Jason+: A Blog about WordThink

They say half of your marketing money is wasted, you just don't know which half. Well, unless you do. Today the companies that sell advertising on the Internet - Facebook, Google, Twitter, LinkedIn - all have huge megaphones advocating advertising. Have you ever noticed how many times you see ads for AdWords? Like not just on YouTube, but EVERWHERE? Think about that for a moment: Ads for advertising . How weird is that? Facebook Advertising Fraud Then along comes the latest video ( here ) proclaiming that - surprise - Facebook advertising is expensive, and riddled with possible fraud.  Well, yes and no. Here's the non-surprise surprise : ALL forms of advertising are riddled with problems, and on the Internet fraud whether it's click fraud or like fraud has been around forever. Don't be naive, Scarlett. It's not just Yankees in Atlanta, it's that all forms of advertising are ridiculously expensive. As marketers, perhaps it's a good time to step b...

You're invited to our FREE webinar on the ' Top Ten Free Tools for SEO .' Show up to laugh and learn how to get your business to the top of Google, for free, using free tools.  All attendees get a copy of the SEO Toolbook , with hundreds of free tools. Register Now @  Thursday, 2/13/2014 at 9:30 am Pacific | 12:30 pm Eastern - REGISTER . Friday, 3/21/204 at 9:30 am Pacific | 12:30 pm Eastern - REGISTER . Learn more about the JM Internet Group, here or call 510-713-2150.

Ok, the Bowl is over and according to Google's knowledge graph... the Baltimore Ravens won!  Oh, oops, Google is a little behind the times as of 10 pm Eastern time... So go Broncos!  Oh, oops!  Yeah Seattle! Who cares?  It's all about the ads, isn't it? Well, there were over 50 ads, many of which were BORING. So, to save you time, here are just the best ads from the game, which you can call view on Hulu for free. Best Super Bowl Ads 2014 (Jason's List) Dannan Oikos - somewhat NSFW but hilarious: Kia - funny IF you are a MATRIX fan Turbo Tax: Love hurts: mockery of the Super Bowl for all the non-winnners, and then a plug for their free tax software: Honda Hug Someone, Bruce Willis does hugs Sony Crackle Seinfield - Of Course it's funny - it's SEINFIELD!!! Coca Cola America: Coke celebrates the diversity of America Peanut Butter Meets Chocolote and they get a bit crazy (in an adult sort of way) Watch All the Best Super Bowl Ads,...

Super Bowl XLVIII!  Football madness !  Who's gonna win?  The Denver Broncos or the Seattle Seahawks? Who cares?!  It's the Super Bowl ads we're after (as marketers). Superbowl Ad Links: Preview Super Bowl Ads Use the links below to pre- or post-view Super Bowl ads, and be the hip, cool ad guru at Monday's water cooler huddle. YouTube Ad Blitz - YouTube's preview, watch, and vote extravaganza of all the best ads. The #1 recommended site to watch Super Bowl XLVIII ads, after the game. Hulu Ad Zone - Hulu's competitive site to YouTube with teasers and full ads of the Super Bowl.  ( Shhhh... right now, it's actually better than the official YouTube! ) Superbowl Commercials 2014 - another mega site that has teasers for Super Bowl ads.  NFL TB Super Bowl Ads - a playlist that will 'be populated' with the top commercials as they are released. To stay really up-to-date, just click here , which is a pre-built Google search for 'Super ...

Google Analytics , of course, is the powerful, free metrics tool provided by Google itself. But since all the smart user interface people work at Apple and all the English majors work at Facebook, the user interface and linguistics of Google Analytics need some translation. Here's my tongue-in-check explanation of the left column in Google Analytics, click around and read my translations on what these elements really mean. Google Analytics - (Un)Lost in Translation Google Analytics ~ Are we there yet? Who came to our party? Why did they come? What did they drink? Did they leave without paying? Demographics ~ Did old people visit our site? Men, women, children, or people from Florida? Interests ~ Really amazing stuff about your visitors, that if you enable with the nifty, updated tracking code you still won't really see, because Google Analytics ain't Facebook, people. Geo ~ Strange word in Google Analytics for what language your visitors speak, and their location, wh...

Today's marketing word is FUD , or Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt . According to Wikipedia, it was coined in 1975 by Gene Amdahl, a former IBM employee turned entrepreneur. So FUD has an illustrious history, and deep tech roots. Let's investigate some recent FUD examples in Internet marketing. FUD and Google, Bing, and Yelp Enter Google, Bing, and Yelp. As marketers today we often depend on one, or all, of these companies to interact with customers and generally "get the word out." All three have a free platform (e.g., SEO on Google and Bing, free listings on Yelp), and a paid platform, a.k.a. advertising.  And all three worry a lot about people "gaming" the system to get better free positions, and all three would really rather have us all just give up and advertise. FUD 's first letter, "F," could also stand for FOLLOW the money . Recently, Google, Bing, and Yelp have all engaged in a little FUD : sowing fear, uncertainty, and dou...

Thomas Friedman , who is one of my favorite New York Times columnists, writes that the "digital divide" is disappearing: soon everyone (or nearly everyone) across the world will have a computer screen and Internet access...  So the real divide will become the "motivational divide." Those who are motivated to continually learn, to continually push themselves, to take advantage of new opportunities and build new skills - these people will be the winners.  He takes all of this from futurist, Marina Gorbis , by the way. Says Friedman: In that world, argues futurist Marina Gorbis, the big divide will be “the motivational divide” — who has the self-motivation, grit and persistence to take advantage of all the free or cheap online tools to create, collaborate and learn. ( http://nyti.ms/J3puIR ). Internet Marketing and the Motivational Divide Much of what I teach about SEO, Social Media, and even AdWords is technical: how to do this, how not to do that, how t...