Thursday, September 30, 2010

Email Intelligence via Gmail Priority Inbox


Do you ever open your inbox and have to take a deep breath as you see the total count climb… and climb… and climb? It seems like each day that goes by we receive more and more email – not necessarily “important” email though. Well, for you fellow Gmail users, fear no longer!

For the past couple of weeks I have enabled my Gmail Priority Inbox and must say, it has been a lifesaver. Google began rolling out Priority Inbox about a month ago, even though the concept has been in the works for over 18 months. Once you enable Priority Inbox, a new option appears on your left side navigation which allows you to switch between your normal inbox view and your Priority Inbox. Within your new inbox, it will now be organized into a three pane view of important and unread, starred and everything else.

TechCrunch’s Jason Kincaid explains, “The system uses a plethora of criteria to decide which messages are most important: things like how frequently you open and/or respond to messages from a given sender, how often you read messages that contain a certain keyword, and whether or not the message is addressed solely to you or looks like it was sent to a mailing list. If you come across a message that’s been marked important when it shouldn’t have been, you can hit an arrow to tell Gmail it’s messed up. Likewise, if a message that should have been flagged gets sent to the ‘everything else’ area, you can promote it. Through these actions Gmail gets progressively smarter, so the system should work better over time.”

I believe once you try Priority Inbox, you will not go back to your standard Gmail Inbox. I also already notice my eyes have been trained to merely glance at the “everything else” section but to concentrate on “important and unread”. I have not had an instance yet where a critical email was not labeled correctly.

So, I highly recommend you give it a try. You can always “turn off” the feature if you don’t find it helpful. And to slowly become accustomed to your new inbox layout, you can always toggle between your standard inbox and your Priority Inbox. Check out these additional tips for using the feature.

Are you finding Priority Inbox helpful? Go ahead and leave your comments below.

image credit: Gmail Priority Inbox

Social media leaders Facebook and Twitter Driving Video Referrals


Based on the new Q2 Online Video and Media Industry Quarterly Report released by BrightCove and TubeMogul this month and reported by WebProNews, Facebook and Twitter video referral traffic is growing faster than the traditional search engines. If this trend sustains, look for Facebook to slide into the Number 2 position right behind Google.

I’m not surprised to see that engagement metrics via these social media channels are higher as well. Based on the very nature of social media, sharing good video content amongst friends has never been easier. I remember a time when my inbox was full of video content, now it’s my Facebook newsfeed.

What does this mean for you, internet marketer?

Video should be absolutely be a part of your marketing strategy whether you are using it for brand awareness, lead generation or meeting your ecommerce goals. Why? Because according to the survey 85% of your peers are currently using video as part of their marketing mix and more than 60 percent say they plan to invest more in on-site video initiatives in the next 12 months. With Facebook users watching an average 1:24 minutes of video compared with 0:52 seconds for traffic originating from display ads or Yahoo!, video is great way to reach your audience. Factor in all media verticals and that engagement number goes up to 2:00 minutes.

Other report highlights:

  • Viewers watched 11.8 percent more videos per month in Q2 than last quarter.
  • Brand managers have embraced blended distribution strategies with 80 percent including video on their own brand sites, as well as YouTube and 90 percent distributing video through Facebook.
  • The volume of unique viewers accessing online video grew across all media verticals in Q2 by an average of 2.8 percent per month compared to .05 percent month-over-month growth in Q1.

Do you have a video strategy?

Monday, September 27, 2010

InternetMarketingClub.org Presents How an E-Newsletter Can Help YOU Grow YOUR Business

Join Internet Marketing Strategist, LisaMarie Dias as she shares practical tips on using this powerful tool to grow YOUR Business in, “How an E-Newsletter Can Help YOU Grow YOUR Business”.

This presentation will explain the following topics:

• How an E-Newsletter can be used with Specific Suggestions for Various Industries and Professions
• Understanding Metrics: What They Are and How to Monitor Them
• Best Practices for Getting Started Including Practical Steps
• Key Takeaways for an Effective E-Newsletter Campaign

A goal oriented, energetic entrepreneur, LisaMarie Dias helps business owners create dynamic, effective online marketing materials, specializing in e-newsletter start-up and introductions to Social Media.

LisaMarie Dias has published her own e-newsletter for over 6 years. She currently produces a monthly e-newsletter filled with hints and tips to support people publishing their own online marketing materials. She offers online webinars and live presentations on how to use social media to grow your business as well as one-on-one sessions where she helps clients define their marketing goals and to create effective marketing plans, incorporating traditional and social media, to achieve those goals.

This free webinar will take place Wednesday, September 29, 2010 12:30pmEST – 1:30pmEST. To register and for more information please visit: How an E-Newsletter Can Help YOU Grow YOUR Business

Sunday, September 26, 2010

Sync Your LinkedIn Contacts



I'm tired of my iPhone. I can't wait to stomp it to tiny bits. I know. I know. I KNOW. I am the ONE person on the planet who doesn't drink the "Steve-Jobs-fanboy-Kool-Aid". Shoot me.
I've had an iPhone for 20 months. All of them painful. Dropped calls. Crashing OS. Slow OS. You name it. My contract is up in November and I have been salivating over the new Android phones. Specifically the new Captivate (AT&T) aka Fascinate (Verizon) aka Epic (Sprint). I'll be keeping my GSM technology and loving the high def video. It actually makes me want to watch a video on my phone. And what internet marketing person doesn't love the new frontier that is video content?
And the best part is I won't have to give up all my handy little apps. Consider this new little nugget called ConnectIn developed by Rdio which will allow me to sync my LinkedIn contacts (and I have over 400 right now) via my phone. It will sync
- Phone numbers
- Status Updates
- Photos
- Headlines
It will even let me open a profile in my browser. The app is only $0.99 and available now via The Market. I think this will be one of the first apps I try when I get my shiny new phone. It will make keeping my business contacts updated THAT much easier.

The Great Facebook Crash of 2010

If you were unaware Facebook crashed Thursday. I heard about the crash on the radio, news, online, twitter, smoke signals, and Morse code to name a few. We all were disconnected for a very painful and never ending 2.5 hours. I’m going to open up to Facebook…ready? I took you for granted my very special friend and without you I was forced to work for those entire 2.5 hours nonstop. And that my friends was just wrong. So what did our friends at Facebook have to say for themselves? Check out this blog post from one of their engineers yesterday:
Early today Facebook was down or unreachable for many of you for approximately 2.5 hours. This is the worst outage we’ve had in over four years, and we wanted to first of all apologize for it. We also wanted to provide much more technical detail on what happened and share one big lesson learned.

The key flaw that caused this outage to be so severe was an unfortunate handling of an error condition. An automated system for verifying configuration values ended up causing much more damage than it fixed.

The intent of the automated system is to check for configuration values that are invalid in the cache and replace them with updated values from the persistent store. This works well for a transient problem with the cache, but it doesn’t work when the persistent store is invalid.

Today we made a change to the persistent copy of a configuration value that was interpreted as invalid. This meant that every single client saw the invalid value and attempted to fix it. Because the fix involves making a query to a cluster of databases, that cluster was quickly overwhelmed by hundreds of thousands of queries a second.
Ouch, the crash sounded painful but at least we got our friend back. I’m going to let you off easy this time Facebook but please do not let it happen again. Do you understand how long 2.5 hours is without being connected? -- No posting, no pictures, no friends…geez, no life.

Friday, September 24, 2010

Twitter To Offer Analytics

Recently, Twitter rolled out their new interface. Now, they have announced they will launch a free analytics dashboard for customers by the end of this year. This feature could greatly benefit businesses and average users who are interested in seeing the impact of their tweets have on others. They will be offering this through Trendly, an analytics provider that Twitter just purchased in June.

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

TrafficWave - OceanSwell TEAM Update (#61)

Automating your email marketing (and your Internet Marketing in general) is what gives you the freedom to expand your business, take on new projects or even have some spare time for a change! In fact, freedom is why we're all drawn to online business in the first place. In this industry, automation and systems = FREEDOM. The Team-Ad/Rotator system at the core of Team OceanSwell is one such system, and it continues to attract new freedom-seekers on a weekly basis. That is why, today, I would like to welcome our newest Team Members in both TrafficWave and Global NPN: Dante Trimble, Steve Hassell, Roosevelt Crawford, Helma Maagdeleyn, Margaret M. Ellington and Nik Mohamed Saufi! Welcome to the Team!

But when it finally comes, freedom in Internet Marketing doesn't come from automation and systems alone. Before you can have those things in place, you need information, you need to actually learn from it (and follow through on it!), you absolutely need personal initiative and, most important of all, you just need some HELP sometimes. So this month, the $40.00 monthly cash bonus goes out to Ms. Brenda Gray. Brenda has been with the Team since it's earliest days. She's been loyal and patient. She's also a hard-worker and quite creative. These are all qualities that you need in your personal quest for financial freedom online! So that $40.00 bonus, from me to a random Team Member every month, is one more way in which I am committed to your freedom, just as much as I am to mine. Since everyone is looking for that elusive 'secret' to building MLM affiliate downlines, here's a big one: Help your downline members build THEIR downlines, rather than focusing on yours.

That's going to have to be it for this update - short & sweet. I'm running short on TIME, just like the rest of you. Keep the faith, keep working and keep learning. We can't all soar with the eagles when we're just getting started, but we all have to learn how to fly on our own - and you cannot do that unless you are committed to continuing education on email marketing and online promotion systems in general. If you never stop learning and never stop growing, no one can keep you caged!

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Have You Reserved Your About.me Page?


Although About.me was founded almost a year ago and still operating in stealth mode, you may find it worthwhile to reserve your name. About.me offers a custom “splash-like” page essentially providing a single online identity, pulling in your Facebook, Twitter, Flickr and other social media presences. The site explains it has two focus points:

1) creating a personal, dynamic profile page that points users to your content around the web
2) understanding how many people see your profile, where they’re coming from, and what they do on your page via a personal analytics dashboard

About.me is currently being used by a selected few such as Angel Investor, Tim Ferriss and TechCrunch Founder, Michael Arrington. Others such as Facebook Expert, Mari Smith are already reserving their names (I first learned of this from a Mari Smith tweet). So, although you can’t sign up just yet, it may be worth at least reserving your name. I’m sure we can all agree over the past several years, we have learned firsthand of the importance to securing your name or brand amongst services such as this in the beginning, while you still can.

Do you think you or your business might find a service such as this useful?

Monday, September 20, 2010

InternetMarketingClub.org Presents Mastering Facebook Strategies: FBML & Beyond

Join Margie Schneider, VP Operations and Stuart Smith of the Search Team of TenGoldenRules.com as they present, “Mastering Facebook Strategies: FBML & Beyond.” Got a Facebook Page? Tried some Facebook PPC? Trying to figure out what to do next? Join us for an in-depth look at the advanced features offered for Facebook Pages and explore what you can do with custom tabs (FBML) to enable conversions.

This presentation will explain the following topics:

• Understanding Advanced Facebook Features
• How to Effectively Use FBML for Conversions & More
• Review Case Studies: Companies Doing it Right
• Recommended Social Plug-ins and How to Use Them

This free webinar will take place Wednesday, September 22, 2010 12:30pmEST – 1:30pmEST. To register and for more information please visit: Mastering Facebook Strategies: FBML & Beyond

Sunday, September 19, 2010

Just Your Friendly Neighborhood Facebook Friend

I’m the Facebook friend who shares his life on Facebook. I like to post quotes from books that make me seem intelligent. I look for witty things to say to make my friends laugh. I love to argue about politics and update my status with the unusual things that politicians say. I’m constantly adding new photos of my son and wife and places we go. I’m always checking into places letting everybody know where I’m at. Up until this moment I thought I was the ultra cool Facebook user but based on new research by ShockMd, I have self-esteem issues.

AllFacebook.com also reported the following in their post What Your “Cool” Facebook Friend Is Really Like:

York University psychologist Soraya Mehdizadeh analyzed the Facebook pages of 50 male and 50 female student participants after having the students answer questions about their demographics, Facebook activity, self-esteem, and narcissism. Mehdizadeh looked at the “About Me” section, the profile photo, the first 20 pictures in the “View Photos of Me” section, the notes, and the status updates of each student, rating each page based on extent it self-promotes the user.

Mehdizadeh found that Facebook users who were highly narcissistic with low-self esteem tended to spend the most time on Facebook and were highly self-promoting than those with high self-esteem and low narcissism regardless of gender. In other words, those “cool” Facebook friends you have who keep spamming your news feed with constant information about themselves and how awesome they are may not be too awesome after all.
So I guess I’m highly narcissistic with low-self esteem but I’m going to prove the study wrong. For the next month I’m not going to post anything new to Facebook…no status updates, or new pictures, or funny things, or unusual things politicians say, or cute photos of my son, or checking into my favorite restaurants. Who am I kidding, I just posted a status update that read…”I’m Stu and I love myself".

Friday, September 17, 2010

Small Business Loves Social Media


Forbes.com ran an interesting article with some compelling data regarding the use of social media by small businesses. With a low/no-cost point of entry, I'm surprised the numbers aren't higher. The data suggests that at least 24% of small business don't use the technology because they don't understand it and another 35% don't use it due to lack of time.

For the 24% who don't understand it, I would recommend getting online to get a crash course. As a relatively new advertising frontier, there are tons of great resources online where small business owners can begin to get familiar with the power of social media. Have a personal Facebook profile page? Why not set-up a page for your business and start to engage with your customers?

As for the 35% who don't use it due to time constraints, consider hiring a firm like Ten Golden Rules to handle your social media strategy. Most agencies have pricing plans that can work with your budget. What's the benefit? Access to a TEAM of trained interactive marketing professionals who can help you develop a winning strategy that aligns with your business goals - and that's just for starters.

At the end of day, small businesses need to get in the game. Lack of participation is no longer an option in our digital society. Get off the bench Mr Small Business!

Read the full Forbes article "Social Media Has Scorching Impact On Small Biz" by Alison Diana.

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Behold the New Twitter.com Interface

Announced yesterday, Twitter.com will now have a new and improved look and functionality. Personally, I’m excited about this rollout as it really steps up the web interface experience. You will now have a two-pane view, with @mentions, retweets, searches, and lists on the left side of your screen. Whereas, the right side will now include media, favorites, trending topics, who recently followed you and whom you recently followed.


What is one of the neatest features unveiled about the new web interface? The fact that the new Twitter.com has a much bigger focus on the display of media-rich content. Twitter has partnered with USTREAM, Flickr and YouTube to name a few. Essentially, this content will be displayed for you right in the middle of your Twitter timeline. It seems as though Twitter is seriously attempting to take on the desktop clients now.

For those of you who use Twitter for your brand or business, this gives you even more incentive to produce media-rich content for your customers and followers. Evan Williams, Twitter CEO, stated yesterday, “Twitter.com has always been the most popular Twitter client. 78% of active users have used it in the last 30 days.” Check out the Twitter website to learn more about the new features and rollout dates.

Are you excited to use the new and improved Twitter.com? Does this entice you to use the Twitter.com platform rather than a desktop client?

Monday, September 13, 2010

InternetMarketingClub.org Presents 10 Strategies To Build Your Domain Value for the Future

Join Jay Berkowitz, Chief Executive Officer of TenGoldenRules.com, as he presents dynamic strategies to make your domains more valuable for the future. Explore these proven methods in, “10 Strategies To Build Your Domain Value for the Future.”

This presentation will explain the following topics:

• Revolutionary Methods to drive domain traffic via Internet Advertising and Website Promotions
• Proven Tactics for Utilizing Search Engine Marketing for Domains
• Understanding How To Accumulate Associated Assets
• Advanced Tips for Developing Content
• The Future of Building a Website Beyond Parking

This free webinar will take place Wednesday, September 15, 2010 12:30pmEST – 1:30pmEST. To register and for more information please visit: 10 Strategies To Build Your Domain Value for the Future

Friday, September 10, 2010

Google Instant Search

The idea of “search as you type” sounds great but I for one am not crazy about Google’s new search. I’ve been playing with the new search for a few days now and every time I do a search I feel like I’m developing vertigo.

For example, I did a search for “Are the Oakland Raiders the best NFL team?” and my search results changed 27 times before I finished typing. While I was typing Google recommended search results, paid ads, a left navigation (which includes everything, images, videos, maps, and more) which changed at a rapid fire rate. You have to go slower for this old man Google.

I’m hoping over the next few weeks the new search grows on me but I’m not betting on it. I wonder if Google will give you the option to turn off the instant search for people who hate it. If not, I guess I’m heading back to my old friend Altavista . As for my search… the best NFL team is the Raiders :)

Thursday, September 9, 2010

Twitter User Streams API Announcement


Twitter infrastructure employee, John Kalucki, recently reported Twitter’s highly anticipated User Streams API will be in open beta testing in the near future. The User Streams API provides real-time updates of data needed to update a desktop application display such as TweetDeck. Therefore, this will allow tweets, retweets and all other Twitter updates to be streamed directly to these applications without delays or rate-limits/latency. For developers, the API will be available in the next couple of days for testing.

This will be a useful feature when attending an event, conference etc where you are monitoring tweets real-time. It will also be helpful for those monitoring a business or brand online where knowing what are your customers are saying on a more current basis is critical.

Do you see this feature being valuable for your business?

image credit: JoshSemans

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Twitter Chats


The “twitterverse” is alive every day with all kinds of chatter on a wide variety of topics. You can find and follow people who tweet about your interests be they Vegetable, Animal or Mineral. Lately I’ve been participating in a few “Twitter chats” that pertain to topics that interest me.

What Is a Twitter Chat?
A Twitter Chat as a real-time discussion on a pre-determined topic. They typically are scheduled for an hour and are “moderated” by the chat founder. There seems to be a chat for any topic any time of the day or night. All tweets pertaining to the topic are tagged by using a hashtag.

Where Can I Find a Twitter Chat Listing?
There are lots of folks who have started to track all the chats that happen on a weekly basis via Twitter. A simple Google search will turn up a few good lists. You can also start to follow a few of the chats I list here to get a better feel for what’s available.

How Do I Participate?
Don’t be shy….just join in. Find a chat that interests you and jump right in at the scheduled time. Don’t forget the hashtag!

Why I Like Them?

I’ve met some great people and learned a few new tricks from Twitter chats. You never who you might meet or what you might learn

Some Of My Favorite Weekly Chats
#blogchat Learn how to make your personal or company blog better on Sundays at 8-9pm CST moderated by @MackCollier

#jobhuntchat Weekly tips from fellow job seekers and HR professionals on Mondays at 10-11pm moderated by @blogging4jobs (who is a great Words With Friends player BTW) @cornonthejob and @mscareergirl

#journchat Weekly discussion with PR, journalists and bloggers on Mondays at 7-10pm moderated by @prsarahevans and @journchat

#smmchat A biweekly discussion designed for Social Media Managers who work for a brand/company/corporate entity every other week on Thursdays 9-10pm EST moderated by @malcolli @loritodd and @jen_mccoy

Google Showing More Results Per Domain

Google recently updated their algorithm to show more organic results for a given domain. If you are interested in Ten Golden Rules, for example, you are likely to get eight pages listed within the site links beneath the normal search listing, as shown in the image below:
So what can you do to increase the number of links displayed to your domain in Google's search engine results page? One basic approach you can take is to optimize multiple pages for a single search phrase. Your most important phrase should appear on all of your top level pages. In addition, build links to those pages using variations of the phrase as anchor text.

TrafficWave - OceanSwell TEAM Update (#60)

Are you the right fit for Internet Marketing? I'm moved to ask this question due the large numbers of similar emails I've received over the last ten months from members of Team OceanSwell. In fact, I'm still receiving them. Basically, they are variations of the same question, "What are YOU going to do about my situation... and WHEN?" My answer, of course, is always the same, "I am going to keep doing what I've been doing and I invite you to do the same."

If our Team-Build idea just doesn't satisfy you, or if it isn't 'fast' enough for you, then you're just going have to do something extra on your own. Sounds logical, doesn't it? The fact that Team OceanSwell has grown to over 1,500 Team Members (and continues to grow on a weekly basis) is proof of the concept that was born in November of 2009. The fact that we now have six(6) Team Members among the Top 20 earners in TrafficWave is even more proof. Will this Team help you in your online business? You bet it will! Will it change your life all by itself, and do it overnight? Absolutely not. If you're already a veteran of online business, you should know better. If you're new to all of this, then those are the facts. One person wrote me, saying, "I've received some direct referrals through the Rotator, but they quit. What are YOU going to do about that?" One thing that I need to remind everybody of is that your referrals are real people, just like you. And they want and need the same things that you do. You should be communicating and networking with them in order to build relationships. Communication is such a huge part of this business. In fact, it IS the business! And it's the thing that nobody wants to do. Why? Because it involves 'doing something' - i.e. work. That's why I feel that some people just need to do a gut check and ask themselves if this business is really the right fit for them. I really and truly don't think this is for everyone.

Another thing I hear a lot is that I (me) need to increase the weekly advertising minimums for Team Members. But if you think I should double it, then why don't you do the minimum for the Team and spend the rest of that energy promoting your OWN affiliate links in addition to the Team Ads? You can also be an OceanSwell Team Leader and design your own ads, write your own letters, advertise in your own way, etc. and I will help you do that! But unless you're willing to do any of those things, what's the point in writing me and complaining?

Seriously.

You want the 'secret' to building some kind of meaningful income online? Here it is. You need an affiliate product to promote, preferably one with a recurring monthly payment, such as TrafficWave. You need to be an advertising MACHINE, using as much automation as possible, and you should be building your email contact list so that you can share future products and services with your subscribers. You also need a 'gimmick', an angle or a system - something that makes you new or different in a compelling way. You have got to move, think, create and do your own research. Don't believe everything you hear, not even from me. Everyone reading this has a computer and access to the Internet and all of the information that's out there for everyone to learn. But ultimately, personal success only comes to those who put forth the time and effort to produce results. You can join program after program, but the 'join and hope' strategy will fail every single time.

It's amazing. People don't want to do anything, yet they expect to have everything anyway. And I also understand about having a job, kids, funerals or whatever else that you have to deal with in your life. We're all the same in that way, but I don't want to hear about it. I also know that times are hard and some Team Members can barely scrape together $20.00 a month for online business. I don't want to hear about that either because it's not my problem. That might sound cold and maybe not what you're expecting to hear from me, but it is the truth and you need to know the truth. I'm not here to lecture anybody or talk down to anyone, but there seem to be quite a few people out there who aren't quite in touch with the realities of Internet business. I think it's all the outrageous claims and flashy websites with expensive cars, mansions, piles of gemstones etc.. It's ridiculous. Obviously, the TrafficWave autoresponder is indispensable when it comes to list-building and automation. And TrafficWave is a real company that's been around for a decade and isn't going anywhere. With this one, single tool and affiliate program - combined with your own imagination, personal initiative and the help of Team OceanSwell - there really are no limits to what you can conceive and achieve.

Now, as far as our Team progress, we have made the full transition to folding the triple-rotator system into the new revolving URL's and it's working as intended - both for TrafficWave and the optional NPN Team-Build that so many are taking advantage of. And yes, we have new Team Members joining every week. Unfortunately, we have some that leave every week as well. That's part of affiliate marketing. But, overall, our Team Continues to grow and I don't see that ever changing since more and more people across the country (and around the world!) are either discovering Internet Marketing for the very first time, or are coming back to it after some early failures. From the Team Leader perspective, I plan to keep doing what I've always been doing and just keep getting better and better at it. That's my plan. That's all I can ever do and it's the only 'guarantee' I can ever give you. The rest... is up to YOU.

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

InternetMarketingClub.org Presents Turn Web Traffic to Ca$h

Every single day, entrepreneurs and small businesses miss out on millions of dollars in revenue simply because they don’t understand how to effectively utilize the Internet for marketing. Small business expert John Lawson knows how to fix that. Join John “ColderICE” Lawson in, “Turn Web Traffic to Ca$h,” as he explains:

• How to use Social Networks to drive QUALIFIED traffic
• Understanding Corporate Espionage for small business owners
• Generating leads without spamming or selling
• Tools to track and measure performance of social marketing
• …and much more!

Lawson is the managing editor of ColderICE.com and the CEO of the retail ecommerce store 3rd Power Outlet.

This free webinar will take place Wednesday, September 8, 2010 12:30pmEST – 1:30pmEST. To register and for more information please visit: Turn Web Traffic to Ca$h

Monday, September 6, 2010

Our Booth at Affiliate Summit


A big thank-you to the team at Affiliate Summit for a tremendous event. We made a number of new friends and business relationships.

Affiliate Summit is on our list the ten top internet marketing trade shows because it is educational, the networking is great and it is attended by real affiliates, marketers and the top people in the affiliate and internet marketing industry.

And a big thank you to New York City Balloons for our beautiful Gold balloon display.

Saturday, September 4, 2010

Google’s High-Priced Keywords

We all have certain keywords that we bid on but feel are overpriced. We get that sour puckered face every time we are forced to bid a little higher. For the sake of making all of us feel a little bit better for this Labor Day weekend I did research on some of Google’s most expensive keywords. Keep in mind that these big amounts can change quickly and you might see a different amount than what I’m going to show you below. Are you ready to feel better about your keyword bid amounts?
  • $223.07 no win no fee accident claims
  • $197.98 national accident helpline
  • $157.01 swiftcover car insurance
  • $113.14 mesothelioma attorney utah
  • $92.55 secured loans
  • $88.57 direct insurance
  • $65.33 online schools
  • $53.95 accident injury lawyers
  • $53.45 mortgage refinance
  • $43.11 asbestos cancer
Can you believe somebody’s willing to pay $223.07 per click for a keyword? For their sake, I hope they’re getting a decent cost per conversion. I told you it was going to work friends, you’re already feeling better about your bids. If you know of any keywords that are more expensive than $223.07, let me know in the comments below.

Thursday, September 2, 2010

The Next Viral Video?

Just like Burger King had it's subservient chicken, Tipp-Ex has developed an interactive YouTube video allowing the user to select the bears fate. This video asks you if you want to shoot to bear or not, and then using the Tipp-EX, erases the video headline allowing you to input your own text of what should happen. Go through and have some fun. See what the hunter will do for you!

Who Leads Marketing Innovation?

As a new player at Ten Golden Rules, part of my role will be to help our clients develop sound interactive marketing plans that will have a positive impact on their bottom line sales goals. This philosophy is ingrained into the very fiber of the Ten Golden Rules team. We strategize, test, execute and measure our programs every single day. But how does this methodology apply to our B2B clientele? Traditionally, you might think that B2B marketing innovation has always lagged behind its B2C counterparts. Not so anymore.





Beyond the catchy music and clever design, what I love about this video are the statistics.

81% of B2B companies maintain a company account or profile on social media vs. 67% of B2C companies

75% of B2B companies micro-blog vs. 49% of B2C companies

As the video suggests, no longer are the B2B marketers lagging behind their B2C cohorts. In some cases, they’re even leading the charge. We’ve seen the onset of the new digital C-Suite who not only enjoy using technology, they embrace it. And with 93% of B2B buyers starting the purchase cycle via search, doesn’t it make sense for your company to be searchable no matter what your business?

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Update Your Google Analytics Code and Enjoy Some Added Benefits


Last December, Google updated their Analytics code to the new and improved "asynchronous tracking code" with some added benefits, including faster tracking code load times, improved accuracy, and the elimination of tracking errors caused when JavaScript doesn't fully load. It also simplifies the ability to track multiple subdomains within a single profile. This is reason enough to update you code.

As of a few weeks ago, there is added incentive to updating your code. You can now use the new asynchronous code to save time with other Google products, such as Google Webmaster Tools. In the past, you would have to generate code to track web analytics and insert it on your webpages. In order to verify site ownership in your Google Webmaster Tools account, you would have to add an additional line of code to your website. Seems like a wasted effort. Not anymore, though. You can now save yourself a step and use your Google Analytics tracking code to verify your Webmaster Tools account.

If you haven't already updated to the new asynchronous tracking code, here's how:
  1. Remove all existing code from your website first. If any of the old code remains, it will likely skew your data.
  2. Copy the new code from your Profile Settings screen in Google Analytics by clicking on the "Edit" button in the Analytics settings, then clicking the "Check Status" link.
  3. Paste the new code in the section of each page of your website you want to track. Specifically, the code should be the last thing before the tag. Note that the old Analytics code resided in the section. Not anymore.

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Ten Tips to Be ReTweeted


This week I thought it would be helpful to go back to the basics of Twitter ReTweeting. Want to get your tweets retweeted more often? Below are ten tips for just that:

1. Interesting/Entertaining. Tweets with a bit of humor or color to them always have a higher probability of being retweeted. No one wants to spread boring tweets to their followers.
2. Educational. Provide timely and valuable content.
3. Engaging. Be authentic with your community and connect with them. Be social and show that you aren’t just a program with scheduled tweets.
4. Ask for the RT. Sometimes simply asking for the retweet, “Pls RT”, does the trick.
5. Short Tweets. Leave around 25 characters of space in your tweets. Tweets are more likely to be retweeted when it takes less editing to do so.
6. Thank you. Ensure you thank those who do RT your tweets. That sincere thank you might gain those additional retweets. However a note of caution, do not thank others for RTs just for the possibility of a future retweet, be genuine.
7. Useful. Provide information to others that is helpful such as “how tos”, “tips” and “lists”.
8. URL Shorteners. Using services such as bit.ly provides additional tweet real estate as opposed to including full URLs.
9. Social Plugins. Make it easy for others to retweet your content by conveniently placing “retweet” calls to action on your posts.
10. When you tweet. Social Media Scientist, Dan Zarrella, has conducted studies showing the days of the week/times with a higher probability of RT worthiness. Zarrella concluded Fridays yield the highest number of retweets between 3:00pm to midnight.

The above list is not advocating all tweets be designed for retweeting. But for the tweets that you do want to have a viral component to them, designing for the possibility of retweeting is important.

Do you have your own retweet tips to add to the list?

Image credit: Josef Dunne