People look at me funny for many reasons, one of them being my preoccupation with Search Engine Marketing or Search Engine Optimization. I personally understand about only 1/16 of the rules of SEM, most of the content being like Sanskrit to my brain. But I get its importance (both to web sites in general and my business particularly) and I hang on every word of the experts I know personally to try and derive some nugget of information that will help my web site perform better on search engines. That’s a big chunk of my marketing focus, always has been.

Well recently, it wasn’t so much for monitoring progress and Google rankings (though I do check my key words) as it was adding to my Google bookmarks the web sites of some of my fellow voice talents whom I know, respect or can otherwise learn from (no, not steal from, but sincerely learn from). The bookmarks are placed on my Google toolbar which has become a very handy resource for me because it’s available to me on any computer in the world. If you don’t have it or something like it, boy I sure would recommend you drop your Explorer or Firefox tool bar and use Google’s.

I thought an easy way to find my friends’ web pages would be to just Google my own big generic keywords for our industry and my peers would show up in the first ten pages of any one of 4-6 keywords. Those keywords didn’t include Peter O’Connell or anything regarding audio’connell as I search those keywords only when I need a significant ego boost (less than I used to, now it’s only daily instead of hourly).

Most of my peers didn’t show up. Gulp. 10 pages (or the top 100 sites) on keywords that most should show up on. Not there.

It’s extremely possibly that their marketing objectives for their web sites are different than mine. I know there are a few that use their sites solely as a web brochure and have really no interest in keyword search. For others, their brand is only their name and their city. For still others, it’s their specialty like radio imaging or promo voice. I’ll leave it to them to know whether those words are popularly searched by their target market or whether they’re just hoping they are popularly searched. God speed on that one.

But to my mind, if you’re not aggressively working on keywords in your web site’s text – first knowing the best ones (a herculean task, I’ll admit) then second, using them effectively – I don’t understand how your web site can be truly effective/found. If people can’t easily come upon your site (because let’s assume they don’t know you or your company exists) they aren’t going to find you on page 20 of Google. They won’t go that far. And you’ve lost a sale…oops, there goes another one right now.

But, maybe I’m wrong.

Tags: commentary, google, internet, marketing, search engine marketing, technology, voice talent, voiceover advice by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
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A gentleman who I’ve met a couple of times at podcamps (Toronto/Boston) named Christopher Penn did a very kind and unexpected thing a few months ago.

As a way to say thank you for everyone who supported his blog and podcast, he posted a list with links (where possible) of every person who left a comment. How brilliant for what poster shouldn’t be made to feel appreciated (well, maybe the 3,000 spammers whom I’ve filtered out but everyone else is great).

Well its taken a little time (600+ comments) and some of the records have been lost but most everybody who has visited and left a comment on voxmarketising – the audio’connell blog and podcast will be on the following list. If you’ve been here before, you’re probably on the list.

If you didn’t leave a web site, I at least included your name. If you have an updated web site since your last post here, let me know.

To my brief visitors, I hope you’ll subscribe and come back more often. To my subscribers, I cannot thank you enough and I hope to continue to provide content on voiceover, marketing and advertising (in blog and podcast form) the you find both informative and entertaining.

Thank you all for enjoying the ride with me.

And don’t for get to say hi!

Liz de Nesnera

Louis Trahan

Tags: blogs, commentary, google, internet, social networking by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
17 Comments »

In what is arguably an exercise in either search engine optimization or humongous vanity, I very infrequently check the position of my name on Google.

Because my name is a key element of the branding of my voice over business, I think it’s a good idea to know where I stand.

I know that for many industry key words, like voice over talent, Google likes me just fine, ranking me in the first three pages (first page being best).

But where I would like to ensure I am also well known, my name, I’m doing pretty well as far as Google is concerned as well (at least as of this moment, these things do change).

Now the ultimate test of SEM prowess (read: enormous ego) is typing in the key words on the Google home page and not hitting the button “search” but rather “I’m feeling lucky” which leads the visitor directly to the domain of the top ranked site for those keywords.

For company branding, I’m right there with audio’connell, audio’connell Voice Over Talent and the like.

Like wise for Peter K. O’Connell, Peter O’Connell…number one. Well that’s good.

And while I’m not number one for “O’Connell” I am on the first page, which I’m cool with.

What this exercise did teach me though is that I am no Madonna.

If you Google the name “Peter” I am not on the first page or the fiftieth page or even the last page (which for Google I guess is one hundred). Peter Tork’s web page (he of “Monkees” fame) is listed but not me. Not once. So there, Herr Hubris, take that!

Peter Coyote is the first voice talent that comes up under “Peter” on Google and that’s not until page thirteen (the one hundred and twenty ninth most popular “Peter” on Google.) But he should be there…he’s one of my favorite voice talents, anyway….loved when he announced the Oscars a few year back.

So I guess I have my SEO, SEM and PR work cut out for me. And that’s OK, otherwise I’d get complacent and that is not a place I’d like to be ranked first.

Oh, by the way if you do Google the name “Peter” and you do scroll through all the pages to find me….we need to help find you a hobby 🙂

BUT, I do want to know where you ranked on Google in your name searches! Do tell!

Tags: commentary, google, internet, marketing, search engine marketing, technology by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
9 Comments »

If you have a web site and you want to be found, you understand how Google is currently the world’s primary search engine when it come to marketing or optimization (Search Engine Marketing or Search Engine Optimization ).

Microsoft’s search engine, MSN, is by most accounts the third man in a two man race between Google and its waaay back in second place competitor, Yahoo. You may be aware that Microsoft decided this week it didn’t want to be an also ran anymore and that MSN wasn’t going to be a player on its own. Microsoft submitted an unsolicited offer for over $44 billion to buy Yahoo. Yahoo, whose financial health isn’t the strongest, is deciding what it wants to do.

For internet users and for business people, the prospect of this type of change could be a big deal.

I have the gall to comment on such a humongous business deal not because I am so connected in the tech world or so incredibly web savvy but rather because search engines are a valued part of my voice over business. Mine is a web-based business, primarily, and as such depends in some measure on my search engine success.

So as a point of reference I shall offer up some general statistics to let you know what this proposed merger means to my business regarding search engines. And don’t worry, these will be easily relatable statistics that won’t make your eye bleed.

From January 1, 2007 – January 1, 2008, the following were the search engines that guided the most visitors to my voice over business web site, audio’connell.com

1. Google 2,833
2. Yahoo 173
3. AOL 58
4. MSN 37

Quick math will tell you that Yahoo, AOL and MSN combined don’t total even 10% of the visitors guided to my web site by Google. So what’s the near-term impact of the merger to my business (especially since I own no stock in any of these companies)?

Nothing.

It may make good business sense for Yahoo and Microsoft (or it may not) but unless they come up with some amazing search engine idea that can blow the wheels off Google, it won’t help my business. It won’t hurt it either.

I’m just one business example however and I’d love to hear your comments on how this merger would (or would not) impact your web based business based on your search engine traffic.

Tags: commentary, google, marketing, search engine marketing, technology by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
Comments Off on who gives a google about yahoo and microsoft

The elephant in the room just subtly kicked off their own social network.

If it smells like competition and looks like competition, Facebook this is your new competition.

Open your Google Reader, click manage my subscriptions and click the tab marked “Friends”.

Tags: commentary, google, internet, media, social networking, social networks and links, technology by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
Comments Off on knock knock, facebook

When plowing through my blog subscriptions via my Google Reader everyday, I find myself simply hitting the “Mark As Read” button on many posts. I’m not sure if its because I’m tired of reading or the post hasn’t grabbed my attention or if I’ve got a hellish day ahead (or behind me) and I just can’t be bothered.

But a trick I’ve tired to implement more regularly recently is if I see a post of interest but feel I don’t have the time to concentrate on it, I just leave it and make sure I come back to it. Sure, that sounds logical enough for most people but in my drive to accomplish things or be able to cross one more thing off my list…having the patience to hold and go back is a big deal.

What’s the payoff? This is the payoff. Thursday (Thanksgiving Day in the states) Copywriting.com had a post “The 10 ten ways to drive traffic to your blog”. Thursday was a long day for me because Air Tran Airlines had trouble managing to get a non-stop flight from Buffalo to Atlanta so my 6:20 a.m. flight didn’t leave Buffalo until 2:40 p.m. (All together now…”Air Tran sucks!”)

In the interim, I went over the US Airways Club to chill (airport benches just are not comfortable). While I was reading my Google Reader, I started to feel a bit sleepy (I hadn’t even had turkey yet but they did have football on and I’d been up since 4 a.m.). So when I came across the Copywriting.com post, I knew I would want to read it but wouldn’t be able to concentrate at that particular moment.

This morning, I read the post and it had a terrific video from Jack Humphrey (http://www.jackhumphrey.com/) on how to use Trackbacks on wordpress blogs. The video is on his blog and on Copywriting.com’s blog.

Thanks to Copywriter.com and Jack for these terrific tips, proving that my patience often will be rewarded. It also proves that the older I get, the less it takes to please me 🙂

Tags: blogs, commentary, google, internet, technology by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
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