SEO Pricing by Region. A SEOmoz Infographic

Near the end of December 2011, SEOmoz ran a survey asking consultants and agencies of all sizes around the globe to discuss their pricing models and cost structures. They recently were able to post the results of that survey in the hopes that it will give everyone in the search industry a better idea of the range of fees and the services provided.

SEOMoz is a fantastic resource for anyone wanting to learn more about SEO. Their blog is a industry resource and a daily must read for me.  I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to stay on top of the trends in SEO.

And now… the results:

Features versus functions: how not to hype a new smart phone

I’ve been seeing a lot of commercials recently about the new Motorola Droid Razr phone. My dad asked me after seeing a recent ad: “what does that phone do?”. I didn’t have an answer. All the commercial showed was the phone flying through the air slicing everything in its path.

Why would I want to go buy that phone? After seeing the ad, I know nothing about what it does or why it is special. And I’m not in the market for a phone that can cut a fire hydrant in two either.

Case in point, the new Razr commercial:

And another longer ad showing features:

It seems that most smart phone manufacturers use features to sell their phones rather than actually showing users what they can do with their phones.

Now, contrast that Razr ad with a typical Apple ad, this one for FaceTime:

To me, the apple ads speaks more to me and captures me emotionally instead of shoving features down my throat (Dual-Core 1.2 GHz Processor + 1GB RAM, made with Kevlar Fibre, etc…).

Most people still don’t know a megapixel from a megabyte but they can immediately see the value of FaceTime, a dead simple UI and actions they do in every day life to help them make a decision on what phone to buy.

The apple commercials never talk about megapixels, megahertz, or RAM. They just show you what you can do with the iPhone. It reminds me so much of the PC versus Mac ads. The PC ads were always fighting over who had the most RAM or hard drive space, when most people really want a pc to get online and print without hassle.

Is the iPhone superior to the Razr? If you look only at specs, maybe (no Kevlar!) But If was going to buy a new phone, I wouldn’t know why I should buy the Razr unless I wanted to slice my way through town.

Create an infographic of your LinkedIn profile with Vizualize.me

My LinkedIn profile has a lot of great information about my career but it isn’t very compelling to look at. A new site called Vizualize.me takes your LinkedIn profile and creates a infographic from your career timeline, skills and recommendations. It’s in beta right now, but is open to all. Check it out.

My Day2 Video

I’ve been working with ISITE Design for about 9 months and recently started a program with them called Day2. Its a perfect solution to a problem that we were facing with our redesign last year.

Here’s a description from the Day2 website:

Day2 is a new way of thinking about your website and digital marketing campaigns.

As marketers, we’re always focused on the big project – The website launch, the microsite creation or the media buy. When the project is done, the internal team disbands, the consultants scatter, and we move on to the next big thing.

Smart marketers know the real work happens on Day2. This is when you can see how visitors interact with your site. It’s when you get real data on what’s working. And it’s when you can start to make changes that have a significant impact for your visitors and your business.

We’ve already run several A/B and multivariate tests that are showing significant lift over control and actionable data to help us determine the next item to test. As an early adopter of the program, I was asked to do a quick video on why Day2 is important to us. Check it out!