Marketing Pilgrim

It looks like Google isn’t going to sit idly by while Facebook and Twitter get all the credit for saving the world from tyranny, natural disasters and the common cold. While it sounds less than altruistic, the truth of the matter is that corporate ‘good works’, whether intended or not, creates great buzz and sells products. I say intended or not because this trend for giving companies credit over the people who enact change with passion and courage is a bit overdone. People make change and technology is a tool to help them, not the other way around.

Regardless of your point of view though, Google wants in and is offering nonprofits a special way to use Google Apps. Here’s a look at the home page for the service.

As an online marketing consultant I’m always preaching the value of SEO, but every now and then a website owner crosses my desk where I advise them to abandon their SEO efforts (cue the boos and hisses). I’ve compiled a list of the reasons I feel justify abandoning your SEO efforts and I hope it leaves you thinking about the value of all of your marketing campaigns and how they fit into your overall strategy.

1. None of your sales come from your website.

Our job board has been getting more and more interest as of late and we are seeing new opportunities get listed daily.

Just posted this week: If you are looking in Greensboro, NC, New York City or even Down Under in Perth for work there are jobs to be had. Take a look.

Internet Marketing Analyst – Replacements, Inc. in Greensboro, NC

Intern for Meetup Sponsorship group – Meetup in New York, CIty

Interactive Marketing Manager – 3M in Austin, TX

Cloud blogger – Open Hosting, Inc – Anywhere

Web and Social Media Specialist – CPSU/CSA – Perth, Australia

Sr. Manager of Interactive Communications and Social Media – Avery Dennison in Pasadena, CA

Was on Twitter earlier and it went goofy on me. Rather than the infamous fail whale though I got this

Has the fail whale been beached?

UPDATE: Maybe this is why Twitter doesn’t think that third party clients are a good thing anymore. I spend SO little time on Twitter.com that I had never seen this message. Our reader, Roger Dooley, pointed out my error about Twitter’s error. And I thought we needed to call Greenpeace…….

The Canadian Tourism Commission (CTC) is hoping to encourage new visitors with a unique new display ad that puts the consumer right in the middle of a famous city.

When you click on the ad, you’re taken through a Google Maps display and down into the street view. From there, still navigating inside the ad box, potential tourists can spin the camera 360 degrees while sampling close-ups of shops and other attractions.

After a few seconds, an overlay appears over the street view with a link for more information. In this case it invites you to Explore More of Canada with a Plan Your Trip clickable banner. From there, you go on to a full Canadian tourism website which features videos and slide shows highlighting the features of the city.

On Tax Day (ironically, or maybe intentionally), Amazon will sever all ties with affiliates in the great state of Illinois, including (also ironically) film critic Roger Ebert.

Back in January, Ebert took some flack from Twitter followers who didn’t think it was right that he Tweet Amazon links. The critic explained in an interview with ClickZ that the small amount of income he made from the links went to keeping his website free for all to read and I agreed. A few ads and a few clicks is a small price to pay in order to keep reading articles such as his half-star review of Battle: Los Angeles. Now, we find the fight was for naught, thanks to a new law signed by Illinois Governor Pat Quinn.