Yahoo is testing a new module for Yahoo! News called ‘Infinite Browse’ which will allow Yahoo News users to view search results related to a given Yahoo News item without leaving the page.
Currently available to a small number of Yahoo News users, Infinite Browse involves the display of a box below an article displaying images, videos, news articles, slideshows and search suggestions related to the topic you’re reading about.
Think you know what business you’re in? Think again. According to marketing gurus such as Dan Kennedy and Australia’s Mal Emery, an accountant is not in the accounting business and a life coach is not in the coaching business. They – and, in fact, all of us – are in the marketing business. Or, at least, we should be.
This reminds me of one of my first jobs. Back in the late 90s I joined the graduate marketing program at Uncle Ben’s of Australia. Uncle Ben’s is now known as Mars Australia and is part of the Mars, Incorporated group of companies. Among other things, Mars sold – and continues to sell – the leading pet food brands in Australia, including Pedigree, Whiskas, Chum and Dine.
As Internet marketers we have much to learn from successful social media game makers such as Zynga. After all, who wouldn’t want customers who are ‘addicted’ to our products or services in the same way people are addicted to social media games such as Zynga’s blockbuster success, Farmville? To that end, what makes social media games so addictive?
The question of what makes anything addictive is fascinating in itself, but when it comes to social media games, we are seeing a new phenomenon at work. Or perhaps an old phenomenon in a new context. In fact, my observation is that, among other things, addictive social media games tap into at least three (3) crucial human needs. They are the needs for:
The New York Times is going into the content management system business with the launch of Press Engine.
Press Engine is a software solution designed to let publishers and media organizations deliver content across such new platforms as those used by Apple’s iPhone and iPad devices.
Demand Media – the company behind such popular information sites as eHow.com and the domain registry eNom – has filed for an initial public offering (IPO) aimed at raising $125 million.
Demand Media’s IPO prospectus indicates the company isn’t yet profitable. In 2009 Demand Media made a loss of $21.9 million on revenues of $198 million. In the first half of 2010, the company made a loss of $6 million on revenues of $108 million.
Once you’ve established your Internet business and achieved even modest success you can expect all kinds of people to start contacting you. This includes freebie seekers.
I define ‘freebie seekers’ as people who want something of value from you for free. This could be one of your products or, as often is the case, your time. Freebie seekers may email you, call you, or come up to you at conferences. In each case, they tend to want more from you than they’re willing to pay for, whether it’s payment in money or in kind.
In other words, freebie seekers want something for nothing.
Demand Media has put together an interesting video explaining and highlighting the technology, process and people behind Demand Studios.
Demand Studios is the division of Demand Media responsible for recruiting writers, copy editors and filmmakers in order to generate content for Demand Media’s how-to information websites such as Livestrong.com and eHow.com.
In light of widespread criticism of the company for being a ‘content farm’ the video, ‘Telling the Story the Demand Media Way: Technology, Process and People’ is something of a sales pitch to creators, audiences and critics alike, positioning Demand Media as a legitimate media company.
Guess what? Demand Media IS a legitimate – and growing – media company. As the huge traffic numbers to its sites – including eHow.com and Livestrong.com attest – the company provides information that people want.
That should be the end of the story, but I continue seeing claims that companies such as Demand Media are undermining journalism.
What garbage. Neither Demand Media nor its competitors have ever claimed to offer journalism, let alone attempt to undermine it. All they do is provide how-to information on topics Internet users are interested in. They have not – and do not claim to – provide news as such.
Check out Demand Media’s video below. If you’re involved in information publishing, it provides some good insights into how Demand Studios works, not to mention being an example of a pretty persuasive video in itself.
Telling the Story the Demand Media Way: Technology, Process and People:
A few days ago a Kikabink News subscriber contacted me to ask what kind of money can be made selling ebooks. The short answer is: anything from zero to millions of dollars.
Ebooks are actually becoming BIG business with the advent of the iPad, Kindle, Nook and other e-readers. Meanwhile, they have been the Internet marketers’ medium of choice for providing how-to information across a range of niches online.
Of course, how much YOU can make from an ebook YOU write and market in a particular niche depends on a number of factors.
So you’ve got an idea for an online business, want to build a website and need a domain name. Your first instinct is probably to come up with a name for your business and see if the domain name is available. Stop! Before you register that domain, consider whether you may be better off registering an expired domain name, back-ordering a ‘dropping’ domain, or purchasing a domain name for sale.
We’ll talk about the pros and cons of registering an expired domain name, back-ordering a ‘dropping’ domain or purchasing a domain name for sale in the second article in this two-part series. For now, let me explain what is meant by registering a new domain, registering an expired domain and buying a domain for sale (whether via a domain name ‘drop’, at auction, via an online marketplace or by way of private sale).
IORAD is an ‘instructional appliance’ that promises to help you easily create user training.
IORAD may be a breakthrough for those of us who’ve struggled through the somewhat painful process of creating screen-captures tutorials. What’s more, IORAD is designed to address a common shortcoming among creators of user training: skipping steps that are obvious to us, but not so obvious to our users!
