Why Start a Blog and 25 Tips to make it work. From the esteemed Valeria Maltoni. Great stuff here!

Ann Handley takes off on 5 in the Morning, with a 9 in the Morning! And these are some great posts…check them out!

Straight from the Web Success Diva herself, Defining your Business Goals in Social Media. Ripe thoughts here – definitely see what Maria Reyes-McDavis has to say.

From the Idea Sandbox – Create Customer Excitement with Traditions.

FRIDAY BONUS: A quick and timely reminder, from the camera of David Armano (while you’re there, check out this lovely shot also).

Oh, and on a positive note – Lego provides a great customer service story. Close to home, for us. Way to go, Lego!

You DO know about Mack Collier’s “Viral Garden Top 25 Marketing and Social Media Blogs” – right? If you don’t, go there NOW and find out where lots of the cool blog readers hang out.

Facebook, and Obama’s success. Some numbers shared by Louis Gray.

Into Logo design? The you probably want to check out LogoDesignLove. Just sayin’…

Interested in SMR (Social Media Releases)? Of course you are! And so is Todd Defren. So find out from him if they work…

BONUS – Way to LIght up Your Booth. What was the most creative booth promotion I saw at Ad-Tech this week? You might be very surprised…

PLUS – Want an insanely complete start page portal? Check this beastie out!

HEY! Have you found – or written – a Five-worthy post? Feel free to suggest entries for the next day’s Five in the Morning (stevew at stickyfigure dot com) or DM me via Twitter (@swoodruff)

Truth be told, I wasn’t up then either. Closer to 6 am. But here are your 5 fresh posts to start the day…

MarketingShift brings us two interesting lessons. British Airways finds out about the power of social networking (and not in a good way). And, by seeking to “do good” with free election day giveaways, did some companies “do wrong”? Didn’t see this one coming…(I did get a free cup of Starbucks yesterday…does that make me and a few million others accessories to a felony?)

Rohit Bhargava gives us a nice visual on how one Obama branding strategy was quite effective. I agree with him, though I am usually more of a branding/logo “purist” – what do you think?

Rick Turoczy drinks some Juice. Have you tried it yet? I plan to!

Seth Godin summarizes some interesting marketing lessons (yes, with “tribe” angles) from the U.S. election.

The speed of Twitter. An interesting example from Mack Collier, along with a link to a good post from Mike Sansone.

PLUS: The power of a simple graphic. Really neat. From Todd And’s blog.

Another free e-book, this one from Greg Verdino – go here to get the blurb and the download! And, here are 10 tips on writing an e-book, from Amber Naslund.

Darren Rowse ((Problogger) soft-launches a new blog, TwiTip.

iPhone users – having a hard time keeping up with all the new apps? Yeah, me too. So now, there’s FreshApps, to keep us up-to-date,

How Twitter has taught me to value your time. From Technotheory.

Is that a whiff of Lanolin around your marketing? Don’t follow the sheep, says Jonathan Kranz at MarketingProfs Daily Fix.

A roundup of top blog search engines. From Ann Smarty at Search Engine Journal.

Steve Rubel predicts the future regarding smart phones and cloud computing. I think he’s pretty much on-target. What do you think?

Free e-books from Chris Brogan. As in, FREE. Fish Where the Fish Are. Personal Branding. Grab ‘em!

PLUS – I love being a Dad. From C.C. Chapman. Yeah. And, for a quick Monday visual, Tel Aviv sunset from Jeff Pulver.

I’ll be at Ad-Tech NY for the first part of this week…will try to get out Five in the Morning each day, but no guarantees! Visit here for live updates on the conference, however, M-W.

(Image credit)

Drinking from the Twitter fire hydrant by using TweetDeck. Nice post from Beth Kanter. I’ve been a TweetDeck fan from its inception, and it keeps getting better.

Does your Tagline Create Clarity or Mystery? A helpful post by James Chartrand at Copyblogger. Make your headlines/taglines count!

Guy Kawasaki talks about the launch of his new book, Reality Check. What do I like most about Guy? His ability to laugh at himself. Read the book Foreword, which is in this post – F.U.N.N.Y!

Removing your “Perfect” Filter. Great thoughts from Mack Collier. I’ll bet you can relate…

Am I allowed to flog one of my own posts? Ah, why not…I did a guest post for Lewis Green’s blog this week, on Where Business Opportunities Hide. You’ll also get a glimpse of the thinking that led to my starting my own consulting company.

BONUS: A little Friday Fun: Famous Blogger Sucked into Second Life, Disappears.

10 Branding brownie points

Laura Ries, on How and When to Attack (in Marketing). With good/bad examples.

Small Business Trends introduces Jim Kukral as a (video expert) contributor. Here is his post on how and why a small business should use Twitter, including a screencast (Jim is good people, by the way. Be sure to follow him if you’re not already).

Why I blog. From Susan Murphy (SuzeMuse). I think Suze speaks for many of us.

Dan Schawbel interviewed at MSNBC website. Theme: social networking and business.

PLUS: Free Wi-Fi at locations nationwide for iPhone users? Sweeeet!

Chris Wilson (Mr. Fresh Peel) on the Rise of Personal Branding. An interesting book is recommended.

Seth Godin ‘fesses up to some pretty spectacular failures. Lesson: keep going!

What was the most effective channel for getting birthday wishes? David Berkowitz discusses his experience. There was one clear, dominant, unquestioned leader!

Matt Dickman presents some very interesting data about the relative preference for IM/SMS/Email among different age groups. Neat stuff!

BONUS: Kill the Buzz. Now! Read the Comments – that’s the best part!

A series of video snippets (of Seth Godin and Tom Peters) commenting on social media. Courtesy of Doug Karr.

Beth Harte gets even more passionate. Good for her (and for you)! Similar thoughts from Amber Naslund.

Start buying! The Age of Conversation (2) is here. David Reich gives a plug.

The problem: Defining the problem. So says Tom Clifford – and this principle applies for many areas beyond creating a video!

PLUS – Do some people still have a heart, even for a stranger? Wow.

It’s improved. Bigger. Better. Before there was Alltop, there was…The Marketing Bloggers portal. Now with more feeds. Check it out – and let me know if there are other worthies that should be included!

So…have you been to the Bathroom Blogfest? No, not a typo. This is real. I don’t get it…but C.B. Whittemore and gang can help you out here.

This is Katie Konrath‘s blog. Why am I linking to it? Because I love the tagline. Go see!

C. C. Chapman, a presentation on Making Media as Marketing. With Slideshare. From the recent MarketingProfs Digital Mixer.

PLUS: Eyes. I’ll say no more. You have to see it (with your own eyes) to believe it!

Find and expand your niche

Jill Konrath on what a Joe the Plumber approach to marketing means for us.

How to use your web influence wisely, a great list from Joanna Young.

Cheryl Smith on Zappo’s “culturefit” interview process. Very interesting.

Why produce an e-newsletter as well as a blog? Problogger shares 8 reasons. #4 is particularly important. For my pharma consulting work/blogging/self-promotion, the e-newsletter is absolutely central…

PLUS: Ever wondered about the names for those various facial hair arrangements? Be  in the dark no more! The Swiss Miss links us to The Expanded Beard Type Chart!

BONUS Photo: The best “Missing” sign you’ll see this week!

*Sausage and Pepper grinder, thanks to Lewis Green:

Nike Just Does it Wrong, then tries to do it right. Brian Solis gives us the scoop on a marathon gone bad.

Want to know where ALL the social media stuff is? Guy Kawasaki links to the mother and father of all social media lists.

From Steve Rubel – how blogging has impacted the way journalists gather news. Fascinating.

Greg Verdino admits that he’s a loser. And a member of the equine family. Plus, this is the only time you’ll see him in a suit and tie…

PLUS – By a wide margin, my most popular StickyFigure post ever! TwACORN Busted for Massive on-line Fraud. Sheesh – maybe I should have just gone into comedy…

BONUS – Find Flickr pics by choosing color. VERY cool tool. Hat tip: Mario Sundar.

What is LinkedIn good for? A LOT! Look at this list (with great links) assembled by Stephen Smith, from the SOBCON website!

From Aaron Strout – Top Ten Lessons Learned using social media. Quick, simple, straightforward stuff here.

Showing Up – some good starting-up lessons about using social media from the personal branding guru, William Arruda.

High-Priced Hand-me-Downs. Some unknown long-tail blogger posted this one about luxury items that justify themselves as legacy inheritances.

PLUS – Whhhaattt? You’ve never visited Despair.com?? Surely you jest. Go there right now and laugh your head off!

BONUS Video – Beware the “Me Monster“! This 4.5 minute video by Brian Regan will Crack. You. Up.

Re-branding…fish…with new names. Guess I hadn’t thought of that one. From the NameWire blog.

How can social media help with customer loyalty? Becky Carroll over at Customers Rock! begins a brief series this week, with quickie videos (at this link – a video from Jim Kukral). Anything Becky produces is worth your attention.

Why do we blog? Here’s what Darren Rowse (@problogger) found out when he asked his readers.

Ann Handley has Nine Questions for Guy Kawasaki. Read the Q&A here.

PLUS: Only Ann Handley could pull this off. From her blog A n n a r c h y: A Toast to Cancer.

She Said. He Said. You just have to read it. From the Diva herself, Toby Bloomberg.

Is your marketing touching on What Motivates People to Buy? Drew McLellan with some great thoughts, and a nice “List of Eight.” From the Small Business Branding blog.

Jay Ehret assembles a list of four great posts from last week giving solid marketing advice. From The Marketing Spot (small business marketing) blog.

From Louis Gray – 5 family-friendly iPhone apps. I immediately went over to the iTunes store and downloaded three of them (my 7-year-old loves playing this kind of stuff!)

PLUS – from Jackie Huba, an offer for a free conference call with Seth Godin tomorrow. Sign up at the link! (Church of the Customer blog)

What’s greater than sex? Scott Monty has the answer. Or so he says. I’m skeptical. (Good statistics here for your presentations…)

If you’re interested in the use of digital (and social media) approaches in pharma/life sciences, I did a series of live-blogged posts from the Digital Pharma conference this week on my Impactiviti blog. Go, scroll, and get 2 days worth of content in a few minutes! Also, you can see a number of tweets at twitter.com/swoodruff.

Ann Handley: When it’s time to turn off Twitter. Actually, there are lots of times. Like, say, ummmm, well…give me a few minutes to come up with it – oh! there’s another DM…

Why are the most memorable ads so far back in the past, asks Greg Verdino? Are we missing the mark?

Friday Bonus: The best Business Hours sign ever posted!

What is Social Media Marketing and how can you use it effectively? Great stuff from Mack Collier.

Doug Karr asks, Do (blog) Comments equal Conversions? Short answer – no.

One win is all it takes – a quick encouragement from Jim Kukral.

An interesting perspective from Penelope Trunk – 5 reasons why you don’t need to write a book. Authors, what say you about this?

And, for a laugh… (hat tip: Todd And)

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There probably won’t be a Five in the Morning on Thursday, as I’ll be at a conference…but then again, I might get really motivated at 5:00 am!

Here’s a bunch of ways you can use Twitter that you never thought of. All of these add-ons! Who’da thunk there’s a “timer” for tweeting yourself a reminder?

The 15 Dumbest Names for Web Startups – and, some helpful links to good naming articles by bloggers. Nice collection by Robin Wauters.

My latest MarketingProfs Daily Fix post is up – are you building a safety net? Or an Opportunity Net(work)?

How Dan Heath (of Made to Stick fame) became a Gonzaga fan.

And, congratulations to blogger Shannon Paul on her new gig with the Detroit Red Wings!

Unconventional Marketing mapped out by David Armano – another thought-provoking post/graphic by a very creative thinker.

Shannon Paul explains that Free Content Makes Money.

For those of us who love gadgets and automation, a very cool movement in the hospitality industry – Hotels go High-Tech. I love this idea. From MobileCrunch.

First Age of Conversation #2 podcast is up, says Gavin Heaton (co-editor along with Drew McLellan). First victim of the 237 authors is Jay Ehret.

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Just for fun bonus: Words and phrases we should never hear again, collected by Kirsten Wright. I’m sure you can think of others to add!

Oh, and why not…what do you get when you combine an iPhone camera, fall leaves, a slow shutter speed, and a twisting-of-device-while-taking-image? This!

Effort? Or luck?

Social media campaigns – they ain’t like the traditional kinds. Nice overview from Kat over at Social Media Explorer.

CollabFinder – a place where designers and developers can find each other. Great use of web networking. Hat tip: Swiss Miss.

Mark Goren asks: Really, What is Marketing? From his Planting Seeds blog (nice design, btw Mark!)

Can you describe your personal brand in one word? Dan Schawbel is asking!

BONUS: New Twitter-generated TwIndependent presidential ticket announced. Go GaryVee and Chris Brogan! (now with bonus links to prior spoofs!)

I like this post, and the accompany video, on Rohit Bhargava‘s blog, about Chili’s-To-Go.

Jason Alba gives us some advice on How to Find a Job during a Recession.

The Hero’s Journey – A Metaphor for Video Storytelling. Fast Company column from the prolific and ever-interesting Director Tom.

Return on Whatever. MarketingProfs Daily Fix post, by yours truly, on the compulsion to try to calculate Return on too many things. Join the discussion in the Comments!

Crowdsourced Java. A great campaign by Adam Singer. And I want some Coffee 2.0!

Would you like to (perhaps) get featured on the “big” news sites (like CNN, NY Times, etc.)? Problogger shares a few tips.

Igor‘s free, downloadable company naming guide. Wow.

Does color matter for your brand? Check out this quick overview from the Swiss Miss.

Bloggers: What Not to Wear! From Copyblogger.

BONUS: Earth from Above hi-def pix. Amazing!

TechCrunch points out a new and improved AlertThingy coming up…this appears to be another step in the evolution toward MetaMee. Can’t wait to try it out!

It was the beautiful photo that first drew me into the post, I confess. But anything from Valeria Maltoni is worth reading, and this is no exception: The Distance between Avoidance and Attention in Customer Service.

Speaking of customer service, Doug Meacham is no longer Expect(ing) Great Things from Kohl’s.

Seth Godin gives 9 SOLID Steps to Powerpoint Magic. Seriously, if you do any presenting whatsoever, you need to read and apply!

PLUS: Congratulations are in order for Douglas Karr, who is starting a new position in social media, and Greg Verdino, whose blog just transitioned into the terrible two’s.

Telling your company’s story: Good stuff from Drew McLellan, and from Director Tom (for the video/documentary perspective!)

What’s a clig? Find out on the Livingston Buzz blog!

50 brands for 50 years – see this celebration of 50 top brands over the last 5 decades. Hat tip: Plaid (Brand Flakes for Breakfast blog)

Start-up stories – great new series from Scott Allen kicks off with links to informative stories about people who followed their dreams.

FRIDAY PHOTO BONUS: Top contenders for  Nikon’s Small World photography contest. Awesome micro-photography!

FRIDAY VIDEO BONUS: From last year: surely by now you know the story about Paul Potts, right? The opera-singing winner of Britain’s Got Talent? If you didn’t catch this one, you’re in for a treat; and even if you did, here’s the whole sequence of videos all together for you:

If you haven’t seen the sequence of videos from this stirring event, here they are, in order:

First Audition:

Semi-final Performance:

Final Performance:

Winner Announced, and Encore:

A blogger (Beth Harte) changes her mind about using Twitter.

Read blogs to improve your blog. A couple quick paragraphs from David Brazeal.

Think you know how to search online? Gavin Heaton thought so too…

I love great marketing ideas. And Free Shirt Friday is just that. Very creative! (hat tip: Douglas Karr)