April 30, 2007 by ian
Six Apart created the popular TypePad and Movable Type blogging systems. But Movable Type isn't just for blogging. It's also a solid content management system. You can create templates and pages within Movable Type and have them act as 'normal' web pages, rather than blog entries. Then the site editor can log in and edit those pages using the system's intuitive interface (And no, I have no relationship with Six Apart - they just deserve a shout-out here). I'm tooting my own horn a bit here, but we just launched two sites using Movable Type, and I couldn't be…
Continue Reading Movable Type: Not Just For Blogs »
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April 27, 2007 by ian
Looks like Google will be introducing YouTube ads in the next few months. The model will likely share revenue with the video creators. Assuming that's the case, what's the impact? If you're a content creator who uses YouTube, what can you do to capitalize? First, read up. The RedHerring article suggests Google will put very short ads before each video, with a longer one after. I'm sure more information will come out soon, too: Subscribe to a blogsearch on the topic and stay on the ball. Plan Commercial Breaks. Studies show that an ad before a video is a…
Continue Reading 3 Ways To Prepare for YouTube Video Ads »
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April 26, 2007 by ian
Copyblogger says one great way to bond with your prospects is by finding a common enemy. (I'll point out here that my personality makes it easier for me to count my friends than my enemies, so we'll leave me out of this.) I love the concept. And I can prove it. We launched a blog: Bridezilla.com. It's fun, a little cheeky maybe, but fun. But we didn't get a whole lot of interest at first. Then another blog, GroomGroove.com, published a bit about us. That launched a lighthearted blog war. The results have been great for us - traffic…
Continue Reading Top 7 Signs You Have An Online Enemy »
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April 25, 2007 by ian
Bruce Lee (It's just his name, OK?! He's not related) just showed me why all marketing is hopeless. Sigh. An inchworm can explain it. Take an inchworm when it's curved. Then put a drop of water on it's back. Try to predict which way the water will slide. The best you can do is be right half the time. It's chaos, the law of averages, or the bell curve. Call it what you like, but you can't do better than 50/50. The same is true of customers. Bruce explained that consumers have the nerve to be individuals. Trying to…
Continue Reading Marketing In An Inchworm-Shaped World »
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April 24, 2007 by ian
In marketing, it pays to start with your audience's ideas, even if they're wrong. Nowhere is that more true than search marketing: Pick the keywords they expect, and you'll have a shot at changing their minds. Demand that they understand, in advance, that the phrase they use to describe your product is wrong, and you'll fail. For example: You consider your product a three-wheeled transporter. Everyone else calls it a tricycle. You don't want to call it a tricycle because it's just so unique. It transcends tricycle-ness. It revolutionizes transportation. It may change the world! That's just fine with…
Continue Reading Correct in An Empty Room »
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April 23, 2007 by ian
RSS, or really simple syndication, is a real money generator. Mark writes about this very subject at a high level. But, if you're standing in front of your boss, trying to explain why RSS is worth it, here's the list: It helps with search engine rankings: Google and Yahoo! now accept RSS feeds as 'sitemaps', which help them more accurately crawl your site. It helps with search engine rankings, 2: When people subscribe to your RSS feed using, say, Google Reader, it (may) improve your ranking in their personalized search results. It helps spread the word: Your RSS feed…
Continue Reading 5 Ways RSS Improves ROI »
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April 22, 2007 by ian
I've seen far too many projects derailed by a single feature - the one thing that the developer or client feels they must have. But is that feature really that important? 37Signals has a fantastic piece about it: Don't Be A Hero: Giving Up Is Good Technorati Tags: internet marketing, tools…
Continue Reading Don't Be A Hero »
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April 21, 2007 by ian
A few months ago, I published my book, Conversation Marketing, in HTML format. It's free. Sadly, when I moved it from the print-ready to the web-ready format, I used a form of search-and-replace called Regular Expressions. For those who don't know, using regular expressions to clean up a small HTML document is something like using a nuclear weapon to cure acne. In the process, I slaughtered many f's, g's and other completely innocent letters. I've tried to fix it, but keep finding more and more of them. If anyone is so inclined, give my book a read, and then…
Continue Reading A Call For Editing Help »
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April 19, 2007 by ian
Jeremiah salsa dances I, however, cannot. I am, in fact, such a bad dancer that my wife excused me from all but 1 or 2 dances on our wedding day (well, to be fair, we were married on a boat, and the dance floor was small, and we mostly socialized, but you get the idea). Technorati Tags: fun…
Continue Reading Social Marketers Can Dance »
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April 18, 2007 by ian
Where people are coming from (what web site). What keywords they use to find you. Which pages on your site are most popular. Which pages on your site drive people away. How much time visitors spend on your site. How many people come to your site. Which days of the week are the busiest. There are certainly others. But if your web traffic reporting doesn't give you at least this much, look around. There are plenty of free or really low-cost options that will. For example: www.google.com/analytics www.haveamint.com www.clicktracks.com/products/appetizer/…
Continue Reading 7 Things Most Web Analytics Packages Can Tell You »
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April 17, 2007 by ian
A quick tip if you want to track comments on other blogs, using instant messaging: Sign up for Commentful. Then, add the feed to Feed Crier. Bingo. You'll now receive an instant message when someone comments on any post you're tracking. Technorati Tags: blogging, tools…
Continue Reading Tracking comments on other blogs »
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April 17, 2007 by ian
Circuit City is, of course, imploding. They decided to reduce costs by firing the higher-paid salespeople at their stores. Kevin Hillstrom at The MineThatData Blog asks whether Circuit City is correct when they state: “There is no data in the company’s analysis that the service level has dropped due to the absence of the top paid employees.†There's no way that Circuit City can provide the same level of service. CompUSA tried the same thing when faced with competition from Best Buy. Now they're closing some 50-odd stores around the US. If I were Circuit City, I'd do three…
Continue Reading Circuit City Cuts Off Nose, Spites Face »
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April 17, 2007 by ian
Believe it or not, I'm a fairly low-key guy. I don't like to brag about what I do, at all. A client made a very, very good point last week by saying I need to brag more, because clients rarely realize all of the good stuff we're doing for them. What do you think? If marketers need to brag more, what should we brag about?…
Continue Reading Marketers Must Brag More »
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April 15, 2007 by ian
There are a bajillion books about blogging. The only book I've read (so far - I'm looking forward to John Cass's book) that I can recommend is “Clear Blogging: How People Blogging Are Changing the World and How You Can Join Them†(Bob Walsh). It's an amazing read, with step by step information on using Feedburner, Technorati and other tools. Instead of just saying “write good stuffâ€, he provides real, readable advice. If you're a high-tech, experienced blogger, you'll love this book for all of the tidbits Walsh tells you that you didn't know about. If you're a beginning…
Continue Reading Clear Blogging: A Must-Read for Bloggers »
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April 14, 2007 by ian
I've switched my RSS feed over to Feedburner. Two reasons: I get better stats as to RSS feed access. I can use a single feed for everyone, instead of having a growing pile of icons for adding my RSS feed to Google, Yahoo, Joe's Feed Reader, etc.. The subscribe button is at the lower left, and you can click at the top of the page too, but here it is in case you want to subscribe right now: Subscribe ina reader Technorati Tags: Feedburner, rss…
Continue Reading RSS feed changes on Conversation Marketing »
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April 13, 2007 by ian
Google just bought Doubleclick for $3.1 billion. A bargain. I'm betting they're about to launch the internet's first free-for-everyone ad delivery service. http://tinyurl.com/2cajfq Technorati Tags: internet marketing…
Continue Reading Google Buys Doubleclick »
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April 13, 2007 by ian
Seth Godin wrote about Joshua Bell. Bell is one of the most talented living violinists. He played in a Washington, DC subway to see if anyone would notice. Almost no one noticed. This doesn't prove that people are uncultured. It proves that marketing matters. I've rarely seen products or companies fail because they sucked. They fail because their marketing sucked. People hurrying to their commute are worried about shopping lists, picking up their kids, making their house payment, and maybe global warming. They don't have the mental bandwidth to notice an Avery Fisher prize winner playing violin 5 feet…
Continue Reading Violin in the Subway Proves Marketing Matters »
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April 12, 2007 by ian
E-mail marketing is still your best direct online marketing channel, and that's not going to change any time soon. But it can also make people hate you in a hurry. Here's how to maximize results and get some customer love at the same time: Be polite. Use an opt-in list. 'Opt in' may not mean they said 'please e-mail me'. It may mean they said 'please contact me'. But regardless, only e-mail folks who indicated they would like to hear from you. The one exception: We've had good results e-mailing past customers, regardless of opt-in, but only if the…
Continue Reading 5 Ways to Improve Your E-mail Campaigns »
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April 11, 2007 by ian
Internet marketing should happen backwards when compared to traditional marketing. In traditional marketing, you make your best, educated guess at your audience, try to create something that will elicit an emotional response, spend lots of money on the campaign, and hope it'll work. Online, you launch lots of little campaigns, watching for what works best. Then you select the top performers and use them, all the while learning about your audience. That's why traditional agencies so often fall flat on their faces when trying to execute internet marketing campaigns. Technorati Tags: internet marketing…
Continue Reading Internet Marketing Should be Backwards »
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April 10, 2007 by ian
I just posted a bit about Google Website Optimizer, and potential SEO issues. It appears I may be guilty of FUD* mongering. Lest I be tagged as such: Robert Gorell at FutureNowInc.com says it's very, very unlikely that use of the tool would lead to penalties from Google. I'm still less sure about Yahoo - look for follow-up info in the coming weeks. * Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt Technorati Tags: Google, Google Analytics, web analytics, website optimizer…
Continue Reading FUD Prevention: Google Website Optimizer »
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April 10, 2007 by ian
Google Website Optimizer lets you test various headlines, product shots and other page elements against each other. And it's free. Wouldn't you always want to use it? No - ironically, Google's Website Optimizer engages in a practice that some call 'cloaking'. That practice may lead to search ranking penalties from - you guessed it - Google. Google's own Matt Cutts has a great summary of the tactic here. Optimizer causes your web browser to replace parts of the page you're viewing, like so: In the above images, my browser replaced 'Your Child Deserves the Best' with 'Attend a Free…
Continue Reading Google Website Optimizer May Cause Search Penalties »
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April 8, 2007 by ian
I'm not sure. I'm trying out Twitter, the new phenomenon (I think). Basically, Twitter lets you indulge your deepest narcissistic fantasies by telling the entire world what you're doing, every second. What are the marketing implications? Woot.com is already marketing there. I'm not sure what else to say at this point. I'll keep playing, and update you as I figure out more, or when I realize I'm just too old to 'get it'. follow portentint at http://twitter.com Technorati Tags: twitter…
Continue Reading Twitter: What is it? »
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April 6, 2007 by ian
Google has taken their Website Optimizer out of beta. Or at least, they've made it available to everyone. At its simplest, Website Optimizer helps you test and measure different web page headlines, graphics, copy, etc. against each other. Here's a quick overview: Say you're wondering whether one headline will generate more leads than another. You're also wondering whether a small change to on-page copy will make a difference. Normally, you'd have to build four pages, one for each combination of headline and copy. With Website Optimizer, though, you can put a small script in your page. Then Google will…
Continue Reading Google Website Optimizer Now Available »
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April 4, 2007 by ian
Stop me if you've heard this one: Your boss really wants to get started on their campaign, but the IT Department doesn't have the resources. Or maybe they need to 'get everything else in line' first. One thing leads to another, and suddenly it's been 6 months since you got that strategic plan approved, and nothing's happened. You can always try my method: Increase sarcasm in proportion to time passed. However, that's never worked. So here are a few more constructive suggestions: Provide concrete ideas: Don't wait for the boss's request, just show them your concept. Get permission, one…
Continue Reading 5 Ways Unstick Internet Marketing Campaigns »
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April 3, 2007 by ian
Kevin asked the question on his blog today: Do e-commerce sites generate demand? Or are they just helpless, waiting for other marketing to generate interest? It's not that simple, of course, but Kevin's touched a critical point: A web site, on its own, can't generate demand or sales. But it's a critical step along a continuum that starts when someone learns about a product or business and continues through (hopefully) to a purchase. A website is part of an overall campaign that, properly executed, can generate demand. You separate the web site from the rest of the equation at…
Continue Reading Do Websites Generate Demand? »
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April 2, 2007 by ian
'Creative' is not a noun. Ad agencies started calling the pretty stuff 'creative'. I'm not sure why. But it annoys the hell out of me. It cheapens creativity to think that 'creative' is just about a commercial, or a web site, or a banner. And it cheapens truly creative people. The big winners in marketing learn that 'creative' is a way of thinking, not something you print in a magazine or put on the web, and they learn that in internet marketing it's all creative: The way you build your applications, your choice of vehicles, the overall message, everything.…
Continue Reading “Creative†is an Adjective, Not A Noun! »
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