Central Perk

joi, 5 iulie 2012

Will Publishing Reviews Destroy Your Brand?

Posted: 03 Jul 2012 05:38 AM PDT

Online reviews can be a divisive idea among marketers. Some welcome the user-generated keyword-rich content and increased transparency. Others argue that they have to be censored or you risk negative comments and even legal challenges.

So who’s right? This article takes a look at why you’d benefit from publishing reviews, what the risks are and how to mitigate them.

The rise and rise of UGC

UGC, or user-generated content is a fairly recent phenomenon of web marketing, and serves several of the major demands of SEO (at least in terms of how Google defines ‘optimised’ website content).

For a start, reviews are helpful to other visitors to your website – as long as they are honest. They offer an independent assessment of the quality of a product or service. No material written directly for marketing purposes can inspire that much trust.

Updating a page by posting a new review onto it shows Google (and other search engines) that the page and the website as a whole are still ‘alive’. Regularly updating a website is still one of the best ways to get it to the top of the search rankings.

On top of all of these things, like any text content added to your website, reviews contain plain, search-visible text; it may not be professionally keyworded or optimised, but it can still help you to rank higher for product names, and associated technical terms and phrases.

What are the risks?

One of the reasons why UGC is so popular is that it seems very low-risk – once you’ve added the capability to write reviews to your website, each user who posts their opinion is effectively providing you with search-visible content for free.

However, there are some downsides to consider – and these can be quite significant concerns. It can be especially risky for big brands that are in the public eye, or for firms that are subject to any special regulation or authorisation.

If you’re a law firm, financial adviser, or similar organisation, allowing UGC on to your site might be particularly risky – and you’ll often see even the discussion pages of such websites placed behind a gateway page warning that nothing published there should be taken as financial or legal advice.

For any website, though, you might want to take measures to ensure nobody can use your review section to trash-talk your suppliers, partners or competitors – you don’t want to find that a company suddenly refuses to supply you, or that a competitor has taken offence to a user comment and launched legal action against you.

Who’s responsible?

Liability in terms of UGC can be a complex topic and, if you’re not sure, it’s worth consulting a specialist solicitor who can advise you on any recent developments in what is clearly a fairly young area of the law.

Generally speaking, you should expect to bear at least some responsibility for any content that appears on your site – which is why pre-moderation of comments (whereby they must be approved before they appear at all) is a popular option, and typical of major brand websites.

However, if you moderate comments, it implies that you read them – which can actually increase your liability with respect to potentially libellous comments and reviews.

An entirely unmoderated approach may leave you with more plausible deniability when contentious reviews are posted, but it’s likely that you’ll want at least some control over what can and cannot be said on your site.

What are the options?

Putting aside the legal issues and focusing on the technical aspects of posting reviews, there are several steps you can take to exert some degree of control over what your users can say.

Limiting them to certain options – such as a five-star rating – is one straightforward way to allow feedback without the risks of posting free-text, unmoderated reviews. However, it also means you won’t benefit from the search-visible text that full reviews create.

As mentioned above, a pre-moderated approach gives you total control over your site, but needs constant attention to prevent a backlog of reviews from building up.

Take the option of moderating reviews after they are published, and again you need to be careful, as anything contentious requires prompt action to stop it from reaching a large audience.

Finally, you might want to set up alerts for when certain words are used in your reviews – from expletives, to competitors’ or suppliers’ names – so that you can moderate only the reviews you believe may be contentious.

The main thing to remember is that, whichever option you choose, allowing UGC on to your website introduces a certain lack of control, which you must find a way to compensate for – and that inevitably means there will be an administrative burden.

Reviews gone rogue

On top of everything we’ve already discussed, there’s one more concern associated with UGC – and that is the rogue reviewer, the renegade individual who decides to post an entirely satirical comment on one of your product pages.

You may have seen an example of this on Amazon, where everything from hair removal creams for men, to Roger Hargreaves’ Mr. Men children’s books, have been targeted by satirical reviewers, and subsequently done the rounds on social networks such as Facebook and Twitter.

Depending on the type of industry you operate in, you might actually welcome ‘going viral’ in this way – and certainly the reviews are not always offensive, but often simply take an unusual approach to reviewing an otherwise mundane product.

Indeed, many satirical reviews adopt an overwhelmingly positive stance on the product – originally for comedic effect, but often with an unintended positive impact on the reader’s perception of the item.

Alternatives to reviews

If you’re worried about welcoming people’s opinions of your products in a clearly critical way, there are some alternatives.

Rather than accepting reviews, you might want to add a more general ‘comments’ section, as you might find at the end of a blog post.

This still gives your customers somewhere to leave their feedback, but in more general terms – so you don’t face the unfortunate outcome of a product page dominated by a one-star customer rating.

Instead, a general comments section means those customers who have encountered a problem with the product can raise their concern, and you have a right to reply – as do any helpful visitors to your page who think they might be able to solve the problem themselves.

As a result, future visitors can see that aftercare is all part of your service, and that any previous customers’ problems have been effectively resolved, all of which can help to increase your chances of making a sale.

Entire websites and product support forums have been set up based on this principle of problem-and-solution posts between customers of varying levels of experience and aptitude, making it a significant area of UGC for the internet as a whole.

Take a look at your own site – the layout of each product page, or the availability of sections such as a discussion forum where reviews could be posted, and decide on the best way to invite UGC on to your pages, whether it is appropriate to do so, and how to mitigate the risks.

Remember, like any major change to your website, it can often be best to conduct a limited trial run, and then reassess your levels of success for the long term.

Seth's Blog : Entering sync markets

Entering sync markets

How does a painting end up selling for $5 million?

Why do some songs end up being listened to by legions of teenagers?

Which companies end up with investors swarming all over them, eager to put in cash?

Hint: in each case, it has little to do with the verifiable, rational analysis of the product. In some markets, things are popular merely because they are popular. John Legend's version of Compared to What is a pale imitation of the original, but don't tell the local teenager that. Jeff Koons is no longer a visionary, but he's a safe bet for gallery owners, investors and people looking for bragging rights...

Whining about what's good is a silly way to do business with people who seek to be in sync. What sync markets care about is, "who else is into this?" Markets like textbooks, surgical devices and nightclubs are all sync markets.

In every one of these markets are people who spot trends, who go first, who set the pace. This group (which doesn't have a defined membership... there's a lot of churn) cares a lot about being seen as right, about going first and being followed. The early trendsetters are not the mass market, but they are acutely aware of what the mass market is going to be willing to do next. (Sadly for marketers in search of a reliable shortcut, these trendsetters are often wrong. That doesn't mean that they don't matter).

Marketing to those that want to be in sync is a fundamentally different project than treating your audience as a horizontal mass of isolated people, all to be approached with the same story at the same time, all making independent decisions. The connections between people are always important, but in sync markets, they're the primary driver.

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miercuri, 4 iulie 2012

Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis

In 2010 Obama Promised to Double Exports by 2015; So How's He Doing?
France to Set Top Marginal Tax Rate at 75%, Permanently Increase Wealth Taxes, Hike Surcharges on Banks and Energy Companies; Further Tax Hikes Next Year; France Poised to Implode
Graphical Look at the Spanish-Italian Summit "Victory"; Where to From Here?
Merkel Coalition About to Splinter Over Creation of "European Monster State"

In 2010 Obama Promised to Double Exports by 2015; So How's He Doing?

Posted: 04 Jul 2012 10:52 PM PDT

Purportedly the US is going to decouple from the global economy, led by exports. I believe otherwise, which got me to thinking about pledges president Obama made in January 2010.

On January 27, 2010 Obama pledged to double exports by 2015.

Miracles and Mysteries Investigated

The humorous comment at the time, as noted by the New York Times a day later, (see above link), was made by Leslie H. Gelb, president emeritus of the Council on Foreign Relations, who asked "How will he perform this miracle? It really is a mystery."

With that backdrop, inquiring minds may be wondering what has actually happened. Not to fear, I have a set of charts that will unravel the mystery.

ISM Manufacturing: New Export Orders Index

Manufacturing New Export Orders - Percent Change From Year Ago

Let's hone in since the promise was made.

Bear in mind those are manufacturing numbers, not total numbers, and not actual dollar numbers at all.

Even though they provide serious clues as to what is happening, we need to dig further.

Let's take a look at "Real Net" Export Orders. "Real" means inflation adjusted. "Net" subtracts imports.

Real Net Export Orders

Please note the left scale. It is negative.

There is no point in honing in further, you can easily see the grim results as they are. Still, those are "real" (inflation adjusted) "net" export orders. US trade deficit subtracts from those results.

To give president Obama further benefit of the doubt, let's look at exports only, ignoring the trade deficit, but still adjusted for inflation.

Real Exports of Goods and Services

Real Exports since 2010

Mystery Solved

Once again, please look closely at the numbers on the left scale. You would have to be freaking nuts to think exports will double by 2015 at this pace (or for that matter at any conceivable pace).

Simply put, President Obama is light-years away from his pledge to double exports. In terms of "net" exports, there has been no progress at all.

The mystery has been solved. The pledge to double exports was pure bullsheet.

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

France to Set Top Marginal Tax Rate at 75%, Permanently Increase Wealth Taxes, Hike Surcharges on Banks and Energy Companies; Further Tax Hikes Next Year; France Poised to Implode

Posted: 04 Jul 2012 02:16 PM PDT

Many told me that French president Francois Hollande was making idle campaign pledges on tax hikes and worker rules, and the he would not follow through. Well he did, at least on taxes.

The Financial Times reports Wealthy hit hardest as France raises taxes

France's socialist government announced a big one-off increase in wealth taxes on Wednesday, by far the biggest single element in a €7.2bn package of new levies aimed at meeting this year's budget deficit target that also included surcharges on banks and energy companies.

The supplementary 2012 budget, required to ensure the government hits its deficit target of 4.5 per cent of gross domestic product this year, was weighted overwhelmingly towards taxes on the rich and big companies as ministers said planned spending cuts would mainly take effect from next year.

An extra €2.3bn will be raised by an exceptional tax charge on all those with net wealth of more than €1.3m.

Citing an "an extremely difficult financial and economic situation", Pierre Moscovici, the finance minister, said: "The wealthiest households and the big companies will be asked to contribute. In 2012 and 2013, the effort will be particularly large."

Further tax increases for next year, when the government is expected to have to find €33bn in savings to bring the deficit down to 3 per cent of GDP, will be spelt out in the autumn. They will include President Francois Hollande's election pledge of a 75 per cent marginal rate on annual incomes of more than €1m – and permanent increases in wealth taxes.

Overall, public spending as a proportion of GDP, second only to Denmark in Europe, will rise slightly this year to 56.2 per cent before falling slowly to 53.4 per cent in 2017. The tax burden will, however, keep rising to 46.5 per cent – also one of the highest in Europe.

France Poised to Implode

On June 16, in "France Has At Most Three Months Before Markets Make Their Mark" says German Official I wrote ...

If socialists take control of both houses in French parliament as expected, president François Hollande would have free rein to carry out his stated policies such as hire more public workers, raise taxes on the rich, and Wreck France With Economically Insane Proposal: "Make Layoffs So Expensive For Companies That It's Not Worth It"

Socialists did win both of Parliament.

Now that Hollande has followed through on his pledge to hike taxes, there is every reason to believe he will follow through on his inane proposal to make it nearly impossible for businesses to fire people. If he continues with that promised path, France will implode.

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

Graphical Look at the Spanish-Italian Summit "Victory"; Where to From Here?

Posted: 04 Jul 2012 10:00 AM PDT

Spain 10-Year Government Bond Yield

Italy 10-Year Government Bond Yield

Germany 10-year Government Bond Yield

Where To From Here?

A one day rise in the yield of Spanish and Italian debt will not mean much if this is a consolidation following a big two-day drop.

However, the same can be said in reverse. If this is all or nearly all Spain and Italy get out of the summit, the Euro will have to be saved for the 20th if not 100th time.

Note that the latest summit changed no fundamentals (see EU Summit Winner Was Merkel).

Also note that Merkel's hands may be heavily tied preventing further concessions from her (see Merkel Coalition About to Splinter Over Creation of "European Monster State").

Thus, I suspect it will not be too long before yields head North in a major way. Don't be surprised if today is the start.

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

Merkel Coalition About to Splinter Over Creation of "European Monster State"

Posted: 03 Jul 2012 11:12 PM PDT

Winning the Summit but Losing the War

German chancellor Angela Merkel was the EU Summit Winner. She gave next to nothing to Italy and France, and a pittance to Spain.

However, there was a price to that pittance, and it could cost Merkel dearly. Please consider German Party Leader Threatens To Axe Coalition

Chancellor Angela Merkel faces growing resistance to her European policy from within her own coalition. Horst Seehofer, the leader of the powerful CSU party, sharply criticized the outcome of last week's EU summit, and threatened to let the coalition government collapse if Berlin makes any more concessions to ailing euro members.

Bavarian governor Horst Seehofer, the leader of the conservative Christian Social Union party (CSU) which is part of Chancellor Angela Merkel's center-right federal government coalition, has criticized the outcome of last week's European Union summit and threatened to let the government collapse if Berlin makes any further financial concessions to ailing euro member states.

"The time will come when the Bavarian government and the CSU can no longer say yes. And I wouldn't then be able to support that personally either," Seehofer said in an interview with Stern magazine released on Tuesday. "And the coalition has no majority without the CSU's seats."

The CSU is the Bavarian sister party to Merkel's Christian Democratic Union.

Germany's billions of euros in aid and guarantees were already "borderline," said Seehofer, who is known in Germany for his combative, occasionally populist style. "My biggest fear is that the financial markets will ask: Can Germany cope with all that? That is the point I regard as the most dangerous of all."

'European Monster State'

Seehofer also criticized a suggestion by Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble that Germany should hold a referendum on a new constitution that could relinquish national powers to Brussels. "Hands off our constitution! We have this constitution to thank for the most stable state and the most stable democracy there has ever been in German history. We don't want a different constitution," said Seehofer.

He said he wouldn't accept the transfer of major powers to a "European monster state." He said he would turn the next general election and the Bavarian regional election, both scheduled for 2013, into a vote on Europe. "We will put this question to the people."

End of the Line

Merkel has given the minimum each step of the way. However there have been too many give-aways to count. Each cave-in, no matter how small, has had a cumulative effect. Each time she makes a concession, she adds risk of an adverse ruling in the constitutional court or risk of increased political fallout.

Her latest pre-planned escapade in Brussels puts her at risk of both.

The constitutional court already had the ESM under review. Additional challenges will be filed. I suspect the court will OK the treaty but with a stern warning. And speaking of stern warnings, CSU party leader Horst Seehofer just issued one in no uncertain terms.

This may be the end of the line of what Merkel can agree to without a referendum. When yields head North again in Spain and Italy (and they will because nothing has been solved), Merkel will be in serious trouble.

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

Damn Cool Pics

Happy America Day!! [Infographic]
Humans Are Awesome, Jeb Corliss Compilation [Video]
List of Worthwhile DOS Games

Happy America Day!! [Infographic]

Posted: 04 Jul 2012 11:27 AM PDT

Did you know that the current U.S. population is 125 times the original population of the U.S.? Or that more than 68 million cases of beer are sold on July 4th? Now you do. Check out this infographic from Vizual Archive for a slew of other fun facts about "America Day."

Humans Are Awesome, Jeb Corliss Compilation [Video]

Posted: 03 Jul 2012 11:25 PM PDT

BASE jumper Jeb Corliss is the man whose weakness is most definitely not fear of death, and so does the series Humans are Awesome, which put together this compilation of thrilling moments from his most unusual career.

List of Worthwhile DOS Games

Posted: 03 Jul 2012 09:45 PM PDT

A very good list of 100 worthwhile DOS games from the 90's. That's pretty much my childhood defined in one JPG and it makes me want acquire many of them to relive the nostalgia of my early PC gaming days.