you build it they will come".
Have a read of the article Bloggers Bring in the Big Bucks
After reading it, if you haven't been to http://icanhascheezburger.com check it out. Very Hilarious.
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
Bloggers Bring in the Big Bucks
Business week recently posted an article on people who blog as a career. The most important message that comes out of it is that you need to write about something you are interested in. Because you are interested, you will probably generate good content without knowing it. The number one thing you need to have a successful blog is great content. Its not just a case of "if
you build it they will come".
you build it they will come".
Off topic but very cool - mini Remote control Helicopter
Imagine flying one of these around the office.
Love the theme music.
I know I'll probably only use it for a total of 15 minutes but I NEED TO BUY ONE!!
You can get them here at Think Geek
Love the theme music.
I know I'll probably only use it for a total of 15 minutes but I NEED TO BUY ONE!!
You can get them here at Think Geek
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
Newsletters you should be subscribed to...
The internet is constantly evolving with both new technology and new trends. What’s hot one month can be forgotten the next. It’s important to stay on top of this constantly evolving information and the easiest way to do that is to get updates sent to you. Out of the many newsletters I receive everyday, these are the ones I find most useful. Often they will be rehashing what you already know
Clickz Network
http://www.clickz.com/
Articles from experts on many different topics. Find out current trends, receive tips and how-to’s
Marketingvox
http://www.marketingvox.com/
Find out what’s new, who’s doing what. Its an excellent daily news bulletin.
http://www.emarketer.com/
Provides stats which are especially useful when you want supporting evidence to convince a client that they should be moving into online.
http://www.wdfm.com
This newsletter provides useful tips and sites you normally wouldn’t come across.
Marketing Profs
http://www.marketingprofs.com/newsletters/marketing
http://www.marketingprofs.com/small-business/
Again lots of tips and how-to’s.
Sunday, July 15, 2007
Make Money From Blogging
A definitive resource outlining the steps to make money online is the FREE ebook by John Chow.
http://www.johnchow.com/book/make-money-online.pdf
It contains a number of easy to follow strategies that John has discovered through his long experience in the industry.
Usability Testing on the cheap
There are 3 tools I've come to use so much that i cant live without but the thought dawned on me the other day that they might be able to be used for usability testing competitor sites, User acceptance testing and HTML Prototype testing. In conjunction they are a powerful set of tools. I've place them in order of price, the cheapest can be used on its own with the next 2 adding functionality.
The ideas here take for granted that you have your test subjects lined up and your test script is already written. For more information on how to do this check out Jacob Nielsen's site http://www.useit.com/
1. Log Me In
http://www.logmein.com/
This is a remote access tool designed to easily access a remote PC via a web browser. It basically gives full control of the host PC's functions. The funny thing is that whilst a PC is being controlled you can see everything that's going on, it looks like its possessed! Its great to install at a friends house then login and start playing loud music at 3 in the morning.
The visibility of the actions on the host PC can be seen from both sides. This makes it perfect for logging into a PC controlled by a test subject whilst their movements are viewed on the remote screen.
Best of all its free for access to 5 pc's per account.
1. Snagit
http://www.snagit.com/
Snagit in essence works as an advanced print screen utility. It has a great functionality to capture scrolling windows which is great for taking screenshots of long webpages. Something that used to take a lot of cutting and pasting individual screenshots. It also has the ability to capture videos of what is happening on the screen.
I've found this tool invaluable in creating user manuals, capturing errors that other users cant seem to see, marking up creative amends,The list goes on. Like they saw a picture tells a thousand words and the same is true with the notes of the usability test. Snagit will enable you to capture an mpeg video of user interaction, either on the PC they are using or remotely via logmein. If you setup a microphone you can ask your test subjects to describe their thought process as the audio track to the video.
3. Axure
http://www.axure.com/
The ideas here take for granted that you have your test subjects lined up and your test script is already written. For more information on how to do this check out Jacob Nielsen's site http://www.useit.com/
1. Log Me In
http://www.logmein.com/
This is a remote access tool designed to easily access a remote PC via a web browser. It basically gives full control of the host PC's functions. The funny thing is that whilst a PC is being controlled you can see everything that's going on, it looks like its possessed! Its great to install at a friends house then login and start playing loud music at 3 in the morning.
The visibility of the actions on the host PC can be seen from both sides. This makes it perfect for logging into a PC controlled by a test subject whilst their movements are viewed on the remote screen.
Best of all its free for access to 5 pc's per account.
1. Snagit
http://www.snagit.com/
Snagit in essence works as an advanced print screen utility. It has a great functionality to capture scrolling windows which is great for taking screenshots of long webpages. Something that used to take a lot of cutting and pasting individual screenshots. It also has the ability to capture videos of what is happening on the screen.
I've found this tool invaluable in creating user manuals, capturing errors that other users cant seem to see, marking up creative amends,The list goes on. Like they saw a picture tells a thousand words and the same is true with the notes of the usability test. Snagit will enable you to capture an mpeg video of user interaction, either on the PC they are using or remotely via logmein. If you setup a microphone you can ask your test subjects to describe their thought process as the audio track to the video.
3. Axure
http://www.axure.com/
This program made the producers at my company fight over who would create the prototype. Its fun, but its also extremely use full. It allows you to great html prototypes of a site which act as a working model for the site. This is great to demonstrate to clients how site functionality will work as well as usability test before and design or development has begun. It also generates documentation that can be used as a technical specification.
What is a Widget? - The Next Small Thing
If you have used myspace or facebook then you have probably already interactive with widgets without even knowing it. According to Business week, widgets are the next big small thing in internet marketing.
Here is an example of this blogs feed displayed in a widget created by spring widgets. The code supplied by springwidgets can be embedded in any site and most community sites will accept it.“Bits of code called widgets open the door to viral marketing across social networks.
Check out the article at http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/07_30/b4043071.htm
Checkout this advertising Widget by www.bla.st . Its an interesting way of advertising, especially online.
Thursday, July 12, 2007
Viral Green Lasers
I've logged into My Yahoo dashboard over the past few days and noticed the same video repeatedly appearing in the top 5 most viewed videos, "GREEN LASER PEN VIDEO AWESOME!!!".
Looking at the video you see a demonstration of the laser in a way that would make any teenage boy or middle age geek think "COOL!! where do i get one?" Throughout the video there is a website at the top and at the end there the same address appears with the words "Available at". Not only has the product sold its self but there is an easy to follow call to action.
The amazing thing about this is that at the time of writing this the video has had 632,626 view with 460 comments along the lines of "wow,I'm GREEN with envy, lol". That is 632,626 times this guy has been able to demonstrate his product free of charge with 460 people reinforcing the value of the product. This isn't the first time I've seen this video on youtube in the top 5 either. Last time it was driving people to an ebay user page.
As you can imagine that video wouldn't have cost much at all to make. With a borrowed video camera you could put it together with Windows movie maker. With the myriad of social networking site out there the opportunities for low cost viral advertising are endless. If you have a cool product putting up a video on youtube or creating a group on facebook or myspace may only take you minutes but the potential for lead generation is enormous.
Looking at the video you see a demonstration of the laser in a way that would make any teenage boy or middle age geek think "COOL!! where do i get one?" Throughout the video there is a website at the top and at the end there the same address appears with the words "Available at". Not only has the product sold its self but there is an easy to follow call to action.The amazing thing about this is that at the time of writing this the video has had 632,626 view with 460 comments along the lines of "wow,I'm GREEN with envy, lol". That is 632,626 times this guy has been able to demonstrate his product free of charge with 460 people reinforcing the value of the product. This isn't the first time I've seen this video on youtube in the top 5 either. Last time it was driving people to an ebay user page.
As you can imagine that video wouldn't have cost much at all to make. With a borrowed video camera you could put it together with Windows movie maker. With the myriad of social networking site out there the opportunities for low cost viral advertising are endless. If you have a cool product putting up a video on youtube or creating a group on facebook or myspace may only take you minutes but the potential for lead generation is enormous.
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