Moving on

Well, I have officially decided to hang my own shingle and give the online marketing game a run. The name will be Click Rain, the staff will be an army of one, and the ideas will shake up this market. I'll be done at Sanford Health on February 22 and will certainly miss all the great people there. I've enjoyed helping take their online game to the next level, but am quite excited about the challenges that lie ahead by starting my own venture.

Find out more about Click Rain here.

Flash that Dutch

Some clever Flash work from the Dutch department store HEMA, showcasing their diverse store selection. Heel goed!

Take that, ROI!

This is an actual screenshot from an e-mail sent to my wife by an ROI vendor. Not sure if that subject line will convince her to take the next step in the sales process. (Note: the sender name has been blurred to protect the innocent.)

Mind the Gap

According to a PEW report as told by eMarketer, nearly 1/4 of Americans have absolutely no Internet access - either at home, work, or otherwise. The numbers at Internet World Stats differ just a bit, but regardless, we have some work to do to catch up with Iceland. Yes, Iceland.

LinkedDown

LinkedIn is a great 2.0 site that I find myself spending (wasting?) more time on than I should. One thing I can't figure out, however, is why they always decide to do "routine" site maintenance during peak traffic times - usually between 8-10PMCST?

Decision making

Never be afraid to step back and critically examine the decisions you make in life - whether personally, professional, or just hanging with the boys. Just because you can do it, doesn't mean you should.

Embracing Local Search

A recent study by Nielsen and WebVisible (as summarized by SearchEngineLand.com here) shows some interesting, but not suprising, trends in search. Particularly, search has floated to the top as the primary method people use to get local info - above the print yellow pages, above the online yellow pages, and above newspaper. When 81% of people call the internet "vital" to their day-to-day and 90% have used it for local search, it's time small businesses embrace (further) the power and potential of search.