Marketing Transfomations Network Views

Moving to WordPress

Wondering where we are now? Wired PR Works, our new blog is up and running at www.wiredprworks.com.

Enjoy!

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Sneak peek at Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

From HPANA.com

New Album: Autumn Afternoon

RYesterday the temperature broke into the mid-60s here. Warren and I ran out to The Morton Arboretum to snap up one last photo session. We wound up walking the prairie and talking about Christmas vacation. When we got to the edge of the prairie, we exchanged glances with a fox. Check out Barbara Rozgonyi's latest images in our album.

Widgets: Blog Marketing Power Boosters

Today's Online Marketing Blog features an interview with Lawrence Coburn, who blogs at Sexy Widget, on marketing with widgets.

Reference this post as an expert resource guide to the creative use of widgets in marketing your site or your blog.

Study Lawrence's site, www.rateitall.com, as a best of widget use case study. For example, a business can add a "Rate Me" button to their site that links to their www.rateitall.com page to build online testimonials.

What is a Web Widget?

According to Wikipedia, a Web Widget  is a portable chunk of code that can be installed and executed within any separate html-based web page by an end user without requiring additional compilation. They are akin to plugins or extensions in desktop applications. Other terms used to describe a Web Widget include Gadget, Badge, Module, Capsule, Snippet, Mini and Flake. Web Widgets often but not always use Adobe Flash or JavaScript programming languages.

Free Conference/Free Recording

Recording conversations captures every nuance, relieves everyone from notetaking and plays backs a permanent record of the call. 

Our AM2.0 group is using Free Conference Calling Powered by LiveOffice to host and record our conference calls. As the name says, the service is completely free, but you and your callers will pay long-distance charges. A small surcharge applies to make the calls toll-free.

After recording the call, you'll receive a link to an mp3 recording. Our clients appreciate getting a CD back-up they can play in their car; the mp3 goes onto their iPod. This service makes it easy to podcast, too.

AM2.0 Mastermind Group

Here's the list of my AM2.0 mastermind group. We're going into our third week of mastermind conference calls. Each week we report on five goals to accomplish in building one online business website. Each month, Armand Morin leads a website critique of two member's sites. Find out more about AM2.0 . . . 

Kitchen Design Feature: Flip That House

Our Thanksgiving company checked out on Saturday.

After 3 days of intense socializing, overeating and power shopping, it felt so good to veg out. Maybe you felt the same way. On Saturday afternoon, I found myself searching ebay for Russian necklaces while watching episode after episode of Flip That House.

Although I haven't officially flipped a house, I have managed a renovation of a 1909 American four-square in Oak Park. And, I acted as a general contractor for 2 bathrooms, our kitchen, a dining room remodel and landscaping here in Glen Ellyn.

So, I have some first-hand experience in home renovation.

But, what really gives me an experienced eye in home renovation is our company's consulting relationship with Drury Design Kitchen & Bath Studio. We get to write feature profiles of Drury's dream kitchens.

That's why I didn't approve of the high-end kitchen redo in the California mansion on Flip That House. Did GE give them a product placement announcement? Everyone knows Sub-Zero/Wolf's the best in the business. And, really a range hood in the center of the room?

Here's a kitchen design article I wrote for Drury Design Kitchen & Bath Studio. This one's about a suburban Naperville kitchen redo. Enjoy!

Basecamp for AM2.0

Basecamp Project Utopia is the project collaboration tool we're using to track our AM2.0 mastermind group's progress.

Basecamp's features: Assign to-dos and tasks Post messages and gather feedback Simple scheduling and permissions Share files internally or with clients Track people's time

Biggest Big Seminar Takeaways

Someone asked me yesterday about the Big Seminar format. Here's what I said: speaker, break, speaker, lunch, speaker, break, speaker, dinner, networking.

Then I had to tell them about the overarching theme to give the experience an identifiable framework.

I like to recap my biggest takeaway (from any event) into the smallest possible nugget.

After Customer Appreciation Seminar, I came up with "Monetize" or making money as this seminar's resounding theme.

For me, the biggest Big Seminar takeaway was "Leverage" - use other people, tools and resources to optimize your traffic, manage your technology, service your customers, ramp up your sales - and yes, monetize your every effort.

Today I invited all the people I met at Big Seminar to post their biggest takeaway here. Everyone can benefit from this information exchange by: leveraging this blog to monetize their business by introducing themselves and their URL.

So, what was your biggest takeaway?

Share your comments below . . .

Grab the Ad Age Search Marketing Guide

Ad Age released its first Search Engine Fact Pack in a 52 page .pdf loaded with stats - and a few ads. This report is a search marketing must-download, even if all you're after is the top 12 SEO strategies on page 38.

In September 2004, the Glen Ellyn Chamber of Commerce asked me to talk about the future of marketing. At the time, "Blog" was a foreign language term to most of us and SEO was only vaguely familiar. Today, only 30 out of the Fortune 500 companies blog - this statistic comes from page 39 in the report.

Whether you're an on or offline business, you need to know how your competition is communicating and strategizing online. Reading this report - and taking action - will sharpen your competitive edge.

Check out these preview highlights from Ad Age's announcement article written by Abbey Klaassen . . .

- 80 % of traffic begins at a search engine
- search marketing will be a $7 billion business this year
- Ad Age began covering search in 1995
- get clued into the top 12 search-engine optimization strategies for 2007
- every Web page has a hotspot - the report show you where to find the top eye-tracking triangle

As the Internet evolves, so should your online marketing strategies. I've seen Ad Age's web site optimization strategies work with this blog. A fresh blog post can show up as a top-ranked result in a Google search within hours - if you tag it right.

My future view? Blogs will become an indispensable marketing/PR tool.

If you're a blogger and you'd like to exchange reciprocal links, email me at barbaraATcorywestmedia.com.

What do you think about search marketing in 2007? Leave a comment below . . .