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Prime Angus Filets: Links this Week 2-1-2008

Bob Angus — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 15:34:36 +0000

Demo 08 was held this week in Palm Desert, CA. For those that do not know about DEMO, it is the high powered gathering where startups can demo to venture capitalists, press, and other influential technology elite.

Since my fortunes are used for mundane things like a mortgage and not angel funding, I simply watched the demonstrations online. Here are some of the companies that I will be doing further research on or using this year:

MOLI – Moli provides a powerful social networking platform that allows you to present yourself in different ways to different people. Namely, you can have your business side completely separate from your 4am debaucheries, “OMG, I can’t believe I did that” side.

Seesmic – Any TechCrunch fanboy knows that Michael Arrington loves Seesmic. They offer video communication and community with a Twitter approach. I am going to have clean up my office if my videocam is going to come out of storage.

Review2Buy – Have you ever been about to buy something at a retail store and wished you had access to your favorite shopping comparison site or coupon/deals site? Am I overpaying? Is this model the one that will breakdown after a week? Review2Buy answers those questions.

atlaspost.com – atlaspost enhances blogs by adding the elements of a geography-based social network. Bloggers can geo-tag their posts and can identify readers and content with common locations… and likely common interests and experiences.

VisibleMeasures – As Web video ads gain momentum, tools to manage and measure video advertising are in demand. Believe it or not, measurement remains a difficult sell for technology vendors to the advertising industry. The old world brand marketing, big agency and media buy approach still rules the budget. The focus is on frequency and reach metrics and not sales. I hope this helps to finally break that down.

StandoutJobs - There are many sites that help the job seeker network and promote themselves in a social network. StandoutJobs targets the companies that are recruiting and provides the latest social media tools necessary to attract the right hires.

There are many, many more exceptional small companies from DEMO this year and previous years that you should check out. I highly recommend bookmarking DEMO to keep in the loop on emerging markets and technologies.

Image of the Week

Concept art by Tyler West for Electronic Arts’ Godfather video game. For more incredible video game concept art, see the annual collections from IntoThePixel.com.

Check out other pictures and images on my Flickr photos.

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Prime Angus Filets: Links this Week 1-18-2008

Bob Angus — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 06:20:24 +0000

Woo hoo! We made it to the weekend. Have a great time this weekend and, if weather permitting, I highly recommend getting away from your computer. Personally, I am attempting to break out of my current running plateau by making a big push and seeing where it takes me.

If you are not lucky enough to break free from the keyboard, then here are a few gems worth reading.

The Philosophy of Social Markers

Hugh MacLeod is a edgy cartoonist and marketing philosopher. His blog, Gapingvoid, is a fresh read for anyone tired of the same how to make money online blogs. You must subscribe.

This week Hugh posted a thought-provoking discussion on how we humans interact through “social objects” and how good marketers can use “social markers” to initiate and engage our audience on a personal level. Here is the definition of social objects in an excerpt from the social marker – the “social object” on steroids.

The Social Object, in a nutshell, is the reason two people are talking to each other, as opposed to talking to somebody else. Human beings are social animals. We like to socialize. But if think about it, there needs to be a reason for it to happen in the first place. That reason, that “node” in the social network, is what we call the Social Object.

The Crunchies

Tonight Michael Arrington of TechCrunch announced the winners of the Crunchies 2007. More coverage elsewhere across the blogosphere.

My personal favorite is Zazzle, who won for Best Business Model. While I can probably debate the business model point, there is no doubt that Zazzle has successfully harnessed the complex American psyche of fierce expression of our desired individuality through rampant consumption.

Image of the Week

In a country known for great food, my wife and I came across a Chinese restaurant in Siena while on our honeymoon in Italy. Needless to say, we did not eat there.

My wife has edited the original picture using Photoshop’s film grain filter (all settings dialed down to 0) to give this picture a painted feel. This version of the image has been blown up and now hangs in our bedroom.

Check out other pictures and images on my Flickr photos.

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Prime Angus Filets: Links this Week 1-11-2008

Bob Angus — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 14:00:28 +0000

More on Twitter

Sam Harrelson mentions my Twitter post in his daily Affiliate Fortune Cookie podcast and provides some great insight on how he uses Twitter as a communication tool. My takeaway from his recommendations are that Twitter spam and self-promoting broadcasts are the same unwanted communication as the telemarketer that calls you during dinner. Do not do it.

I have also ventured across several other great posts and examples of companies using Twitter to market their products.

Eirik Solheim at eirikso.com provides solid Twitter tips that he has learned in his early days of using Twitter.
Allen Stern at CenterNetworks questions Twitter’s business model, but mentions that companies like IconFactory are using the Twitter APIs to drive revenues.
Check woot and Amazon Gold Box Deals via Twitter or read about it on Read/Write Web.

Entrecard

Entrecard is red hot right now. On the surface, it is yet another social network for bloggers to drive traffic by swapping links. If traffic is Entrecard’s only benefit, it will die out within 4-6 months. However, it is becoming its own financial economy. Here are two great posts on how Entrecard is driving for success:

Darren Rowse has an informative interview with Entrecard founder, Graham Langdon.
Bloggingmix discusses why Entrecard is Winning Over Blogrush.

You are not on Facebook?!

I have my ups and downs with social networking, but I enjoy the connections and believe in its business value. However, many businesses have knowingly ignored or rejected social networking. Here are the biggest objections to social networking and how you can overcome those objections when you come across a social networking naysayer.

Image of the Week

This landscape picture was taken from a hilltop outside of Cortona, Italy by me on my honeymoon.

Check out other pictures and images on my Flickr photos.

© Bob Angus for bobangus.com, 2008. | Permalink | 3 comments | Add to del.icio.us digg
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Prime Angus Filets: Links this Week 1-4-2008

Bob Angus — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 14:00:24 +0000

The first week of 2008 has gone in a blur. It took all my will power to not spend too much time this week reviewing the many eye-popping 2007 stats posts. After all, I know that the key to John Chow’s 2007 success has been action, not daydreaming about somebody else’s fortune. Here are some of the articles that I found incredibly useful in taking direct action to hit my own blogging goals.

First, I spent time analyzing where I can improve using basic SEO strategies. I started with keywords. My goal is to maintain a #1 rank for anyone who searches for Bob Angus, but I need to improve significantly across several other sets of keywords. SEO Design Solutions offered a good guide with SEO fundamentals called How to Extend your Keyword Empire in 3 Simple Steps.

Updated: Terry at SuperAff.com posted a good tip on Tracking Hot Keywords For New Blog Subscriptions.

Next, I am addressing link building. I refuse to take the shortcut, blackhat route or just buy links. One should build links that are sustainable, valuable, and trustworthy. One starting point is to analyze the competition and develop an external relevance profile for them. Hamlet Batista unleashed something that you will not find in any ebook with Revealing your Competitor’s FULL External Relevance Profile. Also, Earner’s Blog continues his series on link building with a good reminder to think outside the box in Link Building Guide Part 3 – Aboutus.org

Finally, I am quickly coming to a realization that I need to change my blog design. Skellie of Skelliewag.org delivered a great guest post on Blog Perfume called 8 Clever Ways to Lower the Bounce-Rate on Your Blog. The tips are design-oriented more than content-oriented, but they address a critical issue for low traffic blogs like bobangus.com. Each visitor who ‘bounces’ out of your site is a lost opportunity to gain a loyal reader or new subscriber. It is time to change my Wordpress theme.

Image of the Week

Rue Pachinko by Renaud Bec is amazing concept art for the Red Steel video game by Ubisoft. For more incredible video game concept art, see the annual collections from IntoThePixel.com.

Check out other pictures and images on my Flickr photos.

Prime Angus Filets: Links this Week 12-28-2007

Bob Angus — Sat, 29 Dec 2007 04:42:52 +0000

2007 is coming to an end. 2008 is straight ahead and is shining bright with opportunity. As always, the week between Christmas and New Year’s is chocked full of “best of 2007″ year end lists and 2008 resolutions lists. The top celebrity meltdowns of 2007 have been particularly popular here at Commission Junction…

More Boy George escapades than we all really need in NY Observer’s Top Ten Celebrity Meltdowns of 2007
Babies remain the “in” accessory of the stars. There are now a slew of celebrity pregnancy blogs including a list of 2007 Favorite Celebrity Pregnancies.
Or of course, I am sure that everyone spent an inordinate amount of time procrastinating by watching the top videos on YouTube.

I like to look forward too. Making goals, setting personal challenges, and guides on how to completely breaking free are seemingly more popular than ever in the blogosphere.

I re-read one of my favorite inspirational posts of the year How to Achieve Ridiculous Goals on Self Made Chick. Christine should know because she took the plunge into full-time online entrepreneur.
Dosh Dosh provided some helpful blogging hints to clean the slate and start fresh in 2008. It’s all in the preparation.
Or if you do not want to spend New Year’s day on the couch, check out Active.com’s list of New Year’s Resolution Runs in your area.

May you have a great 2008!

Image of the Week

Running the Jet to Jetty 10k race in Playa del Rey, CA. I did not even need the help of HGH like Roger Clemens and most of professional baseball.

Check out other pictures and images on my Flickr photos.

© Bob Angus for bobangus.com, 2007. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us digg
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