Location Based Social Networks Set To Take Off in 2010

Why does every social media website care where you are? Better yet, why do you care? There is a trend, although not a new one, that is gaining popularity in 2010 that could potentially change the way people are marketed to. That is the trend to “go local,” because that’s where the money is. Everyone is trying to grab hold of the hyper-niche markets like the popular service review site Yelp. Yelp recently added the option to allow users to check in, bringing it in direct competition with an already over-crowded group of location based websites: Foursquare, MyTown, GoWalla, and Loopt.

Although, Yelp does have a huge head start as it has passed nine million reviews recently (something the others don’t offer). The location based check-ins do offer some credibility to Yelp’s reviews and also an easy way for users to participate without having to write a review. Yelp also has an awesome iPhone application that uses augmented reality. Basically, you hold your phone with camera facing out, and it uses your location and the compass in your iPhone to show you building locations and reviews in real-time. Click here for a demo.

As one of the major players, Foursquare is not going out without a fight. Ian Paul from PCWorld.com reports that Foursquare has partnered with the TV Network Bravo to create its own Bravo based location game. Users will be able to follow “The Real House Wives,” “Top Chef,” and “Shear Genius” across the United States with the opportunity to get prizes and a chance to be entered into sweepstakes. This partnership marks the first attempt for a large company to invest in a promotion with one of these location based social media sites. It will be intriguing to see if Bravo will be able to generate enough buzz to get people to want to participate.

Even though Foursquare gets most of the media hype, the most alluring location based site may be MyTown. Launched by three ex-employees of the ever-so-popular Blizzard team (creators of the Diablo and World of Warcraft franchises), they know a thing or two about the gaming industry. To begin, users check-in to new locations (like every other site) and receive online currency. Once you have accumulated enough cash you are allowed to purchase certain buildings. Then everyone who checks-in after your purchase pays you rent à la Monopoly. You can expand your empire by gobbling up real estate, and you even gain levels that are determined by your amount of check-ins. There are even gaming strategies posted by users that aim to help you level up faster. All of this sounds very much like an online game, although this one does have a basis in reality. What is most impressive about MyTown is that they have already surpassed GoWalla and Foursquare to become the most popular location-based social game for the iPhone, and they only started in December of 2009.

These sites are banking on the trend of social gaming, and so far the results have been surprising. While not much money has been made yet don’t think that the MyTown team isn’t aware. They already helped create the world’s most popular massively multiplayer online role-playing game (which is a pay-per-month subscription). I have to give them a slight edge in being able to monetize their site’s popularity.

I still think that it will take companies a while to see the importance of this new breed of social media. For example, it took Twitter about 5 years to become mainstream; perhaps the learning curve will be shorter this time. Either way, this is an important trend for any business to follow, because of the impact it could have on the future of marketing for small and large businesses alike. It will take time before the dust clears from this battle and the true champion emerges (if one at all), but the site or two that do come out victorious will have a stranglehold on the new tools to influence countless potential customers. And that makes this a trend worth following.

For more info check out the great blog, Location Awhere, which is fully devoted to this topic. Also check out the social media marketing services that AI has to offer.

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How to Write a Tagline that Sticks

When you hear “Just do it” or “Think Different“, what comes to mind? If you’ve been conditioned enough, you’ll recognize that the two phrases are the taglines of Nike and Apple. The same thing goes for other taglines like “Who ya gonna call” (Ghostbusters) and “Snap! Crackle! Pop!” (Kellogg’s Rice Krispies). These taglines stick for two reasons, you’ve heard them often, and they’re well designed. If those are the two factors for tagline success, then it’s easy to write a good tagline, right?

Components of Successful Taglines

Unfortunately, a good tagline isn’t going to be that easy for you to coin. In an article on How Stuff Works, Timothy Foster describes the criteria for the “perfectly-formed tagline”. His components include making it memorable, referencing a key benefit, differentiating the brand, imparting positive feelings, and making it unusable by competitors. Every tagline you know nailed the first component. The line “Simply the best” is not memorable in any way, despite being used by more than 25 seperate businesses. Walmart’s taglines are good examples of referencing the benefit: “Always low prices” and “Save money, live better“. Not only are these memorable, but simply repeating them reminds you that Walmart has good prices. Taglines don’t need to reference this point to be successful though- Nike’s has literally nothing to do with benefits of their products, but remains incredibly effective. Subway and Quiznos are both very similar in that they are both franchised sub restaurants, and due to competition have very similar offerings. Their taglines however are quite different, and evoke completely opposite images. Subway’s “Eat Fresh” line appeals to health conscious people, while “M’m, m’m, m’m, m’m, m’m, toasty!“, Quiznos’ tagline, appeals to hungry people who want a hot sandwich. Two similar companies, starkly different taglines. The 4th point, imparting positive feelings, is another component that can be absolutely crucial, but also left out entirely. “The most trusted name in news“, CNN’s tagline, certainly fulfills this criterion well- as does Burger King with “Have it your way“. Both taglines are a good mix of components, though they fail to protect against the final criteria. If Wendy’s began using a tagline like “Exactly what you wanted“, Burger King’s tagline loses its uniqueness in the fast-food universe. To combat this, you can add brand uniqueness to the tagline, such as rhyming it with the brand name, or including the brand in the tagline. Petco’s tagline “(Petco), Where the pet’s go” is a good example of a tagline that would be very difficult to twist around for use by Petsmart or another competitor.  An excellent example of all 5 components in one tagline can be found in Raid bug poisons- “Raid kills bugs dead“. It’s memorable, references the key benefit, differentiates itself, imparts positive feelings, and is totally unusable by competitors.

Common Tagline Mistakes

So now you know the components of some of the most memorable taglines, what do you need to avoid in order to make yours good? Eric Swartz- self professed ‘Tagline guru’ and editor of taglineguru.com- lists 10 common mistakes people make when writing taglines. Though all the mistakes are commonly made, I’m only going to explain a few of them, since you have the benefit of the examples above.

• Being cliché and bland are the first two mistakes, and you see them all over the place. No matter how powerful it sounds “Innovation Through Computing” isn’t memorable, and its the sort of line that will hurt you rather than help.
• Imitating other taglines is something small business owners love to do, but is almost never a good idea. Ripping off Wendy’s “Where’s the beef?” tagline with “Where’s the meat?” may seem like a great idea at first, but it only makes people think of Wendy’s, and makes you look completely unoriginal.
• Self-centered taglines aren’t so bad when they are tied to huge companies, but they can sound awfully self-serving when tied to local ones. “The best tires in the world have Goodyear written all over them” is a self-centered corporate tagline, but it doesn’t make people think badly of Goodyear. “The smartest designer in Oregon” may have sounded like a great idea when you coined it, but it just makes you sound pompous and self-serving.
• Too many words can become an issue, as long taglines aren’t as memorable. The Goodyear line I just referenced can be mentally shortened to “The best tires are Goodyear“, but “John Doe plumbing will fix your leaks, pipes, and shower, since 1986” doesn’t get compressed so well, and is completely forgettable.

Swartz sums up the theory behind tagline length beautifully by saying “crispy thoughts lead to punchy messages“. “Just do it” is a punchy message. Lack of visibility is also a problem with tagline effectiveness. If it isn’t incorporated into every facet of your business, it will likely go unused and be completely ineffective. Place the tagline on business cards, signs, phone messages, emails- every place that it will fit.

Creating Your Own Tagline

Taking these things into account, how should you design your tagline? For starters, figure out the message you want to convey. Disneyland’s tagline “The happiest place on earth” is a good example of a clear message that makes people want to do something (IE Go to Disneyland). Panasonic’s “Slightly ahead of its time” tells people  that Panasonic products are state-of-the-art. Do you need to get people in the door, or have people remember you when they need something? Two popular trends to consider when thinking about your tagline are the one-word line such as Hankook Tires “Driven“, and the three-idea line such as Air France’s “New. Fast. Efficient“, or Chevrolet’s “Eye it. Try it. Buy it.”. The one-word tagline is likely not ideal for use by a small business, because it is best when associated with a known business. 3M’s “Innovation” tagline works for them because it conveys their strategy, and is paired with their logo, which is well known. “Innovation” wouldn’t work so well with many small businesses simply because they aren’t 3M. They won’t seem as innovative, and their logo, no matter how creative, won’t be nearly as recognizable. The three-idea line is much more suited to small businesses however. “Fast. Friendly. Local.” is an example of a generic tagline that would work well when applied to any number of businesses. “Us, helping you” is constructed on the basic formula of the three-idea line, and fits many of the components of good tagline design. Once you have come up with a decent idea for a tagline, be sure to test it in some way before moving ahead with it. Ask people around town, ask online, do whatever it takes to get a general consensus on the tagline’s quality before committing to it. Once you decide on a tagline, do everything you can to associate it with your business, and everything you can to make it stick.

The 360 Most Famous Business Taglines
The Top 10 Taglines
How Ad Slogans Work
The Tagline Guru

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Branding – Consistency is Key

If marketing is a battle for the consumer’s mind, then what do the consumers have to say? That is basically the idea behind the website Brandtags.net. When the site first loads it slaps a random logo in the center of the page and asks you for the first word or phrase that comes to mind. After doing a few you are allowed to check on other brands and see what people think about them (the words are enlarged on screen by order of popularity). Good marketers should have specific words or phrases that they want to be associated with, and their branding strategy should reflect this.

Disney, for example, has thrived by tying their brand to words like magical, dreams, fantasy, and creativity. In addition, their strategy accurately reflects these chosen words. As a kid, growing up in Florida meant visiting Disney every year or two. Even at a young age, it was easy to distinguish between a trip to Disney, and a trip to Six Flags Great Adventure. Both are theme parks, but the experiences are nothing alike. It’s like going to Circus de Soleil when you are expecting to see the Circus (no offense Ringling Brothers). Disney has a focused branding strategy that makes you feel like you are in a fantasy land. The scenery is extravagant, the rides are magical, and even the employees are called “cast members” and their uniforms “costumes”. Disney puts on one heck of a show.

To achieve the incredible brand that Disney now has requires determination, but most of all it requires consistency. After choosing words that best describe your business you must put them into action across your whole marketing strategy. Take Absolut Vodka for example. They have been running similar advertisements for over 20 years now. I’m sure you’ve seen at least one or two in a magazine or on a billboard. They ALWAYS have a bottle somewhere in the advertisement and a tag line that reads Absolut (fill in the blank with something to do with the picture). People remember these ads because they are all based on a central theme, and you see them over, and over, and over.

But running a strategy with out seeing the results is like driving without a map if you aren’t sure of the destination. Feedback from your customers lets you know if you are either on or off your strategic track. One way for larger companies to check is by using Brandtags.net. The results can be fascinating. I compared Apple and Microsoft; here is what the users had to say.

Microsoft (good) – Computers, Software, Windows

Microsoft (bad) – Boring, Evil, Big Brother

Apple (good) – Awesome, Design, Innovation

Apple (bad) – Over-priced, Cult, Pretentious

On the whole, Apple had a lot more positive words associated with its brand compared to Microsoft (this might have something to do with the cult). It is important to know what your customers think about your brand. If you can find that out you are on your way to knowing if your branding strategy is working. Branding guru Martin Lindstrom says “it takes three years for words, phrases, and sentences to be identified and accepted as belonging to specific brands.” So keeping consistent is even more important than ever to win the battle for a consumers mind, and perhaps one day your brand will be mentioned in the same breath with the likes of Disney or Google.

Just remember that consistency in your overall branding message is hugely important and determining the guidelines at the onset is crucial. Brand On… by Brandon

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Why Semantic Markup Matters

While most people are concerned by how the website looks to the end user, the structure of the site is also a factor as to the value that you can get out of your website.

Markup

All websites are written using HTML which is a way of describing how a website is structured and should function in a way a computer can understand it.

Even if the HTML is not structured in the correct way, the user probably would not be able to tell the difference between a site with well written versus one with bad. So why is good code important?

Structure and Style

First, we have to identify what the purpose of HTML is. HTML is intended to describe the structure and content of a website. For example, HTML would describe how many links go into a navigation bar, what the title of the page is, the content of an article, and where links navigate to.

The design of a website is handled using special files called CSS files. These files describe what color links should be, how the background should look, how wide certain boxes should be, etc.

The benefit of separating content from style is that it allows the design of an entire site to be altered by only changing one or two files, instead of changing every single file of the website.

Structure

Let’s say we have a site that has a title and a paragraph. The HTML code for that site could look like this:

<font size="7" color="blue"><b>Title of section</b></font>

<font size="3"><i>This is a paragraph</i></font>

Basically we have a large, bold, blue header that says “Title of section” and we have a paragraph that is smaller and italicized.

Most browsers could render this correctly, but it is by no means is well written code. Imagine a website full of these headers and paragraphs on several different pages. Now imagine having to go back to every page to change the header color to red.

Better code looks like this:

<h1>Title of section</h1>

<p>This is a paragraph</p>

By separating the structure and style, how the headers and paragraphs should look is handled using the CSS file, and just what the headers and paragraphs say is handled in the HTML file.

Search Engines Like Semantic Code

Not only is it easier to read for the person writing the HTML, semantic code is easier to read for search engines. Search engines can not infer that a larger bold sentence is more important than a smaller italic sentence. By using semantic code and proper tags, we can tell search engines that important parts of the site are wrapped in header tags and normal parts of the site are wrapped in paragraph tags. This allows search engines to properly index your site and can potentially improve your ranking.

Going Further with Semantic Code

Semantic code is not limited by the hierarchy of certain parts of a website. By its definition, semantic code is a way of describing the purpose of a part of a website, not how it should look or where it is positioned.

Let’s say we have a site that has articles and an area for a list of related articles. Usually 2/3rds of the site is dedicated to the main content of the site, and 1/3 is dedicated to other content.

To apply style to certain parts of a site, it is necessary to give the different parts specific names. When making the site, it could be tempting to call the part of the site that holds the articles “left-area” and the part that holds the list of related articles “right-area”, since that is where those are located.

However, what happens after the site has been up for a few months, the owner decides to move the related articles over to the left? Now the “left-area” is on the right, and the “right-area” is on the left. This can get pretty confusing.

Using semantic markup, the proper way to identify these areas would be to call the area that holds the articles “main-area” and the area that holds the list of related articles “sub-area”. Now when the layout of the site changes, there is no confusion. The names describe what these areas are, not where they’re located.

There are many more benefits to using semantic markup, but these are a few of the reasons why it’s important that your site is coded using these modern methods.

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10 Web Designs Featuring Hand Drawn Elements

Websites don’t always have to have boxy elements and glossy buttons. Sometimes using hand drawn elements can give a design a more human touch. Check out some of these designs featuring hand drawn elements.

10 Words

Biola Undergrad

Blog Me Tender

Brascri

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How Websites Work

Ever wonder how a website gets to your monitor when you’re browsing the internet? What makes this possible?

Before we dive into what happens when you visit a website, we need to go over a few quick concepts.

Servers

Websites are nothing more than files on a computer somewhere in the world. These files are basically full of text that tell your browser- which is the program you use to view webpages –  how to display text, images, links, etc.

The computers that host websites are called servers. When you type in an address, such as www.alterimaging.com, you are viewing a file located on a server that Alter Imaging manages.

Domain Names

Each server is usually associated with a domain name, which is an easy to remember website address. An example of a domain name is www.alterimaging.com.

IP Addresses

Each server has its own IP address, which acts like a telephone number for that server. An IP address looks like this: 70.32.111.22.

DNS Servers

Without DNS Servers, any time you wanted to visit a website, you would have to put in the IP address. Since memorizing IP addresses for all your favorite websites isn’t that fun, DNS servers associate IP addresses with domain names. So when you type in alterimaging.com, the DNS server associates that domain name with the IP address 128.121.139.140.

Putting It All Together

So let’s say you want to visit alterimaging.com. You type ”alterimaging.com” into your browser’s address bar, your browser sends a request to the DNS server saying you want to visit this domain.  The DNS server then provides the browser with the IP address and points it to the correct server.  The server receives the requests and sends the file.

Dynamic Content

Servers aren’t just for sending files to your browser. They can also run programs. Let’s use Google for an example.

Whenever you search for something on Google, it runs a program, or script, that goes through its database of websites to deliver a search results page.

For example, if you searched for “hamburgers”, you would be given a search results page with the results you requested. Take a look at the following diagram:

If you searched for a different word, the “search” file that is sent to you would have different results.

Dynamic content is not always generated by the server. Using client-side scripting languages, such as JavaScript, some content can be dynamically generated without the use of a server.

An example of this would be a loan calculator on a website. Instead of performing calculations by sending the numbers you’ve inputed into the calculator to the server, the result can be calculated using your computer.

I hope this has helped you learn a little bit about how a website gets to you.

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2010 Social Media Predictions

Well, it’s that time of year again!  Time for the Internet to be bombarded with posts about predictions of what is to come. It happens every year. Some predictions come true while others still remain to be seen (Second life? We are still waiting to see that take off…) At Alter Imaging, we just couldn’t resist the temptation to hop into our Delorian and go check it out for ourselves.

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Social Media Real Estate – Stake Your Claim!

If you are just starting to get into the social media world it can be hard to know where to start. We here at Alter Imaging, believe that different social media sites are more or less effective depending on what type of business, vertical, or industry you are in.

However…

Knowing what will be the next Friendster Twitter is next to impossible. So we recommend staking claim in as many social media networks as you can. Not only to make sure that your usernames are consistent and branded across all platforms but also for the inherent SEO benefits that comes with web 2.0 sites.

Finding and signing up for all these different social media networks can take FOREVER, but not anymore! Knowem.com is a pretty nifty site that gives you the ability to check username availability across hundreds of social media sites

Just enter your name and click “check it”. Boom, Done.

Not only is this a great way to grab up your online real estate but it is also a good resource for finding new and popular social media platforms. These new discoveries could be utilized to find niche customers in their respective online habitats and leveraged (in a social way, remember) to help you meet your businesses goals.

Blogging Username Check

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250+ Influential Marketing Minds Worth Following

List time! We had such a positive respond from our last twitter list 400+ Web designers and developers worth follow on twitter , that we decided to scour through the people we think are “in the know” when it comes to digital marketing.

The fast paced landscape, that is digital marketing, is hard to keep up with! Thus, we try and subscribe to the best blogs and follow people on twitter who we think “get it”. Below is that list of people we follow on twitter to keep up with whats important and fresh.

Enjoy! And please comment below if you think we have left anyone out! We would love to hear who you follow to get your digital marketing insights.

Here is the button to follow them all in one fell swoop!

List of 250 Internet Marketing Minds Worth Following on Twitter

(In no particular order)

chrisbrogan – Chris Brogan – President, New Marketing Labs. Co-Author of Trust Agents.

Pistachio – Laura Fitton – Much excitement and geekiness about where this all leads. www.oneforty.com.
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Social Media Customer Relationship Management

Here is another panel from the social media business forum B2B track. This session put on by Mike Schneider is about how to implement social media into your customer relationship strategy. It digs deep into the topics of data mining, social crm applications, and how it all ties back together to help further organization goals.

Your customers are out there talking about you…. Are you listening? Are you factoring that data in to your game plan? If not, you really should be.

Runtime 35min

Social Media CRM – Connecting your sales force to the social Web from Alter Imaging, Inc. on Vimeo.

Social Media CRM Shownotes

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