It is my job to track the online interactive advertising community. As a result, I have put together a great "starter pack" of Blogs that I find essential in keeping up with all the major changes in the online advertising and technology space. Here's just a handful and I'll be sure to continue adding more as the posts become more frequent.
...Now that is not to say these are the only resources out there! There are many other blogs as well, but I've been able to "get by" sounding up-to-speed at work. I would suggest The Alley Insider over the rest just because they are in full-steam. They are a fairly new business site, produced by and for the New York digital business community. They started publishing for real on Friday, July 19, 2007. And for being in Beta, they're doing quite well.
They cover the intersection of the technology, media, and communications industries, with a focus on companies and people making waves in New York. Specifically digital publishing, entertainment, news, music, social networking, mobile, and gaming.
Wow, I guess the real title for this blog entry should be "Why I love Silicon Alley Insider!" Oh well, enjoy.
As an avid...no wait...as a MAJOR SUPPORTER of Firefox and everything they stand for, I was one of the first to (attempt a) download the software...only to realize I was up against millions of other server crashing competitors to be the "first"! But after over 2 years of waiting, there was no way I'd just give-up. On my 2nd try, SUCCESS! For those of you who didn't know (shame-on-you...), Mozilla is hoping to set a Guinness World Record for the most number of downloads of an application in a day, on the release of its Firefox 3 web browser.
Either way, I was patient and got my hands on the fresh new version. You can read more about that here in an article I read on ZDNet.There is currently no official Guinness World Record for the total number of downloads of an application in a day. They have 24 hours and 175 million users to attract....They used SpreadFirefox.com as a marketing site...go-BIG or go-HOME! Firefox 3 did a great job, attracting attention all over the internet including over 7,100 diggs on Digg.com. Check it out here!
So, they may have set a world record, but what about the software? My First take: Faster, Smoother, I'm loving the new approach to asking if I want my password saved. I'm wowed by the "awesome bar" feature, and apparently I'm now "more protected" against, well, the internet of course. But, I'm not sure I feel the full effects yet. For now, I'm just glad whoever is reading this now knows what is going on outside of their 4 walls/cubicle.
It's time to take this blog public with Technorati. The first and simplest step for publicizing any blog is to set up Technorati Profile and to post that exact link for the spiders to crawl and index this site.
After which it's just a matter of time before we make the TopBlog 150. So here it is, the true beginning and now you can say "I was there..."
So my 1 year post-college in NYC is complete and guess what? I'M STAYING FOR ANOTHER YEAR+...but I have to stay true to my Seattle roots and pay homage. Well in truth I am making a vacation out of this while at the same time getting a "Septoplasty" (seriously....Wikipedia Septoplasty). So for this month I'll be checking out the Seattle Online Marketing Events scene (once I recover). I'll check out Meetup.com's offerings, maybe hit up a few tech groups, but I'm definitely locked in for the Online Marketing Summit which has been traveling the country as a go-to-conference for, well...you guessed it! ONLINE MARKETING! Check out the info below and also note "SCORE", another company hosting a very worthy event for budding entrepreneurs. Check it out:
…here are some other events, but due to my recent "Septoplasty" I’m not hitting them ALL up. Check them out at this link: Seattle24x7 Events. If you know of any other events, or you're considering heading out to OMS, let me know and drop me a line at Red@aclion.com.
PS: If you want to know how my surgery went, feel free to friend me and comment on my FaceBook wall. Facebook me!
AC Lion specializes in sales and technology recruitment and in particular the nexus between the two. I recruited there for close to a year before I was promoted to Marketing/Sales Coordinator handling PM, WebDev, DBA, Social Media and other Marketing aspects. Really, it's a high level of leg-work combined with flexible schedules and great sources of motivation and collaboration.
Over the past decade, AC Lion has developed a leading reputation in the marketplace by helping the industries' most innovative companies maintain their competitive edge by sourcing and placing superior talent.
In our industry, knowing people delivers results. Whether building a new sales team, replacing a corporate executive, transitioning to the interactive world or augmenting the technology team - our clients come to AC Lion because we know the people that know the industry.
Our vertical (industry) specialists work with top corporate executives from a variety of firms within the media (traditional and interactive agencies, publishers, and client side), 3rd party technology/software providers, emerging technology (mobile wireless/PDA, IPTV), e-commerce, and financial industries.
In today's fast-paced and ever-changing environments, it is critical to have a specialized recruiter with an established track record and a broad network who truly understands your needs. Here at AC Lion, our vertical specialists focus all of their efforts in your space. Because of this philosophy, we know your company, your competitors and your clients.
I'm pleased to write that North Carolina decided to "ok" 16 year old Blake Peebles decision to drop out of high school and pursue his dream of becoming a music legend - on Guitar Hero!
Say it out loud this time "Blake Peeble's "Guitar Hero" Career". Feels weird to say it, but according to the RollingStone article Teen Drops Out of High School To Become Professional "Guitar Here" , "Peebles was doing poorly to begin with in school, and his parents have since hired him a private tutor." His parents basically let him drop out of school to persue a career of his choice...one of which I feel is necessary to define Guitar Hero to truly get an understanding and illustrate the current situation. As defined by Wikipedia...
Guitar Hero is a series of music video games published by RedOctane in partnership with Activision. The series is notable for its use of a guitar-shaped peripheral to simulate the playing of music, represented on-screen by colored notes that correspond to fret buttons on the controller."
EscapistMagazine article Teen Dropout to be Pro Guitar Hero quoted his parents saying, "We couldn't take the complaining anymore," said [his father] Hunter. "He always told me that he thought school was a waste of time."
He must have had a real taste of the "good life" and sense of success from his earlier winnings to make such a life altering situation...right? Well, let's see what lead Blake Peebles to make this decision: "At the contests he has entered thus far in his career, he has won the typical takeaway prizes for local game contests: $1000 in prizes, gift certificates, gaming equipment and chicken sandwiches." (escapistMagazine)
It is possible in some parallel universe that one could earn up to $80,000 a year on the competitive circuit, though I imagine those are 1 in a million. Could this be Blakes break? Could he be the 1 in a Million? Well, to get an idea of what he's up against I took a look at the Guitar Hero Community, where I found no sign of Blake Peebles anywhere...though it could be that his username is one of many attempts to sound more like a distant cousin to R2D2.
Oh and I have great news.... Blake was just on Dr. Blogstein’s radio show. I have t admit this is a great attempt to get some serious attention. I'm not saying he'll find Michael Phelps level endorsements, as I discussed last week in my article Michael Phelps Pulls in $5MM in Endorsements, but he's definitely on his way to gaining Activision's attention. He may remain a "blip" on our radar, but in the world of gaming, this is real news.
On a more personal level, I just want the world to know I LOVE GUITAR HERO! I'm not afraid to admit it. My past room mate and good friend, Mitchell Goldford and my room mate and my true Guitar Hero, Sam Shron have been rocking the plastic guitar and mastering the game on Expert. You try "Through Fire and Flames" on Expert without ending up with some level of Alzheimer's! Try and imagine a world without Guitar Hero? ...wait, stop, that's just not okay for me to make such demanding requests. Instead, just imagine that there would have been no "South Park" episode about Guitar hero...
...and that's just not right to say! Either way, I promise to follow up on him in due time. Until then, he needs our support and I have no doubt there'll be a "fan" site where we could all do just that.
I was playing with Stumble Upon and discovered a great depiction of a world without internet, in cartoon narrated story form (with pop-ups). Very entertaining if you need a break from work....(*To move through each story, click the arrow on the bottom right of the book)
My company, AC Lion, recently assigned me the task of finding a new Applicant Tracking System and Customer Relationship Management software. The ATS and CRM systems are a MUST for any staffing company of ANY size! Being that we are a niche market recruiting firm, our needs are particular to specific best practices and standard processes. Before picking out the correct solutions, I must define the two systems:
Customer relationship management (CRM) is a term applied to processes implemented by a company to handle its contact with its customers. [...] Information in the system can be accessed and entered by employees in different departments, such as sales, marketing, customer service, training, professional development, performance management, human resource development, and compensation. (Wikipedia)
Applicant Tracking System (ATS) is a software application that enables the electronic handling of corporate recruitment needs. (Wikipedia)
The rationale behind these systems is to improve how we track and also how we provide services directly to the customers. We use the information in the system for targeted marketing and sales purposes. One of the industry leading CRM's is Salesforce.com, but my company decided on an ATS/CRM hybrid able to handle both candidate leads (B2C) and client-side relationships (B2B).
Another thing to consider is a web-based, also know as Software as a Service (SaaS).It really comes down to a few considerations. Cost of in-house servers and storage vs. a Tier3 network and fast internet connection. It really depends on your comanies budget and needs. We decided on web-based.
I am still on step #5, Contact each vendor....Below is a list from ERE.net of which I can say 3 of my choices and our current vendor are inlcuded:
cBizOne
Easy to use and contains all core functionality of ATS. Very customizable. Can host data locally or remotely (on access or SQL server). Cool quick searching UI.
PCRecruiter
Easily customizable and good performance for an ASP.
BullHorn
Highly recommended and praised. Performance good for ASP, UI and usability are good. Integrated email with cool email tracking feature.
HireDesk
Feature rich and very customizable. Awesome website integration where candidate can have custom job agents (most the same features candidates have on Monster) Large company, dedicated support staff and best support hours.
Sendouts
Outstanding usability and GUI design. One of two hybrid solutions. Good performance and overall solid system.
MaxHire
Its all Microsoft technology and the email integration and automation is very well designed.
I hope at this point you find yourself with enough information to get started. If you need further advice or a copy of my checklist, feel free to e-mail me at work - Red@aclion.com.
Sticking to the theme of this blog, I feel it is necessary to explain why I even bother blogging. Technorati sponsored a survey of bloggers in July-August 2008 only to determine, as their CEO Richard Jalichandra says it best: “Blogs are now mainstream media." So there's your answer!
According to Paul Verna, Sr. Analyst at eMarketer.com, "Blogging has become so pervasive and influential that the lines between blogging and the mainstream media have disappeared". ComScore Media Metrix found that blogs had 77 million unique visitors in the US in August 2008, nearly double the amount of Facebook's mere 41 million!
1/3rd of the respondents found in the Technorati survey were contacted by a brand/agency = $$. Money could play a major factor in their decision making. There's also the SEO factor. Companies small and large use blogs to their marketing traffic, offering value and drawing more traffic...
Marketing and Money? That's more than enough of a reason for anyone to blog. But don't expect the traffic to happen right away. It takes hard work, lots of content, and most importantly - "readers". I know the rules and I'm patient and will keep sharing how I am going to get from 0-100, 100-500, 500-1,000, etc.
Let me know if you found this valuable or inspiring b/c at the end of the day, it's you who I am creating value for. Good luck! Feel free to post a link to your blog below!
This article is relevant for all of you who use the signature function in Outlook. For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about, ever notice when you get a professional e-mail, the signature will have a company logo, colors, links, etc. And until recently, the top 4 free Email Service Providers have been lacking such options. Until now, Outlook ruled the "signature" space...but not anymore!
This article is geared for Firefox users (b/c that is what I am using). I was on the hunt for an awesome Firefox Extension for Gmail Signatures, when a friend of mine told me there was an even better extension that worked with the big 4 ESP's: AOL, YAHOO!, GMAIL & HOTMAIL! WiseStamp is a Firefox extension that enables you to easily customize & add personalized email signatures on any webmail service (Gmail ,Yahoo ,Aol mail, Hotmail).
WiseStamp is without a doubt, amazing! Very easy control over your email signatures, with granular level customization. Easily insert your Instant Messenger & Social services (LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, etc.) The best part is you don't even have to know HTML. It's as easy as using Microsoft Word, with a library of premade signatures here, and the option for HTML is there. I suggest this for everyone. It increases your visibility with every e-mail, and in this space, transparency is necessary if you want to get your name out there.
