Earlier this week Forrester and AdAge combined to give you some really bad advice. I’m here to make sure you don’t listen. And to encourage you to do the opposite.
On Monday AdAge commented on the recent Forrester survey that found just 4 percent of US online adults have used location based mobile applications, with 84 percent of respondents saying they were unaware such apps ever existed. Forrester analyst Melissa Parrish declared (and followed up) that, unless you’re targeting affluent men between the ages of 19 and 35, you don’t belong on FourSquare. You should forgo all testing on location-based marketing applications and wait for them to gain more share. Now, please take your club and head back into your cave.
If it’s okay with the kind folks at Forrester and AdAge, I’ll stay exactly where I am. Thanks. [read the full post…]
A long time ago in a land far, far away, Web searchers linked to content that they liked and found useful. It was a utopia of sorts, one where users tried to pass on the most relevant content for a query. And then, the great Google discovered what was going on. It observed user’s linking patterns and used these mythical blue words (aka links) as a signal that the linked to-page was relevant for the terms used to describe it. And this worked for about 30 seconds a little bit. And then it went to hell. Pretty soon marketers, social media experts and SEO gurus began using links in other, sometimes seedier ways. To help you recognize these new creatures, I thought I’d break down some of the link types most commonly used in social media and on blogs.
You may already be familiar with some of them. Because, well, we’ve all used them. :) I’m sure you’ll let me know if I missed any. [read the full post…]
As I’ve alluded to in the past, I get a lot of email. With my email address located directly on my Twitter page, people use it to say hello, drop a comment, or sometimes throw a question my way. One question I get a lot is what does it take for someone to be A Successful Blogger? What traits or skills do they have to possess? Do I have any tips?
Because “um, not really” and “just be yourself” doesn’t seem to win me favor, I thought I’d share a list of common blogger behaviors that I look for and respond to. For me, these are the qualities you must possess to win yourself a spot in my Google Reader. I’d love to hear what attracted you to some of your favorite bloggers, as well. Teach me how to be better. [read the full post…]
Welcome to Saturday, Friends. What are you up to this weekend? Something fun, I hope. While you figure it out, here are some Weekend Coffee Links for you to snack on. Remember now, you have to wait 30 minutes to go swimming after digesting these. Be safe out there.
- The True Calling That Wasn’t: How to know if you’re in the wrong job or just having a bad day. When you’re forced to choose a career path at 18, sometimes you pick the wrong one. What do you do 20 years later when you realize you’re unhappy? [Somewhat Related:In Online Journalism, Burn Out Comes Younger. ;) ]
- Pulse of the Nation: Researchers from Northeastern University and Harvard University studied the dynamics of Twitter to track people’s mood throughout the day. Naturally, they then created an infographic about it. Because it’s 2010. And that’s what we do. [read the full post…]
As we’ve previously covered, remarkable content is dying. It’s dying and in its place we’re seeing content farms sprout up delivering us material that is “good enough” for search engines, but not necessarily inspiring for users. Before you invest in a content farm of your very own, why not make sure you’re getting as much mileage out of your best content as you can? That means finding ways to repurpose it. I mean, you wouldn’t throw an ice cream carton away until you had scooped out every last bit, right?
Of course you wouldn’t. It’s not human.
Here are some ways I like to repurpose old content. Maybe it’ll give you some ideas for how to get more power from your own work. [read the full post…]
Hugo Guzman recently outlined several questions to ask when interviewing SEO agencies. But interviewing an SEO company is the second step – if you don’t know what your expectations of an SEO agency are, who should you reach out to in the first place? How do you know when it’s time to reach out?
Not long ago Lisa admitted that taking the first step is hard, so here are some questions to ask yourself to help get your team started. The questions are designed to help you determine what kind of SEO agency you need to bring in, to what extent you require their services and to help define what questions you’ll eventually need to ask prospective agencies. [read the full post…]
Last week local search expert Matt McGee had a quick post about the state of small businesses in social media. His post cited a recent eMarketer survey that showed small businesses were not only keeping up with social mid- to large-sized companies, they were actually beating them when it came to acquiring customers. The report found that nearly half of small businesses around the world had acquired a customer via social media, as compared to 28 percent of larger businesses with larger budgets.
Surprising? Not really. [read the full post…]
I don’t participate much in blog challenges. Mostly, because they’re the types of post that make you cringe when you look back a year later to see what you’ve produced. However, last week Darren Rowse created one that I think may benefit new and old readers to Outspoken. So I’m going to bite.
Over at ProBlogger, Darren dared readers to participate in a 7 Link Challenge, asking them to link to seven posts that fit into seven categories he created. The idea is to help new readers discover content they may have missed, while also providing an impromptu archives of your favorites for new and old to benefit from. Here are my own links for the Outspoken Media blog, with a few extra thrown in for flavor. [read the full post…]
Happy Saturday! Wow, it’s hard to believe we’ve already completed another week. It seems like just yesterday it was Wednesday and I was talking about Old Spice. And then it was Thursday and we were still talking about Old Spice. And then, well, Friday happened. OMG, did you WATCH all the Old Spice YouTube videos this week? Did you at least watch the one the Old Spice Man made for me?! If not, you should. You should watch it 10 times. I did.
Wait? What are we doing here again? Oh yeah! Weekend Coffee Links! I haz them and now I’m gonna share them. You share yours too. Here we go.
- DeMuros were inseparable in life, death: They met in 1947; spent 62 years living a simple, rich life; and then died just hours after one another as a result of multiple illnesses. That lump you’ll get in your throat while reading it? Don’t worry, it’s perfectly normal.
- Confessions of former debt collectors: You’ll have to click through ten slides (sorry), but the crazy stories you’ll read more than make up for it. Sometimes you don’t know whom to feel sorry for – the debt collectors or the people on the other end of the phone.
- The big lies people tell in online dating: Dating site OK Cupid analyzed user profile information and found that people lie in online dating. It seems average men pretend to be taller, desperate girls pretend to be bisexual and we cling to our “good photos” of three years ago. Yeah, did anyone really not know that? Isn’t that the point of online dating? [read the full post…]
When I started this entrepreneur thing, I was lucky to have room to create my office. Setting side space that was “work” helped me establish important work/life boundaries. But even though I have the office, you’d been hard pressed to find me working there. I simply don’t like it. Like lots of other entrepreneurs and freelancers, I prefer working from coffee shops. Why? Because coffee shops have things that my apartment does not: Snacks, endless coffee, stable WiFi and people to watch or talk to. It’s like camp for nerds!
Over time, I’ve picked up some tricks of the trade when it comes to increasing my productivity as a remote worker. Here are some of my preferred habits. If you have any of your own, I’d love you forever if you’d share them. I’m always trying to find ways to do more. [read the full post…]
