Brand Central Station

Anthony Jewell, writing for Webtivity Designs, explains that site speed is very important to the success of an online business when it comes to sales. Anthony makes a compelling case for thoughtful web re-designs to speed up the over-all performance of the site.

Good stuff to know when clients start to ask what they can do to generate more web-based revenues.

Technorati tags: Web Design e-Commerce Marketing

Jakob Nielsen, the guru of web design gurus, has pulled together a list of the top ten design mistakes for weblogs. It’s a good read and, more importantly, provides some keen insights into writing effective web copy.

Tips to: Problogger, BloggingHelp and Peter Brady’s “Ads On Blogs” Blog.

Technorati tags: Blogging Web Design Marketing

BL Ochman seems to think so …

BL makes that bold prediction in this post and also announces that she intends to take down her own website and incorporate all the important parts into her What’s Next Online Blog.

Truth is, we’ve been having similar thoughts about the Brand Central Station website, as well. Stay tuned.

Technorati tags: Blogging Web Design Business Communications Trends

Shel Holtz gives a quick review of the new IABC website in this post from late last week. The post is from Shel’s “Shel of My Former Self” Blog.

The most interesting thing to note is that the improvements to the site were the result of extensive research the group conducted with its members. Shel has some insights on this as well.

Technorati tags: IABC Web Design Blogging

From the “This Can’t Be Good For Journalism” Department … Stephan Colbert’s new show The Colbert Report debuted last night. Here’s a review of the first night from Slate.

The irony here, of course, is that it’s likely this show will become a “must have” on publicists’ to-do lists just like its lead-in show, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. It’s interesting to note that the evening talk shows that mock the evening news shows are just as viable news venues.

And if you’ve never seen Stephan Colbert, you should make time to catch the show.

It’s funny.

Technorati tags: Journalism PR The Daily Show

How many of us have tried the “virtual agency” route only to find out that it’s a lot harder than it looks. There’s something about human interaction that is appealing to us humans.

Go figure.

One national agency known for breaking convention and trying new work methods is (and has been) Chiat\Day. Here’s a post from Fast Company that gives you an idea of how difficult the “virtual agency” utopia is to achieve.

Technorati tags: Management Ad Agencies Advertising

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Steve Hall and the AdRants team report on a guerilla marketing ploy used in Rome, Italy to promote the Italian edition of “They Thirst” – presumably a book about vampires.

The stunt was created by Guerrigliamarketing.it.

Technorati tags: Guerilla Marketing Experiential Marketing Advertising Promotion

The Strategic Name Development Blog gives us a quick update on the state of the art in naming wines. As it turns out, wine names have started taking a snarkier, funnier flare.

Is this new naming trend likely to extend beyond the wine rack of your favorite liquor store? If it does, let’s just hope it’s all done in good taste.

Technorati tags: Branding New Naming technorati.com Graphic Design

Stephen Labuda provided a great “how to” guide for those of us who are “organizationally challenged.”

Better than most posts on subjects like this, Steve manages to provide a few examples to demonstrate both the simplicity and the effectiveness of this organizational “system.”

Hey, it’s cheaper than a Franklin-Covey Planner and easier to use than a PDA.

Great tips for Account Exeuctives and Biz-Dev Directors.

Technorati tags: Marketing Sales Networking

Wizard Roy Williams makes his case for websites in one, deft stroke: “How many months has it been since you went looking for information in the yellow pages,” Williams asks. “Now how many minutes has it been since you asked your favorite search engine?”

Simple but effective.

And while Williams makes a great case for having a website, he doesn’t go into enough detail (in our opinion) on how to make sure people can find that site. Maybe that could be the topic of another Wizard of Ads Blog post?

Technorati tags: Advertising Online Marketing Business Consulting

Seth Godin has done it again. Another “must read” post, this time about naming things. Whether it’s your business or your new Internet domain, the lessons Seth teaches here are worth learning.

And in this particular case, the comments to the blog post are as interesting and enlightening to read as the post itself.

Really good stuff.

Technorati tags: Marketing Naming

No one can accuse Duct Tape Marketing’s John Jantsch of being too far out there on the bleeding edge. In fact, one of the most refreshing things I’ve found about John’s posts is that they’re often very practical and applicable to the here and now.

John is also up-to-speed on technology. He’s not allergic to it and, as a result, down on any new tech-trend that appears on the marketing landscape.

That’s why I think it’s important to note this post about using caution when integrating new marketing technology.

It’s a good read. Especially for those of us who like to get all wrapped up in new stuff at the risk of ignoring the kind of work that got us here in the first place.

Technorati tags: PR Marketing Advertising Social Media