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marți, 30 octombrie 2012
Staying up-to-date on Hurricane Sandy
Bloggers & Acquisitions: How to Finance and Partner with an Existing Blog
Bloggers & Acquisitions: How to Finance and Partner with an Existing Blog |
| Bloggers & Acquisitions: How to Finance and Partner with an Existing Blog Posted: 29 Oct 2012 02:03 PM PDT Posted by John-Henry Scherck This post was originally in YouMoz, and was promoted to the main blog because it provides great value and interest to our community. The author's views are entirely his or her own and may not reflect the views of SEOmoz, Inc. A few months ago, Rand Fishkin wrote a post about the benefits of buying a blog. It's a tactic I have become a big fan of - it's effective, efficient, and scalable. By purchasing/financing a blog you can work hand-in-hand with an established site that already has an engaged readership and a social following. One thing to keep in mind, the end goal here isn't links. Do you get links? Sure! You get a ton! But this isn't a tactic to pump a contextually relevant blog full of anchor text links. This is a blueprint to align your site with an established publication, partner on content, and build your brand. This is a strategy to grow a business, not just a back link profile. Prospecting (Credit: Flickr user ToOliver2) Target a niche blog that pertains to your vertical - It's best to target a site that is about one very specific subject that pertains to your money site. If I was working on a site that sold beer brewing kits, I wouldn't go for a general beer blog. I would prospect for blogs that cover a specific aspect of beer, like home brew recipes or rare beers. (Credit: Flickr user Tim Patterson) Every site ranking for "beer blog" or other generic head terms that pertain to your industry is going to get hammered by link requests on a regular basis. When you target something niche, you are going to cut down on the amount of link requests they receive, and they may be more open to talking with you. I like to target sites that cover my secondary and long tail keywords. (Credit: Flickr user Tax Credits) Look for a blog that is not monetized - There is no point in trying to purchase a blog from someone who is guest posting, doing product reviews, and hosting giveaways several times a day. When prospecting, find a site that publishes a lot of original content for the sole purpose of benefiting their readership and sharing a unique perspective. Target a site with one writer - During the acquisition process, it will be easier to sell a single person on the idea of financing their blog. Also, managing workflow, deadlines, and payment is much easier with one person as opposed to a group of writers. Research the prospect with a microscope - If it's a serious prospect, I will read through the last four weeks of their blog and then do the following searches
I look for any inclination that the blogger has been exposed to the brand before. How do they feel about the industry and your client's executive officers? I read the posts for tone, which I admit takes a lot of time. This is going to be someone promoting your brand, so you need to pay attention. If the mentions aren't extremely favorable, move on to the next prospect. (Credit: Flickr user Victor Bezrukov) Go for something established, but not a powerhouse - You are not going to be able to sponsor or buy a top blog that pertains to your industry. In my experience, it's best to target up-and-comers. Don't be too picky. If they are a solid writer, I would take a Domain Authority of 35 or higher with 40 or more linking root domains. Outreach PhaseThe term "buying a blog" is scary, remove it from your vocabulary when communicating with target sites. I like to refer to it as a "promotional partnership." Craft a quick personalized letter that comes off as professional and friendly, here's one of mine: Always ask for a phone call in the introductory email. It's imperative to become a real voice in their ear and not just another thread in their inbox. This shows the blogger that you are willing to invest your time and attention towards them. If they have posts that have been picked up by major publications, it wouldn't hurt to reference those achievements either. The Response Acquisition PhaseOff the bat, I like to let them know that this proposed partnership isn't about links and anchor text, it's about driving traffic. Before you go any further, it's important to get a screenshot of their analytics, if they have no traffic there is no point in going through with the partnership. That's way better than I hoped for. To seal the deal, I offer to pay for their hosting and the time it will be taking them to work with us to grow their audience. It's critical to go over all of your expectations with them. Let them know that they are free to have other advertisers on their site, but that they shouldn't engage in advertising with any of your competitors. IMPORTANT: GET EVERYTHING IN WRITING! (Credit: Flickr user NobMouse) I recommend having the blogger agree to the following in writing
Once that's signed, the real work begins. Mentoring Phase (Ongoing)Now you have to follow through on the promise to grow their audience. These recommendations can be time consuming for both of you. I like to make one recommendation per month to improve their blog. Here's a starter list of things you can do to help out your blogger.
Content Creation Phase (Ongoing)Every month, your blogger should come to you with a new topic that they want to write about that pertains to your client's industry. It's your job to get a representative from your client's company to get you a quote in a timely manner. As long as you don't slow down the blogger's creative process, they should like working with you. After all, you are providing them with authoritative industry opinions for their content. If the blogger ever has writer's block, I like to use UberSuggest to create an evergreen post concept. If you need some tips on using the tool, Amanda Orson wrote a great post on how to use Followerwonk to create content. Although it's a lot of work at first, this beats the headaches that come with maintaining a flimsy microsite that could get penguinized at any moment. With this strategy you get a real site, with real readers, that are being exposed to your client's brand on a daily basis. It can drive conversions, educate consumers, and help build a loyal brand following. This isn't just and SEO strategy; it's a business strategy. (Credit: QuickMeme) This isn't the only marketing initaitive we have going for this client, so I can't say if this single strategy lead to undeniable success. There have been a lot of other efforts to push them into mainstream press. However, here is a screenshot from their analytics that shows the conversion rate of the traffic from the partner blog: This relationship is driving revenue. Our client is experiencing growth because of a real relationship that we have created with a trusted and authoritative site. Overall, their rankings have gone up, they are seeing more conversions, and they love that we are creating content that gets read by their target demographic and not some "Top 10 Signs You Are..." to place on a low level blog in exchange for a single link. Savvy clients are starting to care less and less about PR3 links on pay-to-play mom blogs or infographics you have to throw down $150 to post on the equivalent of a content directory. As an industry, our clients are relying on us more to be real marketers. Inserting our client into a target demographics’ preferred and trusted media source has helped grow their business, brand, traffic, and trust. This may not be traditional SEO, but it's working. Sign up for The Moz Top 10, a semimonthly mailer updating you on the top ten hottest pieces of SEO news, tips, and rad links uncovered by the Moz team. Think of it as your exclusive digest of stuff you don't have time to hunt down but want to read!       |
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Seth's Blog : Harvest demand or create it?
Harvest demand or create it?
Search marketing harvests demand, it doesn't create it (ht to Drew at Dropbox).
Most small businesses believe that they're too small to have an impact on the whole market, so they resort to picking the fruit that's already grown instead of planting their own seeds. It's far easier to wait until someone is ready to buy than it is to persuade them to buy.
Except the answer isn't to poach demand at the last minute. The answer is to redefine the market into something much smaller and more manageable. You don't need to persuade everyone that you have a great idea, you merely need to persuade one person. And then make it easy for that person to share.
One last semi-related thought: Wenda Millard quotes a Mercedes Benz exec, "If the only time I show you a Mercedes ad is just before you're about to buy a fancy car, I've lost." The fact is, advertising to build brand and recongnition and demand is a very long-term proposition, not something you measure with clicks.
A last-minute swipe of purchase intent is a tactical win. It's not, however, a long-term way to build your organization.
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luni, 29 octombrie 2012
Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis
Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis |
- 85% of Atlantic City Flooded; New York Subway in Jeopardy; Markets Closed Again Tuesday; Hurricane Sandy Image from Space
- Hurricane Sandy Update: First $100+ Billion Storm in U.S. History?
- Retail Sales in Spain Plunge 10.9%, Largest Drop on Record; All Pain, No Gain
- EU Bureaucracy has Lost Control of Italy; Social Mood Turns Black
| Posted: 29 Oct 2012 06:54 PM PDT As many as 2 million customers are without power as Sandy slammed into New Jersey and New York. The markets will be closed again on Tuesday but may resume on Wednesday, the final trading day of the month. New York's mass transit system remains shut and it is unclear when service will be restored. Here is an Image of Hurricane Sandy from Space from a New York Post Tweet.  Large Nor'Easter on Steroids Accuweather (Premium) says Northeast Catastrophe Unfolding. An extremely rare and dangerous storm, "Sandy," has roared in from the Atlantic Monday evening. Inundations have already occurred and will get worse through the first part of Monday night.85% of Atlantic City Flooded The Wall Street Journal reports Flooded Atlantic City Feels the Early Brunt. "This is the worst-case scenario for us," said Tom Foley, Atlantic City's director of emergency management. "In 28 years, I've never seen weather this bad."New York Subway in Jeopardy Please consider Salt Water Puts Subway 'In Jeopardy' Before Hurricane Sandy was expected to make landfall Monday, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority worked to seal off openings that could allow corrosive salt water to sweep into the system and incapacitate trains into the coming weekend. Still, the threat of an extended shutdown loomed over a system that carries 5.2 million passengers a day and is essential to the city's economy.Broken Window Fallacy Yet Again With every catastrophe comes some economic illiterate talking about the stimulus benefits of it all. Presumably they have not read about the Broken Window Fallacy. For a discussion of the broken window theory, please see Government Bailouts and the Stock Market - The Seen and the Unseen. With the broken window in mind, please consider some complete economic nonsense in the Reuters article Economy may skirt direct hit from Hurricane Sandy. Economists say some of the impact caused by businesses closing will be offset by reconstruction efforts, and point to catastrophic storms like Katrina, which devastated New Orleans but did not deal lasting damage to the national economy.Evan Gold, a senior vice-president at Planalytics, a Philadelphia consulting firm that advises businesses on weather-related matters, was more realistic as was Mark Zandi at Moody's. Zanzi estimates regional GDP is $2.5 trillion and the cost to the region is about $10 billion a day if the region's economy grinds to a halt. Evan Gold states "If consumers in this part of the country are spending hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars to buy things like generators, or after the storm, to do clean-up, that is likely going to cut into budgets that people might have for their holiday shopping". Broken windows and floods have a net economic cost, not a benefit. In general, it is never of economic benefit to have productive assets destroyed. It is also never of economic benefit to waste money on stimulus programs that have no realistic payback. Keynesian clowns still have not figured this out. Mike "Mish" Shedlock http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com Mike "Mish" Shedlock is a registered investment advisor representative for SitkaPacific Capital Management. Sitka Pacific is an asset management firm whose goal is strong performance and low volatility, regardless of market direction. Visit http://www.sitkapacific.com/account_management.html to learn more about wealth management and capital preservation strategies of Sitka Pacific. 
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| Hurricane Sandy Update: First $100+ Billion Storm in U.S. History? Posted: 29 Oct 2012 01:16 PM PDT Sandy is classified as a Hurricane 1 status, a low-grade hurricane. However, don't let that fool you in terms of impact. It's not the absolute magnitude of the hurricane, but rather the magnitude vs. what the infrastructure can handle that matters. Barometric pressure is 27.76, the lowest pressure recorded for a storm in the Northeast. Sandy is unprecedented in size as well. The hurricane is likely to reach shore with a full moon high tide raising storm surges several more feet. Accuweather notes "The storm surge will reach generally 5-10 feet with up to 15 feet possible in a locations along and to the north of where the center makes landfall. When a 2-foot tide this evening is combined with 10- to 20-foot wave action, water will reach more than 30 feet above sea level in places. ... Total damage from Hurricane Sandy may well exceed Katrina's $96 billion. This could be the first $100+ billion storm in U.S. history." New Jersey, New York, Washington DC, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Vermont, and Connecticut have all declared states of emergency. Parts of New Jersey are under mandatory evacuation. At least 60 million people will be affected. As Sandy Barrels Toward New Jersey Coast, the hurricane remains on track to become a historic storm for the mid-Atlantic and southern New England. New Jersey and New York City face for very dangerous conditions and catastrophic damage. As of 2:40 p.m. EDT Monday CNN, nearly 300,000 customers are without power in seven states. New Jersey has the most at 92,000. Over 7,000 flights have been cancelled. Damaging and life-threatening impact from the giant, powerful storm will reach as far inland as the central Appalachians and will span the coast from North Carolina to southern New England. The record tide gauge in Atlantic City New Jersey is 9.0 feet. Sandy is at 8.25 feet now, and a near-lock to surpass the previous high, perhaps by many feet. Moderate to major flooding is already occurring in the Chesapeake Bay. The Chesapeake Bay near Kiptopeke, Va., is at major flood stage of 5.95 feet, less than one foot below the record high of 7.1 feet set on March 7, 1962. The Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel, Va., is at 6.71 feet. This is also only 1 foot below the record flood stage of 7.5 feet set on Sept. 18, 2003. In the Appalachian mountains, blizzard whiteout conditions with as much as two feet of snow are expected. You can follow the Path of Hurricane Sandy on Accuweather. You can also follow the life threatening storm on Weather Channel. The Weather Channel reports peak tide levels may top those from both Hurricane Irene by 2 feet and the the previous record from the Dec. 1992 Nor'easter and Hurricane Donna in 1960. Mike "Mish" Shedlock http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com Mike "Mish" Shedlock is a registered investment advisor representative for SitkaPacific Capital Management. Sitka Pacific is an asset management firm whose goal is strong performance and low volatility, regardless of market direction. Visit http://www.sitkapacific.com/account_management.html to learn more about wealth management and capital preservation strategies of Sitka Pacific. 
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| Retail Sales in Spain Plunge 10.9%, Largest Drop on Record; All Pain, No Gain Posted: 29 Oct 2012 10:14 AM PDT In a seriously misguided effort to balance its budget, In early September Spain Passed Largest VAT Hike In History. I wrote at the time, "Stunning Ineptitude Will Make History Books". Spain's unemployment rate is over 25% and the youth unemployment rate is near 53% yet the fools in the Spanish government hiked taxes yet again, this time by the largest amount in history. Spain's handling of this economic implosion is sure to make the history books as a prime example of complete ignorance in how to deal with a fiscal crisis. History in the Making That prediction took a single month to pan out. Reuters reports Spain retail sales decimated by VAT hike. Spanish retail sales fell at their fastest pace on record in September as already battered consumer confidence took another hit from a hike in value added tax, driving many shoppers to trade down to cheaper products.All Pain, No Gain The last thing Spain needs is ridiculous tax hikes. Clearly they are counterproductive. So why do the jackasses keep hiking taxes? That's a good question, and here is the two-part answer.
To be sure more pain is coming to Spain. Shrinking government and reducing pensions would be painful as well, but at least there would be long-term benefit. Hiking taxes is all pain and no gain. Spain really needs to exit the euro, and it will, but not before the entire country is in the gutter and the masses have finally have had enough. Mike "Mish" Shedlock http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com Mike "Mish" Shedlock is a registered investment advisor representative for SitkaPacific Capital Management. Sitka Pacific is an asset management firm whose goal is strong performance and low volatility, regardless of market direction. Visit http://www.sitkapacific.com/account_management.html to learn more about wealth management and capital preservation strategies of Sitka Pacific. 
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| EU Bureaucracy has Lost Control of Italy; Social Mood Turns Black Posted: 29 Oct 2012 01:24 AM PDT In Italy, former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi waged a full frontal attack on technocrat prime minister Mario Monti, Germany, Angela Merkel and the EU imposed austerity during a 1.5 hours press conference near Milan. The problem for Brussels is Berlusconi can force a vote because by withdrawing his support to Monti's government, the current coalition will collapse. The People of Liberty party needs to consider that "with a no-confidence vote by us, we would determine a situation that would be interpreted in a certain way by the financial markets and would cause early elections," Berlusconi told reporters yesterday near Milan. "We will consider these facts and decide whether to immediately withdraw our support of the government."In Sicily, exit polls show the candidate of Beppe Grillo's Movimento 5 Stelle (Giancarlo Cancellieri) as the winner for the Regional Governor position with 27% of the votes. Reader "AM" who is from Italy but now lives in Hong Kong writes ... Hello MishMike "Mish" Shedlock http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com Mike "Mish" Shedlock is a registered investment advisor representative for SitkaPacific Capital Management. Sitka Pacific is an asset management firm whose goal is strong performance and low volatility, regardless of market direction. Visit http://www.sitkapacific.com/account_management.html to learn more about wealth management and capital preservation strategies of Sitka Pacific. 
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