When I think about potential new websites that I’d build, I usually look for underserved niches–gaps to fill. There are so many companies building large generalist sites that you really need to do something different to have a chance at building a real business. At least that’s my take. Emerge Media has a completely different philosophy. They are a Chicago, IL based company that is “taking on the essential roots of everyday tasks and breathing real life into the technology behind them.” They’ve been launching new sites in broad niches with a lot of competition. It seems crazy to me, but it might just work.
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Yesterday we took a look at an online marketing company. Today we’re going to do the same. While today’s company offers many of the same services, the difference is that they tend to work with larger, national clients. This may seem like a small distinction, but the level of competition can make it seem like a different business. WPromote is an El Segundo, CA based company that calls itself “the country’s leading Online Marketing firm, delivering incredible results for [its] Search Engine Optimization, PPC Management and Social Media clients.” That’s big talk, but they must be living up to it if companies like Toyota, Ford, TOMS, Tumi, and Southern New Hampshire University are hiring them to do their online marketing.
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Online marketing seems to keep getting more complex. Now that every big brand is throwing money at every marketing platform they can, it’s getting a lot harder to drive results. What used to be something that a lot of companies could do themselves now requires an agency. One such agency is OneIMS. They’re a Skokie, IL based company that offers “everything from services like branding and web design to online marketing strategies like SEO and PPC.” Their clients range from small local business to national brands with e-commerce companies falling somewhere in the middle.
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I have a soft spot for Detroit, the entire state of Michigan, and Vernor’s Ginger Ale. My Dad’s entire family is from the Detroit area (including a former mayor going way back), but now I only have one Great Aunt still living there. The city has obviously seen better times, but I’m hoping that it will find its way again. So is Team Detroit. It’s an ad agency that in 2006 brought together parts of five legendary agencies that were under the same ownership (JWT, Y&R, Ogilvy, Wunderman, and Mindshare) and already working with Ford. Oddly enough, Team Detroit is actually based in Dearborn, MI, but I don’t think that should take away any street creed. They’ve been winning new clients and getting lots of accolades, so it sounds like they’re a winning team.
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Events are inherently social. A lot of time who is going to be there matters more than what is going on. Yet all of our major social networks are about showing off what we’ve already done. If we’re going to broadcast our lives, it might make sense to let other people in on the fun. Fever is a New York, NY and Madrid, Spain based startup social network that is “changing the way people make plans.” Their idea is to take event discovery away from the calendar and make it all about the people.
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You’ve probably looked at thousands of ads already today, but chances are that you haven’t thought about how they got in front of you. Behind all of those ads is a group of people who made a complicated set of decisions to get that specific message to you in a specific place at a specific time. Managing those kinds of decisions at scale is really hard. Centro makes it easier. They’re a Chicago, IL based company that works “to improve the lives of those working in the advertising industry by building media management software that helps marketers engage with audiences across all digital channels in the most successful manner possible.” The goal is put all of the options in one place so that advertisers can make the best decisions for themselves or for clients.
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It almost seems that a person’s comfort with buying something online has an inverse relationship with the item’s size. Books, digital goods (size = 0), and clothing are no brainers these days, but people still seem to prefer an in-person experience when it comes to furniture, cars, and homes. I guess it could be based on cost too. Either way, some things are easier to sell online than others. Home furnishings, decor, and outdoor furniture fall somewhere in the middle, but online will win eventually. Hayneedle is definitely pushing for it. They are an Omaha, NE based company that “has become one of the nation’s largest online retailers, offering more than 3,000 brands and nearly 2 million products for the home.” It all started with Hammocks.com, and they just kept adding niches.
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Every time that Amy and I move (four times over the last six years), we say that we’re going to do a great job setting up our new place. When we move to the next place, we end up repacking the framed pictures that we never got around to hanging on the wall. Interior design isn’t our strongpoint. Next time we move, we’ll have to use Houzz for inspiration. They’re a Palo Alto, CA based company that offers “a collaborative platform for home remodeling and design, bringing homeowners and home professionals together in a uniquely visual community.” It’s kind of like Pinterest, but only for home design and decor.
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You can buy clothes in a lot of places. Where you buy typically depends on whether you’re looking for a good price, convenience, or your favorite brands. Then you have to decide whether you’d rather shop online or in person. If you’re brand focused and like shopping online, you may want to check out REVOLVE. The company is based in Cerritos, CA and is the “virtual home for an unrivaled collection of the world’s most coveted brands.” REVOLVE offers both men’s and women’s clothing, though the focus definitely seems to be on women’s lines.
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My New Year’s Eve has been the same for the past 9 years. I’ve never celebrated in a big city, but from what I hear, it’s awesome… until you realize it’s 2 AM, 12 degrees, and you’re a long way from your nice warm bed. You made the smart decision to leave your car at home, but now what? Everybody in the city is trying to get home at the same time, and every cab that drives seems to be full. You’ll probably die of hypothermia before you can hail a cab, so you might as well use an app to find a ride. Uber can get you a black car or a cab, but their “surge pricing” will make it hurt. If there’s a time to try Lyft, it’s tonight (though Lyft has its own surge pricing called “Prime Time Tips”). They are a San Francisco, CA based company that offers “on-demand ridesharing” in nearly 20 cities across the country. They call it “your friend with a car.”
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Despite moving in 5 months ago, I still haven’t put up most of the framed pictures and art that we have in our apartment. It’s a ridiculously easy task, but for some reason it’s always the last thing that I want to do. In other words, don’t give us art for Christmas! However, if you have friends or family who know exactly where to put every new piece on their walls, then you may want to buy them a gift from Art.com. The company is based in Emeryville, CA, and it “is a leading authority in wall décor and the world’s largest online retailer of posters, prints, and framed art.” Every single person has his or her own taste in art, and Art.com allows each of them to find the kinds of pieces that appeal to them.
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When it comes to search engines, rankings are based on a wide variety of factors. Having content relevant to the query is probably the most important thing, but right after that comes links. Sites and pages with more incoming links (especially from sites and pages that have lots of incoming links) tend to rank better. Wikipedia gets a ton of links from all over the web, and as a result their pages rank well in almost every search result for which they have relevant content. They don’t even have to worry about getting links to rank well, they just do. But lots of smaller sites struggle to reach a wider audience through search engines because acquiring links can be really hard–especially in certain niches. TextLinkBrokers is a Mesa, AZ based company that services the “needs of professional SEM agencies and individuals looking for high quality link development.” In other words, they help site owners get more links.
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Today few businesses can afford to ignore online marketing. The baseline has changed, and customers expect to find an online presence. Whether you’re a local restaurant, a consulting firm, or a toy manufacturer, people want to learn about you and interact with you on the web. The problem is that most small and local businesses don’t have the expertise or the resources to make wise investments in social media, SEO, SEM, and other online marketing options. They need affordable automation, and that’s exactly what Signpost offers. They are a New York, NY based company that has moved out of the deals space (just like yesterday’s company) and into offering a “cloud-based platform that makes digital and mobile marketing simple and effective for SMBs.” Without options like Signpost, small businesses would have to hire a full-time person just to run online marketing (I know that you’d prefer that they do that).
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A couple months ago I was raving to you about our web host WP Engine. While I’m still generally happy with them, they had a pretty big screw up a couple weeks ago. I worked with their support team, and we were able to find a resolution (though it took much longer than I would have hoped). All of the communications ran through Zendesk, which is “beautifully simple customer service software.” It’s basically a platform for managing all of the back and forth that is typically a part of delivering good customer service. Zendesk is based in San Francisco, CA, though they were originally founded in Copenhagen, Denmark in 2007 (they made the move in 2009).
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I’ve mentioned before that I love watching Million Dollar Listing on Bravo. In the latest episode, one of the realtors is working with an extremely “motivated” couple who are itching to burn a few million dollars on a house, yet the agent can’t find anything on the market that meets their specifications. This is the kind of problem that agents want (the agent ends up finding them a house and getting the commission). Non-serious buyers and sellers can cost agents a ton of money, so any way to figure out which clients are ready to act is extremely valuable. That’s exactly what Zurple offers. They’re a Carlsbad, CA based company that builds software focused “on one thing — starting conversations between Realtors and leads that culminate in closed transactions.” They came in at #33 on the Inc. 5000 with 7,112% three-year growth to $7.7 million in annual revenue.
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Who watched the season finale of Million Dollar Listing New York last night? I did. I love that show, even though it seems to be more about petty squabbling than actually selling real estate. My biggest takeaway from the show is that selling a property is all about generating interest and getting people in the door to see it. If a realtor can do that, they’ll sell properties. However, most agents can’t throw open bar parties with half dressed models to attract attention–that kind of marketing only makes sense with multi-million dollar properties and six figure commissions. The average realtor needs a more affordable, simpler way to market properties. That’s exactly what BoomTown offers. They’re a Charleston, SC based software company that “has generated millions of leads for real estate teams.” 4,329,036 leads to be exact. They do this by offering “a complete online system that leads more Internet home buyers to [an agent’s] virtual door, then gives real estate agents proven tools to turn clicks into closings.”
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I have a platonic man crush on Ramit Sethi. I’ve pretty much been stalking him since 2007 (when I started ODOJ) by subscribing to his blog, signing up for his e-mail list, reading his book, poring over his Delicious links, and buying one of his courses. We even met in person once. It was in the lobby of a trendy W hotel waiting for him, and when he walked up I played it cool by slamming my head into some stupid lamp that was hanging over the lounge chair that I was sitting on. Why am I so obsessed with some random Indian dude who is only a couple years older than me? Because he has built an amazing business that helps people achieve their career and financial dreams. I tend to gag at most of the advice that I hear from “career experts,” yet when I see something come from I Will Teach You To Be Rich (Ramit’s company–he used to have to reiterate that it’s not a scam because the name sounds so questionable), my eyes get all dreamy and I just start nodding in agreement. I occasionally even yell “YES!” at my computer.
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Yesterday we took a look at View The Space and how they’re changing the commercial real estate business. Today we’re going to talk about the kind of real estate that you’re more familiar with: residential real estate. While I was looking for a new apartment, I did most of my searching online (though walking around the neighborhood that you want to live and looking for For Rent signs is an underrated tactic). While Zillow was my preferred searching tool, I ended up on Trulia a lot. In case you’ve never used it, Trulia is a site that “displays more than 4.5 million real estate and rental listings nationwide.” The company is based in San Francisco, CA and also has offices in New York, NY and Denver, CO. They’re only about 9 years old, but they’ve grown to nearly 500 employees and are already publicly traded.
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I find marketing extremely interesting because the tactics change rapidly, while the basic principles never do. If I was hiring an agency, I’d want a team that brings together the old and the new, even though I often have a strong urge to go with whatever’s new. Adpearance is a Portland, OR based digital marketing agency that crafts “campaigns that launch from the solid foundations of traditional marketing, but with the added benefit of statistical analysis.” They’ve taken the best of both worlds and combined them into a complete offering that is focused on the most important thing: client ROI.
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As an online publisher I understand how difficult it is to balance ads and content. I’m lucky in that the job search space allows a little more flexibility–most job postings are technically ads, so people don’t really differentiate between “editorial” and paid placement (though I still try to). The toughest part for most publishers is that ads perform best when they blend in with the content. This is really hard to do in an honest and unobtrusive way, but that’s exactly what Vibrant Media tries to do. They are based in New York, NY, and they are “the world’s leading provider of in-content contextual technology that gets brand content and advertising discovered across platforms.” With a network of more than 6,000 publishers they are able to reach upwards of 300,000,000 unique visitors every month.
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I made a big mistake in sixth grade. I decided to take French instead of Spanish. In the time since, the Spanish speaking population in the United States has skyrocketed, while whether the French speaking population has grown or shrunk is pretty much irrelevant. Here’s a stat that tells you all that you need to know: almost 10% of all U.S. based Google searches are done in Spanish. Bilingual marketing is becoming a huge business, and we all know that local marketing is already huge. YaSabe is a Herndon, VA based company that is brining the two together. They are “committed to connecting businesses, Latino culture, and community allowing users to be ‘in the know’ and confidently make choices about how and where to spend their time and money.”
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When I was growing up, if we wanted food delivered, it pretty much had to be pizza. For a couple of years, there was a service called “Bring Me My Dinner” where a guy in a tuxedo would bring you a meal from a higher end restaurant, but it didn’t last very long. Then I went to college and the delivery options got more diverse (I could even get cookies delivered after midnight!). Now I live in a big city, and I can get nearly any type of food delivered to my door. But there’s more to delivery that just food. What if I want flowers, groceries, or something from the hardware store? Delivery.com is a New York, NY based company that has been “connecting people like you with merchants in their neighborhoods” since 2004.
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I was way ahead on the flash sales and members only shopping thing. I did a writeup on Gilt Groupe almost five years ago just as the business model was catching on. While there isn’t nearly as much excitement about the space as there used to be, it’s still a great way to sell stuff (time constraints and sales both have amazing psychological effects on people). And that’s why I think it’s worth taking a look at Rue La La. They’re a Boston, MA and New York, NY based company that curates “Boutiques filled with the best of the best in women’s and men’s fashion, home, travel, kids, and more.” Each sale lasts 48 hours and is limited to members only (though becoming a member is about as easy as signing up).
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Right now I’m in the process of getting some of my friends together to coordinate my bachelor party. I have less than zero interest in the traditional approach, so I’m looking for some good outdoor activities for a bunch of dudes. We haven’t decided where we’re going yet, but ideally we’ll rent a house instead of staying in a hotel. One of the best places to find vacation rentals is HomeAway. They’re an Austin, TX based company that offers “the world’s leading online marketplace of vacation rentals, with sites representing over 711,000 paid listings of vacation rental homes in 171 countries.” I figured that VRBO.com was their biggest/most similar competitor, but it turns out that they own them. I guess maybe the biggest competitor is Airbnb then, though they serve a slightly different market (more apartments fewer houses).
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Traditionally the goal of marketing has been to get someone to take an action at some point in the future, but that has changed a lot over the past decade. The web has enabled businesses to push consumers to take immediate action, which is why online marketing has taken the best ideas from traditional marketing, direct marketing, and sales. 90octane calls it “conversion-driven marketing.” They’re a Denver, CO based agency that executes “online marketing campaigns including online advertising, email marketing, microsite and landing page development, search engine optimization (SEO) and pay-per-click (PPC) advertising.” They were founded in 2000, and have held on to many of their clients for quite a long time–that is pretty unusual in performance marketing.
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Yesterday in our post about A+E Networks I told you about all of my favorite reality tv shows. A lot of them are pretty embarrassing, but I have no qualms about telling people I watch Top Chef. It’s a great show (sidenote: I swear I saw Beverly Kim from last season at Whole Foods yesterday). This week was the start of a two episode “Restaurant Wars.” The rules change from season to season, but typically the cheftestants have to come up with a restaurant concept and build it from scratch in just a few days. Everything gets supplied by sponsors, but if that wasn’t the case they might want to check out The WEBstaurant Store. They’re a Lancaster, PA based company that offers an “innovative, easy-to-use website to meet the purchasing needs of food service professionals throughout the United States and Canada.”
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At some point you’ve probably asked, “How the heck did Ke$ha get famous?” For some of you it was probably more of a sarcastic jab than a genuine question, but for those of you who truly want to know, I found the answer. It comes in the form of a case study for Gupta Media, a Cambridge, MA based online marketing agency that focuses on the entertainment and music industries. The story is that Ke$ha started to get attention with her “uncredited vocal performance on the chorus of Flo Rida’s hit single ‘Right Round.'” Gupta Media worked with her record label, RCA, and put together a plan for launching her debut album Animal. When it came out it was on the charts at #1 with 610,000 digital copies sold. Gupta Media can’t take all of the credit, but read through their case studies to learn more about the role they played.
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Most of you will end up in jobs where what you wear to work is based on looking appropriate. Comfort and style may also be considerations, but in most jobs it’s about looking like you fit in. In most jobs what you wear to work probably won’t affect your performance or safety, but it will if you’re a firefighter, law enforcement officer, first responder, or military service member. Those are jobs where what you wear matters–really matters. LION is a Dayton, OH based company that designs, manufactures, markets, and delivers products “to ensure the health, safety and performance of the first responders who serve our communities and our country.” LION has been owned and operated by the same family since 1898, and I have to imagine that they’ve come a long way over the past 100+ years.
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We’re a week away from one of the worst travel periods of the year. If you’re flying between next Wednesday and the following Sunday, good luck. Look forward to long lines, getting groped by the TSA, crying babies, no legroom, and probably a delay or a lost bag. Wouldn’t it be nice to travel without those headaches? That’s why ridiculously rich people buy their own jets. But what if you’re only really rich and can’t afford your own jet? You buy time on one. That’s what Sentient Jet does for its clients. They’re a Cleveland, OH based company that “arranges more air charter flights than any other jet charter procurement business in the country.”
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There’s about a 70% chance that you found us through Google. That’s by design. I’ve learned that search is by far the best way to reach job seekers, so I’ve invested a ton of time, money, and effort into my SEO strategy. So far I’ve done it mostly on my own (with the help of a few awesome interns), but if I ever get to the point where I need to hire an agency, I’ll look for one that is aligned with the people in the industry whom I trust. SEER Interactive definitely clears that hurdle (I’ve even heard their Founder called “quite brilliant” by one of the best in the industry). SEER Interactive is a Philadelphia, PA based online marketing agency that specializes in SEO, SEM, Analytics, and Conversion Optimization. I actually decided to take a closer look at SEER after I got a link request e-mail that they sent out for one of their clients. (Honestly, I think the the request could have been better, but it stood out from most of the crap I get.)
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