Birthday Bash WSO

So, tomorrow I turn 35 and I decided to celebrate by sharing something that I’ve been personally using to get comments, build social proof, and increase rankings.

It’s a hot new WordPress Plugin that will make Auto Comments to your blog.  We all know social aspects are now a big part of the equation to getting ranked, so this plugin handles it automatically and works with the latest version of WordPress. It’s called WP Comment Ninja and it’s pretty bad-ass if I do say so myself.

See it in action here -

So it goes live in the morning at 11 am EST. I would love to hear your thoughts and comments below.

Marketing Lessons From One Of The Greatest Bands Of All Time

Last week I picked up the live Foo Fighters show off itunes as well as the Back And Forth movie- I’m a huge fan of the band…

Always been a fan since the Nirvana days..  I remember going into a Pegasus music store and looking for something new since Nirvana was no more and I already owned all the STP and Pearl Jam CD’s.

The guy at the desk handed me the first Foo Fighters CD and instructed me to buy it and play it loud..

I obliged and been a fan ever since.

Anyway- this past year the band did what they called – their Garage Tour, where their fans could submit why their garage would be a candidate for a live Foo Fighters show.

Imagine how cool that would be – have your favorite band playing in your garage.. even getting to play with the band..

The fans submitted their results and they picked winners across several states and Canada.

The band then traveled to each of the winners homes – set up in a Garages and Barns to put on a live rock show in front of their friends and family while filming the whole thing.

I’m assuming the people that won the contest found themselves with a whole lot more friends on the days of the shows.

But anyway, Foo then they shared the clips from the shows on Youtube.  ( See the video below )

They didn’t do it for the money.   They did it because it was cool and knew this was something that people would be buzzing about- creating even more of a following from their already huge  fan base.

Fans become more loyal and bring in new fans – expanding the Foo Fighters base of followers.

They could have just put on another show like every other band tries to do selling tickets – And they would’ve sold – after all they’ve sold out the massive Wembley stadium twice.

But what they did was something unusually remarkable.

Something that will be talked about for years to come.

They didn’t try to be everything to everybody – they’re catering to their crowd.  See the video (it’s damn good)

 

By the way – I plan on attending their show in Duluth, GA in Novemeber.

So wrapping up – how often do you communicate with your fans?

What’s something that’s cool that may be not as profitable, but will cater to your core group of fans?

Love to hear your thoughts and comments.

Iron Bowl Trap for Deadbeats

In my state (Alabama) football is everything to almost everyone.  And this morning I caught a glimpse of a sting operation for deadbeats failing to pay child support.

They lure them right into their office with what is suppose to be a winning ticket to the Iron Bowl but these folks then discover it’s a warrant for their arrest.

What’s funny is after the last guy is arrested – he’s still asking about his tickets.

Take a look -

 

My question is do you think they’ve gone too far with recording the bit as an attempt for cheap, dirty entertainment?

Or do you think that shame will bring about change for others?

Love to hear your thoughts.

No I’m Not A Pornstar

Now that I’ve got your attention with my post title brings me to the real reason for creating my blog…

I was getting killed in the organic search for my own name!

After going to some events and meeting people – I would tell them that I was a SEO ninja that could light it up to the top of Google and honestly they’d seen my results, but several of the guys said..

“Great I’ll just Google your name and we’ll connect – I’ve got some ideas..”

Uh oh..

Gulp.

See – I’d never optimized for my name.

I had try to buy the .com version of Derek Pierce years ago but the asshole wanted $10K for the name – so honestly I just forgot about it.

I’d always tried to stay underground anyway…

So… when you googled “derek pierce” right there on the top is some porn star with a page from wikipedia.

Doesn’t really bother me except that it looks bad to say I’m an SEO ninja but don’t rank for my own name -but honestly I had always focused my efforts on my niches and my Success REI site ranked # 4 for my name anyway…

All of this brings me to a point – “brand management” is big business for search engine optimization and social media.

It’s never been easier for a disgruntled customers to have  voice on the net – with scam sites, complaint boards, along with social media outlets like twitter and tumblr which are all capable of ranking in the search enggines especially with the recent Panda update from Google, so if you’re doing business at all – “brand management” is essential and must become part of your overall strategy.

One company that really gets it is Microsoft.

A year ago, my Xbox died after about 4 years of use – so I tweeted that I was going to look at the new 360 slim and within 2 minutes – Xbox support had sent me a message thanking me for my business and told me that if I needed help – let them know.

I was blown away.

We live in a age where transparency rules and it’s not just easy for customers to complain – it’s also easy for businesses to respond and to be on top of situations – just like the tweet from Xbox.

And if you’ve got the chops to manage either the Social Media aspects or the rankings in the Search Engine – you can demand a hefty fee for your efforts.

However, I want to warn you though – the “scam” type sites aren’t the easiest to knock out of the search engines and will require a significant amount of work – so your hefty fee is justifiable – but you’ve got to bring the goods.

You’ve got to know your stuff…

So in closing… you can follow along to see how I climb in the Search Engine ranks for my name – knocking wikipedia down a notch or two will be no easy task.

And if you’re looking for someone for brand management, hit me up and see if we’re a fit.  My team and I aren’t cheap though…

Welcome To The Party…

This blog has been in the works for a very long time, but I always found something more pressing to come up with.

And I always debated – should this be business, personal and finally I said to heck with it – and decided on both…

So, I’m excited to finally roll it out to start connecting with you and sharing some of the cool stuff I’m doing.

So pop open a little bublly and make yourself at home..

I welcome you on board with open arms and as always feel free to drop me a line here on the blog.

Talk soon,

Derek Pierce