FreeBirthdayTreats

FreeBirthdayTreats.com is a great example of a niche website that has maximal utility with minimal complication. I call sites like these Nichepedias — they have a very useful database for a very specific action or set of knowledge. The question is, how long do such sites exist before they are gobbled up by the larger compendiums of niche information? What meta-database of niche database sites is currently in greatest use? The birthday treat niche is not important enough for Mahalo and not a google-friendly search; you have to think up a question before you can search for it.

Much is made of social media and its collaborative and informational benefits. I love talking about the wisdom of the crowds and any form of collective intelligence online. But there are times where the objective is too niche for the crowd to care much about it, like where to go for a free birthday ice cream. Then again, what would this website look like if it were turbocharged by the community-at-large? Perhaps we just mash it up with Yelp and Google Maps and call it day? Continue reading →

Schwaggin’ Wagon is back! We are donating completely to Operation Gratitude this time and we will be at both  Twiistup 4 and Mashable’s Summer Mash LA to collect unwanted schwag. It all gets sent to the troops overseas, rather than the back of your closet or a landfill.

We are dedicated to highlighting Green and Eco-Conscious products and services for the LA area and around the U.S., in addition to our usual goal of raising awareness of Schwag-wastefulness. Here’s an excerpt from my post on The Schwaggin’ Wagon blog (consider this a cross-posting of sorts):

***

Did you ever think you’d hear us say we are The Schwaggin’ SUV? For this Tech-Event-Week in Los Angeles, we are proud to team up with Eco-Limo to create the Schwaggin’ Eco-Wagon! We will be ridin’ around Los Angeles in a Bio-Diesel Ford Excursion SUV, compliments of our sponsor, Eco-Limo.

Why are we so pleased at this sponsorship/partnership? It’s not because they were chosen to service the Academy Awards for the last four years. It’s that Eco-Limo is one of only 6 companies in California featured on Google’s Google Green site, and last year they received the Grand Prize in Sustainability by the City of Santa Monica, recognized as well by the California State Senate and Assembly! In short, they rock the eco-world. They are exactly what we were looking for in terms of transportation.

Continue reading →

****Click here for the video: Livestream of the event

Thank you to my panelists, attendees, and Ustream participants for a successful and informative panel!

[Here's the eMarketer chart we discussed showing advertising spending for online video and projections until 2011. I asked my panelists about these projections, and if they thought they'd remain accurate. Considering that advertisers still spend around $65 Billion a year for television ads, $4 Billion in 2011 is a comparatively small piece of the pie, however they thought this was a low estimate. Much of the sentiment from the panel puts these numbers in context--much needed after you've read Paul La Monica's pithy blog post on these numbers. We discussed what was possible for online video despite the comparatively low spending thus far.]

I’m moderating I’ve moderated a panel on the future of online video content, from the perspective of those who are actually creating online content in a professional manner. I created this panel for the premier of a television show I co-created for Tru TV. Rather than go on about my experiences with network television, I thought it more appropriate to look to the future, especially because my primary profession is that of emerging media specialist, not a creator-producer in the entertainment industry.

Thank you to Robert Richman! Rob summed this up quite well in his guest post on Andrew Warner’s Mixergy.com blog. Here are Rob’s conclusions: Continue reading →

Recently I started working at Blankspaces. This is a coworking office environment designed for freelancers and independent professionals who work solo, but who want to do so with others in an office environment. This can be a temporary, or somewhat more permanent solution to the isolation of working from one’s home. It’s a fantastic idea that embodies the best aspects of collaborative work and the potential for cross-pollination of ideas.  The proximity encourages conversations that might only arise seldomly at a cafe or cocktail party, thereby increasing chances of serendipity in one’s business and life.

Blankspaces is the paradigmatic example of the intersection between physical and online space–they have an online community that compliments and augments the offline community. Some of my graduate school work looked at examples of synchronous and asynchronous online/offline collaboration; I’ve been looking for more examples ever since. Continue reading →

It is not often that I tell people they “must read” something. Bill McKibben eloquently tells us in this article why it is necessary for us to act now to make sure our governments collaborate on climate change agreements in the next 3 years.

I will say this at the outset– I believe him. I believe the scientist Rajendra Pachauri who McKibben quotes as giving humanity a hard deadline of 2012 — if we do not begin actions to lower emissions before that date, we will set off irrecoverable chain reactions in the environment.

The goal is to roll back our CO2 emissions from 385 to 350ppm (parts per million).

A few of us have just launched a new campaign, 350.org. Its only goal is to spread this number around the world in the next 18 months, via art and music and ruckuses of all kinds, in the hope that it will push those post-Kyoto negotiations in the direction of reality.

If ever there were a time for me to proclaim “this is the paradigmatic example of why social and collaborative media are crucial,” now would be it. If you’ve ever asked, “what’s the point of Web 2.0?”, here is Continue reading →

Consulting to businesses on how they will incorporate Web 2.0 strategy and outreach via social media is a highly rewarding endeavor. I get to witness, first-hand, the means by which businesses are coping with this fundamental shift in our culture, our economy, how we make decisions, and how we market our goods and services to each other, among other transformative practices. I’m particuarly fond of assisting startup companies as they grapple with what creates community and fosters collaborative behavior among their users. Continue reading →

When we first created this show, we had visions of promoting it by tapping into the natural fanbase of hackers, geeks, and enthusiasts found all over the Internet. The uber-talented cast–Chris Nickerson, Luke McOmie (Pyr0), and Ryan Jones–have friends far and wide both within the hacker community and beyond. That alone, with almost no effort, was enough to gain fan interest and much press when the show premiered last year. Within a few days we had a wikipedia entry, we were rising up on Digg, and other kinds of social and collaborative media were used to embrace the show, primarily because it struck a nerve with actual security professionals. They are so used to inauthentic portrayals of hacking, that when they find something real, they love it. Continue reading →

My latest post on the Schwaggin’ Wagon site is about Flash Philanthropy. In this post an attempt was made to provide perspective on what we engaged in during the conference and in the days leading up to it. Beyond our obvious intentions–reclaiming items that would be wasted or unused, as well as drawing attention to the practices of the promotional and marketing industry–my team was a living, breathing example of social media outreach, social media collaboration, small group collaboration, and even some ad-hoc practices. We embodied the practices and attitudes we ask our clients to exude, and we did it rather non self-consciously. I am so proud of what this team accomplished that I will probably use this example for years to come. The question now is: What’s next? The team is in discussion on this, and we are open to listening to the needs of conference attendees everywhere.

Before you read any further, you might as well find out what The Schwaggin’ Wagon is all about.

It is gratifying to have an idea come to fruition in just a few short days. Were it not for Marjorie Kase of Blogger Reps, David Preciado of Social Rocket, Andy Sternberg of Netzoo, Kyra Reed Author of Blog 101 Book, and Daniel Hartman Esq. and others, there is no way the event that is this wagon would be in existence. Continue reading →

Search Engine Optimization. SEO. What is SEO really? How much should you be concerned about all the little tricks? What about spending the majority of your time creating great content on your site?

SEO should stand for Simply Effective Outstanding content. So it should really be: SEOCON

Let’s look at each of these top SEO techniques by David Leonhardt (one of the SEO gurus) and see which ones actually require rolling up of sleeves and creating great content:

1. Be bold. Use the <b> </b> tags around some of your keywords on each page. Do NOT use them everywhere the keyword appears. Once or twice is plenty.

Okay, that’s a trick. Fine. Will do.

2. Deep linking. Make sure you have links coming in to as many pages as possible. What does it tell a search engine when other web sites are linking to different pages on your site? That you obviously have lots of worthwhile content. What does it tell a search engine that all your links are coming in to the home page? That you have a shallow site of little value, or that your links were generated by automation rather than by the value of your site.

This requires creation of great content.

3. Become a foreigner. Canada and the UK have many directories for websites of companies based in those countries. Can you get a business address in one of those countries?

Does anyone really go to this kind of trouble for SEO? Perhaps. But it’s still not worth your time unless you can easily do it.

4. Newsletters. Offer articles to ezine publishers that archive their ezines. The links stay live often for many years in their archives.

This requires great content. And, btw, what would we consider to be in the category of “ezine”?

5. First come, first served. If you must have image links in your navigation bar, include also text links. However, make sure the text links show up first in the source code, because search engine robots will follow the first link they find to any particular page. They won’t follow additional links to the same page.

Okay, neat trick. Thanks David.

6. Multiple domains. If you have several topics that could each support their own website, it might be worth having multiple domains. Why? First, search engines usually list only one page per domain for any given search, and you might warrant two. Second, directories usually accept only home pages, so you can get more directory listings this way. Why not a site dedicated to gumbo pudding pops?

This is a great suggestion. And guess what? It requires great content.

7.  Article exchanges. You’ve heard of link exchanges, useless as they generally are. Article exchanges are like link exchanges, only much more useful. You publish someone else’s article on the history of pudding pops with a link back to their site. They publish your article on the top ten pudding pop flavors in Viet Nam, with a link back to your site. You both have content. You both get high quality links. (More on high quality links in other tips.)

I agreee - to an extent. And guess what? This requires the creation of great content.

8. Titles for links. Links can get titles, too. Not only does this help visually impaired surfers know where you are sending them, but some search engines figure this into their relevancy for a page.

Okay David. Neat trick.

9. Not anchor text. Don’t overdo the anchor text. You don’t want all your inbound links looking the same, because that looks like automation - something Google frowns upon. Use your URL sometimes, your company name other times, “Gumbo Pudding Pop” occasionally, “Get gumbo pudding pops” as well, “Gumbo-flavored pudding pops” some other times, etc.

Yes, but this is contingent on…you guessed it… great content in the first place.

10. Site map. A big site needs a site map, which should be linked to from every page on the site. This will help the search engine robots find every page with just two clicks. A small site needs a site map, too. It’s called the navigation bar.

Fine. Agreed. Though this will not help you if it points to bad content.

How about we discuss methods to prod yourself–and make your life easier–toward the pursuit of creating compelling content for your site? (for another post) Yes, traditional SEO has its place. But that place is not as expansive as it once was, given the many changes in the search environment, not to mention the precipitous rise of social media.