The David Ogilvy Playbook for Business Blogging

The David Ogilvy Playbook for Business Blogging
(from Copyblogging)

Copyblogger ferrets out these gems (and more) from Ogilvy:

“The headline is the ‘ticket on the meat.’ Use it to flag down readers who are prospects for the kind of product you are advertising.”
“On the average, five times as many people read the headline as read the body copy. When you have written your headline, you have spent eighty cents out of your dollar.”
“I don’t know the rules of grammar… If you’re trying to persuade people to do something, or buy something, it seems to me you should use their language, the language they use every day, the language in which they think. We try to write in the vernacular.”
“I have a theory that the best ads come from personal experience. Some of the good ones I have done have really come out of the real experience of my life, and somehow this has come over as true and valid and persuasive.”
“Good copy can’t be written with tongue in cheek, written just for a living. You’ve got to believe in the product.”
“The more informative your advertising, the more persuasive it will be.”
“What really decides consumers to buy or not to buy is the content of your advertising, not its form.”
“Nobody has ever built a brand by imitating somebody else’s advertising.”

In addition to Ogilvy, you may find the foundational works of Hopkins, Caples and Burnett also quite useful and entertaining.

-dkb

Why Search Engine Optimization Matters to Small Business

Search engine marketing (SEM) is a large area that we won’t try to cover all of in this article. SEM is the implementation of a variety of search engine processes and services to help market your business via a search engine. Today, however, we are focusing on Search Engine Optimization (SEO).

Optimizing your web site to perform well on search engines can be a critical part of your online success. Search engines play a large role in how people navigate the Internet, so if someone is looking for your services or products online, sooner or later they will use a search engine. Your relevance to these search results can significantly impact the ability of search engines to deliver a user to your site. Studies have shown that those sites that show up on the first page of search results for a keyword receive six times more traffic than they did prior to their appearance.

The first thing I ask a client when we begin discussing SEO is “where does your web site get its traffic?” Most successful small business web sites glean only a small percentage of their overall traffic from search engines, if any at all. They have gotten their traffic from either their current client base or their promotions on their vehicles or other traditional advertising methods. My objective at this point is to see if an SEO plan would be good for them.

The next step is to review actual Internet search usage. The tool we use most frequently for this is the Keyword Selector Tool from Yahoo! Search Marketing. Using this tool, we can look at past activity on the Yahoo search engine. A rule of thumb is that Yahoo represents about 25% of all search engine traffic, so when you see the number of searches associated with a term, multiply by 4 to get a general idea of Internet search demand.

Oftentimes, a keyword is typed in and the telling response of “No suggestions for this keyword” is returned. You would not believe the keywords that some business owners believe are used to find them on the web. This exercise teaches us very quickly how to jump into the seat of the search engine user. Afterwards, we fairly quickly begin to identify keywords that do apply to the business that are also experiencing at least some demand based on the Keyword Selector Tool.

Now we have some direction.

The next step is to take this list of 20 or so keywords and determine with which the best opportunities exist to optimize your site. We do this several ways. One, we simply do a search on those terms and visually see how relevant the results are and what the pay-per-click activity against that keyword is. I typically just use Google and Yahoo for such research. This method is fairly ambiguous and depends a lot on experience.

Secondly, we run what is called a KEI analysis. This fancy acronym stands for a formula that looks at the demand for a particular keyword and then the supply of pages out on the Internet that are relevant to that keyword. In my opinion, opportunity exists for my client with any keyword with a KEI of 10 or higher.

Finally, we evaluate how best to deploy those keywords over your site. Should we optimize just the first page? Or should we look at creating sub-pages as well?

Once we have narrowed the list and decided on which pages to optimize, we go through the process of making your site relevant for the keyword selected. In my company, we use an optimization tool that considers the current search algorithms from Yahoo and Google (as best as they can be determined through observation) and lets us know what changes we need to make to the particular page in order for it to achieve the ideal level of relevance. Once these changes are completed, we then move on to the next page and perform the same operation until your site is relevant to the keyword selections from the previous process.

Optimizing for keyword relevancy, however, is just one battle in the effort of search engine marketing. In my next article, we will take a look at the importance of link popularity and the role it plays in placing your site above the crowd when you are all equally relevant.

Darryl Parker is the founder and President of Internet marketing and Charlotte web site design firm Parker Web Developers. This series on web marketing is intended to present useful tips for business owners and decision makers. The series precedes an upcoming book compiling these topics. Your feedback is greatly appreciated.

How to Select and Manage a Business Domain Name

Selecting and managing a domain name properly can save you a lot of frustration in the future. Here is some guidance I offer my friends and clients when they ask me about this most important task:

1. Does the domain end in .com? The .com top level domain (TLD) is by far the most popular and most recognized TLD. The most successful and most memorable web domain names will end in .com.


2. Does the domain reflect your business correctly? The company name is the best route here. When either that is not available or if you are trying to promote a particular campaign, keep in mind that someone should be able to look at or hear your domain name and understand what it is that you do.


3. How long is the domain name? Not that size always matters, but the shorter the better in this situation. My domain, www.parkerwebdevelopers.com, is a bit to bite off, but I selected because it is my company name and there is no question as to what I do.


4. Is your domain easily misspelled? Some examples are fortimes.com (could be fourtimes.com or 4times.com) or an uncommon name or word that may be hard to spell. Other examples are intentional misspellings of words so that you are able to find a .com address that is available (i.e. smallbiz.com or webkorner.com). If you are concerned about this, tell a few people the domain name and have them write it out for you. This will give you a quick idea of the effectiveness of the domain.


5. Multiple domains for a single company are not a bad idea IF you are planning only on using them to track your traditional advertising efforts. However, I do NOT recommend using multiple domains for your online promotion effort. An important factor in your Internet presence is link popularity and this effort should not be diluted by more than one domain to promote. If you go the multiple domain route, select the primary domain that will be used online with search engines and other promotions and stick with it.


6. Buying a domain. Purchasing domains is a fairly straightforward process. I recommend www.godaddy.com for price and ease of use and ongoing management. For less than $10 a year, you can have your own domain name reserved. By managing this process yourself, you can save a lot time in the future (especially if you have multiple domains).


7. It is also my recommendation that you set up your domain to automatically renew. There is nothing like being successful a year later and all of a sudden your domain expires and your site drops. I’ve seen it happen, it isn’t pretty and, more times than not, it seems to happen just when the site is needed most.

Darryl Parker is the founder and President of Internet marketing and Charlotte web site design firm Parker Web Developers. This series on web marketing is intended to present useful tips for business owners and decision makers. The series precedes an upcoming book compiling these topics. Your feedback is greatly appreciated.

Is RSS advertising -- placing ads in 3rd party RSS feeds -- the next hot media buy?

MarketingSherpa.com : Practical News & Case Studies on Internet Advertising, Marketing & PR

...now that Google's started putting AdSense ads into RSS feeds, and major news sites such as USAToday.com and NYTimes.com are seeing double-digit monthly leaps in RSS-usership, we bet reach won't be a problem by 2006.

Interested? Check out our exclusive behind-the-scenes look at how Citrix's GoToMeeting just tested RSS and Podcasting ads:

MarketingSherpa's 10 Best Blogs for 2005

MarketingSherpa.com : Practical News & Case Studies on Internet Advertising, Marketing & PR

OK. So we're not in there. Tomorrow is another day...

Blog Advertising Network

CrispAds
With CrispAds, you can create effective text based ads that are distributed to millions of blogs and their associated RSS or ATOM feeds world-wide. Blog advertising is a brand new advertising channel that is emerging as a highly targetted, effective advertising medium.

Advertising, editorial lines blur as bloggers' salaries tied to traffic

Online Journalism Review

Rick E. Bruner's Report on Online Advertising 1994-2004

Hugo E. Martin on Media, Marketing & Internet

DIY Blog Advertising

In the age of Google Adsense, running your own advertising on a blog can be a minefield for the new blogger or experienced blogger alike. A variety of interesting terms are often used and knowing what to charge is can also be difficult, but the rewards can make the effort worthwhile...

It s All About Content

Today, Jeremy Pepper takes a look at the value of content. From many perspectives, content is still considered king. And why not? If you don't have good content, chances are you won't be able to secure advertising for your site, Google or otherwise.

Data Analysis Software

Arbitron

Featuring:
SmartPlus - SmartPlus is an easy-to-use multimedia application that gives you powerful analytic and reporting tools and outputs pre- and post-buy reports in formats that are ready for e-mailing or posting to your Web site.
TAPSCAN - TAPSCAN® Radio helps you find the best stations for your radio buy with detailed research, scheduling and reporting options.
Media Professional - a buying and planning application that gives you access to Arbitron respondent-level radio ratings data and to listening data for otherwise non-reported stations.
Media Professional Plus - enables you to buy and plan for radio without the restrictions of standard radio Metros.
Custom Coverage - helps you analyze, plan and buy radio listening at both the county level and outside of standard Arbitron Metros.
TVSCAN - allows you to run demo, trending and ranking reports for television viewing data and plan, schedule and post television advertising.
Market Analysis - allows you to tap into Competitive Media Reporting (CMR) data on local market TV advertising expenditures.
QUALITAP - helps you uncover the lifestyles and media habits of specific demographic and geographic groups.
MEDIAMASTER - is a mixed-media campaign reporting tool that helps you see the impact of an entire campaign. Examine radio, television, print, cable and outdoor media buys in a single report, all with the same base of comparison.
PRINTSCAN - allows you to plan, buy and track newspapers and magazines simultaneously, as well as create insertion orders, track revisions and cancellations.
PrintPlus - simplifies print buying and lets you do more work in less time.
Marketmate - Marketmate-TV and Marketmate-Radio, from IMS, are planning applications that easily tabulate local market reach and frequency for all TV and radio markets.
NEWScope - NEWScope helps you effectively evaluate newspaper schedules on a market-by-market basis by giving you access to circulation data for both daily and Sunday newspapers.
MediaMix - Use this optimal system to combine reach and frequency results for broadcast TV, radio, magazine, newspaper, cable, outdoor and other media schedules to get bottom-line results for your media buy.
MRPrf - a Web-based solution that helps you quickly create winning media plans. It combines all media and all markets in one easy-to-use application.
Brandfx - a powerful media flowcharting software that gives you all the flexibility and functionality of a spreadsheet along with all the analytical strength of a custom media flowchart program.
Local RollUp - a versatile reporting solution that complements Brandfx perfectly. It applies advanced database technology that consolidates, organizes and summarizes all of your planning data from Brandfx flowcharts into a single, comprehensive information resource.

MarketingSherpa Issues Call for Nominations to 2nd Annual Best Blog Awards

MarketingSherpa today announced the launch of its 2nd Annual Best Blog Awards for the marketing, advertising and public relations communities.Nominations are free and may be submitted by anyone (blog author or fan) using the nomination form located here.

Awards will be given in seven categories:

1. Best b-to-b marketing-topic blog
2. Best blog on online marketing (Search, email, Web, etc.)
3. Best PR-topic blog
4. Best advertising-topic Blog
5. Best blog on small business marketing
6. Best individual’s blog on the general overall topic of marketing, advertising & PR
7. Best group (multi-author) weblog on the general overall topic of marketing, advertising & PR

Geez...I guess we could conceivably be nominated for any of these categories. So...what are you waiting for???

Internet Will Lead Integration Efforts in Next Wave of the Evolution of Marketing Says New Marketing Guru Joseph Jaffe

Jaffe to Release Excerpts from New Book at Digital Marketing Conference & Expo

excerpt:
NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 14, 2005--Joseph Jaffe, one of the most prolific thought leaders in new marketing, will give audience members at next week's Digital Marketing Conference on April 19 - 20, 2005 at the Metropolitan Pavilion in New York City, a sneak peek at his upcoming book - "Life After the 30-Second Spot."
In addition, attendees at the conference will be privy to a talk on how the Internet will lead marketing and advertising integration to the next stage of growth. Mr. Jaffe will discuss the role of online marketing and how it fits into the integrated mix in today's marketplace.
"Without the Internet - integrated marketing communications does not exist," said Mr. Jaffe. "We need to expand our thinking beyond 'vertical' integration to one which embraces both 'horizontal' and 'holistic' integration. The Digital Marketing Conference and Expo is the perfect platform to explore the idea that the Internet is no longer just a direct response mechanism - rather it is the chameleon of modern day marketing and the ultimate integrator."

Make way blogging, podcasting is here!

Taipei Times - archives

excerpt...
If you've never heard of a podcast, here's a brief description. The concept was developed last summer when Adam Curry, 41, a former VJ for MTV and an inveterate tech tinkerer, became intrigued with the idea of freeing Internet radio and audio blogs from his computer and putting them on the capacious drive of his Apple iPod.

He called the result podcasting, named after the Apple iPod that is often at the center of the system.

The basic idea is instead of listening to radio over the airwaves, you download the radio shows you want from the Internet onto your iPod and listen to them when you want.

That may not seem such a revolutionary idea, except for the fact that the wonders of digital technology make it easy for anyone who wants to record his own radio show to upload them to various sites that then use syndication feeds to deliver the radio segments directly to listeners' MP3 players.
...
"Podcasting will shift much of our time away from an old medium where we wait for what we might want to hear to a new medium where we choose what we want to hear, when we want to hear it," noted Linux guru Doc Searls when he discovered podcasting way back in September.

"It is totally going to kill the business model of radio," Curry said. He believes that mainstream media and advertising companies are rapidly losing the ability to reach their audiences as the decline of network television, the rise of the Internet and the fragmentation of the media make the models that have existed for the last 50 years rapidly obsolete.
...
But Dave Winer, who teamed with Curry to launch the first podcasts and is also the writer of the longest-running blog on the net, Scripting News, is more sanguine and warns against expecting an overnight revolution.

"We're the sources, the people doing stuff, and podcasting is a way to tell people who care what we're doing," Winer told the BBC last week.

NYU School of Journalism's Jay Rosen on local happenings

What's in PressThink's Pocket? Citizen Journalism!

4. The 101 sites spread. Will there soon be a network of local switchboards? First there was Greensboro 101, a local blog directory that became a local portal site, a natural competitor, and possible partner to the local newspaper site. Then there was Charlotte 101, kind of a franchise deal with Charlotte bloggers Dave Beckwith and Darryl Parker to do a similar thing. Now, cleverly timed to BlogNashville, there is Nashville 101, the third operation from Roch Smith, Jr., founder of Greensboro101.com. See my earlier interview with him. ("I've been contacted by media people wanting to replicate the Greensboro101 concept in other cities.") He e-mailed me with his expanded strategy:

Our plan is to provide turn-key 101s for individuals or groups who wish to operate one in their city. We have over 200 [cityname]101 domain names registered and plan to promote them as local citizen media cites through cities101.com (not up yet).

In addition to gearing up to roll out more cities, we are in the process of developing an ad system that will not only coordinate the placement of advertising on the 101s (the revenue from which will be shared with the participating operators ), but that will also allow participation by local bloggers who will also share in the revenue. The idea is to create geographically targeted online advertising opportunities that can sustain localized citizens media to the very end of the long tail.

And so we can squint and see a local infrastructure in place, nationally. Not that Smith is going to corner the market any time soon. There are many similar sites going in other cities, and each one may be considered a potential contender with the local newspaper in the race for a Journalism 2.0 approach that works. See PhillyFuture for one example. SanDiegoBlog for another. Here's one in Vancouver.

In Journalism 2.0 (the way I explain it to myself) the People Formerly Known as the Audience, safely considered "consumers" during one era, are more involved in production. Interactivity makes daily journalism into a better, faster learning machine, which means it can improve its accuracy many times over. And in the 2.0 era new ways to pay for good work emerge from a variety of directions-- the media industry is only one, and not the most likely solution.

Civic entrepreneurs like Roch Smith, Jr.--who are paid in influence, and the satisfaction of seeing your creation thrive--are equally likely to have good answers to the puzzles presented by Journalism 2.0. With most in the industry unwilling to spend, the need for experiment and innovation is being met from outside.

The Josh Kaufman "Personal MBA" Program

Seth says that you can get most of the value of an MBA education without forking over the big bucks by reading 30-40 books. I agree.

Check out the Personal MBA Reading List! Not a bad selection, although I believe there may be holes here and there. For example, there is no mention of John Caples' "Tested Advertising Methods", Claude Hopkins' "Scientific Advertising", David Ogilvy's "On Advertising", Harry Beckwith's "Selling the Invisible"...which should be Ad/Marketing staples. And for Big Ideas, we are only given Ayn Rand and Jonathan Livingston Seagull.
But what can you do? If you want to feel like an MBA without going through the rigors of the classroom, and with only reading 40 books...here is the way to go.

(Thanks to the ever-interesting ThoughtSignals for the link)

Search Industry Maturing

Search Industry Maturing
"The days of a website being a picture that contained a thousand words are long over. Today's successful websites can be found using a multiple number of search-tools such as; image search, local search, video search, audio search and organic search. A successful search-campaign also involves making sure a reference to the site is virtually forced on users through contextual advertising programs such as Overture and AdWords. The establishment of a corporate blog for clients is the last step of a highly sophisticated search marketing campaign. By offering better technologies, search engines offer marketers much larger tracts of real estate to work from. User adoption of many of these technologies pushes search marketers to figure out how to best use them as well. "

Penn Media converts 50 email newsletters to Blogs

Rick E. Bruner's Business Blog Consulting: Penn Media Converts 50 Email Newsletters to Blogs

Mokena, IL Penn Media announced today that it will publish fifty of its flagship owned and operated e-zines as Blogs, positioning them as one of the largest publishers of consumer trade blogs. It has contracted with Pheedo, Inc. to guide them through the evolution and provide RSS and Weblog advertising services.

HBS What a Blog Can Do for Your Small Business

Harvard Business School

Article at About.com
excerpts:
The blogging movement is picking up speed with the launch of blogs on our About.com network and the purchase of blog software company Pyra Labs to Google. More companies are experimenting with the blog environment. Will blogging become the next mainstream application like email? Will business blogs improve your business?

What does Blogging Provide to Small Business?
-Blog software is easy to use. Simply write your thoughts, link to resources, and publish to your blog, all at the push of a few buttons. Blog software companies such as, Movable Type, Blogger.com and Radio Userland all offer easy blogging tools to get started.
-Blogging is a low-cost alternative to having a web presence. For small business owners without the time to learn web html or the money to hire a designer/developer, blogging offers an inexpensive method to get your company's name out on the Internet.
-Updating the weblog is a much quicker process than contacting a web designer with changes or doing the coding and uploading yourself.
-Business blogs provide your small business with a chance to share your expertise and knowledge with a larger audience. A powerful benefit for consultants and knowledge workers. Examples of Business Blogs

Gizmodo is a weblog about everything about gadgets and gizmos for those who want to remain on the cutting edge of consumer electronics. As a web magazine, Gizmodo is quickly building a specialized audience in consumer electronics with an advertising business model.
Research Buzz is an excellent resource tool for Internet research. An information provider, Research Buzz provides advertising and a special paid edition of their newsletter.
Joel on Software is a blog that displays Joel Spolsky's knowledge and views on software development. The blog acts as a method for Joel to highlight his expertise and promote his small business, Fog Creek Software.
Jupiter Research, a top business market research company has a blog for each company analyst. The weblog provides analysts with the means to connect with their audience on a regular basis.
Loosetooth.com Shop Blog, by Brandy Agerbeck, is an online art shop blog that provide customers with a way to get to know the store owner. This blog is an e-commerce site with buy and shop options.
MacroMedia the software company provides a customer service blog for users and staff to share solutions in an organized fashion.
Blogs do have a downside. Blogging does not provide the functionality of web pages, has limits for e-commerce solutions and can be time-consuming with regular posts. But with minimal costs, it maybe advantageous to start blogging and position your business early. Is your small business blog ready?
Other Guides:
Anatomy of a Blog
A Blog Can Help Your Business
Business Blog Resources