Viral Marketing - With Video

A couple posts ago I mentioned a video that seemed to miss its intention by not providing a link or call to action.

The below is an example of using video the right way (those easily offended please don't view).


Hulu is a new video service launched by NBC. They've taken a very popular SNL segment and posted it on YouTube with a banner at the bottom. Very simple, but I'm sure it has been a great traffic generator for their site.

It was only added by Hulu on March 12th and it already has 425,057 views.

Getting Your Point Across - Made To Stick

I am currently reading the book Made to Stick by Chip and Dan Heath and want to pass along some very valuable information from the book that I think can be used effectively in writing web copy.

To make your ideas quickly and easily understood you need to use their six principles of "stickiness"

1. Get your point down to its core message and keep that message simple

2. Add an unexpected twist when making your point to hold the attention of your reader

3. Keep your message in concrete real terms

4. Keep your message credible. It has to be believable to be comprehended

5. Make people care about your message through emotion in your idea

6. Always try to use a story to make you idea better understood

The whole book is expanding and explaining these six principles. It is the best business book I've read in a while.

Buy it. Read it. Use it. Get your ideas across.

Web Design Essentials Rap!

This is an example of what is called "link baiting" or viral marketing.

Though they make a very big mistake (if link bating was their intent): There is no link back or call to action. There is a very small credit at the beginning and end of the song, but that doesn't tell you much. A great opportunity lost.



I had to dig a little but found out that the rapper is Mo Serious.

WebCast: Website Optimizer: What Should I Test?

Why not learn from the best.

Check out this webcast from Tom Leung of Google and Bryan Eisenberg of FutureNow on website optimization and the Google Website Optimizer tool.

I use the Google optimizer tool and highly recommend it. Also Bryan Eisenberg is an expert in website conversion. He has a great process he calls "Persuasion Architecture."

Why we are information junkies, read the article on Wall Street Journal

Read this very interesting article about why we are addicted to browsing on the web. A researcher at USC found "information triggers a chemical reaction that makes us feel good." So the more information we gather the more we want to gather and so begin a web browsing cycle. The web is full of information junkies and I guess this is why. Click the "read more" link below to read the whole article.

read more | digg story

SXSW: Lessons Learned at 37 Signals

Jason Fried of 37 Signals gave a presentation yesterday at SxSW. 37 Signals makes Basecamp among other web applications.Read this article for some very practical and simple tips to running any business.

read more | digg story

Opera: Browser market is broken—thanks to Microsoft

I'm here at the South by Southwest conference in Austin TX and I attended a session on the browser wars. The Microsoft guy got beat-up pretty good by everyone in the room especially the Opera rep. This article amplifies pretty much what was said: Microsoft Heal Thy Self.

"Internet Explorer 8 is around the corner with "standards compliant" mode, but there are still certain parties that think Microsoft should do a lot more. Opera is one of them, and has a few tips for Microsoft to "fix" its browser issues . . . "

read more | digg story