Bob's Blog

I was lucky enough to be able to spend the holidays in Holland touring the Windmills. We have been helping an offshore wind power company create their message on the web, and I wanted to immerse myself in some windmill history. The company, Blue Water Wind, has a wonderful mission of renewable energy with wind turbines, or as I like to call them ‘kinetic sculptures.’

I was enjoying a lovely day touring Holland and decided to end my walk at a pub and enjoy some dinner with a pint. While I was sitting at the bar, I saw this fabulously creative ad from Grolsch. Those of you who have grown up on the flip top cork bottles will have to get used to a new, more normal bottle. The ad was having fun explaining it following the now famous red paperclip story.



For those of you who don’t know the red paperclip story, Kyle MacDonald, or MacD as he likes to be called, started out with one red paperclip and used the power of social marketing to trade up until he got a lovely house in Saskatchewan, Canada.

From everyone at The Archer Group – We wish you health and happiness in 2007.

The Holidays are always such a fun, and frantic time. I usually get so busy looking for that special gift that I have little time to post. Today I spent the day here in Madrid’s Plaza Mayor, shopping for my dear friend and fellow blogger Dean Hunt. I was here with a friend and his small daughter Olivia. For the ultimate Madrid experience, you simply must take a trip to the Plaza. This public square is full of shops, cafes, and alfresco artists. Watch your wallet from buying too much or lingering pick pockets.
Dean and I first met at a search engine conference in London where I was giving a speech on topic based link building. After a few scotches, Dean and I exchanged email addresses and promised to keep in touch.

I got a short note from Dean a few weeks ago regarding a strange email he received. It seems that someone was unhappy that Dean’s blog was ranking higher in Google than the letter writer, and the letter writer wanted Dean to do something about it.

An excerpt:

“On Thursday morning I checked our google positions and your site is now above us for this term. I have checked your blog and it has nothing to do with [edited], so I think it would be best all round if you remove your blog from google for this search term.”

I almost covered the entire wall of my study with red wine when I read the note from Dean. Certain that this was some kind of joke, I called up Dean for a shared laugh. We both laughed, but then he said it wasn’t a joke at all. He forwarded the thread to me for further chuckles.

Here is an excerpt of Dean’s reply
“I had to re-read your e-mail three times to make sure my eyes were not playing tricks on me!

Here is some more info that may help you understand my stance on this:

a) I have never attempted to rank for the search term [edited], I seem to rank fairly well for [edited], which I suppose is fairly similar. But if Google prefers my site to yours then perhaps you should be asking yourself why that is.”

The guy continued his rant in a note back to Dean

“You have to understand Dean that an online business should be higher in Google than a blog.

Don’t forget that Google is a business as well, they obviously make more money from other businesses than they do from blogs, so it is in their interest that I am higher than you for certain searches.

I have also contacted my lawyer about this issue, so you should expect a letter in the post very soon.”

To think of this another way, this is as if Restaurant A was taking legal action against Restaurant B because Zagat ranked Restaurant B higher.

Read each letter at Deans Blog.

Sure, there is legal action warranted if someone is trying to use your trademarked terms to boost their ranking (I was an expert witness in the famous Playboy Ent. Inc. v. Calvin Designer Label et al. case tried in California court a few years back), but this isn’t the case here.

Before everyone starts suing those above them in the rankings, lets review some fundamentals for search engine visibility:
1- Do Search Engines know your site exists?
2- Can they get through your site?
3- Do you have a wealth of up to date relevant content?
4- Do other similar sites in your field of expertise link to you as a resource?
Focus on these items, not costly calls to lawyers.

Back to shopping, I found Dean a wonderful gift (which I won't share here of course) All I will say is that the Plaza was full of merchants selling gifts for the upcoming Día de los Inocentes on December 28th. For those who don’t know, upcoming Día de los Inocentes is a Spanish version of April Fool’s Day!

Ahhh… the Holiday season in New York. I have a tradition with a dear friend of mine, Mike Bloomberg, to get together on Black Friday and stroll the streets and talk about the year. Now that he is Mayor of the Big Apple we don’t get as much time together – not like the old days at Harvard (he’s a ’66 like me). We would spend time together as he rose through the ranks at Salomon – and I would lend him an ear when he started up Bloomberg financials (All I asked was that the news terminals he was creating, which are now found in every office on Wall Street, be called an Archer Boxes). Hell – I was one of his first 20 subscribers. A couple of years ago – when I was starting Archer – he said he was going to make a run for mayor – I still think I’m smarter Bloomie ;)


After stuffing myself at Gracie Mansion (I insisted), I retired to the Battery Park Ritz to prepare myself for my annual walk. Every Black Friday Morning we gage the economy by stepping out on the street’s of New York – judge the crowds, and judge for myself what the economy holds. While strolling in front of Versace’s place – a line of parents with little girls in the hundreds snaked around the corner of 49th, all with cute dolls. My curiosity got the better of me and I followed the line around to see where it led. All this excitement was for the The American Girl Place on 49th and 5th. American Girl dolls are more than just dolls, they are a lifestyle for girls. Having a niece who loves these dolls, I got in line and explored the store. Wow! Girls who already had dolls were waiting at the beauty parlor to get the doll’s hair done. The store even had a mini-hospital for repairing the precious dolls. Bloomie pointed out that the Ritz even had an “American Girl VIP Package” to complete the experience.



This highlighted to me the power of the brand experience. A visit to any toy store would show you aisles of dolls in all different shapes and sizes. American Girl has created a brand experience where the dolls are merely the entry fee into the brand. Competitors could replicate the doll, and maybe even the stores, but they can’t replicate what the kids want: The Brand. The key to avoid becoming a commodity for any product or service is to focus on creating that Brand experience valued by customers. The core product has to great, for sure, but over time that will be replicated. It’s the brand that lasts.

I picked up a beautiful doll for my niece along with a book that Bloomie picked up while in the store. It was the American Girl guide to finances. In it the authors explain stocks, bonds and more to girls, all with the wonderful American Girl brand. I quickly turned to the index to find Mike’s name, but to no avail. The book didn’t even mention the Archer Terminals. I told Mike that they were saving Bloomberg and Archer terminals for the next book!