Google Webmaster tools

This should be helpful. Do you have a website or blog that you'd like to track better? Check out Google's Webmaster Tools. They are free and easy to use, but if you don't know they are there, then they aren't much help.

Check them out here.

They can tell you:

-The most popular search terms for your site
-Site diagnostics like crawl errors
-How to get your sitemaps set up
-Why Google is or isn't indexing your site

And tons of other stuff. Highly recommended.

Facebook joke could be marketing stunt

A message that has been circulating on Facebook lately could just be some marketing hijinx by the company. The message says:

"All FB friends. This is important. Do this asap! Go to settings. Click on privacy settings. Click on block users. in [sic] the name box enter 'automation labs'. A list of approx 20 people you dont even know will come up. Block each one individually. These people have access to your facebook account/profile and spy on what you do … "

Yes, this is one of those annoying "paste this to your profile" type of deals that seem to be so popular. They are incredibly obnoxious if you ask me.

"This is a chain message that claims certain users have special access to profile information. It’s not true, and we don’t know where it originated," Facebook spokesperson Simon Axten told TechNewsDaily. "We’re asking people to disregard the message and tell their friends."

If it's not designed as a marketing ploy, maybe they should start thinking along those lines. This stuff spreads.

Want to sell your website?

This is a great site if you are either looking to sell your blog/website or looking to buy one. Maybe you want to start a blog but would rather not start from scratch. Maybe you want to make money online but don't know where to start.

Check out Flippa.com.

This is great for people who got their blog going and now they just don't have time to run it anymore. Don't let it just die, see if you can get a few bucks for it.

A big reason to hate Facebook

We like Facebook, we really do. It's fun, you can stay in contact with people that you want to stay in contact with without having to sit on the phone with them for hours at a time to find out what's going on in their life. You could be using that time to play Call of Duty online for god's sake.

But here is my biggest problem with Facebook: People can just post photos of you online without your consent. Then they get to tag you and everyone you know sees it. This is total BS. I didn't know you took my picture. I don't like having my picture taken. I sure as hell did not authorize you to share that picture with the world.

I think this is borderline criminal activity and here is a great example of why. This western PA teacher was suspended for 30 days without pay because someone posted a picture of her with a male stripper at someone's bridal shower.

What kind of nonsense is that? She may not have known that her picture was taken. She wasn't breaking the law. Someone else posted it. That someone else should have to cover her month's pay if you ask me.

This is an aspect of Facebook that needs to change pronto. Not everyone loves having their stupid picture plastered all over the internet. Thanks for being my Facebook "friend."

Facebook's version of the re-tweet

Facebook is adopting more and more Twitter-style functions every day. Now, Facebook's version of the "re-tweet" is here. It's called the "via" function and you can now take someone else's status or comments and "re-tweet" them Facebook style via the via thing.

More on that here.

Speaking of Facebook, don't forget to join us on there.

Twitter to be found in new cars?

This is hilarious. It looks like you will be able to re-tweet stuff in your new Ford as they are adding Twitter to their new Sync system. Ok, actually you can't. But you will be able to hear tweets read to you aloud in upcoming Fords, Mercuries and Lincolns.

Sound like fun? It isn't.

This sounds like a lame attempt to sell some cars and we don't see how it can work. You could be listening to Led Zeppelin instead of "Ugh, Monday!," "Took the dog to the vet this morning, not out of the woods yet," and/or "Check out my blog and get a FREE copy of my new book on Twitter tips!"

Have fun with that. I think I'll re-up on my Volkswagen.

Facebook to change privacy settings again

Facebook is making changes yet again. Faced with heavy criticism from privacy groups, Facebook will allow users to adjust their settings to that not everyone can view their list of friends.

"We have heard user concerns and we will soon enable people to hide their friend lists. Those who choose to hide their friend lists will not have their lists discoverable through search engines or viewable by other users," Facebook said in a prepared statement.

Apparently, people felt that having this information out there made it too easy for third parties to misuse it and that's probably true. This seems like a good move for Facebook to make.

Now, just stop messing around with all the News Feeds and Live Feeds and Status Updates. That still annoys us.

How parents can use Facebook and Twitter

The Onion is phenomenal. Their video section is an absolute must-see. Here is a great one on how parents of college-aged kids can effectively use Facebook and Twitter. See? We've been telling you for a while that you need to sign up!


Facebook, Twitter Revolutionizing How Parents Stalk Their College-Aged Kids

LinkedIn tip

Ever used LinkedIn.com to network for business? I highly recommend it. But it's important to do it right, and I have a tip that is a great way to meet people in a casual way: Join LinkedIn groups that have nothing to do with business.

That's right, find groups that connect people who have a common interest. For me, it's Philadelphia sports. I'm members of groups for Phillies and Eagles fans (Flyers may come soon, but Sixers are awful and tough to discuss). So what's the benefit?

Well, one of the biggest turnoffs when you are trying to network is throwing business right at the forefront of the conversation. Relax, champ. I don't know you and I don't need your carpet-cleaning services shoved down my throat. Let's discuss the NFC playoff race and then we'll get around to that.

It's a phenomenal way to break down barriers, crack the ice and get closer to people. People want to do business with people they like and trust. Join some groups that aren't all about "hire me! hire me!" And when you do join these groups, don't throw your post up your SEO techniques unless that has something specifically related to the group. Don't be that guy/girl.

Using the internet

It can be difficult to use the internet. Everyone talks about this internet thing, but what it is it? How do you get on it? Well, Gabe and Max are here to help:

Top 5 Reasons to use Twitter Lists

Five great bullet points from DuctTapeMarketing.com on why you should use Twitter Lists.

1) Monitor without following - one of the things I like is that you can monitor a group of individuals in a list without having to follow any of the folks on the list on twitter. You may actually want to follow people you find on a list, but you may also want to monitor industry niche lists for a week or two while you’re pitching a new client in that industry. You can delete a list very easily, deleting hundreds of followers is harder.

2) One button list follow - the fact that you can find a list and follow the entire collection with one button makes it very easy to manage. I think this may become the chosen way to find people to follow. If someone you trust tells you about a list of people you should be following and all you have to do is hit one button to do so, you’re probably going to do it. I predict this feature is going to dramtically impact how people follow.

3) Promote your lists – this is such a great way for a group of people to promote each other on Twitter. You can promote your clients, your suppliers, your referral lunch group, you name it. Think about how great it would be to promote an event where you could follow all the speakers prior to the event, or what about all the attendees. You could create a list from sign-up details. In fact, what a great way to create collections of twitter folks that your employees should follow or even employee lists. The fact that it is so easy for people to follow a list by going to a URL – and that list can be edited by the owner at will, means a lot.

4) Filtered by an expert – Every business should consider creating a handful of Top 10 “fill in your narrow niche” to follow on twitter. By being the one that filters and creates easily sharable industry specific lists, you can add to your own credibility in the industry. (Did I mention you can add yourself to a list you create?)

5) Build a bigger following – Many of the ideas I mentioned above will naturally help you grow your own following. Creating a handful of useful list and promoting those lists in public places and to the members on the list will raise your exposure and lead to more follower.

Twitter lists!

Could this be the end of Follow Friday? Twitter now lets you group people you follow together, so people can go on your page and follow all of them with a single click.

Read more here.

Advertising rebounding?

Tom Rutledge, COO of Cablevision, said recently that his company is seeing a bounce back in ad revenue.

"There seems to be an economic rebound occurring that's manifesting itself through advertising," said Rutledge.

Cablevision's ad revenue jumped up in the third quarter this year, up 6% from the second quarter.

Is it possible that we're pulling out of this mess?

Pay-per-tweet

Here is an interesting article about how you can increase your online visibility with companies like TweetROI.

"Businesses should both build their own Twitter accounts and advertise via pay-per-tweet,” says Brian Carter, founder of TweetROI.

"Pay-per-tweet is cheap compared to existing online advertising channels." Carter says. "TweetROI averages $3 per tweet and its average cost per click comes out to about 50 cents." He recommends that small businesses start with $500 a month to test the service. "It's critical that sufficient web analytics are in place to measure the conversions and revenue that come from pay-per-tweet," he adds.

Online ads stabilize for Yahoo!

Yahoo's recent results have shown that their online ad revenue has stabilized. They won't go so far as to say that there has been a full recovery, but still, this is encouraging news.

It was a clean 'beat' quarter," says Sandeep Aggarwal, an analyst at financial services firm Collins Stewart (CLST.L). "You see signs of stabilization, which is very positive."

They didn't have the quarter that Google did, but....hey....baby steps.

Facebook best source of traffic

Not surprisingly, in a recent study by ad network Chitika, Facebook proved to spawn the most loyal users to sites found on Facebook.

Chitika studied the online habits of 33 million people and found that 20% visit sites from Facebook four or more times in a week. Digg provides 16% and Twitter is at 11%.

So, show your stuff off on Facebook and get a better chance of getting repeat users!

Bank of America rolling out new Merrill Lynch campaign

It's nice to see Bank of America doing well. Apparently, they received enough bailout money to launch a sufficient advertising/marketing campaign for their relatively newly acquired Merrill Lynch brand.

It's the new "help2" campaign, which says for instance that Merrill Lynch offers "help2know" with access to research from Bank of America Merrill Lynch Global Research.

Uh huh. Those two comapanies have been so stellar, I'd love to know how their research can help me and my company go in the toilet.

The marketing campaign will feature spots on TV, radio, internet and print. Awesome.

Fake Gilette NASCAR video

Yes, video editing has come a long way and you can make things that are completely fake look real. Yes, this has been done to death. But Gilette doesn't care, here is their fake stunt NASCAR video:

Marketing: It's why your car speedometer goes so high

This is a great letter to a car blog on Marketplace.com. This guy wants to know why your car speedometer shows that you could theoretically do 140mph, when A. Your car can't, and B. It's illegal anyway.

The answer, as Tom and Ray correctly point out, is marketing. It just looks better. Chances are you aren't going to go much above 80, but this she-beast of a vehicle you are driving could if it wanted to.

You could also make the case that manufacturers would rather purchase one speedometer for use in all their vehicles regardless of how fast they go. But if that was the case, why did this guy get the two horrific answers from Toyota and Nissan?

Thank you for contacting Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc. We appreciate this opportunity to address your inquiry. Some states within the United States have higher speed limits than other states. We hope you will find this information helpful. Thank you for taking the time to contact us with your inquiry.
Sincerely,
Toyota Customer Experience

What a stupid response. No, that wasn't helpful thank you very much. Nissan wasn't any better.

Thank you for taking the time to contact Nissan North America, Inc. and allowing us the opportunity to read and respond to your e-mail inquiry.
All vehicles are designed in this fashion, regardless of make or model. If you are seeking an exact reason as to why vehicles are designed this way, no further information can be provided.
I apologize if the response given is not satisfactory. Unfortunately no further information regarding vehicle/speedometer designs can be offered.
Sincerely,
Nissan North America, Inc.

What stupid and half-assed response. This is why people can't stand large corporations.

Advertising revenue is up?

According to NBC executive Jeff Zucker and the owner of every media outlet every created, Rupert Murdoch, things are looking up for advertising spending.

“Almost in every property at the moment [there is] a slight lift,” Murdoch said at an annual Goldman Sachs conference. “It’s very much better than it was a couple of months ago. It’s everywhere,” he added, noting an 8% fall in revenues at News Corp’s television stations in September. There was expected to be a 20% fall at this point, so the fall is technically a good one.

Zucker added: “There’s no question – advertising feels better.”

We admit that we are seeing things start to turn up as well. We might finally be pulling out of this thing.