Am I being too harsh? The truth is, I find Rand Fishkin quite likable. I’ve seen him give a few talks at Turning Fest – and I enjoyed every talk. And, as far as I can tell, he knows a lot about SEO. (How can I tell?) But, when it Read more…
The other day, I saw this cartoon in my Facebook memories (I originally posted it in 2015): Pretty funny, right? But it reminds me of something Jay Abraham said. He said that your business’ biggest problem might be someone else’s solution. So, in the cartoon, the hunter wanted a pet Read more…
Two and a half years. That’s how long the FBI spent listening to Louie Louie by The Kingsmen. Two and a half years, over and over… bah-da-da, da-da, dah-da-da, da-da… with their heads next to the speakers, trying to decipher the slurred lyrics. Because, according to a rumour, the lyrics Read more…
Listen, I’m no Pollyanna. We’re entering the deepest recession any of us have ever seen – maybe even a depression. And, for some businesses, there’s no salvation. You can “pivot” until the cows come home but, even if you hit on something that works, your old business is dead. So Read more…
If you’re plugged into the marketing world, you might have heard Google’s going to start blocking 3rd party cookies. And, unsurprisingly, some people are freaking out. Here’s my favourite tweet: “That sound you hear is Google Execs crowing with delight that they can kill retargeting companies under the guise of Read more…
Today’s the start of Wijk aan Zee. “The what and what?” “Wijk aan zee.” (pronounced “Vike an zay.”) It’s a small seaside town in the north of Holland. And, normally, it’s home to just 2,400 people. But, for the next couple of weeks, it’ll be the centre of the universe Read more…
A couple of days ago, I was listening to an interview with comedian Anthony Jeselnik – AKA the “Dark Prince of Comedy.”
Asked what advice he’d give young comedians, he said, “Find someone you want to be … then beat them.”
And that’s basically the same advice I’ve been giving to website owners: Find out who is (more…)
Last week, I was watching a speech by Charlie Munger, Warren Buffet’s right hand man.
In it, Munger said:
“One idea [investors] use is one Benjamin Graham borrowed from engineering, which is the concept of a margin of safety.
In other words, factoring all the probabilities, you want a margin of safety in what you’re doing. And that’s a very good concept when you’re (more…)
Perhaps the dumbest question in internet marketing is, “Does anyone click on the Google ads?”
Now, if I were sarcastic, I might answer, “No, that’s why Google doesn’t make any money…”
Seriously, folks, it’s not hard to answer this question. After all, Google’s a publicly traded company, which means they report their profits.
For example, in 2015, Google’s revenue was roughly $75bn. Of that, $52bn came from ads on Google’s own websites.
So, let me ask you, (more…)
Imagine you have an unknown product, and your goal is to become the world leader within 4 years….
Even though you don’t have much money …
And your product really isn’t any better than your competitors’ …
And, on top of that, your product is twice as expensive as everyone else’s …
Do you think you could succeed?
In the early 1900s, the creator of Pepsodent was in exactly this position.
And, when he approached Claude Hopkins – the greatest ad man of the time – Hopkins thought the project was hopeless (more…)
