Richard Tarnas Archetypal Cosmology + Deep History

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Richard Tarnas
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Tarnas

Richard Tarnas
Archetypal Cosmology and Deep History
http://cosmosandpsyche.com/about/

Richard Tarnas is the founding director of the graduate program in Philosophy, Cosmology, and Consciousness at the California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco, where he currently teaches. Born in 1950 in Geneva, Switzerland, of
American parents, he grew up in Michigan, where he received a classical Jesuit education. In 1968 he entered Harvard, where he studied Western intellectual and cultural history and depth psychology, graduating with an A.B. cum laude in 1972.

For ten years he lived and worked at Esalen Institute in Big Sur, California, studying with Stanislav Grof, Joseph Campbell,  Gregory Bateson, Huston Smith, and James Hillman, later serving as Esalen’s director of programs and education. He received his Ph.D. from Saybrook Institute in 1976 with a dissertation on LSD psychotherapy, psychoanalysis, and spiritual transformation. From 1980 to 1990, he wrote The Passion of the Western Mind, a narrative history of Western thought from the ancient Greek to the postmodern which became a best seller and continues to be a widely used text in universities throughout the world.  In 2006, he published Cosmos and Psyche: Intimations of a New World View, which received the Book of the Year Prize from the Scientific and Medical Network in the UK. Formerly president of the International Transpersonal Association, he is on the Board of Governors of the C. G. Jung Institute of San Francisco.  In addition to his teaching at CIIS, he has been a frequent lecturer at Pacifica Graduate Institute in Santa Barbara, and gives many public lectures and seminars in the U.S. and abroad.

http://www.transpersonalassociation.com/

Guiding Principles and Strategy
http://www.transpersonalassociation.com/guiding-principles/

Theoretical Position and General Strategy of the ITA
The International Transpersonal Association (ITA) seeks to promote a transpersonal vision in research, scholarship, education, and those therapeutic and practical spheres in which a spiritual orientation is beneficial. It aligns itself with no single approach, be it religious or scholarly. Rather it encourages a diversity of perspectives through which insights from spiritual traditions might be effectively integrated into modern culture.

Cosmos and Psyche
http://cosmosandpsyche.com/2013/05/21/cosmos-and-psyche/

Cosmos and Psyche: Intimations of a New World View
http://tinyurl.com/oa9wze7

Prometheus the Awakener: an Essay on the Archetypal Meaning of the Planet Uranus (Dunquin Series 21)

“The exquisite depth and complexity of the astrological language deserves, but rarely finds, an interpretive voice such as Richard Tarnas’s. Prometheus the Awakener is not only a gift to the spiritual-intellectual community, but a great essay to give to lively sceptics.” – Caroline W. Casey, Center for Visionary Activism
http://tinyurl.com/ngudxxx

California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS) is a nonprofit university dedicated to personal and social transformation.
http://www.ciis.edu/

ABOUT CIIS Council of Sages
http://www.ciis.edu/About_CIIS/Council_of_Sages.html

Frank Schirrmacher, German Newspaper Publisher, RIP

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Frank Schirrmacher
Frank Schirrmacher, German Newspaper Publisher, Dies at 54
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/15/world/europe/frank-schirrmacher-german-newspaper-publisher-dies-at-54.htm

How Powerful is Game Theory? Part 1 – A Satanic Game?
http://www.strategies-for-uncertainty.com/?p=126
Ego von Frank Schirrmacher
The Elite Look Down on Democracy by Jens Berger and Hans Springstein
Wednesday May 15th, 2013 4:24 AM

FRANK SCHIRRMACHER’S NEW BOOK “EGO – THE GAME OF LIFE”- NOT MARKET-CONFORMING

The thought-models of the economy have conquered practically all other social sciences. The person in these models is a homo oeconomicus, a rational agent whose only drive is maximizing his benefits. In this view of the person, only an action with the driving force of egoism is rational. The rational action of individuals who must sell themselves on the labor market has an irrational moment. People carry out repressions that they cannot see because of the irrationality of the whole. The conservative editor of FAZ caused a sensation when he said “the left may be right.”

In his new book “Ego – The Game of Life,” Frank Schirrmacher, co-editor of FAZ (Frankfurter Allgemeiner Zeitung) newspaper, casts a revealing glance at the operating system of capitalism. Schirrmacher sets the software of this operating system in the center of his reflection. This software is built on the model of egoistic persons, steers the linked markets of the financial system and is already dissolving democracy. Hopefully Schirrmacher’s book will arouse further discussion on the nature of modern capitalism. We can only change the operating system when we understand it.

https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2013/05/15/18736845.php

4.0 von 5 Sternen Stimulating argument Fantasy 18 February 2013
Of Books-Bartleby
This review is from: Ego: The Game of Life (Hardcover)

It’s back. Frank Schirrmacher has done it again all the way up on the bestseller lists: Between “Crossfire”, “Fit without equipment” and “Shades of Grey”, his new litter in the debates ring.

Much has been and is attacked as Citizen Kane of West Germany’s high-feature articles, regularly mocked for his apocalyptic rhetoric, which always gives the impression that here and now, a new era begins – and we would not have noticed it if FS did not tell us. This sound is far beyond good and evil: a trademark.

The financial, banking and stock market crises have often led to civil contrition. The Left had “had in many ways right” in their criticism of neoliberalism, Schirrmacher announced some time ago. The features section of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, which he presides, seems to make the sign of the crisis, at least in the political boil values ??is a watershed by Carl Barks to Karl Marx, one might say shortened. Hardly surprising in any case that is now already Jakob Augstein ranschmust to Schirrmacher.

“Ego” continues this line: It’s a kind of near-conspiracy theory whose charm as usual is in conspiracy theories is that they can be facts and events do not appear in Allerweltlicht but translucent background makes for a world of ominous power brokers. In short: In the fifties, “in the cold of the arms race”, an image of man, a new formulation of the old idea of ??”homo economicus” was “of military and economists” designed – the utility maximizers, the man of the game theory, always on its advantage is considered nothing more than pursuing his own interest, which can be reduced to a formula.

Meanwhile, “number 2″ (so Schirrmacher formula for this model creature) have long since left the think tanks and had entered like a monster-parasite into real social life. The neo-liberal economics, the stock exchanges, the computerization, the Internet, on which we depend – all part of the disaster context, which has engulfed working and leisure environment.

That sounds semi-intriguing, half-dragged in long hair. More importantly, Schirrmacher detailed and polemical a “brave new world” painted on this basis, on the wall, in which people are always predictable and manipulatable. This is not new, but here various aspects of the development are presented interesting. Just a quote about the phrase “lifelong learning”: “So is ‘lifelong learning’, the so-rested and tranquil sounds, often exactly the opposite of what one associates with it: the ability to constantly unlearn, to what one yesterday believed, even his own identity. ”

Schirrmacher also makes attention to this country little known theories and discourses that play a particularly important role in the Anglo-Saxon countries. The fact that Bram Stoker’s vampire classic “Dracula” has a lot to do with the financial markets of the late 19th century – like are highlights that Schirrmacher tosses in each chapter and that I find interesting.

I expect from this author no Fake science literature in which every sentence is hedged. Others can do better. Schirrmacher’s books are provocative, suggestive incantations, rampant, feral ESSAYS in the sense of the trial and the trials Rischen. There are arguments fantasies that work with images and thoughts games and draw inspiration from current stacks, but often remote property, literature and many conversations with important contemporaries, including one as FAZ publisher has the opportunity to chains of association and daring updates. Some acts inflated, some nonsensical, but then fascinating, illuminating glades are struck by the frightening chaos of today’s existence again. Stimulating and challenging it should be – and that’s it. http://tinyurl.com/lmwxhsq

Kondolenzbuch für FAZ-Herausgeber Schirrmacher
2.0 von 5 Sternen “Beautiful new (digital) world” – a critique of society, 4 March 2013
Of Space-time traveler
This review is from: Ego: The Game of Life (Hardcover)
The mental models of the economy dominate the social sciences. The complete commodification of the world is becoming a reality. Frank Schirrmacher speaks of “economic imperialism.” Support for this war of conquest by sophisticated strategies (game theory) that have developed during the Cold War for reasons of military defense and poured into computer programs clever physicist and mathematician.

The underlying ego-strategies are now being used in more developed programs, including both public and cause the person submits to the implemented rules and must submit. The result is a based on selfishness momentum that is no longer controllable, especially since we are dealing with a company as (evolutionary) actors. Systems increasingly form the people.

Schirrmacher author chooses a narrative form that makes it to the interested reader is not easy to understand his message for his request. Undoubtedly, the issue could be comprehensible and briefer than in a mixed form of non-fiction, novel and science fiction. It is no coincidence that memories of Aldous Huxley’s “Brave New World” and other socially critical works are awake. Schirrmacher warns of a social nightmare scenario.

The structure of the book is reminiscent of a hologram. In the first chapter one facet of the problem is formulated blurred and each subsequent chapter means that the overall picture is taking shape, but without being really sharp. There is no stringent building recognizable but Schirrmacher jumps from chapter to chapter, repeats itself, can incorporate historical knowledge and sketched a bleak picture.

The person is a victim of his own techniques and strategies. The economization has won. Can this scenario be broken? The individual must override systems and digital decision-making, human again. This implies conscious decisions against optimized ego strategies, a rebellion against computer-based spiritual poverty. The price is high, it consists of irrationality and vulnerability. Schirrmacher try to alarm through this book, stimulate discussions. It is a reminder. http://tinyurl.com/lmwxhsq

Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (Google Search)
http://tinyurl.com/lgrvdpd

Frank Schirrmacher Ego Das Spiel des Lebens
http://www.randomhouse.de/Buch/Ego-Das-Spiel-des-Lebens/Frank-Schirrmacher/e339355.rhd

Cataphora and The Game of Life
http://www.cataphorah.com/company/game_of_life/

Search + Mobile Marketing Research 6-9-2014

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CCCPGirl
Google wants brands to fix the links in search engine query results that make people think they found the information, only to click and land on the mobile site’s home page instead.

From a desktop it’s different. The smartphone screen is too small. The idea to reduce the frustration of landing on irrelevant pages and help webmasters fix the faulty redirects requires something other than providing searchers with a preview of the page, similar to the way the engine does on desktop searches.

http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/227390/google-penalizing-brands-when-smartphone-clicks-do.html

Facebook Ad Trends Show CPCs & CTRs Increasing

To analyze quarterly data in its historical context, an aggregate data set was built from the advertisers and partners who have been active on the Nanigans Ad Engine platform from Q1 2013 to Q1 2014. Nanigans clients include 200 of the world’s leading performance marketers in ecommerce, gaming and other internet businesses such as online travel and mobile app developers.

Key findings for Q1 2014

CPCs increased 10% from Q4 2013.
CTRs increased 4% QOQ and 167% YOY, indicating that marketers are continuing to see high engagement on Facebook.
App discovery continues to be a priority for app developers. Mobile app install ads were the most popular mobile ad unit, capturing 74% of Facebook mobile ad spend.
Advertisers have shifted their focus to the News Feed, with 81% of desktop ad spend allocated to News Feed ad units. 76% of ad spend was allocated to ages 25+.

Click-through rates (CTR) increased 4% QOQ and 167% YOY. The increase in YOY CTRs across all mobile and desktop ad formats shows that marketers are continuing to see high engagement on Facebook, says the report.

http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/224477/facebook-ad-trends-show-cpcs-ctrs-increasing.html

Mobile Advertising Global Trends Revealed in Smaato Mobile RTB Report

New Data in Quarterly Report Suggests Worldwide Growth in Role of Data in Mobile Advertising and Spread of Mobile Real-Time Bidding

SAN FRANCISCO – Smaato, the leading global mobile Real-Time Bidding (RTB) ad exchange (SMX) and Supply Side Platform (SSP), releases its global mobile RTB Insights Report for Q1 2014. The report is an in-depth analysis of worldwide exchange data, auctions, bids and impressions across Smaato’s SMX platform. It highlights the continued growth of mobile RTB in 2014 and the growing importance of data in mobile advertising across all regions.

“company to watch in 2010? by Financial Analyst Company GP Bullhound.”

Smaato owns and operates the leading global mobile RTB ad exchange and SSP. Smaato’s SMX platform helps 76,000+ publishers monetize their inventory across 240+ Ad Networks and Demand Side Platforms. SMX has access to 70 billion+ ad impressions per month from ad-serving platforms across 450MM uniques. Some of the key findings from the quarterly report are:

More advertisers and publishers are leveraging programmatic buying

RTB ad spend continues to grow in 2014 and shows an increased advertiser interest in mobile programmatic buying. The aggregated RTB performance on SMX experienced a significant growth in Q1 2014 with uplift of 459% compared to Q1 2013.

Mobile RTB will remain the growth engine for digital advertising spend in 2014

The US continued to lead RTB ad spend across SMX, followed by the United Kingdom and Italy. Certain countries worldwide have seen the largest percentage increase in ad spend; some of the notable countries were: Turkey (225%), South Africa (190%), Brazil (104%), Mexico (88%) and Spain (77%) in Q1 2014.

http://www.adoperationsonline.com/2014/05/12/mobile-advertising-global-trends-revealed-in-smaato-mobile-rtb-report/

AdWords Enhanced Campaigns: Google Announces Big Changes to Mobile Ad Campaign Management

We live in a multi-screen, constantly connected mobile world today, and marketers need to be able to easily reach people across all devices with relevant ads. Over the last 5 years, growth in search query volume from mobile phones has greatly outpaced growth in query volume from desktop computers – the number of daily searches on Google from mobile devices is expected to surpass daily desktop search volume by next year. February 06, 2013

We believe that the ROI of mobile search is very compelling – you have a lot of valuable leverage, like precise location, immediacy, commercial intent, and 1-click-to-call going for it. It’s always been a matter of just getting the advertiser to adopt the somewhat complicated best practices in terms of campaign setup and reporting to realize these benefits. By simplifying this process, We are confident that there will be an uptake in mobile advertising adoption and ROI. We think the new AdWords enhanced campaigns will be particularly helpful for the SMBs who are not yet taking advantage of mobile search. .
http://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2013/02/06/google-adwords-enhanced-campaigns#.

We are introducing Estimated Total Conversions for search ads on Google.com as an exciting first step to give marketers more insight into how AdWords drives conversions for your business. Estimated Total conversions will show you both the conversions you see today, like online sales, as well as an estimate of conversions that take multiple devices to complete. Over time, we’ll be adding other conversion types like phone calls and store visits as well as conversions from ads on our search and display network.

“iCrossing is focused on consumers’ changing behavior. People are researching products in stores, on their phones during work and on their tablets while watching TV.”

“Using the cross–device conversion tracking beta, we worked with our telecommunications client and saw a 97% increase in mobile-initiated conversions — which would have otherwise been credited to direct site visit conversions. Overall, by measuring all cross-device activity, we were able to determine 7.6% more conversions total in AdWords for this client. This type of intelligence is critical for us and our clients to make real-time media mix and performance decisions.”

—Jonathan Adams, Head of Media for North America at iCrossing

http://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/products/adwords-conversions.html

3 Keys to Millennial Marketing: Smartphones, Social Media, Hyper-Targeted Content [Study]

A deeper look at Millennial media habits reveals that they prefer hyper-targeted content, in the form of personalized social networks, customized online news feeds, and music streams. For example, 71 percent of the respondents choose hyper-targeted music streaming services like Pandora and Spotify, compared to 11 percent who listen to non-targeted local radio.

Based on the findings, the report provides some suggestions for better marketing to Millennials:

Create interesting and sharable content that can be consumed quickly on any device.
Incorporate social media into your marketing mix.
Tailor content to your audience and make it appropriate for their particular context.

SDL surveyed 1,800 millennials around the world, consisting of 53 percent female and 47 percent male. You can get more insights from this SlideShare file.

http://www.clickz.com/clickz/news/2348569/3-keys-to-millennial-marketing-smartphones-social-media-hyper-targeted-content-study

5 Ways to Run Effective Facebook Ads at Different Stages

To make it easier for you, I have decided to show you the top five ways you can effectively run Facebook Ads at different stages, to target different audiences. Are you ready for it?

http://smallbiztrends.com/2014/06/how-to-run-effective-facebook-ads.html

Introducing Facebook’s Audience Network

https://www.facebook.com/business/news/audience-network

Improved Ways for Direct Response Marketers to Reach People on Mobile and Desktop

Enhanced calls to action for your News Feed ads
Businesses will soon have a better way to drive people to their landing pages on both desktop and mobile. When a marketer creates a Page post ad driving traffic to their desktop or mobile website, they will have an option to add a call-to-action button, which will show up in the lower right-hand corner of the ad. Marketers will be able to choose from five action buttons: Shop Now, Learn More, Sign Up, Book Now or Download.

https://www.facebook.com/business/news/Improved-Ways-for-Direct-Response-Marketers-to-Reach-People-on-Mobile-and-Desktop

Facebook on ‘Collision Course’ with Google over Direct Response, Says Topeka

Facebook’s decision to continue to test video ads, Instagram ads, and the mobile ad network this year, sets up 2015/2016 revenue growth rates for possible re-acceleration when all three are fully launched. For Instagram, advertisers we speak with appear enthusiastic at the possibility of placing ads on the platform, given its highly engaging nature. We see a gradual increase towards $1B in revenues annually for Instagram. For video ads, depending on the level of spend per day, Facebook could generate between $400M and near $1Bmm in revenues annually in the U.S., and substantially more internationally. FAN opens up an incremental revenue stream that has the potential to add billions of revenues given the data FB has on 1B mobile users.

http://blogs.barrons.com/techtraderdaily/2014/06/03/facebook-on-collision-course-with-google-over-direct-response-says-topeka/

Facebook pits itself against Google in direct-response pitch

Digiday obtained a pitch deck Facebook has recently been circulating to clients and its preferred marketing developers. Titled “Facebook for Direct Response,” the presentation highlights Facebook’s ability to drive conversions, especially across devices. It’s clear from the language and images included in the pitch deck that Facebook is directly pitting itself against Google in a play for ad dollars.

http://digiday.com/platforms/facebook-pits-google-direct-response-pitch-deck/

Define It – What Is Programmatic Buying?

As the data-driven, digital ecosystem expands, so are the number of people looking to understand its intricacies.

In an effort to bring transparency to the many industry terms and buzzphrases spinning ’round, AdExchanger asked several executives their thoughts on the following:

“What is programmatic buying?”

Andy Cocker, COO/ Co Founder, Infectious Media
George John, CEO, Rocket Fuel
John Nardone, CEO, [x+1]
Philip Smolin, SVP of Market Solutions, Turn
Joe Zawadzki, CEO, MediaMath

Andy Cocker, COO/ Co Founder, Infectious Media

“Programmatic Buying describes online display advertising that is aggregated, booked, flighted, analyzed and optimized via demand side software interfaces and algorithms. While it includes RTB it also includes non RTB methods and buy types such as Facebook Ads API and the Google Display Network. Programmatic also implies the use of multi sourced data signals to inform targeting and optimization decisions. An increasing share of online display advertising is moving towards programmatic due to its inherent efficiency (both workflow and performance). The majority of inventory available via programmatic is non-guaranteed, auction traded during the ad call although we expect to see more guaranteed reserved ‘premium’ inventory available in the future. Although ‘Programmatic’ suggests little or no human intervention, algorithmic optimisation can only do so much. Smart macro optimization by analytical ‘traders’ can amplify programmatic performance significantly.”

http://www.adexchanger.com/online-advertising/define-programmatic-buying/

google adsense image ads

Image ads compete in the same auction for your ad space that text ads do. So, choosing to display both text and image ads increases the competition for ads to appear on your site, and may help you earn more. Google’s technology determines on a page-by-page basis which ads are likely to make you more money, and serves those ads to your page.

https://support.google.com/adsense/answer/9739?hl=en

Twitter Prepares 15 New Ad Products to Compete With Facebook

“One of Twitter’s most powerful targeting capabilities is the option to target based on keyword usage. Unfortunately, because Twitter’s user base is still relatively small, it is hard to scale out a big enough audience for more niche topics,” says Ross Sheingold, chief strategy at Laundry Service, a social media agency.

He further points out that Twitter charges advertisers on a cost-per-engagement (CPE) basis, so inflated costs could be a concern. “When using Twitter ads, advertisers should know their intended business objective and optimize the tweet for that result. If they want to drive link clicks, embedding an image in the tweet might drive up their costs, because they’ll get charged when people engage with either of them,” Sheingold tells ClickZ.

“To date, Twitter hasn’t been as cost-effective at driving direct-response results, but they’re clearly trying to change that with the addition of the new ad products. The challenge now is being able to prove that Twitter ads can drive business results as effectively as Facebook has,” Sheingold says.

http://www.clickz.com/clickz/news/2338808/twitter-prepares-15-new-ad-products-to-compete-with-facebook

Google Unveils Premium Programmatic Video Marketplace

The new offering, called Google Partner Select, aims to connect premium publishers and brands through direct buying.

“This new premium programmatic marketplace will connect a select set of publishers investing in top-quality video with the brands that want to buy against it,” Neal Mohan, Google’s vice president of display and video advertising products, said in a statement.

According to Mohan, both brands and publishers have difficulty leveraging programmatic video buying. On one side, brands want to take advantage of premium video content, but they have a hard time finding high-quality video inventory; on the other side, publishers want to have control over programmatic.

To meet needs on both sides, Google’s new marketplace will bring together “the best of brand with the best of programmatic.”

http://www.clickz.com/clickz/news/2348384/google-unveils-premium-programmatic-video-marketplace

40% of Twitter Users Will Be in Asia-Pacific by 2018 [Study]

A look at different countries in the region reveals that India and Indonesia will experience the most consistent growth from 2012 to 2018. The number of Twitter users there this year will reach 18.1 million and 15.3 million, respectively, both exceeding the U.K.’s numbers for the first time.

The U.S., which now represents more than one-fifth of global Twitter users, will have the largest number of individual Twitter users throughout the forecast period. But the share will drop, says eMarketer, as the Twitter user growth in the U.S. matures.

http://www.clickz.com/clickz/news/2347112/40-of-twitter-users-will-be-in-asia-pacific-by-2018-study

Social Ad Revenues to Hit $15 Billion by 2018 [Study]

This trend is down to a striking revenue growth in Facebook, Twitter, and other social media channels in the past few years, primarily through mobile, Fratrik explains. “Young people check Facebook pages and Twitter feeds every few hours,” he tells ClickZ. “Based on every quarterly report we get from Facebook, we find that this social network has successfully moved into mobile area.”

Fratrik points out that marketers and advertisers are continuing to transition from traditional media to online and mobile. “We expect that growth to continue,” he adds. “In our research, we see many marketers are incorporating successfully social and online digital sites into their campaigns.”

http://www.clickz.com/clickz/news/2345314/social-ad-revenues-to-hit-usd15-billion-by-2018-study

Digital Font Foundries / Font Foundries

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Foundry HDR-1200jpg
I have been a designer for my whole life.  My father was an industrial designer specializing in packaging graphics and corporate identity.  I spent my summers running a ‘stat camera’ and doing layout with letraset sheets in his design studio in Boston.  In whatever incarnation my life and career has taken, from actor, to photo assistant to NYC photographer to SEO guy to WordPress developer to Online Media Strategist, design has always been the boilerplate of reference.

The names of fonts were as familiar as the names of cars and hotrods on the street,  Franklin Gothic. Futura. Gil Sans. Goudy Sans. Helvetica Optima. Syntax. Univers. Bembo, Times New Roman, the names scroll on in my mind.

When I bought my first Mac (an LC II), it was in the quest to be able to print out a dynodex file into my swanky Filofax.  Thus began my journey into the world of the Mac and desktop publishing in New York City, 1991. Back then all the hot desingers were using the Macintosh IIci with Quark Express.

Anyway, I recently;y found myself looking to buy some new fonts to complete a WordPress site as well as do some logo design work.  This list is not extensive, just some of the recent high points. :D

Tobias Frere-Jones
Tobias Frere-Jones
Over 25 years, Tobias has established himself as one of the world’s leading typeface designers and created some of the world’s most widely used typefaces. He received a BFA in Graphic Design from the Rhode Island School of Design in 1992. He joined the faculty of the Yale University School of Art in 1996 and has lectured throughout the United States, Europe and Australia. His work is in the permanent collections of the Victoria & Albert Museum in London and the Museum of Modern Art in New York. In 2006, The Royal Academy of Visual Arts in The Hague (KABK) awarded him the Gerrit Noordzij Prijs, for his contributions to typographic design, writing and education. In 2013 he received the AIGA Medal, in recognition of exceptional achievements in the field of design. http://www.frerejones.com/

Underware
For more than ten years the pan-European design collective Underware has been creating versatile fonts, surfing the waves, conducting type workshops, running the radio station Typeradio, throwing cannon balls, experimenting with blood, practicing kamikaze chess; but mostly, they gave flowers for their mothers and turned them into a cover girl. Which resulted in an everlasting smile on their faces.
http://www.underware.nl/

production type
Production Type is a digital typeface foundry based in Paris, France. Operated by French type designer Jean-Baptiste Levée, the foundry produces retail typefaces for brands, corporations and publications; for print, screen and environmental design.

About Jean-Baptiste Levée
Jean-Baptiste Levée works methodically in a process where history and technology are approached altogether within the nuances of artistry. He manufactures functional, yet versatile digital platforms for designers to build upon.

Levée has designed over a hundred typefaces for industry, moving pictures, fashion and publishing. He has shown work internationally in group and solo shows, and is featured in the permanent collections of the French national library (BnF) and the National Center of arts (Cnap); of the Newberry Library in Chicago, and several printing museums in Europe. He is also the country delegate for France at ATypI (Association Typographique Internationale). Levée curates exhibitions on typeface design, organizes research symposiums and teaches typeface design at the Amiens school of Arts & Design, at the Caen-Cherbourg school of Arts & Media and at the University of Corte. He is a typography columnist and editor on Pointypo.com.
https://www.productiontype.com/

Lucas Fonts
Luc(as) de Groot

Berlin-based Dutch type designer Luc(as) de Groot has worked with and for many well-known companies and publications. He has made custom fonts for prestigious newspapers such as Folha de S.Paulo, Le Monde, Metro and Der Spiegel in addition to creating corporate type for international companies including Sun Microsystems, Bell South, Heineken, Siemens and Miele. He designed two font families for Microsoft: the ‘monospaced’ font family Consolas, the new alternative to Courier; and Calibri, the new default typeface in MS Word.
De Groot founded his own type foundry, LucasFonts, in 2000.
Its aim, in a few words: to make the world a better place by designing typefaces that look good and work well under any circumstances and in many languages. Graphic designers across the planet have discovered the special qualities of Luc(as)’ fonts. They are attracted by their functionality and friendly appearance and love the enormous range of possibilities that each family offers. Many also appreciate the idiosyncrasies – a quest for extremes that has resulted in some of the narrowest, thinnest, wittiest or boldest typefaces around.
http://www.lucasfonts.com/

Letterrror
Letterror

The name LettError was created in the late eighties for an art-school magazine on type. It cleverly combines Letter, Error and Terror which at the time we thought was very witty. Since then a lot of things have happened in the world. Sometimes folks ask about the name. Then we say: the name is old; it has become part of the infrastructure; it does not want to be changed.

Erik van Blokland (1967) studied Graphic and Typographic Design at the Royal Academy for Fine and Applied Arts in The Hague, Holland. Erik started to collaborate with Just van Rossum under the name LetTeRror in Berlin, while working at MetaDesign. After experimenting with computer programming in connection to type design, they came up with Beowolf, the first typeface with a mind of its own. It was released by FontShop in July, 1990. The radical approach of Beowolf caused a lot of publicity for LeTterRor, and of course fame and fortune. Well, fame anyway. After stints at several places in the world, including David Berlow’s FontBureau, van Blokland settled in The Hague as an independent designer, working together separately with van Rossum.http://letterror.com/

Fontfont
Quite simply, we love type and typography.
Back in 1990, Erik Spiekermann and Neville Brody wanted to build a foundry where type was made for designers by designers, a place where type designers were given a fair and friendly offer and where type magic was made.

From the very beginning, we wanted to bend the rules and test typographic boundaries, to build a library with a collection like no other; a range of typefaces that had different styles, different purposes, that was contemporary, experimental, unorthodox, and radical. https://www.fontfont.com/about

House
Known throughout the world as a prolific type foundry, House Industries has made a considerable impact on the world of design. House Industries fonts scream from billboards, wish happy whatever from tens of thousands of greeting cards, serve as the basis for consumer product logos and add elements of style to a wide range of mainstream media. In their illustrious career, House artists have mastered a large cross-section of design disciplines. Their typography deftly melds cultural, musical and graphic elements. From early forays into distressed digital alphabets to sophisticated type and lettering systems, House Industries’ work transcends graphic conventions and reaches out to a broad audience. What ultimately shines in the House Industries oeuvre is what always conquers mediocrity: a genuine love for their subject matter. http://www.houseind.com/

Typographica
Typographica is a review of typefaces and type books, with occasional commentary on fonts and typographic design. Edited by Stephen Coles and designed by Chris Hamamoto. Founded in 2002 by Joshua Lurie-Terrell. Relaunched in 2009 by Coles and Hamamoto.
http://typographica.org/

Arkandis
Welcome to the Arkandis Digital Foundry -ADF- homepage. This site has been created in order to offer a large collection of high quality fonts for publication and open source programs.

This collection came from my work, started a few years ago, now redeveloped for Scribus use, and has three purposes. The first is provide fonts to allow for artistic creativity in publications for those who cannot afford the cost of commercial font families. The second is to protect the works of professional font foundries and designers from the illegal use of their fonts in publications or for commercial use by providing these free alternatives. The last is that making fonts is a great pleasure.
Remember that Arkandis Digital Foundry offers only alternative font typefaces or derivative works that have the “look” of commercial fonts.
http://arkandis.tuxfamily.org/

Fonts in USe
Fonts In Use is a public archive of typography indexed by typeface, format, and industry. We document and examine graphic design with the goal of improving typographic literacy and appreciation.

The first incarnation of the site launched in December 2010 as a Blog. The new version, which debuted in July 2012, introduces the Collection, a much larger database open to contributions from visitors.
http://fontsinuse.com/

Hoefler
Hoefler & Co.

For 25 years, we’ve helped the world’s foremost publications, corporations, and institutions develop unique voices through typography. Our body of work includes some of the world’s most famous designs, typefaces marked by both high performance and high style. We work with brand leaders in every sector, developing original typefaces for print, web, and mobile environments, and licensing fonts from our library of more than one thousand designs. http://www.typography.com/

ITC
ITC

An international leader in typeface design and marketing for over 30 years, ITC collaborates with world-class designers to provide a library of more than 1,500 classic typefaces and innovative new designs. ITC has also helped to raise the standards of design quality, and focused attention on the ethical issues related to design protection and licensing. While renowned for classic designs, ITC has aggressively expanded the scope of its type library to include more contemporary designs, including distinctive display faces and inventive illustration fonts. http://www.fontshop.com/fonts/foundry/itc/

Storm Type Foundry
Storm Type Foundry
Spalova 23, 162 00 Praha 6, Czech Republic
http://www.stormtype.com/index.html

LinoType
Linotype

The day Ottmar Mergenthaler demonstrated the first linecasting machine to the New York Tribune in 1886, Whitelaw Reid, the editor, was delighted: “Ottmar,” he said, “you’ve cast a line of type!” The editor’s words formed the basis for the company label, and marked the beginning of Linotype’s success story. Four years later, the ingenious inventor founded the Mergenthaler Linotype Company. For more than 100 years, the Linotype name was synonymous with high quality typefaces. In 2006, Linotype GmbH was acquired by Monotype Imaging Holdings inc., and in 2013 was renamed to Monotype GmbH. The Linotype library remains part of the Monotype libraries and continues as an active type label. Linotype.com also remains as the same thriving e-commerce portal through which you will be able to obtain as before the latest Linotype typefaces and the font products of our other libraries and font foundries.

As Monotype GmbH, we will continue to provide superior quality typographic products and services to brand managers, designers, publishers, IT administrators and product developers. Home to legendary typefaces including the Helvetica®, Frutiger® and Univers® families, We provide trusted, global design expertise and are committed to serving the design community.

Customers trust our design expertise and recognize our acclaimed collection of typefaces.
http://www.linotype.com/48/aboutlinotype.html
http://www.linotype.com/

Some Font Tools:

RoboFont, the missing UFO editor.
http://doc.robofont.com/

Type and Media is a full-time one year Master program. Its schedule can therefore incorporate every day of the week. At the beginning of the course, each student establishes an individual study-plan in consultation with the permanent faculty.
http://typemedia.org/
http://build.typemedia.org/

RoboFab Step by step.
http://robofab.com/talks09/index.html

TTX/FontTools

Converts OpenType and TrueType fonts to and from XML.
http://sourceforge.net/projects/fonttools/

FontForge — An Outline Font Editor
FontForge allows you to edit outline and bitmap fonts. You may create new ones or modify old ones. It is also a format converter and can interconvert between PostScript (ascii & binary Type1, some Type3, some Type0), TrueType, OpenType (Type2), CID, SVG http://fontforge.org/

How NFL Teams Degrade Their Cheerleaders

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A Miami Dolphins cheerleader performs at Aloha Stadium during the 2012 National Football League Pro Bowl

Jiggle Tests, Dunk Tanks, and Unpaid Labor: How NFL Teams Degrade Their Cheerleaders
http://www.motherjones.com/media/2014/05/nfl-cheerleader-lawsuits-sexism

NFL cheerleaders live miserable lives of silent degredation
http://boingboing.net/2014/05/22/nfl-cheerleaders-live-miserabl.html

How to Exploit People (NFL cheerleaders)
http://www.sportsonearth.com/article/76061588/nfl-cheerleaders-exploitation-lawsuits-for-working-rights-minimum-wage?tcid=tw_share#!PROm2

Just Cheer, Baby
http://espn.go.com/espn/feature/story/_/id/10702976/just-cheer-baby-lacy-t-sues-oakland-raiders

Image TSgt Michael R. Holzworth

Search + Mobile Marketing Research 5-20-14

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Gandalf Checking Email
We are going to see a huge increase in location-based marketing. With the rapid proliferation of devices, and the explosion of the Internet of Things, people will be carrying, utilizing, and depending on their devices more than ever. As part of the increased dependency, there is an increased expectation of services and personalization.

The social, mobile web has digitized information and allowed us all to connect with anyone, anywhere. When we need information, we can find it instantly. But digital disruption is about more than just information. As brands, we need to kill promotional marketing messages and start providing customer-centric information that is helpful to our target customers.

Smartphones and tablets have effectively become the center—and integrating components—of consumers’ multiplatform lives. In that sense, though, mobile is more than “the new desktop.” It has a role with far greater significance than simply serving as a substitute computing device. This shift is reflected in quantitative terms—in the amount of time consumers spend on their mobile devices on a daily basis—and qualitatively in the way these devices have effectively become the remote control for consumers’ lives and work.

This shift has also affected the path to purchase in dramatic ways. And that is, and will continue to be, hugely disrupting for marketing. Consumers’ ubiquitous connectivity now means they are, in effect, always in the consideration phase for purchasing something and rarely more than a tap away from jumping from a physical store to a virtual store, or from one online merchant to another. Consciously or not, consumers today are always in the market for something. As a result, marketers need to try and continually engage prospective buyers to consider their brand, product or store, whether the purchase ultimately takes place in a digital or physical venue.

Google Partners With Facebook To Let DoubleClick Clients Buy Retargeted Ads On FBX ~ I hate, hate, hate ad retargeting!
http://techcrunch.com/2013/10/18/doubleclick-fbx/

Google and Nielsen Partner on Online Campaign Ratings [Updated] Buyers are starting to test buys negotiated on OCR By Mike Shields

The horror, The Horror, THE HORROR!

http://www.adweek.com/videowatch/google-and-nielsen-partner-online-campaign-ratings-153678

45 Fabulous Facebook Advertising Tips & Magic Marketing Tricks – Maybe
http://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2014/01/30/facebook-advertising-tips#facebook%20advertising%20targeting

New AdWords Estimated Total Conversions Tracks Consumer Purchases Across Devices

Gah!

http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2297723/New-AdWords-Estimated-Total-Conversions-Tracks-Consumer-Purchases-Across-Devices

Google Launches ‘Estimated Cross-Device Conversions’ In AdWords, First Stage Of New ‘Estimated Total Conversions’
http://searchengineland.com/google-launches-estimated-cross-device-conversions-in-adwords-173133

Tracking Cross-Device and Estimated Total Conversions in Google (Part 2)
http://public.ifbyphone.com/integrations/tracking-cross-device-estimated-total-conversions-google-part-2/

10 Key Trends Shaping the Future of Local Search – Part 1
http://www.kenshoo.com/blog-post/10-key-trends-shaping-the-future-of-local-search-part-1/

4 Recent Changes to Search That Make SEO Easy as Finding Hidden Treasure
http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2335258/4-Recent-Changes-to-Search-That-Make-SEO-Easy-as-Finding-Hidden-Treasure

PPC Click-Through Rate by Position: Does Rank Matter? [Data]
http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2345638/PPC-Click-Through-Rate-by-Position-Does-Rank-Matter-Data

2014 Digital Trends And Predictions From Marketing Thought Leaders
http://www.forbes.com/sites/ekaterinawalter/2013/12/17/2014-digital-trends-and-predictions-from-marketing-thought-leaders/

thoughts on the impact of a mobile search shift? 2014
http://tinyurl.com/pd8lxzd

How the Mobile Shift Will Affect Paid Search and Social Advertising Efforts
http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2326387/How-the-Mobile-Shift-Will-Affect-Paid-Search-and-Social-Advertising-Efforts

With New ComScore Ad Measurement Deal, Google Keeps Pushing For More TV Ad Budgets

http://www.forbes.com/sites/roberthof/2014/02/10/with-new-comscore-ad-measurement-deal-google-keeps-pushing-for-more-tv-ad-budgets/

Metrics Muddle: The Struggle For An Online GRP (2009)
http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/111072/metrics-muddle-the-struggle-for-an-online-grp.html

Facebook Just Proved It’s the Future of Mobile Advertising
http://www.wired.com/2014/04/facebook-ad-clicks-skyrocket/

Understand the psychographics of your ideal audience on Facebook

Psychographics are attributes often related to personality, values, attitudes, or interests. Figuring out what a person likes or dislikes, or even favorite hobbies, can be priceless information as you market your products or services, because the more you know about your ideal audience, the better you can create marketing messages that will grab their attention and encourage them to take action.

http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/how-to-define-the-ideal-audience-your-facebook-mar.html

Mobile Marketing Statistics 2014

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Mobile Social Media Girl
Mobile Marketing Statistics 2014
http://www.smartinsights.com/mobile-marketing/mobile-marketing-analytics/mobile-marketing-statistics/

Mobile traffic up to 15 per cent of global internet traffic in May 2013 – up from 10 per cent in May 2012, and six per cent in May 2011.
http://www.smartinsights.com/digital-marketing-strategy/ccmary-meeker-2013-internet-trends-in-the-usa/#comments-section

Published May 2013 by Mary Meeker and Liang Wu
The latest edition of the annual Internet Trends
http://www.kpcb.com/insights/2013-internet-trends

Mobile marketing strategy guide
http://www.smartinsights.com/guides/mobile-marketing-guide/

Mobile marketing briefing
http://www.smartinsights.com/guides/mobile-marketing-briefing/

4th Quarter Online Mobile Traffic Up 40% Over Last Year
http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/217210/4th-quarter-online-mobile-traffic-up-40-over-last.html

April 2014 Report:
Small Business Rollercoaster Continues
http://www.nfib.com/surveys/small-business-economic-trends/

SEO & PPC Q1 2014 Trends: ‘(not provided)’, Mobile & Bing Ads All Grow [Reports]
http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2340362/SEO-PPC-Q1-2014-Trends-not-provided-Mobile-Bing-Ads-All-Grow-Reports

The Search Agency’s State of Paid Search Report: Q1 2014
http://info.thesearchagency.com/StateofPaidSearchQ12014.html

RKG Digital Marketing Report Highlights Mobile Traffic Growth; Strong Impact of Product Ads in Paid Search
http://www.rimmkaufman.com/announcements/rkg-q1-2014-report-highlights-mobile-traffic-growth/

5 Tips for Using Facebook News Feed Ads
http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2333625/5-Tips-for-Using-Facebook-News-Feed-Ads

Filter Bubble?

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Filter Bubble Linnea + Ca$h 2012
Filter Bubble

A filter bubble is a result state in which a website algorithm selectively guesses what information a user would like to see based on information about the user (such as location, past click behaviour and search history) and, as a result, users become separated from information that disagrees with their viewpoints, effectively isolating them in their own cultural or ideological bubbles. Prime examples are Google’s personalised search results and Facebook’s personalised news stream. The term was coined by internet activist Eli Pariser in his book by the same name; according to Pariser, users get less exposure to conflicting viewpoints and are isolated intellectually in their own informational bubble. Pariser related an example in which one user searched Google for “BP” and got investment news about British Petroleum while another searcher got information about the Deepwater Horizon oil spill and that the two search results pages were “strikingly different.” The bubble effect may have negative implications for civic discourse, according to Pariser, but there are contrasting views suggesting the effect is minimal[4] and addressable.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filter_bubble

How to Burst the “Filter Bubble” that Protects Us from Opposing Views

Computer scientists have discovered a way to number-crunch an individual’s own preferences to recommend content from others with opposing views. The goal? To burst the “filter bubble” that surrounds us with people we like and content that we agree with.

http://www.technologyreview.com/view/522111/how-to-burst-the-filter-bubble-that-protects-us-from-opposing-views/

Escape your Search Engine’s filter bubble
An illustrated guide by DuckDuckGo

http://dontbubble.us/

A Modern Mystic ~ Contemporary Guru

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Fiery Meteorites raining down from Space

Eckhart Tolle    https://www.eckharttolle.com
Mary Anne Williamson    http://www.marianne.com
John Ruskan    http://www.emclear.com
Julia Cameron    http://juliacameronlive.com
Neale Donald Walsch    http://www.nealedonaldwalsch.com
David R Hawkins    https://www.veritaspub.com
Miguel Angel Ruiz    http://www.miguelruiz.com
Thomas Moore     http://careofthesoul.net
Raymond Grace    http://www.raymongrace.us
Jamie Sams     http://jamiesams.org/core.cfm

Vaddy Ratner Site
http://www.vaddeyratner.com/
Don Miguel Ruiz Site
http://www.miguelruiz.com/
Marianne Williamson!
http://www.marianne.com/
Neale Donald Walsch Site
http://www.nealedonaldwalsch.com/
The Secret
http://thesecret.tv/living.html
Neale Donald Walsch (Google Search)
http://goo.gl/wpKxFD
Don Miguel Ruiz (Google Search)
http://goo.gl/oQUlVd
Dr Micheal Lennox Dreaming Interpretation
http://www.dreaminginterpretation.com/

“Are you a mystic? You’ve probably never thought of yourself as one. You’ll rarely find a mystic calling herself a mystic, though anyone who seeks to experience the Divine on a personal and intimate level could be on the mystic’s path. The path of a mystic is one of the heart; it’s for those who have fallen in love with the Creator or creation itself.”
http://www.sedonameditation.com/ModernMystics.html

Susan Beilby Magee (Google Search)
http://goo.gl/PlLnZ3

Carlos Castaneda (Google Search)
http://goo.gl/v0q2L0

Contemporary usage of the term ‘New Age’
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Age#Contemporary_usage_of_the_term

Red Wheel ? Weiser Online Bookstore | Hampton Roads Publishing
http://redwheelweiser.com/index.php

Shambhala – Welcome Shambhala Publications
http://www.shambhala.com/

New Leaf Distributing Company
http://newleaf-dist.com/index.php

Mandate from Heaven

http://thesecret.tv/living.html

 

40 Great Content Tools

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At The Beach
I was stunned to click the link to 40+ Tools & Tips to Execute a Winning Content Strategy by Chuck Price and to find so much great information and links to so many awesome tools.  Some of the tools I have used and use currently, but to have them all in one place on one web page is pretty awesome.  I will return to give deeper edits to this page, or even delete it entirely, but I found it useful, inspirational and too damn good to not to want to have it as a reference. I have put a huge no index, no follow on this post, in order to not have this appear as total duplicate content.

There really is no excuse for poor content in 2014. Content marketing and content strategy is an important piece of any digital marketing campaign. Doing it properly requires a disciplined approach, some great tools, and a meaningful investment.

Moderated by Lee Odden (@leeodden), CEO, TopRank Online Marketing, here’s a recap of the Creative Content Marketing: From Strategy to Execution session at ClickZ Live New York 2014.

There’s No Excuse for Bad Content

The rapid-fire session began with Michael King (@ipullrank), executive director, owned media, Acronym, who brought up the universally acknowledged “content is king” mantra and the frequent disappointment that occurs when fresh content fades into obscurity. King asserts that the number one reason for this is the quality of the content being pushed out. He drives the point home with an infographic bordering on pornographic that begs the question – WTF?

 

King said “there’s no excuse for bad content in 2014″ when there is so much data available. The winners are those who can distinguish between content marketing and content strategy.

A strategy answers the age old questions:

  • Who
  • What
  • Where
  • When
  • Why
  • How

When developing a content strategy, diversification is key. He mentions 24 different types of content in his slide deck. This is a bottom line affair and not an artistic endeavor, so keeping the focus on ROI is critical. This is accomplished by associating KPI’s with consumer actions at varying stages of the decision process.

Tools to Create a Winning Content Strategy

Having the right tools makes any job easier. King identified the tools that he uses when creating a winning content strategy:

  • Murally: An online whiteboard designed to visually organize ideas and collaborate.
  • Storyboard That: An online storyboard creator.
  • Balsamiq: A rapid wireframing tool akin to sketching on a whiteboard.
  • Gliffy: Works in your browser to create flowcharts, org charts, diagrams, wireframes, and more.
  • Trello: A personal favorite of mine for highly intuitive and effective project management.

Pro Tip: “Great content has great structure.” Use images, bullets, and formatting as attention grabbers.

Finding Good Ideas

Building audience and buyer personas at scale. This is what Google is doing with Affinity Segments as explained in this YouTube Video. The icing on the cake is that affinity segments and demographic data is available in Google Analytics.

The User Journey

The path a user must take in order to fulfill a given need or meet a given goal can be as broad or as granular as you wish. Just bear in mind that each step must be actionable and be mapped to content.

Tools used to map the journey:

Data Collection

The following tools for the purpose of data:

Creating the Content

King suggested the following resources if outsourcing the job:

  • 99Designs: The world’s largest online graphic design marketplace
  • Dribbble: A “show and tell” for designers, developers and other creatives
  • Contently: a platform to craft, maintain, and optimize a high quality content strategy
  • Skyword: A content production platform
  • Newscred: A content marketing and syndication platform
  • Copypress: Content creators
  • Plag Tracker: Plagiarism checker
  • Grammarly: Grammar Checker

And he suggests this toolset for the Do-it-Yourselfers

  • Infogr.am: A platform for easily creating info-graphics
  • Piktochart: An easy infographic design app
  • Google Fusion Tables: An experimental data visualization web application to gather, visualize, and share larger data table
  • Infographics Toolbox: I’m substituting this as a replacement for King’s choice, Icharts, which appears to be offline. Illustrate your data with custom graphs, charts, maps and more
  • Dipity: Create an interactive, visually engaging timeline in minutes
  • Storybird: Create, read and share visual stories
  • Kuler: Try out, create and save various color schemes
  • Adobe Edgefonts: A vast free web font library

King emphasized that when communicating with creatives, it is important to do so in very specific terms. Failure to do so can lead to both frustration and disappointment on both sides. He strongly recommends using a Data Viz Brief, leaving nothing to chance or subjective interpretation.

Of course the final step is promotion. King highly recommended the Buzzstream Guide to content promotion as a playbook for content promotion.

Content Goals

King’s final takeaway was goal determination:

  • Goal Leads + Qualified lead rate = Download Goal
  • Download Goal ÷ Conversion Rate = Visitor Goal

And spend per channel requirement:

  • Views ÷ Spend = Views per Dollar
  • Views per dollar x Conversion rate = Conversion per dollar

Outreach goal requirement:

  • Goal Links ÷ Response (or link) Rate = Outreach Target
  • Outreach target ÷ 20% = Initial List Length

Content Marketing & Rocket Science

Clayburn Griffin (@Clayburn), Senior SEO Content Strategist, 360i, took to the podium next and got right to the point, likening Content Marketing to Rocket science. Like rocket science, good content creation follows a specific blueprint and process. Griffin laid out his process as follows:

  • Strategy
  • Brainstorm
  • Schedule
  • Create
  • Distribute
  • Measure
  • Repeat

He too emphasized the need to specifically and accurately communicate the creative vision. One man’s boat is another man’s yacht and placed in the wrong context, just doesn’t work. Clayburn’s solution is one of the aforementioned tools, Balsamiq, to produce a mockup, leaving nothing to chance.

His approach to brainstorming for good ideas included:

  • Personas
  • Mind Maps
  • Affinity Diagrams
  • Competitor Research
  • Keyword Research

And the tools that he uses include:

Pro Tip: Yahoo Answers. Use the Google advanced search query [how does + keyword] to discover topics of interest:

How does blogging

Creating Content on a Budget

Next, Griffin offered his thoughts on creating content on a tight budget, and listed the following possibilities:

  • Content Vendors – Fiverr for Video, animation, illustration, book covers, voice overs and more
  • Repurpose Existing Content
  • User Generated Content
  • Creative Commons
  • Internal Influencers – initiate a conversation on Quora

You manage what you measure. Look beyond traffic and conversions. Measure engagement:

  • Time on site
  • Pages per visit
  • Social Shares
  • Comments

Autocomplete can be a brainstorming gold mine filled with content ideas:

Google Suggest is conan...

Long-tail phrases like this can rank with little, if any, effort. Leverage trends and current events in the same way.

Be a social butterfly. Respond to user questions on social platforms like Reddit or forums if your answer leads to a good user experience. Don’t cross the line and spam any social websites. This will have the opposite effect of what you are looking to achieve.

40+ Tools & Tips to Execute a Winning Content Strategy
Chuck Price, April 7, 2014

How to remain private on today’s Web ~ Gah!

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Tholian Web Spock

When author Julia Angwin has to post a photo of herself online, she now prefers to use a stencil image of her face in order to avoid detection by facial recognition software.
Julia Angwin
Welcome to her paranoid world of trying to frustrate increasingly sophisticated snoops.
http://www.amazon.com/Dragnet-Nation-Security-Relentless-Surveillance/dp/0805098070

Reflecting on her experiment, Angwin writes, “I wasn’t happy with the toll that my countersurveillance techniques had taken on my psyche.” She continues, “The more I learned about who was watching me, the more paranoid I became. By the end… I was refusing to have digital conversations with my close friends without encryption. I began using my fake name for increasingly trivial transactions.”

Links:

Reset The Net ~ “Don’t ask for your privacy. Take it back. Today we #ResetTheNet to stop mass spying. Encrypt everything! Learn how: https://www.thunderclap.it/projects/10619-reset-the-net

How to mitigate tracking risks: wrap your phone in tinfoil, quit Google
In new book, Julia Angwin wants to live a modern life while frustrating the NSA.
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2014/04/how-to-mitigate-tracking-risks-wrap-your-phone-in-tinfoil-quit-google/

Eye Looking Over Person On Computer

Europe won’t save you: Why e-mail is probably safer in the US
German firms aren’t allowed to say anything if they have to hand data over.
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2013/10/europe-wont-save-you-why-e-mail-is-probably-safer-in-the-us/

HTTPS Everywhere is a Firefox, Chrome, and Opera extension that encrypts your communications with many major websites, making your browsing more secure. Encrypt the web: Install HTTPS Everywhere today.
https://www.eff.org/https-everywhere

Private: some search engines make money by not tracking users
DuckDuckGo and Ixquick take a tiny bite out of Google.
http://arstechnica.com/business/2012/05/private-the-search-engines-that-make-money-by-not-tracking-users/

The WhiteHat Aviator™ Web Browser
https://www.whitehatsec.com/aviator/

Ixquick does not collect or share any personal information!
Read more on our privacy position or go directly to Ixquick’s Privacy Policy.
https://www.ixquick.com/

Google Opt Out Feature Lets Users Protect Privacy By Moving To Remote Village
http://www.theonion.com/video/google-opt-out-feature-lets-users-protect-privacy,14358/

Search Engine Marketing Data Research Q2 2014 Part 2

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Woman with White Horns
As part of the ongoing quest to get more TV dollars to Web video, buyers and sellers are suddenly in love with old school metrics like ratings and GRPs. Over the past year few months, many brands and agencies have been insisting on making guaranteed buys using Nielsen’s online campaign ratings (OCR) or to a lesser extent, comScore’s validated Campaign Essentials (VCE).

Our clients are hiring us to be able to anticipate these shifts in trends. However, that being said, the cost of engagement relative to overall consulting and campaign research and discovery has risen, as we are needing to bring onboard higher costs creatives and well as new A/B testing

Up is down, black is white. SEO/SEM has become way more complex over the last couple of years. UX+UI isssues, creative, adaptation to changing enviornments as well as the shift of cultures within the diverse social media channels, as well as the new complexities of Web browsers across various platforms (Mobile, Desktop, Tablets) has made even the use of the term ‘moving target’ almost irrelevant. We are doing the best we can with the resources available, but the bottom line IS the bottom line.

The answer for this question is both a moving target as well as crazy complex.

Our clients can reach as many people or more people as radio or TV, and in whatever country.
Facebook Ads have sophisticated targeting like AdWords, albeit on different criteria
Lowest cost per 1,000 impressions ad in history. They average around $0.25 per 1,000, which is only 1% of the cost of TV.

Google keeps changing the goals posts, on many different levels. As a Google centric shop, we find some of this very disturbing, but we are powerless to be able to do much of anything to effect this changing reality.

Mobile: The Good and Bad

The Good:

Mobile Facebook makes it a lot easier to target someone with an ad directly.

For the mobile Facebook ad, the click-through ratios are higher, the ads bring in higher engagement numbers, they cost less, and users take more actions and are more easily guided with these types of ads.

The Bad:

When you’re using mobile Facebook to market, you’re reaching a market that’s more person-based instead of people-based. You’re reaching out only to mobile users and not the Facebook population in general.

The sheer number of mobile devices you may need to format material for can create a lot more work for something that may not pay off as much as desktop. Not only do Smartphones differ in terms of OS, but you have to contend with other mobile devices as well.

Mobile Facebook makes it a lot easier to target someone with an ad directly.

For the mobile Facebook ad, the click-through ratios are higher, the ads bring in higher engagement numbers, they cost less, and users take more actions and are more easily guided with these types of ads.

When you’re using mobile Facebook to market, you’re reaching a market that’s more person-based instead of people-based. You’re reaching out only to mobile users and not the Facebook population in general.

The sheer number of mobile devices you may need to format material for can create a lot more work for something that may not pay off as much as desktop. Not only do Smartphones differ in terms of OS, but you have to contend with other mobile devices as well.

Paid Search Engine Ads Offer No Benefit, eBay Study Finds

http://www.businessnewsdaily.com/5842-stop-wasting-money-on-search-engine-ads.html

CPM basis for Facebook MOBILE ads $ 2014
http://tinyurl.com/ls83nfq

Mobile Advertising: New-Age Money Minter?
http://www.zacks.com/stock/news/127709/Mobile-Advertising-NewAge-Money-Minter

The Mobile Advertising Ecosystem Beyond Facebook
http://www.hasoffers.com/blog/top-25-mobile-advertising-ecosystem/

Understanding Facebook’s FBX — Social Media’s First Ad Exchange
http://www.businessinsider.com/explaining-fbx-facebook-exchange-2013-12

The Pros and Cons of Facebook Mobile vs. Desktop

Facebook’s mobile platform is fast-growing and offers unique opportunities, and many marketers are learning to capitalize on this dramatic change in use. Using paid tools or the Facebook Power Editor Chrome Extension, you’re able to specifically target mobile users with ads. This article, written by Stanna Johnson from Qwaya, explains some of the key points to consider when considering the mobile aspects of this widely-used PR tool.

http://soloprpro.com/the-pros-and-cons-of-facebook-mobile-vs-desktop/

Since the overall engagement on mobile ads is higher – people tend to like, comment and share more on their phones – this is something to have in mind when creating the ads. We try to make posts that are likable and sharable as they are and tie sponsored stories to them.

In general, we see mobile advertising as an opportunity to strengthen our client’s brands and spread the word.

What Are Average CPM Rates in 2014?
January 27, 2014 By Michael Johnston 0 Comments

Anyone monetizing a website through display ads wonders at some point how their earnings compare to their peers. Display ad earnings can be standardized through the CPM metric–or, more appropriately, revenue per thousand impressions (RPM). This figure refers to the cost to advertisers (which equates to revenue for publishers) for 1,000 ad impressions. So it makes it possible to compare the earnings rates for sites regardless of audience sizes.

http://monetizepros.com/blog/2014/average-cpm-rates/

Facebook ads: cost per impression up 186%, cost per click up 35%, revenue per click up 83%

http://venturebeat.com/2014/01/29/facebook-ads-cost-per-impression-up-186-cost-per-click-up-35-revenue-per-click-up-83/

The Biggest Quarter Ever for Paid Facebook Advertising

The final quarter of 2013 was the largest spending period in Facebook advertising history, according to the latest data from Nanigans’ clients. Fueled by a record December for online shopping as well as an influx of new mobile device owners, advertisers found their Facebook marketing delivered more revenue-per-click quarter over quarter (QOQ) and year-over-year (YOY) on desktop and mobile despite higher costs.

http://socialmediatoday.com/lcutts/2145051/nanigans-q4-facebook-global-advertising-trends-biggest-quarter-ever-paid-facebook-adv

Mobile advertising now ‘twice as effective’ as desktop: Reaction from Ebuzzing, Quisma, TubeMogul, Criteo and Forward3D

A report out this week from BBC World News claimed that mobile advertising was at least twice as effective on consumers as desktop advertising, with mobile ads up to four times as effective on affluent consumers. The study surveyed 6,000 smartphone owners in Australia, Germany, Sweden, India, Hong Kong and the US, and compared the habits of affluent consumers – the highest 20 per cent income earners in each country – to those of the general population. Among its findings was the belief by a third of affluent consumers that brands need to be on mobile if they wish to be considered modern and dynamic.

http://www.thedrum.com/news/2014/02/22/mobile-advertising-now-twice-effective-desktop-reaction-ebuzzing-quisma-tubemogul

Facebook DESKTOP news feed ads pros and cons
http://tinyurl.com/kxy8fxg

CPM basis for Facebook MOBILE ads $  2014
http://tinyurl.com/l3nce8b

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