With so many sessions over a 3 day period, it can be hard to keep everything straight. It’s for this reason that I really enjoyed the presentation from Sean Jackson with Copyblogger. Coppyblogger has grown to be one of the best online marketing blogs on the web, frequently writing about content optimization for search. The beautiful thing about Copyblogger Media’s success is that they follow a very simple plan for driving traffic to their website and have two clear conversion goals for site visitors.

The three primary social networks of choice for Copyblogger are: Twitter, Facebook and Google Plus. They use these social media sites to drive traffic to their website and grow their following. Once the visitor arrives at the site, the two conversion goals are clear – subscribe to the blog via an RSS feed or sign up for updates via email.

Copyblogger uses the Internet Marketing for Smart People free 20 part series to instantly build value and credibility for all new subscribers. Educating visitors first and selling later. It’s the way things should be!

Take a look at the slide from Sean Jackson’s PubCon presentation below. What do you think of this Online marketing strategy?

Check out the Copyblogger website and pay close attention to their headlines. Brian Clark and company write some of the most magnetic headlines that convert visitors.

Note: This is my first post done entirely on my iPhone 4S. I apologize for any formatting or spelling mistakes. Thanks for reading!

Facebook Home Page has a New Look
So there is now a News Feed and a Live Feed on the home page?  Just like with most Facebook updates, the responses to the change have been mixed.  What does it all mean?  Why did Facebook make the change?  Click the link above to find out.  Just like with the last changes Facebook made – in the long run it is going to make Facebook even better and more organized!

2009 Masters of Business Online  Summary from Douglas Karr
If you are involved in the Indianapolis, Indiana social media scene, you were likely exposed to all of the buzz that came along with the Masters of Business Online.  Landing pages, online video, search engine optimization, pay per click advertising and social media – these were just some of the topics covered at this great event.  Get an inside look at what took place during the event from Douglas Karr by clicking on the link above.

Thank Goodness It’s Monday
One of my favorite people to follow online is Scott Stratten, President of Un-Marketing.com.  On Friday I was checking out his new initiative, Thank Goodness It’s Monday and I just had to share.  It’s a great concept: stop letting the day of the week determine your attitude.  Embrace each day and make the most of it.  Scott is forming a group of people he calls the” 1%” that refuse to fall into the “TGIF” mentality.  Click the link above to check out his video on why he’s doing this.  If you like what he has to say, enter your email address to get signed up.  He will follow-up immediately, as always, with an email welcoming you to the “1%.”

Well now it can.  On Seth’s Blog today he officially announced the launch of Brands In Public.  This is part of Squidoo, a company he founded.  Brands in Public already has some large brands like Home Depot, Guinness, Allstate and Hello Kitty up and running. 

The basic idea is that each of these brands have a page where all tweets, blog posts, news stories, images and videos about that brand show up.  Everything in one central place.  Good or bad.  It’s one thing for people to be ”talking” about you, but it’s another thing for you to participate in this discussion.  And the goal of Brands in Public is to make that participation easy.  Because that is when the real value comes in.  The question is – are you willing to pay $400 a month to do so? 

What do you think?  I am curious.

In a recent meeting with one of our long-time clients, Jay-Crew Landscape, Inc. the owner came to me looking for a new idea to create some buzz.  He wanted something fresh and something he had never done before.  He was tired of doing the same thing and getting the same results.  My first thought was to do some type of landscaping makeover.  We covered some of the basics.  He liked the idea and gave us the chance to run with it.  Here is what we came up with:

Green for Green Sweepstakes

Overview: You get “green” cash value in the amount of $1,000.00 to apply toward a “green” landscaping service that meets your particular needs.  No purchase is necessary.   You need only provide some basic contact information to enter and live within 60 miles of Muncie, IN.  Short.  Simple.  Sweet.

I will be posting additional blogs taking a closer look at this case study combining social media marketing and email marketing, but the main point of this post is to encourage you to register for the Green for Green Sweepstakes and/or share with someone you think might be interested.  This is a great opportunity for those that have been ignoring their landscaping all summer or those that just need a few final touches.

Visit GreenForGreenSweepstakes.com or just click on the graphic below to register now!

After a lot of hard work, last week Kyle announced that the book was available for order on Amazon.com.  This is a huge accomplishment for Kyle and Erik.  I know many people involved in the Indianapolis social media scene are very happy to see this success.  Both Kyle and Erik are always looking to reach out to help others and this book is right up there with sites like SmallerIndiana.com as far as efforts that are really putting Indiana and more specifically Indianapolis on the map when it comes to big ideas/social media marketing.  Ironically enough, social media marketing tools like Twitter have played and will play a big role in the success of this book.  Kyle has done a great job of promoting this book and today I would like to take a closer look on how he is doing it:

• First off, the lead with Wiley Publishing to be considered as an author of the book came from a participant in a social media class about using tools like Facebook and Twitter.  A class which was promoted using social media among other things.
• Kyle frequently posted Twitter, Blog and Facebook updates about his progress asking for feedback and suggestions in some cases.
• He even posted a blog entitled Help with Twitter Marketing for Dummies Book where he gave everyone that read his post and tweets an opportunity to get published in the book by submitting Twitter marketing thoughts in 140 characters or less.  Simply put, this was a chance to have your Twitter thought and username go out to everyone that will be reading this book.
• Now that the book is available for purchase he is doing something that I think is huge – offering 100 free copies of the new book in exchange for a commitment to publish a review.   The 100 copies will be split between people with a good network, or large following on social media, the Internet or their community and reviewers in magazines/newspapers.  This is the perfect way to potentially have 100 different people (assuming everyone follows through) telling all of their friends, followers, business partners, etc. about your book.  This has viral marketing written all over it.

Kyle has consistently reached out to help me in getting me personal blog started.  He has also contributed in helping to promote Fusework Studios on Twitter and other social media tools.  His reputation and eagerness to help make me sure that this book will be a success.  I know I am looking forward to receiving my copy!  Please join me in congratulating Kyle and Erik on this great accomplishment!

The Complete Internet Marketing Lifecycle

Don’t Forget Conversion

Blog Indiana – Day 1 Digest and Blog Indiana Day# 2

Social Media Advertising – Nausea, Heartburn, Indigestion…

Being a big golf fan, I recently was drawn into several headlines about Tiger Woods potentially being fined by the PGA because of his criticism of a PGA official enforcing a strict time rule during his win over Padraig Harrington at the Bridgestone Invitational.  These were very well written, enticing headlines.  But when I clicked the headline, time and time again I became disappointed with the content.  It was almost as if they were lying…well not lying, but more like stretching the truth.  I also noticed within one of the articles several comments going back and forth from people feeling the same way.  Disappointed searchers were definitely critisizing whomever could be held responsible for writing such headlines.   Headlines such as, “Me?  Fined?  Tiger blasts erroneous report” would lead you to expect Tiger saying more than just “There was no fine.  That was just an erroneous report.”  It became ridiculous how misleading a series of headlines about this incident became.  And NOTHING ended up happening to Tiger.

So the question I have is – Do the same people that write the articles also write the headlines?  If so, shouldn’t it be their job to deliver relevant, accurate content for both.  Or if different people are writing the headlines – is it their job to ONLY worry about getting the clicks?  What do you think makes an effective online news headline?  Do you get frustrated when the content behind the headline does not deliver?

The JK Wedding Entrance Dance video is posted on YouTube…people begin talking and sharing the link

A popular blog, Outspoken Media, posts a blog titled The Power of the Unexpected

That post gets Tweeted and Retweeted

It also gets Dugg until it’s on the first page of Digg

A co-worker sees the link, it brightens the day and he must share with his staff

Several staff members Tweet about it…it gets Retweeted

Others share it on Facebook as well, friends on Facebook see it and it gets reposted – It even has it’s own Facebook group now!  Just search Wedding Dance Entrance in Facebook

And while this is only a microscopic look at how this video went viral, it is a small part of why the video started this morning with 75,000 views on YouTube and now has over 192,000 views less than 10 hours later.

Updated: The couple, Jill and Kevin Heinz, have already been contacted by Good Morning Amercia about this YouTube sensation.

So why is it generating so much buzz among the social media community?  It’s unexpected.  It’s memorable.  Most importantly it leaves you smiling and wanting more.  Wanting to watch again.  Wanting to share.  Check out the JK Wedding Entrance Dance video below.  I promise this is the most unique wedding entrance you have ever seen.

In a recent blog post entitled Landing Pages and Search Engine Optimization, Douglas dissects the landing page found at BloggingForSEO.com.  This post is a great 9 bullet point reference on the key elements to include in a well structured landing page.  Everything from the basic Header (H1 Tag) to the more advanced Google Voice Widget, Douglas tells all in this post.  This is yet another example on why we are very fortunate to have such knowledgeable individuals in the Indianapolis Internet Marketing arena that are so willing to educate and share. 

The below image is borrowed from his blog post, but you will have to click it to find out the 9 points of Landing Pages and Search Engine Optimization. 

Here is the scoop: An advertising agency out of North Carolina has created its Web site using a YouTube video.  That’s right Boone Oakley’s entire Web site is a YouTube Video.  This is something I have never heard of or seen before.  It is definitely creative and drawing quite a bit of  attention.  The video/Web site already has over 239,000 views.  So while this is very cool right now, I have to wonder are they missing out on other benefits of a traditional Web site?  Will it be easy to update and change?  Is it an effective long-term strategy or are they just going for a short-term campaign?  Either way this is definitely something that breaks through the traditional advertising clutter.  What are your thoughts? 

Check it out below: