Social Media Success Summit 2010: The Web's Largest Online Social Media Conference

Social Media Success Summit 2010 is the web's largest live online conference that will empower you to use social media to gain more exposure, better engage customers and grow your business. The world's leading social media gurus will show you how. Join 24 experts, including Guy Kawasaki (author, Art of the Start), Chris Brogan (author, Social Media 101), Darren Rowse (author, ProBlogger), Mari Smith (author, Facebook Marketing), Greg Jarboe (author, YouTube and Video Marketing), Kim Dushinski (author, Mobile Marketing Handbook); experts from Best Buy, Home Depot, Whole Foods, Foursquare and Groupon; Steve Rubel (Edelman), Ann Handley (MarketingProfs), Brian Clark (Copyblogger), Jason Falls (Social Media Explorer), Jay Baer (Convince & Convert) and Ramon De Leon (Chicago Domino's Pizza)—just to mention a few!

This year's focus is to empower you to build social media marketing plans, track your social media results and learn from other successful businesses. You'll also discover how to use Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, Foursquare and Groupon to attract high-caliber customers and grow your business during this economic slump.

Spread out over the month of May, sessions can be watched live or watch a recorded version when convenient for you. Transcripts from each session are also included in the admission price.

You can get 50% off if you act now and attendance is limited. Go to the Social Media Success Summit Website for complete details and to sign up to attend.

WebAwards to Honor World's Best Web Sites

The Web Marketing Association is pleased to announce the call for entries for its 14th annual international WebAward competition. The WebAwards are the standards-defining competition that sets industry benchmarks based on the seven criteria of a successful Web site. It recognizes the individual and team achievements of Web professionals who create and maintain outstanding Web sites. The deadline for entry in the 2010 WebAwards is May 25, 2010. A complete list of past winners and this year’s entry form can be found at www.webawards.org.

“The goal of the WebAwards is to not only recognize the people and organizations responsible for developing some of the most effective Web sites on the Internet today, but also provide valuable feedback to entrants on how their sites stack up against their peers and industry standards of excellence,” said William Rice, president of the Web Marketing Association. “The WebAwards is different from other Web site award programs because we’re not just a beauty pageant focused on name recognition and design. For that reason, we see ourselves more like the Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval than the Academy Awards.”

Web sites are judged on seven criteria, including design, innovation, content, technology, interactivity, copy writing and ease of use and receive a numeric score. Each WebAward entry is judged against other entries in its industry category and then against an overall standard of excellence. Entrants also benefit from receiving valuable feedback from the WebAwards professional judging panel on their Web site development efforts.

This year’s top awards will include:

• A Best of Industry WebAward will be given in each of the 96 industry categories, including financial services, medical, small business, travel, advertising, transportation and government.

• The competition’s highest honor, the 2010 WebAward “Best of Show,” will be given to the one site that the judges believe represents the pinnacle of outstanding achievement in Web development. Last year’s Best of Show winner was Organic, Inc. for its outstanding work on "Bank of America - Morris on Campus" web site at http://www.bankofamerica.com/oncampus, which also won Best Bank Website.

• The Web Marketing Association will also recognize the interactive agency winning the most awards in the competition with the “Top Interactive Agency” WebAward. The 2009 Top Agency award was Extractable (http://www.extractable.com/) taking home 25 WebAwards. This Bay Area interactive agency specializing in web strategy, web design, custom technology, was recognized with five Outstanding Website WebAwards and 20 Standard of Excellence WebAwards.

Judging for the 2010 WebAwards will take place in June through August and winners will be announced in September. Judges will consist of a select group of Internet professionals who have direct experience designing and managing Web sites,–including members of the media, interactive creative directors, site designers, content providers and webmasters – with an in-depth understanding of the current state-of-the-art in Web site development and technology. Past judges have included top executives from leading organizations such as A&E Television Networks, Agency.com, BGT Partners, Blattner Brunner, Bridge Worldwide, The Cincinnati Enquirer, Comedy Central, Disney, Euro RSCG, Ion Global, J. Walter Thompson, John Deere Company, New York Post Interactive, Organic, Inc., Refinery, R/GA, Saatchi & Saatchi, SAP, Starwood Hotels, Sun Microsystems, Warner Bros. Online, Xerox and Zugara.

The 2010 WebAwards are sponsored by the following leading organizations: BGT Partners, PR Newswire, Burst Media, AllBusiness.com, ExactTarget, ad:tech conferences, Internet World UK, Search Engine Strategies, Webmaster Radio, and Website Magazine. The Web Marketing Association thanks these companies for their commitment to the entire online marketing community.

Web Marketing Association Announces the Winners of the 2010 Internet Advertising Competition Awards

The Web Marketing Association announces the winners of its annual Internet Advertising Competition (IAC) Awards, an effort to honor excellence in online advertising and to recognize the individuals and organizations responsible for the best in Internet marketing. The IAC Awards are the first and only industry-based advertising award competition dedicated exclusively to online advertising.

2010 Best of Show Awards were awarded in each of the online medium categories. This year's winners include:

e-Dialog for e-Dialog 2009 Holiday Card (Best of Show Email message)
Conde Nast Digital for Proctor & Gamble: Must Have Its (Best of Show Online campaign)
Dean Media Group for Platform Addict (Best of Show Ads the client did not pick)
Bridge Worldwide for Pasta Al Denta Banners (Best of Show Integrated ad campaign)
Biggs|Gilmore for Gliders (Best of Show Interactive application)
Biggs|Gilmore for Video Recipes (Best of Show Online Video)
Biggs|Gilmore for FrootLoops.com (Best of Show Website)
COSSETTEfor Living Breathless (Best of Show Rich media Online ad)
Y&R New York and VML for Give It A Ponder (Best of Show Rich media Online campaign)
imc2 for Pizza Hut iPhone App (Best of Show Mobile application)
PGATOUR.COM and Datran Media's StormPostfor PGATOUR.COM Scores Hole in One with Video in Email (Best of Show Email message campaign)
Mattel & Razorfish for Hot Wheels Battle Force 5 (Best of Show Online ad)
Miles Media for VISIT FLORIDA (Best of Show Online Newsletter campaign)

Biggs|Gilmore of Kalamazoo, MI was recognized for the second year in a row with the 2010 Top Agency Award, winning 16 IAC Awards. Their awards include 3 Best of Show awards, 9 Best of Industry awards and 7 Outstanding awards.

Other IAC Award winners who received at least five awards included:

AGENCY (number of award winning entries)

Biggs|Gilmore 16
Bridge Worldwide 10
VML 10
BlueRush 9
Conde Nast Digital 8
Organic, Inc. 7
USDM.net 7
Aristotle 6
BGT Partners 6
Disney Parks & Resorts Online 6
Hitchcock Fleming & Associates 6
COSSETTE 5
John Hancock 5
Leopard 5
Razorfish 5
The Kaplan Thaler Group 5
Y&R 5


The Competition web site with a complete list of winners is located at www.IACAward.org

Free Full Pass to Attend ad:tech Conference

ad:tech Conference will be held in San Francisco on April 20-24. If you would like a chance to attend this conference for free, send your contact information, including name, title, company, and address to adtech@WebAward.org by March 31st to enter our drawing for a full conference pass.

This is a great conference every year and you can stop by the expo hall and say hello to the Web Marketing Association in booth #6383.

Ypulse Youth Marketing Mashup

Ypulse Youth Marketing Mashup
May 24-25
Hotel Nikko San Francisco

The 2010 Ypulse Youth Marketing Mashup is where top brand, corporate and social marketers, media professionals, educators and non-profit organizations gather to share best practices, research and latest strategies on marketing to youth with technology.

For more info go to http://mashup.ypulse.com/

CMO Council's 4th Annual Marketing Outlook Study

Our friends over at the CMO Council are working on their 4th Annual Marketing Outlook Study which will be a valuable and reliable barometer of media and marketing spend, as well as a sound indicator of where and how marketers expect to drive campaign effectiveness, efficiency and yield in the months ahead.

Please take a few moments and take the survey to help the entire online marketing community be better prepared for the future.

IAC Award Winners to be Announced

Today the nominators in the 2010 Internet Advertising Competition Awards received an email to log in to their nominator account to see the results of their entries.

On Monday, the results will be available to the entire world at www.iacaward.orghttp://www.iacaward.org.

The ordering of award trophies and certificates for the winners will be available on Monday as well.

Search Engine Strategies Conference Pass Drawing Winners

Congratulations to Becca Holder-Otte, Web Manager at Banner Health and Adrienne Knox, Director of Marketing at Briefings Media Group who are the winners of the free Conference Pass to Search Engine Strategies New York, March 23-25 from the Web Marketing Association.

For more information go to http://www.searchenginestrategies.com/newyork/

IAC Awards Deadline Extended

The deadline for the Web Marketing Association Internet Advertising Competition Awards has been extended until Friday, February 12, 2010. This will be the only extension as the judging of the entries will begin the following Monday.

Existing entries can be edited until this date and new entries can be submitted as well.

To enter, go to http://www.IACAward.org

Good luck to all participants.

Final Week To Enter The Internet Advertising Awards

Don't forget to enter the Web Marketing Association's 8th annual Internet Advertising Competition. The deadline is this Friday, January 29th. All forms of online advertising can be entered. www.iacaward.org.

Entering is easy. Entries are submitted online by logging in to your existing Nominator Account. If you are new to the IAC Awards, you can create a new Nominator Account here. Upload your creative onto a html page and you are ready to win.

Awards will be presented within each of the industry categories and advertising formats such as:

online ad (including banner, pop-up or interstitial)
rich media online ad
email message
online newsletter campaign
Website (including microsites and landing pages)
integrated ad campaign
Mobile Apps (NEW for 2010)
Online video (NEW for 2010)
ads the client did not choose

The Top Agency Award will be given to the agency who wins the most awards in the 2010 IAC Awards. So make sure everyone in your organization has submitted their work!

Don't wait! Enter your best online advertising and win the recognition you deserve! Enter today at www.IACAward.org

Website Magazine

If you're not already getting Website Magazine, you should be. There's no charge within the US and available for a small fee outside the U.S.(covers the extra shipping). It has great in depth articles that are helpful and well written. Use this link to sign up to receive the next issue.

Promote Your Business with a Press Release from 24-7PressRelease.com

Is your business introducing a new product or service? Are you looking for an innovative way to generate more sales leads? Do you need to boost your online visibility and receive world wide attention?

Use 24-7Press Release.com for increasing your exposure and profitability. Through the power of the internet and social media, your story now has the opportunity to reach millions of people. 24-7Pressrelease is the official news distribution partner of the Web Marketing Association.

Sign up today at 24-7PressRelease.com and use coupon code "webaward2009" and receive $20 off the $89 Search Engine Professional package.

Web Marketing Year In Review

As 2009 comes to a close, the Web Marketing Association would like to thank everyone who helped make our annual award programs a success this year.

Our Award Show Participants - you trust us to judge your websites and online advertising fairly and without favoritism, with expert judges, and create an outstanding marketing opportunity for you when you win. For 13 years we have worked hard to develop an online system that gives everyone an equal opportunity to get recognized for their best work.

Our Award Judges - Our expert judges volunteer an incredible amount of expertise and effort in reviewing and analyzing thousands of entries each year. While personally rewarding in many ways, these individuals care about the state of online Web development and give back to the online advertising community.

Our Sponsors - Our sponsors are hand picked because of their leadership position in the world of online marketing. These companies support our programs by providing high value exposure to help drive traffic to our award programs. This year our sponsors include: BGT Partners, 24-7PressRelease.com, AllBusiness, ExactTarget, ad:tech conferences, Internet World UK, Search Engine Strategies, Burst Media, Webmaster Radio, Rovion and Website Magazine.

Our Volunteers - The Web Marketing Association is a volunteer organization and it is the dedication of those who give back to the online marketing community. The individuals who help us promote the awards, judge the entries, coordinate award delivery, blog about the awards and all of the other things that get done to make these programs a success for the past 13 years.

As we begin our 14th year, we promise to you that we will continue to improve our award programs, provide unbiased evaluations of your entries and recognize the best Web sites and online advertising each year in our WebAward and IAC Awards programs.

Bill Rice
President
Web Marketing Association

P.S. There is still time to enter the 2010 Internet Advertising Competition (IAC) Awards. The deadline for entry is January 29, 2010.

P.P.S. We are looking for additional online marketing professionals who can serve as IAC Award judges this year. If you think you have want it takes to be a judge, please complete the Online Judges Nomination Form.

Michael Moore and Online Lead Generation

Advances in website content management based on built-in analytics integrated with marketing automation technology (aka trickle marketing), provide the cost effective touch from marketing which can results in great leads.

Click here to read the complete article.

Airline Web sites battle it out for fewer customers

Web Marketing Association President William Rice was quoted in a recent article on MarketWatch by Christopher Hinton entitled Airline Web sites battle it out for fewer customers.

The article discusses how the industry has used the Internet and how different companies have moved at different rates.

The Difference Between IAC Awards and WebAwards

We recently received the following question:

"Can you clarify for me the difference between the Internet Advertising
Awards Website category and the WebAwards."

Simply, the WebAwards (www.webaward.org) focus on the development of the total website and accepts entries from April through May. Micro sites tend to do well, but landing pages do not have enough content and navigation and tend to be at a disadvantage.

The Internet Advertising Competition (www.iacaward.org) focuses on the advertising effectiveness of a website (among other forms of online ads) and accepts entries from Nov through January. It does not look at overall website development, rather the effectiveness of the site as a branding and/or direct marketing tool.

If you visit the guidelines section of each website, you will see the details of the competitions.

Internet Advertising Competition Awards To Name Best Online Ads of 2009

The Web Marketing Association announces the launched of the 8th annual Internet Advertising Competition (IAC) Awards. The IAC Awards are the first and only industry-based advertising award competition dedicated exclusively to online advertising. The Competition Web site is located at www.iacaward.org and the deadline for entry is January 29, 2010.

Awards will be presented within each of the industry categories and advertising formats including:
Online ad (including banner, pop-up or interstitial)
Rich media online ad
Email message
Online newsletter
Website (including landing pages and microsites)
Integrated ad campaign
Ads the client did not choose
Two new categories have been added this year. Online video and Mobile applications will now also be eligible to compete in the IAC Awards.

Best of show award for each medium will be selected from among the industry winners. Ads eligible for entry in the competition must have run during the period from January 1, 2009 through January 29, 2010, except for “Ads the Client did not pick, which do not need to have run.

The Internet Advertising Competition Awards are open to all organizations and individuals (advertising and interactive agencies, corporate marketing departments, etc.) involved in the process of developing Internet advertising. Entries may be submitted online at www.iacaward.org. The deadline for entry is January 29, 2010 and will be judged on creativity, innovation, impact, design, copywriting, and use of the medium.

Judging for the IAC Awards will take place in February, 2010, and winners will be notified by e-mail one week prior to the general announcement of winners in March, 2010. Judges will consist of a select group of Internet advertising professionals with an in-depth understanding of the current state-of-the-art in Web advertising. Past competition judges have included top executives from leading corporations, institutions and media organizations such as Ogilvy Interactive, Saatchi & Saatchi, Blattner Brunner, Comedy Central, Sun Microsystems, National Cable & Telecom Association, Refinery, Euro RSCG, EPB Interactive, New York Post Interactive, The Cincinnati Enquirer, J. Walter Thompson, Xerox, Art Institute of Pittsburgh, Modem Media, and Answerthink.

2009 Best of Show Awards were awarded in each of the online medium categories. Last year's winners are:

Design Lab for Design Lab Holiday Card (Best of Show Email message)
Digitas and Kelley Blue Book for Pontiac G8 – Tommy Kendall Avatar (Best of Show Rich media Online ad)
Atmosphere BBDO for Dude (Best of Show Integrated ad campaign)
Atmosphere BBDO for Photo Slice (Best of Show Interactive application)
Ogilvy San Francisco for iPath Origami Banners & Behind the Scenes Video (Best of Show Rich media Online campaign)
Agency.com for Skittles: Mix The Rainbow (Best of Show Online ad)
Biggs|Gilmore</strong> for The Spoonful (Best of Show Online Newsletter campaign)
AvatarLabs for WALL-E (Best of Show Online campaign)
Publicis Modem for LG - Learn to Fly (Best of Show Ads the client did not pick)
Overdrive Interactive for Symmetricom Next Generation Network (Best of Show Email message campaign)
Verizon, NFL Network and Communifx for Verizon and NFL Network Online Demo (Best of Show Websites)

Biggs|Gilmore of Kalamazoo, MI was recognized with the 2009 Top Agency Award, winning 19 IAC Awards. Their awards include a Best of show, 8 Best of Industry awards and 10 Outstanding awards.

A complete list of past winners can be found at www.IACAWARD.ORG/winners.asp

The 2010 Internet Advertising Competition Awards are sponsored by Burst Media, BGT Partners, 24-7PressRelease.com, AllBusiness, ExactTarget, ad:tech conferences, Microsoft PopPhizz, Internet World UK, Search Engine Strategies, Webmaster Radio, Rovion and Website Magazine.

Merchandise Claim Notification Scam

WE have received several emails like the following:

I have just received a merchandise claim notification from IAC Awards Center Director, Las Vegas, NV for a vehicle entitlement requiring a redempton fee of $47.97. I would like to know if this is a legitimate merchandise incentive offer, or a scam.

The Web Marketing Association is based in Connecticut and does not have anything to do with this or any "merchandise claim notification"

As for vehicle entitlement requiring a redemption fee of $47.97 - two things come to mind. First you get what you pay for and I don't know what vehicle you can expect for $47.97. Second, if it sounds to good to be true....

10 Great B-to-B Sites

BtoB Magazine recently ran a special report entitled 10 Great B-to-B Sites by Karen Bannan.

Each year, BtoB asks a panel of five Web site design and usability experts to identify 10 of the best b-to-b Web sites out there. For the third year, Bill Rice, president of the Web Marketing Association, was asked to participate and comments on website development standards based on his experience with the annual WebAward competition.

Free Full Conference Pass to ad:tech New York

This month the Web Marketing Association is providing a free full conference pass to their New York conference http://www.ad-tech.com/NY to one lucky person. This year the conference will be held at Jacob K. Javits Center November 4-6. This is a great conference and always packed with interesting speakers and outstanding networking opportunities.

To enter send your contact information (name, title, company, address) to adtech@webaward.org. We will pick a winner on the 15th and notify them by email.