Twitter; Social Marketing or Just Social? - In her post, Social Marketing Pitfalls & The Twitter Time Suck, Lynn Terry’s definition of “social” explains exactly how I’ve tried to conduct myself in business all along; by being personable and not so personal. Lynn wrote, …

Social Marketing Graphic Designer (Santa Barbara, CA) - We've done research about what seems to be the most effective strategies to market recycling to young people, such as social norms, but we'd prefer to collaborate with someone who is familiar with social marketing theory, and optimally, …

Your Unique Selling Proposition and Social Marketing Trends - … it via YouTube and Facebook… no mattter what or where your business is located. Yes, that does mean even local offline businesses. Stay tuned… I’ll share the latest ideas of integrating your USP with these social marketing networks. …

Coffee’s Long-Haired Goddess Shows Her Social Ineptitude - The lesson you are about to learn suggests that not only is it important to proactively understand and integrate social marketing into your traditional media strategies, but you’d better be sure that it actually serves towards the …

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1. Search Engine Journal: Google Webmaster Tools Not Updating Sitelinks


2. Gray Wolf is keeping up the fight with: Google Bombs Diffused…Not


3. Search Engine Watch: Aaron Wall Shows Yahoo Lagging On Indexing Sites


4. Friday Traffic Report: Google Changes Algorithm for Subdomains

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• Link-swapping and cookie-dropping


• Using E-Mail Marketing with Affiliate Marketing for Profit

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A lot of the videos on the site are very lengthy and several are up to one hour long. Either way, they all contain quality information about Google's strategy and provide insight into the future of the company. It seems as if Google is trying to remove "the cloud of smoke" that lingers over their head.

• Introducing Video Sitemaps
• Top video sites in November 2007: Google/YouTube, Yahoo!, AOL, MSN
• video blog page
• 7 Simple Ways to Use Google Universal Search to Appear on Top of …

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The question remains: Why would Yahoo harm years and years of brand-building by selling out to a company that has such a bad public persona attached to it? Neither Yahoo nor Google has the privilege of making consumers cringe like Microsoft does.

Yahoo wouldn't sacrifice their company or brand like that. A deal that might make more sense would be for Yahoo to purchase Microsoft's search division, namely the MSN property, but let's be realistic that doesn't make any sense either. What could Yahoo do with MSN.COM? Uh, nothing.

testMerging two conglomerates of this size is quite a daunting task. On the surface, the mutual benefit for both parties isn't obvious. What does make sense is for the two companies to partner together and devise a strategy to hurt Google's search market share. Google has been slapping around Yahoo and Microsoft for going on 3 years now.

testIn March, Google reigned supreme (once again) with a 48% market share in the search market followed by Yahoo at 27.5% and Microsoft at 11%. Here's why this deal may happen? Google has made it obvious that they do not plan to have user-driven search results and that they will always rely on a 'mysterious' algorithm to drive their search results.

testCan you imagine the day when Google gives its visitors the ability to vote up stories or submit new content? Sorry to say it, but Sergey Brin and Larry Page don't have that much faith in us. If Microsoft and Yahoo partner with their search divisions it will be to build a search engine with user-generated rankings and content. Not a search engine like Digg or Netscape, but maybe an entity that puts out initial rankings for keywords and users are given the ability to vote the result up or down.

testIn essence, Digg has one major flaw. Everybody can submit garbage content and pages to Digg. Their database of content grows and grows and nothing else is involved. Although it is very powerful, Digg's model does not allow the content to be "pre-approved" by an editor or algorithm to ensure it is relevant, original and useful. This is where the opportunity lies.

testThat if Microsoft and Yahoo banded together to create a algorithm-based search engine that relied on its visitors to alter the rankings? Imagine that scenario. The algorithm ranks the content initially and the users decide where it goes. Either up or down. None of the major players (except for Netscape) have stepped into this segment yet and I guarantee you Microsoft and Yahoo see this as an opportunity to steal search market share from Google. Netscape has come from obscurity to being a player again because of their switch to this model.

It would be interesting to see Microsoft and Yahoo create a model that relies on algorithms to process the content and the users decide where it falls in the rankings.

testYou know eats at the heart of Bill Gates, Jerry Yang and David Filo each time they hear a reference to "Google It" or "I Googled" in television shows, magazines, popular media and dozens of other sources. It is part of our vocabulary, culture and mindset. That will never change, but a merger and a smart plan from these two giants can put a dent in the public awareness of Google. Another interesting point is that these two companies are perfectly fine on their own.

testThey don't need each other, but they both want Google to go down and that would be the primary reason for a merger. No doubt about it. Rumors have been shot down by both parties and called rampant speculation. The Wall Street Journal is reporting that the talks are dead. Isn't that how all mergers start?

testSomebody leaks it to the public so when the announcement comes, no one is too surprised by the news. Look at what happened with Google and YouTube. It was a rumor and the next week a merger was finalized. Don't be surprised if we see an announcement soon.

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• From what I can tell about 80 of the domains are gigantic companies. The likes of Intel, Xerox, Apple and Convergent are all on the list.
• There are no "market-oriented" domains on the list. For instance, you don't see names like LOAN.COM or PETS.COM. I found that very surprising.

After looking at this list, it seems the corporate behemoths in the US were alerted to register these names by the government before anyone else had ever heard of the internet. Of course, that's just speculation. Thoughts?

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• The Fable Of Front Running: ICANN Says No Evidence But Network …
• Off the wall domain name stats

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Luggage Online took advantage of a cross-promotion for their market and has capitalized on it big time. Their linkbait piece 20 Bizarre Hotels is well-written, well-designed, entertaining and memorable. The tie-in to their market is obvious. People looking to travel need luggage and they are counting on bringing those people to their site.

The thought process is simple. The visitor reads a great article on travel and the next time the visitor needs luggage, they will probably remember Luggage Online. It's a win-win situation for the visitor and the company. Brilliant work by Luggage Online. More tips for driving traffic to eCommerce Sites:

1. Use a powerful content management system. A solution like Joomla is perfect for a site like this. You can only customize so much with a Yahoo Store.


2. Look for cross-segments in your market. In this example, they are using a much larger market like travel to sell luggage.


3. Other examples would include: a piece about the benefits of running to sell shoes or a piece about marriage and relationships to sell diamonds. Always be creative and look for ideas.


4. Create a piece like this on a monthly basis. By nature, most eCommerce are not dynamic in nature. Meaning, they do not use RSS feeds and are not constantly updated. Adding fresh content will add momentum to your site.

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7) 12 Days Of Web 2.0 Christmas

This is too funny. Thought we should start the series out with a funny video. 12 marketing strategies for Web 2.0 sung by a guy driving a car. I wish it was Christmas time -:)

6) Understanding Web 2.0

This is a good overview of Web 2.0 and what it means to consumers. I don't know why the music is in the background. I guess the guy doesn't like hearing himself talk.

5) What is Web 2.0?

I want his office. He's got the writeboard walls. Too cool. This is a good introduction to all the buzzwords and what they mean.

4) Bill Gates at the World Economic Summit

Bill Gates speaking at the World Economic Summit. He evens admits Google has Microsoft beat in a couple of different categories. Very insightful stuff from the "man" himself.

3) Web 2.0 Summit Opening Session

From the O'reilly conference on Web 2.0. Lots of useful insights about user-generated content and nimble companies.

2) What Do Technology CEO's Think About Web 2.0?

Thoughts on Web 2.0 from the founders and CEOs of several different Web 2.0 companies. The founders of TechCrunch, Technorati, Rojo and Socializer are all featured.

1) The Evolution Of The Web

This is just a really cool video to sum everything up. Where we've been, where we're going and the power of the internet as it has evolved over time. Kudos to the developer.

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It's really simple. You install the tracking code on your site (no registration necessary) and then install the Firefox Add-On. The Firefox Add-On tells you how many people are on your site in real-time. Takes all of 5 minutes to setup.

The code looks like this:

Each visit to their page generates a new key code for you to use. Set the key code in your Firefox Add-On options page and your set. They also provide code you can use so the widget is invisible.

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• Making Money Online: Long Tail And Latent Semantic Indexing (LSI …


• this is also a test*************************


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• Latent Semantic Indexing: An Introduction


• What is LSI - Latent Semantic Indexing?


• Web 3G

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I'm not telling you this to brag, but I did follow a few basic guidelines to those kind of repeat visitors to my site. Here are 4 ways to increase your return visitor ratio:

1. Always post original content. If you have something useful and original people will always want to listen to you. Plain and simple.


2. Talk in a conversational tone. Most people don't like 'corporate-speak' or 'very formal settings'. It's important you keep the conversation light and fun. Any copywriter will tell you the same thing.


3. Encourage subscriptions to your feed and newsletter. If someone is a first-time visitor your primary goal should be getting them to come back. The "What Would Seth Godin Do" plugin handles this task for you.


4. Your design has to be clean. I know this is a no-brainer tip, but it's really important your website or blog is easy on the eyes. Most Wordpress themes are designed fairly well, but if you need a color scheme then try the color scheme picker.

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