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How to Make Money with Facebook
2007-10-03 15:48:00
The rise in popularity of the soon-to-be number 1 social network site Facebook is due to a combination of two things. 1. Formerly a hangout only for high school and college students, Facebook allowed anyone to join in September, 2006. 2. In May, 2007 Facebook opened up it’s network to developers. By opening up it’s network to developers ...
More About: Money , Social Networks , Make Money , Make

Dove Onslaught
2007-10-02 18:38:00
On Monday, Dove released its follow up to its first internet film "Evolution", arguably the most successful commercial viral video of all time. The new video created by Ogilvy Toronto titled "Onslaught", features a young girl being bombarded by images of impossible to obtain beauty. The video is a commentary on the imagery used by the beauty industry to market their products, and their effects on young women.
More About: Viral Marketing , Online Video , Laugh

The Hidden Links That Google Turns a Blind Eye To
2007-10-01 14:42:00
Many web sites use the NOSCRIPT HTML element to gain very high Page Ranks and search engine rankings for the keywords they want. The intended use of the NOSCRIPT element is for providing alternate content when a javascript is not executed. When the javascript is executed the content between the NOSCRIPT tag is not displayed. Since ...
More About: Google , Link Building , Links , Blind , Hidden

The Weekender: Andy Hagans - Tropical SEO
2007-09-29 17:53:00
I recently discovered Andy Hagans blog Tropical SEO. It is by far one of the best blogs I’ve read in a long while. Andy Hagans is very knowledgeable about SEO, affiliate marketing, social bookmarking and domaining. I highly recommend checking out his blog. From the few hours I spent on Topical SEO this week, some of ...
More About: Pica

Funny Video Friday: Give a Puppy a Chance
2007-09-28 15:00:00
Last week’s BC Lions commercials were an extra dose of funny. This week we’re bringing you a commercial for the Norwegian Association of the Blind that is more cute than funny. It should definitely leave you with a smile on your face. Enjoy the commercial and the rest of your day.
More About: Video , Funny , Funny Videos , Funny Video , Chance

A Lesson in Internet Marketing Cross Promotion
2007-09-27 07:50:00
What do a feature length film, an outdoor leadership school, a discount travel agency, and a TV production company have in common? Quite a bit actually, and that is why the Paramount Vantage film "Into the Wild", the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS), TravelWorm and Lonely Planet TV have come together to create a user generated video contest. The contest webpage states: Compile a 2 minute (or less) short video based around the theme Lose Yourself. This video should express a moment where you felt connected to nature or completely free - a moment of escape. You could compile the video from previous footage you've shot or create new footage to express your escapist moment. The submission deadline is October 23rd 2007 and the winner will receive an adventure vacation courtesy of NOLS, TravelWorm, and lonely Planet TV.
More About: Marketing , Internet , Internet Marketing , Promotion , Viral Marketing

How to Get Indexed In 24 Hours The Easy Way
2007-09-26 14:54:00
Since our Get Indexed and Ranked in 24 Hours post gets a fair amount of search traffic, I thought it would be a good idea to share with you the Quick Indexing Tool created by Blue Hat SEO that I recently discovered. The Blue Hat SEO web site claims that the Quick Indexing Tool (QUIT for ...
More About: Reviews , Easy , Easy Way

Will Hey! Nielson take Off With The Public?
2007-09-25 16:50:00
Nielson Co. one of the worlds largest marketing research companies, and the people who bring us our TV ratings and Nielson NetRating has launched their own social network called Hey! Nielson. I applaud them for the transparency of placing "Nielson" in the company name, because they could have just as easily kept this affiliation a lot more low key. The new social network is a place for users to share their opinions on TV, movies, music, personalities and the internet. All the things that Nielson writes marketing reports on.
More About: Social Networks , Public

Web Developer Time Saver: Copyright Year & Today?s Date in PHP
2007-09-25 13:46:00
Do you manually change the copyright year on every page of every web site you maintain sometime in January every year? If so, then this PHP code will make it so you never have to again. &copy; <?php echo date("Y");?> The code above will show the © symbol and the current year. For example: © 2007. On January ...
More About: Web Development , Developer , Time , Today , Copyright

Halo 3 Internet Marketing Campaign
2007-09-24 18:45:00
With the release of Halo 3 fast approaching, I thought I'd take a look at how Microsoft and Bungee used the internet to promote the third iteration of its most popular title. Microsoft and Bungee followed a 5 Phase campaign, involving both online and offline marketing. It started with a TV ad that aired during Monday night football called "Starry Nights". The commercial was soon uploaded to youTube, and has received 3,781,245 views at the time of this posting.
More About: Marketing , Internet , Advertising , Internet Marketing

Women?s Plus Sizes Soon to be Largest Women?s Clothing Market
2007-09-23 23:06:00
Old Navy recently sent out an email to all of it’s affiliates about their new Women ?s Plus line that is only available online. They included some very interesting statistics about the women’s plus size market. 43% of the retail apparel market is Women?s Plus. By 2012 Women?s Plus is projected to grow to 62.4 billion dollars. Women?s Plus ...
More About: Affiliate Marketing , Clothing , Market , Largest

The Weekender: Online Video Optimization Tips, and the Business of Internet
2007-09-22 02:24:00
This week’s Weekender is devoted to online video. Online video optimization tips Jody Nimetz of Ask Enquiro gives us 14 video optimization best practices and tips, while websiteoptimization.com offers up some web video optimization tips that are more tutorial style. Online video is a tough business The Silicon Alley Insider delivers their detailed analysis of the poor state of ...
More About: Video , Business , Internet , Tips , Online Video

Funny Video Friday: Rethink BC Lions Football Commercials
2007-09-21 04:56:00
For the past few years Vancouver-based Rethink Advertising has been the ad agency for the BC Lions of the Canadian Football League. In my opinion, Rethink Advertising is one of the most creative agencies out there. You can expect to see more of their work in future Friday Funny Video posts. Take a look at some very ...
More About: Funny Videos , Funny Video

Google Gadget Ads
2007-09-20 06:15:00
Google has introduced yet another advertising technology called Google Gadget Ads to its Adwords advertising network. Google describes Ad Gadgets as a "mini version of your webpage". A gadget ad is basically a rich media ad that can include data feeds, maps, images, audio, video, Flash, HTML and JavaScript. They can be made to fit within any current Adsense size. Google will let you choose specific sites to run you Gadget Ad, or you can leave it to Google's ad targeting to place your ad on relevant web pages. I imagine it will take a while for these Gadget Ads to catch on with advertisers and publishers because it take a lot more time, money and expertise to create a rich media ad than to create an Adwords text ad. The time will definitely come when Google Image ads, Google Video ads and Google Gadget Ads are a lot more common, but text ads have the advantage, because anyone with a computer and internet access can make one.
More About: Google , Advertising , Googl

NYT and WSJ Decide On Free Ad Supported Model
2007-09-19 18:22:00
The New York Times was the first to announce that it will no longer be requiring its readers to pay for its TimesSelect service. The Wall Street Journal followed suit with Walter Murdoch announcing that the Wall Street Journal Online will be offered free to its readers as well. By making their content free, both papers predict a small loss in newspaper sales but both the NYT and the WSJ foresee a large increase in their online readership. By chosing to monetize their content through online ads and contextual search instead of a paid subscription model, both companies appear to agree that the paid subscription model was just not working. In the face of easily accessible free news content all over the internet, it would be hard enough for the two companies to maintain their loyal readership and near impossible for them to convince new readers to pay for news on a subscription basis.
More About: B News , Free , Model , Cide

The 411 on One Way Back Links
2007-09-19 16:28:00
Late last week I received an email from One Way Back Links that said they have an extra 2 million text links that they need to sell by the end of the month. That sounds like a lot of links. I wanted to get the skinny on One Way Back Links , so I called the number in the email. I spoke with a guy named Dave who gave me the run down. What's the deal? Just over a year ago One Way Back Links started creating a lot of directories filled with free articles. They now have over 1000 web sites with over 100,000 pages. They sell three different types of links on these pages:
More About: Link Building

Heinz Top This TV Challenge Take Two
2007-09-18 18:18:00
And the $57,000 goes to "Heinz the Kissable Ketchup" created by Andrew Dodson who runs a one man production shop out of Wheelersburg, Ohio. His winning user generated commercial for the Heinz Top This TV Challenge aired during Sunday night's Emmy Awards. The four runner up videos each received $5700 and their commercials all aired on the Today Show Sept. 17th. Heinz plans to run a second campaign in august. Hungry for more? Due to the impressive number and awesome creativity of the commercials you all submitted, we are excited to announce the Heinz Top This TV Challenge Take Two-coming this October. Stay tuned for details.
More About: Viral Marketing , Online Video , Halle

5 Ways To Avoid a Google Hand Edit
2007-09-17 19:47:00
A Google hand-edit is when a Google engineer manually goes through your web site/back links and gives you the ranking that they think you deserve. If Google finds that your web site violates their webmaster guidelines, you're web site will probably be penalized. The importance of avoiding a Google hand-edit For many web sites the only way to compete for some keywords is by ignoring Google's webmaster guidelines and buying links. This is because the competition is doing it and it works really well. Many businesses are in business because of their Google rankings. A penalty due to a Google hand-edit could put them out of business. Web sites that avoid being edited do well for themselves.
More About: Link Building , Edit , Hand , Avoid

A Critical Look at Product Placement in Movies
2007-09-17 09:08:00
Here is 5 part video I found on youTube this weekend called "Behind the scenes: Hollywood Goes Hypercommercial". It is a critical look at how product placement is affecting movie making. The video was created by the Media Education Foundation in 2000, so it may feel a little dated, but it is as relevant today as it was 7 years ago. Product placement has become more prevalent in film and TV since then, not less. And online video is no different. Both professional and user generated content on sites like youTube and Revver are already being used by marketers to display their products. Sometimes the product placement is transparent and out in the open like when companies post their commercials online, or run contests. But quite often marketers are looking for stealthier ways of integrating their products with popular content. There are already several companies including Brandframe, WePlace, and InShot that are publicly offering their product placement services to help marketers ge...
More About: Movies , Advertising , Online Video , Critical

The Weekender: Google Bashers Shut Up, Problogger Stuff and Digg Tips
2007-09-15 05:39:00
Ahmed Bilal over at Performancing.com suggests that Google bashers stop their whining because a Google hand-edit is inevitable for many web sites. Instead he suggests removing dependence on Google by developing systems that allow for earnings with or without Google rankings. Darren Rowse of Problogger has an excellent post about building relationships by monitoring what other bloggers are writing about. Also check out his video of the week where he answers questions from his readers.
More About: Tips , Stuff , Digg , Shut

BigPond Reminds Us To Research Our Vacations
2007-09-14 05:50:00
This weeks Friday Funny Video takes us to a beach on St. Maarten Island in the Caribbean. BigPond reminds us how important it is to do our research when planning a vacation. With a little research I discovered that this is an actual beach that many people vacation at. Apparently hotels near the airport are an ...
More About: Research , Funny Videos , Vacations , Remi

How I Save Oodles of Time by Passing Text into Flash with Variables
2007-09-13 15:04:00
Earlier this week I showed you how to get search engine credit for Flash content. Today I am going to show you a simple time-saving technique I use to pass text into Flash through a variable that is set in the HTML. The problem For many of the web sites I design I create the title graphics ...
More About: Web Development , Time , Text , Variables

Internet People: A Short History of Viral Videos
2007-09-12 20:35:00
Dan Meth created this short animated video feature the "Internet People " who have now become part of pop culture thanks to viral nature of internet video. The video has become a viral video success of it's own, with over a million views on youTube so far. If there are any clips you don't recognize, or if there are a few you want to revisit, Buzzfeed has created a comprehensive list of all the viral videos and memes mentioned in the video.
More About: Videos , History , Viral

Lattes vs. Airbags ?Think About It?
2007-09-11 20:28:00
Hyudai has just launched a new ad campaign, and instead of featuring its cars it has opted for an honest and somewhat sarcastic approach to marketing itself. The "Think about it" campaign is challenging people to think about what really makes a good car and to also reflect on how cars are being marketed to them. The campaign by Goodby, Silverstein & Partners will include online, print, out of home, and TV ads, as well as the web page www.thinkaboutit.com.
More About: Branding , Advertising , Online Video

How To Get Search Credit For Flash Content
2007-09-11 15:40:00
Back when Flash technology was new, many people opted for all Flash web sites because of the ‘cool’ factor. Today we see a lot more hybrid web sites (html sites with some Flash elements) because all-Flash sites are a nightmare for search. Search engines have a very hard time knowing what text is in your ...
More About: Web Design , Web Development , Credit

Watch This Listen Up Click Here - Book Review
2007-09-10 19:30:00
This book is a great primer on advertising, and media buying across multiple platforms. Have you ever wondered what a 30 second commercial cost on American Idol ($340,000), or a full color page in Sports Illustrated ($128,683) or what Yahoo! earn from it's 25 million unique visitors a day ($250,000 - $425,000)? This book has been thoroughly researched and by comparing old market ideals with emerging technology, gives us insight into what drives these numbers.
More About: Watch , Reviews , Book Review , Review , Click

Get a Free Link from the Virtual Marketing Blog
2007-09-10 03:32:00
Over the weekend a visitor to this Internet marketing blog requested that we implement the Top Commentators Plugin. He said that he would visit the site more often if we did. We like the idea of more traffic and more comments so we implemented his suggestion and now show the top five commenters of the past week in our sidebar. As our blog grows we will expand our top commenters list from five to ten. We invite you to visit the blog often and join the conversation.
More About: Marketing , B News , Free , Blog , Link

Weekend Reading: Debra Mastaler Interview, Stumble Upon Tips and the 97th F
2007-09-07 22:15:00
Aaron Wall of SEO Book did an excellent interview with link building guru Debra Mastaler. I learned a few things from the interview that I will be applying to future projects. We've been playing around with Stumble Upon lately and have found it to be a great source for traffic. In fact Stumble Upon brought in over 1200 visitors one day last week to our How to create an animated favicon post.
More About: Reading , Tips , Interview , Weekend

Funny Video Friday: Accupuncture Makes For Prickly Situation
2007-09-07 06:13:00
This weeks funny video is a commercial from the Philippines. Central Beheer Insurance uses a prickly situation metaphor to sell insurance. Gotta feel sorry for this guy. Enjoy the commercial and the rest of your Friday .
More About: Video , Funny , Funny Videos , Funny Video

Yahoo! Acquires BlueLithium for $300 Million
2007-09-06 22:40:00
Yahoo has announced that it plans to acquire the online ad network BlueLithium for $300 million. This is an important and expected move by Yahoo to keep pace with Google, Microsoft and AOL who have also been aggressively buying advertising technology and networks. BlueLithium is ranked as the fifth largest online advertising company in the US. It's network grew based on the strength of its performance based display ads, meaning that advertisers only pay when people respond to a banner ad by taking some action like participating in a promotion or agreeing to receive more information about a product.
More About: Yahoo , B News , Million , Yahoo!