A pretty huge corporation ate up a quasi-competitor.  They put out a press release and got pretty decent coverage among blogs and more traditional news organizations.  They wanted to show up on searches by people who had heard the news and wanted to learn more.  No sweat sayeth we, but we posed a question:

“How would you like to show up on the same pages as the posts,  news articles, and press releases themselves?”

It took them nanoseconds to decide they were in.  So, using some contextual search campaigns through Google’s display nee content network, we got them up and running.  Within a couple hours for message and campaign development, they were up and running next to these places.  It’s exciting to be so reactive that you can run new ads (search or display networks) within minutes or hours of breaking news that can be used to your advantage*.

So the moral of the story is to take a look around your industry for news – especially if you feel like you’re getting in a rut with your paid search campaigns.  Is someone out there already doing the heavy lifting of generating buzz that you can capitalize on?  There is no faster, better, less expensive ways to test new ideas than paid search.

* This is also the reason we tell businesses when we speak about search engine marketing that they should always have an account open even if not active just for response in online reputation management emergencies. And the company that did a textbook case of this recently?  BP.  Just a brilliant job that generated a draft post that never saw the light of the DOM Blog.

A couple interesting things here, but the one I want to talk about is that it will now show ALL reviews it has for a business.  But why should you care?

Well, Matt McGee did a rundown at SearchEngineLand and here’s the money part for purposes of this post:

The second change that Yelp’s making in response to the lawsuits is to show all the reviews it has about a business, including the ones that its algorithm has filtered/removed from the business profile pages. But the link to see the full set of reviews is buried at the bottom of the business page.

Says CEO Jeremy Stoppelman about these changes:

Lifting the veil on our review filter and doing away with “Favorite Review” will make it even clearer that displayed reviews on Yelp are completely independent of advertising — or any sort of manipulation.

What type of reviews have they been filtering out automatically with their algorithm?  Among others, negative reviews by competitors and astroturfed positive reviews by business owners.  Frankly, that’s the best case scenario – that they’re just filtering them out.  What unscrupulous business owners need to be scared about is that those are not just being filtered out, but rather that the various review sites and local business listings are penalizing those companies for their actions.

Bottom line for small businesses and local business owners?  Just don’t do it.  It’s not worth it – for more than just the reasons written about here and by SEODog.

For those of you not aware, I’ve been teaching internet marketing at West Liberty University, a local West Virginia university about 15 minutes north of Wheeling.  That’s the class where we did the Google Online Marketing Challenge, their group project.  Well they have one other project – each had to create, post to, and maintain a blog, using WordPress (the .com – not all students in class have a Web development background).

Honestly – and I shouldn’t say that because doesn’t that imply I’m not always honest? – I’ve been really impressed by a lot of the students.  Many have really taken to this and done some great things.  So, if you believe in education and the importance of understanding things like blogging and online reputation management by younger generations entering the workforce, please take the time to visit one or more of these blogs and leave encouraging feedback.  List after the jump.

There’s seriously some good stuff here – I’ve learned from them as well.  I’ve seen different styles of writing, new formatting techniques, uses of add-ons, and more just by watching them and following along.  Not to mention new subject matter for an old guy.  Without further ado, the list in alphabetical order:

Top 25 Student Blogs at West Liberty University

http://1minutephilosphy.wordpress.com

http://2010vehicles.wordpress.com/

http://andystech.wordpress.com

http://athomp3290.wordpress.com/

http://bmcgrawwlu.wordpress.com/

http://bottom5.wordpress.com

http://chaz540.wordpress.com

http://crummittandsonvaultcorp.wordpress.com

http://dailydoseofgoodquotes.wordpress.com/

http://drawingthings.wordpress.com

http://eddievargo.wordpress.com/

http://hatchetreview.wordpress.com/

http://holbsproductions.wordpress.com/

http://jriccadonna.wordpress.com

http://julie0831.wordpress.com

http://junebugbstby.wordpress.com

http://letsdocollege.wordpress.com

http://markledesign.wordpress.com

http://sahana5588.wordpress.com

http://sidcrosby87.wordpress.com

http://westlibkid83.wordpress.com

http://whitneyelyse.wordpress.com

http://www.flowstudios.net

http://zacksmusic.wordpress.com

Lois was arrested for doing her Humpty Hump (of Digital Underground fame) Burger King bathroom impression in the stall of a public bathroom at a college football game recently.  That’s pretty embarrasing, especially in today’s internet age.

But you know what’s really embarrassing?

She’s a married mother of three…and it wasn’t with her husband…who was waiting in his seat watching the game during the Biblical get to know you.  I had to read the original story three times just to make sure I read it correctly.

Obviously this woman’s life has taken a tilt for the worse.  She’s lost her job, I’m sure her kids are getting an earful at school, and the only thing saving it from turning into a country song is that her husband hasn’t left her.  Well, that and maybe her dog hasn’t been shot, although I heard he likes to go clubbing with Plaxico Burress (who has the slimiest agent of all time not named Scott Boras).

So in a sense, I feel bad for her – especially because her tryst partner hasn’t taken as much heat.  Certainly a lot of that’s good old fashioned sexism, although the fact that he doesn’t have three kids and isn’t trying to make outlandish accusations to absolve himself of guilt surely play into it, too.  I’m in no position to throw stones at anyone and just a few years ago, this story would have never made it into mainstream pop culture.

But you know for whom I really feel?  Lois Feldman, PhD.  This is a woman who makes a  living as a speaker based on her good name.    Her name is her brand.  Her name is her Web site.  And now when people search for Lois Feldman, they’re going to see posts promising pictures of the Lois Feldman who blacked out and woke up in custody of a police officer who stopped her public intercourse in front of a cheering crowd.

And you’d better believe those photoss are coming – look at the wedding and holiday pics that are already starting to come out of the woodwork.

That’s why we offer both recommendations and active search engine / reputation management for a range of corporations.  Imagine these possibilities that aren’t as extreme, but still damaging nonetheless:

• You’re an attorney and whenever anyone Googles your name, the cases you’ve lost come up first.
• Someone smeared your company with completely unfounded rumors, which show up direclty before or after your url on Yahoo!
• Someone reported one of your sales folks to the Bad Business Bureau, whose report now shows up when someone searches for your VP of Client Relations who was mentioned in one of his letters.  Worse – neither she nor anyone else in your company even knew about the report to respond.

And keep in mind – just ask any traditional PR vet – these things are a lot easier to respond to when you’ve prepared for them ahead of time, which CAN be done.

Obviously, I’ve added a sales pitch to let folks know we offer these services, but I also want everyone to start thinking about these issues now when everything’s easier to deal with.  Before someone with your name hijacks a plane of kittens and flies into the mouth of an active volcano.

Because Google often dresses in a body suit woven with mystery, secrecy, and opaqueness, I thought I’d share what it’s like inside the Internet Giant, or at least its Windy City ops.

So the first thing you do when you enter the building on Kinzie Street in Chicago is check in downstairs with security.  That’s par for the course in Chicago where the process is pretty quick everywhere except the Boeing Building.  Maybe only hayseeds like me notice that stuff, but I’ve done a lot fewer security check-ins in Los Angeles and Pittsburgh, the two cities where I’ve spent the most time professionally.

After taking the elevator up to the sixth floor, you walk through the doors into the reception area.  The receptionist asks you to sign in on the computer*.  You choose your reason for the visit and then fill in your name, company, etc.

* My request to you, Google: put this computer on an adjustable stand.  Have you all tried typing on it?  Obviously not, because you work there.  If you did, you’d know how much it’s forced arse-pain for everyone who isn’t 5’5, which would be about the perfect height, and you would have changed it already.

You then sign an NDA, which is pretty innocuous as far as those go.  The one interesting part was that you had to certify that you were not a citizen of five countries who have less than stellar human rights records: Cuba, Sudan, North Korea, Syria, and one more I can’t remember off the top of my head – probably Canada.

Part of the reason I find this interesting is that I’ve signed another NDA with Google previously that looked very similar except for the country clause.  I have no idea why they ban residents from those countries and didn’t ask, so I’m just going to make up a reason*: they’re worried about employees getting kidnapped and taken to those countries where they’ll be forced into slave labor making really bad American-looking sitcoms.  I’m not certain, but I think Jim Belushi once worked at Google Chicago.

* Making up stuff can come in very useful, especially in the form of an accusatory non-accusation.  For example, “Look, I don’t know that he was ever in jail for black market trading of illegal puppy fur coats, but I don’t know that he wasn’t either.  I mean, does anybody know that he doesn’t deal in cute, defenseless puppy murder?  I’m just saying there are questions about his character we simply don’t have answers to.”  Can be used for competitors, neighbors, or that really popular kid in high school that got all the girls and everyone just loved so much and totally should not have won Prom King over me, Jimmy you jagoff.

After agreeing to their terms and conditions, a badge prints out for you to wear and you take a seat in front of about five flat screens on the wall that look like they serve no purpose whatsoever.  Can’t a brother get some hockey highlights or a Second City skit or something?

One of my reps, Alan, came out to get me and said I had just missed lunch (it was 3:00).  He asked if I wanted anything to drink and let me search through 4 or 5 of those convenient-store glass plane refrigerators.  They stocked everything except the one thing I wanted at that time – plain water.  I drink tap water and could have asked for a cup to take over to the sink, but “settled” for a black cherry pop.  Normally that would be my first choice, but I was pretty dehydrated from running around town all day and not drinking my normal ½ to 1 gallon of H2O.  Not complaining – I love free stuff!

After leaving the kitchen, we headed to one of the conference rooms, but not before passing a lounge area that was stocked – of course – with a full drum set and other instruments for Guitar Hero or whatever all those video games are called.

I picked up some more schwag in the room – another Google coffee mug and Google Jenga Wood Block Puzzle.  Google does not seem to be hurting in the ol’ wallet.

“Wood Block Puzzle! Wood Block Puzzle! Wood Block Puzzle!”

After an hour we headed across the floor to a larger conference room with flat screens and (more of) a traditional board room feel.  Employees worked in quasi-cubicles.  Traditional office staples such as giant balls and marker boards announcing free candy abounded.

I was told at least six times that this was the most “Googly”* of all the offices.  It looked like a pretty cool place to work – one doesn’t wonder why they’re able to attract so much talent – and I certainly didn’t confuse it with, say a Lehman Brothers (mainly because I didn’t see employees packing up Swingline staplers).

* Perhaps it’s ironic that Google doesn’t want other people to use its name as a verb (essentially crushing a brand marketer’s dream), but creates adjectives out of its own name.  Yes?  Seems like a not wanting to give up control thing, which Google of all places should realize is not possible in today’s world.

But…it didn’t seem super-Googly to me.  I’m not sure what I expected, but probably things like zip lines, paper towel roll fights [link], and, of course, segways*.  Heck, eBay’s main campus in San Jose – not even their most tech industry like campus (the most eBayy? eBayey? eBay-y?) – seemed pretty similar thematically.  And eBay has a much more corporate-like culture.  Their short-wall cubicles were more traditional, but they also had a basketball court, volleyball pits, and a pretty funky looking structure in the middle of it all for Skype.

* Click on that picture.  It’s the greatest video / site ever.  Well to me anyway, because it combines the two great niches that taste great together: old school battle rap and search engines.  It’s amazing the level of effort that went into something that appeals to probably only 0.00001% of the population, although I do think it was probably worth it for Seedwell because it showcased their abilities to biggest movers and shakers in the industry.

That’s the report.  Hope it gave those of you that have never been to a Google office or Google Chicago an idea of what it’s like inside.  Big thanks to our reps for being gracious hosts and inviting me over to meet up during my trip.

With that, let’s take a fairly extensive look into what the candidates are doing today in their paid search campaigns, shall we?

Before we go any further, check out Manny Marrero’s (aka Steaprok)’s excellent post on online marketing throughout this election season (hat tip: Brett D. Payne).  Do not pass go.  Do not collect $200.

Update: Also check the very bottom of this post for a list of articles related to internet marketing and the 2008 Presidential election.  I’ll update as I find them.

It’s a very thorough post on how both John McCain and Barack Obama have implemented internet marketing strategies and where each is strongest and weakest.  Pertinent to this post are the following:

• Going back to February 2007, the candidates had already spent well over $7 million in online advertising by September, not counting search.  Let’s overestimate what they probably spent and say the total figure with search is $9 million.  Pretty impressive, except that $9 million would represent only about 3% of their overall ad spending.  Problem is, US advertisers in general spend about 7% of their budget online.
• Update: Borrell Associates pegs the 2008 political advertising pie slice devoted to online marketing at only 1% (although that’s for everyone, not just the Presidential candidates).
• Both candidates are using some paid search best practices, including using multiple ad copies and landing pages specific to their keywords.
• McCain is spending a lot more and generally doing better on the pay per click side (even on Obama-related terms); Obama much better on the natural listings / seo side.
• Search volume is heavier for keywords with “Obama,” but many of those searches are not necessarily pro-Obama searches (the 4th most searched for term, for example is “Barack Obama birth certificate.”

Paid Search Political Advertising on Election Day

With that background, let’s take a look at today’s paid search landscape (methodology / ranking system at bottom – it’s a doozy!)*.  Keep in mind that this is a snapshot and not necessarily indicative of the candidates’ paid search campaigns over the last few months.  But if you’re not going full bore today for whatever reason and running til the coffers are empty, I have no sympathy for you.

So let’s go.  By coin flip (seriously, we did one), Obama’s up first:

How Obama Ranks for Paid Search Marketing

Anti-Obama Search Terms: 19.5
- Barack Obama birth certificate
- Bill Ayres and Barack Obama
- is Barack Obama Muslim

McCain-Neutral Search Terms: 5
- John McCain
- all about John McCain
- John McCain’s views

Anti-McCain Search Terms: 1.5
- McCain old man
- McCain Bush
- McCain oil

Issues Pro-Obama Search Terms: 0
- Iraq war end
- affordable health care
- alternative energy

Issues Pro-McCain Search Terms: 0
- spread the wealth
- government spending
- offshore drilling

Deductions: -3
For not keeping budgets high enough on election day.  See Methodology #11

Total Paid Search Score for Barack Obama: 23

Of special interest: The DNC did a pretty nice ad / landing page / campaign just for Pennsylvania – thought it was a nice way to show “politics is local.”  Only saw it one place for Obama and nowhere for McCain.  Also, Obama does some really great Fight the Smears advertising – goes to the same Web site (well, subdomain now) that I wrote about before.  In this area, he does a really great job of matching up keyword, landing page, and ad text.

How McCain Ranks for Paid Search Marketing

Anti-McCain Search Terms: 10.5
- McCain old man
- McCain Bush
- McCain oil

Obama-Neutral Search Terms: 14
- Barack Obama
- Barack Obama biography
- facts about Barack Obama

Anti-Obama Search Terms: 5.5
- Barack Obama birth certificate
- Bill Ayres and Barack Obama
- is Barack Obama Muslim

Issues Pro-McCain Search Terms: 10.5
- spread the wealth
- government spending
- offshore drilling

Issues Pro-Obama Search Terms: 4.5
- Iraq war end
- affordable health care
- alternative energy

Deductions: 0

Total Paid Search Score for John McCain:45

Of special interest: McCain seems to run a much more robust campaign, especially on Microsoft adCenter and especially on terms related to his opponent.  Obama is not invisible, but very hard to find on terms related to McCain, generally.

And 2008 Presidential Winner is…

John McCain by a score of 45 to 23. Now go out there and vote if you haven’t already!

I’ll go ahead and put a wager out that these numbers will be much higher on both sides in 2012.  Any takers?

And a final note – boy is Yahoo! the biggest loser in this race.  I didn’t see any official McCain advertising and very little by Obama / related groups or the GOP.

* Methodology

I wouldn’t get an A in my sociology courses (yes, I graduated from Vanderbilt University with the ‘athlete’s degree’) for experimentation, but this isn’t exactly flying by the seat of my pants either.  Here’s my madness’ method:

1. I’m in West Virginia, although sometimes my ip address gets read as Ohio (here’s Wheeling on a map – an hour from Pittsburgh, it’s situated across the river from OH and 15 minutes from PA).  Most pundits think West Virginia is not in play, so I’m going to trick Google AdWords into thinking I’m from Pennsylvania for my searches.  If the candidates are doing any geo-targeting, surely they’re putting dollars there.
2. For Obama, I’ll pick three terms that seem anti-Obama, McCain-neutral, anti-McCain, issues based (pro-Obama) and issues based (pro-McCain).  Then I’ll do the equivalent for McCain.
3. If you disagree with the issues based terms I have, let me know.  I’d love to know what I should have used.  Just don’t accuse me of being for one side or the other – I tried to pick stuff that was highlighted by the candidate or his opponent in debates and advertising.  Obviously some of these could have been put on the other side or not selected at all.
4. A case could be made that it’s inappropriate for candidates to advertise on certain (but not all) anti-opponent terms like “is Barack Obama Muslim” and “McCain old man”.  Because of that, I’m devaluing their listings by 50% of whatever the normal total would be.
5. Not doing any positive terms for either candidate or any neutral terms for that candidate.  Why?  They may still be advertising on those terms, but that seems like wasted money to me so I’m not going to knock a guy for not advertising on them.  That approach was more appropriate during the primaries.
6. Will rate each candidate on the following:
   • 1 point for having a listing in each of the three major search engines (extra point if #1, extra half-point if #2 or #3)
   • 1 point for having ad text related to the term (may deduct or add half a point at my discretion depending on keyword insertion tool usage and manual ad copy)
   • 1 point for a landing page specific to the keyword
   • Bonus points available for useful features on a landing page such as voting booth locations, ability to donate, etc.
7. I’m checking all three major search engines for ad listings, but not going to go through and check each one’s ad copy, destination urls, etc.  That’s just too much time.  So I’ll only use Google AdWords for the digging deeper parts of the point scale.
8. No bonus points for having multiple sites listed, and for the purposes of this report, a site that either the party or another clearly pro-candidate entity puts out will count for that candidate.
9. The results are probably a little skewed by the fact that someone might be doing a broad match and show up for all keywords that contain a candidate’s name, but A. the candidates should probably be doing this anyway, so shame on them if they’re not, and B. I’m hoping this gets tempered somewhat by whether they took the time to do related ad copy and landing pages.
10. Would like to rank based on testing and some other pay per click best practices, but the campaigns didn’t give me their passwords to dive in and check.
11. I only made one manual adjustment and that was deducting 3 points from Barack’s overall score.  The reason is that his ads were showing up only part of the time.  I know that could do some with how Google displays searches to me specifically, but my experience leads me to believe it’s more to do with how their budgets are set.  Not running full steam on election day merits a deduction.
12. Tried very hard not to do double dipping, e.g. giving bonus points out for the same landing page used for different terms.

That’s it.  Let me know what I missed or give any feedback below.

Suggested Reading:

• Barack Obama & John Mccain: A 2008 Presidential Election Search and Social Marketing Analysis
• Finally an Example of being Proactive in Online Reputation Management Courtesy of Obama
• McCain Seems To Have Obama Beat in One Arena
• Obama Makes Money, McCain Ignites Issues With Internet Marketing
• Like Pig Fat Slinging Mud
• Piggybacking on Election Day publicity
• Sarah Palin Most Searched For Term on Internet Since Al Gore Invented It
• Are you a John M(a)cCain or a (P)PC Guy?
• McCain’s Paid Search Marketing Campaign Still A Mystery To “Experts”
• The keywords John McCain and Barack Obama are buying on Google
• Obama Vs. McCain: Paid Search Keywords
• Sponsored-link ads on Internet play campaign role

The list above contains a few from our blog, but that has more to do with me reading all of our posts.  What else am I missing that’s deserving of some linky goodness?

Pig fat – great for indoor or outdoor use!

Anyway, me and Steph were sat at our table sipping our sodas, when the owner – some ancient native Magyar woman who probably arrived some time after the 1956 Hungarian Revolution – waltzed over and started gently stroking Steph’s cheek with the knuckle of her right index finger proclaiming what a pretty thing she was. Perhaps a touch odd, but nothing too bizarre considering Hungarian women aren’t known for their reticence and the influence of America may have emboldened her in not being backward at coming forward.

In the same breath she turned her still crooked finger towards me and asked Steph, “Who’s this, your father?”

I tried to smile politely, but soon turned quite a shade of pink ham as Steph let her know that I was in fact her husband.

The look on the Gypsy interrogator’s face will forever be burned into my mind’s eye as an expression of disbelief on the first take made way for revulsion on the second. You could tell that her general busy-bodyness was getting the better of her as confusion began to reign and meddle with her mind as she obviously pondered getting out while the going was bad or really digging herself into some cesspit.

But, she did what every Hungarian woman I’ve ever met would do and felt the need to comment just a little bit more. In order to qualify what in her mind must’ve been the type of relationship she felt ought to see me put on some sex offenders’ register, she managed to pluck up enough fake decency to say that it didn’t really matter so long as I looked after her.

The day had already beaten me. This could wound no more.

And as we discuss the dirty-old-man-with-woman-young-enough-to-be-his-daughter dynamic, thoughts move swiftly to John McCain. Or, to be more precise, the Obama campaign’s launching of their own mud pie yesterday – the Keating 5 Scandal Video and accompanying mini-site.

In microcosm, this is a perfect example of how to launch something like this online.

Essentially, from a search perspective, they’ve done a simple one, two. Not only is it nearly impossible to start ranking for organic searches as soon as you launch a site, it’s even trickier if you don’t know exactly when, if ever, you intend to launch said site. (However, they do rank #1 for the term ‘keating economics’ which is the keyword phrase contained within the URL.)

So, let’s look at what happens when you do a search for Keating five in Google.

First up after the news results, you’ll see the Wikipedia entry which somebody has edited to add a link and explanation to another Wikipedia entry about Keating economics – the name of the Website being www.keatingeconomics.com – that in turn talks about the scandal and links to the site itself.

The Obama campaign has also bought PPC keywords related to the scandal, which are going to be dirt cheap considering they’re the only ones bidding on them. Take a look at the search link again and you’ll see the sponsored link sat atop everything else.

So there you go, you’ve cornered the top informational organic query by proxy while you’re paying a pittance for your PPC.

Easy. Although, it might be an idea for somebody to explain to McCain’s campaign that a bit of online reputation management wouldn’t go amiss. You know, a counter video with your own take on events and buying the same keywords to show up in the sponsored results and adding a paragraph or two on Wikipedia.

Even if it is just a video of Sarah Palin winking. The base should love it.

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

If you said, “they’re promoting a person (who wrote some really great books, btw) and then destroying all his credibility by displaying a negative pay per click ad through content matching”, you’re entitled to a year’s supply of Turtle-Wax.

The Perils of Content Matching

We discussed it before with WVU and their fake eMBA degree scandal, but it’s still happening and something you need to be wary of.

Content matching (also called content targeting and a few other terms, depending on the search engine) allows you to use your paid search account with Google AdWords, Yahoo! Search Marketing, or Microsoft adCenter (Live.com) to reach more people.

When you choose to utilize this feature, the search engines will look at the keywords in a particular ad group, and if they match the content of a news article or other page on a Web site with whom they have an agreement to run ads, your ad may appear.

If you’re not careful, you’ll end up either advertising somewhere you shouldn’t or advertise something you shouldn’t on your own site, depending on which side of the advertising-publishing spectrum you fall.

Recent Improvements in Content Targeting

The good news is that Google’s made several improvements recently to their policies regarding content match, including:

• No longer opted in automatically
• Better ability to name specific sites to include or exclude
• Better ability for publishers to exclude ads

Content targeting can help certain campaigns.  Just make sure you know where Charybdis and Scylla are and test, test, test!  If you’re running your own paid search campaigns, and don’t spend that much time with them, I’d recommend just avoiding the feature.

Update – In my rush to get on the road for a client meeting, I neglected to add something really important.  If you want to advertise against something, content match is particularly compelling.  Great article from the WSJ yesterday on political advertising (sorry – I can’t remember who should get the hat tip and I’m not going to scroll through 20 pages of twitter to find out):

But Sen. John McCain is in some ways outsmarting Sen. Obama when it comes to Internet marketing. One example: As of Wednesday, a Google search for “Joe Biden” or even just “Biden” resulted in a prominently displayed ad labeled “Joe Biden on Obama” that links to Sen. McCain’s site. There, a video begins playing that shows Sen. Biden criticizing Sen. Obama during the Democratic primaries. The move mimics the “ambush” strategy that advertisers often employ: buying a competitor’s term so that an ad for the buyer’s own product appears when a consumer searches for the other brand.

Sen. McCain was able to pull off that sleight of hand because he outbid his opponent for the search term “Joe Biden.” As a result, Sen. McCain’s ad takes the top spot alongside search results, while Mr. Obama’s ad appears lower in the results.

Sen. McCain’s team has been the aggressor in other ways, too. In recent days, it has bought search ads tied to key terms such as “U.S. economy” and “housing crisis,” which take visitors to Web sites outlining Sen. McCain’s plan on those issues.

Meanwhile, the Obama camp largely has yet to advertise around these terms, missing a key opportunity, according to experts, to communicate his message to undecided voters.

The Obama campaign says it continually works to optimize its search marketing to maximize effectiveness. “Thanks to our millions of online supporters who frequently visit our Web site and other social-networking sites, unlike other campaigns, BarackObama.com already has extremely high organic search engine rankings, which helps us limit the number of terms where we need to use paid advertising to have a presence,” Nick Shapiro, a spokesman for the Obama campaign, said in an email.

Sen. Obama can also claim a huge lead in nonpaid search traffic, which suggests that he has done a good job optimizing its Web pages for search engines. Links to his Web sites often appear higher in the non-paid area of the search results, and he is driving more traffic to his site, Mr. Stylman says. The 3.3 million unique visitors to Sen. Obama’s Web site in July was more than double the 1.6 million visitors to Sen. McCain’s site, according to Nielsen Online.

You really just need to read the whole article – too many good points about how the candidates are using paid search and seo.  While it’s not content match information per se, it does show the power one can have with counter-search advertising.

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

Big thank you to Jason Keeling for sending out this article from the Charleston Daily Mail via twitter.  Oh and if you’re into that sort of thing, feel free to follow me on twitter.  We can discuss hopes and dreams 140 characters at a time.

The title’s a bit misleading, but good editors will sometimes do that to draw eyeballs.  That’s why this post was almost named “Naked Supermodels Bomb Panda Bear Orphanage.”

Here’s the money part to the article, emphasis mine:

Interim West Virginia University President C. Peter Magrath said he plans to focus heavily on [three items].

But don’t expect him to blog.Magrath’s predecessor, Mike Garrison, was the first WVU president to type out his thoughts about the university on a blog — jargon for “Web log.” The venture eventually ended up being a sounding board for his critics over the Heather Bresch scandal.

“I don’t believe in blogs,” said Magrath. “You get a lot of crap. A lot of stuff in the blogs really bothers me because it’s one of the things that’s hurting traditional mainstream journalism is that unqualified, untrained people suddenly start reporting on stuff and it starts getting legs and running.”

[Hits head off desk three times, takes advil, bangs head again.]

For a quick recap of the Heather Bresch scandal strictly from an online reputation management perspective, please see the following:

• Extreme Online Reputation Management: WVU, Mylan, & Governor’s Office Edition
• Update – WVU President Mike Garrison Emails Employees
• Governor Manchin Emails State RE: Daughter’s WVU MBA Scandal
  

Let’s do a quick recap with everything wrong here.  These are the comments I left on the article on the Daily Mail Web site along with some extra info since I’m not bound by a 1000 character limit here:

A couple common misconceptions in this article by both Mr. Anderson and President Magrath that are very, very common:

1. “The venture eventually ended up being a sounding board for his critics….”

   While technically accurate, this statement is misleading. People also defended President Garrison on his blog. He had an excellent opportunity to address his critics there, but waited too long to respond to the crisis and never responding to any commenters. He had people creating a conversation on his turf, but no involved parties were willing to making it a real conversation.  It’s sad to say, but I have had WVU officials agree with me that this will probably be a text book case on how not to respond to a crisis in today’s Web 2.0 world.

   Let me also be clear – having a blog was a good decision by Garrison, one he should be proud of.  It was the execution that was lacking.

2. “‘I don’t believe in blogs,’ said Magrath. ‘You get a lot of crap.’”

   I’m not going to be that guy that says, “What do you mean you don’t believe in blogs?  Do unicorns write them?”  A. I don’t want to demean President Magrath.  By all accounts he’s a really good pick by the WVU Board of Governors and I wish him all the success in the world.  B. That would be silly; unicorns would need gigantic keyboards to be able to type out a blog.

   The folks who attended the Next Generation Marketing series should already be light miming the words I’m about to type.  “Blogs” could be replaced in that sentence by any # of words. How many columnists, movies, songs…are truly good let alone great?  90% of everything is – in President Magrath’s words – “crap.”  Apologies to the fine folks over at firejoemorgan for stealing they’re analogy.  (Fair warning: don’t click that last link if profanity or sabremetrics offend you.)

3. “‘A lot of stuff in the blogs really bothers me because it’s…hurting traditional mainstream journalism is that unqualified, untrained people suddenly start reporting on stuff and it starts getting legs and running.”

   MSM has its place and is very valuable. And some blogging is done very dangerously and suffers from not having checks and balances. But on the whole, it has added to the discourse of our society.  Many important stories have only reached the public because of blogging.  Plus the traditional press has given light to many stories that should have stayed locked in a basement.

   Also, can we please put an end to this main stream media vs. blogging.  It’s just silly.  That’s like debating spaghetti vs. tacos.  They’re both awesome sometimes.  And sometimes really bad.

Here’s the main point I want to make, my flag in the ground if you will, which was also my flag in the ground at the Next Generation Marketing conference series this past spring:

The real question isn’t whether blogging is good or bad – it’s neither.  The conversation will happen.  The question is whether or not you want to join the conversation. It’s going to happen somewhere – why not take part and have your voice heard?

I sincerely wish President Magrath and everyone at WVU the best of luck in moving forward and representing our state proudly.

Frankly I’m not sure he should do a blog since he’s an interim president and has a lot of other work that needs to be fulfilled.  I just hope the next President will take President Garrison’s lead and bring the blog back to the office.

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.”

I’d like to see it do well – I really would – but it’s search results were pathetic.  It wasn’t even returning anything on basic searches, yet it supposedly indexes more pages than Google?

Very underwhelmed.  I’ve had better experiences with other search engines out there like searchme.com and even Microsoft Live’s leftvsright.com, which is surely just a very short term experiment in gaining traffic.  (Yes, I know it’s just Live’s results, so it’s not really a new search engine, and that what they should have done was created a strictly political search engine, but you get my point.)

Best titled review and quote so far on cuil’s launch?  CNET’s the winner hands-down:

Title: Cuil shows us how not to launch a search engine

Excerpt du jour:

Sollitto said there were two issues affecting Cuil search quality currently. First, he said, “We are trying to give people different results.” Cuil is pitched as an alternative to traditional search engines, and users should not expect the results to be the same.

Fair enough, I said, but there’s a difference between alternative and wrong.

Zing!  Pow!  Bam!

Sorry – I’m really excited for the Dark Knight.   I don’t make it to theatres often.