Most Popular Google Searches -- Part 2

In January we posted a reference to Google's Zeitgeist - a listing of the previous year's most popular Google searches.

This posting received a lot of search traffic so we decided it was time to add another tidbit.

Back By Popular Demand - Part 2!

It appears that Google has the kinks worked out of their new Google Hot Trends tool. This tool shows you the top 100 most searched terms in the Google search engine. You can even change the date to look at specific days - back to May 15, 2007.

Your Mileage May Vary

I don't know how useful this information is to the general public. I honestly doubt some of the keywords that it displays, such as this beauty ranked #65 on May15, 2007 -

"what clinton aide once felt compelled to explain that “i talked to the white house” meant he talked to some people and not to the building".

We look at the content for trends but I find it very hard to believe that phrase was among the top 100 for the day.

Ken Spends Time With Babe Winkelman!

I had the chance of a lifetime this week when prominent Rochester Goose Guide and friend, Dean Tlougan, invited me to hunt with his group in De Smet, SD. Tlougan is the owner of Premier Flight Guide Service out of Rochester, MN.

Tlougan's guides were charged with taking Babe Winkelman to South Dakota to film a program about Snow Geese.

Snow Geese

Snow Geese are heavily over-populated in Canada and they are destroying large areas of the tundra. Spring hunting is encouraged as wildlife biologists attempt to lower the population.




A Rare Chance To Meet A Celebrity

I am an avid hunter and I grew up watching all the hunting and fishing shows on TV. I especially like the format by Babe Winkelman and company.

Winkelman's programs are much more about conservation and enjoying the outdoors with your family versus the classic "kill" shows on cable TV. His wife Kris is often present in his shows, as is his 11-year-old daughter Karlee.

The Winkelmans really seem to be having fun enjoying the outdoors.

Truth In Advertising

The Winkelmans are downright good people. They have fun and genuinely enjoy what they do.

Over 3 days we hunted hard, ate a lot of junk food and we had a lot to fun. We tried hard but we didn't have an affect on the population of snow geese.

Nate and James, our camera crew, filmed a great deal and they hopefully have enough to make a show of our adventure!

Kudos

Great kudos to Dean Tlougan and his staff at Premier Flight for a great weekend.

Thanks to the developers of Reel Wings and Flagman decoys for giving us the opportunity to field test their latest products. Maybe they can send Ken some more products to "test"!!!

And a special note to Kris and Karlee Winkelman. I can't believe they put up with the weather, boredom, and locker-room talk for 3 days. They complained less than Nate the cameraman!

Most Popular Google Searches

Each year we Internet Marketing types take a break after New Year's to blog about some of our findings from the previous year. A "2007 post-game show" as it were.

No single organization provides us with more Post-game fodder than Google and Google's 2007 Zeitgeist is no exception. What better way to decipher the past year than through the keywords entered into the largest search tool in history?

Our favorite tidbits from 2007:

1. Top "How To" questions - "What is Love" search volume eclipsed "How to Kiss".
   
   
2. "How to Levitate" makes the list! If Google can define love then it can teach you to levitate also...
   
   
3. Viral marketing works - Transformers is a top keyword for 2007. Producers created stunning visuals, enticing commercials and a viral marketing tactic for their target audience. They created a web interface where visitors could submit a web form and servers would deliver a customized message to a cell phone, directly from Optimus Prime. The interface has been off their site for over a month and people are still searching for the form.
   
   
4. Kids are in charge - Hannah Montana search volume makes the Rolling Stones tour look like it is - over...
   
   
5. The iPhone - The iPhone is everywhere.
   

Happy New Year from all of us at First Scribe!

Craig Davis Joins First Scribe

We are happy to announce the arrival of Craig Davis as our newest member to the First Scribe team. Craig is a welcome addition to the web development and search engine optimization teams.

Craig joins us from the mountains of Colorado after spending 4.5 years with Blizzard Internet Marketing.

A lot of people say they know search engine optimization when they really do not. Therefore it's a relief for us when we can find someone who is actually experienced in SEO. Craig is one of those people.

How do we know? Our Lead SEO, Ken Kralick, was the manager who hired Craig to work for Blizzard Internet in 2003. We heard the news that Craig was no longer at Blizzard and moved quickly to add him to our team.

Craig's Experience

Craig received a certificate in Computer Information Systems from Regis College and spent 15 years working for IBM as an Application Programmer on LEASCALC, a program used to calculate hardware and software lease options and rates.

Five years ago he went back to school to learn web design and he's been expanding ever since.

He started working in the Design Department at Blizzard in 2003. He worked in design, development and optimization before being promoted to positions in management and marketing in 2005.

He really enjoys the web world because it is a blend of different skills - creativity, attention to detail, customer service and support, and technical knowledge - and not just writing code, as he did with IBM.

Welcome aboard Craig!

First Scribe is Growing!

We trust you have noticed some new names and faces at First Scribe this year.

John Keller joined us back in September.

John has various degrees and certificates in business and web development from St. Cloud State, MCAD and Brown College. His skills have quickly been put to use in the area of Internet Marketing for First Scribe.

John will be updating and optimizing websites, submitting directory submissions and performing other Search Engine Marketing duties as his repertoire expands.

John spent 7 years working for Target corporate performing various business functions. Our small company is a big change in philosophy from Target Corp. but John's fitting in nicely.

Thanks to all of our clients for making 2007 a very busy year for us. We look forward to an exciting year in 2008!

First Scribe Holiday Closure Information

First Scribe will be closed in observance of the holidays on the following dates:

• Monday, December 24th
• Tuesday, December 25th
• Tuesday, January 1st

Please also be aware that you should expect limited services on Wednesday, December 26th and Monday, December 31st.

Servers are monitored 24/7, regardless of office closures. For our VIP clients, First Scribe Support will operate on emergency weekend services. If you should have a hosting emergency, please contact the technical support staff via the contact information listed in your hosting agreement.

All non-emergency calls left at 952-915-1600 will be returned on the next business day.

Happy Holidays from the staff at First Scribe!

Christmas Sales Building - Will It Be Enough?

Cyber Monday proved to be the start of a high-traffic week with lackluster conversions for our clients. Thanksgiving kicked off a flurry of excited shopping but it appears American wallets are pinched and shoppers are looking for discounts.

The Official Word On The Street

Internet research company comScore Inc. reported this week that total online spending from Nov. 1 - Dec. 7 has reached more than $18 billion, up 18 percent from the same period a year ago.

"It was a terrific kick-start to December, but we expect the upcoming week to be the heaviest online spending week of the holiday season as the procrastinators and late-season deal-seekers come out in earnest," comScore Chairman Gian Fulgoni said in a written statement.

Our Numbers Are Growing

We are seeing online Click Through Rates and Sales Conversion numbers increasing as we approach Christmas. The Monday nearest Dec. 15th generally proves to be the peak of online shopping. The 18th should prove the peak of Christmas shopping in 2007.

Trim The Fat

As we stated in our last post, now is the time to trim the fat from your marketing campaigns. You should have enough data in your PPC campaigns to know what is working and what is not. Cut anything that isn't working - put the money where the buyers are.

Use your traffic data to turn any "Red" marketing efforts into the "Black".

Marketing Tip:

Think Accessories - 2007 budgets are tight so make sure you're selling pushing your accessories and add-ons.

Writing Effective PPC Ad Copy at Christmas

Christmas season is the time for buying online but you need to be smart about your tactics. For online retail sites, traffic is often 50% higher this time of year than any other time. If you aren't careful, your traffic (and ad spend) will raise significantly but it may not lead to sales.

Branding Issues

We often run PPC ads for vanity search terms throughout the year for branding purposes. This practice will often lose effectiveness *for product manufacturers* around this time of year.

Why?

It's difficult to say exactly but I can tell you one thing - we've noticed traffic on the terms go up sharply and the sales rarely follow. ROI drops sharply.

Remember, you don't need to spend PPC money on branding *if* you are #1 on your name in organic listings.


Reconcile Your Data

Example: You may drive more traffic and eventually sell more men's product than women's by a good margin.

Are men buying the men's product? Are you sure?

Christmas time in the fashion industry tends to show women searching men's terms and buying men's product.

So, why do we care? Ad copy, ad copy, ad copy...

Women shoppers have different hot buttons versus men. You need to check the invoices against your traffic and PPC data. Then, write multiple ads around all the hot buttons and refine it every day.

iPhone price drop highlights obsolescence

The "neatest, niftiest, coolest gadget ever" that you purchased for $499 less than three months ago is no longer available. That's right, this morning Apple announced that the 4gig iPhone is no longer available and they are slashing the price of the 8gig version from $599 to $399.


Obsolete already?

There are too many variables in the question around "how long does it take a computer to be obsolete?" For most people a computer is never completely useless. You can still type a report on a 286 processor from 1990 but you'll have a tough time finding a printer with 17-year-old drivers.

Although you can still use your mid-range, 2005 Dell computer for many applications, there is a measurable gain in productivity by moving to the same grade produced in 2007.

A few points:

• In 2003 the state of Texas reported that they plan for a 4-5 year desktop computer life cycle. In 2007, 2-3 years is a common report.
• By the time you see a computer advertised at a retailer, the next generation is already in test.
• In 1990 the top of the line IBM PCs ran on an Intel 80386 processor clocked at 4.77MHz, 8-bit I/O buses. In 2007 a mid-range cell phone has many times more processing power.
• According to a Time Magazine article, an outdated computer is worth roughly $6 in recycled raw materials.
• Those annoying animated gifs were all the rage in 2003.

Can a pack mentality help your SEO?

In the wild a pack of wolves thrives from a hierarchy determined by strength and attitude. Not always will the strongest, biggest wolf be the alpha dog. Attitude plays a huge role in your pack rank. When working with an outside client it’s essential to find your role within the “pack.”

Finding the Leader

With most small clients the person in charge of the web site is the owner of the business, with larger clients it could be the president of the company, a marketing manager, an IT manager, or perhaps the web site designer. It’s critical to find out who makes the decisions and who you need to contact to make sure your SEO efforts are productive for the client while still keeping them happy.

Joining the Pack

The use of “we” can be a large part of joining your clients team. Most of the time clients are looking for sales or contacts from the web site. One way to make your client feel more comfortable is to talk like you’re all one team. For ex:

“When we get a contact from the site, what are we going to do with that information?”

With one simple sentence you’ve made your stance clear to your client. I’m part of your team when it comes to the web site, and it’s in all of our best interest to make sure we’re on the same page.

Your Role in the Pack

With some clients you are the alpha dog, you make all the calls on the web site. Typically these clients assume you know best so they just expect an update on what you’re trying to do. With larger clients things aren’t always this simple. There may be a few different sections of the company who want something different from the web site. It’s your job to make sure they know that you only want what’s best for the site.

As an example, Web Designers and SEO folks will frequently disagree with what’s best for a site. Both sides will have to give up something to make a happy medium.

A Large Pack

With larger clients it’s hard to make everyone in the room happy. As much as you might know about SEO or SEM it might not matter to some clients. They still have their comfort zone and might not like some of the changes you have in mind. You need to be clear that there are some things you might be willing to give up in order to get some of your other changes through the pipeline.

If you get traffic levels up, and conversion rates at an acceptable level you’ll be off to a great start in keeping your clients happy.

First Scribe Renovates Offices

First Scribe has outgrown their current office configuration so we're renovating to regain some space.

Cubicles will be added, the reception area will be configured and a new employee office will be built by Brownsworth office furniture services of Minneapolis. All of the work should be done over the weekend of July 7 & 8 with little interruption to First Scribe activities.