I Want To Be Gary Vaynerchuk
Forget the wine. I know nothing about wine. I don’t drink wine. Don’t really even like it unless its got a screw cap and I can buy it at the grocery store every once in a while. So forget wine… I want to be Gary Vaynerchuk because… Well, I don’t really want to be him, but I want to be able to entertain like him. I want to be able to engage my readers and viewers like he does. I want to be able to get them to participate and crave my content... Read More »
You Have Ideas, Can You Spread Them?
Seth Godin has been a major influence on my marketing. The guy gets it, on many levels. I was just reading one of my favorite sites at Robin Good’s MasterNewMedia.org, where he features some advice from Seth. Can you get your ideas to spread or not? He asks. With people having less and less time available while products, services and choices keep increasing in number, the typical choice is to ignore ordinary stuff. People want something special. Something that stands... Read More »
Why I Would Never Take VC Money Ever Again
A venture capitalist (VC firm) called me today outta the blue inquiring about Scratchback.com. He wanted to know what it was and if I was interested in hearing more about his investment firm. My observations from his call? A. Nobody but me and my programmer knows what Scratchback is yet. I’m not telling a VC over the phone. B. I would never, ever take money from a VC ever again. C. I’m doing a heckuva job at marketing it to get that attention. :) Other entrepreneurs... Read More »
Traditional Advertising Models Are Collapsing… Smell The Fear!
Are you ready? Here comes more creative uses of online video. Check out this piece in the Washington Post about brand evangelism. The traditional advertising models are collapsing. Where once there were mass media, with the audience a passive receptacle, we are moving toward what branding expert Rob Frankel calls “the masses controlling the media.” An audience empowered by hundreds of cable channels and TiVo pays less and less mind to TV ads. And the marketers,... Read More »
Attention = Conversation
I just finished writing a chapter of a book that Drew is putting together. My chapter was titled “Can I Have Your Attention Please?”. It is about how new, free tools such as YouTube and Twitter and Flickr, to name a few, are changing the game and how brands today need to embrace these new attention getting tools if they want to be noticed in an ever-growing world of noise. Then just now I came across this piece. JPMorgan Chase & Co said it was reviewing its... Read More »
Creativity Is The Most Important Key To Online Marketing Success
We’ve gotten to the point that most online videos (including mine) are sucking. Well, not sucking, but they’re boring. Let’s face it, this Internet video thing is growing up fast. It’s time for more creativity. The best part is, you can be creative without big bucks. Check out this cool video on RSS. Click To Play There are two types of Internet users, those that use RSS and those that don’t. This video is for the... Read More »
Win Jim Kukral’s Domain Name Contest: NicheROI.com
Take my domain names, please. I own about 150 or so domain names, most of which I don’t or ever will use. But I keep buying them as I “hope” to one day make them a good home. So why not give them away to someone with a good idea who can use them? Here’s the deal. Every once in a while I’m going to give away one of my domain names to one of my readers who can come up with the best business model or website idea for that domain name. No, you don’t... Read More »
Thinking Creatively & Taking Chances Is A Marketing Strategy That Works
Back in 1994 I had a job interview with an advertising agency in Akron, Ohio. During the interview I noticed the President’s office wall covered in yellow post-it notes. And I mean a ton of them, all over the place, like wallpaper. “That’s how I get work done and remember stuff,” he said. I thought it was pretty cool, and it gave me an idea. After I left the interview, I went to the store and bought some packs of post-it notes, and a big paper sheet... Read More »
How To Sell A $100,000 Sponsorship For Your Blog
Joel Cheesman is a blogger in a niche of career/recruiting. Early in 2007 Joel sold a one-year sponsorship for his award-winning blog, Cheezhead.com, to Jobcentral.com for $100k. I recently interviewed Joel via email to find out how he did it, and how you can do it to. Jim Kukral: Was it your idea to sell your entire blog or did the sponsor suggest it? Joel: Mine. Jim’s Analysis: It just goes to show that success comes to those who ask for it. Decide what you want,... Read More »
Online Success Lessons From ZEfrank
ZE’s gone, but not forgotten. Well at least “The Show” is over, and yeah, ZE’s still around in spirit, that’s apparant by reading one of his post “the show” interviews over at Slate.com. This piece is for anyone who wishes to learn how to be a successful online, in any capacity. Why? Because if you read it, you’ll learn just how accidental this type of stuff can be at first. Ze Frank tasted Internet stardom early. In 2001, he... Read More »
New BUMPzee Community Launched Today: How To Be Successful Online
You all know how much I love BUMPzee! Well, I love it even more now that I was chosen as one of the select few to manage my very own community while it’s still in beta. So what community did I make? Introducing the ‘How To Be Successful Online’ BUMPzee Community Bookmark this: http://www.bumpzee.com/onlinesuccess/ What is the community all about? The How To Be Successful Online community is for anyone who is interested in learning how to be successful on... Read More »
How To Change Your YouTube Video Thumbnail Image?
Graywolf teased us a bit in his video entry here, and below about a technique that can set your YouTube thumbnail image. Here’s his video. So, does it work? I tested it out, after trying the math in my head. I’m probably wrong, but we’ll see. It worked! See the black video overlay with the message? This post from Crunchnotes, and the comments, are postulating that it is the center/middle of the video. That’s what I did above. However, YouTube... Read More »
Google Facts You Did Not Know & Expert Tips You Can Learn From
Found a nice little review of a talk by Google Product Manager Marissa Mayer. Check out some of the stuff she revealed, pretty darn interesting. The prime reason the Google home page is so bare is due to the fact that the founders didn’t know HTML and just wanted a quick interface. Lesson Learned: Simple Works How true is this? Sometimes things just work out. Don’t always think you have to over analyze something. And most importantly, if you’re confused... Read More »
BigBrownBox.com Project Goes Live - Over $13k Value In The Box In Less Than An Hour
The Big Brown Box project just went live. Check it out, in less than an hour of it going live, the big brown box has over $13,200 worth of stuff in it. Including a $1700 Dell XPS gaming laptop. Want to put something in the big brown box? It’s easy, find out more here. Here are the first four items in the big brown box. Item #4: $10,000 Web Traffic Package From Jon At Wickedfire Forums! Item #3: $500 Podcast Design Consultation from David Lawrence Item #2: $1000 Professional... Read More »
AuctionAds.com Big Problem & The “Porn Test”
What’s the big problem with AuctionAds? It’s simple… “eBay sucks” (in my opinion), and eBay is the basis for the entire datafeed/products. I know, I know, eBay is a billion dollar company, producing trillions of transactions yearly, etc… But you know what? Every single time I’ve used eBay to try and sell something, my auction gets flubbed up by scammers and fraudulent bidders. I hate eBay. But honestly folks, I just signed up for... Read More »
JimKukral.com Was Hacked!
By me. :) Please excuse the horrible link bait-ish headline, but I wanted to get your attention for a special announcement I need to tell you about. You can view the announcement at JimKukral.com. Read More →
Online Video Lighting Tips To Help You Produce High-Quality Online Videos
If you’re a regular reader, you know I’ve been harping on online video for quite some time now. Well, I’ve actually done more than just talk about it, I’ve taken the plunge off the high dive and worked very hard to create video content over the past month or so. I’m here to tell you one thing. If you’re going to do video production, you gotta get the lighting right. Case in point, here are two examples of videos of me talking on a white... Read More »
Online Marketing Idea: Keep The Conversations Alive On Non-Blog Content
What if you have a blog, and a website? I know, it sounds so archaic, believe me, I know. But even blogging geeks like me still sometimes have “non-blog” pages as part of their blogs, or, have pages that were created years and years ago before the blog ate the main part of the site. The problem with those old pages is that they aren’t interactive without comments, right? It’s foolish to not attempt to keep the conversation alive, even on old non-blog... Read More »
How To Manipulate The Media & Get Free Publicity With Creative Marketing Ideas
Got 10 bucks, an hour of time and a creative idea? Because that’s all it really takes to get all the media publicity and exposure you or your business could ask for, all for almost free. Don’t believe it? I can prove it. This is a story about how I did it, why I did it and the results I got from it. You can do it too. What, you don’t like free publicity for little work? I know you do, read on. The Setup I live in Cleveland, Ohio, and I’m a die-hard... Read More »
I’m An Affiliate Marketer & My Blog Has Affiliate Links. What Else Should You Expect?
Mark at 45n5 (what does 45n5 mean anyway?) is talking more about disclosure on his blog these days. It’s good conversation, but it got me thinking. I’m a long-time full disclosure guy, having fought the PayPerPost battles and many other blog battles over the years and recently. So I get the need to disclose, heck, I even invented these blog honor badges. Disclosure is all about deception and intent. If it is your intent to fool or deceive someone for your own... Read More »
