Alert Blog Reviews

The other day I clicked a link on Twitter to a blog post everyone was talking about. I did like everyone else and read the post and then left a snarky comment. But then unlike most everyone else, I right clicked the margin and selected “view source”. Why did I do that? I am not really sure, I honestly did it without thinking. Looking at other people’s code has become something of a habit for me. I find myself sometimes getting more out of analyzing the blog’s HTML, than the post itself! Anyways, on this particular site I was shocked when I saw the HTML. It was horrible. I mean it was really really bad. It looked like this site was coded by a drunk monkey in 1998! And, to be honest, it really got my angry. Angry? Yes, angry! You see this site isn’t just any site, this site happens to be the corporate web site for a very recognizable brand. This company is known for their excellence in their industry. Furthermore I know a few of the folks that work for this company, and they are all really awesome people that do good work and believe in what they do. And because of that, it mad me angry that their site is so haphazardly put together. It made me angry that a company that I believed in, wasn’t taking my profession seriously. The folks that I know that work for this company deserve better, they deserve the best site money can buy, and trust me, this company can afford it. So I started asking myself, why? Why would a company that has earned so much respect, developed such a strong brand, and have such awesome employees, have such a horrible site? I ask myself these types of questions a lot, because unfortunately the story above isn’t uncommon. There are many good companies with strong brands that don’t care enough to build a good web site. And, I will freely admit that I have extremely high standards when it comes to web development. So why does this matter? Why should these companies care what a geeky code monkey thinks? They should care, because I am not alone! They should care because as leaders in their industries people look to them to set the standard. They should care because their competitors know they can do better and are prepared to prove it. But most importantly, they should care because their clients and customers expect the best in everything they do, and if they find out the truth, then they can find another company to do business with very quickly. And no I am not naming names, but if you think this post is about your company, get in touch with me and I would be happy to give you a free site audit.

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Cup of Joe: You Aren’t a Drunk Monkey, So Don’t Act Like One!

I. Am. Hilarious. Anchor Intelligence has just released its Q3 09 click fraud data—and it’s down, contrary to what Click Forensics reported for the same period. Anchor saw worldwide click fraud drop almost four percentage points from Q2, to 23.2% of all clicks in Q3. Interestingly, Anchor found that malicious, “attempted” click fraud had fallen off in this period—dropping from 22.9% of all clicks in Q2 to only 18.6% of all clicks in Q3. Accidental, “innocuous” click fraud rose slightly (0.4 percentage points) to 4.6%. (Anchor measure all attempts at click fraud, not just charged clicks. The labels they use reflect the motivation behind the attempts.) They also noted some geographic shifts in click fraud: Search Engine Watch says that Anchor also observed click fraudsters getting more creative: Anchor Intelligence says it did observe more sophisticated click fraud schemes in the third quarter, such as browser hijacking. They also saw an increase in the threats of malicious advertisements in paid search and ads on publisher websites. Although Anchor’s findings contradict Click Forensics’, CF finds a lower rate of click fraud on the rise (12.7% in Q2 to 14.1% in Q3). What do you think? Is Click Forensics’ more pessimistic report right, or does Anchor Networks more accurately reflect the state of the industry?

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Anchor Weighs in on Click Fraud

LinkedIn profiles receive high rankings with the Google search engine.  You should be aware of this fact with marketing.  All major search engines can index the profile information on LinkedIn.  Customizing URLs for your company You can customize your own URL with your company’s name.  If you are a beginner with this type of marketing, you will fare better if you utilize particular keywords as compared to your actual name.  You will need to select the “Full View” menu when offered.  In strengthening your business profile, utilize the customization option which LinkedIn offers with your signature when you leave comments particularly with business blogs. Blogs need to prove useful and unique You need to make sure that you add blogs or other useful information about your products and services while linking them to your URLs connected to your profile.  LinkedIn allows for three.  Simply to the section which is labeled “Websites” or “My Company”.  You can customize while adding your very own text for the label which can be your name or your company’s name.  LinkedIn offers this option allowing you to add your own text.  This is very important due to the fact that as the search engines crawl the web, your name will not be lost among all the others.  Keep in mind that you will not receive the majority of your web traffic with this method however, it is a very useful tool and can only be utilized when you set your public profile settings to “Full View”. Keywords are very important You must utilize the right keywords when trying to define yourself or your company.  You should only utilize words which clearly define your business.  You should also utilize keywords which are relevant to the industry which you are marketing to while allowing customers to easily find you. Keep your network updated LinkedIn allows marketers to sync with their blog posts utilizing their LinkedIn profile.  This will allow you to keep everyone who is within your network updated while advertising your business. Email signatures LinkedIn contains the ability to create unique email signatures with Outlook Express, Outlook and Mozilla.  You can place your short version of your LinkedIn profile with a link to your profile. Add profile pictures and images Finally, add a profile picture.  Adding a picture to your profile will aid you with establishing connections which you are strategizing for.  Your profile will in return seem more credible, serious and professional. These tips is not a sure way to gain increased traffic upon your website however if you combine these particular tips you will increase your overall chances of improving the exposure for your business upon the internet.

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Linkedin Marketing Business Tips

This is the classic social media case study that finally someone has put a real face on. I read MG Siegler’s account of Comcast’s CEO Brian Roberts speaking with John Batelle of Federated Media and was getting lulled into the same Comcast story we have been reading for months now. While it is a nice piece of PR there is still an underlying reality that is not mentioned by many. TechCrunch’s Siegler starts the coverage innocuously Today at the Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco, Comcast CEO Brian Roberts spoke on stage with Federated Media’s John Battelle . For the first part of the discussion, they talked about the usual stuff: the state of the industry, competition, and the like. The answers were pretty PR-friendly, as you’d expect. But a bit of a surprise came with Battelle asked about the role Twitter is playing with the company. “It has changed the culture of our company,” Roberts said. Comcast has for a while now been using Twitter to scan for complaints and engage with customers. The idea was not his, but rather rose organically when someone in the company realized that a lot of public complaints were being sent over Twitter. That’s the nice side of the story. Big company has customer service issues and the use of Twitter has made a huge difference in how they do business. Enter the platitudes for the poster-child of customer service Twittering, Frank Eliason. He says Roberts went on to note that “Famous Frank,” also known as Frank Eliason (Comcastcares on Twitter), now has 11 people working under him simply to respond to information about Comcast being broadcast on Twitter. Roberts says that it’s an entirely different kind of dialogue coming in then the usual phone complaints, and he seems very pleased about the work the team has done with the customers on Twitter. Now we hit the meat of the matter. Despite all of the positive vibe around using Twitter to change Comcast and the ability for a company to create a better customer facing effort, Siegler tells the real story that is the personal side of this whole thing. In other words, there may be more hype than reality to this whole story (shocking huh?) As a very unhappy Comcast customer, I’ve had a number of interactions with Comcast’s Twitter team. There’s no doubt, they are very responsive, and are trying to be helpful. The real problem Comcast has is that their product and all other forms of service are simply not up to par, to put it nicely (I often put it much less nicely on Twitter). Bingo! So is what Comcast doing with Twitter a more elaborate cover up for their apparent inability to bring their service in line with their new image as a customer caring organization or is it TRULY affecting the culture of the company? Cultural change would imply that the products get better and less fussing is required by their customers. Maybe C –level understanding of this kind of customer engagement and the ensuing publicity should go a little deeper than “Hey this makes us look good”. Maybe it would be smart for Comcast to address the issues that create the need for 11 people to handle complaints regarding their service? So this feel good Twitter story may just be another marketing / PR tall tale . That’s too bad. At least Frank responded in the comment section to Siegler’s dissatisfaction. MG, could you keep us up to date if the product eventually catches up with the customer service effort?

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Comcast and Twitter: Can Words Overcome Products?