I keep finding myself drawn to the emerging buzz about brand, social and a third element that isn’t yet at the forefront of the conversation, but will be soon - LEADERSHIP. I’ve been talking to @kwlow @snowcialmedia and various others about change management, social [fill-in the blank] and strategy. Leadership is a state and it is earned (and is usually backed with metrics). The startups I work with hear about leadership more than they probably care to. But it is a topic I believe in.

But as the web evolves to the social web, social media connections are going to have an increasing weight on search result relevance. Let’s face it: social media strategy is going to cannibalize black hat and some current white hat SEO strategy. Social media strategy is the new way to do SEO (figure out how to give value to your client’s web strategy). ( Sphinn this ) Search Search engines react to behavior of its users and site owners.

But as the web evolves to the social web, social media connections are going to have an increasing weight on search result relevance. Let’s face it: social media strategy is going to canalize black hat and some current white hat SEO strategy. Social media strategy is the new way to do SEO (figure out how to give value to your client’s web strategy). ( Sphinn this ) Search Search engines react to behavior of its users and site owners.

First, let me recommend reading a previous blog, called omg I’m just a startup, I can’t do those fancy metrics . Once you create a small list of these queries, then you can start to formalize the ideas into specific metrics that you track daily. Aggregate metrics Futuristic Play by @Andrew_Chen Analysis on viral marketing, user experience, game design, and online ads As

For example, if you click on Startup , you find: => The most recent posts, announcements and web pages on the top of the page that relate to Startups. => The best (according to social signals across the network) content below that such as: Acting CTO Role in a Start-up The DNA of an A++ Team Startup Delta Force… => The keywords on the left are ordered according to their relationship to the current term. So you can see that Entrepreneur (60) LinkedIn (15) Metrics (16) SEO (15) Company (141) are all considered highly relevant to the term "startup."

One of the more interesting new features is that the site now takes into account social signals. Together these social signals indicate content that is likely of higher quality (or at least of higher interest). So here's the Hot List for 1/1/2009 - 1/15/2009 Top 5 Posts The 7 Ways to Get Traffic on the Web Why You Need To Lead A Tribe - Seth Godin LA Gets Dugg, Hammered, Screwed How To Get The World Excited About Your Business –The James Siminoff Interview I'm happy to announce the launch of the Los Angeles Tech Content Community . This is the beginning

It will be an open and frank town-hall conversation revealing the metrics and measurements for Mergers and Acquisitions in the online space with one of the best experts in the field. We are joined this month by Shawn Colo , the Co-Founder and Head of M&A at Demand Media . Shawn created the original concept for Demand Media and executed the simultaneous acquisitions of eNom, eHow and several domain-name portfolios which launched the company. This month’s “Startups Uncensored” will be on “Getting Your Internet Company Bought”. Since co-founding the company with

You need to have your eyes on the metrics that matter - primarily focused on usage and WOM metrics given so many people sign up and abandon services in this stage (more here later).  While the standard traffic metrics are fun and key, get down to business.  You need access to the business landscape to help you secure meaningful partnerships (this may or may not happen via your [Update] I’m revisiting this post given the current state of the start-up environment. In today’s world, it is more critical than ever to understand where your industry/category stands.

I'm going to be working with people like Cliff and Steve Gilison (see Product Management for Startups in Los Angeles ) and Tom Humbarger (see Social Media to Build Reputation and Reach Prospects ) to create this online business networking group for Los Angeles. Cliff also sparked an idea that along with using in a separate conversations sparked the idea that we should be using Southern California Tech Central as a means of helping to aggregate the conversation. goals? Most importantly - How will you and fellow bloggers keep these "conversations" going - without

I believe there is still a huge online publisher problem that has been perpetuated by big media's continued dependence on brand advertisers and phony Nielsen TV audience measurement platforms. During economic growth cycles advertising terms are dictated by big media publishers who sell impressions and scarcity. This recession is different for big media and may require publishers to become much more sophisticated about accountability, engagement and action. I continue to hear the same excuses over and over from start-up online video publishers about their failure to generate sufficient CPMs (Avg. $.25