March 2007
Illustrating Your Better Value Proposition
Written by Muhammad Saleem on March 30, 2007 | 10 comments
You don't always have to bring something truly novel to the table and innovate from scratch to be able to truly succeed in a crowded marketplace. You simply have to show the your potential customers that you are providing more value than your competitors.
10 Most Popular Brands on Digg
Written by Cameron Olthuis on March 29, 2007 | 34 comments
What brands are the most popular with the Digg audience? I did a little research to gather some data so I can figure out what brands are mentioned most on Digg. What I did is I looked at the number of times a story with the brand name in the title, description, or URL has appeared on the Digg homepage in the last year.
Digg's Unknown Social Networking Functionality
Written by Muhammad Saleem on March 29, 2007 | 12 comments
Thanks to a tip from Digg top user Karim, I learned that Digg has some social networking capabilities that most users are unaware of. Here's a first look at Digg's referral feature.
Abstract: Optimal Social Bookmarking Button Placement
Written by Muhammad Saleem on March 29, 2007 |
Having a 'Digg This' or any other social media site button on your site facilitates your readers in voting for the content and consequently having your content promoted and viewed by thousands of readers. But simply having the button on your site is not enough.
Rush Hour Episode 7
Written by Cameron Olthuis on March 28, 2007 | 1 comment
On this episode of Rush Hour, Neil and I talked about the Jason Calacanis SEO challenge, the launch of Search Engine Smackdown, and Neil's experiences at Elite Retreat. We also talked about strategies for getting stories popular on Digg and StumbleUpon. CShel called in at the end of the show and got some social media advice from Neil and I.
Jason Calacanis Challenge Update
Written by Neil Patel on March 28, 2007 | 12 comments
On Monday I blogged about the Jason Calacanis challenge and how he received a 21% increase in traffic with only 10% of the changes being made so far. Many people have been wondering what the 10% of the changes were and some have even blogged that it could have been a fluke.
Making Digg Comments Work For You, Not Against You
Written by MG Siegler on March 28, 2007 | 3 comments
Yesterday I posted about Robert Scoble calling for a Digg Boycott following his reading of the comments on the Kathy Sierra story. I posed the question: what, if anything needs to be changed with regards to Digg's comment system?
Serphing out of beta
Written by Cameron Olthuis on March 28, 2007 | 3 comments
We're bringing Serph out of beta today. We first mentioned our reputation management tool; Serph, a couple of months ago and we're now ready for it to be open to the public. We appreciate everyone who used Serph during our beta period and those who provided feedback and brought our attention to various bugs.
Spotrunner.com Versus Personalized Advertising
Written by Muhammad Saleem on March 27, 2007 | 9 comments
I was catching up on some past episodes of one of my favorite technology podcasts, This Week in Tech, last night when I came across their discussion of the online 'personalized' advertisement creation service Spotrunner.com. Let's see if the service is a good substitute for a truly personalized ad.
Search Engine Smackdown: The Video Game
Written by Neil Patel on March 27, 2007 | 15 comments
Bored? Be bored no more because we have created a video game that will keep you entertained and teach you about the search industry. Search Engine Smackdown is a fun game where you can be the Google founders (Larry & Sergey), Yahoo founders (Jerry & David), or Microsoft founders (Bill & Paul) and duke it out with each other in a wrestling ring. Here are some screenshots:
Calacanis - SEO's Next Evangelist?
Written by Neil Patel on March 26, 2007 | 59 comments
I've been getting quite a few emails asking about the Jason Calacanis challenge so I thought I would update you guys on it today.
Give Your Blogspot Blog Some Credibility
Written by MG Siegler on March 26, 2007 | 29 comments
If you're using Google's Blogger service as your blog-publishing platform, you should seriously consider dropping the .blogspot.com suffix from your domain name. A recent study suggests that approximately 75% of Blogspot blogs are spam blogs or 'splogs' (full study in PDF). Here's what you can do to prevent being associated with the pre-existing and newly created (because of the study) mistrust towards Blogger blogs.
How to Write the Right Title for Digg
Written by Muhammad Saleem on March 26, 2007 | 10 comments
Yes it's true, content is king. If your content is great, if your service is unparalleled and your product truly novel, nothing will stand in its way, right? Well not entirely. If you are truly to take advantage of all socially driven sites have to offer, you need to focus on presentation. How you present yourself can take you long way, and here's how to do it right.
BBC Takes a Quick Look at Digg
Written by Muhammad Saleem on March 25, 2007 |
As part of a technology show on the news channel, BBC profiled the socially driven news and content site, Digg. Even though I am certain most of you are already aware of Digg and its many features, for many others this provides a good starting point to the social web phenomenon.
How to make $2500 from a blog post
Written by Neil Patel on March 24, 2007 | 20 comments
Ever wonder how you can make a quick buck? If you are a blogger there are services out there that will pay you to do reviews on a specific website and today Shoemoney just did one on HarpzOn.com for $2500.
Three Innovative Ways to Use Twitter
Written by Muhammad Saleem on March 24, 2007 | 12 comments
There is no hiding the fact that I'm not a fan of the way the masses are currently using Twitter. The problem is not with the service itself as much as it is with the people using it. With that in mind, here are several innovative ways in which Twitter is being used or can be used to better connect with your readers/customers.
The Degradation of Digg's Front Page
Written by MG Siegler on March 23, 2007 | 15 comments
I've found myself visiting Digg less and less recently. The reason? The content on Digg's front page.
Market Perception: The Good, The Evil, and Switching Sides
Written by Muhammad Saleem on March 23, 2007 | 8 comments
In the world of social media, is your company good or is it evil? Reputation management, or more specifically market perception management goes hand in hand with successful social media marketing. Which side of the fence will your company fall on?
Search Engine Marketing Scholarship Contest
Written by Neil Patel on March 22, 2007 | 1 comment
Andy Beal from Marketing Pilgrim is holding a search engine marketing scholarship contest where he is giving away $10,000 in prizes. If you are interested in kick starting your online marketing career, I definitely recommend applying.
A New Way to Explore and Connect
Written by Muhammad Saleem on March 22, 2007 | 3 comments
Have you ever thought "if only there was a better way to explore the conversations that surround my blog posts (than the current methodologies of trackbacks and pingbacks)"? If so, you're in luck.
Google Reader Still Could Be So Much More
Written by MG Siegler on March 22, 2007 | 4 comments
When Google unveiled the 'Trends' statistical page for Google Reader a few months back, many people, including yours truly, postulated that it could be the first step towards a new killer-app; a kind of Digg-meets-Del.icio.us-meets-Google News.
Three Hidden Dangers of Twitter
Written by Muhammad Saleem on March 21, 2007 | 24 comments
It seems that everyone is talking about Twitter, and while the service is seeing enormous growth and all the celebrity bloggers have started using it like their life depends on it, before you jump on the bandwagon, here are a few considerations to keep in mind.
The Red Queen Effect: The Coverage Aspect
Written by Muhammad Saleem on March 19, 2007 | 14 comments
The Red Queen, is an evolutionary hypothesis that can be summarized as "do nothing and fall behind, or run hard to stay where you are". The hypothesis was recently adapted by Sharon Sarmiento and applied to the question of 'how much should you blog?'
Hot Shot Marketing
Written by Neil Patel on March 17, 2007 | 3 comments
The world is filled with hot shots and arrogant people. One thing about these people is that their attitude and the way they act makes it hard to ever forget them. If you use one of these hot shots in a commercial and add a touch of humor you can create a very memorable advertisement.
The Race of the Big Boys to Create Digg Internationally
Written by MG Siegler on March 17, 2007 | 4 comments
Perhaps knowing that if they create a direct Digg knock-off in the United States, some of the biggest names in tech, Microsoft and now Yahoo! are going international to launch their Digg-like sites. This week it is Yahoo's Minna No Topics launching in Japan.
Optimizing Firefox for Netscape.com
Written by Muhammad Saleem on March 17, 2007 |
Surfing socially driven sites can be informative and entertaining at the same time, but sometimes it can also be a little cumbersome. To help you make the best of your socially driven experience, this three-part series will help you optimize Firefox for the best socially driven experience possible.
Learn about social media for free
Written by Neil Patel on March 16, 2007 | 2 comments
If you are looking to learn more about social media marketing from people like Kris Jones, Shoemoney, Todd Malicoat, and I, here is your chance. On Thursday, March 22 at 4:15 PM EST we are going to have a FREE live social media session during the eComXpo. So if you have any questions for us leave a comment below and we will do our best to answer them.
Twitter: Who To Follow
Written by MG Siegler on March 16, 2007 | 16 comments
Twitter has been the talk of the Internet recently but it seems that many people are quick to write it off as a fad and fail to realize its potential: to be the go-to place for breaking news. That's not to say it will ever reach that potential, certainly there are obstacles in the way such as how well the site can scale as it grows (it seems to be having some growing problems recently) and finding a balance between mundane updates (I just ate a great apple!) and breaking news (Earthquake in San Fran!!!).
Optimizing Firefox for Digg.com
Written by Muhammad Saleem on March 15, 2007 | 4 comments
Surfing socially driven sites can be informative and entertaining at the same time, but sometimes it can also be a little cumbersome. To help you make the best of your socially driven experience, this three-part series will help you optimize Firefox for the best socially driven experience possible.
Monetizing Social Media Traffic
Written by Neil Patel on March 14, 2007 | 9 comments
Have you ever been to MSN, Google or Yahoo and seen a "personalized" message pop up?
Rush Hour with Shoemoney
Written by Cameron Olthuis on March 14, 2007 | 4 comments
In this week's Rush Hour episode Neil & I were joined by Jeremy Schoemaker (aka Shoemoney) to talk about monetizing social media traffic. Shoemoney explains the success he has had with MySpace and other social media sited for a number of his different businesses. He also walks us through a day in the life of Shoemoney and what it takes to make $500,000 in two months off of ringtones.
San Diego Meetup
Written by Neil Patel on March 12, 2007 | 8 comments
Every month Cameron hosts a small meetup in San Diego called Refresh SD. I am not sure how many of you are in LA, Orange County or San Diego, but if you would like to meet Cameron and I and learn about the latest online trends come to Refresh SD.
How-to Make $500,000 in 2 months
Written by Neil Patel on March 12, 2007 | 22 comments
Want to become rich? Well here is your chance! This Wednesday, Jeremy Schoemaker (aka ShoeMoney) will be joining Cameron and me on Rush Hour. Jeremy is well known for his $500,000 check as well as his newly launched project Auction Ads.
Put on Your Game Face
Written by Muhammad Saleem on March 12, 2007 | 3 comments
You are probably a great writer with many insightful things to say and have lots of people reading your content, but for some reason not many of these people ever get in touch with you. You don't have people leaving comments, filling out contact forms, or wanting to get in touch with you outside your blog. Why is this?
Explode!
Written by Muhammad Saleem on March 9, 2007 | 3 comments
There are two kinds of passionate social web users. There are those who are passionate about the social media space and want to try out ever single site out there, and then there are others who are passionate about one particular site and stick to it.
Bad Bad Buzz
Written by Aneil Weber on March 8, 2007 | 11 comments
Comcast's image is anything but Comcastic. They have been lambasted on numerous fronts because of their poor customer service and seemingly unethical mode of operation. To further confound their situation, they have been radio silent about most of their issues and seem to have a "don't wanna know" and "don't wanna care" attitude about it.
Using social media sites for reputation management
Written by Cameron Olthuis on March 8, 2007 | 3 comments
If there is one thing that social media has taught us it's that user created content ranks very well in the search engines. You can hardly do a search anymore without noticing at least a couple of social media sites within the top 10 listings of a search and even more so by the day.
What Social Media Taught Me About Branding
Written by Muhammad Saleem on March 8, 2007 | 3 comments
Once you have been a part of a socially driven community for long enough, you begin to recognize that certain users constantly submit stories about some specific topics. Why do they do this and what can you learn from this?
What Everybody Ought to Know About Being a Top Digger
Written by Neil Patel on March 7, 2007 | 8 comments
Chris Winfield from 10e20 wrote an interesting article yesterday on how to become a top Digg user without doing anything shady. The purpose of the article is to teach you how to become a top user so you can increase your odds of promoting stories to the homepage. As a top Digg user, I feel that the most people don't understand the difference between a top Digg user and a normal user.
The Social Media Breakdown - Rush Hour Episode 5
Written by Cameron Olthuis on March 7, 2007 |
This week Neil and Cameron talked about Netscape, Reddit, and Delicious. They go into detail about using these sites from both a user's perspective and from a marketer's perspective. Every social media site has a unique personality so it's important to learn what works for each individual property. The one thing they all have in common is that they can drive lots of traffic and links if your content piece gains traction.
Monetizing Your Blog with Auction Ads
Written by Neil Patel on March 6, 2007 | 9 comments
Auction Ads is a new service that has been launched by MediaWhiz and Shoemoney Media. With Auction Ads you can place eBay listings on your website and get paid for driving traffic. It is pretty easy to use and you can see an example of an ad below.
Going Green Can Make You Some Green
Written by Muhammad Saleem on March 6, 2007 | 4 comments
I was sitting in my university cafeteria with some friends the other day and after finishing my food, while I was waiting for the rest of them to finish, I was looking around the room and there was this girl sitting across from me. As the story goes, I wasn't paying attention to the girl, rather my eyes were drawn to what she was drinking and the green label on the bottle.
Let Friends Help You Get on Reddit
Written by Neil Patel on March 5, 2007 | 2 comments
Reddit is one of the most difficult social sites to get your content popular on. It can drive thousands of visitors to websites and hundreds of links, but the question is how can you get to the top of the homepage so you can get the traffic and links?
Please Don't: Linkjack!
Written by Muhammad Saleem on March 5, 2007 | 1 comment
While I have been reading content and voting for it on Reddit for a while now, I only recently began reading and moderating the comments on the site. If you surf the site enough, you will inevitably run into talk of 'linkjacking'. So what is this linkjacking and why is it so bad?
I Wouldn't Submit That to StumbleUpon
Written by Muhammad Saleem on March 4, 2007 | 6 comments
I have been using StumbleUpon for a few weeks and have realized some important considerations that you should take into account when submitting content to the service.
Why your doctor needs your cell
Written by Neil Patel on March 3, 2007 | 3 comments
In advertising we always talk about making things personal but no one really does it in a memorable fashion. Here is one commercial that does an exceptional job of using something very personal to create a memorable message.
What's Popular on Reddit?
Written by Muhammad Saleem on March 2, 2007 | 3 comments
I have had a particularly hard time determining what content will become popular on Reddit. While some argue that Redditers like Politics, others argue that Science is king. But sometimes, the content that becomes popular can completely catch you off-guard.
How Branding Scores Traffic from Social Media
Written by Neil Patel on March 1, 2007 | 8 comments
Branding is important when it comes to social media marketing. If you are trying to use social media sites for exposure and traffic not only is it important to brand your domain name, but it is also important to brand your user name by keeping it consistent throughout all social sites.
Diggnation: At a Theatre Near You
Written by Muhammad Saleem on March 1, 2007 | 4 comments
It is a testament to the success --and the loyalty/passion of the audience-- of an online video Podcast when its viewer base will go out of its way to organize large-scale offline gatherings based around viewings of an episode of the show. One podcast to reach such success is Digg.com's Diggnation.
