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November 30, 2005

Wanted: SEO Experts, Account Managers, Project Managers...

Man, are we ever growing fast. Just posted TONS of jobs on the job blog. Hop on over and take a look at the available positions:

SEO Expert

Project Manager

Online Account Manager

Assistant Account Manager

Sales/Biz Dev

...can't think of a better way to start off the holidays than with a shiny new JOB!

Wanted: SEO Experts, Account Managers, Project Managers...

Man, are we ever growing fast. Just posted TONS of jobs on the job blog. Hop on over and take a look at the available positions:

SEO Expert

Project Manager

Online Account Manager

Assistant Account Manager

Sales/Biz Dev

...can't think of a better way to start off the holidays than with a shiny new JOB!

Yahoo! adds RSS to Mail and Alerts

On her blog, Forrester's Charlene Li reports on Yahoo's latest foray into RSS....

1)      Yahoo! Alerts will now be RSS enabled. This means that when a new item is posted to a feed, a Yahoo! user can have the post be sent as an Alert to email, Yahoo! Messenger, or via SMS to a mobile phone...

2)      The new Yahoo! Mail beta will also be RSS enabled. Users can add feeds directly into the Mail interface, or if they have feeds already set up in My Yahoo!, they will automatically replicate within Mail...

...And good news on the Yahoo! Mail beta – Yahoo! said that they would be starting to pull people off the waiting list “soon” and “slowly”. So if you haven’t already, sign up for the beta!

So... cool. More RSS stuff to play with. And is it just me, or did Yahoo! actually beat Google to the punch with this one? (I'm on decongestants today, so I could be wrong.)

UPDATE: Here's an article from the Washington Post on the new Yahoo features.

Yahoo! adds RSS to Mail and Alerts

On her blog, Forrester's Charlene Li reports on Yahoo's latest foray into RSS....

1)      Yahoo! Alerts will now be RSS enabled. This means that when a new item is posted to a feed, a Yahoo! user can have the post be sent as an Alert to email, Yahoo! Messenger, or via SMS to a mobile phone...

2)      The new Yahoo! Mail beta will also be RSS enabled. Users can add feeds directly into the Mail interface, or if they have feeds already set up in My Yahoo!, they will automatically replicate within Mail...

...And good news on the Yahoo! Mail beta – Yahoo! said that they would be starting to pull people off the waiting list “soon” and “slowly”. So if you haven’t already, sign up for the beta!

So... cool. More RSS stuff to play with. And is it just me, or did Yahoo! actually beat Google to the punch with this one? (I'm on decongestants today, so I could be wrong.)

UPDATE: Here's an article from the Washington Post on the new Yahoo features.

November 27, 2005

MarketingVox: Google Tests Click-to-Call Ads

Google is testing click-to-call (pay-per-call) ads on search engine results pages, reports ClickZ. Users who click on phone icons appearing next to sponsored search listings can enter their phone number; the system first calls the search user then connects with the merchant. Blogger and tech consultant Greg Yardley, among the first to notice the new feature, provides a series of screen shots of the process, which Google describes in an FAQ item.

Read the whole news item.

After holiday gatherings spent listening to a lot of near-retirement-age relatives talk about investments and the inflated price of Google stock, how it's too late to buy it now...all I can say is, WRONG. These guys never seem to stop innovating, and (knock wood) they never seem to misstep. Google stock still has a bright future, as far as I can tell. (Disclaimer: I know nothing about investing.)

MarketingVox: Google Tests Click-to-Call Ads

Google is testing click-to-call (pay-per-call) ads on search engine results pages, reports ClickZ. Users who click on phone icons appearing next to sponsored search listings can enter their phone number; the system first calls the search user then connects with the merchant. Blogger and tech consultant Greg Yardley, among the first to notice the new feature, provides a series of screen shots of the process, which Google describes in an FAQ item.

Read the whole news item.

After holiday gatherings spent listening to a lot of near-retirement-age relatives talk about investments and the inflated price of Google stock, how it's too late to buy it now...all I can say is, WRONG. These guys never seem to stop innovating, and (knock wood) they never seem to misstep. Google stock still has a bright future, as far as I can tell. (Disclaimer: I know nothing about investing.)

November 23, 2005

Free WordPress Blogs -- No IT Team Needed

As reported earlier this week on the RSS Blog and on relevantNOISE, WordPress is now offering a free, hosted blog service.

The timing couldn't be better, really. With the well-publicized dissatisfaction of TypePad users, WordPress's free offer is ideal. WordPress, after all, is the favorite application of bloggers-in-the-know and many business bloggers. It's highly customizable, scalable, and - since it's an open source project - completely free. The downside is that, up until now, you've needed your own server or an IT team to install and support it. It's definitely more developer- than user-friendly. But it's a great application.

Now that absolutely anyone can use it, it'll be interesting to see who does. Will uber-bloggers Steve Rubel and Seth Godin leave their ailing TypePad blogs and switch to WordPress? Or will it's free-for-all status attract a bevy of sploggers and bring it down to Blogspot status?

It's bound to be popular -- among whom is the question here. Hopefully, the new offering will find a balance. If the developers at WordPress can find a way to keep their servers relatively splog-free, this will be huge.

And I fully expect (if history is any teacher) that we'll have to start paying for it soon!!

I've already signed up for two blogs, and, after Thanksgiving, I'll post a detailed review.

Update: Steve Rubel is apparently not a convert -- yet.

Free WordPress Blogs -- No IT Team Needed

As reported earlier this week on the RSS Blog and on relevantNOISE, WordPress is now offering a free, hosted blog service.

The timing couldn't be better, really. With the well-publicized dissatisfaction of TypePad users, WordPress's free offer is ideal. WordPress, after all, is the favorite application of bloggers-in-the-know and many business bloggers. It's highly customizable, scalable, and - since it's an open source project - completely free. The downside is that, up until now, you've needed your own server or an IT team to install and support it. It's definitely more developer- than user-friendly. But it's a great application.

Now that absolutely anyone can use it, it'll be interesting to see who does. Will uber-bloggers Steve Rubel and Seth Godin leave their ailing TypePad blogs and switch to WordPress? Or will it's free-for-all status attract a bevy of sploggers and bring it down to Blogspot status?

It's bound to be popular -- among whom is the question here. Hopefully, the new offering will find a balance. If the developers at WordPress can find a way to keep their servers relatively splog-free, this will be huge.

And I fully expect (if history is any teacher) that we'll have to start paying for it soon!!

I've already signed up for two blogs, and, after Thanksgiving, I'll post a detailed review.

Update: Steve Rubel is apparently not a convert -- yet.

November 18, 2005

Friday Fun: Subservient Donald

AdRants, probably the best source for Friday Fun, points us to Subservient Donald, a Trump-flavored take on the celebrated Subservient Chicken. The site was put up by the Writers Guild of America, who, according to AdRants:

... recently called for a code of conduct to govern product placement on television and require disclosure during credits, are behind Product Invasion which is an attack on the insanity of television product placement. Subservient Donald is a humorous take on the topic featuring a Donald Trump look-a-like who spouts product-laden snark in reaction to various commands. Let's see what kind of link-fest this thing cooks up.

Interesting cause...and certainly a good laugh!

Friday Fun: Subservient Donald

AdRants, probably the best source for Friday Fun, points us to Subservient Donald, a Trump-flavored take on the celebrated Subservient Chicken. The site was put up by the Writers Guild of America, who, according to AdRants:

... recently called for a code of conduct to govern product placement on television and require disclosure during credits, are behind Product Invasion which is an attack on the insanity of television product placement. Subservient Donald is a humorous take on the topic featuring a Donald Trump look-a-like who spouts product-laden snark in reaction to various commands. Let's see what kind of link-fest this thing cooks up.

Interesting cause...and certainly a good laugh!