – believe it or not this is one of those few contexts where that's a good thing.  The person I want to run into at a booth at ad:tech is short, scrawny, has a pocket protector, Coke bottle glasses and a foreign accent.  Why?  Because unlike bleach blond D cup the only thing that guy has going for him is his mind and ideas.  Verdict, geek population up, bimbo population down.

 

#2 celebrity that I ran into, Joseph Jaffe.  He has a new gig with Crayonville, which admittedly I don't totally get but it seems to be creative and cool, so check it out.  If you don't know who he is, his face is on the Mount Rushmore of Internet marketing, so get familiar.

 

#1 celeb. Lesko.  Yes, this freak, standing in line next to me like a complete tool (much like myself) waiting to pick up his badge at registration.

 

Google and Ask where there but didn't see MSN and Yahoo!.  This is relatively shocking since one would think they could use the exposure and they have some new stuff to talk about.  For the record, I'm pulling for Ask in a Little Engine That Could kind of way.

 

Some of my fav vendors that were there, had some good stuff to stay and you should be aware of.

 

Did-it – paid search agency extrodinare

iProspect – one of the top natural search firms on earth

BlackFoot – business intelligence and analytics

SEMPO – search engine marketing professional organization

WebMasterRadio – producers of tons of awesome Internet marketing podcasts

Click fraud is a hot topic in Internet marketing these days.  To be honest I haven't really kept up to date with it because I haven't managed any large campaigns lately.  My past experience is that Google and Yahoo! were pretty aggressive in alerting me to click fraud and providing refunds.  However, what I think was really happening is they could ID good traffic, ID fraud, but there was a significant gray area that they are more than happy to turn a blind eye to.  The theory being if they placate advertisers with some token refunds we won't go after them for big bucks.  Let's face it they have all the incentive in the world to allow click fraud – they get paid on it.

 

Recently I've started to look at some of the member sites within their search network and that's eye opening.  You want to opt in to the search network because in Google's case that means you get AOL distribution and until MSN launched its own platform Yahoo! used to feed them.  Go check your log files and look at some of the crap search domains that are sending traffic to your site.  And Google's account team recently read me the party line that they have identified a segment web users that prefer these sites to Google's search results – bullshit!

 

I think I'm going to opt out of their extended networks for the time being, my guess is that it's much harder to get bit by click fraud if you're only distributed on the primary sites.  From an Internet marketing perspective that will yield the best ROI and provide some nice clean data which can allow for some before and after comparisons.

 

Here is a link to the BusinessWeek article from October 2^nd, Click Fraud – The Dark Side of Online Advertising.  I haven't read it but did listen to the podcast from iTunes while jogging this morning.

 

Here's a click fraud article by neal who leveraged some info from Search Engine Marketing, Inc.

http://www.marketingpilgrim.com/2006/10/bob-and-weave-click-fraud-thieves.html

Search Engine Marketing, Inc. by IBM Press is Biblical in nature for two reasons. First, its end to end including the evolution of search, paid search, natural search, etc. Second, its written with the corporate Internet marketer or corporate marketing team in mind. The best part is, if you are one of the little guys, every bit of it still applies its just a little more formal which may benefit you more in the long run.

It can sometimes be hard to find solid Internet marketing information. Theres no lack of volume its finding the good stuff thats the trick. For a variety of reasons many Internet marketing books are written for and aimed at the small online ecommerce shops. They tend to be choc full o good information because theyre usually written by people with hands on end to end experience. They do however lack a corporate perspective and there is something less than formal about the approach.

Here are a few random thoughts (Lessons Learned):

Understand types of searchers and adjust your strategy accordingly:
o Navigational looking for a home page
o Informational doing some research or comparison
o Transactional want to do something and take action
Consumer demand, each type requires a different strategy
o Primary I have issues and need something you need to create awareness
o Selective I prefer a specific brand to satisfy my need it might be you or it might be a competitor
70% of searchers enter a new query if they dont like the page one results, 25% try a different search engine thats a lot of bases to cover
Missed Opportunities once your keyword universe is defined, heavy up on the paid search where your natural rankings are weak. In other words, it you have a finite budget, spend it on the terns where you have no natural coverage and then shift the funds around as your rank improves.
Robot Text Files be sure to use index, nofollow and noindex, follow where appropriate
66% of searchers believe that top companies in search results are the leaders in their field thats big time branding

Aside from these entirely random points there are tons of specific tools, processes and techniques that cant really be covered in a quick bullet list so go buy the book and read it! If youre really into search engine marketing or Internet marketing, it goes under the pillow at night.

Katie Couric got an unbelievable amount of press as a result of her move to CBS evening news.  It was a major victory for professional woman everywhere right?  No way, evening news is dead.  How big of a deal is it really to be a caretaker anchor for a dying medium that is desperate to pump any kind of life back into its rating?  CBS was desperate people, if you don't believe me ask yourself what time the evening news comes on at - I guess I wonder why no one else saw it this way.

 

On the flip side I thought it mightily impressive that essentially the first legit news podcast, Rocketboom, was hosted by a female type person.  For those of you not yet familiar it's a daily video podcast that covers tech, web, current events, international, stuff in New York and the like – love the blend.  To me I see groundbreaking work in new media as a far greater accomplishment.  People like Amanda are leading us into the future and that's the kind of example I want to set for my daughter – all of 6 months old.

 

Here's the soap opera update. 

 

Back in late June Amanda had a falling out with the co-founder and left – the separation is well documented in the blogosphere.  To be honest I thought she got a little preachy from time to time – if you nominate candidates like Al Gore (he did invent the Internet) and John Kerry (just another rich suite that had absolutely nothing between the ears and needed a cool job) don't bitch to me that we have a lousy president – speaking on behalf of all "younger" republicans we're not thrilled either.

 

Like most fans I was skeptic when new anchor Joanne Colan took over but the early results have been good.  She's still finding herself which is evident with gradual improvement that has occurred since she started.  The fact that she's from the UK ads an international flavor and credibility to the show – Internet marketing and new media has inherent global qualities so I think this is significant for the show's growth.  Keep up the good work Joanne – I'm a big fan!

 

Amanda is currently working on a cross-country video blog AmandaAcrossAmerica.  Could be pretty cool – check it out.

A friend recently invited me to sign up with LinkedIn.  Since I trust him and it seemed like a cool way to meet other Internet marketers I tried it out.  Since then another friend reached out to me and I responded to a blog post where they recommended that I connect with them through LinkedIn.  So after several weeks I have 3 links, which I know sucks but it's a start.  The bigger problem I'm having is figuring out why???  I guess it's kind of cool to have links and profiles and stuff but can't I pretty much do that on MySpace?  I mean, what's really the difference?

 

So I went back and updated my profile a little more so now my completeness is up to 75%.  That's good, better than 0% or 50%.  I wonder what happens at 100%, maybe it's like getting to the last level of Scientology where LinkedIn will tell me the meaning of life or something.

 

Here's my point, I have no idea what I'm actually doing or why.  I got roped in by some trusted colleagues and feel it's my responsibility as an Internet marketing pro to investigate further.  In an effort to offer full disclosure the truth is I've spent maybe a half hour playing with LinkedIn but at the end of the day it seems like MySpace without the T&A – obviously that's not an improvement.  But I'm at a loss and would love some feedback – is anyone else using this?  Why?  Do you like it?  How is it different/better/worse than MySpace?

Since this is an Internet marketing blog, I try to focus on online resources only to occasionally get distracted with new emerging technologies like podcasts and wireless.  However, pint still has a role in the media mix and it probably will indefinitely.  After all, TV didnt kill radio (or the radio star) or the movies but it certainly changed them.  Personally I read magazines on the train, when I need a change of pace from staring at my computer screen and when taking care of that to-do that comes before shower and shave.

As such, I highly recommend subscribing to a couple of MediaPost print (yes, on paper as in hard copy, and no I dont care about the trees) magazines.  OMMA and MEDIA magazines are:

A) Great and

B) FREE

OMMA provides exclusively online coverage and MEDIA is more broad with a solid branding focus.  This month is OMMAs Performance Marketing Issue goodie, goodie, nothing not to like there.  MEDIA has a bunch of other stuff including an interview with Craig (as in Craigs list).

You can sign up for FREE subscriptions at MediaPost.com.  Make sure you add both of these to your Internet marketing media consumption diet.

Groveling

Ive completely neglected my MySpace page for months and months and Im sincerely sorry to those that have reached out to me and have not heard back until recently that said I think Im all caught up on my emails but if youre still looking for something let me know.

 

Excuses

Its totally not my fault!  (Actually it totally is but here are some excuses anyway) I have no access to MySpace at work, the man thinks it might be distracting if I had access to blogs god forbid an internet marketer have access to blogs on the company dime.  I have a super long commute which limits my home time to keep up with the blog kind of lame excuse but true.  I have a new baby girl who is 6 months old who sucks up the rest of my time shes completely wonderful but I still dont get much sleep and have literally caught 10 different colds in the last 6 months in other words still trying to get life back in balance with new bundle of joy (working out, jogging, time with wifey, projects around the house, MySpace blog, etc. have all taken major hits my love handles are no longer cute).

 

Something New of Value

Ive found some great internet marketing Podcasts and highly recommend them as a way to get in depth coverage from a variety of experts.  If you dont have an iPod get one and write it off on your taxes think of it as a 30% discount for using it for professional purposes.  Here are some good ones:

• Across the Sound Joseph Jaffe if you dont know him yet you have to
• Webmaster Radio they have a ton of podcasts so pick and choose as you like
• iMediaConnection they replay a bunch of seminars and industry events
• AdAge Online they have audio and video options, the video is just moving stills but still helps a lot, loved the one about LeBron
• Rocketboom still solid without Amanda (she was getting a little preachy anyway), not necessarily internet marketing but great news show with tech/web slant

A recent article by Rebecca Lieb of Clickz called Who's In Control? is close but ultimately misses some key points.  She comments on the lack of control that we Internet marketers now have as a result of the proliferation of media, consumer generated content and new wireless and mobile technologies.  Some good points by Lieb:

• Consumers aren't in control but they're calling a lot more of the shots
• Key opportunities blogs, online reviews, viral
• Advertisers and Internet marketers seek engagement which is precisely what can lead to backlash
• Internet marketers are still stuck in the 90s notion that the web is for publishing not participation

Where she misses the boat is with her conclusion "The more you know and understand...the more you can control the message you send and receive".  Close but that still sounds a little like that 90s mentality.

 

Control is dead, no question.  Influence is the ticket to marketing success.  The key to this is, as Lieb alludes to, participation.  Simply stated the solution is opening up a participatory channel within your marketing organization.  While the Internet is the natural tool for the channel, the challenge remains changing that 90s mentality so that your organization can adopt the new process.

Web Copy That Sells by Maria Veloso isn't all bad, it's just not all great.  In fact I followed her copy writing process and developed some pretty excellent copy for a landing page.  As an Internet marketing copywriting isn't my forte.  However, anyone in marketing needs to know the basics of copywriting.  You will occasionally need to write some and minimally you'll need the ability to know when a copywriter puts complete garbage in front of your face.  This is especially true on the Internet where most copy is pure crap.  People think that because they can use a keyboard they're a copywriter.

 

My main problem with the book is that it seems as though it was written in a time capsule.  Once the author gets past the basics (which were really good) most of her tips were written as if consumers only point, click and buy online.  So she doesn't address the need for follow up site visits, comparison shopping, etc.  The fact is, people rarely buy on one visit from their first session and there is a lot of complexity that goes into making a sale.  By her own admission this book doesn't address web content, just the copy you need to sell.  Hello?!, all content in one form or another should exist to support sales if you are running a commercial website.  Publishers write good articles so they get subscriptions, support sites write copy so people get help and tell their friends how wonderful your product is, etc.  Hence, it kind of has a mid-90s feel to it in the way that she views online consumers.

 

All that said, I still thinks it's worth owning a copy of this book.  I have come to believe that the whole key to Internet marketing isn't technology, cool new portals, ad networks, Flash, killer databases, etc. it's copy!  Since most of it sucks, especially as we usher in the consumer generated content (CGC) era, if you pay some attention to your copywriting (and evaluation) skills, you can really have a leg up in marketing your product.

 

Lessons Learned

 

• 5 Step Copywriting Blueprint
  • What's the problem?  Identify the root problem your product solves, what emotional or physical need is not satisfied.
  • What hasn't the problem been solved?  Why has your potential customer not taken action yet?
  • What's possible?  Talk about what could happen as the result of your service.
  • What's different now?  Differentiate your product and explaining how it's not the same as everyone else.
  • What should you do?  CTA Call to Action, tell them how to buy or at least the next step in the process.
• Fear of loss is greater than the desire for gain what are your prospects afraid of or concerned about and make it personal.
• People don't read online they scan use bullets, concise thoughts, explanatory opening sentences, etc.  If you're one of these hyper-detail oriented freaks, don't even worry about writing copy for the web.  You will never be able to simplifiy it properly and you'll loath good copy that other people write.  And if you're a copywriter working for someone like this you're screwed!
• Cite testimonials, 3^rd party research or industry facts early and often to build credibility.

Web Site Measurement Hacks, the follow up to Web Analytics Demystified, was actually a little too hardcore for me in some areas.  But, web analytics is an area that Internet marketing folks can never have too much expertise in.  The book actually walks through the coding to build your own analytics tool - sick.  This was helpful in gaining a detailed understanding of how analytics works “under the hood”.  As an Internet marketer, this can actually be really helpful in making sure your IT people don’t f-up your implementation (which they probably will).  If you’re not interested in the code level or are new to analytics, Web Analytics Demystified is THE benchmark JV resource.

 

Some Lessons Learned:

• Use true first party cookies.  This will give you the most complete picture and is more privacy policy friendly than third party.
• Some mad scientists have started to dabble in using Flash images in lieu of cookies.  This solves cookie blocking but opens a Pandora’s box – very interesting to see how this evolves.
• Make sure you use parameters that are easy to read – page names and content groups for example.  If it’s too cryptic people won’t use the data and you’re wasted everybody’s time.
• Reporting systems never ever match perfectly.  Analytics is more religion than science – find the set of numbers you believe in and watch them faithfully over time.
• Use analytics to compare your landing page effectiveness.  Look at bounce rate, page depth, pages viewed, conversion rate, form field abandonment.
• Use recency data to determine who are your active customers and who have defected or are dormant – adjust your follow up marketing efforts accordingly.
• Tons and tons more – read the book, trust me analytics is the backbone of Internet marketing.

OK, that was a really bad pun, so what?  The Google Eye Tracking Report published by MarketingSherpa is a must read for Internet marketers that are interested in search engine marketing.  The heatmaps are interesting to look at but more importantly the study really delves into the motivation of the searcher.  They discuss, in detail, how peoples search behavior changes based on their goals. 

 

For the record, I think Google sucks.  I havent drank the Kool Aide.  What they say and what they do can often be hypocritical, from a marketing standpoint their ROI blows compared to Yahoo! and MSN and I think as a business theyve had a relatively easy go at it thus far.  Granted, they launched a good product, it took off, and they became another shining example of the American dream.  But MSN search is coming on strong and Gates just doesnt loose ever.  So this time next year we may be discussing the MSN Search Eye Tracking Report.  That said, paid search marketing, in particular Google paid search marketing did bail out Internet marketing after dot bomb.  So on the other hand I should be somewhat grateful that we have Google.

 

Some Quick Lessons Learned

• The Golden Triangle in the upper left corner is the prime real estate.
• Prior to conducting a search, people develop a semantic map words that they subconsciously associate with the result they are looking for.  A click is generated based on how closely your listing matches their semantic map.  Failed searches are the result of the semantic map becoming fuzzy as search results fail to meet expectations in other words people are having trouble articulating what it is they are looking for.
• Conventional wisdom is that people start their search looking for very broad terms and then systematically develop more complex phrases in multiple steps that leads them to a purchase decision.  Not necessarily true.  What the study found is that people start with broad search terms, locate a vertical site that specializes in their topic where research occurs and then jump back to search very specific terms.  So people tend to skip from broad to very specific with little in between. 
• Search Engines may inherently have a male bias.  Because they are text centered they tend to engage the left brain.  The result is that men and women display very little difference in search behavior despite very different shopping behavior offline.  I'd really like to see what some female search engineers would come up with if given a blank slate.
• Here are the basic search patterns The Quick Click, The Linear Scan, The Golden Triangle Scan, The Deliberate Scan, The Pick Up Search

Internet marketers tend to view potential customers as mindless unconscious blobs of mush that waste time aimlessly surfing without rhyme, reason or motivation.  (Yes, I know, this does describe a portion of the marketplace perfectly).  Despite all of our metrics, tracking and lessons learned, this is still more or less the prevalent view of the typical Internet consumer held by Internet marketers.  Customers, by chance, come across your site, and if the colors are big and bold enough and your shopping cart is simple enough – people will buy.

 

Garbage – most of the time people have very specific goals that they are trying to accomplish. 

 

Search engines typically don’t make them easy to accomplish.  Sure they’re better than nothing, but a lot of times they just don’t work well.  If I may pull a number out of my ass, I’d say that roughly 10-20% of all searches end unsuccessfully.  I’ve been pontificating for years that search needs to get to a whole new level.  I don’t know what it looks like and it quite literally is the billion dollar idea, but a new fundamental breakthrough in search will unquestionably occur.

 

Yahoo! Mindset is on the right track.  They use some new technology called “machine learning applied to the problem of text classification” (otherwise known as magic pixy dust) that weights sites as being more commercial or more informational in nature.  The Slider at the top essentially allows the user to add a second dimension to their search.  It has a way to go but I definitely like it and the Internet marketing implications are huge.

Hollywood studios and other TV/video properties have done an excellent job of marrying their movies with the web.  Here’s the article from OMMA.  Globally this has helped them to expand their universe, create more of a personal touch and add a viral component.  Site visits are up, asses in seats are still down.

 

Here is THE secret to Internet marketing greatness – have a great product!  Pick a niche, define it as narrowly as you need to, and absolutely rule it.  If you want to be an awesome Internet marketer, look like a genius, earn the big bucks, get your name in lights – don’t waste your time peddling crap.

 

Hollywood bitches constantly about the state of their industry and how ticket sales are down – I find a headline like this about once a week.  But how about the fact that movies generally blow these days (with few exceptions – King Kong for example).  I “try” to go to the movies literally every week – then I hop onto Yahoo! Movies and look at C and B- average critic and user reviews an opt for another boring night of channel surfing.  Let’s face it, thanks to the Internet, the results are usually in by noon on Friday at the likes of Yahoo! Movies and Rotten Tomatoes - which incidentally is well before the vast majority of theaters have even shown the film.

 

What’s the lesson learned for Internet marketers?  The cycle time is so fast that public perception is now established well before the product actually hits the market.  What does this mean to you personally?  If you represent a crappy product either A) fix it or B) run.  Alternative C) sit and do nothing, (which has been around since the dawn of time) no longer exists.

 

That’s why this story in OMMA is so amusing.  Yes, these are really good examples of how to use the Internet as marketing tool to build interest.  But if the movie sucks, the coolest, most viral site on earth can not overcome the lame reviews.