A client (thanks Leah) turned me to a great keyword/adword resource called SpyFu. It allows you to search competitor keywords, adwords, organic words, advertisements, click spend and total keyword budgets, among other things. Most of this is free. The site is fantastic and can really provide some valuable information for emerging companies looking to evaluate competitive marketings and carve out a niche. You can get super-detailed reporting and information if you're willing to spring for the service, but the initial information is pretty darn useful by itself. Do yourself a favor, check out the site and get some market intel!! Then you can drop some sweet facts at your next dinner party, like:

"Hey Charlie, did you know Google has a daily ad budget between $354 and $390? Pass the salt."

"Hey Rachel, did you hear, Sprint's monthly online keyword budget is $19k. Doesn't that blow your mind?"

-posted by Justin

Earlier this week, I had the opportunity to meet with one of the really “out-of-the-box” thinkers in the PR industry, Peter Shankman. He held a happy hour at the Pike Pub and Brewery, located just above Seattle’s Pike Place Market, schmoozing with Seattle PR types.

For those of you who don’t know Peter, he is probably best known for publishing the HARO (Help A Reporter Out) Newsletter three times a day, Monday through Friday. HARO includes dozens of leads for PR/media opportunities from travel to technology, business/finance to health/fitness. With all of the modern day “smoke and mirrors”-type PR, Peter’s approach is quite simple and refreshing… connect reporters and public relations professionals in order to come up with the most compelling stories. I think of the HARO Newsletter somewhat like CraigsList early on -- no adds, just a way to connect people in the most basic way possible.

Now to our happy hour meeting, Peter struck me as extremely humble and RESTED even though his speaking engagements typically take him back and forth across the country at least a few times each week. Despite having a number of people trying to schmooze with him, Peter took the time to briefly discuss his personal and professional life with me and gave me one of his unique business cards that front as a gambling chip (blog to be updated with picture soon). Little known fact, Peter continued to run marathons for years despite having a foot that was broken in numerous spots (unbenounced to him).

Pike Market, Peter Shankman and Public Relations… what an enlightening happy hour.

-posted by Andrew

We're in the home stretch of the Mobile Village Mobile Star Awards(tm) competition...but there's still time for you to cast a ballot. VOXUS is a nominee in the Best Wireless & Mobile Technology PR Firm category; VOXUS clients Nextrials, CipherLab, Perlego and AirMagnet are also nominees in various categories. So exercise your right to vote -- for us! Go here to read more. Voting closes October 20.

-posted by Rachel

I was sorry to read that one of my former clients, after an almost meltdown in August, is now officially R.I.P. Action Engine was sold to MobUI, a Redmond-based startup that coincidentally was founded by two ex-Action Engineers, John Burry and Brandon Albers (ably assisted by former marketing director Anne Baker, who formed her own firm post-AE). I'd think that no one would know the value of Action Engine's technology better than former teammates. Best wishes.

-posted by Rachel

Congrats to Marcelo Calbucci of Sampa -- he's been compiling an index of Seattle startups for more than a year that ranked them according to search engine statistics. Beginning this week, he's moved the project to www.seattle20.com and added aggregator feeds from other startup blogs in the Seattle area. He has also added original content from contributors such as Alyssa Royse, Matt Hulett, Rebecca Lovell, Danielle Morrill and Keven Leneway, creating a new digital resource for Northwest-based entrepreneurs.

-posted by Rachel

The announcement of Google Mail Goggles is cracking me up. If you haven't already heard, the Goggles (hopefully) prevent you from sending email you may later regret, be they the product of inebriation or whatever else you might do on Saturday night. When enabled, the Goggles check to make sure you really want to send that email to your ex-boyfriend at 2 am on Friday night with, what else, but a few math problems. I guess the idea is that if you are cognizant enough to solve some math problem, you can be trusted to make the right decision on your own. However, if you cannot answer what 196 x 7 is, maybe you should wait until the morning to profess your love or tell someone off. I like this idea... although I think for some people it might be more useful on cell phones...

-posted by Stephanie

Nokia, the world’s number one mobile phone maker, recently announced it would begin selling a touch-screen phone that offers free music downloads.

The phone comes with Nokia’s new ‘Comes with Music’ bundle which has signed up all the major record labels (Universal, Sony, Warner Music Group, and EMI) and even many of the independent labels and is said to offer about five million tracks. Nokia’s music will differ from others on the market since you’ll be able to download tracks for free (data and airtime not included… so this could add up).



The phone is called the Nokia 5800 xpressMusic handset. The phone’s 8 GB internal memory can be beefed up with another 16 GB on a micro SD type memory card - which means you can store over 18,000 songs. The company claims it’s able to offer the tracks at no cost because it bundles the cost into what you pay for the phone (an estimated $395). The first such phone offered will be available in the UK, the world’s third-largest music market, on October 16.

No word yet if/when the phone will be offered in the U.S. However, the launch has created a media buzz both favorable and unfavorable. Gizmodo's also got a hold of Nokia's canned video for the 5800. Is this going to be the iPhone killer? You make the call.



-posted by Andrew

One of my favorite Seattle-based startups, Lilipip, is proactively restructuring its business model as a result of slower-than-expected growth. Instead of producing YouTube-like animated shorts for kids to view on mobile devices, the company has changed its name to Lilipip Studios and is now producing animated stories for companies and their products. Too bad, in a way -- I loved the concept of short films that toddlers could watch on mom's cell phone when the going got tough.

Lilipip's first customer under its new business model is another Seattle-based startup, Others Online. You can see the short flim clip on the company's landing page.

-posted by Rachel

Who'd have thought that I'd look back and sigh about the Google good old days? Like when I could search for Old Boyfriend in complete anonymity and then laugh hysterically when I found out that he crashed and burned during the dot-com bust and is now wanted in 30 of the 50 states. Yes, folks, you can kiss your stalking abilities goodbye, now that Ziggs has launched. Although the site is really meant to help you control your personal brand, it has the odd side ability to notify you of anyone who has Googled your name...and to tell you who that person is. Yikes. I just hope Old Boyfriend isn't a member yet.

-posted by Rachel

It was bad enough that John Cook and Todd Bishop, two of our favorite reporters and bloggers at the Seattle P-I, left the publication earlier this month to join a new initiative at the Puget Sound Business Journal. And kudos to them, it sounds like an exciting venture! But recently, I got word that Cherie Black, the P-I's health reporter and blogger, has also left for greener pastures. AACK.

Earlier this year, the P-I started offering itself as a home for citizen bloggers with columns ranging from Jason McBride's "Eating Weird" to Carolyn Chambers Clark's "Relationship Repair." Maybe this is how it plans to continue to develop new media without replacing departing staff members.

-posted by Rachel