Do more with mobile

Google is updating the features on mobile ads again - this time introducing click-to-call phone numbers in mobile ads. I can see this as a definitely helpful feature instead of trying to remember a number and dial.

Like Post-its for Analytics

Google Analytics has now made their annotations feature available to everyone. If you run a special promotion or your site is featured somewhere, you can create an annotation to note the event and help track traffic, conversions, etc. or just remember that it happened six months later when someone asks about the spike in traffic.

Social Sharing

Delicious changes the way you can view links which gives it a more StumbleUpon feel. You can see Google's take called Fast Flip in the Google Labs.

Checking in

The Frugal Traveler gives us an interesting approach to the benefits of Foursquare. Being mayor can be more than ceremonial when it leads to discounts or inside info on a venue. I finally broke down and installed Foursquare on my phone.

A tale of two social media sites

The New York Times reviews The Accidental Billionaires: The Founding of Facebook, A Tale of Sex, Money, Genius, and Betrayal and Stealing MySpace: The Battle to Control the Most Popular Website in America. Sounds like a soap opera.

Iron Chef - Bing vs. Google edition

I haven't found much that Bing is better for - or maybe Google is just a habit. But this feature could be seriously helpful. Bing has added a recipe search that might help you decide what's for dinner.

Assigning authority to the Twitterati

In indexing Tweets, are re-tweets more important? Does it depend on who said it initially? Or who passed it on? Apparently so, according to Technology Review. Google is working to identify "reputed followers" which will presumably work like inbound links and PageRank to give higher authority to certain information on Twitter.

No RSS feed? No problem!

You can now use Google Reader to keep up with changes on any webpage. So if there's a product you've been keeping an eye on and want to know if the price or description has changes, Google Reader can now create a feed for that page and let you know when content on the page has updated. I tried it out and it's incredibly easy to use.

Content is King

The Online Marketing Blog offers 10 Tips for Content Marketing Success, and they have some thought provoking statistics. 900,000 blog posts are published every 24 hours and 20 hours of video are uploaded every minute to YouTube, so creating compelling content is essential.

Facebook Privacy Changes

We've written extensively about Facebook privacy settings in the past, but some new changes were made recently and it's important that you understand the changes and why you shouldn't automatically accept the Facebook defaults. Here are 3 Facebook Settings you should check now, from the New York Times. (More to come on this topic.)

Google Ads & Mobile

Google is rolling out new functionality for mobile ads that allows advertisers to targetspecific devices or carriers - so if you sell  iPhone or Touch accessories, your ads can appear only on those devices. You can even offer a download option for apps (and they'll appear only on the devices that offer those apps)

Massachusetts Senate Race

Apparently the signs were there. Scott Brown was winning in social media ahead of his victory at the polls. SearchEngine Watch offers an anaylsis of the YouTube statistics. I've heard similar disparaties existed on Facebook as well.

Share your purchases

I've seen people on Twitter starting to use the new social shopping service Blippy and I'm not sure what I think yet. Springwise points out that it offers transparency - allowing users to see what others are paying for the same service, but I'm not sold yet. Anyone using it to good results?

Are we rational?

Two things I read this week made me wonder if people make rational decisions. First, Branding Strategy Insider explains that all those warnings designed to scare us away from smoking actually encourage some people to smoke. And second, the Washington Post Magazine offers Beyond Comprehension: We know that genocide and famine are greater tragedies than a lost dog. At least, we think we do.

The Washington Post is running a video series called On Leadership. The latest installment is Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak talking about Steve Jobs, managing creative thinkers and creating revolutionary products.

The London Times wonders, If brevity is the soul of wit, does Twitter make comedians funnier?

Distracted driving takes on a whole new meaning with the introduction of new Internet enabled cars at the consumer electronics show.

Not sure what to do with unwanted holiday gifts? 6 ideas from creating performance art to Neighborgoods.

Despite the hype, social media is not the answer to all marketing questions. Read Write Web reminds us when not to use social media.

Move over Oprah! We’re kicking off 2010 by starting the CDG Book Club. Every month or so, we’ll be reading a book about the web industry and posting our raves, rants, and other unsolicited opinions.

At least a few times a year, I like to rip myself away from screen time and consult a good ol’ fashioned book about the web industry—specifically about content, web writing, and usability. Unfortunately, a lot of the books I’ve picked up are not all that great. They’re either fairly simplistic guides geared toward web newbies or highly academic exercises that are not only a slog to get through, but have precious few practical takeaways.

There are, of course, a few notable exceptions—books that I not only recommend to fellow web professionals and clients—but that I find myself referring to again and again. Don’t Make Me Think by Steve Krug is one; Gerry McGovern’s Killer Web Content is another. And now I’ve found another gem that I’m going to rely on for years to come—Content Strategy for the Web. This book is absolutely a must for anyone who is involved in conceptualizing, creating, producing, and managing online content. Insightful, practical, and fun to read, Halvorson's book had me striking my forehead I-could’ve-had-a-V-8-style more times than I can count. Nearly everything Halvorson says should be self-evident to content professionals, yet she presents it in a way that’s completely revelatory.

I could go on about the book’s merit’s at length, but for the sake of brevity, let me paraphrase some of my favorite takeaways from Halvorson:

Continue reading "CDG Book Club: Content Strategy for the Web by Kristina Halvorson" »

Or: CDG's Greatest Hits, 2009 Edition

One of the best ways to find out what your blog's readers are interested in, and the kinds of topics you should continue to focus on, is to simply see which posts were most popular in the past year.

Fire up your analytics program -- in our case, we're using Google Analytics -- and change the date range to Jan. 1, 2009 through Dec. 31, 2009 and drill down into the Top Content.

This list can be sorted in several ways; it'll probably default to pageviews. It's up to you to decide what makes a post "popular." Is it pageviews? Bounce rate? Time on page?

Once you've sorted your list according to your priorities, some interesting nuggets will probably be revealed.

We've applied this method to our own blog, using unique pageviews. Since these pages also track well with a higher time on site, it means you liked them, you really really liked them.

Continue reading "Our Top 5 Blog Posts of 2009" »

As the year comes to a close -- and CDG Interactive's offices close for the Christmas/New Year's week break (thanks, Scott!) -- the CDG bloggers take a moment to look back at the Top 9 things we learned in 2009.

(For those of you keeping track at home, that's 3 lessons each.)

What we learned ranges from how to continue to stay inspired when writing to why cute animals will always drive blog traffic.

Continue reading "Top 9 Lessons We Learned in 2009" »

It's a hotel's worst nightmare: an unhappy guest has complained about the property online and now their review is popping up in Google search results.

What is a manager or director of sales to do?

At CDG Interactive, we help our hotel clients manage their reputations online. Based on that experience, we suggest you start by understanding--then implementing--these 3 Tips for Managing Your Hotel's Reputation Online.

Continue reading "Can They Really Say That About My Hotel?" »

The big day has arrived. You're responsible for marketing your business or organization and you're ready to take the plunge into social media. 

You've talked the board into it. You've talked your boss into it.

Now what?

Wouldn't it be nice if you had a Starter Kit? 

This is CDG Interactive's kit. These are five steps we take with our clients -- and that any business can take when getting into social media.

Continue reading "The Social Media for Business 5-Step Starter Kit" »

Or How the Internet Helped Heal My Cat & Get Rid of Drew’s Cancer

The topic I wanted to address this week was social media, community and creating change. Originally this post was supposed to be about Blame Drew’s Cancer as a social media phenomenon, and it still will be, but in a different way than I originally intended.

On Monday night I came home on my way to run what I thought would be a quick errand. Rather than being greeted at the door by Bandit, my cat, there was silence. I went looking for him and eventually found him on the floor of my bedroom. When I pet him, he didn’t even pick up his head, so it was obvious there was something really wrong. Into the cat carrier he went, and we were off to the veterinarian for an emergency visit. Once they determined the problem and it was clear that it was serious, they took him in the back to see if they could stabilize him enough that we could go down to the road to the 24-hour pet hospital.

As I was sitting there waiting and worrying, I pulled out my phone and posted an update on Twitter. In short order two of my dear friends were sitting beside me and the time passed more easily with them and the messages of support that started arriving from my Twitter friends.

When we were able to move Bandit to the hospital, it was clear I had a really sick kitty and I wondered if he was going to make it, but I was so glad I wasn’t alone. As we waited for news at the hospital, I posted updates toTwitter and Facebook.

Continue reading "What Social Media is Good For" »