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- links for 2008-10-28October 28
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Blogs can have more impact on purchase decisions than social networks, a new study finds. Blogs create a conversation and trusted resource that influences purchase decision.
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Company blogs can be effective ways to share news with your customers and build brand affinity, but they're also powerful vehicles for establishing thought leader status and for learning from honest, open feedback provided by clients and industry experts alike.(tags: blogging,
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- If You Didn’t Want My Opinion, You Shouldn’t Have Asked!October 28
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One of the great things about what I do is that it puts me in touch with other companies that I’ve previously worked with or for. Today I received a bit of news that was disappointing, though.
About a month ago, I spent a couple hours filling in a comprehensive survey that was sent to me from one of the companies I worked for and was now working to integrate and resell. I poured my heart into the company when I was there and still love their people and their products and services to this very day. However, the same reasons I left the company continued to pop up as we worked to resell the platform - bloated interface, lack of features, high cost, etc.
I flagged the survey invitation in my inbox to respond to the survey when I could dedicate the time. Later that night and the next morning, I spent a good hour or two answering the survey. With an open text area, I was direct and to the point in my criticisms. After all, as a reseller, improvement of their product was in my best interest. I didn’t pull any punches and was very up front on what I felt the core issues to be. I also brought up the talent that had left the company - they’d lost many good employees.
Though the survey was anonymous, I knew there were tracking identifiers on the submission process and my frank remarks could be easily identified by the company as my own. I wasn’t worried about any repercussions, they had asked my opinion and I wanted to offer it to them.
- Video: Content versus BacklinksOctober 27
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A lot of folks spend and sell their time on the optimization of their website, and wind up scratching their heads when another site has greater ranking but isn’t optimized. It’s because optimizing the content is only half the battle, it’s getting the attention of other sites that really pushes your site up the Search Results. The search engine’s job is to provide relevant results. If a lot of other well-respected sites point to you and say, “you are what you are!”, the Search Engines will pay more attention to that!
SEOmoz Whiteboard Friday-Best Page First? from Scott Willoughby on Vimeo.You might also find these posts interesting:
- Content Tip: Monroe’s Motivated SequenceOctober 24
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My son, Bill, is taking a speech class at IUPUI and shared with me a technique taught for persuasive speeches, Monroe’s motivated sequence. I’m sure it’s one of those lessons I took but eventually forgot since I’ve not been in class for a very, very long time.
Basically, Alan H. Monroe put together a sequence of steps within a speech that provided the best results in persuasion. As you read through the steps and the sequence, you’ll may begin to feel a little uncomfortable since you’ll see these methods used from everything from the presidential election to the ShamWow commercial.
From Wikipedia:
- Attention - Get the attention of your audience using a detailed story, shocking example, dramatic statistic, quotations, etc.
- Need - Show that the problem about which you are speaking exists, that it is significant, and that it won’t go away by itself. Use statistics, examples, etc. Convince your audience that there is a need for action to be taken.
- Satisfy - You need to solve the issue. Provide specific and viable solutions that the government or communities can implement to solve the problem.
- Visualization - Tell the audience what will happen if the solution is implemented or does not take place. Be visual and detailed.
- Action - Tell the audience what action they can take personally to solve the problem.
Think about utilizing this technique when writing your blog posts or any marketing material as well! Since every blog post is a landing page in and of itself, you have an opportunity to persuade each visitor to take action. Take it from Alan H. Monroe!
Monroe’s Motivated Sequence for ShamWow:
- Who the Hell is Paul Boutin?October 21
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A client asked me on the phone today, “What does blog stand for?”. I let him know that it was short for web log, and evolved into the abridged blog. A few minutes after the call, I received a note from my good friend, Dr. Thomas Ho, who asked, “What’s YOUR opinion of this?” and he left me a link to Paul Boutin’s Wired Essay, Twitter, Flickr, Facebook Make Blogs Look So 2004.
I read the essay and was not only unimpressed, I was disappointed in Wired for even accepting this drivel as plausible. It really bothers me that someone would take their bully pulpit and write an essay - with no supporting data.
Who the hell is Paul Boutin, I wondered? Is this some kind of social media prophet? Marketing guru? Communications expert? Nope.
Paul Boutin Bio: In his words… I went to MIT. I didn’t graduate. I grew up in working-class Maine, but live in upper-class San Francisco. 20 years of information technology experience and an overlapping 12 years writing for national publications. This explains everything about me you need to know.