Guerrilla Insight for Authors: 3 Blog Squad Teleclasses this week

3 Blog Squad Teleclasses this week
Monday, June 23, 1:00 p.m. Eastern Time (10:00 a.m. Pacific) How to Get the Best Out of Your Blog: A 4-Point System to Get Found, Get Known and Get Clients Part 1 of a 4-Part Teleseminar series hosted by Adam...

Trap #4: The Trap of One Big Success
The 5 Traps of Internet Marketing that Can Derail Your Business Kathleen Gage, the Street Smarts Marketer, reveals the #4 Internet Marketing trap: you only need one really great product to make a lot of money. Success on the Internet...

C-level Execs Get News and Business Information Online
They prefer to access the Web rather than read the newspaper

The Internet continues to be the most influential and important source of business information for C-Level executives around the world, at 67%. This number has increased 37% since 2004. At the same time, C-Level executives, citing newspapers such as the Wall Street Journal as their main source of business information, has decreased 36% since 2004, reports The Center for Media Research.

The study was done by Forbes and Gartner and finds

Senior Execs are using the web to research competiors and industry trends daily
They're more likely to access the web than read a newspaper before going to work
The majority of their media consumption in on the web
They think that the web contains the most informative advertsiing

Well that dispels any idea that C-suite execs are still in the last century, technologically. Yes there may still be those few dinosaurs whose secretaries print out their emails.. But by and large they're Net savvy and more of them are turning to the web for information each year.

If you want your information seen by the C-suite, you need a smart online PR strategy. And if you've despaired of ever getting ink in the Wall St Jouranl, tihs study shoud bring a broad smile to your face. You can reach that audience directly with your news - if you place it correctly into online news sites and news search engines.

Don’t make this Adsense mistake
One of the common mistakes that Adsense publishers make is using wrong labels above Adsense units. People think it’s a hot trick, but it’s really not. Google doesn’t like to see wrong labels right above Adsense ad units. let’s review Adsense’s TOS. Publishers may not label the ads with text other than “sponsored [...]

One of the common mistakes that Adsense publishers make is using wrong labels above Adsense units. People think it’s a hot trick, but it’s really not. Google doesn’t like to see wrong labels right above Adsense ad units. let’s review Adsense’s TOS.

Publishers may not label the ads with text other than “sponsored links” or “advertisements.” This includes any text directly above our ads that could be confused with, or attempt to be associated with Google ads.

TOS clearly states that publishers may not use labels other than “sponsored links” or “advertisements”. But as you may have seen already, people become creative when it comes to labeling their ad units. I’ve seen people putting, “Articles, Navigation, Books, and Latest News” as the title of the ad unit.

Usually Google sends out warning letters first if they think you are using a wrong label. Just be careful of what you are doing with it.

Making Social Media Content Work For You
Social media does have new rules, but some of the old rules apply too

Executing Social Media was a good conference. Everyone participated in the sessions, so we got the benefit of some very smart people sharing ideas about what works and what doesn't.

There were two excellent keynotes:

George Wright from Blendtech spoke about how the Will It Blend campaign came about and why it has been so successful. The videos have had over 40 million views and sales are up 5X.

Peter Shankman woke everyone on day two with his energetic keynote about where all this social media sruff might be going.

Being wired and on the grid is a fact of life. We have no privacy. Someone always has a camera or a laptop switched on and everything you do or say could end up online. What we do have is the ability to control what gets seen or found online.

His prediction is that we are moving towards a world where we have one tool that connects us and it's more about how we live our lives than the tools we use.

How can this be used to advantage by companies? Create PR stunts people will talk about and share. Since everyone is now a citizen journalist with a camera and the means to publish, give them great content that is worth publishing.

He did this for Harrah's.

As a way to promote their new Water Tower, the Harrah's Resort Atlantic City gave away $1 million worth of free hotel rooms in four major East Coast cities, starting in New York.

They had a bevy of beautiful models painted in the Harrah's logo on Wall Street giving away room keys. And it caused a storm of tweets and images, as well as mainstream media coverage.

LInda Zimmer made a great point in her wrapup - use best principles rather than best practices. What worked for one company may not be the right stunt or content for yours. Use the idea, but keep your target audience and end goal in mind..

Example: If HerRoom.com did a similar stunt to promote the Undie Awards, I am sure they'd get just as much attention and coverage - but a ton of traffic from young Wall Street hot shots would not sell any bras.

The old rule of the right message to the right audience still applies. It's just a new channel..

YPN vs Adsense
David at his blog posted an interesting findings on YPN vs Adsense. He switched to YPN from Adsense for 10 days and shared his results with a screenshot. Very interesting read, please check it out. Making Money with YPN

David at his blog posted an interesting findings on YPN vs Adsense. He switched to YPN from Adsense for 10 days and shared his results with a screenshot.

Very interesting read, please check it out.

Making Money with YPN

Custom Content Is Your Best Bet
Last year 10% of audiences caught their favorite shows online.

Brands are catching on to the idea that they can create custom content and attract the right audience. Where is this custom content being viewed? Online. By the end of the year, an estimated 40% of programming will be viewed through the Web, says James McQuivey, an analyst at Forrester Research. Internet advertising in the United States will grow eight times faster than the overall market, surpassing newspapers, cable TV, and broadcast TV by 2012, IDC predicted today. The Yankee Group expects the market to reach $50.3 billion by 2011, double the amount of 2007.

Marketers have found a new way to try to keep viewers from tuning out their ads: offer them online programming created by the marketers themselves, often with help from their advertising agencies, says The New York Times.

One way is to sponsor content that appeals to your audience - National Geographic's Dog Whisperer is virtually owned online by Petco, writes Brandweek.

Some brands are investing in their own channels and shows. What is called Advertorial in print has become advertainment online.

Chivas This is the LIfe has a channel on MSN.

BlendTec has made entertainment out of their product testing with the Will It Blend videos. Now they're doing co-branded content

Just a year ago MySpace announced branded channels with custom content from National Geographic, The New York Times, Reuters, The Daily Reel, Expert Village, Flow, IGN Entertainment, Octane TV, Kush TV, Ripe TV, VBS TV, and Young Hollywood.

Sites like Kyte and FlexTubeTV allow you to produce your own branded content channel online. This Is 50, is the online destination site for articet 50 cent. It's part hip-hop/pop culture blog, part fan community, and part original content destination.

Heavy.com aims at men ages 18-34, They offer an online dating reality series using partially user-generated content and a show that won a Webby Award for the sports category in Online Film & Video.

I's a no-brainer for travel and tourism sites. eMarketer projects Online travel sales in the U.S. sales will reach nearly $146 billion in 2010, up from nearly $127 billion in 2009 and $110 billion in 2008. Travel bookings surpassed offline bookings in volume for the fitrst time in 2007, according to PhoCusWright. Any travel or tourism destination that is not using online video is missing a huge opportunity. Video is a major influencer in travel sales.

Have you thought about how you could use online video to build your brand, engage loyal customers and offer content that they want to watch and come back for?

Gartner Names Top 10 Technologies That Will Change The World
What is sauce for the goose... the advice to CIOs should be taken to heart by PR Managers

Dr. Jim Amderson posted in The Busines of IT blog about the Gartner Top 10 Technologies that they think will change the world in the next four years.

Multicore and hybrid processors
Virtualization and fabric computing
Social networks and social software
Cloud computing and cloud/Web platforms
Web mashups
User Interface
Ubiquitous computing
Contextual computing
Augmented reality
Semantics

Dr. Anderson says that 1 - 4 spell a sea change in IT departments. "Uh, oh - can you hear your job going away?" he asks.

"What does this all mean, and more importantly what should a successful IT staffer (or CIO) do today? The key to your future success is to understand how IT is going to change and what you need to do to change with it."

#3 on the list is having a profound effect on PR and marketing departments. and I'd say that same advice applies:

The key to your future success is to understand how PR is going to change and what you need to do to change with it.

Social Media has given the PR industry much more insight into the fundamental aspects of relationship-building, says Todd Defren

Is this how PR should always have been? Yes, indeed. Social software and social networks are empowering the consumer and their voice is being heard - loud and clear.

Business Week updated their 2006 article on blogs and said when they wrote that story they missed an even bigger one: social networks and social software.

"Social connectors are changing the dynamics of companies around the world. Millions of us are now hanging out on the Internet with customers, befriending rivals, clicking through pictures of our boss at a barbecue, or seeing what she read at the beach. It's as if the walls around our companies are vanishing and old org charts are lying on their sides."

And even if the social media bubble bursts—and Business Week predicts it will—they also predict that the power of social media to transform our businesses and society will only continue to grow.

Are you ready?

Ask, Ask, Ask: Using Surveys for Content Marketing
We recently asked a thousand readers what their biggest problems are when it comes to Internet Marketing, using SurveyMonkey.com. This a great way to get content ideas, stay in touch with what readers want, and develop programs and info products...

BlogPotomac: WaPo Dan Beyers talks about the future of the media
Media needs a new model of audience engagement

Dan Breyers, local business editor at the Washington Post, talks about how social media is impacting the media and how the paper is adapting.

He starts by reading a prediction that within 10 years there will be no more print media. And goes on to give his personal strategy as business editor.

1. Provide excellent content.

2. Provide new ways for companies to engage with the audience. Offering access to the data and more indepth content about the companies

3. Make it easy for people to use and share the information

This is definitely not your grandmother's newspaper.

Take note, PR folk. If this is where reporters and newspapers are heading, your media relations strategy will have to look very different too.

Hat tip to Geoff Livingstone for the video

WordPress 2.1 is ready
WordPress 2.1 is out for download. One of the important changes is in this version is that now it requires MySQL 4. Which means I have to upgrade my servers in order to test drive it. Download WordPress 2.1.

WordPress 2.1 is out for download. One of the important changes is in this version is that now it requires MySQL 4. Which means I have to upgrade my servers in order to test drive it.

Download WordPress 2.1.

Social Writing: Don't ignore networking sites
There's a lot of buzz online right now about whether or not one should use social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc. Are these sites important for content marketing? You'll have to decide for yourself and for your business....

4 Keys for Content Marketing that Gets Results
How do you write good content for your web pages (blog, newsletters, articles, press releases, etc.) that also brings in clients and customers and makes sales? Let's face it, talking about how great your product and services are isn't going...

Social Networking Online: How to find out what you need to know
Are you puzzled by buzzwords like "web 2.0" and "social media?" If you're like me, you probably cringed when you started hearing the buzz about MySpace, Facebook and Twitter. At first you could ignore it because it was just for...

Download Firefox 3
Did you know that Firefox 3 is out? It’s a major release. I can already tell the difference in performance. It’s lightning fast. I haven’t had a chance to fully explore the new version, but I can already tell that it looks sleek. Firefox 3 is supposed to be more secure and [...]

Did you know that Firefox 3 is out? It’s a major release. I can already tell the difference in performance. It’s lightning fast. I haven’t had a chance to fully explore the new version, but I can already tell that it looks sleek.

Firefox 3 is supposed to be more secure and easier to use. You can test some of their improved security features on the Firefox 3 Release Notes webpage.

Download Firefox 3 now. You will love it.

Trap #3: The Trap of the Internet Guru
5 Traps of Internet Marketing that Can Derail Your Business In this video, I talk about how easy it is to fall for smooth marketing hype that promise you millions. Internet "gurus" don't always have the right answer for you...

Trap #5: The Trap of Manifesting by Meditation and Visualization
The 5 Traps of Internet Marketing that Can Derail Your Business Kathleen Gage, the Street Smarts Marketer, reveals the #5 Internet Marketing trap: it takes more than the Law of Attraction to be successful online. You have to get into...

Repeat the Benefits: Create a Placebo Effect
"Should I reinforce the benefits of my product on the thank you page?" One of our clients asked this question while we were reviewing his autoresponders and online content. Of course. While this may seem obvious and common sense, many...

WordPress 2.5.1
Upgrade your WordPress immediately. WordPress just announced its version 2.5.1 today. It includes a very important security fix and more than 70 bug fixes. Here are some highlights of improvements : Performance improvements for the Dashboard, Write Post, and Edit Comments pages. Better performance for those who have many categories Media Uploader fixes An upgrade to TinyMCE 3.0.7 Widget Administration fixes Various [...]

Upgrade your WordPress immediately. WordPress just announced its version 2.5.1 today. It includes a very important security fix and more than 70 bug fixes.

Here are some highlights of improvements :

Performance improvements for the Dashboard, Write Post, and Edit Comments pages.

Better performance for those who have many categories

Media Uploader fixes

An upgrade to TinyMCE 3.0.7

Widget Administration fixes

Various usability improvements

Layout fixes for IE

One of the most annoying bugs in WP 2.5 was the media uploader bug. It just wouldn’t work for me. Uploading works fine, but once it is uploaded I can’t retreive it using the gallery menu. WordPress 2.5.1 fixed some of the media uploader problems, but from my testing, it still needs improvements. I can now upload and view the file fine, but I still can’t insert images to my posts. I hope they get fix it quickly.

If you want to learn more about WordPress 2.5.1 go to WordPress Blog.

Relevant Content: Search Engine Bread Crumbs
On our 5 Traps of Internet Marketing teleclass yesterday, almost 1000 people registered and we got some interesting questions. Here's one: "What is the most important thing to do to get people to find your site when you cannot afford...

Free Stock Photos from Electronic Perceptions
Kathy over at the Electronic Perceptions is a real giver. She’s giving away free stock photos on her blog. You are free to use the photos marked as “Royalty-Free” under the terms defined. Please read the terms before you download them. One thing I would like to see is some free [...]

Kathy over at the Electronic Perceptions is a real giver. She’s giving away free stock photos on her blog. You are free to use the photos marked as “Royalty-Free” under the terms defined. Please read the terms before you download them.

One thing I would like to see is some free high-resolution stock photos. I know she can do whatever she wants to do with her photos, but I feel that she can attract more traffic to her site if she gives away high-resolution versions for some of her photo sets. That would be really awesome.

I highly suggest that you bookmark her blog. New stock photos are posted daily basis. Thanks Kathy!

Samples
Red and Green Tableware

Visit : Electronic Perceptions for Free Stock Photos

FilePub - free file hosting service
FilePub is a free file hosting service where you can upload any files up to 500mb per file. Allowed file types include : jpeg, jpg, png, gif, bmp, mp3, txt, avi, wmv, mpg, mpeg, doc, rar, and zip. It comes in handy when you need to share a big file or a big image on [...]

FilePub is a free file hosting service where you can upload any files up to 500mb per file. Allowed file types include : jpeg, jpg, png, gif, bmp, mp3, txt, avi, wmv, mpg, mpeg, doc, rar, and zip.

It comes in handy when you need to share a big file or a big image on your blog. You can save bandwidth and the web space if you host these big files outside of your web hosting server. FilePub is perfect for that. Read their terms of service before you upload your files.

How to upload a file
Click “Browse” and choose a file. Once the file is selected, just click “Click to Upload” That’s it!