The Saturday Summary – 3/31/2012

There was a lot of change going on this week, from Marketing Pilgrim’s new design on Monday to some changes for me on Friday which I will formally announce next week (yeah, teasers are no fun unless you’re on this side of them <grin />). Here are some articles which caught my eye during the week of March 26-30, 2012 covering such topics as data analysis, SEO, online privacy, leadership, web marketing and blogging …

Monday

• Picking up on the “Unnatural” link warnings some are seeing in Google Webmaster Tools, Carson Ward shares some insight on this topic on the SEOMoz Daily SEO Blog: Unnatural Link Warnings and Blog Networks
• The FTC released a report on consumer privacy along with some strong “suggestions” that companies which do business online should follow. Cynthia Boris has links to the report and some analysis on the newly redesigned Marketing Pilgrim: FTC Releases Final Consumer Privacy Recommendations

Tuesday

• Do you wonder about A/B testing and how it might work? Wonder no more – Thomas Hogenhaven has an illustrated guide which will help you understand how it all works on the SEOmoz Daily SEO Blog: Illustrated Guide To Web Experiments
• Ian Lurie continues on the thread he started last week on Conversation Marketing on information versus knowledge: Information vs. Knowledge, Part 2

Wednesday

• Brian Solis has an excellent guest post on gapingvoid which discusses courage in the face of unpredictable and relentless change: It Takes Courage
• Along the lines of leadership comes this piece by Erika Andersen on Forbes.com: Why Top Talent Leaves: Top 10 Reasons Boiled Down to 1. Although the article is primarily about executives leaving companies, it turns out they leave for the same reasons as most others. My take: People need a higher purpose to show up for work that’s more than just to make money.

Thursday

• Drew Conrad of Zagg shares shares some data on the various giveaway contests they have done on the startupflavor Blog: The ZAGG iPad Giveaway: A Study in Contest Success with Drew Conrad. I contrasted one of the contests Drew mentioned in the article against one run by Cracker Barrel last year. It’s very interesting to see some insights into how they measure success – and note he lists revenue first. There’s no point in doing a contest if it doesn’t bring in more business.
• There is an interesting discussion about live blogging conference sessions which was started by this Lauren Litwinka post on Search Engine Land: B2B Blogger’s Guide To Turning Tweets Into Rockstar Conference Coverage. I have been known to dabble in live blogging at events and I’ve never been asked to stop or take down any information I’ve posted. My experience has been quite the opposite, in fact. I’ve been thanked more times than I can count for doing it. It’s an interesting discussion – especially in the comments as many speakers and live bloggers weigh in with their opinions.

Friday

• Cloud computing has a lot of promise for SMBs, along with a lot of hype. Eric D. Brown has an interesting take on the subject on his blog: The Cloud – Trend, fad, reality? Yes. The bottom line: Do your research to make sure it’s right for your business.
• Is social media a distraction to you? Frank Strong, a National Guard Officer just back from a tour of the Sinai, has a very interesting perspective on technology as an interruption: Technology, distracted. Thanks to Melyssa St. Michael for sharing this one.