The Direct Online Marketing™ Blog

Sarah Palin Most Searched For Term on Internet Since Al Gore Invented It »
Posted on September 5th, 2008 by Paul Woodhouse in Search Engines | Leave A Comment

Now here’s the closest thing I could find to a pitbull wearing lipstick, and probably a reminder why you don’t leave pooches alone with your make-up bag. I mean, it’s the wrong color for its fur-tone and everything.
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TAGS: google trends, lipstick, pitbull, sarah palin

The Dangers of Content Matching: Robert Kiyosaki »
Posted on August 29th, 2008 by Justin Seibert in PPC, Paid Search, Search Engine Reputation Management, Web Credibility | Leave A Comment

One of my former hockey teammates from Vanderbilt also ended up in the internet marketing realm.  Today, Jotham McCauley sent me something I found too funny.  By the way, if you’re looking for bubble hockey games or anything related to stand up arcade games like foosball, for now, for your customer’s sake, for your daughter’s sake, ya might wanna think about buying a quality product from Gold Star Games.

Here’s your Highlights exercise for the day.  Tell me what’s wrong with this picture (after the jump).

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TAGS: bubble hockey, charybdis and scylla, content matching, content targeting, Paid Search, turtle wax, Vanderbilt, WVU

ALT - Not Knowing these 3 Letters could Cost You $6 Million »
Posted on August 29th, 2008 by Justin Seibert in E-commerce, Government Marketing, Internet, SEO, Web Development | 2 Comments

I’m a frugal person.  I used to say cheap, but I know a business owner who reuses his own dental floss - now that’s cheap and probably unsanitary.  So when I see a company pay a $6 million settlement for not knowing - or caring - about the most basic of search engine optimization (SEO) functions, I choke on my Cap’n Crunch.

The target company who raised the ire of the plaintiff in this case?

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TAGS: ada web development, alt tags, americans with disabilities act, happy gilmore, search engine optmization, seo schol, sigma epsilon omega, Target

Is Your Customer Service in it for the Long U-Haul? »
Posted on August 27th, 2008 by Paul Woodhouse in Internet, Press Strategies, Social Media, Web Credibility | 5 Comments

This past couple of weeks has been the best of times, but it’s also been the worst of times. I foolhardily coordinated our move back up round Cleveland the same weekend I left for England to go and surprise my Gran for her 90th. Yet it takes somebody who bleeds idiot or has serious luck issues to rent a 24 foot U-Haul truck that has a zombie battery, locks their keys in the trunk, misses flights, spends an exorbitant amount one way to get to their connecting flight only for it to be canceled on arrival, and has their laptop screen broken.

I get a little bit peeved at my lifelong insistence on jazzing up the mundane to heart attack proportions, but all in all I’m quite Zen about stuff going wrong or right. Fists pummeling dashboards is nothing more than a meditative chi release.

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TAGS: american airlines, boingo, chris miller furniture, continental, customer service, jermey pepper, new york, twitter, u-haul

My Re-Gift to the World: Help A Reporter Out (HARO) »
Posted on August 18th, 2008 by Justin Seibert in Slightly Off-Topic | 1 Comment

You know what’s really awesome?  When someone does all the hard work on something and then you can pass along that information and look like the good guy.

Enter Peter Shankman’s Help a Reporter Out (HARO).  Or more accurately, enter me talking about HARO.

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TAGS: boston tea party, help a reporter out, peter shankman, rss in plain english, search engine strategies, zombies

Blogs are Crap - More Fallout from the WVU eMBA Scandal »
Posted on August 12th, 2008 by Justin Seibert in Business Blogging, DOM News, Government Marketing, Internet, Local News, Local Search, Search Engine Reputation Management, Web Credibility | 5 Comments

Rarely do I literally stop everything I’m doing to read an article.  Or post a comment.  Or write a blog.  I hit the trifecta today.

Just when I thought I had said all I could say about the WVU eMBA scandal from an online reputation management perspective, I was sent a link to this article:

Interim WVU president has big goals — but don’t count on him blogging

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TAGS: banging head on desk, blogs vs. main stream media, charleston daily mail, Heather Bresch, Mike Garrison, naked supermodels, next generation marketing, online reputation management, peter magrath, sabremetrics, twitter, unicorns, WVU emba degree, wvu president, wvu scandal

I Wandered Lonely as a (Tag) Cloud »
Posted on August 6th, 2008 by Paul Woodhouse in Business Blogging | Leave A Comment

[Tag: Cloud]

If you go and take a look at the new archives page I’ve thrown up, you’ll notice (in descending order) a search form, monthly archives, archives by category with their own RSS feed, a latest posts section, and a TAG CLOUD. This just allows you to scavenge through our past piffle in a manner you may find suitable.

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TAGS: blogging, tag cloud, tagging

“I’m So (Not) Excited, and I Just Can’t Hide It” »
Posted on August 5th, 2008 by Paul Woodhouse in Social Media | 3 Comments

This morning, Justin accused me of being a bit short on the old handle. Or more short-tempered than usual.

I find this shocking for the fact that I like to think of myself as somewhat a-motional. (I know theoretically that means I don’t move around much, and I don’t, but a-emotional is far too clumsy and has me mentally over-exerting my jaw muscles just thinking about saying it.)

I think I may be over-compensating for any excitement about moving back up Cleveland way (don’t you be getting too excited, I shall be telecommuting) and going on vacation back to England on my own for a couple of weeks.

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TAGS: excited, friendfeed, lifestreaming, pointer sisters, twitter

On Cuil and Search Engine Reputation Management »
Posted on July 28th, 2008 by Justin Seibert in Search Engine Reputation Management, Search Engines, Web Credibility | Leave A Comment

Rule #1 for true search engine reputation management:

If you’re going to get major press for your new search engine, which is supposed to take on Google, either make sure it works or don’t put it out there for people to play with.  There’s, “hey we’re still working out the bugs - we appreciate your feedback” and then there’s cuil. It’s pronounced “werth-les.”

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TAGS: cuil, google, leftvsright.com, new search engines, Search Engine Reputation Management, searchme.com

Ego Keywords: at What Cost? »
Posted on July 28th, 2008 by Justin Seibert in PPC, Paid Search, SEM, SEO, Search Engines | 4 Comments

You have keywords you absolutely HAVE to rank for.  Admit it.  They may be your company name, your name, a very vague, and broad subject related to your industry, or something absolutely arcane that no one searches for.

Occasionally these terms matter enough that you absolutely need to own them, often you do really need to have some sort of presence for them, and probably more often than not they really don’t matter at all*.   So how do you know?

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TAGS: AOL, baseball, ego keywords, Joe Posnanski, Murray Chass, paid search budgets, SEO, wiggles

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