Native advertising is the new buzz expression. If you embed your content on someone else’s Website in such a way that it looks like their own content, their visitors may be more likely to click on the links or buy the products being advertised. To a marketer this may seem like a slam dunk play. But to the consumer it could just be creepy and deceptive. The sense of betrayal one feels when discovering that content on a trusted Website was placed there by someone else for pay breaks the rapport Click to continue […]
Author: Michael Martinez
Digital Audience Relations – What Internet Marketing Should Be
I had a conversation last week with a friend and business acquaintance in which we discussed the directions the online digital marketing industry is moving through. “Online Digital Marketing” has a nice ring to it but it’s an expression I grabbed at random. One could just as easily say “Social Media Marketing”, “Search Engine Marketing”, “Online Public Relations”, and any of a dozen other terms and you’re still talking about a conglomerate of agencies, consultants, freelancers, and permanent full/part-time Click to continue […]
Useful Metrics for Reflective Marketing
As I mentioned in “Does Reflective Marketing Include Blog Commenting?” the goal of Reflective Marketing is to build audience. While it’s true that this should be the goal of all marketing a typical link acquisition campaign is not tied to audience metrics. Reflective Marketing strategies look like link acquisition strategies but Reflective Marketing really needs to focus on creating reasons for people to visit your Website. This may be done with or without links. Remember: Reflective Marketing is Click to continue […]
Does Reflective Marketing Include Blog Commenting?
What an interesting question. This brings up the ethical side of the Refletcive Marketing discussion. Are you really engaged in Refletcive Marketing if you’re leaving comments on blogs? And, are there better practices and worse practices? Blog Comment Marketing — if there is such a thing — has earned such a poor reputation because people have abused it, either by naively running around to various blogs and leaving unuseful comments or simply by spamming the blogs with fake comments for the Click to continue […]
How You Should Backup Your WordPress Site
Backing up WordPress should be a simple process but unfortunately it is not. You need to create several backup files because none of them will capture everything you need. For example, if you have set up special server directives to support your WordPress installation you should copy those files. This could include .ini, .conf, and other operating system files (as well as your .htaccess). You also want to backup your installation directory, which consists of all the .PHP files that WordPress Click to continue […]
Facebook and Reflective Marketing: Failures and Futilities
Danny Sullivan wrote a nice case study about a movie Website that is hard to find. He wraps up his article by stipulating that “Facebook Is Not Your Website”. This cautionary tale is nothing new in Web marketing. Last year Warren Colbert wrote “Facebook is not your website (no matter how much you wish it was)”. In fact, there are a LOT of “Facebook is not your Website” articles out there. With so many people advising the general business community NOT to make Facebook their Websites, why is Click to continue […]
Is Link Building Really Dead and Gone?
You can see them fleeing, scurrying out of the dark corners of “Internet marketing” like rats jumping from a sinking, burning ship: all the great “link builders” are now become “content marketers, publicists, and specialists”. The transition from “link building” to “promoting content” is a mix of change in philosophy and change in description. But are these guys really giving up on links? Of course not. They’re just repackaging their services in new language to avoid the stigma Click to continue […]
Leveraging Your Bully Marketing Pulpit for Clients
In case you have been dazzled by recent star gazing opportunities, there is a new client servicing strategy in town for search engine optimization and Web marketing experts. Over at SEO Theory I have published “A Multivariate Experiment with OfficeZilla”. There’s a lot to take in from that post, not the least of which is that I have leveraged my business Website to announce a joint blogging initiative with a client. When OfficeZilla invited me to write some guest articles for their blog Click to continue […]
Is Article Marketing a Good Reflective Strategy?
Article marketing takes it on the chin quite often among Internet marketing pundits. I have had a few things to say about article marketing through the years myself. But you have to ask if article marketing in all its forms (both good and bad) is not reflective marketing. The answer should be yes, but it’s not always so. Let’s take a closer look at what is going on. Classic Article Marketing: Stylized Copy for Targeted Markets An honest article marketer combines the skills of the freelance writer Click to continue […]
Post-election Web Detritus Cleanup
After every major election hundreds if not thousands of political Websites fall silent or quietly fade away. The political machines begin unwinding and simply walk away from all those sites they attracted thousands or millions of links to. In the aftermath of an election even a defeated candidate should be able to leverage a once-popular Website to continue the cause. If nothing else, the Websites can be left in place or transferred to political parties for “maintenance”. These sites, Click to continue […]
Catch Up With Old Friends and Acquaintances
One of the most under-utilized resources available to Web marketers is a lifetime supply of relationships that have, for whatever reason, become less active. Maybe you or the other person moved away from each other. Maybe old co-workers have taken new jobs. Today it is very common for job hunters to reach out to old friends and co-workers and ask them for help in finding jobs. But you could just as easily contact people you once knew well and worked closely with and rebuild those bonds with a Click to continue […]
Reserve Space for Secondary Websites in Main Promotional Campaigns
If you have a promotional budget for your “big” Website (or business) but no budget for your secondary site/business, you may be able to occasionally drop references to your secondary interest in promotional materials. Think of a well-written press release that intrigues the reader and brings them to your site. You may have space enough in the last paragraph to mention that you are also involved in another business or avocation. It’s important to distinguish between schmuck paragraphs Click to continue […]