“I have heard from the critics and I take seriously their concerns regarding proposed legislation to address the problem of online piracy,” Smith (R-Texas) told Reuters. “It is clear that we need to revisit the approach on how best to address the problem of foreign thieves that steal and sell American inventions and products.”

The move came only 2 days after a widespread protest took place on the Internet. The protest included a host of major websites like Wikipedia and Reddit going dark to signal their displeasure with the bill.

The protest resulted in several Congressmen making statements that they were no longer supporting SOPA or its Senate counterpart, PIPA. The PIPA bill has also been pulled for the time being.

If you spend any time using Twitter, you probably already know bit.ly is one of the most popular URL shortening services out there. But what you might not know is that they also provide a number of very valuable traffic reports. Even more, they provide this reporting data not only for your own links, but for any and all links in their system.

To get a look at these reporting statistics, you simply need to add a “+” sign to the end of a bit.ly URL. For instance, http://bit.ly/2MHiQS would become http://bit.ly/2MHiQS+. This page provides a full link traffic report including the number and time of clicks, location, referrers, retweets, Facebook Shares, Likes, Comments, etc.

Would you like to see exactly how much traffic Mashable generates using Twitter? Simply access their stream at http://twitter.com/mashable and do this with any of their tracking links. Please note that they have their own custom version of bit.ly so the links might look a little different, but the traffic reporting is the same.

A sneak peek at these types of traffic reports for your competitors could give you a real leg-up when preparing your own marketing efforts. The true value comes down to you, and what valuable insight you can gather from data you’re probably not used to seeing.

Facebook stated, “Einstein’s Bagels” is essentially the first example of a business offering an instant digital coupon for consumers to get something free, although there are probably some people who would contest that. One thing can be sure, Einstein’s Bagels knocked it out of the park with their promotion and intelligently parlayed that into an opportunity to get a great news piece published in a major technology publication. Being from Austin, it’s great to see our city being so well represented in the Social Media landscape by local business.

That said, this raises some interesting logistical questions about the use of digital and mobile coupons and how they can be tracked effectively. Many if not most of the web-based or mobile coupon applications require the coupons to be printed out (which is obviously inconvenient given the ease of carrying a mobile phone), or somehow requires the merchant to validate the coupon/offer at the point-of-sale. Even with the Einstein promotion, it was never made crystal clear how Einstein’s validated the users beyond the statement…they were working directly with Facebook to insure the campaign was successful.

The bottom line is that with a printed coupon or fan status validation, you won’t know who redeemed what, where, and when. You won’t know who your greatest champion is or who your best customers are, which takes away your ability to reward them. Companies like Foursquare, Gowalla, Yelp, and now Facebook are leveraging GPS and other check in features allowing customers to track and publish how often they visit a business. While this might be a workable avenue to develop coupon applications, loyalty programs, and other mobile application development platforms, other questions will arise with apps like Foursquare and Gowalla since they are game-based and require customers to actually use and play those games.

The #1 thing that digital and mobile coupons require is real-time validation and tracking. Stay tuned as a number of products near completion…including one that will not only allow you to tap your users social graph, it will support coupon redemption tracking, track viral coupon distribution by your userbase, drive customer loyalty, and even deliver rewards to your customers. I am betting on the leading applications being web-based and then having mobile compatibility, so they have the ability to be truly viral without any specific platform limitations.

If you haven’t already, you will probably hear some overzealous bloggers say traditional marketing is dead, and Social Media Marketing is the be all end all going forward. Over-hyped statements like these may further confuse local businesses about where this new medium is headed and how it’s supposed to replace more traditional marketing means. Try to take this type of perspective in stride. Local business are still going to benefit from offline advertising, and in fact, can leverage these means to accelerate the growth of their social media following. These traditional means include email, print, TV, along with point of purchase marketing. Local businesses can use these avenues to let their customers know about their Facebook Pages, Twitter accounts and other social media applications…and they should do so at any and every opportunity possible. A significant number of customers also use mobile applications for their social networks, so the opportunity to get their attention when they are on-the-go will become increasingly better as adoption rates rise. Those that put the work in now won’t be left behind as traditional marketing continues to lose marketshare to the web. Doing this will also allow you to build better relationships with customers, which ultimately results in a better product or service.

Remember, the true value of social media is that it supports having conversations with your customers about your company. It allows you to directly offer promotions, deliver news and content, run contests, run loyalty programs, test new products and services, and recognize your best customers. The most important part of this is that when someone makes an effort to interact with your business…you need to respond, because customers that interact with your company will become your most loyal patrons.

There is a recent study from British insurance & investment management firm “Legal & General” to back up this concept. The survey shows that nearly 40% of social network users (including both Twitter and Facebook) openly share holiday plans. The study also showed that roughly 92% of Twitter users and roughly 13% of Facebook users accept connection requests without checking the source. Now, on Twitter that seemingly coincides with the system as it was intended. This should be quite evident as you are required to take action to block someone, not to mention the fact that the social network’s fundamental design is based on open flow of information and public updates. Facebook on the other hand, appears more directed towards protection of information since profiles and posts are private by default.

The bottom line is, we need to be aware of these things as we become more and more accustomed to living “out in the open”. And while this would seem like simple common sense, many of us don’t yet seem to be thinking along these lines enough. Protect yourself, because unfortunately, these kinds of events will continue to occur with frequency until something changes.

The Question: While being more selective about what you post can probably lower your risk of having issues, does that end up diminishing the very connectivity we value in this type of media? Is there a better long-term solution? Please share your thoughts and ideas.

Top Users on Twitter for User Experience, User Interaction and UI Design.

Having a tought time identifying the top User Experience, User Interaction and User Interface Design professionals to follow? You could do alot worse than starting with these 10. Simply click their name to follow them on Twitter and access the hottest ideas and news directly from the top User Experience, User Interaction and UI Design experts.

1. Jared Spool – Jared should be considered the most visible “top usability expert” in the Twitter community, and is best know for his work in explaining factors that contribute to a user’s decision to click. And while his updates often touch upon personal affairs, his extremely high level of respect in the usibility field makes his feed function like a weekly report on where and in what forum the who’s who of this industry is gathering.
2. Joshua Porter – Joshua’s Bokardo blog has been a longtime favorite of user experience professionals and high level designers. It also shouldn’t suprise that Porter was part of Jared Spool’s User Interface Engineering project before breaking out on his own back in 2007. Porter always seems to discuss extremely logical and thought-provoking ideas and should be considered a leader in creating effective and efficient user experiences on the Web today.
3. Jane Pyle – Jane is a Senior User Experience Designer @Genentech in San Francisco and is an authority on full scope usability design as it relates to iPhone applications. One should expect consistent postings about interesting and relevant topics in this space delivered from a truly unique perspective with passion.
4. Robert Fabricant – Robert is VP of Creative at Frog Design and has been focusing most recently on health along with other issues that have the potential to make a real social impact. Robert seems motivated to prove that usability can do more than simply reduce shopping cart abandonment, it can save lives.
5. Nick Finck – Nick is an experienced veteran in the design & development field, and back in 1996, was responsible for creating one of the first online design & usability magazines, Digital Web Magazine (which has ceased publication). Today, he runs the Seattle-based design consultancy Blue Flavor, and also blogs at nickfinck.com. Nick is known for posting practical, logical and informative ideas and code & Web standards geeks might appreciate Nick’s feed the most.
6. Kristina Halvorson – Kristina is President of Brain Traffic, a content strategy firm based in Minneapolis, MN. She is recognized as an authority and evangelist for straight forward Web content that is professionally crafted. Kristina is known for personal and amusing observations about the crucial role that content plays in effective user experiences.
7. IxDA – IxDA (The Interaction Design Association) is a fairly young organization dedicated to “advancing the discipline of Interaction Design”. IxDA organizes events and arranges presentations by leaders in user interface, user experience and user intereaction design. They also discuss a variety of usability questions and facilitate mentorship for people who are new to the industry. IxDA posts a consistent stream of informational alerts, upcoming events and thought provoking ideas.
8. Nielsen Norman Group – NNG is made up of usability giants Jakob Nielsen, Don Norman, and Bruce Tognazzini, all of whom deserve credit for being at the forefront of usability-oriented thinking with regard to both Web and software design. If you are interested in cutting-edge ideas and techniques NNG probably won’t provide the value you might expect. That said, they might lead the pack when taking about a solid foundation that every UI Design professional should understand.
9. Jan Jursa – Jan collects fascinating videos from all over the Web and posts them to his blog. He tweets anytime there’s a new video added and also points out other articles & announcements related to UI and user experience design. Jan might be best know for keeping incredibly close tabs on the most important industry techniques, discussions and presentations as they happen.
10. W. Craig Tomlin – Craig is an independent UI consultant and blogger who provides usability related links, blog posts, and videos. Craig is a prime example of an individual who has been able to leverage Twitter to both garner respect and connect with a large group of peers and potential clients.

Top Users on Twitter for Marketing, PR and Social Media Information.

Having a tought time identifying the top PR, Marketing and Social Media professionals to follow? You could do alot worse than starting with these 50. Simply click on their name and follow them on Twitter to get the hottest ideas and news directly from the top Marketing, PR and social media industry experts.

1. Guy Kawasaki – Co-founder of Alltop and blogs at How to Change the World.
2. Chris Brogan – Social media trends and insight on self-named Social Media Blog.
3. Bill Stoller – 25-year veteran in Public Relations from Publicity Insider.
4. Beth Harte – Public relations educator from MarketingProfs.
5. Pete Cashmore – CEO of Mashable: The Social Media Guide.
6. Peter Shankman – PR pro with unique ideas. Founder of HARO (Help a Reporter Out).
7. Laura Fitton – Discussing PR, social media and family life. Founder of Pistachio.
8. Gary Vaynerchuk – Unique PR and marketing tactics. Best known for his video Blog.
9. Julien Smith – Tweets on a variety of topicsis. Co-author of the Trust Agents Blog.
10. Brian Solis – Offering the latest social networking news and advice. Author of PR 2.0.
11. Stephen Davies – Sharing PR news stories and insights. Also, at PR Blogger.
12. Mirna Bard – The latest PR news and helpful social media information. NuReach Media
13. Karen Russell – Public relations educator who tweets and blogs at Teaching PR.
14. Kellye Crane – Public relations strategies and social media marketing. Solo PR.
15. Todd Defren – Offers a personal look at social networking and PR strategies. PR Squared
16. Scott Monty – The head of social media at Ford Motors and runs The Social Media Blog.
17. David Meerman Scott – Author of “The New Rules of Marketing and PR”. His website here.
18. Beverly Macy – Social media marketer and teacher at UCLA. Also, author at Gravity Summit.
19. Chip Griffin – CEO of “Custom Scoop” and blogs about social media and pr here.
20. Marcel LeBrun – SEO and PR insight and CEO of Radian6. Blogs at Media Philosopher.
21. Liana Evans – Marketing expertise on Twitter and is one of the Search Marketing Gurus.
22. Richard Binhammer – Part of Dell’s social media team providing info on his blog.
23. Keith Burtis Social media expert offering expertise on his blog at KeithBurtis.com.
24. Connie Crosby – Social networking professional sharing on her blog and Twitter.
25. Neville Hobson – Social media tips on Twitter and at nevillehobson.com.
26. Cece Salomon-Lee – Director of Marketing for InXpo discussing PR at PR Meets Marketing.
27. Christopher Penn – Social marketing expert and real life ninja. Marketing Over Coffee.
28. Brendan Cooper Copywriter and social media marketer. Blogging at brendancooper.com.
29. Ferg Devins – Directory of social marketing for Molson.
30. Shel Holtz – Self-made public relations expert read at A Shel of My Former Self.
31. Amber Nasland – Director at Radian6 and social marketer read at Altitude Branding.
32. Elena del Valle – Tweets about Marketing and PR and blogs at Hispanic MPR.
33. Trevor Cook – Social media and online PR at trevorcook.typepad.com
34. Sonny Gill – Tweeting PR tips and is a social marketing guru who blogs at sonnygill.com.
35. Doug Haslam – PR professional for Shift Communications. Social media blog here.
36. Joseph Thornley – Building relationships and integrating social media with PR. Pro PR.
37. Mack Collier – Tweets about social media and marketing. Read atViral Garden.
38. Lisa Dilg – PR Account Director at Perkett PRsuasion
39. Jimmy Vee – Author of Gravitational Marketing: The Science of Attracting Customers.
40. Leslie Carothers – Marketing and Social media consultant. Kaleidoscope Partnership.
41. Mike Kujawski – Social media marketing for non-profits and government organizations.
42. James Walker – Tweeting and blogging PR advice at Gen Y PR Prescription.
43. Dave Fleet – Social media account director at Thornley Falls and a marketing blogger.
44. Colin McKay – Writing about marketing, networking and politics. Read at Canuckflak.
45. Lee Odden – Experienced social media marketer on Twitter and toprankblog.com.
46. Debra Mastaler – Link building and SEO tips for business owners. Read at Link Spiel.
47. Arik Hanson – Digital communications consultant. Marketing and PR at arikhanson.com.
48. David Jones – Blogs and tweets about the public relations industry. PR Works.
49. Carin Galletta – Word of mouth advertising and more traditional PR. Ink Foundry.
50. Matt Rauch – And of course, don’t forget about me. PandaMedia

Learn more about he parties involved in Search Engine Marketing and the environment in which they come together. Business owners, find questions and answers related to the challenges you will face in your effort to form an expert search engine marketing strategy for your Web Property.

Search Engine Marketing Today

I believe there is a significant problem with the search engine marketing industry today. This problem exists because of the parties involved and the environment in which they come together. As such, I will first discuss the party’s involved, and then go on to talk about the resulting environment. Lastly, I will discuss what seems to be the most logical solution.

The Search Engine Optimization Expert

True Search Engine Marketing Experts must spend an immense amount of time doing testing and research to maintain the knowledge necessary to achieve significantly successful search engine results. On top of this, it takes an incredibly unique ability to visualize that which cannot be seen…it is truly a special talent.

Most truly successful search engine marketing experts are able to provide an income sufficient to work for themselves and are not willing to be underpaid to give away what part of it they can, even if it is only today’s picture. This does, however, leave them in a position where they are left to work with comparatively limited resources a good portion of the time, especially when considering product and services support. On top of this, they are probably not left with the time, or most often even the skills, to assemble the resources necessary to support an incredibly successful enterprise.

The Search Engine Marketing Company

Most times a search engine marketing company will be an over-representation of an individual or a small group of people who are willing to share the applicable skills for an adequate fee (usually sold as an enterprise level solution when it is a small group). These situations are very much like the above.

The other side of this is when you have a larger search engine marketing company that sets out to do this work but doesn’t necessarily have what it takes, although the get by for a time since they have significant resources. In these instances, clients will be provided with more or less a ‘plug-in’ service, whereas the client website is basically plugged into a core value network. This methodology can and does work in the beginning. The problem is that this type of value isn’t re-creatable to the extent a larger search engine marketing company needs it to be, especially when they aim to support a large number of clients to cover largely inefficient overhead. Clients in this space see good results upfront, but as the network is relied upon more heavily as the provider takes on new clients, the value and results tend to fade away.

The Search Engine Marketing Client

In contrast, we have companies or wealthy individuals with all the resources necessary to create and sustain a highly successful online enterprise, but in that, can never fully understand the finer points of achieving search engine success for a website. Most times, this group simply doesn’t have the time or inclination or even insight to adequately position this piece of their business, as necessary as it most often is.

The Search Engine Marketing Climate

Quality of worldwide search engine results aside, these parties working together as they do result in an incredibly difficult business situation. On one hand, we have business owners or managers looking to hire a search engine specialist, but in their mind view the need as simply another employee or employee level contract. And on the other hand, we have self-supported search engine specialists with all the ability and knowledge necessary to make all the difference for an online enterprise, but feel it necessary to be compensated adequately for this rare and valuable talent.

All this brings us to the current situation, where true search engine optimization experts seek to charge extremely high monthly fees, not necessarily for the work being done (unless it is a large company where these funds are utilized in a largely inefficient fashion), but as much for the information they have no choice but to give up as they work on a project. In this, you are left with an intricate game of cat-and-mouse where sooner or later upper management or the business owners themselves find it necessary to seek understanding about exactly what is going on in an effort to justify costs. Search engine experts, in turn, become consumed with protecting certain levels of information as not to give the company a false sense of security, as it many times creates a perception that the specialist is no longer needed.

In the end, the company or business owner will normally decide to bring the program in-house once they feel they have a handle on things. The problem is that even if they did understand everything perfectly at the time, as unlikely as that may be, the search engines are almost constantly changing. Algorithms continue to grow in complexity, and once these owners and managers are forced to deal with a few setbacks (which sooner or later happens to everyone), they quickly go from a feeling of confidence to a feeling of confusion.

Can you simply train a Search Engine Optimization Expert?

There are a few reasons why training a Search Engine Optimization Expert is an incredibly difficult task. First, you have to find someone with a background in marketing online and off. Given this, they also need to be what I call a “statistics freak”. Now, if you are lucky to find someone who fits the bill with regard to these two things, you have a shot. You can get them reading the forums and doing the research and even attending Internet Marketing or SEO conferences.

Given a level of success in all of this, you just might start seeing marginal results, but unfortunately, to achieve true success one must also be a visionary. You can have someone read and read and read, but when the answer is found in the reading, it is already too late. You end up being just another of the masses chasing the game while getting a taste here and there. Truth be told, the real gravy in this space is seeing things before anyone else and being able to execute on that foresight.

Once you can do this, though, you simply need to find a way to incentivize the Search Engine Marketing Expert and provide them the needed resources. These additional marketing resources should include things like a budget for PPC, links, press, and other SEO placements, a copywriter, and possibly a small amount of graphic design work.

Start-up Search Engine Marketing

If you are a startup and have the ability, you should strongly consider offering a skilled search engine marketing expert equity. This should allow you to pay them a much smaller and more reasonable employee level salary compared to the huge fee’s they will normally demand.

Or better yet, you might even be able to get by without paying them any salary at all, especially if the search engine expert is truly as capable as they need to be. In these cases, the search engine specialist would be more interested in the budget set aside for the position, but from the perspective of how they can leverage those dollars as an additional optimization/marketing spend. This, along with the budget for the more standard marketing initiatives, would allow them to spearhead a much more significant and effective plan right from the start.

Enterprise Search Engine Marketing

If you happen to be a manager for a larger company, hopefully you still have options to ‘bring them in’ on the project, whether it is through equity, a revenue share, commissions, or some other type of corollary incentive.

Search Engine Marketing Solutions – Getting Results

The bottom line is, show the Search Engine Optimization Experts some upside based directly on their level of Internet Marketing success, and your job will then simply be to provide the additional resources necessary. If you can accomplish this type of partnership with someone who truly has what it takes, you will not only take away their fears of never being rewarded for what they bring to the table, you will also give them the sole focus of making everyone involved a lot of money. I promise, if you can find a way to pull this off with the right search engine marketing expert, everybody wins…and wins big.