A couple of months ago, Dunkin Donuts launched a social campaign to engage with their core fans. They asked for customers to submit their own concepts for the company’s newest donut. Over the past two months they have received a staggering 90,000 entries.

This week the company announced exclusively through Mashable, the 12 finalists for the competition. They are now asking customers to vote on the new creations in order to determine the champion and therefore the latest delicious product in the Dunkin arsenal.

The number of entries into the contest is truly amazing. Along with the company’s  decision to announce the finalists using a Social Media News website, it shows their understanding of the new media and it’s power to relay brand and promotional messages.

There are potentially hundreds of factors search engines use when indexing and ranking a website. This can quickly become overwhelming for both organizations and web professionals. When it really comes down to it however, content is and always will be king. With that in mind here are five important things to know about search engine optimization.

1) The total number of pages in your website

The amount of content you make available via your website is critical for SEO. It is important to have content that is relevant to your target audience and specifically the terms they will use to find information. The number of pages you will need to create depend on how tough your industry is and how strong you competitors are online.

2) The number of total indexed pages targeting a specific keyword
Luckily you can use a simple technique in Google to determine the number of pages any website has indexed for a specific keyword. Simply go to Google.com and type site:thewebsiteyouwant.com and the add the keyword you are looking for in quotes. For example (site:apple.com “iPod”). This will return the total number of pages apple has indexed under the iPod keyword.

3) The number of internal links, linking to related content within your website
Every page in your website will be indexed and ranked for one or more keywords. Each page in your site that is indexed under a certain keyword could bring value to other of like content by inter linking between them. Look for these opportunities and link only when there will also be value to the human user.

4) How many visitors your website receives from referral sites
This is commonly referred to as deep linking. For optimal search engine performance it is commonly accepted that you should have at least 10 inbound links to your top priority pages from websites outside of your own. This will help these pages in their rankings by proving the authority of the content that exists within them.

5) How frequently the content on your website updated
Most SEO professionals like the guys from www.seoadvantage.com.au believe that it is very important to continually add new relevant content to your website. This will help to enhance the authority of your domain name. Add new pages whether the be blog posts, white papers or some other form of content will not only create more content to be indexed but also allow you to better target new industry keywords as they become priorities.

Have you ever wanted to know how well your website performs on mobile browsers? Luckily there are a few services that allow you to perform basic tests to determine load time and even a visual representation of how your website will look on certain devices. This can give you some key insights on whether or not you need to make structural modifications to your website if you are trying to appeal to a more mobile audience.

mobiReady.com

dotMobi Emulator

iPhone 3G Tester

Google Android SDK (Requires Installation)

Windows Mobile 5.0 SDK (Requires Installation)

Apple announced last Thursday that 450,000 iPads had been sold since arriving in stores the prior Saturday. So who are these early adopters?  Not surprisingly, they look a lot like iPhone owners. In fact, 43% already have iPhones and nearly half (48.7%) own iPod touch devices, according to a new iPad user survey from iPhone- and iPad-centric mobile ad network AdColony.

Among other findings, the firm found that 44.3% have a household income level of $100,000 or more and 58% have bachelor’s or graduate or other professional degrees. More than two-thirds (65.5%) are male, and 34.5% are female.

In terms of age, people 35 to 44 made up the biggest single segment of iPad owners. Those 25 to 34, 45 to 54, and 55 and over each represented about 20% of the iPad user base. The college-age crowd was 7.5%, and teens were just 3.5%. Like iPhone owners, iPad users skew older, male and more affluent than the general population. As more iPads are sold, the typical user may come to reflect a broader cross-section of consumers.

While the iPad has been described as a big iPod, its minimum $500 price means that most kids will have to rely on a parent buying one to get their hands on the tablet. So the iPad will definitely skew older than the iPod touch audience.  At least for now.  I only personally know of one person who has purchased this new device and by all accounts the stats above are right on except she does not own an iPhone but has multiple iPods.

iPad Creative Implications for Advertisers

*This device was built on mobile functionality so think mobile.  Normal “Web” advertising standards may not apply.   

*Specific iPad creative units are required (can’t stretch units to fit larger screen)

*Your site’s landing page can not rely on any Web browser plug-ins like flash or Java to render content. 

*Marketers must use a specific video tag to ensure embedded video can be seen.

*The iPad can not currently support Flash

Apple has banned the use of any non-native tools to create iPhone and iPad apps, which would shut out Adobe’s cross-platform compiler that effectively ports Flash applications to the iPhone.  Apple’s stance on Flash not coming to the iPhone has been pretty clear over the last few years and is really heating up again with the release of the iPad.  Adobe is not happy about this as you can image and rumors of a potential lawsuit are flying. 

These implications listed above are only a few that advertisers will have to face in order to capture this iPad growing audience. 

It’s All About The Apps

There are currently over 3,500 iPad apps in the app store and over 3.5 million iPad apps have been downloaded to date.  Many iPhone apps are currently tweaking their apps for the iPad like Google. The big iPad optimization takes place with Web apps like Gmail, Google Reader, Maps, and Buzz.

The Facebook iPad app, from what I hear could really use some work.  Users claim it’s great for notifications but then you have to check your messages at your desktop or on your iPad browser.  You would think that Facebook with its massive reach (400 million+ users & 100 million+ US users) would build a more enhanced app for this new platform.  

In conclusion, Apple once again has quickly gained dominance over the rapidly evolving media landscape because they have developed a platform that represents a winning proposition for consumers, publishers and broadcasters and advertisers.

I bought an iPad last weekend and have used it about 30 hours without any complaints. I justified it to myself as a eBook because I needed one anyway. But have found it to be much more useful than I anticipated. It’s become my meeting companion for notes, email and more. I love the recording app I downloaded. It makes meeting notes a breeze. So I am a fan.

In fact this post is being written on my iPad. The only weird thing I’ve experienced thus far actually had nothing to do with the iPad, but rather an app. And it made me laugh after I figured out what they meant. After winning at spider solitaire I got this message.

I presume they meant booya. Just a little creative spelling from the developer. Then again, occasionally I’ve done a little creative spelling myself.

I had the fortune of attending the Omaha Business Hall of Fame Gala tonight at Omaha’s Qwest Center. Much like many after-hours work functions, my initial anticipation was that we’d be saying hi to familiar faces and then sitting through the standard presentation of boring Old Guy Stuff. I was pleasantly surprised to leave the event with a different feeling altogether.

What I feel now is a sense of pride and gratification in being from Omaha. We’ve got a good thing going here. Some of the honorees tonight have had (or still do have) a direct impact on my everyday life. I’ve lived in Mr. Seldin’s properties and done work for his company. I’ve done work for Mr. Moglia’s company. I’ve eaten at Mr. Mercer’s restaurants and enjoyed his family’s legacy in Omaha as one of my favorite aspects of the city. I grew up in Mr. Benson’s neighborhood and gone to the schools there.

Every one of the honorees tonight was exceptionally deserving. They have had a definitive positive impact on what makes our City great.

Omaha may not be New York City or San Francisco. And that’s not something we should compare. It’s Omaha. And it’s a good place to be. I’m proud to be from here and to have what I feel is a personal connection to tonight’s honorees. Thank you for making Omaha a better place to be. All I can do is hope to make any sort of contribution that could leave the city a better place as well.

(OMAHA, Neb. – April 8, 2010) – Bozell, an integrated marketing communications consulting firm, announced the promotions of Will Flavell to Director of Social Influence, Christin Goetz to Business and Engagement Developer and Laura Spaulding to Manager of Corporate Communications.

In his role as Director of Social Influence, Flavell will help companies develop successful, shareable social media campaigns, while managing Bozell’s social media efforts and staff. Since joining Bozell in 2006, he has had the opportunity to develop a variety of social media strategies for clients including Borsheims Fine Jewelry and Gifts, First National Bank, Right at Home, CARSTAR and many more.  Flavell is a graduate of Kansas State University, holding a dual BA degree in Public Relations and Spanish, with an outside focus in Web-based marketing.

As a Business and Engagement Developer, Goetz will assist clients with brand positioning and brand development. Since joining Bozell in 2006, she has worked with a variety of clients including Right at Home, VP Buildings, Alegent Health, UNMC Eppley Cancer Center, College World Series, OPPD and Market to Market Relay. Goetz graduated with a BA degree in Journalism from Creighton University.

In her role as Manager of Corporate Communications, Spaulding will coordinate the efforts for Bozell’s business development and will be responsible for Bozell positioning and communications for internal and external audiences. She joined Bozell in 2006 as a business development coordinator and in 2007 was promoted to business development manager. Spaulding graduated with a BA degree in Journalism from Creighton University.  She is currently continuing her education at Creighton by working on her MBA.

About Bozell

Bozell is an integrated marketing communications company with offices in Omaha and Kansas City. Bozell combines qualitative and quantitative methodology to get close to its clients’ customers. Bozell then uses advertising, digital marketing, dialogue relations, technology and innovative creative to provide targeted solutions for local, regional and national clients. For more information, visit www.bozell.com.

When naming files and links in your website, use dashes to separate words instead of underscores. Most search engines, like Google, will read dash-separated words as individual keywords where they look at underscore-separated ones as one unit.

I’m so not a morning person. And typically on a Saturday I sleep in, but this morning my husband and I  were up, dressed, and out the door at 8:30am to go pick up the iPads we had reserved. Read More

Not by taking anything sold over the counter, or even anything behind the pharmacy counter requiring a signature (damn you crack dealers!)!

This is a topic very much on my mind right now since I appear to have been afflicted with the “Welcome Spring I feel like Crap” influenza.  And every time I’m afflicted I go through the same buying cycle.  I run to the store and stock up on everything that promises to be “maximum strength”.  I get liquids and gel caps and powders to mix and none of it works.  I spend a small fortune and load my system up with toxins that may plague my internal systems for the rest of my life – and still no relief.

The odd thing is when asked about the efficacy of these products I can answer with certainty – they don’t work.  And yet, I run to them at the first sign of heavy-duty sniffles.

I think we do this because having a cold makes us feel as though some foreign influence has control over our bodies and we’re looking for a way to regain that control.  What better way of gaining control that to throw money at the problem.

Sometimes I make it to Day 3 of my cold valiantly fighting the urge to stock up on all of this worthless crap – but then I break – I can’t take it anymore – I need something!!!  And off to the pharmacy I run.

If I’ve learned one thing from this fruitless and expensive habit it’s this: I need to come up with a product that doesn’t cure an annoying problem for which a worthless product does not already exist.  Then you’ll all flock to the store to buy my product and make me rich.  Hmmm let’s see – I’m thinking I’ll manufacture a pill for those days when you feel unmotivated and vague.  If I start now I should have my house in Antigua by this time next year.  And you’ll still feel unmotivated and vague – but a little more in control!