Marketing Logic

I’ve realized something about blogging. It takes work to keep updated and have a constant stream of original thoughts. I never want to parrot other people’s content, which is why I always want to comment if I link to another blog. Simply linking to another page isn’t really interesting, opinions and a context create value for a reader.

I was kicking myself for not making a recent post lately, and I realized that it certainly wasn’t a lack of content or ideas. Just the opposite, there is an overwhelming number of ideas, thoughts, and other news items that could be written about. So many things, that I felt that I had no idea where to even start.

That’s when I realized the value of doing nothing.

Really.

Somehow, multitasking has become synonymous with productivity. But I wonder if something isn’t lost in our constant quest to be more productive and get more done. We’re wired in with email, cell-phones, iPods, and laptops that go where we go. We are constantly surrounded by our work tools. If we aren’t productive for a certain amount of time, we start to feel guilty. Because, after all, aren’t these things supposed to make work easier and therefore, make our lives easier?

Somehow, the very things that are there to make our lives easier can easily take over and rule our lives instead. A cell phone was great, but then I went and got a cell phone that will receive my email. Great. What’s the trade-off? Are these things truly making our lives better and more productive?

I remembered a statement made by the Danish philosopher, Søren Kierkegaard, “If I were a physician, and if I were allowed to prescribe just one remedy for all the ills of the modern world, I would prescribe silence.”

Silence.

No wonder it is usually described as “the gift of silence.” I have three small children, and any moment of silence is truly a gift, and it is noticed and appreciated when it happens. But how often do we truly seek silence? Do we allow ourselves to be content with silence?

But when we feel the most overwhelmed, the busiest, the most rushed in our day, I’ve come to realize that is when we need silence the most. How can we organize the thoughts in our head, unless we resist the temptation to add more? Only in silence and quiet reflection can we add any sense to the multitude of ideas and goals we have in our day.

Fortunately for me, I have a large patch of woods nearby that makes a nice quiet walk with nature possible. It’s amazing how much more productive you can be in a day when you actually remove yourself for a few minutes of silence.

If you feel overwhelmed by the business of the day. I challenge you to take a moment and find silence. You may be surprised how hard you have to work for it. But the payoff is invigorating. A few moments of hard-sought freedom from our technological tethers may cause some of those creative ideas to fly unbound.

QuickBooks 2007 will incorporate four Google applications, AdWords, Maps, Google Base, and Google Desktop. The interface will allow QuickBooks users to interface to paid keyword campaigns and Google Maps business listings. The Google Base interface will allow merchants to upload their product inventories into Google Base.

Intuit has an estimated 3.7 million small and medium-sized businesses.

This is an amazing joint venture between two market leaders. Google CEO Eric Schmidt quoted the ‘Long Tail’ as the reasoning behind extending this service through QuickBooks. The essential principles of the cause of the long tail are: 1, more powerful tools; and 2, distribution of those tools to the population.

By allowing Google to interface with QuickBooks, business owners will now have a central access point to advertise, manage, and promote their products. I am sure there will still need to be specialists and training involved, but the ‘long tail’ integration has started.

source: Online Media Daily

In what is being called a landmark precedent for accessibility, Federal District Court Judge Marilyn Hall Patel ruled on Thursday, September 7th, that a retailer may be sued if its website is inaccessible to the blind. Target had filed for a dismissal by arguing that no law requires them to make an accessible website. The Court denied this motion and held that both federal and state civil laws apply to a website.

Some legal “mumbo-jumbo” for the wanna-be lawyers:

“The court held: “the ‘ordinary meaning’ of the ADA’s prohibition against discrimination in the enjoyment of goods, services, facilities or privileges, is that whatever goods or services the place provides, it cannot discriminate on the basis of disability in providing enjoyment of those goods and services.” The court thus rejected Target’s argument that only its physical store locations were covered by the civil rights laws, ruling instead that all services provided by Target, including its Web site, must be accessible to persons with disabilities.”

Summary
Basically, Target tried to argue that accessibility only applied to the physical locations and not the website. The court disagreed saying that all services must be accessible to “persons with disabilities.”

While this is only a ruling on a plea for dismissal, and not the actual case decision, it is interesting to note that this court is NOT making a distinction between a physical store and its website. This is critical to the case that the National Federation of the Blind is making.

The ruling is based more on California’s civil laws than the Federal accessibility laws, as Target specifically challenged the interpretation of civil rights laws in application to the Internet. Again, I see this as more of an interesting interpretation than a “landmark”. It’s more like legal wrangling of the terms and specific laws, codes, and issues involved, which is typical.

Background
The main cause of this issue is that the Target.com website does not employ the use of ALT atributed in the design of the site. The absense of the ALT attributes are so eggregious, that in some cases vital information to a shopper is lost if they are not able to see the images. Sales, discounts and free shipping offers are contained in graphic text, and are not read by screenreaders.

The National Federation of the Blind approached Target about this issue in May of 2004, but after 10 months of negotiotions Target was unwilling to change the website. For something as simple as ALT attributes, it seems silly.

My take on this . . .
The last thing I think we need is a bunch of lawsuits on the heels of this one – ’sue websites just because we can’. I tend to side with the free enterprise system where the consumer votes with his money. If web retailers are willing to ignore a large segment of the population, then they will pay the price in lost sales. It is my hope that someone will be creative enough to build something better, rather suing companies to make them change.

Invention is much better than coercion.

One of my favorite T-shirts is one that I picked up at a Search Engine Strategies conference, back when it was in Boston. You can also tell that it is dated because it is from FAST: AlltheWeb. I think they were having a fire sale, as they were going to be bought by Yahoo! and were giving away hundreds of old shirts.

I love the message of the shirt, “freshness counts” – That was the focus of FAST; indexing new sites and content as fast as possible and updating the search result to reflect those changes within days, rather than weeks. Living in Ohio, I rarely get to enjoy fresh seafood. When you live away from the coast, fresh is important.

On further refection, I was enjoying some sushi during a recent trip to San Diego, and I marveled at the presentation of the meal. It was almost a shame to eat it, as it was one of the most beautiful things I’d ever seen.

Regardless of your stomach for raw fish, I have to believe that one can appreciate the beauty of sushi presentation, and not just the taste. Sushi is more than a food; it is an art form and an experience. The goal of a sushi chef is to arrange and present the food in a way to enhance both the beauty and taste. From a rigorous apprenticeship to knives that can cost over $1,000, sushi is a craft that has a long, proud tradition.

Back to search.

In a similar way, search engine optimization should never overpower the intent of a website. It should be artistic in the way that it helps to present and arrange the content of a web site. It is a craft that, when done well, is not obvious to the web site visitor. It should not be an overpowering agenda, but one that works with the overall marketing plan of a website. It should enhance the “flavor” and make it more beautiful and appetizing to both the search engine and the user.

Too many optimization efforts result in a site being almost unrecognizable and ugly (stinky?) in presentation. The visitor is overwhelmed by the search engine optimization efforts. The true message and purpose of the site are sacrificed for better rankings, and the purpose of the site is unclear and out of focus. When optimization is primary to the marketing of the site, this tends to happen.

The beauty of sushi is that all of the elements are harmoniously at work to create the experience, the taste and the presentation. In the same way, optimization should not be the driving force of the marketing, but a part of the overall strategy. When one element is overdone, the total presentation of the site suffers, and the message is lost.