Search Featured: Tali Shapiro from Marketer Review

Tali Shapiro from Marketer Review came onto the SEO scene just recently, but already made an impact. She is one of the hot new people I intend to interview as I come accross them. Here are my questions and what she had to say. Enjoy!

Mike: Tali, back in the days I have made a lot of mistakes, for example I didn’t get the good domains I could have. I also underestimated my own value when it comes to SEO for example.Now it seems like everyone is catching on and there is not much more room to do anything significant or monumental when you’re new to either industry. What do you believe the next hot thing or best kept secret is when it comes to the future of online marketing?

Tali: - I think everyone in a creative line of work get these doubts. And don’t kid yourself- business is a creative line of work. You can’t reinvent the wheel- You can only improve it. Thinking about the abundance of whatever’s out there will only depress you. I know a lot of top business gurus (and I say that with complete respect) are screaming “innovation” , but usually that would require a lot of resources. For me, personally, as a customer, I’m missing good service and meticulously customized products (yes, long tail is the way to go for small businesses). Also, a saturated market doesn’t equal a quality market. Take the ebook, for example (I know it’s far from saturated, at this point), I’m dying to get one- let me rephrase: I need one. Why haven’t I just bought one, you ask? Because the product just isn’t good enough yet. All these companies are pretty much doing the same thing, some do it better than others, but as a customer, who compares merchandise on the web, I gotta’ tell ya- Public opinion is 50-50.
Which brings me to “the next hot thing”. This is no secret- we all know it, the net is going social and it’s going mobile. Imagine Paris Hilton going shopping. All of a sudden, she’s hit with a striking dilemma: The blue Manolo Blahniks or the red ones? Whatever shall Paris do?! Quite simply, Paris will take out her iPhone, connect to StyleFeed.com and ask all her friends, real or virtual, what lady-killers she should by. Of course no euphoric orgy of a shopping experience, will ever be complete without Twittering pre/mid/post coitus. Innovation-wise (the hard part), if you can create a web/phone application that is simple and social, you can own a piece of the nearest future. Improvement-wise, you could monetize it, simplify it, make it more customisable or have it work with other already established systems (here’s a thought: what I wouldn’t do for an all-social-network-encompassing browser bar that can inform me of what I want to know.)

Mike: On http://www.marketerreview.com I have noticed that you have a good eye for what is fresh and new and worth reading on other people’s sites. Which blog post or piece of information you have featured has made the biggest impact on you and your readers and why?

Tali: The most amazing ebook I read, was definitely the Clutrain Manifesto. It’s the Jules Verne of business models. They knew it all 10 years ago. Speaking of innovating, many businesses would gain the world, if they just opened forums, where their customers can gripe and moan and wish for improvements. The Cluetrain pack suggested it a decade ago. And it’s free, god bless them.
There’s also Yaro Starak’s Blog Mastermind program. It ain’t cheap, but it’s worth it. Starak really understands teaching. He breaks it all down, so you can’t go wrong. I also love his approach to business, which is all heart (80-heart/20-mind ). I guess that just personally resonates with me. I take my time when I write, and I want my work to be quality (it’s also a writing portfolio!).

Mike: Tali, one thing I have noticed is that we are entering the era of fusion meaning that designers learn SEO, domainers start using their domain for more than landingpages and internet marketers are starting to understand the importance of branding.Do you believe that this trend will continue and where do you see it leading us?

Tali: You found the perfect person to ask that I’m an artist, who became a coder, who turned designer, who transformed into an SEO socialite. In my case, and many other small entrepreneurs’ case, it’s the reality of starting from scratch on a shoestring budget. And if us, younglings don’t get all this- it will, in fact, be our downfall, because we won’t be able to compete. I think a better label for this “trend” is “evolution”. This is what it takes to be the fittest, now. To most of us, who have been in business for even a short while, it’s obvious you need a team. Or at least a hired hand to ease the strain of parts of the job you don’t like, or are simply not good at. Not that it’s impossible to work alone, it’s just healthier - for you and your business.

Mike: I am seriously amazed with the skills some kids out there have, like this guy:http://getranked.searchfeature.com/index.php?topic=55.msg276#newI also know that many of the young ones have some serious hacking skills and I wouldn’t be surprised if an 8 year old takes down a major bank’s website in a few years. How do you believe society will change thru the power that the internet is going to enable younger and younger kids to have over some serious adult business?

Tali: This kid (if he really is who he says he is ) is obviously gifted. That helps in any endeavor in life. This thought is like the aforementioned ”every thing’s been done” thought. It’s depressing and disproportionate to reality. There’s always someone brighter/more skilled/younger out there, but that’s not your short-coming. This kid probably has someone he adores, envies and fears. You forget that 8 year olds have some other skills they need to learn. One bank-hacking second grader doesn’t make anyone obsolete. It’s true that today’s generation is born into this world, while we’re still having sentimental debates about film Vs. Digital camera. What I’d be thinking about, is how to accommodate this virtual world to their needs, because they’re the heavy users, while we’ll still be cuddling up to a paper book. We can free the internet, make it safe, and create tools for us to interact with them, or we can sit in the corner, shaking of fear, when our baby’s first word is “BorderGatewayProtocol” .

Mike: I have to bring it up, you are one of the sexiest SEO girls in the world now. Can we get a speech now?

Tali: I’d like to thank my good-looking and able-minded parents for getting down that night.

Mike: What would you say if I told you that in a few weeks Steve Forbes is going to give us an interview and what would you like us to ask him on your behalf?

Tali: I’m a liberal humanist, border on anarchist, you sure you want an answer to that.

Mike: Have you gone to any internet marketing conventions and if so, what do you think about them and what do you think could be done to improve them?

Tali: Unfortunately, I live in israel, so the people I’d like to see speak, are currently out of my reach. In Israel I know there are conferences, but there are no real teachers to follow, at this point. One day…

Mike: Monetizing on traffic, it seems that quite a few people have minimal traffic but get maximum results and vice versa. Is there one major mistake you can point out that people make when trying to gain financially from their sites?

Tali: There are really only two mistakes one can make in monetization, all the other problems pretty much stem from that. The first is nat having the balls to charge- you never know if you never try. The second is not testing what you do. Testing is the equivalent of listening. If your audience isn’t clicking the add/buying the product/subscribing to the newsletter, they are telling you something- listen.

Mike: In the future there will still be an opportunity for newcomers to generate a good income online without investing financially. True or false?

Tali: I believe the future is here (but you better be damn gifted and damn willing to work your ass off)

Mike: Which internet marketing guru to you consider least worth paying attention to?

Tali: It really is a personal matter. I think the word “mentor”, which has been beaten to a pulp in this industry, has a lot of truth to it. When you pay someone to teach you, he better be worth the money.
In the realm of free information, I’d stay away from the big guys; Schefren, Filsaime, Morin. It’s not that their material is no good, it’s just so salesy, you can miss the tips, buy into their fear tactics and pay them thousands of dollars, which just isn’t necessary. Most these guys aren’t real amazing thinkers. They know the tricks of the trade and that’s enough for them and it fuels their passion. For some people. it’s all they ever wanted. For me, and many others, it’s not about being a millionaire (not that I’d refuse a wad of cash ), that’s why their tactics don’t get to me. I don’t want to have killer anything, explode stuff or annihilate the competition. I believe in a community and I believe in making my customers happy and I believe I deserve to be able to live off of that.

Mike:Can you name a few blogs and sites that you think are real in a sense that those reading them do truly learn what they need to and do you have a foolproof approach for those who want to study internet marketing and have little knowledge to help them differenciate genius from bogus?

Tali: The truth about blogs is that its the best way and the worst way to learn. Blogs are really the same 10 articles said in hundreds of different ways. In The Marketer Review, I give the same insights over and over again- the subjects I review are really just the vihicle. Never the less, some are, in fact, better than others. I swear by Yaro Starak, Problogger, CopyBlogger (that’s got a very unique angle to it) and Chris Garret, but that’s because I’m a content oriented blogger. I read once that John Chow should be read backwards. It’s true to all blogs: The first articles are more focused.

Nothing is foolproof, I think a learning mindset is key. Most of us are over 13, we don’t necessarily want to learn and we don’t necessarily use the internet. First, learn to use Digg, Stumble upon. Facebook. Learn how people use these systems in their life. I did this backwards (most of us do): I never used these things and frankly, I was quite paranoid about my name and picture on line- I still am. I also didn’t see the point of talking to strangers and frankly- I still don’t .

While you’re learning what the internet is for, you also need to learn internet marketing. The first thing you need to do is promise yourself you won’t buy anything, because you’re entering a wasteland of long-copy sales letters and half assed software. Just your confusion will compel you to buy. Don’t. There’s free stuff all over the place.

Prepare yourself for a long ride. I started studying this stuff a year and a half before I actually opened my business. Today I study even more. The good news is, the more educated you get, the better you’ll get at identifying bullshit. I recommend you start with blogs, because you’ll need one anyway. Read a lot, soon enough you’ll start to discover patterns- coals all look the same- diamonds each have a uniqueness to them… you’ll see. The more you read, the more you get the birds-eye view. A bird’s eye view, lateral thinking, seeing the biggest picture possible- call it what you will, it’s the most important trait you need to adopt, in order to grow, and entrepreneurship is only possible with growth.

I do recommend reading a few “reports” by the big gurus, because you get a very clear picture of what a hard-sale is and what classic sales methods are (and those will be relevant for as long as the economy and society continue in it’s current structure)- for me there’s a lot of what not to do, in these reports, as well.

Mike:
Who are your biggest influences when it comes to search marketing?

Tali: Contrary to my sexiness in the field, I feel the whole SEO issue is way overrated. I read Google, WebProNews And the Roundtable, but not on a regular basis. There’s just no real news on this. I’m a Stompernet fan and they make the really useful observations, but it rarely dominates the execution of my sites. There are basic things that are crucial, but people seem to forget that google is a tool. In the end it’s about content and credibility. So if you have what people want and you’ve been there for longer than your competitors and your site is bigger (more pages), you’ll get there, no matter what. I’m a big believer in building up your passion, and not building until you’re passionate. Everything I’ve ever done in this business proves it to me.