A Look at Search Engine Strategies Speakers and How Well They Brand Themselves, Part II
Tuesday, 04 September 2007
Last week I started looking at the branding savvyness of a handful of speakers at Search Engine Strategies, San Jose. There was no way I could go through each and every speaker so I narrowed the list down to those who spoke in sessions I attended.
Here I continue through the list (alphabetically) and will provide an additional bonus: me. Yeah, I got my own set of branding issues which I uncovered once I started looking into some of the others here. But before I rip me a new one, let's continue...
Rebecca Lieb, ClickZ Network
Some fun stuff here. A search for Rebecca Lieb brings up an error page on the ClickZ site taking top honors. Her ClickZ profile page comes up just below. When I search Click Z Google helps me out suggesting I meant "clickz". I did, but it doesn't matter because the ClickZ site is at the top with ClickZ related pages filling out the top ten.
Misty Locke, Range Online Media
Searching for Misty Locke brings me first to her Pubcon Profile and then to a magazine article featuring her. An interesting tidbit, the urban dictionary has an entry for that name. A search for Range Media puts the company website in the first position with another company named "Range Media" in the second spot. If you search for Range Online Media you certainly won't miss the company site in questions.
Todd Malicoat, stuntdubl
Looking for Todd Malicoat in Google certainly doesn't uncover any findability issues. The top two spots are Todd's website and about us page. The top ten are all Todd, including a video result from PubCon. Of course, if you only know Todd's handle "stuntdubl" you could be in a bit more trouple, depending on how you choose to spell it. A search for stunt double starts us off on the road to nowhere as Todd cannot be found on the home page. A second search for stuntdouble is equally dissappointing. Hm... how else might someone spell that? Let's try stuntduble. Finally some good news. The top spot is a post on the stuntdubl.com website, but what's this? No mention of Todd. Andy Hagans noted in the result there instead. Way to go Andy! Finally, five results down (if you look carefully) you can see a result that actually mentions Todd with "Stuntduble" bolded. Another couple of places down we find another mention of "Stuntduble" which is a reference to Todd's website, but the URL in the description of that result is the wrong URL - a broken link to www.stuntduble.com. To pile things on, the last three results are all blog that reference Todd as, you guessed it, "Stuntduble". This includes a post on SEOmoz (pulled from a visitor comment, not from the SEOmoz team themselves.
Gregory Markel, Infuse Creative, LLC
Searching for Gregory Markel gives top honors to Gregory... but not the one I'm looking for. Two more sots down and we see Greg's PubCon bio page. The number ten result, linking to Greg's LinkedIn page, is the only other result that leads us to our seekee. A search for Infuse Creative is a bit more rewarding, with the site in question taking top spot. The number two spot, however, goes to a similarly named company "Infuze Creative". Seven more of the top ten results reference Infuse in some form. Disturbingly, the number eight results reads "Teenage Sex Ed Videos" which, from what I can tell, has nothing to do with the company. Not quite what you expect (or want) to see next to your company name!
Mike Murray, Fathom SEO
With a common name like Mike Murray, how do you expect to be found? Apparently not by your name. None of the first ten result are for our Mike. Not a big surprise. What is a surprise is that searching for the company name was a bit more difficult than I anticipated. Let's back up. When I put together my list of names I'd be analyzing for this, I came across two individuals from Fathom. Or so I thought. I removed one just so I wouldn't have duplication, but now as I'm looking at this (and at my search history from the conference) I realize there are not one, but two Fathom companies, both in the SEO industry, and both which had speakers at SES. Mike here is from Fathom SEO while the other Fathom company is Fathom Online. It wasn't until I did separate searches that I realized these were two different companies. That can be a problem. A search for Fathom SEO puts the right Fathom in the top two spots and it appears that the rest of the top ten are related. But if you don't know which Fathom you're looking for you run into problems. Results for Fathom are varied and Fathom SEO has no placement. Though Fathom Online does appear in the number eight position.
Cameron Olthuis, Advantage Consulting Services
Searching for Cameron Olthuis gives me exactly what I'm looking for. Cameron's website is in the top two positions and the rest of the top ten results are all related. Searching for the company is a tad less successful. A search for Advantage Consulting produces a variety of, well, Advantage Consultants. It's not clear which, if any, of these is the company that Cameron works at. Interestingly, I do find ACS appearing in the number six position which, I believe, is Neil Patel's company (see below). Are they both from the same place? I don't know the answer to that. I'll expand my search for Advantage Consulting Services and again, we get a plethora of advantage websites. The top spot is awarded to acsseo.com. Ok, now we have something. In the number six position is a url for advantageconsultingservices.com. The description tells me the company has moved to acsseo. So, it appears that Cameron and Neil are shipmates. It took a bit too much work to figure that one out, but those are not the only problems as I'll describe next.
Neil Patel, ACS
I'll start with the company name here to continue from the thread directly above. I first search for ACS because that's all the information I have from the SES guide. If you guessed I'd have a hard time finding the company, you're right. They are nowhere to be found on the first page. Had I not done the searches above, I wouldn't even know what ACS stood for which makes it difficult to expand my search looking for them. But I do know they are in the optimization industry so let's try a search for ACS optimization. No. No. No. No. Yes. There they are, in the number five position. the only result on the page relating to them. But that search was a bit of a long shot anyway. I probably would have searched for ACS SEO, in which case they hold the top two spots with their company pages. Even still, the "dont' make me think" rule was certainly violated. A search for Neil Patel returns pronetadvertising.com in the top two spots and ACS in the number four spot.
Jeffrey Rohrs, ExactTarget
A search for Jeffrey Rohrs doesn't put Jeff in the top spot, but a number of the top ten results are certainly dedicated to him, including two SES profiles, one from 2003 and another from 2007. I then performed a search for Exact Target and I get a number of the company's websites pulled into the top positions. A number of the other results also look related.
Bill Slawski, Commerce 360
You won't have any problems finding who you're looking for by searching Bill Slawski. His blog seobythesea.com takes the top two spots. the third and ninth spots are the only two that don't appear to be related to Bill. A search for Commerce 360 is similarly rewarding with the company website taking up the top two and a majority of the remaining results also dedicated to the company.
Sherwood Stranieri, Catalyst Online
Sherwood doesn't have much problem being found when you search for Sherwood Stranieri with results about him dominating all ten spots. Though if you're like me, you might misspell the name and search for Sherwood Straneri. Google is helpful to offer the correct spelling of his name and the top result does appear to be about him. I don't think you could ask for anything better in this situation.
Laura Thieme, Bizresearch
Searching for Laura Thieme puts her company in the top two spots. All ten results are Laura related, including per global warming blog. A search for Biz Research, however, isn't entirely fruitful. In fact, the company doesn't appear anywhere in the top ten. I figured a search for Bizresearch would be a no brainer, and the company name takes top honors, but Google tries to direct traffic away by suggesting "bigresearch". No fair.
Shari Thurow, Omni Marketing Interactive
A search for Shari Thurow returns a top spot result to books.google.com for Shari's book Search Engine Visibility. The next two results also go to her book with the fourth and fifth going to grantasicdesigns.com a company that I believe Shari is no longer a part of (though they still link out to the Search Engine Visibility book. An interesting note here, they call it "Grantastic Designs' search engine visibility book" Hmmm.) The next two results lead to Clickz.com where Shari writes articles, The next two are SES profiles and again the number ten result is an Amazon link to her book. No mention here of the new company Shari works for. Searching for the company name really gave me some problems. For whatever reason I search for Omni Media instead of Omni Marketing. Nothing there related to Shari. Google suggest Omnimedia so I click on that. Once I saw Martha Stewart in the top spot I realized I may have done something wrong with my search. I try again with a search for Omni Marketing. There are a lot of Omni Marketings but none of them are for Shari's site. Let's try Omni Interactive. Pretty much the same problem with the previous search. Lots of them, but none of what we're looking for. So finally, I search for the full name, Omni Marketing Interactive (grrr, I actually search "Omni Media Interactive" and didn't even notice until proofing!) find success. Top spot goes to here SES profile and the next two to her new business website. I want to try a different track here. Let's say I forget Shari's ultimately forgettable company name and recall that she had a website called Search Usability. I re-start my search for that. No Shari here. Not sure how else to search so let's start by punching in domain names and see what that nets us. Let's try www.searchusability.com first. Nope, not there. Let's see if www.search-usability.com works. Ladies and Gentlemen, we have a winner. I can't help but point out a few things here that violate which I would consider to be common sense marketing. When you're dreaming up names for your new company try to find one that doesn't contain words that hundreds of other businesses already use in various combinations... especially companies that are in your overall general field of practice. Secondly, choose a business name that matches the URL you want, or a URL that matches the business name you want. Otherwise you just create another hurdle to being found. Finally, hyphenations in a URL add yet another obstacle. If you want a URL bad enough, fork over the dough for it. In the long run that'll probably be less expensive than missed traffic from people typing it in wrong over the years.
Derrick Wheeler, Acxiom Digital
A search for Derrick Wheeler gives the top three spots to profiles of Derrick and maybe one other related result. My first search for the company search was Axiom which didn't produce any results. I expanded that to Axiom Digital and came up short again. I must be spelling it wrong, right? So next I try Axciom which gives me nothing that I'm looking for. Google suggests Acxiom so I take them up on that offer. This time I find what I'm looking for but only in the eighth spot. I try another search for Axciom Digital and Google suggest Acxiom Digital, which is what I'm looking for, but at this point it doesn't matter because the top result is the company I'm looking for. The rest of the top ten results don't appear to be related so I click on the "did you mean" link anyway which doesn't change things too much except for giving the company the top two spots instead of one. A few other scattered results are also relevant here as well.
Bonus: Stoney deGeyter, Pole Position Marketing
I have no need to be kind to myself because I know I have a number of branding issues. Let's start with the one I've been hit with here and there over the years, our name. Many people don't "get" the meaning of "Pole Position" so at times it requires explanation. Though those that do get it, get it. This was a much bigger issue back when my company was called "Pole Position Web" but we have since changed it to the more meaningful "Pole Position Marketing." Now let's look at search branding. I'll start off by assuming that that I don't know my own last name and search just for Stoney. No surprise that there are a host of other more famous Stoney's out there. No, just kidding, but there are a lot of Stoney Creeks, beers, wines, and whatnot. Let's try again. This time I'll take a stab at the last name and search for Stony deGyter (first and last name misspelled there). No results but Google apparently knows who I mean and suggests "Stoney deGeyter". I've tried a number of mispellings and Google is pretty good and getting people to the right place. A search for deGeyter is a mixed blessing. Related results for me are number four, five, six and ten. The first three go to articles or profile pages (not to my site) and the number ten goes to my company blog. I can certainly do better. Let's look for my company. I first try Pole Position and, well, that just happens to be a very popular video game in the 1980's. I am nowhere to be found. Next search is for Pole Marketing. Top spot there is my company blog and a couple of other scattered related results but still no company website. I try again with Position Marketing. There I am in the number two spot and the blog is in the eight position. So finally I search for Pole Position Marketing and find that book results are first but then the next two results are my home page and about us page. The next two results are related, with the number five result (six if you count the books) is the company blog. And the rest of the results are also related. I have to admit that I had a bit of an unfair advantage here. When I dreamed up these posts I had already been doing brand searching for myself. I had a bit of a head start and changed some title tags and descriptions to help push us up a bit in the results for some of these searches. We've seen our blog go from page three to page one for the company name and a few other improvement. But we've got a long way to go.
Link building is like anything else in life, if you approach it with
blinders on you'll miss all the good stuff - and look pretty silly to
boot. Sometimes you just have to think outside the box and take a risk
even if you're in an industry that's not known for producing
punchlines.
There isn't anything comical about stock brokers and online trading,
the industry is a strong user of flashy banner ads and dancing figures
that most people do their best to ignore. Trying to implement link
building campaigns in this market is tough due to saturation levels,
even link bait tends to provide little result.
But this company optionsXpress
seems to have found xray glasses and thought beyond the lastest link
bait top ten list and found the perfect promotional partner to to use
to attract links. Acting like pilot fish, optionsXpress has attached
itself to Wallstrip, a vlog
covering the finacial markets with hilarious skits and an attractive,
upbeat host named Lindsay Campbell. This definitely isn't your typical
Bloomberg report.
Wallstrip is geared toward the 20/30 year old crowd that's Internet
savvy but not so up on hedge funds and the stock market. Enter
optionsXpress with their strong Internet presence and promise of low
commissions and whoala - it appears the perfect partnership was born.
Wallstrip is getting a ton of press and
as their primary sponsor, optionsXpress will benefit too. Sometimes
it's smarter to jump on the bandwagon and find a way to go along for
the ride than do it on your own.
Take the idea and run with it. Check out sources Mefeedia and blip.tv
for vlogs like Wallstrip you can sponsor. Create a focused "link to us"
campaign somewhere within the sponsorship to attract more than passive
links. Do it before your competition does.
It's no secret that the pack mentality that often powers social media success can also turn into an angry mob complete with virtual pitchforks at the drop of a hat. That's great when the mob is helping to bring social injustice to light, but it's a nightmare when the mob attacks the victim. Unfortunately, the murky waters of Internet gossip and the fuzzy ethics that seem to rule online behavior can make it difficult to know who the victim actually is. Enter the A&P grocery chain and The Fresh Beets.
The latest viral video to storm YouTube and to garner mainstream news attention is a 4 minute rap video put together by two brothers from New Jersey that calls themselves "The Fresh Beets." The video, called "Produce Paradise" features the two amateur rappers working their way through the produce department of the A&P that employed them, rapping about the fruits and veggies in a less than positive manner. That probably wouldn't have gotten them more than a talking to from a supervisor. Unfortunately, the duo includes shots of themselves licking, kissing and fondling produce. At one point, the pair uses a cluster of fresh beats to smack each other in the genitals and film themselves urinating (or appearing to urinate) on heads of lettuce.
It was the latter actions that caused each to receive a pink slip from A&P and has thrown them into a mess of legal hot water. According to MediaPost Publications, the two were fired with a notice that explained:
Seen in YouTube video making obscene gestures with product sold @ store level. Video is still under investigation.
Haven't seen the video yet? Here it is: (Warning, may not be suitable for children due to language and actions.)
The Fresh Beets claim to have also been served with a lawsuit seeking one million dollars in damages from their former employer. They have taken their case to their YouTube posting in the hopes of rousing up enough public support to get A&P to drop the suit.
Today we were given word that the A&P is suing us for $1,000,000.00. Yes, one million dollars. That's going to be hard for two broke college kids from a family of nine to pay off. Go to fakelaugh.com to support our cause... Fight the power!
This is the music video that has been causing a lot of controversy. Shortly after creating this music video the duo were FIRED from their jobs as produce clerks. The two members of the Fresh Beets are currently in a legal battle with Corporate Headquarters of the grocery store. No joke.
The backlash has been swift with bloggers, YouTube fans and even mainstream media outlets coming down on A&P for what some are calling a heavy-handed response. Comments on the YouTube blog run heavily in support of the rap duo. A&P, on the other hand, claims they had no other choice and that they are taken aback by the anger with which social media mobs are attacking them.
"We are appalled that anyone would glorify the disgusting behavior by our former associates," A&P President and CEO Eric Claus says in a statement. "I find it disturbing that the focus of this story has not been on food safety. The video shows them licking, gesturing, and doing absolutely deplorable things with produce. This is in total contrast to the food safety standards that we uphold as a company. Our actions are reflective of the importance that we place on the integrity of the product we sell to our customers."
Quite honestly, I'm a little astonished at the whole fiasco myself.
While I understand those who claim a lawsuit against the rappers will do little more than increase the publicity around the case, I'm floored at the outpouring of support for the rappers and the anger directed at A&P. Somewhere along the line, the e-generation seems to have forgotten that consequences have actions. Instead, they stand around throwing tantrums about how "the man" is trying to keep them from expressing themselves.
Call me crazy, but in the world I grew up in, video taping yourself destroying company property was a pretty clear cut case for being fired. In addition, releasing a video to the public that causes serious questions about the safety of the produce being sold in a national chain was also a pretty clear cut case for a lawsuit.
Unfortunately, social media storms often lose sight of the fact that our society does life within a set of defined rules and that being able to shout the loudest doesn't mean you get to violate them.
I saw this happen during my own battle with The National Pork Board earlier this year. My original post made it clear that I understood the pork board's need to protect their trademark and that my issue was with HOW they approached the situation rather than that they approached the situation. Nonetheless, as the furor spread, I was amazed at the number of people who were absolutely incensed that the pork board would dare to protect their trademark. It was as if they honestly believed that if they didn't like the company, the laws regarding the issue were moot.
I now see A&P falling into similar hot water. In this case however, they haven't really done anything to deserve the hate-mail. So what's a company to do?
Well, step number one would be to drop the lawsuit. The chances of them recovering even a portion of the $1 million from two broke college students are slim to none. (Though honestly, I would have no problem with them filing appropriate criminal charges for damages to company property.) Their second step should be to hire an online savvy public relations firm to help them come up with a solid strategy for addressing the issue.
The company now needs to address their misguided lawsuit without in any way backing down on their hard-line stance against the misuse of company property and the damages to both their brand and to public safety. (As they have no way of knowing if the tainted produce was sold to customers.)
Beyond that, I think the situation serves as a great example of the dangerous waters companies now find themselves sailing through. Had A&P chosen not to respond to this video, they could have found themselves facing down a very unhappy health inspector with a shut-down order. Should a business be expected to allow loss of revenues and damage to their brand so that two teenage employees can become the flavor of the week on YouTube?
MediaPost writes off the duo's actions:
As gross as the video is, A&P's legal move is an interesting one, given that video pranks are increasingly widespread. Videos of teens doing stupid stuff at Wal-Mart have become so popular that it's practically its own YouTube genre, for example.
I'd respond with one of those time honored quotes from my parents.
"What is popular is not always right and what is right is not always popular."
Ever since I started blogging I have noticed that Yahoo! has provided abnormally low number of search engines referrals to my blog. Over the last 4 months, the number of Yahoo! referrals in relation to all search engine referrals to my blog has been 2% whereas Google's share is over 80%. So why is Yahoo! so low? Well, it could be because of the niche I'm in and my visitors tend to primarily use Google. Or is it because my blog is hosted on a blogspot sub-domain and Yahoo! assigns it very low relevancy in its search algorithm. I asked Matt Cutts his thoughts on this at the Google Dance at SES San Jose and he wasn't quite sure what the reason was and he hoped that Yahoo! wasn't purposely applying a low relevancy filter to blogspot addresses.
I ran a quick search engine ranking test for my top referring keywords for Google vs. Yahoo! and noticed that most of the top rankings were at Google and for more than 50% of the keywords my blog was outside the top 30 at Yahoo!
Everyone knows that half the reason people go to conferences is for the great schwag. I still use my Google bean bag chair, my Yahoo flash drive, my Clicktracks USB wristlet and my Monster Commerce radio controlled car from past shows. Unfortunately, I seem to have missed most of the "good stuff" from San Jose. Stoney deGeyter and his Pole Position Marketing team didn't though...and they've created the video to prove it.
If you look closely, you'll spot the highly coveted Search Engine Guide "Puppy" messenger bag from Timbuk2. (More on that from Robert tomorrow.)
