Yahoo Tech reports on the efforts of a group of advertising associations that have come together to build a set of rules and regulations that the industry can use to give the consumer the privacy they expect and let marketers keep the freedoms that government intervention would likely hinder.

The centerpiece of these guidelines are the provision of transparency in tracking practices and easier opt-out for consumers. While it is certainly a big question as to how well these guidelines will actually work the hope is that the industry will be less of a focus of the FTC (Federal Trade Commission) and Congress.

These guidelines are coming from trade associations that represent 5,000 companies. The consortium comprises the American Association of Advertising Agencies, Association of National Advertisers, Direct Marketing Association, the Interactive Advertising Bureau and the Better Business Bureau. Their members are some of the nation’s largest companies, including Google Inc., General Electric Co., Microsoft Corp., Coca-Cola Co. and Procter & Gamble Co.

These guidelines include recommendations that companies

1. Tell consumers more clearly when they’re being tracked
2. Educate consumers on how Web tracking works
3. Give consumers an easy way to opt out of being followed
4. Provide “reasonable” security for the data they collect
5. Limit how much data they retain
6. Get consumer approval before making material changes that would erode privacy protections with specific areas such as children’s personal information, financial data and medical records getting more protection.

Anyone caught by this new group will be reported to the federal government. This plan should go into effect in 2010. Sounds reasonable enough but of course there are those who feel that this will not be enough.

Jeff Chester, executive director of the Center for Digital Democracy, said the online ad industry’s promise to regulate itself through the new guidelines is designed to undercut the federal government’s increased interest in overseeing online behavioral advertising.

He fears that the guidelines don’t go far enough and that there needs to be fair rules passed by Congress that ‘online marketing can thrive but consumers have greater control on how the information collected is being used.’

I am sure that the views of Pilgrim readers regarding government intervention in business are all over the map so we’ll ask you the question: Should the industry police itself or should the federal government be involved? What are the pros and cons of both options? Here’s your chance to form your own policy for people to see and show off your position on government’s role in business. Sounds like a fun and light topic to consider while enjoying the holiday weekend, right?

Comments

If that’s not a testimonial for social media marketing, I don’t know what is. The agency’s research is actually a look at online behavior and user intent.

"Intent is the new demographic," says Kathy Bloomgarden, Ruder Finn co-CEO. "Delving deeper into the underlying motivations of online behavior is critical to developing proactive strategies. Just being online is not enough to leverage digital channels to drive business imperatives. Audiences must be targeted based upon their intent."

Michael Schubert, Chief Innovation Officer overseeing digital strategy at Ruder Finn says, "The way the Internet has allowed us to share knowledge laterally instead of up the chain of command requires a new way of thinking about our online communications. The Intent Index underscores the importance of knowing what people seek, and how we, as communicators, can intersect with what they’re looking for."

The Intent index is based on a study that asked participants how frequently they go online for 295 different reasons. The index is updated quarterly.

I’ll leave you with a bunch of statistics:

- More than twice as many people go online to socialize (81%) than to do business (39%) or shop (31%).

- Women (48%) are much more likely than men (39%) to go online to advocate for an issue or position.

Of course her impact has its supporters and detractors. Hitwise reports some pretty strong numbers around the posting of her first tweet last Friday. Interestingly, the chart below may also reflect the promotion leading up to the event itself more than anything else.

Share of US Internet visits to Twitter increased 24% on Friday, April 17, the day of Oprah’s first Tweet. Comparing visits with the previous Friday, visits were up 43%.

So what does this all mean? Once again the best and safest answer is “Who knows?” For those who have decided that Twitter is only for the tragically hip they are still in mourning. Nothing can kill cool more quickly that a major influx of mommy jeans. Of course, an actual real concern is the fact with so many users getting on board, the notorious Fail Whale may be around more than any Twitterer would like. Don’t blame that on Oprahphiles though because that one falls squarely on the shoulders of the Twitter tech delivery team.

Many of these Twitter veterans are Internet marketing types as well and while there may be some consternation around this ‘uncooling’ of Twitter, this event should actually trigger a full blown celebration. Why? Well, despite all the hubbub about Twitter being such a great business tool, even the most liberal estimates show the number of users currently in the 15 million range. You can join the game of wild speculation and arguing over this number if you choose to do so. The fact of the matter is despite its meteoric rise 15 million people is not a large universe, especially when the bulk of Twitter users have been more tech oriented up until the day Oprah ruined it for their corner of the world.

So for all of you folks who think Twitter is too cool for the rest of the planet you can mark April 17, 2009 as the real Black Friday, a dark day indeed. It was the day that the rest of the world was given the green light to use Twitter. It was the “Day the Tweet Died”.

Comments

Certainly there have been a lot of interesting blog posts about Sphinn.

So, without further delay, let’s get on to what I think are the top 10 blog posts about Sphinn for 2007:

Note that I have not put these in any particular order.

The First (un)Official Sphinn Awards
The Sphinn Awards, even though they’re the unofficial ones, are definitely something that should come on an annual basis. I didn’t choose this Sphinn blog post because I happen to have one a Sphinn award, but just thought that if it’s an award about Sphinn it should definitely be on this list.

Sphinn Launches: Social Voting Community for Search Marketers
DoshDosh, as always, did a great review of Sphinn, full of screen captures and everything. Even outlines part of the the submission guidelines that we all need to remember:

Yes, you can submit your own stories. In fact, we’d rather you directly submit your own stories you think are of interest to the community than have someone do it for you.

Yes, you can submit your own blog post about a news story you read. However, we’d prefer you only do this if you’ve added something unique to the general news topic, such as an extended opinion or further clarification.

Sphinn: Our Social Site For Search & Internet Marketing Professionals
Danny’s explanation of Sphinn back in July is a great overview and recap of Sphinn. I just had to put this in the top 10 list.

By no means do we envision Sphinn as replacing general news sites like Digg. We just think the story submission model can work and be powerful in a specialized area such as search, as well.

Add Sphinn Bookmarking To the Share This WordPress Plugin
I cannot put together a top 10 Sphinn blog post list without mentioning the Sphinn WordPress plugin. Sorry, but I just had to do it. If you use WordPress then you just have to use this plugin.

Please Don’t Ask Me to Sphinn Your Stories
Tamar’s commentary and rant about Sphinn is a classic one. Definitely my vote for the top 10 Sphinn blog posts of all time.

It’s no longer a “the familiar faces dominate the front page” mentality. Instead, it’s the “please Sphinn me” requests that are overflowing on other communication mediums, particularly Facebook and StumbleUpon, that is causing this to happen. You ask me on IM/Facebook, I appear to be active, and I am not the type of person to ignore your request so I feel obligated to comply. However, it’s not fair to other people who may not know me or other community members so well and don’t solicit votes like you do.

Sphinn Is In – But Is It Better Than Digg?
This has got to get into the top 10. Great post comparing Sphinn to Digg. Lots of great points brought up and it’s interesting to see why Sphinn beats out Digg.

The button is nice, but how good is Sphinn? Is it really worth it?

It depends. I’ve had some stories on there that got a few sphinns. Never made it to the home page though…

Even so, it has sent me a few visitors. And Sphinn visitors seem to stay an average of 1:20. Not bad, especially because it was 97% new visitors. However, most referrals were better, and even StumbleUpon users (over the same time period) stuck around an average of 1:35.

How to Reach the Front Page in Sphinn
This one is pretty much a no-brainer. If you Sphinn stuff then you need to know what does well on Sphinn and how to get your stuff on the home page.

feeling…So far I have Sphinn many articles but with little success so I have began to analyzes the Sphinn website and what will make a post reach the hot topics page.

This can be broken down in to 5 key areas:

20 Top Sphinners You Should Know
I’m not putting this in the top 10 list because I’m on the list. Really, I’m not. But pointing out the top 20 Sphinners is helpful, and Gabriel Goldenberg does a great job at picking out the Sphinners you really should get to know.

I was having a glance through Sphinn’s top users rankings as well as their top content, and I realized that while I know a fair amount of those folks (know who they are, I mean), there’s a number that I don’t. I had a look at 20 of the top unknown (to me) Sphinners’ sites and have the following to share with you as a result.

Why Rand Is Wrong, And Sphinn Is A Popularity Contest
I have to admit, there are some pretty good stories on Sphinn’s home page but you do keep seeing the same Sphinners time and time again. Does that really mean that it’s a popularity contest?

TannerC argues that the stories which are dominating the homepage of the site, due to the number of votes (or Sphinns) which they have received, are predominantly from the big names in the search sector; people such as Rand, Lisa, Vanessa, & Todd. He also suggests that this is a de facto status quo that makes it hard for newbies to break into

Why Sphinn Needs a Dumbass Button
We still haven’t gotten a “dumbass button” on Sphinn, but we at least have some moderators who do a pretty good job at taking care of Sphinn spam.

Now normally, I’m not a big fan of Digg’s “bury it” function, but in this case, I think it’s warranted. If we can’t get Danny to give us the ability to make a stupid post go away, then at least give us a big red Dumbass button that will flag the post as one not worth clicking on.

I, too, am not a fan of bury functions, but it seems as though there are some pretty annoying posts that need to be buried from time to time.

Comments

• Published the event on the Web Marketing Seminars page on my Web site. This is a no-brainer and the first, essential step.
• Added the event information (including a link to the online registration) on Facebook, both on my page and as part of the Portland, ME network so that other local people could find it.
• Sent out an email alert to the people who have signed up for my Web Marketing Alerts email newsletter. (You can sign up for this when you sign up for flyte log, our free, monthly email newsletter.)
• Added it as an event on MaineToday.com, the online presence for the Blethen newspapers.
• Added it as a class through Craig’s list.
• Added it at MaineBiz’s event calendar.
• Submitted to Maine Public Broadcasting Network’s event calendar.
• Posted it to my Internet Marketing 101 blog at MaineToday.com (at least twice.)
• Posted it to my flyte blog: web marketing for small business blog (again, at least twice.)
• Posted to Eventful.com, which sends to several other sites including Podbot, Google Calendar, del.icio.us/events, Ping-o-Matic, Technorati, and Upcoming. Several of these sites extend that reach even further through their own network. (Found through Joan Stewart, the Publicity Hound, through Denise Wakeman tip.
• I also learned about EventCrazy.com that way.

I also plan on submitting this event to the print versions of MaineBiz and the Portland Press Herald.

Will I do this for every event? Probably not, but I will try and track which channel is bringing me attendees, by asking everyone at the event.

Your Turn: What tools do you use to promote your events in this 2.0 world? Leave your suggestions in the comments section below.

Comments

FiOS is Verizon’s digital fiber optic high speed Internet for homes. It is combined with their phone service and you can also get on-demand television through the same lines. The maximum connection speeds is 50 Mbps or 30 Mbps downstream and 20Mbps or 5 Mbps upstream, depending on where you live.

PC Magazine’s Lance Ulanoff described it this way: “…virtually every web page I visited popped up as if the servers were sitting in my living room.”

Basically the team of technicians (2 men and a woman) go into homes to install everything, capture it all on video, and in the process outfit the families with a lot of high tech goodies. Things like a new Verizon cell phone, super fast internet, a high tech network, a theater and maybe gaming equipment – depending on the family. Plus they’ll throw a block party for your neighbors to celebrate. They get people to audition while they’re there and give away big screen televisions and other things. So the turnout is pretty good.

They have started off with three families in the Philadelphia area and two families in the Pittsburgh area. The families submit their stories and are featured on the blog. Plus they’ll be on TV – major local network channels are covering the shows or you can watch them online at FiOS TV video-on-demand at http://2pointhome.com.

What’s really impressive is that the concept is on Facebook, photos are on flickr, del.icio.us is bookmarked, and the videos are on YouTube. And the technicians try to be entertaining (two men and a woman with personality, which if were more like most technicians, they probably wouldn’t talk to you).

Here’s an example: husband and wife Lora and Scott were using a typewriter. After the crew helped them out they started blogging, Twittering, buying things online, and making their own movies on the internet. They have properly turned them into geeks.

Lora is on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/lorakaczor and Scott is at http://twitter.com/scottkaczor. Not a long list of followers but they just started.

All households will be considered for this home makeover (so couples, roommates, and singles can apply too.) While I consider high speed and high tech hip, it’s not so in an entertaining sort of way. More in a nerdy way. In the meantime, I can think of a few families I would recommend. I have tried teaching ecommerce to farmers in the Midwest with dial-ups. I think I’ll have them apply.

Comments

Small Biz Has An Attitude About Search

Those who follow the search industry and actively market their Internet presence in a variety of ways may be surprised to learn that a lot of their fellow entrepreneurs don’t do so.

That’s the determination Greg Sterling at Opus Research found in his study of current marketing trends among the SMB market. Of those respondents to the study’s survey, 59 percent do not do online marketing.

Roughly the same percentage of respondents claim over half their business comes from word of mouth or from referrals by other customers. Though businesses rate websites as importantly as they do local newspaper advertising, many aren’t making the same connection about online ads.

SMB spending has made the niche a highly desirable one for advertising companies. Sterling said the SMB market conservatively puts $30 billion in play for marketing and advertising services annually. They may want to consider more on the paid search and Internet advertising side.

“As a practical matter, Web sites without some other marketing element (e.g., SEM/SEO) aren

• Take on more projects than you can reasonably handle?
• Have no problem starting a new project every day, but counting completed projects, you don’t go beyond the five fingers on one hand?
• Receive an email or a phone call for a JV (joint venture) opportunity and 30 seconds into the call, your first questions are: “what’re the payouts like?”, followed 2 seconds later with an “I’m in” before the guy finishes his pitch?

If you’re answered “yes” to at least one of these questions, you might be suffering from “Internet Marketing ADD”…seek professional help immediately.

A common refrain heard on the forums is that experienced Internet Marketers have difficulty focusing on a single project and are constantly “project flipping” as often as switching stations with the TV remote.

Here’s a realization:

To be an entrepreneur, you need to be able to multitask pretty effectively. I don’t mean only being able to work on a couple of things at the same time… You will also need to take on a couple of roles at the same time – CEO, COO, CFO, CTO, CMO, etc. You need a broadbase of skills, or at least an elementary understanding of sales, finance, marketing, product development, technology, as well as keep an eye on the strategic direction of your business.

In contrast, I know a number of professionals (lawyers, bankers, engineers) who are experts at what they do, they’re the archetypical “inch wide, mile deep” specialists, but their lack of a broadbase means they have great difficulty managing a business, given its myriad requirements. But give them a single task and they can chug away at it for weeks or months on end.

-

If you’re reading this, you’re probably an Internet Marketer. What can you do to deal with this problem?

Here’s my take:

• Go with the flow: You know you’re not cut out to do one thing for weeks on end, so don’t fight it. Break your day up into several pieces. Focus on product development in the morning (or whenever your peak periods might be), talk to joint venture partners or strategic partners as you feel you’re moving out of your zone. Answer email and tackle customer support issues during your downtime.
• Focus, focus, focus: This was a major problem for me initially when I was doing consulting. You can take on 20 projects, and deliver below your optimal performance on all of them. OR you could charge a premium and work with your preferred 3-5 clients. If you work in performance incentives and revenue share, you might end up doing better with a select few, rather than attempt to take on the market.
• Recalibrate, reorient and refocus: Take time out to audit your efforts. Is what you’re doing helping you move toward where you want to be? Evalute and do the equivalent of “testing and tracking” in your business. Jettison projects that are stumbling or backsliding. Declutter experts say there is limited space in your life. If you cut and clear away stuff that isn’t helping you (people, projects and places), you’ll free up more “space” for new things to come in.

Comments

Tag:

This is an amazing statistic that proves just how much the Internet has transformed B2B marketing. Nobody questions that the Internet transformed B2C industries, such as travel (Expedia), car buying (Edmunds), or house hunting (MLS and Zillow). I wouldn’t think of buying an airplane ticket or car or home without first doing my research online. It is clear that B2B buyers trained to search online for their personal purchases are now using the same strategies for their business purchases.

As a result, the B2B marketer’s job must change as well. Interruption-based techniques where the marketer searches for customers no longer work. What DOES work are techniques which smooth the process of customers searching for you. In other words, since the buyer controls their buying process, the B2B marketer’s job is to synchronize the company’s marketing (and to some extent sales) activities to the buyer’s process.

MarketingSherpa lists some tactics that are now critical to your marketing mix:

• SEO and pay per click management so prospects find you when they search
• White paper syndication on the third-party sites prospects use when researching
• PR, blogs, public speeches, awards – so your brand appears wherever prospects are reading
• Consistent brand awareness efforts so they’re aware of you when they make their short list
• Focus on client satisfaction to encourage referrals and word

To this list, I’d add landing page optimization so you have the best chance of converting prospects when they do find you.  I’d also add post-click lead management: if buyers are seeking you out, you’ve got to be able to follow-up with the promptly and accurately.

Download a PDF excerpt of MarketingSherpa’s Business Technology Marketing Benchmark Guide.

Comments

Tag: