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lol it is true, our blog went from a 0 to a 3, and still gets no traffic

PR has to be the premier marketing tool on the internet for the SEO/SEM industry and just about everyone else outside it couldn't care less

I know it's pointless and means nothing, but I still get miffed when we drop, and manage a huzzah when we rise. Maybe it's ingrained?

Here's my top 3.

Personality, Research research research.. and capital

Personality wise, you need to be a risk taker, and a starter finisher. Its a long road, hopefully rewarding, and often frustrating.

The worlds full of kaput businesses, unrealised pipedreams and unloved websites left dwindling into obscurity. Initial enthusiasm won't carry you through.

Then its research. Whatever your doing, from selling the latest widget to offering widget services, without a market, your wasting your time. Just because you think it's a great idea, doesn't mean it is. Family members views don't count either

Third is capital. Maybe you don't need thousands to get your business off the ground, but unless you are lucky enough to make an instant profit, you will still need to put bread on the table and pay the bills. factor it all in.

If it's going to be a sideline, ie you have a day job, then be realistic with your expectations. 9 times out of 10, a part time sideline will stay exactly that. Not a problem if that's what you want, just don't expect to pay off your mortgage in the near future

Oh and a tough skin, a sense of humour and a touch of insanity. Hmm, thats 6...

It sure is an interesting time to be in the online marketing world.

I think the powder keg analogy is a good one.

You do have to smile though at some of the over hype and doomsayers. As always in this online marketing world, from links to social, take a blended approach and you will see much stabler results.

Put all your eggs in one basket, then make sure your backing the right horse

Be an interesting scenario though if the keg did explode and it all fell apart. That would make the playing field open for a new player, which everyone would dive onto in droves, with self badged gurus telling us to forget everything, this is now the way forward...

Wonder who the new player could be? Someone with very deep pockets, already has a worldwide resilient(ish) infrastructure set up, someone who has access and is deeply entrenched in the web stats business, and has one of the largest customer databases in the world.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you the Amazon search engine You heard it here first....

For every DVD you purchase, your chosen keyword rises another notch.

If your business website can't be clearly seen on a smart phone, then you are missing out on a large potential audience.

"One in three adults in the UK now uses a smartphone, according to a report by the telecoms regulator Ofcom.

Apple's iPhone was said to be the most popular brand. However, teenagers appeared to favour RIM's Blackberry devices.

The report notes that the increased uptake of smartphones has led to a dramatic rise in mobile internet use."
BBC News - Third of adults 'use smartphone' says Ofcom report

If you are using a template based site such as wordpress, then it should be pretty straightforward to set up a mobile site, otherwise chat to your web guy

Interesting that iphones are for us old farts, and blackberry's are for the kids. Bit like the evolution of Jeans, when your dad started wearing them, they're no longer cool

Yup, in the same way links got bought and abused, and they way they now have to try and make sense and filter links in their algo.

Its a tough one, the downside is whenever big G decides to help us all out and make it all fairer, it tries something else, gives the index a big shake, and we then all go into panic mode watching our keywords and rankings

I think we will see a few more shakes over the coming months...

Well everything seems to change quite quickly in this frontier world of social networking, and I've only just found out the FBML (facebook markup language) is getting retired.

So if you are a newbie to Facebook, and wanting to create a presence for your business, where do you start?

First thing is setting up an account. Do you already have a user profile?

Here's a good help link for anyone wanting to set up a purely business account in Facebook.
Business Accounts - Facebook Help Centre | Facebook

If you have set up a personal and business account on Facebook, it would appear this now trips over their T&C's!

"Maintaining multiple accounts, regardless of the purpose, is a violation of Facebook

A world wide money spinner! Bet its everywhere...

That didn't have a long life did it!

From the horses mouth:

Facebook Markup Language (FBML) - Facebook developers
"We are in the process of deprecating FBML. If you are building a new application on Facebook.com, please implement your application using HTML, JavaScript and CSS. You can use our JavaScript SDK and Social Plugins to embedded many of the same social features available in FBML. While there is still functionality that we have not ported over yet, we are no longer adding new features to FBML."

Will close this thread as it has now run its course, and it's out of date.

I struggle to update 1 blog

This made me chuckle, a few classic high profile resignations, Dave Lee Travis is still my all time favourite, quitting live on air

"The way someone leaves a job can affect their career forever.

When some resign they leave with their heads hung in shame, for others it's a moment of defiance, and there are those who acknowledge that they have done wrong and leave quietly.

Some are seen to have waited too long...."
How do you have an honourable resignation?