Corporate blogs are an elusive creature popping up all over the face of the Internet. From Microsoft to Google, many companies and corporations are now starting to update their users regularly with inside information, tips, and news. This is an occasion which has never been witnessed before, save a few insider conferences in the past.
Archive for December, 2008
Why Start a Corporate Blog?
Wednesday, December 31st, 2008Is Print Media Dead?
Wednesday, December 31st, 2008All over the world, especially the United States, companies move their presence, their advertisements, their world from the recognizable world of print to the new, cryptic world of the Internet. This change of media has led to many newspapers packing up and calling it quits, magazines moving their articles online, and television stations including most of their popular reports on their websites.
Still, even in its final stages, print advertising placements are going for a much larger premium. I feel this is the reason for its demise. Print media is expensive; it’s concrete, it’s static, and it lasts forever. Once an advertisement has been printed in a newspaper, the advertisement survives until all issues of that newspaper have been removed from the planet. It will always be around to be seen.
The case is not such with online advertisements. Online, advertisements last as long as the funding does. They’re dynamic. They change at a moment’s notice, turning from Chevrolet to Amazon.com. With so many companies based online these days, print advertisements just don’t make sense. Additionally, they’re cheaper. It doesn’t cost nearly as much money to change a few pixels as it does to print enough newspapers to completely reach an audience.
It’s an age where a journalism degree and twenty years of experience won’t do well for job placement. As such, I ask the question: is print media dead? Is it dying? Will it make a comeback after this “awkward stage?”
Rebuilding After Being Hacked
Monday, December 29th, 2008Recently, OMG Blog, one of Butch’s favorite blogs, was hacked. Beside problems with fixing code, passwords, and otherwise defending one’s site from future attacks, there are other problems to be faced when you are hacked, such as rebuilding peoples’ perceptions of your brand.
When a professional marketplace like Amazon is hacked, people are wary of buying through them, as they don’t feel their information is secure. When a blog is hacked, people are wary to read, as they don’t know if the information is accurate. After all, who’s stupid enough to leave their site vulnerable? And for other sites, the “stupid” factor comes in even stronger. Your opinion no longer matters because you left your site vulnerable.
One Ad, Eight Products and the Super Bowl
Saturday, December 27th, 2008The NFL playoffs are about to begin and that means the Super Bowl is nearing. And like any other year, millions of people will watch for the advertisements. If you have the $3 million dollars it cost this year for 30 seconds of airtime, it is a great way to get your brand in front of millions of people.
So, if you cannot afford it, what do you do? The ad agency Cesario Migliozzi says it will pay the $3 million for an ad they will produce featuring several different products simultaneously, splitting the cost between clients. Sounds like a good idea, but NBC, the network hosting the Super Bowl, now wants to charge the agency $2 million more than the going rate. (more…)
Tools for the Web Designer in You
Friday, December 26th, 2008Whether you’re a designer, developer, or programmer, chances are you’re going to have to deal with CSS at one point or another. A powerful tool which we’ve broken and abused to fit our purposes, CSS can tend to be temperamental at times. Thus I present to you the best tools for getting your CSS into tip-top shape.
