Blog Ryan

Here is a YouTube slide show of the orphanage project, Casa de Sion, that we are supporting in Guatemala.

After the Walt Disney Company got lambasted for the marketing of “children’s champagne” you’d think they would steer clear of anything that could be promoted as a gateway to alcoholism for yougsters.  Why then is Disney allowing Caribbean Beer Maker Samba to market a malt and hops laden energy drink to children using popular Disney characters such as Mickey Mouse, Winne the Pooh, and Lion King figures.  If you even try to access the Company’s website you are greeted with the following:

This site is for use only if you are of legal drinking age in your country of residence or the country where are you accessing this site. If you are not of legal age please leave this site.

Below are some screenshots from Samba’s website:

When Disney was sharply criticized for the “Fizzy Juice”, comparisons were drawn to the controversial cigarette sweets, which are still sold to children despite known risks. According to research published in the British Medical Journal in 2000, children who have used sweet cigarettes are more likely to become adult smokers.

American researchers found that executives in the tobacco industry regarded sweet cigarettes as good advertising for future smokers. Withdrawing the confectionery from sale could even reduce tobacco use among young people, concluded researchers.

Professor Neil McKeganey, director of the Centre for Drug Misuse Research at Glasgow University, said: “It is a matter of serious concern that Disney has chosen to present soft drinks to young people that so very clearly resemble alcoholic products.

“In Scotland we have a huge problem with underage drinking. Some of our strongest alcoholic products have penetrated the world of children and young people. “

Both Williams and I have written about Maya Jade the non-profit we are working on getting off the ground to help children struggling with survival in Latin American countries, beginning with Guatemala.  The other day my wife showed me a link from David Perry where he was showing a video he had shown at the United Nations on International Adoption.  There are an estimated 148 Million orphaned children worldwide.  We are truly facing a worldwide crisis as a human race.  Many of these children are orphaned from diseases contracted by their parents, many by lack of education or understanding of the most basic human needs.

Consider this an early New Year’s resolution to kick Maya Jade into full gear this year.  We appreciate the overwhelming amount of support we’ve already received despite the fact we aren’t fully established.

Here is a link to the video.  The video will make you forget about the small problems of your life…and put the larger problems in a different perspective.

Partner Fusion, an online performance-based marketing firm, specializing in travel and leisure as well as lead generation for financial services, announced today the hiring of Karen White as Vice President of Marketing and Business Development. White, an industry favorite with many top-producing affiliates in the performance marketing space, will direct the company’s partnership development and affiliate marketing management efforts.

read more | digg story

If anybody is out looking for a job I have a good friend, Dave Bascom that is hiring for an SEO position and a SEM position. I also was contacted by a recruiter about a job opportunity for a startup in San Francisco. I don’t have compensation details on any of the jobs but here are the descriptions:

Search Engine Optimization Specialist - Web Targeted

The Search Engine Optimization specialist handles various aspects of optimizing clients’ websites. You will be involved in making recommendations for improving organic search engine listings, as well as coordinating the implementation of these recommendations.

Responsibilities:

• Keyword research
• Competitive analysis
• Optimization of website content & code
• Link recruitment
• Analysis of web analytics reports

Qualifications:

• Bachelors degree or higher
• At least 3 years search engine optimization experience
• Understanding of search engine ranking algorithms
• Proven results with SEO
• Expert user of MS Office
• Strong communication skills – written and verbal
• Advanced HTML/CSS
• Project management experience

PPC Search Engine Marketing Specialist - Web Targeted

This is a full-time position. The PPC specialist will be responsible for setting up and managing PPC campaigns for clients. This person will also manage and optimize the PPC campaigns to achieve optimal ROI for the client.

Responsibilities:

• Keyword research
• Competitive analysis
• Creation of PPC ad campaigns
• Monitoring and adjusting PPC campaigns
• Review website analytics and compile client reports
• Optimize PPC campaigns to improve ROI

Qualifications:

• Bachelors degree or higher
• At least 2 years experience with PPC advertising
• Proven results with PPC marketing
• Strong analytical skills
• Expert user of MS Office
• Strong communication skills – written and verbal

Sales Representative
The Sales Representative is a consultative sales position in which you will help prospects understand the benefits of Web Targeted’s search engine marketing services. The ideal candidate has at least 3 years’ sales experience, preferably in the high-tech, software, SEO or related industry. Strong computer skills and understanding of search engine optimization are a plus. To apply for any of these jobs:
Send your resume and cover letter to jobs@webtargeted.com. Include the job title in the subject line.
Vice President Marketing - Ecast

Location -San Francisco, CA

Reporting Relationships

The Vice President, Marketing (VP, Marketing) will report to the Chief Executive Officer.

Responsibilities

The VP, Marketing is responsible for driving the marketing, positioning and product strategy that will continue to transform the largest place-based broadband media network in the U.S. into a market defining and dominant player in the industry. The ideal candidate has a proven track record developing and executing marketing strategies for successful online and emerging media companies and has a passion for marketing new forms of emerging media. The candidate will have a strong network of executive level media contacts, including online, outdoor and traditional media.

Additional responsibilities will include:

• Provide leadership and coordination of product management and marketing functions, including the assessment of new markets and products plans to successfully penetrate new markets.
• Provide leadership and creative thinking to the analysis of market trends, data and the identification of new market opportunities.
• Oversee the development and management of a product and corporate strategy that maximizes overall enterprise value for the business.
• Direct and coordinate the marketing communications efforts for the company, including press activities, sales materials, trade conferences and the company website.
• Analyze and report on the ROI and overall effectiveness of products, marketing initiatives and promotions.
• Provide operational leadership in support of the development of one to three year business plans for the company that includes short and long-range goals and objectives.
• Develop and manage marketing budgets, and oversee the development and management of internal operating budgets.
• Determine the strategy that optimizes the promotion, interaction and consumption of digital media across the Ecast Network.
• Develop a comprehensive music product and programming strategy that will inform our ongoing music licensing and clearance activities.
• Develop and present product plans to senior management and execute against those plans on a timely basis.
• Lead, develop and motivate high performance teams.
• Oversee a process (internally and externally) which facilitates constructive feedback as it relates to the enhancement or modification of current products and services.
• Establish an overall marketing development process that supports the continued growth of Ecast as an organization and focuses on results that are on-time and on-budget.

Lake Atitlan

Originally uploaded by rmdlwa.

This photo is taken from the shores of Panajachel looking out over the lake towards Santiago and San Pedro. We have relocated the Casa de Sion orphanage children from Guatemala City to a 3 acre parcel (2 homes) on the shores of this gorgeous lake.

DSC00374

Originally uploaded by rmdlwa.

I recently returned from a 10 day trip to Belize and Guatemala. For the last part of the trip I had Steven Dalley (a friend and professional photographer / cameraman) join us to take pictures and video footage at the various projects we are involved with at Maya Jade. There are basically 4 different projects that we are involved with or looking at being involved with at the current time. The first is a set of schools that have been established in Guatemala in Chimaltenango, Patzicia and Momostenango. They are being run by a local guatemalan, Julio Salazar and his foundation La Fundacion Rosa. I’ve been invovled with projects at their school in Patzicia for several years and we are anxious to support their ongoing efforts. The second project is one we helped start a couple of years ago in guatemala city and now has been transplanted out to Lake Atitlan. It is called Casa de Sion orphanage and now houses approx. 50 orphans from various parts of Guatemala. We are working closely with Casa de Sion to provide fundraising and service opportunities for the groups we will be bringing down from the US. Project 3 is a new one just starting in Escuintla. We are working with the mayor to identify needs in that area and recently took down a shipment of clothing for children in the area including the girl featured in the accompanying photo. Project 4 is in belize and is an effort to help an extended family get involved in the tourism industry that is fast becoming the hope of Belize. I will give more details on each of these projects in the near future. Thanks to all who have supported us to this point!

- RW

Some stories to follow on Valentine’s Day:

• Adwords is rolling out changes to the algorithm as well as showing the quality score more clearly.
• Technorati loses key developer to Google: This is a big loss to Technorati, and a further signal Google is serious about indexing blogs more comprehensively.
• No more invites for Gmail:  About dang time. I could understand this at first, but why did it take so long to open up such a great service to everyone?
• Sports Blog Sells to ESPN: This is a sign that old school media is paying attention to new school and I think a trend that we will see more of–bloggers landing journalist jobs with established media companies.
• Webmaster Central Leaves Beta: First Gmail and now Webmaster Central.  Kudos to the Webmaster Central team.  Really like some of the tools and I dig the hunger for customer feedback that the team has displayed.
• Cutt’s Keynote in London: Lots of coverage on this one around the web.  Some of the tidbits from his keynote.  Linkbaiting is “officially” considered white hat   greater need to focus on vertical search, make greater use of tools from Webmaster Central.
• Some good adCenter tips for dynamic link insertion from Brad Geddes aka eWhisper.
• I’m starting another blog, as much for me to keep track of the huge field of US Presidential contenders as anything.  I find myself wondering where I saw which article about who.  I’m going to try and update articles by candidate, show who has which endorsements, and show who is paying attention to new technologies, and how that is affecting their campaign.

Now I better go find a babysitter so I can take Mrs. McCoy out to dinner and a movie.

Banging my head against the wall over here.  I’ve had either zero internet connection or extremely slow internet connection for over a week now.  Makes it real hard to be motivated to blog or get any work done.  I’m talking speeds of 100k or less.  I’ve contacted my current provider, no response since Thursday and have contacted the competition and can’t get a response from them either.  My problem is I have to get internet via satellite or line of site methods as DSL/Cable options aren’t available in my rural area.  Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

Congratulations to Dave Bascom and co. over at Web Targeted.  They are a Utah SEO firm that was recently named one of the top SEO firms in the world (#11) by TOP SEOS.  Not sure the criteria used to determine rankings, but regardless, I know these guys are as good as anyone around.  Great job Dave!