Cup of Joe: Kick It Up a Notch & Take It Offline!
So you got your client on the front page of Digg. With your seo skills you pushed them to the top of the rankings for all their key terms. You have optimized their PPC campaigns and have drastically improved their ROI.
You are a rock star and everyone knows it!
But the question now is, what’s left? Don’t get me wrong there is never an end to internet marketing, it’s always an ongoing process. But with all of your mad skills are you missing something? There’s got to be something that you don’t know but if you did, it would drastically improve your services. What is this one thing that I am talking about? Public Relations.
Most internet marketers have no history in public relations. For some really weird reason PR and internet marketing (IM) have always kinda existed in separate worlds. Now don’t get me wrong, there are some really amazing agencies out there that do an awesome job at combining the two. But quite honestly the rule tends to be PR people and IM people rarely mix. Most of the home grown IM professionals started out through doing business online, few went from a career in PR to IM.
So you are probably thinking, Why the heck do I need to understand PR? How is PR going to help with all of the things I have to do? Offline media exposure can <a href="http://www.onlineprbook.com/why-old-school-pr-is-great-for-seo/”>dramatically impact your online efforts. TV and newspaper mentions can help build a strong brand and drive traffic to your web properties. Offline media exposure can shift ideas and opinions that can favor your companies agenda. You can even build a better reputation offline to counter an online reputation crisis.
So what kind of skills does a PR guru have?
- Learn to write a killer press release.
- Learn how to successfully pitch a story to local media outlets.
- Build lasting and meaningful relationships with producers and writers.
- Oh, and um most importantly, learn how to communicate offline…..seriously, some of you IM gurus are really bad face to face communicators.
If you can master all of the above and be open to learning more, then you are on your way to becoming a PR guru! So try getting out from behind that keyboard and making your clients shine offline!
Admitting Role In Google Anti-Trust Complaints Microsoft Complains Of Google “Lock In”
Responding to Google’s aggressive assertion that Microsoft is behind many of the anti-trust complaints that have been leveled against Google in the recent past, Microsoft in a blog post by Vice President and Deputy General Counsel Dave Heiner essentially says “get over it.”
Google claimed that Microsoft was directly or indirectly responsible for the anti-trust complaints [...]
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Even Google Employees Get Delisted
We all know someone or seen someone who’s gotten kicked out of Google SERPs. It seems like a significant proportion of these people (or at least just the vocal ones) feel this exclusion is as personal as it was in seventh grade—Susan G. didn’t like you, so she wouldn’t let you hang out with their group, and it must be the same thing with Google, right?
Tell that to the Google employee who recently realized his site had been delisted. Jason Morrison of Google Australia had his personal site removed from the index. But don’t worry, he’s not spamming or hiding keywords on a background—he just exceeded the bandwidth quota he’d set for his blog, and the server errors made Google think the site had been shut down.
In the spirit of Googly openness, Jason shares not only what was wrong, but how he discovered it through Webmaster Tools, and how he fixed it.
So the next time someone complains to you about Google being out to get them, maybe you can tell them about Jason’s case. Naturally, as TechDirt notes, this case doesn’t mean that Google never targets specific sites, but it is at least one more piece of evidence that most Google penalties are handled algorithmically.
Or maybe you should just confirm their suspicions. With their paranoia, they probably need that abuse. 
What do you think?
A Third of Journalists Still Not Using Social Media
The Society For New Communications Research has come out with a new study on journalists’ use of social media—and it’s not as optimistic (or maybe realistic) as another study published this month. In a survey of 300+ journalists, the second annual Middleberg/SNCR Survey of Media in the Wired World (PDF executive summary) found that most of them did use social media—but a significant minority didn’t. However, in this study, journalists did admit that social media was important.
Earlier this month, Cision and Don Bates of GWU found that 89% of journalists source stories from blogs. The Middleberg/SNCR study found that nearly 70% of journalists surveyed are using social networking sites, and 66% are reading blogs.
(The number of journalists using social networking sites constitutes a “28% increase since the results of the 2008 Survey of Media in the Wired World were released,” but I’m not sure if they mean 28% [meaning it was ~55% in 2008] or 28 percentage points [meaning it was around 40% in 2008].)
Twitter and other microblogging sites and tools are at 48%, a 25% increase since 2008, while online video is up to 48%. 25% are listening to podcasts.
However, these journalists were (I choose to believe) more honest than the ones surveyed by GWU. The last study showed that only 15% of journalists think social media is “important” and 40% think it’s “somewhat important.” This study indicated that “Nearly 80% of journalists surveyed believe that bloggers have become important opinion-shapers in recent years” and “91% of journalists surveyed agree that new media and communications tools and technologies are enhancing journalism to some extent.”
What do you think? Which of these “really” reflects how journalists feel about social media?
China Says Google as Vital as Electricity…This Just In, Google Becomes Electric Utility
Not since chocolate and peanut butter have two things ever meant to go together as much as these two stories.
First, we have researchers in China opining that they can’t conduct their research without Google:
“Research without Google would be like life without electricity,” says Xiong Zhenqin, an ecologist at Nanjing Agricultural University in Jiangsu province.
In fact a study reveals…
More than 80% use the search engine to find academic papers; close to 60% use it to get information about scientific discoveries or other scientists’ research programmes; and one-third use it to find science-policy and funding news…84% of the scientists who responded to Nature’s survey say that losing Google would “somewhat or significantly” hamper their research
Maybe these scientists shouldn’t teach their students how to hack into US networks then, should they? 
OK, story number two ties into this magically.
Google finally won approval…to be an electric utility…With their new approval to be a utility, Google could be a smart grid / smart charge service provider.
If I had a late night news show on the Comedy Channel, I’d so enjoy discussing the epic timing of these two stories! 
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Google Gets EU’s Attention Again for Street View Images
If Google hasn’t gotten the message by now then they never will. The European Union has a bee in its bonnet about all things Google. It almost feels like there is an issue du jour as of late. The threat of anti-trust inquiries is the latest to surface out of the regulatory body and just to show that they are paying attention to everything Google does there is some concern over the Google’s Street View again.
The troubles are concerning how long Google keeps raw images in storage. These are the original photos taken that are then altered by blurring any potentially sensitive information like faces and license plate numbers. After this process is done then the photo is put into the Street View system. It’s how long the original images are kept that has the EU concerned. Yahoo! Finance reports
European Union data privacy regulators are telling Google Inc. to warn people before it sends cameras out into cities to take pictures for its Street View maps, adding to the company’s legal worries in Europe.
Google should shorten the time it keeps the original photos from one year to six months, regulators also said in a letter to the company obtained by The Associated Press on Thursday.
In a statement, Google said its need to retain Street View images for one year is “legitimate and justified.”
(I wonder if the people over at Yahoo don’t giggle a bit when they put these stories up but I digress.)
Google has had a rough time with this service in Europe since its inception with Greece demanding they halt the picture taking, German authorities forcing the company to remove images from those who request it and the pitchfork and torch crowd in an English village that attempted to stop the Google Street View car from getting to its appointed rounds.
So it appears that the EU has decided that Google may indeed be evil. While these initial salvos look like shots over the bow this could be laying the groundwork for bigger attacks.
What is your reaction to putting Google under the microscope? Is it warranted? Is it about time? As these events keep happening there will likely more well defined pro v. anti Google camps. Where are you setting up your tent?
You Don’t Have to be Gullible to Work at the BBC, but it Helps!
The UK’s Guardian newspaper demonstrates that intelligence goes out the window, once someone gets drawn in to Twitter.
Apparently banks, politicians, and even journalists are falling for the "this you??" phishing scam. One unfortunate BBC correspondent is apparently blissfully unaware that he is a victim, as you can still find this tweet on his Twitter stream:
And you thought the Brits weren’t great lovers! 
Anyway, so you don’t fall for the same scam, this video explains what to be on the look out for…
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Behavioral Targeting Might Become A Target Itself
As marketers, the Holy Grail is to put the right message in front of the right person at the right time so that they will do what is right: buy something. It’s a simple enough idea and many feel that we are well on our way to getting to that point with the use of behavioral targeting (BT). While from the marketers’ point of view this sounds all well and good there is a rising tide of concern that this practice will hit the wall soon over the word that makes every Internet marketer shiver: privacy.
MediaPost reports from the OMMA Behavioral conference yesterday that this is not going unnoticed by its practitioners.
Speaking at the OMMA Behavioral conference in New York, Adam Kasper, director of digital media at Media Contacts, warned that a “watershed moment” is coming for behavioral targeting when consumers gain greater awareness of the extent to which their online activity can be tracked and targeted, triggering a backlash.
“It’s the elephant in the room, and there’s going to be a point where consumers get it and there’s going to be a big public outcry,” said Kasper. For the most part, people don’t read privacy terms and conditions when they’re surfing the Web, so they’re not typically focused on the issue.
More and more I get the feeling that the industry as a whole is trying so hard to hold back what it really does to get information on people. Why? Because they know that when what happens with people’s data is brought into the light many people will feel that their privacy is being violated through a campaign of check boxes about fine print that no one truly reads or understands if they do read it. The industry sounds like a bunch of used car salesmen saying “Oh, don’t worry! She runs great and if you just sign here she’ll be yours and you’ll have NO problems! (wink, wink, nod, nod). They say this as they whisper to each other that they can’t believe what they are getting away with.
This “secret” isn’t likely to stay that way for much longer. Canada and the European Union appear hell bent on making sure that the Internet is safe for all and this practice will be targeted eventually. How wouldn’t it with people in the know talking like this
Melissa Adams, executive media director at Organic, noted that clients are already asking more questions about behavioral targeting even as they are drawn to its promise of more effective Web campaigns. “Clients are more interested in the details of where data is coming from than in the past,” she said.
Asked about whether that was a good sign, Adams said, “it’s positive if we can educate clients about the anonymity of it all and how it’s used to their benefit, but it’s a big bridge to cross to get them to understand there are safeguards in place.”
When you are asked at a conference if revealing the truth is a “good sign” that makes one wonder for sure what is really going on. And if that bridge referred to is big then it means that the industry’s not exactly rock solid with the whole anonymity and safety thing. As a result the industry is bracing itself for an event when someone makes a major privacy gaffe and the jig is up.
One way that the folks in this field think they can put fears to rest about data safety and people being truly aware of how they are tracked online is to set up a third party group to monitor the whole situation.
The panel more broadly agreed on the need for some type of third-party verification to vet the quality and sourcing of data supplied to agencies by outside technology vendors. That’s especially true as digital agencies are bombarded with pitches from myriad data providers and BT firms that all make similar promises about what their platforms can deliver.
If history has shown us anything it’s that when an industry talks about policing itself it is trying to do something to put regulatory suspicions to rest. The ability to say that “We’re watching the store and we promise to behave” (pun intended) is often enough to keep stronger rules and regulations from bigger groups (the government) from going on the books.
My suggestion for this industry is to act fast because once your elephant is out the stampede to figure out what is really going on might stop you dead in your tracks.
Google’s Street View Finds More Trouble In Europe
In a letter earlier this month, members of the European Union’s data protection group urged Google to make changes to its Street View mapping/photo service and warned that Google might be breaking EU laws.
According to Bloomberg News, the letter from the Article 29 Data Protection Working Party asks Google to store unblurred Street View images [...]
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Yes, More Are Seeing A New Google Look-And-Feel
We’re getting more and more reports from readers who are seeing a “new” Google look-and-feel for its search results. This is a three column design that Google’s actually been testing for some time. That testing appears to be accelerating.
Google Tackles Its “UI Jazz” Problem, Tests Streamlining Search Options Feature is our story from [...]
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