I was brainstorming this morning with a friend about their web shop and how the different components of an online development presence & advertising resembles in many points what it currently exists in traditional ad agencies. Online PR, Developers, Copywriters, Designers, Bloggers, Search Specialist and so on are all specialties of the online world and they each have their offline counterpoint. Then I came up with the expression the “Next Ad Agency” and I am wondering what it would be like. If the current ad agency model is based on talking, communicating something, an idea, a product or service, along with a brand message, is it possible that the Next Ad Agency will actually listen?

As a search marketing expert, I can honestly say that I spend more time listening to the searchers, understanding their search patterns and search terms than I spend time communicating to them. I basically don’t communicate much and I don’t need many words. I don’t need many words as I am only answering their request. “Here you will find what you are looking for” is the basis of what I say when I am crafting my copy for a paid search advertising campaign for instance. And you know what? It works! Of course, it can get a little more elaborated than that on the SEO side but there will still be a lot of objective descriptions and simple sentences about what’s on the site. On top of that, when I explain to self-proclaimed communication experts what my communication “strategy” is for my search marketing plan, I often get a glaze on their face as it seems overly simplistic to them. It is simple and I am not ashamed to admit it. Since the consumers are now doing most of the talking, does this mean we have to do most of the Listening? Is it possible that user centricity implies that we start listening more than we talk? And that we can only talk if consumers give us the right to do so? Someone told me once we can way more friends listening than talking. It does work. My uncle was saying: we have 2 ears and one mouth which means we have to listen twice as much as speak. As far as I can see, the Next Ad Agency will do just that.

It seems like polarities have been reversed as consumers are taking control. I love my new verb: “listen”. Let me know what you think. I can’t wait to hear. 

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Apparently, the controversial 2012 London Olympic Logo has created a stir in the British population. Please me know what you think.

I ain’t any design expert but it makes us proud our Vancouver - Whistler Olympic logo wouldn’t you say? According to the recent press release, the 2012 logo might receive a few rounds of iterations in the next 5 years. The original version cost 400,000 pounds or $843,870.81 CAD. So far 48,615 people have expressed their disagreement publicly.

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Le portail Tetesaclaques.tv n’en finit plus de battre des records de popularité. En décembre, 3,2 millions de visiteurs uniques (2 millions en octobre) auraient consulté pas moins de 20 millions de pages sur le site.

Ce succès fait-il de Tetesaclaques.tv une cible d’achat? Et quel en serait le prix ? Jean-François Renaud et Simon Lamarche, directeurs d’Adviso, une société d’analyse et de stratégie Web, se sont prêtés au jeu des estimations.

Selon leurs calculs, le site vaut plus de 10 M$. Chaque mois, les propriétaires du site touchent, après déduction de la commission payée à leurs deux régies de publicités, Networldmedia et Réseau Olive Canada, près de 340 000 $. En déduisant les coûts d’exploitation - création des clips, frais de bande passante, etc. -, Tetesaclaque.tv dégagerait un bénéfice mensuel de près de 200 000$, soit 2,4 M$ par année.

« On estime en général la valeur d’un site entre 5 et 10 fois ses profits annuels avant impôts, dit M. Renaud. Tetesaclaques.tv vaut donc près de 12 M$, au bas mot. »

L’acheteur potentiel de Tetesaclaques.tv devra payer 4 $ le visiteur unique. En comparaison, Google a payé 50 $ US le visiteur unique pour YouTube et Sony, 8,13 $US pour chaque visiteur du portail vidéo Grouper.

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Over the last few weeks, I have been revising for a friend of mine an area of SEO that has been largely overlooked: selecting a keyword-rich domain name. Since I have been asked that question hundreds of times and I have been reviewing, suggesting, assessing & buying domain for 10 years, I thought it would be a good idea to put it out here. I will not be covering everything here but this is start. For those of you who have not been introduced to the concept of domain name selection, speculation, the value of a name and how to select a good name, please read on. This will allow you to take a second look at your own name.

As I am researching writing on this topic, I came across a great article which presents the points to consider when buying a domain name. For better results, your domain name should be memorable and easy to remember. Remember the following tips when purchasing a domain name.

* The domain name should be short.
* The domain name should be simple.
* It should be suggestive of your business category.
* It should be unique.
* It should be easy to interpret and pronounce.
* It should be personalized.
* It should not be difficult to spell.
* It should not be difficult to remember.

Selecting a domain name, your web address, the location of your store online is a critical decision. You must take your time reviewing all your options before you make that decision. You also need to talk to your favorite SEO specialist as he/she might add a few suggestions you may have overlooked. He/She will be able to point out previously owned domains, talk about link equity of each domain, identify the age of a domain name/site and explain how these are important Google ranking factors to consider as part of the decision making process. 

Examples:
In my previous job at a local phone dating company, buying domain names was a big part of my workload and it is not because I liked it. The president thought that the more names we own, regardless of the words it carried, was a great idea. At some point, we owned more than 500 domain names, most of which did not have any value and did not produce any traffic. It actually costs a lot to keep them as part of our inventory. One day, they asked me to assess/buy giggle.com. Are you serious? Giggle.com was too expensive to purchase without a proper business plan. For the matter of discussion and education, I then showed them sedo.com: a great website for buying and selling previously-owned domain names and websites. Few weeks later, I put half of their domain inventory up for sale. Bottom line: it is very hard to buy/sell something if you don’t have the knowledge to assess its value properly. That is why you need to educate yourself & document your ideas before you can actually make these important financial decisions.

Here is another example. A few years ago, I was working for finetravelcompany.com and I convinced them to change their name for luxuryvacation.bc.ca. My recommendation was that finetravelcompany.com did not say anything about their business and this was a serious drawback for their long term success. Since the name of your business and the promotion of your business online go hand in hand, make sure your initial plan of attack includes the decision of your business name and your domain name. They might be the same or complement one another.

If you are not sure about your domain name and what better options would be, feel free to get in touch with me. Your name will make a big difference between success and failure and it should be selected wisely. I can help. 

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I just finished reading a very interesting article on black hat SEO techniques which talks specifically about the mindset of these practitioners of the Dark Arts of SEO.  I really liked the parallel the author, Akinola Akintomide, makes with criminality and the sets of beliefs and values it supports such as the cliché: get rich fast. It is very fascinating to follow the thoughts process of how these skilled programmers ended up in such a dark neighborhood. As the author points out, it could have been me and you, if we had taken the wrong turn.

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