Another win for both the design team at DO and the client, Dan and Dave. We spend a lot of time at DO trying to create user experiences that are truly unique, simple and well-planned. DanandDave.com is not just a result of great UX planning, but also a cross functional team of designers and developers working together to make the best balance of content and ecommerce. Being featured on The Served (The Served Sites feature top projects from the Behance Network, filtered by industry) means a lot because its peers from your industry recognizing the solid work that your team is doing. Thanks to the curators at Behance.

About Dan and Dave

Dan and Dave have been called “visionaries” in the art of magic and cardistry. They are world renowned for their unique style and transformation of the craft into visual art.

Today is a new day for the color black. Today it drapes itself across some of the most visited websites across internet to oppose something called SOPA. According to EFF.org, it states “The Internet blacklist legislation—known as PROTECT IP Act (PIPA) in the Senate and Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) in the House—invites Internet security risks, threatens online speech, and hampers innovation on the Web.”

What companies went black today?

• Google
• Wordpress
• Wikipedia
• Mozilla Firefox
• Amazon – supporting with black banner to right
• Boing Boing
• Nicekicks – I like this site and it shows penetration of support to smaller players as well

How can you support this and take action?

• Understand SOPA – 1) BBC – http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-16612628 2) CNN – http://money.cnn.com/2012/01/17/technology/sopa_explained/index.htm
• View website gallery of images – http://news.cnet.com/2300-1023_3-10011024.html
• Write In – http://americancensorship.org/
• Join the Website Blackout List – http://sopastrike.com/

It’s all about education at the end of the day and knowing that the form you fill out, the petition you sign or that tweet you send matters.

Though Friday the 13th is generally considered an unlucky day, it is Friday and it can’t really be that bad. Here is the weekly round up of the top tech stories that you can’t miss this week. One story will affect your search engine optimization plans, one will effect your holiday shopping next year, and the final will make you rethink about mobile marketing.

1. Google launches “search plus your world”

Google continues its move to social networking dominance by launching “Google search plus your world”. Now, we all know that Google is the undisputed king when it comes to search, and we have all been watching as they awkwardly try to transition into social networking. It reminds me of when Eddie Murphy was the king of stand up comics and for some reason awkwardly tried to transition into being a singer. We all knew he was really good at one thing, and yet he had to try singing. But I digress. Google is launching “Search plus your world” for Google plus members which should benefit those social networkers who have become part of the Google Plus network. Google search plus your world will enable the user to search across both the wider internet that Google traditionally provides search results for as well as across your social network (Google Plus only). There is a little toggle switch at the top so you can choose between the two if you like. Here is an example of how it works:  you type in something like “Pizza” (My favorite search query) you will get both the traditional results, along with results that show your friends eating pizza, or pizza recipes they share. Here is Google’s video that shows the new social networking features in the search engine. For privacy purposes these social features will only appear if they are shared with you or if the post is public. Additionally Google will add the image results to your search so you will see both the images Google traditionally has in its index as well as images of your social circle. We will keep an eye on it because the Google search plus your world will definitely begin to effect search engine optimization efforts.

2. Consumer Electronics show

The CES is where the latest and greatest in all things electronic are released. If you don’t know what it is, it is basically what happens when a nerd goes to heaven. I didn’t get to go this year, but I did get to read about these great new gadgets:

• 3D printer – This is just so amazing. Instead of printing on paper it prints on plastic, and the printer bring what is on the computer screen to life. I saw a video and it was able to “print” a flute, a replica of a person, a mannequin head, a toothbrush, and a shoe. Now, I don’t want any of those items per say but the possibilities are endless. I can see this increasingly being used for ecommerce.
• Lenovo Yoga – Both a laptop and a tablet this is one very cool machine.  It is a laptop that can fold back and become a tablet, or fold over and become a stand to watch movies or TV on. The part that I like the best is that it has both the functionality of a tablet with screen based movements as well the laptops processing power and keyboard. It would be so nice not to need a laptop and tablet separately.

3. Are apps more important than search on mobile?

I saw the link to this article on Danny Sullivan’s facebook wall and thought it was worth taking a read. It brought up some valuable points about how people use and search on their mobile devices as compared to how they use apps on their mobile devices. Some main points that I took away from the article are:

• Mobile users may be searching the web less than we think and are instead searching the app store.
• Whereas a mobile website may be browsed momentarily, an app is on the phone and will be opened again and again. This means repeat traffic
• Consumers interacting with apps show more brand favorability and purchase intent.

Articles like this continue to show that the cutting edge of the digital revolution is in mobile, and the playing field will continue to change

Those are the big three stories for the week – have a great weekend!

What to do about the Facebook Timeline

The Facebook Timeline is coming and there is not too much you can do about it. I don’t mean coming in the sense that it will soon be released (it already is), I mean it is coming in the sense that you are soon going to have one – like it or not. Facebook has made it clear that Timelines are the way Facebook is going and these will basically be the story of your life. Are you ready for the story of your life to be displayed? Is your company ready for the story of its existence to be displayed? How will this affect your digital marketing plan? What does this all mean – let’s explore.

The Concerns:
First off many users have been concerned about their privacy, and if the timeline is not updated or edited I can see why. When you look back on the Timeline it is the story of your life: the good, the bad, and the ugly. This can work for or against you. Yes, the posts that Facebook is digging up have always been available – but for someone to look through them they would have had to put in some serious time and effort to keep clicking “More Stories”. They would basically have to be the stalker from the movie “Swimfan”. In this new Timeline format your whole history is laid out in one easy to read format. One stupid comment, ex-girlfriend, and bad decision at a time. Fortunately, Facebook provides a way to edit the Timeline. Just select the post you want to remove from the timeline and click “hide” – it will save you a lot of hassle. The idea is that you are able to share your life, and this is a great tool to do it – just be careful that you only share the parts that you want.

The Possibilities:
The part that is interesting to me as a digital marketer is what companies are going to do with the Timeline when they engage with it. The Timeline is a great way to connect with your customers and let them know the story of your brand. It will put a humanizing face on the company and show that people work at your company. Humanizing your company is an excellent digital marketing technique. Each message and each historic event shows that your company was built by people, and is not some random entity. Additionally (and I think more importantly), you can put a message out and do not necessarily have to sustain a community. Yes, interaction will always be important on Facebook, but with the Timeline you will be able to put out a consistent message without monitoring the network all the time. This is great for smaller companies and/or companies that do not have a full time social media person.

The Timeline, like any new social media event provides opportunities as well as challenges. It is important to recognize that even though these are new updates, they are here to stay. The Timeline is something you are going to have to embrace for your personal life, and your company is going to have to embrace for digital marketing. Learn to use it and make it work for you, then not only will you have a great past, you will also be looking good in the future.

What is Retargeting?

Overview
Retargeting is one of the hottest trends in online marketing right now and at DO we use it to help businesses grow. This online marketing technique combines many of the strengths that online marketing offers and puts them into one package. In the hands of a savvy digital marketer retargeting can:
• Hypertarget customers on a product level
• Keep your business in the customer’s mind after they have left the site
• Target just the customers who have shown interest
• Increase conversion and click-through-rates of your ads

Many companies offer this service such as Google (in Google-speak it is called “remarketing”), Retargeter and Fetchback. All these companies basically do the same thing with slight variations to accomplish the same goal.

What is retargeting?
Retargeting is the practice of serving ads to visitors after they have visited your site. When a visitor comes to a page on your site that you have selected to be part of the retargeting campaign, a cookie is placed on the visitor’s browser. This cookie follows the unique visitor as they browse other sites on the internet. When a visitor who has been “cookied” on your site, visits a site that participates in the retargeting network your participate in, your ad is shown to the visitor.

Why is it powerful?
Retargeting is powerful because it combines many of the strengths from other online marketing techniques and combines them into one. It combines the targeting of search engine marketing with the follow up of email campaigns.

The best way to understand the power of retargeting is with an example. Imagine you have an online clothing store that serves a variety of customers both male and female. In this online clothing store during a five minute period you receive two visitor, neither of which make an immediate purchase. The first visitor is a male who browses the sports t-shirt section of the site and clicks through to browse the Red Sox t shirt section of the site. He likes what he sees, but is just browsing and decides not to make a transaction. The second visitor to your site is a woman who browses the sundresses portion of the site. She is also a fan of what she sees but is at work and doesn’t want to get out her credit card so also no transaction.

Without retargeting the sale is lost, however see the difference when retargeting enters the equation. As the male browses the internet later that week he is served with ads of Red Sox shirts form your store. He sees the ads on his favorite sites, and this constant reminder makes him more comfortable with your brand. Eventually he just decides “I’ll buy it” – it is there and he likes it, he just needed to be reminded.
The female visitor is served with sundress ads for your store as she browses the web. She browses the web for many different reasons and sometimes is in a shopping mood and sometimes is not. Your ad is served up often and catches her when she is in a shopping mood. She remembers that she liked the dress, is now familiar with the brand, and decides to purchase the dress.

As you can see, the constant reminder to these customers of products that they are interested in is a powerful way to drive sales.

About us:
We do digital marketing and love strategy. If you are interested in learning more about a retargeting campaign, please contact us.

It was a Thursday when BJ and Adam took me aside to their room and informed me that they had a very important assignment for me to complete. The serious looks on their faces informed me that this  was the kind of assignment that separates the wheat from the part of the plant that is not wheat. This assignment would move me up to the big leagues. Opening my notebook, and moving past the pages filled with doodles of hearts and Justin Bieber I began to furiously write down the monumental task that lay ahead of me. My assignment, nay my calling -  was to find a way to find a way to get a puppet to promote ContestCore our new online contest software. It was a difficult assignment – but I knew it was one I must complete. I hit the streets trying all the tricks I knew and was turned down by many famous and semi-famous puppets alike. However just when I was about to give up and my darkest hour was upon me -  I saw him:  Professor Hans Von Puppet. He was  giving a lecture at a local college and knew he was the one. His  professorial jacket, his almost German accent, the way I could pay him to say what I wanted all told me to pursue this puppet. This was it! So ladies and gentleman I present to you Professor Hans Von Puppet giving his thoughts on ContestCore

Ugly shirts = pretty money? This holiday season we are hosting the first annual  “Ugly Christmas Sweater” Contest and we want everyone to enter. We all know you have that one sweater in the back of your closet that just hurts to look at, it only gets worn once a year to make your mom happy, but you really wish you could throw it in the fireplace. That’s the sweater we’re talking about! Take a picture of yourself wearing that beauty, register and submit your photo online at http://uglysweater.contestcore.com/ and you could be one of 3 winners! First prize is a $300 Visa gift card, second prize is a $150 Visa gift card, and third prize is a $50 Visa gift card. Keep in mind those prizes could really come in handy toward paying off your post-holiday debt.
We are accepting entries November 29th through December 9, 2011. After December 9th the voting process begins. Tell all your friends, family, co-workers, neighbors, reindeers and grinches – really anyone with internet access, to vote for your ugly sweater so you can be a winner! Bonus if you get Santa and the elves to vote for you, there’s no way you can lose with their votes. Voting may occur once a day per person. The top three people with the most votes and worst sweaters win! Don’t forget to share your ugly Christmas sweater on Facebook, Twitter, through email, on your blogs, messenger pigeons, and any other way you know how.
The winner will be announced on December 22, 2011. Just in time for Christmas! Could there be a better gift, than getting money for that hideous thing? I mean totally awesome Christmas sweater! You won’t be shy to wear that prized possession anymore.

To host your own contest on ContestCore or to  demo the platform, head to contestcore.com.

I recently attended an interesting webinar held by Hootsuite guest starring Geotoko. It was a little salesy, but the premise of the webinar is that location based marketing is the way of the future. Not the pretend future we were promised in Back to the Future Two with awesome flying skateboards and shoes that self inflated – but the near future and even current. Seeing as my job is to stay on top of interactive marketing and internet marketing trends I decided to look further into this and share how location based marketing is truly a powerful tool to bridge the gap between the digital and physical world. In this blog you will learn what location based marketing is, the different companies that are the big players with location based services, and three tips to be more effective with location based marketing.

What is location-based marketing?
First, lets define location-based marketing. Location based marketing (LBM) is when companies use geographic locations provided by GPS on mobile devices to market to potential customers as well as provide the potential customers useful information and fun games. There are a variety of ways to market/target your customers using LBM and each method has different advantages and disadvantages. Whatever way you use LBM, the overarching goal is to reach the right person, at the right time, with the right ad. How you do it – that is the fun part!

Who are the big players in location based services?

1. Foursquare – Check-in enough to become the mayor? Foursquare an extremely popular app. is a highly social way to utilize location-based marketing.  They are a leader in the field and have reached a point where they are a major player in LBM.  Foursquare allows a customer to check-in and leave suggestions or messages at various establishments. Businesses can promote on Foursquare via coupons or providing perks if someone becomes the mayor. Mayorship – though gimmicky – leads to real world prizes, which is unique and a great bridge between the physical and digital world. These real world prizes create loyal customers who often go to these businesses with hopes of becoming the mayor or retaining their mayorship. Foursquare also has a unique and fun badge system where you receive badges based on your check-ins. When someone checks-in they also have the option to post on Facebook and Twitter – these check-ins serve as a way to promote businesses.  Check-ins show that a person likes your product enough to announce to their social networks they are there.
2. Yelp – Yelp uses one of the most powerful forms of marketing – word of mouth. Current customers leave reviews for anyone who is looking.  Sometimes these reviews are positive, and sometimes they are negative. However the review is slanted they tend to be more trusted as people assume that these are non-commercial based reviews. These reviews are then found by potential customers who have searched “nearby” and been geolocated by GPS. Much like foursquare there are also check-in and deal options, and businesses can utilize these to reach customers at the right time and in the right place.
3. Gowalla – Gowalla has not been around as long as Foursquare, but they are extremely popular. Gowalla is a GPS based application that tracks your location, and does so with a great user interface. One feature I really like is that with Gowalla you can’t check into a location unless you are physically there.  You can’t game the system with Gowalla as it uses your GPS to find where you are, and if you aren’t there – you aren’t checking in. Additionally Gowalla allows you to make trips, which are an excellent feature if you are just visiting a new city. These check-ins are also pushed to social networks, which allow potential customers to see that their friends frequent an establishment.

What are some ways to effectively use location-based marketing for my business?

1. Show some love – We have all seen the stickers for Yelp local stores. Remind people in the physical world of what you are doing in the digital world. Keep your location based marketing top of mind.
2. Make deals that matter – If a potential customer is close and they see a great deal, they are much more likely to go to your store than for an average deal. Think great discounts to woo repeat customers.
3. Stay current – Make sure that you are listed on all the major location-based marketing services. Many have phone lines and if the address or phone number is incorrect it is important to correct them so your check-ins have that viral effect with the correct information.

Who can help me with this?

If you need help with your mobile marketing and location based marketing Digital Operative is here to help. With years of experience using these tools we are able to help you promote your business in any digital form. Feel free to call us at (619) 795-0630 or visit our website at www.digitaloperative.com

Fashion and technology don’t always work hand-in-hand (see Steve Jobs’ turtlenecks, Mark Zuckerbergs’ sweatshirts, and Bill Gates’ Flowbee haircut for the past 3 decades) so when fashion and technology do team up in a meaningful way it is important to take note. With this in mind DO is proud to announce the launch of Collective Habit  – a Magento Go eCommerce online womens fashion boutique that offers fashionable must-have clothes and accessories at prices that won’t leave you broke. Collective Habit is a collaboration of the team at DO (special thanks to Chris and Evan) and Kim Lim. The project came together like this – Kim, the founder of Collective Habit, is an avid shopper who was disappointed with the selection of clothing that San Diego had to offer, especially the price points at which the clothing was sold. She was tired of spending more than she wanted on clothes or being forced to purchase mediocre items at a lower cost. She decided enough was enough and wanted to do something about it. Recognizing that other women may be having similar issues Kim started Collective Habit. Collective Habit is an online store where fashionable women won’t have to go broke and feel guilty for shopping because they get such a great deal on quality items. These items are super fashion-forward, but not overly trendy so that there is something for everyone. Kim came to DO with her vision in mind and wanted DO to translate her vision online.

The goal of Collective Habit is to create an online community where women can visit a trusted fashion source, find that perfect piece to complete their outfit, and know they got a great value for their clothes. With this goal in mind DO went to work, using our vast knowledge of website development and SEO and leaning on Kim almost entirely for our sense of fashion. The plan was to create an eCommerce site that went above and beyond the typical Magento Go Site. Magento Go is an online platform for small businesses to create their online eCommerce store quickly, efficiently, and have their site look professional. With so many tools and functions within the platform, it’s a great way for smaller businesses to get started. DO made the platform work for the project by pushing the limits of the platform. We were able to produce a uniquely branded website that works well on both the desktop as well as in the mobile environment. DO gave the user a high-end feel on both the mobile and the desktop site, with simplicity that Collective Habit required to provide each piece a chance to shine no matter its price. The site was launched November 7th and can be found at http://www.collectivehabit.com/. We hope you take the time to check it out. We think you will be impressed that (finally) technology and fashion have come together.