1.  Having no value proposition – Differentiate yourself from the competition and just don’t assume that you should be #1, because without the ability to separate yourself from others will get you nowhere.  Offer things like free estimates or if you have unbelievable customer service, highlight it.  Without value, customers won’t recommend your product or service or worse, never come back.

2.  Segmented approach – Don’t create a marketing campaign that customers can’t find when they come to your site.  You need to keep their attention and grab them with your knowledge too.

3.  Time consuming workarounds -  Keep up with best practices and avoid hacks that won’t simplify development.

4.  Caught in SEO trends – Stop looking for that magic trick that will boost your rankings, but instead focus of the fundamentals that will bring lasting customers to the website like creating readable, compelling and informative content that keeps a customers attention.

5.  Slow iteration – Stay agile, because if you create an environment that makes testing or making improvements on the website difficult you fall behind.

Here is the video:

Windy City Strategies will help your business soar in the ultra-competitive web marketplace through our proven Internet marketing campaigns. We manage Google, Yahoo and Bing accounts and offer pay per click campaign management services as well as search engine optimization, website development, and internet marketing consultation. Please contact us for a free proposal and analysis.

The biggest gripe we at Windy City Strategies had was the fact that a lot of the features that we could customize into reports and email to clients, and reports that we wanted to put into PDF and send to them were not available in the new Google Analytics.  The report was there, but the features were not.

I am happy to say that these features are finally available as of April 2nd, 2012.

So where can you find this new feature?  Look in the newly-redesigned Utility Bar at the top of your favorite reports for Email and PDF Export options.

Standard reports, custom reports, and dashboards have this functionality.  If you click on the “Email” button on a dashboard, it will pull up the same email scheduling dialog as in standard reports and offers the same feature set.

Windy City Strategies will help your business soar in the ultra-competitive web marketplace through our proven Internet marketing campaigns. We manage Google, Yahoo and Bing accounts and offer pay per click campaign management services as well as search engine optimization, website development, and internet marketing consultation. Please contact us for a free proposal and analysis.

But, don’t confuse e-mail with blanket spam. These daily deal e-mails are often highly targeted –  segmented by location and specified interest type. This is a win-win. Because daily deals providers were losing subscribers with so many deals (e.g. manicures and massages) being irrelevant to so many of their subscribers (e.g. males). So, now, by offering self-segmentation, these e-mails can become exciting to receive again.

When daily deals providers master the combination of segmentation, delivery and timing – e-mail marketing still beats out social shouting. But, the incentives for social sharing that daily deals providers like Living Social may be the best way to grow this opt-in e-mail base.

But there’s a next level of “reality” that YouNow hopes to bring to Internet television. Where the television audience has multiple roles, including viewer, judge and even contestant. For instance, let’s say YouNow offers a Country Artist of the Week competition. You use your webcam to broadcast your talent. And in real-time, the Internet audience either votes you down (gong-show style) to skip to the next contestant, or votes you up to extend your airtime.

In theory, I love this idea. Especially the real-time audience-as-judge aspect. But, as this gains in popularity and you have 10,000 people vying for air-time, how do you decide on who gets air-time? But, if they can figure this out, I think it’s a brilliant idea.

Hulu is trying to their hardest at successfully monetizing interruptions. So now, if you don’t like the ad you’re seeing while watching Hulu, you can use Hulu Ad Swap to switch the ad. You won’t see that digital ad again (it’s clearly irrelevant or intrusive to you), and the online advertiser won’t be charged for that impression.

Here’s the problem. What’s the end game? Actual enjoyment? How often are you going to enjoy an ad so much, you would prefer watching it to skipping that?

No, it’s not impossible. But it requires an incredibly different view of advertising than exists today.

Maybe Hulu’s Ad Swap is the predecessor to this evolution of branded entertainment, as opposed to branded interruptions.

The losers? Press release distribution sites, e.g. PRNewswire and BusinessWire. The winners? Google sites, including YouTube and Android.com.

Unfortunately, it’s a little hard to figure out the rhyme and reason to the winners and losers list, without understanding specific company practices. Industry thought leaders claim that authorship markup should be your next step if you are struggling to avoid Panda bites, as Google seems to be ever more concerned with original authorship of content. And dare I take a leap when looking at the winners list and say that Google is valuing video more and more?

Next, Microsoft followed suit. And now, Google is looking to create their own retail experiences with official Google Stores. The first Google Store has opened in London, called the Chromezone – which lets you experience Chromebooks and other Google accessories. No Android mobile devices. Not “all things Google”. Just Chromebooks. And apparently, it’s a short-term idea, meant to mainstream these Chrome notebooks.

Perhaps if successful enough, they’ll keep it around?

It’s hard to bet on retail right now though, isn’t it? Can’t Google just buy some AdWords or something?

Why? Well, they want Facebook to be a positive place. A dislike button could theoretically be used properly. And could be used for comedy. But, it could also be used to hurt somebody’s feelings. Facebook could instantly become the instant bully platform. “Check out my new haircut!” (dislike)

There’s also some pragmatic reasons for not adding a dislike button. Let’s say you just watched a movie you don’t like. Wouldn’t it be nice to post your status update that says “Just watched Twilight…” and then thumbs down it? But here’s the problem. Do people thumbs up your post if they like your thumbs down? If there are 5 likes and 5 dislikes, should it show up as 0?

Ok, I’ll be honest. I’m pretty excited about the new Amazon Kindle Fire.

No, it’s not an iPad. It’s $199. It’s a glorified e-reader. It lets me plays games. It lets me e-mail. It lets me browse the Web. It lets me play videos.

Well, I’m not even exactly sure why you would need the power that an iPad offers. I don’t think I could ever justify a $499 iPad purchase when I could purchase a cheap $299 laptop. But, a $199 version that’s not a big joke?

It’s pretty game-changing exciting. Maybe it’s just me. But unless any big red flags come up, I’m getting one come Christmastime.

Not only does the death of a beloved figure remind us of our own mortality, but there is a real and present fear that Willy Wonka has died – that there’s no one else in the entire world who invents the beautiful future like him – and we’re terrified there’s no one else who can.

Apple has released the email that now CEO Tim Cook sent to the company’s staff alerting them of the news:

Team,

I have some very sad news to share with all of you. Steve passed away earlier today.

Apple has lost a visionary and creative genius, and the world has lost an amazing human being. Those of us who have been fortunate enough to know and work with Steve have lost a dear friend and an inspiring mentor. Steve leaves behind a company that only he could have built, and his spirit will forever be the foundation of Apple.

We are planning a celebration of Steve’s extraordinary life for Apple employees that will take place soon. If you would like to share your thoughts, memories and condolences in the interim, you can simply email rememberingsteve@apple.com.

No words can adequately express our sadness at Steve’s death or our gratitude for the opportunity to work with him. We will honor his memory by dedicating ourselves to continuing the work he loved so much.

Tim