Blogs from the Vatican

Pope Benedict XVI has recently been quoted advising Catholic priests to get involved in the digital space. His stance appears to be with the understanding that the world continues to evolve digitally and so should the Church. He hopes priests will follow in his footsteps for the push of “digitizing the church.”

And just using e-mail or surfing the Web is often not enough: Priests should use cutting-edge technologies to express themselves and lead their communities, Benedict said in a message released by the Vatican, sites Huffington Post.

The Vatican has already launched a YouTube Channel, Facebook and iPhone/iPod Touch applications to support the move towards new media communications. Pope Benedict XVI further encourages all priests to not only “just have a website” but to blog and engage with the masses. This can be used as a vehicle to spread their word and reach out to the digital world – to use these platforms to foster humanity and awareness.

InternetMarketingClub.org Presents The New Community Rules: Marketing on the Social Web

Blogs, networking sites, and other examples of the social web provide businesses with a largely untapped marketing channel for products and services. But how do you take advantage of them? With The New Community Rules, you'll understand how social web technologies work, and learn the most practical and effective ways to reach people who frequent these sites.

Join Tamar Weinberg, Social Media Consultant, Author, and Community Director at Mashable, and Jay Berkowitz, CEO of TenGoldenRules.com as they cut through the hype and jargon to give you intelligent advice and strategies for positioning your business on the social web.

This free webinar will take place on Wednesday, January 27, 2010 12:30pmEST – 1:30pmEST. To register please visit: The New Community Rules: Marketing on the Social Web

Optimize Mobile Landing Pages Per Device

With mobile devices accounting for more and more internet usage, more and more focus should be placed on advertising on these devices. A key challenge is creating a landing page that is useful on each of the different devices and their corresponding operating systems. While there is currently no standard for optimizing pages for all devices, you can tailor different landing pages to each device.

Through Google Adwords, you can now target your campaigns to different mobile carriers and devices. This way, you can have a different landing page optimized for each device, and target your ads to only display on that device.

This new targeting is also useful if you are advertising carrier or device specific products. For example, if you are selling screen protectors for the myTouch 3G, you can set your campaign to only display ads on that device, so you are only reaching your target audience.

Is Your Password Too Easy

The New York Times published a list of the most popular passwords that protect very sensitive data. Amichai Shulman, the chief technology officer at Imperva, examined a list of 32 million passwords that an unknown hacker stole last month from RockYou. RockYou is a company that makes software to helps block hackers.

The list includes:

• 123456
• 12345
• 123456789
• password
• iloveyou
• princess
• rockyou
• abc123
• 654321
• 111111
• michael

The article shows the top 32. I have to go now and change some things, hope this helped!

Ever Wanted To Create Your Own iPhone App?

Apps are all the rage on cellphones, especially the iPhone. Because I am personally an iPhone user, I am just touching on iPhone apps, but I am aware other phones do have apps as well. I always thought that programmers were the only ones able to create iPhone apps, but now, anyone who has an RSS feed can make a simple iPhone app. So, if you're a company with a blog, or a serious blogger, an iPhone app can be a great touch to your personal brand or for your company.

With iSites.us, you can create an iPhone app for $25. You add some feeds, then customize the look and feel, and then create an icon and information for the Apple App store. You can even monetize your iPhone app by paying extra. By paying $99, it allows you to monetize your app by integrating it with their ad network. Using iSites even offers analytics on downloads, app views and which of your content is the most popular.

I think its pretty cool and for $25, it's definitely worth a try!

First Declared Viral Video for 2010

Yes, that’s right! Adam Ostrow, Editor-in-Chief at Mashable, has affirmed the first viral video of the year, “Pants on the Ground.” Brought to you by Atlanta, GA, "General" Larry Platt has become an online sensation, generating millions of views on YouTube and has over 1 million fans on Facebook. Even Brett Favre of the Minnesota Vikings sang this tune after a victorious game.

I must admit while watching this performance on the show, I agreed with Simon that we would see much more of the “General.” After its American Idol debut, “Pants on the Ground” has been aired on radio stations nationwide and was performed on The View. Now the question remains, will it surpass last year’s unforeseen star Susan Boyle who had over 120 million YouTube views?

Mobile Search Suggestions Based on Location

As smartphones are becoming more and more popular, Google is making every effort it can to simplify search on these devices. Most recently, Google announced that the search suggestions (the suggested searches that are displayed when you begin typing a search phrase) will be based on the current location of your phone.

If someone searches "library" on their mobile device in Boca Raton FL, suggestions such as "library boca raton" will be displayed in an attempt to make the suggestions more relevant. To ensure that location search suggestions are enabled on your mobile browser, go to google.com and select "save recent locations" and "allow use of device location" under the settings link on Google's homepage. This works with any Android phone or iPhone.

InternetMarketingClub.org Presents Effective PR in a Social World

Everything marketers have always known about PR still works - and arguably, it works even better through social media. Yes, social media fundamentally changes our approach to PR - or does it? This webinar will address how "old" and "new" PR work together to help companies stay relevant in the new (and old) communications channels.

Reviewed in this discussion:

• Where we've come from: brief history of public relations
• How public relations is changing: tools, speed, presence
• Content creation and the continued relevance of "old media"
• What hasn't changed: storytelling and other "undead" techniques
• Reconciling "old" and "new" PR

Doug Haslam is a PR and communications veteran in a variety of industries, and has become a recognized leader in the emerging and innovative social media community. Prior to taking up public relations, Doug spent a decade in public radio, as a producer for international news and entertainment programs (The Christian Science Monitor Radio, NPR's Only a Game), not to mention his beginnings as a jazz disc jockey.

Based in Boston (don't ask about the Patriots) Doug can also be found frequently online at Twitter (http://twitter.com/DougH), and on his own blog (http://doughaslam.com).

This free webinar will take place on Wednesday, January 20, 2010 12:30pmEST – 1:30pmEST. To register please visit: Effective PR in a Social World

Haiti Earthquake Relief - Watch Out for Internet Scammers

It's official... Not that we didn't already know this, but Internet scammers will do anything to make a fast buck - even piggyback on one of the most devastating natural disaster to hit the Caribbean. Yes, the recent earthquake in Haiti has brought out an new crop of Internet scammers, according to the FBI.

So, if you want to donate online, how can you be sure your money will actually go to help the residents of Haiti? Google's Official Haiti Earthquake Relief page lists a variety of reputable organizations that accept cash and in-kind donations.

According to a variety of reports, the earthquake completely destroyed eight hospitals in Port Au Prince, making it nearly impossible to them to treat those injured during the disaster. In the addition, the port was severely damaged, making it difficult for the coast guard, military and other help and support to land.

This video taken yesterday taken by Jose A. Iglesias of the El Nuevo Heraldin documents the death and destruction in Haiti. When I posted it to Facebook this morning, several of my Ohio friends commented, saying that the news has been sparse due to the difficulty news crews face getting to the island, and they had no idea the conditions in Haiti were so horrific. So, I wantedt o share it... However, I do need to warn you: This video is very graphic... but shows just how much they need your help right now in Haiti.

Don't forget to donate...

Have You Done Your Part to Help Haiti?

After learning what had happened in Haiti this week, especially seeing the images of the earthquake aftermath, I really could not resist to do my part in helping. With Haiti already being a impoverished country, it really breaks my heart to see people suffering even more.

If each person gave at least $10, I think it would definitely make a difference. A donation is as easy as texting on your cell phone! By texting "Haiti" to 90999 you'll be donating $10 to the Red Cross. It will just charge to your phone bill.

There are other ways of donating, if you're not comfortable texting. You can go to the Red Cross website. There are other organizations who are donating to relief efforts as well, and can be seen here.

And if you haven't already, Google Maps has updated their imagery and you can view the earthquake aftermath.

TrafficWave and Team OceanSwell - Part IV

I'm not rich. If you're reading this, you're probably not rich either. And unless you ARE rich already, it takes lots and lots of time to build an online business from scratch. Even small 'brick and mortar' businesses take a minimum of $25,000 to $100,000 to get off the ground. That is why starting an online business without an investment of similar size requires a great deal of patience.

That's because you can trade time for money, especially online where you have little to no overhead costs. People who are successful online have lots and lots of patience. In fact, it's the single most important thing when it comes to earning money online. Without it, you don't stand a chance. However, with patience and determination, nothing can stop you.

Any follower of this blog (or anyone who scans its many posts) can see that 'My Internet Marketing Journey' was a good name for it. That's exactly what it's been; a journey. It's been a process of learning, testing, trying new things and (of course) spending bundles of money for countless ebooks, pdf's, software downloads, e-courses, etc.

I've been through the maze (wandering in all directions) and have come through the other side, finally understanding what it takes to combine patience with a definite plan of action that WILL produce results.

Team OceanSwell is the product of everything thing that I've learned as a result of having PATIENCE.

But the best part is, TrafficWave's Team OceanSwell makes it possible for the average person to actually develop an online income without having to spend the years it took me to put all the parts together. It STILL requires plenty of patience and effort, but I've found that most people will accept that so long as they have a set of specific directions to follow that actually work.

If you join us today, you'll be very glad you did by Christmas 2010. And if you don't, you'll wish you had...

Daily News - Not Just in Black & White

I recently purchased something that I can’t even remember the last time I did – a newspaper. Nowadays, there are so many options for consuming news it has eliminated the need for purchasing a newspaper for many people including myself. As we reach further into the tech generation, we can drink our morning coffee/tea with our mobile phones at hand while scrolling through the latest news feeds.

CES 2010 was full of tech products such as eBook readers which will integrate newspapers and magazines. But not even delving into the new world of products about to be released, websites like Alltop.com and news aggregators like Google Reader, make it that much easier to read our news of choice at our fingertips [in a digital sense].

This is in essence almost forcing newspapers and publications to establish an online/electronic news presence if they have not already and if already established, a more profound presence. The Wall Street Journal, for instance, can download automatically to your Que ProReader, or maybe you sign up for something as simple as RSS subscriptions.

Whichever way you consume your news, you must admit sometimes it’s fun to have a “blast from the past” and experience it the old fashion way, I guess we can say. It was a nice experience to thumb through a newspaper again. But I must admit, I still prefer my news to be in digital form.

InternetMarketingClub.org Presents Social Media Infrastructures

Social Media Infrastructures (Multiple social media platforms chosen for engagement and how they are connected to one another). Most companies that fail in social media marketing have each platform in a silo without regard to SEO, connectivity or the efficiencies of time and message that can be gained. The infrastructure approach creates a SEO "keyword neighborhood" and maximizes share of voice while creating consistency and clarity of message on the internet.

Reviewed in this discussion:

• SEO, Keyword Themes and Social Media
• Building a Social Media Infrastructure (What is it & how to build it?)
• Keyword Blogging vs Blogging
• Choosing the right Social Media platforms
• Social Media rules of engagement

Since 2002, Chad H. Pollitt has played an integral role in designing, developing, deploying, executing and tracking robust web marketing strategies for over 100 client companies and organizations. Chad is an Internet Marketing Manager and Web Technology Consultant at Digital Hill Multimedia, Inc., the leading web development and internet marketing agency in the Midwest, and decorated veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom. His white papers and articles have been published in over a dozen newspapers and websites throughout the world. With over 10 million dollars of tracked ROI for SEO alone, he has been featured on multiple radio shows, podcasts and in The Wall Street Journal.

This free webinar will take place on Wednesday, January 13, 2010 12:30pmEST – 1:30pmEST. To register please visit: Social Media Infrastructures

Make the Most Out of Contextual Advertising

A common mistake people make when setting up a pay per click campaign in Google Adwords is to run the same campaign on both the search and content networks. Content network campaigns are quite different than search network campaigns in how they're set up, optimized, and tracked. The messaging that works best on a content network campaign may not work best in a search network campaign and vice versa. For this reason, it is best to run each campaign on only one network and optimize each campaign individually. You can even duplicate a campaign and run one version on search and a mirror of it on content to see which performs better.

If you are new to advertising on a content network, Google has a step by step tutorial on getting a content network campaign started.

TrafficWave and Team OceanSwell - Part III

Team OceanSwell was born from the experiences catalogued in this blog. Specifically, the enormous success I've had over the last two years recruiting TrafficWave affiliates, only to see 95% of them let their accounts go inactive within 90 days.

I believe in Brian Rooney (owner of TrafficWave), I believe in the product and I've always understood the AWESOME potential of the affiliate pay plan. I just couldn't understand why nobody else could see it. How is it than one person could 'get it' in the midst of so many who couldn't, wouldn't or would not? Then I finally realized what the problem was - why so many will simply give up and quit.

It's because they feel LOST.

With Internet Marketing, people just don't know what to do. That, and they don't believe it's real. In fact, that sums up most people who join any online affiliate program. They think they're being lied to, and they're usually right. Like a stray dog who's been kicked a time or two, they just don't trust strangers anymore.

So how can you build a real TrafficWave downline this year? How can YOU be one of the rare successes in this confusing and frustrating industry?

You need a plan and you need a system - and you need to see both of them working with your own eyes. Most important of all, you need your referrals to have the same plan and use the same system. That's what Team OceanSwell is all about. It's simple, it's effective, and it is THE way for the average person to make TrafficWave work.

No, we aren't promising to build your downline for you. Plenty of people will tell you that LIE. You will be expected to work and you will be expected to have patience, especially in the beginning. But if saw the potential with TrafficWave before and just couldn't make it work, or if you've heard of TrafficWave and would like to give it a try, then I offer a way that you CAN make it work.

Like anything honest, our Team system requires patience and work. But if you follow the simple instructions (and can be PATIENT!), you will most definitely succeed with our surprisingly easy methods. We make it literally impossible for you to fail.

Why not check it out today?

Friday Fun with None - Giddy Up

Yesterday morning, I received a Facebook email from a college friend with the following note:

"Some fun is going on…. just write the color of your bra in your status. Just the color, nothing else. It will be neat to see if this will spread the wings of breast cancer awareness. It will be fun to see how long it takes before people wonder why all the girls have a color in their status… Haha ."

Thinking I'd have a little fun, too, I posted my status update and passed the email along to my girlfriends... who updated their statuses, and passed the email along to THIER friends.

Of course, one of my ingenious man-friends, whom I've known since pre-school, hit me up on chat and promptly guessed what the colorful posts were about. After a little joking around, he came up with the great idea to actually turn this silliness into a REAL FUNDRAISER for breast cancer.

Although this may sound just a wee bit strange, it's not. A softy at heart, he was feeling for the wife of his co-worker, who was diagnosed with a serious illness on New Year's Eve. He wanted to do something to help....

This afternoon, I was browsing the news and noticed the following story trending on Mashable.com: Sharing Your Bra Color Is the New 25 Things on Facebook. (Gotta love that, although I wish they would have mentioned the event!)

As we discovered last night, the original source of the email is unknown, even to Mashable.

Of course, I'd love to know who hatched this witty email, too. I wonder if the person ever considered the onslaught of rainbow posts it would bring? That their prose would serve as such a great example of how something extremely simple can go viral so quickly, that Mashable would stand up and take note? Or that a slightly mischievous, but very well-intentioned guy would not only see this as a way to get everyone out of their skivvies, but also as an opportunity to do some good along the way?

To do your part, login to Facebook and join the "Friday Fun with None" event. It's open to anyone, and is for a good cause. (Even if you don't really participate, show your support by clicking the link to make a donation.)

Hulu iPhone App Coming Soon

Hulu.com, the popular website to watch tv episodes and movies online is developing an app for the iPhone and iPod Touch, which is supposed to be just as good as their website. According to a plugged in industry executive, the app should be coming within the next few months and will work over 3G and Wi-fi. There are several apps that stream tv already such as CBS, Joost and i.TV, but the new Hulu app is supposed to blow these out of the water.

If you're the type of person who catches up on shows using Hulu, then you'll definitely appreciate this app and will be looking out for it!

Pandora: Pioneering a New Wave in Radio

Satellite radio is no longer the only way to add variety to our listening options on the go. Internet radio sites such as Last.fm, Jango and Pandora have offered the ability of customize channels on our computers and mobile phones. Pandora has now pushed even further by announcing its partnership with Pioneer to bring Internet radio to your car via their audio products. This is a strategic move for both companies as it expands Pandora’s reach while giving Pioneer a new market.

One factor to consider for some is the pricing of these devices as they also support entertainment and navigation which adds a few more dollars to the equation. The navigation system is priced at $1,200.00 which also incorporates an iPhone feature to sync your current Pandora settings to. With over 42 million listeners and counting, Pandora hopes its users will see this as another reason why its service sets them apart from the rest.

InternetMarketingClub.org Presents Ten Strategies for SEO

Start 2010 off right with the core strategies and advanced tactics you'll need to optimize your website to be found in Google and the other search engines!

Join Jay Berkowitz, Author of "The Ten Golden Rules of Online Marketing" for an interactive Webinar where you will learn:

1. How to determine how Google and the other search engines evaluate your website and how many search results you have today
2. How to read the minds of your customers and prospects. What are they searching for? What keyword phrases do they use? Which search engine do they favor?
3. Optimal website build techniques for SEO
4. Keyword research and content development
5. Critical link building
6. Meta Tags, File Names, Hyperlinks and AltTags

This webinar will take place on Wednesday, January 6, 2010 12:30pmEST – 1:30pmEST. To register please visit: Ten Strategies for SEO

Google Chrome Gaining Market Share in Browser Race

Up until around midway through December of 2009, Google Chrome had been unsuccessful in breaking into the top three most utilized web browsers worldwide. Internet Explorer, Firefox, and Safari have held on tight to the top three spots respectively throughout most of 2009. With a new year, however, comes a new spot for Chrome in the browser wars as it was able to overtake Safari for the coveted third position.

Not likely a coincidence, the increase in market share of Chrome came about just as a beta version of the browser for Mac and Linux computers was released. Google still has a long way to go if they intend to surpass the market share of Firefox and IE, but they are moving in the right direction.