Our ad as seen here pointed to this landing page. Clearly we did not try to make it appear as though we were associated with WordPress, nor did we use the graphic mark in any way.

First google disapproved the ad due to trademark policy. I called Google thinking it was a mistake and the rep told me that our page didn’t have enough text, that we needed to reference the term “WordPress” more. Of course this sounded like a terrible answer. I cited the fact that The Nerdery had an ad that used the term WordPress and pointed to nothing more than a contact page with absolutely no instance of WordPress in the text.

I made the advised changes to our landing page and resubmit the ad. As expected it was disapproved. I then called Google again and a different rep told me we needed permission. When I asked how subjective the process was Google said it was not subjective at all– complete BS.

Maybe they have recently started to abide and haven’t done anything to bring advertisers who submit their ads before the policy went into place into compliance (most likely the case). There’s absolutely no way that all of the AdWords advertisers had permission to use the trademark because so many were in violation of both Google terms and WordPress trademark usage terms.

Frustrated that Google’s interpretation of the WordPress policy was inaccurate I requested permission via the WordPress Foundation website as seen here:

Hello,

We’re attempting to advertise services via AdWords text ads but are repeatedly disapproved by Google. We feel that we’re in compliance and would like to request permission to use the term “WordPress” when describing our services.

I notice there are numerous companies advertising WordPress services and Google is telling us that they must have received permission (though we doubt it).

When googling “WordPress Designers”, for example, there are numerous advertisers (some of which do not adhere to the trademark policy).

The policy itself is a bit confusing as it states “We do not allow the use of the trademark in advertising, including AdSense/AdWords.” Is this specifically talking about the Logo or the term WordPress? Also domains are mentioned but I understand this only applies to TLD, not directories or subdomains?

If you do in fact allow text ads that use “WordPress” to describe a service can you please examine the following in consideration of granting permission:

1.) Our Ad: http://screencast.com/t/7mOmPkkbD
2.) Our Landing Page: http://wordpress.3five.com/minneapolis-st-paul-wordpress-design-development/
3.) Our Portfolio: http://3five.com/portfolio

If all are in compliance we would like to request approval to use “WordPress” to describe the services we offer. If we’re not in compliance what can we change in order to be compliant?

Google has advised us to send you this URL which you will have to submit (kind of awkward): https://services.google.com/inquiry/aw_tmauth

Below you will find information needed for fields related to our business/the requester.

Company Name: 3five, Inc.

Relationship to the trademark owner: None

Address:

3five, Inc.
2024 West Superior Street
Duluth, MN 55806

Email: wedesign@3five.com

Phone Number: 218-393-***

Google AdWords Customer ID: ***-***-***

Thank you very much for your time and consideration!

After two weeks we didn’t hear anything back so I resent the request and got the following response from Matt (The Matt):

The response is “no.”

I’m posting this because I’m curious if anyone else has had strange interactions with matt/automattic/wordpress foundation regarding the trademark policy. Given the great WordPress/BuddyPress sites we’re building I’m at a complete loss as to why we weren’t granted permission. More importantly I’m confused as to why Matt was so short with us. Maybe he just doesn’t have the time to read all requests in earnest & respond intelligently? If that’s the case, it’s great that he’s so involved, but some delegation to a dedicated support person who handles such requests is sorely needed. To respond the way he did drastically reduces my enthusiasm for the platform and confidence in its future.

I’d love to know via comment on this post what other people’s experience has been with the WordPress Trademark Policy. Better yet if you have experience with this I’d love to know what we could have done to receive approval. My only thought is that we aren’t active enough in the wordpress.org community. If that’s the case Matt should defer to the policy and the foundation, not his whim.

How can a simple website and a little social media save a Duluth neighborhood? By making connections between Duluth residents and using social media as an organizing tool.

In early July I received a call from a friend and long time resident of Park Point. Having been a former resident of Park Point myself he had called to see if I were interested in helping them save their unique neighborhood from a developer who wanted to build a 50 room hotel, which is great, but not in this community. I’m completely pro development in Duluth but with so many vacant and dilapidated properties it’s silly to spoil Park Point. For this reason I joined the fight.

We donated a simple website which we built on WordPress and added advocacy tools. These advocacy tools included an online petition, a tool that allowed supporters to flood the city council with objections via email, donation resources, and the ability to join an email list (which was used as a social organizing tool).

In 3 short weeks we had a list serve of over 200 socially active users. By the time the issue came up for vote by the city council we had over 150 online petitions signed, about 500 signed in person via doorknocking, and 700 fans on facebook. Our goal was to flood the council chambers with supporters.

On the night of the vote we ran a facebook advertising campaign to reinforce an email blast that ran early that morning. Our message was simple: show up for the vote.

Because of our social media efforts the goal was accomplished. The chambers were filled. You can see a video of the final vote here (keep in mind that the “studies” cited in the video were those paid for by the developer and completely bogus). Shortly after the council voted to disallow the zoning change which would have made the hotel possible in its current form.

With no money behind this website and considering all that it accomplished just imagine what our services can do when we’re actually paid for it and can focus our full attention on design and marketing. The opportunity and reach is limitless.

Thanks to all those dedicated Park Pointers who pounded the pavement getting petitions signed and for making good use of the advocacy tools on saveparkpoint.com.

For now the point has been saved (at least until the unions push even harder on the city councilors). We look forward to saveparkpoint.com becoming a rally point, not only for this issue, but for the many issues it still faces.

Essentially what Simon Sinek is illustrating here is how to assist your brand in going “viral”. Another way to say this would be “making your customers evangelists”.

However you want to define it the philosophy is simple– Be honest about your brand, be honest about your core beliefs and be honest about your capabilities.

Enjoy…

Very excited because for the first time since 3rd grade I have begun actually drawing again and applying creativity to other disciplines which helps diversify my professional web products.

Not really sure if it’s good, but I enjoy looking at it. Between this and digital illustrations a personal style is being revealed– one of very personal, somewhat haunting but whimsical imagery. Not what I expected to flow out.

The actual piece is about 3 ft tall and was done with a simple black pastel on charcoal paper.

Feels good to know that after so long we can still tap childhood interests

This video is about architecture but many of the same principles apply to design and web marketing– create places people want to hang out…

If you’re searching for Duluth marketing agencies on the web chances are high you’re heading up a small to medium-sized company. You probably don’t have a full-service Duluth marketing firm at your disposal (like some of the large healthcare providers and larger Duluth-based corporations. You want to broadcast a message, you want it to be cutting-edge, engaging and unique. Above all, you want your campaign to be clean and professional and you want to cover a wide range of media.

So what are your options?

1. An expensive marketing agency in Duluth like WestmorelandFlint or HTK.
2. A friend of a friend who knows about one of the smaller Duluth marketing companies like Swim Creative or JPG Group.
3. A personal friend that held a few marketing positions at relatively successful marketing companies.

Duluth Marketing: First Principles

Don’t let all of the marketing options available to you muddy the water. As you evaluate and explore the various Duluth marketing options available you’ll inevitably be bombarded with ideas (many of which are not substantiated by research).

As a business owner I despise being pitched willy-nilly ideas and concepts. I want confidence in those who perform services for me. I want a road map that leads directly to the ultimate goal of marketing success: conversion and profit. Above all I want accountability– reporting, analytics… anything that empowers me to hold marketing consultants or marketing firms responsible for the money I’m spending; not only the marketing service itself, but also the dollars being spent on my behalf.

Before you initiate any marketing campaign it’s important to ask yourself what’s driving the need for the marketing campaign. First principles can mean many things depending on the context of the discipline it’s being applied to. As applied to the discipline from which it originates (philosophy) the official definition is as follows:

“The fundamental assumptions on which a particular theory or procedure is thought to be based.”

We see the fundamental assumptions of a Duluth marketing campaign to be one, if not all of the following:

1. I want my Duluth marketing company to attract new customers.
2. I want my Duluth marketing agency to engage potential customer.
3. I want my Duluth marketing firm to convert potential customers into customers.

The question we’re asking those who are considering traditional newspaper ads, TV & radio commercials and so on is this:

How do you expect your marketing team to measure marketing results?

If you can’t measure results how do you know you’re being effective? Many Duluth marketing professionals and business owners still think in terms of two strategies: Outbound and inbound marketing.

The problem with this view is two fold: Outbound marketing for all intensive purposes is dated and thankfully going away. It’s the go-to tool of massive brands like Coke and Reebok (Nike wisely cut back and invested in their wonderful web-based NikeID campaign).

Inbound marketing on the other hand is a very wise investment for smaller business. Why? It offers an opportunity to engage potential customers and maintain consistent contact with them– not only does this nurture leads but also disqualifies a lot of bad clients.

Yeah, yeah… What’s the bottom line?

A lot of business owners (especially established business owners) are hesitant to spend money on inbound/targeted internet marketing. The problem with this view is that the lines between inbound and outbound marketing are blurring at a rapid pace.

Take twitter for example. Upon registering an account on Twitter the first priority is to earn loyal followers to you twitter account. This is done by performing calculated searches using special search formulas to follow users within your space. In this sense you’re actually broadcasting message to twitter user (outbound marketing). Once you’ve got the followers, however, the use of twitter immediately becomes inbound. You’re effectively killing two birds with one stone. The best thing about using a tool like this for marketing is that your can actually track results via web analytics.

If you’re spending significant marketing dollars with the yellow pages (on or offline) you’re throwing away money unless your target market is the elderly. Google is the new Yellow Pages.

If you’re spending money with the local newspaper your throwing away money (unless your entire marketing budget relates to coupons in which case you could probably find just as many loyal shoppers via online coupons). Even then, by putting coupons in the paper you’re missing out on a real opportunity to capture the email addresses of every coupon user, not to mention analyze their behavior.

If you’re spending money on local radio you’re wasting money. How often do you tune out those annoying commercials for Northsar Ford? Enough said.

The above points should be of special importance if you’re advertising to the young crowd. I can tell you from personal experience that the only station I listen to is NPR. The rest is repetitive smut and can easily be found for free or for a very low price (without ads) on the web.

Link Building History

Putting it simply, link building used to be much more straightforward than it is today. The most difficult part back in the good old days was taking the time to email a few cohorts and trade links with them. For example: Let’s say that I operate a link building service in MN; I might want to contact local Web Design or SEO companies via email who offer complimentary services and swap links with them.

Keeping with the old school playbook this would most likely be done via some dedicated web page (often show on the main nav) called “links”– god those things are horrendous! If you have a “links” page bury it… please.

Anyway, this link building technique is called “reciprocal link building” which pretty much says everything you need to know about this link building practice.

What Can Link Building Companies in Minnesota Offer?

The more links you have to your website the more authority you gain. The more links your website has to other websites (especially regarding a topic that you want traffic for) reduces your authority. It does not, however, stop there.

These days when building links, you need to not only take into consideration the number of links that you obtain, but the authority (quality) of the site from which a link originates. Rudimentary evaluation of authority can be gauged by “published page rank” as it relates to link building (page rank unfortunately requires another post as it is a whole new topic that deserves its own complete analysis).

To illustrate how page rank affects your link building efforts lets use an analogy. Authority as it related to link building is basically analogous to “street cred”:

Let’s say you just drove across country from Minnesota to a strange new town in California– your new home. You only have one relative in this town and know not another soul. Imagine for a moment that just days after arriving your awesome 1987 Volvo diesel wagon breaks down. You, (being a nomad Volvo driving hippie) do not own a smart phone and cannot consult the web to make a wise decision.

So there you are at the closest gas station (after walking for miles) looking for a Volvo shop. But who do you ask for reliable information?

You look around and to your surprise you see a brand new 2010 (Chinese-made) Volvo. It’s a courtesy car for a local Volvo dealer… amen! You ask the leather-clad fella driving it if he knows where the closest Volvo shop is. Unfortunately it turns out he’s a Volvo salesman and directs you to his dealership where they will surely overcharge you.

Because you’re a smart hippie and skeptical of “the man” in the black leather coat with a shiny high school graduation ring, you opt to call your crazy uncle (the only one you know in town) for some advice from someone you trust.

It turns out your uncle has a buddy who restores old Volvos and, while he can’t do the work himself, he knows of a local Euro expert. He refers you to the shop and you go with full confidence knowing that this is someone you can trust. Why do you trust this person? Because you were recommended by an authoritative source who knows about the topic of discussion– Volvos!

To put it simply, and in terms of search engines, the car dealer is like having a link from some random site that has nothing to do with your business and can lend no credibility. Alternatively, if you create quality content and put thought into selecting authoritative directories and websites from which to build links (the uncle who knows his stuff) you will effectively inherit the authority from the source.

Makes Sense. Now What?

Anchor text! Once you’ve found authoritative sources from which to build links it’s important to get the most bang for your buck. If a website links to you and “Volvo repair” is a term for which you hope to be found, why would you want the actual text that link to be the name of your shop or any other term?

As an example, we’ll say that you now own the reapair shop and the name of your shop is Joe’s Euro Repair. Instead of asking for a link with the text “Joe’s Repair”, do everything in your power to make sure that the actual text within the link that leads to your site contains the keywords that you want to be found for. “Volvo Repair” for example.

Link Building Examples

I began this email by saying it would be a reflection of my Minnesota link building experience today. Below you will find an actual email communication that I sent to an authoritative directory requesting a link. It had all the right stuff;

• The domain name contained keywods for which I hope to be found (minnesotasearchengineoptimization.com)
• The subject matter of the website pertained to the topic for which I hoped to be found.
• The owners of the website were strict about which Link Building Companies they linked to.
• The website had a relatively high page rank
• When I performed local searches for keywords I wanted to be found for they ranked highly in the SERPS.

As you read the following request for a link note the fact that I made an effort to echo the lighthearted yet professional nature of the site on which I wanted to be listed. Also note that I did everything in my power to make it easy for them to list hire jacob.

I provided not only a logo image that seamlessly fit into their listings but I created an intelligent description of my business so that they wouldn’t have to write one for me. Them having to write a unique description about by link building business would make it far less likely that we actually get listed.

Example Link Request

Hello,

I’d like to request a listing. I know that you’re very selective. It shows by the quality firms listed.

My SEO tutorial which illustrates relatively in-depth SEO knowledge (for a
designer) can be found here http://hirejacob.com/handy_dandy_seo_tutorial.pdf .
Sorry about the PDF but it’s used as incentive to join my list so it’s not readily visible on the site.

If accepted I’ve attached a logo (properly sized and formatted for easy addition
to the site) and included a description below.

Regards,
Jake

Of course they had done their research. The Principals of this firm were highly experienced: 30 years executive product development for a well known technology giant, a Professor from the local university school of business and economics– on and on their experience went.

This resourceful bunch had discovered that many of the competitors in their space did have websites but, more importantly, they also had blogs. This group made an insightful observation; it wasn’t their competitors websites that were showing up in the search results, it was their blogs. Often these blogs were an afterthought to the web site itself (a problem for us as blog designers).

In their power point presentation outlining goals for their blog design they had mentioned wanting to have the blog hosted on a subdomain and again, keeping it separate from the website. You can see what’s coming next if you’re in the industry.

During the meeting we showed them numerous examples of blog designs we’ve developed. Curious thing was; the entire website was running on a blog platform or framework!

Here’s the deal: if you’re in the consulting business or in any position at all to become a thought leader within your industry (or as we like to say in the blog design biz) your “space” you should very much consider building your entire website on a platform such as WordPress.

Experienced Minnesota blog designers like hirejacob.com have taken the WordPress blog platform and used it as a full-blown content management system similar to Drupal or Joomla.

While we’re on the topic of open source let’s clarify the fact that using a CMS for your website doesn’t have to be expensive. Open source Blog platforms like WordPress, and its cousins Joomla, Drupal, Magento, etc. let us build fantastic websites and blogs that are easy to update at a very affordable price.

So what’s the difference between an open-source blog platform like WordPress and a proprietary blog platform like expression engine? Flexibility. These open-source blog platforms harness the power of a global development community. Basically anyone can create modules and plugins. These plugins are then moderated by the entire blog development community and rated for their quality. Blog designers can then use these plugins to customize blogs and entire websites for their clients without having to create custom code.
There are so many developers within this community that the community (as a whole) generates solutions for just about any organization you can think of who is looking to hire blog designers in Minnesota.

Bottom line is this. As you can see from the blog screenshots below (which you can see in more detail at our web design portfolio) you can create a very professional, very custom WordPress website at a significantly reduced cost as opposed using a proprietary CMS for your blog design. Best of all you get superior blog functionality blog customization (both of which result in a dramatic increase in traffic as the result of your quality blog design).

At hirejacob.com we’ve created over 45 WordPress websites and counting. Each of our blog design clients are absolutely thrilled with (not only the ease of use) but the search engine optimization results.

Go ahead and ask around. Ask you colleagues, ask a multitude of designers if the design blogs. If they do ask what blog platform they use, how many they have built, and whether or not they actually create custom blog designs. Most importantly ask them if they know how to optimize your new blog design for search engines using mod_rewrite, seo-friendly permalinks, integration of social media and so on.

Chances are we’ll be your most experienced option for blog designers in Minnesota. That’s not to say that other firms don’t have the technical experience to design a great blog, but very few have taken WordPress to it’s extreme by using a blog platform like WordPress as not only a blogging engine but a complete and fully functional and easy to update website.

Take a gander at our portfolio, chances are you won’t be able to tell which sites were built using a blog platform like WordPress and yet they still maintain all of the search engine optimization benefits of the WordPress blog.

Thanks for reading this post and don’t forget to contact us for blog design in Minnesota.

Blog away!

We’re proud to announce yet another collaborative project with 3five Design.

Two days ago we launched InboxAgency. It’s a bit like Constant Contact only geared toward big businesses and marketing personnel (we even beat them on price).

We’re very excited about this new product we developed because it’s high on standards compliance and low on confusing tech stuff. It’s extremely easy to use as compared to other large email marketing agencies. Better still, is the fact that we diligently screen every registrant to make sure all of our users are operating under tight opt-in policies. Basically that means our servers will remain “whitelisted” by major email programs. Ultimately that means more of your email marketing recipients actually look at your email rather than it going to their email spam folder. We have a very high delivery rate .

We’ve got all the standard email marketing toys:

• Extremely detailed email marketing analytics.
• Great WYSIWYG editor that allows you to preview the email.
• Segmented list management.
• Email list sign-up form generator for your website.
• A/B testing variations for more advanced marketing personnel.
• As far as email marketing goes it’s quite a luxury to have designers of this caliber creating emails.
• Hundreds of templates to choose from.

In addition to all the bells and whistles that allow you to manage your own email marketing campaigns and design great looking emails (again, at a better price than constant contact) we offer:

• A local staff of highly trained designers and consultants.
• Volume discounts for clients users who send over 1,000 emails per month.
• Stellar customer service.
• Ethical email marketing standards.
• Complimentary import of your existing database from Constant Contact or an excel spreadsheet into our email marketing system.

Go ahead and give it a test drive at inboxagency.com. It’s completely free until you decide to send an email.

Please keep us in mind if you have any family or friends in need of email marketing management in the Duluth area and throughout Minnesota.

Thanks!

Also, I illustrated the logo. What do you think? Fun? Predictable? Confusing?

• Online retail sales in the US surpassed $45 billion in 2002 and 55% of online purchases were made on sites found through search listings.
• Online Retail Sales in the United States grows by 25%-40% each year depending on the industry.
• Roughly half of consumers conduct research on search engines before making a purchase.
• Search terms that include the manufacturer or product name only account for 30% of total search volume.
• Broad search terms deliver 70% of traffic and 60% of all conversions (rankings for broad terms are only achieved through comprehensive SEO and internet marketing).

Of course, the search marketing numbers cited above increase annually as society becomes more technologically advanced and the first generation of truly internet savvy consumers acquire wealth.

Cheese ball disclaimer: These posts have a lot of search engine muscle, at least on the local level. To leverage that muscle we’ve created ridiculous titles and phrases (like the one above) with geographic modifiers like “Duluth” so that we’ll show up for that term in Duluth.

We don’t usually recommend doing this as it turns off the reader, but we’re pressed for time (working on our own site) as we have infinitely more important client work.

At least these posts show we know what we’re doing even if they’re slightly annoying to read with geo-modifiers– sort of.

Also this tutorial was written in 2007. While many predictions herein have come true, please keep this in mind if you’re in the biz. That means we hope you industry folk (ahem… AimClear Duluth) don’t laugh too hard .

All annoying geo-modified/SEO-minded content will hence forth be noted via bold text (which also at one time helped SEO).