But what is a conversion? Most of the time this refers to the point-of-purchase (when the sale actually processes), but that’s only the most obvious type of conversion. Technically a conversion is the point at which a user performs some predetermined action showing a positive value to the site’s owners. This certainly can be a sale, but email newsletter sign ups, facebook likes, social shares and other means of retaining the customer are perhaps more valuable (in the long run) than a single sale.

It all depends on what you value about your customers…if you sell to exclusively new customers every time you make a sale, then retention isn’t as big of a deal to you. However, most of us are pretty excited about customer retention.

So, we need to understand what makes a buyer ready to make a purchase, and how to orient ourselves to be the most accommodating. We need to understand what the difference is between visits that result in sales and those that do not. In short, we need to understand the context in which visitors arrive on our sites.

Context implies motivation and we have to assume that not every visitor is ready to buy. This really only leaves one conclusion as to the motivation of non-shoppers…that, for a time, they are more motivated to learn about the product than to buy it. In my opinion, most conversions come only after a visitor has received several impressions and over a period of time. For my clients, I would gamble that every purchasing user has seen at least 3 impressions before converting, on average.

Good marketing is essentially aggressive cusomer service…reaching out to satisy your customers’ needs before they realize that they need something. It’s not necessarily productive to beat down your customers by pressuring them for sales, or to design a site with only selling in mind.

More and more, Google is ranking sites that produce “fresh” (new) content better than those with “static” (unchanging) content. Greater traffic equals more conversions… more conversions means greater success. To be successful on the web today, it is very important to have a strong commitment to good quality content. Content will draw more visitors (when applied the correct way) and ideally is created to educate the user and motivate them to buy.

In Internet marketing strategies the educational process works in tandem with the selling process. Some users may land on your site ready to convert and designing a site with easy “call-to-action” buttons will accommodate users looking to make a quick purchase. For everyone else, the educational process gives you an opportunity to present a problem to viewers and a product or service that solves that problem for them. When done correctly, a high percentage of visitors that came to your site just to learn something will convert to customers (or subscribers or whatever fits your model) because of the education you provided.

Improve the success of your site by providing undeniable value to some of the millions of people looking for solutions online. Be gentle with your sales tactics and pay it forward to your web site visitors by providing informative content at least three times as often you push a product. By going over-the-top with free content you can build trust, demonstrate your value and convert those educated visitors to customers.

Since I left Granda, I’ve been hard at work trying to build my own brands, but it was at Granada that things started to take shape for me professionally. It seemed fitting and honestly, just comfortable, to celebrate the close of 2011 with my friends at The Granada Theater. Usually I’d rather see something new, go to a big party with big production or whatever, but this year I really just wanted to enjoy the company of good people I know in a ‘safe’ and bullshit-free environment.

That may be a sign of me getting old…

Granada, of course, did not disappoint. Their lineup of local darlings Jonathan Tyler & The Northern Lights and Ishi sold out and rocked hard to bring in 2012. Ishi even played a few new songs, apparently for the first time. Sarah and I enjoyed the show from the VIP section on the right of the floor, along with our homeys from Granada. All in all, it was exactly what I wanted. Good times with close friends… the kind of people you know already will be at that party without even having to ask.

I’ve spent the majority of my New Years Eve celebrations at Granada over the last 5 years and since Tactics Productions didn’t have an NYE show I was lucky enough to get to keep with “tradition”.

Sarah was smoking hot for New Years, dressing up very Marilyn Monroe-esque and even letting me do a mini photo shoot out on the patio. She looks so cute in these pictures and was definitely the best part of the occasion.

So I have a natural love for video games (computer games, whatever…) and I’ve been playing them since long before the first Nintendo came out. By the time gaming consoles came around I was already very comfortable with using a mouse and keyboard to play games so I didn’t buy a console until the first Xbox came out.

I’ve played every type of game from RPG to zombie horror to military strategy to racing games but what I love are the first person shooters. ID Software birthed the first person shooter genre with Castle Wolfenstein for PCs with the simplest of graphics and really only one truly remarkable feature… blood. Finally we could feel like we really were killing stuff in video games. Plus, putting the player behind the eyes of the character for a point-of-view experience enhances the player-character experience. Video game reflexes in the past were only quick thumbs trained for timed jumps and combo attacks. With the first person shooter the player is jumping, ducking, bobbing & weaving, struggling to survive in a far more human and realistic way.

That realism is what makes first person shooters attractive to most players. The quest for realism has driven game technology over the years, but became a cold war of marginal improvements between inherently similar games. Most first person shooters are crap, focusing on cool looking weapons and volumes of predictable enemy characters. Only a few games were remarkable because they offered some major innovation in FPS gaming technology.

Most notably of all, Counterstrike was the first game to pit teams of real human players together online in team-based deathmatch. The game featured Terrorist vs Counter-Terrorist team warfare complete with a modern weapon arsenal, maps to invite all types of gameplay from sniping to run-and-gun equally and realistic (ish) damage. Deathmatch wasn’t just running around in circles shooting anymore… there was strategy and even better, engaging teamplay between humans.

I played that goddamn game to death even long after the newness wore off. For several years there wasn’t anything new and compelling like Counterstrike until America’s Army. Realism got a major bump when the US Army sponsored the development of a first person team tactical shooter. Being good at that game meant being extremely patient, thinking outside the box and dealing with realistic environments. Snow could obscure your vision and one skillful shot from a sniper could have you waiting in the game lobby for a half hour.

Since those days the first person shooter world has expanded significantly and there are various games that incorporate the FPS style with other elements like features common in RPGs or racing games, etc… I’ve played many FPS games since I finally got into console games. The controller for the XBOX 360 is (IMHO) the best-designed controller for console games. The fluid 2-thumb controls and triggers allow for a nice analog-style control over movement and also access to plenty of buttons for complex controls, in game menus, etc… making XBOX 360 the ideal platform for FPS gaming.

There are plenty of Battlefield 3 and Gears of War 3 fans that would disagree with me… But I think that the Call of Duty series has been the only truly EPIC realistic first person shooter series since Counterstrike. Halo was fantastic obviously…but I’m specifically talking about modern-style squad combat games. Each version of COD is more and more realistic with greater granular control over weapons, skill sets and so on. Call of Duty’s latest installment brilliantly enhances the first person shooter experience by forcing the player to upgrade each of their weapons individually, giving different player unique advantages with their weapon of choice.

Your skill level in the game has a greater impact on your ability to play this game and dominate than any FPS game I’ve played before. There are dozens of perks, weapons and upgrades, hidden spots in the map and my personal favorite, strike packages. The strike packages (introduced in the original Modern Warfare and enhanced in MW3) allow players to earn points towards devastating special attacks and advantages for your team. Killstreaks (and now point-streaks) allow players on a roll to call in air strikes, predator missiles, attack helicopters, AC130 Gunships and more.

Click Here To Check Out Call Of Duty, Modern Warfare 3 For XBOX 360 On Amazon

Call of Duty is betting hard on its longevity in the market (which is certainly deserved) by creating a premium package for the hardcore players to socialize, compare themselves to one another and talk smack on a larger scale. The product is called Call of Duty Elite and it works with past Modern Warfare games as well as MW3. By far the packages’ best feature is that membership (an annual fee of $49.99) covers the cost of all downloadable content (DLC) for Modern Warfare throughout the next year. Since COD produces new map games and mini-games about once a quarter (at $15.99) you would enjoy a small cost savings for paying up front. To learn more about this premium Modern Warfare package visit Call of Duty Elite online.

Odds are that most of you readers are already familiar with Call of Duty, Modern Warfare 3. Somehow, if you haven’t played this game yet… please do yourself a favor and join the fun. If you are already online with MW3 on XBOX 360, hit me up to join your XBOX Live party.

My XBOX Live username is deadmedia. See you online.

Lost Pines Resort Vacation With Sarah Magee

Sarah was super sweet and bought us tickets to a great show with one of the best lineups I’ve seen all year… The National w/ Local Natives.

On the day of the show we went into Austin to wander around, drinking, eating and visiting some Austin favorites including Torchy’s Tacos, Fados, 24 Diner, Waterloo Records and more…

Good times!

This is the first time that The Black Angels have been booked by Tactics Productions officially, but Kris Youmans has booked them the last 4-5 times they’ve been to Dallas. When we booked them last year they sold out the Kessler Theater at a cool 500 people, which made for a packed house and a terrific sounding show. The Angels are intense and the Kessler is a really great sounding room, so it was a tremendous performance, one of their best.

The Black Angels performing ‘Young Men Dead’ live at Kessler Theater in 2010

I think this made my fifth The Black Angels show and its hard for me to play favorites and pick a ‘best’ show. Certainly the Kessler performance would be the best I’d seen them perform all of that material. But Friday night at The Prophet Bar they performed mostly new songs, except for a handful of crowd pleasers and encore favorites, and the new material set this show apart from the rest. Much of the set was brand new to me as I am not nearly as familiar with the newest album as I am the previous two. There was a time I almost lived off of ‘Directions To See A Ghost’…

The new stuff is great though and I’m going to spin through it again a couple of times this next week. Here are a couple of favorites off of Phosphene Dream (released Sept. 2010):

The Black Angels – Telephone

The Black Angels – Phosphene Dream

The Black Angels – Yellow Elevator #2

I was surprised by how much I’d missed seeing Dead Meadow. Sure, I’d been looking forward to seeing them and even mentioned it to a few people, but I was really blown away by their performance. The slow burn of Dead Meadow’s sludgy stoner rock drowns out everything with the droning of their guitars and I spaced out for a good, long while. There was very little discussion and no foreplay, just sweaty rock and roll for a good 60 minutes…and there’s nothing wrong with that.

Dead Meadow – Sleepy Silver Door

Dead Meadow – Till Kingdom Come

I didn’t intend to be mean to Spindrift before… but the spaghetti western motif is a gag, right? Anyways… Judge for yourself:

Spindrift – Speak To The Wind

Don Diablo ft. Dragonette- Animale (Datsik Remix)

Wanna Download? Buy This MP3 On Amazon Cheap!

Diplo & Skrillex – Amplifier

Wanna Download Diplo MP3s? Buy Them On Amazon Cheap!

Excision & Datsik – Swagga

Wanna Download? Buy This MP3 On Amazon Cheap!

Excision & Datsik – Calypso

Wanna Download? Buy This MP3 On Amazon Cheap!

12th Planet & SPL – Lootin’ ’92 Revisited v3

Wanna Download? Buy This MP3 On Amazon Cheap!

Knife Party Remix of Nero – Crush
No embedding allowed (boo) so… click here to listen to Knife Party

There was a time before Sundress where they called themselves “This Old House”, which brought them legal reproach from their trademarked namesake. But frontman Ryan McAdams and his bandmates (Drew McCary, Kennon Talley, Jim Harringtion, Brack Cantrell) finally decided on Sundress which they ‘wear’ well. A year later they’ve polished their sound quite a bit and finally released their stellar first EP (self-titled) this summer; containing 6 tracks (above).

It’s only fair to disclose that Ryan was an intern with Tactics Productions this Spring (after they’d played several shows for us) and that I really enjoyed the experience and want to help promote him and therefore his band. But regardless of that, I still genuinely, really love what these guys are doing. Their aloof-but-catchy sound is always gentle on the ears and yet never dull or unremarkable. The EP is an incredibly strong first offering from Sundress capturing most, but not all, of the effect of seeing them live.

Not to gush, but it’s exciting to be reminded of why local music is so great, as admittedly jaded as I am about how much quantity we have over quality. Really, really recommend checking these guys out live and downloading a copy of “Sundress” right now.

I’m not entirely sure what I expected to see, but when he took the stage with his band mates I realized that this wouldn’t just be Grossi and his harp performing for us, but actually a full band. It helped greatly to convey his expansive soundscapes to the hyper-attentive audience that gathered for his set. You could hear a pin drop in the venue; which is either creepy or fucking awesome, I’m not convinced which.

Active Child – Wilderness

Buy Active Child MP3s at Amazon

As rewarding as Active Child’s set was to watch; the real winner for this evening (for me) has to be the dance-wave elecro pop band Com Truise. Secretly the reason that I picked Active Child tonight over our other show (The Dodo’s at The Loft), I was excited to experience Com Truise’s blend of synthy electro-pop live before swearing my love for them… as electro-pop music doesn’t always translate effectively in concert.

Fortunately that wasn’t the case tonight. They beep-boop-rocked their way to my heart with a lot of deep (almost-dub-step-deep) dirty bass lines, layered over with Hot Chip-esque, moog-ish beeps and boops.

Nerd-core? Geektronica? 1337-rock? I’m not sure what you call it but I want more.

Com Truise – Slow Peels

Buy Com Truise MP3s at Amazon

Active Child w/ Com Truise, New Fumes at The Prophet Bar in Dallas, TX on Sept. 1st, 2011 was presented by Tactics Productions

Smith Westerns – Weekend

Buy ‘Dye It Blonde’ on MP3 at Amazon

Oberhofer – Gotta Go

Buy Oberhofer MP3s from Amazon

The Drums – Let’s Go Surfing

Buy ‘The Drums’ On MP3 at Amazon

The Drums will be playing live in concert in Dallas on 10/22, presented by Tactics Productions. Get tickets to The Drums!

Two Door Cinema Club

Buy ‘Tourist History’ On MP3 at Amazon

Surfer Blood

Buy ‘Astro Coast’ on MP3 at Amazon

Arcade Fire – Wake Up (Last song of Day 2)

To say that I needed a vacation doesn’t even begin to explain what kind of a place I was in before I left for Coachella. This isn’t the appropriate place for my catharsis, but suffice it to say that I was feeling pretty overwhelmed on a lot of fronts. Fortunately now I can say that I came out of Coachella with a renewed sense of purpose and somewhat clearer priorities. A couple days to clear my head and get to know myself better went a long way to putting everything in perspective. I could argue that any time away from work and the normal might provide the same, but I can’t imagine anything being less true. There is something special about the place, the music, the art and, for the most part, the people at Coachella.

People were so amazingly excited about Coachella from weeks before the event and on the way there…For the last hundred miles drive we were surrounded by fellow Coachellers carpooling in vehicles painted with Coachella references and imagery, stuffed to the gills with camping equipment and who knows what else… People get really, really excited about this festival.

Upon arriving at the Coachella grounds, we were put through a massive, if cursory, vehicle search in which unconcerned security staff gently touched our bags to make an obvious display out of ‘securing’ the event. It seemed invasive at first, but like most security during the event they seemed less interested in campers than in maintaining appearances.

Once through security the invasion of privacy changed to total freedom, in which probably just about anything was fair game. There was a bit of a race against twilight to set up camp, but after about 20 mins of everyone scrambling the camp calmed down and people started exploring and roaming around.

We and the other campers circled the massive parking lot/campground like buzzards for hours that night and until the festival opened the next morning. It turns out that you cannot remain sleeping in a tent when the sun rises over Coachella Valley where the temperature crests 80 degrees uncomfortably at about 6:30 in the morning during the festival.

Without much sleep or any real concept of time, the first morning of the festival was a swirl of wandering around and ducking the sun and heat wherever shade would pause for a moment. Literally hundreds of campers walked circles around the camp site, anxiously awaiting the festival to start. We had time to have a great breakfast and build up a very good daytime buzz before we were “finally” allowed in at 11am.

At which point my memory becomes a blur of a list of seemingly endless concerts, miles of walking around the Empire Polo Club fields (where Coachella is held), many applications of sunscreen, warm bottles of water mixed in with the occasional cold beer and a whole lot of sunlight.

Over the 3 day concert Jenn and I saw about 30 bands, many of which were new to us. We ran circles around the 7 Coachella stages, dozens of different sculptures and interactive art pieces and ate our way through too many amazing locally made foods to count. Amazingly enough we didn’t see everything either, with over a hundred bands that we missed and a few dozen tents with interactive presentations of I have no idea what.

Of the 30 acts we saw, the best and most fun of them all was Gogol Bordello. We managed to walk up to stage left as the previous show’s audience was clearing out, giving us great spots for the concert. Gogol is clearly one of the most high energy bands I’ve ever seen and the show they put on for the massive Coachella crowd was probably the best concert I’ve ever seen. Hundreds of us danced and freaked out to the sounds of gypsy punk for the sweatiest hour of my life. Other favorites were Sleigh Bells, Ratatat, The Kills, The National, Beardyman, Black Keys, Excision and Arcade Fire.

Jenn and I already started planning next year’s trip…so if you’re from Dallas and need some Carpoolchella action hit us up. We’ll be driving next year and packing our own shade. Coachella 2011 was an amazing experience, but next year we’ll take advantage of what we learned from this year and pack a lot more fun.

Who We Saw (Best As I Can Recall)

It’s Not As Good As The Real Thing But…

New Pants – Bye Bye Disco

12th Planet

Excision

Cee Lo Green – Crazy & Fuck You

Warpaint – Undertow

Ariel Pink’s On Stage Meltdown

Yacht – Dystopia

Cold War Kids – Audience

Sleigh Bells – Crown On The Ground

The Black Keys – Tighten You

Beardyman

Cults – Go Outside

Here We Go Magic – Fangela

Gogol Bordello – Wanderlust King (Filmed Just To Our Left)

Jenny & Johnny – Scissor Runner

Yelle – Safari Disco Club

The New Pornographers – Sweet Talk, Sweet Talk

The Kills – Tape Song

Mumford & Sons – Little Lion Man

Animal Collective – Brothersport

Arcade Fire – Ready To Start

Twin Shadow – Forget

Tokimonsta

CSS – Let’s Make Love

Wiz Kalifa – When I’m Gone

Fistful Of Mercy – Please Me Like You Want To

Death From Above 1979 – Romantic Rights

Foster The People – Houdini

The National – Mr November

Ratatat – Loud Pipes

Phantogram – When I’m Small

What can I say? You shoulda been there…
-deadmedia