Breaking Free
Experiments in tech entrepreneurship
Archive for the ‘Marketing’ Category
Something I coded up for fun…
22 Feb 2011I put this website together over the last few weeks that I thought you might like. It’s quite simple. Basically you can hold a “photo contest” and see which photo your friends like best. Here are a few examples… 1. Choose a photo of yourself. 2. Choose artwork or travel photos. 3. For downright silliness. I’ll [...]
Being Controversial Is Good Marketing
In: Marketing
22 Jan 2011I started thinking about this topic lately. Here are 3 random examples I’ve noticed – see if you can draw any conclusions or find others. 1. Ricky Gervais He caused an uproar lately by insulting lots of famous people while hosting the Golden Globes. Backstory here. There is no doubt he angered a bunch of [...]
I was reading this presentation by the Dropbox.com Founder, Drew Houston, the other day and the most interesting part about it was that most of their marketing with Adwords and conventional approaches completely failed. Yet Dropbox has over 4 million users. So how did they do it? Apparently it was almost entirely word of mouth [...]
Edit: Seoaholic has since be re-branded and re-launched as InboxSeo.com. This is an exciting announcement. For the last few months I’ve been working on a new web app (was contracted to build it actually) and today is the beta launch! The site is Seoaholic.com. The name is a made up word which combines SEO (search engine optimization) and [...]
So you just built the next great web app, the launch day has finally come and …. silence. Crickets chirping. You anxiously check your Google Analytics stats and see that despite having the coolest new website ever, nobody seems to care. More precisely, nobody knows about it yet. This is one of the toughest moments [...]
I was watching this video today about how to stand out in your market place. It gives some good examples of companies (like VooDoo Donut and ZipCar) who created a strong following by: 1. Doing something different 2. Having fun 3. Not being afraid to be a little weird It reminded me of Google’s “I’m feeling [...]
Just wanted to give an update on how my SEO experiment went from this post a month ago. For those who didn’t read it I setup a category on BuyersVote.com for the best halloween costume ideas of 2009. I did this because I knew it would be a popular keyword in October, especially toward the [...]
I had an interesting conversation with Neil Patel earlier this week. I called him to get some advice on UniversityTutor.com and how I could take it to the next level. Neil is a really successful guy in the web business space, so I figured it’d be a good brainstorm. His biggest advice was to get [...]
The Best Books For Entrepreneurs
4 Oct 2009Sometimes I post up reviews of books I’ve enjoyed. But I think it’d be interesting to get a collective approach from all the readers of this blog. What books on business have had the greatest impact on you? Which book do you find yourself recommending to other entrepreneurs the most? A bunch of suggestions have [...]
Before and After Screenshot: Copywriting
In: Marketing
22 Sep 2009Copywriting is hard. Sometimes I find it easy to explain things clearly and succinctly. But other times I really struggle to capture the main idea of a complex subject in just a few lines. What’s so deceptive about good writing is that it looks simple when you read it. It looks casual, like someone jotted [...]
About this blog
Breaking Free is a collection of articles on tech entrepreneurship, business, and life written by Brian Armstrong. You can read more here »
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- Some random udpates…
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- Find a model at TheBookr.com
- Technology and Innovation – Is It Being Stifled By The Law?
- Something I coded up for fun…
- Being Controversial Is Good Marketing
- Selling Bridesmaid Dresses Online
- How To Track Your Keyword Rankings