Jon's In Waikiki

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Back In the Swing of Things
2007-05-03 07:33:00
I’ve been unable to blog the past couple of weeks because my computer died. I believe it was the power supply of my G4, but I didn’t have the equipment to absolutely, positively confirm it. It surprised me that there could be so many varieties of G4 power supplies out there once I decided to ...
More About: Back , Things , Wing , Swing , Thing

Tell Search Engines Where Your Site Map Is Without Leaving Your Home (Page)
2007-04-18 00:38:00
Previously you read about that fact that Yahoo & Google had agreed on the Site Map standard; ie a Site Map file specially made for the search engine bots, usually an XML file, telling them the address of each page, when it was added, etc. Since I blogged about that the Big 2 search engines ...
More About: Search Engines , Home , Search , Page

We Lost A Legend
2007-04-16 06:01:00
As you may have read already, Hawaii, and the rest of the world, lost Don Ho. Not just a famous singer, but the biggest Hawaiian singer ever. Although he was wasn’t a strictly Hawaiian act - ‘Tiny Bubbles’ is more loung-pop than anything else - he was definitely of the Islands. He was the undisputed ...
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How To Market A City
2007-04-13 04:58:00
As I wrote (blogged?) before, my wife and I were just up in San Francisco. I hadn’t been there in some time. Having lived here, where preservation is a big issue, as well as reaching an age that brings appreciation of day-to-day things, I saw SF with different eyes this time. What amazed me was, ...
More About: How To , Market , City , Mark

Marketing - What We Can Learn From My Dog Nigel
2007-04-09 03:00:00
It’s been a little while since last posting. I, and my wife, were up in Sonoma, CA and then down to San Francisco. I noticed some things there which I’ll blog about at some point, but the issue I wanted to address today is my dog Nigel - a marketing savant. Why do I say that? ...
More About: Marketing , Market , What , Hat , Earn

Redirects - How They Can Make All Your Marketing Worthless
2007-03-20 05:27:00
Let’s say you’re walking down the street, on the way to buy some new T-Shirts. The ones you have are stretched in the neck, have holes plus they have stains. None of those stains resemble any of the Church-recognized Saints or Star Wars characters, so you can’t sell them. Even if you could, you still ...
More About: Marketing , Market , Direct , Your , They

Search Engine Marketing/Advertising & SEO - It?s Not an Either/Or
2007-03-13 06:43:00
As I have probably said before in this blog, I’m mystified by clients and prospects who say they don’t want to do a search engine advertising campaign because ‘you have to pay for those’. It surprises me because they seem to see this kind of marketing as somehow different. It’s like saying that they wouldn’t ...
More About: Marketing , Advertising , Market , Search Engine Marketing , Search

Market Research For Cheap!
2007-02-24 20:06:09
Market research was one of those subjects that people would study only if they were gunning for the corporate world. Small businesses can’t afford to hire someone to do that- not full time, at least. For them, market research would be something along the lines of asking locals ‘How do you look that new gum we got?’ after ringing up their purchase. Today - that has changed. Now these same businesses can IM ‘How do U lik tht nw gum?’ online and by phone! But that’s not where the big leap has taken place. Most users of Google AdWords have completely missed the fact that they have a market research tool right in front of them. And a lot of that research can be done for less than $100. When you test ads on AdWords, you’re not only getting feedback on which ad is better, you’re also getting an insight into your market. Are people responding more to an appeal based around price rather than features? That’s telling you something very imp...
More About: Research , Market , Market research , Search , Cheap

The Metrics System
2007-02-14 07:57:06
I can still remember as a child being taught the metric system in school. This was in the late 1970’s when we were convinced that it would take over in the US, leaving the Inch and the Quart by the curb to be picked up by the Standards Garbage Man and taken to the dump. There they would spend the rest of their days reminiscing with the Sheckel and the Cubit while they passed around a bottle of White Lightning. “Man, everybody knew me. I’m telling you. Now even Milligram won’t return my calls. He used to beg me to hang out. BEG ME!” That’s just a brief digression that was prompted by the subject of Web Metric s . That word ‘Metrics’ has a few meanings for me, hence the reminiscing. Any Internet Marketer worth his salt, or his pepper, will tell you how important Web Metrics/Analytics are; if you’re not using them, you’re missing the most effective path of marketing - measuring response in order to learn how to increase it. For ...
More About: System , Stem

Customer Loyalty - Part 2
2007-02-14 07:57:06
If there is a Business Hall of Fame, one of my first nominees would be Mr. Terence Iwamoto, owner and proprieter of ‘Mr. Ink Plus’ here in Honolulu. Like many inkjet printer owners, the cost of ink has always amazed me - or maybe that should be ‘angered me’. When my HP’s black ink went dry I went ballistic. Why? Because I literally had printed only 10 pages with an ink cartridge that was brand new (the inkjet was brand new as well, btw). There must be some defect here, right? Wrong. I went to Mr. Ink Plus to sort this out. After telling Mr. Iwamoto about this ‘freak’ inkjet occurrence, he pulled out 2 HP ink cartridges he had cut the tops off of for exactly this situation. The first cartridge was the old standard HP black ink cartridge. I was shocked to see that only about 1/3 or less of the inside was set aside to hold ink. But that was nothing compared to the ‘New’ HP black cartridge. The new one, which I believe is #92, was se...
More About: Customer , Part , Loyalty , Custom

?Customer Loyalty? - Guest Appearance by Dog Chapman?s Family
2007-02-14 07:57:06
It’s unfortunate that we sometimes look at our customers as trying to take advantage of us. Or as just one of an inexhaustible supply of people we can make money from; therefore we feel we don’t need to try too hard to connect individually. There’s always another customer around the corner, we think. But that’s a quick way to kill our business. We should instead be looking for personal connections, especially in a world where the Internet offers an alternative just a few clicks away. I learned a lot about building Customer Loyalty from 2 businesses here in Hawaii. The first one is a shop my wife has been a fan of for some time. She has a favorite store to go to for jewelry. She doesn’t have expensive tastes, she just likes to get something nice to wear every once in a while. The store she always goes to, and which I went to with her yesterday, is Kamaaina Metals. What impressed me is that the owner took time to show us his current stock, even though it...
More About: Family , Pear , Appearance , Guest

Search Engine Keywords - It Pays To Be More Talkative
2007-02-14 07:57:06
Usually the use of more words than you would think are necessary is the deathknell for social popularity. Unless you’re Oprah. However, this usually reliable idea is being turned on its head in search engines. A study was recently done that told us something we already knew - searchers rarely use just on word to do a search. Unless it’s something like ‘Cher’. This isn’t the first study of this kind, BTW. With the amount of pages in the index of Google and Yahoo, one word is going to give you thousands, maybe even millions of returned listings. On top of that, one word can’t fully define what is in the searcher’s mind. Say someone searches using the word ‘cars’. What are they after? A new car? A used one? A rental? Are they looking for information on cars because of a problem they’re having with their own? The use of two and three terms in a search has taken off in the past few years because of these 2 factors. Still, some h...
More About: Word , Search , Search Engine , Words , Keyword

SEO Gurus - Masters of the Obvious
2007-02-14 07:57:06
Hawaii has long depended on tourism for its economy. Before World War II, Hawaii actually had other industries such as sugar, pineapple and other agricultural products that made up a large part of the Islands’ wealth. While there was a tourist industry at that time, it was limited to those with higher incomes - the people who could afford the ocean cruises that brought them here. After WW II, the visitor industry exploded as America suddenly had more diposable income, air travel came of age and prices for both hotels and travel dropped to a more affordable level. Hotels, restaurants, tour operators all understood that giving visitors the ‘Hawaii’ experience was important. It’s what people came for; it’s what they wanted; it’s what made this place unique from all others. Hotel rooms were decorated accordingly so people had Hawaii inside and out. Fast forward to now. In most Waikiki hotels, once you get past the lobby, you could be anywhere in the w...
More About: Gurus , Obvious , Master , Masters , Guru

The Race for Analytics Dominance
2007-02-14 07:57:06
I was interested to read that Microsoft is now at work on their own Analytics package. It’s currently in beta and will be released later this year. Then again ‘Vista’ has had more projected release dates than that new Guns N Roses album. Still, this might be a better bet for actually arriving on, or near, schedule. An analytics package is, presumably, an easier job than an operating system. Another good reason for on time delivery is that this fits with Microsoft’s new focus on Internet/Web dominance. They realize that challenging Google is going to mean real action. And if there’s one thing a monopoly hates, it’s another monopoly. Google started the Analytics race when they bought Urchin, changed the name to Google Analytics (very imaginative) and cut the price to Free. Formerly Analytic packages were, for the most part, expensive. That changed with Google Analytics as ClickTracks suddenly had their own Free package on offer. Of course Google had...
More About: Race , Domina , Mina , Domin

DMOZ Is Dying - To The Sound Of Applause
2007-02-14 07:57:06
If you were on the Internet in the Late 90’s, and even recent years, you probably knew about the DMOZ. You might have also known it under the name ‘Open Directory Project’. This directory has been a thorn in the sides of search engine marketers for quite a while. Myself included. Why all the hostility? Google counted a link/listing in the DMOZ very heavily when ranking sites. The directory was run and edited by volunteers, normally a laudable effort. Unfortunately, like many of these types of projects, the directory was hijacked by its own editors. At least in certain areas. It was not uncommon for an Editor to block competitors from being listed in the directory, thereby denying them any boost in ranking that they might have gotten. For example, one alleged example was a lawyer who saw to it that no other attorney was given space in the section he ruled over. All search engine benefit was reserved for him, and him alone. An editor could always claim that their com...
More About: Sound , Dying , Applause , Dmoz

Internet Is Real Life - Or It?s Getting There, At Least
2007-02-14 07:57:06
More and more the Inter net is reflecting conditions and systems of the real world. This first, most famous, example of this is Google and their innovative search engine. If you’ve read “The Search”, written by John Battelle, an excellent book BTW, you know already how Google modeled their rankings on the academic publishing world. The importance of an academic work is reflected in how many times it is ‘cited’ by others as well as the prestige of where it is cited. If you think this sounds a lot like links, and linking, you’re correct. Of course, this is a simplification, though the vital role of links cannot be denied. They play a central role in a site’s success and they will continue to do so for some time. Another factor that should be recognized is that the academic world isn’t vulnerable to real world equivalents of spammers, link farms & other underhanded techniques. Although if it was possible, I wouldn’t put it past...
More About: Life , East , Real

New Year?s & The Continuing Click Fraud Question
2007-02-14 07:57:06
My wife and I spent New Year ’s Eve at home and saw the turning from the living room. The various options for New Year’s didn’t seem very exciting. I’m not sure if that’s a sign of the lack of event imagination or our age. Another reason was that we were just tired out. But that doesn’t mean we didn’t enjoy the community celebration. New Year’s in Hawaii is yet another area where Island life takes a front-seat to the mainland competition. Standing cheek-to-cheek in Time’s Square in the cold? No thanks. Islanders greet the calendar change in a way that reflects the Asian cultures that have made their home here. All day on New Year’s Eve, and even the week before, people are setting off fireworks and/or setting off firecrackers of different strenths. But that’s nothing compared to the Midnight festivities on January 1st. Our apartment has a 120 degree view that takes in a big piece of real estate. If you’re local, ...
More About: Question , Fraud , Click , Frau

How To Improve Your Landing Pages For Your Search Marketing
2007-02-14 07:57:06
Landing pages are simply the page a searcher is sent to when they click on your Google AdWords ad (or Yahoo Ads or MSN, Etc). One thing that people often forget is that they still need to customize the marketing to the keywords. Most search advertisers just send every person who clicks their ad to the home page. That seems to make sense, doesn’t it? It does, but if you want to take your ad campaigns to a higher conversion level, you need to start coordinating the landing page to your ad. For example, a visitor is more likely to stick around if they see the same keywords on the landing page that they used on the search engine. The unconscious idea is produced in their heads that this page is what they’re looking for; therefore it’s worth checking out. Of course, you still have to provide the copy and content that also fit the keywords’ subject. What this all means is that you need to create individual pages for different campaigns so you and your individual vi...
More About: Marketing , How To , Market , Search , Page