Aperture vs Lightroom

Just a quick update on my quest to get the most out of digital photo
management.

Last week I installed the latest and best version of the aperture
software.

People who are following me on Twitter have remarked it surely and
will know what I think of the whole program. Maybe not the whole
program, but I'm still trying to find out the best parts for me.

Expect soon a proper comparisation post with adobe lightroom 3 beta
nut at the moment it has many minus points. But stay tuned, maybe soon
it will change.

Someone is allowed to dream, isn't? Hahaha

What are your opinions or questions about lightroom and or aperture ?
Let me know an I'll pay some extra attention to those points

Have a great day!!!

Jaap Willem

Enviado desde mi iPod

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Untitled

via twitterrific

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Senior Marketers Need Greater Accountability - And Companies as well..

I ran across this survey data eMarketer released last week and my heart sank:

 

This first chart looks innocent enough. It's when you look at the next one (from the same report) that things get ugly:

As a CEO, an SEO, a web marketer and a participant in social media, this drives me absolutely crazy. The very last item on the list is "conversions, ROI, etc." If your pulse isn't pounding, you might need to cut back on the pharmaceuticals.

Absolutely nothing in the analytics world should trump conversions and ROI for "senior marketers" or anyone else who cares about the success of a company. If you're thinking in terms of time on site or unique page views as primary metrics - metrics you'd describe in a survey as being those you're "most interested in" - there's a big problem. The web as a medium is designed to let you capture data beyond number of viewers or engagement level. It lets you track return visits and actions and build sophisticated models that predict what activities will drive up revenue and earnings in the most cost-effective ways. Why let it go to waste?

This report from Forrester suggets that the spend on web marketing has a lot of growth, and social media in particular is poised for exceptional CAGR (Compound Annual Growth Rate). But, I'm tremendously concerned that if marketers obsess over metrics like time on site, unique page views and CTR, they'll miss out on the real opportunity of all these channels.

ROI should be the ultimate metric - it should be the most important thing on every marketer's mind for every project and every channel. I'll grant that prioritizing the projects and investments that have the highest return is challenging, and even the best do it imperfectly. What worries me is that there are marketers who may be taking their cues not from the great analytics data suggesting that, although first-time visits from social media may have low value, over time, they can drive greater brand engagement, predict higher rates of recivism and eventually become buyers and brand evangelists, but from the onslaught of press coverage and media attention around social networks.

If you're taking your clues about where to spend your marketing budget from the media, rather than experiments and data, get ready for disappointment. Likewise, if you're measuring the wrong thing, you'll never know the right place to spend those dollars.

The beauty of online channels like SEO, landing page testing, conversion rate optimization, email marketing and, yes, social media is that the data tells a story we can read. So long as we're willing to hear the message, we can draw the connections to find the traffic sources that cost less and earn more. We can invest in those until the ROI from them diminishes to a point where other channels become viable. But only if we're paying attention to the metrics that matter.

There have been tools, data and experienced professionals in this field, fighting these fights for over a decade now. Tragically, it seems that we're in for a long slog.

p.s. We've filled up about 600/1,000 spots for Thursday's PRO webinar on SEO Analytics - feel free to join in :-)

via seomoz.org

This is a very valid point.
The problem with senior Marketers is that they are not used to Online Marketing metrics.
Online marketing is a combination of Marketing and Sales. It is not only about creating brand awareness and views (Like it is on the TV and Radio) but on sales and conversions as well.
It is about creating a sustainable business, online.
If you have offline activities, they will be greatly supported by the online effort but in the end it is all about getting these conversions.

Soon I'll be posting a series of posts about why the Online Marketing is different from the Offline Marketing, so stay tuned..

Have a great read in the meantime..

Posted via web from JaapWillem Blog

Local Trends Twitter

Welcome Local Trends in Twitter

I Finally got my local trends twitter option. Wow.. I am soooo thrilled... :D

Not really, but I think it's a nice option for me as a Twitter user and Local news follower... Furthermore it will make place for new marketing initiatives, of course for my marketing point of view. 

Mainly local companies will be benefiting from this Local Trends. How? Now you can see where the people are tweeting about in your surrounding and maybe adapt your message rapidly to include the latest trending in your local city or region. 

Furthermore I see that this point will increase the use of Geo-location within Twitter, as it is an option but an option what could benefit more people day by day. Since Twitter is becoming more and more as well a news source, Local trends could be like local news in your daily newspaper. Only Realtime. 

The inclusion of the Local Trends with the geo-location will twitter make more geo and local aware.. 

So, welcome Local Trends in my Twitter surrounding and hope you get soonish new options and places. 

What are your thoughts??

Let me know in the comments.. 

 

Posted via email from JaapWillem Blog

Social Search: Explained

Social Search Explained

So finally we do have social search, it is showing up since this morning in my results, as you can see from the red line.. 

Sorry, about the trembling, but it's that I'm just still surprised about the Apple iPad.. 

Anyway Social Search, what is the idea behind it? 

Basically it is Google looking within your Circle of Friends to see what kind of content they have been sharing or visiting and will put it higher in the results. 

It's kinda cool to see that one of your friends give his opinion about someplace or you can see his pictures.. 

Social Search, when will it work? 

It will work when you are logged in into your Google Account. And of course you have to integrate all your Social profiles into your Google profile to actually see it work.. It is great to get your Facebook Friends, Twitter and Friendfeed friends all together with their opinions.. 

Will it make a difference. 

I think for the regular guy it will make a difference, because in general they intend to have their closest buddies in their profiles, so it will work fine. The question is when you are following that many companies and sites and persons on Twitter and Friendfeed for example, that the results might be changing for the Online Freaks.. 

What do you guys think about it?? Are you willing to put all your friends together within a Google Profile and enjoy the Social Search benefits??...

Let me know your opinion about Social Search.. 

Posted via email from JaapWillem Blog

Proximity Searches in Google

Today I saw for the first time in Google Chrome that my position reflect as well in the searches. 

While I was browsing in Google Chrome and doing some research, what I saw the First 3 results, normal ones, then a suggestion for Paris (because I  had searched before on Google.fr) and then the proximity results..

 

There you go with any good results pages what you should get back.. Proximity and navigation is getting more and more important in Google and I have to say that the quality of the results are actually going up.. 

So I would like to ask you guys, do you think that the Google Experience has improved over the last months?? 

Get back to me in the comments 

Jaap Willem

www.jaapwillem.com

Twitter: jaapwillem

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[Jason] Why We Should Boycott ComScore (and *perhaps* why traders should short their stock)

-----Original Message-----
From: Jason Calacanis
Sent: 23/01/2010 8:00:20 pm
Subject: [Jason] Why We Should Boycott ComScore (and *perhaps* why traders should short their stock)

Jason's List: Why We Should Boycott ComScore (and *perhaps* why
traders should short their stock)
Location: Brentwood, Ca 90049
Time: 10:45AM
Listening To: Rilo Kiley's "Silver Lining" http://bit.ly/SJIj
Members: About 19,000 of you
Signup: http://www.bit.ly/jasonslist
Angel investments: 5
Bulldogs: 2 http://bit.ly/6sF1WD
=-=-=-=-==-=-=-=-==-=-=-=-==-=-=-=-==-=-=-=-=

Comscore is the technology industry's biggest bully, and today I'm
calling for an industry-wide boycott of their services.

I'm asking journalist and bloggers to stop covering their stats, I'm
asking advertisers to not use their services, and finally, I'm asking
startup companies to not support their new and widely reported on
"$10,000 to get your stats correct" extortion ring.

If I was a stock trader I would short the stock--but I'm not--so I
won't (I keep my money in bonds and angel investments for the record).
Also, if you own Comscore shares, I'm not going to tell you that you
should sell them, but if I were an analyst--and I'm not--I would
probably tell folks to sell every share they had, and as quickly as
possible.

Additionally, I'm asking Comscore to drop their "pay for correct
stats" model in the next ten days.

Let's get into why.

Comscore's Reign of Terror
------------------------
For over a decade, I've railed against our industry's leading metrics
company ComScore with little result.

It all started when I was a journalist in the 90s for the Silicon
Alley Reporter. I listened to company after company from Silicon Alley
to Silicon Valley complain about how ComScore's method of counting
traffic websites, via a sample of users, was incorrect.

People couldn't understand why the internet industry, with it's
ability to track traffic perfectly, would ever adopt the failed
sample-based methods used on television and radio. Comscore's ideas
were antiquated and unnecessary.

Entrepreneurs would show me their internal stats, which were typically
three to five times larger than Comscore's numbers, and beg me to
correct them in the Silicon Alley Reporter.

However, I noticed a pattern: the big companies didn't complain about Comscore.

Why?

Well, from what multiple people shared with me, you simply had to
follow the money. According to these folks it was an unspoken truth
for years that if you paid Comscore they fixed your numbers, and if
you were a small company and didn't, well, you suffered. Comscore
would probably deny this, but their recent "pay to play" product shows
their true stripes.

They screwed me at Weblogs, Inc.
------------------------
It wasn't until I started Weblogs, Inc. that I really felt the sting
of not participating in the Comscore protection racket. You see,
advertisers love Comscore and they make advertising buys based on it.

Our small, but growing blogs, were under reported month after month
and Comscore basically told me to pound salt when I complained. It
cost me money, and I promised myself that if I could ever support
another service that wasn't based on payola I would.

Here you can see a smoking gun from 2005 when Comscore did a "study"
on blogs with Gawker Media as a sponsor. Interestingly, Gawker's blogs
did really well in the study. The only problem was that Comscore's
numbers were different than the SiteMeter traffic that Gawker and
Weblogs Inc. were publishing at the time.

Denton privately admitted to me he support Comscore because he had to
because of their reputation in the advertising industry. He thought I
should bite the bullet as well and get in bed with the bullies. Not my
style, sorry.

[[ Some links from 2005 Comscore: Show us the data or get out of Dodge
http://bit.ly/4I7S6i and ClickZ: http://www.clickz.com/3526851 - Fred
Wilson throws me under the bus: http://bit.ly/8BpFnh ]]

I publicly complained about Comscore but no one would really listen.
Actually Jeff Jarvis did support me: http://bit.ly/8zW0GF

My good friend Fred Wilson, who had invested in the firm, turned away
and watched the bullies he invested in pummel me when I complained
about Comscore. Fred is outspoken and an advocate of startups--except
with Comscore. He's turned a blind eye while letting his huge venture
return in Comscore color his objectivity. In fact, it must be obvious
to Fred that Comscore is, in fact, holding back his other startup
investments by extorting money from them!

Fred's been an amazing supporter of mine over the years, but I've
never been able to get over the fact that he invested in and supported
these guys. Fred's continued support of this company is unconscionable
at this point. He needs to come out and say that Comscore charging
$10,000 for this product is a pure shake down.

Do it Fred... you know you want to! :-)

ComScore Tries to Buy Me Off
------------------------
This summer the tough guys at Comscore approached me with a
clandestine deal after I continued to publicly complain about their
methods. The message was clear: if I stopped criticizing them and
publicly supported their server data measurement program they would
not charge me. The $10,000 it would cost a year for this service would
be free for me if I threw my fellow entrepreneurs under the bus.

Their email to me included something out of the a Sopranos episode:
"Normally there is a cost to implement, but in this case we will
gladly waive the charge if you are interested." Yeah, and if you're
not interested perhaps you would like to come on a fishing trip with
us this weekend.

You bastards think that after a *decade* of me trying to stop your
extortion you can by me off by simply waiving some fees? I could
easily pay the $10,000 fee today but I will never give you guys a
dime. I will remember what you did to me when I was coming up forever.

I'd rather lose half my revenue from advertising as Mahalo grows from
a top 1,000 site (2007), to the top 400 sites (2008) and now a top 200
site (2009), and eventually even a top 50 site I hope (2011?)--than
give you even one ounce of my support.

I wrote back: "You guys are evil for charging companies--I would never
support you. Quantcast and Google are going to crush you guys.... And
I'm telling everyone I know to support Quantcast."

They never contacted me again.

Comscore formalizes their extortion ring
------------------------
This week you may have read over at the excellent "All Things D" that
Comscore is now willing to do real metrics on your website if you give
them $10,000 a year. They claim this is to pay for their servers.
More: http://bit.ly/6Fqrhe

This after they spent the last decade criticizing the direct
measurement methods of their competitors like Quantcast and Google
Analytics as being flawed! Now they say pixel tracking--actual
measurement on the server side--is the best method. What a bunch of
slim buckets.

Could it be that enough publishers and advertisers have told you to go
f-- yourself in the past year?

Could it be that Quantcast has a product that is 100x better than your
service and it's FREE?

Could it be that Compete.com is secretly testing a server-side testing
method like Quantcast's and is about to kick your ass?

>From where I sit, this is Comscore's desperate Hail Mary pass to try
and save their dying protection racket. Comscore has ZERO value when
Google Analytics, Compete.com and Quantcast allow you to publicly and
freely track your stats.

Bullies, Ethics & Your Part
------------------------
As a kid growing up in Brooklyn, I learned that when you or your
friends were being bullied there was really only one solution to the
problem: punch the bully directly in the face as hard as you can the
second they approached you. Like really, the second they come at
you--the second the first word comes out of their mouth--punch them in
the face. Don't let them even finish their sentence. If they say "I
want your milk money" your fist should make contact right around the
"want" mark.

BANG!

At a young age I tested this technique and it resulted in a couple of
multi-day suspensions from school and black eyes, but it is a
life-long strategy for success that has never failed me. Do not let
yourself or your friends get bullied--ever. Even if you get your ass
kicked, at least you got your shot in and you held your ground.

When someone from Comscore approaches, you should tell them to go
hell. (Note: do not literally punch them in the face--I'm not
advocating physical violence here, I'm advocating voting with your
dollar.)

I put up a good fight for a decade but made little progress and
frankly got my ass kicked by Comscore in the Weblogs, Inc. days.
However, their obnoxious behavior has finally been publicly exposed.
This means that we--as an industry--can finally run this bully out of
town.

Again, here is what I'm asking for in the Comscore Boycott. Feel free
to republish this article in whole at your blog.

The Comscore Boycott: Play Your Part!
======================
1. Startups: Do NOT pay a single penny to Comscore--ever.
2. Startups who are getting this program for free (I suspect a good
number): Opt out and tell Comscore to f-- themselves.
3. Press & Bloggers: Please do not run Comscore's inaccurate numbers,
and please expose their extortion ring.
4. Advertisers: Do not use Comscore to plan your media buys: use the
free and more accurate Quantcast.
5. Google: Please release your version Comscore killer (based on
Quantcast's model), or better yet PLEASE BUY QUANTCAST!
6. Compete.com: Please release your Comscore killer.
7. Stock traders & Analysts: Please think deeply about the potential
revenue destruction that Comscore could be facing.
8. Fred Wilson: publicly state that you do not agree with ComScore's
mafia-like methods.
9. Republish this email at your blog.
10. If you have information on Comscore that should be exposed send it
to me in confidence (say anonymous up top)

To My "Friends" at Comscore
---------------------------------------
You know I'm right.

As such, I'm asking for complete and unconditional surrender. Make
your tracking pixel program 100% free in the next 10 days or the
boycott will continue.

If you're a current or former executive at Comscore and you have an
opinion on this please send me your thoughts in confidence, and I will
republish them to the list without your name.

If you're a current employee who can't deal with this any more, please
add me on LinkedIn and ask for a LinkedIn introduction to the Google
Analytics, Compete.com or Quantcast teams. I will gladly forward
talented people from Comscore on to companies I think are more
ethical.

All the best,

Jason

You can find me here:
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Jason Calacanis
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Office Phone: 310-593-6134
email: jason@calacanis.com

Posted via email from JaapWillem Blog