Borrowers who have lost their homes, thousands of dollars and their good credit ratings can at least have a laugh thanks to real estate agent and Web site creator Lisa LaShawn.
Visitors to the sites can sign an online petition demanding better regulation of the mortgage industry or buy T-shirts with messages such as "Beware of the mortgage broker" and other more vulgar options.
Twitter is one of well over 1000 social networking sites that I know of. I actually have a list of that many, but have only checked out a handful of the most popular ones.
Actually, my list is about 1800 bookmarking and social networking sites. I may share that list with my inner circle soon... after my assistant goes over it with a fine toothed comb
I've already shared my list of the most popular (and productive) bookmarking sites in an ebook called, "How To Bookmark Effectively For Massive Free Website Traffic!" You can actually download that ebook for free, without needing to opt-in or fill out any forms at: TheRealSecrets.com
Back to Twitter... Twitter is actually a micro-blogging platform. You register, and then you can "follow" others, and others can "follow" you.
Microsoft Corp cut on Sunday the price of its best-selling Xbox 360 Pro model game console with a 20 gigabyte hard drive to $299 from $349.
The company also introduced a new Xbox 360 model with a 60 gigabyte hard drive, which will go on sale in stores in the U.S. and Canada for $349 in early August.
Microsoft announced the price cut and a new model before the start of this week's E3 video game industry trade show in Los Angeles. The price cut was widely reported in game industry blogs since last week.
Online social networks, like the World Wide Web itself, are a microcosm of a vibrant human community. If you participate on services like Twitter, Facebook and MySpace for some time, you'll notice the same types of people as you might on a trip to the shopping mall or a weekend at the beach.
There is but one difference. While 'offline' you see people, on the Web you see their personality.
Understanding this is core to your effective use of social networks for marketing.
While others will rush into these digital fora blatantly spewing advertising messages willy-nilly, you'll be able to tap into their minds more intelligently. Because by following some simple principles, you'll create an online persona that people WANT to engage with and listen to.
Over 2 years of intensely being involved in various social media marketing channels, I have learned some lessons you may find useful too.
It’s always good to hear what Rand Fishkin of SEOmoz has to say and the conversation at SMX Advanced was no exception. Rand talks about the latest tools from SEOmoz including a new analytics tool that not only allows you to track your own statistics, but also those of your competition. SEOmoz has also updated their version of Page Strength. With the economy being the way it is, Rand explains how you, now more than ever, need to create different content for the different visitors you receive. Rand also discusses white hat cloaking or rather, conditional reader editing (Sorry Matt Cutts!). Check out all that and more in Mike McDonald’s interview with Rand Fishkin.
Social Media, Social Networking, Leveraging Web 2.0 - it's known by many names and it's all the rage!
Let me start by saying I am a fan of social media, I personally choose to participate in social media. However when you read about social media, you often only hear one side of things - the message is clear - Participate or miss out! And while I do believe that is true, I think it's not always that simple.
There is so much to read, so many different opinions. It can be overwhelming. First you have to decide which sites to participate in and then you have to create your account and learn how to participate. It's often confusing.
I am not saying this is an excuse not to participate. In fact I am writing this article to provide some helpful tips so you can participate.
I think attention to the details is really important, so I want to cover all the small items that people aren't really talking much about.
Here's an analogy for you. Yesterday, I was working my butt off in the gym on the cardio machines, panting wildly with sweat dripping off me and my face as red as a beet. Not the most attractive sight, but I figure, you're at the gym to work out right? I might as well "go hard" or "go home", as they say.
As I looked around me, I could see all these people simply going through the motions. There they were, minus perspiration in their shiny new lycra and expensive gym shoes, casually walking on the treadmill or lazily turning the wheels on a bike while reading a book or glued to the TV screens in front of them. Only a few seemed to be there for the actual purpose of working out. The rest seemed to be there to check out the talent or to simply keep up the appearance of fitness, while doing the bare minimum.
Huh? I don't get it. Why have these gym bimbos paid so much money for a gym membership and all the related gear if they aren't going to take full advantage of their investment?
Then it struck me - these gymbos were just like those companies who spend thousands of dollars on a shiny new website with all the bells and whistles like graphic design, blogs, shopping carts, web analytics, the lot and then fail to take advantage of it. I see it so often, regardless of company size. Web sites that could easily be bringing in loads of traffic and revenue simply wasting away because nobody can be bothered tracking visitor activity, analyzing trends or checking for search engine compatibility and usability.
These companies are simply keeping up appearances, investing heavily in Internet technology because their competitors are doing the same. But no thought has gone into the search engine compatibility of the site, how usable it is for visitors or whether it meets accessibility guidelines. They don't look at their site statistics, they don't check for broken links and they sure as heck don't investigate why their sites aren't converting traffic into customers. What a waste!
Is your web site working hard enough for you? Run it through the following 20 point fitness assessment to find out:
The head of the Federal Communications Commission said Thursday he will recommend that the nation's largest cable company be punished for violating agency principles that guarantee customers open access to the Internet.
The potentially precedent-setting move stems from a complaint against Comcast that the company had blocked Internet traffic among users of a certain type of "file sharing" software that allows them to exchange large amounts of data.
"The commission has adopted a set of principles that protects consumers access to the Internet," FCC Chairman Kevin Martin told The Associated Press late Thursday. "We found that Comcast's actions in this instance violated our principles."
Martin said Comcast has "arbitrarily" blocked Internet access, regardless of the level of traffic, and failed to disclose to consumers that it was doing so.
News Corp's Rupert Murdoch said it was "very unlikely" his company would be involved in any Yahoo Inc. transaction and said Yahoo and Microsoft would not end up with any deal.
Asked whether he thought Yahoo would end up in Microsoft Corp's hands, he said, "There won't be a deal. There's bad personal feelings."
Microsoft offered to buy Yahoo earlier this year for $47.5 billion, but withdrew its offer in May after feeling frustrated over discussions.
"In six months, (Microsoft) will walk away," Murdoch said at the annual Allen & Co media and technology moguls confab.
According to Christine Churchill of KeyRelevance, the missing metric of your paid search campaign is offline conversion tracking. With prices going up and competition getting tighter, Christine says you have to be accountable for your spending. Christine suggests trying several tracking methods such as: customer tagging, coupons, and unique pricing. Find out more in Mike McDonald’s interview with Christine Churchill.
