Archive for August, 2008

Ohio Web Leaders Diggs Into Google, Cuil and How Search is Changing

Mad props to Bill Balderaz and Amy Marshall of Webbed Marketing for their presentation this morning at the OWL breakfast seminar. I’ve attended two events for this recently formed group and I’ve left both times with new perspectives, new connections and very applicable information. If you’re in the internet technology game, or even a client-side marketer who is trying to leverage online channels for your company, or simply just someone who is interested interested in emerging internet technology – these events are definitely worth your time. Among topics covered today: Final negotiations for Google’s pending acquisition of popular bookmarking site Digg, and how this may effect the Search industry The low down on the new search engine Cuil (pronounced “cool”) and where it is heading Yahoo and MSN to potentially join forces (Bill asked, would you call that Mahoo?) A features profile of the newly launched Wikia Search Google Suggest – Google’s new intelligent search feature and the potentially associated privacy issues with user profiling I don’t want to steal OWL’s content so this is just a tease. If these topics look interesting, think about registering for the next OWL event to join the discussion. But, I do have some opinions on Google and Digg potentially joining forces: First off, this merger could be BIG. Obviously, Google’s a monster dominating over 70% of daily search queries. So why would this power house have interest in purchasing a social bookmarking service? The Business Angle With more than 1 million registered users (and I’m one of them), Digg draws traffic from the influencers. Users take great pride in their ability to find and rate content, and then have that content validated as relevant by other users. These are the mavens and typically the early adopters of new technology as well. The company [...]

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Triple O, The Key to Obama's Intgrated Online Success Online

Hats off and thanks to Scott Schweitzer from The Strategy Group for Media for passing along a recent Washington Post article entitled: Obama’s Wide Web; From YouTube to Text Messaging, Candidate’s Team Connects to Voters. I’m always very cautious when bringing up politics. But regardless of where your political affiliations lie, no one can argue that the Senator Barack Obama’s presidential campaign has paid significant attention to social media as a cornerstone of their strategy. More than that, his interactive division, branded as Triple O, has done very innovative work in applying, and integrating a variety of online tactics that are new to the political arena including social networking, SEO/SEM social media marketing, SMS, affiliate groups, banner advertisements, viral video, etc. – all leading back to a well designed lead capture form placed on the homepage of his official campaign website, BarakObama.com. To me this is a hell of an online presence. Fostering peer-to-peer communication in the political arena simply makes sense – Marshall McLuhan’s ideas behind his 1967 book: The Medium is the Massage: An Inventory of Effects holds ever more true when you take into consideration how much the present day media landscape has evolved. Triple O has embraced the online medium as both a tool and message. So whats the message of the medium? Here are some of what I take away from his approach. “Obama is hip and understands my generation.” “Obama is a forward thinker and understands emerging technology” “Obama cares about what I have to say, and provides me with ways to voice my opinion” “Obama is on the front lines and recognizes my needs and interests” “Jeez, I feel like I really know this guy” The last bullet is what I think is most important. Through use of integrated social media, Barack Obama [...]

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Greeting with a Personal Touch: SendOutCards.com

This one has me very excited! Right out of the gate, I will rate this web service as one of the most innovative SaaS applications I’ve seen in 2008. Following the Wil Schroder start up model, this service uses the Internet to provide a robust solution that alleviates the friction in a human transaction. With the rise of email and social networks, the old tradition of sending paper cards has fallen by the wayside. Why? Here are some my thoughts: The Time Investment – the process of sending traditional greeting cards is a long process of hand writing, addressing, and then making a trip to the post office or mail box to send the message. Higher Costs – take into account the rate of postage, the price of the gas you will to get to and from the store and post office, and that most decent greeting cards can range from $4 to $5 at the store, and it’s reasonable to average more than $10 per card in expenses. Finding the Right Card – the options are limited at your typical retail locations, so you may not be able to find the right fit for the occasion. Yet design and printing custom cards just adds on to the already lengthy time commitment. SendOutCards has developed a SaaS solution to address all of these negatives, and in my opinion, has done a hell of a job in designing a turn-key solution. How It Works For a reasonable fee, Send Out Cards allows users to upload a database of contacts, and then design, save and send personalized greeting cards for a variety of special occasions. Users also have the ability to purchase and include gifts along with their cards, which include retail and restarnat gift cards, food items and even books. Users [...]

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