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Category: News

  • Lethal Commission Review or How to Get Rich on the Internet

    anik singal scamI am a man of simple pleasures. I love Internet marketing, terribly bad action films, and stunt queens. So when I learned of Anik Singal’s Lethal Commission I knew I had to watch it.

    What is Lethal Commission? From its trailer it is dubbed as the world’s first full-length Internet marketing movie. In actuality it is the most meta-tastic and downright embarrassing way to sell a product I’ve ever seen. To save myself some keystrokes, let’s just bypass the incoherent plot (involving a portly Indian spy stopping some sort of third-world Paypal thievery) and get into the meat and potatoes of what Singal is selling this time around.

    Lethal Commission is the latest version of Singal’s affiliate marketing software. For those of you not in the know, affiliate marketing is a form of revenue sharing that pays commissions for referred business. I personally don’t even care if the software (which promises to help you get thousands of new site visitors and large sums of money) works – the effort to make a movie this gauche for it is so astounding I find it all perfectly acceptable.

    How could I not? He’s an online “multi-millionaire” who swindling Internet-savvy autistics out of their disability checks through self-glorifying movies that would make the Troma guys wince. It’s pure malevolent genius. I honestly envy Singal for thinking outside of the spam box. Though based on his previous attempts at sell his software (see Commission Domination, Profit Jackpot, and numerous others), I suspect he had help pimping out his software this time around:
    anik singal

    Oh don’t get me started on the various accolades which Singal presents as “proof of concept”. When he’s not flashing his 2010 tax returns, he’s boasting about the number of indexed pages which mention him. I swear dude should have just said “Google me” – because Google is now the authenticator of all things true on the Intertubes. It’s just too bad he didn’t Google himself or Singal would have realized the third result on the page indicates he is admittedly “so full of $#!+”.

    I will never be surprised by the lengths people will go to get rich. There are hundreds if not thousands of people actively trying to sell the public useless junk online (my personal favorite is Sheryl “NO FEAR Millionaire” Walker). If anything, this is a cautionary tale for Internet entrepreneurs – don’t drink your own Koolaid. If you are hoping to get rich off the Internet through gullible dreamers, you should really take a look at the B-roll footage first.

    Thanks to American rapper, actor, and television host, Alvin “Xzibit” Joiner for appearing in this post.

  • Influencer Profile: Alison Ruth

    A member of our Account Management team, Alison Ruth is a New Orleans native and always proud to swim home.  She graduated from Louisiana State University in Mass Communication and Advertising. Alison held positions in several industries from advertising agencies to non-profits to hospitality, but especially loves working in advertising and marketing. She considers herself a New Orleans food enthusiast and knows how to bake a pretty mean King Cake.

    So what do you find yourself doing around here? Any particular favorite aspects of the job?

    Most days I’m fighting to cross off every line on my To Do list (it’s a pretty great feeling when I actually do!). My number one priority is always keeping our clients’ SEO services on schedule and making sure their sites are reaching new heights on Google. I sometimes have to spend my days staring at spreadsheets for hours and trying to keep from going cross-eyed. It’s a tough job, but somebody’s go to do it!  Some of my favorite aspects include seeing the progression of a client’s rankings when we’ve put in the work for them, and being able to show them how valuable Internet marketing really is! Oh, and I also love the office on Fridays at approximately 5:00pm, thanks to fellow Influencer Joe Luft.

    Have you done any Internet or marketing work before working at SI? How’s the transition been so far?

    My education background is in advertising, and I’m a twenty-something who grew up with computers, so that should tell you something about my experience with the Interwebz. I’ve worked at small ad agencies and even a non-profit where I was the communcations manager and developed their social media presence quite a bit, so I like to think I know a thing or two about Internet marketing. SEO is definitely new-ish to me, but so far the transition has been pretty smooth.  I’m learning a lot about SEO and the people here are pretty cool!

    Working at SI is pretty dang fun, but be honest — what would you be doing all day if left to your own devices?

    When I think about an entire day with no responsibilities, a few things that come to mind (not necessarily in this order):
    1. Sleeping late
    2. Hanging out with my dog, Lila
    3. Facebooking
    4. Baking sweet delicacies
    5. Eating said sweet delicacies
    6. Exploring NOLA (yes, there are things about NOLA that even us natives are still discovering)
    7. Watching silly YouTube videos
    8. Tweeting about said YouTube videos
    9. Traveling the world
    10. Enjoying the company of family and friends
    11. Laughing

    Last, but certainly not least — if you were a traditional NOLA landmark, what NOLA landmark would you be?

    Maybe a lesser-known “landmark” but definitely a NOLA staple, I’d be Hansen’s Sno-Bliz on Tchoupitoulas Street, the creators of the first shaved ice machine. It may be November, but I’m a self-proclaimed snoball connoisseur and lover of all things sweet and syrupy year-round.  I’d probably devour a snoball in the middle of a snow storm (if we ever had one of those here), given the chance.
    Try one of my all-time favorites from your local snoball stand and it just might change your life:
    The classic: chocolate snoball stuffed (not topped) with vanilla soft-serve
    NOLA favorite: pralines and cream snoball topped with condensed milk

  • 5 For Friday — Links, Stories & Posts For Your Weekend

    Black Friday: 5 Apps That Make Bargain Shopping Easier — Mashable

    The holidays are upon us, and many businesses local and nationwide are gearing up for the Black Friday sales frenzy. Be a savvy shopper and utilize these handy applications in order to find the best deals, compare prices, check to see where your desired item is on sale in your area and more!

    How Groundbreaking Thinkers Spread Their Ideas — Inc.com

    If you’re an entrepreneur or just a savvy businessperson, you know that knowing how to think critically in order to generate out-of-the-box ideas is a vital skill. However, once you’ve come up with your brilliant pitch, how to you get your audience to come to you? Inc.com’s Jeff Haden has some key concepts to share about the simple logistics of getting your concepts out there and your audience engaged with the message.

    Photos Draw Most Facebook Interactions, Links Draw the Least — Small Business SEM

    When you’re busily engaging with your fans on Facebook and promoting your online presence, it seems that putting up photos will elicit the most response and engagement on your fans’ parts. Sharing links, however, is the weakest option and comparatively offers very little reward for the effort. The theory makes sense: visual stimulation is always a plus for getting attention, and with the new Facebook UI users can simply click on a posted picture to expand a gallery-style mini-window, eliminating the need to leave Facebook itself. Will you be putting more effort into curating your business’s photo gallery now?

    Google+ Rolls Out Trending Topics — Mashable

    With Google+ making huge strides in recovering their previously-drooping user base and opening up to the business sphere, it seems evident that they’ve taken a good, hard look at what other social networks are doing well. The introduction of trending topics, a list of the most popular and oft-discussed items on the social network, offers users an effortless peek into the most relevant news of the moment. Several other UI tweaks have been made as well — head over to Mashable to check it out!

    8 Tips to Maximize Your Branded Presence in the Google Local Search Results — Bluemnthals

    With the recent hubbub over a plethora of Google service redesigns, some may be wondering where to go from here with regard to getting themselves noticed in the local search sphere. Never fear! This handy guide is an excellent overview to making sure your business is front-and-center when searchers are looking for you.

  • Read This! — November 2011

    One of the main purposes of our weekly 5 For Friday posts is to highlight weekly news stories that are funny, idea-provoking or just plain interesting. In this brand-new blog series, we’ll be publishing a monthly roundup of links that directly pertain to you and your business. With these tips and tricks, you can promote your online presence and make your social media profiles sing. DIY tactics can have big results! Without further ado, check out these handy posts and articles:

    Build a Better Blog: 11 Valuable Tips to Successful Blogging
    Do you run a blog for your business? If not, you should consider it: fresh content is good for your site on a purely technical level, encouraging higher search engine rank and favorable results from site crawlers, and thoughtful discussion about your sphere of business engages your fans and provokes stimulating discussion. Click here to find out the 11 steps to a more productive and fruitful blogging career.

    3 Reasons Why You Should Be a Formulaic Blogger
    Decided to start a blog for your business? Great –but there’s the pesky question of what to write about. Read this informative piece to discover why “formulaic” isn’t always such a dirty word.

    12 Tips For Using Press Releases In Local Online Marketing
    Press releases can be powerful promotional vehicles that can help you generate buzz around your brand, no matter how local your business is. Search Engine Land’s Chris Silver Smith gives an effective overview of the benefits of these social media-friendly publicity pieces, followed by an exhaustive list of ways to make sure you’re getting the most out of yours.

    How To Post Your Google+ Feed To Facebook And Twitter
    Are you one of the many business owners that have flocked to Google+’s newly-available brand pages? If you’re ready to start networking using the powerful tools available to G+ users, but aren’t quite ready to give up the more established Facebook and Twitter feeds (not to mention the fans you’ve accumulated on those networks), never fear: this handy guide will show you how to integrate your G+ updates to post to your other accounts without a hitch.

    Google Places Basics: Two Business Listings Or One?
    Diversity is the name of the game in contemporary business, and it’s not uncommon for establishments to offer a few different services — even under different names — under the same address. While it might seem tempting to set yourself up with a new Place Page or three to differentiate between these disparate services, Mike Blumenthal has the skinny on how you can do better.

  • 5 For Friday — Links, Stories & Posts For Your Weekend

    Forget Facebook: 4 Reasons Your Company Needs a Google+ Page — Inc.com

    While some discouraging stats about the use of Google+ have emerged in recent days, there’s no reason to give up the ghost just yet — particularly with the recent introduction of G+ business pages. If you’re hesitating to jump into the pool and establish your business on G+, linger no longer — Inc.com’s Abram Brown is here to give you the skinny on why getting in early is a smart move for small businesses and mega-corporations alike.

    Content Marketing Essentials: Tactical Advice From A To Z — Search Engine Land

    For those of you who just don’t know where to start making your web content sparkle, this 26-tidbit-long list provides a fantastic resource for your publication, website, blog or newsfeed. Content is king, they say — so go check out this list and don’t let yours languish for another minute!

    Places Reviews: Getting Offline Online — Search Engine Guide

    With the recent shakeups to Google Place Pages and the diminishment of third-party reviews, making sure the online word of mouth about your business is positive is more important than ever — particularly when it comes to Google reviews. Since these pieces function as both a ranking factor and a critical metric, spurring viewers to click through to your site, it’s important to make sure they’re in top-notch shape so you can present the best face to the public. This article offers handy tips on encouraging reviews with a handily-placed and easily generatable QR code.

    How percolation time can make you a better writer — SuccessWorks

    With the breakneck speed of contemporary society, it can be hard to find a few moments to meditate on the details of your day. The simple act of reflection can be enormously beneficial both personally and with regard to work. Here, SucessWorks’ Heather Lloyd-Martin shares some of the transformative powers of “percolation time,” particularly when applied to your writing projects and beyond.

    5 Ways to Give Your Content Marketing New Life — TopRank Blog

    Creative content can be a tricky beast, demanding immense amounts of time, energy and skill on the part of its creator to really jump off the page when read. This step-by-step guide from Heidi Cohen, President of Riverside Marketing Strategies, is invaluable for those of us whose websites’ content just don’t seem to be quite dazzling enough. Read on to learn about targeting your audience, respecting the reader and staying relevant in a fast-paced sphere of business.

  • Influencer Profile: Matt Buys

    Search Influence IMA and Content Team member Matt Buys started out in journalism after graduating from Michigan State in 2003. Newspapers were kind enough to fund his restlessness for several years. He worked as a reporter/editor/page designer for the Orlando Sentinel and Rocky Mountain News before switching exclusively to freelance writing in 2008. Over the past few years he’s lived in Chicago and San Juan, Puerto Rico. He still loves to travel and discover new places, but thinks New Orleans might be a long-term home for him.

    Let’s get this out of the way: if you were a punctuation mark, what punctuation mark would you be?

    A parenthesis comes to mind. I am known to interrupt with conversation-halting, absurd parenthetical comments. What can I say, it’s a gift.

    You’re a member of SI’s Content Team, copy-editing, re-punctuating and polishing a huge array of different written pieces to go out for our clients. Be honest: do you go homicidal at the sight of a dangling modifier or poorly-placed comma, or have you become totally inured to bad grammar?

    I try to fight my snob tendencies when it comes to grammar. If you ask most chefs, they will tell you their favorite food is something greasy and messy, rather than a perfectly plated dish. Sometimes a butchered sentence is the funniest thing I read all day, so I should just learn to love it. But I still have to delete it.

    Like fellow Content Team member Colette, you have a journalism background. How did you get interested in the written word? Do you incorporate any of those skills into your work at SI?

    My family is always discussing books, so my interest was probably inherited. Studying journalism seemed like a good outlet for that passion. I think the skills I picked up at newspapers are helping me cope with the pace of work at SI.

    In addition to being new to SI you’re new to New Orleans in general — what brought you down here? How has it been so far?

    I thought about moving to New Orleans for years, but I always ended up somewhere else. Good food and music is really all I need, so I have been more than happy here so far.

    Besides writing and editing, what else do you find yourself doing here?

    Playing the guitar, listening to music and finding new places to eat are taking up most of my free time right now. Other than that, I’m just trying to meet new friends and have fun.

  • 5 For Friday — Links, Stories & Posts For Your Weekend

    Methods for Evaluating Freshness — Justin Briggs

    After Google’s big “Freshness update” was announced yesterday, the SEO world has been in quite a tizzy. But for those of us who aren’t technically-minded, what does this update actually entail? Justin Briggs, an SEO expert and Big Fish Games marketing champion, gives us this exhaustive set of data analyses to come up with a comprehensive guide to link freshness, including handy data on how to think critically about your site’s “Freshrank.”

    How to Properly Use Facebook’s Advertising Features — ProNet Advertising

    Targeted Facebook ads are a bread-and-butter item of the SEO community, with FB’s enormous user base offering a nearly unlimited source of demographic information and marketing potential. However, they’re not without flaws; in order to maximize your ads’ potential, you’ll need to put some research into the best practices and what you can do to make sure that targeting translates to eyeballs and clicks. Sonia Tracy of PsPrint offers up these five basic tips that will get you on the road to a well-maintained, efficient Facebook ad campaign.

    Euclid Offers “Google Analytics For The Real World” — Search Engine Land

    Now here’s an idea: Euclid Elements, a brand-new startup from some of the innovators behind Google Analytics, promises to create an Analytics-like experience — for brick and mortar locations. Through the installation of small sensors in-store, Euclid can help business owners track repeat shoppers, identify consumer patterns, and gauge seemingly subjective metrics such as foot traffic appeal and customer loyalty. As SEL notes, this isn’t an entirely new concept, but Euclid is certainly the first service of its type to apply an Analytics-like sophistication to this kind of metric tracking, and can potentially be invaluable to savvy small business owners who want to “optimize” their physical location.

    Which Brain Is Your Website Selling To? — ClickZ

    A fascinating look at Internet marketing from an evolutionary psychology standpoint. ClickZ’s Tim Ash evaluates the different aspects of what goes on in your brain when you look at a webpage, and offers some tips on what you can do to make sure your site hits all the marks to be effective!

    250,000 Ninjas Chop Fruit Every 60 seconds on Mobile [Infographic] — Social Times

    Did you know that over 23k apps are downloaded every minute? The mobile world is expanding at an alarming rate, and Mobclix is here to give you the scoop on the pings, taps, requests and, yes, even tiny ninjas that are whizzing around us every second of the day. The numbers are impressive — I don’t know about you, but I’m rethinking giving up that Angry Birds habit.

  • 5 For Friday — Links, Stories & Posts For Your Weekend

    StumbleUpon: Where Should You Share? [Infographic] — Social Times

    StumbleUpon is one of the most powerful sharing vector services out there, allowing users to “stumble” to your page based on their set of stated interests. This Social Times infographic provides some valuable data on how sharing your content via stumbling can work for you, from hard numbers on how much social media traffic the service actually drives to comparisons of the “half-life” of links distributed via different venues (Twitter, Facebook, et cetera).

    Microsoft Wants You to Search the Web Like Miley Cyrus — Search Engine Watch

    Microsoft has applied for a patent on the “persona” model of search results, essentially allowing users to search as their favorite celebrity. Read on to learn about some of the potential ramifications of this new system and the advantages it can lend to everyday searchers.
    How Much Money Do Viral YouTube Videos Make? — Social Times

    As much as we may deride the uninspired lyrics of Rebecca Black or giggle at the uncoordinated antics of Afro Ninja, there’s no denying that the viral video phenomenon can net its stars some serious notoriety. But how about fortune to go along with the fame? Social Times takes a look at the cold hard cash generated by these Internet phenomena.

    How Big is Your Long Tail? – Whiteboard Friday — SEOMoz

    Optimizing for “long tail” or ultra-specific keywords can be rough, and the individualism in the way people search for things (according to Google, an astounding 20% of search queries at any given time are completely unique) is fascinating. Understanding the art of the long-tail keyword is key, and Rand is here to enlighten you on the basics of this integral part of product-specific SEO.

    8 More Habits of Highly Effective Bloggers — CopyBlogger

    As a follow-up to her previous set of good blogging practices, CopyBlogger’s Annabel Candy offers up yet another group of tips on how to make your content the belle of the blog.

  • Influencer Profile: Megan Lindsey

    Today we’re proud to profile Junior Account Associate Megan Lindsey! Megan was born and raised in Lafayette and is a graduate from the University of Louisiana, Lafayette in Mass Communications. She has a background in media, including commercial broadcasting, film and television production, and Account Management. She loves living in New Orleans and makes it out to as many live music shows and festivals as possible.

    How did you get into marketing? Were you interested in online models or SEO from the start?

    After I moved out here to New Orleans, I was really interested in being a part of a new and growing field. I have a background in Communications, so I knew that I wanted to be in a field that involved collaborating with people and businesses of various backgrounds. Search marketing is something that I think is often over-looked and a little unknown. It feels pretty great being a part of a field that is constantly evolving. Everything I learn here is a really valuable part of growing business and brand awareness.

    How’s the transition to SI been? Picking up any new tips and tricks?

    The transition with Search Influence has been really nice. It’s a fairly laid back and collaborative environment that prides itself on getting things done correctly. I’m learning more here than many jobs I have had, and I enjoy the challenge. I’m also enjoying the fact that I am being taught new things and taking on new tasks with each different client project I work on.

    As far as tips and tricks, I can’t share the “secret sauce” — but it’s cool knowing that I’m a part of it!

    What do you find yourself doing around the office? Any particular favorites?

    On a normal day, I find myself picking up where I left off from the day before and making sure my “To Do” list has lots of crossed out tasks! Having our clients stay on schedule and increase in rankings is priority. I try my best to make sure we keep things moving in the right direction.

    My favorite thing would probably be collaborating with my co-workers. It’s a really great feeling when we all work towards one main goal and succeed, knowing that our work paid off. I think we all work well together and respect each others’ ideas and strengths. It makes me feel lucky to be working with such a smart and dynamic group. — Oh! And I really love randomly making my co-workers laugh. I’d like to think they find me funny, so I try to keep things pretty light as often as possible.

    In a perfect world, what would you be doing all day?

    In a perfect world, I’d probably be working as a Production Manager for a really awesome, successful comedic sitcom — or a ghost hunting show — or a reality show. A movie? Anything to keep me laughing… or crying. There’s something about knowing that you’re part of such a large outlet that reaches out to so many people. And your name is there for the credit. Oh, and Ebay. Can’t forget my small Ebay obsession.

    Most important of all: if you were an 80’s teen pop sensation, which 80’s teen pop sensation would you be?

    Tiffany. She was a teenage pop sensation that did a mall tour! You can’t get any cooler than that. Stone-washed Jordache jeans, denim jacket, big earrings and teased hair: awesome! Thousands of terribly dressed screaming fans: amazing! 20 years later you have immortal songs to prove it: oh yeah!

  • 5 For Friday — Links, Stories & Posts For Your Weekend

    7 Technical SEO Wins for Web Developers — distilled

    Working with outside web developers is an integral part of SEO, but some of us less technically-minded folk may be confused as to where to start. Technical SEO, defined by Paddy Moogan of distilled as “elements of a page that the user can’t see without looking at the source code,” can be a tricky field to master. In this article, Moogan elucidates some of the most important things to know about this aspect of optimization, including how to keep an eye on your site speed and get a firm grasp on crawler access.

    Non-Profits: How to Get More Online Donations — Outspoken Media

    While “save the whales” isn’t the first thing that comes to mind when one thinks of search engine optimization, it’s vitally important for nonprofits to maintain an online presence in order to gain maximum exposure and precious monetary donations. Michelle Lowery, a copywriting professional and volunteer SEO master for her local animal shelter, shares some tips for online do-gooders to optimize their fundraising campaigns, make donations easy and publicize their cause.

    Content Marketing In The Echo Chamber — Content Marketing Institute

    The Internet has opened up a whole new world of possibility for the independent, the unestablished and the avant-garde to spread their ideas far and wide. However, the downside has been an “echo chamber” of sorts, where those who can speak the jargon pass themselves off as a social media expert, professional marketer or even the dreaded “guru” without any real experience or expertise to back it up. Here, Content Marketing Institute’s Keith Blanchard provides you with five handy points to “kick the tires” of your potential content marketing service and make sure you’re getting the bang for your buck.

    Don’t be afraid of fake reviews — Search Engine Guide

    While Yelp, Places and other review engines are excellent resources to learn more about the local world around you, fake reviews are the bane of every Yelp establishment’s public wall. In this informative SEG article, you’ll learn about the fake review phenomenon, how to respond to a rating you suspect is duplicitous and the possibility that, in the future, we won’t even have to worry about it at all.

    Evidence: Print Is Not Dead — B2B Bloggers

    While we may bemoan the diminishment of traditional publishing models, there’s no reason to be writing a funeral dirge for the printed book just yet. In a recent media usages study by Readex Research, a whopping 74% of the 2,095 professionals surveyed said that they regularly use print publications. Print as a medium is still a relevant and important part of the mix: the study seems to indicate that, instead of favoring one form of media over another, people are consuming more and more of all different kinds. Interesting stuff!