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What’s This Internet Thingy We Keep Hearing About?

December 6, 2006 By Leave a Comment

I was reading an article that Shel Israel wrote about his recent experience with getting Internet access and paying an exorbitant fee. I also had a recent experience with Internet access, but it was not in some far away land or exotic port such as Shel describes. It was in the good ol’ U S of A.

Part of the problems with posting on so many different blogs, is the fact that when I go to find something I have already written, it takes me a while to actually find the post. I cant seem to find it so I Google the post idea, and wow, wouldn’t you know it, the post shows right up on the first page. Funny how these blogs work with search engines. *eye roll*

I posted about my experience while speaking at an AMA event in Reno.

My comment at Shel’s site also elaborated on the experience.

I’m with Marc. I was recently speaking at an AMA event in Reno. I nonchalantly asked whether their was WIFI in the hotel. The desk clerk looked at me like I was speaking another language. I had to give him a short course on the this thing called the Internet, then he said “oh yeah, Starbucks is on the second floor.”

That was not the interesting part of the conversation. I asked whether they had Internet access in the rooms? His response? “I’m not sure we have that yet. Let me ask my supervisor.” The supervisor came up, “I’m sorry sir is their a problem with our accommodations?” Perhaps a blog consultant could help the poor souls at Harrah’s in Reno! The room? Free. The Internet? Not so free.

How is it possible for a work so fast moving and never slumber city like Reno could have a hotel without WIFI access. In my room, there was a phone. No a single connection to the outside world. What would I need to do if I needed to email my Gambler’s Anonymous rep?

Tags: , , , , , , Naked Conversations

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I’ll see your $15,000 and raise you a blog

December 6, 2006 By Leave a Comment

I have to hand it to art2blog, for their ingenious title of their latest article "$15,000 For A Story On Digg."  It amazes me the way companies want to scam the system or to get results with the least amount of work.  I suppose its the American way to buy results instead of working for them.  The article refers to a piece written at CNetNews.com called "The big Digg rig."

Some marketers offer "content generation services," where they sell stories to Web sites for the sole purpose of getting them submitted to Digg and other sites. This combination of spam and blogs is called "splogs." The stories often feature topics and keywords in headlines that are likely to appeal to the Digg crowd, such as "geeks" and "Apple."

Lazier but still tricky marketers merely scrape content off legitimate sites to put up on their own sites in a technique called "link jacking." In essence, they are hijacking the links that should go back to the original site, experts say.

I would like to differentiate the use of the phrase "content generation services".  The phrase as used here by the author is used to describe a random article produced in reference solely for the purpose of using the content as a Digg article.  At Bloggers For Hire, we have a different approach.  We are a content generation service, but our content is used solely for the purpose of generating quality content for your business.   $15,000 in the right hands could produce results Digg could only dream. At Bloggers For Hire, we do things the old fashion way, we earn it.

Okay, that phrase was stolen, but I think you get my drift.

Tags: art2blog, , , , link jacking, Bloggers For Hire

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Is There A Real World Beyond The Blogosphere?

December 5, 2006 By 2 Comments

I used to be able to have an intelligent conversation about world news, about politics and about the latest in sports.  Now I can only seem to discuss what came across my feed reader.  I was joking with my wife about reading my daughter’s report card this time.

"Honey, can the school start sending these report cards via RSS?"

Actually that is very funny, but not a bad idea at all.  I should come up with a widget or application or something.  This Blogopreneur never stops churning out the ideas.

The reason I was thinking along the lines of news and what is happening in the world, is due to the fact that I noticed that something was being discussed on a blog.  Yeah, it’s where I get all my news.  I’m not sure if that is a good thing or a bad thing, but if a blog told me the sky was falling I would probably at least check two more blogs before I ran for cover.  How do you get your news?

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Barefoot Plays No Footsies With ReviewMe.com

December 1, 2006 By 4 Comments

I have been following the story closely about PayPerPost.com and the latest release of ReviewMe.com and have watched as bloggers attempt to disclose their involvement and generally how things are going on the "paid for consumer generated content".  One the people that recently posted a review for ReviewMe.com did so a little differently than I have seen and I wanted to point it out and add my little golf clap for a job well done.  Here is Darren Barefoot’s disclosure and his coup de Gras:

This is my first review for ReviewMe, first discussed around here a few weeks ago. The subject of the review pays me to review their product or service, though I’m under no obligation to provide a positive review. You can judge for yourself if this compromises me–it’s a question I’m eager to explore.

One other note: I’m using the rel=”nofollow” tag for ReviewMe companies, so that they’re not buying my link juice along with their review. (emphasis added)

This is a very good approach in my opinion, but I really took noticed and said bravo to his "no follow" tag rule.  It’s a single step that I have yet to see others publicly call to attention.  I’m, not sure if this violates any terms of service on the use of the ReviewMe.com system, but it does eliminate the thought that some had about advertisers’ paid for content by consumers scamming the Google system of link exchanging.  I will be curious if Darren get’s his check from the company requesting the review.  Haven’t they paid for that link?

Tags: PayPerpost.com, , Blogger disclosure, Darren Barefoot, no follow tag, ,

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Blogs Are Like Pliers

November 30, 2006 By Leave a Comment

In keeping with our Gumpisms about blogging, I ran across an article today by Tom Pick. His question, and one that should be asked by every business, is whether blogs are a marketing tool or a public relations tool? He’s right there hasn’t been enough written about this dilemma of choice as to which path a blog will take. My wishy washy Charlie Brown response is:

“A Blog is like a pair of pliers–they are not really a specific tool for a task, because they can be used to fix just about anything.”

I have seen blogs used as a marketing tool used to drive leads and sales to a website, I have seen blogs used as a public relations tool to stop the bleeding during a company crisis, and as a stage. I have seen blogs used as a website or retail store, and even as an encyclopedia of information about a certain topic, product line, or service. Blogs have more uses now than I can delve into in one post, but suffice it to say that I can use a blog like a set of pliers, you know, like changing diapers, fixing a VW Bug in college, or as a beer opener. Perhaps blogs are more like Duct Tape. In what way have you seen a blog used as a tool? Perhaps we can fill our blog tool shed with a list of uses.

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If Forrest Gump Was A Business Blogger

November 28, 2006 By 5 Comments

Actually, Forrest Gump in this case is Mike Sansone.  No Mike, I merely mean you have made a "Gumpism" out of business blogging.  I first met Mike Sansone at the Blog Business Summit in 2005. For a small town blogger, Mike can make a global splash in the blogosphere.  Mike is a fellow blog evangelist and blog consultant, and I try to get to his blog every day to get his latest bits of blogging wisdom.  It’s 11:55 p.m. my time, and I have finally made it to the last of my RSS feeds for the day. Mike has inspired a blog post that if I don’t stop and write now, it will somehow get filed away in a dark corner of my publisher where great blog posts or article ideas go to die.  This is not a post I want to be filed under "someday when I have time." 

Mike makes a crucial point that all businesses should take into consideration when making a blogging commitment:

Having Car Insurance doesn’t make you a better driver. Just because you have a blog doesn’t mean you’re all of a sudden better at marketing or that you’ll get more customers. 

I like the Gumpism of insurance not making a person a better driver.  The one I use is something along the lines of giving a man a rope doesn’t make him a cowboy.  The real purpose of the statement, and the point I hope to make, is that I have had many business owners that have seen my view of blogs and their purpose and value, and they sign off on a project that looks like a good investment and a good use of their resources.  Those businesses have made the leap and started down the path to successful blogging. Along that path they have somehow lost focus and the blog dies a slow and painful death, leaving behind great potential and superb content that is stored in the archives of a lost and pointless marketing strategy.  Blogging takes commitment and work.  For the business owner looking for the quick turnaround on their investment, blogging may be a disappointment in the early months of its infancy. 

Some businesses forget that blogging is not a short term solution, nor is it a magical tool that will somehow make inferior products better or poor service competitive.  I have used similar Gumpisms to describe my view of blogs after they have been brought into the world:

"A Blog is like a shoe box on the shelf in the closet–whatever you put into that box is what you will later take out of it"

or my often used:

"A Blog is like a garden you need good soil, proper planting, good watering and a little weeding for a bountiful harvest."

I’m beginning to fell like I’m channeling Forrest Gump!  My point is merely to give blogging a chance before it becomes just another one of the marketing schemes that were tried and failed. 

Tags: Mike Sansone, Blog Business Summit, blog evangelist, blog consulting, , ,

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Can Blogging Replace Pay-Per-Click and SEM Campaigns?

November 28, 2006 By 1 Comment

I have been speaking with a number of small businesses lately.  It seems that we have taken on the task of getting little companies in competition with global companies, expanding their reach to anyone with a computer.  One of the common denominators that seems to rear its ugly head in each conversation is the huge amounts of money being poured into pay-per-click (PPC) or paid search campaigns by these smaller companies.

Granted I have often said that a PPC campaign is a great idea for some, and it can increase traffic and sales, but if you are trying to capture those people using search for buying, PPC is not the best way to be spending your advertising dollar.  I recently spoke to a prospective client regarding their online marketing campaign.  The conversation revealed that they were spending nearly 100% of their advertising budget on PPC.  My next question was obvious, asking the amount of their budget.  Not everyone is interested in responding to that question, and in fact I don’t expect that I have ever been given the entire truth when given a response.  Actually whether the answer is proprietary, or an open book, my response is the same.

"After 3-6 months, how would you like to be putting your advertising budget you have been using in PPC and put it in the income column of your balance sheet?"

This statement is usually followed by a moment of silence and then some chuckle and they ask me if I’m asking them to buy oceanfront property in Arizona. 

According to a recent study reported by eMarketer.com:

The fact that marketers use PPC was clear from the survey. In fact, with 44% of e-commerce executives surveyed saying they allocate 20% of their entire advertising budgets to PPC search ads, it constitutes a significant portion of online marketing budgets.

They agree on where to spend PPC ad dollars, too. Of the marketers who invest in PPC campaigns:

  • 100% use Google
  • 90% use Yahoo!
  • 76% use MSN
  • 27% use Ask.com

The problem is that 40% of the respondents reported that they manage more than 5,000 keywords. To accomplish the task, 59% manage internally, 18% outsource and 24% use a combination of internal and outsourced solutions.

I’m not afraid to tell prospective clients about my PPC campaign and my SEM campaign budget.  It has always been $0.00, and chances are unless I change philosophy, it will remain such.  I do tell people that they should continue with their search engine marketing (SEM) and PPC efforts, as long as they are in good hands, but when the pool is full of water, it’s time to jump in and make a splash in organic search.  I have yet to find any campaign other than blog marketing that has been as successful in the organic search arena.   I would put a blog marketing campaign up against any other SEM campaign and bet the farm that I would win in the organic search race.  Think about your SEM campaign and the money you are spending, now put that money in your pocket every month and contact me about a blog campaign replacing your SEM philosophy.

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Tech Crunch Discovers New Virus In The Blogosphere

November 10, 2006 By 5 Comments

TechCrunch today invites us to visit another pay-per-post company that was just today launched to compete with Pay Per Post, CreamAid and LoudLaunch.  Mike is correct, there seems to be a recent surge or "virus" of this business model as companies continue to try to capitalize on the buzz created by the word of mouth marketing craze created in the blogosphere.  This model  may only be a quick fix, or a band aid for companies that really don’t understand the online experience of blogs. Blogging is not about buying bits and pieces of attention, its about participation and conversation between the company and the audience.  Purchasing a post here and there is not much different than Text Link Ads or merely link purchasing for the purpose of gaining "Google Juice" as we heard from Scoble.

I must tread lightly on this subject, because we at Bloggers For Hire are paid bloggers that companies hire to sit in the pilot’s seat of their company’s blog  taking the wheel of  content and moderation, making sure to navigate the blogosphere without crashing into the mountain called  "Mt. Transparency".  I have often struggled with taking a side as to whether pay-per-post was ethical or non-ethical.  My own belief is that disclosure is everything and should be the foremost of any business model that pays people to write a review or opinion of a product.  This is somewhat different than our own business model at B4H, as we are under the umbrella of the company that pays our bloggers to be their representative in the blogosphere.  We are a paid contractor to provide content about the company and the companies products or service.  We don’t advocate our own opinions, we educate for companies. Some companies want our bloggers to be more opinionated and gain a voice that takes a stand on a principal of the company, and that is fine, as long as the blogger fits their model. 

As I typed this I was also chatting with a client about disclosure issues and the issue of payperpost and his thoughts, and with his permission I wanted to quote him to make my point further:

…it’s only an issue when you are comparing products or recommending them." Ryan Wilson, COO, Intela.com

Is pay-per-post a "black hat" business model?  Some would say that it is but they are among the purists in the blogosphere.  The blogger capitalists that I speak to say that it is a great model that should be a money maker for bloggers all over and that companies should take advantage of the phenomena while they can.  Other people like Mike Arrington figure differently:

"Pay-To-Shill business model is spreading like a virus." ~ Michael Arrinton

Is there a distinction about how blogs make money?  Is Google Adsense a bloggers grift?  Are traffic numbers and readers a number like a gold standard that can be bought and sold like cattle in a marketplace?  Are links merely a currency that is exchanged by bloggers companies and search engines?  All of these questions have really not been answered to everyone’s satisfaction, but I do know that some of the early adopters of these practices are walking away shaking their heads and wondering what color Jaguar they will buy.  Me?  I want to walk away counting those bits of money that will at least pay for that freshman year of college.  I figure that with my business model I might be able to buy the books for the first semester for my oldest her first year in school.  When will I need to lay out that book money?  Lets just say she is 7.  Perhaps I should write about those diapers we are still buying and get paid!

Tags: , , CreamAid, LoudLaunch, , , , Bloggers For Hire, B4H, , Intela,

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Scoble Calls It Quits

November 3, 2006 By 1 Comment

This is what happens when you scan your feed reader to fast and try to comprehend the multitude of information that you have to cover in one day.  It could be that the cold medicine I took is always beginning to have its effect on my brain cells.  What Robert was talking about was not that he was going to quit blogging or going to quit at Podtech or even quit reading blogs.  What he is stopping is the number of emails he reads and answers about products or elevator pitches he gets in his email everyday. 

Like many A-List bloggers he complains that he has grown weary of PR firms pitching him to blog about their products or services.  Sure an endorsement from Scoble is worth more than an endorse from someone like me, but I can see how this could be cumbersome.  Last week I watched as Robert skipped the break during sessions at the Blog Business Summit to get through as many emails as possible.  I was merely trying to get my laptop to work.  I also saw Robert up until all hours of the morning networking with bloggers and talking about Podtech and other things that he was interested in.  He is a busy man.

I don’t write this because Robert Scoble is my hero, although he is pretty close when it comes to his knowledge of business blogging, I am more interested in his statement:

Anyway, it’s a real problem for a small company (or even a big one) to get noticed in today’s world. I don’t know what to do about it. I’ve given up.

This is a frightening statement coming from a guy that could launch a thousands blogs by one command.  Yeah, Robert of Scoble or some such crap.

As a small business owner it has been very difficult to get noticed.  I have networked, blogged, attended conferences, bought lunches and dinners and paid for drinks at the bar, but it comes down to one special thing.  What does you company have to offer that is unique and ideal in today’s world.  Anyone can be a blog consultant in my industry.  Heck, there are times when I wonder what I’m doing calling myself an expert in blogging.  The thing that I feel differentiates us from any of the other blog consultancies is our passion for blogging and our fervor to see companies gain that same passion.  We love blogging so much, we started Bloggers For Hire because some of our passionate blogger friends also wanted to blog for companies that wanted a blogger.  I’m not so eager to quit, and by this Robert, I am in no way considering you a quitter, but it might just get this little company noticed.

Tags: , , One By One Media, Bloggers For Hire, , , , Blog Consulting Podtech

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Getting and Keeping People Informed: Collaborative Intelligence

October 27, 2006 By Leave a Comment

Tris Hussey, Scott Goldblatt and I have been speaking about RSS feeds and how we can provide our clients and customers with a competitive advantage in online intelligence through web feeds. At the Blog Business Summit today we may have found and answer through the breakfast host Attensa, and their Director of Marketing, Scott Niesen. This company is shouting from the mountain top what we want to provide our clients and a message we stand behind:

The RIGHT info; to the RIGHT people; at the RIGHT time.

Giving our client’s an edge up on the competition is something we strive for in addition to providing a marketing and strategy through the use of blogs. Some of the buzz phrases used in the presentation, and phrases that we had in our discussions include:

  • Competitive Intelligence
  • Brand Monitoring
  • Early Warning System
  • Preemptive Strikes of Information
  • Attention Metrics
  • Information Conduits
  • Influencers

These will be some of the buzz phrases used by marketers and PR professionals, and you will be hearing them in boardrooms and cube farms across forward thinking businesses. We hav a strategy for using companies like Attensa to its full potential, and we can leverage this power to make you number one in your niche in online marketing and you strategy to compete in the online world. We are excited to show you how to have a competitive advantage.

Tags: Attensa, Scott Niesen, , BBS06, Tris Hussey, Scott Goldblatt, , , One By One Media, Bloggers For Hire

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