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As some of you many know already, I’ve taken on a new position at a great company here in Boston (Cambridge actually) – HubSpot. the company is an internet marketing software firm that produces a great product that helps other companies practice inbound marketing. For those who have no idea what inbound marketing means, it’s basically the practice of making your company website a ‘hub’ for your industry. Optimizing it and creating content that will enable you to get found on the web and (most importantly) convert your website visitors into leads that you can then qualify and convert them into customers.

So far, I’ve been very impressed with the products and people at HubSpot. The company was founded by two MIT Sloan school graduates who’s ideas and experience brought them to the idea that traditional promotional marketing techniques (referred to as ‘outbound’) were broken. Inbound marketing is the wave of the future (or at least part of it), especially for small to medium sized businesses who face strong localized competition in today’s economy.

Perhaps the most impressive aspect of HubSpot though is the way they ‘eat their own dogfood’ – a lesson I learned a while back in the 37 Signals book ‘Getting Real’. HubSpot’s practices what they preach (inbound marketing), perhaps more than any company I’ve ever seen or heard about. Literally, their own products and philosophy drives their business everyday and they’re happy to admit it. I’ll be the first one to tell you that Inbound marketing works – and there are countless examples to prove it (HubSpot being just one).

In any case, another move that I’m going to be making is that more of my writing around the technology and media industries are going to be on HubSpot’s internet marketing blog.  Check it out!

During the 2008 presidential elections, I found myself getting sick and tired of all of the biased partisan dribble that was being produced from the major news channels – you know the culprits. It seemed like my options were either totally liberal MSNBC, or totally conservative Fox News, with not a whole lot in between. Online, in written news articles, the same sort of biased opinion exists, with a few exceptions. I’ve always found myself craving multiple sources in my news and not simply settling for reading one source all the time.

Fast forward to today, and enter Newsy.com – an online video news site that covers the day’s news from multiple sources.  Their format is strictly video, and they use their own ‘reporters’ to cover the sources in their attempt to touch on all aspects of the story as it unfolds.  At first glance, the site doesn’t appear to have a ton of stories, a product of their age and resources most likely, but I expect this to increase over time.

Newsy also just launched an iPhone app, which has me very excited (as I just picked up a new 3G S).  I really like the video format – it takes less time to consume the stories and the reporters do a good job keeping you interested during each 5 minute or so clip.

The company earns revenue through advertising around its videos and also offers to license them to other sites who may want to incorporate them.  The site is about 10 months old, and has already received funding, and apparently is going to announce another round of funding at $2 million.

One question I have is how are their sources and news stories are being uncovered?  As they move forward, are they putting the resources into developing a piece of technology that will automate this process (a la Memeorandum)?  The lack of automation in finding and filtering news stories from all of the sources they cover could be the cause for them being slow to publish new videos.  They could also be suffering from a lack of personnel and video creation and editing resources.  I would say that for them to really make a splash in the public news market, they have to produce at least an hour’s worth of video per day.

Will this new site fix the ever slowing news industry?  Probably not – that will take a true shift in the industry’s access and revenue models – but this format is certainly interesting and useful.  The company is doing a lot of the legwork for us in filtering out articles for stories that we may never see, and for that I am grateful.

Ok, so you have a great idea, a partner or two, some cash to make it happen and you want to embark on your idea full time. First of all, good for you – it’s a big step. Something that you will most likely come across very quickly is the dynamic of working from home. This means different things for different people of course, and for those of you who can make it happen (and have your significant others ok with it too), good for you. My problem when I’m freelancing is creating separation between work time and home time (Aimee, my fiancee will tell you that – it’s tough).

An easy answer for any small business getting off the ground is to rent some co-working space at one of the many facilities in the Boston/Cambridge are.  These spots have become a popular option for young companies trying to keep costs down while being out of the house in a constructive, nurturing environment.  Then, when you begin to grow and need more space, these guys will accommodate your needs.  The best part though?  Not having to worry about ALL of the intangibles that come with having an office: Internet, phone lines, printers, fax machines, electrical/heating bills,  supplies, furniture, desks I could go on – trust me, it’s a lot of overhead and a big pain in the ass.

Enter the co-working facility, and it’s all taken care of – wrapped up in one bill, how nice is that?  So onto the players to consider:

1. Beta House – Central Square, Cambridge:

Though not a lot is know about Beta House – their website is very minimalistic (which is fine, it includes all critical information).  We do know that they are located in a Brownstone in a residential neighborhood in the Central Square area.  The space appears to be largely a social space with an open working environment, great for people who want to work amongst their peers, and have the ability to openly collaborate and have some sense of camaraderie.  Beta House appears an excellent option if you’re a solo entrepreneur looking to meet other people in your field (mostly web folks I’m hearing).  Most things I’ve heard about Beta House are overwhelmingly positive – including the price which is very reasonable at $225-$375 per month, depending on options and space you need.

2.  Cambridge CoWorking Center (@ Cambridge Innovation Center) – Kendall Square, Cambridge:

C3, as it’s referred to, is the new workplace option at Cambridge Innovation Center – a longtime leader in Boston’s temp office market.  C3 is rather similar to Beta House it would appear – with even a similar price point at $250/month – again, very reasonable.  C3 is fairly new and has gotten some great reviews thus far.  Their big brother CIC is home to some of Boston’s best startup companies, so these guys really know how to make office space work.  C3 keeps its costs down by not giving residents land lines or food or wired internet.  Another great option in an equally good location.

3.  Geek Offices - Inman Square, Cambridge and Framingham, MA:

Geek offices is brand new to the Cambridge co-working scene.  While the rates at thie spot are a little more expensive than their rivals, they maintain a huge advantage in that they offer private work space.  You can get your own cubicle for $400 per month, and have some space to work that is relatively private.  Standard amenities are included: coffee, Wi-Fi, water, kitchen, whiteboards, shared conference room, etc…Another great thing about these guys is that they’re flexible about the time and pricing you may want.  For example, if you only want space one day per week, it’s $120/month, 2 days is $200/month and full time is $400.  It’s definitely nice to consider that flexibility.  Check these guys out – the company was started by my former colleague John Smith.

BTW, here’s some funny Q & A with the Beta House guys: http://www.bostonherald.com/blogs/news/hub_20/index.php/2008/03/03/co-working-the-future-of-boston-tech/

A few years back I lived with some kids who made their coin as bike couriers in Boston. They spent their days riding around town, delivering packages from building to building or doing anything that was required. I always wondered how the service was centralized and worked in terms of organization. I eventually learned that the service was run by dispatchers and a point man – with the couriers equipped with radios. But this service was almost meant to live online. Fast forward to today, and there’s a service that’s popped up here in Boston that is somewhat along the same lines: runmyerrand.com.

RunMyErrand is a service networking company that provides a way to post chores or errands that other folks can pick up and do for a fee – typically ranging from $7 – $50, depending on the travel time and complexity of the errand. The flip side is that people can then choose to do certain chores and make money doing it (talk about a decent way for unemployed folks to make some money). The map of errands is fairly impressive actually, as I could potentially step out of my door right now and make some loot:

When you sign up for RunMyErrand, you purchase credits that will be used to pay for the errands that you post. These credits are like currency – and also enable the company to make some money, especially as the number of users and errands grow. The errand is then picked up by a ‘runner’ and they will contact you to discuss the price for the errand (bargain with you), and then make it happen if you agree. The runners are then paid by the service – pretty smart system if you ask me.

Some issues that Run My Errand face is somewhat of the ultimate chicken and egg problem. The service needs errand runners and a lot of them – available ideally at all hours of the day – in order for it to be worthwhile for folks to post errands. For example, if I want to post an errand for someone to pick up my dry cleaning, I want it done today, or else I’ll make the time to pick it up myself. I certainly don’t want to wait until Thursday for my dry cleaning when I posted the errand on Monday.

But the site does possess the tool to drum up some errand runners – money. If they mandate that the cost of errands go up, then it will increase the amount of folks who run errands – though it may also decrease the amount of errands posted. This at least would be a starting point for a service that I think could be very useful and popular. Right now, the service is only in Boston, and hence their lowish traffic numbers to date. Look for them to expand and grow in the future (I’m really excited to see how this does in NYC, a city that was made for this it would seem). Check out the founder at Hubspot TV the other day:

Twingly, a blog search engine who is dedicated to delivering ’spam free results’ has announced that they’re coming out with a new meme-tracker web application that appears to be a cross between Digg, Techmeme and FriendFeed.  The service appears to function by defining channels for news articles to appear, and then display discussion on those particular articles from other sources.  One of the most popular meme trackers out there is Techmeme and the accompanying sites (Memeorandum is an excellent world news and politics meme tracker).

I’ve always believed that this layout of viewing the news is superior to the straight forward newspaper model.  Stories as they are played out and unfold take turns and twists and develop, not just in their literal actions, but they also develop opinions around them as time passes.  Memes in the news allow us to track and read into these discussion ideas as they develop, which is pretty darn compelling if you ask me.  Techmeme has done a great job of doing this since Gabe Rivera launched the sites a number of years ago.  I’m a little surprised that more traditional news and media outlets haven’t adopted similar models.  Some of the TV and cable news outlets have tried to incorporate some of this by showing people’s tweets, but perhaps it’s time for news companies to embrace other sources besides just their own and their syndicates.

What’s exciting me about the new Twingly application is the fact that their stories include ‘linked to’ articles (like Techmeme), but it also includes tweets that include words from the topic in question.  Twingly has a potential winner here if they can execute the site and its functionality.  Check out some screen shots:

This is part 1 of a multi-part internet marketing post.  This part will focus on Keyword research – more to come very soon.

Internet marketing, and especially SEO and SEM has been something that I’ve been very interested in over the past year, as I’ve been doing a lot of learning over that time.  I wanted to use this post to point a few lessons that I’ve learned that will allow you – a presumed business owner or website administrator – drive more traffic to your business or site.  This first post is some fairly broad thoughts on keyword research, a part of internet marketing that I believe to be the most crucial.  These ideas are here to help to guide you toward success when using the web and its incredible potential as a marketing tool and lead generator.

People search for things that they want.  They use Google and Yahoo and Bing and Ask.com to search for and research the what, where, how and why of the products and services they consume.  It’s something like 80% of the American population these days.  The internet works for this purpose, we all know this.  So how to you get your business or website noticed by this HUGE chunk of the population looking for products and information that you’re providing?  The answer, as I’m coming to understand, lies in defining and focusing on a more clear and succinct message throughout the content that you put on the web.  For each site, having certain clear keywords (key-phrases is more like it) that are incorporated into a site’s  content as much as possible.

It should be fairly obvious to the casual onlooker what some of these are on this site (’Boston Startups’, ‘Today in Technology’, etc…).  These are keywords that I’ve determined are potentially ‘win-able’ based upon the competition that’s out there at the moment.  I want to stress the importance of the ‘win-able’ keyword.  When I refer to a keyword that’s win-able, I mean that your business or site appears at or near the top of search engine results when searched for.  This is typically the stage where you need to think about exactly what it is that your business or website produces and delivers in terms or products and services.  It’s also the time to consider your competition.  If you’re starting a company that sells shoes for example, then you’re going to be facing some very stiff competition on the web from the likes of Zappos and Shoes.com and other major retail stores.

Realistically, you aren’t going to win the keyword ‘Shoes’ or even ‘Internet Shoe Store’.  You’re going to have to focus on exactly what you’re trying to sell and pinpoint those keywords.  ‘Cheap Beach Sandals’ or ‘Black Leather Loafers’ as examples.  Just like your build your business one brick at a time, you need to focus on the win-able keywords first and once you win your initial keywords, you can work your way up and compete with the more difficult keywords.

Many people may think that keywords are a simple list of everything that your business or site has to do with – lists of single words that are separated by commas that get thrown into a site’s meta keywords HTML tag, but this isn’t really the way it works and certainly not how you want to approach your keywords.  For example, (because right now I’m sitting in Toscanini’s Coffee and Ice Cream Shop, I’ll use them as an example) Toscanini’s website (when they were starting out at least) probably wouldn’t want to target the keywords ‘ice cream‘ or ‘coffee shop’ as keywords that they could win.  Something more along the lines of ‘delicious ice cream cambridge’ or ‘coffee and ice cream central square’ would probably be more fitting for a small business.  Toscanini’s though, with it’s absolutely fantastic ice cream and high praise, does appear to show on the first page of Google results for the keyword ‘ice cream’, which is awesome.

I believe Pete Caputa over at Hubspot said it best: ‘Keyword research should guide every one of your online marketing activities‘.  He’s right, keyword research isn’t a one shot deal – if you really want to accomplish true internet marketing success, then keyword research should be done for every piece of content you publish to the web – every blog post, every new page you post with content, you get the idea.  Keyword research to me is a lot like changing the oil in your car, you can’t really do it TOO much, and it should be revisited and revised every few months.

So in review – here are my summarized points:

1. When choosing keywords to target, make sure you choose ‘win-able’ phrases – start small and work up!!
2. Pay attention to your competition’s keywords – especially in local markets.
3. Keyword research is an ongoing endeavor – perform it on as much content and as often is possible for you.

We all know how Facebook responds to threats. A few months back, when Twitter’s traffic was spiking and there were constant stories around how Facebook was simply a neat social network with a robust photo album feature tacked on, they quickly moved to add in their real time news feature, which instantly made their home page greatly resemble Twitter’s. That was all well and good, and made me think almost immediately that real-time search on Facebook wasn’t far off.

Fast forward to this week, and it’s become a reality.  Today, Facebook has launched their real-time search feature as a part of their search page, and have gone and hit Twitter right in their wheel house.  The feature will essentially let you search for terms, phrases, strings, whatever from not only your friends’ status updates, but from the entire Facebook universe as well:

Cool, eh?  I’m not Facebook friends with any of these people, so this is obviously a fairly revolutionary step in the evolution of Facebook’s platform.  This also follows the huge announcement that cam yesterday that Facebook has acquired FriendFeed, the real-time feed aggregator service whose founders are mostly Google folks such as Paul Buchheit, creator of Gmail and the infamous Google corporate slogan “Don’t be Evil”.  It certainly seems like the FriendFeed acquisition was driven by the fact that FriendFeed is made up of people who have amazing product development talent, front end UX design mostly, such as Buchheit and Kevin Fox. But other than bringing in the amazing talent that FriendFeed boasts, it’s interesting to note that the features of FriendFeed don’t really add anything revolutionary to Facebook offering at this time. The future of the service will be interesting to watch though, here’s Buchheit at Startup School 2008:

More interesting however, is Facebook’s main competition in the social media space today – Twitter and how they are going to respond to not only the FriendFeed acquisition, but perhaps more paramount, the real-time search feature. Around a month ago, TechCrunch posted certain securely sensitive internal documents that had been stolen from Twitter from a hacker. One of these documents that got posted was titled ‘How Facebook can kill us” – have a look:

Obviously, the first item on the list is ‘Real-time search’, so we know that this move has Twitter a bit nervous. Interestingly, this feature add on has also been step toward openness on the part of Facebook, something that could eventually lead them to becoming truly open, and implement item two on this list – ‘Opt-in to make status public’. Another list item here that is catching on in a hurry is ‘Get all Twitter clients to work with Facebook’ – note the integration of Facebook into TweetDeck and Seesmic Desktop.

But in the end, will any of it matter? Facebook’s moves to kill Twitter recently have been lauded by the press and are seemingly good moves, but they don’t yet have anything to do with the core model of Facebook’s product offering – friend connections – the idea of ‘opt-in’ connections between people. Sure, real-time search helps in regards to competing with Twitter search, but but the two services stand diametrically apart in terms of functionality. In any case, the playing field has been leveled a bit and there now are 2 clear winners in the social media space – Facebook and Twitter.