Internet Marketing and Social Media Consultants

Yesterday Nicholas Ciarelli, editor and owner of Think Secret announced that he and Apple have reached a settlement in the case against him. Part of that settlement is that Ciarelli will close down the popular Mac rumors website.

The settled suit stems from a post Ciarelli, who authored his posts under the name Nick dePlume, wrote back in 2004 where he accurately predicted the Mac Mini and iPod Shuffle. As we all know, Apple loves their secrets and were not very happy with the idea that Ciarelli must have had an inside source. So of course Apple does what big companies with a lot of legal muscle do, they file a hefty lawsuit. As part of the lawsuit Apple wanted the name of Ciarelli’s source. Continue Reading

I see more and more sites setting up blogs to take advantage of the search benefits. Many of these site owners still act as though there is some sort of mystery behind the blogging benefits, but it’s actually quite simple; you are adding relevant content to your site on a regular basis through a CMS that is very well optimized and syndicated. This means you have more content about your subject, which will help with long-tail search terms, and you are releasing your content through the Web which should hopefully increase the back links to your site. Continue Reading

I spent last week at the Blogworld conference in Las Vegas. One of the primary tracks from the conference, and the session I spoke at, was on how to monetize blogs. Obviously the most common answer is to throw AdSense on your blog. The fact I being a pro blogger is not a difficult recipe. Take one blog, add content and AdSense. The more content you add, the more money you should make. You can of course add other items like Blogitive to make money even faster. Continue Reading

A couple years ago I was on a flight from New York to Phoenix when I sat next to a female soldier returning from Iraq. After a little conversation I discovered that she had been gone nearly 2 years. I further discovered that she has two daughters, ages 15 and 18. I thought about that for a moment and realized that she missed some incredibly crucial years for her daughter. She missed one daughters first day of high school, probably first real boyfriend, among many other important events. For her other daughter she missed her getting a drivers license, prom, and even her high school graduation. The sight of her reuniting with her family was one of the memories I will hold on to for the rest of my life. It reminds me of the daily sacrifice thousands of people are making everyday for all of us.

I try to stay clear of political views on my blogs, especially my business blog. But no matter what anyone thinks of the administration, or the war, I’m certain we all agree that we need to treat our soldiers with the respect heroes deserve. And I think we can also all agree that the news about the poor conditions of our veteran hospitals makes us all sick. Our veterans, especially those disabled, deserve the best medical treatment this country can provide. And they deserve to know that the people in this country recognize and are grateful for their sacrifice. Continue Reading

I’m in Las Vegas to speak at the Blogworld conference. The expo officially begins tomorrow, but there were some sessions today for early arrivals. Blogworld is a new conference, but one I hope to see grow over time. I’ll post some thoughts here as I go through the conference.

As with most conferences, Blogwold began with a keynote. The keynote is really where you want to get people excited about the show. For example, last year WebmasterWorld’s keynote was given by Guy Kawasaki. unfortunately Blogworld decided to go with Larry “The Connector” Benet. Continue Reading