Tom Anthony Personal Blog

Unlike most other technologies introduced in the past 20 years it seems that Google wants to defy the Diffusion of Innovations adoption curve. The What? It’s the theorem by Everett Rogers that says any idea or technology is accepted slowly at first, then takes off for a while, and finally is slowly adopted by the remaining group. For a little better explanation see the Wikipedia page here

Apparently that does not include Google since the most recent stats show an increase in usage. You would think everybody who is going to use Google is already there – but according to the firm comScore – Google’s Market Share went up by a half percent in September 2011.

Search engine rankings for September 2011, according to comScore were:

Other interesting stats from comScore are in this press release

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I have an Attorney client who was rightfully disturbed by the news of a case before the Virginia State Bar regarding Richmond Lawyer Horace Hunter. Basically the Bar is arguing a complaint that Hunters writing on the firm website blog constitutes advertising and should be accompanied by some sort of disclaimer identifying it as such.

By the way I looked it up and do not find a current link to any blog so apparently Mr. Hunter is seeking a lower profile these days. At first it seemed to me like a case of David and Goliath. A two man law practice in Richmond standing up for their First Amendment right to free speech… Imagine – posting your thoughts as a blog comment and because you are in a certain business “The Man” makes you say it’s advertising because you may get some business out of it… (I use the archaic 60′s term “The Man” because while it’s not actually a demand of Bureaucrats as much as it is a Judicial Branch regulatory agency forcing an action – it’s still well… “The Man”.)

Watch out for "The Man"

I had a similar issue come up with a client in the financial consultation industry some time back – there the perceived and equally bogus issue was “Insider Information” – in both cases I believe it is too much a burden to determine the merits of each and every comment. In the case of my clients who were senior worker bee level in the local office of a national investment and insurance firm – they decided it was going to be more of a drain on their time with their internal compliance group then the potential PR value to be worth the effort so they canceled plans for an email newsletter. Of course in the case of Horace Hunter and any other Attorney out there it’s an even more slippery slope than regulation compliance. The nature of each comment being evaluated for intent? Who is going to regulate? Big Brother?

That would have been the end of my two cents worth UNTIL I looked old Horace Hunter up on the internet to see if his blog was still active. Amazingly there were 737,000 results in Google under the search phrase “virginia attorney horace hunter”. Horace must really get around! The truth is that a lot of Attorneys are watching this situation closely – and the irony is – a lot of them are blogging about it!

The other truth – and this is just an aside – is that I found thousands of “law blogs” who were just picking up a story originally published in the Washington Post. What I found were a lot of scam sites headlined with some variation of “find an attorney” and automatically posting news items relating to law.

Back to the point – we’ll be watching the Virginia State Bar and let you know what happens.

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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

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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.

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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

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I just read a report in a feed from Web Site Magazine about an incredible announcement made by Google this week.

Google Maps has a section for business owners allowing them to update and enhance their listing. Before this week you could use Google AdWords to advertise when someone looks up your business category in your geographic vicinity. That cost is determined by a budget you determine in advance and on a per click basis.

For no cost you could correct your listing or add information – like store hours, or what category your business belongs in. You could also upload up to 10 photos showing off your business. For example if you go to local.google.com and type in gym 23454 you should see Face the Pain Gym near or at the top – with a picture. You can click on more info and see an overview of the business – reviews and photos. And starting this week you can view videos if they are there.

What an unbelievable opportunity to feature customer testimonials, product demonstrations or how about a personal invitation from you the business owner to visit your store?! I have not actually tried it yet, but it is described as being similar to the process of adding photos, businesses are allowed to display up to five videos in their Maps record and pull videos directly from YouTube. I like where this is going.

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