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Hi Mike,
I noticed that on this page http://www.iacquire.com/work/ your firm specifically decided to leave out the deindexation and outing. I've come to consider that as a rebirth for your agency and I was surprised it was left it out. I get the feeling that there was probably a lot of internal discussion on whether or not to include the outing. I've seen you speak about it in detail and its been at the core of what i would consider a rebranding for iAcquire.
Can you explain, from both an ORM and a marketing stand point why iAcquire decided to leave an event that essentially reshaped the entire company off of the company timeline?
Hey John-Henry,
There was actually no discussion about it at all. I left it out because over the past year we've talked about it more than enough and it was made out to be a bigger deal than it had to be. Basically it's a bigger deal to the SEO echo chamber than it is to us.
Also a timeline is typically about sharing proud moments. If we add that negative, where do we stop? Do I put up every fired employee? Do I list everytime we lost a client?
That'd be like going to jail then walking up to everyone you meet and saying "Hey I went to jail once." Sure, you should say that you have a felony on your job application, but there's no reason to advertise if it no one is asking.
Good point, good answer. Thanks!
Hey Mike
Last year at Mozcon, there was some discussions about how SEO agencies can compete with ad agencies.
How well do you think SEO agencies deliver content today? Is it good enough to compete with ad agencies? If not, what needs to be done?
In my experience SEO agencies generally don't deliver great content and that is very unfortunate.
There is a large disparity between what we as an industry show off on our own sites or what we say we deliver and what we actually deliver. My team is in the middle of an infographic study and what we've found is that bad infographics get about 3X more shares than good ones and it's pretty clear that most of the bad ones have been done as link bait. And we've all seen the bad guest posts floating around.
I did a presentation about it called "the Season of Our Discontent Marketing" http://www.slideshare.net/ipullrank/the-season-of-our-discontent-marketing-final Luckily, we're starting to see better content come from SEOs or at least have SEOs involved in them (I talked about that in my post "What it Takes to Get Remarkable Content Done" http://www.iacquire.com/blog/what-it-takes-to-get-remarkable-content-done/)
So it's not to say that we can't do it, it's more than we don't. There are plenty of very creative people working in the SEO space, but issues of scale and cost keep us from doing awesome stuff as an industry.
What has to happen is people need to figure out how to scale quality. More people need to learn how to do some basic code so they can create experiences rather than outsourced infographics and guest posts. Most importantly more of our clients need to give us the opportunity to create content that will live on their own sites.
The reality of it though, is that ad agencies have such a headstart on us and not enough of us are serious about making great content. It's just like in rap, there's no bad music if people all refuse to make it. So it starts there.
Hey Mike,
Love a lot of the stuff that you do.
Tom Harari's Rap Genuis post on SEOMoz was one of my favourite posts of 2012. What are your personal favourite sites outside of the industry that you believe kill it with their strategy?
Also...some quick fire questions;
Fan of Kendrick Lamar?
Favourite Air Max?
Favourite Jordan?
Best burger in NYC?
Hey Edd,
Thanks man I appreciate that. Yeah, I definitely think Tom Harari is an underrated contributor to SEO and I'm honored to have him on my team. Ahh...that's hard to say. Let me think about sites and come back to you. The problem is I don't spend enough time on any specific sites aside from Twitter and Moz these days.
Kendrick, not really. I like a few of his songs.
Air Maxes? 90s of course. That's all I've been wearing really for the past 2 years. I can definitely be bribed with a rare pair of 90s haha.
Jordans, never been hugely into those. I like the 1s the most. I also like the first Team Jordans. I had a good year on the basketball court in those.
Best burger, not sure. You gotta talk to @norrocwell about that.
Sorry, I didn't answer your questions completely, I'll get back to you. Thanks for asking!
Good year on the basketball court? Do you still play? Might have to find a rec center nearby if I'm coming to a conference you're at man!
I'll be at Digital Summit in ATL next month. Let's ball!
Perfect! My home turf! I'll have to head up for a visit!
Awesome, thanks man.
what practical/academic advice would you give to a high school senior looking to get into 'digital marketing'?
off the top, a premier mc collaboration? (my answer- 'verbal intercourse' -kwon/nas/ghostface)
thanks for your time, Mike, and for letting me guest post on your site last year; that gave me more intrinsic power, and I don't forget ish like that.
Sorry, I have to jump in on this. How about "Scenario" Tribe + Leaders of the New School? "Classic" Premier feat. Kanye, Nas, Rakim is pretty good too. But "Brooklyn's Finest" is probably my favorite. Damn, now that I got started, I can't stop. Shut me up before I write a "What Hip-Hop Collabo's taught me about SEO" post!
Practical advice... I'd say make something. Start your own website and make it make money. I'm always impressed by kids that come in for interviews and say "I started this site and I made XXXk from adsense." High school kids typically just get the internet so they are innately know a lot of things that will work from a marketing standpoint and it's really about them testing things out and making them work. Learn by doing.
Verbal Intercourse is one of my favorites, but there's a long list of Wutang-related songs that fit this bill. I'm surprisingly not as mindful of these types of things anymore. I really liked that Raekwon, Method Man, Ghostface album a couple years back. Everything Redman and Method Man did for a while. Jay Z & Eminem - Renegades. There's this one song with Busta Rhymes and Twista that is insaaaane (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPIZ_tqoxRw) peep the transitions between the two of them. Royce & Eminem is usually a good time too. Of course all the standards like Scenario, DWYCK, etc are great although I'm tired of hearing them.
Anthony, I didn't do anything. That was all you.
So what am I into? Inbound Marketing...all of it...unless you believe PPC is part of it. ;] I'm really into Content Strategy as of late, I'd love to talk about the Content Strategy behind the new iAcquire site that soft-launched this week. I'm really proud of that. I'm a developer, although not as much lately since I spend more time being the boss. I'm very into music, as you might know I had/have a music career. Last night I recommitted myself to releasing a new album and I'm excited to talk about that.
You are certainly welcome to ask me anything, but those are all good areas to start in. If I can't answer, I'll respond with a song that cryptically answers your question or maybe I'll just say "I can't answer that." I'll do my best to not have that happen though.
If we get a lot of questions, I would invite you guys to upvote them in order to prioritize.
I'll be online for the majority of the day. I do have a few meetings, but from 10am EST til about 3pm EST I should be around pretty consistently today and then I'll check back again later in the evening after 9pm EST.
If somehow I say something awesome, I would invite you to tweet it. =]
Ok folks *cracks knuckles* Let's do this!
iPullRank is definitely the best moniker in SEO!
How do you build a strategy around content? To be more specific, how do you work with departments within an organization to align content with, say, a promotion they've already planned, outreach that they already do, etc. Are other business functions a big consideration for you, or do you like to step in and do your own thing?
Thanks for the AMA!
Hey Vincent,
Thanks man. I came up with it on my first day at Razorfish. I'm really into double entendres.
So that's a good question that we all have to be mindful of because content is something everyone owns and therefore no one owns. When you're in the pitch phase of your idea you need to get everyone involved. All the key stakeholders so that you can get their buy-in to support your idea and integrate it into what they're doing. Therein lies the problem because typically SEO is so siloed and people don't like us butting into the visible content conversation. So you have to always keep things like brand voice and tone and the business goals top of mind. Always speak in context of those and prove that you are supplementing what the group is trying to do rather than disrupt it.
Clearly I prefer to do awesome things without the obstacles, but the reality of it is I spend more time integrating with other teams.
Thanks for your question. Let me know if that isn't a clear enough answer Vincent.
Thanks for the answer! You addressed most of my question, but I guess the one idea left is: How much do you end up integrating with other campaigns and #RCS from a practical standpoint? Should that be the "holy grail", because of how it adds authenticity, engagement, and context to content? Or do you think it is okay to stay on your island?
No problem.
It's honestly quite difficult because you're dealing with silos. People think you just should be doing meta tags and they want to continue to own what they own. They also don't want you to create more work for them. I'd say the first step is to make sure the people on the other teams like you and like working with you and that way they will be more receptive to your ideas and making them their own otherwise that's exactly it -- you will have to stay on your island. Alternatively, you can try hard to get the client to just buy in so that it trickles down, but it's likely the other groups will hate you for it.
So, can you talk about the content strategy behind the new iAcquire site? :)
But really though - coming from a developer/techinical background, could you describe YOUR ideal approach to content strategy? Do you feel it's a totally different approach compared to other bosses without the same type of technical background?
Hey Christian,
Good question. So this might be a lengthy one.
Content Strategy for the new iAcquire site build.
Our Core Strategy:
We will produce entertaining and/or educational content with the goal of
positioning iAcquire as the global leader in inbound marketing.
Brand Promise:
iAcquire is the transparent, effective, scalable solution for delivering results with inbound marketing campaigns. Our expert digital marketing team will provide the best service and technology based on you or your client's specific needs and business goals.I had 6 goals with the new site:
Lead Generation. This is the obvious one, it's my job to help drive new business.
Brand Awareness. I want us to occupy more of the conversation around inbound marketing topics in inbound channels.
Brand Humanization. iAcquire was an otherwise faceless brand and quite frankly it's harder to empathize with the people here that are working day in day out when you don't know that they exist. So I wanted to make sure that they were throughout the site.
Offering Clarity. On the old site it was really unclear what iAcquire did. Many people would ask me if it was a software company. Obviously that was by design at the time, but since we've changed I wanted to clearly showcase it is that we do.
Build Links. I wanted every page to be naturally link-worthy or shareworthy.
Lead by Example. I wanted our design to have everything that we always tell our clients to do. For example our Offerings page (http://iacquire.com/offerings) is an example of a common recco that we'll make to clients when they say they can't have a bunch of content on an image heavy experience. We have the scroller on for our Company Philosophy page. We've implemented the Timeline on our Work page. We've implemented the volatility data viz on the industries page. I didn't want to make excuses for why we haven't optimized our site, so once we're out of QA I'm gonna put my money where my mouth is and offer $530 to anyone who can find a legit SEO problem with our site. I'll talk more about that later.
Our Audience:
We previously built four personas ranging from the SEO blogger/community member to the C-Level exec, but after our content audit we realized that we were rarely hitting them so with our new wave of content we've made sure to do just that.
Brand Voice:
Basically we want to come across as a savvy, trustworthy, authentic, authoritative and friendly. We don't want to blind people with buzzwords, but we want to make it clear that we understand the frustrations and lack of resources. Even so we have a cheeky sense of humor.
Brand Tone:
Authentic but not Brash, Fun but not Silly, Direct but not Uninitiated, Authoritative but not Persnickety, Questioning but not Rebellious, Informal but not Unprofessional, Cool but not Unapproachable, Effective but not Complicated.
I'm not going to get into the content schedule, governance and such, but I think that's enough to paint a clear picture of what I was trying to accomplish with the site.
In answer to your other question:
I'm honestly not sure if my approach is different. I think that the realm of what I believe to be possible may be different. I'm not confined by what is already there. I know what we or I can could potentially build so I'm not limited to existing tools. In fact part of the content strategy in the past has been to create tools. Now it's more about creating experiences and due to that we have a lot of cool experiences in the works.
Thanks for your question Christian!
thank you
$530? I should have held on to that link issue I sent you ;] haha
What skill set do you think most people who traditionally branded themselves "SEO's" are lacking when it comes to transitioning into content strategy? (Given that so many "formerly known as SEO firms are now apparently content marketing agencies as well)?
Mmm... sorry if I jump in before Mike himself, but cannot resist offering my point of view.
Actually I think it is a mistake for an SEO to transition toward Content Marketing. First of all, even though the two are complementing disciplines (I hope Ian Lurie is not reading this, or he'd kill me... forgive me Ian!!!), the skills of an SEO and a Content Marketer are not really the same.
So, I would say SEO including Content Marketing as an asset and working with Content Marketers (and Strategists) for a better service (and the same should be said in relation to SEO & Social Media).
SEO and Content Marketing, somehow, work on the same level... and that why Mike is "Director of Inbound Marketing", because Inbound Marketing operates on a higher level, coordinating both SEO and Content Marketing (and Social Media too).
Well hello Joel!
I think the main issue is in the conflation of content marketing and content strategy is an issue. You can just up and make something and put it out and you're doing content marketing, but to do content strategy you have to plan what it is, how it should be made, who's it for, how it will be marketed, who will create it, maintain it, own, etc. It seems like a lot of people don't understand that and they are using the terms interchangeably (not that I'm saying you are doing that here).
I think for standard SEOs the jump isn't being made to the actual idea of strategy and we're all just using content marketing as a euphemism for making infographics and guest posts.
So ultimately I guess my answer is....many standard SEOs seem to lack the ability to dream up, plan and execute actual worthwhile and awesome content.
Mike - I need more examples of great inbound marketing. Stuff people are doing creatively that's showcasing how content+search+social+branding = magical. Do you have some great ones that no one else has heard of?
Hey Rand,
I would immediately point to GoPro; their company was practically built on inbound marketing through inspirational video, social proof and website contests. Their branding has been perfectly synced into every aspect of their marketing, and they dominate search now. Their YouTube channel has over 234,342,368 views, and 680,000 subscribers. Their product creates their content, all they have to do is share the content their users create. Each time GoPro releases a new product they produce one of their own videos though such as their recent HERO3 which got over 3 million hits in less than 2 days.
I'm sure you have researched their strategy and already know of that company as it has become more mainstream as of late, but it is still one of my favorite examples of the power of inbound marketing.
The best examples off the top of my head that haven't been used by everybody are all music related.
Let's start with my friends QN5 Music (http://www.qn5.com). I interviewed the label owner Tony Rojas on Lunch Break yesterday. He's also a Creative Director at Nielsen so he had a very interesting perspective on things (http://www.iacquire.com/blog/lunch-break-with-tony-rojas/). As I mention in the interview I call QN5 the SEOMoz of hiphop. Their entire approach is inbound. Tone talks about how he never spends money on ads (and this is guy that does Display well for a living) and he focuses on inbound channels.
So they of course have leverage their blog, social and email marketing to keep people coming back. They get their music posted on other big music blogs (some of which are good examples of inbound). QN5 was the first music label to podcast and although they abandoned their music-focused podcast Tone has recently started a talk show/comedy podcast called "Tacos and Chocolate Milk" that has been incredibly successful (http://qn5.com/tacos). The best thing they have done however is build their community up. They've created a very serious collectors culture and have trained their fans for activation. In online award situations and announcements of new releases they've turned their fans into an army that goes out and tells everyone about the project. Of course they tour a lot (MozCations), but they also have their version of MozCon called the QN5 Megashow that typically happens in NYC once a year and fans fly in from all over the world to see the entire QN5 lineup and their friends do an incredible show.
Another great example of this is Okayplayer (http://www.okayplayer.com/) a site run by the team behind The Roots. Same type of thing except they also leverage other people's content by reviewing it and also creating more exclusive content like interviews of other musicians. They have a huge community and their mailing list alerts me to everything from concerts to new releases to online happenings. Questlove (drummer for the Roots with the big afro) is the face behind the brand. He doesn't really drive traffic back to okp explicitly too much via social but he does a great job at guest posting and also having those 2 way conversations via social.
A lot of rappers take this approach of curating other people's music and on their blogs and then interspersing that with their own compelling stuff. Drake is a great example of this. http://www.octobersveryown.blogspot.com/ is a pretty sparse blogspot blog that he's used since before he got famous and as you can tell from their comments there is a ton of engagement. So he's able to put out a song or video before the commercial ramp up and both get feedback and have his community kickstart the push of it. He also tweets the type of stuff that ends up on TMZ.
It just dawned on me that these are probably not things that you would share haha...well aside from maybe QN5 because they are basically a small business that built something through Inbound....Let's see...
KLM does some really cool stuff with Social. I've seen this campaign they did where if people tweeted they were checking in for a flight they would find them in the terminal and give them a surprise gift that's relevant to their trip. http://surprise.klm.com/
I love the stuff AMC does for Mad Men as well - All the standard stuff, blog, curating reviews... I don't like that they just broadcast in social, but there's definitely a community on the site and plenty of opportunities for UGC http://www.amctv.com/shows/mad-men/mad-men-yourself
I'm gonna think about this some more and write a post entitled "Great Examples of Inbound that Aren't Old Spice, Coca-Cola and Dollar Shave Club" :]
Why are you "not into" PPC? Is it a rejection of philosophy or that you've not seen it draw quality conversions?
As a follow up, what do you see as PPC? Is it just search ads, or is it paid social like Sponsored Stories or Paid Discovery as well?
Hey Doug,
I'm not against PPC, that's just me being cheeky. In fact I do use it a lot. It's great for testing. It's great for getting traffic when you can't do awesome content. I completely understand why it's a much more popular channel among brands than Organic. I've just always said that it's not part of inbound because to me inbound is just the free channels where content is the only currency to play the game.
Yep, I see all of those as PPC. I think they are all valuable and I certainly use them to support inbound campaigns.
Thanks for your question, my good man!
Hey Mike,
If you had a magic wand, what features would you add to existing SEO tools/services?
Hey Alex,
That's a good question. There's a lot and I touched on it a little bit at the end of this post:http://www.seomoz.org/blog/just-how-smart-are-search-robots. I'd say at the very least more tools need to be built with headless crawlers so they can traverse the DOM on fully executed JS. I'd say that we need to incorporate more semantic analysis into our tools so we can better understand the value of a link. Now we need to collect data on authors to understand content in context of them. I think that there needs to be more stuff like http://www.ntopic.org built into tools so can better optimize our own content. I think more toolbars and crawlers like SF need to be thinking about schema.org and social metadata. I'd love to see all the Link Indices have a visualization similar to what Cognitive SEO has.
I'd also love to see someone open source the user graphs of twitter and facebook so that we can see visualizations of the spread of content similar to the Google+ Ripples feature.
Someone really should build an all-in-one end to end Social Search tool. I've already spec'd it out if anyone is interested =]
Thanks for your question Alex!
What is your favorite research methodologies and data sources when making personas?
Hey again Thomas,
My favorite data sources right now are the pre-baked market segmentation solutions that Experian and Nielsen provide. It really scales the process because a lot of the things you want to know are already pre-built and it sends you off in the right direction. It might take me a couple days to collect and sift through data to build personas using listening like I outlined in my Mozinar (http://www.seomoz.org/webinars/understanding-your-audience-using-social-media) but with Simmons it's more like hours. Granted I don't do as much hands-on personas stuff anymore because @NorRocwell is the owner of that, but I built the process. So we use PRIZM as the base and then map the PRIZM Codes to the MOSAIC types to get as many characteristics of the segment as we can then we create correspondence maps in Simmons and slice and dice based on the different questions in the survey. Once we've gotten all the data out of Simmons we plug in the various characteristics into Social PPC inventories (facebook, linkedin, youtube) to make sure those segments are valid online. We might also do some exploratory research and additional surveys with SurveyMonkey especially when it comes to connecting the keywords to the personas. Graph Search is actually very helpful for this as well.
Ultimately, we're looking to build a huge database of personas and some tools to help speed of the process which I'm pretty excited about.
Also I have an e-book on building personas using the method that I talked about with HubSpot soon.
Good question Thomas!
Awesome - thanks for both answers, Mike
Are you planning to release the persona DB to the public
Bummer - I'm sure there'd be a lot of people interested in paying for access :)
I can't give away all of my stuff. :]
Hi Mike. I often refer back to your Mr Men post on SEOmoz, I love it. I've mostly been agency, done a bit of in-house and I'm now about to take the plunge and enter full-time self-employment as a freelancer. What top bits of advice would you give to an SEO freelancer based on your own experiences?
Hey Steve,
Everything I'd tell you would just boil down to do great work. Make sure you're underpromising and overdelivering. Always be on time (something I struggle with). Manage your time super well and finally ALWAYS BE NETWORKING! Let's connect, I'd be happy to discuss more specifically in the future as needed.
Hi Mike, thanks ever so much for your answer. I like to think that networking is one of my strong points, so that's reassuring. Thanks man! :-)
Mike, where do you think iAcquire would be right now if you hadn't joined the team?
Also, you've probably already answered this elsewhere, but why did you adopt "MyCool?" I've heard of parents naming their kids weirder names, but wanted to set the record straight.
Honestly my ego would like to believe that iAcquire would not be what it is today if it wasn't for my team and I, but the reality of it is if I'd left or never joined to begin with Jay and Joe would have figured something out.
The MyCool thing is just a little play on words. My given name is Michael King which also sounds like "My Cool King." I don't take it too seriously, but I saw somebody complain about it somewhere so I'll never change it now =]
Mike, For building a online community from scratch what's your suggestions & advice?
Hey Christy,
I'd say content is everything. The only reason I have followers is because of content and every big jump in growth happens whenever I put something good out. In fact I'd go as far as to say that Social Media and Community building are just Content Strategy with a focus on specific channels. So just focus on making something people want, put it in front of them and then make it easy for them to want to come back.
I'm sure you wanted tactics though, so do this - go to followerwonk and look at the word cloud of the all the followers of the biggest player in your space and then use those keywords to build co-relevant content ideas. Push the content at their followers through outreach and ads. Build the site so that it rewards profile creation, newsletter signups and follows. Keep the conversation going through the relevant social channels and continue to push out shareworthy content. Your community will grow.
Great question Christy and I think Jen Lopez is talking about this at MozCon.
Thanks Mike for the suggestions,Yes I attended Jen Lopez mozinar, got many useful suggestions from her.
Thanks for the shout-out Mike! I actually also have another mozinar coming up next week about Community as well. :D
I'm currently working in a small company in a very tight niche. How was your first experience dealing with SEO?
My first experience with SEO was at a small agency called SEOMatrix and for most of the time there I was just painting by numbers, but this was 2006 and that's all you really needed to do I guess. I wouldn't rate it as my proudest moment, but I definitely think it was a valuable learning experience that set the tone.
Hi Mike, nice to see you (also) here :)
We know that the real best value of real SEOs is that we have the skill for understanding data related to what audiences are searching or are going to search. This leads to having a true value for businesses.
Knowing that SEO can help complementing the overall Marketing strategy of a company, even the offline one is some cases (I remember a phone brand started producing colored version of one of its smartphones after an SEO analysis).
So, finally the question, how much do you see will be this "new" facet of SEO in what - IMHO - is the best marketing strategy nowadays: crossmedia/transmedia?
Hey Gianluca!
The best strategy is definitely cross-channel, always has been and will by. However like you said our special gift is that we get explicit intent. The real power will be in those that use can capture that intent and apply it cross-channel. Retargeting is a great first step, but being able to harness that at every touch point and collecting even more information about that user over time to do perfect dynamic targeting -- that is the future. Well it's the now at iAcquire, we just need more forward-thinking clients ;]
How familiar are you with Graph Search? I found that they've been indexing text content in image comments and supposedly are planning on indexing posts and comments. That's a lot of rich social (even semantic) information, do you think they might actually be a really Google contender, especially if they fully team up with Microsoft?
Hey Matt,
I honestly don't think of Graph Search as anything, but a persona research channel. Also the survey we recently did (http://www.iacquire.com/blog/social-behavior-the-big-game-a-study-with-surveymonkey/) indicates that 70% of users don't even use FB Search. So I won't really worry about optimizing for it in the short term. I have a post in the queue for what I think MS needs to do to be a champion, but I don't think that Graph Search, at least within FB, is going to be big factor.
Hey Mike,
How did you get to where you are today and which would you say were turning points in your life?
I've got a friend who happens to be a rapper/CS major and hopefully someone who'll get his hands dirty on SEO. I think your story would be a great one for him to hear.
Here's his soundcloud for those interested :) https://soundcloud.com/b-bazzle
Hey Victor,
Turning points in my life so far...I'd say I've really had 2. One was deciding I was finished with school (CS Major) to do music full time. That was awesome as it resulted in me selling several thousand records, playing hundreds of shows on 3 continents and 30 countries and making records with people I've looked up to. I learned a whole lot about a lot of different things that I've applied to my marketing career ultimately.
The other was deciding that that at the level I was at that life wasn't enough for me which resulted in me focusing more on my marketing career. I guess I could say that I got here through a combination of luck and hard work.
Cool stuff from B-Baz, tell him to keep it up and I'm happy to give him insight on anything he might be interested in.
Question about links, which I know you're trying not to hone in on too much with your Content Strategy, but I know you know is still important.
There are links that take more hours to earn, such as guest posting which takes a few hours including writing the post and outreach, so we'll put a cost on that at $125. Then infographic creation costs about $2000. Coldly reaching out and asking for links on an existing page has a low success rate.
All other forms of low quality link building, directories, etc, is pretty much out.
What are some forms of white hat link building that are more in the middle range. Takes about an hour or so per link to acquire, but is still valuable?
I expect a song or "I can't answer that" if you can't answer it :)
So I just typed out something super long and Chrome crashed on me.
Let's try again.
First, you can get good infographics for $500. Try dribbble.com if you're spending 2k. Second, cold outreach works if you can do it with context. Follow this methodology: www.slideshare.net/ipullrank/social-link-building-smx-sydney
Build links with ads: http://www.distilled.net/blog/seo/link-building-seo/buying-awareness-build-links/
Credit Requests: Someone uses your pictures or logo and doesn't link to you, hit them up asking for credit.
Vendor links: Reach out to the people you use and offer to do case studies to build links. Use builtwith.com to figure out who some of the vendors are quickly. Make sure you find out up front if they'll do a link. I recently did a lot of work for PR9 only to get a pass-through with a nofollow and have them tell me they don't link out.....I was pissed. ha.
Share monitoring: Use topsy to monitor the people sharing your content, reach out to the ones with blogs and say "if you liked it then you shoulda put a link on it."
Broken Resource Recreation: This works quite well actually. Find the things people link to that are broken, recreate it and swoop up those links. http://brokenlinkindex.com can help with that.
Video outreach: http://www.iacquire.com/blog/mike-king-for-the-12-days-of-linkmas/ Works quite well also.
Hope that helps!
How would you convince a large, B2B parts supplier (think Parts Express) to make the world's greatest Rube Goldberg machine as a content piece?
Hey Scott,
I love this question!
I'd build a small one out of their parts and use it as a part of my pitch. I'd make it really elaborate and physically put the thing together in the pitch meeting. No slides, until it's built and once it's done it'd be some giant clicker for my powerpoint. My slides would just be about the emotions they felt while I set it up and what happened as I was carrying it through the halls and such.
I'd make it real, play to their emotional reactions and then explain how doing it on a bigger scale will help them meet their objectives.
Awesome - that's a fantastic plan. Thanks for the input!
Hey Mike,
My questions in order of priority:
1) How *do* they cram all that graham in to Golden Grahams?
2) Your opinion on most valuable skill needed to do this SEO/inbound/online marketing/candle-stick-making thing well.
3) In your view, what is the value of the (seemingly) endless dialogue in the industry around our identity and "hats"?
I can answer #3 - none. It's not actionable, and I believe more in carrying conversations outward - with NON-seo's (clients, other departments etc - talking AND listening) than talking to ourselves all day. Sorry to butt in, that just happened.
Kudos, on this comment Dan. Totally agree.
Hey Dave!
1. Not sure, but I can't get enough of that Golden Crisp.
2. Imagination. The only thing that can't be taught.
3. It's stupid. Incredibly stupid actually, but masterfully Google-constructed psychological warfare that keeps us infighting rather than focused on what really matters.
I have seen you as rapper too...:) Is there anything secretes in terms of with your Inbound Marketing career??
Hey Hiren,
I wouldn't say there are any secrets. I'd say the same things that made me pretty good at rapping make me pretty good at Inbound. I have a lot of hustle, I don't take no for an answer, I go after things that most people wouldn't have the courage to. I read a post recently about acting like a 9th grader. I can't remember what it was called, but in any event being a rapper makes you a perpetual 9th grader.
I interviewed my rapper friend, Tony Rojas (Creative Director for Nielsen) aka Tonedeff (http://www.qn5.com/tonedeff) on this coming week's lunch break and we talked about the parallels between our rap careers and our marketing careers. There's a lot of things that I think are easier for me because I've had to do them in situations where it was much harder. For example, I had to build a brand in a super crowded market with no money and no help or I've had to rap for crowds of thousands of people that didn't speak English. So by comparison inbound seems kinda easy. Ha!
I did a preso at a Mozcation about it. Like to see it? Here it go! http://www.slideshare.net/ipullrank/what-being-an-indie-rapper-taught-me-about-seo-10627118
Thanks for your question!
Hey Mike,
Who do you think is the Don Draper of Digital Marketing?
Hey Taylor,
I'm gonna go ahead and say me. =]
I think my lyrics from my MozCon say it all:
"On paper, I'm SEO's Don Draper. Innovative, agency native, creative, strong-natured."
What if you couldn't choose yourself? Who then?
But I can choose myself!
Just kidding, I'm honestly not sure. I've worked with and around some actual Creative Directors at ad agencies that try to play the part, but no one that really blows away the people they work with like the character does on the show. I've been really into that era of advertising. It seems guys like David Ogilvy and Bill Bernbach were the real thing.
Hey Mike
How much of your social media and online persona is the "real" Mike? Do you feel you create a persona with certain traits to help your company and its online presence?
Related questions: do you feel that creative personas can help a brand in the long-term, or does transparent "this is me" win through in the end?
I ask because I think it's reasonably fair to say that people see Mike King & iAcquire equally, in the same way that it's Rand & SEOMoz and while I know that you both would be the first people to acknowledge and say its all about the team as a whole (and here here on that), do you think that having a strong individual leader of a brand, like Jobs with Apple and probably, in the future at least, Mayer with Yahoo, are big factors in helping to take a company to the next level?
Hey Tom,
These are all good questions. With me, there is only a real Mike and I don't say that like "yo I keep it real, son!" but moreso that being inauthentic is a serious problem for me. It just doesn't feel good. It's so much of a problem that I've deleted my ipullrank twitter account off of my phone because I found myself spending too much time tweeting what I REALLY think and that's clearly no good when you represent a brand.
I believe that it's better to be authentic than a caricature of yourself, but you have to give yourself guidelines. You can't be selfish about it. You have think "is this tweet going to be helpful?" and if it's not maybe you shouldn't tweet it, go post that on your personal Facebook instead.
I definitely think you're right that people don't make the distinction between iAcquire and myself. But the difference is Rand is the CEO of Moz so in my case it's a double-edged sword. It's great for iAcquire because there are some people that believe in my personal brand. It's very harmful to me when there are decisions that are made outside of my control because uninitiated observers will assume that is my decision.
On the upside though, there is a great team here and part of the content strategy for the new site was to showcase more of that team. In fact you'll see that the leadership team has quotes on the bottom of the homepage, but I didn't put one there. That's by design to show that there way more cooks in the kitchen.
In answer to your question...no I don't believe that it takes the rock star individual to catapult a brand, but I do think that is easier to market than a team and in most cases those situations just fall into the laps of the marketer because those leaders are such hustlers.
Thanks for the question Tom!
And thanks for the answers Mike! Loving the detailed answers you're giving all round.
When you're designing an e-book for your own company (like the noobs book to link building etc.) or for another company, what is the real thought process put behind it. I know I have my own process but I would really like another perspective. I generally like all of the ebooks I have seen from iAcquire so you seem like a good candidate for this question. I'm not sure how much involvement you have in getting them created but I'm wondering a few things in particular, apart from the overall thought process.
1. What do you think constitutes a good e-book? Obviously a large amount of useful content would be an answer, but really what sets it apart from a very thorough blog post, or infographic in your mind?
2. What kind of weight would you put behind the visuals of an e-book? I notice that most of your e-books and SEOmoz's e-books are notoriously artsy, is there a key reason behind this? Do you believe this sets apart a whitepaper from a good e-book?
3. How much do you guys usually charge to build an e-book for a client? And how long does it usually take (meaning hours usually billed, as well as the overall literal time until completed)?
4. What do you usually do once the e-book is created? How would you optimally go about promoting it?
I know that's a bit more than 1 question, but since it's an ask me anything I'm hoping for something good ;D (you could almost write a blog post about all of this)
Hey Sean,
This is an excellent question and one that is pretty top of mind due to the fact that I've been working on an e-book with another company and finding how much their way of thinking differs from ours. You're right though, I should probably write a post about it.
So, first, I wrote most of the e-books on the IACQ site. In fact, as of right now, all of them except for the one that Megan Brown wrote about social link building.
1. What sets it apart isn't just the length, it's the depth. I try to not make something an e-book unless I feel that I can put something together that's definitive. I want to answer all the questions on the subject and make it so the reader doesn't need anything except this book. Basically I go for comprehensive and then thematic design.
2. Yeah, I think the creative is incredibly important. In most of my Moz posts I looked to develop themes that make it a fun read. Typically the topics we're covering can be pretty mundane in presentation and I've read enough business books and blog posts to know that breaking stuff up with cool visuals is incredibly helpful. Check out Oli Gardner's stuff. He's really good at keeping it compelling.
3. I don't think we've done any e-books for clients. It'd likely be quite expensive though.
4. I've found that a guest post on a big site plus Pay With A Tweet works wonders.
Hope that helps!
Right on man, thanks for the reply!
Share the post with me if you decide to write one about this, I'd be quick to share ;]
I completely agree that the importance to me would be absolutely definitive depth. No point in going through so much content to give a vague answer in the end. Giving absolute value, constantly throughout the whole book and answering every question the community might have about the given subject sounds like the absolute best approach.
I very much believe in humor in writing, and to that point I would provide a quote:
"Humor must not professedly teach, and it must not professedly preach, but it must do both if it would live forever."
- Mark Twain
I'm definitely going to check out Pay With A Tweet too, that's perfect man. Love that sort of system!
Dig your content man, keep killing it.
Hey Mike King,
I read some of your latest post on iAcquire & was really flabbergasted to read such in-depth & high quality content. I got 3 questions for you:-
1. What appeals to you most about content strategy?
2. How do you plan to work your way into a content strategist role?
3. Have you ever tried Black Hat Technique to manipulate search for your own site? If yes, what kind of black hat technique?
Thanks for AMA.
Keep Rocking dude!
Hey Hyderali,
Thanks man, I really appreciate the kind words.
I like content strategy because it just makes sense. Digital capabilities are so disconnected without it. Content Strategy ties everything together because it says "here's what we're creating, how we're making it, who is creating it, where it lives, who it's for and why we're doing it" and then the channels do their specific things. Think of Content Strategy as the operating system for the campaign and then the channels are the applications.
I'm Director of Inbound...so that's inherently a CS role.
Let's just say I used to be a hacker and leave it at that ;]
Thanks for your questions!
If you could choose one rap album to listen to for the rest of your life, what would it be?
Hey Brandon,
The question is "if I could..." and the problem is that I can'!.
What's your take on G+? Do you think it's a ripe area for businesses to start adopting and marketing SEOs are leading the way like what happened with Twitter or is it not ready for anyone other than geeks like me?
As much as a make jokes about G+, there's definitely some value in it. Free People has over a community of over a million they are leveraging there. I just think a lot of have spent so much time making fun of it that we haven't figured out how to use it properly. Granted most of the people on it are tech people, but you can sell stuff to tech people!
Hi Michael.
I have a few questions:
(1) Redirecting the homepage of a site according to the User-Agent is not cloacking at all ?
(2) Is it consensus that after Penguim, it's not advisable to write all the anchors with the exact keyword phrase but only say 50%?
(3) How much of SWF (Flash) files is Google currently able to index?
(4) Is there a consensus on kw density already ?
(5) Can Googlebot already discern dates?
(6) We know Google Analytics is the most suitable analytics. But would you recommend another (free or not) ?
(7) How much of the tweets and facebook posts can Googlebot discern ?
Thanks in advance!
Hey Marcelo,
1. That's the very definition of cloaking.
2. The anchor text allotment should always be based on what the site can handle. That is to say if they have 90% branded anchors, it will likely handle an influx of a lot of unbranded anchors, but you should still distribute them naturally and over time. In general your most prevalent anchor should be branded.
3. It seems like they can index it, but not really make complete sense of how the content is prioritized within it.
4. Don't think about keyword density.
5. Yes.
6. PiWik is a good alternative.
7. Depends who you ask haha. Facebook is a walled garden except for the users with no privacy settings.
I have a question. Sometimes you want to pitch a content idea or link building idea, where you're taking a risk. You actually don't know what the outcome is going to be (we never do really) - and a lot of it's success depends on the execution of everyone involved. But obviously you hope it'll be a home run.
How do you pitch it with a confident demeanor but at the same time be up front and realistic with the client that it's not guaranteed to succeed? Especially clients who are very hesitant about anything even slightly "off topic"? You have to be MORE confident with those ones sometimes, but don't want to overcompensate and set their expectations absurdly high either.
Thanks! Loving you answers ;)
Dan to jump in here I've heard that a good rule of thumb for "linkbait" type content is that you should expect to fail 1/4. Some will home run it, some simply won't. So, pitch the client on four of these type fo campaigns (with that requirement up front), with the hope you won't completely bomb out all 4. Of course each could also have mild levels of success, too, which is a solid endgame also.
I like this approach too.
I also meant to say "succeed 1/4". 3/4 linkbait campaigns succeeding would be really impressive.
Our entire industry is built on uncertainty. In fact all of marketing and advertising is built completely upon uncertainty, that's why agencies can exist and we companies don't do everything in house. Everything we do is about taking our best guess based on experience and the framework of our channel and then pushing hard as hell to get as close to the projected success as possible. They lean on us for that domain expertise to give them confidence, but any realistic person knows that there are no guarantees and I never set the expectation that there are guarantees, just that there is a potential for success.
All that said I vet everything through demand that is based on data. If I'm pitching content ideas it's because I have data to back up why I believe they will work. If I think they need more convincing I'll do the up front outreach and present a list of people that said they will link to and share it before we make it. If I want to scale that I'll run a survey or I'll show them their competition is doing something similar and show them the vanity metrics on that to scare them. =]
However I always make it clear that there are no guarantees and ultimately it's up to the client to decide which creative idea they want to go with and I'll only push hard on the tangential or off-topic creative ideas if I'm more confident in them. In other words, I'm always going to be confident in the ideas I bring to the table because they've gone through such a vetting process and if I can't be confident in the work I'm not worth hiring.
Hey Mike. This is great stuff!
I know you're very passionate about marketing, but of course we know you're very passionate about music as well, especially considering the recommittment you mentioned at top. It's definitely a dilemma when you have 2 strong passions, but clearly one pays the bills.
What do you expect your career as a rapper to look like while you're still doing the marketing career?
Also, would you leave your marketing career if your rap career 'took off'?
Hey Adrian,
Well before I really doubled down on marketing music paid the bills. Not all of them, I skipped a few sometimes, but it paid them. It sucks though just doing music because basically have to do anything that comes your way because you have to make those ends meet. Then you don't know when the next payday is going to come so you have to stretch your money as long as it will go.
I imagine my music career will be a lot more comfortable now and I'll only do things when I feel like it rather than out of a need to get them done. So I imagine it will be more fun. Here and there I've been experimenting with the idea of having shows at the same time as conferences which means there is less overhead in touring. Also now the marketing for my music is a lot easier than it was years ago.
I'd always keep my marketing career...but I'm sure it would change into something else at that point.
Good question, man.
Hey Mike,
How would you recommend educating (best resources?) a new hire in content strategy and marketing, the right way?
Hey David,
That's a super broad question. For CS I suggest "Content Strategy for the Web" by Kristina Halvorson. It's a great book for explaining the theory and process. For marketing in general, I'm not really sure what to say. For Online Marketing I would suggest the book Ian Lurie had a hand in "Web Marketing for Dummies," but I've learned most of what I know from just trial and error and absorbing things from smart people. Read the right blogs. I'd say start from blogs like SEOmoz, Distilled and actually read the things people link to as well and you will fall into a very extensive rabbit hole where you're learning way more about tangential things than you expected.
When we hire someone new we start them on the Beginner's Guide to SEO. We point them to a select list of the e-books on HubSpot. We get them to study Conversion University and take the GA test and they read the CS for the Web book. We also sit them down and walk through our way of doing things and we give them some of my decks and e-books as well. The Noob Guide to Online Marketing by Oli Gardner is also a great resource http://www.seomoz.org/blog/the-noob-guide-to-online-marketing-with-giant-infographic-11928
I also just like to throw new people into projects and say hey "try and figure this out" and come to me with specific questions if you get completely stumped. For most people that tends to work well and they take more pride in their work for others that that doesn't work for I will work more closely.
Hope that helps!
Thanks for the reply Mike, I should have said 'content strategy and content marketing' which is what I meant. Thanks for pointing out Kristina Halvorson's book, will check it out!
The rest of the answer was unexpected, but also great, so cheers for that!
How do we beat spammers as all I am doing limited and quality work but my competitors doing all the way spamming how would I will beat them, This is the only part I frustrate :S
Hey Syed,
Good question that I can't answer without more specifics. What vertical is it?
Obviously if it's mesothelioma, porn, pills or payday loans there's nothing more to really say here, but if it isn't I can probably help you come up with something.
Let me know
No its not about High PPC costing keywords, I was asking for Development market: Like Facebook Development, iPhone Development and Web Development
Hi Mike,
Recently I've found that meetings with new clients are asking me to inspire faith in more creative, conceptual endeavours, such as content driven strategies, CSR and the branding and positioning of the client. I've very much enjoyed doing so, as I feel I'm more comfortable here than with the geeky. code side of what I do, but I'm wondering looking around your team, do you think the archetypical SEO manager/director is radically changing? As we invite creatives in to the core of our services, are things starting to change, and if so what do you think we will look like in 2020???
Hey Tom,
I think that's a great question.
I feel like before the highest realization of an SEO lead was a person with soft skills, basic marketing skills and could code, but now the highest realization of an SEO lead has all of those skills and has a deep understanding of digital strategy. Understanding what strategic planning entails, leveraging market research, understanding content strategy, being able to come up strong creative ideas and validate them using data. If we as an industry want to be taken seriously for this Content Marketing thing we're going to have to be able to compete with the people that actually do content well. I'm not saying they have to be expected to do all of these things, but they should have an understanding so they can interface with those people and work with teams to make sure we supplement the work instead of just interrupting it (common theme, I know, but it should be.)
Mike, the new site design is awesome. How big a role did you play in the design strategy?
Hey Chris,
Thanks for asking because this gives me a great opportunity to show love to our Creative Director Robb Dorr (@usethedorr).
I started the entire process from keyword research which then became an SEO Copy Brief which is one of our deliverables that contains the objectives, audience, strategy, information architecture, measurement plan, keyword bucketing and best practices.
After that I wrote the Creative Brief which included this as the approach:
iAcquire is re-launching itself as a reinvigorated brand playing to the perception of being a large interactive agency with a key focus on digital strategy and world-class creative for SEO programs. At first glance all marketing communication should reflect the same image as an established large creative or interactive agency.
I laid out a lot of design considerations for example:
Do not use rounded edges as the "Bootstrap" look is typically indicative of a startup.
Use stark coloring rather than light cloud coloring of the current site.
Use heavy san serif fonts that are web safe fonts via Google Font API or Adobe TypeKit.
Blog posts should seem equally as important as other pages on the site.I also gave Robb a ton of screenshots of sites that I liked with annotations as to why I liked them. Robb is the one man army of iAcquire public-facing creative. He does my decks, he did our old site, or sales collateral, basically everything and we've put him through hell over for the past few months with this site. Typically sites are done by teams of people. An Art Director, a UX person, a Front End Designer, Back End Developer at the very least. Robb did all of these things.
Hey Mike, question for you is about Authorship and G+
The problem as I see it, is that a person can either build their G+ profile under a company (email@example.com using Google Apps G+) OR under their own personal account (email@example.com G+)
Many SEOs have become independently recognized and respected, outside of their organizations, like you, Jason Acidre, Aledya Solis, Ross Hudgens, and have joined or left companies as their careers have grown.
So my question is -- how do you manage that personal brand equity, from a "real world" and "technical" perspective.
If Google decides to make authorship more and more important, than things like how many circles you're in, how many posts you've written, and how many +1/shares your stuff gets, will become more and more important.
Should you be restarting that every you go somewhere new (by changing Google Apps accounts (Seer to Distilled to iAcquire for example), or keep growing that personally throughout your career?
I'm not sure if there is an easy solution to this, or if no one talks about it, but I haven't seen it discussed much.
Thanks! Jordan
Can I ask 3 questions?
What are your top 5 link building tactics to get quality links?
Why did you get out of the rap game and move into Inbound Marketing its kind of a big career change?
Which Rappers are you listening to at the moment?
Hey James,
You asked 4 questions, sir ;]
Well, getting links these days for the purposes of my main job is a lot different than when I do it for clients. I control the brand so I can do anything I want so I focus mainly on doing marketing rather than link building.
I've been doing a lot of Comarketing stuff like the SurveyMonkey thing, my team does do some guest posts on sites in our space like SocialMediaMonthly, ContentMarketingInstitute, Moz, etc etc. The posts we write on our own site actually naturally get links...seems like I've found Rand's publish button. In those cases we also leverage PR connects and we'll also follow Richard Baxter's technique http://wallblog.co.uk/2012/10/26/turning-seo-link-building-into-seo-audience-targeting-with-twitter-profiling/. We're starting to throw events now too and the coverage from those gets us stuff. When I speak we always get links.
I never officially quit rapping, I just put it to the side. I still do shows here and there and I'm working on a new record with the hopes of launching it in September and doing a bunch of shows in November. But it was a combination of things that turned me off about music at the time. Most of which...I was tired of living show to show and I felt like I knew too much about other things to continue to be living like that. I landed at a big interactive agency and realized the people at these agencies are into the same type of things that I'm into and it just made sense and was fun plus it made me better at marketing my music.
Honestly, I haven't kept up on music too much as of late. I like Drake a lot which is surprising because I was raised on Wutang and Company Flow.
It's awesome that you're hosting an AMA man, I'm still trying to formulate a decent enough question to ask you, but in the mean time in terms of rappers to check out I'd highly recommend Childish Gambino, Kid Cudi, Tyler The Creator and Kendrick Lamar.
What exactly are you doing with PhantomJS these days?
Not much these days. I did use it to screenshoot our whole site before we took it down though.
Space Jam: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ewOzi5-AZXU
Hey Mike, as a fellow "Mike", I'll ask a question that'll only be relevant to other Mike's(and people with other similarly popular/infamous names).
How much of you was defined by your name?
Growing up as a "Mike", one has to contend with the personas and achievements of our more famous counterparts. Practically every industry/niche cross every generation of the modern era has a famous Mike. (Jordan, Jackson, Schumacher and ofc, the King.. of seo!)
Would you say that being named Michael helped you master personas, aliases, and character building - especially with your moniker/alter-ego MyCool King?
Big fan, mikeb
Hey Mike B,
This is an awesome question!
Growing up I hated my name. I think when I was five there was some kid in my day care that was named Michael King too. I felt like it was too generic or that I had a bigger personality than my name and that I should have a more unique one, at least Malik or something.
I never cared about the Jordan thing, but I do have the same bday as Michael Jackson and I was always a huge fan of him so I was cool with that. I'd also get the "Are you related to Martin Luther King?" question, but what I'd learn later in life is that MLK Jr and his dad were both named Michael at birth and changed their name to honor the Lutheran preacher Martin Luther.
But I digress...I never really liked my name until I became a rapper because then I became Mic King and that's pretty awesome.
I do however turn around whenever I'm in public and shouts "Mike!" But ultimately my biggest problem always that it wasn't unique enough and it still happens. I was at an ad award event in Philly a couple years back and another Mike King picked up my name tag. Some guys on Facebook started a Mike King group and added me to it.
That's the type of stuff I need less of in my life. haha.
Great question Mike B, I'm a huge fan of you too man.
-Mike K
Nice, you've create a pretty iconic brand with your name and that's where this question sort of came from a little bit.
Thanks for the great insight! I believe that's something that afflicts a lot of Michael's, until they come to a point that they sort of grow into the name: embracing it even.
Also, I feel the same especially in public places. I've learned early on to ignore shouts that begin with "MICHAEL!!!" since that's usually followed by "STOP HITTING YOUR BROTHER" or something like that. haha
- mikeb
Got another question (if asking two questions isn't considered cheating...)
What's your proudest musical moment?
Hey Steve,
All good man.
It's hard to say...I've had a lot of awesome. Meeting rappers that I grew up listening to and have them tell me they think I'm good at what I do was great. Opening for Nas in Slovakia for like 15k people was pretty cool, but I've opened for everyone from Jay Z on down really.. Touring with some members of Wutang was pretty cool. Moments like this were pretty cool:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qOL0khqqNxk But really making a song or an album that I was really proud of was probably the best. I'm actually pretty stumped by this question. Hopefully the proudest moment is yet to come.
Fav album of the past year? Of all time?
Honestly, I haven't had the wherewithal to keep up on new music too much. Any suggestions of what I missed?
I definitely wouldn't be able to pick a favorite record of all time.
Hey Mike - thanks for your comprehensive answers! Good read (as always!)
What did you think of the Season 6 opener of Mad Men?
I loved it. Sad to see Don back to his old ways, but I love the show. It seemed like a lot was happening and certain characters weren't getting much run...like Pete and Joan didn't get much screentime...but I love where they've taken Peggy. I love how they continue to examine the complexities of Don. It's kinda like he doesn't even know who he is and he keeps discovering it.
Anyway, yeah, I loved it.
Hey Michael, I love how you've been such a strong proponent of Content Strategy. Can you tell us how you got into it and how you use it with your team at iAcquire?
Thanks for rocking this AMA!
JDC! Good to see you in here man.
Well I always thought I was a content strategist...much like many SEOs do. In fact I remember you and I had a panel at Seattle Interactive and a Content Strategist asked me a question about CS and I was just like "yeah, I do that too."
I shared an office with an insane woman who led content strategy when I was at Publicis Modem. I saw a lot of the things that she did and certainly recognized a lot of overlap and how I could incorporate what she did into my job to make it better and vice versa.
She had the first edition of Kristina's book on her shelf and one day I just decided I really wanted to be good at content strategy so I started there.
At iAcquire Content Strategy is really the framework of what drives our marketing. I think I said earlier it's the Operating System. I put together quarterly content plans that define everything we're going to do and how we're doing it. The core strategy, the personas, who owns what, when things are to launch, what our voice and tone is, how things will be measured. Everything is in one spot and then we layer other things on top of that like our style guide. So anyone creating content is to consult these documents before they do anything. Our Content Plan is like our brand Rosetta Stone and it was incredibly important when I first started building out the team because I was often on the road doing conferences.
Undoubtedly, things change or get added to or thrown out as needed, but generally my whole team works from that. For example, last quarter I noticed that our collective brand tone got a little too cartoony and that we were missing the mark on some of our target personas so I've had the team reel it back in and the new content has been a lot more razor sharp.
Devin Asaro our SEO Content Strategist has really taken great ownership of the brand voice in our new site's copy. It's taken it farther than I did in imagining it.
We also do the same exact thing for our clients...Content Strategy is completely central to everything we do and any reccos we make keep the brand voice, tone and any other considerations front and center.
This question is a rabbit hole, so if there's anything else specifically you wanna know just keep em coming.
Hey Mike! Can you tell me about what you think is the 3 MOST CRITICAL thing to remember when inbound marketing and why you think so? Thanks.
What do you think are the more important diferent between north america market, european or Latam market talking about introduce an inbound marketing strategy?


text:
Ben Treece: Haven't learned the hard wayWritten by Ben Treece | | firstname.lastname@example.com
2008 was a year for the history books in the economic world. Not since the '70s had we seen such a sharp drop in equities in such a short amount of time. Losses were not contained to the equities sector, or even to this country. Europe saw substantial losses as well, and the real estate industry is still recovering, slowly but surely, from that time. Highly leveraged investors and risky derivatives were the source of this market catastrophe, so surely we as investors would be smart enough to avoid them in the future.
Flash forward to 2013, hedge fund and money managers are at it again, this time in the bond market. According to The Wall Street Journal, more and more managers are engaging in the "risk parity strategy." The traditional portfolio, as described by most finance professors, consists of 60 percent stocks and 40 percent bonds, but when looking at the risk of the entire portfolio, the 60 percent stock portion carries 90 percent of the risk of the whole portfolio. This investment style aims to spread the risk around to various instruments, such as commodities or futures.
It's marketable strategy, but a dangerous one as well. The article notes that in Fairfax, Va., the Fairfax County Employees' Retirement System has a 90 percent exposure to bonds when calculating in their leverage. As I have mentioned in several of my articles, the bond market is an incredibly dangerous place at this point in time.
Bond prices and interest rates vary inversely, so if interest rates are low, bond prices are high, and vice versa. With rates at historic lows, bond prices can really only go one way.
Many investors will read that and say "No problem, when it turns down I will sell it off and be done with it." That is just the type of dangerous thinking that will leave many market participants flat broke. Who exactly would you sell to, theoretically? Realize that if long-term federal debt goes from 3 percent to 6 percent interest, the value of the bond has been slashed in half. Who would possibly want to buy in that type of environment? Furthermore, when prices fall, they do not decline gradually, they plummet quickly.
Many risk parity proponents have been singing a different tune when it comes to marketing their strategy. "We're not as leveraged as Wall Street was back in 2008," and "We have ample liquidity" are both commonly heard defensive positions for those selling the strategy. It is all smoke and mirrors.
Risk parity has only been around commercially since 2001 and has not truly stood the test of time. In that time, bond prices have done nothing but go up, and the theory has yet to prove that it can achieve substantial gains when interest rates begin to rise.
Another one of the fundamentals of this theory is that when stock prices fall, bond prices rise and the investor wins. The Dow Jones recently surpassed a five-year high; does that sound like a good sign for bond exposure? Ray Dalio, president of Bridgewater Associates, said that if bond prices go down, equity gains should offset losses in risk parity portfolios. Let's assume that same scenario of 3 percent interest rates rising to 6 percent and your portfolio is half debt exposure, half equities exposure; by Dalio's theory, the Dow Jones would have to rise to well over 27,000 in order to counteract bond losses. Quite a far-fetched proposition to say the least. Dalio's assertions sound very much like those of managers who used the modern portfolio theory of the '80s, which resulted in substantial losses for investors in the crash of 1987.
Use common sense and do not be sold on highly leveraged and risky investment strategies. If it sounds too good to be true, it is. If someone tells you that their strategy is immune to losses, run like hell.
Ben Treece is a 2009 Graduate from the University of Miami (FL), BBA International Finance and Marketing. He is a partner with Treece Investment Advisory Corp (www.TreeceInvestments.com) and a stockbroker licensed with FINRA, working for Treece Financial Services Corp. The above information is the express opinion of Ben Treece and should not be construed as investment advice or used without outside verification.
Tags: Ben Treece, Ray Dalio, Treece Blog

subset: commoncrawl


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How many times have you been bucked off?
So i was wondering how many times have you been bucked off?
I lost count about 15 years ago...lol
I've fallen off 5 times in my riding career, but only one of those times was because of a buck. It was my first ride on Scout, and I insisted on riding in my English saddle. Yeah, idiot move, riding a new horse of unknown training level in the least secure saddle I own. He'd apparently never cantered with a girth tightened before. He got a little excited in the trot and goosed up into a canter, and the girth caught him and he threw a little buck that I wasn't expecting, and I ate arena dirt.
once... so far :D
lucky people! xD i have been bucked off at least 5 times, just jack. lol
lol bucked? im not sure... but in the 12 years I've been riding, I must have fallen off around 40 times lol!!
Twice, on two different horses (a year or so apart). Both during expensive clinics with a professional audience. Great timing I have, eh? For my credit, they were both spook bucks and took me by surprise to say the least.
I have only been actually bucked off maybe 3 or 4 times in 25 years. However, I have fallen countless times due to spooks or me just having my head up my butt.
Iv ate dirt a few times over my 6 years of riding, Nothing serious (knock on wood)... .Yeah I havent been riding as long as many of you but HEY you gotta start somewhere.
Before I started having issues with my back, I could handle just about every buck but the off gaurd spooks got me a few times. I also tried out my friends english saddle...
Me+english saddle+ spooked horse = Hanging off the side of the horse with my foot stuck. Not fun, Dont worry my head and shoulder broke the fall LOL
Oh god, Chinga use to be terrible! Every ride we'd have a buck, or four! Although suprizingly he's only got me off twice and Corby's gotten me off once, although hers was a full rear, buck, wee. Type thing ... mares.
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text: Michelle Bombshell McGeelying on her back on the edge of a bed with her legs spread and one hand down between her legs, rubbing herself as a guy has sex with her and holds a video camera from his perspective. The guy then puts the camera down near the bed and Michelle gets on all fours as the guy has sex with her from behind. From Michelles explicit sex tape, AKA Michelle Bombshell Caught on Tape.


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Average Customer Review
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4.0 out of 5 stars Incredible A Lost Treasure.
This book won the national book award in 1963 for fiction. Our hero Father Urban is a little quirky and self-centered; yet even with those faults it is hard not to sympathize with him. I approached this book with some regret. It was the last of Powers' works I would have the chance to read. So I took my time and slowly read chapter by chapter, savoring the book over a...
Published on Sept. 28 2008 by Steven R. McEvoy
3.0 out of 5 stars Human is connected with holy
Actually 3.5 stars. I am a tough customer, and grade harshly.
The characters of the work make up the book: Wilf; Mrs. Bean; Billy; Msgr. Renton; etc. I can find similarity with people I have met here in the east, so the mid-west setting is not a dominant factor. The characters are more dominant than the plot, even though the description on the book jacket of the old...
Published on June 14 2004 by David Lupo
Most Helpful First | Newest First
4.0 out of 5 stars Incredible A Lost Treasure.,
Steven R. McEvoy "MCWPP" (Canada) - See all my reviews
This book won the national book award in 1963 for fiction. Our hero Father Urban is a little quirky and self-centered; yet even with those faults it is hard not to sympathize with him. I approached this book with some regret. It was the last of Powers' works I would have the chance to read. So I took my time and slowly read chapter by chapter, savoring the book over a much longer period than I normally would. The book was both satisfying and a bit of a disappointment. It was satisfying in that I have now completed the published books of J. F. Powers. It was also sad because of this fact. It was a bit disappointing in that the story feels unfinished. Like a chapter was left out when it went to printing.
Some of the plot was inevitable, and predictable, but the characters you meet along the way make the book very engaging and entertaining. I am a post Vatican II baby. As such, I do not know the Latin Mass - have only read books, and seen films of what the church was like before that period. Powers is a master at creating characters, and characters that are believable. His priests, brothers, monsignors and even bishops are believable to anyone who has had serious interactions even with clergy of today. I know of a priest locally who could be an Urban walking off the page to take up ministry today.
Many segments of this book were previously published as short stories in a variety of sources. Powers was a master at the short story, but his creative genius was his ability to take those short stories and turn them into a convincing novel. He has done this with both his published novels - this book Morte D'Urban and Wheat That Springeth Green. Both books were nominated for the National Book Award and Urban won. That is the testament to Powers' power and prowess with the quill. It is also witness to his ability to transcend the short story, a genre that appears to be going by the wayside, and to compile books of great depth and insight. Modern author Chuck Palahniuk, the author of Fight Club, wanted to write a book of short stories, but his publisher, even with his popularity after Fight Club, would not allow him a book of short stories. Then Palauniuk wrote Haunted a collection of characters' personal stories told by a group of writers locked in a building. Powers achieves what Palahniuk does not in that his stories flow together seamlessly, where Palahniuk's are obviously individual stories.
This book is worth the read for anyone wanting a glimpse of insight into post World War II Catholicism, especially in the Midwest. But it is also a great study of people and why they do what they do - what drives them to achieve, their dreams and ultimately their failures and defeats. Unfortunately I have now read all of Powers' fiction. Fortunately the 2 books and 3 collections of short stories can be savored again and again. I can predict I have not finished with reading Powers, or Urban.
4.0 out of 5 stars A quietly magnificent exploration of faith and doubt,
Steve (Massachusetts) - See all my reviews
"Morte D'Urban" belongs to a long list of unfairly neglected works of the last century. As the Amazon review notes, perhaps anonymity is inevitable for a book whose cast is comprised 75% of Catholic priests and brethren. The book's jacket describes "Morte D'Urban" as a comic masterpiece, which I feel does some disservice to both the reader and the book. The book *is* funny, yes. But it's funny in a very dry and very subtle (for the most part) and ... very Midwestern way. Though Powers does, on occasion, paint his characters with too broad a stroke, they are by no means caricatures. Urban is a wonderfully complex title character--simultaneously worldly and devout, well-meaning but sometimes weak, humble yet proud. And the events of the book, though they occasionally have a slapstick feel (I won't, like the book's Introduction, spoil anything for the reader), the plot is really a series of well-crafted scenes building up to the final epilogue. Poor Father Urban. One cannot help but rue his fate, even as one can see it coming down the pike.
I couldn't help but compare this book to the numerous others I've read which (supposedly) take as their theme religious hypocrisy--particularly Sinclair Lewis's "Elmer Gantry." This book is infinitely better than any I've read so far. Powers humanizes his characters--he reveals their many flaws without condemning them; he does not stack his deck against religion, but shows how difficult it is to be truly devout in a world such as ours (and this book was written in the 1950s!). Check it out and let's keep this book in print!
3.0 out of 5 stars Human is connected with holy,
David Lupo "David Lupo" (Fairhaven, MA USA) - See all my reviews
Actually 3.5 stars. I am a tough customer, and grade harshly.
The characters of the work make up the book: Wilf; Mrs. Bean; Billy; Msgr. Renton; etc. I can find similarity with people I have met here in the east, so the mid-west setting is not a dominant factor. The characters are more dominant than the plot, even though the description on the book jacket of the old Image-Doubleday edition of the work put more emphasis on the plot. However, reading about Fr. Urban's travels reminded me a little bit of what little Walker Percy I have read thus far.
This little novel is a great human story. The foibles of all the characters are made visible in a way that points to them as human, wonderfully human! The Clementines (and the Dalmatians and Dolomites) are just like any Catholic religious community. Yes, they are human, and in their humanness is their holiness. I do agree with the reviewer that says that Fr. Urban seemed to outshine the other characters in a way that diminishes them. The narrator is a bit kinder to Fr. Urban. I also see this as a weakness in the novel. I was shocked at the event that brought on the end of the relationship as it was between Fr. Urban and Billy. Change is prominent.
But the humor is a big hit, the dry satire and irony, brought on many smiles and chuckles. It is a novel that touches the heart. I pass it on to a friend from Ilinois, and I wonder what he will say.
4.0 out of 5 stars Superficiality vs. Spirituality,
Timothy Haugh (New York, NY United States) - See all my reviews
To be honest, the only reason I decided to read this book was that it was chosen as the title for a book discussion group in which I participate. Though I can't say it is one of the best novels I have ever read, it certainly has its appeals. It is a book of irony and humor, with some sharp insights into the world of the Catholic Church in America. It is the story of the struggles of Father Urban, a priest in the unknown Order of St. Clement, who progressive, dynamic approach to his vocation seems constantly in conflict with those around him.
On many levels, I found that this book spoke to me personally. I know that comedy is very difficult to write and this novel is incredibly funny in places. Also, as a young Catholic boy growing up in the Midwest that is the setting of this novel, the story constantly generated feelings of recognition in me. The points that Powers is trying to make about spirituality, religion and the Church are worthwhile and brought out well.
The weaknesses I found in this book also are quite personal to me. Though the characters are drawn quite vividly and well, I found their relentless superficiality to be very disturbing. I don't enjoy reading novels where I find it difficult to like any of the characters but this is a matter of taste. Many other readers might feel differently. Clearly, Powers is telling us something important about the religious life but I think I would have enjoyed the story more if there was at least one character in the novel I found admirable. I guess I don't think it's enough to tell us what's wrong with things. I also like a glimpse of what's right.
Still, Powers has written a powerful novel. And Urban does have his good qualities and comes to an epiphany of sorts at the story's close. Anyone who is interested in stories of spirituality and has an interest in the Catholic Church will find this novel to be funny and thought-provoking. It is definitely worth a read.
5.0 out of 5 stars God and Mammon in the Midwest,
Robin Friedman (Washington, D.C. United States) - See all my reviews
This unduly neglected book won the National Book Award in 1963. It is the story of Father Urban, a Catholic Priest in the little know religious order of the Clementines. It takes place in Chicago, where Father Urban is headquarted as the "star" and best known speaker in the Order. He is also something of a fund-raiser with a wealthy, arrogant benefactor named Billy. Father Urban is transferred to a remote town in Minnesota, Duserhaus, shortly after the novel begins as a result of a disagreement with the head of the Order.
This novel operates on many levels. It shows the tenacity of Father Urban in creating a role for himself in the community surrounding Dusterhaus after what was deemed to be his exile there. It is a funny, tightly-written story and the characterization, of Father Urban's colleagues, of the Catholic hierarchy, and of the townspeople and parishoners is acute. Most important it is a story of the difficulty of serving both God and Mammon and of the need and nature for compromise in the work of the Catholic Church in a pluralistic, materialistic, and essentially secular America. There are wonderful descriptions of scenery and people. I particularly enjoyed the discussions of train travel in the Midwest which recall an America vanished not so very long ago... The book features a thoughtful introduction by Elizabeth Hardwick who describes the book as a "most valuable and lasting American novel."
This book is for you if you are interested in books about the United States, about religious experience in the United States, or in unjustly neglected American classics.
5.0 out of 5 stars Hidden Gem,
B. Cirelli (Santa Rosa, CA United States) - See all my reviews
This is a wonderful book. I have an MA in English Lit and never heard about this book at school. I subscribe to the New York Review of Books and it is listed as one of their favorites. Since I am Catholic and this book is about a Catholic priest I decided to read it.
Powers is a great author with a good knowledge of Catholicism and someone who knows how to be humorous. I found myself laughing out loud at certain passages of the book.
Power's shows how even "men of God" can be seduced by "men of power." Father Urban (the main protagonist) begins to understand how this is so and begins to change and become more aware of his journey towards God. I love this book because it shows how one can grow in God's love without being preachy or self righteous.
I would like this book to be made into a movie. Maybe it has already but I'm not aware of it. If there are any directors out there, check this out.
5.0 out of 5 stars Pride Goeth Before a Fall,
Walter Clark (Hancock, New Hampshire) - See all my reviews
This is a book about a priest who thinks he has all the answers and feels superior to others around him. His spiritual life gets worse and worse, while he rises to positions of greater and great worldly power. All of a sudden he is stopped - by a golf ball - after which things get worse and worse for him in a wordly way, while we guess that his spritual life is improving. It helps to have read New and Old Testaments, but is not a requirement. If you like this book try... THE EGOIST, by George Meredith; THE GOOD SOLDIER, by Ford Madox Ford, LORD JIM, by Joseph Conrad, THE FALL, by Albert Camus, ALL THE KING'S MEN, by Robert Penn Warren, BABBITT, by Sinclair Lewis, PORTNOY'S COMPLAINT, by Philip Roth, & SURFACING, by Margaret Atwood. {THIS IS A VERY FUNNY BOOK! ]
5.0 out of 5 stars Bless me, father,
One of the best books I read in 2000. "Morte" takes apart the pre-Vatican II Catholic church and puts it back together, complete with a compelling hero. Father Urban, exiled to Garrison Keillor's prairie,takes his lumps and does the best with what he's dealt. And in two courageous acts late in the novel, he discovers, almost by accident, the meaning of Christianity and of his priesthood. It's hard to figure out quite where Powers stood on the Roman church, but he certainly creates a world where any believer can find delight and meaning. It's a great dynamic read.
4.0 out of 5 stars READER BEWARE! Don't read introduction first!,
By A Customer
I was stunned (and then just plain angry) when I discovered (too late) that Hardwick's "introduction" was little more than a synopisis of the novel's plot. Why do publishers insist on including these dopey intros anyway? By unveiling all the susrprises contained in the novel's plot before the novel begins, the publisher ruins an otherwise fine book for a generation of readers yet to discover it. And it is a great book, though I would have enjoyed it far more had I not, thanks to Ms. Hardwick, seen every plot twist coming from a mile away.
5.0 out of 5 stars Vatican rag on the prairie,
The brilliance of this narrative is that it's hard to tell where J.F. Powers stands in his opinion of the Roman church. Our lead character, Father Urban, is a smooth operator, at once completely faithful and compellingly human. There's rich religious satire as he heads to a run-down retreat in Minnesota run by his order. He's a snob, but a lovable one. Then he has two wonderfully heroic moments,and you start to see him as a martyr. An extremely well-written novel, impossible to put down, especially if you're religious.
Most Helpful First | Newest First
Morte D'Urban by J.F. Powers (Hardcover - June 1962)
Used & New from: CDN$ 45.96


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Cranberry Creek Farm LLC
Cranberry Creek Farm was originally settled in the late 1800's by my great great grandfather William Henry. William carved out and farmed a piece of wilderness given to him by his father who was a farmer and manager of the Henryville House. The Henryville House was a well known (now extinct) boarding house that people visited for the fresh air and world renowned trout fishing in the many surrounding creeks, including Cranberry Creek.
After graduating from Prescott College with a degree in Agroecology and apprenticing with a local csa farm I knew that I had to be a farmer. There was a farmhouse, a few old outbuildings and a couple rocky acres that Mary-Jean and I graciously accepted as home from my parents William & Christine Henry and we began our farming career.
Many years later we have a 40 head herd of registered Alpine Dairy Goats, fully equipped cheesemaking facility, goat loafing barn, horse barn, 10 acres of pasture, 3 acres of gardens, a plant starting greenhouse, high tunnel, an on farm store and a son, Everett William Henry who was born May 3, 2013.
In the early years of farming we used the CSA model for distributing the farm's produce. When the dairy was started all hands were needed for building the cheesemaking and milking barn and learning goat husbandry as well as cheese making and marketing. Now that the dairy is up and running we are bringing back the CSA! We hope you will join us for a wonderful season of fresh foods from our gardens, pastures, creamery and forest.
Our aged raw farmstead cheeses, garden vegetables and meats are sold through our CSA, wholesale distributors and the Monroe Farmers Market.
Jeffrey W. Henry


text:
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Durham County home prices up, closed sales down in February
The average Durham County home sales price was up 10 percent in February, while total closed sales were down, according to Triangle Multiple Listing Service data released Tuesday.
A smaller inventory of homes on the market for sale helped push prices up, according to multiple real estate officials, and also was cited as a factor in a drop in closed sales in the month. Realtors and others were optimistic for continued improvement.
"I'm starting to hear stories of multiple offers," said Nick Tennyson, executive vice president of the Home Builders Association of Durham, Orange & Chatham Counties. "And people are beginning to have the experience of seeing the house they wanted to buy, selling. So I think the market is starting to move back up."
The average sales price was up 10 percent to $187,522 in the month, while the median sales price was up 13 percent to $171,214.
The total dollar volume of sales was up 5.2 percent in the month to $36.8 million.
However, there was a 5.3 percent decline in the total number of closed sales in the county in February. The total number of closed sales in the month was 196, compared to 207 in the month last year.
That was the first month that closed sales were down in a single month year-over-year since January of last year. For all of 2012, the county's sales were up 22.5 percent compared with the prior year.
Jon Fletcher, a Realtor with Fonville Morisey Realty in Durham, said he believes the decline is due to an inventory shortage.
The inventory of homes for sale in Durham County was down 15.3 percent to 1,494 homes in February compared to the month last year, according to Triangle Multiple Listing Service data.
"We are constantly getting emails from agents who have buyers looking for properties that just aren't on the market right now," Fletcher said. "I don't know if people have been, have been hanging on until spring time," he added.
Tennyson said the inventory of new homes has been impacted as small-volume builders have been having issues getting loans to build spec houses.
"In previous cycles, small-volume builders would, by now, have long since been able to find somebody who would give them a loan for a spec house," he said. "I think that it's a little like asking somebody to sell a product without a store. A small-volume builder needs to have a house up to see what he or she is able to produce."
Although Tennyson said new home construction is and has been a shrinking percentage of the market, he was also positive overall.
He also added that a single month's decline in closed home sales is not necessarily indicative of a trend.
"We are clearly overtime, we are doing better," he said. "We've had enough months coming off the bottom to believe we are actually on a trend," he added. "Was February an indication that the trend is going to flatten out again – we won't know until May. We'll have to see what the line keeps doing from there."
Donna DeLong, president of the Durham Association of Realtors, said she expects that with the low inventory, prices will rise.
"We're seeing that sellers are favoring the price increases, and are moving forward to market their homes," she said.
Fletcher said he's starting to see activity pick up. He said there is typically more activity in the spring, while the fourth quarter is slower during the holidays.
"Personally, I believe … we were way past the bottom and everyone is on the way back up," he said. "Interest rates are still low; it's a great time to buy a house."


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Everyday isn't like that. I'm working slowly to get back in shape and it isn't always easy with an infant and my family schedule. But it isn't ever easy for anyone, really. It's a lot of where you set your goals and how hard you work to achieve them. And never making excuses. Just accepting life and moving forward with it. Kind of exciting really. Lately I've been thinking about two profound questions. At the beginning of the day - What am I going to get to do today? And at the end of the day - What did I celebrate today? It's all just a little bit of livin'.
The Iditarod started yesterday - and damn if it ain't just a little bit o' that livin'. I think it's the most fascinating study of the human experience that I've ever seen. Check it out.


text:
$120 for 6 Pax 8-Course Chinese Cuisine Set at Ah Yat Seafood Restaurant in Jurong Bird Park (Worth $248). Ten Pax Option Available.
- Delectable spread of Chinese and Hong Kong style cuisine
- Top quality ingredients
- Complete your dining experience with starter, main courses and dessert
- Includes traditional favourites like Peking Duck, Fish Maw and Drunken Prawns
- Over 20 years' experience
- Perfect for family gatherings and special occasions
- For 6 Pax: 8-Course Chinese Cuisine Set
- For 10 Pax: 8-Course Chinese Cuisine Set
8-Course Chinese Set includes:
- Peking Duck
- Thick Soup with Shredded Abalone, Fish Maw, Sea Cucumber and Shark Fin
- Drunken Prawns with Chinese Herbs
- Braised Fish Maw with Assorted Mushroom
- Deep Fried Soon Hock Fish
- Stir Fried Duck Meat with Black Beans and Chilli
- Braised Ee-Fu Noodles with Compoy
- Daily Dessert
Valid till 20 Jan 2013. Unlimited Groupons per person, may buy multiple as gifts. Limit 1 Groupon per visit. Valid for dine-in only. Not valid with other promotions and discounts.
Appointment required, call 6265 8218.
Groupon excludes required order of peanuts, towel and Chinese tea.
Groupon printout MUST be presented.
See the rules that apply to all deals.
The family that eats together stays together as chewing on tasty morsels loosens tongues enough for joys, sorrows and words of wisdom to be spewed. Strengthen bonds with today's Groupon to Ah Yat Seafood Restaurant at Jurong Bird Park. Choose between 2 options:
Today's Groupon
- For $120, you get an 8-Course Chinese Cuisine Set for Six Pax (worth $248).
- For $198, you get the above for Ten Pax (worth $398).
The Deal
Whet and satisfy burgeoning appetites with the 8-course gourmet odyssey at Ah Yat Seafood Restaurant, which serves up Hong Kong-style cuisine ranging from fresh seafood dishes to perennial favourite traditional Chinese dishes. Get initiated into the action with a delectable Peking Duck, then line growling tummies with a Thick Soup with Shredded Abalone, Fish Maw, Sea Cucumber and Shark Fin.
The team of esteemed chefs then dole out fabulous seafood dishes that the restaurant is famed for. Savour the heavenly Drunken Prawns with Chinese Herbs, followed by Braised Fish Maw with Assorted Mushroom, and meet daily nutrient requirements with the Deep Fried Soon Hock Fish.
Appease diet deities further with the scrumptious Stir Fried Duck Meat with Black Beans and Chilli, and pair off with Braised E-Fu Noodles, before you put overworked tastebuds to bed with a delectable Dessert of the Day.
Operating Hours
Daily: 11.30am - 2.30pm (Lunch), 5.30pm – 10.00pm (Dinner)


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1 SWiSH Templates and counting!
Animals & Pet Dynamic Swish Site 2004 Templates
These animal and pet swish templates are a good solution for all the pet lovers, pet stores, pet supply companies, animal services, pet clubs, and any animal related online store or website. You will find plenty of dog and cat themes for starting your own personal website or business that could be anything from showing off puppies and kittens, or for selling pet related services and products. Some of these swish templates are also great for ideas and services that revolve more around exotic and wild animals such as tigers, lions, toucans, pandas, elephants, and lizards. Our animals & pet Dynamic SWiSH Site 2004 templates allow you to dynamically change content with a simple text editor. With these templates you can edit text and change pictures in your site without having to modify and recompile the SWI source file. All text content rests in text files, and pictures resides in the directory in which the site itself is located. The text used in the SWiSH also supports some HTML tags so that you can use limited markup there if you want all through the text files.
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