The Marketing Technology Blog

A blog challenge from Lorelle to write the 50 things you’ve learned this year. I love a challenge, so I wanted to push myself to really come up with as many as I possibly could. 2006 was an incredible year for my blog and I’ve learned so much. I had to ‘easily’ come up with 100, right? Well… it was tough but here it is!

1. Lorelle was right in asking for a list of 50. I quickly learned lists of 100 are too long.
2. Time with family is more valuable than anything else.
3. If you allow people the freedom to be creative, they will amaze you.
4. My son is incredible, talented in music, a thirst for theology, and a desire for physics.
5. My daughter’s voice is amazing! She’s in the Wizard of Oz and the Indiana State Music program this year.
6. Technorati’s ranking engine is great.
7. I am starting to appreciate security more than risk in life and work.
8. Cascading Style Sheets are amazing but tables still sometimes work better across all browsers.
9. Microsoft still doesn’t understand how CSS works.
10. Google makes great APIs and their Maps API is incredible.
11. The <acronym> tag is really quite useful. You should use it on all abbreviations so folks know what you’re talking about.
12. Geotags are coming! Geotag your site with my tool, Address Fix.
13. Alexa has some really huge variances short-term, but seems to be accurate long-term.
14. Blogging is easy, blogging strategically takes a lot of work.
15. Nothing helps to build readership better than readers who spread the word on your blog! Thanks Mike!
16. MyBlogLog should be on every blog.
17. Ajax is great, but Ahah is easier.
18. SQL Injection Scripting is a big security issue, but not difficult to learn or protect your site from.
19. Americans vote for hope much more than they do for performance.
20. Some people can be mean on the internet and we should all work to stop it.
21. Some A-List bloggers believe I shouldn’t be able to take gifts because they believe it may influence my blog.
22. Affiliate Marketing programs like Google Adsense can help pay your Internet and Technology costs and readers don’t seem to mind.
23. AdsBlackList can help improve your Adsense revenue.
24. ProBlogger.net helps you become a better blogger… which may or may not lead to more money.
25. Feedburner is a must have for all blogs.
26. You can post your resume online and search for resumes online using RSS
27. Old-school media still doesn’t understand nor do they adopt technology, this is ultimately leading to their demise.
28. Anyone has the power to start a chain of events on the internet that will generate a ton of attention and interest! Thanks Mack Collier for the Z-List.
29. Some A-Listers still appreciate a little bit of attention! And they are accessible and friendly!
30. I love blogs with illustrations and have underestimated the power of visualization on websites and blogs.
31. There are extraordinary people in this world with extraordinary lives and lessons.
32. Google Reader is a great tool where I spend most of my time with over 100 feeds.
33. Color combinations are important to a site’s aesthetics, my new favorite color combination tool is Adobe’s kuler.
34. Adobe Labs is something to watch out for… they have some amazing technologies that are progressing. The most amazing to me is Apollo - a development platform that will take web integration out of the browser and on the desktop. Flex is fun!
35. Google is beginning to struggle with it’s growth. But I still have faith in their ability to move quickly.
36. Yahoo! Answers, YUI and Yahoo! Mail are great… is that all you have? I used to love Launch, but no Mac support.
37. Why buy flat screen? I’ve got 10 more years on my Toshiba and the price wars are bringing the prices down to nothing as the quality improves every day.
38. I love Google Docs, but sometimes I can’t save. Ugh. I know it’s beta.
39. Digging deep into Google Analytics can be challenging, but very rewarding.
40. I thought the Internet was the best technology for spreading democracy ever invented, but now I believe blogging on the Internet has surpassed the very medium itself. No longer is information filtered to us, we can go to the source.
41. There is plenty of room for a great new blogging platform.
42. If you’re not paying for it and you’re using it, you will get everything you’re paying for. In other words, if you’re not paying for it, stop complaining or people will stop giving it away.
43. Bloggers can accept gifts. As influencers, it’s an acceptable and effective method of marketing. Trust is the responsibility of the blogger. Disclosure is key.
44. There are not more predators because of the Internet, but thankfully, because of the Internet there are a lot more predators being caught.
45. Newspaper and Broadcast Media will continue their declines in readership and viewership.
46. My favorite non-fiction book read in 2006 was In Cold Blood, by Truman Capote.
47. Technology will continue to advance at a pace that institutions can not keep up with.
48. It’s time to elect a minority to the office of the Presidency. One with no ties to Skull & Bones.
49. 2007 will be the convergence of video via the net and cable television.
50. I will complete my book on the technology of blogging in 2007.
51. I will begin public seminars on the technology of blogging in 2007.
52. I will make the top 5000 on Technorati in 2007. (I moved from 100,000 to 12,000 this year)
53. Female Pop Stars continue to lose my respect and make poor role models for my daughter, mostly the white trashy ones.
54. “Politically Correct” is inherently racist because it doesn’t respect the amazing differences that races, creeds, colors, and religions have.
55. Happiness is found within.
56. Google Organic Search is my primary source of readers.
57. Commenting on blogs is key to your growth as a blogger.
58. If you just regurgitate stories, I will stop reading your blog.
59. If you post too much during the day, I will stop reading your blog… even if it’s great material.
60. If you post too little, but it’s quality, I’ll hang on and keep reading your blog.
61. When someone spoofs your domain when they send out SPAM, you can be met with over 5,000 undeliverable messages in the morning that you can do absolutely nothing about.
62. Something as simple as a challenge question can reduce your Contact Form spam to nothing. If someone doesn’t develop it for Wordpress Comments, I will.
63. Britney, Madonna, Donald and Rosie are all idiots.
64. Don’t count out Microsoft (or Zune). If they can’t find ways to invent, they’ve always found ways to buy.
65. I think many business leaders are incredibly talented at execution and simplifying the problem.
66. Great companies understand that human resources are an investment, not an expense.
67. Outsourcing to other countries is a challenge because of the lack of understanding of our culture, not our technology.
68. There are very few differences between the democratic and republican parties. But while we hate, fight, and challenge each other politically, the leaders laugh and walk away with the money.
69. When you don’t have anything to celebrate, it’s easier to hate those who do. This is terrorism.
70. Peace is a wonderful thing, it’s too bad that so many times people have to fight and die to attain it.
71. I’m against the death penalty, but I’m relieved that Saddam Hussein is dead. I’m sorry.
72. My favorite business book of 2006 was Naked Conversations.
73. A Microsoft fan my entire life, I have to admit that I love my MacBook Pro. And it runs XP great (but very rarely).
74. Al Gore and Robert Kennedy, advocates for the environment, travel by private jet all year long.
75. Starbucks is really starting to fill up their coffee shops with too much retail crap to buy. I just want coffee and a nice place to sit. Your hard seats may keep people coming and going quicker, but they suck.
76. Musicians will continue to gain freedom, but the Music Industry will continue to die because the money will go to those who deserve it rather than those who wish to control it.
77. Verizon needs to take all those thousands of employees all over their commercials and put them behind the counter so I don’t have to stand there for two hours.
78. Get Firefox.
79. StumbleUpon, Dzone, Digg, and Redditt are fantastic ways to get the word out on your newly launched applications on the web.
80. If I were going to build a movie cinema, it would have private tables, a top-notch meal, a great wine list, and an expresso bar. Then I wouldn’t mind dropping $100 bucks on a movie.
81. I love rewards programs though I don’t think I really benefit from them.
82. Pageviews should not be the primary indicator for advertisers to judge a website on or pay for ads with, neither should CPM. It should shift to CPV, a better indicator of interaction between the visitors and the advertisers.
83. My favorite magazine (that keeps getting better) in 2006 was Practical Web Design.
84. Email will still continue to be a primary means of communication between companies and their customers.
85. Gaping Void is a great site, but I can’t put a lot of the content on my site because Hugh likes to use some language I don’t think is appropriate for my readers.
86. Video blogging kind of sucks.
87. The Internet and Google provides a great means for ex-girlfriends to track you down and relentlessly try to speak to you until you have to ask them to stop. Oy.
88. Amazon’s Associates program either doesn’t work or doesn’t make any money. Either way it sucks.
89. Software developers should develop components or applications, but rarely both. If you develop applications, buy your components. If you build components, release them and see what people can build with them!
90. Open source is not a means of collectively developing a great product with thousands of resources. Open source is a means of exposing your product to thousands of people so a few talented developers can develop a great solution.
91. My favorite technology book read in 2006 was The Zen of CSS design.
92. Geographic and/or niche social networking is the next phase of the net, including blogging, search, and networking. Watch MyColts.net.
93. I’m well connected on LinkedIn and I have no idea how it helps me.
94. Plaxo is awesome and allows me to synchronize over 8 address books on a constant basis.
95. No mountains or ocean, but the people are fantastic. I Choose Indy!
96. The Indianapolis Business Journal and Ruth Holladay’s blog supply me with more news about the region than any other source.
97. Programming well is still difficult.
98. Employees want to do a great job and be recognized for it.
99. Reality Television is an oxymoron.
100. I don’t have enough time to read, so I have books everywhere and I pick them up every chance I get.

Lastly… One last time for last year! Check out the Z-List! The best blogs you may never have read!

A couple weeks ago, I integrated Adsense with Google Analytics (Tip #4). I’m already fascinated looking at the results. Google Analytics has a Reverse Goal Path where you can see the path that visitors utilized before clicking the advertisement. Armed with this information, one could take two different viewpoints:

1. I can make more money if I continue writing about these topics.
2. There is a demand for content in these areas - so much so that folks are willing to click on ads to get it!

With only a couple weeks of analysis under my belt, I won’t be changing directions on the content of my blog simply to get additional advertising revenue. But… it appears folks are finding my blog and then leaving it through ad links when they are not finding the information they need for the topics they were seeking. Here’s a cool look at the stats with the Reverse Goal Path:

Those topics? Ajax, Flash, WordPress and Firefox. WordPress is one of the ‘hot’ topics on my blog with more hits on WordPress tagged topics than anywhere else. I’m working on a WordPress Sidebar Widget right now since those are desirable and may expose my blog to additional readers.

As for Ajax, Flash, and Firefox… I’ll have to see where I want to take those. I’m a huge fan of Ajax but don’t have much Flash experience (my friend Bill has a lot more). And of course I love Firefox, it’s add-on technology, and Firebug! Firebug is the essential development tool for any Web developer.

So… write about those topics to meet the demand and you can make more money doing it! Analytics is cool!

ProBlogger has another fantastic Group Writing Project. (You can participate, too!)

Darren is a lot like having a personal coach for blogging. Rarely do I see a post on ProBlogger that isn’t totally original. I think Darren puts forth an extraordinary effort to make blogs better throughout the Internet.

This Group Writing Project is to come up with a creative list, rant, etc. of reviews for last year or predictions for the upcoming year. I decided to be a little creative and try a combination of both. Below you’ll find my personal reviews of what was great in 2006 and my thoughts on what will be great in 2007. Keep your eye on the 2007 predictions, I think I’ve done a pretty thorough job of documenting out the different areas my blog touches on and thinking seriously about the direction each of the topics are taking.

Enjoy! As always, comments welcome. And be sure to keep track at ProBlogger so you can check out what everyone else is writing about.

The ol’ theme was starting to get a little boring for me, so I decided to throw caution to the wind and really soup up the site. I started off with the Squible beta theme and tweaked it out totally. I even added the Google Video bar, it does a search of random sets of tags from Google Video. You’ll find my favorites in there - Seth Godin and Tom Peters, as well as other general tags on web 2.0, search engine optimization, internet marketing, etc.

I like this theme because it prioritizes the page. Rather than a menu sidebar (that no one really used), this theme stuffs that stuff down at the bottom of the home page. As well, if a visitor came here and after reading the post ‘brief’ and they weren’t interested… I have the ‘related’ posts to the side. Perhaps there’s an article in there that they wish to read.

I did some cool little tweaks to the theme as well. Squible is a set width, so I modified all the styles for a variable width. Squible also limits the characters on the front page (if you’d like) but cuts the content off mid-word if that’s the limit. I modified the function to cut it off at the last space before the character limit.

And of course, there are the fiery graphics! I wanted to be a little more exciting then the cold blue of my previous theme. We’ll see what happens. I’m a little concerned that this theme uses a little more ajax, rendering content on the fly. We’ll see what happens to my organic search results with the new site. Hopefully, all of the deep related tagging will result in better SEO (Search Engine Optimization).

More to come! But I hope you like it!