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As of today, “Tribes: We need you to lead us” by Seth Godin is available.  What’s remarkable is that Seth marks the occasion by putting his money where his mouth is.  His leadership inspired many to work together and produce something remarkable.

Several months ago he posted a single invitation to join a new tribe on Ning.  Together — this tribe formed by choice — collaborated, contributed and produced a companion eBook also available today.  It is completely free and filled with great information, case studies and random tangents.

Congratulations to the triiibe. Click to download your own copy here.

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With Google stating that they know of over a trillion unique pages on the internet, wading through it all for just the content that is of interest to you can be monumentally difficult.  Once you find what you’re looking for, how can you place it in context?

dotShout offers the simplest, most effective way for digital marketers to filter through and discover the best online marketing news and views across the web.  The articles selected are placed in context by highlighting the references, discussions and debates driven by other bloggers and microbloggers.  This contextual ecosystem spotlights which views have stopped whispering and have started shouting.

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Image by savethedave via Flickr

Web researchers, iPerceptions, recently conducted a study that relied on user-generated feedback from 14K visitors to leading media sites to gather insights into which type of online advertising get people to click. The  consumer’s online advertising preferences report had many takeaways, but there was one quote that I simply love for its simplicity.

“Our research clearly shows that media sites that offer consumers compelling content and features - encouraging repeat visits - generate much better ad clickthrough rates than less engaging sites.  Marketers that want to reach high quality audiences should focus ad placement on sites that deliver the highest customer loyalty and repeat visitor traffic.”

-  Jonathan Levitt, Vice President of Marketing at iPerceptions

That’s about as simple as it gets.  Compelling content yields compelling results.  Now the trick is for media companies to realize that compelling in print or broadcast does not mean compelling online.

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Passion is truly contagious.  Gary Vaynerchuk is one helluva passionate guy who both motivated and challenged everyone who attended the 2008 Web 2.0 Expo with his keynote speech.  His simple reinforcements of the obvious mixed liberally with rough language net an often lost compass for online marketing, entrepreneurship and — more fundamentally — how to live a happy life.

“Ask yourself: What do I want to do everyday for the rest of my life?  Do that!  I promise, you can monetize that shit.”

Gary Vaynerchuk, Web 2.0 Expo, 2008

Talk about getting a burst of motivation!  With real life sound bites like “there’s no reason in 2008 to do shit you hate,” he speaks of living an authentic life.  No matter what you love: speak, work, breathe with passion.  Your customers, readers and peers will recognize and thank you for it.

“Everybody has time, stop watching fucking Lost!”  His ideas are so simple that their profound.

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Regardless of the company I’m working with or for, contests and giveaways are a crucial online marketing strategy in converting the drive-by visitor into a loyal reader.  They created a positive association with your brand by the offering of actual rewards for their valuable time and data.  They can be incredibly effective at growing mailing lists, and increasing product sales.  When successfully organized and tied to your brand, its a way to help customers to love you.

The challenges come with deployment.  This level of programming and logistics often warrants bringing a developer into the mix.  This is true especially for those companies early in their online marketing strategy.  And for many, this cost may be a barrier to entry.

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