Yesterday I wrote about Foursquare partnerships and promised to write today about the biggest potential deal — with search engines.

Recently Foursquare has been in talks with the big 3 search engines: Google, Yahoo and Microsoft. They would index check-in data in search results (likely alongside news, videos and images relating to your search. Now you’ll also see check-ins). I can even imagine this being integrated with Google Maps.

Let’s say you’re in a new city. Maybe you don’t have a taxi and just want something close by that’s good. You can check reviews but what if you want to know what’s currently most popular (or where to go to possibly meet some singles or what a celebrity likes). You could get aggregate information about check-in popularity through a search engine.

This would take Foursquare into the mainstream because you wouldn’t have to use it to find it helpful. However, they would still rely on check-ins (which I’ve heard are at about a million a week). If it’s like most social networks there are a lot more lurkers than participants. For now Foursquare doesn’t have critical mass. But more exposure through search engines could help there too.

Twitter is about what people are saying and Foursquare is about where people are going. Foursquare cofounder and CEO Dennis Crowley said,

“Twitter helped the world and the search engines know what people are talking about. Foursquare would allow people to search for the types of place people are going to – and where is trending – not what.”

I see more integration with Twitter and other social networks like Facebook – if not officially at least unofficially. In other words, multi-platform promotions that integrate with Foursquare. Mom bloggers do this all the time with giveaways. You enter their contests by commenting on their post, following them on Twitter (or tweeting about the contest), becoming a fan on Facebook (or writing on their wall). They just need to add, checking in on Foursquare.

Here’s a small example of how McDonald’s integrated Twitter and Foursquare:

Watch for how search engines will get in on this game. First they tried to buy Foursquare, and when they were turned down now they want to work with them. Signing new partnerships with search engines would cement Foursquare’s leadership in the location based social network space. The deals wouldn’t be bad for investors either.

I watch the Superbowl for the ads. My favorite ads tell stories and engage us – which is what marketing is all about. This year’s favorite was from Google – a brand that rarely does any traditional advertising – let alone during the Superbowl. Here it is:

What’s fascinating is watching how the various brands combined online and offline advertising. This is the mainstream and what it says to me is: they still don’t get it.

Godaddy gets it and has for years. Their commercials (though often offensive – but marketing to geeks) drive people to their site. It worked great too – see the press release from Godaddy about their results. You have to love a press release about an ad.

Intel measures (and hopefully responds to) reactions on social sites like Facebook and Twitter.

Social networks are an incredible opportunity to engage with people and see reactions. You spend millions on an ad and now you have a way to see how you did – and get immediate feedback. As Gary V points out people watch TV with a laptop and read the newspaper with an iPhone. They’re watching and commenting online. And sometimes the brands they are talking about are there responding. But most aren’t.

NBC announced they are changing how they air the Emmy’s because of Twitter. Instead of going live at different times in different time zones, they are considering making it live. Otherwise people on the East Coast spoil it for the West Coast. Worked for the Golden Globe awards – viewership was up 14%.

We’re going to see more and more merging between TV and social networks. More synchronizing. More tapping into celebrities from 1 medium to transfer some of the star power to another (like Dooce). Yes there are times when a mainstream star like Ashton Kutcher goes onto Twitter and the fame just transfers. There are more crossing over from online stardom to a mainstream reach.

Who or what is next? Have any more examples for me?

My former husband is a letterpress printer – his wife is an artist. She designed and printed these Christmas cards. They are my favorite cards. I wish you could feel them. They’re luxurious.

I’m not good at scanning the colors, but this is how I wanted to say Merry Christmas and thank you for reading!

Here’s my life in Facebook updates:

Highlights of 2009:

I made my own products, which I should’ve done sooner! Since writing a book I’ve written more about other authors and bought more books myself.

• My book, I Need a Killer Press Release, Now What??? was published and is selling on Amazon and Happy About! (what, you haven’t seen it yet? what are you waiting for)
• A companion DVD – Killer Online Press Releases was produced (and it was a LOT of work, tons of hours but it’s for sale!)
• I’ll soon be selling the audio and transcripts of my webinar with Joan Stewart

I partnered with amazing people & organizations this year:

• Joan Stewart, the Publicity Hound
• Spoke at 2 universities
• Spoke at the American Muslim Consumer Conference (where I was not the only one who didn’t drink)
• One of the judges of the best press releases of 2009 at PRWeb
• webinar with PRWeb (voted one of the best of 2009 and “met” Bill Stroller the Publicity Guru),
• Creating Wealth Podcast with Jason Hartman
• Online PR Podcast with Pete Codella
• webinar with Jeremy Palmer (who taught me that you should always be reading and learning even if you’re successful)
• More to come in January!

I also blogged a lot and started a new online pr blog

• Wrote for Anita Campbell’s Small Business Trends site
• Wrote for the American Express Open Forum
• Wrote for my friends at Dream Systems Media

Next up for 2010:

• Developing my email list – yes it’s amazing that I haven’t done this yet!
• Finishing the update to my SEO press release ebook
• Some book partnerships?
• Create an online store to sell my products

To do on the break

• Read this ebook from the 1800s about the science of wealth
• Finish watching this video of Tim Ferris and finish the 4-Hour Work Week
• Listen to the top webinars of 2009 from Vocus
• Listen to the top 5 webinars of 2009 from PRWeb – mine’s on the list!
• Listen to top webinars of 2009 from Hubspot
• Read and check out the top web sites of 2009 from Time Magazine

On a personal note, I haven’t taken so many vacations or learned as much and worked as hard on my business as I have in 2009.

What was significant about your year? What is in store for 2010? Share in the comments.

Peace, prosperity and fun to you all! Let’s Crush it in 2010!

This is an email sent to someone I know this past week, firing them while they were on vacation (not that there is ever a good time to fire someone). Read on for my comments [in brackets] and advice…and you might want to play this song as you read.

SUBJECT: Updates and changes

Hope your vacation is going well. I feel bad that I am writing you an
email to give you this update but due to the nature of the contract I
feel it is imperative to contact you now.

[First, let me tell you about your replacement]
Over the past 6 months, I have been in touch with a past colleague
that I have been “courting” to join ____ and me with our [what we do so well].

We both worked with him in the past and know his
abilities. Well, earlier this week he notified me that one of the two
contracts he has been working on dried up. As a result he is available
and willing to work with us. I can’t be more excited to have him help
out. [and to get rid of you so I can hire him]

His expertise and experience is very comprehensive and has made me
reevaluate our current structure and set-up [yours is not]. This evaluation, and
financial assessment, has led me to conclude that there is too much
overlap with what I am going to have him do and what you are doing for
the project [he's taking your place].

The bad news, and again I am sorry for sending this email [NOT REALLY!!]
rather than calling or waiting until you return [That would take some courage I don't have], but as he is joining
right away, I am, effective today, terminating your contract with [name of company].

I debated on calling you but thought it best to not bother you with
your family time today [besides, I'd rather ruin your vacation than tell you the day you return]. I welcome a call and hope to talk with you
upon your return [not really, but it makes me feel better to say that]. That said, please transition your work to _____ straightaway and provide me with your final time sheet.

Thanks for all of your work. I am happy to provide you a reference if
you so desire. [but it won't be a good one!]

Regards and best wishes,

JERK

———————————–

NOTE TO JERK: first, this person should thank you – you did them a favor. You saved them from working together any longer. But maybe you could’ve handled this better.  Contractors can be let go of by either side without notice or reason. Make it a business decision rather than bragging about the person you got to replace the person you just hired.

Firing someone is not easy or fun. Neither is telling someone they didn’t get a job (especially in this economy when people and families are hurting.) I’ve had to do it. I’ve had it done to me. I didn’t like doing it but I always tried to show compassion.

Here’s what I suggest -  you email something like this: We had a change in the business and I regret to tell you that I’ve decided not to hire you on. So effective today[insert date] I’m ending your contract. Thanks for your work.

If they asked why I’d give them a short but truthful response – like this – we found someone else who we thought would fit the position and our company better.

I also have some more free advice for employees: most businesses don’t want to hear your real opinion about their ideas if they are bad ideas. If asked stick to the facts about your reservations. Don’t get yourself labeled as a complainer or someone who stops projects.

My husband taught me this – he will not complain or try to change a lot of things about where he works. He’s on a committee that gives feedback. The boss appreciates that he’s not taking up a lot of his time with things and that he’s producing (his numbers are great). I used to be more free with my opinions and I’ve found most of the time it doesn’t work. Plus, if you I had that many complaints either I needed to change my attitude or look for another job.

It’s always best to keep to the facts and leave the other person out of it.

What do you think?

I broke down and bought the new Thesis WordPress theme. It’s a quality wordpress theme but it’s not free. It’s the first time I’ve purchased a theme. I usually pay someone to customize a free theme. I’m still learning it but here’s my preliminary review.

Is Thesis worth it?
I think it is. I like that I can change the width of my columns and number of columns very easily. I like that it’s very easy to change the font face and size (wish that included color). Things that would take a long time are much quicker and site wide rather than having to go into many files. With Thesis I only edit one file instead of widgets or code. They have a design panel and a regular panel that has a large menu of options for making global changes.

I also like how you can choose a template for each page. Just choose from a dropdown and you can choose to show a template that doesn’t have a sidebar. So it makes it much easier to operate the site like pages of a web site rather than a blog.

Technical Skills
I’m still learning but what I don’t like is that you still need some technical skills to make changes to the header image, background image and tweaks like that. I use hooks (a separate download) which help me place ads in the right places but they’re a little complicated because you need to know CSS. There are tutorials but again I wish this was easier to use. It’s even confusing to me than editing code from the files themselves.

Aesthetics
The style is so boxy and plain. Most of the customizations I’ve seen still have that feel. I’m not sure how to round corners or make the site look more aesthetically pleasing. Even adding a new header is a pain. Many bloggers stick with Blogger because they have more designs out of the box. Of course you can pay someone to design your site. There aren’t a lot of designs that appeal to women. I talked to Joseph Scott and his wife about it last week. He works on WordPress (programmer). I’m not sure he’s convinced that it’s as big of an issue as I think it is.

What do you think about Thesis WP theme?

I recently had a lot of spam drama on my blog. It explained why my blog has been so slow! I met Vlad years ago as an affiliate marketer. Then I found him again on Twitter. He has been key in helping me get rid of the spam problem and helping with other parts of my blog. He has been invaluable.

I learned two things: always upgrade your blog to the most recent version. And monitor your site by adding a Google alert like this one site:newspapergrl.com viagra OR cialis OR levitra

One thing Vlad did after securing my blog is to optimize my WP Super Cache Plugin. I asked him to write an instructive post about what he did.

In Vlad’s words:

I absolutely love this plugin. The plugin author has written a very in-depth overview of what this plugin was designed to do. It helps your blog load faster and handle higher traffic loads. Countless bloggers have written about it and how it helped to keep their servers intact when unexpected waves of Digg traffic roll in. While I’ve never had my posts featured on the front page of Digg, I do receive a lot of traffic from StumbleUpon.

The first time I realized I might need the plugin was the time I started to think I might need a dedicated host to handle the increase in traffic to my blog. Currently the websites (10+) I operate all are hosted on a shared account. Most of them are powered by WordPress. And as much as I love WordPress, it can put some heavy loads on the server.

One day instead of your website you might see an error message from your host saying following “this accounts has been suspended, please contact your web hosting provider immediately.” I would have never seen this massage had I installed WP Cache Plugin as one of my first plugins. I was ready to buy more space and WP Super Cache saved me from having to do that.

So what does WP Super Cache do?

It replicates the pages of your blog and saves them as HTML files. And instead of serving your pages to your visitors through PHP scripts, it serves them as plain old HTML files, practically eliminating sever load. If visitors to your blog do not leave comments on your blog (about 90% + of visitors), the pages will never be served via PHP to them.

Originally this plugin was designed to survive traffic from websites like Digg. I do however believe that this plugin should be highly recommended by shared web hosting providers, and even “enforced” by those web hosts that tend to oversell their servers.

Important things to remember when istalling this plugin.

WP Super Cache plugin belongs to those plugins that require extra attention. Besides installing and activating the plugin, you actually need to turn plugin on via it’s own settings:

It is important that you choose the custom (aka as “pretty”) permalinks setting in your blog as WP Super Cache will not work with “ugly” permalinks, if you have not done so already.

Finally, WP Super Cache will ask you to update the .htaccess file. If you have modified your file already, it would be a good idea to back up that file and/or manually insert the necessary code provided in the WP Super Cache plugin settings page.

Finally to assure that plugin is working properly, you need to view the source of any of the pages of your blog. Look for the following code found at the very end:

If it’s there, your WP Super Cache is working, and is or will be saving your some cash. Remember to share your blessing with the developer of this plugin.

Vlad Zablotskyy can be found blogging at SageBlogger.com, Go Beyond MLS and Vlad Zablotskyy Interpreting LLC.

Thanks Vlad for this helpful instruction! Next I’d love to get a guest post about Stumbled Upon.

Thanks to Marketing Pilgrim and writing a lot of press releases lately, I’m in the newswriting mode! I first learned this news on Twitter, from Danny Sullivan. Shoemoney said he called it first (a month ago) and Danny Sullivan trumped that saying he and others predicted it a year ago. Oh yeah, and eBay moved their affiliate network in-house because Shoemoney advised them to.

Ah, Twitter. It makes me feel so “in the know.” These days I get news from Twitter as much as from my blog feeds. Egos flare up, people kiss up, rant, and sometimes act childish but I still love it after all this time (and for some ego stroking of my own – I just checked and I’ve been on Twitter for a full year now). But, back to the story.

It’s great that Google sees the conflict of interest with offering SEO and SEM services when they’re the biggest search engine. I’m disappointed that they are not selling all of Performics. They’re hanging on to the affiliate marketing piece.

Has Google ever sold off part of their acquisitions? This is the first I remember. Who will buy it? What is going through Commission Junction’s mind? Google offers a limited amount of affiliate links for advertisers now, but the reporting is terrible and I haven’t seen a single conversion.
However, Performics is the third largest affiliate network and packs some well know brands like AOL, LL Bean, and Motorola. Having their own affiliate network gives Google some real leverage in the market…and more conflicts of interest.

This is a guest post by Paul Wilson, my business partner who recently sold his blog to buy a wedding ring. I spent a good year trying to get him to blog and now I miss his posts.

Paul said he’ll start a new blog but in the meantime I’ve asked him to write for mine (and if anyone else wants to do a guest post, please contact me).

I’ll preface this by saying I’m a fan of Shoemoney and I read his blog and have met him in real life twice. I always respect that he’s worked hard and overcome personal issues as they are determined to succeed. (According to him he’s been fired, he used to be fat, etc). Over time he’s built a business, gotten healthier, built a lot of respect, and he’s openly shared a lot of his journey in an authentic way.

Jeremy doesn’t actually say he hates ALL SEOs – he just doesn’t like most of them. I wrote about how Aaron Wall loves SEO a few posts back (he didn’t say how he feels about actual SEO experts).

——- BEGIN POST BY PAUL WILSON ABOUT SHOEMONEY AND SEOs ——–

Jeremy Shoemaker (shoemoney.com) recently did a post on why he hates SEO experts (SEOs = people who are experts in search engine optimization). I know that there has been a lot said on this, but I have to weigh in.

I could not but wonder if Jeremy has lost touch with reality when I read his comment:

“SEO’s are like the 21st century car salesmen. Most are slimy and have no clue what they are talking about. They tell you you just need to put spammy keywords in your title tag, keyword tag, and write a spammy as hell description meta tag.”

Now, I will agree with Jeremy that there are definitely hacks in the SEO industry. However, you are going to find hacks in every industry. There will always be people who don’t know what they are talking about, trying to convince others that they are the “gurus.”

My good friend Jason runs JibberJobber, a legitimate business in the employment industry. Just because I receive tons of spam about slimy business opportunities doesn’t mean what Jason does isn’t viable, if not necessary.

What makes Jeremy’s post even worse, is the influence he wields. By him stating that 95% of SEO experts are “slimy” states that the industry as a whole is worthless (which I believe it wouldn’t take much to get him to admit).

To drive my point home, I recently was twittering Newspapergrl about possibly creating a monthly Utah SEO organization. Here are the responses her and I got on Twitter:

Twitter A: @paulwilson … sounds interesting but I do think that 90% of SEO is snake oil. Maybe i’m misinformed?

Newspapergirl: @Twitter A – misinformed. SEO is messier to track but it’s totally legit. You could benefit – you need to expand the reach on your site.

Twitter B: @PaulWilson There’s no need for monthly SEO meetings. Everything honorable about SEO can be learned fast. Monthly meetings are just slime.

Me: @Twitter B: I seriously disagree. I have been doing SEO since 1999, and I still learn something new with every person that I meet in my industry.

Twitter B: @PaulWilson You have to get past the slime, though. The good people will avoid a monthly SEO meeting, so all you’ll be left with is slime.

Me: @Twitter B: If the meeting is for SEO experts and sponsored by corporations like Franklin Covey, 1-800-Contacts and other corporations. Just like RMAMA. I am pretty sure we would get past the slime.

@NewspaperGrl: I am surprised the overall impression people have of SEO

@NewspaperGrl: I guess that makes it easier to rank higher for us =)

Twitter B: @PaulWilson It is possible to increase your rank honestly. SEO has been synonymous with gaming the system. Don’t brag about it.

Me: @Twitter B: You are welcome to believe what you like.

Me: @Twitter B: I personally believe SEO & SEM is a viable solution.

Twitter B: @PaulWilson Writing good content is the only viable solution. Once you start writing for robots, they’ll be the only ones reading your site.

NewspaperGrl: @Twitter B – don’t you think you can write good content AND add keywords that people are searching for? It’s usually not either/or

If you read Jeremy’s post in its entirety you will see that Twitter B is espousing almost word for word what Jeremy wrote. It worries me to see such a powerful blogger wield his influence so carelessly. For me, I see Jeremy blogging in his ivory tower totally disconnected from the practical concerns of everyday web life.

So, all-mighty Shoemoney what is your advice to the rest of us lowly peons:

“Concentrate on building a quality service. One that people will actually WANT TO BOOKMARK and comeback to…Its like people don’t know you can goto a web site without going to a god-damn Search Engine. When you create a good, useful service/site people will actually want to come to your site without you spamming Google.”

This is not bad advice Jeremy offers, but with so much noise on the web word of mouth generally will carry a website only so far. To believe that SEO shouldn’t be a part of your quiver of arrows is either ignorance, or willful stupidity. Google’s own page on creating useful websites shows that good content should be coupled with keyword research:

“Provide high-quality content on your pages, especially your homepage. This is the single most important thing to do. If your pages contain useful information, their content will attract many visitors and entice webmasters to link to your site. In creating a helpful, information-rich site, write pages that clearly and accurately describe your topic. Think about the words users would type to find your pages and include those words on your site.“

It truly is sad to see those, like Jeremy, live in their lofty ivory towers and scoff at us who make our living doing SEO.

———– END POST BY PAUL WILSON ABOUT SHOEMONEY AND SEOs ————–

I recommend looking at this – straight from Google for a primer on SEO for your web site:
Google’s – Making the Most of Your Content: A Publisher’s Guide to the Web

Done well SEO helps people find what they’re looking for. Most of the SEOs I know provide a huge benefit and 5% are scum.

I applied to be a Google Local Business Rep and forgot about it until tonight when I got an email saying I got accepted. No, I’m not a Google employee (though some day I’d love to be), I’m an independent contractor.

I’m also a huge fan of local businesses. When I totaled my car a few months ago I went with the auto body shop my insurance company listed that sounded like it was a local business. They were and they were superb. They even donate cars to needy families at Christmas.

Google is impressive. They have a training module about it. Here’s the slick part – they pay for fliers and their site connects to FedExKinkos and orders them. Then you go pick them up – which I did this morning.

Here’s how it works: I go to local businesses and take a picture. I enter the businesses information into Google Local. For that I get $2 and if they get a postcard and confirm the listing I make an additional $8.

Since I’m affiliate of OrangeSoda (and you can be too) and they are interested in someone managing their PPC campaigns (easy to start, complex to manage), I can make 5% of their spend for the lifetime of their account. Note that the minimum they can sign up for is $100 a month. I wouldn’t recommend starting that small, but you can. I don’t know anyone else who will take customers with that size of a budget.

Now I have a confession: if I’m bored on a date or I amuse myself by figuring out ways to help them market their business. That includes how to put their business on Google Local (if it qualifies).

I’d do it even if I weren’t paid, but now there’s an incentive. Plus, it makes me go out of my way to patronize local businesses which I want to do anyway. No more Del Taco lunches for me. Instead, it’s another favorite – El Gallo Giro (which is now on State Street in Orem).