September 2007
58 posts
Laura on Ice - My Big Sis is Headed to Antartica!
Hey hey hey! As many of you might already know, my big sister Laura is leaving for a four month stint in Antarctica in a couple days. We are all getting together for a send off dinner tonight, which should be fun. I just finished working on getting her blog, Laura on Ice, put together and I am hoping it gets some serious use over the coming months. I don’t know about you, but the idea of...
Date Night at the DAM
Kristi and I went on a date tonight to the “Untitled” show at the Denver Art Museum. It happens every last Friday of each month, and it is a lot of fun. Here is the link to the information. And here are some photos: See the rest of the pictures here.
(via Marketing Punk)
It (almost) always happens this way
I had breakfast today with a really smart person who works for a really big company (that’s just about all he’ll let me say). He’s frustrated because they’re fading, and fast. The ironic thing is that if they focused their energy and their guts on the new market that is gaining on them (fast), they’d demolish it. If they embraced the threat, the threat wouldn’t...
Google Launches “The Google” for Older Adults
There is some exciting news for older adults who are less than savvy on the net. According to a national publication Google is launching “The Google” to help older adults surf the World Wide Intarwebs. Here is a quote from the story:
The Google will have all the same information currently found on regular Google, but with the added features of not stealing your credit-card numbers or giving...
Google Launches “The Google” for Older Adults
There is some exciting news for older adults who are less than savvy on the net. According to a national publication Google is launching “The Google” to help older adults surf the World Wide Intarwebs. Here is a quote from the story:
The Google will have all the same information currently found on regular Google, but with the added features of not stealing your credit-card numbers or giving...
You Don't Even Know Where Norway Is?
Ok, I’ll give Lilly a pass on Norway since she is only 23 months old. Big ups to Jessica for the link.
(via Marketing Punk)
Are We Really Still Hiding Text?
Today I was looking at some affiliate sites and I ran across something that really hurt my brain…hidden SEO text on a page. That’s right folks, someone in the year 2007 is still stuffing keywords into their website using a font color that is the same as the background color of their page. Here is a screen shot of what the “hidden” text looks like normally: And this is what happens when you...
Index “Dancing” at Yahoo!
Jordan McCollum at Marketing Pilgrim points out that Yahoo! is in the midst of an index update as we speak. Sounds like they plan to have it done soon, so we’ll see what the end result is.
From the searches I’ve done in the insurance space, it doesn’t seem like there is much different for InsureMe.com…but usually when I make a statement like that something dramatic happens, so we’ll wait and...
Geeky MIT Stunt
MIT pranksters headed over to the neighboring campus of Harvard University and decorated Harvard Yard’s legendary statue of founder John Harvard to look like a Spartan warrior. A caption in the MIT student newspaper, The Tech, explained the full prank: “The back of the helmet, which is worn by the protagonist of the [Halo] game, Master Chief, was labeled with ‘Master Chief in Training.’ The statue...
In the Chernobyl Dead Zone
I saw a website a while back and it came up recently in conversation…pictures from a motorcycle ride inside the dead zone of Chernobyl. Look at the site here to see some really creepy/interesting stuff.
Also, I saw that there was a video on YouTube as well (depressing stuff here)…
(via Marketing Punk)
Another Take on Staying Motivated as an Affiliate
You may have noticed that the Affiliate Blog has been rather quiet for the last few days. The reason is that I was in Southern California at a wedding and visiting family with my fiancée…a good trip, but we were running all over for five days straight and we didn’t get home until after midnight last night. Needless to say, I’m pooped.
[This is the part of the post where I try to segue the...
Marketing Punk on the Sunset Strip...
I’m writing this from the Hyatt on the Sunset Strip…having a fun time in Califronia. Went to a rainy wedding today, been visiting family and relaxing a bit too. Tonight, dinner ae Koi with Kristi and her family. Should be awesome :)
(via Marketing Punk)
Writing this from the Hyatt on the Sunset Strip…it was a rainy day in CA, tonight dinner at Koi. :)
Using “Click Here” to Increases Navigational...
Copyblogger has an interesting post up today that answers a question I’ve always had, does telling someone to “click here” help or hurt clickthrough rates on a website?
A Marketing Sherpa study looking at the use of “click” in anchor text, using baseline data from the link text “Continue here…” revealed the following:
“Click to continue” had a 8.53% increase in clickthrough rate from...
Kanye West has a lot of money
There’s a bunch of photos of Kanye West’s pad online. It’s a fairly interesting little slideshow. Everything seems pretty rad except for the giant painting he’s got above his dining table (seen below), which is so bad it makes us want to start listening to Country and never turn back. (via James’ shared items in Google Reader)
You Can Buy Belgium on eBay (or Not)
Via Yahoo News, you could almost buy Belgium on eBay. Very cool.
(via Marketing Punk)
The Welch Crew on Managing Creatives
I read Jack and Suzy Welch’s column in BusinessWeek recently and they discussed one of the toughest management dilemmas out there - managing creative people. It turns out the online version of the column is an Podcast (very cool BusinessWeek), which is even better than the article since you can really hear how tough the situation is for even two seasoned business professionals.
If you...
We Won Two Web Awards! YAY FOR US! (Us Meaning You...
[This post is self-congratulating, sort of like the Emmys, so if you’re not into that type of thing, might want to skip this one.] I just got the news today that the InsureMe Affiliate Blog won two Standard of Excellence awards from the Web Marketing Association for the second year in a row. Woo hoo! This blog took awards in the Marketing and Blogging categories and I’d be lying to say I’m not...
"pants" as social object
[N.B. in the UK, “pants” means “underpants”, as opposed to “trousers”.]
This is the best piece of marketing I’ve seen for a while. Thanks to Eaon Pritchard for sharing.
What makes it so utterly disarming is its simplicity, whimsy and humanity. Nothing more. It’s not particularly “clever”, which is exactly what makes it so...
Making the Polish President a Penis is Bad For...
If you live in Poland and you want to mess with the president, please don’t call him a Kutas (penis). You see, one Polish search engine hacker decided to Google bomb Google in Poland to rank their president #1 for the word kutas, and he was put in jail for it. Ouch. Not so freedom of speechy, eh?
Luckily, us Americans get to sit back and watch our president make himself into a penis every...
Hopping on the BlogRush Crazy Train
If you look on the navigation bar on the right you will see that I have hopped on the BlogRush bandwagon in a hope to see if BlogRush can really bring in a substantial amount of traffic as it has for many other bloggers. The concept is a very impressive one, any you can learn all about its viral goodness from this video.
Sounds like the service is being crushed by its popularity at this...
Does Telling Someone to “Click Here” Actually...
Ever since I started publishing online almost 10 years ago, I’ve always been a big proponent of having actionable anchor text for links when I really want someone to click. From a copywriting standpoint, it’s a no brainer—it’s been proven time and time again that if you want someone to do something, you’ll get better results if you tell them exactly what to do. Simple as that. So, it catches me...
Improve Your Blog By Reading a Magazine - An...
Are you looking for some fresh design, marketing and even story ideas for your blog? Today I’ve got an exercise that you might find helpful.
This is an off line activity - all pack of sticky notes, a notebook, pen, a magazine and an hour of time.
The Exercise It’s simple really - take some time out to analyze/review the magazine with the view of learning something about how you might improve...
I hate Bill Maher, but you know what? This time...
This is what I really wanted to say when the pussies started whingeing about the iPhone price cut. But instead they made me put my friggin name on that non-apology apology. I told Katie Cotton, you wait and see, customers are like toddlers, you give them a little on this, they’re going to come back whining about something else. Sure enough, now the friggin crybabies are bitching because...
Finger Moustache
I’m in, who’s with me? Thanks (surprisingly) to Seth Godin for pointing this out.
(via Marketing Punk)
BREAKING: Colin McRae dies with son in helicopter...
Filed under: Motorsports, Etc.The Times is reporting that former World Rally Champion Colin McRae has died after the helicopter he was piloting crashed into the ground near his home in Strathclyde. Also on board was his five year-old son, an unnamed adult male and child. According to reports, there were no survivors. People close to McRae assert that he was as adept at piloting a helicopter as he...
Don’t Be This Person…Silly PPC Mistake
Happy Friday! Since the online marketing world is not feeding me any tasty morsels of wisdom today, instead I present you this story of a hilarious yet surprisingly common pay-per-click mistake. (Via Sphinn)
Also, here is a total time waster video for you…if you ever went to Chuck E. Cheese or Showbiz Pizza when you were younger, this will freak you out!
(via the Denver Egotist) (via...
Danger Bird on CNN
See, I wasn’t lying…Danger Bird was in fact on CNN. Here is the video below - thanks to my hero Cassie for recording it for me. You rule C-BIZ!
(via Marketing Punk)
Bank of Dumberica
Bank of America proved to the world that they care more about making money than winning customers today by announcing that they will be raising their non-customer ATM fees from $2 to $3, proving in one fell swoop that they are big fans of exorbitant fees. Sweet moves gents and ladies (I’m picturing the pen filled with bankers from that Washington Mutual commercial). BofA’s spokeswoman...
Danger Bird on CNN
CNN’s News to Me program featured the Danger Bird video on a recent broadcast! Very cool!
Author: marketingpunk
Keywords: danger bird, cnn, news to me, james omdahl, ovclab.com
Added: September 13, 2007
(via YouTube :: Videos by marketingpunk)
Saving Time on CSS with Firefox Web Developer...
If you are like me, you might find yourself modifying an existing website from time to time. And if you have luck like me, that also means you are going to have to mess with the Cascading Style Sheet (CSS) for that page. The thing is, I’m not that great with CSS, and manually modifying a style sheet is an equation for disaster when I’m at the keyboard. Luckily, Chris Pederick has built a Firefox...
Albuequerque is a What?
I figure creating a tourist tag line for your city isn’t an easy thing to do, especially when your city isn’t known for a whole lot. But as we were preparing for our trip to New Mexico, we were doing some research and ran across the least inspiring city motto ever. Ladies and gents, here it is…Albuequerque, It’s a Trip! It’s a trip? Sounds like you’d say that...
Lessons from the Darkside: Fantomaster on Google...
Everybody’s favorite back hat SEO cloaker, Fanotmaster, posted about the rumored acquisition of GoDaddy by Google (yeah, you heard me right, the Google wants in on those famous Super Bowl ads).
He explains that there are a number of scary issues black hat SEO will face if GOOG does buy GoDaddy. Things like Google being able to identify, real-time, when domain names change hands (so Google can...
Around the World for Free
NewTeeVee just linked to a new web video project about a dude, Alex Boylan, traveling around the world with nothing but the shirt on his back. No money. No plan. Just a video crew and (presumably) a laptop to blog with. I can dig that. You as his audience can interract and tell dude where to go, what to do, who to hang with. Around the World for Free could be pretty awesome. We’ll see once...
A Quote from ‘Before Sunrise’
A film that ranks in my Top 10 of All Time, Richard Linklater’s ‘Before Sunrise‘, is rife with amazing one-liners. For those of you who aren’t lucky enough to have seen it already, it’s the story of two young strangers (Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy) who decide to take a chance on love and fate and spend a night exploring Vienna together on a whim. It’s romantic, passionate and as I mentioned,...
Did Lamborghini "blow" it with the Reventón?
Filed under: Frankfurt Auto Show, Coupes, Etc., Supercars Click on the above photo for more hi-res pics of the Blown Tire Reventón As many commenters have noted, the Spanish name of the million-euro Lambo, Reventón, is a bit of a surprise. The accent over the ‘o’ changes the stress, but it apparently doesn’t change the meaning of the word in Spanish: blown tire. As one reader...
Winning the War Through Marketing
Seth had an interesting post today about terrorism, the war and the role of marketing in the whole thing. Feel free to read it here. If you aren’t going to read it, I’ll give you this quote from it and you can get this gist:
If you want moderate ideas to spread in a community, promote the people who are spreading those ideas. Make them heroes. Amplify their message and help it...
Overworked, Overwhelmed but Not Getting Things...
You may notice that lately I’ve been putting up a few posts that suggest ways to increase your productivity as an affiliate, and there is a reason for it (other than an apparent lack of interesting blog topics as of late). The way I see it, I can sit here and point you to the greatest tools, tips, and resources for affiliate marketing in the world, but if you can’t sit yourself down and...
“…ideas are easy, doing stuff is hard.”
– Seth Godin
Thinking about this war
This is the first war that’s a marketing war. The New York Police Department just released a report
on Jihad and terrorism. [It seems as though the NYPD has taken the document down. Not sure why….Here it is.] It’s controversial, particularly among people
who haven’t read it. I’m going to skip over some of the ethnic
generalizations and focus on other parts of the...
Go to Siena
I was looking through our photos from Siena, Italy tonight. You have to go…it is an amazing place. See the photos here. If anyone wants to give Kristi and I a home in Italy, I promise we will live in it :)
(via Marketing Punk)
Pick Up Some Low Hanging PPC Fruit with the...
I’ve been playing around with the Google AdWords Keyword Tool this afternoon and I’ve found it to be a good way to identify keywords that good a decent amount of search volume but aren’t already saturated with AdWords advertisers. Here’s how you can use it… Go to the Google AdWords Keyword Tool website
Click on the “Site-Related Keywords” tab
Enter in the URL of your homepage or one of the pages...
Haiku Productivity: The Fine Art of Limiting...
Photo by Hyougushi Every Monday is Productivity & Organization Day at Zen Habits. I’ve been wanting to write this post for a little while now, about an experiment I’ve been doing. For a few months, I’ve been purposely binding myself. Not as a way to hamstring myself, but as a way to make me focus on fewer, but more important things. As a way to allow myself to do more in less time. I’m sure...
MTV jumped the shark tonight…finally.
Aargh, my eyes!!! Ferrari 348 TS "Harlequin"...
Filed under: Car Buying, Sports/GTs, Etc., Euro, Ferrari Remember those Harlequin VW Golfs? You know, the ones where all the body panels were different colors? Well, this is the same thing, only it’s a Ferrari 348, and it’s for sale in the UK. According to the seller, the car draws stares (gee, big surprise) and is finished to a high standard. Whether or not the Technicolor bodywork...
Getting in the Flow – Affiliate Style
Working at home can be a blessing and a curse. For about 6 months of my life I was a health insurance agent and I worked from home. It was nice to not have to commute, sleep in when I wanted, and not have to dress up unless I had an appointment. But I learned quite quickly that home can be crazy distracting and not a good place for someone who hates what they are doing (which I did). Most of...
How very meta: Toyota employs a guy that reads...
Filed under: Car Buying, Etc., Marketing/Advertising, ToyotaDuring an interview with Brandweek, Bruce Ertmann revealed himself as Toyota’s (get this) “corporate manager of consumer-generated media.” That’s right, he’s paid to read through forums, websites and blogs — including yours truly. Plus, it’s likely he’s reading your comments. Ertmann’s...