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Kryptonite Launches Their Lesson Learned

April 12, 2007 By 1 Comment

It has been nearly 2 years since Shel Israel posted his interview with Donna Tocci, and I also posted on this blog about the Tocci interview.  Now it seems that after this lengthy period, Kryptonite has decided to launch a blog.  I want to thank Shel for posting about their new blog.

This company as many remember and as Shel so pointedly remarked was "the first company to have been soundly trashed by the Blogosphere." 

My advice then was:

Donna, PR is your job and this all could be a great campaign to be honest and forthright with the customers and distributors you deal with each day. They want a place they can go where they can enter into some honest and frank dialogue and you can provide them with information best suited for the message your company is trying to convey.

She obviously took this sentiment to heart when she opens her post:

I struggled with what would be the first official post. It should be prolific after all this time, right? Grand in nature. Broad in scope. So, I struggled. How would we start this company blog? I struggled some more. And then I realized it’s just like walking into a room full of people you’ve never met – we’ll introduce ourselves to you. It seems like the polite thing to do, right?

This conversational style is exactly what the company needs to convey its message Donna.  It is really too bad that it took so long to get here.  Bravo Donna and company.

Tags: , Donna Tocci, Shel Israel, ,

Filed Under: Blog Consulting, Bloggers and Blogs, Business Blogging, Companies Needing Blogs, Corporate Blogs, Marketing

Can a small, local business benefit from blogging?

March 29, 2007 By 3 Comments

Fast Company had a provocative article yesterday:

This strategy reflects his overall advertising technique in Dallas. Advertise everywhere available. His name pops up on Google as the first choice when you search directly for him, but not when you search under “technology.” He has created a new way for other people, worldwide, to know him and access his accomplishments by creating a blog. People, who have no reason to look up LASIK eye-care can see his name simply by looking under “technology” on technorati.

Of course, does all this work? I don’t know; I used Dr. George Joseph.
Source: Should Small Companies Blog?

Really the question isn’t whether small companies should blog, I think small companies have every reason to blog, it’s whether a locally-focused company should blog.

And frankly, I don’t have a good answer.  The answer really depends on the business, the target clients, and the area the business is in.  Let’s look at real estate blogs.  If you’re in Silicon Valley or Seattle having a blog is perfect.  Come on you have tech savvy people who you want to sell to.  Those folks are online and looking for things they want online.  Perfect match.  A LASIK doctor in Dallas?  Well, seems a little strange, but you know if you keep the blog up and people find you via a search for “LASIK Dallas” well, that seems like a good benefit.

To me the questions about whether or not a company, small or large, should blog really depends on the company, not the medium.  I’ve done the “all companies should have a website” thing.  I’m a little wiser now to see that blanket statements like that just don’t work.

I’m too much of a pragmatist now to just see a one size fits all strategy.

Should you blog?  Should your business/company have a blog?  All good question that you need to consider yourself then ask some experts.  Jim and I are happy to talk with you.  We’ve told a number of potential clients that a blog might not be the right choice for them.  We’d rather have clients where a blog is the right fit, not the cool thing.

 

Filed Under: Bloggers and Blogs, Business Blogging, Companies Needing Blogs

Maybe big pharma is getting the blogosphere now

March 12, 2007 By 3 Comments

As many of you know I worked for or around big pharma for close to 10 years.  I don’t blog about it much, or often comment on prescription drug issues often just because I was an insider for so long (yes, I know too much).  One thing that has been bugging a lot of us who have worked within or around pharma is how they have been very slow to embrace social media.  Back in ’96 I helped launch most of the Glaxo websites for products.  It was an extremely hard sell.  Man the battles we had with lawyers and other regulatory folks.  Man pretty heated at times.

There are some excellent reasons why pharma has shied away from social media.  Control of their message isn’t just about marketing, it’s the law.  There are things you can and cannot say.  There are things you must do if people say certain things (even a hint of an adverse reaction goes to surveillance).  So is it any wonder that pharma has been reluctant to step into the fray?  That, however might be changing…

Hi there. I am writing on behalf of Bayer Animal Health, the manufacturer of Advantage Multi. As the manufacturer of this product, we very much want to know about product reactions (preferably as the are occurring).
Source: » Flea Control for Cats Leashes to Litterboxes

That comment is from a post on my girlfriend Lorraine’s pet health blog.  The e-mail and contact information left on the post are legit (I have 100s of e-mail addresses from Bayer folks to double check against).  This is a huge step and one I congratulate Bayer for taking.  This means that pharma might just be waking up and dedicating resources to monitor the blogosphere for mentions of their product and doing something proactive about them.

Do I expect pharma blogs soon?  Not likely.  Even with my background and knowledge of blogging and pharma I would be hesitant to recommend a public blogging effort.  Now an internal blogging effort, around monitoring an surveillance, well that’s a horse of a different color.

 

Technorati tags: , pharma blogs
Filed Under: Blog Mining, Companies Needing Blogs

Is the real problem with PayPerPost paid inclusion?

March 9, 2007 By 1 Comment

Jason calls out on one of his favorite whipping boys, PayPerPost:

No one likes to be deceived and PayPerPost’s “disclosure policy” is a total joke. They don’t require folks to place disclosure at the top of the blog posts–which I predict the government will force them to do–but rather have folks put a badge somewhere on their page that links to some quasi-disclaimer that says that some of the posts MAY be influenced by being paid.
What a joke.
I would have no problem with PayPerPost if they forced their bloggers to disclose that their posts were paid IN THE FIRST SENTENCE OF THE POST.
Of course, the PayPerLosers will never do that because they know that their advertisers are using them because their
… and Tim Draper’s point that paid advertising had the same reaction leaves out an important point: PAID INCLUSION FAILED!!!!!!!! Hello!?!? People were so pissed off at GoTo/Overture having paid search results that they were forced to move the paid inclusion into Google-style auction based ADVERTISEMENTS.
Source: LA Times busts PayPerPost for deceptive marketing (or “Is Tim Draper in favor of deceptive marketing?!?!)

First, I will disclose that I have signed up for PPP, but I have not done any reviews there (nothing really seemed like it was worth my time or effort).  Next I will also disclose that after Jim’s post, Ted Murphy left a comment and Jim and both said we’d be interested in speaking at the conference.

So now to the meat of the post…

I think Jason has something there.  I remember in the heyday of paid inclusion people felt that they couldn’t trust search results from some providers.  I also remember listening to marketing folks wanting to buy the top position in search engines.  I never supported this.  Ever.  It just seemed fundamentally wrong to game search results that way.

Given the precedent that paid inclusion failed, would even disclosure save PPP and ReviewMe?  What about product marketers who would like to have their stuff reviewed?  Isn’t the model for a marketplace of advertisers and bloggers a good thing?  Clearly disclosure has been a big issue, but not the only issue.  I think there is a place for sponsored posts and a mechanism where companies can openly request reviews and bloggers be compensated for the time they put into those reviews.  Yes, payola could become a real problem.  Frankly it would happen anyway and has been happening for years.  Websites have promoted products without disclosing if they were being compensated since the beginning, so really this isn’t new.  It’s just that “blogging” has been held up as such a “pure” communication medium, that the thought of besmirching that purity with crass commercialism raised the hackles of many, many bloggers.

Putting this into perspective, it’s way, way too early for us to cast judgement on sponsored posts/paid reviews.  I do, however, lament that too many marketers see this as a shortcut into the blogosphere.  “Yeah will just pay people to talk about our stuff, and the blogosphere will just ignite!” Yeah, not so much.  A lot of the paid reviews I’ve read are rather thin.  No analysis, no “I tried it and here’s what I thought..”, lot’s of “This seems like an interesting idea/product…”.

It’s funny, when I ask for NFR licenses for software, it’s only after I’ve tried the software, like it, and would like to be able to do more reviews.  Sometimes I’m just given a license without asking, because I tried the software and thought it was good.  No money changes hands there, but I think everyone wins.

How do professional bloggers fit into this?  I think I might have already talked that one to death, but more companies using PPP should give blogging a try.  Really, it’s not hard.  You might be surprised with the positive comments you get.  Maybe that will be the final outcome, more companies blogging.  And that’s a good thing.

 

Filed Under: Advertising, Blog Revenue, Bloggers and Blogs, Blogging News, Companies Needing Blogs, Marketing, Professional Blogging

Organic Search: Is Your Business on Page 1?

March 6, 2007 By 1 Comment

I have heard Robert Scoble a couple of times this week say that at Microsoft they did research that showed that 3% of people out there went beyond page 1 of search results in their searches performed.  This can be very scary if you are a small business and want to gain customers on the Internet.  The first thing I ask customers when they ask me what we offer in the area of search engine optimization (SEO) or in search engine marketing (SEM) is "where is your company positioned in Google?"  If they don’t know, that tells me right away that they have no idea whether my answer to their question regarding search is right or wrong.  Google always seems to be used as the example because they have over 50% of the market share in search.  Companies have paid large sums of money to be on page 1 of Google search results.  Many companies also have paid exactly zero to be on page one.  Those without a page 1 marketing budget are the ones that get the position through organic search. 

"How do we get organic search results?"

This is one of the most popular questions that is asked of my company when I speak to customers about blogging and SEO.  I can talk about how great blogging is for SEO and for SEM but until they see actual results, it seems to be a skeptical look at blogging and its power.  My best example is a Daddy Blogger.  This Daddy Blogger I know started blogging back in early 2004 about his children and what it was like to be a father.  He spent exactly $0.00 on a SEO campaign and never once tweaked his site to make sure it was optimized for search.  His handle that he began with was Genuine.  That seems to be a very broad term, name, or search word.  Many companies have this in their company name or title or even in their tagline.  Some of the ones that I can think of are obvious, like Microsoft Genuine Advantage software, Genuine.com a software company, Genuine scooters, and many others.  I tell my prospective client to open their browser and type in the keyword Genuine.  After a few seconds I ask them to tell me what appears on page 1 of their search quest.  After the first three results, I would tell them to stop.  This Daddy blogger usually has always been mentioned. 

The reason I know of this example is simple.  I am that Daddy Blogger.  I never spent a dime on search engine optimization, no advertising budget, and I spent very little time each day to make sure I was on the top of the list.  This example is very effective to show that many of the companies out there are spending loads on advertising, when they need only be blogging.  Our clients are becoming more and more prevalent on the first page of Google in their genres or niche.  They are spending much less than their competition, but their results are growing at an alarming rate. You should also be vying for page 1 results on Google through organic search.  Contact me and let’s get your company out front.

Tags: , , , , , , , Daddy Blogger,

Filed Under: Advertising, Blog Consulting, Blog Mining, Blog Tools, Bloggers and Blogs, Bloggers For Hire, Blogging News, Blogs and PR, Business Blogging, Client Sites, Companies Needing Blogs, Corporate Blogs, Findability, Marketing, Media, Miscellaneous, Professional Blogging, Search Engine Optimization, Services, The Site

Sixty-six percent of Inc. 500 see social media as important

March 5, 2007 By 3 Comments

One thing about those of us in the socia media sphere is that we’re often accused of being drunk on the Kool-Aid.  Sure blogs, podcasts, social networks, and video are cool, but are real companies into them?  Turns out, yeah they are.  A study done by folks at UMass (link to PDF of the report) shows that the Inc. 500 are aware of the pillars of social media and think they are important.

  • 42% know about social networking
  • 38% know about message boards
  • 36% know about blogs and blogging

But what are these companies specifically using in terms of social media?  Here is a brief breakdown:

  • 33% are utilizing message boards
  • 27% are utilizing social networking (linkedin, etc.)
  • 24% are utilizing video in some format (Vlogs, online videos, ads, etc.)
  • 19% are utilizing a company blog (this is the most surprising stat for me, you would think more people would realize the amazing SEO potential here by now

Another interesting tidbit is that 66% of the fastest growing companies in the U.S. stated that social media is either “very important” or “somewhat important” to their overall marketing strategy.
Source: Social Media Invades Inc. 500 | WebProNews

Okay, “somewhat important” isn’t a glowing recomendation, but it’s an important step.  Message boards’ popularity shows where the comfort zone is.  Message boards are pretty standard and, relatively, old school, but a forum is a fabulous place to help users with their questions and problems.  Doesn’t replace a good blog for raising your company’s profile online, but it is a great step towards openness.

Maybe the central question for us as service providers is, what is the best solution to offer clients?  For a software company, I would do the forum and blog option.  Other service folks, a blog.  Video and social networking sites?  Well video can be fun, but hard to find great applications.  Social networking sites?  While popular I still approach them with caution.  A lot of social rules and dynamics that are easy to run afoul of.

What’s you take on this study?  Hot or not?

 

Filed Under: Companies Needing Blogs, Corporate Blogs, Media

SEO and Social Marketing

March 5, 2007 By 2 Comments

As we discussed earlier as our client Freight and Shipping, Inc., has used their new blog marketing program to increase their organic search, more and more companies are using the new social marketing as a way to increase their SEO and the marketing campaigns they are implementing.  Jennifer Jones at Podtech.net has a great interview with Andy Beal.

We have been very successful at using a blog to increase organic search results in our client’s marketing campaigns.  This is a good interview if you are on the fence about SEO and blogs.  Now is the time to benefit from search and a blog is a perfect tool to get you on page 1 results!

Tags: Jennifer Jones, Podtech, Andy Beal, ,

Filed Under: Advertising, Blog Consulting, Blog Mining, Blog Platforms, Blog Revenue, Blog Tools, Bloggers and Blogs, Bloggers For Hire, Blogging News, Blogs and PR, Companies Needing Blogs, Corporate Blogs, Findability, Marketing, Media, Professional Blogging, Search Engine Optimization, Services, The Site

Reflecting on Jim’s Adobe post a bit more

March 3, 2007 By Leave a Comment

I was chatting with Jim last night about his whole Adobe post.  There was a bit of a tempest in a tea pot around it pretty much saying Jim wasn’t doing his homework when he said this:

I can tell you what they are not doing, they are not having a conversation with the influential people in their industry. Sure they are presenting some cool things and people like Tim O’Reilly, Robert Scoble, and others are all madly discussing the new apps and talking about it, but from the Adobe side I get nothing but crickets chirping. Where is the Adobe blogger? If they are truly in competition with Microsoft, how about competing? Put a company evangelist on a blog and let the blogger talk to all of the people now linking to the rest of the discussion. Adobe may be getting excellent marks for their new and latest in technology but I give them an F in showing that they are truly in the market of discussing their products. Robert you have my permission to give them my email to fix this little problem.
Source: One By One Media » Scoble Counts Taps While I Play Taps For Adobe

Robert Scoble and John Dowdell were quick to point out there were tons of Adobe blogs out there.  Okay, fair enough. Why then, wasn’t any one linking to them them during the presentation?  That was really Jim’s point.  I think it eventually got across, but I think there is more to it.  Before I get to that, I thought this BLaugh cartoon seemed apropos:

How Many Licks Does it Take?

So here’s the real issue is thatif you’re a company that is doing some big event, or even a small event, highlight it on your blog and make sure the bloggers who are there, link to it.

Take the Blog Business Summit, every Summit they live blog (along with the other myriad of bloggers there) let other people know they are blogging and link to the other coverage.  That’s how you use a blog for an event, and that’s what Jim really was getting at.

And yes, we do event blogging too.

Filed Under: Blog Consulting, Companies Needing Blogs

Is Pay-Per-Post better than having your own blog?

February 10, 2007 By 2 Comments

This is really a rhetorical question, you know what I’m going to say already, of course.  I talked a bit about PPP and our own B4H last week, recently though I’ve been thinking about the companies who have chosen PPP as their path to blog buzz nirvanna and whether they would be better off just starting a blog of their own.  I know Jim has some thoughts on this and I’ll let him go into his side of it himself, but I think there is more to tell here.

This is a simple and complex issue at the same time.  With ReviewMe and PPP companies pay bloggers to review they product.  The review could be postive or negative.  The review could be in-depth or just “hey this looks like an option you might want to check out” (I’ve seen a number of those, clearly not having even tried the product).  Really it’s a crap shoot. On the posts I’ve been looking at I also haven’t seen someone from the company leaving a comment on the post.  Not even a “thank you for taking the time to write this” or if it’s a less than postive review something acknowleding, helping or explaining at all.  Looks like they aren’t tracking mentions of their product or company on the Blogosphere, not a good way to be engaged.

So the question is then, would they have been better off just having a blog of their own?  Yes and no.  If they had their own blog they could talk about their product, what’s coming up, what’s going on in their industry, even linking to reviews and talking about them.  They wouldn’t, though, have all the reviews and links out there either.

This paradox made me realize that paid reviews and having your own blog aren’t mutually exclusive.  Why not have your own blog and pay for reviews?  Sure you might get flack for the PPP and ReviewMe stuff, but you can talk about why you chose to go that route on your blog.  It seems to me that if a company really wants to make a splash and build some buzz, PPP/ReviewMe as the sole strategy is going to have a short-lived effect.  It also isn’t a fire-and-forget kind of tactic.  A company should still monitor the blogosphere and comment on the posts.  And having your own blog gives the bloggers a place to comment and link to themselves.  This seems to be a more holistic approach.  Something that will give you a short-term boost (you can’t pay for review forever) and a long-term effect as your own blog grows.

Come on even PPP and ReviewMe have their own blogs!  Don’t you think you might follow their lead and have a blog of your own too?

If you’re one of the companies trying PPP or ReviewMe, you can e-mail Jim (jim AT onebyonemedia.com) or me (tris AT onebyonemedia.com) to chat with us.  We’re going to be offering some special deals for PPP and ReviewMe clients to get their own blog going and monitor the buzz.  Stay tuned.

 

Filed Under: Blog Consulting, Bloggers and Blogs, Blogs and PR, Business Blogging, Companies Needing Blogs, Findability, Marketing, Professional Blogging

Even morning DJs can blog

January 31, 2007 By Leave a Comment

So I’m listening to my local Jack station in Victoria and Hugh Dixon is talking about that new book by Michael Keren that I blogged about yesterday.  Hugh, like me, thinks it it’s a crock and points to the blog for the morning show guys AJ and Crash and their recent post on spanking.  I just checked and there were 31 comments on the post.   31.  Man those are like Scoble numbers.

Well I called the station and talked with Hugh about OBO and professional blogging.  He asked if he could put my comments on the air, of course!   And here’s my e-mail address if people want e-mail me about being a pro-blogger.  I’m still waiting to hear myself.  They are playing music!  Well I guess that’s why I listen to them isn’t it.

My next thing is to e-mail ol’ AJ and Crash to offer to re-do their blog.  Guys, Blogger, ouch.

Tags: , Jack FM Victoria, AJ and Crash, Michael Keren,

Filed Under: Blogging News, Business Blogging, Companies Needing Blogs, Marketing
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