Participate in Firefox 3 Download Day

Mozilla plans to release Firefox 3 on Tuesday 6/17 at 10 AM PDT, and the open-source project is opening a new front in the browser wars. They also want to set a Guinness World Record for the most software downloaded in 24 hours. Regardless of your feeling about the publicity stunt, Firefox 3 promises some strong features for users and developers who support web standards. So be sure to download it!

Finally! - Email Standards Project

Email Standards Project: "The Email Standards Project works with email client developers and the design community to improve web standards support and accessibility in email."

I'm very happy to see an organized attempt to address the issue of poor and inconsistent industry-wide support for rich email (html email). The Email Standards Project looks like the bandwagon to jump on. The site has a great chart right on the homepage showing popular email clients (desktop and web-based) and their rating in terms of standards support. The project has come up with an "acid test", much like the Web Standards Project, that is used to fairly and consistently test the ability of a given email client.

Check out the site, join the email list or spread the word.

8 trends to capitalize on in 2008

trendwatching.com has released it's report on "8 trends to capitalize on in 2008". Always an interesting source for high-level marketing strategy and thought, the in-depth overview is worth a read (note: the full report download is a premium item). To summarize, they've dubbed the hot 2008 trends as:

1. Status Spheres
   
2. Premiumization
   
3. Snack Culture
   
4. Online Oxygen
   
5. Eco-iconic
   
6. Brand Butlers
   
7. Miy | Make It Yourself
   
8. Crowd Mining
   

The Impact of Social Media on Search Rankings

SiteProNews:: "Over the past few years, the Internet has increasingly become a participatory social network where user-generated content is just as important as traditional advertising messages. This means your articles, blog posts, videos, podcasts, and other comments on the Web are now critical sources of information about your company, your products and services... Social media, therefore, becomes increasingly important to a Web site's success and its visibility in search engines...

With the advent of universal search by Google and others, search marketers and site owners will soon find it necessary to optimize their Web sites for a broad range of content types. This means creating content in every media and vertical niche applicable to your brand..."

This article summarizes the importance of a broad-media approach very well, highlighting the categories of: Search Personalization; Universal Search; Optimizing Podcasts; and Optimizing Google Base Data Feeds.

You don't want to necessarily implement content types or social media frameworks that aren't appropriate to your business, but be sure you are not overlooking a variety of options. And another trend is to NOT lock-up assets like PDF downloads and demos behind registration walls. Give a prospect all you have, if they are interested, they'll eventually wind up in your CRM database.

Best Global Brands: How valuable is green?

brandchannel.com : "Of the 100 Best Global Brands ranked by BusinessWeek and Interbrand, Toyota at Number 6 has among the most highly visible, seemingly committed approach to environmental issues. But does any of this impact brand value?"



Can big business go green when skeptical consumers have become extremely cynical? In the end, it sounds like it will be part conscience, part brand value, and part bottom line.

Create an irresistible free trial for your app

thinkvitamin.com: "Free trials are a super effective way of increasing sign-ups to your service, but to reap the rewards later it’s worth following these four tips for your campaign... So what is this success formula I’m talking about? We’ve narrowed it down to four simple rules for how a free trial of an online service should work. Let’s go through them one by one."

1. Signing up for a trial account should be easy and painless
2. Do not require trial users to enter their credit card information
3. Do not cripple the trial
4. Include a "highlight bonus"

read more | digg story

Web Apps 101: Your Three Point Success Plan

TechCrunch - Building a web app is easy. Building a successful and profitable web app is where most people fail. If you want your app to stay out of the Dead Pool, you need to know the answer the following questions:

1. Who is it aimed at?
2. Why will they use it?
3. Will they pay for it?

Also, you can download the MP3 audio and PDF presentation that appear to be the foundation for this article at: http://www.futureofwebapps.com/

read more | digg story

brandchannel Readers' Choice Awards 2006 Results Are In

Google and Apple stay on top while YouTube and Wikipedia show up for the first time. As usual brandcannel has regional results as well as the Global list previewed here. Read the full report.

Top trends for 2007: Marketers' influence grows even as customers demand more control of the message

Happy 2007. I thought that BtoB had a pretty fair set of predictions. Here's a summary:

1. Rising influence of CMOs
2. Web 2.0 explodes
3. Global expansion
4. Boom in online video ads
5. Measuring engagement
6. More sophisticated search
7. Need for leads
8. Behavioral targeting hits the spot
9. Trade shows make a comeback
10. E-mail still going strong

Read the full article to get the details...

Five Tools for Spying on Your Competition

"By understanding the marketing strategies of your competitor, you can always stay a step ahead of them. The key is knowing how to obtain all of this vital information without having to hire a PR firm, an FBI agent, or an undercover spy. Luckily for us, all we need are a few online tools to find out exactly how are competitors are running the show."

Spying is kind of a harsh word when it comes to keeping an eye on the competition. It's not like these sites are tracking down secret formulas. However, they appear to be some easier ways of tracking down info than completely manual processes. I find Google Alerts to be very handy. In fact, I suggest setting up google alerts related to your own business as a way to keep an eye on your own internet presence. Sometimes you'll be pleasantly surprised to see a link on a blog or something you might now be aware of without the help of such an alert.