Who is Sylvia Jansen? (Is LinkedIn becoming a Spam Magnet?)

I ask this very pertinent question via the blog post, because, what I know (and I'm only the business owner), is that LinkedIn is apparently actively hiring new staff for my company!  Sylvia is the new manager for !nnovabiz Pty Ltd in the Rotterdam Area, Netherlands.  

I could ask the same question for Robert Adams, CEO of Greater Nashville Area; Harshal Bhati, Engineer of Nagpur, India; Bbb Bhhh, Jiioo (huh?) Greece (oh, maybe it's LinkedIn's rendition of the Greek alphabet); Brian Distler, Boss of Houston, Texas; Harlyn Espanol, Sales Clerk in Philippines; Anas Idlibi, IT Manager in United Arab Emirates; Aljohn Lagne, No (huh?) in Philippines; Ryan M, mmm (doh???) Kitchener, Canada Area; Darshan Mody, Marketing, Australia; Nader Mostafa, No (another one??), Egypt; Bharat Pal, Dr, New Delhi Area, India; Justin Pfa, Huj (huh?), York, Pennsylvania; and Priya Rajesh, Research, India.

All claim on their LinkedIn profiles to be employees of Innovabiz Pty Ltd and hold current positions with my company.  

Well, since LinkedIn apparently is descending into the realms of a "Mickey Mouse" networking organisation and hiding behind privacy protection of scammers, I will have to take things into my own hands!

To all the people named above - you have 24 hours to submit to me your full annual report for the year 2010, complete with Profit and Loss statement, showing how you add value to !nnovabiz Pty Ltd.  If I don't have this report in my inbox by midnight GMT on 23 December 2010, YOU ARE FIRED!    After that, please remove !nnovabiz Pty Ltd from your employment history on your LinkedIn Profile.  Thank you.

 

Oh, and LinkedIn --- if you happen to read this and indeed, give a *&!@, perhaps you might address this situation to achieve a satisfactory outcome.  

The Mindmap Doc

 

LinkedIn Spam

Imagine my surprise when I was notified via LinkedIn of no less than eleven new employees of my company !nnovabiz, 3 based in India, 3 in the USA, 1 in Australia (in addition to the current employees), 2 in the Philippines and 1 in the UAE!

That is going to blow out my payroll costs!  My accountant will definitely not be impressed!!

What is worse, these new employees have names that just don't reflect the right image for our company - Ningning Dong, manager chez, huj, no at, boss (just to name some).  I also have several managers, research, sales, sales clerks, IT managers, Marketing, engineer and CEO.

HELP........ how am I going to keep all these people busy and how am I going to be able to pay them?

Seriously, it would appear that LinkedIn have a spam problem.  I reported the issue to them and was notified that "The appropriate actions have been taken upon the profile."  Unfortunately, it didn't have any effect - the said employees remain in LinkedIn on the company profile.  When I enquired about what the "appropriate actions" were and pointed out that nothing had changed, I was told "Please note, we give members 10 days from our initial inquiry to make the necessary changes to their profile. If we do not receive a reply or see that the necessary changes have been made to the profile, we may take further action on the profile. For privacy reasons, I am unable to disclose the actions that may have been taken upon the profile."

So, let me see if I understand:  anyone can place a LinkedIn entry on MY company's profile without restriction, but when I question that, I'm blocked by "privacy reasons" from protecting myself and my company from fraudulent entries???

C'mon LinkedIn, get your act together!  I thought you were a serious networking site!

The Mindmap Doc

Random Acts of Culture

The Knight Foundation, based in the USA, was established about a year ago to promote informed and engaged communities.  One of their initiatives involves using the arts to engage people and bring communities together.  Recently they have staged a series of "Random Acts of Culture" in public places in US cities.  Here are a couple of examples.

 

 

 

Now this is something I get excited about - surprise in the day, but in a nice way.  And what a great way to support local community talented musicians.  Now they just need to leverage all that viral marketing to help promote (and raise more money for) their foundation and the musicians.

The Mindmap Doc

Bottle Band - Light Entertainment for the Weekend

Now this is a very creative and humorous form of music entertainment!  I wonder about the drinking session to get all those empty bottles!

 

 

Enjoy!

The Mindmap Doc

 

United Breaks Guitars - Viral Marketing par Excellence

Now you may have never heard of Canadian musician, Dave Carroll or his band Sons of Maxwell.  But, after their bad experience with United Airlines, Dave's response has been just brilliant and catapulted him to instant fame and attention. 

Dave's guitar was damaged by United Airlines in transit and their response to his subsequent claim for damages was less than satisfactory.  In a very clever, innovative and quite entertaining use of "internet video marketing", Dave managed to achieve a satisfactory response (albeit belated) from United Airlines and has not only publicized his bad experience, but at the same time, made quite a name for himself, his band and provided opportunities for others (Taylor Guitars, Comedienne "Latriciawhiteagain" and more to come I suspect) to use this experience for their own marketing.

This is just a wonderful example of the power of video marketing through the internet going viral because of:

1. The power of the message
2. The entertainment value (music, parody, personality, professionalism)
3. Social marketing (and yes... I'm caught up in it!

Make sure to watch all 3 videos (see links in You Tube) and also Taylor Guitars response.

 

Google Realtime Search is now live!

Google Realtime Search is now live.  This tool is amazing - showing how Google can index posts within the social network within minutes, if not less.  

Check out Google's demo video of the new features and quick tips on how to use them:

You can access Realtime Search by typing www.google.com/realtime directly into your browser, or clicking the “Updates” link in the left-hand panel of your search results.

I tried out the new search with a current news topic (a disaster of epic proportions, with victims that deserve whatever support we can give!) - Pakistan Floods.

Here is the result - note the "age" of the latest entries.

Check it out, adds to the power of Google Search.

The MindmapDoc

Yet More on Syndicating Blog Posts to the Web

Further to my earlier articles on syndicating blog posts to the web, I have now implemented a more comprehensive system, that has Posterous at its hub.  I am still using twitterfeed and hellotxt to keep Plaxo in the loop, until Posterous includes Plaxo in its services.  Otherwise, all is driven through Posterous, publishing my blog posts as widely as the services that I choose to implement.

Here is the Mind Map illustrating the system:

 

What’s the Difference between a Web site and a Web Presence?

If you are looking for a Web design, you will succeed most if your Web site will emerge as a real Web presence.

A website is, by definition, a singular online entity. It has a unique address, internal links and menus, some level of Web design elements surrounding the site content and is , for all intents and purposes, a standalone resource. The general design approach since the 90’s until now was to design a website as a digitized, online version of a company brochure. In fact, many companies simply copied their brochure content over from print to their new site. Of course, the Web changes quickly and as a result, search engines and marketing methods must also change. Add to these factors that more advanced dynamic functionalities are reduced in price or even are free, the the website from a few years ago can easily get lost or outdated.

What are some signs of an outdated Web site?

1. Dated Web Design – most web designers now build for a 1024 wide screen resolution, however the past standard was 800 wide, so simply designing to the narrower width can make a website look dated. Dated designs will have dated functionality and scripting as they were built using less advanced coding standards. The best scenario is a web presence that is refreshed visually with a newer web design, has updated coding and functionality and has current content with past content moved to an archives section.
2. Dated Content – an obvious factor is web content that is “old news”or last updated a year or two ago. This goes for broken external links to other sites that no longer exist…or have been updated.
3. Dated copyright Notice– Need I say more? If you or your Web designer update the site at least once a year, get them to update the copyright notice to include the current year.
4. Simplistic Communication Levels– most older and simpler sites rely on basic email and maybe a contact form, which works well, these are standard levels of communication on the Web. These days, however, web sites can offer live support chat, active forums and interactive flash media to their site’s interactivity.
5. Poor or no Search Engine Marketing– chances are if the site is not updated regularly or built to newer standards the owners aren’t going to be out promoting it. This will include organic search engine optimization and external paid ad campaigns such as Google Adwords.

So, if you have a website that sounds like this, you will want to read on to see how to turn your Web site into a Web presence.
The difference in a Web presence is the difference between the wall flower at a party and the chain of people doing the conga around the entire room to the beat of the music.
A Web presence is considered a living document as it expands and gains attention and gets people involved.
To take your current Website or if you are planning a new web site from the start, you must consider the following key features to make your Web site a bonefide Web presence:

The Web presence:

1. Have a custom web design that is uncrowded, professional and attractive, but does not impede navigation through the web pages, nor access to any of the content in the site.
2. The design should not limit expansion, but rather encourages it– your site can easily have new web pages and the latest functionalities added. Think about a blog or forum – these tools are built to expand and manage new content easily.
3. Intuitive Menus and Supporting Navigation are needed to define which sections are passive, which are active, which functionalities are dynamic or static and which areas are most likely to expand. Ideal navigation will provide for the user to access all pages from each page, with the least amount of click throughs. This is only possible with proper initial planning to provide clear, hierarchical levels of sections and pages.
4. Written content on the site is unique and crafted for the Web, not just lifted from a Print document or technical paper. You can make these documents into White Papers or single PDFs for downloading, leaving the Web content to be search engine optimized and edited to flow from one page to the next.
5. Keep Functionality Realistic– you don’t need an “Live Online Support” function if you don’t plan to use it. Determine early on who will do the Web site updates and maintenance and then decide on a back up person to ensure the updates are done no matter what, either the Webmaster or a trained editor who can manage the site using a CMS. If you have a portfolio, use a dynamic gallery to show it off. If you enjoy writing, then get a blog, make sure you understand how to use it properly. If you want to start e-commerce, be prepared to learn how to manage the catalog and admin areas.
6. Search Engine Optimization – starts with the organic results generated by how the site is built, how accessible it and its content is, and how it relates to other websites. Then get your site manually listed in the top search engines and directories and start building reciprocal or back links to your site to help increase exposure and build popularity.

Once the site is live, you will need to:

1. Continually review and develop effective Search Engine Optimization
2. Expand into e-commerce, so your site can make money for you.
3. Start to develop targeted ads using CPC paid listing campaigns like Adwords, Adbrite, etc.
4. Collect Information about your visitors using Opt-in newsletters and special offers.
5. Survey your existing customers to gain user experiences and update your Calgary Web site accordingly.
6. Make your website as interactive and personal as possible.
7. Investigate different media such as graphic design/print, vehicle signage, mobile, radio, personal business relationship building to raise your Web presence to a higher ranking.
8. Update your content regularly and find related niche sites and post on any blogs and groups for your key search terms and links back to your site.

A Web presence is more powerful and successful than a website because it has an active audience on the front and an active administrator in the back.

A website is good as a channel for your regular business model, but a Web presence is innately active and is a successful means of communication and separate revenue stream.

Syndicating Blog Posts to the Web

I have set up my blogs to automatically syndicate to the web via the major social networking sites:

The excellent posts at Nimopress describe exactly how to do this:

Blog Building Part 1

Blog Building Part 2

From now on, any posts that we publish to this blog, should automatically appear in our Twitter page and Facebook page, as well as several other social networking sites.

Sidewiki Use

Hi Jim, enjoyed your last video. Question of Sidewiki use - did you know you can link Sidewiki to your blogger account(s) and then on to Twitter, Facebook etc, and so get social traffic back to the site you commented on? It may even get you backlinks to your own site, which, of course! you have in your Google profile.
cheers, Jürgen

in reference to: SEO - SEO Melbourne | Internet Video Marketing | Online Marketing Melbourne | SEO Video | Video Email | Video Streaming | Stew Art Media | Jim Stewart (view on Google Sidewiki)

Twitter Site Blocked

My Twitter account is locked and looks like it has been hacked - there is a dubious entry posted there, which I didn't put there!. I searched the Twitter help pages to see what I needed to do to restore my account. I like how they say "If you are having trouble logging into your account, lodge a ticket here". Clicking the link takes you to the login page "You need to login to your account to lodge a ticket". Maybe they should read Catch22!

I sent an email to support - three times in four weeks, no response. Does their support service even check their email?

So, what now? Well I suppose it is a FREE service after all, so what can you expect?

Looks like I'll be a convert to Google BUZZ!

(connect with me on Facebook or LinkedIn, but forget Twitter for now!)