When it comes to education, it’s so unfortunate many of our nation’s children are still suffering from the effects of economic inequality. I personally feel it’s important to empower kids with reading skills. This year on October 2^nd, Jumpstart’s Read for the Record Campaign will attempt to break a world record by bringing children and adults together to read the same book on the same day. It’s a day to increase awareness of this adverse learning gap in our communities and to bring the power of reading to kids across the country.

While reading more about the event on Jumpstart’s website, I learned a lot about the progress the program has made. Since 1993, the Jumpstart program has helped over 50,000 kids develop the literacy skills they need to succeed in school. Each year they strive to reach more and more children. Over the past two years Jumpstart has been bringing classic tales, such as The Little Engine That Could and The Story of Ferdinand to young minds through their Read for the Record Campaign. This year, kids will enjoy reading the charming story of Corduroy. Kids get to keep and treasure their copy of the book, and for some it will be the first book they personally own.

Supporting the event is easy. You can choose to donate a copy of Corduroy to a deserving child, or make a donation to the Jumpstart program – which provides for one-on-one literacy development for kids each year. All donations made to the Jumpstart program between now and October 2^nd will be matched by The Pearson Foundation, and a copy of Corduroy will also be donated on your behalf. You can also donate your time to a Read for the Record event near you. Events will be held at schools, libraries, hotels, shopping malls, and other locations across the country.

Be sure to share information about the Read for the Record Campaign with your family, friends and neighbors. It really is a wonderful opportunity for all of us to come together and support our nation’s future.

Post from: Fionn Downhill - Professional Speaker

Jumpstart’s Read for the Record Campaign

On Friday the 22nd of February I had the pleasure of presenting two sessions at the American Express/Score Small Business coaching day. The event was held at the Phoenix Hyatt and represented the best that American Express and Score has to offer with multiple sessions all day. Both organizations have played a pivotal role in helping me grow my business.  The coaching and support that I have received from my Counselor Chet Ross provided me with business knowledge that I as a small business could never have afforded.

I was humbled by the warm response I received from the participants and the wonderful feedback I was given about the value of those two short presentations. Since then I have thought about this in depth.  What I learned from this experience is how little knowledge most small businesses have about online marketing and the opportunity it presents to them. Many small businesses are overwhelmed by the very thought of internet marketing and see it as out of their reach.

One of the issues I tried to emphasize to this group is that Internet marketing is not special its marketing. By using another medium (and a very poweful one at that) the small business owner can tap into one of the most effective forms of marketing available. Small business owners are usually very good at marketing themselves. They work hard at it and attend many networkinig events and lead generating groups. Small business owners can leverage the web and there is still a huge opportunity to gain traction while the 100 pound gorilla’s are still only spending 6% of their add dollars online.

One of the issues facing the small business is trying to find relevant information relating to them. And the first step is to build a search enigne friendly web site that is set up for users and targetted towards conversions.  On Friday almost every web site we looked at had not been designed this way.

When it comes to SEO the problem gets even worse and small business are easy prey in an industry not known for its ethics. I wrote the first series of articles on this subject in 2005, and guess what – 3 years later the debate is still raging. I plan on writing an in depth article on this subject after the SMX West conference next week.

So how does a small business get started with Internet marketing?. When I finish collating the questions and feedback from the SCORE event I will publish the best list of resources and send the feedback directly to SCORE to market back to the participants. Watch this space!!…

Post from: Fionn Downhill - Professional Speaker

Internet Marketing…The Opportunity for Small Business

Linking is an essential part of any SEO campaign – internal linking, content publicity, external linking, etc etc. Eric Ward talks about this in his article linking experts going underground. Eric Ward is one of my favorite speakers and I have learned a lot from him over the years. Linking has been used by many in the industry to make a lot of money. Eric is one of the good guys and has always promoted natural linking which builds brand as well as traffic.

The ‘linking experts’ I am concerned about are those that are only in it for the money. They have helped to make what has always been an essential part of SEO so difficult for those of us who promote sites online.

Any good organic SEO company who gets results has been doing linking for their clients and they have adapted when the algorithm’s have changed. The difference between them and the ‘linking experts’ is that they did not build a business around it and consider it part of SEO – not a separate service. Good linking is an important part of an overall SEO campaign with under performing terms being targeted using online publicity and other linking strategies on a regular basis.

I am not sorry to see the ‘linking experts’ having a hard time right now. Some of them have filled their pockets with money and moved on. What many of them were doing was wrong – and they knew this long before Google ever changed their webmaster guidelines. However, the gullible public did not and the link sellers were laughing all the way to the bank. Selling links for page rank and rankings has always been frowned upon by Google ever since I have been involved in SEO (and I have been around longer than most!)

Linking is not SEO when it is sold as a separate service using tactics that at best are questionable and at worst worthless. Paid text links are a perfect example of this. Call linking what it really is (a part of an SEO strategy) and let’s stop pretending that they are two separate services.

The real results comes when you work with an expert who knows how to combine the two. I do not have an issue working with a ‘linking expert’ as long as the whole linking strategy is in line with the overall big picture.

Post from: Fionn Downhill - Professional Speaker

When Linking Is Not SEO…..

I was excited last week when I heard about the potential merger between Yahoo and Microsoft. From a strictly search point of view it seemed that the merger could potentially offer a real alternative to Google. Now it seems that Yahoo’s advisers are telling them to go back to AOL. Search Engine Watch has a good update on the topic.

I think Google is a great search engine and we have some very successful clients thanks to Google paid and organic traffic. However, I do not believe that it is a good thing for consumers to only have one credible option. The strength of Microsoft’s Adcenter and Yahoo’s organic would have created a real alternative to Google. Sadly, its not about the consumers but the Wall Street bankers and price of stocks. Let’s hope Yahoo does something before they go out of business and we only end up with one player. Who uses AOL for search?

Post from: Fionn Downhill - Professional Speaker

Yahoo Turns Down Microsoft…Talks Again To AOL

I will be attending a SEMPO meeting in Dallas tomorrow.  The Phoenix airport is expecting 4 hour delays because of all the people returning from the Superbowl.  I hope I make it!!

Post from: Fionn Downhill - Professional Speaker

Dallas Here I Come – Hopefully!

Link building is becoming an essential ongoing marketing strategy according to Justilien Gaspard at Search Engine Watch. In his article looking at the top challenges facing SEO and Links Building for 2008 he states:

Many sites have enjoyed top rankings for years without being proactive in link development. Once they got top rankings they started to take their rankings for granted. Some feel a sense of “entitlement” to top rankings.

He predicts that more and more established companies will drop from the rankings in 2008 mainly due to lack of online promotion and link development. The people who will take their place are those that make a continual effort to get links.

I think this is very true. Many companies view SEO as one off and when they are ranked they congratulate themselves on a job well done. However this complacency leads to problems down the road where rankings are lost and the panic begins. So my resolution for all clients (and indeed everyone with an online business) in 2008 is to pay close attention to your links and be actively involved in developing new ones. This tactic is vital for continued success in these competitive times.

Post from: Fionn Downhill - Professional Speaker

Link Building is an Essential, Ongoing Online Marketing Strategy

You could be the lucky winner of a new Google Fridge!! The fridge is being given away by Dan Perry who has just launched his new blog.

What would I do with the fridge if I won it? Well, I would have to make sure that my husband Dylan did not get a hold of it as it would just end up being an extra place for him to hoard his beer!!  Perhaps I would use it to store my Weight Watchers treats to stop my kids from eating them all.  Its costing me a blooming fortune!!

Post from: Fionn Downhill - Professional Speaker

Win A Google Fridge!!

Online reputation management has become more popular in the past two years and particularly in the past year.  What does online reputation management mean? For many it has come to mean the process of repairing a damaged reputation in search engine results  The negative results that appear in response to a search for a brand or a name search can be caused by a number of issues, a malicious blogger, a disgruntled customer, an unscrupulous competitor, a vindictive former employee, or even a scorned ex-spouse or partner.

Many business organizations do not realize the impact of negative Google results.  The traditional PR consultants say “its just one blogger”  The fact is, if  that one blog post is in the top 5 results for your name or brand the collateral damage can be immeasurable.  What many companies fail to realize is that with the power of online word of mouth the viral affect of that one blog can be devastating.  The average user doesn’t understand that its just one blogger all they see is a post that says your company is dishonest and you immediately have a negative perception.

We rarely get calls from companies who wish to pro-actively manage their reputation online and maintain positive results which are under their control.  That would be reputation ‘management.’  What many companies need when they call us is reputation ‘repair.’  Any company that has taken time and money to build their brand should include reputation management as part of their overall online marketing strategy.  Fixing a damaged reputation can be extremely costly especially when the negative results are anchored into the top 10 on strong sites.  The time it takes to clean up the results can be extremely lengthy.

Companies often contact us with a severe problem and they want to throw a small amount of money at it and make it go away.    For that small amount of money they could have ‘managed’ their reputation by taking proactive steps to maintain a healthy top 10 but now find themselves in a situation where it’s too late.  Extensive reputation repair can entail building out as many as 10 sites – in other words 10 separate SEO jobs.  At the heart of reputation management is an effective organic SEO strategy, and as we know – good organic SEO is not cheap.

All companies should look to controlling the top 10 for their brand using micro sites, videos, images and other tactics to place corporate controlled material in front of the searcher.  Marketers and PR agencies have always understood the importance of maintaining a good reputation and a strong brand.  I find it astounding that the discipline has not automatically been taken online.  It is yet another indication of the overall lack of understanding of the web by traditional markers and brand builders.

Post from: Fionn Downhill - Professional Speaker

Is it Reputation Management or Reputation Repair?

I was a huge admirer of Seth Godin but now I am his #1 fan.  In his book Meatball Sundae, (which goes on sale on December 27, 2007) Seth talks about how some companies treat e-mails as an interruption.  He advises that e-mails should be treated as opportunities.

On Tuesday of  this week I e-mailed Seth and asked if he would consider providing some free copies of his book to use as a raffle at an AMA presentation I was giving on the Thursday.  I received a response from him within hours referring me to the person who would handle this.  Today just over 24 hours later I received the books in the mail. Now that is a marketer who has not only lived up my expectations as one of my all time super heroes but has now turned me into a raving fan.

Seth Godin writes practical advice that’s as easy to read as it is hard hitting and accurate.  All our team read his books and I encourage anybody running a business to read ‘Small is the New Big’ and ‘The Dip’ – to find them visit Seth’s bookfeed.

Post from: Fionn Downhill - Professional Speaker

I’m Seth Godin’s Raving Fan

Working in the field of online reputation management at Elixir we are very familiar with flame sites and I must admit I have never felt like creating one until now. Well actuallt I do not really have the time but I certainly feel like it.   Perhaps this will help me to get it off my chest.  In the past 6 months I have flown 12 times on American Airlines and my experience has been miserable.  I changed from US Airways to AA this year due to their poor performance on punctuality and customer service.

I have been on 6 delayed flights, and one that was canceled.  Of the 12 flights I have flown only 5 have been on time.  On Tuesday the 4th of December I was flying from Chicago to Phoenix at 0955.  The flight was at first delayed then canceled for technical reasons.  I spent 7 hours at O’Hare Airport.  We were not given a beverage or an apology.  I had to walk from one end of the terminal to the other to get information.  For anybody who has been to O’Hare you will know that is no fun!

It was amazing that AA did not put customer service reps at the gate where the flight was cancelled to assist us.  The reps that were there could not help us.  Once again I had to walk to the other end of the terminal.  Upon arrival the customer service rep was rude to me. I was staggered when the rep I spoke to refused to re-book me on the next US Airways flight to Phoenix. Her colleague standing next to her was booking passengers on US Airways.  When I asked for an explanation I was told there was not enough time. I said I was prepared to try and she told me that her colleague could do what she liked but she was not going to.

I would have had to get back to the end of the line and hope that when I made it to the front again that I got her colleague.  And with the length of the line it was obvious that by the time I made it back up to the front again it would have been too late.   When I asked if the airport would call me to advise which flight my bags were on since at this point it was anybody’s guess she said “Of course not!! Do you think we have time to call 500 people!!”   I was simply stunned by the inconsistency.  If I missed the US Airways flights I then had 6 hours to get back to the AA terminal for the 3.15 flight.  I think I would have made it!!.

What has happened to customer service?  Are these staff being trained at all or has the whole airline industry given up? Airline travel has become a mass produced commodity.  I used to work in the airline industry so I fully understand the things that can go wrong but 7 out of 12 flights is a pathetic track record.  What is very alarming is that most of those delays were caused by technical issues. It is understandable that the plane has to be delayed to fix a technical problem as we all hope that safety comes first.  But why are there so many technical problems?  Have they cut back on servicing and engineering?

Traveling through security has become very stressful and is compounded by the fact that if you travel from an international to a domestic flight you have to do it all over again.  The airlines have done nothing to help only allowed their customer service and performance to detetiorate adding to the negative experience that air travel gives us.  The security measures are understandable and are there to protect travelers from terrorist’s threats.  However it almost seems that the airlines are now taking advantage of a traveling public who have accepted delays and inconvenience as the norm.

I am an avid traveler and have been traveling extensively for 30 years now.  The US domestic market is wide open for a carrier who can deliver some old fashioned customer service and an on time record to benchmark the rest of the industry and to improve the current dismal situation.  Right now I have to go back to the drawing board and hope to find a new carrier to hang my hat on, since American Airlines are permanently off my list.   Rant over!!

Post from: Fionn Downhill - Professional Speaker

American Airlines Really Do Suck!!