SEOmoz Daily SEO Blog

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Technical Site Audit Checklist Posted: 22 May 2011 02:30 PM PDT Posted by Geoff Kenyon We all want to deliver actionable site audits, but doing the research can be a bit overwhelming if you don’t have a process in place to systematically go through a site. I have created a site audit checklist that will walk you through how to do a site audit. This will work for most sites - in many cases you will need to customize the checklist a bit as some aspects won't be relevant or are unable to be changed.   Make sure to look at really important pages (high priority landing pages, pages with a lot of links, pages flagged by crawl tools, or pages that the client has specifically asked for help with) in addition to the template pages.   At the end of your audit, don’t write a document that says what’s wrong with the website. Instead, create a document that says what needs to be done. Then explain why these actions need to be taken and why they are important. What seems to be really helpful is to provide a prioritized list along with your document of all the actions that you would like them to implement. This list can be handed off to a dev or content team to be implemented easily. These teams can refer to your more thorough document as needed.   Quick Overview Check indexed pages   Do a site: search How many pages are returned (this can be way off so don’t put too much stock in this)? Is the homepage showing up as the first result? If the homepage isn’t showing up as the first result, there could be issues, like a penalty or poor site architecture/internal linking, affecting the site. Search for the brand and branded terms Is the homepage showing up at the top, or are correct pages showing up. If the proper pages aren’t showing up as the first result, there could be issues, like a penalty, in play. Check Google’s cache for key pages Is the content showing up? Are navigation links present? Are there links that aren't visible on the site? PRO Tip: Don't forget to check the text only version of the cached page. Content Homepage content Does the homepage have at least one paragraph? Landing pages Do these pages have at least a few paragraphs? Is it template text or is it completely unique? Site contains real and substantial content Is there real content on the site or is the “content” simply a list of links. Proper keyword targeting Is the intent right? Are there pages targeting head terms, mid-tail, and long-tail keywords? Keyword cannibalization Do a site: search Google for important keyword phrases. Check for duplicate content/page titles in the SEOmoz Pro Campaign App. Formatting Is the content formatted well and easy to read quickly? Are H tags used? Are images used? Is the text broken down into easy to read paragraphs? Good Headlines on Blog Posts Good headlines go a long way. Make sure the headlines are well written and draw users in. Amount of content v ads Since the implementation of Panda, the amount of ad-space on a page has become important to evaluate. Make sure there is significant unique content above the fold. If you have more ads than unique content, you are probably going to have a problem.   Additional Reading: How to Write Magnetic Headlines SEO Copywriting Tips for Improved Link Building The Ultimate Blogger Writing Guide Tips to Earn Links and Tweets to Your Blog Post Duplicate Content There should be one URL for each piece of content Do URLs include parameters or tracking code - This will result in multiple URLs for a piece of content. Does the same content reside on completely different URLs? Pro Tip: Exclude common parameters, such as those used to designate tracking code, in Google Webmaster Tools. Read more at Search Engine Land. Do a search to check for duplicate content Take a content snippet, put it in quotes and search for it. Does the content show up elsewhere on the domain? Has it been scraped? - If the content has been scraped, you should file a content removal request with Google. Sub-domain duplicate content Does the same content exist on different sub-domains? Check for a secure version of the site Does the content exist on a secure version of the site? Check other sites owned by the company Is the content replicated on other domains owned by the company? Accessibility Check the robots.txt Has the entire site, or important content been blocked? Is link equity being orphaned due to pages being blocked via the robots.txt? Turn off JavaScript, cookies, and CSS Use the Web Developer Toolbar Is the content there? Do the navigation links work? Now change your user agent to Googlebot. Use the User Agent Add-on Are they cloaking? Does it look the same as before? PRO Tip: Use SEO Browser to do a quick spot check. Check the SEOmoz PRO Campaign Check for 4xx errors and 5xx errors. Site Architecture Hierarchy Are category pages set up in the appropriate way to flow link equity to key pages? Landing pages Do they have landing pages high enough in the architecture to receive enough link equity to compete for competitive terms? Number of category pages How many category pages are there? Have they been scaled out too much? Category pages should be built out only when there is enough demand for new or sub category pages. Pagination/Faceted Navigation Is pagination or faceted navigation more appropriate? Or, should they be used in tandem? Does pagination exist to help long tail content get indexed? Is the pagination prohibitive to crawling (uses JavaScript). Number of clicks to content Pages targeting really competitive head terms should be one or two clicks from the homepage. Pages targeting moderately competitive keywords should be 2 or three clicks from the homepage. Pages targeting the long tail should be 5 clicks away (obviously exceptions must be made here for sites with a ton of content). Prioritized content Most important content should be higher up in the pagination Additional Reading: Successful Site Architecture for SEO The SEO Guide to Site Architecture Information Architecture and Faceted Navigation Technical Issues Proper use of 301’s Are 301’s being used for all redirects? If the root is being directed to a landing page, are they using a 301 instead of a 302? Use Live HTTP Headers FireFox plugin to check 301s. Use of JavaScript Is content being served in JavaScript? Are links being served in JavaScript? Is this to do PR sculpting or is it accidental? Use of iframes Is content being pulled in via iframes? Use of Flash Is the entire site done in flash, or is flash used sparingly in a way that doesn’t hinder crawling? PRO Tip: Flash is like garlic. A little bit of garlic in your food can make it taste better. Eating a plate full of garlic would be quite terrible. Likewise, Flash can be added to a site in a way that improves the user's experience, but creating the entire site in flash is not a good idea. Site Speed How long does the page take to load - Is it significant for users or search engines? What improvements can be made? Alt text Is alt text present? Does the alt text use keyword phrases? Does the alt text reinforce the topical themes presented in the content? Check for Errors in Google Webmaster Tools Google WMT will give you a good list of technical problems showing up on your site that they are encountering (such as: 4xx and 5xx errors, inaccessible pages in the XML sitemap, and soft 404's) Canonicalization Canonical version of the site established through 301’s   Canonical version of site is specified in Google Webmaster Tools   Rel canonical link tag is properly implemented across the site Make sure it points to the correct page, and every page doesn't point to the homepage. Uses absolute URLs instead of relative URLs This can cause a lot of problems if you have a root domain with secure sections. URLs Clean URLs No excessive parameters or session ID’s URLs exposed to search engines should be static. Short URLs 115 characters or shorter – this character limit isn’t set in stone, but shorter URLs are better for usability. Descriptive URLs Get your primary keyword phrase in there. Additional Reading: Best Practices for URLs URL Rewriting Tool mod_rewrite Cheat Sheet Creating 301 Redirects With .htaccess Internal Linking Number of links on a page 100 is a good target, but not a rule. Vertical Links Homepage links to category pages. Category pages link to sub-category and product pages as appropriate. Product pages link to relevant category pages. Horizontal Links Category pages link to other relevant category pages. Product pages link to other relevant product pages. Links are in content Does not utilize massive blocks of links stuck in the content to do internal linking. Footer links Does not use a block of footer links instead of proper navigation. Does not link to landing pages with optimized anchors. Good internal anchor text   Check for broken links Link Checker and Xenu are good tools for this. Additional Reading: Importance of Internal Linking Internal Linking Tactics Using Anchor Links to Make Google Ignore The First Link Title Tags Unique title tags Every page should have a unique title tag. Keyword rich Pages should contain the primary keyword phrase. Is possible to use the secondary keyword phrase in a non spammy way? Primary keyword phrase at the beginning of the title tag   Page titles include branding In most cases the brand should be included at the end of the page title to help build a brand or entice users if you are a well known brand 65 - 70 characters in length If the title is longer than this, the entirety will not be displayed in the SERPs. Have they been keyword stuffed by someone else?   Meta Tags Meta keywords tag used This data should be removed as competitors can scrape this data. Meta description is appropriate Each page has a unique meta description. Meta descriptions are representative of the content and entice users. Rewrite meta descriptions for key pages For key landing pages, write meta descriptions by hand instead of systemically implementing. Meta robots tag Noindex pages only appropriate pages. Not blocking important pages. Helpful tools for doing a site audit: Web Developer Toolbar User Agent Add-on Firebug Link Checker SEObook Toolbar SEOmoz Toolbar Xenu Screaming Frog Your own scraper   Do you like this post? Yes No

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Do You Take Responsibility for Your Website’s Quality? Graywolf's SEO Blog

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Do You Take Responsibility for Your Website’s Quality? Posted: 23 May 2011 04:18 AM PDT The following is a sponsored post. The situation used to be: one day, your website enjoyed healthy traffic and profitable conversions; the next day, traffic was decimated – along with your ability to make money online. It took precious hours or days to work out what had happened, then work out why and then plan how to get your livelihood reinstated: your website had incurred a Google penalty, but no-one had informed you or explained why. Either in response to user pressure or as a natural development of customer service niceties, Google has begun to release more information to those who have flirted with the wrath of the algorithm and lost. What a penalty means There are two types of penalty: automated, where the search engine algorithm has detected Black Hat or quality issues, incurs a short, pre-determined penalty (for example, a 50-place drop for 30 days); a manual removal from the Google index for a more serious issue means that an issue has to be fixed and resubmitted before Google makes it visible for inclusion in search results. In both cases it takes time to recover previous rank positions for keywords. Until recently, there was no confirmation whether a penalty was automated or manual. Webmasters would frantically scour their websites for issues to fix, resubmit their sites, and wait. And wait. In the meantime, companies keen to maintain their traffic invest more money into Google AdWords. Ouch: unfortunately for Google, this gives wiggle-room to rumours it is purposefully cloaking the penalty issue in order to profit from it. However, the process has become more helpful: now, when a website incurs a manual penalty or ban, a message to webmasters indicate, loosely, why. It’s not much and it doesn’t help those with an automatic penalty (who still might have to hang around hitting the resubmit site button) but it is still potentially time-saving – it means webmasters can make an educated decision about how serious the penalty is and how to fix it so that the Google algorithm will accept it for re-indexing. Risk assessment You can avoid all this palaver if you accept responsibility for the calibre of your website: you play in Google’s ballpark so you should adhere to their quality guidelines, which are there for your benefit. There are a number of in which ways businesses risk getting a ban: naivety, intentionally using black hat techniques, or just sheer bad luck. Causes range from having a DIY website, falling prey to the tactics of rogue SEO companies, to having your content plagiarized by a phishing site or competitor. If your business relies upon its internet presence for a sizeable percentage of profit, you need to run a risk assessment to ensure you don’t fall into a costly and painful penalty trap. If you have a hands-on role with the online side of your business, acquaint yourself with Google’s webmaster and AdWords guidelines; you should also take an interest in the help forums. Google is trying to create a useful, intuitive environment for internet users by raising the bar on quality, especially with its Panda/Farmer update earlier this year: the user experience is vital to its ethos. Therefore, your website should enhance the user experience – it should look good, have clarity, be original, navigate and load well. It should not use any techniques to trick either the user or the search engine – such as keyword stuffing, invisible text or secret (doorway) pages. The best way to achieve website quality – avoiding penalties, enhancing user experience – is to hire an online marketing company. The accessibility of the internet lulls people into a state of over-confidence but ask yourself if you would tackle your troublesome plumbing, electrics, plastering, loose roof tiles or gas leaks. A good agency is like an insurance policy – risk of a penalty is minimal, while their expertise will give you a much better return on your investment. The ideal agency will be transparent about its services, will offer regular reports, have a portfolio available for perusal, will not tie you into a long-term contract and you will own all the work they undertake on your behalf. Small business owners can read more internet marketing tips and do a risk assessment on their vulnerability on the Adrac Ltd blog. Adrac Ltd is a full service internet marketing agency specializing in search engine optimization (SEO),pay per click, link building, web design, branding, public relations, copywriting and back end design. The preceding has been a sponsored post. Find out more information about sponsored posts. Related posts: Thinking About the Adwords Quality Score, User Data, and Organic Rankings It’s dark, it’s late, I’m on my second red bull... Adwords Quality Score – Why It Won’t Roll Back I’ll admit that when I first saw the new adwords... Adwords Quality Score Updates Part of the problem with understanding the Google Adwords Quality... How Many Websites Should I Run A question that I get asked fairly regularly is “how... How Many Websites Should You Run One of the more common questions I get asked is... Advertisers: Text Link Ads - New customers can get $100 in free text links. BOTW.org - Get a premier listing in the internet's oldest directory. Ezilon.com Regional Directory - Check to see if your website is listed! Directory Journal - Get permanent deep links in a search engine friendly directory Glass Whiteboards - For a professional durable white board with no ghosting, streaking or marker stains, see my Glass Whiteboard Review Need an SEO Audit for your website, look at my SEO Consulting Services Link Building- Backlink Build offers 45 PR5+ Backlinks for $295 KnowEm - Protect your brand, product or company name with a continually growing list of social media sites. Links From PR9 Sites - - Get In Top 3 Google ASAP Scribe SEO Review find out how to better optimize your wordpress posts. TigerTech - Great Web Hosting service at a great price. What Motivates You - what makes you want to get up and be successful This post originally came from Michael Gray who is an SEO Consultant. Be sure not to miss the Thesis Wordpress Theme review. Do You Take Responsibility for Your Website’s Quality?

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Deepest Condolences for Missouri and the Midwest

Your Daily Snapshot for Monday, May 23, 2011   Deepest Condolences for Missouri and the Midwest In the wake of yet more terrible storms, this time in the Midwest, the President called Missouri Governor Jay Nixon to personally extend his condolences and to tell all of the families of Joplin affected by the severe tornadoes that they are in his thoughts and prayers. The President assured the governor that FEMA will remain in close contact and coordination with state and local officials.   President Barack Obama talks on the phone with Missouri Governor Jay Nixon, during his visit to Dublin, Ireland, May 23, 2011. The President and Gov. Nixon discussed the deadly tornado that touched down in Joplin, Mo., Sunday night. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza) In Case You Missed It Here are some of the top stories from the White House blog. President Obama Hosts Prime Minister Netanyahu: “An Extremely Constructive Discussion” A day after the President’s speech on the Middle East and North Africa, where he spoke on the changes sweeping the region as well as the ongoing conflict between Israelis and Palestinians, the President hosted Prime Minister Netanyahu of Israel for a lengthy meeting. Weekly Address: Reforming “No Child Left Behind” This Year Having just given the commencement address at Booker T. Washington High School in Memphis, which has made inspiring progress in recent years, the President says Congress must reform No Child Left Behind to help all our schools thrive. New Obama Administration Jobs and Innovation Initiative to Spur Regional Economic Growth The $33 million Jobs and Innovation Accelerator Challenge that the Obama Administration announced May 20th will help capitalize on shared strengths, encouraging America's regions to plan more strategically to support long-term growth and an environment where the private sector can succeed. Today's Schedule  All times are Eastern Daylight Time (EDT). 4:35 AM: The President and the First Lady arrive in Dublin, Ireland 5:15 AM: The President and the First Lady arrive at President's Residence and sign guest book 5:25 AM: The President and the First Lady meet with President McAleese and Dr. McAleese 5:50 AM: The President and the First Lady participate in a tree planting ceremony 6:15 AM: The President holds a bilateral meeting with Taoiseach Kenny 8:20 AM: The President and the First Lady attend U.S. Embassy meet and greet 10:00 AM: The Vice President meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu 12:30 PM: The President delivers remarks at Irish Celebration  5:00 PM: The Vice President attends a retirement ceremony for Ambassador Chris Hill   Indicates events that will be live streamed on WhiteHouse.gov/Live Get Updates  Sign Up for the Daily Snapshot  Stay Connected          Facebook Twitter YouTube Flickr iTunes       This email was sent to e0nstar1.blog@gmail.com Manage Subscriptions for e0nstar1.blog@gmail.com Sign Up for Updates from the White House Unsubscribe e0nstar1.blog@gmail.com | Privacy Policy Please do not reply to this email. Contact the White House The White House • 1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW • Washington, DC 20500 • 202-456-1111

Seth's Blog : Underextended

Underextended

There is a lot of fear associated with 'overextended'.

Take too much financial risk, expose yourself to the vagaries of the market and you'll end up strssed, bankrupt and overextended.

Stretch your knee too much in the wrong direction after a long swim and the doctor will tell you that the ligaments are overextended.

Brands that get greedy and put their names in too many places in too many ways (as Tiffany's did a generation ago) get overextended and take a long time to heal.

But what about the more prevalent, more insidious and ultimately more damaging notion of being underextended?

The factory-mindset encourages every worker to protect his time and his effort. Don't volunteer because they'll never give you any slack. Don't push harder because you'll only exhaust yourself. Don't let them speed up the line because it will never slow down again...

It's true: in a commodity business, productivity only increases as the result of more effort, and that effort is rarely compensated.

We see one organization after another, left unchecked, pushing miners or laborers or bureaucrats to exhaustion, all in the name of enhanced productivity.

Here's the thing: creative work seems to be an exception. In fact, the exhaustion from overextending yourself creatively is some of the best exhaustion you will ever feel. An organization that provides a platform for people to push into their fear will produce both better work and a better workforce.

No, we don't need more TPS reports. Yes, we need to figure out how to push ourselves until we're creatively overextended.

 

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Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis

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Gimme, Gimme, Gimme Chants the "Better Way" Mob Posted: 22 May 2011 10:05 AM PDT I have devoted a fair amount of coverage recently to protests in Spain, Italy and other places. The US has seen massive protests in Wisconsin, Illinois, Ohio, and now Oregon. The protests in the US and Europe have a common theme "gimme gimme gimme". Everyone wants something, and they want to take it from someone else to get it. In the US, the SEIU is right at the top of the list in wanting to pick the pockets of everyone else for their own self-serving benefit. Misguided SEIU Oregon Protest Please consider Thousands storm Oregon's capitol steps rallying for "a better way" Taking to the steps of the state capitol in Salem on Friday, thousands of state workers, union members and advocacy groups rallying for alternatives to budget cuts, wage freezes and furlough days in Oregon. At least 36 busses carried people in to Salem from communities across all corners of Oregon. Many rally members say they're tired of making concessions while corporation and wealthy Oregonians "aren't paying their fair share." Most of the participants in Friday's rally were state workers on an unpaid furlough day, one of 10 the state is forcing employees to take this year to help balance the budget. SEIU Mob in Oregon Untenable Wages and Benefits Public union members want to preserve the status quo, just as they do in Greece and Spain. Well the status quo is broken, and proof is easy to find: Public union wages and benefits have bankrupted many cities and states. The way to fix the problem is to get rid of public unions not increase their power. Protesting the Wrong Thing Please consider this email I just received from "LT" Mish, The biggest problem I have with the protests in Europe is that they seem to be protesting the wrong things. In Greece, for example, the nation has been floating on an unsustainable tide of government spending for public- and quasi-public-sector jobs and pensions, and also for entitlements. A huge segment of the Greek population gets some or all of its money from the various layers of government. It seems to me that much the protesting is against the prospective loss of the national free lunch, because the Greek public knows their artificially-supported lifestyles will disappear down the drain and Greece will be back to being the third-world country is was 30 or 40 years ago. That is why the Greeks are protesting against austerity measures. They should be protesting against bailouts and state guarantees of debt that will saddle them and their children with a lifelong bill, but for now it just seems like a standard leftist rant in favor of socialism and statism. The PIIGS should default on their unsupportable debts AND cut back their wild spending to get back on solid ground financially, but the protesters seem to have little appetite for the second part of that equation. Cheers, LT Austerity Measures Needed LT has the right idea, not just about Europe, but about misguided protests in the US as well. Austerity measures are needed, but the bailouts of banks at taxpayer expense are not. The SEIU and their Greek counterparts want no part of the pain. Unfortunately untenable wages and benefits helped wrecked Greece and they have bankrupted many cities and states in the US. So, yes there is a "better way". The "better way" is to stop the bailouts of banks and stop handouts to unions as well. The Better Way Implement Rand Paul's national Right-to-Work proposal Scrap Davis-Bacon and all prevailing wage laws Get rid of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, HUD, and the FHA Stop the bailouts of banks at the expense of taxpayers Implement Paul Ryan's Voucher Proposal for Medicare (see Who's Right on Medicare Reform, Ryan and Rivlin or Obama and Gingrich? for details.) Reduce military spending substantially Stop attempting to be the world's policeman Kill the student loan "debt-slave" program Pass a Balanced Budget Amendment Audit the Fed then end the Fed That is the better way. It will be difficult to pass those measure because each proposal has a mob of naysayers and constituents all clamoring "gimme gimme gimme". We need a leader willing to spell out the serious situation the nation faces, what must be done about it, and the sacrifices that must be made for the nation to get out of its hole. President Obama is clearly not that leader. Indeed he fails on every point. Mike "Mish" Shedlock http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com Click Here To Scroll Thru My Recent Post List Mike "Mish" Shedlock is a registered investment advisor representative for SitkaPacific Capital Management. Sitka Pacific is an asset management firm whose goal is strong performance and low volatility, regardless of market direction. Visit http://www.sitkapacific.com/account_management.html to learn more about wealth management and capital preservation strategies of Sitka Pacific.

Conspiracy Garbage on Zero Hedge Posted: 22 May 2011 01:08 AM PDT Day in and day out there are a number of excellent articles on the site Zero Hedge. Moreover there are a number of authors on the Zero Hedge site that consistently write excellent article after excellent article. I will even volunteer a name in that latter category. Bruce Krasting writes consistently good articles. Krasting is one of the reasons I read Zero Hedge. However, I am sick of people who take every idea and make a conspiracy out of it. Enough is enough. I draw the line with this inane defense of Dominique Strauss-Kahn: Was Dominique Strauss-Kahn Trying to Torpedo the Dollar? I will not excerpt the article so as to introduce cherry pick bias. Instead I suggest the number of people that have stepped forward speaks for itself. This is not a case where the accused is accused out of the blue by a single person. This is a case where there is a massive amount of pre-existing information. Moreover, and more to the point I agree with Mike Whitney, the author of that piece of nonsense, that Dominique Strauss-Kahn deserves a fair trial. Everyone deserves a fair trial. However, "fair trial" does not mean trumping up sheer idiocy and conspiracy nonsense in his defense. Moreover, as long as we are discussing "fair trial" I would like to point out one simple fact. It is a crime to make false accusations. To presume the innocence of Dominique Strauss-Kahn, presumes his accuser is guilty of a crime. Perhaps she is. Perhaps not. However, no one needs to grasp at straws in defense of DSK as Mike Whitney did. This is one of the problems of aggregation sites. There is not a consistent point of view. One day one author says stock market will rise, the next day another author says the stock market will fall. We are supposed to believe both? Zero Hedge consistently trumps up the idea "you heard it here first". Given that various authors on the Zero Hedge site express wildly contradictory opinions, the idea "you heard it here first" is undoubtedly true by definition. If you want to be an aggregator, then be one. But don't express an aggregation as a "call". Worse yet, every extreme point of view from hyperinflation to deflation, from attacking DSK to Defending him is all portrayed on Zero Hedge with the same "it's going to happen" mentality. Here's the deal: If you throw up enough conspiracy garbage, some of it bound to happen, no matter how ridiculous it is. DSK may be found "not guilty" but let's stop the nonsense that DSK was setup because he was trying to "Torpedo the Dollar". Not everything is a conspiracy, and right at the top of the list is Whitney's "Torpedo the Dollar" theory. In fact, given the Fed clearly wants a lower US dollar, the idea that the US would setup someone in the opposite direction is blatantly preposterous. Aggregation sites that accept every piece of complete silliness offered, are subject to this kind of scathing attack. Mike "Mish" Shedlock http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com Click Here To Scroll Thru My Recent Post List Mike "Mish" Shedlock is a registered investment advisor representative for SitkaPacific Capital Management. Sitka Pacific is an asset management firm whose goal is strong performance and low volatility, regardless of market direction. Visit http://www.sitkapacific.com/account_management.html to learn more about wealth management and capital preservation strategies of Sitka Pacific.

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Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis

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80 Percent of Greeks Oppose More Austerity; Tens of Thousands Defy Spain's Protest Ban; Greece, ECB Deny the Obvious; IMF in Denial Regarding Portugal Posted: 21 May 2011 01:41 PM PDT The words for today are the same as the words for last week and last month: defy and denial. Let's consider a few examples. Campers in Spain Defy Protest Ban The New York Times reports Tens of Thousands in Spain Defy Protest Ban Tens of thousands of demonstrators across Spain continued sit-ins and other protests against the established political parties on Saturday. They did so in defiance of a ban against such protests and ahead of regional and municipal elections on Sunday. About 28,000 people, most of them young, spent Friday night in Puerta del Sol, a main square in downtown Madrid, the police said. They stayed even as the protest ban went into effect at midnight under rules that bring an official end to campaigning before the election in 13 of Spain's 17 regions and in more than 8,000 municipalities. Fueling the demonstrators' anger is the perceived failure by politicians to alleviate the hardships imposed on a struggling population. The unemployment rate in Spain is 21 percent. Beyond economic complaints, the protesters' demands include improving the judiciary, ending political corruption and overhauling Spain's electoral structure, notably by ending the system in which candidates are selected internally by the parties before an election rather than chosen directly by voters. As the campaign ban came into force at midnight, many of the Madrid protesters stuck tape across their mouths to signal that they would continue the demonstration, even if ordered to be silent. "The voice of the people can never be illegal," read some of the banners, while others argued, "We are not against the system but the system is against us." Papandreou and ECB Deny Restructuring Under Discussion No matter how many times the ECB or the Greek prime minister "reject" restructuring, the market insists otherwise. Once again, and for the umpteenth time Greek PM, ECB officials reject debt restructuring with the bond market making fools of both of them every step of the way. "Debt restructuring is not under discussion," Papandreou said in an interview in Sunday newspaper Ethnos. Greece has no other option but to follow through its fiscal plan, ECB governing council member Ewald Nowotny told Greek newspaper To Vima Saturday. "For the ECB, the line is one and clear: you have to implement the commitments you have made." Greece is considering deeper cuts in public sector wages and further tax increases on a range of products and professions to qualify for more aid, Greek newspapers said Saturday. The plan may include scrapping bonuses to civil servants and employees in state-run companies, newspapers Ta Nea and Isotimia reported, without citing any sources. The government may also lower or scrap tax-free thresholds on property holdings and the self-employed, raise consumption taxes on soft drinks and certain fuel types or shift a range of products to a higher VAT-bracket, other newspapers said. Papandreou vowed Saturday to take any measure necessary to secure more funding for his country. "Greece must convince everyone of its determination," he said. Eighty percent of respondents told pollster MRB they refused to make any further sacrifices to get more EU/IMF aid, an MRB poll for paper Realnews showed. The same poll shows Papandreou's ruling Socialist PASOK neck-and-neck with the opposition conservatives, with both parties scoring 21.5 percent each. In the previous MRB poll in April, PASOK had an 1.8 point-lead. But Papandreou warned that any failure to push through the plan might lead the country straight to default. "At the moment, it does not seem as if Greece can cover its 2012 borrowing needs... from the market," he said in the interview. 80 Percent of Greeks Oppose More Austerity The party that wins the next Greek election just may be the party that rejects more austerity measures. Regardless, it is not mathematically possible for Greece to grow its way out of this problem soon if ever, by more austerity measures. Greece is in recession now, Italy is headed there, and as much as Greece needs serious reforms in it public service sector, the short-term effect of taking those measures would be rising unemployment and more capital flight. Moreover, Greece has a huge productivity disadvantage with Germany and France and to fix that disadvantage would require lower wages. To top it off, Papandreou wants to raise property taxes, consumption taxes, and self-employment taxes. Papandreou's 7-Point Proposal Higher property taxes Higher value-added (consumption) taxes Higher taxes on self-employed Still lower government spending Still lower wages Still lower benefits Selling Greek assets Bear in mind Greece is already in recession. Yet somehow that proposal is supposed to get Greece out of trouble and growing again in 2 years. Quite frankly it is preposterous to suggest such nonsense and the bond market knows it. Greece 10-Year Government Bonds Greek 10-year government bond yield hit a new high on Friday, 16.57%. IMF Denial on Portugal Please consider IMF approves $36.8 billion loan for Portugal Fri May 20, 2011 8:56pm EDT The International Monetary Fund on Friday approved a 26 billion euro ($36.8 billion) loan for Portugal to help the country recover from a debilitating sovereign debt crisis, saying it would immediately disburse 6.1 billion euros to ease investor concerns over the euro zone member's debts. The IMF said in a statement that total financing to Portugal in 2011 will include about 12.6 billion euros from the IMF and another 25.2 billion euros from the European Union. The funding is part of a joint IMF/EU 78 billion euro ($110 billion) bailout package. "The financing package is designed to allow Portugal some breathing space from borrowing in the markets while it demonstrates implementation of the policy steps needed to get the economy back on track," the IMF said in a statement. The financial package was calibrated to allow Portugal to stay out of the market for medium- to long-term bonds for slightly more than two years, IMF Mission Chief Poul Thomsen said. Under the agreement, Lisbon will have to carry out steep spending cuts, raise taxes, reform its labor and justice systems, and embark on an ambitious privatization scheme. Raise your hand if you believe Portugal's problems are over. My quick count shows zero hands are in the air. That concludes our "Deny, Defy, or Crucify" segment (bonus points to anyone who can name the song containing that exact phrase without looking it up). Mike "Mish" Shedlock http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com Click Here To Scroll Thru My Recent Post List Mike "Mish" Shedlock is a registered investment advisor representative for SitkaPacific Capital Management. Sitka Pacific is an asset management firm whose goal is strong performance and low volatility, regardless of market direction. Visit http://www.sitkapacific.com/account_management.html to learn more about wealth management and capital preservation strategies of Sitka Pacific.

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Seth's Blog : A marketing lesson from the apocalypse

A marketing lesson from the apocalypse

If you're reading this blog, then the world didn't end, at least in my time zone.

How does one market the end of the world? After all, you don't have a big ad budget. Your 'product' is something that has been marketed again and again through the ages and it has never worked. There's significant peer pressure not to buy it...

And yet, every time, people succumb. They sell their belongings, stop paying into their kid's college fund and create tension and despair.

Here's the simple lesson:

Sell a story that some people want to believe. In fact, sell a story they already believe.

The story has to be integrated into your product. The iPad, for example, wasn't something that people were clamoring for... but the story of it, the magic tablet, the universal book, the ticket to the fashion-geek tribe--there was a line out the door for that. The same way that every year, we see a new music sensation, a new fashion superstar. That's not an accident. That story is just waiting for someone to wear it.

And the some part is vital. Not everyone wants to believe in the end of the world, but some people (fortunately, just a few) really do. To reach them, you don't need much of a hard sell at all.

Too often marketers take a product and try to invent a campaign. Much more effective is to find a tribe, find a story and make a product that resonates, one that makes the story work.

That's the whole thing. A story that resonates and a tribe that's tight and small and eager.

I hope you can dream up something more productive than the end of the world, though.

 

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