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The Best of the Best in Internet Marketing - Events to Remember!


By Carl Weiss
With Christmas only a day away, that means that New Year’s Eve can’t be far behind.  So as a little something extra for your Christmas stocking I thought a little retrospective on some of the topics we covered this year would be in order. 

Our Top 10 List


As far as our listeners were concerned, cybercrime was a hot topic.  In 2013 we produced a number of episodes on the many faces of cybercrime, including Bringing Down the Bitcoin Bandits and Chinese Hack Attack, both of which explored the ramifications of the dark side of the internet such as multimillion dollar black market websites and state sponsored hacking.  If you have been keeping a weather eye on the newsfeeds lately then you know that everyone from major retailers (Target) to banking institutions have been targeted by hackers recently.  Since these crimes are so hard to prosecute this only leads hackers into more brazen acts of online piracy that is only going to escalate in 2014.


Of course, our online privacy isn't only being compromised by the bad guys it is also getting eroded  from every corner of the web.  Google has been the subject of a number of international lawsuits from governments who say that the world’s most powerful search engine is taking liberties with the way it collects and disseminates information gleaned from people surfing the web.  The NSA has also been accused
NSA Inside
(Photo credit: Joe Pemberton)
of overstepping its rights in the way that it collects data from the web as well as cellphone providers.  If anything these accusations are not going to go away any time soon and it won’t be long before a number of other online providers are pulled into the fray. (For more details, check out Is Privacy a Thing of the Past in the Cyber Age?)

Speaking of Google, 2013 saw the unleashing of The Humdinger Called Hummingbird, the most extensive algorithm update in the past 12 years.  Unlike most of the updates commissioned in the past which were targeted toward people trying to game the system, Hummingbird represents a sea change in the way that Google ranks sites.  Gone are the “Set it and forget it days,” when website owners could commission a new site every three years and expect it to climb onto page one with little effort.  Nowadays Google demands the full multimedia treatment, where things like blogging, social networking and even video content plays a large part in who gets onto page one.  They have also made Google+ a nexus where everything from Google Maps and reviews to Google Local has been rounded up and placed under one roof. 
A hovering Rufous Hummingbird on Saltspring Island
(Photo credit: Wikipedia)
That doesn't mean that Google is the only entity who has been making major changes.  Facebook has also been busy tweaking the way their social network does business by adding video ads to the mix.  They have also made running a Facebook contest not only easier but cheaper.  In fact, they are giving them away at present.  (If you want to learn how go to How to Run a Facebook Contest for Free.) Other social nets including LinkedIn and Twitter made our top ten list this year with Leveraging LinkedIn and Trick or Tweet covering many of the latest features added to these networks. 

Lights, Cameras Viral Video

fitbit and sony smart watch
fitbit and sony smart watch (Photo credit: Bekathwia)
2013 also saw the introduction of a number of new technologies, that we covered in Next Tech, including Google Glass, smart-watches such as Pebble and Samsung, and the rise of the 3-D printer.  (Did you know that they are planning on sending a 3-D printer to the International Space Station?)  As wearable technology becomes ever more prevalent it won’t be long before we are all forced to compete with everything from enhanced humans (A Borg in Every Boardroom to office automatons (Birth of the Bionic Man).   In January 2014 we have already scheduled an episode called Putting Your Best Bot Forward that will introduce you to the latest in bipedal robots that recently competed for a $2 million prize sponsored by DARPA.

So if you think that 2013 complicated your life by introducing a number of “out there” technologies, all I can say is fasten your seat belts because 2014 will test your sense of the incredible in more ways than you can imagine.

This article covered the best of the best for 2013. It provides highlights from our blog and Radio show call Working the Web to Win.  Links are provided for our top ten show and blogs so that you can quickly access them all in one place.  If you liked this article share it with your friends and co-workers. If you have a comment related to this article enter it in the section below. Until next time! 


If you like this article, you can find more by typing “Internet Marketing” in the search box at the top left of this blog. If you found this article useful, share it with your friends, families and co-works. If you have a comment related to this article, leave it in the comment sections below.  If you would like a free copy of our book, "Internet Marketing Tips for the 21st Century", fill out the form below.

Thanks for sharing your time with me.



Since 1995, Carl Weiss has been helping clients succeed online.  He owns and operates several online marketing businesses, including Working the Web to Win and Jacksonville Video Production. He also co-hosts the weekly radio show, "Working the Web to Win," every Tuesday at 4 p.m. Eastern on BlogTalkRadio.com.


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