Earlier, Apollo announced that we’re currently developing several Facebook applications as part of our diverse social media marketing strategy. Our developers decided to have some fun using FBML (Facebook Markup Language) and created an exciting and addictive application that anyone can use! It’s called Friend BLOB.

Like wall art for Facebook, Friend BLOB allows users to display their friends’ profile pictures in an attractive collage on their profile page. Aside from being an easy way for you and your friends to see who is in your network, Friend BLOB can be updated with the click of the refresh button, changing up your friends’ faces for a new look.

Read the rest of this entry »

Apollo’s own copywriter/web strategist Damien Van Vroenhoven has written “10 Questions every Blogger Should ask Themselves Before Posting” as a guest post for CopyBlogger.com. Identified as one of the top 25 marketing blogs to watch for in 2008 (source: Enterprise magazine in “Catching the Blog Buzz” by Evan Carmichael), CopyBlogger offers comprehensive articles for building better blogs and making the most out of social media networking.

We are truly honored to have one of our team members be featured on this indispensable resource for writers, marketers and bloggers. We hope that this Apollo Media contribution marks the beginning of a mutually beneficial relationship with CopyBlogger, as we continue to produce practical, entertaining and informative pieces to help you set the blogosphere on fire.

So once again, congratulations to Damien and a big thanks to CopyBlogger’s Brian Clark for accepting his post. Another shout out goes to our blog’s managing editor, Stephanie Miller, for her work in the post’s publication.

Are you still reading this? Head over to CopyBlogger and read the post right now!

Apollo Media is proud to announce that we have just launched the new website for Ontario-based paralegal firm Legal Action. The launch has been a long time coming, as we have been working fervently on the new design scheme, detailed content revisions and of course, their brand new paralegal services blog.

With SEO and social media optimization in mind, the new Legal Action site promises to translate the firm’s success online, reaching out to those in need of practical legal advice and representation. The Legal Action Blog in particular will host comprehensive news, FAQs and tips relevant to Ontario’s ever-changing legal landscape.

Read the rest of this entry »

Stuck for blog ideas? At Apollo Media, we have stressed the importance of better blog brainstorming before and following our strategies for developing consistent and valuable content for blogs of all stripes, we thought we would explore some important resources anyone can use to generate exciting new posts.

1. Netvibes
   Here on the Apollo Blog, we have featured several articles on the importance of social bookmarking and how user-ranked content is driving traffic across the web. Netvibes allows you to manage several RSS feeds from your favorite social bookmarking sites (as well as your favorite blogs and sites) in a convenient and customizable, multi-tab table. Netvibes can be used to display the latest Digg, ShoutWire and Reddit posts (among others) that are gaining traction from users worldwide, and are updated on a daily and even hourly basis. A quick scan of what is getting people’s attention everyday will help you craft viral titles or generate blog concepts. It’s also one of the quicker ways of scanning the updates on blogs in your respective industry.
   Read the rest of this entry »

All of us at Apollo Media are sad to announce that our very talented copywriter/viral marketer (Chef/Yoga Master) Stephanie Miller has suffered a minor accident this past Tuesday. Thankfully, she is now a stable condition and on her way to recovery.

Well Steph we want to wish you a speedy recovery and give our regards to your friends and family at this time. We hope that you feel better soon so that we can have your tremendous energy and positive attitude (and your great cooking) brighten up our office again! We miss you Steph!!!!! Apollo Media just isn’t the same without you.

For all of our readers who have been enjoying Steph’s great posts, you are more than welcome to drop a line for her in the comments section below.

P.s. Steph, Apollo LOVES you!

A successful blog presents content and visual elements that complement one another and contain clear messages for readers. In order to communicate with your visitors in the most direct manner possible, it is important to consider some design features that will make your blog a more comfortable and exciting place to visit.

Here are some design features that make your blog more accessible, unique and engaging:

1. Simplicity A cluttered blog full of unnecessary visual elements or columns will pull your at your readers’ attention. This may cause confusion and will definitely detract from your blog’s main message. Try and keep your design concept simple and tailored to the needs of your audience. People will come to your blog looking for specific information so attempt to make it easy for them. Add a search tool, a list of popular posts, your recent posts, or place any other content that you want people to notice out there in the open. Read the rest of this entry »

The success of most blogs depends on frequent updates to keep them topically relevant and attractive to both readers and search engines. This means you’ll have to develop daily (or almost) blogging habits so you may want to write on a subject that you’re passionate about.

For all you company bloggers, you’ll want to show your potential clients/readers that you’re an expert within your industry. But more specifically, you’ll be able to position yourself better if you develop a specialization or niche. In traditional marketing, this would have narrowed your market down dramatically. However, since there are 1.3 billion users online, niche markets are made up of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of people!

Read the rest of this entry »

To attract a dedicated readership for your blog, it is important that your entries show their ‘value’. Meaning, your blog posts must have a clear purpose which will benefit your audience. Most blogs strive to either inform or entertain, and to have a successful blog, it is vital that you set out what you want to achieve in your article before publishing your thoughts online.

To show value in your blog, formulate your entries with the intention of taking your readers to another level of understanding within your field or topic. Show them that you know something that they don’t know and then let them in on it. Here are a few pointers on crafting your entries with this value in mind:

Read the rest of this entry »

Even the most avid and prolific writers can suffer from writer’s block and this can be especially crippling in the blogging world where success rests on consistency and topical relevance. Brainstorming, as many writers already know, is an invaluable process for narrowing your focus, weeding out mediocre ideas and evaluating your specific strengths.

To help you avoid writer’s block, and to make the post-generating experience more fluid and enjoyable, here are some blogging tips for better blog brainstorming (how’s that for alliteration? ).

Read the rest of this entry »

Viral marketing and viral advertising is the ability to create a promotional piece that attracts and speaks to the masses; and through its intuitive creativity, motivates people to share it with others (usually through social media networks).

What does this have to do with successful blogging? Whether you have a personal blog or a company blog, you want to promote your blog by the fastest means possible. That is, through a viral blog post.

And what entices people to read a blog post? The title, of course! The first sign of an interesting and worthy-of-your-time blog post is its title….as long as the blogger follows through in the post.

Read the rest of this entry »