Internet Marketing in NY, Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers and Olympic Hockey: What your business can learn from 10,000 hours of practice makes perfect

Posted by Salem Global on Mar 2, 2010

SalemGlobal has been in business for over 13 years. We started out very small in an Upper West Side two-Bedroom apartment, moved to a loft in the Garment District on 36th Street West of 8th Avenue and now have an amazing office on 40th Street across from Bryant Park with a view that only a few are privileged to have in a small crowded concrete jungle like New York City. We also have achieved something that I am very proud of and wasn’t even going after. True we have been in the number one position for “Website Marketing NY” and backwards “NY Website Marketing.” And also New York Website Marketing etc. etc. And let’s not forget “Internet Marketing NY and NYC.” But last week we reached the #2 position right behind Wikipedia for “Internet Marketing.” Here is the proof: http://websitestrategymarketing.com/salemglobal-number-2-for-internet-marketing (“Internet Marketing” is searched more often than “website marketing.”)

By the way, you will get the same results if you live in Brooklyn or on the Upper East Side. But what is frustrating is that in Westchester we are no where to be found… So the question is: why does Google show us different results in different locations? Why don’t they have the same results across the board; locally, across the country and all around the world? Is it because part of their algorithm is to show results based on traffic coming from your own IP address? Is it because they want us to see ourselves in a high position so that we can feel good about ourselves? Where do you see us for those keywords? Where do you stand for your own keywords?

Lately I have been writing about “consistency.” Keeping your name consistently in the Internet spotlight. Day after day, week after week, month after month. Each week and month, we create content for ourselves and our clients and then promote it out to the various new media. Corporate websites, press release distribution websites, article distribution websites, blogs, video sharing services, social media like Facebook and LinkedIn and much much more.

In his latest book “Outliers,” Malcolm Gladwell writes about how some of the most successful people in the world have devoted and invested at least 10,000 hours towards their desired profession or hobby. Some examples: Bill Joy, the programmer behind Sun Microsystems and UNIX. Bill Gates of Microsoft. The Beatles. You might not know this if you didn’t read the book but each of these people (and of course the band), put in thousands and thousands of hours into what they did before they became famous (and of course rich beyond anyone’s dreams). Bill Joy and Bill Gates had access to huge IBM mainframe computers in their schools, neighborhoods and universities in the late 60′s and early 70s before anyone knew what they were. The Beatles actually played in Hamburg Germany for hours and hours and more hours because the musical sets in that particular party scene called on bands to play for 8 hours a night. If you go to downtown NYC or any club in NY or LA, a new band is LUCKY to get a 15 minute set. The Beatles were on stage for so many hours, the needed to learn how to play every single genre of sound, cover every band and artist AND make up their own material in order to stay on stage. They weren’t getting paid a lot but they were absolutely perfecting their skills.

And what do I tell my kids every day (if and when) they have a complaint that “this is too hard” or “I can’t do this!” PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT!!! (Of course I have banned the word “can’t” from their vocabulary because I am a positive thinker and think that mostly anything is possible). Nothing is too hard and nothing is out of reach when you are disciplined and motivated. (Which is what I actually worked on in my military service as an organizational behaviorist and advisor. Though I had a BA in Psychology at the time, I still was working with soldiers that didn’t believe in themselves “enough.” And if the military can help change or modify behavior through motivation and/or discipline, a defense force will be that much more effective).

And that is why I believe the Canadians are the best Hockey players in the world. It’s not a matter of fact that they just won the Gold (after edging out the USA in overtime); it is most probably because they have more ice time than anyone else. From an early age, Canadians are on the ice, stay on the ice, continue on the ice and practice practice practice. It’s also colder up in Canada so they have more access to an ice rink. Which also is related to Joy and Gates having access to computers before anyone else. (Of course we can also debate this since according to Gladwell at some point their is a saturation point or “enough” ice time to make a team or a player great – but that is for another time)

So in conclusion for this week, your business can benefit from these lessons of hours and hours makes one perfect. Ok, maybe not “perfect” but certainly higher up on the search engines. We have been in business and writing and blogging and linking and building websites for over 13 years. Day after day, week after week, month after month. We haven’t given up. We do the same thing for our clients. If your business follows in our footsteps or let us create a path for you, you will most probably enjoy the same benefits we do.

Next week we will talk more about branding, identity and what to write for your business. If you want to know more about Gladwell, Hockey or Internet Marketing Manhattan (after all, we are #2 after Wikipedia and you can’t get them on the phone), Give me a call at 212-993-5828, send me an email at raphis@salemglobal.com or visit www.SalemGlobal.com for more information.

Internet Marketing New York City, Figure Skating, Did The US Ice Hockey Team Get Lucky? Curling Is Just Plain Ridiculous: What your organization can learn from the 2010 Winter Olympics

Posted by Salem Global on Feb 23, 2010

Ok. Before I start to rant about the “so called” sport of “curling,” I wanted to point out a few things.

First, take a look at this picture of the Ukrainian figure skating pair. I am not sure if I should be totally wowed by the stomach muscles on the guy, or how inappropriate this picture is. Regardless, figure skating is absolutely exciting and incredible to watch. The dancing. The fluid body movements. The muscle and balance that these people have. The choreography. Pure poetry in motion. And once again, let me remind you, all this is done on ice. A much much more worthy and worthwhile sport to compete in and watch than “curling.”

Second. Congratulations to the US Hockey team on finally beating the Canadians after 50 years of trying. It’s as if someone said 50 years ago, “Wow. Those Americans stink. But maybe if they practice and work hard, MAYBE in 50 years they will be able to beat the Canadians. Still. Hockey is an amazing, fast-paced sport. I mean, I can ice skate. I can go forwards. Backwards. Cross over. Hockey stop. But do all that while chasing around a little black round rubberized piece of plastic while huge guys with most of their teeth are trying to bash you into the sidelines, all the while you are trying to get that puck into your opponents goal. I mean, come on. Now THAT’S a sport to watch and play…. not like “curling.”

Ok. But maybe you want to talk about Skiing. Well how about Bode Miller? So maybe he didn’t make it in 2005. But I don’t see any “curlers” going downhill on 1 ski at 80 KMH!!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__Faa87IQhk Or how about losing your balance and not losing your ski and then bringing it back in 2006? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sjMsvSof5O8&NR=1 I guess he was done fooling around this year and finally took the Gold.

And if you want MORE gold let’s talk about Linday Vonn! So what if she is the best female skier ever. I don’t see any “curlers” in the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit issue. Do you? http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010_swimsuit/winter/lindsey-vonn/10_lindsey-vonn_1.html

Let’s face it people. Curling is shuffleboard on ice. There is no reason for this to be an Olympic sport. I mean, how many years did it take for snowboarding to go mainstream? Just ask Torah Bright’s parents (http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/vancouver/snowboard/news?slug=jp-torah021810&prov=yhoo&type=lgns) how many concussions they had to endure before their daughter made it to Olympic gold. Or how Bright’s chiropractor had to put her jaw back together again after dislocating it. What pain or workout does a curler have to endure in order to get on the ice and slide a stone into a bullseye? Dr. John Frank (http://www.HairClinicUSA.com) also known for manning the first ever Israeli Bobsled team (http://www.israelibobsled.com/about/summary.html) can probably do just as well as any curler on the ice. Or how about the Jamaicans? http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0106611/ Oh, ok. I will stop being so harsh. After all, their IS emotional pain in curling as evidenced by the Danes loss of concentration due to heckling and cheering by Canadians in the audience (http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/vancouver/blog/fourth_place_medal/post/Candian-curling-fans-leave-Danish-player-in-tear?urn=oly,221320). Nuff said? Or should I go on

How does all this relate to Internet and website marketing? Well, for starters, don’t cry like a Danish curler if your website isn’t at the top of Google. It takes months and even years of linking and content writing to get on top. Even then, you might lose a ski like Bode Miller and have to come back in four years to win a medal. But sometimes, even though we have cracked our heads open MULTIPLE times like Torah Bright, we can still come out with a Gold medal. It all goes back to hard work, consistency and patience. You might have all of your keywords and meta data in the right place, blog and write the correct content, repeat this for years and still not get where you want to be. But if you do keep at it, and never give up, you might end up with a medal. If not gold, silver or bronze, then certainly a badge of honor. Will you take the Internet marketing challenge? Will you keep your website up to date, add content on a regular basis and try to get as many links as possible? If you do, then at least you have a shot.

Want to know more about “curling” or Internet marketing NY and getting more business through the web? (Concussions not necessary.) Give me a call at 212-993-5828, send me an email at raphis@salemglobal.com or visit www.SalemGlobal.com. Come to one of my Internet Marketing Seminars. I will guarantee you the tools and training you need to at least have the opportunity to compete.

Internet Marketing in NYC, The Olympics and Fashion Week: What Your Business Can Learn From 97 Million TV Viewers, Doritos and Your Own Events

Posted by Salem Global on Feb 16, 2010

Its snowing in New York City and it is beautiful. As I write this week’s piece, there is a heavy downfall over Bryant Park outside my office window. And of course, it’s February. We shouldn’t be getting this much snow. But whether you believe in global warming or just the universe and weather, its here. And it leads me to talk about the Winter Olympics.

97 million US viewers tuned in to watch the first 2 days of the Olympics this year. That’s close to the 100 million that tuned in in 1994 when U.S. figure skater Tonya Harding’s ex-husband and bodyguard attacked Nancy Kerrigan. I also read that if every Chinese household watches the Olympics, that’s over 1 billion viewers right there.

But no matter how many people watch the Olympics on TV, it still will never compare to the amount of people who will tune in via the Internet on home and office computers. Sad thing is, according to Bloomberg (businessweek.com), Fairfield, Connecticut-based GE has said NBC will lose $250 million airing the Vancouver Winter Olympics (ok – not really THAT sad). Darn it. Why hasn’t NBC called me yet to help them with Internet strategy! HOPEFULLY they make that money back by airing things on YouTube and Hulu and on their own site. Interestingly enough, 183,000 views have been recorded just to the commercial http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUlJahUtm04 for the Vancouver, BC, Canadian 2010 Winter Olympics. I predict that for actual content and clips of various events and happenings, the true number will far exceed a measly 100 million. I would say at least a billion for US and then billions more worldwide. And if the various media vehicles monetize correctly, it should spell out to gross much more than the $250million lost on the antiquated boob-tube.

And just to keep things in perspective, 2 weeks ago I reported on Super Bowl commercials. It appears that the winner in this race is the spot for Doritos named “House Rules” (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0EVSP_6XZA). But wait, there’s more. Doritos didn’t even create the commercial. If you check out the site crashthesuperbowl.com, you will see that these commercials were created for free. All user-generated content. Doritos paid for it with a $25,000 contest for the 6 finalists. Then one of them gets an additional $1m, $600k and $400k. Basically, instead of paying an advertising agency millions of dollars, they are throwing it back to the work out of your house creative geniuses who don’t work for corporate America 9-5. (On the other hand, maybe they DO work in a corporate job and did this in their spare time and made a cool $25k – $1mm in their spare time.

My point is that the Internet keeps on winning out as the best way to market your product. Get fans of your product to sell your product for you. And reward the people who make it happen. There are plenty of terrible commercials (and websites) out there, created, written and produced by huge advertising agencies for millions of dollars. If advertisers want to get the biggest bang for their buck, they will listen to me and rely on the web to sell their product with smart Internet marketing managers (hopefully me and my company And as my new sales guru Jeffrey Gitomer says, “you need poll your own audience.” He suggests creating a seminar and inviting all of your customers. And whether they can come or not, ask your customers why they buy from you. You will be very happily surprised to get these answers. Then obviously use this information to get new customers and buyers of your products and services.

It’s also the 2010 Mercedes Benz Fashion Week here in New York, NY in Bryant Park. As I watch model after supermodel get in and out of taxis on my block, I realize that they have a pretty good thing going on. Each year, fashion designers from all over the world come to my house (ok, across the street from my office) and strut their stuff on the runway. Once again, if you think that it’s about the event, think again. When I searched for “2010 Mercedes Benz Fashion Week,” Marc Bouwer comes up with the #1 video with over 40,000 views. I guarantee you that Marc is having a great show this year!

So my message this week is to think about the short term with the long term marketing in mind. Photograph your events. Video them. Write about them. Blog about them. Oh. Did you say that you don’t have any events going on? Well then, CREATE them! Can’t think of an event to create, borrow one from the newspaper, current events, the sports section or the calendar. In addition to the Olympics and Fashion week, this week is the beginning of Baseball Spring Training. And it was also Valentine’s Day and President’s Day and the Daytona 500.

Need help figuring out a long term, short term or event driven NYC Internet Marketing strategy, give me a call at 212-993-5828, send me an email at raphis@salemglobal.com or visit www.SalemGlobal.com. I will guarantee we will come up with something in 5 minutes of having a conversation. Next week we will talk more about the Olympics, content and Internet strategy. Oh and my latest book, Slackonomics by Lisa Chamberlain.