Archive for the 'Search Engines' Category

Website Redsign and Gen-Y Instincts

Let’s say you are 45-year-old business manager and you put a lot of time, money and effort is put into building a new web site.

Three weeks later you hire a gen-y college grad and they suggest you upgrade your web site. How dare they, right? What the hell do they know?

It’s true they might not of thought about what they were saying and how they said it, nor could they explain exactly how you should improve things, but don’t be afraid to trust their instincts.

Gen-y is programmed to say what they think and they are also trained to judge a business by how slick and how easy a web site is to use.

If you don’t believe them, consider the following list of tell tale signs that it is time to upgrade your web site.

Signs that it is Time to Upgrade your Web Site:

  1. Your web site looks like to could have been built with geocities in 1998. What do I mean? You have 12 different font types, sizes and color. Images are from clip art. Things are slightly misaligned. Navigation is not universal and you have an image as a background.
  2. You are not receiving any organic traffic. This is a no brainer. Let your targeted audience think that they are the one initiating the conversation and good things will happen.
  3. People complain that things are tough to find on your website. If this is true, they might not trust you as a business manager. It might turn them off to the point that they don’t want to buy anything from your web site.
  4. Your website doesn’t reflect your business objectives. Within four seconds of visiting your site, it should be clear to a first time visitor what you do and why you do it better.

The Mashed Potatoes Internet Marketing Model

I have been thinking a lot of how I would present Internet Marketing Strategy to people who have never heard of SEO, SEM, SERPS and Social Bookmarking.

As my mind wandered, I thought about a bunch of odd puns and clichés involving potatoes that might make such a presentation seem interesting and unique.

So with no further ado, here is how I explain Internet marketing using potatoes.

  1. Set goals and know what you want to accomplish with your website. Set-up your method of conversion, and limit the rest of your primary objectives to just two or three things. The rest is just small potatoes.
  2. Know what your potential customers want to find on the Internet and do your best to deliver on that.

Mashed Potatoes Internet Marketing
Now what do you do after you set goals and know what your potential customers frequently search for on the internet? – Mix them together like mashed potatoes.

I know this may be a bit simplistic, however I think it works well when explaining the importance and potential found in creating a corporate blog. And even if you decide to leave out the potato puns, maybe this article will get you thinking about the importance of creating content.

Google & Apple Turmoil: Consumers Will Win

As Google CEO, Eric Schmidt currently sits on the Apple’s Board of Directors, bloggers and journalists alike are beginning to raise questions about the relationship between the two companies as they converge in the mobile industry.

BusinessWeek is reporting turmoil in the relationship between Google and Apple. Additionally, the influential blogger, Andy Beal of Marketing Pilgim, seems to think that Apple-Google story is a bit over blown, and the two companies will end up working on something together.

As for me, I tend to agree more with Mr. Beal. I don’t think anyone really knows how this relationship will work out. I don’t think Google knows, and I don’t think Apple knows.

What I do know is that each company has a reputation for appealing to consumers and technology purists – the type of consumer that is loyal and notices attempts at making decisions based on the greater good. So if this holds true, I expect each company to work out their differences, which will lead to good things for comsumers.

Timberwolves Pay the Pick, SEO Rap and Photoshop Disasters

Minnesota Timberwolves LogoTimberwolves Pay the Pick Promotion - Timberwolves.com
I am not sure the average attendance at Minnesota Timberwolves games, however one Timberwolves blog suggested the team was averaging under 15,000 as of mid-December. With the continued losing, it is hard to imagine it got any higher than that.

This year the Timberwolves decided to put together a promotion, selling season tickets at a per ticket dollar amount equal to the team’s lottery draft number. Meaning that if the Timberwolves get the number one pick, each ticket costs one dollar. The kicker is that you have to buy the tickets before the draft, but that didn’t stop me. I picked up my tickets yesterday morning and am very much looking forward to the upcoming season. Go Timberwolves!

Design Code, SEO Rap – Youtube
The Poetic Prophet (AKA The SEO Rapper) breaks down search engine optimization with another marketing rap. This time he describes how web standards and proper design can affect the ranking and conversion of pages on your site. The poetic prophet works at Poplabs in Houston, Tex. I was most impressed by the thoroughness and accuracy of what he says. It is pretty cool.

Red Bull: Gives You Nightmares – Photoshop Disasters
Photoshop Disasters is a pretty funny web site that looks for exactly what is soundslike – photoshop disasters. Readers can submit examples that they find. I hope they don’t check out my web sites. j/k

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About Allan Woodstrom

Minneapolis, MN, USA
Marketing and Communications Specialist
[AllanWoodstrom.com]

Marketing Breakdown

Read all of my marketing insights at MarketingBreakdown.com.
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