Tom Anthony Personal Blog

I don’t have much use for most of our politicians from Virginia – with one notable exception: Congressman Randy Forbes.  He seems to share my core values, and he appearsto be a “real” person. I mean anyone who rides a big bike at the head of the Rolling Thunder Ride for Freedom in Washington, D.C. on Memorial Day Weekend can’t be all bad.  Perhaps even more importantly Forbes appears to “get it” when it comes to the Internet based threat we face from foreign powers. 

Congressman Randy Forbes in Rolling Thunder Ride for Freedom in Washington, D.C.

In a recent Newsletter Congressman Forbes wrote about an Electronic Pearl Harbor describing in interesting detail how cyber security attacks against the United States are rising drastically every year. Let me tell you how close this hits to home. I am a small business owner who was impacted this summer by two such attacks.

In late June a SQL Injection Trojan compromised all my Word Press based websites – about two dozen on my servers – and almost half were my own business sites. This was not because the Word Press content management platform had evident flaws. The people who perpetrate these kind of attacks are not pale and pimple faced geeks living in their mother’s basements.

According to Congressman Forbes report the most serious and potentially the most dangerous have come out of China.

Some of the more sophisticated military analyses from China’s armed forces propose to enhance the ability to attack an adversary’s satellite communications and sensor systems, critical transportation and energy infrastructure, ports of air and sea embarkation, and military command systems. (see http://forbes.house.gov/News/DocumentSingle.aspx?DocumentID=202509)

Just this week there was news out of the UK that a members of a Russian organized crime gang had used a SQL Injection Trojan as the tool to steal over $9 million dollars from the bank accounts of unsuspecting Brits over the past year alone. I believe it is only a matter of time before we discover this kind of massive fraud here in America.

As a result of that WordPress SQL Injection Trojan we lost two weeks restoring client’s websites in July that obviously we could and would not charge them for. Then add two weeks restoring my own personal and business sites. Since we could not work on new client business at the same time as restoring my own business sites it effectively cost me a month’s income.

“But wait, there’s more! …”

Since that SQL Injection Trojan in June I discovered that an old and forgotten Forum type website I had on my server had also been compromised – this time by a different method. The end result was almost the same however, and my business and personal sites - including this one – went down again.

So the first almost two weeks in August are spent missing my company’s earning potential re-building my business and personal sites again. On one hand it has made me much more expert at launching custom Word Press sites quickly and more securely. On the other hand it has cost my business precious time. Not unlike losing sleep, the reality is that while you still move forward the next day, you really never catch up. Thanks China.

I just finished up a new video – this time for my own company, IMS Strategic Internet Marketing. This was a fun but really important project. Google Business Center was renamed and re-launched a couple of months ago and it’s now called Google Places. That’s where every business owner can claim their own listing – and add content such as business hours, types of payments accepted… that sort of thing. But Google Places also allows you to add other content such as Photos, coupons, even blog type posts and up to five videos to help make your case. That’s pretty powerful.

I decided to make a video specifically to be viewed from within Google Maps under the listing of my own marketing company to illustrate what could and should be done in Google Local. I also wanted to create it using hardware and technology my company owned and operated to make the case for selling the production of such videos. To this end I used a portable backdrop stand we own, with a big roll of special chroma key paper. This is also known as blue screen. I used a photographers light with reflector screens to not only illuminate the subject – which in this case was me – but also to create an even light on the blue screen.

That’s important when you are editing the video – if the blue screen is well lit it is easier to remove the background so you can replace it with something else. That’s how your local TV weather forecaster does it, only for this video instead of a weather map I used a loop of video showing an office building. It looks like I am in front of a window and you can see the office building and street activity below.

Laptop Teleprompter

I think the best item is the wireless mouse which powers a PowerPoint file containing the script. The PowerPoint is being displayed on a laptop that is located immediately in front of and under the camera so it acts like a teleprompter. I have been on both sides of the camera for over 30 years and even if you memorize what you intend to say it ALWAYS comes out better with a teleprompter or similar device. Of course a lot of my early professional life was behind a radio microphone with a script so perhaps that’s just my comfort zone.

I would enjoy your feedback on the video – call me.

You should be able to view the video directly from Google Maps if you type in the following:

“IMS Internet Marketing Services, Chesapeake, VA” or just click here.

I just finished a new flash banner for Joe Cipriano’s client site and am reminded of what fun it is to be associated with a guy who is in such good company. I have been doing all of Joe’s Internet marketing for over 10 years and the relationship goes a little beyond client-vendor. I take a lot of pride in having Joe voice my podcast open and close – it’s the same voice that introduces America’s Got Talent and well – listen to a “Web Strategies Podcast” episode when you get a chance and you’ll know what I mean.

Here are Joe’s instructions for the new animation and below is the work I just launched earlier this evening.

Signature Voice of:

Fox, CBS, Hallmark Movie Channel, The Simpsons, Two and a Half Men, Rules of Engagement (CBS), Mike and Molly (CBS), Who Wants to be a Millionaire, Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader, America’s Got Talent.

Radio Imaging: Boom 973 Toronto, Star 941 San Diego, The Fish stations (portland, cleveland, honolulu), Country 105 Calgary, KLLY Bakersfield, ED FM Albuquerque, 102.3 The Wave Vancouver Island, Mix 106 Owen Sound, Magic 93 Charlottetown.

Live Shows: Emmy Awards, Grammy Awards, PGA Awards

Back in April 2007 I uploaded this Today Show segment which featured featured Don LaFontaine, Joe Cipriano, George DelHoyo and Mark Elliott. About a year later Don passed away (September 2008) and the clip generated over 250,000 hits in a short time – and at this posting is now well over 300,000. Recently I found the original HD DVD master and in response to the incredible interest now re-posting in a higher quality. enjoy.

Boy is it ever frustrating to have a medical condition to deal with. For me it is a Thyroid situation that is mostly under control – at least for the moment. Back in April I parted ways with Web Teks to pursue opening IMS – a company focused on strategies for internet marketing. At first things went very smoothly.  I put together various supporting web sites, updated social media venues, and re-established business banking accounts that had been dormant for a long time. Next I prepared to update my Web Strategies Podcast programming when I started to lose steam.

It’s a little hard to explain if you don’t have some experience with Thyroid conditions – but what started to diminish uncontrollably was my personal energy level. So I pretty much lost the month of May 2009.  Keep in mind that it was not drive, desire, or intent that faded – just the ability to execute. I know I was slow to respond to some long time friends and colleagues, but I honestly could not focus on anything but my immediate health situation.

Late last year I had pre-paid for a vacation to Bermuda scheduled for the first week of June – and it was a close call for me not to cancel. Also scheduled before my May downtime was my participation at the Online Marketing Summit in Atlanta during the second week in June.

As it worked out I found myself gaining back my energy and took both trips.  Although I find myself looking back at time lost, it is time to get back at it.. Today I am working on posting meaningful materials from OMS and  I hope you will find some benefit from the experiences I brought back from the Online Marketing Summit in Atlanta.

I guess it must be my ADD kicking in… A client asked my new company IMS to quote developing a couple of commerce web sites… including hosting costs. Well since I just launched the new company I have been busy… getting the banking in place, obtaining business licenses, finding and leasing office space, staffing the company. Hosting?  I had not really thought about it in terms of giving a quote since developing price grids for Pinnacle Online when I was the CEO – and that was going on four years ago!

One of the terms that was brand new back then but too new to act upon was Cloud Computing.  Cloud what? Wikipedia describes it this way:

Cloud computing is a style of computing in which dynamically scalable and often virtualized resources are provided as a service over the Internet. …The concept incorporates infrastructure as a service (IaaS), platform as a service (PaaS) and software as a service (SaaS) as well as Web 2.0 and other recent technology trends that have the common theme of reliance on the Internet for satisfying the computing needs of the users.

So to simplify, using a combination of technologies Cloud Computing allows users access to instantly scalable  applications. Examples could include Salesforce.com or  Google Apps. Users access the online application through a web browser.

This same technology allows business owners a way to simplify managing multiple websites, or stream media, or even online secure data storage. About the best example I know of  for automated offsite computer backup online is itsoffsite (http://www.itsoffsite.com/). I interviewed company President Martin Joseph not too long ago on the web strategies podcast.

Oh yeah… the ADD thing… I better get back to posting some prices huh?

Oh yeah again… the new company website is at http://www.strategicimsweb.com/

Now when people ask me what I do I give them the short answer; Internet Marketing Strategy. What is the Internet Marketing thing all about? Well it’s not limited to Google, although that is a great place to start. There are Search Engine Fundamentals that should be applied to your website before any comprehensive Internet marketing Strategy can be formed.  Google or “Search Engine friendly” web sites are simply one of many tactics available to you.
Other tactics include:

• Social Media marketing
  • Social networks like Twitter and Facebook are not just personal tools to communicate with friends. Used correctly they can be a great resource for lead acquisition and brand loyalty.
• Mobile and Local Search
  • One of the biggest missed opportunities in internet marketing is failing to have complete and correct information about your business available to mobile phone users and  in Local listings on search engines and online yellow pages.
• Viral Marketing
  • This can cover a lot of individual examples, but essentially Viral Marketing happens anytime you create something that causes the recipient or viewer to pass the message to someone else. Probably the best example is a “send to a friend” link in an email or webpage.
• Reputation Management
  • Finding negative comments about your business online and responding positively is critical for large and small businesses alike.
• email Marketing
  • It’s not just about sending a blanket email blast. Creating content specific to each email campaign and quantifying the results will show you how much return on investment you are making… Or not making as the case might be.
• Search Advertising
  • Pay-Per-Click advertising has a whole process to learn or outsource. How much should you pay – how do you measure return, how do you find the right search terms, how do you write the ad… the list goes on and on.
• Analytics
  • Constantly refining the content of your site to both be as relevant as possible and to increase organic ranking in the search engines.
• Server Based
  • And then there are server based tweaks like a 301 redirect. If someone looks for a page on your website they should see the same thing with and without the “www” in the URL. Similarly if there are back links to your web site without the WWW the search engines may see that as a back link to a different website.

Whole books are written on each of these topics… well except the last item about redirects. So in the venue of this blog it is just the briefest hint at what can be done to help your customers find and do business with you.

If you have been following my posts you probably already know something’s up.   I have launched a Digital Marketing – slash – Internet Marketing Company.   Here is the very original name.. . IMS Strategic Internet Marketing Services Pretty clever I think.

If we know each other personally expect a call from me in the next few weeks to tell you more about this. More to come…

This needs no further explaination – but – Jake is really funny sometimes

From: Brian Walker

Google’s moving into the phone service business. This sounds really cool.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/12/technology/personaltech/12pogue.html?_r=2&pagewanted=1

Adam Coppin wrote:
And really creepy that they’re going to be listening to my phonecalls as well as reading my emails, monitoring my blog and tracking my position on the globe…

As if anyone really believes the “do no evil” motto any more…

Adam Coppin
Senior Web Strategist
Web Teks, Inc. – An eBusiness Solutions Firm

Jake wrote:

In a Google World:

0730 – Set Facebook status to “Eating breakfast at Chick fil’a” – also updating my Twitter
1200 – Watch old episodes of MacGeiver on YouTube during my lunch break
1330 – Get a voice mail from a friend mentioning something about a chicken suit and a request to bring over one of your power tools
1700 – On the drive home from work, notice that billboards change as you drive down the highway, advertising a Black and Decker Robot Chicken that can break into your neighbor’s house with a paperclip

What’s so wrong about all that?

.___.                .___.
{O,o}  Jacob  Tews   {o,O}
/)__)   Developer    (__(\
-"-"- Web Teks, Inc. -"-"-

http://www.webteks.com

the xy axis in the trackball is coordinated with the summer solstice

Here it is the night before my guest appearance on the HearSay with Cathy Lewis program and it’s not exactly cramming – but I am making sure all my social media accounts have been at least logged into.

In the process I ran across a cool little social network aggregating widget called Digsby.

From their own description; Digsby is a multiprotocol IM client that lets you chat with all your friends on AIM, MSN, Yahoo, ICQ, Google Talk, and Jabber with one simple to manage buddy list. It is also an email notification tool that alerts you of new email. And the triple play is that Digsby is simultaneously a social networking tool that alerts you of events like new messages and gives you a live Newsfeed of what your friends are up to.
I downloaded and set up the application on my home computer, and configured it to show my three main email accounts, Facebook, Twitter,MySpace,and LinkedIn accounts in about 15 minutes – but I know where to look for all my username and password codes so it may take you a little while longer than that. Now i can see when i get a new email, someone at work IM’s me, I get a friends status change – it happens from one concise application. Very cool.
Here are my various social network profiles being tracked in Digsby :

Facebook – from http://www.facebook.com/facebook sign up for an account and search for Tom Anthony

Twitter – http://twitter.com/tomanthony_com

MySpace – http://www.myspace.com/tomanthonydotcom

LinkedIn – http://www.linkedin.com/in/tomanthonydotcom