How to Compete Against Nefarious Companies and Make Search Better

PT Barnum once said, “There’s no such thing as bad publicity.” This goes for online marketing as well these days. When companies engage in questionable business tactics they seem to be rewarded. So much for the warm fuzzy tones sounded by the folks looking to provide a “better search experience.” I’m not talking about content farms, link salespeople that flood the net and our emails with links for sale, purple bingo slippers link folks, or the rogue SEO with a link funnel that could stretch to the moon and back. I’m talking real life goods and service industries.

Let me state for the record that I am a Pittsburgh Online Marketing Technologist for a small company. I have a client who shall remain nameless. (You’ll see why in a minute) His business competes in a fairly rough market segment. Folks without a clue; but with deep pockets to throw at shady “get me to the top, I don’t care how” practices. It seems they have come upon a great PT Barnum scheme. Just rob people, cybersquat competitors domains (lawsuit settled and sealed), overcharge customers (reviews manipulated to shield the SE’s), acquire 300,000 links (none of which were bought I’m sure) sweep it all under the rug of relentless TV and YouTube campaigns and Walla; a formula for success?

Then after the dust settles… the dust is still settling in fact. They get caught. So the newspapers promote them with digital and print mentions. They get links from major news and publication channels and their rankings skyrocket with the kind of promotion that NY biz got and that they couldn’t buy for a million bucks like this . So they use their increased sales to buy more ad space to promote their business on local TV and the net. Soon it’s a barrage that my client, remember my client?... can’t compete against with tactics like good customer service and solid professionalism.

The best analogy I can give you is a movie from the 70’s called “Used Cars”. If you’ve seen it, you have got the picture. If you haven’t, check it out. It’s funny as the day is long. I did some link analysis to find the most frustrating stats. As I suspected, links and mentions from top news services with anchor text like ***** Lawsuit and ****** scam that they put up to bury the truth from the consumer. Links my client can’t get and wouldn’t want. So what’s my point?

The SE’s reward bad press and publicity. Barnum was right.

The online customer doesn’t see the companies’ link profile. Most hardly research a business. They just call the first one on the list to fill a need. Because of the fuzzy search experience mentioned previously, there is a level of trust. By the way, I really do have to thank this competitor for waking me up and angering me all the same. I seem to perform better under duress. The short answer then becomes work harder, more efficiently and find new creative ways to leverage my clients’ strengths.

I am looking at something that needs fixed with the algorithm to evolve Search and bring it to the credibility that will assure it’s survival as a viable option for consumers. TRUST.

An ancillary benefit is that we will hopefully all still have jobs. So what needs fixed?

LINKS:

Obviously the rankings need some help determining which links should pass juice and how much juice they should pass.  Any recent link buying News ring a bell? Should lawsuits and bad press pass juice? Should they pass the same juice a piece of good content does? How do the search engines determine sentiment? Are they trying?

REVIEWS:

In my opinion, this is totally broken. Our experience is that a consumer must be polarized to leave a review i.e. the review is either awesome or horrible. If the service provided is professional and the customer got just what they ordered, they don’t take the time to leave a review. Padded review statistics push the nefarious to the top. I hear rumors in the wind that Google is addressing this but we’ll all have to wait and see after the Décor deal. This article mentions Google’s review solution in the works. We’ll see.

COMMENTS:

Comments have been manipulated for years to get links. What determines a quality comment? Are Nofollows enough? Bot registration and “Nice Post” comments for a link get old. If Akismet says it’s spam it’s spam, we don’t have the time to track down every comment. So it’s broken.

PRESS and NEWS:

Can we educate the news community as to the detriment of giving mentions and links to derogatory stories? I saw a story on the local news about the company in question immediately followed by their ad. Maybe the News should do an exposé about how they perpetuate and support companies like this?

If you’re reading this you’re probably involved in the search field in some way or trying to be a more informed consumer. SEO and Online Marketing have had a black eye for some time in the eyes of the public. I read a lot of posts about our community being slick and hucksterish, well let’s start from the ground up and prove the naysayers wrong. I’ll do my part in Making Search Better one link, review, or comment at a time.

Think On Your Feet or End Up On Your Ass

Your competition never sleeps – are YOU sleeping?

Thinking On Your Feet May Just Save Your Business

Surviving as a small business takes brass. Are you ready to make your business stand out amongst all the competition? Are you willing to invest considerable time and money to make it happen? Do you have a vision for your marketing? Are you trying to hand off responsibilities and say, “I have a Facebook account and it hasn’t increased sales”, Social Media must not work?

Some Questions for the small business owner to think about:

• Is your business successful now? Successful businesses are constantly evaluating the terrain, sizing up their competition and try to stay one step ahead at the least. Market leaders don’t have to be the biggest players, just the most informed. If you understand the web is the present and the future and just don’t know where to start perhaps some Internet Consulting services may be your best move initially.

 

• Is the market growing, shrinking, or stagnant? Have you carefully thought about the future? When was the last time you asked yourself, “Have my sales hit a plateau?” What can I do to increase sales? Thinking about your business is something that owners can forget in the course of day to day operations. One day they look up to find themselves chasing the market instead of changing the market.

 

• Are you looking to Social Media or a new website to save your business? Upgrading or adding a website is a good start but if your market is small and saturated with competition, you may want to explore a niche. Ask yourself, “What do I do better than any other business in my field?” Sometimes the best website and marketing in the world is not your answer. A different business or business model is. You’ll never hear that from the SOS. (short for snake oil salesman)

 

• Is your product or service still viable? It’s been said that the kiss of death for any business is gaining an increasing share of a declining market. At some point the well runs dry and then what? Have you thought about alternative uses for your products or services?

 

• Has your market shrunk or are your clients exploring alternatives to your products or services? Has your market shifted or dried up? Is there still room for growth in your industry? Can you sustain increased sales with your in-house talent?

 

• Why should we care? Glitz and glamour only go so far. Remember the Where’s the Beef ads? Where’s the steak in your offerings? Is your business prepared to give the kind of customer service that makes clients stay with you even if your not the cheapest? Advertising agencies call this the unique selling proposition which is just a slickster way of saying be unique.

 
There is a reason this post has 20 questions (well 23) and is written in an interrogational style. Consumers are more savvy than ever. Forget the fluff and deliver. We Do. Ask any Pittsburgh Internet Marketing clients of Blackball Online Marketing.

Doing Social Media Well – Listening

Listen To Be Heard

We, as a society have been preprogrammed since birth to talk first and listen later. It started in the crib when we cried and got a response from our parents. Some folks haven’t stopped into their 80’s.

Businesses are the same way. And with good reason, before social media there was only push advertising. Businesses cried out to their captive audiences and all who would listen. Television, radio and print all work this way. Public Relations were a lot easier because there was time to formulate and craft nifty responses to all the woes they faced.

PR never faced a response that was so direct and carried the weight that it does with social media. And with everyone listening in now, responses lend themselves to be as straight-shooting as possible, timely, and obviously help address the problem. This all has to come from good listening skills. Can you imagine the outrage the tobacco companies would have faced in the Age of Social Media?

Thinking about this now, blogging about listening is rather odd. There is no direct response, more a delayed reaction which gets muted by time. However, listening is a skill we all should be honing because that’s what actually gets us heard. Sounds bizarre, Listen to be Heard? Yes, Listening allows us to formulate concise and definite responses that are quality in nature and more likely to be heard provided they are timely.

Listening well has the ability to turn a negative experience with a customer into a customer for life. Good, bad, or indifferent, our responses are to the point. And fast.

OK, Mr Smarty, how do I listen better? This is the trick…

Social Media is Simple like our Social Media Isn’t Hard post states.

Follow our guiding principle of Social media, “Helping people is Good Business.” Use your own voice for Social Media of course. Your audience is smart, they can tell.

Don’t push, mention with politeness and provide helpful follow-up feedback like our No Pushing Please in Social Media post states.

Scale your Social Media campaigns so you can keep up with what’s being said. It’s pretty hard to listen if you’re unable to hear or keep up with the conversation.

Always be mindful of your audience. Some are masters and some are newcomers. Take the time to learn who’s who and don’t be afraid to help.

We are constantly trying to become better listeners and sometimes blogging about a topic brings out points we didn’t expect. Such was the case with this Pittsburgh Internet Consulting post. Thank You for reading this. Please sign up to the blog to get our posts delivered by email or RSS. Send us a comment and see how well we do.