Bookmarking on the Internet hasn't changed much over the last 10 years

The way we bookmark our favorite content on the Internet is highly flawed and limiting. I plan to change all that. During the last seven months I have been researching, planning and building the future of content bookmarking on the Internet.

If I haven’t got your attention yet, let me ask you this. How do you bookmark your favorite links, music, movies or videos on the Internet? If you are part of the majority your answer will either be, “I email myself the link”, or “I bookmark the page to my favorites”. Both these methods are limiting and flawed. Email was never built for saving links and does a poor job of sorting and categorizing your “bookmark emails”. Email is a communication service and not a bookmarking service. So whats wrong with bookmarking interesting posts and news to my favorites? Well, what do you do when you need a specific bookmark you added to your favorites on your home PC while writing that social sciences paper in the college library? Native browser bookmarking does a much better job then email but doesn’t solve the biggest limitation people have with bookmarking on the Internet, universal accessibility.

As technology expands its reach into all areas of our lives, more and more Internet surfers are accessing content from multiple devices and this has created the need for an cloud-based content bookmarking service which is considered a standard on all devices with Internet access. My plan is for Bmark to become that standard.

The Bmark approach

The concept of bookmarking and especially social bookmarking became popular at the start of Web 2.0 but the whole approach to bookmarking on the Internet has seen little innovation since. The approach used by 99% of services out there, including native browser bookmarking focuses on bookmarking of web pages and not of content. When an Internet user bookmarks a news article in Digg.com, Reddit, StumbleUpon or even in their “favorites”, 2 main pieces of information is being saved, the title of the webpage and the web pages URL (web address). In the end of the day, we could care less for these two pieces of information. We are interested in a piece of content from the page and rarely in the entire web page in its entirety. Most of the bookmarking services out there adopt this approach and provide users with a “tagging” option for categorization. This approach is out dated and I believe the future of content bookmarking on the Internet will use the Bmark approach or something similar.

The Bmark approach to bookmarking focuses on the content that you are interested in bookmarking. When a bookmark is saved within Bmark’s database the following information is saved:

Type of the content: Types include posts, music, movies and videos.
Genre: The genre or category of the content, an example might be “Rock” for music and “News” for posts.
Name of the content: The name of the piece of content that you are interested in bookmarking, an example might be, “Eminem – Lighters” for music or  “‘Your days are numbered’, U.S official tells Assad” for post.
Thumbnail image: A thumbnail sized image taken from the original URL is chosen by the user and saved with the other information, this creates a visual reference to the content which helps with quick identification.
The original URL: The original URL of the bookmarked page so that the user can return to the source of the content.

Example of a blog post bookmarked in Bmark

The Bmark approach allows users to easy find the exact piece of content they bookmarked via a quick search for the name of the content or by browsing through the content type.

Another cool advantage of this approach is that even if the original page containing the bookmarked content becomes unavailable, because the content is bookmarked by name and not page title, it makes it much easier to run a Google search to find additional sources for the specific content. The traditional method of bookmarking does not allow for this unless the name of the content appears in the title of the web page which is not always the case.

Everyone has experienced the irritation of losing all their bookmarks when their laptop died or PC crashed. With Bmark, your bookmarks are never deleted and periodically backed up so you will never have to worry about losing your bookmarks again.

The How

People have less and less time and energy for processes which take multiple steps. Luckily, Bmark will allow you to bookmark your favorite content within 2-clicks.

After installing a browser extension to your favorite browser (takes no longer then 2 min) you will be able to bookmark your favorite cat videos or news items as easy as ever before with the added benefits of using the Bmark approach. By using the entire community of Bmark users and advanced methods leveraging existing html tags and Facebook’s Open Graph protocal, Bmark will be able to populate all the required information automatically or by very little effort from the user.

Once saved into Bmark, you are able to access your bookmarks from any device with an Internet connection by logging into the main Bmark site or by logging into an installed browser extension. Imagine having Bmark installed on every computer in your local library,college campus or offices at work (plans are in the works!).

My vision for Bmark also includes smartphone apps which will allow you to access your bookmarks while on the go or during an important meeting.

The revolution is coming. Make sure you are apart of it by adding your email to our invite list below so that you can be one of the first users to benefit from the new approach to content bookmarking on the Internet.

Don’t get left behind.

Firepole Marketing is the best online marketing blog I have come across on the Internet. The blog is updated very regularly (+- a new post every 2 days) and covers many topics from campaign strategies to twitter marketing and open sourcing your marketing.

The Firepole Marketing blog also offers a free training program to “ Get More Cash Out of Any Business, Website or Blog… In Under 30 Days, Without Spending Money, Working More Hours, or Hiring Staff!”

The Firepole Marketing blog is a very valuable resource for online marketers and entrepreneurs and I highly recommend subscribing to this blog.

The Copyblogger blog is one of the most well written blogs I have seen on the web. Each post is easy to digest and full of humor and valuable tidbits. The blog is updated very regularly and covers topics in social media marketing, blogging strategies and copywriting. The blog offers tutorials in content marketing, email marketing, keyword research and even SEO copywriting.

Copyblogger is an amazing blog for first time online marketers and bloggers and I recommend subscribing via email to take advantage of their amazing content.

In the online world the name of the game is traffic. Every blogger, marketer and website owner is constantly stressing over their Google Analytics stats and looking for ways to improve the flow of traffic to their site. Trafficgenerationcafe.com is a blog run by the passionate Ana Hoffman dedicated entirely to this desire.

Ana does a great job in adding her personal touch to the blog and is very open to her readers about the business side of the blog and how she plans in growing its reach.

Many of the articles covered in the blog provide valuable information directly related to website traffic which is a topic I am especially interested in. Ana provides reviews on the popular Tweet Adder, thesis theme for wordpress and other marketing services. Make sure to check out Ana’s blog and subscribe to her updates via email.

If you subscribe to any online marketing blogs then let the community know by adding a comment below.

Disclaimer: I have not been paid to promote any of the blogs mentioned above.

One of the main challenges of any brick and mortar business is to bring potential customers into their stores. When it comes to the online world, driving traffic is a key focus of most site owners but just like in the physical world of business there are loads of free and cheap methods to bring new customers to your place of business. With a little creativity, hard work and patience, any new business owner can bring in his or her first batch of potential customers. The tough part is making them come back.

Why are active users so important?

Active users are users which use a service on a regular basis. What a regular basis means really depends on the service. An active user of an online accounting service might only log in once a month, but if they use the service all year round, they are an active user.

To understand why a high percentage of active users is so important, I will need to dive into a simple business principle (very basic, I promise). The leading cause of startups to fail is running out of money. There are many reasons for a startup going broke, from mismanagement to a lawsuit but in many cases its from the new user acquisition costs being higher then the life-time value (LTV) of your users . If you spend more on bringing in customers then what they are making for you, you will go broke quick. An increase in the percentage of active users will result in an increase in the average life-time value of your total user base, which will help in preventing financial ruin.

How do I get a high percentage of active users?

Image from insidefacebook.com

One of the most impressive stat about Facebook is that over 50% of its 800 million+ users visit the site every day. This high active user percentage has helped Facebook grow to the giant that it is today and is probably the most significant variable in Facebook’s projected revenues of $2 billion dollars this year. Facebook’s high percentage of active users is a result of a well designed product, its focus on being a communications platform and its size. These 3 factors together have resulted in Facebook becoming the most popular social network in history. Lets break down each factor and see what we can learn.

Well designed product: Even after numerous updates and loads of new features being added all the time, Facebook is still a relatively easy platform to use.  A strong emphasis on usability and a regularly updated design has helped drive Facebook’s popularity among its users throughout the years. With strong competition in almost every area on the Internet, a well designed product with the user in the center of its focus, is critical to reach a high percentage of active users.

Focus on being a communications platform: At its core Facebook is a communications platform and even with its massive user base and multi-billion dollar war chest maintains its focus on doing what it does best, and as a result does it better then anyone else. In order for a new startup to reach a high percentage of active users, it needs to meet the needs of those users better then anyone else or they will simple jump ship. Being focused on a specific area or allowing your users to do something no one else does is the best way to achieve this goal.

Size: This third factor links up with the fact that Facebook is a communications platform. The fact that all your friends are already on Facebook is a very strong driving force and is unarguably one of the dominating factors in why over 50% log in every day. We can learn two important lessons from this factor. Firstly, if your platform has its emphasis on communication or collaboration, you may only see a high level of activity among your users once you reach a critical mass. If your site can only flourish once a community is in place, expect a low level of activity until that community is built. The second lesson is that integrating social aspects to your platform can help increase activity among users. Building in a sharing capability or invite system will result in more users spending more time on your site, but make sure that these new additions do not take away from your focus or affect usability.

Achieving a high percentage of active users is a challenge all online services deal with. If you have any past experience dealing with this challenge or have some ideas on how to increase the percentage of active users, help out the community by posting a comment below.

For full details of the campaign, watch the YouTube video below.

7 Things Highly Productive People Do

Everyone wants to be more productive. This interesting article gives some insights into why some people get so much done. I was able to learn a few tips on being more productive.

Song of the week

Afrojack and Steve Aoki featuring Miss Palmer – No Beef (Official Video)

This catchy dance song is one of my favorites at the moment. Both Afrojack and Steve Aoki have become very popular in the last year and we can only hope that they will be collaborating again in the future.

Movie of the week

Haywire

Haywire is scheduled for release on 19th January next year. Double-crosses, spies and a hot chick kicking ass, what else do you need?

If you like any of the content from this post, make sure to request an invite to Bmark so you can bookmark it!

Foreverbored.com wasn’t a complete failure. Like all failures, I was able to learn valuable lessons and be more prepared for the next time I try and launch a website.

In order to help my fellow entrepreneurs, web designers and online marketers not make the same mistakes I did when planning out foreverbored.com, I have listed the major lessons I learnt below:

1. Understand how Google’s rankings work

This post isn’t meant to be on the fundamentals of SEO and how to get to the top of Google’s search results but I will briefly cover how Google’s page ranking system works and help you understand the competition aspect behind ranking high in Google.

When Google indexes a page, it gives the page a ranking, know as PageRank. The ranking ranges from 0-10, with 10 being the highest ranking. In order for your site to appear in the top 10 search results for your designated keyword, the PageRank of your homepage will need to be among the highest on the net for the corresponding keyword.

To raise your page rank takes time and effort. How exactly Google ranks pages is still a well guarded secret but what we do know is that a combination of high quality backlinks and good SEO practices is the way to go when trying to increase your page rank.

If you would like to check the current page rank of your site, visit Page Rank Checker.

2. Keyword analysis

Example of how the Google keyword tool can be used to check traffic levels for different variations of the phrase "grilled steak"

Now that we are more clued up on how Google ranks sites in its search results, the next step is to analyze the keywords/key phrases we are most interested in targeting. When I was planning foreverbored, I decided that the most commonly used search phrase which matched my site was “free online games”. The Google keyword tool also showed me that there were millions of searches every month for “free online games” so it looked like a keeper. What I failed to realize at the time was that because the search phrase was so popular, the level of competition for the phrase was extremely high.

The easiest thing you can do to check the competition levels of a keyword or phrase is to run a search in Google and see the number of results. When running a search for “free online games”, Google returns 1,630,000,000 results which is insane. When running a search for a less competitive phrase like, “online marketing consultation” Google returns 12,700,000 results. This is a simple test but an easy way to compare competition levels of certain keywords. Don’t make the mistake of thinking that if Google returns a “small” number of results for a certain phrase that the phrase is good for targeting. If the phrase has a low competition level its usually as a result of the phrase not getting many searches per month in Google. The trick is to find a high traffic search phrase with low-levels of competition.

3. Use Marketing Samurai to examine the competition

Market Samurai is an amazing keyword analysis, SEO and marketing tool. The software is easy to use and can be used to create a matrix of information around your targeted keywords. I am not affiliated with Market Samurai but highly recommend it to any web designer who is planning on building a serious site around specific keywords. Investing in this software can save you months of frustration as you try and enter a market with competition levels so high you will never break through. Market Samurai is also an amazing tool for affiliate marketers, who can use the software to find niche keywords which have high traffic and low competition levels.

After months of frustration in not getting much traffic from Google to foreverbored.com, I was able to use Market Samurai to see very clearly that I was never going to get to the top 10 of Google for the phrase “free online games”. Looking back I am somewhat glad that I failed in such a manner as it motivated me to learn how these complex systems work and how I can avoid making the same mistakes with future projects. I am glad that my new project, Bmark, is already in Google’s top 10 search results for the keyword “bmark”, obviously the keyword isn’t very popular but that’s up to me to change.

Image courtesy of deviantart.com

The tech world is drooling over the latest release of the Android OS, version 4.0 also known as Ice Cream Sandwich. In a recent live demonstration at Le Web, advertised as Europe’s #1 Internet event where over 2,500 entrepreneurs, bloggers and tech gurus gather for 2 days in Paris, we got a taste of some of the impressive features and upgrades of Ice Cream Sandwich. I have embedded the YouTube video containing this demo at the end of this post. The demo starts 2 minutes in.

Google says that this version of Android is the biggest overhaul of the operating system since the Android project was started 3 years ago and from the demo we can clearly see this. The OS has a brand new interface and integrates social elements such as profile pictures, Twitter and other platforms right into many of its basic features.

Some of my favorite improvements:

• New contacts section containing “contact card” which shows your connections with individuals on social networks.
• Being able to create folders of apps right on the home screen.
• Visuals added to notifications.
• Resizable widgets.
• Favorites bar

Searchquotes.com

Searchquotes.com is a great site for finding inspirational quotes and sayings on all kinds of topics from love to work and even war. Searchquotes.com is different to other “quotes” sites because many of its quotes contain graphics which can be shared on Facebook and other social networks.

Song of the week

John Mayer – Stop This Train (Live in LA)

John Mayer is one of my favorite artists. Few musicians sound as good live as they do on their albums, John Meyer is one of those musicians. I hope you enjoy the track.

Movie of the week

Man on a ledge

Man on a ledge is scheduled for release in January next year and I cant wait. I’m a big fan of crime/action films and this one looks good.

If you like any of the content from this post, make sure to request an invite to Bmark so you can bookmark it!

Tip 1: Build a custom landing page

Image is taken from the official Facebook page of Coca-Cola

The image above is what you see when you visit Coca-Cola’s Facebook page. Having a custom landing page allows you to engage the visitors to your page and encourage them to become fans by clicking the like button. You can clearly see in the example above that this tactic is being used by Coca-Cola who have a bright red arrow pointing to the Like button to visually tempt the visitors to click it.

Why do I need a custom landing page? Well, according to A/B testing conducted by Brandglue, a social media management company, using a custom landing page increased conversions of visitors to fans by over 100% when comparing the same campaign with the custom landing page disabled. If you would like to read more about this study, visit faceitpages.com.

For instructions on setting up your own custom landing page click here.

Tip 2: Use media in your updates

Image taken from the official Facebook page of Bmark

Using media in your updates is a great way to increase engagement among your fans. People are more likely to comment or like your posts if they contain images or video content so make sure to use media when ever possible. Treating your fans with video content or images from a company event helps to strengthen your company’s brand and increase awareness as fans share the content with their friends. Posts containing graphics will also draw more attention among all the posts appearing in a fans news feed. Posting useful how-to videos or a funny image will result in an increase of shared content from your page which may even result in a piece of content going viral.

Tip 3: Promote other social media platforms using applications

Image taken from official Facebook page of the University of Winsor

The wonderful Facebook developers platform has allowed talented programmers to create all kinds of fun and engaging applications which can be added very easily to your Facebook page. Certain applications can connect to other sites such as YouTube, which can then be  integrated with your Facebook page. Using custom tabs to bring new media and content to your fans will encourage engagement and drive new traffic to your other social media sites. A great example of using applications within Facebook as a marketing tactic is done every year by the University of Winsor. The University runs a Facebook Video contest where students are encouraged to upload their personal videos to the university’s site. The videos are then uploaded to YouTube and placed within their Facebook page using an application.

Tip 4: Use polls and ask questions

Image taken from the official Facebook page of Battlefield

By using “Facebook questions”, online marketers can collect info directly from their brands fans. In addition to collecting useful information, using a poll or asking questions within a post are great ways to create engagement. The screenshot above is taken from the Facebook page of Battlefield, a very successful gaming franchise. The Battlefield marketer has done a great job with this post by promoting fan created content (video recorded by players of Battlefield 3, Battlefield’s recent release) via a poll. I’m sure the fans who created the content will be thankful for the exposure which will in turn strengthen the Battlefield brand. To run a poll within your Facebook page simply click on “Question” which will appear in the list of posting options on your page’s wall.

If you have had success using polls within your Facebook page, tell our readers about it in the comments section below.

Post of the week

5 marketing technology stories you might have missed

Image courtesy of http://www.refford.com

John Refford’s news site is updated regularly and often contains real gems, make sure to visit his site and sign up to his RSS feed. You can also follow him on Twitter at @iamreff.

Song of the week

PUMPED UP KICKS | DUBSTEP

This video went viral on YouTube and at time of posting had a whopping 19,134,316 views. The dancer in the video is Marquese Scott and he is AMAZING!

Movie of the week

The Avengers

The Avengers is a highly anticipated movie which should be very popular among comic book  and fantasy action movie fans.

If you would like to see your favorite content in one of our posts, request an invite to Bmark, bookmark the content and share it with your friends.