Salutor

links for 2007-06-01

• Change Advertising Forever
  Interesting startup idea: user-generated advertising brokerage.
  (tags: advertising marketing content collaboration media)

links for 2007-05-31

• College Textbooks - Compare prices. Lookup by University and Courses or by ISBN. Find Coupons, Hottest Deals, Shipping discounts. Get Cheapest prices.
  Ugenie is a comparison shopping engine with an interesting new approach.
  (tags: shopping etextbooks ecommerce)
• Market share for browsers, operating systems and search engines
  Data and analysis on browser, search engine, and OS market share.
  (tags: marketingtools research webtraffic trends searchengines)

links for 2007-05-30

• GreenHomeGuide
  Home & garden tips from a green perspective. Uses Expression Engine.
  (tags: green homeimprovement gardening expressionengine)
• Hotel Internet Marketing News and Know-How
  Another example of an ad-supported site using ExpressionEngine
  (tags: expressionengine)

links for 2007-05-23

• Google Trends
  Tool for measuring topics rising in popularity in real time using Google search data.
  (tags: trendspotting google marketingtools research)
• Can Blogs Make Money? Can Web Sites Make Money!
  Danny Sullivan offers a good explanation of the lay of the land on ad-supported content sites.
  (tags: blogging advertising content blogs)
• Can Bloggers Make Money? - WSJ.com
  Now famous email exchange between Jason Calcanis, who argues that bloggers can make money on advertising, and the head of JupiterMedia, a consulting firm.
  (tags: blogs blogging bloggers advertising content)

links for 2007-05-18

• Veer: Elements for Creativity
  High-end stock photography site.
  (tags: photography stock photos images design)

links for 2007-05-17

• Run Easy - Reebok
  Very poorly executed concept for a social-networking site based on running.
  (tags: running socialnetworking)
• YouTube - Worst Commercial Ever
  This is a brilliant commercial. Hire him.
  (tags: Best_Commercial_Ever bestcommercial advertising video)
• The Nature Conservancy - Protecting Nature, Preserving Life
  Good nonprofit site design.
  (tags: charities)
• MoveOn.org: Democracy in Action
  Very good nonprofit site design with a flexible, yet strong, call to action built into the homepage.
  (tags: charities)
• THE 59 SMARTEST ORGS ONLINE on Squidoo
  Great list/critique of nonprofit web sites.
  (tags: charities webdesign)
• The ONE Campaign | FrontPage
  Good site design for a non-profit, although I detest the pop-up and hardsell attempt to get visitor's contact information.
  (tags: charities)

links for 2007-05-16

• A O U - Building a Pond
  Great, old-school personal web page (circa 1998 or so) on building a backyard pond, including various hacks for making your own mechanical and biological filters.
  (tags: ponds gardening watergarden)

What Are YOU Passionate About?

I have been brainstorming today trying to figure out what niche topics people care about that might be under-represented on the Internet. Rather than relying exclusively on my own very limited brainpower, I've decided to do what any good marketer should and launch a survey.

So please, friends, bloggers, countrymen, take my survey! [Click here]

If you finish the survey (which is mercifully brief), you will have a chance to win something you've always dreamed of... a bendable praying mantis replica.

Feel free to send a survey link to other blog-reading people you know.

Online Liquor Store And More

This is an odd week for alcohol-related links since I'm not actually drinking much at the moment, but because two good sites have come to  my attention over the past 24 hours it would be foolish not to jot them down:

BeerLiquors.com
This site sells a terrific collection of liquors, beers, cigars, and other miscellany over the Internet, including some great gins (one favorite that has been hard to find here lately, Boodles), and some very expensive Scotch whiskeys.

24 Great American Craft Beers You Should Be Drinking (from the Bachelor Guy)
I can't vouch for the integrity of the list as a whole, as there are so very many craft beers these days to choose from, but it includes a couple of brews that I have really enjoyed, including the Dogfish Head 90 Minute Imperial IPA.

A few months back I did what struck me as a reasonably comprehensive Google search for beer and liquor sold over the Internet with no results, even though wine over the Internet is quite common. This struck me as odd, but I chalked it up to arcane rules and regulations. [I should add, as well, that my search was prompted in part by the lame selection and prices offered by the state-controlled liquor monopoly here in North Carolina, although the beer selections have gotten exponentially better since the passage of a new law in 2005.]  Either I was searching badly or something has changed recently.

Related links:

• Where to buy beer online (Beer Advocate)
• BeerGeek.biz

 

links for 2007-05-11

• Beer Liquors
  Did you know that (in most states) you can order beer and liquor online? Nifty. Great selection of gins.
  (tags: beer liquor shopping gifts gin scotch whiskey)
• National Retail Federation - News
  Press releases from the National Retail Federation about purchasing trends -- useful market research source for entrepreneurs.
  (tags: entrepreneurdom research retail sales consumers NRF marketingtools)