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| Print This! |
| Thoughts on what my company is doing, what I've been doing with the company, and how printing fits into the new age of web 2.0. And of course, general rambling on company time |
| Language: English |
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| Total Unique Visitors: 502012 |
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| Total Visitors Out: 1654 |
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| @Garyvee, this is for you! |
| 2008-04-08 09:22:47 |
Like how I made the title Twitter-optimized?
Big thanks to Gary Vaynerchuk at Wine Library TV for sharing the love and sending out some Bringing the THunder wristbands. In all my craptastic webcam glory…
Awesome job on the branding efforts Gary!
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| Living in “The Cloud” |
| 2008-04-07 12:34:55 |
Recently I’ve been giving a lot of thought to the pros and cons of living in the cloud, so to speak. If you’re not familiar with this term, living in the cloud basically means that you keep most of your important documents, email, etc. with online access so you can access it from any [...]...
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| Link Glossary: Reciprocal Link Exchanges |
| 2008-04-07 11:00:00 |
Reciprocal Link Exchanges:
When two websites swap links to point at each other. Trading links with another website.
There’s a limited amount of success that can be had with reciprocal link exchanges. As one blogger wrote they are “so 1997″. Search engines do not give that much value to reciprocal link exchanges because you [...]...
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| Amusing Phrases |
| 2008-04-05 19:00:38 |
I’m a total media consumer, so in listening to things and reading this I’ve picked up a couple of highly amusing phrases that I’d like to share with you. It’s Saturday afternoon, not much else is going on! So let’s get a little silly while I share some things that have been absolutely cracking [...]...
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| Cribbed Content for April 4th |
| 2008-04-04 15:45:32 |
As usual, here’s my weekly compilation of cool stories I found around the net this week.
Shawn Collins announced that Gary Vaynerchuk of WineLibrary.tv will be the keynote for Affiliate Summit West 2009. He’s sure to bring the thunder!
Epic Advertising was not an April Fool’s Joke; AzoogleAds has indeed re-branded themselves along with Bazaar Advertising [...]...
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| Link Glossary: Anchor Text |
| 2008-04-04 11:00:00 |
Anchor Text:
Anchor text is the text on a page that is linked to another web page or a different place on the current page. When you click on anchor text, you will be taken to the page or place on the page to which it is linked.
This is basically the HTML nuts & bolts [...]...
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| Your opinions, please |
| 2008-04-03 21:49:30 |
Should I integrate my personal ramblings with business related content? Mix business with pleasure? I’m thinking on it… more at 11…
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| Good People Day |
| 2008-04-03 15:25:47 |
So Gary Vaynerchuk at WineLibrary is at it again, enthusiastically making up holidays as he fancies. He’s come up with April 3rd as People">Good People Day, a day to thank those that help you, inspire you, etc. He explains it better than I, so here:
So I’m left to wondering who I should thank. [...]...
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| A Thorn in My Side |
| 2008-04-03 12:33:05 |
By all accounts, I was certain that moving my blog over to WordPress and onto my own domain was the right thing to do. Many (if not all) online marketers lately are preaching the personal branding… so what better than to move it over, right?
I’ve noticed since the move that my RSS subscriber numbers [...]...
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| Make Your Business Bloom with PsPrint |
| 2008-04-03 12:00:13 |
Lots of good sales going on this month at PsPrint. The sales are in full swing for spring and it’s time to get the word out about your business. Over the last few months I’ve been reposting some great articles from the PsPrint website about using print marketing to your advantage, so these [...]...
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| Effective Email Case Study - Expedia |
| 2008-04-02 13:30:54 |
Checking my email last night I noticed some ingenious, personalized email marketing campaigns that I think more businesses should consider (including my own). I felt the need to share these as case studies. There’s a lot to cover, so I’ll split them up. Hopefully I can continue to do these case studies [...]...
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| Link Glossary: Citation |
| 2008-04-02 11:00:00 |
Citation:
A citation is a reference to an entity. Citation: quote, mention, reference. Citation in the context of the web usually means a HREF link to a location. A Citation count is the count of references to a page on the internet.
I use a lot of citations on my websites, and the reason [...]...
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| Off-Holiday Marketing |
| 2008-04-01 18:45:00 |
When you think of holiday marketing, what comes to mind? Probably sleigh bells, Santa Claus and snowballs; with a reindeer or some eggnog thrown in for good measure. Everyone knows that Christmas is the hottest sales season of the year, and most businesses adjust their marketing budgets to hit the [...]...
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| The Power of Stickers |
| 2008-04-01 16:00:46 |
Stickers are ridiculous in terms of how much power they have for advertising. As one of the most creative mediums, stickers can go anywhere to promote anything.
A great example of this is what a lot of trade show speakers do with their laptops. It’s a widespread trend in the geek world to slap [...]...
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| Free Toolsday for April 1st |
| 2008-04-01 13:00:47 |
Described as “A fancy tip jar for your blog!”, ScratchBack is a great monetizing widget for any blog or website. Best to the user, it’s free to throw onto your blog and free to customize if you have the right skills and a copy of Photoshop.
A Jim Kukral joint, ScratchBack is essentially a paid [...]...
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| Creating a Custom Font for Business Cards |
| 2008-03-31 15:30:00 |
If you have the know-how, creating a custom font for business cards can contribute to the overall uniqueness of a company’s first impression, and thus help convert more sales. Creating a custom font isn’t that difficult if you have the right resources, but first it’s important to make sure you really want [...]...
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| Dealing with Email Solicitations |
| 2008-03-28 19:15:26 |
More and more lately I’ve been receiving unsolicited business emails. Not spam, just emails from representatives of various companies offering their services to our company. I’m getting a bit more adept to answering these emails when we’re not interested. But it’s still an awkward situation.
So how do you address these things? [...]...
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| Cribbed Content for March 28th |
| 2008-03-28 17:00:03 |
Here we are in the home stretch of March, getting ready for spring! I personally can’t wait, but in the meantime here are the links for the week.
Shawn Collins over at Affiliate Summit already announced that Affiliate Summit West 2009 will once again be in Las Vegas at the Rio All-Suites Hotel & Casino. [...]...
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| Link Glossary: Off Page Criteria |
| 2008-03-28 14:00:00 |
Off Page Criteria:
When a search engine ranks pages by using data that is not present on the web page itself. This could be the presences of a directory listing, or the number and quality of inbound links to a page.
This just goes to show that you need to build your link profile with more [...]...
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| Using Powerful Fonts That Get Your Clients’ Business Cards Noticed |
| 2008-03-27 19:55:00 |
If you’re a professional designer, then you’re accustomed to using sans-serif headlines and serif body copy fonts. The same method is often applied to business card design, with larger text like the company’s or individual’s name in a sans-serif font and contact information in a serif font, even though sans-serif fonts can [...]...
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| Comfortable Branding by Name |
| 2008-03-27 19:42:58 |
The name of the marketing game is branding, and using your name as your personal brand is a time honored tradition. Watch the video and I’ll tell you more!
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| Spamaliciousness |
| 2008-03-27 13:32:51 |
I have no clue why this excites me, but overnight I received my first spam comment. I’m going to leave it up just because it’s the first! I guess it could mean that the content is getting indexed faster, which is always good.
What’s not good is Feed Burner. I know I’ve been critical of them [...]...
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| Where Online Meets Offline |
| 2008-03-26 20:00:00 |
I should talk about this topic more, but online is just SO fascinating and I’ve been immersed in off line for the last 4 years so it’s routine to me. Since we discontinued our old poorly performing affiliate program at the beginning of February, I’ve been focused on growing our new Reseller Program and [...]...
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| Free Toolsday for March 25th |
| 2008-03-26 14:49:38 |
But, today isn’t the 25th… and it’s not Tuesday. I know, but I forgot to do this yesterday, so give me a break!
The tool du jour is more of a resource than a tool. I figure I hit you with so much last week you’re probably still fussing with settings. I happened [...]...
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| Link Glossary: FFA Link Farm |
| 2008-03-26 13:00:00 |
FFA Link Farm:
A link farm ffa or (Free For All) are farms where anyone can add a link. Many of these ffa/link farms have been banned.
From what I’ve been noticing they seem to have been replaced by directory listings. These are nearly free for all’s, but they do involve some moderation from the [...]...
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| March BAAMC Meeting |
| 2008-03-26 10:00:00 |
Last week I was happy to attend the March lunch meeting of the Bay Area Affiliate Manager Coalition. It was a great meeting and I was super jazzed afterwards. I found, when trying to sit down and write this blog post, that I was way too excited about it. I’ve been looking [...]...
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| Alternate Language Creative |
| 2008-03-25 20:15:00 |
I was presented with an interesting dilemma last week. An affiliate contacted me and pointed out that their visitor base consists mostly of non-English speaking users.
Of course we’re willing to accommodate this publisher. He’s excited about the program enough to ask for the creative that his visitors will understand and connect with. [...]...
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| Let Sleeping Husbands & Cats Lie |
| 2008-03-25 17:45:00 |
So what does this have to do with marketing or affiliate managing? Other than I am in these fields and wanted to share a cute picture of the cat sleeping on the husband, it’s a good metaphor for inactive affiliates.
Now, the only reason our cat is sleeping on him is because he’s asleep and [...]...
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| Reputation Management Made Easy - By Trackur! |
| 2008-03-24 17:50:00 |
I wish I could tell you all that this amazing service is free, but alas like most good things nowadays there's a price to pay. This is definitely a service that's worth the coin.Trackur.com, launched earlier this year by Andy Beal of MarketingPilgrim.com, is an amazing tool that basically scours the web for you to find references to your keyword. I enjoyed my free trial, and am excited to see that the minimum price has gone down to $18/month. It'll be much easier to sell execs on using this service now that it's ultra affordable.This ain't yo mama's reputation management!Google Alerts have pretty much been the standard in the past, but once you try Trackur I promise you'll cancel half those alerts. I found SO m...
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| Link Glossary: On-Page Factors |
| 2008-03-24 13:00:00 |
On Page Factors:Ranking criteria that can be found on a web page. These factors include: text on the page, meta-tags, keyword density, keyword proximity, etc.A brief word about some factors. Some people don't seem to understand the importance of meta-tags, but they're vital for SEO and SEM. Meta-tags increase the attractiveness of your website to search engines. Keyword density is also a must; if you are looking to improve your organic search results for a particular keyword, you must include that word in the text on your page at least 4 times as a rule of thumb.____Glossary Definition From The Definitive Guide to Link Buying by Patrick Gavin...
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| Cribbed Content for March 21st |
| 2008-03-21 15:00:00 |
It's been a weird week...long yet short. Not a lot going on but here's some highlights.Stephen Denton, president of LinkShare, resigned. Basically he just wants to take some time off to be with his kids and family. Right on.GeekCast 10 - hilarious as usual. Word directly from Shawn is that ASW09 is going to be in Las Vegas again...usually gets about 75% of the vote. Personally, I voted San Diego. Meh.Clever, yet, annoying marketing idea for the week comes from Jim Kukral on The Daily Flip - get a jingle. Watch this... soak it in... punch him in the head next time you see him.I'm discontinuing the daily quotes. They didn't add much to anything and ultimately ended up being a chore to do. Sorry to anyone who'll miss them.On a secondary note I suggested a topic for Affiliate Fortune C...
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| Link Glossary: Link Popularity |
| 2008-03-21 13:00:00 |
Popularity">Link Popularity:The measure the quantity and/or quality of sites that link back to your web page.Popular links are important links. Like in High School.____Glossary Definition From The Definitive Guide to Link Buying by Patrick Gavin...
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| Explain the value to me |
| 2008-03-21 10:00:00 |
Okay, so there are some websites that I just don't get. So this is a participation welcome post. Well, okay all of my posts are, of course, welcome to comments, discussion, and participation. But today we're going to jump into web 2.0 and the world of user generated content!There are a couple of biggun websites out there that I just don't understand what the value of these pages are. On one hand I do understand the getting your name out there and a wide & varied web presence will generate traffic (however little). But on the other hand, there's only one of me so where do I allocate my personal resources?Here are the websites I just don't get - someone explain it to me! Remember, this blog is dofollow so feel free to throw in a link for your troubl...
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| Viral Marketing at it's Finest |
| 2008-03-19 19:23:00 |
ALL FREAKIN' DAY I've seen the likes of Gary Vaynerchuk, Ze Frank, and others go back and forth on Twitter about joining the Very Green Team and wondered if they'd lost their natural minds. It looks like there's a color war going on... just something to pass the time. Gary explains why he's so passionate about the color green on his website:This is a great example at Marketing">viral marketing at it's finest. Sam Harrelson also posted about the phenomenon at CostPerNews. So take a page from the Garyvee book and do something viral!EDIT: OK, Ze was kind enough to explain what the heck is going on with these color wars in his blog....
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| Top Six Mistakes to Avoid in Any Postcard Marketing Campaign |
| 2008-03-19 15:00:00 |
Postcards are a very cost-effective and efficient way to market your business. Combine that with their ability to generate a high response rate, and you have a tremendously powerful marketing tool. However, it’s really important to avoid some of the most common mistakes people make when implementing their postcard Campaign">marketing campaign. Here’s a list of the top six mistakes you should avoid in order to have a successful campaign. 1. Not Targeting the Best ProspectsHow much of a response would the Omaha Steaks company receive if they sent marketing postcards to a subscriber list of Vegetarian Cooking? Chances are, the results would be poor. Having the best possibl...
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| Direct Marketing Ideas for Easter |
| 2008-03-18 14:00:00 |
What was once reserved for kids and candy has become one of the most profitable holiday seasons of the year – Easter! The March/April market rush makes sense, too, since Spring is in the air and people are out and about armed with pleasant attitudes – and often, tax return money. The season of rebirth and renewal is a prime time for you to kick start your marketing campaign to boost your company’s profits. Here are a few direct marketing ideas you can use this Easter. Launch a New Product Everything about Easter symbolizes rebirth, whether it’s in the form of religion, Easter eggs, or the appearance of green leaves and bright flowers. In the same spirit, this is the p...
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| Free Toolsday for March 18th |
| 2008-03-18 13:45:00 |
Today's tool isn't so much one tool as it is a set of tools. A few months back while I was scouring the blogosphere for blog directories to post a link on, I found a website called Blogflux. Not only is there a directory on this site, but they also offer a pinger, polls, PR checker, blog themes, and more. All of their free services are listed right on the home page.PR CheckerWith as much credence as the online world gives PageRank, it's important to be able to easily check your page rank. This PR checker is easy to use and works for more than just blogs. I can use it to see that, sadly, I have a PR 0 or to see that PsPrint has a PR 5. It's quick and accurate, which is all it needs to be.PollsThe polls feature works great and super easy. They are somewhat limited in how many answers ...
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| Analytics Glossary: Scenario Analysis |
| 2008-03-18 13:00:00 |
Scenario Analysis:A report showing the amount of activity at each step of a defined scenario, plus conversion rates for each transition from step to step as well as for the whole process. Examples of scenarios are check-out, registration, or application sequences.Very much like conversion funnel, you should check all the processes on your website on a regular basis to update them and improve the user interface. The easiest way to get behind competitors in your industry is to fall behind in technology and ease of experience.Well, that concludes my analytics glossary series. I hope you've learned as much as I have! If you have suggestions for any other glossary series you'd like t...
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| St. Patrick’s Day Tips and Tricks for Graphic Designers |
| 2008-03-17 14:55:00 |
As a graphic designer, it is your job to make your clients’ marketing materials truly stand out and set them apart from their competition. They have to look great to maximize their return on investment; which in turn will generate repeat business for you. If you have the basic thematic association design concepts down pat, it’s time to take your clients’ St. Patrick’s Day promotions to the next level with striking creativity that looks professional and elegant. Here are a few St. Patrick’s Day tips and tricks for graphic designers. Stray from the Norm Many designers stick to green and orange for their clients’ St. Patrick’s Day promotions, but you don’t have to. I...
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