Alleviating Stress in the Workplace

This blog post comes at an opportune time to write about stress in the workplace.

Some, who work in an office building or somewhere similar, may think that working from home makes work less stressful.  I am here to tell you that is a myth and far from the truth.  Just because some of us, at Search Influence, work from the comfort of our own homes, does not mean that stress does not catch up with us from time to time.  I would like to discuss some stress relieving strategies, both that I do myself, and some that I have not yet tried.

Do plastic surgery before and after pictures help close the deal?

Occasionally, we have a new plastic surgery client who does not use before and after pictures on their website.  Traditionally, plastic surgery internet marketing experts have held on to the belief that a before and after gallery is a must for driving traffic to the site and ultimately turning visitors into real patients.

Most surgeons use a gallery as patient education, and the more knowledge a patient has of a doctor, the more likely they are to schedule a consultation. For Newport Beach Plastic Surgery, Newport Beach rhinoplasty patients can see for themselves the artistic skill and experience of the surgeon.  They can see the results and what they will get out of the surgery before they even talk to the doctor.  This is a powerful tool.

Rise Before Dawn, Make Family Rich

No one who can rise before dawn 360 days a year fails to make his family rich.

Quoted from Malcolm Gladwells “Outliers: The Story of Success” in the Freakonomics Blog

Related:

When the sun comes up, you better start running

Google "My Social Circle" Invading The SERPs

Google Buzz with its “Connected Sites”option is deeper, and perhaps more insidious, than we thought. It appears, that in addition to insinuating itself into Gmail, Gchat and Google’s mobile services, through Google My Social Circle Google Buzz is picking up information from sites listed in your Google Profile and including “Social Content” in the actual search results, blended as they might News or Video content.

My Mumbai Social Circle

I was reading a blog post from Small Business SEM’s Matt McGee this morning in which he referenced a search result for “small business reputation management“. So I clicked the link and got the following results set:

Exploring the Successfulness of Facebook Advertising

Hi, my name is Anthony and I am a recovering search marketing luddite.

Facebook Yields High ROI on PPC Ads

For years there have been only three internet ad services I viewed successful: Google Adwords, Yahoo Sponsored Search, and MSN Adcenter.  Don’t misunderstand; I was aware of other services.  I am a social media packrat after all, but I never considered them realistic alternatives to the holy SEM trinity. They seemed like gimmicks. As PPC manager at Search Influence, I provide these services to our clients but I never realized how truly profitable social media advertising was until I started comparing the conversion rates. The numbers spoke loud and clear – Facebook (to my surprise) was generating a high return with a significantly lower cost because of demographic targeting and editorial-like advertisements.

NASMM (Senior Movers) Conference Las Vegas 2010 - Presentations

Below are the slides from my presentations to the National Association of Senior Move Managers last weekend.

This is my second year talking to the Senior Movers and they’re a great, very appreciative crowd. This year, I spent about 3 hours after the presentation doing review / recommendation sessions with attendees and it was FANTASTIC!

Because these files are so big I decided to post them here. They’re referenced from Google Docs, which I like better than SlideShare given SlideShare shows other, competitive stuff next to your slides.

NASMM-Website Promotion Basics

Social Media – What’s in it for YOU?

Learn from Local SEO Leaders at Local Search Summit

Local search experts share secrets, tips and tools to dominate local on March 23, 2010 at SES New York.

Local search marketing is a different animal than typical search engine optimization. (Is there such a thing as “typical search engine optimization”?)  The semi-annual Local Search Summit will be held March 23, 2010 at the Hilton New York, and provides an opportunity to listen in as the top thought leaders in the industry discuss the most up-to-date local search techniques and tricks.

Super SEO secrets being shared …

Local search ranking factors can rock the search results.

What's the (Google) Buzz?

As anyone with Gmail or their ear to ground has realized Google Buzz has been released.

I was both excited and hesitant to try it out. I was excited because Chrome in all its sleek simplicity has been my chosen browser for a few months, and Gmail and Google Talk have also been a daily mainstay for some time now. I was hesitant because Orkut never clicked with me and most importantly I really don’t want yet another social media hub.

The main features as noted in the Buzz launch video are:

1. Auto following

For Plastic Surgery Marketing, Content Really is King

As anyone who knows me, or one of our team, or even who has read this blog a few times knows, we do a fair amount of work in online Plastic Surgery Marketing.

Paul Parker M.D. - New Jersey Plastic Surgeon

As with any business we have some customers who just go along – who are happy to get our monthly reports, see their return on investment analysis and make the occasional comment or request. While we try, we can’t get all of our plastic surgeon clients on the phone monthly or even quarterly and ultimately, when it’s their business and their paycheck they are the ones who have a vested interest in their marketing effectiveness.

Triumph of the WhoDat Nation, The Saints & New Orleans

Who dat?

Who dat?

Who dat say dey gonna beat dem saints?

#whodat - from Maitri

The above is my best approximation of the phonetic for the entire “Who Dat” chant. Who Dat, used to be a very personal, private New Orleans thing. I was in New York a few weeks ago visiting my mother and she asked “What’s this ‘Who Dat?’ thing all about”?.

And yes, I use my mother as my barometer for ubiquity. For instance, when my mother’s on Facebook everyone is on Facebook.