Right my digital boys and girls ad:tech is coming to town. 

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domain
Originally uploaded by rajeshwar_12

I’m not going to beat around the bush with this one…choosing a domain name is one of the major things you have to consider before you start building your digital marketing campaign.

I’m not joking…it’s an important part of your company’s branding.

Domain names are for life, but unfortunately lots people make the basic mistake of rushing out and buying the first name that comes to mind without thinking about the consequences for their brand, consumers or SEO.

I should know I get these digital faux pas presented to me nearly every week.

Let me pass on a few simple tips for choosing a domain name:

1. Keep the domain name short, but avoid abbreviations if possible
2. Keep the spelling simple 
3. Never use dashes, underscors or any other silly characters 
4. Buy .com and your country extension i.e. .com.au for Australian's. Don't be fooled into buying .biz, .info, .tv or any other meaningless domain extension…its all wrong on many levels especially SEO.

These simple tips will help people find your website.

I know I'm a little slow, but Julian Cole released his latest 'Top 50 Australian Marketing Pioneer Blogs' list in January 2009 and to confuse people, he's included 129 blogs.

As a 'link slut' and a generous person ready to spread the 'link love', I've put Julian's list below for anyone to cut and paste. It's all apart of the game. Unless Julian's bought into the copyright stuff.

I haven't visited every blog, not yet anyway. But if you are in need of a good read I'd highly recommend the follow blogs: Servant of Chaos, Media Hunter, Pigs Don't Fly, Zebra Bites, MuMbrella and the dude himself Adspace-Pioneers.

Here is the 129 Australina blog that make-up Julian Coles 'Top 50 Australian Marketing Pioneers Blogs:'

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Not funny at all really.
Originally uploaded by Rich66.

As a marketer, where do I look for breaking news in the advertising and marketing world? Its not SMH or The Australian and it’s not B&T or Marketing Magazine.

It’s MuMbrella and Media Hunter.

Two non-commercial sites (at this stage) supplying news commentary quicker and more responsive for a small community of advertising and marketing people. 

And they don’t have the debt, overheads and shareholders to worry about. 

Newspapers and magazines will never completely die out, but is this the future of media and journalism? 

Lower-costs, smaller niche audiences and narrower focus…ticks all my marketing boxes.

IT’S A FACT, in business there are people who are forever promising to catch-up with trend setters, yet they never quite get there.

As a result, I usually get a confused look trying to tell people their precious customers are writing good and bad things about their brand or products, on blogs and social networking sites. 

Its okay, I realise that not everyone is comfortable with social and digital media, but I know that they’ll regret it.

With this in mind, I was so happy and interested to hear and join an online conversation to rev up Qantas' new Frequent Flyer ‘Its Time To Choose’ campaign before it even started its traditional advertising.

Qantas' use of social media dare I say it "moves social media now clearly into the mainstream."

Developed by Mark Sydney from M&C Saatchi, the ‘Its time To Choose’ campaign is soon to be launched, its key objective is to alert millions of Qantas Frequent Flyer card holders that they have a choice, a choice to transfer their credit card points to their Frequent Flyer card before the end of March or lose the benefits with Qantas Frequent Flyer.
It is my understanding their inspiration came from the highly successful social media campaigns ‘KEVIN 07’ and Barack Obama’s ‘Yes, we can’.

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