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I was recently asked to do a review of PeekYou and compare it to another People Seach Engine called Spock.com.  I decided to try two names in each to get an idea which had more features and overall was just more useful.  Having a bit of an ego I choose first myself and the second name I picked was arguably the most famous athlete of all time, Michael Jordan.

Putting my ego aside there were far more legitimate reason I decided to search my own name which included,

1.  I have many social networking accounts and a lot of information is available about me online.  I am not famous but I did feel any good people engine should have no trouble tracking me down.

2.  I would be able to verify that any information or accounts related to myself were accurate.  Had I searched for some minor celebrity, etc how would I know if the information found was accurate or not?

3.  My name is unusual, I only know of one other Jack Spirko on the planet, my father Jack Sr.  Now if it found anything about him I would know it was pretty powerful.  My father is not into the internet, I doubt in fact his fingers have ever touched a keyboard.

So what was the result?

First on Spock, I have to say I was underwhelmed to a large degree.   While I did find Michael Jordan on Spock there was nothing I could not have found on Google doing the same search.  The real telling point though was searching for my own name, Spock did not find a single result for "Jack Spirko" despite the fact that an exact match search for my name on google will bring up over 600 results.  Like I said I am not hard to find. 

Spock did have one unique feature I really liked that appears to be lacking in PeekYou, that was the ability for people to claim their result and there by control the data published about them.  This could be used to help pervent abuse, such as creating a bunch of fake information about a well known figure then linking to them from the search profile page.  PeekYou does have another way of dealing with this I will describe below, yet I could not find a way to claim my own results.

I then turned my attention to PeekYou.  PeekYou is designed to be an open editable platform and in a way functions much like a Wiki, any user with an account can edit any search result on the site or add a person and begin building a profile for them.  This has a huge advantage because it will let people collaborate to produce very accurate results of friends, family and contacts.   There is however, the potential for abuse but like I mentioned above there is a way to handle that.  You can report abuse and of course correct anything false added to your profile.  Add to that the fact that every page has its own RSS feed for easy monitoring and I think the benefits of open editing out weigh any of the risks.

Now on to how PeekYou perfomed in the search competition.   I have to say that PeekYou preformed no better then Spock when it came to Michael Jordan, the results were about the same for the legendary sports hero.  However; there were a lot more, "other Michael Jordans" found on PeekYou which to me is a better way to gauge the value of this type of search engine.  I don't see PeekYou or Spock or any other people search engines being used so much for celebrity research as for finding everyday people you want to get in touch with.  

That brings me to how PeekYou perfomed with my ego search for my own name.  I found a few pictures of myself, links to a few of the web sites I own and a pretty accurate list of just about every social networking profile I have.  The only error was a MySpace profile for a John who was 35 years of age, from Arlington Texas, markets VoIP Service and happens to be born on my birthday.  I simply must look this fellow up and one could hardly fault PeekYou for thinking this was my profile since every part of the could be talking about me including the fact that my legal name is actually John.

Overall I have to say I definitely found PeekYou to be a better search engine for the primary task at hand, (finding everyday people you want to reconnect with or track down after a casual meeting).  Oh and my technophobic, non internet using father, the only other "Jack Spirko" I know of, PeekYou actually found him as well!  My conclusion is if you are looking to find someone online today, the features and accuracy of PeekYou simply blow away the results from Spock.

One more note for the SEO minded among us.  I noticed that PeekYou does not, "nofollow" links and you can control the anchor text for them.  I would expect with a little outside link juice to your or a clients profile there could be some real added value to the links on a PeekYou Page.  This of course should only be used legitimately but it would really make sense to me that if you or any of your SEO clients have websites you are doing ranking work for, to ensure you take advantage of the link value and of course the social value of this new web resource. 

For more on this new search engine and to find out if you are listed visit PeekYou today.

 ~ Jack Spirko

Technorati Tags: peekyou, spock, people seach, web 2.0, social networking, social search, search marketing, social web

Note:  This was a sponsored post 

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I would imagine most readers of Comtech News have seen the 90's classic movie known as Office Space.  The movie is one of the true cult classics of all time and tells the story of three men working for a software company going through a down sizing.  It is a story of incompetent management and the typical life of everyday 9-5 employees.

Built in are several sub plots including the total beat down of a hated office printer, a virus used to embezzle company funds and a bit of a love story.  Over all it is just a pretty good comedy with a lot of "everyday people" feel to it.  Watching it anyone who has ever been in a typical corporate America job can spot parts of their life.  This "every person"  connection is to me the reason why the movie has enjoyed such a cult following despite a lack luster performance in theaters when it was originally released.

If you have never seen this movie I highly recommend you rent it some evening and just sit back and enjoy a few hours of laughs. So what does this have to do with a lesson in marketing?  Well, one thing that seem to happen to any popular film today is fans do their own trailers, tributes or spoofs about them and post them on YouTube.  I found a pile of Office Space "recut" trailers on YouTube and want to share three of them with you.  They are all surprisingly well done and can teach us a lot about marketing and how powerful positioning can be.

The important things to understand as you watch these three clips are….

• All the clips are actually from the movie
• The only outside additions are a few sound effects, some text, background narration and music
• Many of the "clips" that make up the three versions are the same in all three

So here we go…..

The first video presents Office Space as a Slasher/Thriller.

The second video presents Office Space as a Life Melodrama - With a Very Cool Background Track

 The third video presents Office Space as a Crime Mystery Thriller

Now if you watch all three trailers you will get three very different views into what this movie is actually about.  None of them are really what the movie was meant to be but with a bit of polishing all three could be shown to people who have never seen the movie before and would be believable as movie trailers.

Now this is where it gets really interesting!  The Slasher/Thriller trailer is well done but over the top, it really is nothing like the actual movie and if you used a version of it to promote the movie I dare say those who went to see it would feel misled.  If you have seen this movie though you will realize something pretty damn cool.  The Second and Third trailers actually present the movie quite accurately!  They have two very different views into the story but with just a few tweaks I think you could actually have used either one to promote this movie and the people who went to see it would have gotten exactly what they expected.

How can this be possible?  As a marketer you have to understand that the mind sees to a large degree what it wants to see.  The movie itself is truly a few stories wrapped together.  It is definitely the story of three men who learn about what is important to them and find their own version of happiness by the end.  Each must find their own way and decide how to live life in the way that is best for them.  Equally there is the story of three men who feel manipulated and used by a corporate system, they hatch a plan to embezzle money from the company, the plan goes bad and they all face the fear of going to jail along the way.

The second and third trailers simply focus on these two different sub plots and I submit that if a viewer saw this movie for the first time after being primed to expect a criminal mystery or life changing drama that is exactly what they would see.  This tells us a very deep lesson about marketing.  Not only can marketing effect how a customer perceives a product prior to purchase but how they perceive it even after they buy and use it.  So when you position a product or service you have to take this into account.

Most of the time marketers do think about this from one angle.  They don't want to emulate trailer number one (that is why I included it) and promise something they can't deliver.  That creates unhappy customers that don't buy again.  Yet how many think about this from the other side.  How can you market and position your product so that it positively effects the perception after it is purchased?  How do you market a product or service to attract a specific type of customer that is easiest to satisfy or represents a win fall opportunity or new vertical market?  How can you do this in such a way that your new customers get exactly what they want even though they were not the original audience the product was created for?

I find it quite interesting that a simple spoof of a classic cult movie can create a new paradigm on marketing for those who want to see it.  So there you go a lesson in marketing where it was never intended to be seen, this post in fact is not just a description of the process but the process itself in action.

~ Jack Spirko

Technorati Tags: office space, youtube, video marketing, online marketing, business, product positioning, viral marketing, branding

Popularity: 12% [?]

Pictured on the left is my long time friend Kevin Anderson with his loving wife Laurel.  On Sunday August 12th I got some of the worse news of my life when I learned that at far too young of an age Kevin passed away due to health complications.  Kevin had been battling some heath issues for many years which I am sure will come to quite a surprise to the majority of people who knew him.  He worked night and day to help others build successful businesses online, in fact right up until the final days of his life he continued in this effort.  Only those closest to Kevin knew of his battle with illness.

I would guess many of my readers do not know Kevin while quite possibly an equal number will share my sorrow at his passing.  Kevin did so much, for so many in his life but many Internet Marketers who never heard of him indeed owe much of what they have today, to him.

You see in 1993 Kevin saw the potential to utilize the then emerging CGI Technology to create the first ever self replicating web site which he used to build Cognigen Networks into one of the most successful online affiliate programs of the 90s.  Had Kevin patented the method he could have been wealthy beyond his wildest dreams. Imagine even a fraction of a cent in royalty on every self replicating affiliate site in existence.  Now I would bet that today almost every Internet Marketer either started with or developed a lot of their skills and initial revenue with an affiliate program that most likely used this technology.

Yet it is bigger then just not putting a patent on this technology.  Kevin realized right away that this method would do amazing things to create wealth and provide opportunity to people all over the world, which is why he never attempted to control or profit from it. Yet a very large company (whom I will not name) soon discovered the method for themselves.  They then attempted unsuccessfully to sue Kevin Anderson claiming they created the technology and intended to patent it themselves. 

When Kevin won this law suit he had legal validation that he was indeed the creator of the technology and easily could have counter sued the company that sued him and taken this opportunity once again to patent the technology.  Yet Kevin fought the suit with the intent from the beginning to ensure anyone who wanted to use it could, his goal was always to help others.  So even if you have never heard of Kevin before, if you have ever sold anything via an affiliate program, that created web pages for all affiliates to use; then Kevin Anderson has touched your life.  How many people have touched so many others?

Personally my life has been impacted to a far larger degree by Kevin and his kindness and friendship.  In 1998 I was trying to "figure out this Internet thing", I knew there was money to be made but had no idea how to actually get it going.  I taught myself to build a few sites and played around with some of the early technology and banner exchanges, etc.  Then in 2000 I found out about a company called Cognigen Networks, which Kevin founded.  Cognigen had no cost to join and allowed you to sell telecommunications services and build a network of other agents doing the same.

I joined Cognigen and started to work hard to develop my business online.  In time I became very good at SEO and developed a group of sites that still to this day sell a variety of things from VoIP, to Local Phone Service and Cellular Phones on auto pilot.   I branched out from there selling other services and developing an income online.  Then in 2003 I experienced a job loss due to a down sizing and was able to move my family back to Texas at a time of my choosing, get a mortgage with no "job" and overall just be a good provider to my family even with the loss of a 6 figure job.  Soon after I shifted my career focus to Internet Marketing and left my prior career in sales behind.  Today I own my own SEO and Marketing Firm, I own several other companies and I am able to pretty much live my life the way I choose.

It was Kevin Anderson that brought all of this and more to my life.  Kevin recognized my passion and made me a National Trainer for Cognigen, he helped I and my partners immensely to launch Marketing ICE, he built an entire affiliate agency for me in another company to "repay my kindness and loyalty to him" and offered me his assistance in all that I ever did.

Did I mention I never actually met Kevin face to face?  The picture above is my only knowledge of what Kevin actually looks like.  Despite many phone calls, Skype Sessions, IM's and emails I never actually had the privilege of shaking Kevin's hand, something that makes his loss all the more sad to me. 

The bigger thing everyone who is part of the the Internet Marketing and business world should know is there are many others just like me (quite possibly thousands) who could tell the same type of story. People who met Kevin and developed a successful life because of his direct generosity, help and guidance.   There are not enough people in this world like Kevin Anderson and the world is much poorer for his loss.  Kevin leave behind his wife Laurel and two daughters who I am sure will miss him beyond any words.  I don't know what words of comfort I can offer to Kevin's friends and family but what I can say is this.  

Kevin loved his family and his friends and would not want us to grieve his loss, only to celebrate his life and to make the most of the gifts he gave us all.  To remember him not as a friend who left but for the lasting things he acomplished that will live forever, that is how I will remember my friend as a man who gave to the world in such an unselfish way that he was able to touch the lives of millions who have never even heard his name.  I will also never do Kevin the disservice of speaking of him in past tense, Kevin Anderson is my friend, mentor and one of my heroes.  "Is" not "was" because while the man is gone, his spirit, his kindness and what he gave to all of us can all truly be said to be immortal. 

~ Jack Spirko 

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Recently at Franklin Spirko Media Mark Barrera and I have been working on some link building and blog marketing with our new client, Trump University.  One of the things we have targeted is to improve their traffic and ranking from web surfers that want to know more about real estate training programs.  To accomplish this one thing we did right away was to launch a small campaign with PayPerPost and I am going to take the time here to review 3 of the posts from the perspective of an advertiser, I will tell you the Tack Rating we gave them and why.  My goal is not to praise or pick on anyone but to explain to Posties what we like to see as a client and how to improve their ratings and there by qualify for more opportunities.

I should also point out before I get into the reviews that we specified in the opportunity that we would give high tack ratings to any posties that took the extra effort to provide a second link to any of the specific course pages off the main page.  This is one way an advertiser can get additional links.

• The first post is by a blog called,  "Second Life Update" - which did a post titled, Learn Real Estate from Trump University.  If you view that post you will see that this blogger did what I would call the minimum.  There is nothing wrong with the post, the word count is good, the language is well put together and the tone is very positive.  Yet when I pay for a post I expect nothing less, so that is why I call this a minimal delivery.  Again nothing wrong at all but nothing that says this blogger went beyond my specified requirements.  We gave this blogger 4 out of 5 Tacks for a solid delivery of what we asked for, a good score but not as high as some of the others.

• The second post is by a blog called,  "The Domestic Diva" - the "Diva" did a post titled, Do the Donald.  This post is what we consider a "home run" as far as being the advertiser is concerned.  If you read her post you will clearly here her plucky tone with in it.  She also clearly shows some extra knowledge of the subject matter, telling us she did a bit of reading on the TrumpU website and did the over all post in the same tone and method that she would do any post on her blog.  She also gave us that second link down to a page off the main page with a great anchor link to it and used the info from that page to flesh out the post.  We gave the Diva 5 Tacks and she really earned it.

• The third post is by a blog called, "Google and Me" - which did a post called, Donald Trump Real Estate Training.  This is an example of a post that you do not want to see as an advertiser.  There are two components to any good post from a service like PayPerPost.  The first is link building for SEO purposes and this post delivered on that so we did not rate them to poorly.  The second is the buzz and post itself and this is where this post fell apart.  First the blogger did not give the extra link we requested but that is minor, even when we ask for a extra link we still give some posts with one link a 5 if the post is really good. 

  If you read this post you will see that the use of language is a bit spotty such as, "You will have classes" then a list of classes?  I am not huge on grammar and syntax but that is pretty poor (reading the whole post will make it more clear).  Also the postie states, "Maybe you can learn how to build a internet empire".  Hold on there is nothing about building an Internet Empire or any online business on the TrumpU site, not to mention the whole campaign centered on real estate.  We gave this Postie a 3 because they did meet the technical requirements but we will not let this blogger blog for us or our clients again.  It is clear they don't take the time to know their subject and do a post with the intent to deliver exactly what was asked for much less go beyond the minimum.

So there you go three posts we received and how we rated them and more importantly why we rated them the way we did.  Again this was not about picking on anyone so the fact that one was rated at only a three and I pointed out what was wrong is not personal I just hope it will help bloggers at PayPerPost do a better job and gain access to some of the better opportunities.

I would also point out that we "benched" all the posties for 60 days even the really good ones.  Only because we are trying to build domain and IP diversity with the links from these posts.  We are happy to have them blog again just not on the same campaign.  We also "banned" the poster we rated a 3, again this is not personal but the post delivered did not accurately reflect the true nature of the page we requested a review on and as such we do not want that blogger taking future opportunities for us or our clients.

In our opinion PayPerPost is one of the most innovative services ever created, if I had any complaint it would be that I did not come up with the idea myself.  We hope this blog post will help both bloggers and advertisers better understand how to get the most from PayPerPost and other blogging services.  We would also love your comments on this, whether you are a blogger, an advertiser or both.

~ Jack Spirko

Technorati Tags: payperpost, paid blogging, link building, pay per post, search marketing, blogging, sponsored posting, viral marketing, blog marketing

Popularity: 23% [?]