SERP that takes the biscuit

For reasons I won't go into ... I had cause to search for "McVities" on Google. And this was the result:

Now that is what I call getting your SE branding strategy right. Take particular note of the bold/blue/link titles - which are determined by the website developer. For students of domain names - I like the McVitie's' use of .co.uk and .com. 

no phone ... no business

I was shopping around for some motorbike insurance - and this is what I found on one 'comparison-type' site:

So here's the thing: I don't give out my mobile phone number to businesses with whom I have no relationship ie I am not a customer. Even with those to whom I am a customer, I'm very selective about who gets my number. So there is no way I was going to give out my number only for every one of the insurance companies listed on the site to text or ring me about insurance.

So I abandoned the quote ... no business for them.

Oh ... I nearly forgot - what if I don't actually have a mobile phone?

not supporting supporters

I received this email. It is from the football club I have supported for nearly 50 years. The football club for which I have had a 'Forest Player' subscription for around 10 years. A subscription for which this email address is the contact email address for my subscription to 'Forest Player'.

 

My only consolation is that [I assume] the service is outsourced to an organization that needs to read anything on the subject of relationship management.

 

Ho hum.

no long names please

Here's another bad practice I thought had died out in the last century.

 

I was setting up a standing order from a TSB bank account - including, as you would expect, the name of the recipient. Which was fine if you have a short name. The recipient in my case is a business and has 28 characters [including spaces] in its name. But the form only allowed only 16 characters - I couldn't even fit my name in. Ho hum.

Forest failing

To celebrate my team winning its two matches over the Christmas period - I did what a lot of supporters do ... and went to buy something from the [online] club shop.

 

Having selected my purchase [see below - I was there on that day :) ]

 

I went to the checkout - but when I went to register on the site [why?] I found that as I had bought something before my details were on record ...

 

 

 

 

... but I could not remember my 'client reference number', so I followed the instructions and arrived on a page where I was asked for my email address so that it could be sent to me. But when I did so, I was told that there was no customer record for that email address.

So - not for the first time when trying to make a purchase on a site I've been to before - part of its system told me I did exist, but another part of that system told me I did not. Ho hum.

 

digital amnesia

... and still it goes on. TV advertising campaign: direct marketing email campaign: all to get me - and others - to spend money in the Homebase sale.

 

So it works ... I decide that leaf blower I have put off buying for years could be what I use to clear this year's leaves from my garden. And there is a Homebase about a mile away. And I'm up early on Boxing Day - so check their website to see what time the store opens, and get this ...

 

Yep, no mention of any Bank Holiday openings. Ho hum.

adidas marketers touch down between the e-marketing posts

I came across this excellent Tweet which celebrated the All Blacks rugby team winning all 14 of its matches in a calendar year.

 

Clicking on the link took you to ...

 

 

If there are any of my ex- students who cannot tell you why so many 'w's can be used then they weren't concentrating in week/chapter 2.

 

PS, you could always check out why in my domain names book. 

doh ! doh ! doh !

It's not that unusual for a direct marketing email to fail to render [show] in the receiver's inbox. Well this one's a doozy. Below is just a fiftieth [yes, 1/50th] of the code which appeared when I opened this email:

 

But it gets worse. This was from a digital marketing company promoting their new website. As I said; triple doh!

There was a follow-up email half an hour later, but it said:

"Note: A previous version of this email contained an image that did not render correctly in some email clients. We are re-sending to those affected and we apologize for any confusion."

In my opinion, a less formal approach would have been better. Why not admit to the error rather than - seemingly - blaming the technology of the receiver.  

Oh, by the way, I'll refrain from naming the company - they should be squirming enough as it is.

is this why International Business Machines became IBM?

... so they could get their email address on contact forms?

 

I was filling in a form to get a free IBM report - but sadly there was a limit in the amount of characters I could enter for my email address ...

 

Yep, two characters short. Schoolchild error.

 

 

long-lost relation[ship]

I got this email, ironically it's about relationship marketing. Shame I haven't owned a Ford for over 35 years.

guess the price ...

I don't really need to say anything about this web page do I?

every organizations should have one ...

... so congratulations to Bath University. Reasonable wage too - and it doesn't ask for any 'techie' qualification, this is for a writer not a website developer.

no place for no space

I was buying something on the IKEA website for the first time - but was confused when it wouldn't recognise my postcode

 

After a few attempts I used my experience from about 15 years ago when form developers expected the customer to know what those developers were thinking when they designed forms - and I put a space between the first and second parts of the postcode.

 

 

Now, I now postcodes should be split - but how many people know that ... or are even bothered?  

 

My point is that the postcode field in the form can be easily set up to accept postcodes as one 'word' or split. Just plain bad practice from whoever designed the form.

Footnote: when I got confimation of the order the delivery was for 9 days later. I'm not in a hurry for the product - but that's just not good enough.

right ... but wrong

This one has left me without a comment to make.

 

I was trying to pay a bill to Rochdale Metropolitan Borough Council. I tried four times and each time ended up with this message.

 

Yep - apparently the card details are correct but there is a problem with the card details? Try another card? This is my only debit card - they charge extra for using a credit card.

 

I'll wait until they send me a rude letter about the bill not being paid. 

 

Update: when I tried the same card a week later, and inputted the same data - it worked. This suggests the problem was with the online system, not me or my card.

getting your act together...

On the Andrew Marr show this morning was a singer I had never heard of - and as I liked his sound I looked him up on Google. Dan Owen's stage name is 'Blues Boy Dan' - and a search brought up website, Facebook page and Twitter presence. The latter seems to be Dan's communication of choice, with plenty of entries. Similarly, Facebook has consistent updates. The website however - and it is top of the SERP - showed signs of neglect. I had thought that I would like to see him live, so I went to the 'gigs' page and got this.

 

Yep, no gigs after December 2012. Given that he was on the BBC to plug his new single, I thought this odd. So I went back to the social media sites, and sure enough there was a link to 'live' page. Well, let's ignore the fact that the link  went to a dead page as I clicked on the 'live' link which took me to a page called 'gig'. But hold on, I thought, this is different to the previous gigs page [shown above].

 

I then realised that I was now on www.bluesboydanowen and the previous site was www.bluesboydan.co.uk. Hmmm, I thought - 'fansite'? But no, both seemed to be 'official'. You cannot look up ownership details of .co.uk domains [it's a Data Protection Act thing] - but the .com is owned by Contact Privacy Inc of Toronto, Canada - a company that registers sites for folk who wish to protect their privacy.

 

All in all then, no great mystery or problem with the domains and sites. I would suspect the .co.uk was an early effort from Dan's management - or even him - as it is on a self-build hosting site. I also suspect that as he has become more well known Dan has taken on a manager or agent who has organized the new .com site.

 

So here's my issue. Dan is obviously a great talent. His management may know their way around the music business - but they don't know much about SEO as the redundant .co.uk is top of the SERP and the .com nowhere. Is it  that big a deal? Probably not, the guy's going to be a success anyway - but I just like to see things done right. In this case, it is just as easy as getting it wrong.