Grantastic Designs’ Blog

There’s one thing I still see on a lot of web sites created by design firms that’s a big usability “don’t”. Web development people: DON’T insert a link on the footer of the home page to your own company site.

There are three big reasons for why this is wrong to do:

• There’s no benefit to the client, period. Placing a link to another company is like an unpaid, unrelated advertisement. It distracts the audience from the site they’re already on.

• It cheapens the user’s experience. Visitors are not interested to know who the site’s designer is, any more than they would be interested to know who the copywriter is, or the search engine marketer, the hosting company, etc.

• It cheapens the designer. A link on the home page footer signifies to more and more people today that it’s a tired strategy by someone with an amateurish sense of enhancing their own link popularity at the client’s expense. While naïve or uncaring designers may think it might get their brand out there for prospective clients, the message really sent is that the designer is willing to put their own interests ahead of their clients when it comes to the web site’s performance.

I’ve been doing website designs professionally since 1997, and not once have I ever requested my company’s name on a client site. If they offer it, I tell them if they feel its truly relevant to their audience to be referred to what we offer, they should be make it particularly relevant by including it on a separate links and resources page, or even a testimonials page; but NEVER on the home page.

The best way web designers can use their client’s websites to promote themselves is to feature a client portfolio left on their own site, with simple screenshots and descriptions of the work performed. More web designers and developers need to better respect both their clients and their client’s audiences, and start with thinking only of what’s best for their client by preventing all unrelated links, including their own.

Today I have an article featured at SearchEngineWatch on online copyright issues online marketers, especially search engine marketers, need to know both their rights and responsibilities on. I wrote this as an introductory piece that clearly explains U.S. copyright law from the perspective of internet and search marketing, and includes some quotes from attorney at the Search Engine Strategies San Jose conference, on the panel titled “Copyrights and Trademarks: What SEMs (Search Engine Marketers) need to know.”

Now that there’s been enough sound legal precedents with online media distribution, the search engines have really been able to put together some helpful resources for copyright owners to protect their copyrighted content from unauthorized distrbution, even when outside of the U.S. Most important to achieving this has been the DMCA take down notice, which can be filed with any major search engine, which have legal departments to handle DMCA take down notices for both organic and paid search.

Throughout the years I’ve been in the web business, I’ve found all types of characters stealing my website content. Two particular amusing incidents: one company ripped off my entire design glossary, and it was a pastor out of Colorado offering to his customers “Christian-conscious web design.” Another stole one of my logos, and when I caught him, his response was “Well, it looked so good I just assumed you stole it from someone else.”

That’s just so copy-wrong.

In a recent I wrote for Search Engine Watch, I discussed how search marketers can better position themselves for the video search space by integrating traditional video marketing (e.g., television) in their video search strategy. One of those companies I covered was Spot Runner, which provides for its clients a prepackaged video in an online library on its website, along with video customization services and media buying for carrying the final piece over to targeted local television markets.

The following is an interview I conducted with the co-founder of Spot Runner, David Waxman, including on how search marketers can benefit from pairing off-line media strategies with their search campaigns.

Spot Runner uses an online interface (i.e., its website) to combine turnkey video planning and production with reaching local markets in the offline televsion ad space. With much being made about how online video marketing is being more affordable, you seem to have also found a pricing plan on the traditional side that’s more affordable as well.

Local businesses now have access to television, the most powerful marketing tool available – that, due to its traditional cost and complexity, was previously out of reach.

Spot Runner offers a complete solution for television advertising—commercial production, media planning and media buying—in a single turn-key, self-service system. The entire process, which traditionally takes months and hundreds of thousands of dollars, now takes just days at a fraction of the cost.

What’s a typical turnaround project time?

A typical first campaign is one spot. The typical time from actually starting to running on air is 2-4 weeks. The ad production time is typically much shorter, depending on the client’s own timetable for reviewing and approving the ad.

What is the typical length of your spots?

They’re typically 30 seconds in length, but we have done customized formats of 15 – 60 seconds. Our primary offering is 30 seconds, because that is what’s typical.

You have a service featured called “Personalization Plus.” Describe the custom features that come with this service over your standard features.

If you go to our ad library, you’ll see the scripts are pre-defined, except for certain areas that are customizable, such as company name and info. If you want to go further than that and really veer from the script, and have one of our professional writers handle that for you, that’s where we get into the “Personalization Plus.” That could include fully customized text for the voiceover or part of the voiceover being re-recorded; it could be a graphic change, such as letterboxing the ad, or having your URL appear for the entirety of the ad. (Some of our ads already come that way in the library.) Or if you want to include an animated graphic, such as a phone number, or submitting your own script and having it recorded with our own voiceover artists – that’s also what Personalization Plus allows for.

Do you ever have clients submitting their own multimedia clips, and wanting that included in the final piece?

People do request that. What we often have is a number of library ads set up to receive still photos, which can be rendered and moved around to fit in with the video. We less often get the request to take video footage, but we can accept and work with that as well.

Another scenario, some people will send us an ad in its entirety – an ad that’s already been made for them and we’ll integrate that ad into all of the other services that Spot Runner does, such as media planning and buying and placement.

Describe your “Express Launch service” – who is this typically for?

Anybody who wants help with their TV campaign strategy. It helps the client identify their campaign goals and their audience, helping them select their ad, and maximize their budget. Anyone who wants to actually talk to a person and get a little more guidance than our self-service website can provide.

Are you also able to help people out with where to publish their original television spots for online conversion and distribution, including video search (i.e., the search engines)?

Yes, on a case-by-case basis. We are very seriously looking into offering online video as a full product, but we haven’t yet released a date for that.

Let’s talk budget. Where does the budget range start off at, and what’s a typical budget spend for a package?

There are two very distinct pieces, and one of them varies a lot by market:

One of them is ad production. Our standard rate for that is $499. Personalization Plus is an additional $249. Express Launch is an additional $99. That’s the most typical an ad will cost without customization. Its almost always under a $1,000 for the ad in terms of production.

Media varies a lot by market. An ad running in one neighborhood can be a lot less expensive than an ad running in a larger area. Duration adds another variable. Typically we’ve had people who are very successful for as little as $2,000/month with their media.

I understand that along with providing a television media buying strategy for your clients, you can also plan a basic online strategy with the client of how their television ad can best bring traffic to their website.

Media buying for television is an integral part of our service. We will take the ad, and either via the website or by phone, help them figure out what they want to achieve – whether that is driving traffic to their website, or store, or just driving greater brand awareness. We will use our very powerful media planning engine to create an optimized media plan for them, and we’ll then deliver the ads for them (in the television market), and get the reporting back to them. It’s a very end-to-end service.

Would you ever run into the issue of having duplicate (pre-produced) video content running in the same television ad markets, between different clients?

No, we have an exclusivity provision, meaning that if you run one ad in a certain area [in the TV ad space], no competitor ad from us can be run in that same area (when you’re running your own ad).

Have you had any of your ads produced appear in the online video search space?

Search and television can be very complimentary, and we do offer search as a product to our customers. Not yet in the video space, but certainly in the keyword space. Our clients have told us that when they run television ads, their web traffic increases dramatically. When they promote their website correctly on television, they can really get a push from television. The “push” medium of television, and the “pull” medium of the Internet can really go hand in hand.

How would you recommend search engine marketers do an online campaign that can best integrate traditional video marketing (television) with online video marketing?

Most search marketers probably don’t realize how localizable and targetable their search marketing campaigns can be. You can locally target down to the neighborhood level with television, and you can also use your ad to target keywords on a site network basis. For instance if you know your keywords deal with sports, you can target your video for sports sites only, such as a host of sports-related televsion shows, such as ESPN or Fox Sports.

This article on cybersquatting comes from my own intellectual property attorney and former Search Engine Strategies speaker on legal issues, David M. Adler, Esq. and Associates P.C. While the recent Search Engine Strategies conference’s legal sessions were expanded to a record three sessions, they all primarily focused on the issues of clickfraud, copyrights and trademarks. Cybersquatting is also important for search marketers to understand, especially since it can also be a part of trademark infringement and potentially disrupt your own search results. 

What can you do when someone registers a domain name that is identical, incorporates or is confusingly similar to your trade name or trademark? You may be able to claim that the registrant is “cybersquatting.”

Definition of “cybersquatting.”

Cybersquatting must meet the following legal criteria:

1. Registration, trafficking in, or use of a domain name, with…
2. A bad faith intent to profit from that domain name, when…
3. The domain name consists of a mark that is distinctive at the time of registration of the domain name or is identical or confusingly similar to that mark, or …
4. In the case of a famous mark that is famous at the time of registration of the domain name, is identical or confusingly similar to or dilutive of that mark.  Marks composed of generic terms, descriptive terms or personal names will be much more difficult to protect. (There is actually a specific prohibition against using the “Red Cross” mark, however.)

Cybersquatting and “bad faith” intent. 

If the domain was registered by a competitor, this is a good indicator of the “bad faith” requirement, which is generally the real issue and can be harder to prove .

There are cases which hold that the following are evidence of bad faith:

1. Registration of the domain name in order to prevent the owner of the trademark or service mark from reflecting the mark in a corresponding domain name, provided that you have engaged in a pattern of such conduct;
2. Registration of the domain name primarily for the purpose of disrupting the business of a competitor; or…
3. Use of a domain name intentionally to attract, for commercial gain, Internet users to a web site or other on-line location, by creating a likelihood of confusion with the complainant’s mark as to the source, sponsorship, affiliation, or endorsement of a web site or location or of a product or service on a web site or location.

Notably, personal names are not, in-and-of-themselves, protected as trademarks, unless, they have acquired secondary meaning. Under §2(e)(4) of the Trademark Act, 15 U.S.C. 1052(e)(4), a mark that is primarily merely a surname is not registrable on the Principal Register absent a showing of “acquired distinctiveness” under §2(f), 15 U.S.C. 1052(f). However, whether a personal name is capable of protection as a trademark depends on whether it has acquired distinctiveness with respect to the goods or services. For instance, a famous actor or author may be able to protect his or her name primarily due to the fact that such person’s trade or craft is identified with that name.

Going after the cybersquatter– The Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act

The Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act of 1999 empowers a cybersquatting victim to file a federal lawsuit to regain a domain name and/or sue for financial compensation. Victims of cybersquatting can also use the provisions of the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy adopted by ICANN, an international tribunal administering domain names. However, this international policy results in arbitration of the dispute, not litigation.

With rapid advances in Internet technology, professional-quality web video is not longer the exclusive domain of creative ad agencies and big brand companies. Costs have gone way down, with both viewer and content quantity going way up.  The rapid growth of the online video and video search space has spawned some innovative companies on the technology, production, marketing and distribution sides. One of those companies whom I’ve covered in previous blog posts is the internet video production company TurnHere the self-proclaimed “full service Internet video solutions provider.”

The following is a recent interview I conducted with TurnHere’s Founder and CEO, Bradley Inman. Search marketers can benefit here from Bradley’s elaboration on the project management aspects of preparing online video content for search engine distribution.

A good part of an online video project’s success is the initial planning stage. Explain how TurnHere plans out a video production with the client.

We plan how it can be very entertaining, informing, and interesting for the user, but also that it will fit very much with the web. We use real people telling their story, no matter what that may be; and we use a mini-documentary style, such as the back story behind their story for whatever business or project they’re doing.

We don’t have scripts, therefore we don’t have long treatments; and we don’t have actors and actresses. That separates us from the old world of television advertising, which relies more on a brand-lifestyle and fictional narrative. Our pieces are non-fiction, but it is a narrative and there is a story.

Consequentially, TurnHere’s pre-production isn’t elaborate because you’re not faking it; you’re telling the truth of real people. Our filmmakers are videographers are also journalists or mini-documentarians, so they know how to interview people (for 2-3 hours), get the b-roll, get them commenting, and get them to be a real person talking about their passion, whatever that may be – a product, neighborhood, business, etc – and that’s edited into a 2-minute piece. Pre-production is really different in this world from the traditional television advertising room.

That also explains the differences in planning and preparation for online video advertisements, compared to the traditional commercial video – that being, television.

That’s our main message. We believe that people are inherently experts at what they do; they don’t need to be coached by a marketing team or a PR team; they don’t need scripts and they don’t need lines. They are inherently insightful into the neighborhood around them, and they know more about their business than any marketing person.

That’s where advertising is going – particularly, authentic believability on the Internet, rather than large media agencies trying to constantly “brand our brains.”

You’ve managed to lower much the production by finding videographers local to your clients. How did you manage to establish such a wide base of videographers?

We’ve hired a great team of producers who each had their own networks. Then we had a massive recruiting campaign around the country, and then its word-of-mouth from other filmmakers. We then turn to these local filmmakers who then produce on our behalf with the client. They know with TurnHere they’re getting a reliable source of income.

What makes your production people and work model successful? Do you give them  a certain degree of freedom or do certain formulas need to be followed?

We have a very talented group of filmmakers and producers, and they know how to tell stories. There’s a bottom-up creative enterprise here. They and our Marketing/PR have wonderful ideas.
The process is deciding what the formula is. We really let our filmmaker go. It’s really between the filmmaker and the client with how the video is produced. If too many people are involved it can negatively affect the final work.

A good example of that is the hundreds and hundreds of videos we’re now producing for CitySearch, where it’s a very hands-off thing. Our filmmakers really make it happen.

Do you make it an option for clients to review the portfolios of the videographer in advance?

Yes, but its not really part of the process of clients to review the resumes and portfolios of our videographers, because they’re really coming to TurnHere, and we’re putting our stamp and our brand behind it. We have producers who manage the process. Otherwise that company has to take on all other responsibilities, such as pre-production, managing post, communicating with the filmmaker, and that’s very inefficient. The whole idea is they can outsource that so they don’t need to worry about it.

In a few cases [clients] get obsessed with meeting the filmmaker and all of the background, and we relay that to them; but it isn’t that type of model where we would just refer you to any filmmaker and hope it will work out. We really take responsibility for the end-to-end.

What other quality controls do you have in place?

We control the quality, through training, systems, and back end password protected areas. We create a standard and formula for every partner.

Describe a typical crew for a TurnHere video shoot.

We do it in a lot of different ways. But the bottom line is, all that equipment and all that overhead– trucks, travel tickets and airplanes– and all that other stuff that went into television production – has been eliminated thanks to technology.

Here are two typical scenarios: A filmmaker shows up with a professional lighting kit and a semi-pro cam, lavalier mics, and a tripod. They can shoot high-quality video. (A good example of this setup is the video done for the Intercontinental Hotel, on the TurnHere site.) That’s a single filmmaker setup. In other cases there are teams (part of the business of the filmmaker) where they shoot and have an editor.

But in most cases, not only is the filmmaker using a semi-pro camera,,  but they’re also doing the editing, often in Final Cut Pro on a Mac (and sometimes right on the plane ride back). This gives them a very quick turnaround. But we leave that to the filmmaker. Some of them prefer to do solo, and some prefer to do combos; and that’s fine with us.

How do you establish an affordable budget and monetization model with your clients?

Its really important that we work closely with the partner. We’re working with big television networks, big travel agencies, big publishers; this is all about the economics of Internet video. How are you going to monetize it? Are you going to put ads on it? Then it’s a CPM. You got to get the cost of media to a price point that makes rational sense.

So with all of our partners we sit down and work out that with them strategically, and we have a lot of information to go over. If it’s a conversion tool, then what’s the conversion rate they need to get at in order to justify the cost? If you’re using it as a search marketing tool, how do you justify the content with its intended audience? And then there’s companies like CitySearch which are using it as a conversion tool for local merchants – that’s about converting with customers. For publishers, its about spending a certain amount on collateral to publish their books. So we start with the economics.

One of the economics that are going to drive your business with video is commerce in these cases. Then we come up with what’s your vision for the video. If they’re only going to produce one or two videos, we tell them to turn to a local production company [instead of us]. Our filmmaker network is best utilized when we leverage its breadth and depth. Therefore, we’re interested in clients and partners that want to produce lots of video. And when they produce volume, we can give them price discounts since we can produce it more inexpensively.

Our videos can go from a few hundred dollars to a few thousand dollars, depending on: their needs, how they’re using it, how much volume, and how we can leverage our network to produce more. We believe in paying our filmmakers well, and at the same time creating a piece of media that makes sense for the client.
Now, we’re all Lewis-and-Clark in this world; there’s no book you can pull off the shelf on “How to Monetize Internet Video.” We’re all learning together, what works and what doesn’t, how to integrate the video, where to send the video; all these issues are still unresolved.

So you’re saying for TurnHere to be effective at what they do for the client, episodic video is highly preferential.

Yes. Its about price, its about experimentation.

What is a typical (recommended) length of a single Internet video ad piece?

2-3 minutes.

What digital file formats can you make it available in?

Being that its digital media, we can deliver it however people want it

Do your clients often use your (online) service distribution?

A big part of our business is the service distribution. A video is only as good as how well you can distribute it. We’ve had 2 years of Internet distribution experience working with Google; we’ve created branded places on YouTube, building presence and opportunity there. So yes, almost all of our customers want those services as well.

TurnHere offers promotion services through what you have listed as distribution partnerships with the search engines. Does that include video search optimization services?

Yes, that’s a core part of our business (with our distribution service).

What’s a usual expectation a client can have for video completion turnaround time, from start to finish?
2-3 weeks. We can do it faster; we’ve had something shot up on Friday and delivered on a Monday. We’re dealing with a network of independent contractors, so we get in their queue, so 2-3 weeks is a safe bet.

What are the best preparation tips you would offer for a client (and their agent) for a video production with TurnHere?

Work with us to establish the economics of your media. Help us establish a system to create the style and approach that you want. Then let go. Let go and let your people be who they are. It becomes a really great turnkey solution where you don’t have to worry about it.

In today’s article at the SearchEngineWatch blog, I posted on the video search engine blinkx’s new partnership with the UK online video advertising network Utarget, which will be featuring pre-roll ads for blinkx’s UK video inventory, including media partners ITN News and ITN Celebrity. (Apparently this will not include other UK media partners, such as BBC News.)

What I found interesting to learn is that the UK audience seems to be more receptive to pre-roll ads than over here in the U.S. According to a YouGov study (commissed by UTarget Networks), 93% of UK users are opn to pre-roll online video advertising, provided that the ads don’t extend past 15 seconds in length.

As someone who watches a great deal of video online, the majority of pre-roll ads I come across for U.S. sites tend to fall in the 30-second time frame. That tends to show that most ad agencies still are operating with the broadcast television mentality, rather than working with the internet medium of shorter spurts. This has actually been acknowledged by some creative media agencies I’ve spoken with in the Chicago area, who are trying to work with their clients on not just repackaging their television content for the web, but producing more stand-alone internet video content which falls in the shorter 15-second pre-roll time.

Following up from my post yesterday, TurnHere’s spokesperson was considerate to contact me back and offer a clarification on their distribution model. TurnHere “straightforward distribution deal” with the search engines was just intended to mean that submit a great deal of video content to the same channels available to all others, including search marketers.

I thank TurnHere for providing assurance to search marketers that they are just using the same submission process as other search marketers have available.

I recently did an interview with a spokesperson for “online video solutions firm” TurnHere on both their announcement today (new distribution partners including BookVideos.tv) and their new video widget for book publishers.

TurnHere’s “Deep partnership with Google?”

One of the more interesting notes that seemed to have been missed out in other media coverage is TurnHere’s distribution network having the implication that they might have some kind of special relationship with Google, not afforded to other online marketing firms. (TurnHere does both production and online distribution, and claims also to do actual video optimization.)

I would have thought that a company obtaining an implied special partnership with Google would be able to have their videos actually embedded in Google’s Universal Search, and not just relegated to their vertical (Google Video Search). Was this not part of their implied special. partnership with Google to include in their “distribution network plan?”

The answer I received from a TurnHere spokesperson was as follows:

TurnHere has a deep partnership with Google which spans Google Local, Google Earth, YouTube, etc. At this point in time, Google Universal Search doesn’t provide video, however, once this service launches, you’ll be able to find TurnHere videos there as well.

Google Universal Search not providing video? Actually, it already does, albeit in select cases. Just take my own video samples, for example. And I don’t even have a “deep partnership” with Google.

So upon my further inquiry, I was told that TurnHere’s just has a “straight distribution deal” and that nothing further could be disclosed at this time. Without any additional information, it would seem that what could be understood by the language as a special arrangement between Google and TurnHere, could be just elevated terminology without a specific business arrangement between these two. Now of course, TurnHere’s current “formal” video partnerships are certainly considerable themselves – CitySearch, TripAdvisor, BookVideos.tv, not to mention a host of others. But for a search markter like myself, I would have to wonder if all of those flashing logos of search engines on the TurnHere site are just to show that they simply sites where the videos are submitted, and not any actual submission advantage, as seems to be implied.

Today online video production firm TurnHere announced their expansion into the video search space, primarily with book-centric online video channels. The most notable partnership appears to be with BookVideos.tv, which TurnHere will feature a customizable widget and enhanced video player for book publishers.

I recently had an article published in SearchEngineWatch on affordable video solutions for search marketers, along with some of my own professional tips for how marketers and clients can best achieve success with these “enterprise-level” video firms. (By “enterprise level,” I mean outfits that are more expandable and suitable to all of the aspects of producing online video than a traditional videographer firm, but without requiring larger budgets reserved for ad agencies doing Hollywood-style shoots.)

Online video and video search marketing now has become an ideal business strategy in our new low-cost, technology rich environment. Producing high quality business-purpose video used to traditionally take months and tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars, clearly out of reach for most businesses. The rapid advances in video technology in just the past couple of years have resulted in a new low-cost/high-quality content creation resource, with many free avenues for online distribution in both increasingly popular video search engines (YouTube) and newly emerging ones (EveryZing), which should make search marketers seriously consider adding video optimization to their own list of client services.

Advantages for search marketers working with a full-service video production firm

Video enterprises, such as TurnHere, differ from standard standard videography firms in the follow ways that can prove beneficial to search marketer’s needs over a direct partner relationship:

• Extensive online experience – they already have extensive experience with producing video for online distribution.

• Multi-talented – they can handle multiple stages of the product: idea planning, talent, production, post-production, media distribution and promotion.

• Geographic scope –they can bring their videographers from a much larger location area directly to you on-site.

• Quality control. Whether the work is done in-house or through their own subcontractors, video search enterprises typically use a rigorous pre-screening service to make sure all work is done of a professional grade.

• Backup optimization services. They can also provide backup or complimentary video optimization services to own, something that can come in handy for search marketers who are either still honing their own skills learning video search optimization, or for time-sensitive purposes simply need to delegate it out.

High-quality, low cost, uniquely personalized content

TurnHere’s typical format is very cost-effective and leads to a much shorter turnaround time than traditional television video. They create their productions in a “mini-documentary” style, without actors and actresses – real people telling their own story. Their videographers use prosumer-level equipment, which for Internet-viewing purposes is more than acceptable with most circumstances.

“We plan how it can be very entertaining, informing, and interesting for the user, but also that it will fit very much with the web.” explains Bradley Inman, Founder and CEO for TurnHere. “We don’t have scripts, therefore we don’t have long treatments, and we don’t have actors and actresses. That separates us from the old world of television advertising, which relies more on a brand-lifestyle and fictional narrative. Our pieces are non-fiction, but it is a narrative and there is a story.”

“Consequentially, TurnHere’s pre-production isn’t elaborate because you’re not faking it; you’re telling the truth of real people. Our filmmakers are videographers, and are also journalists or mini-documentarians, so they know how to interview people (for 2-3 hours), get the b-roll, get them commenting, and get them to be a real person talking about their passion, whatever that may be – a product, neighborhood, business, etc – and that’s edited into a 2-minute piece. Pre-production is really different in this world from the traditional television advertising room.”

Video pieces with TurnHere typically take about 2-3 weeks, but Bradley mentions that they’ve also had pieces turned out over in just a single weekend. Pricing ranges from between a few hundred to few thousand dollars per piece of produced content. Typical pieces run about 2-3 minutes, with Internet distribution partners including Google Video (including Google Local), Yahoo! Video, AOL Video, MSN, YouTube. and “other major web portals.” (And yes, TurnHere also has its own YouTube portfolio site where they will feature client video pieces on.)