Saturating the Infant Mind With Mixed Marketing Messages

If marketing is strong enough consumers draw false conclusions. The NYT reported that US students scored surprisingly well on economics stuff compared to reading and math, but messed this question up

But on a multiple-choice question that asked students to identify one of the policy tools of the Federal Reserve, only 21 percent chose the correct answer, “buying and selling government securities.” Thirty-seven percent incorrectly chose “increasing or decreasing government spending,” and 31 percent chose “raising or lowering income taxes,” he said.

Which yielded this incorrect conclusion

“This means that students haven’t learned that Congress and the president determine federal spending,” Mr. Damasio said.

By giving something a dubious official sounding but bland name and rarely talking about it people can be kept ignorant to what they do.

On the other end, saturating the infant mind with marketing messages works well at educating the public. Google recenlty suggested HMOs educate the public by spamming the web with their messaging via the Google ad network.

Google recently created a feature for Google News that allows people in the news to comment on the news. One of their seed stories was about the damaging effects of McDonalds marketing. How fitting that Google, the biggest online ad broker highlights the damaging effects of advertising and marketing. This comment from Dr. Vic Strasburger, M.D., Professor of Pediatrics, University of New Mexico is worth repeating over and over again

How far does a civilized society go to protect its youngest members? How far does a capitalistic society go to make money? Those are the questions.

In the U.S., we spend $250 billion a year on advertising....more than any other country in the world. And clearly, advertising works! In this case, on 3-5 year-olds!

Research has shown that kids under the age of 7-8 years are psychologically and intellectually incapable of understanding what advertising is. Several European countries disallow advertising to young children.

What do we do in the U.S.? We allow advertisers to spend $10 billion a year advertising junk food and fast food to children and teens. Then we scratch our heads and wonder why there is an epidemic of childhood and adolescent obesity. We continue to spend $12 billion a year on cigarette advertising, and 3,000 kids begin smoking every DAY! We spent several billion a year on alcohol advertising and then wonder why we have such a problem with drunk driving. We spent nearly half a billion on advertising drugs for erectile dysfunction, but we tell kids "abstinence only." So....we advertise a whole variety of products which are harmful to kids' health, but we seem perfectly willing to make money off of them. The question is (like the Golden Oldie from the 1960s, "The Limbo Rock"), how low can we go?

So Pure

If I think something sucks I generally am rather blunt, and sometimes that can cause lawsuits, fake comments, hate email, dual challenges, etc. The ugliest parts of humanity are anonymously drawn in to a person who wants to be honest...especially if they are against the grain and gaining influence.

As time passes people try to wear you down and make you fit in their shoes. This comes from the top and the bottom. At one point in time I remember when I thought most everything was overpriced. Looking back, I now appreciate how skewed my worldview was back then, especially in a world full of capitalism when I was valuing my time at nothing, helping out whoever I could in an industry where a 7 figure salary is not uncommon if all you care about is money.

Business is not about who creates the most value. Business is about who creates the most profit while looking as legitimate as needed to continue the model while ignoring the cost of externalities.

Oddly enough after enough time passes you become the standard for others in what not to do. But like a tidal wave the person who knocks you down rises only to later fall, eclipsed by their own ego, both standing in line waiting to wear your shoes.

Ebb and flow in human nature, or envy? Who knows. :)

free online gift certificate coupons & discounts

in store credits for crap...
nothing says I don't love you like a gift certificate
if I know you enough to love you then I should know something you want
be it a gift, an experience, or a story

Consider the Source

He knew he was misguided when scalpers gave him tips on romance and etiquette.

An Email Blast that Made Me Smile

So I flamed one directory company so bad that they changed their editorial policies based on my very public flames. Then they launched a user generated business guide, which I mentioned would be easy for people to get some great link equity from. Their CEO commented on my guide and on my blog saying that my guide was great. Today they sent out an email blast about their new guide service, and at the bottom of it they linked to some of the best guides. One of which was mine.

So I flame their biz model, say their new venture is easy to spam, and then they reward me by promoting me as a topical expert to a large volume of their clients.

The world is a crazy crazy crazy crazy place.

Words are Powerful

George Lakoff

The first rule of using negatives is that negating a frame activates the frame. If you tell someone not to think of an elephant, he'll think of an elephant.

Richard Dawkins

America, founded in secularism as a beacon of eighteenth century enlightenment, is becoming the victim of religious politics, a circumstance that would have horrified the Founding Fathers. The political ascendancy today values embryonic cells over adult people. It obsesses about gay marriage, ahead of genuinely important issues that actually make a difference to the world. It gains crucial electoral support from a religious constituency whose grip on reality is so tenuous that they expect to be 'raptured' up to heaven, leaving their clothes as empty as their minds. More extreme specimens actually long for a world war, which they identify as the 'Armageddon' that is to presage the Second Coming.

The Biggest Reason I Like SEO

I like SEO not for its commercial application, but for the idea that you can help other people who dealt with some of the same problems you dealt with, and that you can help give a voice to people who might otherwise not have much of one.

I also like how a bit of knowledge sorta levels the playing field quite a bit.

Although the large commercial forces biasing search are going to make it increasingly harded to be heard unless you are really really passionate about what you are saying and can make others passionate about actively spreading your message.

Boring Jobs are Exciting

So today I spoke with a person who had a quite boring job. He acted like a true jerk when we first met, but I acted as though I was interested in his job, and within a few minutes the guy was kind to me.

I spoke to another guy today about what type of work I did. He thought I was a bit closed off, but when I started speaking about what I do and how it works he said I was quite animated in nature.

One of the easiest ways to seem interesting to other people is to be (or act) interested in what they do and what they are interested in. As social creatures we all have a need for a sense of empathy and purpose.

Meeting People is Easy

Quote from the inside cover of Meeting People is Easy

If you have been rejected many times in your life, then one more rejection isn't going to make much difference. If you're rejected, don't automatically assume it's your fault. The other person may have several reasons for not doing what you are asking her to do: none of it may have anything to do with you. Perhaps the person is busy or not feeling well or genuinely not interested in spending time with you. Rejections are part of everyday life. Don't let them bother you. Keep reaching out to others. Keep reaching out to others. When you begin to receive positive responses then you are on the right track. It's all a matter of numbers. Count the positive responses and forget about the rejections.

That movie is about Radiohead becoming famous and touring themselves into emptiness (and showing how they rejected the fame and how their version of reality on a long tour was way different than that which the media painted).

Manikins Without Clothing

My hair was going past my eyes, and I got a meeting of some sorts this week which made me feel like I should get a hair cut. I don't normally go to the mall much, but I went today for a quick hair cut.

When walking through the mall I noticed some store had cheesy manikins of ultra buff guys not wearing shirts, but having them neatly folded into a small square on their shoulders.

What the hell is that all about?

The Illegitimacy of Evil & All About My Logo

I didn't even realize that evil was in my site logo here....I forgot all about it, until we recently had a great thread at TW about evil.

What does my logo mean?

I think the logo implies the notion that reductionism and viewing the world (and things within it) in terms of black and white or good vs evil is in and of itself pretty evil.

What is Truly Evil?

The only thing in the world that is truly evil is describing things you are ignorant to as being evil. The creation of the word evil is in and of itself nothing more than a means to absolve oneself from guilt associated with ones deeds. Labeling something as evil gives us permission to perform massive acts of atrocity onto others without remorse or guilt.

Why a Penguin?

Penguins are animals that are typically portrayed as cute and cuddly, but are animals that most people know little about.

Why Red?

Red is the color most primitively associated with fear and / or death, from my understanding.

Why the Spelling Errors?

I think many people in leadership positions try to portray a certain level of ignorance to allow them to squirm out of accountability when they get caught with their hands in the cookie jar.

I also think their use of the word evil is typically inappropriately applied most times.

Why Nuclear

The penguin being nuclear and a terrorist has a couple different meanings to it as well.

The first and most basic level is that I was a nuclear reactor operator and know quite a bit about nuclear power.

The second is that I think the US government labels people or things which they fear as terrorists or evil so that they can mislead the general populous into not caring about all the screwed up things we do to others.

The third thing is that I think organized religions and the United States, through the use of this deceptive manipulation of their members and citizens, teach them to fear anything outside of that which they understand, and the quest for imperial power has allowed the United States to become the largest terrorist organization in the world.

A nice quote for the United States and religion:

When the Second World War
Came to an end
We forgave the Germans
And we were friends
Though they murdered six million
In the ovens they fried
The Germans now too
Have God on their side.

The fourth is that if you drop bombs on other people nearly every day and have a stockpile of nuclear weapons who are you to judge others for what they do? At the very least collecting all those nuclear weapons and maintaining them costs your own society a large sum of time, effort, and money that could go into creating a better society by trying to educate them instead of spending money to teach them to be afraid.

Why the Transparency at the Footing of the Penguin?

It is rather transparent how manipulative many organizations are. As long as it is not regulated to death I think the web will undermine much of the corruption in the world by making many markets far more efficient and making it easy to become educated...being ignorant will become more of a conscious choice rather than a state of society.

While the web will kill many forms of fraud and manipulation it will also breed new types of it.

Large Organizations Are Shady:

The bigger your organization is the more inefficiency it creates. This means as an organization grows it has to "stand for" more things to have enough resources to stay powerful and grow.

The problem with that are:

• that there are unintended consequences to any change
  
• evolving technology means that large organizations are not necessary to cause large change
  
• as an organization grows in scope it is harder to deliver clear messages to all members of the organization
  
• in hopes of creating clear messages that will spread many organizations use reductionism and keep things ultra general. This causes many members to miss the purpose or fully evaluate many criteria in deciding how correct the organizations are.
  
• As organizations grow rich or powerful corrupt ambitious people will be drawn toward them.
  
• Many organizations end up having a net end effect opposite to their original goal.

The larger an organization grows the more they have to put self interest and growth ahead of actually improving the world, and thus the less you should trust them as a credible information source...and that advice is coming from an individual who has been lucky enough to have far more influence than he would most likely prefer.

Nobody really reads this site, but some of my other sites have many readers and I have worked for some of the largest corporations in the world and I find that so perplexing. The world is a confusing place. Not an evil place...just a confusing one.

Genius in Hiding

Its always funny to read how brilliant one of your friends is for doing something when you gave the friend the idea or did a good amount of the work but did not tell others. It makes me giggle...and wonder, if the person knew that was my idea would they have just wrote that the person who did it was a genius? In the most recent case I am thinking about I think the answer to that last question would have been no.

Not surprisingly a friend who I did this sort of work for told me they trust very few people, but I was one of them that they did trust.

It also reminds me of another guy who used to be a bit of an asshole to me. I never let him being mean to me get in the way of recommending him if I thought he would provide good services for someone. At the last conference I went to a person came up to me and told me they were doing work with the guy on a big campaign due to my recommendation.

I was wondering why the guy I recommended a while ago went from indifferent or not liking me to treating me nicely a year or two ago, but maybe getting him that large contract was part of it?

The thing is, in this industry there is far more demand than quality service, I don't think it hurts to help build up others business models as more often than not they will help you increase your marketshare and mindshare.

Back to the genius thing... I am not saying I think I am one of the smartest people in the world, but I think most people are geniuses...just at different topics.

Some people are good at SEO, others are good at writing, others are good at manipulating people. The world is a competitive place. No matter what you do strive to be great at it. Strive to be a topical genius.

Brilliant Song

I usually like music that is about being sad, depressed, or isolated, but kudos to Clap Your Hands Say Yeah for making a song about being different that is highly uplifting and totally happy. Even cooler is that he uses a crackely sounding voice that really emphasis the point and purpose of the change and hope in the song.

The Skin Of My Yellow Country Teeth

Once - The dogs have quit their barking
"Son," - my neighbor said to me.
"Know the emptiness of talking blue the same old sheep."
Run - I'll do no more this walking
Haunted by a past I just can't see
Anymore
Anymore

But let me tell you I have never planned
To let go of the hand that has been
Clinging by its thick country skin
To my yellow country teeth
To my yellow country teeth

Far - Far away from West Virginia
I - Will try on New York City
Explaining that the sky holds the
Wind the sun rushes in and a child
With a shotgun can shoot down
Honeybees that sting
But this boy could use a little sting

Who - Will get me to a party?
Who - Do I have yet to meet?
You - You look a bit like coffee
And you taste a bit like me
How - Can I keep me from moving?
Now - I need a change of scenery
Just listen to me I won't pretend to
Understand the movement of the wind
Or the waves out in the ocean or how
Like the hours I change softly slowly
Plainly blindly oh me oh my!

They got to be pretty popular pretty quickly with little marketing and just a few good reviews. Crazy that their writer typically writes for 8 or 9 hours a day AFTER work each day.

Daft Punk at Coachella

When I went to Coachella in 2004 my favorite band to see was not Radiohead or the Pixies...it was Basement Jaxx. And I never would have been sure how cool they were unless I saw them.

This year I gave away my Coachella ticket (what am I thinking) and it turned out one of the really suprisingly cool acts was Daft Punk.

I don't know what I think of live blogging events like concerts but some people have blogged about them.

• cool photo from last night
• video from last night - poor audio quality, but check out the crowd reaction
• past video

And then you get free market analysis

Daft Punk's music has, IMO, an advantage over other electronic acts in terms of appealing to mainstream audiences, and I think this advantage is based on their simplicity. Yes, Daft Punk makes simple, 4/4 based music which rarely strays from the techno/house framework. They do, however, bring a lot of personality and texture to the music, giving it an advanteage over more austere techno acts. But ultimately, I think Daft Punk may be more successful in terms of crossover appeal than other, less orthodox dance acts just because their music is so damnedly simple and primal. I'm convinced that dance music, at its core, is universally appealing, and that only the weird socialization of American culture under the dominance of record companies prevents dance music from being more popular here.

I don't think most people can tell the difference between ad and content, but what people are talking about also leads to additional searches and purchases.

Coachella Sold Out

So I bought an onsite camping pass and a two day pass to Coachella, but due to recently taking on working with one of the largest websites lack the time to go.

I gave my $200 worth of tickets to a friend. Turns out the concert sold out and the camping pass is going for $200 on eBay while the day 1 ticket is going for $80 and the day 2 ticket is going for over $300.

Had I been more of a ticket scalper type that would have been a killer investment...a 200% return. If you would know that they would sell out buying 4 extra would pay for the cost of your ticket, a hotel room, rental car, and the round trip flight.

The thing is I feel like I am close to doing really well, to getting to a point where I can really start saving cash. I sorta want to move, and I would love to buy my mom a house. I could already put down a solid down payment on one, but want to make at least $10,000 a month outside of client work (which is going exceptionally well right now) or work related to my single most profitable channel (which also is going stupid good).

Right now I could lose my reputation and my most profitable channels and still pay the cost of living with my other stuff easily, but I want to be to a point to where I can hook up my mom and have it so money will never be an issue. It might take another year or two of focus, but being able to be semi retired before the age of 30 when I was suicidally depressed and almost bankrupt at the age of 23 sure has an appealing ring to it.

One of my friends just quit his full time job to become a minion / partner of mine. One of our sites makes about $1 a day per page. If we can scale that out to 500 or 1,000 pages, even if the revenue is cut in half that is still $7,500 to $15,000 a month in revenue off of one channel.

I am hoping to go to Bonnaroo this year still. I should buy a plane ticket quick.

Coachella Sold Out

So I bought an onsite camping pass and a two day pass to Coachella, but due to recently taking on working with one of the largest websites lack the time to go.

I gave my $200 worth of tickets to a friend. Turns out the conference sold out and the camping pass is going for $200 on eBay while the day 1 ticket is going for $80 and the day 2 ticket is going for over $300.

Had I been more of a ticket scalper type that would have been a killer investment...a 200% return. If you would know that they would sell out buying 4 extra would pay for the cost of your ticket, a hotel room, and the round trip flight.

The thing is I feel like I am close to doing really well, to getting to a point where I can really start saving cash. I sorta want to move, and I would love to buy my mom a house. I could already put down a solid down payment on one, but want to make at least $10,000 a month outside of client work (which is going exceptionally well right now) or work related to my single most profitable channel (which also is going stupid good).

Right now I could lose my reputation and my most profitable channels and still pay the cost of living with my other stuff easily, but I want to be to a point to where I can hook up my mom and have it so money will never be an issue. It might take another year or two of focus, but being able to be semi retired before the age of 30 when I was suicidally depressed and almost bankrupt at the age of 23 sure has an appealing ring to it.

One of my friends just quit his full time job to become a minion / partner of mine. One of our sites makes about $1 a day per page. If we can scale that out to 500 or 1,000 pages, even if the revenue is cut in half that is still $7,500 to $15,000 a month in revenue off of one channel.

I am hoping to go to Bonnaroo this year still. I should buy a plane ticket quick.

How Expensive is it to Learn? Why Must Charities Spam?

giveto.psu.edu/AnnualFund/LionLine/

So a few thoughts...

Love the words "One of the premiere calling centers in the nation"... they almost make cold calling sound prestigious.

My roommate gets cheaper in state tuition, put extra into the GI bill, and it did not cover his college costs. WTF is that? And why must the college cold call to be adequately funded?

Why must charities punish those who give to them by spamming them. Sure it is nice to hear the cause, but it is frustrating to give to charities only to get cold called frequently or direct mail pieces ever month. I know I am giving what I want to give right now, and that the frequent direct mail pieces to me are just causing money to be wasted instead of going where I wanted to.

Arg, Where is the Number 9?

So I like to think I do many things at random. It is not uncommon for me to make up words (or meanings), or just throw ad copy out there without much thought. It amazes me to see others use, emulate, or extend it because so little of what I do is calculated.

This wasn't the example I was thinking of that prompted me to write this post, but just a few hours after I read this thread
http://www.highrankings.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=21007&st=45
which not only mentions me, but uses a term I popularlized in the SEO community, "asshat". hehehe

Cowbells...

are not cool.

Don't tell yourself that they are.

Today: Fetish Porn, Tomorrow?

I just had a guy take a while to contact me for a consult. Lots of back and forth. Finally start a chat and then boom - out of nowhere - my monitor has the words fetish porn at the top of it. I think there was poop or something on the screen...didn't stay long enough to be certain. Yet again tabbed browsing saved the day as I quickly surfed away saying doah!

So much of what I do is applicable across many industries, but I don't want my job to require me to look at porn. Not that looking at porn is inherently evil, but as long as I am young, smart, and solo I really should look at self improvement and social interactivity if I want more sex in my life.

What is even more odd here is that the person said I came highly recommended from an adult webmaster forum. How odd is it that I am getting free marketing from religious forums and pornography forums at the same time?

Solving Problems vs Symptoms

Economic models seem to me to be built around greater profitability in subscription based solving of symptoms instead of solving problems. How do you create something that is financially viable that solves problems over symptoms?

Public Humiliation

In Florida one strike and you are out

Some motorists convicted of DUI would be required to buy bright-colored license plates that identify them as drunken-driving offenders, under a bill that passed a key committee in the Legislature Wednesday.

A similar bill failed to pass the Legislature in 2004, but the current legislation may have better luck because some of its language has been tweaked, said state Rep. Ari Porth, a Coral Springs Democrat.

The 2004 bill would have allowed police officers to pull over cars with the DUI license plates, even if the officers had no probable cause for a traffic stop.

I actually first got on the web thinking I wanted to create T shirts to label something I did not like after it fucked me over and labeled me.

I think one of the things that really hurts with marketing is that most of it teaches you that you are hollow or not good enough...to spur up artificial demand for things that in then end hurt you when you fulfil the short term artificial demand for their garbage they planted in your mind...starting before you were even old enough to realize what they were doing. Surely techniques like public humiliation will only work further to make people feel like a shell of their former selves. It took me until the age of 26 to unlearn much of the bullshit I learned growing up.

My Fundamental Web Business Thesis

Ultimately most people working on the web are going to get squeezed as marketing inefficiencies get taken care of.

Why not create many doorways to your personality so people with similar interests can find you? Why not work for clients that you can be passionate about? Imagine if every new client was your favorite person to work with.

Cause vs Symptom

I think marketers and the whole machinery of business in general push people to solve symptoms rather than problems.

Symptoms are easy to cover up or solve quickly and changing them / covering them up often requires little or no fundamental change in lifestyle. Plus if you keep the person's fundamental flaws in place then you ensure demand for a subscription for your half solution.

People are also willing to pay a premium to shift blame. That drug did not help me. That diet does not work.

Who has more money to spend on marketing? The person who can fix an embarrassing problem by suggesting fundamental life changes that cause the change, or a person selling a half assed mask that paints over symptoms and requires the equivalent of a subscription to maintain.

I sometimes think this way about many psychotropic drugs on the market, and many marketing tools, but I also think this about being overweight. Me being overweight is not really the problem, but it is a symptom of an unbalanced sedentary lifestyle coupled with poor diet.

The value of good life changing advice is hard to put a price on, and perhaps that is part of the reason it is typically so cheap in cost relative to bogus quick fixes and scam subscriptions.

Chargeback dispute settled in your favor

I didn't know this ever happened, but someone bought my ebook and tried doing a chargeback on their credit card.

There are so many things that are dumb about that which I don't understand:

• If people ask for a refund I typically give a prompt one without requesting more information (often in less than 5 minutes)
  
• and they would get that quicker than they would get a chargeback (say an average of an hour vs 10 days)
  
• someone just tried a chargeback and it did not work

Going forward if people do chargebacks I may as well wait them out because I think most of the people doing them are not honest, so they can wait for their money. Plus if they win their chargeback it costs you not only the purchase cost (which is arbitrary and should be returned if they truely don't like the product), but also some fee or penalty - usually around $10. It always feels foul knowing that some scumbag has decided to steal $10 from my bank account for stealing my business model.

Me winning an occasional bogus chargeback is refreshing as it helps make up for other sleaze customers trying to rip me off.

I don't doubt that some of the stuff might be real, but I am readily available. It is not that hard to contact me.

The Publishing Business Model

clicks = traffic
traffic = eyeballs
eyballs = reach
reach = viewers
viewers = page views
page views = ad impressions
ad impressions = clicks
clicks = money

Making a Million Dollars this Year?

I am not quite at that level yet, but I used to associate lots of money with being evil, but looking at how much some people give back, maybe I should start being a bit more aggressive on the profit front.

I just talked to someone from the Economist this weekend AND got an email from one of the most prestigious news sites that said:

I write for _________, and have been poking around the SEO world, where you are, of course, legendary. I had some questions I wanted to chat about; is there a number I can reach you at?

I think I am sorta past the tipping point, and if I don't leverage my current market position a bit more aggressively I should be disappointed.

I really need to add an about page to my other website.

Perceptions of Reality

I know both of these people well enough to think that neither of them think they are lying, but this story and that one sound a lot different from one another.

What does either gain by continuing the garbage?

Convergence

So a friend of mine who has been an internet marketer for about twice as long as I have has been changing his business model, to consolidate his efforts. He tells me the changes are largely inspired by me.

At the same time I find myself thinning out being more like he was. Weird that, eh?

Too Much of an Idealist

So I have spoke with multiple different friends recently who both mentioned how other businesses rip people off and how their businesses are at least better than the competition.

I am not sure if I get that. Longterm does it make any sense to compare yourself to shit or scams to justify your actions?

Part of the reason why I am a bad business person is that I tend to undervalue my time and have a rather low self esteem. The other bit, which certainly makes for an odd combination, is that I am an idealist. The low self esteem combined with being an idealist makes me think that I am ALWAYS below standard in almost anything I do.

That is why it has been so critical for me to largely work for myself. If I am going to feel that things are never good enough I should ensure that I am directly compensated for overworking myself.

Selfish Marketing Sleeze

Got in contact with some real fucktards recently via email.

One asshole wished me a merry Christmas and then sent me what was nearly a press release about my needing to check out and promote his software.

Stock trading spam and blog comment spammers are on the prowl.

Another guy reminded me that I should join his SEO forum.

Then sites like Gimpsy send you 20 promote your sites emails on Christmas Eve and Christmas.

Selfish ignorant automated greed marketing...I mention it to remind myself not to become it / not to do it.

Fake Pictures & Real Lies

Wow she is so pretty...sorta

Wow this guy is honest...sorta

With all the lies that are coming out now imagine how bad it would be if the full story about Bush came out.

I Wouldn't Recommend It...

So I talked to a hotel person. Told them I was going to a conference days a through f.

The hotel was sold out during those dates. So then the person asked me if I was flexible with my days.

I said no.

They then recommended a hotel about 6 blocks away.

I asked if any were closer and she said "none that I would recommend. the Essex is ratty with holes in the carpet, etc."

I booked the Essex...will let you know how it goes :)

Marketing takes all kinds

got a great instant message today

Hello,,well my name is peggy from US, 5'0fth tall single heart broken.i help a friend who is a wedding planner.i lost my mom in a car accident 2yrs ago while i was in usa two years ago..came to gerogia after i lost my mom.i have a sis she is in Last Vegas but a drug adict.do you like to know about the recently heart broken that i had I am sorry to tell you that really you sound so caring and i believe if we work in hand things are gon get on fine beetween us. but as i have said about my heart broken recently. it as brought me in sadness i cry everyday praying that one day i will get overthis.Thanks for contacting me and showing some intrest in me.when i went through ur profile i really liked it and found both of us %99 compatible,the only %1 missing is that right now am not home.am stucked

You Have to Love Automated Workers

> I manage new quality web sites, I would like to offer you
> link exchange with your web site: http://www.seobook.com
>
> buy-ultram.org
> cialis-drugstore.net
> cipro-aid.com
> fioriset-usa.net
> forgetpain.net
> levitra-4men.com
> phentermine-us.net
> diflucan-online.com
> buy-phenterprin.us

My Reply
links added fucktwit

and his reply back
Hello,

Please send me URL where I can find my link.

Best regards,
James Wood

Shaddy Cabbies in Las Vegas

It goes without saying that some of the cabbies in Las Vegas are shady, but I met a shady one ;)

My friends and I got in the cab and the cabbie instantly asked us if we wanted to go to a strip club (at about 6 PM), rattling off over a dozen of them before we got dropped off. He said that the strip clubs give the cabbies $30 - $70 for each head dropped off at the club. He offered to give us a free ride to a strip club and buy our first lap dances if we let him drop us off.

He also said he could send a girl up to our room and he would get a cut on the action.

He also said make sure you call me as he handed my friend his number before we got out of his shademobile. We never did, but I can't believe how forward that cabbie was.

I liked far more the one who thought I made peanut butter.

Calling Out Authority

Sometimes it is not good to say negative stuff about others, but if nobody calls out people that are doing hyper aggressive self promo marketing then that leads to bad stuff. I don't feel guilty for the following post:

I am not so certain I can agree with Ken's recent posts. To me it
seems like the real message he thinks everyone is missing is the
sales pitch deep inside the post.

I can't agree that he can personally control the spider visits,
re-visits, indexing, and ranking for over 10,000 sites. He may have
that many customers (or host that many sites), but he does not
control the search spiders. They run on their own crawl schedules.
If he is artifically trying to control and bait those spiders across
a network of 10,000 sites well then that is NOT working WITH the
engines.

I too could post that with the obvious trends in search my book is 5
years ahead of it's time and that SEO will be defined by whatever I
say, but it would be naive.

Quotes like "SBI! actually sells itself." would have a bit more
credibility if they were not part of self promotional posts.

Giving Away 1,000's of Free Ebooks

So I got a phone call from a person who wanted me to help him give away thousands of free ebook. He told me he knew nothing about the web though.

I asked him how he got all those free ebooks without knowing anything about the web, and he stated he got them from free bonuses in spam email.

I told him there was a 0% chance of me helping anyone market email spam, and by creating a site that gave away that stuff he would be marketing email spam, since most email spam freebies come with spyware or rippoff hidden gems like bogus affiliate recommendations.

He kept emphasizing volume, and I kept saying "right, lots of garbage." Sometimes I wonder if I am a bit too blunt with some people, but I think sometimes you have to be, especially when they don't get that promoting scammers = promoting scammers.

A few sentences that help change the way I think can be worth thousands, but volumes of text promoted by sleeze marketing is not going to do anyone any favors. It's part of the reason blogs are cool. Subscribe to the channels you want and usually get the content you want.

I think I hate email spam almost as much as telemarketers.

Right Place Right Time

From DS:

Aaron Wall over at SEO Book notes today that there's not a lot of focus on SEO in the book, and that's true. The history of search marketing and the search marketing industry essentially revolves around the Florida update of 2003 (named not as the book says for the hurricanes to hit Florida that year but for the WebmasterWorld conference planned to hit the state a few months later) and how many webmasters woke up to the fact they couldn't expect a free ride on Google.

Google Update Florida is when I first started getting well known. Pure luck in the timing, but I won't complain!

Right Place Right Time

From DS:

Aaron Wall over at SEO Book notes today that there's not a lot of focus on SEO in the book, and that's true. The history of search marketing and the search marketing industry essentially revolves around the Florida update of 2003 (named not as the book says for the hurricanes to hit Florida that year but for the WebmasterWorld conference planned to hit the state a few months later) and how many webmasters woke up to the fact they couldn't expect a free ride on Google.

Google Update Florida is when I first started getting well known. Pure luck in the timing, but I won't complain!

Right Place Right Time

From DS:

Aaron Wall over at SEO Book notes today that there's not a lot of focus on SEO in the book, and that's true. The history of search marketing and the search marketing industry essentially revolves around the Florida update of 2003 (named not as the book says for the hurricanes to hit Florida that year but for the WebmasterWorld conference planned to hit the state a few months later) and how many webmasters woke up to the fact they couldn't expect a free ride on Google.

Google Update Florida is when I first started getting well known. Pure luck in the timing, but I won't complain!

When As Pictured is Less

So normally when you order food from a fast food chain no matter what the menu looks like the actual food you get looks worse. That is just the way it is.

Recently I got a milk shake as pictured and felt cheated. Why? Normally Denny's gives you the milkshake in a cup and a spare metal container with more milkshake. I think the waiters correctly associate more milkshake with a bigger tip. Thus when a person gives you what is pictured you feel cheated...even though it was just you get getting extra for free in the past.

Here I use the word you as in me :)

When HTTP is a Bad Word

So there are some fucking scumbag blogspammers that went so far as to register domains like drive.to and go.to etc etc etc.

To block those domains I would have to block those phrases (and some of the phrases are rather common), so I said fuck it, http is now a bad word. Anyone who tries to post full URLs to this site will be SOL, and their post will not go through.

I removed the URL input box, which makes it hard for a human to input a URL. Best of luck spambots. I also am aware that if they are willing to change the letters to an html coding equivalent of the letters HTTP there are 255 additional ways to write http. If those start to get exploited I will fix that too, but no more blogspam on this blog for me.

I could have upgraded to a newer version of the blog software to stop the spam, but it seems morally reprehensible for me to spend another $300 upgrading software from people who sold me software with holes in it, when the only upgrade I would be really needing was for them to fix the original holes in the software.

Automated Markets

So a person wanted me to call them to sell them ad space. When I called they told me they had no ad dollars to market their system, but that it is best of breed. Yawn.

They went on to tell me that the system is automated. I asked who placed the trades. Was it computer algorithms? Was it humans?

They told me they were not sure.

Sometimes I feel I do not have my ducks in a row, but how do you ask others to promote your business when you can't even explain how the area you are chosing to highlight works?

Garbage Junk Mail...Website Listing Service Corp - ListingCorp.com

So there are ton of middlemen in the interent industry & business community who try to charge you a fee / tax for your ignorance, or service fee that is IMHO hard to justify.

I remember a long time ago I got a spam mail bill looking thing for $47.50 from www.listingcorp.com

I guess this company sends mail to people who register domains, offering domain submission to search engines (which is done naturally if you just get some quality links pointing at your site).

I find it funny that they sent this mail to me for a domain name about search marketing...it must be nearly 100% automated.

I don't see how they can justify the fee or what exactly the 8 keywords / phrases submission deal is. Seems like uncolicited marketing and probably worth staying away from in my opinion.

What makes it seem even sketchier is that a similar operation with similar page copy (but a different address) comes from Internet Listing Service - ILSCorp.net.

ILSCorp.net ILS Corp ...Garbage Junk Mail?

So there are ton of middlemen in the interent industry & business community who try to charge you a fee / tax for your ignorance, or service fee that is IMHO hard to justify.

I remember a long time ago I got a spam mail bill looking thing for $35 from www.ilscorp.net

I guess this company sends mail to people who register domains, offering domain submission to search engines (which is done naturally if you just get some quality links pointing at your site).

I find it funny that they sent this mail to me for a domain name about search marketing...it must be nearly 100% automated.

I don't see how they can justify the fee or what exactly the 8 keywords / phrases submission deal is. Seems like uncolicited marketing and probably worth staying away from in my opinion.

What makes it seem even sketchier is that a similar operation with similar page copy (but a different address) comes from Listing Corp - ListingCorp.com.

United States Trademark Protection Agency...Garbage Junk Mail?

So there are ton of middlemen in the interent industry & business community who try to charge you a fee / tax for your ignorance, or service fee that is IMHO hard to justify.

I remember a long time ago I got a spam mail bill looking thing for $395 from www.ustrademarkwatch.com

I guess this company sends mail to people who pay for a trademark, which costs around the same amount, but they charge that fee to monitor your trademark.

Does it really matter if people register similar trademarks? Probably not, especially if they operate in different trades or industry. If someone registers a similar trademark in your industry and they are activley marketing that company then odds are pretty strong that you are going to notice it without needing someone else to tell you about it.

I don't see how they try to justify charging $395 a year for this service.

Trademark Safeguard / Trademark Monitoring Service... Garbage Junk Mail?

So there are ton of middlemen in the interent industry & business community who try to charge you a fee / tax for your ignorance, or service fee that is IMHO hard to justify.

I remember a long time ago I got a spam mail bill looking thing for $375 from www.trademarksafeguard.com

I guess this company sends mail to people who pay for a trademark, which costs around the same amount...$375, but they charge that fee to monitor your trademark.

Does it really matter if people register similar trademarks? Probably not, especially if they operate in different trades or industry. If someone registers a similar trademark in your industry and they are activley marketing that company then odds are pretty strong that you are going to notice it without needing someone else to tell you about it.

The message I got also said that in addition to tracking similar trademark registrations it also looks for the .com .net .biz .org and .info domain name registrations, but I think that generally is irrelevant. I mean you can buy all of them for what $50 a year, and again, even if someone registers a similar URL that is probably not going to be illegal and expensive to prove guilt on anyhow.

I don't see how they try to justify charging $375 a year for this service.

Artist Share - Online Music Store

Buy music online - they actually never asked for that link in any way, but they provide an interesting service, helping artists sell the creative process around the music to increase fan loyalty and profit margins. smart.

15 Seconds of Fame

So the internet acts / reacts quicker than the real world. It seems right now I am sorta experiencing my 15 seconds of fame.

So many things I could do, so many things I can say, but I sit quietly and wonder what to do or say.

When Not to Answer a Question

So I get a ton of emails and a ton of questions. I answer most of them even though some of them are not in my best interest to answer.

I am not just talking in terms of money...like more on issues of time, and answering some questions can only hurt you timewise, reputationwise, marketing, and / or monitarily.

Does it make me a bad person if I become a bit more selective in what emails I should reply to? Where is the line between what I should reply to and what I should not? Again I am not saying "I want more money" or whatever is a good basis for answering emails, but some offers are a bit unsavory or you can bet their is a great chance your words will be used against you that hurt other marketing avenues if you reply honestly.

Reputation managment on a large social network where you sell your thoughts is a bit harder than some might give it credit for being.

Jury Duty Exemption & What a Society Feels is Important

So I got a jury duty letter in the mail today. Not sure what to think about that. I don't like many of our laws, and have absolutely zero faith in the legal system.

I have been traveling a bit, and have not looked, but hopefully I do not have much planned in October...just in case.

Intersting to see that some public services (such as military or emergency response) get a waiver from having to participate. Also if you are uber old, or are taking care of a really young or really old person between normal jury hours you are exempt too.

If a commercial enterprise would sink if you were not there to run it that is exempt. I sorta am wondering what defines that. In an attention market a month away from the web could seriously undermine the financial stability of many webmasters. I did not try to throw that card though as I feel it is a bit sleezy for me to do that since I knowingly take days off here and there.

I also found it interesting that students and teachers get a free pass as well. While officially I am neither, surely I have been learning more than most students do, and generally in a more focused manner. I have had many professors contact me about my ebook I sell. In that sense I surely help some teachers teach, but of course I have no official position since the field in which I work is so new and undefined that I have wrote one of the more credible pieces of literature on the topic after only a few years of exposure.

The history books are rewrote from people's interpritations of past works and events before their time, but by simply recording many public documents and how they change over time you can probably get a good feel of many of the larger changes in societal norms and beliefs.

Market Efficiency & Making a More Functional World

Sometimes they screw up, as all people and companies do, but in general Google's existance makes markets more efficient.

I try to teach people about said markets while actively learning myself. Certainly I have done well, and those I have worked for have done well, but I sometimes wonder if the advice I give helps people get away with being more lazy and promoting more garbage OR if it helps them make markets more efficient.

I hope the later of the two is occuring, although I have no way to guarantee it.

OTH Keyword Research Data - Looking Into My Shady Past...

So today I bought a subscription to Keyword Intelligence. Keyword Intelligence tracks actual searches which occured in the last 3 months.

I, being narcissistic, searched for my own name. People are searching for the following:

oth navy re-4 aaron wall
aaron wall oth

which I find exceptionally funny. :)
I can't believe people care enough to search for that. Sorta feels reality TV ish...to know that people are actively researching my past.

Want to Fuck? Automated Instant Message Conversations... Another Reason Real Voices Have More Value

[13:44] void_lisa: zi... anyone there?
[13:44] awall19: no
[13:44] void_lisa: oh your there :) hi...
[13:45] void_lisa: a/s/l (age sex loocation)?
[13:45] void_lisa: im 27/f/USA. was lookin at your profile. thought you might like to chat.
[13:46] void_lisa: so what hafe you been up to awall19?
[13:46] awall19: where is your website
[13:46] void_lisa: cool. i was just hangin out watching tv. i was ggetting kinda horny :) (*blushes)
[13:47] awall19: rock on
[13:47] awall19: pay site or what
[13:47] void_lisa: feel like a little cyber funn with me ? please please...
[13:47] awall19: absolutely
[13:47] void_lisa: i think ill just takke that as a yes... being as that im starting to get real horny here.. lol ok?
[13:47] awall19: no doubt
[13:47] awall19: i like skat porn
[13:47] void_lisa: oh well your loss. why dont you open up my profile and see what you missed out on. theres a link there to my homepage where i have some real nice pics to leave withh.

They could have made that algorithm / response sequence much smarter.

Ethics & Marketing

I used to be ethical, right up until I realized it was a marketing scam.

Most people claiming to be ethical marketers are lying scum trying to steal money from the naive. Or at least it seems that way in the SEO marketplace.

When Price No Longer Matters

We are taught to value money. Do this to save a dollar. Do that to...save a dollar.

A friend gave me a $1,000 gift certificate for Amazon. That is more money than I give my sister for her birthday and Christmas.

I bought about 60 items and could not even spend the full $1,000. Will I get to all the items? Hopefully. I may not though. And that becomes apparent as I get more good deals and am given more gifts, that price eventually stops mattering. With a limited lifespan and a decent business model the value of attention becomes a far greater expense than cost in dollars.

I think the concept of price not mattering is something many good marketers and product designers try to tap into. You can't make something for everyone without it being shit.

You want to target people with adequate desire to do spend extra and do your marketing for you.

In the past I felt guilty about buying expensive things - a trait learned from my mother. I have since changed my philosophy though. What price is the right price for happiness? Can you place a dollar amount on that?

You can't buy happiness, but you can make certain portions of your life more convenient or easier or interesting. In doing that - in lacking some petty stresses of life or the boredom repetion brings - in actually doing whatever makes you happy you are far more inclined to be productive. To be able to produce effective results.

Productivity is an arbitrary measure which deprives us of life because it always states that you could do better. In the navy, for example average meant that you were a piece of shit. Even outstanding was only average because it was expected. Even though when you got that rating there were still many less than subtle hints that you were viewed as a scumbag. But I digress.

What I am trying to say is lets say I feed a couple poor African kids and pay to build a few houses in third world countries. The money I spent buying random crap from Amazon could have went to do more good like that, but at the end of the day if I am happier my mind will be more receptive to learning, and my profits will likely increase. On that front I no longer feel guilty about spending money even if I feel I get more than I deserve.

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Death, Hate, & Anonymous Blog Comments

Well I hit a nerve with some people with my other blog.

Everyone who is pissed says so anonymously.

What is funny is how far people will go to state what a horrific pers