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To continue a little bit with my topic from last time about how part of successful marketing is daring to be different, I wanted to tell you about an iPad app for cats that I came across recently.

Yes. I said an iPad app for cats.

Did you guys know that we design websites?

You did? 

Oh.

But did you guys know we can design them for kids too and not just grown-ups?

No?

No, silly.

We’re not talking about calamari or Buffalo wings.  While delicious, they have almost nothing to do with smart phones.

We’re talking about cell phone applications or “apps” because, well, everyone is! Apps are so popular, in fact, that on January 8th of this year, the word “app” was voted the 2010 word of the year by the American Dialect Society!  Cool, right?  The truth is that the world of mobile devices is a veritable smorgasbord of apps right now, and creating one for your business is something you might want to consider. 

It seems like everyone and their ad agency is talking about “mobile marketing” these days, but what is it and why should a small business owner care?  After all, isn’t this kind of thing meant for BIG business?

Nay, nay, my good friends.

It’s for the rest of us, too.

Lots of businesses are choosing to jump on the mobile marketing bandwagon. With this new advertising strategy, small companies can earn huge profits without spending a ton of extra money.  Sure, multinational companies are pursuing mobile marketing too, but really, it’s a great option for any business, big or small.

How do you shop for goods and services? Are you a sensory shopper, meandering from storefront to storefront, taking your time browsing and comparing? Or, are you more like a military missile strike, comparison shopping and purchasing at the speed of light? Whatever your personal approach, you’re certainly within the great big mixing bowl of consumers out there. And with so many different shopping styles out there, a business in today’s market can really benefit from offering a variety of entry points to their product(s).

At first glance, it may seem that there's no possible connection between a delicious processed meat product and the endless proliferation of junk email we all receive. And yet, if you think about it, there really are a few similarities between the two. For instance...

Ever wondered how to get one of those short ads on the top or side of your Google, Yahoo or Bing search page? Those short pay-per-click (PPC) ads are related to the keywords you entered in the search field, and they circulate on a rotating basis.

The great news for you is that any business of any size can post those ads...and can get noticed!

How can you take advantage of this targeted ad placement? There are few key steps...

Do you remember the virtual pet fad in the mid to late 90s? Thousands of children (and yes, some adults, too) had keyrings with digital "pets" that required virtual food and virtual care. They got sick, made messes and could even pass into the great digital beyond. (Not to worry; you could reset them back to life.)

Since summer's soon winding to a close, it seems fitting to ask: how many former library geeks remember the Dewey Decimal System?

Bueller...? Bueller...?

The Dewey Decimal Classification (or "DDC" as it's called) is the basic system created in the late 1800s to categorize and organize public libraries. It uses an established structure to group information so it's easier to find.

In a similar way, bookmarks are a simple way you can organize information you look at on the Internet. On your browser window, you typically find a menu called "bookmarks" where you can create folders and save sites you want to go back to.

With Apple's big announcement last month, there are now at least a billion reasons to be excited about the iPhone!

In late April, Apple celebrated their 1 billionth download — just nine months after the opening of their app store. What does this mean for marketers?