AUTHOR: Jim Kukral DATE: 11:48 AM ----- BODY:
A Talented Friend Needs Work, Can You Help? Long story short...my once co-worker, and lontime associate, Teddy Carroll needs a job. View portfolio in link above. Skill set: Interaction Design and Information Architecture specialist. Also a talented writer. View resume here (pdf). Teddy lives in Pittsburgh (I don't hold it against him :p) with his wife Sami (another associate from way back when) and 2 young children, and #3 halfway here. He was downsized at his last job, and has not been able to procure any applicable work in the Pittsburgh area since. Can you help him get work? Do you know of anyone who needs someone like Teddy? I know all offers are being considered, even if they require moving out of Pittsburgh I believe. Time is pressing as child #3 is getting closer by the day. I personally vouch for his talent and professional demeanor. Teddy is one of the most intelligent and talented professionals I know. Please take a moment to consider him for your company or pass his resume on to someone who could possibly use his talent. Thank you.
-------- AUTHOR: Jim Kukral DATE: 12:36 PM ----- BODY:
Welcome to the New ClickZ Network I can't recommend this more. ClickZ is one of the most definitive sources of information for the online industry. Yes, I used to write for them, but that doesn't mean I'm partial. I still read their stuff every day because it's good and informative. You may not have known about all the other excellent web 'properties' they own. I suggest you check them out.
-------- AUTHOR: Jim Kukral DATE: 3:30 PM ----- BODY:
News: Sign up not required to make PayPal payment This is big news for people who have consulting businesses, or service businesses. You can now take credit card payments via the web, via PayPal, WITHOUT having the payer be required to have a PayPal account. You still have to have one of course, but big deal.
-------- AUTHOR: Jim Kukral DATE: 12:26 PM ----- BODY:
"Lone Wolf" Management Style Led to AOL Exec's Downfall
"'He was given the charge to change the brand face of AOL, so people wouldn't perceive it as 'your father's ISP' or 'Internet training wheels,'' said another source close to the situation. The source said this partially explains why Short operated independently. He failed, according to an AOL insider, to include senior VPs in decision making on high-profile ad creative, such as the Super Bowl TV spots the ISP bought.
Branding doesn't happen overnight. This guy failed on other levels, that's the real reason he got fired, but it will take much longer to know if his branding efforts paid off. AOL is losing the ISP war because it's too expensive, bottom line. Too many cheaper alternatives.
-------- AUTHOR: Jim Kukral DATE: 10:32 PM ----- BODY:
Marketing Industry Gets Its Own Search Engine; Larry Chase's New Search Tool Gives Marketers Best Websites in 40 Marketing Categories at http://SearchEngineForMarketers.com Um, Larry, looks like a directory of links to me, not a search engine. A search engine is indiscriminant, this "search engine" is full of handpicked recommendations. Oh yeah, and some of the "handpicked recommendations" are Larry's own affiliate encoded links. The very first one if you do a search for Affiliate Marketing proves it. You can see his Affiliate code for Surefiremarketing products at the end of the link: 10278. This has scam written all over it. Sure, the information may be valuable, but the fact remains that the delivery method and message is skewed. That's not marketing, that's scamming. Now I know why it's so hard to push legitmate products like my ebook...too many people get burned every day by this type of thing. Such is life in the world of online marketing. Bad Larry, bad.
-------- AUTHOR: Jim Kukral DATE: 11:34 AM ----- BODY:
Chances are, if you're not already flooded with spam, you soon will be. You may want to check out this new anti-spam product I'm using. Have you seen the number of products that are out there to help you deal with spam? If they work, why are there so many? Why do they all do different things? For instance, you can have... 1: Plugins for your email application 2: Specialist software running on your computer 3: Software running on your mail server 4: Email verification systems 5: Systems where other people help identify spam ...and many more. But ALL of the above systems have major drawbacks. Ready to see an immediate decrease in the spam you download by up to 90%? I did, you could too. Try out SpamBlitzer now.
-------- AUTHOR: Jim Kukral DATE: 10:18 AM ----- BODY:
AskTog: Top 10 Reasons to Not Shop On Line Being a writer, and a usability/design guy, I understand the reasons for writing a piece like this.
  1. It's a good headline & story that will get attention (journalist and pr angle)
  2. It's a true analysis, albeit complete rehash of every usability malfunction noted since the web's inception. (usability expert angle)
So I understand why this was written, and I agree with the content/assessment in theory. My problem is with the overall message that is being delivered, and the sensationalist style that oozes from it. Don't shop online because of these 10 reasons? Is he kidding us? Sometimes I think that Tog and my buddy Jakob and the other guy over at NNG have really lost it. Either that, or they're just good marketers who know how to push buttons for publicity. I guess I can respect that...but... There's a level of irresponsibility that comes with this type of negative publicity for the ecommerce world. This story will undoubtedly be picked up by news publications, and be broadcasted across the Internet for many to read. One one hand, the people who build the websites, the people who are to blame, could and should learn a thing or two and improve their own sites. On the other hand, a no-nothing producer from CNN could pick up the story and proceed to tell the globe about how "Web guru says that shopping online sucks". We shall see what happens. For now, don't let Tog get you down. You can't afford him anyway.
-------- AUTHOR: Jim Kukral DATE: 3:08 PM ----- BODY:
Snoop Dogg Shizzolated: BlogsToRiches! - A step-by-step guide Blogging yo' way Riches! This is pretty funny. Click the link above to read my BlogsToRiches.com website as spoken by Snoop Dog. I've seen these types of "translation" tools before. Most noteably was the one where you could Jesus-ify your site, but now apparantely faded into digital dust since I can't Google it. Not only are tools like this funny, they work as great viral marketing tools.
-------- AUTHOR: Jim Kukral DATE: 10:32 AM ----- BODY:
Blogs become part of corporate strategy Thanks need to go out to Cleveland Plain Dealer reporter Chris Seper for including me and some of my projects in his weekly business column. I met with Chris the week before and we had a great conversation about blogging, journalism and Cleveland in general. Chris has his finger on the pulse of several of Cleveland's largest tech companies, and uses his weekly column and brand new blog to tell the world about it. This is exactly the type of coverage that needs to be shown not only to us here in Cleveland, but to the rest of the world. Thanks for getting the word out about our great city Chris.
-------- AUTHOR: Jim Kukral DATE: 11:24 AM ----- BODY:
Geeky Web Stats If you don't subscribe to the Center for Media Research news brief, you should. Well, as long as you care about such things. I love these kinds of stats. Here's the latest: "Americans Go To Tax, Survivor and Babyname Sites in January". Even more proof positive that the Internet is becoming more and more THE place to get information on just about anything, but most importantly, about information that can instantly help us, like taxes, etc... Oh yeah, more proof again that we love our pop culture too. Nothing new about that.
-------- AUTHOR: Jim Kukral DATE: 2:22 PM ----- BODY:
Obi-Wan Ettorre Wow. I'm a bit taken back by the craftful and kind words given to me on John Ettorre's blog at Working With Words. I just know my wife is going to read what he said and begin to follow me and my giant head around with a pin...waiting to pop it. Sure, I may be good at tossing a website or two out there and promoting them, but John Ettorre truly holds the craft of expression in the written word at the master level. He has quickly become my own personal Obi-Wan Ettorre, leading me and my experimental web mayhem onto the next level. This guy must have a pen filled with 'The Force' ink. Show me how to get one of those John? If you don't read Working With Words, you must add it to your daily checklist. There is not a person I know who is more in tune with the true "behind the scenes" story/pulse of Cleveland, professional journalism and commitment to the art of his craft.
-------- AUTHOR: Jim Kukral DATE: 10:20 AM ----- BODY:
ABCNEWS.com : Carb-Loving Dieters Strike Back My website, AtkinsDietSucks.com, was featured in a front page ABCnews.com feature story today. Along with quotes from me from an interview with the journalist. This is exactly the type of promotion that can be achieved via a good marketing idea online. Now, I just hope I don't get sued by the Atkins people. :) Here is the part of the story with my info. ************* Carb-Lovers Unite Still, there are those who love their carbs and are tired of feeling like outcasts. For them, there's a new online home at AtkinsDietSucks.com, which is dedicated to "exploring the world's love/hate relationship with the Atkins diet." The site launched about eight months ago and was created by Cleveland online marketer Jim Kukral, who was inspired by his co-workers. "It spawned from me and some of my friends watching people on the Atkins diet seeing these people struggle through the diet only being able to eat 20 pounds of sausage a day," he said. "We would play pranks, coming in eating all types of things that they couldn't eat." Far from bashing the diet, the site actually acknowledges the success of people who follow Atkins and even provides links to Atkins products. But there's plenty there to taunt devotees, including "The top 10 ways to torture a person on the Atkins diet" (No.9: Eat greasy french fries with your fingers, then wipe your hands on their keyboard; No.5: Six words: "bread of the month club membership.") There also are polls, such as "What do you miss eating the most?" Pizza and bread rank highest, he said. Though he hasn't tried low-carbing it himself, Kukral has watched friends and family succeed on Atkins, including a brother who lost 90 pounds in less than a year. "As with any diet, of course there's something you need to let go of sugar, carbohydrates," he said. "We just thought it would be fun to add a little levity to the situation." Most of the response has been positive, though Kukral said occasionally he'll get an angry e-mail from someone who doesn't get that the site is a joke. Most people thank him for understanding their frustration and making them laugh, and that, he says, is the whole point. "I'm just an online comedian trying to bring a little light to one of the toughest things in life, which is stopping loving the things you love the most." *************
-------- AUTHOR: Jim Kukral DATE: 9:56 PM ----- BODY:
Revenue - The Internet Affiliate Marketing Standard This is a brand new magazine that focuses on Affiliate marketing. I highly suggest you subscribe to it if you are in the field. I have read the first copy from front to back and was impressed with it's design and content. A top quality product right out of the gate. Description: Revenue is a new magazine, dedicated to all aspects of the affiliate marketing business model and to raising industry standards. Revenue features the distilled knowledge of the industry at large, in the form of featured columnists and articles on the following topics:
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