(Via A VC.)

I love it.

Wiz Khalifa’s song is too catchy. My 2 year old, Parker, loves this song. Then Lil Wayne did a quick freestyle which is great, too.

Funny thing is: these songs will get more play than any commercial!

The Packers version: Black and Yellow (opens in YouTube)

and the original Steelers version

(when you watch this one, imagine if I had a hit like this. I just don’t think my neighbors in Andover would come out to support me like Khalifa’s do)

Green and Yellow (opens in YouTube)

Go Steelers!

photo © 1910 Fylkesarkivet i Sogn og Fjordane | more info (via: Wylio)

The online marketing business has seen excellent growth in 2010. Online ad spending continues to set records. One in four pages viewed on the web in the US are now at Facebook.

People are looking for alternatives to traditional advertising. Online marketing certainly fits the need. Why? It’s generally less expensive than traditional media and can be tracked using a variety of tools. This isn’t to say one should forego traditional media outlets (TV, print, radio). Integrated marketing using all of the methods is generally the best place to start and then one would refine as results arrive.

We’re expanding our online advertising options to include local media and niche site ad buys. For instance, WebMedley already offers online ad management for facebook, Google, and a few other well-known sites. The expansion allows us to help our clients buy online ads at local media sites like WTVQ, WKYT, WLEX, Smiley Pete’s sites, and more. If the client operates in a particular niche market and local ads do not fit, then we’ll seek out blogs and forums applicable to the niche. For example, if our client sells Ford Mustang parts, we’ll find sites like http://www.allfordmustangs.com/ to place ads.

This move makes WebMedley Lexington’s first and only independent, full service online media buying company. There are other firms placing ads through a third party service and outsourcing almost all of the work. Not us. We use the tools that sites like Google offer, but the work is performed by WebMedley staff and tracked using some third party and home grown tools. We analyze all the data and make recommendations based on the analysis.

Keep an eye out on the WebMedley blog for the full service description and official news release.

This change helps us increase service to our existing clients and will grow the business through new clients in need of help. Instead of a client managing 3-10 online media outlets, the client can work directly with us and we’ll manage the buys, changes, and analysis.

Thanks to everyone who provided input and advice related to this decision. I’d name names, but some requested anonymity.

Google’s Android (mobile phone software) will get a lot of hype and developers will flock to it – generating true competition for Apple and the iPhone.

Apple gets a lot of flack because of the stringent rules and illogical way apps get approved. It’s set up that way so Apple can ensure a good experience for iPhone (and Touch) users. The only problem: Apple’s staff is drowning in the flood of new app requests and updates from developers. There are over 100,000 apps in the App Store.

Google correctly recognizes the future of the Net is a mobile one. They built Android and are now going to sell their own mobile phone. Instead of an approval process for the apps, people can build and issue their own apps – even outside the official Android marketplace.

Freeing up the market and development process will create hundreds of thousands of apps – and like many in the iTunes App Store they will be terrible. But many will not be terrible. They are freeing the market and great apps will be developed. The phrase, “There’s an app for that” will apply to phones outside the iPhone. 2010 will be the rise of Android.

Social Media integration will become a part of all application development.

We’ve witnessed the rise of social media with an incredible amount of media coverage. You may not have noticed it, but all kinds of web sites now use Facebook or Twitter logins to allow people to share their experiences of the site.

Social Media software plug-ins exist for many common programs: Outlook and web browsers being chief amongst them. You can see this in the excellent plug-in from Xobni – which allows you to see someone’s LinkedIn or Facebook profile when you click on an e-mail from him/her. This trend will continue and the original software manufacturers, like Microsoft, will begin including them in their development process.

Facebook’s Ad Management System Improves

OK – not much of a prediction here – Facebook does a good job, but it could be a lot better!

They should offer shared access to ads, better reporting from the demo and profile data, and alerts if an ad stops running.

Wireless Data Devices Prep for Gigabit Speeds

Without being too techy, the 802.11n standard for wireless was ratified recently. This means that device manufacturers will roll out more devices on this standard and begin to work towards improving the speed.

Gigabit speeds are next. Apple and other computer makers are putting gigabit network “cards” in their computers already. We would really benefit from wireless devices on gigabit speeds.

The benefits to us?

• Streaming HD movies from any location in the house (or across the Net if your home/office bandwidth is that high!). 
• Video conferencing from the home – in resolutions that are great.
• Better online gaming
• Sharing files across a network requires much less time

Turn by Turn Navigation on Mobile Phones Renders GPS Companies Like Garmin and Tom Tom into Software Companies or Bankrupt

When Google released turn by turn directions on their Android phone, the GPS device makers must have cringed. In a year, there will be no reason to buy a dedicated GPS device.

The GPS device makers have caught on. As of today, January 2, 2010, Tom Tom has the 11th highest grossing (earning) app in the iTunes App Store. Expect more of this in the future or for them to yield to Google Maps…

Web Sites and Site Management Benefit from HTML 5

HTML enters its fifth generation and allows us to begin managing media better, enables offline storage, and continues blurring the line between desktop software and web sites.

Firefox and Chrome already support it. As developers build more features in HTML 5, sites will become easier to manage and use. One of the features I’m looking forward to the most: drag and drop.

Case law will be created from lawsuits related to social media

I’m no attorney, but I do try to stay breast of the law surrounding the business I’m in. When we start working with a client, we’re inevitably asked about refining the organization’s computer and internet usage policy to address social media.

There’s a problem with social media, the law, and human nature. Sites like Facebook allow one to publish very personal information and have it connected to the organization employing the person. When John Doe goes out and drinks too many beers, takes pictures, and then posts them online he links that behavior to his employer. How far can the employer take the mandate to “represent the company properly at all times”? 2010 will be the year we find out.

Three little boys in my house turn one year older

Yes, this is guaranteed to happen….

We know that its rare when someone does not have internet access. However, there are those times when you are in a plane (already changing in some planes), in a cave, or in the middle of the ocean. We build FanStream on the iPhone first because it has the coolest interface and a lot of “wow” factor. Each time you open the application, it looks for the latest content from our servers. If you do not have a net connection, it’ll still work fine — just without the up to the minute updates. If you do, you’ll have the very latest news, updated schedules (for when the TV station changes the time), and roster.

Here’s another cool feature for the iPhone users…we’ve integrated location-based services to find out where all the FanStream viewers are when they are using the application. Want to test it out? Take your iPhone, open FanStream (link to FanStream in the App Store), and choose any team’s news. Click on a News article and read the summary. Then, to read the full article click “View WebSite”. When you do this, the iPhone Safari web broswer will ask you if its OK to use your current location. Tell it Yes. This sends data back to us of the date, time, and location. We’re able to plot your location on a map and you’ll be able to see where other FanStream viewers are in real time.

Right now, you cannot tell who is exactly where since its not integrated with a user management system. Stay tuned…

Want to help make the app better? We’re looking for the following:

• Photos to be used for specific team backgrounds – these need to be taken by you or able to be used in our app (no licensed photos!)
• Game commentators – each game in our system needs a pre-game and post-game comment from fans. We want opinions from fans on both sides of the game.
• Your ideas: what would you like to see in the app? We’re sports fan and want FanStream to be your game companion.

If you have ideas, thoughts, etc, e-mail me or post it in our forums over at the site.

In a few more weeks, we’ll have FanStream for the BlackBerry and other phones.

If you want to be updated when we have more news, join our the FanStream Fan Page on Facebook. All Fans receive a scoring update for major games and all UK games (of course!) each Saturday.

The slides and video (parts one & two) are available below.

Hope you enjoy them!

Bill

Social Media, HR and You (Part 1) from WebMedley on Vimeo.

Social Media, HR, and You (Part 2) from WebMedley on Vimeo.

The next one (date, time, place: TBA) will be about Lead Generation and how you can increase your lead gen efforts using the web – from useful web sites to ideas that will bring visitors to your site (sometimes called linkbait).

You’ll leave with examples of great online campaigns, how to use systems to manage leads, ideas for your organization, and a link to an additional training video on this site. The video walks you through some common CRM and lead management systems and provides a checklist for updating contact info when someone changes their address, position, e-mail, and more. It’ll show how these systems link with common e-mail systems so your time involved managing all this data is minimized.

If you have any special requests for this presentation, send them in!

After the next session, we’ll hold other events. These are the target months (time and location TBA)

May: Building Your E-mail Newsletter

June: Building your Social Media Profiles and How to Manage Them

August: Building and Managing Your Online Advertising

Sept: Web Site Makeover

Oct: Using Online Videos to Promote Your Company

Nov: E-Commerce for your site: how to choose a system, configure it, and manage online sales

These are hands on “how to” events and I’ll lead the attendees through the set-up of tools online. You’ll will leave knowing you have started the process and a checklist of what to do next. The sessions could be up to two hours long. Other folks will be involved and the sessions are discussions and not lectures. So come ready to participate!

If you have other ideas for topics, let me know.

There were new discoveries and lots of ideas. A great year in all.

The Dotson family had a few changes and great times.

Nash is following in my footsteps with his rice at a Japanese restaurant

and golf.

My brother and I went to a great concert.

The Pool at Andover was fun.

My family welcomed a new addition, Parker, in July. And, since his b-day is July 1, I know I can remember it easily!

We added another one in August – different kind of baby though.

(Of course there are lots of other pics – we’re considering buying stock in Seagate – but I’ll leave those for another time.)

Thanks to my wonderful wife, Jen, for making our house a home and being a great mom to the boys. She’s the queen of holiday fun – as you can see by our Halloween face painting:

Thanks to everyone who helped me in 2008:

John and Bill – the credit card wizards

Russ and everyone at HEA

Julie and everyone at Ventas

John Lee, Perry Hoffman, and Tucker Oldham

Chris and the Pattco team

Nick Huhn, Scott Clark, Jason Falls

David Caldwell and Brittney Edwards of the Lexington Ad Club

Jim Host (great advice)

Scott Williams at Morgan Stanley

Nick Rice – the marketing expert, John Meyers – a great small biz attorney and consultant, Kent Howell – the sales consultant, and Chris Powell – who knows how to treat your employees (and needs to get his web site up!)

Brian and the guys at Sfenity/Apax

The WebMedley Team and all our clients across the US

Vladimir and friends at IUCN

Kirk at Cardinal Office Products

Lou Allegra and the Vistage Lexington members

Tom Nickell and the former staff at Lightworks

Sean Massey

Joanna Betlej at eAnkaDesign

Grant Friedman at ColorBurned

Bev Hagan and the Fifth-Third Hamburg team

What’s in Store for 2009?

Hard work, lots of fun, and more pictures: a christening, Seabrook, the Dominican Republic or Jamaica, the Derby Ball, a few birthdays (we’re up to 5 in the family now), golf lessons, growing our web hosting business, and remembering to enjoy life as we live it.

Last week, Scott Clark, Nick Huhn, Jason Falls, and I gave a 101 event for 60+ people. The event was sponsored by the Lexington Advertising Club.

I had the pleasure of moderating the three experts. They put together a great presentation and a wonderful document that’s like a Getting Started guide. Scott recorded the whole presentation and has posted it online for everyone to see.

The presentation and video are below. The Digital Dialogues Handout is here.

This means I can now buy MP3s from Amazon, download them onto one computer, and use another computer (or XBOX/Playstation) to access them elsewhere in the house. So, my wife is happy b/c there are fewer electronic components in our living room!

Give it a shot. Better than iTunes.