When is paying for software better than getting it free?
- The tool you need is unique and you have no other options;
or - You're also buying the resources and expertise of the company supplying the software.
Two things are important in a URL shortening service: (1) you don't want the links to ever "expire" (unless you do want this to happen) and (2) you want the link shortening service to provide some amount of analytics.
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I just noticed that I was quoted in this news article about Toyota's social media strategy. I was interviewed because of my background cofounding AlumniFidelity, which helps schools and nonprofits execute modern online fundraising campaigns, as well as for my former profession advising political candidates on their communication strategies. You can read the full story here. If you want me to send you updates like this, or to receive new blog posts by email, just subscribe by putting your email address in the field below and clicking "subscribe."
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Photography and videos are tremendously important for communicating on the Internet. Why? Because people do not want to read online. People consume information on the Internet primarily through videos and pictures, not written words. You can argue with me on this point all you want, but you're better off just accepting the fact that your message will reach more people if it's framed by pictures and videos. (If the New York Times needs to supplement its written words with pictures and videos, so do unknown bloggers and websites.)
This means that you would benefit tremendously if you equip yourself to take high quality, professional looking photographs on a regular basis. Here's one of the biggest tips I can give you: often, the biggest difference between professional-looking photos and amateur photos comes down to the time of day. I was speaking with a veteran advertising producer who told me that he used to hate getting up at three in the morning to prepare for a photo shoot that had nothing at all to do with a sunrise, but the fact is, the quality of light two hours after sunrise and two hours before sunset is magical on film. Those two two-hour chunks of time are when 80% of important outdoor movie scenes and magazine pieces are shot. If you want your pictures or videos to look professional, the early bird still gets the worm.Comments [3]

When it comes to building a website or any type of software, it's important to make as few assumptions about how you think people will use your product as possible. (This is especially important if you want to be taken seriously by veteran software developers and Internet entrepreneurs, who are very big on the concept of split testing everything (read about that here).
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I write this blog in order to help non-technical people who want to understand technical things. I do this because in the last five years, the line that separates technical and nontechnical roles has blurred for lots of people. Take journalists for example. Journalists shouldn't just write a story anymore. They should write a story AND promote it online to make sure that even if they're fired from their newspaper, they'll have an online readership that may follow them to their next assignment. That's a valuable asset.
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If you have a moment, I'd love to hear from you in this anonymous, three question survey. Please click the link below and let me hear from you.
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One huge myth is that if you use Twitter or Facebook to link to your website from your status updates, you'll increase your Google PageRank (in other words, your website will get pushed to the top of search results), because Google famously "counts the number of links" to your website to determine how "relevant" your website is. Lots of links = great search engine optimization, right? But you can think of the major Internet companies as co-conspirators in a plot to determine "relevancy," because back in 2005 they all decided that whenever someone links to a website in the "user generated content" area of another website, they would start inserting an invisible "nofollow" tag. This means that ALL links in a Twitter feed have a hidden "nofollow" tag embedded in them (same with Facebook), and this makes them invisible to search engines. To be clear, this means that the target of the link doesn't look any more attractive in the eyes of Google, Yahoo or Bing.
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If you're a local/community business, and you want to use social media to accomplish your business goals, the most important thing you should know is this: you make your money at the margins. In fact, in social media, you do everything at the margins. Why is this? Because not every customer will write a favorable review on Yelp. Not every customer will publicly become your "fan." Not every customer will comment or "like" your status on Facebook. But those customers who do all of these things will send the message to their friends and family that you're a great business. And when that message is delivered from a trusted source, it can be very powerful. So before you jump into social media, embrace the fact that you should paint with a light brush. You're working at the margins, and it's a profitable place to be.
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