Mark Aaron Murnahan Archives - Page 2 of 5 by Mark Murnahan

Kutcher vs. Murnahan Twitter Dance-Off (well @aplusk?)

This is not a review of Dancing with the Stars, and I have already told Ashton Kutcher (@aplusk) that I dance like a goon.

If you are not already familiar with this blog, it may help to know that I wrote an article recently that criticized the highly publicized race between Ashton Kutcher (@aplusk) and CNN (@CNNBrk) to reach one million followers on Twitter. I look at this today and realize that nearly anybody could do that if they put the resource into the campaign that each of these giants did. There is even a billboard in my home town of Topeka, Kansas advertising to follow @aplusk on Twitter.

Ashton Followed My Twitter Feed

I have been asked a lot about the bar fight / dance-off talk on Twitter between Ashton Kutcher and myself. First, I want to say that there was no bar fight. Secondly, as of yet, we have not determined the venue for our dance off. However, Oprah’s show (@oprah) seems to be the crowd favorite. So what is the real story? Since I wrote a recent post criticizing the race between Ashton Kutcher (@aplusk) and CNN (@CNNBrk) I suppose it deserves this follow up.

The Ashton Kutcher Bar Fight

The story behind the bar fight is pretty simple. I sent a tweet as follows: “20 Athletes You Would Want with You in a Bar Fight http://bit.ly/hxNg0“. This tweet was subsequently retweeted (see tweet) by my friend, Phao Loo (@phaoloo). Ashton Kutcher follows Phao Loo’s tweets, and he liked it, so he retweeted it again (see tweet). The bar fight story was really this simple.

The Ashton Kutcher Dance-Off

Although there may be a dance-off, I have made Mr. Kutcher aware that I dance like a goon. However, I will be a willing participant if it should come to pass. Interestingly, the whole notion follows through nicely with some of what I believe his intended message was for CNN and Ted Turner. That message is that the little guy can still have a voice in social media, and can still make a difference in the world. The misguided part of that equation was that Ashton Kutcher is not the little guy. Unfortunately, Ashton did not have me on retainer at the time of his message, so a lot became blurred with many mixed signals and lack of solid personal branding.

Perhaps if Ashton Kutcher really wants to show the sincerity of his message, a better approach may be to come down to my level and visit with a guy who uses social media to build relationships and good will. Then perhaps he can win me over as an active part of his audience, and even his advocate. Beating all odds, he and I could work as a team to clear up his message and do some really properly meaningful things together. As it is, I have been bombarded with questions of what really took place, and whether I think he is genuine. To all of the many questions, I must say that I simply do not know, yet.

I have not made an attack on Ashton’s integrity, but I have had reason to criticize his signal. In my previous blog post on the matter, I made observations that his message is flawed, and that I do not respect much of what I observed. Perhaps a lot of that has to do with Hollywood, publicists, contracts, and a whole lot of time spent being desired by masses. I have a strong immunity to the whole celebrity bit. I have spent enough time with “the desired ones”, and also been the focus of some of the same. I do understand the awkward feeling of being envied, as certainly we all have for one reason or another. This transforms each of us differently on different levels. To me, it has made me work even harder to be real and to be humble. In Hollywood, this is a method that is often not embraced, or accepted properly when it is. After all, a little cockiness seems to make you cool. Sadly, the people it makes you cool with are the same people who are wearing a similar mask of blended pride and shame.

When it comes down to who the man is or what he intends, I do not know the answers about Ashton Kutcher. I will gladly welcome him to call me at *REDACTED DUE TO AGING WEBSITE* on my nickel, join my Webcast as a co-host and come down to “the people’s” level, and I will gladly meet him for a dance-off and show just how horribly I dance.

The way it all went down was like a firestorm of tweets about a dance-off among my followers. Note that I follow well over 8,500 people’s Twitter feed, whereas Ashton followed (at the time) 84. Not only do I follow this many, I do so very actively, and as I write this, I have reached my 1000 direct message daily limit and I am waiting to be able to send direct messages again.

Within my Twitter friends rampant tweets, the speculation of a ghost tweeter was common, as were many RT, and questions of Ashton’s intent (PR, damage control, etc). So that there is no speculation, the Tweets we have shared, and some of the related communications surrounding the bar fight / dance-off tweets are as follows:

@murnahan: Hey, Ashton Kutcher just RT me. http://bit.ly/Gt5Yf LOL!

@kimsherrell: OH SNAP ~>more drama. @aplusk just RTd @murnahan. but did he read mark’s blog? http://bit.ly/4SBD8

@murnahan: ROFL! –> RT @KimSherrell: OH SNAP ~>more drama. @aplusk just RTd @murnahan. but did he read mark’s blog? http://bit.ly/4SBD8

@kimsherrell: WHOA @aplusk has challenged @murnahan to a bar fight?! +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

@aplusk: @KimSherrell i don’t have time to go to kansas. I just find the assumptions to be interesting.

@aplusk: @murnahan Kind of ironic?

@murnahan: @KimSherrell I guess he did see it. 😉 http://bit.ly/9iHpE

Right about this time is when I realized (from a friend’s tweet) that @aplusk was following me. I was number 84 that he was following out of 1,234,083 following him. So the questions that came to mind was, whether he would still be following me tomorrow, and does this guy meet the criteria of those whom I prefer to follow?

@murnahan: @aplusk Are you an OK guy after all? I like seeing that you are listening. 😉 Dance off, huh? LOL I dance like a goon!

@aplusk: @murnahan lets dance brother. I think you paint interesting picture with your words.

@murnahan: @aplusk Thanks! Do you need any help at the TweetDeck? http://bit.ly/AKIra

@aplusk: @murnahan no I’m quite efficient i’m sure @oprah could use a tutorial though

@murnahan: Well then hook me up, brother. LOL –> RT @aplusk: @murnahan no I’m quite efficient i’m sure @oprah could use a tutorial though

@aplusk: @murnahan you wouldn’t want to teach her she might ruin the platform by connecting with too many people

@aplusk: @murnahan or she might end up saving lives…

@murnahan: Well, @oprah, @aplusk said you may need a hand. http://bit.ly/2zog7w – REF: http://bit.ly/NHRbb

@kimsherrell: ashton kutcher now following mark murnahan. thank you + good night.

@kimsherrell: LOL… a low-budget internet musical: @aplusk versus @murnahan – http://bit.ly/dgyxa

@murnahan: Hey Ashton (@aplusk), I am following you back now, but don’t go messing up my reputation. 😉

There were many more tweets about this, but I must stop at some point. For more tweets relating to this, click here for a Twitter search and refine the search to find related information.

Will There Be a Dance-Off Between @aplusk and @murnahan?

To answer the question of whether there will ever be a dance-off between us, only time will tell. I may never hear from Ashton again, or we may turn out to grow a mutual respect for each other. Who knows? To my notion, Ashton is a funny and talented guy. I simply do not believe that social media stunts last all that long, and I am here for the long-term, just as I have been since the 90’s with my Yahoo! chat clubs, where I met my wife.

I want to hear your thoughts. Please give your comments here on this blog, and feel free to give other readers your Twitter username in the form of http://twitter.com/murnahan (substitute the murnahan part).

Three Kids Prove Social Networking Works

Social networking has been analyzed, scrutinized, bastardized, and commercialized, but my family is proof that it works, and that it has worked for over a decade. If you will give me a moment, I will tell you why I am blogging about this today, and give inspirational credit to people I met and have built deep relationships with that have lasted for over a decade and growing, and those whom I only recently met. I will start with today, and I will go back to the really good stuff when I met Peggy.

A little while ago, I sent a tweet on Twitter (for the confused, see: “Twitter Usage Study: Pass The Tweet #PTT“) and it read as follows:

“Social Networking Fact: I met my wife online in 2000 and we await the birth of our 3rd child in April. It works, I tell ya!”.

I sent this tweet after an engaging blog conversation asking “When will social media be ‘ready’?”. I am never the guy to leave a quick one-liner on a blog because I am just not a link-spammy blogger. I would rather say nothing at all than to say “Great article, it was really helpful.” As it should be, my comment was thoughtful, and it was engaged by the author, Caleb Gardner. Here is how it went:

Mark Aaron Murnahan:

When somebody questions the ROI of social media, they have already missed the point. It is worse than the mentality of trying to measure the ROI on taking a client to a ball game or going to dinner. Building relationships should not be measured by dollars and cents. I have just been communicating with a friend whom I met and have built a strong friendship since 1998. I have never asked her for business or for referrals, but you can bet that if she knows somebody who needs my services, I will get the call. Further, I did a lot of dating online years before it was common and finally met my wife online in 2000. We are now expecting our third child in April 2009. Social networking has been ready for years, but people being ready for it is another story. Social networking used to happen in ballrooms and the corner restaurant. The primary thing that changed was the venue.

calebgardner:

@Mark

I love the personal story about your wife. Way to make an emotional (literally) appeal for social networking.

It’s an interesting thought that social networking has been around for years. You’re right – it literally has in that we’ve always built relationships with those around us. I think what is happening is that the Web is making us more cognizant of the relationships we build, because we’re able to build them with people that we never would have been in contact with before.

Hmm… have to give that some more thought. Sounds like an interesting post on its own…

Mark Aaron Murnahan:

@caleb

Since my comment, I was on the phone with a good friend I know from my “other job” racing cars. His very financially successful company has a churn issue because of a hugely competitive market with tiny margins. I used myself as an example with him. I explained that he would not hear my message as clearly if he did not know me, my wife, my children, and my integrity. He has been in my garage working on racecars with me at 3:00am before a big event, and we drive around corners at 100+++MPH together, for the sake of Pete. He knows that I have a lot more at stake than a sales pitch. We have a relationship. I have tried to reach his executive staff to understand that without relationships, all we have is a sales pitch, and that people do not buy the pricetag but rather what is attached. He gets the message, and he is really excited to work together, as am I, but he is getting a lot of pushback on implementation from his fellow execs. They have a corporate stuffiness that does not even match their written message and their goals. The bottom line is that if we miss the relationships, we work much harder and achieve less. You built on our relationship by engaging me with your reply. This is how stuff really works. My next blog article about it is forthcoming.

How I Met My Wife: Re-tweeted

Remember that tweet I sent? It was re-tweeted and replied to, which is always an honor, because it means I said something that people actually heard and thought enough about to tell others, and to ask a question. A question was posed by @askorkin as follows:

“really! you met your wife online, i am intrigued how? if you don’t mind my asking :)”

—

I replied:“Since you asked how I met my wife online, I am inspired to blog about it. It is my best proof that social networking really works.”

—

My Social Networking in 1998

In 1998, I had a friend and business partner who did not really understand the reach of the Internet. He was a physician and I was a marketing guy. We were working on a project targeted toward pharmaceutical companies that were spending tons of money to bring doctors to luxury resorts in Miami, Palm Springs, Orlando, Phoenix, and elsewhere, to learn about their new drug. At the time, thanks to government subsidized travel and tourism in Central Europe, we found that it was actually less costly to bring American participants to a conference in Budapest, Hungary than to Miami. This became the target of our new conferencing company.

Jeff posed a lot of questions as to how the Internet worked into our business model. He did not really “get it”. I explained that I had developed a network of friends in the region, and globally. Even back then, my European social network of friends included Bianca, who was an au pair from Austria working in USA, with whom I have communicated even in the last 24 hours (see my Facebook).

We made connections with hotel managers, tourist attractions, and one of our favorites, Varsaci Karoly (“Karchi”). Karchi worked for the E.C. as a Euro Qualifier, and we were fast friends. We got to know him online, but he soon showed us many incredible times in Budapest. We had a lot of fun at the courtesy of the Hungarian government. After all, it was ideal for them to attract American dollars back then.

It was really sinking in for Jeff, by this point, that this Internet thing could be useful. However, he still questioned it as a marketing tool. It is funny how most people think of it as a marketing tool first, and a networking tool second. We (he) flipped that around. Jeff knew that I was pretty “Internet savvy”, but I needed to give him a clear example. This gets to how I met my wife.

Social Networking Study: “Mark the Single Guy”

By 1999, I was single, 26 years old, and retired. My marketing business had been pretty good to me, but my personal life was lackluster from years of focusing on my work. Jeff’s challenge to use the Internet to show localized results led me to kill two birds with one stone. I wanted a woman to hold, and he wanted to understand the Internet. Again, it is funny how he thought localization was the challenge back then, but now globalization is the challenge.

I set out to prove that there were enough people right there in our town of Topeka, Kansas, USA to show the Internet market reach. Of course, back then, his concern was that the audience may be too slim. Wow, I showed him. I used a XOOM.com account (back then xoom.com was a free host) to create a significantly detailed biography of “Mark the Single Guy”, and I used a “.cjb.net” account to shorten the URL. I included everything I liked, didn’t like, and I even had a special section about my baggage. The “Mark’s Baggage” section was complete with an affiliate link to ebags.com. I promoted my heart everywhere I could, and I used the equivalent of today’s “re-tweeting” by asking my online social network to pass along the bio and help me find the woman who would become the love of my life.

It was not too long before I was receiving 300-400 email messages per day from ladies within a 50 mile radius who wanted to meet me. I met a lot of ladies, and I had a lot of fun … yes, a lot! I met a few neurotic ladies like Sara, Nancy, and DeeAnne, and I broke a few hearts. I am still sorry for making one of the Stacys cry. She was a sweet girl, and I really liked her family. Of course, Sara, Nancy, and DeeAnne were the ones I really wanted, but thanks to them, I was single when I met my darling wife, Peggy.

After the neurotic gals had nearly broken my will, I was pretty careful when it came to being close to Peggy. I think I was in love with her before I ever touched her hand or smelled her hair. Peggy was clearly very special, and I would do my best to keep from hurting her with my baggage (and WOW, I had baggage). Peggy does not like to admit this, but she admitted back then to crying as she read the deepest parts of me, the man she really wanted but was afraid of.

Social Networking: Shedding My Skin for Peggy

Sharing the real me was like pulling a scab off my entire body and letting air hit my sensitive inside. In my biography, I had shed my skin and stood emotionally naked for the world to see and inspect. It is lucky for both of us that I was real. I showed my sweat, my tears, my fears, my body odor, and the things that made me a real person.

Is This Fact or Fiction?

Some will question if this is all real, just as Peggy did back then. The accounts you have read here are only a small part of the full story, but it is all real, and it is all me. Perhaps as you get to know me, I will tell you the really deep and hard stuff that I once shared more freely online.

It cannot be all wrong to share who you are. After all, that is how I met the love of my life and the mother of my six year old son, my three year old daughter, and the baby she carries today whom I will announce in April 2009.

If you would like to know me better, just tell me so, and we will make that happen. I know the value of social networking, and I treasure the many relationships I have built.

Hire a Web Developer and SEO

How often have you said to yourself, “I need to hire a Web developer”? My guess is that it is not something you do every day, unless you are in the business. I suspect that the question of hiring a Web developer or hiring a search engine optimization (SEO) professional is relatively foreign to you, so allow me to help you.

When you shop for commercial real estate, the experts will tell you that the three most important factors are, in this order, 1.) Location 2.) Location 3.) Location. As for the building itself, some of the considerations are size, features, accessibility, ammenities, legal issues, etcetera. The cost will also be a factor, but if you get these basics right, the cost is a hurdle that you will make every effort to leap.

These principles of location (SEO), size, features, accessibility, ammenities, and legal issues hold true in Website development as well, so before you hire a Web developer, you should consider how they will address each of these matters.

Hiring a Web Developer: Website Location

I am surprised how many people think that because somebody can find them online by searching for their company name that it is enough. These people are missing the whole picture. If your company name is Bob’s Bait Shop and somebody Googles that, it is only because they knew you exist. That is not how marketing works. The only way to be successful online is if people who do not know you exist can find you. In the instance of Bob’s Bait Shop, Bob needs to be found when people search for worms, or stink bait, fishing lures, night crawlers, minnows, fishing rods, and boating supplies. This is what I mean by location of your Website, and it is very seldom to find a need for a Website that cannot benefit from a good location on the Internet. Hiring a Web developer, alone, may make it possible to Google your company name, but it will not likely set your cash register ablaze.

Web Developers and SEOs Are Not The Same

Just because somebody is a Web developer does not mean they have a clue about SEO. Also, many SEO professionals will know how to develop a Website, but it is not really their cup of tea. If you consider the hourly rates of Web developers or SEOs, there is generally a huge contrast, which explains why SEOs will generally stick to their area of expertise. They are both important to your Internet marketing, but I have found that too seldom these two experts do not play well together. It is common that the Web developer / Web designer is more concerned with aesthetics and layout, whereas the SEO’s job is to be sure that enough people will actually see the Website. These two divergent concerns often have technological conflicts, and if they are good at what they do, they will likely have big egos to preserve. With practice, they can get along, and once in a while, they can even be found in the same person or company. When you make the leap to hire a Web developer, you will be wise to find one that understands SEO, but it is even better if you find them in the same place.

How To Find a Web Developer and SEO

A sad fact for many people seeking to hire a Web developer is that they will go with the first referral from a friend who says “I have a neighbor kid who can build a Website for you”, or they know somebody who has a full time job but does a little freelance work on the side. You found my blog, so you can likely understand the difference between the professional Web developer and SEO and the kid who just unwrapped his new copy of Dreamweaver. As for the freelance guy with a day job, why isn’t he doing this full time from the comfort of his pajamas if he is really good at it? Your best answer is more likely to be to find a Web developer using Google. A Web developer with a good search engine ranking and a good looking and useable Website will normally suggest that there is the capacity to do the same for you. It is often comfortable to hire a Web developer in your general location, but I do a lot of work for companies far away from my location in Topeka, Kansas.

Hiring a Web Developer: Legal Issues and Liabilities

This is an area where I am often dumbfounded. I have been shocked on many occasions to be contacted by companies trying to resolve the ownership of their programming code, content, and even their domain name, because they hired an inexperienced or unethical Web developer. The concerns of legal and liability issues when hiring a Web developer should not be taken lightly. You should review their contracts carefully, and if you have questions, pay an attorney to review it also. If they offer you a “handshake deal”, run away, fast. There is good reason for a clearly defined Website development contract, and it will benefit you to understand it before signing it or paying a deposit.

Web Development and SEO Related Blog Posts

I have written many blog posts relating to hiring a Web developer or SEO, and I hope that they will help you to find your next Web development company. I would like my company to be the one you choose, but in any case, I want you to find this information useful, above all.

SEO and Web Development Hourly Rates

Hourly rates for SEO (search engine optimization) and Web development are confusing. As a Web developer and SEO, I am very often asked to produce a Website development quote, without the client giving all of the facts. The most important thing to remember is that there is no apples-to-apples comparison.

Website Development Hourly Rates

When you compare the hourly rates of two different Website developers or SEOs, you are really only looking at a fraction of the picture. If “Web Developer A” charges $85 per hour, and “Web Developer B” charges $150 per hour, which one is a better deal? There is a missing variable in how much and how well either of them can produce the results. If “Web Developer B” has a decade of experience and can finish the same task in half of the time, “Web Developer A’s” hourly rate just became $170 per hour ($85*2).

Another strong factor is that although there are standards for Web programming, there are many “correct” ways to produce a project, and usually the “correctness” will come in different degrees. This requires a question of how correct you want it. Two Web developers will likely never produce the exact same results. Thus, the comparison of hourly rates is already flawed.

SEO Hourly Rates

When it comes to SEO, many of the tasks are even less defined than Web development. Determining the best SEO between “SEO A” and “SEO B” it is like comparing two brains, which stumps even the most brilliant Neurosurgeons. There are many skills that we share, but there are also many varying opinions on the best practices. There is only one number one position in each search engine for a given keyword or keyword phrase. That is the goal of the SEO, but the methods used to get there often vary greatly between SEOs.

Reduce Hourly Rate Confusion

Perhaps the most challenging and confusing thing about shopping for Website development or SEO is how much a Website should cost. As I have strongly suggested before, it is best to set a budget. Here is a clip from another of my blog posts:

“Hiding your expected budget is like going to a realtor and saying that you want to buy a house and hiding your budget. If they do not know your budget, they can show you homes all day but you will both be spinning your wheels and never get anywhere.”

When a Web developer or SEO provides a proposal based on only a portion of the client’s objectives, they will always be wrong. I can appreciate the notion of “shopping around”, but to shop without a budget serves nobody at all, and may land you with “Web Developer A” who can potentially cost you more. When it comes to shopping for SEO services, the largest cost is often in the cost of lost opportunities.

Getting the Right Cost Quote

I have produced quotes to shoppers who simply refused to give me the whole picture, only to have them compliment me greatly but say that they believe I am “out of their league”. The fact is that I write quotes ranging from a few thousand dollars on up to many tens of thousands of dollars. It is always based on the information I am given. No two companies place the same importance on Internet marketing, thus, their needs and expectations of both performance and cost will always be different. Without clarifying the needs and expectations for both parties, nobody wins.

Internet Marketing Imagination: A Racing Webcast

If imagination is limiting your Internet marketing efforts, take a lesson from the professionals and open your mind to new Internet marketing ideas.

In early Spring 2008, I was tasked with developing an idea to reach more people in the fast growing demographics of automobile racing. Blogs are great, and can give a great mental picture of the action, but something was missing. Writing in blogs and posting some photos is great, but everybody was doing that. We needed something different and better. We needed imagination!

How About a Live Racing Webcast?

Enter the Live Racing Webcast. A racing Webcast, now there is a clever and fun idea to reach people. We could mount cameras in a racecar and air it in a live Webcast for people to come and watch our race season. We could distribute press releases in each of the hundreds of markets we would cross, and receive a lot of press coverage. It would be a great multimedia opportunity.

That is exactly what we did, but we did not stop with a live video Webcast. We added live in-car chat and a live GPS feed to make things even more engaging. We chose a time in early May 2008 to launch the Webcast with a 6,000 mile nine day maniacal road trip called the Cannonball One Lap of America. The event celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2008, and we were there to document it from beginning to end. Since the Cannonball requires drivers to drive the racecar itself from track to track across the USA, attracting much attention, we decided on the domain name, CopMagnet.com.

Internet Marketing With Imagination

I am often asked for new and better ideas about how to reach more people online. Fortunately for me, that is how I earn a living. I am an Internet marketing and search engine optimization (SEO) professional. My job is to develop new ways of defining and targeting an audience online. It is a great job, but one that comes with its own challenges. The greatest challenge is imagination. Fortunately, imagination is not my personal weakness, but it is often the weakness of my clients. Without marketing imagination, and the insight to implement new and better ideas to reach your market, you give everything to your competitors on a silver platter. The prevailing limitation to imagination is the people.

Internet Marketing Limitation: The People

If you close your mind to imaginative Internet marketing ideas, you greatly limit your potential. Think about your audience, and not yourself. Consider what appeals to them and what will engage them. If it is a racing Webcast, do it. If you find yourself short of ideas and your imagination is hurting you, consult a marketing professional and listen to what they tell you. They may just be on to something. When you open your mind to creative new possibilities, you are much closer to receiving their benefit.

Author Mark Murnahan is the Chairman and CEO of YourNew.com, Inc. and provides SEO consulting services to companies and non-profit organizations. Mark Murnahan may be reached toll free at 866-A-Web-Guy (*REDACTED DUE TO AGING WEBSITE*) for consultation.