Exploring Marketing Communications

Why I Love Negative News

2010-04-19T10:09:00.000-07:00

Allot of bloggers dislike negativity blogging. What I mean is that I tend to see more success stories than tales of failure and despair. When it comes to trashy criticisms of value judgments, I too don't like them and can do without.

I just finished reading an article entitled It Pays to Provide Support with Social Media. It covered customer service and social media. But, it only listed how great a tool this medium is for a business. I believe articles like this are, of course, useful and interesting; but, i'm concerned about the lack of articles about the negative impact or lack of ROI from social media and other internet marketing mediums.

The mass interest of the people is of "possibilities," not limitations, and seems to have caused bloggers to write about these possibilities. The final reaction in this positive-news-chain is a lack of realistic expectations about utilizing internet-marketing mediums. Many business owners are viewing it as indispensable to their marketing efforts, when, for many companies, this is far from the truth.

All I'm saying, is that I would love to read about internet marketing failures and disasters. And, our desires to only hear the positive isn't always helpful. Finally, these macabre stories could prove beneficial to companies. I love learning from others mistakes and, at times, place it at the foundation of the learning pyramid.

Cheers,

Driving Me Crazy: Experience causing unnecessary fear and doubt

2010-04-06T08:26:00.001-07:00

Seasoned managers and employees can be overly cautious when developing or proposing a project, worrying about minuet details as if they were life or death situations. These "Gurus" sometimes develop theories about how situations should be handled, based on shallow (meaning one or two experiences) or negative experiences. The problem is they don't gauge the severity of the negative effects and the probability of it occurring.

This short and possibly familiar scenario, in a way, demonstrates the above concept.

Driving Me Crazy

(Grandma and grandson are driving down a wide open road on their way to the granddaughter's ballet recital)

Grandson: Grandma... We're on an open road. Why are you driving so slow?

Grandma: Better safe than sorry

Grandson: Sorry for what?

Grandma: I don't want to get into an accident

Grandson: Ugh! We'll be fine Grandma

Grandma: You kids are never cautious

(The car pulls up to an intersection with a stop sign)

Grandson: Grandma! You can go now

Grandma: I'm waiting for that car

Grandson: It's not even close to us

Grandma: Better safe then sorry

Grandson: We've got to get to the recital before it starts

Grandma: Oh! We won't get there if we're dead

Grandson: GRANDMA! JUST GO!

Grandson: GO! GO! GO!

Grandma: I once hit a car because they rushed to pull out

Grandson: I doubt the car that you hit was this far back. You've got enough time to go

Grandma: Oh, don't worry about it

(Other car passes and they turn right onto the next road)

Grandma: See... We're ok. It wasn't worth the risk

Grandson: Grandma, I love ya, but you're driving me crazy

Finding a Niche: My New Blog for Science Communication

2010-04-02T09:01:00.000-07:00

You've heard it a million times over: find your niche for blogging. I've done just that. For my latest blog I've teamed up with a friend, Max Englander, a recent graduate from Cornell University in Philosophy, to write about topics in Science Communication: writing, presentations, journalism, editing. I have some experience in editing peer-reviewed articles and presentation design with a researcher from Cornell and Max is one of the smartest and most dedicated people I've meet at that University.

I've also been talking with a few friends from Cornell's science department about contributing articles.

Check out the blog at allsciencecommunication.blogspot.com.

Keywords... Glorious Keywords: Tell a Story and a Little More

2010-04-02T08:23:00.000-07:00

Search Engine Land posted a useful article suggesting a technique for brainstorming keywords. The premise behind the technique is that during the initial brainstorming session, some important words can be missed, with this comes missed opportunity.

This is glorious! "Tell a story," wrote Brad Geddes, founder of bgTheory, a company dedicated to PPC education & training. I think this idea is glorious because of it's simplicity and accuracy. When people are searching an entire context is amid. And, this context contains different words to describe what is needed for the solution.

Geddes states the story has four layers, or "keyword types:" Explicit, problem, solution and product name/number. Here is his a screen-shot from his article, explaining

Again, I think this is glorious. But, I want to add one category: "general solution." I know when I'm on the information hunt, many times I know the general solution to fix the problem, but not the specific. I believe there is some serious traffic potential from words found under these keywords/phrases.

Link Marketing for SEO: Getting Those .edu's:

2010-02-25T10:01:00.000-08:00

Getting links to your website or specific pages is tricky. And, some strategies can be uncertain or costly: link bating, creating viral content and press releases are a few examples.

I suggest volunteering for an educational institution. On-campus research facilities might find use for your companies resources. Obviously, one link isn't worth time-consuming volunteer work. If you are already contributing, ask for a link on their site.

Also, offer internships positions with as many Universities/colleges, and schools in those institutions, as you handle. Many times, they will create links to your website on the internship pages. You can take it further by making a section of your website giving students suggestions for getting internships and getting a job.

new writing: screw those cap's

2010-02-17T09:55:00.000-08:00

i've notice that many writers are nixing the capital letter. this isn't in all mediums, mainly, it seems prevalent in graphic designers' websites, blogs and some advertisements. i love how it changes the physical appearance of the piece. also, lower case letters are easier to read, decreasing reading time. but, what about clarity?

there are a wealth of situations when the cap' is useful: influencing word meaning and feeling.

first, proper nouns can get lost in a sentence. especially if the proper noun is also a verb, confusion can ring-in. an example is:

no caps:
he looked to grant dick for the young lady's guidance

caps:
He looked to Grant Dick for the young lady's guidance

ok, that might be extreme. but, please look past the lewd and see the concept.

using en dashes might reduce confusion with long proper nouns, letting the reader know that the words are all one part of a whole.

as for a word's feeling, a word with all caps can create a powerful emphasis: a written yell. it could be argued that quotation marks are a substite. but, quotes can be awkward when used too much. take a look at this site. it has examples of bad use of quotations. some hilarious, some stupid.

overall, the confusion is minimal and not frequent. and, surely, creativity is important. the most frequent uses of capitals are heavily useful, but unnecessary: beginning of a sentence, after quotations, after a colon if it's an independent clause. so, i say, use this refreshing style.

Motion Charting: How Long I can Tolerate Her Complaining

2010-02-04T16:41:00.000-08:00

This is a motion chart from Google Documents, with four focal points: tolerance, annoyance shown, actual annoyance and length of time. And, each circle are different things i've heard girlfriends complain about: parents, friends, work, school. There's a correlation here! Notice that over a few year I seem to have less tolerance of all complaints, but some less than others.

Set the "colors" to Unique and the "size" to Annoyed Actual.

This was a fun way to learn motion charting

South Park Craps Out Mouth: Do Marketers do the Same?

2010-02-01T19:35:00.000-08:00

Turns out that you can find wisdom in anything. This clip from South Park has a valuable lesson for all marketers. Stop spitting crap out of your mouth! And, this crap is getting spewed from a lack of knowing, or a gap in information.

Follow Cartmen's logic. It's obvious to most of us that there's something missing (e.g. knowing the digestive process). Well, when there is something unknown in business, the same situation can occur: it could be not knowing the competition, audience, product, or the medium. And, lately people don't seem to understand the medium they're using, more than anything else.

Attention to Detail

2010-01-30T16:17:00.000-08:00

"I have attention to detail." I've heard this phrase many times. But, I'm not certain that people understand its meaning, or they use it loosely.

All it means is doing the job/task the right way and having the experience to understand common mistakes. If you don't have "attention to detail," you're doing it (what ever it is) wrong.

Generation M2: Interviews with 8-18s About Media Use

2010-01-24T11:04:00.000-08:00

This video contains interviews with several youths about how they spend time on the net.

I certainly multitask while page skimming, but not like these kids. How can an average internet advertisement reach this market, even if these kids are almost always interacting with the media. Advergames might hold their attention long enough to create a meaningful interaction.

Funniest Animation Promoting Condom Use

2010-01-22T14:46:00.001-08:00

I'm not sure where this ad comes from, but who cares. It's hilarious!

Tim Ferriss on Building Traffic to a Blog

2010-01-12T07:41:00.000-08:00

Tim Ferriss, if you don't already know, is a best selling author for the Four Hour Work Week, Princeton graduate and popular blogger. I enjoy reading his blog and, when I get a chance, watching videos of his presentations. In this presentation, at WordCamp San Francisco, in 2009, Ferriss tells his secrets to becoming a successful blogger, covering the topics of search engine optimization (SEO), research, writing and others.

One, not moderately interesting, point he addresses are reasons to blog. Which I find is the same reasons why I'm blogging, to generate feedback and interesting contacts. I think of it as going to a bar, but filtering out conversations you don't want to have.

Not in the order Ferriss uses, he heavily focuses on blog writing, referencing Tucker Max, another best selling author. A few interesting points are: developing a voice( Alex Kotloqitz, Norma Sims and Hunter S. Thompson are masters at introducing voice into there writing); don't write what the reader wants because they don't know what they will like; and don't write for SEO in the first draft.

Here is an example of writing for SEO and writing only for SEO, on the topic of Utica Club beer

Only SEO:
Utica Club beer is a XX pure pilsener-beer. And, there are no other Utica Club like beers that will taste like Utica Club. Utica Club uses the best hops, for Utica Clubs robust flavor.

SEO:
Utica Club beer goes through two filtering processes, to create it's robust flavor. That's why we call it a XX pure pilsener-beer. Try to find a comparable pilsener! I dare ya.

Some people might overuse key words and produce excessive bold text for the purpose of indexing. You do want to consider how the body copy is indexed; but, your readers won't come back if you're writing drivel.

As for research, Ferriss list some quality resources for gathering both quantitative and qualitative data/feedback. If you don't want to watch his video, and to make it easy for you, here are the links: slinkset.com, twitter.com (primary research), crazyegg.com and Google Analytics. He mentions others, but these are fantastic resources.

Lastly (but not finally), he advises on the organization and inclusion of the many facets of a blog (e.g. RSS feeds, Labels, etc.). This is something I haven't focused on enough. Please! Include a Tag Cloud or category system in your blog. It will improve your pages Click Through Rate (CTR). I mention this because it's a new revelation to me. And, damn it! It works.

If you're not familiar with some of the terms he uses, email me with any questions, and I'll gladly explain or define anything from Ferriss's presentation.

Enjoy!

Below the Line Advergames

2010-01-09T16:20:00.000-08:00

The cliché of the day for advergames using education in their structure and content is Below the Line (BTL) advergames. That's right! edutainment and branding has come together.

Kellogg's game Tutankhamun and Zookeeper are archetypes for these. Tutankhamun, as you can imagine, takes gamers on an adventure through the tomb of Tutankhamun, searching for artifacts in a, James Bond like, first-person view. To progress from stage to stage, the player must find trinkets and tools used by ancient Egyptians (artifacts I studied in college level Art History).

Kellogg's uses a different structure for Zookeeper, providing videos of animals and quizzes about the content. Also, the advergame websites goes beyond the usual, play my game and remember my logo, site. It seems to create a genuine educational experience, not just a marketing ploy. There are links to search for local zoos and a contest awarding participants an animal adoption at a participating zoo (who doesn't want to take a lion home), receiving free tickets and a certificate.

Branding
Personally, I like how Kellogg's branding is integrated. Logos aren't plastered on every rock and flag in sight (Cadbury's Cream Eggs' gaming efforts are the worst example I've found), they're sparsely placed in both games. Of course logos and other branding is necessary, but don't kill us guys. Zookeeper incorporates logos on the corner of pages, on printable-certificates awarded and on loading-windows when pages are coming up. They've also worked popular Kellogg's-color-schemes into the game. Clever! The reds and yellows used in advertising are integrated with the words and layouts. The word Zookeeper is yellow and flags on the main page are red. Other examples exist, but these two are my favorite.

When to use BTL Advergames
One instance when using this format can be useful is if children are involved. There's a growing mass of criticisms for advertising towards these young influencers and consumers. And, when using games to reach them, the criticisms are the worse. Even Steve Easterbrook, CEO of Mcdonald's UK, is noted for raising an eyebrow to the negative effects of gaming.

Also, if you want to educate the audience about a complicated product, this format is straight. Edutainment can provoke an interest in complicated features, by giving relevant rewards. I envision this working for companies like EMS and Northface. When I was looking for hiking boots for my trip to the Andie mountains, the different features and benefits could have easily drove me insane, if I wasn't already familiar with them. And, good luck getting the audience to recall a dozen features from an interstitial or banner ad. A BTW, ideally, can hold attentions long enough for retention of several product facets.

Above the Line (ATL) and Through the Line (TTL) games are two other formats. But I wanted to focus on BTL for now. Advergames are intriguing to me, so I'll certainly find myself writing future posts about them.

Seth Godin on Online Traffic

2010-01-07T08:59:00.000-08:00

This is an interesting post from Seth Godin's blog. Well, the post itself isn't interesting, but the links are. These two websites can compare traffic between sites: Complete.com and Quantcast.

Gapminder: Making World-Statistics Dynamic

2010-01-03T11:08:00.000-08:00

Gapminder.org is creating dynamic quantitative-data from years of statistics.

I would love to see Pew Internet Research incorporate this method to explain some of the statistics on their website.

Understanding, Even though It's Wrong, Makes It Write.

2009-08-26T11:24:00.000-07:00

I was in the office earlier this year, at the Ithaca Times, and overheard the newspaper’s Arts and Entertainment Editor, Natasha Pickowicz, correct an intern when he responded to her polite, passer-by inquisition of “How are you,” with an I’m-excited-to-be-here response, saying “Good.” She replied, “Good is a question of morality.” As to say, a respondent has to have helped a nun cross the street, before entering the office, to use that answer. I thought about this brief conversation on and off for a few weeks after. More importantly, I considered, over and over again, what’s the importance of such word-choices in daily conversations. Did the young intern receive his overt-correction justly? Or, was he unknowingly correct.

A common understanding...must be met

The answer is embedded in a core communication concept, shown in the Shannon-Schramm Communication model. I selected this model because of its inclusion of the “Fields of Experience” sections. These fields include languages, age groups, races, culture, etc. Furthermore, these and other factors contribute to the way people interpret the, ostensibly powerful, spoken word. The point is that people’s backgrounds determine how a word is understood.

Now, the purpose of communication is either to inform or persuade. To accomplish these goals, a common understanding of what is being said must be met. Right?

Well, since we can understand others based on similar backgrounds, there is no reason to worry about proper word choice, as long as both parties correctly understand the message.

Others might argue, “oh, but, we need to have common understanding of a word to communicate properly.” I say, take a close look at the Idiom. It’s meaning is determined by background similarities between the communication’s participants.

In retrospective, the young intern was deserving of a different response from his talented criticizer. Because he, although not aware, was correct. Furthermore, Pickowicz must have know what the boy wanted to say in order to correct him so quickly. Thus, the purpose of the communication was fulfilled.

Oh, How the Gap Has Shortened

2009-08-26T09:03:00.000-07:00

Shuffling through the mass of research on Pew's internet research site, this presentation - although not especially visually arresting - stuck out. A few years prior, many adults considered the internet and its social networks a bane. Now, there are almost as many adults participating as there are youths.

It’s Personal: Similarities and Differences in Online Social Network Use Between Teens and Adults

View more presentations from PewInternet.

Add Features, Add Value?

2009-07-01T07:06:00.000-07:00

In marketing, we ad features to a product or service to create value for the customer. This makes everyone happy. But is there a limit? When does that wrench that is ethics get thrown in to the marketing machine?

The "Goth Kitten" that were sold on ebay set precedent for these unethical practices.

Holly Crawford, from Pa, put a 14 gauge studs through this pure black kittens ears and a submission ring through the back of it's neck. And advertised this little guy as a "Goth Kitten." But, what seems whacked is the $400 price tag.

She was arrested for cruelty to animals and expected to have charges pressed against her said Animal Protection Officer, Carol Morrison.

But, why is this unethical. Because she was selling it on ebay? Marketing it as a "Goth Kitten"? Or because she pierced it?

Animals for sale are nothing new. Pure breed Irish Setters can sell for over $500 and Newfoundland pups cost almost $1000. Some, even on ebay. So, it's legal to sell animals.

People doc tails and and crop ears of dogs all the time. These practices are completely legal and ethical. PETA doesn't even object. If it's OK to alter an animals body by chopping off parts, why is piercing a whole raising issues?

This is one of many situations when marketing has been questioned about ethical behavior. And, under certain circumstances, I agree. However, before passing judgment take an objective and critical approach to analyzing the marketing efforts.

Blog post dedicated to Alana Verminski

Faster than a Speeding Bullet: It's New Media

2009-06-26T09:17:00.000-07:00

Clay talks about the New-Media landscape and it's importance. Pay attention to the contrast between how two countries react to this new media, it's general stuff but freaking amazing.

Minorities in Advergames: Fanta Integrates Brand and Audience's Style & Values

2009-05-25T07:46:00.001-07:00

Fanta UK’s does a phenomenal job with creating a brand identity which connects to the young Hipster culture taking over pop culture, using Advergames. Fanta.com has two games, Fantasize the World and Merv’s Crunk Off. This company has assimilated this young group's style, values and diversities into the games design. However, they only characterize two Hipsters segments: the Hip Hop and the Hip Hipsters. Hip Hop’s dress like 1990’s B-boy’s and listen to a mixture of music from the ‘90s and some contemporary too. And the Hip Hipsters dress more kitschy, incorporating styles from various other genres: skaters, European punks, etc.

Style & Diversity
Event though the characters are racially ambiguous, several are different races with unique styles as well. Merv appears Asian. His style is unique, rocking a T-shirt under his blazer, a yellow stripe in his hair and a Hipster mustache (The mustache is making a comeback. I’m working on one myself). Also, Marco, having Hispanic origin, is rocking a soul-patch, wearing a band jacket (e.g. high school marching band) and has his own unique hair style. As demonstrated with these two, Hipsters use their hair to define themselves. Next time you see a Hipster notice their hair, it’s wild. Fanta did go over the top, giving Marco a pit-bull with a spiked collar is not a realistic attribute of Hispanic Hipsters. The other characters can be identify as Hipster by their matted hair, flamboyant clothes and a one has a keffiyeh.

Values & Interests
As much as diversity, Hipsters value their radical behaviors. Many of them tag graffiti on tunnel and building walls with little, if any, concern for potential prosecution. They view the legal system as a means of limiting their creativity and fight this authority at times. Fantasizing the World is centered around this malicious concept. Each stage challenges the player to overcome obstacles, which in someway emulates overcoming authority: dodging a robot, defeating authority, breaking signs. The sign and the faux cop in this picture is a great shot, representing authority in the game.

Branding & Design
Fanta’s logo and drink consist of a specific shade of orange, which saturates both games. Other colors used are grays, blacks and whites. This dominating orange is used on clothing, in hair, when the player wins a level or round. Grays and blacks are all but venerated among Hipsters. A great deal of this subculture’s members dig designs that have some mixture of Grays, blacks with an accent of green, pink or orange, and others too.

The game also employs more direct branding. Fanta bottles are placed throughout Merv’s Crunk Off. The Characters are seen drinking it at times and Logo’s pop up in the loading windows, when loading pages.

Creating games which employ racially and ethnically diverse characters has potential to target minorities and increase their interaction with the product. Celestine Arnold spoke about representing minorities in games and it’s marketing potential. She believes minorities are underrepresented in video games and including them can open up new avenues for revenue. Arnold didn’t speak of Advergames, but the concept still applies. Despite the stereotypes in the game, I think Arnold would agree that Fanta’s Advergames should be a model for others.

William McDonough's Presentation at Ted

2009-05-04T16:35:00.000-07:00

Dr. McDonough's presentation is certainly sticky. His visuals are presented in a powerful juxtaposition with a strong verbal backing. However, he isn't the greatest overall presenter.

Samsung: Getting the Dirt out of Clothes

2009-04-28T06:09:00.000-07:00

I get the concept, but wow.

Lynda.com: Putting a Price on Education

2009-04-13T06:00:00.001-07:00

A friend of a friend has a project and needs a specialist to oversee its implementation. You haven’t worked on the exact type of project before. Are you going to turn it down this opportunity to make some extra cash? Of course not! You’ll say “Hell yea I can do it,” and then teach yourself what needs to be done.

So, now you’ve got the job and need to figure it out. You jump on the net and go to Lynda.com, a subscription based infomediary site, offering learning tools for software and design topics.

Lynda.com offers online courses and video tutorials on software, such as Indesign, Photoshop, search engine optimization, animation, HTML and a large number of others. These products are taught with over 35,000 videos and 544 online classes, according to Lynda.com.

Video tutorials

The tutorials has several chapters the user can choose from, each similar to a classroom lesson plan. Also, they can be watched in any order the user wants. After making a selection, the video pops up in a separate window. The videos uses a short power-point style intro, then segues into the main lesson, using a visual of the software in-use (if learning software) and a voice over explaining the process.

Authors

“you'll find some of the preeminent experts and authors in the fields covered,” said Michael Castelluccio of Strategic Finance magazine.

Myriad authors are hired by Lynda.com to design the learning modules, giving the users the chance to build author preferences. The site's search engine allows the user to search the author's bios, learning about their history, connection to Lynda.com, and past projects.

Some of Authors included on the site are Maria Giudice and Nigel French. Giudice is CEO/founder of Hot Studio, a graphic design company for interactive and print design. Her bio on Lynda.com’s site mentions her accomplishments as a writer and consultation work. Furthermore, French’s bio points out several of his accomplishments as a writer, graphic designer and fifteen year history as a graphic design professor.

Packages

Several Package are available for the online training and tutorials for different customers with different needs. Each having 24/7 access, allowing clients to sign on and off whenever they like. The monthly package offers the least amount of commitment, costing 25 dollars per month. Next, is the Annual package which offers the same amount of access to site resources, with a longer time and larger price commitment. With the additional commitment comes, as with most packages, a decrease in price, costing 250 dollars for the entire year. With this plan the customer saves 50 dollars for the year. A Premium package, priced at 375 dollars per year, includes exercises with each lesson for an incentive to upgrade.

A business package is also available, obviously with a several differences in pricing and features from the end-user version, called the Multi-User Program. This is similar to the Premium package for end-users; however, the pricing decreases with bulk purchases. With the purchase of twenty licenses there’s a price break, 300 dollars per license for the year. And with 30, the price drops to 290 dollars per license. A license is necessary for each user in the school or business. The next feature is convenient for business or educators, tracking results. It tracks employee or student progress, titles used and a few more options. All of this gets reported on a graphing system.

The site employs a mix of Dynamic and Fixed pricing strategies. The upgrade from the monthly to the year package and the decrease in price for business/school’s bulk purchases are Volume-based, giving a quantity discounts (Fixed pricing). The Dynamic pricing facet is the different offers for businesses and end-user accounts.

Getting the Small Bytes: An Unique Business-Model Made a Million

2009-03-13T11:25:00.000-07:00

In the mid-nineties, a new American dream surged through generation X and ended with the dot com crash in 2000. It didn’t die after those would-be businesses became unconnected. There are still visionaries randomly scribbling Napkin Plans down on their lunch hour.

Alex Tew is one of these visionaries. Twenty one at the time, he began dreaming up ways to finish his bachelors at the University of Nottingham with little of no debt. Five months later he was almost a millionaire.

Tew’s brainstorming session resulted in the beginning of the Million Dollar Homepage. A site dedicated to making money the old fashion way: selling advertising space. He sectioned off a 1 million pixel sized area on his newly created website, intending to sell every pixel for a dollar a piece. However, a one inch squared box contains about five thousand pixels; thus, one pixel doesn't allow the advertiser much room to create a meaningful message. In light of this, he sold the space in 10 X 10 “Boxes,” Tew said. The ads have an additional option to link the ad to a URL or landing page.

An advertiser buys space believing people will see their ad and react to its message by buying, visiting the URL or simply remembering the name. In order to facilitate this, Tew needed to drive traffic to the site. But why would anyone bother visiting his cluttered website? Popular Mechanics said, "There's no content. No cool graphics, giveaways or steamy Paris Hilton videos for viewers to salivate over.“ He relied completely on the novelty aspect.

With his first $1000 in revenue - received from the sale to a friend who owned a music site - Tew sent out myriad press releases to the British media. Following these releases, the BBC Online, The Daily Telegraph and other news media featured stories about the Million Dollar Homepage. He even appeared on national television programs to discus his story and vision. The coverage grew outside of Tew’s home country, into Germany, China and America, in publications such as Adweek magazine, the Wall Street Journal and on Fox News.

As a result of the world wide media frenzy, the website began to see a dramatic increase in page views. Inside of two months, Tew said the site received over 65,000 unique visitors, became the most "Digged" links of the week on Dig.com - a Pure Play known for ranking website’s popularity - and before the end of his first year he began receiving over 25,000 unique visitors per hour.

Professor Martin Binks, director of the Nottingham University Institute for Entrepreneurial Innovation, said, "It is brilliant in its simplicity ... advertisers have been attracted to it by its novelty ... the site has become a phenomenon."

Within five months Tew announced there were only 1,000 pixels left, and in high demand. As a result, he placed the surplus on eBay auctioning it off to the highest bidder. In a little over a week there were almost a hundred legitimate bids. Bids were placed at over $150,000; but Tew “Contacted the people by phone and turns out they weren't serious,” he said. Milliondollarweightloss.com - an online retailer of diet products - placed the winning bid for $38,001.

This final sale put Tew over his initial goal by $37,000 dollars. After donations, expenses and taxes, he said profits totaled almost $700,000.

For the advertisers, their ads will last for five years. Tew promised to keep the advertisers ads on the site until the end of this period. After that time, he will remove all the ads, but hasn’t announced any plans to sell the newly available space.

Business Model

Tew employees the advertising internet-business-model to generate revenue and simultaneously attract visitors; however, the Million Dollar Homepage executes this tactic in a unique manner. Traditionally, advertising models pimp out sections of the site for a price, usually based on CPM (Cost Per Thousand visitors) or Click Through Rates, and attracts traffic to increase the sites value to the customer, as well as the price of the site. And the length of time allotted is broken down into months, weeks, etc.

Deviating from this model, the young entrepreneur’s version doesn’t sell space based on page views but by a set $1 per pixel. And he didn’t raise the price until auctioning off the last 1000 units. In place of the CPMs, he is creating interest and promising a potential for an increase in page views to create value for the customer. Even the ads run-time is part of the appeal, promising a five year stretch.

Metrics

Determining the amount of success a website obtains can be complicated. Depending on the marketing goals and the business model, different evaluation metrics can be used to measure and evaluate how successful the marketing tactics have been.

Tew’s goals are clear: Make a million dollars by selling ad space, build awareness of the site and sell all the pixels. These goals can be placed into two categories on the Balance Score Card system of measuring effectiveness, a method created by two Harvard Professors. The system has four perspectives: Customer, Financial, Internal, Learning and Growth perspectives. The monetary goal falls into the Financial Perspective and the other three can be placed into the Consumer Perspective.

Measurement of the Consumer perspectives are straight forward and easily done. Once all of the pixels are sold, the goals are met. Building awareness can be determined through an analysis of the areas media has covered his story. Tew is very successful in this perspective. He obtained coverage in several countries, in print, online and on TV. Finally, his sales goals can be measure by the number of pixels sold. Additionally, a qualitative measurement can be derived from the increasing demand for the last pixel box. The amount of money advertisers were willing to pay reflects Tew’s success creating demand.

Bloggers Beware: Legal Precedent can Limit your Content

2009-02-27T06:02:00.000-08:00

Perez Hilton, a popular blogger, uses myriad celebrity photos to dramatize satirical opinions about celeb's well publicized habits, practices and mishaps. White marks and writing cover some of the photos: emphasizing tattoos, drawing glasses and questionable white stains sticking to the corner of mouths.

Several qestions arises because, well, Hilton isn’t a photographer: Where does he get his photos? And how much do they cost? Well, the smut comes from an online, freelance paparazzi company, X17. This fact isn’t apparent on perezhilton.com and has created an issue for X17, forcing them to bring a lawsuit on Hilton.

X17's litigation on Hilton, aka Mario Lavandeira, has the potential to effect bloggers and vloggers through out the United States.

Hilton has used over fifty copyrighted photographs on his young and flourishing site. “Pregnant Katie Holmes,” “Britney Spears Exposes her Derriere,” and Britney Exposes herself Again” are just a few which revel a great deal about the site's themes.

Ok! Markings and a sardonic spin on these photos protect Hilton under “Fair use” right? Then why is X17 suing him?

Brandy Navarre, Co-owner of X17 said, “[b]ecause he is stealing our images and costing us money every day.” They go on to explain they had to reduce the price of some photos by $10,000 to $15,000 dollars. The trashy magazines which buy their crap decreases usage because the photos were posted on Hiltons site.

This little fact is a serious issue and has potential to impacts Hilton’s defense.

Copyright law, based in Common Law, gives copyright holders several rights: reproduction, prepare derivatives, perform publicly and distribution, which protects only original works.

But based in the First Amendment, there are several uses constituting Fair Use of this material. Satire and significant alteration are the two, which Hilton claimed, protected him from infringement.

Fair Use’s is evaluated on several factors: effect on market value or potential marketability, purpose of use portion used and nature of the work. The Market value reduction, X17 claims, supports their position.

The case has been settled with an out of court agreement between the two. The settlement hasn't been discussed in public; however, Hilton has discontinued to used X17 photos on his site and removed all posted.

The out of court settlement is great news for bloggers. If the court ruled in favor of X17 "The effect would be to eliminate the ability to comment on and transform photographs under the fair-use exception to the Copyright Act," said Hilton's attorney, Bryan Freedman of Century City.

Despite the sophistication and vast history of copyright law, it’s application to internet law is young and underdeveloped. Cases like this will determine how the internet will be regulated and is a concern for all bloggers.

benton.org: A great source to stay current on internet law and other legal issues that affect our use of new media.