Priority Running

Over the last several months my life has been quite like a roller coaster with all the twists that life throws your way, and at times I've had to make the decision that even with 24 hours in a day, I could not find the time to get out the door and run.

What I found was this had a sizable impact on my mood, disposition and overall mental health.

Now I make running a priority in my life, and I like it.  I recently rolled-over the 1,000 mile mark of distance travelled throughout my workouts, which includes some biking miles but over 95% is running.

It's not the farthest or most distance logged and it's certainly not at an elite pace, but those are my 1,000 miles, and those miles have helped me cope, helped me solve problems, helped me craft things to say, or not to say.  I guess what I'm trying to say is I need to run.

Run on.

JK

Monthly running goals

Hello and good morning - The Rock and Roll half marathon is less than a month away now.  I'm quite nervous since I took 23 days off in May/June which should have been the heart of the training period.  I've been committed to getting in some miles to keep building the leg strength but I wonder if it's enough.  I guess we'll find out come Aug. 1. 

Check out www.DailyMile.com if you're interested in keeping track of your workouts.

Clash of the touch screen Titans: HTC EVO vs. iPhone

For anyone paying attention to the mobile handset market this is an exiting time.  Sprint and HTC just released the first 4G enabled handset, the EVO 4G (see picture below), and is setting sales records.  This is a pretty big deal b/c it is a very cool step in the evolution of the wireless world and the adoption of a WiMax network. 

Do you want to know which one is the best product, EVO 4G or iPhone 4?  Well fortunately for you CRN.com did a head-to-head review based on a wide variety of factors including memory and storage, price, battery life, network, connectivity, etc...

Take some time to check out the battle:  HTC EVO 4G versus the Apple iPhone 4.


And NO, I'm not going to tell you who won, you will have to read it yourself.

Additionally, it's worth checking out the Sprint site just for the interaction and viral nature of the 4G firsts feature.

Keep on keeping on - in a mobile way.

My Mobile marketing snapshot

Greetings:

Over the past weeks I've been exposed to mobile marketing in a variety of ways and thought I would post my snapshot on topic.  This post is a bit of a catch-all.

First, it was nice to see an article on eMarketer regarding an old client of mine, Cars.com.  The article - available here - outlines the approach the company took to design and launch their mobile campaign.   One thing that came out in this article that I completely agree with is this, the method or channel of customer communication may change over time, but quality and relevant content will never cease to be crucial for making a connection to your customers.

Second, according to comScore - the leading OEM's in this field are Samsung, Motorola, LG, RIM, and Nokia.  This is quite relevant to me since my group project for another class was specific to handset manufacturers   Interesting to note, although Apple is a major player in the smartphone arena they still have a relatively small market share.

Third, if you are interested in learning more or staying in touch w/ the mobile marketing space, here is a site you should be familiar with.  Mobile Marketing Watch.  They provide a wealth of information on the industry including best practices and trends.

Keep on keeping on.

Joel

Set your data free

In today's business environment everybody, and I mean EVERYBODY has had to Excel and PowerPoint.  In the realm of online marketing, like many realms I suppose, data is the key to making smart business decisions.  But how do we avoid paralysis by analysis?  How do I know which is more important, costs, revenue, ROI, ROAS?  Ahhhhhh, it's like alphabet soup!

Well, I recently decided that I wanted to improve my chart and graph skills to present KPI metrics to my team and those business managers I work with.  In my search I found a site which I will share with you to help "set your data free".  Michelangelo said: “I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free".  If you know what data is necessary to sell your idea or proposal, then set your data free with a compelling visual image and not the 1,000 words or boredom already swirling around every corporate conference room in the city.

The site I found is http://www.excelcharts.com/blog/

Even a cursory look around and you understand the drive and passion Jorge Camoes, the site owner, has for this topic.  I am impressed and appreciative of the information and education available, and all without cost.  Be sure to check out the About link to learn more about the owner/author, his background and experience.

I am going to take some time to familiarize myself with this site and it's learnings.  Do you have any similar sites to share?

Keep on keeping on...now stop reading web sites and go outside:

Understanding SEM on a deeper level

I recently began a new job working in paid search for a large retailer.  In 10 days I've learned a LOT.  My career has been rooted in client-service so this role is new for me on a couple of levels.  My world has been opened to a level of analytics and "turning data into knowledge".

Example:  I've learned to measure positive and negative ROI metrics, then use those numbers to craft a story and strategic recommendations which need to be pitched to internal business managers.  The numbers are specific and always questioned, so it's important to bring your A game.

Additionally we are changing our SEM agency and I've been able to participate in a number of conversations on the best way to set up our new campaigns which has given me a new appreciation for the level of knowledge and expertise that these folks offer.

What lessons will this week bring?

Two shopping sites you should know

If you enjoy finding good deals online and getting rewarded for online shopping you need to know about SlickDeals and MyPoints.

SlickDeals.net is a site that scours the web to bring together the best bargains and coupons for you.  It offers a wide variety of product categories from the web's largest retailers and displays them in an easy-to-read front page grid.

MyPoints.com is an online loyalty site for shoppers.  By purchasing goods and services you collect Points which can be redeemed at any of the site's redemption partners.  You can purchase books, contact lenses or a DirecTV system.

Take a minute or two and check out these sites.  Bookmark them now to start reaping the benefits of shopping on the web.

Top 5 Web Directories you should know about

If you own a website and are interested in driving more traffic to it, here are 5 online directories you should be aware of:

1:  DMOZ, widely recognized as the Granddaddy of online directories.
www.dmoz.org


2: JoeAnt:  Born of the desire to provide relevant results in a wide variety of topics, and seeks to work by forming a 'community' of editors where anyone interested can join in.  Re-launched in August 2002 following an extensive site rebuild that recreated the back-end to enable the directory to be indexed by search engine spiders
www.joeant.com


3; Yahoo Directory: The directory wasYahoo!'s first offering. When Yahoo! changed to crawler-based listings for its main results in October 2002, the human-edited directory's significance dropped, but it is still being updated. The Yahoo! Directory offers two options for suggesting websites for possible listing: "Standard", which is free, and a paid submission process that offers expedited review.
http://dir.yahoo.com/


4:  Best Of The Web:  Best of the Web Directory is a commercial web directory providing websites categorized topically and regionally.
http://botw.org/


5: Business.com: Includes Work.com, a business-to-business community publishing platform where experts share advice on common business topics in the form of how-to guides.
www.business.com

Treadware Marketing

Be sure to check out TreadwareMarketing.com  This company and the web site are truly in their infancy, but they are important steps in my efforts to further my experience and career in online marketing. 

I chose the name Treadware b/c 1: The treadwear is literally where the rubber meets the road, 2: The domain name was available, and 3: A tire leaves and impact and I want to leave an impact on my clients.

Check back often as I will be making updates

Adding Google Analytics to Blog

Hello:

I was working and working to get GA added to my blog....I could see the code in the view source, but darnint I could not get any data to show up, and in the GA dashboard I got the little error message.  I finally found out that when I copied and pasted the code from Google something happened and it did not paste cleanly.  Every quote mark was changed (changed to something like ;quote%$; and ever apostrophe was changed to something like ;#39;

Obviously this causes the script not to work properly.  I tried to fix it.  Hang tight to see if the fix worked correctly.

Joel

DePaul's ads

In thinking about our GOMC assignment I got to thinking about DePaul and if they are doing any advertising in AdWords.  I ran some queries and voila, they are...see image.

Upon clicking through I was brought to a fine site (http://www.depaul.edu/becomeonline/?gclid=CKiJouyY8aACFSVI5wodI0sxGg) with a simple layout giving the user chances to visit the DePaul home page, request more info, or learn about open houses.

Further investigation told me DePaul is using Google Analytics. I think it would be very insightful and helpful to get some true data for something we all can relate to and see how the Google dashboards look and feel.

I did some additional queries for competing universities but did not see paid ads for Northwestern, or Loyola, or University of Chicago.

Hmmm.

NAVTEQ

One company I would like to highlight is NAVTEQ...

Here is their site: http://www.navteq.com/

Here is their profile from LinkedIn:

NAVTEQ is a leading provider of comprehensive digital map information for automotive navigation systems, mobile navigation devices, Internet-based mapping applications, and government and business solutions.

NAVTEQ creates the digital maps and map content that power navigation and location-based services solutions around the world.

The Chicago-based company was founded in 1985 and has more than 4,000 employees located in 196 offices and in 43 countries.

NAVTEQ was acquired by NOKIA in 2008

Welcome

Welcome to my blog. Here you can read information on various topics relating to online marketing including profiles of interesting companies, thoughts on new trends or innovations, and some general random thoughts.

Read on.

Joel