| LED Digest 2340: Best Practices for Testimonials |
|
|
|
================================================== The LED Digest Moderated Discussion List "Effective Online Advertising, Since 1997" Data > Information > Knowledge > Wisdom pair Networks: The LED's Web Host Hosting and Domain Registration from a Trusted Leader pair.com for Hosting | pairNIC.com for Domains ================================================== List Moderator: Published by: Adam Audette LED Digest adam, led-digest.com http://www.led-digest.com .............................................. February 5, 2007 Issue no. 2340 .............................................. .....IN THIS DIGEST..... ====== NEW ===================== --== Best Practices for Testimonials ==-- ~ Chuck Donner "...how much information can we post without contacting the customer?" --== Personalized Search Results ==-- ~ Fred Kelley "If you are logged in to your Google account... you will get different search results..." ==== CONTINUING ================= --== Profiting from Typed-in Domains ==-- ~ Shel Horowitz "Grabbing all the domain variants is expensive." ~ Dale Therio "I don't consider what I did as any sort of cybersquatting..." --== European Sales ==-- ~ Emma Mackintosh "...it would be a lot more helpful...for card companies to provide these checks..." ~ Neil Jones "[192.com] is a help but not a solution." --== Domain Name Hoarding ==-- ~ Marsha Kopan "Much to my horror he has recently sold the URL to another organization." ==== BULLETIN BOARD ============= --== SearchReturn on Title Tags ==-- ~ Will Bontrager <Moderator Comment> ========== NEW =================================== From: Chuck Donner Subject: Testimonials The posting of testimonials by satisfied customers is considered to be a great way to build trust with new customers. I have also read that more specific information about the original customer has a stronger chance of making an impact on new customers. Going under that premise, the following examples would have decreasing weight when impacting a customer's decision: Examples: 1] "You have great products and speedy shipping" - Steve Smith - Northwood, PA 2] "You have great products and speedy shipping" - S Smith - Northwood, PA 3] "You have great products and speedy shipping" - Steve - Northwood, PA 4] "You have great products and speedy shipping" - S Smith 5] "You have great products and speedy shipping" If we agree that more detailed customer information is more likely to affect new customers, how much information can we post without contacting the customer? For example, if the customer sends an email message with their testimonial, do we have the right to add their entire name? First? Last? City? State? If some people could share their experience, it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks. Chuck Donner -------- new post - new topic -------- From: Fred H. Kelley Subject: Personalized Search Results [was: Data refresh...] Kevin Condon mentioned [issues 2336-8] that his site has gone up and down in Google's search results. One possible reason I haven't seen mentioned in LED is Google's personalized search results. I'm no expert, but I've experienced this recently. If you are logged in to your Google account, and do a search, you will get different search results from the results you get when not logged in. Sometimes the results can vary drastically. Perhaps Kevin did searches when logged in and then when logged out. Fred Kelley http://www.quitsmoking.com ======== CONTINUING =============================== From: Shel Horowitz Subject: Typed-in URLs > Ford Motor Company almost got it right by registering > ford.com and fordsucks.com back in 1998, but they forgot > about ford-sucks.com that was registered in 2004 by > someone very critical of the Ford Motor Company... - David Yancey, LED Digest 2338 - http://www.led-digest.com/content/view/1735/55/ Call me a heretic (it won't be the first time) -- but I *don't* believe in snapping up every possible domain variant. Why? 1. It's impossible. No matter how many you buy, someone will find one you missed. 2. It adds to the shortage of domain names, just as it did for toll-free numbers. which means pressure to add still more TLDs or toll-free prefixes, which starts the cycle all over again 3. Grabbing all the domain variants is expensive. That doesn't mean I will never have a variation. I own, for instance, http://www.principledprofit.com as well as http://www.principledprofits.com (which I registered accidentally but people do confuse them). And you can get to the Business Ethics Pledge from http://www.business-ethics-pledge.org with or without hyphens. But in each case, I have only two out of dozens of possibilities, and that's plenty for me. If you are faced with a companysucks.com situation, the best thing to do is to make sure your SEO outperforms theirs. and to run such an ethical company that even if the site is found, people will believe you, not them. Shel Horowitz "Ethical, cooperative businesses thrive and prosper" Join the movement to reclaim the business world from the crooks http://www.business-ethics-pledge.org -------- new post - same topic -------- From: Dale Subject: Typed-in URLs > I'm assuming the commercial was > about cat-movers.com... - Steve Birk, LED Digest 2339 Nope, the ad was for MSN Search. Not for cat-movers.com. > ... the biggest mistake that occurred, in my opinion... > is why the owners of cat-movers.com... also wouldn't > have registered the then available catmovers.com... I agree that they should have registered the domain at the same time. However, the commercial was not for them, but for MSN Search. That is very clear. And MSN or their ad agency should have registered the domain before releasing the spot. I don't consider what I did as any sort of cybersquatting or being as someone else suggested, a domain vulture. From my perspective, if you are going to produce an ad, and you want the domain(s) mentioned in the ad or TV show, then you should register them beforehand. In this case, it was an ad for a search engine, so they could have either registered the domain they were promoting, or maybe they simply figured people don't type those domains in as they were not promoting the catmovers.com site, rather they were promoting the search engine and crafted a cute story to promote the search. It isn't like I registered a domain of a real company. It would be different (in my eyes anyway) if I registered a variation of the company - such as mssearch.com or msnsearch.com (btw, both are taken, the latter by Microsoft). Regards, Dale Therio -------- new post - new topic -------- From: Emma Mackintosh Subject: International orders > When checking a U.K address, we also make use > of 192.com's free electoral roll search facility. - Asim Jalali > ... this [site] has details of almost every postal company > in the world: escapeartist.com/global10/zip.htm - Philip Scriver [both quotes from issue 2339: http://www.led-digest.com/content/view/1735/55/ ] Thanks, Philip, for the postcode list - and Asim for the 192.com reference. We used to use Tracesmart, which runs a similar UK electoral roll check - but its no longer free, so 192.com is now our preferred option too. To add to this, I use http://www.infobel.com/world/default.asp to check that the person making the order does exist in a local phone directory - it will match phone number against name, address and postcode for most countries in the world. Not infallible but at least it gives another indication of whether a customer is likely to exist at the address provided... I still feel that it would be a lot more helpful, particularly as international commerce increases, for card companies to provide these checks across borders themselves, rather than expecting the merchant to cobble together a way round the problem! Emma Mackintosh -------- new post - same topic -------- From: Neil Jones Subject: International orders > [192.com] is very useful as everyone in the U.K > should have an electoral roll listing. If they are not > on it then this immediately indicates that the person > is registered at another address. - Asim Jalali I'm sorry but that isn't true. It only applies if people register to vote. They often don't and there may be errors also. I just tried a cousin of my mother's and her husband who live in the street I grew up on. They have lived there since they built the house about 50 years ago. They were not listed. I tried a couple of friends and didn't find all of them either. One I am absolutely sure is registered to vote because she is political. Her husband is there but not her. People who are not UK citizens but who live in the UK also would not be registered. It is a help but not a solution. Neil Jones wildlifewebsite.com -------- new post - new topic -------- From: Marsha Kopan Subject: Domain hoarding As a follow up to my own post I had a nice response from an LED person who offered some assistance. Thank you. In addition, after I sent my message I went to see if I could do more of my own digging about the guy that purchased the domain. Much to my horror he has recently (within the last few months) sold the URL to another organization. Admittedly the organization is a perfect fit for the URL. My client will just have to live with what they are using. Marsha Kopan, IVAA CVA, CRESS, PL Executive Secretarial Services www.execsecsrv.com Delegate, don't stagnate. ==== BULLETIN BOARD =============================== From: Will Bontrager Subject: "Title Length" post at SearchReturn Just a heads-up for LEDers. Issue #113 of SearchReturn Digest (http://www.searchreturn.com/) has a very useful text about title length in relation to search engines and other software. The prelude says, in part: -------------------- "Our aim is to make your membership useful, (like what I-Search was). I-Search was a valued resource that we want to see again. To best accomplish this, we plan to begin publishing informative texts, tips and more comments to the list." -------------------- I don't remember exactly how I-Search became SearchReturn. But I've been a subscriber since before the transition. This new slant looks like it might boost the ezine up near LED Digest in my estimation of usefulness. Will Bontrager http://willmaster.com/contact.shtml <Moderator Comment> I was happy to see that too, Will. It's good to see Detlev offering such valuable and practical information to SearchReturn subscribers. I'm looking forward to more of that. The market on reporting search news and happenings is definitely saturated. For those who don't know, SearchReturn is Detlev Johnson's list. As well as being a great guy and an experienced SEO/M, Detlev has lots of experience running lists from his time moderating I-Search (a practically legendary but sadly defunct discussion list for SEOs). Since yesterday's issue isn't up in the SR archives yet ( http://www.searchreturn.com/digest-archive.shtml ), here's a snip from the article: -------------------- "The last thought on title length is that shorter titles will give your individual terms additional strength... If the page content is focused, you may require fewer than 50 characters to retain the natural quality and depth of coverage a good title demands. If so, the power behind each word is increased relative to the drop in character count. "Aim for between 50 and 64 or 65 characters for a full title, and remember less is more. Before you decide to edit your titles on this basic advice, be sure to know that we have not yet covered the quality of the writing. Trying to stuff keywords - even with a short title - is a mistake. "As you might suspect by now, there is much more to writing excellent titles than simply including keywords within the character limit." -------------------- I recommend subscribing, which you can do here: http://www.searchreturn.com/subscribe.shtml Great work, Detlev! Keep it up. Best wishes, Adam ------------------------------------------------------- The LED Digest is sponsored by pair Networks: pair.com for Hosting | pairNIC.com for Domains The Archives: http://www.led-digest.com/content/view/126/120/ Subscribe: http://www.led-digest.com/content/view/52/77/ Unsubscribe, Change Email, or Hold / Resume Delivery: http://www.led-digest.com/content/category/4/17/86/ (c) Copyright 1995-2007 Orange Wheel, LLC. All Rights Reserved. ----------------------------------------------------------------- "Our intellect has achieved the most tremendous things, but in the meantime our spiritual dwelling has fallen into disrepair." - Carl Gustav Jung |
