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Here's a common mistake: make something amazing and figure that people will beat a path to your door.
Or go to a retailer or a sales rep or a middleman and expect that they will offer your product or service to their customers and let you keep most of the profit.
The beaten path isn't something that happens to you, it's something you build. It's not something convenient, it is, in fact, the primary asset of your organization.
Attention and trust are worth more than just about anything else, because they make it likely you have a chance to tell your story, which might resonate, which then leads to the beaten path. It's the last step, not the first..
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Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis |
Google Insiders Bail Prior to Stock Plunge Posted: 19 Oct 2012 12:16 PM PDT There is nothing like inside information, provided you are on the inside. But heaven forbid should you be on the outside and act on a tip as did Martha Stewart. Insider Monkey reports Google Inc. (GOOG): Insiders Sold $280M Prior to Crash Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) chairman Eric Schmidt was very active in late September, as he executed 226 transactions in just three days from Sept. 24 to 26, selling off more than 211,000 shares at per-share prices between $742 and $764 per share. He came away with about $158 million.Notable Sergey Brin Transactions It's one thing to sell a few shares routinely, it's another thing to dump a load right before the plunge. Here is an edited screen shot of some Google transactions of co-founder Sergey Brin. Congratulations to Board Member Doerr Congratulations to board member John Doerr who according to Yahoo!Finance Inside Sales acquired 12,285 shares on September 3 for the bargain basement price of $0, and sold every one of them on the same day, netting a cool $8,251,000. On September 30, Doerr received 10,966 shares, also for the bargain basement price of $0, and sold every one of them on the same day as well, netting another $8,343,000. $16+ million in free shares dumped in a month, right near the top, is not a bad month, but Sergey Brin did far better. On October 1, Sergey had a spectacular day, receiving 83,334 shares for the bargain basement price of $0, dumping every one of them for $750.82 to $765.18 per share, for a whopping net total of $63,167,000. Happenstance? Inside Information? Or do insiders simply get free shares and dump them as soon as they can? Mike "Mish" Shedlock http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com "Wine Country" Economic Conference Hosted By Mish Click on Image to Learn More Mike "Mish" Shedlock is a registered investment advisor representative for SitkaPacific Capital Management. Sitka Pacific is an asset management firm whose goal is strong performance and low volatility, regardless of market direction. Visit http://www.sitkapacific.com/account_management.html to learn more about wealth management and capital preservation strategies of Sitka Pacific. |
Posted: 19 Oct 2012 09:30 AM PDT The AME, a Spanish military organization says in an interview on Dutch TV "in the event of tampering or separatism" the military should act. Via Google Translate, please consider military association calls for declaring a "state of war" against Catalunya. Barcelona (Editorial). - The Association of Spanish soldiers returned to the charge. The AME explained in an interview with Dutch television Nieuwsur that, in his opinion, "in the event of tampering or separatism" should be declared "a state of war, state of emergency or a state of siege" in Catalunya.Expect More Extremism As Spain sinks further into the abyss, expect more cries from separatists, not less. As happened in Greece (but so far to a much less extreme in Spain), citizens have shifted well away from the center to far left or far right groups. Everyone, everywhere is Fed up with austerity (which to this point has primarily focused on tax hikes). Tax hikes have been an enormous mistake.What's really needed is work rule reform and less government. Unfortunately, badly-needed reforms have been put off for so long that increased violence is highly likely in Greece, in Spain, in Portugal, and in Italy, should such reforms finally be implemented. Mike "Mish" Shedlock http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com Mike "Mish" Shedlock is a registered investment advisor representative for SitkaPacific Capital Management. Sitka Pacific is an asset management firm whose goal is strong performance and low volatility, regardless of market direction. Visit http://www.sitkapacific.com/account_management.html to learn more about wealth management and capital preservation strategies of Sitka Pacific. |
Problem is Demand: First IBM, then Intel, now Google Posted: 18 Oct 2012 11:56 PM PDT Three technology bellwethers missed income or revenue expectations in the past few days. Let's take a quick look at IBM (IBM), Intel (INTC), and Google (GOOG). IBM TechCrunch reports IBM Q3 Earnings Mostly In Line With Expectations IBM just released its Q3 2012 financials. Big Blue's GAAP earnings came in at $3.8 billion, up 3% from the last quarter. Non-GAAP earnings were $4.2 billion. Overall, the company reported revenue of $24.7 billion, down from $25.8 billion in Q2.Google On Thursday, Google accidentally posted incomplete earnings four hours early and its shares were halted following a huge plunge. Yahoo!Finance has the details in Google Shares Slammed! Company Misses Estimates in Premature Earnings Release. Shares of Google (GOOG) are getting taken behind the woodshed this afternoon after the company's third quarter earnings results were released about four hours earlier than expected. In what is being called an "unfinished earnings release" Google reported earnings of $9.03 per share on revenues of $11.3 billion. The Street had been expecting EPS of $10.65 on revenues of $11.8 billion.Intel In September Intel warned third quarter revenue would be a billion dollars less than expected. That prior warning accounts for the New York Times headline on October 16: In a Slow Market, Intel Exceeds Lowered Expectations. Intel crossed an earnings bar it lowered for itself last month, but the problems plaguing its main market for semiconductors — personal computers — seemed no closer to ending.Problem is Demand Yes indeed, the problem is demand, and also customers, jobs, part-time jobs, declining real wages, a fiscal cliff, Europe, China, a global recession, and shares priced well beyond perfection. The only counterbalancing force is the Fed. Moreover, and in spite of what everyone seems to think, the Fed is not really in control of much of anything. How much longer shares can defy gravity remains to be seen. Mike "Mish" Shedlock http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com "Wine Country" Economic Conference Hosted By Mish Click on Image to Learn More Mike "Mish" Shedlock is a registered investment advisor representative for SitkaPacific Capital Management. Sitka Pacific is an asset management firm whose goal is strong performance and low volatility, regardless of market direction. Visit http://www.sitkapacific.com/account_management.html to learn more about wealth management and capital preservation strategies of Sitka Pacific. |
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Damn Cool Pics |
Zombie Survival Gear [infographic] Posted: 19 Oct 2012 10:26 AM PDT Zombie outbreaks happen. Gear up with REI to avoid getting eaten by moaning masses of undead cannibals. This infographic provides an overview of the 13 essential pieces of equipment you'll need and provides step-by-step illustrations demonstrating critical zombie survival skills. Click on Image to Enlarge. Via REI |
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The Death of Link Building and the Rebirth of Link Earning - Whiteboard Friday |
The Death of Link Building and the Rebirth of Link Earning - Whiteboard Friday Posted: 18 Oct 2012 07:59 PM PDT Posted by randfish We've all known someone who got hit by Google's algo updates. Whether you've personally been affected or you know someone who has, it's not fun to bounce back from and can can impact your SEO efforts if not addressed appropriately This week, Rand discusses the egress of old link building practices and the ingress of new (old) link earning strategies that will help your site stay relevant in the SERPs and drive your traffic with a better user experience. Video Transcription
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The Anatomy of Tomorrow's Inbound Marketing Strategy Today Posted: 18 Oct 2012 04:35 AM PDT Posted by Slingshot SEO This post was originally in YouMoz, and was promoted to the main blog because it provides great value and interest to our community. The author's views are entirely his or her own and may not reflect the views of SEOmoz, Inc. There are many schools of thought and methodologies defining what inbound marketing should look like. Most of them position content marketing, social media marketing and SEO as the core of inbound marketing. From a 20,000-foot view, this has definite merit. However, with the right technology, enough content, well-developed personae and a good understanding of the brand, inbound marketing strategy can be much more stratified and robust. The anatomy of a robust inbound marketing campaign has similarities to the human spine. The human spine has five ordered sections – cervical, thoracic, lumbar, sacrum and coccyx – all of which are required to be in working order to live a pain-free, normal and productive life. An inbound marketing strategy has five ordered sections, too – owned and earned media, landing pages, lead nurturing, sales interaction and retention. And all of them are required to widen the sales funnel, create acceleration through it and to optimize Marketing’s impact on revenue. If there’s a problem with any of the sections Marketing’s impact on revenue will not be optimized and the inbound campaign will be in poor health. Owned and Earned Media This is the section that most marketers equate with inbound marketing – publish lots of owned and earned blog posts and articles frequently, organically distribute them through social media and watch Google drive traffic from its SERPs. This process produces lots of benefits, but without a strategy for the other sections it will be difficult to show real ROI. Purpose: Generate traffic, educate prospects, grow brand, produce thought leadership, build community, produce outside advocates, reduce churn Tip: Publish blog posts with frequency and consistency. According to Kuno Creative’s Content Marketing Manifesto, publishing five to ten posts per week led to a 633% increase in leads versus just two to three posts per week. Landing Pages This is a critical aspect of an inbound marketing campaign. Having lots of good free content is great, but morally bribing website visitors for their email and IP address using gated content is just as important. Once this information is captured, the visitor is no longer anonymous and their content consumption can be tracked and scored. It also allows for future email communication. Purpose: Capture email and IP addresses Tip: Analyze and value the inbound and outbound marketing channels that led to conversion with attribution modeling. Use this data to adjust tactics in the first section. Tip: Deploy A/B or multivariate testing to optimize call to action click-through rates and landing page conversions. Lead Nurturing With email addresses captured and other attributes known (other form fields, website behavior, social media profiles, IP address, etc.) lead nurturing, segmentation and scoring can begin. Delivering the right content on the correct channel at the best time separates the wheat from the chaff and empowers the wheat to organically identify themselves as sales qualified leads over time. It also creates an efficient method for identifying and removing unqualified leads from the funnel. Purpose: Generate more sales qualified leads faster (widens the sales funnel while creating acceleration through it). Tip: If lead nurturing is a new or unrefined tactic access Eloqua’s Lead Nurturing Toolkit for tactical refinement. Sales Interaction Marketing should only deliver leads that are worthy of a sales person’s time. Analyzing and adjusting lead score criteria over time is critical to ensure this happens. However, just as critical is the open flow of communication and lead feedback between Marketing and Sales. If the inbound marketing strategy is effective, Sales should find their prospects to be highly educated, qualified and ready to do business. Purpose: Efficiently generate customers Tip: Connect marketing automation tools with a CRM to help facilitate closed-loop marketing and open communication between Sales and Marketing. Retention A big portion of the retention initiative is accomplished by producing copious amounts of earned and owned media, building passionate communities in social media and being highly visible online. These are all activities that should already be deployed if the inbound marketing campaign is healthy. In addition, Marketing can produce and deliver advanced content created specifically for current customers. This content can be in the form of surveys, guides, cheat sheets, training videos, process infographics, etc. However, this can all be for not if deliverables aren’t fulfilled and expectations aren’t met or exceeded. Purpose: Reduce churn Tip: Marketers should keep open communication with fulfillment and account management in order to feel the pulse of current customers. This can help identify possible future churn to target with content before it’s too late. In high school, anatomy class was a place for students to giggle about the curriculum. However, understanding and implementing the entire inbound anatomy presented above is no laughing matter. In today’s ultra-competitive environment getting inbound right can mean the difference between business success and mediocrity. Getting it right tomorrow may mean the difference between business success and failure. About the Author: Chad H. Pollitt is Director of Marketing at Slingshot SEO. Since 2002, he has played an integral role in designing, developing, deploying, executing and tracking robust web marketing strategies for hundreds of companies and organizations and is an internet marketing expert. He holds a BS in Entrepreneurship from the Indiana University Kelley School of Business, an Internet Marketing Masters Certification from the University of San Francisco's prestigious School of Business and Management and is a Certified HubSpot Partner. Sign up for The Moz Top 10, a semimonthly mailer updating you on the top ten hottest pieces of SEO news, tips, and rad links uncovered by the Moz team. Think of it as your exclusive digest of stuff you don't have time to hunt down but want to read! |
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