Remember your RSS feed

My secretary won passes to a local fair by visiting our local WZZM-TV website, noticing the contest, and entering.

I've been subscribed to their RSS feed for maybe a year. Had no idea the contest was being offered.

Lesson: If you have an RSS feed, make sure you are feeding worthwhile (and promotional) content to the subscribers, assuming that they aren't otherwise going to go to the website.

Now she gets to go see Tesla in concert and I don't. Darn. (No, not really.)

(UPDATE: Larry, click on the link for a sample on Tesla's splash page...sounds like Aerosmith to me. My musical tastes BTW are: 80s pop/new wave, mash-ups, and blues.)

Being settled in: a reply

Last week I lamented what some may call 'blogger burnout' or writer's block, or a mid-life crisis. Or I called it 'settled in'. Blogging has become familiar and unmotivating (and ditto for what my posts actually say, at least to me).

I've pondered this and come up with a list of things that keep us energized for projects and roles in life:

1. Talking or working with other people
2. Maintaining goals or concrete visions
3. Working from to-do lists or 'next actions'

Well, guess what...none of these really apply to blogging:

1. I am working solo
2. My blog is a side-project, not a goal
   
3. There is not a 'to-do' list of coming posts

This is true of nearly all blogs. No wonder it is easy to get settled in or burned out. This is a fact of life for a blogger.

What I have resorted to (and was suggested by Ben) is looking at subjects to branch-out to or re-evaluating the kind of posts I make. There is a lot more I could easily write about in my day-to-day job, but I don't want to say too much about what goes on internally here. (An interesting trap I've created for myself.)

The other challenge with new sub-topics is that doing so requires new and more intense focus, as well as significantly more work in creating original content. And because they are new topics, finding exactly what to say can become a cause of writers block. I am hoping that short 'theme weeks' could be manageable.

The good news is that sub-topics would be mini-goals...that would create to-do lists, satisfying two of my three motivators! Guess I'll just have to resort to talking to myself to satisfy the first condition. ;-) Doesn't completely solve the settled-in feeling, but it does keep things fresh and a little challenging.

Is CPA helpful to B2B AdSense campaigns?

Perhaps you've heard of Google's mantra, "do no evil". I was concerned that their going-public would shift the focus of their company towards profiteering, if not evil. As it turns out, they seem to have been too clumsy (and blessed by Wall Street) to be digging for profits.

Staying squarely in the 'no evil' category, the big story this week is that they are testing AdSense payment based on "Cost per action", or CPA. A click-thru would not be enough, the visitor would have to 'convert', or achieve a goal on the website. Advertisers using this model would only pay for traffic that matters, and risk of click-fraud (i.e. evil) would go away. For the sites hosting the ad, a potentially higher pay-off should offset their PPC income.

This sounds great, but there are questions that seem hard to resolve, especially for advertisers like me (which is maybe why Google is only 'testing' CPA).

The obvious technicality is that for a lot of smaller & B2B businesses, the most common 'action' coming from their website is a phone call. And these are the people who also are paying much more per-click in their current PPC campaigns. Which means they have a lot more at risk for click-fraud yet cannot rely on CPA to help due to the untraceable phone call.

The other problem is simply numbers. AdSense needs thousands of impressions just to create PPC activity worth mentioning. And of those clicks, only another 1-2% are going to convert. And because that conversion for small or B2B businesses is not a sale, we aren't going to want to pay a high bounty for 'just a lead' (unless quality can be determined).

Russ Perkins, at InfoCommerce Group, points out a deeper issue in this week's newsletter, titled Does CPA Add Up To Trouble? that this would once-again upset the apple cart regarding the job of advertisers and the publishers carrying the AdSense ads:

"If CPA takes off with advertisers, and I think it will, we have to watch it closely. If it remains limited to publishers getting paid (hopefully a lot) for generating hard sales leads, that's one thing, and a number of us could do quite well in this environment. If it morphs (as I predict it will) to advertisers demanding to pay only when they make a sale, we as an industry have to draw the line. The purpose of advertising is to stimulate interest, not guarantee profits."

While the CPA program may flourish with e-commerce businesses, I don't see it gaining a foothold in the B2B sphere.

In addition, I will go one further: As B2B advertisers look closer at their spending and conversion rates with AdSense (as compared to AdWords), they will start to pull out of AdSense.

The next smart place to try is Google's Site Targeting, which is paid on a CPM basis, but allows you to choose what sites to run your ad. That kind of human selection should provide a greater chance of clicks and conversions.

Got game? Now ThomasNet does

Globalspec has tried games as a way to promote their website, so you know that ThomasNet has to try it...ThomasNet is sponsoring the "MikeMan" game, which is actually a promotion vehicle for ESPN-Radio's morning show.

Thomas gets 'brand recognition', especially with their famous green color. But the game is just a Pac-man knock off. One that you don't want to play during office hours (whereas the Globalspec game you could leave up in your browser after each turn to get some work done). I think the presense of text ads under the game only diminishes the recognition value, too.

If I were Thomas, I would go back and read what Globalspec had to say about using games to attract engineers. I think Globalspec was much more savvy about what they were trying to accomplish, if not especially successful.

Here's the game: ESPN.com - ESPNRADIO - MikeMan

Marketing Nitwit: Calling Supernanny

What better to do when you feel down (see yesterday's post) than to find a proverbial 'dog to kick'...must mean its time for Dave to anoint a new Marketing Nitwit.

The nitwit today is Thales Components with this lug of a website.

• It is nearly all graphics which makes it look so 1997. The "latest news" is a link to a scanned press release! Yuck.
• The navigation is poor, with very similar choices of: About us, Customer Care, and Contact. (May not sound so bad till you see what each leads to.)
• The product pages are loaded with pull-down menus that pop-up windows of other sites from their corporate family--let me see all the choices without having to click each menu, please!

This company is just a subsidiary of their North American parent, who has a very neat, clean website. Looks like Thales has a spoiled, out of control child. So even though the parent looks all together, we all know that unruly kids are products of poor parenting. Time to call in Supernanny, I think!

Dog kicked...there, that's better.

What to do when you've settled in?

I was talking with someone at church on Sunday who recently started a new job. This job is part of a start-up company that is beginning to manufacture its own products. He relayed how exciting it was and how much dedication it was demanding. For someone who has held hourly labor type jobs previously, I think he now has a start with a career.

Me, being the conversationalist, related my observation that there is about a three year period with a new house (or new job) where large tasks get undertaken and completed. After that energy and distractions creep in and progress slows...or stops.

In my mind, I extended this observation to what has been bugging me about B2Blog. Over the last four years I've explored a lot and written a lot. I've found my voice and place in the blogosphere. I don't want to say I've exhausted myself and the subject, but I do feel exhausted. Settled in. Happier sitting on the couch than putting up dry-wall, if you know what I mean.

Well, not happier sitting. My thoughts bug me. They want to be written. But getting off the couch seems so much harder sometimes. Determination gets things done, but tackling those big jobs is so hard. And, quite honestly, my job and home life have similar lulls right now.

I could add to the metaphor that reading other blogs is like watching TV. So much easier to be entertained. But even now that content seems so familiar and vacuous. I leave the couch not energized, but drained.

The fellow at church I was speaking to found his new job only after being laid-off. It was a surprising twist for him and his family, something that they didn't want. But in the end he is better off and excited to go to work. Of course, I told him, that's a push off a cliff-edge that I don't want either.

So, I am left with the nagging question that is the title of this post, "What to do when you've settled in?" I could babble on with what could be done, but I'd rather the question linger a little longer in my mind (and yours). (And 'what could be done' is different than what will actually be achieved, which would just make this another vacuous post.)

To be continued...

The evil is still out there

Back in 2004 I posted a couple times about 'black-hat SEO company' Traffic Power (later First Place or 1P). I thought I would do a quick refresher, since they are still out there. My last post about them has garnered 19 comments with warnings and tails-of-woe.

FYI: SEO means 'search engine optimization' and black-hat means 'bad'. A good review of the history is here.

Their MO:

1. They do outbound telemarketing for their services, and they bite hard!
2. They make promises to get you to the top of Google.
3. How they do their SEO work is not the point here, but it relies on techniques that have been judged as 'against the rules' or ineffective.
   
4. They operate so many URLs, addresses, and phone numbers they are hard to nail down. (Their current main website 1pfirstplace.com has just one hit in Google right now. This post will make it two.)
5. They wrap themselves in the shroud of the BBB like this.

While the Las Vegas BBB has publicly listed the number of complaints and the Wall Street Journal has written about them, they continue to dodge true legal action, from what I can tell.

I just wanted to remind folks out there that this stuff is still going on two years later. Not sure if there is anything can be done that hasn't already been tried. Posting this should help those 'marks' who are smart enough to search for info on this company/group and dig thru the maze of names and URLs.

Road-block or road-map?

When brainstorming, you are supposed to leave all the 'yea buts' out and just hammer on making a list of ideas. I agree. But once an idea is being moved forward, all bets are off. And I feel a little guilty about that.

You see, myself and and someone from our finance department were asked to review specific parts of our terms-of-sale. As a marketer and former sales guy, I was hopeful that this would be an opportunity to streamline our process and save us some headaches.

But change is fraught with peril. The greatest peril is opening a can of worms. We had our opening meeting and agreed on what needed to be done and how. And then the worms started coming. It was too much to bare and we soon adjourned.

Instead of meeting again, I instead wrote a long email full of bullet points, trying to put names on each of those pesky worms. It felt silly writing a memo for a committee of two, but those worms needed names and needed to be counted, something that couldn't be done easily in a meeting.

Road-block?
When I described my memo to one of our sales people, that's when I started to feel guilty. Did I just create a road-block for our project? Should I have limited the scope so we could move forward? Would it have been better to meet again? Will the project die on the vine? Guilt!

Road-map?
After a weekend to ponder, I still agree with my actions. The memo becomes a road-map of success, with all of the holes in the road marked. Either with it or without, success will be challenging. But moving forward without all these issues addressed would just become a game of "Whack-a-Mole" (or to carry the analogy, wack-a-worm), which is not a good management method, don't you think?

And if the project dies, it won't be the memo that killed it, but the 'worms' named within it. In that case there shouldn't be guilt, but only sadness.

The vibe from the show

One of the features I enjoy in trade publications is 'from the floor' trade show reports. Us marketers certainly aren't there for technical discovery, but I think even the engineers at a show are looking to feel 'the vibe' at the show. And publications should deliver that vibe for those who can't make it.

Here is just such a report that delivers the vibe, from Circuits Assembly editor Mike Buetow:

"If you've never walked the Nepcon China trade show, here's what you have missed:

• Boatloads of attendees.
• Scores of vendors (some of whom actually paid for their booths).
• The potential to buy watches, jewelry and other trinkets from some of the most aggressive salesmen you may ever meet (some of whom are badged!).
• IP theft at its most brazen."

It becomes a positive, circular relationship, where the show and the publication both raise their relevance to the industry they serve.

Read more: Just for Show - Circuits Assembly

Fill up those empty words

Dana VanDen Heuvel links to a Business Week article titled: Five Words to Never Use in an Ad. Hmm, interesting...what are those words?

1. Quality
2. Value
3. Service
4. Caring
5. Integrity

(I already wrote about the problem with the word quality earlier this year.)

Why not use them?
The author of the article, Steve McKee, says "Using common words that have become empty cliches is a shortcut to nowhere. Just because you sell it doesn't mean people will buy it." Dana says they are okay to use if they are backed up with specifics.

B2Blog says:
I think these words are actually buckets that the prospect needs to fill up with answers and information before they buy from you. In that sense they ARE powerful words. Dana's right that you need to give them specifics to put in the bucket. And Steve is right that just mentioning the words only reminds prospects that the bucket is empty--you can't fill the bucket with the word 'best'.

So go ahead and use these bucket-words in planning your marketing, but I'd go with Steve's recommendation and not actually use them.

Third graders open pizza joint, 30% off on Mondays

Last Friday I finished my 5th session teaching one of my twin's 3rd grade class. I had volunteered to teach a program called "The City" via Junior Achievement. The note from school looking for volunteers may-have-well had my name on it, I felt so compelled to volunteer. Why?

• I love teaching
• I'd love to meet Robert's classmates
• I'd get to share my business knowledge
• One of the bloggers I read had posted about teaching their son's class (forgot who, sorry) and said it was an opportunity not to pass up.
  
• And I knew I would learn more than they would.

The JA material covered some basic business/school/life skills and integrated those into what goes on in a city. My favorite, and one of the most grown-up lessons:

The kids divided into small groups, each opening their own restaurant. We walked thru several decisions that had to be made. It was interesting how most of the groups went for the lowest pricing. Then, when they all wanted to hire the same chef, I told them the team with the higher pricing could offer to pay him more and would get him, a surprising lesson to some. The last task was to come up with two sentences to tell people why they should come to their restaurant--it was interesting to hear how they positioned their business.

Be decision makers:
The lesson I tried to impart over the five sessions was that business is fun and interesting. I told them that I wanted to be a park ranger when I was a kid because who would want to be in an office all day. But over time, business is a whole lot more interesting and satisfying than keeping an eye on a park.

More men:
I'm little disappointed that more men weren't leading these sessions for the other classes. (Elementary kids see almost exclusively female teachers.) Hopefully I can inspire someone else out there to share their passion for business with kids thru JA...or scouts or church. These kids really need to be prepared for their future in the information economy, and the decision making skills that it requires, and some role models to help set them in the right direction.