Internet Marketing Toronto - Ignite!

Sometimes Heroes Come in Small Sizes

I’m going to take a step away from our usual PPC, SEO fodder and share with you, gentle reader, something that is close to my heart.

A few years ago I was given the opportunity to visit Northern Uganda, a part of the world I had never given a second thought to. I was working with Canadian Food for the Hungry International (check out the pic of the smiling man… I took that!) who was in the midst of providing relief and development to this region of Africa. Specifically, they were beginning a center to care for the young girls who were victimized by war and neglect.

For those who aren’t familiar with the story of Northern Uganda, permit me to share it with you. For over 20 years the Acholii tribe of this region has been brutally terrorized by a rebel group called The Lords Resistance Army (LRA). The LRA are led by Joseph Kony, a mystic spiritual leader who fuels the ranks of his brigades by kidnapping children at night while they sleep. His new recruits are forced to obey his commanders and made to kill their brothers, sisters, parents and tribesmen - all in the name of terror and an attempt to “overthrow the government.” In an attempt to bring security to the region, the government has forced the millions of Acholii to live in “refugee” camps within their own land - prisoners of sorts with very little hope. Many children have grown up without ever knowing their ancestral lands and farms.

This evening, I watched an uplifting film called War Dance which chronicles an elementary school from Northern Uganda as they prepare for the National Music Competition where schools from around Uganda compete in traditional dance, choral, instrumental and original composition performances.

I encourage you to watch this film before you read on… and I warn that below… there is a spoiler

What I loved about this film is the way the directors told the story of Northern Uganda while demonstrating the unrelenting hope that is deep within the hearts of all Acholi children. Of particular note was the story of Dominic who shares the horrors he faced in “the bush” under the command of the LRA and how he lost his older brother. His ability to play the xylophone was amazing and will warm even the hardest heart. I was so happy to see him with the individual award for best musician and the entire school win for Best Cultural Dance. The dance they performed in the main auditorium in front of the largest crowd these children have probably ever seen.

To see them hold their trophy with such pride - giving home to their entire tribe reminds me that heroes come in all shapes and sizes.

Look for the video at your local rental shop or purchase it online and help support a great cause.

The National Do Not Call List… What You Should Know…

Today marked the Canadian debut of the National Do Not Call List.  If your like me… your not a fan of getting a phone call while your busy watching a good move/t.v. show or eating dinner.  Well… it took a while but the Federal Government finally released a service to register your phone number on the “do not call” list.  The program has been implemented in the US for a while now, and has seen successful reviews from the average American consumer.  In Canada, it should be noted that even through you may register your number on the list… it doesn’t mean you will “never be bothered” by marketers.  For example, political parties, charitites, newspapers (wonder what powerful lobby influenced that one?) and “companies you already do business with” are still allowed to call you. 

If you take a quick poll of the numerous calls you get in the early evening… you might be suprised how many are from companies like your bank, local newspaper or charity… not to mention your local political candidate running for office.

Regardless… do yourself a favour and register your number on the National Do Not Call List here

New Tool - Google Moderator

Looks like Google is on a roll these days!  Most recently, it started with Google Chrome, then the first cell phone to include Google’s open source Android cell phone o.s. was released… and finally - Google Moderator.

What is Google Moderator?

A free service that will help track discussion topics within circles or companies.  Say for example, you have a company wide meeting and you want your staff to provide feedback and post questions they want answered.  Individuals can log into Moderator, post questions and vote up other questions they want answered in order of priority.  Something like this would be especically effective for internet marketing companies who have staff far and wide… in places like California, Australia, Toronto, Croatia and India (just as a totally random example :P).

Outside of a company based tool, it also proves to be a useful place for individuals to post and vote up questions of interest on topics like presidential debates, world issues and more.

Have a look, let me know what you think of it.

No More “Google Site Stats - Send Feedback” Logo Required

I logged into one of my clients accounts today with the purpose of generating conversion code for a thank you page.  Much to my suprise, I noticed a third option under the “Customized Tracking Indicator”

Before, it was mandatory to insert a rather ugly “Google Site Stats - send feedback” logo on your thank you page.  To be honest, i really never thought this was necessary or improved the users experience in any way. I can’t imagine Google got a lot of “send feedback” submissions as most people wouldn’t care to click the logo.

Good move in my opinion to give advertisers the option to place the logo or not.  For my future accounts, I will be selecting the “None” option.

Google & Dynamic URLs

Google recently updated it’s webmaster guidelines to suggest that webmasters  no longer re write their dynamic URLs to appear static.

This is a significant shift in SEO strategies going forward as compared to the past. The key question on every ones mind at this time is what about all my old URLs that I’ve re written? Well – don’t change them. If Google already has them indexed there is no need.

The difference lies in what you do going forward with new sites and work. According tot he search engine land post it only makes sense to leave static those URLs that you feel Google should know are not static – such as color choices for products in a database.

Also – lets not for the other search engines. While Google still has the lions share of search volume many sites still do better in Yahoo!

For more on this topic see Google Says, Don’t Rewrite Dynamic URLs To Static URLs.

On Hiring An Expert

Sari over at U2R1 recently wrote an interesting piece about the struggle between clients and designers over creative control.

I agree with what she had to say and felt I should share it with you too. Not only does it apply to designers but any expert you hire!

The heart of the issue is that as experts clients hire us to do what we do best. In some cases though clients are unwilling to let the experts take control and do what they do best.

When that happens the results are usually less than optimal and then everyone loses out. The client loses because they feel they did not get the best service for their money, and we lose a client and referral. It’s unfortunate for both parties because had the experts been allowed to do what they do best the results likely would have been different. And if there not? Well, at least you can clearly lay the blame on the expert!

For more on this topic check out Sari’s post on “The fight over creative control who get’s TKO“

Collection of PPC Ad Text Short Forms.

If your in the PPC game, you know the limitations that a 25 character headline and 35 character description lines can present.  Fortunately, there are a number of short forms that can be used and get your message across.  Not only that, but often these short forms can separate your ad from the competition and get the click.  Try them out, test them out and see if you can raise your CTR and conversion rates with them!

1. When talking about money in the thousands, use “K” - $30K, $40K etc. 
2. Instead of “with” try “w/’
3. Try “&” as opposed to “and”
4. Years = yrs
5. Rather than “more than” try “+”
6. Use acronyms like “B2B” as opposed to “business to business”
7. Not that this is a shortform, but try using “-” or “.” in your ad text to help differentiate the ad from the competition.

Sometimes you can get away with more, it all depends on what the ad review team catches.  Therefore, try adding new ad text on weekends or in the evening (after PST) when your chances might be better to get away with ad text that may not normally be approved.

Good luck!

Yahoo! & Rhapsody Launch Enhanced Music Features In Organic Search

This past week Yahoo! has launched some interesting enhanced music features using technology from Rhapsody.

I found this to be quite interesting and a real leg up over Google search. When you search for a popular artist like Madonna Yahoo! will present a music results listing using data from Rhapsody. Right from the Search Engine Reults Page (SERP) you can click one of the listed songs and play it right in the browser.

The deal with Rhapsody allows for an individual to listen up to 25 songs per month using this service. I find it interesting because it happens right in the SERP, does not require any other technology or windows to load, and keeps the user on the SERP page longer - longer to see the ads on the page!

I’ve tried it out a few times and am thrilled with the results. I’m keen to see where else Yahoo! can take this feature - and what Google will do to answer back!

If Yahoo! keeps innovating like this it may actually have a chance at becoming popular again and pulling some of the eyeballs away from Google.

Comcast & Costco The Real Sponsors of TWIT?

Are Comcast and Costco The Real Sponsors of TWIT?

I’m a huge fan of the TWIT network and think Leo is creating a new category of online entertainment. The free content produced by TWIT subsidized by advertising dollars is outstanding.

Leo’s approach to advertising on the show is really good and not too disruptive. However, I personally think it’s far more clever than we think and perhaps recently it’s gotten away from him a bit. Has the curtain been ripped away to reveal what may be the truth behind TWIT Advertisers?

Much like Jason Calacanis and his jovial bantering with Leo in support of the Audible sponsorship I am convinced that Dvorak (dvorak.org/blog) is the one promoting the real advertisers of TWIT - Comcast and Costco!

Recent episodes of TWIT have had Dvorak.org/blog go on at length (at length!!) about how Comcast is comcastic this and that, and in the last episode of TWIT John went on, and on, (at the bequest of the cohosts) about the wonderful Easter Egg surprises you can find at Costco! It was like an episode of the Wine Magazine!

I’m fine with that. I think it’s hilarious how Dvorak cranks about everything except Comcast (does he have to pay his bill every month?) and Costco (does he get a free membership for this support?)!

Maybe I’m spending too much time on this, maybe not. Who knows, maybe Comcast and Costco should be the real sponsors of TWIT!

Cuils VP Product Bails Out!

It’s true! Louis Monier who was plucked from Google to join Cuil has bailed out a month after launch.

I’m not surprised by this, and it will hurt Cuil. Louis is a search powerhouse and his departure clearly underscores the short comings of the new search engine. While Cuil claims it can index the internet faster and cheaper than Google it means nothing if they can’t provide relevant content for most searches!

Without that crucial facet of search they won’t get the eyeballs to switch from Google and they won’t amount to any kind of competition. In fact they may just be relegated to a really cool experiment.

That would be an unfortunate end for the search engine startup since competition is what accelerates innovation. So, I hope that Cuil regroups and focuses their efforts on producing relevant results for every search. With the launch of 123People.com I’m amazed at how relevant their results are for a search on my name. Granted they are using Yahoo! to produce the results but boy they sure are more relevant than Cuil. Perhaps Cuil should drop parts of the index such as images and focus on web pages till they sort out the algo. In the meantime they have to find a replacement for Louis!

For more on this story see the TechCrunch story.