Bramblog

Great list of pointers to follow when writing specifically for social media sites.  Very fickle readers, is key #1.

1)      Eye catching titles

2)      Image(s) above the fold

3)      Short, easy, scannable content

4)      Don’t make pages dead-ends.  Include links at the end.

5)      Don’t be a grinch – link to sites you’re not related to.

6)      Be topical & time sensitive.

7)      Solve someone’s problem.

      Use buttons/widgets to encourage linking/voting

9)      Everyone loves “top 10″ lists

10)  Make your list go to “11″

This was a great session regarding optimizing your e-commerce site for humans.  Most of the information is very intuitive, but it’s still good to read through, and audit your site to make sure it follows.  There’s a couple of analytics & site submission tidbits here, as well.

1)      Run a Google Analytics “Site Search” Report

                  a.       Google Analytics > Content > Site Search 

2)      Optimize your “no results page”

a.       No Results! No Problem!  Here are our top sellers!

3)      Build Visitor Trust

a.       Footer

                                                               i.      Years in business

                                                             ii.      Hacker Safe – tested daily

                                                            iii.      Label CC’s you accept

                                                           iv.      Must include 800 # 

b.      Checkout

                                                               i.      Satisfaction Guarantee

                                                             ii.      Shipping Cost & Policy

                                                            iii.      Secure Shopping

                                                           iv.      Privacy

      4)      Error Message Relay – make sure you’re notified of errors 

5)      Use lightboxes – when someone scrolls over, it pops up

6)      Submit to Froogle shopping feed & MSN Live

We were out last night for my fiancee’s friend’s 30th birthday and got a table at Speakeasy.  Speakeasy’s not really a “fancy” bar…it’s the type of place that has 80′s cover bands, which they had that night.  I don’t remember the band’s name, but they rawcked.  They all had awesome 80′s hair, and the guitarist looked exactly like Stephen Adler from GnR.

Anyways, I’ve noticed this before, but I really noticed last night that bottle service makes tons of sense if you don’t know how to do simple math.  There were around 8 of us, and a couple of people wanted to order a bottle.  I made it very clear that I prefer to drink what I want, and like having a bartender mix my drinks.  Here’s what went on in my head:

• 1 Bottle of Grey Goose via bottle service = $275
• There are 22 drinks in a bottle (at 1.5 oz pours)
• $275/22 = just over $13/drink
• The bar sells a grey goose drink for $7

Smart people who buy bottle service pay just under twice what the drinks would typically cost.  Actually, they pay more than that because the bartenders will typically pour a 2 oz drink if you’re nice to them.  So, bottle service makes lots of sense under the following scenarios:

1. You get pleasure out of wasting money.
2. You want others to think that you have so much money that you don’t pay attention to what you buy.
3. You need a tax write off (not very efficient, though, b/c you can only write off 50% of entertainment expenses – you’re better off buying a new computer and throwing it out the window immediately.)
4. You’re overwhelmed by decisions and don’t want options.
5. You REALLY like making your own drinks.
6. The ONLY way you’ll get a table is to buy a bottle, and you REALLY want a table (think Vegas.)

I’m not adamantly against bottle service in all situations.  #6 is really the only scenario that would apply to me, and probably only a couple of times in my life.  I guess if you really want to celebrate something, and you hate champagne and shots, bottle service could also make sense.  I guess.

Over the weekend! We’re also popping for 200+ long-tails. BTW – this is my tanning lotion project, TanTans.com. Partnering w/ 2 friends from college – one owns a tanning salon, and one is a web/graphic designer.

Wes Cox & I have worked out a deal w/ someone who already has a supply chain & delivery down for a range of natural supplements. We’re in the process of putting together the site to sell the products – we have a skeleton site up now. Anyways – Wes designed the logo, and I think it turned out pretty sweet. Check it out, and gimme some feedback, yo!

So I’m going to start messing w/ Mandigo. Eric Blackwell recommended it to me, and it looks extremely pliable. I’m FINALLY learning Photoshop, so I’ll put together the first EB designed banner (which will most likely be horrible) within the next couple of weeks.

BTW – Mandigo’s functionality looks to be incredible. If you haven’t already, check it out. In the back end, you can choose between 800 & 1024 screen resolution optimization, 2 & 3 columns, and where/what you would like in those columns. It also has a number of color choices in the WP backend (w/ most themes, you have to dig in the stylesheets to change the coloring.)

One of my buddies is a welder & did a killer job for me on the custom rails in my house.  So…we got to talking, and it turns out Lane is a maritime master electrician – he’s rated to work on pretty much anything on the sea.  My girlfriend’s house was built in the early 50′s, and the electrical was jacked.  I had someone put together a website for Lane as a “thank you” for taking care of my rails (and doing it for a great price.)  We started talking about the electrical work we needed at Ali’s house, and bartered some SEO work on Lane’s site for him to take care of the electrical problems.  So…I’m going to get him ranked for terms like Austin welder & Austin welding.  I’ve never worked on anything this non-competitive before, so I’m really excited to see how easy it will be to get rankings.  Based on the competition, I think I should be able to do it with some minimal linking – the on-site is basic enough that I’m not really worried about it.  Regardless, I’ll blog later once we’ve hit top 5.

One of my friends recently launched WhoDelivers.com an online Austin Food Delivery website & directory.  It’s a really cool idea – basically, you get on the website, plug in your zip code, and it spits out all the restaurants that deliver to you (with their menu & reviews.)  He has a developer working on an app to take into account exact address & delivery radius to be even more accurate.

He’s seeing quite a bit of good traffic through PPC (pretty cheap, too) and his bounce rate is sick (as in good.)  He’s working on monetizing it, so I’ve basically been helping him w/ that, and with SEO.  His programmer put together the site with a really intuitive hierarchy, so it should crawl really well.  I introduced him to “anchor text” & PR, so he has the basics.  He won’t need too much link building in order to take on the guys showing up for local results.

Regardless…check it out.  If you’re in Austin, it’s a sweet service to use.  If you’re not in Austin, maybe he’ll expand to your area soon!

Sorry for the lack of activity over here.  I recently got a guest blogging spot on Bloodhoundrealty’s blog, so my last 2 posts have been over there.  More than anything, my home remodel & move has consumed all of my time.  We’re 95% finished, and have renters moving into my girlfriend’s house – so we had to move yesterday.  It’s been a huge pain in the a**.  I haven’t shot pics of the house in a while, but here’s a link to the last pics I took.  More will be up w/in a week or so.

Regardless…expect more activity here after the weekend.

I’m putting together a new website for Steiner Ranch & I’m about 80% complete. I have the hard sections done – education, shopping, amenities, etc… and just have to write the unique, basic copy for the template sections – buy, sell, lease, etc…Â I’ve incorporated a bbpress forum, advertise it as a bulletin, and hope that residents will start using it as a super-local craigslist.

Steiner Ranch is a master-planned community in Austin that has ~3000 homes already constructed, and will have 4500 when it’s built out in ~3 years. My ericbramlett.com site ranks #1 for most Steiner Ranch related searches, and ranks behind the HOA & the developer site for “steiner ranch.”

So…I’ve seen some decent traffic from those terms & thought that it would be cool to build a neighborhood specific site. The SEO doesn’t look like it will be extremely difficult, and I’m a big believer that Google looks at the continuity of a website’s theme. Google’s obviously trying to go as local as possible, and searchers are becoming more & more savvy. “Power Searchers” are using the advanced search features to find exactly what they want.

It’s my feeling that super-niche sites are the wave of the future. Matt Cutts has expressed that webmasters should focus on owning one good site – but I think that it’s very powerful to have a specific niche site that a searcher will find that is exactly what they’re looking for.

So…check out LifeinSteiner.com & let me know what you think! I’ll let you guys know how well it converts (unless it’s incredible – then I’ll report that it’s awful )