So if you dont watch AMC’s original series Mad Men, you SHOULD!  In it’s 4th season, the show is based around an advertising agency on Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue.  “Set in 1960s New York, the sexy, stylized and provocative AMC drama Mad Men follows the lives of the ruthlessly competitive men and women of Madison Avenue advertising, an ego-driven world where key players make an art of the sell.” – AMCTV.com

I have seen all the episodes of the show and was very excited when the 4th season started in late July 2010.  While the show is great, this post is instead about the commercials broadcasted during the show.  With the use of Tivo and DVR quickly making most commercials invisible, it takes a lot to make most people sit through a commercial block instead of jumping ahead.

Todays, “AD Men” have tried many techniques to counteract the effects of skipping commercials.  One of the first things they did was play a “short” during the commercial that was either for the show you are watching or another one on the networking making you think the show was back on.  Other techniques come into play but Mad Men has done something that not only made me stop my “fast forwarding” of the commercials, but made me actually want to watch them.

Before select commercials, there is a short 5 – 10 second “fun fact” about the commercial or company the commercial is about.  Last night’s episode 5 of Season 4 (The Chrysanthemum and the Sword) featured a few of these fun facts for companies like Hotels.com, Clorox, and more.  one such fact was that “From 1920 to 1960 the Clorox ‘pitchman’ was an animated bleach bottle named ‘Butch’ “.

Another fact is for Klondike and states “The ‘what would you do for a Klondike Bar?’ tagline debuted in 1982″.  While these facts are short and sweet, I find that they are interesting enough to me to make me watch some of the commercial block.  It takes a lot to now make that impact and I applaud the concept.

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What is a Blog?

The term “BLOG” comes from two words … WEB LOG. The concept is a place where you can share your thoughts, feelings, knowledge and general “whatever” with the rest of the world. There are many different reasons to create a Blog and for this conversation let’s focus on two major categories. Business Blogs and Personal Blogs:

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this post was taken from an article written for the Bellmore Chamber of Commerce’s Monthly Newsletter

Welcome back friends. If you are reading this, I assume you have either enjoyed the 2 previous installments of “Tech Talk” or simply just have nothing better to do. If it is the later, I would also assume, with a bit of dismay, that you have not headed my advice to get out there and start using some of the social media platforms we have discussed. Remember, networking is a full time gig and there should always be someone to drop a line to or chat with. And there is my fancy little segway into our next topic of “Following Up and Staying in Touch”.

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this post was taken from an article written for the Bellmore Chamber of Commerce’s Monthly Newsletter

Continuing in our “Tech Talk” series, let’s stay on the “Social Media” highway and make a pit stop at LinkedIn (that’s it for the corny analogies… promise). If you remember some of the points made in our previous article, we discussed some of the benefits and capabilities of Facebook and how using it properly can help to increase business and your networking potential. At its heart, Facebook is a social media application meant for PEOPLE to talk/connect to other PEOPLE. LinkedIn, on the other hand, was developed for, and maintains a goal of, Business to Business connections.

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this post was taken from an article written for the Bellmore Chamber of Commerce’s Monthly Newsletter

So lately everyone is talking about 2 things, the recession and social media. While most may think they are unrelated, my opinion is they are. Most members of this chamber are small business owners and rely heavily on the income of their businesses to support their lifestyles and their families. A tight time for consumers has meant even tighter times for retailers and small business owners. The question then is how to draw more people to your store to maintain monthly sales and revenue. Advertising and marketing can be a tool to lean on during these times and, when used properly, should help you achieve this goal. As we all know, there are many ways to market yourself and your business and also advertise for new customers. Read more…

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Here are 5 useful Tips to remember when developing a new Pay Per Click account. Read on to find out how Organized Campaigns & Ad Groups, Keyword Research, Geo Targeting, Landing Pages and Setting the right budget all can help you create a high quality account.

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Here are 5 useful Tips to remember when designing a new website or revamping an old one. Read on to find out how Navigational Structure, Internal Linking, Meta Tags, Keyword Research, and your Domain Name all come into play when utilizing Web Design Best Practices.

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The names of the pages within your website are very important to your overall optimization efforts and are a great place to add some relevant keywords. If you are able to have a Domain Name (www.yourwebsite.com) that includes your Primary keywords, you are already taking a good step. Unfortunately, this is often not an option. Many businesses especially like to have their business name as their domain name. This is acceptable and just means you must be sure to use all other opportunities to insert your keywords.

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Google AdWords is a service provided by Google that allows customers to place text advertisements on the SERPS (Search Engine Result Pages). When you do a search with Google (and most other Search Engines), you often see two sets of results. Ones on the left and ones on the rights (usually marked “Sponsored Results”).

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In the past, as well as currently, websites have been made using Frames. Basically, a frame is a way of presenting your website allowing for faster navigation. Because only part of the site (or a frame) has to load for each page, the time it takes for that page to load tends to be less. Google states:

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One of the most important parts of a link (internal or external) is it’s Anchor Text. This is simply the text that is displayed for a link – ie. “find Great Tacos here” whereas, Great Tacos is the anchor text. The idea would be to have that link pointing to a page with Tacos or Great Tacos.

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Internal Linking

With a General Link Understanding, your Internal Linking Structure is something that the search engines pay a lot of attention to. Usability and friendliness are important aspects in the eyes of Search Engines. Furthermore, your ability to tell the engines information about a link is important.

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Links

Quick note on linking:

When search engines look at websites, one of the main things that they look at is Links. Both External (inbound links from other sites to your site) and Internal (links from one page in your site to another page in your site) are very important in the overall Search Engine Ranking structure. Additionally, Outbound Links (links from your site to other sites) are taken into account as well, but it is best to have more inbound then outbound.

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It has been my consistent experience that many website designers & website design companies choose to omit “SEO Best Practices” from their projects. I have heard from many of my clients that they were either not told about what SEO is (Search Engine Optimization) or how important it is to the success of drawing traffic

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UBE, Inc. is a Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and full-service Webdesign & Internet Marketing firm. Specializing in Website Design, Search Engine Marketing (SEM), On-Site optimization and Pay Per Click Management, UBE, Inc. is Long Island’s up and coming Website Design & Search Engine Optimization company.

With over a decade of Internet Industry experience, UBE, Inc. is prepared to help you take your business to the next level. Offering high-end solutions in Online Presence & Visibility, UBE, Inc. is here to help you make your mark in the Online World.

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