Jon Samsel

It’s that time of year again when we American’s reflect on our past and make optimistic (if not unrealistic)  goals for our future. 2009 was full of new-found interests, change, as well as ups and downs. The frequency of my Twitter posts surpassed my blog posts. I used LinkedIn in bold new ways to enhance my professional network–which led to many unexpected and engaging experiences such as speaking engagements, reconnecting with many old friends, interesting business propositions, a Twitterview with a European blogger, inquiries from executive recruiters, participation with charity organizations, and connecting like-minded people together.

In reviewing my year-end Google Analytics reports for JonSamsel.com, I was surprised to see which of my blog posts rose to the top of my ‘page view top 10 list.’ I share with you my top ten posts for 2009 in order of popularity.

1. 5 Ways to Take Advantage of a LinkedIn BETA Tool: Company Profiles - I had no idea when I published this post that it would be my most popular post (by far) for 2009. I think it was simply the right post at the right time, helping people figure out how to use LinkedIn in a new way. Nearly everyone I know uses LinkedIn and I love the service. So I guess when you write about a subject you are passionate about, it comes out in the final piece and people pick up on that vibe.
2. 7 Ways to Leverage LinkedIn to Expand Your Social Network -Similar in scope and tone as my number one post for 2009, this post zeroed in on the social networking capabilities of LinkedIn.
3. The Best Social Media Monitoring Tools Used by Today’s Top Creative Agencies & Brands - I had fun writing this post because it was my chance to share some of the tool I use on a daily basis with all of my readers. They responded by reading this post in droves. The other aspect about this post that I love is how it profiles several new start-up firms. It’s always nice to be able to talk about small companies before they hit it big.
4. The Twitter Effect: How 140 Character Micro-Blogging Can BeneTweet Your Company - I write this post just as I was getting up to speed on how companies could benefit from using Twitter. Obviously, many of my readers found value in the the article as well. Note to readers: I have seen the word ‘BeneTweet’ used several times since my original post, a combination of the words Benefit and Tweet. Nice to know it’s still possible to coin a term now and then. Note to self: Not 100% sure I was the first person to use the term BeneTweet, but at the time, I did think I was being somewhat unique.
5. 15 Ways to Promote Your Book -When I first started my blog back in Oct 2008, I focused more on writing and design topics than I do today, since so much of my early career was spent working as a writer and editor. I am always happy when I can assist other writers publish and promote their work. This article was my way of providing some helpful utility to scribes everywhere.
6. Retweet: Harnessing the Word of Mouth Marketing Power of Twitter - Another post about a Twitter topic, when I was fast discovering the in’s and out’s of the platform. So much has changed since then — it feels like this article is very dated even though it’s only 10 month’s old!
7. 10 Step Process for Designing a Landing Page that Delivers Results - This is another post I enjoyed sharing with my readers. Landing page optimization is such a special skill set that very few marketers have mastered, yet it’s a critical component for any online marketing campaign looking to achieve ROI success.
8. Hope Springs Eternal: An Interview with Amy Neumann - In 2009 I had the pleasure of interviewing Amy Neumann, a member of the Capital Campaign Committee for Hope Gardens, a charitable ministry of Union Rescue Mission. It was an uplifting piece, a bit out of the ordinary for my blog, but I was determined to help Union Rescue Mission in some way. I can recall telling Amy about the possible benefits of using Twitter — and recently I saw Amy had amassed a following of over 11,000! Go, Amy, go!
9. Social is the New Search - One of my favorite blog posts of 2009 made it into the illustrious top 10 list. I wrote the post after seeing first hand the impact that social media conversations were having on the SEO efforts of major brands. Unfortunately, most brands still don’t seem to have headed the message. But there is always 2010 for a time of awakening!
10. 30 Ad Agencies Ranked By Heardable Score - I really enjoyed creating this post as well. I had been turned on to a new start-up called Heardable a few weeks prior and I really wanted to put their brand scoring tool to the test. What amazed me was how poorly the top creative firms were doing in the area of online marketing. They were preaching to others but failed to practice what they advocated. The stats in the article were shocking — and I received several alarming emails from concerned agency staff who tried to refute the article. I stick by my every word.

I was reading a sarcastic (and slightly sad) blog post today about a gal who lost the entire contents of her blog after a catastrophic server failure happened while she was ‘upgrading’ her blog to a more ‘robust’ and costly ISP solution.

While reading, I had to cringe because I really feel her pain. Something similar happened to me once when I lost 90% of my blog content when some lowly server administrator inadvertently deleted the content on a remote hosted server because he thought that shiny piece of hardware wasn’t being used.

Needless to say, upon hearing the news, I was devastated!

Thankfully, I had set up an RSS feed to my own blog via Google Reader, so I had an electronic copy of all my entire site content (plus all my images) for every blog post I had published over the prior 18 months. Yes sir, there is a God.

With a little technical assistance, I was able to export all my blog posts and import them back into Wordpress as soon as my new server (on a different ISP) was up and running. All I had to do was go in and reassign dates for each post, plus add back deleted hyperlinks. A pain, no doubt, but something I was more than happy to do considering the circumstances.

Who knew Google Reader and RSS feeds were every blogger’s secret backup weapon? I didn’t. So now I pass this nugget of knowledge on to you, my young padawons (Jedi backup apprentices). If you need an inexpensive backup and archiving service for your blog, set up an RSS feed and save it into a reader and you may just thank your lucky stars one day.

I was recently invited to be part of a private beta for a new brand optimization/analytics platform called Heardable. The new service measures how well a brand is doing online, issuing a Heardable Score for every URL you scan into their tool. There is even a comparison scan tool that allows users to scan up to five domain names at once.

The platform examines over 40 unique on-site and off-site brand variables, including a website’s code, inbound links, usability, social brand presence, mobile readiness, and other unique characteristics. The highest possible Heardable Score that can be achieved is 1000. A score between 401-600 is average.

The tools on the site are very cool, with results displayed via an attractive AJAX interface that slides in and out to reveal more detailed information when prompted. My assessment after about one hour of use: Heardable is an extremely functional, insightful, and highly addictive platform that will surely appeal to online marketers. By addictive I refer to the fact that I couldn’t stop scanning URL’s that popped into my head. I wanted to see how each brand scored.

Perhaps the best part of Heardable is The Heardable 100, a ranked list of the top 100 Heardable Scores by brand. You may be surprised by which brand is currently ranked #1. (Hint: It’s a popular celebrity gossip site whose name is a play on socialite, Paris Hilton). According to the company founders, the Heardable platform will soon add hundreds of thousands of pre-ranked lists of brands, by category, which will be a very helpful (and time saving) research tool.

I think brand managers and C-level marketers are really going to like Heardable because it’s an easy way to measure how one brand is performing against a competitor, across multiple variables, plus providing drill-downs into exactly how and why one brand is doing better than the other. Kinda like opening the hood of your competitor’s brand and seeing their online strategy in action. Sweet!

So I decided to examine one category of brands that is near and near to my heart — advertising agencies. After, all, one might assume that the top creative minds in the land would have built websites that truly showcases their talents — both creatively and functionally. After all, they are pitching online marketing strategies and tactics every day to clients (and potential clients). Surely their own sites would have higher than average Heardable Scores, right?

Sadly, my scans revealed just the opposite. Instead of stellar scores, most creative agencies fell into the ‘poor’ or ‘below average’ range. Not what most of us would expect from today’s top-tier marketing agencies. Note to agencies: Don’t let your clients use this tool or you may be in trouble!

To put things into perspective, everyday brands scored better than expected — with higher Heardable Scores than most creative agencies I tested.

• Sears.com (573)
• Weightwatchers.com (531)
• Brides.com (442)
• Airtran.com (438)

Hat’s off to R/GA, an integrated, interactive agency that seems to practice what they preach with a Heardable Score of 537. R/GA had the best score of all agencies I scanned.

Here is a list of the advertising agencies that I scanned, rank ordered by Heardable Score. Any surprises? Be sure to Tweet about it.