Word of mouth is on steroids, amplified by social networking and new media tools. How do you as a business take advantage. Gary Vaynerchuk of Wine Library TV has the answer: PHCC –>>

1. Patience
2. Hustle
3. Content
4. Community

1. Be an Active Participant
2. Have a Consistent Presence on Different Social Media Sites
3. Add Value to the Wider Community
4. Let Others Sell You

My favorites are:

How to read minds - as if Google could tell the answers to that.

Better than google – as if Google would tell the answers to that.

How does google see my site - Yes, as a outlet for Adsense ads of course.

Now, some gems from my own site:

Blog nightmare – really my site isn’t that bad is it? I can explain. I posted about this cartoon by Dilbert.

First time buyers picky picky – almost like a James Bond movie from the 60′s

Close encounters of third kind sound bites – well, I know blogging is alien to some people but come on, it doesn’t bite. It is strictly vegetarian. : )

So what is search engine trust?
For the purpose of keeping things simple, I would identify a site’s trust by 3 different simple criteria:

• Website Age – (most importantly the first time it was indexed)
• Total # of backlinks and the overall age of those links
• Total “trustscore” of other backlinks (How many .edu’s, .gov’s, high ACTUAL PR links, etc.)

Most trust criteria revolve around some dependence on age, which is actually a pretty good signal of quality. From things folks at Google have said in the past, the trustbox (or sandbox if you must) was the unintentional effect of some other filters that were implemented. Realizing that age was a great signal all the way around to defend against the overdependency on links, they’ve went buckwild with age variables ever since.

So this explains why new sites are taking longer to show up in search. Blogs are effected too but not as severely, being very well optimized and by nature putting out fresh content into the index, often daily.

Two or three years ago:
SEO = Content + high PR links

Created: a micro-economy of link buying solely for google rankings

Now
SEO = Crusty trusted domain + content

Will create: use your imagination.

So now an overdependance on trust will create new distortions. Go read the rest of his lengthy post. Its a keeper.

I had the opportunity to hear CC Chapman expound on audio recording devices and pod-casting techniques. He is one of the first pod-casters I followed with his excellent Managing the Grey. I used to live in Boston for a few years and his show came out of Babson Bentley College in Waltham. The very first podcast I became a fan of was The Hobson and Holtz Report. Another podcast about public relations. I guess PR people excel at talking in an engaging way.

Later at the after party at Victory Brewpub I had a chat with another early pioneer, one of the first video bloggers, Steve Garfield. His original show is The Carol and Steve Show which is a travelogue roundabout Boston with his wife. Very gracious and down to earth. That was a thrill. I tiped him off to using HitTail for tracking long tail terms searchers used to find his sites. Maybe he will discover interesting insights.

Check this video by Steve with Kathryn Jones about 35, her “compelling, character rich, plot driven, scripted webisode to be broadcast LIVE (starting Sept 19) over the internet” at Synchronis.tv. Kathryn is full of energy and is excited about this production that will be filmed with three Panasonic DVX100′s and switched live with a Tricaster Studio.

The session Thinking Like a Producer by Joel Mark Witt from the Maryland Zoo was informative and humorous. Especially filming the camel rides. [Does the Philly Zoo have that?] Take aways: tell a story, create a cinematic moment(change in style), know your audience. You will need release forms for on camera people. He pointed out that 95% of video pod-casting is in getting quality audio. People can put up with varying video quality but if they can’t make out what you are saying you are done for.

Chris Penn spoke at the session Social Networking 101. Social networking sites are software tools where people are the network. FaceBook is still mostly college students with strong collaboration groups. 300,000 new people a day! Be sure to read the terms of service agreement. Most state that they have rights to whatever you upload, so don’t put original artwork that you want to sell elsewhere.

The goal therefore is to get people to visit your own domain where you are in control. Get an email address, sell an ebook or seminar etc. So SN sites should be written with slant to entice the click. For branding reasons, keep your name tag the same at all your SN sites. People may just look you up on the same term at different sites.

People on mySpace are taking their network private so can’t access unless know one of the members. Twitter is good for interaction, get known.

Spoke with Larry Genkin, publisher of the excellent new magazine Blogger and Podcaster. You know an industry is coalescing when specialized trade magazine appear. Every attendee got a free copy of the glossy print version. Read it online.

Attended a session by Apple system engineer Michael Wolf on the new version of Garage Band. When I get my next PC, those gorgeous 24″ iMac’s, the first thing I want to delve into is Garage Band.

Oliver Picher, a PR expert I met recently before PodCamp, won an iPhone at the closing session raffle. Check out his report.

Whew! And I missed the live Best Damn Tech Show,Period production on Sunday.

Other wrap ups: Indy Hall , Flicker group, Search marketing Gurus

Day 2: bliptv

Passionate – Write about issues that are near and dear to your heart
Purposeful – Make sure you keep the end in mind; why are you blogging?
Present – Keep an eye on what’s topical today
Positional – Take a stand on an issue and follow it

Now Steve has another insight on a new career he sees developing the Geek Marketer.

My thesis is this: it’s very difficult for anyone in marketing to keep up with all the twists in the digital space because technology changes so darn fast. It’s like chasing a cheetah. Most marketers – be they clients or agency side – are heads-down running their business. Therefore, companies are creating a new role. They’re hiring people who act as translators between the ultra geeks and the marketers, if you will, and shepherd the development of pilot programs. More follows in my Advertising Age column “As Technology Develops, So Does Role of Geek Marketers”

That’s right up my alley. Some of my readers may be thinking the same thing. What do you say?