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Why a Lawyer’s Letter Rarely Helps a Reputation Management Crisis

posted on December 3, 2007

When a company’s reputation comes under attack, it can be tempting to bring in the company attorney and fire off a "cease and desist" letter. Unless you’re responding to something that is clearly libelous, trying to cover up your mess by threatening the messenger usually backfires–in a big way.

Hercules Technology Growth Capital is learning that lesson the hard way after sending a c&d to The Funded–a site that lets companies anonymously share thoughts about VC firms. VentureBeat has a copy of the letter sent and TechDirt points out why Hercules’ effort will likely backfire.

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Webify Your Living Room with TiVo

posted on December 3, 2007

On a day where notable bloggers are talking about "webifying" their living room with the use of Mac Minis, along comes TiVo to help the millions of consumers that already own its digital video recorder.

According to Crave…

The digital video recorder manufacturer has partnered with two photo-sharing services–the Google-owned Picasa Web Albums and Fox Interactive Media-owned Photobucket–in order to enable users to surf through their photo albums as well as their friends’ and family members’, provided that their TiVo boxes are broadband-connected.

A release from the company emphasized the fact that photos are viewable in the highest resolution possible, which on the TiVo Series 3 and TiVo HD devices means full high definition.

Not only can TiVo users view their own photos, but they can also search through all publicly available photographs.

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What Do Britney Spears, Al Gore, and Harry Potter Have in Common?

posted on December 3, 2007

It’s a search marketer’s dream. The opportunity to post a news story with a title that includes the keyword "Britney Spears" in a legitimate way!

Thanks to Yahoo’s 2007 Top Trends in Search, we get to use Ms. Spears’ name and also "stuff" our post with a few other popular terms. OK, so we’re not actually hoping to rank for "Harry Potter" but, should Spears, Potter and Al Gore end up in some twisted love-triangle, we’re golden! ;-)

In the meantime, you can waste half an hour perusing the keywords that your fellow man spent the better part of 2007 searching.

News Stories – top 10 news stories

1. Saddam Hussein

2. Iran

3. Iraq

4. President George W. Bush

5. Oil and Gas prices

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Big News for Bloggers; LiveJournal Sold to SUP

posted on December 3, 2007

It has been reported by TechCrunch and confirmed in comments by Anil Dash that Six Apart has sold their LiveJournal product to the Moscow based company SUP. This is big news for a number of reasons, other than it allowing Six Apart to focus their efforts on their three remaining products, it also opens lots of questions for LiveJournal users as to what new security issues may quickly develop?

A quote from October probably sums up the situation best in regards to recent attacks by Russian hackers:

“Law enforcement has no incentive and no motivation to prosecute,” said Anton Nossik, a senior executive in Moscow at the company that oversees Livejournal.ru. “They say, ‘We are not receiving complaints,’ or ‘The complaints that we are seeing are not well formed.’ They find pretexts not to prosecute.” Russian Livejournal blogs are regularly hijacked.

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Thanks to December’s Advertisers!

posted on December 2, 2007

Thanks to the following advertisers for their support of Marketing Pilgrim!

**Want to reach 8,000+ daily readers? We have some great ad options available.**

Torrential Traffic Tactics – their video promises to reveal how they bring in 45K visitors a day and make $4M a year!

Thousand Dollar Profits – do you have some spare time on your hands? Ty Coughlin wants to show you how to earn $5,000 to $10,000 each week.

Sponsored Reviews – bloggers earn cash for reviewing products and services. Advertisers build buzz and links for your web site.

ACS – you can hire the same team that handles search and social marketing for HP, Samsung, Guy Kawasaki and TechCrunch!

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Search Marketing Standard Celebrates 2nd Birthday, Offers Reader Discount

posted on December 1, 2007

If you’re not already reading the search marketing industry’s only dedicated print magazine, you’re missing out on some great articles and insight. Search Marketing Standard is a great read and this month will celebrate its 2nd birthday!

As part of its celebration, SMS would like to give Marketing Pilgrim readers a limited opportunity to help themselves to a great discount, while helping a worthwhile charity.

Until December 10th, Marketing Pilgrim readers can receive a 67% discount off the normal rate, bringing the U.S. cost down to just $4.95 a year! In addition, SMS will donate $1 for every new subscription to the Toys for Tots Foundation!

Use the special discount code 67PILGRIM when subscribing and you’ll get a great discount, a great read, and a warm fuzzy feeling that you’ve helped bring a toy to a needy child this year. :-)