Catherine "Cat" Seda

The End of a Blog

2010-03-28T16:40:00.000-07:00

Happy 2010!

It has been months since I’ve posted to my blog. And I’m okay with that. It’s the end of this blog. My business has been changing directions and I’m going with the flow to see where I go. So, instead of moving to WordPress or TypePad at this point, I’m leaving this blog as it is. There’s a decent amount of content here. Plus, I don’t want to break the links.

Thank you for reading my blog (and articles, newsletters and books). Every time I hear from a reader, it makes my day. I really enjoy helping my fellow entrepreneurs! You may see articles and/or blog posts from me in the future…perhaps in magazines or online communities…

Before I go, if you don’t have my Top 10 Internet Marketing Mistakes Report for 2010, you may want to download it now—it’s free.

Also, I’m often asked if I can recommend a few good freelance Web designers and graphic designers. I sure can. Here are great designers I’ve worked with over the years who could also be great resources for your business:

• Sara Richardson-McCreery

• Vic Spindler

• Steven Kennedy

May this year bring you, your family and your business many blessings!

Namaste,
Cat

Search Engine Advertising Edition 2

2009-08-16T20:21:00.000-07:00

If you haven’t picked up the second edition of “Search Engine Advertising” yet, get it today and get $200 in free clicks from Microsoft (the coupon code is in the book).

I also want to give Kevin Lee, PPC expert and CEO of Didit, big kudos for writing the second edition. In 2002-2003, Kevin’s team at Didit helped me catch click fraud and broken tracking links in my clients’ PPC accounts. I’ve always been impressed by how much valuable information Kevin shares—especially his use of statistics and case studies. I knew he would give the book a new perspective (PPC has really evolved since I wrote “Search Engine Advertising” in 2003 and there are so many different ideas to consider).

May the second edition help you with your PPC strategy! If you enjoy the book, please tell your colleagues about it. And if you could take a minute to write a book review on Amazon.com, we’d appreciate it.

I’ll see your site at the top!
Cat Seda

Hyatt Interview

2009-01-05T14:34:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year! May 2009 be a year of joy, peace and prosperity. Will you be traveling this year? If so, you may want to check out yatt’it. “What’s yatt’it?” you ask.

yatt’it is Hyatt's online travel community. It was launched in March 2008, with 43 Hyatt destinations featured. Currently, over 200 Hyatt concierges are participating in yatt’it, providing their perspectives as local experts, and 37 destinations were recently added to yatt’it for a total of 80 destinations. Amy Wang, Associate Manager of Hyatt’s Gold Passport Marketing, talks about yatt’it…

What is yatt’it?
yatt’it is Hyatt's online travel community where Hyatt Gold Passport members and Hyatt concierges can share insider tips on destinations worldwide. Everyone is welcome to browse yattit.com and email/social bookmark helpful tips to others; however, only Hyatt Gold Passport members and Hyatt concierges can post content. yatt’it offers travel tips and advice from three key sources: 1) Hyatt Gold Passport members, 2) Hyatt concierges, 3) Frommer's

We also have a partnership with FlightStats--a web based company providing real-time airport and airline information worldwide. Our partnership with FlightStats allows yatt’it users to use the FlightStats tool right within yatt’it without having to leave the site. There is also a mobile version of the site for users on the go: mobile.yattit.com

How many visitors a month does your community have?
We are currently averaging 65,000 unique visitors a month with a 95% repeat visitation rate. There are 8,000+ yatt’it members. More Gold Passport members are joining yatt’it and new Gold Passport members are joining the program via yatt’it everyday.

How did you, and how do you today, grow your community?
During yatt’it development, we had an Alpha and Beta development phase where we invited Hyatt Gold Passport members and over 100 concierges worldwide to visit the development site to contribute their tips and provide feedback. Our launch communications plan included emails to our Hyatt Gold Passport members as well as print, online media and out of home advertising. yatt’it is also thoroughly imbedded throughout Hyatt websites. As we continue to add more destinations and features to yatt’it, we are communicating with our Hyatt Gold Passport members on a continuous basis.

How do you measure your community’s success?
For quantitative measurement we look at site traffic and membership growth, as well as engagement metrics such as posting volume, page views and tips viewed per visit, time spent on site, to name a few. We also monitor activities and results as yatt’it members cross over to other Hyatt sites and their activities on those sites.

Since yatt’it launched, the site has also been featured in many print publications (the October 2008 Harvard Business Review) and team members have been invited to speak at conferences regarding yatt’it (TravelComm 2008 in Chicago).

What specific impact has yatt’it had on Hyatt’s business?
We have data that shows members who have not had a recent stay with Hyatt are still engaging with our brand through yatt’it, which is very important to us. This allows us to further identify who these people are and continue engaging them with Hyatt and Gold Passport. Even though yatt’it is about Hyatt destinations, we have also received occasional feedback regarding our hotels and services through yatt’it which then becomes a great opportunity for us to engage directly with these customers.

Can you share a “sneak peek” at what you might do in 2009?
We are currently still working on these enhancements with no ETA confirmed. However, we most recently added the social bookmarking tool which allows users to post their favorite posts on Facebook and iGoogle pages.

VirtualTourist Interview

2008-12-11T18:11:00.000-08:00

How did VirtualTourist, created by two travelers in 1999, become the colossal community it is today with over 1 million registered members? According to Giampiero Ambrosi, VT’s general manager, the key is to listen.

What is VirtualTourist?
VirtualTourist is a worldwide travel community where travelers and locals share travel advice and experiences. Among other things, we offer tips and reviews about everything from hotels to restaurants to nightlife, but aside from that we also have a real world community with active forums and offline meetings.

How many visits a month does your community have?
1 million registered members, 6 million unique users per month, 30 million page views per month, and 25 marriages (that we know of).

What are your community’s most popular features?
Our forums are hugely popular--85% of our forum questions are answered within 48 hours and each question receives an average of seven replies. We also monitor our forums very carefully, so unlike a lot of other forums, there’s no free-for-all arguing or “advertising” to wade through.

Our off-line meetings, which are entirely member-organized, are a big part of what makes us so popular. Sometimes the meetings are just a small group of people who get together for a day of sight-seeing and sometimes it’s a group of 200 who gather for an entire weekend. A lot of really hard work goes into them, and it’s something our members really look forward to.

How did you, and how do you today, grow your community?
It’s really the wealth of information on our site that grows our community. We also just use good old-fashioned customer service. We listen to what members have to say, use their suggestions, and do whatever we can to make their experience great.

How do you measure your community’s success?
Certainly we keep track of things like traffic and press mentions, but, although it sounds hokey, we really measure our success by things like member feedback. We’ve had people tell us that the site has changed their lives, that they were inspired to travel because of the site, or that they can’t imagine not being a member.

At what point did VirtualTourist become a successful business?
The business was started in 1999 with a lot of optimism and the dot-com bubble burst in March of 2000, so it was really a rough road. For a while we were running the business out of an apartment and surviving on coffee punch cards. It’s been profitable and successful for a long time and the future looks really bright. In July 2008, VirtualTourist was acquired by TripAdvisor.

How does VirtualTourist generate revenue?
Advertising is our main source of revenue, but that said, there’s a very clear line between editorial content and advertising. We don’t spare an advertiser bad reviews and we wouldn’t include a positive review just because someone is advertising with us.

Can you share a “sneak peek” at what you might do in 2009?
Aside from a whole new look, we’re going to make the site much more user-friendly, interesting, and above all, fun. Additionally, we plan to give our community more options to participate in sporting or charity events around the world. We had sort of a dry run this fall when we sponsored a VirtualTourist team in a motor race across the Caucasus Mountains and we’re already putting together a few more off-line events like that. We’re also in the planning stages of creating awards for some of our top contributors, which is something we’ve wanted to do for a while. All in all it should be a very exciting year.

How to Win Sales and Influence Spiders

2008-12-02T12:23:00.000-08:00

I forgot to mention...my second book, "How to Win Sales & Influence Spiders," is now available in Polish and Japanese! To get the book in Polish, you can contact Malgorzata Jaroszewska (Malgorzata.Jaroszewska[@]pearson.com). To get the book in Japanese, you can contact Yoshio Kimura (Yoshio.Kimura[@]pearson.com).

I *hope* the second edition of my first book, "Search Engine Advertising," will be available next year. We shall see...

Cat

Extravigator Interview

2008-12-01T11:20:00.000-08:00

Do you have a taste for luxury travel? Then consider joining Extravigator to trade tips with like-minded travel enthusiasts. With the abundance of travel communities on the web, Extravigator stands out by reaching out to a specific type of traveler. Dan Richman, founder of Extravigator, explains how NOT appealing to a mass market is best for his travel forum.

What is Extravigator?
Extravigator is an independent and open forum for world travelers, with discriminating taste, to share their advice and insider knowledge. Although it is free to join, not everyone who applies for membership is granted one. The application process is deceptively simple. Depending on what hotel people provide as their "favorite hotel" during the application process, we either grant or deny membership. It's a very informal way of weeding out those who do not fit the profile of our ideal member. Each application for membership is individually reviewed.

How many visits/unique visitors a month does your community have?
We launched in October 2007. Today we have roughly 4,000 unique visitors a month and growing. We also have about 850 members.

What are your community’s most popular features?
Photo uploads in comments.

How did you, and how do you today, grow your community?
Extravigator is a slow growing community. The main goal is to attract stylish travelers. It's not designed for mass market appeal. So, much of Extravigator's growth comes from word of mouth.

How do you measure your community’s success?
By the amount of participation in discussions. The home page of Extravigator currently states that there are now 227 discussions that have been started. On average, most discussions have between 3 to 6 comments in each discussion. Generally, the amount of discussion would be quantified as the number of comments per day. It's difficult to give a percentage of increased traffic since traffic has fluctuated significantly in the first year of operation. Oddly enough, the largest traffic spike came from an obscure web design blog named CSSMania. Other large traffic spikes came from blogs such as Luxist, All The Best, and an insignificant mention on Gawker. The LA Times also featured Extravigator in their Travel section earlier this year, but this was only detected from a large increase in traffic from Los Angeles. Most of these mentions often translated to a few hundred unique visitors for a 24-48 hour period and quickly tapered off after that.

At what point did (or will) Extravigator become a successful business?
In many ways, Extravigator already is a successful business. It's already made a slight profit in its first year. But it has a long way to go. The site will truly be successful when every discussion on the front page is less than 24 hours old at any given time.

How does Extravigator generate revenue?
Extravigtator has only had banner advertising since its inception. We are a member of the Halogen Publisher network.

Can you share a “sneak peek” at what you might do in 2009?
We're always looking for new ways to engage our members and get them talking about the best of travel...that's what we'll be focusing on in 2009. Right now we are focused on maintaining our traffic growth through the recession.

Travellerspoint Interview

2008-11-26T09:23:00.000-08:00

What does it take to launch a successful travel community with more than 30,000 visitors a day from more than 220 countries? Sam Daams, co-founder of Travellerspoint, shares some of his experiences. Thank you, Sam!

What is Travellerspoint?
Our corporate objective is to "enrich the travelling experience by offering services, content and products that have significant perceived and added value for travellers worldwide.” In plain English, I'd say we try and create features that are not only useful for travellers on the road, but also help bring them together to share their thoughts, ideas and values.

When did you launch Travellerspoint?
We first discussed the idea for Travellerspoint in a MSN Messenger session in the middle of 2002, while I was living in the Netherlands and my brother, Peter, was living in Australia. Just three months later we launched Travellerspoint. (Check out a screenshot from the early days.)

How many visitors does your community have?
30,000 unique visitors per day, 3 million page views per month, members in over 220 countries.

What are your community’s most popular features?
The forum is a favourite. Because we code all our features ourselves, we can put in place great anti-spam solutions to keep it one of the cleanest and most spam-free travel forums out there. The photography and blogs features are two other favourites, and we're working especially hard to have our wiki travel guide added to that list!

How did you, and how do you today, grow your community?
Early on it was primarily by reaching out to other travel sites to get the word out. I think it was much easier to get a personal connection back then with other website owners than it is today, but today getting your new site on TechCrunch will get you the kind of early publicity we could only dream of back in 2002. Then again, early articles on Lonely Planet and a feature on the BBC World program 'Click Online' were big boosts for us too. Today, it's through a mix of member referrals, pay-per-click, Facebook and search engine traffic.

At what point did Travellerspoint become a successful business?
From early 2004, both Peter and I have been working full time on the site and paying ourselves a modest salary from site revenues for that work. If that's the definition of “successful business” then early 2004 is probably the point, so about 1.5 years after starting up. Obviously, we worked a year and a half with no salary, so an investor wouldn't view that the same way.

How do you measure your community’s success?
Personally, I think member count, forum/photo/blog and wiki contributions are the most important. Traffic will generally increase based on those metrics. Press mentions are especially fun to monitor, but I don't find them particularly representative of the health of a community. There are plenty of sites out there that get a lot of press mention due to their founders/investors and have disappeared 6-12 months later.

How does Travellerspoint make money?
It's currently a combination of advertising and sales of products/services (accommodations, insurance, RTW tickets, etc.).

Can you share a “sneak peek” at what you might do in 2009?
One thing we're really excited about is our new Social Bookings concept. This has just been released out of beta in our budget accommodation area. Early feedback is extremely promising and it combines the best of online and offline worlds together.

Bobsleds and Spa Trips

2008-11-26T09:19:00.000-08:00

It has been a year since I’ve blogged? Wow. How have you been? What have you been doing?

This year has been a rollercoaster for many entrepreneurs, including me. Swimming keeps me sane. Water is so relaxing…another reason why I love spas! Travel refreshes my spirit, too.

Talking about travel, when I wrote an article for Entrepreneur about company retreats called Go Out and Play I got to travel to places like Miraval Resort (the Spirit Flight spa treatment is an amazing experience) and Utah Olympic Park (bobsledding rocks). And as an 18-year spa enthusiast, I was so excited to share spa tips in an article for Girlfriend Getaways magazine. One of my goals for 2009 is to do more travel writing. Need a freelance travel writer or a secret spa shopper? Call me—my bag is packed. :-)

I’m also a team member of Spa Alchemy, a spa consulting group founded by my brilliant sister Dr. Jen Seda (she co-authored "Choosing Brilliant Health" which was published in May 2008—go Jen Jen). Luckily for me, we both love spas and travel.

As an ode to travel, I’ll be sharing several success stories of online travel communities. I hope you enjoy these interviews and I thank the participants for sharing their insight with us. Happy travels and happy marketing this holiday season!

Namaste,
Cat

Viral video marketing and Will It Blend

2007-11-11T17:54:00.000-08:00

Thank you, thank you! I *really* appreciate all of the comments on my last post: Freelance Writer Needs a Break. Um, I can’t believe it has taken me two months to write my final blog entry—I obviously need a break from writing for a while. :-)

What’s “a while?” I’m not sure yet; I’ll see what Q1 2008 brings…But before I go, here are a few more Internet marketing resources that may help you:

Tag, You're It! Tagging content on social sites is serious business.
(My October 2007 column for Entrepreneur magazine)

Listen Up! Want to be heard? Here are 5 simple ways to promote your podcast.
(My November 2007 column for Entrepreneur magazine)

Search Engine Visibility
(Book by Shari Thurow; second edition now available)

Mastering Panama (Yahoo!)
(Special report by Mona Elesseily)

Radically Transparent: Monitoring and Managing Reputations Online
(Book by Andy Beal & Judy Strauss—due out in March 2008)

Entrepreneur’s “Women in Charge” conference, January 29, 2008 in Miami
(Pitch your business to the magazine editors, attend educational sessions and network with other women entrepreneurs. I’ll be teaching “Online Marketing” and hope to see you there!)

It’s a beautiful evening here in California. No hot, dry winds. Instead, storm clouds blanket the sky, bringing a refreshing coolness to the air. I’m drinking a hot latte topped with chocolate raspberry creamer and I’m listening to holiday music. I know it’s early! But I can’t help it. It’s that kind of day.

Thank you again for reading my articles, books, newsletter and/or blog. I wish you a very Happy Holiday and a BRILLIANT New Year!

Cat

Okay, onto my final Q&A…

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

QUESTION: In a recent seminar, you mentioned NOT to do hard sales pitches in online videos. You made reference to Dove, which is obviously using their foundation to get the PR, but I seem to see blatant abuse of the non-commercial use and just want to help my coaching clients when it comes to this issue.

~ John Hollner, Hollner Promotions

CAT’S ANSWER: Whoops—thanks for giving me the chance to clarify, John. Your clients can use video to grow their business. But I don’t recommend creating an in-your-face, “BUY NOW!” ad. Viewers want information, entertainment, maybe both. For video to go viral, think infotainment.

Here’s a fun commercial example: Will It Blend? by Blendtec. Watch the company’s CEO, Tom Dickson, blend golf balls, marbles, or a Chuck Norris action figure (that’s my favorite). Several months ago, when Tom blended an iPhone, publications like Engadget, PC World and InfoWorld talked about it. So did thousands of bloggers.

I just interviewed George Wright (Marketing Director for Blendtec), about the success of this campaign. Here’s what he said I can share with you:

* Since the launch of the Will It Blend? marketing campaign in November 2006, Blendtec’s Total Blender online sales have increased by 500% -- the Will It Blend? campaign is the single biggest factor in the increase.

* Interestingly, the Will It Blend? campaign started as a brand awareness campaign.

* Video views from YouTube and WillItBlend.com total nearly 70 million views.

* Now, you can buy the video series for $9.93. This DVD offers the first 50 videos, out-takes, un-released video footage and additional information about the marketing campaign. This product was released in July and has already sold a few hundred copies.

* Blendtec is working with other companies to create co-branded video clips.

Hmm…I wonder what they’ll blend next?

Thanks, John, for your question. Thank you, George, for sharing information on Blendtec’s viral video marketing success. And thank you again to everyone who has stopped by to read my blog.
To Your Online Success!
Catherine (“Cat”) Seda

Freelance Writer Needs a Break

2007-09-03T15:15:00.000-07:00

It’s true...I’m retiring.

Well, sort of. I need a break from writing. I’ve had “writer’s burnout” since I finished my second book How to Win Sales & Influence Spiders (which has already helped thousands of readers—YAY).

It’s also time for me to create better work/life balance. I want my weekends back! If you’re a hard-working entrepreneur, you can probably relate. That said, with a full consulting schedule and a little wiggle room to speak at conferences, I’m cutting back on writing to reclaim my weekends. Ahhh…

I’ll write just one more Q&A newsletter/blog post after this (you can visit Entrepreneur.com to read my “Net Sales” column through December. Yup, I’m even taking a break from my Entrepreneur column—I’ve enjoyed five fabulous years with the magazine).

Can I ask you for a favor?

Have my articles, books or newsletter been helpful? If so, could you share a comment on my blog? I’d love to hear from you! It really makes my day to know my tips are helping my fellow entrepreneurs.

P.S. Want my 3 favorite money-saving tips for pay-per-click? Visit my blog to watch my 5-minute video interview with Dr. Ralph Wilson. Don’t miss it. :-)

To Your Online Success!

Catherine (“Cat”) Seda
12-Year Internet & Search Marketing Strategist
Entrepreneur Columnist

Paid Reviews on Blogs

2007-09-03T15:08:00.000-07:00

Want a guaranteed review of your product or service? Why not pay for it? My September 2007 "Net Sales" column for Entrepreneur magazine explores this opportunity. If you've used one of these services (or others), can you share a tip or two? Did it work for you?

September 2007

Pay the Piper?

Paying bloggers to review your product could lead to fame--or shame.

A good review is gold. Unfortunately, getting a journalist to write about your product or service is not guaranteed. Wish it could be? Well, you can pay for reviews--not by journalists, but by bloggers. Proceed with caution, though: This emerging tactic has some tricky implications.

The first step is to find bloggers who write reviews. You can contact the top bloggers in your industry who do this and offer them cash. You can also use sites like Blogsvertise, PayPerPost.com, ReviewMe and SponsoredReviews.com. These sites specialize in connecting advertisers with bloggers who are paid to write reviews and link to your site.

Here's how they work: After creating an account, you write a request describing what you want reviewed. You can usually specify the bloggers' qualifications, such as a minimum Google PageRank, Alexa score and/or Technorati ranking.

Today's pay range is anywhere from $5 to $1,000 per review. The paid review sites also charge a service fee, typically a percentage or dollar amount per post.

Does paying for a review undermine its credibility? Some bloggers have blasted other bloggers for accepting money to write reviews. Some bloggers have blasted the advertisers. These bloggers believe paid reviews are automatically slanted in the advertiser's favor. To minimize potential backfire, follow these guidelines:

* Choose blogs that are relevant to your product or service.

* Choose a paid review site that requires disclosure from bloggers.

* Don't choose bloggers or paid review sites that provide only positive feedback.

* Set a reasonable review fee; too little could get you a generic-sounding review, whereas too much could get you one that is overly promotional.

This emerging tactic blurs the line between editorial and advertising. To play it safe, be sure you're paying to get the review but not to control the content. Even with a risk factor, the potential pay-offs are powerful: feedback, buzz, traffic, link love--and most important, the opinion of an influential audience.

© Entrepreneur

Podcast and New Media Expo

2007-08-05T20:28:00.000-07:00

Have you tried podcast advertising? If so, please share a tip or two with my blog readers. We'd love to hear from you!

Want to learn about podcasting and videocasting? Then attend the upcoming Podcast and New Media Expo show in California next month. The conference is only $299 for three days! I already registered (I heard the show sold out last year). Hope to see you there…

Podcast Ads

2007-08-05T20:25:00.000-07:00

You don’t need to publish podcasts to profit from them. Try podcasts ads! In my article this month for Entrepreneur magazine, I share the surprisingly low costs of podcasting advertising and several companies that can help you reach a tuned-in audience.

Cast Your Line
Fishing for some customers? Podcast a line and make a sales catch.

Advertising on audio or video podcasts is a great way to deliver your message to an audience that's tuned in. An ad can appear preroll (before content) or postroll (after content). Or you can opt for a midroll (also called interstitial) ad, which is inserted within the content. Generally speaking, you need an MP3 file for audio and a QuickTime or Windows Media Player file for video.

Podcasting companies such as Kiptronic, Podtrac and RadioTail may give you demographic and geographic targeting options. And you might get to choose particular podcasts, too. Make sure to get post-campaign reports, which often include details like the number of podcast downloads, download origins and post-download activity, such as the number of clicks or purchases.

What's the cost? Expect to pay anywhere from $10 to $70 CPM (cost per thousand impressions, which in this case refers to the cost per thousand podcast downloads). The campaign minimum could start as low as $1,000. However, one podcast company executive we talked to said $10,000 is a recommended test campaign budget.

© Entrepreneur

Want More Business? Answer a Question.

2007-07-31T19:55:00.000-07:00

In your business, do prospects ask you questions?

I bet they do! And I bet that you often turn those prospects into clients. So, why not answer questions on the web to attract more business?

Do you know about Yahoo! Answers? It’s an online community that lets you answer visitors’ questions. What a helpful way to showcase your expertise! And if visitors vote for your answer, you earn points to boost your reputation even more.

I’ll confess…I don’t know Yahoo! Answers. But Manny Hernandez does! He’s an Internet marketer who uses it to raise awareness for www.TuDiabetes.com, his global community for people touched by diabetes. Manny shares these proven tips:

* Find Your Niche
Use the site’s search engine to find highly-targeted topics. It’s easier to show your expertise as a specialist rather than a generalist.

* Answer Questions Often
If you want points, log in every day to answer one question—you’ll get one point a day by doing this. If you can’t do this, try to answer at least one question once a week. Obviously, the more questions you answer, the more you shine. For more info on the point system, visit: http://answers.yahoo.com/info/scoring_system

* Avoid “YES/NO” Answers
Almost any answer at least one paragraph long is an excellent candidate for a “Best Answer” vote (worth 10 points). Because “Yes/No” answers aren’t usually helpful, you won’t likely get “big” points (or business) for giving this kind of answer.

* Vote on Others’ Answers
It’s always a good idea to recognize the good work of others. Yahoo! rewards you for it. By voting for someone else’s answer, you’ll get one point.

* Only Link When Appropriate
Yes, you can link to other resources on the web, including yours, from within your answer. But don’t lace every answer with a link to your site because that’s spam. Never blatantly advertise your products or services—EVER.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Thanks Manny!

LinkedIn also has a similar service called “LinkedIn Answers.” Check out Manny Hernandez' Internet marketing blog about this topic.

Several of my family members have diabetes. Once while in a store with my dad a few months after his stroke, I mistook his low sugar attack for fatigue. Had an ambulance not been called, I would have driven him home to take a nap; he would have slipped into a diabetic coma and died. After that scary experience, I learned from other diabetics that while in a low or high sugar state diabetics might not remember if or when they last ate or took insulin. I hope communities like TuDiabetes.com can help get life-saving information like this out to the world. Congratulations on reaching almost 600 members!

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

The 10% Lunch Video Contest

2007-07-09T19:38:00.000-07:00

How's this for a contest: create the winning 30-60 second video inspired by BizzFlip's blog The 10% Lunch, and you'll own 10%, in private stock, of BizzFlip.

Whadda think?

Internet Legend Dr Ralph Wilson

2007-07-03T19:52:00.000-07:00

WOW. Today, my book was given a "thumbs up" by Internet legend Dr. Ralph Wilson. Thank you, thank you!

SEO Your Blog

2007-07-02T20:51:00.000-07:00

Want to know a simple SEO technique for blogs? Learn about “permalinks” in my July 2007 “Net Sales” column for Entrepreneur magazine (below). Has this technique worked for you? Please share your results!

Site Unseen?

To attract customers near and far, optimize your blog for search engines.

Search engines send out spiders to crawl the web looking for web pages to add to their databases. Blogs are spider magnets, especially if they have freshly updated content and links pointing to them--two delicious ingredients, according to spiders. But with more than 100,000 blogs being born every day, content and links aren't all you need to catapult your blog to the top of search results. Your blog must also be optimized.

Start by putting relevant keywords in the titles of your blog posts. For example, let's say you publish a blog about interior design. An effective title for one of your posts could be "Designer Home Accessories." This way, these keywords will become associated with that blog entry.

The blog publishing tool you use should create a unique web page for each post you write. That means the post title you choose usually becomes that post's permanent URL, called a permalink. For example, the permalink for a post titled "Designer Home Accessories" could look something like blogname.com/designer-home-accessories. See why it's so important to use good keywords?

Wait, it gets better: When someone looks up a keyword in a search engine or blog engine, your post can appear as a top search result. The title of your post becomes the title of the listing shown. And your permalink appears as the URL of that web page. Not only will humans see what your post is about before they read it, but so will those all-important search engine spiders.

But be careful! Don't repeat your core keywords in every post you write. That's considered spam. When optimizing your blog (or website) for search engines, think humans before spiders. If what you write is illogical or annoying for people to read because of your repetitive use of keywords, it's definitely spam--and is not a good way to win customers.

© Entrepreneur

3 Tips to Boost Traffic to Your Blog

2007-07-01T11:22:00.000-07:00

Every month in my Internet marketing newsletter, I answer a reader's question. Whoops! I forgot to post my June Q&A. Here it is:

QUESTION:

I ended up going with a TypePad account for my new blog instead of a Blogger account. I have looked into several options for getting the word out about it, but there are so many different ways to do it. How can I establish a solid base to build upon?

~ Will Radcliffe, http://www.bizzflip.com/

CAT’S ANSWER:

I hear you loud and clear, Will. You don’t want 101 tips right now. Here are three quick (and powerful) tips to boost traffic to your blog:

1) E-mail your community of prospects, customers and fans. But don’t just tell them you have a blog. Post something delicious on your blog, then use e-mail to send them a “teaser” to check it out.

2) After browsing BizzFlip, and reading that it’s fairly new, send out a few press releases. Choose a newswire service that’ll let you link keywords from within the press release copy to your blog. That’s a quick way to get a little “link love” (good for search engine optimization)…from the original press release and all of the sites/blogs that’ll publish it for free.

3) MOST IMPORTANTLY, blog. Surf the blogosphere using a blog engine like http://www.icerocket.com or http://technorati.com to find blogs that are similar to BizzFlip. DO NOT ADVERTISE. Instead, share a tip, tool or comment. By posting a comment, you’ll get a link to your blog which invites bloggers to visit it.

Thanks, Will. A lot of people have asked me about this lately, so your question is timely for many of my readers. Good luck, bloggers. Go forth and blog!

TypePad or WordPress

2007-06-19T18:22:00.000-07:00

I know, I know. I *should* upgrade from Blogger to TypePad or WordPress. Now that my new site is live, that's on my To-Do list. Even though I know which one I'll choose, which do you recommend? Why? If you've used both, please say so. Your comments will help entrepreneurs who also need to make this choice. Thanks!

My New Web Site

2007-06-08T19:49:00.000-07:00

FINALLY. It's been over a yeeeeeeear since I started writing my new web site copy. I guess time flies when you've been writing a book! It was time to ditch the agency-looking site and just be me. "Cat, the Consultant." That feels right.

You might want to check out my new Resources page. And sign-up for my bi-monthly e-zine to get my "Top 10 Internet Marketing Mistakes" report.

Thanks for stopping by!

How to Win Sales and Influence Spiders Review

2007-05-28T15:48:00.001-07:00

My second book, How to Win Sales & Influence Spiders, is getting good reviews. Thank you!!!

Michael Mattis - Yahoo! Search Marketing Blogger
Andy Beal – SEO Strategist
Dr. Amanda Watlington – SEO Strategist
Manny Hernandez – Top 80 Amazon.com Reviewer
Monte Huebsch of AussieWeb Local Search
Steve Mertz – Denver SEO Consultant
Knox –Denver SEO Consultant
Lisa Manyon – Copywriting Strategist
Stephanie Diamond - Marketer
Aaron Weiche, Web & Multimedia Director of Prime Advertising – A full-service advertising firm
Christine O'Kelly, Create Business Growth

Hmmm…most of the folks who have blogged about my book are in the Internet marketing space. Don’t worry, this book isn’t just for Internet marketers! You can check out some non-Internet book reviews on Amazon.com.

Have you blogged about my book? If so (and ya said something nice), let me know or post a comment and include that URL here.

Writing a book is um…a lot of work. So, I really appreciate hearing from happy readers because hoping I share something that helps your business is the reason why I write. :-)

Press Release Make-Over (after)

2007-05-14T20:38:00.000-07:00

As I said in my last post, What's Wrong with Your Press Release, here's Stacy's "after" press release. Read my original post, then Stacy's "before" press release and this one before sharing your comments. What other tips could she share that would get your attention?

Five Tips to Turn Wine Tasting into New Business

Want new clients? This summer, start a wine tasting club to invite your clients, prospects and friends to do more business with you.

(PRWEB) May 10, 2007 -- When most people think of a networking group, they think of business cards, stuffy suits and dry chicken. When most people think of a wine tasting party, they think fun. Why not combine the two and create a wine tasting club to bring in new business?

Here are 5 simple tips to hosting a successful event:

Tip 1: Choose Personality over Profession
When launching a wine tasting club for business, personality counts. Don't invite people with great connections but poor people skills; they'll kill your event. Instead, invite colleagues who can share business contacts and good conversation. It only takes a few fun people to make a club dynamic so start by inviting 6 to 10 friends and ask each bring a fun colleague.

Tip 2: Create a Theme
A simple way to liven up your event is to create a theme. For example, focus on a specific type or region of wine. How about a taste of Italy? Or, a Champagne celebration with French cheese? Why not pair white wines with summer fruits? Appetizers and cheeses are easy to offer and they promote mingling.

Tip 3: Get the Word Out
Networking groups succeed because people get into the routine of attending a regular event, so stay consistent. For instance, pick the third Thursday of every month at 6:30 p.m. Put everyone on an e-mail list and send out a reminder one month, two weeks and then two days before the event to make sure people remember it.

Tip 4: Share the Fun Stuff
Hosts don't have to do everything -- in fact, they shouldn't. Inviting your guests to participate lightens your load while making your guests feel important. Ask your guests to bring a bottle of wine, an appetizer, or both. You can also consider printing a schedule and asking for volunteers to host future events; people will jump at this opportunity. By rotating the event location, the club will quickly grow because hosts will invite their colleagues to join in.

Tip 5: Keep it Flowing
Here's a successful ice-breaking idea: rate your wine! Pass out wine rating cards to let guests share their opinions. Pour one wine at a time and ask for group feedback. Or, let guests sample the wines available, vote for their favorites, then a winning wine will be chosen at the end of the event. Score cards encourage guests to talk about their favorites. If your guests are required to bring wine, you could award the winner a trophy which gets passed each month for bragging rights.

By launching a wine tasting club, you can create a fun and memorable networking event. You'll also extend your community of friends and business contacts.

Visit The Wino Club™ at http://www.thewinoclub.com to get fun wine facts, glossary, food pairing recipes, free newsletter and blog.

Stacy Nelson is co-creator of The Wino Club™ (http://www.thewinoclub.com), the ultimate wine tasting party kit which includes step-by-step instructions for hosting a successful event. A portion of each sale is donated to Michelle's Place, a breast cancer resource center. Stacy is also a Reverse Mortgage Specialist in Southern California whose business is 100% referral based.

Contact:Stacy Nelson
The Wino Club
1-888-694-3225
www.thewinoclub.com

Press Release Make-Over (before)

2007-05-14T20:34:00.000-07:00

As I said in my last post, What's Wrong with Your Press Release, here's Stacy's "before" press release. Check it out and then read her "after" press release before sharing your comments.

Networking With Wine: 5 Easy Tips to Turn a Wine Tasting Party into a Monthly Business Club

Temecula, CA, February 12, 2007 - - Creating your own wine tasting club can be a very powerful tool for business people who want to build their business with referrals and relationships.

When most people think of a business networking group, they think of business cards and handshaking, 10 second commercials and dry chicken.

When most people think of a wine tasting party, they think of getting together with a few friends and spending the evening together enjoying wine and good food.

Which do you prefer?

People refer business to people they know and like. Getting to know your referring partners and meeting with them regularly is the best method of building a great business relationship. This is why the best business groups meet regularly, either weekly or monthly.

Now imagine that instead of dressing in your business finest and passing out cards for a couple of painful hours, you were to toss on a pair of jeans, toss back some great wine, leave your cards in the car and still generate referrals?

The relaxed atmosphere of a wine tasting party makes the relationship building phase of networking painless. By meeting in each other’s homes instead of at a hotel or restaurant, you’ve just moved from business relationship to friend. Forming a wine tasting CLUB rather than just throwing an occasional party creates a consistent presence with one another to reinforce those relationships.

Tip 1: Invite Business People You Like

That seems like an obvious thing to say, but when building a social business network, personality actually weighs in more than occupation. You may know of a person who is a great potential business referral partner but they are just so boring. Don’t invite them. This may sound counter-intuitive but keep reminding yourself that an exciting group will generate more community interest than a stuffy one. If your club is fun, it will attract more dynamic business people. You’ll have people begging to come.

Tip 2: Write it off

We’re not tax professionals here, but if you are building a networking group that just happens to be called a wine tasting club, wouldn’t that qualify as a business expense? So go for the good cheese and some special napkins. You don’t have to make it a gourmet event (remember this is about relaxing with one another), but please skip the American cheese slices on Ritz crackers. These are business professionals you are inviting to your home and you want to leave them with a good impression. The wine will help a lot with that, but it doesn’t hurt to put in a little bit extra.

Tip 3: Pick a Day

Networking groups meet consistently because if the meeting date is always the same people can schedule ahead. This is no different. Meet for example the third Thursday of every month at 6:30 pm. It’s easier to remember and people get in the habit of coming so scheduling is never an issue.

Tip 4: Rotate Homes Every Month

We know as a dynamic business person you will want to have it at your home each and every month but it will pay off much better to rotate around each month. You see, every person in your group knows 5 other people that would love to come and odds are that they will invite those people when the party is at their home, giving you a much broader base of people to get to know and to network with. It adds a dynamic that a static party could not have. So at your first party set up an annual schedule with addresses so you can have a year of wine tasting parties that rotate from home to home. You can still be in control and get your name in front of these people by offering to send out the email reminders each month with the address of the party but you are not responsible for buying the good cheese all of the time.

Tip 5: Run it like a meeting

We don’t mean a stuffy meeting. But do start on time and do end on time, especially if you are meeting on a work night. Do keep to a certain format so the party is consistent no matter whose home you are at. The easiest way to keep the consistency is to buy a wine tasting party kit that has directions to follow and materials to use. There are a lot of kits out there but only one that helps set up a monthly club called, appropriately, The Wino Club. It can be found at http://www.thewinoclub.com/shopping1.html. They also have a glossary of useful terms so you can sound intelligent and a monthly newsletter that everyone in your club can subscribe to.

One of the most significant changes in your referral relationships after starting a social networking club is you begin to form a tight circle of support. Friendships that are formed while drinking wine together are powerful in the world of business. Now not only do you have new people referring business to you, but you also start a deeply loyal circle of influence in your community.

Social networking with wine works. Try it this month and you’ll see the difference immediately.

For more FREE tips on starting your own Wine Tasting Club contact Stacy Nelson or visit www.thewinoclub.com.

About the Author

Stacy Nelson, CSA has built a successful business as a Reverse Mortgage Specialist in Southern California through her networking efforts and 100% of her business comes from referral sources. In addition, to her career and her beautiful family she volunteers her time and money to a variety of charitable organizations including Hospice of the Valleys, Michelle’s Place Breast Cancer Center and Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure. She is proud to be a member of Rotary, an International Service Organization. As evidence to her commitment to share with others, a portion of the proceeds of the sale of The Wino Club™ is donated to Michelle’s Place, a breast cancer resource center for younger women in their often ignored fight.

Contact:

Stacy Nelson
The Wino Club
1-888-694-3225
email: info@thewinoclub.com

www.thewinoclub.com

What's Wrong with Your Press Release?

2007-05-14T20:28:00.000-07:00

Don’t write your press release like a press release.

Huh?

What I mean is, write your press release like an article.

If you think “press release” you’ll write something that’s all about you—not newsworthy. If you think “article” you’ll write a story journalists salivate over.

IT’S TIME FOR A PRESS RELEASE MAKE-OVER!

Read the Q&A below first (from my May newsletter).

Next, read Stacy’s first press release here

Then read her final version here

QUESTION:

I saw you speak at the Entrepreneur “Women in Charge” Conference and was so excited that I got home and wrote my article and submitted it to PRWeb... only to realize that an article was not what PRWeb really wanted. Now I'm confused. I wrote an article that was not a sales pitch. But now PRWeb says they want something more of an announcement or promotion. Could you please take a quick moment to review the differences?

~ Stacy Nelson, Co-Founder of http://www.thewinoclub.com/

CAT’S ANSWER:

(Here are my five favorite tips I shared with Stacy. Happily, her new final version was just approved by PRWeb!)

* Use an Attention-Grabbing Headline

“Networking With Wine: 5 Easy Tips to Turn a Wine Tasting Party into a Monthly Business Club” is too long. Sell the result first. A wine tasting party sounds fun, but a monthly club sounds like work. Consider announcing the club idea a bit later. What about “5 Tips to Turn Wine Tasting into New Business” or something like this?

* Write a Summary that Sizzles

The summary is a sentence or two that should persuade readers to read on. You’ve got a good one; it’s just a bit soft. Shorten it up and tell me how a wine club can help me NOW.

* Create Creative Tips

Rework the 5 tip titles to be more mysterious. You want people to say “why?” or “how?” Some titles like “Choose a Day” seem too obvious.

* Slim It Down

Your press release is over 850 words! Yikes. As David McInnis, CEO of PRWeb, recommended in my new book, aim for 300-500 words. By staying focused you’ll keep readers’ attention.

* Only Advertise in the “About the Author” Area

Uh oh! Tip #5 pitches your wine tasting party kit. That’s not a tip. You can absolutely pitch your product; just do this in the “About the Author (or Company)” area.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Whadda think? Go check out Stacy’s old and new press releases, then share your comments. She’s got a great product. What info could she share that would attract YOUR attention?

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Online Video Advertising: $775 Million to $1.3 Billion

2007-05-03T11:48:00.000-07:00

Can you believe that U.S. Internet video advertising will jump from $775 million this year to $1.3 billion in 2008? Wowzers. Check out more eMarketer video stats in my May "Buzz" article for Entrepreneur magazine:

Visual Appeal

Move over, TV. Online video advertising is here.

More and more, TV-style commercials are appearing on the web. And companies are investing a lot of money in them.

According to eMarketer, spending on internet video advertising in the U.S. will jump from $775 million this year to $1.3 billion in 2008. That's an expected increase of 68 percent.

In its November 2006 "Internet Video" report, eMarketer stated that small and midsize businesses could greatly benefit from this hot technology. Online video ads are cost-effective to create, and they can act as marketing materials or even educational tools. It's also easy to promote them through your existing online marketing campaigns, and you can give them more visibility through video search sites.

A video ad usually falls into one of the following formats: in-page, in-stream or transitional. An in-page ad, or in-banner ad, refers to videos shown in a box within web page content. An in-stream ad, also called a preroll ad, is shown before the video content. Think of the video as a movie; the in-stream ad is the movie preview. A transitional ad, or interstitial ad, is shown to users while they're moving from one web page to another.

Generally, a video ad is 30 seconds long. However, because eMarketer's report states that 46 percent of users are only willing to view an online video for 20 seconds or less, it's a good idea to present your message and call to action before the end of your video.

© Entrepreneur

Find Your Tail Terms

2007-04-26T12:21:00.000-07:00

In my April Internet marketing e-zine, I answered two questions from my readers (the first Q&A was "Is Someone Stealing Your Web Articles?"). Here's the second one:

QUESTION:

Hi Catherine. Your Entrepreneur magazine article “Not So Fast: Don't just throw more money at pay-per-click--make it work for you,” was interesting. I am trying to make a mark in a niche market for educators. I have hooked up with Google AdWords in the hope I could make more contacts, but their methods of limiting common keywords at an unreasonable cost seems counter productive. Can you clarify what you mean by "tail terms" in your article? Thanks for your assistance.

~ Al Baggetta, Baggetta_Ware English Teacher Software and Testing Resources

CAT’S ANSWER:

Thanks for your question, Al. “Tail terms” are low-cost, low-volume keywords that are highly targeted for your business. In search marketing, these are gold.

See, bidding on single words (or even broad phrases) could quickly blow your budget on pay-per-click (PPC). For example, if you sell car insurance, DON’T bid on “insurance.” With the competition these days, even “car insurance” may be too broad and cost too much (generally speaking, more competitors mean higher bids). Instead, dig deep to find a targeted tail term like “florida car insurance quote.” Now that’s targeted! True, not as many people will search for that keyword, but the ones who do are definitely your ideal clients. That’s why tail terms are very, very profitable.

Tail terms are valuable in search engine optimization (SEO) too. It’s much easier to get ranked for them. Let’s see…there are currently 405,000,000 results in Google for “insurance.” You want a “Top 10” ranking? Good luck! Here’s an easier way…there are only 1,650,000 results in Google for “florida car insurance quote.” Ah…much better! (I know 1.6 million seems impossible but really, that’s not so bad.) So, optimize your web site for tail terms and you’ll catapult to the top of the organic search results a whole lot easier and faster.

Here's my “Not So Fast” article Al is referring to.

Got an Internet marketing question for me? Send your name, URL and question to my assistant (at info[at]CatherineSeda.com). Your question and business may be featured next!

To Your Online Success!

Pay-Per-Click (PPC) Tips

2007-04-25T17:37:00.000-07:00

These days, it’s easy to waste money on PPC, if you're not careful. Here are 5 profit-protecting tips I shared in my May “Net Sales” column for Entrepreneur magazine.

Not So Fast . . .
Don't just throw more money at pay-per-click--make it work for you.

Let's face it: The costs of pay-per-click advertising on search engines continue to climb. These days, your competitors can include fellow entrepreneurs, large corporations, shopping sites, affiliates and ad publishers. With so many competitors, is pay-per-click worth it anymore? Yes--but you need a smarter search strategy. Here are five ways to reduce your costs while reaching new customers.

Diversify. Google AdWords isn't the only PPC player in town. Try Yahoo! Sponsored Search and Microsoft Live Search. Also test PPC on directories like Business.com and SuperPages.com, as well as shopping sites like Shopping.com. These sites might not deliver as many clicks as Google, but competitive keywords can cost a lot less per click.

2. Go local. To cut PPC costs on popular search engines, target a local audience. First, bid on regional keywords. For instance, bid on "scrapbook store Chicago" instead of "scrapbook store." You can also use the search engines' geotargeting features to display your ads only to people who are located in specific cities, states or regions.

3. Find tail terms. Forget bidding on single words or broad phrases. Unless you're interested in branding benefits, these keywords usually aren't profitable. Bid on your "tail terms," which are low-cost, low-volume, supertargeted phrases.

4. Write prequalifying ads. Although this seems counterintuitive, it works. For example, you could use "CEOs" or "consultants" in your ad copy to qualify people before they click. You'll pay for less traffic while connecting with your ideal customers.

5. Optimize your landing pages. Get more of your current clicks to convert into customers. Test new copy and design elements on the web pages people land on after clicking your ads. Small changes can create big results.

You can't just throw more money at pay-per-click and hope it will bring you more business. Instead, try thinking "less traffic" to identify ways to cut PPC costs while reaching a highly targeted audience of shoppers online.

© Entrepreneur

Is Someone Stealing Your Web Articles?

2007-04-25T17:23:00.000-07:00

Are you writing articles and submitting them to web sites and blogs? If not, you should. This is a free way for you to share helpful information. Plus, by getting a link from your article to your web site, shoppers and search engine spiders will be directed to your business.

Oftentimes, one article you write can appear dozens of times on the web—without any work on your part! That’s because some site and blog owners will take your content to build up their own. In some cases, this is harmless publicity. In other cases, you need to protect your content from being misused to promote someone else’s business. Here's this month's Q&A from my e-zine which you can sign up for at http://www.CatherineSeda.com

QUESTION:

Article marketing is one component of my marketing mix, and I try to keep a close eye on where my articles are picked up. Recently, I happened upon an Internet site that has me listed as a contributing author and features a photograph that isn’t me. They also have it set up to appear that visitors can e-mail me directly through this site, which is not the case. I'm wondering if there are any Internet regulations and guidelines that regulate this kind of activity?

~ Lisa Manyon, http://www.writeoncreative.com/

CAT’S ANSWER:

Hey Lisa, I checked out that site. (I won’t share the URL because of what I’m about to say…)

Yup, it seems they’re harvesting content from the web. Several site and blog owners do this. Instead of creating unique content, they scrape the web taking what’s already out there. That’s because a content-rich site can get top search engine rankings, which of course, drives people to that site filled with articles…and ads! You could consider this free publicity. However—

Obviously, the fact that it’s not your photo is a problem. Also, I noticed the other “authors” have articles published on that site; you only got a bio. You *could* e-mail your photo and an article.

But wait…

It bothers me, too, that the links don’t go to you. That site is using your name to trick visitors into e-mailing them, or linking to another page in their site. Not cool. Plus, when I clicked one of their ads, I went to an advertising site and couldn’t go back using the “Back” button. Gross. In this case, you may want to consider these options:

E-mail the site owner, nicely asking him remove your info from his site.

If that doesn’t work, check out Wikipedia’s article on the U.S. Digital Millennium Copyright Act (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DMCA). You may find the section on “Example of DMCA Takedown Provision” helpful in crafting a copyright infringement letter.

NOTE: I am not a lawyer so this is not legal advice. Wikipedia is not a legal resource, it’s a free encyclopedia written by volunteers around the world. I’m just saying there’s some insightful info here.

If the site owner still ignores you, and this peeves you, hire a lawyer to write a “cease & desist” letter.

Sign-up for Google Alerts (http://www.google.com/alerts) and Yahoo! Alerts (http://help.yahoo.com/l/us/yahoo/alerts/) to stay on top of sites that use your personal name, company name, and product or service names (this is a handy tool for monitoring your competitors, too). Sounds like you’re doing this—good job!

In general, I don’t recommend using free article sites. It’s much more effective to contact niche sites that are relevant to your business and already have high search engine rankings for the keywords you want. If your article is published, you should get a link from your article to your site.

[NOTE: Give other sites (or blogs) articles you use for special promotions or in your newsletter. DO NOT send articles posted on your web site (or blog) because the search engine spiders don’t like duplicate content--your original content should help YOUR business, not someone else’s!]

Yes, this takes time. But it’s effective. A link from a high-ranking, niche site to yours is a quality link. This is good search engine optimization. It’s also good for generating new business.

What’s your #1 Internet marketing question? Send your name, URL and question to my assistant at info[at]catherineseda.com -- your question and business may be featured in my newsletter next.

To Your Online Success!

Kill Your Squeeze Page

2007-04-02T19:19:00.000-07:00

YUP. That’s what I wrote alright.

Kill your squeeze page. It’s deadly.

I know, I know. You probably heard at some seminar how a squeeze page can skyrocket your e-mail list. True, it can. But if improperly used, it kills your opportunities to get search engine rankings and media coverage.

Want to know why?

Want to know what’s a “squeeze page?”

Then dive into my April article for Entrepreneur magazine, called "Squeeze Play." (Okay, okay, you don’t have to kill it…completely. Read on to find out why. Squeeze pages, do you love ‘em or loathe ‘em?)

Squeeze Play

Offering your site visitors something for free can help grow your contact list--but be careful not to drive them away.

Growing your e-mail list is essential. The bigger your list, the more people you can communicate with over and over. Yet persuading people to opt in can be a challenge. A squeeze page, which offers something free in exchange for an e-mail address and possibly other contact information, has been heralded as the list-building magic bullet. But be careful--it can backfire.

Generally speaking, a squeeze page isn't part of your website. It's a stand-alone page that doesn't link anywhere else. Nor does it feature information other than your free offer. Eliminating distractions is smart. This keeps people focused and gets them to opt in.

It's often effective to use a squeeze page as a landing page for individual marketing campaigns. For example, you can buy an online ad, promote your free offer in it, then direct viewers to the associated squeeze page. Or you can write web articles and then link to a squeeze page from your byline (a short bio). Your options are limitless--that's the good news.

The bad news is that many business professionals are killing their publicity potential. They're using a squeeze page as the entry page to their website.

First, search engine spiders can't fill out forms, which means they can't get to your site's content. Don't block spiders from giving your site free rankings.

Second, journalists searching the web won't see your site, either. Most won't bother forking over their contact information hoping your free offer has something they might want to quote--they'll move on instead.

A squeeze page that acts as a gatekeeper to a website can also scare off potential customers. They might opt in if you or your company is a trusted name. However, with growing concerns over spam, spyware and viruses, people are leery about opting in to something that can harm them.

Although a squeeze page is a powerful list-building tool, when used to hide your compelling content from people until they opt in, you risk losing them. Carefully choose when and where to use one.

Entrepreneur

Dove Evolution Video and Mashups

2007-03-06T15:00:00.000-08:00

Online video is powerful.

Have you seen the “Dove Evolution” video yet? If you haven’t, check out the 60-second clip here: http://www.campaignforrealbeauty.com/flat4.asp?id=6909

This video has been viewed by over a million people on the web! And not only are people talking about it on social sites like YouTube, creative consumers have created mashup parodies of the video. By lifting elements of Dove’s video, consumers have produced the evolution of a pumpkin, slob or zombie. To watch these, go to YouTube and type “Dove Evolution” in the search field.

What do you think of the Dove Evolution video? How do you feel about consumers mashing up a company’s content? What’s your favorite video (published by a company, not a consumer), and why do you believe it is effective marketing?

Trademark Infringement and Trademark Marketing on PPC

2007-03-02T11:14:00.000-08:00

Are you a manufacturer, reseller or affiliate of a big brand? Want to be? If so, then pay close attention to this:

Bidding on trademarks through pay-per-click is amazingly profitable. That’s because if people like a brand, they buy it. You don’t have to convince them that the product (or service) is good—they know it is. Simply show up in a top search engine position for your trademark terms and customers will come.

But are your competitors bidding on your trademarks? They could try to steal your customers by leeching off your brand recognition. Even if they’re not bidding on your trademarks today, they could tomorrow. So keep this month’s Q&A close by.

QUESTION:

I understand that if you type “Ford car” you’ll see pay-per-click ads for Ford. But can Joe’s Auto Sales bid on “Ford car” then do a bait-and-switch, redirecting people who click on the ad to a web page about Honda instead? And what if a Honda dealer’s ad appears when you type in “Ford car?” Is that legal?

What if an advertiser doesn’t even sell the keywords he’s bidding on? When I complained to an advertiser who was doing this, he removed his ad. But others are mostly fly-by-night scams. Does it do any good to complain? And who do you complain to?

~ Dr. Murray Grossan, http://www.DrGrossan.com

CAT’S ANSWER:

Ah…I get asked this question a lot. The search engines have changed their trademark marketing policy since my first book “Search Engine Advertising” was published. To keep things simple, I’ll focus on their current policies.

A “bait-and-switch” is not allowed. Someone can’t bid on his competitor’s trademarks then redirect people to his site to instead. This creates “consumer confusion” which can constitute trademark infringement.

Yes, you can fight back. Here’s what you can do:

Hire an attorney to write a “cease and desist” letter for you to send to competitors. A scary letter from a lawyer can immediately stop this pesky problem.

Complain to the search engines. Unfortunately, like you said, some competitors hide their contact info so you can’t reach them. And some will ignore your legal letter anyway. Do what you can to contact your competitors though because the search engines want you to resolve this on your own. (Including the status of your communication with competitors in your trademark complaint can also help persuade the search engines to help you.) Follow the search engines’ trademark complaint guidelines, which I’ve included here:

Google’s Trademark Policy
https://adwords.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=6118

Yahoo!’s Trademark Policy
http://searchmarketing.yahoo.com/legal/trademarks.php

Microsoft’s Trademark Policy
http://advertising.microsoft.com/Home/Article.aspx?pageid=708&Adv_Articleid=3216

BONUS TIP: In your trademark infringement complaint letter, argue that your competitor is creating “consumer confusion.” I know this works because I’ve used it for clients.

In a nutshell, here are the trademark marketing policies of the big dogs:

Google (for AdWords) will allow a competitor to bid on trademark terms not owned by him. However, if the trademark owner files a complaint, the competitor will be forced to remove these trademark terms from his ad text.

Yahoo! (for Sponsored Search) will allow an authorized reseller or information site publisher to bid on trademark terms, but not a direct competitor unless he fits in either one of these categories.

Microsoft (for MSN Live Search) will allow an authorized reseller or information site publisher to bid on trademark terms, but not a direct competitor unless he fits in either one of these categories.

You don’t need a government-registered trademark to file a trademark infringement complaint, although that can help. If you’re doing business in the U.S., you may find the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office web site helpful: http://www.uspto.gov

In closing, I am not a lawyer. For legal advice, get thee to an attorney. J

Got an Internet marketing question for me? Once a month, I answer a subscriber’s question and feature the company’s URL in my newsletter. You may be next! Send your question, and URL, to my assistant at info[@]CatherineSeda.com

Second Edition of Search Engine Advertising

2007-02-26T11:28:00.000-08:00

Someone just asked me,

Will you be writing a 2nd edition to your 1st book to include the changes with Yahoo's PPC program?

Yes and yes. A lot of folks have been asking about my second edition of “Search Engine Advertising.” I hope to work on it later this year. Although many PPC tactics in the book are still valid, there have been some significant changes since the book was published in 2004 (like Yahoo!’s new PPC program). And in the second edition, I’ll cover more advanced PPC tactics.

Yahoo!’s new PPC program is mentioned in my new book, too. In “How to Win Sales & Influence Spiders” there’s a chapter on PPC. I cover: local search, pay-per-call, arbitrage and using PPC as a PR tool…topics didn’t cover in my first book. I hope you find these PPC tactics helpful!

How To Win Sales & Influence Spiders RELEASED

2007-02-19T12:03:00.000-08:00

I know, I know. I haven't been blogging regularly (tsk tsk). But I have been writing like crazy...for a year on my new book which is finally being released today!

How to Win Sales & Influence Spiders:
Boosting Your Business & Buzz on the Web

In this "non-techie" book, I reveal how to use Internet marketing to attract new clients, and at the same time, get free search engine rankings and free media coverage.

Sound good? Check out the insider tips you'll get...

Once you read it, let me know what you think. Hoping I say something that helps your business in the reason why I write.
:-)

Cat

Yahoo! Ad Ranking Model Change Today

2007-02-05T13:07:00.000-08:00

It’s finally here…

Yahoo!’s new ad ranking model (cost-per-click bid + quality score = ad rank) will launch around 3 p.m. PST today.

Can’t wait to see how this impacts advertisers’ spend. If you want to rant or rave about how this change impacts your budget, your comments are welcome!

Personally, I’ll miss the bid-to-position PPC (pay-per-click) model. I often recommended that newbies start with Yahoo! Sponsored Search because the old model was easier for them to understand. However, now that many advertisers start with Google AdWords, adding Yahoo! to their mix is easy.

I can’t help taking a walk down memory lane…

In 1996, I started buying keyword banner ads for clients. Yahoo! was one of my first campaign buys (actually, keyword banners worked really well. It was those dang run-of-site ads that killed the banner’s reputation). In 1999, I tested AltaVista's bid-to-position PPC program. “What a budgeting nightmare!” I thought. But I was soon managing client PPC campaigns on GoTo which became Overture and is now Yahoo! Sponsored Search. PPC’s amazing ROI (return-on-investment) was instantly addicting.

PPC today…

The good—more sophisticated tools. The bad—more sophisticated advertisers. The ugly—a shrinking ROI for some keywords/industries, no matter how much optimization you do.

How did you get your start in PPC? Got a great story to share?

Eye Tracking: What Customers Don’t See

2006-11-02T19:05:00.000-08:00

Don’t you want to know which words, and which images, your visitors aren't seeing? It could be your strongest feature. Or, your best testimonial. It could even be your “order now” button. Yikes! Perhaps your visitors saw a word or image, then decided to leave. Don’t you want to know what caused this?

In my November Internet marketing newsletter, I discuss how eye tracking tools and services show you what your web site (and blog) visitors AREN’T seeing.

* If you’ve used an eye tracking tool or service, what did it reveal?

* When has a site lost your business? Too much clutter? A lack of credibility?

Cat

Yahoo! Panama Podcast

2006-11-02T18:16:00.000-08:00

Want to know what industry insiders think of Yahoo!'s Panama?

As I mentioned in an earlier post, several key bloggers and search engine marketers got a sneak preview of Panama at Yahoo!'s office. Andrew Goodman, Barry Schwartz, Jennifer Slegg, Andy Beal, Greg Sterling, Mona Elesseily and I had a great time testing out the new tools and finding a few bugs.

After the meeting, Andrew organized a call so we could chat about the new platform -- what we liked and didn't like. Want to know what we said? Listen in to Yahoo Panama Launch Roundtable podcast.

Ads Only Arbitrage

2006-11-01T19:23:00.000-08:00

This is for search engine users, not marketers.

If you click a pay-per-click ad, and land on a page full of only ads, is this good or bad experience? Why? What do you think the search engines should do (if anything)?

Yahoo!’s Panama is Here!

2006-10-17T16:45:00.000-07:00

The official launch of Yahoo!’s new ad platform (code name “Project Panama”) has been top secret. Until now. It’s officially live.

Seven industry insiders, including me, just spent two days at Yahoo!’s office. We test drove the new platform. It’s good.

Yahoo! has dramatically improved our ability to manage and optimize our pay-per-click campaigns. Below, I’ve explained a few features you might have heard about. I’ve also exposed a few juicy tidbits and bugs I discovered during the meeting too…

Get Ready to Upgrade
Advertisers will start getting invitations with their scheduled upgrade date. Don't panic. You can defer your upgrade until 2007, if you want to wait out the holiday season. Want to get on the new ad platform ASAP? Then request to be upgraded through Yahoo!'s reservation link.

New Account Structure
Two huge improvements include: the ability to set a daily budget and the ability to do geo-targeting, at the Campaign level (note: “Category” has been changed to “Campaign”). Plus, no more writing one ad per keyword; you can assign one ad to an entire ad group. And Yahoo!’s new system lets you multiple ads for each ad group. Here’s the new account structure:
Campaign
Ad Group
Keyword
Ad

Alerts Feature
This is a handy feature. When you log in, you’ll see “Alerts.” These might reveal that you’ve run out of money. Or, that an ad has been disapproved. Helpful, right? Absolutely. And you can set your own series of Alerts to keep a watchful eye on particular parts of your campaign.

The Budgeting Feature
You’ll love this. This is one of my favorite features. Yahoo! now reveals the percentage of clicks you might get at different bids, for each keyword. While looking at a bar graph, you’ll slide the bid bar up and down to see how much traffic you could get at any bid price. It’s very insightful to see where the spikes in traffic are, at what bid price. Why bid more than you need to get the bulk of the clicks?

Disappearing Ads?
This bug will probably be fixed before I even publish this post. Just in case, I want to let you know about it. After writing my ad copy for a new campaign I created, I hit the “Back” button to see something on a previous screen. Because I didn’t finish the process, my ad disappeared and I had to repeat this step. Arg. That said, if you change to the new ad platform, when you add a new campaign finish the process to make sure that information has been saved by the system.

New Ad Ranking Algorithm
Sigh…no more bid to position. There’s a second phase of Panama coming: the new ad ranking model. Starting sometime in Q1 2007, Yahoo! will rank ads based on advertisers’ maximum bids, the ads’ click-through rate, and other factors. Although quiet about the exact ingredients in their secret sauce, Yahoo! did say that your ad’s landing page quality will impact your ad’s rank. How much? A small degree initially, which may be counted more heavily in future ad ranking updates.

NO! They’ll Killing the Keyword Selector and View Bids Tools!
When Yahoo! changes to their new ad ranking model, the public View Bids tool will disappear. And so might the Keyword Selector Tool. No, no, no. I can let go of the View Bids Tool. But not the Keyword Selector Tool! Even though the search volume isn’t all that accurate, it’s a great tool to show new advertisers the power of doing PPC on Yahoo!. They promised to come up with a better tool. Hmmm…we’ll see. And I’ll keep you posted. Until then, use the View Bids and Keyword Selector Tools like crazy over the next few months.

It sure was nice of Yahoo! to give us play money to test out Panama. Andy Beal and I were fighting over a top spot for a big ‘ole expensive “SEO” keyword. I won! Well, I had the #1 spot until I ran out of money. Then he won. Oh well, we enjoyed our free hour of expensive fame.
That’s all for now. I’ll write more soon. I’d love to hear what you think about Panama. Once you change over to it, come back and share your comments here!

Pay-Per-Click (PPC) Arbitrage

2006-10-08T14:51:00.000-07:00

“Arbitrage” is taking advantage of price differences in the market.

Some pay-per-click arbitrageurs make an extra $10,000+ a month. Want to know how?

First, they host ads on their sites/blogs. Google AdSense and the Yahoo! Publisher Network are two popular programs that pretty much let anyone become an ad publisher. Next, arbitrageurs bid on pay-per-click ads (for example, through Google and Yahoo!) as advertisers. If they pay less for buying clicks than what they receive for the ads hosted on their sites/blogs, they’ve made an easy profit. That’s basically pay-per-click (PPC) arbitrage.

Here’s an article I recently wrote: Search Arbitrage: Good or Evil? As a marketer, do you love or hate this practice. Why? As a consumer, how do you feel when you click on a search engine’s PPC ad only to get another page of ads? Would anything make that a good experience?

P.S. BUSINESS OWNERS: Want to make extra money from ads? In my new course, I show you a simple, non-techie step for putting ads on a blog in less than 5 minutes (psss…watch lesson #7 on the Google AdWords CD-ROM).

The Headline that Turns Heads

2006-10-07T13:59:00.000-07:00

You never get a second chance to grab your audience’s attention, so give center stage to your headlines!

Care to share a headline that made your sales soar? Or, tell me how you took a headline that tanked and turned it into a winner. And where did you use this headline? In a press release, pay-per-click ad, e-mail subject line, landing page or blog? Inquiring minds want to know!

What's the Best Day to Send E-Mail?

2006-09-30T11:33:00.000-07:00

Want to improve your e-mail open and click rates? Consider changing your broadcasting schedule. Simply sending your message out on a different day of the week could raise your recipients’ response.

According to an eROI study of approximately 100 million marketing e-mail messages sent between January and March 2006, those received on Tuesday had the highest open rate (26.4 percent). Sunday was second best (25.9 per-cent). The worst day? Saturday, at 24.1 percent.
Remember, an open rate only means your e-mail is being seen, not necessarily clicked. Here, Monday ranked last (4.5 percent). Marketing e-mails received on Tuesday and Sunday boasted the highest click rates of the week (6.2 percent and 6.6 percent, respectively). Because they scored highest in the open- and click-rate categories, consider testing these days. But don’t forget to consider your audience—Tuesdays may be better for reaching the at-work crowd, but Sundays may work for reaching those at home.

Of course, the ultimate statistics to consider are your sales. Knowing which day more customers click your e-mail and buy from you is far more important than knowing industry trends. That said, knowing what generally works for web marketers can certainly start you in the right direction.

Reprinted from my "When To Send" article in Entrepreneur magazine

Are Your URLs Ugly? (dynamic URLs)

2006-09-09T11:25:00.000-07:00

Click on several of your top-level web site pages. Do any look like this:

http://www.yoursite.com/products.asp?&productsperpage=10ProductID=125&CompletedOrder=0&BasketID=0

Ewwwww. And that's not even as ugly as a URL can get.

This is an example of a dynamic URL. This is a dynamically-generated web page that is often created using Active Server Pages (.asp), Java Server Pages (.jsp), Hypertext PreProcessor (.php), Cold Fusion (.cfm) or some other technology.

An ugly dynamic page can be challenging for search engine spiders to crawl. It's a spider trap (some dynamic URLs deliver the same content over and over to spiders, or feed spiders an infinite number of URLs). Not good for improving your free rankings in the organic search results.

Assuming you need to use dynamic URLs to manage your content or products, seriously consider reducing the number of parameters in your URL to 2 or fewer (look for symbols such as =, &, $, % and $). Why 2? Because Google says so. Well, a Google rep once said 2, and later said 2 or 3. It's always better to play it safe with SEO.

Of course, if the top-ranked web pages don't have any parameters in their dynamic URLs (for example, www.competitorsite.com/products.asp), you might have to change yours to effectively compete with theirs. And this looks prettier too, right? Pretty for human visitors and search engine spiders.

There are other actions you can take for dynamic URLs. Perhaps I'll cover that in another blog post.

Sticking with this topic for now, have you ever reduced the number of parameters in your dynamic URLs and seen an improvement in your organic rankings? How fast? Can to share your "before" and after" URL here? Or have you changed from one shopping cart to another and seen an improvement in your rankings thanks to their dynamic URL structure?

eBay Discontinues the eBay Keywords Program

2006-08-30T14:37:00.000-07:00

eBay will discontinue the eBay Keywords program at the end of September 2006. The program allowed eBay sellers to bid for keywords for text ad placements (a pay-per-click model). Too bad, because it gave eBay Store owners an extra dose of visibility within eBay.

It's still better business sense to invest in an eBay Store than launch single listings, however. That's because eBay gives Store owners fabulous management tools for free. Plus, a Store can be indexed by the algorithm-based search engines such as Google, MSN and Yahoo! for free too. That means your web site and eBay Store could score free rankings for relevant keywords.

Heard about the latest eBay fee hike? Check out the Comments under "Online Reputation Check" for Pastor Phil's question and for responses from me and eBay expert, Janelle Elms. Care to comment about eBay? Compliments and complaints are welcome. Post 'em here.

Abandon Shopping Cart!

2006-08-28T17:40:00.000-07:00

Once again, I couldn't fit all of my company's street information into a shopping cart's address field. I was booking a flight. Fortunately, the airline offered a second address field. Saved! Even still, this is a big company. Why are they limiting their shopping cart fields? Are your forms frustrating prospects?

Check out my February 2006 blog post. And let me know if you've stopped your sale because of unfriendly forms. What made you leave?

P.S. Sign-up for my free e-zine at www.CatherineSeda.com in September and you'll get my article on "Forms of Fear: Your web forms could be scaring away potential customers" right away.

Online Reputation Check

2006-08-20T12:19:00.000-07:00

Once upon a time, a potential client called me for consulting. I immediately "Googled" the company and to my shock saw that the firm was being sued by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission for advertising false claims. WHOA! Uhhhh, I declined the consulting request. Too risky.

Have you ever checked out a company (or individual) before doing business with them? How did what you found online influence your decision (please don't use their name in your comment)? Did you confront your contact to confirm the information was true before making your decision?

The Internet is a confusing web of truth, lies and fairy tales. Although it's a powerful research tool, be careful when making critical business decisions based on what you see.

Ego Surfing in the Blogosphere

2006-08-02T20:24:00.000-07:00

You’ve looked up your personal or company name in a search engine, right? Commonly referred to as “ego surfing”, this is actually a good thing. You should monitor what’s being said about you. It’s rewarding to see fans raving about your business. And it can be horrifying to see unhappy customers burning your brand all over the blogosphere.

But before you can respond appropriately to good or bad publicity, you’ve got to know where to look.

That’s why you should go straight to the source. Use blog engines such as Technorati or IceRocket to surf only the blogosphere. Routinely monitor this space…because bloggers are always blogging.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) for eBay Stores

2006-05-19T17:05:00.000-07:00

There are two big reasons to create an eBay Store, instead of simply launching item listings. First of all, you’ll get time-saving and money-making eBay tools for free. Second, your Store can get indexed in the organic search engine results for free.

In 2005, I joined the eBay University instructor team. It's so much fun! I’ve also learned insider tips for doing SEO for an eBay Store. Here are 3 essential tips. Ready?

Put Keywords in Your eBay Store URL
Using your company name in your eBay Store URL is a good branding move but bad SEO move if you don’t have relevant keywords as part of your company name. Let’s say you sell cat toys and your company name is Feline Fun. Here’s a possible URL to help you make the most of your SEO potential -- http://stores.ebay.com/Feline-Fun-Cat-Toys

Choose a Store Template that Shows the Description
Use relevant keywords in your store description and choose an eBay Store design template that displays this description to visitors. If you hide copy from visitors, search engines won’t give you credit for it either.

Check Your eBay Store Traffic Reports
eBay is investing a lot of time and money into making their eBay Stores SEO friendly. Without a lot of effort, you could score pretty high rankings. Be sure to check your free eBay Store Traffic Reports to spot keywords that are delivering rankings and traffic to your eBay Store. These keywords are likely perfect for your web site too.

Want more eBay marketing tips? Download the free booklet I wrote, Entrepreneur's 101 Tips for Starting and Growing Your Business on eBay.

Marketing Tips for Resorts & Spas

2006-03-14T19:23:00.000-08:00

Spas, spas, spas. I love spas. All technology and no spa time makes me a cranky Cat.

And as an Internet marketer, I can't help evaluating spa & resort web sites as a customer as well as a consultant. If any resort, spa or travel-related marketing executive is reading this...please re-evaluate your photos because they could be losing clients!

Give us the full experience online.

Well, as much of it as you can. We don't need to see close-up photos of someone getting a massage. We know what that looks like. Forget the zoomed-in photos of flowers or massage oil. Instead, show us your spa so we can see it and feel it. Show us the entire hotel room so we can get a sense of your resort's style. We want to know, "does the bed look like luxury?" Skip the close-up shot of a couple eating dinner. Instead show us a photo of your dining room, and several of your grounds. We're investing in an experience. So give us photos that enable us to sample yours.

Several years ago, my mom, sister and I were planning a weekend getaway. We all surfed the web and the photos of The Lodge in Rancho Mirage (previously The Ritz-Carlton) won us over. We saw quiet serenity atop a fairly isolated hilltop. The photos sold us and that vision was validated when we arrived. Not only did we become repeat guests, we sang praises to anyone who listened.

Do your resort & spa photos sell your full experience?

Be careful not to over-sell and under-deliver, however. Last year, I experienced my first disappointment with trick photography. The dim lighting made the hotel room look a lot more upscale than it was. Had I stayed there in peak season, I would have been furious having paid the high-season rate for what had been over-promised online.

I'm an adventurous soul. While I cherish the Ojai Valley Inn & Spa and Red Mountain Spa, I'm open to exploring new retreats. Replace your zoomed-in, overly-artistic photographs with ones that show me (and my fellow travelers) what I'll see and feel if I chose you.

P.S. I'm open to being hired as a Secret Spa Shopper anytime!

Cat

Don't Limit Your Shopping Cart Fields!

2006-02-09T07:46:00.000-08:00

Arg. Recently I ran into trouble trying to buy a gift online. The billing address field on the order form was too short. My address is painfully long. But still, there I was...stuck. All I wanted to do was hurry up and buy my gift (retailers love to hear that, right?). But I couldn't. The retailer set a character maximum on the billing fields.

How many customers could you be losing because you've limited your shopping cart fields?

If I hadn't had done quite a bit of research choosing the perfect gift, I would have left the retailer's web site immediately. Instead, I called the retailer's customer service number and ran into more trouble. The sales rep had to enter my billing info into the same fields, so I was stuck again. After at least 15 minutes of playing with the form, accidentally deleting my contact information several times, she ended up putting the rest of my address into the "Additional Comments" field. What a nightmare! Even though I could do this the next time I want to place an order with this retailer, I probably won't return. It's too much work and I was frustrated by the whole experience.

Have you tested your shopping cart order form to make sure your customers have all the space they need to give you their contact and billing information? That's a quick and easy test to take which could prevent you from losing some customers.

5 Internet Marketing Affirmations

2006-01-12T15:45:00.000-08:00

Sigh...it's been one of those weeks. I was completely overwhelmed with my "To Do" list. Can you relate?

Deep in my despair one night I wished I could just say some magic word and in a snap everything could be accomplished -- just by thought alone. I started thinking about intentions and the Internet...and then it hit me! Internet marketing affirmations. No more work. I'll just meditate and all shall be done . Okay, it was late. And I was tired and cranky. I needed a sprinkle of silliness. Thinking about a few most common problems my clients face, here's what I came up with:

Problem: You have poor search engine rankings.
Affirmation: Google loves me. MSN loves me. Yahoo loves me.

Problem: Your newsletter is not reaching your subscribers.
Affirmation: I am no longer controlled by spam filters.

Problem: Your marketing, or web site, is not performing well.
Affirmation: I have the right to say these numbers suck

Problem: Your affiliates are spamming people.
Affirmation: I am free of partners who spam others.

Problem: Your technology isn't working right.
Affirmation: I am learning to let go and let the programmers fix it.

I wrote the last one for me, although you can use it too if you want. And hey...it worked! Well, I'll confess it wasn't the affirmation alone. After I shared my technology frustration with a colleague he reminded me to outsource stuff that isn't my core business. Oh yeaaaah. I *could* do it, but I was misdirecting my very valuable time.

What do you need help with right now?

Ask for it. On paper, out loud to the Universe, and/or from a colleague. Before throwing in the towel on a problem, ask to be shown the light. You might be surprised how quickly you get an answer.

It's Blog Time!

2005-12-31T16:54:00.000-08:00

Okay, I gotta start blogging. Sigh...we marketers are always the last ones to get our own services, right? But what a great way to share information! So, here I am...

I'm Catherine (Cat) Seda, a 10-year Internet marketing veteran and author of Search Engine Advertising (New Riders, 2004). Mainly, I'm a freelance writer (and columnist for Entrepreneur magazine) and professional speaker (and instructor for eBay University). But stay tuned! In 2006, I might offer consulting & coaching again. Sign up for my free Internet marketing e-zine at www.CatherineSeda.com and I'll let you know.

Fun stuff -- I love cats, spas and red meat. Oh! And I survived skeleton training at the Utah Olympic Park. It's like luge, but skeleton sliders race head-first on a sled down the icy bobsled track at 70-80 mph. Yup, insane. I'll probably tell my bloody tale in a bit.

Happy New Year and Happy Internet Marketing!
Cat Seda