John Mayer Calls for a Digital Cleanse to Bring in the New Year

When was the last time you corresponded via a personalized letter? Remember when you actually had to pick up the phone and call someone? With texting, Twitter, Facebook and e-mail replacing everyday communication, the New Year may be a time to take a step back from all of today's technology and remember that you can't always express yourself in 140 characters.

Yesterday, John Mayer urged his Twitter followers to take part in a New Year's Digital Cleanse in an effort to "defrag" our technologically overloaded minds. Mayer suggests a one-week cleanse, beginning January 1st and ending on January 8th, which doesn't require you to completely remove technology from your life, only take a step back. Here's the recipe:

• email only from laptop or desktop computers.

• cell phones can only be used to make calls, and no text messages or e-mails are allowed – if you receive a text, you must reply in voice over the phone.
  

• no use of Twitter or any other social networking site – including reading as well as posting.

• no visiting of any entertainment or gossip sites.

Following these guidelines should be manageable for even the most connected individuals. Work commitments may prevent you from participating in the cleanse, but it is still refreshing to think about how far communication has come, even just over the last year.

Counting Down Around the World

It has been a tradition since the early 1900s to celebrate the famous “New Year’s Eve Ball Drop of Times Square.” But do you ever wonder how others around the world bring in the big day? There was a neat posting in the Bing Community today referencing just this. Did you know that the Japanese culture typically brings in the New Year by more calming activities such as cleaning the house? Check out Bing’s “New Year’s Around the World” for some amazing images.

So from New York to Australia [and everyone in between] and however you prefer to bring in the New Year -- may it be a prosperous one for all!

Start Off the New Year By Getting Better Acquainted with Facebook

A great resource on Facebook that surfaced this week is brought to you by Mashable.com. The Facebook Guide Book is a great resource to bookmark for anything Facebook related. Whether it is learning the basics, to learning how to use Facebook for business, this guide will help you get started.

Towards the bottom of the guide, feature Facebook posts by the Mashable team, such as popular Facebook lists and most recent Facebook news. If you want to start the new year learning about Facebook, I think this is a great place to start.

Pay Per Click Advertising Tip - Define Customer Personas

When setting up a pay per click advertising campaign, a very important key to success is to break your campaigns into tight, granular ad groups. One way to carefully segment campaigns is to identify customer personas.

As internet users, we don't all search for the same products and services the same way. Different demographic groups may use slightly different search phrases and respond differently to offers. For this reason, it is important to understand what groups would be interested in your product or service and how to speak to them through your advertising.

Identify your customer subsets and give them names (i.e. high school students, soccer moms, etc). Think about the words each segment would search that would result in a sale/lead. Set up a different ad group for each customer segment and focus on the phrases that specific group would likely search. This will also allow you to present different ad copy/creative and landing pages to each segment.

InternetMarketingClub.org Presents Why The Small Screen Gets BIG Results!

There will soon be more mobile phones than there are people on the planet. If you are like most people, that phone in your pocket has dramatically changed your behavior and the way you think about and access your information, communications and entertainment. For the younger generations, the mobile phone truly is the center of their universe and the hub for their social interactions. What better place for advertisers and marketers to reach a captive and attentive audience?

In this discussion we will review:

• Why Mobile? Another device vs. a personal accessory…
• Mobile Advertising vs. Mobile Marketing
• If Content is King, is mobile content Master of the Universe?
• Is there really an App for that? How should marketers leverage the current “app” craze

Jeff Sass is the VP of Business Development for leading Mobile Entertainment site, Myxer. With more than 28 million users, Myxer delivers over 70 million mobile downloads per month and is a pioneer in ad-supported mobile content. A former entertainment and game industry exec, Jeff Sass has more than 10 years experience in Mobile and was co-founder and CEO of early mobile commerce player, BarPoint.com.

This webinar will take place on Wednesday, December 30, 2009 12:30pmEST – 1:30pmEST. To register please visit: Why The Small Screen Gets BIG Results!

Social Media for Small Businesses

Sarah Evans - the face of PR Newswire - had one of my favorite posts this weekend:









As an Internet marketer, I have to agree. Not everyone, and everything, needs a Facebook fan page, or a Twitter account, for that matter. Let's face it - it can get annoying. However, social media does have its place in the Web marketing toolbox. And especially for small businesses on a limited budget, social media can be effective - if it's used properly.

According to a recent article in eMarketer, lead generation is the biggest benefit social media brings to small businesses. Other benefits as listed in the "Small Business Marketing Forecast 2010" from Ad-ology include:


















Like any marketing or advertising campaign, social media efforts need to focused, with a clear strategy and measurable goals. Unfortunately, most small businesses face several challenges when it comes to using social media effectively, including a lack of education and/or the necessary resources to use the channel effectively.

So, before you build that Facebook page or create your Twitter account, think about what you want to accomplish... If you aren't sure what, how or where to begin, get some help from an expert. As we've seen in many instances, a misstep in the social media world can cause more harm than good. By engaging someone familiar with the channel to help you get started, you'll reduce the risk of a foux paux, as well as the learning curve, and see results faster.

Christmas Cheer… Can’t Forget the Donkey

For those of you who celebrate the holiday – Merry Christmas!

I think today is a very fitting day to have a little fun with this post and enjoy some Christmas related viral videos. Below are a few I know you will enjoy!


What a great mashup isn’t it?


Funny thing about this song – I didn’t even know of it until a few months ago; now I hear it everywhere I go.



Last but not least - I saw this video on CNN this morning and thought it would be a great share. Do you think it is real?

2010 Trend Predictions in Social Media

Trendspotting Market Research came out with a report about predictions for social media trends in 2010. I found it interesting that the predictions were in 140 characters, Twitter style. It definitely makes it easy to read. From this report, the major trends predictions in 2010 were suggested as mobile, location, transparency, measurement, ROI and privacy.

Some of my favorite predictions included:

• “Mobile becomes a social media lifeline.”
• “Companies get serious about social media, elevating their focus to social business.”
• “By the end of the year we’ll have a new interface for status updates that looks nothing like a microblog.”
• “Search will get more social: real time content in results, information from social network friends to results, using collective information from other web users.”
• “Social media in 2010 will cease being the shiny new object and instead, become part of the everyday lexicon on business.”
• “We’re going to see an explosion of things that use location.”

Are you ready for 2010? Do you have any trend predictions of your own regarding social media?

Read the rest of the report below:

TrendsSpotting's 2010 Social Media Influencers - Trend Predictions in 140 Characters

View more documents from Taly Weiss.

InternetMarketingClub.org Presents Motivating Your Butt to Succeed Online

Join Jim Kukral, of www.jimkukral.com, for Motivating Your Butt to Succeed Online. You have the ideas for an online empire. You have dreams of breathtaking success. Here's a sure-fire way to kick-start your plans and feed the momentum to finally make things happen.

You'll learn how to:

• Get over yourself! - Lose your ego to open yourself to make more money, faster than ever!
• Avoid self-sabotage - Learn the difference between "Failures" and "Losers" and know which one you are... and why it matters to your success!
• Move on to move forward - We all make mistakes. Find out how to overcome your mistakes and strategically use them to your advantage
• Feed the fire - How hot does that fire in your belly burn? Are you really pumped up for success? We'll help get you white-hot and motivated to "just do it" at last!
• "Fail" your way to success - Master the secrets of the most successful people in the history of the world, and discover how you can model them to surpass your goals!

The event will take place on Wednesday, December 23, 2009 12:30pmEST – 1:30pmEST. To register please visit: Motivating Your Butt to Succeed Online.

Has Social Media Taken Over?

A Brevard County Florida woman is being accused of Tweeting while her son was drowning in the family pool. 37-year-old, Shellie Ross, is now being attacked online at her blog and through Twitter about not doing enough to save her son. Read the full story at APP.com. Has social media made us bad people, are we too involved that we don't realize our own surroundings, even at home? I don’t know what caused this young child to lose his life, and I hope that it isn’t due to his mom’s lack of responsibility, but I do think that people need to put down the Crackberry’s, iPhones and turn off the computers more and spend time with their family. This is the time of year when families should be together, not spent with your 2,000 closest friends online that you’ve never met before. I urge you to take a step back and put the technology down for one week and spend quality time with the ones you love this holiday season.

10 Free SEO (Search Engine Optimization) Tips

Below is a list of helpful SEO tips to always keep in mind:

1. Build sites in html or another simple language the search engine spiders can read.
2. Add a page of content to your website each day if possible (or every week).
3. Make sure your site has a site map.
4. Have a strong on-site link strategy.
5. Add meta tags to each page on your site.
6. Include a meta tag “description.”
7. Insert header tags.
8. Add image names and alt-text.
9. Target a keyword density of approximately 5%.
10.Keep in mind you can break up keyword phrases.

LoveJingles Provides a Jingle a Day Starting at $1

Many of our Ten Golden Rules blog readers have heard of Jason Sadler of IWearYourShirt.com, as he has worn the Ten Golden Rules shirt this past year.

A similar concept has emerged, but in the form of jingles. On January 1st, 2010, you can hire LoveJingles.com to write you a jingle, starting at $1 on January 1st, and increasing a dollar after that. I think the idea is really interesting, as you can get a jingle, get it promoted by him, and use it for your own company or personal brand.

There are still some spots open, and you can read about LoveJingles.com.

The video below explains how LoveJingles works.

Business Tweets Become Personal

Exciting news was released by Twitter this week for our business tweets. Currently in beta testing for some users, business tweets will now contain the “contributors” of the tweets from the organization. For example, tweets from Ten Golden Rules would now contain who in the organization sent the tweet via the byline. This is a neat feature because it gives tweets a more personal touch from the business perspective. It is also helpful to understand who and how different members of the organization communicate. You may enjoy or dislike tweets from specific individuals of companies and you can now decipher the author more precisely.


This feature is being rolled out in phases. I feel every opportunity to make a Company feel more authentic is a positive thing. A great aspect of social media is that it has the potential to give the corporate face a more genuine and tangible relationship. By human nature we have a desire for a personal connection. Have you ever visited a restaurant and asked the server his or her opinion on an entrée? That real and truthful response [be it positive OR not] makes the situation feel that much more authentic. I really appreciate the honesty when the server recommends against something I have chosen. In the same with social media and business tweets, consumers appreciate that human connection.

Do you see this feature as beneficial or do you feel it isn’t very necessary?

New Challenges to Becoming an Adwords Pro

If it is coming time for you to renew your Google Advertising Professionals Certification, you may want to stop by the Learning Center and polish up your knowledge. Google has recently announced they will be updating the Advertising Professionals certification exam to make it more difficult. Of course, they are not trying to make our lives harder, but rather to keep us up to date on always evolving best practices. With a wider range of knowledge available for being successful in pay per click, a wider range of knowledge will be required to pass the new exam.

Not only will the exam be more strategy focused and challenging, the passing grade will also be raised. Previously, a grade of 75% or higher was required to pass the exam. With the new exam, a whopping 85% will be required to achieve Professional status. Happy studying!

Melanie's Monday Mashup – Holiday Free Stuff

I really wanted to write about Facebook’s privacy changes – the ones that unleashed about 300 of its founder’s private pics - as reported by Wired.com.

However, in an effort to get everyone more in the holiday spirit, I’ve decided to go (almost) Internet marketing free – and instead offer some links to free holiday stuff, including music and ebooks, and a couple of must-haves you just can’t do without this holiday season.

Free Holiday Music

• Sampler Klaus – Seven free songs ranging from a variety of artists, including It Came Upon a Midnight Clear by Frank Sinatra
• Classical Sampler – Five classical free holiday songs, ending with the Hallelujah Chorus by the London Philharmonic Orchestra.
• iTunes Holiday Sampler – 20 free tunes from artists like Aretha Franklin, Rascal Flatts, Weezer, Amy Grant, David Archula and more.

Free Wi-Fi

• Free Holiday Wi-Fi – Just incase you didn’t already know, Google’s offering free Wi-Fi at over 50 participating airports throughout the U.S. and on Virgin American flights through January 15, 2010.

Free iPhone Apps

• Five Free Phone Apps for Holiday Savings – There are plenty of free iPhone apps, but this list from SmartMoney.com directs you to the ones that help you save money while holiday shopping.

Free Holiday Gift Tags

• Free Printable Gift Tags - Whether the weather outside is frightful or you're just too pooped from shopping to fight the crowds yet again, these free printable holiday gift tags will save you a trip to the store (and a few bucks) when you run out.
  

Free eBook

• What Matters Now – If you haven’t read Seth Godin yet, now’s the time. Use your downtime to catch up with his newest book, What Matters Now, chock-full of good info from some of the best minds in Internet marketing.

This Year’s Must-Haves (Not Free, But Worth Every Penny)

• Merry Christmas & Happy New York - Sold out last year, and back by popular demand, this CD from singer/songwriter Jo Davidson features traditional Christmas songs recorded on a vintage 1929 Steinway Grand piano in a NYC loft. If you haven’t heard Jo, get the CD now. She is amazing!
• Connected – The Amazing Power of Our Social Networks – Whether your New Year’s resolution is to quit smoking, lose weight or make more money, on control a epidemic, this startling book can help. It demonstrates just how influential our social networks really are, and offers suggestions on how to leverage them for better results.

EDITOR'S NOTE: DON'T FORGET THE CHANUKAH CLASSIC FROM ADAM SANDLER:

InternetMarketingClub.org Presents Ten Steps for Setting Up A Successful Pay Per Click Campaign

Join Marc Purtell, Pay Per Click Advertising Specialist at Ten Golden Rules, for this week's webinar on how to set up a pay-per-click campaign:

- Setting up a campaign in Google, Yahoo and BING
- Defining Target Consumer Personas
- Determining budgets, regional targets and day parts
- Keyword selection, ad copy development
- Advanced tricks and tips

The event will take place on Wednesday, December 16, 2009 12:30pmEST – 1:30pmEST. To register please visit: Ten Steps for Setting Up A Successful Pay Per Click Campaign.

6 Questions from my friend Chris Brogan at LeWeb in Paris

My friend Chris Brogan gave a presentation this week at LeWeb in Paris.

Here are some of his comments:

You live or die by your database. Don't build Twitter or Facebook at the expense
of a database you own after they flavor of the year passes.

He asked 6 thought provoking questions:

1. How do we share? How do you share information? What does your business share? Social Networks don't go anywhere if they're a dead end street, a locked up environment.

2. How do we collaborate? Are you encouraging information to flow from your system.

3. How do we go from HOME (the Home page) to being Nomads. There are tremendous advantages to building many outposts (Facebook, Twitter, communities) "Build outposts and passports back to your home page."

4."How do we extend experiences from the physical world to the web, and back." Foursquare is just scratching the surface. (and before that BriteKite and Dodgeball)

5."How do we wire humanity deeply? There is a difference between the person on Twitter representing Southwest Airlines and the person at the counter."

6. "How do we go from being a theater to being a theater in the round? 360 degrees. Does your website push information out, or does it start a collaboration and engage people? People are looking for a human face on a company.

Mobile Technology: A Glimpse at the Future

I’ve come to realize this past week – cell phone shopping has really become difficult [at least in my opinion]. There are so many choices now from the “Droid Does” to “There’s An App for That!” Where do I begin? It is amazing just how far along cell phone technology has come.

Twitter founder Jack Dorsey, revealed this week the highly anticipated “Square.” What’s that you ask? CNN has provided the following information, “Square, a tiny cube about an inch in length, contains a magnetic strip reader that allows users to swipe and read credit cards, then deduct payment on or offline through a downloaded application that communicates with card issuers in the same way as retailer devices. Customers then use their finger on the phone's touch-recognition screen to sign their name to the transaction.” Shopping will soon become even more convenient with the Square, which will allow us to integrate more activities into our busy schedules.

Mobile technology is not just advancing from a technical standpoint but also social. I’m sure you’ve noticed every other commercial on the television seems to be for a new cell phone with Facebook.com or some other type of integration. Now we are all set – we can watch videos on demand, tweet and post to our walls all from the palm of our hands. We are less and less restricted to our desktop and laptop computers.

In conclusion, the mobile space is continuously growing and has an endless future for advancement. The Square is giving us the opportunity to be on the go that much faster with a rapid payment method; while integrated social features allow us to always be connected to our friends and family. So, at the end of the day with so many options – I am still undecided on my cell phone upgrade.

Starting an Affiliate Blog: Getting Started

I recently have become very interested in affiliate programs and how one can use them on a blog. It definitely requires a lot of thinking before you actually start. First, you need to figure out what your ultimate goal is with your blog. Let’s say you want to eventually promote products in the form of blog posts.

You will then need to set up the blog and then think about what you will be writing about. A new blog needs a lot of content before you can even think about applying to affiliate programs. The best way to build a blog is to pick a niche topic you are interested in. It will be beneficial to you if you choose a niche that you enjoy writing about, that way you are less likely to abandon the blog altogether. Once you figure out a blog niche, create blog posts that are informative. This may require some research, and that’s ok. You will also need to be prepared to promote the blog by spreading the word to friends, and this can be done using Facebook and Twitter. It is also beneficial to visit other blogs and comment on posts to spread your website link around that way too. Blog promotion is a job in itself, and should be done every day.

Most affiliate programs may have requirements in order to be accepted to their program. They may only accept you when you have a certain amount of traffic coming to your blog, as well as how long the blog is up. You probably don’t want to start putting up affiliate ads all over your website anyway. You want to build a readership, and build a community of readers first. This takes time, and be expected to spend a lot of time doing this.

Also, you want to spend some time reading about tips and strategies by the leaders in affiliate marketing. By reading their blog posts, twitter updates and even listening to podcasts they’ve been featured on, it doesn’t hurt to learn. Becoming informed about affiliate marketing will definitely help your site grow and become successful. A great collection of podcasts featuring affiliates, blogging and general internet marketing discussion is at GeekCast.fm. The Ten Golden Rules Internet Marketing Podcast is syndicated there too!

Are Your Pages On Google Changing?

On Monday, Google launched real-time search results which will break up the page. From breaking news stories, Twitter feeds and blogs, the page will refresh automatically. You have the option to pause Google’s feed as well. Not all terms trigger the real time feature since information is not updated on a daily basis. Bing has also enabled this feature too for users which some are saying you are guaranteed to find more real-time results on a wider range of topics.

Melanie's Monday Mashup - Google Breaking News

Last week it was Twitter... This week, it's Google. For those of us who geek out on SEO, the search Goliath has stolen the limelight from Tiger, Twitter, TARP and tea parties, with these three big breaking announcements.

#1 Google Goggles – Just as I thought the Google app with voice search for my iPhone was the bomb, Google one-upped it with a new visual search application for Andriod devices. Need information about the business across the street? Or want information about the book the guy next to you at the airport is reading? Do you like the purse the girl at the next table is carrying?

No need to ask … Just snap a picture, and Google will send you the information.

#2 Google Real Time Search – Spending two hours a day commuting makes you appreciate devices like GPS, as well as the radio and cell phone - all of which can help you navigate through traffic more efficiently.

Those real-time updates, whether it’s the traffic on I-95 or reactions to the President’s State of the Union address, is something Google’s lacked. Now, however, you can find out what people are saying about your favorite sports team, traffic and anything else in real time. Google Real Time Search gives us the ability to see what is happening in our neighborhoods, and what people are talking about, as it’s happening.

Learn more about it by watching the Google Real Time Search Video.

#3 Google Personalized Search – While personalized search is nothing new, personalizing the results for you, me and all the other Googlers is...

Yes, that's right. On Friday Google announced it's personalizing everyone's search results by tracking everything you’ve searched for over 180 days, and using it to customize your results. And according to Danny Sullivan at SearchEngineLand.com, this shift is "the biggest change that has ever happened in search engines."

And while this will make determining ranking virtually impossible, it doesn't mean death for SEO or Internet marketing. You'll still need a solid strategy to get your site in the top results .

Read more and watch the video at Google, and then use your computer to click on your own site until it ranks #1!

InternetMarketingClub.org Presents New Media Secrets

Join Rosh Sillars, owner of the creative representation firm, The Rosh Group, Inc., in New Media Secrets. Rosh Sillars is a member of the InternetMarketingClub.org, as well as an accomplished photojournalist, magazine and corporate photographer. New Media Secrets will include:

• Expert advice to use new media for marketing your professional services
• The new rules in the continuously changing landscape of communication
• Understanding how new media marketing is about the conversation, becoming the expert, being engaged and attracting the attention of a world overloaded with information and resources
• How and why social media, tools, concepts and best practices for using Web 2.0 tools have helped Rosh Sillars continue to attract new clients and grow his photography business

The event will take place on Wednesday, December 9, 2009 12:30pmEST – 1:30pmEST. To register please visit: New Media Secrets.

TrafficWave and Team OceanSwell - Part II

Hundreds of years ago, the Scots were a blood-thirty lot who liked to fight. They were good at it too and their favorite tactic was something called the 'Highland Charge'. Even though battles of this era involved gunpowder, the Highland Charge was (mostly) based upon weapon & shield use.

For a period of time, the Highland Charge was more or less invincible. Then a new kind of bayonet and some original thinking gave the British a chance to defeat it. To make a long story short, the British soldiers (formed in a battle line) would meet the oncoming Scotsmen with their bayonets ready - but were disciplined to attack the man on their right, instead of the one in front of them. Why? Because most people are right handed and the Scotsmen's shields were in their left hands.

In other words, each British soldier didn't defend himself. The man on his left did - and so on down the line. Not defending yourself in a fight (and counting on somebody to your left to do it for you) is definitely against human nature! But it provided a way to survive the famous Highland Charge.

I'm not here to give you a history lesson. Rather, to explain that the TrafficWave affiliate pay plan works in a similar way, with the help of the Team OceanSwell promotion and recruiting system. For many, it's a difficult concept to accept at first - the notion of advertising and promoting for someone other than yourself, but that's exactly what we do. Unselfishness, trust and TEAM WORK are how we operate a system that is enabling average people to succeed with TrafficWave's famous affiliate pay plan.

Unselfishness, trust and team work. That's how we win. Join us today and you'll see exactly what I mean...

Blogging: A Workout for the Brain

A regular workout routine is recommended for a healthy lifestyle. Though, sometimes we forget that working out is not only for the body but also for the mind. Have you flexed your brain lately?

When we blog, we don’t usually think of what is happening in the background but blogging affects us in many different ways. Beyond producing helpful content and connecting with great people, it is believed that blogging helps improve our cognitive learning skills. As we challenge ourselves with these interactions our brains are “flexing” and becoming stronger. Taking it a step further, the more involved we are with reading and responding to comments, the further our writing evolves and improves. Engaging through blogging also facilitates an environment in which we are able to expand our opinions and open our minds on different topics. As a result, many times we are exposed to a perspective we may never have thought of.

So let’s continue to produce great content and connect with others while getting that ever so important workout!

Guy Tweets at the Altar, Then Kisses Newly Wedded Wife

A video of a groom tweeting at the altar at his wedding has rapidly become a popular video on YouTube. This video is proof that Twitter and Facebook have become part of many people's lives, and definitely an easy way to tell everyone the great news!



Here is the tweet that he sent in that video - http://twitter.com/TheSoftwareJedi/status/5925126890

If I were him, I'd tweet after the kiss, not before!

...and if you missed it, here is another popular wedding related video that become very popular on the internet as well.