January 2012
Help Readers Discover More of Your Content: The...
Robin Good: You have probably seen this cool little widget at work on many sites already, and have probably been wondering, how could you get that on your web site too.
Well the answer is simple: The Slide by SimpleReach does it all for you, and at no cost. It recommends related posts without asking you much in return.
It can increase pageviews and the time web visitors spend on your web...
Advertising Not: How Context and Sharing Disrupt...
Robin Good: Felix Salmon on the Reuters blogs has a short but insightful article on how content creation and distribution is changing and on the diminishing value of being an integrated silo that created, edits, publishes and distributes its own content.
He writes: ”Facebook and Google have become two of the biggest media companies in the world in extremely short amounts of time, precisely...
Content Curation World TV: My Curated Video...
Robin Good: Redux has recently revamped its curation features especially in the direction of providing a unique platform to curate thematic video channels.
Anyone can easily sign-up, create a custom channel, and add URLs of video clips that they like to add to their video channel.
The TV-like interface REDUX has created is very cool and allows you to watch any channel in full screen mode with...
The Google Penalization Guide: Everything You...
Robin Good: If you are looking to understand more about Google penalizations, whether “algorithmic” (like Google Panda) or “manual”, here is a great guide by David Harry to dive into.
Key sections in this guide include:
Have You Been Penalized?What Can You Get Penalized For?Diagnosing a Google PenaltyHow to Deal With a Google PenaltyDealing with Algorithm ChangesWhat Data...
Monetize Specific Parts of Your Public Content:...
Robin Good: Cleeng is a service that allows content publishers to monetize their content by placing certain sections or specific content items on their site behind a paid wall. Payments can be made in one-click and Paypal, major credit cards, SMS payments are all supported.
“Cleeng patented solution allows publishers to hide specific part of their content between two tags: for example a...
Content Curation For Large Companies and Brands:...
If you are looking at content curation from the perspective of a large company, you may want to read this article from Josh Sternberg on Digiday, which provides some valuable recommendations.
Here a few highlights I have extracted from the article:
“Curation is the vogue digital term for the ability to not only aggregate and distribute carefully selected information, but also to provide a...
Create Custom Professional Data-Maps: TargetMap
Robin Good: TargetMap is a free web service that allows you to create and customize professional-looking data-maps with any country or area in the world.
Maps created with TargetMap (satellite, physical, hybrid, etc:) can utilize excel-formatted data, can be color-coded and customized manually, or specific data can be input in them.
The user can also leverage existing public maps for the...
Google Panda 3.2 Update Confirmed
“Google has confirmed reports of a Panda update with us.
[Google] told us they have done a data refresh of the Google Panda algorithm about a week ago, and added that there were no additional signals or algorithm changes. This was only a data refresh.
I saw reports over the past week or so of webmasters commenting about their rankings. Most were complaining that they lost rankings, but some...
Find Out Where You Can Publish Targeted Guest...
Robin Good: Ethan Lyon at YouMoz has put together a great simple tool inside a Gdoc spreadsheet (public, free and open) that allows you to automatically find sites and blogs where you can make guest posts.
Guest posts on other quality and thematically-relevant sites is an effective strategy to build quality incoming links to your site.
I have tried out this litte great gem and I must say: it does...
Key Steps in Setting Up Your Google+ Business Page
Robin Good: If you are seriously considering to jump on the Google+ bus and to do all that is needed to leverage the new social network and the unique benefits it may have on your SEO, check the advice provided in this article.
“Google+ Business Pages offer unprecedented search ranking advantages, so make optimizing your profile for both regular Google search and G+’s internal search your...
A Typographic Showcase for Web Design
Functional web typography is, of course, key to the usabilty of any website. But functional does not mean boring. Big, loud and attention grabbing typography does have the presence and magnificence to truly grab the attention of your visitors. Via speckyboy.com
3D Animated Headphones
A great 3D animated short clip for Ministry of Sound headphones. Via vimeo.com
Which Is The Best Service To Get Your eBook...
Robin Good: If you are wondering which service to use to get your content out into an eBook in a professional-fashion, you may want to check this very informative comparison table that FoliumBookStudio, a new service in this space, has published on its site.
From this comparison table you can tell side-by-side who is the best when it comes to choosing between Lulu, Smashwords, Book Country,...
A Real-Time Collaborative Whiteboard That...
Idroo is a real-time collaborative whiteboard (for Windows PCs only) that allows 10 or more people to annotate, highight, draw and markup over any image they want to.
Idroo integrates perfectly with Skype allowing you to invite through Skype your meeting attendants and to talk to them while working together on the shared whiteboard.
Key features include:
FREE for non-commercial use10 or more...
Tablet Publishing: Make Your Blog Into a Gorgeous...
Robin Good: OnSwipe is a brand new service which allows any web publisher to instantly create a beautiful-looking iPad magazine by simply providing the references to RSS feeds, Twitter, YouTube/Flickr channels and more. OnSwipe does the rest.
The service is extremely simple to use. Just go to OnSwipe.com, click Get Started, and one registered you only need to provide the URL or name of your...
Experimental Inspiration
A unique and unexpected blend of visual graphics, music and words for this experimental project/gallery installation designed by Syndrome. Via vimeo.com
Google+ Brand Page Verification: How To Do It
From the article intro: “Anyone building a brand or business page on Google+ quickly comes to a rather unsettling realization: at no point in the process does Google do anything to check that you have any real connection to the brand name on your page.
…but
Google has provided a way for you to verify your page to Google.
As a verified page, you should get preference in Google and...
Visually Track Editor Changes and Revisions Inside...
In short: ICE is an open-source customizable JavaScript library, created by the New York Times newsroom, that will allow you to track changes in any element that is “contenteditable”, or in a TinyMCE or Wordpress text editor.”
From a review on ICE by Poynter.org: “When you’re working in a collaborative environment as we and a lot of journalistic organizations are, you...
Publish a Multimedia Web Page Instantly: Checkthis
Robin Good: With no need for registration, no set-up, and no installation requirements Checkthis makes it as easy as it can get, to publish a web page of multimedia content on the web.
As soon as you click the Create a Page button, you can start immediately adding a main title, text, and any type of additional content including images, audio, web links, lists, video, maps, tweets and more.
The...
Screen Capture and Automatic Upload (To Your...
Robin Good: Here is a great app for visual communicators, presenters and web publishers working on the Mac.
Captured is a simple screen-capturing utility which automatically uploads any screenshot you make to your preferred cloud storage service (including free one imgur.com), and instantly copies the “uploaded image” link to your clipboard.
Cloud storage services supported: Imgur,...
Free Tools and Best Practices To Build and Manage...
Robin Good: Project Argo is collection of tools and best practices for building topic-focused sites in WordPress.
Funded by grants from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and the Knight Foundation, Project Argo offers optimized templates, plugins, code and a several good tutorials for independent web publishers targeting a specific news topic or theme.
“If you’re building a...
The Best Design Patterns and UI Showcase...
If you are looking for good design inspiration as well as for specific references for UI development work, you will appreciate the curated collection of resources that Speckyboy has pulled together in this guide.
From the best patterns collections to the top UI public design guides, this 25-item collection has indeed all of the best resources you can tap into for any type of web or GUI design...
The HDSLR Digital Video Shooting Toolkit (for...
Robin Good: The DSLR Filmmaker Toolkit is an iPhone app which allows you to organize, track, set and measure your shooting-related tasks right from your iPhone.
Key features include:
Digital SlateShot LogViewfinder (can emulate different HDSLR cameras)Depth of Field CalculatorDaylight TimesDigital Level Uncovered by: http://hdslrnews.planet5d.com/
More info...
The Complete Google+ SEO Guide
Robin Good: Here is a truly comprehensive Google+ SEO guide which covers every aspect of Google+ and how it impacts your visibility inside search results.
Key sections in this guide include:
Google+ Search FacetsGoogle+ Search ResultsGoogle+ People and Pages ResultsGoogle+ Search SpamSearch+People and PagesGoogle+ PostsGoogle +1 ButtonGoogle+ Social SnippetsGoogle+ ContentGoogle+...
An Infinite Collaborative Image Canvas:...
CanvasDropr provides a virtually infinite online canvas on which you and your friends / contacts can easily add, position, resize and rotate photos and video clips at will.
CanvasDropr can be used to brainstorm around visual collections, to select and organize images, and to prepare visual portfolios or tours to share with others or to be published online.
From the official site: “The...
Mercedes A-Class QR Trophy
A unique blend of graphics, motion video, typography and filming in this Mercedes Class A spot. Via youtube.com
When You Are On The Go, Less Is Always More:...
Robin Good: The age of curated UI design for portable devices is already here.
But I had never thought of it this way. Until I ran into this interesting video clip from Sarah Rotman (back from May 2010) that made me think about curation in the realm of UI and content delivery design.
“Forrester Research Analyst Sarah Rotman Epps talks about how Apple’s iPad and other tablet devices...
How To Get To The Top of a Social Media Search...
Many consumers have now discovered that they can use social networks to actually find a company that deals with the product or service they need. So how can your company get to the top of a social media search page? By using keywords. Here are some of the places and different ways you can use keywords on your social media pages. #1: Find the right keywords for your social media...
Google Penalizes Web Pages With Too Many Ads...
From the article: “Similar to how last year’s Panda Update works, Google is examining sites it finds and effectively tagging them as being too ad-heavy or not.
If you’re tagged that way, you get a ranking decrease attached to your entire site (not just particular pages) as part of today’s launch.
If you reduce ads above-the-fold, the penalty doesn’t instantly disappear. Instead, Google...
What Is Search Engine Optimization / SEO
Lee Lefever has made of Common Craft the company-to-go-to to get complex stuff about the Internet explained in an easy way. Here is a recent classic about SEO. Via youtube.com
Typography in Motion
A great motion typography video. Created by Ellen Lupton & Co in 2008 this “virtuoso” showdown offers lots of ideas and inspiration. Via vimeo.com
Everything About China
A very good 10-min video animation about China: its people, its geography, its people, its numbers. Lots of great ideas for visual communicators. Via youtube.com
A Professional Content Slider Component for Your...
SlideDeck is a Jquery-compatible add-on (adaptable to any site) as well as a WordPress plugin that allows you to organize content, images and more into professionally-designed sliding decks.
View some cool examples: http://www.slidedeck.com/examples/popstache/ http://www.slidedeck.com/examples/crazyegg/http://www.slidedeck.com/examples/awesem/ There are two versions available:
a) Free version -...
WiFi Action Cam: The GoBandit Live Camcorder
Robin Good: The GoBandit Live is a new camcorder optimized for recording and transmitting live video action while capturing a lot of contextual meta-data about the “experience” being captured.
This supersturdy and water-proof camcorder will record from your helmet, bike or car.
Key features:
- Custom engineered F2.8 lens- 170° Wide View Angle
- 32Gb memory on-board...
Ideas and Examples for Valuable and Engaging...
Robin Good: Here is some great advice, and real-world examples of how Pinterest can be used to engage fans, create interesting content and making your brand more visible.
Key interesting approaches include:
- Creating contests in which fans create thematic boards that showcase your ideas, products or services
- Showcasing your fans using your brand or tools
- Arranging collections of valuable...
Record, Sync-Up, Store and Publish Audio-Video...
PresentationTube provides a video presentation desktop recorder (PC) to record, publish and share quality, accessible, and interactive video presentations.
PresentationTube synchronizes presenter’s audio and video, PowerPoint slides, whiteboard, drawing board, and Web content.
PresentationTube also integrates a vertical thumbnail slider allowing the user to jump through presentation slides...
Layout, Optimize and Publish Your Own Professional...
Now anyone can create stunning iBooks textbooks, cookbooks, history books, picture books, and more for the Apple iPad.
From Mashable:
“Apple announced a new iBooks Author App on Thursday that makes creating an Apple ebook a drag-and-drop process.
Using the app, which was announced at the same time as a new textbook experience for iPad, users can drag a Word file into a book creation...
Links vs. Tweets: 24 SEO Experts Discuss What's...
Natural linking isn’t what it used to be. If you wanted to share content in 2004, you created a blog post & linked to it. If you wanted to share that content today, you would tweet about it. Check out what the top SEO Experts in the industry think about links as opposed to tweets. Full article: http://pointblankseo.com/links-vs-tweets Via pointblankseo.com
How Social Media is Changing Recruitment...
This infographic video from Ciphr HR uses simple infographic data to show how recruiters are using social media today to screen prospective employees. Via vimeo.com
Google Adds New Web Camera Video Recording Feature...
Google has today unveiled details and started rolling out a new video via web cam feature to its Google+ social networking site. Via geeky-gadgets.com
Google Adds New Web Camera Video Recording Feature...
Google has today unveiled details and started rolling out a new video via web cam feature to its Google+ social networking site. Via geeky-gadgets.com
Announce, Promote and Sell Your Event with...
DoAttend is a great new web-based service which allows you to:
a) Create your event landing page easily and by being able to add images, links, and your preferred videos within an already professionally-designed web template.
b) Brand your event page with your logo and masthead.
c) Design your own event tickets with your own logo.
d) Customise the information you want to collect from attendees,...
Crowdsource Your Website Design: The 99designs...
If you are looking for a web design solution that sits in between amateurish self-made work and the professional high-price designer layout, you can give a look to 99designs.com which offers the opportunity to get your design need crowdsourced out to many interested designers.
How it works:
1) You submit your “design brief” for a logo, business card or web site.
2) You decide how much...
From Curator To Publisher: When The Community...
“Longreads crowdsources and curates its way to its first-ever ebook by pulling together the best long read articles from 2011 and making those into a commercial publication.”
Megan Garber at The Atlantic has a great story on how an online community of long-form articles readers has moved its natural skill one step up by, making of its most valuable curated list, a commercial...
Create Chapters, Crop, Annotate and Enhance Your...
EmbedPlus lets you easily edit and watch upgraded video embeds with enhanced playback and relevant content.
Chapter MarkingLike DVD chapter buttons, click these to skip to marked times. Use the wizard to mark notable parts like game highlights, changing performers, and lecture sections.
Sweet Spot MarkingHelps you catch the best parts of a video by revealing the scenes that are generating the...
Curated eCommerce: Human Touch Is Everything
Curated e-commerce is already here, and if you promote, market or sell directly products online, it may be useful for you to look into the opportunities that creating or hosting curated collections can offer.
“Leveraging the effects of curated commerce will require extra time, effort and imagination.
However, it can have an extremely powerful impact on both shoppers and your brand. When it...
Ya no sé qué hacer conmigo
A music video featuring El Cuarteto de Nos and dating back to 2007 uses only graphics, post-processed imagery and motion typography to create a unique visual experience. Via youtube.com
Curation Is The Wrong Answer When Your Problem Is...
Ryan Skinner nails it right on the head:
“…Curation is the wrong answer when the question is:
“How can I fill our sales funnel with cheap content, quicker than quick?”
And it’s the right answer when the question is:
“How can I give people a deeper understanding of what I know and love?”
…
Here a few gems from his six key recommendations:
As narrow as possible: If you’re one guy...
How To Remove The YouTube Logo & Branding from...
This tutorial will show you how to remove YouTube’s logo from YouTube embedded players and video embeds. You can now disable the YouTube watermark branding. Via reelseo.com
Music Future Relies On Curators - PBS [Video]
Robin Good: As the number of small labels and independent artists continues to grow at a frantic pace, music curators (of which many ae former DJs), play list creators and compilation producers will be the true means by which quality music is discovered, shared and distributed online.
“New PBS Off Book episode explores the evolution of music online and the rising importance of curation and...