November 2008

Around the Holidays, a little bit of kindness can go a long way.

Although this should most likely need to go unsaid, it never hurts to send friendly reminders during the year end holiday frenzy - so here goes.

As we near Turkey Day, it can be a very good idea to take a few minutes out of your busy schedule and thank those around you, not to mention the people you work with across the nation.  This holiday does after all revolve around giving thanks.  One of the easiest (and quickest) ways to do this can be to send E-Cards.  There is a cornucopia (if you will) of sites on the internet that allow you to send free greeting cards via e-mail, ranging in topics anywhere from humor (for those that are fond of Hoops and Yoyo) to professional gratitude. Depending on how many you are sending, the entire process can be completed in 5-10 minutes, and the outcome can go as far as making someone’s day.

Some of the better sites IMO are hallmark.com and 123greetings.com, but any site offering these types of salutations should get the job done.

Aside from that, Gobble Gobble and thanks for reading my blog!

Just like almost every other 20-something out there, I have found myself almost (but not quite) obsessed with Facebook.  Reading the snarky comments one person leaves for another, looking at the funny “Pieces of Flare” being sent to friends for extra points, looking at the embarrassing “tagged” photos of long lost friends, and standing in shock and awe at the updates made to a person’s status…especially that very telling “Relationship Status”.  That got me thinking, even in the world of affiliate marketing, I am constantly updating (though not as publicly as Facebook) my professional “Relationship Status” with the affiliates I work with daily.

There is one Facebook “Relationship Status” that I think perfectly outlines the professional relationships we juggle, especially in the world of Affiliate Marketing.  That “Relationship Status” option? “It’s Complicated.”  Yup, it’s complicated.  It can be really difficult at times to strike that harmonious balance of likeable, friendly person, and hard-nosed, follows-the-rules business person. The reality is, our affiliate relationships are not that different from our personal ones. They both take time to develop, they both require brutal honesty at times, and they both require attention to detail. When it comes to our affiliate relationships, we have to be willing to risk being the bad guy for the sake of good business, just like we do in personal relationships for the sake of someone’s well being.  At the same time, it is great to get to know your affiliates on a similar level to your personal friends: Do they have families?  What are their kids’ names? What are they doing this weekend?  When in the world are they going to send you the awful photo of themselves that made it in the HS yearbook?  Obviously there are lines to be drawn in the professional world—the difference is that those lines are more clearly drawn for you than the ones you establish in your personal life.

In the end, a relationship is a relationship. Some are very fluid, and some present bumps along the road.  One thing I’ve learned in my…ehem…20 something years, is that by developing a relationship, you increase the opportunity for understanding and cooperation in every situation, and let’s face it, even in the world of affiliate marketing, understanding and cooperation can be 2 of the most important factors in maintaining a successful relationship.  I just have to  remember, in both my personal and professional relationships, it’s alright to admit that “It’s Complicated”.

Designers like myself sometimes need inspiration. There are books and sites dedicated to providing designers with inspiration (usually in the form of other design). But I’ve found a better source: Colour Lovers. It’s an online community of people who just love color. They love discussing it, admiring it, and matching it with other colors. The discussions are both interesting and informative (scroll to the bottom of the homepage for blog posts), but the matching that’s the real beauty in that site. Color palettes. Thousands of them, all chosen by creative individuals with an eye for design.

The palettes are given keywords to describe them, and the keywords are searchable on the site. So if I’m looking for a set of vintage colors, or a palette that evokes citrus or autumn, they’re easy to find. Users also rank the palettes, so you can browse through the palettes that the users of the site liked the best. Just browsing through the first few pages, here are a few good combinations I found:

Giant Goldfish
London Bus
Trip Through Clouds
Choc Mint
Sugar Bamboo

Colour Lovers also has an option to search for a color range. So you can narrow the color range to, say, shades of crimson and find all palettes that contain at least one color in that range. This is great if you’re trying to find colors to match a logo or a picture, or if you’re trying to find a color to paint the walls of your house to match your furniture.

I this method over looking at other websites because it’s a much more raw source of inspiration. There’s no fretting about copying a design, or needing to change it enough so it’s not just an imitation of the inspiration. Certain combinations of colors evoke certain feelings, but it’s still up to the designer to interpret those feelings and present them properly.

I just spent Monday meeting up-and-coming advertising/marketing graduates from various colleges around the Midwest.   I quickly noticed two things.  1) Good Lord, I’m old.  And 2) Man, do some of these kids have a fire in their belly!  They are a heckuva lot more aggressive and interview-savvy than I was at age 20-something.

The Kansas City Ad Club (which is one of the largest in the nation, I kid you not) sponsored the day-long event.  I got partnered up with muckety-mucks from other, bigger agencies who touted their wares ENDLESSLY.   Many agencies made it abundantly clear to the students/grads they didn’t hire anyone straight out of college.  Period.  So imagine how popular I was when I mentioned that not only do we hire college grads – we groom them to be superstars.  Talk about an ace up my sleeve!

I’ll be the first to admit … I like meeting with college students and looking at portfolios.  They bring a lot of goofy enthusiasm and energy to the table.  No wonder PlattForm hires a majority of their employees right outta college.  And no wonder this place is always so full of life.

What surprised me at the conference were all the different areas students specialize in nowadays.  I used to think I was a triple threat … I could write, produce and direct.  Now, apparently, I need to write, produce, direct, edit, shoot and design … looking urban AND trendy and sporting serious bed head.  Stupid kids and their stupid youth.

The resumes have been POURING in this week.  Each a little more dazzling than the last.  And don’t even get me started on all the phone calls.  Each a little more hyperactive than the last.  (Why do college kids talk so fast anyway?  Don’t they know us old people are hard of hearing?)

Hopefully, I dazzled these kids with my positive portrayal of PlattForm.  I basically had no choice.  No one in the room had ever heard of us.  That’s the problem with being KC’s hidden gem of an agency.  But I talked a lot about the perks of this place … in lingo only a 22-year old could appreciate.  It went a little something like this …

“And, dude, seriously, for realz, you can wear flip-flops in the house.  And everyone is in their 20’s.  Except for me.  And I just turned 30, yo.  (HUGE LIE.)   And they pay for all your health and dental insurance … yes, all of it.  No, dude – no money comes out of your pocket.  And we’ve got a game room with a Family Guy pinball machine.  I know!  Get out, right!?”

But, honestly, want to know what really sold these kids?  The fact that PlattForm gets out and about in the community to work our magic.  Today’s graduate is a lot more civic-minded.  They all genuinely seemed to perk up when I mentioned our in-house philanthropic committee, “Team Phil.”

So to everyone I saw/met with/fist-bumped at Career Day … I wish you luck on your job search.  You were all sparkly, fresh-faced ingénues who are gonna go far.  And, no, it’s not too late to send me your resume … (michaelm@plattformad.com) … but, remember, you’ve got some competition out there.

First off, let me begin by explaining that geo-targeting, or local targeting, consists of enhancing your search engine results to only display sites in a particular state, city, area, etc.

For example, if you’re looking for a massage therapy school in Kansas City, you might begin your search by entering the keyterm phrase, “massage therapy schools.”  However, your search engine results probably would not show results in Kansas City within the first few pages, if at all, because your search is not specific enough.  But, if you search for “massage therapy schools in kansas city,” you will find what you are looking for.

In SEO, when I perform keyterm research for my clients, I geo-target keyterm phrases by adding specific geographic locations, such as city names, to my phrases, so that searchers in that particular area can find the schools, and find them on the first or second page.

I recently took on an SEO client that’s a beauty school in Ludlow, Massachusetts.  Where is Ludlow? It’s in Southern Massachusetts, about 90 miles southwest of Boston, or a more specific geo-target, about 12 miles northeast of Springfield.  Ludlow is considered part of the Springfield metro area, just like Lenexa is part of the Kansas City metro area.

Why is this geography lesson relevant? Well, Springfield has about seven times the population of Ludlow.  A person looking to find a beauty school in the Springfield metro area probably won’t enter the keyterm phrase, “beauty schools in ludlow,” especially if they are not in Ludlow. They are more likely to search for “beauty schools in springfield” or geo-target their search even more by searching for “beauty school in springfield massachusetts,” because of the number of states that have a Springfield.
Geo-targeting on this local of a level will draw more qualified visitors to my site, because they are seeking out that school in that specified geographic region.

On a personal, local level, when I did a search for “paddy o’quigleys in kansas city,” I received search results for the Leawood location, in addition to the North Kansas City one.  This location worked better for me, since I live in Overland Park.

Geo-targeting locally helps visitors find my site quickly and easily, even if they are not in Ludlow, MA – or Lenexa, KS.