Syzlak’s SEM

Again i apologize

Posted on: August 31, 2007 by Syzlak Comments

Been ignoring the interwebs lately.  My boss is getting ready for the birth of his first child, and i am getting ready for a trip to Boston in mid-September.  So…we’re a little swamped right now

i’ll try to make some posts soon!  looking into a write-up/review on analytics services

7 Reasons Andrew Keen is Furthering ‘The Cult of the Imbecile’

Posted on: August 24, 2007 by Syzlak Comments

Until the other day, i had never heard of Andrew Keen, and i was happy. Today, i am incensed with rage (exaggerating, but still pissy) at the fact this man exists. In a recent interview with Stephen Colbert, Andy (i refuse to acknowledge him with the simplest of titles “Mr.”), fully admits to being an elitist and that the Nazis were better than the web. Read that one again. He claims that “the internet is trivializing culture” because people like me are allowed to post videos, music, and opinions on the web (c’mon, like i wasn’t going to use this as an opportunity to shill my own wares).

Andy’s stance bothers me for multiple reasons.

1. He claims the Nazis didn’t put artists out of work.
   • apparently there were no artists in concentration camps
2. He also recently questioned whether he was a Nazi.
   • Yup.
3. He claims the internet is stealing culture/making it harder for artists to earn a living
   • this seems entirely backwards. First of all, i do not understand who supposedly owns culture by his definition. i was under the impression that culture comes from a society at large
   • Secondly, how does a virtual soapbox make it harder for artists to earn a living? As a musician, i am only assisted by the fact that the internet allows me to broadcast my music, it led my band to a handful of gigs and word of mouth. i would think that this also has assisted painters, poets, etc. by allowing a world-wide venue to distribute (read: sell!!!) their goods that was previously unavailable. Logic can be used to infer that these artists are then able to get into more galleries, readings, etc. because of their internet popularity.
   • How is it that he believes the internet is stealing culture? Hell, does that even make any sense? Yes, many of the great works of art have been created for money; however, there have been more done out of expression than anything else. A Hopi rug is considered culture. So is “Barracuda” by Heart (i have no idea why). One was done for money, one was done for warmth, but both are culturally significant of their respective societies.
4. He’s an elitist, and claims that amateurs don’t create great culture
   • Well shit. He’s got me there. i guess since i didn’t go to culture school, then i’m an amateur.
5. He tries (during the interview) to project the fact that Stephen Colbert is not making money online
   • My ass. Seriously, at this point Andy just looks a fool. The Colbert Report website has many ads, the Comedy Central Video page has ads. Hell, one could even consider the “stealing” of the Colbert Report and subsequent posting of episode snippets as branding. Was it licensed? No. Did it make me want to watch the Colbert Report? Yes.
6. He complains that anonymous bloggers are doing the bidding of foreign governments.
   • i wonder if that includes himself…
7. Here’s a quote from Andy about the internet
   

   It worships the creative amateur: the self-taught filmmaker, the dorm-room musician, the unpublished writer. It suggests that everyone–even the most poorly educated and inarticulate amongst us–can and should use digital media to express and realize themselves. Web 2.0 ‘empowers’ our creativity, it ‘democratizes’ media, it ‘levels the playing field’ between experts and amateurs. The enemy of Web 2.0 is ‘elitist’ traditional media.

   • It is dreadful to live in a world of free will isn’t it? Where each one of us can express ourselves in our own ways. Let it be known that i am the first one to cast judgment on those that i feel should keep their opinions to themselves (this article is evidence); however, i do not fault them for trying. Humans are both inherently unique and absurdly uninteresting; it’s life, it’s society, it’s culture.
8. i’m pretty sure he’s just upset about the audiocafe.com bust during the dot-com days
   • i was going to go for a long winded explanation of just how poorly this worked out for ol’ Andy, but as i was searching for a reference i found a site that had already done this much better than i was going to.

There is one point where i agree with Andy. We need real, qualified journalists to resurface and provide the world with facts. We need writers to expose government actions, provide us with insight on world news, keep us abreast on civil change, commerce, finance and technology.

   
   
Good thing there are bloggers out there.

Kings of SEM or Happy Birthday MrRex

Posted on: August 20, 2007 by Syzlak Comments

The other day i was linked to by MrRex Sez.  Pretty good blog, pretty good story, pretty good info – so i sphunn it.  Today, i’d like to wish my buddy happy birthday on this, our mutual birthday (August 20).

i’ll post this afternoon, the boss is out ill and i’m studying for my Google Professionals exam (AGAIN! – if you have your certification, please please please make sure to have proof on hand when you switch jobs…)

Extending Your Reach – 3rd Tier Search

Posted on: August 16, 2007 by Syzlak Comments

Since i’m too busy to post new content, here’s a throwback from the blogger days…

Understanding Search Engines
Many people will tell you that a 2nd or 3rd tier SE is just as good as a 1st tier engine, except it’s missing the “big name advertisers,” has cheaper traffic, fewer visits, etc. In reality, the idea behind the tiers is more directly related to the distribution networks and partners, than it is their revenue, advertisers or efficiency. To some degree, many people will tell you that MSN & ASK are in reality 2nd tier engines, due to their limited distribution networks (ASK only delivers results to Lycos, HotBot and iwon Search, whereas MSN delivers to HotBot only). Google delivers search results and paid results to 6 major 2nd tier engines, including ASK.com. Yahoo delivers to 2 major 2nd tier engines (alltheweb and AltaVista).

Common Concerns
So why does this matter? Well, after all these well known SEs we have the 3rd tier. Here lies everyone else, from LookSmart to Miva, Enhance to ABCSearch. These SEs are the ones that make audacious claims such as:

>Our search engine will increase your traffic by 200%
>Our conversion rate is 20% higher than Google Adwords
>Our cost-per-click across the board is 25% lower than Adwords

While, some of these engines do offer a cheaper source of traffic than Google or Yahoo, often times the traffic is not as relevant as the 1st tier engines. This concept is what makes these engines truly 3rd tier – they don’t have the same network as Google or Yahoo. As Google and Yahoo (even MSN) have taken the main distribution sites away from other SEs, 3rd tier engines are left with affiliate sites, poorly organized local search and an odd collection of SEs that don’t even qualify for 3rd tier. Those who have been maintaining high traffic quality are definitely not providing high traffic volume and great reach in search network distribution.

The final issue of concern that I’d like to bring into the conversation is that of click fraud (or if we’d like a happier term click abundance). Many times these 3rd tier engines do offer a cheaper CPC, do increase traffic by 200% and do provide results right away. The problem is, that sometimes all 3 of these things happen in a short amount of time, as a SEW member found out when attempting to run ads on Kanoodle.

Recently, 3rd tier engines have been trying desparately to clean up possible click fraud. For example, Enhance recently beefed up their ability to protect the advertiser from false clicks. Hopefully, we’ll see more engines expanding their technology to achieve similar goals.

Personal Experience
From my own experiences, I have a rather mixed perception on 3rd tier engine effectiveness. I have had campaigns nearly destroyed by unqualified (spam) traffic that was directly traced back to 3rd tier engines (the most frequent offenders were LookSmart and Mamma). However, I’ve also had some limited low-impact success from up and coming SEs, Miva and Enhance.

Recommendation
When kept at a low volume, 3rd tier engines offer a great source for supplemental traffic, if one is trying to grow a campaign or brand. However, if a campaign is focused on specific metrics, 3rd tier engines carry the adept ability to disrupt progress for a campaign. In light of all of these concerns, I don’t think one should avoid 3rd tier engines, but remain skeptical.

More References:
http://www.webmasterworld.com/forum85/537.htm

Eric Schmidt Defines the World

Posted on: August 10, 2007 by Syzlak Comments

So a head Googler just defined web 3.0 at a conference in Seoul, Korea.  Honestly, he did a pretty good job, although i personally disagree with his stance that mashups are the future. Seems to me that all he did was define 2.5 – mashups? They’re here now.

Frankly, i’m pretty sure he got 2.0 wrong too. He stats that AJAX is 2.0, i’ve always been taught that 2.0 is bigger than just the new capabilities available to programmers. That, in reality, social websites, user-generated content and the integration of users into websites with new angles.

…that, or the jackassess who claim the first comment on a post with the ever creative “FIRST!!!” post

I feel that the leap to 3.0 will be more grand and have a much larger reach. It will permeate our daily lives in a much deeper fashion than blogs, social networks and apps have currently done.