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Google has taken over the world. Well, if not the world, it’s at least taken over local searches. When people want to find a new local business or local one

I recently saw a very fun TED Talk about social media - it is from 2009 and yet here we are and everything in the talk feels very spot on even today. In particular the idea that by letting go the brand (in this case Greenpeace) was able to gain so much more - despite the fact that in doing so they ended up with an unexpected result that ultimately helped deliver on the outcome they were looking for.

Curious about how the 2012 candidates handling their digital efforts?

From a digital standpoint, politics have become very interesting. While Al Gore might have had a large role in helping the internet get off the ground, with President Obama we had our first social media president. And it shows. This is also a complementary post following up on our recent 12 Digital Tactics Used by Republicans. If you want to learn about digital marketing this post might quickly fall into the must read category - some (not all) of the things Obama and his team are doing really live at the forefront of today's best practices.

With the 2012 Presidential election around the corner the noise is getting extremely loud. In particular it feels like a very good time to take a look at how the politics are evolving and to see how the parties are using digital media to "affect" voters. With that in mind here are 12 Digital Tactics that Republicans are Using to help influence voters and spread their message (by the way stay tuned - a list of 10 Digital Tactics Used by Democrats is coming up).

Enter Our August Sweepstakes Giveaway!

This month we are running a sweepstakes giveaway - the eligibility is limited to only our Facebook Fans.

The Prize:

A copy of the book "Don't Make Me Think" by Steve Krug.  If you don't already have this book, it really is amazing.  Hopefully you'll win it by entering our sweepstakes, but if not cannot recommend it highly enough - it really is that good! (affiliate link to Amazon on image below) Don't forget to read the Amazon reviews so you can see for yourself how great this book really is:

Power Searching with Google I recently enrolled in a course called "Power Searching with Google that was provided by Google to help Google users become stronger in using search. The

20 quick self improvement tips to help your blog feel better. Blogging is not easy. Sometimes just "getting out of bed" is hard enough. So here are a few easy to access ideas that to help bring some fresh love to your blog. 1) Blog more often. 2) Blog less often. 3) Blog deeper. Don't worry there won't be another item saying blog shallower. The internet is crowded and shallow posts will not add value.

One of the single least understood concepts in business blogging is emotion. There are of course the emotions of your visitors to consider. But all too often as the principals in an effort (owner or stakeholder) we neglect to consider our own emotions. Going even broader, for business owners there is a tendency to entirely neglect our emotions and instead to get so wrapped up in the technical aspects of blogging to the point that we are no longer considering our own happiness - entirely neglecting the actual personality of our business.

It happens all too often. With the immense uncertainty that small businesses face when it comes to digital marketing, all too often a small business owner will take a "follow the leader" approach. This of course inadvertently leaves your competitor at a huge advantage over you as they are driving both their strategy and yours.