Charles Sipe – SEO Specialist – SEO Analyst

by Charles Sipe on July 14, 2010

Charles Sipe is aprofilen SEO Specialist/SEO Analyst based in Seattle Washington. I am co-founder of Sparkplug Digital, a Seattle online marketing agency. We help clients primarily with optimizing their sites to attract more qualified visitors and utilizing social media to build lasting relationships with customers.

If you would like to meet for coffee or have questions about anything I can be reached at csipe84(at)gmail.com. Follow me on Twitter at @charlessipe [Learn More About Me]

Recent Articles I’ve Written:
5 Ways To Waste Your Time on SEO Small Biz Bee
5 Reasons to Invest in SEO Sparkplug Digital
Marketing Takeaways from The 24-Hour Customer Cool Marketing Stuff

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What Can Cause Your Search Rankings To Drop?

by Charles Sipe on August 30, 2010

While there are many reasons that your search rankings can fall, some common reasons are that the website has not been updated recently, there are few links to the page, or the page has been penalized for manipulative tactics.

Part of Google’s algorithm is QDF or query deserves freshness. Sometimes a newly published article will get a boost because it is very timely. News is one example of this. However news from a year ago often becomes less useful and relevant for users so they can fall in the rankings. Additionally, if there are long time gaps between additions of content to your site, Google will not send their bots to crawl your site as often, which often results in fewer of your pages showing up in the Google index or a decline in the rankings of individual pages.

Another major reason is that the page lacks links. Having a strong domain can help boost individual pages of your site, but if an individual page has no links, it will probably rank lower than a competing page that has a couple more links (all other things being equal). Additionally if another page has higher quality links they can outrank you as well.

Thirdly your site or page may have received a penalty for manipulative tactics that are against Google’s terms of service. Using “black hat tactics” such as link buying can have this effect and it can be a lengthy and difficult process to have the penalty removed.

Send your SEO questions to csipe84(at)gmail.com

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Is Home Ownership A Bad Investment?

by Charles Sipe on August 24, 2010

Here is an interesting take on whether your home is still a good investment from Gary Shilling.

-Housing has never been a good investment
-A home is a place to live not an investment
-Housing has gone nowhere for a century based on inflation and home size
-It has always been cheaper to rent than to buy unless you expect huge appreciation
-Younger people are waiting until they really need a bigger house, retirees don’t want to mow the lawn
-People aren’t forming families until they decide to move into a house


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Charles Sipe’s July 2010 Tweets

by Charles Sipe on August 19, 2010

  1. iphone4Finally figured out how to use an FTP client to upload files to a hosted server. Good to know. Sat Jul 31 01:28:52 2010 via txt
  2. In a world of over abundant content creation, value will flow to the curator. -Jeff Jarvis on Peter Day’s Business World Fri Jul 30 11:04:03 2010 via web
  3. Wikipedia calculated that just edits equal hundreds of millions dollars of value per year. -Jeff Jarvis on Peter Day’s Business World Fri Jul 30 11:01:12 2010 via web
  4. “Did you consider ROI before you decided to be courteous to customers?” -Ian Lurie in Age of Conversation 3 Thu Jul 29 16:37:21 2010 via web
  5. Begin (social media measurement) by defining the business outcome metric -sales, brand awareness, preference, etc. -AgeofConversation3 Thu Jul 29 15:09:06 2010 via web
  6. Almost 80% of location-based service users are male. Close to 70% of them are between the ages of 19 and 35. -http://bit.ly/cqSflM Wed Jul 28 15:26:50 2010 via web
  7. Study Says Most Marketers Should Forgo Foursquare -AdAge http://bit.ly/cqSflM Wed Jul 28 15:24:02 2010 via web
  8. Just ordered a copy of The Art of SEO from Amazon. I’ve heard it’s excellent. Wed Jul 28 15:01:31 2010 via txt
  9. Just started reading The 24 Hour Customer which argues that time is one of your company’s biggest competitors for customers. Wed Jul 28 12:40:54 2010 via txt
  10. Our job is not to sell, it’s to help people buy. -@Jasonfalls quoting Chris Hauer Tue Jul 27 20:16:02 2010 via txt
  11. Have measurable objectives in your social media plan – paraphrasing @Jasonfalls #Smcsea Tue Jul 27 20:03:18 2010 via txt
  12. Call to actions in social media work -paraphrasing @Jasonfalls Tue Jul 27 19:40:15 2010 via txt
  13. @Jasonfalls presentation live stream RT @kazab Please join us on the live stream – http://bit.ly/smcsealive #SMCSea Tue Jul 27 19:23:52 2010 via txt
  14. At SMCseattle with social media legend @Jasonfalls Tue Jul 27 19:19:11 2010 via txt
  15. Only 42 percent of Americans report that they enjoy buying goods and services -The 24 Hour Customer Tue Jul 27 15:18:37 2010 via txt
  16. Thanks @johnjwall for the free copy of Linchpin. It pays to listen to the Marketing Over Coffee podcast! Mon Jul 26 13:02:38 2010 via web
  17. Looking forward to the Mad Men season 4 premier tonight. Sun Jul 25 13:51:48 2010 via web
  18. Marketing Takeaways from Delivering Happiness -via Cool Marketing Stuff http://bit.ly/9YdMWF Sat Jul 24 13:40:38 2010 via web
  19. What is your goal in life? Why? -Delivering Happiness Fri Jul 23 12:28:22 2010 via txt
  20. The Old Spice guy was briefly on the Seahawks according to Wikipedia (I don’t think he made the final roster). Thu Jul 22 14:39:33 2010 via txt
  21. On to season 3 of Mad Men. Have to admit I’m addicted. Full seasons on sale on iTunes for $10. Tue Jul 20 16:37:35 2010 via txt
  22. Great interview with Dan Miller on finding work that you love. http://bit.ly/bwmuae Tue Jul 20 15:44:32 2010 via web
  23. RT @jasonmkey Seattle peeps, hurry up a grab your @SMCSeattle ticket now. Almost sold out http://bit.ly/VEZXc #smcsea Mon Jul 19 19:30:59 2010 via web
  24. 5 Useful Social Media Infographics -via Sparkplug Digital http://bit.ly/dvhfRf Mon Jul 19 13:01:47 2010 via web
  25. Some sales are bad for business -http://bit.ly/bpn7DR Sun Jul 18 16:44:29 2010 via web
  26. Marketing Lessons Continue To Flow From Apple -from Branding Strategy Insider http://bit.ly/bpn7DR Sun Jul 18 16:41:23 2010 via web
  27. RT @tomasacker: Value beyond the product http://bit.ly/b06e9L Sun Jul 18 16:32:22 2010 via txt
  28. Checking out Grasshopper which seems like an valiable phone service for entrepreneurs and small businesses. Sun Jul 18 13:19:18 2010 via txt
  29. If you’re paying for a web analytics tool, you’e probably flushing money down the toilet. -paraphrasing Avinash Kaushik Sat Jul 17 13:39:43 2010 via web
  30. My blog coolmarketingstuff.com still only gets 1% of its search traffic from Bing. Does anyone get more than 10%? Thu Jul 15 17:35:32 2010 via txt
  31. @redslice: I haven’t read it yet but you might be able to find a case study in the book Beating The Commodity Trap Wed Jul 14 14:56:03 2010 via txt
  32. RT @webtrafficroi How to Convince Your Boss To Let You Start a Company Blog http://bit.ly/bEOsTK Wed Jul 14 10:45:17 2010 via TweetMeme
  33. Lord_Voldemort7 As far as “cups” go #gobletoffire > #worldcup. The world cup isn’t even a cup. #Fail Sat Jul 10 14:30:59 2010 via web Retweeted by you and 100+ others
  34. Major flaw in iStock subscriptions. You get 10 daily credits but most good illustrations cost 14 credits. Why? #fail Tue Jul 13 15:22:17 2010 via web
  35. @JasonmKey I think Mad Men is a good but not great show, but it gets added points for being about advertising. Tue Jul 13 14:45:51 2010 via web in reply to JasonmKey
  36. Sonics fans win class action lawsuit against Clay Bennett and friends http://bit.ly/90bm2A Tue Jul 13 14:10:37 2010 via web
  37. Constantly question your goals and life purpose. -Zen Habits Tue Jul 13 01:07:23 2010 via web
  38. RT @GuyKawasaki: 97 out of 100 scientists believe in climate change http://u.nu/4g23d Mon Jul 12 22:15:20 2010 via txt
  39. Just finished the 1st season of Mad Men. Some good marketing lessons sprinkled in. Mon Jul 12 17:24:01 2010 via web
  40. Only about 1 in 10 people can fake a Duchenne smile (a real smile) – Paul Bloom http://bit.ly/9Yx8QM Mon Jul 12 14:17:38 2010 via web
  41. My review of Open Leadership by @CharleneLi. http://bit.ly/aD5z2H A lot of good ideas and action plans. Sun Jul 11 23:20:23 2010 via web
  42. Yea! Just finished Open Leadership, a good book about making companies more open and collaborative with social media. Sat Jul 10 23:51:44 2010 via web
  43. RT @Zappos Great opportunities lie in doing the opposite of what everyone else is doing. Sat Jul 10 23:43:02 2010 via web
  44. Timeless fundamentals of effective advertising-simple, emotional, consistent -@simonmainwaring Sat Jul 10 02:59:40 2010 via txt
  45. @JasonmKey Yes! Mixergy interview with Rand Fishkin was very inspiring Fri Jul 9 18:03:19 2010 via txt
  46. Starting Jul 12 you can register to attend Seahawks training camp! http://bit.ly/cjlFki #seahawks Fri Jul 9 10:40:33 2010 via web
  47. Reading Delivering Happiness. It’s biographical but still pretty interesting. Thu Jul 8 12:49:42 2010 via txt
  48. Great @randfish interview at Mixergy! Hurry, it will probably go behind pay wall soon. http://bit.ly/8YtKW0 Wed Jul 7 15:14:48 2010 via web
  49. Do you own your Tweets? You do if you copy them into blog posts! http://bit.ly/ctgfoM Wed Jul 7 02:15:14 2010 via web
  50. It boggles my mind that Marty McFly went to today’s date in the future – and there are no flying cars. Tue Jul 6 19:29:14 2010 via txt
  51. This is a great illustrated presentation – David Harvey Crisis of Capitalism- http://bit.ly/cbAmGC Tue Jul 6 17:07:34 2010 via web
  52. @portentint My suggestion is have a cool cover designed. You could post a design contest on 99designs. Also review copies for bloggers Tue Jul 6 16:21:32 2010 via web in reply to portentint
  53. Great Scott!! briancrouch: RT @girlandcoconut: Today’s the day Marty McFly arrives back to the future y’all. http://yfrog.com/j8idyp Tue Jul 6 14:27:14 2010 via txt
  54. My marketing agency helped on this iPad giveaway campaign – check it out! http://bit.ly/aYzVod Tue Jul 6 12:49:24 2010 via web
  55. Social media can strengthen relationships and this is valuable although it is hard to measure. -via Open Leadership Tue Jul 6 01:40:48 2010 via txt
  56. @JasonmKey: Thanks! I will try to share some more good SEO nuggets at www.sparkplugdigital.com/blog Sat Jul 3 20:38:14 2010 via txt
  57. @tonyadam: That would be an amazing team but Lebron, @DWADEOFFICIAL and @chrisbosh will be signing with the Seattle Sonics. Sat Jul 3 16:44:15 2010 via txt
  58. Single most profitable IT product in history: laser jet printer -SMB Austin 45min mark http://bit.ly/dogFMf Sat Jul 3 13:47:37 2010 via web
  59. Ha, ha, I meant to send that last tweet to a friend, but it also works for Twitter. Fri Jul 2 21:20:08 2010 via txt
  60. Are there any movies you prefer? Fri Jul 2 21:00:41 2010 via txt
  61. Is it Video Killed the Radio Star? @jshuey: What was the first video played on MTV? #trivia 5:52 AM Jul 2nd via txt
  62. It’s not information overload. It’s filter failure. -Clay Shirky 2:59 AM Jul 2nd via web
  63. RT @sparkplugonline Ask how you can leverage Twitter to do things you already have to do for your business – paraphrasing Laura 2:37 AM Jul 2nd via web
  64. Listen to first third of The Little Big Things by Tom Peters for Free! http://bit.ly/92LIKN 2:48 AM Jul 1st via web

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How Important Is Knowing Social Media ROI

by Charles Sipe on July 29, 2010

There is a battle brewing between the sociajasonfallsl media “purists” and the social media realists as to how important measurement of social media ROI is.

This was brought up at the recent Social Media Club Seattle event when social media legend Jason Falls took the stage to argue for social media pragmatism. He made a lot of good points like how at the end of the day business success depends on whether you sell more stuff (or services). He quoted an apartment building owner who says that if a social media tactic is not resulting in new customers then he stops doing it. Falls argues that there is nothing wrong with putting call to actions in your social media, like a big call to action banner on your blog that says “Now Accepting New Clients” or a Twitter link to your product page or landing page.

But is this short-sighted thinking when it comes to a marketing medium that revolves around relationships and being social?

On the other side of the fence are thought-leaders like David Meerman Scott who argues that no one ever asks what the ROI is of a front desk receptionist or the people who do lawn maintenance in front of your office.

Ian Lurie, from Seattle-based Portent Interactive writes the following in the book Age of Conversation 3: “Did you consider ROI before you decided to be courteous to customers?…Ponder the ROI of answering the phone?…You did it because you just knew it made sense.”

Albert Einstein makes a good point when he said “Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted.”

If Zappos based all decisions on ROI, they might not offer free return shipping, or surprise overnight shipping, or superior 24/7 customer service. These are all expensive activities that are extremely difficult to measure in their direct relationship to sales. However, Zappos has a long term approach and CEO Tony Hsieh knew that having the very best service and wowing your customers was a competitive advantage. An advantage that led to their company surpassing $1 billion in sales.

I think that it makes good sense that talking to your customers, listening to their feedback, and other benefits of social media will help your business in the long run. However, if you need to support your marketing activities with data, there are definitely ways to do this like measuring sales from a call to action like Jason Falls recommends.

Here is Jason Falls’ great presentation at SMC Seattle:



Photo credit: Paul Gillin

This post has been republished from Sparkplug Digital.

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Marketing Ideas from Delivering Happiness

by Charles Sipe on July 26, 2010

In Delivering Happiness, Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh describes his journey in building Link Exchange which sold for about $200 million and Zappos which was recently acquired by Amazon for about $1 billion. The book is written like an autobiography and is very honest and open. You learn some interesting things about him like how he quit his first job at Oracle basically because he was bored and walked away from 20% of his $40 million share of Link Exchange because he didn’t want to stay at the company for another year. He also shares the lessons he learned and insights into his successful approach. Here are some of the marketing lessons I took away from reading Delivering Happiness:

Focus on existing customers
Early in Zappos history, the company struggled to survive and did not have money for a marketing budget. So out of necessity they focused on existing customers. This strategy worked very well as the company grew to over a billion dollars on sales, mostly from repeat purchases. According to the book Flip the Funnel by Joseph Jaffe, 75% of Zappos’ sales comes from repeat customers.

Get PR by continuously wowing your customer

Zappos gets a tremendous amount of good PR, but Hsieh says that they did not actively try to push their messages into the news. Often someone would report on something that Zappos had been doing for years and it would spread like wildfire. By doing remarkable things for their customers, employees and even vendors they received a ton of attention, even though some members of board sometimes referred to Zappos’ unique approaches as “Tony’s social experiments”.

Surprise your customer by overdelivering

One way that Zappos provides exceptional service is by providing customers with surprise overnight shipping. Some customers’ orders are delivered to their doorstep the very next morning which provides a remarkable experience worth sharing.

Create a great customer experience
Early on, Zappos made most of its profits from drop shipping products to customers, however this could result is dissatisfaction if an item on the website was not available from the manufacturer at a given time. So Zappos made the decision to halt its profitable drop shipping segment and only sell items that are held in their warehouse.

Create a great culture

Working at a call center is not typically a glamorous job and as a result many companies have disengaged employees who are directly interacting with customers. Zappos created a great culture that focuses on the people of the company, which has helped create highly engaged customer service agents that provide superior service to customers. Employees are encouraged to take company sponsored courses so that they can grow and get promoted, and Zappos consistently demonstrates that they care about their employees by paying for a funeral reception or giving every employee a Kindle when they sold to Amazon.

Ultimately people want to be happy

Tony is interested in the science of happiness and integrates findings from the field of positive psychology into his business. By providing employees with a greater purpose and opportunities for growth rather than focus on monetary rewards, Zappos employees are highly motivated. He also understands that experiences contribute to happiness more than material possession, thus the focus on customer experience. Towards the end of the book he asks the simple but often overlooked question “what is your goal in life?”. If you follow up that question with a lot of “whys”, you will eventually get to the answer that is essentially “because I want to be happy”. This revelation has lead to the latest iteration of Zappos’ brand promise, “delivering happiness”.

This article has been republished from Cool Marketing Stuff.

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Fascinating Happiness Presentations

by Charles Sipe on July 12, 2010

I am currently reading Delivering Happiness which discusses how Tony Hsieh applied principles of happiness to build a billion dollar company, so I wanted to revisit some of the recent happiness research that is really fascinating.  Here are my favorite presentations on happiness research.

Watch it on Academic Earth

Lecture on Happiness by Dacher Keltner from Psychology 156 Fall 2008 at UC Berkeley: (Click on link for Lecture 30)

http://webcast.berkeley.edu/course_details_new.php?seriesid=2008-D-74501&semesterid=2008-D

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Charles Sipe’s June 2010 Tweets

by Charles Sipe on July 7, 2010

  1. Listen to first third of The Lirocksttle Big Things by Tom Peters for Free! http://bit.ly/92LIKN Wed Jun 30 15:18:08 2010 via web
  2. I just drank some phosphoric acid (Shasta soda). Tue Jun 29 17:33:59 2010 via web
  3. Price is a terrible way to compete. Someone is always willing to go out of business faster than you. -paraphrasing John Jantsch Mon Jun 28 15:18:40 2010 via txt
  4. How to set up a website in 6 easy steps http://bit.ly/b88YkZ via @sparkplugonline Mon Jun 28 12:40:59 2010 via web
  5. “The reality is, most of the world operates on non-monetary terms” -Chris Anderson http://bit.ly/b53AYx Mon Jun 28 00:10:30 2010 via web
  6. Saving is just consumerism needlessly postponed -Rory Sutherland TED video http://bit.ly/aRM0f0 Sun Jun 27 15:12:42 2010 via web
  7. Your mindset should be disapointment if one of your clients doesn’t refer you. via @ducttape interview Sun Jun 27 13:14:15 2010 via txt
  8. Facebook is successful partly because they are willing to push the envelope and take risks. -paraphrasing @Charleneli interview Sun Jun 27 13:07:53 2010 via txt
  9. Good advice @randfish: How to become a millionaire in 3 yrs – http://seomz.me/9Z5Icj – surprisingly practical, smart advice Fri Jun 25 10:54:18 2010 via txt
  10. ‘Keyword density is, without question, NOT a part of modern web search engine ranking algorithms’ -SEOMoz Beginners Guide to SEO Thu Jun 24 12:40:38 2010 via web
  11. 25% of searches on Google each month have never been searched for in the history of Google. -Udi Manber Tue Jun 22 13:28:42 2010 via web
  12. Add buttons for social networking sharing in your email campaigns to increase referrals and traffic. -Adam Ostrow in Mashable Tue Jun 22 12:45:48 2010 via txt
  13. Richard Edelman’s 12 principles for success http://bit.ly/92e7VA Mon Jun 21 14:58:55 2010 via web
  14. Google wonder wheel is a great way to find related search terms when researching keywords. Sun Jun 20 20:38:51 2010 via txt
  15. Gary Payton makes 5 word acceptance speech for Sonicsgate Webby award. http://bit.ly/aW8gln Sat Jun 19 12:37:17 2010 via web
  16. Interesting discussion by Mark Zuckerberg at the D8 conference http://bit.ly/d35vGs Thu Jun 17 14:04:56 2010 via web
  17. It is highly likely that Twitter data is feeding back into Google -@randfish Thu Jun 17 12:43:01 2010 via txt
  18. Nice parody of Dexter by @ambermac , author of Power Friending http://bit.ly/blSPCL Wed Jun 16 23:17:39 2010 via web
  19. Useful site: http://downforeveryoneorjustme.com Wed Jun 16 13:32:03 2010 via web
  20. Attended a talk by Rom Brafman who wrote a book on why some people click w/ others. One tip is to be more vulnerable. #smartbiz Tue Jun 15 15:46:46 2010 via web
  21. Cool, I have 11,111 messages in my email inbox! Tue Jun 15 11:28:43 2010 via web
  22. Dry Soda turned down distribution in Walmart because it didn’t align with the brand. -@redslice #smartbiz Tue Jun 15 11:23:38 2010 via web
  23. RT @tferriss: Using Nobel Prize-Winning Psychology to Perform Better: http://su.pr/1A60rX Mon Jun 14 20:20:06 2010 via txt
  24. Still time to sign up for the Simple and Smart conference in Seattle. 6/15 $25 http://bit.ly/apwHa5 Mon Jun 14 12:47:52 2010 via web
  25. RT @ChrisPirillo: Do you like delivering happiness in #Seattle? Here: http://www.meetup.com/Delivering-Happiness/8435/ Mon Jun 14 02:24:15 2010 via txt
  26. 4square on Time’s 50 worst inventions but Entrepreneur’s 100 most brilliant companies -This Week in Social Media Sun Jun 13 15:26:04 2010 via txt
  27. @mikewhitmore: I read that Daniel Radcliff earned $40 mill in 2009 from the films! Sun Jun 13 00:01:50 2010 via txt
  28. If you’re not doing something worthwhile, it’s hard to find worthwhile people. -Reality Check Sat Jun 12 12:22:20 2010 via txt
  29. I’m giving away a new copy of Charlene Li’s book Open Leadership to 1st to donate $20 to Seattle Children’s csipe84@gmail.com Fri Jun 11 17:53:38 2010 via txt
  30. Google removes feature for background image on Google homepage. Please stop trying to be like Bing! http://selnd.com/cKBouD Fri Jun 11 01:50:26 2010 via TweetMeme
  31. Police start ticketing cellphone drivers in Washington -now a primary offense http://bit.ly/d5WzWq Thu Jun 10 16:01:30 2010 via web
  32. Meg Whitman spent $71 million of her own money on governor’s race. -Techcrunch Thu Jun 10 01:36:30 2010 via txt
  33. RT @Kia_Motors A driver who accelerates gradually & drives smoothly could gain 20% in fuel economy vs aggressive driver Wed Jun 9 14:11:36 2010 via txt
  34. RT @Wexley: Wexley is hiring creatives! Looking for a smart, witty, passionate & ridiculously conceptual. . . http://bit.ly/ayrADD Wed Jun 9 14:01:01 2010 via txt
  35. RT @SportsGuy: Google doesn’t use bounce rate in the general ranking algo. (to the best of Matts knowledge) #smx Tue Jun 8 17:46:52 2010 via txt
  36. We’re going to look at video sitemaps more -@mattcutts #smx Tue Jun 8 17:21:44 2010 via txt
  37. Google doesn’t want to be the truth police. -@mattcutts #smx in response to content farms Tue Jun 8 17:19:32 2010 via txt
  38. Caffeine will allow Google to attach more metadata to pages -@mattcutts #smx Tue Jun 8 17:13:48 2010 via txt
  39. Caffeine moves indexing closer to real time. -@mattcutts #smx Tue Jun 8 17:08:52 2010 via txt
  40. RT@ billparkes 18 billion searches per month on twitter – more than yahoo! @dannysullivan #smx #1a2 Tue Jun 8 11:29:35 2010 via web
  41. The best motivation is inspiration or desperation. -The Creating Wealth show Sun Jun 6 19:57:51 2010 via txt
  42. RT @Jason_Pollock: BP is spending $50 MILLION on a new ad campaign. They should be spending that $ on cleaning up the ocean! Sun Jun 6 19:53:29 2010 via txt
  43. Yes, only one I know of. RT @zbussey: Am I the only person who’s never read a Harry Potter book or seen a movie? Sun Jun 6 19:50:46 2010 via txt
  44. RT @Isaiah_Thomas2:Ray Allen ain’t on the court right now that’s Jesus Shuttlesworth…. “Basketball is like poetry in motion” (Jesus Voice) Sun Jun 6 18:32:34 2010 via txt
  45. RT @DanSchawbel: REPORT: Unhappy people watch 20% more television than their happier counterparts http://dld.bz/ghEr Sun Jun 6 17:40:37 2010 via txt
  46. SEOMoz is having a party for SMX Seattle. There’s still time to register for The SMX free expo pass. Sun Jun 6 17:16:17 2010 via txt
  47. Google Easter Egg RT @tstocky Next time you search for “world cup” on Google, notice the bottom of the page goooooooooal! 4:09 PM Jun 6th via txt
  48. 40 Cool Wordpress Themes For Small Business Marketing http://bit.ly/9582mn 11:28 AM Jun 6th via web
  49. I hate when I’m tired all day except right when I’m trying to go to sleep. 4:13 AM Jun 5th via txt
  50. RT @Sparkplugonline Fewer than half of all US small businesses have websites or advertise on the Net -Nielsen Online http://bit.ly/cxJbKq 12:43 PM Jun 4th via web
  51. Any good book recommendations? Currently reading Daemon, Open Leadership, and Age of Conversation 3. 11:00 PM Jun 1st via web
  52. RT @Techvibes: 10 Best Places to Work In Seattle For IT Professionals http://su.pr/2vAfmA 2:00 AM Jun 1st via web

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Charles Sipe’s June 2010 Delicious Bookmarks

by Charles Sipe on July 1, 2010

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Tony Hseih Discusses Keys To Zappo’s Success

by Charles Sipe on July 1, 2010

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clickLast week, the Seattle Chamber held the Smart + Simple Strategies for Small Business conference which featured author and psychologist Rom Brafman. Brafman co-wrote the book Sway: The Irresistible Pull of Irrational Behavior and just released a new book, Click: The Magic of Instant Connections.

If you are a small business in Seattle, I highly recommend that you check out what the Seattle Chamber has to offer. They have a ton of great events where you can learn and meet fellow small business owners.

The presentation by Rom Brafman focused on his research on what factors contribute to people forming strong connections with people in the workplace. This is pretty interesting research because we know that individuals with good people skills often excel in the business world. What is not entirely clear is what makes someone a good people person.

High Self Monitors

According to Brafman’s research an important factor is what is known in academia as high self monitoring. High self monitors tend to adjust how they are based on their surroundings. They are almost like social chamelons, and one study found that when a high self monitor is in a room with an experimenter who is tapping their foot, the high self monitor will tend to also tap their foot. Research has also found that high-self monitors tend to get promoted far faster. According to a BusinessWeek article about the book it “took an average of just 18 months for high self-monitors to infiltrate the nucleus of their workplace network. For low self0minitors it took a staggering 13 years”.

Importance of Proximity for Connections

Brafman’s research found that location had a huge impact in how connections are formed. When your desk is located in the center of an office you more likely to form more connections with others than if you are isolated in a corner. This also has implications in the trend for remote work. Brafman explained in his talk that the most meaningful part of a meeting as it relates to relationship building is before the meeting starts. When you are having a teleconference or working from home you may not develop personal ties through small talk.

Vulnerability can Improve Connections

Another interesting finding is that when people are more open and vulnerable, this can help others more easily connect with an individual. For instance when someone asks you how you are doing and you open up, this can improve the likelihood of a stronger connection.

An interesting fact that Brafman closed with is that in 1986 when people were asked how many confidants they had that they felt they could open up to, the number was 3. The same survey was taken in 2004 and the number was zero (I think zero was the most common answer).

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2 Methods to Estimate ROI of SEO

by Charles Sipe on June 3, 2010

seo-roiOne of the key indicators that an SEO campaign is moving the needle for your business is the return on investment. According to Investopedia ROI is calculated by the formula:

(Gain from investment)-(Cost of investment)/(Cost of investment)

While it can be difficult to measure the exact amount of value that is generated from a specific SEO campaign, there are several ways to get an approximate measure of the value generated, which can help determine if an SEO campaign is worth the cost.

1. Return= Annual Traffic Increase X (estimated value of a visit)
If you estimate the value of a visit at worth 10 cents, you can multiply this by the annual increase in traffic. Say that you increase traffic by 1,000 additional visitors per month (12,000 additional visitors per year). The value could be equated to $1,200 per year. It is important to note that the effects of an SEO campaign can last years. If you assume that this traffic growth remains for the next 5 years, then the return over 5 years is $6,000. If the campaign costs $3,000 the ROI would equal 100%.

The value of a visit could be much higher if you are in a competitive field. Say that the cost per visit for a Google Adwords campaign is 75 cents. Since organic traffic tends to convert at a higher rate, you could estimate the cost of a visit as $1.00. This would increase the ROI to equal 1000%. If you are in an ultra-competitive field like college loans, a targeted visit could be worth $25 or more.

2. Return= Annual Leads Generated X (estimated value of a lead)
A visitor who comes to your site through Google search should be encouraged to fill out a form to provide their contact information. You can offer incentives like a free whitepaper, a free webinar, a free email newsletter, a free trial, etc to convert a visitor to a lead. You can estimate the value of a lead by determining the lifetime value of a new customer divided by the conversion rate of a lead to a new customer.

Say the lifetime value of an average new customer is $1,000 and you convert 10% of your leads into new customers. Then the estimated value of a lead might be $100. If you can track that an additional 100 leads were generated in one year by visitors coming from search, the value would be $10,000. If you assume that the rate of new leads is maintained for five years, the value would be $50,000. If the campaign cost $10,000, the ROI would be 400%.

It is important to note that any single metric like ROI can be problematic. According to Dr. Pete:

We just have to remember to never get so enamored with one metric that we neglect the big picture. Every web metric that has ever existed or ever will exist is missing some critical piece of information for some set of situations and has the potential to lead us astray.

This post has been republished from Sparkplug Digital, a Seattle SEO and online marketing firm.

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Charles Sipe’s May 2010 Delicious Bookmarks

by Charles Sipe on May 30, 2010

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Charles Sipe’s May 2010 Tweets

by Charles Sipe on May 30, 2010

  1. RT @FreshPeel: “Finding the rifield-under-blue-skyght work is like discovering your own soul in the world.” –Sir Thomas Moore about 21 hours ago via txt
  2. Marketing Like Drug Dealers: Marketing Ideas From Rework http://bit.ly/9V1YWR 3:53 PM May 27th via web
  3. @SEOaudiore Are you attending SMX Seattle June 8-9? 2:17 PM May 27th via web
  4. Nice article about NW companies- Voodoo Doughnut: Getting Noticed in a Crowded Market http://bit.ly/cQJG5o 12:10 PM May 27th via web
  5. @skydiver This season of 24 was one of the best. I didn’t know it was the last episode of the series. Looking forward to the movie. 12:27 AM May 27th via txt
  6. Bloomberg basically ruined BusinessWeek magazine. They’re trying to make it into The Wall Street Journal. 1:00 PM May 26th via txt
  7. RT @smexaminer The Fastest Way to Increase Your Google Ranking http://bit.ly/dbHYpJ 12:17 AM May 26th via txt
  8. Sign up to attend SMX Seattle for free (limited access) http://bit.ly/d7XLOx 11:11 PM May 25th via web
  9. RT @BizBuzzU: An ounce of action is worth a ton of theory. Ralph Waldo Emerson 4:41 PM May 24th via txt
  10. Open Leadership by @charleneli comes out today! http://amzn.to/96dwGx It’s the followup to the great book, Groundswell. 1:07 PM May 24th via web
  11. 1 in 5,000 Americans live to 100 http://youtu.be/I-jk9ni4XWk 1:08 AM May 24th via web
  12. I liked the Lost finale. Good close to an epic show. #lostfinale 12:03 AM May 24th via web
  13. Simply looking at a logo can elicit an emotional response. -The Marketing Spot 4:28 PM May 23rd via txt
  14. Survey by Deloitte found only 22 percent of companies have a social media policy -Open Leadership 12:23 AM May 23rd via txt
  15. Alaska Air offers 2500 miles or $25 credit for late baggage. I don’t want to waste more time for something I won’t use. Fail. 1:40 PM May 22nd via txt
  16. Just received a copy of The Referral Engine and Age of Conversation 3 from Amazon! 5:07 PM May 21st via txt
  17. Studies show that optimists are more likely to listen to negative information than pessimists -http://bit.ly/9rxTe6 3:50 PM May 20th via web
  18. Please check out Age of Conversation 3 on Amazon! A book of 200+ mktg and biz leaders writing for charity http://amzn.to/cLExF9 3:09 PM May 20th via web
  19. RT @GuyKawasaki: Fast Company on how to procrastinate productively [video] http://tinyurl.com/ykducvx 3:07 PM May 20th via txt
  20. Video of Kristin Graham (@Expedia) presentation on social media at @smbseattle (from this morning) http://tinyurl.com/23e95kj 2:19 PM May 20th via web
  21. @marielanghout Macs can go into System Preferences and Speech to have “Alex” read out loud any highlighted text. 1:27 PM May 20th via web
  22. RT @Sparkplugonline 9 Free and Easy to Use Twitter Resources http://bit.ly/9vQ7HG 1:23 PM May 20th via web
  23. RT @cspenn: #the5: SEOmoz crushes it again with a 15 minute SEO audit guide: http://bit.ly/c5p7wN 1:22 PM May 20th via txt
  24. John Calipari is a black eye for college basketball. 8:24 PM May 19th via web
  25. Well I hope for the best for Terrence Jones despite everything. 8:16 PM May 19th via web
  26. RT @pedrodias: Google I/O Keynotes now available on YouTube http://goo.gl/FO7R 4:28 PM May 19th via txt
  27. Technology gives you a shot at marketing. -Seth Godin 2:42 PM May 19th via txt
  28. In 2009, 47% of Americans paid no federal income tax. -The Street 2:22 PM May 19th via web
  29. RT @tonyrobbins: “Always do what you are afraid to do.” Ralph Waldo Emerson 1:54 PM May 19th via txt
  30. Sales and marketing should come to agreement on what defines a good lead -via Hubspot.tv 12:47 PM May 19th via txt
  31. Just discovered that Macs have a really cool text-to-speech feature that can be activated with a combination of keys! 11:19 AM May 19th via web
  32. RT @sparkplugonline Write content on your blog that solves your customers’ problems or enhances their lives-@Problogger http://bit.ly/cxxDzW 2:55 PM May 18th via web
  33. On the latest Twit podcast, @Leolaporte said that podcasting has plateaued by @Jason says it is just getting started. 1:58 PM May 18th via web
  34. RT @sparkplugonline It doesn’t matter if you get a lot of traffic to your site if you are not converting that traffic to customers. 1:20 PM May 18th via web
  35. @teachstreet Thanks for responding to my concerns. Most companies aren’t listening or don’t take the time to respond. 12:54 AM May 17th via web
  36. My weekly dose of happiness: This Week In Tech podcast with @LeoLaporte http://twit.tv 12:50 AM May 17th via web
  37. Agreed! RT @shartley “Culture is a core building block of a great company.” -David Hauser #BigOmaha 12:36 AM May 17th via txt
  38. Age of Conversation 3 is now available on Amazon! A collaboration of 200+ mktg and biz leaders for charity http://amzn.to/cLExF9 2:31 PM May 16th via web
  39. RT @SMCSeattle: South King County and beyond: Check out @SMCTacoma’s event on May 19. Blogging + pizza! http://bit.ly/b9edwp 11:40 PM May 15th via txt
  40. digitalizer 10:19 AM May 15th via txt
  41. “Good design may get customers in your door, but great content keeps them from walking right back out again” http://bit.ly/9ieQ9r 10:15 PM May 13th via web
  42. No more free listings at Teachstreet. Maybe they should take some notes from Craigslist. 1:52 PM May 13th via web
  43. Did you know…Apple takes a 30% cut of iPhone App sales. -Fortune 1:47 PM May 13th via web
  44. I was also going to give a graduation speech in Arizona…but with my accent I was afraid they would try to deport me. -Schwarzenegger 1:21 AM May 13th via web
  45. I really enjoyed the latest podcast of Six Pixels of Separations with Jeffery Gitomer @gitomer http://bit.ly/bFB10T 1:16 AM May 13th via web
  46. Zuckerberg owns about 24 percent of Facebook stock valued at about 5 billion. -Fortune 3:02 PM May 12th via txt
  47. Every blog post can be someone’s first interaction with you RT @MikeTek Reading: When a stranger reads your blog http://bit.ly/9evCRI 1:02 PM May 12th via txt
  48. Corporate blogs should strive to be the best trade magazine in their industry. -Hubspot blog http://bit.ly/ct7R61 9:05 PM May 11th via web
  49. @bostonmarketer I think the only advantage of Blogger is that it is more secure because the content is hosted by Google 9:04 PM May 11th via web
  50. Tekzilla is a great online show where you can learn about useful websites and tech tips. I met @veronica who is really nice 2:06 PM May 11th via txt
  51. RT @avinashkaushik: “Busy does not equal important. Measured doesn’t mean mattered.” Seth Godin 2:17 PM May 10th via txt
  52. RT @PhenomenalLife: Really great people make you feel that you, too, can become great – Mark Twain 2:16 PM May 10th via txt
  53. The best way to sell is to teach -@unmarketing http://bit.ly/bcp3TB 1:09 PM May 10th via txt
  54. RT @unmarketing: 30 Quick Tips For Speakers http://bit.ly/bcp3TB with more tips in comments! 1:02 PM May 10th via txt
  55. Upcoming Seattle networking event: Puget Sound American Marketing Association May 20 http://bit.ly/cl4spT 12:32 PM May 10th via web
  56. Final episode of Lost will be 2 1/2 hours. 2:12 AM May 9th via txt
  57. 27 Marketing Lessons B2B Marketers Should Know -Hubspot http://bit.ly/aryG50 6:10 PM May 8th via web
  58. My review of Flip the Funnel by Joseph Jaffe http://bit.ly/cuG1TC 11:50 AM May 8th via web
  59. Wow, @DanSchawbel works 110 hours per week, thats about 15+ hours a day, 7 days a week http://bit.ly/b5UjOq 3:42 AM May 8th via txt
  60. RT @danielscocco Interview: 12 Top Online Entrepreneurs Share How Hard They Work http://bit.ly/b5UjOq 3:14 AM May 8th via txt
  61. William Shatner went from Star Trek, to being homeless, to an estimated $600 million from Priceline http://bit.ly/apgQ0e 12:56 AM May 7th via web
  62. The effect of restaurants calorie labels is close to zero – Dan Ariely, Listen to interview: http://bit.ly/90VBBi 9:48 PM May 6th via web
  63. 25 Lessons Learned from Seth Godin http://bit.ly/b1digu 5:04 PM May 6th via web
  64. 23 year-old high school dropout sells blog for millions http://bit.ly/9CFgdF 3:55 PM May 6th via web
  65. Just received an advanced copy of Open Leadership by @charleneli. I really enjoyed Groundswell so am looking forward to reading it. 3:20 PM May 6th via web
  66. Interesting theory on why Steve Jobs really hates Flash http://bit.ly/czW5fk 3:16 PM May 6th via web
  67. RT @AdFreak: P&G sends thousands of bottles of Dawn dish soap to the Gulf of Mexico to clean the animals. http://bit.ly/cUqZSF 2:32 PM May 6th via txt
  68. You will get all you want in life if you help enough other people get what they want. -Zig Ziglar 2:31 PM May 6th via web
  69. @Teachstreet now charging for their listings. Not sure if I will still use their service. I think they also take a cut of the class fee. 1:08 AM May 6th via web
  70. RT @sejournal Despite the News, SEO is Not Dead http://bit.ly/9vFXTL by @rachel_andersen 10:38 PM May 5th via txt
  71. @laisietu: Linchpin is good. I also liked Switch, Rework, and Crush It. 5:53 PM May 5th via txt
  72. RT @MissingSonics: @sonicsgate Sonicsgate wins Webby Award http://seattlepi.com/b204579 6:26 PM May 4th via txt
  73. Fit your entire message in the email subject line RT @Kenji_O: Do you have any general internet communication tips or best practices? 6:19 PM May 4th via txt
  74. RT @JeffDye: May 7th comedy central presents jeff dye!!! 11:30!! Watch it or you’ll have 10 years bad luck!! 11:30 PM May 3rd via txt
  75. Anyone know a good virtual assistant? RT @uschles: I need a Virtual Assistant. But I don’t have time to search for one. 10:43 PM May 3rd via txt
  76. RT @Sonicsgate: #incaseyoumissedit ->ESPN Outside The Lines full Sonicsgate episode posted now! http://bit.ly/bOI8pH 7:41 PM May 3rd via txt
  77. As much as you physically can, respond and be thankful to everyone who has taken the time to mention you -Six Pixels of Separation 3:24 PM May 3rd via txt
  78. Indecision is the greatest thief of opportunity. -Dan Miller 6:17 PM May 2nd via txt
  79. Focus on building community, not traffic. -Six Pixels of Separation 3:17 PM May 2nd via txt
  80. I should get a badge. Read over 1000 tweets on my phone today. 1:00 AM May 1st via txt
  81. RT @sengineland: Yahoo’s Bartz Takes In $47 Million, Yang Gets One Dollar 12:30 AM May 1st via txt

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Key Marketing Ideas from Rework

by Charles Sipe on May 27, 2010

Rework is a great book from the founders of the successful web company 37 signals. I really like the contrarian ideas from the book like “how drug dealers get it right” because it is great to get a fresh perspective on business. I also like how Jason and David get straight to the point and don’t waste a lot of pages with fluff like most business books. There are a ton of great ideas in this book and some ideas that you will probably disagree with, but it will definitely get you thinking and possibly lead you to question some of the widely accepted ideas in business and marketing.

Take the Anti-Position

Several companies have been successful by taking an adversarial approach to their competition or the entire industry. Apple vs PC and 7-Up, the Uncola are a few examples of companies who have taken an opposing position. The authors also point out that people tend to like conflict and this can get people to pay attention.

This idea goes way back to Al Ries and Jack Trout’s classic book Positioning. When you separate yourself from the competition is helps consumers form a better idea of how you are different from others in your industry.

Marketing Is Not A Department

Jason and David say that marketing should not be a function of the marketing team but a part of everything the company does from answering the telephone to the quality of the product.

This is not a new idea but an important idea that is not talked about enough. Most companies tend to hand off responsibility of marketing to the marketing team after the product has been developed. This is wrong because if you are not thinking about marketing from the start, building a strong customer base can become infinitely more difficult.

Market Like Drug Dealers

“Make your product so good, so addictive, so “can’t miss” that giving customer a small free taste makes them come back with cash in hand…You should know that people will come back for more. If you’re not confident about that, you haven’t created a strong enough product. ”

I agree. Of course this helps if you have a really addictive product like Twitter, but if you don’t, sampling can be a great way to get people to step into the door and break down the barriers preventing people from trying something new. A mistake that a lot of companies make is that they make sampling too difficult with credit card requirements or forms with too many required fields.

Target Smaller Niche Publications

The authors advise that you shouldn’t try to spam the Wall Street Journal with press releases but rather focus on smaller niche publications.

I agree with this because niche publications typically have followers who are passionately interested in a specific topic or are the right audience for your product or service. Focusing on developing relationships with the top blogs in your industry seems like the best way to get in front of people who will likely use and recommend your product.

Marketing by Teaching

This is a great concept that suggests that by teaching your target customer about your craft or your industry you can build an audience that keeps coming back and are likely to seek you out when they have a need for your product or service. Here is a video of Jason’s presentation on this topic. “Instead of trying to outspend, outsell, or out-sponsor competitors, try to out teach them. Teaching probably isn’t something your competition are even thinking about…As a business owner you should share everything you know too.”

Don’t Listen to Your Customers

The authors argue that you shouldn’t listen to suggestions that just come from a few vocal customers. If you change because of a handful of unhappy customers, you could lose many more customers who were happy with the way things were before. “Your goal is that your product stays right for you. You’re the one who has to believe in it most”. They advise that you shouldn’t record what customers say about your product. If you hear something over and over again, then that’s when you know that is something you should pay attention to.



This article has been republished from Cool Marketing Stuff.

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Interesting Video on How to Live a Long Life

by Charles Sipe on May 24, 2010

This is an interesting video about exploring the secrets of living a long life. Only 1 in 5,000 Americans live to 100 years old.

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Just Received A Copy of Age of Conversation 3

by Charles Sipe on May 21, 2010

ageofconversation-3

Just received a copy of Age of Conversation 3: It’s Time to Get Busy. I wrote a page from the last 2 editions of Age of Conversation. This year my chapter is titled “How to Convince Your Boss on the Importance of Blogs”.

Check out Age of Conversation 3 at Amazon. There are about 200 authors and business leaders who contributed including Joseph Jaffe, Drew McLellan, Beth Harte, Becky Carroll (from customersrock.net), Joe Pulizzi, Dan Schawbel, and many more.

Proceeds from the book are donated to charity.

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The following post has been republished from Cool Marketing Stuff.

This is a great presentation by Simon Sinek about how some organizations are able to achieve so much more than others with seemingly the same amount of resources. Why did no one buy Gateway’s flat screens or Dell’s MP3 players? The following video, which I think marketers should watch over and over, explains why.

The most important Simon makes is that “people don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it”. I love the following quotes:

“If Apple was like everyone else a marketing message might be: We make great computers. They’re user friendly. Want to buy one? …Here’s how Apple actually communicates: everything we do, We believe in challenging the status quo, we believe in thinking differently. The way we challenge the status quo is by making our products beautifully designed, simple to use, and user friendly. We just happen to make great computers. Want to buy one?”

“The goal is not to do business with everybody who needs what you have, the goal is to do business with people who believe what you believe.”

So start with why instead of what when you are rethinking your marketing strategy, and this flip can change how people think about your company and why they should do business with you.

People do business with companies that believe what they believe because of our strong tendency to want to align our actions with our self perception. This is why people who identify themselves as Republicans or Democrats, will vote against their self-interest. We don’t want to experience what psychologists call cognitive dissonance – “the uncomfortable feeling of holding two contradictory ideas simultaneously” (Wikipedia). Therefore companies that have a strong identity often become very strong brands.

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Darth Vader Records GPS Voiceover

by Charles Sipe on May 10, 2010

I would love to have the Darth Vader GPS. This is great viral content for Tom Tom. It reminds me of the Chad Vader videos which are pretty funny.

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Here’s an article I wrote for Cool Marketing Stuff:

Prolific podcaster, wFlip the Funnel bookriter, and all around nice guy, Joseph Jaffe recently released his third marketing book entitled Flip the Funnel. This book mainly focuses on the idea of flipping the sales funnel to focus marketing on existing customers. The reasoning for this shift in marketing strategy is sound: existing customers are far less expensive than acquiring new customers and highly satisfied customers can become a powerful sales force that will attract new customers.

My Review of Flip the Funnel

This book provides a solid argument changing your marketing strategy, although I found it somewhat tedious to read because Jaffe would often switch between straight talk to a overly complicated and corporate-like writing style. I personally think this book could have cut out a hundred pages and been equally effective. I would say about half of the case studies have been beaten to death, but there are also some fresh case studies that you probably haven’t heard of like how CEO Bill Marriott’s blog has earned more than $5 million for Marriott from people who clicked through to the reservation page after viewing his blog.

Key Takeaways:

Shift marketing spend from acquiring new customers to wowing existing customers

Jaffe describes the current norm where disproportionate amount of marketing dollars is going toward acquiring new customers, even though existing customers account for about 65 to 75 percent of revenue. For example just 12 percent of shoppers account for 80 percent of Coke sales. Jaffe writes:

“We pull out all the stops to woo a stranger to sample our wares, yet we ignore the very people who essentially fund our acquisition efforts”

Enthusiastic customers often increase new customers through their recommendations, which could be a more effective acquisition strategy than what Jaffe calls “fishing with a wide net that is full of holes”.

Reward customers for generating new customers

Jaffe advocates rewarding customers who provide referrals or spread the word about your business. This can be a monetary reward or a virtual currency like points. Jaffe writes:

“For the most part – the existing investment into customer referrals has until now been essentially zero.”

“You’ll need to figure out ways to formalize structure and ultimately incent people who are inclined to talk about you.”

Customer service should have its priority elevated

Customer service is often neglected and treated as a cost center even though it is one of the best opportunities to have a direct conversation with your customer. Jaffe talks about the remarkable insurance company USAA, where 95 percent of customers plan to be lifelong members. One employee worked 600 hours of overtime in a year and customer service reps have been known to help customers with totally unrelated issues.

Jaffe writes:

“Give them [employees] the freedom and confidence to go beyond the manual or playbook” to describe how companies can improve their customer service.

Full disclosure: I received a review copy

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