Building Traffic with SEO

A Dummy's Puppet's Ramblings - from Chip Martin, Mannequin American

SEO Still Driving Force in Building Traffic
From CopyBlogger: Take a look at the image below, from SEOmoz:

In simple terms, the chart shows that when it comes to "search," what people say about you is more important than what you say about yourself.

Google wants to know that people are linking to you, and it wants to know the words they're using (link anchor text), because those give you credibility and are a trusted relevance indicator ... more so than what you say about yourself.

So although compelling content is always rule number one, if you don't rank well in the categories above, you will slide farther down the search engine listings. Brown & Martin, Inc. can help.

More Women on Social Networks, But Products Not Benefiting
A consumer survey found that about 54% of women visit social networking sites at least once daily, and 75% of those women admit they're more active on networks now than they were one year ago. Facebook dominates the segment with 66.4% saying they use Facebook, followed by MySpace at 16.3%, Twitter at 3.1%, and LinkedIn at 1.4%.

The study also revealed that seeing a brand on a social network makes 17% of women feel positive and 19% feel negative about that brand. The other 64% were neutral.

When asked whether social networking sites influence purchases, 75% of women who participated in the study said ads on social networks do not influence what they buy.

Some marketing experts believe brands need to "catch up" and create messages/packages that women will appreciate online, and can pass around. Time will tell.

Selling Trucks with Laughter

From our friend Mike McCann: It's always interesting to see how different countries take different approaches to selling the same product. Truck commercials in the U.S. tend to focus on "toughness" and include lots of shots of vehicles traversing water, mountains and rocks.

Australia takes a different approach. They use trucks to make us laugh. And laugh you will.  Click here to see an entertaining Australian commercial for Toyota trucks. Bugger!

$2 Million for Passing "Go"

MONOPOLY: Revolution Edition reinvents the 75 year-old game with a new look, featuring a round game board, electronic banking, music and sound effects.

MONOPOLY: Revolution Edition features the traditional streets of Atlantic City, but with property values more reflective of today's prices. For example, players collect $2 Million when passing "GO" instead of $200. Keeping track of the millions changing hands during game play is an electronic unit that serves as banker, dice and music player.

The game also features clips of hit songs from five decades, including "Umbrella," "Bad Day" and "Drive My Car," and sound effects that bring a contemporary new spin on the classic family favorite.

In 1935, Parker Brothers began selling MONOPOLY, which would quickly become a cultural phenomenon. Seventy-five years later, more than 1 billion people in 108 countries have played the game designed by Charles Darrow and based on the streets of Atlantic City, New Jersey.

Of course, there are tons of Monopoly versions now on the market from specifically-branded ones like The Simpsons and Disney to Army, Navy, Star Wars and local city editions. But, if the idea of a modern version of the classic board game bothers you, there is an alternative. They have a beautiful wooden replica of their 1935 version.

Ta-Tas Upset Colorado ... Again

Via AdFreak: For the second time in a week, Colorado has gotten all worked up over an ad featuring ta-tas. Last week, the town was Colorado Springs, and the ta-tas were non-human. (Furry and pink, they belonged to Lucy the Slut of Avenue Q, whose bus-shelter poster was nixed.)

 This week, the town is Aurora, CO and the ta tas are human, belonging to a model advertising the Perky Cups coffee shop (I love that name!) ... where waitresses serve coffee while (gasp!) wearing bikinis.

 The city council deemed the ad legal after people complained, but the coffee shop's landlord took it down on Wednesday. "I would love to leave it up forever, but I'm getting beat up," owner Jason Bernal said Tuesday. Bernal said people had stopped in to complain, though one stayed to buy a burrito and coffee.

 At least we know that there are "boobs" in Colorado.

Ad Aimed at Very Targeted Audience

For the record, I'm not making this up. The ad above is recruiting players for a gay rugby league ... I think in the UK. (I'll let you come up with your own OMG mental picture.) But you have to admit, the creatives "behind" this ad know their audience.

Stuffed and Unstrung

WestBeth Entertainment and The Jim Henson Company's Henson Alternative announced the New York debut of "Stuffed and Unstrung", a live uncensored show that lets loose the perilous and provocative elements of comedic improvisation on stage with a bunch of puppets. This one-of-a-kind comedy performance is set for a special 10-week limited engagement kicking off Wednesday, March 17, 2010 at the Union Square Theatre in New York. The official opening will then take place on Thursday, April 1 at 9:00 PM.

Click here to see a clip of "Puppet Up!" which "Stuffed and Unstrung" evolved from. 

The show is unpredictable, irreverent and it's never the same twice as puppeteers set off on trails of twisted sketches and songs at breakneck pace while interacting with the audience. In short ... it's often hilarious. Click here to go to the Facebook page.

On the Road

Dale with Bertha the Bag Lady at the annual NCRA employee recognition dinner. Bertha has over 110,000 views on YouTube.

Speaking of puppets, Dale and his suitcase posse (including me) were in McPherson, KS recently to perform for the National Cooperative Refinery Association.  It was a great group. So here's a shout out to all of our new friends back in KS. Thanks for joining my blog!

Don't your employees or association members deserve some laughs? Contact us or click here for more info.

One Downside of Being a Puppeteer