Carnival of the Capitalists

January 4, 2008

Happy Holidays! I’ve been on a bit of a holiday hiatus, but regular posting should be underway by Monday the 7th. This week’s Carnival of the Capitalists (for 12/31/2007) is up at SEO ROI. Of note:

Marketing & Copywriting

5 reasons Why Blogs & Content Marketing Beats SEO & PPC

His blogging methods are a bit unorthodox and I’ll have to disagree with him on his knowledge of site design, but I appreciate the spirit. I knew some SEO guy would take offense at it—it’s a given. But when you are building a brand instead of just padding your traffic, there are no magic tricks. You build your relationships (that lead to sales!) one person at a time; and a good relationship starts with quality content and a conversation with your audience.

Customer Service

Customer Loyalty Meets Rate Tarts

I had to read this one just for the "rate tarts" bit—what a fun little thing to quote. What I found in the article was the honest truth about how nothing is forever now, because loyalty is gone in the workplace and in consumer behavior.

Circuit City Reaps What It Sowed

I like this one because

It points out where the company (Circuit City) went wrong in their holiday planning by managing by numbers instead of by experience, and
It demonstrates that some retailers (Best Buy) can have excellent profits even in "recession years" if they are doing something right.

It also reminded me of the whole hilarious post of that guy arrested at Circuit City. Man, CC is sure on a roll for customer service!

Easy Return Policy Means Return Customers

For someone who seems to live online, I really never shop online. One of my biggest reasons for this is trying to return online purchases, which is why I thought Michelle Cramer’s article was right on point.