The Buzz

We’re so pleased to announce the release of Gratitude! It’s your personal gratitude journal for the iPhone and iPod Touch.

You can download it from iTunes for only 99¢.

Read all about the making of Gratitude on Carla’s blog. She also kindly begging your to help her spread the word. You can

• If you have an iPhone or iPod Touch, download it and leave some (positive) feedback
• If you have friends, tell them about it.
• Blog it
• Twitter it
• Advertise it on your site (go to “Help”)
• Forward this email to all your friends
• Scribble it on a wall
• Tell her what you think (happy.tapper@yahoo.com)



Now go get yourself some Gratitude!

Google published their own SEO starter guide (PDF 550KB) which covers the basics of search engine optimization as it relates to the world’s number one search engine, Google.

If you’re reasonable familiar with SEO there’s not much new. But it’s great for educating a client or an internal stakeholder on SEO.  It helps to reference a document that is sanctioned by the world’s largest search engine.

Today I was felling a little uninspired because of the rainy weather. Then I came across Getty Image's Moodstream. It lets you create great mood boards consisting of a series of photos and videos all with a background of customized soundtracks. You pick the media to display using sliders describing the mood you prefer. For example happy vs sad or calm vs lively. I choose happy, lively, humorous. The images were superb and my mood was instantly turned around!

Mood boards have always been a great brainstorming tool. Mine used to consist of clippings from magazines. Now I can easily incorporate video and music and really be inspired.

The Girl Effect has a powerful video (Youtube Link) with a very meaningful message. I love the site and the brand. Beautifully done.

Lately just as I discover a great blog and subscribe, the next post is about how the publisher doesn’t have the time to maintain it anymore. So it’s ending.

This has led me to think about what is the professional and polite way to end a blog and still keep your readers happy.

1. Explain why your ending the blog. Be honest and truthful even its for bad reasons. I recently met someone who abruptly ended her blog because a post didn’t help her land a job. Even though she had plenty of readers, she decided that disappointing one reader to that extreme justified a quick shut down.
2. Let your readers know how long you will be offline. If you think you might decide to come back online later, let them know. If this is a permanent decision, let them know that too.
3. Leave the existing content for your readers if you can. Readers will still refer back to your posts if you leave them. You can put some Google Ads on your site to help cover the costs.
4. Recommend other blogs that are similiar. Point your readers in another direction will not only make them happy but also please a few other bloggers too.
5. Let them know if they can find you elsewhere online. If it’s a LinkedIn profile, Twitter, or any other online space, let them know (if you feel comfortable about it).

Our London trip was filled with plenty of highlights. One of which was a graffiti art exhibit by Banksy called "The Cans Festival". A disused road tunnel on Leake Street under Waterloo Station in South London was turned into a giant free exhibition with works from Banksy and 29 other artists.

The work is amazing and best of all free. We took a hunded pictures and uploaded most to Flickr. If you happen to be in London, I would highly recommend it. And if you have a bit of spray paint, don't be shy about adding your own touch.

Tomorrow I'm off to London to visit my old stomping ground, see friends & family. If you fancy keeping up with me while I'm away, you can follow me on Twitter. We're only there for a week but have a superb line up of events for those few days. I can't wait to be back in the hood visiting all my old haunts. It's going to be an absolute blast!

This is one of the first questions asked by prospective clients. To which I answer, “It’s as much as you can afford.” And if we do things right, the business will eventually be able to afford more.

One myth I would like to clear up is that online marketing isn’t just for businesses with big marketing budgets. The truth is that anyone can afford to promote their business online. Even the smallest shops can start today for free.

Outlined below are some of the basic costs involved. This is in no way an online marketing strategy, but it’s a way to get started.

What’s all Involved

Purchasing a web address

If you’re new to online marketing, the first thing you need is a web address. You can purchase one from Godaddy for around $10 a year.

Hosting

You need a place to put your site. Hosting costs can vary significantly depending on your needs. It can run you anywhere from $5 a month on upwards. Looking for a dedicated server hosted on an island outside of western IT laws? Call me.

Content and Design

The options here are unlimited. Agencies will differ depending on their techniques. Some won’t touch a site unless they have $20K budget. Others will pull something together for you for around $300.

The “Aston Martin” of sites invest in researching keywords and creating engaging content. They do a ton of research upfront before they even start on the design. It costs more, but in the end you get design and content that works.

At the other end of the spectrum are free templates available all over online. Some are visually very cool. You can plug your content into a template & hope it fits. It will probably come out more like a used Chevy with Ford bumpers, which can look very cool depending!

The cheapest option is to get a Facebook or Myspace page. At the very minimum, this gives you a place where you can put your contact details and promote your business.

SEO & Marketing

The website is worthless if no one can find it. So it pays to invest in an SEO and online marketing strategy. The prices here range and are worth what you invest into it. In fact, the costs should pay for themselves.

Again, this isn’t just for the fat cats. Mom & pops can start promoting themselves through Twitter updates. They can also create free blog on Blogger or Wordpress. Other great marketing promotion spots are YouTube and Flickr.

Ongoing Maintenace

Sites take love and care just like a garden. You need to monitor the stats. An excellent tool for this is Google Analytics. It’s worth it to pay someone to do this for you and strategize how to level the wealth of information available.

You also have to make sure the content is up to date and you’re using the latest keywords. Again, this takes time and research.

Proof is in the Pudding

Or should a say in the pizza? If you still need convincing of a good online marketing strategy, just take a look at what Papa John’s was able to achieve with the internet & pizza. Over $1 billion onlines sales. Cha-ching!

 Today I came across a great article about generational targeting. It states that "there are four generations out there right now, all with money to spend: the Silent Generation, the Baby Boomers, Generation X (or the Thirteenth Generation) and Generation Y (or the Millennial Generation)."

It then went on to describe what motivates each generation. Because I love pictures, I matched an image from Stock.xchng with the descriptions to give it another level of substance. It would be interesting to compose the same list based on geographic locations and culture.  

Silent Generation: respect for authority; conformity and adherence to the rules; law, order and duty; dedication, hard work and sacrifice.

Baby Boomers: personal gratification; personal growth, health and wellness; optimism and positive attitude; teamwork and being involved. 

Generation X: diversity and global thinking; self-reliance and independence; life balance; fun and informal attitude; technologically literate.

Generation Y: confidence and achievement; sociability and collective action; diversity and morality; street-smart; optimistic and savvy.