Isn't "alli" Why People Hate Marketers?

Conversion Rate Marketing Blog - GrokDotCom by Future Now, Inc
Marketing blog focused on marketing optimization, improving website conversion rates, search engine marketing, web analytics, word of mouth, etc.

1. Isn't "alli" Why People Hate Marketers? - 2007-06-21 10:33:42-04
   Any marketers out there ever feel like non-business folk's knee-jerk contempt for your profession rivals that of ambulance-chasing attorneys?* This prejudice, although generic, is understandable. And, by the way, show me an attorney who defends her trade as much as her clients and I'll show you the reason lawyer jokes were invented. I love the art of [...]
   
2. End Searcher Optimization: The New SEO - 2007-06-22 03:59:50-04
   Seems the world isn't waiting for anyone to catch up. In a recent ClickZ column, long-respected SEO (define) guru Mike Grehan suggested we search Ask.com for "Spider-Man 3." There we glimpse into the future of search engine results. Welcome to universal search. Mike speculates: "With the three-column approach, I can't imagine why I'd ever scroll down the page, [...]
   
3. Why's B2B Price Such a Big Secret? - 2007-06-22 11:12:52-04
   Mr. Smith (not Brad Pitt) walks into a bicycle shop asking for assistance in finding a bike for his daughter's birthday. He quickly pipes up that he's got a budget; he needs to find a bike under $500. This constraint would easily narrow down the options and the store clerk could continue to ask questions [...]
   
4. What Makes People Buy - 2007-06-25 05:51:09-04
   At Future Now we focus on 'Grokking people' to understand why they do the things they do. Grok is a verb, roughly meaning "to understand completely," or, more formally, "to achieve complete intuitive understanding." It was invented by science fiction writer Robert Heinlein in his novel Stranger in a Strange Land. Grok, we're told, is [...]
   
5. SEO for Beginners & Marketing Amateurs - 2007-06-25 12:46:40-04
   I found this excellent post on SEOmoz, The SEO's Guide to Beginners. It's written by Rand Fishkin's soon-to-be bride. She gives 8 pointers and starts out like this: So naturally, if I can't get one of the (supposedly) easiest mp3 interfaces to work, my hopes of understanding algorithms and search engines are pretty grim. But [...]
   
6. "If Architects Had to Work Like Web Designers" - 2007-06-25 13:17:34-04
   OK, here's a stupid question: Would you build a house without an architectural blueprint? Would you just put up some walls, and add in rooms here and there, and not really pay any attention to silly things like, for instance, doors, so you at least have the option to travel between rooms? Would [...]
   
7. Your Email Marketing Sucks*! Study Says So - 2007-06-26 05:44:41-04
   Sliverpop released a new study titled 8 Seconds to Capture Attention Some of the things the study points out include: 35% of landing pages studied didn't have the same look or tone of the email that generated the click. For consumer campaigns, this figure was 29%, but increased to 41% for BtoB companies. Unfortunately this happens [...]
   
8. Web Radio's Day Off: Is it Over for Webcasters? - 2007-06-26 13:53:17-04
   Today, Web radio stations everywhere–including WebMasterRadio.fm, home of our daily Blog Buzz podcast–are taking the day off to protest extreme royalty hikes for webcasters. The new rate hikes will be charged retroactively to 2006, making it impossible for a lot of Web radio pioneers to keep up. Regardless of your stance, the implications for [...]
   
9. Bloggers: Use Google to Get Links - 2007-06-26 20:40:55-04
   After 5 months of using our RSS Discovery Engine at Today.GrokDotCom.com, we've come to a very elegant conclusion: Blogging about Google gets you a crazy amount of links. Now, slow down for a moment. I can almost hear the cries of "link-baiter!" and it saddens me. So, allow me to be perfectly clear. Of course [...]
   
10. Guy Kawasaki on Making $5M/yr in Your Underwear… - 2007-06-27 10:02:49-04
    It's pretty nice work, if you can get it: Markus Frind, the founder of PlentyOfFish.com is my new hero (James Hong of Hot or Not is a close second). Marcus spends about two hours a day in his underwear managing a free dating website that gets twelve billion page views a year. He is the [...]
    
11. Clothing Websites Designed for Women - 2007-06-27 10:44:24-04
    I recently received an email from a reader who has a website that sells cool women's clothing by indie designers callled Smashing Darling. She was asking about design (Web design, that is). I love the concept of the site, but–simply from a gut feeling–the site's design didn't appear professional to me. It didn't inspire confidence [...]
    
12. Andy Sernovitz, Word-of-Mouth Expert, is a Metrosexual… - 2007-06-27 12:09:37-04
    Actually, that's putting it lightly. Andy's screaming that ProFlowers' email marketing thinks he is gay, and he's telling everyone! Maybe because it's Pride month, or perhaps the rainbow reference in their copy, but that's Andy's impression. I'm sure this wasn't Proflower's intention. It was, however, a poor job of personalization. What ProFlowers did was take [...]
    
13. The 5 W's of Purchase Behavior - 2007-06-28 05:37:55-04
    In expanding the question about relational-transactional purchasing by asking the question of WHAT makes people buy, a fellow deep thinker from the Wizard Academy shared that we should also add in the other "reporter" questions. He shared the following: I'd lump them into four categories: Who … Why … What … When-Where-How. Who, Why and [...]
    
14. 2 Minutes In The Age of Speed - 2007-06-28 10:12:56-04
    Speed? This isn't a post about NASCAR, weight-loss pills or Speed Racer (ah, the Mach 5). I know you're in a rush, so I'll get to the point. In September, Vince Poscente's book, The Age of Speed, will be in book stores. In preparation for the release, Vince is conducting a survey that takes less [...]
    
15. Do French Canadians Search Different? - 2007-06-28 17:34:43-04
    I'm not French Canadian; I'm English-Montreal Canadian. Born and raised in a city with a large French Canadian population, Montreal's culture feels more European than it is similar to any other Canadian or American city. I would go to school in the morning and kiss my friends on both cheeks. We'd go for coffee every [...]
    
16. Perception is Reality… At Least That's What it Seems Like - 2007-06-29 05:44:10-04
    Let's play a simple game. Tell me what this picture is. Most of you probably thought of a candlestick or two faces, well? Well, which one is correct? Both are and that's because we believe what our eyes tell us. You'd think if you've seen one checkout process, you've seen them all. How different can putting your [...]
    
17. iPhone Campout = "Brand Loyalty Beyond Reason" - 2007-06-29 11:21:47-04
    Has anyone camping out for an iPhone realized that you don't have to go to an Apple Store? As you may recall (from the only negative moments in any of the reviews) that it's an AT&T device. I just called a few AT&T stores in Brooklyn. No lines. Apple has become the #1 [...]
    
18. 2 Ways to Get Started With Personas (Part 1) - 2007-06-29 14:45:22-04
    I was having a conversation with the experience team at a major "entertainment" company after my presentation at the Internet Retailer conference a few weeks back. We were discussing ways they could get started on Personas, and how to overcome the challenges they'd faced thus far. Given that this dialog took place just off-stage, we [...]
    
19. Disorganized Retail - 2007-07-02 06:17:21-04
    Seth and I must have been drinking the same thing this weekend. I had the same thoughts yesterday as I went in to the local convenience store and wondered why it was so inconvenient to find a diet ice tea. Why did I need to scan 10 coolers worth of drinks and not find what [...]
    
20. 2 Ways to Get Started With Personas (Part 2) - 2007-07-02 09:56:31-04
    Regular readers of GrokDotCom, or any of our best-selling books, heartily agree: people do things according to their own motivations. And in this unprecedented day of empowered consumers, "selling" to customers is 100% about facilitating their buying process. Any attempts to pitch (or push) products in ways that aren't transparent, genuine, relevant or salient [...]