Monthly Archives: December 2011
On September 29th, 2011, Bank of America disclosed plans to collect a fee for standard checking accounts. The fee sparked an outcry among Americans threatening to close their bank accounts and move to other institutions.
Americans rallied together for November 5th, Bank Transfer Day (BTD), as an opportune time to make the switch. Community banks and credit unions capitalized by encouraging customers to move their money to the institutions that don’t charge such fees.
In the final week of October leading up to BTD, eight major financial institutions one-by-one decided not to charge debit card fees, falling to the threats made by consumers.
We’ve seen the power of Americans rallying together to stand up and protect their financial needs. When consumers stand as one, even some of the most powerful corporations in the world will listen.
Consumers stood as one on Bank Transfer Day. In the aftermath, Credit Unions picked up 650,000 new customers – more than all of 2010 combined – totaling $4.5 billion in deposits. Big banks stand to lose more. Their reputation is so thoroughly tarnished among the masses that the ten biggest US banks could collectively lose $185 billion in deposits over the next year if they don’t do more to please their customers.
A Changing World: Consumers Gain Control
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Knowing where to focus your time and energy when it comes to executing SEO tactics that will have value and drive rankings, traffic, and conversions is key to building a long term strategy to grow your online business.
Below you will find the 12 most overrated SEO tactics that don’t work. I am sure some of you will disagree with me on some of them, which is ok, but if you disagree with me, ask yourself if the tactic you disagree with is a long term strategy that aligns with building a quality online business and brand.
A good rule of thumb is to ask yourself “would I feel comfortable explaining this tactic to Matt Cutts, Lead of the Google Spam Team, or would I hide my computer screen if he was standing behind me watching me execute it?”.
1. Mass directory submission
If you have a website or search Google, I am sure you have seen those ads for submitting a website to 1,000 directories for $99.99. They claim that you can get hundreds of “high quality” back links for basically no work. This is not a good tactic, especially for new sites. It can hurt your link graph and be a signal to the search engines that since you are receiving a large number of low quality links, your site is a low quality website as well. If you are going to do directory submission I would suggest reading this post to get some information about valuable SEO directories.
2. Reciprocal links
We have all received those emails from random people asking to trade links (most of us just hit delete after getting a good laugh from them). This is an old strategy that was popular years ago when SEO was in its infancy. Read More
Racist Comments Pile Up on Lowe’s Facebook Page
Every once in a while, a TV show comes around that really gets people talking. This season, TLCs “All-American Muslim” was that show. Taking place in Dearborn Michigan, the show follows the daily lives of Muslim families.
While many have revered the show, there has of course been some backlash. Some people were unhappy with the portrayal of the families, others were unhappy with the fact that the show was even on air. One group in particular was so outraged that they took it out on Lowe’s for airing commercials during the show. So they started writing letters. This group wrote Lowe’s so many letters that eventually, Lowe’s backed down and pulled all of their ads.
Now, opponents and supporters of this decision have flocked to the Lowe’s Facebook page to show their respective outrage and support. More than 23,000 comments have been left in reply to the note that Lowes posted, explaining their decision. Many of those comments berated Lowe’s or expressed disappointment for the decision they made and declared they will no longer be shopping at Lowe’s. But a good portion of the comments were also in favor of the decision that they’ve made–expressing blatant racism and saying they will begin shopping at Lowe’s based on this decision.
As you can imagine, the Facebook page has become a mess to moderate.
Dear Wonderful People Of Earth,
Earlier this Autumn, our beloved Santa Claus dared to dream the impossible dream.
He dreamt that this Holiday Season, instead of building toys in the Workshop, we Elves would spend our time out in the Big Wide World, spreading Festive Cheer and Holiday Magic.
To make his dream a reality, Santa teamed up with his new digital AOR, Critical Mass, to make your Holiday Wish experience a completely online one.
You see, it goes like this:
You can share your wish at criticalmass.com
Tweet your wish to @criticalmass
Or tell us your wish on Facebook
Critical Mass will take it from there.
While Santa’s sprightly Elves are off galavanting across the globe spreading Holiday Warmth, Critical Mass’s remarkable new MakerBot machines will be building, as though by magic, the Holiday Wishes of many of our dearest friends. In short, Santa’s on the digital bandwagon, making Christmas more cheerful and efficient than ever before. Read More
1. What is your role at CM? How do you spend your days?
I’m an Account Manager on the Nissan USA account based in Nashville. I spend my days equally divided as a quarterback, cheerleader, referee, defensive line and offensive tackle. I’m never on the sidelines. (Sorry for the sports analogy).
2. What is the greatest thing about CM culture?
I think the greatest thing is you’re really able to chart your own career path. If there’s something that interests you, I’ve found management is pretty open. You can go to them with an idea and they’ll say, “Ok, make it happen.”
3. What drives you? What are you inspired by?
I’m driven by passionate people. People who zig when others are zagging. I love it when people share my philosophy of “it’s better to ask forgiveness than permission…”
4. What was your greatest accomplishment of the past year?
Traveling last week, I found myself immersed in the busiest travel season of the year – the pre Christmas rush. And while I moved from one line to the next, I found time to catch up on a backlog of recent articles on the incredible growth of tablets. Standing amidst a myriad of travellers had me pausing to think back a few months ago to when my wife and I packed up the kids and headed out for a late summer holiday, and the trials and tribulations of traveling with, in our case, an iPad.
My set and practiced packing of technology routine underwent a fundamental, and I suspect over the last few days oft repeated, change. DSLR Camera—check; iPhone—check; baby monitors—check; laptop… And that’s where I stumbled. For the first time in decades, I (gasp!) left my laptop at home.
Though I still remember the days where dragging my ThinkPad required the shoulders of Superman to carry through the gate-to-gate dash that so much of my travel has comprised of, I looked back and forth between my so-much-lighter MacBook Pro, and the family iPad and asked: do we really need the laptop? Read More
