The convergence of overseas website development and open source content management systems is bringing e-commerce to the masses and traditional development companies to their knees. In the past, if you wanted an e-commerce site, you paid a lot of money for custom development. If you wanted a big e-commerce site, one with lots and... Read more →
Google's been making strong moves lately with the Plus One button and Google+. It's hard to say whether either of these will reach critical mass -- ahem, see Google Buzz. That said, it's probably not a good idea to wait to incorporate the Plus One button on your WordPress site, mostly because it takes two minutes to... Read more →
For anyone held hostage to a developer who isn't responding to requests for changes or additions to their website, WordPress is a life saver. It has matured from a basic blogging platform to a fully functional content management system (CMS), allowing for website content to be added and edited at any time through a very easy-to-use... Read more →
Twitter usage is continuing to grow and the user numbers don't lie. Over 200 million people use Twitter and there are over 1 billion tweets per week according to The Next Web. Mobile usage has increased 182% the past year, signaling that Twitter is trending on two screens. Lady Gaga herself has over 9 million users. While Twitter... Read more →
The success of a social media contest, as measured by participation, comes down to two basic factors: the effort required to participate and the value of the reward. Seems simple enough, right? Yet when running a Facebook or Twitter contest it can be deceptively difficult to get this right. Asking fans for user generated video or... Read more →
Did a presentation last week for a group of mortgage loan officers. Many are reluctant to jump into online and social media marketing, so I presented some facts that are pretty hard to ignore. Search 66% (204 million) of US consumers use search engines to research purchases and other decisions. ... Read more →
In early December, Twitter unveiled the new Twitter brand pages, which, according to Twitter, will “help marketers create an even more compelling destination on Twitter for their brands.” And, oh yeah—the new and enhanced Facebook-esque layout will give brands a more distinctive presence on Twitter, too. So when can your company... Read more →
Facebook contests are a great way to spark interactivity and engagement on your Facebook page, not to mention substantially increase your Likes. Before you dive in on contests for your page, though, be sure you have your ducks in a row -- Facebook has pretty stringent rules and terms on where and how contests can happen, and you want... Read more →
My friend Sasha figured out what he's going to do for his Halloween costume last night with the contributions of a few friends, myself and a few libations. Like any ah-hah moment, it started with the Big Idea. Then, in illustrative fashion, grew into a social media inspired event. Sasha has a track suit that he picked up at a... Read more →
At a local networking group that meets every other Wednesday I give a social media marketing and SEO update. I quickly found that people aren't nearly as interested in the inner workings of search algos than they are with the latest social media gossip. Most people in our group seem to have moved past their skepticism, which was a... Read more →
