Hacking Passwords on MSN Homepage

MSN was featuring a little article I wrote called How I’d Hack Your Weak Passwords. You may have read it… many millions of people have. But this was not the first exposure on MSN.com. It’s previously been featured on other areas of the site several times. And I’m very glad that the article is getting the kind of coverage it is, because password security is a serious concern.

Anyway, I started thinking that a lot of people don’t really know what goes along with this sort of thing so I thought I’d give you a glimpse at the Woopra analytics being gathered by the click-through traffic the article was generating back to this blog.

Background

Before we really get into this, you are about to see a serious amount of traffic. What you need to know is that you can’t just buy a little $6 per month hosting account and experience what I’m about to show you. The traffic coming from MSN would take down that server in about 20 seconds. Max.

OneMansBlog.com is running on a large dedicated server that is cared for by my friends over at LayeredTech. This machine is an 8 core monster with 12GB of RAM and a Gigabit Ethernet connection right to the backbone of the Internet.

In addition, it has been specially tuned by my buddies over at HostCo. This tuning allows my big machine to perform like one that was 10 times bigger still.

All of this is expensive! So if you want similar performance without all of the cost, just go let HostCo put you on one of their servers.

What Happened

Sometime between 3pm and 4pm CST, MSN put a link to my article on their landing page. At this point in the day my blog normally has around 200 simultaneous visitors on it, but MSN pushed that number up over 1,100. The number even remained over 650 at midnight.

This happened because the article on MSN.com had links back to other related articles on my site from within the main article. And by the way this should show you the importance of interlinking your own articles…

For the remainder of the day the numbers of visitors remained extremely high. Ultimately driving the traffic over 100k pageviews for the day. This is about 3-4 times the normal level of traffic.

The Video

Finally, while you are watching all of the live traffic to your Website in Woopra, you also get to sit back and enjoy a real-time map of the visitors all over the world. This is what it looks like when you have a really busy site.

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Congrats to Pelpina and Norm for having WebBeat.TV featured on the iTunes homepage in the UK!

If you haven’t subscribed to WebBeat yet you really should! Pelpina is awesome and she finds the most interesting stuff every day to entertain us all. And the dynamic between her and Norm is priceless. Heck, the bloopers at the end of each show alone are worth the download. ;-)

Here’s the latest episode to amuse you:

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Today someone left the following comment:

Now, it caught my eye for two reasons:

1. They left a URL in the comment. I’m constantly on the lookout for that because I don’t want YOU guys (my real readers) to be subjected to spammy comments.
2. They claim to be a long time reader who visits constantly.

So I figured that if they visit as much as they say they do, I’d see some verification of that in my Woopra stats. I pulled it up and did a quick search based on the IP address that the comment came from. Here is what we find:

Let’s break it down:

• They arrived at my blog by doing a Google search for the keywords “australian comedy blog”.
• Woopra only finds their visiting address having been on my site one single time. Although its possible that they visited previously from a different IP address, I highly doubt it.
• They spent a total of 4 minutes on the site – including posting the comment. And the video alone is 2 minutes. It takes about another minute to read the page.

So, what we really have here is someone just doing a search and finding high ranking blogs so they can leave a comment and drop their URL in the hopes that some innocent visitors will click through to THEIR website.

This kind of drive-by commenting adds no value whatsoever, and is only intended to hijack visitors. So, if you have a Website I would encourage you to look out for these things and mark them as spam when you see them.

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Oh, you guys have got to see this latest version of WebBeat.TV! Not only does Pelpina cover some good stuff, but we’ve got our own little WebBeat soap opera going on in the background! It’s awesome…

By the way, if you haven’t signed up for the Livid Lobster list over there on the right side of the page, now is the time! We’re giving away a Drobo to one lucky subscriber in December, valued at nearly $1,000! Plus you get a great weekly newsletter feature the latest from Cali, Pelpina and yours truly.

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Livid Lobster!

As many of you are aware, my new company Livid Lobster, Inc. is the proud host of two new video podcasts (GeekBeat.TV and WebBeat.TV) as well as the parent company of OneMansBlog, OpenCamp, WealthNation.FM and a few other soon to be released projects… Well, we’ve decided to launch a brand new weekly newsletter which will feature all sorts of goodies such as:

• Top posts of the week
• Schedule of events
• Exclusive subscriber content
• and more!

Well, rather than trying to run Twitter contests, or other things that are difficult to track, we’re going to make it real simple! If you are a current subscriber to The Livid Lobster List you are automatically eligible for whatever in the heck that Cali Lewis and I manage to have in our bag of tricks to give away that month! And believe me, between the two of us we get our hands on some primo goodies!

So, add yourself to the mailing list and we’ll not only do our best to keep you entertained and informed – we might also just send you something awesome! What are you waiting for? SIGN UP NOW!

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Ok, I’ve got to give it up to Wasp Barcode Technologies for their new social media campaign launch. Here is an example of a big company actually embracing online marketing and social media channels. Not only that, but they are trying to tailor their message to an audience that is intollerant of corporate propaganda (namely YOU and ME) – and doing a great job at it!

Case in point, check out this deleted scene from Wasp’s video before we even get to the end product!

Did you see it? Take a look at where the wires for the taser are hooked up! They crotched him! YIKES!!! It’s not bad enough to get tasered – this guy got tasered in the crotch! I’m pretty sure that is the last time he pulls a knife on a woman with a taser!

Anyway, I think the boys and girls at Wasp decided that the taser scene might be a little much for the corporate video, so wisely left it out. Nonetheless, here is what they ended up with.

Lets examine some things they did VERY right with this corporate video:

• The video is about a Wasp customer, and shows how they help this client. It’s not some boring old marketing person standing on screen giving us death by PowerPoint.
• The production quality is extremely high! This kind of video costs a fortune to make. It’s likely done by the same sort of studio that films TV shows or movies. Wasp was obviously planning for success with this video.
• They made the video content available in full HD quality 1080p. So I can watch it like it is a TV show by choosing the HD size and maximizing it to full screen.

The video starts out with so much action (namely some cops tackling some criminal and wrestling him to the ground) that I’m glued to the video wanting to see what comes next! And once they have my attention, they slip in a little discussion from the company founder who is telling me about how Wasp helps them stay organized.

By the time its over, I’m like… “Ok, I’m ready to see someone else get their ass kicked!” Which basically means that I’m asking for the “commercial” to continue. And that’s not something I ever do. Unless it’s a beer commercial full of hot chicks in bikinis. But I digress…

Now, Wasp is a company that makes barcode scanners and asset tracking software for inventory tracking. You might not have known that before, but you do NOW! So, social media is obviously doing the job. Cause I bet the next time you need, or hear about someone who needs, a barcode scanner – you’re gonna remember the guy who got tasered in the crotch and run out and get you a WASP!

What do ya think?

PS – Seriously! The guy got tasered in the groinal area. hahaha I’m going to be laughing at that for a long time.

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AnyBots is a company that is building an innovative remote controlled robot which serves as a personal avatar. Yes, that’s right, just like the movie Avatar an operator remote controls this robot and it allows you to virtually be present in another location.

The applications for this technology are endless, but imagine a large company with multiple locations having a few AnyBots that people can “check out” and use to attend meetings with colleagues. The theory is that this is more inviting than simple video conferencing.

I attended AnyBots’ recent launch party while in Silicon Valley (Cali Lewis demanded it because she loves robots :-), and spent some time discussing this revolutionary new robot with AnyBots’ CEO Dr. Trevor Blackwell. Here’s what happened:

I also snapped a few photos while I was at the party, all of which are available in full resolution on Flickr, but here is the embedded slideshow.

Any AnyBot will set you back a cool $15,000, and you remote control it via a simple Web interface and your keyboard. So the question is, do you want one? And more importantly, what the heck would you do with it if you had it?

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It never ceases to amaze me what bad decisions some corporate executives can make. But here comes a brand new one…

Three years ago I gave VistaPrint.com a try for some cards or something. Who cares what it was… I had a bad experience. I wrote about it on my blog. End of story. Except that it wasn’t. Many other people have since chimed in on that topic, one of whom is someone by the name of “Hubbers”. He claims to have had a really bad experience and then did a whole bunch of research to suggest that VistaPrint is associated with some fairly shady dealings.

I have no idea if that is true or false, but the information certainly seems to have some validity to it. Furthermore, I spot checked some of Hubber’s claims and the information presented does appear to be fact based. But I never would have known this if I hadn’t been forced to do the research when I received the following email from VistaPrint HQ!

UPDATE: Stop the presses! VistaPrint is NOT threatening to sue me! Their Ex-partner Adaptive Affinity Ltd is!

So, to summarize – Adaptive Affinity, kiss my ass. VistaPrint, we’re cool.

Website: onemansblog.com
Email:
Author: John P
Comment: Hubbers

Dear Sirs,
RE: DEFAMATION/LIBELLOUS STATEMENTS – Review: VistaPrint.com Business Cards
-

http://onemansblog.com/2007/07/20/review-vistaprintcom-business-cards/

We are writing on behalf of Adaptive Affinity Ltd and refer to the webpage listed above. This web page contains allegations regarding Adaptive Affinity and its partners that is inaccurate and defamatory in nature. It is our view the contents of this post left by ‘Hubbers’ on April 9, 2009 at 8:10 am is causing and could continue to cause serious reputational harm, not only to Adaptive Affinity but VP rewards also.

The accusations made in the post is simply untrue and no proof is offered to validate these claims.

The language used by ‘Hubbers’ is unacceptable and suggests to the ordinary user that the practices of Adaptive Affinity are unethical or at worst illegal. The entire post is an unfair attack on Adaptive Affinity and its partners. These are legitimate businesses with legitimate business practices.

Although the burden of proof lies with you to prove the truth in these statements made, as proof to you (and not for publication elsewhere) that Adaptive Affinity is a legitimate business we can confirm that less than one half a percent of the millions of consumers marketed to and the many thousands of members enrolled in Adaptive Affinity’s membership programs complain about their memberships.

Adaptive Affinity has always followed high standards of responsible corporate practice. We regularly undertake quality controls to ensure our respective business practices comply with or exceed industry standards and applicable law. These practices extend throughout the organisation. We rebut the assertions made in this article and accordingly we request that it is removed with immediate effect.

As the primary publisher and the person who exercises direct editorial control over what is published we would like to point out that you are responsible for all the posting on your site. This matter can still be resolved without incident if you act very quickly to our satisfaction now. However, if you fail to do so, we reserve all our legal rights and remedies in respect of this matter. We also reserve all our rights and remedies (in respect of all relevant posts) if you are involved with any other posts about us or if there is any other publication made as a result of your posts.

Please respond to this letter by return and in any event within 7 days of the date on which it is sent with full details of the actions and the timeframe you will be taking to urgently rectify this matter. Your cooperation in this matter is appreciated.

Yours faithfully

Adaptive Affinity
Cavendish House,
369 Burnt Oak Broadway, Edgware.
HA8 5AW. United Kingdom
t: +44 (0) 8701 432 343
f: +44 (0) 8701 432 344
contact@adaptiveaffinity.com

Let’s examine this, shall we?

1. The part that I put in bold there is fantastic. They are “reserving their rights and remedies”. Um, aren’t they always in reserve? What they mean is, “We are threatening to sue you in a court of law to force you to do what we want.”
2. When I take a look at Hubber’s comment critically all I see is a link to a random Washington Post article, and another link to his own site where he provides what appears to be a lot of information to support his claim.
3. I’m not here to take sides. If Hubbers was merely insulting VP without any merit, I’d delete the post, but I think that to any reasonable person this thing could go either way, so it’s not obviously defamatory (considering that truth is an absolute defense).
4. Even if it was defamatory, who in the heck was the moron that decided the best way to approach a well known blogger was to send a threatening email? Honestly, is that supposed to scare me?

The only thing this message did was make me angry, remind me of the bad experience I had with VistaPrint, cause me to really pay attention to Hubbers comment where I hadn’t even noticed it before, and get this additional spotlight on the whole affair.

Why in the hell do people do this? And what advice would you have given them if they felt like they had a legitimate complaint to lodge?

PS – Can you believe that at the same time they sent me this letter, they left a comment on the blog trying to appear “helpful”? What is going on? Good Cop / Bad Cop?

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I have a lot of friends who have been trying very hard to come up with a really good or really specific domain name for a while without any luck. It seems like all the good ones are taken, doesn’t it?

Well, if you are one of those people you need to know that there is a brand new top level domain that ends in .CO (as in Company or Corporation, etc.) which was just released in the last 48 hours. This are still a HUGE number of awesome .CO domains available, so if you are thinking about registering anything ANY time soon you need to head over to GoDaddy and try and snag some of these good ones NOW!

Top Reasons to Go Register a .CO Name Now:

• Get it for branding purposes
• Protect your main URL by getting the .CO (for when people accidentally forget the M on the end of your .COM)
• Plan for future websites, promotions or projects you might ever want before the domains are gone!
• Get it to sell later

Remember, if you don’t buy these domains now you will be at the mercy of people who want to sell them to you for thousands of dollars each once they are snagged. Personally I bought $1,200 worth of domains in the last 24 hours and I’m thrilled with the ones I got. So invest in your future by snagging some good domains today!

I recommend GoDaddy for registrations so here is a link that will take you straight to their .CO registration page. HURRY!!!

GoDaddy Coupon Codes

I searched forever for coupon codes for these domains, but I wasn’t able to get any to work on the .CO domains when I was trying to checkout. However, these are the codes that I was given directly by my contacts at GoDaddy which work for other types of domains.

They might start working for the .CO domains, but if not don’t wait to find one just to save a couple of bucks! You might miss out on registering a domain if you don’t do it as fast as possible. I lost a couple that were already in my cart!

• IAPt3 = 10% off
• IAPtfif1 = 15% off $75
• IAPtft1 = $5 off $30
• IAPtdom1 = $7.49 .com
• IAPth1 = 20% off hosting

Remember, you’re better off choosing a few, paying, then doing it again. Don’t spend hours saving them to a cart or some WILL be gone by the time you try and pay for them. Remember, you don’t own them until you’ve paid! Not just because they are in your cart.

What are you waiting for? Go Register .CO Domain Names!

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Yes, there are actually people who get at least 1,000,000 page views per day on their Websites. And yes, some of them use Woopra for monitoring and analyzing all of this traffic.

Considering that we don’t often (if ever) get to glance at this level of traffic on our own sites, I thought I’d share a tiny sneak peak of what it’s like to watch live as a site is experiencing this level of traffic. Enjoy!

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Well folks, I’m extremely excited to finally unveil the new OpenCamp Conference that I, and a team of volunteers, have been secretly working on for months. (BTW, follow OpenCamp on Twitter and Facebook!) For those of you who were waiting on the announcement for WordCamp, well consider this it! We’re taking it to a whole different level this year by inviting WordPress, Joomla, Drupal, and everyone else to the event!

Now, some of you may have been to WordCamp Dallas in the past, and some of you may have seen me lecture on blogging and other related topics, but I assure you – nothing you’ve seen in the past will compare to what we’ve got planned for OpenCamp!

We’re going to bring together about 1,000 bloggers, webmasters and podcasters all in one spot for an entire weekend of lectures, entertainment and networking. I promise you, it’s going to be absolutely amazing. And best of all, while other people are charging $1,000 for conferences half this good, we’re keeping OpenCamp CHEAP!

Here is a little intro video we put together to explain the concept:

Now, hurry up and get registered! Attendees are going to be listed by order of registration, so trust me YOU WANT TO BE FIRST ON THE LIST! Of course, there is a little issue at the moment with the automatic feed, but get registered anyway because the clock is already ticking and there are people ahead of you now!

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Social media is an all-encompassing term used to describe any of several online channels that utilize the technology to facilitate social interaction through written, visual, or audible communication. Examples of different types of Social Media sites include:

• Social Bookmarking – (delicious.com, stumbleupon.com)
• Social Networking – (facebook.com, myspace.com)
• Social News Aggregation – (digg.com, reddit.com)
• Social Q&A – (answers.yahoo.com, answerbag.com)
• Media Sharing – (youtube.com, flickr.com)
• Micro-Blogging – (twitter.com, plurk.com)

The use of social media as a marketing and promotional tool and strategy is becoming more and more popular with businesses because it can be an extremely effective way to promote products and services to a targeted audience. Websites can function as a static billboard to promote products, services, or ideas – but social media opens up a dynamic dialogue with your audience, allowing for interaction and personal connection.

All too often I’ve witnessed people shying away from social media for one of two main reasons:

• They don’t understand it, or don’t know how to use it.
• They don’t believe in its true value.

I’d like to provide some insight into the value, benefits, and Return on Investment (ROI) involved with social media to prove that it’s worthwhile for you to take the time to participate. I’ll then provide information how to get started, what to do, what NOT to do, and how to manage your time doing so.

Social Media ROI

Whenever we think about investing our time, ROI is an important criteria. Although success metrics will vary between individuals, and even different sized businesses (“SMBs”, or Small/Mid-sized Businesses, vs. Fortune 500), each will need to establish the criteria they wish to measure.

For example, a Twitter campaign for a major corporation might be more focused on the number of followers (quantity) while a SMB Twitter campaign could be more focused on demographically and geographically targeted followers (quality).

In addition, more quantitative campaigns like content creation (also known as “linkbaiting”) can deliver ROI through increased search engine rankings from inbound links to your Web property. Promoting content through social media channels will also bring social traffic, traffic from links, traffic from increased rankings, increased comments and subscriptions on the site; which in-turn brings more organic sales and leads as a direct result of your Social Media efforts.

As you can see, it’s a matter of setting up and defining qualitative metrics or quantitative metrics for a campaign depending on your end-goals. Some examples of ROI you may wish to pursue and measure include:

Qualitative

• Brand Awareness
• Interaction/Engagement
• Trust/Loyalty
• Influence/Authority

Qualitative metrics are much harder to measure since things like brand awareness and loyalty are difficult to track. Since qualitative results are tricky to measure, they are often broken down into micro-quantitative metrics. For example, a campaign to increase “authority” would result in breaking down micro-quantitative metrics to analyze increases in influential Twitter members retweeting you or the number of influential blogs linking to you, etc. A service like Twitalyzer might help measure these metrics.

Most social media campaigns are comparable to traditional advertising and promotions in regard to the fact that they both have the intent to create brand awareness and mindshare, but also both have a hard to measure direct ROI. This is where micro-quantitative metrics can really help.

Quantitative

• Sales
• Leads
• Traffic
• Links (Rankings)
• Subscribers (RSS/Newsletter)

These are the traditional metrics that most people judge marketing success by. But the fact that they are simplest doesn’t mean they are more valuable. For example, sales may be the most desirable end result but they will be hampered by a lack of Brand Awareness or Loyalty.

How Can I Monetize Social Media?

That’s not an easy question to answer but one asked by every business looking to invest their time. The easiest way to start is to consider this simple truth:

In order for a site or business to be successful it needs brand supporters and advocates helping build buzz.

Your site will build perpetual motion and pervasively spread if it can win over supporters and advocates. Social media marketing is an excellent way to get people to come into your site to take a look at what you have to offer. If you are successful in earning your visitors trust, and you can gain permission and marketing privileges within your community, there will always be a loyal audience for you to promote to.

The immediate value of social media comes from the direct and indirect traffic you can drive to your site by providing and promoting great content. A decent percentage of your visitors will be people who publish their own content, have their own sites, often share links, etc. Some of these people will become your advocates in sharing content and linking back to you so it’s important the content appeals to the emotions that drive them to do so.

The links you’ll receive count as votes in the eyes of search engines. The more votes you have, and the higher quality they are, the more your search engine rankings will increase. The more your search engine rankings increase the more qualified traffic you have coming to your site on a residual basis.
If that’s not enough, here are more reasons why you should consider using social media:

Purely Organic

The traffic patterns and link patterns your site gains through social media efforts are detected as completely natural and warranted by search engines. This means that Google will elevate your content in search results when there is a large amount of social media activity pointing to it, whereas a large burst of links from traditional methods, most likely, would look highly unnatural and raise red flags.

High ROI

If you’re doing it yourself the only cost to you is time. I’ll get into how much time you should spend later in this article. The benefits will often exceed the cost. It would take you thousands of dollars to buy just a few links, but social media has the ability to give you that for free!

Versatile Benefits

There’s no department in a company that can’t benefit from social media. Social media helps PR, sales, marketing, advertising, and everyone else. This is tricky because companies often have specific budgets allocated to individual channels, so in your organization you may need to seek matching funds for social media efforts from complimentary departments.

Efficiency

There’s no other way you can spread a message to millions so quickly without spending a dime. Also, there’s no other way target messages to specific niches and audience so easily.

Personal Connection

Social media opens up a two-way dialogue between consumers and the organization, company, or brand they are dealing with. This allows the consumers voice to be heard and listened to a lot more carefully. Ideas, suggestions, and opinions can be expressed and heard by anyone. This feedback can help with product development, improved service, and repeat business.

Don’t take my word for it. There are a plethora of case studies where you can read about how business have used and benefited from social media here: http://www.interactiveinsightsgroup.com/blog1/social-media-examples-superlist-17-lists-and-tons-of-examples/

Participation

Where Do I Begin?

Patience is a virtue since it often takes months for social media to provide results. Unfortunately, many people and companies dive into social media without knowing how to use it properly. Let me provide you with a bit of advice before you begin.

Where many people get frustrated is in the time gap it takes to start seeing results. You must have faith that you’ll get out what you put in eventually. So allocate at least 3-6 months to test any social media program, and make sure you pursue it vigorously during the test period! Also, remember that Social media focuses on the “7 C’s“:

• Conversation – Have them
• Connections – Make them
• Community – Build one
• Consumer – Is King
• Creative – Stay fresh
• Collaboration – Team effort
• Content – Add constantly

Before you unknowingly dive in on Twitter, Facebook or anywhere else, observe the conversation in these communities. Get a feel for how they collaborate, how the site works, what content thrives and what content doesn’t. Once you have a feel for the community, and have read some general do’s and don’ts, dive in! But remember that different platforms have a different feel, so don’t treat them the same or you’ll get a harsh reaction from users on one or more of the social media platforms.

What To Do:

These general tips apply to all of the social media platforms.

• Have manners and use proper etiquette as you would in real life.
• Listen first, respond second.
• Contribute to the community.
• Be yourself but watch what you say.
• Be honest and transparent.
• Be concise but personal.
• Give credit where credit is due.
• Practice good karma and you’ll receive favors.
• Invest time and resources.
• Measure results of actions.

What Not To Do:

Commit these cardinal sins at your own risk. These are the surest routes to failure in the social media world.

• Be fake
• Only talk and never listen or respond
• Be overly self-promotional
• Repeat yourself
• Strictly focus on sales
• Spam

Further reading: The 12 most annoying types of Facebookers

How Much Time Should I Spend?

I wish there was a simple answer for this. It all depends on what your goals are for trying to communicate online with others.

Each social media site operates differently so each will requires different amounts of time. Time will also vary depending on goals and what kind of user you have to be to achieve those goals. There are many different user-level activities you can participate in. You’ll want to participate on all levels but ideally you’ll want to be at the top of the ladder as a creator.

Allow me to demonstrate:

Like I mentioned, activities and strategies vary across different social media sites. Here are some diagrams to help shed light on what I mean:

As a good rule of thumb, here’s a good way to start spending your time:

• Listening/Monitoring 25% of the time
• Communicating/Engaging 50% of the time
• Creating/Promoting 25% of the time

After that you can adjust your time based upon your results, metrics, and goal achievements.

Conclusion

If you’re new to social media this is a lot of information to take in but don’t be intimidated. Social media is simply community interaction. You do it on a day-to-day basis anyway, this just changes the platform of communication. Be brave and don’t be afraid to ask for help and advice!

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Good lord. I hate to watch myself on video! But for those of you who are sick and want to torture yourself, you can listen to this little interview I did with Scott Ellis in which we discuss Woopra and the ways that people can actually use a real-time Web analytics tool like this to actually make money.