Google Nose

Use Google Nose to smell French Onion Soup

Google Nose uses SMELLCD™ 1.8+ high-resolution compatible for precise and controlled odors. Check out the video below for more details.

Nashville SEO Meetup

Local SEO is vital part of Google’s algorithm. They take special care in helping the small business get found in a sea of corporate listings. So, what you can you do to help your listings? There are several items that every local business should do to enhance their presence online. Most of these items are free.

The Nashville SEO meetup group is a free monthly group that provides great information for those just starting with SEO or the experienced marketer. This month’s Nashville SEO meeting, discussing local SEO, will be another great event. The meeting takes place at Belmont University’s McWorter Hall.

Nashville SEO Meetup

As mentioned, this month’s event will discuss some of the major SEO tools that are used for search engine optimization. Everywhere you look there is a new SEO tool on the market, but which ones do the experts use?

Join me and others on February 28. As it was last month, the meeting will be at Belmont University in McWhorter Hall, Room 114 at 6:30pm. It’s free!

RSVP Here: http://www.meetup.com/Nashville-SEO-Group/events/91493792/

Remarketing with Facebook

It’s not uncommon for me to speak about Google’s Remarketing. I am big fan of utilizing this tool, because I’ve seen the results.

However, there are some limitations using Google’s tools. It doesn’t provide the demographic and interest details that Facebook provides. Thankfully, there are some creative ways to merge those sets of data together.

Join us January 17th and learn more about this merging of social media and search advertising.

To learn more about this topic, visit a recent blog post I wrote on CrescentInteractive.com

Fake Social Media
It should be no surprise in this online marketing industry that there are those looking to make a quick buck on quick numbers. Many newcomers get suckered into buying likes and followers, but the quick solution never works.

On CrescentInteractive.com, Gavin Richardson takes us on this very topic. He discusses an actual scenario where a friend of his was duped into the quantity and not the quality. Gavin gives some practical tools on how to check for fake accounts. Read more at Beware the Fake Social Media Guys

Marathon and Business
My friend and marketing expert Laura Click just finished her first marathon. On her blog, she discusses some of the lessons she learned during the training process. Many of those lessons can be applied to any business. Laura writes:

Think about your business – it’s really easy to get caught up in the success of those around you. Maybe your competitors are winning more awards, getting more clients or developing a bigger following on social networks.

Although you should be aware of the competition, you shouldn’t dwell on it. You’ve got to focus on what works best for you and your business.

Read more at 7 Business Lessons from Running My First Marathon

PPC Personas
Establishing personas is becoming more involved in my pay-per-click processes. I am glad to know I’m not the only one. Megan Ginecki with Seer Interactive discusses personas with M-m-m-my Persona – Develop the Knack for Paid Search Persona Analyses. Megan discusses Lyena Solomon’s PPC Competitive Analysis session at SMX East.

Read more at SeerInteractive.com

Lincoln movie review

Lincoln is faced with the dilemma of negotiating an end to the war or passing the 13th Amendment. It appears quite obvious by his many supporters that he can’t have both. Dropping the fight for amendment could be a negotiation tool and leverage to quickly ending the war. This struggle between saving the lives of more soldiers and the moral obligation of the abolition slavery is the core of Lincoln’s turmoil.

Although, ‘Lincoln’ has several horrific battle scenes, or rather post-battle scenes, the real battles are in politics. Those who believe that political name-calling and mudslinging are a modern invention, need only look at the discourse in Washington during our Lincoln’s time.

Much of that discourse was led by Thaddeus Stevens, played remarkably by Tommy Lee Jones. Stevens was a leading abolitionist and apparently the only character that actually believed blacks and whites are equal. In fact, Stevens believes that the 13th amendment din not go far enough. However, Lincoln needs to take this in baby steps. Equality will come later, but for now abolishment of slavery. It’s in the later part of the film that we really get to know this Pennsylvania congressman even more. Tommy Lee Jones takes on his best performance to date as Stevens, decked out in a black wig and walking slowly with a cane. This performance is sure to garner Jones a best supporting actor nomination.

A great supporting case as well included Lincoln’s close advisor and Secretary of State William Seward (played by David Strathairn), Plus, Lincoln pulls in group of “strong-arm” lobbyist that show Lincoln would almost do anything to pass this amendment, the least of which involves exchanging jobs for votes.

But as great as the supporting cast was, Daniel Day Lewis as Lincoln is remarkable. He makes all other actors look like actors, but for us Lewis is Lincoln. He is at a different level than every other actor. His performance is Oscar-worthy indeed. Spielberg and Lewis do a great job in making Abraham Lincoln seem human, while still allowing him to keep that legendary status on the top of Mount Rushmore.

I’ve wrote often about social signals in search. The simple fact is what happens in social media matters to search engines. Author Highlighting is a great way to bring social and personalization to search engine results.

The Nashville SEO & Internet Marketing Meetup crew is a Meetup organized by Ross Jones of 2 the Top Web Site Design & Promotion. You can join the group here: http://www.meetup.com/Nashville-SEO-Group/. Every month this group discuss the latest trends in search engine marketing. Nashville SEO & Internet Marketing November event is another great topic!

Guests can RSVP here: http://www.meetup.com/Nashville-SEO-Group/events/84824842/

The movie starts off with a spectacular pre-credits action sequence. Yes, it’s over-the top, but we expect and accept that with James Bond. The chase scene goes from riding on the roof tops of a Turkish bizarre to using an earth mover to plow through a train car. All unbelievable and great! This feels like a Bond film. This is what I came to see, but that feeling doesn’t last.

SkyFall - Left me with unanswered questions

The hunt for the enemy introduces us to two characters, from the other side. The Dr. Evil of SkyFall was Silva, played creepingly great by Javier Bardem. We eventually learn why he is after the agency and M in particular. The other character introduced was the typical good/bad Bond girl, Severine. Although seemingly insignificant, her presence and Bond’s relationship with her was odd and unsettling. We learn that her past involves being an under-age sex slave and probably still performing the same duties with Silva. That alone is disturbing enough. James bond doesn’t save her. He uses her sexuality and ultimately seduces her to get Silva. I guess her being a sex-slave and all, she is use to that. (Feeling icky yet?)

I don’t claim to be a Bond connoisseur. I grew up watching Roger Moore as Bond, so what do I know? I tend to watch Bond movies as stand-alone movies. I don’t worry about continuity between films. With over 30 films that seems to be thrown out the window anyway. The multiple homages to old Bond movies were wasted on me. The car, the exploding pen reference, the heineken … wait, what?

Let me state again, how much I enjoyed Judi Dench in SkyFall. Every scene she was in, not matter how insignificant, was enjoyable. With that, I am not even sure why I enjoyed her. Maybe it’s her great voice. Maybe it reminded me of Spaceship: Earth at Epcot. Either way, that’s the sign of a great actress. You just enjoy the screen time.

Ultimately, the movie lacked enough action for me. Other than the opening sequence, the action that SkyFall did contain was too “artistic” for me. For example, one scene included fighting silhouettes that I had a hard time watching. I just wanted the scene and several other scenes to just be over with.

I did not care about Bond’s backstory. I didn’t care what made him this way. Any attempt to delve into Bond’s history didn’t work for me. Besides James Bond works better for me as an international man of mystery. Not a man who was hardened by death at a young age and ultimately misses his Mommy.

SkyFall turns somewhere for me. It starts off great, but it later turns into Home Alone (no spoilers). The movie left me searching for a point? An ending? It left me wondering if Bond was even needed at all. In the end SkyFall left me asking way too many questions and very few answers. However, because many of those questions involve spoilers, I will hold back for now. Let’s talk after you see the film, I have a lot more to say.

But first …
Yes, I am reviewing a movie on my blog.
Why?
Why Not?
My blog has no rules. One day, I am talking about using negative keywords when constructing ad groups, another day discussing the value of the Kind Campaign, and today: MOVIES.

Now back to Argo.

Ben Affleck, as CIA agent Tony Mendez, discusses Argo with Hollywood make-up artist John Chambers (played by John Goodman).

Argo is based on real events at the height of the Iranian revolution in 1979. It starts with Iranian militants storming the US Embassy in Tehran. Through this process they take 52 American hostages. This is not their story.

Argo is actually based on the six Americans who manage to escape the embassy. Ultimately they sought refuge from the Canadian Ambassador. Thank you, Canada.

CIA agent Tony Mendez, played by Ben Affleck, derives a plan to rescue the six. The plan is to convince the Iranians that these six Americans are actually Canadian film makers that are in the country scouting locations for ‘Argo’ (The movie within-in the movie). Is this a good idea? No, it’s a bad idea, but it’s the “best bad idea” they have. It certainly beats the other option of rescuing the crew on bicycles.

Not only does Argo tackle a serious and true topic, but the comedy in it is also great. Yes, I know, who would think a film about the Iranian hostage standoff would be funny, but yet it was. The humor was handled in a proper way. Most of the comedy comes from the Hollywood side of Argo. This is where Mendez enlists a Hollywood makeup artist (John Goodman) and a producer (Alan Arkin) to make the plan credible.

“If I’m gonna make a fake movie, I’m gonna make a fake hit!” – Arkin’s character sums up the work needed to pull off this real, fake movie.

The contrast between the fake world of Hollywood and Iranians putting on a “show” for the camera are well-done. One my favorite scenes involved a table read of the ‘Argo’ script, which included full-makeup characters and costumed actors. This was balanced back and forth with a scene of abused hostages and forced manifesto readings. Both were quite the spectacle.

I’ll leave the rest to you. No spoilers. The movie really never misses a beat. From the terrifying opening sequence, to the post-movie credits (stay for extra footage); the movie is great all the way through.

The movie is unbelievable … well, it would be if it were not so true.

Rating:

(4 out 5)

Blogger Birthday Gifts

• Leave Blog Comments
  All bloggers thrive on comments. It’s a lonely world out there in the blogosphere. It’s always difficult to determine if the message is getting through.

  You can let bloggers know they are not alone. If you read a post, comment. Even the smallest comment is appreciated. See the comments below this post (and any post), leave a message.

• Stay Current with IFTTT.com
  I use to have a hard time knowing when my favorite bloggers posted something new. Because of that, I was often late to the party. There are multiple tools and readers available to stay on top of new feeds, but I have recently become a fan of IFTTT.com. I will share the details and examples for another post, but needless to say the “Recipes” are endless.
• Subscribe to E-mails
  Many site owners have e-mail newsletters or feeds you can subscribe-able feeds. Giving up your email address is the ultimate sign of trust in this modern age. It’s saying “Not only do I like what you have to say, but I trust that you will not SPAM me”. If you like a blogger, show them you like them and trust them.
• Provide a Link Back
  Giving a link back to a favorite post is a great way to send back an appreciation signal. It not only tells the author that you appreciate the work, but it also tells Google. Any SEO will tell you that a quality link provides great value to a website’s search presence. Artificial links can be purchased every day, but there is nothing more valuable than a well-deserved, well-intended link. Do your bloggers a favor and give them a link.



I leave you with one last thing on this 23rd day of October. If you made it this far in the article, you should know today is my birthday …

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