Surviving Transition From Print To Digital Advertising: Tricky For Some, Profitable For Others:
July 31, 2007
If you ask the New York Times, San Francisco Chronicle, or many others, times are hard for print publication ad sales.
Those ‘per column inch’ classified ads pricing schedules have given way to free internet classifieds; real time news has replaced next day news.
But not everybody has been left behind: case in point: RISMedia (Real Estate Magazine) is more profitable than ever, with a brighter future, thanks to making the transition early: Read more
10 Most Important Factors For Internet Marketing: Updated For Social Media And Web 2.0
July 21, 2007
For number 10 in this updated series that was so popular the first time around, I must repeat something that seems obvious to me, but is seldom followed: everything must work together for online marketing success; which means that the architect of the system - the guy in charge must be well versed and take into consideration all these factors: let us review the most important factors: Read more
Innovation Is Key To Mainstream Media’s Survival
July 18, 2007
According to SFgate.com, the San Francisco Chronicle is cutting staff by 25%. Yep, 25% folks. That’s huge. That means nearly 80 reporters, editors, photographers and other newsroom staff will be let go in addition to 20 other employees.According to Chronicle Publisher Frank Vega,they’re “not getting into any specifics at this point. It’s fairly common knowledge that we have had a tough financial row here for several years. As we continue to evaluate our situation, unfortunately continued belt-tightening is necessary.”From the article posted on SFgate.com:”Vega declined to say whether the paper is continuing to lose $1 million a week, as Hearst attorney Daniel Wall stated in court in November during a hearing on an antitrust suit filed by San Francisco businessman Clint Reilly.”
This is one more example of mainstream media continuing its slow crumble. We won’t see it disappear altogether for a long while yet, but we’ve all seen this happening to print media for years, as the internet and its user-base has become far more robust and advanced. This is old hat I know, but its more relevant than ever right now.
Though many papers, magazines and other types of print media are segueing into the online arena, they aren’t producing any significant kinds of online revenue models, so they continue losing money.
What print media needs to do is stop holding on to tradition so tightly and release their fear of the new. They need to concentrate on creating sites that cash flow and are monetized; there are many, many ways to do this. They need to pry themselves out of stagnation and get creative, supplementing their print media with an online source of revenue. Many print magazines and newspapers have been very successful in this respect, but they are the innovators of their breed, not the average.
A great example of this innovation can be found in one of our recent clients, RISMedia. One of the leading real estate news and business development sites, they have struck an excellent balance between success online and off, embracing the future of social media and the web while still maintaining their considerable influence offline.
Rant: Be Wary Of Internet Marketing Secrets Promising Easy Returns Or Huge Do It Yourself Savings.
July 17, 2007
Everyday I run into another “earn 1,000 times your investment” affiliate marketing scheme, touting anyone’s ability to “learn to use adsense and make $1,000 per day in your sleep,” not to mention countless other how-to internet marketing guides that make it sound like a peace of cake.
I’m so sick of them I thought I might diverge into the occasional and always fun blog rant.
First, be wary of people’s numbers. You’ll find that all through the net there are people claiming to have bought this and that site for some low price and then earned 1,000 times their investment. For one, why would they let you know if that was true? Wouldn’t you keep that a secret until the money ran out? And 2, the true “parts” to those stories usually involve some very creative accounting, to say the least. Read more
Real Estate Reciprocal Link Penalty Part 2 - Tips On Successful Link Building
July 17, 2007
The basic idea is build valuable content and get as many one way quality links as possible. Put some care into it and avoid the “I’m a realtor too” mentality and try to at least find some niche that will set you apart and can be used to garner links and traffic.
Don’t use a reciprocal linking service or software. I’ve written about the perils of reciprocal linking services before and it never seems to surprise me how many people are so caught up in looking for the “easy” solution to their search engine rankings that they end up hurting them even more. Read more
Real Estate Reciprocal Link Penalty Part 1 | Is Your Website Affected?
July 16, 2007
I bet many of you didn’t even know that there was such a thing as a special “penalty” for real estate sites that have too many reciprocal links. What most of you do know is that Google operates on fully automated algorithms that determine relevancy based on a number of factors including the number of links to your website. What many people don’t know is that to fine-tune results and eliminate spam Google hand tailors their algorithms to compensate for industry or keyword sector specific abnormalities or trends. Not all searches are judged the same. Read more
9 In 10 Parts: Open Source Vs Proprietary Solutions: Buyers Beware Of Vendor Blues:
July 15, 2007
One of the most important considerations when purchasing products, services and/or software solutions for a website is the reliability, versatility, and loyalty of the vendors on which this important facet of your business depends.
There is much misinformation and scare tactics are common among vendors who have an ax to grind: they seek to scare you and keep you in the dark to control you and your purchases by keeping you ignorant and/or dependent on them for your technology.
Custom written, proprietary solutions have this disadvantage, and, unless you are a huge company with the resources to own and replace if necessary the personnel on which such an application depends, I must recommend that you use only open-source solutions. The problems with proprietary solutions are many: Read more
8 In 10 Parts: 3000 Hits But No Deals - A Strong Call To Action: A Reason To Buy Now:
July 13, 2007
In times past, when fortune 500 companies actually trained some of us lucky salespeople from scratch, they taught us that there are only three things we are ever selling: three things we must establish in a sales presentation to make a sale:
- Today is the day: urgency is absolutely essential to get people to act, especially when it comes to spending money: if there is no reason to buy today, I will often put off the decision.
- This is the place: if we do not establish that our company is somehow unique and the best to buy from, we may be making a sale and paying a competitor the commission when the prospect goes shopping after already deciding to buy from our presentation.
- I am the guy (gal): nobody wants to do business with someone they do not like. This is why some people are naturally good at sales, while others must learn skills to accomplish mediocre results. If they like the product or service, but not the salesperson, they will buy from someone else.
Websites are no different from an in-person presentation in this regard: the goal is to get an inquiry; by phone, fax, email; the sale is to get somebody to inquire. The prospect will only respond if you can establish the above three requirements in the time allotted, which, online, may be precious little (often a fraction of a second) Read more
Search Engine Marketing Strategy Guide (smm Sem Seo) - Part 1
July 11, 2007
This is the first post in a long series, and yes I’m actually going to write all the follow up articles. I’ve decided after a lot of contemplation to write and distribute a guide to search marketing and social media marketing through this blog.
I’m going to take a large portion of the search marketing knowledge in my head, rip it out and dissect it in this book for all to take from it what they will. I’m going to give it to you straight, unlike most of the other similar documents on the web, which are too full of overly idealistic “they way the world should work” mentality or are too focused on individual tactics to actually be of much use to the average business professional. Read more
7 Of 10: Nobody Wants The Low-tech Anything, Or To Fill Out Long Forms; About Navigation:
July 8, 2007
When was the last time YOU clicked a pop up banner or a sponsored link? What makes you think anybody is going to fill out a long form with many required fields when you would not?
Nobody wants to refine a search by making complicated decisions, fill out a long form with required fields, go back when they missed one, or have anything pushed on them! So why do so many of you build requirements like this into your website? Read more
What Impact Will The Iphone Have On Search Marketing And Social Media?
July 6, 2007
The launch of the Iphone could prove the catalyst in finally pushing the adoption of mobile marketing by producers and consumers alike, using it as a valuable and effective advertising tool.
The Iphone debuted on June 29th and had some people waiting as much as six hours for the phone; demand is hot and growing steadily for Apple’s new baby. It sold over 7000k units over the space of three days. The Iphone the web browser has a full, normal safari browser and is compatible with Ajax and other web technologies. Read more
6 In 10: Choosing Your Battles: Top-of-mind Awareness May Be Out Of Your Reach:
July 1, 2007
If you have been watching the Nielson Ratings lately, you know that when advertising on one of the top three shows for market share, even DEAL or No Deal, Dateline NBC, and America’s Got Talent (the top three) only reach about 12,000,000 viewers each.
According to this recent article By DAVID BAUDER
AP Television Writer, the total viewership is about 37.6 million, down from 40.3 million for the same period in 2006.
