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January 28, 2005
So we commissioned a whitepaper on search engine optimization. It was trashed by one of our bloggers, Robin Good, in a piece called "Bad SEO: Marqui has the Reference", and continues to generate controversy. In it, we recommended that marketers look for a Content Management System (CMS) that allows them to easily add metatags and keywords to increase their hit rates, among other tips and tricks.
The other day, another blogger, Meryl, had a comment posted on her site referencing Marqui's inability to get top billing on our own name.
1/28/2005 13:54
I took a deep breath and sent out the notification. Dabble mode (a demo of the Marqui System) is ready for our bloggers to use. This is something Marc has been pushing for since September. After sending out our SEO whitepaper, I must admit I'm nervous about what they'll think. But here goes. I only hope they'll comment here on our blog - for everyone to see - as well as on their own, so I can try and get the 'circle of links love' going.
1/27/2005 16:08
In this week's Blog Business Summit, we were treated to a keynote by Robert Scoble, Microsoft's ace blogger. In it, he addressed some very human feelings associated with creating and maintaining a blog. I found his insights to be compelling, and (since it's such a mysterious realm for marketers) thought I'd share them here.
January 26, 2005
In my ever so humble opinion, one of the highlights of the Blog Business Summit actually had little or nothing to do with blogs. It's what I'm hoping is a fabulous new trend in PowerPoint presentations: the minimalist presentation.
Halley Suitt and Robert Scoble are both prime examples – they popped up decks with one word per slide. Just one little word. What a refreshing change from speakers who seem hell bent on cramming their memoirs into each and every slide!
January 25, 2005
This morning's summit presentations are very interesting, discussions are around the basic guidelines and recommendations for employees blogging for their organization.
In such a conversational medium, a organization's blog gives an opportunity to personalize and humanize an organization.
At Microsoft, blogs are considered a positive step, and you're never hurt at bonus time if you're a very good blogger. Here's why...
1/24/2005 15:51
Marketers, take heed! The if you're wondering how to use blogging in your business, people are providing real answers here today, at the Blog Business Summit. Although this is the first of its kind, there will be many more conferences and opportunities to gather real information on using blogs in business. As I sit here in Seattle, listening to Molly Holzschlag and DL Byron present options for blogging engines, I can see that Mitch Ratcliffe has been taking excellent notes from the summit. It's pretty amazing to sit here in real time, being educated and informed (and have this information captured) by three of the luminaries in the blogging business. It's even more amazing to realize these three are all part of Marqui's 'Pay Bloggers to Blog' program. Marc Canter has selected some incredibly intelligent people to participate. Bravo. Read the links. Learn about it. Check back here for more.
January 24, 2005
Wanted to provide a quick recap of Robert Scoble's keyote at The Blog Business Summit for those of you who couldn't attend…
Despite a rather alarming tendency to ramble,Robert made some interesting observations about the value and future of blogging.
January 20, 2005
I feel compelled to address the latest shots fired at Marqui courtesy of Jason Calacanis. Now, I could talk at length about how I don't think the blog-pay program is radically different (from an ethical perspective) than advertising (particularly given the current trend toward advertorials) or what often transpires with industry analyst groups…but I think these points have been pretty well covered.
1/19/2005 13:50
We're sponsoring the upcoming Blog Business Summit in Seattle. We hope to blog 'live' from the summit - during breaks. In trying to obtain an internet connection from summit organizers for the evening event, we were told the hotel charges $395/day + $75/person for it. On their blog today, Steve Broback announced everyone would be sitting in Aeron chairs, "We can all re-live those fabulous dot-com days, when they were (as Shuli Hallack joked) “the highlight of the Internet revolution.� My question is this: What if there was a summit for bloggers (comfortable chairs notwithstanding), and no way to blog about it 'live?' Will the organizers offer free wireless access to attendees? Or will the Bell Harbor conference center and the hotel make a killing on internet access charges during the conference? Maybe I'm missing something here... we'll let you know from Seattle what we find.
1/19/2005 9:37
Two of our bloggers celebrate their birthdays this week, and I would like to acknowledge them. No matter how old you are, your birthday should be celebrated all around your sphere of influence, by friends, family, loved ones and supporters. Happy birthdays to Sooz who shares her birthday with the inauguration on Thursday, and Marc, who celebrates his today!
1/19/2005 9:00
Having recently joined Marqui from a well known PR firm, I can say with some authority that PR (and marketing) folks everywhere are expending a fair amount of energy trying to figure out what to do with “this whole blogging thing.� Should they start their own blogs? Ghost-write blogs for clients? Pitch well known bloggers for coverage?
January 18, 2005
Here it is. My first-ever blog. And for this momentous occasion, I have selected a topic near and dear to my heart: spelling. Okay, so maybe it's not dear, but it certainly is timely since I just discovered the web-based e-mail system I'm using doesn't have spell-check.
So, as I find myself in the precarious position of sending e-mails out into the world without any sort of “spelling safety net,� I can't help but recall a topic that came up during a recent panel hosted by the American Marketing Association: how is technology impacting language?
January 17, 2005
I saw something amazing come across in an e-mail to me today, from Sabrina Dent, Managing Editor, Mink Media Network (She had posted an article about blogging, and wanted me to know it was up.)
What amazed me was a line in her signature that said simply:
This email is: [ x ] Bloggable [ ] Ask first [ ] Private
Brilliant move! It gave me permission to blog about the information she enclosed without having to ask. This is the kind of intelligent, anticipatory thinking that marketers should be formulating as we live in an increasingly online marketplace.
January 12, 2005
One of our competitors has been blogging about our blogosphere program. He's called the program 'a new level of low' and has called us 'pond scum.'
But the worst part? One of the comments stated 'none of the good bloggers are doing this.'
Man, that makes me mad.
1/11/2005 18:20
Our first checks went out last night to our bloggers. Lisa needs information from three of our bloggers in order to complete payments to them... But I'm in Vancouver this week (sitting right next to the finance folks) and have been lucky enough to get confirmation that they've gone out. Re Paypal: The decision is to wire the money to our international bloggers (at our expense) for now. I hope the wire transfer will work for everyone who needs one.
1/10/2005 14:38
Marc described our blogosphere process today in a very colorful and succinct manner in an e-mail to Peter Dawson, who's interested in our pay bloggers program: --------------------------------------------------------------------- "You blog it, we'll ping it, it'll dribble down through my trackback at which point I'll ricochet it back to you, you knock a slapshot off my helmet, careen into our 'conversation coordinators' stick and she scores you a browinie point! Then she preps the accolades for a Marqui blog post, which slipshots it's way back to you - via Technorati, Feedster or PubSub. Pointing to the glorious process all along the way." --------------------------------------------------------------------- If only it were that easy to get things done. As Robin Good has pointed out to me, even the process of paying bloggers to blog has become a relatively big undertaking. We're cutting the first checks this week, and some of our bloggers are scattered around the world. Here's my take (and let's be clear, I'm not in finance. And they are covered by rules that - when flaunted - bring companies down): 1) It's sad that we require invoices, when we have contracts with each of them. But we do. I thought the funniest one was from the head lemur. Check it out, it's hilarious. Not sure what we can do to automate the process of getting invoices in, but we'll work on it. We're listening, I promise. Will the program change as a result next time? Probably. 2) Why can't we use PayPal to pay our bloggers? This issue has been raised to the highest levels of the organization, and our Controller, John Foy, is looking into setting us up that way this afternoon. He's doing it because our bloggers are pushing us to do so. As it should be. He'll have an answer for us soon, which I'll post here. 3) Where is dabble mode? The ubiquitous question Marc asks every week. We've got 100 accounts for users (our bloggers and their readers) to play with. The accounts are live now, but we need an automated process by which we assign user names and passwords, which we're waiting on. If only I could do it myself, I would. But I have to rely on our hard-working IT staff to help get it done. I will post the methodology here. Good news, though, our help files in all demo accounts will be updated tonight to the newest versions. Thank you, Dennis! Small victories, but even more to do, every single day. I wish the knot in my back would go away. Too many slapshots to the head without a helmet, I guess. It's just a job, right?
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