Blog

The Whopper Sacrifice on Facebook is Finally Sacrificed

The Whopper Sacrifice Comes to an End

Not enough people know about sweet little pieces of code that run on your web pages that show you how many people came to visit your site, where they came from, how long they stayed, and how many of those visits converted into actual dollars. Sure, Google Analytics might not be on the tips of the tongues of, oh, say 500 million people. But Facebook is.

Everyone who looks at this little gem below knows how well this viral internet marketing campaign worked, and how effective Facebook is when you want to reach the masses.

A few months ago, Burger King decided to offer a free Whopper to anyone who would sacrifice 10 of their friends on Facebook. I mean, the average user has 130 friends. Who wouldn’t go down to 120 just to have a free tasty treat? Who wouldn’t wallow in self-pity for joy knowing their cyber friendship was given up for a free piece of meat?

Apparently this viral marketing campaign worked well– maybe too well. The fine print says, “Facebook® has disabled WHOPPER® Sacrifice after your love for the WHOPPER® Sandwich proved to be stronger than 233,906 friendships.”

Two hundred and thirty three thousand, nine hundred and six.

Whopper Sacrifice Ends on Facebook

These stats from viral marketing goldmine Facebook give so much more power to the phrase, “It’s all about who you know.”

Facebook has more than 500 million active users. People spend over 700 billion minutes per month on Facebook. There are over 900 million objects that people interact with (pages, groups, events and community pages). The average user creates 90 pieces of content each month. More than 30 billion pieces of content (web links, news stories, blog posts, notes, photo albums, etc.) shared each month.

So what did Burger King find out from Facebook? That it works. And that makes me hungry.

August 25, 2010
Plastic Surgery SEO – The Lighter Side: “Big Tits”
A friend and colleague forwarded me this wonderful little ditty. She does some of the best plastic surgery websites at the helm of her design and development company, and she knows what appeals to the viewer.

We do a fair amount of Plastic Surgery SEO around here and she knows better than anyone the trials of this industry.

So it’s no wonder we’re amused by a song entitled “Big Tits.”

Big Tits – Not to be confused with the "Great Tit"

No doubt you’ll be humming the refrain. Do be careful to keep it to yourself 🙂

My personal favorite line is:

“self esteem goes off the charts when you enhance your private parts”

Big Tits by Gordon Lustig

This song is copyright Gordon Lustig and is referenced here by permission. Please contact Mr. Lustig should you wish to license or use his work in any form.

Admittedly, plastic surgery SEO – particularly that done for cosmetic surgery – does seem gratuitous at times. So it’s nice to take one’s mind off of “one more article about boobs” as a former writer said and enjoy a little folk tune all about big tits.

You can enjoy more of Mr. Lustig’s work at his website or on his YouTube channel.

If you’re legitimately interested in Plastic Surgery SEO, you may be interested in some of our other articles:
Plastic Surgery SEO Results

And just because my sense of humor occasionally runs too juvenile for one my age, more pictures tagged “Big Tits” on Flickr:

Rearranged letters on Veterinary Sign – Big Tits

Erotic Restaurant Private Show – Big Tits

Images courtesy of:
August 23, 2010
Matt McGee’s 7 Questions – How does Hall Piano stack up?

I posted a link to Matt McGee‘s 7 Questions Small Businesses Should Be Asking and got this question from one of our customers, Steve Kinchen at Hall Piano Company.

It was a great excuse to do a little impromptu analysis. We may do a brief series of these.

Hall Piano Company Local Search Analysis using Matt McGee's 7 Questions Businesses should be asking.

Steve Kinchen: Read the article… How does HPC stack up?

Will Scott: Pretty darn good, I’d say.

By @mattmcgee‘s standards you’re pretty well covered

1. How do the search results look for my company name?

– http://www.google.com/search?q=hall+piano – you have the top 1/2 of the page with no negatives.

2. Have I put all my marketing eggs in one basket?

– Definitely not. You do TV / Radio, print, PR and Web / Social thanks to Dee Clubb

3. Have I claimed my local business listings?

– If not, they’re in progress (I know Bing is in the works):

– http://maps.google.com/places/us/la/metairie/david-dr/901/-hall-piano-company?gl=us
– http://local.yahoo.com/info-18122605-hall-piano-company-metairie
– http://www.bing.com/local/details.aspx?lid=YN365x6567331
– and more, of course 🙂

4. How do my reviews look on Google Maps? Yahoo? Bing? Yelp?

– We could always use more reviews but those we have are looking great.

5. Am I using social media wisely?

– I would say yes. And in your case that means using it conservatively. You’ve got great presence on Video and are developing on Facebook. You’ve got a nice twitter following. There’s always room for more but, yes, wisely for sure.

6. Am I focusing on metrics that matter?

– Definitely – Brand + Conversions are where one with a product so niche as yours needs to be.

7. Am I earning trust with everything I do online?

– For sure. Online, you and your team represent @hallpiano with the class and professionalism due your product and customers.

http://www.facebook.com/HallPiano
http://twitter.com/hallpiano
http://www.hallpiano.com/

August 21, 2010

Foursquare Survey Results

Though it’s been months, I’m finally publishing the Foursquare Survey Results from SMX Advanced

I will come back and update this post with analysis from the various slides.

Foursquare Survey Results Slides

View more presentations from Search Influence.

Here’s the original post about the survey.

Top 5 SEO Apps for Your iPhone

With the recent release- and my more recent acquisition- of the new iPhone 4, I decided to do a little digging and compiled a list of the best SEO apps offered by the App store. My goal here is to make your productivity folder as cramped and overflowing as mine.

1) Domainer

This was one of the first SEO apps offered back in 2008 and it’s incredibly simple, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Just enter the URL for the page you want to check and Domainer provides the PageRank on Google, as well as some basic history. Free.

2) Poke SEO

This app does what the previous one does, plus a bit more. Not only does it check PageRank, it also checks backlinks for Google, Bing and AOL. The best feature of this app is the ability to email the reports you dig up. It’s no longer available in the App store because they are busy working a new version, which will be released in the future. Keep an eye out!

3) iSEO Tools

iSEO Tools has three great functions. It contains a SERP Analyzer that lets you know what page your keyword ranks on Google. It also has an inbound links analyzer that utilizes the Yahoo Site Explorer service to see how many links are associated with your domain. Last, there is a function that shows a list of directories. This option is fantastic because it allows you to submit a link right from the app! $0.99.

4) SEO Ranking

This app allows you to monitor an unlimited number of domains and keywords, and uses a graph SERP analyzer to monitor your current and past rankings on Google. A great on the go tool. $1.99

5) Analytics App

This isn’t from Google Analytics, but it’s the closest thing you’ll find to it on the iPhone. It allows you track all your basic stats in Analytics, including visitors, traffic and content. It allows multiple accounts and even has the ability to create event tracking and custom reports. It’s pricier than the rest, but is well worth it. $6.99

Top 10 for the Weekend- August 13

We’re back with another thrilling installment of our bi-monthly series: Top 10 for the Weekend! Keep reading to find out tips and tricks, as well as what’s new in the world of SEO

Great Apps to Customize Your Facebook Fan Page

Facebook recently hit a new milestone: 500 million users! With this high volume it is a perfect platform for marketing, and people are already taking advantage of this opportunity. Here is a list of great apps that allow you to customize your fan page to its fullest potential.

35 of the Best Facebook Fan Pages

To go along with the above link, here is a fantastic list of fan pages that have taken full advantage of Facebook’s customizable applications. Some examples include pages from the likes of Skittles, Red Bull, and Harley Davidson.

Forrester to Advertisers: Hold Off on Foursquare

Forrester Research recently came out with a study that revealed 84% of people polled are not familiar with location-based applications, a la foursquare. This is useful information, but they conclude that businesses should hold off on using these FREE services because of it. This article explains why their conclusion should not follow their results.

Foursquare Means Businesses: Have you checked-in yet?

We’ve never been shy in our support for foursquare, and this link is a perfect follow-up to the previous one. The article just lists some more of the many advantages to utilizing this and other location-based applications.

10 Sources For Better Conversion

Getting people to your site is only half the battle. Once they’re there, you need to get them do whatever it is you want them to do. In the SEO world, this is known as conversion. This is a list of 10 resources that explain how to get better conversions on your site.

Local Citation Finder: Must-Have SEO Tool

From the article: “The tool looks at the businesses ranking for your keyphrase, grabs their phone numbers, and then does a Google.com search (or .ca or .co.uk) for those numbers, collecting and collating all of the mentions/citations that it finds.” In other words, you can get a list of citation sources your competitors use, and mimic them. Nice and easy!

10 Great Local Search Tools That Don’t Exist Yet

It’s pretty clear what this article is about, so I won’t bore you with an explanation. I will say that these tools would be incredibly easy to make, and some of these developers need to get on the stick!

On-Site SEO: How to Optimize Your Blog Posts

A blog is a great tool for SEO, but simply posting one every week or so won’t be that great of a help. This is a great guide on how to optimize your blog to maximize your exposure on the web.

Using Bing’s New Webmaster Tools For SEO

Bing recently released a new version of their Webmaster Tools. Upon being asked by Bing to give feedback on how to improve it, Chris Smith decided to provide this advice via blog post for the world to see.

Google’s New Local UI Proving Conspiracy Theorists Right

In our last installment of Top 10 for the Weekend, we discussed some changes Google made to their SERPs and Places listings. It looks like the conspiracy theorists were right. This article explains why.

Google Wave has reached its Crest

In an earlier post, we discussed Google Wave and its pros and cons. Well, less than a year after it’s launch, you can wave it goodbye. See what I did there? Despite its loyal fan base, Wave just didn’t get the following they’d hoped for. So, they decided to pull the plug.

When it was first announced, it caused shock waves (OK, I’ll stop) through the Internet community. It was touted as an “email killer.” The hype was out of control. So much so, that I wondered if it was going to be able to live up to it. I guess I didn’t have to wait too long for my answer.

So why did it fail? I’ve got a few theories. First, I think Google’s marketing department dropped the ball on this one. Perhaps they think they’re above effective and creative marketing. The entire Internet is Google’s marketing department, after all. Hopefully, they’ve realized this just isn’t the case. If you’re not a total geek who spends hours browsing the web for the latest technologies (like me), chances are you haven’t even heard of Google Wave. The majority of people I’ve asked haven’t. It goes to show that no matter how great or revolutionary a product is you still need to get the word out. Google failed in that regard.

Next, it was just little too complicated for the average user. One might argue that it wasn’t designed for the average user, but without them it’ll fail to get mass recognition. The best way to get people to use something is to have more available features but to make it as simple and easy to use as possible. There is no way my grandma would be able to use Wave, even though she can use email and even Facebook.

eCards on the other hand…

Another reason is that I honestly think it was too ahead of its time. I know I gave it some grief in our previous blog, but I really think it was a revolutionary and useful tool. People weren’t ready for something so advanced. They liked the simplicity and straight forwardness of email and didn’t see a need to change.

Speaking of change, people just don’t like it. It’s the same reason my mom still uses Internet Explorer and Hotmail.

Wave will still be available for use through the end of the year and Google will extend the technology to its other projects, so it won’t disappear completely. For those who simply can’t live without it, rejoice. There are many alternatives out there. Unfortunately some are paid, but if it is that important to your daily routine it should be worth it. If you absolutely refuse to pay, design your own, cheapskate! The code and protocols are open source, so you can continue the innovation yourself!

The Bing and Yahoo alliance means the end of Yahoo Local, right?

As we reported in an earlier post, there are things to consider now that the Bing and Yahoo alliance is coming so near. Starting sometime in August or September, Yahoo’s organic search results will be fully provided by Bing, which will increase their organic search market share from 11% to 27%. Wouldn’t it be great if this meant an end to Yahoo Local, leaving you with only Bing and Google local listings to worry about?

Sadly, that is not going to happen. Yahoo plans to maintain control of the search experience, and it includes Yahoo Local as a part of that. As Yahoo quotes here, it will be “Providing you with rich results that display the most relevant information from Yahoo!’s rich content properties, as well as other great product, local, entertainment, reference, social and tech sites.”

Look at the picture above and you will see boxes around the organic and paid search results—these will be provided by Bing, the rest will be provided by Yahoo, including local listings.

If you are a local business owner this might not mean much to you, but if you’re an SEO that cares about local listings you won’t get any of the relief you might have anticipated and will still need to claim your listings on all 3 search engines.

Blog

Big Tits by Gordon Lustig

Why I Dislike Facebook Insights