Technorati Tags: advertising campaigns, busiest shopping days of the year, mobile outreach

There are hundreds, perhaps thousands, of writing guides out there. But in my opinion, none surpass the simple, direct advice of The Elements of Style by William Strunk, Jr. and E.B.White. I was first introduced to them while in college. I had this really amazing but difficult instructor. She was very into the formal presentation of writing.

So when I came accross a writing guide written by Strunk and White that fit BLOG posting I figured I had better share it with you.

What a great way to start the new year than cleaning up the way you write in your blog.

Read the best parts of the book here

Below is a excerpt found on copyblogger.com

1. Put the reader first. The purpose of writing is clear, sometimes persuasive, communication. It is not about you or your clever ideas. If you write to impress, you will distract the reader from the content. Good writing is like a store window. It should be clean and clear, providing an unobstructed view of the contents within.
2. Organize your thoughts. You don’t need a detailed outline for most writing. But you do need to know what you want to say before you say it. If you’re comfortable with the sort of outline you learned in school, use it. Otherwise, simply jot down the important points you want to make and arrange them in the order you want to make them. Eliminate any ideas that are not directly related to these points.
3. Use short paragraphs. Look at any newspaper and notice how short the paragraphs are. That’s done to make reading easier since our brains take in information better when ideas are broken into small chunks. In ordinary writing, each paragraph develops one idea and includes many sentences. But in blogging, the style is less formal and paragraphs may be as short as a single sentence or even a single word.
4. Use short sentences. You should keep sentences short for the same reason you keep paragraphs short: they’re easier to read and understand. Each sentence should have one simple thought. More than that creates complexity and invites confusion.
5. Use simple words. Since your purpose is to communicate and not impress, simple words work better than big ones. Write “get” instead of “procure.” Write “use” rather than “utilize.” Use the longer words only if your meaning is so precise there is no simpler word to use.
6. Be specific. Don’t write “Many doctors recommend Brand X.” Write “97% of doctors recommend Brand X.” Don’t write “The Big Widget is offered in many colors.” Write “The Big Widget comes in red, green, blue, and white.” Get to the point. Say what you mean. Use specific nouns.
7. Write in a conversational style. There is a road sign often posted near construction sites that always irritates me. It reads, “Maintain present lane.” Why so formal? A more conversational style would be better: “Stay in your lane” or “Do not change lanes.” If you write as if you’re wearing a top hat and spats, you distance yourself from the reader and muddle the message.
8. Be clear. This may be the most important rule of all. Without clarity, your writing fails on every level. You achieve clarity when you accurately communicate the meaning in your head to the head of your reader. That’s difficult. Look at your writing with an objective eye. Consider what might be misunderstood and rewrite it. Find what is irrelevant and delete it. Notice what is missing and insert it.

When writing fails, it’s probably because you don’t have something to say, are too concerned with affecting a style, or both. Follow the suggestions here, and you will avoid these problems and many others. Plus you will find that your copy is more lively, more meaningful, and more profitable.

Thanks Copyblogger

Technorati Tags: elements of style, persuasive communication, strunk and white, william strunk jr

More than two-thirds of US consumers say digital out-of-home (OOH) advertising catches their attention, and the majority say it is less annoying than ads onTV, radio, the internet, and in magazines, according to data from a report by EPM Communications.

Moreover, more than one-third (36%) of consumers say they take action as a result of digital OOH ads, EPM said, citing data from SeeSaw Networks/OTX. Among those age 18-24, that number rises to 51%.

The report, “Digital Out-of-Home Media,” which draws on industry data from SeeSaw, the Cinema Advertising Council and Arbitron, also states that digital OOH advertising - which is a $1 billion business and growing -  places second (48%), after television (56%), in terms of the percentage of people who find it “entertaining,” and only 26% of consumers say digital signage advertising is annoying, when compared with ads on the internet (67%), radio (52%) and TV (51%).

As recently 2006, running an ad on high definition TVs in supermarkets, malls or arenas was largely experimental, EPM said. However, lower technology costs are making digital signage more accessible to marketers who have the opportunity to reach various audiences where they live, work, travel, shop and participate in recreational activities.

The report states that the compelling numbers behind the digital OOH phenomenon prove its value, and offers recommendations and considerations for starting digital OOH ad campaigns. It also highlights several key areas of future opportunity for placement of digital signage to capture the attention in the following venues:

Supermarkets, malls and retail: In-store TV networks and other digital signage at retail figure prominently into the practice of “shopper marketing,” and can significantly influence shoppers as they make their purchase decisions. Key things to consider before advertising in such venues include high costs, a lack of a captive audience because shoppers are continually “on the move,” and stiff competition with other stimuli on the shopping floor.

Transit terminals, sidewalks, highways: Catching consumers’ attention as they move from one location to another is becoming more attractive to advertisers, who are increasingly including mobile phone and website “calls-to-action” to accompany screen advertising. Key considerations include a sometimes-high cost, ensuring that spots are short and to-the-point, and making messages effective without audio.

Taxis, offices, gas pumps and planes: These locations and others, such as elevators and fitness centers, generally capture a higher-income audience whose time for TV viewing at home is increasingly limited, but who have several minutes in which they are “captive” to a screen. Considerations include varying audience dwell times, high rates and the fact that shorter spots usually yield higher recall rates in certain venues.

Bars and restaurants: Digital screens in restaurants, clubs, bars and nightlife locations enhance the value proposition of static “billboard” advertising and can often reach the notoriously elusive 21-34-year-old demographic. Things to consider for ads in these venues include varying audio levels, interactive screens that offer deeper reporting data and the opportunity to offer complementary marketing initiatives in the form of branded drink coasters, collateral and talent appearances.

Arenas: The third-party installation of hundreds of digital displays in the concourses of professional sports and entertainment arenas enables advertisers to bypass sporting leagues and event organizers yet still reach desirable target audiences. Key considerations include audiences with relatively short viewer-time, the calculation of rates based on Arbitron and ticket data formulae, and the opportunity to extend digital display messages to sideline signage and JumboTron scoreboards. Opportunities also exist to include mobile phone and web calls to action and Bluetooth interactivity.

Cinemas: Digital ads in movie theaters are claiming a bigger slice of markers’ budgets, drawing funds away from new media and TV spot production, according to EPM. In-cinema advertising reached $650 million in 2007, up 42% over 2006.When considering these types, be mindful of theaters’ unique A/V requirements, which may require ads for other venues to be resized, recut and remixed - even provided in film format. A growing number of in-cinema campaigns are also extending off the screen with other opportunities to continue marketing efforts.

“Finding the right person at a company to implement a digital out-of-home campaign remains the greatest single challenge for clients, agencies, and network sales reps alike,”  said Ira Mayer, president and publisher, EPM Communications. “‘Digital Out-of-Home Media’ provides complete contact information for more than 100 key players among network & service providers, network aggregators, agencies experienced in digital out-of-home campaigns, research firms and consultants, and trade groups.”

Thanks Marketing Charts

Technorati Tags: captive audience, purchase decisions, shopper marketing

There are 2 main options to use.

First watch this You Tube video on how to use YouTube in a wordpress blog.

Next install a really Cool plugin Called Viper Video Quick Tags.

it is pretty self explanatory you just use the settings tab and click on video quick tags.
They allow videos from all of the major suppliers.

YouTube
Google Video
Daily Motion
Vimeo
Veoh
Viddler
MetaCafe
Blip.tv
Flikr
Spike
MySpace

Embed and enjoy!

Ohh Yea and check out our ad exchange program at exchangemyad.com

Screen Shoot Google Insights

Google has released a fun new little tool to assist in market research called Google Insights.

It seems to have been a pretty hush release because I am on a lot of email lists and I read the top blogs on the subject and no one has been talking about it (yet).

This tool combines Google Trends and Google Keyword Research Tool. It allows you to filter results by country and time frame. It is a great way to figure those great little niche markets that we are always talking about.

I have been using it to discover the best route to take for exchangemyad.com. I have discover that world wide there is a great need for ad exchange programs. So, the main phrase that I wanted to be found under is Ad Exchange Program. At the time of this writing there was listed a little over 6 million web pages for that phrase. We (exchangemyad) is ranked 4th!.

Pretty amazing. Take advantage of this tool, it is well worth your time!

Google Insights

Feedburner by Google

What is this thing called burning a feed? Why do I need it? ohh yea and what is RSS really mean?

Well lets start at the begining.

Rss = Really Simple Syndication - it is basically a way to relay your blog entries to large news suppliers, also it is how people connect to your blog to receive a digital copy of your latest post. It is read through a reader such as newsgator, google reader and others.

What is Burning a feed? - this is a way to force sites like content feeds including USATODAY.com, BBC News Headlines, ABCNews, CNET, Yahoo!, Amazon.com. Read feedburning 101 here.

Why do I need it? well I guess you don’t if you would rather stand on the street corner and hand out printed versions of your blog. This is a simple way to start the ball rolling in telling the world about what you have to say.

Ways to help Burn your feed - if you are using wordpress you will need to use FeedBurner FeedSmith plugin

get the latest version here.

This is a simple install that will really help with getting your posts out where people will find it.

Happy Blogging

Technorati Tags: feedburner, news headlines, rss, syndication

This week ebay released a coupon worth 10 percent off any order with a max of $100.00 off.
This works on any region of ebay around the world.

Coupon:

CHOLIDAYNOV2008

As you proceed to checkout simply put this into the COUPON section and it will knock of 10 %

Not bad Ehh?

I can only guess this is their attempt to stimulate an already slowing christmas season of online retail shopping.

It’s good enough for me. I have used it a couple of times now, so it isnt a one time deal.

Happy Shopping!

Don’t forget the Black Friday sales coming up on Nov 27th.

Technorati Tags: black friday sales, christmas season, coupon section, ebay, time deal

Zappos.com Inc feeling the stress from the economic problems in the USA.

The online shoes, clothing, bags and accessories retailer, No. 27 in the Internet Retailer Top 500 Guide, is laying off about 80 of it employees to cut costs.

Zappos is thinking of also closeing outlet storesin Nevada and Kentucky all to save more money, CEO Tony Hsieh wrote in a note on the company’s blog last week. “We made the hard choice of laying off about 8% of our employees,” says Hsieh. “The layoffs will affect almost every single department at Zappos.com.”

It is not their choice, the largest of their investors is telling them to trim the fat.
The employees to be laid off will be paid through the end of the year. Workers who have been with the company for three or more years will receive an additional payout, says Zappos.

In addition to firing employees, Zappos is also cutting back its sales forecast for 2008. Zappos now hopes that sales will grow by about 17% to around $1 billion from $850 million in 2007. That is still some serouis growth if you ask me. The turn in the market is effecting everyone. We will have to keep our heads up and push forward to make it through.

Technorati Tags: economic problems, firing employees, internet retailer top 500 guide, tony hsieh, zappos

More than one in three holiday shoppers - or 62.3 million adult consumers - report they begin holiday shopping before Thanksgiving, according to new data from Mediamark Research & Intelligence (MRI).

Just 35% of holiday shoppers say they begin shopping between Thanksgiving and December 15, and 25% say they start their shopping between December 16 and 23, MRI’s 2008 Omnibus Recontact Study found.
Approximately 2% of holiday shoppers don’t begin their holiday shopping until Christmas Eve or Christmas Day. (exceprt from Marketing Charts)

So what does that mean for us retailers? Ya better get your act in gear! The 2008 holiday session is HERE!

Things to keep in mind when do your advetising:

1- Targeted ads are better than generic

2- Google adwords is not the only place to advertise

3- Social networks my be a key to advertising passive markets

4- Don’t forget Ebay and Overstock

The more target your ads can be the more chance that they will convert into sales. This means that if some one is looking up a product like a (Nokia N96 mobile phone) then you put those exact words in your AD and in the landing page that you send them to. The customer must feel that they are being led down the correct path to exactly what they are looking to purchase.

Google is a great place to advertise but for most beginners it is way to complicated and you can loose a large sum of your advertising budget quite quickly. (Google adwords Learning Center) Look at other ways to advertise. Yahoo has a good program (Yahoo Paid Search) MSN has one also (MSN AdCenter). These are only tip of the iceberg. There are a lot of 2nd tier search sites that offer great advetising options. Miva, Kanoodle, Ask are a few of them that I trust.

Social networks like Facebook, Bebo, Myspace and Friendster are just a few of the top social networks that are all the craze these days. (Just the other day a really good friend from my high school days found me on facebook, haven’t talked with him in over 10 years. ) So if so many people are there looking for old buddies why not advertise? Check out Cubics.com .

Last but not least is the Auction services, Ebay, Overstock and many others are here to serve you and your customers. You may have heard that Ebay just raised their prices on listing auctions and completed listings.
Yes this is true but never fear their is always a silver lining. You have many options to offset the costs by using third party services to list your items. Auctiva.com, Vendio.com, Inkfrog.com these guys allow you to speed up your listings and offer most of Ebays upgrade tools for free.

This season is going to be very very GOOD for online sellers. No one wants to drive when the cost of gas is still pushing $4.00 per gallon (USA) Im sure it is as bad or worse everywhere else. So get out there and SELL SELL SELL.

Technorati Tags: adult consumers, holiday shoppers

So what does that mean to all you paid advertisers? Get off thinking that google is the only place that you can advertise. There are a lot of amazing OTHER places to spend your advertising dollars and get more use out of them. Have you ever heard of Cubics.com ? These guys have created a network with most of the top social networks. You create an account with them and you can advertise on FACEBOOK, MYSPACE, BEBO, FRIENDSTER and more. give it a try, it wont hurt, and… You might just hit the jackpot of a new marketing niche.

If you want to read more about social media and adults