News

March 4, 2020 By Bill Hunt

A Tragic Tale of Sexual and Domestic Abuse

I’ve been in touch with my cousin today, and want to do my best to help the poor woman in this , quite frankly, distressing situation. Please take a few minutes to listen to the audio file, and read her story.

Emilys Story (Name Changed)

“My heart was dark and empty and I’d built my walls up high, we had been friends a long time and I trusted you. How wrong could I have been?

I slowly allowed you to be more than just a friend, you made me laugh, smile we got on so well and you were always full of compliments.

We slowly progressed to a bit more than friends but things needed to be kept private between me and you I wasn’t ready for another heartbreak. For a time you were happy with that. Until I was having a night out with the girls. Suddenly it had to become public knowledge and on social media. I wasn’t quite ready for that but reluctantly agreed as I know it made you happy. That was it! Everything had to be all over social media, little did I understand at the time i was part of some war…

Over time, you’d begin to laugh in my face telling me that you’d brag about our sex life to your mates and work colleagues. I felt humiliated that people were knowing private intimate details about me.

Days out, holidays birthdays and so on were ruined by your temper tantrums about sex. Your days off had to be spent with me constantly giving you sex otherwise you wouldn’t spend any time with me.

You started video calling me if you noticed my car wasn’t on the drive wanting to know where I was and if I didn’t answer I must have been shagging someone else right?! There were times where even your own kids would say” I don’t know why you bother with him the way he is with you”

You’d have nights out and tell me I have to leave the door unlocked have the kit on (stockings and suspenders were your favourite thing) legs spread and ready for you.

One particular night sticks in my head I was just drifting off to sleep then from nowhere you said” if I ever see you with another mad I’ll slit your throat. And that’s not a threat it’s a promise!”

Over time the sex got worse, you got so rough with me, you were almost twice my weight. You’d be that rough that the tears would fall. You’d stop and say “well I need to smash you” and once the tears had stopped you’d start all over again. The bottom half of my body always had bruises new and old each one a perfect imprint of each of your fingers where you’d squeezed me so hard.

The criticism started about my body, my stomach was too big and I needed to diet but of course there was never any flaws with yours…

Slowly I’d find out that you’d been meeting other women… people would tell me things or messages would come up o. Your phone…. over night all trace of me from your social media had vanished like I was never a part of your life. When you’d turn up at my house demoing dinner and sex your car would be hidden so no one knows you were here. More often than not I’d give into the sex demands to shut you up but you wouldn’t bath for days on end and the smell of you would make me heave.

One ocassion you turned up at my house drunk, kicking things, throwing things , calling me every name under the sun and I ended up wearing the contents of your take away before you fell asleep in my bed and I had the sofa..of course the next morning it never happened and you’d go home the. If I wasn’t going to give you hangover sex

We slowly stopped being seen out together why should we go out if there was going to be no sex when we got home? But when you did take me out you’d drive as fast as you could as you knew it terrified me, then look at me laugh and tell me you love winding me up as you know I’ll f**k better the next time we have sex.

The last time I ever let you have sex with me you were so rough I was praying you’d finish soon as the pain was unbearable but like you always said you had to hang on for as long as possible. That particular night I felt the warm of your spit on me and then laughing. Enough was enough. I felt ashamed, humiliated, degraded and worthless. Again it never happened.

Of course there were occasions that you were nice we’d go out there would be the odd gift here and there but then demand sex for it on the way home or at home.

The only other times you were really nice was when you wanted money out of me. As soon as you’d have it I got the silent treatment or the goal post as to when I’d get it back got moved.

You had me so low at times I often wondered if I wasn’t around anymore you’d finally be happy and I’d have done something right for once. These thoughts soon resolved when I pictured it happening and you laughing about it.

This is just a small part of my story, abuse isn’t always being beaten it comes in many forms, and took me a while to realise what was happening to me.

If you ever find yourself in a position like I was please take the steps to get out and be free. So that you can be happy again and slowly over time learn to love yourself again and heal from it.

No one has the right to hurt anyone in any way physical or emotional! Xxx”

Seeking help

If you, or anyone you know find themselves in this kind of situation, please seek help immediately. Be it from your local GP, local hospital, or call any one of the many helplines available.

The Samaritans

Call 116 123, day or night.

January 19, 2020 By Bill Hunt

Does paid traffic help SEO?

I’m a frequent visitor to Quora, a website where people post questions on anything from how to write a business plan to tips on feeding three-legged lactose intolerant llamas on the island of Bermuda between the months of April and May.

However, a question I came across today was – surprisingly – unrelated to llamas. It centred on SEO, and specifically the difference between attracting ‘paid visitors’ versus organic visitors.

It’s a well known fact that CTR (Click Through Rate) does greatly affect search engine rankings. A good value provider of ‘clicks’ is the California based company SerpClix, which allows you to specify the keyword phrase you want to be ‘known for’, and then you can actually choose the geographical location of your human – yes, human(!) ‘clickers’, which is a bonus, as gone are the days when google can be fooled by a warehouse full of workers in India fervently clicking to boost the rankings of a doll repair shop in Birkenhead.

Here is the Quora question, along with my answer:

What specific advantages do people searching on Google have on my website's search ranking have over paid visitors?

A website is like a brochure you’ve spent a lot of time writing and designing, that is left on the floor of your office. If no-one knows it’s there, no-one will look at it. It needs to be put in the hands of the right people who are interested in what it has to say.

So, the answer to your question depends what you mean by ‘paid traffic’. If you’re referring to ads, then in the long term they have no significant effect, and could, in fact, do a great deal of harm if visitors click on your ad leading to your website, and then don’t find what they are looking for, and leave immediately. This increases what is called your ‘bounce rate’. A big no-no for google.

This is like a celibate monk finding your leaflet which turns out to be a small-form Kamasutra – one would imagine that it wouldn’t hold a great deal of interest for him, and would be discarded (to his recycle bin), in haste.

In 2015, Google released something called RankBrain, which is now the most influential ranking factor, based mainly on ‘user’s behaviour signals’- that is how they react with your content, how long they spend on your website, what they click on, and what page they leave from. RankBrain is designed specifically to understand a user’s intent in order for google to serve them the best possible results.

The factors that google takes into account has changed over the years, from on-page content – specifically relevance related to the user search, then it gauged popularity – ie the number of backlinks. In 2011 this changed. Now, the RankBrain algorithm is based on user experience – it is designed specifically to figure out what the user wants. Google wants to provide a good experience, providing exactly (or very close to) what your visitor is searching for.

It therefore looks for ‘trust factors’. It watches every move you make – every single link you click on, how long you spend on a page, etc. It is trying to anticipate the reason for searching. Bounce rate has a negative effect because it signals to RankBrain that a user has had an unsatisfactory experience. You have to show RankBrain that your website is trustworthy enough for google to hand over its visitors.

So, the user behaviour signals being picked up by RankBrain boil down to the fact that sites with more clicks are being pushed higher up the rankings in google. You therefore need high quality user signals to send to google – an increase in clicks, the time spent on your site and reduction of bounce rate shows you are keeping visitors happy and that they are getting what they are looking for. Decipher your user’s intentions, and show google your site belongs at the top. High quality user behaviour sends signals that feeds back to google’s RankBrain which, in turn, does your website enormous good from an SEO point of view.

Google very often carries out ‘split-testing’ – it will take a site from page two, place it on page one for a limited space of time, and if the site fails to attract clicks, it ‘loses’ – and without radical action from the website owner, it will never appear on page one again. Indeed, it may even be pushed to page three. You have to earn your search signals and reduce bounce rate in order to show your site is worthy of a high ranking. It boils down to figuring out what your users want, and working hard to provide it.

There are a number of services, some that employ people to search for your site on google, and are paid to spend a certain amount of time browsing on random pages, exiting by a page you specify. There are other services that perform similar actions using a piece of software which can be installed on Macs, PCs and mobile phones. These services directly influence CTR (Click Through Ratio).

So long as you provide quality content, a user friendly experience, and most importantly, what users are looking for, increasing your CTR through one of these services is a ‘boost’ that many websites could (and arguably should) take advantage of.

Pictured, a llama-like bull terrier looking very happy with his SEO strategy and click through ratio.

December 13, 2019 By Bill Hunt

The Latest News from TopDog PR

November 28, 2019 By Bill Hunt

A Freelance PR Consultant’s Guide to Online PR and Social Media

Despite the lack of definitions in the sector, most brand owners and freelance PR consultants are beginning to take their online presence seriously. There’s little doubt over the power and accelerating popularity of Internet sites that allow consumers to share views and experiences about products and services.

This has accelerated with the growth in Internet usage, and media consumption has shifted to the mobile and the web. The first few search results on google build or destroy brand reputations. I can help you navigate this tricky area.

it’s a Socially-Networked World

“Social computing is not a fad. Nor is it something that will pass you or your company by. Gradually, social computing will impact almost every role, at every kind of company, in all parts of the world.”

Forrester Research, Social Computing – How Networks Erode Institutional Power, and What to do About it

The web has revolutionised the way brands and freelance PR consultants communicate with their audiences.

The modern consumer wields a great deal of power. People are talking constantly about brands on the Internet, and information travels fast. They write about experiences, and search engines then aggregate these opinions.

Conversations are going on about brands on a daily basis. The most powerful and trusted behaviour changer in existence is peer to peer communications. This is why many marketers and brand owners are recognising the value of this form of direct engagement.

Technology and social change have shifted the traditional power-base, taking control away from traditional media owners and placing consumers at the centre.

Participatory web tools and services aggregate information, shifting consumers from being ‘end-users’ to active participants in content, and therefore knowledge creation.

People talk about shared interests, which form a unified collective intelligence that has reorganised the relationship between producers and consumers.

The End of Mass Marketing?

Mass marketing is becoming an outdated concept. Traditional approaches to understanding customers and communicating with them are inadequate to form a relationship with the individualistic, wary and discerning Internet-savvy consumer.

The transition from marketing to collaborating means that the discipline will need to appeal to attitudes and emotions rather than demographics. Social media is incredibly powerful.

Whether you’re looking to raise awareness of your brand or shift negative comments from the first couple of pages of Google, I can help. As a UK freelance PR consultant, I can integrate digital PR strategy into an existing PR campaign, or delivering a standalone social media project.

There are many PR and marketing campaigns that would benefit from a digital strategy to reach new audiences in a more meaningful way. Consumers are looking for a ‘one-to-one’ authentic engagement.

Social media is now a mainstream phenomenon. It allows never seen before opportunities for building brand awareness, reputation management, and product evangelism.

For the first time, brands come alive, from a viral video on YouTube, to a CRM campaign on Twitter. I can advise you how best to listen, respond, and engage with your audience in a whole host of new and exciting ways.

Digitally Obsessed

I come up with a digital strategy and work with you on your SEO. I can produce quality video and audio content to help promote you or your brand across diverse media channels.

Your brand is no longer represented only on your website, amplified by blog posts and comments, customer reviews, forums and microblogging. Everyone who works on your business is potentially a brand ambassador – wherever and whoever they’re speaking to.

My Services include…

Online PR

I help tailor your message, tone of voice, and content to help achieve your desired effect, whoever you’re looking to engage with. I then analyse what’s said that might affect your brand.

Crisis Management

There is no editorial compass to substantiate fact from fiction on the Internet. Opinion is sold as objective fact. Due to the replicating nature of the media, the negative views of a vocal minority can easily be mistaken as fact.

We can help you to both address misinformation and inaccuracies, or advise you on the best way to handle your brand detractors.

Social media news releases

Media relations

Blogger outreach

Word-of-mouth campaigns

Online competitions and promotions

Websites & Blogs

Cost-effective SEO optimised website design and build

Campaign microsites

Blog strategy, creation and training

Content Creation and seeding

Podcasts

Video production

Event photography

Issues monitoring

Brand and buzz monitoring

Blog monitoring

Brand audits

Training

Social media / digital workshops

November 19, 2019 By Bill Hunt

The Rolls Royce of Hoodies

The Infiltrator Black from Location Clothing

As winter approaches, why not invest in this, Location Clothing’s Infiltrator Black. With the ‘Goggle Hood System’, four outer pockets with zip / stud button closures, water-resistance and orange quilted lining, it will provide extra warmth, it also provides distinctive street styling for trips to your local bank or building society.

Grab yours here.

November 19, 2019 By Bill Hunt

Are We All Brains in Vats?

Anyone who’s studied philosophy will probably be familiar with the ‘Brain in a vat’ debate.

In a nutshell, a disembodied brain is floating in a vat, inside a scientist’s laboratory. The scientist has arranged that the brain will be stimulated with the same sort of inputs that a normal embodied brain receives.

To do this, the brain is connected to a giant computer simulation of a world.

The simulation determines which inputs the brain receives.

When the brain produces outputs, these are fed back into the simulation. The internal state of the brain is just like that of a normal brain, despite the fact that it lacks a body. From the brain’s point of view, things seem very much as they seem to you and me. How could you know that you’re a brain in a vat? How can you distinguish the illusion from what is real?

Well, what is more interesting than the nature of reality and how that relates to how we perceive it?

If you’re not familiar, then have a read. Here’s a good article comparing the BiV phenomena to the discovery that you’ve been trapped in an apparently false reality in 90s film the Matrix.

November 17, 2019 By Bill Hunt

A Review Of Fateless (Sorstalanság)

Lajos Koltai’s harrowing film Fateless (Sorstalanság) is based on the semi-autobiographical novel of the same title by the Nobel Prize winning author Imre Kertész, who also wrote the screenplay. It is set in 1944, as Hitler’s Final Solution becomes policy throughout Europe.

The film follows the fate of 14 year-old György Köves from Budapest, who finds himself swept up by cataclysmic events beyond his comprehension; experiencing first Auschwitz, followed by Buchenwald and Zeitz concentration camps before returning to a very different home from the one he left behind.

Fateless cleverly explores the contrasts of the unity and brotherhood that developed between inmates of the camps with the sense of alienation that many experienced upon returning home when the war was over.

The film features many poignant scenes that, for me, sets it apart from other Holocaust films. One hypnotic example is a grueling roll call that has the prisoners stood outside for hours on end.

Lajos Koltai: “Kertesz has a phrase in the book about them standing there ‘like wind blowing through a forest’. I wanted these scenes because the difficult thing in the camp was not being beaten up or physically tortured, but the time spent in this place.

I had to realise this by using effects of music [by Ennio Morricone] and movement. I met a Hungarian dancer who specialises in showing the movements of the suffering or dying and I prepared a kind of realistic choreography with him. Morricone composed an ‘anthem of solitude’ for the sequence.”

Inevitably perhaps, the film has been compared to Schindler’s List, but in its favour, it lacks the melodrama. It also lacks the sentimental Hollywood schmaltz of Life is Beautiful. Indeed, it is its un-sentimentality that sets it apart, and for me, makes the film so powerful.

The other strength of the film is that as the viewer is drawn into the narrative, Koltai manages to turn the traditional Holocaust movie ethos on its head by asking not how we react to scenes of such horror, but instead, what it must be like to get so accustomed to such an environment that it becomes what its participants would regard as ‘ordinary’.

The acting throughout is excellent, notably that of Marcell Nagy who plays the lead role of György, who, despite maintaining the stoic belief that ‘there’s nothing too unimaginable to endure’, seems to physically waste away as the film progresses.

The cinematography is also faultless, and Ennio Morricone’s score adds another dimension to an already amazing film. But don’t take my word for it:

“exquisitely modulated and superbly mounted,”- Variety
“an extremely powerful piece of work.” – The Guardian
“I can honestly say it’s one of the most powerful and thought-provoking features I’ve seen this year.” – Time Out
“Lajos Koltai’s film ranks among the best nondocumentary cinematic treatments of the Holocaust yet produced.” – New York Times
“I was completely overwhelmed.”- Nobel Prize winning author Imre Kertész

November 17, 2019 By Bill Hunt

The Genius of Chris Cunningham

Chris Cunningham is a British video artist and music video director, best known for his music videos for electronic musicians such as Autechre, Squarepusher, and most notably Aphex Twin on videos for “Windowlicker” and “Come to Daddy“, and Björk‘s “All is Full of Love“. All were used in Chris’ chapter in Director’s Label.

He has also created art installations and directed short movies. He was approached to direct a movie version of William Gibson‘s cyberpunk novel Neuromancer; the project has been in development hell for more than two decades. In the 2000s, Cunningham began doing music production work, and has also designed album artwork for a variety of musicians.

November 17, 2019 By Bill Hunt

The Festival of all Festivals – Castlefest 2020

If you had to pick one festival to go to in 2020, why not avoid the run of the mill music festivals, and opt for something a little more diverse and give Castlefest a try?

Here is Castlefest’s official write-up:

“Imagine yourself in a completely different world at Castlefest, the Fantasy festival of the Netherlands. A fest for young and old, where, as soon as you enter the gates, you find yourself in the Other World. Castlefest is a total experience with lots of music, fantasy writers, themed catering, medieval crafts and a large market which offers everything a fantasy fan is looking for.

A large amount of bands are performing at the various festival stages, from Pagan Folk to World Music, from Medieval Rock to Indie. In short, for each music lover his own!

Castlefest characterises itself by a unique ambiance. This makes that regular visitors are looking forward to the next edition a year in advance. It creates a feeling where you find yourself in a completely different world, causing a daze and homesickness for weeks after the event took place.

The Castlefest-feeling is difficult to define, but something everyone needs to experience themselves. The highlight of the festival is the Wicker Ritual. Together with visitors, bands, exhibitors, entertainers, caterers and the staff you are living towards the moment the Wickerman is lit. The energy that is then released is a special experience that cannot be missed.

Castlefest takes place from July 30th till August 2nd 2020 at the Keukenhof Castle in Lisse.”

Don’t miss out, get your tickets here!

November 17, 2019 By Bill Hunt

Public Relations, Nonsense and Gobbledygook

Many Public Relations Agencies Talk Nonsense

Anti Jargon Campaign by Bill Hunt Public Relations

I laughed at a Facebook status update from friend and author David Meerman Scott:

“Gobbledygook alert!! Osskinteractive. What does this company do? “results-oriented, cost-efficient solutions…”

Too right. Some of us like to think that we can be relied upon for straight-talking…..at least as far as you can be in PR.

A few years ago, while working for the Village PR, I launched our own anti-jargon campaign. We sent out a 100% cotton facecloth embroidered with the message “The Only Flannel You’ll get from the Village”.

Anti-jargon campaign by Bill Hunt - Instruction Card Front

We could have launched the campaign thus: “The worlds leading global communications specialists today announced the launch of a unique multi-platform media relations service solution which enables companies to leverage the latest cutting-edge copy creation techniques in the transmission of its brand messages to segmented target audience groups.”

Instead, we put out a release alerting people to the level of corporate flannel we found when researching PR jargon, and launched a service for other PRs to send us their press releases to be re-written in English.

We also called a few business journalists and discovered that their most hated words were “global, first, leading, cutting-edge, solution, leverage, and end-to-end”. One also said that if they saw another CEO “delighted” or “pleased” to be announcing something they would hit someone.

Anti-jargon campaign by Bill Hunt - Instruction Card Back

So why do PR people do it? Our theory was that the PR industry is fundamentally insecure. Although what it sells is very powerful – a client’s ‘story’ told by the influential voice of the media – the problem is that you never really know how the media are going to treat your offering. As a result, it has cosseted itself with a language to aggrandise itself but also to obfuscate clients and journalists.

Coverage from the Anti-Jargon Campaign by Bill Hunt

The best example of PR industry pomposity we found was from Quentin Bell who wrote a book called ‘the PR Business, an insiders guide to real-life public relations (1991)’. In it he claims he was so unhappy with existing definitions of public relations that he came up with this to describe what QBO (his agency) did – “The identification, segmentation and persuasive interpretation of valid messages to key audiences, the results of which can be investigated against strategic objectives.”

He also took 3 words – identify, interpret and investigate – which he “packaged” into a special logo which he sold as “an operating system, a failsafe methodology of implementing all and every PR campaign”.

This from a company whose job is to help companies communicate.

Other sins occur when PR people are actively trying to get coverage. Some stories capture journalists’ imaginations and run and run and others, apparently similar, only make it as far as the bin. Difficult when you have clients who think they should be on the 10 o’clock news for the launch of a pen when there’s an international war going on. So the tricks of the trade are applied to make a story sound more important than it is.

“leveraging a robust solution”

A terrible example of the aggrandisement of a story with corporate-babble and jargon is this press release from a clay tablet company, found by Jeff Chappell writing for Electronic News:

“The world’s leading clay tablet company, Babylonian Tablet Corp., is pleased and excited to announce today that it is launching ClayMud [TM] , a new world-class tablet technology. Leveraging the company’s experience in mud-brick technology, Babylonian Tablet has developed a new industry-leading state-of-the art solution that will revolutionize cuneiform writing. By mixing clay from the Euphrates River with mud from the Tigris, Babylonian Tablet has developed a uniquely robust offering for royal scribes. ClayMud [TM] is softer than previous generations of tablet clays, allowing scribes to work more efficiently, while drying in half the time of competing clays, improving royal time-to-market by orders of magnitude lower.”

And here’s how it appeared in their trade magazine Cuneiform Weekly:

“Mud-brick and clay tablet maker Babylonian Tablet Corp. (BTC) recently rolled out its new ClayMud material for cuneiform tablets. ClayMud utilizes Euphrates River Clay mixed with Tigris River mud to produce tablet material that BTC claims is softer than previous-generation materials but cuts drying time in half.”

As Jeff points out “so much for leveraging a robust solution.”

When the issue is keeping something out of the media, PR people do the opposite. They play it down and issue a boring ‘holding statement’, hiding the really nasty news on page 4 of the press release.

This example is of a company trying to hide bad news in a dense tangle of jargon and was singled out by a writer on the Business Journal in the US: “Boston Scientific Corp. today announced a global operations plan to increase productivity and enhance innovation through a series of initiatives designed to improve supply chain effectiveness, strengthen manufacturing process control, and optimise the company’s network of plants.”

The real story was that they were cutting millions of dollars in operating costs, cutting 1,000 positions, closing several plants and shifting hundreds of jobs to Miami and Ireland.

“…intensify our focus on operational excellence and increase our commitment to innovation…”

CEO Jim Tobin was quoted saying: “This plan will enable us to intensify our focus on operational excellence and increase our commitment to innovation. This is a forward-looking plan (as opposed to all those useless backward-looking plans?) that says innovation is our future, and that we’re creating the opportunity to make the necessary investments to support innovation and a robust future.”

On the other hand, here is what Tobin told The Wall Street Journal: “It’s a lot easier to run fewer plants well.” Now that we can all understand. Why didn’t they say that in the first place?

The Gobbldygook Manifesto by David Meerman Scott

To help us through the nonsense jungle, David put together a handy ebook – The Gobbldygook Manifesto which you can download by clicking on the image.

The Gobbledygook Manifesto by David Meerman Scott

Talk about an all-in-one robust best-of-breed communications clarification solution.

And David was obviously thinking along similar lines here.