03/28/2006
While controversial issues frequently attract attention they can also alienate potential customers. Sometimes it is better to put a positive spin on public relations. A typical press release announces new leadership, products or services, but consider mixing it up a bit. A well written press release can be published increasing brand recognition and exposure. With that in mind, consider distributing press releases for a wide variety of topics.

Kinds of PR

03/27/2006
I have to say it is about time. Blogging credibility IS and issue as IS the quality of wikipedia and online wikis. Just because it appears online does not mean that it is true!

From Scoble:

You know, I'm seeing a trend here. Some bloggers don't know who is a credible journalist and who isn't. Hint: anything the Register writes is NOT credible. Why do I say that? Cause they lied about me last year and didn't even care about the damage they did to their brand. They just want you to visit and click on their ads.

Complete Rant

03/22/2006
Delicious is a social book marking system, that is notable, not only for its unusual web address http://del.icio.us, but for its unusual approach to content building that is becoming increasingly popular. In order to ease the burden of producing consistent stream of fresh content, publishers are turning to users to build, categorize and qualify content. While this is said to be part of the web 2.0 phenomen, publishers realize the value of collaboration.

Social bookmarking allows users to qualify content. With Delicious, each "bookmark" of a specific webpage is seen as a vote of confidence. The more people who bookmark a specific webpage, the more credible the webpage is viewed.

In addition to bookmarking a webpage, users "tag" the webpage. The tags are simply single word keywords that relate to the contents of the webpage. The tagging associates keywords with the webpage's content, making it easier to categorize and classify the content of the webpage. If everyone bookmarking a page uses similar keyword tags, the webpage will be classified as a credible resource in a specific category.

As a webpage recieves more and more bookmarks from different Delicious users, the listing for the webpage becomes more prominent in the Delicious listings. Delicious users can bookmark and tag multiple pages within a website. Content can be tagged with multiple terms. As more users tag the content, it becomes easier to find similar topics.

What is Delicious

03/20/2006
Even brick and mortar are entering online sales:

Fidelity is turning to Amazon.com as it fights to maintain its leadership position in the mutual funds industry, becoming the first vendor on the online retailer's new financial services store.

03/20/2006
A really interesting lawsuit has been filed. I'm sure many people will be watching the outcome:

A parental advice Internet site has sued Google Inc., charging it unfairly deprived the company of customers by downgrading its search-result ranking without reason or warning.

The civil lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in San Jose, California, on Friday by KinderStart.com seeks financial damages along with information on how Google ranks Internet sites when users conduct a Web-based search.

Google could not immediately be reached for comment but the company aggressively defends the secrecy of its patented search ranking system and asserts its right to adapt it to give customers what it determines to be the best results.

KinderStart charges that Google without warning in March 2005 penalized the site in its search rankings, sparking a "cataclysmic" 70 percent fall in its audience -- and a resulting 80 percent decline in revenue.

Complete Article

03/15/2006
A new RSS Scripts Directory has been launched. The RSS Scripts Directory contains helpful scripts for managing, manipulating and converting RSS feeds. The intent of the the RSS Scripts Directory is to help users fully realize the potential and functionality of the RSS specification.

NotePage's FeedForAll division has developed a collection of tools to assist publishers interested in syndication. Current scripts contained in the directory include RSS Cache, FutureRSS, and RSSmesh. The RSS Cache script module expedites the retrieval and conversion of RSS feeds into html web pages. The FutureRSS script enables webmasters to prepare content for their RSS feeds in advance, and have it automatically appear at the desired date and time. The RSSmesh script allows for multiple RSS feeds to be merged into a single RSS feed. All of the scripts dynamically manipulate the RSS feeds, so all management occurs in realtime.

03/14/2006
AdSense allows website publishers to display contextually relevant advertisements on their website. If a web visitor "clicks" on an advertisement, the web publisher will earn a percentage of the advertising revenue generated as a result of the click. Many webmasters have built content websites around the Google AdSense model. In many cases the specific intent of the webmaster is to profit from Google AdSense Other webmasters use Google AdSense to supplement their revenue. Regardless of the webmaster's intent, the following tips will help webmasters looking to profit from AdSense

AdSense Tips

03/13/2006
The fabled tales of successfully tricking search engines into high rankings have given way to a new truth, to achieve decent consistent ranking you cannot engage in tricks but on focused optimization done in a professional ethical manner. According to search sources, with the latest Google update, there is no longer an even playing field when it comes to search placement. The new Google ranking system gives an advantage to large, established businesses that have achieved brand recognition. Does this mean small businesses should give up on the Web as a marketing model?

Organic SEO

03/12/2006
Google Inc. has agreed to pay up to $90 million to settle a lawsuit alleging the online search engine leader overcharged thousands of advertisers who paid for bogus sales referrals generated through a ruse known as "click fraud."

The proposed settlement, announced by the company Wednesday, would apply to all advertisers in Google's network during the past four years. Any Web site showing improper charges dating back to 2002 will be eligible for an account credit that could be used toward future ads distributed by Google

03/10/2006
Writely, a collaborative word processor that runs in a web browser, was just purchased by Google. Writely is still in beta, and they are not accepting new registrations until they have moved Writely to Google's software architecture, but I've played with it and am impressed. It is a great online collaboration tool.

03/07/2006
The fabled tales of successfully tricking search engines into high rankings have given way to a new truth, to achieve decent consistent ranking you cannot engage in tricks but on focused optimization done in a professional ethical manner. According to search sources, with the latest Google update, there is no longer an even playing field when it comes to search placement. The new Google ranking system gives an advantage to large, established businesses that have achieved brand recognition. Does this mean small businesses should give up on the Web as a marketing model? No, of course not, they simply must develop quality content. To increase your natural ranking (search engine rankings that are not paid for) you must:

more on Organic Search Engine Optimization

03/06/2006
SoftwareMarketingResource.com announced the Software Vendor Award Winners.

A small independent vendor, Plimus swept the e-commerce category, while eSellerate's affiliate program shined. Digital River's FileKicker dominated the file hosting category. Other categories divided the votes between nominees with unexpected ties. Russian backed vendors proved to be a force with SWRUS, winning best software organization. SoftIdentity won in the graphics and icon categories, and ASPack was chosen as the best software protection scheme. A long time industry favorite Shareware Promotions challenged Rudenko Software, when it came to software submission customer service.

As expected, Mike Callahan took home a well deserved win as best software reviewer. CNET's Download.com held their own as a favorite download site, while PC World attracted attention as providing the best advertising value for software developers. Shareware Promotions flexed its muscle when it came to search engine optimization services. Press distribution and writing divided its winners between two popular software press companies DP Directory and SoftPressReleases. Avanquest glowed as a heralded software publisher, providing superior customer service, while Great Mind Software made its precense known; an industry newcomer tieing the giant when it came to overall publishing services.

SwiftCD and Pingram Marketing, a service specifically for Eastern European developers, earned recognition when it came to CD distribution. Dewahost and PAIR Networks both were acknowledged as favorite hosting providers for software developers.

All of the winners can be viewed online at: http://www.softwaremarketingresource.com/winners-2006.htm or view the nominees and winners http://www.softwaremarketingresource.com/winners.htm

The winners were selected by software industry professionals. The awards were designed to recognize those software industry vendors who excel at customer service, overall value and innovative implementation.