While this list isn’t incredibly scientific – it’s based as much on our own experience as Denver natives as it is anything else – we did try to focus on breweries that met some of the following criteria:

1. It’s gotta be a real, local brewery. Chains like Rock Bottom and Chop House didn’t make our list (but their beer is very good).
2. They needed to have some good reviews on Yelp.
3. They needed to be a good spot for tourists and beer aficionados alike.

We figure there are going to be a few out-of-towners visiting Denver for the upcoming Great American Beer Festival, so we wanted to hit the tourist highlights a little bit too. Anyways, on to the list (which, by the way, is in no particular order).

View Must See Denver Breweries in a larger map

Must See Denver Breweries

Wynkoop Brewing Company – This is the oldest brew-pub in Denver (founded in 88′), and one of the founders (John Hickenlooper) is currently Denver’s mayor. Consider a visit part of your “civic duty,” and check out the Gumbo.

Great Divide Brewing – Award winners? They got em’. Lots of them.

Bull & Bush Brewery – This is a 30 year old pub that was once a dairy. Lots of stories, lots of good food, and in addition to a great beer selection they’ve got a solid selection of single malt scotch.

Dry Dock Brewing Co. – This relatively new brewery (established 2005) is in Aurora, a place more known for sprawling shopping centers and cookie-cutter homes than beer making and fine dining. However, this little brewery is one of Denver’s best, having won the 2009 Great American Beer Festival’s “small brewing company of the year” award.

Breckenridge Brewery – Established in 1992, they’ve got a couple of locations in Denver and a fast-growing national reputation. We recommend the Ball Park location next to Coors Field.

Pints Pub – They specialize in producing cask-conditioned beers, a traditional brewing technique that matches the old English tastes and feel of this brew pub.

Del Norte Brewing – Del Norte specializes in Mexican-style beers, some of which are the perfect compliment to a tasty Mexican meal. Del Norte’s list of awards is rather impressive, so be sure to check them out on Friday afternoons for a free sample.

Strange Brewing Company – Small and rather new, Strange has just won two brewing awards at the Colorado State Fair. To celebrate, Strange will be open everyday during Beer Week 2010 (September 13th-19th).

Golden City Brewery – The joke is that Golden City is the 2nd largest brewery in Golden, but the fact is that a visit to Golden City Brewery is a great time. During my days attending the nearby engineering school, Golden City was a great place to find friends and get a great deal on a pitcher or two.

Coors – OK, so it’s the only major brewer on the list, and the beer community tends to turn it’s nose up at the thought of a Coors product. So be it. The brewery is both impressive and picturesque, and the product is popular. It’s a Colorado landmark.

What do you think – any breweries or brew pubs we missed?

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Today, however, I’m proud to say we’ve got an infographic…or at least kind of:

I say “kind of” because this isn’t a very data intensive graphic. It’s more like some fun facts/trivia on a big JPG. SO, technically, I don’t think it qualifies for the term “infographic.” Still, it’s info, and it’s a graphic, so who knows.

If you think it’s cool, I hope you like it on Facebook, send it out via Twitter, and embed it on your own blog. If you think it sucks, I hope you leave a comment below with some constructive criticism.

Thanks!

Jason

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Unfortunately, all too often lies are passed off as “marketing.” While some lies aren’t necessarily lies – such as “We’re the best ever!” – other lies ARE lies…like “Lose 10 pounds in two weeks and eat whatever you want!”

If that explanation isn’t clear enough (and I don’t think it’s clear at all), then here are 10 marketing rules and best practices for all businesses to remember. They’ll keep your company clean and out of trouble:

1. Don’t advertise results that aren’t typical.

2. Disclose any paid testimonials.

3. Have a clear and easy to read privacy policy.

4. If you have a written warranty, there are some very specific formating rules you have to follow. See the FTC’s website for details.

5. Be smart with email.

• You must have documented proof of an “opt-in” in order to send someone a marketing email
• Every email you send must have a business name and physical address
• Every email you send should have a clear and obvious “unsubcribe” link, and your unsubscribe process should be brutally simple. If you require someone to login to cancel their email, you’re probably not in compliance

6. No tricks. Many marketers have recently abused the “continuation” or “auto-renewal” model in the following way:

1. They offer a service or product “trial” for an extreme discount. As part of the trial offer, consumers are required to submit a credit card number.
2. Automatic enrollment in a subscription program without warning after a certain amount of time has passed. Once the trial period ends, the consumer is charged as a full-time subscriber.
3. The subscription cost is exorbitant. A teeth-whitening product, for example, is given away on a “trial” basis. Once 7 days have passed, the consumer is automatically subscribed for $90 a month. However, the retail value of the product is $20. This extra $70? Profit.

Technically this marketing tactic follows the letter of the law (for now). However, many regulators have targeted this practice because, fundamentally, it’s nothing more than a trick.

7. Be mindful of tracking and sharing user behavior. It’s entirely proper for a business to track how visitors interact with their website. However, sharing that behavior information can be dangerous if it’s not handled properly. If you’re a mom-and-pop site, the easy answer is “don’t share user/usage data.” If you’re a big company thinking about sharing behavior info, stop reading this post and call your in-house legal eagles. They’ll know what to do, and it will probably involve some sort of privacy notice update mailer just like the letters I get from the credit card company every few weeks, LOL.

8. There are no shortcuts in marketing. Some business owners are always looking for the shortcut that will make them a lot of money without doing a lot of work. The thing is, most shortcuts don’t work. The ones that do? They often border dangerously close to breaking the law. Do it the hard way and you’ll be better off (and it will always work too).

9. Make it easy for your customers to complain, and listen to them when they do. Diffuse complaints before they get too big and you run little risk of drawing regulatory interest.

10. Use the old “What Would My Mom Say? / How Would I Explain This To My Kids?” rule. It’s shockingly accurate.

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Fine. Here are five little Twitter tricks I’ll share:

1. Search for people to follow using Google.

Want to find people to follow on Twitter by profession? Let’s say that – for example – you want to follow people who work at Ford, Ford dealers, accessory shops that sell Ford parts, etc. Punch the following into Google:

bio * Ford site:twitter.com -lists

That’s called an Google advanced search, and (warning: shameless self-promo coming up) SEO experts like me use them all the time. This one says:

Find the word ‘Ford’ near the word ‘bio’ on the website Twitter.com. Exclude any results with the word “lists”.

Obviously, you can replace ‘Ford’ with any word you want. If you want to replace ‘Ford’ with two or more words, be sure to place them in quote marks, i.e. punch this into Google

bio * “sauces, dips, and bacon” site:twitter.com -lists

and you’ll find the Twitter profile of my wife, @saucydipper.

2. Find people to follow in your area with Twellow Hood’. Check it out – Twellow Hood.

3. Steal jokes. I’ve had limited success getting RT’d when I was serious, but I’ve been RT’d like a rockstar when I made a good joke.

Click here to view the embedded video.

The thing is, making a good joke is hard. I’m not a thief like Mr. Mencia (the clip above is a little unbelievable, no?), but there’s no reason you can’t reference popular culture to make a Tweet funny. I have had some success replying to other people’s tweets with a  link to a video or image that makes people laugh. Even though I’m simply linking to a dumb video like this evil baby gag in my Tweet, it gets other people going.

4. Buy some Tweets. I talked about the benefits of sponsoring some Tweets in that “How I Tweet” post from a few weeks ago, but how many of you tried it? SponsoredTweets can generate some website visitors and new followers, and it’s really inexpensive. Check it out.

5. Drop some Tweets out of left field. On my @sporkmarketing Twitter account, I often retweet or comment on NBA basketball news. I’m an NBA fan, and I figure it can’t hurt to talk about it on my Twitter account (even if that account is mostly devoted to tweets about Internet marketing). I’ve seen other people do the opposite – they drop a tweet about SEO or web design or PPC or some other Internet thing even though they usually Tweet about cars, basketball, Vail real estate, etc.

If you experiment with odd Tweet topics once in a while, you might get the attention of your followers for being unique.

Got some Twitter tips of your own? Share them in the comments!

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Matt seemed to be fair, and he agreed that the monthly submissions information is incorrect. As I said in the post below, I still don’t like the unsolicited contact offering SEO services to someone who already has an optimized site, but I suppose that’s a relatively minor thing. The “Google certified editor” business is a little sketchy as well, but as Matt said this could be the verbiage of one rogue Web.com salesperson and not the company as a whole.

My thanks to Web.com for contacting me to discuss this post.

Original Post:

Far be it for me to be a consumer watch dog, but one of my pet peeves is companies that rely upon consumer ignorance of SEO to market their products. I think it’s bad form to leverage ignorance to sell something, but I’m not a boy scout – I realize the world works this way.

Still, a recent email from one of my clients about Web.com has me concerned. Here’s what happened in my client’s own words:

…got a call from Michelle at Web.com who got my contact info from my domain registration. She spent a lot of time telling me about how my site needed additional keyword work (using their certified google editors), some changes to the structure of my website, and an analysis of how many links go TO my website. She’s just certain this would increase my visibility on-line…I felt like I was being shammed!

While I doubt Michelle at Web.com has any malicious intent here, based on this description and the accompanying sales materials I find the following items objectionable:

1. Unsolicited contacts offering SEO services are almost always sketchy. Pulling WHOIS domain registration info isn’t a marketing best practice either.

2. If this Web.com employee would have reviewed the site in question and interviewed my client about her goals, she would have found that it is already keyword optimized.

3. How can someone who grabs a name off a domain registration advocate structural changes to a website without asking some questions of the website owner and/or developer?

4. Why do the sales materials offer to do “monthly search engine submissions?” This is a ridiculous idea – telling Google or Bing that a website exists is unnecessary, let alone doing so on a monthly basis.

This is a screenshot from a PDF that Web.com sent to my client advocating "monthly submissions."

5. What, exactly, is a “Google certified editor?” I’ve never heard of a Google website editor certification program…probably because such a thing doesn’t exist.

Web.com Not All Bad

In all honesty, I think it’s fair to say that most websites need keyword optimization and structural adjustments. If the Web.com sales people tell everyone they speak to that their site needs “fixed,” it’s probably true. However, it doesn’t seem to ethical to tell everyone the same thing regardless of the circumstance.

I’m sure that Web.com has some happy clients and success stories, but it’s pitches like this that give the entire SEO industry a bad name. While my client saw through this pitch immediately, I’m sure there are a lot of people that get hooked. Here’s to hoping that they get value in return for their payments to Web.com.

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It’s very easy to install and setup – I created a video that shows you how last week. Check it out below:

Click here to view the embedded video.

My apologies if the sound quality in this video is off…still trying to come up with a cheap, easy, and convenient way to get decent sound for these screen recordings. I have a good desktop mic, but it’s just not that easy to setup. I also have a simple set headphones with a mic (what I used for this video), and I think they have potential…but only if I can get the position of the mic right.

Anyways, enough about my problems. Any questions about the AntiVirus plugin or WordPress security?

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1. How to view your site’s data for a specific date range
2. How to compare data from two different time periods

After you watch the video below, feel free to ask questions in the comments below.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Comparing current data to the past can show you how your website’s traffic has grown, and – if you look at organic traffic referrals – you can see if your search engine optimization efforts are working.

As always, with Google Analytics it’s important to remember that there’s an AWFUL lot of data to analyze. Don’t let the task overwhelm you – you can learn a lot with only the most basic understanding of the system…so check it out!

Other Analytics 101 blog posts:

What are Traffic Sources?

How to view a geographic map of your website visitors using Google Analytics

What is the difference between visits, visitors, and page views in Google Analytics?

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As a marketer, Google has been very big for me as well. I’ve found that pay-per-click ads on Yahoo and MSN offer slightly lower costs and similar quality to Google, but unfortunately only a small fraction of the traffic.

In terms of SEO, Google simply dwarfs traffic from Yahoo or Bing – heck, even Google image search dwarfs traffic from Yahoo or Bing. I’ve found that Yahoo is bigger than Bing, and that – at best – Yahoo can send about 1/6th the traffic that Google can send. Bing? About a tenth.

While it’s never OK to ignore a potential source of traffic like Bing or Yahoo, it’s been pretty easy to forget about them…until now. A recent email from Yahoo tells me that, while Yahoo and MSN might not merge their PPC ad structures in time for the holidays, they’re definitely going to merge their organic search engines in the next 90 days:

…another key aspect of the Yahoo! and Microsoft Search Alliance is the transition of Yahoo! organic search result…Assuming our testing continues to yield high quality results, we anticipate that our organic search results will be powered by Bing beginning in the August/September timeframe.

That’s right sports fans, starting in October, SEO is going to be devoted to optimizing for two major search engines Bing (a.k.a. David) and Google (a.k.a. Goliath). With Bing+Yahoo holding a 25% share of the search market, Google is still going to be about three times as important as Bing…but Google is huge. I’ll take a third of Google’s traffic any day.

While I won’t try to predict if Google will maintain their search engine share dominance (I’ve listed some reasons Google will emerge the winner here, and some reasons they won’t here), I’ll tell you one thing I like about Bing better than Google: when Google changes their search algorythm, you find out by looking at your analytics. They don’t give you a warning or a heads-up.

Bing, on the other hand, is kind enough to sending us a notice that things may shift:

If organic search results are an important source of referrals to your website, you’ll want to make sure that you’re prepared for this change:

• Compare your organic search rankings on Yahoo! Search and Bing for the keywords that drive your business, to help determine any potential impact to your traffic and sales
• Review the Bing webmaster tools and optimize your website for the Bing crawler, as Bing results will be displayed for approximately 30%* of overall search query market share after this change”

So, just like the email says, you need to check your rankings on both engines and make sure your site is registered with Bing’s webmaster tools.

Questions?

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1. Good content. Articles, videos, cool pictures, podcasts, etc., all qualify as “content.” If your content is good, you can have success online.
2. Search. Until someone comes up with a better way to find news or specific info, search engine optimization will be a big part of marketing any business or service online.
3. Email marketing. If you can obtain someone’s email address and get their permission to use it, you can open a long-term dialog that will allow you to constantly bring these people back to your website.
4. Video. I know that I listed “video” under content, but I think it’s so fundamental that it deserves it’s own pillar. You’ll see continued investment in video here at Spork as this medium is finally starting to generate real business.
5. Social media (pending). The fifth pillar is probably social media marketing on Facebook, Twitter, etc., but it’s status is pending. Will social be folded into search or email? Hard to say. Perhaps it’s a semantic argument. Still, I’m not ready to declare social as a separate pillar from content, email, or search until it’s proven that social can generate revenue all by itself.

These are the pillars. Unless something tremendous happens, they will be the pillars for the foreseeable future. However, to hear some people tell it, “email is dying.”

I say bullshit. Here’s why:

The studies that pronounce the death of email are all based on the behavior of teens. Facebook’s COO says that, because only 11% of teens are currently using email, it’s not likely to survive.

Seriously? Most teens don’t use email because they don’t need it. Last time I checked, most teens don’t have:

• jobs that require email (if they have a job at all – it’s hard for teens to find a gig right now)
• a social network outside of friends (no colleagues, no co-workers, no casual acquaintances, no meetings to schedule, etc.)

Teens don’t use wrinkle cream or Rogaine either, but that doesn’t mean the vanity industry is somehow in trouble. Email will survive because it’s still the only secure, simple, and easy platform for business communications. While it’s possible that some sort of mini corporate social network could replace a lot of inter-office communication, I don’t see this being an end-all solution for most businesses.

Now, will email use change? Sure – but that’s not news. Things are in constant change.

In fact, if I were on the staff at Facebook, I’d worry less about what unemployed teenagers think about email and a little more about what I could do to avoid the fate of MySpace. When I started working in the Internet marketing industry less than 4 years ago, MySpace was king and Facebook was a quirky network for college kids and Canadians. Now? MySpace is a dead zone and Facebook execs are running around bragging about how smart they are. While there will always be a need for a social network like Facebook, there’s no guarantee this network will be Facebook. It’s INFINITELY more likely that Facebook will be replaced by some new fad than it is to see email disappear.

No more email? Come on.

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Here is my list of recommended reading for WordPress designers, developers, and site owners:

For Everyone

ProBlogger – Don’t let all the self-promotional “how I learned to make a million dollars” stuff fool you – this guy is for real. If you want to take blogging as seriously as you would any business endeavor, read his blog religiously. If you’re new to blogging (or if you really want to become an expert), try reading all the posts in his “31 days to building a better blog” category. It’s an excellent list of tips and ideas for everyone.

Daily Blog Tips – The guy behind this site is a little younger than me and got started later than I did, yet he’s wildly more successful (or at least it seems so). Despite my jealousy, this is another blogger I follow very closely.

Wordpress Hacks – It’s a good read for anyone who is ready to take their relationship with WP to the next level. If you’re thinking about getting a little more into things, this is a good place to start introducing yourself to more advanced concepts and topics.

For Designers and Developers

These are resources that designers and developers will find interesting. My chops as a designer are poor – I can NOT design a good looking website without help – so the designer blogs might be more “beginner oriented.” As for WordPress development, I’m definitely above average and these blogs are part of the reason.

Zemalf.com – If you’re looking for great info on what an .htaccess file is and what it should do, or if you need help with speeding up your WordPress install, this site has some great resources. I’m a regular reader.

Pro Blog Design – Always a nice place to find cool Wordpress design ideas as well as keep pace with the latest styles.

WP Candy – A little bit of everything, it’s one of those sites I check on every week or so.

Justin Tadlock’s blog – This is a great source for insights into the WP development community, and he also publishes some great plugins and free guides too.

Sucuri.net blog – If you want to lose sleep at night, become a regular reader. I love the fact this company blogs about the latest security threats, and their free tools have helped me more than once. However, I’m always nervous when I see they’ve got a new post. Ignorance is bliss, and you’ve been warned.

Six Revisions – Info for designers and developers on all platforms – great place to find ideas.

Design Shack – It seems like cheating to subscribe to this blog, because all they do is re-post other blogs. However, they only re-post good stuff. I’m a regular reader.

This is my main list. I’ve found lots and lots of sites over the last 3+ years that I’ve worked with WordPress, and I’m sure I’ve missed a few worthy blogs. If you have a blog devoted to WordPress or blogging in general, please submit a link below.

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