Exactfactor, Another Cool Free SEO Tool

Idan Factor of Exactfactor sent me their cool free SEO tool that his company offers. I’ve tested it out and found it to be easy to use and more importantly, useful in checking your position in search engines against your competitors. You can also get regular email alerts and weekly reports. There is a full online presentation on the service that you can review. Very nice! Have a try and see for yourself. Thanks for sharing, Idan.

Should Companies Embrace Facebook?

I was interviewed for a cover article that appeared in this week’s edition of Business In Vancouver. The story reads “Surge in Social Networking Rings Corporate Security Alarms” and talks about the rising use of platforms such as Facebook and the potential negative affects it could have on the workplace. Privacy and security are increasing concerns as more people congregate, share and communicate online. I don’t disagree, particularly when it’s employees of companies disclosing corporate information not intended for the public on a ‘company Facebook page’. This is particularly true with publicly traded companies. The same careful administration bestowed to a company website, should also be taken with a Facebook page or Ning community site or Myspace space.

But this shouldn’t stop your company from embracing these social media tools and platforms, which allow you to reach prospects and customers in a meaningful and massive way like no other. First, you’re reaching them where they go and on their terms. At Facebook, a user will only get updates on your company if they opt-in by becoming a fan. At Twitter, a user will only receive your messages if they become a follower. They also have the power to share it with their friends, fans and followers instantly, giving you some viral love in return.

And second, these tools aren’t trendy, they’re cultural. More and more people find these tools to be just way too simple and powerful to ignore. And the price is right. Our raw and primitive need to communicate and connect will never change. How we do, does and will. And technology leads the way in helping us serve that need cheaper, faster and easier. These tools and platforms are revolutionizing the way we communicate and connect, and businesses may as well learn how to use them to their benefit, and not their detriment. Below is an excerpt from the article:

While a company may not be able to control negative comments that are posted on the Internet, the web’s interactivity allows companies to respond to them. “There’s a whole etiquette to social networking that not everybody gets,” said Rajan Sodhi, vice-president of marketing at PEER 1 Network Enterprises Inc. (TSX: PIX). One consistent rule is to communicate openly, honestly and often.

Vancouver-based PEER 1 uses a number of social networking tools and has an employee whose sole role is to cultivate the company’s online presence. PEER 1 also monitors the Internet for content that mentions the company. “It can be positive or negative,” said Sodhi. “If it’s something [about PEER 1] they aren’t happy with, we acknowledge them right then and there.” As well as reacting publicly on a blog or network on which a negative comment was posted, PEER 1 will usually follow-up with a phone call.

“We’re a real believer that these social media tools and platforms are here to stay,” said Sodhi, who is the administrator of PEER 1’s Facebook site. “You can be fearful of it and not embrace it, but I think you’re going to lose one of the best tools for communicating and reaching your market.”

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Free SEO Tool Ranks Your Website Against Competitors

I get a lot of emails asking me to post, discuss or review a service and rarely have I found one worth sharing. This is one of those rare moments. Sam Cabal asked me to take a look at his free search engine optimization (SEO) tool called reviewmyweb.com that provides a fairly detailed report of how well your website ranks against your competition. Simply submit your website URL, along with up to two of your competitors, and within minutes a report is emailed back to you. It takes into account Google page ranks, backlinks coverage, site content, and blog coverage. I just tried it and found it very impressive. So much so, I’ve just sent a copy of my report to my Senior Web Developer as we’re in the midst of optimizing our new PEER 1 website which went live a few days ago. This is a handy tool for web marketers that I encourage you to try out… and the price is right. Sam, thanks for sharing and good luck.

Cool Gadget Alert: The Flip Video Mino

The Flip Video Mino

Cool new point-and-shoot video camcorder called the Flip Video Mino by Pure Digital Technologies is the size of a small digital camera, but can record up to 60 minutes of video and publish straight to YouTube, AOL Video, and MySpace through its internal software. You can see a Flip Video demo here. It retails for $179.99 and comes with 2GB internal memory, rechargeable batteries, digital zoom, and a USB arm that connects directly to your laptop download your videos in seconds. I’ll be getting my hands on one soon and can’t wait to start playing around with it.This is a great tool for bloggers and Internet video aficionados.

At PEER 1, we have launched today a limited time promotion where are giving away the Flip Video Mino free to anyone who signs up for a managed hosting or dedicated hosting plan. If you are in the market for hosting, this a great time to sign up for a plan and to get your hands on this hot new gadget.

Poll on Marketing Spend

Off Topic: Opening the TSX Quite a Thrill

My colleagues and I opening the TSX on September 30th, 2008.

Yesterday, at 9:30am EST, my PEER 1 colleagues and I were given the opportunity to open the market for the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) (on which we are listed under the symbol PIX). What a cool experience and one that I won’t soon forget. I remember back in university taking a course on corporate valuation taught by a former Wall Street insider. I found it fascinating and have been following the markets ever since. I’ve also seen many companies on television opening the market by ringing the bell, or in our case, pushing a touch screen button on a plasma (ah, technology). I can’t say I ever thought I would get the chance, but I’m very glad I did. The opening marks a significant milestone in PEER 1’s nine year history and I feel very fortunate to have been a part of it, and to have shared the experience with a tremendous group of people.

Second Microsoft Ad With Gates and Seinfeld

Here is the follow up ad (long version) to the first Gates Seinfeld Microsoft ad. Techcrunch isn’t impressed, and based on the comments I’ve received regarding the first ad, not many of you will be either. I found this one very much like a Seinfeld episode, so I enjoy the humor, but I do have to say that it isn’t getting to the point fast enough. This holds true with the shorter tv ad versions that I’ve seen.

Store Your Important Files on Drop.io Online Storage

Another cool online tool for small businesses. Drop.io lets you seamlessly store files online from your desktop through your Firefox browser (with the plugin), and then share them. The service is very cheap starting at $10 per gigabyte per year. If you have ever had your computer crash, you know how painful losing important files and data can be. Online storage is the best way to protect yourself and to ensure your files are always there and available, no matter what happens to your hardware.

Cuil Sets Its Sites on Google

New search engine Cuil has made no bones about it. They’re going after Google with what they believe is a superior search engine that searches for and ranks pages based on their content and relevance… and not on “superficial popularity metrics”. Ouch!

According to their site, Cuil searches more pages on the web than anyone else—three times as many as Google and ten times as many as Microsoft. Interesting enough, many of the executives are ex-Google people. Try it out and let me know what you think. Are they a real threat to Google, or are they just trying to use this positioning to generate some early PR attention.

http://www.cuil.com

Structure 08 Conference a Big Success

I was invited by Techvibes to write a blog post about the first ever Structure 08 conference hosted by GigaOM, which I attended and my company PEER 1 sponsored. It was held on June 25th in San Francisco at the Mission Bay Conference Center:

Just got back from the Structure 08 conference hosted by GigaOM and headline sponsored by my company, Vancouver-based PEER 1. The sold out event was a tremendous success with over 600 people in attendance representing companies like Google, Facebook, Microsoft, and VMWare. A third of the conference room was allocated to media alone.

Making the decision to sponsor Structure 08 was an easy one. It is so rare to have a room full of the brightest minds discussing and debating the latest technology impacting IT infrastructure. “Cloud Computing” was by far the topic of the day, a buzz term that seems to encompass anything related to virtualization or on-demand scalable web hosting, which is sometimes, well, cloudy.

The line up of speakers included Jonathan Yarmis of AMR Research, Mendel Rosenblum of VMWare, and a heated discussion that included panelists from Google, AT&T, GigaSpaces, Mosso, Joyent, and XCalibre. Read more