“I do. You can see me riding on my tractor.”

That’s the answer LinkedIn CEO Dan Nye gives when asked in this interview if he has a Facebook account. He continues, “I think that’s an example of the difference . . . . ” Thanks again to Chris for pointing the way.

The article at WebWatch is a good read, and, from my point of view, everything Nye says that’s different about LinkedIn and Facebook is true and evident. I’m 31, and I’ve definitely enjoyed my limited LinkedIn experiences much more than on Facebook. I see the purposes for both, but as an adult professional, I’m not as interested in who’s hooking up with who as I am in knowing where my friends and colleagues are now working and how I can improve my professional networking.

The comparison between the two is a little unfair: one is for professional networking, another is for social networking. Yet, they are extremely similar, they just target very different audiences and serve very different purposes.

If you don’t have a LinkedIn account, do it now, check it out and see what you think.

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The SmoothSpan Blog has a pretty interesting post here that seems to capture the two typical reactions to the web and all that entails in today’s business:

Reaction #1 = Scrutinize and critique according to your way of doing business.

Reaction #2 = Analyze it and explore it and wonder how it will affect the way we all do business.

I think the days of execs not accepting the web are far behind us, but as this post explains, they rarely understand what it is they’re accepting when they do. Yes, it’s very important to hold to your core principles and areas of expertise in the midst of change and growth, but it’s also important to make sure that the customers you’re looking for can easily look for you.

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You guessed it: I’m selling out.

OK, maybe that’s a little over the top. But I am planning on moving over to WordPress.org in the next month or two so I can start monetizing my efforts here (you can’t do it on WordPress.com). After all, one of the reasons I started this blog was to understand everything blogging offers for business, and most businesses are interested in making money.

I just read this excellent post by Scott, and I’ve picked up a thing or two at ProBlogger. But I want your tips and ideas. What suggestions and advice can you leave here in the comments on how to best make money with a blog? Anything you can think of for this blog specifically? Maybe you can even write your own post on your blog in response and just trackback to this post.

Let me hear from you.

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I stumbled upon this great post at Decker Marketing.

Sam moderated a Web 2.0 panel recently and was kind enough to pass along his notes. Every one of them deserves your attention, but here are the quotes that really stick out to me:

1. 25% of Google search results is user generated content. If googling your company is one of the first steps a prospect before making a decision about you, how important is this stat?
2. Use any negative comments to your advantage. There is an opportunity in all negative comments. When people reject the idea of a corporate blog, they usually reject it for this reason. No one wants to unveil their dirty laundry (or facilitate a medium where even the clean laundry can get dirty). But that’s really not an accurate way to think about it. The way you deal with customer issues are much bigger opportunities than getting 5-star ratings from every visitor.
3. Have our PR firm find the A list or almost A list bloggers in our category.  Interview them for your blog.  They’ll likely reciprocate with links like “I was interviewed here”. This makes excellent sense. It leverages celebrity endorsement opportunities, it introduces you to the big dogs in your market, and it usually leads to them scratching your back in return. All you have to do is ask.

I’ve said it before, as have many others: Web 2.0 is opening up the entire business world to small business. However big you want your small business to be, you now have almost all the tools and almost all the opportunities that the big companies do. How are you using them? What if you just incorporated one “act of social media” – how would that affect your business?

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There is no greater teacher than experience.

This is especially true as you try to get your mind around all the new vehicles and tactics available to us as marketers. You can read about something, learn about something, get blown away by something, but you won’t ever really get it until you try it, screw it up, and then fix it.

That’s why this post over at Buzz Machine is so spot-on. Be sure to hit all the links, but the knockout punch of the whole post is the quote by Richard Sambrook:

There’s no better way to understand the huge changes sweeping the media than getting your hands dirty online. It’s fallen to us to reinvent the industry and we won’t do it with heads in either the sand or the clouds…

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I read this post by David and it got me thinking:

It’s too dang hard to keep up the Joneses of marketing and business.

Every time I turn around, there’s a new tactic, tool, software, myth – SOMETHING that’s better than anything else before it. It’s happening at almost a daily rate.

And it makes me want to not do anything, cuz I know there will be a better (or more popular) way to do it tomorrow.

I confess, I have no idea how to use Twitter for business. Or Facebook. I’m sure I could figure it out, but I just haven’t. And that goes for just about anything else.

It doesn’t mean they don’t work. It means they won’t work for me, because I’ll never bother to use them.

So what do you do? You accept that maybe you won’t use the Silver Bullet of the week and stick with the method that you’re confident in and comfortable with. It’s better to use something that’s not the latest than to not use something that is.

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Some nice links I ran across over the weekend. In no particular order, of course:

• Will work for tattoos: The Happs has a nice set of links here, including an interesting read on tattoos and your job hunt. I wonder if it would help your chances to tattoo your potential boss’s name?
• Lost producer making a movie: My man Frank seems a bit obsessed with JJ Abrams’ upcoming movie, apparently due out in January. I’m a little behind on all the buzz, but Frank’s not. Here are all the posts he’s written on it so far.
• The most promising Presidential candidate yet: Have you heard of Ray Hopewood yet? You will. He’s got a lot of money and he’s making a beeline to the election polls, as you can see here on My 2 Cents.
• Stop counting Page Views: Nielsen is scrapping page views as a key measurement for a website’s popularity and giving more weight to time spent on a site. Thanks to both Steve and Raesea for pointing the way here. If getting people to spend more time on your website is the new goal, how will that change design? I guess the first question to ask, though, is do you care what Nielsen thinks? What is has done is miraculously made AOL a bigger website than Google, which you can see here at the Marketing Hipster.
• Homemade Light Saber: Good friend and frequent commenter John Harris has figured out how to make his own light-saber. Pretty dang impressive – and entertaining.
• Great new design blog: Here’s a great designer who has started a new blog that I think is going to be pretty cool. The lead-off post contains “Maxi Pad” in it, so you know you’ve found something fresh (pun intended).

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Today’s guest post is handled by David, also known as the Jack Bauer of Search Engine Optimization. David often freelances for Raesea Internet Marketing and has 5 more tips here on purchasing a domain name. See his original 5 here.

1. Don’t go with the misspelled domain name.
   One strategy that people use is to go with a domain name that is misspelled like laons.com. Do you really want this as your homepage? Do you want your business to be based on a word trick? Yes, it might work but the chances are slim and it might be a big waste of time.
2. Don’t be afraid to go with a short word that doesn’t relate to your business.
   We’ve all seen examples of this and how it does work for other businesses. Think about Amazon, Google,Yahoo, etc. They are easy to remember and easy to type.
3. Purchasing a domain name of a famous person doesn’t always payoff.
   This used to be a profitable business strategy. Using a famous persons name as a domain name and then trying to sell it to them. Lately, we have seen where celebrities are just buying something close to that instead and leaving you with nothing.
4. Don’t use that extra word.
   Be careful about purchasing that domain name jklj;now.com or jklj;live.com. Users typically forget to type the now or live and end up visiting a competitor’s site instead.
5. Don’t spend hours and hours thinking about a domain name. It’s not the end all. Put some thought into it and search around but don’t think you have to pick the perfect domain name because honestly there isn’t a perfect domain name out there.

Want 5 more tips? Here they are.

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A friend was telling me last night that he and his partner were trying to shift the focus of their company from being just a web design firm into more of an overall internet marketing firm.

Two things struck me when he said this which I’ve never really thought of before.

1. “Internet Marketing” and all its variations are really bogus terms.
   I’ve never heard of print marketing, or radio marketing. But since 2000, I’ve heard this term used quite extensively. In fact, I was at one point the Internet Marketing Manager at my company.Here’s why it doesn’t make sense: a marketer markets a product or service, and then we have to employ the right media to facilitate that marketing. And these days, the media must include the web and all the social media beacons that are launching as part of Web 2.0. And while some people really are marketing the Internet (and can therefore really be called “Internet Marketers”), the real successes will rest with those who market something remarkable and use the Internet to do it.
2. Marketing and design are becoming harder and harder to separate.
   Because the Internet is the primary medium, and because it changes quickly, and because it is relatively cheap to use, and because it is so accessible, in many cases, the design of the web tool is as central to the marketing strategy as anything else. So if marketers don’t know a thing or two about design, and if designers are clueless about marketing, you’re going to have problems. The two must be mixed to a certain degree, now more than ever.I think all marketers should become comfortable with some basic HTML, a little DreamWeaver and even some PhotoShop. I’m trying to catch up on those right now myself. In the same way, I think designers should read through or sit in some great marketing speakers, such as Sergio Zyman, Seth Godin or Mark Miller. The companies that are taking huge strides right now in the Web 2.0 world are those led by someone who is equal parts marketer and designer, and that’s going to continue for some time.

Sorry about the ominous tone in the title of this post – I could not help myself.

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Great post here at S.M.O.G. showing the power of search engines and how it’s evening the playing field for small business.

Search engines are the real estate of this generation. What are you doing about it?

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