Sweetmantra: Internet Marketing Advice

I Have Some Explaining to Do.

Wow.

It's been a long time since I posted something on my blog, especially given the fact that for a couple of years I had gotten into the habit of blogging weekly. The truth of the matter is that my absence wasn't because I forgot about my blog, or had no interest in blogging. Blogging, as much as it pains me to admit this, got de-prioritized in my personal and professional life during the last eight months. Every week I'd want to post something, but I had trouble finding (or making) the time, and I didn't want to push myself too hard or stress myself about it because that wouldn't be healthy. Yet, every week, there'd be the same nagging voice in my head giving me grief for not blogging, again.

Looking back on the last eight months, now that life has settled down a bit, I am starting to see that it was a "perfect storm" of too many things, bad and good, that consumed the energy I would have normally had for blogging. The good news is that this storm (especially the bad stuff) has passed.

It may sound like I am making excuses, and maybe I am, but life is about making choices, and for a while I chose to focus on other things. What were those other things? On the personal front, there were three deaths in my inner circle (all people my age), which were three too many in my book, but there were also three weddings, a new niece, and some amazing trips. On the professional front, the business I run has grown by leaps and bounds, but it was crazy busy for a while. I've now put systems and people in place to make things less pressurized. Don't get me wrong; I love my job, I have a great team, and I am excited about all the new things we are working on.

I've decided to stop nagging myself about blogging, to stop pressuring myself to stick to a specific (and arbitrary) schedule, and just post when and if I feel like it. So that's what I'm going to do. I'm also not going to be so rigid about writing solely about Internet marketing or domain names. On some occasions, and starting with my next post, I may share professional and even personal observations and experiences that are of significance to me and, with any luck, of value to you.

Thanks for your patience and understanding. It's good to be back.

Why It's a Wrap for my Movie Domain Name Website

Like many of the ventures I have launched over the years, the idea for Hollywoozy, my site where I would review movie domain names, came to me out of the blue.

At the time, I thought it would be both fun and educational to use movie domain names (the good and the bad) as a springboard to discuss what makes a good marketing domain name.

I also wanted to create an outlet to share my amusement and frustration with the idiotic domain names chosen by the marketers of movies.

I feel that I accomplished both those objectives, and the reaction to Hollywoozy has been very positive.

Since launching the site, I have had the opportunity to discuss movie domain names with studio executives, filmmakers, marketing folks, and intellectual property lawyers. In doing so, I gained a deeper understanding of why most Hollywood movies end up with less-than-ideal domain names. It was an eye-opening experience.

Here are some of the reasons why movie domains are the way they are (and won't likely change anytime soon):

1. Since the bulk of a typical Hollywood movie's marketing dollars are spent on traditional, offline media (mainly television and print), the online marketing component is given low priority, little attention, and relatively tiny budgets. Finding and obtaining the best domain name is not seen as a priority, and any money spent on purchasing the domain name(s) will come out of the already squeezed budget for the movie's Website.

2. Many movie marketers refuse to deal with domain investors who might already own the ideal domain name. It's become almost a matter of principle that Hollywood would rather pay $10 and register a brand new but inferior movie domain name than pay someone else $500 for a much better domain name. Hollywood feels it has been 'burned' too often by cybersquatters (or what Hollywood perceives as cybersquatters) and wants nothing to do with even the legitimate domain resale market.

3. Because the online marketing of a movie is treated as a low priority, there is little to no measurement done, which means there are few opportunities for the powers to be to learn how having a better domain name would impact their overall success.

4. Since the main focus of Hollywood movie marketing is to generate buzz and put bums in seats for the movie's opening weekend, most of the marketing activities are geared towards that tiny window of time. Having a better domain name is not seen as having much of an impact on this either.

5. The studios don't really care that they don't have the perfect domain name. They figure that because they will be spending millions to market whatever domain name they do have, they will still get tons of traffic to the movie's Website. And they also figure that the search engines and popular movie portals like Rotten Tomatoes and IMDb will also drive organic traffic as well.

Having learned all of this, I have decided it is pointless of me to keep making fun of Hollywood and its often silly choice of movie domain names. If anything, I've become very forgiving of Hollywood and its domain name foibles. I know the domain names are lame. You know the domain names are lame. And, yes, Hollywood knows the domain names are lame as well.

Since this situation isn't likely to ever change, and since I have a long list of ideas for other ventures I want to turn into reality, there will be no more updates to Hollywoozy.

I've had a ball creating and updating Hollywoozy, I've loved the discussions and learning and relationships that have flowed out of it, and I hope its visitors enjoyed reading it.

Cut.

Print.

That's a wrap.

My Five Most Popular Blog Articles

I'm on holiday the next little while so I thought I'd share some links to five of the all-time most popular articles I have ever written for my blog:

• 10 Twitter Tips for Professionals

• 10 Facebook Tips for Professionals

• Does Someone Want to Buy Your Domain Name?

• 12 Questions You Must Ask Before Doing SEO

• Ten Must-Have iPhone Apps for Marketers

Apparently blog posts with numbers in the title do very well. ;+)

I hope you enjoy these, and I look forward to resuming writing again later this Summer.

10 Twitter Tips for Professionals

After the unexpected popularity of my article 10 Facebook Tips for Professionals, I figured I would follow it up with some tips for the micro-blogging platform known as Twitter.

Although Twitter has been around since 2006, it's only recently started to generate interest from the public at large. One of the things I like the most about Twitter is that it is an open platform and the uses for it are limited only by people's imagination. Every day I discover new and creative ways that people are using Twitter, some good, some bad. As with any new medium, there are and will continue to be growing pains as we all figure out what the ground rules are and how best to use this new tool. I, for one, still consider myself to be in my 'kindergarten' years with Twitter, however I have learned a few tips and tricks along the way that I am happy to share with you:

I hereby present my list of 10 Twitter tips for business professionals who want to get the most out of Twitter without making too many newbie mistakes:

1. Use your real and (length permitting) full name as your Twitter ID and Display Name - Don't start Twittering using some cutesy or cryptic alias; that just makes it hard for people to find you and figure out who you really are. If you can, avoid using an underscore in your Twitter ID: JaneSmith is way more professional than Jane_Smith and is also easier for people who are using mobile devices to type. And capitalize the first letter of your first and last name; it makes them easier to read.

2. Make sure you upload a photo of yourself right away - If you don't include a photo of yourself as part of your Twitter account, you will limit the number of followers you will get. And use a real photo, not an illustration, avatar, or your company's logo. People want to have a relationship with you, not an illustration. Choose a recent colour or black and white headshot of yourself, and make sure the photo is tasteful. For best results, the image should be a JPEG sized about 128 by 128 pixels, but remember that it will be displayed in much smaller sizes on different Twitter clients, including small screens on mobile devices, so make sure it is legible even when tiny.

3. Include a compelling and accurate description of yourself in your Twitter account - People will refer to this when deciding if they want to follow you. Make sure you include pertinent information such as the name of the company you work for, your job title, a brief description of what you do, and a link to your corporate Website or blog. Remember to keep search engines in mind and feature keywords that are relevant to your profession in your description. This will make it easier for new people to find you via Twitter search.

4. Choose a professional looking Twitter profile design, or create your own - The Twitter account settings allow you to choose from a number of simple design templates for your profile. I recommend that you pick one that best (or at least better) aligns with your professional brand, or tinker with the colour schemes until you get something that works. If you really want to present a slick image, get a custom Twitter background design created for you. There are numerous free and affordable paid Twitter background design services. One of the ones I have used and can recommend is Twitbacks.

5. Understand the important difference between a public reply and a Direct Message (DM) - When you reply to someone that you are following, using the "@BillSweetman" syntax, everyone following you and them can see your conversation, and a permanent public record is made of the exchange. A Direct Message, using the "D BillSweetman" syntax, is strictly between you and that one other recipient (although in order for this to work both recipient and sender have to be following one another). Confuse the two and you could end up in an embarrassing situation.

6. Be judicious about Re-Tweeting - Twitter is about sharing, however if all you are doing is continually re-tweeting other people's posts instead of contributing your own original content, this will soon begin to grate on your followers. After all, if your followers really cared about what someone else was Twittering about, they'd follow them.

7. Watch your P's and Q's - Twitter is a public forum, and your posts are archived forever. While it is always advisable to avoid getting into a war of words with someone, Twitter is the worst possible place to have a dustup since everyone has a ringside seat. Sadly, that hasn't stopped some folks from getting into some very nasty, and very public, Twitter fights. Try to avoid making the same mistake.

8. Be careful about mixing business with pleasure - Consider creating two separate Twitter accounts, one for business use and one for personal use. If you tie your personal email address and a more 'casual' photo to your personal Twitter account, your friends and family will easily be able to figure out which is the right account to follow.

9. Follow but don't expect to be followed - While you are free to follow anyone on Twitter that you so choose, don't expect them to follow you back. Not everyone wants to follow hundreds or thousands of people, and just because you followed them doesn't mean they are obliged to follow you, nor should you be upset if they don't.

10. Don't try to "market" on Twitter; try to "share" instead - Just because Twitter allows you to post promotional messages 24/7 doesn't mean that anyone is interested in that kind of content. If you want to attract and keep followers, focus on contributing items of value. Let them know about something you just heard or discovered. Solicit feedback on a project or ask a question. Sing the praises of a product or person. Recommend other people they should follow. Or provide an update on what you are working on right now. Think sharing, not shouting.

Despite the feverish tone of the recent media hoopla around Twitter, I am very bullish about the future of Twitter. We've hardly scratched the surface of its potential. Twitter was originally dismissed by many as a quirky geek distraction (I admit to being one of those skeptics), but it is rapidly emerging as a flexible communication platform for both business and personal use. I hope my 10 Twitter tips will help you take better advantage of this new medium. And if you want to follow me on Twitter, my Twitter ID is BillSweetman. Good luck, and happy Tweeting!

Discover The Secret World of Domain Names at PodCamp Toronto

I will be attending, and speaking at, PodCamp Toronto next weekend, February 21-22, 2009 in downtown Toronto.

PodCamp Toronto is a free "un-conference" devoted to social media, and despite its name is about way more than just podcasting. I attended PodCamp Toronto two years ago and loved the energy and inclusiveness of the event. I highly recommend it, and you can't beat the price. Yes, it really is free to attend and hear from (and interact with) many of the sharpest minds in social media today, including Chris Brogan, Collin Douma, and Eden Spodek.

I will be giving a talk entitled "The Secret World of Domain Names" on Saturday, February 21 at 3:30 PM in Room 229. This will be a marketer's guide to domain names, and I plan to shatter some common domain name myths and show you how to buy, protect, and rescue your domain names. I will also explain how you can use domain names to generate a steady stream of targeted traffic. And for the first time ever in public, I will take you behind-the-scenes of the domaining (domain name investing) industry, a secretive, billion dollar industry that you can get a piece of for less than $10.

I'm really looking forward to PodCamp Toronto, hanging out with my fellow social media enthusiasts, and sharing my passion for domain names with everyone.

For more information about PodCamp Toronto, visit the PodCamp Toronto Wiki. See you there!

My Internet Marketer's Diary: Chapter 1 - Sewing the Seeds

Last week, I officially launched my newest online venture, Hollywoozy, the first Website devoted to reviewing movie domain names.

One of the many reasons I am always launching new things is that it gives me a chance to experiment with and refine different marketing tactics, and Hollywoozy is no different.

What is different this time, however, is that I am going to lift up the curtain and share some of the marketing tactics I am using to promote my venture, along with the results. In most cases, these tactics do not involve spending any money, although they all require spending some time to implement.

In this first chapter of my Internet Marketer's Diary, I am going to list five of the key tactics I used leading up to Hollywoozy's official launch on July 20, 2008. I consider these the essential building blocks of a good online marketing campaign.

1. Build the Site with Search Engines in Mind

In addition to following SEO (search engine optimization) best practices, one of the best ways to ensure a site is very search engine friendly is to create it using a blog platform, because search engines love blogs. My site was created using TypePad, which is my favourite professional blogging platform, however you could probably achieve similar results using WordPress. I also made sure that my site featured the most heavily searched keywords and key phrases that I was targeting. For instance, since Hollywoozy is about movie domain names, I made sure the phrase "domain names" was used extensively throughout the site on every single page.

2. Invite the Search Engines to Crawl the Website Prior to Launch

I wanted to give the search engines a head start on finding my site, so I added discrete links to my new site from some of the other heavily trafficked Websites that I own. This got my site indexed by Google a few days prior to its official launch, so that when people started to search for "Hollywoozy" in Google on the day of launch (which many did, according to my Web analytics reports), the site was already listed in Google's search results.

3. Use Tags to Define the Content of the Website

Prior to launch, I registered my site with Technorati (the leading blog directory and search engine), complete with a keyword-loaded description and lots of relevant tags. Technorati is frequently and deeply crawled by the search engine spiders, and within 24 hours Google had found Hollywoozy's listing on Technorati.

4. Generate Targeted Traffic via a Multiple Domain Name Strategy

I am proud of the unusual brand name I came up with for my site, however I am the first to admit that "Hollywoozy'" is not a descriptive name. That's why I also registered moviedomainnames.com and a few other descriptive, keyword-loaded domain names, which I pointed to my new site. The $28 (total) I spent registering the four domain names was the only cash outlay I made towards marketing the Website. That's peanuts to pay for the targeted type-in traffic my site will likely get from these domains over time.

5. Invite Some Enthusiasts to a Sneak Peek

In the week prior to launch, I used my Facebook status line (and Facebook's message service) to invite my friends and colleagues to let me know if they were interested in getting a "sneak preview" of my newest venture. The curious keeners who responded got early access to my site. Not only did they tell some of their friends and colleagues about the site (thank you, everyone!), but they were also a great source of feedback and ideas. Michel Neray, for instance, suggested I make a small but important tweak to how I displayed my domain name reviews, and I quickly took him up on the idea. All told, about 20 people in my personal network got an early peek at the site, and they helped to quickly spread the word post-launch.

In the next chapter of my Marketer's Diary, I will reveal the tactics I used to kick off the official launch of the site, as well as share some of the results to date. For a taste of how successful the launch was, try doing a Google search for "movie domain names" (which is the focus of my site) and see if you can spot Hollywoozy in the search results. ;+)

Surprising Findings From my Blog's Traffic Statistics

I recently checked the traffic statistics for my blog, Sweetmantra, and was so surprised by some of the numbers that I thought I'd share them with you.

For the last year or so, I've been using Google Analytics to measure and analyze the traffic to my blog. (As an aside, Google Analytics is a terrific - and free - tool.) To be honest, though, I don't spend a lot of time checking the traffic statistics for Sweetmantra because "traffic" is not the main reason I blog.

Nevertheless, when I checked the source of traffic for last month (July 2007), I was rather surprised.

• 65% of my traffic came from organic search results (i.e., search engine queries)
• 18% came from type-in traffic (i.e., people who typed the URL "www.sweetmantra.com" into their Web browser)
• 17% came from referrals (links) from other Websites and blogs

What was I surprised about?

Well, first of all, I was pleasantly surprised by how much of my overall traffic I was getting from search engines. For me, this further proves how search engine friendly blogs are compared to 'traditional' Websites. It also means that a lot of these visitors are probably stumbling across my blog and discovering me and my work for the first time. Thanks to search engines, I'm reaching a new audience, and at little to no cost.

I was also intrigued by the referral source details. Getting traffic from links from other sites and blogs is key to how the Internet works and a great way to generate traffic. Nothing new there. What surprised me was how much traffic was generated by a single blog that linked to my blog. Although I received traffic from 52 different third-party Websites and blogs last month, a tourism Internet marketing blog located at tourismkeys.ca (that I had never heard about and had never contacted) mentioned one of my posts on June 27 and this accounted for 9% of my referral traffic (i.e., 1.5% of my total traffic) in July.

I should also note that I continue to get a steady stream of blog visitors from my profile on two popular social networking sites: Facebook and LinkedIn. If you have a Website and/or blog and aren't linking to it from your profile on these two social networking sites, you're likely losing a great traffic building opportunity.

When was the last time you checked your traffic statistics? You just never know what pleasant surprises and learning may be waiting for you.

Crossing 10,329 Miles with Communication Consultant Lee Hopkins

Last week I had the honour and pleasure of being interviewed by Australia's Lee Hopkins for his provocative Better Communication Results podcast. Despite the fact my Skype connection kept disconnecting us every 6 minutes or so, Lee and I had a lively 30-minute discussion about search engine optimization, business blogs, and social media.

One of the questions Lee asked me triggered me to tell the story of a friend who recently launched an online store and was looking for help with the search engine optimization.

Because my friend's store was created using a database-driven e-commerce solution that was not designed with search engines in mind and would therefore be impossible to properly optimize for search engines, I recommend that my friend focus his efforts instead on creating a blog related to the product he was selling.

I told my friend that this would be a far more effective way to generate targeted traffic than trying to optimize the existing site. Not only would it be good for the search engines, it would also be good for prospective customers. This is not the first time I've made this recommendation to someone, nor will it likely be the last. That's right, yet another great reason to consider launching a blog.

You can download an MP3 file of the full interview (14 MB) or, better yet, subscribe to Lee's podcast feed so you can receive this and future episodes of his Better Communication Results podcast.

15 Cool Things I Learned at the 2007 CMA Annual Convention

I had the privilege of attending, and speaking at, the 2007 Canadian Marketing Association Annual Convention in Ottawa earlier this month. Here are a few fascinating tidbits I gleaned from the many excellent talks and presentations I attended:

• Marketers need to learn how to 'outsource' the marketing to the consumers.
• Marketers need to develop mechanisms to detect and nurture the brand ambassadors (i.e., those consumers who will willingly act as promoters).
• Mass advertising for the iPod didn't happen until 9 months after the product launched; until then it was all 'word of mouth' marketing by brand ambassadors.
  (Source: Dr. Joe Plummer, Advertising Research Foundation)

• "Don't fear theft of your ideas; fear obscurity."
• To today's 'Net Generation,' "choice is like oxygen."
• Google is the world's fourth largest computer hardware manufacturer (of data servers).
  (Source: Don Tapscott, New Paradigm)

• People want more of what they can get less of.
• 90% of people look for less risk (try to avoid risk) when it comes to making a decision.
• You are four times more likely to be a CEO in North America if you are over six feet tall.
  (Source: Heath Slawner, Hart Resource Development)

• 50% of complex search queries (in search engines) go unanswered.
• 40% of the Web is not searchable...yet.
  (Source: Owen Sagness, Microsoft Canada)

• WestJet receives 1,000+ unsolicited resumes a week.
• The airline has a Department of Culture that is responsible for "creating a remarkable (workplace) environment."
• WestJet holds retirement parties for the planes it takes out of service. At the last retirement party for a plane, over 600 employees showed up.
  (Source: Richard Bartrem, WestJet)

• 74% of bloggers say they are open to receiving product or service information from companies, but only 9% actually do.
  (Source: David Jones, Fleishman-Hillard)

Next year's CMA Annual Convention will be held in Toronto in May, 2008.

Seven Fast Tips for Using Blogger

Now that I've established that Blogger doesn't suck anymore, I thought it would be helpful to share a few quick and easy tips to help you get the most out of Blogger, Google's free blogging software.

1. Tweak the Navbar
   The Blogger navigation bar at the top of every page doesn't have to be a 'loud' blue and orange. While you can't eliminate the navigation bar entirely, you can make it less obvious and tie it closer to the look and feel of your blog. To do so, simply log in to your Blogger account, then navigate to Dashboard > Layout, then click on "Edit" on the Navbar. In addition to the default blue colour scheme for the Navbar, you can also choose tan, black, or silver.
2. Finesse Your Photo
   For the photo of you, the blogger, use a JPEG that is exactly 88x88 pixels in size. This size will look best both on your blog (where more people are likely to see it) and your User Profile page. To change your photo, navigate to Dashboard > Edit Profile.
3. Create Search Engine-Friendly Tags
   Since page titles are very important to search engines, and since Blogger automatically incorporates tags into page titles, make sure you create tags that accurately reflect the content of your blog. This will help increase the traffic you get from search engines.
4. Use a Compelling Description
   The description you use for your blog in the top header section will likely be used by search engines when they display your blog in search results. Make sure you craft your description to be compelling to readers (to motivate them to click) and search engines by including the most important keywords here. Go to Dashboard > Settings to add or modify your blog description.
5. Use Your Own Domain Name
   Just because your blog's URL is likely to be some variation of yourblog.blogspot.com this doesn't mean you can't have a snappier and more memorable URL for marketing purposes. Simply register a domain name like TheBestBlogEver.com (for $10 or less at registrars like GoDaddy) and forward this to your blogspot.com URL. (Blogger also now supports using a custom domain for serving your blog, however configuring this is not for the faint of heart.)
6. Protect Yourself From Spammers
   If you want to provide your email address to your blog visitors but don't want to get bombarded by spammers using email address harvesting software, modify the way you display your email on your blog as follows: billgates[at]sympatico[dot]ca or billgatesNOSPAM@NOSPAMsymptico.ca.
7. Measure Your Traffic
   Blogger doesn't offer any Website traffic statistics (yet), but that doesn't mean you can't measure your blog traffic. Use a free and basic service like Site Meter or, if you're a data junkie, try Google Analytics.