O'Reilly Webcast: Twitter Power Tips

Tim O'Reilly and Sarah Milstein recently presented a webinar on Twiter Power Tips. The presentation has just been added to YouTube.

You can view the video by either following the link above, or watching the embedded video below:

Get Your Web Browser On

Microsoft starts to officially roll out the new version of Internet Explorer (version 8) today.  Google Chrome has just been updated. With that in mind now would be a good time to test that your website works in the major (and perhaps minor) browsers:

 

• Epiphany
  
• Camino
  
• Firefox
  
• Flock
  
• Galeon
  
• Google Chrome
  
• iCab
  
• Internet Explorer
  
• Konqueror
  
• Mozilla SeaMonkey
  
• OmniWeb
  
• Opera
  
• Safari
  

 

Good luck!

Viral Marketing on Twitter: MacHeist TweetBlast

MacHesist is offering a free license for DEVONthink if you follow them on Twitter, Tweet a specific response and then wait for a direct message.

MacHeist on Twitter now has over 25 thousand followers. This is an interesting use of Twitter and I see other companies experimenting with similar approaches.

The cost of this campaign should not be too expensive – the DEVONthink license is for a version that will soon be supplanted by a version 2. Users of the older version can upgrade for $20….

Social Networking on the Blackberry

MySpace released their mobile application for the Blackberry last week. This seems like a perfect time to list some of the core social media applications that you can run directly from the Blackberry (rather than accessing through a web browser). For Internet marketers using the Blackberry here are the tools I would recommend downloading:

• Facebook Client
  One of the best ways to access your account. The application focusing on the core areas of FB without any of the distractions.


• MySpace Client
  Similar to the Facebook application in functionality (homepage, inbox, friend requests, comments, friends and photos). Clean and snappy interface.


• TwitterBerry
  Tweet with relative abandon from your Blackberry


• Viigo
  The best RSS reader for the Blackberry.


• ShoZu
  Upload photos and videos to social media sites.

SEO Book Chapter - Now on Amazon

I was lucky enough to contribute a chapter to the IMC (Integrated Marketing Communications) Handbook on Search Engine Optimization. The book is now available to order via Amazon or the publisher (Racom Books). The chapter follows a similar structure to the SEO Seminar I present (the next session will take place on Friday December 5 in Chicago).

 

SEO is a moving target. However, most of what I wrote still stands. A planned approach to relevance, utility, quality and web standards is more than half the battle.

Top 10 ideas for Century 21 Real Estate

David Meerman Scott (author of The New Rules of Marketing and PR) recently wrote "Top 10 ideas for Century 21 Real Estate to implement The New Rules of Marketing & PR." Many of these suggestions translate to other business. The suggestions are well worth reading (and following).

Honda Fit - Internet and Mobile Ads

According to The Wall Street Journal Honda will buy all of Sony Pictures Television's advertising space for a week starting October 15th. This will be done to promote the launch of the Honda Fit.

The deal will cost Honda a cool half-million dollars and will cover all Sony's mobile and online entertainment and third-party sites in the U.S.

Social Media and the Marketing Campaign

The Chicago chapter of the American Marketing Association is promoting a great event on the 25th September - "Social Media and the Marketing Campaign. Powered by Google"

This looks like an excellent event and is highly recommended. For more information visit the Chicago AMA's website

• When: Thursday, September 25, 2008


• Time: 5:45 - 7:45 p.m.


• Where: Google Office -
  20 W. Kinzie, Chicago IL

CADM Special Breakfast Meeting: “The Next Generation of Behavioral Targeting”

Current behavioral targeting is little more than contextual targeting—presenting ads based on sites a consumer visits or retargeting consumers who saw a particular ad before. To truly live up to its promise, behavioral targeting should be based on much more, including actual transactional behavior, both online and offline—taking advantage of an offer or making a purchase—and should factor in demographic data for the most complete picture of each individual consumer. This allows us to predict behavior - the holy grail of every marketer.

On September 19th CADM is offering a special breakfast meeting featuring Matt Wise, CEO of Q Interactive, a 10-year-old, industry-pioneering company in targeted online marketing. Hosted by the Interactive Marketing SIG, this event is open to the CADM community as well as guests, clients, and non-members.

7:30 a.m. - Registration and networking
8:00 a.m. - Program

• When: Friday, September 19, 2008 8:00 AM to 9:00 AM


• Where: Q Interactive Headquarters, One North Dearborn, 12th Floor


• Contact: George Buckley


• Speaker: Matt Wise, CEO Q Interactive


• Host: Interactive Marketing

Register:	CADM Member	Non-Member	SIG Member
by 9/18/2008	$25.00	$35.00	$25.00
after 9/18/2008	$30.00	$40.00	$30.00

EFF Releases "Switzerland" ISP Testing Tool

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is releasing Switzerland, a software tool for customers to test the integrity of their Internet communications.

Upcoming CADM Event: Getting More Out of Your Online Budget

Topic: Getting More Out of Your Online Budget

Moderator: Ellis Booker – Editor, B2B Magazine

Panelists:

• Jason Ferrara – VP Corporate Marketing, CareerBuilder.com
• Cliff Langston – Director of Global Marketing, Sigma-Aldrich Corporation
• Barbara Mousigian – Senior Director of E-Commerce, CDW
• Karen Breen Vogel – President/CEO, ClearGauge
  

When: Thursday, July 10, 2008

• 5:30 p.m. Reception
• 6:00 p.m. Program
• 7:00 p.m. Open Bar (Beer & Wine) & Appetizers
  

Where: Fulton’s on the River, 315 N LaSalle St – Chicago, IL

Hosted by: B-to-B and Interactive Marketing SIGs

SEO Comic

Ranked Hard is a webcomic for those of you looking for some SEO humor in your life. Plenty of in-jokes that will resonate with Internet media types. You can read online at:

http://www.bigoakinc.com/rankedhard/

SEM Rap

Chris Campbell of GreenWerks (a Chicago-based eco-friendly contractor for painting and handyman services) sent me a link to a fantastic SEM (Search Engine Marketing) rap. The YouTube video is embedded below. Something to add to the iPod….

"You want to start SEM well heres what to do
focus on a product and find a niche too
you want to get the listing
I'll give you some assisting
SEO & SEM, they are coexisting
to cover all the bases
you must have patience
research all your keywords and your phrases
they all sound good but they may not be a factor
several ways to check and I prefer word tracker
very vague phrases should get denied
longtail keyphrases are more qualified
check the cpc, that's the cost per click
make a judgement call, is is worth that hit
if it is then keep it
if its not then delete it
stay within your budget, that's not a big secret
track your results, reporting is critical
and set your goals right be Google analytical
Google Adwords and Yahoo Search Marketing
if your business local make sure you geo targeting
the user only clicks on what sounds best
make sure you use very descriptive ad text
its a must that you use correct landing pages
if they see what they want, they easily persuaded
when they convert that's a win win
when your site is bookmarked they'll come back again
cpc will go, ctr will skyrocket
roi will get better, that's more money in your pocket
and if you smart, you'll invest in more phrases
but that's up to you, I'm just giving you the basics
you got it then fine, if you don't hit rewind
listen closely and play it back 1 more time
that's just the start anymore might cost
I have to deal with my boss
if I tell you the secret sauce
like using paid search to enhance seo
and revolving ad text is the way to
uh oh, I gotta go, that's too much for you to know
but if you want more, wait for the next video."

The harbinger of the Internet Apocalypse: Hello Kitty Online

Hello Kitty is now an online MMOPRG (Massively Multiuser Online Role Playing Game). The site is accepting beta testers….

How (and why) to hide your webpages from search engines

There are two main reasons to hide some of your webpages from Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs)

1. You have information that you do not want turning up in search results: private data, family pictures, coupon codes, limited offers, test/demo pages, etc.
2. You have duplicate content: landing pages for e-mail campaigns, highly-templated pages, etc.

Extensive duplicate content will hurt your search engine rankings. Search engines are looking for relevant pages. Duplicate content reduces your relevancy. There are two ways you can fix this:

1. Use the robots.txt exclusion file to tell the search engine spiders crawling your site not to index particular pages or folders
2. Add appropriate metatags to your pages which will then tell search engine spiders to exclude those particular pages from their results

Creating the robots.txt file is generally more efficient than crafting individual metatatags. Information on how to properly create your robots.txt file can be found here. Remember to create only one file for your website.

You may chose to use the metatags if you do not have the ability to upload files to the root of your webserver (for example pages on a shared site like Yahoo! Geocities). The code you should use is:



This code should be pasted into the content of your HTML.

Featured in the Sun-Times

Sandra Guy wrote a nice feature in the Chicago Sun-Times that covers some of the podcasting and vodcasting work we have been doing to enhance our College of Commerce MBA courses at DePaul University. We still have plenty of work to do but it is gratifying to get exposure like this.

Not mentioned in the article is the IDD (Instructional Design and Development) department here at DePaul. IDD helped us create greenscreen introductions for staff and faculty. They do great work.

I cover some of the podcast/vodcast creation process in the Practical Internet Marketing Certificate Program.

Guests and prospective students can view some of the DePaul vodcasts by going to DePaul’s iTunes U site. Here is a direct link that should get you in to see our videos.

Podcasting…From Music To Marketing Success

A little bit of shameless self-promotion:

I will be presenting a short session on podcasting (Podcasting…From Music To Marketing Success) for the CADM’s 8th Annual Bob Stone Education Day. This will take place on Wednesday, November 7, 2007. I will be presenting from 9:00 a.m. until 10:15 a.m. but the event will be all day.

The presentation should be fun. I am looking forward to participating.

Online registration is available at https://www.cadm.org/EventSignup.cfm

CADM: Social Networking Communities

The CADM (Chicago Association of Direct Marketing) will be presenting a Second Wednesday Event titled "Social Networking Communities: A Market of One, A Market of Millions" on Wednesday, September 12, 2007 at Petterinos Restaurant (50 West Randolph Street, Chicago)

More information can be found on the CADM website.

"Social networking is not just for placing banner ads anymore. If used properly and creatively, it has the potential to be one of the most cost-effective, dynamic, and targeted tools for marketers. Not all social networking sites are created equal, though. Learn how to find your target customers and influencers and discover the ways to communicate with them using the many resources social networking communities present."

More People Search Engines...

• Pipl
• Wink
  

Wikipedia Strategies

If you are using the Internet to market your services (or that of your company) you are going to have to come up with a Wikipedia strategy at some point. Google’s search engine results favor Wikipedia quite heavily. You will find that your customers use Wikipedia to form a view of how you operate.

So what do you do when you discover that articles on Wikipedia present you in an unfavorable light, or are factually wrong?

Here are some articles that present suggestions for the appropriate course to follow:

• The Right Way To Fix Inaccurate Wikipedia Articles
  The author is a Wikipedia administrator
• What To Do When Your Company Wikipedia Page Goes Bad
  A slightly Machiavellian take on things. The author suggest ways of circumventing negative PR.
• Wikipedia's Business FAQ