Wordpress + Facebook [Embeds]

Facebook recently enabled embeddable posts (see announcement here) - theses embeds can include public status updates, images, videos, etc and enable social sharing directly within the unit. On Wordpress, it's particularly easy: simply paste the Facebook URL between the Wordpress embed tags. That easy. For Facebook, this is important for two obvious reasons: first, it encourages public posting for users and celebrities (brands are already public). And second, it gives publishers and brands a simple way to amplify their on-Facebook content - which in turn enables social sharing directly on the publisher site. Twitter has had great solutions here for years - Facebook's embeddable post can be an equally powerful mechanism (content dependent of course).

[embed]https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=638282669523912&set=a.166942843324566.37299.147262525292598&type=1[/embed]



[embed]https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=613289692051124&set=a.114588455254586.5908.104266592953439&type=1[/embed]

Spotify Embeddable Widgets (Twitter & Facebook Too)

Nothing groundbreaking here but I thinks its worth showcasing visually:

Spotify yesterday promoted their embeddable play buttons and playlists via Facebook and Twitter yesterday. Those 'widgets' can appear on sites, blogs, etc and play in-line much like it works on Facebook within the newsfeed / ticker.

Those tweets are then embeddable as well - and you have started to see more and tweets appear in-line within stories, blog posts, etc. As Twitter content becomes more and more of a starting point for conversation (on and off Twitter), those embeddable widgets are terrifically useful.

And back to the Spotify post: notice the Facebook Social Plugin (right column). So the main post shows in-line playlists and play buttons - and the right column shows MY Facebook friends and their recent LISTENING activity within Spotify (on Spotify.com, on Facebook, and now through the web).

Big, virtuous cycle. And an example of Spotify, Twitter and Facebook moving beyond their .com homes.

14 SEO Tips for Startups

Note: This article originally appeared on TechCrunch (“14 Steps to Successful SEO for Startups”). For startups, it is dangerous to entirely separate product and marketing – both strategically and organizationally. A great product isn’t overly useful without an audience. And a great marketing strategy can’t save a poor product. Product and marketing have to coexist.

So when imaging, building and eventually launching your product, it is important to also hone the marketing strategy. There are five core channels:

- Paid marketing (SEM, display, affiliates, etc) - Social & viral marketing - Search engine optimization (SEO) - Partnerships & business development - PR

For early-stage companies, advertising at scale is expensive and consequently difficult. Furthermore, PR and business development become easier efforts as the company matures. So where does that leave you as a resource-constrained startup?

Marketing needs to come from the product itself. Last week I explored the role that social and virals play. And while the tech world is fascinated with social media and major platforms like Facebook and Twitter, we shouldn’t overlook the role of SEO (and consequently Google). Like Facebook and Twitter, SEO is another opportunity to expand your funnel and increase your audience — without an advertising budget! Also like social, SEO is far more effective when built directly into the product (“from the ground up”). Here are 14 guidelines for thinking about SEO.

View more presentations from Ryan Spoon

Entering 2011, My Daily Productivity, Work Apps

After yesterday's post (2011 as the year of The Cloud and The Mobile Office), I was moved to list the apps and tools that I use on a daily basis (... at least as of January 2011!). I am trying to capture those utilities that I use most often. This is in no way comprehensive and is not presented in no particular order. What does your's look like?

- Wordpress: ryanspoon.com and dogpatchlabs.com run on it.

- Vaultpress: backs everything up. simple, great product.

- Evernote: committing to diligently using this in 2011.

- Highrise: committed to using it in Q4 2010... and love it.

- Xobni: makes Outlook better. And I live in Outlook.

- Google Apps: Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Docs, Google Chat.

- Skype: solely on the iPhone for international calls.

- Google Chrome extensions: I live on them. These are ones I use regularly: - Evernote - Quora - Goo.gl - Gmail Checker - Google Calendar - Web Clipboard - Google Voice - Google Screen Capture

- Google TV: I might be alone, but I love it.

- Tripit: the more I travel, the more I rely on it.

This of course does not include the list of websites and apps that I use daily... like Facebook, Quora, Netflix Twitter, Pandora, etc.

The Power of Statistics & Dashboards (About.me as an example)

In May of 2008 I wrote that statistics - specifically around referrals and influencers - could be a sizeable business model for Twitter. Last week, About.me launched publicly. It's a gorgeous site creator that allows very simple page creation and automatically pulls in content from your social presences: ie Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, Wordpress, etc. You can view mine at About.me/rspoon

Much can be written about this - SEO, self-branding, social aggregators, etc. But I want to return to the premise that my 2008 article about Twitter and statistics... because one of the great features of About.me is their "dashboard":

First, the dashboard gets users to return to the site... making it "sticky" in an environment that might not otherwise encourage daily usage (after all, the service automatically updates all of your presences!).

Second, it is addictive... in the same way that game mechanics make other sites sticky and why Twitter's follow count can be credited with some of their early growth.

Third, it encourages promotion. Want more views and visitors? Promote your About.me page via Twitter, Facebook and email (of course About.me makes that easy).

Fourth, it is really useful and interesting... and unique. There are statistics on visits, views, etc - but more interesting, there are stats on the number of status updates pulled in, your total reach, the @replies, etc. Powerful ways to unite the data around "influencers" and your About.me page will emerge over time.

So how can you apply similar mechanics and a "Dashboard" mentality to your experience?

Gorgeous Beta Launch: WordPress & VaultPress

If you're an active blogger and WordPress user, you should be excited about the new launch of VaultPress - a backup and monitoring service for your sites. Vaultpress launched this week as a Beta and has the best looking "Beta Applications" I have seen... and in the world of optimizing funnels (registration paths, purchase flows, etc), this is a great lesson in thinking about how to apply that knowledge and analysis to fuzzier aspects of the business (like the Beta launch). What can be learned?

1. It is simple and clever... all within the VaultPress brand and look 2. It cleverly captures all of the information typically requested (name, URL, etc) 3. It captures directional information that will help inform usage, customer type, etc: as examples, "How much would you pay?" and "Why would you pay?" 4. VaultPress understands the Beta applicant and therefore can intelligently invite / control the invitation process (such that they can have early users of whatever type / pattern they prefer)

Note: Polaris is an investor in Automattic (parent company of WordPress).

DogpatchLabs.com Update: Locations, Roster & RSS

A couple updates on the new DogpatchLabs.com: - First, we have added headers for each of the three Dogpatch Labs locations: Cambridge, New York and San Francisco. You can access all Dogpatch posts directly on DogpatchLabs.com, or follow news from your specific locale. - You can see a list of all Dogpatch residents by location... its a large and impressive list. I encourage you to take a look at the 'roster' and their various companies / websites!

- We have added a 'sidebar' with quick links to follow Dogpatch on Facebook, Twitter and via RSS.

More updates are coming soon. Again, thanks to Wordpress and Egghaus (a Dogpatch Labs resident!)

Announcing the New DogpatchLabs.com

We are very excited to announce the launch of the new DogpatchLabs.com. Thanks to Egghaus (a Dogpatch San Francisco resident) and Wordpress.com (a Polaris Ventures portfolio company) who helped design, implement and host the site, respectively.

DogpatchLabs.com contains information about Dogpatch Labs, our residents, upcoming events and so forth. You will also find information from the Dogpatch Labs Facebook page and Twitter account.

You can also follow Dogpatch Labs via RSS and via email:

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