Disqus - Latest Comments for 5593907

Re: Slides: Four Social Media Trends for Business in 2010

Brian — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 11:41:55 -0000

One of the biggest issues that I've experienced with clients trying to leverage social media comes down to resources. Small businesses just don't seem to have the resources available to appropriately manage a social media campaign above the occasional Twitter or Facebook post. One way to get around this involves leveraging existing customers to help manage the social aspects. While you may sacrifice some control, you also get happy customers to champion your cause on social platforms.

Re: Tumblr MP3 Player

Brian — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 11:36:35 -0000

I like the way you think in terms of technology and music. although it's a very shortsighted approach, I also tend to judge technology by it's ability to play music.

Re: Free SharePoint Reports with No Server Install - SharePoint Joel's SharePoint Land

Brian — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 11:15:19 -0000

If you choose to have it work as a cloud type version of storage, where are the reports actually stored?

Re: Disqus Comment System for WordPress

Brian — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 11:06:55 -0000

I've also tried both Intense Debate and Disqus in a side by side comparision and Disqus cam out of my favorite. While Intense has some nice features, I still think Disqus has the edge in functionality.

Re: My 9 Favorite WordPress Social Media Plugins

Brian — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 11:04:41 -0000

The WP Greetbox is one of my all time favorite plug-ins as it really adds a level of personalization to your blog. I think the invitation to further share through Greetbox adds some value as well as I'm sure there are people who occasionally use it.

Re: IAB’s Social Marketing Best Practices

Brian — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 21:07:38 -0000

While I certainly don't consider myself an "expert" in social media, I feel comfortable enough with the concept to comment on it. To a certain point, I have to agree with the comments from Fresno Property Management in that the term "social advertising" really seems to be a culmination of marketing efforts that have been in practice for years. The specific demographics may be different, but the general concepts seem the same. Just my .02 worth.

Re: E-mail’s Killer ROI Less Lethal by the Year: DMA

Brian — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 20:58:55 -0000

While I certainly agree that the ROI associated with e-mail has gone over the years, it still remains a highly effective advertising medium. If you compared the amount of money my company budgets for email marketing compared to the ROI, it really becomes effective. For us, far more effective than direct mail, catalog marketing, and outbound calling (both warm and cold). Deliverability issues seem to be the biggest hurdle we face with email marketing. The days of having a highly responsive list of repeat customers seems to have become very scarce. Now we have to focus on both building the list while retaining as many existing email clients as possible. Personally, I liked the "old days" when you really didn't have to work as building a list and repeat customers were much easier to come by.

Re: Is Pay Per Click Losing Punch?

Brian — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 15:46:02 -0000

Speaking from my role as the marketing manager for an online office supply company, my opinion would that keyword PPC effectiveness is waning. Click costs seem to be going up and consumers appear to have "ad blindness" for keyword ads like Google Adwords. As a result, it becomes far more difficult to get a decent ROI in keyword PPC.

My experience has been that PPC marketing through comparison engines seems to be fairly stable, and offers a better opportunity for a higher ROI. Obviously, your own mileage may vary depending on a number of factors including specific market, product or service costs, strength of competition, etc.

Re: Organic or Pay-Per- Click?

Brian — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 15:41:22 -0000

There's no doubt that organic search listings will perform better than PPC, however, for a company or business that doesn't have either the:

(1)Means (staffing, technology)
(2) Expertise

Depending on the market and desired keyword phrase, acquiring a top 5 organic search result in Google can be an uphill battle. You can certainly use PPC to jump start your marketing efforts, but I wouldn't base a business model on it as it probably won't be sustainable.

Re: Five Simple Tips to Make the Most of Your Pay-Per-Click Budget

Brian — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 15:30:23 -0000

Utilizing analytics in PPC marketing has to be the single most important thing that you do fro improvement (IMHO). Without some form of analytics, you are basically flying blind on a marketing campaign. Not knowing the PPC performance metrics is just like throwing money away.

Analytics give you the ability to really look at campaign performance at a high level so you can make educated campaign management decisions.

Re: Is Pay Per Click Passe?

Brian — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 15:17:18 -0000

I love the "if you build it" mentality! As a private e-commerce consultant, I have to chuckel when customers approach me about starting PPC campaigns when their site is no where ready from a conversion standpoint. One client wanted to start a PPC campaign to market a site that wasn't even functional yet?

When it comes to PPC marketing, I spend more time prepping sites than I ever spend in the actual PPC campaign management itself.

Re: Mike Moran - Internet Marketing by the Numbers

Brian — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 14:56:41 -0000

The lifetime value of a customer can be very difficult to compute. Even if you have a 5 year history of purchases, what's the magic number to us when figuring LTV? Is it 3 years, 5 years, 7 years? I think it depends on the market. I work in the office supply industry and our average customer looks to purchase maybe 3 times over a year period. Returning business like that makes for a low LTV.

Re: 5 Reasons Not to Cut Your Marketing Budget in a Recession

Brian — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 11:41:19 -0000

I agree with most of your points above, especially the concept of actaully marketing harder in a recession versus pulling back. My company identified "sweet spots" in our marketing efforts (PPC & online advertising) and re-directed our marketing spend to focus on those specific areas. So far, the results have been promising.

Re: Recycle your old mobile phone | recycle | support-us - BullyingUK Registered Charity 1120107

Brian — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 07:25:08 -0000

In terms of recycling, I think the recycled cell phone initiative is extremely important, especially considering what's actually inside the phone. My brother works for AT&T and has people turning in old cell phones all the time. He said they have thousands piling up in their warehouse that would have otherwise made their way to a dump. The possibility of a tax write off is even more appealing.

Re: Recycle Old Gadgets At MyBoneYard

Brian — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 07:18:37 -0000

Thanks for the heads up. That doesn't sound like a bad deal at all, especially for stuff you are probably going to recycle or throw away anyway. I'm sure they are making money off the deal, but it sounds like you can at least get a few bucks for the stuff.

Re: Recycling: The Second Worst Choice

Brian — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 07:10:17 -0000

Excellent advice. After months of discussions, I finally got our office manager to remove all styrofoam from our breakroom and replace it with regular plates and cups. While I consider this a small victory, I'm still working on making us more a green company.

Re: Let's Disqus!

Brian — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 10:33:20 -0000

Although there are a couple of similar products on the market, I think Disqus is the best of breed (right now). One of the things I really like is the fact that the Disqus team is constantly working to improve. I think it was a good choice.

Re: Mingle For Agile Software Development

Brian — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 10:17:04 -0000

We use Mingle internally and it's got some great features. The card wall is an office favorite as it shows every project in progress as well as who has touched it. It also includes historical data regarding the touch.

Re: Printer companies reduce, reuse, recycle

Brian — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 10:08:55 -0000

Although I wouldn't classify myself as an activist, I am environmentally conscious. I'm glad to see major printer manufacturers taking more responsibility for recycling or remanufacturing. My company set aside a recycling bin where all the used inkjet or laser cartridges are placed. At the end of every month, we ship the used one back to HP and they give us a credit towards any HP products. It's a win-win program.

Re: The Case for Data Destruction (and Why Data Retention Mandates Would Make it Impossible)

Brian — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 09:57:50 -0000

Appropriate data management (paper and electronic data) is an absolute must in this day and age. Having worked corporate security for a fortune 500 company for a number of years, I can tell you from firsthand experience that confidential data loss is a significant issue. There are companies in the marketplace today that are paid vast sums of money to gather as much info as possible on a specific target company. The methods used for this activity are devious and effective. Many small companies incorrectly take the "we're too small to be a target" approach and have very loose data management policies. While this may be the case in some situations, it pays to take a pro-active approach to data management from both a security and deletion perspective.

Re: Conyers and his critic play fast and loose with the facts

Brian — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 09:43:32 -0000

In no way am I trying to belittle the overall subject of the legislation as I do feel that medical journals and trial results should be open to the public, but shouldn't a Congressman be focusing on larger issues that would potentially provide more benefit to his constituents? Issues like the budget, healthcare, tax reform, etc. I have to wonder if his time couldn't be spent better on other projects? Just my .02 cents worth on the topic.

Re: Sony’s Super Fast SnapLap Digital Photo Printer

Brian — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 09:34:14 -0000

My local grocery store has one of these printers, and they are amazingly fast. When they first showed up in the store, I didn't really think that anyone would use them, but I was wrong. I started using it when gas prices went up as it saves me a trip to Wal-mart or the drugstore to print pics. To be honest, I've kind of gotten spoiled with it now as I take and print lots of pics of my kids.

Re: Ergonomics: Office Chair Design and the Potential Impact on Heart Rate | EHS Today

Brian — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 09:26:43 -0000

I knew that ergonomically designed office chairs had some longterm benefits that were centered around better posture and fewer back problems, but I would have never thought that it could actually reduce stress on your heart and other organs. This study makes me wonder what other benefits might be available as well. One of my co-workers was in a pretty serious car accident and actually had to have spinal surgery. As part of the recovery, his insurance company provided a very expensive ergonomic/health style chair that virtually eliminated all the stress on his lower back. It had a footrest, special supports for the lower back, and a massaging heating element that increased blood flow to the injured area. Interestingly enough, his Dr. reported that the more he sat in the chair, the quicker he would heal. Typical recovery time with therapy was suppose to be about 6 months to full mobility. Using the chair (and other prescribed treatments), he was back to full mobility in just under 4 months.

Re: Cool Cat Teacher Blog: Making the Case for Cell Phones in Schools

Brian — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 17:19:48 -0000

I agree with you on a number of levels. My 11 year old is very responsible with his phone and uses the integrated calender feature to keep up with soccer practice, games, and other appointments (after school meetings, etc). While he might not be the norm in that area, I would love for him to be able to utilize that same technology for his school work. It makes no sense to me that he's not allowed to use it for that use?

The real issue I have with my local schools in terms of cell phones being banned is the fact that kids can't use the phone to call mom and dad when needed. Case in point, my youngest son was sent to the principal's office based on a teacher's interpretation of a fairly harmless (at least in my mind) question he asked someone. The office refused to allow him to use their phones to call my wife or I. A cell phone in that case would have been very beneficial as either of us could have responded to the school to help deal with the issue.

Re: SharePoint 2007: Friend or Foe? – 2 of 4 –

Brian — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 17:11:12 -0000

Amen to that. A fully licensed version of Notes for a small business can just about put you out of business. My company looked at Notes as a possibility, but decided to look at alternatives as Notes was very, very expensive relative to the number of licenses.