Marking the beginning of the Web 2.0 era, it is easy to see how the variation of upwards movement drawn from the internet world are distinguishable from that of more traditional media patterns. The artist’s choice of medium brings about an interesting interpretation, expressing more contemporary pixilation and features. The lines seen are very robust and carry the eye off the page in a continuing upwards movement. While each of the pieces below are unique in their fluidity, it is plain to see the upwards trend reflected similarly throughout.
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September 9, 2008
Social Media
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Being new and only recently exposed to social media marketing, the web 2.0 outbreak, and the power of people on the internet, I find myself easily influenced by the words and information handed down to me by the social Gods. Telling me how to act and what to contribute, it seems that from their perspectives anyone can become one of the socially-famed. My title as Social Media Specialist was given to me the day that I finished writing my last SEO content article and opened a Digg account, but I hardly think that I really earned the title as a Specialist at day one. At that point I would have been happy with Social Media Hopeful or Social Media Contributor. My quest to earn my title led me to The Best Practices In Social Media Marketing Writing Project, in which Mitch Joel asked for opinions on what people thought the best practices of social media were. As I continue to build my credibility of a Specialist, and in my efforts for what it’s worth, I wish to contribute what I think is the best practice in social media marketing.
In some aspects, I sometimes still consider myself a social media apprentice, as we all sometimes are in the constantly changing social media world, but it doesn’t hold me back from adding to the already influential list of practices that have come from most of the big dogs themselves. As any young and naïve social mediaist will say; I add selfishness to the list.
It is important to think about yourself and the image that you are presenting to those you connect with. When dealing with social media, in any level of the term, it is important that you stick to your guns and, like any mother will tell you, be true to yourself. This means that you contribute to the social media world what you think is worthy, what you find interesting. This holds especially true for those social media specialists, like I was myself, that are just getting their feet wet in the grand scheme of things and still take the comments on Digg seriously or to heart. Thinking of yourself, your own likes and interests, will prove to be more successful in the long run than if you were to play the desperate card and cater to anyone and everyone’s needs. If you stick to those stories and topics that interest you, it is not only easier to reflect your “profile personality” and transparency to others, but you are also able to connect to people on a common ground. When delving into social media making sure that you think of #1, it will be harder for people to expose your real underbelly and you will always be respected. Not only that, but you will eventually gain that “specialist” title and literally be considered one when people think of social media.
Throughout other blogs that have been written on this topic, there seems to be a consensus that reaching out to others (Morriss Partee) and catering to other peoples’ interests by lifting up to others (Drew McLellan) are the best practices in social media. Mitch Joel also adds in the element of maintaining consistency throughout different networks. While consistency is in fact a great practice, it won’t be effective for those that have already established themselves under several alias profiles; it is difficult to maintain that type of consistency when it comes to recognition. And while these other practices of selflessness will help someone gain loyalty and karma within their wealth of fans, in the end if you aren’t looking out for yourself, no one will know where and when to follow your words of expertise. And at the end of the day, if you haven’t thought about yourself, well, then you aren’t marketing your social media specialist skills.
Written by Erin Cartaya, Social Media Specialist and Consultant for eVisibility. Watch for more of Erin’s attempts at becoming the actual owner of the Specialist title.
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September 5, 2008
Social Media
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The Problems with the current Pay Per Click Management Industry.
The PPC management companies need to start making a change. There is very little relation between amount of spend on a campaign and amount of work needed to run the most efficient and ROI producing search campaign. If this is widely known then why on earth are all of the companies charging this way? Paid search (PPC) adopted the business model from the traditional Ad Agency. Why would we adopt the business model that started 70 years ago? It just makes no sense at all.
The eVisibility difference -
eVisibility has made a bold step to start the migration of how companies pay for PPC Campaign Management. We are now offering flat rate, hourly pricing on all campaigns. Why is this better?
The answer is below:
eVisibility is exposing the Paid Search Industry’s dirty little secret:
Companies who are paid a percentage of ad spend are only motivated to spend as much as possible. They are only motivated to optimize your PPC campaign to the extent that you still spend as much as possible. They let thousands of keywords run and spend millions of dollars with absolutely zero ROI. These poor performing keywords are offset by the 10%-20% of keywords that actually turn a hefty profit. If the compensation structure is flawed, then the whole relationship is flawed. The ideal structure is an agency that is compensated by the hours that they dedicate to your PPC Campaign Management. Their ONE GOAL should be achieving the VERY BEST ROI possible based on your unique business needs. Too many times we have seen clients who came from other Pay Per Click Management Agencies who charge a 15% management fee on a $100K budget, who are throwing $50+K down the drain every month because it would have meant a huge pay cut for the old agency to trim the fat. If you pay a percentage of spend, you are literally paying someone to lie to you.
If we tell you that you can spend more, we are not doing so to get paid more. If we cut your spend in half and provide the same amount of business to you, then we still get paid the same level.
There are two types of advertiser who would benefit from this pricing model:
Large Budget Accounts ($20,000+) - Just because you have a large budget does not necessarily mean that your campaign is going to take longer to manage Why would you have to pay us more every time you wanted to increase your budget? We feel that maintaining a large campaign should simply be broken down into how many hours we work. You will get exactly what you pay for.
Small Budget Accounts – Being veterans in the search marketing industry, we can tell you that you get what you pay for. If you have a $2,000 a month budget and you are paying an agency 15% of your budget ($300), you are going to get 2-3 hours a month dedicated to your account. With the traditional percentage based model, you will not be treated as an equal to a large account. Take the cost of management versus spend out of the equation. I have seen $2,000 campaigns produce $3000 in revenue and I have seen them produce $50,000 in revenue for a business each month. Ask yourself what the opportunity cost of an improperly managed campaign. Managing your Paid search campaign should not be any different from a pricing standpoint in an SEO campaign.
Unique value in eVisibility Hourly Priced Model:
- Know that when we suggest you spend more, it’s not for our benefit
- Know that we will only spend dollars that make you money, not us
- We will shave all the fat from your account instantly, instead of keeping it there to get paid.
- Rest easy knowing that everything that can be done is being done despite budget size.
At eVisibility we are passionate about results. We see a large hole in logic of the majority of Paid Search Agencies. We would rather provide a benefit to both the advertiser and our business. In paid search the money doesn’t have to be in the medicine, it can be in the cure.
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August 15, 2008
Paid Search
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