Well, I checked the SERPs this morning and once again PoolDawg is once again ranked #1 for some key terms that I frequently obsess over.  I turned off the personalized search option, checked the datacenters, and sure enough, we were still at the top of the list for “pool cues” as well as some other search terms that seem to be decent traffic and conversion drivers.  The question of course is whether or not this even matters anymore.

A few months ago, the almighty G changed the way they serve results, basing them on personalized search history rather than solely on the famous algorithm.  If you do a search and click on the link in the upper right hand corner that says “web history”, you’ll be taken to a page that looks like the screenshot below:

When you get there, you’ll notice that your search activity customization is defaulted to the “enabled” position.  What this means is that the search results you’re seeing have been rearranged to better mesh with your search patterns and history.  In other words, what I see may be very different than what you see when you search.

From an SEO standpoint, what this really means is that there is no true #1 anymore.  If you turn off the customization, you can see the unaffected results, but the average searcher wouldn’t ever do this.  The base algorithm results clearly still have a huge impact on what you see, but the days of truly being #1 seem to be over.

As an online marketing professional, I have very mixed feelings about this.  The SERPs have been an easy measuring stick for years.  On the other hand though, it frees me up to obsess over other things like how to implement guerrilla marketing tactics to get more exposure for a ceramic bulldog named Frank T. Dawg.

I’m a marketing guy, so I’m supposed to love every new gadget that helps me reach customers, right?  Well, I’ve tried dating Twitter for a while now, and all I can say is that I’m just not that into it.  I get the idea behind it, even if I think the concept preys on the laziness in all of us.  I’ve seen way too many people I respect use SMS shortcuts and godawful English simply because they want to tweet but are constrained by the 140 character limit.  If you have to use abbreviations like h8, b4, gr8 and l8r to fit your statement into the Twitter confines, maybe you should be blogging your feelings instead.

Yes, I do get the purported purpose of Twitter.  It’s microblogging.  You say what’s on your mind and you’ve got 140 characters to do it.  Now it might just be me, but I have a lot of trouble communicating anything in 140 characters or less.  Plus, it seems that 90% of the people actually “tweeting” (can I tell you how much I hate that new inductee in the dotcom lexicon), are nothing more than spammers and bots.  I keep an eye on Twitter for company reputation management purposes, but almost every single tweet is nothing more than an affiliate announcing a coupon (most of which are bogus by the way.  As a general practice, PoolDawg rarely puts out coupons other than our bounceback mystery gift coupon and the coupon that Sarah Rousey gives out).

This brings me to my next dilemma – if I really do hate Twitter (which I do), why do I feel the need to tweet?  After all, the company does have a Twitter account and I do post to it every now and again.  Because I see no real use for it though, our tweets have devolved to being nothing more than sales announcements.  Sometimes we use it to run WPBA scores for Sarah’s matches when she’s playing, but mostly it’s nothing more than sales announcements.

I’ve tried asking people what they want us to use Twitter for.  I’ve tried asking other people in the ecommerce world what they use Twitter for.  No one seems to have a good answer.  Everyone seems to be doing it “because they have to” and to be honest, I can’t blame ‘em.  In fact, the only good thing I’ve seen from Twitter since it’s inception is the guy who does the “shit my dad says” tweets.  And even those aren’t very funny anymore.

Oh, and in case you’re wondering why I’m in a foul mood, it’s probably because of this:

Yes, that is my tooth.  Well, actually it’s part of a crown that cracked over the weekend.  It’s been a while since I’ve been punched in the jaw, but from what I recall, it felt about the same as how I feel now.  Sadly, while I didn’t tweet it, I did the Facebook equivalent after I got home.  Apparently if I’m in pain, it’s my Facebook/Twitter duty to make sure everyone knows it.  Thankfully though, my awesome/loving/sympathetic/wonderful wife decided to run to the store to get supplies for another batch of matzah ball soup since I can’t chew.

I was over at my buddy Samm’s blog seeing what she had to say and she’s got a post up talking about Brunswick’s new promotion.  You can find it here, but the basic deal is that you can win a trip to Vegas, lunch and a lesson with Ewa (Brunswick’s sponsored player) or a chance to win $100,000 by making a 9 on the break.

Now knowing how people are, I’m sure the question is going to come up.  Typically it goes something like this: “Why is Brunswick giving away $100,000 when they won’t sponsor the WPBA which would be far less expensive?”.  Before anyone get’s too upset with Brunswick, I wanted to explain how these contests work.  If someone snaps a 9 on the break and wins the $100k, it will not cost Brunswick anything more than they’ve already paid for their contest insurance.  There are companies that will sell you insurance on a contest like this for a couple hundred bucks.

Say I was running a golf tournament and I wanted to do a special where the top 4 finishers then got to participate in, let’s call it “Mike’s $100,000 hole in one shootout”.  Each of the four golfers gets one shot at a hole in one.  The first one to hit it wins a cool $100k.  Now I don’t personally have $100,000 to give away, so instead I get in touch with a company like US Hole In One.  I cut them a check for $400 ($100 per attempt), and they insure my contest.

Now if I’m really smart, I’ll contact a local company and see if they want to sponsor the event.  Say I get First Bank give me some money to call it the First Bank Hole in One Shootout.  Then I can defray 100% of the costs of the contest.  If someone makes the shot, the insurance company pays the winner.  If no one makes the shot (and no one ever does), they make $400 (which I have covered through my co-sponsor).  The contest costs me nothing and everyone loves me for running it.

I’m guessing that this is the sort of thing that Brunswick is doing with their $100,000 snap the 9 contest.  One person gets the chance to snap the 9 on one break.  If they do, they win the cash, if not, they still get the lunch and lesson with Ewa, airfare, hotel and $1,ooo cash.  It’s a great, low cost promotion that’s going to generate a huge number of leads.

Here’s how you can break down the costs and see the logic in this promotion:

• Airfare – Figure about $500 or so
• Hotel – Figure the Riv, maybe a couple hundred bucks
• Signed Book and DVD – Maybe $30
• Lunch with Ewa – Another $100 or so
• $1,000 spending money will actually cost $1,000
• Sweepstakes insurance – Probably about $100

Grand Total: ~ $2,000

Now make the assumption that they’re going to probably get at least 5,000 entries to this contest, you’re looking at a CPL of $0.40 per name.  The more names they get, the better the CPL becomes.  At 10,000 names, the CPL drops to $0.20, at 20,000 names, you’re looking at a cost of $0.10 per name.  These names are then used for promotional purposes.  If they can get a handful of these folks to buy one of their products (a pool table, a bowling ball, a boat, etc), they’re in like Flynn.

And that my friends is how this game works.