Advertising Agency: lg2, Quebec, Canada Creative Direction: Luc Du Sault Art Direction: Nicolas Boisvert Copywriting: Luc Du Sault Account Planners: Mireille Côté, Catherine Darius Account Managers: Marie-Andrée Mackrous, Mireille Côté Agency Producer: Claudia Lemire Production House: Quatre Zéro Un, Nicolas Monette Production House Producer: Stéphanie Lord Media Agency: Touché!, Alexandre-Pascal Lamoureux Sound Design: Boogie Studio Check out the new StockLogos.com
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Most Topular Stories
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Quebec Health Ministry: Dragonfly
Ads of the World™16 May 2012 | 1:26 pm -
Google Launches Knowledge Graph To Provide Answers, Not Just Links
Search Engine Land: News & Info About SEO, PPC, SEM, Search Engines & Search Marketing16 May 2012 | 12:00 pmHinted at for months, Google formally launched its “Knowledge Graph” today. The new technology is being used to provide popular facts about people, places and things alongside Google’s traditional results. It also allows Google to move toward a new way of searching not for pages... Please visit Search Engine Land for the full article. -
CNBC Details How Americans Really Feel About Facebook
Marketing Pilgrim - Internet News and Opinion16 May 2012 | 1:36 pmHow do you really feel about Facebook? Do you trust it? Would you give it your money? Is it fun? Is it safe? These are just a few of the questions asked in a recent AP-CNBC poll and the answers they got. . . well. . . they weren’t exactly surprising. But hey, we love data here so let’s take a look! Who is on Facebook? Facebook is a keeper for most of the US. 56% of all Americans have a Facebook page. 3 in 10 use it everyday with younger users visiting more often. Those who don’t have a page, 35% say they have no interest or they have better things to do with their time. 22%… -
The Fallacy of Information Overload
Brian Solis15 May 2012 | 8:50 amSome of you know me through my work in studying how social media and disruptive technology impact business and culture. Others have worked with me in translating insights into action and change within the enterprise. Every now and then, I share another side of myself that evokes the aspiring social scientist in me as I explore how all of this is affecting us as individuals and human beings. Not a day goes by when I’m not asked about whether or not the social media bubble will finally burst. Twitter, Facebook, Google+, Foursquare, Pinterest, this all has to be too much right? More… -
Making tag management work for you: new report & infographic
Posts from the Econsultancy blog16 May 2012 | 10:34 amThe digital world is complicated and website tags sit at the heart of online businesses and marketing. In fact, effectively managing website tags, or tracking pixels, is fundamental to digital marketing. In the ROI of Tag Management, a new report released today in partnership with Tealium, we explore the role, challenges and opportunities for technology in handling vendor website tags.The tracking pixel enables communication between vendors and websites and is key to most digital marketing technologies. Site analytics, optimization and personalization all depend on them, and while these…
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Ads of the World™
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Quebec Health Ministry: Dragonfly
16 May 2012 | 1:26 pmAdvertising Agency: lg2, Quebec, Canada Creative Direction: Luc Du Sault Art Direction: Nicolas Boisvert Copywriting: Luc Du Sault Account Planners: Mireille Côté, Catherine Darius Account Managers: Marie-Andrée Mackrous, Mireille Côté Agency Producer: Claudia Lemire Production House: Quatre Zéro Un, Nicolas Monette Production House Producer: Stéphanie Lord Media Agency: Touché!, Alexandre-Pascal Lamoureux Sound Design: Boogie Studio Check out the new StockLogos.com -
Quebec Health Ministry: Diving
16 May 2012 | 1:25 pmAdvertising Agency: lg2, Quebec, Canada Creative Direction: Luc Du Sault Art Direction: Nicolas Boisvert Copywriting: Luc Du Sault Account Planners: Mireille Côté, Catherine Darius Account Managers: Marie-Andrée Mackrous, Mireille Côté Agency Producer: Claudia Lemire Production House: Quatre Zéro Un, Nicolas Monette Production House Producer: Stéphanie Lord Media Agency: Touché!, Alexandre-Pascal Lamoureux Sound Design: Boogie Studio Check out the new StockLogos.com -
Kit Kat Chunky: Silence Your Hunger
15 May 2012 | 10:28 pmAdvertising Agency: JWT, Dubai, UAE Executive Creative Director: Seyoan Vela Regional Creative Director: Adham Obeid Art Director: Adham Obeid Copywriters: Adham Obeid, Michael Fillon Group Account Director: Ebru Goksu Planner: Prahbakar Iyer Production House: The Talkies Post Production: Digital District - Paris Music composition: Mad Planet Director: David Jellison Check out the new StockLogos.com -
Toyota Prius: Garage
15 May 2012 | 10:23 pmChief Creative Officer: Sharon Krinsky Creative Director: Miles Turpin Art Director: Ted Jenkins Copywriters: Dallas Baker, David Wilson Director: Matt Smukler Agency Producer: Jay Cortez Head of production: Alexandra Chamberlain Executive Producer: Carl Swan Editor: Bob Spector / Barbary Post Check out the new StockLogos.com -
Toyota Prius: Dog
15 May 2012 | 10:23 pmChief Creative Officer: Sharon Krinsky Creative Director: Miles Turpin Art Director: Ted Jenkins Copywriters: Dallas Baker, David Wilson Director: Matt Smukler Agency Producer: Jay Cortez Head of production: Alexandra Chamberlain Executive Producer: Carl Swan Editor: Bob Spector / Barbary Post Check out the new StockLogos.com
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Search Engine Land: News & Info About SEO, PPC, SEM, Search Engines & Search Marketing
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Google Launches Knowledge Graph To Provide Answers, Not Just Links
16 May 2012 | 12:00 pmHinted at for months, Google formally launched its “Knowledge Graph” today. The new technology is being used to provide popular facts about people, places and things alongside Google’s traditional results. It also allows Google to move toward a new way of searching not for pages... Please visit Search Engine Land for the full article. -
With Fix In Place, Wolfram Alpha Explains How Siri “Recommended” The Lumia By Mistake
16 May 2012 | 10:15 amIt wasn’t Siri that was recommending the Lumia as the best smartphone to some last week; it was Wolfram Alpha. That won’t happen again, now that Wolfram Alpha has made changes to to fix problems it had dealing with customer reviews. Reviews Weren’t Weighted To Account For Number... Please visit Search Engine Land for the full article. -
3 Guidelines To Scale Your SEM Team
16 May 2012 | 9:03 amThere is a phenomenon within organizations that causes productivity to decline as teams grow larger. This phenomenon is described in economics as a diseconomy of scale and is caused by at least three factors including increased communication costs, duplication of effort, and top-heavy management.... Please visit Search Engine Land for the full article. -
Did Google Drop 100+ Small Directories
16 May 2012 | 8:44 amYesterday I covered a WebmasterWorld thread where SEOs were complaining that Google has been removing tons of free web directories from their index. I conducted some random tests and did notice some of these free web directories not coming up in Google. Later in the day, Terry Van Horne began... Please visit Search Engine Land for the full article. -
Do Search & Display Really Belong Together?
16 May 2012 | 8:27 amThe premise is simple – PPC and display are both media buys trying to achieve similar outcomes; both are forms of ‘bought media’ and now with display moving to a biddable environment both now require quantitative skill sets to manage them. It’s not a tough sell to convince a budget holder that a... Please visit Search Engine Land for the full article.
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Marketing Pilgrim - Internet News and Opinion
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CNBC Details How Americans Really Feel About Facebook
16 May 2012 | 1:36 pmHow do you really feel about Facebook? Do you trust it? Would you give it your money? Is it fun? Is it safe? These are just a few of the questions asked in a recent AP-CNBC poll and the answers they got. . . well. . . they weren’t exactly surprising. But hey, we love data here so let’s take a look! Who is on Facebook? Facebook is a keeper for most of the US. 56% of all Americans have a Facebook page. 3 in 10 use it everyday with younger users visiting more often. Those who don’t have a page, 35% say they have no interest or they have better things to do with their time. 22%… -
Twitter’s New Email Digest Makes Top Content More Visible
16 May 2012 | 12:53 pmTwitter used to be one of my favorite web destinations but in recent months I’ve nearly walked away from it thanks to the overwhelming overflow of information. It’s what happens with social media, you start following a few people you really enjoy then you add the obligatory follows and work follows and brand follows and soon it’s too much to handle. I only follow 126 people and I get a new tweet every minute. What about the people who follow 300 accounts? Keeping up is impossible. (Cue the trumpeters) Announcing the new Twitter Email Digest! The digest is broken into two… -
IAB Launches Digital Media Sales Certification Program
16 May 2012 | 10:01 amEver have a bad experience with a sales person in the interactive space? That question is kind of like asking if you have ever felt the urge to breath first thing in the morning. I come from the sales side of the ISP and SEO industry as part of my interactive background. In my time, I did OK. In that time I also saw MANY who did not do OK and wondered what they said in an interview to get hired. That’s the way it is with most sales positions which is why turnover is so high and ‘opportunities’ are more than most other job segments. Part of the trouble is the learning curve… -
Study Says Social Media Ad Spend (US) Will Hit Almost $10B by 2016
16 May 2012 | 9:31 amIn a shocking development, a research company has chosen this particular week, of all weeks, to post their forecast for what is in store for social media ad spending in the US over the next several years. Do you think it was just dumb luck that it coincides with Facebook’s IPO ? Hey, who can blame BIA/Kelsey for jumping on the train that is the Facebook IPO Express? Here is the picture version of this predicted US social media spend through 2016. Let’s consider the whole Facebook IPO thingy in light of these numbers. In 2011, Facebook did somewhere in the neighborhood of $3… -
OK, So GM Pulls $10M in Facebook Ads, So What?
16 May 2012 | 1:42 amCould this Facebook IPO be over with already so we can get back to our regularly scheduled programming? Please?! Every Tom, Dick and pundit is putting in their heavily discounted two cents (it’s like there was a Groupon for pre-IPO Facebook hype and speculation and everyone appears to have bought it) and it is getting pretty silly. The latest chicken little concern is the pulling of Facebook ads, to the tune of $10 million, by General Motors. Here is the tweet from the Wall Street Journal’s Dennis Berman that set all of this in motion. In the world of “no good tweet goes…
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Brian Solis
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The Fallacy of Information Overload
15 May 2012 | 8:50 amSome of you know me through my work in studying how social media and disruptive technology impact business and culture. Others have worked with me in translating insights into action and change within the enterprise. Every now and then, I share another side of myself that evokes the aspiring social scientist in me as I explore how all of this is affecting us as individuals and human beings. Not a day goes by when I’m not asked about whether or not the social media bubble will finally burst. Twitter, Facebook, Google+, Foursquare, Pinterest, this all has to be too much right? More… -
Music, Film, TV: How social media changed the entertainment experience
10 May 2012 | 9:56 amSocial media is more than a digital water cooler for TV and movies. The global conversation that takes place around events and the experiences people share based on what they watch teaches us about consumer preferences. More importantly, their activity influences behavior. Behavior counts for everything. Studying it is just the beginning of course. In order to understand and eventually steer behavior, we must translate activity into insights and in turn, translate insights into actionable strategies and programs. The Hollywood Reporter recently published an exclusive poll about social media… -
The future of TV is more than social, it’s a multi-screen experience that needs design
7 May 2012 | 1:19 pmThe future of television is much more than social; much in the same way that the future of media is too, more than social. Social is a fabric; it connects the individual nodes that make up the human network. But, social however, is not a means to an end. And, as such, the same is true about the working theories driving Social TV. Understanding the role social plays in how viewers connect with programs and other people is essential to defining the future of television. Over the years, I’ve written much about my vision for the long overdue convergence of not only web and TV, but also how the… -
The Path from a Social Brand to a Social Business
2 May 2012 | 11:17 amI’ve been a long-time supporter of MediaTemple’s (MT)Residence program along with Gary Vaynerchuk, Neil Patel, and many others whom I respect. I wanted to share my “7 questions to answer to become a social business” with you here.. Social Media is pervasive and is becoming the new normal in corporate marketing. Brands who get this right are starting to build their own media networks rich with customer connections numbering in the millions. Right now, Coca-Cola has over 34 million fans on Facebook, but they’re hardly alone. Disney follows just behind with 29 million… -
Do Customers Really Matter to Your Business? Prove it.
30 Apr 2012 | 10:21 amFrank Eliason and I have known each other for many years. We’ve shared the stage on many occasions, he’s made an appearance on Revolution, and most importantly, I’m proud to call him a personal friend. Frank has championed the adaption and transformation of customer service during his time at Comcast and at CITI. Never one to shy away from sharing his opinions, he’s certainly bullish on where service needs to be as a function and a philosophy versus where it is today. In fact, he’s gone so far as to call out social media customer service as being a…
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Posts from the Econsultancy blog
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Making tag management work for you: new report & infographic
16 May 2012 | 10:34 amThe digital world is complicated and website tags sit at the heart of online businesses and marketing. In fact, effectively managing website tags, or tracking pixels, is fundamental to digital marketing. In the ROI of Tag Management, a new report released today in partnership with Tealium, we explore the role, challenges and opportunities for technology in handling vendor website tags.The tracking pixel enables communication between vendors and websites and is key to most digital marketing technologies. Site analytics, optimization and personalization all depend on them, and while these… -
More than a third of Homebase customers research online before going in-store
16 May 2012 | 7:01 amMore than a third of Homebase customers research online before going to a bricks-and-mortar store, according to the retailer’s head of multichannel. During a speech at the E-Commerce Futures Conference this morning, Andy McWilliams said it highlights the need for a joined up approach in-store and online. Even if you think you’re a multichannel retailer, online and offline often act almost independently. You get different offers online vs. offline. They have to be the same, and communication has to be the same. One of Homebase’s key multichannel tools is reserve and… -
How to be a formidable content curator: a 17-step guide
16 May 2012 | 6:25 amOver the past few years I must have heard the phrase ‘everyone is a publisher nowadays’ a thousand times or more. It’s largely accurate, due to the rise of social media, but I think we are mainly ‘curators’, as opposed to ‘publishers’. Content curation is something that many of us will be familiar with, even if we don’t think of ourselves as curators. We instinctively find and share interesting content with our personal and professional networks. We follow others who share the kind of links that engage and entertain. Yesterday the clearly… -
Online shoe fitting app reduces returns by 23%
16 May 2012 | 6:14 amAn app which allows customers to find more accurate information about the shoe size they need to order has managed to reduce fit-related returns rates by 23% US retailer Running Warehouse has been using the Shoefitr app on its product pages since 2010, and the tool has been very popular with consumers. By reducing fit-related returns, the app has enabled Running Warehouse to increase its profit margins by 2.5%. Previously, around 65% of the retailer returns were due to size related issues, but now 20% of orders come in from customers that have used the app. … -
18m UK consumers have used social media for customer service
16 May 2012 | 5:17 amMore than a third of UK consumers (36%) have engaged with brands through social media, according to a survey from Fishburn Hedges. This has doubled from 19% since August 2011 and equates to around 18m people. The increased interaction appears to be driven by the widespread belief among respondents (40%) that social media improves customer service, compared to only 7% who feared it would harm service. In fact 68% of those who have engaged with brands through social media believe that it “allowed them to find their voice.”More than two-thirds (65%) also believe that it is a better…
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Online Marketing Blog
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Interview: The Future of Cloud Marketing Software with Vocus CMO Jason Jue
16 May 2012 | 6:50 amAt TopRank Online Marketing, we are fortunate to provide consulting to quite a few innovative B2B companies that serve other marketers. A great example of that is PRWeb and parent company, Vocus, both long standing clients. In late 2011 Vocus welcomed Jason Jue as Chief Marketing Officer. As Vocus & PRWeb’s Account Manager at TopRank, I was keenly interested in getting to know Jason better and learning his plans for the future – and what better way than through an interview for all readers of Online Marketing Blog to see? In this interview Jason talks about the undeniable… -
Channel Your Internal Marketing Warrior: 4 Tips for Strengthening Your Marketing Plan
15 May 2012 | 5:25 amRelease Your Internal Marketing Warrior In March of this year I made a decision: I wanted to get healthier. The problem I have always faced is that I didn’t see the point of exercise, just for the sake of exercise. Treadmills and stationary bicycles never did much for me, but I was looking for a way to regain some focus and start down a healthier path. About a month ago I spoke with my good friend Ali who had recently started a training program to become a yoga instructor. She convinced me to attend a class with her and I even though I’ve done yoga before, this was an entirely new… -
5 Ways to Optimize the Business Value of Attending Conferences
14 May 2012 | 11:37 amAre you optimizing your conference experience? TopRank receives a lot of value from having me speak at conferences but you don’t have to be a speaker to realize a positive return from events. Small, large online or offline, there are numerous ways to optimize and maximize your return on conference involvment both in the short and long term. If your company is considering whether to send you to events because of uncertain return or benefits, show them the following list. In fact, if I were running a conference, I’d make sure these tips are shared with attendees, sponsors and… -
Online Marketing News: Take Action on Social Data, LinkedIn Gets the Scoop, Google Reigns Supreme, Google & Big Data for SEO
11 May 2012 | 5:35 amActionable Social Analytics This recent infographic by awareness takes a dive into social analytics. In an era where virtually every brand is online, it is essential that action is being taken off of the data we are collecting from social networks. This infographic provides not only some of the Key Performance Indicators (KPI) that your company should be tracking, but how to calculate these numbers as well. Examples of the KPI’s your company should be tracking: Brand Awareness & Reputation Marketing Program Effectiveness Lead Generation Effectiveness Use LinkedIn to Get Juicy… -
Holistic Optimization Across the Sales Cycle: Optimize Speaking Events May & June
10 May 2012 | 10:08 amWhen you have a business that relies on attracting new business online the sheer volume of options can be confusing. Should offline advertising efforts transfer to online? Maybe email marketing? What about SEO or the hot topic, social media? So much focus is placed on tactics and channels, that a lot of misplaced digital marketing budget gets wasted or spent inefficiently. To bring some clarity to the myriad online marketing options available, I think it’s worth marketers taking a holistic approach that starts with an essential understanding of goals and customers. Who are your best…
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PSFK
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Wearable Exoskeleton Can Help Users Carry Heavy Items With Ease
16 May 2012 | 1:02 pmSoon to be commercially available in Japan, the exoskeleton will help people to carry almost 90 pounds without strain. -
Steve Clayton: How To Design Technology So It Becomes Natural [Video]
16 May 2012 | 12:30 pmMicrosoft expert presents a vision of the future where gesture, sound and artificial-intuition create a world that extends the possibilities of our creativity. -
Land Rover Edible Survival Guide Will Keep Drivers Alive In The Desert
16 May 2012 | 12:21 pmCar company creates a book explorers can eat that also gives car owners tips about terrain, shelter, and wildlife. -
Could Robot Journalism Kill The News Industry?
16 May 2012 | 11:59 amDirector at Columbia's Graduate School of Journalism worries how media titles are using algorithms to select their stories. -
Photographs Depict Iconic Video Games In The Real World
16 May 2012 | 11:54 amArtist Patrick Runte imagines what it would look like if Tetris blocks and other icons were anthropomorphized into the real world
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Search Engine Journal
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A Keen Mind in Sheep’s Clothing
16 May 2012 | 1:00 pmZuckerberg moves almost as fast as you can say “hoodie.” While we were feasting our eyes on the media’s fascination regarding Mark’s choice in clothing, Facebook donned itself in two more acquisitions. I say ‘more,’ in reference to the few-week lapse in acquisitions; as we all have heard, Facebook acquired startup Instagram as of late. [...] -
‘Relevancy is King’ Says Google VP at SMX London
16 May 2012 | 11:00 amIn his opening keynote at SMX London, Amit Singhal, VP and Google Fellow, who rewrote the original Google algorithm upon his hire in 2000, said today that “Relevancy is King”. He added that Google looks at a combination of three signals (links, social, user actions) and how those signals support each other to build the [...] -
Facebook Update: Higher Target IPO Price Resulting in Stakeholder Liquidation
16 May 2012 | 9:51 amOn Tuesday, the world’s largest social network raised the target IPO price range to $34 to $38. If Facebook shares sell at the upper limit ($38), the social network will raise about $12.8 billion and its market value will be approximately $104 billion. As a result of the higher target price and rich valuation, a [...] -
Why Did GM Drop Facebook Advertising?
16 May 2012 | 7:33 amI am sure you heard yesterday that GM stopped investing in ad space on Facebook. New research on Facebook advertising performance from WordStream may offer a few clues as to why General Motors discontinued advertising on the massive social network. Wordstream’s research provides some important data such as: Ad Performance: Click through rates on Facebook [...] -
5 Local Resources to Boost Your Local Rankings
15 May 2012 | 1:00 pmLocal search engine optimization (SEO) is a specialized form of SEO focused on optimizing businesses and their websites for optimal visibility in local search engines. Local search takes into consideration not only the keyword the searcher entered, but also the location of the searcher, whether indicated through user settings, automatic detection, or a location in [...]
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chrisbrogan.com
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Create a Setting and Connect With Emotions
14 May 2012 | 12:26 amI recently moved the delivery time of my beloved newsletter to be Sunday morning (well, that’s when it launches here, though my New Zealander and Australian friends all get it on Monday). In the process, I talked to people about sharing this information over breakfast, and with a “second cup of coffee” sometimes. I basically set a scene in the reader’s head that we were having a personal chat over breakfast. Ask yourself this: in trying to reach others for whatever your goal may be, is it facts or emotions that will win them over? Which do you think plays the bigger… -
Nobody Reads Agency Blogs- Or Why You Need Skin in the Game
7 May 2012 | 8:57 amThanks to Jason Falls, I just read this post about how many marketing agencies are closing down their blogs and tweeting and Facebooking instead. “Nobody reads agency blogs, and there are so many out there it’s impossible for people to keep up anyway,” said Sam Weston, director of communications at digital agency Huge. Nobody Reads ANY Blogs- If They’re Boring I’ll tell you without even having to look why nobody reads a blog: because it’s boring. Because it’s poorly written. Because it’s utterly self-referential. Nobody has time to read junk. Why would you? -
Constraints
5 May 2012 | 11:43 amI was at a live performance the other night where Jacq sang and played with Girish, and I had a great conversation with Reggie, the drummer for the night. (I am SO sorry that I don’t know your last name, Reggie.) We talked about the fact that his typical drum kit for events is usually like 30 or so pieces, but that he decided to go minimal for the event. He had a kick drum, a snare, a tom, two cymbals, and a cowbell. What Reggie said was something like this, “I really enjoy this, because it means I really have to use what I have to get the expression I’m aiming for. I… -
Pattern Break
2 May 2012 | 11:17 pmWhen you wake up in the morning, you check your emails, probably from your phone. First thing. Yes? Why? There’s no good answer to why. Even brain surgeons can wait until they’ve done other things before checking in on the world outside of your immediate proximity. So why do you do it? Because it’s a habit, a pattern. Do you read the top tech and marketing blogs? Why? Why do you read this blog? Because you’re subscribed? Are you getting something from it? If no, then why are you still doing it? Twitter and Facebook are hugely pattern-driven. They thrive off the same… -
Where Should You Put Your Content?
30 Apr 2012 | 9:44 amI’ve been asked by subscribers of my personal newsletter how I decide what goes on my blog and what goes into my newsletter. I think the answer differs depending on your strategy, but I’m more than happy to tell you how I view it. I put information that sells on my blog, and information that nurtures in my newsletter. Information that Sells My job, because people seem confused these days as to what exactly it is I do or am selling, is to help mid-sized to larger companies build business (revenue and growth) by improving their use of the human digital channel (social media, email…
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John Chow dot Com
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How to Make $593 in less than one hour?
16 May 2012 | 12:05 pmCan you make $593 in 30 minutes from the comfort of your own living room? In this article you will see that yes, YOU CAN! With just 3 quick steps, the easy to learn technique of following the trends of the market will enable you to do just so. The trends monitoring method is simple and easy to do. Step 1/3: Understand the system The trading system shown here is based on the monitoring of trends , a strategy widely used by many professional traders and recognized for its effectiveness. An asset rises or falls when pushed in that direction by large financial powers that influence the financial… -
How To Get Shoemoney’s Local Marketing Blueprint for $9
16 May 2012 | 12:01 pmMy friend Jeremy Schoemaker (ShoeMoney) recently published his Local Marketing Blueprint on udemy.com. This course is made for two types of people: those who own small businesses, and those who want to sell services to these small businesses. As you may know, ShoeMoney is a huge Internet marketer. He has over 172,000 followers on Twitter, over 21,000 Likes on Facebook, and a Klout score of 73. Yes, those numbers are even higher than mine! The Local Marketing Blueprint has over 43 lectures and 3.5 hours of content. The course sells to Udemy users for $197 but I got Shoe to offer it to John… -
How To Dominate Google By Guest Posting
15 May 2012 | 3:17 pmThis is not going to be another post on why you should write guest posts for other blogs because I don’t recommend you do that. I have never written a guest post, and I doubt I ever will. One of the best ways to get higher blog traffic and Google rankings is by guest posting. By having a popular blog (like this one) post your guest article, You expose your writing to a much bigger readership. However, an equally big benefit is you’ll be able to link back to your blog from the guest article, which not only sends you traffic, but helps your blog rank higher on Google. Why I… -
6 Ways to Protect Your Blog from being Hacked
14 May 2012 | 9:44 pmYou know how it feels…you’ve been writing a blog post every day for the past 2 years now, and you recently checked your dashboard to see that you already have over 600 posts; 600 posts that took an average of an hour to write, proofread and edit, format with images, and publish and share. You’ve also noticed that you have a little over 10,000 comments; that’s at least 10,000 minutes of yours and you readers’ time, cumulated over the span of several years. The above scenario seems cool, until something really strange happened. You no longer own the 600 posts, and the 10,000 comments,… -
Email Marketing with The New Aweber Follow Up Editor
14 May 2012 | 1:22 amIf you’ve been reading my blog for any length of time, then you know that my email list is the secret to its money-making system. At the heart of the system is Aweber and the auto responder sales funnel. This sales funnel is powered by Aweber‘s follow up editor and I’m happy to report that they’ve given it a complete makeover! The new follow up editor is basically the same as the revamped broadcast editor, but with a different method for scheduling the messages. Scheduling With Send Windows With the broadcast editor, you choose the exact date and time your message goes…
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Shoemoney - Skills To Pay The Bills
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Toren Ajk & Michael Sprouse on Today’s ShoeMoney.TV Show
15 May 2012 | 7:16 amFormer Playboy and Epic executive Michael Sprouse is in the house to co-host todays ShoeMoney.tv show. Today my guest will be mobile advertising expert Toren Ajk. Should be a good one don’t miss it! 1pm CST on ShoeMoney.tv BTW you have a few more days to grab my latest video series – The Local Internet Marketing Blueprint for only $49!! Trying to increase your Google rank that is like no other? -
Why You Should Make Your Own Product (And Not Be An Affiliate)
15 May 2012 | 7:00 amHey, Justin Goff here… I’ve made a living as a product owner and an affiliate for the past 5 years. Now, one of the easiest ways to make money online is to be an affiliate for another product. And while I recommend being an affiliate marketer to a lot of new people, once you know what you are doing you should really be making your own products. Whether your product is something like a DVD, a vitamin supplement or even something common like phone chargers – having your own product gives you SO much more control over what you are doing. Along with that, there’s a… -
FTC Scores Big Court Win Against DRTV Veterans
14 May 2012 | 8:00 amIn a much-awaited decision, a federal judge has granted summary judgment in favor of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) against DRTV veterans Gary Hewitt and Doug Gravink and their company, Family Products LLC, in the case FTC v. John Beck Amazing Profits et al. Hewitt and Gravink sold “John Beck’s Free & Clear Real Estate System,” “John Alexander’s Real Estate Riches in 14 Days,” and “Jeff Paul’s Shortcuts to Internet Millions” through national infomercials. The FTC obtained a preliminary injunction in 2009 but failed to get an asset freeze, which allowed the defendants… -
The Local Marketing Blueprint is live! (save 75% off limited time)
12 May 2012 | 8:28 amBack a couple months ago we surveyed our list and blog readers as to what they were interested in more. Learning internet marketing for their companies or offering services to these companies. We received over 5,000 responses and it was split pretty much right down the middle. So I created a course that was tailored to both parties and for a limited time its ONLY $49!!! Check it out on Udemy now – there is a free video in every course if you would like to demo before purchasing. ==> http://shmny.me/localmarketingblueprint This course is designed for 2 people. Business owners - The… -
@unclecreepymma – Free Shirt Friday Future UFC Champ Ian McCall
11 May 2012 | 10:00 amToday I am happy to feature Ian “Uncle Creepy” McCall who sent me this legit shirt: Ian is currently ranked the #1 125lb fighter and will be fighting for the UFC Championship soon. WAR CREEPY! and the UGCTT! If you would like to see your website or company featured on Free Shirt Friday click here Trying to increase your Google rank that is like no other?
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AdWeek: AdFreak
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The 20 Most-Viral Ads of 2012 (So Far)
16 May 2012 | 12:23 pmIt's only the middle of May, but already we've had some runaway viral hits in advertising this year. Unruly Media, which runs the global Viral Video Chart, has just released a list of the most-shared ads of 2012 (so far). We've posted the top 20 below. It's a varied group of spots—with dancing and singing, cursing and fainting, running and good old-fashioned pitching. President Obama even makes an appearance. Check out the full list after the jump. And don't resist the urge to share. Finnair Snobby ad people largely despise flash mobs and/or spontaneous dancing as a… -
Man Proposes to Woman via Audio Ad on Pandora
16 May 2012 | 10:04 amNerdy couples are awesome. They do nerdy things for each other that cause both of them to squeal in delight. Recently this phenomenon has extended all the way up to nerdy marriage proposals. We've seen the infographic proposal, the crowdsourced Photoshop meme proposal and the web banner-ad proposal. Now, a man with an apparent appreciation for radio commercials has proposed via Pandora ad—with the audio professionally recorded by a voice actress. The guy offers a play by play over on his Tumblr. He writes: "She heard her name, and then heard it again, and she started picking up… -
Google Shows You Where an Email Goes After You Hit Send
16 May 2012 | 8:48 amGoogle takes us backstage with The Story of Send, which explains what happens when you send an email. It's kind of like they're asking themselves why they're so awesome, and then answering that question, but it's still a clever way of both congratulating their renewable-energy efforts and explaining the inner workings of something people do every day without necessarily understanding the mechanics of it. I also think they're getting sick of all the remaining jokes about tubes, so they're trying to nip that mess in the bud once and for all. Either way, it's evidence… -
Guinness Turns a Submarine Into a Branded Underwater Bar
16 May 2012 | 8:23 amWhat shall we do with the drunken sailor? Sign him up for a tour of duty on the Guinness submarine! The vessel comes complete with a "deep-sea bar" and Austin Powers pop-art interior design with lots of rubber discs simulating bubbles. This is no dive bar! The groovy environs were built by architects at London's Jump Studios, working from concepts by Evelyne Gridelet, who won a "Sea Experience" competition celebrating the brand's 250th anniversary. Guinness's promotional line, "Alive inside," was the contest's theme, and it thankfully held true… -
Keep Your Kitten or Puppy From Becoming the Town Whore
31 Dec 1969 | 6:00 pmWith their fluffiness, big trusting eyes and adorable attempts to learn how to operate their oversized paws, kittens and puppies are the essence of the word squee. But take that fluffy kitty or puppy and multiply it by six. Now, you need to provide a load of living creatures with veterinary care, food and water, love and attention, space—and let's not even talk about the number of litter boxes or walks in the park necessary to corral the byproducts of six adorable poop machines. The solution, for many, is a pit stop at the local overcrowded animal shelter—or worse, alongside a…
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Search Engine Watch - Latest
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Life After Google Penguin – Going Beyond the Name
16 May 2012 | 8:00 amDon't try too hard to look for dates and names of updates. Rather, look more to the effects as Google’s algorithm evolves so you can adapt accordingly. What really matters is that Google is looking harder at link spam now, so you should be too. -
7 Time-Saving Google Analytics Custom Reports
16 May 2012 | 6:00 amThe right Custom Reports can be incredible time savers. Instead of spending time digging around for important metrics, you can find what you need separated neatly into columns for some analysis that will lead to some actionable insight. -
Piwik Open Source Analytics: A Primer
16 May 2012 | 4:00 amWith a focus on privacy and keeping data safe, Piwik is a web analytics package that aims to be a free software alternative to Google Analytics. Here are some of Piwik’s features and how it compares to other top-billing analytics packages. -
Make Second Tier Search Engines Part of Your Lead Generation Strategy
16 May 2012 | 2:00 amGoogle and Bing can only get you so far. If you work in an extremely competitive industry you may find yourself paying anywhere from $30 to $50+ per click. Working with second tier engine/networks can provide an abundance of traffic at a low cost. -
Social Media Ad Spending Forecast to Hit $9.8 Billion by 2016
16 May 2012 | 12:00 amSocial media advertising revenues in the U.S. will grow from $3.8 billion in 2011 to $9.8 billion in 2016, according to BIA/Kelsey’s U.S. Local Media Forecast (2011-2016). The leap would represent a compound annual growth rate of 21 percent.
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Copyblogger
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What Does it Take to Write a Billion-Dollar Marketing Story?
16 May 2012 | 6:00 amIn 1984, two artists used a simple process to create a story that captivated an audience for years and generated billions of dollars in revenue. That same process is being used today by a master copywriter to attract hundreds of thousands of paying subscribers. With companies creating millions of web pages of content marketing, finding an untold story or a new angle can feel like an impossible task. Especially when you want to avoid creating a story so unique nobody understands it … or wants to pay for it. So how do you create a story that cuts through the noise and strikes at the heart… -
How to be a World-Changing Writer
15 May 2012 | 6:00 amAs a copywriter, you know that words have power. You know words can influence, inform, and inspire. They can persuade your fellow humans to do some amazing things (or to do the wrong things, but we won’t go there today). What you may not realize is that your words can change the world. Here’s something else that’s really cool that you might not have realized … The keys to world-changing writing are also the keys to damn good copywriting. But as you know, good writing doesn’t happen all by itself. So let’s talk about what it takes to be damned good …… -
WordPress Hosting That Means Business
14 May 2012 | 10:00 amDid you know Copyblogger Media has a WordPress hosting division? Many people don’t, because it’s been a bit under-the-radar. The whole thing started with our frustration with web hosting in general. Specifically, the fact that a lot of “WordPress hosting” amounts to generic one-click installation of the CMS on a standardly-configured box — which simply doesn’t cut it for optimal performance and security. So, last year we decided to manage our high-traffic network of content and product sites ourselves. We did this by bringing into the family a team of people who themselves… -
The Truth About Making Money While You Sleep
14 May 2012 | 6:00 amWant to hear about the day in the life of a so-called “successful entrepreneur?” Yesterday, I stayed in bed until about 2 PM. I watched the last few episodes of Mad Men. Around sunset, I took a leisurely stroll down the beach. When I got back, I hung out with a friend for a couple of hours, ate dinner, and went to bed. In other words … I goofed off. And while I was goofing off, my business generated a pretty decent chunk of revenue. You want to know the coolest part? I did absolutely nothing to “earn” it. I didn’t check my email. I didn’t talk to… -
7 Instructive Content Marketing Links
12 May 2012 | 8:00 amThis week on The Lede … Are Content Publishers Waking Up from Their App Dreams Nightmares? An Email Marketing Autoresponder Schedule that Sells 3 Quick Tips To Conquering Your Fear of Public Speaking Does Your Domain Say “Trust Me?” Why “Freemium” Fails for Startups: 3 Business Lessons from the Band New Order 5 Basic SEO Truths We Can Learn from Star Wars Peter Shankman on the Value of an Audience If you want to grab more useful links (than the seven we highlight here) every week, follow @copyblogger on Twitter. Are Content Publishers Waking Up from Their App Dreams…
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Logic+Emotion
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Social Business: Where It's Been & Where It's Going
6 May 2012 | 1:56 pm"Chasing the past, I stumbled into the future". - T A Sachs I've always been a firm believer that in order to look to the future, we must look back to and fully grasp the past (and the present). Having had several recent engaging conversations with smart people who I respect, I've picked up a hint of exhaustion around usage of the word "social". Could it be that some who saw the "change" coming years ago are weary of having carried that torch for so many years as we move into the heavy lifting? It's natural to want to move to the next thing—but I'm convinced that today we are largely still… -
Own The Data, Own The Future
14 Apr 2012 | 11:15 amNow that some of the dust is settling around Facebook's massive acquisition of Instagram this past week, we can all take a step back and think about the bigger picture. Yes, Facebook understands the critical role mobile will play in how billions of people interact and communicate but they also understand that interactions, engagement, consumption or whatever you want to call it generates one thing. Data. Facebook wants it. Google wants it. And all businesses will want to understand it. There is huge, big business to be built around all kinds of data. Targeted marketing is the first salvo and… -
Thoughts on the Future of Social-Digital Agency Services
7 Apr 2012 | 12:29 pm*The above does not reflect actual or estimated market share Now is as good a time as any to be thinking about the future of digital (and social) as defined by those of us who provide services or even products around these. If you work for any agency or consultancy—this article is relevant for you. If you're on the "client side" consider it relevant as well as ultimately it is your business model and needs which dictate the market conditions that affect your partners, vendors and professional service providers. I'm writing this piece from the perspective of having worked at several digital… -
Thoughts On Altimeter's Digital Influence Report
21 Mar 2012 | 12:13 pmAltimeter's most recent report titled "The Rise of Digital Influence" revolves around the theory and practice of "digital influence". A trend that will not die despite the industry's counter movement against platforms such as Klout and the scores of imitators which have subsequently followed. (Full disclosure, I was interviewed in depth for the report). Altimeter rightfully begins the analysis of "digital influence" by calling out the distinction from how we view influence traditionally and offering a brief definition:"Traditional influence is defined as the act, power, or capacity of causing… -
Klout Targets Agencies Via "March Madness" Competition
20 Mar 2012 | 10:33 amKlout has dialed up their marketing efforts, this time placing agency individuals in a March Madness bracket style competition they are calling "Agency Insanity". Critics will scoff at it as another attempt to get individuals to pump up scores, but in actuality the effort is a straight forward marketing initiative aimed at raising awareness, generating buzz and getting Klout to show up in people's social streams. A while back, Klout's founder Joe Fernandez and I discussed something like this as part of a brand initiative and it's interesting to see it in action under a different context.
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Social Media Explorer
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Introducing The Rebel’s Guide To Email Marketing
16 May 2012 | 12:20 pmIf you joined DJ Waldow and me today for our 22-minute webinar on five secrets to email marketing, you learned that one of the secrets was that he and I have written a book. I’m proud to tell all of you that The Rebel’s Guide To Email Marketing is now available for pre-order on Amazon and will be in your local book stores late this summer. This is my second book (thanks to all of you who have supported No Bullshit Social Media: The All-Business, No-Hype Guide To Social Media Marketing) but DJ’s first. And if you know both me and DJ, you know he’s truly the subject… -
Social Media Sucks for Businesses and Here’s Why
16 May 2012 | 8:00 amLet’s just get straight to the point… social media sucks. Plain and simple. For years it’s been “business as usual” and then suddenly everyone is bouncing around words like “social”, “engage”, “community” and all kinds of other blather. Some of the biggest companies in the world such as Ford, Starbucks, Dell, American Express and many others have fallen for the trap. I’m here to warn you before you do anything stupid. Social media sucks and here’s a few reasons why … Social media shifts the limelight from… -
Choosing and Weaving Social Within a Multichannel Marketing Program
15 May 2012 | 8:00 amEditor’s Note: Today’s post is of the guest variety and offered up by my friends Gini Dietrich and Geoff Livingston. Their new book, Marketing in the Round, is out and available. They are smart. It is good. Pay attention. The world of marketing in small and large businesses is a siloed one. Companies have ad campaigns, PR plans, social media strategies, and websites built independently and bolted together in a haphazard manner. It’s surprising how rarely these disciplines work together to achieve corporate objectives like establishing a second vertical for a product, or… -
The Irony Of Measuring Marketing Now
14 May 2012 | 8:00 amI once provided counsel for a company that had little confidence in social media marketing. It begrudgingly decided it would hire a consultant, go through some strategic exercises and probably prove that social media was bullshit and it would be better off sticking with its traditional guns. The brand’s insistence with my work, as is with most clients I’ve dealt with, was that we measure everything as infinitely as possible. Skeptics are like that. They want to know how many clicks, how many re-tweets, how many milliseconds the time-on-site number increases each month, even if… -
How To Engage In Online Forums For Your Brand
11 May 2012 | 8:00 amEditor’s Note: In light of our recent affirmation that forums and message boards are a bountiful home for consumer interaction and engagement around brands and products, I thought it appropriate to invite some solid expertise here to help advise us on how to proceed in exploring online forums for marketing purposes. Today’s guest post is by the person I regard as the foremost expert on managing online forums in the U.S., if not the world, Patrick O’Keefe. I regularly find myself in the position of having to defend online forums, without actually wanting to be put into that…
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I Believe in Advertising | ONLY SELECTED ADVERTISING | Advertising Blog & Community
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The Village Newspaper: Parking Douche
16 May 2012 | 10:51 amParking Douche: a way to stop wrong parking in your area through geo-location, IP targeting and FB shares “Douche parking” is a huge problem in cities in Russia. Online city newspaper The Village (www.the-village.ru) has decided to stop it using digital media. The Village has created a free app that allows to take pictures of wrongly parked cars, recognize car number plates, the car model and color. The data is streamed live to banner ads that are targeted through IP addresses to locations where these cars were parked. These banners appear as pop-ups on web-sites, interrupting you while… -
PMU: Millionnaires’ Renovations
16 May 2012 | 10:48 amAdvertising Agency: Publicis Conseil, Paris, France Chief Creative Officer: Olivier Altmann Art Director: Benoit Blumberger Copywriter: Bangaly Fofana -
Volkswagen Touareg: Clean 4×4
16 May 2012 | 9:44 am“Touareg. Looks you’ll want to look after.” Advertising Agency: DDB, London, United Kingdom Executive Creative Director: Jeremy Craigen Creative Director: Jeremy Craigen Art Director: Nikki Lindman, Toby Brewer Copywriter: Nikki Lindman, Toby Brewer Designer: Pete Mould Typographer: Pete Mould Photographer: Sue Parkhill Art Buyer: Daniel Moorey Client Marketing Director: Rod McLeod Client Account Director: Agency Board Account Director: Paul Billingsley Agency Account Director: Jaimie Jennings Planner: Clare Dowen Marketing Manager: Silke Anderson -
Citroën: Deejay Range
16 May 2012 | 9:44 amAdvertising Agency: Euro RSCG, Milan, Italy Creative Director: Erick Loi, Dario Villa Art Director: Erick Loi Copywriter: Dario Villa Director: Danxzen (Daniele Zennaro) Dop: Max Gatti Production Company: K48 -
Azonzo Travel: Australia Map, Cuba Map
16 May 2012 | 4:41 am“From tourist to traveller.” Advertising Agency: Young & Rubicam, Milan, Italy Executive Creative Director: Vicky Gitto Deputy Creative Director: Cristian Comand Art Director: Cristian Comand Copywriter: Matteo Lazzarini Illustrators: Stefano Torresani, Cristian Comand Post production: Post Atomic Client Service Director: Francesca Baroni
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Conversation Agent
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Most Marketers Still Not Making Data-Driven Decisions Surveys Find
16 May 2012 | 4:00 amHow do large corporate marketers collect and use data? Are practices in marketing measurement and ROI changing? How about the integration of digital and traditional marketing? Has the excitement around big data brought about a shift in how marketers conduct their business? These are some of the topics for investigation in a recent study conducted by Columbia Business School’s Center on Global Brand Leadership and the New York American Marketing Association (NYAMA). The short answer: there is still a big gap between where organizations would like to be and where they actually are in… -
Answering Common Inquiries About Content
15 May 2012 | 4:00 amThree kinds of inquiries I receive regularly: write about us give us your content allow us to post Many of you find the contact form for consulting work. In that case, I'm happy to provide a quote and scope of work. If that's not what you're after, the quickest way to find out what is accepted for review and publication is by following the link to -- submit your question on the top menu. In all cases, the best outcomes come when the ask is appropriate. Note the term "pro" is part of the word. Making the ask Don't know how to ask? Here's how to write an email that stands out for your review. -
Why Experience is Key to Customer Loyalty
14 May 2012 | 4:00 amWhenever I travel, I'm reminded of the many amazing opportunities that come from being able to reach many parts of the world relatively easily. Let's face it, things can go wrong with the weather and with technology. It is how an airline -- or any company, for that matter -- handles customer fairness that will make a big difference to its bottom line. Will they have to discount fares more deeply so people will do business with them again next time? There is plenty of room left for improving customer experience in the travel industry -- airlines, hotels, car services, even airports, with a few… -
Business Lessons I Learned from my Mother
13 May 2012 | 5:00 amMy mother was Miss Romagna. Her name is Anna Laura. I wanted to have her purple blue eyes and ready smile. She has the welcoming spirit of a woman always ahead of the times and comfortable in her own skin. In addition to being a mother of three (all girls), she has had multiple careers -- accounting, sales, public office, geriatric care, and beautician; some overlapping for years. Mother really gets communications -- the listening part especially -- the organization of work, along with the care of the individual. Whether she negotiated credit rates or the recovery of the elderly, she made… -
Fair Pay, Participation Value, and The Intention Economy
12 May 2012 | 5:00 amDo you know the pay scale for your industry? I'm not talking about the job wanted ads -- those may mislead you and take you down the generic path. You're not generic, you have specific skills, and you should be able to calculate market value. Just like with salary, where you don't have a cut and dry answer, interaction and involvement are not exactly the same thing. Community participation has highs and lows, and they may not follow the touted 1% route. How active are people online? Has it changed in the last couple of years? Marketers can optimize campaigns and programs only so far. Without…
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SEOmoz Daily SEO Blog
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17 Types of Link Spam to Avoid
15 May 2012 | 4:02 pmPosted by Carson Ward If the last few months of ranking changes have shown me anything, it's that poorly executed link building strategy that many of us call white hat can be more dangerous than black-hat strategies like buying links. As a result of well intentioned but short-sighted link building, many sites have seen significant drops in rankings and traffic. Whether you employ link building tactics that are black, white, or any shade of grey, you can do yourself a favor by avoiding the appearance of link spam. It's become very obvious that recent updates hit sites that had overly… -
Response Codes Explained with Pictures
14 May 2012 | 4:11 pmPosted by Lindsay Friends and I were recently debating the finer points of serving a 410 versus a 404 response code when a brick and mortar retail analogy was born. I hope you'll have half as much fun reading through these amateur comics as I've had putting them together. You might also come away with an extra line of lingo when explaining HTTP Response Codes to clients or colleagues. What are Response Codes? When a search engine or website visitor makes a request to a web server, a three digit HTTP Response Status Code is returned. This code indicates what is about to… -
Project Management for SEO (2012 Edition!)
13 May 2012 | 3:58 pmPosted by Tom Critchlow So here's the truth - I used to suck at project management. But over the years I've determinedly turned myself into a half-decent project manager. Why? What was the driving force? Project Management Is A Tool For Effecting Change At the end of the day, I never have and still don't care that much for project management. But what I do care deeply about is effecting change. Driving action and results instead of talk and documentation. You can see my drive for getting things done in this whiteboard friday: (Note, if you have thoughts about this video you'd… -
Colossal Day of Craziness!
12 May 2012 | 3:38 amPosted by MozCTO Hello, I am Anthony Skinner, the CTO of MozLand! Many of you were affected by several SEOmoz tool issues that happened last week, unfortunately all colliding into one colossal day of craziness on May 3rd. We want to first apologize for any inconveniences or problems that these issues caused you. The good news is that our awesome engineers fixed these problems quickly, but we want to share an update of what happened, how we fixed it, and what we’re doing to prevent "colossal days of craziness" from ever happening again. So, here’s the inside scoop… -
The Penguin Update - Whiteboard Friday
10 May 2012 | 3:59 pmPosted by robkerry SEOmoz and I don't always see eye to eye on industry issues, but I still have a lot of respect for the company. In fact SEOmoz is still the website that I send people to, when they want to learn about SEO or get into our industry. Rand kindly invited me to the SEOmoz office when I was in Seattle this week, for a chat and the opportunity to present a Whiteboard Friday. This week's Whiteboard Friday covers the recent Penguin Update, including what to do and what not to do. I certainly wouldn't say that it's a comprehensive guide, but it does discuss the issues…
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Seth's Blog
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Digital analogs are no longer sufficient
16 May 2012 | 4:00 amThe parking meter was rebooting. I guess we're supposed to walk to the other end of the garage and find one that's working. We're seeing digital awareness coming to just about everything. In this case, it was the parking meter near the library. Of course, it's not really a parking meter, it's a centralized fee collection system that saves the town a lot of money. It's easier to collect from, certainly, it doesn't waste the time of meter readers (who get alerted as to what spaces aren't paid for, as opposed to checking them all) plus it doesn't let a new parker enjoy a few minutes of the last… -
Hard work on the right things
15 May 2012 | 4:00 amI don't think winners beat the competition because they work harder. And it's not even clear that they win because they have more creativity. The secret, I think, is in understanding what matters. It's not obvious, and it changes. It changes by culture, by buyer, by product and even by the day of the week. But those that manage to capture the imagination, make sales and grow are doing it by perfecting the things that matter and ignoring the rest. Both parts are difficult, particularly when you are surrounded by people who insist on fretting about and working on the stuff that makes no… -
Worldliness
14 May 2012 | 4:41 amIntelligence is the combination of knowing a lot about a little while you also know a little about a lot. Deep domain understanding helps you create analyses. Your ability to understand how a particular system (no matter how small) works allows you apply a confident analysis to new systems you encounter. Once you know everything there is to know about nuclear physics, soccer or the praying mantis, it makes it easier to understand new systems. At the same time, it's impossible to be smart without also being aware of the wider world. That's because it's the random interactions and the… -
The reason the customer is always right...
14 May 2012 | 4:08 amIf you insist that they are wrong, they stop being your customer* (if given half a chance). People spend their time and attention and money in places that make them feel valued. *There's nothing wrong with asking customers who are wrong to leave. Just be sure you do it on purpose. -
Dedicating the merit
13 May 2012 | 4:02 amFor an author, one of the nicest parts of the traditional book is the dedication page. The dedication is far more than an acknowledgement to someone who helped you write the book, it's a permanent signpost, a capstone to the work of a year or more. Even if the person you've dedicated the book to can't read it, the writer benefits from the knowledge that a connection was made and that a memory was preserved. Here's the thing: you can dedicate just about anything. A project, a meeting, a tweet. You don't have to tell anyone but yourself. This blog post, like all the posts before it, has a…
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MarketingProfs Daily Fix Blog
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Should Your Marketing Message Require Reading Between the Lines?
16 May 2012 | 12:28 pmYears ago, the political philosopher Leo Strauss wrote an essay entitled, “Persecution and the Art of Writing,” in which he advocated reading some philosophers “between the lines.” For a host of reasons, the philosopher felt that the truth he had to speak could only be spoken surreptitiously or “by means of brief indication.” Of course, one can run into a lot of trouble scholastically when arguing that a philosopher meant to say something other than what he explicitly stated. I mean, how are you supposed to prove that? Strauss insists that a “between… -
Learn These Four Classic Approaches to Marketing Campaigns
16 May 2012 | 9:03 amA guest blog post by Geoff Livingston and Gini Dietrich. A classic marketing strategy mistake is to select tools because they are new or talked about frequently in the media. Fascinated with the latest tool, marketing rounds (what we like to call your team) forget to select media and methods to achieve an objective. Measurable objectives, however, often require selecting a primary approach towards the customer, after which tools are selected based on budget, time, and other resources. There are four common approaches to marketing campaigns today. Direct Community Interaction With… -
Four Tips for Breaking Out of Your Slump Just Like Albert Pujols Did
15 May 2012 | 9:03 amA guest blog post by Maranda Gibson of AccuConference. Former St. Louis Cardinals powerhouse first baseman Albert Pujols traded the Midwest for the West Coast when he accepted a record-breaking deal from the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. His start for the Angels was highly anticipated, so many people were shocked that Pujols had done more striking out than anything else since the beginning of the season. That’s right. A lot of money was invested in a man who could hit a home run off any pitcher in either league, but all he had managed to do lately was strike out—until May 6,… -
What the Evolution of Marketing Automation Looks Like [Infographic]
14 May 2012 | 9:03 amA guest post by Irv Shapiro of Ifbyphone. The term “marketing automation” often conjures up images of people waiting on hold or receiving out-of-office responses. However, smart business owners know that marketing automation equals measured results. The term “marketing automation” includes lead management, Web analytics, email marketing, voice-based measurement, inbound marketing, and social media. And marketing automation contains a wealth of opportunities for businesses to… Measure ROI and lead quality Streamline the leads-to-sales process Enhance user interaction… -
Content Management for Marketers: What’s the Difference Between Open Source and Cloud Platforms?
11 May 2012 | 12:49 pmA guest post by Roland Benedetti of Nuxeo. Ten years ago, if you asked a group of marketing professionals which content management systems (CMS) they encountered most often, you would probably get a few blank stares. Nowadays, however, everyone knows what a content management system is because marketers use them nearly every day to create content, edit websites, and manage projects. But is there only one type of CMS? Do they all operate the same? Which type is best for which function? One of the biggest differences in CMS solutions is what is called open source vs. cloud-based solutions. Do…
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Personal Branding Blog - Dan Schawbel
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Flexibility Steers You Toward Increased Sales
16 May 2012 | 4:30 amPutting a professional foot forward each and every time we conduct business is certainly ideal. But one of the best things you can do for yourself is to recognize everyone is human and we all make errors; yes, even us. Have you ever been late to show up at a meeting or phone someone, or even worse, double booked and needed to reschedule. Mistakes happen Should we be the one making the error, the best strategy is to quickly apologize to get past the embarrassment and heal the wound. The next step is to then ask for forgiveness. In the case where you recognize ahead of time you will be late,… -
Be My Guest: Hosting Guest Bloggers
15 May 2012 | 12:30 pmIf you are an expert in your field, chances are you are taking advantage of commenting on other blogs in your area, searching for opportunities to write for other outlets, and posting links to your blog to every possible social network in your name. Each of these strategies aims for one goal: to build your personal brand by increasing online traffic. A reversal to the common approach of building brand awareness by seeking out opportunities to be featured as a guest blogger for other sites within your area of expertise may be one to reflect on. Guest blogging has been proven to build brand… -
Why Fear Leads To Career Fouls
15 May 2012 | 4:30 amAt Pegasus Media World, I publish an author who deals with the silent killer of success: FEAR. It’s the stealth nature of fear that makes it so dangerous. You don’t typically recognize the majority of times when the deadliest emotion you can have in business is exactly what’s behind the self-sabotaging actions (or lack of actions) you take. Fear is often hard to recognize, because you think fear should feel like quaking in your boots – like how most people feel about public speaking. People who fear speaking to groups, feel this hair-raising, gut wrenching, dry mouth, heart pounding… -
How To Get Clients From A Conference Or Trade-show
14 May 2012 | 2:00 pmOver the course of a year, my company spent over $25,000 on conferences and trade-shows. Quite a lot of money for a start-up, but something that we found to be absolutely necessary to generate enterprise-level client leads and expand our pipeline. To see a return on our investment, we would need to generate over $25,000 worth of deals from these conferences. A feat that we achieved with flying colors. My company has built recognition in the franchise restaurant world because my team and I hustled extremely hard at each conference. We didn’t let the business come to us; instead, we… -
Creating Good Karma For Your Personal Brand
14 May 2012 | 4:30 amManaging your personal brand is essential to your success. You want to stand out among the crowd, be noticed, be invaluable. You don’t want to be someone who is easily replaced and easily forgotten. You want to be someone who people will listen to, look up to, and most importantly be remembered. To be a strong and successful personal brand, one of the most important things you need to have is a network of contacts. And it’s essential that you manage your relationship with those contacts well, to ensure that you have a smooth and hassle-free working relationship. As your brand or small…
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@ProBlogger
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5 Effective Tricks to Create a Killer Call to Action
16 May 2012 | 9:04 amThis guest post is by Greg Digneo of Sales Leads in Thirty Days. Here’s the dirty little secret: there are actually two steps to building an extremely popular blog. The first and most popular step is to drive traffic by guest posting, social media, and SEO. The far less sexy step is to convert that traffic into loyal readers who will become the backbone of your community. Who will share every piece of content you produce with their friends. And who will ensure that every post sparks an engaging discussion. But most of all, they will be the first to buy your products and services. The… -
Get Obsessed with Your Message
15 May 2012 | 3:01 pmThis guest post is by Danielle LaPorte of DanielleLaPorte.com. Blog = up? Posts = rolling? It’s time to get obsessed with your message. A quick dictionary moment, to differentiate between your voice, your topics and your message. Your voice is what makes your writing distinctive, compelling, unmistakably you. You’ll carry your voice from your blog, right into your book. Seamless, identifiable. Individual. Your topics are the categories or subjects you write about (Eco-luxe weddings on a shoestring budget! Savvy corporate management, with heart and soul! Thrifty vegan recipes!) Your… -
On the Elusive “Next Level” of Blogging
15 May 2012 | 9:04 amWe’ve all heard of it—the elusive “next level” that so many bloggers talk about online. But what is the next level? How many levels are there? Is there an end point in leveling up? These are all worthwhile questions—especially for more experienced bloggers who have spent a lot of time and energy in reaching the level they’re already at. For these bloggers, trying to reach the next level can involve a degree of risk, so the steps that get us toward the next level might be taken slowly and with care. On the other hand, the web isn’t exactly undersupplied with… -
Grab Your BWE Virtual Ticket for $100 Off—24 Hours Left
14 May 2012 | 7:09 pmWish you could get to Blog World Expo this year, but can’t make it to New York? Me too. I’ll be in Queensland with the winners of my blogging competition, but I know there are plenty of bloggers from other countries, as well as within the States, who won’t be able to attend Blog World this year. Fortunately, you and I don’t need to miss out on the information and fun of the Expo (and if the speaker list for this year is anything to go by, the conference is going to be really impressive). We “remote” bloggers can still “attend” on a BWE virtual… -
Install Your First WordPress Theme
14 May 2012 | 9:09 amThis guest post is by Karol K of ThemeFuse. Seeing a headline like “How to Install a WordPress Theme” on ProBlogger might seem strange at first. This doesn’t sound like a “pro”-thing at all, right? If you’ve been dealing with WordPress for a while then this is probably even more than obvious to you. However, everyone starts somewhere, and there are plenty of experienced bloggers who haven’t ever installed a WordPress theme—but would like to give it a try. Maybe you’re installing your first theme right now, and you’re searching for a…
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HubSpot's Inbound Internet Marketing Blog
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7 Enlightening Infographics About Email Deliverability
16 May 2012 | 10:55 amI've said it before, and I'll say it again. It doesn't matter how great your email marketing is if nobody can see it. And getting hundreds of thousands of eyes on your amazing email marketing campaigns begins with email deliverability. There's actually quite a lot to take into account to ensure your emails actually get delivered to a recipient's inbox. Your list has to be healthy (if you're curious what makes up a healthy email list, take this 5-question test we developed); you need to develop and maintain a high Sender Score; you need to segment your email list like a pro; and the list goes… -
20 Clues Your Marketing Stinks, Straight From the Horse's Mouth
16 May 2012 | 8:00 amIf there's one thing that makes our toes tingle (other than inbound marketing, of course), it's seeing examples of marketing done right. Great marketing makes us excited to be working in a trailblazing industry where other marketers are doing seriously innovative things to make marketing people actually like. But to get so excited about awesome marketing means there's another end of the spectrum. A dark side where email spammers, poor segmenters, and keyword stuffers live trying to pass off their activities as marketing. Those guys give legitimate marketers a bad name, and the worst part of… -
Twitter Launches Weekly Email Digest to Aid Content Discovery
15 May 2012 | 3:30 pmLooks like Twitter is putting its January acquisition of social news startup Summify to good use! Yesterday, the official Twitter blog announced that it will start sending users a weekly email digest featuring relevant tweets and stories shared by the people they're connected with on Twitter. This just several days after news of Twitter's "acqui-hire" of personalized email marketing service RestEngine. Similar to the updated design of the Twitter Discover tab we covered earlier this month, the summary highlights which of the users you're connected to on Twitter shared the featured stories and… -
10 Simply Awesome Examples of Email Marketing
15 May 2012 | 10:48 amAs the Boston Globe highlighted eloquently on our behalf to announce today's launch of HubSpot's new email tools, email marketing is not dead! But over the years, some less than savory email marketing behaviors by brands -- whether they knew better or not -- have soured many recipients to the email messages filling up their inboxes. On the other hand, it has also made consumers jump for joy when they actually do get an email that is helpful, interesting, or innovative. And that's the kind of email marketing we like to celebrate! We've written about fantastic ecommerce retargeting campaigns,… -
Why List Segmentation Matters in Email Marketing
15 May 2012 | 7:50 amBy now, most marketers understand the importance of email to their overall marketing strategy and recognize that it's not dying in the wake of other emerging marketing tactics like social media. But while most marketers realize that email is here to stay, unfortunately, that doesn't exactly mean certain email marketing best practices have caught on. Segmentation is one such best practices. Segmenting your communications can improve your email marketing campaigns by leaps and bounds (read on -- we have the data to prove it!). Luckily, marketers are at least starting to realize the importance…
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ReelSEO Online Video Marketing Digest
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TV Still Dominant Video Consumption Platform, For Now
16 May 2012 | 12:45 pmThe Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) just released a new report looking at the devices on which consumers consume video content. Not a big surprise that TV is still the number one platform. What may be surprising are the platforms that aren’t really contributing all that much to the overall. The CEA report, The Evolving Video Landscape, was conducted between February 22 and March 2, 2012. and created by CEA Market Research. The survey showed that 34% of US adults online are watching more video than they were last year and TV programming is up 28% because of the wide range of ways… -
Video Paywalls, Mobile Momentum, Optimizing Views & More [Reel Web #39]
16 May 2012 | 8:15 amThis week the Reel Web covers a lot of topics including YouTube’s venture into providing premium content, the stats on video sharing apps on mobile devices as well as a couple quick resources on monetizing your videos and looking at your video analytics. Click here to watch this video. YouTube Planning Premium Content Subscription – YouPayWall? YouTube may be bringing in some premium content that will be available to view with a subscription. Most of this content will likely be very popular on-demand content that is currently available via TV, however, there is speculation that this… -
Howcast Guides Viewer Interest & Discovery with New Site: CEO Jason Liebman Provides Insight [Interview]
16 May 2012 | 8:00 amProbably the most unheralded videos on the web are how-to videos, and yet, they are some of the most popular. And it’s easy to see why: no longer are people having to rely on written instructions, which can be confusing or be missing vital information, they can actually see the recipe being cooked, or the piano being played, or whatever skill people want to learn. Howcast.com, a video destination site that specializes in these videos, announced a retooling of their site today. We talked to Jason Liebman, co-founder and CEO of Howcast (below), who shed some light on the relaunch and… -
The Rise of Mid-Roll Means Good Things for Video Advertising
15 May 2012 | 10:45 amI was just perusing a report from FreeWheel that pertains to online video monetization for Q1 2012 and there were some surprising things in it. For example, mid-roll video ad placements are on the rise, but mostly due to more long form video content being available, not because they’re more effective, etc. Right now, I’m in the planning stages of my own original web series and length of each episode was a topic of discussion with the team (really, there’s just two of us at present). I’m leaning more toward a longer episode while the other person was thinking shorter. -
Engagement, Not Views, is Driving Today’s YouTube
14 May 2012 | 1:15 pmWe all are a bit guilty of checking out a video’s view count and using it as its one and only metric for success. Although more critical thinking has made view counts less important, it’s still the easiest way to judge a video’s success. But YouTube has apparently wised up in the last few months as they have spent money on premium content and are looking for as many advertisers as possible. This very interesting article from Ad Age using Comscore metrics shows that while total views have dropped from the highs of last year, the amount of time spent on YouTube has…
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mUmBRELLA
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Film about a man who turns into a puffer fish seeks sponsor
16 May 2012 | 2:40 amA short film about a man who turns into a puffer fish is looking for a sponsor with a view to the film becoming a series. Directed by Ben West, who comes from a visual effects background, the film follows the fortunes of a Japanese salaryman who turns into a puffer fish after eating a live one in a restaurant. West’s production company @Radicalmedia, is shopping around for a distributor and considering looking for a sponsorship tie-up. West told Mumbrella: “It’s a film with edge, and is probably not for mainstream audiences. But there’s potential for the film to become… -
NewsLifeMedia senior editors depart as Vogue Australia appoints rival title editor
16 May 2012 | 1:10 amNicole Sheffield: making changes In what could prove to be the biggest senior editorial changes in magazine publishing all year, the new boss of News Limited‘s expanded lifestyle publishing Nicole Sheffield has announced the departure of Vogue Australia’s editor-in-chief Kirstie Clements, lifestyle group editor Mark Kelly and editor of home and lifestyle title InsideOut, Richard Waller. Sheffield is just two months into her role as boss of NewsLifeMedia. Rival title Harper’s Bazaar editor Edwina McCann is to step into the role of Vogue editor. Clement had held the post… -
Expedia cinema ad gives 3D Las Vegas tour
15 May 2012 | 10:20 pmOnline travel specialist Expedia has launched a 3D cinema ad which gives viewers a tour of all the activities you can do in Las Vegas for only $273, the amount consumers save by booking flights and accommodation with the company. The 90-second ad is currently screening before The Avengers in 3D in Australian cinemas. There is also a complementary TVC, “South Pacific on $275″ and accompanying short documentary. It is a continuation of the campaign that previously used the creative ‘Thailand on $222″ and “New York on $50″. The campaign is presented by… -
ACMA rules that 2Day FM licence will not depend on not demeaning women after all
15 May 2012 | 10:18 pmAustralia’s media watchdog has toned down the tough conditions it said it would be putting on radio station 2DayFM’s licence following Kyle Sandilands’ on air attack on a female journalist last last year. When the Australian Communications and Media Authority published its findings earlier this year, it said that it would be imposing a new condition of the 2Day FM licence. As well as making it a specific licence condition that the station complied with the radio code of practice guidelines on not offending generally accepted standards of decency, it also said it would… -
Why brands are the US Army – and culture jammers are the Viet Cong
15 May 2012 | 9:46 pmIn this guest posting, Dave Burgess, who painted ‘No War’ on the Sydney Opera House, claims that ‘amoral’ advertisers have copied his idea. Culture jamming is a 28-year-old term coined by the San Francisco-based band Negativland, who declared that the ‘Studio for the cultural jammer is the world at large’. The Fontana Dictionary of Modern Thought defines culture jamming more narrowly as: ‘The manipulation of the mass media by artists and activists. The intent, in most cases, is to critique the media’s manipulation of reality, lampoon consumerism, or…
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Occam's Razor by Avinash Kaushik
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Excellent Analytics Tips #20: Measuring Digital "Brand Strength"
14 May 2012 | 5:05 amA lot of digital analytics focuses on direct response (conversions, leads, etc.). But there is an additional valuable, and sexy, focus of our marketing we don't give enough analytical love: Branding! It is sad that we spend so little time on brand analysis, primarily because 1. there is such little accountability to brand marketing and 2. it is such a strategic part of any business. So let's fix that problem in this blog post. Let's become BFFs with a lovely hidden gem that helps you leverage one of the largest source of data on the planet to understand the strength of your… -
You Are What You Measure, So Choose Your KPIs (Incentives) Wisely!
23 Apr 2012 | 4:54 amYes, data is important. Helps make marketing better. Makes for smart organizations. Blah, blah, blah. You know the drill: Measure. Find insights. Take action. (Or die trying.) Ascend to corporate heaven. While there is a great deal of appreciation for the power of metrics/data, I've come to realize that Sr. Leaders don't quite appreciate the deep, and often corrosive, consequences of choosing metric x over metric y as a key performance indicator (KPI). [Sidebar] A key performance indicator is a metric that helps you understand actual performance against preset business objectives. -
Multi-Channel Attribution: Definitions, Models and a Reality Check
2 Apr 2012 | 4:47 amA wise person said: "To guarantee success, spend 95% of your time defining the problem and 5% of the time solving it." I believe deeply in that quote. In my life I spend an extraordinary amount of time understanding the problem and attempting to define it clearly. As if by magic, I find that it is then much easier to find the optimal solution (or realize none exists!). Multi-Channel Attribution is a red hot topic in our industry, and yet it is so poorly understood. I'm convinced that the resulting problems (confusion, FUD, angst, daily prayers, and wasted budget) are due to the… -
A Big Data Imperative: Driving Big Action
12 Mar 2012 | 4:15 amIs there anything in the analytics space that is so full of promise and hype and sexiness and possible awesomeness than "big data?" I don't think so. So what is big data really? No one quite knows. As I interpret it, big data is the collection of massive databases of structured and unstructured data. The data sources include traditional (now considered puny) sources like corporate ERP/CRM systems and non-traditional (massive) sources like every technical ping from every human or mechanical sensor, all web behavior by everyone across the entire Internet, increasingly digital… -
The Biggest Mistake Web Analysts Make… And How To Avoid It!
20 Feb 2012 | 4:19 amThe single biggest mistake web analysts make is working without purpose. We work very hard. We torture SiteCatalyst. We send out a lot of data. Then we resend it again and again. And yet our work results in very little impact on the business in terms of action taken by company leaders. Why this sad state? Almost always we dive into the ocean of data first. Sadder still, we don't ask questions later. We never ask questions. No questions. No tie to what's important. No impact from the data. Result? Our work lacks purpose. It is that simple. My normal recommendation to address this…
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NevilleHobson.com
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FIR Speakers and Speeches: Neville Hobson on Reputation Management at Internet Speed
16 May 2012 | 7:47 amOn April 26, 2012, FIR co-host Neville Hobson gave a keynote presentation at this year’s annual conference of the Public Relations Institute of Ireland (PRII) in Dublin. The overall conference theme was Reputation Management in the Age of Digital. Could we genuinely have foreseen the extent to which technological innovations would have disrupted our way of working? asked the PRII. How social and digital media, in particular, would have given rise to consumer power and citizen journalism? Or that we would face unprecedented competition from a new wave of competitors? These are powerful… -
Your time, your place, your opportunity
14 May 2012 | 5:37 pmIn the Wikipedia and Public Relations presentation to Wikimedia UK that Philip Sheldrake and I did last weekend when we participated in the Wikimedia UK annual conference in London, a significant aspect was sharing some content from a draft document prepared by the CIPR that’s designed to help CIPR members understand more about the Wikipedia community and how to engage with them. It’s good to see that the draft text has quickly been posted to Wikimedia and is openly available for anyone with an opinion (literally) to comment. If you have a relevant view about Wikipedia and public… -
The Hobson and Holtz Report – Podcast #651: May 14, 2012
14 May 2012 | 4:12 pmContent summary: FIR interview with Grantoo co-founder and CEO Dimitri Sillam is up. The Speakers & Speeches file from Neville’s talk in Dublin is coming this week. Neville recounts the talk he and Philip Sheldrake gave at the Wikimedia UK Annual General Meeting over the weekend. A discount code is available for FIR listeners interested in attending Like Minds Exeter 2012. News That Fits: brand humanization is not a social media fad; Ragan Communications promo; the rise of social influence marketing with Klout and PeerIndex; listener comments discussion; CustomScoop’s Media… -
Inside the connected car
14 May 2012 | 1:53 amVery interesting assessment of in-car technology with some quotable predictions from Intel, eg: By next year the car will be the third most-connected place in which people spend time. By 2016, how connected a car is will be a critical buying decision. In the future, if car ownership declines but increased use is still needed, connectivity might allow users to “log-on” to a vehicle. So it could even change colour and add the accessories of your choice. Just like a PC desktop, a machine would take on the persona of its user. In the US, the average driver spends the equivalent of two months… -
Wikipedia and public relations
13 May 2012 | 3:22 amThe Science Museum in London is a fascinating place. I spent quite a bit of time there yesterday – and have some pics to show for it – in my first visit in twenty years. It never ceases to amaze me that such an astounding place of learning, wonderment and inspiration is free, as in, it doesn’t cost you money to go in. You can contribute through donation, if you so wish, but you have no direct obligation. A fitting place, then, for a meeting of an organization that offers something that mirrors many if not all of those values. I’m talking about Wikipedia, the online…
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Convince and Convert Blog: Social Media Strategy and Social Media Consulting
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6 Great Conferences to Attend Before the End of 2012
15 May 2012 | 8:00 amAmy Schmittauer is the Founder & Face of Savvy Sexy Social. She is a “social media frenzy” working in social relations consulting, blogging, and, of course, vlogging about life on her YouTube channel. Connect with her on Twitter. If there’s anything I’ve learned throughout this crazy ride of working in digital marketing, it’s that reading all the blog posts ever written, staying up-to-date on all the latest news, and watching all the how-to YouTube videos you can find is still not enough. There’s no doubt that all the information you need to learn about… -
6 Reasons to Make Your Big Idea Small
12 May 2012 | 3:20 pmBrad Van Orden is the most interesting man in the world. It’s not the Dos Equis guy, it’s Brad. Sheena Navigates the Market in Nebaj, Guatemala A former product engineer for WL Gore & Associates, Brad is an expert telemark skier, mountain biker, mechanic, cook, humorist, and explorer. I got to know Brad and his wife Sheena when I lived in Flagstaff, AZ (where they’re from). I met Brad and helped him with some Web strategy when he took an interest in sustainable energy (as a hobby) and taught himself C++ and a bunch of other programming languages to build a company called… -
Social Pros 15 – Marcus Sheridan, The Sales Lion
10 May 2012 | 11:05 amThis is Episode 15 of the Social Pros Podcast : Real People Doing Real Work in Social Media. This episode features Marcus Sheridan of The Sales Lion. Read on for insights from Marcus, and our Social Media Stat of the Week (this week: email opens on smartphones and tablets have grown by 82% in the last year). Listen Now Click the play button to listen here: Download the audio file: http://socialpros.podbean.com/mf/web/ic763t/SocialProsEpisode15.mp3 The RSS feed is: http://feeds.feedburner.com/socialprospodcast Find us on iTunes:… -
The Rise of the T-Shaped Agency Model
9 May 2012 | 5:00 amDaniel Lemin is Strategy & Analytics Lead at Convince & Convert. He also runs the consulting firm Social Studio where he provides analytics, PR and integrated marketing strategy to his clients. Agency owners, take note: your traditional team structure – the one that divides your agency into “digital”, “account management” and “creative,” among others – may be restraining capacity to innovate and expand your client capabilities. We work with a lot of agencies and have come to recognize the challenges that leaders are facing in… -
The Five Reasons Why Most Facebook Brand Pages Aren’t True Communities
8 May 2012 | 5:00 amJessica Malnik is a PR/marketing coordinator, social media specialist, videographer and an avid blogger. Visit her blog for social media, technology, public relations and marketing ramblings. What are the defining characteristics of a community? It’s a topic I’ve been pondering more and more lately. Is it about geography, common interests, socio-economic similarities, or similar viewpoints? The list goes on and on. To get to this point, it becomes necessary to define what a community is. According to dictionary.com, a community is…
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Danny Brown
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Your Value
15 May 2012 | 2:44 pmElectricity is free, but we pay energy companies to harness it. Water is free, but we pay for the privilege of filtering. Air is free, but we pay for the solution of conditioning it for summers in our homes. Natural gas is free, but we pay for the importance of safety in its use. Oil is free, but we pay for the welling and distribution. When we get down to it, all the things we could have for free we’re willing to pay for, because where needs are met, value is gained. If you meet the needs of your audience, why would the value you bring be free? Your Value originally appeared on Danny… -
Join @GaryVee and @AmberMac in Toronto July 26 for Social Mix 2012 #SoMix2012
14 May 2012 | 10:02 amIf you’re in the Toronto, Ontario area on July 26, make sure you keep the day free for what promises to be one of the city’s leading social media and business events this year. Top business and marketing folks Gary Vaynerchuk and Amber Mac will be keynoting at the inaugural Social Mix, presented by Jugnoo (hey, that’s where I work!). They’ll be sharing their insights and expertise on what it takes to succeed both online and offline, and how to build your business for long-term success. Alongside Gary and Amber, we’ll also be bringing the highly respected Gini… -
Everything Is Dead
12 May 2012 | 8:29 pmThe print industry is dead, yet we still use a version of ink for the ebooks that killed print. The news release is dead, yet we still count print publication mentions as a measure of success. Advertising is dead, yet we still spend almost $120 billion every three months. Blogging is dead, even though the platforms reporting this are built on blogs. PR is dead, despite it pervading every part of a business from customer service to branding to HR and more. Seems everything is dead, even though we continue to use all of these corpses today. Great to be alive, eh? Everything Is Dead originally… -
Social Media, Self-Proclamation and the Wanky Word
10 May 2012 | 9:45 pmWe all want to be famous, whether we admit it or not. We all want the glory of recognition for our work; our media; our creations; our results. To say otherwise is to lie. Of course, the thing is, there are different levels of what we want and how we want it. Thankfully for those that want it, whether it’s deserved or not, social media allows us to live out our narcissistic fantasies and be as famous as we believe we should be. Fame, though, can come in many forms. There’s the type of fame that Mike talks about; but that’s where we seek fame but don’t really say as much. Then… -
27 Highly Recommended WordPress PlugIns As Used on Here
9 May 2012 | 8:39 amOne of the great things about self-hosted WordPress blogging is the amount of plugins available to help you make your blog just the way you want it. For anyone not on WordPress, plugins are additional solutions that you can install to your site’s admin area, and they then offer extra functionality to your blog and how your readers interact with it. These can range from social sharing options, design tools, subscription options, e-commerce solutions and much more. In my last post, I spoke about the process that went into the redesign here, and Ken Mueller (an awesome part of…
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Beth’s Blog
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Akilah Institute for Women: Social Media Workshop
16 May 2012 | 10:24 amAkilah workshop View more presentations from Beth Kanter After the ACE leadership training, I had the opportunity to spend a day in Kigali. I volunteered to do a Social Media and Professional Networking workshop for second year students at the Akilah Institute for Women. The mission is to empower young women in East Africa to transform their lives by equipping them with the skills, knowledge, and confidence to find meaningful employment and launch ventures in the fastest growing sectors of the economy. The organization was founded by Elizabeth Dearborn Davis and Dave Hughes. I… -
Social Media, Networking, and African Women’s Leadership Training in Rwanda
15 May 2012 | 10:00 amFor the past ten days, I’ve been in Rwanda, Africa. I was honored to be a trainer as part of the launch of the ACE Leaders Project, a program developed by the Institute of International Education Sub-Saharan Regional Office and supported by the Packard Foundation. The project is under the visionary leadership of Cheryl Francisconi who is the director of IIE’s office in Addis Ababa in Ethiopia and has vast expertise in developing, designing, and implementing transformative leadership programs for several decades. The project mobilizes leading women’s organizations and… -
Need Answers: LinkedIn Has Them
14 May 2012 | 10:44 amNote from Beth: I’m just finishing up an intensive training here in Rwanda. I was out in a rural area where Internet connectivity was a huge challenge, so was not able to blog, But now that I’m back in Kigali with a good Internet connection, expect to hear more about my experience teaching social media and the Networked NGO. Right before I left for this trip, Geri Stengel, shared a guest post about nonprofits and use of LinkedIn that was of interest to many folks. So, when Geri offered up this second post about nonprofits and LinkedIn, I couldn’t… -
Are You Being Left Behind as Technology Ushers In a Whole New Approach to Philanthropy? #CoFLA
4 May 2012 | 9:25 amNote From Beth: Just before I left for Rwanda, I caught some interesting discussion threads about organizational adoption of networked ways of working on Twitter coming from the #COFLA hashtag as a result of the Council on Foundations gathering in Los Angeles. I discovered that it was Larry Eason from DotOrgPower and his colleague, Shelley Wenk, offered to write this summary of the discussion as a guest post. When I landed, I was able to get the guest post from Shelley via email and publish it because Rwanda has one of the better Internet connectivity infrastructures for the countries… -
Attention Data Nerds: Nonprofits Miss Out on the Power of LinkedIn: Learn How to Tap It
3 May 2012 | 10:02 amNote from Beth: By the time you are reading, I’ll probably have been on a jet plane for far longer than I want to be and maybe have landed in Rwanda. Once I recover from the journey, expect read reports about the Networked NGO in Rwanda and use of social media to support Women’s Rights organizations. If you’re motivated to go deeper on LinkedIn after reading this summary, you will want to check out my curated list of nonprofit and LinkedIn resources here. Nonprofits Miss Out on the Power of LinkedIn: Learn How to Tap It – Guest Post by Geri Stengel …
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ZDNet | Social Business Blog RSS
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Facebook IPO: Risk Factors and growth
16 May 2012 | 12:23 pmFacebook’s IPO filing with the SEC warns potential investors of the chance that the value of their investment may go down as well as up. This post looks at growth and why you might think twice about investing. -
Twitter reaches 10 million active accounts in the UK
15 May 2012 | 1:14 pmTwitter UK is celebrating its first year of operation over here and has announced that it has 10 million active users in the UK who log on each month -
Draw Something rapidly declines in popularity after Zynga acquisition
14 May 2012 | 11:02 amPerhaps Zynga was seduced by the meteoric rise of the over simplistic Draw Something and did not stop to analyse whether the newest addition would have any staying power over its other games. -
Why the FBI should be worried about Bitcoin
11 May 2012 | 10:23 amA leaked document from the FBI shows concern that cyber criminals treat Bitcoin as just another payment option alongside established virtual currencies. With no centralised authority, detecting suspicious activity can be problematic. -
Domino's tracks your pizzas with new Facebook Ordering app
10 May 2012 | 2:16 pmDomino’s has been leading the way with mobile and social initiatives such as the ‘Social Pizza’ application. Now you can use Facebook Ordering to order and track your pizza without ever leaving Facebook
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Daily Blog Tips
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Burn the Bridges
16 May 2012 | 8:37 amFirst of all keep in mind I don’t support or see as a positive thing the massacres that happened in Central and South America when Spain, Portugal and other European nations started colonizing the continent. Quite the opposite. That being said we can still learn from their strategic and military choices, and that is what this post is about. Hernán Cortés was the Spanish general who was responsible for the fall of the Aztec Empire and sub-sequent colonization of the Americas by Spain. His military technology was far superior, but the Aztec outnumbered his men, and they were fighting… -
The Verge Slams Internet Marketing Gurus
14 May 2012 | 11:17 pmIf you still haven’t seen the piece on The Verge where they slam some Internet marketing gurus pretty hard, well, grab some popcorn and visit the link below, cause you are in for a treat (whether you agree with the opinions of the article or not). The post is titled Scamworld: ‘Get rich quick’ schemes mutate into an online monster, and it runs for thousands of words with a very comprehensive view on the matter. Just to give you an idea on how they didn’t hold any punches: there are pictures and videos of some pretty famous Internet marketers (e.g., Frank Kern and Mike… -
How to Structure Your Posts (and Why You Need To)
14 May 2012 | 6:30 amDo your posts seem to be a loose collection of ideas, in no particular order? When I’m coaching bloggers, one common problem that comes up is a lack of structure. During the drafting process, many writers simply sit down and type whatever comes into their head. That’s fine for a warm-up … but it’s not a very efficient way to create a blog post. Think of structure as the underlying framework for your posts. With a strong frame in place, your post won’t sag in the middle or have bits falling off at the edges: it’ll be easy for you to create, and easy for your readers to take in. -
Make Money On YouTube with Affiliate Marketing
11 May 2012 | 9:52 amA couple of weeks ago I published a post explaining the basic process you need to go through if you want to become a YouTube partner, which allows you to display ads and monetize your uploaded videos. My buddy John Chow followed that post up with an explanation of his approach to YouTube monetization, which is quite different. In his post titled How to Make Money on YouTube John explains that in addition to the money he makes from the ad impressions on the video he also earns by placing affiliate links in the description of the videos. In fact he mentions that the affiliate links earn much… -
First Impressions on Websites Can Be Misleading
9 May 2012 | 9:02 pmOne thing that makes online marketing particularly complex (and interesting) is the fact that you can never be sure about what’s going on behind the scenes of a certain website. That is, you can’t know how many visitors the site has, how much it makes per month and so on. In fact sometimes the first impression you’ll get can be quite misleading, and here are some examples: Number of Comments Until a couple of years ago the average number of comments a blog would get per post was a good indicator of its traffic. Today, however, I don’t think this rule holds true. For…
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PR-Squared - Social Media Marketing and Public Relations
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Seven Principles of Content Marketing
14 May 2012 | 1:20 pmNow that we’ve all agreed that “Content is King (Again),” and Content Marketing is all the rage, maybe it is time to think about some easy-to-follow tenets. Let’s keep this simple. Follow a 70/30 Rule – 70% of content curated, 30% branded. Why? Because the rest-of-the-world is at least 70% more interesting than your brand; and, promoting external content builds social capital, makes grateful fans of influencers. All content should be SHAREWORTHY. Don’t publish junk. Better to be quiet than to queer the signal-to-noise ratio. All content should benefit… -
Seriously, This Is Gonna Be Cool: The Corporate Social Media Summit
4 May 2012 | 9:05 amNext month I’ll be moderating a panel at the Corporate Social Media Summit, which is being held June 13-14 at the New Yorker Hotel in NYC. It’s gonna be a great time, with an impressive list of corporate attendees, including SHIFT clients such as McDonalds and H&R Block, among many others (Whole Foods! Dell! Lego! Mercedes!). I’ll be moderating the panel on “Reputation preservation and enhancement: Use social media to maximize the impact of your brand.” I’ll be joined by McDonald’s Heather Oldani, Director of U.S. -
Never Give Up, Never Surrender!
29 Apr 2012 | 7:22 am -
SHIFT Communications Named Digital/Social Agency of the Year
24 Apr 2012 | 11:00 amShameless self promotion time. Hang on. Wow, wow, wow. We are busting at the seams over here. Today the Holmes Group named SHIFT Communications the 2012 Digital/Social Agency of the Year – with “honorable mentions” in the category going to behemoths like Edelman, Ogilvy and Weber Shandwick. This marks the 3rd time in the last few years that SHIFT has nabbed “agency of the year” honors. We were the “Agency of the Year” according to the American Business Awards, and the “New Media Agency of the Year” (again via Holmes) back in 2008. Both times we were psyched. But this… -
What’s Old is New Again: Earned Media Can Be Your Hub
23 Apr 2012 | 8:17 amI was catching up with a former client recently. We launched their company a coupla years ago, and by almost any measure, it is now considered a hot commodity. They have tons of social media fans, lots of inbound media requests, do a lot of great content marketing, etc. We originally parted ways, very amicably, because they had reached a degree of success that no longer warranted as much proactive effort (and, being a startup, they were wisely watching their burn rate). During our catch-up session, this company representative described a newfound fever within the company to get more…
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CenterNetworks
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Shark Tank Recap – April 27
27 Apr 2012 | 8:00 pmBelow is a recap of the April 27, 2012 episode of the ABC show Shark Tank. If you are unfamiliar with Shark Tank, the concept is simple – entrepreneurs pitch their ideas to a panel of investors and the investors have to provide at least the amount the entrepreneur is seeking for a deal to be completed. Tonight Barbara Corcoran was replaced by QVC product creator Lori Greiner. Other sharks include: Mark Cuban, Kevin O’Leary, Damond John and Robert Herjavec. Don’t forget to check out our previous Shark Tank recaps. Pitch #1 – Duality Cosmetics First up into the Shark Tank was… -
Does Product Design Always Matter?
26 Apr 2012 | 9:20 pmWhile I don’t own many Apple products, I know the feeling that they give me when I use them. I like my Android tablet but for some reason the iPod Touch just seems to give me a better feeling when I use it. For years I’ve called it the, “white headphones effect”. There are lots of brands that provide the same feeling while you are using them. Another great example is Whole Foods. Here in Austin there is another healthy supermarket, Central Market. Both stores are excellent but, for me, there is just a better feeling walking around Whole Foods than there is when inside… -
Web Jobs – April 23
23 Apr 2012 | 7:46 amCheck out some of the latest web technology and business jobs posted for April 23, 2012 on the CenterNetworks Job Board. Subscribe to the CN Jobs feed and get all of the latest Web industry jobs delivered directly to you. Featured Jobs: Chief Operating Officer at Indochino Apparel Director of Software Engineering at Bloom Health Software Designer at Viddler More Jobs: Senior Web Software Engineer at Kareo Front End Developer at Soli Senior Software Engineer at OkCupid Labs Software Engineer at Causes Employers – Join other top companies on the CN Job Board. Post your jobs today –… -
Why I’m Using Facebook More Often
20 Apr 2012 | 6:52 pmI’ve never been a heavy Facebook user — I’ve had an account for a very long time but I mainly used it to share posts from CN and to “friend” people who request that I friend them. Over the years I’ve changed my personal settings to be able to see the different types of ads that are displayed. Up until this month I’ve never had a profile picture and have appeared as women and men of all different ages. Whenever I take a look at the main feed on Facebook, it’s mostly content imported from Twitter. I’ve written about this before and wish that… -
Tumblr is Invisible to the News, As These Charts Show. Why?
18 Apr 2012 | 5:52 pmThis post written by Dan Lewis – he wants you to learn something new every day. The news is behind the times. Look at the bottom graph of the top picture. Relative to Twitter, there’s been virtually no news pickup of Tumblr. It’s a flat blue line. On the other hand, search volume shows that Tumblr’s been a “thing,” relative to Twitter, for almost two years. The news is two years behind. The second picture is Tumblr v. Instagram. Outside of the sale, Tumblr’s been crushing Instagram on search volume — steeper slope and everything. And yet, until the sale, both…
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Compete Blog
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What’s In A Name: Are We Really Naming Our Kids After Celebs?
15 May 2012 | 3:46 pmImage from: Baby Name Image / Shutterstock Yesterday, the U.S. Social Security Administration released the most popular baby names for 2011, and today, everyone is buzzing about the relation of said baby names to today’s celebrities. Female Names Sophia Isabella Emma Olivia Ava Emily Abigail Madison Mia Chloe Male Names Jacob Mason William Jayden Noah Michael Ethan Alexander Aiden Daniel The name “Sophia” was the most popular name for a girl, and “Jacob” was the most popular boy’s name. But what influence do Sofia Vergara and Jacob Black really have over… -
Publishers Clearing House: Giving away money to make money?!
15 May 2012 | 1:07 pmImage from: PCH We’ve all seen the videos online, where a TV crew pulls up to some lucky, unsuspecting household and they roll up to the doorstep with a bunch of balloons and a check the size of highway billboard to make someone rich. The first thing that always pops into my mind when I come across these clips is “can you cash those checks at the bank?” The second thought is always “those guys are STILL doing that?” The answer, most certainly, is definitely. Not only are they still doing it, the folks over at Publishers Clearing House seem to be doing it better than ever! I… -
April 2012 US Search Market Share Report: Bing up, Google up, Yahoo down
14 May 2012 | 10:19 pmFor the first time in months, the usual market share trends changed for Google and for Yahoo!. Google increased its share for the first time since December 2011 to 65.9% of the US core web search market. Yahoo! had been experiencing small increases in share steadily since December 2011, but saw a decline of 0.7ppt’s from March to April. Bing continues to gain monthly share since October 2011, and experienced a gain of 0.3ppt’s in April to represent 18.3% of the market. Google Powered engines now represent 2/3rd of the US search market, while Bing Powered engines represent the other 1/3rd. -
10 Photos from the DCMO Summit!
14 May 2012 | 3:19 pmThis time last week we were kicking off the 2012 Digital CMO Summit in Beverly Hills. Between speakers from AOL, Yahoo!, Funny or Die, and Vice, to views of the LA skyline and celeb sightings, we weren’t ready to leave. Below are just a few photos from our time in the 90210. Scott and Ryan are helping build bikes for the Boys and Girls Club of East LA, which is up for an award with the “Drops of Good” Project! Vote for this Boys and Girls Club here. Photo courtesy of @alyssamaine Setting up at the Beverly Wilshire- the ballroom is almost ready! Photo courtesy of @kristenrenda Spending… -
Sunday Series: Restaurants and Dining
13 May 2012 | 11:00 amImage from: My Pizza Brothers Our Sunday Series this week we are features 10 website with a large monthly increase in Unique Visitors from the Restaurants and Dining category. Bon appetit!
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FreshNetworks Blog
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The science of social media ROI
15 May 2012 | 11:05 amTweetLast week I presented at a webinar as part of a series looking at the science of social, focusing on social media ROI and demystifying the confusion that surround it. The problem with social media ROI is that it is so easy to measure so many things that we become overwhelmed by measures. We think that everything is important and that everything is a measure of ROI. It isn’t. And it isn’t. Followers and Likes do not make ROI; moreover they stop us from thinking about the bigger business benefit of social. We need to measure different things for different reasons, not just… -
Twinteresting: why can’t we curate tweets?
15 May 2012 | 5:24 amTweet It is no secret that Pinterest is a great way to share discoverable content. The “waterfall stream” format can really help rapid skimming of visual content. Take, for example, the ‘Pinterest for Facebook’, Friendsheet, or Pinstagram, the Pinterest-style Instagram feed. People are finding ways to curate images from a variety of sources, but what about the ability to do this with items that are primarily textual, or links? Using favourites as a stopgap I use Twitter prolifically, but a lot of my usage focuses on finding new information – blog posts and news… -
Three simple ways B2B marketers can get value from LinkedIn
10 May 2012 | 10:34 amTweetWhen thinking about social media and how to use it for your brand, our initial reaction is often to think about the channels we can use and the conversations we can have. But using social media does not necessarily mean having a channel or joining a conversation. There can often be as much value (and sometimes even more) from listening to what others are saying. For B2B brands LinkedIn is a great example of where social media can be used as much to listen and learn as to talk and engage. From ambassadors, to market information and even competitor research, here are three ways that… -
WalmartLabs – taking Big Data into retail
9 May 2012 | 10:16 amTweet Walmart, the world’s largest retailer, acquired social media firm Kosmix just over a year ago, creating @WalmartLabs, with the intention to use this specialist R&D unit to define the future of commerce by merging social, mobile and retail. So far WalmartLabs has released two interesting developments using social: • ShopyCat – the gift recommendation engine This Facebook application uses your Facebook profile to suggest suitable products for you, based on the interests and hobbies of your friends. An interesting aspect of this approach is that the app will offer links… -
Facebook’s action links – new potential for branded apps
3 May 2012 | 10:53 amTweetOn Wednesday Facebook launched action links: “a new way for people to interact with your timeline app directly from Facebook”. An action link is a customised link which sits alongside the classic “comment” and “like” options in open graph stories on the timeline, newsfeed and ticker. One of the examples of an action link, given by Facebook, is foursquare. When someone checks in, friends now have the option to “Save this Place” in addition to commenting and liking the story. Clicking “Save this Place” adds the location from Facebook, directly to your foursquare to-do…
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Breaking News: CBS News
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Stephen Strasburg brings heat, but it backfires
16 May 2012 | 12:55 pmAfter bad game, Nationals manager reveals ace pitcher's Hot Stuff penetrating ointment accidentally "got to the wrong place" -
Google's new search attempts to read our minds
16 May 2012 | 12:34 pmSearch engine giant launches a 500-million-item database of people, places, and things -
Al Qaeda mag: Airline plots a "good bargain"
16 May 2012 | 11:34 amLatest issue of propaganda tool claims terror group unfazed by foiled attacks -
FBI director confirms probe into foiled-plot leak
16 May 2012 | 11:18 amRobert Mueller tells senators agents looking into who leaked information of Qaeda's upgraded underwear bomb -
Iran's tough nuke stance masks struggles at top
16 May 2012 | 10:53 amTehran desperate to avoid any impression of caving under the Western economic squeeze
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Web Strategy by Jeremiah
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Keynote: Three Future Trends of Social Business (Slides)
16 May 2012 | 10:33 amI’m presenting here at Webcom in Montreal, sharing the State and Future of Social BUsiness. In fact, I think the Cluetrain as we know it, while right for many years, needs modification to represent how the social web is changing. I took the first three theses of the mainfesto and translated it to represent how I see advertising integrating with social as well as optimization and Social Performance software. The three trends that I see impacting the social business space include (but are not limited to): Trend 1: Corporate Websites Reborn. I asset that corporate websites as we know them… -
Video: Scaling your Social Business
13 May 2012 | 8:34 pmA few days before the hectic 2012 SXSW storm (my analysis here), The Dachis Group hosted the Social Business Summit (catch one in your city) with some of the world’s top brands to discuss social business. Kicking off the day, I shared Altimeter’s research on how advanced companies are scaling their programs –and avoiding programs that will slow them down. A few key points we iterated: Being prepared in advanced with: the proper policies, teams, roles, and education programs. These are the foundation needed to build a Center of Excellence. Advanced corporations have… -
People on the Move in the Social Business Industry, May 11, 2012
11 May 2012 | 6:00 amBoth the submissions on this job announcement board, as well as available social media positions at corporations continue to pour in. In this continued digest of job changes, I like to salute those that continue to join the industry in roles focused on social media, see the archives, which I’ve been tracking since Q4, 2007. People on the Move in the Social Business Industry: Although I’m a few months behind this, first of all, congrats to Mia Dand (twitter, linkedin) is Director, Global Social Media at Symantec, focused on building and leading social media strategy for… -
A New Category Defined: Social Performance Software
4 May 2012 | 8:32 amA new software category has emerged to bring performance marketing to social channels. After interviewing over 10 software companies and 10 agencies, a new trend has emerged that will change the social business landscape. What is this trend? The marketing performance techniques to refine TV, Radio, SEO and other marketing mediums are now moving to the social space. Read my definitive post on Mashable to learn how this impacts not only brands, but also Facebook and my long term predictions on how this will play out. Market Needs Companies are struggling to scale to keep up with all the… -
Podcast: Why The Term “Social Media Agency of Record” Will Dissolve
30 Apr 2012 | 9:08 pmI’m honored to be a guest on Mitch Joel‘s famed podcast, Six Pixels of Separation, to discuss my latest post that’s caught the Industry’s attention how Social Media Agencies are Turning to Ads. Mitch invited me on the podcast to discuss this further. One of the assertions I make is the term “Social Media Agency of Record” (aka SMaoR) will eventually go by the wayside, as those pure play agencies are starting to move into advertising (starting with social ads), digital, interactive, and more. My take? We’ll just have a broader focus as social becomes…
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Adverblog
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Video of the day: Staples Screensaver
16 May 2012 | 9:02 amMessy desktop? Messy office? Your solution is one click away. Just activate the screensaver! Really nice idea and execution for this TVC by Argentinean agency David for Staples. I love when they use sense of humor to promote brands that ain’t so cool nor fancy. I think it really works, at least with me, to generate brand awareness. via -
Infographic: Google beats Facebook media
16 May 2012 | 8:00 amFor the last few years I have been convinced that running Facebook ads is a pretty solid strategic choice. At the same time I found them creatively limiting: tiny pics or video thumbnails and condensing the message into a slither of straight-to-the-point copy. In light of Facebook’s multi-billion IPO comes news that Facebook ads are also not quite as effective as we might think. At least when you compare them to those of the other digital ad juggernaut, Google. This infographic done by WordStream isn’t necessarily well executed. Actually it is quite difficult to orient… -
Twitpoker for success
16 May 2012 | 7:00 amHow can a small new business with zero brand presence on social media gain over 1.5 million impressions in one day? Well, looks like gambling is the answer… Pick five influential tweeters, put them around a poker table and broadcast the game on the Web, allowing their followers to help them playing their hands. The idea is damn smart, but I can’t help feeling disappointed the concept has nothing to do with the brand which, for your info, it’s a travel agency. Young & Rubicam is the agency. Thanks Sebastián for sending this through. -
Red Stripe: Street Art at shutter speed
16 May 2012 | 4:38 amRed Stripe’s “Make Art On The Street” released this animation of a special piece of street art. Scottish artist Spaceboy, helped by his graphic students from Edinburgh College of Art, animated his paste-ups on the shop shutters of Newhaven Harbour. It is a nice animation in itself, capturing and recording each frame of the paper installation. But what I really like about the film is that the interview with Spaceboy (talking in his heavy Scottish accent) is actually woven into the dubby Jamaican soundtrack. Ah sey one! I think they could have done a bit more to connect… -
The Student’s Corner: DHL Friend Express
16 May 2012 | 1:50 amIn Singapore punctuality among young generations is not a very diffused virtue. To correct this bad habit and promote DHL’s ability to always deliver on time, Uni Lee a student at the LASALLE College of the Arts come up with the DHL Friend Express concept. Select friend, date and appointment time and send a DHL service to pick him/her up to be delivered perfectly on time to your date. The concept is pretty fun, and I like that fact that it starts from a real local insight. I do miss the connection with the DHL brand and product a bit, as here the main target audience are everyday…
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SocialTimes
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Turner Broadcasting Invests In Funny Or Die To “Give People a Laugh Anywhere, Anytime and on Any Device”
16 May 2012 | 9:24 amToday Turner Broadcasting, home of TBS and Adult Swim, is announcing a strategic partnership with social video site Funny Or Die. Lost Remote’s Cory Bergman reports that Turner has made a minority investment in the company, which was co-founded by Will Ferrell in 2007. continued… New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media. -
Roundtable: The Future of the App Economy
16 May 2012 | 8:13 amNEW YORK – Sustainable revenue was on everyone’s mind at the APPNATION NYC Mobile + TV 3.0 Summit in SoHo this morning. continued… New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media. -
Pinsanity Makes Fun of Pinterest [Video]
16 May 2012 | 6:27 amImagine someone stole your cupcake or scarf, and then pinned it on their wall. Imagine they took your quotes, shoes or gardening ideas and pinned them to a literal wall. Well, you don’t have to, just check out what happens when a Pinterest obsessive goes looney in this new Pinterest video by Comediva. continued… New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media. -
How imgur Reached 2 Billion Page Views [Infographic]
16 May 2012 | 5:41 amHave you ever used Reddit? If so — and I hope you have — you’ve probably clicked on an image here or there. A few years ago, those image links would have pointed to all sorts of different hosting services like imageshack and tinyimage, but those sites didn’t seem to do the trick for Reddit users. Some weren’t fast enough, some had too many ads. Whatever the reason, a Redditor named Alan Schaaf decided to put together a site to service Reddit better. That site was imgur, and it now serves over 2 Billion monthly page views. Check out the infographic to see… -
Is Google+ Suffering from Weak Engagement?
16 May 2012 | 4:57 amWhen talking about Google+, the number to quote is usually 100 million users. That’s what was announced as part of Google’s latest announcement and also seems to check out with web pundits based on the fact that Gmail has an estimated 60 million users and many of those are grandfathered in to the Google+ social network. However, a recent analysis by RJMetrics is looking at just how active the users of Google+ are, and whether the social network is the equivalent of a special matinee showing for The Artist on Mother’s Day. continued… New Career Opportunities Daily:…
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SmartBloggerz!
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8 Social Media Signs Marketers Should Pay Attention to…
14 May 2012 | 1:03 pmThis is a guest post by Sameer Panjwani from DirectoryMaximizer.com.Social media can give a very accurate view of what people think of your brand. How your brand is perceived is nothing more than the collective opinion of your target market.That’s why it’s so important to constantly watch social media and what people are saying about you.It’ll tell you everything you need to know about whether or not people like your brand and your products and how you’re doing in comparison to your competitors.These are the 8 most common types of messages that consumers will project in the social… -
How I Built And Lost A Monthly Income Of $3000 And How I Will Rebuild It Again
4 May 2012 | 12:16 pmThis is a guest post by Stefan Nilsson. Visit his blog at www.stefannilsson.comI had it all. Just a few weeks ago I was making $3000 a month by publishing one post a week until a simple mistake caught up with me resulting in me losing everything. More on the mistake later on and how you can avoid doing the same thing – but first I’ll share how I single-handedly went from nothing to making $3000 a month within a single year and how I’m certain that I’ll be able to do it all over again with my new blog on personal development.This might seem like a wall of text for some… -
7 Out of the Box Link Building Strategies In 2012
30 Apr 2012 | 1:03 pmThis is a guest post by Divya Rawat from Inetzeal.com.The second quarter of 2012 is already well on its way. With Google topping all SEO news charts, one can safely predict that there are going to be dynamic changes in the industry.Experts are predicting a major shift of focus from just Link Building to brand link building strategies. Viral Content and Social Media are also on the search engines’ radar.Change is a harbinger of a new world order; this is true for all SEO campaigns. The perception that SEO is all about link building will not stand in good stead, just as it did not previously. -
Find A Mentor – How To Work Your Way Into His Inner Circle
27 Apr 2012 | 1:17 pmThis is a guest post by Emmanuel from IncomeScene.comI recently published an interview with Andrew Rondeau on my blog. If you read that interview you would notice that one point he consistently hammered on was this,That’s the quickest way to be successful. Find a mentor who has a reputation for being excellent and ‘suck them dry’ of all their info and knowledge.I definitely have to agree with him; you need someone who has tested the waters and can differentiate between a hoax and the real deal. If you prefer learning all the details by trial and error, you can still beat the mark you… -
At Your Computer All Day? Eye Care Tips for Bloggers
24 Apr 2012 | 10:50 amThis is a guest post by Chris from ContactLensesCheapOnline.comIf you spend a lot of time blogging i.e. as a computer user – for money or simple pleasure – you have probably formed the bond with your computer. After all, you spend many hours staring at the screen and coming up with ideas.Have you ever stopped to wonder what this could mean to your health?There is no better time than now to focus on yourself. You must make sure that you take care of your eyes properly. If you don’t, your online aspirations could come to an end sooner than later.Here are Five eye care tips for bloggers:1.
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The Inspiration Room
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Bloemen.nl Wedding Anniversary
16 May 2012 | 7:37 amBloemen.nl, an online florist company in The Netherlands, is running “De Klos”, a commercial featuring a man whose journey home from the office becomes life threatening. He’s the victim of a drive by shooting, is surprised by a cobra in the mailbox, and discovers the lid to the salt cellar unscrewed. “Nooit meer je trouwdag vergeten. Bestel nu alvast een boeket”. (Never forget your wedding anniversary. Order a bouquet now!) Click on the image below to play the De Klos video in YouTube (HD) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7Yk5qTqVFw Credits The Bloemen.nl Wedding… -
Amarok Automatic Online
16 May 2012 | 5:21 amVolkswagen has launched the new automatic version of the Amarok in Brazil with an automatic site, amarok.vw.com.br. Just like in the pick-up, people can also choose their option of transmission. If the user chooses to browse in the automatic mode, Amarok identifies the obstacles in the corner of the screen without the person having to use the mouse or the keyboard. The webcam scans the face and the navigation occurs automatically, only with the eyes. Credits The Automatic Amarok site was developed at AlmapBBDO, Sao Paulo, by general creative director Luiz Sanches, creative directors Andre… -
Ministry of Letters
15 May 2012 | 9:10 pmCreative agency Mother’s latest IP venture, The Ministry of Letters, is launching a smartphone app designed to foster a love of literacy in children. The “Singing Alphabet” app builds on the idea that the alphabet is alive, highly organised and made up of a gang of unique, colourful male and female characters. In the app, the 26 members of the alphabet are shown waiting on stage ready to perform for the user. Children touch a letter to hear it sing its ‘phonetic’ sound. By continuing to press the characters, simple words can be created at the bottom of the screen and the… -
Persil Color Gel
15 May 2012 | 5:43 pmHenkel‘s Persil Color Gel is being promoted as the way to preserve clothing color in this print advertising campaign featuring clothing-shaped post-it notes. The campaign is designed to simply represent the way the product keeps the color of the fabric intact with every wash, depicted visually as if it’s like discovering a new garment every time. Credits The Color Gel campaign was developed at DDB Dubai and DDB-Tribal Dusseldorf by copywriter/art director Kapil Mayekar, creative directors Makarand Patil and Kartik Aiyar, retoucher Sanu Raju, photographer Issam Bouini, account team… -
Penguin Books In Your Ear
15 May 2012 | 7:20 amPenguin Books promotion of audio books in Malaysia has won a range of recent advertising awards, including Silver at the 2012 One Show Awards and Black Pencils for Entertainment – Motion Pictures, Plays and Books (Campaign) and Newspaper: Technique & Artistry – Illustration (Campaign) at the Andy Awards, adding to the Bronze Outdoor Lion at Cannes in 2011. Three print ads show characters walking from the outer ear to the inner ear, representing three well known tales: The Piped Piper of Hamelin, The Wizard of Oz, The Jungle Book. Credits The Penguin Books Ear campaign was…
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SmartBlogs » Social Media
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The unintegrated world of social media marketing
14 May 2012 | 7:00 amThe accompanying infographic — based on statistics cited in our book “Marketing in the Round” — illustrates the fractured world of communication in corporate America. The corporate-marketing world still operates in silos of public relations, advertising, and interactive and direct marketing. As the newest discipline in the fold, social media accentuate this continuing situation. Most chief marketing officers acknowledge social media’s importance but attempt isolated social media campaigns on Facebook and Twitter. Many marketers find social media ineffective and… -
What is Google+ Hangouts on Air?
10 May 2012 | 6:18 amGoogle+ Hangouts lets people video chat within social media without having to log into a clunky Skype client. Until a few days ago, Google placed a cap on the number of people who could be in a hangout, so it was more focused on social and less on broadcast. Now, however, companies can broadcast content live to viewers within a hangout and reach a lot more people. Find out how social media covered the launch of Google+ Hangouts on Air and learn how to use it to promote your business on social media in this “Future of Engagement” episode. Click here to view the embedded video. -
Is a social media strategy necessary?
9 May 2012 | 6:34 amSmartPulse — our weekly nonscientific reader poll in SmartBrief on Social Media — tracks feedback from leading marketers about social media practices and issues. This week, we asked: How often do you review your social media strategy? We don’t have a social media strategy: 31.62% Less than three months between reviews: 25.64% Every three to six months: 21.37% Every six to nine months: 10.26% Every nine to 12 months: 5.13% Every 12 to 18 months: 3.42% Every 18 to 24 months – 1.71% More than 2 years between reviews – 0.85% Is a social media strategy necessary? Good… -
How local businesses can do research and gain an edge with Pinterest
7 May 2012 | 5:42 amPinterest is getting a ton of buzz as the hottest new social network. For those who haven’t dived into the site yet, think of Pinterest as an online cork board where people post pictures, articles and videos that inspire them, things they want to try, things to read, places they want to go, etc. Pinterest is one of those sites you have to try for yourself to realize how easy it is to get sucked in by all of the visual ideas put in front of you. Besides being an excellent place to find Mother’s Day gift and recipe ideas, Pinterest is becoming an increasingly powerful tool for… -
Andy’s Answers: How National Geographic uses social media to get fans talking
4 May 2012 | 6:42 amNational Geographic is one of the most beloved brands of all time. So it’s no surprise that on Facebook and Twitter, this passion is reflected in its huge fan numbers. But how does National Geographic manage it all? How does it find content that fans want to share? What is the voice of the brand? At our last Word of Mouth event, National Geographic’s Brendan Hart shared a bunch of the secrets about how it is done. A few of his big ideas: Define your voice and the team behind it. When National Geographic first launched on Twitter, Hart ran the account — but over time, he…
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SEO by the Sea
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Google Glasses Design Patents and Other Wearables
15 May 2012 | 8:45 amGoogle was granted three different design patents for augmented reality glasses today, showing slightly different looks from one to the other. The first one includes lenses, while the second and third show variations of the glasses without lenses. A fourth granted patent describes how augmented reality glasses could be used with IR reflective painted [...] -
Microsoft Weighs in on Ranking Authors in Social Networks
11 May 2012 | 7:31 amAuthor Ranking in social media is more than just a popularity contest, and can include things like how frequently an author surfaces content that subsequently becomes popular, topical authority on different subjects, and popularity and influence signals. Author Authority to Distinguish Signal From Noise?Social media contains a lot of signal, and a lot [...] -
How Google Might Disassociate Webspam from Content
8 May 2012 | 5:30 amManipulative repetitive anchor text, blog comments filled with spam, Google bombs, and obscene content could be the targets of a system described in a patent granted to Google today that provides arbiters (human and possibly automated), with ways to disassociate some content found on the Web, such as web pages, with other content, such [...] -
Social Circles, Content Sharing, and Social Visibility Pending Patents for Google Plus
3 May 2012 | 9:51 amGoogle published 8 patent applications at the USPTO today that describe key elements of Google Plus and a number of alternatives that may or may not become part of Google’s social network. These include 2 applications on how social connections can be sorted into different social circles, 4 filings about how content can be [...] -
SEO Implications of New Matching Approach for Google Ads?
2 May 2012 | 10:31 amThere are some changes coming to paid search at Google that sound exciting on the surface, but may leave many guessing how exactly those changes might manifest themselves. Over at the Inside Google Adwords blog, we were greeted with a blog post titled New matching behavior for phrase and exact match keywords on April [...]
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Conversation Marketing from Portent, Inc: Internet Marketing with a Twist of Lemon
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Wanted: Enterprise Search Gods
15 May 2012 | 12:30 pmLately, I’ve been feeling like a grade schooler punished along with the rest of the class for one student’s bad behavior. With Google’s Pandas, Penguins and other pandemonium-producing updates yet to come, we’re all Bart Simpson being forced to write on the SEO chalkboard, “I will not outsource link building to third-world countries that spam blogs.” Sheesh! It’s times like that that my mind turns to flights of fancy… If I could make Google do whatever I wanted… Well, I can and so can you — just not for the whole Web. We can control… -
Google Penguin for non-SEOs
14 May 2012 | 11:43 pmThey were cute until Google got to 'em If I say ‘Google Penguin’ to an SEO pro, they shudder. In the SEO world, Google’s Penguin update is the nastiest, scariest update since, I dunno, Florida? Here’s an explainer for all the marketers who are wondering what the hell just happened to their traffic: What’s an update? The engineers at Google constantly tune their search software to provide (hopefully) more accurate results. Most of these tune-ups are pretty small, and go unnoticed by anyone except us hardcore search geeks. They’re like thunderstorms: You… -
SEO & UX – Working together to make your site better
10 May 2012 | 2:57 pmA few years ago I stepped into a role as an information architect and user experience designer at a Portland ad agency. Coming from a background in search marketing, this was quite a bit of a change for me. The first thing I noticed was that SEO & UX should really be a more integrated system in the designing of a site. The second thing I noticed was that SEO really gets a bad rap from the UX and design community. This was really an invaluable experience for me, as I was able to look at both my former job and my current job in a different light. I got to be removed from my instincts as an… -
How to hire an SEO company, 2012 edition
9 May 2012 | 6:34 pmI’ve written other posts about hiring SEO firms: How to hire good ones. How to hire bad ones. But an update’s in order: Questionnaire for an SEO agency Start each agency you interview with 10 points. Add or subtract as indicated. Ask yourself: How did this firm get in touch with you? They cold-called or e-mailed you. No. -1 They answered your ad. Sorry, but good SEOs don’t spend their days scouring the internet want ads. Ads are good for comic relief, not smart hiring. -5 You found them. Good. That’s a good start. +1 Can you give me some references? No. Well, duh. -
How to Use Hootsuite and Twitter Lists to Engage Your Audience
8 May 2012 | 11:41 amI remember when I got my first Twitter follower. I was a bright-eyed web surfer with a bushy tail (since birth). @getfree_ebooks3 followed me, and our relationship blossomed. She was beautiful. I would tell her about what I was eating for lunch and other important Twitter issues, and she would suggest nice pieces of malware for my computer to download. I eventually discovered that @getfree_ebooks3 was a spam bot. It was heartbreaking. I realized the truth about Twitter. At that moment, I realized that the best way to create quality relationships on Twitter is to seek out the people in your…
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How To Make My Blog
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Blogging On The Go
15 May 2012 | 3:00 amFor many bloggers, the need to blog on the go is a reality. Fashion bloggers live blog during fashion shows, travel bloggers during traveling from the exotic beach while sipping on a fruity drink. [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]] -
How to add Dynamic Content Gallery to a Thesis blog
10 May 2012 | 3:00 amI consider my blog a blogazine, however, no matter how much I love it, I currently could not afford to pay a coder for a unique magazine skin. But I still want my blog to embody a magazine feel. [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]] -
Being a professional travel blogger – Matthew Kepnes
8 May 2012 | 3:00 amAs a child he wanted to be like Indiana Jones, he ended up being a professional travel blogger. By mixing the adventure of blogging and travelling he almost made his dream come true. [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]] -
How to move from Tumblr to WordPress
3 May 2012 | 3:00 amAre you thinking of switching your blog from Tumblr to Wordpress? Here's a simple step-by-step guide on moving from Tumblr to WordPress. [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]] -
28 Keys to Successful Blogging
1 May 2012 | 2:27 amThese are the keys to successful blogging that I have learned through my blogging experience and the experiments I have taken. [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]
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Noah Brier dot Com
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Super Bowl Ads Work
14 May 2012 | 2:12 pmThis is for everyone that says Super Bowl ads don’t work. From Pando Daily’s article on GoDaddy: Those ads unquestionably worked. They ran the first one in 2004, with no idea if it’d be brilliant or a colossal waste of money. But the company was paying for it out of cash flow, not venture capital, so why not? Go Daddy had 16 percent marketshare at that point, and the week after the ad, it jumped to 25 percent — and stayed there until the next year. The next Super Bowl ad got it to 28 percent share and the next one got it to 32 percent share. Even when one of the racy ads was… -
What Ecosystem?
3 May 2012 | 10:02 amAfter reading about Apple iOS VP Scott Forstall selling off almost $40 million in shares I was curious to learn more about him. I found this BsuienssWeek profile from last October that had an interesting tidbit about the Apple ecosystem: Yet even critics don’t deny his accomplishments or ability to troubleshoot. Before the introduction of the iPhone, Forstall supported Jobs’s view that Apple didn’t need to create an ecosystem of third-party developers. Back then they figured the device would stand out for combining a phone with an iPod plus a superfast browser. For the most popular… -
Why We Buy
28 Apr 2012 | 10:15 amThe data here is sort of interesting, but I’m not sure I buy the premise: Ask Americans if they are willing to spend more to buy American-made products, and nearly half say they are often willing to do this. But in the latest Economist/YouGov Poll, the country where a product is made trails price, quality, and even convenience, as an important factor in consumer decision-making. The public gives even less importance to a product’s brand, its impact on the environment, or the political leanings of the company that produces it. Basically it breaks down that 76 percent say the price of… -
The greatest films of all time
26 Apr 2012 | 2:42 pmI love asking people who are really passionate about something to talk about the person or thing they hold up as best. Ask a guitarist, for instance, who the best guitarist of all time was and you’ll get a thoughtful (and probably surprising) explanation and insight into what one artist looks for in another. Anyway, it was a pleasure to read Roger Ebert explain his 10 greatest films of all time. This is someone who has spent his whole life thinking about a topic and his reasoning behind each choice is deep (outside his odd pick of Tree of Life at the end). I like his explanation of… -
Building Your Own McDuck Vault
23 Apr 2012 | 4:19 pmThis is important: How much gold would you actually need to be able to dive into your gold vault like Scrooge McDuck? In most money circles (insider tip: “money circles” is a term used by only the most elite investors), wealth is measured exclusively by how closely one can recreate this famed animation. It has come to represent success in America and anything less than doing the backstroke amongst a sea of Earth’s rarest metal should be considered an abject failure. A main problem of this measure, however, is that there is no agreed-upon Scrooge McDuck quantity of gold. In order to give…
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Get Elastic Ecommerce Blog
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The Business of APIs: Interview with an API Evangelist
16 May 2012 | 3:03 amI had the pleasure of sitting down with Kin Lane, an API Evangelist, blogger at KinLane.com and API Evangelist, contributor to Programmable Web, and all-around expert in APIs.Kin is an engineer who has been building database driven web apps for 12 years, and working with data for over 20. Watching API usage really rise in the last few years and seeing it drive innovation in social, cloud computing and more, and so much talk on the technical side of the world, Kin began to explore the business side of APIs. What does it take to deploy, what business elements do you need to support an API? Not… -
EU Cookie Law: 4 Tips For Crafting Your Opt-In Request
14 May 2012 | 6:42 pmThe May 26 deadline for compliance with the EU cookie law is rapidly approaching, and my heart goes out to all our friends affected by this ridiculous “solution” to a poorly defined problem.For a refresher on what the new law is about, check out Silktide’s brilliant (and humorous) explanation of it.I was asked in an interview by Mike Arsenault of Rejoiner last week what I thought of the law’s impact on personalization. My biggest concern is that consumers unreasonably fear cookies and their impact on privacy, without understanding how they make life easier for web… -
How Mobile Influences the Customer Journey [Infographic]
11 May 2012 | 3:02 amIs it the year of the mobile yet?Perhaps tablet penetration is only 13%, but 69% of tablet owners make a purchase from their device every month.This week’s infographic is courtesy of Mobtext and inMobi: The Role of Connected Devices in the Customer Sales Journey. It breaks down how tablets, laptops and mobile phones are used at home, at work and on the go throughout the purchase funnel.Click to enlarge infographic to full sizeSurprised that tablets are rarely used in the purchase funnel on the go? Not so surprising when you consider 9 out of 10 tablet owners prefer wifi to 3G. -
5 Tips for Custom Facebook Open Graph Buttons
9 May 2012 | 3:03 amSince reporting late last year that Facebook sharing buttons, through the Open Graph, will morph into a variety of creative verbs and nouns beyond Like, Share and Recommend, custom integrations have been gradually popping up around the Web.Custom Facebook buttons enhance the connection between consumption and social networking, allowing consumers to express how they feel about brands and products – a trend that’s catching on thanks to Pinterest.But just having buttons isn’t enough – like any call-to-action, they should be optimized.5 Tips for Custom Open Graph Facebook… -
Why Upgrade? How to Convert More Free Users to Premium
7 May 2012 | 3:04 amIn a recent Get Elastic post we looked at the business model of freemium, and 9 strategic mistakes to avoid.Today we drill down into the challenge of converting free users to premium — with tips to maximize your potential.Note: this article focuses on freemium models with premium “upgrades,” rather than free apps with add-on options that may be purchased to enhance user experience.Stop selling freeThink it’s easy to turn a free user to a paying customer once they get hooked on your product? Not necessarily. If your product offers free and paid versions, users who…
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Digital Buzz Blog
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Waternet: The Amsterdam Peeing Challenge
15 May 2012 | 5:06 amWaternet is (amongst other things) responsible for cleaning the canals in Amsterdam, a pretty big task in itself. But each year on “Queensday” they come under siege from millions of people consuming excess amounts of alcohol, who in turn, use the canals as a very convenient toilet… So this year, Achtung teamed with Waternet to [...]Related Digital Buzz Posts:Nike Building Twist: Projection Mapping EventFord Paris: The Parisian Pinball Park ChallengeIdeaWorks: Live Streaming Xmas Contraption -
Infographic: Instagram Statistics 2012
13 May 2012 | 8:07 amEveryone’s talking about Instagram after the recent $1 billion Facebook acquisition, in just 2 years the app has aquired more than 50 million users. Here’s a nice infographic that shows some pretty impressive stats as Instagram heads toward the 100 million users milestone. Some highlights from these app stats are: Each day on Facebook 300 million [...]Related Digital Buzz Posts:Infographic: Instagram Facts & StatsInfographic: Social Media Statistics For 2012Facebook Statistics, Stats & Facts For 2011 -
Mercedes-Benz: QR Code Trophies
13 May 2012 | 2:48 amCar manufacturers do anything to hide upcoming car models with those black and white patterns. Each of them do it, and the car-parazzi stalk them the world over, lying in wait to snap a photo of a new model, guessing what the new shape will really look like… Technically that combo of car and pattern [...]Related Digital Buzz Posts:Mercedes-Benz: Transparent Walls InstallationScandinavian Airlines: QR Code Video OffersThe Vodafone Pixel Hunt -
LYNX Anarchy: The World’s First Invisible Ad
10 May 2012 | 7:57 amLynx produce some seriously innovative digital work the world over (AXE in other countries) and probably none more so than this campaign that’s just launched in Australia, with the world’s first invisible ad installation using special LCD screens that can only been seen with polarised lenses. People passing by a street in Sydney were handed [...]Related Digital Buzz Posts:Lynx: Sexy Rugby Rules For World CupLynx: Augmented Reality Angel AmbushLynx: The Wingman Academy Webisodes -
TwitPoker: Bet Your Followers
8 May 2012 | 7:00 amThere is just about a “Twit-anything” these days, so why not add something like TwitPoker?! Well, it’s actually a pretty interesting concept, a campaign designed to let you bet your twitter followers in a game of poker. The winner? 180,000 new followers! Created by Y&R Colombia. Related Digital Buzz Posts:Mercedes-Benz Tweet Race Case Study Nike [...]Related Digital Buzz Posts:Mercedes-Benz Tweet Race Case StudyNike Shout: Game Day Social InstallationTurkcell Twitter Campaign: #Turkcell
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Small Business Marketing Blog from Duct Tape Marketing
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5 Reasons Why Landing Pages Are a Must
16 May 2012 | 7:25 amOnline marketers have used the term “landing page” for many years to describe a sales tactic focused on getting people to take one, specific action. Today, landing pages have simply become a required element in the marketing toolbox for every imaginable business, including local brick and mortar types. Example of a personalized lead capture landing page A landing page is just the page people land on because an ad or email directed them to that specific page as opposed to your site’s homepage. Effective landing pages make it very clear what a visitor is going to get from a page and how… -
13 Questions That Will Lead You To Your Perfect Marketing Strategy
15 May 2012 | 7:54 amPlenty of startups try to determine the perfect business model to take to market only to find that the market doesn’t need, want or understand what they are presenting. The fact is most books or courses on business models take this into consideration by suggesting trial and error scenarios and market hypothesizes prior to launch. Any business model, or plan for that matter, is little more than a guess and I believe that your best chance for getting that guess right is to build your business model based on a marketing strategy. This assumes the role a fully developed marketing strategy… -
5 Non Spammy Ways To Get a Blogger’s Attention
14 May 2012 | 7:28 amEveryone, from PR firms to individuals with a product to sell, pitches bloggers these days. Getting coverage or exposure for your business by way of a number of highly read blogs should be a foundational element of your PR approach. So, I thought I would share of few of my thoughts on the most effective ways to get a blogger’s attention and stand out in a way that gives your pitch a far better chance of garnering coverage. Sadly, it would much easier to write a post on what not to do, but I like to stay on the positive side here. Whether your goal is to land a guest post, get a review of… -
Weekend Favs May Twelve
12 May 2012 | 7:39 amMy weekend blog post routine includes posting links to a handful of tools or great content I ran across during the week. I don’t go into depth about the finds, but encourage you check them out if they sound interesting. The photo in the post is a favorite for the week from Flickr or one that I took out there on the road. New Duct Tape Marketing t-shirt design via Hugh MacLeod Gapingvoid Good stuff I found this week: Ming.ly – A personal relationship manager that aggregates your contacts from Gmail, Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter into a searchable merged address book that allows… -
Engaging Your Macro Metric As a True Measure of Success
11 May 2012 | 7:59 amBusiness owners and marketers are told to measure and quantify everything. The problem is this practice alone can lead to false assumptions and a fixation on things that simply don’t matter that much. lollipolluza via FlickrAre website visits, Facebook Likes, newsletter signups or even revenue the true measure of success for your business? Perhaps, but how so? When we simply create a list of what we might call key performance indicators without the proper focus with which to weight them, it all simply becomes an exercise in collecting. It’s a lot like having a bunch of puzzle pieces…
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VIRALBLOG.COM » Viral ideas.Trends. Inspiration
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11 Incredible Mobile Marketing Statistics
16 May 2012 | 10:08 amMobile marketing is changing the way marketers, brands, agencies and consumers think about marketing. Smart phones have changed the dynamic forever. No matter whether marketers care about social media, local marketing, email marketing, e-commerce, phone calls or web traffic—mobile marketing is changing them all. If you don’t believe that mobile is changing marketing forever…you’re wrong. Hopefully a few of these stats will open your eyes. There are 7 billion people on Earth. 5.1 billion own a cell phone. 4.2 billion own a toothbrush. (Mobile Marketing Association Asia, 2011) It takes… -
Boobstagram: The Instagram Of Boobs
15 May 2012 | 8:00 amCreative concepts with the objective to raise awareness around Breast Cancer are always interesting, not just only for the good cause. Normally October is the month when these concepts pop-up on the net. But thanks to the efforts of two Frenchmen, awareness of the cause is coming throughout the whole year. In October 2011, the two created this super simple Tumblr website filled with Instagram boob shots: Boobstagram. It’s all becoming much clearer to me now why Facebook bought Instagram… The more experienced Instagram users might have noticed a few times: boobs and asses may… -
Weekly Recap #19
14 May 2012 | 3:52 amTime flies and since it’s not easy to follow, read and catch-up with everything, we bring you a Weekly Recap from ViralBlog: all of the past week in one place. Last week on ViralBlog among others “Infographic&Video: Instagram By The Numbers”, “A Marketer’s Guide To Pinterest” and “Email Productivity: How To Get Shit Done”. A Marketer’s Guide To Pinterest All eyes are still on Pinterest, the social network that lets users collect and share images found on the Web by “pinning” them on virtual pinboards. This great infographic video shows how… -
Email Productivity: How To Get Shit Done
13 May 2012 | 11:38 amImproving productivity is a never-ending discussion among the business community. Employers want to know how to make their team more efficient and employees want to get more done in less time (so they can work less). There are countless resources out there – everything from tools and articles to actual productivity coaches. Simply Business culled together these resources into an interactive graphic that covers productivity in five different time-sucking areas: Collaboration Travel Email Meetings Workload Click image to open interactive version What I found to be the most useful guide was… -
The Crisis Brings Out The Best In Us
12 May 2012 | 9:18 amLast weekend I wandered across the Utrechtsestraat in Amsterdam. Unfortunately the street is broken up by road works, but nevertheless the street has something peaceful. At this street you will find no branches of the large chains, but only small and self-employed stores. The stores vary from travel shop to mini market (really, the last time I saw such a shop was is Marrakech, where they sell groceries from garage boxes). It is striking how much supply of organic, fair-trade and second-hand there are these days. For years there is research in the coherence between economy and individuality.
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Brass Tack Thinking
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9 Ways To Be An Expert Without Being An Ass
14 May 2012 | 6:15 pmI know many of you hate the term “expert”. It’s like the frustration-filled cry of the internet, second only to “down with Comic Sans”. But we all strive to excel at something, and be perceived as doing so. The trick is how you demonstrate expertise and accomplishment without being christened with titles like “douchebag”. If you’re good at what you do, there are ways to communicate and exemplify your good work without having to rely on a flashy few words and adjectives to convey it. And when you do it right, you won’t need to call yourself an expert, because… -
When To Go Ahead And Have Your Brain Picked
8 May 2012 | 1:56 pmOkay, professionals. We get it. No one really likes to work for free. And yes, it’s really important to set boundaries for yourself and for your business so that you don’t undervalue the work that you do, or undermine the qualifications you have as a professional. Anyone who has been in business for any length of time will tell you that you have to value your time and expertise and be willing to draw the line at giving away too much for free. Enter the “No you can’t pick my brain” theme across the internet. Undoubtedly you’ve read one of those posts or… -
Read This Book: The $100 Startup
3 May 2012 | 11:31 amAs a matter of practice, I don’t do book reviews. There are a bunch of reasons for that, but I just don’t do them. And I’m totally breaking that “rule” because I think each and every one of you reading this can get something out of Chris Guillebeau’s new book, The $100 Startup. [Full disclosure: Chris sent me an early copy to read. He didn't ask for a review. He didn't send me a pony or even a cup of coffee. There was absolutely no quid pro quo, it was just here's my new book, hope you like it. I know Chris from the online world, but we've never spent time…
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davefleet.com
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7 Steps to Planning Better Presentations
16 May 2012 | 8:00 amAs we approach the end of the Spring conference season, and in the run-up to BlogWorld New York, I got to reflecting on how my approach to presentations has evolved over the last while. Preparing a presentation for a conference is no mean feat (I’d estimate I spend at last 30 hours on each presentation I create for conferences; often more). With that level of time investment, especially if you’re creating multiple presentations each year, you need to make sure you invest your time well. This year, I’ve started approaching presentations in a new way. I’ve thrown out the… -
Communication is about what they hear, not what you say
24 Apr 2012 | 8:57 amIf you think you’ve conveyed something but the other person hears something completely different, is that their fault or yours? Recently a friend of mine posted a photo on Facebook: As pithy and humorous as it was, I disagreed. Strongly. From my perspective the onus is on you to consider not just the words coming out of your mouth, but how they are received. Everyone has their own background and context that they overlay on top of what they hear. It’s our jobs as communicators to consider that perspective and to adjust the way we communicate accordingly. If we do, we stand a… -
Book Review: The Social Media Strategist
9 Apr 2012 | 7:00 am“Page turner.” Not words you usually expect to associate with a social media book. For anyone who is looking for a solid primer on social media within corporations, though, those two words perfectly describe Christopher Barger’s book The Social Media Strategist: Build a Successful Program from the Inside Out. In case you aren’t familiar with Barger, he’s headed-up social media at two of the world’s largest companies – IBM and GM. While at the latter, he led their social media communications around GM’s bankruptcy filing. Suffice to say, he has… -
I Am Terrific! A Lesson in StoryBranding
5 Apr 2012 | 10:31 pmNote: I don’t run many guest posts here, but I found the piece below really interesting. The following is a guest post by Jim Signorelli. Let me know what you think. If you’ve gotten past the title of this article (and many don’t) you’re obviously intrigued. How could anyone expect to sell anything this way? Telling someone you’re terrific is so, well…crass, obnoxious, and Neanderthal, anything but effective. Right? Curious, I created an experiment. I set out to see how people would actually react to someone saying “Hey there! I am… -
Want to get better at social media? Ask “Why?”
30 Mar 2012 | 11:16 amSocial media practitioners: want to get better at your job? Learn one word: Why? Used well, asking “why?” can help you get to the bottom of almost any problem, push your colleagues to explore new options, and force a new level of honesty in decision making. I’ve just started reading Christopher Barger‘s book The Social Media Strategist (side note: only a few pages in and I already like it), and one particular section stood out to me: “The individual connections and relationships made within social networks on behalf of organizations and brands don’t happen…
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The Denver Egotist RSS Feed
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Site Launch: Slice of Lime
16 May 2012 | 12:17 pmLocal Boulder website, UX and user interface design agency, Slice of Lime, has launched a new web presence for their now 10-year-old (!) company. The accompanying video, shot by Megan Sweeney, gives you a pretty good taste of the place. Reddit Facebook StumbleUpon Twitter -
Anson Fogel Director of Photography Reel: Summer 2012
16 May 2012 | 12:04 pmLocal Anson Fogel, Director of Photography at FORGE Motion Pictures out of Carbondale, Colorado, has just posted his beautiful new reel. Recently, Anson DP'd the Colorado Tourism 2012 campaign — one of our favorites of the year. You'll see highlights from that work, along with other choice selections, below. ANSON FOGEL DP REEL 2012 from Forge Motion Pictures on Vimeo. Reddit Facebook StumbleUpon Twitter -
Christopher Doyle: Writing for Design
16 May 2012 | 10:29 amNational Christopher Doyle of Interbrand talks about Writing for Design. What works, what doesn't and how to get a Yellow Pencil. Filmed at D&AD Judging 2012. Reddit Facebook StumbleUpon Twitter -
Moreing
16 May 2012 | 10:19 amNational First of a series of films for Boost chocolate bars created by Droga5 Australia around the idea of Boosted inspiration. Via Reddit Facebook StumbleUpon Twitter -
Alex Bogusky's Work Quarters Becomes The Climate Reality Project
16 May 2012 | 9:45 amLocal If you've been following the career arc of Alex Bogusky over the last two years, you know he and his crew have been heavily involved in the branding and promotion around Al Gore's The Climate Reality Project. So much so, it seems, that they've decided to rebrand their Boulder FearLess Revolution headquarters from the Fearless Cottage to The Climate Reality Project. There's more on the story on FearLess' blog — and the video below captures the symbolic repainting of the building's all important front door. The sign painter, who took 3 hours to paint the sign from start to finish, is…
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Web Ink Now
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Risk
15 May 2012 | 9:52 am"Don't do that, it's too risky." In business, people spend a great deal of time and money evaluating risk. It's one of those things they teach in MBA school. But are we looking at risk in the right way? According to the American Bar Association, there were 1,143,358 resident and active attorneys in the United States in 2007 (the most recent data I could quickly find). That's over a million people, many of them advising businesses on what to avoid because it is risky. They lawyers say things like: "Don't let people blog and tweet because they may say… -
Content marketing in highly regulated industries
8 May 2012 | 1:26 pmOn the global speaking circuit, I frequently get pushback from audience members who work in highly regulated industries. They claim, erroneously, that laws like HIPAA and regulations like those from the SEC and the FDA forbid them from creating valuable content on the Web or engaging in social media. Nonsense! This is just a fear-based excuse perpetuated by lawyers in the pharmaceutical, healthcare, and financial services industries who want to avoid risk at all cost. Ignoring the data The fear is particularly shortsighted when considering the data on how people make decisions related to… -
Acura uses Twitter to hashtag spam hundreds
6 May 2012 | 6:12 pmUPDATE - May 9, 2012 - Alison from @Acura_Insider commented (the 22nd comment down). Please be sure to read her explanation about what happened as you consider this story. +++++++++++++++++++++++ This afternoon, Renee tweeted me from the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival because she knows I am a big live music fan. I tweeted her back using the #JazzFest2012 hashtag. Which resulted in a tweet from @Acura_Insider "Acura's official Twitter account. Get the inside scoop & other Acura news. On duty: Alison w/ Acura PR." This linked to a PURL that offered me a VIP experience at Jazzfest. (In… -
Google News now offers real time breaking coverage pages
5 May 2012 | 8:54 amToday when I checked out the Google News headlines as I do several times a day, I noticed a new feature. Now, for each breaking story covered, there is a button called See realtime coverage. Clicking the button brings you to the latest news. This is a cool development. As I've said for several years now the most significant development on the Web is the rise of real-time. Social media are tools. Real-Time is a mindset. As I write this, a breaking business story this morning is about Yahoo CEO Scott Thompson and the inaccurate educational information found in his biography. Clicking over to… -
Public relations is not the same as media relations
3 May 2012 | 11:19 amBack in the day, the only way to easily communicate with your public was to use mainstream media and analysts as your mouthpieces. So the public relations department and the agencies they employed spent a great deal of effort convincing editors, reporters and analysts that your company was one worth talking up. Prior to the Web, there wasn't an efficient way for organizations to communicate directly to the public. What's the role of public relations in the new world of the web? There has been an explosion of channels that organizations can reach their audience directly with valuable…
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Andy Sernovitz | Damn, I Wish I\'d Thought of That!
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A name with a bug, part 2
16 May 2012 | 9:00 amLast week we had an amazing conference called the Word of Mouth Crash Course. It was a fantastic day, the third in a series. But it wasn’t as big as we expected, and we discovered a critical reason why: We changed the name of the event — it used to be called Word of Mouth Supergenius — without any testing. Here’s what happened — people thought that it was an online course instead of a live conference. The word course implied online training to many people. We also failed to use certain trigger words that indicate that something is a live event: Summit, Expo,… -
A name with a bug, part 1
15 May 2012 | 9:00 amWe were going to launch a site called WordofMouthMarketing.org. During the few months we were planning it, everyone kept saying WordofMouth.org — they kept dropping the word marketing. Even employees and contractors who were working on the project. That was a problem. If our own team couldn’t get the name right, how would our customers find the site? So we killed the project until we could get ownership of WordofMouth.org. It was incredibly lucky that we caught the problem before we launched. We would have sent all of our confused customers to someone else’s site. Lesson:… -
Give them an experience they’ll never stop talking about — and a reminder to re-start the talk
14 May 2012 | 9:00 amThe Cameron Park Zoo in Waco, TX invites school and scout groups to spend the night camping in the zoo. It’s an amazing behind-the-scenes experience. More that just the camping, which is remarkable, you also get to feed a giraffe, pet a rhino, and hold a giant cockroach. Just as important: Every kid gets a free shirt with the Zoo Snooze logo on it. And everyone other kid in school finds out about the Zoo every time the shirt is worn. (And because it was a Cub Scout trip, dozens of kids in the same grade all have the shirt.) Lesson: Don’t just think about the experience. Think… -
What’s the simplest thing you can do to create a remarkable experience?
13 May 2012 | 9:00 amSubway gave us a kids meal in this nice reusable bag. We talked about it, we told people, we kept it, and we tell more people when our daughter carries it around. Probably cost them 30 cents — which is about 10 cents more than a throw-away box. But the conversations it starts are priceless word of mouth advertising moments. -
35 ways to improve sales
12 May 2012 | 9:00 amClassic advice from e-commerce master Sam Decker, now CEO of Mass Relevance, originally published in 2004 and still relevant: Can I find that item I’m looking for? Tune your internal search engine to match top search terms to product pages. Put top sellers on home page. People buy on impulse or recommendation. Match the landing page to the marketing campaign. Use vanity urls for offline advertising. Test your categories, naming and navigation with customers. They’re less intuitive than you think. Can I find something that interests me? Put top sellers on home page. Add related items to a…
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Holtz Communications + Technology | Blog
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FIR Speakers and Speeches: Neville Hobson on Reputation Management at Internet Speed
16 May 2012 | 12:21 pmOn April 26, 2012, FIR co-host Neville Hobson gave a keynote presentation at this year’s annual conference of the Public Relations Institute of Ireland (PRII) in Dublin. The overall conference theme was Reputation Management in the Age of Digital. Could we genuinely have foreseen the extent to which technological innovations would have disrupted our way of working? asked the PRII. How social and digital media, in particular, would have given rise to consumer power and citizen journalism? Or that we would face unprecedented competition from a new wave of competitors? These are powerful… -
Taking the “second screen” beyond television
15 May 2012 | 9:39 amThe “second screen” is gaining momentum. Watching television, once the epitome of passive media consumption, has become an interactive activity. Instead of sinking deeper and deeper into the sofa, people are sitting forward, smartphone or tablet in hand, finding engaging content related to what they’re watching and conversing with other fans of the same show. This week and next, the producers of the ABC series Revenge are planning a to entice people to watch the last to episodes of the season when they are aired, rather than catching it later on DVR or online, by offering a… -
The Hobson & Holtz Report - Podcast #651: May 14, 2012
14 May 2012 | 3:26 pmContent summary: FIR interview with Grantoo co-founder and CEO Dimitri Sillam is up. The Speakers & Speeches file from Neville’s talk in Dublin is coming this week. Neville recounts the talk he and Philip Sheldrake gave at the Wikimedia UK Annual General Meeting over the weekend. A discount code is available for FIR listeners interested in attending Like Minds Exeter 2012. News That Fits: brand humanization is not a social media fad; Ragan Communications promo; the rise of social influence marketing with Klout and PeerIndex; listener comments discussion; CustomScoop’s… -
Research is at the heart of successful social media training
11 May 2012 | 3:50 pmThis is the third installment in a series on social media training The best social media training effort is one that has been tailored to your organization’s requirements. Off-the-shelf training programs may cover the basics, but the basics will get you only so far. The payoff can be huge if you invest the time and effort to get the information you need to make sure your training addresses the unique circumstances of your company—and every company has unique circumstances! That’s why research is the most important phase of the training development process. What you need to… -
The need to be vigilant with contractors isn’t unique to social media
10 May 2012 | 12:41 pmEvery now and then I read or hear something that leaves me shaking my head in dismay. That happened today when reading a piece on Search Engine Watch titled, Top 5 Reasons Why SMBs Should Fear Social Media. Aside from the link-bait headline, it was the last item that led to my dismay. Under the label, “Advertising, Marketing & Public Relations Agencies That Have Hung a Social Media Shingle,” author Tim Judd writes… It doesn’t mean they understand content that engages, promotes, or converts prospects to customers. “There are very few experts in social…
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Adrants
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Deepak Chopra, YouTube Stars And the Human Approach to Marketing
16 May 2012 | 1:11 pmAnd now it's time to get deep at Internet Week. Breath deep. Relax. Close you eyes. Cross your legs. Ready? Good. It's time for Deepak Chopra! -
Joan Rivers to E*Trade Baby Creators: 'Go F%#k Yourselves'
16 May 2012 | 11:02 amWe knew who would win various CLIOs earlier this month but last night during Internet Week, the CLIOs held their award ceremony at New York City's American Museum of Natural History. -
Search and Social: A Love Affair During Internet Week
16 May 2012 | 9:48 amIn an Internet Week panel entitled Search & Social: A Love Story, Mashable Business Editor Todd Wasserman sat down with About.com Director of Research Laura Salant and Buddy Media VP of Analytics and Insights Tami Dalley to discuss the interplay between and the roles search and social currently play. -
Patton Oswalt to Host 16th Annual Webby Awards
15 May 2012 | 2:22 pmDon't miss it. Wait, miss what? The Webby Awards! -
How Brands Can Meet Consumer Demand With Content
15 May 2012 | 1:33 pmAt Internet Week, Demand Media explains why pull media just might be a better solution than push.
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We Are Social
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Utility: the secret to unlocking social sales
16 May 2012 | 10:33 amA great deck from Dr Paul Marsden on how to turn social media into social sales by offering social utility; helping people solve their problems socially and solve their social problems. As he says: Social commerce works when social features offer genuine social utility that comes in three basic flavours. Social utility that helps people solve problems socially using their social intelligence (ability to learn from each other and profit from social situations – e.g. collective buying) Social utility that helps people solve the social problem of standing out, by helping them manage their… -
Facebook Hits 488 Million Mobile Users
15 May 2012 | 10:12 amA great infographic from Socialbakers, pulling together all the latest stats on Facebook’s mobile usage: -
We Are Social’s Monday Mashup #117
14 May 2012 | 11:27 amOne billion people use social media According to a report from the ITU, there’s now over one billion people using social media worldwide. More interestingly, mobile is fast becoming the main way that the majority of people are using Facebook. Use of geo-social apps grow It’s well known that smartphone use is rising, but one of the interesting questions for a while has been whether the rising number of smartphones will see more people using geo-social apps like Foursquare. Judging by the latest research from Pew, the answer is yes. In the last nine months, use of geo-social apps… -
NEXT recap – Berlin is the town!
14 May 2012 | 2:48 amWith WiFi problems and the need to let all of the impressions sink in, here’s a delayed recap of NEXT Berlin, and as I predicted, there were some clear highlights… After an enthusiastic introudction from Matthias Schrader, the organiser of NEXT – Mr. René Obermann, CEO of Deutsche Telekom, took the stage. Mr. Obermann delivered a speech about the current state of the digital infrastructure in Germany and the latest developments at Deutsche Telekom. One of the highlights was the announcement of Telekom’s very own digital incubator, hub:raum. Located in Berlin (the up… -
Social Network Users in Asia, May 2012
10 May 2012 | 10:08 amOur latest research shows that the number of social network users is still growing rapidly across Asia, with platforms in South and Southeast Asian nations seeing the largest gains since our most recent Social, Digital and Mobile in Asia report just a few months ago: China’s Qzone still dominates the Asian landscape with 531 million registered users, but its compatriot, Sina Weibo, has been attracting the most attention in recent months. With 27 million (9%) of the platform’s 300 million users checking in every day, and more than 100 million posts every 24 hours, it’s clear…
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Social Media B2B
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3 Ways to Get B2B Social Media Value from Google+
10 May 2012 | 7:20 amMany B2B marketers have already been scratching their heads trying to figure out how to make use of Facebook and Twitter. Along comes Google+, another social network that the average B2B marketer just doesn’t have the time to learn and master. There are, however, reasons to believe that Google+ will be more valuable to B2B companies than Facebook and Twitter put together. And since getting in early is a big factor in determining long-term success, B2B companies should test the waters with Google+ right now. Here are a few reasons why B2B companies, even in niches like restaurant card… -
Dell Launches Social Media Training for B2B Channel Partners
7 May 2012 | 6:00 amDell recently launched a social media training program for its B2B channel partners “to help our partners fully leverage social media tools to improve the lines of communication while elevating their own marketing efforts.” The first live session will be May 8 and will cover the following topics: What is social media and how does it affect the channel How Dell is using social media and lessons we’ve learned How can partners can connect with Dell through social I had the chance to ask Laura P. Thomas, of Dell Global Channel Public Relations, some questions about the program. How… -
Preview of Twitter Advertising Platform for B2B Companies
3 May 2012 | 7:51 amEarlier this year Twitter announced a partnership with American Express to make their self-serve advertising platform available to a limited number of small businesses. We signed up for SocialMediaB2B.com because access to Twitter’s advertising platform previously has been limited to those with big budgets. This leaves out many B2B companies. We offer this preview of what Twitter’s advertising platform looks like, so you can explore the option of promoted accounts and promoted tweets with the knowledge of how the platform works. Choose a target and a budget, and Twitter does the… -
6 Ways B2B Companies Can Use Social Media Gamification
1 May 2012 | 6:26 amA recent article on Marketing Sherpa discussed the idea of bringing gaming mechanics, or gamification, to the internal and external operations of B2B companies. One of several definitions in the article is using game-style systems of “goal setting, real-time feedback, transparency, competition, teams, etcetera — to motivate and engage customers and employees.” While not expressly tied to social media efforts, game-like rewards can be more successful when users have the ability to share them using social media, thereby amplifying the effect of the rewards. Below are six… -
Amazon Launches B2B Business
26 Apr 2012 | 6:00 amAs the web has grown and more B2B companies have expanded their online presences, they have had to deal with the notion of Amazon as a competitor. Not in the normal sense of competition for business, but competition for attention. B2B companies have also had to contend with the Amazon experience. No matter what your business, as soon as you migrate it to the web, your customers expect an experience like they get at Amazon. This means easy navigation, filtered browsing, robust search, recommended products, customer reviews, simple checkout and reliable shipping. The launch of Amazon Supply…
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Chris Garrett on New Media
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What to Say When Nobody Cares What You Do
1 May 2012 | 2:00 pmIt’s a simple but uncomfortable truth. Nobody cares what you do. Oh, people might ask. At a networking lunch, a cocktail party, and so on. But nobody cares. What do people actually care about? “Enough about me. What do you think about me?” It’s funny because it is true. People want to hear if listening to you is worth their time and energy. How might you help them? Who do you know who might be useful? Are you fun to be around? Wait … didn’t I say they don’t care what you do? Yup, it’s not about what you DO, it’s about what they GET! I… -
Breaking the Rules for Fun and Profit
30 Mar 2012 | 3:04 pmI joke that I am the most conventional unconventional guy you might ever meet, but it is true in a way. When we think of unconventional we often think about specific things. Going off to live on a commune might be a big one, having tattoos and piercing might be smaller “bucking the system” type ideas. Anyone who knows me at all will know I am not the extreme kind of unconventional, and I expect you will be somewhere on the spectrum too. So what makes me a “rule-breaker” and why might you consider breaking some rules yourself? The Rules Have Changed I don’t need… -
New Edition of the Problogger Book Released
14 Mar 2012 | 2:15 pmProblogger Book 3rd Edition Well it’s finally here! The third edition of the Problogger book is now available to order. (You might have already seen the news at Problogger). The first edition came out May 2008, co-authored by Darren Rowse and myself, and published by Wiley Publishing. We released the second edition in 2010 to expand and update the contents. Now you can grab your copy of the third edition over at Amazon paperback for $16.32 and Kindle ebook for just $9.99. (Not sure if Wiley are going to make other formats available or not). The third edition again has loads of… -
The Real ROI of Engagement
2 Mar 2012 | 3:58 pmLoyalty means business We are bombarded by “feel good” social media advice. Join the conversation. Engage. Listen. But this stuff takes time and effort. Where is the return on investment? It’s not just about chatting, and the ROI is not found by simply throwing up a Facebook page. If you are struggling to convince your boss (or yourself) that the effort of engaging your customers and prospects is worth it, the two headline reasons you should work on engagement are: 1) If you lose as many visitors as you attract then you are making your marketing twice as difficult. and 2)… -
Authority Blogging for Artists
10 Feb 2012 | 1:02 pmWhat should a blogger do when they want to profit from their creativity, knowledge, experience and skills, but not by teaching “how to”, but instead from the results of their work? As you no doubt know, my strategy for building a profitable blog around what you know is called Authority Blogging. Build an audience of people who know, like and trust you. Get to know what they really want and need, then develop a solution for them that they are eager to buy. How does this work for artists, writers, crafts and other creative people? This is the dilemma Brian Dubé had when he…
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Branding Strategy Insider
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Measuring Advertising Effectiveness
14 May 2012 | 11:10 pmShow me the Money! This memorable line from the 1996 movie Jerry Maguire might just as well be coming from today’s CEO’s and CFO’s: a growing and vocal demand for accountability from the Marketing function. Big Data Coming – For Better or Worse Everywhere you go these days, you hear about “big data:” the coming golden age where all problems will be solved by crunching massive amounts of data from the web and every other imaginable source. You would think that the CMO’s ability to, indeed, show them the money, would never be better. But according to a recent IBM study, “From… -
Brand Marketers Must Create Wow Moments
13 May 2012 | 11:10 pmThe brain remembers the emotional components of an experience better than any other aspect. —John Medina When Steve Jobs passed away on October 5, 2011, the world didn’t just lose one of its great visionaries, but it also lost an astonishing corporate storyteller. His presentations, “Steve-notes” as they were fondly called, had all the elements of a Broadway production, including a cast, drama, heroes, villains, and props. Most brand marketers use presentations to deliver information, often dryly. Steve Jobs gave presentations that informed, educated, and entertained. The most… -
Brand Marketing's New Currency
12 May 2012 | 11:10 pmIn the late 1980s and early 1990s, neuroscientists at the University of Parma discovered mirror neurons in our premotor cortex that fire when we perform an action and also when we observe others performing the same action. For example, the neurons that fire when we grasp a cup also fire when we see others grasp a cup. By mirroring the activities of others in this way, mirror neurons endow us with a built-in leaning toward empathy, social interaction and altruism. We don’t always behave well in social settings, but because we are predisposed to social engagement, the rocketing rise of social… -
Brand Strategy: Repositioning Commodities
10 May 2012 | 11:10 pmEven producers in the commodity world of meats and produce have found ways to reposition themselves and thus create a unique selling proposition. Their successful strategies can be summed up in five ways. 1. Identify. Ordinary bananas became better bananas when a small Chiquita label was added to the fruit. Dole did the same for pineapple with the Dole label, as did the lettuce people by putting each head into a clear Foxy lettuce package. Of course, you then have to communicate why people should look for these labels. 2. Personify. The Green Giant character became the difference in a… -
Brand Strategy For Startups
9 May 2012 | 11:10 pmA startup business faces many difficult challenges getting off the ground. For many early stage CEO’s assessing their priorities, product development and the seed money to grow are their primary concerns. Few if any are thinking much about brand building–mainly because they believe it to be sophisticated marketing they simply can’t afford. For startup CEOs, brand building needs to be as important to early success as product development and raising money. You can have the most innovative, groundbreaking product ever conceived, but if you can’t create a strong foundation for…
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Mastercom | viral marketing | viral video | mobile marketing
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Formula 1 infographic
15 May 2012 | 8:04 amby Car Finance 247 -
Do you like boob job?
15 May 2012 | 2:41 amAmazing news in an amazing car… Advertiser: Fiat -
iDermal: the magnet to fix your iPod nano on your skin
14 May 2012 | 6:50 amThat’s very scary! Advertiser: iDermal -
25th anniversary APC video
11 May 2012 | 7:50 amNice and clean video to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the French clothing brand APC. Advertiser: APC by Thomas Tyman -
Logo addition : Volkswagen + Waterman = WordPress
11 May 2012 | 4:52 amVery interesting chart that shows how to turn 1 brand logo into another!
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Jim's Marketing Blog
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Your opportunity to prosper from The Inspiration Deficit!
16 May 2012 | 1:03 pmThe most successful marketing today, is not marketing that’s pushed at people. The most successful marketing today, is marketing that people share amongst their friends. Pestering people is cheap The reason we receive so many spam emails and see all those unwanted sales messages on social networking sites, is that it has never been cheaper (in every sense of the word) to pester huge numbers of people. There’s no barrier to entry today. Now, if we go back just 10 or 15 years, if you wanted to get a message in front of 100,000 people, it was expensive. Today, it can be done for… -
How to be massively more influential!
15 May 2012 | 8:30 amIf you would like to be massively more influential, in a really meaningful way, this post is for you! Influence Here’s what we know about real influence: It’s powerful. Politicians seek the endorsement of influential celebrities, because it influences how the public vote. Brands pay sports stars to appear in commercials for their fragrances, because it influences people to feel good about (and buy) their product. Companies will often pay influential former political leaders to sit on their board of directors, in order to influence investors. People with real influence have huge… -
Word of mouth: How to get people talking about your business!
14 May 2012 | 3:00 amDo you give your marketplace a powerful reason to listen to you? Do you then make it extremely easy, for them to share what you have to say with their friends? If you just answered ‘no’ to either of those questions, you are missing out on the best opportunity you have, to generate massive interest in your business. In short: Develop a compelling story about your business, product or service that’s worth spreading. Next, make it super-simple for people to tell your story to their friends. Then watch what happens! Jim Connolly can help you grow your business and achieve the… -
The Klout Problem: Why multimillionaire investor Ron Conway has a lower score than you!
12 May 2012 | 10:10 amIt’s week number 3 of my Klout experiment and I have already seen enough, to be able to form some solid conclusions regarding Klout and how it scores people. I have invested many hours of my time digging into Klout, monitoring not only my own account, but also the accounts of people I know. I have also studied some ‘Klout Superstars,’ people with very high scores. I wanted to see what Klout was rewarding. I wanted to see what they ‘thought’ was influential. Here’s what I found The good: Klout can tell if someone has lots of social media connections. Within… -
Here’s an email, which every small business owner should read
10 May 2012 | 1:58 amI have an email I’d like to share with you. The email is from a former small business owner, who had to cease trading recently after 5 years in business. The following excerpt is quoted with the author’s consent, though they have asked me not to use their name. It contains 2 lessons, which I hope you will find useful. Here’s a section of the email, quoted unedited, which I’d like to share with you: “Me and my wife quit our regular jobs in 2007 to start a business. We were excited and worked like crazy to make it a success. By mid 2011 we knew we were in trouble…
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David Airey, graphic designer
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Ethics in design (and who you won’t work with)
14 May 2012 | 4:41 amI read a comment from designer Miles Newlyn where he mentioned he wouldn’t work with zoos or companies involved in warfare. I’ll be writing a chapter in my book about ethical considerations so was wondering about the stance of others. I asked this question on Twitter. What type of business would you refuse to work with on ethical grounds? Here are some of the answers that were shared (thanks, folks). “I stay away from anything I don’t fully understand (and can’t see if they’re beneficial). Financial products are a good example.” — Richard Baird… -
Two memorable business cards
7 May 2012 | 9:10 amHere’s one that stood out among the entries for this year’s Chip Shop Awards. Created for a bespoke tailor by graphic designer Greg Healy. Creative, appropriate, inexpensive (you could finish those yourself with a ruler and craft knife). And something a little more magical, Ritornell’s business cards are inspired by the project’s live show. With the aid of laser assisted milling, nine micro compositions consisting of circles, triangles and Ritornell’s contact information were applied onto a long musicbox paper stripe. Before handing out the cards to interested… -
Where’s your studio?
26 Apr 2012 | 1:06 pmSince choosing self-employment in 2005, I’ve spent most of my time working from home. That home might’ve changed six times during those years, but my workspace has always been in the building where I’ve slept. There are plenty of positives (such as the time saved on a daily commute) and some negatives, too (like missing that daily interaction with other designers), but overall, I’ve been happy where I work, and although I sometimes wonder, it hasn’t seemed to hamper business. What interests me more are your surroundings, and it’d be great to learn from the… -
Milton Glaser on Donald Trump
25 Apr 2012 | 4:07 amMilton Glaser was recently asked, “What do you think of Donald Trump?” “Well I’ve met him — I’ve even done a vodka bottle for him as a matter of fact. I don’t know how to think about him. He’s an example of the power of the ego. How can anyone be so totally egocentric to not understand that there are others in the universe. It also shows the power of that position: When you don’t think there are others, everything is attainable for you. I just find that the combination of incredible ambition and a lack of modesty can be a terrifying prospect. And… -
Using sound symbolism in branding
23 Apr 2012 | 10:22 amA simple experiment: Take two imaginary names, Maluma and Takete, and before reading on, pair each name with a symbol below, the one you think is a better fit. If you’re like me (and most others) you’ll give Maluma the curved symbol and Takete the sharp angles. This is also known as the Bouba/Kiki effect, written about by German psychologist Wolfgang Köhler (1887-1967) in his book Gestalt Psychology (excerpted below). Book scan via ofazomi.org According to an article in Scientific American 98% of people choose the same pairings. Sound also plays an important role in product…
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Radian6
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3 Ways for Insurance Companies and Agents to Capitalize on Social Media
16 May 2012 | 1:12 pmSocial media has opened doors for insurance companies and their agents to share industry-related content and engage with their community on a much more personal level. However, the extent to which insurers are adapting to and embracing social media seems to be increasing at a gradual pace on account of industry regulations. Customers look to their friends and trusted networks for advice on which products and services they should go with, and insurance shoppers are no different. They read online reviews of insurance companies and products, pose questions to their social networks, as well as… -
Justin Bieber and Social Media are Giddy Over Viddy
16 May 2012 | 11:51 amVideo-sharing application Viddy has seen a sharp rise in social media mentions in recent weeks. The Wall Street Journal recently reported that the L.A.-based app has been downloaded by 26 million people already, and is adding about a million users per day. Since the launch of the Viddy Facebook Timeline app, many are now speculating that the service may be the next big thing in social media. Pop Star Justin Bieber has helped Viddy become a rising topic of social media conversation over the past month. Bieber, with over 27,000 followers on the service already, recently launched his first… -
Handle Your Next Crisis with Social Media Monitoring
16 May 2012 | 9:21 amWe just published The Guide to Social Media Monitoring. Here’s Chapter 3. Why? Your mother used to remind you that you have two ears and one mouth for a reason. Being a good social media listener will help you immensely in a crisis, allowing you to respond quickly to the right people with the right information in the right way. A good social media listening program can preserve — and even improve — your brand’s reputation in a crisis. How? Discussions happening in social media can serve as an early warning system before an issue erupts. By using advanced tools you can observe new… -
Flag Customer Service Opportunities with Social Media Monitoring
15 May 2012 | 12:22 pmWe just published The Guide to Social Media Monitoring. Here’s Chapter 2. Why? Social media has tipped the balance of power from the brand to the customer. Nobody enjoys listening to hold music for 45 minutes. Customers will broadcast their complaints on Facebook or Twitter, and expect you to come find them. By listening carefully to your customers and community, you can easily catch customer service issues as they emerge, even on fast-moving sites like Twitter. Communities see responsiveness from companies, and those companies earn their trust. Your customers aren’t asking you to be… -
4 Tips For Getting Noticed: Improving Social Media Curb Appeal
15 May 2012 | 11:01 amOur own @madleeeen toured Montreal recently and stayed at a charming Bed & Breakfast. She loved the curb appeal of Couette et Chocolat so much, she shared this pic with us. Dear Unnamed Travel Brand, Thanks to the public nature of Twitter, I overheard your recent conversation about feeling overwhelmed and unnoticed in the giant sea of social media that your competitors have sailed successfully for some time. After having a look around your social channels, I could see how you’ve been washed away by the wake of those early-adopting companies. Here are four tips for getting noticed. Be…
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nick burcher
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Copenhagen Orchestra flashmob on the Metro by Copenhagen Phil and Radio Klassisk
10 May 2012 | 3:27 amFlash mobs can still make people smile, but nowadays they need to be executed in a quirky / original way in order to resonate. The Copenhagen Phil orchestra recently showed how flash mobs can still work, carrying out a flash mob performance on the Copenhagen Metro to promote both themselves and Danish classic music radio station Radio Klassisk. Copenhagen Metro orchestra flash mob by the Copenhagen Phil This year the Copenhagen Phil orchestra played Grieg's Peer Gynt for commuters on their way home - looks more pleasant than travelling on the London underground at peak time! NB. The… -
IKEA creates Banksy style graffiti in Milan
1 May 2012 | 3:23 amIKEA has been tagging it's own ads with Banksy style graffiti in Milan as part of the IKEA 'People bring Design to Life' current campaign. Stencilled art in the style that Banksy made famous was created and dogs, ballerinas, children and more were added as 'graffiti' to both IKEA posters and Milan subway walls, steps and turnstiles. IKEA Banksy graffiti in Milan IKEA Banksy graffiti in Milan - ballerina This is an interesting way of drawing attention to posters and malking them more conversation worthy. An accompanying video (in Italian) showing how the IKEA Banksy graffiti was… -
Prometheus, Channel 4 and Twitter live ad integration [screenshots]
30 Apr 2012 | 3:39 amDuring the penultimate episode of Homelands last night (in the UK), Channel 4 partnered with 20th Century Fox to show the latest epic trailer for forthcoming Ridley Scott film Prometheus and then featured related live tweets during a following ad break. In the first break in Homelands the following (scary?) 3 minute Prometheus trailer took over the whole ad break: This ended with a Channel 4 announcer requesting that viewers tweet about Prometheus and the Prometheus trailer using the hashtag #areyouseeingthis - with the chance for the best tweets to be featured in the next ad break: Channel 4… -
Will.i.am live tweeting from the studio on The Voice UK [images] #thevoiceuk
28 Apr 2012 | 3:09 pmWill.i.am is one of the judges / mentors on the latest reality series to hit the UK, 'The Voice.' In tonight's show Will.i.am was introducing his acts, commenting on all the performances - and live tweeting too! Will.i.am tweeting on The Voice UK Will.i.am tweeting on The Voice UK (2) Will.i.am tweeted about being proud of his acts but also revealed how he was bringing the show to life through his use of social media: Cool stuff, I hope he's allowed to do more of this next week! Related posts Like this post? Then subscribe to regular updates from this blog - click… -
BMW April Fools Day 2012 ad - BMW Driverless Running Coach [images]
31 Mar 2012 | 6:02 pmBMW have a long history of running a BMW April Fools advert and April Fools Day 2012 is no exception with ads running in today's UK broadsheet newspapers under the headline 'turn your car into a coach': BMW April Fools 2012 ad in UK newspapers The 2012 BMW April Fools ad features the 'BMW driverless Running Coach' (!) BMW April Fools 2012 - Driverless Running Coach BMW April Fools 2012 Driverless Running Coach dashboard BMW state: 'As an official sponsor of London 2012, BMW has been inspired to develop a new technology helping customers to boost their fitness in the run up to the Games.
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aimClear® Blog
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Thanks GM, That Leaves More Facebook Ads Impressions For Me
16 May 2012 | 8:39 amGeneral Motors, in a widely reported Facebook-IPO-week #Fail bail, has quit their social media agency of record and abandoned Facebook Ads. We understand the former, but not the latter. The most common reason for Facebook Ads failure, or in any channel for that matter, is a serious misunderstanding of the channel. Hey there Mr. and Ms. online marketer. What would YOU do with about 24 billion paid Facebook Ads impressions, served to the largest sampling of humans on earth with the end goal of selling GM cars? Would you target social ads broadly, run promotions, attempt to drive users to… -
Sanibel Causeway From Captiva: aimClear Just For Fun Friday!
11 May 2012 | 1:30 pmToday we’re kicking off a new Friday afternoon feature, “Just For Fun Friday!” Being aimClear, we’re fortunate to have a ton of opportunities to experience life to it’s fullest. From Sydney to San Diego, New York to San Francisco, Toronto to Tampa, our team seems to be everywhere these days. Most weeks we’ll publish a few off-the-beaten-path pictures highlighting some tasty experience that lit up one of our iPhones, pocket cams’ or screen captures. Sometimes it’s the simplest things that delight me the most . The picture at the top of this… -
Email Marketing Hall Of Shame: 3 Classic #Fails To Avoid
8 May 2012 | 10:48 amEmail marketing is easy, right? It seems so simple. Yet some respected companies still make classic email marketing mistakes. Read on for an online marketing rant down memory lane. Before there were AdWords, Facebook or LinkedIn targeting, there was venerable email marketing. In this current (tricked out) demographic targeting era, where we regularly model and market to complex “Personas” and their sub- “Personalities,” it’s important to take a step back and remember the basics. Profile your customers by leveraging focused on-hand data. Tread softly. Treat… -
Community Manager Confessions: Why I’m Terrified Of Plasma Screen TVs (Or, How High-5s Saved My Sanity)
27 Apr 2012 | 11:58 amGather round, boys and girls, it’s time for another installment of Community Manager Confessions. If you’re unfamiliar with this social-media-secret-spilling series, it’s because we just created it today. Before we begin, let’s take a moment to exchange a high five with one another. Yes, high fives. Remember those? You know, you put your hand up – yep, yes, just like that, right – very good, and then I swoop in and slap your palm with my palm, but not too hard! Just a nice, even “Yeah, buddy!” high five to show you’re recognized, and… -
Mega CTR-Tastic Sponsored Stories, Live In A Facebook News Feed Near You!
26 Apr 2012 | 5:07 pmBy now, most Facebook users probably have not have noticed Page Post Like Sponsored Stories, FB’s paid organic amplification product, creeping into their news feeds. Facebook marketers, on the other hand, are jumping up and down for joy. CTRs (click through ratios) for Page Post Like stories are through the roof and, with clever second degree of separation targeting, there is obviously hay to be made. Sure, we’ve heard this was coming for months. In fact there has been reporting on the subject since last December. Still, not everyone has seen news feed stories. Now the feature…
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Osocio Weblog
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Scamming consumers to educate them about online scams
16 May 2012 | 10:24 amWe’ve all seen these types of web sites, promising weight loss, easy money and other things. But this one is not what it seems. Click any navigation on the page, and it takes you here: This online campaign by the Massachusetts Office of Consumer Affairs and Business Regulation alerts consumers about common scam web sites by creating some of their own. In addition to Flabkiller (above) the campaign site, topmassachusettsdeals.com, hosts: ModExperts (fake loan modification services) DebtMenders (fake debt relief) Envelope Elf (a work-at-home scam) Deals R Us (a “win a prize”… -
They’ll be sexually active earlier than you think
16 May 2012 | 9:40 amI like this campaign. It’s funny, and it plays with the emotions of parental protectiveness to get a very serious message across. It’s a very different approach than the pathos of Sarah McLachlan’s famous SPCA PSA. (TM Advertising’s CCO, Bill Oakley, told AdFreak, “When I see those Sarah McLachlan commercials, I turn them off. I can’t even watch them.") And personally, I agree. These are positive and memorable. See a campaign infographic video after the break. Author: Tom Megginson -
Save the Niger Delta with Shell. Live with it!
15 May 2012 | 1:50 pmNice spoof campaign from the Dutch Friends of the Earth Netherlands/Milieudefensie. They created this campaign to hold Shell accountable for their reckless pollution in the Niger Delta. Shell’s Live With It! application explores the role technology can play in addressing the tragedies inherent in the oil and gas industry. Innovative uses of QR codes and geo location software have resulted in an easy to use app available for download now. The campaign video shows a nifty smartphone app meant as a participation and marketing tool. But not the tool Shell wants to promote in Nigeria. -
A tweet can change everything #actionsahel
14 May 2012 | 3:03 pmThis is a new campaign from the French Action contre la Faim (ACF - Action against Hunger). It is for the devastating situation in the Sahel again. Over 15 million people are food insecure and nearly 3 million children are threatened by acute malnutrition. To make the people of France aware of the situation ACF use the tagline “Objects in mirror are closer than they appear”. And for the campaign they use various items like print ads, outdoor ads, web banners, Facebook and a web video. But the two most notable items are the tweet and guerrilla action. ACF asked to use the hashtag… -
Violence in traffic starts with words, even with a hashtag
13 May 2012 | 1:21 pmTwo nice ads from the Municipality of Parnamirim. Parnamirim is a city in Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil. I love the signs used for gross terms. “Violence in traffic starts with words.” Author: Marc
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Social Media Darwinism
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The Emotion found in Social Data
9 May 2012 | 2:00 pmLet’s be clear. Most people who write on social media outlets don’t do so just for the sake of doing it. Some might, but the vast majority of people who share content, post comments, or offer sentiments and opinions online do so because they are in what Andrew Jeavons of Survey Analytics calls “the point of emotion.” In other words, they are emotionally invested in the product, service or experience about which they are opining. As Jeavons points out, most feedback is conducted via traditional methods that suffer from huge structural deficits. Surveys – break-down for four… -
CMOs: Shedding light on marketing performance
18 Apr 2012 | 10:19 amBusinesses use enterprise data and metrics to manage business performance and drive efficiencies across the organization. But when it comes to marketing, there has always been a bit of the “black box” effect. Marketing is the one major budget item that traditionally has been the hardest to understand and measure from a traditional business performance standpoint. Quarterly and annual reviews provide some idea of how the money is being spent, and frequency, reach, target rating points, media impressions and clip counting are among the longstanding measures of marketing… -
NASCAR appeals to more than just Sports Fans!
4 Apr 2012 | 11:34 amAs fans of the movie Talladega Nights would know, stock car racing in the United States has its origins in bootlegging during Prohibition, when drivers ran bootleg whiskey made primarily in the Appalachian region of the United States. Bootleggers needed to distribute their illicit products, and they typically used small, fast vehicles to better evade the police. Many of the drivers would modify their cars for speed and handling, as well as increased cargo capacity, and some of them came to love the fast-paced driving down twisty mountain roads. The repeal of Prohibition in 1933 largely dried… -
More B2B Marketing on Mad Marketing TV — The After Party
7 Mar 2012 | 9:00 amAfter last weeks show, guest host Jeff Ogden and B2B marketing expert, Paul Dunay discuss: - Marketing at a small company versus a larger company - Buyer personas and the importance of knowing your buyers - Approaches for creating engaging content - How writing a book can help generate awareness and build reputation MadMarketingTV is sponsored by Act-On Software: Marketing Automation for the Fortune 5 Million. Visit http://actonsoftware.com to learn more. Related posts: Changes in B2B Marketing — Mad Marketing TV Ep 13 Join guest host Jeff Ogden and special guest Paul... Related posts… -
Changes in B2B Marketing — Mad Marketing TV Ep 13
29 Feb 2012 | 9:00 amJoin guest host Jeff Ogden and special guest Paul Dunay, CMO of Networked Insights and author of Facebook Marketing for Dummies, as they discuss: Recent changes in B2B marketing Influencer strategies and why they’re important Facebook’s IPO and what it means for marketers New social media tools for B2B marketers Social data and what it means to B2B marketers Join Jeff and Paul as they discuss how Paul has made the shift from working within a large company doing B2B marketing, to thriving in a start up environment where he’s focusing on social, amongst other things. Paul delves into the…
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Web Analytics World: Online Marketing & Analytics
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Targeting Marketing
16 May 2012 | 4:45 amTargeting and Marketing [Infographic] Let’s consider two simple words – “Targeting” and “Marketing” . Two words that are combined in conversation a million times a day and yet I wonder how often the combination really hits that “sweet spot” with advertisers and willing consumers joined in one seamless and easy connection? The guys at Wordstream [...] Click on the title to view the entire article in Web Analytics World -
Video Marketing Engagement
15 May 2012 | 9:10 amHow to make Online Videos Engaging – Masterclass Series In the first of a series of short videos (just 90 seconds of rapid fire tips!) our featured blogger Andy Havard of Skeleton Productions gives a white board intro to making your online videos engaging. Like all things on the internet there are great examples as [...] Click on the title to view the entire article in Web Analytics World -
The Internet Economy
11 May 2012 | 7:09 amInternet connection – the key to economic growth? Many years ago, I visited Portugal on vacation and was pleasantly surprised to find that their banking and telephone networks were “state of the art” and further advanced than what I had experienced in many parts of the USA and UK. Why? … my friend who lives [...] Click on the title to view the entire article in Web Analytics World -
Predictive Analytics World Conference
10 May 2012 | 8:20 amPredictive Analytics World, June 25-26, 2012 in Chicago - 15% Discount code for our Readers Want to: discover new ways to apply predictive analytics, learn what companies at the leading edge of predictive analytics are doing, meet colleagues faced with the same challenges, get to know the predictive analytics solution providers Predictive Analytics World in Chicago this June is [...] Click on the title to view the entire article in Web Analytics World -
Link Building
8 May 2012 | 8:20 amLink Building Tips VIDEO Remember the phrase “you can tell a man by the company he keeps” (and yes, it probably also applies to women)… well to me, effective link building is the search engine equivalent! Get this right and you should be rewarded , get it wrong and your site pages could well be [...] Click on the title to view the entire article in Web Analytics World
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AdPulp
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THE INTERNET HAS A REPUTATION PROBLEM
15 May 2012 | 5:49 pmWe’re both in the brand identity game. So, let’s put our heads together on this. The Internet needs an identity refresh. Please understand that this is #probono work, since there is no real client and no one to bill. We all own the Internet, right? It’s a community garden and thus our undertaking to improve it is a just cause. Plus, our investment of free labor in the future of the Internet’s brand will be noted by a Wikipedia editor. I won’t bore you by presenting the brief for the reinvented Internet brand, but I know you need a strategy statement of some kind. -
10 Easy Steps You Can Take Today To Achieve Social Media Stardom And Make Buckets of Money
12 May 2012 | 5:36 pmIf you’ve been paying attention these past few years, you know by now that the world is most definitely your oyster. Thanks to the game changing power of the Internet, you can disrupt markets, wear a sarong to work and never answer to a clueless boss again. Sure, it may sound too good to be true. But trust me when I say that doubt will get you nowhere. On the other hand, the more you believe in yourself, the more others will believe in you. So without further ado, here are TEN THINGS YOU MUST DO TODAY to UNLEASH THE POWER OF YOUR NETWORK and INSURE YOUR LONG TERM PROSPERITY… 10. Put… -
When You Replace Bad Habits, You Make Room For Better Ones
11 May 2012 | 11:59 amMy recent post where I discussed kicking my blogging habit lacked clarity. Ergo, I’ve got some explaining to do. I thought this line from the post would carry weight: “By blogging I refer to the light- to medium-weight updates that often refer to a primary source.” But it didn’t. I also thought this line would also make things clear: “To be clear, I’m not walking away from AdPulp, I’m changing my daily routine.” But it didn’t. If I simply followed the example set by other well read bloggers, I would have written a post titled, “Blogging Is… -
I Like Your Jacket. And I “Like” Your Jacket.
9 May 2012 | 11:19 amHere’s an interesting use of Facebook in the retail space. A Brazilian retailer lets you see exactly how many people “like” a particular item of clothing. According to Springwise, C&A’s new “Fashion Like” initiative uses special hooks on the racks in its bricks-and-mortar store to display Facebook “likes” in real time, giving in-store shoppers a clear indication of each item’s online popularity. Now, here’s my question to all you AdPulp fashion lovers: If many people like a piece of clothing, would you be more inclined or less inclined to… -
Next Week In Portland, Share Your Vision For The Web
9 May 2012 | 11:01 amWebVisions is on next week in Portland. I know you’re busy making commercials and stuff, but why not push back from the machine for a day or two? Entering its 12th year, the conference kicks off with studio tours, parties and networking events on Tuesday, followed by one day of workshops and two full day of sessions, panels and keynotes. This year’s keynotes will be delivered by Baratunde Thurston of The Onion, the authors of Make It So, Nathan Shedroff and Chris Noessel, and Laura Fitton of Hub Spot. Some of the other presentations that I will likely want to cover include:…
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Campaign Brief
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The Keystone Group announces winners of the Australian Wine Design Competition
16 May 2012 | 2:00 amLast night, The Keystone Group hosted the Australian Wine Design Competition Awards 2012 at The Winery in Crown Street, Surry Hills. Hosted in conjunction with the Association of Australian Boutique Winemakers, the event played host to a number of Australia's top wine makers, graphic designers, media and industry alike, including Keystone Group Director Paul Schulte, Lisa McGuigan, and CEO of the Association of Australian Boutique Winemakers, Judith Kennedy.VIEW THE WINNING DESIGNS HERE "Judith Kennedy's vision in establishing a strong profile for design within the wine industry is… -
Bestads Top 6 of the Week reviewed by Steve O'Connell, Red Tettemer+Partners, USA
16 May 2012 | 1:40 amBEST TVFAVORITE: Polo: Father and Daughter. This spot had me from beginning to end. Great story. Perfect music. Excellent directing. Fantastic little moments. OK, so I'm I new father. But I would've loved it even if I wasn't. Although, would I have gotten all choked up and pretended not to be teary-eyed when someone walked into the room as I was watching the spot? We'll never know.RUNNER UP: Flying Horse: Cat Toast. Normally, I'm not a fan of weird for weird sake. But I'm also not a fan of cats. So those forces seemed to have cancelled out here and left me chuckling. And it's for an energy… -
Curious Film to hold Melbourne pop up cinema Sailor Jerry party - Thursday 31st May at 7pm
15 May 2012 | 11:36 pmOn Thursday May 31st, Curious Film takes its Pop Up Cinema Rockabilly Rumarma to Melbourne in further celebration of its Australasian release of Hori Smoku, a documentary on the life and times of world-renowned tattooist Norman Collins, aka Sailor Jerry. To know what you're in for (including the screening, arm wrestling, roller girls, tattooing, clipper cuts, massive wieners, popcorn, copious amounts of spiced rum and more) check out the sheer spectacle of last month's unbridled bash in Sydney. Says Peter Grasse, from Curious Film: "I'm so friggin excited to bring… -
Hell stuns punters with a bit on the side in new spot via Barnes Catmur & Friends, Auckland
15 May 2012 | 11:07 pmAs part of its campaign to promote Hell Pizza, Barnes, Catmur & Friends Auckland has put to air a new TVC focusing on the range of delicious sides available. VIEW THE SPOT Comments (3) -
Expedia promotes Las Vegas and South Pacific with 90 second 3D cinema spots via BMF Sydney
15 May 2012 | 8:56 pmBMF Sydney has created a 90 second 3D cinema commercial for Expedia, the world's largest online travel company, showcasing the glitz and glamour of Las Vegas and the South Pacific. The spot is airing directly before the screening of The Avengers in cinemas across Australia and New Zealand.VIEW THE SOUTH PACIFIC SPOTVIEW THE LAS VEGAS SPOT The 3D execution is part of the latest phase of Expedia's successful brand campaign, which demonstrates the savings travellers can make by booking flights and hotels together with Expedia Holidays. The campaign features Expedia's travel…
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Branded3
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Zend Framework, Magento and WordPress – sitting in a tree…
16 May 2012 | 9:44 amOff the back of a recent site launch, I wanted to talk about how we combine some of the industry standard, award-winning software that we use – and some of the issues we face at a technical level. We’re constantly finding new and innovative ways of tackling issues raised by clients, but it’s important to remember that there’s no point contstantly re-inventing the wheel, when combining the powers of such software can achieve so much. This platform involved the integration of two great offerings. A stable blogging platform, WordPress, and a powerful ecommerce platform… -
Penguin Update Renders SEOmoz & Majestic Link Data Unreliable For Link Cleanup
14 May 2012 | 7:52 amFollowing on from our blog post recently about cleaning up unnatural links we’ve been doing some research to understand which tools are best to use for finding bad links to your site. The primary tools that most of us know and love for link analysis are Open Site Explorer from SEOmoz and Majestic SEO but we have recently found that these tools (even if their results are merged together) are not able to find the same level of unnatural links that Google is aware of. The problem with OSE and Majestic is that they crawl the web starting with the highest authority sites and build an index… -
The EU e-Privacy Directive Compliance
14 May 2012 | 5:07 amYou’ve probably all heard of the ‘EU Cookie Law’ by now, but you might not know what it actually specifies and what’s going to happen when it comes into place on 26th May 2012. Named the ‘EU e-Privacy Directive Compliance’ (it doesn’t solely apply to cookies); the law actually came into play last May, but the Information Commissioner’s Office has given web masters 12 months to prepare for the enforcement of the law this year. The law states that cookies or similar devices must not be used unless the user of the technology is provided with “clear and comprehensive information… -
The New-Look Facebook for Brands
11 May 2012 | 4:29 amWhat does the new Facebook mean for brands and how can the Timeline be best utilised in the online conversation? Facebook’s now obligatory changes to its layout have meant that brands have had to alter their marketing approach to the world’s biggest social media network to maintain and attract the attention of their existing and prospective audiences. The introduction of the Timeline means that ‘brand stories’ are the main focus of the new-look Facebook – the whole layout means that profiles can now be much more engaging and, indeed, aesthetically pleasing, but that is only true for… -
Cleaning your links: A step-by-step guide
3 May 2012 | 5:08 amWhilst I’ve only been working ‘properly’ in the SEO field at Branded3 for eight months or so, it’s clear from our very own Patrick Altoft that the last few months have caused the biggest upheaval in the search world for a long time. “…SEO has never been harder to do than it is right now.” There’s much talk about the various Google wildlife that’s currently been unleashed on the WWW but this isn’t going to be another post about Penguins and Pandas, or how certain sites are more at risk of penalty, how bad the SERPs are or how Google is destroying small businesses. There are…
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Social Business Advisor: Social CRM and Enterprise 2.0
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Free Webinar: Common Collaboration Problems with the CIO of Pabst Brewing Company
15 May 2012 | 2:28 amThis Wednesday the 16th at 10am PST Ben Haines, the CIO of Pabst Brewing Company will be joining me on a webinar to discuss some of the common collaboration problems that organizations face today. We’re going to try to have a casual discussion around what obstacles organizations are running up against and how they are overcoming these obstacles. The event is being powered by Cisco which is allowing us to host the event on their platform. Here are the details taken from the event site: Collaboration is not new. In fact, we have collaborated for thousands of years. However,… -
What Would Happen if Your Organization Didn’t Invest in Collaboration?
10 May 2012 | 1:40 pmI (and many others) have spent a great deal of time talking about why organizations should invest their resources in collaboration tools and strategies. But let’s assume for a moment that you didn’t. How long do you realistically see your organization going on without making this investment; 1 year, 2 years, 3 years? Do you really see your organization waiting this long? At this point I have probably worked with, spoken with, and researched hundreds of companies and it’s rare to come across an organization that nothing in place when it comes to collaboration. At the… -
Implementing Enterprise 2.0 at IBM
8 May 2012 | 3:06 amI had the opportunity to have several in-depth conversations with John Rooney (CIO of Technical Strategy) and Ethan McCarty (Senior Manager, Digital and Social Strategy) of IBM. The conversations resulted in our recently released case study on Implementing Enterprise 2.0 at IBM. Here is an overview of that case study. With over 420,000 employees in over 70 countries, IBM is one of the largest and most recognized companies in the world today. A company of this size needs to be able to coordinate and collaborate, share business processes, and respond to market demands. In order to make… -
The Twelve Principles of Collaboration
3 May 2012 | 12:41 pm1. Individual benefit is just as important as the overall corporate benefit (if not more important) Don’t focus on the overall corporate value and benefit when communicating collaboration to employees. Employees care about how this will impact them on an individual basis. How will this make their jobs and lives easier? 2. Strategy before technology Before rushing to pick that shiny new collaboration platform focus on developing a strategy which will help you understand the “why” before the “how.” This is crucial for the success of any… -
New Study: Only 10 Percent of Employees are Engaged
1 May 2012 | 1:52 pmI don’t like reading things like this, I really don’t. But today I came across a report released by Modern Survey which found that we have a lot of work to do around engaging our employees. Modern Survey isn’t the first firm to report low engagement numbers, Gallup and Blessing White (along with others) have all found low engagement rates within our organizations. The questions, approaches, methodology, and data that all of these firms get is different but the trend and overall findings remains the same. I don’t think we realize how crucial employee engagement…
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Everything PR
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Greece Offers Debt Solution: Will the EU Revert to Chicken Standard?
16 May 2012 | 1:07 pmIn news from Brussels via thedailymash, apparently Greece has offered up the modern day equivalent of a Trojan Horse there in order to appease key members of the European Central Bank (ECB). With news of their politicians not having been able to decide on any form of government, apparently the Greeks have turned to bearing gifts, rather than taking them. According to the reports the gigantic wooden horse appeared in the dead of night from out of seemingly nowhere. The ECB’s President, Mario Draghi, had this to add according to The Mash: “How nice of the Greeks to acknowledge the… -
Intel Launches Intel iQ Digital Magazine
16 May 2012 | 10:30 amA new and innovative social media project comes from Intel in the form of Intel iQ, a digital magazine with content submitted by employees that aims to “connect with a younger audience and tell them the bigger story of who we are as a brand,” said Editor-in-Chief Bryan Rhoads. The idea is very simple: when an article submitted by the company’s employees reaches a certain number recommendations it goes on the iQ front page. The content published on the front page is sometimes placed by Mr. Rhoads from the articles written by Intel employees, but the general idea is that each… -
5W Public Relations Hired by IMMUNE Pharmaceuticals
16 May 2012 | 8:06 amIMMUNE Pharmaceuticals (IMMUNE) an Israel and U.S. based biopharmaceutical company, has retained 5W Public Relations as AOR. An emerging leader in monoclonal antibodies, IMMUNE will receive 5WPR’s comprehensive public relations program that targets influential media. 5WPR’s President and CEO, Ronn Torossian, says his company aims to: “[increase] awareness of IMMUNE and its innovative approaches to treating severe diseases and improving quality of life issues”. To achieve these goals, 5WPR’s will provide media relations, speaker engagement, messaging, web development and… -
New Google Data Shows Smartphone Adoption and Business Insight
16 May 2012 | 6:09 amSmartphones are a multi-activity portal, according to research by Google and MMA. Having a mobile optimized site is critical for businesses. Research by Google and the Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) revealed that Australia, the UK, Sweden, Norway, Saudi Arabia and the UAE have more than 50% of their population on smartphones, and an additional seven countries, including the US, New Zealand, Denmark, Ireland, Netherlands, Spain and Switzerland have more than 40% smartphone penetration. According to a recent communique by the Mobile Marketing Association (MMA), mobile is making immense… -
Social Media Ad Spend to Near $10 Billion by 2016
16 May 2012 | 5:31 amSocial media advertising revenues will grow from $3.8 billion in 2011 to $9.8 billion in 2016 BIA/Kelsey forecasts that social media ad spend may reach $9.8 billion by 2016. Of this total, the local U.S. social media advertising revenues are expected to reach $3.1 billion by 2016, with an overall annual growth rate of 21 percent and 29.8 percent for the U.S. The company also expects the social non-display segment to grow from $140 million in 2010 to $630 million in 2016. BIA/Kelsey identified several reasons for increased sales, including a current trend that sees small and medium sized…
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Trends in the Living Networks
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Why crowds are an extension of our capabilities
15 May 2012 | 4:14 pmMarshall McLuhan very often provides an instructive reference point for how we understand our changing world. As I wrote in my Chapter 1 of Living Networks: The brilliant visionary Marshall McLuhan accurately described the media as an extension of our senses. Your eyes can see what’s happening in your immediate vicinity, your ears can hear what people are saying in the same room as you, but with television and radio as an adjunct to your senses, you can see and hear anywhere around the world. All of the cameras and microphones of the world’s media are an extension of your eyes and ears,… -
We have a choice whether to be optimistic or pessimistic about the future
14 May 2012 | 5:06 pmBelow is a brief interview I did when I spoke at TheNextWeb conference in Amsterdam recently. Some of the points I cover: * In the face of a highly uncertain future increasingly driven by extraordinary technologies, we have a choice whether to be optimists or pessimists. This choice shapes how actively we seek and create opportunities from change. See more on this topic. * Crowds and crowdsourcing are powerful mechanisms for creating positive change. One example is VizWiz, which uses connectivity and crowd platforms so that many people can ‘lend’ their eyes to the blind. *… -
Open Meeting Protocol and the structure of emergent collaboration
14 May 2012 | 7:43 amLast week I had an early evening meeting set up with Indy Johar, the inspiring co-founder of Hub Westminster. When I arrived I found that Indy had invoked an ‘Open Meeting Protocol’, offering £10 to Matt Sevenoaks of KPMG to join the meeting, who in turn invited Shelley Kuipers, the CEO of Chaordix, who as it happens I had conversed with on email as reecently as a few days before but had never met in real-life. Another Hub Westminster member Pamela joined us. To be frank I don’t completely understand the protocol, even after viewing the very interesting Prezi explanation… -
8 crowd insights from 8 crowdsourcing workshops
7 May 2012 | 5:39 pm[This post first appeared on the Getting Results From Crowds book website] Over the last two weeks I have delivered 8 keynotes or workshops on crowdsourcing across Western Europe. Most of them have been highly interactive sessions, bringing out new ideas or highlighting common issues or concerns. Part of the intent has been to gather input from many participants on what to cover in There is much to share. For now, I will quickly review the events I’ve run so far and highlight just one insight that was prominent in the questions or discussions from each event. Many of themes mentioned were… -
Video of TheNextWeb keynote on The Future of Crowds
29 Apr 2012 | 12:33 pmTheNextWeb produced a good quality video of my keynote at TheNextWeb Conference 2012, shown below. It doesn’t show all of my full motion graphics presentation, though it frequently cuts to show segments of the visuals through my keynote. I will create and share a full video of my motion graphics presentation along with the audio of me speaking, however as I’m travelling it may take a little while to complete. Here is a brief overview of the structure of the presentation: Crowds are the future of everything The economy of individuals How individuals contribute Tapping the minds of…
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Dan Zarrella
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Using Twitter Data to Map Emotions Geographically
6 May 2012 | 11:30 pmA few weeks ago, I spoke at a federal agency conference in Arlington, VA and one of the most interesting topics was the potential use of social media, by intelligence agencies, to map out and predict social unrest. So I decided to start experimenting with the concept on my own. By combining the linguistic analysis systems of TweetPsych with Twitter’s geo tagging data (which isn’t great yet) and the Google Maps API, I was able to plot tweets on specific latitude and longitude codes based on their emotional content. Below you’ll see 6 maps of various kinds of psychological… -
Introducing TweetCharts: Get The Twitter Data You Need
30 Apr 2012 | 12:15 amIt used to be that if you wanted to get data on a certain industry, keyword, hashtag or Twitter user you had to wait for a geeky, social media scientist type to write the scripts and run the reports for you. With my new tool TweetCharts.com that’s no longer the case. Enter any word, phrase, hashtag, URL or username and TweetCharts will return a comprehensive report, including data on reply, retweet, and link percentages as well as the most common words, most mentioned users, most used hashtags and more. I began working on TweetCharts a few weeks ago actually on a plane. I did some… -
[Infographic] How to Get More Pins and Repins on Pinterest
11 Apr 2012 | 1:11 amData about Pinterest is sparse because they’ve been slow to release their API, but I was able to utilize search engine APIs to pull some data about the trendy new social site. I gathered information on over 11,000 pinned images and did some analysis to create the infographic below. This data should be useful for Pinterest users who’d like to get more repins on the images they’ve pinned, as well as content producers who want their content pinned and repinned more. I hope to be able to do more research into Pinterest, especially as they release their API. Let me know what data… -
[Infographic] How to Get More Clicks on Twitter
24 Jan 2012 | 11:18 pmI’ve often said that the best use of Twitter is as a broadcast medium. You should be creating a ton of interesting content and sharing it with your followers. To that end I’ve done a bunch of research on how to optimize the clickthrough rate (CTR) of the links you’re tweeting. For the purposes of this data, I’ve calculated CTR as the number of clicks on a tweeted link divided by the number of followers the account had when it tweeted that link. Below is an infographic presenting some of my past findings as well as some entirely new data I’ve found about… -
[Infographic] What are the Best Times to Blog?
23 Jan 2012 | 12:54 amOne of the most popular webinars I’ve ever worked on, The Science of Timing was also one of my favorite. If you haven’t seen it, go check out the on-demand recording now. In it, I present data I’ve collected over three years about the effect timing has on a variety of online marketing activities, including blogging. Below is an infographic that represents a collection of the three most important stats I have about when to publish blog posts. In the webinar, I also make the point that my results are based on huge aggregates of thousands, millions, or even in some cases,…
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Relationship Economy
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Social Chaos Means…..
16 May 2012 | 4:01 amEverything is in a state of flux. An old French proverb says “the more things change the more they remain the same”. Even when things seem to be in a chaotic state of change what remains the same, at least for some, is the ability to adapt. A Fast Company article titled This Is Generation Flux: Meet The Pioneers Of The New And Chaotic Frontier Of Business states: Despite recession, currency crises, and tremors of financial instability, the pace of disruption is roaring ahead. The frictionless spread of information and the expansion of personal, corporate, and global networks… -
The “All-You-Can-Eat” Business Model
13 May 2012 | 5:16 amThe proverbial “all-you-can-eat” business model works great for some products and not-so great for others. The opportunity, of course, is to be able to transform non-viable business methods into viable one’s using social media tools and data. In this article, we explore how the AYCE model can be improved. Netflix for the Sky The Netflix model for movies has been touted as one of the greatest business innovations in the modern era of technology – not because it is new, but because it works. Now, consider that the AYCE model has been applied to transportation, club membership, and… -
Aligning Strategy With “Social” Intent
11 May 2012 | 9:31 amNew market dynamics are emerging as social technology and the use of it proliferates. Making sense of the dynamics and the strategic implications is everyone’s goal. The goal is not an end rather a never-ending pursuit to learn, share and improve. Learning and sharing is how people and organization can gain clarity of purpose on how to continuously improve. The real value in all things social is the sharing of knowledge with clarity for others to use. Imagine if an audience was focused on sharing of knowledge with clarity. What would be the outcomes? The answer: never-ending improvement and… -
Changing How Markets Behave
10 May 2012 | 3:58 amThe web has changed how “markets” communicate. The change in communications has the potential of creating a new marketplace. A marketplace fueled by buyer intentions. The intent and dynamics of the marketplace have changed and as we begin a new era all organizations will be forced to make changes to their intents or lose the markets attention. The word intention implies performing an action for specific purpose in doing so, the end or goal aimed at, or intended to accomplish. Whether an action is successful or unsuccessful depends at least on whether the intended result was… -
The Social Plan Is Not To Plan
9 May 2012 | 10:48 amHow can you plan for change when you don’t know what will change? The only thing you can plan on is rapid learning. But learning about something new can be difficult for those who only know the old ways. The evolution of the web is accelerating with new tools, new discoveries and the subsequent market dynamics effected by these changes. As more and more conversations begin to impact business models, market relations and the supply and demand equations the more traditional mind sets try and fit these changes into the old box. Most executives are totally disconnected from the dynamics…
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scaryideas.com: Advertising Archive
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EL-P : Drone Trailer [Video]
15 May 2012 | 11:55 amEL-P : Drone Trailer [Video]Drone is a provocative dystopian trailer set against a deceptively bright world of blue skies, red roses, and a white picket fence. When what appears to be an insect buzzes on to the screen, the camera zooms close to reveal that the object is actually a tiny but technologically advanced robot drone. The next instant, a bird swoops from the sky and shreds the machine with its beak as the sky transforms into a nightmarish red-and-black storm. "The drone had to look like it emerged from some black-op lab constructed by paranoid NSA scientists," said Szumski. "It… -
Quechua : Brand Movie [Video]
15 May 2012 | 11:46 amQuechua : Brand Movie [Video]Sur une douce mélodie composée par Chut on vous écoute, Quechua vous présente sa marque, ses produits, son univers et ses partenaires. Découvrez ici, notre showreel, le tout mis en image par Studio Ores, Capsus Films, Simon Favier, orchestré par l'excellente agence Fred&Farid.Production: Simon Favier / Studio Ores, Capsus Films Music: Chut on vous écoute -
Gulf News : The "Headline News" Cup Sleeve [Image]
15 May 2012 | 11:44 amGulf News : The "Headline News" Cup Sleeve [Image]Brief: Gulf News, the UAE’s leading English daily newspaper, wanted to reach even more readers and convert them into subscribers. Our target was to gain 1.5% more subscribers, help promote their twitter channel and increase traffic to the Gulf News website by at least 25%. Strategy: Consumption habit suggests that people read newspapers while having their morning cup of coffee. Tim Hortons is one of our clients in the UAE and they serve 35-50,000 coffees per month, per outlet. Realising its untapped potential, we decided to… -
Haggar Life Khaki : Mants [Video]
15 May 2012 | 11:43 amHaggar Life Khaki : Mants [Video]Advertising Agency: McGarrah-Jessee, USA Creative Director: James Mikus Art Director: Ross Aboud Copywriter: Kevin Dunleavy Agency Producer: Meredith Roach Account Supervisor: Alisha Sare Production Company: 3MC / Fueld Films Directors: Ben Hurst, Dave Thomas Producer: Barry Heaps Executive Producers: Brady Anderton, Summer Finley DP: Munn Powell Production Designer: Chris Stull -
Haggar Life Khaki : Cubicles [Video]
15 May 2012 | 11:42 amHaggar Life Khaki : Cubicles [Video]Advertising Agency: McGarrah-Jessee, USA Creative Director: James Mikus Art Director: Ross Aboud Copywriter: Kevin Dunleavy Agency Producer: Meredith Roach Account Supervisor: Alisha Sare Production Company: 3MC / Fueld Films Directors: Ben Hurst, Dave Thomas Producer: Barry Heaps Executive Producers: Brady Anderton, Summer Finley DP: Munn Powell Production Designer: Chris Stull
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Affiliate Marketing Blog
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Building Niche Affiliate Sites That Produce Revenue
16 May 2012 | 7:48 amThis was a conference session titled Building Niche Affiliate Sites That Produce Revenue from Affiliate Summit East 2010, which took place August 15-17, 2010 in New York City. Speaker: Evan Weber, CEO, Experience Advertising, Inc. Session description: Come learn how to build exciting niche affiliate websites that produce traffic and revenue! Topics covered: site building, content creation, & social bookmarking. Experience Level: Intermediate Audience: Affiliate/Publishers Niche: General Slides: http://www.slideshare.net/affsum/3c-building-niche-affiliate-sites-that-produce-revenue More… -
Writing Good Headlines, Dell #XPS 13, and an Affiliate Summit Central 2012 Preview
15 May 2012 | 3:18 amThis week on the Affiliate Thing podcast, Shawn Collins and Lisa Picarille preview Affiliate Summit Central 2012, talk about the new Dell XPS 13, and how Fort Lee, NJ cracking down on walking texters. They also talked about Eduardo Saverin being a creep, affiliate nexus tax dead in MN, writing headlines, and the most friendly states for small business. Show Links Parties at Affiliate Summit Central 2012 How to Ask Questions in Sessions at Affiliate Summit Central 2012 Affiliate Summit Central 2012 Exhibitor Guide and Agenda at a Glance #ASC12 is the Twitter Hashtag for Affiliate Summit… -
Unboxing the Dell XPS 13
14 May 2012 | 10:35 amI’ve been on a long journey with Dell products that began back in the mid-1990s. I have continued buying Dell machines for my business and family, because they’ve been reliable, easy, and fast. My latest computer is the Dell XPS 13 Ultrabook, which is just a gorgeous, light, and speedy laptop. I was excited to get this one as a gift from Dell to share my candid views of it. I got a chance to meet a bunch of the folks at Dell in 2010 when I was selected to sit on their inaugural Customer Advisory Panel, so thank you to them for sending the XPS 13 my way. Anyhow, on to the XPS 13… -
Dear Affiliates – We Need You!
13 May 2012 | 10:25 amThe 10th annual AffStat survey of affiliate marketing statistics is open through May 31, 2012, and we’re trying to get as much input as possible. This AffStat survey is focused on affiliates, so please do not complete the survey unless you are an affiliate. Affiliate managers and networks – that would be really cool if you would spread the word. Data from the AffStat survey will be published in future editions of FeedFront Magazine (get a free subscription), and the full report will be available for free. Take the survey now. If you’re interested in the 2011 edition of the… -
More Money, Same Traffic, List Building & Paths
12 May 2012 | 8:05 amThis was a conference session titled More Money, Same Traffic, List Building & Paths from Affiliate Summit East 2010, which took place August 15-17, 2010 in New York City. Speaker: Jason Akatiff, President, Coleadium Inc. dba Ads4Dough Session description: Want to make more money for the same traffic? Learn about ideas on how to gather data before, increase sales and show multiple offers after you make the sale. Experience level: Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced Target audience: Affiliates/Publishers Niche/vertical: Monetization Slides:…
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Vladimir's Blog
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Epic Bread
8 May 2012 | 6:50 amAfter many trial and error attempts I finally did it. I created epic bread.It is made out of three kinds of flour, with 4 kinds of seeds added for extra flavor and texture. Plus a secret ingredient. Click the image to enlarge.It's best consumed like this. Wine optional. Guaranteed to make your day.If you want to see a video of me making this, add your vote in the comments. Related Articles:The Perfect BedroomFacebook comments vs Blog commentsHow (not) to turn $3000 to $5000 in two weeksReflex testerTop 10 WordPress Hidden Gems (Plugins) -
The Valley is focusing too much on 140 characters and not enough on flying cars
23 Apr 2012 | 1:42 amPeter Thiel says that the "the Valley is focusing too much on 140 characters and not enough on flying cars" and this message resonated really well with me.There is so much money floating around and it's being invested to startups that really solve no problem. Even worse, some of them basically invent the problem and then try to convince us that we had it all along.The recent and absurd $1bn purchase of Instagram by Facebook only adds the insult to the injury to the sad and painful state tech is in.What happened to sending people to other planets, solving our fossil fuel dependency, and… -
How do you check how many visitors does any website have?
16 Apr 2012 | 1:48 pmWhether you are spying on your competition or you just want to see how does your website stack up against similar, knowing the traffic information for any website can be useful.Here are couple of tools I use. Note: none of the tools will give you the accurate information, but they will give you pretty good comparative dataQuantcastQuantcast give you the estimated number of US visitors only. It also has a wealth of demographics information.LinkCompeteCompete also shows US visitors only and does it through deals with ISPs in the US.LinkDoubleclick Ad Planner by GoogleThis is the tool I usually… -
Take a break, you need it
3 Apr 2012 | 10:10 amOh boy do I like to work. I often have 14 or 16 hour work sprees. I am addicted to work. Work brings me satisfaction and expands my horizons.But you know what? Best ideas that I ever had, happened during my time off work. Like when strolling down the shore line. Or driving.Almost as if my brain refuses to come up with something really creative unless it's in idle mode. When I am forcing it to come up with a great solution to a problem - nothing. Nada. Zilch. It does not want to cooperate when I want it.Let it go - and suddenly I am overwhelmed with a surge of ideas. And all good ones.And… -
SEO Friendly Images Premium released
1 Apr 2012 | 1:31 pmI am very happy to announce my second premium WordPress plugin - SEO Friendly Images.The premium plugin brings the completely rewritten code, wealth of new features and two license flavors at a popular price -$49 USD for Personal edition and $99 for Business edition.To celebrate the launch, get SEO Friendly Images with a 30% off coupon code HAPPYAPRIL (valid this week only) And if you missed to get SEO Smart Links by now, you can use the same coupon code to also get 30% off! Related Articles:SEO Smart Links – Premium WordPress SEO plugin releasedHow I made $80,000 with a single…
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adland.tv
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GM to Facebook: We're done here.
15 May 2012 | 7:23 pmAccording to this article in the Wall Street Journal, General Motors is yanking its advertising from Facebook. GM spends about 40 million dollars on Facebook. 10 million of it goes straight to Facebook. So that's a chunk Facebook is about to lose. GM has realized spending all that cash on Facebook is not translating into more asses sitting on their car seats. Facebook could not be reached for comment. Which isn't a surprise. Because The Great Facebook Cotillion Dace With Wall Street happens this week. They're in no mood to think about lost cash when their IPO will be around 100 billion, give… -
Viajes Galeón - Twitpoker - (2012)
15 May 2012 | 9:14 amViajes Galeón was launched via a twitpoker game, where players weren't stripped of their clothes, but their twitter followers. Egads! Oh look, my case study bingo card was almost filled in by this one alone. Superbowl Commercials Position: None -
Cannes Media Person of the year 2012 : Jack Dorsey, father of Twitter
15 May 2012 | 8:52 amThe Cannes Lions Media Person of the year award 2012 goes to Jack Dorsey, the creator, co-founder and Executive Chairman of Twitter, Inc. and the co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Square, Inc. Join us in 2013 when the prize goes to Pinterest! Originally from St. Louis, Jack's early fascination for mass-transit and how cities function led him to Manhattan and programming real-time messaging systems for couriers, taxis, and emergency vehicles. Throughout this work Jack witnessed thousands of workers in the field constantly updating where they were and what they were doing. Jack came up… -
Barack Obama first Gay president, first jewish president, not the first cover idea done like this.
14 May 2012 | 5:11 pmNewsweek is getting a lot of press for the cover "The first gay president", illustrated by Obama wearing a rainbow (neon?) halo above his head. He is getting this title for his "bullshit gay marriage announcement" as Gawker put it. As I recall in September last year Barack Obama was the first Jewish president, as depicted on the cover on New York Magazine, so I'm only here to point out the Badlander-like issue. If I see Barack Obama as the first woman president on a magazine cover near you soon, I'll personally slap the creative who designed that cover with a wet trout. I bet Obama will be… -
Apple store sign is mocked by Android store next door - "Apple sucks" ..Android
14 May 2012 | 4:43 pmThis store in China, right next to an Apple store wants to spell out that Apple sucks and does so rather graphically using the logos from each business. While we're here giggling in the gutter, you might also fancy bad brand names that won't export well, or one of those lovely phallic logos.... Perhaps while snacking on some poo tofu. God how I love international work.
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brandflakesforbreakfast
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your life reincarnated by a computer program
16 May 2012 | 7:10 amCrap, so you've died. Now what? Well luckily for you it's the year 2052 and your conscious can be reincarnated. Getting your life back is as easy as buying an app with advertisements and licensing fees gala. -
stamps celebrating british fashion
16 May 2012 | 7:05 amJohnson Banks, an agency in London, have designed a set of postage stamps to celebrate the last 60 years of British fashion. To capture these pieces in an interesting way the studio worked closely with a highly respected fashion photographer, his assistants, stylists, and hair and wig artists. -
anti-theft moldy lunch bags
16 May 2012 | 7:02 amAh ha! That'll show those pesky lunch thieves a lesson. Fool your office lunch thief into thinking your lunch has gone moldy with these sandwich bags that have green splotches printed on them. They're reusable, recyclable, and available at the. -
how to spot an instagram junkie (infographic)
16 May 2012 | 7:00 amHello Instagram junkie. You know who you are. You're constantly on your beautiful smart phone in awkward poses, bruised up, sweating, and so stressed from your adventures in Instagram world that by the end of the day you look like you've been mulled by a bear. Yes, this infographic is for you. Via. -
junk food patches
15 May 2012 | 7:10 amDanone Corpus Light created a spoof ad featuring Junk Food patches to help people stick to their diet.Step 1: Place on Patch. Step 2: drink a Danone Corpus Light. That simple.I'll take the super-size combo sticker please. (Who wants to bet this is an actual product in say, the net 10 years?)
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Webdistortion
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I wrote this post whilst high on Kool Aid.
11 May 2012 | 3:36 pmOne of the biggest misconceptions I’ve ever encountered on the web is the notion that somehow you can apply direct statistical analysis to social media. Like there is some kind of magic formula you can apply to your marketing to “improve your reach” or “make your message go further” or better still that there is a “best time to tweet”. This notion, that armed with a dataset, and a couple of rudimentary text analysis tools you can discover the patterns contained within social status updates, and come out the other side with a sure fire marketing… -
Creating mindblowing social bait – micro content updates that work.
23 Apr 2012 | 3:58 pmAlthough the digitial landscape is changing all the time, nothing has been more disruptive in the last few years than the power of social media. As marketeers we have observed a fundamental shift in trends towards social platforms and understand now how important social traffic has become to getting the digital marketing message across. From a content strategy point of view, content creation for social media is a different animal to the traditional website, and it can be equally if not more challenging to keep visitors engaged when you are talking to them on these platforms. Its no longer… -
Pinviewer – View your Facebook content like a Pinterest board
19 Apr 2012 | 12:52 pmURL: https://apps.facebook.com/pinviewer/ Love Pinterest but are slightly peeved that you can’t pin anything from with Facebook? Say hello to a new Facebook application that allows you to ignore the timeline, and browse yours and your friends updates in a more visual interface. With the web becoming an ever more visual platform, Pinviews design purposely rides the coat tails of Pinterest which has made the web more scannable, and visually appealing, and combines it with the social data contained within Facebook. Once you’ve authorised access to your profile, there are options… -
Google+ launches new layout, leaves developers out in the cold.
11 Apr 2012 | 1:36 pmAmongst all the fanfare and news surrounding #newgoogleplus, is a story of bitter disappointment for developers who have spent countless hours hacking together third party extensions and add ons. Arguably one of the better known, and most active developers Mohamed Mansour posted his frustrations this afternoon – aimed squarely at the lack of communication from within the Google+ team. Mansour has contributed a shed load of code to the Google+ community, which amongst others includes an unofficial read write API, my Hangouts extension for Chrome, and a way to make Hangouts accessible… -
7 lesser known alternatives to Instagram
9 Apr 2012 | 4:18 pmToday’s massive tech news is that Facebook have acquired Instagram for a cool $1 billion. Whilst Mark Zuckerberg has publicly announced the news on his wall and CEO of Instagram Kevin Systrom declares that ‘Instagram will not be going away‘ undoubtedly many of you will be wondering just what Facebook plans with the service. There has already been something of a mass exodus, if Twitter is any gauge of current user response to the news of Facebook’s acquisition. If you are wondering about some other, lesser known but equally as cool services that offer photo blogging…
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Search Engine Guide : Small Business Search Marketing
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Those Who Don't Learn SEO are Doomed to Repeat It
16 May 2012 | 12:10 pmby Stoney deGeyter Pete and Repete were walking on a bridge. Pete fell off. Who's left? Repete? Ok, Pete and Repete were walking on a bridge. Pete fell off. Who's left? Repete? How about we just move on... In marketing, when something works it gets repeated and repeated again and again. Never letting a good campaign go to waste, imitators will jump on board and drive it into the ground until it's no longer effective. We've seen this with the Got Milk? campaigns. It wasn't long before we started seeing imitators touting got sand, got rice, got mold, got Jesus and even got poop! (Like, who… -
Hello Again Marketing
8 May 2012 | 4:43 pmby Todd Bailey Have you lost sight of a well-loved service or product? People are creatures of repetition. Usually we commit when we find a service or product we enjoy using. Recently, Ryan Buddenhagen wrote a post on brand ability to bring back old services and products. The notion is not very novel. Blockbuster movies enjoy reviving old heroes and comics. Food producers sometimes reintroduce a retired food or beverage. The Eagles once did a "Hell Freezes Over" tour... Speaking of music, you may catch sight of modern-day hipsters wearing vintage CBGB shirts. The East Village club, opened… -
Metrics That Lie to You: Average Position (Part 1)
8 May 2012 | 2:04 pmby Mike Fleming I wouldn't call the "average position" metric pointless, but it's definitely lying to you. Most people approach this metric with a natural misunderstanding. It's natural to think, "This is the average position that my organic listing or paid ad shows up at in a search for this keyword." Sorry, but no. How could a tool just flat out lie to you? Well, the tool isn't lying to you. It's your understanding of what that metric is communicating that is lying to you. In a recent article titled, "The big lie of AdWords average position," light is… -
The Right Message May Not Be So Right for Your Audience
4 May 2012 | 11:05 amby Stoney deGeyter The number one key to your business growth is crafting a message that speaks to your audience. Having the right message builds up your strengths and helps you overcome any deficiencies you might have. McDonald's doesn't make the best hamburgers in the world, but they do have a great bit of messaging that speaks to their target audience. It's that message, not the hamburgers, that makes Micky D's the number one fast food restaurant in America. While substance is important in order to have a great message, the message itself helps establish the perception of your substance. -
Don't Just Build Links, Become a Thought Leader
3 May 2012 | 4:20 pmby Nick Stamoulis I think we can all agree that content marketing is an indispensable component of SEO and Internet marketing in general. Great content gets shared, which in turn creates inbound links to your website, which helps your site do better in the search engines, which drive more traffic to your site and so forth and so on. But too often site owners are just looking at content as a link building tactic. In reality, the content you are creating for your SEO, content marketing and social media marketing campaigns can serve a much greater purpose---it can turn your brand into a thought…
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Brand Autopsy
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Episode #19 | Talkable is being Conversable
14 May 2012 | 8:46 amThe Talkable Brand video series continues… Episode #19 | Talkable is being Conversable In this episode, you’ll learn talking and listing are the essential ingredients needed for conversability. DIRECT LINK TO VIDEO BACKGROUND INFO: The Talkable Brand video series will help you to strategically think about ways to make your brand, your business worthy of word of mouth. Every Tuesday on the Brand Autopsy blog a new episode will premiere giving you knowledge and a nudge. Knowledge being interesting information. The nudge being compelling motivation to make the information happen. The… -
article | Becoming a Talkable Brand
12 May 2012 | 10:49 am*** DOWNLOAD THE PDF *** I’ve been yapping for years about the importance word of mouth marketing plays in helping brands become endearing to customers and to achieve long-lasting success. Most of the presentations I’ve given since 2005 have included some element of how to make word of mouth marketing happen. Throughout this year, I’ve been sharing video ditties on what it takes to become a talkable brand. And in the coming years, I’m sure I’ll be singing from the same hymnal praising the virtues of becoming a talkable brand. An article I wrote for the Baylor Business Review… -
Einstein on Creativity
10 May 2012 | 8:34 am“Creativity is the residue of time wasted..” — Einstein -
Episode #18 | Talkable is Visual
7 May 2012 | 8:40 amThe Talkable Brand video series continues… Episode #18 | Talkable is Visual In this episode, you’ll learn word of mouth marketing isn’t always spoken, sometimes it’s visual. DIRECT LINK TO VIDEO BACKGROUND INFO: The Talkable Brand video series will help you to strategically think about ways to make your brand, your business worthy of word of mouth. Every Tuesday on the Brand Autopsy blog a new episode will premiere giving you knowledge and a nudge. Knowledge being interesting information. The nudge being compelling motivation to make the information happen. The result, I hope,… -
Steve Jobs on Profits vs. Products
3 May 2012 | 8:12 am“My passion has been to build an enduring company where people were motivated to make great products. Everything else was secondary. Sure, it was great to make a profit, because that was what allowed you to make great products. But the products, not the profits, were the motivation.” — Steve Jobs
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ClickZ News Blog
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J&J Exec Says Brands Need Social Marketing Goals
16 May 2012 | 12:35 pmGlobal marketing executive discusses challenges and opportunities for $24 billion business. -
Centro Throws Down Gauntlet to Ad Exchange Arbitragers
16 May 2012 | 10:07 amFirm launches brand exchange, says other exchanges "failed on their promises to deliver" for publishers. -
Unlike GM, Ford Is Still Bullish on Facebook Ads
15 May 2012 | 5:28 pmAutomaker tells ClickZ it will continue advertising on the social site. -
Digital Co-op Ads Are Ignored by Some SMBs
15 May 2012 | 4:43 pm$450M in potential digital ads for SMBs from manufacturers will go unused. -
50K TV Viewers Shazam Ads for Pepsi, Cadbury in UK
15 May 2012 | 4:02 pmShazam TV impressions sell by flat fee or run $0.25 to $0.40 CPM plus TV buy.
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FUEL LINES Fueling Ad Agency New Business Through Social Media
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Ad Agencies: Independence does not mean having to go it alone
15 May 2012 | 3:56 pmAd Agency networks offer many benefits for small to midsize independent advertising agencies. This is a guest post written by my friend, Peter Gerritsen, president of Transworld Advertising Agency Network better known as TAAN, the oldest and among the largest ad agency networks in the world, with 52 member agencies operating in 32 different countries. Peter Gerritsen, president of TAAN Not a single person in this business can truly say they do it all by themselves. We all work with many different resources, vendors, staff, clients, media, consultants, friends, mentors,… -
Why ad agencies should learn about Springpad
14 May 2012 | 9:54 amIf you are a regular reader of Fuel Lines, you know that I am a big fan of Edward Boches, Chief Innovation Officer (formerly Chief Creative Officer and Chief Social Media Officer) at Mullen. Edward was among the few creatives to understand the importance of social media as an active practitioner. He has led his agency by example. I’m honored to have Edward share a new social media platform through this guest post that will help your agency and your clients. Over the last five plus years we’ve seen the emergence of numerous new social platforms change how we market, distribute… -
AMC’s The Pitch: Chemistry with the TV audience is different than with the potential client
13 May 2012 | 6:52 amProspective clients are looking for chemistry and likability in their ad agency partners and it doesn’t have to be a crap shoot. BooneOakley, a small 20 person ad agency in Charlotte, NC, showcased its unusual chemistry on “The Pitch” before a nationally televised audience. They were competing against a New York agency, Conversation, to be selected to develop an ad campaign for the popchips company. BooneOakley didn’t win the client, but evidently they won over the television audience. According to the initial results of AMC’s The Pitch Poll – “Who… -
Nobody Reads Ad Agency Blogs
8 May 2012 | 11:32 pmWhy most agencies may be ready to ditch their blog and why they shouldn’t. Jack Marshall, a staff writer for Digiday wrote an article that is creating lots of buzz entitled, “Agencies Ditch Blogs.” He points to a study conducted by the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, that reveals that only 37% of Fortune 500 companies now maintain a blog. That is down from 50% that was reported in 2010. Jack makes an assumption that this is that this is probably true of advertising agencies: “It seems there’s a similar trend among agencies. Though many sporadically… -
Lessons from AMCs ‘The Pitch’ on How to Motivate Your Ad Agency After A Loss
7 May 2012 | 10:06 amTracy Wong, The Mirren New Business Conference How to lose a pitch in front of millions of television views and the entire ad industry and still come out as the winner. A good number of agencies depend upon the pitch as the primary way they win new business and grow. Some national attention and industry buzz has been brought upon the pitch process due to AMC’s new show simply called, ‘The Pitch,’ where two opposing ad agencies compete against each other for work for a nationally recognized brand. ‘The Pitch’ demonstrates the flaws in the pitch-for-business…
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Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Journal
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Get That Content Published!
15 May 2012 | 6:00 amA lot of site owners and marketers, especially B2B marketers, have a hard time developing a consistent content marketing strategy. Many feel that they have nothing to say or that their audience isn’t interested in hearing from them—this is not the case! Your target audience, regardless of industry, is looking for more information. They want best practice tips and guidelines, product reviews and demos, industry trends and more. Every business exists to solve a problem (otherwise they don’t stay in business for very long!) and your content shows potential customers that your brand is the… -
Natural Link Building and SEO – SEO Video Lesson
14 May 2012 | 10:49 amNatural link building occurs just like it says, naturally! A positive product of all your SEO and online marketing efforts, natural link building happens when other sites and blogs willingly link to your content. Natural links weren’t asked or traded for–they happened because you have great content! Natural links build up overtime, so it’s still important to invest in a link building campaign, but natural links are a great addition to your link portfolio. Watch this week’s SEO video lesson here! For more link building lessons from Nick Stamoulis, check out the Brick… -
Authorship Markup and SEO
10 May 2012 | 6:00 amI came across this great article the other day on The Daily SEO Blog from SEOMoz about authorship markup and how it might impact link building. Since Google looks at the quality of a link to determine its relevance and value when ranking a site in the SERPs, being able to verify the author of a link helps verify that the link is trust worthy. As the author (Tom Anthony) points out, this gives Google two advantages: Knowing this is an authored link, by a human who they have data about, they can place far more trust in a link. Its [sic] likely that a link authored manually by a human is of… -
If the Web is Immediate, Why is SEO Slow?
8 May 2012 | 6:00 amSEO is a marathon, not a sprint. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again—SEO is a slow, ongoing process that you just can’t rush. This is the number one SEO lesson I strive to teach my clients. On more than one occasion I’ve been asked by a full-service SEO or SEO consulting client, “But Nick. I can publish a blog post/article/video/changes to my website and it goes live immediately. Why doesn’t SEO happen immediately too?” There are actually a few factors that impact how quickly your SEO takes effect. Here are 3 of them: Too much content for it all to be immediately… -
Domain Registration Best Practices – SEO Video Lesson
7 May 2012 | 10:08 amWhen you register a new website, always try to register it for at least 10 years. This is important for a few reasons. First off, it shows you long term commitment to the search engines, which will help build trust. Secondly, it ensures that you won’t lose your website should the registration renewal deadline pass without you remembering. Watch this week’s SEO video lesson from Nick Stamoulis here! For more Internet marketing lessons from Nick Stamoulis, check out the Brick Marketing Internet marketing video lesson archive.
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Marketing Technology Blog
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Infographic: Evolution of Marketing Automation
16 May 2012 | 6:49 amThis year there’s been a virtual explosion in the marketing automation industry. Where marketing automation systems used to only be affordable to large enterprise, required many resources to implement and manage, and were complex to use… today’s marketing automation systems are simple, elegant, and optimized for companies both large and small. Our Marketing Automation sponsors at Right On Interactive have been helping us understand the industry, the benefits and the incredible changes that are occurring. Ifbyphone is a leader in voice-based marketing automation. Systems like… -
Michael Brito of Edelman Digital on MTB Radio
15 May 2012 | 9:15 pmWe are happy to announce that we will be having Michael Brito of Edelman Digital on the Marketing Tech Blog Radio Show this Friday, May 18, at 3 p.m. EST. On the show, we will be discussing the differences between social brand and social business, the value of social business, and the differences and similarities between advocates and influencers. Michael works for Edelman Digital as the Senior Vice President of Social Business Planning. Basically, he helps clients transform their organizations to be more open, collaborative and socially proficient; with the end result of creating shared… -
MTB Save 10% on Blog World New York 2012
15 May 2012 | 7:42 pmBlogWorld offers Bloggers, Podcasters, Internet Radio and TV Broadcasters, Businesses & Entrepreneurs more New Media Education, Networking and Business Opportunities in one place than any other single event. With 200+ Speakers, 3 Days of Education and a Tradeshow Exploding with New Media Innovations, this is one of my favorite conferences in the industry. Save an additional 10% NOW on your Early Bird Blog World New York 2012 registration with the code “BWAPVIP10“! Register now to save! This offer expires on 5/20/2012. Content Creation: Learn how to create Blogs, Podcasts and… -
Eyequant: Heatmapping on the Fly
15 May 2012 | 3:24 pmEyeQuant is a predictive eye-tracking model that specifically looks at what users see on a page within the first 3-5 seconds. The idea is simple: within 5 seconds a user should be able to see who you are, what your value proposition is, and what to do next. EyeQuant allows for optimizing the design of a page to ensure this is the case. Here are the free results of our EyeQuant demo… I’m quite happy with where the attention is being placed on our home page! What separates EyeQuant from other services is the fact that it just takes a few minutes to get the results. The results also… -
18 Must-Know Inbound Marketing Experts
14 May 2012 | 7:55 pmColleague Dave Morse of Delta Faucet passed on a congratulations to me today for making a list of 18 Must-Know Inbound Marketing Experts in Marketo’s Whitepaper: Amplify Your Impact: How to Multiply the Effects of Your Inbound Marketing Program. Wow – that’s quite an honor… especially having my name alongside this list of amazingly talented marketers: Michael Brito – Follow @Britopian Paul Gillin – Follow @pgillin Adam Metz – Follow @theMetz Ann Handley – Follow @MarketingProfs C.C. Chapman – Follow @cc_chapman Chris Brogan – Follow…
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Drew's Marketing Minute
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Are you falling behind when it comes to mobile?
13 May 2012 | 2:04 pmI think it is fascinating in a “I don’t get it” sort of way. We all know that mobile is where digital is headed. We’ve all repeated the “by 2015, the #1 way we will access the internet is through our smart phones” and yet… it seems like most people are lollygagging along when it comes to getting onto the mobile train. Is your website mobile optimized? Are you learning more about mobile ads? Are you thinking about how you’re going to accept mobile payments? Or do you look like this infographic? Browse more infographics. You might… -
Going viral = out of your control
8 May 2012 | 7:38 amIt seems like one of the goals I hear more and more is… “and we want it to go viral.” I translate that to mean — we want a lot of people to see it. But rarely when someone says they want something to go viral, do they really understand the implications of that. The biggest one is — the minute it begins to go viral, it begins to take on a life of its own and it is beyond your control. Let me give you a very tangible example. My daughter and several of her college friends decided that they wanted to jump into the Sh*t People Say meme that was started in… -
9 Keys to Wicked Awesome Landing Pages
5 May 2012 | 12:21 pmNote from Drew: Every once in awhile I like to open up the blog to a guest with a depth of expertise that I think you’ll benefit from. Here’s Jason Well’s take on landing pages. A few weeks ago I spoke at SES New York about mobile PPC and SEO. I touched briefly on mobile landing pages. After the presentation one of the attendees walked up to me and said, “thanks for covering mobile landing pages, but most people still need help on their standard landing pages.” He was right. Especially in the B2B world, ‘regular’ landing pages are still critical. While keeping in… -
What can you learn from a small town?
30 Apr 2012 | 6:20 amTurns out, quite a bit. The whole concept of having a marketplace is blurry today. It used to be — you sold stuff to your neighbors because they were the only ones close enough to buy from you. But today the world is one “global small town” where all your customers can talk directly to each other and every one of them can buy from you or from the guy on the other side of the planet. In their book Small Town Rules (click to buy it on Amazon*) authors Becky McCray and Barry Moltz take a look at what works in a small town and help us understand how those same rules apply to us,… -
What is the next step?
25 Apr 2012 | 6:31 amThat’s the question you should ask yourself as you create any marketing piece. ”What is the next step I want the prospect to take?” Whether it’s a Facebook fan page, an enewsletter, a TV spot or a blimp with your logo on it — you have earned their momentary attention. What are you going to do with it? Where do you want to take the conversation/connection from here? Do you want to give them the opportunity to contact you? Do you want them to share your content? Do you want them to ask you a question? Do you want them to laugh so hard that they have to tell…
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The Future Buzz
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7 Lessons Digital Marketers Can Learn from Martha Stewart
10 May 2012 | 10:09 amThe following is a guest post by Future Buzz community memeber Matt Gratt. While many people see Martha Stewart as just another craft and cooking show host, she’s actually a brilliant marketer, founder, and executive. She’s in an exclusive club: not too many people found a company and manage to take it public while staying CEO, putting her in the company of entrepreneurs like Michael Dell, Steve Jobs, Marc Benioff, and Howard Schultz. This success is not unwarranted. In addition to being a gifted maker, Martha is a brilliant marketer. The company name alone – Martha Stewart OmniMedia… -
3 Creative Professionals Who Went Beyond The Resume
9 May 2012 | 10:11 amFor many industries it’s a tough job market out there. Everyone knows this. Rather than complain about it, some enterprising individuals are using their creativity to stand out and get positions they want. Thought I’d share 3 stories that stand out (2 recent, one from a bit ago) to inspire you to go beyond a resume next time you’re seeking a job. 1. Jeanne Hwang creatively uses the platform she wants to work for The Next Web shares the story that Jeanne put together a visual resume on Pinterest. I won’t comment on her pins about increasing Twitter followers and her… -
The Meta Factor Is Still Alive And Kicking
8 May 2012 | 9:53 amThe web has always enjoyed talking about, well, the web. That’s nothing new. It was true in the days of forums and boards, in fact some of the most heated threads stemmed from meta discussions. Back when Digg was popular the most popular submissions on Digg were about Digg. This is true on Reddit today. Several of the blogs about blogging still receive a huge amount of attention. So I especially enjoyed that the New Yorker published a humorous story on the web’s continued obsession with meta threads in today’s social platforms: First, I take a sort of new angle on… -
Be Curious, Not Dismissive
30 Apr 2012 | 10:58 amI recall a situation in 2007 (while in the consulting space) when most businesses were barely scratching the surface with digital marketing. The story goes like this: one of my clients, a national brand that is a household name was reticent to participate in social. What was interesting is very smart people were running the company. But even after we explained the situation, shared research and outlined the benefits of embracing social marketing, they still seemed ambivalent. Or perhaps a better word: dismissive. “Why would anyone want to do that?” was a common response to what we… -
On Being Creative
26 Apr 2012 | 10:08 amThis week, I traveled to LA to speak on a panel with Sonia Simone and Peter Shankman (pictured above) at the BlueGlass internet marketing conference. Our session was on the future of public relations – you can read a summary here. I wanted to bring up one part of our discussion that was particularly interesting and something I’ve been thinking about lately. We got on the subject of creativity as an audience member asked the question how to consistently come up with creative ideas. Peter and Sonia responded with some good tips on how to come up with something creative, fast. For…
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Squeak of the Week
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Brand Strategy: Marketing’s North Star
16 May 2012 | 12:03 pmBrand strategy is not marketing. -
Make It Rain
16 May 2012 | 9:50 amConnect the cloud. @WappWolf automates web services using your @Dropbox or GoogleDrive. -
@Circleof6app
15 May 2012 | 9:09 amApp helps you create a circle of supporters to help break the cycle of sexual abuse on college campuses. -
Meetings.io
15 May 2012 | 6:43 amYet another 1-click free group video chat browser tool. -
@NetPlenish
14 May 2012 | 3:46 pmAuto comparison shop & order app for the things you buy a lot.
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ZK's Internet Marketing Blog
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Build Your Business with E-Books
15 May 2012 | 1:01 pmThese days, where there are desktops, laptops, tablets and e-readers — which is basically everywhere — there are e-books. And that’s great news for anyone trying to gain credibility in the marketplace, increase traffic to their website or just plain improve their revenue stream. Offering e-books has become one of the hottest new tools to provide you with additional income, but there are other benefits of producing an e-book. In fact, an e-book might benefit you most if you give it away for free. People love free information, and if you can get the word out that they can receive… -
Good Morning Sunday – 25 Beautiful Mother’s Day Quotes
13 May 2012 | 2:40 amTo All Mothers – Wish You A Happy Mother’s Day 25 Beautiful Mother’s Day Quotes 1. “There is only one pretty child in the world, and every mother has it.” – Chinese Proverb 2. “All that I am or ever hope to be, I owe to my angel mother.” – Abraham Lincoln 3. “God could not be everywhere and therefore he made mothers.” – Jewish Proverb 4. “The moment a child is born, the mother is also born. She never existed before. The woman existed, but the mother, never. A mother is something absolutely new.” –… -
4 Simple Ways to Reduce Comment Spam
12 May 2012 | 7:19 amThere is no better way to receive support and interaction from your site visitors than to receive comments on your blog posts. You would be keen to know your readers’ thoughts and their comments are a way to reduce comment spam (and the false excitement)? There are many things you can do or plugins to use; here are 5 of the best ways to reduce comment spam on your blog: 1. Disallow comments on older posts - Older posts are unlikely to get much attention from readers, so you can consider closing the post to comments to prevent autobots, WP-Ban to help you do this. You need to help the… -
Google Hates Squeeze Page Website, What Should I do?
10 May 2012 | 12:34 pmAre you still going to depend on Google for traffic? Since the recent update, many internet marketers reported that their website ranking suddenly drop from position #1 to the very bottom. It is unpredictable on what Google is going to do to your site, especially those who uses pay for Google Adwords to advertise your squeeze page website as it will only be rejected. So you’re saying that squeeze page website cannot survive in these days? Don’t get the wrong idea, what I am saying is ppc marketing, article marketing, social media marketing, Twitter marketing, Facebook marketing,… -
3 Ways an Online Video Contest Can Benefit Your Business
9 May 2012 | 7:55 amInnovative companies all over the world are using video contests as a marketing technique, with prizes typically given for the top video submissions. It’s a great tactic for both small and large businesses. A small, independently owned coffee shop might focus on inviting locals to learn about the business and then take their best shot at promoting it. Companies are often amazed at the creative and humorous entries they receive. In fact, many aspiring film makers seek out video contests as a way to gain experience and build their resume. This means that the larger, more widely-exposed…
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Interactive Marketing
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The Right Way To Globalize Your Interactive Marketing Programs
16 May 2012 | 7:56 amI have a tailor named James. Well, I say I have a tailor, but in truth I've only commissioned one item - a jacket - and it's not done yet. I had an initial fitting about 10 days ago, and I'll collect the finished article next week. I decided to find a tailor because I was tired of off-the-rack suits that never fit quite right. So James took more than a dozen measurements. We talked in detail about sleeve lengths, and lapel widths, and how I liked my jackets cut. And once he'd made a sample, I tried it on so James could get the details just right. I expect it'll be a perfect fit. When you look… -
Facebook Needs To Take Marketing Seriously
14 May 2012 | 8:32 amMy colleague Melissa Parrish and I have been thinking about the Facebook IPO. Our thoughts: The world's biggest social network will complete its initial public offering in a few days, with a valuation based largely on its strong history of innovation. But we have to wonder: Will Facebook ever focus any of that innovation on helping marketers? After all, Facebook is fantastic at introducing great new features and services for its end users. The moment another social tool gains the interest of enough users - whether it's Twitter's rapid public chatter or Foursquare's location-based check-ins -… -
Facebooks Needs to Take Marketing Seriously
14 May 2012 | 8:30 amMy colleague Nate Elliott and I have been thinking about the Facebook IPO. Our thoughts: The world's biggest social network will complete its initial public offering in a few days, with a valuation based largely on its strong history of innovation. But we have to wonder: Will Facebook ever focus any of that innovation on helping marketers? After all, Facebook is fantastic at introducing great new features and services for its end users. The moment another social tool gains the interest of enough users - whether it's Twitter's rapid public chatter or Foursquare's location-based check-ins -… -
Engaging Your Ultra-Connected Customers
9 May 2012 | 10:03 amBack in March, I hinted at my discomfort with the way SoLoMo has come to mean technology-focused, reductive marketing campaigns usually solely focused on the "check-in." But the reason people want to talk about SoLoMo is because of real trends in consumer adoption of technology and advanced technology behaviors. Those of you who were at Forrester's Marketing Leadership Forum last month know that this thinking evolved into what we've been calling the Always Addressable Customer -- a topic that I haven't stopped talking about since we debuted it. For those of you who haven't yet heard the term,… -
Looking Forward To A World Ruled By The Viewable Impression
9 May 2012 | 8:17 amAd impressions will drop by 50% or more. CPMs will increase commensurately. ComScore 500 publishers will finally get the respect they deserve and recapture market share from their junky ad network rivals. Consumers will start noticing - dare I say liking? - display ads. Display will no longer be the red-headed stepchild in the shadow of direct response rival search or brand rival video. That's what we can look forward to in a world ruled by the viewable impression standard. Why am I on my high horse about viewable impressions? And why do I think it's such a big deal for the industry?
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SEO Book.com
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GWT notice of detected unnatural links to http://www.seobook.com/
8 May 2012 | 8:28 pmI am already getting fake webmaster tool notification messages using the above subject line & the following message: Hello dear managers of http://www.seobook.com/! My name is Olivia, and the issue I’m gonna to discuss is for sure not new, but really actual and complicated, otherwise your website and therefore business wouldn’t have lost their favourable positions. Yes, I want to talk about Google Panda and Penguin. These virtual beasts become more and more freakish. Don't you think it's time to pacify them? Google intends to clean its search results from poor content websites, low… -
Ha! Bullets Can't Hurt ME
8 May 2012 | 10:23 amNegative SEO vs Sabotage Just about any independent SEO worth their weight who publishes a number of websites has at least once hit a snag & been filtered or penalized. A person can say "not me" but how do they operate optimally in both the short term and long term if they never operate near limits or thresholds? But now that Google has begun actively penalizing sites for unnatural link profiles & tightening these thresholds, competitors have been giving one another shoves. Some of the most widely highlighted examples of crappy SEO were not attempts at SEO, but intentional competitive… -
Google AdWords Ads Add Album Cover & Song Preview
30 Apr 2012 | 7:49 amBefore I get any drops of jupiter hate on the following...I was typing in training.seobook.com & somehow accidentally hit enter after typing train & when the URL completion didn't work I got the following SERP. If you click the feature video link it does a YouTube video overlay. The other links lead into the relevant iTunes webpage. Such media extensions have been in place for movies for quite a while now, but this is the first time I have seen them on music-related search results. In time one could expect similar ad expansions to hit other media areas like books, games, and maybe… -
The Google Penguin Update: Over-Optimization, Webspam, & High Quality Empty Content Pages
27 Apr 2012 | 2:21 pmHuge Update Google recently launched their webspam Penguin update. While they claim it only impacted about 3.1% of search queries, the 3.1% it impacted were largely in the "commercial transactional keywords worth a lot of money" category. Based on the number of complaints online about it (there is even a petition!) this is likely every bit as large as Panda or the Florida update. A friend also mentioned that shortly after the update WickedFire & TrafficPlanet both had sluggish servers, yet another indication of the impact of the update. Spam vs OOP Originally leading up to the update, the… -
GoogleBowling, Negative SEO & Outing
19 Apr 2012 | 6:46 amExcessive Complexity & Unintended Consequences Sergey Brin recently said: You have to play by their rules, which are really restrictive. The kind of environment that we developed Google in, the reason that we were able to develop a search engine, is the web was so open. Once you get too many rules, that will stifle innovation. He was talking about Facebook, but those words are far more applicable to Google. A Social Experiment In the movie Dark Knight the Joker ran a social experiment where he offered 2 boats full of people the opportunity to save their own lives by blowing up the other…
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BlueVerse
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Using Air Playit to Stream Movie to iPad
26 Apr 2012 | 8:38 amYou may have heard of Air Video, a video streaming & player app, but I doubt whether you gave a shot on Air Playit. It is an easy-to-use video and audio streaming app, and through WiFi or 3G/4G network you could stream almost all videos to iPhone, iPad, iPod touch and Android OS mobile devices. [...]Thank you for subscribing to Blueverse!Using Air Playit to Stream Movie to iPad -
Why Twitter is Valuable to Your Business Marketing Plan
23 Apr 2012 | 8:04 amBusiness marketing plans on social networking sites like Facebook and LinkedIn have been a boon to aspiring techno savvy businessmen. There are numerous success stories that have been made possible by this rewarding online market. The latest addition to this web based marketing plans is the micro blogging site, Twitter. Twitter is the 3rd largest [...]Thank you for subscribing to Blueverse!Why Twitter is Valuable to Your Business Marketing Plan -
Simple Steps to Creating your Own Profitable Automotive Web Store (for Beginners)
20 Apr 2012 | 1:25 amMaking money online can be tricky to get a hang of, and it can be far more difficult to master. Still, with some intelligent strategizing and a play-it-safe approach, you can help yourself make money online so long as you’re not shooting to be the next Steve Jobs or Bill Gates. First, start by identifying [...]Thank you for subscribing to Blueverse!Simple Steps to Creating your Own Profitable Automotive Web Store (for Beginners) -
WinX HD Video Converter Deluxe Giveaway
14 Apr 2012 | 8:01 pmI’ve been doing a fair amount of work lately with clients setting up training sites. The training is typically a combination of video and printed material dripped out to members on a weekly or bi-weekly schedule. One of my responsibilities with these projects is helping clients get their content ready for the systems we have [...]Thank you for subscribing to Blueverse!WinX HD Video Converter Deluxe Giveaway -
Web Analytics Can Improve Your Marketing
4 Apr 2012 | 1:34 amThere are many businessmen who consider web analytics effective only when they get a substantial amount of traffic at their website. However, these web analytics can be used from the initial days to chalk out a proper plan to embark with success. The web analytics must be considered the moment you come out with a [...]Thank you for subscribing to Blueverse!Web Analytics Can Improve Your Marketing
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Advertising Agency News
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Next Time Mitt Romney when you register your VP’s domain name.. make it private
15 May 2012 | 10:20 amNext Time Mitt Romney when you register your VP’s domain name.. make it private… We found a tidbit of information regarding a specific domain name that was registered to the Mitt Romney campaign initially as non-private… then they went private a few hours later after they discovered the problem. We have a screenshot. So come clean Mitt or we’re posting. Related Posts: LEAKED : Ron Paul DOES have a deal with Romney Barack Obama almost selected Kathleen Sebelius for Vice President -
Feds : Facebook funding anti-Google legislation
3 May 2012 | 8:40 pmFacebook appears to be in the spotlight for funding a “non-profit” to attack Google … when in reality it appears to have been fully funded by for profit Facebook. The chairman of the Federal Trade Commission and a top FTC staffer traded emails in 2010 about whether Facebook and other tech companies were secretly funding a nonprofit group pushing hard for regulators to investigate Google Inc. The messages, revealed in internal emails recently obtained by The Washington Times through the Freedom of Information Act, were exchanged as the FTC was being asked by the… -
Gas prices hit roof in Reading pa
29 Apr 2012 | 8:32 pmPhoto taken at Sheetz in Reading, Pa Related Posts: Gas hits 6 dollars a gallon on Iran / Israel worries $100 dollars a tank becoming the norm due to gas prices -
Seriously AT&T
21 Apr 2012 | 2:26 pmBelow are the results of an iPhone on AT&T’s “ultra fast network” This post most likely will take 30 minutes to upload. This is terrible…. Test Date: Apr 21, 2012 3:19 PM Connection Type: Cellular Server: Philadelphia, Pa Download: 0.10 Mbps Upload: 0.01 Mbps Ping: 243 ms External IP: 166.147.123.27 Internal IP: 10.10.75.0 Latitude: 40.2372 Longitude: -75.5730 Related Posts: Verizon to Announce White iPhone 4 tomorrow White iPhone 4 Confirmed – Only on Verizon Network – Not AT&T AT&T removes Google search from Android – puts in Yahoo (Big WTF)… -
Yes we made the Open Letter to Facebook
18 Apr 2012 | 2:10 pmYes We made the apparently viral QR code to facebook. You can use your facebook account to comment below if you want to voice your thoughts on timeline. Related Posts: Feds : Facebook funding anti-Google legislation Testing Plugin Part #2 Paul Ceglia – leaked e-mails – Facebook and Mark Zuckerberg Paul Ceglia – The new owner of Facebook Facebook fan page : “WILL NOT PAY $3.98 A MONTH TO USE FACEBOOK” reaches 600,000 members
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Advertising Lab
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A Cheat Code in Halo 4 Box Art Puzzle
15 May 2012 | 6:00 pmMicrosoft unveiled the box art for the upcoming Halo 4 game by emailing Xbox community members one of the 32 pieces of puzzle that when assembled together reveal the image. The puzzle was cracked in about an hour, probably helped by the fact that the remaining 31 pieces could be seen by changing the last two digits of the image URL before the ".jpg" part, a fact that wasn't lost on the fans: http://image.engage.xbox.com/lib/feca167070610c7c/m/4/12993-H4_02.jpg -
Google's Screenwise Project Listens To TV Habits
11 May 2012 | 1:30 amGoogle's Screenwise research project announced back in February is designed to collect data on more than just Internet behavior. In addition to custom wireless routers that gather information on participants' browsing and downloading habits, the recently mailed recruiting brochure describes a device "a little bigger than a smartphone" called Screenwise TV Tab. TV Tab "captures audio signals that enables the study to identify which TV programs are being viewed." The information TV Tab collects includes: Identity of person logging into the Screenwise TV Tab Timestamps indicating time of log-in… -
In Case of Emergency, Eat This Book
10 May 2012 | 1:13 pmLand Rover in the United Arab Emirates printed 5,000 edible copies of a desert survival guide. Twenty-eight pages of potato-based starch paper have a slightly sugary taste from the glycerin-based ink and are bound by a spiral that can be used as skewers. The book comes in a reflective cover that can be used to send help signals. -- Y&R Dubai; thank you, Guillaume -
Pinnable Ads
8 May 2012 | 2:11 amSaw this page on AdKeeper, the company that is trying to make online advertising bookmarkable. This could be an interesting way for Pinterest itself to make money: becoming a network for ads that people will want to hold on to. Won't be a huge stretch for them, most of the pins are already very ad like. You will easily find pins for a book, iPhone app, music, movie posters and trailers, and even payday loans. And I already see people pinning coupons. Here's one from Jiffy Lube someone has pinned after filing out a satisfaction survey. -
Do People Hear Ads When They Are In a Coma?
27 Apr 2012 | 5:44 pm"...when they run to the bathroom" is what I meant to ask. In case you are wondering, some studies show that people in a coma can hear.
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PERSONALIZE MEDIA
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The Hybrid Media Challenge – Broadcasters vs ‘The Force’
12 May 2012 | 10:33 pmI keynoted at the Media140 conference three weeks ago (26 Apr 2012) wearing my ABC Exec Producer TV Multi Platform hat. Now responsible for non-kids ABC TV online & mobile offerings & TV mobile and social strategy my 20 minute talk was rather focused on the high level challenges for broadcasters trying to [...] -
Are you Experiential? Designing for the Pervasive Entertainment Era – Beyond 2012 Wired
1 Jan 2012 | 4:55 pmOriginally published (& cross translated?) Oct 2011 in Wired Magazine ‘Change Accelerators‘ by Gary Hayes 5 of 5 “Anyone up to battle aliens at the local museum tonight?” It might sound like a farfetched idea at the moment, but this question may soon be another option rather than the old invitation to go see the latest 3D [...] -
Through Rose-Tinted 5D Glasses – Situated Augmented Reality Entertainment – Beyond 2012 Wired
31 Dec 2011 | 4:48 pmOriginally published Oct 2011 in Wired Magazine ‘Change Accelerators‘ by Gary Hayes 4 of 5 When planning your next holiday to London with the fam, don’t forget to sync up your iGlasses and load up the London experience packs. On arrival, slip on your augmented reality sunglasses and take a look around: Roman-era London appears [...] -
Personalized Entertainment – Social, Transmedia Storytelling – Beyond 2012 Wired
30 Dec 2011 | 4:36 pmOriginally published Oct 2011 in Wired Magazine ‘Change Accelerators‘ by Gary Hayes Grab some nibbles, pour yourself a drink, and sit down. You’re now ready to immerse yourself in a TV show. And then you notice that CSI Miami is placing Facebook photos of your aunt, uncle, and cousins onto the desk of a perp. [...] -
Stories-To-Go. Locative Entertainment Futures – Beyond 2012 Wired
29 Dec 2011 | 4:25 pmOriginally published Oct 2011 in Wired Magazine ‘Change Accelerators‘ by Gary Hayes 2 of 5 The alarm rings. Get out of bed, have a shower, dress, breakfast, grab your briefcase, and bus ticket and out the door. Now start RUNNING! Zombies are chasing you. Or is it pirates? Or the Mafia? Games and stories have [...]
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Global Neighbourhoods
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Help Me With a Forbes Column on Google+
3 May 2012 | 10:02 amEver since I started writing The Social Beat for Forbes, I’ve been wondering what to do with this, my beloved home blog. I have an idea. I currently crowd source my column ideas on Twitter and Facebook to get content, quotes and ideas that often find their way into the my columns. But people send me lots of content that just doesn’t fit. It is not their fault. My descriptions are space limited at Forbes and my requests are often too open ended. So I thought I would try expanding descriptions here. We’ll see how this works out. Right now, I’m writing a story about… -
Special Offer: Stellar Presentations for only $4.99!
3 Apr 2012 | 9:38 amI launched my new book, Stellar Presentations: An Entrepreneur’s Guide to Giving Great Talks six weeks ago. It is the most critically acclaimed of my three books. On Amazon, 10 people have given it five stars, two people gave it four stars and no one has rated it lower. Other blog reviews have also been highly favorable. People who read it say the book is not just for entrepreneurs but for anyone who has to present in any kind or size of organization. I’ll let the market decide. Some people think that because the book is so brief–just 76 pages, a two-hour read–that… -
Come Visit me at Forbes.com
31 Mar 2012 | 10:53 amI am writing a column for Forbes.com called The Social Beat. Everything I write related to Social media, the web, startups and the tech sector will appear there. It will be the primary venue for my online writing. Please come and visit me there. Occasionally, I will have something to say on other topics, particularly related to my book and speaking projects. I will use Global Neighbourhoods when that occurs. Until then, I hope you will come and visit me in my new home. -
A Stellar Presentations Excerpt: The Three Questions
29 Feb 2012 | 9:32 amThe following is excerpted from Chapter One of my new book: Stellar Presentations: An Entrepreneur’s Guide to Giving Great Talks. The Three Questions I was raised as the youngest son in a Jewish family. That meant that each Passover I recited the ritual Four Questions that launched the story-telling part of our Passover dinner. These days, I am rarely the youngest one at the table. But as a speaker and a coach, I begin the story that my clients or I will tell by reciting three questions: Who are the people in the audience? What do I have that they want? What do I want to accomplish… -
So, Why Is Stellar Presentations So Damn Short?
27 Feb 2012 | 12:42 pmMy new book, Stellar Presentations is 76-pages on length and costs about 10 bucks. I estimate it will take two hours of your time to read it. Four times in the three weeks since I launched the book, people have complained that the book is too short and that I should add more chapters to make it worth the money I’m asking. As I so often do, let me tell you a story to illustrate a few points: A woman drives her Mercedes into a garage. The mechanic asks her what the problem is. “I’m not sure. It just doesn’t sound right when it’s idling,” she says. The…
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Six Pixels of Separation - Marketing and Communications Insights - By Mitch Joel at Twist Image
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Find Your One Thing
15 May 2012 | 1:15 pmCan you sum up your professional you in one or two words? I was very touched watching the documentary, Being Elmo, on PBS' Independent Lens. The movie is about Kevin Clash (the puppeteer behind Sesame Street's Elmo). From a very young age, Clash demonstrated a strong desire to be a puppeteer. While that seems quaint and points to someone who was focused on what they wanted to do in life from a very young age, you can imagine the struggles he faced growing up in Baltimore. While all of the other kids were out playing baseball or causing mischief, Clash was at home sewing puppets together and… -
Can Breastfeeding Save Time Magazine?
15 May 2012 | 12:01 pmWhen was the last time you discussed Time Magazine around the dinner table? I found myself giving a dissertation on mass media at dinner the other night. It all started when one friend leaned into the table and spoke (in an almost embarrassed whisper), "Did any of you see the cover of Time Magazine? The one with the mother and her older child... breastfeeding?" I knew that they were talking about the issue dated May 21st, 2012 titled, Are You Mom Enough? by Kate Pickert. The article about Dr. Sears and the attachment parenting movement has created quite a stir, but I wanted to tease… -
Listen. Engage. Connect.
14 May 2012 | 1:10 pmOne of the largest gatherings of professional marketers is about to take place. The Canadian Marketing Association's 2012 CMA Summit is happening next week (May 16th - 17th, 2012 at the Westin Harbour Castle Hotel in Toronto, Ontario). I'm fortunate to be the chairman of the board of the directors of this association and prior to that role, I was co-chair of these national annual gatherings. Each and every year offered professional marketers from across the globe the opportunity to connect and share. This year will be no exception. All under one roof. During the two days, just some of the… -
The Virtual Self And The New Trend Of Self-Tracking
13 May 2012 | 10:09 amEpisode #305 of Six Pixels of Separation - The Twist Image Podcast is now live and ready for you to listen to. Now, with the ubiquity of smartphones and mobile connectedness, it has never been easier to share with the world our each and every move (look no further than Facebook's one billion dollar acquisition of Instagram). And we're publishing our lives. All of the time - in text, images, audio and video - for the world to see. In fact, it's happening more and more with each and every passing day. Why are we doing all of this self-tracking? It's a topic that has fascinated Nora Young for a… -
Six Links Worthy Of Your Attention #99
12 May 2012 | 8:09 am93Is there one link, story, picture or thought that you saw online this week that you think somebody you know must see? My friends: Alistair Croll (BitCurrent, Year One Labs, GigaOM, Human 2.0, the author of Complete Web Monitoring and Managing Bandwidth: Deploying QOS in Enterprise Networks), Hugh McGuire (The Book Oven, LibriVox, iambik, PressBooks, Media Hacks) and I decided that every week or so the three of us are going to share one link for one another (for a total of six links) that each individual feels the other person "must see". Check out these six links that we're…
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Marketo B2B Marketing and Sales Blogs
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5 Content Marketing Lessons from Gene Simmons of KISS
16 May 2012 | 10:42 amby Jason Miller With over 100 million albums sold worldwide, KISS is arguably one of the biggest and most successful bands on the planet. Led by the marketing genius that is Gene Simmons, they continue to reach new audiences while engaging lifelong fans. Gene Simmons may be best known as the fire-breathing, bass playing demon in one of the most influential rock bands in history, but he can also teach us a thing or two about content marketing. KISS is a rock n’ roll band, but it is also a business and Gene Simmons is the CEO. Gene has showcased his entrepreneurial expertise through… -
Using Big Data as Revenue Driver: Interview with Data.com’s Andy MacMillan
15 May 2012 | 4:37 pmby Jason Miller We are less than one week away from the 2012 Marketo User Summit and the lineup we have in place for keynotes includes the top thought leaders in sales and marketing. One of which is Andy MacMillan, Salesforce Data.com’s Senior Vice President of Products and Marketing. We are excited to welcome him to our blog to give us more details about Data.com and how businesses can use big data to drive revenue. Please provide a brief overview of your business. What do you do? When was it formed? How many employees do you have now? How is your company aligned to deliver/support… -
Loosening your Prospect’s Status Quo is Demand Generation Job #1: Three Ideas for How to Do It
14 May 2012 | 2:19 pmby Jason Miller I’m pleased to welcome Tim Riesterer, Chief Strategy and Marketing Officer at Corporate Visions, as a guest blogger. Corporate Visions helps global business-to-business customers create more sales opportunities, overcome the status quo, and win more deals by improving the conversations sales representatives have with customers. Tim has more than 20 years of experience in Marketing and Sales, and is the co-author of Customer Message Management: Increasing Marketing’s Impact on Selling. We are thrilled to welcome him. We’ve been Marketo customers almost since the… -
LeadMD’s Justin Gray Reveals 3 Components to Maximizing Marketing ROI, Industry Trends of the Future and More
11 May 2012 | 1:56 pmby Jason Miller Here at Marketo we are very excited about our upcoming 2012 Global User Summit. We have a stellar lineup of keynotes including LeadMD CEO & Chief Marketing Evangelist, Justin Gray. We are pleased to welcome him to the blog to share strategies and best practices for attracting today’s elusive buyer and rising above the choppy economy to achieve unprecedented revenue growth. Please tell us a little bit about LeadMD and how your company aligns to deliver/support cloud services to your customers? Gray: I founded LeadMD in 2009 to help businesses generate and manage leads… -
Dave Kerpen Discusses How to Make Your Business “Likeable” With Social Media
11 May 2012 | 11:57 amby Jason Miller Dave Kerpen is the co-founder and CEO of Likeable Media, an award-winning social media and word-of-mouth marketing firm. He is the author of the New York Times best seller Likeable Social Media: How to Delight Your Customers, Create an Irresistible Brand, and Be Generally Amazing on Facebook, and speaks at dozens of marketing conferences and webinars each year. Marketo recently caught up with Kerpen to get his thoughts on a few hot topics regarding social media marketing. In the following three minute video Kerpen briefly discusses: How Likeable Media provides strategies to…
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hobo
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Google Pagerank Update MAY 2012
3 May 2012 | 7:08 amGraphic by Elliance – First sourced at Search Engine Land Is anyone else seeing a Google Toolbar Pagerank update? I have TPR on pages from @ April 26 2012. This coincides with the latest Google PANDA and Google PENGUIN update in April 2012. I am definitely seeing toolbar pr update on internal pages. If you are interested in Google Pagerank….. looks [...] Check out - Google Pagerank Update MAY 2012 http://www.hobo-web.co.uk/ -
TIP – How To Check For A Negative SEO Attack?
1 May 2012 | 10:00 pmQuick Negative SEO alert tip…… This won’t work for everybody but it worked for me (or rather, I happened across this simple method). But if you have a blog yourself, this might help you. It appears somebody is doing some negative seo ‘attack’ on the Hobo site as of recently…. I wouldn’t have known this [...] Check out - TIP – How To Check For A Negative SEO Attack? http://www.hobo-web.co.uk/ -
UPDATED – Hobo SEO Wp Bot Tracker Plugin for WordPress
29 Apr 2012 | 10:14 pmUPDATED APRIL 2012 NOW TRACKS GOOGLE, BING, KEYWORDS, REFERRERS & 404 Pages. Marty just updated our simple WordPress plugin we made a few years ago – which you can install on self-hosted WordPress blogs. It nows also tracks the crawling activity of BingBot, as well as GoogleBot, and it will also tell you which keywords were used to find your site. We tested it [...] Check out - UPDATED – Hobo SEO Wp Bot Tracker Plugin for WordPress http://www.hobo-web.co.uk/ -
Best SEO Company Results in Google UK
29 Apr 2012 | 10:13 pmFact 1. The UK is now in recession. You may be thinking of employing a seo company to help you optimise your site. You might even think about searching Google for “best seo company” (if you don’t know any better)….. Fact 2 – Google just applied the Penguin update to its natural listings. There are [...] Check out - Best SEO Company Results in Google UK http://www.hobo-web.co.uk/ -
Google Drive or Dropbox – Which Cloud Storage Is Best For Me?
29 Apr 2012 | 10:09 pm[Google Drive is not available in the UK at the moment. But - it's 'coming'.] Where will you choose to store your life in the cloud? Dropbox (aff) or Google Drive? NOTE – The following chart says Dropbox had 2 GB free storage as it did – but Dropbox now offers 5GB of free space [...] Check out - Google Drive or Dropbox – Which Cloud Storage Is Best For Me? http://www.hobo-web.co.uk/
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www.vanksen.com
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Facebook fan profiling
11 May 2012 | 2:36 amhttp://theunintelligentblog.blogspot.fr Today many advertisers are on social media just for the sake of it. During the Digital Paris exhibition, Mediaprism communicated the results of its Facebook study for which they surveyed 36 million people aged of at least 18 years olds during the 2011-2012 period: Users “like” at least one brand Users “like” from 2 to 5 brands on average On fan out of two is ready to share brand information 70 % of the fans expect engagement from a brand Regarding these figures, we can think the following: 1. People’s first motivation for being on… -
I pin, you pin, Vanksen pins !
26 Mar 2012 | 9:42 amYou’ve probably heard about it, you might even have tried it, but what is Pinterest exactly? Launched in 2010, this social network (While some might think “What? Another one?” others will be happy to spend even more time “getting social”) is based on a very simple principle: pin photos and videos that we like on different boards and share them with our friends. Time to update your web vocabulary! From now on people pin! After liking and tweeting, it’s all about pinning and repining, the question now is how are you going to make the most of each social network. Pinterest is also… -
2012 Trending Topics
10 Feb 2012 | 2:44 amSOLOMO, ATAWADAC, Social graph, connected TV, Fluid Life, Real-Time, Gamification, Mobile Marketing, Magnetic Content, Programmatic Media Buying, Techno Reality, … We could have invented new acronyms and neologisms to “shine” during trendy networking parties. We could have followed the example of our friends (and competitors) with another post about the latest trends with efficient “paraphrasing” to make us sound like we’re original. We could have forced ourselves to recycle 12 (to match perfectly with the year ahead of us) of the trends that seem to be reappearing every year for… -
PlayStation get their Facebook fans moving for the launch of the PS Vita
25 Nov 2011 | 4:24 amPlayStation has launched an exclusive campaign for its 350 000 fans on Facebook in France. A very special campaign as the brand will be giving away the brand new PS Vita two months before its official release in Europe and in the United States to a lucky winner that will be picked out and will have to go over to Paris to collect his precious gift. This campaign is part of a global social strategy. PlayStation has put a lot of energy in social media in France for the past two years with the objective of offering what any fan expects from a brand on Facebook : live news, special offers and… -
Urban Lights: Remy Martin VSOP limited edition
14 Oct 2011 | 2:29 amNew York hits it rock’n’roll style , L.A throws down the red carpet, Moscow brings the bling on, Tokyo becomes bright and flashy, Singapore keeps it sharp and smart…and Bangkok is on full power…it’s midnight, cities are coming to life ! Inspired by the night and the city life, Remy Martin has realized an immersive experience that makes the internet user feel as if he was in a real night club. Dance floor, VIP lounge, bartender and of course, the bouncer waiting for you at the door… There is only one way to get in the club: you have to know the password! Without the latter,…
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Neuromarketing
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Finally: 2012 Super Bowl Ad Neuro-Rankings
15 May 2012 | 10:04 amEvery year, we look forward to how the Super Bowl ads stacked up from a neuromarketing standpoint, courtesy of Sands Research. It’s taken a little longer this year, but the results are in! Pepsi Dominates One company, Pepsi, swept the top two spots this year. Their “Kings Court” and “Pepsi Max Checkout” ranked #1 and [...] CommentsWhich one is the “Brotherhood of Man” ad? I thought that ... by RezwanThe precision of determining an actual emotion (vs. magnitude ... by Roger DooleyI wonder if they have the ability to differentiate between ... by A. -
Our Brains Make Facebook Worth $90 Billion
10 May 2012 | 1:03 pmThose of us involved in social media know that people love to talk about themselves. They seemingly enjoy sharing the trivial, the personal, and occasionally the weird, details of their lives. Sometimes they overshare – as a longtime online community builder, I’ve found that “poster’s remorse” is common – people post something too personal and [...] CommentsThis reminds me of Dale Carnegie's principles, and the number ... by SamuelI've always been curious as to why people answer questions at ... by JamesNoting though that all individuals are a… -
Does Your Domain Say “Trust Me?”
9 May 2012 | 6:38 amDo web searchers pay attention to the domain where the link in the search results leads them? A few years ago, I would have said “no.” For years, I’ve operated or advised websites that ranked at or near the top for various brand names, and found many users assumed the site WAS that brand. Even [...] Comments[...] in No TimeBuild Trust With Your Domain NameThis week, one ... by Red Paper Clip » Build Trust With Your Domain Name » Red Paper Clip[...] on http://www.neurosciencemarketing.com Share ... by Does Your Domain Say “Trust Me?” « Things I grab,… -
When Encouragement Can Hurt Your Child
2 May 2012 | 6:54 amHere’s another rare foray into neuro-parenting. In How to Praise Your Child, I described research that showed telling your child he/she is smart could actually backfire and have negative effects on performance. It turns out there’s another kind of encouragement that can hurt performance rather than improve it. Group vs. Individual New research published in [...] CommentsI agree. I believe praising the effort is the better thing to ... by frivWhat's really going in a situation like this? Could telling a ... by SamuelI have found comparing a child's progress to other groups… -
Neuromarketing Proof? UCLA Brain Scans Predict Ad Success
27 Apr 2012 | 6:55 amFor years neuromarketing firms have been selling their services to help advertisers optimize TV commercials, product packaging, and other media. While these companies all claim success in helping their clients boost sales, there’s been little in the way of published academic research that demonstrates measuring consumer brain activity can reliably predict subsequent behavior. A new [...] CommentsAmazing how little we really know about how our brains work. I ... by Samuel[...] [3] ... by Open science « Isabellemitchell's BlogRoger, exactly my point: It all depends on the…
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Christopher S. Penn : Awaken Your Superhero
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2 stories about thinking outside the box
16 May 2012 | 8:41 amI’ve spent the last two days at the Riverside Company’s annual summit and have been getting my head filled with truly unique perspectives about how businesses operate. Talk about an eye opening experience. While I can’t share any of the specifics of participants’ stories here, there are two generic stories that were shared that are examples of thinking far, far outside the box. A manufacturer of a durable good (I can’t remember which company it was) apparently was facing a plant closure due to environmental concerns. They were faced with having to close the plant… -
Changing the game may not be improving it
15 May 2012 | 7:05 amThink carefully about the overused term “game-changing”. Let’s say you’re playing tennis, and the game isn’t going so well. You decide that you need a “game-changing move”, pull out a shotgun, and blast the ball out of the air. Have you changed the game? Absolutely. Have you changed it for the better? No, not to mention likely injuring the other player. The game has not improved, but it has changed. Business folks who use the term game-changing are indicating that the way they’re playing the game isn’t working right now, so they’re… -
The 4 kinds of numbers I look at daily
14 May 2012 | 6:14 amIn my daily routine, I’ve plotted out 4 kinds of numbers that I look at daily to see how things are going and give me an instant read on what I need to be focusing on. 1. Conversions: I look at the end results first. I look to see whether anything of value is being generated or not. Examples in your world might include sales, donors, or contributors. 2. Key performance indicators: These are the numbers that are directly connected to my end results. If sales are the end result, qualified leads are a key performance indicator because they’re directly connected, one step away. -
Book reviews: Influence, Deadly Sunset, Ninja Apprentice
11 May 2012 | 6:23 amI’ve had a chance to read more than a few books I’ve bought or received lately, and I owe those authors reviews, so let’s dig in. If it weren’t obvious, I’m stuffing this post with affiliate links to Amazon, too. Just so we understand each other. Mark W. Schaefer’s Return on Influence I enjoyed Mark’s book quite a bit as I think he did a great job of looking at influence overall. He did his homework for sure, interviewing dozens of people and getting different perspectives on what constitutes influence in the digital age. He also explores Klout and… -
How to keep up with too many social networks
10 May 2012 | 5:55 amDJ Waldow, Loren McDonald, Cassie Witt, and a few others asked the interesting question yesterday: “Are the growing demands of social media/networks weighing you down? At some point (I think) you have to choose those you get the most juice out of. What’s your take?” Here’s my take. Again, same disclaimer as my post the other day on content sharing: this is not “the right way” or a “best practice”. This is only how I handle it based on my limited time available each day and peculiar workflow. You should test and analyze for yourself. I take a…
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SEOgadget.co.uk
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6 Reasons Why Content is a Must for Online Marketing
23 Apr 2012 | 10:31 amBy now, you have probably heard nothing but the fact that content – content marketing, content development, and content strategy – must be a part of your online marketing strategy. And there are many, many good reasons for that. In today’s post, we’re going to look at all of the reasons that you should start implementing content into your online marketing strategy. These reasons include but also go beyond just SEO. Content Makes Panda Happy Panda is a hungry bear, ready to gobble up any sites with low quality content. It’s been over a year since Google released… -
Link Building: Anchor Text Optimisation Best Practices in 2012
16 Apr 2012 | 4:00 amFor years one of the key ingredients of successful link building campaigns has been anchor text optimisation. Anchor text or the actual words that get used to link to another page or site have been among the most important ranking factors. Indeed optimised anchor texts have been so crucial that many people focused too much on them. Some wide spread search engine spam tactics have been motivated by the will to pass anchor text. Lately, as expected by many in the SEO industry Google has been tweaking the algorithm to weed out possible anchor text spam tactics. We don’t know exactly how… -
Setting Up a WordPress CDN (Content Delivery Networks) for Beginners
9 Apr 2012 | 7:51 amLast week I saw Will presenting on technical issues associated with SEO. One of the key issues he presented on was site speed. Specifically, the cost of ignoring site speed as a performance and revenue indicator. Will’s own experiences of Distilled’s performance issues (mostly resolved by implementing Cloudflare) were a stark reminder of the importance of building at least a basic knowledge of CDN (content delivery network) implementation. Why bother with site speed? Because it costs money not to. A nicely summarised roundup by SmartInsights reported on research showing… -
Generate Infographic Embed Codes Quickly and Easily with this Tool
4 Apr 2012 | 3:45 amI can’t tell you how often I have to create embed HTML for images such as infographics. Just to save a little time, I thought I’d put together a little embed code generator based on Gravity Forms: It’s actually very simple, but then again I guess the best things in life are. I hope it saves you time and if there’s a feature you find useful, drop a comment below. Here’s the link: https://seogadget.co.uk/embed-code-generator/ Generate Infographic Embed Codes Quickly and Easily with this Tool is one of our latest posts from SEOgadget - thanks for reading! Want to… -
Link Evaluation Survey 2012 [INFOGRAPHIC]
29 Mar 2012 | 7:13 amLinks, seemingly the currency of rankings, and a white-hot area right now what with all the recent de-indexing of certain link networks, GWT Warning messages being sent to over 700,000 webmasters and the ever decreasing effectiveness of low-rent link building tactics. So just what is a “good link”? We know what we look for in a link for our clients but we wanted to survey as many members of the SEO community as we could to get a real idea of the kinds of methods and metrics that SEO professionals all over the globe are using to assess the quality of a link. What do we look for in…
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The Michel Fortin Blog
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How to Hook (More) Copywriting Prospects
14 May 2012 | 10:41 amThe other day, an aspiring copywriter asked me a question that I hear all too often: “How do I distinguish myself from other copywriters?” The answer is not an easy one. It takes some thought, some time, and perhaps some inspiration. But time after time, I have found that most people tend to overlook one of the most effective and frequently used copywriting and marketing tools. And that’s your “Unique Selling Proposition,” or USP. (I prefer to call it a “Unique Selling Position.” If you’ve read my book, “Power Positioning,” or if you… -
What’s Going On and What’s Going to Change
10 May 2012 | 4:07 pmJust a quick reminder that you can join FortinPress and watch the recorded classes, which have been uploaded and ready to watch. I don’t plan on raising the prices this week, but I encourage to join as soon as possible before I change my mind. And I do plan on raising the price soon. Why? Well, consider that some classes of the same caliber are offered at a much higher price (or based on ongoing subscriptions), where FortinPress is a low one-time fee. No ongoing or hidden fees. Access the members area, and you instantly get… 6 classes with 10 hours of recorded video… -
I’ve Never Felt More Alive! Here’s Why…
17 Apr 2012 | 11:02 amA lof of people have been asking about my progress. Well, yesterday I’ve hit my “under 200 pounds” goal. Meaning, I weigh about 192 in the morning at my lightest, and at night when I’m at my heaviest I’m 198. This means that I’m officially under 200 pounds. For the entire day! Yeah! That picture above was taken when I weighed 260 pounds about two years ago. I weighed about 254 when I began my journey starting in January of this year. So in short, I’ve lost over 60 pounds in 2.5 months (12 weeks). Want to know how I did it? Well, I mentioned my daily… -
I Finally Launched FortinPress!
12 Mar 2012 | 9:53 amWould you like to know how my websites get tens of thousands of visitors each month, without any marketing? After months of postponing my much anticipated WordPress webinar series, I’ve finally launched it! I call it “FortinPress.” FortinPress is a series of six online class, where I share how I configure my websites, how I tweak and design them, and how I customize them to boost their traffic potential. Classes start next week, and seating is limited (of course, by technology). But here’s the thing, I will also offer a Q&A at the end, I will pull back the curtain… -
Health Driven By Fear is a Major Motivator
2 Mar 2012 | 10:28 amIf you’re a friend of mine on Facebook, you’ve probably noticed the Nike updates my iPhone makes when I work out in the morning. There’s a reason for this and it’s probably not what you think. My reasons are, or better said my journey is, very similar to Mark Joyner’s current “A Year Without Sugar.” (However, I’m not cutting out sugar for the same reasons.) It’s also similar to my friend Robby Leblanc, who appeared on Oprah’s “Addicted to Food.” He was morbidly obese, and has successfully lost 85 pounds. He’s…
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welcome to optimism
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the billionaire's nine point plan for personal success
16 May 2012 | 10:54 amCurrently reading "What they teach you at Harvard Business School" by Philip Delves Broughton because it's much easier and quicker than actually doing a Harvard MBA. Interested to learn that if you get in to Harvard it's actually quite hard to fail an MBA. Also quite liked this simple nine... -
wieden + kennedy inducted into hall of fame for Honda
16 May 2012 | 8:02 am` We were awarded the prestigious Hall of Fame Award for Honda 'Grrr' at last night’s Clio awards in New York. Well done,team Honda. W+K NY very kindly picked up our trophy and have promised to ship it over. Here's that hall of fame ad, one more time. It was... -
more new faces
15 May 2012 | 10:14 amIt's new starter-tastic here as we were also joined by Jonny Plackett on Friday. Jonny is our new Senior Interactive Creative. He's an ad guy who's taught himself code, and does a whole lot of internet tinkering both in and outside of agency life. This includes making stuff like the... -
new faces
15 May 2012 | 10:06 amThis is Nick Owen who joined us today as the new account director on Three. Luckily for us, Nick spells his name with a K and not a C, which helps avoid any confusion with the Nic Owen previously of this parish. Nick comes from DDB where he worked across... -
Metal Men in the L Gallery
15 May 2012 | 5:04 amThis week we have a new exhibition in the L Gallery courtesy of artist Michael Benjamins entitled ‘Metal Men’. Here is what Michael says about the piece: ‘Inspired by the concept of Arvind Gupta who shares simple yet stunning plans for turning trash into seriously entertaining toys for kids, which...
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IZEA
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IZEA Announces Record First Quarter Revenue; Q1 Gross Profit Margin Increases to 60%
16 May 2012 | 8:15 amOrlando, Fla. (May 16, 2012) – IZEA, Inc. (IZEA:OTCQB), the world leader in Social Media Sponsorship, today announced results for its first quarter 2012 performance. The first quarter of 2012 was IZEA’s best revenue quarter in company history. Revenues for the three months ended March 31, 2012, were $1,645,367, an increase of $722,589, or 78.3%, compared to the same period in 2011. “We credit our revenue growth to several factors,” said Donna Mackenzie, Chief Financial Officer, IZEA. “A strong sales pipeline, the introduction of a localized sales strategy, and investments in new… -
IZEA Announces Growth in Its Sales and Marketing Organization
14 May 2012 | 1:41 pmOrlando, Fla. (May 14, 2012) – IZEA, Inc. (IZEA:OTCQB), the world leader in social media sponsorship, announces recent growth within its sales and marketing organization. “Today’s news aligns with the guidance we provided for 2012 and prepares IZEA for growth well beyond this year,” said Ted Murphy, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of IZEA. “We are aggressively expanding our sales and marketing team to capture client demand and provide the best customer experience possible. In addition to the team members we are announcing today, our goal is to add an additional 8-10 sales… -
IZEA in the Community: Why I Walk
11 May 2012 | 10:04 amMore than 15 people will walk with Team IZEA in the May 18 Downtown Orlando Relay for Life in partnership with the American Cancer Society to sponsor more birthdays! One walker is Pamela Runsick, Director of Advertising Operations. “I’m walking in the Relay for Life to give people hope and a chance to live a normal life with cancer. My grandmother was a breast cancer survivor and today, my grandpa has stage 4, terminal melanoma. This is his third battle with cancer and we know it will be last. His life expectancy is three to six months, but he was accepted into a new drug trial… -
IZEA CEO Ted Murphy Named As Finalist in 2012 American Business Awards
10 May 2012 | 12:44 pmOrlando, Fla. (May 10, 2012) – IZEA, Inc. (IZEA:OTCQB), the world leader in social media sponsorship, today announced that its Founder and CEO Ted Murphy was named a finalist in the Maverick of the Year category in The 2012 American Business Awards, and will ultimately be a Gold, Silver, or Bronze Stevie Award winner in the program. The American Business Awards are the nation’s premier business awards program. All organizations operating in the U.S.A. are eligible to submit nominations – public and private, for-profit and non-profit, large and small. More than 3,000 nominations… -
Stretching, Aiming and Kicking Balls: IZEA Gets Sporty
9 May 2012 | 3:01 pmWe’ve been known to kick a few balls here and there. Oh, you didn’t know we’re type-A? A, as in athletic? Don’t let our glasses and softly rounded bodies confuse you! We are actually, lean, mean, athletic machines! (Deep down…wayyy deeepp down) And you know what? Participating in community sports has helped us out a lot! What does a sporty lifestyle get you? Glad you asked. Trophies, abs, the ladies, the gentlemen, a sweet beverage endorsement…all of things can be yours, should you be on a winning team! Alas, our sportiness has not bled…
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BBH Labs
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The Planner / Creative relationship: how does it work for you?
7 May 2012 | 8:09 pmAuthors: Fran Hazeldine, Strategy Director and Pelle Sjoenell, Executive Creative Director at BBH LA Click here to view the embedded video. In a couple of weeks time we’ll be speaking at the annual Planningness conference, which is coming to LA for the first time this year. We were originally asked to talk about how we work as a planner / creative duo at BBH LA. But rather than share a single, narrow perspective, we thought it might be interesting to take a broader look at the planner / creative relationship today. What do planners and creatives really value in one another? How can they… -
‘Everything we know, is wrong’
3 May 2012 | 1:58 amHow communication is consumed: West vs East, from "Everything we know, is wrong" BBH Asia Pacific Chairman, Charles Wigley, and Rob Campbell of W+K delivered their joint talk “Everything we know, is wrong” at The Asia Marketing Effectiveness Festival in Shanghai last week. Asked to be provocateurs, their talk (slideshare below) smartly tackles five flawed notions in one fell swoop: from ‘tv is dead’, ‘brand love’, ‘everyone wants to join in’, ‘pre-testing makes everything better’ and finally ‘London and New York… -
The Barn NY internship program: open call for Summer 2012
1 May 2012 | 9:39 amBBH NY's Barn Opens for Summer 2012 Author: Andy Ross, Account Manager, BBH NY As the Winter 2012 Barn session came to a close with interns presenting digital platforms directly to UNICEF clients, something dawned upon us – we need to get the next round of the Barn rolling. In short, the Barn is back. Please consider this your invite. It goes like this: Two teams of three resourceful, slightly sleep-deprived interns compete against one another on a brief that belongs solely to them. They’ll also work on live projects within the walls of BBH and score some direct interaction with… -
Homeless Hotspots: what we’re doing now
30 Apr 2012 | 3:18 pmAs promised in our follow-up post to Homeless Hotspots, we wanted to keep everyone updated on how those learnings- and open conversations- are being applied to try to help fight homelessness at scale. We’re quite proud to say we’re in active dialogue with both the North American Street Newspaper Association (NASNA) and the International Network of Street Papers (INSP) working out how to help their members (150 or so papers across the globe) address some key issues they face in a modern media landscape. We’ve begun by working on a key pilot program: StreetWise in Chicago. We came to meet… -
Robotify.me – what Labs are making next, and why.
26 Apr 2012 | 10:51 amAuthor: James Mitchell, Strategist, BBH & BBH Labs Every once in a while at Labs, we like, no, need to get our hands dirty. Oily, even. We like to make stuff that we can learn from – learn from the making of and learn from the interactions with. Robotify.me is one such experiment. And unlike most of our output, we’re going to share its whole gestation with you. Partly because we’re too excited not to, partly because we want you to shape the product. Product? Yes. With robotify.me, we want to put a personal digital robot into the hands of every person who wants one. Of…
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Biz Growth News - branding, business development and new media tips to attract more clients in less time
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Free Webinar: Customer Centricity – is it a Panacea or a Pipe-Dream?
23 Apr 2012 | 12:22 amUPDATED 7 MAY 2012 – If you missed our recent webinar about the importance of developing a customer centric organisation to succeed in today’s challenging market place you can access the webinar recording as a video, the slides and an MP3 of the event below. In October 2011, IBM released a global chief marketing officer study. Over 1,700 CMOs were interviewed and the research identified four major challenges that they are facing: - The adoption of social media - The proliferation of channels and devices - Shifting consumer demographics - The explosion of data. I am… -
7 Irish Facebook Timeline Cover Images Celebrating St Patricks Day
18 Mar 2012 | 10:17 amIf you joined me for one of my Facebook Timeline webinars in the last couple of weeks, you will know how impactful your Facebook cover image can be in sharing your brand story. I thought I would explore how Irish Facebook Pages have celebrated St Patrick’s Day this year using their cover photo (and in two cases changing their Profile image) in the hope this may give you some inspiration for the next public holiday you celebrate wherever you are in the world. If there are other Facebook Timelines that you think did a great job in celebrating St Patrick’s Day through their Timeline cover… -
Win A Ticket To Attend The Techovate Conference, Wexford 21-22 March 2012
17 Mar 2012 | 4:30 pmIf you have not already heard about the terrific conference that is taking place this week in Wexford for small and medium enterprises looking for guidance on how to accelerate your business using technology, you will want to check out the Techovate conference website. There is an impressive line up of speakers including Cisco, Eircom, Facebook, Google, LinkedIn, IBM, Microsoft and PwC. As I reference in my recent article about recommended conferences for 2012, the event is especially relevant for small and medium enterprises who are looking for guidance on how to improve their business… -
Recommended Marketing And Social Media Conferences For Leaders And Entrepreneurs 2012
17 Mar 2012 | 3:11 pmI often get asked what conferences I recommend people attend so if you are based in Ireland or the UK I thought I would curate a list of events that I recommend you consider attending if you are an executive or leader interested in social media and integrated marketing. I will update this list during the course of the year so if you have a suggestion that you think should be added do leave a message in the comments or through our support desk. For some of the later events the speakers have not been announced so I have added Twitter profiles were they are available so you can follow them to… -
The St Patrick’s Day Google Doodle 2012 Inspired By The Book Of Kells
17 Mar 2012 | 4:04 amIf you check into Google’s search engine today in some countries today including including Australia, New Zealand, Argentina, Denmark, the UK, and of course Ireland you will find the Google Doodle celebrates St Patrick’s Day. The Google Doodle was drawn by Chinese American artist Jennifer Hom who is based in New York. and is inspired by the Book of Kells. The Washington Post reports that Hom worked on the Google St Patrick’s Day 2012 doodle for 40 hours over four days. Hom comments that she had to zoom in by 300 percent to render the precise Celtic knots which is closer than the…
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.eduGuru
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New Class of 2016 Facebook Page and Group Analysis
16 May 2012 | 9:06 amThe following is a guest post by Gabe Sanchez at Inigral. If you would like to go deeper into this Facebook data be sure to check out the upcoming webinar the State of Facebook in Admissions Tuesday May 22nd. –Kyle James Over the last 8 years, Facebook has played a pivotal role in higher ed. While it’s beginning was just with current college students, Facebook now plays an influential role in a student’s transition from their high-school network and into their new college community. In a recent sample of 163 colleges we found 50% of them are using a Class of 2016 community to… -
4 Factors For a Successful Google Adwords Campaign
14 May 2012 | 8:00 amIf you’ve ever searched on Google (if you haven’t you must live under a rock), you would have noticed above and to the right of the search results, Google Ads. For years these have been a staple for businesses to promote their products and services. Over the past couple years I’ve noticed that more and more higher education institutions using Google Ads to promote their academic programs. Why? Because they can work, if used correctly. While this isn’t an exhaustive list of the factors contributing to the success or failure of a Google Adwords campaign, they are the… -
3 Important Things When Marketing To International Students
7 May 2012 | 12:00 pmThis article was written by Andrianes Pinantoan is part of Open Colleges, an online courses provider with great business management courses. When not working, he can be found with a camera on hand. You can follow him @andreispsyched. There are three things that must occur at the same time for people to take action, according to BJFogg, founder of Stanford University’s Persuasive Technology Lab. The same is true when we try to convince teenagers to leave their comfy homes to move halfway across the world to study. The three things are: People must have the desire or motivation to do what you… -
Mobile Apps Will Pass – History Will Repeat Itself
16 Apr 2012 | 8:21 amOver the past few years the big sexy conversation at conferences has slowly morphed from social media to mobile. It is partially because social media is better understood now but it’s also because mobile is the shiny new toy that everyone is trying to figure out. We have seen incredible inroads that mobile traffic is making up a larger and larger portion of web traffic. Mobile traffic to websites has doubled across the year alone in 2011.With all these discussions it has me thinking more and more of the future of mobile apps. With recent data suggesting that the average user has well over… -
[Results] The State of Outsourcing in Higher Ed, 2012
13 Apr 2012 | 9:02 amWho has been wondering what services and software solutions other schools outsource? The time has come to share those results with you. I’d be lying if I didn’t say I was a little disappointed with the number of responses. With only 32 completed surveys this is the smallest sample we have collected for any of the number of surveys that we have completed. Maybe I didn’t pick a topic that was interesting to people, the survey was too long or it was confusing. I have no way of knowing unless you tell me so leave a comment and let me know. I’m not going to attempt to make any assumptions…
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SEO News PageTraffic Buzz
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Facebook Introduces App Center!
15 May 2012 | 6:55 amFacebook has announced a new App Center service, which will be a “a new place for people to find social apps”. This App Center has been designed to allow more apps to be created successfully on the iOS and Android mobile platforms, as well as desktop- and web-based... Please visit PageTraffic Buzz for the full article. -
Shifting SERPs – ‘It’s not a Penguin Update’ Says Google!
15 May 2012 | 6:09 amWith the SEOs struggling to sit up after the Penguin Update smack, there has been additional anxiety created by the rapid shifts in the SERPs noted in the past 24 hours. Webmasters have shared this on forums that Google search results are showing a lot of movement. The word spread that it was a... Please visit PageTraffic Buzz for the full article. -
Presenting the ‘New Bing’ With a Social Sidebar & 3 Column Search Results!
11 May 2012 | 11:36 amBing has re-launched its search engine with a ‘social’ face. In the coming days the users in the United States will see and experience the ‘New Bing’; and the changes will roll out globally in the coming few weeks. Those wanting to experience the changes can head... Please visit PageTraffic Buzz for the full article. -
How to Implement Google Rel=Author Markup!
11 May 2012 | 6:00 amIt is really beneficial for you to claim the authorship of your online content. When your author information appears next to your content, it stands way too prominently and looks much more credible in search listings. And this results in you getting higher click through rates, for free! Google... Please visit PageTraffic Buzz for the full article. -
Digital Analytics India Symposium to Be Held in Bangalore on 8th June!
11 May 2012 | 2:18 amIt is finally happening! The event that all digital analytics and research professionals were looking forward to- the DAA India Symposium. Participants get to meet, listen to and interact with industry leaders and world class speakers. Read more on Digital Analytics India Symposium to Be Held in... Please visit PageTraffic Buzz for the full article.
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The Content Marketing Revolution
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An Essential Resource for Building and Managing an Online Community [NEW BOOK]
14 May 2012 | 7:49 pmI have always believed that a focus on truly unique and incredibly relevant content, shared in the right channels with the right customers and prospects, was the core to most corporate content marketing strategies. I’ve never focused (as much as I have needed to) on how important building and managing an online community is to an overall content marketing strategy. Two events have opened my eyes to the idea that online communities can take your content marketing and put it on steroids. First, I spoke with Todd Wheatland, VP of Thought Leadership for Kelly Services. Todd showed me how… -
10 Ways to Optimize Your Enewsletter Landing Page
9 May 2012 | 9:19 pmI had the pleasure of presenting at the Enewsletter World workshop this week with Jeanne Jennings and Ryan Dorhn (two amazing, first-class media experts). In one of our breakout sessions, Jeanne broke down 10 specific ways to optimize an enewsletter landing page. In our new social media world, email assets are more important than ever before. As content marketers, it is critical that we develop our audiences and build our channels, with a primary emphasis on email in conjunction with social channels like Facebook and Twitter. Why? Theoretically (and legally) the customer names that sign up to… -
3 Ways to Extract Brand Stories from Inside the Company
30 Apr 2012 | 2:43 pmYou’ve done it. You’ve developed why you need the content, created and vetted the buyer personas, and identified the buying stages where this essential content will have impact on the business. As you start to dig into your content marketing channel and workflow strategy, you realize that you simply don’t have enough brand stories to meet the demands of the content marketing initiative. In many content marketing programs, the core brand stories have to deal with transforming an employee’s, customer’s or stakeholder’s passion and expertise into one or… -
6 Amazing Retail Content Marketing Examples
26 Apr 2012 | 1:18 pmIn doing some research for a retail-oriented content marketing workshop, I learned one thing: retail content marketing case studies and examples are hard to find. That said, I was able to find a number of print and digital content marketing examples that impressed me. Here are six of them. …and, if you have some you’d like to share, please add them to the comments below. Lifetime Fitness – Experience Life Experience Life is the lifestyle print and online magazine developed by Lifetime Fitness, the billion dollar health and fitness company with over 100 centers around the… -
Optimizing Social, Search and Content: A Q&A with Lee Odden
18 Apr 2012 | 8:18 amI’ve had the distinct pleasure of knowing Lee Odden for more than four years now. I first started following his blog back in 2007/2008 when we launched the Junta42 Top Content Marketing blogs. During the 11 times we released the top content marketing blogs from around the world, Lee’s blog ranked #1 three times. Quite an accomplishment and a testament to Lee’s expertise around content marketing. Better yet, I’ve had the opportunity to run into Lee at dozens of events around the country (Lee will also be speaking at Content Marketing World). He is truly one of…
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Internet Marketing for Business - Jim Kukral - Small Business Web Consultant
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How To Write A Best-Selling Book Training
15 May 2012 | 12:25 pmThe Great Big Publishing Lie… When I wrote my first book for a big name publishing house, I foolishly believed that the book would sell tons of copies and I’d see my book featured in bookstores all around the world. I also believed that my publisher would market my book for me and help me make it a best-seller. Unfortunately, I learned the hard way that that’s not how the book business works for the majority of new authors. More importantly, I learned the most valuable lesson that I never expected. You don’t write a business or industry book to sell millions of copies. You write it to… -
Don’t Fall Into The Trap
17 Apr 2012 | 12:44 pmThe trap of trying to emulate other people’s successes. The trap of spending so much time looking at what others have done that you don’t do anything on your own. Otherwise known as paralysis by analysis. The trap of changing YOUR brilliant idea because you saw someone else do it differently successfully. I’ve written about this before in my post here. There’s a severe disadvantage when you have too much influence. Sure, having smart and successful people around you is VERY important. However, when you begin to let their influence overwhelm your gut ideas and thoughts and… -
I’m Not Super Rich Because…
16 Apr 2012 | 1:35 pmBecause I refuse to lie to people. I’m not going to create a product that promises you can make your book a “best-seller” and you can make millions from it, because you probably won’t/can’t. Very few authors will be able to do that. But there are twenty “gurus” behind me who will sell you that rubbish. Most of us will have amazing levels of success and do very well with our books, but we’re not going to be the next huge overnight success story. Because I refuse to lie and tell you that you can make money overnight. I will not create a… -
All My Books Free Today Only (April 12, 2012)
12 Apr 2012 | 5:19 amAll of my books are free today only. Grab a copy of each one for your Kindle or Kindle app here. So far my books have been downloaded over 30,000 times on Amazon. Please enjoy, and consider writing a review on Amazon when you’re done? Also, go ahead and share this post via Facebook, Twitter, Google+ or any other way you wish. Thank you. Note: You DO NOT have to have a Kindle to view the books. Did you know you can download a Kindle app for free on your phone, or iPad, or even your Mac or PC. Yep, free! You could be reading books in minutes. -
Free Book Marketing Training Videos
9 Apr 2012 | 12:17 pmEver wanted to write and market a book? As I said in my guest post, The Secret to Overnight Book Marketing Success, it’s not that easy. Having overnight success of your book would be like winning the lottery; the odds aren’t great to say the least. Just like in life and in business, there are a very few select group of people who “hit the winning ticket” by accident or luck. As I wrote in my book Business Around a Lifestyle, Volume 1, “Some people are born into money and success. Some just get lucky. The rest of us, well, we all have to work to get where we want…
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Email Marketing Tips
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Customer Spotlight – Fork Restaurant
15 May 2012 | 8:02 amWhat do you get when you combine great food with a great email campaign? Why, you get Fork Restaurant here in Philly! We interviewed Ellen Yin, owner of Fork, to learn more about why they use an email campaign, how they use it and how it has affected their business. Fork And Email Marketing Fork is a nationally acclaimed New American bistro located in Old City in Philadelphia, PA. Fork collects their subscribers via a form on their site, as well as from cards that diners can fill out at their table after a meal. They then send emails out to those subscribers regarding events, birthdays and… -
Are You Marketing By Psychographics?
14 May 2012 | 8:49 amWe talk a lot about segmenting by your list’s demographics. Breaking your list into segments certainly helps you deliver what each reader is looking for. But have you ever considered segmenting according to psychographics, instead? While demographics show your subscribers’ hard data (age, location, marital status, ethnicity, etc), psychographics slice across your list from a different angle, looking at lifestyles, behaviors and attitudes. For example, some subscribers would rather purchase by price vs brand name, go out vs stay home on weekends or carefully consider their… -
Creating Emails People Want To Open
10 May 2012 | 8:05 amI’ve subscribed to a lot of email lists in the last several months since I’ve been blogging about email marketing. And even though I spend my days discussing various aspects of email campaigns, I still end up deleting most of the emails I’m subscribed to without even opening them. There are still some emails that stand out from the crowd. They’re the ones I feel compelled to open, like a message from a good friend. Sometimes the subject line draws me in, sometimes it’s the consistent promise of easily-digested content and sometimes it’s the design itself. -
Add Your Shopify Customers to AWeber
9 May 2012 | 8:04 amSince it’s easier to get a repeat customer than obtain a new customer, it only makes sense to follow up with your customers after they purchase from you. For the thousands of businesses using Shopify, building stronger relationships with your customers is now easier than ever. Our users who sell products through PayPal liked the AWeber Paypal integration a lot, and we knew we had to make it that easy for you to integrate with other ecommerce platforms, too. Once you’ve integrated Shopify with AWeber, you can easily add buyers to the appropriate mailing list in your account when… -
A Wildly Profitable Timing Template for Email Marketing
8 May 2012 | 8:11 amAbout the Author: Adam Costa is the Editor in Chief of trekity.com, a killer new travel site. If you like to travel, follow him on Twitter for adventure and intrigue. Creating a profitable newsletter requires a little planning. But once it’s set up, a newsletter continues to engage your readers for months or years to come. In this tutorial you’ll learn: The psychology behind all profitable newsletters A simple newsletter schedule that works every time (be sure to download the free schedule template below) The three types of emails you’ll send (and the exact order to send…
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Small Business Search Marketing
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SBSM Flashback: May 2011
16 May 2012 | 12:50 amFor those of you who are new SBSM readers & subscribers, here’s a list of noteworthy posts you probably missed from one year ago. I try to put together a post like this each month to introduce new readers to old content that might be worth reading. Is Google Figuring Out When Many Businesses Share One Address? Study: Yelp has More Productive, Less Extreme Reviewers Facebook, LinkedIn More Popular Among SMBs Than Twitter, Survey Says SBSM Mailbag: Four URLs, But Only One Page … Duplicate Content? Who Wants to Be a Search Engine Submission Expert? Previous Flashbacks SBSM… -
Google’s Freshness Algorithm in Action
11 May 2012 | 6:31 pmReal quick post here (I hope) about fresh content in Google’s search results. Background Google has been emphasizing fresh content in its search results for some time now. That link goes back to November 2011, and when I write on Search Engine Land about Google’s monthly search quality changes, they often include something about fresh content. Today’s Article & Google Freshness About four hours ago, I published a post on this blog with this headline: The Fallacy of Timing Blog Posts & Social Media Updates. Note, too, that I wrote a different title tag for that… -
The Fallacy of Timing Blog Posts & Social Media Updates
11 May 2012 | 2:16 pmStudies that claim to tell you when the best time to publish a blog post or share content socially are, in my opinion, mostly a load of crap. That’s my opinion, and I’m sticking with it. You’ve probably seen these studies and statistics. The folks at Bit.ly (a service I like and use) just shared some of their data and we wrote about it on Marketing Land. In a nutshell, Bit.ly is saying that the best time to post stuff on Twitter and Facebook is early afternoon, U.S. Eastern time. I don’t mean to pick on Bit.ly because, as I said, that’s just the latest in a… -
One Month Away: Local University – Advanced! – in Seattle
7 May 2012 | 8:39 amWe’re exactly a month away from what should be a terrific day of local search marketing information! GetListed.org’s first advanced version of Local University is scheduled for June 7th in Seattle as one of the additional training workshops associated with SMX Advanced. Rather than our typical four-hour, single-track workshop for small business owners, the Advanced workshop will be a full-day event with separate afternoon content tracks — one for small business owners and smaller agencies, and the other for big brands and large agencies. And it’s not just the format… -
8 Common Twitter Questions from Small Business Owners
4 May 2012 | 12:14 pmConfession: I’ve spent more time doing social media marketing in the past three years than doing local SEO/marketing. (Maybe that’s why my GetListed.org Local University friends put me on the social media “beat.”) In my experience, Twitter is more of a mystery to small business owners than Facebook is; that’s probably because they’re already familiar with using Facebook as an individual, so making the jump to having a business page isn’t too difficult. But they’re not so familiar with Twitter. For a lot of small business owners, I think Twitter…
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Marketing to Make Money Online
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39 Dollar Glasses Coupon CS12 for $12 Off
8 May 2012 | 5:31 pmHave you heard of 39 Dollar Glasses? If you wear glasses and are still buying your glasses at the optometrist album, you are paying through the nose. For too long the optometrists have had a monopoly... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]] -
25% off at Dell Direct This Weekend
3 May 2012 | 7:27 pmThis weekend (Saturday May 5th and Sunday May 6th) Dell Financial Services Direct Sales is offering 25% off on everything in their store. If you don’t know about DFS Direct Sales, they are a... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]] -
Coupon Swapper Adds Staff Picks
27 Apr 2012 | 2:17 pmCoupon Swapper adds staff picks to the site. These are the favorite deals for the week from the staff (myself included). Here is an example of Alex’s pick of the week here. His pick is up to... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]] -
New OfficeMax Coupon
24 Apr 2012 | 5:23 pmOften on my trips to OfficeMax I feel like a kid in a candy store. My business is still relatively small so I don’t need a lot of supplies, nor can I afford them. But I like to dream big.... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]] -
New Dell Coupons
16 Apr 2012 | 5:34 pmThe Dell computer company was started in 1984 when Michael Dell sold computers out of his dorm room; it’s now a $61 billion dollar business. When I was in college, I decided to work in a fruit... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]
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Cherryflava
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New Obama ad: The business of politics
16 May 2012 | 8:52 amWinning elections in America is a business. You need strategy, consultants, huge budgets, catchy ads, dancing girls, pompoms, ticker tape, more ads, debates, more huge budgets and brand postioning. If people like what you’re selling – you win the contract for a few years. In South Africa – sticks and stones win elections, in the US it’s psychology that works. BTW – Mitt Romney’s Bain Capital is the majority shareholder of the Edcon Group. -
Coca Cola branded events: Anywhere in the world
16 May 2012 | 5:41 amCoca Cola hosted a ‘Lucky Strike’ style secret gig last Friday as part of their involvement with the Olympics. Featuring producer Mark Ronson and singer Katy B – it’s interesting to see how advertising is going niche rather than the traditional mass reach route. -
Nike: Building Twist 3D projection mapping
15 May 2012 | 3:59 amControlled by a Nike shoe that’s been wired up with a bunch of pressure sensors and plugged into an Arduino board – this building mapping is an effective interactive promotion for what the shoe does. You’ve gotta love these shoes that can literally double over on themselves. It’s an impressive feature, but seriously how often is this needed when your foot is actually in the shoe? Podiatrists would be making a killing if everybody was subjecting their feet to the capabilities of what this shoe can do. via Previously: Cherryflava conference projection mapping –… -
McDonald’s: This would also be a great condom ad
15 May 2012 | 3:40 amWe had a cat once that used to love the idea of burying her claws into the cushions of the couch and then joyfully bounding after the goose down that flew all over the place as a result. Not sure how her next owners enjoyed that trick, but it was slightly annoying to us. McDonald’s seem to have tapped into the same strange phenomenon with kids. Fuelled by abnormally high levels of sugar and processed trans-fatty acids – that same thing seems to happen to the children when placed in a home-like environment. Don’t have the party at your place? Rather don’t have the… -
What people really want
15 May 2012 | 3:18 amMen and woman are simple creatures. Give them ice cream, pizza and cars and all is well in the world. Social media monitoring company NetBase put 365 days worth of its own data about online conversations up against a recent Harris poll that asked, “What is the one thing you want right now?” The results show that people are generally emotional sharers when it comes to social media, but they are much more logical when asked a direct question. For instance, 80% of the “I want _____” updates were about food, whereas 50% of the survey responses were related to personal finance (money,…
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@NewCommBiz
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Discussing DIY Marketing with Rob Michael Hugel of ‘I Hate Being Single’
14 May 2012 | 9:36 amWhile Malcolm Gladwell made the “tipping point” a part of our shared lexicon over a decade ago, the desire to put a finer point on why one thing succeeds (and others fail) has been in our genes from the beginning. It’s only natural to want to pick apart the success of others with the hope of learning something that will help you with whatever it is you’re doing or want to be doing. Just as chimpanzees learn the fine art of ant fishing from one another, humans turn to their fellow man to learn what’s worked and what hasn’t. In the business world, more often than not,… -
Path Deactivating Accounts. But Doesn’t (Really) Say Why. [Update]
8 May 2012 | 4:27 amI really like Path. It’s the social network I use the most on my mobile. That’s why I was very distraught this morning to hear from a Seattle based friend of mine, @PatrickByers, whose account was “deactivated.” by Path yesterday. The notice (below) implies that Patrick’s account should not have been activated to begin with. It’s all very legal sounding (a.k.a. doesn’t really say anything) but having looked at both Path’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy, I can find no reason why Path did this. Patrick used his real name and real information. -
Coming (Back) Soon
7 May 2012 | 6:30 amI’ve been on hiatus here for about a month. Only posting once a month is normal for some people, it’s a long time to go silent on this blog but I’ve decided not to totally give up on the blog. I’ve got some longer term goals and some bigger changes in mind but soon you can expect me to return with the regular topics and frequency of posts. But I’ll still be posting more frequently over on tac.is and postsocial.us. -
I’m not here right now
19 Apr 2012 | 5:03 amYou have probably noticed that it’s been exceptionally quite here. Or maybe you didn’t. I’m still posting, just not here. Being one to always experiment, I’m off experimenting. This isn’t the end of this blog (at least not yet). But after five plus years I’m questioning if this is the right approach for me. So for the time being, the New Comm Biz blog, Twitter and Facebook will be silent. If you want to follow me there are a few options. I have two new sites where I’ll be splitting my time. My personal site, Tac.is and my industry site, PostSocial.us. -
Your Privacy Is A Commodity And You Will Continue To Give it Away
2 Apr 2012 | 8:17 amWe live in a rapidly evolving time. It’s scary. We’re going from a time where we lived our lives in private to where we are increasingly living in public. What we did behind closed doors, what media we consumed, what conversations we had, who our friends were, what news articles we read and what we liked, was known only to us. The only way companies and governments were able to find out this information about us was through huge expensive research initiatives where armies of college students were deployed to ask us what we thought and what did. It was our choice to give this…
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SEO Chicks
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Social Media Can Kill Your SEO Efforts
8 May 2012 | 3:51 amTwitter, Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, Google, Yahoo and more all are, or have, social networking components. Many brands, shops and individuals are jumping on the social media bandwagon and trying to market as best as they can through the next biggest thing on many on these platforms. What often isn’t being taken into account is the harm social media could be doing to your brand. Social media is fun, engaging and deceptively easy to get in to but difficult to market over effectively. Due to the ease and simplicity of the platform, it can seem at times as though everyone who can log on… -
What It’s Like To Run A Link Agency
30 Apr 2012 | 9:01 amEven though we’ve seen massive shakeups in the link building world lately, links are still what a lot of clients want. Link building is our main business (so that’s lucky for us) but when we have quoted projects where link building takes a backseat, no one is interested. Due to excessive client demand, more and more SEOs (and people with zero experience who see the chance to get in there by doing something that honestly does not require excessive knowledge) are getting into links. In many cases this means that they say they build links, but in reality, they outsource that to… -
Beef, Arsenic and Web Analytics – Getting the Right Numbers
17 Apr 2012 | 8:02 amHave you ever listened to the news reporting the latest study about how dreadful things have become or what the latest item likely to kill you is and found yourself thinking how can that be true? Did you ever then consider the elements behind the report? Or did you, like the journalists and talk show hosts, wonder how it’s all come to this? I think it’s time we all started thinking more critically about numbers and rocking the right ones! Whether it’s numbers in the news, or, more importantly, numbers in the reports you’re looking at in another window right now, have a second thought… -
Welcome Anna Lewis to the SEO Chicks blogging team!
12 Apr 2012 | 3:45 pmI would like to officially welcome Anna Lewis to the SEO Chicks blogging team. Anna is a Digital Marketing Executive at Koozai, she has a degree in Advertising and a passion for SEO and particularly analytics. This girls gets numbers! When I first met her at a meet up event in London it soon became clear that Anna LOVES what she does, she is super enthusiastic and passionate. Just the kind we like at SEO Chicks. She is also the right kind of crazy, which is a must to be on this blogging crew. We are honoured to have her in our blogging team and we’re looking forward to reading her… -
Optimising Your Site for Link Building
11 Apr 2012 | 3:01 amAs SEOs we optimise for many things (clue’s in the job title, right?) – but increasingly it occurs to me that we’re missing a trick or two when it comes to link building. I don’t want to get into a paid linking debate here – whether you choose to buy links or not is up to you. But the truth is, if no one will link to you unless you pay them, then you have problems. Big-ass ones. Here’s a little Smörgåsbord of issues that I frequently see that make sites sub-optimal for link building. 1) Your site is so ugly it makes my eyes bleed… Yep, I said…
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Direct Marketing Observations
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How Do We Get Duped By SEO [Infographic]
14 May 2012 | 10:54 amIt all starts with a title. The better the title, the stickier the title, the more likely you’ll suck us in. -
How Digital is Changing the Consumer Experience
2 May 2012 | 4:02 pmLet me give you a few real world examples that happen every day. You’re at a stop light for all of 30 seconds and you start to get antsy because the light hasn’t changed. You are going to make a right on red and there is someone in front of you who does not turn right away, and you lay on the horn. You’re in line at the store waiting to check out and it’s taking forever. Forever being about 3-4 minutes. Why are we so impatient? Maybe these examples will help. You’re surfing the web and a page doesn’t load quick enough so you try another website. You want to buy a product… -
Social Media and The Olympics
20 Apr 2012 | 3:44 pmTwo things for you to check out. First check out the infographic below and second, check out this link: http://hub.olympic.org/ -
A Need to Redefine Brand Lift
13 Apr 2012 | 8:22 amAccording to a recent survey published by eMarketer, four in five North American brand marketers considered brand lift to be the most important metric for evaluating the success of their online branding efforts. But is brand lift the right metric at all? Vizu which partnered with DIGIDAY on the survey defines brand lift as the following: Brand Lift is defined as the percentage increase in the primary marketing objective of a brand advertising campaign But does that definition correlate to digital correctly? Should it? Marketers consider it to be the one worthy metric. Given its pure… -
On Social Media Tools, Noise, and Experience
12 Apr 2012 | 10:00 amI was driving through the Florida Everglades last week when I thought, “How in the hell does someone survive and get around out here in this vast expanse of nothingness?” Which made me immediately draw a relation to the water that surrounds the glades being the internet so to speak, and the wispy reeds of sea grass or whatever the hell it is, being your customers or users of the internet. I then thought, “There’s a lot of noise out there now, was it, or is it now because of social media? Did social media create the noise?” Is social responsible for this?
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KDPaine's PR Measurement Blog
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This perfectly summarizes AVEs.
16 May 2012 | 11:44 amvia 99problemsbutapitchaintone.tumblr.com And shame on those people saying "As You Wish" If the client asked you to do a bit of insider trading for them, would you also say "As You Wish" If they wanted heroin, or sex, would you be saying the same thing. Using AVEs has about the same consequences on your reputation. -
Why Social Media Measurement is still so elusive for brands gital and Social Media Anyhow?' - Forbes
11 May 2012 | 7:13 amLong ago, in a world far, far away, brands made ads and put them on TV. People watched these ads. Not because they wanted to, but because they lacked a device called a “remote” – never mind time shifting DVRs. The theory was that if consumers sat there long enough and were exposed to enough ad impressions, some degree of positive behavior would ultimately ensue. via www.forbes.com Robert Passikov is dead on in his analysis about why brands are still wringing their hands about social media measurement. They still don't get it. -
Chances are that case you're building might be based on a some very rotten data
8 May 2012 | 5:17 amIf you're reading this blog and you don't subscribe to Nathan Gilliatt's treasure trove of intelligent insight and good data stop reading and go subscribe. Now, Nathan and I are normally on the same page on most topics, but perhaps never as much as today. His post on bad data in social media metrics is dead on.A few key points: "Lately, I'm hearing more about social data that's intentionally tainted. If you're looking for meaning in social media data, you may have to deal with adversaries. Spam At the recent Social Media Analytics Summit, Dana Jacob gave a talk on… -
Another Government Reputation Bites the Dust
3 May 2012 | 6:03 amI'm guessing that this is yet another government organization who's reputations are probably not going to be saved any time soon. http://www.mediabistro.com/fishbowlla/dea-faces-pr-nightmare-after-leaving-ucsd-student-in-cell-for-5-days-without-food-water_b60962 -
Maybe now we will get quality data
26 Apr 2012 | 8:39 amKDPaine & Partners frequently gets calls to help improve and validate the results of measurement programs. What we frequently find, when we dig into data from the big name monitoring companies, is that as much of 60% of what is delivered as data is what I would consider to be webspam, or at the very least, not "earned" media at all. To my PR collegues out there I have to wonder: Did you really "earn" those dozens of paid press releases on content farms? Did you really count the hundreds of pay-per-posts? Do you really want to take credit for the ads for…
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PR Communications
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Voting On The Principles Of Agile Marketing
16 May 2012 | 9:37 amAs we plan the afternoon sessions for SprintZero, The Physics of Agile Marketing, the gathering of agile marketers in San Francisco on June 11th; Travis Arnold has graciously worked through the existing agile marketing manifestos to extract the essence of several writers’ ideas about what makes up the concepts of agile marketing. He riffed with Jim Ewel on the topic, and a synopsis of the manifestos (with original links) and Travis' and Jim's ideas about the framework for agile marketing are published in Travis' blog. We intend to take this great starting point and any subsequent discussion… -
Putting CMOs In The Cross Hairs Of The Round
6 May 2012 | 9:38 pmIn Gini Dietrich and Geoff Livingston’s new book, “Marketing in the Round,” I found the following paragraph on page 22; “the chief marketing officer hire Web, public relations, corporate communication, search and advertising professionals, but rarely do they interact with one another. They each are comfortable in silos, doing what they know best. Because of the lack of integration across disciplines…The disciplines don’t know what the others are doing, which won’t work in the marketing round.” This quote gets to the essence of digital marketing today; it has to be integrated… -
Making Agile Marketing Sausage
2 May 2012 | 10:13 pmI'm working on the workshop for the SprintZero: Agile Marketing Operating Principles with Jim Ewel and Travis Arnold directly, we are using calls, the Agile Marketing Facebook Group, and Quora to corral our ideas and ask for input from the community. Here's my current write up for the main workshop, which I'm sure will change. But it would be good to get input from the community. The SprintZero team will develop a series of operating principles, starting with the existing articles published in the community the team will review each of the existing manifestos, and write up a synopsis of each. -
Mobile & Digital Realities For Marketers
2 May 2012 | 2:33 pmMichael Selissen of Case Mountain Communications and I had a good conversation about the new realities of developing business from the web today. This conversation came about because of my post on the topic of leveraging content across channels and strategies. There’s a new context for customer consumption. No longer tied to desktops or even laptops, customers are using smartphones and tablet devices to consume media and interact anytime anywhere. That new reality has changed everything for customer’s lives and marketers as a consequence. Today we can say, “People have mobile devices… -
Agile Marketing Event: SprintZero
30 Apr 2012 | 11:28 amAgile marketing is a process for managing marketing campaigns, it uses the ideas developed from agile development. A group of marketers who are practicing the method have come together to develop the first industry wide conference on agile marketing in San Francisco on June 11th. I'm one of the organizers for the event. For the last few years I've been collaborating with Frank Days on the agile marketing podcast. And also working with the community on the development of the agile marketing facebook group. As well as integrating agile marketing practices into the work I've been doing for the…
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Empowered
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The Story Behind "United Breaks Guitars" -- a new book
30 Apr 2012 | 9:16 amby Josh Bernoff I was delighted to get the chance to interview Dave Carroll, creator of the amazing "United Breaks Guitars" video, for my book Empowered. Luckily for me, my relationship with Dave went beyond an interview. I know a little more about his story, and a fascinating story it is. Now you can hear that story, too, since he wrote a book about it: United Breaks Guitars: The Power of One Voice in the Age of Social Media. Here's the foreword I wrote for Dave's book. Buy a copy. I think you'll find it revealing. In July 2009, Dave Carroll stepped onto a United… -
Proof that Facebook fans are worth more to brands
9 Apr 2012 | 9:43 amby Josh Bernoff The debate about the value of Facebook fans continues to rage on. I hate raging arguments in the absence of solid evidence. So I was delighted to see that analyst Gina Sverdlov of Forrester Research had applied actual statistical modeling to address the question, in a new report called "The Facebook Factor." Gina's technique is simple to understand. Using a statistical technique called logistical regression, she examined a large number of factors that potentially contribute to whether a consumer will purchase, consider, or recommend a brand. The technique could… -
Media, Google, and shades of grey on April Fool's Day
2 Apr 2012 | 8:33 amby Josh Bernoff A headline stating that Mitt Romney was dropping out of the presidential race and endorsing Rick Santorum appeared at the top of Google News on Sunday. It was clearly false. How did this happen? It starts with the bloggers posting on news sites. Len Burman blogs for the Forbes site as "The Impertinent Economist." Len is no joker. He is the Daniel Patrick Moynihan professor of public affairs at the Maxwell School of Syracuse University, and was a senior official in the Clinton Treasury Department. Until yesterday, his blog mostly focused on pointedly skewering much of… -
Mike Daisey, "This American Life," and you: Who is responsible for the truth?
19 Mar 2012 | 9:46 amThoughts on watching the fascinating interplay between Mike Diasey, Ira Glass of the NPR radio program "This American Life," and Apple. . . In a nutshell: Mike Daisey describes himself as "Actor, author, commentator, playwright, and general layabout." He took a trip to China to see how Apple products are made in a factory at Foxconn, then wrote a monologue about it, which he delivers off-broadway in a show called "The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs." Ira Glass' "This American Life" is a non-fiction radio program that tells stories about people (I've written about Ira before.) "This… -
. . . and we're back
16 Mar 2012 | 10:42 amby Josh Bernoff Due to some obscure issues regarding the way our Web content is served, the Empowered site and all the elements of it were inaccessible for most of the last two weeks. It was a strange problem, because the site was visible from inside Forrester but not from outside. This led to some charming Twitter interactions (Josh: "It's working now." Site visitor: "Um, not it's not.") Here's what I learned. I made a promise when I put this content up and told people to use it. They expect it to be there. I was surprised how many people apparently use the…
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Bad Pitch Blog
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Three Online Newsrooms That Don't Suck
23 Apr 2012 | 5:13 amAfter considering why newsrooms need to change to stay relevant, I have three newsrooms that are changing, and a fourth that re-sets the bar completely. All of the newsrooms represent brands with big investments in owned media and media relations.1) Starbucks: With 19,555 stores in 58 countries, Starbucks generates a ton of media interest every day. To the brand's credit, its newsroom is well-organized and uses visuals to help tell stories. It offers visitors a feature story and related content, including video and photo content -- all armed with sharing tools. -
Online Newsrooms in a Content Marketing World
19 Apr 2012 | 5:42 amAre online newsrooms still relevant?Spoiler Alert: Richard and I agree that online newsrooms are still relevant -- when they're done well. But their relevance has shifted. And there are many ways this relevance could increase. This is especially true if you consider how much has changed in the last five years across paid, owned and earned media.>screen does the blurry transition to note we're considering the changes<Publishing: Content management platforms have decentralized publishing. Every year publishing platforms become cheaper and more powerful than before. This has… -
Big Data Porn & Infographic Gruel
9 Apr 2012 | 9:56 amHave you witnessed content format drive audience assumptions about its quality? I remember when .pdf files seemed to transform PR content into intellectual capital. It was bad enough that I wanted to take Greek text (loremipsum), put it into a .pdf file, offer it to folks online and track the downloads. It seems that an audience just assumes a .pdf equates to good content.We're seeing this concept with infographics. And since PR people have more access to good graphic design capabilities, we could conduct the above experiment with infographics. Just add some percentages, pictures and voila:… -
Speculative News Releases & Bad Pitch Mad Libs
17 Mar 2012 | 5:22 pmA few bad pitches have us seeing red on St. Patrick's Day. OK, we've seen worse offenders. But it's been too long since our last post. So we're calling out assumptive news releases and even making you some "Bad Libs."The Assumptive News ReleasePromoting the fact that “it’s an honor just to be nominated” can be considered news. But speculating outcomes or promoting news before it’s a fact is presumptuous at best.Take the tech news release sent our way noting that tech brand X is “expected to redefine” tech category Y. Well, I’m expected to do things too. But sometimes I… -
Social Voting? It's Madness (All Year Round).
17 Mar 2012 | 4:27 pmEarlier this week, an ad rep for a media brand came to us with a sponsorship package that revolves around social voting. Social Madness riffs off college basketball's bracket-style competition, its calendar-inspired moniker and it marries them with a social voting program.We've documented our issuewith social voting in the past. Even Geoff Livingston weighed in on the topic for us. The only voting competition we put up with is from SXSW. And that's because you have no choice if you want to speak at the Austin-based interactive festival.Misguided, Traffic-Driving SchemeAccording to the Social…
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crowdSPRING Blog
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Small Business Pinterest Starter Guide
16 May 2012 | 9:46 amAre you wondering how you can leverage Pinterest for your small business? Pinterest is currently one of the hotest websites. For some businesses, Pinterest is delivering more user trafic than Google+, YouTube and LinkedIn combined. For those of you who haven’t heard of Pinterest, here’s a brief summary: Pinterest is a free social sharing site launched in 2009. Pinterest invites people to “pin” images and videos from all over the web, to pinboards directly on Pinterest. You can, for example, pin images of your favorite wedding dresses if you’re preparing for a… -
Small Business Spotlight of the Week: AppMonsta
16 May 2012 | 12:05 amI was recently blessed with an iPhone and have fallen into the world of apps. Lord knows all of us here at the cS offices love our apps. Just last week Ross insisted all of us download SayHi Translate and speak to him in Swedish. This is a true story, I encourage all of you to tweet at him for the details. This week, my app honoree is AppMonsta. If you and/or your company are in the process of developing a mobile app, look no further than this company. AppMonsta is truly a one stop shop when it comes to brainstorming, researching, and developing. Businesses are able to identify… -
Dear Mentee
15 May 2012 | 12:05 amHi. I’m Mike. Yesterday Amanda posted an article in which she talked about the experience of professional life for a young person just starting out in her career. Well, as of tomorrow Amanda has been working at crowdSPRING for one year (note to self: get cake for Amanda); for the first few months she was an unpaid marketing and PR intern but was ultimately promoted to the position of underpaid marketing and PR intern. She and I have worked closely together during this time and have gotten to know one another well, developing an appreciation for the other’s sense of humor and… -
Dear Mentor
14 May 2012 | 12:05 amHi. I’m Amanda. I know you’ve seen me in and out of these parts for a little over a year now, but here’s a formal introduction: I’m 22-years-old and I just graduated from college. I’ve been fortunate to have three internships during my undergrad years. My tenure at crowdSPRING has included working on PR, marketing, and mastering our co-founder Mike’s filing system. This is the first of two blog posts reflecting on the mentor-mentee relationship and how both sides can gain insight and experience success. Dear Mentor, First of all, thank you so much for… -
Twitter Link Roundup #130 – Small Business, Social Media, Design, Copywriting, Marketing And More
11 May 2012 | 9:52 amEvery day on the crowdSPRING Twitter account and on my own Twitter account, I post links to posts or videos I enjoyed reading or viewing. These posts and videos are about logo design, web design, startups, entrepreneurship, small business, leadership, social media, marketing, and more! Here are some of the links that I’ve liked and shared this past week! The image above is an ad created by TBWA for Moustaches Make A Difference – a campaign to raise support for prostate cancer research. More interesting ads in the Social Media and Marketing section below. Growing Your Small Business…
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Marketers Studio - David Berkowitz's Marketing Blog
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Links for 2012-05-15 [del.icio.us]
16 May 2012 | 2:00 amPentametron: With algorithms subtle and discrete / I seek iambic writings to retweet. An algorithm that finds disparate rhyming tweets in iambic pentameter and creates sonnets - often pretty good ones. See more via https://twitter.com/#!/pentametron/ -
Death to Internet Week
15 May 2012 | 3:38 pmDeath to Internet Week(Long Live Mobile Week)originally published in MediaPost's Social Media Insider Happy Internet Week! Did you realize it was that time of year again? It’s one of the holiest weeks on the digital media calendar, nestled between the first and second Social Media Weeks, and well ahead of Advertising Week and Social Week. Also, don’t confuse it for Foursquare Day or Talk Like a Pirate Day, neither of which take place during Internet Week, but they keep the spirit alive year-round. Enjoy all these weeks while you can. If they are to maintain their relevance going… -
Buzzfeed, Interesting Word Choice in Your Meme Coverage...
15 May 2012 | 3:17 pmBuzzfeed just posted about the "Ignore Hitler" meme spreading through Draw Something. I'm not really offended by the meme, but there has to be a better subheader for the story than saying "They've lost 6 million..." That's an unfortunate Holocaust reference, used in the context here of an app losing some users. -
See You At These Internet Week NY Events
14 May 2012 | 9:39 amHappy Internet Week, boys and girls! It's like every other week, except you get to use the internet. Woohoo! Let me know if we'll be in the same place. Here are a few events where I'm speaking: MediaPost's OMMA Social - New York, NY-Moderator: Instant RFP-May 15 Gotham Media Ventures: Data Wars - The Future of Personal Information and Advertising - New York, NY-Speaker-May 16 DigitalFlashNYC: Social TV - What's Really Happening - New York, NY-Speaker-May 17 I'll also be at a number of other events and functions this week, including: NYU's Interative Telecommunications Program… -
Links for 2012-05-10 [del.icio.us]
11 May 2012 | 2:00 amTrending Deals Grid | ReclipIt Follow deal sites, frugal bloggers, and friends to see their deal feeds on one platform. Cubify - Express Yourself in 3D A 3D printing company looking to mainstream it - first model will sell for $1299 but that's going to drop quickly, and it's hoping to be more mass market than the somewhat more technical Makerbot
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PSFK
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Wearable Exoskeleton Can Help Users Carry Heavy Items With Ease
16 May 2012 | 1:02 pmSoon to be commercially available in Japan, the exoskeleton will help people to carry almost 90 pounds without strain. -
Steve Clayton: How To Design Technology So It Becomes Natural [Video]
16 May 2012 | 12:30 pmMicrosoft expert presents a vision of the future where gesture, sound and artificial-intuition create a world that extends the possibilities of our creativity. -
Land Rover Edible Survival Guide Will Keep Drivers Alive In The Desert
16 May 2012 | 12:21 pmCar company creates a book explorers can eat that also gives car owners tips about terrain, shelter, and wildlife. -
Could Robot Journalism Kill The News Industry?
16 May 2012 | 11:59 amDirector at Columbia's Graduate School of Journalism worries how media titles are using algorithms to select their stories. -
Photographs Depict Iconic Video Games In The Real World
16 May 2012 | 11:54 amArtist Patrick Runte imagines what it would look like if Tetris blocks and other icons were anthropomorphized into the real world
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RKG Blog
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Bing’s Other Ideas: A Head Scratcher
16 May 2012 | 9:46 amThere is a new feature showing on Bing called Other Ideas, that, at first glance, appears to bring together Related Searches and Sitelinks all at once. This feature is only live on Bing, not Yahoo, and can be found under the ads in the promoted positions on Bing’s SERP. While the Other Ideas suggestions seem like they could hold value, they have a few of us here at RKG scratching our heads. Why? User Experience is Poor These Other Ideas often look very similar to Google Sitelinks, however, when the user clicks on one of the links it takes them back to a new Bing SERP, similar to how… -
SEO and the Flight To Quality
11 May 2012 | 4:01 amThe topic of negative SEO is a contentious one. Already, camps are forming. When experienced veterans like Danny Sullivan, John Andrews, and Aaron Wall debate hotly in threads like this one, you know it’s a subject that requires some attention. Google reports that the Penguin update is performing well, while many sites complain loudly that they’ve been unjustifiably penalized. It’s hard to find answers, yet, in all this noise. One thing is clear: the recent changes at Google have yet again raised the bar for SEO. SEO’s Flight to Quality David Brooks of the New York… -
Updates to Facebook’s Ad Creation Tool
8 May 2012 | 1:36 pmFacebook has quietly rolled out new changes to how ads are created through the Facebook Ad Creation Tool in Facebook’s user interface. The Ad Creation Tool is currently the primary method of creating Facebook ads outside of Facebook’s Power Editor or through Facebook’s API. We have noticed the changes have taken effect in new Facebook advertising accounts (or “grey accounts”) and have not yet rolled into accounts that were already active when these new changes went live. The new tool includes a step-by-step guide that customizes the input fields by what information you have… -
Device Specific SEM
1 May 2012 | 1:44 pmMy newest post from SEL in case you missed it there: Segmentation is the key to success in most marketing activities. Simply recognizing that how traffic gets to the site tells us a great deal about its value should prompt analysts to dive into data. Doing so often reveals big opportunities in device segmentation. Golden Tablets I’m not talking about Joseph Smith’s discovery, I’m talking about Apple’s. The traffic from iPads is more valuable than traffic from desktops for many in the eCommerce sector. Our data suggests the traffic from tablets as a class to be worth… -
More Affiliate Dirty Tricks: Device Targeting Brand PPC
27 Apr 2012 | 10:13 amThere’s a certain class of affiliate marketer that will go to any lengths to make a quick buck — short of providing any real value to the companies they are supposed to be supporting. One of the tried and true tactics of this type of affiliate is to run paid search ads on a company’s brand terms, trumping the company itself by utilizing their display URL and pocketing the difference in ad costs and affiliate commission. Generally, this behavior is expressly forbidden in the affiliate terms and conditions and monitored by the advertiser and/or its agency, so the black hat…
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Small Business Branding
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Why PDF is the Go-To File Format for Business
14 May 2012 | 6:01 amThe PDF file format has become the publishing standard for most companies and businesses worldwide, particularly in the last decade and half – and with good reason. Turning your documents into PDFs makes them immediately smaller, more mobile and generally easier to use. The versatility of the PDF is another aspect that makes it so [...] -
How Turning Your Brand Around Can Be Like A New Pair Of Shoes.
13 May 2012 | 10:56 amAre you in this precarious position? Sales are flat. You’ve downsized as much as the business can stand. You’ve streamlined your processes to be more productive. You and the staff haven’t experienced a raise in some time. Moral is tenuous. What to do – what to do? It’s a scary position but every entrepreneur carries [...] -
8 Ways to Differentiate your Small Business
11 May 2012 | 7:13 amWe have all heard the word differentiate before, but… 1. What does it really mean? 2. How does it really work? The term “differentiate” is defined by dictionary.com as “to form or mark differently from other such things; distinguish”. As a brand positioning specialist, I define “differentiate” as a means of distinguishing one’s business over [...] -
Why Even Small Businesses Need a Brand
7 May 2012 | 6:25 amThere are a plethora of worries to juggle when starting a small business. Between financing, distribution, physical location, and consumer growth there’s no end of dire concerns. These seemingly never ending problems will keep many small businesses from focusing on considerations such as branding, slogans, and logos. It’s not surprising these things fall by the [...] -
23 Places to Market your Phone Number
3 May 2012 | 5:52 amCustomers are more likely to buy if they call you than if they visit your website, so here’s the big question: where should you advertise your phone number? 1. Your Website – This is the most obvious place to put your phone number. Put it in a prominent place on your website. You would think [...]
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GROWMAP.COM
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Facebook iPhone App UI Change: Videos and Pictures on Social Media – Future of Engagement
15 May 2012 | 2:17 amPeople use their eyesight to do almost anything. This ranges from analyzing their environment to analyzing the text in a book. We even used our eyesight as our primary means of finding and catching prey back when we lived in the wild. Facebook took advantage of humans being visual animals and faster mobile download speeds and decided to make pictures and videos bigger in their mobile app. Murray Newlands examines this change and how people reacted to it on social media in this week’s Future of Engagement: Alerti social media monitoring chart about negative and positive conversations… -
4 US Fundraising Conferences to Visit in 2012
14 May 2012 | 2:16 pmThis is a guest post by SEO, professional blogger and guest blogger Ann Smarty. Ann (@seosmarty) owns MyBlogGuest.com and I just signed up for her new link monitoring tool. With so many worthwhile causes vying for the limited dollars that businesses and individuals have available to donate, fundraising for even the most pressing of needs can be a daunting task. With success dependent on the tools and knowledge that you bring to your desk each morning, it’s very important that every possible source is explored thoroughly. If you’re a fundraiser looking to up your game in the name… -
How Individuals, Bloggers, and Small Business MUST ACT to Create a Better World for ALL.
10 May 2012 | 11:57 amEthanol = Starvation. Click image to read The Ethanol Scam on Rolling Stone magazine. In order to create a better world, we must clearly understand how the current world works. When the major media can control what we all see, they charge brands for that access and only the wealthiest thrive because they have the resources and connections to take advantage of that access. In yesterday’s Future of Publishing Episode, representatives for Disqus and LiveFyre discussed how they monetize communities. In that business model we are right back to only those who already have wealth or access to… -
Brand Participation in Product Conversations – Future of Publishing
9 May 2012 | 8:46 amBrands have always been looking for ways to enter conversations with potential customers on third-party sites. Many publishers are reluctant to let them because they fear it will make them appear less objective. In this episode, VigLink’s Oliver Roup and Influence People’s Murray Newlands interview Dan Gill of Huddler, Jordan Kretchmer of Live Fyre, and Daniel Ha of Disqus about how publishers can charge brands to enter these conversations in a way that does not damage the publisher’s community. Watch the discussion below: Future of Publishing is sponsored by VigLink. If you enjoyed the… -
Your Business – People are ALREADY Talking About You Online so You MUST Join the Conversation
8 May 2012 | 12:09 pm"Doing Nothing is Almost Never the Right Thing" ~ Seth Godin ~ Click image to download November 2010 Interview with Seth Godin from FearLessStories (PDF) I speak to businesses regularly that are afraid of what bloggers might say about them. They fear what might happen if they start using social media – or let their employees do so. What you need to know is people are already talking about you, your business, products and services online. Bloggers can already write about you – right now – today – whether they ever contact you or not. The risk is not going…
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Social Media Strategy | Online PR | Proactive Report | Sally Falkow
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Social Media & Digital Marketing Engagement Gap
14 May 2012 | 7:22 amA new study from the CMO Club and Digiday uncovered a gap between how people use social sites and how we’re marketing to them on those platforms. They started out looking for something completely different – the gaps in the capabilities and perspectives amongst marketers, agencies and publishers, but found that another gap existed: The real glaring gap is the massive divide between consumers’ online activity and the current digital marketing practices used to reach and engage them. Digitally empowered consumers are engaging with content and brands in real-time and on their… -
Really Learn to Use Google Plus for Business
11 May 2012 | 6:04 pmJoin Chris Abraham for an extended tutorial on how to use Google Plus for business He delivered a 30 minute webinar, but he felt he had to rush through the information so he has taken the time to make the extended tutorial and show you all the insider tips and tricks of using Google Plus for business. It is 80 minutes – Pehaps watch it in sections, but it is worth watching if you want to get the most out of your G+ account. -
So Corporate Blogging is Dead? Think Again!
23 Apr 2012 | 9:03 amAn article in USA Today says RIP Corporate Blogging. According to a study by UMASS fewer companies in the Fortune 100 and INC 500 are maintaining their blogs. I hope that these companies don’t have any women customers. The recent BlogHer survey of 2000 women in the US found that women regard blogs as their most trustworthy source of information and advice. Blogs beat out Facebook and Twitter by a big margin. In fact Facebook was in a distant third place for the general US female population. “Blogging requires more investment. You need content regularly,” said Nora… -
Pimp Your Press Release
12 Apr 2012 | 9:08 amA recent survey of UK journalists showed us that press releases are still the #1 source for corporate news. However, what journalists need has changed dramatically. Jim Brady on the Changes in News Consumption They’ve been telling us for at least five years now that they need more than just a page of text. And PR Newswire’s study of how multimedia with a press release increases views makes it very clear that we have to provide images, video and graphics with our news releases. Yet today I saw this press release about a survey of marketing decision-makers regarding their… -
The Press Release is not Dead Yet!
1 Apr 2012 | 12:08 pmGreat news for PR practitioners: Despite rumors to the contrary, the trusty old press release is not dead. Text 100 surveyed 72 journalists and found that the press release is still the preferred format for receiving corporate news. While you are celebrating this news, there is one caveat: text only releases don’t do much for you. PR Newswire reports that a study of releases on their wire service shows that:: Adding a photo or an image increases views of the release by 14% Adding a video gives you a 28% increase in views Make that an image and a video and you’ll get a 48% boost in…
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Richard Edelman - 6 A.M.
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Note to Government Leaders: Control Won’t Work Any More
11 May 2012 | 5:47 pmI attended the annual dinner of the Atlantic Council in Washington, D.C. this week. There are significant challenges facing government leaders as a result of ease of communications, which is politicizing the world’s people. People today believe they can make a difference. Ban Ki-moon, Secretary General of the United Nations, said in his keynote address, “There is a deficit of leadership. Seldom, if ever, have our principles and shared purpose been more relevant…Power is shifting. The old order is breaking down and we do not yet know the shape of the new. Let’s consider… -
The Big 6-0
4 May 2012 | 11:07 amThis is not about me turning 60 (though that comes in a few years). While it seems like only yesterday we were celebrating our 50th anniversary, we are already knee deep in planning events for our 60th this October. In addition to a terrific, company-wide pro bono effort focused on alleviating hunger and poverty, a special dinner in Chicago with my parents and some of Edelman’s earliest employees and clients, and a book on my dad being written by former Edelman employee Franz Wisner (current plans have the first chapter released in October with the full book to be released in… -
Leadership Lessons from Coach K
27 Apr 2012 | 2:35 pmI was one of forty people at a breakfast this morning in New York City with Duke University men’s basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski, alias Coach K. He was in town to see a few members of his USA Basketball team (Carmelo Anthony, Chris Paul) and to do a bit of recruiting. Here are a few of his leadership lessons, with a bit of hoops celebrity chat added for good measure. 1) Push Talented People—“You fight coaches who change your limits. A good coach makes sure you never stop looking bad, until eventually you look good because you have improved.” He told a story about Kevin Durant, star… -
Earning License to Lead
20 Apr 2012 | 9:58 amI am delivering the keynote address at the Marquette University College of Communications this morning in about an hour. I had a marvelous discussion over dinner last night with Dean Lori Bergen, who has brought energy and verve to this Milwaukee-based institution. She made a profound observation about the core values of the school, the emphasis on community service and giving unselfishly of oneself. As we drove to dinner, she opined that the ethos at many schools is what you can learn in four years that will enhance your marketability and future compensation. Not so at this school, based on… -
Leading from the Front
13 Apr 2012 | 1:37 pmI have had a whirlwind tour of the US this week, from San Jose to Chicago to Oklahoma City and finally back to my home in New York City. Some CEOs operate best from behind their desks, focused on the numbers and proper implementation of strategy. Nothing wrong with that approach, but I prefer to be on the front lines, meeting with clients, visiting with colleagues and trying to win new business. Here are my guiding principles for running a PR firm: 1) Get Your Uniform Dirty—Lead pitches for new business. Don’t just come in to talk about the expertise of your firm, or your commitment of…
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advertising/design goodness - advertising and design blog
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CJFE
8 May 2012 | 8:45 amCanadian Journalists for Free Expression Agency: Juniper Park, Toronto, Canada Executive Creative Directors: Alan Madill, Terry Drummond, Barry Quinn Art Director: Mike Schonberger Copywriter: Matt Hubbard Print Producers: Mark Prole, Toby Sime Illustrators: Ryan Teixeira, Nabil Elsaddi, Mike Schonberger -
MASP Art School
30 Apr 2012 | 4:31 amAgency: DDB, Brazil Creative Directors: Sergio Valente, Marco Versolato, Wilson Mateos, Luciano Lincoln Art Director: Leonardo Rotundo Copywriter: Fred Sekkel Illustrators: Marcos Falcão, 6B Estúdio Photographer: Ricardo Barcellos -
Claro
24 Apr 2012 | 4:54 am“One letter is all it takes. Don’t text and drive” Agency: Ogilvy, Sao Paulo, Brazil Chief Creative Officer: Anselmo Ramos Creative Directors: Claudio Lima, Andre Kirkelis Copywriter: Hugo Veiga Art Director: Diego Machado Illustrators: Diego Machado, Fullframe Filmes -
Colsubsidio Book Exchange
11 Apr 2012 | 4:32 am“Come with a story and leave with another.” Agency: Lowe/SSP3, Bogota, Colombia Creative Chairman: Jose Miguel Sokoloff Creative Director: Gustavo Marioni, Carlos Camacho Art Director: Andres Lancheros, Guillermo Siachoque, Sebastian Pelaez Copywriter: Mario Lagos -
McDonalds Billboard
10 Apr 2012 | 5:43 amAgency: Cossette Vancouver Creative Director: Rob Sweetman, Bryan Collins Art Director: Addie Gillespie, Mia Thomsett Copywriter: Addie Gillespie, Mia Thomsett Producer: April Haffenden
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VerticalResponse Email Marketing Blog for Small Business
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How to Get Your Customers to Grow Your Business for You
16 May 2012 | 8:00 amThis article by VerticalResponse CEO and founder Janine Popick originally appeared on The Huffington Post. If you're running a successful business by your standards, then good for you. But I'm going to drop this bomb: It could be better by leaps and bounds just by asking your customers the simple question, "How did you hear about us?" You might think I'm nuts saying you could grow your business that much with word-of-mouth, but I'm not. We tested this out at my online marketing company, VerticalResponse. Any small business can sign up for our… -
7 Free Apps That Will Make Life Better
15 May 2012 | 8:00 amThis article by VerticalResponse CEO and founder Janine Popick originally appeared on Inc.com. Who doesn’t like the word free? I know I sure do. The great thing about being an entrepreneur these days is the huge variety of free or low-cost online business tools out there to help keep everything organized and your company running smoothly. It seems like every day I hear or read about a shiny new app or service promising to save me time and money. It’s hard to resist saying, “Sign me up!” … Especially if it’s free. Here are seven free (or next to free) business tools… -
Don't be Afraid of the Dark, er, Video
14 May 2012 | 8:00 amUsing videos in your email can be great for engagement; including them can help you achieve higher clickthrough rates and help keep your recipients opening your emails. This might sound complicated (or even frightening) to you technophobes out there, but videos don't have to be like a scary B-movie. Here are some Dos and Don'ts to get you using videos with ease: Host your video with a reputable company. Once you've created your video you'll need to host it somewhere that's public so that others can see it. There are lots of options out there, but a few ideas… -
We Want You! Call for Customer Submissions
11 May 2012 | 8:00 amIf you're a frequent reader of this blog, you may have noticed some new recurring features over the last few weeks. In VerticalResponse Customers We Admire, we take a look at VR customers who are getting it right when it comes to their email, event, and social media marketing. With our The Results are in! series, we take a look at the (sometimes surprising) discoveries we make when conducting split tests. We have a lot of fun writing these posts and hope that you're finding some value in learning how other marketers are honing their craft - but we can't do it alone. So… -
VerticalResponse Customers We Admire - Long Realty Takes Social Seriously
9 May 2012 | 8:00 amMany companies across the globe claim to be social. They have a Facebook Page, a Twitter account and they’ve even jumped into Pinterest with both feet. But does all this effort really make a company social? In today’s crowded social business environment, just having a presence is not enough…you have to walk the walk. Many of the world’s largest brands are taking the bull by the horns and dedicating serious resources to their social efforts, but a major portion of small and medium businesses seem to be getting lost in the shuffle when it comes to the approach and execution of…
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Affiliate Marketing Tips from Super Affiliate Zac Johnson
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Improving Search Rankings with Sheer SEO Software
15 May 2012 | 4:16 pmWith Google playing mind games with SEO masters, blog owners and webmasters around the world… no one is safe from recent changes in the search results. While we can’t change how Google fluctuates web site rankings, we can make sure that we are ready for future updates and make our web sites and blogs ready for any future changes. No matter what Google does, in the end quality links and content are king. With this concept and model in mind, using the proper software to monitor and manage your sites rankings and back links are key. Today we are going to take a look at Sheer SEO… -
How To Increase Affiliate Income By Ranking On Google’s First Page
13 May 2012 | 5:08 pmThe almighty “G” has released the Penguin and the effect on blogs especially affiliate review blogs are huge. It’s like affiliate marketers are confused. They’ve a lot of questions traveling through their clouded minds – what’s Google really up to. How do I position my affiliate niche sites to rank better, generate income and make me happy? I need to pay some bills and Google just wouldn’t understand. They don’t care about me, despite all my efforts to please them. I wish Google would fall in love with my niche blog – all these plights will be gone in a hurry – Oh God,… -
How Blogging Has Changed My Life
10 May 2012 | 9:10 amRunning your own blog is easy… creating an authority blog and one that makes money is another! Yes, everyone talks about the power of blogging and how it can make you rich or how it can provide you with exposure to people all over the world and even create a new life and business of it’s own. Yes… all of this is possible through blogging, but only if you live, eat and breath it! With millions of new blogs going live every day, the odds of your blog standing out from the crowd is pretty slim to none. You need to find a niche and simply kill it! Keep generating amazing… -
Making $200,000 a Month with Pay Day Loans
8 May 2012 | 10:32 amIt’s always great to hear about how others are making big money online. Not only does it inspire us to do better, but it also expands the opportunities and reach for many marketers who aren’t thinking outside of the box. In a recent interview on oDigger, LeadsMarket‘s co-founder discusses how their top affiliates are generating over $200,000 a month in commissions through the promotion of pay day loans! You can read the full interview at the interview link above, or review two of the most important questions covered in the interview below. Why should affiliates consider… -
3 Creative Ways to Use Mobile to Grow Your Blog
3 May 2012 | 6:25 pmIs your blog currently in a rut? Are you looking for that one creative way to massively grow your blog and online business this year? Look no further, because the answer is here. And as you’ve probably guessed, mobile is that answer. The rate at which mobile usage is growing every year is stunning, and I’m pretty sure it’s only a matter of a few years before mobile internet dominates standard internet usage completely; I know that sounds bold, but I have solid data to back it up. Mobile Internet is Exploding Now, and You Need to Catch On! Yeah, mobile internet is really exploding right…
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Mihmorandum: Local SEO + Web Design
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The Worst Kept “Secret” in Local Search: My Thoughts on the Impending Plus-Places Merge
14 May 2012 | 8:30 amThe inevitable integration of Google’s Plus and Places products, obvious since Day One of Plus, finally seems like it might be imminent. We’ve seen several signals from Google in the last couple of months that this integration may be coming sooner rather than later: 1) Google completed a major backend infrastructure update this Spring, presumably in preparation for [...] -
An Inside Look at Google’s Get Oregon Business Online
3 Apr 2012 | 7:15 pmI had the pleasure of attending Google's Get Oregon Business Online event last week here in Portland, part of their nationwide Get Your Business Online series (which Googlers refer to as "Gabbo"). I hadn't seen much coverage of any of these events in our little Local Search community -- even from Mike Blumenthal (!) -- so I thought I'd share some thoughts, as well as a small photo gallery. -
Google’s 8-Bit Maps for NES
31 Mar 2012 | 12:49 pmHas Google's Traditional April Fool's Joke Come a Day Early? While messing around with Google Maps I happened to come across a pop-up linking to a little video explaining 8-bit Google Maps. I applaud Google for its creativity and light-hearted nature. But I can't help but think of the (wo)man hours it must have taken to pull this off, and how those surely would have been better spent in the Places Help Forums, or on refinements to the clustering algorithm, where they would have a real-world, and not a fantasy-world, impact? -
Google Places Help Forums Permanent Archive
19 Mar 2012 | 9:55 amMany of you may have heard that Google is transitioning its Help Forums for Places to a new platform. They have made the very strange decision to suppress–actually ELIMINATE–all previous posts that have accumulated over the years. So much for “organizing all the world’s information?” Cynics may say that they’re attempting to cover tracks that [...] -
Local University Spring 2012 [Cross-Posted from GetListed Blog]
1 Mar 2012 | 1:20 pmAlthough my sparse posting schedule on here has unfortunately become the norm, the reason for the latest absence of posts has been that I’ve been putting together our Spring conference schedule for Local University with Mike Blumenthal, Ed Reese, and our other faculty. I’m excited to announce that we’re now “open for business” with all [...]
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SEOptimise » blog
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SMX Advanced Tips & Takeaways | SMX London 2012
14 May 2012 | 9:41 amSchema & Authorship: 1 Year Layer Hresume in microformats http://t.co/SnqqVgph or schema job posting http://t.co/2yaFTRTf for positions, interesting! Visit http://t.co/dxbvN0kT to find out when the next Google webmaster tools hangout is Think of rich snippets as rich summaries, it must visible on the landing page. Rich snippets are supposed to be short descriptions of the content on to the page, not a spam tactic Google plus pages for publishers with rel=publishers to the publishers google plus page – ideal for Brands! Authorship – use accurately for authors NOT publishers… -
New Google Mobile app – an app with soul
9 May 2012 | 6:34 pmAfter a relatively long wait, Google announced today that they have launched an update to their Google Plus iPhone app. As I type this post, my phone seems to be taking its own time in downloading the update which gives me the impression that this particular update is a fairly significant one. In fact, Google seem to almost want the Google plus app to be part of your normal day to day experience by stressing that “we’re not interested in a mobile or social experience that’s just smaller. We’re embracing the sensor-rich smartphone (with its touchable screen and high-density… -
Bing is For Doing – What do You Want to do Today?
2 May 2012 | 8:49 amWouldn’t it be great if you could just shut down the computer you’re on and go do something absolutely outrageous? Something you never thought you’d do, or be able to do? But, what if one of the world’s top search engines were to help you make those unfulfilled dreams a reality? If you haven’t seen their ads on Facebook already, this is exactly what the search giant, Bing, have set out to achieve. On the 18th of April, Bing UK, launched the “Bing is for doing” campaign to reach out to their users in order to discover what people really want to be… -
50 Tips & Takeaways from BlueGlass LA
30 Apr 2012 | 9:38 amLast week I got the chance to attend the latest BlueGlass conference in LA. I’ve got to admit, when heading out to the US I had high expectations for this event having heard a lot of buzz around previous conferences they’ve held and you might have seen my interview with Chris Winfield ahead of the event. But I’d have to say, they exceeded expectations way beyond what I ever expected! This was quite easily the best search event I have ever attended (and there’s been quite a few now!), the sessions were packed full of great content – once you’ve been to a… -
Top Takeaways from the Search Firestarters Event on Attribution
30 Apr 2012 | 7:59 amLast Thursday was the first Search Firestarters event, hosted by Google and Only Dead Fish – and we were lucky enough to get an invitation. Here are our top takeaways! Martin McNulty, from Forward3D Don’t try to attribute your way out of a rubbish marketing campaign. If your marketing is rubbish no attribution model will fix that. Modelling is not measuring – it’s about statistics and odds. Concentrate on what you can control – it’s all very well finding out the volume of search depends on cloud cover, but you can’t control the weather so you can’t do anything about it. Some…
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Only Dead Fish
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Is the 1,9,90 Rule Outdated?
11 May 2012 | 7:47 amThe BBC have just released some interesting research around participation online. The findings (the result of a "large-scale, long-term investigation into how the UK online population participates using digital media today") have raised a little controversy since they seem to indicate that the long-term model or view of participation online, the 1,9,90 rule, is outmoded. The so-called 1% Rule has been around (as far as I can work out) since 2006 when it was mentioned in a blog post by Ben McConnell of the Church Of The Customer blog who talked about how "small groups of people often turn out… -
Digital Intimacy And Gestures
10 May 2012 | 2:15 amThere's some rather lovely work here by Marco Triverio, an interaction designer at IDEO, playing around with (and disrupting) the asynchronous nature of much non-verbal communication over mobile devices. Feel Me experiments with different ways of creating a 'sweet, playful connection with the person on the other side'. I'm quite taken with some of the ideas here, particularly the thought about creating more real-time physical connections through digital means, and the far more inventive ways than we have at our disposal right now to express feeling through non-verbal gestures over digital… -
Google Firestarters 5 Visualised
9 May 2012 | 5:21 amIt can't have been easy for the guys at Scriberia to visualise Cory Doctorow's amazing talk at last weeks Firestarters event. But chief scribe Dan has done a fantastic job at committing to illustration a talk crammed with great metaphors and delivered at some pace. So, as a follow up to the write ups of the event, it's worth taking a look. You can view it in its full glory here. -
Post Of The Month - April 2012 - The Winner
8 May 2012 | 3:01 amWell, it was run close by Patricia McDonald's strong post on the interest graph and social commerce but in the end, the winner of Post Of The Month was Dan Hon's personal and powerful post: Myself, Quantified. So well done Dan. You get the props of your blogging peers and are entered into the Hall Of Fame. Thanks everyone for your nominations and votes - don't forget to bookmark your good reads for nominating next month. -
Google Firestarters 5: Cory Doctorow - The Event
7 May 2012 | 6:32 amWell. I can honestly say that it's taken me a good few days to digest Cory Doctorow's amazing talk at our fifth Firestarters event last Wednesday. And I'm still ruminating on it. Cory's talk, billed as 'The Coming War On General Computation' concerned what he sees as the gross inadequacies inherent in our regulatory and copyright system in dealing with the growing pervasiveness of digital technologies. Gathered to hear it were over a hundred of the great and the good from UK planning. What followed was a passionate, rapid-fire, 50 minute narrative, packed with great insight, provocation…
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So Good
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Hard to Swallow: 8 Edible Urban Legends
16 May 2012 | 9:24 amI lost my Urban Legend virginity to “Mikey”, the picky pitch kid for “Life” cereal during the 70′s. I can still vividly recall the first time hearing about his “Final Destination” worthy death many years ago, as the story made the rabid rounds at my Middle School playground. For the two people who’ve never heard [...] -
I Try It So You Don’t Have To: Marmite and Vegemite
15 May 2012 | 12:15 pmI have had this taste test simmering for a couple of weeks. A friend of mine recommended Vegemite as an idea for a future article. I figured I would add Marmite to the sampling to help resolve the age old question of which of these often hated items was the worst, or the best as the case may be. [...] -
So Good Blog/News Round-Up 05/15/12
15 May 2012 | 6:22 amWhat’s that Lassie? Timmy fell down a Sonic’s fast food grease pit? Pink Slime is so last month. Meet Meat Glue. Attention hoarders, your fast food toy collection is now a lucrative business. Wendy’s campaign championing poutine as Canada’s National Dish. Zagat lays the smackdown on 7 fast food “Artisan” offerings. Grub Street feature lists [...] -
Deep Fried Everything Ep. 76
14 May 2012 | 7:45 am(Click to enlarge) -
So Good Blog/News Round-Up 05/12/12
12 May 2012 | 12:15 pmThe dog food recall continues to expand. Farmers markets get assistance to be more food stamp accessible. Nothing says Mothers Day like Hooters. More testing on the 3 second rule. Fruit Roll Up “Real Fruit” lawsuit heads to court. “Pink Slime” manufacturer sued by laid off workers. Do you take your personal lubricant neat or on the rocks? Subway tops the [...]
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Kyle Lacy - Social Media Training and Digital Marketing
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The Future of Digital Marketing in Retail
15 May 2012 | 7:42 amI wanted to give you a sneak peek into new research and a presentation I am giving at a couple of conferences in the next week. This information is based on the changes in retailing and the customer engagement strategy of old. The ways in which email subscribers and social media fans interact with brands are evolving rapidly. Today’s struggles is not only to build this “earned” audience but also to retain their attention in today’s noisy marketing landscape. Check out the insights and strategies obtained after analyzing the offline and online marketing behavior of NRF’s 100… -
5 Ways to Diffuse a Twitter War in Regards to Your Brand
26 Apr 2012 | 7:24 amTwitter is a great marketing tool for most companies. It brings recognition to your brand and allows customers to share their love for the brand. Unfortunately, the publicity that Twitter brings is not always positive. Sometimes it brings along a lot of negative attention towards a brand, ruining its reputation. Companies should take the following tips into consideration before they even create a Twitter account to advertise their brand: 1. Be vigilant – Always keep an eye on your Twitter account. It is a good idea to hire someone just to maintain your company’s Twitter, as well as to… -
Three Ways to Accelerate Fierce Loyalty in Your Community
24 Apr 2012 | 8:07 amLast week I presented the Fierce Loyalty model in a half-day workshop and during the Q & A, a gentleman raised his hand and said “I totally see how the pieces come together for fierce loyalty. I’m just wondering, is there a way to make them come together faster?” This is far and away the number one question I get. Even though everyone understands that creating a fiercely loyal community takes commitment and time (just like any other relationship), we can’t let go of our need for speed. And I have good news. Yes, there are what I call “Fierce Loyalty Accelerators”. While they… -
Moms Are The Ultimate Marketers
23 Apr 2012 | 7:43 amMotherhood hit like a ton of bricks. Nearly 10 years of experience in marketing, media, and startup business management, meant nothing being thrown into a trade with no training. I’d be lost if not for the strong network of women I had built in the field of motherhood. I think marketing professionals face similar challenges. The rules and applications are always changing, with new responsibilities added daily. After returning to work post-maternity leave, I realized that my new life at home wasn’t all that different from my life as a marketing consultant. I’ve learned that nothing is… -
Best Practices for Combining Facebook and Email with @JayBaer (Free Webinar)
20 Apr 2012 | 7:55 amI’m really pumped for this webinar because of the content and because of Jay Baer. It is going to be awesome and it is free! Register by clicking here. Acclaimed author and social media strategist Jay Baer will join global interactive marketing provider ExactTarget (NYSE:ET) for a live webcast at 2 p.m. April 24 to give marketers exclusive advice on how to build better marketing across email and Facebook. Featuring case studies and the latest research from Baer and ExactTarget, the exclusive webcast will explore the similarities between marketing on email and Facebook and offer…
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blankanvas
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intel & the flying laptops
16 May 2012 | 2:00 amSue the translator for the terrible translation but otherwise, it’s a refreshing commercial for Ultrabooks™. Well done, Venables Bell & Partners. QUICKIES 1. Adverblog (source) SHARE THE LOVE • Facebook • Twitter • LinkedIn • Pinterest • Google Plus • Email • RSS -
tidy ruler
16 May 2012 | 2:00 amRuler, pencil, and sharpener all rolled into one heck of a 1950s replica. Available at EURO12.00. QUICKIES 1. Buy a Tidy Ruler SHARE THE LOVE • Facebook • Twitter • LinkedIn • Pinterest • Google Plus • Email • RSS -
iphone wall mount
15 May 2012 | 10:00 pmStick your iPhone to the wall at USD15.00. QUICKIES 1. Buy a Dockem iPhone Wall Mount SHARE THE LOVE • Facebook • Twitter • LinkedIn • Pinterest • Google Plus • Email • RSS -
letterpress tray
14 May 2012 | 10:00 pmVintage letterpress tray made by Hamilton. Perfect for your rings, watches, necklaces and whatnot. Comes with ink smears of its previous life. Available at USD62.00. QUICKIES 1. Buy this letterpress tray SHARE THE LOVE • Facebook • Twitter • LinkedIn • Pinterest • Google Plus • Email • RSS -
ad people are not normal
14 May 2012 | 3:00 amI agree. QUICKIES 1. Co.Create (source) SHARE THE LOVE • Facebook • Twitter • LinkedIn • Pinterest • Google Plus • Email • RSS
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Techipedia | Tamar Weinberg
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The New Model: How Google+ “Gets” Content
15 May 2012 | 8:25 amThis is a guest post by Joel Harrison. The way content is shared today changes online marketing, putting content to the forefront of what users, companies, brands and products are about. Google+ has just won the People’s Choice award for social media at The Webby Awards presented by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences. This may come as a surprise, since Google+ isn’t as popular as was first expected. It’s trying to reverse that situation though and bind everything together into a huge social network, always faithful to its mission ‘to organize the world’s… -
How to Build Better [Business] Habits
8 May 2012 | 8:47 amThis is a guest post from Christopher Wallace. It’s 2 p.m. on a Wednesday and that fully loaded triple-decker sandwich from the nearby deli has you wondering how long you can get away with catching some z’s under your desk, or if that drawing-eyes-on-your-eyelids thing really works. Whether or not you plowed down a big meal or have the mid-week blues, those last few hours of the work day or week can be some of the most unproductive. So how do you pick yourself up and get back into the swing of things? The answer is in creating good habits. While taking a swig of an energy drink… -
How to Make Your Facebook Ads Convert
1 May 2012 | 8:45 amThis is a guest post from Craig Robinson. Getting proper return on investment for Facebook advertising can be tricky. First, you need to create an ad that attracts clicks, which usually is the easy part, and then you need a decent percentage of the people clicking through to be potential customers. The last thing is a bit harder to control but has a huge impact on the end result. When the wrong people click, your conversion goes down and you have to pay Facebook for nothing. There are, however, a few tips you can follow that might increase your performance. If your Facebook-advertising… -
Web Lead Tracking Explained: How to Get High Quality Leads with the Internet
24 Apr 2012 | 8:39 amThis is a guest post from Brad Shorr. A lot of entrepreneurs and midsize firms say they “get a lot of web leads.” However, when asked if they know the source of the leads, they have only a vague idea – and sometimes, no idea at all. How can you tell where to direct your marketing efforts if you don’t know where your leads are coming from? You can’t. This post will talk about how to set up lead tracking on your site, take the guesswork out of your marketing, and help you get more, high quality leads. Phone Conversions A lot phone inquires are never even identified as web leads! -
How to Create a Video Marketing Strategy for Your Business
17 Apr 2012 | 8:41 amThis is a guest post from Neil Davidson. In recent years, there has been a dramatic increase in the amount of video people watch on the Internet. Any forward thinking business will do well to take note and use video to their advantage. But where do you start? Surely, video marketing must be really expensive, time consuming, and technical? Actually, none of those concerns are necessarily worth the worry. The growth of affordable, digital technology means that anyone can make a video and put it online, instantly widening their audience base beyond anything we could have imagined 10 years ago.
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Psychotactics Zingers
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Uniqueness: The Importance of the Mundane and the Seemingly Uninteresting
14 May 2012 | 11:00 pmMost of us struggle with the uniqueness of our products or services. And the reason we struggle is because we look for something exciting to showcase in our products and services. And all we seem to come up with, is the mundane and uninteresting. You’ve probably heard of the ‘Twelve Apostles’ in Australia Australia has close to six million tourists every year. About 1.7 million of these visit the site of the ‘Twelve Apostles’. Now before you get all reverential here, recognise the fact that there’s nothing very holy about this place. The Twelve Apostles are… -
How to get a FREE 30-Page Excerpt of The Brain Audit (Without Even Needing To Fill A Form)
12 May 2012 | 1:00 amIf you’ve always wondered what The Brain Audit was all about. Or if you’ve ever wondered if this version (Version 3.2) is worth it, then here’s a way to stop wondering. Because you can get a chunky 30 page excerpt of The Brain Audit. And it’s free. No catches. Not even a darned form to fill. You’ll enjoy the cartoons. You’ll enjoy the way The Brain Audit holds your attention. And you’ll learn a lot—even in just 30 pages. But let me not yada, yada.You have to get it before August 14th, 2011. Then it’s gone. So get it right away There is a… -
How To Know If You Have A Viable Niche
7 May 2012 | 11:00 pmWhen companies from the West first visited a de-regulated India, they were licking their fingers in anticipation. For India was a country of almost one billion people (well, it is over one billion now) and these companies could just see dollar signs no matter where they went. But sheer numbers doesn’t make for sales. And many companies burned themselves trying to get off the ground, because the vast majority of people simply couldn’t or wouldn’t buy their products. They learned, after a lot of trial and error that sheer numbers don’t mean a thing. The same applies to… -
How To Generate Article Topics When You’re Half Asleep
30 Apr 2012 | 11:00 pmIf you keep writing every day, you’ll have a problem. You’ll have more article ideas than you can write. Every day will sprout thirty-fifty new ideas that you can never turn into articles. But when you’re starting out, this problem is quite the opposite. You may wake up and can’t think of a thing Or you may be so tired that your brain refuses to co-operate. So here’s what you do next: You find a few books You can do this offline, or online. But allocate a fixed amount of time. And here’s how you go about it. Let’s say I want to write about PHP. I know… -
Why You Should Not Repeat What’s On The Slides
23 Apr 2012 | 11:00 pmYou know those presenters who read out from slides? You know how you detest them? Well there’s a reason. And it comes all the way from Hollywood The Hollywood saying goes like this: If the scene shows you what the scene is supposed to show you, you’re in deep shit. What does that mean? If there are two lovers over a candlelit dinner and they’re saying: ”I love you” then the scene is showing you what the scene is showing you. So in effect it’s treating you like an idiot. You already know that the candlelit, soft scene is about love.
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Ad Operations Online
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Centro Partners with Krux to Create the Safest Ad Exchange Environment for Quality Publishers and Trusted Brands
16 May 2012 | 7:07 amCHICAGO — Centro, the leading provider of media logistics software and services, today announces its partnership with Krux to provide the most secure, exclusive advertising exchange for premium publishers. An advanced platform connecting the highest quality publishers with the best content and brands, the Centro Brand Exchange is a private, invitation-only exchange platform supported by Krux’s leading publisher data management technology. As ad networks, ad exchanges and SSPs continue to promise increased value for publishers’ unsold inventory, not only has their promise proven empty,… -
Adform Continues International Expansion with Opening of Portuguese Office
15 May 2012 | 9:34 amAdform recruits Jose Fradé to lead local Portuguese support for online display advertising campaigns Lisbon, Portugal – Display advertising specialist Adform has today announced that it is opening a new regional office in Lisbon, Portugal. The move comes as a result of an increase in media agencies and online advertisers looking for local support in running display marketing campaigns in the Portuguese market, which previously had been largely run out of Spain. Adform will enable Portuguese clients to more readily run campaigns through its unique single platform that hosts a complete gamma… -
DMG Anti Click Fraud Solution Boosts Trust in Mobile Advertising
15 May 2012 | 7:34 amTraffiliate for Mobile now provides more accurate measurement of mobile ad effectiveness When mobile advertisers pay per click, curbing click fraud is vital in delivering cost-effective campaigns Leading ad network claims industry leading anti-fraud tool Ra’anana, Israel – DMG (DSNR Media Group) – a leading provider of digital advertising solutions for online, mobile, and video, announced today that Traffiliate for Mobile, DMG’s platform that provides comprehensive real-time visibility of mobile campaigns, now includes an anti click fraud solution for more… -
MOO.COM Launches Free Offer for Businesses to Create Stylish Cards Using Their Facebook Page’s Information, Logos and Designs
15 May 2012 | 2:00 amUnique MOO.COM Offer Follows Success and Momentum Generated from Enabling Individuals to Create Customized Business Cards Using Social Media Themes Businesses with Facebook Pages Can Use Their Facebook Presence to Build Consumer Awareness and Affinity, Bringing Their Offline Fans Online London, UK and Providence, RI – Following its successful launch to create new MOO.COM cards using personalized Facebook card designs, themes and information, MOO.COM today announced a new, free offer that allows businesses to create eye-catching cards based on their Page. More than four million… -
Xaxis Launches Asia-Pacific Headquarters to Provide Global Advertisers with Audience Targeting Capabilities Across Region’s Largest Markets
14 May 2012 | 2:08 pmXaxis Launches Asia-Pacific Headquarters to Provide Global Advertisers with Audience Targeting Capabilities Across Region’s Largest Markets Taps Michel de Rijk to Lead Operations as Managing Director, Asia-Pacific Xaxis, the world’s largest audience buying company, announced today the opening of a headquarters in Singapore to serve the Asia-Pacific region. With this launch, Xaxis is initiating an aggressive plan in the region with nine market roll-outs planned over the next 6 months – these new markets will include India, Malaysia, Taiwan, Vietnam, Indonesia and Hong Kong. The existing…
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The Toad Stool by Alan Wolk
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The Assault Continues: Four New Consumer-Centric Video Technologies
14 May 2012 | 4:09 pmIt wasn’t too hard to predict that once every permutation of text-based social media had been explored, would-be entrepreneurs would shift their attention to video. And while “social TV” has become an all-purpose buzzword these days, this spring has seen a couple of notable consumer-centric introductionsFirst off are the competing social video services Viddy and SocialCam. Both of which take the cute-puppy-video meme to the next level. While users are encouraged to upload their own video and share it with their Facebook friends, the primary use of both sites seems to be sharing new cute… -
Introducing the KIT Social Program Guide
16 Apr 2012 | 12:17 pmI don't usually talk about my own work on here, but this is something I am particularly proud of: after months of hard work and preparation, working with a team that spanned from San Francisco to Milan, it's here: the KIT Social Program Guide or SPG.Here's a 2 minute demo - if you're at NAB this week, you can get a hands-on trialWhat Is An SPG? It's a Social Program Guide- a white label product that lays social functionality on top of a pay-TV provider's EPG so that viewers can see what their friends are up to and then act on that information... by actually changing the channel or… -
The Five Things You'll Be Hearing About At NAB This Week
15 Apr 2012 | 11:44 pmWhile NAB is due to start in about 12 hours, I wanted to do a quick rundown of the sorts of things we expect to be seeing there:1. Social TV Apps: The Pets.com of 2012. Lots of VC money being thrown at any and every permutation of "social TV," 99% of them suffer from two big problems: they don't interact with each other and they don't interact with the TV set. Anyone who solves those problems will be drawing huge crowds.2. Ahhhhh! Netflix!!!: The astounding success of their streaming service caught everyone (including Reed Hastings) by surprise as it flew in the face of three… -
Lack of Pinterest?
9 Apr 2012 | 9:10 amI've been prepping for a minor home renovation project and thus spending more time than usual on sites selling everything from appliances to furniture. These are sites that seem to be ground zero for Pinterest, yet few of them have added the little "PinIt" button up there with the Facebook "like" and Twitter buttons.These are major retailers too, not some mom and pop shop.It surprised me because I have found Pinterest to be an excellent organization tool - it's very easy to go back to the page, look at actual pictures of all the refrigerators I pinned (with prices and dimensions) and make a… -
The Nielsen Myth
27 Mar 2012 | 9:21 amThis originally ran on Digiday and was picked up by IPTV News. Co-authored with KIT COO Alex BlumTV is a hugely successful $60 billion industry. It’s also built on a jury-rigged measurement system that’s a bit of a joke and needs to be replaced for the potential of the modern media world to be fully realized.Nielsen ratings have admittedly come a long way from handwritten diaries, but they’ve still become antiquated as our viewing experience shifts from broadcast television to over-the-top services like Netflix and Hulu. This sea change of Internet meshing with TV presents a golden…
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Think customers: The 1to1 Blog
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The Social Education: Studying Social to Learn About Customers
16 May 2012 | 12:00 pmDuring childhood, we learn in a group atmosphere. Just as we learned to socialize while also developing necessary life skills, businesses must now cultivate their social skills in order to learn how to best serve their customers. There’s more… To read the rest of this blog posting click here or visit www.1to1Media.com/weblog -
Building a Better Customer Experience Through the Cloud
16 May 2012 | 11:58 amCloud computing in the past has been a controversial subject, with companies leery of putting proprietary data in the cloud. But with its promise to reduce costs, scale up, and provide real-time access to data, cloud computing is shedding its reputation and companies are increasingly migrating to this service. There’s more… To read the rest of this blog posting click here or visit www.1to1Media.com/weblog -
Bridging the Digital Marketing Gap
15 May 2012 | 9:40 amA new study from PulsePoint on the digital marketing capabilities and shortcomings of companies finds that "overwhelming complexity" and a "lack of unified measurement" are the key stumbling blocks in aligning these efforts with consumers' multichannel behaviors. There's a growing body of research on this topic, most of which support this thesis that marketing leaders are, in fact, overcome by the difficulty of managing and coordinating marketing efforts across the flood of channels that customers use. They also struggle to measure the results, often because marketing efforts are siloed by… -
How Do I Know If I've Been Spiffed?
14 May 2012 | 6:18 pmWith all this talk about customer trust and companies acting in customers' best interest, it got me thinking about spiffs--incentives that manufacturers provide dealers and retail salespeople to sell their wares over the competitor's. Spiffs are great for salespeople, not so great for customers. Salespeople motivated by a boost in their commission check or some other incentive may be more likely to sell what's good for them instead of what's best for the customer. Actually, I'd have to say highly likely. There’s more… To read the rest of this blog posting click here or visit… -
Do Your Partners Squander Your Customer Experience Gains?
11 May 2012 | 9:15 amYou've worked hard to create a brand image and deliver on your brand promise. Then your organization partners with another company that turns about to be not so customer-centric or detail-oriented or what have you as your firm is. What to do? One option: Find a new partner. Another: Work with that partner to bring the company up to your standards. Neither option is an easy fix, but doing something, anything, is essential--before customers walk out the door and don't come back. There’s more… To read the rest of this blog posting click here or visit www.1to1Media.com/weblog
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The Financial Brand: Marketing Insights for Banks & Credit Unions
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Survey Shows Americans Ready For Digital Wallets In A Cashless Society
15 May 2012 | 3:09 pmA world without cash is coming. Financial institutions that aren’t ready with a strategy for the impending e-conomy could wind up as dinosaurs. Americans are increasingly eager for a purely digital economy as their use of cash continues to dwindle, according to the results of a survey released today by MasterCard. The survey, which asked over 1,000 participants for their two cents the growing trend towards a cashless society, gives a snapshot of Americans’ shifting views and behaviors with electronic payments. The Frustrations of Cash Cash is inconvenient. Most Americans experience… -
Search Engine Marketing: Google Adwords Costs For Banks & Credit Unions
14 May 2012 | 2:01 amEvery time someone types a financial related term into Google, there are banks and credit unions paying to have their ads placed atop the search results. The neat thing about Google AdWords is that you don’t pay until someone clicks. Some search terms only costs a few cents per click, while other more valuable and popular terms can run you a few bucks. With the Google AdWords interface, you can control how much you’re willing to pay per click, and how much you’re willing to spend every day. If you hit your spending limit, Google simply stops showing your ads. It’s a… -
Targeting Gen Y: Rich Opportunities With Direct Marketing
11 May 2012 | 9:06 amBy Margie Church, Pinpoint Direct Marketing Let’s face it: the broad span of ages in Gen-Y makes it challenging to build relationships. Some financial institutions have fantastic web pages directed toward teenaged youth, while others may focus on savings programs with prizes and activities at a younger group. But like many bank and credit union marketers, maybe you may be struggling to create a cohesive program that addresses the spectrum of ages and needs of this large and diverse group, not just one segment or two. How do you do it without driving yourself nuts, overwhelming your… -
Peek Inside: Marketing At Australia’s Orange Credit Union
10 May 2012 | 2:01 am[Volunteers Needed! If you'd like to have your financial institution's in-house marketing department profiled on The Financial Brand, please complete the questionnaire here.] On 10th December, 1964, 19 mail employees met in the staff canteen to discuss forming a credit union. By 1971, Mail Employees Credit Union (as it was first named) had 1,000 members. In the early days, loans were limited to only £400 pounds. The credit union adopted its current moniker back in 1973. Name of Financial Institution: Orange Credit Union Area served: Orange in New South Wales, Australia Founded: 1964 Website:… -
Bank Hosts Band Contest on Facebook, Winner Opens for Huey Lewis
9 May 2012 | 2:01 amAt the Facebook page for Bank of the West, folks can nominate and vote on their favorite local bands. The winning band will get to perform the opening act for Huey Lewis & The News at Memorial Park during a concert the bank is sponsoring. The public is invited to nominate and vote for their favorite up-and-coming bands between May 1 and May 15, 2012. The contest is open to everyone across the U.S. Eligible bands must be solo acts or groups numbering no more than six. All members of the band must be over 18 years of age. Acts incorporating unsafe behavior, obscenity, lewdness,…
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David Leonhardt's SEO and Social Media Marketing
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Google’s Penguin Update…
11 May 2012 | 10:58 amGoogle’s Penguin Update… was written by David Leonhardt, THGM professional SEO consultant. …as experienced by more webmasters than I care to count: Oh, yes. And this is how many of those same webmasters would like to deal with Google’s penguin (sorry, but you do have to watch the full 1:47 video to the end to see the full wrath of the webmasters). -
Digg Shouts are back! But not on Digg.
7 May 2012 | 4:13 pmDigg Shouts are back! But not on Digg. was written by David Leonhardt, THGM professional SEO consultant. Can you pronounce “Thruzt”? The latest in the line of Digg-killers hits the streets…er…the Internet today. And Thruzt is its name. And it has several things going for it that should make Digg - and it’s evil twin Reddit - take notice. I said at the time that Digg made a big mistake getting rid of “Shouts”. Shouts were a means by which a Digg user could send a message to one, two three or any number of friends on Digg, seeking votes, comments,… -
How to NOT Lose Money with AdWords
4 May 2012 | 9:48 amHow to NOT Lose Money with AdWords was written by David Leonhardt, THGM professional SEO consultant. Google AdWords is the perfect way for you to reach more members of your target audience online. When you create an account, you’re immediately given $100 worth of free credits. With this amount, you can instantly post ads that millions of people around the world can view. While this is a great thing, it also means that you can easily spend tons of money on your online marketing campaign without yielding a return on your investment. Below are a few concepts that you should know so that… -
Ghost Town Link Building
28 Mar 2012 | 7:29 amGhost Town Link Building was written by David Leonhardt, THGM professional SEO consultant. When the search engines follow links to your website, do they find a ghost town from a movie set? You know what those are like, right? A movie set ghost town is all facade. There are windows with sills, nicely painted or stained wood fronts, doors, front steps or at least a threshold. But if you actually open the door, it is empty inside. When you pass through the doorway, you find nothing . Not furniture. No interior wall, nor even side or back walls. No people. Only support beams to hold up the… -
Creative Link-building Email Spam
21 Mar 2012 | 8:19 amCreative Link-building Email Spam was written by David Leonhardt, THGM professional SEO consultant. I get my share of emails requesting links. I do consider those that look realistic and worthwhile, but that is very few. But none compare with an email that was sent to Tom over at Canadian Finance Blog. * Hello Tom and greetings from New York and Mrs. Fowler’s 4th grade class! I hope it’s ok that I’m contacting you directly! My class is currently working on special unit on Money and Finance and as part of an assignment, the kids had to go out and find an educational…
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Amnesia Blog
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Touch me and I can see
7 May 2012 | 6:27 pmThat is the basic model behind the wearable camera that blinds a user until he is touched by someone else. The project was created by Artist Eric Siu and is called Touchy. With Touchy, Siu wants to highlight social anxiety, which he believes is caused by the increased reliance on communication mediums like Facebook and Twitter. He says that the helmet emulates the isolating experience of over-reliance on social networks, and turns the wearer into a social device. Touchy has two giant shutters that remain closed without human contact. Once the helmet’s sensors detect touch, the shutters… -
Everything will be touchable with Touché
7 May 2012 | 1:08 amDisney Research is always working on some cool stuff and now they are showing off a pretty cool and quite sophisticated touch-sensing technology called touché. Compared to capacitive touch screens that measure 1 frequency this new technology is measuring a range of them which means it not only can detect multi touch and gestures, but also distinguish between different objects or parts of the body. It will also add touch to non-traditional surfaces, like liquid. Check out the video below and see some of the examples on how Disney sees this technology being implemented in the future. @maniac13 -
So you want to shoot some video?
2 May 2012 | 9:30 pmSo you want to shoot some video? No problem. I have a degree in Television producing, so surely we can figure something out. I know a friend whose parents still smother him with gifts (instead of love) and he just got a new Canon 5D – he probably knows how to use it by now too. While everyone else was studying Economics, another friend and I spent our senior high-school years ‘learning’ Film & TV. He used to have a pirated copy of Final Cut on his laptop, so he can probably edit some stuff to look real sexy. Yeh, we can make you a video alright. Maybe it’ll even go viral – why… -
The birds and the city
24 Apr 2012 | 1:46 amHeiko, our German development guru found a passion for the birds in Sydney and he wasn’t alone. Here is the story of Wingtags told in his own words: “Ever since my fiancée and I arrived in Sydney two years ago, there was something we particularly liked about this city. It’s probably because we both grew up in Germany, not a place exactly famous for abundance of wildlife, but we were always delighted to see these large, noisy, sulphur-crested cockatoos flying low across our heads, chasing tourists in parks and stirring up the CBD area with their distinctive raucous calls. Having had… -
First Timer
22 Apr 2012 | 11:52 pmLast week provided a couple of firsts – both different but equally as exciting from the perspective of a Junior. I am currently completing my rotation within the Creative Team, which has seen my copy skills exercised within an agency for the first time. Back in Brisbane I was fortunate to have a few scripts shot and aired during my stint in children’s television. It was exciting at the time, but I like to think I’m playing with the big boys now. And so, having my first bit of copy approved by a Razorfish client was a great feeling. Worth celebrating even… As if on cue, last…
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Threeminds » channels
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Pinterest?
14 May 2012 | 7:03 pmRead more -
Does Your Agency Need A “Mobile Lead”?
9 May 2012 | 10:00 amAs a writer and speaker on mobile, there are a few questions I get over and over again. For instance, “Is the iPad a mobile device?” and, “Can’t I just send tablet users to my desktop site?” Most of... Read more -
Book Review: Bit Literacy by Mark Hurst
8 May 2012 | 1:04 pmI stumbled upon reference to this book when looking at requirements listed around a User Experience Designer position on Craigslist (not for me – a colleague’s posting, I swear). The... Read more -
Untangling The Complex Relationship Between Media Spend And Sales
7 May 2012 | 10:42 amAnyone who’s been in marketing long enough can relate to the following scenario: It’s the monthly leadership meeting for your company and the agenda includes a review of last month’s... Read more -
Connecting Data to Brand Health
1 May 2012 | 2:50 pmSilos Brimming with Data Since the dawning of the information age, Brand Managers have been inundated with reporting from a myriad of different agencies and independent data vendors. Intuitively,... Read more
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Customer Experience Matters
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Assess Your Four Customer Experience Competencies
16 May 2012 | 10:30 amIn the recent research report, The State of CX Management, 2012, we examined how large companies are progressing along their journeys towards becoming customer-centric organizations. We found that only 7% of companies have reached that level of CX maturity. What does it take to become a customer-centric organization? Our research shows that leading companies master four customer experience core competencies: Purposeful Leadership: Do your leaders operate consistently with a clear, well-articulated set of values? Compelling Brand Values: Are your brand attributes driving decisions about… -
Net Promoter Score and Market Share For 60 Tech Vendors
14 May 2012 | 4:47 amTemkin Group recently surveyed 800 IT professionals from large companies and asked them a series of questions about tech vendors. This research has fueled some of our previous posts: Temkin Experience Ratings for Tech Vendors, How IT Professionals Share Feedback About Vendors, and Tech Vendors: Benchmarking Product and Relationship Satisfaction of IT Clients. We also asked the IT professionals to rate each tech vendor on the Net Promoter Score (NPS) scale.* NPS is based on one question: How likely are you to recommend the tech vendor to a friend or colleague? IT professionals choose an… -
Temkin Experience Ratings Spotlight: Charles Schwab
11 May 2012 | 5:58 amCharles Schwab earned the highest score for investment firms in the 2012 Temkin Experience Ratings. To understand how the company made it to the top of the ratings, we spoke with Troy Stevenson, Vice President, Client Loyalty & Consumer Insight. According to Stevenson “Our strategy is to operate our business through the clients’ eyes. Make every decision through the lens of how it influences clients and the client experience. That helps us avoid the temptation of short-term profits from things like junk fees that might result in long-term harm to the brand.“ A key… -
Report: The State of CX Management, 2012
8 May 2012 | 1:15 amThe report can be downloaded for $195 We just published a new Temkin Group report, The State of Customer Experience Management, 2012. The report examines where large companies are on their CX journeys based on a survey of 255 companies. Here is the executive summary: We surveyed more than 200 large companies and found an abundance of Customer Experience (CX) ambition and activity. Most companies have a CX executive leading the charge, significant CX activities being coordinated by a central team, and a staff of six to eight full-time CX professionals. Using Temkin Group’s CX competency… -
Help A Charity For Temkin Group’s 2nd Anniversary
2 May 2012 | 1:33 amTemkin Group is excited to celebrate our 2nd anniversary. Thanks to our wonderful clients, partners, and all CX enthusiasts, it’s been a fantastic two years. As we did for our 1st anniversary, we want to mark this occasion with a donation to a worthy cause. We’ve decided to let you determine the charity and amount. We will make a donation of $5 per vote (up to $2,500) to the charity with the highest number of votes. Even if your charity does not win, you’ll still be helping another worthy cause. Choose one of the following charities and get your friends to vote as well.
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Faster Future: Possibilities now and beyond
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The Distraction Web fades as The Disruption Web rises
21 Apr 2012 | 5:46 amBoom. The rate at which new stuff sweeps the web is part of a general acceleration in change provoked by our increasing real-time connectedness. That has resulted in the ever faster emergence of disruptions to industry after industry, business model after business model. This is the disruption web. But it has also driven a culture of overnight sensation - Internet 'hits'. The potentially good news is that the life-span of such hits appears to be getting shorter and shorter. Grow fast, die fast. Draw Something - the IPhone app a bit like pictionary that sold within weeks of launch to Zynga -… -
Facebook's journey to monopoly or bust
10 Apr 2012 | 11:45 amI have no objection to the nice chaps at Instagram getting a billion dollars for their baby. Providing someone, somewhere on the planet is putting a similar sum behind a platform to make real change that matters. Not happening though is it? There’s something fundamentally wrong about a world where we’ll spend $1bn on an app but not on a way of creating value we can all benefit from. The key wrong bit is in the allocation of resource. Projects like kickstarter point the way ahead. Resource allocation is shifting to the edge. And the edge won’t choose apps – we’ll choose change. Which… -
Brand Anarchy - a book launch I really should have been at
27 Mar 2012 | 8:29 amI failed to show up at a book launch last night. I had a school governors meeting (on data) I needed to be at.It's not that unusual for me to fail to turn up for something I've been invited to, to be fair. It was only when I realised the content of Stephen Waddington and Steve Earl's Brand Anarchy that I realised I really should have made more of an effort.Stephen (@wadds) had been kind enough to interview me for the book some months back. And the guys have been even kinder in listing myself alongside a very impressive line up in the Amazon blurb:"As the media landscape looks increasingly… -
Who wins with your social solution?
19 Mar 2012 | 5:49 amDomino's have become quite famous for their 'social'. Nice apps. Happy twitter campaigns, gathering Facebook fans. Which is why I'm so surprised at the weakness of its latest work in Australia. In short, they are crowd-sourcing the next pizza to go on the menu with Facebook fans. Which sounds on the face of it ok... until you dig into the benefits for the end user. This from the blog of Online PR/Social outfit Simply Zesty (it's not them that's the blame, they are just reporting on it): Now in Australia, they’re ... creating ‘the social pizza’ which will harness their 488,000 Facebook… -
Video: Webciety CeBIT keynote: How the web changes the organisation of business
11 Mar 2012 | 4:09 pmFor those of you who weren't at Webciety at CeBIT, Hannover, Germany on Thursday March 8, or weren't able to catch the live webcast of my keynote when it was first broadcast, a recording is now available. The video lasts almost an hour which includes introduction, my keynote and a panel discussion of the themes it outlines. In summary it explores how the future isn't digital, it is self-organised, how and why the web powers disruption based on this and explores the role of the organisation in a world in which we can organise for ourselves more cheaply and effectively than ever before. It also…
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Affiliate Marketing Blog
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Announcing AffiloBlueprint 3.0
16 May 2012 | 3:42 amDo you ever wish there was a simple course for getting started in Affiliate Marketing? There is - it's called AffiloBlueprint, and we're releasing a shiny new version of it on Tuesday May 29th! AffiloBlueprint 3.0 is our step-by-step blueprint for anyone, from total newbies to seasoned pros, to get started and learn techniques for succeeding in making profitable niche websites! Today I wanted to give you a bit more of a heads up and tell you a bit about what'll be in the course, as well as what's new since the previous version. Even more bang for your buck This brand new AffiloBlueprint… -
SEO Blog Commenting 101
16 May 2012 | 3:42 amIt's no secret that I love blog commenting. Blogs represent everything that is great about Internet technology; they are easy to set up, easy to maintain, attract a more active audience than traditional "static" websites - blogs are also fantastic for SEO. Blog commenting is great for affiliate marketers and webmasters who are looking for a bit of extra link juice and traffic. It's easy, fun, and doesn't take very long to master. Today I'm going to give you the SEO blog commenting 101 so that you can benefit as much as possible from this exciting link building strategy. Now before… -
Freelancing for Extra Cash
14 May 2012 | 5:09 pmIn this week’s Affilorama blog post, we’re taking a little break from SEO and affiliate marketing. Every so often it can be fun to mix things up and talk about a different topic – although I can assure you that we will be right back into affiliate marketing next week. Instead, we’re going to be looking at freelancing for extra cash. Sometimes you might need some extra money for unexpected bills, or you just want to buy something you’ve had your eye on for a while. Whatever the reason, one of the best ways to raise some extra money is through freelancing. In this blog post… -
Hands-On with Push Button SEO for Wordpress
9 May 2012 | 1:01 amOne of the coolest thing about the Wordpress platform is the huge number of plugins available to make your job easier. From spam protection through to SEO (and everything inbetween) there is bound to be either a free or paid plugin available. In fact, SEO plugins are some of the most popular Wordpress plugins out there. If you've been using Wordpress for a while then you will probably have tried a few different SEO plugins - some are bad, some are good, and some are even better. In today's Affilorama blog post I'm going to be giving you a hands on look at one of the newest SEO plugins… -
Get free, advance access to our new (and exciting!) Affilorama Premium Tools
26 Apr 2012 | 1:27 amHello all, Want to know how you can get a free advance, hands-on preview of an exciting new release coming to Affilorama? Affilorama's getting some exciting new updates in a few months, and one of these is an amazing new overhaul of Affilorama Premium Tools; I don't just mean we've added an extra button to our Article spinner, or a new search engine to our Search Ranking Genie - I mean a full on, completely different, 100x more powerful version, designed to allow you to manage every aspect of your website! But don't just take my word for it, take a look: If you've used Traffic Travis,…
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Traffick: The Business of Search
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This Week in Narcissism
14 May 2012 | 3:55 pmIf you ever make the mistake, as I recently did, of reading Twenge and Campbell’s The Narcissism Epidemic: Living in an Age of Entitlement, you’ll have more than a few “whoa! that’s scary!” moments, when you begin recognizing vivid examples of the shift they’ve documented as they happen in slow motion in day-to-day life. Scary, as in “they really got that right.” This study of the rise in narcissistic qualities in the general (especially, youth) population is no casual observation. The authors actually document rises in self-reported and… -
Did the boss’s ad creative win? Don Draper can’t leave your idea in a cab anymore
14 May 2012 | 12:36 pmIn Mad Men Episode 509, “Dark Shadows,” Don longs to flex his old creative muscles on an account being worked on by the junior phenom, Ginsberg. In the review meetings for the Sno-Cone account, Don slips his “devil” ad concept into the mix. The team agrees that both Don’s idea and Ginsberg’s lighter “snowball in the face” campaign are both strong ideas. It’s agreed that the firm will bring both ideas in to pitch the client. Don’s idea wins because he leaves Ginsberg’s creative in the cab, so they only pitch Don’s idea. -
Unraveling Google’s New Three-Pronged Quality Score Reporting
9 May 2012 | 4:39 pmUnlike the average American 15-year-old, AdWords advertisers now have definitive proof that they can’t all be above average. This comes in the form of Google’s new breakdown format for keyword quality score reporting, by Expected CTR, Ad Creative, and Landing Page Quality. Most advertisers already know that Quality Score (which determines ad rank and eligibility in the auction, and ultimately, heavily influences CPC’s and ROI) derives from CTR and “other relevancy factors.” This new disclosure shows that Google continues to refine the formula to help some… -
Market Quietly: Unsolicited Advice for Research in Motion’s New CMO
9 May 2012 | 9:02 amWelcome, Frank Boulben, Research in Motion’s new CMO. You’re charged with making the Blackberry relevant again. No one expects you to succeed. You’ll be surrounded by the din of detractors, media hacks, and a few people cheering you on. There’s a chance you’ll try to hit a home run when it would be so easy for RIM to get back on track by hitting singles and doubles. My overarching hope is that you’ll see the importance of ignoring the deafening roar on all sides. That you’ll discover the power of marketing quietly. Of protecting your own company from… -
The Healthy Consolidation in the SEM Landscape
4 May 2012 | 9:35 amFor years, SEO companies and “rock stars” have whined that they don’t get the respect they deserve. That’s been unsurprising, given that you trip over seven unethical SEO firms and two “cheesy borderline” SEO firms out of every group of ten. If only 10% of SEO firms are really “agencies” that adhere to some professional standards (including a degree of transparency, contemporary technology & practices, etc.), how can clients figure out what to do and who to hire? It’s been a little better on the PPC side, but here too, it’s…
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Brains On Fire Blog
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Stories vs. Slogans
16 May 2012 | 10:55 am<em>Stories live forever. Slogans live until the ad agency gets tired of them. Stories are real. Slogans are made up. Stories pull you in. Slogans push out a message. Stories are deep. Slogans are shallow. Stories are personal. Slogans are impersonal. Stories are passed on by word of mouth. Slogans are forced on us by ads. Stories are part of who we are. After all, you don’t share slogans about your grandfather, how your parents met or even how you were treated at a restaurant. Brains on Fire Book, page 32 The proof is in the pudding story… -
Is All of That ‘Noise’ a Bad Thing?
15 May 2012 | 9:37 amHow many times have you heard talk about the dreaded ‘noise’? The other day a friend of mine lamented about how digital camera prices have dropped to a point where ‘everyone’ is calling themselves a ‘professional photographer’ and its creating so much ‘noise’ in the industry. But it seems to be everywhere – from startups releasing a product, to companies exploring social media, to ‘content strategy,’ to hundreds of people applying for the same job opening. Everyone seems to be asking, “how in the world are we going to… -
Nostalgia, Mad Men and Emotions
14 May 2012 | 8:32 amYours truly at a Brains on Fire Mad Men Christmas party a few years back. I’ve never gotten caught up watching the show, Mad Men. But the other day someone showed me a short clip that got stuck in my heart for many reasons. Take a minute and watch it. Don’t you love that? The definition of nostalgia as a pain of or ache is wonderful. Even happy memories can create that tug. Since we’re in the word of mouth marketing business, we think a lot about the role of emotions in igniting conversation. We know that brands and organizations that evoke strong emotions and storytelling… -
The End User is Not the Only User
10 May 2012 | 8:38 amI am not a product designer. I’m not even a designer. But I noticed something recently that made me think hard about the process of developing products and experiences. My wife and I were eating at a burrito chain where one of the new Coca-Cola “Freestyle” drink machines was installed (1). I’m not a soda drinker, so I didn’t experience it for myself, but I could tell that other restaurant patrons were really enjoying the futuristic interface and the impossibly broad number of drink choices available from one machine. (I read later that the number of available… -
Hello (and some photos) From Chicago
9 May 2012 | 7:50 amWe’re at the WIT. Love the little brilliant details in this hotel, like birds quietly chirping in the halls. I’m in Chicago this week at Womma‘s womm-u with Cordell and Geno. And I’m so glad we all came. Honestly, I wish everyone from Brains on Fire could attend. Yesterday’s keynote speaker Steve Knox is shiny brilliant (he spoke at the FIRE session two years ago and was a huge hit). Every time I get the chance to be in Steve’s company, I take it. And every time I hear him speak, I learn something new. Here are just a couple of things that stuck in my mind:…
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Talent imitates, genius steals
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Make Things People Want
14 May 2012 | 11:09 amView more presentations from John V Willshire Wilsh has just posted this excellent deck. You should read it. Some it flows nicely from some of the thinking in the post below about opening up user data to users to help users help you, marketing as enablement, not image, which was pleasing. But is far more briliant. [HT @Rosiesiman] -
Seeing Behavior Changes Behavior
2 May 2012 | 3:25 pm[Source: Fish2000] In the wake of the Nike Fuelband launching, it seemed a good time to publish this paper I wrote for Canvas8 in its entirety. Precis [not part of original paper] The Hawthorne Effect is a much quoted..effect...about observation changing behavior. It comes from a productivity experiment run in 1920s at a factory called the Hawthorne Works, near Chicago. They were trying to understand if environmental changes could enhance productivity - they changed the lighting levels up and down, moved workstations, moved obstables and so on - and found that productivity increased in… -
This Things I Believe
13 Apr 2012 | 10:10 amA thing I wrote for the PSFK magazine - available here. PDF here: Download Need to Know PSFK Magazine Faris On Creative Processes NEW [Title of this post is stolen from Homer the Heretic, who, it turns out, lives in Oregon.] -
Open Government with Principles
10 Apr 2012 | 2:40 pmSource: http://www.flickr.com/photos/benterrett/7041509709/sizes/l/in/photostream/ Putting the public [user] first, in delivering digital public services. Digital by Default Putting Users First Learning from the Journey Building a Network of Trust Moving Barriers Aside Creating an Environment for Technology Leaders to Flourish Don't Do Everything Yourself (You Can't) It sounds delightful, doesn't it? An open government with clearly stated principles? [digital or otherwise] Like the opposite of Brasil [the movie, not the country.] My mate Ben is giving it a go - he's the new Head of Design… -
Vote for the Best 5.9 Seconds
4 Apr 2012 | 6:14 pmThe entries have been culled down to the top 30 in our very short film festival for BMW. That means, since they are all 5.9 seconds long, you could watch them all in 2.95 minutes. [Assuming perfect bandwidth and very fast clicking...tell you what round it up, say 3 minutes.] In a world of diminished cultural latency, where speed is of the essence, alacrity the key, we hoped this intense constraint would reflect the culture and mediascape we operate in but, also, lead to some really interesting entries as people struggle against the clock. {Constraints are the soul of the brief} So, why not…
