Tuesday, May 31, 2011

The 1/9/90 Rule: What You Need To Know

From Susan Kuchinskas:

In your attempts to get super-social with your fans, are you ignoring the silent majority?

The so-called 1/9/90 rule posits that on a social media network or review site, only 1 percent of users will actively create content. Another 9 percent, the editors, will participate by commenting, rating or sharing the content. The other 90 percent watch, look and read without responding.

In other words, there's a vast silent majority of customers, potential or active, who don't make a peep. Nevertheless, they are reading your content or reading about you. While engaging with the outgoing 10 percent is important, there are three steps you should take to make sure you are still promoting to the customers who read, but don't participate.

1. Put up a good front for the 90 percenters

Many of these people will find you on search, either on a social media, review sites or via traditional search. On review sites, don't obsess about the number of reviews you're getting, advises Luther Lowe, Yelpmanager of business outreach. He's found that participation on Yelp definitely follows the 1/9/90 rule, with most people searching listings to decide which businesses to patronize.

"We argue that the key metric for determining whether you have a successful presence is not the quantity of reviews but the quantity of page views—how many people looking at the page every month. If you had one review but a thousand page views, your business would be doing really well," Lowe says.

To attract those who read but don't write, you should make sure that your business has a rich profile in all the right places: review sites, Google Places and your company website. Provide plenty of content and information that lets searchers understand what makes your business unique or better than your competition.

In surveys of Yelp users, the company has found that most look at three different business pages before making a decision. Lowe advises, "Focus on how to maximize that traffic and make sure it increases over time. Are you putting your best foot forward?"

2. Use the 1 percent to understand the 90 percent

"You can find fun, creative ways to use the 1 percenters to help identify the 9 or 90s, maybe through some polling activity or surveys," says Sean McDonald, principle strategist for Ant's Eye View, a social media strategy consulting firm. "This 1 percent trusts you and hangs out with you for a reason."

Find out what that reason is. You can ask these highly engaged users what other communities they're involved in and what value they find in their own. You might also ask them for feedback on your content or services.

If you're working to increase your total base of users, fans or community members, it's important to show some love to the 9 percent, the ones who comment once a month or stop by to leave a single review, McDonald says.

It's a bit of a juggle, he adds. If you always highlight the 1 percent, the 9 percent may feel there's no hope to move up; if you add too many to the top tier, the 1 percent may feel their cachet is disappearing and leave.

McDonald advises giving that 1 percent of power users recognition and privileges to encourage them to stick around. Feature them in your blog or on your homepage, give them access to special content or a VIP forum. Give them even more perks if they refer others to your site.

3. Keep in touch after the flame has cooled

Remember that people's participation changes over time, says Don Rainey, a general partner in Grotech Ventures, a private equity investment firm. If you're focused on that 1 or 9 percent who are currently active or were active in the last quarter, you're missing an important part of your fan base.

"Someone who reviewed your business last summer and loved the place is still your audience," Rainey says. "Often, people in the 1 percent will migrate into the silent 90 percent, but they're still your best customers."

Say someone comes to your restaurant and loves your hamburgers—and says so on a review site. She'll certainly come back for another hamburger, but it's doubtful if she'll write another review: "Yup, hamburgers are still just as good."

"To the degree that anybody buys something and gives you a review, it's a relationship," Rainey says. "Next, move it to an ongoing electronic relationship by capturing an email address. Someone who said she loved the hamburger at your place is susceptible to an email that says, 'Come down, have a hamburger and get a free Coke.'"

In other words, in addition to trying to engage your customers to participate, you also should follow your audience members as they quiet down again.

Small businesses actually have some advantage when it comes to igniting that 90 percent, McDonald says. "You may think, 'Why should I bother, because it's only 25 or 50 people?' On the other hand, it's so much easier to get in there with 25 people to nurture those relationships that will help you grow 10 times bigger down the road."

Image source: Ant's Eye View

Source: http://www.openforum.com/idea-hub/topics/marketing/article/the-1990-rule-what-you-need-to-know

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Are You "Measurable"? Why Influence Measurements Matter

From Ivana Taylor:

One of the favorite phrases I grew up with was, “You can’t track what you don’t measure.” It’s something that manufacturing executives and turnaround consultants throw around the way your mother tells you to brush your teeth. So when “influencer” articles and measurement applications started rearing their heads a few years ago, I knew that it would just be a matter of time before we would create yet another measurement to help us prioritize our activities, create more efficient processes and ultimately help us decide who to listen to.

Like it or not, influence indicators matter

Rather than get into a long-winded, intellectual discussion of what “influencer” means, let’s just say that when influencers speak, people do what they say. When Oprah picks a book for her book club, that book’s sales go up. Influencers are individuals in whom others put their trust and their money.

Becoming an influencer is no longer reserved for celebrities and powerful political figures. YOU are currently becoming an influencer, or fading into the background depending on your marketing presence online.

If you own a business, it’s imperative that you become an influencer in your area of expertise if you want your customers to find you, and ultimately buy from you. This means that you have to exist online and your name or company name must be connected to the keywords your customers search for when they are looking for solutions to the problems that you solve.

A quick primer on influencer measuring tools

Whatever you do, don’t discount this movement toward quantifying influence. It’s easy to criticize and find fault with any of these tools. But rest assured: the need to filter and prioritize information is strong. And while no single influence measurement tool is perfect, each tool provides information that your customer will use to decide whether or not to do business with you.

Klout: This is a Twitter influence measurement tool. The premise is that the more people who follow you, tweet and retweet what you say and comment on what you say, the more influential you are. If Twitter is any part of your marketing and communication strategy, this is a super tool to use as a measurement of your effectiveness at engaging your audience.

Mixtent: This is a professional reputation tracker. This means that it falls into the reputation management portion of your marketing program. It’s important because if your customers or contacts are using LinkedIn (and many of them are), they may run into this site and you want to be sure that you are managing how your profile is represented. If LinkedIn is a critical part of your business-building, referral or networking strategy, you need to pay attention to Mixtent. If you log in via your LinkedIn profile, it will pull from your database and analyze your connections. Mixtent monitors an individual user’s online reputation by calculating a SkillRank for both the user and their peers. The calculation uses weighted, anonymous endorsements and algorithmically-derived metrics. As you go through the process, you will probably notice many flaws in the logic of the system. But don’t let that keep you from going through the process. The jury is still out on how successful Mixtent will be, but reputation and influence rankings are here to stay regardless of what the measuring app or tool is called.

PostRank: How influential is your blog content? This is the question PostRank asks. PostRank analyzes your content on any topic, trend, or interest relevant to you or your business. Once you register your blog “PostRank gathers where and when stories generate comments, bookmarks, tweets, and other forms of interaction from a host of social hubs.” If you are using blog and other Internet content to drive your marketing communications, then this is a terrific tool for you. You can benchmark your content against others in your industry or even learn best practices from experts in other industries.

Grader: HubSpot has a terrific website grading tool that will help you design a website that is optimized for converting visitors to customers. All you have to do is enter your website address, a competing website address that you want to compare yourself to and your e-mail address. You’ll receive an online report almost immediately and a report will be e-mailed to you so that you can start making improvements. You will also receive regular reports so that you can track your improvement over time.

PeerIndex: Like most influence measurement tools, PeerIndex uses your Twitter handle and then analyzes your authority, activity and audience based on your Twitter activity. In addition to giving you a profile analysis, PeerIndex allows you to search on terms and industries to identify the “influencers” that you should be following and with whom you could build relationships.

How to prepare for the influencer trend

Measuring a person or a brand’s influence isn’t a passing fad. Measuring influence is a way to help consumers filter through the many experts filling the Web. Rather than criticize the trend, embrace it and do your best to fully complete your online profiles and participate in those social networks that best help you reach your business and marketing goals.

Source: http://www.openforum.com/idea-hub/topics/marketing/article/are-you-measurable-why-influence-measurements-matter

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How to Start an SEO Business

flying-solo

Pretty basic question for an SEO right? It would be nice if the answer were equally as basic or simple. It's an important question, even more so since a sweeping update by Google knocked out unsuspecting webmasters.

Beyond the stuff we know got hit (some RIGHTLY so), we probably will never know the true ramifications with respect to how many "little guys" had their livelihoods or potential livelihoods destroyed by a heartless, unforgiving, and sometimes inaccurate algorithm.

Evaluating the Risks

I know people who worked their rear ends off and had their business fail, in addition to people who were lazy and failed. Sometimes it's timing, sometimes there's some luck involved (though luck is generally brought about by hard work), and sometimes it's just a matter of working harder or spending more then your competition.

The risks are plentiful for the self-employed and they only scale up if you:

  • have a family to support
  • have a mortgage
  • need to buy health insurance
  • have limited capital to invest
  • can't afford to lose on a few of your bets

Ways you can combat those issues are to:

  • live below your means
  • work a part-time job at night or during the day
  • have your spouse work part-time
  • not buy every single device that Apple makes :)
  • be prepared to work longer hours than you'd like

The problem is that self-employment, especially if you've worked in the corporate world before, has all the allure of the pipe dreams sold in The 4 Hour Work Week (I guess Tim Ferris doesn't count self-promotion as work, even though he does it about 100 hours a week :) ).

self-employment-beach

You might think self-employment is all about working less, spending more time with your family, going to the beach while everyone else is in a cubicle, and all that jazz. While it certainly can be at some point, it is not how you will start out 99% of the time.

Self-Employment Screw Jobs

Start looking around to find an accountant who will tell you what your tax liabilities will be as a sole-proprietor or a single-member LLC. If you really want to take a kick to the shins, get a quote for health insurance and see how much it doesn't cover.

A friend of mind recently pointed out to me that all the individual health insurance plans do not cover maternity costs. You can get coverage for that under a group policy but unless you have employees you are going to be paying roughly 4x the cost of an individual plan for you and your family.

He lives in the US, is self-employed, and has a family. The American dream right? For he and his wife to have a second child, they would need to get a group health plan at least 60 days prior to the wife becoming pregnant. Say that everything works out to be on-time, they are looking about an increased cost of about 20-25k over the course of a 9 month period to have a child in the United States!

All of that is assuming a perfect pregnancy and a 100% healthy baby. The point is to layout just one large, large risk you might be unaware of ( rubbish health insurance ).

Another thing to keep in mind, beyond the health insurance, is that unless you start one there's no retirement benefit, no paid vacation time, and no paid sick time. It is a really good idea to purchase short-term and long-term disability insurance for yourself as well.

It's Not an Either Or Question

staying-out-of-debt

The smartest thing to do would be to starting whittling down your household bills now and start slowly building your business. Keep your day job and work at night, you'd be working 15 hour days if you started from scratch anyway so why not do it now but get paid (with benefits) for your time?

Once you begin to make some cash on the side, see how far you can scale it (reasonably) before you need to make a decision on whether to fully jump in or whether to keep it as a side gig where you can eventually outsource a good chunk of the tedious work.

Some people loathe the idea of a boss and that's fine. Even good people have bad days so it's not always going to be peaches and cream but if you are in a spot where there is mutual respect and fairness then I'd say hang on to it until you can financially manage to go out on your own.

Even when you are "the boss" working for yourself if you have any level of success you will soon be "the boss" with employees of your own. And many successful businesses don't have 1 boss, but rather hundreds or thousands of them - their customers.

Maybe it's Not for You

Self-employment is not for everyone. It takes awhile for it to really pay off professionally and personally. When you first start out you may not have enough capital to outsource things like:

  • web design
  • programming
  • link building
  • bookkeeping
  • content creation

Not being able to outsource all that upfront is probably a good thing. Many attempts at outsourcing fail because the outsourcer is not competent themselves in those particular tasks. Having experience in these areas is helpful because if a freelancer or staff member leaves you hanging, you'll be able to keep things running efficiently while you search for another staff member.

Working for a family business or a steady corporation isn't something to be looked down upon by any means. The key to mitigating the risks on both sides (getting laid off for example) is to be financially prudent, continually invest in yourself (earn a degree, start a side business), and be loyal to whom you work for or with. If you do those three things you will typically be ok in any reasonable situation.

Start Off as an Apprentice

work-parttime

Maybe you know someone in the SEO or PPC industry that might be willing to have you work with them for awhile or perhaps you aren't ready to fully go at it on your own just yet. Most employers realize that the best employees sometimes are the more motivated and ambitious ones and with that comes the risk that those employees will look to move up and on at some point.

Starting off this way has risks too (might not be as stable as a large corporation for example) but you can learn a lot about the overall and day to day processes that make that particular person or group successful. I'm not for the idea of building your personal brand on the back of someone else's brand equity but if your brand develops from the hard, quality work you do for someone else then that's great.

I wouldn't go in with the sole purpose of using your position to quickly build your brand and bolt. I'd go in with the purpose of working your butt off for someone who gave you a great opportunity and see what develops from that. Usually the latter will result in both sides being more than happy.

Eliminating Distractions

This part is more relevant if you have a non-working spouse or a spouse who might work part time. Little things that can really add up to time sucks include:

  • paying the bills
  • making the monthly budget
  • dealing with household vendors
  • scheduling and rescheduling family appointments
  • doing the household shopping
  • etc...

You should be focused on your business and the associated responsibilities. If you are doing any of the above, try to transition that to your spouse or significant other. It's not just the hour or two it might take for you to do those tasks but it's the stopping of your business activities and the mind-flow disruption associated with starting and stopping tasks frequently.

Evaluating the Decision

In this weak and unstable economy it is really hard to reasonably project out 5 years on a life changing decision. There are so many variables to take into account that it's difficult to give a tailored answer to each situation.

If you are at the point where you need to make a decision or want to make a decision down the road, there are some key points to keep in mind but financial variables are some of the most important variables in this equation.

It's fine to want to do something and have the drive to do it but if it's going to potentially create a financial hardship quickly then it is really the wrong decision. There are a few really good options for someone who is on the fence for financial reasons.

We covered some of the reasons above, such as:

  • learn and work on your business part-time while keeping a day job
  • see if you can start by working with an experienced person in the field
  • take up a part time job and/or see if a part time job is a good option for your spouse or significant other
  • start living below your means and save some cash for rainy SEO days and for investing in knowledge + small ventures

self-employment-stress

The other elephant in the room is stress. The stress of being the breadwinner is stressful enough, but if you have no safety net or if your business is brand new (thus more unstable than 9-5 corporate stuff) as well then it is really stressful. This is something to keep in mind and something you might want to try and emotionally reconcile before you start.

You might also find that doing it part-time and maintaining a "day" job is a really good fit emotionally and financially. If Google blindly swings an ax, and you get hit, you can rest assured that the sun will still come up tomorrow and will that direct deposit on Friday :)

The point remains that there are many options available to you to help figure out if working for someone else or yourself is really the best fit. In either case, working and studying harder (and longer) than others is a solid base to start from :)

Source: http://www.seobook.com/starting-an-seo-company

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Are Business Cards Dead?

From Barry Moltz:

After shaking hands, one of the rituals of meeting in business is to exchange business cards. It's almost a reflex reaction. Over the years, business cards have changed in shape, size, colors and textures. At times, they have been miniature CDs, slabs of metal, and micro booklets. Sometimes, these variations are interesting and relevant, but many times, they are just silly in their attempt to stand out from the crowd and make a meaningful first impression.

In the world of electronic communication are business cards now dead?  Have the email signature lines and the Web links inside them replaced a card?  Will they go the way of paper stationary, writing letters and pay phone booths? Most people say that a business card is still necessary even just because it is a tough habit to break when meeting new people.

Complicating the business card debate is that many business people are now “independent contractors” that have to print their own cards instead of having them magically appear on their desks at their new office. Many people even have printed multiple cards to fit the many businesses or roles they may be pursuing at a particular point in time.

So what information should be still be on a business card or in an email signature line?

Still important:

  • Name
  • Company Name
  • E-mail Address
  • Website address
  • Office phone and cell phone: Who is at “the office” anymore?
  • Mailing Address: Have a real street address, even if it is the home office. P.O. boxes are still creepy.
  • Slogans: Separates what the company does from the rest of the market. Think of it as the “unique selling proposition”.

Newly important:

  • Social media handles for Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn: This makes it easier for customers and prospects to connect with you.
  • QR codes: a great way to tell a bigger story right at the mobile device.

Not important:

  • Fax: Almost as dead as paper stationary.
  • Titles: Be careful of being “the one man band” and having the title of CEO. It looks pompous.
  • Pagers: Unless you are a doctor or a bicycle messenger, leave it off.

Gotchas:

  • Misspellings: Have the card proofread. Receiving a card at a networking event where the person’s title is misspelled as “principle” instead of “principal” is a fatal mistake.
  • Print that is too small: 95 percent of the population over age 35 need reading glasses. They shouldn’t need to put them on to read a business card.
  • E-mail: It’s fine to use a free service like Yahoo! as a back-end mail server, but spend some money to get an account that looks more professional. While barry1995@yahoo.com may be functional, it is very amateurish. Get an address that includes the company’s domain name and forward it to your Yahoo! address if necessary.
  • Home numbers: It sets a bad precedent.

Remember that the business card is not an art installation. Don’t reinvent what has worked for years. If a business card is still important, grab ten favorite examples. Study them by noticing their font choices including type size and color combinations. Although the logos and paper stocks vary, good business cards are very simple. Forget the gimmicks. Simple business cards still work.

Source: http://www.openforum.com/idea-hub/topics/marketing/article/are-business-cards-dead

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4 Criteria to Screen for Modern Marketing Talent

With the economy starting to show signs of life, marketers may be getting a bit more flexibility and budget to hire full time or even contract marketing talent. Here at HubSpot, we've been doing a lot of that lately. We just hired two new marketers last week, and that means we've been getting a lot of resumes online, via referrals, and more. With a job market flooded with eager candidates, how does a marketing leader sort through the noise to find those marketing diamonds in the rough that might add serious impact to your team?describe the image

Pre-Screening Candidates for Inbound Marketing Success

Sure, we've written posts about the characteristics to look for in a candidate: Hiring in the DARC ages, which highlights the needs for Digital Natives, Analytical Chops, Reach, and Content Creation Skills. But before you even get in a room to ask questions about these traits, how can you go about narrowing that pile of 100 resumes to the 10 you'll get on the phone with and the three you'll bring in for an interview?

Most companies do some form of resume pre-screening followed by a phone screen before they invest any face-to-face time. We've come up with some specific criteria to screen for that we think helps stellar marketing talent rise to the top.

4 Criteria to Screen for at the Resume Stage

Resume Basics

There are certain things that go without saying: if there are typos, the resume is hard to comprehend, or doesn't show any sort of logical work or training progression, let it go. If your candidate can't even take the care to create quality content about the 'product' they know best, then it'll probably be hard for them to do it for your product or service.

Career Focus

This element varies depending on how senior the role is as well as the candidate in question. Even in the case of a recent college grad, we look for evidence of an interest in marketing before they even threw their cap into the air. What internships has this candidate participated in? Have they shown interest and drive to act on their passion for marketing? Can they point to coursework that is relevant to the role they are seeking? If they are a liberal arts candidate whose summer job was lifeguarding, that's not a strong indicator of interest, and they usually won't pass our sniff test.

Digital Footprint

Modern marketers have to be digitally inclined, whether they are part of Gen Y or they're seasoned professionals who have proven their mettle. If you want your candidate to take to inbound marketing, start by Google'ing them. How many of the top listings are truly about them? Do they have a LinkedIn profile? If yes, how complete is it, and have others written recommendations about them? Do they have a Twitter handle? Are they active with it? What about a blog?  

Google & Social Digital Footprint

Today's 'marketing portfolio' can often be comprised of publicly available content created by your candidate. It's always a great sign when one of our candidates is not only active socially, but has engaged in forums or blogs about the industry or marketing on a topic they are passionate about.

Quirky Talents

You can only learn so much from a resume and via search. But we've found that candidates who share or show an affinity for something other than just school or work often bring a really fresh perspective to the marketing world.  Examples might include:

  • Candidates with a communications or marketing degree who ALSO happen to code their own mini-mobile apps tend to have good analytical and logical thinking skills.
  • Seasoned marketers who also happen to be in a band or run a non-profit are exercising other parts of their brain and often bring creative ideas and people together.

While your new marketer might not use these skills or hobbies directly on the job, they are going to provide a valuable perspective and of course have that benefit of being very 'real' as people -- what team doesn't like that?

Tip: How to Screen 100 Resumes in 1 Hour

So maybe you like these criteria, and maybe you don't. Fine. Make up your own, or modify these. Once you have them, screening 100 resumes is still a mammoth task.  Here's what we did this spring.

A party. Well, ok, a resume screening pizza party.

Ten marketers, 4 pizzas, 1 hour.

We batched up the resumes and paired our marketers into teams. Each team received 20 resumes, and between them, were allowed to 'put forward' 2 for a phone screen. Using a combination of the criteria above plus talking it out between them, we were able to narrow the field in a very consistent fashion, super fast. Bonus: all the marketers in the room felt pretty bought in to the talent we might be bringing aboard!

Narrowed the Playing Field: Now What?

Your next step will be to decide what your company wants to learn during the phone call. Whatever these decisions are, be sure to be consistent in your questions so you get a good picture of how candidates might succeed, and you obtain enough information to make the right selection for a next step.

If you're building a marketing team today, consider checking out our whole kit about using Agile in marketing and some of the tools to build a powerhouse marketing organization.

What are your key indicators of candidate excellence?

Free Kit: Building a Modern Marketing Team

Free Kit: Building a Modern Marketing Team

Connect with HubSpot:

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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/HubSpot/~3/Iqp2ZDHDwvE/4-Criteria-to-Screen-for-Modern-Marketing-Talent.aspx

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Search Engines as Affiliates + Publishers

Consumer Finance

Google recently unveiled Google Advisor, which ties together the concept of Google Comparison Ads with a better looking interface.

"With Google Advisor, you enter information about what you?re looking for in a mortgage, credit card, CD, or checking and savings account."

And unlike Google comparison ads, Google is caching these pages

When you add in BeatThatQuote, AdWords, Google affiliate network, Google ads that filter content clicks through to search ads, and AdSense there are at least 6 different ways for Google to sniff data on & monetize the consumer financial product market. And that is if you don't count branded display ads on YouTube as another option.

Fashion

If you go into the fashion market Google has AdWords, Product Ads, AdSense, the Google affiliate network, Boutiques.com & branded Youtube ads. Like.com, which Google purchased in part to build Boutiques.com, also remains a live website & yet another way for Google to taste the fashion market.

Videos / Movies

While Youtube was originally against displaying ads before videos, now that they have huge marketshare they are going to push front-loaded ads harder. Youtube offers a movie store & provides links to MP3s near music.

Books

In books Google has Product ads, AdWords, AdSense, and their ebook marketplace. As soon as Google opened up their ebook store they began ranking their books highly in the "organic" search results

In addition to ranking those ebook pages well in the organic search results, Google also offers a vertical book filter

Travel

With flight search Google has ran tests where it looked like they were putting affiliate links directly in the "organic" search results. Their most recent flight search result test has an extended option which puts the organic results below the fold.

Google is monetizing the "organic" results on the hotel front, offering hotel price ads, coupons, and suggesting that at some point they might price ads in a cost per booking affiliate model.

Mobile/Local

In any vertical Google can offer local refinement to get a taste of more of the end user data.

On mobile phones Google can leverage click to call, their local "offers" in addition to using geotargeted AdWords ads. They can even use a person looking up directions as a relevancy signal!

According to Google insiders, mobile operating systems can be used to club "partners" over the head with compatibility requirements. And Google has taken advantage of that opportunity well enough that telecoms are complaining about net neutrality issues amongst the software platforms. As the saying goes, bundling is evil, unless it is Google bundling. ;)

General Commerce Integration

In addition to AdWords, AdSense, Product Ads, product search, merchant reviews & their general web index, Google is trying to pull in information from the offline world. They are set to announce a mobile payment system with the ability to include coupons:

For Google, the system could help boost its digital advertising business. The planned payment system would allow Google to offer retailers more data about their customers and help the retailers target ads and discount offers to mobile-device users near their stores, these people said. Google, which hopes to sell ads and discount offers to the local merchants, isn't expected to get a cut of the transaction fees.

In addition to receiving targeted ads or discount offers, users could manage credit-card accounts and track spending, loyalty points and other things through applications on their smartphones.

Google also invests in technologies that blend ads in content, like VigLink:

tools will allow publishers that opt-in to insert new links automatically into their content, rather them finding the links themselves.
...
Roup said one of the biggest misconceptions that marketers have begins with Google's disapproval of the affiliate marketing model. Google does not have an issue with affiliate marketing, but rather, with marketers trying to buy page rank -- or links that are paid but try to fool the consumer and appear as unpaid, Roup explains. "Our links are financially motivated, so they don't convert page rank, but neither do any other affiliate links," he said.

Google, which claims that you need to disclose any form of paid links in human & machine readable formats now invests in automated paid links, with blurred & inconsistent levels of disclosure. See for yourself.

Other Vertical Projects

Google can make minor design tweaks to their productivity suite and then launch it under any label they like, from project management to wedding planning.

Monetizing Dirty Markets

Google set aside a half-billion Dollars to settle an issue with the US Department of Justice over selling bogus online prescription drug ads. Google was repeatedly warned over the practice, but rode it until they got caught in a sting operation. Likewise, their general "AdWords advertisers selling counterfeit products" was over 50,000 strong by the time Google finally shut them down. And the whole time Google was recommending searchers search for things like "warez" & "serials," a practice which they finally stopped based on regulatory pressure.

In dirty ad markets where illegal goods & services are pushed Google can (and does) monetize them at the general ad network level until they cause public relations issues, allowing Google to capture a large portion of the reward with minimal risk.

Google can get to know you a bit better & monetize literally anything.

While Google claims ad disclosure is important, they can "accidentally" leave it off when convenient. I just recently saw the following ad served by Google's DoubleClick. I have no idea what it was promoting though, as I was afraid to click on it.

It's Not Just Google

Obviously I mentioned Google because they are the most successful search company. However, Google is not the only search company monetizing their organic search results & pushing results below the fold.

Ask monetizes their "organic" results via a variety of cross-promotional results.

Yahoo! has custom "organic" ad units & intends to further monetize search with their Search Direct offering.

Bing, which has remained fairly clean, also offers promotional vertical results in their organic search results.

As search engines take big slices out of their search ecosystems, the gap between winners & losers will only grow.

Categories: 

Source: http://www.seobook.com/search-engines-affiliates-publishers

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Senior Public Relations & Social Media Manager / Firmex Inc. / Toronto, ON, Canada

Firmex Inc./Toronto, ON, Canada

If you thrive in a software startup environment and want to join a smart team in the creation of world-class business software, then Firmex is for you. Firmex provides mission-critical SaaS software to the world's top legal and financial companies.


We are looking for an energetic and multi-talented Senior Public Relations & Social Media Manager to join our fast-growing team. You'd be an integral part of a small marketing team to determine marketing strategy and new initiatives while being responsible for the execution of those strategies in traditional media and social media channels. You would manage communications and lead our engagement with key audiences �?? from press and analysts, to clients and users, to industry influencers and associations.


You have experience with and love to�?�

* Write and produce business content �?? Use your exceptional copywriting skills and ability to produce a variety of content for all business buyers (lawyers, investment bankers, executives), including press releases, boilerplates, blogs, and whitepapers
* Engage business audiences in meaningful conversations -- Seek out, develop, and maintain relationships with bloggers, associations, and other influencers to expand our digital footprint; research and develop a list of relevant online directories and build links
* Seek out and arrange PR opportunities for Firmex leadership team, including speaking engagements, press interviews, industry analyst briefings
* Bring order to the chaos of Social Media �?? Develop and execute a social media strategy aimed at improving our brand presence with key target segments and increasing our organic search results; manage the company profile on our Blog, LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube, Wikipedia and Facebook by updating content, joining relevant groups and discussions and constantly seeking new ways to leverage these tools
* Measure success �?? Help define and measure success; provide weekly summaries and monthly detailed reporting of all areas of responsibility, demonstrating new ideas, things learned, results and ROI
* Strategize and execute �?? Contribute to the marketing strategy and work with the team to make it happen

What you get from us�?�


�?� Pivotal role with a proven, small but fast growing technology company

�?� Encouragement to develop as an individual and as a member of a team

�?� Day-to-day fun with a close-knit team of music, film, food, and computer nerds

�?� Cool office in great downtown location, espresso, bike room, and lots more �?�

�?� Competitive salary and great benefits


Contact us if you�?�

* have a minimum 5 years' experience writing for business and technology, especially in the legal and financial industries
* have a minimum of 3 years' experience at business-to-business software company in marketing, sales, or business development
* have worked with document management systems, online document collaboration, virtual deal rooms, litigation software, extranets or business portals
* have a proven track record and a portfolio of written work for both traditional and online media
* are motivated by a strong passion for learning, writing, social media, and to achieve results

If this sounds like you, we're waiting �?? apply today with a resume and cover letter.

Apply To Job

Source: http://jobs.searchenginejournal.com/job/senior-public-relations-social-media-manager-toronto-on-canada-firmex-inc-798e3b8e33/?d=1&source=rss_page

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Optimize Your QR Code Correctly and Differently with Daqri!

Hey all,

Many marketers have failed to optimize QR Codes correctly in recent months.

Here's an article that explains a different way using a mobile "clipboard": http://mcloughlin.ca/insights/qr-code-optimization-a-different-concept-by-daqri">http://mcloughlin.ca/insights/qr-code-optimization-a-different

Source: http://www.openforum.com/idea-hub/topics/marketing/discussion/optimize-your-qr-code-correctly-and-differently-with-daqri

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3 Lessons From Rum Makers About Getting Online Buzz

From Lena West:

There are a few terms that have become popularized with the increased use of social media: engagement, authenticity and community. The trouble is half of the people who use these terms have no idea what they mean. One of my venerable mentors once shared with me that everything starts with a definition. Until we agree on what "community" means we’re probably going to have a pretty rocky conversation.Part of the challenge of social media is the definitions of many words are not only vague, but most also have two or three different nuances and meanings.

Community is used to describe a Web-based center that people can become paid or unpaid members of. It is also used to describe the fabric of energy, conversation and attention around a specific brand. 

You can have the latter without the former, but you can’t have a successful version of the former without the latter. You can have energy around your brand online without a private website, but in order to have a successful log-in based community, you need constant and consistent traffic to survive. 

Recently, I had the pleasure of seeing both in action at Mount Gay Rum's manufacturer Rémy Cointreau's corporate office in New York City. 

That evening we met SailingSpokenHere.com, the premiere online community for sailors to congregate on shore. We learned about how Sailing Spoken Here got it’s start and what keeps it going well past 8,000 members.

Mount Gay has longstanding ties and legitimacy in the sailing community, forged through years of sponsorship of regattas and the unique history of the brand. So, when they developed Sailing Spoken Here they knew they enjoyed the benefit of a meaningful relationship with the sailing community—and their challenge was to integrate that relationship to an online community that best serves the unique needs of sailors. Here's how they did it.

1. They listened

The team at Mount Gay Rum could have built any thing they wanted. Instead, they patiently listened to what sailors told them they wanted in an online network. They realized there was no need to rush to the finish line. 

2. They kept it real

 “If the content is not authentic, people won't respond to it. Sailing Spoken Here was developed with sailors, for sailors. The initial response has been very positive because of this, and we're primed for the summer sailing season to generate even more momentum," says Nicolas Heriard Dubreuil, Director of Digital Marketing and Social Media for Rémy Cointreau USA, Inc. 

The more you can get your audience involved in the creation of the community, the more they will feel pride of ownership and you really can’t replace or buy that type and level of engagement.

3. They made it practical

Sailing Spoken Here allows people to focus on their passion for the sport, and provides new and exciting functionality such as the “Crew Finder”, which helps sailors find crew members around the world. This integrated practicality promotes richer communications and connections between sailors of all levels, no matter where they live.

What I love the most is that Mount Gay isn’t trying to force the site into a return-on-investment-what-does-this-mean-for-the-bottomline coffin. Instead they recognize that social media is a dynamic, ever-changing platform, and they made the appropriate investment. As a brand-builder Sailing Spoken Here gives Mount Gay the flexibility to quickly respond to their sailing loyalists and in today’s microwave time spans, being responsive is a sea-worthy trait indeed.

Source: http://www.openforum.com/idea-hub/topics/marketing/article/3-lessons-from-rum-makers-about-getting-online-buzz

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Re-Creating AdWords Campaign Performance Charts in Excel, Part 1: The Data

Interesting things you will learn in this how-to:

  • How to prepare data for year-over-year analysis in Excel
  • How to use the Excel INDEX-MATCH formula
  • How to use the Excel ISNA formula

A few weeks ago I showed you how to compare date ranges in AdWords, and then a few days later I came across an article on Search Engine Journal about using the new AdWords dashboard located on the "Home" tab. 

In the article the author mentioned how, in the new version of the Home tab, you couldn’t do date range comparison like in the previous version. See the image below:

AdWords Campaign Performance

So, I thought it might be interesting to try and recreate this chart and summary in Excel. The finished dashboard will look something like this:

AdWords Dashboard in Excel

For this exercise I will be using a variation of the Juice Analytics DTP Framework.

Data (the “D” in “DTP”)

Pull a campaign level-of-detail report from the "Dimensions" tab. There is no need to pull all of the calculated metrics like CTR, Avg. CPC, etc., because they will all have to be re-created in our Excel pivot tables. See the image below for the columns you will need to pull in your ad group report:

AdWords Dashboard

Because we will need to be able to do date range comparisons, you will need to pull two reports: a current and a previous performance report. In my example I pulled YTD data (1/1/2011 – 3/28/2011). 

I offset my previous data range to match the same day of the week, not just the same date, (1/2/2010 – 3/29/2010) to get a more accurate comparison. Eventually I plan on updating my current report data regularly, so I decided to pull all of last year’s data (1/2/2010 – 12/31/2010). This way I will only have to update one report.

Steps for getting the right data:

1. Pull a Year-To-Date report from the Dimensions tab (might make sense to schedule this report) using the columns shown above and put the report in a worksheet named "Data."

2. Pull the previous date report as described above and put the report in a worksheet named "Previous."

The next thing we need to do is tie the previous data back to our current data. To do this we will need to create a unique identifier or primary key. In the right-most column in your "Data" worksheet, add the following formula (this assumes you have formatted your data as a table in Excel):

= CONCATENATE(current[[#This Row],[Day]],current[[#This Row],[Campaign]])

This should result in something like: 40544Campaign or (date)(campaign name)

Use the following formula for your "Previous" data set:

=CONCATENATE((previous[[#This Row],[Day]]+364),previous[[#This Row],[Campaign]])

Next we will use the INDEX-MATCH formula (lookup) in combination with the IF(ISNA formula to pull over our previous performance data to our "Data" worksheet. Using the IF(ISNA formula gets rid of “N/A” errors when there is no match. We need “0’s” not “N/A’s” for our pivot table to work properly.

=IF(ISNA(INDEX(previous!C:C,MATCH(current[[#This Row],[Lookup_ID]],previous!$H:$H,0))),0,INDEX(previous!C:C,MATCH(current[[#This Row],[Lookup_ID]],previous!$H:$H,0)))

Modify the formula above for each comparison metric (Prv_Impr, Prv_Clicks, Prv_cost, Prv_AvgPos, & Prv_Conv).

The INDEX-MATCH formula is a superior way to perform LOOKUPS in Excel.

At this point you should have all of your comparison metrics pulled into your "current" worksheet. We will be using the "current" worksheet as our main data source for our pivot table and charts. If done correctly, all we will have to do to update our dashboard is append new data to our "current" worksheet.

Because we are going to be aggregating one calculated metric (AvgPos) we need to create a weighted average position. We do this by adding the following formulas in new columns to the right of our data set:

=current[[#This Row],[Avg. position]]*current[[#This Row],[Impressions]]

=current[[#This Row],[Prv_AvgPos]]*current[[#This Row],[Prv_Impr]]

or AvgPos * Impressions

We will use these new columns in our pivot table to create our weighted average position; otherwise we would be reporting averages of averages.

AdWords Dashboard

In the next post, we will focus on the "transformation" piece of DTP, which will involve pivot tables, named ranges, offset formulas, and other Excel goodness.

Chad SummerhillThis is a guest post by Chad Summerhill, author of the blog PPC Prospector, provider of free PPC tools and PPC tutorials, and in-house AdWords Specialist at Moving Solutions, Inc. (UPack.com and MoveBuilder.com).

This post originated on the WordStream Blog. WordStream provides keyword tools for pay-per click (PPC) and search engine optimization (SEO) aiding in everything from keyword discovery to keyword grouping and organization.

Source: http://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2011/04/18/adwords-dashboard-excel

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eCommerce Producer / Norm Thompson Outfitters / Hillsboro, OR

Norm Thompson Outfitters/Hillsboro, OR

Job Description

We share your vision and are seeking an outstanding eCommerce Producer to join our eCommerce Marketing department.



Norm Thompson Outfitters' mission is to inspire discovery through break-from-the-pack brands and uncommonly rewarding work. As a leader in the multi-channel retail field we fulfill this mission through our brands - Norm Thompson, Sahalie, Solutions and Gold Violin. Additionally, Norm Thompson Outfitters is part of a growing family of companies including Appleseed's, The Tog Shop, Draper's and Damon's, and Haband �?? allowing exposure to industry benchmarking, knowledge and growth opportunities.



The eCommerce Producer oversees site development and functionality to support a stable, effective online business for the Solutions & Gold Violin brands. This includes content, functionality, and customer satisfaction to support the ecommerce growth initiatives. This marketing role requires technical proficiency.



Responsibilities

· Oversee site operation & conversion efforts

· Work closely with IT and web vendors on implementation and maintenance of site features and third party integrations, including some project management

· Collaborate on identification, evaluation and prioritization of new web technologies including ROI development and analysis

· Troubleshoot website problems & errors

· Responsible for data feed development & maintenance

· Support execution of web marketing programs including landing pages and discount setup, and onsite SEO execution

Click Apply to Read More!

Apply To Job

Source: http://jobs.searchenginejournal.com/job/ecommerce-producer-hillsboro-or-norm-thompson-outfitters-9299adc865/?d=1&source=rss_page

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Corporate Sites Deserve to Rank #1 (Brand Ad Dollars)

Facebook is a Sleazy Organization

Facebook recently hired the PR firm Burson-Marsteller to plant a Google smear campaign in the media:

Somebody, it seems, hired Burson-Marsteller, a top public-relations firm, to pitch anti-Google stories to newspapers, urging them to investigate claims that Google was invading people?s privacy. Burson even offered to help an influential blogger write a Google-bashing op-ed, which it promised it could place in outlets like The Washington Post, Politico, and The Huffington Post.

And why would Facebook run such a campaign?

Confronted with evidence, a Facebook spokesman last night confirmed that Facebook hired Burson, citing two reasons: First, because it believes Google is doing some things in social networking that raise privacy concerns; second, and perhaps more important, because Facebook resents Google?s attempts to use Facebook data in its own social-networking service.

So now Facebook is trying to position itself as an advocate of consumer privacy rights?

Seriously?

Yes. Yes. Yes.

The bottom line is this: Facebook is a sleazy organization.

Google is a Sleazy Organization

The above Facebook complaint sounds like the same complaints that came from the old media powers which Google used high power lawyers to steamroll over.

How can Facebook be surprised with Google entering a new vertical by not respecting the property rights of existing market participants? It has been Google's approach to virtually everything:

So far Google has only fell flat on their face once: when they challenged the pharmaceutical corporations:

Google Inc. is close to settling a U.S. criminal investigation into allegations it made hundreds of millions of dollars by accepting ads from online pharmacies that break U.S. laws, according to people familiar with the matter.

The pharma corporations are powerful & are in bed with the government. In spite of repeated felonious behavior in marketing their drugs for illegal off label use (which has literally murdered millions of people) these companies can have the government step in and protect their property rights, by having the government enforce unto others the same laws that these same pharma corps regularly break (literally killing millions of people).

Maybe Google is Philosophically Opposed to Property Rights?

Yes, but only when convenient!

Everyone *but* Google should be open.

While Google tramples on the property rights of everyone else, the first sniff of someone operating anything like they do drives Google into black-ops mode & they conduct a smear campaign. Google launched Buzz without warning, but when their feared Facebook was collecting more personal information than they could Google went into black ops PR mode warning against security issues in Facebook.

Remember that bogus "Bing is copying our results" stuff Google engineers did earlier this year? Google later rolled out their content farm update & many of the sites which were torched by Google are now getting more traffic from Bing. What does that tell us? If Bing was putting *any* significant weight at all on Google rankings & traffic then why didn't that carry any weight when Google torched a bunch of websites?

Here is the Google traffic profile for a site that was torched by Panda

And that same website's Bing traffic

Google traffic fell through the floor, while Bing traffic kept climbing. Some sites that were hit by Panda are getting more visits from Bing or Yahoo! Search than from Google.

Conclusion? Once again Google distorts media to promote itself & its business interests, while bogusly smearing competitors with fabricated trash.

Part of why Microsoft's search marketshare is less than Google's is that Microsoft is willing to block sleazy traffic partners, unlike Google. But Google's treatment of their partners is inconsistent. Using "inside voices" Googlers openly explain in plain English how they treat their partners: "we are using compatibility as a club to make them do things we want" - Google's Dan Morrill.

Big Companies Hate Honest Market Innovation

Large companies are largely counter to honest innovation in the marketplace. They are comfortable atop the perch and want to lock down innovation to maintain their current dominance.

Sure the big banks welcomed CDOs, MERS, etc. ... but those were welcomed precisely because they were part of an elaborate scheme of dishonesty and fraud. But the same society which brings us CDOs built on fraud (that ultimately cost you your job, your house, your retirement savings, the value of the currency, etc.) is also a society where dirty corporate whores push to force smaller market competitors to be entirely transparent.

This stuff is literally everywhere. Consider this: Major Record Labels Forced to Pay $45M USD for Pirating Music. Once again, property rights are only important when they are forcing their own rights, but they are willing to walk on the rights of others. Consider the actions of MarkMonitor, yet another seedy Google partner:

I have for years been telling you even if you have no interest in the new gTLD?s you had to pay close attention to the process as whatever rules come out of that process will be attempted to be applied to all existing TLD?s including .com, .net and .org.

This is especially troubling because as you know the new gTLD process has not even been approved yet since the .Net contract is up for renewal, trademark groups are going to push for this new system to take away domains, be imposed on .net

The very domain name of the front organization that is pushing to remove domain privacy is registered using a private registration. ipconstituency.org uses Domain Discreet!

Read this piece on Google & Skyhook and ask yourself if Google is actually open & is promoting or suppressing market innovation.

Small Businesses Typically Can't Act Sleazy

Try getting customer service from Google & you will quickly find yourself in a hall of mirrors. Compare that to the customer service you get from a small company. Sure some small companies may decide they have no interest in supporting freetards, but if you are actually a paying customer you will usually be treated well by small companies because word of mouth marketing is the most important lead channel for many small businesses.

When a consumer or small business owner gets caught (acting like a big business, and) doing something illegal they go to jail. When a big business repeatedly commits serious crimes the wost thing that could possibly happen is a shake up of management. A company has no soul. A corporation can't go to jail.

This is precisely why Google's corporate-first approach to relevancy is bad.

Soon after the Facebook/Google story broke a friend of mine told me they put ?facebook smear of google? in Google & they got:

  • Image result = Globe and Mail
  • Number one result = Huffington Post
  • Number two result = TechCrunch (top websites are both AOL properties)
  • Number three result = Get more results from the past 24 hours
  • Number four result = The Daily Beast ? better known as the site that broke the story.
  • All other results are a retelling and mashup of the original.

The big publishers complained that smaller sites were stealing their stories. Google made secret arrangements with the Online Publishers Association & now the big companies get to rank at the top of the search results for stories that they stole from smaller outlets.

While small players are desperately fighting against each other for scraps off the table, the pawns have been driven out of the search ecosystem.

All webmasters are equal but some webmasters brands are more equal than others

Society hierarchy has been restored.

Don't be evil, just be corporate.

Categories: 

Source: http://www.seobook.com/google-facebook

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Monday, May 30, 2011

Help For Bloggers

Need tips and ideas to improve your blogging efforts? I know we do. Deep Ripples, along with Roundpeg and Seppichdaily, is bringing three Indianapolis blog experts to the Irvington Office Center for some helpful blogging seminars. 

The three seminars will be presented Wednesdays from 3-5pm on Oct 27, Nov 3, and Nov 10. Go here for more info. Registration for the event is here.

The three presenters are outstanding (Blog Indiana all stars). You don't want to miss these sessions. We suggest registering quickly because space is extremely limited in the conference room (formerly the auditorium for IPS School 85).

Source: http://www.deepripples.com/blog/help-for-bloggers

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High-quality sites algorithm goes global, incorporates user feedback

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/amDG/~3/x6XsG_0ePDA/high-quality-sites-algorithm-goes.html

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Marketing Manager, Sales / Everyday Health / New York, NY

Everyday Health/New York, NY

Everyday Health, founded by Ben Wolin and Mike Keriakos in 2002, is a leading provider of online health solutions. We provide our consumers, professionals, advertisers and partners with content and advertising-based services across a broad portfolio of over 25 websites that span the health spectrum�??from lifestyle offerings in pregnancy, diet and fitness to in-depth medical content for condition prevention and management.

The Everyday Health portfolio includes well-recognized and trusted consumer health brands, including www.EverydayHealth.com; www.SparkPeople.com; www.WhatToExpect.com, from the best-selling What to Expect When You're Expecting series of books; www.SouthBeachDiet.com, from one of the best-selling diet books of all time; and www.JillianMichaels.com, from Jillian Michaels, host of the hit NBC television show, The Biggest Loser. The portfolio also includes www.MedPageToday.com, a news organization serving healthcare professionals.

Everyday Health is committed to providing the expert guidance and daily tools consumers need to make the best health choices, actively manage their conditions and live healthier lives every day.

We are looking for a Marketing Manager, Sales to join the sales development team in NYC.

Responsibilities included, but not limited to:

�?�Develop custom integrated brand solutions in response to RFP's from blue chip pharmaceutical and CPG advertisers
�?�Creating proposals for both custom programs and turn-key solutions that accomplish brand objectives, engage users, and provide value for clients
�?�Develop, edit, and proofread marketing materials, presentations and mocks
�?�Liaison with editorial, tech, product, and sales
�?�Develop all sales collateral for mobile platforms

Job Requirements:

�?�BA degree with three years experience in sales marketing.
�?�Ability to communicate effectively at all levels of the organization and the ability to influence others through well articulated and innovative ideas
�?�Superior writing and proofreading skills
�?�Adaptable person who can deal with rapidly changing requirements of an organization
�?�Strong interpersonal & presentation skills
�?�Ability to prioritize and multi-task while
�?�Strong problem solving and troubleshooting skills
�?�Accountability - acceptance of responsibility and willingness to commit to and deliver specific, measurable work products and results
�?�Strong interest in the online industry
�?�Strong knowledge of PowerPoint
�?�Must have some digital experience


Apply To Job

Source: http://jobs.searchenginejournal.com/job/marketing-manager-sales-new-york-ny-everyday-health-9b180a015f/?d=1&source=rss_page

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Linking Google Analytics to Webmaster Tools

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/amDG/~3/08BD4HoUfi8/linking-google-analytics-to-webmaster.html

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Product Marketing Manager / Suntech America, Inc. / San Francisco, CA

Suntech America, Inc./San Francisco, CA

As the largest crystalline silicon photovoltaic solar module manufacturer in the world, Suntech is a rapidly growing organization. We have an exciting opportunity for a highly skilled and motivated Product Marketing Manager to join our San Francisco, California headquarters.

This position will be a key role on the Global Product Management team, supporting North America Sales and Marketing functions to drive sales and demand higher margins through differentiation. This role serves as the liaison between Corporate Product Management and the North America teams to provide market information, competitive intelligence/positioning, & guidance on product specifications and performance. This role is also engaged closely with customers, providing technical product support as well as collecting and analyzing feedback toward the evolution of Suntech's product strategy.

Key duties and responsibilities:

�? Manage new product launch processes, including marketing/co-marketing activities coordination, development of sales kits including technical support documents and marketing materials (e.g. brochures, white papers, datasheets), Sales training and direct customer training/support
�? Work closely with Product Managers to interpret market intelligence and to formulate and implement new product strategies
�? Work closely with Global Product Marketing team members to align messaging and coordinate technical marketing activities
�? Regularly meet with customers to provide product support, to address inquiries on product specifications, reliability, and performance, and to gather feedback
�? Create up-to-date market analysis tools and presentations, analyzing trends by product, application and region
�? Develop Sales tools that focus on Suntech's Unique Selling Points, new products, and programs
�? Coordinate and manage third party testing activities in the US
Maintain Product Marketing documents, including datasheets, white papers, etc.

Minimum requirements:

�? Business or Engineering degree (Masters/MBA preferred)
�? 3-5 years relevant experience in solar PV or semiconductor industry; functional experience in high-tech Product Marketing
�? Experience managing cross-functional global projects
�? Effective communication with both Sales and Engineering teams
�? Strong organizational, analytical, and multi-tasking
�? International travel up to 25%
�? Excellent verbal and written communication skills; bilingual (English/Chinese) preferred

ABOUT SUNTECH:

Suntech Power Holdings Co., Ltd. (NYSE: STP) is the world's largest producer of solar panels for residential, commercial, industrial, and utility applications. With regional headquarters in China, Switzerland, and the United States, and gigawatt-scale manufacturing worldwide, Suntech has delivered more than 13,000,000 photovoltaic panels to thousands of customers in more than eighty countries. Suntech's pioneering R&D creates customer-centric innovations that are driving solar to grid parity against fossil fuels. Suntech's mission is to provide everyone with reliable access to nature's cleanest and most abundant energy source.

Apply To Job

Source: http://jobs.searchenginejournal.com/job/product-marketing-manager-san-francisco-ca-suntech-america-inc-9708d4bfb2/?d=1&source=rss_page

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Expanding Google News for more variety and multimedia

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/MKuf/~3/mNPEsBE8kMU/expanding-google-news-for-more-variety.html

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Real Estate SEO Content and Marketing Writer / Coldwell Banker / Burlingame, CA

Coldwell Banker/Burlingame, CA (Bay Area)

Build and position our brand as a leader in the bay area real estate market through SEO web content (search engine optimization), SMM (social media marketing) plans, content enhancement, marketing brochures, and press releases.

Conduct keyword research for our current site.

Identify and implement SEO opportunities based on keyword research.

Make content changes to target identified keywords
Ability to write SEO friendly content in line with best practices .

Responsible for link building strategy, management, deployment and maintenance.

Sell the brand by using our language, personality, expertise, and passion.

Produce social media and blog copy to drive potential clients to our website while providing insight into how we think and do business.

Manage a daily blog to keep the site fresh with new content, with the goal of raising our search engine ranking. Additionally, to provide material for a promotional newsletter or even a book that positions you as THE local expert.

Compensation is hourly + compelling bonus program for seo generated leads.

Apply To Job

Source: http://jobs.searchenginejournal.com/job/real-estate-seo-content-and-marketing-writer-burlingame-ca-bay-area-coldwell-banker-a6267f1101/?d=1&source=rss_page

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Facebook Family Additions: The New Send Button & Social Deals

Facebook develops new features and alters its layout and settings (and privacy policies) frequently, and the social giant recently introduced two new additions in its continued mission to take over the word.

Facebook’s new Send button allows users to share items with select people rather than everyone in their friend network. Maybe you found a great bar in which to throw your friend’s surprise party – but you certainly don’t want the birthday girl to find out. With the Send button, you can quickly and easily share and send the URL to specific friends, groups, and email addresses.

Facebook Send Button

Cynthia Boris at Marketing Pilgrim has a clever idea about how the Send button could be implemented as a marketing strategy:

"As a marketer, I’d take this one step further and use that Send button for some suggestive selling. Offer a discount to anyone who creates a group that works for your product, be it a lunch club, hiking club or just a club for deal lovers. Once they have the club made, they’ll be more likely to share via that Send button when they visit your site."

Every change and addition Facebook makes is just another chance for marketers to think creatively – bring it on Zuckerberg!

Facebook Announces Social Deals

Facebook has been a busy little bee this week – in addition to the Send button, they’ve also released “Social Deals,” Facebook’s challenge to the popular and ever-growing Groupon and Living Social.

You may be thinking, “Hey, wait a minute … doesn’t Facebook already have a deals program?” Bingo, you are correct! Social Deals will be Facebook’s second deals program, the first being “Facebook Deals,” which is now being called “Check-in deals” to prevent any confusion with the new program … but you’re still a bit confused, right?

Well, the Check-in deals are free, mobile-based, and act like regular coupons you might find in a newspaper, such as, “buy one ice cream cone, get another free,” while the new Social Deals must be purchased beforehand, Groupon-style.

Facebook Deals

Facebook is trying to aim for more socially targeted deals, such as concerts or events, rather than traditional deals for teeth whitening or new counter tops. This is a smart move on Facebook’s part, keeping itself in the social realm, where it rules as king.

Merchants will need to have a Facebook Page before they can set up a Social Deal, which is great because a permanent Facebook presence helps ensure a relationship between the deal buyers and merchants. Normally deal buyers don’t always directly become repeat customers, but connecting the deals and Facebook Pages helps keep those new customers connected and close.

Social Deals could become a great catalyst in getting users to notice you. First they buy your deal, then they “like” you, check out your page, and before you know it, you’ll have real dialogue with real customers. And isn’t that the best deal of all?   

This post originated on the WordStream Blog. WordStream provides keyword tools for pay-per click (PPC) and search engine optimization (SEO) aiding in everything from keyword discovery to keyword grouping and organization.

Source: http://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2011/04/27/facebook-send-facebook-social-deals

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