Connect with us:

The 7 Pillars of Digital Marketing Blog

Best practices, training and innovations in Digital Strategy.

Friday Fun: Eight Epic Retro Games

January 20, 2012 – 11:07 am
Damjan Arsovski
 

 


Do you remember these retro video games that many of you used to play as a child? Few of the readers will not recall these games, but many will remember the endless hours they’ve spent trying to get to the next level on Final Fight or to act like the best team on Earth while playing  Cadillacs & Dinosaurs or Metal Slug.

 

Below are some of the top 8 retro arcade games that I could remember… let me know in the comments if you can think of any other awesome arcade game that I’m missing…

FYI: If you would like to go back in time and play these games, there’s an app for that! :) ) j/k, visit rom-world.com and download the MAME emulator. Then download a .zip file of the game you want to play and add it to the Roms directory in Mame32 folder and enjoy. Do not forget to configure your buttons and use 1 to insert coins.
Final Fight

Super Pang

Tumblepop

Snow Bros

Bubble Bobble

Cadillacs & Dinosaurs

Metal Slug

Street Fighter II

comment

Digital Tool of The Day: Social Plug-in Tracking

June 30, 2011 – 4:40 pm
Abdul Fattah Ismail
 

Google Analytics offer a new tool which allows a data report that shows how people share your content online.  It could fall in line with influencer websites such as Klout and Peer Index.  This plug-in has unique differentiations.  They use the social media buttons already located in your dashboard.  You can look at the activity through three phases, analyzing these categories:  Engagement, Activities, and Management.  This link goes further in depth on the execution.  The video below will help agencies leverage the updated dashboard.

 

 

 

comment

An MBA in 30 Seconds or Less

June 29, 2011 – 4:35 pm
Abdul Fattah Ismail
 

The economic downturn has forced many to make transcendent sacrifices in their lives.  Some people have had to relocate with family due to lack of resources. Others have returned to school.  What if you are not capable of either direction?  Or a mobile phone without a QWERTY keyboard?  What if you have a desktop with no Internet connection, heaven forbid?

For those who seek to learn about business and don’t have neither the finances nor time, look no further.  The people at Fast Company have developed a microsite titled, “The 30 Second MBA”.  The website design has a warm interface mixed with a tangerine color palette. Photo profiles of the participants, dubbed professors, are on the right side panel. A Twitter feed rolls on in the bottom right corner.  The contributors come from all ranks of business.

But this portal is not about the quality of the user experience.  Instead the program is delivering a concept in viral content which is gathering steam.  Society is processing information a little quicker with less patience.  The questions are fairly standard, but the answers delivered by the executives are insightful. They are sharp bullet points in a world of haphazard dots, like this program.  Kimberly Grant, the Planning Supervisor for Zenith Media, has some visual notes for you.  Class is in session.

 

comment

Patti Smith On Advertising

June 28, 2011 – 3:08 pm
Abdul Fattah Ismail
 

Rocker Patti Smith of ‘Horses’ fame amongst other vast areas of influence, had a rather common but pointed take on advertising. According to Clickz, this clip took place at the end of a seminar in the Cannes Lion ad festival of last week. Sometimes, less can be more. Even in the hyperactive digital age.

comment

GET IT Mobile Shares And Spreads Content

June 28, 2011 – 2:18 pm
Abdul Fattah Ismail
 


Mobile marketing has been conducted in a haphazard fashion through digital connectors. I have spoken several times about the slow pace of platform scale development. This has annoyed content executives who want to diversify their ad packages for consumers.

Quite possibly, this San Jose tech firm will put them at ease.  GET IT Mobile offers a mobile marketing platform for leading brands to connect with their audiences who are deluged with content from all angles.  How will they do it? These are some features of product differentiation:

  • Web analytics – A partner site with measurement tools on par with other leading dashboards, customizable for your small business. Campaigns can be set up  at your discretion
  • Landing Page Flexibility – Brands can customize their pages according to hardware platform due to the inclusion of product landing pages.
  • Brand Experience – I like the shortened GET.IT URL. Links are becoming another domain where companies can stretch position and generate visibility.

The press release from EON offers more tidbits on the value of this new platform for businesses. After you review those, then GET IT over here.

comment

Ad Click Of The Day: Walker’s Crisps

June 27, 2011 – 4:21 pm
Abdul Fattah Ismail
 

The small town of Sandwich, England is described by their citizens as ‘lovely, but boring’. Nestled in the Port of Kent, the town has architecture dating nearly a thousand years in age. The marketers at Walkers, the English snack company under Pepsico, engaged the citizens with a witty cross-promotion of celebrities like Pamela Anderson, an English boy band called JLS, and Formula 1 driver Jenson Button. You can learn more about the vision right here from the marketing director. Creativity Online writes a critique about the Grand Prix Jury ruling this one a winner.

Video content was distributed throughout the cyberspace on social media channels. Traditional ad spots also ran on the radio and television. The brand positioning is rather obvious but still clever. This particular campaign won accolades at the Cannes Grand Prix for its creative effectiveness. I couldn’t have said it better.

comment

Stretch Out The Meaning of SEO

June 24, 2011 – 3:35 pm
Abdul Fattah Ismail
 

We here at Blueliner Marketing believe in the growth of digital media.  Our ability to communicate on all platforms offer a flexibility in business production which has never been realized in any other era.  Corporations are learning slowly about terms like metadata, page views, and conversion rates. But some executives still aren’t convinced that search engine optimization is a worthy investment, even if consumer traffic begins with a website for everyone. Outspoken Media had some opinions for marketing managers to crack the digital ceiling.

1.  Turn Your Data Into a Story

You relentlessly comb over the site map looking for mistakes in the metadata. The keyword list rankings have shifted a little bit over the quarter, but not too much.  The metrics paint a vivid for you to implement strategy, but what about your supervisors? Use a television show or allegorical reference to spread your data evangelism.

2.  Your Boss Isn’t Educated On the Seemingly Ancillary Benefits

In fact, I have conversations with co-workers all the time about clients who expect a complete brand transfusion in their conversion metrics when starting an SEO campaign. Unfortunately, in this world of button gratification, no mas. It takes a lot of protocol and slow roasting to see the results.  Outspoken brings out several points of value.  You gain increased web, image, and video search.  Your brand authority improves while customer acquisition costs decline.  Over time, you engage more with the customer base, and then the sales flow in.

3.  Rankings Are Up, But Traffic is Down

Again, this harkens to the last paragraph where investors could freak out in the early stages.  After a thorough metadata review and keyword implementation, you are separating the wheat from the chaff.  When this infiltrates a strong website with simple navigation paths, you will attract customers rather than surveyors.

4.  A Relationship of Obscurity

A last point they bring up is that it could be a plain old gap. Whether it be an age or personality gap  is irrelevant.  The forces of nature are not permitting management not understanding the basic value of your daily responsibility.  I bring this into the fray as a conclusion point for one simple reason. It is an indicator of a macroeconomic problem within your firm structure which is a coin flip at best.

 

comment

Blueliner Signs With Visual Lease For The Web

June 23, 2011 – 3:08 pm
Abdul Fattah Ismail
 

Visual Lease is a cutting-edge, easy to use web based system that automates the management of real estate leases system. Tenants and Landlords have a dashboard overview of their leases, receive critical date notification and can build an unlimited number of reports to evaluate all aspects of a real estate portfolio. Accounting has tools at their disposal to track rents, including escalations. For retailers, Visual Lease can manage complex percent rent obligations.

Despite their extensive portfolio of clients, Visual Lease needed to increase their brand visibility in cyberspace. A couple of years back, they enlisted the marketers here at Blueliner to rise on the search index. Our development team started from scratch with a comprehensive SEO initiative. They first built site architecture with relevant keywords in order to generate a spike in conversion rates. Along with strengthening the keyword segment, they built a link campaign to improve brand development inside the real estate community. Sales improved by approximately 60%.
Visual Lease’s future development initiatives involve more mobile, open source applications. Real estate is a nimble industry where data accessibility needs to be shared instantaneously across platforms, including CRM, project management and accounting.

comment

A UI Freestyle From RockMelt

June 21, 2011 – 5:33 pm
Abdul Fattah Ismail
 

I noticed the article in my headlines from Netted, a digital media treasure chest of content which I discovered during Internet Week. Intrigued, I took the browser for a spin.  I am liking the drive thus far. I’m talking about the browser coming from the developers of RockMelt.  RockMelt is a browser that smoothly integrates the UI experience on many levels. The interface can be navigated with simple drags across to your Application Feed, where you can upload your social media accounts. This panel, known as the Feed Edge, updates your content stream similar to an RSS aggregator. One swipe and click leads you into a new tab for page views. The browser application is available for PC or Mac, completing a Beta 3 relaunch today. Users may be reminded of Google Chrome and Firefox in their navigation, but this one is much more streamlined.  

It’s link shortener is better than Bre.ad as well, who now has my scorn for poor account integration.  I’ve had trouble loggin in using a Facebook account and using my email account. Their smart brand strategy is being wasted right now. Hopefully they can make adjustments.

My one caveat with RockMelt is the close integration with Facebook could annoy users who use other content distributors.  The Developers vouch for Facebook because of its endless personal data reservoir. Fair enough.  I also thought the search query box was a little cumbersome as you have to open a new tab to enter Google and see content clearly.

Those quibbles aside, RockMelt is a social media browser perfect for those who push endless content around the web.  Click on the image for a download and test drive. Over here, CEO Eric Vishria talks with Bloomberg Radio about the experience.

 

comment

Special Promotion For Marketing ROI Webinar on June 29th!

June 21, 2011 – 3:54 pm
Abdul Fattah Ismail
 

Blueliner has an exclusive interactive marketing webinar coming next week. We are offering a 50% off discount of the $199 retail price. That’s correct. You will pay $100 instead of $200 for this two-hour session filled with insightful, unique content to drive your ROI!   

Wednesday, June 29th at 1:00 pm should be marked on your calendar. Blueliner CEO Arman Rousta, for the first time, will hold a two-hour web series discussing the architecture behind an ROI strategy. This methodical process involves budget planning, leadership delegation, cost forecasting, and designation of key performance indicators (KPI) for digital marketing strategies from mobile to search. Your company will see results regardless of industry.  At the conclusion, your business will have a clear road map regardless of size about how to leverage your business toward maximum performance.  

Blueliner Marketing, LLC has been lauded by other companies for the ability to leverage internet marketing technology for a proper ROI. Our accurate measurements with sophisticated web analytics and search engine optimization speak for themselves through client testimonials.

I highly recommend this workshop to entrepreneurs and freelancers.  When registering for the webinar, enter this code (blueliner-ny-11) at the checkout to receive your discount. Click the button below for more details.

 

comment