Shoemoney - Skills To Pay The Bills

Link to ShoeMoney Internet Marketing Blog

Posted: 03 Jul 2013 06:26 AM PDT

Next week I will get into full-blown bitchiness about a specific topic, but this week I thought I touch of on a whole variety of things that need bitching about since my last post last fall. Because let me tell you there's been plenty to bitch about.

Did Danny Sullivan and Matt Cutts kiss and make up?
After Matt Cutts appearance at SES San Francisco last year, there is tons of speculation that Matt was trying to distance himself from Danny Sullivan, particularly since Danny was going pretty hot and heavy with his complaints to the FTC about Google and writing all kinds of negative articles about everything under the sun that he hated about Google. But at SMX Advanced last month, lo and behold Matt Cutts was there for his usual Q&A where Danny put him on the hot seat, although to be fair it didn't seem like the seat was all that hot this year. So maybe things aren't all rainbows and unicorns between them. Besides, it is nice to see Matt at a variety of search conferences as he did last year and I hope that trend continues this year, even though I am sure Danny would love to keep Matt Cutts an SMX exclusive.

What is going on at Bruce Clay?
Why is it that it seems like whenever Bruce Clay gets a very popular writer who loves to blog all things SEO and industry related, and gain a massive following, that they always seem to move on? True, Bruce Clay is one of the biggest names in the industry, no doubt about it. But people like Lisa Barone had a huge following, and if I was Bruce, I would be working damn hard to hang onto those other faces of the Bruce Clay Empire rather than see them go to competitors. Besides, Bruce Clay girls always make for entertaining PubCons.

What the heck Blueglass?
Although Shoemoney already tackled this one, Blueglass was supposed to be the best and brightest SEO company that potential clients were supposed to be elbowing each other out of the way in order to land Blueglass, instead of Blueglass going out of their way to get clients. It all went down right before Blueglass X was supposed to take place, and apparently not all those potential attendees have gotten their money back. And am I the only one that does a double take whenever I see Blueglass UK promoted or referenced all over the place? If I was the UK arm of that company, I would run as far away from the Blueglass name is possible to get some distance from that mess.

SEOMoz is now Moz and they did what?
In case you missed the news SEOMoz is trying to grow up a bit with the brand-new image and name – "MOZ". Yes, very original. So how do they celebrate that name change? By deciding to go after a company called Doz with the trademark infringement claim. Now, no one could possibly confuse the names SEOMoz with Doz.com. So why didn't they do their own due diligence and discover that hey there was another company out there launching with a similar name (although there is a lot of he said she said with regards to who launched first and filed first, it appears we will see it all shake down in court). Good thing they didn't try to rebrand themselves as SEO.com because then a whole lot of SEO companies would be screwed!

Enough with the Google Glass already
Yes, Barry Schwartz, we are all well aware of the fact you are drooling over everyone else that got picked to get Google Glass before you. We get it, it sucks to be you. But do you need to really incessantly tweet, blog and Google+ about the fact you haven't gotten a pair yet? Trust me, if I was in charge of Google Glass, I would have bumped you to the bottom of the list just because of that. And using animated GIFs on so many of those posts doesn't make you any cooler, just makes you look like you think you are still on MySpace.

WebmasterWorld sold to the Ninjas
Just about everyone was pretty shocked that Brett Tabke, owner of WebmasterWorld, actually sold the forums. He reigned over the forums with a very strong moderating arm that alienated many admins and moderators over the years (hit up any SEO gathering in the UK to hear all that gossip). So no one could believe that he actually decided to sell them. And if you missed the news, he sold them to Jim Boykin for Jim's Internet Marketing Ninjas empire. But yes, have no fear, your tax deductible trip to Las Vegas for Vegas Pubcon each year can continue, as Brett did not sell the PubCon side of the business.

And speaking of the Ninjas
Talk about a company that has gone from the little league of We Build Pages to big league fast. They picked up some great company hires such as Chris Boggs. They are well on their way to be what Blueglass could have been.

As always, feel free to comment about topics you would like to see the SEOBitch treatment given to

Looking for an SEO service that won’t get you banned?

4 Killer Money Making Tactics Even Buddhist Temples Use

Posted: 03 Jul 2013 06:12 AM PDT

Disclaimer: I meant no disrespect to any beliefs or religions when I wrote this, especially to the Buddhists. In fact, despite having been raised Catholic, I went to Thailand to seek Buddhism and completed a 7 day intensive vipasana meditation at Wat Mahadthat temple in Bangkok. The stuff I’m about to share is based on my personal experience, my personal beliefs, and my personal opinion. I have utmost respect for all faiths and philosophies around the world.

Hello from the Thailand, the land of smiles. (Well, that’s the marketing slogan anyway.)

It’s been about 3 long fun, educational, scary, and exciting months since I arrived in Thailand (you can read about my Thailand inspired marketing ideas here, here, and here).

But before I return back to the good ol’ US of A, I decided to make one last trip in Thailand to a city called Ayutthaya.

Ayutthaya historical park is where I actually visited. According to Wikipedia, it was the “site of mass murder, rape and enslavement of Siamese people and destruction of the Ayutthaya city”.

But of course, now it’s the site for mass tourism, rape of foreigner’s wallets, and enslavement of Tuk-tuk drivers and massage ladies endlessly asking if I want a freakin’ taxi and massage when they can clearly see that I am not interested… and who the hell wants a massage in 100+ degree weather in the middle of the street with no freakin’ A/C.

Oh wait, I digress.

I was trying to witty with the word play but it took a wrong turn.

My bad.

Yes, the even people in developing countries have figured out there’s more money in tourism then there ever will be in wars.

One place I visited was a Buddhist temple called Wat Yaichaimongkhol

And if you ever visit Thailand, you’ll notice that Ayutthaya temples look quite different than the temples elsewhere.

Ever watch old kung fu movies where a confused white guy is wronged somehow (his wife gets killed, child abducted, etc.) and he goes to a Shaolin monk to learn killer kung fu, only to learn more about himself and gets wise?

Well, i feel like marketers should do the same. Except instead of learning the art of tiger crotch (or was it croutching tiger.. i forget), we can learn from these temple people on what they learned about “monetizing the traffic” over hundreds if not thousands of years.

1) Freemium

It’s free to visit the temples, whether you’re a believer or a tourist.

But, you want Buddha to “bless you” (by the way, Buddha is not god and he specifically said ‘do not worship me’), you’re gonna have to pay.

In fact, there are plaque all over temples that say “give to receive”.. or “offering for good luck”.

Yes, you can “buy” luck from Buddha as if Buddha has a factory making little trinkets of luck.

Stupid?

Hmm.. is it?

You gotta ask yourself this… ever go to a (christian) church and say you gotta tithe.. or “give to the lord so that you shall receive”… or something like that? (In fact, Jeremy talks about how internet marketers can learn from religions.)

Or better yet, ever watch people play Farmville or any of those time wasting games where you can buy virtual crap with REAL money?

Yea, freemium works. Don’t believe me? Look at how much freemium game maker Zynga is worth. Yes, people.. that’s a “B” as in BILLIONS.

2) Micro payments trump lump sum

Maybe the people running the temples saw informercials… or maybe informercial people visited the temples and copied it.

Small payments are EASIER than lump sum.

For example, if you visit the temples here, you’ll notice sometimes that there are ROWS and ROWS of donations boxes.

Each one of them has description on the box: “temple utility bills”… or “feed the hungry”… or “build a new meditation center”.

Some temples are more imaginative “for good luck”… “for good health”… “for prosperity”.

And what’s at the END of these boxes?

Correct – a cashier giving out change, so that you can get “luck” for each and every one of these categories. ( Who DOESN’T want good luck AND good health AND prosperity … etc).

In another words, you can HAVE IT ALL. And you don’t even have to pay a lot… just a change here and there… 35-40 times. That’s all.

The direct response marketers understand this: small monthly payments.

3) Make it easy to pay

For some reason, every culture seems to like pyramids, not just Egypt.

And Thai Buddhists are no exception.

There was this one pyramid structure that was ultra hard to climb, but everyone, and i mean everyone, wanted to go see what’s up there.

After a pretty arduous 1 minute climb (we’re talking 50-60% incline), i got to the top and saw this small room where there were more statues of Buddha.. and a little pit.

What’s the pit for?

No pun intended: to pour money down the drain. (i.e. donation pit)

People seemed to be enjoying themselves trying to put coin in the middle of the hole.

And of course, they dont’ want you to go ALL the way down to get change because they know once you go down, you ain’t coming back up.

Solution? Volunteer cashier on top of the pyramd.

(Actually it was an old white guy. I doubt he signed up to do this when he was seeking englightenment).

Yes, make it EASY to pay. One click if possible.

4) Use psychology (Gamification)

This is probably the most interesting one. (Actually this isn’t a Buddhist thing.. but more cultural thing.)

In some temples, you’ll notice this container that contains these long sticks that look like little arrows.

They’re called “lucky sticks”.

The concept is that you shake it until a stick pops out.

On that stick is a number.

And of course, that number tells you the number to the pamphlet that explains what your “luck” represents.

Like the donation boxes, they usually say some good stuff… like “you’ll be successful”… “you’ll find your true love soon”.. blah blah.

But unlike the donation boxes, some of them are actually quite … i’ll say it.. fucked up.

There was one that said “be careful as your decision might cause a grave harm to your future”.

Seriously, who the hell wants to receive that?

In fact, I’ve seen people actually get these foul predictions.

So what do they do?

Go back, spend another 50-100 BHAT, ($1.50 – $3 USD) and try again.

In fact, they’ll keep doing it until they see something they LIKE.

Crazy? Yes.

More money for the temples? Hell yes. KACHIIIING.

======================

OK… I made it sound like Buddhist temples were some kind of corporate money making machine.

As with all man made religions that started out with good intent around true faiths, there are flaws and things that people can definitely criticize, especially for outsiders looking in.

But I must admit, temples (like churches and synagogues) definitely do provide a sense of stability, serenity, and community.

On top of that, they provide economic activity. Like the tourists that come to visit them.. or the construction companies that help to design, construct, and maintain them.. or the food vendors that come to sell the food to the believers who in turn donate to the monks.

In the last 3 months in this foreign country called Thailand, I’ve had the pleasure of seeing interesting, funny, exciting, and scary things.

An elephant tried to slap me once.

A monkey tried to slap me once.

No, i don’t know why these animals hate me so much.

No, I’m not that korean guy Dr. Ken Jeong from Hangover 2.

Anywho.

And of course, meeting people, especially the Thai entrepreneurs who are creating value and, of course, jobs (like the founder of HomeCareSpot.com, who is literally creating jobs by creating connections between host families needing home care and international students around the world looking for home care jobs), had to be one of the most rewarding experiences of my life.

As I leave Thailand in less than 24 hours, I just want to say “sawasdee khap” to the people who gave me the most interesting experience of my adult life so far.

[Insert sappy song here]

PS: Do you like my posts? I am looking for opportunities to expand my guest blog or do public speaking on online marketing & lead generation (I run a solar lead generation company). You can read about who I am, what I do and my experiences on my personal blog. If so, please contact me.

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