Monthly Archives: March 2009

Predict Start-Up Success with YouNoodle

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I came across this site the other day and I love it, great idea. They have a formula for tracking start-up companies and also predicting their success. The tracking alone is interesting. If you are familiar with stock indices, they summarizes the companies within their relevant sectors resembling an S&P 500 or other index. The presentation of their information is very well thought out.

From their press release “the global directory of startups — which currently includes more than 25,000 companies and pulls in over 150,000 startup news stories every day — allows business owners, customers and investors to measure and track both the progress and news stories associated with any startup online. A YouNoodle Score has been given to every startup – a quantitative measurement, on a scale of 0 to 100, of a startup’s impact and importance based on its traction, activity, and buzz. YouNoodle Scores are updated in real time and the three-month trend for each company is available. ”

You can add a start-up or follow others, here is an example of a start-up profile: Raise for Future on YouNoodle.

Also follow on twitter @younoodle

Homepage Redesign Done Right by GeniusRocket

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Originally I wrote about the GeniusRocket service (Get Superbowl Quality Videos at Genius Rocket) as a great new service and place to get high quality videos, banners, logos and more by choosing from multiple submissions. You receive multiple submissions to choose from.

Today, I see their site has been redesigned. The first time I visited their site I was confused as to what they were offering. While their service has always been nothing short of amazing, their homepage did not convey why I was there or what they offered. We all know about landing pages and squeeze pages which typically have one purpose and that one page is focused on that one goal, a sale or registration etc. But what about a business with multiple product and service offerings, and what if it is also a new method of buying or simply a new business model that no one is familiar with? How in the world do you convey that on a homepage, very difficult. I should say, easy to articulate, difficult to actually create. So here is GeniusRocket as an example.

Unfortunately I do not have a screen shot of their original home page, however take a look at this new image, and more importantly the entire homepage of GeniusRocket here.

homepage_genius_rocket

Above is a screen shot, it is only a small portion but the area of the home page that grabs your attention. When you look at the homepage do not click into the site. Look to see if you can determine what they offer and why you would use them. Next look to see if they have the copy and links to answer your next question. I will not say what your next question would be after viewing the homepage, but I feel confident they have anticipated it.

Bookmark their site so you can revisit it once you need to redesign an homepage. In my opinion and excellent example.

Wireless iPod Speakers

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eos-wirelessWireless iPod Speakers are quite amazing and can save you wiring and more.

Wireless iPod Speakers
We used to suggest EOS but do not anymore. There are many others to provide wireless speakers and/or functionality. Using wireless speakers is a huge time saver, you can simply plug in your iPod. Then place the other speakers anywhere in your home/business and that’s it. You now have music throughout, without any wires to install. There is also no static, if you have tried wireless speakers before you know that can be the biggest issue.






Blinklist Bookmarking Site

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There are many bookmarking sites, I have tried many. Blinklist is impressive, so much so that I have begun using it as often as my built in browser bookmarks. The point of online bookmarking is to be able to access your bookmarks from anywhere, many provide this service, few do it well enough to make me want to use it.

blinklist_menu1
The Blinklist user interface has been very well thought out. It feels more like a native desktop application than a browser based system. You can very easily import your current bookmarks, from your browser or other online bookmarking sites. Take a look at the pop up menu items within your browser, on the right.

Like most, they provide a browser button to save web pages with one click. An interesting feature, is the ability to share links with only those individuals you choose. Much like you create a meeting within Google calendar and invite two others, you can do the same with bookmarks – individual or entire lists/folders.

Another interesting feature is that once you start saving web pages, BlinkList will automatically start recommending web pages to you. They attempt to recommend relevant pages based on what you have already bookmarked. These are provided in a list, just click and review. Over time their recommendations should be more relevant to you.

I write about Blinklist only because I feel it fits two criteria, the two that make me use it:

  • 1. it is easy to use, more so than my browser bookmarks
  • 2. it feels like a native desktop application with the same functionality

Try Blinklist here.

Check Out Squidoo

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Squidoo is a free tool to publish any content you like. Take a look at Squidoo.

You can quickly, very quickly, publish and article about anything. With little to no knowledge of programming at all you can quickly create an amazing page of content, what they call a “lens”. Not only can you quickly publish content, but you can easily incorporate content from the webs best sites and services. You can easily add delicious links, Flickr photos, RSS feeds, Google blog search results and much more. Moving around these modules is extremely simple, just drag and drop. Take a look at this Domain Lens I created in just minutes, and just as fast created a GoDaddy Promo Code List. There is much more that can be added, so do not judge the usefulness of Squidoo on that one test lens I created.

Raise for Future Adds Three Counties

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raise_for_future_logo
We have now added three counties and all of the elementary, middle and high schools in each:

  • Fairfax County, VA
  • Loudoun County, VA
  • Ada County, ID

We proactively added these entire school districts. However, you can still use the site and send us a note to add your child’s school as well.

Here is some background information on Raise for Future. Raise for Future is a fund raising tool for your child’s school. There is no cost to you, as you shop online, at name brand stores, your child’s school earns money.

Raise for Future does not sell anything, we merely provide links to top stores such as OfficeDepot, Disney, Macy’s, Starbucks, and currently over 400 other online stores.

To participate, simply:

  • 1. register once (it is free) – Register at Raise for Future here
  • 2. choose your Childs school from the list (all Fairfax and Loudoun County schools are listed)
  • 3. choose, or search, for the store online you are going to visit, such as Macys.com and click through

Before you click through you will see the % of your purchase that will go to your school. After your purchase you will see in your account how much you have earned for your school. You pay the same prices you always pay, the store provides a percent back from the purchase.

It is available to use 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

You can read more about why it was started here.

WordPress Roles so You Can Let Others Do the Work

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If you are like most you started using WordPress and you alone maintain the entire site, all the posts, everything. It would be great if others could help, possibly other authors that create similar content or maybe someone you pay for writing/editing.

You can allow others to register as a user of your site and provide them with access, varying levels of access. These are called the “roles” and consist of: Administrator, Editor, Author, Contributor, Subscriber. Here are their definitions:

  • Administrator – you will want to keep this to yourself, as this role allows access to all the administration features
  • Editor – This role allows the person to publish posts, which you may not want if you wish to edit them first, they can also manage other peoples posts
  • Author – This role allows someone to manage their own posts including publishing
  • Contributor – Much like an author they can manage their own posts but not publish, in case you wish to view someones work before they publish
  • Subscriber – A role to just comment, review comments and receive any newsletters you may send

    • Is Compete Pro for Site and Search Analytics Any Good?

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    Site traffic analysis sites, those that report your traffic to third parties, are commonly looked at to determine your site reach as well as for competitive intelligence. Most widely used are Comscore (paid only), Alexa (free), Quantcast (free), Compete (free and paid).

    The question is why Compete Pro? What does it have to offer that Quantcast or Alexa do not provide? It appears that possibly their search analytics and referral analytics are the features not already provided for by Quantcast or Alexa.

    It also appears that Compete Pro may be attempting to encroach on some of the products that Comscore provides for competitive intelligence.

    Anyone have experience with Compete Pro (the paid version) and do you find it worth the subscription fees?

    Google AdWords Changed their Display URL Policy

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    In February, 2009, Google announced they are changing their display URL policy in AdWords. Recall that Display URL and Destination URL are two different things. The Display URL is as it sounds, the URL that is displayed when someone views your advertisement.

    The change is that all the display URLs in one ad group must have the same top level domain.

    Here is an example of what is allowed in one ad group:
    deal.longest.com
    www.longest.com
    www.longest.com/brianiscool

    Here is an example of what is not allowed in the same ad group:
    deal.longest.com
    deal.brianlongest.com

    Google says it is for your own good because you do not know what you are doing so they are here to help. Thanks Google.