Writings from Force 5 Basecamp

05/24/11

Google’s recent “Panda” update is getting plenty of notice and discussion on SEO and web marketing sites. This is an algorithm update, the formula Google uses to rank sites—using a variety of areas of your web site. It’s clear that one of the biggest goals for Google’s algorithm update is to provide higher page rankings for quality, rather than quantity,

05/23/11

Force 5 recently wrote about a project we did involving QR (quick response) codes. The campaign, done for Smoker Craft boats, has been a success and a practical application of this new and growing tool. Since the boom in QR codes, I have since seen them on everything from ads in magazines to the lettuce container at the grocery store.

05/18/11

According to a report by Sandvine, Netflix is now the largest source of internet traffic in North America during peak hours. Netflix streaming video service now accounts fro about 29% of peak traffic, overtaking P2P, Bittorrent, and Social Networking. Almost half of internet traffic is Real-Time Entertainment Netflix accounts for 29.7% of Downtream traffic (provided by Sandvine) These numbers show

05/17/11

The Filter bubble by Eli Pariser I was listening to a TED talk yesterday from Eli Pariser, who just wrote the book “The Filter Bubble”.In his talk, he tells of the personalization taking place on the web. Everything is filtered before it gets to us. I have an interest in sailing, and listed that on my facebook. And lo and

05/16/11

It’s been almost  a year since the release of Apple’s iPhone 4.   I traded in my old iPhone 3G just a few months ago.  I love the 4’s speed, video features, functionality. Ultimately, I’m glad I made the switch.  But I have to be honest with you; there’s something that’s just not been quite right with my new iPhone 4.

05/13/11

  n a world where we often hear about “these kids these days” it is great to hear about those doing very well. This spring the 6th graders from Riverside Intermediate School in Plymouth, IN for scoring highest in the nation for April 2011 on the FBI-SOS Internet Safety Challenge. From the FBI-SOS Internet Safety Challenge website: The mission of

05/12/11

First some background: I am a father to an amazing 2 year old son named Neilan who is in the midst of innocently testing as many boundaries as possible with his mother and I, but still has me belly laughing daily at his antics. He’s a true showman. While I believe raising your children to be entrepreneurs is a great

05/11/11

Look, up in the sky!  Actually, it’s not a bird or a plane – it’s David Morgan, one of our principals here at Force 5.  David is away this week in Metropolis, Illinois, the home of DC Comics hero, Superman. If you’ve ever met David Morgan, it won’t take long for you to figure out that he has developed some pretty amazing super powers:  teacher, video

05/10/11

I was surfing yesterday, catching up on news. I noticed an article about a man who was grieving the loss of his wife years after her death. Having experienced the loss of a loved one taken too early and overwhelming grief, I decided to read the article. The article went on to review the circumstances that lead to the woman’s

05/09/11

Happy Birthday Coca- Cola.  You’re 125 years old and according to companies like Interbrand, and other brand valuation entities, you remain in the top 10 of all  brands, having built brand equity to over $70 B (yep, that’s Billion)  You’ve dwarfed your closest competitor, Pepsi, by 500%.  You have again highlighted the importance of marketing, advertising, and customer experience as a crucial component for any business. 

05/05/11

UPDATE: Since the posting of this article there has been dramatic improvements by the community and now this is no longer the best way to implement this feature. We now use the “Views Slideshow,” found at: http://drupal.org/project/views_slideshow. We have used this method to create the various slideshows for the City of South Bend at www.SouthBendOn.com. One of the more common

05/04/11

Have you made restaurant reservations online? Come on, using a landline phone to make restaurant reservations is so 20th Century! These days, more and more consumers expect to engage with restaurants online and through mobile devices. Are you one of them? Restaurant operators who don’t build up their online presence and brand loyalty are missing an opportunity to generate higher