Michael Roebuck's Blog

As many of you know, Karl Ribas is getting married in a couple weeks. Congratulations to him and his lovely new bride. I heard through the "Twitter" vine that Karl recently had his bachelor party. That's nice. But why wasn't I invited?? I'll tell you why, Karl kept this day quiet because he knew he would be in for it. Let me explain....

Karl likes to play the occasional joke. Well, we all like the occasional joke. Take the following pictures:

For my birthday one year, my office was neatly packaged:


My iconic bobbing head doll was modified and outed my drag days:


My Therapy Buddy committed suicide:


And the list goes on. And on. And on.

With Karl being one of the masterminds behind all my troubles, My wife and I were looking forward to his bachelor party. We were looking forward to seeing Karl enjoy one of his last weekends of singlehood. We wouldn't be mean about it, oh no. We wouldn't have let him get arrested for peeing in public or anything juvenile like that. We had better things in mind: Like having him wake up in another state. And if we could swing it, fly him to that different state.

I have even heard rumors of local dancing establishments that put on quite a show for bachelors soon to loose there single title.

Was Karl scared to let us know he was having his bachelor party? From the pictures he's posted on Twitter, I'd say he didn't sit around the house with his friends playing Go Fish!

I say he was scared that he would be led around stage with a dog collar while dancing girls sat on his back. He was scared that another establishment would whip him with a steel studded belt and write good luck messages about him in places he couldn't reach with a sharpie. I say he was scared that he would have such a good time that he would forget what happened until the pictures were posted on this very blog! Ah ha! That's it! He knew Carrie and I would be there with cameras in hand waiting for the perfect picture that would immortalize him forever. Does such a picture exist?

Well, Karl. Let me tell you something. You don't cheat Carrie and I out of potential well thought out plans. You ain't married yet!

18 days my friend.

Labels: bachelor, karl, ribas

My good friend and co-worker, Karl Ribas was recently interviewed by Joe Balestrino with Mr. SEO. I'm a bit behind in my podcasts and finally got to hear his interview this morning. It was a great discussion about PPC advertising. As with every great discussion, I feel my two cents worth will only make them better. So, as you listen to this great podcast, here is my 2 cents worth....

1 Cent: My first cent involves the ability to run A/B tests with Google Adwords. Joe briefly stated the ability was there but I feel that topic needs more time. The ability to run an A/B test will help virtually every aspect of PPC advertising, from landing page design to ad copy. When asked what to avoid in ad copy, Karl mentioned each business was different. Well, how can you tell what works for your business if you don't run A/B tests? Google make the ability to test so easy, that not to test, is a crime. Changing one word in your ad can make a big conversion difference. (Karl mentioned Rob Snell; Our friend and Yahoo Store conversion expert) By running against a control, you can guage just how much of a difference you'll get.

By testing different landing pages within same viewable ad, you can test various aspects of your landing page copy. Yahoo trackable links make testing not only your ads but the landing pages easy as pie!

By the way, Yahoo Search Marketing also allows for ad copy A/B testing as well.

In short, the ability to do A/B testing is easy to do and a necessity. Call me (or Karl) if you get stuck or need any help.

2 Cent: My second cent involves Karl's comment about his use of Yahoo Search if he wanted to buy something and Google search if he was researching. I think he's wrong. Some people might say that different people search using different engines and different styles, but since he doesn't follow my style, he's wrong. (Joke)

I search differently. If I'm looking to buy something, I use Google Adwords because those people are paying for the ad and therefore want to sell something. If I'm researching, I use the organic results and Alta Vista. I like to read reviews on Amazon or other sites where people review. Organic results are chock full of independent reviews on why something is good or bad.

For example, Kelly sold me on the Cingular Blackjack phone. Before I buy, I want to see other reviews so I search Google for "Cingular Blackjack" and read the organic results showing me various opinions and reviews that have been published. When I'm ready to buy, I click on the paid links. Alta Vista provides good organic results as well.

OK. There you have it. My 2 cents worth on Karl's interview with Mr. SEO. Please be sure to listen to the Podcast and all Joe's podcasts as they are very educational and informative for the seasoned SEO person as well as the do it yourselfer. It's full of legitimate information and not fluff about what the speakers did over the weekend. Karl's blog is great as well! Check them both out:

Karl Ribas Blog

Mr. SEO

Labels: balestrino, google, karl, ppc, ribas, seo, yahoo