Marketing Mania is back in business

Did you miss me? Probably not, but after a two year break, I feel it is time to get back to blogging. Lots of things have happened in those two years. Most importantly, I finally got a broadband internet service via fixed-link wireless. This makes research so much faster, not to mention tolerable, and some sites and services just don't work for me on dial-up. The main driving force though has been all the new features at Blogger and Google Adsense (
).

Since my last post here, Blogger has added it's Layout feature which makes it easy to add widgets and move things around on the page. The html code seems cleaner too, and I will be tweaking a few things there over the coming days. Probably the best change has been the ability to label posts. This makes it much easier for readers to find more articles to read on specific topics. Check out marketing arts and crafts and out of the box ideas . I was hoping it would it also creates highly focussed pages for the search engines to index, but when I check my other blogs that use labels, those pages don't seem to be indexed. Another really useful feature is the ability to schedule the a date and time when posts will be published. I hope that will mean you will see future posts here in a less erratic manner than before.

Adsense has also come a long way since I last looked at it. I've not really kept on top of that lately, just sitting back waiting for the occasional payment to be deposited in my bank account. The ad manager is cool, and the whole interface and channel tracking seems to be much slicker.

Quick links

The 1% Rule: Charting citizen participation. Ever wonder why you get so few comments on your blog, or your forums don't reach critical mass?

Should links still be underlined and blue? Lots of opinions on this one!

How to drive traffic with Flickr Photos

Technorati Tags: marketing, linking, html, web design, flickr

Strange names

I just read an interesting article by Phillip Davis titled Why Weird Words Make Great Brand Names.

It makes the case for choosing a meaningless name for a business, such as Apple, Google or Amazon. One idea is that by requiring further explanation it can lead to the tagline being read, or opens the way for the "elevator speech". Such a name also leaves the door open for the business to expand beyond it's original niche.

Certainly an idea worth considering. But one that needs to be thought out carefully. Engaging attention is great when the prospect has time to be engaged, but what about a business that relies on passing traffic? Corporations like Wendy's and MacDonalds will get away with it by spending advertising dollars to brand their name, but what about small business that relies on roadside advertising? Will a strange name work for them? How can it be made to work in these circumstances?

Tell me your thoughts.

Carnival of the Creators #8

I'm pleased to be hosting Carnival of the Creators #8 here at Marketing Mania. Carnival of the Creators is a weekly collection of links to blog posts about creative people and their work. You can find last week's edition at Artisans Announce...

For many, creating something is one thing, marketing it is another, so in keeping with the theme of Marketing Mania, this weeks edition looks at posts about marketing art.

Modern Art Obsession blogs on New York Magazine's "The Art Market Will Crash" Story. Alisha Vincent talks about under-pricing our work in Art Philanthropists, and Alyson Stanfield discusses When to Post Prices for Your Art.

John Jantsch has an interesting post What Do You Do For a Living? This is something everyone who markets their work should have a good answer to. Perhaps I help people find unique gifts for themselves and others? What do you do?

Those of us who are convinced that the internet is the only way to sell our work should take a look at Why face-to-face still matters!

The Value of a Gallery at The Crionna Collection explains how choosing the right gallery can help an artist to cultivate collectors. Don't miss Anna L. Conti's comments on that blog, which she expands upon in her own post, Studio Sales. Finally, Jane Tomlinson explains why she takes part in open studio events in her recent post, Open House. And that is a good place to end, because next month Carnival of the Creators is going to England, where Jane will be our host at her blog Sightlines. Jane writes:

"This is a blog I wrote about what its like to be a 'part time' painter and why I am no less serious about my work than a full time painter, and why I exhibit the way I do. There must be thousands more like me out there."

Well, that wraps it up for this issue. Carnival of the Creators is moving to a monthly schedule, and will be published on the second Thursday of each month. Don't forget to submit your blog article to the next edition of carnival of the creators using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

A picture says a thousand words.

My friend Jai Johnson has just got a cool little gadget! It's a Kodak Easy Share Picture Viewer. She has loaded it up with pictures of the jewelry which she makes, so that whenever she gets the chance to talk about her work she can show some pictures too.

But what else could one use it for other than showing products? I often have to explain what woodturning is, and I know that a few pictures of a lathe being used with the handtools I use would save a lot of talk and make a longer lasting impression.

And it might not just stop at photographs. What about simple charts and diagrams?

What would you store on this handy device that would help you market your business?

(thanks to Indigoskye Bead Fashions who mentioned Jai's post in this week's edition of Carnival of the Creators).



Technorati Tags: marketing, communication, business, technology, Kodak Easy Share Picture Viewer

The price of publicity

Ricker Mercer, Canadian TV star, has posted an eBay auction for the The Rick Mercer Report Liberal Leadership Kit

The background to this is that no one seems interested in taking charge of the recently ousted Liberal party. Rick's kit comprises a 15 minute consultation and use of a colour printer. On the radio today Rick Mercer said they expected to raise some beer money, but now that the bidding has reached C $22,300.00 they will have to look at donating the proceeds to charity.

Not only is it amazing is that anyone would find such a ridiculous offer worth bidding on, but worth bidding such a huge amount of money. This is not small change. Could it just be an attempt by some to get on TV? Or maybe the potential for some business promotion? Maybe someone really does want to be leader and thinks this would be a good way to go about it?

Maybe we should also take note of the fact that if you make a ridiculous offer to millions of people, then there is probably someone out there who will think it worthwhile. Maybe the more ridiculous the better.


Technorati Tags: rick mercer, liberal leadership, canada, publicity

Carnvival of Entrepreneurship #3

My post about customer participation was featured in the Carnvival of Entrepreneurship #3 which was hosted by Leah Maclean of Working Solo - "information for women who don't want to let a lack of technology understanding stunt the growth of their business".

There are lots of great articles elsewhere on Working Solo and I will be going back to read more. One that caught my eye was The Rebirth of E-Books? in which Leah writes that the Sony Portable Reader System may make reading an e-book a more pleasurable experience.

I also spotted a sidebar link to Leanne Wildermuth : Artist by Nature Blog. If this isn't the most beautiful blog you have ever seen, please tell me! Apart from being a wonderful artist, Leanne is Designer and Illustrator at E.Webscapes, so if your blog needs a makeover, she could be the person you need to talk to.




Technorati Tags: carnival, marketing, entrepreneurship, blog design, e-books

I have finally seen the light!

It has been nearly a year since I first discovered blog carnivals and tried to make some sense of them. My friend Wayne Hurlbert has continued to post about carnivals on Blog Business World, and I have finally figured out the linking advantage of submitting your own posts to a blog carnival. Everytime you do so, you get a new link from a new blog. Not to mention the exposure to lots of new readers who might become regular readers.

Submit one post a month to your favourite carnival and in a years time there will be twelve new links to your blog. Submit two posts a week to different carnivals (there are many, so your writing may well be suitable for several) and in a years time you will have over a hundred new links! It has to be more effective at getting links that sitting back and hoping another blogger will find your latest brilliant post and link to it.

Having seen the light, I decided it was time to make a carnival for my blogging friends from the arts and crafts community. Carnival of the Creators is the result. I am now looking for submissions for the first edition which will be hosted on my studio blog. I also need hosts from the arts community for subsequent editions.


Technorati Tags: blogging, carnivals, art, craft, marketing

Customer participation

The Island Candy Shop in Cape Breton, Canada has a neat way of getting customers involved. Every visitor is given a poster to take with them on their travels. They then take a photo of themselves with the poster and send it back to the Candy Shop who choose the best one each month and post it on their website at How Far Is It ?

I think the winner gets a pound of chocolate too, so it is worth taking part. The owner of the store was on the radio today and she told us how November's winning photograph was taken in Kabul by a Canadian soldier serving there.

That of course is a great way to get customers involved in helping to promote your business. What's more it will be a very memorable experience for them. But what about visitors to the website?

Wouldn't it be better if the winning photos were blogged every month so we could look at past winners, and then watch the RSS feed to see where the winning entry will be every month in the future? Then we would be sure to remember islandcandyshop.com next time we need a chocolate fix.




Technorati Tags: chocolate, candy, marketing, promotion, blogging, RSS

Firefox - my browser of choice

I have just installed Firefox 1.5 after using 1.0 for many months.

The award-winning Web browser is better than ever. Browse the Web with confidence - Firefox protects you from viruses, spyware and pop-ups. Enjoy improvements to performance, ease of use and privacy. It's easy to import your favorites and settings and get started. Download Firefox now and get the most out of the Web.

One reason I like Firefox so much is that I really like the tabbed browsing, which allows you to have multiple webpages open in the same browser window. I discovered some useful options under Tools, Options, Tabs:

• open links from other applications in a new tab in the most recent window
• force links that open new windows to open in a new tab

Then of course there is the huge array of Firefox Extensions, little add-ons that provide extra functionality to what is already a sophisticated browser. Here are some I like:

• Mouse Gestures - forward, back, open link in new tab - just a few of the functions available with just a movement of the mouse while holding the right-button down.
• Copy Plain Text - copies text without annoying formatting.
• Tiny URL Creator - makes a tinyurl for any URL you are looking at, and puts it on your clipboard ready for pasting into e-mails etc.
  
• Link Checker - looks at every link on the current webpage and highlights them as good or bad. A great tool for web developers.
  
• Performancing - a full featured blog editor that sits right within Firefox. Bring up the blog editor in a split screen and easily post to your Wordpress, MovableType or Blogger blogs.
  

So, if you haven't tried Firefox yet, give it a try today.

I'm just trying out Performancing for the first time:) Here we go......

Squidoo on Marketing

Squidoo have just published some Top 100 lists of their lenses. Here are some marketing related lenses:

• Learn to Podcast - a hot topic right now.
• Article Marketing - trading information for public credit and recognition.
• Buzzoodle - providing Buzz and Word of Mouth Marketing services.
• Web Content that Sells - convert visitors into loyal customers.
• Network Marketing - one of the least expensive ways to start your own home based business.
• MLM Training - new wave, 21st century, relationship based MLM - Network Marketing.
• Starting a Web Business - learn what works and what doesn't work.

Tags: squidoo, marketing

One artist's approach to blogging

Artist David Bull has an unusual approach to his blog, Woodblock RoundTable, in as much as he permits collectors of his works to post blog entries.

Now, while David gets plenty of comments to his posts, no one has yet taken him up on this offer. I'm not sure what David had in mind for subject matter from his collectors, but it would offer them the chance to comment on his body of work as a whole, or start discussions about this artform (woodblock prints) in general.

I think it is a neat idea. It would give collectors the opportunity to meet one another and perhaps some sense of belonging to a community based around the art they collect. This must be a good thing for an artist to encourage.

But building a community like this is difficult. Getting people to get involved in anything is difficult. Maybe all it takes is one or two early-adopters to take the plunge and make a few posts to get the ball rolling. But finding and nurturing those early-adopters is tricky. Maybe they need some reward for being the first or the best post.

Nevertheless, I do believe that this idea of giving special priviliges to your patrons is a good one. How would you go about it?


Tags: blogging, Blogs, marketing, art