The US FTC has just issued rules for disclosure for bloggers and celebrity inducements to insure greater transparency in advertising. Why do I say FTCWTF? As it happens I do not do paid post HOWEVER1 It is lucky this is a UK blog, even thought half the traffic comes from the USA and it ranks top 20,000 according to Alexa.

How can you stand out in a world of bloggers who are writing product reviews? Mommy Bloggers and now other types of bloggers, including technology, fashion and photography bloggers are receiving free products and writing about them on their blog.This is a series on how to write the best Product Reviews.

This week I was at the Social Media Strategies Conference in San Francisco at Fort Mason. It was a one day conference about how businesses can use social media.One of the Keynote speakers was MC Hammer! He has transformed himself from recording artist to social media guru. He told me: “Anyone who’s not participating in social media, in the long run, is doing a disservice to their business.

Twitter Spam Mass Unfollow ToolsOK I am getting to much Twitter Spam. I was using tweetlater to auto follow back. This seemed like a good idea at the time. Well that is turned off. There is just too much noise on my twitter stream. So what am I doing about it?

Email marketing is a powerful tool for anyone making sales online. But when you are looking for information and links to move beyond those who are already on your email list or looking for new ways to expand your email list, it is becoming increasingly clear that integrating social media into those email campaigns is necessary- savvy marketers see the need for email social media campaigns.

This week I was at the Social Media Strategies Conference in San Francisco at Fort Mason. It was a one day conference about how businesses can use social media.I had the chance to talk with Bill Stephenson, VP of Client Service at Nielsen. Nielsen recently announced a deal to partner with Facebook and provide in-depth monitoring and usage metrics.

Social Media Monitoring Tools are amazing technologies that allow companies and individuals to monitor their brand and keywords across all of the social media networks. Listening to what kind of conversation is going on about you, your brand or your company and being able to do something about it is crucial in the digital economy.

Image via CrunchBaseIf you are a blogger and you have not signed up for a Twitter account yet, you are missing opportunities to gain new readers and increase your hits.Twitter has a search function. I use it often to find people who are interested in the tight niche about which I blog.

FeedBurner 2483 subscribers in 6 monthsI was told by a friend recently that I would take a look at my FeedBurner stats. I have seen them on other blogs but never really paid any attention to them. Well after I found the long lost login I discovered that I have 2483 subscribers. I also found a could get a natty little badge from them which I put up.

Social Forward from Exact TargetSocial media is becoming more and more important in all facets of the online marketing industry. While there is no standard for how much or in what way to utilize social media in conjunction with an email marketing campaign, it’s obvious that email social media campaigns are a growing trend.

In public relations, there are tactics and then there are strategies. Acting independent of one another, both will struggle to achieve long-term success. They are mutually dependent elements of any public relations plan.I formerly served as the spokesperson and PR manager of a mid-size airport. One of our goals was to increase our number of non-stop flights to popular destinations.

Listen in on a group of bloggers speaking and you may hear them questioning how to bridge the gap between themselves and advertisers. Bloggers are loyal to brands. They may only wear Crocs, fly on Jet Blue, use HP computers and eat Hershey’s chocolate. But when it comes to getting an advertiser to notice them, what do they do?

Evan Weber is a great guy who runs www.CostPerNews.com. He has not asked me to blog this but I would like to help him out and you might be interested. Murraynewlands.com won his last contest :)Hello LinkedAffiliate Group Member! I hope all is well. Because our last blogging contest was so successful, I’ve decided to run another one this month!

This is a continuing series on how to write the best Product Reviews. First, Descriptions were discussed as the most important part of any review post.  Now we will cover Photographs and their role in connecting your readers to your review.Readers want to see the product that you are writing about.

Discountshuffle, launched September 2009, offers an online advertising platform that allows users to get a discount at a randomly chosen registered online shop. It is aimed at users who are looking for a online discount and want to have a bit of fun in the process.The website works as follows. Online shops can register one or several links with Discountshuffle.

 I meet Aaron Ford would love to connect brands to the music industry.

Social Media Monitoring Tools:Lessons From My Own SearchSocial Media Monitoring Services enable you, your company or your brand to listen to and participate in online conversations. They have gained popularity over the last few years and their insight and analysis they offer can be crucial to being a meaningful part of the online conversation.

Social Media Fusion from eCircleEmail social media campaigns are the next big thing. It’s not email marketing or social media marketing, as the debate was originally framed. It turns out that the two mediums are similar and connected enough that integrating offerings in each is the best option- if fact, an increase in either appears to create an increase in the other.

Klaxon Marketing Andy Bargery an interviewTell me about your Klaxon Marketing?My company is called Klaxon Marketing which I setup in Jan 2.06. I essentially provide marketing strategy consultancy and communications services to companies, whether big or small. In some cases I operate as an outsourced marketing department, covering everything from social media to direct mail and print strategy development, to the other end of the spectrum where I run event marketing programmes for some of the world’s largest software brands.

Scotts post Social Media Monitoring Tools – A buyer’s guide seems to have been very popular however I have been contacted by a number of people asking me to include them, update their information etc.Rather than doing this in a hap hazard way I have decided to put to personally put together a more comprehensive buyer’s guide.

Aaron Brazell and Missy WardI would like to thank Missy Ward ONCE AGAIN for introducing me to Aaron Brazell. Missy has done a lot for me over the years and today she was at it again. I was leaving the Izeafest event (well the bar) and I thanked her for her interview she did for me here on murraynewlands.

Blogging Buddy it is all about the conversationDarren Rowse has written some great posts about the benefits of Blogging Buddys. The more I read by Darren Rowse the more impressed I am.Let me show you inside a secret blogging alliance10 Reasons to find a Blogging BuddyFind a Blogging Buddy”You can feedback on posts, prior to pressing publish.

Golf Blogger John Raser an interviewJohn Raser from gospeedraser.com is a PGA Golfer and Golf Blogger.

These are the notes talk I gave at Izeafest, I have included my highlights etc..Content is dead, conversation is king, long live conversation. Yes you have to have good content but you can have good content and no one will know about you unless you engage.Keynote Chris Brogan is leading a session entitled “go deep or go home”.

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