Back in action!
So after a lengthly delay I will begin to blog again! Lots have changed over the past year, so that means there is a lot to talk about.
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Im Coo Coo for Common Craft.
Working in the SEO / Online Marketing industry, you seem to find a few helpful tools, tutorials and blogs along the way. One of my favourite gems, is a company called Common Craft. They take complex ideas and make them easy to understand (which is one of their taglines), which is very very true. I often use some of their videos to help explain a concept to a client in plain english.
At first glance their videos seem to be something I could create in grade 3, yet within seconds, you realize the brilliance of it, it is simple. I suppose it goes along with the acronym KISS (keep it simple stupid). I guess I could let one of their videos speak for themselves….enjoy!
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Tags: common craft, online marketing, rss, seo
Drinking Coffee in a NYC Taxi
So I just got back from a quick business trip to the Big Apple, it was my 2nd time back in a couple of months. This time around I got to experience what it was like to take the NYC Subway, bargain on Canal Street and most importantly mastard the art of drinking a coffee while driving in a NYC Taxi. Let me remind you, that taking a NYC taxi is a very unique experience. I wouldn’t say its the smoothest ride around….
NYC Taxi
That’s why trying to drink a coffee while dodging potholes, pedistrians and other moving vehicles is an art. Let me explain my tactics. You almost have to have a Zen like approach, like being “one” with the cab. Getting a feel for the level of agressiveness of the driver is the first step. Next make sure you look ahead to anticipate any sudden stops or swirving. Then you have to make your body relax, which is the most difficult part, since you are going 80 km/h throught the streets of New York. You have to absorb every motion while taking tiny sips to reduce your spill risk. Now don’t get cocky and try and down a bug gulp of coffee, because the end result will be a stain on your shirt, pants or a burnt mouth.
It does take a couple of trips to get it down to an art form, but believe me you will thank me for the advice the next time you are in a NYC taxi.
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Tags: canal street, coffee, new york, new york taxi, nyc subway, nyc taxi
Oh Google! What will they think of next. Of course they are adding a 411 information service, why wouldn’t they! It never ceases to amaze me the extent of Google’s network and what they have the ability to do. I just read an interesting article in the Globe and Mail about this new service Google offers. It focuses around their (Google) advance voice recognition system.
Don’t know where to find the closest pizza parlour? No access to a computer or a phone book?
Just call Google. Let them figure it out.
Google Inc. launched a Canadian version of its voice-recognition local search phone service GOOG-411. Canada becomes the first country outside the U.S. to gain access to the service.
A user can then choose whether to hear the phone number, be connected directly to the business or receive a text message with the details of the restaurant. There is also an option to have a Google Map link sent to the screen of their phone. How cool is that! Im pretty sure Google will eventually take over the world, but that is another post all together.
Now I don’t know how I feel about the next quote, but I know deep down, Canadians are guilty of it.
“We incorporated some Canadianisms such as “eh,” “Traw-na,” “Cal-gry,” and, of course, “aboot.”
I know I know, its true. I have not yet been able to test Goog-411 yet, but the next time I need to find out the location of the nearest pub, I just may give it a shot.
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Tags: Goog-411, Google 411, voice recongnition
Flying in a Pod?!?
This past weekend I travelled to Montreal with my brother for a bachelor party weekend, and what a weekend it was! Unfortunatley I wont be talking about the events that unfolded at the actual bachelor party, I know that is the good stuff, but rather I wanted to talk about my Executive First Class experience I had on my Air Canada flight.
So, I flew on points to Montreal so that I wouldn’t have to drive home extremely tired (hungover) on Sunday. Little did I know, I was actually flying Executive or First Class! All of a sudden I felt way to important to be labelled in such a way, but when in Rome, or Toronto/Montreal. My brother and I were directed to the Executive Lounge, where everything is FREE!!! You can have as much booze, food and Internet you can handle. So of course we took advantage of it.
So then we get on the plan, a few free drinks later of course. This is the first time I have seen these new futuristic seats they are rolling out onto Air Canada planes. It literally looks like this pod type seat which are set on angles so you can’t really see anyone else and you have your seat all to yourself. Here are a couple of wild features you get to enjoy!
- Lie-flat bed that fully reclines at the touch of a button
- Lumbar support and in-seat massage settings
- Comfortable pillow and duvet
- Ambient mood lighting
- Large personal touch-screen TV with video on demand
- Over 100 hours of In-flight entertainment with up to 48 movies
- XM satellite radio featuring premium music and talk shows
- In-seat power for your laptop
- USB port for game controllers
- Single-pin audio jack for personal headsets
- Every seat has aisle access for your convenience
So you see where im going with this. What an experience….to bad it was only a 51 minute flight (what a waste!). So then I got thinking, doesn’t this kind of take away from these hilarious experiences you have when you fly and there is this really weird person you sit beside or the person in front of you puts his seat back and your tray comes flying at your torso? Yes it does and thank god for that! Anyways, I thought I would share this “first class” experience with you.
Adam
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Tags: air canada, bachelor party, executive first class, montreal
Search Behaviour? Whats that?
Welcome to my world. Working for an online marketing company, I have the pleasure of analyzing “Search”. You must think, wow, what a boring job. To some, yes that may be true, but I find it interesting! Now this is probably the nerd side of me, but hey I love what I do, and thats what matters. So what is search behaviour? Well to put it simply, its the why, how and what the average user is searching for.
I found this great report the other day that helps break down how, we as users, use Search. So I took the liberty of pulling some cool stats, or what I think are cool stats, to share with you. Yes I know there isn’t anything about coffee and massages in this post, but I hope it still intrigues you.
Just a few things to point out. This is a US Survey of 1,649 participants from a company called iProspect. I am only going to focus on “organic” and “paid” search findings. So here we go.
1) Internet users rarely read beyond the 3rd page of search results. 81.7% of respondents will try a new search if they aren’t satisfied with the listings they find within the first 3 pages of results.
2) Homemakers, more than any other profession identified, stop looking at search results after the first page. 52.2% of homemakers who responded said they don’t review more than the first page of search results.
3) Females dig less deep into search results than males. 15.2% more females abandon their review of search results after the first page than males do.
4) Search engine users find natural (organic) search results to be more relevant to their searches. 60.5% of respondents picked a natural search result as they found most relevant to their query.
Ok, so these are only a few of the findings from the survey, but interesting none the less. So what does this tell us. Well for one, it doesn’t surprise me that men will search further into the pages than women. Its funny, it’s almost like instinct. Men would rather explore and scavenge for their result, where Women are happy with the results they find. Kind of like channel surfing or never asking for directions. I could discuss this topic for a lot longer, but you already probably stopped reading after I used the word Search Behaviour. Until my next post.
Adam
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Tags: online marketing, organic search, search behaviour
Massage and a Coffee? Why Not?!
If you have ever had a random thing happen to you on your coffee break, I bet you that my story is either equally or better then yours. My colleague Adam and I were walking back from lunch and we decided to stop in at this new coffee shop that opened up beside Burrito Boyz. We saw a sign for Timothy’s coffee, and thought this place can’t be that bad….or should I say random?! We walked in and was met by a very nice Vietnamese lady. We asked for two coffees and started small talk with the owner. She started to show us everything in her store. It kinda went like this, “Here is our premium ice cream, would you like to try some?”, really, who would turn down free ice cream. So I tried some tasty chocolate ice cream and Adam had some crazy kind with nuts. And this is where it started to get kinda random. Oh by the way, the ice cream was Baskin Robbins.
So we have a little more small talk and then she asks us if we like massages. I said, “sure who doesn’t” and she whips open a curtain and there is a massage table all ready to go. And then she showed us this old school exercise vibration machine, a massage chair and something called the Hula Chair. She then insisted that I try the old school exercise vibration machine. So being a good sport, I hopped on. She set the timer to 2 minutes and away I go! It is really weird, there is a foot pad that vibrates and makes your feet feel pretty good. Then there is this weird strap that wraps around your waist and shakes you. Talk about trying to keep a straight face. And then it was Adams turn. He got 2 minutes too. Anyways, that about it wraps it up. Oh one more thing. If you ever want to have a massage and a coffee combo, I highly recommend this place!
Adam
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Tags: coffee, massage
Working for the Woman?
In a world where men still dominate the executive world of corporate business, I have the privilege of working for not one, but two women. Or should I say A Couple of Chicks? For over a year now I have worked for A Couple of Chicks e-Marketing, tourism specialists in Search Engine Optimization, Online Marketing, Sponsored Search, Educational Conferences and Social Media. Being the only male included in most of the core executive decisions, it presents an interesting dynamic. I will be the first to say that working for women is a nice change, after always having someone of the male persuasion be my “boss”. Don’t get me wrong, a boss is a boss, but I do think (and this is my personal opinion) that having a female boss creates a more approachable environment. I think it is important to have both sexes involved at the top of the hierarchy, as male and females seem to have different approaches to strategy and situations. The team at A Couple of Chicks has grown now to 15, which interesting enough has now almost become an even split of xx and xy chromosomes.
So now that I have established that it is refreshing to work for “A Couple of Chicks” (See Picture Above), the burning question is, how do I feel about being male and working for a company that is called A Couple of Chicks. Well the first thing I would say is that it is a great ice breaker! Imagine the clients surprise when I call them for the first time and it is a low manly voice, when they are expecting a “Chick”. It always gets a laugh, especially when I tell them that I am referred to as the “He Chick”! Now I know that can be taken many different ways, but let me be the first to point out that I am comfortable in my man hood, so it doesn’t even register. However, I always do get a laugh when I am referred to as something other then that. I wont get into details, but I will let you make up your own names. Here is something to help you get started, it rhymes with rock.
So this is my very first blog post about what it is like working for A Couple of Chicks. I look forward to my next post!
Adam (aka He Chick)
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Tags: A Couple of Chicks, Search Engine Optimization, Social Media
