Saturating the Infant Mind With Mixed Marketing Messages

If marketing is strong enough consumers draw false conclusions. The NYT reported that US students scored surprisingly well on economics stuff compared to reading and math, but messed this question up

But on a multiple-choice question that asked students to identify one of the policy tools of the Federal Reserve, only 21 percent chose the correct answer, “buying and selling government securities.” Thirty-seven percent incorrectly chose “increasing or decreasing government spending,” and 31 percent chose “raising or lowering income taxes,” he said.

Which yielded this incorrect conclusion

“This means that students haven’t learned that Congress and the president determine federal spending,” Mr. Damasio said.

By giving something a dubious official sounding but bland name and rarely talking about it people can be kept ignorant to what they do.

On the other end, saturating the infant mind with marketing messages works well at educating the public. Google recenlty suggested HMOs educate the public by spamming the web with their messaging via the Google ad network.

Google recently created a feature for Google News that allows people in the news to comment on the news. One of their seed stories was about the damaging effects of McDonalds marketing. How fitting that Google, the biggest online ad broker highlights the damaging effects of advertising and marketing. This comment from Dr. Vic Strasburger, M.D., Professor of Pediatrics, University of New Mexico is worth repeating over and over again

How far does a civilized society go to protect its youngest members? How far does a capitalistic society go to make money? Those are the questions.

In the U.S., we spend $250 billion a year on advertising....more than any other country in the world. And clearly, advertising works! In this case, on 3-5 year-olds!

Research has shown that kids under the age of 7-8 years are psychologically and intellectually incapable of understanding what advertising is. Several European countries disallow advertising to young children.

What do we do in the U.S.? We allow advertisers to spend $10 billion a year advertising junk food and fast food to children and teens. Then we scratch our heads and wonder why there is an epidemic of childhood and adolescent obesity. We continue to spend $12 billion a year on cigarette advertising, and 3,000 kids begin smoking every DAY! We spent several billion a year on alcohol advertising and then wonder why we have such a problem with drunk driving. We spent nearly half a billion on advertising drugs for erectile dysfunction, but we tell kids "abstinence only." So....we advertise a whole variety of products which are harmful to kids' health, but we seem perfectly willing to make money off of them. The question is (like the Golden Oldie from the 1960s, "The Limbo Rock"), how low can we go?

So Pure

If I think something sucks I generally am rather blunt, and sometimes that can cause lawsuits, fake comments, hate email, dual challenges, etc. The ugliest parts of humanity are anonymously drawn in to a person who wants to be honest...especially if they are against the grain and gaining influence.

As time passes people try to wear you down and make you fit in their shoes. This comes from the top and the bottom. At one point in time I remember when I thought most everything was overpriced. Looking back, I now appreciate how skewed my worldview was back then, especially in a world full of capitalism when I was valuing my time at nothing, helping out whoever I could in an industry where a 7 figure salary is not uncommon if all you care about is money.

Business is not about who creates the most value. Business is about who creates the most profit while looking as legitimate as needed to continue the model while ignoring the cost of externalities.

Oddly enough after enough time passes you become the standard for others in what not to do. But like a tidal wave the person who knocks you down rises only to later fall, eclipsed by their own ego, both standing in line waiting to wear your shoes.

Ebb and flow in human nature, or envy? Who knows. :)

free online gift certificate coupons & discounts

in store credits for crap...
nothing says I don't love you like a gift certificate
if I know you enough to love you then I should know something you want
be it a gift, an experience, or a story

Consider the Source

He knew he was misguided when scalpers gave him tips on romance and etiquette.

An Email Blast that Made Me Smile

So I flamed one directory company so bad that they changed their editorial policies based on my very public flames. Then they launched a user generated business guide, which I mentioned would be easy for people to get some great link equity from. Their CEO commented on my guide and on my blog saying that my guide was great. Today they sent out an email blast about their new guide service, and at the bottom of it they linked to some of the best guides. One of which was mine.

So I flame their biz model, say their new venture is easy to spam, and then they reward me by promoting me as a topical expert to a large volume of their clients.

The world is a crazy crazy crazy crazy place.

Words are Powerful

George Lakoff

The first rule of using negatives is that negating a frame activates the frame. If you tell someone not to think of an elephant, he'll think of an elephant.

Richard Dawkins

America, founded in secularism as a beacon of eighteenth century enlightenment, is becoming the victim of religious politics, a circumstance that would have horrified the Founding Fathers. The political ascendancy today values embryonic cells over adult people. It obsesses about gay marriage, ahead of genuinely important issues that actually make a difference to the world. It gains crucial electoral support from a religious constituency whose grip on reality is so tenuous that they expect to be 'raptured' up to heaven, leaving their clothes as empty as their minds. More extreme specimens actually long for a world war, which they identify as the 'Armageddon' that is to presage the Second Coming.

The Biggest Reason I Like SEO

I like SEO not for its commercial application, but for the idea that you can help other people who dealt with some of the same problems you dealt with, and that you can help give a voice to people who might otherwise not have much of one.

I also like how a bit of knowledge sorta levels the playing field quite a bit.

Although the large commercial forces biasing search are going to make it increasingly harded to be heard unless you are really really passionate about what you are saying and can make others passionate about actively spreading your message.

Boring Jobs are Exciting

So today I spoke with a person who had a quite boring job. He acted like a true jerk when we first met, but I acted as though I was interested in his job, and within a few minutes the guy was kind to me.

I spoke to another guy today about what type of work I did. He thought I was a bit closed off, but when I started speaking about what I do and how it works he said I was quite animated in nature.

One of the easiest ways to seem interesting to other people is to be (or act) interested in what they do and what they are interested in. As social creatures we all have a need for a sense of empathy and purpose.

Meeting People is Easy

Quote from the inside cover of Meeting People is Easy

If you have been rejected many times in your life, then one more rejection isn't going to make much difference. If you're rejected, don't automatically assume it's your fault. The other person may have several reasons for not doing what you are asking her to do: none of it may have anything to do with you. Perhaps the person is busy or not feeling well or genuinely not interested in spending time with you. Rejections are part of everyday life. Don't let them bother you. Keep reaching out to others. Keep reaching out to others. When you begin to receive positive responses then you are on the right track. It's all a matter of numbers. Count the positive responses and forget about the rejections.

That movie is about Radiohead becoming famous and touring themselves into emptiness (and showing how they rejected the fame and how their version of reality on a long tour was way different than that which the media painted).

Manikins Without Clothing

My hair was going past my eyes, and I got a meeting of some sorts this week which made me feel like I should get a hair cut. I don't normally go to the mall much, but I went today for a quick hair cut.

When walking through the mall I noticed some store had cheesy manikins of ultra buff guys not wearing shirts, but having them neatly folded into a small square on their shoulders.

What the hell is that all about?

The Illegitimacy of Evil & All About My Logo

I didn't even realize that evil was in my site logo here....I forgot all about it, until we recently had a great thread at TW about evil.

What does my logo mean?

I think the logo implies the notion that reductionism and viewing the world (and things within it) in terms of black and white or good vs evil is in and of itself pretty evil.

What is Truly Evil?

The only thing in the world that is truly evil is describing things you are ignorant to as being evil. The creation of the word evil is in and of itself nothing more than a means to absolve oneself from guilt associated with ones deeds. Labeling something as evil gives us permission to perform massive acts of atrocity onto others without remorse or guilt.

Why a Penguin?

Penguins are animals that are typically portrayed as cute and cuddly, but are animals that most people know little about.

Why Red?

Red is the color most primitively associated with fear and / or death, from my understanding.

Why the Spelling Errors?

I think many people in leadership positions try to portray a certain level of ignorance to allow them to squirm out of accountability when they get caught with their hands in the cookie jar.

I also think their use of the word evil is typically inappropriately applied most times.

Why Nuclear

The penguin being nuclear and a terrorist has a couple different meanings to it as well.

The first and most basic level is that I was a nuclear reactor operator and know quite a bit about nuclear power.

The second is that I think the US government labels people or things which they fear as terrorists or evil so that they can mislead the general populous into not caring about all the screwed up things we do to others.

The third thing is that I think organized religions and the United States, through the use of this deceptive manipulation of their members and citizens, teach them to fear anything outside of that which they understand, and the quest for imperial power has allowed the United States to become the largest terrorist organization in the world.

A nice quote for the United States and religion:

When the Second World War
Came to an end
We forgave the Germans
And we were friends
Though they murdered six million
In the ovens they fried
The Germans now too
Have God on their side.

The fourth is that if you drop bombs on other people nearly every day and have a stockpile of nuclear weapons who are you to judge others for what they do? At the very least collecting all those nuclear weapons and maintaining them costs your own society a large sum of time, effort, and money that could go into creating a better society by trying to educate them instead of spending money to teach them to be afraid.

Why the Transparency at the Footing of the Penguin?

It is rather transparent how manipulative many organizations are. As long as it is not regulated to death I think the web will undermine much of the corruption in the world by making many markets far more efficient and making it easy to become educated...being ignorant will become more of a conscious choice rather than a state of society.

While the web will kill many forms of fraud and manipulation it will also breed new types of it.

Large Organizations Are Shady:

The bigger your organization is the more inefficiency it creates. This means as an organization grows it has to "stand for" more things to have enough resources to stay powerful and grow.

The problem with that are:

• that there are unintended consequences to any change
  
• evolving technology means that large organizations are not necessary to cause large change
  
• as an organization grows in scope it is harder to deliver clear messages to all members of the organization
  
• in hopes of creating clear messages that will spread many organizations use reductionism and keep things ultra general. This causes many members to miss the purpose or fully evaluate many criteria in deciding how correct the organizations are.
  
• As organizations grow rich or powerful corrupt ambitious people will be drawn toward them.
  
• Many organizations end up having a net end effect opposite to their original goal.

The larger an organization grows the more they have to put self interest and growth ahead of actually improving the world, and thus the less you should trust them as a credible information source...and that advice is coming from an individual who has been lucky enough to have far more influence than he would most likely prefer.

Nobody really reads this site, but some of my other sites have many readers and I have worked for some of the largest corporations in the world and I find that so perplexing. The world is a confusing place. Not an evil place...just a confusing one.

Genius in Hiding

Its always funny to read how brilliant one of your friends is for doing something when you gave the friend the idea or did a good amount of the work but did not tell others. It makes me giggle...and wonder, if the person knew that was my idea would they have just wrote that the person who did it was a genius? In the most recent case I am thinking about I think the answer to that last question would have been no.

Not surprisingly a friend who I did this sort of work for told me they trust very few people, but I was one of them that they did trust.

It also reminds me of another guy who used to be a bit of an asshole to me. I never let him being mean to me get in the way of recommending him if I thought he would provide good services for someone. At the last conference I went to a person came up to me and told me they were doing work with the guy on a big campaign due to my recommendation.

I was wondering why the guy I recommended a while ago went from indifferent or not liking me to treating me nicely a year or two ago, but maybe getting him that large contract was part of it?

The thing is, in this industry there is far more demand than quality service, I don't think it hurts to help build up others business models as more often than not they will help you increase your marketshare and mindshare.

Back to the genius thing... I am not saying I think I am one of the smartest people in the world, but I think most people are geniuses...just at different topics.

Some people are good at SEO, others are good at writing, others are good at manipulating people. The world is a competitive place. No matter what you do strive to be great at it. Strive to be a topical genius.

Brilliant Song

I usually like music that is about being sad, depressed, or isolated, but kudos to Clap Your Hands Say Yeah for making a song about being different that is highly uplifting and totally happy. Even cooler is that he uses a crackely sounding voice that really emphasis the point and purpose of the change and hope in the song.

The Skin Of My Yellow Country Teeth

Once - The dogs have quit their barking
"Son," - my neighbor said to me.
"Know the emptiness of talking blue the same old sheep."
Run - I'll do no more this walking
Haunted by a past I just can't see
Anymore
Anymore

But let me tell you I have never planned
To let go of the hand that has been
Clinging by its thick country skin
To my yellow country teeth
To my yellow country teeth

Far - Far away from West Virginia
I - Will try on New York City
Explaining that the sky holds the
Wind the sun rushes in and a child
With a shotgun can shoot down
Honeybees that sting
But this boy could use a little sting

Who - Will get me to a party?
Who - Do I have yet to meet?
You - You look a bit like coffee
And you taste a bit like me
How - Can I keep me from moving?
Now - I need a change of scenery
Just listen to me I won't pretend to
Understand the movement of the wind
Or the waves out in the ocean or how
Like the hours I change softly slowly
Plainly blindly oh me oh my!

They got to be pretty popular pretty quickly with little marketing and just a few good reviews. Crazy that their writer typically writes for 8 or 9 hours a day AFTER work each day.

Daft Punk at Coachella

When I went to Coachella in 2004 my favorite band to see was not Radiohead or the Pixies...it was Basement Jaxx. And I never would have been sure how cool they were unless I saw them.

This year I gave away my Coachella ticket (what am I thinking) and it turned out one of the really suprisingly cool acts was Daft Punk.

I don't know what I think of live blogging events like concerts but some people have blogged about them.

• cool photo from last night
• video from last night - poor audio quality, but check out the crowd reaction
• past video

And then you get free market analysis

Daft Punk's music has, IMO, an advantage over other electronic acts in terms of appealing to mainstream audiences, and I think this advantage is based on their simplicity. Yes, Daft Punk makes simple, 4/4 based music which rarely strays from the techno/house framework. They do, however, bring a lot of personality and texture to the music, giving it an advanteage over more austere techno acts. But ultimately, I think Daft Punk may be more successful in terms of crossover appeal than other, less orthodox dance acts just because their music is so damnedly simple and primal. I'm convinced that dance music, at its core, is universally appealing, and that only the weird socialization of American culture under the dominance of record companies prevents dance music from being more popular here.

I don't think most people can tell the difference between ad and content, but what people are talking about also leads to additional searches and purchases.

Coachella Sold Out

So I bought an onsite camping pass and a two day pass to Coachella, but due to recently taking on working with one of the largest websites lack the time to go.

I gave my $200 worth of tickets to a friend. Turns out the concert sold out and the camping pass is going for $200 on eBay while the day 1 ticket is going for $80 and the day 2 ticket is going for over $300.

Had I been more of a ticket scalper type that would have been a killer investment...a 200% return. If you would know that they would sell out buying 4 extra would pay for the cost of your ticket, a hotel room, rental car, and the round trip flight.

The thing is I feel like I am close to doing really well, to getting to a point where I can really start saving cash. I sorta want to move, and I would love to buy my mom a house. I could already put down a solid down payment on one, but want to make at least $10,000 a month outside of client work (which is going exceptionally well right now) or work related to my single most profitable channel (which also is going stupid good).

Right now I could lose my reputation and my most profitable channels and still pay the cost of living with my other stuff easily, but I want to be to a point to where I can hook up my mom and have it so money will never be an issue. It might take another year or two of focus, but being able to be semi retired before the age of 30 when I was suicidally depressed and almost bankrupt at the age of 23 sure has an appealing ring to it.

One of my friends just quit his full time job to become a minion / partner of mine. One of our sites makes about $1 a day per page. If we can scale that out to 500 or 1,000 pages, even if the revenue is cut in half that is still $7,500 to $15,000 a month in revenue off of one channel.

I am hoping to go to Bonnaroo this year still. I should buy a plane ticket quick.

Coachella Sold Out

So I bought an onsite camping pass and a two day pass to Coachella, but due to recently taking on working with one of the largest websites lack the time to go.

I gave my $200 worth of tickets to a friend. Turns out the conference sold out and the camping pass is going for $200 on eBay while the day 1 ticket is going for $80 and the day 2 ticket is going for over $300.

Had I been more of a ticket scalper type that would have been a killer investment...a 200% return. If you would know that they would sell out buying 4 extra would pay for the cost of your ticket, a hotel room, and the round trip flight.

The thing is I feel like I am close to doing really well, to getting to a point where I can really start saving cash. I sorta want to move, and I would love to buy my mom a house. I could already put down a solid down payment on one, but want to make at least $10,000 a month outside of client work (which is going exceptionally well right now) or work related to my single most profitable channel (which also is going stupid good).

Right now I could lose my reputation and my most profitable channels and still pay the cost of living with my other stuff easily, but I want to be to a point to where I can hook up my mom and have it so money will never be an issue. It might take another year or two of focus, but being able to be semi retired before the age of 30 when I was suicidally depressed and almost bankrupt at the age of 23 sure has an appealing ring to it.

One of my friends just quit his full time job to become a minion / partner of mine. One of our sites makes about $1 a day per page. If we can scale that out to 500 or 1,000 pages, even if the revenue is cut in half that is still $7,500 to $15,000 a month in revenue off of one channel.

I am hoping to go to Bonnaroo this year still. I should buy a plane ticket quick.

How Expensive is it to Learn? Why Must Charities Spam?

giveto.psu.edu/AnnualFund/LionLine/

So a few thoughts...

Love the words "One of the premiere calling centers in the nation"... they almost make cold calling sound prestigious.

My roommate gets cheaper in state tuition, put extra into the GI bill, and it did not cover his college costs. WTF is that? And why must the college cold call to be adequately funded?

Why must charities punish those who give to them by spamming them. Sure it is nice to hear the cause, but it is frustrating to give to charities only to get cold called frequently or direct mail pieces ever month. I know I am giving what I want to give right now, and that the frequent direct mail pieces to me are just causing money to be wasted instead of going where I wanted to.

Arg, Where is the Number 9?

So I like to think I do many things at random. It is not uncommon for me to make up words (or meanings), or just throw ad copy out there without much thought. It amazes me to see others use, emulate, or extend it because so little of what I do is calculated.

This wasn't the example I was thinking of that prompted me to write this post, but just a few hours after I read this thread
http://www.highrankings.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=21007&st=45
which not only mentions me, but uses a term I popularlized in the SEO community, "asshat". hehehe

Cowbells...

are not cool.

Don't tell yourself that they are.

Today: Fetish Porn, Tomorrow?

I just had a guy take a while to contact me for a consult. Lots of back and forth. Finally start a chat and then boom - out of nowhere - my monitor has the words fetish porn at the top of it. I think there was poop or something on the screen...didn't stay long enough to be certain. Yet again tabbed browsing saved the day as I quickly surfed away saying doah!

So much of what I do is applicable across many industries, but I don't want my job to require me to look at porn. Not that looking at porn is inherently evil, but as long as I am young, smart, and solo I really should look at self improvement and social interactivity if I want more sex in my life.

What is even more odd here is that the person said I came highly recommended from an adult webmaster forum. How odd is it that I am getting free marketing from religious forums and pornography forums at the same time?

Solving Problems vs Symptoms

Economic models seem to me to be built around greater profitability in subscription based solving of symptoms instead of solving problems. How do you create something that is financially viable that solves problems over symptoms?

Public Humiliation

In Florida one strike and you are out

Some motorists convicted of DUI would be required to buy bright-colored license plates that identify them as drunken-driving offenders, under a bill that passed a key committee in the Legislature Wednesday.

A similar bill failed to pass the Legislature in 2004, but the current legislation may have better luck because some of its language has been tweaked, said state Rep. Ari Porth, a Coral Springs Democrat.

The 2004 bill would have allowed police officers to pull over cars with the DUI license plates, even if the officers had no probable cause for a traffic stop.

I actually first got on the web thinking I wanted to create T shirts to label something I did not like after it fucked me over and labeled me.

I think one of the things that really hurts with marketing is that most of it teaches you that you are hollow or not good enough...to spur up artificial demand for things that in then end hurt you when you fulfil the short term artificial demand for their garbage they planted in your mind...starting before you were even old enough to realize what they were doing. Surely techniques like public humiliation will only work further to make people feel like a shell of their former selves. It took me until the age of 26 to unlearn much of the bullshit I learned growing up.

My Fundamental Web Business Thesis

Ultimately most people working on the web are going to get squeezed as marketing inefficiencies get taken care of.

Why not create many doorways to your personality so people with similar interests can find you? Why not work for clients that you can be passionate about? Imagine if every new client was your favorite person to work with.

Cause vs Symptom

I think marketers and the whole machinery of business in general push people to solve symptoms rather than problems.

Symptoms are easy to cover up or solve quickly and changing them / covering them up often requires little or no fundamental change in lifestyle. Plus if you keep the person's fundamental flaws in place then you ensure demand for a subscription for your half solution.

People are also willing to pay a premium to shift blame. That drug did not help me. That diet does not work.

Who has more money to spend on marketing? The person who can fix an embarrassing problem by suggesting fundamental life changes that cause the change, or a person selling a half assed mask that paints over symptoms and requires the equivalent of a subscription to maintain.

I sometimes think this way about many psychotropic drugs on the market, and many marketing tools, but I also think this about being overweight. Me being overweight is not really the problem, but it is a symptom of an unbalanced sedentary lifestyle coupled with poor diet.

The value of good life changing advice is hard to put a price on, and perhaps that is part of the reason it is typically so cheap in cost relative to bogus quick fixes and scam subscriptions.

Chargeback dispute settled in your favor

I didn't know this ever happened, but someone bought my ebook and tried doing a chargeback on their credit card.

There are so many things that are dumb about that which I don't understand:

• If people ask for a refund I typically give a prompt one without requesting more information (often in less than 5 minutes)
  
• and they would get that quicker than they would get a chargeback (say an average of an hour vs 10 days)
  
• someone just tried a chargeback and it did not work

Going forward if people do chargebacks I may as well wait them out because I think most of the people doing them are not honest, so they can wait for their money. Plus if they win their chargeback it costs you not only the purchase cost (which is arbitrary and should be returned if they truely don't like the product), but also some fee or penalty - usually around $10. It always feels foul knowing that some scumbag has decided to steal $10 from my bank account for stealing my business model.

Me winning an occasional bogus chargeback is refreshing as it helps make up for other sleaze customers trying to rip me off.

I don't doubt that some of the stuff might be real, but I am readily available. It is not that hard to contact me.

The Publishing Business Model

clicks = traffic
traffic = eyeballs
eyballs = reach
reach = viewers
viewers = page views
page views = ad impressions
ad impressions = clicks
clicks = money

Making a Million Dollars this Year?

I am not quite at that level yet, but I used to associate lots of money with being evil, but looking at how much some people give back, maybe I should start being a bit more aggressive on the profit front.

I just talked to someone from the Economist this weekend AND got an email from one of the most prestigious news sites that said:

I write for _________, and have been poking around the SEO world, where you are, of course, legendary. I had some questions I wanted to chat about; is there a number I can reach you at?

I think I am sorta past the tipping point, and if I don't leverage my current market position a bit more aggressively I should be disappointed.

I really need to add an about page to my other website.

Perceptions of Reality

I know both of these people well enough to think that neither of them think they are lying, but this story and that one sound a lot different from one another.

What does either gain by continuing the garbage?

Convergence

So a friend of mine who has been an internet marketer for about twice as long as I have has been changing his business model, to consolidate his efforts. He tells me the changes are largely inspired by me.

At the same time I find myself thinning out being more like he was. Weird that, eh?

Too Much of an Idealist

So I have spoke with multiple different friends recently who both mentioned how other businesses rip people off and how their businesses are at least better than the competition.

I am not sure if I get that. Longterm does it make any sense to compare yourself to shit or scams to justify your actions?

Part of the reason why I am a bad business person is that I tend to undervalue my time and have a rather low self esteem. The other bit, which certainly makes for an odd combination, is that I am an idealist. The low self esteem combined with being an idealist makes me think that I am ALWAYS below standard in almost anything I do.

That is why it has been so critical for me to largely work for myself. If I am going to feel that things are never good enough I should ensure that I am directly compensated for overworking myself.

Selfish Marketing Sleeze

Got in contact with some real fucktards recently via email.

One asshole wished me a merry Christmas and then sent me what was nearly a press release about my needing to check out and promote his software.

Stock trading spam and blog comment spammers are on the prowl.

Another guy reminded me that I should join his SEO forum.

Then sites like Gimpsy send you 20 promote your sites emails on Christmas Eve and Christmas.

Selfish ignorant automated greed marketing...I mention it to remind myself not to become it / not to do it.

Fake Pictures & Real Lies

Wow she is so pretty...sorta

Wow this guy is honest...sorta

With all the lies that are coming out now imagine how bad it would be if the full story about Bush came out.

I Wouldn't Recommend It...

So I talked to a hotel person. Told them I was going to a conference days a through f.

The hotel was sold out during those dates. So then the person asked me if I was flexible with my days.

I said no.

They then recommended a hotel about 6 blocks away.

I asked if any were closer and she said "none that I would recommend. the Essex is ratty with holes in the carpet, etc."

I booked the Essex...will let you know how it goes :)

Marketing takes all kinds

got a great instant message today

Hello,,well my name is peggy from US, 5'0fth tall single heart broken.i help a friend who is a wedding planner.i lost my mom in a car accident 2yrs ago while i was in usa two years ago..came to gerogia after i lost my mom.i have a sis she is in Last Vegas but a drug adict.do you like to know about the recently heart broken that i had I am sorry to tell you that really you sound so caring and i believe if we work in hand things are gon get on fine beetween us. but as i have said about my heart broken recently. it as brought me in sadness i cry everyday praying that one day i will get overthis.Thanks for contacting me and showing some intrest in me.when i went through ur profile i really liked it and found both of us %99 compatible,the only %1 missing is that right now am not home.am stucked

You Have to Love Automated Workers

> I manage new quality web sites, I would like to offer you
> link exchange with your web site: http://www.seobook.com
>
> buy-ultram.org
> cialis-drugstore.net
> cipro-aid.com
> fioriset-usa.net
> forgetpain.net
> levitra-4men.com
> phentermine-us.net
> diflucan-online.com
> buy-phenterprin.us

My Reply
links added fucktwit

and his reply back
Hello,

Please send me URL where I can find my link.

Best regards,
James Wood

Shaddy Cabbies in Las Vegas

It goes without saying that some of the cabbies in Las Vegas are shady, but I met a shady one ;)

My friends and I got in the cab and the cabbie instantly asked us if we wanted to go to a strip club (at about 6 PM), rattling off over a dozen of them before we got dropped off. He said that the strip clubs give the cabbies $30 - $70 for each head dropped off at the club. He offered to give us a free ride to a strip club and buy our first lap dances if we let him drop us off.

He also said he could send a girl up to our room and he would get a cut on the action.

He also said make sure you call me as he handed my friend his number before we got out of his shademobile. We never did, but I can't believe how forward that cabbie was.

I liked far more the one who thought I made peanut butter.

Calling Out Authority

Sometimes it is not good to say negative stuff about others, but if nobody calls out people that are doing hyper aggressive self promo marketing then that leads to bad stuff. I don't feel guilty for the following post:

I am not so certain I can agree with Ken's recent posts. To me it
seems like the real message he thinks everyone is missing is the
sales pitch deep inside the post.

I can't agree that he can personally control the spider visits,
re-visits, indexing, and ranking for over 10,000 sites. He may have
that many customers (or host that many sites), but he does not
control the search spiders. They run on their own crawl schedules.
If he is artifically trying to control and bait those spiders across
a network of 10,000 sites well then that is NOT working WITH the
engines.

I too could post that with the obvious trends in search my book is 5
years ahead of it's time and that SEO will be defined by whatever I
say, but it would be naive.

Quotes like "SBI! actually sells itself." would have a bit more
credibility if they were not part of self promotional posts.

Giving Away 1,000's of Free Ebooks

So I got a phone call from a person who wanted me to help him give away thousands of free ebook. He told me he knew nothing about the web though.

I asked him how he got all those free ebooks without knowing anything about the web, and he stated he got them from free bonuses in spam email.

I told him there was a 0% chance of me helping anyone market email spam, and by creating a site that gave away that stuff he would be marketing email spam, since most email spam freebies come with spyware or rippoff hidden gems like bogus affiliate recommendations.

He kept emphasizing volume, and I kept saying "right, lots of garbage." Sometimes I wonder if I am a bit too blunt with some people, but I think sometimes you have to be, especially when they don't get that promoting scammers = promoting scammers.

A few sentences that help change the way I think can be worth thousands, but volumes of text promoted by sleeze marketing is not going to do anyone any favors. It's part of the reason blogs are cool. Subscribe to the channels you want and usually get the content you want.

I think I hate email spam almost as much as telemarketers.

Right Place Right Time

From DS:

Aaron Wall over at SEO Book notes today that there's not a lot of focus on SEO in the book, and that's true. The history of search marketing and the search marketing industry essentially revolves around the Florida update of 2003 (named not as the book says for the hurricanes to hit Florida that year but for the WebmasterWorld conference planned to hit the state a few months later) and how many webmasters woke up to the fact they couldn't expect a free ride on Google.

Google Update Florida is when I first started getting well known. Pure luck in the timing, but I won't complain!

Right Place Right Time

From DS:

Aaron Wall over at SEO Book notes today that there's not a lot of focus on SEO in the book, and that's true. The history of search marketing and the search marketing industry essentially revolves around the Florida update of 2003 (named not as the book says for the hurricanes to hit Florida that year but for the WebmasterWorld conference planned to hit the state a few months later) and how many webmasters woke up to the fact they couldn't expect a free ride on Google.

Google Update Florida is when I first started getting well known. Pure luck in the timing, but I won't complain!

Right Place Right Time

From DS:

Aaron Wall over at SEO Book notes today that there's not a lot of focus on SEO in the book, and that's true. The history of search marketing and the search marketing industry essentially revolves around the Florida update of 2003 (named not as the book says for the hurricanes to hit Florida that year but for the WebmasterWorld conference planned to hit the state a few months later) and how many webmasters woke up to the fact they couldn't expect a free ride on Google.

Google Update Florida is when I first started getting well known. Pure luck in the timing, but I won't complain!

When As Pictured is Less

So normally when you order food from a fast food chain no matter what the menu looks like the actual food you get looks worse. That is just the way it is.

Recently I got a milk shake as pictured and felt cheated. Why? Normally Denny's gives you the milkshake in a cup and a spare metal container with more milkshake. I think the waiters correctly associate more milkshake with a bigger tip. Thus when a person gives you what is pictured you feel cheated...even though it was just you get getting extra for free in the past.

Here I use the word you as in me :)

When HTTP is a Bad Word

So there are some fucking scumbag blogspammers that went so far as to register domains like drive.to and go.to etc etc etc.

To block those domains I would have to block those phrases (and some of the phrases are rather common), so I said fuck it, http is now a bad word. Anyone who tries to post full URLs to this site will be SOL, and their post will not go through.

I removed the URL input box, which makes it hard for a human to input a URL. Best of luck spambots. I also am aware that if they are willing to change the letters to an html coding equivalent of the letters HTTP there are 255 additional ways to write http. If those start to get exploited I will fix that too, but no more blogspam on this blog for me.

I could have upgraded to a newer version of the blog software to stop the spam, but it seems morally reprehensible for me to spend another $300 upgrading software from people who sold me software with holes in it, when the only upgrade I would be really needing was for them to fix the original holes in the software.

Automated Markets

So a person wanted me to call them to sell them ad space. When I called they told me they had no ad dollars to market their system, but that it is best of breed. Yawn.

They went on to tell me that the system is automated. I asked who placed the trades. Was it computer algorithms? Was it humans?

They told me they were not sure.

Sometimes I feel I do not have my ducks in a row, but how do you ask others to promote your business when you can't even explain how the area you are chosing to highlight works?

Garbage Junk Mail...Website Listing Service Corp - ListingCorp.com

So there are ton of middlemen in the interent industry & business community who try to charge you a fee / tax for your ignorance, or service fee that is IMHO hard to justify.

I remember a long time ago I got a spam mail bill looking thing for $47.50 from www.listingcorp.com

I guess this company sends mail to people who register domains, offering domain submission to search engines (which is done naturally if you just get some quality links pointing at your site).

I find it funny that they sent this mail to me for a domain name about search marketing...it must be nearly 100% automated.

I don't see how they can justify the fee or what exactly the 8 keywords / phrases submission deal is. Seems like uncolicited marketing and probably worth staying away from in my opinion.

What makes it seem even sketchier is that a similar operation with similar page copy (but a different address) comes from Internet Listing Service - ILSCorp.net.

ILSCorp.net ILS Corp ...Garbage Junk Mail?

So there are ton of middlemen in the interent industry & business community who try to charge you a fee / tax for your ignorance, or service fee that is IMHO hard to justify.

I remember a long time ago I got a spam mail bill looking thing for $35 from www.ilscorp.net

I guess this company sends mail to people who register domains, offering domain submission to search engines (which is done naturally if you just get some quality links pointing at your site).

I find it funny that they sent this mail to me for a domain name about search marketing...it must be nearly 100% automated.

I don't see how they can justify the fee or what exactly the 8 keywords / phrases submission deal is. Seems like uncolicited marketing and probably worth staying away from in my opinion.

What makes it seem even sketchier is that a similar operation with similar page copy (but a different address) comes from Listing Corp - ListingCorp.com.

United States Trademark Protection Agency...Garbage Junk Mail?

So there are ton of middlemen in the interent industry & business community who try to charge you a fee / tax for your ignorance, or service fee that is IMHO hard to justify.

I remember a long time ago I got a spam mail bill looking thing for $395 from www.ustrademarkwatch.com

I guess this company sends mail to people who pay for a trademark, which costs around the same amount, but they charge that fee to monitor your trademark.

Does it really matter if people register similar trademarks? Probably not, especially if they operate in different trades or industry. If someone registers a similar trademark in your industry and they are activley marketing that company then odds are pretty strong that you are going to notice it without needing someone else to tell you about it.

I don't see how they try to justify charging $395 a year for this service.

Trademark Safeguard / Trademark Monitoring Service... Garbage Junk Mail?

So there are ton of middlemen in the interent industry & business community who try to charge you a fee / tax for your ignorance, or service fee that is IMHO hard to justify.

I remember a long time ago I got a spam mail bill looking thing for $375 from www.trademarksafeguard.com

I guess this company sends mail to people who pay for a trademark, which costs around the same amount...$375, but they charge that fee to monitor your trademark.

Does it really matter if people register similar trademarks? Probably not, especially if they operate in different trades or industry. If someone registers a similar trademark in your industry and they are activley marketing that company then odds are pretty strong that you are going to notice it without needing someone else to tell you about it.

The message I got also said that in addition to tracking similar trademark registrations it also looks for the .com .net .biz .org and .info domain name registrations, but I think that generally is irrelevant. I mean you can buy all of them for what $50 a year, and again, even if someone registers a similar URL that is probably not going to be illegal and expensive to prove guilt on anyhow.

I don't see how they try to justify charging $375 a year for this service.

Artist Share - Online Music Store

Buy music online - they actually never asked for that link in any way, but they provide an interesting service, helping artists sell the creative process around the music to increase fan loyalty and profit margins. smart.

15 Seconds of Fame

So the internet acts / reacts quicker than the real world. It seems right now I am sorta experiencing my 15 seconds of fame.

So many things I could do, so many things I can say, but I sit quietly and wonder what to do or say.

When Not to Answer a Question

So I get a ton of emails and a ton of questions. I answer most of them even though some of them are not in my best interest to answer.

I am not just talking in terms of money...like more on issues of time, and answering some questions can only hurt you timewise, reputationwise, marketing, and / or monitarily.

Does it make me a bad person if I become a bit more selective in what emails I should reply to? Where is the line between what I should reply to and what I should not? Again I am not saying "I want more money" or whatever is a good basis for answering emails, but some offers are a bit unsavory or you can bet their is a great chance your words will be used against you that hurt other marketing avenues if you reply honestly.

Reputation managment on a large social network where you sell your thoughts is a bit harder than some might give it credit for being.

Jury Duty Exemption & What a Society Feels is Important

So I got a jury duty letter in the mail today. Not sure what to think about that. I don't like many of our laws, and have absolutely zero faith in the legal system.

I have been traveling a bit, and have not looked, but hopefully I do not have much planned in October...just in case.

Intersting to see that some public services (such as military or emergency response) get a waiver from having to participate. Also if you are uber old, or are taking care of a really young or really old person between normal jury hours you are exempt too.

If a commercial enterprise would sink if you were not there to run it that is exempt. I sorta am wondering what defines that. In an attention market a month away from the web could seriously undermine the financial stability of many webmasters. I did not try to throw that card though as I feel it is a bit sleezy for me to do that since I knowingly take days off here and there.

I also found it interesting that students and teachers get a free pass as well. While officially I am neither, surely I have been learning more than most students do, and generally in a more focused manner. I have had many professors contact me about my ebook I sell. In that sense I surely help some teachers teach, but of course I have no official position since the field in which I work is so new and undefined that I have wrote one of the more credible pieces of literature on the topic after only a few years of exposure.

The history books are rewrote from people's interpritations of past works and events before their time, but by simply recording many public documents and how they change over time you can probably get a good feel of many of the larger changes in societal norms and beliefs.

Market Efficiency & Making a More Functional World

Sometimes they screw up, as all people and companies do, but in general Google's existance makes markets more efficient.

I try to teach people about said markets while actively learning myself. Certainly I have done well, and those I have worked for have done well, but I sometimes wonder if the advice I give helps people get away with being more lazy and promoting more garbage OR if it helps them make markets more efficient.

I hope the later of the two is occuring, although I have no way to guarantee it.

OTH Keyword Research Data - Looking Into My Shady Past...

So today I bought a subscription to Keyword Intelligence. Keyword Intelligence tracks actual searches which occured in the last 3 months.

I, being narcissistic, searched for my own name. People are searching for the following:

oth navy re-4 aaron wall
aaron wall oth

which I find exceptionally funny. :)
I can't believe people care enough to search for that. Sorta feels reality TV ish...to know that people are actively researching my past.

Want to Fuck? Automated Instant Message Conversations... Another Reason Real Voices Have More Value

[13:44] void_lisa: zi... anyone there?
[13:44] awall19: no
[13:44] void_lisa: oh your there :) hi...
[13:45] void_lisa: a/s/l (age sex loocation)?
[13:45] void_lisa: im 27/f/USA. was lookin at your profile. thought you might like to chat.
[13:46] void_lisa: so what hafe you been up to awall19?
[13:46] awall19: where is your website
[13:46] void_lisa: cool. i was just hangin out watching tv. i was ggetting kinda horny :) (*blushes)
[13:47] awall19: rock on
[13:47] awall19: pay site or what
[13:47] void_lisa: feel like a little cyber funn with me ? please please...
[13:47] awall19: absolutely
[13:47] void_lisa: i think ill just takke that as a yes... being as that im starting to get real horny here.. lol ok?
[13:47] awall19: no doubt
[13:47] awall19: i like skat porn
[13:47] void_lisa: oh well your loss. why dont you open up my profile and see what you missed out on. theres a link there to my homepage where i have some real nice pics to leave withh.

They could have made that algorithm / response sequence much smarter.

Ethics & Marketing

I used to be ethical, right up until I realized it was a marketing scam.

Most people claiming to be ethical marketers are lying scum trying to steal money from the naive. Or at least it seems that way in the SEO marketplace.

When Price No Longer Matters

We are taught to value money. Do this to save a dollar. Do that to...save a dollar.

A friend gave me a $1,000 gift certificate for Amazon. That is more money than I give my sister for her birthday and Christmas.

I bought about 60 items and could not even spend the full $1,000. Will I get to all the items? Hopefully. I may not though. And that becomes apparent as I get more good deals and am given more gifts, that price eventually stops mattering. With a limited lifespan and a decent business model the value of attention becomes a far greater expense than cost in dollars.

I think the concept of price not mattering is something many good marketers and product designers try to tap into. You can't make something for everyone without it being shit.

You want to target people with adequate desire to do spend extra and do your marketing for you.

In the past I felt guilty about buying expensive things - a trait learned from my mother. I have since changed my philosophy though. What price is the right price for happiness? Can you place a dollar amount on that?

You can't buy happiness, but you can make certain portions of your life more convenient or easier or interesting. In doing that - in lacking some petty stresses of life or the boredom repetion brings - in actually doing whatever makes you happy you are far more inclined to be productive. To be able to produce effective results.

Productivity is an arbitrary measure which deprives us of life because it always states that you could do better. In the navy, for example average meant that you were a piece of shit. Even outstanding was only average because it was expected. Even though when you got that rating there were still many less than subtle hints that you were viewed as a scumbag. But I digress.

What I am trying to say is lets say I feed a couple poor African kids and pay to build a few houses in third world countries. The money I spent buying random crap from Amazon could have went to do more good like that, but at the end of the day if I am happier my mind will be more receptive to learning, and my profits will likely increase. On that front I no longer feel guilty about spending money even if I feel I get more than I deserve.

Always Glad to Link to a Friend

Learn about Video Professor Videos & Reviews.

Death, Hate, & Anonymous Blog Comments

Well I hit a nerve with some people with my other blog.

Everyone who is pissed says so anonymously.

What is funny is how far people will go to state what a horrific person you are if you mention something that is not a big deal. For instance, when I die, to most people it will not be a big deal. I can accept that.

Recently another person died and I casually mentioned it. Others anonymously typed that I was a piece of shit for not having more respect for the dead, as if it was my JOB to post memorials about people I do not know well and had exceptionally poor customer experiences with.

The story which many people buy is that person X made themselves a millionaire overnight. And then they think they can duplicate that. The facts of the matter are that it took that person about a decade to do really well, and that is not in the sales story.

Comparitively speaking I had a much worse upbringing and am doing better than person X was at the same point in my internet career. Does that mean that I flaunt how much money I make and use it as a marketing angle? No, because I think it is sleezy.

Hype marketing, automation, affiliate comissions, and outdated techniques combine to make an amazing brand and person. To some. Sometimes.

To say otherwise makes you a bad person. I actually do not buy that at all.

Do I automate some stuff? Absolutely. Do I tell people ways to market aggressively? Sure. Do I market aggressively? Sure. But I also change the contents of what I teach people nearly every month. If I do not know something I accept feedback and ask questions.

Some people get so stuck selling the story of their own success that it becomes their product. Then their ideas / products / services degrade because they are not as important as trying to get others to think something.

Is it deceptive marketing to sell outdated / incorrect information or information about topics you know little about without adequatly refering to the market leaders in those spaces?

Maybe.

Does it make it harder for people to succeed and make it harder for honest marketing to work?

You bet.

So many internet marketing products are based entirely on a sales letter and testimonials that it gets to be a bit unsavory.

Death is a part of life we must learn to cope with. I can probably write really strong sales letters and focus exclusively on trying to get people to convert. At the end of the day I would rather make a bit less cash into my pocket and try to make an honest product that focused on more than just selling selling.

Marketing Credit Cards - Perfecting Credit Card Offers

For a few years I lived off credit cards. Finally paid off that shitty debt less than a year ago. Now I get like 3 credit card offers a week. How ironic that one of the largest credit card companies / banks bought my ebook at was asking a bunch of search marketing / direct marketing questions to me.

The guy said he was a fan and learned a lot from my ebook, which feels good, knowing that what work I have done thusfar may likely help small and large businesses alike.

Social Life, Stability, Responsibility, Social Contracts, & Manipulation

Social Life:
Signed up for an affiliate program tonight. The person quickly answered back even though they did not need to. Sad that we are both on the computer at about midnight on a weekend night.

Financial Stability:
Would you risk your primary revenue stream helping a friend who usually only spoke to you when they wanted you to help them? I wouldn't. As noted by my recent actions.

Responsibility:
A well known internet marketer died yesterday. He was recently married. Prettymuch his company is his name and now he is not there. He died in a racing car wreck.

It leads me the question of unwritten social contracts. If many people rely upon you how much risk should you take in your life? How much stability should you have planned into your financial, social, physical, & mental health.

Certainly random bad things happen and you shouldn't just set your dreams aside because of business, but I am not sure I know where the best balance is.

Manipulating People:
In the past, when it was needed, I was really good at manipulating people. Getting pulled over while completely bombed going over 90 miles an hour without a ticket. etc etc etc

The more I look at marketing the more I realize most of it is manipulation. I could make bucket loads of cash, but settle for making far less than I could because I have some arbitrary morals or whatever that tell me marketing too hard is a bad thing.

And yet if you do not market hard enough someone else will steal your product or idea and market it better to marginalize your existance because they are greedier and more of a scumbag than you are.

Most people do not have anything original and compelling to add to the world, and with that most information and most ideas are in some way or another recycled.

Public Speaking & Social Weirdness:
I have not done any public speaking really. Even when I know everyone in a group I still act a bit quite - unless drunk, in which case I tend not to give a crap. Always bad to use alchohol or any other strong psychotropic drug as ANY cornerstone of your social interactions.

Not sure if I am disinterested in others or myself, or if I do not want to lose my solidarity. Am sorta afraid of doing bad, but am much much more afraid at quickly learning and then being able to manipulate people to get whatever I want out of them.

I am not a person of strong balance and find it hard to know where it is. With that thought in mind I don't want to be telling other people how to live or how to be successful or etc etc etc. In writing a book I sell I have sorta done that, but for some reason it doesn't feel the same way to me as being a talking head marketing guru type person would.

As I write my book over and over again it becomes a refined collection of thoughts and not just an off the cuff speech. I do realize that refinement makes some things worse. Poetry can lose its spontinaity. So can other types of writing.

I do tend to think most of the stuff I rewrite is better than the original, but then again, you don't see what you are missing and you can't read multiple hundred plus page books side by side similtaniously.

Yes, I know, I probably misspelled a few words in this post. I am tired, don't usually spell check, and am going for spontinaity here. Work with me...

Salesmanship 101

from NickW "One of the fundemental things any professional salesman knows is that you NEVER, ever trash the competition, not even backhandedly."

from Fantomaster "If I badmouth you, chances are the client will (probably rightly) assume that I'll badmouth him or her at some later point, too. So they shy away from you rather than get your intended message."

Learn to Read in 15 Hours

somebody spammed me with that link title.

Who the hell searches for THAT?

Common Attributes in Good Entrepenuers

Was reading the lastest copy of Business 2.0 on my plane flight out to California. One of the billionaires that backed many of the good web related ideas stated that two of the things that made for good entrepenuers were

• discontentment
  
• anxiety

I guess that puts lots of things in perspective about some of my quirkier actions. I am sure I stated this many times before, but it is a known personal patern of my own to make life worse than it actually is so that I do not have to worry about losing my edge.

Stupid Salesmen

So I bought that rather expensive bed today and the salesman completely missed what I was going for. I probably spent more than I needed to because I wanted to overspend. I wanted to overcare about the issue / concept / purchase.

When I asked him if they sold sheets he told me that he usually refers people to Wal Mart. WTF is that? I mean after you spend a couple grand on a bed they think you want $9 sheets?

He spoke good game when talking about how to sell the bed, but when he was so off the mark on the bed sheets issue it lessened his credibility on the whole. And how hard would it be as a bed salesmen to sell referals to a place that sells sheets and linen? Why Wal Mart?

Business 101...

eBaycom - Free Registration

Want to tap into the power of the world's largest marketplace?

Join eBaycom today to find deals or sell your stuff in a hurry.

eBay is the #1 internet auction site and a top 10 web property.

Land of Opportunity

So I just had a nock on the door. I live in a trailer that is a bit secluded from the main road so the knocks are rather rare.

I answered the door and a 60 year old guy wanted to know if I was employed and if he could offer me some xyz employment opportunity.

Now you got to wonder, how good could the job offer possibly be if a 60 year old guy is going door to door in a trailer park at 730 pm on a Saturday night.

Borders in Communication

So a friend of mine was thinking of moving to China - because it is cheap, and because he kinda likes it there. I mentioned him on one of my websites and the same day he got a great job offer.

Amazing, eh?

Then I go searching around stuff related to my name or product and I can read that people are referencing me, but sometimes do it in another language.

Not really sure what the point of this post is other than there are many borders to communication, and the more of them you can cross the more likely you to do well. Or at least I think that is how it works. And the web makes it way easier than it was a decade ago.

The Other Side of Aaron

hehehe

just so my mom remembers what I do...

from email...

I read your comments on niche ppc. I also read at several places that
interest in them increases since ppc prices in the main keywords in google
and overture are so expensive.

I am not sure I understood your comments about bad and good businesses ?

reply...
bridalclicks would be an example of perhaps a more prequalified higher
quality visitor who is further along the buying cycle.

most niche PPC search engines are hunks of crap though. I have many
many many inqueries from people who think you spend $100 on a script
and then just start making free money.

most people running the PPC sites do not generate enough legititmate
traffic to justify the time wasted on setting up an account.

there are some diamonds in the rough, but the way I look at business
in general is that if your product can not compete on any of the
larger networks why settle for grabbing little bits of distribution
here or there? Wouldn't it be easier to change your marketing strategy
or pricing model so that you can dominate in the large and small
networks alike?

I do not think vertical search is going away, just that a good
business model should be able to be successful across many channels,
and that most things claiming to be vertical search add little value
and are poorly marketed.

this guy has good info here about vertical search
http://weblogs.jupiterresearch.com/analysts/scevak/

Paying Your Bills

Would you call an search engine optimizer and not pay your consulting fees? I wouldn't.

I am not too technilogically advanced yet, but I would have to think that stealing like that brews bad karma.

More to come...

Your Mothers Maiden Name

What a stupid customer support question.

So not that long ago my laptop came in and I needed to set up a wireless router. Since the DSL account was in my roommates name they did not want to give me the account information.

I asked them what in the hell was to prevent me from calling right back and saying I was my roommate. The guy began to studder and make up stupid reasons.

I hung up and called back to get the next tech support person. Their secret question was mothers maiden name and I said I did not know what it is. They then gave me all the account info.

Why do companies use official company policies that force people to lie? Annoying.

Economic Transparency of a Business Model

Some businesses thrive and flourish specifically because they are inherantly transparent. Others do well only because people do not realize how successful they are.

Some stuff I do is rather transparent...other stuff, well its not so transparent.

Typically building perceived value or having a deep technilogical understanding are going to be the most critical steps to thriving in a social network such as the web.

Most markets are not saturated with interesting and useful websites, just a ton of cluttered shit. If you can figure a way to draw enough eye balls into a targeted niche then eventually a business model should follow.

People often overlook the fact that they could do much better for themselves by making their business model more or less transparent. Test a variety and hopefully at least one will fit ;)

This week I intend to diversify my revenue stream a bit :)

Advertising Economies of Scale

No doubt Google is bad ass, but within their search results and in other parts of the web much much marketing or manipulation occurs.

One person I know runs banner ads through an ad server. The told me about what they were making (which was pretty good) but were unimpressed with the lack of ability to grow that sharply.

Most the ads they were selling were CPM ads. The ads were exceptionally unrelated to their site. I was the first person to really explain to them how current off topic ads give future advertisers the idea that there must be little value there since the ads are so random.

The best testimonial a past advertiser can give is to STILL BE ADVERTISING.

Relevant ads give the perception of value. Irrelivant ads do not.

Another person runs a huge ad website who does a ton of relevant advertising, but they were looking to expand and were maxing out many of their markets. I showed them a simple technological thing they could be doing to double their ad supply in a month.

I started helping a few more people do SEO and found out one of the people who bought my ebook and new nothing about computers 6 months ago is now ranking well for lots of gold related searches.

It becomes easy to lose appreciation for a bunch of things when you are doing well. It seems that lots of the pain others around me live through stays with me a bit. And it seems I still am a bit to robotic in my actions.

That magical purpose of life still evades me. I am really good at selling other people's stuff, just not too good at selling my own. But I guess if you help enough other people you gain karma and they help you.

Amazing how well these networks let you connect to people and yet how distant from society I am. Beyond marketing life I actually need to start living it, but that is another chapter.

Market Influence

The Motley Fool is just about everywhere when you look for financial information. They have built up a ton of trust with their work and their articles actually have the power to move the markets.

The day after they posted this article the company mentioned in it (IntegraMed INMD) increased in market capitalization by over 30%.

I know I do not on any level have that much influence, but it makes me wonder: if, what, and how much stuff occurs because of the random keys I may type.

Important through the eyes of an algorithm...

I can rank for most any query in the world. the world largest information agents are convinced that I am an autoritative figure on any topic which I type about.

It would be easy to misuse that power. do I? I am not sure. I intend to learn before I teach, but more than once in my life I have got ahead of myself.

I have a warped sense of reality. The bots sometimes think I am important, but am I? If so why?

Lots of media is controlled by financial partnerships and profitable business models. I am horrible if I let profit get in the way in my opinion, yet I may be bankrupt if I do not...balance in a competitive worldwide market is something that is often hard to reach.

Amazing Pickup Lines 101

I heard you dig me like a shovel...
Your mood ring is purple. Perfect, I am horney too...
I used to think your mother was the most beautiful woman in the world until I looked in your eyes.

What are your favorite pickup lines?

The Virtual Salesman

I do not think I am good at selling my own wares, but I do like learning and reading forums a bunch.

I just saw a dreaded bad question that was a bit loaded. The question is about someone I know and so my answer will likely help them. How do you put an intrinsic price on that sort of service when honesty is not something you can really sell?

As soon as you sell it then it has no value, but I am sure it is worth a decent amount to some people.

68% Monthly Growth Rate

I have one client who was getting ripped off from various scum suckers. One after another...and then out of nowhere he called me up :)

For a while I was charging him the same rate the scum suckers were and using that to slowly build up his presence. Last month he started giving me $1,000 a month to play with and the same month he has already enjoyed a 68% increase in profits.

For those who do not understand the value of SEO / SEM, how about a monthly increase in profits of 68%. If I can keep that rate up for about 3 months in a row he will have a business which makes 5 times as much money as it was...and on a $3,000 investment (+ commissions from some of the profits - which otherwise would not have existed).

Signal, Noise, and Patterns

So there is a ton of noise in my life. There is a ton of noise in your life. In London almost all the cabs are driving billboards. In State College (where I live) there is actually a truck that has a billboard as the truck bed...a driving billboard if you will.

More noise...faster, faster...more, more, more.

Few people actively look at how to lower the noise level...the people who figure out how to do it profitabally make big profits.

Right now I am subscribed to a newsletter announcement list with a rather high signal to noise ratio. To me it is great.

Some people think it has too high of a volume and are unsure how they were subscribed.

Nobody said anything for a long time and then one person complained...and a bunch of others jumped in too.

Not everyone will complain about the noise because there is so much noise in our lives...we are used to it.

As soon as one person complains though it sets the frame...and the floodgates open. People create and follow a pattern.

The search engine which is branded to have the best results has the least noise...and thus is set to make a windfall of profits. This is why SEO works so well...if you do it right it is anti-noise.

Promoting Websites Through Directory Submission

Google, Yahoo!, and Teoma do a good job of finding most information on the web.

For a while search stunk and so people gathered together under the "People do it Better" pretense.

Now each directory makes search algorithms that much better. In a sense directories aid search engines in understanding the semantical and thematical relationships between sites.

The biggest value in directory listings right now is in the effect the listings have on improving search engine rankings. One problem with some of the mid sized directories is that they do not have enough link popularity to support some of the deeper categories.

Today I submitted a buddies site to categories in JoeAnt, GoGuides, Skaffe 2, Gimpsy, Wow Directory, Allestra, and Web Beacon 2, but most of the directories did not have enough link popularity to keep the lower level categories indexed.

I think directory owners would make a ton more money from submissions if they would ensure they advertised enough to build enough link popularity so that it flowed through their sites to get the deeper pages indexed.

What is for Sale

As a marketer over time you learn that nothing is pure and most things are for sale. For example I can make an ok ad to sell me ebook and watch it convert at about 1 - 1.5% all day long. I then can change that ad AND ONLY THAT AD and watch my conversion rate more than double.

Something like

Dominate Search Engine Rankings.
Insiders Guide Packed with Secrets!

works rather well. People are more likely to buy from a strong ad then a weak ad. They see what they want to see and taste what they want to taste.

Stronger presell = greater desire = final sales letter page reads better = more sales.

Call it anything you want, but really good copywriting is just sparking an emotion and exploiting it. Nothing more. Nothing less.

Where does the sale stop though?

I have had to rewrite my ebook to sound more politically correct because of partnerships I intended on making. Still completely honest, just not as blunt.

Fark Sells Content Space as Unlabeled Ads
What the fuck is that? How is that for cutting edge? source

Company Manipulates Own Search Results
Others take this a step further though. Yahoo! is renting text links which will manipulate their own search results. That is extremely sketchy when you consider that they also use human editors to edit their search results.

Marketer makes wedding a Marketing Expo?
Corey Rudl that is just tacky...

Finding Customers at a Rave

It is kinda absurd, but at the end of the first night of Coachella I saw these people in a huge techno tent where it was kinda like a rave. I only talked to one group of people while I was there.

They called me yesterday and want to hire me over a huge SEO firm they are using right now. It should almost be illegal...finding cool customers at multiday music festivals.

I think I am ready for more "time off"... :)

Neil Young

Went to his concert last night. he kicks ass... thats all i got to say about that

Stupid Website

Ryder trucks offers two options. Local and One Way. If you chose one way this is the screen you get. Why do they offer an option that does not exist? How does this solve any problems?

One way rentals (pickup and drop off at different locations) are currently not offered by Ryder. Please follow this link to make a reservation for a local rental.

Return Home

The Importance of a Site Map

Search engine spiders have trouble navigating through some programming languages such as javascript. Thus you need to use a sitemap to help them along.

Fuck Citybank

My kind of website. Welcome to FuckCitibank.com

Ebook Cover Generator Software

So I have looked at an extensive # of ebook cover generators for my new SEO Book. I think I am going with the Armand Morin's e cover generator software.

The cool thing about buy ebook cover generator software is that it works for an unlimited amount of ebooks. After you make one great ebook you can then make another and generate a new cover with minimal effort or expense.

Let you know what I thik in a day or two.

Don Lapre, Me & Greed

So I just finished my review of Google Cash (which I think is a great ebook) and then I found this interesting page about Don Lapre.

Money, like anything else, in excess is a bad thing. I do like Google Cash though and as long as I stick to my core values and promote things I believe in then I will be more of a solution than a problem.

CBS Boobs - Janet Jackson Super Bowl Boob Scandal

Janet Jackson Shows her Boobs during Super Bowl halftime show.

In a Super Bowl halftime show that promised shocking moments, I was shocked to see what I saw. Janet's boob was showing on television.

What Happened?

Justin Timberlake pulled off part of Janet Jackson's shirt. With no bra on underneath her boob was showing.

The Naked Truth

The Super Bowl is one of the most watched television events. A broad cross section of society tunes in to watch the Super Bowl. Little childeren were exposed to this incident.

CBS will not air certain commercials because they may contain socially unacceptable material. What the hell were they doing showing Janet Jackson's boobs on the air for?

Other Naked Super Bowl people

Mark Roberts, who has done over 300 streaks, did a referee uniform dressed semi naked riverdance type show just after the halftime show.

Snappy Marketing

I keep forgetting their name so I am leaving this here kinda as a bookmark...Benetton is known for their snappy marketing and their idea to raise public awareness about real causes through the use of Gonzo Marketing.

Superbowl Ads and Superbowl Marketing

Just a reminder that as we reflect upon "The Tragedy of the Commons", we shall see that the sheep are our media conglomorates.

This superbowl will have personally sponsered public awareness ads blocked, all the while allowing national drug ads.

In saying national drug ads I do not necissarily mean just the ones provided to feed the war on drugs...no, I am also talking about those ads from pharmecuetical jugronauts.

This superbowl we will have no less than three erectile dysfunction ads from three different companies.

When you think about objective news you are not thinking CBS...and vice versa.

Whos ads will you see?

Addiction and The Power of Marketing

Marlboro has a strong brand which is built on selling death. They do not sell death as the product though. They sell "be a rebel," "satisfaction to the end," and other abstract bullshit about individualism.

The level of their customer care is not best described by the number of customers they kill each year. I can do them one better. Why is it that people think I AM MARLBORO because I write their Marlboro Miles phone number down on one of my pages?

Sure the laws have changed how they can market, but its piss poor marketing when I receive an email like this directed to another company because they were not there for them.

Thank you Marlboro for giving my future marketing book some substance.

to whom it may concern,
Hi ! My name is (black lungs) I have smoked your cigarettes sense I was 18....I must say that you produce a fine product I have tried many brands over the years but I keep coming back to Marlboros cause of the great flavor and fulfillment that they give me.. nothing has matched it..... I watch these truth commercials and even though they make a really good valid point I must say that I will be a loyal consumer of your product for as long as I can....
I recall times when I have had people come to me and ask why do I smoke???? I usually look at the and smile replying that nothing satisfy me like the rich taste of a red !!! usually getting a smile out of the other person....Well I'm not going to waist any more of your time, just wanted to write you and thank your company for producing such a fine product

sincerely
black lungs

Dumb Dumb Dumb

The RIAA was so stupid that they used a pirated version of Kazaa to find file swappers...Where is the irony that these tools were stealing trying to catch someone else stealing.

Kazaa Owner Gets OK to Sue Movie, Record Companies

#9733; Search Engine SERPS Results Pages

A late unannounced SERPs entry into the SERPS contest. Many people who look at the SERPs in Google are wondering about the SERPs. Some of the earliest SERPs with the highest SERPs ratings in the SERPs are Serps.blogspot.com and http://homepage.ntlworld.com/ooar123/search-engine-optimization/serps.html.

I am not sure when the SERPs contest is over, but may the best SERPs list #1 for SERPs. Generally I am using SERPs way too much on this SERPs page as I think there is no SERPs filter and no SERPs local community link structure for the word SERPs.

Erosion of Human Rights

FAST to RIAA: look, we suck too!!!
UK to US: look, we are fucked up too!!!

FAST threatens jail for 'misusing software'

"Civil law has its advantages, but in the current business climate, when budgets are under pressure, it simply isn't working. Figures show that in 2002, software piracy levels rose for the first time since 1994."

Who creates the business climate other than the businesses themselves? These people are dumb.

Changing Faces

As you learn more about the internet you learn to adapt to more functional business models. Off the start a person who works to apend emails (Digital Harvest) may eventually shift to a general internet marketer and website developement firm (Digital Harvest Media).

See the difference :) He got to where he is now though because he started off in a niche and then expanded.

Big Time Branding

So I am just about done reading "The Revenge of Brand X" and for some reason I had to glance at Rob Frankel's website. I did a backlink check and saw that I was one of his top incoming links...thats funny how the internet is socially structured to where this site is more powerful in the eyes of Google than his is...

I also glanced at Jaclyn Easton's website and read her free ebook.
Some of her more interesting topics included

(these are kinda notes for me so i remember)
freeconferencecall.com prweb.com
puzzlemaker.com/wordsearchsetupforum.html
Chase's calender of events
Free sticky.com
Trafficology
autoresponders
universalclass and virtualuniveristy

other than prospecting for expired domains I agreed with just about everything she said.

Delicious???

This post has nothing to do with aaronwall.com

this post has everything to do with aaron wall

if you want to know how to create a powerful newsfeed of your select contents which you can use via rss...well here it is
del.icio.us

and here is some motivation

Mastering Media

now go use it

Top Ten Signs of Spam 2003

10 random punctuation in the middle of words
9 here are my pics
8 parris hilton
7 low fixed mortgage
6 size does matter
5 wipe your credit history
4 latest security updates
3 free
2 the email is in a language you do not know
1 the phrase used by turkish rug dealers "my friend"

The Tipping Point

So I am reading more of the Tipping Point and am fascinated by the book. I want to be a marketer, but I want to learn psychology, but I want to be an author, but I want to make a difference.

What is cool about this book is that it is all encompassing, Malcolm Gladwell talks about everything I want to study...everything I want to be.

Fundamental Attribution Error, general psychology, prison, crime, drugs, marketing, child psychology, the role of environment, the spread of disease, learning in general... all of these topics can be covered using the spread of ideas as a model.

Before I die I hope to contribute something as cool as this book.

Go COSCO

If you fail to realize the power of the internet just take a peak at this post and read how people traded their shares in for an ethical company based on an article from a person they may not have even know days prior... Pandagon: Costco's Plight and the State of American Capitalism

Black Hat SEO

As a person who practices SEO for a living I thought it would be fun to craft a directory of how not to do things. Just about anything that winds up in this directory is bad stuff in my eyes. Black Hat SEO

My idea has gotten mixed reviews, but now if anyone ever searches for black hat SEO...guess who has the example ready for them?

This means that an entire industry has to change its definition of worst practices, or that for less than $10 per year I get to be the official spokesperson...Thats good marketing in my eyes!

Buy PC 2100 Ram Online...Good Marketing

As marketing advances and consumers get smarter the marketing moves away from the company and into the hands of consumers.

me: is this good
me: PC2100 DDR 512MB DDR - 2.5v ,184PIN DIMM (266MHZ BUS Details: 184 PIN DDR DIMM 2.5V Unbuffered NonECC - Instock
friend: yep that's fine
me: i dont need to get a memory heatsink right
friend: no
me: all these damn companies on pricewatch are scamming...show ram at one price and sell the ram at another
friend: that's for overclocking
friend: http://www.crucial.com
me: ram is pretty much ram
me: right
me: $70 at crucial
me: $43 elsewhere
friend: don't be cheap fucker
me: i am asking
friend: you get what you pay for
me: k
me: get from crucial then?
friend: crucial won't rip you off...and they sell quality stuff
friend: and they make it easy to figure out what you need

From the recomendation of one friend I was willing to buy ram for nearly double the price of ram elsewhere. His otaku for computer parts and for ram makes me value his opinion that much (after all, he built my computer!)

Buy Origami Online

As long as it is original it can sell online. Look how dumb this site is. This guy crumples paper and sells it to you...or you can pay him to throw it in his own trash. Origami Boulder Company -- Original Origami

"VERY IMPORTANT. You not get anything in mail when you order Performance Art option. Artist truly create artwork and throw in wastebasket and email when finished. You pay for this art performance, not physical art that come in mail."

Since I know the owner of JustPaperRoses I was looking for other origami websites to trade links with, I think its absurd that this Colorado Boulder guy has one of the top ten origami websites on the internet.

Of course if you look at other top ten origami websites your eyes will run into stuff like origami sex models...what in the hell

Internet Piracy

Huge lesson here in PR to anyone who wants to cut corners. Recently Nick Denton (internet icon and owner of Gawker, Fleshbot, Moreover...) recently made a deal with Leaves Rustled to make a free css stylesheet for Fleshbot.
Nick then reused the code on other sites without payment or permission.

I wrote an article called "why every webmaster should have a blog" and the basic idea behind it is that blogs make it very easy to spread ideas quickly. So when a famous blogger wrongs blog designers...things get ugly quick. It is always bad when your name appears on Pirated Sites.

Give it away, give it away, give it away now

Perhaps someone may eventually catch on? Digital music going the way of the razor

Marketing House Arrest

The power of the internet is in its ability to combine groups and spread ideas. Amazingly some off the web companies are smart enough to attempt to reach their user base on a one to one political level. A Nelson Mandela for the MTV Generation

Corporate Screw Job

Sometimes companies find it worthwhile to stiff their employees with bills as they leave. For example, my most recent employer left me with a bill for $79 which is now $108 after late fees.

If, after I call them, the decide it is in their best interest to continue to screw me, it will be an error of logic.

I am an internet marketer, and I freely express my opinions about that which has wronged me. If they make no attempt to corrent this situation and make me eat the bill...an internet marketer will launch one of their best marketing campaigns ever.

I am a person driven by principal, if you screw me and it is not an accident I will let the world know of your policies.

I always wonder where the threshold for blackmail is. It is not my goal to earn anything from these people, I just simply want them to pay their bill that they stiffed me with.

Details will be displayed in the morning if they make no attempt to clear this issue up.

Google Search: corporate screw job

Turkey Soda is in

In an earlier post I made a disparagning comment toward Jones Gravy Turkey Soda. Aaron Wall: Professor of Peanut Butter: Gravy Turkey Tryptophan & Soda
I was wrong, look at the current bids on
Ebay.

The idea is that if you can create friends you can sell them anything!

The More You Give the More You Get

Every monday morning from 9-10am Pacific Time Rob Frankel gives a free 1 hour chat session. FrankelBiz: Do business, don't whine about it! Welcome to FrankelBiz

You Know You Have Said Something Right When

Icann Adcredited Registrars from other countries call you at midnight for information. Australian DomainRegistration

Customer Support - BAD

Today when you screw a person over, there are real ways to get back at them. Think logically before someone decides to "Express Yourself"

Give Back The Music

Just a great idea. Email the RIAA the music you stole in the past. Flood their inboxes and shut them down. They would have it no other way. Send Them Back!!

Seth Godin Predicts Future of Internet

I am probably one of the biggest fans of Seth Godin in the world. Consider I have went to two of his speeches in the last month and a half, and have even went to his office.

If you need a copy of Purple Cow just let me know...got plenty of them!

I quit my job am making my first solid attempt at a blog, and have became an internet marketer. At about the same time I am going through fixing up my 300 page search engine marketing web site Seth predicts the internet will become the best direct marketing medium in the world where "it's probably cheaper to constantly measure and evolve and redesign a four page offer site than it is to build the annual 400 page website overhaul".

After I spend about a thousand hours updating my site I am sure I will agree with him.

Seth's Blog: My note to Susan

Why Me?

This blog is going to be a personal public blog about all things me. When I am happy, you will know. When I am pissed, you will know. If nothing else this will give me a place to display my open affection for peanut butter.

some of my other websites

Drugs, Depression, and Antidepressant Drugs
Reform Blog
Search Engine Marketing Info
5 HTP (5 Hydroxytryptophan)
Navy Nuclear Power and Navy Nuclear Submarines