SEO, PPC & Internet Marketing

I agree with Seth Godin that this is a pretty fun way of advertising, but I have seen it before, and not all of these folks look that excited about standing on a street corner holding a sign that says buy from me. But why do it if it doesn’t tie into the message you already tell about your product? Because it’s fun or because it’s immediate?

Remember the Little Caeasars folks? Pizza! Pizza! ring a bell? Well, long ago (well only a few years back) Little Caesars completely changed the way pizzas were purchased when they started selling them by the two’s. Matched with a Caesar looking cartoon character that only said the words Pizza! Pizza!, the idea caught on very well, especially since two pizzas were often cheaper than one from other pizza joints. For a few years there, Little Caesars seemed to fade until it came up with a new idea - the $5 Hot ‘n Ready pizza. Again, they changed the way people bought pizza and not how it was made. Basically, you can walk into a Little Caesars at any time of the day and get a cheese or pepperoni pizza for $5 - a large pizza. Pizza Hut tried the “fast food” approach to Pizza. It didn’t work? Why? People didn’t want fast food. They wanted Pizza. They still want pizza.

Little Caesars does it right. It’s hot now, and it’s ready now. But, it isn’t fast food. It’s pizza ready now. It’s immediate. And their army of guys and girls standing on the corner holding signs and dancing remind you that its hot, right now.

I will still likely buy music in disc form, but I am finding more and more that there are enough great bands in the world that offer free tracks on their website that paying for music online is almost silly.

Listen up:

MattPondPa - grave’s disease

Devin Davis - Iron Woman

Fresh tunes. Incredibly Good. Incredibly Free.

Wanna hear other great tunes? Check out the SomethingLocal Podcast.

I whish someone in the marketing department at Bacon’s Media Source could give me a real answer as to why they cut off part of their service to long time customers and now make them pay extra for it. Basically, they concocted a scheme to charge more money for an old service while removing much of what we paid for to begin with. Think about it. Say they have 500 customers at $3 a piece.

They take away $1 of the perceived value of that purchase, and then still charge $3 for less than what we originally wanted.

Wala! Revenue is still $1500, but many of those customers will pay an extra $1 for the old service, which we STOLE from them. If just 150 customers sign up, we have increased revenues by 10 percent and angered the rest of them. Good idea!

I contacted their service department to ask them why, and I was told something like the following:

Hi Mr. Page, we received your email about no longer receiving the analyst service through Bacon’s. That service is still available at an additional cost. I don’t know why the decision was made . . . well, the decision was made in conjunction with the marketing department.

Nice marketing.

Customer Love score: 0/5.

Today in church one of the small children posed the question “Is Jesus an angel?” The woman at the front of the room was teaching a Sunday school lesson for young kids, and she was showing a picture of Jesus surrounded by angels in Heaven. She pointed out that Jesus was in the picture and she also pointed out the angels.

It was a good question for a kid probably two or three years of age to ask. I couldn’t believe that came out of his mouth at his age, but it made me realize how much little kids are like cerebral sponges. And sometimes, they just want answers to life’s questions just like the rest of us.

I love Comcast’s high-speed Internet service. Why? It asks me if I want to allow other websites to install cookies on my computer. What a novel idea . . . Of course, I almost always say no.

Customer Love Score 5/5.

Interesting article - [ Customer service is a two-way street ]

I am an active member of the FundingUniverse discussion forums, and I recently came across an alarming post by one of the members. The poster had been contacted by an investor in the UK that said he was interested in the poster’s business plan. If you aren’t familiar with FundingU, it’s basically an online community of state-focused websites bringing investors and entrepreneurs together. Anyway, the poster mentioned that the UK investor wanted to invest in his company, but that he first needed to give him $5,000 for admin and processing fees.

Luckily, the poster set up a fake bank account because he was leary of this., and a supposed investment bank tried to withdraw the funds. When they weren’t there, they contacted him about the money. I had never heard of an investor requiring an investment from an entrepreneur, so we all warned him to be careful. He was smart on his own though by being cautious, and at the end of the day, it was a scam. Essentially, phishing scams are all over the place, even in the investment world. Be careful.

I have been blogging now since about October 2003, but I haven’t been keeping a personal blog.

Well, it’s something I like to do already, so here goes.

I work for a Utah public relations firm and I have a beautiful wife whom I love very much. When I pass my state motorcycle exam, I will again be doing one of my favorite things - riding my mint-green Stella Scooter.

No Need to Click Here - I’m just claiming my feed at Feedster feedster:bd6320e6fc93ef10c2ef4fa6680eaed5