Archive for August, 2007
August 29, 2007 | 9 Comments
There are only two guiding principles for engaging in social media and blogging. You don’t need to memorize a book or have years of experience. All you need is to never forget the following two things:
- Never pretend to be someone you are not
- Never piss off a Search Engine Marketer
Most people know the first, but not so many know the second. Earlier this week, Robert Scoble unfortunately countered the second and posted a video which he soon admitted contained several inaccuracies and was ill-advised. A part of the video carried on a bit of dialogue that Jason Calacanis once notoriously started with his post back in February of this year calling SEO and SMO "bullshit." Calacanis’ post sparked a flurry of angry conversation in the search marketing industry, which is now coming back up again due to Scoble’s video about Mahalo (Jason Calacanis’ new venture) and dismissal of SEO. Scoble’s most significant criticism came from Danny Sullivan (a legend in the search marketing industry) and Rand Fishkin (another very influential search marketer) – as well as from Adario Strange on the Wired magazine blog.
I am not a search marketer, though I did get deep into this world through my ideas and writing about social media optimization and have attended and spoken at several search marketing events like SES in the past. I know that the power of the search marketers mirrors the power of Google. If you are going to say something against them, you better know what you’re doing (and have a defensible position) – because when they go against you, it’s a high profile smackdown. Combine that with the public nature of being an "A-list" blogger and the challenge of producing good and accurate content quickly and you have the recipe for the storm Scoble finds himself in now. We can’t all be right all the time. But trust me on those guiding principles.
August 28, 2007 | 6 Comments
This past weekend, my son had his third birthday – a great moment in fatherhood for me because it’s really the first birthday where he gets really cool toys that Daddy can spend an entire Sunday afternoon playing with. I think I speak for all Dads when I say Baby Einstein doesn’t really do it for us. Give me a…Read More >>
August 27, 2007 | 3 Comments
For all of the criticism about Technorati’s inconsistent ranking figures or recent team changes, the one thing the site has intuitively understood from the beginning is the inherent desire for bloggers to be ranked. Though there are lots of industry based lists (such as the Power150, Viral Garden Top25, and Peter Kim’s newly launched M20) for marketing and advertising bloggers,…Read More >>
August 22, 2007 | 2 Comments
For those who follow this blog, you know that I attend and speak at a lot of events. Each has a different vibe and type of attendee – and I’ve been to some amazing events and heard many fantastic speakers. This past year, one that stood out was the annual South by Southwest Festival that takes over the town of…Read More >>
August 21, 2007 | 14 Comments
I don’t consider myself a blog envangelist. My role is not to walk into every client’s office and tell them to start a blog. For some, this may be the best thing to do. For others, getting involved in social media may take a different and more community based approach. Either way, the one common element is that for every…Read More >>
August 20, 2007 | 5 Comments
If I named my next kid Jeeves, would I be limiting him to a future career as a butler? What else could someone named Jeeves do? Most marketers understand that names matter for perception, but what impact can they have on actual performance? The past several weeks I have had to rent a car from a number of different providers. …Read More >>
August 16, 2007 | 1 Comment
If I gave you two words, papaya and new york (ok, three words), what would you think of? If you are American, chances are these odd combination of words would conjure up images of hot dogs known as "papaya dogs," which are as iconic as you can get about American pop fast food culture. The only problem is, there are…Read More >>
August 15, 2007 | 3 Comments
Today is India’s 60th Anniversary of Independence and there is lots of discussion on Indian blogs about the significance of this day and what it means for the country. It will come as no surprise for admirers of the Bollywood film industry that India’s culture is one driven by film and music. The blockbuster Bollywood films incite passion amongst most…Read More >>
August 14, 2007 | 5 Comments
Last week I took the Metro at 7am to get to work for an early meeting. Looking around at the crowd on the train at a time more than an hour earlier than I usually get on – two things were apparent. First, the people looked sleepier. And second, the crowd was clearly older on average than those who took…Read More >>
August 13, 2007 | 7 Comments
Last week I sent myself an email to generate a Google text ad. As any Gmail user knows, Google serves ads based on the text content of your email. So corresponding back and forth with a good friend of mine whose wedding I will be attending in Peru next month results in several offers for Peru travel advisors. Those ads…Read More >>
9 Comments