Online Marketing - Marketing Don

Starbucks Out Of Splenda? How Can This Be?

Yes, this is another off topic rant of mine, but I cant help it.  The stupidity of it is too overwhelming for me to ignore.

I was on my way to work yesterday and stopped at the Starbucks on Highway 55 in Cary, NC.  It was about 8am so they have been open for about on hour or so.  I ordered my coffee and went to the area to add crème and Splenda.  The Splenda bin was empty.  I walked back to the counter and asked if I could have some Splenda and they reply was “we are out of Splenda.”  What? How can you be out of Splenda?

Why didn’t the closing manager notice they were out and buy some?  Why didn’t the opening manager notice they were out when they opened and buy some?  I don’t like the taste of Equal or Sweet n Low and I don’t want sugar.  Plus, what about the diabetics that want Splenda.  I wouldn’t be surprised if some people decided not to buy they drink after they found out they were out.

So who is to blame?  I think it starts at the top.  Starbucks are corporate owned. 

1. The managers must not be empowered or feel ownership in the company otherwise they would completed this simple task on their own.
2. The employees must not have been taught that they can notice something like this, pull $5 out of the cash drawer, go get some splenda, and put the receipt into the drawer.

I am not sure if any of you have been to Cary, NC but there are 2 supermarkets and 2 large pharmacies (that carry things like Splenda) within a 5 mile radius of almost anywhere in Cary.  It would have taken less then 10 minutes to get some Splenda. 

This also bothers me because something similar has happened before.  A while ago I went to an ice cream shop and asked for a banana split.  There were 3 people behind the counter doing nothing and one of them said that they are out of bananas.  I asked if they had a mad rush for banana splits that day and they said no.  They told me that they have been out of bananas for 2 days.  The sad thing is that this ice cream shop was in a strip mall and was one store away from a supermarket.  I seriously could have walked about 50 feet, bought a banana and walked back into the ice cream shop.

This is customer service management 101.  Get with it.

Posted in Front Porch | 5 Comments »

Social Media Trademark Infringement

So, what will be the next chapter in social media?  Somebody using your trademarked company name as their user and account name.

As many of you know, social media is a hot topic in the online world.  What I haven’t seen much of yet, is social media trademark infringement.  Not seeing it yet is actually a good thing.  Maybe companies have time to secure their name before they get taken.  If not, I can see this becoming as big as, or maybe even bigger than, domain name trademark infringement and we all know what a mess that is.  All the hoops and costs you have to go through to get your domain name back is crazy.

What to do?  Go to Twitter, Facebook, Myspace, and all the other social media sites and sign up using your company name.  Even if you don’t use it or even plan to use it, get it!  I signed up for twitter.com/alscillitani and then signed up for a company account under the name of the company that I work for. 

Once these names start to get taken, I have no idea how you will be able to get the person using it to transfer it over to you.  Who’s responsibility will it be to monitor this?  Will Twitter shut the person down?  Will attorney’s have to get involved?  Will it be like domain names and you can send a cease and desist and possibly some money?

Best advice is not to let it happen in the first place.  Sign up and get your name and your company name.

If you have other sites you would recommend others go to and sign up for their name, please add in a comment.

Posted in Social Media | 2 Comments »

New Yahoo Ranking Changes

I was reading Nathania Johnsons post on Search Engine Watch about Yahoo making changes to their search algo.  I ran a ranking report and completed some random searches and it appears more interior pages are ranking in the top 10 of Yahoo.

If you noticed a drop in your Yahoo rankings search to see what URL are showing up in the top 10.  Many of the ones I saw were not the home page of the site.  Check your category and product pages for proper unique tags and content.  BEFORE you make any changes, make sure these pages are not ranking in Google.  I can’t tell you how many times I have seen this happen.  You will make a change, you will rank higher in Yahoo, but your traffic and revenue will decline because that page was ranking in Google.  So first make sure the page you are going to tweak is not generating revenue for you in Google.  If it isn’t, then start optimizing the title, tags, and copy.  Make sure each tag is unique and mentions the category or product name at least once in the title and description tag.

Posted in SEO | No Comments »

SEOr’s Get Ready For Ebay

As some of you may know, Ebay has recently changed to “best match” algorithm and it will be the default setting when someone searches in Ebay.  If your company sells on Ebay and you are their SEO person, get ready to be pulled into Ebay meetings if you haven’t already.

Ebay listings can now be optimized similar to natural search rankings.  There are other factors involved, but one of the top factors in proper keywords in your title tag.  As the company’s SEO person, you will need to get involved in finding the best keywords for the titles.  From what I understand, here are the new “best match” Ebay listing factors (not necessarily in order):

1.       Relevant title

2.       Cost INCLUDING shipping

3.       DSR – Feedback rating for last 30 days

4.       Being a PowerSeller

5.       Listed in proper category

6.       Shipping distance

This also means usability of your Ebay listing will play a big part as well.  If your product page does not clearly state shipping costs, shipping time, describe the product properly, etc… your DSR will drop and so will your listings.

Recommedations:

1.       Inserts, inserts, inserts!!!  Add inserts in your boxes with your products.  Reiterate shipping policies, customer service policy, and an easy way for that customer to call and discuss any problems they may have. 

2.       Research keywords like you would for a new product page to your site.  Long tail terms.

3.       Take advantage of Ebay internal tools to test different titles and wording.

4.       Re-evaluate your shipping costs.  Check your competitors prices and shipping

5.       Have people in your company, spouses, friends, etc..  look at your Ebay page.  Can they quickly understand what you are are selling, find shipping costs, and find how long it will take for product to arrive.

6.       Look at the negative feedback you have received.  Is there anything you can fix to prevent future negatives?  See if there are any negatives that are similar and evaluate that situation, your customers are trying to tell you something.

Posted in SEO | 4 Comments »

Freaking Linkshare

I have accounts with many of the affiliate networks.  In the years I have been doing affiliate management, I only got cheated once from a merchant, the Vitamin Shoppe, when they were on Linkshare.  They switched networks and never paid me a last payment.  It was only for about $150, but it was the point of it all.  Plus I ended up getting more upset at Linkshare for their lack of concern.  They didnt care nor help try to get my money.

Well, here I am again with another merchant that may not be paying me and yet again Linkshare is giving me the run around.  This time I am going to continuously contact them because we are talking about $4,000, not $150. 

Shaper Image owes me about 4 grand.  They filed for bancruptcy and from what I understand, affiliates have not been paid since.  The sad thing about it is this, Linkshare STILL has them as an active merchant and I just received an email from Sharper Image today with new HOT new affiliate promos for me to use.  ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME?

In my first email to Linkshare, they replied that they forwarded my concerns to the merchant.  I never received anything from Sharper, but I replied to Linkshare asking how are they still an active merchant and where the heck is my money.  No reply.

I then emailed again asking them to forward to a senior level exec for a reply.  They replied back the my email has been escalated and I will get a reply in 3 to 5 business day.  Seven business days later, no reply.  I send again and got this reply:

“Dear Al,

Thank you for contacting LinkShare!”

Meanwhile Linkshare is still signing people up and Sharper is still emailing affiliates to sell their stuff.

Unbelievable!!!

Posted in Affiliate | 7 Comments »

SEO & PPC Career Volitility

Advice for online marketing careers.  In the last 15 years, I have worked for a huge worldwide corporation, a worldwide franchise, for myself, consulted, two seo/ppc agencies, and companies as their “in-house” internet marketing manager.  In all of those years, my main advice to anyone in that wants to stay in this industry is: you have to have multiple streams of income!

That’s right. The main advice has nothing to do with seo, ppc, internet, online marketing, social media, or any of that.  It has to do with the volatility of online marketing jobs.  One of the agencies I worked for was one of the largest in the world.  They had 100’s of seo accounts, 100’s of ppc accounts, over 100 employees and it was a great place to work.  After being established for several years, they went public, got greedy, and within 12 months of going public they fell apart.  Another agency I worked for was great.  It had some of the best online marketing talent and was run very well.  One day the CEO of the holding company decided he wanted to push out our company CEO and all hell broke loose.  The other exec’s started to leave and the other employees left as well. 

I have definitely learned in this industry (and a few others as well), that things can change in an instant.  Everything could be going great for several months, then poof it’s all over.  Your great, exciting, and fun job is no more.
 
If you do not have side affiliate, consulting, or other part time work you should for 2 reasons 

1. Gives you extra income while you are working and

2. Gives yourself some money in case something happens to your current job

If you know you should start these other streams of income, but keep putting it off, my recommendation would be to immediately schedule 30 minutes to an hour everyday and get started.  Go to meetups to network, learn about affiliate marketing, adsense, paid search, social media, blogging, podcasts, etc…  Not only will this help you in your current job, but help you with possible side jobs as well.

I love online marketing for many reasons, but if I did not have mutliple streams of income, I would be forced to look elsewhere.

Posted in Online Marketing | 8 Comments »

Domains and Trademark Infringement – Steps To Get Your Name Back

Someone has a domain name with your exact or similar trademarked name in it, now what?

In the various agencies and companies I have worked for, domain trademark infringement seems to be coming up more and more.  There are various forms of domain trademark infringement.  There is cybersquatting (sitting on or trying to use someone’s trademarked name for profit – then possibly selling the name to the trademarked owner for a high price).  Then there is typosquatting (similar to cybersquatting, but buying variations and misspellings of the trademarked names).  Sometimes these domains are bought simply to hold on to hoping the trademarked owner will buy them, sometimes they are used for content ads and affiliates to gain profits from people typing in these names and misspellings.

First check to see who is using your name.   If you go to Network Solutions Whois page and type in the domain, in most cases, this will give you the information you need.  If not try some of the other registrars whois pages.  You may get more information from them.

Once you have their contact information, there are several different ways to approach the person.  I recommend the “nice” approach.  Even though this person may be violating laws, they can make the transition very difficult for you.  It may take several months and several thousands of dollars if they do not cooperate.  I prefer email for 2 reasons: a) it leaves a paper trail b) the person may not get as defensive and may be more likely to transfer if they can reply via email.

1.  Email the person.  Just a basic letter similar to:

Dear ……
My name is [name] and I am the [title] for [title of your company].  We recently noticed you own a domain name that is very similar to our trademarked name. 
We kindly ask that you transfer the domain ownership to us by [date 2 weeks from today].  If we do not hear from you by that date, we will be forced to pursue the matter through legal means.
Please contact me before above to for transfer instructions.
Thank you

2.  If still no reply, you may want to have your attorney generate a cease and desist letter.   The letter may have more impact coming from an attorney.  Again, ask for the immediate transfer and consequences if transfer is not completed by a specific date.

3. If still no reply, here is where is may get tricky.  You now have the choice to go through the procedure to get the domain legally or send one more letter asking for the domain with a price.  Yes, it may be legally your domain, but as mentioned above, to go through the process to get the domain may take several months and cost thousands of dollars.  I would recommend one final attorney letter to purchase the domain.  Depending on the name, you may ask offer as little as $500. 

4. Still nothing? Visit the ICANN instructions by contacting the registrar and going through the long process of forcing the person to release the domain.  I have never gotten this far and would love to hear from someone that actually had to go through this process and how it went.

Other resources:
ICANN
Wikipedia

Posted in SEO | 1 Comment »

Why Does Google Adwords Shut Down For Maintenance?

In my Adwords account I see a message, “On March 8, 2008, AdWords system will be unavailable from approximately 1:00 PM to 5:00 PM Eastern Time due to system maintenance. Please note that your campaigns will continue to run normally during this short downtime. We apologize for any inconvenience.”

I wrote about this before, but have never resceived a clear answer.  I do not understand why, with Googles technology, employees, and $$, that they cant complete maintenance/updates without becoming “unavailable.”  I also do not know why they need to complete the update in the middle of the day on Saturdays. Why not at 1am to 5am EST?

Can anyone give some insite?

Posted in PPC | 5 Comments »

Does Load Time Affect Natural Rankings?

According to a Google Adwords recent update, Google posted that load time affects your Adwords Quality Score, https://adwords.google.com/support/?fulldump=1#66238 scroll down to the title “How does website load time affect my landing page quality?”

About a year ago, the question came up regarding natural search: “Does website load time affect natural search rankings?” My answer was, that I did not have any proof, but it would make complete sense that Google would take into account not only load time, but how “clean” your site was.  By “clean” I mean HTML and other errors that can be found by testing your site in the http://validator.w3.org

Though I still do not have any proof, I believe Google announcing that load time is a factor for Adwords, helps make my case that it does affect your natural search rankings.  You still may not be convinced until you have proof, which Google may provide in the future now that they let this information out.  For now, as a best practice, I still feel everyone should check their sites load time, server time, and check their site in the validator.   I have other helpful hints from my last post First Steps To SEO

Posted in SEO | 1 Comment »

The Absolute First Step to Optimizing Your Website

I bet you are thinking this article is about title tags, meta tags, keyword research, or even content, it’s not.  It is about making sure your site is as search engine friendly as possible and is not getting penalized by the engines.  You can optimize all you want, but if your site is not bot friendly, it may not matter much.

Here are some steps to take to check your site:

Google webmaster tools.   Go into your google account and validate your site and add a google sitemap.  https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/docs/en/about.html
The information you get back is invaluable.

Is your site all All flash/ajax
It is ok to have flash and ajax on your site, however it not ok to have an ALL flash page without any text or text links nor is it ok to have an ALL Ajax site that goes from page to page without the url changing.
Dynamic urls  “?” static pages only

The engines are doing a much better job recognizing dynamic urls.  The main issue is that the urls are static for each page.  If the product on the page are green widgets and the url is www.yourdomain.com/?12345.aspx this is not a problem as long as the page stays ?12345.aspx with that specific product on it everytime you, or someone else, goes to the page.
Search engine friendly urls

With dynamic urls, best practice is to use a url re-write to name the urls with proper keywords.  In the example above, the url should be www.yourdomain.com/green-widgets.aspx
 
According to others that have tested dashes vs underscores vs keywords up against each other, for SEO use dashes first (green-widgets), then against (greenwidgets), then underscores (green_widgets).  Recently there was some controversy when Matt Cutts stated underscores are recognized evenly in Google.  The hoopla did not affect me at all because I would never use underscores anyway.  Underscores are horrible for usability reasons.   If you send the link to someone or someone links to your page in an article, it is hard to tell if it is an underscore or a space because the link gets underlined.

Session id’s
If there is anyway to get rid of them, do it. Similar to dynamic urls session ids used to be a complete nightmare for the bots.  Google is getting better, but even if Google figures them out, it may take years for the others engines to catch up.  If it changes the url everytime someone visits, the bots may recognize these as duplicate pages or get stuck trying to index the site.  I think there is a way around this with PHP.  Maybe someone can comment if they know PHP?

Duplicate content & Crosslinking
In Google search box type in related:yourdomain.com
and look at the results.  Do you have orphaned pages, doorway pages, duplicate pages/sites

Now type in site: yourdomain.com
and look at the results.   Do you have orphaned pages, doorway pages, duplicate pages/sites.  Go all the way to the last page.  Are you getting an Omitted Results link?  If so, click on it and look through those links again.  Check to make sure you do not have duplicate https and http pages, duplicate meta tage, content, etc…

Hidden content
In your browser, go to Edit and “Select All.”  Look for images, links, and pixels that get highlighted that do not appear when the select all is off.  These are “hidden” from the engines and your site will get penalized if it hasn’t already.

Javascript hiding
Google does not follow javascript links, however google does READ javascript and checks your external files to see if you are trying to hide content or trying to trick the bots.

Frames
I haven’t seen a site in frames for a while.  If your site is in frames there are things you can do to optimize it, but I am not even going to go into it.  Put your Commodore 64 away and buy dreamweaver or other web software and create a new functional, user friendly website.

Robots.txt
In your browser, type in yourdomain.com/robots.txt Are you blocking categories that you shouldn’t be?  Are you allowing the bots to index categories that it shouldn’t be?
 One of the first things the engines bot does is check this file to see where and where not to go.
http://www.robotstxt.org/robotstxt.html
 
Server status & Redirects 301
Go to www.rexswain.com and click on HTTP Viewer.  Type in your url.  The results show how long it takes your server to show the site and whether or not you have any redirects.  If you have a redirect, in most cases it should be a 301 redirect.  301 redirects tell the engines that it is a permanent redirect.  This helps in 2 ways.  First it prevents duplicate content.  A 302 redirect is a temporary redirect so it will still view the old page and new page in the index.  Secondly, a 301 redirect will tell the engines to take all the backlinks from the original page and carry them to the new page.  Check old interior pages as well.  They should 301 to the new page.
Stay away from meta, javascript, and other redirects.
Check you non-www site as well.  Your domain without the www in front of it should 301 to the www. url.  If it does not, I believe it is a simple change in apache.  In IIS it is a little more difficult, but can be done.

Textlink sitemap
Mandatory, no.  Good idea, yes.  Make it as easy as possible for the engines to find your pages.  A link to your site map and a simple format may expedite the engines finding your interior pages.  A good example for a large site is http://www.apple.com/sitemap/
 
404 Error page
Like the sitemap, not mandatory, but may help the bots, and customers, stay on your site.  A good example for a large site is http://www.apple.com/404error
 
Webpage optimizer
I really like this tool.  It tells you download times and areas needing improvement.  It is currently a free tool and I am not affiliated with them, or any other site mentioned in this article, in any way. http://www.websiteoptimization.com/services/analyze/
 
Validator
This is a little controversial.  Some say it does not matter, some say it does.  I am on the “it does” side and should be done no matter what anyway.  The validator checks to see if your site is compliant with W3C standards.  I believe this helps with SEO because it helps the engines funnel through your site with minimal errors.  If HTML tags are missing, you have 2 body tags, etc… this may delay, or even worse, stop the bot from crawling past that page.  It may also help with browser issues (site looks differently in IE compared to Firefox).
http://validator.w3.org/
 
If there are items I missed, please let me know.

Posted in SEO | 6 Comments »