July 2008 Archives

Social Media Optimization (SMO) is one of the newest devices used by SEO's and search marketers alike. The technique is new as would be expected within a burgeoning field like SEO where the word evolution has a supercharged connotation to say the least. If humans had seen this type of improvement in the same amount of time then we would all be able to jump thirty feet in the air and read a million books a second. Needless to say it can make your head spin, so here the Digital Buzz seeks to alleviate all your concerns about falling behind the information curve. Learn away.

Stormfront Productions is more than a website design and development company, we do a great deal of SEO work as well. Ever since the talk of SMO came about we have been discussing it and incorporating it into our project proposals. However, just like the dentist that recommends you their favorite toothpaste, we aren't supporting this technology to offer a service that you don't need or that really doesn't work, in fact, we practiced by using it ourselves.

SMO is important because it's a developed type of viral marketing. You are able to spread your brand simply by it being associated with things you've done that interest other people. I know that may sound a little confusing, but allow me to clarify. Youtube is one of the most popular websites on the net today. In fact, I'm sure many of you have at this very moment a Youtube video waiting to be watched in your mailbox that someone absolutely had to send you because it's so funny. The thing is, a lot of people are making these videos now, and they're free to post which makes them even more desirable.

So when you put out an interesting video on Youtube that demonstrates your brand, write an article and post it on digg.com, make a profile on myspace or facebook, or incorporate any number of widgets from various sites, you are in effect utilizing portions of the social web. Getting people to talk about something you did inherently means they're talking about you. It's a win-win to borrow a term from conflict resolution.

By targeting each of these markets carefully, you can gain positive brand acceptance and forward your own sales. It's a necessary component to successful operations these days, and if you don't like it, then why don't you leave me a comment here at the bottom of the page where all comments, no matter how ironic, are welcomed.

Remember the days of Mom showcasing all your childhood embarrassing photos to anyone and everyone that happened to be around when she was looking through or organizing those gigantic books? Some people would get downright red in the face whenever their new girlfriend was able to see them running away from their parents' lens with a diaper around their ankles while clutching a bottle in their tiny, chubby hands. Seemingly their shying away was all for good reason.

I've seen countless embarrassing photos of my friends when they were in college. In fact, I've seen most of those online. What could be worse? They posted these mischievous pictures themselves! Now, with the advent of social media people are still probably embarrassed when mom takes out her story-boarded picture book but I'm guessing for different reasons. "Oh my goodness, Mom, you still have hard copies of photos? Haven't you ever heard of digital files?"

The digital revolution is changing the game in a lot of ways. Many of which are really good. I mean, how many countless millions of photos and letters and work which has been laboriously developed at home or in the office over periods of months or years have been lost due to fires? Being able to store all this to digital memory in this instance is good, but when you add in the social aspect and people begin to post images and text about themselves that leaves little to be desired, there comes a point when discretion is the better part of value. We honestly don't need to know everything about you.

I saw comedian Steve Hofstetter rail against those moms on MySpace that post pictures of their "little angels" and juxtapose wanton images of themselves in the same album. I couldn't help but laugh and unfortunately completely agree. Sometimes people go a bit overboard in what they find to be postable material. I mean truly original material, no matter how crude can have great value. George Carlin's "7 dirty words" bit, for example, recently returned to the press' attention after his death, re-raising the issue of censorship to the world at large. But when there is no real basis for a post or a picture, I'm really surprised at how readily people will disseminate this type of information about themselves.

Here at Stormfront, we take the professional approach. Although it would be easy to delve into the slightly more questionable realm of posting, we generally read, re-read, and often edit or simply throw out projects that may offend too many people. The goal isn't to unnecessarily censor ourselves or even others; rather it is simply a practice we abide by to develop our business. As is often said "there is a time and place for everything", so why should we as a business post questionable material when this is clearly not the place someone surfing the internet should go to view that type of material. Keep that in mind before your next post and you should see some positive results.

For an upcoming post I'll do some research and post my results on a mini-case study as to the beneficial or detrimental relationship with web 2.0 that several large corporations have had.

Mr. Indecisive, a name I have given to a hypothetical potential client who doesn't actually know what it is his business will do or how it will do it, nor does he have the money to make the investment in the first place (a small and somewhat significant aspect of his overall project) was a product of my creation after I recently reviewed several hang ups friends' companies had with clients of their own. There is a very important lesson for the modern business man here that most may consider common sense but obviously is not information available to all: HAVE A BUSINESS PLAN BEFORE YOU START YOUR BUSINESS! In all of these cases operational strategy or even anything more than just divine inspiration would have sufficed.

Now ordinarily we don't speculate about our clients' motives or direction because our clients are incredibly well prepared. Often times, when a client comes to us with little more than an idea, they still have a basic strategy as to how to pull it off, and we can consult on their idea and give them a professional web design to entice investors and in the end develop a great working product or service. But when we allow ourselves to be continually dragged into long, pointless meetings with clients who don't have a clue about what they want or the money to pay for it, we have to question our own reasoning. Sometimes it is better to carefully (and politely) cut the limbs on a tree that are only succeeding in sucking up resources and keeping the tree from developing its other branches.

Essential to all business is the ability to make money. Some might go as far as to say that is what a business is for. You know, recognizing a need, filling it with some product or service in a way that both you and the client prosper, but believe it or not there are countless instances that any legitimate business will inevitably encounter that work against this notion. So here I will compile a brief check list of things to make sure your potential client has in order to build a healthy, stable relationship that will help to bring you both into the black.

1. A working business model - It is important to know what your business offers, how it plans to market itself, its infrastructure and operational processes. Before someone goes to get investors or develop their idea, they need these items to be fully worked out (although there is often process for further development once you get into the meat of it). If someone comes to you and they don't have any of this thought out, perhaps it is time to politely let them know what they need to do in order for you to be able to help them. Be sure to mention you are interested in working with them in the future after they've hammered out the details and have a better understanding of how they can fit into the market place.

2. Capital to sustain development - Wells Fargo in association with The National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) conducted a study based on the U.S. census that stated over the lifetime of a business 39% are profitable, 30% break even and another 30 percent lose money. There is also 1% who fall into a category of "unable to determine." It is well known that running out of financing before a business becomes profitable is the number one reason for small businesses closing shop. Because of this, it is important to make sure your client can sustain themselves through the life of your (and hopefully their) project.

3. A competent team - Even though there are some clients who have a working business plan/model and plenty of capital to spend, if they are difficult to work with and are constantly cutting off the progress you make in your development with them, sometimes it is better to just let them go before they wrap you up into a stressful frenzy. Working with some people is almost not like work at all, which can yield some amazing final results, but there are others whose attitudes could use a little tweaking.

Granted there are several more small and many more comprehensive necessities for a business to succeed, but without these three simple items checked off you may as well get out your calendar and rip several pages out in advance. Those days will be wrought with inactivity.

Welcome to the Digital Buzz where you are privy to the latest technology updates, marketing hot topics and witty SFP-guy banter. Now although some of you are undoubtedly new to this process, rest assured there will be little to no hazing (sorry college Greeks! we didn't mean to spoil the fun). We here at Stormfront Productions would like to welcome you into the fold and make you part of our community. We found the best way to do this is to make a place where you can read our business writings as well as a little bit of humorous office going-ons. Granted none of us are Michael Scott (we still have healthy debates as to whether or not that is a good thing), and often I'm the butt of a joke comparing me to Dwight, but you don't need to be acquainted with the popular NBC show to enjoy our content.

So here are the rules you need to know for a healthy visit to the Digital Buzz:

1. Sign up and read often! - Without your visual support this place will be in the shadow of a high school paper's circulation. And we can't have that! It would be like getting shoved in a locker by a beefed up (scrawny), squeaky-voiced, 16 year old editor. How embarrassing.

2. Leave comments - We always want to know what you're thinking. There can be no doubt that living is a collective, social experience. Everyone shares certain commonalities, and even if you disagree, discussion only makes for a richer topic. So don't be shy and let us know what's on your mind. Business, like anything else, is information put together by people. We will tell you what we think is important in the business world but we need your input so we know what you want to hear about in the first place.

3. Spread the word - Who doesn't like a good place to gather and talk? So what if that place isn't "real," but a digital lot of realty where the coffee is B.Y.O.C. and you learn more about industry trends while getting paid than you thought possible.

4. Come back and learn more. - Last but certainly not least, we want to provide you with the most current and relative information that we can. So make sure to come back every time you need a break or a little bit of an information pick-me up.

Early on in my career in marketing I worked for a sub/sandwich place which shall otherwise go without description. I worked on one of the most basic and rudimentary campaigns a company can do: door to door house calls. At first it was kind of like being on a political campaign, out and about talking with the general public, shaking hands; kissing babies. Well, I didn't quite kiss any babies but that might have drawn attention away from people eating subs.

So one day I was out in a neighborhood shaped like a T. I was doing a general loop and had reached the point where the T connects. Low and behold an elderly couple had just emerged from their car and began walking toward their door, suspiciously glancing over at this young man walking around their neighborhood with what appeared to be fliers. The older woman looked at me coming and immediately B-lined to the front door. I can't believe she didn't throw out a hip with the way she moved. She must have been the target audience of those old Tyra Banks milk mustache commercials, yet she had this eerie smile on her face and some sort of puzzle box looking thing in her hand that she kept looking at in between flashing me that odd, toothy grin. Despite her peculiar behavior I thought it appropriate to approach her husband so they didn't get any weird ideas about my presence in their 'hood. As I hear it now, most old people come strapped.

As I was approaching the guy got a similar type smile to that of his wife's and asked very boldly "Oh what's that there? Did I win a Big Mac?" At this hilarious proposal I almost laughed out loud for so many reasons... I mean, McDonald's delivering a singular sandwich to some guy for what I assume would be a contest he unwittingly entered? That didn't seem very likely. What's more is that my uniform in no way resembled that of your average burger jockey at any fast food place, especially not old Mickey Dees. But I persisted in my already wayward sales effort and began by saying "No, sir. Even better! You've got a free sample from (again I won't say the shops name mostly out of politeness and maybe a little bit due to the lurking fear of being sued) and a menu to tell you about all of our great sandwiches!"

The guy apparently didn't hear anything I said and just went straight for a menu still smiling. As I handed it to him and he read the name (because having someone physically tell you a name doesn't register when you are beyond the point of being on the beneficial end of a relationship with a hearing aid) his demeanor suddenly turned sour. He told me abruptly that he "didn't approve of things they've done in the past. Thank you." He kind of tossed the menu back at me and turned around to walk away without any further interaction.

Well I hoped then he didn't have issue with my employer's manners, because the pot calling the kettle names has never been something Americans have taken kindly to. It was like he'd heard something terrible about the sandwich co. at Nuremburg Trials and therefore wanted nothing to do with our Himmler sandwich. Needless to say I REALLY wanted to know what all of the hubbub was about, but this guy hopped-to quicker than a broke teenager doing a dine-and-dash.

As I previously stated I'd been on a loop in this particular endeavor. So not long after this strange encounter I was privy to yet another meeting with this perturbed geriatric. This time he was yelling at me about the neighbors not being home while letting his dog crap in their yard (this was possibly the most considerate man I've ever encountered), so I took the opportunity to ask the man what had so angered him about the shop that he refused to even take a free sample from them. I mean, even if I hate a particular company for some annoying jingle or risqué ad photo I can't see myself not taking something they're handing out for free. That is simply un-American.

The guy goes on to explain that he'd despised a marketing tactic they'd used "in the past." About 10 years prior to that event one of the local stores had delivered all of their sandwiches with a neatly packed prophylactic in tow. And I mean I had to agree with the guy, although I think we were using different logic. It wasn't exactly the best business practice since we were very well likely precluding the existence of several future customers. Despite the plethora of reasons as to why he should hate a company like "McDees" instead of the one he gave for hating my own, I was flabbergasted at this exchange (if you recall he was almost inhumanely elated when he thought he got a free Big Mac).

Now realizing this guy was just a little over-conservative when it came to the "perversion" of promoting safe sexual practice I kindly took my leave and began to contemplate the ramifications of certain marketing endeavors. Why do so many attempts to market a product fail? How is it that so many well-planned, highly calculated initiatives fall short of resonating with their audience?

The answer I came up with was simple: you can't please everyone. Now most articles on this subject, seeking to answer these questions will tell you it's because people don't properly or fully investigate their demos and therefore fail to really get into the meat of their market. Which no doubt is true in some cases. But even with great sums of money being spent on metrics: polling, sampling, random surveys and the like, campaigns fail all the time. Some large companies such as Coke or Pepsi, Target, countless pharmaceuticals and of course the beer companies have had memorable gaffes in garnering business via ads that were otherwise well thought out. Sometimes companies lose their audience due to misinterpretation of their ads, other times people become overly sensitive to a controversial topic a company somehow exploits to try and get a little buzz about their product or service.

In any event it is a common occurrence in the marketing world. Most ad designs will inevitably fail to resonate or at least fade from memory quickly with only a few really taking any public share of discussion (being positive or negative is inconsequential if you follow the methodology of P.T. Barnum). At the end of the day, that guy may have disliked the message my former employer sent out years earlier with all of its late night deliveries, but then again he wasn't necessarily in our target audience. And even if he was, you can't please everyone, so just try and focus on the majority.

Things here at Stormfront Productions have been busier than usual this summer, but hey I'm not complaining! We were lucky enough to land a solid intern for the summer in Aaron. He's our newest addition in the form of a multimedia specialist.

We also recently added on an Associate Director of Marketing and Communications, Tommy. Both new hires have proven to be great assets to the company both personally and professionally. They do need some help with our "team building exercises", but hey there is always time for training. Snell Snell!!

This summer will be the fifth year anniversary of registering www.stormfrontproductions.net. Check back on August 6th for our "roll back the web" day at Stormfront Productions. I can't believe it's been five years. It seems like just yesterday all this was just an idea.

I hope all our faithful readers, current customers and future clients are having a great, fun and safe summer of 2008. Enjoy our new blog "Digital Buzz".

Pay per click (PPC) is a paid ad similar to search engine optimization (SEO) in that when a consumer types in a keyword phrase there are the natural "organic" search items that appear and then (depending on the search engine) the paid listings offering the same services are placed either at the top or to the side of the natural listings. These alternative paid ads are what users click, and advertisers pay per, hence the ingenuity with the name. This type of listing is a keyword related search. There are also listings known as related content pages which are sent out with emails, newsletters or posted on publisher sites.

It's kind of like opening your yellow pages to "autos" and finding all the auto companies' paid ads. Only instead of paying a onetime fee to be listed for a certain period of time (like the 2008-9 edition), they pay a smaller fee per time their particular link is clicked. Keeping with the phonebook analogy, instead of people skimming over their name and them being charged for it while the person ends up calling a business listed a few lines away, a company doesn't have to pay every time their name appears as a listing.

Although PPC can often be a good source of new client contacts for companies with no understanding or even knowledge of the existence of SEO, PPC can often run up huge tabs for businesses that don't actually have a large budget to spend, or if a monthly budget is set, they may lose out on later opportunities. Say for example "Company A" has a monthly budget in mind which is met in the first few days of the month by people clicking on their link (who may or may not actually be interested in the type of product or services they offer), they've now run over this budget and will either have to spend more money to continue to be listed or will very well miss opportunities to establish new business relationships with potential clients.

One hang up consumers have with PPC is the idea they are being advertised to. They know a company paid for its listing, and will often prefer a site that has been placed high on the organic list because it's presence there implies it has been thoroughly vetted by both the search engine displaying it so high in the list as well as the many consumers who have previously chosen that page (also indicated by the high listing status).

There are plenty of PPC engines, most notably Google, MSN, and Yahoo, as well as Ask.com, Business.com and LookSmart.com. It is important to note, however, that each of these sites is a search engine primarily, and draws much of its revenue from campaigns such as PPC. Some SEO businesses will set up this service for you for a smaller fee than it would take to optimize your page, but they would be in error if they did it before informing you of the huge differentiations between PPC and organic SEO.

Just remember not to get caught up in the hype. There are several ways to promote your business, and the internet is a great way since people spend so much time on it. After all, you're reading this article on the net aren't you?

When you were a kid and you had something to find for a research project, chances are the first place you went was to the library. Next step along the way was leafing through the card catalog (back before they were digitized) or browsing through the library's sections by topic (how convenient that they broke it down that way). Finally, you'd pull your hair out and yell at your sister for looking stupid because you had amassed so many books that had some vague correlation with your topic that you didn't know where to begin and she was always an easy place to displace your frustration.

This process has been used for generations, and until recently was the preferred method of literary discovery. Only recently (in the last 10 years or so) have giant libraries with credible sourcing been put in place to help make academic writing easier to wade through. But the problem is that even with sites like JSTOR you have to hone in your keywords if you don't want to look through thousands of titles trying to find something with any relevance to your search subject.

This process varies little from your average consumer and their desire to find a product online. Prior to the advent of the internet, commercial marketing and the yellow pages were about the only way to find a business that provided goods or services you were after. Nowadays all you have to do is type "paint" into Google and you'll get 231 million hits in about .2 seconds (yeah... I actually did it so go ahead and do it yourself if you think I'm joking).

Even with more specific searching like "house paint," "car paint," or "painters for hire" you'll still return millions of hits. With so many "relevant" hits, where is a person to look to find what they need? As is probably pretty obvious unless you still had trouble making the connection between fork, knife and food when you were 12 years old, you are going to look at the first 10, MAYBE first 20 or 30 hits before you call it quits. That means that out of a possible 231 thousand hit pages (that's right kiddies... just divide by 10 and you'll get the amount of pages that display those 231 million hits) for keyword "paint" you will at most look through 3 pages. How then, are these pages categorized? Why are some on page 1, and others on page 230,999,999?

Search engine optimization (SEO) is one of a couple of methods people use to become "visible" on the net. Of course, sites can use paid inclusion to get into some engines or start pay per click (PPC) campaigns on others like Google, but those still don't guarantee listing or relevant placement. When a company steps into Search Engine Marketing (SEM) they instantly get a leg up on the rest of their industry that doesn't fool with such methods. These companies who refuse the new model of internet efficiency become relics of the past when being a relic of the past in this case makes about as much sense as, well, being a relic of the past.

From being involved in a SEM/SEO environment, I've watched first hand as companies have made a complete turn-around on a seemingly failed section of their marketing schema; they've become profitable in ways they didn't imagine possible just because they took an interest in this market which has existed since the first search engines came out in the late 90's. Rather than let the gods of the internet be in deciding their fate of placement, businesses with a proactive stance on their brand get noticed for it.

It's funny how people are focused on staying in the same mode of thought for so long that they refuse to change with the times. Often people do change, it's just entirely too late. You know, like the grocery store that adds the new flavor of Doritos two months before the end of the promotion, religious reform in convicted criminals or that guy who still searches out info on his term papers from the card catalog.

It's here again. The Fourth is upon us. Now it's time to take to our grills, buy our illegal fireworks (with the approved state licensing of course) and take the kids down to the park to watch the local show. What better way to start the festivities than to get on the computer and research a little bit about the history of this long-standing holiday?

Well thanks to SFP you don't have to do quite so much work. We have a bunch of fun and interesting facts to help you enjoy the fun, if not for value of the information for the ability to show your neighbor you know more about something than he does. So let's get to it.

There are several events held nationally that embody the spirit of nationalism once held by our forefathers. In fact, several of those traditions were started by said forefathers. These ceremonious rituals have been practiced for over 200 years, beginning with the first firework show in 1777, in Philadelphia. Granted, the show consisted of 13 explosions (a symbolic gesture that represented the number of original colonies), a paltry number in contrast to our modern celebrations which boast booms in the hundreds. The largest ceremony in the Midwest takes place in Columbus, OH on the last weekday before Independence Day and gathers in between 500,000 to 750,000 spectators.

In Charleston, SC in 1783, fear of fireworks causing the natural disaster that is their namesake (fire), every fire truck in the city was out and spread about the area to combat any possible problems that might have arisen.

In the 19th century, one reporter from Connecticut speculated that it often rained after the holiday celebrations and therefore the two were inextricably linked. These same grounds were then used by a Doctor from New York to call for legislation which would use cannon fire to regulate the climate. Now that's a doc with a plan to control the globe. Dr. Evil take note!

Although all of this is fun to think and talk about, the reality behind the fourth is a celebration to our independence and way of thinking. For the last couple hundred years the United States has been a powerhouse when it comes to developing the idea of independence. In fact, France (whose support of the U.S. during the revolution was a major contributor to our successful break from the British Empire) followed suit just 13 years later in 1789 with a revolution to their own monarchy.

Independence has meant a lot to U.S. citizens and was a major part of Woodrow Wilson's famous 14 point list of demands for the rebuilding of Europe following the First World War, with the sentiment being that all of the imperialized colonies deserved the independence that the United States helped their parent nations to procure. Granted, this arguably led to the Second Great War, but that is an entire different argument and hey, at least his heart was in the right spot!

Here at SFP we have our own set of ideals we try to promote. Independence is a great thing and we all try to utilize our work-time and space. Conversely, we also keep in mind that we are a unified entity. The United States is made up of several small bodies. Although geographically different, we still constitute one larger body. We rely on each other to fill in the gaps and to provide a general support. The same cannot be any truer for Stormfront.

So remember on this holiday that even though you are at home with your families (hopefully not held up at any airports or in long lines at a toll booth) that you're not the only ones celebrating. All of those around you may be different but they are still celebrating the same great cause. Have a happy Fourth of July!

Welcome to the Stormfront Productions blog. We would like to officially welcome and invite you to read, re-read, pass along and comment on our blog. The overall goal here is to let you get to know us on a more personal level while maintaining a professional decorum (at least enough of one that we can offer you real and valuable information). We plan on posting up the latest news and pictures from around the office too, so you won't get too bored with our amazingly engaging posts about the latest technology and marketing buzzes.

Everything we do here is extremely well coordinated by our expert team and all with the same goal: how can we better serve our customer? Even if you haven't or don't plan to do business with us, we hope you find this page as exciting and informative as our many satisfied customers. And if you're one of those from the latter category we want to thank you for your continued support of our ever expanding company. Always feel free to get in contact with us, ask questions, or just look around the site.