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marți, 22 iulie 2014

The Broken Art of Company Blogging (and the Ignored Metric that Could Save Us All)

Posted: 21 Jul 2014 05:15 PM PDT

Posted by evolvingSEO

The perception of success

The following screenshot is from an actual blog post. Based upon what you see here, would you call it successful?

I think it depends on perception.

The optimist might see this:

590 LinkedIn Shares

(This also might be what you put in reports to your boss) :)

The Twitter and Facebook manager might see this:

70 Tweets and 21 Likes

I see this:

Zero comments

Same blog post; three different measures of success. One looks great, one is OK, and my measure says its a fail.

But which perception is right? Which one would lead to better blogging decisions?

Let's look at it another way. Here's a the blog homepage of a known brand. Most people probably see it like this:

They scan:

pictures
titles
maybe a category or two

You might judge these posts based on whether the topics sound interesting, or if they are using high-quality unique photos.

Here's how I see the same thing;

See the pattern?

Post after post receives no comments.

In fact, here's how many comments this well-known brand received across 50 posts;

TEN! That's an average of 0.2 comments per post. This is a well-known company, but I'm not here to call anyone out; it doesn't matter who it is, because this is the NORM.

Only 10 people felt this blog was worth a few minutes of their time. Only 10 thought the content was good enough to say "thanks." That's a huge problem that no one is talking about.

Blind to blogging failure

A company blog with no comments after years of posting is a fail. But we don't see it. It should look and feel a lot like this to us:

NO one would look at this frankencar and call it a success. Or say "yeah, you should make more just like that!" It borders on absurdity. But when we see company blogs with 50 posts and barely any comments, we don't notice anything wrong.

And therein lies the problem.

The following post with zero comments is not universally accepted as unsuccessful:

We look at vanity metrics like shares, tweets, and likes. None of those actually matter. Most people who just share don't even read the post. And my plan for the rest of this post is to explain why, and what we can do to fix it.

Oh, and hey, does this guy look familiar?

Five business blogging myths

How did this happen? How did we get in such a predicament?

Companies are confused. They have no idea why they even have a blog. Some think they know, but the reasons generally fall into one of these five myths:

Myth 1: Your site needs fresh content

OK, hang on right there. Google once announced something called the freshness update in 2011. This created undo mass hysteria (just like "duplicate content" did, but let's not even get into that).

Basically this idea of freshness spread and permeated into this belief that all websites always had to be cranking out content all. of. the. time. Yikes, was this bad for the internet IMO. Content can be posted as often as you can but without forsaking quality.

Myth 2: The MORE content the better

Thankfully, I think this myth is finally slowly dying. It only took four Pandas to finally wake a lot more people up to that.

Keep this rule in mind: Unused content is dangerous. It's dangerous for your site because Google is looking for this sort of thing with Panda (I believe). People should actually be visiting your content (hopefully over and over again); otherwise it doesn't belong on your site.

Myth 3: Blogs automatically help SEO

And the variation I hear to this is "blog posts are where you throw all of your keywords. Over and over. " WRONG! Blogging does not automatically help SEO. (Granted this myth may have been slightly more true pre-Panda, but still wasn't a good strategy).

The truth today? Blog posts have more of a chance of hurting your SEO than helping. Unless you are willing to put an honest effort in, I would stay away from that assumption.

Myth 4: A blog is just a news feed

Gah! Are you CNN or TechCrunch? There are thousands of perfectly good news sites, in all industries out there. Unless this is your core business model, I'd recommend staying away from a news format in your company blog. Stop reporting and start connecting.

Myth 5: Blogs are for generating leads

I'm going to defer to Tad Chef on this one. Blogs are for getting leads... eventually. But usually not on "first touch."

If you're blogging for any of the above reasons, I assure you, they're only going to get you in trouble.

"Comments per post" can save us

I believe there's a solution to this madness and feel that whether or not your blog is receiving comments should guide your entire blogging effort. Let's call this simple metric "comments per post."

total # of comments / total # of posts = comments per post

You can use this simple number to measure blogging success (or failure). For any company currently running a blog, follow this flow chart to see if you're on track:

Where does your company blog fit in?

I bet if most companies went by this chart, 95% of company blogs would get shut down. Which in my opinion, wouldn't be a bad thing at all.

You see, comments per post can tell you a lot:

Should we continue blogging?
Is our blog "working" and getting traction?
Are we connecting with customers?
Should we step back and reassess our purpose?
Should we stop blogging and remove the blog entirely?

Ideally, you would track comments per post over time as the central success/failure measure of the company blog.

Why "comments per post," you ask? Well, I believe there are exponential benefits to using this as your central blogging metric. Let's take a look at some of the big ones.

Commenting users are engaged

As my two stick figure friends will show you, people who comment are highly engaged;

And conversely, those that do not comment are likely not as engaged;

On-page benefits

They add social proof that other people actually read your content.
When you reply back, it shows the public you listen and care.
Discussions often add extra value to your content.

SEO Benefits

Comments also add more keyword desi....... kidding.
You didn't really think I was going to go there, did you? ;-)

No, seriously, as Rand pointed out in a recent Whiteboard Friday, SEO takes input from all kinds of sources. Most everything will influence rankings in one way or another.

Here's how I believe a company blog positioned to earn comments reaps SEO benefits:

Let's walk through one example: repeat traffic. How does a comment create a higher likelihood of repeat visits?

Simple: notifications!

Here's how it works;

Danny Sullivan writes a post on something I am highly interested in.
It's the most in depth analysis I've seen, so I wanted to ask a question, and add some of my own insight, so I leave a comment.
Disqus emails me when Danny writes back.
Naturally, I want to go back, read the response, and maybe leave a further response.

(This should also give site owners yet another reason to reply to people. It's a pretty certain way to get them to come back. And BTW Pat Flynn has a great resource here specifically about his experience with Disqus.)

Early commenting predicts future success (or failure)

You don't have to wait until you're 6 months into blogging to figure out how well it's going. You can tell after just a handful of posts. That's what I believe anyway. Assuming a younger blog (of say 5-10 posts) is getting at least some traffic, if there's no discussion, there's no traction.

When real people react to your content in a genuine way, you know you are onto something. Using social share numbers as the litmus for "success" is a terrible idea.

Simple

Most of all, I like that this method is simple, and pretty accurate in my opinion. You don't need fancy software to tell you if your blog is working.

Why successful company blogs earn comments

I want to switch gears and show you real examples of some of the most successful and commented-on company blogs.

Setup and approach

1. Care about comments or don't blog

My first two examples are of companies that DON'T blog! For many companies this will be your best option.

Let's look at Guitar Center. They actually had a blog a one point;

But they killed the whole thing. I think this was a smart move.

Restoration Hardware doesn't have a blog either;

I wish more companies would start following this trend. I assume Restoration Hardware is honest with themselves, and knows you don't just go through the "blogging motions."

Lack of comments = lack of engagement = people probably don't care about the blog = kill it and move on.

2. Build relationships outside of the blog

Lots of people who comment on my company blog are colleagues or friends. Here is a personal example;

Blogs are just like any form of communication: email, social media, or text messages. Literally think of your next blog post as if it's an email to your best friend.

3. Brand your blog

Marriott's blog by Bill Marriott is by far one of the best business blogs I have found. Their clever branding of calling it "Marriott On The Move" sets it apart. It makes it memorable:

I also want to point out, this actually generates search volume for "Marriott On the Move."

This by the way is what I call "PropWords" (Proprietary Keywords). These are branded keywords that YOU create for a blog name, product, event and so forth that become extensions of your branding.

This is an important signal for SEO right now as I believe Google is definitely looking at these kinds of queries when trying to gauge trust and popularity of a site.

4. Hire people who can actually write

If there was an electrical problem in your office, would you just have any random person fix it? No, you'd probably call an electrician.

If your company needs quality writing on your site, that's going to represent your brand, do you just get anyone to do it? No, you'd probably find a real writer.

That's exactly what King Authur Flour did. And it's paid off big time.

They brought in an actual author (of, you know, books!), PJ Hamel:

PJ writes a large portion of their posts, and responds to comments as well. And believe me, for a company making flour, there's more comments than you'd expect.

Even early on in the blog's life in 2008, it received a lot comments. Something was going right from the start;

Contrary to this, let's look at DreamHost's blog. (And by the way I'm a DreamHost customer, so this is no slight to their product).

But how do they go about finding writers?

DreamHost apparently just wants little robots to crank out content on topics such as "web hosting" or "other." Really? What's "other?" We can just write about anything?

And, unfortunately, it shows in the results. Using comments per post as the measure of success, the blog is not very successful;

5. Use a voting system

Wegman's is running a seriously killer blog. I'll be using more examples from their site. But the first is the use of a simple voting system;

This adds to the level of engagement and social proof. I know what you're thinking, too - 34 shares? Big failure, right?

WRONG. Remember. Comments per post is our success metric. This one received 61 Comments. That's some pretty awesome discussion. I'd take that any day over tweets.

6. Make it easy to register

What is it like if you try to just leave a simple comment on the Southwest Airlines blog?

It's a major headache! Definitely reduce friction when it comes to users being able to quickly leave comments.

Content ideation and creation

1. Relate with values

Jason Fried comes to mind as one of the most successful bloggers of all time. What helped make him so successful? He's not afraid to talk about grilling on a web design and software blog;

But why does this work? It's right in the first sentence. "Simple products that solve real problems." That's a common value. And 37 Signals (now BaseCamp) has always been about attracting people with similar (and sometimes unconventional) beliefs.

This post received 36 comments back in 2006 when they were not as well known;

You might think "well, big deal;" they were pretty well known by then. And I want to point out - in 2003, they were regularly receiving lots of comments;

2. Continue a prior conversation

This is SO underutilized. People are already attentive and engaged around a particular discussion. You can easily continue that discussion in a new post. Just like what Bill Marriott has done brilliantly here;

There's a lot going on here;

He's continuing a prior conversation (people are attentive and engaged)
He shows he's actually listening to and reading people's comments, which encourages future commenting.
He's adding more value by curating the tips readers left, and bring the best ones to the surface.
He barely had to create any new content himself! Now that's efficient.

3. React to misguided Quora questions

Chances are if someone is asking debatable/controversial questions in Quora, this is going to generate some discussion. You can answer this on your blog and bring some discussion with you. And that's exactly what Rand did here:

I don't think he was thinking "oh, how can we get more comments on Moz." I think he probably saw it as an opportunity to settle some misconceptions about SEO. But in the process it generated some great discussion.

4. Involve others in the creation process

As I keep reiterating, blogging is a two-way communication platform. Wistia here shows us how they involved other companies in the creation and research process;

This undoubtedly had a positive impact on not only the reception, but also the discussion of this content. This post received 73 comments.

5. Add a personal touch

This is SO. Especially. Important. For company blogs! People are going to naturally view you as this big entity. You can counteract that with personal touches. It humanizes the experience and allows you to connect with your fans on a deeper level;

Here's another example from Wegman's

There's actually a lot going on here too;

The signature is handwritten
Her title is clearly labeled
"Since 1971" - wow, this speaks of tradition, commitment, consistency.
Incredible service - not just "customer service" (bland corporate-speak) but incredible.

The signature says a lot, actually.

Back to Bill Marriott's blog - you can also listen to all of his posts, which is a nice personal touch as well;

6. Bring the offline online with a story

"Tell a story" is starting to get a little overused. Just like "write quality content" it runs the risk of being empty advice. What does that mean "tell a story"? Here are some great examples:

Eric Allen, a flight crew member at FedEx, tells us the touching story of his daughter who was diagnosed with a brain tumor.

Customers just passing by can't help but stop to give their best wishes;

Another superb example of bringing an offline story to online is Verdant Tea;

I want to point something out. For many of these companies the blog is simply an extension of their evolving story.

You don't find a story because you have to blog. You have to blog so you can tell your story.

7. Provide a call to action

How many blog posts have you seen, end with "what do you think"?

It's like we get to the end of writing, realize there's a comment box below, and go "oh I guess I should ask something now!".

I really like how Bill Marriott does it here;

Bill's call to action is specific. A call to action will also rolls easily off an already-good article. We're also reminded of the branding and personal touch at the end. This helps reinforce that we can have a direct, personal conversation.

Maintaining your commenting community

1. Kill off spam like crazy

Comment spam can ruin your blogging efforts in a lot of ways. It looks bad to search engines, and it looks bad to users. Kind of like the broken windows theory for blogs. It casts the impression that no one cares;

No one wants to hang around a place like that for too long. I'm militant about deleting spam on my own site (I check at least once a day).

2. Heavily moderate and make it well known you moderate

Although not a company blog per se, I just think Tim Ferriss sets an exceptional example of moderation;

His readers know that nothing uncool is accepted. This makes everyone WAY more comfortable to comment. They know things won't get out of hand.

Here's an example of a comment on my blog, in reply to someone else. It's not very friendly, so it goes in the trash!

Go forth and delete ;)

3. Listen and respond!

My goodness, what a lost opportunity for so many brands. Responding has several benefits;

It "doubles" the comment count.
It shows customers you care and listen.
It makes them MORE likely to comment again in the future.
As mentioned before, many comment systems like Disqus will send email notifications, which brings traffic back to your site.

It kills me to see this;

If someone walked up to you in a retail store, and asked you a question, would you just ignore them an walk away? Why are questions in comments any different?

Harvest, however, is very attentive to their customers' questions;

Jonathan does a great job answering a slightly annoyed question.

Here's King Authur Flour again. Someone asked a question and TWO people from the company answered;

4. Continuously prune

The thing about blogs, is they can become overgrown quickly. Noindex or delete posts that have received little traffic, few shares, and no comments.

If you have a big blog, which has been running for a while, you should conduct any number of content audits and prune fairly aggressively!

5. Outreach: Stop asking for shares; ask for comments instead

This has been done TO me (and I wish I could find the example). It worked really well though, and I would suggest it in your outreach process.

Think about it: If you ask someone to comment or leave feedback they HAVE to at least read the content, process it, and think about it. They're more likely to remember you, and potentially share the article anyway. And you might start to build a deeper relationship.

I consider an "influencer's" comment on my posts to be a lasting gift. It's there etched in stone for anyone to see. Social shares fade fast.

To earn a comment is to earn attention

And attention is the web's most valuable currency.

Especially when Bill Sebald is involved :-)

This is crazy (but all too common);

This is what we're all competing with!

The attention web revolution

We're seeing a dramatic shift happen right now. There's way more content, but never more time. Attention is getting harder to earn.

I think my anecdotal chart may explain it best;

Pre 2013 - it was easier to create shareworthy content and call this a "success." But we're entering an era where attention-worthy wins. The early adopters (UpWorthy, Chartbeat, etc.) are getting a head start.

I'm definitely not the first to talk about the importance of an attention-centered content approach:

November 2013 - Medium tells us the only metric that matters is total reading time.
January 2014 - AJ Kohn's brilliant piece asks: Are You Winning The Attention Auction?.
February 2014 - Upworthy reveals their attention minutes to the world.
March 2014 - Tony Haile's well known piece for Time showed us people aren't even reading what they're sharing. (I should note that as the CEO of Chartbeat, Tony does have a personal investment in this concept).

Executive attention

There's two ways to get your attention.

That car fire might get your attention. But this would get an involuntary, reactive form of attention. Not what we want from our readings. This is the kind of attention sites like BuzzFeed get.
Rather, we want the kind of attention where you choose to focus on something (and ignore other things). An intentional attention. Look at wikipedia's definition of Executive (Endogenous) Attention;

"... top-down processing, also known as goal-driven, endogenous attention, attentional control or executive attention. This aspect of our attentional orienting is under the control of the person who is attending."

THAT'S the type of attention you want. Someone intentionally reading, processing and interacting with your content.

A user commenting on a post is usually someone giving you just that.

Full circle

Remember at the beginning? We looked at this chart of a major brand's comments;

Remember, that's only 10 comments across 50 posts.

This is Wegman's stats for the same thing;

Wegman's has 1,857 comments across 50 posts. In fact, the first site is still in the chart. It's just so small, you can't even see it.

On ONE post alone they got 1,092 comments;

A new standard of success

So let's take a look at this again. What do you see now?

These aren't just numbers. This tells a story.

It tells the story of a company that blogs because it thinks it has to.

It celebrates "success" as tweets and likes and votes.

Customers do not connect with this brand.

It doesn't listen to its customers.

There is no dialogue.

No connection.

So, you probably know what to do below, and I will actually respond :)

-Dan Shure
Moz Associate since 2012
Owner Evolving SEO since 2010

PS: Speaking of discussion, I happen to be doing an Ask Me Anything over on Reddit today at 1pm EDT. If you want to ask me anything at all (whether or not it's related to this post), head on over.

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Label Keywords and Ads in Bulk with an AdWords Script

Posted: 22 Jul 2014 01:55 AM PDT

Last month I had an AdWords Script for bulk labelling ad groups – here's a similar one to label keywords and creative. Now you can cover everything in your account in labels, until it looks like an explosion in a post-it factory!

There are many reasons to label keywords: to keep track of different types of term (like ‘Cheap’ or ‘Branded’); to monitor keywords of questionable performance; to see the effects of bid changes; or just when you've added a new batch and want to keep track of where they are.

And labelling ads makes it much easier to test similar ad text or different landing pages over multiple ad groups. Or you could label seasonal ads so you know when they need to be activated or paused. Or if you're working in multiple languages, you could use labels to give a translation.

Keywords

Set up a Google Doc spreadsheet like this:

If you copy in broad match modified keywords that begin with a +, the Google Doc will try to read them as a formula rather than a string and give a '#NAME?' error. To get around this, add a space in front of the first + (the Script will trim the keyword text, so the extraneous space will be ignored). Alternatively put an ‘ in front first to show it's a string not a formula.

Create a new Script and paste this in:

function main() { // Applies labels to specified keywords, based on a Google Doc Spreadsheet. // From http://white.net/blog/label-keywords-ads-bulk-adwords-script/

  //Change this to your spreadsheet's URL!
  var spreadsheetUrl = "https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/EXAMPLE/edit?usp=sharing";
  var inputSheet = SpreadsheetApp.openByUrl(spreadsheetUrl).getActiveSheet(); //The sheet in the Google Doc
  var i = 2; //Integer for the loop
  var numberOfLabels = inputSheet.getLastRow() //Number of rows in the sheet, which is the number of ad groups that want to be labeled
  var lastLabelApplied = ""; //Records the label that was last applied, so if the next label is the same the Script knows it doesn't have to create it again
  while (i <= numberOfLabels) //This loops through all the rows
  {
  if (inputSheet.getRange("F"+i).getValue() == "") //If there are no notes for the current row
  {
  var labelCampaignName = inputSheet.getRange("A" + i).getValue();
  var labelAdGroupName = inputSheet.getRange("B" + i).getValue();
  var labelKeywordText = inputSheet.getRange("C" + i).getValue().trim();
  var labelMatchType = inputSheet.getRange("D" + i).getValue().trim().toUpperCase();
  var labelText = inputSheet.getRange("E" + i).getValue();
  var printToSpreadsheet = "-" //This is a variable that records what will be noted in the spreadsheet for each ad group (whether the label has been added, or there was an error)
  if (labelMatchType == "BROAD" || labelMatchType == "PHRASE" || labelMatchType == "EXACT") //Checks the match type is valid
  {
  var keywordIterator = AdWordsApp.keywords() //Finds the keywords with the specified name and campaign name
  .withCondition("CampaignName = '" + labelCampaignName + "'")
  .withCondition("AdGroupName = '" + labelAdGroupName +"'")
  .withCondition("Text = '" + labelKeywordText +"'")
  .withCondition("KeywordMatchType = " + labelMatchType)
  .get();
  if (keywordIterator.hasNext()) //If there is a keyword then the label will be applied
  {
  var keyword = keywordIterator.next();
  if (labelText != lastLabelApplied)
  //If this label isn't the same as the last label to be applied, then the label is created.
  //If the label was the same as the last label to be applied we know the label already exists, so we can skip this
  {
  AdWordsApp.createLabel(labelText); //Creates the label - if the label already exists then there may be an error, but the Script will continue
  }
  keyword.applyLabel(labelText); //Applies the label to the keyword
  printToSpreadsheet = "Done";
  lastLabelApplied = labelText; //Records the last applied label
  }
  else
  {
  //This means the keyword iterator was empty, so there wasn't a keyword of the right name (or a campaign or a group of the right name).
  printToSpreadsheet = "Keyword not found"; //An error message will be recorded in the spreadsheet.
  }
  }//End 'if valid match type'
  else //If match type isn't valid
  {
  printToSpreadsheet = "Match type invalid"; //An error message will be recorded in the spreadsheet.
  }
  inputSheet.getRange("F" + i).setValue(printToSpreadsheet); //Writes into the Notes column in the spreadsheet
  Logger.log("Label " + labelText + " applied to '" + labelKeywordText + "' in '" + labelAdGroupName + "', '"+ labelCampaignName +"': " + printToSpreadsheet); //Also writes into the Log
  }//End 'if there are notes'
  i = i+1;

}//End while loop }

Once it's authorised and run, you should see the changes in your account and the notes filled into your doc:

If it says 'Match Type Invalid' make sure the match is spelt right. If it says 'Keyword not found' that could be a typo in any of the other columns.

Notes:

Capitalisation matters for nearly everything.
Capitalisation doesn't matter for match type (and there can be a space in front of the word) – but it has to be 'exact', 'broad' or 'phrase'. You can't use negative match.
If you look in the Script logs you may see errors saying "You're already using this label name". These don't matter.
Having said that, the Script checks to see if the current label is the same as the last label it added. So if you order by the label's text it should make things a little more efficient, and reduce the "already using this label" errors.
If the Script times out before it can label everything, run it again. It will ignore the keywords it’s already done.
But that means you can’t have anything in the ‘Notes’ column of the spreadsheet – if there’s anything in there then the Script assumes that line has been done, and moves on to the next line.

Again, set up a Google Doc spreadsheet.

And use this Script:

function main() { // Applies labels to specified ads, based on a Google Doc Spreadsheet. // From http://white.net/blog/label-keywords-ads-bulk-adwords-script/

  //Change this to your spreadsheet's URL!
  var spreadsheetUrl = "https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/EXAMPLE/edit?usp=sharing";
  var inputSheet = SpreadsheetApp.openByUrl(spreadsheetUrl).getActiveSheet(); //The sheet in the Google Doc
  var i = 2; //Integer for the loop
  var numberOfLabels = inputSheet.getLastRow() //Number of rows in the sheet, which is the number of ad groups that want to be labeled
  var lastLabelApplied = ""; //Records the label that was last applied, so if the next label is the same the Script knows it doesn't have to create it again
  while (i <= numberOfLabels) //This loops through all the rows
  {
  if (inputSheet.getRange("I"+i).getValue() == "") //If there are no notes for the current row
  {
  var labelCampaignName = inputSheet.getRange("A" + i).getValue();
  var labelAdGroupName = inputSheet.getRange("B" + i).getValue();
  var labelHeadline = inputSheet.getRange("C" + i).getValue();
  var labelDescriptionLine1 = inputSheet.getRange("D" + i).getValue();
  var labelDescriptionLine2 = inputSheet.getRange("E" + i).getValue();
  var labelDisplayURL = inputSheet.getRange("F" + i).getValue();
  var labelDestinationURL = inputSheet.getRange("G" + i).getValue();
  var labelText = inputSheet.getRange("H" + i).getValue();
  var printToSpreadsheet = "-"
  //This is a variable that records what will be noted in the spreadsheet for each ad group (whether the label has been added, or there was an error)
  var adIterator = AdWordsApp.ads() //Finds the ads with the specified name and campaign name
  .withCondition("CampaignName = '" + labelCampaignName + "'")
  .withCondition("AdGroupName = '" + labelAdGroupName +"'")
  .withCondition("Headline = '" + labelHeadline +"'")
  .withCondition("Description1 = '" + labelDescriptionLine1 +"'")
  .withCondition("Description2 = '" + labelDescriptionLine2 +"'")
  .withCondition("DisplayUrl = '" + labelDisplayURL +"'")
  .withCondition("DestinationUrl = '" + labelDestinationURL +"'")
  .get();
  if (adIterator.hasNext()) //If there is a keyword then the label will be applied
  {
  var ad = adIterator.next();
  if (labelText != lastLabelApplied)
  //If this label isn't the same as the last label to be applied, then the label is created.
  //If the label was the same as the last label to be applied we know the label already exists, so we can skip this
  {
  AdWordsApp.createLabel(labelText); //Creates the label - if the label already exists then there may be an error, but the Script will continue
  }
  ad.applyLabel(labelText); //Applies the label to the keyword
  printToSpreadsheet = "Done";
  lastLabelApplied = labelText; //Records the last applied label
  }
  else
  {
  //This means the keyword iterator was empty, so there wasn't a keyword of the right name (or a campaign or a group of the right name).
  printToSpreadsheet = "Ad not found"; //An error message will be recorded in the spreadsheet.
  }
  inputSheet.getRange("I" + i).setValue(printToSpreadsheet); //Writes into the Notes column in the spreadsheet
  Logger.log("Label " + labelText + " applied to '" + labelHeadline + "' in '" + labelAdGroupName + "', '"+ labelCampaignName +"': " + printToSpreadsheet); //Also writes into the Log
  }//End 'if there are notes'
  i = i+1;

}//End while loop }

The results:

Notes:

Capitalisation matters for everything. (This is very useful if your ads are testing Title Case against sentence case!)
Like with the keywords, the Script logs may have errors saying "You're already using this label name", and it's best to order the ads by label test.

If you've got any questions or improvements, please comment below!

Image credit: Brainstorms at INDEX: Views by Jacob Bøtter.

The post Label Keywords and Ads in Bulk with an AdWords Script appeared first on White.net.

Seth's Blog : Where's your bumper?

Where's your bumper?

If you spend just a few minutes listening to a great radio station, you'll know it's them. They've worked hard to make sure that the promos they run sound unique and welcome and friendly. You're home.

People in radio call these little promo moments, "bumpers." Now that we're all in the media business, we can have them too.

During their glory days, MTV understood this. Anyone could run music videos, of course, but the promos, the little in-between shorts, those could only belong to one network.

Many listeners to Sirius/XM recoil when they hear the incessant bumpers that run on channels devoted to classical music or the Dead or comedy. They're too loud, too AM radio, they sound disrespectful, aural spam from a company that should be earning our trust...

Which brings us to your personal media voice, to the way you sound and look in social media and even in your email.

Twitter strips away much of what you might be able to use to differentiate yourself (fonts and pictures, for example) but even there, a rhythm and a voice can come through if you let it.

We only catch a glimpse of you now, a fleeting glance at what you've created. What does it look like and sound like? Is it always you? You can create this if you choose.

• Email to a friend •

luni, 21 iulie 2014

Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis

Holier than Thou: Why Should Anyone Believe the US, Ukraine, or Russia? What is the US Attempting to Hide?
Email from Ukraine Portfolio Manager; Obama Idiocies and Ironies
War & Markets: Less Growth, Less Certainty, More Geopolitical Risk

Holier than Thou: Why Should Anyone Believe the US, Ukraine, or Russia? What is the US Attempting to Hide?

Posted: 21 Jul 2014 07:51 PM PDT

I am quite tired of rhetoric from the Obama administration and Kiev regarding the situation in Ukraine. Hardly any of it is believable.

Indeed, some Ukraine propaganda efforts of Kiev are so amateurish they appear as sloppy acts of desperate coverups.

If so, then it is far more likely Ukraine is the guilty party, not the separatists. If you are innocent, you do not choose such tactics.

What is the US and Kiev Attempting to Hide?

Earlier today, Obama Issued a Stern Warning to Russia coupled with a statement "What exactly are they trying to hide?"

That's a good question. But let me turn the tables by asking: "What exactly is the US and Kiev attempting to hide?"

Challenge From Russia

Please consider Russia Challenges Accusations that Ukraine Rebels Shot Down Airliner.

Russia's Defence Ministry on Monday challenged accusations pro-Russian rebels were to blame for shooting down a Malaysian airliner and asked the United States to produce satellite images to support its assertions.

At a briefing in which generals used flashing radar images on big screens in a state-of-the-art conference room, the ministry said a Ukrainian fighter jet had tracked the airliner despite Kiev's assertions that no aircraft were nearby.

The hi-tech presentation appeared a direct response to video and audio recordings used by Ukrainian security officials to back up their accusations of Russian and rebel involvement - recordings the ministry's comments suggested were fabricated.

"Russian air space control systems detected a Ukrainian Air Force plane, presumably an SU-25 (fighter jet), scrambling in the direction of the Malaysian Boeing ... The distance of the SU-25 plane from the Boeing was from 3 to 5 kilometres (2 to 3 miles)," Air Force Lieutenant-General Igor Makushev said.

"Earlier, Ukrainian officials said that on the day of the Boeing 777 crash there were no military aircraft in the region - as you can see this does not appear to be true."

Another officer, Lieutenant-General Andrei Kartopolov, said that, "whether it is a coincidence or not", a U.S. satellite had been monitoring the area at the time.

"We also have some questions for our U.S. partners," he said. "According to the U.S. declarations, they have satellite images that confirm the missile was launched by the rebels. But nobody has seen these images." "If the American side has pictures from this satellite, then they should show the international community."

US Covering Up For Kiev?

I highly doubt that Russia would make those claims unless they could back them up.

Even if so, that does not prove who fired the missile. Yet assuming the presentation is accurate, it does show Kiev lied big time. It also suggests the US is covering up for Kiev.

Given enough time, I suspect the US can doctor those satellite images to show something that isn't there or in this case, remove something that is. Time in this regard is already up.

10 Questions

As I peruse 10 Question for Kiev a number of questions stand out as reasonable requests (assuming of course Kiev has nothing to hide):

2. Can official Kiev give all details related to the use of Buk systems in the combat zone, and especially answer why these systems were deployed, given that the militias have no aircraft?

4. Are representatives of the Ukrainian Armed Forces prepared to submit to international experts documentation on the inventory of air-to-air and surface-to-air missiles installed on their anti-aircraft weapons?

5. Will air control data be provided to the international commission on the movements of Ukrainian Air Force planes on the day of the tragedy?

8. Can official Kiev comment at this time on the report that appeared in social media, allegedly from a Spanish-national air traffic controller working in Ukraine, that the Boeing that was shot down was under escort by two Ukrainian military aircraft?

9. Why has the SBU begun to work with the recordings of communications between air traffic control and the Boeing crew and with Ukrainian radar data, without the involvement of international representatives?

Russia Says Has Photos Of Ukraine Deploying BUK Missiles

Please consider the excellent post by ZeroHedge Russia Says Has Photos of Ukraine Deploying BUK Missiles in East, Radar Proof of Warplanes in MH17 Vicinity

The day the Malaysian airliner crashed, the Ukrainian forces deployed an air defense group of three or four Buk-M1 missile batteries near Donetsk, Lt. Gen. Andrei Kartapolov, head of the Russian General Staff's Main Operations Department, told reporters on Monday.

"These surface-to-air systems are capable of hitting targets at a distance of up to 35 kilometers at an altitude of 22 kilometers. For what purpose and against whom were these missile systems deployed? As is known, the militia has no aviation," he said.

"A Ukraine Air Force military jet was detected gaining height, it's distance from the Malaysian Boeing was 3 to 5km," said the head of the Main Operations Directorate of the HQ of Russia's military forces, Lieutenant-General Andrey Kartopolov speaking at a media conference in Moscow on Monday.

"[We] would like to get an explanation as to why the military jet was flying along a civil aviation corridor at almost the same time and at the same level as a passenger plane," he stated.

Additionally, as Russia noted using what appears to be legitimate photographic evidence (something the west has so far failed to provide in any capacity) MH17 crashed within the operating zone of the Ukrainian army's self-propelled, medium-range surface-to-air 'Buk' missile systems, the Russian general said.

"We have space images of certain places where the Ukraine's air defense was located in the southeast of the country," Kartapolov noted.

The first three shots that were shown by the general are dated July 14. The images show Buk missile launch systems in about 8km northwest of the city of Lugansk – a TELAR and two TELs, according to the military official.

InfoWars

While the US and Kiev demand much from Russia, both fails to answer any questions leveled at them.

Earlier today Alex Jones on InfoWars offered this reminder: U.S. Plotted to Provoke Shoot Down of Airliner to Create Pretext for War

For those of you who may discriminate against the source, here are some of the examples the article mentions, except with links to Wikipedia and other sources.

US Shoots Down Iran Passenger Flight 655

Iran Air Flight 665

Iran Air Flight 655 was an Iran Air civilian passenger flight from Tehran to Dubai that was shot down by the United States Navy guided missile cruiser USS Vincennes on 3 July 1988. The accident took place in Iranian airspace, over Iran's territorial waters in the Persian Gulf, and on the flight's usual flight path. The aircraft, an Airbus A300 B2-203, was destroyed by SM-2MR surface-to-air missiles fired from the Vincennes.

All 290 on board, including 66 children and 16 crew, died. In 1996, the United States and Iran reached "an agreement in full and final settlement of all disputes, differences, claims, counterclaims" relating to the incident at the International Court of Justice.

Contrary to the accounts of various USS Vincennes crewmembers, the Vincennes' shipboard Aegis Combat System recorded that the Iranian airliner was climbing at the time and its radio transmitter was "squawking" on the Mode III civilian code only, rather than on military Mode II. The Vincennes tried unsuccessfully to contact the approaching aircraft, seven times on the military emergency frequency and three times on the civilian emergency frequency, but never on air traffic control frequencies. This civilian aircraft was not equipped to pick up military frequencies and the messages on the civilian emergency channel could have been directed at any aircraft.

When questioned in a 2000 BBC documentary, the U.S. government stated in a written answer that they believed the incident may have been caused by a simultaneous psychological condition amongst the 18 bridge crew of the Vincennes called 'scenario fulfillment', which is said to occur when persons are under pressure. In such a situation, the men will carry out a training scenario, believing it to be reality while ignoring sensory information that contradicts the scenario. In the case of this incident, the scenario was an attack by a lone military aircraft.

George H. W. Bush, the vice president of the United States at the time commented on the incident during a presidential campaign function (2 Aug 1988): "I will never apologize for the United States — I don't care what the facts are... I'm not an apologize-for-America kind of guy."

If the US can't and won't apologize for the downing of a passenger airplane, why should Russia, when it was not even directly involved in the incident?

Bush 'Plotted to Lure Saddam into War with Fake UN Plane'

Please consider The Independent report Bush 'Plotted to Lure Saddam into War with Fake UN Plane'.

George Bush considered provoking a war with Saddam Hussein's regime by flying a United States spyplane over Iraq bearing UN colours, enticing the Iraqis to take a shot at it, according to a leaked memo of a meeting between the US President and Tony Blair.

The two leaders were worried by the lack of hard evidence that Saddam Hussein had broken UN resolutions, though privately they were convinced that he had. According to the memorandum, Mr Bush said: "The US was thinking of flying U2 reconnaissance aircraft with fighter cover over Iraq, painted in UN colours. If Saddam fired on them, he would be in breach."

The memo damningly suggests the decision to invade Iraq had already been made when Mr Blair and the US President met in Washington on 31 January 2003 when the British Government was still working on obtaining a second UN resolution to legitimise the conflict.

The leaked memo shows precisely what war-mongering liars were leading the US and UK at the time.

Operations Northwoods

Finally, please consider the Wikipedia report on Operation Northwoods.

Operation Northwoods was a series of proposals that originated within the Department of Defense (DoD) and the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) of the United States government in 1962. The proposals, which called for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), or other operatives, to commit acts of terrorism in US cities and elsewhere, were rejected by the Kennedy administration.

At the time of the proposal, Cuba had recently become communist under Fidel Castro. The operation proposed creating public support for a war against Cuba by blaming it for terrorist acts.

To this end, Operation Northwoods proposals recommended hijackings and bombings followed by the introduction of phony evidence that would implicate the Cuban government. It stated:

The desired resultant from the execution of this plan would be to place the United States in the apparent position of suffering defensible grievances from a rash and irresponsible government of Cuba and to develop an international image of a Cuban threat to peace in the Western Hemisphere.

Although part of the US government's anti-communist Cuban Project, Operation Northwoods was never officially accepted; it was authorized by the Joint Chiefs of Staff, but then rejected by President John F. Kennedy.

These are the kinds of jackasses in US government. And we are now supposed to believe President Obama and Ukraine president Petro Poroshenko? Please be serious.

By the way, this is not an endorsement for Putin. I am quite sure he can lie just like Obama, Bush, and Poroshenko. Yet, given all the eyes on the data, I highly doubt Russia would make the claims it did unless it could back them up.

Meanwhile, Kiev has made charges, backed up by tampered and easily disproved videos. And the US has offered no direct evidence of any kind, most likely because it cannot.

If and when US does produce a document, so much time has passed it will it will be highly suspect. If the US had strong evidence, rest assured it would have been released long ago.

Anything released now is likely tampered with.

Reflections on Apologies

Apologies are not a sign of weakness, but rather a sign of strength. The US could have and should have apologized to the victims of downed passenger flight 655. If the US cannot apologize, it should not expect any other country to do so.

Hopefully the black boxes released to Malaysia earlier today will provide more evidence, but don't count on it. Instead count on more lies from all involved.

"Lie When It's Serious"

Please remember what Jean-Claude Juncker said in 2011: "When it becomes serious, you have to lie". Juncker is former Luxembourg PM and president-elect of European Commission.

Scenario Fulfillment

This is certainly pretty serious. Given that Russia has produced more credible evidence than any other country, and given Ukraine has been caught in some very clumsy lies, I am sticking with my assessment that Kiev is responsible, possibly in an act of 'scenario fulfillment'.

If so, the US is purposely aiding Kiev in the coverup. Facts show the US is capable of far worse than lies.

Mike "Mish" Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com

Email from Ukraine Portfolio Manager; Obama Idiocies and Ironies

Posted: 21 Jul 2014 02:03 PM PDT

President Obama came out swinging today and issued a Stern Warning to Russia on Isolation in response to the crash of MH17.

Barack Obama has warned Russia it risks further international isolation if it does not intervene directly with the pro-Russian separatist rebels to "compel them to co-operate" with the investigation into the crash of MH17.

He questioned why the rebels would want to prevent international observers and investigators access to the crash site. "What exactly are they trying to hide?"

He said his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, had "direct responsibility" for the actions of the armed men on the ground.

"Russia has extraordinary influence over these separatists," he said. "No one denies that. Russia has urged them on, Russia has trained them, we know that Russia has armed them with military equipment and weapons including anti-aircraft weapons."

"Compel Rebels to Co-operate"

The US cannot control its own border with Mexico, in peacetime. Yet, Obama expects Russia to not only control its border with Ukraine, but to also control rebels outside Russia. That's ridiculous.

To top it off, Putin offered to let Ukraine monitor border checkpoints from the Russian side, but Ukraine turned down the chance.

"Russia has extraordinary influence over these separatists. No one denies that," stated Obama.

That too is ludicrous. Russia denies that claim. And any one with any bit of common sense can detect Obama's statement as blatant self-serving propaganda.

Email from Ukraine Portfolio Manager

Ilya Porkalov, a Ukraine pottfolio manager writes:

This allegation about the billboard has already been disproved. You just can not see the address on the billboard no matter how hard you try. And that network of car dealers can be found in many cities. How stupid it would be for Ukraine to make stuff up (like this video, or the phone recordings) when all secret services of the world will be watching and checking this, and with a single fake all credibility would be lost?

This is a clip of the original video posted by Ukrainian interior ministry.

Government Stupidity Happens All the Time

Yep, it would be not only pretty stupid, but rather very sloppy and quite stupid. Yet, that is exactly what I believe happened. I give a detailed explanation in just a bit. First here is a bit on Ukraine media reporting.

Ilya asked me to read website http://en.censor.net.ua/ stating "This one is a bit biased to pro Ukrainian side, but at least they don't make up news like all Russian media."

He also asked me to look at several other websites including http://www.stopfake.org/.

StopFake is a Russian activist site. They're trying to disprove many of the Russian propaganda stories, you post on your blog. http://www.kyivpost.com/ is an old newspaper for expats in Ukraine, it's slow but objective. Also if you don't mind using Google translate the best Ukrainian news website is considered pravda.com.ua - it's well known for high standards of journalism, although it's Ukrainian, it's definitely not propaganda. Several of their journalists have allegedly been killed by Ukrainian governments over the years.

Response to Ilya

Jacob Dreizin, a US citizen who speaks Russian and reads Ukrainian has this answer for Ilya.

1. In regards to news sites: Censor.net.ua is notorious for outrageous, bogus news. It's not taken seriously, even in Ukraine. Stopfake.org is a clown site.

Kyiv Post is OK, but it does not really have any reporters or assets out in the field. Pravda.com.ua is good. As far as I know, it is one of only three "real" news sites in Ukraine that goes beyond just repeating government press releases. I actually referred to this site once or twice in my emails to you. However, and like Kyiv Post, Pravda.com.ua does not really have any assets out in the field. So ultimately it's more like a blog.

2. As for the billboard: The sources I read did not claim to see any address on it. Instead, there are several people who know the surrounding area (the billboard, the road, houses, etc.) It just happens that the billboard raised their eyebrows and gave it away. Also, they have provided a precise street address for one of the structures in the background. (I think it was 11 Gorkii Street, Krasnoarmeisk.)

If someone wants to deny that, fine. But then, they should specify the location of the footage (e.g. what road, what town, what mile-post, what GPS coordinates, etc.)

Isn't that the minimum that a credible government would do? Just posting crap to Youtube and saying "this is a Russian Buk, this is the Russian border" is not credible. If they can't back it up with verifiable facts, then it's just a random video in some random place that is allegedly showing something. Could be anywhere.

Jacob clearly has the far better argument here. If Ukraine has an address for that video, let's see it.

It's easy to believe propaganda when it supports the side you are on.

95% of Western media articles take the side of Kiev. In his email, Ilya asked me to look at both sides, and I am doing exactly that.

Mike "Mish" Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com

War & Markets: Less Growth, Less Certainty, More Geopolitical Risk

Posted: 21 Jul 2014 11:11 AM PDT

Steen Jakobsen, chief economist and CIO at Saxo Bank, has an interesting article today on War & Markets which I present below as a guest post.

Steen says ...

Prepare for less growth, less certainty and more geopolitical risk
Crude oil price is simplest proxy for geopolitical risk
Wars reflect a world where growth is low and energy expensive

"There are causes worth dying for, but none worth killing for" – Albert Camus

The world is increasingly becoming engaged in civil wars and general turmoil where Camus' words could and should play a central [role] but never will. This article is one of the hardest to write as war is never about right or wrong. They are per definition always wrong and extremely personal and emotional. The fact is, however, that we need to put "the risk of wars" into our macro outlook as they are increasing not only in intensity but also in the numbers of casualties.

I will not condone anyone or any party involved in the present conflicts – I learned my hard lesson advocating the removal of Saddam Hussein, only to learn that his successors are just as bad. Therefore, Camus' words will remain my mantra.

The simplest way to "measure" geopolitical risk is to look at the price of energy. Energy is everything for a macro economist as it's a tax on the economy when high, and a discount when low. High energy consumption levels makes it a critical part of any projection but despite this, energy assumptions are often exogenous (given!).

Think about this: Everything you did this morning involved energy consumption: Waking up to your smart phone (charging overnight), putting on the coffee, pouring the cold milk from the fridge, taking a shower, driving the car to work and walking into your air-conditioned office. Likewise, the rest of your day will be one big consumption of energy. The world's energy resources are primarily extracted from "volatile" or underdeveloped regions, creating a real risk of disruption of supply. Herein lies a clear and quantifiable risk.

The way I measure this geopolitical risk is through measuring the spread between the 5th contract of WTI crude oil and the first contract. Of course, there are other factor at work, but in the absence of a better alternative, I use this War Risk Premium Indicator.

As can be seen, since July 15 the "war premium" or more neutral "disruption premium" have increased by USD 2 and the world's consumers are now paying two dollars more per barrel of WTI crude. Overall there are many factors influencing the crude market but the price of energy remains the one component we need to know is stable and preferably falling.

The overall impact from war is negative despite the glorified analysis of how World War II stopped the recession – think of the 1970s – probably a better and more relevant analogy to today's trouble in Gaza, Iraq, Russia/Ukraine, Libya, and Syria. Many will argue it's different this time, back then we were too dependent on the Middle East! Sure, but prices were only between 10 and 25 US dollars a barrel back then!

Now we have lived with an oil rise in excess of USD 100 more or less since 2007! Crude is now four times higher in price than during the "inflationist" 1970s – the era in which we ended the Bretton Woods system of monetary management and where central banks started targeting inflation instead.

No, the signal from the energy market about the demand of energy and the risk of getting enough of it is clear: Prepare for less growth, less certainty and more geopolitical risk. The market, however, maintains a steady hand: Israel will be contained inside a couple of weeks, Russia vs. Ukraine will find a solution. The non-acceptance of tail-risk (Black Swans) is clear for everyone to see. The market is "perfect" in its information, zero interest rates will save us and we have all been fooled into believing that the real world no longer matters.

Unemployment, social inequality, wars, innocents being killed, and TV images of people fighting to live another day are not relevant………except for the fact that for world growth to keep increasing we need to continue to see growth in Africa, the Middle East and Eastern Europe.

We need to accept that the world is now truly global – we smiled while globalisation reduced prices and made our companies more profit, now the escalation of wars reflect a world where growth is low, energy is expensive and increasingly hard to get and that we have gone full circle with macro and interventionist policies.

The escalation of turmoil in the world is yet to play a role for the market, but be warned: everything economic has a delayed reaction of nine to twelve month – whenever there is an action there will be a reaction. If the present state of alertness continues through the summer you can bet on higher energy prices having a serious impact on not only world growth but also on markets. But don't ever forget that the real losers are the individual families losing loves ones. No, Camus got it right. There is nothing worth killing for, plenty to fight for.

Mish Comments

The above in entirety courtesy of Steen Jakobsen.

I would not go so far as to say the "risk premium" has risen $2 since July 15. There are too many variables and even random fluctuations that could be at play. If oil would have otherwise been falling because of slowing in China, the risk premium could be way higher. Similarly, oil could be rising for other reasons and the risk premium could be zero or negative although I consider that unlikely.

That said, Steen is generally on the mark with his observations especially his conclusion: "If the present state of alertness continues through the summer you can bet on higher energy prices having a serious impact on not only world growth but also on markets. But don't ever forget that the real losers are the individual families losing loves ones. No, Camus got it right. There is nothing worth killing for, plenty to fight for."

Mike "Mish" Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com

marți, 22 iulie 2014

The perception of success

Blind to blogging failure

Five business blogging myths

Myth 1: Your site needs fresh content

Myth 2: The MORE content the better

Myth 3: Blogs automatically help SEO

Myth 4: A blog is just a news feed

Myth 5: Blogs are for generating leads

"Comments per post" can save us

total # of comments / total # of posts = comments per post

Commenting users are engaged

On-page benefits

SEO Benefits

Early commenting predicts future success (or failure)

Simple

Why successful company blogs earn comments

Setup and approach

1. Care about comments or don't blog

2. Build relationships outside of the blog

3. Brand your blog

4. Hire people who can actually write

5. Use a voting system

6. Make it easy to register

Content ideation and creation

1. Relate with values

2. Continue a prior conversation

3. React to misguided Quora questions

4. Involve others in the creation process

5. Add a personal touch

6. Bring the offline online with a story

7. Provide a call to action

Maintaining your commenting community

1. Kill off spam like crazy

2. Heavily moderate and make it well known you moderate

3. Listen and respond!

4. Continuously prune

5. Outreach: Stop asking for shares; ask for comments instead

To earn a comment is to earn attention

The attention web revolution

Executive attention

Full circle

A new standard of success

Keywords

Notes:

Ads

Notes:

luni, 21 iulie 2014

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