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Articles from The GottaQuirk eMarketing blog

The fine line between spam and courtesy 2007-04-05 08:01:40 After we sent out our newsletter yesterday, we received an unusually large number of replies. All bar one were really positive feedback which is always so great to receive because I know Sarah and the team sweat blood to put that thing together each fortnight. The “bar one” wasn’t actually a negative response; instead it was a bit of feedback from David Cruikshank at Farrellsoft. I’ve never met David but we’ve exchanged emails over the years and he seems like a pretty cool and smart guy. Nevertheless he unsubscribed from our newsletter because he gets too many emails. Fair enough, I’ve been doing that a lot lately myself, not because the newsletters aren’t good but because I get too much stuff and I’ve moved most of my knowledge gathering over to RSS. After clicking on the unsubscribe link in our newsletter, David then landed on the unsubscribe page on our site and clicked to confirm his unsubscription. Following that we sent him a ...

And the hunt is on... 2007-04-05 03:50:35 Late yesterday afternoon we received a letter from the Easter bunny inviting us to a hunt: Good Friday is almost upon us, ain’t that great? Just when we thought the work would never abate Comes a time to rest and rejuvenate Rumour has it that in town tonight Is the Easter Bunny with chocolate delights He’ll pass by the QuirkStation And is sure to bring much jubilation Why? He’ll leave some delicious eggs For which you won’t have to beg So don’t be left in the dark The hunt starts at 10 o’clock sharp And true to his word our old pall the Easter bunny hid loads of yummy chocolate treats all over the place. Of course it resulted in a little pushing and shoving: in a one on one match to the death Grant beat out Baby Darryn to the one hiding in the printer (no wonder it wasn’t working this morning). At the end of it all we each had our very own Easter bunny of which some have already been chomped, others are resting like little golden Oscar ...

Facebook's insane numbers 2007-04-05 00:35:27 20 million members compared to 10 million six months ago, of which an estimated 60% visit daily. $200 million for granting Microsoft exclusive rights to sell banner ads and sponsored links. $1 billion allegedly quoted as a selling price to Yahoo!. It goes without saying that CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, must be a happy man. Ok, so I had to blog about this sooner or later. It's not exactly new, and I gather that anyone who's reading this right now already knows about it, but the phenomenon that is Facebook demands at least one post on our blog. According to this VentureBeat article by Eric Eldon the site gets up to 1.5 billion page views a day. That's a number that I had to check twice to believe. The enormity of it still doesn't feel natural. What's even more staggering is the rate at which it’s growing - almost a 50% increase in page views from last month. I remember hearing about Facebook a while ago and dismissing it as just another social networking site. I normally get a l ...

A Braaight Idea 2007-04-04 03:09:46 This morning when I put on my favourite shirt (see video), I never though that today, someone would make me the happiest Dutchman this side of the “boerewors curtain”. Well, during my mail-checking ritual this morning, I was summoned to the front door by Santi. Waiting in reception was a smiling chap from DHL who had brought me a little; ok, it was a big box. Excited I signed my short version signature (the one I use to sign into office parks), and ran to my desk tearing through the wrapping. Inside an item that no true South African man could afford not to have in his arsenal – The complete Braai set. Accompanying the package was a letter titled “There is no one like you. You are Unique and cannot be replaced.”, and a certificate for R5000 accidental disability cover over the next 6 months. And because they know that R5000 can not possibly be sufficient cover for any average family, they offer to supply you with a quote for the most comprehensive life ...

It's the conversation, stupid 2007-04-03 11:33:58 Last week, on the Social Media Systems blog, Solomon Rothman was pretty critical of Seth Godin’s advice in a post called, “Famous Marketer Seth Godin Gives Bad SEO Advice.” This week, with a post entitled, “Mike Levin from HitTail is the Reason I Don’t Call Myself an SEO” he responds to Mike’s post in support of Seth. All round, these are some good posts that make some interesting points. I’m not writing this to get involved directly in the debate. Suffice to say, they all make some good points and the answer lies somewhere in the middle ground. Go read all of them and make up your own mind. So why am I posting if not to add my two cents to the argument? I want to comment on the conversation. Taking a swipe at one of the blogging elite is a link baiting strategy that has its benefits. For one, it’s likely to elicit a comment on your blog from your target, who’s probably employing some form of ORM. In Solomon’s case, his ...

Digital overtakes newspaper spend 2007-04-03 01:25:18 The BBC recently published an article on its site stating that for the first time ever Internet advertising spend has overtaken the spend on newspaper ads. The 41.2% surge in online ad spending quoted by the Internet Advertising Bureau made a mockery of the corresponding 0.2% growth on UK newspaper ads. Television advertising on the other hand fell by a not-so-healthy 4.7%. 41.2% growth in a year! That's sensational!! Ok, as the BBC reports the UK does have double the online ad market share than the global average so these numbers are not quite a universal phenomenon. The broadband climate in the UK in 2006 was in the perfect state for growth, and seemingly remains so today. However, one can easily imagine South Africa following a similar path in the not-too-distant future. If Neotel does ever make its long awaited heroic entrance into the South African market sometime within the next 20 years, local online ad spend would likely enjoy an increase in realms comparable to that of th ...

Natural vs. Paid Search Synergy 2007-04-02 02:31:28 I have read numerous articles on PPC vs. Natural Search.  Each casts its vote in favour of one or the other or offers scenarios where one is more effective that the other.  And I suppose what we at Quirk have been doing is trying to figure the optimal mix of the two for our clients with a specific focus on max ROI in PPC and increased rankings for SEO.  But we don’t look at the synergy of the two and the performance of the combined efforts. This report has sparked my interest. Basically, it says that PPC and SEO are synergistic i.e. when added together you get a 1 + 1 = 3 scenario.  In the test campaign, when running a PPC campaign alongside a SEO campaign, they found that clicks rose by 92%; the number of site actions by 45%; page views increased by 44%; site visitors climbed by 41%; and time spent onsite went up 39%.  That’s quite something! On an instinctual level, it makes sense. In researching for some copy for Quirk recently (and in consi ...

2007 SA Blog Awards - all wrapped up 2007-04-02 00:58:02 Looks like the 2007 Blog Awards ceremony held at Cool Runnings in Fourways on Friday night was a blast. Check out the video courtesy of the gang at Missing Link to see what I mean. Loving the use of Grant’s Apple TV winning logo! And the winners... Blog of the Year went to Tertia of So Close (who also won for Best Writing on an SA blog) – thrilled to see a woman taking the honours! Best SA Entertainment Blog & Best Designed SA Blog - Trash Media Most Humourous South African Blog - Peas On Toast Best Post on a South African Blog -2oceansvibe's  Mavis strikes again Best Overseas South African Blog - The Hollywood Reporter Best SA Blog about Politics & Best New Blog - Steve Se Spoeg Blok Best SA Photographic Blog - Gosu Best SA Blog about Food - Cape Table Best SA Blog about Technology / Computers / Web Development - Mike Stopforth Best SA Music Blog - The Muso Best GLBT Blog - Reluctant Nomad Best SA Podcast - The ZA Show Best SA Business Blog - Cherryfla ...

The Supermarket 2007-04-01 02:17:44 An acute case of hangover humour combined with the fact that I knew I'd be putting this clip up later on today had me in stitches in the middle of Pick 'n Pay this morning. Imagining this playing out in front of me in the middle of the fresh produce section was all just too much for me (Yes I got some seriously strange looks). So which of the four Bom Chicka Wah Wah clips this weekend was your favourite? Comment on "The Supermarket" ...

Teacher Teacher 2007-04-01 02:09:29 Isn’t this every boy’s dream situation? Comment on "Teacher Teacher" ...

The Dentist 2007-03-31 02:03:27 In future every time I sit in the dreaded dentists chair I’m going to think of this clip to take the edge off.   While my dentist looks nothing like hers, the thought of me doing the Bom Chicka Wah Wah in his chair will be just enough to get rid of the nervy tummy butterflies. Comment on "The Dentist" ...

Bom Chicka Wah Wah 2007-03-31 01:45:32 According to the Urban Dictionary bom chicka wah wah is an onimonapia “that is supposed to stand for 70's guitar Porn-riff. Usually this is the music that came on when the action was just about to get started. It has been used in a subcultural context to denote any porn-like or pornified situation.” This weekend’s viral videos will all come from the new Lynx “BomChicka WahWah” campaign running in the UK. Check out the flash site dedicated to the campaign… funny stuff. First up - Meet the Parents Comment on "Bom Chicka Wah Wah" ...

2006 YouTube Awards 2007-03-30 03:34:54 Ok, ok so I know I’m a tad late on the YouTube awards but I’ve spent the last few days feeling very sorry for myself after a humiliating wipe-out in the parking lot and a bad case of flu. Then again they were a tad late too (hello it's March 2007). Earlier this month YouTube announced that a video awards contest was about to take place, to honour the best user generated videos of 2006. “You let us into your bedrooms, created new forms of entertainment, and radicalized popular culture. Now it's time to reflect on what a tremendous year it was and recognize the best of the best during the first YouTube Video Awards.” The nominees were listed and YouTubers worldwide had five days to vote for their favourites in the seven predetermined categories. Not all the feedback on the awards was positive but as we saw with the SA Blog Awards drama that unfolded a while ago, you can’t please everyone. And the 2006 winners are… Best Music Video: Say It's Pos ... Youtube

iBurst seeks ?redemption? with swift reaction 2007-03-29 08:31:11 Recently, new planned data-pricing was sent out to resellers of iBurst, the feature of which was a serious figure increase in out-of-bundle data rates. Needless to say, when the public caught wind of a possible 614% increase in bandwidth cost, they were not pleased. This information, which shocked many, was initially only released for internal review of the ICASA, but was somehow “leaked”. Generally, such “leakages” are seen in a negative light, but it seems that it was more positive in the case of iBurst. As a result, they have managed to gain some serious consumer insight as far as gauging the prices of bandwidth are concerned. Luckily for iBurst, they are desperate to be seen as one of those companies that do care about what consumers, namely theirs, have to say, and were very efficient in dealing with the whole matter. They lodged their new prices with ICASA just yesterday, and are awaiting imminent approval. This kind of speedy reaction to public criticis ...

iBurst seeks "redemption" with swift reaction 2007-03-29 08:31:11 Recently, new planned data-pricing was sent out to resellers of iBurst, the feature of which was a serious figure increase in out-of-bundle data rates. Needless to say, when the public caught wind of a possible 614% increase in bandwidth cost, they were not pleased. This information, which shocked many, was initially only released for internal review of the ICASA, but was somehow “leaked”. Generally, such "leakages" are seen in a negative light, but it seems that it was more positive in the case of iBurst. As a result, they have managed to gain some serious consumer insight as far as gauging the prices of bandwidth are concerned. Luckily for iBurst, they are desperate to be seen as one of those companies that do care about what consumers, namely theirs, have to say, and were very efficient in dealing with the whole matter. They lodged their new prices with ICASA just yesterday, and are awaiting imminent approval. This kind of speedy reaction to public criticism ...