The GottaQuirk eMarketing blog The GottaQuirk blog is a great resource for information about internet marketing. It’s an up-to-date resource on the happenings in the fast-moving eMarketing industry. Statistics Unique Visitors: Total Unique Visitors: Outgoing: Total Outgoing: 0 0 341 5734

Articles from The GottaQuirk eMarketing blog

The Browser That Killed Browsing - Meet Flock 2008-02-11 02:55:40 The explosive growth in popularity of social media sites has led to many things: a generation who know everyone else's last names due to Facebook status updates; artists moving from the club scene to the digital platform in order to create a presence; more people 'remembering' your birthday, aka the death of personal space, in the wake of simulated personal property. The next step? Flock, the 'social media browser'. It's based on everyone's favourite… Firefox, but comes built-in with some really (really!) nifty functions that should appeal to everyone addicted to social media (i.e. everyone), and of course you can personalise it with add-ons. Flock is compatible with most of the social media Big Boys (Facebook, Flickr, Twitter, YouTube, Livejournal, Xanga, etc.) - although a couple are mysteriously missing (but you can vote for who gets to join the cool kids club on their Facebook group). It keeps you logged into these networks, shows you what friends of yours are onli ...

SuperVakantie: X-Travel Party Plane 2008-02-10 03:38:58 What is this? I see a home-made style video with low-flying aircraft and I’m hit with the unsettling feeling that I'm about to witness 9/11 all over again. The aircraft disappears behind a building and I brace myself for the inevitable smoke and flames to follow the explosion that I feel must be coming any second... But then the aircraft reappears and dives into the ocean in what must be a crash landing. People exit the ocean in a fashion that would rival a Muizenberg shark warning. It's only at this point that one realises that this isn't your everyday plane crash (wow that’s absurd and awful all at the same time). The door opens and at this point you wouldn't be surprised to see ET and his buddies offload. I'll leave you to see the rest for yourself. Would I recommend it to you and all your friends? Probably not. I found it to be entertaining, but not so much that it will form a large part of the conversation this evening over dinner. I also found myself wonder ...

Men Invented Everything 2008-02-10 02:01:14 If you knew me you’d know I was a little bit of a bra-burning, chicks rule, boys are stupid throw rocks at them kind of gal. I’m not a fan of chauvinism in advertising but this is priceless - even I sent it on to all of my mates (once you've watched it you'll see why that's impressive). Thanks for the laugh Craig. P.S. I know for a fact that the Bud Light Institute could never have invented all those activities to get the women out of men’s hair so they could hang out and drink beer. We invented them so we could spend less time with men ;-) Comment on "Men Invented Everything" ...

Super Ads on Super Sunday 2008-02-09 01:58:48 In a world where TV advertising is fast disappearing due to  technology such as TiVo, along comes one day of the year when television advertising reigns supreme. The only problem for the advertiser is that it costs a cool $2,7 million for a 30 second spot... So you better make it a good one! The viewership of the 2008 Super Bowl is estimated at 97,5 million, and the incredible fact is that the adverts themselves are becoming just as popular, or if the reports on this year's game are correct, more popular than the game itself. Many websites are hosting the adverts for consumers to re-view; sites such as AOL, MSNBC, MySpace, Spike and YouTube. The usual suspects of Budweiser, Coca-Cola, Pepsi, and Amazon were all present during this year's game. In the annual AOL Super Sunday Ad Poll performed on-line, Budweiser's advert spoofing Rocky using a Clydesdale (a very large horse) and a Dalmatian came out the winner. There are many clever ads which appeared this year. I was contem ...

Skype’s founding engineers give Kindo the nod 2008-02-07 02:01:32 It’s been near on four months since I first blogged about Kindo – a social networking site “where families get together, build their tree, and grow.” As you know, social networking has been the online topic dejour for the past year. We all belong to at least one of these fabulous sites; four of the top 10 sites on Alexa are social networks and you just need to do is look at the Google Zeitgeist for 2007 to see just how important social networking was to the online community in 2007 (and don’t for a minute expect that this trend is not going to continue). While there are other family networking sites around it is still a fairly new concept – but it’s on the rise. Kindo attributes this to the fact that Internet users have seen the benefits of social networking for business (like Linkedin) and friends (Facebook). Now, not everyone wants to accept their mum as a friend on Facebook (not me mummy dearest) but they do want to interact with their fam ...

Targeted Advertising? 2008-02-06 02:35:50 Apparently you can target your advertising on Facebook "precisely". THEY say that right here, and I quote: "...you can create a Facebook Social Ad and target it precisely to the audience you choose."   After reading that I immediately started to frantically scan my Facebook page. Why? Because I recently started getting repeated ads for bladder infections! I may be "old", but I am not THAT old. I probably should have read the following sentence as well; "The ads can also be shown to users whose friends have recently engaged with your Facebook Page or engaged with your website through Facebook Beacon."   Right - so maybe it's not me, somewhere out there is a friend in need of a bladder remedy. Whoever you are, good luck!   On a more serious note though, does social advertising cut it, or are we still in the toddler stages, constantly asking "are we there yet"? According to this article in the Wall Street Journal we are sti ... Advertising

When Email Marketing Goes Bad 2008-02-05 08:05:43 Yesterday I received an email newsletter from Mango and Netflorist. Our bandwidth was playing up, so the images didn't load too quickly. Apparently the basic rules of  Email marketing have gone in one ear and out the other with this lot: no alt tags on the images and only one piece of text; a lonely call to action. So I took it to heart and did just what it asked me to do. Comment on "When Email Marketing Goes Bad" ... Marketing

OpenCoffee Cape Town - back to stay 2008-02-05 06:57:04 There's something to be said for gatherings of like-minded people: small talk quietly fades and scintillating conversation takes its rightful position in the foreground along with buzzing ideas. You get to share your expertise, as well as gain invaluable insight into things that concern you on potentially many levels. One such meeting of kindred spirits will be hosted by Quirk this Thursday - the 7th of February 2008, from 14.00-16.00 at Origin Coffee Roasting (ok, so it might also be about a quality cup of coffee, thanks Dave) in Cape Town - as part of the OpenCoffee Club network, currently counting 78 Clubs worldwide. Whether you're a budding or established entrepreneur or simply an idea engine; OpenCoffee Club is an event not to be missed! Sign up here and let’s generate something productive together! Comment on "OpenCoffee Cape Town - back to stay" ...

The boss is going to FedEx our butts for this! 2008-02-03 01:47:25 “Yes boss...everything will be taken care of. In fact I'm doing it right now”... ”Carlos, I think it's your shot.” Here's one for all of those who have ever decided to take a bit of “me time” during a work day. Rob, I would never :) FedEx have captured the beauty of the lads trying to pull a fast one over the boss. Granted they have gone to exceptional lengths to fool their employer, but as many of us have learned the hard way, if you lie you will be found out. Take a look at the following clip... the advert is not directly related to Fed-Ex's services but they do manage to link their brand in with this humourous advert. Recently at one of Quirk's very informative eMarketing Over Breakfasts, our very own Rob Stokes, 'god of eMarketing' (ok enough sucking up), discussed the idea of being able to find everything about everyone on the Web. He used the example of a gentleman who emailed his boss saying that he was going on business trip t ...

Extreme Football 2008-02-02 04:26:13 Movies, music videos and advertising campaigns have had a lot of recent success by tapping into sporting trends that have a large “wow” factor. Capoeira, free running and, to a lesser extent, fire dancing have all enjoyed immense popularity, both through participation intake and through the spectator element. The most recent of these is extreme football – a bandwagon that EA Games were all too happy to jump on in order to promote FIFA Street 3. The “wow” factor will ensure that it spreads (much like the immensely successful Nike Ronaldinho viral), and you can’t really go wrong in not tying the ad in with the brand in this instance. A lot of CGI was definitely used, but that doesn't detract from the spectacle. Comment on "Extreme Football" ...

A Test: Do PPC campaigns have an effect on the organic results? 2008-02-01 06:47:51 After this week’s eMarketing over Breakfast briefing in Cape Town which was presented by the ginger exuberance that is Rob Stokes, a local blogger, Eric Edelstein, remarked on one of Rob's topics; The SEO/PPC Relationship. In his post Edelstein asked: "Does a PPC campaign effect an Organic campaign DIRECTLY? Not in terms of improving your website so you are more optimised, but does the fact that you have ads appearing on google and other websites (google contextual ads) give you higher ranking on search terms?" The debate that followed in the comments section was heated, but unfortunately inconclusive. Strong opinions were voiced from either side of the argument... but the only thing that could solve the issue would be a test. So, from the "Search Corner" of the QuirkStation comes a series of tests. The most anticipated of results are definitely that of the PPC/SEO test. We've set up the test on an anonymous site, targeting a unique phrase which current ...

Copywriter vs. SEO Guru 2008-02-01 02:01:52 Like Alien vs. Predator or Freddy vs. Jason… just cooler It’s Friday and I’m sitting at my desk, contemplating the month of February and SEO copy that needs writing. And I am perplexed. Really; how many ways are there to insert (IMAGINE BORING, REPETITIVE SEO PHRASE HERE) into a body of text? This calls for drastic action, but time is short and options are few.  I could gather the (notoriously vicious and unpredictable) copywriting contingent from the office and storm the SEO corner, demanding original and creative keywords backed by the threat of violent dismemberment, a life-time of curses or the mysterious disappearance of their treasured notebook computers. Alternatively, I could strike, much like the series writers in America but with a distinctly South African flavour – toy-toying and all. In this vein, I could even prevent (with whatever means were necessary) the rest of the copy team from using their less-than-imaginative keywords for the mont ...

My character's richer than yours! 2008-01-31 23:54:13 The idea of connecting gamers' bank accounts to online games is becoming more and more prevalent. Recently Carlos wrote a post on winning actual money from gamers when you kill their character. But now for a new twist... In the world of gaming it has often been the gamer geek who has spent hours of his life in front of the screen desperately eager to advance to the next level. The one who succeeds and becomes the heralded champion of the online gaming world...but now all you need to do is enter in your credit card details and 'presto' your a serious gaming entity. OK, so it's not quite as easy as that but in the new gaming environment money helps. So what am I talking about? Game development specialists, Electronics Arts have brought out the next generation in gaming, and it’s FREE! EA are allowing gamers to download their new game, Battlefield Heroes for free off the Internet. So how are they expecting to make any money? EA are relying on in-game advertising and transac ...

Writing for the Web: Some newbie insights 2008-01-30 07:23:26 Let me start by saying that this is the end of my second month at Quirk… and my first blog post. I am not a bad employee (hopefully) but have just managed to fly under the blogging-radar for quite a while. I do appreciate blogs, I just hesitate to assume that I have anything of importance to say. So, imagine my delight when, as the topic of “what I have learnt about writing for the web” popped up, I was the obvious choice. Being the new copywriter, with limited web experience, it was apparently the perfect blog for me. My first week at Quirk was spent giving people blank looks when I was told to “add it to your RSS Reader”, and “put it in the meta description”. Sorry, the what?? Apparently the Internet offers more than just Facebook and free smses. I obviously had a lot to learn. I mean, I still say I got it on the email *Insert blush here*. So, if you are web guru, stop reading, because my little discoveries are going to seem inane. But, ...

eMarketing over Breakfast - Search Engine Marketing 2008-01-30 04:31:32 Yesterday saw the second instalment of the eMarketing Over Breakfast lectures in Cape Town. Hosted in the Veranda Restaurant of the Metropole Hotel, it was a morning filled with gastronomic delights as well as being a feast for the mind.   The focus was largely on Search Engine Marketing and the various ins and outs of both paid and organic search. Stokes was on top form and in between his sips of water and his (attempts at) witty remarks, he proved, once again, that there are few people who know quite so much as he does about the eMarketing game. The room was packed to capacity, and there were some big names present. Indeed, with so many companies and individuals eager to absorb some of the Rob’s wisdom, there is promise of instalment three - Affiliate Marketing and Banner Advertising - necessitating a bigger venue. Exceptionally well attended, Quirk hosted a large Ogilvy contingent as well as some representatives from the Jupiter Drawing Room, the Democratic Alliance, ... Marketing