I visit a lot of blogs and websites that talk marketing and give tips on boosting traffic and sales convergence. Never have I come across an article like the one posted at AnalyzedMarketing.com. Yet in reading through it and even the comments on the site, it is clear that there is in fact an opportunity here to use EBay as a tool rather than just as a service, an opportunity I nor many others never even thought of.
Here is an excerpt from one their tips:
One way to use Ebay is as a market research and keyword research tool. By simply creating a free account with them, you get the ability to search through all items that are available for sale. By doing an “advanced search” you can do a search only for items in which the auction has already ended. To do this, simply check off the option “completed items only.”
To do market research and keyword research on Ebay, simply do a search for all the completed items with some of the keywords in your target market. This search will reveal to you what prospects are paying right now for items in your market as well as what keywords successful sellers are using to drive traffic to their auctions. As you can probably imagine, this type of information is incredibly valuable to those who actually use such information to their advantage … which, by the way, is highly recommended.
On September 23rd a new smartphone is entering the mobile market, backed by the Google, this phone has its eyes set on dethroning Apple and RIM. The G1 from T-Mobile will be the first handset to run Google’s new mobile operating system, Android. And while it won’t look as sleek as the iPhone, it promises to give mobile-phone users a lot more freedom and flexibility. Something that Apple products in general seem to shy away from. Not a knock on Apple, they do deliver (for the most part) good quality products.
If you are un-familiar with the Google Android project do yourself a favour and watch the following video:
My current webhost, BlueFur.com is offering a 10% discount to DropTheMike.com readers. Simply use the promotional code: dropthemike
Why do I recommend BlueFur? Well how is this for good service, they took care of the entire migration of my blog from my previous hosting company. I do mean everything. Well except for the DNS change I had to make on my domain name.
Again that promo code was “dropthemike”, and that saves you 10%.
I am just as guilty of spelling and grammar mistakes as any other blogger. “10 Most Misspelled Words In Blogs” is a great little article I came across courtesy of @SocialMtgExpert
Here is an excerpt.
Ok, so technically the following words aren’t misspelled. They’re misused. The reason you should review this list is because a spell checker won’t correct these for you. Make sure that you’ve got foolproof control over them (especially if you tend to write around 3:12 AM like I am now). Extensively misusing them throughout your posts may actually cost you a visitor or two every now and then because some folks do get caught up on these, which means they won’t focus 100 % of their attention on your incredibly valuable content!
1. Your - You’re
As mentioned above, your message might lose impact if you’re not paying attention to this number one word maltreatment. If you find it particularly difficult to separate them from each other, stop using ‘you’re’ altogether and notice how you are starting to improve your spelling.
2. Then - Than
The next step is then to tell yourself that it’s better late than never to get that vowel placement in order. Then your readers might find something more useful to comment on than your apparent spelling impediment.
Ah the wonderful world of Wordpress blogging. Where you can publish content to hundreds of thousands just as quickly as the idea for a post comes to mind. Also where you can change the entire look and feel of your site at the click of a button!
I have come across many Wordpress templates/themes sites, as I am sure you have as well. Today I came across one that definately stands out above the rest. The site is topwpthemes.com.
Here you will find a wide variety of professional looking designs, even Ad sense ready designs!
If you haven’t been here before, do yourself a favour and check it out now.
Eventually our blogs and/or sites reach a point where our amateurish logos need a fresh coat of paint, usually a complete redesign. The first thing you will likely do is attempt to design one yourself. You will likely fail miserably. A small minority of you will think you did a great job… but you didn’t. Next you will likely look for professional help. You will likely come across and strongly consider “Do-It-Yourself” online logo generators like www.logoyes.com. You may even take things a step further and contact a graphic designer and see about getting a completely custom logo. A custom logo, in most cases, will cost you more up front but in the long run you will have something that is built to your exact specs and is completely unique to you. Plus you will have actual back and forth conversation with the designer until you are happy with the logo.
Within the last month I went through all of the above. Eventually I reached out to www.onwired.com, they have an amazing sense of style with their own site so I though this is who I want to design my logo. After reaching out to them about my blog and my logo requirements, within a day I received 5 or 6 logo comps that they came up for me based on what I had told them. Within 1 day! I was amazed at the quick turnaround time. And because they listened to what I was looking for from the start, they nailed the look and feel on the first set of comps.
I have absolutely nothing but good things to say about the OnWired team. So if you are looking at getting a logo, or maybe even a complete site design, be sure to check them out. Here are their contact details.
Recently the WHIR posted a few videos they made of their trip to the Toronto offices of OpenSRS also known as Tucows. Now I know they are a competitor of my company’s but hey, they are Canadian and they are fighting the same battles all us registrars are battling.
A previous post on the topic of GoDaddy going to far with its GoDaddyGirls.com site got my male brain thinking… Who would make for a good DropTheMike girl… you know… when the blog explodes into a multi-million dollar venture HAHA.
There are lots of girls out there to choose from. Being a tech guy I thought it would be best to stick with girls in a tech related industry. I found a good article by AskMen.com showcasing their thoughts on the Top 10 hottest Women in tech. The top 3 they chose are 3 very good choices, and I must say all would make great DropTheMike.com girls. They easily top the GoDaddy Girls.
What do you think?
Jessica Chobot
When a coy modeling photo of Jessica Chobot licking the Sony PSP appeared online, she became an overnight internet sensation. Fondling the PSP turned out to be a genius career move for Jessica Chobot, and it didn’t take long for her to abandon her modeling career in favor of the other opportunities that were opening up for her in video game and entertainment journalism. The anime-obsessed Chobot, who goes by the gamer handle The Baroness, has contributed to FHM UK, Mania.com, and has appeared numerous times on G4’s “Filter” and “Attack of the Show.” She also hosted a video game preview segment for Fuel TV’s “The Daily Habit.” In 2006, IGN hired Chobot to host the network’s IGN Weekly show, where she appears in both studio segments and “on-the-street” pieces. She also currently writes for the IGN website, and her blog is one of the most popular on the site. She is a weekly guest on Maxim Radio, where she answers caller questions for an hour every Monday. As if all that’s not enough, she is currently penning a script with TRON writer Steven Lisberger, titled Soul Code and slated for release in 2009.
Sometimes finding good free tools, even something as simple on the surface as a broken link checker, can be a chore. So whenever I come across something new, I like to share it with my readers.
Today I found this very nice, clean, link checking tool that allows you to check any website to validate the links they have. This is useful in making sure that none of your links are broken. Broken links not only mean a bad user experience, it also reflects poorly on your SEO. Checking links manually can be tedious, using a tool like YellowPipe broken link checker is fast and accurate.
Unzip the Publicizer zip file and you will have a folder called “Publicizer” upload this folder to /wordpress/wp-content/themes/
Login to your wordpress and click on Design in your admin panel and click on your new theme to activate.
If you want to add an advertisement to the sidebar area go into: /wordpress/wp-content/themes/Publicizer folder using your ftp and html editor program. Find either leftsidebar.php or righsidebar.php and you can edit the files there.
The worlds largest domain registrar by a long shot (debatable as to whether it is the best registrar), has long used in your face marketing tactics and of course a little eye candy to sell its brand. But come on, when is it too much? I mean the fact that they own and run GoDaddyGirls.com clearly shows where their head is at.
Don’t get me wrong, the visuals are nice. But be professional, your running a business. Your even trying to acquire businesses as customers. Marketing your company and running your company as if your customer base are nothing but wide eyed teen-aged boys may lead to some larger customer acquisition numbers but successful business is not just about acquisition. It is also about retention. You retain your customers by not only providing top notch products but also by providing superior support.
You may have noticed the nifty little Twitter widget I added to the site. I like it because it displays all of my friends and their posts (including links) and to top it off I can customize it to fit my blog. The code is very simple and straight forward. Just copy the following into your HTML where you want the widget to appear.
Obviously you want to modify the variables with the values of your choice. Also be sure to change “user” to your username :)
Lightbox is a simple, unobtrusive script used to overlay images on the current page. It’s a snap to setup and works on all modern browsers. For an example click here.
How to Use
Part 1 - Setup
1. Lightbox 2 uses the Prototype Framework and Scriptaculous Effects Library. You will need to include these three Javascript files in your header (in this order).
3. Check the CSS and make sure the referenced prev.gif and next.gif files are in the right location. Also, make sure the loading.gif and close.gif files as referenced near the top of the lightbox.js file are in the right location.
Part 2 - Activate
1. Add a rel=”lightbox” attribute to any link tag to activate the lightbox. For example:
Optional: Use the title attribute if you want to show a caption.
2. If you have a set of related images that you would like to group, follow step one but additionally include a group name between square brackets in the rel attribute. For example:
As another evolution in the DropTheMike.com blog, I am pleased to announce I have added a Resources Directory to the site. This is a list of links, services, tutorials and tools that are of value to most any webmaster at one point in time or another. While I hope to have links added or modified on a continual basis, I cannot necessarily guarantee that all links will work at all times. Nor can I guarantee that all information presented on these third party sites are accurate. It is provided to you purely as a learning tool.
To access the directory simply scroll down to the bottom of any page on the the DropTheMike.com website.
If you have links that you would like to add to the directory or if you find any broken links, let me know.
