Internet Marketing

(This is a 100% election analogy-free post) Internet marketing is not safe. No marketing is. It’s risky because: You’re marketing to human beings. Human beings aren’t all that predictable, unless you throw a $100 bill in front of them, or light their shoes on fire. The world’s complicated. Markets implode. Hurricanes happen. Or someone with… Read More

Random

I recommend the death penalty for plagiarism. Until that happy day arrives, I’ll share a technique that at least makes life harder for thieving scumbags. Step One: Trap Your Post First, you need to add a trap to your blog post. Usually that means an invisible GIF image. Use your image editing software to create… Read More

Yo, copywriters. If you freak out about semantic markup, then you have varying degrees of apoplexy over links. But linking is a critical part of smart online copy. Links are why it’s called the world wide web, and not the world wide collection of random disconnected bits and pieces. So you need to learn. Here’s… Read More

Copywriters are a weird, weird bunch. They fearlessly crank out pages of great prose – an activity that terrifies most people – but are horrified when I mention something like ‘semantic markup’. The concept of a heading tag reduces the best writers to a mass of quivering jelly. Well, for all you writers out there,… Read More

Internet Marketing

When you write a headline for an online news story, follow three rules: Length isn’t (as much of) a constraint. In print, you have to make your headline fit a certain number of column inches. Online, you can add a word or two. Or three. Or even four. Don’t keep a headline short and uninformative.… Read More

Just about a year ago, I ruptured two discs in my back and herniated another. Or at least the doctor found them a year ago. Who knows how long I was carrying them around like little ticking tissue time bombs. Gimping yourself that thoroughly makes you think. In fact, you can’t do much except think.… Read More

If you read my previous post, you know I’m pretty angry right now. I don’t like seeing good people get lousy service, especially when it hurts the future of their business. So I’ve channeled that anger into a list of things that any competent internet marketing type should include in an online store. If you’re… Read More

Internet Marketing

Please don’t take this personally, unless you’re a crappy developer, in which case I don’t care. For less rant and more information, see 17 Features for E-Commerce Success. I’m angry (angrier). I am sick of the following story: Client hires developer to build e-commerce site. Developer nods vigorously when asked if they know how to… Read More

Steve, Steve, Steve. Pagerank? The ‘ultimate measure’? Really? I tried to resist the urge to link to his recent post, where he says that Pagerank is the ultimate measure of online influence. But that’s like trying to ignore your kid’s stinky diaper in the hopes your spouse will take care of it: It only stinks… Read More

President Bush could have seen his bailout package passed two weeks ago, by a clear majority. But he spoke to the wrong audience. His audience was not Congress. His audience is American citizenry. If he’d thought about that, he might have said: “This bailout will reduce foreclosures because banks will have more money to lend.… Read More

John McCain took a big gamble yesterday, saying he was suspending his campaign until Congress could work out the $700 billion bailout plan. It was a bad gamble, because he violated 4 of the 5 basic rules of crisis marketing. I usually apply these rules to internet marketing, but they tend to work everywhere: 1:… Read More

SEO

You want keywords in the title tag. Your marketing VP wants the brand. You know he’s wrong, because search engines are structured thinkers. He knows you’re wrong, because the title tag shows up in the search snippet and branding matters: Now what? Here are 10 title tag formulas that balance SEO and marketing and hopefully… Read More

I have a defense mechanism: When something makes me want to puke, I look at statistics, and I feel better. Last week’s economic shenanigans were more than enough to make me ill, so I figured I’d have a glance at my blog’s organic search engine traffic. Here’s my analysis, with a little teaching blended in.… Read More

I am sick of social media. Social this. Social that. Everyone asks me whether I ‘do social media’, and it’s hard to resist the urge to caper around like a lunatic yelling “Am I being social? Am I?! Then quick, call the media!!!!” I hate the phrase, the concept and the need for sound bites… Read More

SEO

Google just published business listing quality guidelines for local search. Warning: The new guidelines mean a crackdown’s a comin’. Whenever Google issues new guidelines, it’s their way of saying “quit screwing around”. So if you’re doing anything shady to gain a higher ranking in the local search results, this is a good time to mend… Read More