PIXEL MAVERICK

I came across a site called Linkbait Generator that is supposed to help bloggers come up with titles that will generate more traffic.  The concept is pretty simple — you enter your desired topic and hit submit and the site generates a suggested Linkbait Title.

Sounds genius, so I thought I would test it out using some topics that are trending positive recently.

Topic Attempt #1 — “Real Time Search”

Attempt #1 — The Results

…Huh?  OK, well I know that using numbered list approaches is usually a good way to generate traffic.  Is that all that Linkbait does though — take your topic and then drop a numbered list approach in front of it?  Surely not cuz that would be really lame to so overly simplify how to build a powerful title, …Right?

I figured I should not let one (1) attempt define this so I would test this out with two of the most LINKBAITY words out there since the beginning of the Interwebs …”FREE” and “SEX”.

Attempt #2 — “FREE SEX”

Attempt #2 — The Results

OK, at this point I am definitely seeing a SUCK trend here.

To be sure, I performed the final proof-of-stupidity test to confirm that this is officially lame.

Final Attempt — “10 Ways Linkbait Sucks”

Final Attempt — The Results

Official lame SUCKness confirmed.

At least they are equally lame for all topics.

I don’t debate that a good title will help build traffic for a blog post, but at the end of the day the value is in the content itself.  Write good stuff consistently and an loyal audience will follow.

Considering that most movies about popular 80′s TV shows do more damage to the legacy than good …the upcoming A-Team movie seems destined to ruin a show that the 10-year old me considered a masterpiece combination of brilliant writing and well timed ‘SPLOSIONS!

The A-Team legacy is BA Baracus’ (aka Mr. T) source of money, and nobody messes with BA’s money and lives to tell about it.  The director of the movie better hope that BA can parlay the movie hype into some dollar bills or he is in for an ass kickin sucka.

Who knows though, it has Liam Neeson (credibility) Jessica Biel (extreme hottness) and that dude from The Hangover (humor) so maybe this one has a chance.

Thanks to BrandFlakesForBreakfast I found a cool new online service called Flavors.me that allows you to aggregate your social feeds (Twitter, Facebook …).

You are probably thinking …”So what!?“  There are a hundred social media aggregators out there (TweetDeck, Brizzly, etc).

True, but this one takes it a little bit in reverse and is akin to your social buzz business card.  It pulls in all your various outbound feeds and aggregates them onto a simple splash page that you can personalize with an image background.

The site is still in beta, so there are a few issues with it currently.  The Facebook feed seems a little buggy, and it is missing several social partners (LinkedIn…) that I would have expected to see in the setup options.  The admin for your personalized page is very simple/ intuitive, so the overall setup took me maybe 10 minutes.

Great potential with Flavors.me so go check it out and apply for an invite to participate in their beta.

I am and always have been a history junkie.  I can nerd-out for hours on the History Channel, and prefer fiction that weaves the story seamlessly within a historically accurate depiction of life at the time.  So, I was thrilled when I stumbled across this fantastic blog called Shorpy.  It is an photoblog, and the person who runs it has been able to collect some of the most interesting pictures of random life in 1900 – 1920s roughly.  It is fascinating …if you are a history nerd like me.

After geeking out with this amazing site for several hours over the holiday, I began to think about how this blog is a product of one of my favorite benefits of the social web.  More specific, I love that where the internet has evolved to today is a vast platform that allows great sites and blogs like Shorpy to surface and become a magnet for niche tribes to come together.

Clearly there are other history nerds out there (or there would not be a History Channel), but even within that larger group of people there are smaller groups that share common passion for very specific types or periods of history.  These are the niche tribes that I am talking about.  Groups of people that always existed prior to social web, but were too hard to connect …or more likely were below the threshold to where they realized there were others out there like themselves.

What is interesting is that there is a correlation between true happiness or passion levels & the more niche the group is.  So, a member of the United States Civil War History Club = 5,000 people of moderate dorkiness and happiness utility levels.  However, a fan of Civil War Confederate Saber & Musket Photography Club = 10 guys who have never had a date but go off the charts with personal happiness whenever a new photo is uncovered.

People are not just in one tribe.  They are simultaneously in hundreds based on what they do for a living, what they are passionate about, things they are affiliated with.

If you had to think about yourself and make a list quickly.

• What tribes are you a part of?
• How many are there?
• Can you rank them based on which ones you are most passionate about?
• Can you rank them based on which ones you spend the most time with?
• Do those rankings match up?

In the spirit of New Years Resolutions, goal setting, and all of the self-improvement statements filling up pages and blog posts this week …here are my goals for 2010 (apparently pronounced “Twenty-Ten”).

As a disclaimer, these are mostly personal improvement goals …and not the “increase client X profitability by 10%” professional type goals.  That being said, many of my personal goals will have a direct influence on my professional goals so win win I guess (Side Note — Avoid using the term “win win” in 2010 since it is extremely lame and makes me sound like a douchey account guy).

1. Procrastinate Less (…off to a bad start since I did not write this post until Jan 3).

2.Avoid credit cards like the plague & eliminate my existing bad debt.

3. Complete at least two internal projects (organizational improvement, research study, etc) in addition to client work at The Martin Agency.

4. Complete at least one DYI project at home (one seems like a low goal — but then again I am a terrible handyman).

5. Blog more.  At least three posts per week.

6. Go to church.

"Hmmmm? Haven't seen you here since your son's baptism sinner."

7. Reduce Starbucks addiction from 7+ per week to 3.

8. Teach my son how to ride a bike w/out training wheels.

9. Train for and run in at least one 10k.

10. Make my wife be selfish for a change.  A girls trip, photography class, a spa day …anything as long as it is something just for her.

11. Attend at least one advertising, digital, or social media conference.

12. Purchase a few quality sports coats — I will embrace my entry into middle-ageness (35) with class …but still young enough to rock those coats out with jeans.

13. Take my family on a trip to NYC via train.

14. Purchase a quality pair of rain/snow boots.  We are not in Dallas anymore.

15. Join at least one extracurricular group or activity for work — social media club, VCU Brandcenter, something.

So that is it.  I will check back to this post in 6 months to see how well I am sticking to my goals.

Thanks to a freak blizzard in VA + the brilliance of every flight always being oversold I recently had the extreme displeasure of being stranded in various airports for 3 days before finally making it home.

After being angry for day 1, I eventually gave up and just went with the flow and spent most of my airport time people watching.

I don’t claim to be the biggest fashion expert, but GOOD GOD what some people will wear to the airport makes people watching pretty great.  If you travel frequently, or for that matter if you have ever been to an airport before you know what I am talking about.  It is a veritable catwalk of bad jumpsuits, color blindness, and overzealous attempts at fitting into things out there.

We have all seen it and we all think the same thing when we do — “WTF?” and “Man I wish I could tell _____ about what I just saw”.

So, in the spirit of copying genius photoblogs such as Awkward Family Photos and People of Walmart I felt the world needed a photoblog that catalogued this airport greatness.  With that I give you — Airport Classy!

If you are too lazy to follow yet another blog, then you can just become a fan of it on Facebook and let it come directly to your newsfeed.

As I spend my day napping, watching football, and eating WAYY too much leftover turkey I am also catching up on some of my favorite blogs.  One of those blogs is Brains on Fire, and there was a quote in one of the posts that was dead on.

“There’s a difference between a brand promise and a brand commitment. It’s easy to promise. It’s hard to commit.” – Greg Cordell, Chief Inspiration Officer, Brains on Fire

If you work at an ad agency, or have ever worked on a marketing campaign for a client you have probably experienced the following situation:

CLIENT: “We need a great campaign to improve perception about our [product/ customer service/ etc]”

AGENCY: “Great, what sort of changes are occurring with said [product/ customer service/ etc]?”

CLIENT: Proceeds to explain at length a circular explanation that really amounts to …”Well, we are not actually going to change anything, but can’t you come up with a zingy tagline or something to cover that up?”

Agency: (Blank stares for a moment ?? Sigh ?? WTF?) “Sure, we are on it sir!”

This is not rocket science people.  If your brand is getting dinged because your product is inferior OR because your idea of customer service is an automated phone system that leads to nowhere …a tagline is not going to fix the problem.

OK OK, I realize it is not that easy to fix these problems.  It requires participation beyond the marketing department and into the other core drivers of the business operation & that can be a political nightmare.  That being said, everyone in the room (client, agency, …the HOT intern bringing in lunch) knows it is the heart of the solution.  So, why do we think ignoring it and coming up with smoke & mirrors will solve the problem?

How about this?  Before we start cranking out taglines and catchy jingles let’s make a list called “Sherlock’s List” (..as in No Shit Holmes) of total effing obviousness.  Upon completing that list, separate the list into groups based on assumed complexity to implement.  I bet you can find at least 2-3 things on that list that are extremely easy to solve quickly & would not require the CMO to risk his/her career to do it.

I am not proposing that the big issue items are ignored, but sometimes a few quick-wins can snowball and provide justification for getting some momentum behind attacking the big issues.  At least it is progress, and that is better than just slapping a jingle on a lie and wondering why customers don’t believe it.

Back to my turkey sandwich now.

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…I don’t even LIKE birds and this website freaking blew me away.

Unbelievable photography.  You couldn’t get simpler with the website design & there is even audio for each bird.

I don’t care if you are an Audubon Society geek, or if you are some sort of psycho-in-development person who shoots BlueJays with your pellet gun while drinking cheap beer on the porch ….you both will think this site is awesome.

I stumbled across these cartoons last week & was blown away.  These cartoons are not only hilarious, but are also quite accurate in explaining each of the wars all summed up in a tidy cartoon board.  The author behind these funny history lessons is Angus McLeod, and he has a site that displays all of his great work that you should check out.

(Disclaimer — I am a huge history geek that can get stuck on the history channel for hours for anything from WW1 & 2 or a biography on Herber Hoover.  My wife is thrilled about this, ha)

World War 1

World War II

If a kid were to read these cartoons before listening to a boring history professor they would probably be quite a bit more interested.