SG News Room Goes Live
Posted by Edan Shertzer on Dec 23, 2008
All of the press releases SalemGlobal has produced over the last few months are now available on our personal Interactive PR News Room:
http://newsrooms.prweb.com/websitemarketing/
The personal News Room is a great way to aggregate all of the stories we’ve been writing about for some time. Of course, it helps that PRWeb is a leading online newswire and news distributor, with millions of unique visitors worldwide. It’s a win-win situation that goes three ways — we get to showcase our news, visitors get a chance to read about all the interesting people and services we’re affiliated with, and PRWeb gets more exposure and new customers. This is PR in the spirit of the holidays.
Lessons from the Radio
Posted by Edan Shertzer on Dec 16, 2008
It’s no secret that terrestrial radio has been watching its numbers decline for quite a while. The iPod, satellite radio, and a growing array of alternative entertainment consoles have been jamming the radio waves, drawing current and potential fans away from an already depleted pool of users. But as Valerie Block’s recent article in Crain’s New York Business demonstrates, radio stations need not fear an impending crash; on the contrary, perched atop the globe-spanning wings of the Internet, well-managed radio stations can expect to reach more ears than they’ve ever reached before. CBS Radio is a good case in point: while its terrestrial branch continues to wallow, CBS Radio on the Internet reached 2.2 million people in September, and it expects to add an additional 1 million listeners in February when its Internet player is embedded in some of Yahoo’s high-traffic channels.
Strong programming still counts toward success, online or off, as does revenue from radio ads, which at this point does not stack up in Internet radio’s favor — in the first nine months of the year, Internet radio brought in only a fraction of terrestrial’s $12.6 billion. But the world’s changing, and Ms. Block rightly points out that by the time Internet players are inserted into cars, terrestrial radio might not even be around to sulk about it.
Businesses both small and large can learn from the example of radio stations that are gradually moving their operations online. The Internet can offer almost limitless space to grow. Optimizing a personal or business website is an important first step toward harvesting the potential of the web, though how you do your optimizing counts, too.
Top Custom Suit Manufacturer Joins SalemGlobal
Posted by Edan Shertzer on Dec 12, 2008
Alan David Custom Suits, one of New York’s top manufacturers of men’s custom suits, has officially enlisted SalemGlobal to help market its website, www.AlanDavidNYC.com. In business since 1926, Alan David now channels four generations of the finest tailoring experience into each of its bespoke suits. Its goal is to produce for its customers a sharp-looking suit that actually fits, and ADCS’s unique set of 23 measurements, passed down and refined with each generation, ensure that its customers avoid paying for costly alterations and extra fittings. In addition to its one-of-a-kind suits, Alan David also offers custom shirts, ties, and formalwear, all at affordable prices. Visit www.AlanDavidNYC.com to learn more about Alan David’s services and prices, or drop by the store on 16 East 40th Street, New York, NY 10016.
SalemGlobal and the UJA-Federation
Posted by Edan Shertzer on Dec 11, 2008
This morning, SalemGlobal’s Dov Weinstock conducted a couple of web 2.0 training sessions at the UJA-Federation of New York. The sessions — one for beginners, the other for more advanced users — provided a comprehensive introduction to the various web 2.0 tools (blogs, social networking services, wikis, etc.) that a non-profit can use to identify interested parties and establish ongoing communications with them. Gaining visibility online can yield great dividends, especially for a non-profit, but it does take a little bit of know-how to do right (i.e. quickly and cheaply). We hope that Dov’s seminar will help the UJA get the word out about the important work they do.
The 2 Minute Blockbuster
Posted by Edan Shertzer on Dec 9, 2008
According to Wikipedia, at $300,000,000, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End is the most expensive movie ever made. (Interestingly, when adjusted for inflation, 1963’s Cleopatra gives Pirates a run for its money at a gargantuan $290,000,000.) The swashbuckling adventure tale clocks in at 168 minutes, meaning each minute of film is worth approximately $1.8 million. Now that’s a whole lot of booty, even for a gang of rum-chugging pirates.
For comparison purposes, consider the now infamous “I Got a Crush on Obama” video, which cost about $2,000 to produce, but continues to draw millions of views on Youtube. (More than 12,309,880 views, last we checked.) And though its catchy song and peppy mise-en-scene will soon be the stuff of obscure pop culture history, one cannot help but marvel at how this relatively simple video managed to attract so many eyeballs in such a brief period.
The lesson: you don’t have to spend $300,000,000 on a video to make it successful. Really, you don’t even have to spend $2,000. All you need is a good idea, a reliable digital camera, some editing software, and a little bit of knowledge of how to optimize your video for various vendors and search engines.
Antezeta does a good job of summarizing a few useful optimization methods. (See especially their 8 Top Tips for Video Search Engine Optimization.) Film it, edit it, optimize it — you never know, maybe you’ll have the next Internet blockbuster on your hands.
Some Awesome New Facebook Fan Pages
Posted by Edan Shertzer on Dec 5, 2008
What does it mean to be a fan of something? If m-w.com is to be believed, a “fan” is nothing more than “an enthusiastic devotee” of some other person, group, or abstract entity, an “ardent admirer” compelled by deep and often irrational feeling to attune him or herself to the peculiar doings of said person/group/entity. In reality, however, a “fan” might more accurately be understood as a kind of extremely picky yet loyal consumer: we all know that our fanhood comes with an implicit price tag — we buy because we love, and we love any merchandise, tickets, clothes, gear and products that are even tangentially related to the object of our adoration. So we buy ‘em.
But thanks to the plethora of social networking outlets available to the average fan today, one need not leave the comfort of one’s home to gush/rave/rhapsodize/cheer on the object of one’s devotion. In fact, being a fan today is as easy (and as cheap) as logging into a Facebook account and joining a fan page.
SalemGlobal would like to recommend a few pages that are especially fan-worthy. Helix Systems, Inc., Zeus Media Publishing, Green Mansions Catering, and Arthur Murray Dance Studio all have new Facebook fan pages waiting to be filled by you, their “enthusiastic devotees”. Just log in to your Facebook account, search for the relevant page, and open the flood gates of your adoration. We promise, this form of fanhood will be much easier on your pocketbook.
Zeus Media Publishing Fan Page
Green Mansions Catering Fan Page
Arthur Murray Dance Studio Fan Page
Don’t Forget the Third Leg of SEO — User Behavior
Posted by Edan Shertzer on Dec 3, 2008
Speak to a typical SEO specialist, one who spends a good portion of his or her day trying to make sense of the topsy-turvy world of search engine ranking algorithms, and you’re bound at one point or another to hear him or her sermonize at great length about two things: the enormous and undeniable importance of links and the enormous and undeniable importance of content. Understanding these two elements is crucial to moving up the search engine rankings; think of them as, if you will, the Fantastic Duo of SEO.
Now, the specialist would be 100% right in emphasizing these two elements. Search engines do consider the number and importance of links between pages, the age of those links, how frequently those links are gained or lost, how many of those links are broken, and where those links are originally found. It’s also true that search engines examine the content that appears on web pages, how a website’s words are formatted through HTML, whether these words are spelled correctly and placed into grammatically correct sentences, and whether these words and the sentences they form are ever changed and updated. No argument there.
But as you can expect, content and links are only part of a much bigger and more complicated picture. In a recent interview with Search Marketing Standard Magazine, Bill Slawski, Director of Internet Marketing for Key Relevance, Inc., and author of the search-related patent blog, seobythesea.com, points out that there’s a third aspect SEO enthusiasts must pay close attention to — user-behavior-based signals. Really, “USB signals” (our own affectionate acronym) is just a slick way of saying user-website interaction, or even less fancily, user experience and use of a website. This covers the bookmarking and tagging of pages, the amount of time users spend on respective pages, how far down they scroll, user rate of subscription to RSS feeds, and of course, assigned rankings and ratings of pages that offer goods and services.
The point here is that SEO goes beyond careful selection of keywords and endless purchasing of links. A truly optimized site does indeed have substantial content and links, but it is also presentable and user-friendly, encouraging repeated and extended use. So when the SEO specialist finally wraps up his or her spiel and urges you to spend all your time and money maximizing content and links, remember that you’ve been told only about 2/3 of the story.
Zeus Media Publishing Presents The All-Jewish Cartoon Collection
Posted by Edan Shertzer on Dec 1, 2008
SalemGlobal is delighted to announce that Simon Schatzmann, founder of Zeus Media Publishing, is the latest to join SalemGlobal’s growing list of stellar clients. ZMP is the producer of The All-Jewish Cartoon Collection by acclaimed New Yorker Magazine cartoonist Mort Gerberg. Humor, insight, wit, and a unique Jewish pizazz — this collection’s got it all. You can visit ZMP’s official homepage to learn more about this great collection. (Mugs, t-shirts, mousepads, all coming soon!)
The All-Jewish Cartoon Collection makes an ideal holiday gift. And guess what? If you buy 3 or more copies, the shipping and handling is free, and you get an additional 10% off! Is that a good deal or what? You can also visit booksbyzeus.com and sign up to receive a daily cartoon. Just note that, quickly enough, these cartoons become addictive, and you will want to upgrade to the real thing…. Trust us, The All-Jewish Cartoon Collection really is that good.