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marți, 29 mai 2012

Seth's Blog : A hierarchy of business to business needs

A hierarchy of business to business needs

If you're selling a product or service to a business--to a non-owner--consider this hierarchy, from primary needs on down:

Avoiding risk
Avoiding hassle
Gaining praise
Gaining power
Having fun
Making a profit

In most large organizations, nothing happens unless at least one of these needs are met, and in just about every organization big enough and profitable enough to buy from you, the order of needs starts with the first one and works its way down the list.

That means that a sales pitch that begins with how much money the organization will make is pretty unlikely to work. Instead, the amount of profit has to be tied in to one of the other more primary needs of the person sitting across the table from you (as well as the committee or boss she reports to).

B2B selling is just like regular sales, except the customer (who might not be the person you're meeting with) is spending someone else's money (and wants to please the boss).

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luni, 28 mai 2012

Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis

Ponzi Financing in Greece Continues; Greek Banks Receive €18bn Transfer

Posted: 28 May 2012 06:41 PM PDT

Greek banks have been shut off from regular ECB liquidity operations due to lack of sufficient collateral. Today the Banks have that collateral thanks to a disbursement of funds from the EFSF which in turn will be used as collateral for more loans from the ECB.

If this makes little sense to you it is because it should not make any sense to anyone. It is another act of desperation in a long line of desperate acts.

Please consider Greek banks receive €18bn transfer

Greece's four largest banks received a €18bn transfer on Monday as the first instalment of a recapitalisation plan agreed as part of the country's second bailout by the EU and the International Monetary Fund.

The funding, in bonds issued by the European Financial Stability Facility, will help banks reduce their dependence on emergency liquidity assistance, a temporary lifeline provided by the Greek central bank after they were excluded from European Central Bank liquidity operations this month.

The four banks are now expected to regain access to the ECB's liquidity operations, using the bonds as collateral for funding at cheaper rates than under the emergency liquidity arrangement.

Bankers said they hoped the funding would help stem a continuing outflow of deposits since an inconclusive general election on May 6 triggered fears that Greece would soon be forced to leave the eurozone.

Anyone who thinks this will stop outflows has holes in the head. As I see it, it will allow a means of additional outflows.

Mike "Mish" Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com
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Spanish 10-Year Bond Yield Hits 6.5%, Spread to Germany Hits Record; Prime Minister Repeats Lie "Spain Does Not Need Bailout"; Backdoor Bailout or Ponzi Scheme? More Questions Than Answers

Posted: 28 May 2012 10:54 AM PDT

In the wake of Bankia bailouts to the tune of €19 billion, the second bailout in two weeks, yields of Spanish debt are soaring.

Spread to German Bonds Hits 5.05 Percentage Points

At this rate I expect it will take less than a week before Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy changes his mind about not needing a bailout, but for now please consider another candidate for understatement of the month: Spain funding situation 'very difficult', PM Rajoy says

Spain's prime minister has said it is "very difficult" for the country to get funds.

The premium investors demanded for holding Spain's 10-year bonds over its German equivalent rose to a record 5.05 percentage points.

But Mr Rajoy said the banking system did not need an international bailout.

"There will not be any [European] rescue for the Spanish banking system," he said, but he backed calls for the European rescue fund to be able to lend to banks directly.

Last week Bankia, which was formed from the merger of several struggling regional lenders, requested a 19bn-euro bailout, which was a much bigger amount of help than had been expected.

"We took the bull by the horns because the alternative was collapse," said Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, adding that Bankia customers' savings were now safer than ever.

Rather than borrowing money on the open markets, potentially at high cost, there are reports that Madrid is considering giving Bankia government bonds. The bank would then use them as collateral for loans from the European Central Bank.

One analyst said this would amount to "an ECB bailout through the back door".

Some are concerned that by doing this, the government is not tackling the problem of the huge amount of bad property loans, estimated at 32bn euros, that Bankia is holding.

"It is not dealing with the problem of bad loans, it is just keeping them going," said Kathleen Brooks, research director at Forex.com. "It risks becoming a zombie bank," she told BBC News.

Backdoor Bailout or Ponzi Scheme?

Is Rajoy's proposal a backdoor bailout or a Ponzi Scheme?

I proposed the latter yesterday morning in Spain's Plans to Recapitalize Bankia Will Put Germany, ECB at Risk; When Does the Ponzi Scheme Collapse?

More Questions Than Answers

One thing that will change Rajoy's tune in a hurry is if the ECB says no to the preposterous plan.

Then what?

What kind of interest rate can Spain get on the open market for bonds?

Doesn't the idea of recapitalization with junk bonds seem absurd enough in the first place?

I asked the key question yesterday: When does Germany say it has had enough of these preposterous schemes?

Mike "Mish" Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com
Click Here To Scroll Thru My Recent Post List

Is SEO the Answer for Start-up Marketing?

Posted: 27 May 2012 01:59 PM PDT

Posted by Benjamin Estes

Lately I’ve seen that a tight relationship between SEO and startups has been something of a foregone conclusion within the SEO industry: “Of course startups should be engaged in SEO!” Perhaps, and perhaps not. In fact, some start-up communities have taken up a stance in direct opposition to this, stigmatizing SEO as manipulative. Personally I’m just a humble consultant who has never started a company of his own, so I think it would be presumptuous of me to arbitrarily declare SEO a high priority for any start-up in any field.

If doing SEO isn’t a foregone conclusion, then, it bears further discussion as a marketing strategy. I want to approach this topic from a different angle. In any successful startup there will be someone with good business sense, someone who can look at the evidence in front of them and make their own decision about what is best for their company. So let me put some premises on the table about what SEO offers the start-up and why start-ups are uniquely positioned to leverage their position for SEO.

What SEO Offers

(Measurable) Audience Embiggening

The end goal of SEO is to increase the number of people arriving at your site through organic search results. There are also other metrics that are intermediate factors helping you accomplish this goal, such as your actual rankings in search results. These are things that you can measure, and report successes in increasing.

In addition, there are two different sets of keywords to look at when assessing the organic search channel—branded and non-branded terms. It's a powerful thing to demonstrate that your branded search traffic is increasing—it suggests that more people are looking for your brand online, which is a Good Thing.

On the other hand, the implications of receiving non-branded search traffic are numerous. Such traffic suggests that a site has increasing visibility for relevant search terms. If the start-up is defining new language, it suggests that users are picking up on that language. If it is increasing its share in an existing space, it suggests that the site may be cutting into the market share of competitors in organic search.

Reinforcement Of Extant Marketing Strategies

Optimization for SEO has the potential to enhance the effect of your other marketing strategies. If you are anticipating driving a lot of social interaction with your site, having your pages and URLs optimized for SEO will ensure that as people share your site you get the most value from that sharing. If you are link building through outreach and maintaining relationships with people in your industry, all of a sudden you have assets through which you can promote social content or editorial or anything else you might be up to.

Makes sense, right?

Why Startups Can Leverage Their Position

Agility

A startup—particularly at the outset of operation—has a great deal more flexibility than a more established competitor in the market. The obvious dichotomy here is between the large, established competitor and the start-up underdog. The start-up clearly has more agility than the established competitor, without a doubt. Consider:

But what about the 18-month old company compared to the 2-month old? If you don’t even have a website live, you’re even more flexible than an 18-month old company with a website up and an investment in a particular architecture or format or strategy for content publication. Oracle might be a giant awkward mess to manage from an SEO perspective, but even Dropbox by now has a more rigid infrastructure and user expectations and a great deal of variables which it must consider. Setting a course at the outset, which includes SEO will ensure that you are well positioned to be successful in organic search when you've achieved the same size and user base.

As part of overall SEO efforts all of the elements in the following (non-exhaustive) list might need to be manipulated:

Keyword targeting—which terms you have chosen to represent your products, content, and brand.
Site structure—how information on your website is structured and how you present that information to users. Are your products and pages properly differentiated?
Content strategy—what information are you going to publish on your site? None? All of it? Who will be responsible for this?

The earlier SEO can be integrated into the business model the better.

Novelty

A startup is bringing something new to the market, something with novelty (though hopefully it has some staying power as well).

In fact, novelty is what linkbait is all about. It’s something new and fresh and interesting—whether it is something explicitly new or a new take on something familiar. A new product, or a new face on an old product.

I mean, check out Y Combinator start-up Matterport. They’ve got a little Star Trek-style scanning device that makes 3D representations of any object or environment. This is some link-worthy content if ever I've seen some. We talk in SEO all the time about content marketing, which can be an expensive or confusing marketing route for a start-up. The thing is, in the early days, if you’ve got an interesting product that is your content. Ignore this at your own risk.

And again this matches up well with efforts you will be making on other fronts. If you've got a really interesting start-up idea, you'll almost certainly have been getting links on TechCrunch or Mashable. If you're minding your SEO on-site, you'll be getting the full benefit these novelty-based links can drive to your site.

Efficacy of Partial Implementation

Practicing SEO is a bit like practicing meditation—full enlightenment is an ongoing journey requiring a lifetime of work, but also a little bit will go a long way. It may be impractical for your business to drop $10,000-$20,000 on a link bait campaign or plan a content strategy that reaches six months out. But if you could manage to do a quick technical audit of your site, even doing that will get you one step closer to success. SEO isn't an all-or-nothing proposition. It is fully capable of scaling with your company.

Next Steps

I think it goes without saying that I think the above premises suggest that SEO is really something that start-ups ought to be engaged in. If you have come to a similar conclusion, I suggest reading this longer essay on the merits of SEO for start-ups. If after that you’re feeling game, checking out the following resources:

These reflect a higher-level look at the problem of SEO in the startup context. Then try to take some first steps, such as:

Running through a technical audit checklist for your site, whether it is already live or pending publication.
Reading (or having someone on your team read) the SEOmoz Beginner’s Guide to SEO.
Benchmarking your current position if your site is live. Which terms are you ranking for, or just tracking words for which you would like to rank. SEOmoz's Pro Campaigns are a great way to get started doing this.
Keyword Research—what are your competitors trying to rank for? Have a go with the Google Keyword Tool and see what terms it suggests are related to those you think might be valuable.
Get your first ten links. There are a huge number of tactics available to you—this blog itself has an entire category dedicated to link building.

Thanks for reading, and good luck in your entrepreneurial endeavors! Reach me in the comments below or on Twitter.

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Seth's Blog : Thriving in a wet environment

Thriving in a wet environment

If you've ever fixed any kind of machinery, you know that a device that's exposed to the elements is incredibly difficult to maintain. A washing machine or the underside of a car gets grungy, fast.

On the other hand, the dryest, cleanest environment of all is the digital one. Code stays code. If it works today, it's probably going to work tomorrow.

The wettest, weirdest environment is human interaction. Whatever we build gets misunderstood, corroded and chronic, and it happens quickly and in unpredictable ways. That's one reason why the web is so fascinating--it's a collision between the analytic world of code and wet world of people.

No software design survives a collision with the user.

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