It seems every day some newfangled ad unit is being rolled out.  We’re not knocking experimentation, but leasing tweets or splashing branded wallpaper across a site is not a for everyone.

If all you really need is a banner ad in front of your target audience, why reinvent the wheel?  Try a service called PointBanner.   They’ve got one of the cleanest sales pitches we’ve heard in awhile – custom banner advertisements, 3 revisions, 48 hours, $49.

Unlike 99designs and Crowdspring, this service is strictly banner ads and all design work is performed by PointBanner’s staff.  No competitions with mystery contestants; no you-get-what-you-pay-for business model.   Because you get 3 design revisions, you can actually work with your designer to get it just right.   Point Banner also promises 100% custom work, so you’re not paying a pricey design firm or freelancer from Craigslist for templates.

Here’s how it works:  Submit a design request through PointBanner’s online system. You can choose a bundled package or pay the $49 fee for a single size.   Choose from rectangle, square, leaderboard, skyscraper, or full banner sizes (minimal upcharge of $5 for animation).  Then, give PointBaner your ad text, URL, and any special instructions.  Finish off by uploading your logo.  Within 24 hours, you will receive access to your PointBanner account (where all your ads are stored) and your first design iteration.

For local businesses or cash-strapped firms, this is pretty good deal.  You’re not paying for design services you don’t need or treking into unchartered advertising territory.

Analytics drive most of our marketing decisions, but numbers without context can be misleading.   Can a surge in sales be attributed to a celebrity being seen with your product?  Is a well-timed viral promotion driving Twitter chatter?

Separate legitimate trends from the the noise with Trendrr.  This service tracks the saturation level of products, brands, music, politics – whatever you want really – across different sites and media.   You can set up a custom trend search or browse data graphs that others are tracking (which is kinda like a trend within a trend).

The free version lets you track 10 items and pick and choose the sites and media you want to focus on.   For example, you can choose specific search engines or blog networks, Twitter, Flickr, Craigslist, Amazon, and various video sites.  Really, the list goes on and on.   You can also create mashups, pitting one topic against the other.   Readwriteweb did a rather amusing comparison of Rick Astley album sales vs. Rick Roll plays on YouTube last year.   The internet prank actually helped the 80’s classic sell records.

Trendrr doesn’t provide the black and white stats you may be used to, but it is a great tool for gauging the popularity and social awareness of a topic.   You can track more data with the Pro version and have access to advanced reporting tools.  Prices range from $49 to $999/month for larger organizations and media agencies.

Some marketers are hesitant to embrace brand communities as user generated content can be both powerful and unpredictable.

Still, if the buzz is good, you want to be participating in the conversation, not watching from the wings.

That’s the idea behind BzzScapes.   BzzScapes is a collection of member-generated brand communities, where people (BzzAgents) talk about products they like.  This can be blog posts, videos, coupons, etc.  Once a BzzScape is created, other members can contribute content, rate your content, or add comments. There are also BzzCampaigns,  where eligible BzzAgents weigh in on new products and influence how companies market them.

As a brand, there are several ways to participate on the site.   First, you can register your company with BzzScape.   There is a subscription service, but the payoff is direct access to BzzAgents and their insights.  You can run a BzzCampaign, hold a promotion through the site, or get intel on the performance of two competitors.   The other option (which we admit is somewhat dubious) is to create your very own brand BzzScape.   The idea being, you kickstart the conversation and let other BzzAgents participate.

BzzScapes operates as an influence community, rewarding members that contribute heavily with coupons, dibs on certain BzzCampaigns, and prominence within the site.  No money exchanges hands; BzzAgents are paid in honeycombs and ascend in bee ranking.  We enjoy a hard working pun, but we’ll let you discover the intricacies of the BzzScapes system (and what that means) on your own.  The gist is the more you contribute, the more good stuff you get.

There are lots of of active BzzScapes on the site and no shortage of big brand participation (including Ford and Proctor & Gamble).  Most of what we see is positive feedback.  Unfortunately, we are a lowly worker bee at the time of writing this article and cannot demo most of the site’s features (like BzzCampaigns) until we participate more.  This is by design, so casual ranters don’t abuse the forum.

Search engines don’t index document content well, so if the information you are looking for is buried deep within a PDF or Powerpoint presentation, you could be searching for awhile.

Try using DocMazy; it’s a document search engine that returns text, MS Word, Powerpoint, Excel, and PDF results.  You can filter results by specific file format (say, you only want PDF’s) and even preview the document before you download.   The latter made possible by iPaper, an idea we discussed in Cogito, ergo…

We don’t want to spread false information.  The major search engines can, and do, include documents in their results, but this is not their primary function.  For example, if you want to find a document in Google, you have to go to the “Advanced Search” settings and specify the file type you want.  Not to mention, documents are not optimized the way web pages are.

Really, it’s just a matter of choosing the right tool for the job.  If you want to sample a little bit of everything out there, stick with your go-to search engines.  If you want to find a specific document, like a sales presentation or financial results, try DocMazy.   You can even download the DocMazy toolbar, so document searches are quick and easy.

On the first day of class, a professor in Journalism school asked us to google ourselves, because “you’d be surprised what your name is attached to”.  Of course, that was ten years ago, before social media profiles and Facebook usernames.  Heck, it was even before Merriam-Webster recognized “googling” as a proper verb.

Thing is, when someone googles your name (for business research, contact information, cyberstalking), you don’t know what they will get.  Sure, we can throw some SEO tips your way, but you’re still at the mercy of Google.  Will searchers get the best representation of you?  Will they even get you – or someone who shares your name?

Take control of your world wide self with Google Profiles. This is Google’s way of asserting some order in the process of searching for people online.   Here’s how it works: you fill out a profile form with information like where you live, work, and where you went to school.  You can add a short bio blurb and some fun facts about yourself (your superpower, interests, etc).   Then, attach links to your profile, like your website, blog, or even, your spanky new Facebook vanity URL.   If you want to, you can include photos and direct contact information.  When you’re finished, claim your profile page and personal URL (http://google.com/profiles/yourname).

Whether you’re looking to create an online presence or just solidify the one you got, Google Profiles is a smart move. If you’re reticent to put yourself out there, consider the alternatives.  Someone else’s online activity could be harmful to your reputation.