Social Media Optimization

Let it be known that I’m not a huge fan of video. Now don’t get me wrong.. I know how popular video is. I enjoy watching goofy stuff on YouTube and I know it’s an emerging field as far as web marketing goes, however when it comes to information pieces I just can’t ignore the facts:

1. Most of you come off looking like slimy infomercials or at best, bad Mac vs. PC ripoffs
2. There’s not much that you could cover in a video that I couldn’t absorb faster by reading.
3. I look/feel horrible on film

Regardless of my reservations, some people are into videos and worse comes to worse, occasionally I must oblige and be a part of them. That said, in watching this, the facts are still applicable but hopefully I’ll be able to overcome my personal reservations and someone, somewhere will benefit. So behold, my first, and yes completely impromptu interview with Sage Lewis of Web Marketing Watch:

Social Media Optimization Interview:

I hope my headache isn’t too obvious and that I was able to hold it together for you…

greg :: Oct.26.2007 :: Social Media Optimization :: 4 Comments »

Never ceases to amaze me how upset people get when you change the rules on them mid-game. You’d think that by now everyone would be used to it, especially in the web marketing arena. I mean, this is the game where the rules change daily, remember? It’s why we have clients, keep up on industry news, and probably why some of you are here now.

That said today’s news of Google slashing PR on several “authority” sites across the web has web marketers across the land up in arms. Meanwhile, I’m laughing, enjoying the last of this year’s Nosferatu and thinking of how this whole game is a lot like Calvinball…

greg :: Oct.24.2007 :: SEO :: 1 Comment »

Social Media sites come and go like the wind. It seems like every 5 seconds some entrepreneur is just around the corner with another Digg or del.icio.us knockoff, hoping that whatever Ajax maneuver they can bring to the table will make them this week’s hot topic or at least clever enough to catch the eye of whomever might have some money and want to absorb some wicked bit of code or an entire social media community. As it stands though the big players are still the big players and everyone else is just grasping at straws trying to find their place in the wide-open market. But where does that leave John Q. Internet? Where does that leave the average sap who knows that social media sites are the next big thing but doesn’t know what to do with them?

Well, it leaves them no better off than they were a year ago to be honest. Most people, though they may have heard of Facebook or MySpace or whatever, are no better off than they may have been well over a year ago before the marketplace was flooded by Web 2.0 wannabes. Now instead of trying to figure out how to leverage these spaces to their advantage, they are left to try to sort out the myriad of social sites for which there is no guidebook. What’s more popular… Netscape or Zimbo?

Though we, as web marketers might know the answer, the real truths for anyone involved come across when they try to measure their success. And this is where we talk about the glue that holds all of everyone’s efforts together. Be it through Social Media Optimization, SEO, PPC, or whatever cockamamie thing someone might be trying this week, the magic that makes this all more valuable than any other form of media is the precision with which we can track this, ie. analytics. And with that I am happy to announce a new blog by a highly skilled individual which aims to keep us all informed… Joe Abraham from AnalyticalNews.org.

In his introduction, Joe says..

I started this blog not only because I am in love with stats, but also to be a stats evangelist. I want to help demystify stats and help people find a good fit…

Best of luck to you Joe. I hope you follow through with your new blog and your mission. Check it.

greg :: Oct.02.2007 :: Social Media Optimization, Stats :: No Comments »