Today is the release of Halo 3, a video game for the Xbox 360. It will be interesting to watch if the game hits the predictions of $200 million in the first week. Wired had a story last month about the unprecedented testing for the game. The real question is will gaming eventually overcome movies? More to come as the sales are totaled this week.
Some bad/good news – I was unable to login to XBox live tonight, so the volume has to be huge…
About two weeks ago I had an epiphany, we have been tracking a number of search results for some key terms that we optimize for (for those who don’t speak geek – when you type in a certain term in Google, we do some work to make sure that our pages come up on the list, I check the results for a number of terms weekly). I noticed some patterns where results would remain clustered (we would be placed with similar pages) but the locations would be all over the map. i.e. – Let’s say we were result 12, I would note results 13 and 11, and two weeks later we’d be clustered at 35,36 and 37.
It bothered me that sets of links would move as a cluster, and I think I have a reasonable theory: much the way campaign results evolve and go in and out of favor, so do search results. What was once the most popular link for “Paris” will change from week to week depending on whether the city has something big going on, or if the hotel heiress does.
One of the rookie mistakes people make in SEO is thinking that their content is the most important thing in search, this is ignoring the most important factor in search results – clickstream data from the results that users select. When Google shows you 10 results that can keep track of what you click on and then compare it to everyone else. If you modify your search phrase that gives them some more data. More important yet, if you click on a link and then come back 3 seconds later to try something else, that says a whole lot. This is a core argument why a lot of people say most of SEO is crap and unless you have content that engages and keeps readers, eventually you are going to lose, no matter how many keywords you stuff, or link farms you set up.
The last thing to remember is my Paris example. No matter what you do, if you are optimizing for the city and this week the celebrity is in vogue, your results are going to slip even if nothing else has changed.
One sure fire solution – be sure to work on the secondary terms so that when someone searches for “city of paris” the second time, you get the hit. Or you could just write good content.
I finally got through all the email and comments I missed while off the grid. The latest Marketing Over Coffee Marketing Podcast is up, and I just watched my first baseball game in HD. Now I need to fix a faucet and see if wireless surround speakers are worth the upgrade. More to follow…
Today I eat my words. If you follow The M Show you know the story of how I’ve said Verizon would have to pry my last dollar from my cold dead hand based on a squabble about 7 years ago. This was before my new BFF Daryl showed up this morning to turn the switch on for the glass tube that is now connected to Studio N.
Our past residence, Studio M had a Cable modem from a good company who I will keep nameless since I have no ill will towards them. Here’s the bandwidth I got:
That’s pretty darn fast, faster than anything else I’ve ever used. Just for fun I compared it to the pipe at work:
I knew that the download was crummy, but it’s interesting that upload was almost 2x. Of course this is worthless – 90% of your traffic is download and the majority of the 10% upload are text (filling out forms) so that’s wasted most of the time.
Then the glass pipe lit up:
Insane. I don’t think there are many services that can feed me that fast. You can take the SpeakEasy Speed Test here if you’d like to compare.
An interesting footnote – the Wireless B and G machines get around 6mb down, I only get the 20 on the Wireless N rig.
Game On! Marketing Over Coffee coming tomorrow…
Thanks for staying around during a slower week, I’m into a groove now where I can write at home at night, save it and post when I have access to the tubes of the internets when I get to work.
A discussion today got me thinking more about branding. There has been much written about the fact that classic advertising and branding is only applicable to the Fortune 500, and that everyone else is usually pouring money down the drain. I’m thinking that by treating your advertising more as lead generation (have a call to action to track it, test brand messaging that has impact) you can get your money’s worth out of it. I really need to dig in deeper on advertising strategies, anybody up for chatting on Marketing Over Coffee?
Sorry to be brief but I’m kneeling down, working on a machine that’s on a cardboard box. FIOS will be set up at Studio N next week so I’m stuck back at Studio M for my broadband connection. The new digs are great but how did we get so much stuff?
The lads from Gentle Giant did a fine job today. Now if I can find the box that has my pants in it…
I am still on for Marketing Over Coffee tomorrow (the best marketing podcast)
I am in Williamstown for my Father-in-Law’s 70th birthday party. It’s been a fun day. I got to use the power washer on all kinds of things and the lovely Carin was preparing fondant for the birthday cake. I came to the conclusion that fondant is much like experimental jazz. Those who excel at their craft (be it baking or music) play with it because it’s hip, yet the general public isn’t interested in consuming either.
But who am I to criticize such things?
Just kidding, I am the guy who makes fun of those things. Fondant is like spackle for cake for the love of god!
Aside from that we took advantage of being out of the big city and went up into the cornfield at the end of the day to pick our own corn near Mt. Greylock, where I took this picture. More shots on Flickr when I get home to upload.
People that think links or Twitter summaries are blog posts that anyone reads.
Or gives a crap about for that matter.
The kids in my neighborhood that yell out of car windows.
The fear of what I would do to them if I had an opportunity.
But, whenever those kinds of things get out of hand, there’s always something like the Rocky Run to Benefit Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. Good triumphs over evil. The Sox win. I sleep well for another night, ready to face tomorrow, faith in humanity restored.
For a less cranky John, check out the best marketing podcast, Marketing Over Coffee, which has a very funny closing this week.
The boxes are getting filled and we are preparing for the move. The office where I do my writing is been destroyed so my posting may be sporadic over the next week. I’ll be limited to when I’m on my laptop at home and that’s about it. The scanner has been packed up too so no Friday Night Fights, or other wacky photos until the box reopens.
The summer doldrums continue with everyone waiting until the decision makers get back from vacation. A good time to clean up your lists and get ready for Q4.
Libsyn seems to have their domain issues straightened out so there will be a new M Show for you before you sync tomorrow morning.
-J
I’ve always wanted to walk on the grass at Fenway Park. This may be my chance.