Missing Link, Inc.

Last year the Association of National Advertisers polled its members to determine how marketing and advertising budgets were being affected by the economic climate in the country. The ANA found that businesses marketing departments are still under a lot of pressure to reduce costs and spending. This is bad news for advertiser but at the same time it opens the door for some creative marketing opportunities.

Here are the top four ways business marketers are reducing costs and spending remain the same:

• 81% are reducing departmental travel and expenses
• 74% are reducing advertising media budgets
• 71% are challenging agencies to reduce internal expenses and/or identify cost reductions
• 64% are reducing advertising production budgets

It’s not uncommon for training seminars to charge $900 to $5,000 plus add on about $1000 for traveling expenses, hotel rooms and food. In fact if you take a search on the Internet you’ll see Dale Carnegie – How to Sell Like a Pro seminar for $1,750. While companies are reducing travel and expenses they still need the training and updated information

What if you could provide a program to off line businesses that provide the same information, get the same results and has a better ROI  without having to pay huge seminar fees and all those travel expenses.

Here are some possible solutions that could make you money and save money for off line businesses:

• Assemble a panel of experts and do a Webinar series over several weeks
• Provide an online training course on video
• Provide an online training course on audio
• Offer an in-house training seminar
• Provide 1-on1 coaching

At a time when 30% of respondents from the ANA survey are planning to reduce their budgets by more than 20% companies will be much more receptive to maintain the same level of training but at reduced fess. The forecast for the rest of 2009 and going into 2010 isn’t looking any better.

If you would like me to keep you up-to-date on the latest search engine optimization, social media or Internet business best practices the fill out the form below with your name and email.

Take Care

Last week Google hinted that we should all be expecting some major changes in its main Web search results. Google is working on a new top secrete update to search technology that mostly affects its indexing process.  Nicknamed Google Caffeine , it is  considered to be next-generation of web search architecture. In addition to shaking up the results, it may also pave fresh roads toward the goal of real-time search results.  Early reviews in  preview SERPs  show that there will be detectable differences in the results pages for many terms and brands, so those tracking their SEO campaigns are well-advised to follow this update intimately.  As Google Caffeine prepares for release, here are some observations:

Substantial displacement is uncovered amidst big brands for some broad terms.  After going over a number of high-volume category level terms, Search Insider found many big brands have swapped places in the results for individual key terms, while others have risen to new heights, and others have gone down to new lows. This may completely change the way SEO is managed with many web masters and SEO experts. Many fortune 500 companies are generating millions of dollars per year in revenue  for some of these category level terms. The financial impact has yet to be seen.

Nicknamed Google Caffeine , it is  considered to be next-generation of web search architecture. In addition to shaking up the results, it may also pave fresh roads toward the goal of real-time search results.

Video and images may be displaced for more text links. The long term impact of video and images shouldn’t be affected because of the popularity of video on the Internet, but it may take an update or two before this returns to normal.  Some social media sites may benefit while others may see a decline in favor. Big brands may sooner or later feel the recursive impact of the change, sites like Facebook and Technorati mostly have benefited. You may see Wikipedia slightly less emphasized throughout the results.  Twitter may see a big adjustment in this update.

Technorati mostly have benefited.

For SEO marketers, the same principles will still be applied. Natural search engine is affected by 1) On and off page factors 2) user behavior; and 3) the level of algorithmic bias toward your site.  The last one can’t be controlled, and you should be forwarned to stay away from any SEO expert who says it can be controlled; User behavior can be difficult to control unless you know how to market to the right consumer.

Remember on and off page search engine factors such as title tags, urls, meta descriptions are in our control, and if there are no changes in this area, best practices still apply. Staying focused on core elements such as good content, grammar, link architecture, flow and structure will still be a sustainable long-term natural search benefit. A good point to remember is don’t panic, and take a reactionary approach that might jeopardize the future of your business.

For those who are already taking the core concepts and using best-practices approach, relax, sit back and observe the change.  For those who use “black hat” concepts, I would strongly recommend shifting back to the core concepts and best practices.

If you would like me to keep you up-to-date on the latest search engine optimization, social media or Internet business best practices the fill out the form below with your name and email.

Take Care

Unless you’ve been on the space shuttle in the last year Twitter is one of the hottest social media trends of 2009. When the media and celebrities start talking about how to use Twitter and other social media it is apparent that it has hit the mainstream. Twitter has been the topic of discussion on several day time television shows such as Opra and the Ellen Degeneres Show.

Have you ever been to a party and said or done something you regretted the next day? Well, this is happening every day on Twitter. In 2009 it was reported in the news that an employee called in sick for the weekend and then posted some pictures of himself at a party on Facebook. His employer saw the pictures and he was fired.

Sophos, a security software company, found that 63 percent of companies were afraid of what their employees were choosing to share on social networking sites. This lead to many IT departments filtering the URLs and blocking employee’s access to many of the social networking sites.

As of August the NFL does not have a policy on how to use twitter or any of the other social media networks for the players and coaches. But for fear of leaking strategic information such as injuries, plays and assignments the NFL is in is in the process of developing one. According to the NFL, cellphones, computers and P.D.A.’s cannot be used by players, coaches or other club personnel on the sideline, in coaches’ booths or locker rooms from pregame warm-ups through the end of the game.

Here are my suggestions on how to use twitter and not embarrass yourself or get yourself fired from your job.

• Don’t use Twitter to broadcast your social plans for the evening. At least don’t give out too many details.

• Use good judgment when Tweeting jokes and quotes

• When at work don’t tweet about how bad your boss is, how ugly your co-workers are, or if you’ve been drinking, taking drugs or hungover
• Health care workers must be careful not to disclose any patient information that would violate the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)
• Be careful about posting pictures of your children. It’s unfortunate that we have to watch out for sick predators that use the Internet to stalk their prey.
• Don’t post personal information such as home address, phone number or the type of care you drive. There are people out there that will use this information for identity theft or burglary.
• Don’t share your social network site’s passwords with your boyfriend or girlfriend. You never know if the relationship is going to go south and your personal pictures are going to end up sent out for everyone to see and read.
• This is one that people don’t think too much about but be careful how much financial information you share. It’s easy to get sucked into conversations about investments, realestate or banking. Remember all this information is out there for anyone to see.

If you would like to learn more about how to use Twitter then consider taking my 5 day mini course on How To Use Twitter And Grow Your Business. Fill in your name and email address below and lets get started.

Do you have other examples? I’d love to hear your thoughts and comments.

All the best,