Do you ever set out to do a task, and 3 hours later you’ve done just about everything else except the thing you originally set out to do? Join the club.
I’ve found myself having a number of conversations recently about productivity. And a quick search online revealed a shed-load of time management and productivity posts and articles.
Due to the wealth of articles and posts out there, I decided to avoid the obvious topic of time-wasters like Twitter and email. And I’ll be giving the ever-popular 80/20 rule (also known as Pareto’s Law) a wide berth too.
I’ve opted instead to compile a short list of other Laws that could be at play when you find yourself dithering.
Law Number 1: Parkinson’s Law
“Work expands to fill the time available”
I witnessed this one myself in my previous employment, running Outward-bound-type team exercises. I’ve given some teams 10 minutes to complete a task, and other teams 45 minutes for the exact same task, and almost without fail, they take the amount of time given.
Sometimes, the ones given more time do a far worse job, and really over-complicate the problem (more on that to come). For now, the answer to this one is to continually set shorter deadlines. 30 minutes is ideal.
Break a task down into the smallest possible chunk, ideally with only one skill involved in each chunk. For example, chunks for writing a short document or blog post could be:
Brainstorm, Research, Draft, Edit, Format, Publish, Promote
Now it might seem OTT to chunk such a small task down, but it makes it seem like less of a mountain and more of a molehill, particularly if it’s a task you’ve been putting off for a while.
If you’re not feeling on top of your game, the thought of creating the whole thing might seem much more daunting than merely drafting it.
During the time allocated, try to get into the habit of working solely on that one thing.
Law Number 2: Segal’s Law
“A man with a watch knows what time it is. A man with two watches is never sure.”
(admittedly not that Segal, Or Seagal!)
The mantra to this law is ‘if in doubt, get more information’. Paralysis by analysis – we’ve all been there.
Paralysis by analysis could derive from an over reliance on knowledge and existing resources, and an unwillingness to experiment, and learn by doing. The solution? Grow a set!
That may be a bit flippant, but I’ve heard all kinds of advice on this, but all joking aside, maybe Nike said it best…
Just Do It.
Law Number 3: Gall’s Law
“A complex system that works is invariably found to have evolved from a simple system that worked”
Are you over-cooking things? As Leonardo Da Vinci put it, “simplicity is the ultimate sophistication”. If you’ve ever watched Dragon’s Den, you’ll undoubtedly have seen someone present a massively over-engineered solution to quite a simple problem.
There’s a bit of an urban myth about astronauts, which, regardless of accuracy, illustrates this Law well. It’s about the US and the USSR’s solutions to the problem of ball-point pens not working in space. The American’s apparently spent $1,000,000 on a writing device that could handle zero gravity. The Russian’s took a pencil.
The antidote to this Law is really just to ask yourself if you’re overcomplicating things. What’s the simplest way it could be done?
Law Number 4: Coughlin’s Law
This one’s from the philosophical bar-tender/poet in the movie Cocktail – Doug Coughlin. And it goes…
“Anything else is always something better”
Other related phrases include ‘the-bright-and-shiny-object’ syndrome and ‘the grass is always greener’. When a task is getting a bit boring, or we’re reluctant to start it, it often seems that any other task will be a lot more fun.
Choose your top 3 priorities at the start of the day, and if anything else pops up, try asking yourself ‘does this need to be done today?’ If not, stick it in your inbox, and you can process it later and reassess your priorities tomorrow.
If it must be done today, but takes more than 2 minutes, schedule a time to do it. If it takes less than 2 minutes, do it now and move on (GTD fans will recognise this approach).
You could also try scheduling set times (eg twice a day) to handle items like emails.
Law Number 5: Student Syndrome
Anyone remember those days of late night cramming? I certainly do – I remember shaking from so much of a certain energy drink I couldn’t write for the first 15 minutes of one final year exam.
Anyway, the theory behind Student Syndrome is that any time buffers built into a task will be wasted. People only start to fully apply themselves at the last possible moment before a deadline.
For this reason, if you’re delegating tasks that you really want to get moving, it might be an idea not to give them a 2 week target. They will likely do next to nothing on it for the first week.
You could also set more intermittent deadlines for yourself to avoid the onslaught of Student Syndrome, although you’ll have to find a way of sticking to them. Self-imposed deadlines are often the first to slide.
There are numerous things you could do to prevent yourself being victim to the Laws mentioned here, and stop the hours disappearing into the Ether. I’m certainly no master of this stuff, but I’m getting better…
What about you? Do you have any little tips and tricks you use to boost your productivity and keep you on track? How do you handle incoming items like email and Twitter?
I am out in Seattle for the SEOmoz PRO seminar (don’t forget to come to the London seminar!) where the second day has kicked off with two of the best presentations I’ve seen in a long time from Seth Besmertnik from Conductor and Wil Reynolds from Seer Interactive. Feeling the pressure a little bit for my session on Sexy Reporting this afternoon, I thought I’d share one extra tip.
I often need to build a quick n’ dirty bit of analysis of link data. Since the exports from Open Site Explorer only pull 10,000 links at a time, I look to pull data out of the SEOmoz API and dump it into Excel.
This little bash script (which needs the domain and credentials inputting) lets you quickly pull backlink data:
( for i in {1..250}; do curl "http://lsapi1.seomoz.com/linkscape/links/XXXXXXXXXXX?Filter=external&SourceCols=133982846973&TargetCols=133982846973&Sort=page_authority&AccessID=XXXXXXXXXXX&Expires=XXXXXXXXXXX&Signature=XXXXXXXXXXX&Scope=page_to_domain&Limit=5&Offset=$((i*100))&"; done ) | tr "}" "\n" | perl -pe "s/[\]\[]//g" | perl -pe "s/,{//g" | perl -pe "s/\"[^\"]*\"://g" | perl -pe "s/^{//g" >> output.csv
I’ll be talking a little bit about doing stuff with this in my presentation later today, including decoding bitflags in Excel.
If you like the presentations from the Distilled crew, you might like to sign up to our free conference calls:
Sometimes things just break. In this day and age, servers crash, websites are hacked, and new programs go haywire. At its worst, hackers can get access to private client information. It is moments like these when a company is truly tested. So many try to cover up mistakes, sweep them under the rug, or just pretend they did not happen at all. This is the biggest mistake a company make, and with the increase in popularity of social networks, the sharing of information between customers is more prevalent. Read: Hiding is not an option.
There are a few companies that are “taking the blame” and sucking up their pride to ask for help and forgiveness. At Distilled we want to give kudos to the companies that approach an issue right the first time. Take for instance, this time last year, TechCrunch noted an email from Netflix to it’s customers giving a 2% discount to their customer’s monthly bills. Some were not even aware of the issue. MG sums it up at the end with “Companies often seem curious how other companies get ‘fanboys’ — this is how. This tipped off our 2 most recent tales of companies turning technical mistakes into true human relations.
A good friend of Distilled, Dr. Peter Meyers, just had a new addition to their family. To the family’s surprise, they got 2 swaddling blankets in the mail from Miracle Blanket within a few weeks of each other when they had only ordered one. Instead of just letting it go, the company did something out of the ordinary. They emailed about the mistake and asked for help.
Hello,
I’m Marshall Gatten, the Vice President of Customer Services here at Miracle Industries.
This morning we received an email from a customer whose order was somehow accidentally shipped twice. We thought it was just a small mistake by our warehouse. Then we got a voicemail from another customer with the same experience, followed by a couple more emails. We realized something had gone wrong.
As it turns out, a large number of orders from last week were accidentally transmitted to our warehouse a second time on Monday due to a computer glitch, and new shipments were made for all of them. Needless to say, this has the potential of being a very expensive error for us, and we’re hoping you can help us out.
Your order was one of the duplicated ones. You should be receiving your order a second time some time this week or maybe early next week if you haven’t already.
When you receive a second package from us, please simply write “Refused, Return to Sender” on the outside of the unopened package and drop it back in your mailbox and the post office will return it to us at no cost to you. (If it’s a FedEx or UPS shipment, just hand it back to the delivery person and explain that you would like it returned.)
If you’ve already received and opened the package, or if FedEx/UPS left it on your porch so it can’t simply be sent back that way, please respond to this email with your order number (or, if you don’t know your order number, then your address) and I’ll have our warehouse send you a postage-paid return envelope. We don’t want anybody to pay for postage to return the blankets to us, and want to make it as easy as possible for you to return the duplicate. This was very much our mistake, and the last thing we want to do is to inconvenience our customers as a result of it.
I’m truly very sorry for any inconvenience this might cause. Please let me know if there’s anything I can do to help.
Thank You, Marshall Gatten VP, Customer Services
Now I added the emphasis there, but notice what they did there. They made a mistake and asked for their customers to help. This costs the customer no money and appeals to the human side. I would venture that this move saved the company more money in the long run. And how does this help the consumer? Why not just keep the second one? They could have easily, but this gives the new families a way to give back and keep prices down on this awesome (or so I hear) product. It’s a win-win for everyone involved. Great job Miracle Blanket!
Take Aways
Your customers are human too. Treat them as such.
Admit the fault as soon as possible.
Do the work for the customer if they are helping you out.
Think about rewarding those that return the product, or do the desired action.
Now I’m going to follow that up with my own story from this past week. I bought a Tempur-Pedic bed when I moved to Seattle, and a few months later purchased the Tempur-Pedic mattress cover from their store too keep my investment safe. The item was delivered on time and everything was great. A month and a half later, I got an email telling me that my order is being delivered, again. Do What? Thankfully, clicking the tracking number in the email revealed that this was the same order as July. So I deleted the email and went on with my day. A few hours later I was met with the following email from Tempur-Pedic:
Dear Valued Tempur-Pedic Customer:
I am writing to let you know that due to a technical issue involving our email system, we mistakenly sent you this weekend a “Shipping Confirmation” email for an order you had previously placed with us. I would like to assure you that no duplicate order was actually placed or shipped, and that no duplicate charges were made to your credit card. The error consisted only of sending a duplicate email letting you know that your original order with us had shipped. I want to express our sincere apologies for this error, and the confusion and concern it likely caused you.
We are in the midst of upgrading our eCommerce and eMail platforms so that we can make shopping with us easier and more enjoyable. We regret this technical error that occurred as we put in place our new systems and we look forward to serving you better in the future.
Sincere Regards,
Patrice Varni Vice President, Direct-to-Consumer
TEMPUR-PEDIC North America
Simple. Easy. They admitted their mistake and just moved on. But here is the kicker, they didn’t protect the user’s email addresses. *sigh* So in that win, there is a minor fail.
Take Aways
Even if there is nothing to recover from the customer, at least let them know you know the boo-boo.
Let the customer know why it happened.
BCC people at least. I didn’t need to know who got the same mistake email as me.
In the end …
It’s about treating your customers like human beings and transparency. We all make mistakes. Just admit to them and move on. Hey, you never know when it is a nice reminder for your customers that you are there, human, and paying attention. It might just cause a few more unexpected purchases.
Free Directory Submission: What to Avoid, Tips & Tricks
Looking for quick easy links? Be careful what you wish for…
Despite rumours, directory listings are still useful! These listings help diversify your link portfolio and will help boost rankings when used with other link building methods such as:
Articles
Link bait
Blogging
What to Avoid
Signs of dodgy directories:
The directory has more ads than content
The directory loses its main focus, which is to act as an index of links. The site loses value for the user and Google will deem it either irrelevant or not worth caching. Listing your link here is about as useful as Paddy Moogan without Twitter.
“Your site’s ranking in Google search results is partly based on analysis of those sites that link to you. The quantity, quality, and relevance of links count towards your rating. The sites that link to you can provide context about the subject matter of your site, and can indicate its quality and popularity. However, some webmasters engage in link exchange schemes and build partner pages exclusively for the sake of cross-linking, disregarding the quality of the links, the sources, and the long-term impact it will have on their sites. This is in violation of Google’s webmaster guidelines and can negatively impact your site’s ranking in search results.”
The PageRank has been faked
It is still possible to fake Pagerank, and there are methods to check this. If a site needs to fake its PageRank, chances are there is something wrong…stay clear.
There are thousands of links in each category
Not much PageRank to be passed on to your website here. If Google even decides to index the directory in the first place.
The directory wants to exchange links
This isn’t entirely a bad practice, the directory wants you to link back to them in order to increase their PageRank. I don’t do this simply because there is no value for me…selfish I know.
The website doesn’t function properly (broken links, misplaced graphics, “INSERT AD HERE”)
Broken links, blank advertisements and general malfunction of the site suggests the directory has been abandoned. Don’t bother.
The words “SEO Friendly” always ring alarm bells
Directories in essence are supposed to be SEO friendly, you don’t need to tell me that. You’ll notice with these types of directories that there will always be an option to submit to multiple directories for a fee, either directly on the page or in an email confirmation after you’ve submitted your link. Paying for links to manipulate search engine rankings are against Google’s webmaster guidelines and you run the risk of being penalized or banned. Better safe than sorry mate.
The directory has been penalized or banned by Google
How can you tell? Search Google for the directory URL, if it doesn’t show up its either brand new, or banned. These links stand a chance of lowering your website rankings, so steer clear.
The directory contains adult material
My apologies to anyone in the Adult industry, but they typically aren’t the best places to associate 90% of products or services offered throughout the internet.
Tips & Tricks
Figure out what keywords you want to rank for
Write 5 different titles & descriptions for your listing (including the keywords)
Once you get to the directory site, browse to the category you think is most relevant to your listing. Then find the “submit URL” link. If you don’t do this, you may end up searching forever in a list boxwith hundreds of different categories.
Enable Auto-Complete! Use a browser like Firefox or Chrome that will save the information you entered in the title, description and email fields, so you can quickly submit to the directories
Alternate your titles, and descriptions. You don’t want to come off looking like spam, and it gives you a chance to rank for long tail searches
Using an email address with the same domain as your listing adds credibility
Some directories require an email confirmation, and need to be confirmed within a set time or your listing is automatically deleted. Check your email!
Here are some of the directories that meet the criteria to be considered valuable:
I Just wanted to update you all on the wonderful new feature over at Facebook- Facebook Places.
Facebook Places clearly has potential- massive user base, loads of opportunity for geo-targeted specials (as has been masterfully created by Foursquare, Gowalla and other products).
However, as has been a growing concern for many users, there are lots of potential risks and privacy concerns. That which follows is my own opinion and more than likely does not reflect anyone elses concerns. The usual disclaimer applies.
1. The Default Settings
As I made quite clear in my argument with Paddy I am not a big fan of implied consent when it comes to advertising, privacy and targeting. Similarly, I am not a big fan of implied consent when it comes to my location and the ability of others to publicly announce where I am at present. And we all know of some of my existing concerns with Facebook.
Take a look at the default settings of Places within the privacy settings on Facebook. Please note that I have not changed anything with regards to Places.
Take note that the user is automatically included in the “people here now” section- visible to anyone nearby. Perfect for that restraining order I’ve just got against my crazy ex-girlfriend!
[Edit: It's been brought to my attention that the default setting is somewhat dependent on the level of security settings you have previously enabled. Thanks to @RichardShove for this! Either way- be sure to check your settings!]
2. “Allow Friends to Check me In”
I’m not too sure what the default for this one is- as it seems to be neither enabled or disabled. Judging by the above and other countless examples of Facebook privacy issues I would venture a guess that the implied consent rule holds and the default would be that others (your “friends”) are allowed to check you in.
Again, probably not the end of the world if you trust your friends but it can be a real doozy. I’m sure Eric Schmidt and the Google team would probably say something to the effect of “anonymity is dead, blah blah blah” and “don’t do bad things and no one will know” and so forth, but this takes control right off the table. It’s bad enough that my friends might call me out and check me in to the local karaoke joint when I’m there but it’s far worse to consider that they could check me into “The Golden Banana” in the greater Boston area whilst I’m still living in London!
And given the number of young people on Facebook, this will defintiely be an issue. Maturity is not a universal trait.
3. If enough people check into a place it becomes “public”
Here’s another cause for concern. If someone wants to, they can create a “Place” for my home. If enough people check-in here it becomes public. Well, if any of you remember the hilarity and awfulness that came of Corey Delaney and his parents being out of town, it’s fair enough to assume that a “small gathering” could quickly turn into a flashmob, riot, or epic house party… with loads of uninvited guests.
There are a couple takeaways/thoughts from all of this.
The first of which is: you should probably trust your friends- if you’re willing to call them your friends on Facebook you should probably know them well enough to assume they won’t sabotage your reputation online. If not, it may be time for a “friends clean-up” on the old Facebook account.
The second is that you can disable a number of these features simply by adjusting your privacy settings in your Facebook. I don’t mean to raise conspiracy theories here or make a huge stink because you can opt-out.
The third of which is: hold on to your hats if you’re not big on your Twitter stream and News stream (on Facebook) being clogged with folks who have gone a bit trigger happy with Foursquare… things are about to get a whole lot worse.
All that’s left is to wait and see if this can be harnessed and become another masterstroke to help Facebook compete with Foursquare and the like- or whether it’s enough to push some users over the edge.
Let us know what you think!
Please feel free to sound off in the comments and let us know how you’re feeling about Places. Are you excited? Worried? Think I am too paranoid for my own good? Feel free to let us know
No, not scraping my friends. There is a legitimate way to get some great market information from Facebook and I’m going to show you how. It all starts with the nifty invention of Facebook Ads, which was designed to help businesses target their audience based on demographics and other factors. It attracted Facebook spammers, local businesses and a few clever marketing firms, but as I’ve found there are many uses to this feature.
Here’s an example of research results you can extract from Facebook Ads:
For the Infographic above, here is the example scenario:
I own an online football shop, based in Singapore
I stock only Nike and Adidas football boots
I want to create an ad to sell football boots
What I wanted to answer: Which brand of boots would be more likely to return my investment on advertising online in Singapore?
Create a sample advert by simply typing in any URL and continue into the next page. There is no fee required to access the following Facebook statistics.
You should see a targeting window at this point which will display search criteria (location, demographics, likes & interests), you can also select advanced targeting options which will give you more options to narrow your search
It’s as easy as typing in ex. “United Kingdom” and you will notice an estimated reach statistic according to what you’ve selected.
The results for specific search criteria such as likes & interests: “Nike” are entirely dependent on how many people have selected “Nike” as an interest.
The main problem with the ad creation page is limitation. For the next few examples I’m looking to find everything relative to Nike, Nike Football, Nike Football Singapore and Nike Singapore. Using the search box in my personal Facebook profile I can start my research.
Problems with Search that can prevent accurate results
1. When comparing different likes & interests there is currently no way to remove duplicates. Ex. One person (or profile) can be fan of both “Nike” and “Nike football”. You might be tempted to scrape Facebook, and sort the data in a spreadsheet. I don’t suggest it, and it might be worth taking the time to read about lawsuits concerning this matter.
2. Sometimes you will find groups in the Likes & Interests search and it won’t actually be a valid group in Facebook. Here was my experience searching for “Adidas football Asia”
3. The search can seize and display previous results. This is a software error, if you notice that the same search suggestions keep appearing you need to refresh the page and start over.
4. The search will sometimes display multiple groups for the same like & interest:
For reference purposes: to get my results I used the following search criteria:
Location: Singapore Age: Any to Any Gender: All Interested in: All (women, men)
Conclusion
Using this method as your only source for your market validation would be a grave mistake, instead use it as an add on to your other primary and secondary sources. When it comes to finding legitimate information through Facebook, this is by far the easiest method, provided that your results aren’t just a bunch of fake profiles. Yes, fake profiles. There’s alot of them and of course these people will randomly join groups to maintain their status as a real person.
So what’s the answer? Make sure you use a sample size of at least 10,000, 100,000 is even better.
On a personal note, try not to use this tool with an evil marketing grin. Facebook has been inundated with redundant, devious and deceptive advertising that has put even the most novice of users out of the “CLICK HERE TO GET YOUR FREE CREDIT SCORE” game.
Here’s an excerpt:”If you want me to buy your product, do something good, make a better product, hell make a better advertisement. Convince me your shoes can make me walk on water, make me laugh, draw pretty pictures, find someone that I trust to endorse your product. But, please, don’t trick me and stop following me around for Pete’s sake.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, PPC and SEO need to get along. Why? There are such awesome tools on each side that can benefit the other. Not to mention the wealth of information from one that can feed results in the other. Case and point today is a tool that has not been written about much in the SEO world, but is a substantial part of the new AdWords training.
If it may please the court, I present:
Wonder Wheel
Looks like a mind map doesn’t it? I was introduced to mind maps in my Introduction to Creative Advertising class as a part of my advertising minor at UT Austin. Basically it’s getting every association you have with an idea, thought, or concept out on paper with it’s close associations. This is a tool that just about every level of marketing can benefit from, not just the creative people. There are whole computer programs developed just to aid with mind maps.
Wonder Wheel is a part of Google results. Just go Google something, and look in the left side bar. Under the “Standard View” section (you might need to expand the menu over there), there is an option for “Wonder wheel.” Click it and watch the magic.
The awesome part of Wonder Wheel is that this is a mind map using Google’s “mind.” You want a peek into the big brain that is Google? This is your opportunity. Wonder Wheel returns everything from word ideas to organic and integrated results. You get pictures, shopping, paid ads, and competitors in one fell swoop.
Wonderwheel is great for many things, not just keyword research. So hold onto your pants, here we go.
Image via Wikipedia
Brainstorming
The first, and most apparent use is for brainstorming. With any idea, product, or keyword, you can easily see what Google thinks is related. Using the start of one key phrase, this tool can lead to product ideas, marketing angles, and more. Multiple clicks on every spoke will open your eyes to new ideas and possible search intentions.
For example, looking up “cake pans” lead me to square cake pans (not what you normally think about), 3D cake pans, and even “how to make a wedding cake.” Those are all just key phrases during brain storming, but it really is what you do with this information that makes it valuable. In brainstorming, you are just identifying everything possible, the organization comes later.
Competitive Research
The first piece of information to glean from Wonder Wheel is competitive information. Through the tool you can see popular brands of products that users are searching for. It doesn’t stop there though. As you click through Wonder Wheel, the search results change with the phrase you select. This allows you to see and investigate new competitors. The long or mid tail might have completely different competitors, and may include some new up-and-comers (maybe you!) that you need to be aware of for the future.
Site Structure
In PPC, this tool is touted to be best for campaign and ad group organization, specifically getting keywords into themes for the display network. For SEOs, the same concept can be applied site structure and design. If you are having issues wondering how best to set up your site’s architecture that will be easy for Google and the other search engines to understand, this is perfect.
For example, if you have a site about stuffed animals, a quick search using the Wonder Wheel shows that searchers are looking for stuffed cats and dogs, and some competitors include Toys R Us and Build a Bear. From this information, you might structure the site by animal, size, and also by brand.
Keyword Research
Oddly like Brainstorming, yes? Sorta. But keyword research is more focused than brainstorming. Brainstorming is writing down any and everything related to a topic. Keyword research is more focused to specific content. So let’s say that you need to research a new 3D duck cake pan. Just a quick search and click on “Wilton Duck Cake Pan” reveals the many ways that someone might search for a duck cake pan.
Rubber Duck Cake Pan
Duck Cake Ideas
Duck Birthday Cake
Wilton Duck Baking (don’t use general ‘duck baking’, different intent)
Site Content Development
Writing good content for your site is key to ranking for long tail terms, and Wonder Wheel can help spark ideas. For example, remember in brainstorming when we came across the idea “how to bake a wedding cake” and seeing square wedding pans? How about a “how to bake a square tiered wedding cake.” There are posts on unusual cakes and how to assemble one, but not a start to finish post including pictures. See the draw here?
Affiliate Idea Development
If you are looking to develop a site around your favorite hobby (baking cakes perhaps? going along with my examples), using Wonder Wheel can reveal possible companies to approach for affiliate relationships. In this instance, reselling cake pans through Amazon, Wilton, or Birthday in a Box. This is revealed in the results of keywords but also in the organic results and in the shopping results.
Today we have a face-off between Sam and Paddy. After many heated discussions in the office it seemed like it would make an interesting post to put both sides of the argument side by side on the blog. First, for those of you who are not familiar with what behavioral re-targeting is, here is a good graphic to illustrate it.
In a bit more detail, behavioral re-targeting is a system that serves adverts to a user based on their browsing history. It is usually based on them not completing a desired action, for example not buying a product from a retailer. The user will then be shown adverts from the retailer on various other websites in an effort to get them to return.
Paddy:
So my side of the argument is the opposite to Sam’s. I think this post may have stemmed from one line in our discussion when I said –
“I think its a genius idea”
From there we had a debate about the privacy issues and scenarios where this type of marketing is a bad thing. However my feelings were still the same, I think re-targeting is a good marketing method for both users and merchants. Here is why.
Why Re-targeting is good for Merchants
Lower overall number of impressions and more targeted ads mean a better click through rate. This leads to lower costs and therefore a high ROI for businesses.
Businesses can target a customer throughout the buying cycle but in particular when they are at the research stage. It is very esy to detect if a customer looked at certain products but decided not to buy them. In which case, re-targeting can be used to try and bring that customer back to the site whilst they are doing research on other websites.
This can work especially well for businesses who sell high value, highly durable products which a customer will probably spend quite a bit of time researching before pressing the buy button.
Another added advantage for merchants is the brand building that this type of activity can provide. If your brand appears to be everywhere online, then you’ll appear to be really pushing yourselves online and give the perception you’re massive.
Even if you lose the odd customer who gets fed up of your adverts or disables cookies as a result, you are going to make up for this many times over by the increased conversion rate of other customers. Many businesses have reported massively improved ROIs for re-targeting campaigns in comparison to other channels.
Why Re-Targeting is good for Users
This is much more important in my opinion, the benefits to a business are pretty clear and easy to measure. The discussion between Sam and myself stemmed from privacy issues for users so I wanted to address these.
No Personal Data is Collected
First thing I should mention is that re-targeting works by dropping cookies on a users machine. No personal data such as name, address, phone number etc is collected by re-targeting. There are tons of websites that use cookies in this manner and don’t collect personal data, this is not a new tactic.
Personalised Advertising
No matter where we go online, we see banners, adverts and pop-ups. I don’t tend to come across many websites that do not include some form of advertising, even at a bare minimum they’ll include Google AdSense. So if the web is jam packed full of adverts anyway, surely its better to have those adverts as targeted as possible to the user. Therefore a user will see adverts for stuff they are interested in rather than this kind of stuff -
Or even worse these type of ones…
Or is it just me that sees the second one?! D’oh!
Anyway the point is that we get annoyed seeing adverts which we’re not interested in and eventually we develop banner blindness. If however the adverts are by a website we are familiar with, even better – adverts for products we may want to buy, then thats surely better?
This type of advert is much more relevant to me after I’d been looking for a festival tent on the Go Outdoors website -
Where it can be abused…
Whilst I strongly believe that re-targeting is good. Like most marketing methods online, some businesses can push the limits and go over the top with this model. Here are some things that businesses should avoid when doing re-targeting.
Don’t consistently show the same products that were viewed
It can be a bit weird for a user if they see the exact same product they just saw on your website in an advert somewhere else. So try to include an advert that includes a range of related products. The Go Outdoors example above is a good example of this. There is nothing wrong with including the product a user has looked at, but mix it in with other closely related product.
Use Frequency Caps
To avoid users getting banner blindness, place a frequency cap on your adverts so that they aren’t consistently being shown your advert all across the web. This can get annoying and maybe cause them to opt out of seeing them.
Use Time Limit Caps
You have the ability to define how long you want a user to be shown your advert after they have visited your website. The decision on how long this lasts will depend on your product. But I’d still advise setting a limit so that a user isn’t consistently bombarded with your ads and can’t get away from you!
Variation
Try to vary the adverts both in size, design and products. Using the same advert over and over is a sure fire way to annoy a user and have them develop banner blindness. Design different banners based upon what they did on your site and use variations to keep things fresh.
Allow Customers to Opt-out
Most advertisers will include a link for users to opt-out of seeing these type of adverts if they wish. Make sure you allow users this option and that you are as transparent as possible. You don’t always legally have to update your privacy policy but it may be worth an amend.
In Summary… (and why I’m right!)
Re-targeting is like many other online marketing techniques – go over the top and you’re going to annoy your customers and lower your ROI. However, if used properly, you can achieve a good ROI whilst keeping customers happy and not triggering alarms over privacy concerns.
It comes down to this – we all see ads across the internet every day. It makes for a better experience if these ads are targeted and relevant to us. No personal identity data is collected about you as a user – this isn’t Facebook!
Right, so I have not yet read Paddy’s version of this because I didn’t think it was really fair for the sake of argument to just rebut all of his points without him having the same opportunity. Perhaps we’ll carry that over into the comments if people really want to watch us fight it out more.
Sam:
—————-ROUND 2 – FIGHT!——————
Issues with (overly) targeted advertising*
*Skip to the end for the TL:DR version
I feel violated and cheated… and I really want a Big Mac!
I think I first realised my true opposition to the targeting of my subconscious (read: subliminal advertising) after watching “Super Size Me” and then craving McDonald’s food for months afterwards. It was a truly inexplicable and irrational thought after watching such a horrible depiction of the fast food chain.
It takes a “genius” campaign to embed your product idea within someone’s mind (especially if it happens when you should be hating the product) but it is really disturbing when you find yourself buying something or supporting someone based on false facts. I want to be able to identify “how I got hooked” and know how trustworthy a site, channel, show, advertiser, or individual is before spending my time or money.
This sort of marketing is invasive and borders on morally deplorable
This, for me, highlights the reason I don’t click on PPC advertisements unless the meta-description ropes me in. I know that these sites or products (if they aren’t ranking naturally) have not recieved the sorts of links or “votes of approval” necessary to be deemed reliable products. There are exceptions to this rule and ever site is “new” at some point, but I’ll let people who don’t understand PPC be the guinea pigs on these products.
I don’t have issue with the conscious decision to support a company and buy their products because I like what they do. I like companies with good Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) campaigns. I would gladly buy Old Spice deodorant (at least to try) because I thought there campaign was hilarious- and it didn’t try to sell me too hard on the thousands of scantily clad women I’d be fending off (unlike some of their competitors). Whilst I think “bad SEO” is not worth doing and obnxious from a user’s perspective, I think the same applies for “bad advertising.”
Supply and demand exists so that we may weigh up any number of factors for a product and decide for ourselves what it is we want to buy. We have become too lazy and too impatient to do things the right way and I believe we are less happy for it.
So, What’s my Point?
If I don’t like a product, I want the ability to say “no” (without having to spend 30 minutes trying to find the source of the campaign and get it off my browser/cleared from my cookies).
If I’m watching TV I can change the channel or press mute if I don’t like the idea.
If I have a pop-up window I can click out of it (or get a better spam-protection software).
If I don’t like a print advertisement I can turn the page, or rip out the advert.
Hell, even email spam (usually) lets me remove myself from a list, unsubscribe, delete the message without reading it, etc.
The bottom line is, I can control these things. I choose (to a certain degree anyways) whether or not I let these things in. All of these other mediums usually must past some sort of Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) or some other equivalent. However, these rules don’t seem to apply and business ethics seem to go out the window to a certain extent when we’re talking about advertising on the web. And things have gotten worse, not better.
Yeah, it’s slightly less annoying not having to foce-quit my browser because of too many pop-ups (NSFW- Language & verbal references to internet filth) but at least when I got those sorts of ads I knew I was on spammy sites (only by accident of course) and I knew not to return. Now if I accidentally stumble upon an NSFW site I risk the possibility of similar adverts targeting me when I’m in a meeting with my boss, pitching to a potential client, or trying to show my Mom a cute video about puppies.
The “Ayes” Have it!
So, after debating this a bit with Tom and Paddy I was a bit concerned that I had completely lost my mind. Both argued that they would rather “targeted” advertisements than random ones and I agree to a certain level. However, where’s the off switch? At a certain point I would like the ability to tell an advertiser “you’ve spent enough money on me, but I bought the tent from someone else, I don’t want a $£@*!$% tent anymore.”
Variety is the spice of life and just because ONE time, while doing a search for a client, or by accidentally clicking on an advert, I don’t want to have pop-ups and banner ads pointing to inappropriate sites. I don’t want to be followed around and harassed. And, according to a recent poll conducted as part of an article written by the Wall Street Journal I am not alone in this.
It’s quite obvious that the VAST and overwhelming majority of those that have participated in this poll are on board with me. Of course it is not a statistically significant poll, but the article was obviously quite convincing.
Where to Draw the Line? Global/Browser Privacy Settings, Please!
I don’t personally have a problem with being targeted on Facebook based upon my age, location, or any other information I have provided to this particular software. I have made a choice to visit this page, I am logged in to this site, and I have freely provided this information to THIS particular web application.
I do, however, take serious issue with having a single query string that can identify me as a 26-year-old male from London, my favourite films, my favourite type of food, what time I typically scour the underworld of the internet and use this information to “target” (i.e. AGAINST) me as I try to carry out my job- which is to be on the internet. I try to avoid advertisements where possible.
If you want me to buy your product, do something good, make a better product, hell make a better advertisement. Convince me your shoes can make me walk on water, make me laugh, draw pretty pictures, find someone that I trust to endorse your product. But, please, don’t trick me and stop following me around for Pete’s sake.
I’m no longer looking for free singles in my area so let it rest. Duh, haven’t you checked my Facebook status lately?
Here are the things I’m comfortable sharing when “logged in” to a site or application: Any information included in my PUBLIC profile and any information I have shared voluntarily with THIS site (e.g. I am quite happy for Amazon to try and suggest books based upon books I’ve purchased).
Here’s the information I’m comfortable sharing with advertisers for general targeting purposes: I’m between 18-35 years old. I currently live in London. I am male.
And here is information advertisers use that I do NOT want used in targeted advertising: My ability to spell, where I am at any given time, every single site I’ve visited, my favorite films, my income, my sexual preference, my medical history/concerns. For everything else I’m afraid you’re going to have to get me to try/buy your product the old fashioned way.
If people like these targeted advertisements it’s not for me to say they can’t have them, I’d just like the opportunity to say “no thank you” like I do when the telemarketers ring to sell me something I don’t want anymore and to be able to say “please take me off your targeted list, thanks!”
TL:DR Cold Hard Facts and Summary (Why I Am Right)
According to the Wall Street Jounral article I mentioned:
the top 50 websites (in the US) install (on average) 64 pieces of tracking technology onto the computer of each visitor (without warning in most cases)
targeting is no longer limited to cookies
many of these “tools surreptitiously re-spawn themselves even after users delete them
the profiles these tools create are traded as commodities (think: oil, gold, “personal information index”)
there are already over 100 middlemen/tracking companies competing to sell your details
“innocuous” sites such as Dictionary.com will generate a download of 223 files per visit to track web use
the most offensive of this type of advertising installs third party tracking files that will follow you around to “build a robust profile” (particularly heinous is monitoring searches of health related illness and targeting ads- perfect for when you need a hemmarhoid cream in the middle of a boardroom presentation)
Tracking technology has already spiraled out of control and is only going further. I’m all for freedoms on the internet but I believe the control over what is actually viewed (rather than available to be viewed) should be controlled by the user. If you don’t want to see a site or a products advertisements you should be able to say so. People shouldn’t be “tricked” into buying a product and it should be fairly straightforward to ask for the harassment to stop (e.g. a small box reading “do not display ads for this site/product/agency”).
Getting your product in front of the right people is absolutely key, but if you get your product in front of someone influential and do so by harassment, prepare for a serious reputation issue.
It’s not that I’m opposed to targeting advertisements in principle, it just seems as though there should be a bit more control given to the user. It seems unfair and immoral that someone else sell my personal information that I never granted them the right to view, let alone “own” (tacitly or otherwise) and make it almost impossible to opt-out.
Targeted advertising is not inherently wrong, and some people love it, but some people don’t and there needs to be an easy way to change the settings or opt-out.
Had anyone told me when I was getting into high school that I would be speaking at marketing conferences in New York and London, I’d laugh in your face. That would be after turning bright red.
So I still turn bright red today (it’s part of being pale) but I am much more calm when it comes to speaking in front of groups of people. I’ve had friends in this industry ask many times “Do you get nervous?” or “How do you stay so calm?”
There isn’t a trick like picturing the audience naked (ewww!). It’s all a matter of perspective, preparation and confidence.
Get Perspective
There are a few things to keep in mind when you get into a room to speak. The first is that you are in a room full of people just like you. No smarter, no less smart. The attendees will vary in experience level from experts that you have followed since starting in SEM, to beginners that got stuck doing SEO as part of their marketing role. The point is, they all are there to learn about your experiences. Don’t think you have to WOW everyone in the room. Remember that it is a big crowd, and you aren’t going please everyone. If you can help one person there, the job is done.
Practice Preparation Makes Perfect
One thing I don’t do is practice my speeches. I know, most people would call that heresy, but I prefer to shoot from the hip. My advice is to:
Write your presentation ahead of time (NOT the night before) and go over it in your head a few times. It’s okay to edit just before the conference, things change too fast not to.
Do not memorize it. Memorizing will only make you more nervous.
Storytelling is the best way to connect with a group. Remember that part about the attendees being there to hear about your experiences, just tell them about those experiences.
You want things to be as natural as possible.
Confidence
You were chosen for a reason. Have confidence that you can teach someone, many someones in fact, something new. Embrace the fact that you are an expert in your own field and industry. There are many experts at different things, and to someone in that audience you are the expert.
But don’t get a big head. Never stop learning. The moment you stop learning is when you need to change professions. You can be an expert at one thing and a complete greenhorn at another field or industry. So accept your new position as a speaker and go forth. You earned it with the blood sweat and tears poured into your work and optimization.
Has Someone Been Planting Ideas In Your Head And Making Them Seem Like Your Own?
Are You Sure?
WARNING: This Post Contains Spoilers (And The Links Out Contain Some Serious Ones!)
This season’s blockbuster, Inception, is set in the future where it’s possible for people to enter shared dreams and uncover their deepest secrets, in a process known as extraction.
To be really effective, the idea must feel like it originated within the subject’s own mind. They must lead the victim of this ‘mind crime’ to reach the conclusion on his own.
The movies we watch in the cinema are in fact shared dreams. We experience them together. And the very best ones leave us thinking and feeling differently. The director, Christopher Nolan, is commenting on movies and storytelling in general.
Throughout history, and across cultures, stories have provided one of the most powerful tools of influence. Traditional cultures passed down their beliefs and values in stories.
Psychologist Howard Gardner even studied the impact of storytelling in leadership. According to Gardner, in his book Leading Minds, a leader is “an individual (or, rarely, a set of individuals) who significantly affects the thoughts, feelings, and/or behaviours of a significant number of individuals”.
Know Anyone Else Who Wants To Influence The Thoughts, Feelings and Behaviour Of The Masses?
Umm… Marketers maybe?
Stories can be incredibly influential in marketing. People can be very receptive to stories. It feels much less like force-fed marketing. You’re just listening to a story, right?! And the audience reaches the intended beliefs about you and your product all on their own…
Or, At Least, That’s What They Think!
So let’s take a crude example from the world of SEO. There are a number of marketers using persuasive techniques to whip people into a buying frenzy. It might go something like this…
“A few years ago I was stumbling around in the world of SEO. I’d listened to all the gurus, bought their products, and was still getting nowhere. Then I discovered a secret loophole in Google that worked liked gangbusters.
Within 2 weeks my website had rocketed to the top of the search engines. I shared it with a few friends and they had massive success too. Now this isn’t black-hat, it’s not article link-building, or any of the usual suspects.
This one technique completely transformed my business, and my life. I’ve since launched multiple businesses using this one simple technique, and I now earn an insane amount of money on auto-pilot!”
The storyline here is a take on the most timeless of plots – The Hero’s Journey. I was lost but now I’m found. And when they’re done well, you join the storyteller on the journey. You feel their pain, you experience the highs and lows before eventually emerging victorious.
You Create The Movie in Your Mind
Now the previous story might sound a bit crass, and I do include it only as a crude example, but still, whenever I see these things, I often find myself sucked in. Like the dreams in Inception – you don’t realise something’s amiss until you’re out of it.
And our marketing friend is hoping you won’t fall out of that trance, until you’ve hit the big shiny button – ‘Buy Now’.
But let’s be clear – the act of telling stories isn’t the problem really. It’s the question of ethics in using any form of persuasion.
Does our marketing friend have our interests at heart? Possibly (arguable, but let’s give him the benefit of the doubt). Can his system provide the results it promises? Probably – but here’s the big question…
For How Long?
Could there be any adverse consequences in the long-term? The chances are Google will get wise to the scheme sooner or later, and it will be another SEO technique cast upon the pile. And it could take your website with it.
Personally, I’d be concerned about anything using the phrase ‘loophole’. He’s practically admitting it’s a bit shady.
If you’re looking for quick-hit affiliate profits with no view to the long-term, knock yourself out. But if you want to build a long-term proper business, purchasing this kind of thing could be disastrous.
Steven R Covey warns us against looking for quick wins without considering the long-term consequences (fancy another piece of cake?). He also encourages us to be guided by principles, not techniques.
So if you find yourself tempted by one of these methods, allow yourself time to step out of the dream. Does anything seem strange to you?
Do You Get A Funny Feeling Something’s Wrong?
Take a moment to ask yourself, does this comply with the principles of SEO? In other words:
Am I adding value to the web, through my website and my link-building activities?
Are the links I’m gaining relevant?
And am I building up credibility as a trusted resource?
As an aside, if you’re using persuasive techniques in your own sales and marketing (and let’s be honest – every business does), just make sure your product kicks ass both in the short-term and the long-term.
And if you ever feel yourself whipped up into a buying frenzy, remind yourself what Flava Flav would say… Don’t… Don’t…
