We’d like to know how you use labels in BudURL.  Please share your thoughts in the comments below.

Twitter does one thing and it does it pretty well. You are limited to 140 characters so your message must be concise. People are overloaded with communication today. Twitter, honestly, is a bit refreshing. So much time is spent on communication these days that hours upon hours are wasted with finding just the right phrase and sentiment. Corporate blogs would have likely caught on much faster if there were text limits with each post. Instead, corporate marketers were given an unlimited canvass on which to gush their pitch. I find the best blogs are those they are short, sweet, and to the point. Sure, there’s a time for research and in-depth reporting, but in the end, who has the time?

In the words of Joe Friday, “Just the facts, ma’am.”

So, what is our first iPhone application going to be? I’m afraid you’ll have to wait and find out. We’ll be announcing the details soon enough, and yes, we’re taking advantage of the goodness in the iPhone 3.0 SDK. In the meantime, I’ll leave you with this – there are a lot of great content producers in the world and each has a great message and audience. Every business is challenged with reaching them when they are ready to listen. We want to create a platform that makes this possible.

Check back soon for more details!

We posted before on how to use BudURL in your job search. Now we’re adding one more tactic to the list.

One of the newer features of BudURL is keywords. If anyone finds your BudURL through a keywords search, these keywords are noted in your click-stream.

How can you utilize this feature during your job search? First, your resume/portfolio needs to be posted on the internet (anywhere from LinkedIn, CareerBuilders, or even just your website). Lets say you are an event coordinator. If potential employers are coming across your resume when searching Google, SimplyHired, etc. using keywords like “event planner” and “event organizer”, these are words you want to start using more often in your resume/portfolio/website. These are also keywords that you can begin to use when searching for a job.

In our earlier post we talked about the ability to know who’s looking at your resume. In order to see which companies are looking at your resume you can look at the IP Host in your click stream.

In the screenshot above, I’ve made up a fake IP Host “12-345-678-912.ip.companyabc.net”. In your click stream you should see something similar, numbers followed by a company website. However, not all of your IP Host will have all of this information. Some IP Host just contain numbers.

What “12-345-678-912.ip.companyabc.net” means to me is that someone from CompanyABC clicked on my BudURL. I can go to “www.companyabc.net” to see their company website.

If you’re seeing 5 or 6 IP Host from the same company, that could mean that that particular company is forwarding around your resume. (Which is good! ) At that point you could send a follow-up e-mail or phone call.

We hope this helps everyone out during these tough times. Let us know if you have any questions or ideas!

And as we’ve said before, for all of you job searching right now, we can’t wait to see your buds grow.

WARNING: This is about to get technical & ridiculously “nerdy”

Since BudURL shortens URLs, it essentially redirects URLS. In other words, your internet server translates “http://budurl.com/l2y4″ to mean “redirect to http://www.budurl.com”.

In HTTP coding, there are four different ways to redirect a URL; 301-Permanent Redirect, 302-Object Moved, 304-Not Modified and 307-Temporary Redirect.

A lot of other URL shorteners use 301-Permanent Redirect (hence all the confusion over BudURL using 307-Temporary Redirect). In the most technical terms, a 301-Permanent Redirect,

“…tells the Web client that the location for the requested resource has permanently changed. The new location is specified in the Location HTTP header. This is primarily useful for Web clients that keep record of HTTP URL links. Upon receiving this status code, the Web client can update the stored URL with the new location.”

In other words, a 301 redirect means that the page has permanently moved.

Google suggests using a 301 when,

“You’ve moved your site to a new domain, and you want to make the transition as seamless as possible.

People access your site through several different URLs. If, for example, your home page can be reached in multiple ways – for instance, http://example.com/home, http://home.example.com, or http://www.example.com – it’s a good idea to pick one of those URLs as your preferred (canonical) destination, and use 301 redirects to send traffic from the other URLs to your preferred URL. You can also use Webmaster Tools to set your preferred domain.

You’re merging two websites and want to make sure that links to outdated URLs are redirected to the correct pages.”

So, for example, when you are building a site and have decided to permanently change the URL, you would use a 301 redirect. Since a 301 is a permanent redirect, if you want to change the URL again there would have to be a second redirect. In other words, if I have www.oldwebsite.com and use a 301 to permanentaly redirect it to www.newwebsite.com. Later on, when I have www.evennewerwebsite.com, I would have to still redirect www.oldwebsite.com to www.newwebsite.com and then redirect again to www.evennewerwebsite.com. A chain of redirects can become problematic for search engines to pick-up.

However, BudURL gives you the option of using a 307-Temporary Redirect. For one obvious reason, users are shortening their URLs, not permanently replacing them. If you are deleting your primary URL or permanently replacing it, you should use a 301-Permanent Redirect and not simply use a BudURL. (If you don’t know what I’m talking about then don’t delete anything!)

Once again, in the most technical terms, a 307-Temporary Redirect,

“…is used to prevent a Web browser from losing data when the browser issues an HTTP POST request. Normally, when a Web browser issues a POST request and then receives a 302-Object Moved redirect message from the Web server, the browser issues a GET request for the new location and loses the data in the POST request. With a 307 redirect, the browser reissues the POST request with the original data to the new location.”

Kind of confusing.

A 307-Temporary Redirect tells the server to redirect to another page, just like a 301-Permanent Redirect. But, it also tells the requester that the original location still exists.

Therefore, since BudURL offers a 307-Temporary Redirect option, it helps eliminate any caches you could experience in the future. Aka, we’re not creating any permanent hurdles that could trip you up later.

So, our preference is to use a 307, but if 301 is how you roll, we’ve got you covered.

Many teachers are already using blogs, online videos and articles to add to the classroom. Our intern’s older brother is a high school teacher and he has his own blog that he uses to keep students up-to-date on assignments, class schedules and current topics. Universities and colleges are using programs such as Blackboard to post grades, assignments, etc. But the ultimate question is, are students using it?

Teachers, now you can know.

Shrink those horribly long urls from your syllabus and keep track of when students are using them. Then you can know if these articles, videos and blogs are valuable sources to your students. And better yet, you can improve them. For example, if you’re seeing in one week that tons of students are clicking through to one video, you can begin your class discussions around that video. And for the future, post videos that are similar.

Also, a long complaint of teachers and students has been broken urls. Teachers try to post a url that’s 3 lines long! And yet somehow those last 5 characters get left off. How much more efficient would it be to say, “Go to BudURL.com/HowToWriteAPaper”. Now your students can’t complain about not being able to remember the link or not being able to access the site.

We’d like to know if BudURL is helping you in the classroom, and if there are any other ways that you’re using it!

Anyways, I wanted to share with everyone one of the things I’ve been working on through out the semester.  Since social media is one of the biggest buzz words this year, I created a social median campaign for Live Oak 360, which included researching and exploring a different social network every week.

Here’s the reports that I wrote up!

Social Median Campaign: http://budurl.com/smcamp

Facebook: http://budurl.com/fbreport

StumbleUpon: http://budurl.com/sureport

YouTube: http://budurl.com/ytreport

SocialMedian: http://budurl.com/smreport

LinkedIn: http://budurl.com/lireport

Delicious: http://budurl.com/dereport

Vimeo: http://budurl.com/vireport

I would love to hear what everyone has to say.. anything I’ve left out, messed up or perfected (if you want to focus on what I’ve perfected that’s perfectly okay with me )

Here’s your chance to win up to $2,500 just for telling the world what you think about BudURL! It’s really quite simple. Here’s how it works.

1. Create a 30-second (minimum) video that explains why you love BudURL, why you use it, and how much you can’t live without it.
2. Upload your masterpiece to YouTube, Vimeo, Facebook, etc. and send us the link via email.
3. Comments = Votes. The more unique comments you receive the more votes you accumulate. (unique means no duplicates – one vote per registered member per site)
4. We will begin accepting submissions at 12:01am (Central Time) on March 1st. The contest ends at 12:01 am (Central Time) on March 30th. The winner will be announced at 9:57am (Central Time) on April 1st.

What will we win?

The minimum amount is $1,000. Every entry that is submitted will increase this amount by $50. The maximum amount is $2,500.

Frequently Asked Questions & Fine Print

• There will be only one winner. All the money will go to a single entrant. In the event of a tie, the decision will be determined by the staff at Live Oak 360.  Purchasing our service does not increase your chance of winning.
• The video must include at least one picture of the BudURL logo and must show at least one unique BudURL link that directs visitors to the BudURL homepage. Failure to incorporate these two requirements will result in disqualification.
• Submissions must be sent to support@budurl.com via email between 12:01 am March 1, 2009 and 12:01 am March 30th. (all times Central) Comments (votes) must be made during this same timeframe. Any votes after 12:01 am Central March 30th will not count. All entrants will be added to this blog page.
• The amount paid will not exceed $2,500.
• Payment will be made by check in US Dollars and are subject to the regulations of the Internal Revenue Service.
• If the rules of your state etc. prohibit you from participating in this event, you’re out. No exceptions.
• Participants must be 18 or older and a resident of the United States. (apologies to our international fans) Checks may not be mailed to an international address.
• You do not have to be a paying customer of BudURL to enter.
• If foul play is suspected, you may be disqualified at any time by the staff at Live Oak 360. Play fair or don’t play at all.
• All entries become the property of Live Oak 360, Inc.
• These rules are subject to change as questions are asked and our attorneys get involved.

Be creative and have fun. We’d love to see a music video, a rap song, poetry, or someone in costume. Imitate your favorite celebrity. Shave your budurl on your head, or interview people on the street. We like to be entertained!

Have any questions? Please send them to support@budurl.com.

Visit this page for updates.

]]> http://www.liveoak360.com/blog/2009/02/24/budurl-video-extravaganza/feed/ 0 http://www.liveoak360.com/blog/2009/02/24/budurl-video-extravaganza/ http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/LiveOak/~3/4pjElJvmmu4/ http://www.liveoak360.com/blog/2009/02/06/budurl-university-marketing-101/#comments Fri, 06 Feb 2009 16:43:10 +0000 sarah http://www.liveoak360.com/blog/?p=63 There have been plenty of sites out there discussing how marketers can use BudURL. But given the quantity of questions we get about “how do I use BudURL?” we thought it would be good to share a few basics.

As many marketers know, social media has been a blessing and a curse at the same time. It’s an amazing tool that can used to have a genuine dialogue with your customers. But, it’s very hard to prove return of investments (ROI). In other words, how do you prove to your boss that social media is worth spending money on? You, as a marketer/public relations director/communications director, know that social media is essential to the growth of your company. But how do you show your boss that it’s worth it?

By using BudURL, you can track where your links are going and when & how many people are clicking on them. This kind of information can help you better reach your target audience.

For example, lets say you post a blog about a new product/service (which you link to with a BudURL). Then you post that blog’s link as another BudURL on social networking sites. Now, you sit and wait. If you’re finding that most of your viewers are clicking through to your website in the afternoon, maybe you should try being online in the afternoon. Then you are readily available to answer questions and comments immediately. Or better yet, maybe that’s when your website should promote deals and discounts?

By looking at the BudURL you linked to on social networking sites, you can see which sites your customers are using. These are the networks your company needs to be an active part of. These are the networks where you will be able to have great feedback and discussion about your company.

Now that you’ve done all this, here’s how you prove that social media is worth it. You use the data that your BudURL’s have collected and visually show your boss the increase in clicks to your website compared to increases in sales.

This is our take on a few ways that BudURL can be used in marketing.

How do you use BudURL in your marketing?