Posted on May 2, 2008
TV Ad Placement Through Google
BY JASON CORMIER
It was only a matter of time, right? In trial for over a year, Google's TV ad placement service has now been rolled out to everyone. Those of you familiar with Google's Adwords process should find the TV Ad insertion web interface just as intuitive.
From target audience, to times, networks and programs -- a new level of access to TV advertising has just been born.
Posted on May 1, 2008
3 Sites to Help You Find Freelancers
BY STEPAN MAZUROV
Whether you are in a start-up, small business or large enterprise, there is always something that needs to be done that doesn't warrant a full time position. So if you are looking for that 5 hour a week website maintenance guy, a copy writer or a programmer for a 1 time project, there are websites out there that will help you find that person.
1. ScriptLance - ScriptLance is probably the least organized out of the bunch, but as a result it is also the cheapest. Once in a while you will find a diamond in the rough and therefore pay very very little for his work. Its primary focus is flash, photoshop, html and programming services, so if you are looking for a redesign or a custom site on the cheap, this is the place to go.
Posted on April 30, 2008
Just Another Twitter Post
BY INGRID GETZAN
There has been a lot of buzz on our blog about Twitter lately - with good reason. Companies are starting to understand the marketing power behind Twitter and what it can do to get the word out about your latest blog post, product, service or whatever message you want to convey in 140 characters.
Two days ago, Chris Brogan asked his followers on Twitter to 'tweet' him "Hi Cross Tech?" as he was in a business meeting, and I assume was discussing the effectiveness of Twitter. I wonder just how many people responded @chrisbrogan "Hi Cross Tech?" (I don't think Quotably has included all responses) I did. If you're pitching to a potential client about the uses of Twitter - you just backed your excact theory and possibly wowed them while in the process. Chris Brogan has 7,140 followers - even if only half of them were online at that exact moment - that's an outreach to 3,570 people that most likely blog.
Posted on April 29, 2008
Using Photos and Images In Blog Posts
BY JAMES CLARK
Using pictures to capture the essence of your blog post is an incredible and powerful way to communicate your messages. The interest in your post and future posts can be significantly enhanced by the use of photos. Personally I always find myself reading blogs incorporating the use of images and photos.
Following are recommendations for the best sites for Creative Commons blog photos and another just awesome image site. The link provided will take you to Wikipedia to further explain the different levels of Creative Commons licenses. The key piece to remember is to always provide a photo credit and link below.
- Flickr. By far the largest resource for photos. Note: make sure you use the advanced search options and select the "Only search within Creative Commons-licensed content "
- EveryStockPhoto. This is a license-specific photo search engine.
- Pixdaus. By far I think the most interesting of the three, but not reviewed for licensed content. The photos shown below are all from Pixdaus. I've linked to Pixdaus and to the user profile that has uploaded the photo. When using Pixdaus be sure to avoid photos with copyrights on them.
"Dubai" posted at Pixdaus by Jorge
"They Are Here" posted at Pixdaus by Luke
Posted on April 28, 2008
Are Personal Sites a Thing of the Past?
BY JENNIFER EUBANKS
Yesterday I came across an entry on Jeffrey Zeldman's blog talking about a seeming disappearance of personal sites. In one example, he talked about a site that, while it contains links to what might in the past have been links to other internal pages, all of these links took the user to external sites such as linkedin, flickr, twitter, etc.
While there can be advantages to outsourcing your online persona in this manner, there can be possible disadvantages as well. As someone creating an online presence, you should be sure that you understand what you want to use your personal site for (if indeed you even choose to have one amid the sea of social networking sites). Social sites often let you create a profile where you provide links to personal sites--these can help drive traffic to your personal page. Likewise, providing links to these social sites on your personal page can drive traffic to these external representations of you.
