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SiteProNews Blogs

• Editor's Corner
• Darren Dunner
• Jerry Bader
• John Sylvester
• Kalena Jordan
• Mel Strocen
• Titus Hoskins

Is Facebook Over for Business?

By Jerry Bader

Has Facebook shot its business bolt? Facebook was always just an IPO play that exploded on the scene with such force that business felt it just had to get on board, but maybe business leaders with their myopic perspective have just been conned by the biggest marketing boondoggle of all time. Sure the marketing carpetbaggers have helped promote the FB scene to unsuspecting business neophytes in the naïve hope of them catching the marketing brass ring, but the FB party as far as business is concerned may just be winding down.

Online Media Daily’s “Around the Net’ tells us that ‘Inside Facebook’ is reporting lower monthly growth rates. It also reports that FB lost 6 million users in May. Perhaps it’s a blip but ‘Business Insider’ comments, “…big drops in the countries where Facebook first became popular can’t be good news… It suggests that there is a saturation point where people begin to burn out on the service.”

Perhaps it’s time to take a sober second look and get back to basics before FB completely takes over your marketing efforts to the detriment of your brand and the dilution of your Web marketing presence.

Jerry Bader
MRPwebmedia
Tel: (905) 764-1246
info@mrpwebmedia.com

http://www.mrpwebmedia.com

http://www.136words.com

http://www.sonicpersonality.com

http://www.cacheclosed.com

Web Design Bangkok – an evolution of keyworded domains

By John Sylvester

Back in the days when we started a Bangkok-based web design agency, there was little mention of keyworded domains. In those days, the ease of getting high placement was all about having good SEO and links. Not now.

It was probably always the case but we just failed to think it through properly. The title, the meta tags, the h1 tag, the keywords in the body copy all had profound significance in the days of SEO in the uncompetitive market for search. But the company domain was somehow sacrosanct in the rather old-fashioned idea in delivering the “brand” and we somehow got round it by varying the link text to match the search term.

But, according to an article written a while ago by Marketingweek: “The most successful domain name strategies will use more than the company name alone – incorporating keywords relating to a particular vertical market will reach a wider audience and build brand associations far more effectively.

“Some good examples of companies already doing this include Johnson & Johnson with Baby.com; Calvin Klein with Underwear.com and Proctor & Gamble, whose Crest brand owns Toothpaste.com…One brand that seems to have taken this strategy to heart is Toys ‘R’ Us’, who recently purchased toys.com for $5m (£3.2m). The retailer correctly viewed domain names as an asset not an expense and toys.com is putting them in the top search ranking for their market and to considerably improving their digital brand recognition.”

Digital brand recognition? Then why doesn’t Nike have runningshoes.com and Amazon books.com? Because it’s too late to register them? Or why not have Coca-Cola re-brand to fizzydrink.com or Toyota to reasonablypricedcar.com?

I wrote an article a while ago that argued the case that Google had decided to place a heavier emphasis on “brand” for conventional corporate websites when deciding how to rank and I said it was the new “oligarchic algorithm”.

Added to that, I said, in the Google universe, each business has size and gravity that can be determined by measuring mass, presupposing that mass, as determined by established brand, is the only variable that determines gravity. I was wrong.

Two years ago, ignoring my own prejudices, I registered vietnamwebdesign and webdesignbeijing and, through merely throwing a link from my home page plus a couple of other permanents at them, I got to #1 in a week for both.

I closed down the latter through lack of a strategic partner but the former has remained in that spot ever since and without any link building, social media or article writing. Both are admittedly in uncompetitive markets. And I have recently done the same with webdesignlaos. I expect the same but this time with sales staff on the ground.

It’s a very different story for web design bangkok, though. That is because the market space has become so saturated with the search term in titles. The first page of Google’s listings though has #3-5 registered as keyworded domains.

Just to explain how this skewed algorithmic madness actually works in practice: according to Yahoo stats, the #1 site has 68 pages and 1,305 backlinks; #2 has 510/1,903 and #4, which has just been registered by a company that significantly failed to penetrate the market by its brand, has 1 page registered and 2 inbound links. Priceless.

Recently, in the seo.com blog they talked of Matt Cutts, who works for the Search Quality group in Google specialising in search engine optimisation issues, talked about how “keywords in the domain carry weight with users” and, for this reason, “Google also gives some weight to a keyword in the URL and/or domain name”. Some weight. Some understatement, judging by site #4 above.

With this in mind, it will be interesting to see if this story gets through the bot moderators to land up anywhere near the top ten. I rather doubt it, but anyway I’m going to give it a try.

# # #

Web Design Bangkok, to be controversial (http://www.v9designbuild.com), produces tasteful web design in Bangkok, Thailand, including ecommerce shopping cart solutions, with functionality that allows owners to set up and maintain their online stores.

Relaunch of New MRPwebmedia Site

By Jerry Bader

MRPwebmedia has relaunched a new version of its website jam-packed with new videos and blog entries on how to deliver your marketing message so people will remember you.
Visit http://www.mrpwebmedia.com.

“What We Have Here, Is A Failure To Communicate”

By Jerry Bader

Well Google has done it again, speeding up searches with Google Instant by two seconds by anticipating what they think you want. Excuse me, but have you ever had a conversation with someone who never let’s you finish your sentence before they start to answer with something that has nothing to do with what you were about to say – irritating isn’t it? So here we have another technological solution to a problem that really doesn’t exist. Is the two seconds or so that you save going to improve your life or your business, or are you going to waste an hour visiting websites that you never wanted to go to, and that don’t have what you think you want. Most people don’t even know what they really want and only discover it through the serendipity that search engines traditionally supply. Take that away and you might as well look things up in the phonebook. The people at Google may be smart but they ain’t no Amazing Kreskin.
There is no doubt technology has improved the potential for us to communicate more efficiently but is it’s misuse hurting effectiveness? Recently I was asked to write an article on Unified Communication, the name given to the effort to unify and integrate all the various digital communication devices available in an effort to make communication more efficient. Any discussion of communication and efficiency must not ignore effectiveness – what good is whiz-bang technology when the people using it have lost the ability to present a coherent thought, or have lost the curiosity to learn about things they have never heard of. You can check out the article yourself at http://www.focus.com/briefs/marketing/unified-communication-method-message/.

Jerry Bader is Senior Partner at MRPwebmedia, a website design and marketing firm that specializes in Web-video Marketing Campaigns and Video Websites. Visit http://www.mrpwebmedia.com/ads, http://www.136words.com, and http://www.sonicpersonality.com. Contact at info@mrpwebmedia.com or telephone (905) 764-1246.

Is Google’s New Email Filtering For You?

By Jerry Bader

So Google wants to decide for you what emails are important and what emails aren’t. See MediaPost’s ‘Around the Net’ at http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=134756.

From what I’ve read one of the key filtering factors will be addresses or people it recognizes. It seems the Web has spawned this notion that the only people you should communicate with are people and businesses you already know. Linkedin and many other social networking sites follow the same principle only allowing you to connect to people you already know; or to those that you can get introduced to by existing contacts.

Sure spam is a problem, we all know that, but an obsession with spam that is not destructive can be easily dealt with by hitting the delete button or by using spam filters properly. Yes we all get lots of emails that we have to go through every day, but the idea that you should only deal with the people you deal with seems to me counterproductive and frankly, downright foolish.

We are all in business and we all want to grow and expand our businesses by not only selling our current customers more, but by selling new customers. Can a business survive in the long-term without new customers? Of course it can’t.

Anyone who has studied psychology, and when you get right down to it, sales and marketing are all about psychology, knows that ignorance, as in lack of knowledge, leads to poor decisions.
Everyone makes mistakes, the difference between successful business executives and failures, is the ability to learn from mistakes; the problem according to the Dunning-Kruger effect is not knowing what you don’t know creates an ‘illusory superiority’ – in short keeping yourself ignorant makes you feel that you know more than you actually do, and that’s what leads to poor decision-making.

I for one don’t want Google or Linkedin or anybody else for that matter pre-filtering what I should see, hear, read, listen to, or whom I should communicate with. We owe it to our selves and our businesses to think for ourselves, listen to as much as we can, and use our brains to decide if the information is valid or not.

Clients pay us to create Web videos that generate leads, emails, and phone calls that help build working relationships, sales, and long-term customer loyalty. If you don’t answer your phone or read your emails you may have just missed closing your next big client, and that’s not good business.

Thanks Google, but I’ll pass.

Jerry Bader is Senior Partner at MRPwebmedia, a website design and marketing firm that specializes in Web-video Marketing Campaigns and Video Websites. Visit http://www.mrpwebmedia.com/ads, http://www.136words.com, and http://www.sonicpersonality.com. Contact at info@mrpwebmedia.com or telephone (905) 764-1246.

Statistical Evidence Supports Online Video As The Web’s Preferred Marketing Communication Tool

By Jerry Bader

Those of us in the video production and marketing communication business have known for some time that the Web is positioned as the perfect platform for video marketing communication. Many companies, especially e-retailers have been slow to act instead focusing their budgets on e-commerce, social networking, and search engine optimizing. But times have changed and the Web audience has adopted video as their preferred method of receiving Web-based information. Those that find the decision to invest in Web video difficult and need a statistical push, read Paul Verna’s article “Companies Throw Their Weight Behind Online Video” published in ‘eMarketer, Digital Intellience’ at http://www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?R=1007821. Verna supplies enough statistical evidence and market intelligence to get the most reluctant marketing executive scurrying to develop a Web video marketing strategy and implementation program.

Jerry Bader is Senior Partner at MRPwebmedia, a website design and marketing firm that specializes in Web-video Marketing Campaigns and Video Websites. Visit http://www.mrpwebmedia.com/ads, http://www.136words.com, and http://www.sonicpersonality.com. Contact at info@mrpwebmedia.com or telephone (905) 764-1246.

While You Were Social Networking…

By Jerry Bader

While you were social networking, Facebooking, and Twittering the most influential market demographic has moved on to the new Web. Call it Web 4.0 or whatever you like; the new Web is video-based. And we’re not talking about the homemade efforts you cranked out on your camcorder and laptop; we’re talking professional video. Yes, Martha, the bar has been raised, and if you want to compete you better get your act together. I’ve been preaching this sermon for years but it finally looks like the rest of the Web marketplace has finally caught up. If you don’t believe me, read Erick Hachenburg’s post ” Today’s Entertainment Drivers Are Watching Online Video” in MediaPost’s Blog ‘Online Video Insider” (http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=133670&lfe=1).

Hachenburg writes:
” We are in the midst of a fundamental shift in which everything we know about content sites is changing. Just as television rose to rapid dominance in the traditional media world, online video is now rising to dominance in the digital media world. Increasingly, the Web is about video — not text, not pictures.

Video is an inherently powerful way to tell a story. This, of course, also makes it an effective way to communicate an advertising message. It’s about entertainment value and emotional appeal.

… The new 2010 Magid Media Futures study, conducted by Frank N. Magid Associates, reveals some important insights into today’s Entertainment Drivers, consumer behavior and preferences in online video, and the reasons brand marketers should consider online video an important part of their media mix.
… So what does this all add up to for today’s marketers? An important shift in the way they connect with the influential consumers who define pop culture, and impact media consumption patterns across demographic groups. Today’s Entertainment Drivers consider online video a primary form of entertainment, making it an integral part of the marketing mix for brand advertisers.”

If you’re serious about turning your website into a new media success then it’s time to get serious about Web video content. It’s better to be slightly ahead of the curve than me-toing your way to Chapter 11

Jerry Bader is Senior Partner at MRPwebmedia, a website design and marketing firm that specializes in Web-video Marketing Campaigns and Video Websites. Visit http://www.mrpwebmedia.com/ads, http://www.136words.com, and http://www.sonicpersonality.com. Contact at info@mrpwebmedia.com or telephone (905) 764-1246.

Your Website’s Future is On Television

By Jerry Bader

While you were busy Twittering the Internet has evolved into a whole new marketing presentation environment with increased opportunities for those who understand the medium and how to use it to deliver entertaining content, particularly when that content is aimed at selling products, services, or even ideas. The Web, more specifically Web Video content, has invaded television, and the invasion has just begun.

‘StudioDaily blogs’ reports on the inevitability of Internet-enabled TVs (IETVs) reaching significant market penetration in a post by Debra Kaufman entitled “Internet-enabled TVs trump 3D sets. Kaufman highlights iSuppli’s report stating:

“IETV shipments will expand at rates of more than 50 percent for the next two years, and then continue to increase at double-digit rates until the end of 2014. By then, global IETV shipments are anticipated to reach 148.3 million units, accounting for 54 percent of the total flat-panel TV market.” The entire post can be read at http://www.studiodaily.com/blog/?p=3786.

As media moguls continue to stew about illegal downloads and look to technologies like 3D movies and television to save the day, consumers have moved on to what they want – more content. And since networks are unwilling to invest in what’s required to fill the content gap created by the 500-channel universe, the void will be filled by Web content with video programming positioned to capture major audience market share.

The market penetration of IETVs means the bar has been raised for webmedia content; amateur hour has past, and if companies want to continue to be competitive they will have to upgrade their content. IETVs provide a tremendous opportunity and a significant challenge for businesses that think in terms of conventional wisdom and outmoded presentation formats.

The next time budgets are discussed think about where your marketing dollars are going and where they can be used to create maximum benefit for your organization.

Jerry Bader is Senior Partner at MRPwebmedia, a website design and marketing firm that specializes in Web-video Marketing Campaigns and Video Websites. Visit http://www.mrpwebmedia.com/ads, http://www.136words.com, and http://www.sonicpersonality.com. Contact at info@mrpwebmedia.com or telephone (905) 764-1246.

Television Advertising For Every Business?

By Jerry Bader

Google’s TV Ad deal with Dish Network may have opened the door to advertisers that may have thought television was beyond their budgets. Late night TV placement has generally been fairly reasonable for accessing local markets but now Google brings major hits like “Mad Men,” “Real Housewives,” and “Rubicon” into play. Read David Goetzi’s post in MediaDailyNews, ‘Google TV Ads Pay Off For Summer Hits’ at http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=132747&nid=117019.

Traditionally television advertisements are expensive to produce and even more expensive to run, but with new technologies and smaller boutique video firms, production costs have dropped substantially. It remains to be seen if Google’s auction system actually brings the cost down or if prices will quickly escalate beyond the reach of non-traditional TV advertisers.

To my mind television networks better get their acts together and get their heads out of the clouds if they want to stall the inevitable migration of audiences to YouTube video programming on large screen TVs attached to a Play Station-like device and Internet connection. So why aren’t more businesses having branded entertainment content programming created to promote their businesses? The TV Networks with their desire to save money with cheap Reality TV programming packed with product placement has opened the door to the acceptance of Web-based content. All business has to do is get over their old fashion ideas of what advertising is, and get into a more audience-friendly creative content mindset.

Jerry Bader is Senior Partner at MRPwebmedia, a website design and marketing firm that specializes in Web-video Marketing Campaigns and Video Websites. Visit http://www.mrpwebmedia.com/ads, http://www.136words.com, and http://www.sonicpersonality.com. Contact at info@mrpwebmedia.com or telephone (905) 764-1246.

What’s Wrong With Web Advertising

By Jerry Bader

Two interesting articles crossed my desk this morning, articles that everyone interested in getting the most out of their marketing should read. The first was published in Media Post’s Media Creativity written by Ari Rosenberg, called “The Problem With Online Ad Creative No One Wants To Hear.” Rosenberg states “The Web is overwhelmingly experienced in silence…” a problem we’ve been talking about for years. I would add that the problem is not just a silent Web, it’s a Web where audio is miss used and abused by advertisers who don’t understand how to use sound design and music to motivate audience action. You can read the article at http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=132001&lfe=1.

The second item that should appeal to all those who pray to the god of media measurement; Abe Sauer writes “Media Too Quick To Label Old Spice Man a Failure.” Read the article in brandchannel at http://www.brandchannel.com/home/post/2010/07/23/Media-Quick-To-Label-OLd-Spice-A-Failure.aspx. In a nutshell the article uses the now famous Old Spice campaign to explain what we all know but just can’t accept and that is, there are “lies, damned lies, and statistics.”

So think twice the next time your video producer tells you he’s going to just slap on some royalty free music instead of creating a signature soundscape, or when you make a marketing campaign decision based on statistics and analytics that you really don’t fully understand.

Jerry Bader is Senior Partner at MRPwebmedia, a website design and marketing firm that specializes in Web-video Marketing Campaigns and Video Websites. Visit http://www.mrpwebmedia.com/ads, http://www.136words.com, and http://www.sonicpersonality.com. Contact at info@mrpwebmedia.com or telephone (905) 764-1246.