Susan Finch - Web Solutions Provider

Happy Birthday .Com – 25 Years Old!

Symbolics.com was the first .com registered on March 15, 1985 for the “world wide web.” Today there are over 80 million .Com websites and the domain is a prominent feature of the internet.

The economic impact of .Com has been quantified in a study by the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF). The ITIF found that the .Com domain serves as a platform for $400 billion in annual economic activity. .Com domain names drive more than $1.5 trillion in global annual economic activity, more than the global sales of medicine, investment in renewable energy, and government investment in R&D, combined. The ITIF estimates that the economic activity flowing across the .com infrastructure is likely to grow to $950 billion in annual revenue by 2020.

The .Com domain has defined a generation of innovation and entrepreneurism, serving as the launch pad for a new generation of companies that have transformed communications, commerce, entertainment and more.

“My young kids can’t fathom life without the internet. People above the age of 30 realize what a profound change the internet has had on human lives,” said Jason Teichman, SVP, Marketing & Product Management for Register.com.

Did you know?

• The most popular words among .com URL’s today include “home” (1.2 million), “online” (1 million) and “land” (891,000).
• The domain name system is used more than 1 trillion times per day… so in 1 second that is more than 20 million times.
• Policy Impact Forum panelist and former FCC Chairman Reed Hundt said the .com domain has become a “common medium for humanity.”

When transforming an original image, when does the original copyright end?

The LA Times covers a current lawsuit over the issues of what is Fair Use of an image. The street artist in question truly muddied the case by originally lying about his sources of the image and fabricating fake sources to cover himself.  The author of the iconic Obama image took an AP Photo, then used only the outline of it, and added his own colors to it. The question is where does the Associated Press copyright end?

Google's SideWiki - keeping us on our toes to respond

I have a  client, sad to say, that would prefer to be removed from Google results and especially Yahoo.  This is because they have a lot of bad feedback, comments, rantings.  I did my job and got them high rankings, traffic - exposure.  This has resulted in more venues for unhappy clients of theirs to sound off.  We have tried to combat with positive feedback received. We don't post anything that isn't true.  It isn't enough to fight this battle.  The client didn't like my solution: be better at what you do.

We should be accountable, not to the gadflies, but to our customers and listen to their feedback.  If they are consistently unhappy with the same issues, those issues need to be addressed and responded to.  Be proactive, be responsive. Do something with the valuable feedback now available everywhere on your company.

Google's SideWiki: Don't Say We Didn't Warn You -Feature Brings Commenting to Your Site, Whether You Want It or Not

Posted on AdAge by Josh Bernoff.

Let's be clear. Sidewiki is a land grab. Google has now set up real estate on every single website for commentary from the masses.

Once a person is signed up (and anyone can -- it's part of the Google toolbar), he or she can comment on any page and see comments from others on those pages. Google uses an algorithm to decide which comments go at the top. And Google, not the site owner, decides which content must be taken down because it's inappropriate.

I know the difference between being a Hispanic Professional and a Professional Hispanic.

I'm a poor excuse for a Hispanic and even poorer excuse for a Mexican, even though I'm half Mexican. Can many members of my family clearly communicate in Spanish? Yes. Do some of those same family members successfully run businesses and employ primarily Hispanic folks? Yes. Am I in either of those categories? No. But at least I know it. I realize not in touch with any particular ethnic segment of the market, unless suburban, professional mom counts. I get embarrassed for companies that think they get it and are in touch with whatever ethnic group they are targeting. I wince at their campaigns. Apparently I'm not alone in my anguish. 

Some Shops Have Painted Themselves Into a Hispanic-Only Corner:
You'll Need to Be a Hispanic Professional, not a Professional Hispanic, to Go After General Market

Humor, simplicity, Pringles made me click - a lot.

Cannes Festival isn't just about movies, it's about creativity in media, advertising and more.  With VERY little budget Pringles - yes PRINGLES - the canned potato chip folks - took the prize for best banner ad.  The story went something like this:

All the followers and fans in the world can't save you from bad customer service

We have all become so focused on Tweets, blogs, and other social media that we have lost sight of where the core focus should be first:  quality products and service.  A company can post all sorts of interesting or humorous tidbits to create a following, but it won't generate nor maintain customers unless you have good products and good customer service.  Scratch that - in order to stay competitive you need GREAT customer service.

With long-standing retailers falling by the wayside, I think it's important to note that the companies who still have a focus on customer service and quality products are doing just fine.  Customer reviews on products and services not only hold more weight, but the companies being reviewed really look at this feedback to correct problems, add new services and make improvements.

The little red devil on the shoulder is winning.

Those of you old enough remember the cartoons with the angel and devil on the shoulders of Popeye, Tom the Cat, Daffy Duck and the rest as they had to make a hefty decision:  Listen to your conscience and do what is morally right or go the easy, convenient route. 

In this current economy we're seeing that filters are off. Or, in golf terms, the "governor" is off the golf cart.  This bad behavior was kept under wraps because things were rolling along smoothly.  Either people listen to their conscience and abide by it all the way through, or they use it when it's convenient.  Those are the ones we are seeing more of.  It isn't convenient to have integrity for some folks right now.  I don't see it in any of my clients (very grateful, kissing the ground); but I'm seeing it in THEIR clients and vendors. 

The problem with bad behavior is that it begins to snowball. One decision leads to the next. It becomes easier and less gut wrenching each time that path is chosen.  They also link together. This is the avalanche effect.

I won't go into a big morals conversation, but it does come down to those basics. 

Do you listen to that gut feeling before you treat someone a certain way or conduct yourself with certain behavior?

Or, do you stuff it down and rationalize it into acceptance to make the outcome more in your favor?  Please read the rest of the article and the linked Marc Brownstein article on this subject.

On Twitter Trending and White Noise

The overwhelm I feel as I filter through trends, topics and techniques for my clients invades my sleep at times.  The result is an exhausting night of chaos and fitful rest.

I participate in the online communities in fits and spurts, but mainly fits as I get distracted.  Not great for an OCD person like myself.  Any variation from the linear can wreak all sorts of havoc during my limited social media time.  I am not alone.

From AdAge:

The Twuth About Twitter Twends Revealed
(by Brit Living in Shanghai)

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- Twitter prides itself on taking the true pulse of cyberspace. Trend-watch on Google, the thinking goes, and you're behind the curve. Trend-watch on Twitter, and you're jacked into right now!

Only problem is, right now, as seen on Twitter, is increasingly a total mess. Part of the issue is that the universe of Twitterers has grown so rapidly that the baseline noise in the signal-to-noise ratio sometimes gets almost deafening.  Read the full story here >>

Helpful site for deciphering Twitter Trends and topics:  What the Trend

Seen any good books lately?

Not only am I working on a new book, but I have the privilege of helping an author promote his new book and manage his marketing sites.  I've been exploring creative ways that the self-published set promotes their work and thought I'd share this with you - Book trailers are a great way to preview a book.

What triggered this two hour distraction on YouTube was an email from my cousin asking me to vote for her in a book trailer competition, in which she was a finalist.  I'm old-fashioned.  I read the book reviews in the New Yorker, on Powell's website, Barnes and Noble and Amazon.  I walk into bookstores; yes I do,, walk into book stores and read the reviews, pick up the books and read random sample pages to see if I can embrace the author's style.

After reviewing the other finalists in the book trailer competition I started to poke around and searched YouTube for "book trailers children" to see what the competition was in the category of my project.  I was amazed at the treasures I found there.  Some of them I wouldn't not have found at Powell's without it being on an endcap display.  It was fun and much more useful than the movie previews that shout at me in the theater.

Try this search in my favorite category: biographies >>  Results above the line, "Playlist Results for..." are paid advertisers.

You might find a treasure. I know that it adds one more task for my illustrator partner and I before we publish our upcoming children's book. 

New Ad Agency Embracing Twitter and It's Working.

We are fans of MadMen in this house. We can't help it. We both come from and advertising agency background.  This series is so right on the money for how the advertising biz was in the 60's and 70's.  This captured my attention and I thought I would pass it along. 

Building a Twitter-Based Ad Agency for Entertainment Companies
Tweeting Star Carri Bugbee Explains Her 'Mad Men' Success

If you have not seen this recent Advertising Age clip (PRSA included it in their post today as well), Carri Bugbee talks about how she received a Shorty Award for creating a Twitter persona based on the MadMen TV series, and how she’s designing a new ad agency around using Twitter for business.

In the wake of her high-profile promotion of the AMC series "Mad Men" on Twitter, Carri Bugbee is building a Twitter-based ad agency for entertainment clients. In February, the first Knight Foundation-backed Shorty Awards honored Ms. Bugbee's "Mad Men" character tweets as the year's best Twitter advertising campaign. In this nine-minute video interview, she discusses the details of how she did it as well as how she's working to parlay that success into an expansion of her 15-year-old PR business.  >>