Luke Brown Marketing Blog

Archive for July, 2009

If you own a business, whether online or off, long working hours are assumed to go with the territory.  If you believe that, guess what? You probably WILL be working long hours.

One of the most difficult transitions to make is from employee to business owner. As a business owner, your time is at a premium. Spending it – no, make that investing it – wisely will be one of the most valuable skills you can learn.

I hate the term time management. It suggests people can manage time. HA! Nobody can manage time, only events and people.

So, how do we manage, for example, social media? Whether social media can generate money for most people most of the time is still up for debate.

It’s almost mandatory to be involved in social media at this time. Many people say it’s too time consuming. Unless it’s done systematically, that’s true. So here’s a quick system to save you time when performing social media.

1. Limit your involvement to a maximum of 5 sites.
2. Pick relevant sites. Knowem.com lists 120 sites and a brief description of the site. Pick those best for you and your company.
3. Use the same name. Knowem.com will analyze all 120 sites and let you know if your desired name is available at the sites you want.
4. Block out social media time. Use your calendar for 1 hour daily or two 1/2 hour sessions.
5. Be systematic. A common daily system is 5 LinkedIn posts, 5 Facebook posts, 10 Twitter tweets, follow 50 people on Twitter, make 25 Facebook friends, upload one video and write one article.

Okay, here’s the challenge. Do this daily for one month. You should see a huge increase in email optins, list subscribers, etc. Then, it’s time to organize your list and make sales.

A ‘Google Slap’ is an derogatory term used by AdWords (pay per click) advertisers to complain about a punitive Google action. Those whose accounts have been punished by Google in this manner tend to whine the louest.  The most common reason is because the keywords for a web page are not relevant to a search query.

Each time Google makes an announcement about a change in its rules and some advertisers lose business, there is considerable whining. This spoiled brat mentality isn’t just related to thousands of anonymous websites, it’s even practiced by some of the top marketers of popular websites.

BUT NOT ME! I ain’t gonna whine about it! In most ways, I like it. It gives the legitimate marketer and the legitimiate business a more level playing field.

The latest change (I refuse to call it the Google Slap. That’s I’m-a-victim mentality which has no place in the business world) took place July 20, 2009. Most affected marketers knew it was coming but ignored it.

As early as April 24, 2009, there were warning signs of the new changes, which were scheduled for May. It’s not as if those affected had no warning. What kinds of sites were affected?

It was the usual list of crap sites, most offering little in value:

One page sites: These landing page sites are the equivilent of direct mail, only worse. Direct mail, due to postage costs, requires a keen marketing awareness. How many one page sites can say the same?

MLM (Multi-Level Marketing) and Get Rich Quick sites: Cheesy is an understatement for a substantial majority of these types of sites.

Email for a reward sites: Just give them your email address and you’ll get a new iPod or laptop. Yeah, that’s a trustworthy site.

Fake product review sites: Many of these look legit but are filled with affiliate links. The Better Business Bureau staff could be doubled and still not have enough time for these clowns.

Affiliate marketer sites: Google wants sites from only the main advertisers, not the affiliates. Affiliates can run ads on full content sites. It’s the same concept as getting rid of half the billboards in town.

And most other lousy websites…

It doesn’t sound like many people are crying tears of sadness at the demise of these schlock sites (except the crybabies who own and manage them). The ‘anything goes’ mentality of the internet has to evolve sooner or later. Google has far too much money to lose if people start to abandon its search engine in favor of Yahoo! or Microsoft’s new Bing.

Is it just a coincidence that the timing of this was planned just before Bing went live? Google’s changes this time were far more extensive than usual. Don’t kid yourself, folks. Google has gone corporate and is protecting its turf. And you’re surprised?