Saturday, July 18, 2009

The Million Dollar Homepage

One dollar per pixel may have been a good buy for advertising space on
the Internet, because three year's later you can still go to the
Million Dollar Home Page (http://www.milliondollarhomepage.com) and
click on a square to be linked to an advertiser's webpage.

The webpage was the brain child of Alex Tew, a freshman at the
University of Nottingham, in England, who wanted a way to pay for his
education.

It is simply a grid of 10,000 boxes, each 100 pixels in size, filled
with barely legible advertisements. Businesses and some individuals
bought space on the grid at a price of $1 per pixel, hoping their ads
would prove lucrative if the site became an Internet phenomenon. And
it did.

Only about four months after its conception in 2006, the Million
Dollar Home Page sold out and made Tew $1 million. Tew thought it
would take three years to sell all the spaces.

Advertisers on the site include a number of fledgling poker rooms and
online retailers. But the grid also features some strange characters,
like a person who bills himself as the Rich Jerk. And the site's
advertisers include a few noteworthy names, like the Golden Palace
Casino -- a champion of marketing stunts that has paid hefty fees for
items like a toasted cheese sandwich said to bear an image of the
Virgin Mary.

Thursday, July 9, 2009

PR Grads doing all the right things...

Northwest student, soon to graduate, Allie Alvarez describes her
efforts to get a job. She has all the great characteristics that make
a good employee and has done all the right things to find work. Still
she hasn't landed her first job. I'm confident, however, that she
will.

These are the things she suggests for the recent grad looking for work.

1. Get involved: My first internship was during the summer of my
sophomore year at a local radio station. I was exposed to every
department, including sales, promotions, productions account and even
engineering. This hands-on experience started the ball rolling—and
I've done a total of five internships in both PR and Broadcasting;
only 2 were paid. These positions include: Promotions Intern at a
radio station; Program Coordinator for a YMCA branch; Public Relations
Intern for the Communication Department at NWMSU; Creative Promotions
Intern for a television station and Firm Director for a Student-run
Firm.

2. Build Bridges: Ever heard of "make sure to always leave a good
first impression?" More than just making a good impression with the
people you meet and/or work for, it is extremely important to keep in
touch with them—they can be your ticket to a better job. This becomes
especially important with the media's rapid change because it not only
shows you stay current with the media but it allows you stay connected
to those who you are no longer working for but would like their
support and, hopefully, their recommendation.

3. Clean and Revamp: I have reviewed my resume around fifty times
within the last two months. I have cleaned it up so that it looks
well-organized and, most importantly, so it shows results. I think of
it as a cheat sheet for employers; they can see the results of my
projects while I was an intern, or as an employee. I also had several
contacts, who are all part of the workforce, take a second look. In
addition, I subscribe to several different newsletters where I read
about how I can bolster my presence online.

4. Word of Mouth: Talking to everyone you meet and know is the key
to networking. I've kept in touch with friends who graduated last year
for their advice and/or leads as to who is hiring. Through this I
found two different companies that I was really interested in and as a
result I applied. I've found this process to be more efficient due to
my friend's influence and recommendations.

Read the complete article at
http://www.prchannel.com/blog/pr-grads-doing-all-the-right-things

Sponsored links:
Check out www.rewindyourclock.net.
If you want more information go to www.melaniefisher.info.

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Beware of social media scams

Many people are falling victim to scams that promise money for
twittering. Recent schemes involve companies promising to pay Twitter
users hundreds of dollars a day to tweet after they sign up for a free
training kit, which the Better Business Bureau said ends up sucking
away a hefty monthly payment. The bureau said some companies have a
presence on Twitter itself, but all of them use email and websites to
attract customers.

The bureau warns job seekers to be wary of claims that they can earn
substantial paychecks simply by tweeting from home. Websites asking
for money upfront for a tweeting "position" should also be avoided,
the bureau said.

Read more at http://tinyurl.com/koja6z

Sponsored link: www.rewindyourclock.net
For more information go to www.melaniefisher.info

Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Washington Post apologizes for selling news services

The publisher of the Washington Post apologized to the paper's readers
this weekend after a controversy erupted over the company's plans to
organize sponsored meetings that would include Washington lobbyists,
government officials and the paper's own journalists. The Post
canceled the first of what it billed as exclusive "salons" at the home
of the publisher, Katharine Weymouth, after critics accused the paper
of seeking to profit from its access to members of Congress and
administration officials, the NY Times reports.

See story at the Daily Dog http://tinyurl.com/kukl6w

YouTube is not the only way to view videos on the web

An article in July 2009 Popular Science lists some other sources for
viewing videos on the web.

On http://www.hulu.com you can watch free TV shows and movies.

"Vertical content" web sites focus on single subjects such as bird
watching (www.birdcinema.com) and extreme sports (www.shredordie.com).

www.blinkx.com searches the web for videos while www.mefeedia.com uses
social networking to find videos and www.truveo.com finds Twittered
videos.

An application like Boxee (www.boxee.tv) allows you to access video
from many sources. You can download videos using utorrent software.