total lunar eclipse
by Tom Anthony on Dec.21, 2010, under Personal
The last total lunar eclipse coinciding with the winter solstice was in 1638. Won’t happen again until 2094. Yes I did get up at 3:00 am on December 21st 2010 and snap pictures. Didn’t you?
Business Owners Ripped Off by Better Business Bureau
by Tom Anthony on Nov.13, 2010, under Internet Marketing, Personal
The BBB checks up on companies but who checks up on the Better Business Bureau? The ABC News program 20/20 revealed what I have long known – The BBB is a shakedown and a scam. Reporter Brian Ross did a GREAT JOB investigating on a segment of “20/20,” which aired Friday, Nov. 12, 2010 on ABC.
A New Digg
by Tom Anthony on Sep.23, 2010, under Internet
The social news website Digg has released a major re-working called Version 4. The site was first launched as an experiment in November 2004, then re-launched the following July with Version 2.0. In that version the creators featured a “friends list” which made the site one of the pioneers in social media. The concept was to bookmark or “Digg” web pages that your friends could see if they were following you. This was still a year before Twitter came along so at the time it was quite innovative.
In 2006 version 3.0 came along with changes that included being able with specific topics such as Entertainment, World & Business, and Technology. By that point I had become a subscriber but by no means a power user. Also by version 3 the site had gained enough momentum that submissions could suddenly gain popularity and cause a surge of traffic to the “dugg” website.
Earlier this year the top brass at Digg announced that the entire website would be re-vamped and on August 25, 2010 Version 4 was officially launched. When I got the notification I took a look at the new Digg I decided to give it another chance at holding my interest. Something it had failed to do from the beginning. I thought that since I am now more in tune with Facebook and Twitter, perhaps I would enjoy using the new “faster better” Digg. We’ll see.
If you want to follow me I would be honored. The username is tomanthonycom and my profile on Digg is located here: http://digg.com/tomanthonycom
Where is the business?
by Tom Anthony on Sep.17, 2010, under Internet Marketing
HubSpot.com put out an interesting whitepaper this week talking about the levels of activity across various Social Media, Blogs, and Search Engines. Their conclusion is easily supported; focusing on Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is getting increasingly like putting all your eggs in one basket.
If you have been wondering if it is worth the effort to start a Twitter account or a Facebook page or start connecting with colleagues through LinkedIn – I would give you a big (qualified) YES. I would caution you against the “fire and forget” method however. You can’t just put something up and expect ongoing new activity. The whole Social Media phenomenon is driven by interaction.
Here is a chart from that HubSpot report showing activity across several industries.
Social Media, Blog, and Search Engine Activity by Industry
What’s your take on this? @tomanthony_com
Google Instant
by Tom Anthony on Sep.10, 2010, under Internet, Internet Marketing
Google announced a new feature this week that you should know about. It’s called Google Instant.
Apparently we search users can save 2-5 seconds per search by making a selection from a text box that appears as we start to type. Google is now placing suggestions of key phrases Google thinks we are looking for before we actually finish typing in the search phrase. Is that good or bad?
For consumers it may actually be a little distracting. I believe it is too early to tell the extent to which this new feature is embraced, but in a sense there is no choice. Google is by far the most widely used search engine, and what they say goes.
You may have already noticed Google give you choices for narrowing your search – introduced in the past several months along the left margin are category and time filters. After searching for “Tom Anthony” for example you can further select “Videos” and see a corny Street Parade I filmed during a summer trip to Busch Gardens Williamsburg. Or you can select “Images” and see me standing with Renegade Warrior author Dick Marcinko or you can click on “”blogs” and see this posting.
The point is, Google is very good at making it increasingly easy to find stuff on the bloated World Wide Web. So at some point we’ll all just get used to Google Instant and save a few seconds here and there.
For me the bigger issue will be how to leverage the results of partial searches in terms of Search Engine Marketing. It’s too early to tell what kind of strategy will deliver best results when people start to type one thing and Google suggests something else, but I’ll be watching.
Here is a short video from Google to explain the new feature Google Instant
Electronic Pearl Harbor
by Tom Anthony on Aug.13, 2010, under Internet, Internet Marketing
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.
Google Places
by Tom Anthony on Aug.10, 2010, under Internet, Internet Marketing, Media
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.
In Good Company
by Tom Anthony on Jul.19, 2010, under Internet, Media
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
Local Insertion Advertising
by Tom Anthony on Jul.12, 2010, under Media
In December 1981 cable television programming was still pretty new. CNN was barely 18 months old and MTV had just debuted 7 months earlier in August. Previously the only revenue stream available for Cable Providers was the monthly fee for bringing premium movie services such as HBO or Showtime into the home. Now with the advent of cable-only programming the carriers had an opportunity to score with advertising dollars formerly reserved for the local television stations.
I was selling radio advertising at the time and the manager of the local cable company knew I was also a producer and announcer. That’s when I was recruited out of a radio job by Centel Cable Television of Florida to head their first local insertion advertising efforts. They put my office down at the technical center – also called the “Head End” so I could be close to the actual tape machines used to feed the network.
Each month I would get reels of promotional videos from the networks like Cinemax and HBO, add a voice over announcing local phone numbers for the cable company and schedule the spots to run on the first ever cable networks such as ESPN, CNN and MTV. Recently I was transferring my last bits of video from VHS to DVD and came across a reel of those spots. Here is a group of commercials for Cinemax, HBO, Schlitz Beer, and Florida based music retailer Specs.
Don LaFontaine Vid Passes 300,000 YouTube Views
by Tom Anthony on Jun.14, 2010, under Internet, Media
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.
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Posts from Open Source Music Project- One Two, One Two, One OneWhat is it like to drive 1400 MPH? I used an HD Flip Video Camera and recorded a video of a full length drive from Chesapeake to Hampton Virginia, including a traffic jam, going through the Monitor-Merrimac Memorial Bridge-Tunnel, stopping for an iced tea at Sonic drive thru – and getting lost in residential Hampton. […]
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