Copywriter and direct marketer Bob Bly, who was vilified by many bloggers earlier this month for his claim that blogs are a complete waste of time, has now started his own blog. As a result of Bly’s claim, some interesting conversations developed on a number of blogs, including mine, in which Bly did participate – […]
Category: Marketing
A perfect visualization
Here’s a great contribution to the growing amount of information out there on the broad topic of why an organization should blog: Imagine a room with tens of thousands of your customers talking about your company and your products. That’s one way to think about the blogging community (the blogosphere). The choice for companies is […]
Voting begins for 2004 weblog awards
Voting opened today for the 2004 Weblog Awards, announced last month (see my post). With over 500 blogs represented in 34 categories, there is something here for everyone to navigate through and vote for! I’m a finalist in the Best European (Non-UK) Blog category. I would definitely welcome and appreciate your vote, thank you :)) […]
Not for love but money
Marqui, the company who is paying bloggers $800 a month to blog their product, has a list on their website of who’s signed up so far for the money: Marc Canter, Allen Herrel, Jonathan Abad, Nathan Weinberg, Molly E. Holzschlag, DL Byron, Lucas Gonze, Mitch Ratcliffe, Paolo Valdemarin, Jon Lebkowsky, Susan E. Kaup, Richard Murray, […]
Half of all search engine marketing directed by agencies
As a follow on from my previous post about search engines, InternetWorld365 has a story today that Jupiter Research has reported that search engine marketing (SEM) agencies now direct the majority of SEM spending in the United States. Just a few years ago, most SEM spending went directly to the search engines. InternetWorld365’s report says […]
Real blog ROI
One of the things that resulted from copywriter Bob Bly‘s "blogs are a complete waste of time" story in October (see my post) were lengthy (and still ongoing) discussions on a number of blogs, including mine, about showing some evidence that a blog can generate a direct return on investment (ROI). Here’s an example of […]
Firefox momentum continues
Two more Firefox milestones: Over 10.2 million downloads of the version 1.0 release in just over 30 days. The full-page ad in the New York Times is planned for publication this Wednesday 15 December. More information at Spread Firefox. Related NevOn posts: Helping Firefox spread the word Firefox call to arms paying off
Voting scam mars weblog awards contest
The voting’s over and the results are known in the 2004 Weblog Awards contest which closed yesterday. The award for Best Overall Blog went to Powerline, a US political blog run by a group of lawyers. The Best Tech Blog award went to Engadget, one of my personal favourite blogs. As it’s a long list, […]
Communication challenges for Oracle and PeopleSoft after acquisition
CNET News: PeopleSoft’s board of directors has approved a takeover deal with Oracle worth around $10.3 billion, ending a long-running and bitter battle and creating a major software maker. CNET News | Oracle buys PeopleSoft for $10 billion So while the acquisition endgame is in sight for investors and shareholders, a great deal of work […]
The FUD begins in Oracle and PeopleSoft deal
Creating fear, uncertainty and doubt (FUD) about your competitors in the minds of their customers is a tactic common in the enterprise software industry, especially when you see a significant event like an acquisition that will upset the fine balance of players in a mature and consolidating market. It’s all part of the friendly business […]
The Donald is The Brand
Thanks to his real estate prowess and hit reality show, America’s most watched billionaire says his brand “has become the best brand,” reports Business Week. Business Week publishes a recent conversation with Trump to discuss the state of his business and his brand. A snippet re his hit show The Apprentice (which we see here […]
Firefox NYT ad appears
Today the much-heralded Firefox full-page ad in the New York Times appeared. Except it’s not a full-page ad – it’s a two-page spread: As explained in a post today on Spread Firefox: […] Thousands of us rallied together in 10 short days to pull off the largest open source fundraising campaign in history. And today, […]
Microsoft ramps up the FUD
Following the announcement of Oracle’s acquisition of PeopleSoft on 13 December, I wrote about the outbreak of fear, uncertainty and doubt (FUD) that began with comments by an SAP executive. Now comes news about moves by Microsoft seeking to lure PeopleSoft customers away. Microsoft-Watch reports that Microsoft didn’t waste any time in trying to win […]
Understanding RSS from the non-tech view
A friend in the UK asked me for some thoughts and info about RSS and how she could create and syndicate her company’s own RSS feeds for things like press releases and product information. She wanted a non-technical view, something she could easily understand herself so that she’d be able to have a sensible discussion […]
New cards gapingvoid style
Business cards are essential, as everyone knows. Since my start up in November, I’ve relied on home-produced cards, printed out on my desktop printer using good template card stock from Avery. Not bad. Cheap and cheerful. Yes, but a bit boring. So I’ve ordered some new business cards that will have one of Hugh McLeod’s […]
Listen to your search results
BBC News: A Scottish firm is looking to attract web surfers with a search engine that reads out results. Called Speegle, it has the look and feel of a normal search engine, with the added feature of being able to read out the results. Scottish speech technology firm CEC Systems launched the site in November. […]
Top ten reasons for using RSS
I came across a very good post today about the benefits of RSS that neatly complements what I wrote the other day about understanding RSS from the non-tech view. Marnie Webb at Extension 337 writes about the ten reasons why non-profit organizations should use RSS. Valid indeed, and which I think will apply for any […]
FT highlights example of blogs for internal communication
Today’s Financial Times has a report on corporate blogging that includes an excellent example of a European company using blogs for internal communication: Some companies, uncomfortable with the openness of public blogs, use them as an internal communications tool. Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein, the German investment bank, has set up about 120 internal blogs to promote […]
Blogging: It’s the real thing
A highly-readable and lengthy feature on blogging is in the 10 January issue of Fortune magazine, as part of its look at the 10 technology trends to watch in 2005. Blogging is number 1 on Fortune’s top 10 list: Freewheeling bloggers can boost your product—or destroy it. Either way, they’ve become a force business can’t […]
An online order that exceeds my expectations
A small thing, but it’s good to feel very satisfied with something you order online and when it arrives, it exceeds your expectations. I’m not talking about Amazon, which always meets my expectations. I’m talking about my new gapingvoid business cards which arrived in the post this morning. Good quality card stock, good printing, cards […]