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Entries from February 2008

Are You a ‘Whatever’ Business Person?

February 28th, 2008 · 6 Comments

Photo Credits: Mikhael747
You know the drill: it’s noon and you and your co-workers are planning lunch.
You: Where should we go?
Co-worker 1: Oh, I don’t know, where do you want to go? (turning to co-worker 2)Co-worker 2: I don’t know, whatever, anything’s fine with me…
Suddenly, something as simple as grabbing lunch morphs […]

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Tags: Branding

Tumblr Makes Personal Blogging Easy

February 23rd, 2008 · 6 Comments

Tumblr is a relatively new blogging platform that lets you post short blurbs of text, links, pictures, quotes, audio and video quickly and easily. Blogs that follow this format are called ‘tumblelogs’.
In essence, Tumblr and tumblelogs remind us of the early stages of blogging, when bloggers acted mostly as editors, pointing readers to interesting […]

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Tags: Social Media · Blogging

Book Review: Meatball Sundae

February 19th, 2008 · 5 Comments

I just finished reading Meatball Sundae, Seth Godin’s latest book. It is mainly an account of what happens when old school companies try to use social media to sell commodity products.
Commodity products (the meatballs) and social media (the frosting and the cherry) don’t mix very well and the result is a mess (a meatball […]

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Tags: Social Media · Book Reviews · Branding

Shoestring Branding is in Alltop

February 18th, 2008 · 1 Comment

This morning I was going through some small business feeds in Alltop and received the pleasant surprise that Shoestring Branding is now featured in Alltop’s Small Business section, next to the likes of Inc., Entrepreneur, Seth’s Blog, Fast Company, Duct Tape Marketing and Escape from Cubicle Nation.

Alltop, as you may already know, is Guy Kawasaki’s […]

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Tags: Branding

How to Use Gmail With Your Own Branded Domain

February 15th, 2008 · 4 Comments

For quite some time, I have been using Gmail as my email program. Recently, I discovered a great Gmail feature that lets you brand your email address. For example, if you have a Gmail account and your email address is johnsmith@gmail.com, you can now use your own domain to create an email address […]

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Tags: Branding

Beyond the Logo: Avatars and Favicons in Social Media

February 5th, 2008 · 2 Comments

Photo Credits: jared
Avatars and favicons are two very important branding elements common on the web and social media. Used properly they will make your blogs and social media profiles more memorable and easier to recognize.
What is a favicon?
A favicon is a small graphic element that identifies your site or blog in a web browser’s […]

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Tags: Social Media · Branding

Yahoo!’s Meltdown: Is Brand Extension Really the Problem?

February 4th, 2008 · No Comments

In the wake of Microsoft’s recent $44 billion unsolicited bid for Yahoo!, bloggers of all walks of life have been quick to write the beleaguered Internet portal’s obituary. Most of the articles I’ve read blame Yahoo!’s demise on an out of control brand extension strategy and the ensuing lack of focus.
I think […]

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Tags: Branding

Selecting the Right URL for Your Blog

February 2nd, 2008 · 2 Comments

Photo Credits: Davichi

submit_url = “http://www.shoestringbranding.com/2008/02/02/selecting-the-right-url-for-your-blog/”;

Once you’ve selected your domain name, it’s time to set up your blog and choose what URL to use.
Generally, you have three choices:
1. Placing your blog in the root directory: yourdomain.com
2. Using a sub-domain: blog.yourdomain.com
3. Using a sub-directory or folder: yourdomain.com/blog/
While everybody […]

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Tags: Social Media · Blogging