A few weeks back I noticed that CNN.COM had changed their interface standard from 800x600 to 1024x768.  Today I received a Yahoo test page also in 1024x768.

This forward progression from major sites is much needed and hopefully this will help users push into new territories allowing for more screen real estate.

My site, RinkTime.com is currently in 800x600 however I've been wanting to push this out to 1024x768.  I remember a time when building for 640x480 was the standard and 800x600 was frowned upon.  Thank God those days are over.

So I just got done cleaning my desk which was full of crap, receipts, etc.

I found the post-purchase coupons from the grocery store - does anyone ever look at these?  Well, I suppose I should but I've already got plenty of things pulling at me for attention.

But one thing that I realized was that they are giving me coupons for things that I just bought - uh, I just bought these things - why the heck do I need another coupon - should I take back what I just bought to redeem them now?

So, they've got my club card information - why not put it to use?  Maybe too much processing power and not enough pipe required - and I'm sure that they'll get to this eventually but why not look at my past purchase patterns and provide me with coupons for the things I've commonly purchased that I didn't this time around - who knows, maybe I forgot something - as I usually do.  Maybe that $2.00 off a pound of filet mignon would have turned me back into the store for more.

Just a thought - you've got data - be creative with it, use it and maximize the value of it.

I was just looking out my window and saw some bugs flying around - possibly termites.

You see, here in Southern California it's been warm - even hot the last couple of weeks.  Right now it's about 74 and the sun is coming out through the overcast askies.

But, these winged beasts made me think of an application that we developed for one of the nations leading pet control companies - One you've certainly heard of - a household name.

This company had a past-client and prospect database of many million - I'd write it but it's now out of date and I also don't want to get into trouble with the client - we did this back in 1999 - but the lesson which can be taken away from this still rings true today.  (Ah who cares... Swarm Map - this can only help them right?)

So, when the call center would receive the right number of calls reporting termites, it would activate the location on the map and simultaneously notify the clients and prospects via email and direct mail that termites were in their area.  Its brilliant marketing if I don't say so myself.  This causes people to wonder, call for a free inspection and allows for up sell opportunities.

I've heard of home and business burglar alarm companies doing the same thing.  These companies subscribe to the reports of crimes in an area, then reference the crime and blanket market these areas for their services - while that pain and fear is still fresh.

So, how can you use a similar technology or marketing technique for what you do?

When you hit a home run or you see one of your competitors hit one, are you calling on related prospects to sell them on the concept or a twist of the concept - an improved concept?  Because I'd be willing to bet that the original service provider can't compete and also didn't think of the best most impactful way of doing it.

I'm ...

I am sorry to belabor this subject, one which has been posted many thousands of times, but for some reason people just don't get it.  I doubt it, but maybe someone will read this, comprehend it and take some action.

First, let me back up.  Last week I had discussions with 4 companies.  All of them had one thing in common - they had a ubiquitous title tag that was on EVERY PAGE - (maybe I'm posting this as a reminder for them because I don't want to discuss it again).  Some of these sites had up to 400 pages - again with the same title - which of course was their company name, or their company name all run together as the .com version which provides little to no value. 

Further, one of the company's has a name has a name so difficult to spell that maybe 30% of the population can enter it correctly - but it doesn't matter because when you look at keyword popularity, near to nobody is looking for them by their name.  What are they searching for?  The services or products they offer.

So, with that being said, why do companies continue to make this very common error?  Is it because we still have a gap between designers and techs who should know better?  And if you are a tech - and you are in charge of seeing that things are done properly shouldn't you be lashed for first allowing the error in the first place and further tortured for allowing it to go on?

OK...  So, what's my point?

Each page should have its own unique title - and that title should be clearly representative of the content being offered on that page.  This will help in both search and most importantly usability.

You'll hear me mention KISS a lot - not the rock band, but, Keep It Simple Stupid.

Look at your site - if you see that your page titles are all the same - take the time and make the effort to change t ...

As the understanding and acceptance of technology as a marketing vehicle grows on an almost daily basis the fusion between marketers and technologists is also growing.  The small group of visionaries who saw the Internet as a new frontier really have impacted the world in so many ways.  Both positively and negatively I suppose.

I can remember the days when “the marketing folks” ideas and thoughts were so limited that the concept of building and marketing to an email list was so extremely creative the didn’t know where to start.  I can also remember the day just a month or so ago when I was visiting a client who’s statement was, “We have to figure out a way to get around all those spam filters.”  - Uh, maybe stop sending spam?  ;)

The greatest thing about technology, like other things I suppose, is that there is constant innovation.  It’s sometimes pretty easy to add a few more lines of code to an application and give it a new life or purpose.  And, if you look at marketing methods as modules if you will, it’s also becoming increasingly easy to find ways of combining them to increase results.

About 3 years ago I had a client whose membership base was in the 350,000-400,000’s.  They sold an insurance product.  Their members either paid monthly or annually by credit card which presented a problem that technology could solve.  The sheer volume of expiring credit cards each month was overloading them with both follow-up and back-end labor expense – until we hit the scene.

See, at the beginning they would start sending direct mail to clients 2 months out, 1 month out, 2 weeks out and if they still had no response their sales department would call them.  To make matters worse, the direct mail piece asked these people to call into the call center and update their credit card.  You would think it would be obvious to integrate technology at this point - but some people just di ...

I'm sure if you watch more than 6 hours of television per week you've seen the Pontaic ad (see the ad here) which instructs viewers to go to Google and then search for them using "Pontiac" as the search word.  I know, for some this is very old news - but for others, it's not.

My purpose in writing this is to give my thoughts as to several things that they are doing wrong here - and I think it's important.

For background you can read the January 26 "TV Commercial "Googles" Pontiac" article on SearchEngineWatch.com.  There is quite a bit of talk now amongst SEO's regarding Google, its study of user behavior and the current and future use of the user behavior data.  Is Pontiac hip to this?  Are they trying start building the user behavior data profile in Google?  Or, is this just some ad agency means to cause a buzz - which they did do.

Bottom line though - in my opinion, any time you ask someone to do something different, out of the norm, and you ad an extra step to their means to an end situation, you should give them something.

Pontiac screwed up.  They are not baiting the viewers with a coupon for $250 off a vehicle, $100 off of service, a different version of the website based on the referrer - SOME OTHER EXPERIENCE from what you get by going to Pontiac.com directly!

At minimum they should understand the regional data and forward visitors to regional stores for somewhat more of a local sell.

In addition, why not have people search for specific models, not Pontiac in general?  Or why not have them search for cars and find you - make it a game.  But increase your user ...

Hello, my name is John Kirker and if you are interested in how i got here, read on.

In 1981 I received my first computer - I was 10.  You may have read stories about kids like me.  Back then I was known as the Cookie Monster running a pirate board called Sesame Street for a warez group called Rowdy American Distributors.

In 1991 while bouncing from job to job I found myself selling sales training to Realtors.  While working and learning from one of the nations most established sales trainers I was exposed to a marketing consultant who my employer had hired to create a marketing strategy and campaign.

That marketing campaign was rolled out and the response was absolutely incredible.  New clients were beating down our doors.  I had never seen anything like this but I had to know more.

I learned that although I was told cold-calling was best, there was yet a better way, one that leveraged the power of endorsement and offered a no-risk guarantee.  The sales were made before the prospect ever picked up the telephone and as a salesperson it couldn't have been better.

I was so intrigued that I went to work for this company eighteen months later.  This was my first time in a hybrid role managing and tracking the results of campaigns and also getting on the phone with clients, prospects and joint venture partners.  My first venture as a CTMO at 22?  Nah, but it's an interesting tangent.

So back on track.  I was working for America's highest paid direct marketing consultant - he actually charged $5,000 an hour for his time, in the early 90's when the economy was horrible...and people wer ...