There are times in life that I sit and look and things just for fun and then there are times in life that I want to through the computer across the room while looking at those same types of images.

The difference is when I’m looking at someone else’s screw up and when I’m getting a client pointing out one of our screw ups.
Below are a couple screw ups that were done by someone else and found on websites like http://photoshopdisasters.blogspot.com

My guess is that there was not enough room for her arm so they just cut it off.

Where I come from the reflection lines up with the image a little differently than it does here.

This was no screw up, it was a work of art.

Just how many hands do most humans have?

I think I was shorted.

I wonder if you get a refund if you don’t get to see both sunsets?

Now this one came from http://abduzeedo.com/absurd-photoshop-disasters but I have to wonder, does he or does he not have on a jacket?

What the heck is this website selling?

Porn for kids?

Brand Promotion

I guess everyone knows about Aaron’s article on Google pushing brands in their ranking algo. Aaron basically showed search results were airlines that didn’t rank for airline tickets began ranking right after Eric Schmidt (Google CEO) had made comments like.

The internet is fast becoming a “cesspool” where false information thrives, Google CEO Eric Schmidt said yesterday.

Speaking with an audience of magazine executives visiting the Google campus here as part of their annual industry conference, he said their brands were increasingly important signals that content can be trusted.

“Brands are the solution, not the problem,” Mr. Schmidt said. “Brands are how you sort out the cesspool.”

“Brand affinity is clearly hard wired,” he said. “It is so fundamental to human existence that it’s not going away. It must have a genetic component.”

Aaron went on to show how well recognized diet programs began ranking for diets and the list goes on and on.

A lot of people in the SEO industry laughed it off as nothing more than Aaron trying to get people to link to him. But then Matt Cutts came out and said yes, it is true.

The big question is how is the algo determining what is and what is not a brand?

SEO and Conversion

Under normal circumstances, I’d do my best to stay out of debates like the one currently going on over at WWS.

It’s not news that SEO’s have problems rankings sites nor that clients get upset and want their money back.

SEO’s spend years honing their skills, planting links and trying to run the perfect SEO campaign.

But what happens when all they’ve learned isn’t enough?

Should the client take the full hit due to the SEO’s inability to rank their site?

SEO is an industry that must adapt to new challenges faced each day.

As the internet grows the search engines are forced to update and change the way they rank sites. And the SEO has to tweak and make the changes they think will be the most beneficial to the end user and client.

Likewise they should target keywords that are going to convert, it’s all about usability and conversion.

There are no guarantees when it comes to SEO and I guess I can live with that but what really bothered me was this;

SEO is no different than any other type of advertising.. You pay for advertising.. If it converts to sales or not is totally irrelevant to the issue..

I guess I have a problem with that.

Many SEOs feel like their job is nothing more than position.

Conversion is a lot harder to achieve, because the conversion is a function of position, title tag, description, design, text and call to action. Position alone is only one part of a much bigger picture.

If the SEO is not responsible for the conversion of the site then he also has no obligation to target keywords that he feels are going to convert.
However, the problem comes in at the end of the day when the client wants his money back because he did not get the desired affect he was looking for.

I guess in the real world if your graphics are good enough there is very little that needs to be said.

The ads pictured below prove that and shows that some big names in the electronic world believe this to be true as well.

But here’s the thing, it also works online.

If you’re willing to spend a few extra bucks you can get a web designer that can make your website speak without saying a word. Or you can nickel and dime your current web designer to death and hope for the best.