Velvet - Spend the Rest of Your Life on Velvet
Spend the Rest of Your Life on Velvet
I found this in a friend’s garage…pretty interesting tin.
They won’t let this type of advertising fly anymore. You can’t say something to the effect of spending the rest of your life on it. There were lots of “Joe Camel” and “Marlboro Man” type ads like this too. Eventually I think that some government oversight committee said “No, that advertising is too suggestive and it’s proven to kill” or something to that effect.
Wikipedia says this:
Internal documents produced to the court in Mangini v. R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, San Francisco Superior Court No. 959516, demonstrated the industry’s interest in targeting children as future smokers.[3] The importance of the youth market was illustrated in a 1974 presentation by RJR’s Vice-President of Marketing who explained that the “young adult market . . . represent[s] tomorrow’s cigarette business. As this 14-24 age group matures, they will account for a key share of the total cigarette volume — for at least the next 25 years.”[4] A 1974 memo by the R. J. Reynolds Research Department points out that capturing the young adult market is vital because “virtually all [smokers] start by the age of 25″ and “most smokers begin smoking regularly and select a usual brand at or before the age of 18.”
See, what really gets me is that people think that advertising really started like 10 years ago with the beginning of the Internet. It really didn’t.
In June 1836, French newspaper La Presse is the first to include paid advertising in its pages, allowing it to lower its price, extend its readership and increase its profitability.
Almost 200 YEARS! Now I really don’t mean to make this an entire article about smoking or some foolish thing like that, but I want to illustrate that the typeset is suggestive enough to show that the same type of advertising is done today. It’s done a little different though. In these days, ads are truly subliminal messaging. You have things like a McDonalds ad that had dollar bills as lettuce. Or you have Electronics ads that only fool the consumer. Its all targeted. So think about who you want to target and see how your competitors are advertising. It’s quite simple. Match and refine their process and you will come out on top.
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Does Running a Web Consulting Business Mean No Bank Holidays
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Here I am sat in front of the computer waiting for one of my business partners to arrive and I start to think…’Does Running a Web Consulting Business Mean No Bank Holidays?’
Well, the truth is out there, as the saying goes, and take a look at any successful network marketer and they will tell you one thing. You never stop.
It might seem as though you’re listening when your partner walks into the room, throws a cup of coffee your way and tells you the kids have just climbed up onto the roof and are throwing rocks at the neighbor’s cat for the fifth time this week but the truth is you haven’t heard a word of it and so you smile curiously and say something like, ‘Oh, okay, I’ll be with you in a minute. Thanks for the coffee’.
You haven’t heard a word because you’re too busy looking for that next million. The Internet is taking over your home and there’s nothing you can do about it. So why not make a web site?
And listen, if this is you…
It’s okay.
Really…we understand…we know what it’s like to rush down stairs at 3:47AM because there’s just that something you need to do online because the guy you were talking to an hour ago in Hong Kong promised to get back to you and you’re sure he’s probably online right now waiting for your reply and besides you’re not really that tired.
We understand.
So go do your thing this bank holiday and forget that others around you have different lives. We’re still here giving quotes.
Yours is exactly that so make the most of it.
How To Become A Web Expert Without Spending A Dime
I recently read this online and really felt like it spoke to me directly. I know that parts of it are a bit catchy, but it serves a very good purpose and point. Read it, comment, all kudos go to the original author though.
Imagine you’re a master at making money online, that you’re passionate, and excited during almost every hour you spend working. Visualize people coming to YOU for answers to their most important Web-related questions. Envision emails and phone calls flooding in every day with eager, prospective customers. Read on to learn the secret to achieving all of this.
If I could show you how to become a Web design, development or marketing expert without spending a dime, would you want to learn?
Imagine you’re a master at making money online, that you’re passionate, and excited during almost every hour you spend working. Visualize people coming to YOU for answers to their most important Web-related questions. Envision emails and phone calls flooding in every day with eager, prospective customers. Read on to learn the secret to achieving all of this.
First, discernment and discretion are vital. There are many programs online, many e-books, many self-proclaimed Web gurus and so much information today that it’s overwhelming and could send you to the poor-house faster than the speed of digital communication.
Where should I go to learn Web marketing? How should I spend my time? Who should teach me? What websites offer the best information? How do I make money using the Internet? What are the most important things I should learn? Should I learn Java or PHP? What are the fundamentals? How do I write effective copy online? How long will it take me before I can start my own business? The answer to all these questions can is . . .
Before I explain, let me tell you a brief story of my inchoate professional life. I barely knew what a computer while in college. It was only after living on both coasts playing live music did I conclude that a career in computers may make me a few more dollars than a career in music. It was then I decided I wanted to become a Web expert.
I had first considered attending a high-priced computer school that a programmer friend had recommended. But I had no money, and the school required all its students to attend full-time. I needed to eat and provide a roof over my head, and for that I needed to work full-time, so this expensive computer school was out of the question for me.
Although my options were limited, but I diligently looked in the Want Ads till I found a job that I could possibly do that was related to computers. The job title was “Internet Exploration Specialist”. I know that sounds slightly strange, but if you had met my chair-throwing, screaming and eccentric boss-to-be, it would make a little more sense.
I got the job and outlasted the most optimistic office pool prediction for how long I would remain working for the perpetually livid CEO. Looking back, it was probably one the best things I could have ever done (minus the maniacal boss, that is). I learned how to surf the Web. I became an expert Internet peruser, a digital explorer, a website connoisseur, and a professional information superhighway surveyor.
At around the same time I learned one of the secrets to becoming an expert at something. You have to put the time in. People who remain working in careers that they hate don’t put in the extra time to develop a career in something they love. Pure and simple. So while I had down time at work, I read books and found websites that taught me how to do things Web-related tasks. More importantly, I spent time after work and on the weekends reading, practicing and developing my Web skills.
Back when I began developing my Web career, the Internet wasn’t as big as it is today. There weren’t as many options for learning Web-related skills. Since I had no money, I simply searched for free online tutorials, primers and how-to’s. They became my staple for learning. Since I had seriously developed my Web surfing skills, I inevitably found many highly educational websites. And there weren’t as many scams back then either, there weren’t as many “gurus”. Web marketing or e-marketing hadn’t even become terms yet, so I had a lot of success getting reliable information.
Today it’s different. This is both good news and bad news. I’ll start with the bad news.
You can’t throw a rock into the Internet ocean now and NOT hit a get-rich-quick plan, a Web marketing curriculum, or an e-marketing “expert”. You’ve got StomperNet, Portal Feeder, Pipeline Profits, The Rich Jerk, Strategic Profits and Traffic Secrets to name only a few. There’s too much to choose from and they all come for a steep price. Now many of these programs may teach you a lot, but it will cost you. I’m here to say that you don’t need to spend any money. You’re reading this for free, aren’t you?
But here’s the good news.
Because of the way Google ranks websites now, because the very nature of the Internet as man’s most prolific and complete resource on everything, and because of human nature being curious and information-driven, the Web has massive amounts of extremely useful, high-quality, free information. People are falling all over each other trying to produce and publish high-quality Web content all at no cost to you.
Again, Google is one reason. One main way Google ranks a website is by how many authoritative sites link to that website. The best way to get new links pointing to your site is by creating useful content that can be accessed by anyone. If the content is fresh, original and high-quality, people will link to it.
And here’s more good news. Of all the subjects there are in the world, and therefore all of the subjects discussed online, the Web is the most popular.
Of course this has to be true. Think about it. Who’s doing all the posting? Webmasters. And what do webmasters know best? The Web. So you’re going to find a huge amount of tutorials, primers, articles, forum posts, blogs and websites that offer tons of useful information on how to become good at all kinds of Web-related things, and all at no charge.
Here are a few tips for effectively searching online.
Copyright: Copyright © 2007-2008 Jason OConnor
Jason OConnor is President of Oak Web Works - The
synthesis of Web design, technology and marketing
Jason is an expert at Web design and programming, e-strategy, and
e-marketing
http://www.oakwebworks.com
mailto: joconnor888 @ hotmail.com
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Quick Web Development and Design Hints For Hard Economic Times in Mobile Alabama
This was originally posted at the Digital Design Blog writtten by Garrick Schmitt.
Last week I had the opportunity to talk to a leading industry analyst about a number of potential small web site investments that marketers and publishers could make to yield the biggest possible pay-off. The premise being, of course, that in economic hard times site owners needed to stretch their budgets to do more than ever — and generate real returns.
While we are hardly entering the hardscrabble environment of a previous Internet-era, it’s always good to revisit first principals when it comes to website design and development. Namely, that everything can be continuously measured (and optimized) and the digital medium is accountable: we can truly measure its impact to the bottom line. No guessing about what audience saw what ads here!
Our conversation ranged from the impact of search to social application widgets, like those from Rock You, to advanced analytics. So, for struggling site owners, here are my three quick web hits for hard economic times:
1. Acquisition: Reaching new customers or audiences is key. To do so as efficiently as possible, investments in Search Engine Optimization and Paid Search advertising efforts are key. Consumers aren’t searching any less in tough times (and given the fact that there’s no cost, they may be doing even more searching), so optimizing one’s pages for natural search engine optimization is critical. Think of every page as a homepage — an inventory that can be accessed in any conceivable manner regardless of typical ecommerce or content flows. Ditto for investments in paid search and paid inclusion. Now’s the time to really revisit these strategies.
2. Conversion: Optimize conversion flows endlessly. Digital properties are all about “flows” or the paths that consumers take through a site or application on their way to completing a task. As I’ve written about before in Our Brave New Beta Future: Site-side analytic tools like SiteCatalyst, Hitbox and WebSideStory are great for serving up general reports on success ratios but yield few clues as to why users exit a flow. That’s because users exit on a page, not going from page-to-page. To ensure that you are designing for maximum conversion, Avenue A | Razorfish employs a proprietary tool called Advanced Optimization that allows us to track user behavior at the page level (see below).
This allows us to see exactly where users click on a page, the amount of time spent filling out form fields, how far users scroll, how much time they spend watching a video, interacting with a flash module and more. Using a solution like this typically yields fantastic returns. I’ve personally seen clients get 25% lifts to their conversion rates and — based on sales volumes — have seen yearly revenue increases of $2 million or more based on slight, strategic, design tweaks. Also, don’t forget about implementing multivariate testing as well (think of it as A/B testing on steroids) to determine the best and most effective mix of creative, copy and page design elements.
3. Retention: If you haven’t experimented with social media or other participatory digital concepts now is definitely the time. It’s just as important to maintain an ongoing relationship with existing consumers as it is to acquire new ones. Social media, if nothing else, is geared 
towards fans of your brand or site. Whether it’s chunking up your video assets for distribution on YouTube or launching a new campaign or page on Facebook, it’s definitely time to consider small initiatives here. A couple personal favorites are working with emerging web application providers like RockYou (which has incredible reach) or creating custom social media experiences, such as Red Bull’s Roshambo on Facebook. These speak to brand loyalists in meaningful was (most of the time) and may even net you a convert or two.
Of course none of this can be done too cheap — tiny budgets still won’t get you a whole lot — but these tactics are the perfect remedy for hard economic times. And, come to think of it, maybe even for not-so hard times.
