I received the following message from a connection through Linkedin. Hello, My latest position at an ad agency came to a close this week, as the company went out of business. I am forwarding you my LinkedIn profile in hopes that you or someone you know may be aware of job opportunities in advertising, marketing or social media. This request made me think about the "Agency business" and why is might be failing for those unaware. Advertising agencies are known for the creative skills in creati... Read Full Story

How may times have you been asked "Can you explain social media to us?" Then you have to think about how to explain the entire (r)evolution of the internet and its present state. Try doing that and you'll lose most people's attention. It has been said that "pictures speak a thousand words". As a consultant I have always found that if you can provide a picture illustration and a simple story to explain something very complex then you have helped a client understand something they need. Given... Read Full Story

PROCESS -> OUTPUT" /> PROCESS -> OUTPUT" src="http://www.signal-innova.com/modular/IpoANI.gif" alt="" width="358" height="84" />It seems that online and off line conversations are consumed with measuring the ROI from social media. Much of the dialog is a waste of time and focused on the wrong thing. Yet organizations seem to be demanding a measure of ROI from this thing we all call social media. All businesses represent a system of inputs, processes and outputs. Most businesses measure outp... Read Full Story

Quality Score Myth Buster In the PPC world, a Quality Score is a measure which tells you the relevance of your keyword to the users search query. Specifically, quality score is a score given to a particular keyword taking historical data of the keyword’s Click Through Rate, quality of the landing pages, relevance of the ad with the keyword and several other factors. Why quality score is important for a PPC professional? Not because it gives a rating on a scale of ten but as a score which re... Read Full Story

Introduction to Guest Blogging: A Guest Blogger is someone who writes a post for a blog that is not owned by him. In order to become a good guest blogger a few points need to be kept in mind. For instance, find a blog that is similar to yours. Do your research. It’s best to write for a blog that caters to a niche and has a good readership. Write your guest post keeping the host’s target audience in mind. The benefits of Guest blogging are as follows: 1. Backlinks: In your guest post, leave... Read Full Story

A life lesson that's not easy for an impatient person like me to learn is one that's ancient and powerful. Who realized it first, do you suppose? That simple maxim: moderation in all things. Nothing could be more contrary to human nature. When we find something we like, we want more. When we figure out a system, we want to game it. When it looks like a shortcut, we want to take it. Where we are rushing to, do you suppose? It seems that getting there first, faster, bigger is always admirabl... Read Full Story

Using social media just because everyone else is does not mean you should, at least not yet. Before jumping into all the chatter and all the advertising organizations would be better served by asking themselves a series of questions. Finding the answers to the questions will require you to "think" about critical issues which will have serious impacts on the use of social media. First you need to understand what it should be used for vs. what it shouldn't be used for. To answer these questio... Read Full Story

Social technology is being devalued by labels and sophomoric uses being applied by most of today's users. It is also being devalued by the current pricing of "social media" products and services offered by early adopters claiming to be "social media" experts and guru's. Lets put things into context. Devaluation is a reduction in the value of a something with respect to its initial or potential value. In common modern usage, it specifically implies an official lowering of the economic value ... Read Full Story

The issues of social media and how to use it is usually ambiguous, often confusing, and sometimes baffling to business owners. The immediate question on everyone's mind is how do I use it to create revenue. So if your selling your knowledge of social media you are selling to a market that doesn't understand it and is already programmed to believe it is something it is not. Professional services is selling knowledge people want or need to make something better. What businesses always want is ... Read Full Story

Finding that elusive open Wi-Fi connection just got easier this week with the launch of a new application that is building a world Wi-Fi map from its users connections. Devicescape, a Silicon Valley startup, had previously offered a simple program called Easy Wifi that enabled automatic logons to Wi-Fi networks - walk into a Starbucks and the iPhone app would immediately connect you to the AT&T hotspot there. Its new app for the iPhone, also becoming available on Android and Nokia phone... Read Full Story