A priceless wedding experiment

So you splurged on the diamond, got down on one knee, and now let the wedding planning begin!

For many couples, gearing up for the big day can be a costly endeavour: renting a venue, arranging a caterer, flowers, music, limo, The Dress, tuxes… it all can send one’s head for a spin. Indeed, having just planned such an event myself, this author writes from experience.

However, one Ottawa couple is looking to take a different route to prepare for the big day. Their goal: to plan a wedding that is entirely free of charge.

Brian Bass and Jordan Kent of Westboro have launched what they call Project: Priceless, an online experiment where they ask for donations towards their wedding using their blog and social media tools like Facebook and Twitter. States the couple on their blog,

“This is an experiment in social media, in community kindness, and in product placement.

“…Ideally, everything from dress to wedding favours will be begged, borrowed, or donated. We are also allowed to utilize trade, whether we trade something we have for something you have, or if we can offer a good or service of our own to trade with yours.”

In return, the couple says they will provide donors with a shout out on their blog, a listing in their wedding program, and promotion “via word-of-mouth” and social media. More importantly, they say they offer donors the satisfaction of giving to such “an adorable couple”.

Only a few weeks since their engagement in mid-October, Brian and Jordan have garnered media attention in local community papers, the Ottawa Sun, and the Ottawa Citizen, along with more than 1,000 visits to their blog.

To follow their progress, you can visit their website at http://projectpriceless.blogspot.com/

The Do-Good Power of Blogs and Social Media

Pedigree is promoting their brand of dog food with an interesting viral web marketing campaign. They're taking advantage of social media and the blogosphere to get some attention and do some good. As Amber Macarthur of the Globe and Mail reports, Pedigree will donate a 20-pound bag of dog food to an animal shelter every time a blogger writes about their adoption program. Over 300 bloggers took advantage of this opportunity. Unfortunately, this blog post won't count as the campaign ran from September 16th through the 19th only. If you'd still like to help, become a fan of the Pedigree Adoption Drive on Facebook and they'll donate a bowl of food to shelter dogs on your behalf.

This is a great example of the power of blogs and social media for businesses in Ottawa and around the world. Macarthur explains the possibilities:

Ever so gradually, companies are recognizing that social media success isn't so much about what consumers can do for them but what they can do for consumers -- and the world. There are plenty of excellent examples from brands south of the border that are leading this trend. In Canada, big businesses are little slower at finding the connection between social media and corporate responsibility, but there is no reason we can't play catch-up, help a few animals in the process, or even better, make this country a better place to live.

The Friday Breakthrough: Olympic Advertising Ambush

The Friday Breakthrough is a weekly roundup of some of the internet's best marketing and social media articles for a less-than-intense day at the office.

Marketers are taking advantage of the Olympic buzz in Canada by creating sports-themed advertising at an unprecedented rate. The only problem is that very few of these Olympic hype artists are official Olympic sponsors. 'Ambush marketers' fuel Olympic ad concerns.

Like this story states, there are more than 100 million blogs on earth, and it's no stretch to say that most of them are poor. Wordpress co-founder Matt Mullenweg picks his 10 favourite blogs. He must have temporarily forgotten about his favourite Ottawa marketing blog... right? Ten blogs to make you think.

Inspired advertising and a solid public image has led to an influx of recruits for the Canadian Forces infantry regiments--so many that they can't accept everyone who applies. I would argue this phenomenon has more to do with the constant stream of press that the CF is receiving with the war in Afghanistan, but in any case, it's been a boon for Canada's military.

Coca-Cola is taking its advertising message to the streets, signing up buskers in the London Underground to sing its Christmas jingle during the Holidays. The buskers will perform in Coke-branded areas and receive incentives for singing Coke's tunes. I would love to see the buskers on the streets of Ottawa get a little more coin in their hats, even if it was in the form of a cheque from Coke.

Are you feeling overwhelmed by all the Olympic-themed advertising lately? Leave a comment or send us a tweet @marketingottawa.

The Power of Context

The final agent of change that Malcolm Gladwell identifies in his book The Tipping Point is “The Power of Context”. The Power of Context suggests that epidemics are strongly influenced by their situation and the circumstances, conditions and particulars of the environments in which they operate. The Power of Context illustrates that, by merely manipulating the size of a group, we can dramatically improve its receptivity to new ideas.

Gladwell’s book shows that a number of relatively minor changes in our external environment can have a dramatic effect on how we behave and who we are. He cites the Stanford prison trial as a key example here. Gladwell also refers to Dunbar’s number, explaining that the rule of 150 suggests that the size of a group is another one of those subtle contextual factors that can make a big difference.

Larry Brooks of Copyblogger recently blogged about the importance of context in the world of copywriting: “Because nothing sells, nothing works, without it.” Check out his blog post for ideas on how to create “effective context”, as he calls it. Returning to Malcolm Gladwell for a moment, I’d like to encourage all of our readers to check out The Tipping Point or one of his other great bestselling books, for fascinating insight into the social world around us.

The Oprah Effect

A documentary entitled The Oprah Effect premiered last Thursday on CNBC. The show chronicles "Oprah's unprecedented impact on business that's worth billions and goes inside businesses to find their secrets to getting on the show and how just a brief mention by the queen of influence can turn entrepreneurs into millionaires." Ever seen an "Oprah's Favorite Things" episode? [Insert screaming here.] Enough said. People go crazy for free stuff, especially free stuff that is acclaimed by THE opinion leader out there.

Oprah is not the only one out there touting certain brands and products. A similar new-ish phenomenon is the rise of "mommy bloggers." Mom-friendly brands have discovered this new marketing space - they have come to "battle for their attention, hoping for reviews from "real moms" and access to the valuable power of word of mouth." In return, influential mommy bloggers can get free stuff from companies, big media buys, and luxurious trips! Not too shabby. Statistics show that women are "responsible for $2.1 trillion of U.S. consumer spending, controlling about 80 percent of household expenditures." These mommy bloggers are now taking advantage of a system that has long targeted them with marketing messages to buy, buy, buy.

Mommy blogging has even picked up here in Ottawa: New Ottawa Mom, Postcards from the Mothership, and A Crafty Mom, to name a few. I wonder if they have had any companies (from here in Ottawa or elsewhere) contact them for promotional opportunities!

Great Glebe Garage Sale!

This Saturday is circled on my calendar... well, actually, Facebook is reminding me that there is an important upcoming event that day! The event is the annual Great Glebe Garage Sale, taking place on May 23rd this year. This community event has been taking place here in Ottawa since 1986. In the process of finding treasures for yourself, you'll be helping those in need. The Great Glebe Garage Sale continues to support the Ottawa Food Bank each year. Vendors and shoppers alike are encouraged to donate to this worthy cause.

Be warned - Ottawans take this event seriously! If you want to make the most out of the day, you have to head to the Glebe as early as possible! Check out blogger David Scrimshaw's tips for the big day here: David Scrimshaw's Blog.

Have Writer's Block? Try These Six Tips

When it comes to writer's block (or blog block, as I've been experiencing for the last couple days) sometimes all it takes is time. But sometimes a break from writing -- and perhaps the creative process in general -- just isn't enough. In times like these, a few tried-and-true tips may be just what you need to get over the hump. Here are some of my favourites:

1. Think of writing as a regular job, and less as an art. This one comes from Stephen King's On Writing, a hugely influential book over the years as I've tried to hone my craft. To paraphrase King: If we think of ourselves as laborers, as craftsmen, it’s easier to sit down and write. We’re just putting words on the page, after all, one beside another, as a bricklayer puts down bricks.

2. Follow a writing schedule. This tip goes hand in hand with the preceding one. If you set aside time to write -- even if what you churn out isn't perfect or polished -- you're already ahead of the game. After all, words on a page are always better than staring at a blank screen. And words on a page are also better than writer's block.

3. Brainstorm. Another pearl of wisdom, and a skill we all probably learned back in junior school. When I am struggling to write, I often take five minutes to jot down anything and everything that comes to mind. And then, with a fresh sheet of paper, I take the time to focus these thoughts by trying to come up with words that succinctly articulate these ideas.

4. Use a thesaurus. As a writer, my thesaurus is my dearest companion. Especially when I put tip #3 into practice. I use a thesaurus almost daily. I like to think of it as my secret (although now, perhaps not-so-secret) weapon. It can also be a useful tool to beating writers block. Just open a thesaurus to any page, pick a word, and write, non-stop for three minutes, about that word.

5. Set deadlines, and stick to them. Easier said than done, I know, but deadlines are key to helping you work to your potential. At Marketing Breakthroughs, deadlines come up quickly -- a blessing in disguise, as it keeps us writer's at the top of our game. We don't have time for writers block!

6. Multitask. This may seem counterintuitive, but working on something else -- even another writing project -- can go a long way to overcoming writers block.

Blog Today, Book Tomorrow

A new (literary?) genre is on the rise: the book of blogs. As far as I know, there has yet to be a catchy/catch-all name for this new genre. But with the exploding popularity of this kind of book, there will no doubt be one soon.

The idea of taking pieces of writing not previously in book form and then printing them, binding them and assigning them an ISBN number is not a totally new phenomenon. Newspaper columns, for instance, have always been great fodder for book deals (and as proof we can even go back as far as the early 18th century when Addison & Steele's The Spectator appeared in volume form around 1714). What is new is where the material for this new genre is coming from.

Countless blogs are getting book deals these days. One blog, Pets Who Want to Kill Themselves, was approached by publishers and literary agents alike after only a week in the blogosphere. Other popular blogs-turned-books include Stuff White People Like and I Can Has Cheezburger which have sold over 1 million copies combined!

One blog in particular, Postcards From Yo Momma, stands out as a solid example of how (and why) certain blogs become books. In April 2009, Love, Mom: Poignant, Goofy, Brilliant Messages from Home was published by Hyperion. The blog's creators-turned-editors Jessica Grose and Doree Shafrir are not surprised by it's success. As they say on their blog's site, they knew they'd tapped into something original, fun, and immensly popular from day one:

"It all started so innocently: a G-chat conversation in which we were discussing the emails our moms send us. “I’m sending you a hilarious email my mom just sent,” typed Jessica, “because I think you will like it.” “Ooh yay,” Doree wrote back. “I love hilarious mom emails.”

That's it. The birth of a blog. And then a book.

And, apparently, a book trailer? That's a new one for me.

Love, Mom: Poignant, Goofy, Brilliant Messages from Home from Postcards From Yo Momma on Vimeo.

5 Ways to Boost Your Blog's Traffic

Thanks for reading! Because of you, our blog is more popular than ever. As a show of appreciation, here are some of our best tips to help increase your blog's traffic:

1. Comment on other blogs - It’s a fact. Commenting on other people’s blogs can significant help to increase traffic to your own blog. Say something controversial (or funny, or timely), and your chances off boosting traffic is even greater.

2. Twitter about your blog - Social media sites, especially Twitter, are the absolute best places to advertise in order get an instant boost of traffic to your blog. Visit TinyURL to help do it in 140 characters or less!

3. Respond to your comments - Don’t leave your blog commenter hanging. Pay it forward and make friends with your commenter. Who knows where a connection like that could lead?!

4. Be consistent – If the mantra of every aspiring musician is ‘practice, practice, practice’, then the blogger’s mantra must be ‘write, write, write'! As a blogger, you need to let your followers know you’re dedicated, and one weekly blog post just won’t cut it. Instead, aim for at least 3-5 solid posts every week.

5. Link out – Sometimes you have to give in order to get. Like this: I just love LaineyGossip! It may seem paradoxical, but linking out to other blogs and articles can actually bring people in. (Which leads to a bonus tip...your reward for reading this far: Starting off with a link to someone or something else is the perfect fix for writers block).

Happy blogging!

23andAda

Happy Ada Lovelace Day!  In an effort to celebrate women excelling in technology, I now present this blog entry, dedicated to Linda Avey and Anne Wojcicki. 

You may have heard of these two ladies... perhaps you read an article about them in Vogue magazine or saw them on Oprah. They've found such notoriety because they are the founders of 23andMe, which Time Magazine heralded "the Invention of the Year" in 2008. 23andMe can be described as social networking meets genetic counseling. It "aims to do for genetics what Google did for the Internet: Make it easy and accessible for those curious about their DNA." (Speaking of Google, Wojcicki happens to be married to Google co-founder Sergey Brin and Google happens to have donated almost $9 million to 23andMe... Coincidence? I think not).

For a one-time fee, 23andMe members can acquire analysis of their personal genome and interact with their own genetic information (and other members' information, if they have permission) within the user-friendly 23andMe website. The data presented by 23andMe can tell members how their risk of contracting particularly diseases compares to the rest of the population, what traits and predispositions they are likely to have, where their ancestors originate from, and lots of other nifty tidbits of information. 

Avey and Wojcicki are not simply concerned with providing the masses their genetic information, they have a more philanthropic master plan. They hope to "collect information for developing and conducting research projects that aim to find the genetic roots of everything from serious conditions like Parkinson's disease to simple physical characteristics like left-handedness." Although it all sounds great, not everyone is a fan of 23andMe. Some individuals have some very serious concerns regarding the legal and ethical implications of the website. However, I think that Avey and Wojcicki created the web-based service with noble intentions and I hope they find continued success and really do make a difference in the end.

The Fuzzy Ethics of Twitter Marketing

A few days back, there was somewhat of a mini-controversy regarding the purported Twitter account of Brian Burke (the General Manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs).

From the viewpoint of a Leafs fan, his Twitter posts (or Tweets) are quite hilarious (even if they are unfortunately true):


Of course, it's painfully obvious that this is NOT the real Brian Burke. Although Burke is not hesitant to call out his players, Twitter would not be the medium to do so. The hockey rumour site HockeyBuzz even want as far as to contact Burke himself to get his thoughts on the Twitter account, to which Burke said that he thinks the impostor is "scum".

So, what purpose does the "fake" Brian Burke Twitter account have? Well, it's run by the same guy who write the Leafs blog "Down Goes Brown", and by getting his name out there through these funny, well-written one-liners under the "Brian Burke" persona, he's attracted a whole bunch of new people to his blog.

In my opinion, this is an example of just one way to use Twitter correctly. Let's face it ... many Tweets out there are boring and often just a rehash of a site's RSS feed. This guy stands out by delivering constantly funny material that encourages the user to read more of his stuff (and yes, his longer blog posts are just as good a read as his Tweets).

While the Brian Burke Twitter profile clearly states that it is a parody (and parodies are allowed under the current Twitter Terms of Use), this whole "impostor" issue does bring up some questions about the ethics and standards of using Twitter (and any sort of online forum, really) as a marketing device.

Under the same vein as Brian Burke, there are also fake Twitter accounts for "Bryan Murray", "Bob Gainey", "John Tortorella", "Gary Bettman", and a whole slew of NHL players and management. While it's fairly obvious when somebody is faking a celebrity or sports personality, what happens if it's on a smaller scale? What happens if somebody creates an account under your business name and starts writing ridiculous (or even slanderous) things under your name? Now you can see why Burke says this guy is "scum".

It's a fine line, and like any sort of Web 2.0 application, it's hard to say how it will evolve and be used over time. With Twitter continuing to grow at an unbelievable pace, I'm sure we'll see more and more of these situations pop up. The only question is, will this practice be shunned, outlawed, or embraced?

Good "Grammar" Matters

We here at Marketing Breakthroughs value good grammar. We have a strict copyediting process to ensure that we catch any grammatical errors. We ensure that at least two sets of eyes go over each draft that we prepare for a client. We understand that proper grammar, spelling, and punctuation is essential if you want people to respect your work and believe in your expertise. 

Here's another reason to take that extra minute to double-check or triple-check your work: A blog that ridicules the overuse of quotation marks. It's pretty funny. Clearly someone had had enough of their pet peeve and wanted to share their annoyance with the world. Wikipedia explains that it is a common mistake to use quotation marks for emphasis, in lieu of underlining or italics. This can be confusing and/or funny for the reader. Below is my favourite photo from the Unnecessary Quotes blog. Apparently this restaurant serves something called "real food"... I must try it!

Daily SEO Tip - A Great New SEO Blog

Daily SEO Tips was recently launched by the good people behind Search Engine Journal.

The premise of the website is exactly what you'd expect, given its title: every day they will post one SEO tip. What's cool, though, is that at the top of the page they have a link to "Contribute an SEO Tip." The link takes you to a simple form where anyone is able to contribute to the blog. The blog isn't as radically trusting as Wikipedia, however, as they do screen tips to weed out the good from the bad. I contributed a tip myself, and I was pleased to get a personal email from Ann Smarty thanking me for the tip.

I think it's a great idea for an SEO blog because content is literally being written for it. I don't think this would work for a new blog, but as an extension of an already popular SEO blog like Search Engine Journal, it works wonders. And so far, judging from the first two posts and some comments, the authors are not abandoning the site just to let guests do all the work for them - the SEO tips they give out are useful.

Of note is how active the comments section is for their posts so far. In fact, their mission statement comes straight from a comment: "Bitesized daily tips to help keep your SEO knowledge fresh without cluttering up your feed-reader."

They acknowledge where the mission statement came from in their footer, an SEO blogger named Ken Jones. It's a nice gesture and definitely promotes commenting. If you check out the comments so far, you'll see that the authors are actively participating in the discussion. The people who do give a tip also get a link back, obviously, when their tip is posted. The blog has created a true win-win situation.

Although I'm getting more and more reserved with adding yet more blogs to my RSS feeder, I will definitely be subcribing to Daily SEO Tips.

Ottawa Marketing Blogs and Ottawa Business News

If you're looking for Ottawa marketing blogs, there aren't a lot of them out there. Marketing blogs in Ottawa tend to edge more towards technology news than marketing itself. This lack of marketing-oriented blogs in Ottawa is, in fact, why the Daily Breakthrough was born. We're hoping to fill a gap, because there's a lot that goes on in this city.

As an Ottawa marketing firm, there are a few blogs in Ottawa we do like to read to keep up with marketing news in our fair capital city. Of course, these blogs make up only a percentage of the marketing blogs we're subscribed to - obviously a lot of what works in other cities works in Ottawa.

There are two main Ottawa marketing blogs I read:

Techvibes: Technology News in Ottawa

Techvibes is an international blog, but it has a section dedicated solely to the Ottawa region. The blog is called "Technology News in Ottawa," but there's a fair amount of marketing information you'll find within it. Unlike many blogs, there aren't a lot of how-to posts, but you can pick up a lot from their more opinionated posts.

Mike Kujawski's Blog

Mike Kujawski specializes in public sector and non-profit marketing, and his blog reflects that. Ottawa's a government city, so obviously that's a big part of the marketing that goes on here.

Other Ottawa Blogs:

Ottawa Start has a massive list of Ottawa blogs. Rather than simply copying the list they have, which wouldn't help anyone, I'll go over what I occasionally read.

I like to check out SEO Education just to see what sort of tips they come up with. This SEO blog is a lot like the Daily Breakthrough in that there are a lot of introductory and how-to posts which would be super beneficial for clients. It's interesting to see what tips they come up with and think are valuable for someone learning SEO.

Obviously not a blog, but I have the Ottawa Citizen in my RSS reader (Vienna, becaue it's awesome). I don't subscribe to the Ottawa Sun, because we get a hard copy here at the office. The other newspaper I read online is the Ottawa Business Journal. It's the best source for Ottawa business news (not necessarily related to marketing, though).

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As you can see, there's not a whole lot of Ottawa marketing blogs or websites I read. A lot of the marketing information I get comes from blogs in the United States - it's as applicable here as anywhere else. For Ottawa marketing news, I tend to get a pretty good insight working at an Ottawa marketing firm, but I still like to see what a few other marketers in Ottawa are saying or thinking.

Of course, for Ottawa marketing news, it's my professional marketing opinion that you should really be subscribing to the Daily Breakthrough blog. That big RSS link is just over yonder, to the right.

Shout-Out to Ada Lovelace

I stumbled across a blog post on Boing Boing today that proclaimed "Ada Lovelace needs your support!" This caught my attention. As I read on, I learned that March 24th, 2009 is (the first annual) Ada Lovelace Day.

Who is (or more accurately, who was) Ada Lovelace, you ask? You may know her as Augusta Ada King, Countess of Lovelace... or not. According to Wikipedia, her claim to fame is having written "a description of Charles Babbage's early mechanical general-purpose computer, the analytical engine" (which, in the end, was never actually built) back in the early 19th century.

She is recognized as one of the world's first programmers. It is said that "she also foresaw the capability of computers to go beyond mere calculating or number-crunching while others, including Babbage himself, focused only on these capabilities."

So what is Ada Lovelace Day? Well, Ada Lovelace Day is a day of blogging, specifically blogging that promotes awareness about women in technology. Participants are encouraged to "publish a blog post, video blog or podcast episode about a woman they admire." Why? Boing Boing's Cory Doctorow explains:

Recent research by psychologist Penelope Lockwood discovered that women need to see female role models more than men need to see male ones. But in the tech world women's contributions often go unacknowledged and role models are hard to find. Ada Lovelace Day is a chance for us to sing the praises of the women who make tech tick: entrepreneurs, innovators, sysadmins, programmers, designers, games developers, hardware experts, tech journalists, tech consultants... The list of tech-related careers is almost endless and we want to see examples from all of them!

This initiative appeals greatly to the Third Wave Feminist in me, so I've signed the pledge promising to blog on March 24th in tribute to Ada and all the other technologically inclined women out there. Stay tuned!

Political Participation 2.0

As Barack Obama prepares to take his place in the White House, Don Tapscott reports that the President-Elect is asking for feedback from his supporters via an online survey. Tapscott explains that this Web 2.0 tactic of using the Internet for two-way conversation illustrates the Obama camp's understanding of "Net Geners," also known as "Generation Y."

Obama's message of change clearly resonated with Americans, young people in particular, during his presidential election campaign. He used the media, technology, and the blogosphere to connect to his audience throughout his campaign and it seems he will continue to do so as President of the United States.

Blogging's Dead and the Sky is Falling

Thinking about launching your own blog? Here's some friendly advice: Don't. And if you've already got one, pull the plug.

That comes from a recent Wired article, called Twitter, Flickr, Facebook Make Blogs Look So 2004.

I disagree. So do others.

Blogging is not dead. Is it evolving? Certainly. Most things do.

The Wired article claims that it is impossible for standalone bloggers to get to the top of Technorati because it has been overrun by what are essentially professional magazines hiring teams of bloggers and updating 30 times a day. This is true. A lone blogger probably can't get to the top of Technorati.

But they don't need to.

Blogging is a medium. Using Technorati as the sole metric of which is the "best blog" is as silly as using a single metric to rate "the best book." Do you mean fiction? If so, do you mean only novels, or short story collections and novellas as well?

I say that bloggers, or companies, should use their blog to tell their story. They should make it an interesting story, one that's worth reading, and to heck with the latest social networking site.

The New York Times' website now runs on Wordpress, a blogging platform. I get valuable information on personal finance from a number of finance blog archives I've recently started working my way through. I follow the American presidential election through a number of blogs on both sides of the political spectrum. Are all these things going to be replaced by status updates on Facebook or tweets on Twitter? I doubt it.

If you have something to say, say it. To quote McLuhan's Understanding Media, a medium is "an extension of ourselves." Pick the most appropriate one and get cracking.

Everything You Need To Know About Writing Effective Headlines You Can Learn From Bloggers!

Today I’m going to present some common tips for writing headlines that you’ll find in any book on copywriting. However, with each tip I’ll also present examples I’ve found from various blog titles around the net.

Obviously, the headlines associated with a given tip won’t just be an example of only that tip. Some headlines that appeal to emotions also ask a question. Any good headline will, in some way, convey (or hint at) a benefit. You get the idea. In fact, the more of these tips that you can present in a single headline, the better (generally speaking).

Without further ado... blog headlines and tips!

1. Convey a Benefit

Three Tips and a Bonus to Market Yourself

Break Through Writer’s Block

Do You Want to Make Serious Money as a Freelance Copywriter?


2. Appeal to the Emotions

10 Ways to Find Time to Follow Your Dreams

Are You Tired of Not Making Money From Your Blog?

Beware of Scams, Especially When Traveling

* Here is a handy List of Emotions from Wikipedia.


3. Use Specifics or Numbers

How to Get 6,312 Subscribers to Your Business Blog in One Day

10 Aggressive Tactics to Turn the Tables on Credit Card Companies


4. Ask a Question

Twitter is the Ultimate Tease… Does Your Content Tease?

Do Key Words in Post Titles Really Matter?

Is Social Media a Waste of Time?


5. Offer a Benefit That Seems Completely Unbelievable

Timothy Ferris is really good at this. The following headlinse are all from his blog:

How to Lose 20 lbs. of Fat in 30 Days… Without Doing Any Exercise

How to Learn (But Not Master) Any Language in 1 Hour

How to Never Forget Anything Again


6. Write Something Unexpected or Even Contentious

What Fight Club Can Teach You About Innovative Content

Why Language Classes Don’t Work: How to Cut Classes and Double Your Learning Rate

Are You a Spineless Blogger?

When to be Redundant, Repetitive, and Say the Same Thing Twice


7. Offer Something Exclusive or Rare

A Little Known Way to Improve Your Blog Design

Inside My Business: The Evolution of a Customer Service System


Well, that’s all for now. Which of the headlines above do you find the most effective? Is there something in the headline other than these tips that really captures your interest and makes you want to read more?

A Tale of Two Apples

Apple is threatening legal action against the Victoria School of Business and Technology, the Globe & Mail reported earlier this week. According to the lawyers representing Apple Inc., the school's logo reproduces the Apple logo, thereby "falsly suggesting that Apple has authorized [the school's] activities".

According to a poll on the Victoria School of Business and Technology's website, 72% of respondents do not agree with Apple that the logos are confusingly similar. It is this type of public support that the school hopes will discourage Apple from following through with a lawsuit. In our culture, the apple can symbolize knowledge (as Newton's apple), sin (as the forbidden fruit), and health (as we all know, an apple a day keeps the doctor away).

However, over the last thirty years, Apple Inc. has built up a particular two-dimensional representation of the apple to represent innovation in technology. It is most likely not the actual physical resemblance of the school's logo to the Apple logo that is offensive to Apple, but rather the fact that this school sells itself on having expertise in technology AND has incorporated the two-dimensional symbol of the apple into its logo thus capitalizing on Apple's status in the technology industry.

As a sidenote, Apple is no stranger to this type of conflict. The company has endured numerous legal disputes with The Beatle's Apple Corp since 1978. The final settlement came only last year.

As blogger Jeff James explains, "most brands need to fill [its] imagery with meaning over time (what would an apple logo really mean without the history of Apple's brand?)". Apple's very first logo (shown right) depicts Sir Isaac Newton sitting beneath an apple tree... The logo has clearly come a long way since 1976.

The current incarnation of the Apple logo is so well known across the world that the logo speaks for itself and no accompanying text of the company name is required. The logo is so effective that, according to a study stemming from Duke University, "just being exposed to the Apple logo can make you more creative". The implication of this finding is that Apple's logo is powerful, important, and its integrity is definitely worth fighting for.

The Top Writing Blogs on the Web (As Chosen by Each Other)

Since I happen to read a lot of blogs about writing (well, copywriting mostly), I am of course interested in giant lists of blogs about writing.

I don’t subscribe to writingwhitepapers.com, but many of the other blogs I do subscribe to have recently been mentioning their contest that ranks the top ten blogs for writers. Note that by "writer" they often mean "copywriter". I'm fairly confident that the next great American novel won't be cobbled together with tips from a blog called "Freelance Writing Jobs".

Anyways, here’s the final Top 10 list:

If you’re a writer, you’ll find daily doses of inspiration and discovery at these excellent blogs:

1. Copyblogger: As the undefeated champ, this blog has held the number-one spot for three straight years! The baby of Brian Clark, this blog keeps winning because of its excellent and educational articles.
2. Men With Pens: James Chartrand and Harry McLeod are the dynamic duo who continue to deliver rich content and community discussion.
3. Freelance Writing Jobs: Founded by Deb Ng, this site is the first stop for freelance writers seeking new work and great articles (and it remains a top winner since this contest began).
4. Write to Done: This blog delivers a steady stream of excellent articles for all writers and is the product of top blogger Leo Babauta.
5. Confident Writing: Looking for encouragement? Joanna Young will help you take your writing to the next level.
6. The Renegade Writer: Linda Formichelli and Diana Burell, authors of a book by the same name, help freelance journalists find inspiration.
7. Remarkable Communication: One part writing, one part marketing and one part selling, this excellent blog by Sonia Simone will help any writer succeed.
8. Writing Journey: Looking for a great stop on your writing journey? Bob Younce’s blog will refresh and energize you.
9. Freelance Parent: Two moms, Lorna Doone Brewer and Tamara Berry, provide excellent perspective on writing while balancing time with little ones.
10. Urban Muse: Susan Johnston covers a wide range of excellent topics that all writers will enjoy.

If you want even more blogs about writing, here's the list of those in the running.

Of those, I'd say I read Copyblogger and Men With Pens on a near-daily basis. Every once in a while I check out Write to Done, The Renegade Writer, Confident Writing, and... well, that's about it.

As a result of this contest, I think I'll be giving Remarkable Communication and Urban Muse an especially serious look. In fact, I'll probably add all ten of these blogs to my RSS feeder (Vienna is awesome) and simply delete the ones that I don't end up reading often.

A lot of these blogs also serve as sources of income for their authors - which means that while they teach you to sell your stuff, they're trying to sell you their stuff. It means that virtually every part of these sites (from the advertisements, to the content, to the linkbacks, etc.) has specific point. They're trying to get you to subscribe, or they're building up their own credibility, or they're trying to build their SEO.

Sure, the advice on these blogs is good. But what I find even more informative is to actually pick them apart. Regardless of what they advise you to do, I enjoy taking a look at what they actually do.