« September 2007 | Main | November 2007 »

October 29, 2007

Search engines are top resource for local information

By Kai Blum

Search engines are the number one resource for finding local business information, according to a survey by WebVisible and Nielsen.

Here's how U.S. consumers look for local business information:

• Search engines: 74%
  
• Print yellow pages: 65%
  
• Internet yellow pages: 50%
  
• Traditional newspapers: 44%
  
• Print white pages: 33%
  
• Television: 29%
  
• Consumer review web sites: 18 %

Anyone who owns a local business and has a website is well advised to follow Google’s Webmaster Guidelines, to “help Google find, index, and rank your site.” Paying attention to these guidelines will also lay the foundation for good rankings on all the other search engines.

Achieving top listings across all major search engines through implementing SEO best practices, such as paying attention to the search terms that potential customers may use, writing good page titles and descriptions, and providing quality content, can make a huge difference for a local small business.

Anyone starting a business should also read my advice on naming a small business.

Posted by Alicia Dorset at 01:24 PM
Comments (1) | TrackBack | Permalink

October 25, 2007

Corporate blogging: Not dead yet

Now that major corporations have been using blogs for a while, a number of non-webby PR people have asked me, “Isn’t blogging over? What about Second Life?”

I don’t blame them for asking. The dizzying adaptation of new web technologies over the last few years can lead a person to think that by the time he’s heard of a hot web trend, it’s already over. But even though you’ve been hearing about corporate blogs for years now, they’re not over.

Let me start by saying that when we jump on the latest tech for a PR program just because it’s new, the temptation is to confuse the medium with the message. Despite Marshall McLuhan, in this case the medium (the blog) is not the message. What’s on the blog is the message. That’s why I’m confident that blogs by corporations will outlive their Second Life islands.

Let’s compare:

	Corporate Blog	Second Life Corporate Island
Author	An executive, product evangelist or other expert	An improbably attractive avatar
Purpose	To evangelize, to put a human face on the corporation, to listen to customers	To evangelize, to put a sim face on the corporation, to listen to customers
Denizens	Passionate customers and gadflies	Gamers, stalkers, newbies, programmers, and some seriously warped individuals
Time	Commitment to write blog posts at least a couple of times per week, and manage the blog daily	Either leave your building abandoned, or pay someone to babysit it 24/7
Cost	Let’s talk, but more than free and less than $500,000.	An island is only $1,675, but you’ll need to hire specialized graphic artists to build anything on your island: $500,000 is an estimate I’ve heard

For these reasons, I believe more corporations will wade into the blogosphere in the next year. If we help them set expectations and manage the workload, they’ll like what they find there. Hundreds of corporations have already. Likewise, I doubt that Second Life will truly catch on as a corporate showcase, for some of the same reasons that it's difficult for newbies to get started there.

There’s a lot more to say about blogs. I spend much of my day working on them and talking about them. But bottom line: a blog is no more or less than a communications tool. It can be a highly effective, entertaining one, given the right client, the right content, the right authors and a strong vision.

Posted by Laurie Mayers at 09:12 AM
Comments (1) | TrackBack | Permalink

October 24, 2007

Reporting web traffic

By Chris Poterala

The Monday edition of The New York Times has an interesting article about a struggle between web site publishers and the companies that track and report web traffic.

Companies such as ComScore or Nielsen rely on sampling panels to guesstimate web traffic for sites, extrapolating traffic numbers based upon feedback from their panels. This method is analogous to calculating television ratings, where "Nielsen families" have a device hooked up to their televisions that "phones home" viewing data.

These traffic numbers are critically important because they are used to help price and sell advertising on web sites. Just like print and television; more eyeballs on a site = more charged for ads on the site.

Publishers argue the traffic numbers reported for their sites are low and sometimes differ greatly from their own reported traffic numbers. The example from the article uses Forbes.com. The site reported 11.6 million visitors for September 2007. ComScore reported 5.8 million visitors, a 50 percent difference, and Nielsen reported 7.5 million visitors, a 35 percent difference.

Who does the advertiser believe?

Site publishers have raw traffic logs available and do not need to rely on any multipliers or sampling in order to come up with accurate traffic statistics. Programs exist that can crunch the logs and spit out a myriad of visitor statistics. Are there still issues with these logs? Absolutely. A company with 10,000 employees may show up as a single user in the logs, underreporting some statistics, but the logs will still accurately reflect other data points.

Sampling is "old school" and needs to go away. Yes, advertisers and publishers are comfortable with it from the print and television spaces, but that does not make it right.

There needs to be a new standard developed for measuring web traffic, with both publishers and advertisers having a hand in developing it.

Define a visit, define page views, define session length. Maybe it's third-party auditing of traffic logs provided by the publishers.

In this age of every bit and byte being recorded, isn't it time to move away from the analog world of sampling and guesstimating?

What do you think?

Posted by Alicia Dorset at 12:09 PM
Comments (0) | TrackBack | Permalink

October 22, 2007

The value of micro communities

By Kai Blum

The most important change in the message board landscape over the last four or five years is certainly the rise of micro communities – online forums that are focused on one particular topic or product. Micro communities usually rank extremely high on search engines and no organization can afford to ignore them.

Let’s say a consumer is interested in buying a Saturn Sky roadster. A Google search on “Saturn Sky” brings up a micro community, Saturn Sky Forum, among the first five search results! Members freely discuss the pros and cons of their vehicles, and potential buyers will certainly be influenced in their purchasing decision by what they read there. Do a Google search for any vehicle and you will most likely find a micro community of vehicle owners listed in the top search results.

These online communities also provide organizations with valuable feedback on their products and their customer service and can serve as an early warning system if there are any problems. Furthermore, they can provide some up-to-date intelligence about competitors’ products.

In the field of online marketing, micro communities are a great opportunity to spread the word about new products. This can be done either by placing advertisements, such as Google ads, or by creating a dialogue with community members, such as responding to complaints, questions, and suggestions. Micro communities can become great allies if they are treated with respect and in an honest and open manner.

Posted by Alicia Dorset at 02:44 PM
Comments (0) | TrackBack | Permalink

October 16, 2007

Wal-Mart launches free Facebook gift

Did you give your friend the free Facebook gift from Wal-Mart yet? Better hurry -- as I post this, only 56,493 were left.

But the big debate is... Did Wal-Mart post the gift to poke fun at itself, or did they really think a ghost trapped in cellophane with "WAL-MART" written across it would be a hit in the social networking world?

Posted by Alicia Dorset at 05:14 PM
Comments (0) | TrackBack | Permalink

October 12, 2007

Q&A with Joel Johnson of Boing Boing Gadgets

By Charlie Kondek

In August, Boing Boing, one of the most popular blogs on the net, started a subblog, Boing Boing Gadgets, and placed tech writer and journalist Joel Johnson at its helm. This was a significant development for Boing Boing, which shares the top slots in the blogosphere with rivals Engadget and Gizmodo, although gadgets and technology, an interest of Boing Boing's, has never been its sole focus.

Johnson kindly shared some of his time with us in Q&A format on his new role at Boing Boing. Warning: Joel is an entertaining and honest writer. Some frank language awaits!

Q: First off, congratulations on your new position. You've worked at the prestigious Gizmodo blog and created Dethroner, one of my favorite online men's magazines. How's it feel to be working at Boing Boing? It's probably no secret to you that many people can identify Boing Boing as a top blog even if they don't know much about web-based pubs or blogs. In fact, as a PR person I have run into this quite a bit: a person with only a shallow understanding of blogs asking, "How do we get Brand X on Boing Boing?"

A: It feels great! I know it must sound like some big internerd f***fest every time I say it, but I have always been huge fans of the Boingers and to be welcomed into the fold was a surprise and a huge bump for my ego. And they've been nothing but supportive and encouraging, which is amazing. Best work co-workers I've ever had. Go Team Venture!

As for getting something on Boing Boing, just send it in. We get hundreds of submissions a day, though, so a personal note explaining who you are and why the readers should care about the story goes a long way. I don't chuck out press releases, but my brain secretes a protective anti-dreck emulsion every time I see one show up in my email. But a personal note I'll read and often respond to, even if I don't necessarily think it's a good fit for the site.

Q: You did an interview on Boing Boing Gadgets at Gizmodo, and from that interview and the rhetoric coming out of your posts, it sounds like you're still defining the role of Boing Boing Gadgets. You described it as existing outside "the churn." In other words, if I'm describing it correctly, you don't feel the need to comment on each and every development in the tech/gadget world – Engadget, Gizmodo and several others do that. You only want to write about the subjects that seem interesting to you. Is that correct and is that still your mission?

A: Jason Kottke, who is an inspiration (and who I am currently stalking) recently said this: "If you're wondering what I do all day, the answer is: throwing stuff out. kottke.org is not so much what's on the site as what is not chosen for inclusion."

That remains my mission. Fortunately it runs parallel to my desire to only write about things I find personally interesting. It may not be the most effective method to quickly build pageviews, but I'd rather people read Boing Boing Gadgets and find most of the posts interesting, rather than skimming through a list of the day's releases, quality or not. Like I said to Gizmodo, I think there's a place for that style of comprehensive blogging, but it just doesn't interest me personally. I am blessed to have the luxury of business partners who share the same philosophy.

Q: Let's talk about PR. You're a powerful force in blogging. Every PR/ad/marketing person with a tech or gadget story to pitch would like to talk to you. How do you want to be approached? What advice, cautions or feedback, if any, would you give to people like me and my clients?

A: Let's be frank: I am probably the most powerful person on the internet.

Just be real. Don't be apologetic. I understand that working in PR is slowly sapping your belief in the inherent usefulness of humanity, but if you're apologizing for sending me something boring because it's your job, it's not going to motivate me to post it.

On the other hand, you don't have to be my buddy, either. There are a very small number of PR folks that I am actual friends with and our relationship built over time based on things beside the products they hawk. Frankly, I don't *want* to be your friend, because when you have a shit product that I don't want to pass on to my readers, it makes me feel like a dick for doing my job.

That sounds more prickish than I wish it did, but I've just met too many PR people who think they can trick bloggers and journalists into mistaking them for friends. That may work for some, but most of us can see the covers of your Dale Carnegie books peeking out of your hip new messenger bag.

So be friendly, not slimy, I guess. Be professional. (Even though so many bloggers are not.) And tell me why your product is worth mentioning with real English, not a list of incrementally updated stats, business successes, or lame partnerships with over-the-hill rock bands. If you can't do that, the product may actually suck. Reconsider your clientele!

Also, I almost always prefer talking to an engineer or a developer who actually worked on the project rather than the VP of Marketing, should you want to set up an interview. I've met plenty of marketing folks who knew the technical ins-and-outs of their product, but they were usually once in the trenches themselves. (I once had a great interview with a VP from Sprint who ended up being a 30-year veteran of the Bell system who not only answered my question, but took half-an-hour to explain the history of call echo mitigation technologies on pre-digital telephony switches. Most of it didn't go into my article, but it was invaluable for background that helped my understanding of the subject.)

Finally: Most journalists are suckers for free booze. Sad but true.

Q: Having worked in journalism myself, I can attest to this. But I know for a fact that at least two of the Boingers abstain. Still, if one wants to treat Joel Johnson to a beverage, what's his choice?

A: I'd rather not answer. Sounds too much like I'm fishing for a freebie. :) As far as I know, all the Boingers are teetotalers. I'm the only one willing to do the Lord's work.

Posted by Laurie Mayers at 05:33 PM
Comments (0) | TrackBack | Permalink

October 11, 2007

What is your privacy setting?

By Nichole Woodcock

At this year’s BlogOrlando, I had the opportunity to participate in an intriguing classroom discussion “Living Online,” lead by our own Alicia Dorset. The class focused on social networking sites and how people are living in the digital world. At an age where social networking sites are targeting everyone from teenagers to Baby Boomers, personal information has more avenues than ever for exposure online.

I joined Facebook when it first launched, that was when you actually had to have a valid college email address to become a member. As we all know, the Facebook of today has opened the door to the masses and is now one of the top social networking sites. With Facebook and other sites such as, MySpace, Twitter, LiveJournal and LinkedIn allowing a wide demographic of people join, debate over privacy and sharing personal information arise.

The definition of my personal privacy setting is, “limiting all online material to things I would not mind my parents or colleagues seeing.” Since I began my professional career, I certainly post different things than a typical college student. At BlogOrlando, I learned that I am actually very conservative compared to the majority of those who participated in the discussion.

Many in the room felt that they had nothing to hide or filter online, even professionals. There were very valid and strong opinions being shared. Some felt that if a company or person had an issue with items placed online via networking sites or blogs, then they ultimately had a conflict of interest with the person.

For example, many people place images of them hanging out with friends and they happen to be drinking alcohol. At a company, if you are over 21, it is almost assumed you drink and people feel that posting images hanging out at a bar is not inappropriate. There have been instances where companies have suspended workers, of drinking age, for posting this material.

One of the most popular instances of companies not approving personal online content took place in Pennsylvania where a teacher in training was denied an education degree from Millersville University. Pictures were found on the teacher’s MySpace page alleging they were “promoting underage drinking.“ Interestingly enough, the teacher was not drinking with minors, taking shots or even doing something obscene. The picture in question was of the teacher at a Halloween party dressed up as a pirate and drinking from a plastic cup, and you could not tell what the teacher was drinking. The caption under the picture read “Drunken Pirate.” That simple phrase has cost the teacher their degree on the very eve of graduation. The teacher is now suing the state of Pennsylvania for the education diploma and personal damages.

This leaves a gray area as to what is appropriate content online. We are ultimately left to police ourselves and the content we are willing to place in our online communities. BlogOrlando “Living Online” leaves me to conclude that no matter how open or filtered a person is online they have an “internal privacy setting” that they adhere to. Limiting profile information or blocking users are just a few of the settings we have to guard our level of comfort online. As social networking sites continue to rise in popularity, information available and accessible online is left in the hands of the profile holder.

Posted by Alicia Dorset at 12:36 PM
Comments (0) | TrackBack | Permalink

October 05, 2007

Flickr Famous

You may have read the story in the New York Times this week about the high school student in Dallas who sued Virgin Mobile after it plastered her photo on a billboard in Australia.

The billboard did credit the Flickr photographer who took the photo, Justin Wong. He had originally posted the photo with a Creative Commons license allowing any use of the photo, as long as the work was attributed to him. (Since then, Wong has changed the Creative Commons license on his photos to “All Rights Reserved.”)

But neither Virgin Mobile nor Wong had obtained a model release from the student, Alison Chang, or -- since she’s only 15 –- from her parents. Nor did Virgin Mobile tell the photographer they were using his photo. He found out when a Flickr member in Adelaide, Brenton Cleeland, snapped a photo of the bus shelter billboard, which said “Dump Your Pen Friend!” and posted it on Flickr. Alison saw Cleeland's photo and wrote, “hey that’s me! no joke. i think i’m being insulted.”

The next message was from Wong, who wrote: “where was this? do you think virgin mobile will give me stuff?” The photo and the very interesting message thread are still on Cleeland’s Flickr site. In one of the 244 messages there, Alison’s brother writes that he has consulted lawyers about the matter.

The family is suing Virgin Mobile USA and Creative Commons in federal district court in Dallas.

What this should make Flickr users think of:

• Think hard about whether you want to allow commercial use of your photos. Creative Commons gives a list of “Things to Think About” before choosing your license.
  
• You may want to add language to your profile noting that you have not obtained model releases for your photos.
  
• If you’re an advertiser, just because a Flickr photographer has given permission for use of his/her photos doesn’t mean the subjects of the photo will allow you to use their likenesses in advertising.
  
• And if you think a teenager in Dallas will never see her face on an ad in Australia, think about the global social network, and think again.

P.S. Thanks to Paula Amunategui for the link to the Flickr discussion.

Posted by Laurie Mayers at 01:16 PM
Comments (3) | TrackBack | Permalink

The Heartbreak Kid makes its mark on Facebook

I couldn't help but feel overwhelmed this week with the social networking promotion for today's release "The Heartbreak Kid," a new comedy from Ben Stiller.

Since Monday, my Facebook profile pages have been littered with "Heartbreak" flyers and banner ads. But this morning, when I logged in to see what was new with my friends, I was told I had one free Facebook gift to give: a "Heartbreak" sombrero, of course. Naturally, I gave it to myself.

The sombrero is the first free gift I've seen since Facebook launched the gifts this year, and is the first "sponsored" gift as well.

The sponsored group on Facebook features a different "freebie" every day, ranging from contest entries to special online-only content. And if you're wondering why you should join this group, as many of my friends do when I send them group invitation after group invitation, the "Heartbreak" group tells you why:

Why join? Because love blows and you’ll have a chance to… see the movie for free! Win a trip to Mexico! And many more great prizes!

As of this post, there were more than 2,000 members in the group, 12 videos posted, 32 photos uploaded and 273 wall posts stating either how great or terrible the movie is. Combined, I can only imagine that the Facebook outreach dollar amount has to be in the hundreds of thousands.

Will the Facebook group, free gifts and the ability to post why you think love blows make more people go see this movie? Who knows. But do all these components reflect how someone at DreamWorks Pictures got the memo that Facebook is just as important as MySpace when it comes to creating your digital marketing package? You bet. Trust me, "The Heartbreak Kid" isn't going to be the last movie we see all over our social networking profile pages.

And now, I'm off to admire my digital sombrero.

Posted by Alicia Dorset at 09:13 AM
Comments (0) | TrackBack | Permalink

October 04, 2007

“Passionistas” are your brand’s ambassadors

By Kai Blum

Consumers passionate about a certain issue are much more likely to create content, such as blog posts, about their passions and the associated brands and products than the average consumer, according to a study by Yahoo and MediaVest, “Passionistas: The New Empowered Consumers.”

They are also more likely to search for information related to their passion: According to the study, Passionistas search online for information about their passion 184 percent more than average users and conduct more than 100 passion-related searches per year. That’s exactly why smart search engine marketing is a great way to reach people who could become passionate about your products and services.

Once they have found your brand, 53 percent of Passionistas are willing to try your products even if they had not previously considered it and 52 percent of Passionistas are more likely than typical consumers to recommend your brand to others, for example through blog posts.

Actively identifying and reaching out to Passionistas could also make a huge difference in successfully launching a new product or brand. Our New Media Outreach department has done this successfully for many brands and has developed personal relationships with many Passionistas.

Posted by Alicia Dorset at 05:04 PM
Comments (0) | TrackBack | Permalink

October 03, 2007

Joost in time

By Melanie Seasons

Last night instead of getting my eight hours of beauty sleep, I stayed up way too late to play with Joost, the newish P2P-TV streaming program. There’s been a fair amount of buzz around Joost since it launched last year, mainly because of their hard-to-come-by invitations to the beta program. But as of Monday, Joost opened their digital doors to everyone - and I mean everyone. I was just barely able to get on to the site yesterday to download it. Once I did, it was quite evident how many people were doing the same thing. The load times were pretty slow and some channels weren’t “available.” Even so, I was able to put a few thoughts together on the program and its possible impact on digital PR.

The good:

• The design of the program is incredible. There’s a side bar of categories to choose from. Once you choose a category, these transparent widget-like objects of all the available shows come up. They’re fairly easy to navigate and upon first glance do seem to be appropriately categorized.
  
• Searching for something to watch is a snap, as is changing channels. The transparent widgets allow you to still see through to the program you’re watching while searching for other channels. Think of it as a very sleek picture-in-picture.
  
• You can’t beat 15,000+ shows. With Joost there is no excuse for saying “there’s nothing on.”

The not-so-good:

• Load times are ok. Joost is incredibly popular right now, so I’m sure much of the lag is due to that. However, it’s something to keep an eye on. There’s nothing more annoying than getting into a show and having it time out on you.
  
• Joost is really heavy on the advertising. Many sites with streaming capabilities make you sit through a 30-second spot before taking you to the goods. Joost has short commercial breaks just like traditional TV, but takes it a step further by having random logos pop up in the margins while you’re watching a show. They were annoying and incredibly distracting. They also didn’t seem to be related to the content of the show or targeted to me as a user. Advertisers take note: Joost ads need to be modeled more after Facebook’s targeted advertising.

The undetermined:

I see potential for PR involvement with Joost, but not in the way you might think. While the blogosphere is abuzz with what the program could mean for online PR, I say that Joost is still just TV. Just because it lives online doesn’t mean it’s 100 percent in our realm. Traditional agencies have always dealt more with broadcast, so I see Joost as falling under their umbrella. This doesn’t mean that online PRs shouldn’t be involved in working with Joost, but I see this as being more of an opportunity for collaboration between traditional and digital rather than an either/or situation.

Having only been open to the public for two days, I’m sure they’re getting a lot of feedback. You can bet I’ll be keeping a close eye on future Joost developments

Posted by Alicia Dorset at 03:40 PM
Comments (0) | TrackBack | Permalink

October 02, 2007

AFI embraces the blogging community

I’ve been spending a lot of my free time recently reviewing the latest edition of the American Film Institute's Top 100 list, an update to the list they first created in 1997. What does this have to do with blogging? A lot. AFI has a blog.

While looking for the list online, I was pleasantly surprised with AFI’s web site. Not only do they feature podcasts (more like vlogging), photo galleries and more film buff information than the biggest critic would know what to do with. But what I enjoyed most was AFI’s blog, chronicling the Top 100 films included in their list.

While I’d love to see more posts since the content is so good, what’s posted is great. Not only are the posts well-written and make you want to update your Netflix queue as quickly as possible, each post highlights other movie blogs and chimes in on what the blogosphere is buzzing about. Take a look at this post for an example:

“When John Campea over at The Movie Blog said HALLOWEEN (1978) was a terrible movie, he received a response saying that the film was “A Classic.” Which begs the question, what makes a classic movie?”

I can only imagine how excited some of these blogs must be to log in at some point during their day and see an incoming link from AFI.

AFI gets it. The movie community online is huge, and their links to, and mentions of, other blogs definitely reflects their with-it attitude of the blogosphere.

Posted by Alicia Dorset at 04:39 PM
Comments (0) | TrackBack | Permalink

October 01, 2007

Kidrobot founder launches blog

File this under "cool blogs to keep an eye on"

Marc Church, one of our designers here at MS&L Digital, sent me this link today. Kidrobot's (home to art toys and fashion apparel) founder Paul Budnitz launched his own blog back in August. Filled with updates from the animation, fashion, and lifestyle industries, this blog is a good one to watch for a laid-back approach to "corporate" blogging.

Posted by Alicia Dorset at 05:19 PM
Comments (0) | TrackBack | Permalink

The virtual velvet rope

By Britany Larsen

Social networking is built around the idea that everyone is welcome. Sites like MySpace and Facebook are places for every “average Joe” to put themselves on display and enjoy some sort of notoriety and fame.

However some new social networks are changing that.

Built around exclusivity, and providing a safe haven for its rich, beautiful, or famous users, sites like Diamond Lounge, ModelsHotel, and ASMALLWORLD require lengthy application and verification processes (at ModelsHotel, would-be members need to provide agent phone numbers and recent bookings), and charges of up to $60 per month. Every applicant is personally reviewed and many are denied.

ASMALLWORLD has grown to about 150,000 registered users in its four-year existence. The crowd of young jetsetters is 60 percent European and 20 percent American, and the average age is 32. The founder of ModelsHotel is only 25, already seeking 1.5 million in venture capital and commanding $10,000 for a banner ad. Diamond lounge is still in launch mode, but is hoping to attract only the upper echelon of society.

The sites are too exclusive to receive the attention necessary for an advertising-based business model, and are instead attracting luxury marketers who utilize their high-profile members as sponsors.

According to the Wall Street Journal, pricey-denim makers Diesel worked with ModelsHotel during Fashion Week by giving out free “skinny” jeans to models so that they would be seen around town in the brand while on auditions.

These exclusive social networks have changed the way that luxury brands traditionally connect with "the beautiful people," and have created a virtual velvet rope for the rest of us.

Posted by Alicia Dorset at 04:05 PM
Comments (2) | TrackBack | Permalink