The Courage of Chris Rock

I read (via a link on Drudge) that Chris Rock is planning to poke fun at President Bush during his Oscar-hosting gig. What a bravery. What artistic courage!

He'll be standing in front of the most anti-Bush crowd one could possibly assemble this side of a MoveOn.org rally. And the television audience will be overwhelmingly packed with Bush-haters as well.

Hey Alexa, Give Me Some of Your Stats

There are few things I enjoy more than a hearty source of relevant data and statistics. In "cyperspace" (said with an Uncle Rico inflection) there are many options when searching for data. One place I like to frequent for "current trending" is Alexa.com.

Alexa gives a good snapshot of how the overall "net population" is surfing the web. For example, GoDaddy.com shot up the charts after it's risk-ay Super Bowl Ad (no big surprise). It is still up 65% in traffic rankings.

Another plus about Alexa is that it's owned by Amazon.com. That means many of the Amazon features are carried over, like recommended companion links and customer site reviews.

Anyhoo, check it out fo' yo'self: www.alexa.com

Dr. Gene Scott Has Passed Away

I remember the first time I ever encountered one of Gene Scott's television broadcasts. I had heard stories about the stogie-smokie, blue-streak-swearing television preacher but I was pretty sure they were exaggerations. I was wrong.

Holder of a Ph.D. from Stanford, "unorthodox" didn't do him justice. He was as comfortable holding forth about UFO's and lost civilizations as was about sanctification and redemption.

I will confess that listening to him was an occasional guilty pleasure of mine. When in the mood for something thought-provokingly wacky, I would pop over to www.genescott.com and stream a little of a message with a title like, "I Believe In UFO's: God's Warning to Hardened Hearts via Calvin."

Now that's something you don't hear every Sunday.

What's Your DVP?

Most marketing students are familiar with the term, USP, an acronym for Unique Selling Proposition. But lately, as I've consulted for several ministries and non-profit organizations I find myself using the term "Donor Value Proposition."

(Note: Either I have actually invented this term or it was planted in my subconscious because I read it somewhere and now I have unknowingly stolen it. Hold on while I Google the term and see what pops up...)

I'm back. Only two hits. So I almost, practically coined it! I will settle for "co-coiner" status.

In any event, successful ministries tend to be those that present a compelling DVP to a large segment of people. Donor-driven organizations struggle or fail when their DVPs are fuzzy, fragmented or off-target.

I plan to develop this theme into a white paper or article in the future. In the meantime, I'm off to the U.S. Patent and Trademark site!

Also at NRB...

We also spent some good time with our friend Stephen Mansfield, author of the best-selling The Faith of George W. Bush (still on the NYT Best-Seller list.) He recently debated Michael Moore on Bill Maher's HBO program-Real Time.

Stephen has two new books coming out this year. One is a full, warts-and-all biography of the late Derek Prince. (I've see an advance draft and it's brilliant.)

The other will probably be titled, The Faith of the American Soldier is set to have the same kind of impact as did the Bush book. Be on the lookout for both. And check out Stephen's blog here.

NRB Update

We all just returned from the annual NRB (National Religious Broadcasters) convention held, this year, in Anaheim. (Celebrity sightings included Mel Gibson, John Tesh, and that guy with the white, mesmerizing, physics-defying toupee who used to sing on TBN all the time but who's name I can't recall.) [Update: This guy!View image]

Lileks on SOTU

[Update: link corrected] The best writer in America, James Lileks, shares some thoughts about last night's State of the Union Speech. (Warning: Mild Profanity)

Homer Simpson Quote of the Day

Homer on demographic media research...

"I'm a white male, age 18 to 49. Everyone listens to me, no matter how dumb my suggestions are."

A Common Question

I am frequently asked about search engines and how organizations can improve their performance when it comes to placement and results. Keep in mind that this blog post is not meant to be intensive, but I thought I would do a quick review of some search engine placement/optimization basics.

To begin, there are two general terms that I find best reflect any organization's initial strategy; they are "organic placement" and "pay-for-performance." Organic placement refers to the natural way search engines index your site. And as pay-for-performance suggests, rankings with this method are based upon the level of sponsorship for each keyword listing.

With organic placement there are three things to keep in mind (again, not all-inclusive).

1. Meta and title information. (This is the code at the beginning of any webpage that gives keywords, descriptions and the title that shows at the top of the browser).

2. Site content. This may seem somewhat obvious, but as search engines get more sophisticated (and they are continuously getting smarter) there is a big need for relevant site content. Is the name of your organization prominent on your pages? Are you titling your images (i.e. using ALT tags). Every little bit helps as those search spiders come crawling across your site. The more things "match up" the more relevant your site will become to search engines.

3. Search engine submissions. Once considered the mecca of results, this is not the primary way search engines index a site. However, it is still a valid piece of the optimization pie.

Moving to pay-for-performance (or cost-per-click) we find an acheivable top ranking just by allotting resources for certain search terms that you know most people will use to find you. If, for example, you are a bakery in Colleyville, you may want to buy keywords "Colleyville Bakery," "Texas Bakery." "DFW Wedding Cakes," etc.

It is important to note that rule number one in pay-for-performance is to know what your competition is doing. You must have market awareness for the keywords you are bidding on or you will quickly find yourself with poor ROI and lackluster results. Using the Colleyville bakery example, there may be other Colleyville bakeries with similar search engine desires. If you are not aware of the competition they could be taking the cake (pun intended) everytime someone searches.

One last point on pay-for-performance. Copy is king. If you think people will simply click on your listing because you are near the top you are dead wrong. Your descriptions and titles for your listing need to be thought out, tested and continually refined.

Okay, so that at least scratches the surface when it comes to optimizing your site for search engine perfomance. Best results come from a sound strategy that is executed and managed efficiently.

Feel free to post comments or email me if you have any specific questions on search engine optimization.