Where is the Puck?

By Ivan Surjanovic, iPower Lab and Lars Vedo, Newte.ch

Here are ten tips from our 2010 edition of 101 Internet Marketing Tips. Visit the iPower Strategy website (www.ipowerstrategy.com) to download the complete eBook containing 101 great Internet marketing tools and tips.

1. Tweet, brand and network on Twitter.com

Twitter is a social network that has exploded in popularity over the last 2 years and reached mass media in 2009. There are over 50 million users on Twitter, made up of tech gurus, Hollywood celebrities, major brands, and everyone that wants to tweet. It is a micro-blogging service, since it limits messages to 140 characters.

Twitter is an excellent tool for promoting and networking. Because of Twitter’s public nature, you can reach huge audiences and target specific niches. The most common real-time trends are displayed right on the Twitter homepage and allow you to see what is being discussed at the moment.

2. Start Collaborating Online via Google Wave

We will try to describe Google’s newest tool in two words only: hosted conversation. According to Google, Google Wave (wave.google.com) is an “online communication and collaboration tool that makes real-time interactions more seamless — in one place, you can communicate and collaborate using richly formatted text, photos, videos, maps, and more” Learn about this brand-new tool from Google by viewing this 8 minute video

The key benefit is that we will now be able to easily track our own communication with different people on various projects/subjects on one single “wave”. You can review the evolution of any communication and rewind waves with the playback functionality, to see what happened, and when.

3. Use Facebook to promote your business

Facebook was primarily designed as a private social network for sharing pictures and stories with friends. In the last few years its services have expanded into a powerful advertising network and promotional platform. There are four main ways to promote your brand on Facebook:

a. Pay-per-click advertising (PPC): The PPC setup is very similar to Google AdWords or Yahoo! Advertising.
b. Facebook pages: A Facebook page (Fanpage) is a public profile that can be created by a business to interact with Facebook users.
c. Applications: Facebook now allows users to create small web applications that plug into a user’s profile. They range from productivity tools and games, to education and business solutions.
d. Facebook Connect: Connect is a powerful API that allows website developers to integrate Facebook services with their website.

4. Use a URL shortening service and keep track of the links you share

A URL shortening service takes a long website address like this:
http://www.thevelvethottub.com/celebrity-gossip/freshest_gossip and turns it into this: http://bit.ly/8uBhxR

That in itself is very handy because long URLs containing lots of variables don’t always fit into smaller messages, especially in services like Twitter which are limited to 140 characters or less. The year 2009 was a big year for shortening services like www.Tr.Im or www.Bit.ly

5. Make sure your website looks and works great on mobile devices

Smartphones are exploding in popularity. The rise of Apple’s iPhone has created a surge in the marketplace and inspired a huge amount of competition. The year 2010 will be an even bigger year for smartphones, as many new phones and mobile operating systems are being released. Google’s Android is a very notable mobile operating system that will experience huge growth in 2010.

If you don’t have the budget to release applications for specific handsets to promote your website, at least ensure your website is optimized to work, display and function well on mobile devices.

6. Think Web 2.0

Web 2.0 is a term coined to describe today’s Internet. It is defined as a new Internet age that encourages collaboration and interaction. Wikipedia is an excellent example of Web 2.0, because it is the world’s largest online encyclopedia that is completely edited and maintained by public users (“user-generated content”). Think Web 2.0: make sure your website is interactive and allows users to generate content.

7. Remember traditional marketing techniques!

People often forget traditional marketing rules when taking their business online. The rules of marketing are exponentially more important online. For example, when visiting a website, users will judge the page immediately; therefore, that first impression is vital. Visitors need to know where they are, where they can go, and what they will find. So when designing a page, make sure to know what your marketing objective is. Also, make your message clear and to the point, because visitors generally make the decision to stay or go within the first 5 seconds.

8. Invest your time in the RIGHT social network(s)

There are a huge number of social networks out there, and every year a countless number of new ones emerge. It leaves us wondering which social networks one should bother establishing and, more importantly, maintaining an account with.

It is best to take a look at your business and define your goals. Are you looking to network with like-minded people? Are you looking to increase exposure to a specific niche market? There is a great list of social networking sites available here on Wikipedia:, such as www.Facebook.com, www.MySpace.com, www.LinkedIn.com, www.stumbleupon.com, www.flickr.com and www.Digg.com.

9. Stay on top of Internet trends

Keeping on top of the trends can be difficult because of the lightning speed of the evolution of business on the Internet. Here is a sample list of websites and tools that can help you easily get a grasp of what’s being talked about, what’s being sold, and what’s in the news.

1. Where is the Puck Going (www.whereispuck.com): subscribe to our feeds about new business and technology trends

2. Twitter Search/Trends (http://search.twitter.com) This is an excellent place to search for topics on Twitter. You can see what is being talked about in real-time or search for specific keywords to see the buzz about them.

3. eBay Pulse (http://pulse.ebay.com) eBay pulse is a great way to see what’s being sold an eBay. Even if you don’t use eBay, it’s great for seeing what products are in high demand.

4. Amazon Bestsellers (http://amazon.com/gp/bestesellers/ )
This bestseller list includes all bestselling products on Amazon. You can narrow the results to specific categories like Electronics and Music. Amazon is a huge online marketplace, which also provides great insight into current demand.

5. Google Trends (http://google.com/trends) Google Trends allows you to see the most popular search on Google in real-time. It also allows you to graph the popularity of keywords over time. Graphing enables you to compare which keywords are more commonly searched.

Check out other trend-tracking tools like Yahoo! Buzz (http://buzz.yahoo.com) Google News (http://news.google.com) , Digg (http://digg.com), Bing Twitter (http://bing.com/twitter), etc.

10. What to expect in 2010?

In 2010 there will be a continuous growth in mobile Internet browsing. New faster 4G networks are opening up and smartphone prices are coming down. More devices are being released with data-only capabilities, which allow users to surf the net wirelessly from virtually anywhere.

Cloud computing has been constantly developing and deploying as well. It basically allows a user to have a less powerful computer with less memory that accesses files and programs stored “within the cloud.” For example, Google is launching Chrome OS, which is an ultra lightweight operating system that runs Internet-enabled applications instead of installed applications.

In addition, Web 3.0 is just being born. It will be a more intelligent web, transforming web pages into a web database. Recommendation engines (e.g. Amazon’s “Customers who bought items in your shopping cart also bought…”) are just the tip of the iceberg!

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To learn more and stay ahead visit http://www.ipowerstrategy.com/resources.php#eBooks and download the complete eBook containing 101 great Internet marketing tips.