In the spirit of Halloween, I would like to take this time to talk about a potential trick that was pulled on all of us recently.

As anyone in the internet world will tell you, it is difficult to make something ‘viral’ in today’s online media world. The one thing required to make something viral is that it needs to be something that, when viewed, inspires the viewer to pass it along to everyone they know, invite people around their desk to watch it, or tweet/retweet it.

And that’s not an easy task.

Today’s savvy internet user is fairly unshockable.  There is little you can do (and keep it PG-rated) that will create ANY kind of shock, interest, or humor.  That makes it relatively hard for a big company like Microsoft (who already has a perceived image) to create a promotional campaign/video.  What can they possibly do, then?

Let’s fast forward to right before the launch of Microsoft’s newest OS, Windows 7.  They of course needed to market it after the dismal Windows Vista release, so they decided on a (let’s sarcastically say) brilliant ad campaign where users would host Windows 7 launch parties.

Essentially, a person could decide that they liked Windows enough that they would go online, sign tons of paperwork and become an official launch party host.  They could then recruit all their friends to come (using an overly complicated invitation system that discouraged people from actually using the official way) and sit around and… install Windows 7.

But that’s not all.  If you had enough people you could potentially get a Windows 7 box signed by Steve Ballmer.  Don’t even check eBay, because I’m sure no one would want to part with that gem.

I realize that I may not be explaining this process very clearly. So Microsoft, in their eternal wisdom, made a video that explains the whole process.  Please enjoy below.

Now… I’m going to assume you watched it and that you have the sensibilities and intelligence of a moderately intelligent human being.  What the heck was that?!?!  Awful, awful, awful.  I mean really… it’s embarrassing.  On every single front.  Acting, video, writing, sound quality… was this really produced by a multi billion dollar company?Why, this video is so BAD that I am inspired to forward it to all my friends and laugh at it…

Oh wait.  They got me.  Now, I’m not a conspiracy theorist, but this one has to make you wonder. Did Microsoft intentionally make one of the worst, lamest, milquetoast videos to play right into the lame-o image that Apple created for them?  My gut says no, they aren’t that smart.  But at the same time, it makes me wonder.

If the goal of the video was exposure and publicity, it worked.  The video has been viewed millions of times.  It has been laughed at and mocked, it has been spoofed and goofed.  It’s an embarrassment.  Again, I don’t think they meant to, but Microsoft made one of the most talked about viral videos of the year by making themselves the brunt of the joke.  Congrats.  They did it.

But at what cost?

So, today the boys had a “Jammie Day”. These are days when my wife, Jodi let’s the boys stay in their jammies all day while they play games and stuff. They had a pretty healthy lunch and Jodi was away for dinner.

Well, my boys are rather picky and they weren’t in the mood for anything for dinner. So, I decided to get their attention and tell them that we were going to make the best sandwich EVER.

They got all excited about what it was going to be and will remember it forever. Here’s the video.

The “Toasted Triple Decker Peanut Butter, Jelly and Fruitloop Sandwich” is a remarkable thing for my boys.

What are you going to do with your website that’s remarkable enough to get your potential customers and/or link partners excited about what you have to offer and remember it forever?

I received in the mail one of the most remarkable direct mail pieces ever (Photo thanks to BruceClay.com – Virginia Nussey talked about it here) via FedEx this week. I opened the package and pulled out a very professional package of chocolate covered grasshoppers.

The first thing I said to myself was, “Are these SERIOUSLY chocolate covered grasshoppers?”

And then I read in fine print at the bottom of the package:

*Yes, these are real grasshoppers. They are even approved by the FDA of Thailand.

Brilliant. I didn’t have any idea what it was… but that alone made me look into it further.

A tag attached to the grasshoppers said, “Entrepreneurs can change the world. Join the movement now!”

Now I’m intrigued.

So, I went to their site and it looks like they are compiling entrepreneurs together and offering some discounts on services… but in the end, they are promoting telecommunication services of some type.

Here’s the lesson… To start something viral… it needs to be worthy of being viral. Business owners talk to us everyday about how they want to do these viral campaigns, but they often want to do things so lame, that nobody really cares. So, take a lesson from the grasshopper guys (and possibly gals, too)… and do something worth talking about in your next viral marketing campaign.

Oh… I brought the package home and had my kids eat them. That’s what the video above’s all about. I know it’s a bit long… sorry.

Jodi (my wife) asked me tonight if there were any new pictures from the breeder we’re purchasing our dog from. The dog was born on New Years Eve and we are picking him up in February, so we like to get photo updates.

So, to be funny, I googled “world’s ugliest dog“… and BAM!

The reaction was great.

There are just SO MANY ways to build links… I just may have to do a “World’s Ugliest [whatever]” contest…

What “worlds ugliest” ideas do you have that could generate links for your site?

Thousands of web sites give away free products and extend special online trial offers as a way to build buzz and drive traffic to their website.

Running a link building contest and awarding a prize to your most active link builder can build buzz, drive traffic, and also provide the most important piece to the SEO equation – links!

Many companies with web sites should still consider typical internet marketing services to improve their positioning in Google. However, hosting a contest to generate interest in your website with the extra benefit of building links can certainly work.

Besides, if you’re going to personally front money for a prize, why wouldn’t you want to receive a return on your investment?

A link building contest should probably have one of two outcomes for determining a winner:

• To acquire the greatest number of links
• To acquire the most relevant, highest powered link

A link that drives traffic to your website can also be used to determine a winner. However, if the end goal of the contest is true link building, traffic should be a secondary concern.

Acquiring the greatest number of links has its pros (quantity) but tends to yield lower value, less relevant links. You will also tend to get a lot of entrants with startup Wordpress and Blogspot sites including one blog post having a link pointing to your site. When the goal of the contest is to receive links based on relevancy, you will get a substantial amount less, but they should be more valuable.

Below are some tried and true ideas prize ideas to consider when building links hosting a contest on your site. The more involved the contest is for the user, the better the prize should be.

1. T-Shirts (bloggers love these, especially when they’re funny)
2. Anything for a Nintendo Wii
3. Any Apple product
4. A complimentary product that makes a job easier
5. A permanent, do follow link to the winners site of choice (a great idea for Google authority sites)

Anyone have great contest ideas or prize ideas they want to share? Would love to see some in the comment space below.

So, I thought it was kind of fun and cool that Jon Fisher and Jon Volk are having a competition to see who’s blog can rank higher for the other person’s name. This kind of goes back to the good old miserable failure google bomb that happened a while back. Volk is a friend of ours, so we thought we’d support him in his quest.

Hello All! It’s been so crazy around here… we have a lot happening that we will be telling you about very soon!

In the meantime… be sure to tune your ears into Webmaster Radio tomorrow at 1pm. I will be making a guest appearance on the SEO 101 Show with David Brown, Brian Mark, & Carolyn Shelby where we will be talking about link building for beginners.

Dave Conklin was honored to be asked to be on this program in part because of the many internet marketing experts that have appeared including Todd Malicoat (stuntdubl), Jeremy Schoemaker (shoemoney), Joel Comm, Michael Gray (graywolf) and many others.

The show will re-air in re-run and be available on demand for a few months after the live broadcast tomorrow at 1pm.

See you then!

UPDATE: Here is the link to listen to the show!

I am so inspired by this video from Shoemoney… this is link bait at it’s best. By the way, his site is incredible if you’re interested in making money online with affiliate marketing… you should check it out!

I was just a bit confused today when I popped Google up for the first time. See, I have slightly bad luck with computer viruses (they love me) so any weird little thing my laptop does sends me into a 5 second internal panic.

Needless to say, going to Google.com and seeing a black background for the first time…well, ever, that I recall…messed with my head a bit, made me think someone may have done the impossible and hacked the crap out of Google.

Than I saw Google’s little message: “We’ve turned the lights out. Now it’s your turn – Earth Hour.”

Seeing as how I’ve been interested in the whole ‘going green’ phenomena for a while now and was even contemplating a “Going Green In The Office” post, I had to see what EarthHour.org was all about.

So I click, waiting with baited breath…only to be met with:

Lovely. Nothing like getting all hype about something online, only to be thwarted by that damn yellow, exclamation point-filled triangle.

I mean honestly, how many times has it been said – one of the fundamental rules of link baiting is making sure your server can handle the traffic!

And let’s face it – getting Google to sponsor your nonprofit organization/event is some darn good link AND traffic bait. I realize that it’s not Google’s fault that a third party website couldn’t handle their traffic – but still, they could have warned them. Google being the Internet behemoth that it is, I just expect more for them.

That being said, I was still able to see what Earth Hour was all about on a secondary site they had set up. How’d I find it? I googled that bitch of course! (Please excuse the language, it’s my day off).

So anyway, I guess I’ll turn my lights out tonight as well (8:00P sharp). I hope they don’t expect me to be turning the TV off. There’s a funny dude on Comedy Central tonight I want to check out.

Here’s a few tips and interesting facts I’ve read about ‘going green’:

• If 20 employees in your company turned off their computers during a lunch hour, you’d save 3700 watts of electricity within 60 minutes. According to Big Green Switch, a site with tips on greening up your lifestyle, that’s enough power to keep an energy efficient lightbulb burning for over eight and a half days.
• Go paperless when possible (using online faxing, electronic forms, read things online instead of printing it out, etc). IF you have to print, print on both sides of the paper, and use old printer paper for scrap paper. The Green Life by the Sierra Club has some other good tips on going green in the office.
• ABC.com’s spotlight on their ‘Carpoolers’ show even has a page with tips on how to start a car pool at your job. Needless to say, if many Americans would begin carpooling (or even telecommuting by working from home), vehicle emissions and pollutants would drop drastically.

Oh, and perhaps I should have introduced myself in the beginning here – I’m Ashley, the resident content developer, copywriter, SEO, PPC manager, keyword researcher…well, let’s just say I’m capable of doing a little bit of everything!

I was very impressed this morning while reading an article by Matt McGee about a company called Pink Cake Box, who sells specialty cakes located in New Jersey.

The internet marketing success story talks about how the company was able to succeed online. Because of their online success, they have received a lot of media attention and sales growth.

But the foundation all begins with a remarkable product. If you don’t have a product that sticks out from the norm, you’re not going to be successful with internet marketing… without a lot of effort. Seth Godin is the “God of Being Remarkable” in my opinion. Almost any industry can do it… it just up to you to figure out how.

They made the statement that “they have not yet explored PPC marketing and don’t plan to”. I LOVE that! My success online with our companies has always strongly focused on PPC, so any time that I hear of a business who doesn’t use it and is successful, it gets my juices flowing.