Month: November 2006

Categories
Lead Generation SEO and Paid Search The Marketeer

One Man Search Commando

I first started doing SEO back around 1997, since then it was a priority for some of my masters and not for others. Currently we are campaigning hard, and for the first time I am working with a retained outside firm (I know, not true Ronin).

Things seem to have really tightened up, there used to be a ton of “tricks” you could use and most of them have been locked down. Now it’s borderline with basic usability…

We just started an update on the Paid Search side, I will probably be talking about that at the Second Life CaseCamp coming up.

The good news is AccuRev is sending me off to Search Engine Strategies in Chicago the week of December 4th, so if you are a fellow Ronin please give me a shout.

Other good news: Jason Calacanis will be there on Tuesday so I’m looking forward to hearing what he’s up to after having recently left AOL. He also had a great post this week outlining some metrics for what a successful blog should be doing numbers-wise.
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Categories
Geek Stuff Productivity Buster

Burden of a Geek

Happy Thanksgiving!

The blog has arrived. I really wanted to go with “Adventures in Marketing” but the URL was gone and it didn’t sound that cool, and wasn’t too search engine friendly. After much thought I am excited to announce Ronin Marketeer!

Ok… you’d think I could turn the spinometer down for at least a day like today… guess not.

I am deep in my holiday tradition of providing tech support for my relatives while I’m at home. Adam Curry once said something along the lines of “As a geek it’s your duty to keep your friends and families machines going”, and I’ve always kind of liked that line. Perhaps describing it as a duty makes it sound more romantic than getting the spyware gunk out of the machines my nephews have played with.

That said, I’m thankful for family, friends and all the blessings I have. This is going to be another exciting year and I’m looking forward to seeing how many people we can bring along on the ride. Enjoy the turkey!

Categories
Lead Generation SalesForce.com The Marketeer

Salesforce.com – Marketing Campaigns

So I spent a bunch of yesterday trying to do some more advanced stuff with Salesforce.com If you are into lead generation or supporting a Sales team this is the best thing out there. I worked with Act for more than 5 years and supported a 10-user Goldmine installation for another 4 years and SalesForce is the disruptive technology taking it to the next level.

We have a system that’s very close to end-to-end. Leads come in on the web, get emailed around and the records go into SF. I can track them by marketing campaign, but that’s about as far as I get. I’m either at the end of it’s functionality, or I need to get some training sessions. The individual is marked as in the campaign (say, white paper banner ad on Joe’s site). But this data doesn’t roll up to the record for the company they work for. So if Bob clicks on the banner and we end up selling to Charlie, I have a disconnect.

Yesterday I exported everything I could get my hands on and used Access to get around some of the reporting shortcomings. It actually got me to the data I wanted but it was way too much work, I need to begin automating it. Anybody with experience here PLEASE comment.

Gearing up for a ride home filled with podcasts and then chowing on the turkey…

Categories
Daily Life

The quiet before the Turkeystorm

Things are a little bit slow today, everyone has that “Well, it’s going to be a short week and impossible to get anything done so $%*& it”. I posted the second AccuRev podcast today, and the customer newsletter will be rolling out soon. I’m still trying to think of the right title for this blog. The “Adventures in Marketing” domain is already gone so I need to keep the thinking cap on…

Categories
The Marketeer

Welcome to the Show!

This ladies and gentlemen, is the first blog posting. Bizarre isn’t it? I’ve been podcasting for two years and this is my first time writing a blog. So it begs the question: Why now?

It’s actually very simple, as my network of friends in new media has grown I’ve found myself keeping up with everyone through their blog postings. I’m still getting the hang of WordPress, so there will be more to come as I climb the curve.

The intro: My name is John Wall and I live in Boston. I’m the Marketing Manager at a company called AccuRev that makes a software configuration management product (a tool for teams of software developers to use to organize their work). This is my 5th startup/small business and it’s been an interesting ride. My day often includes email campaigns, search engine strategy, web design, SalesForce.com, and whatever else is on fire that day.

In my spare time I podcast The M Show, a 10 minute program of News, Talk and Entertainment.

That’s enough for today everyone… talk to you later…

Categories
Geek Stuff Podcasting Productivity Buster The Marketeer

The Marketeer at Podcamp Pittsburgh

I got to meet the most famous videobloggers of all time… The stars of TikiBarTV
podcamp pittsburgh