I know, I know, you’re all like, “Rebecca you noob, it’s the Internet. Everything’s fake. Sincerely, Dude who Pretends to Be a Hot Chick Online for the Lulz.” Still, I always hold out some hope that a crazy, interesting, creative, too-good-to-be-true story or picture or viral marketing effort is the real deal. It makes me respect the company behind it that much more, because it’s something that was successful and legit. It’s easy to make up shit — the challenge I find rewarding is to come up with something that is honest yet still creative and exciting.

Not only did The Chive make up the assistant quitting story, they ripped the concept off from this guy who executes it much better, more amusingly, and, best of all, honestly (although since he’s not an attractive actress, I guess you could argue that The Chive’s stunt was more memorable). I’m thinking their brainstorming session went something like this:

1. Steal Camera Guy’s idea
2. Add a hot chick
3. ???
4. Profit! (or page views, anyway)

Every once in a while you’ll come across a crazy story that pops up on Digg, reddit, and various news outlets, only to find out later that the whole thing was a hoax concocted by the company or by some marketing agency on behalf of their client (the XBox hooker kid story comes to mind). They always leave a bad taste in my mouth for a few reasons:

1. They can give legit marketers and people who work in creative a bad name. The Asylum article talking about the XBox hooker kid refers to the agency behind the stunt as “black hat SEO,” which strengthens the negative reputation of the SEO and online marketing industry.  I know lots of legit SEO companies and social media marketers (I know a lot of shady assholes, too, but hey, we can’t all be winners), and their job becomes so much harder when the general public gets jaded from some knobjob who makes up dumb shit to shortcut some page views.
2. They feel cheap and hacky. I consider myself a fairly creative person, and back when I worked with clients, I busted my ass to come up with great ideas that were genuine and fit well within the company’s comfort zone. It’s a bit of an insult to see something you worked hard on (tee hee, hard on) go unnoticed while people go apeshit over some hot girl who fake quits. Think along the lines of Arrested Development getting canceled after three seasons while According to Jim ran on for EIGHT.
3. They make people doubt the legitimacy of actual, honest campaigns. It’s the Boy Who Cried Wolf Syndrome — fool me once, shame on you. Photoshop a dick over the microphone that Sarah Palin’s holding twice, and suddenly you’re questioning how legit everything is on the web (I think that’s how the saying goes…).

Maybe it just hits me harder because a big part of my career has involved brainstorming great ideas for clients and for my employers, and coming up with good stuff that has widespread appeal isn’t easy. Taking away the honesty barrier can make the job a bit easier, but honestly, the challenge of coming up with something that’s legit and honest and interesting is more rewarding and fulfilling. Tons of companies have stellar examples of launching successful campaigns that didn’t cut “truthiness” corners (Blendtec’s “Will It Blend” series, Burger King’s subservient chicken, blah bloo blah you know ‘em all).

That’s not to say that I’m lumping the Old Spice Guy and other silly marketing examples into the “fake” category — the audience is pretty aware of the fact that you can’t actually turn tickets to that thing you like into diamonds (at least I hope they do). There’s a suspension of disbelief that works with those types of campaigns — it’s the “seemingly mundane story with a twist” (girl quits her job, kid acts out and rebels) stuff that is annoying to find out is hoaxariffic.

Then again, maybe I’m just being all Statler and Waldorfy and am the only person on this planet who has a problem with this. Oh well, it still bugs me. Get off my lawn!

As you’d expect, the post’s author has had to struggle with this negative search result for the past five years and as a result has lost clients and business. Unsurprisingly, Rip Off Report doesn’t give a shit because they get the traffic and pages indexed regardless of whether or not the claim is true, and if you contest the claims they still won’t take the content down but will instead just post some wimpy update. They’re also hard to sue, as my old coworker Sarah has carefully outlined. So what’s a guy to do, especially a small business owner who can’t afford to hire a legit marketer (not that he’d easily trust another Internet marketer, seeing as how he’s in this mess in the first place because of a shitty one) to help him out?

Reddit suggested a couple of options (change his name, get a lawyer, etc) that weren’t viable before offering to help by both linking to and creating more appropriate content that has his name in it (Carl Herold). Soon people began tweeting links to Carl Herold free programming lessons and resources, as well as linking to his pages from their sites and forums. Consequently, Google’s search results quickly began to shift and search volume for Carl Herold began to rise dramatically:

Screenshots via this reddit submission

Carl also received free SEO advice from various reddit users on which tweaks to make to his website in order for it to hopefully move from #2 to #1 in a search for his name. Others chimed in and suggested he buy CarlHerold.com, .org, .net, etc, as well as set up social networking accounts under his name to try and get all of these different sites/pages ranking. The thread itself has grown to over 500 comments left by people who are trying to help him out by dispensing advice and linking to existing webpages.

This AskReddit thread has brought two things to light:

1. The shittiness of Rip Off Report
2. The power of a strong community

Most search engine optimizers and Internet marketers, especially those who do consulting or client work, are no stranger to Rip Off Report’s sleazy, blackmail/extortion-esque tactics. The strength of the reddit community, however, as well as their interest in the story and their willingness to take care of “one of their own” (so long as the person they’re helping out isn’t a huge douche licker) has given this man hope.

We’ll see if reddit’s and Carl’s efforts will help push down the negative search result. In the meantime, I highly recommend checking out the AskReddit thread, as it has a lot of solid online reputation management tips and some good advice on how to combat a negative search result.

As just about everyone knows, if you buy (or sell) links, you are not playing by Google’s rules. While that might be fine for many people (myself included), there are other people who like to stick to the rules, and here’s how you can do that.

First, you have to know the different types of links. For me, there are only a few different types of links. I classify links into the following categories:

1. Wiki Links – These are links from wiki sites that allow anyone to edit them. This includes Wikipedia and about 10 good open source wiki scripts.
2. Blog Posts – Relevant or not, paid or free. However, if the blog is full of junk automated blog posts, that would go into category ’5′ below.
3. Authority Profile – These are generally forum profiles, but can be a profile at any site that has a user account and allows outgoing links from the user page.
4. Social Bookmarking Links – This includes everything from Delicious (and other actual bookmarking sites) to Digg (and all Pligg sites that are supposed to be “users” voting).
5. Junk Links – These are anything that I believe Google heavily devalues. Article directories, web directories (except the few good web directories like DMOZ, Yahoo Web Directory, Ezilon, and Best of the Web), blog comments, etc.

Wiki links and blog posts are without a doubt the best in my mind since they are “human edited” and “reviewed.” We all know that isn’t really the case, but that’s how it’s supposed to be so Google has a hard time detecting what’s real, and what’s fake.

Now that you know the different types of links, you need to go out and start building those links.

• Wiki links can be created by just creating an account (some sites don’t even require accounts!) and modifying a high PR page.
• Blog posts can easily be given to blog owners as a guest post, or you can create your own blogs and post your links there.
• Authority profiles can be created on just about every forum (vBulletin is great), but because of the heavy amount of content created, you’ll need to do some link building to your profile so it gets indexed.
• Social bookmark links can be done manually but it takes forever, not to mention some of the sites require some votes before they turn from nofollow to dofollow links.
• Junk links are junk. Don’t waste your time spamming 5,000 comments or hiring someone to submit your site to 20,000 directories for $20 — you won’t see any results. Take time to submit to the top few directories posted above and leave it at that.

So where do you start? First, you have to realize that if you’re competing in a niche with someone like me, I have a staff of link builders working full time just building links. Since link building is still a game of numbers, you’ll really need to start working and work at least 8 hours a day building links. However, if your niche is pretty small, you might be able to do it alone.

Brandon Hopkins is a high performance link builder who focuses on results. If you want to rank well, contact him today at brandonchopkins@gmail.com (chat or email).

First, an update on what the hell I’ve been up to. In case you need a refresher, last year I left SEOmoz and joined 10e20, a social media marketing firm. I worked there for several months as the Director of Social Media Marketing (and for the umpteenth time, no, I did not relocate to New York; I worked out of my house in Seattle). During my brief stint there, I fell in love with the team and was blown away by their professionalism and support for one another. I worked on some really interesting client campaigns and projects and learned even more about social media marketing than I had when I started.

However, the longer I spent doing client work, the more I realized that it wasn’t what I wanted to do long-term as a career. I wanted to focus more on Internet projects that could make me money. After struggling with what to do for a while, I decided to leave 10e20 and joined a startup Internet media company called So Much Smoke. I guess you could call me an in-house SEO, but my official title is Director of Marketing and Community Relations, and I don’t really think of myself as an SEO any more; rather, I incorporate the skills I learned from my SEO position at SEOmoz and my social media marketing stint at 10e20 towards building and marketing websites. I fancy myself simply a “marketer” now, with no modifier inserted before it.

So Much Smoke is a tiny team (we currently have four people, including myself) based near Denver, Colorado. I still work remotely out of Seattle but fly back and forth once a month or so. It’s really exciting to be back in the startup environment — the feeling of wearing multiple hats and working hard to get a project off the ground is something I’ve missed, and I’m happy and fortunate to get to experience it again. It was a bit of a risk for me to move into this position, but at this stage in my career I was willing to give up some things in exchange for more creative freedom, responsibility, and the potential to earn a lot of money if our projects succeed (and I’m counting on them doing exactly that!).

Speaking of projects, our first endeavor is a comparison website called This or That, which we launched about a month or so ago. Check it out — it’s still a wee bit rough around the edges and we have a few bugs to fix and features to implement, but overall I’m very excited about what we have in store for the site. We’re going to roll out some great content in the coming weeks, so keep your eye out for that.

As for my former employers, they both appear to be doing very well despite having a huge, gaping, Becca-shaped void in their company. SEOmoz has a butt-ton of new employees and a lot of the old ones have left so I barely know anyone there anymore, but they’ve recently moved offices and have fancy new digs downtown, and from what I hear, they’re going to roll out some new PRO stuff soon. 10e20 made a monster announcement this week — they’ve joined forces with Brent Csutoras, Inc. and Search and Social to create a full-service agency called BlueGlass. They’re also putting on their first conference next month. I’m so thrilled for Chris, Danielle, and the rest of the 10e20 team, as well as Brent and the guys at Search and Social. They’ve created a formidable team of extremely talented, hard-working people, and I know they’ll be immensely successful.

As for my personal life, I’m training for my first full Ironman race, Ironman Canada, which will take place at the end of August. Nowadays my days consist of exercising and working, although I try to squeeze in some lazy videogame time and some movie watching. I still chronicle my training efforts over at Mediocre Athlete, so check it out if you’re interested in reading about the latest blisters and chafe marks.

So to summarize, TL;DR I worked at SEOmoz, then at 10e20, now I work for an Internet media company, created This or That, and am training for an Ironman. Tune in for the next blog post (I promise there will be at least one more before the end of the year!) and prepare for the biggest comeback since Mickey Rourke…only in blog form.

This was the only relevant pic I could find, but you get the idea

I don’t think of myself as disloyal, but at the same time I can’t bring myself to agree with someone 100% of the time if every so often he or she says something that’s against my beliefs or that I take issue with. My stubbornness has gotten me in trouble on more than one occasion, and I do have a problem with being blunt and unfiltered with my opinion, but if someone saves me from a burning wreckage that doesn’t mean I high five him when he talks about how “them colored folk are ruining America” (okay, extreme example but you get the idea).

Most successful people have some tenacity and aren’t too afraid to speak out and voice their opinion, even if it’s in opposition of an industry leader or a bigwig. They didn’t get where they are today by being blindly loyal to whoever has a bigger office than them. Yeah, I’m sure they did their fair share of ass kissing and strategic sucking up when appropriate, but if all you do is flop over and lamely nod your head and agree with your idol, you’re reduced to little more than a lap dog and won’t get taken seriously. Why would anyone bother to respect you and your opinions if you keep parroting the same person’s perspective, regardless of how sound the argument is?

Your opinion is what makes you you. We don’t need two Danny Sullivans because we already have one, so you don’t have to fawn all over him and chirp “I agree!” every time he says something. We don’t need Cuttlets following Matt Cutts around convention centers with little hearts for eyes, taking every single thing he says as the gospel truth. Don’t be afraid to question authority and disagree with your mentors — if he’s actually a good mentor/role model, he’ll applaud his young grasshopper for challenging his authority and thinking critically.

If you want to be a Yes Man, go ahead and be one, but don’t expect much success in your career unless you’re willing to be a backstabber and completely flip flop from kissing ass one day and turning a blind eye the next in order to advance up the corporate ladder. If, however, you want your voice heard, don’t be afraid to open your mouth and stick up for your viewpoints. You may owe someone a certain debt of gratitude and thanks for helping you out at some point in your career, but that doesn’t mean you’re forever that person’s bitch. Respect your colleagues and your mentors, but respect yourself more.

Then yesterday I saw an article on MediaPost about Rupert “So What If I’m Old I Got More Money Than Your Poor Ass Will Ever See” Murdoch that more or less said he’s tired of us getting to read Fox News for free so it’s time to open up our wallets.  Never mind that a lot of the stories they have can be found elsewhere, though it might be worth a nickel or so to read about “murder bombers” and “freedom fries” or whatever contrarian phrases they decide to use to show they’re not a part of the liberal press machine.

I think both of these guys, one a reporter on electronic media and the other the owner of such media, are missing the boat.  First, I think in Lyons’ article he has some good ideas on how Facebook and Twitter could generate a little revenue, but their broad appeal is based on the fact they are gratis.  Who the hell is going to pay to read about the minutia of a jerk’s life?  Do you really want to pay to know I’m watching the neighbor’s dog take a dump or that I think my toenail is infected?  Even if you were my friend?  Is there really a segment of society with enough disposable income that they want to be “friends” with someone they sat next to in friggin’ Health class who puked all over their shoes when discussing the female reproductive system?  But if they’re free, oh hell yeah, sign me up and I’ll even pretend to remember so-and-so or share my own inane thoughts.

The reason these sites are popular and we know the name of them is because they are FREE.  And we use them because they are FREE.  Sure, if they decided to move to some sort pay-to-play model, there would be people who’d be willing to pay their fee and keep using them.  But I imagine even more people would not, and Twitter, Facebook and these other sites would lose the name recognition, relevance, importance, and, perhaps more importantly, users.

I think Rupert Murdoch’s standpoint is worse.  At least Lyons doesn’t own those properties and has ideas to keep people using them while profiting off others who do get a monetary benefit from them.  Murdoch, I think, is crazy to think that the content his online outlets provide is so important that people would pay to read or view it.  Imagine if in the early days of radio or television, they could have come up with a way to get people to pay a premium for that content.  Those media would have died, just as Fox News’ website will likely do.  All Murdoch is doing is opening it up for CNN, MSNBC and other online news sources to eat his pie.

If he’s pissed about not making enough money off of his sites, perhaps Fox ought to develop an online marketing strategy that allows them to dominate the SERPs as well as paid listings.  By increasing the number of opportunities and times (or reach and frequency) humans can view this content, News Corp. can charge a higher premium for advertising on those properties.  With more people viewing the content, Murdoch’s advertisers will get a better return on their ad dollars since, with Fox’s new online strategy, their sites are everywhere and now relevant and important.

The thing I don’t think either of these guys are getting is the internet will largely remain a source of free information, entertainment and god-knows-what-else.  Like the radios and televisions or yore, having something to receive the signal, or 1′s and 0′s, is the entry fee.  Well, in the case of the web, internet access is the other crucial important element.  I just doubt that after people by their “receiver” and pay for their “antenna,” they’re going to pay for these services while there will still be so many other free alternatives.

What's the story?

Admittedly, the ad isn’t great. It’s busy, small, and looks slightly cheap. I understand it’s for either a scanner or a shredder at first glance, but that’s about all I can decipher. Here’s how I responded:

The message here is simple.

Basically, the couple can enjoy a night out because their storage room has been transferred to digital images and stored on an electronic device. Frankly, that’s why I haven’t been out of the house in nigh on to 8 years. Have you seen my storage room? It’s disgusting, files everywhere. Just once I’d like to head out for a night on the town, but every time I’m paralyzed with fear over what’s going on in my storage room. Didn’t know single guys with townhouses even had storage rooms? You bet your ass we do, and mine is ruining my life.

However, that’s not all this ad is saying. The subtext of this ad says something new in Obamerica. It says something about where we’ve come as a nation, as a society that not long ago had segregated drinking fountains, bathrooms, etc. due to something as trivial as race. It says that in today’s society a small device made in Japan (our enemies in WW2) can make life that much more simple for the now readily accepted successful black family from Chicago.

However, I’m sure everyone got that. The thing that is clearly troubling you is the fact that there’s apparently a 5 star restaurant in the middle of Lake Michigan. I don’t know how the hell that’s possible.

The ad became a great example of what not to do. There’s too much text in too many places, 2 starkly different images, and no call to action within the ad itself. Not to mention, the fact that it makes little to no sense without a lengthy back-story. In the end, a poorly designed ad, that suffered from poor execution.

It did make for a fun office joke though ;)

Have a great weekend everyone!

How often do you review your work? How thorough of a review process do you do? What do you do for usability testing? How do you find bugs? How many different browsers, comps, systems, monitors, etc. do you use? Do you re-read your copy aloud, do you pass it off to someone else?

Nature Valley didn’t, and now they’re stuck with this:

On Mountain???

Not THE mountain, but on mountain.

When the woman in front of me at the grocery store spotted this on my box of granola bars, I fully gave them the benefit of the doubt.

“On mountain…is that what the kids say? That’s probably slang,” I suggested.

“There’s no way that’s slang. Who’s their copywriter?! This is atrocious,” she retorted.

She was right.

Read that sentence a few times, say it out loud – it’s absolutely stupid. It sounds like something an unfrozen caveman might say. The concern I have is that this General Mills company either couldn’t afford an English major (a sucker is born every minute) or staff an adequate marketing department. In reality, one half-wit employee (perhaps, say, yours truly) could see that this was wrong at first glance. It would have taken a manner of minutes to have fixed this before the boxes were printed up, and the company wouldn’t have looked like imbeciles.

What does this mean for you?

It’s not hard to get lost in a project, and when you’re on an even smaller team than General Mills, it’s very easy to cut corners. Unfortunately, often times this comes down to skipping quality control (QC, QA, drafts, what have you), not hiring a competent copywriter, or skipping the user experience during design (talking mainly about website design, but this is applicable to tangible products too). While it’s easy for us to believe that we can get by on a smaller team of highly motivated and extremely talented individuals, there’s no reason to cut this many corners.

Grab your neighbor, your mom, have the shop take shifts going through the project. Ask if it makes sense, listen to them ask questions – why are they asking questions, is something too confusing?

Even if your shop is small, or if you’re just one person, it’d be better to miss a deadline than to send something out “on mountain.”

• Does Social Media Need “Directing”? — here’s where I pull a ballsy move and ponder whether 10e20 even needed to hire me in the first place (spoiler alert: they did, and I’m glad)
• Donation Fail: How Los Angeles Screwed Itself with Michael Jackson’s Donation Website (catchy title, I know) — I talk about how the city of Los Angeles tried to pay for Michael Jackson’s lavish memorial by (sort of) setting up a donation website and massively failing because of continuous down time
• My New Assistant Isn’t Pulling His Weight — it’s the requisite “look how awesome my boss’s dog is” post
• Twitter for Businesses: Is There Really a “Right” Strategy? — I analyze a few different types of business profiles on Twitter and unveil 10e20′s new Twitter profile (follow them!)

Okay, I’m done shamelessly pimping my posts. I’ll still post here a few times a week and have a couple to publish in the next couple days. Until then, I’ve decided to celebrate my new job by sporting the “Chris Winfield begin_of_the_skype_highlighting     end_of_the_skype_highlighting coif” all this week. Enjoy!

Visual nightmare courtesy of Darren Slatten (who else?)

UPDATE:  Here’s another advertising FAIL. I’ve only seen screen captures of this one, so I don’t know if it’s a real ad.