Mother’s Day is almost here (May 9th if you’re in America). If you’re like me, it always sneaks up on you and you’re left scrambling at the last second. Since I live in Sweden and my mother lives in the US, buying a present at the last minute is not possible. Sure, there is always the traditional flowers, but these days they feel so impersonal. Thanks to the world wide web, you’re no longer limited to cards, overpriced flowers and chocolate. Today you can choose from customized photo books, DIY gift baskets or the Bacon of the Month Club.
Findgift.com is THE site to find creative gifts. Stumped on what to get? Click on Mother’s Day Gift ideas and find items like family character magnets, a mosaic humming bird feeder, a pyramid planter or over 1300 different gift ideas. I’m torn between the potato chip of the month subscription or a 10 motor massage cushion with heat.
If you’re looking for something more personal, Shutterfly might be the place for you. Upload your photos to the site and create your own photo book, cards or a custom photo or video website. Instead of creating a labor intensive scrapbook, add your photos and create a hard or soft cover book in more than 20 different styles. This is a wonderful way to save your photos instead of printing them out for a photo album or scrapbook.
Design it yourself allows anyone to create their own gift basket. Your mom a big gardener or a golfer or a coffee lover? They have gift baskets for all of those. Plus they give you the ability to create over 9 different types of gift baskets. There are loads of great options.
Finally, if you don’t have a lot of money to spend but want to send something personalized, Bluemountain.com allows you to create, print or send your own cards. What mother wouldn’t appreciate an animated card from their son or daughter? You can also record your own message to be included in the card.
Mother’s Day may be fast approaching, but now you have no reason to miss the chance show her just how much you appreciate her and all the things she does.
Stefan Halley is the Digital Project Leader for The Duffy Agency. He loves to talk about social media.
Twitter and Facebook are growing up and dragging the Internet with them. On June 30, 2010, Twitter will shut off basic authentication in favor of the much more secure OAuth. They’ve launched a website with a countdown clock in anticipation of the change. At the same time, Facebook is changing from Facebook Connect to their new “Open Graph API” and “Like” system. Mashable has created a nice guide to help you understand what the Open Graph API is.
The change for Twitter makes connecting to third party applications more secure and should reduce the occurrence of people having their accounts hacked. This is a very smart move for Twitter since, if they want to grow and offer more services, they have to deal with their security issues. There will still be basic authorization for streaming API for apps that need realtime access to Twitter, as these will take longer to switch over to the new system.
The Facebook change is being made to create a larger sphere of influence and to track users’ web habits when they aren’t on Facebook so they can offer new content for them to enjoy. Websites can add a “like” button which, when clicked by a visitor, sends a link back to their Facebook page. This is a big deal for websites as it lets their visitors share content on a more personal level and will boost their traffic. The new system looks to ultimately become a mixture of Delicious, StumbleUpon and Reddit all at once. Basically, a mix of the best of social media sharing sites.
These changes should be great for both Twitter and Facebook, giving them more control of the user experience and allowing for a higher degree of customization. Privacy experts are, of course, up in arms. Both companies can now track your online activity and sell that data to marketers and businesses. The new face of the Internet is user data-mining and Twitter and Facebook are only doing what Google has been doing for years. As we rush to share our common experiences online, we give up some of our privacy. That’s the trade off, if you want your friends and family to know what you’re doing, you have to be willing to give up a piece of yourself.
These changes aren’t as Orwellian as critics would have you believe. It’s another service that these mega sites believe will provide a more customized and unique experience. Is this a step in the right direction or are we headed to a day when our every move online will be tracked and sold to the highest bidder?
Stefan Halley is the Digital Project Leader for The Duffy Agency. He loves to talk about social media.
How to create the perfect title tag – and
why you need to
A lot of friends ask me for advice
when it comes to SEO. Nine times out of ten the first question is: How can I
make my website/blog perform better on search engines – without spending any
time or money?
Since I have to be the bad guy and
inform them that, at least on our planet, that’s impossible, I give them the
best place to start: their title tags. Writing great title tags is the most
important thing you can do to explain what your website is about, both to Google
and to potential visitors. It’s also one of the least time- and money-consuming
SEO tactics you can use, while often making a very quick, noticeable difference
in your search engine rankings.
The title tag is that blue link
that appears in Google search results, and also the name of each webpage that
appears at the very top bit of your web browser. Google’s search bots read
these tags first to start judging what your page is about and what keywords are
most relevant, so they basically tell Google that your site is what users want
to see when they look for certain keywords.
As this tag is what appears in
search results, a well-written one is likely to get you a higher percentage of
click-throughs. Consider a potential visitor searching for new Ray Ban
sunglasses. Which title do you think they will find more appealing:
"Sunglasses – Check out the
new collection of Ray Ban sunglasses" - or -
"Welcome to my website!"
The tricky bit is appealing to the
human beings you want to click your link while squeezing the most relevant keywords
in there. With a little extra thought, it’s very doable. Here are six tips to help
guide you in writing the most effective title tags for each page of your
website.
1.Make the first
word/words of you title the keywords you want to capture users on – if you
haven’t figured out what keywords you want to focus on, you can go hereto
see what keywords related to your content are getting the most searches on Google.
2.Make the title reflect
the information on the page. Misleading people will lead to an extremely high
bounce rate and very few conversions.
3.Don't use more then 63
characters. Google wont show the entire title if you do.
4.If it makes sense to
do so, use your title as the headline of your webpage – users expect to find
the title on the page and it also reinforces the keywords you’re using.
5.Getting your
brand/site name in there is a good idea for establishing trust and expanding
your footprint, but you should generally put it at the end of the tag after a
vertical line so the search focus is on your keywords.
6.Your title will end up
as a link in the search results, so make it compellingly clickable.
That’s about all there is to writing a great title tag. The most difficult part is determining which keywords to focus on for each page’s tags and content. Stay tuned for a future blog post on just that.
If you want more information about writing the perfect title tag, check out the video below by Gareth Davies of GSINC Ltd.
Twitter may have set a new record for most time spent running a business without trying to make money. But the streak finally ended last week when they unveiled Promoted Tweets – the company’s first major step towards monetizing their hugely popular service after years of saying, “eh, we’ll figure it out later.”
Promoted Tweets are tweets from businesses that appear as ads at the top of search results based on certain keywords. So if Starbucks tweets about a special offer, they can pay to have that tweet appear as the first result in searches about coffee. Advertisers win these keywords by bidding against other companies who want their tweets to be at the top of the list. Unsurprisingly, the companies on board at launch include many who have heavily invested in marketing through Twitter already like Best Buy, Virgin America, Starbucks and Bravo. AdAge and The New York Times wrote up detailed reports on the specifics.
In an attempt to keep the PTs relevant and not feeling like spam, just paying to be there isn’t enough to stay on top. Twitter says they will measure the “resonance” of the tweets, i.e. how many users interact with them by retweeting or favoriting, and take down any PTs that are not resonating enough with users. That’s a pretty smart move as it allows users to still be in some control of all content and determine themselves what they want to see.
Sponsored search results is just the first step, as Twitter plans to extend Promoted Tweet placement into your regular twitter feed in the future. How that will go over remains to be seen as it’s a lot more intrusive than sponsoring search results. But if Twitter can keep the paid content highly relevant, I don’t think users will mind too much. Though given the randomness of most tweeple out there, defining what their interests are and keeping that content highly relevant won’t always be so cut and dry.
As Promoted Tweets aren’t a lot different than the Tweets from businesses themselves that have been bouncing around Twitter for years, and since they are limiting one PT per results page, the change should be relatively painless. And as the content should be highly relevant and interesting to users, Twitter should do quite well with this monetization plan. The real test of its success will be how many users start turning to Twitter as a search engine and away from traditional engines like Google. Twitter says the numbers are already “huge,” and if the numbers continue growing, Twitter have themselves a gold mine.
After years of providing us with a completely free, unsponsored service, I say good for them. How do you feel about Twitter’s move to cash in?
Jason Ross is a copywriter for The Duffy Agency. He loves working on both traditional and social media projects and speculating on the future of the ad industry.
The volcano currently dumping large amounts ash over Europe has ground traffic to a halt and left people scrambling. One of our managing partners is actually stuck in Stockholm right now. This got me to thinking about how people can keep their businesses going despite unexpected events keeping face-to-face meetings from happening. We put together a toolkit to help you out now that you won’t be flying to present your next project or having that important meeting.
Skypeis the best way to communicate from long distance over the web, from daily instant messaging to making international calls to video conferencing. It also allows you to transfer files, which makes it even easier to have one-on-one meetings. The service allows you to send an SMS from Skype and has voicemail and call forwarding. It’s a must have for any business these days.
Gotomeeting.com allows you to conduct a webinar, conduct training seminars or have a simple business meeting. People can call in from a landline through the Go to Meeting software. It allows you to record the meeting, share applications and get feedback afterwards. Attendees can edit documents on screen, chat, and even view meetings through an iPad. It’s a great service that allows you to demo for 30-days or purchase a monthly or yearly subscription. I’ve attended several meetings through Gotomeeting.com and it works great.
Prezi.com is a new site that allows you to create presentations online. If don’t have Keynote or PowerPoint, Prezi is your solution. The site is easy to use and the presentation navigation helps you move beyond a typical PowerPoint slideshow. The site isn’t for everyone, but people tired of the traditional slideshow style presentations will enjoy this unique site.
Thebox.net is your solution for file sharing from a distance. For $9.95 a month, the site gives you 10 GB of space and a 1 GB file size limit. This is a great way to save huge files you want to access while you’re traveling. If you need to send a group a large file, you can just save it to thebox.net. You can give multiple people permission to access files, which makes group projects with people from all over the world simple without having to set up a hosting server and FTP clients.
The next time a natural disaster strikes, or life in general gets in the way, don’t worry. Just use these online tools and you’ll be able to continue your work without missing a beat.
Stefan Halley is the Digital Project Leader for The Duffy Agency. He loves to talk about social media.
Twitter’s first conference, called Chirp, is this week and big things are expected. Over the past month Twitter has announced @anywhere at SXSW and their purchase of Tweetie for the iPhone. This week Twitter will continue to be the news with their first ever conference. Twitophiles from all over the world are converging on San Francisco to find out what’s next. Those of not able to make can watch the entire event on justin.TV.
I’ve put together a list of what news I expect to hear from Chirp.
Monetization strategy - How will Twitter make money? They’ve been keeping analysts guessing for months and now we’ll finally get an idea of how the company will sustain itself. I’m predicting a paid keyword search, ads on profiles and premium accounts.
New features added - Location, tiny urls and video and photo sharing are standard features on most Twitter apps like Tweetdeck and Seesmic. It only makes sense that Twitter adds more features like this. Sure it will upset a few business models but if Twitter wants to grow, they’ll have to add some features that conflict with already established apps. Their purchase of Tweetie shows they are already moving in that direction.
How @anywhere will work - We can already use OAuth and many sites allow you to use your Twitter account as a log in to their site, so what makes @anywhere any different? We’ll a better idea of why this is a better solution.
Redesign - After redesigning their front page, what other changes are in store for users. If they announce new features, hopefully, we’ll get a peak at how they’ll be integrated into the site.
New partnerships - With the addition of Tweetie as the “official” iPhone app, can other apps be far off? Will Foursquare be the official location app? Will Seesmic become the official desktop application? It makes sense for Twitter to endorse different apps. It ensures a level of quality and makes sure their is a line of products that adhere to a common standard.
I’m curious to hear what features people would like to see added to Twitter and what announcements you expect to hear. Leave your thoughts below.
Stefan Halley is the Digital Project Leader for The Duffy Agency. He loves to talk about social media.
Bebo is the latest network to fail as the titans continue to increase their dominance around the world
AOL announced this week it will either sell or shutter their multi-million dollar social media website Bebo. Launched in the UK in 2005, it became a hit in its native land. During the social media land grab, which saw MySpace sell for $540 million and Bebo sell for $850 million, Bebo was a hot site that looked to be a contender for the next big thing. But just like a Highlander, there can be only one. With its imminent demise, it got me wondering about other social networking websites and how they are faring.
The social media landscape is littered with the skeletal remains of failed sites. Fear not, social media isn’t dying. But instead of being the wild west of the internet, the landscape is being tamed and defined in clearer terms. The new wild frontier is smartphone apps and we’re already seeing tough competition between Foursquare and Gowalla. It’s only a matter of time before we’re stepping over one of their corpse on our way to the next big thing.
Right now, the three big social networks are Facebook, MySpace and Twitter. If we look at the past year, Facebook has added 54 million users, MySpace has lost 8 million and Twitter has added 13 million according to Compete.com.
The three main social media sites received a collected 194 million visitors in February. That’s roughly 3% of the world's population visiting just three websites. While Twitter and Facebook are secure, MySpace, the little site that everyone wants to go away, is still going strong as it's found a niche catering to music and film fans.
In comparison, Bebo received 1.6m unique visitors for February. It is a far cry from the big three, but what about Friendster and Orkut? Each of these sites are doing poorly and it’s surprising that Bebo is the first to go considering that Friendster only had 881k visitors in February and Orkut had 761k visitors.
How long before these sites are also shuttered? Google is notorious for purchasing companies, neglecting them until they lose all their audience and then dumping them (e.g. Jaiku). Friendster shot out of the gate, but soon fell by the wayside as MySpace took over. In 2009, there was a shake down of micro-blogging sites as Pownce and ReJaw joined Jaiku on the trash heap.
As Bebo circles the drain, can Orkut be far behind?
Stefan Halley is the Digital Project Leader for The Duffy Agency. He loves to talk about social media.
No, we haven’t lost our touch. But when you’re going where
no ad agency has gone before, deep into the social media frontier, you’re bound
to hit a couple bumps in the road. We’re letting you in on our hard won lessons
so your ride can go a lot smoother.
You’ll also discover how we helped one of France’s biggest
companies use social media to get their target buzzing and how to make captivating
sales presentations by ditching PowerPoint and getting creative.
Enjoy the read and if you have any
ideas/inspiration/outrage, let it out in the comments section.
Watching Nestle deal with their social media woes is once again a reminder of how caustic social media can be. A couple weeks ago, Greenpeace put a video on YouTube drawing attention to Nestle’s use of palm oil from companies that clearcut rain forests to plant palm tree farms, thus destroying the habitat of orangutans. Clearly upset by this video, Nestle had the video banned from YouTube. This move was the equivalent of knocking over a wasp’s nest while naked and then being surprised when you end up covered in stingers.
Greenpeace re-posted the video on their site and encouraged people to upload the clip en-mass to YouTube so they would have no hope of taking down all copies of it. From there, it spread to Reddit, Digg and Facebook where it really exploded. Facebook is where the drama really began. Greenpeace encouraged users to change their public photo to anti-Nestle slogans and parodies of their brand logos. When the logos began appearing on the Nestle Facebook fan page, Nestle posted the following statement on their page, “To repeat: we welcome your comments, but please don’t post using an altered version of any of our logos as your profile pic – they will be deleted.” When fans complained, the Nestle rep followed with, “Oh please...it’s not like we’re censoring everything to allow only positive comments.” That didn’t go over too well.
Reactions to Nestle’s comments naturally ran the gamut, from dignified pleas to furious outbursts. Eventually, Nestle apologized for their behavior and stated they would make efforts to eliminate palm oil from vendors that are clear cutting rain forest by 2015.
This is another example of a large corporation going into the social media forum without having a clear plan of action for when an issue arrises. When you’re a corporation that has a long history of being on the wrong side of social and environmental issues, it is important to plan for controversy and have a plan that can be implemented when a stone is turned over. There are many ways this controversy could have been avoided. Here are five things that would have created a better outcome:
Don’t make it personal - If Nestle would have stayed above the fray and avoided singling people out, the conversation wouldn’t have become so heated. Instead, releasing a statement to address complaints would have diffused the situation without attacking anyone directly.
Open conversation - Facebook has a discussion section that provides the perfect forum for Nestle to address the problem and allow people to have their say without it spilling out into other areas and polluting their entire fan page. If they had engaged fans openly, they could have contained the outpour.
Microsite - A microsite is a great way to promote a company’s initiatives and deal with controversy. Through a microsite, Nestle could show that they care about the environment and what they are doing to change their practices.
Give something back - Doing the above and then making a large contribution to a non-profit that protects the environment, or starting a fund raiser for an appropriate cause, would add weight to their claim of being concerned about the environment and show that it isn’t all empty promises .
Ignoring the video - Greenpeace has a reputation of extremism (McDonald’s UnHappy Meals, attacking whaling boats, attacks on the fur industry). If Nestle had just ignored the initial video, the video would have made a small splash, but would have been largely ignored as people are becoming desensitized to Greenpeace videos. This isn’t the best solution, or one we would recommend, but if Nestle hadn’t gone out of its way to censor the video and bury the truth I wouldn’t be writing this post.
Social media can be a loving hand one moment and a sledgehammer the next. Any company going into social media should have a plan for when a marketing effort blows up in their face, or when something they would rather have remained hidden bubbles up to the surface. Nestle appears to have many skeletons in their closet and I’m sure this won’t be the last time we see them in the news because of questionable business practices. Hopefully, they’ve learned from this experience and the next time controversy arrises, they react more appropriately and work with their fans to find a solution.
Stefan Halley is the Digital Project Leader for The Duffy Agency. He loves to talk about social media.
