July 2007
Me-Too Mentality is Bad for Users, Marketers, and Startups
Written by Muhammad Saleem on July 31, 2007 | 18 comments
Web 2.0 has a huge me-too problem. Everyday a new company announces a 'new' product which is nothing more than an old product slight modifications or a few small additional features. This mentality is not only bad for users but also for marketers and even the startups.
How The Open Platform is Hurting Facebook
Written by Muhammad Saleem on July 30, 2007 | 7 comments
While the decision to allow everyone to register and join Facebook has gotten the site millions of users, the larger user base hasn't come without its own set of problems.
Microsoft's Massive Assault on the Web and the Living Room
Written by MG Siegler on July 28, 2007 | 11 comments
A massive offensive by Microsoft is underway. The signs are all there, maybe you just haven't notice, but it's more than likely that you have. Take a look at your RSS feeds over the past few days, glance at Digg's popular stories, browse the headline stories of Techmeme from this week - Microsoft, Microsoft, Microsoft, on multiple fronts too.
3 Ads That Guarantee Results
Written by Muhammad Saleem on July 27, 2007 | 54 comments
Here is a collection of advertisements that guarantee results. Truly great ads for which the marketing firm deserves a lot of credit.
What is Blogging All About?
Written by Muhammad Saleem on July 27, 2007 | 15 comments
I watched a clip from Loren Feldmen the other day, discussing what blogging is all about and I decided to share some thoughts on why I blog and what I think it's is all about.
What Content Reddit Users Are Clicking On
Written by Muhammad Saleem on July 26, 2007 | 4 comments
People like to dump Digg, Netscape, and Reddit all in one basket and label then as "social news sites". In reality, however, not all these sites are the same, and not all of then are as news driven as others would have you believe.
Software Makes Social Media Success Easier
Written by Muhammad Saleem on July 25, 2007 | 1 comment
While in theory socially driven news sites and social media communities are supposed to be a one person one vote democratic platforms this isn't always the case in practice. In reality, and as pointed out earlier, every socially driven community has community leaders who can make or break your chances of success. Luckily for you these leaders are now easy to identify.
Using Facebook Apps to Increase Traffic by 300%
Written by Muhammad Saleem on July 25, 2007 | 7 comments
While there is almost unanimous agreement that advertising on Facebook results in little to no return on investment, the jury is still out on the viability of Facebook applications, with some sites showing an excess of 300% growth attributed to adopting the Facebook platform.
How to Compete with Google Search
Written by Muhammad Saleem on July 24, 2007 | 4 comments
It isn't easy to compete with Google. Many have tried and failed; but not because it is impossible to compete with the search engine giant but because competitors fail to realize the company's weaknesses unlike Google, which recognized and capitalized other search engines' weaknesses in 1997 and rose to the dominant position it holds today.
Pronet Advertising's 4 Steps to Success
Written by Muhammad Saleem on July 24, 2007 | 7 comments
Over the past year we've covered many different subjects from the basics of blogging to how to really make your traffic explode. Here are Pronet Advertisings 4 steps to success.
Immortalize Your Business: 4 Lessons From Apple
Written by Muhammad Saleem on July 23, 2007 | 2 comments
With the rise of a huge number of copycat services that try to capitalize on the success of one venture without providing much in the way of differentiation or innovation, it is incredibly important to learn from the masters of innovation so that you can avoid falling in a similar trap.
4 Things That Are Horribly Wrong With Your Ad
Written by Muhammad Saleem on July 22, 2007 | 3 comments
After reading that Curtis (50 Cent) is going to sue an advertising company for $1 million - for illegally using his image in advertisements that encourage viewers to "shoot the rapper" to win a ring tone, an xbox 360, or another item, and inspecting it for a few minutes - I realized that the illegal use of the image was the least of the problems with the ad.
John Chow Speaks Out on Google, Technorati and More
Written by Chris Hemphill on July 21, 2007 | 3 comments
John Chow has been very successful at making money online, but with this success he has also made some big enemies along the way. Google has dropped John from the top position for his own name to the bottom 50, and Technorati doesn't show him on the list of top 100 blogs even though in his profile it shows he is ranked 48th.
SMX Social Media
Written by Neil Patel on July 19, 2007 | No comments yet
Looking to learn more about social media? On October 16th and 17th in New York, Danny Sullivan and I will be co-chairing SMX Social Media. The show was designed to help you understand all of the social media sites out there as well as how you can leverage them.
The Power of Digg Top Users (One Year Later)
Written by Muhammad Saleem on July 19, 2007 | 18 comments
One year ago Rand Fishkin posted some quite interesting and at the same time incredibly damning statistics about how a small number of contributers were doing most of the work on Digg and were responsible for a majority of the content on the front page of the site. Here's a look at new statistics, one year later.
Social Media Versus Traditional Media: Brand Impact Analysis
Written by Muhammad Saleem on July 18, 2007 | 1 comment
Social media marketing, if done right, can have a significant impact on brand awareness and popularity. However, many companies fail to utilize this cheap (and in many cases free) method of marketing. By looking at social media ranks for companies, and comparing it with mainstream media ranks for the same companies we can see which brands are taking advantage of this new medium and also draw conclusions about the effectiveness of social media.
Startups: Private Beta Invite Authenication Problems
Written by Chris Hemphill on July 17, 2007 | 5 comments
While it is incredibly beneficial to use an invite-based system while your startup is in beta, the system is highly susceptible to spammers. Here are a few things to look out for.
ROMlet - Boast Your Content's Popularity
Written by Muhammad Saleem on July 16, 2007 | 10 comments
Once you have written great content and have gotten the initial exposure, social proof is on your side. ROMlet is another way to use use social proof to your advantage and capitalize on your existing exposure to further propel your content.
4 Things We Can Learn From 'The Google Story'
Written by Muhammad Saleem on July 16, 2007 | 3 comments
Steve Case, co-founder and at one point chief executive officer and chairman of America Online once remarked, "Ultimately the Google story is about product." Here we discuss several things that you can learn from Google's history and some that are readily apparent even by giving the search engine a superficial look.
How Google Will Save StumbleUpon
Written by Muhammad Saleem on July 15, 2007 | 4 comments
In March I wrote an article talking about how time-sensitive content doesn't work on StumbleUpon and how it was a huge drawback of using the service. Today I learned that Google is creating a new META tag that will help similar problems.
Online Marketers Rejoice: Online Audience Growing, TV Audience Shrinking
Written by Muhammad Saleem on July 13, 2007 | 8 comments
While reading Al Gore's The Assault on Reason I was struck by his emphasis on television as the best medium for engaging an audience and getting your message out in a fast and efficient manner. Struck by his statistics on how television is seemingly more important than online advertising I decided to do some research.
Subvert and Profit Expands to StumbleUpon
Written by Steve Searer on July 13, 2007 | 482 comments
Subvert and Profit, the site which pays social media website users for their votes, has announced it will expand its services to StumbleUpon on July 16th. While some people believed S&P would go down in fiery flames, there have been a couple of interviews with the site's owner that paint a much different picture.
Thoof: Personalize Your Web Experience (Assuming You Use It Enough)
Written by MG Siegler on July 12, 2007 | 5 comments
Thoof is a new service that aims to bring you news stories and blog posts custom-tailored for you. It might be easiest to think of it as a similar idea to how Netflix or iTunes gives you personalized movie and music recommendations based on your rental and purchase histories - Thoof does the same thing with stories but does so by keeping track of what you've clicked on to read in the past on the site.
Why We Rank #1 for 'John Chow' and Why You Shouldn't Mess With Google
Written by Chris Hemphill on July 12, 2007 | 141 comments
If you came to this article looking for ways to "Make Money Online", you came to the right place. If you were searching for John Chow, and ended up here you must be wondering how we are the first result and if it makes sense.
The Timing of a Press Release Can Make or Break Your Product/Service
Written by Muhammad Saleem on July 11, 2007 | 4 comments
The events of the past week made one thing abundantly clear. You can have a great, even revolutionary product, but without the proper marketing and a well-timed press release you may still be doomed to obscurity. And while timing press releases sounds straightforward and obvious, here's an example of how it isn't always quite straightforward or obvious.
Official Digg for iPhone Released
Written by Steve Searer on July 10, 2007 | 5 comments
With Digg.com being one of the hottest destinations on the net, it was obviously not going to be long before it released an iPhone compatible version of the site. An unofficial version had previously been created, and interestingly enough, the Digg version (though adds functionality), looks strikingly similar to it.
When Your Users Speak, Listen To Them
Written by Steve Searer on July 10, 2007 | 1 comment
Listening, unfortunately, is a trait which many businesses lack, often times, leaving users or customers feeling upset or alienated because their needs aren't being met or their concerns aren't being addressed. This is why when your users (i.e. your customers when it comes to new media) speak, you should be all ears.
Why Google Doesn't Care About Nielsen/NetRatings, But Why They Still Matter
Written by Chris Hemphill on July 10, 2007 | 6 comments
Nielsen/NetRatings made changes to the way it ranks sites, shifting from rating by number of page views to rating by amount of time spent on a page. A lot of the online response to this announcement has dealt with how this move will really hurt Google, because most Google users do not actually spend that much time on the search engine itself. However, here's a contrarian view of the situation.
Web Analytics: An Hour a Day
Written by Neil Patel on July 9, 2007 | 41 comments
Over the past few weeks I have been reading a book called Web Analytics: An Hour a Day which was written by Avinash Kaushik. I am not a big fan of reading books, but this one actually provides tons of knowledge on analytics for advanced marketers as well as beginners.
Google and Yahoo: Finally Getting Serious About Social Networking
Written by MG Siegler on July 9, 2007 | 1 comment
Perhaps the two names most synonymous with the Internet, Google and Yahoo, have been rather lackluster when it comes to social networking. Yes, Google has Orkut and Yahoo has services like MyBlogLog, but neither can hold a candle to sites like MySpace and Facebook.
Transparency and Integrity: Both Offline and Online
Written by Muhammad Saleem on July 9, 2007 | 1 comment
Transparency is something that we, not only as consumers, but also as human beings, value in every facet of our lives. Whether it be financial transactions, politics, traditional media or online media. Here's a look at transparency from brick and mortar to online brands.
Apple's 3-Tiered Marketing Model
Written by Muhammad Saleem on July 7, 2007 | 2 comments
While listening to 'This Week in Technology' a few days ago, the masterfulness of Apple's marketing dawned on me. Here's a look at the 3-tiered structure.
Mahalo Will Compete with Search Giants and Vertical Search
Written by Chris Hemphill on July 7, 2007 | 7 comments
Human-assisted search engines such as Mahalo and vertical search engines such as LookSmart have the ability to provide very direct search results that broad-based search engines, such as Google and Yahoo cannot. At the same time, how do they stack up against each other?
Ron Paul Supporters Need A Lesson In Social Media Marketing
Written by Muhammad Saleem on July 6, 2007 | 118 comments
I have to admit that I know a little (though not much) about Ron Paul's politics and I have nothing against him as a person or his political platform. When it comes to social media, on the other hand, he has fast become public enemy number one. Here's what you can learn from Mr. Paul's mistakes.
The Importance of Marketing and Covering in Moderation
Written by Muhammad Saleem on July 6, 2007 | 7 comments
While one of the things this blog is dedicated to is teaching people how to market themselves using the various social media and online marketing tools available to us (along with making a truly marketable product), today I wanted to step back and focus on two things: the importance of using all of these tools in moderation (as a marketer) and when it comes to writing about certain topics (covering), doing that in moderation too, and generally striving to provide your audience with a healthy mix of offerings.
How To Own Those 'Seasonal' Keywords
Written by Muhammad Saleem on July 5, 2007 | 3 comments
Yesterday was the fourth of July and though I am not an American and do not celebrate the holiday, I could not get away from it no matter how hard I tried. The reason? Everyone who had a chance to blog yesterday was trying to capitalize on the holiday of the month and consequently my RSS reader was full of the holiday. Here's a look at how other sites capitalized on this year's independence day and how you can do it too next time.
John Chow vs. Google - Guess Who's Winning
Written by Chris Hemphill on July 5, 2007 | 94 comments
Back in December of 2006 John Chow started a very aggressive link back campaign, in which he would give a link back for every review of his blog when the text anchor 'make money online' was used. John now has over 870 links from various sites as a direct result of this campaign. This has proved to be very successful for John, because since inception of the link campaign his blog income has grown from $2790.05 in December of 2006 to $12,569.61 in June of 2007, an increase in revenue of $9,779.56. All of this growth, however, has come with a price, and it is a pretty heavy one to pay.
The Importance of Picking The Right Host And How To Do It
Written by Muhammad Saleem on July 4, 2007 | 8 comments
Picking the right service to host your website on is incredibly important. Imagine you get Dugg, or Reddited, or Slashdotted and you deplete the alloted server resources, not only will you rack up an exorbitant amount in overage charges but you miss out on incredibly important exposure, and new subscribers/readers.
Why Facebook Is Not A Viable Marketing Platform
Written by Muhammad Saleem on July 3, 2007 | 12 comments
Last week when I wrote about Facebook flyers and how the social network was going to rely on those to make money from Facebook Marketplace, Nate mentioned that Facebook marketing was useless because there was little to no conversion. Here we take a deeper look at Facebook as a marketing platform.
Google Frees up FeedBurner
Written by MG Siegler on July 3, 2007 | 8 comments
If you've been blogging for an extended period of time you very likely not only know what FeedBurner is, but you are using it. For everyone else, you likely heard about it when Google stepped in to purchase the service as yet another weapon in their ongoing "arms race" with Microsoft.
The Pronet Advertising Quality Pledge
Written by Muhammad Saleem on July 2, 2007 | 3 comments
In an effort to further improve the quality and credibility of the content on Pronet Advertising, we have established a code of conduct and a set of rules that will regulate all new content written on the site.
3 New Writers at Pronet Advertising
Written by Muhammad Saleem on July 2, 2007 | 1 comment
Over the past 6 months or so, Pronet Advertising has seen healthy growth in traffic, RSS subscribers, as well as the site's Technorati rank. In line with the site's rising importance and as more and more people rely on the site for the latest in social media and online marketing news, reviews, and commentary, we are expanding our already great stable of writers to better serve you. Here's a look at the first batch of 3 new writers.
Your Corporate Image Online - What Not to Do
Written by Muhammad Saleem on July 1, 2007 | 3 comments
The reason why I write about how companies are managing their corporate profiles online is because based on this we can learn and apply lessons to our own companies. Just like yesterday we covered how Dell is successfully engaging disgruntled consumers and addressing their woes, today we will look at how Microsoft is doing the exact opposite.
