the Soviets just placed missiles in Cuba

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So we recently got our wedding photos from our friend and wedding photographer Joe. I thought this was a pretty cool shot and my buddy Jon commented that "looks like you're getting the call that the Soviets just placed missiles in Cuba." I'd have to agree...

Crickets 'n Beer

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In the spirit of Andrew Zimmern, bizarre foods Room 214 style amounted to sour cream and onion crickets, quickly washed down with some Flying Dog ale.  The concensus was pretty unanimous: none of us would be eating crickets again anytime soon - although Jason assured us the BBQ flavored were much better.

The Flying Dog was good as usual, and the fact that all of their labels have art by the amazing Ralph Steadman doesn't hurt.

My Favorite iPhone 2.0 App

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Honestly I haven't explored many of the new apps for the iPhone 2.0 upgrade but the one I have been certainly using the most is Pandora. Pandora is a free internet radio service that allows you to simply choose an artist and hear a good variety of other artists in the same genre. I had been researching options to stream Pandora through my home audio system for quite some time but most of the options were either too expensive or required too much work. I was happy find the iPhone synced right up with my Yamaha YDS-10 iPod dock (which plugs directly in the back of the reciever).

The sound quality could be better, but I really can't complain now that I gots free streaming internet radio on my home system - and I get to control the songs.

Zappos at DIA: Who were the ad wizards who came up with that one?

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With all of the advertising noise in today's marketplace and the struggle to grab consumer attention, I found it pretty interesting that Zappos.com corned a new, unique space: the airport security line.



On one hand I think it is pretty brilliant to identify this new space where people were almost forced to look at the adverts. Also, there is a great chance that people will consciously or unconsciously make the correlation between placing their crappy shoes into the plastic box and recognizing that Zappos.com could be the perfect place to get their next pair of kicks. 

I would say that is also a bit dicey as the airport security line can be a very aggravating and stressful place. Not to mention most people I know hate having to take off their shoes and place them into those plastic boxes. Placing ads in such a volatile environment could create a negative association with the brand.

PPC Tip 'O the Month: Pre-qualify Yo!

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Not seeing the paid advertising returns you were expecting? Try placing pre-qualifying verbiage in your ad text such as the price or the number of users a software download is valid. A large number of advertisers focus on writing compelling ad text that attracts the largest number of clicks with out thinking about the quality of that click. By adding pre-qualifying ad text, you will likely see a big drop in clicks but will almost always see a decrease in cost per conversion and often times an increase in the number of conversions since more of your budget is going to more qualified visitors. Paid advertising is all about the numbers and thinking in terms of click quality is really important to maximizing ROI.