You haven’t really made it big in a place like Hollywood or New York City until you’ve been a guest on any of the late-night talk shows. Leno, Letterman and Conan, among others, are the milestones to many up-and-comers and been-there-done-thats that keep those names relevant to us, the wanting public.
This week a very special and well-deserved guest made his, or her, debut to late-night television. The Madagascar Hissing Cockroach made a guest appearance on Chelsea Handler’s “Chelsea Lately” show. Chelsea herself was actually absent, so funnyman and Leno sidekick Ross Matthews filled in as host. Animal enthusiast Mireya Mayor couldn’t get it to actually hiss, but it did a great job of scaring the laughs out of Mr. Matthews.
This about mirrored our first encounter with our very own Madagascar Hissing Cockroach. We bought him, or her, online from an online pest farm based in Ohio. We only assume that they (we bought 2) were imported straight from Madagascar. At least we like to think so. And we got ours to really hiss though!
*Did You Know: The head portion of the Madagascar Cockroach is said to be what George Lucas used to patten the design of Darth Vader’s helmet.
This spring Raccoons will be looking for an easy and convenient place to live, and may find a nice place to raise a litter of coon pups some where in your home. A Raccoon may be living only inches from you and your family. Some places raccoons enjoy are chimney smoke shelves, attics, crawlspaces and inside wall cavities. Before the Raccoon has her litter of raccoon pups, the homeowner and their family may not know they have unwanted invaders. They may start hearing odd bumps and scratching in the night. Soon after the coon pups are born, the pups will start to get noisier as they get older. They make chirps, chatters and will cry when a few weeks old. Nevertheless, when the Raccoon pups get older and become mobile they become noisier with growls, chattering and whines that can be heard any time day or night. When being raised in attics they will play with heat ducts and wiring which can damage them not including the damage to your insulation when urinating and defecating on it. It is best to perform raccoon removal on these invading bandits before the coon pups become mobile. The damage that Raccoons can do can be costly to the homeowner.
Raccoons not only damage the home but can also harm your family as well mentally and or physically. Direct contact with the animal is not necessary to transmit parasites or diseases to your family. External parasite transmission between Raccoons to humans and their pets is also of concern. Raccoons are commonly infested with a variety of ticks and fleas. Raccoons can carry fleas into the home infesting all the occupants’ human and animal alike. The potential for Raccoons to carry borrelia-infected ticks into the urban environment is great.
In conclusion, after the raccoons have been removed and prevention measures done to keep them out. The home should be treated for fleas, ticks and any other ectoparasites by some one with knowledge of wildlife born parasites.
Arizona based Vertical Measures is hosting an all-day search marketing workshop, The Convergence of Search, Social & Content Marketing, on April 7, 2011, in Tempe, AZ. Arnie Kuenn, founder and president of Vertical Measures will be speaking on topics such as content marketing, keyword research, link building and measurement. The all-day Vertical Measures workshop is designed to be hands on by students and Kuenn together.
Students of the workshop will not only leave with ideas and feedback from Kuenn regarding their specific business or industry, but will also take home a handful of free, helpful resources for implementing and maintaining a successful content marketing strategy.
Not convinced yet?
Here are the Top 5 reasons to attend the workshop.
5. Kuenn has more than 20 years of digital marketing experience. He has started various companies that have serviced many big name clients. He is a regular speaker at internet marketing conferences throughout the year and is the president of AZ Interactive Marketing Association (AZIMA), which holds monthly dinners with renowned speakers from across the country.
4. Who wouldn’t mind being in Arizona at the beginning of April? The weather is going to be stellar!
3. A FREE copy of Kuenn’s new book: Accelerate!: Content Development and Marketing to Grow Your Business Online.
2. Kuenn + You + workshop schedule = better business = more revenue.
1. Giving you absolutely no more excuses, we’re providing you with an exclusive promo code (vm4friends) worth 40% off the price of registration. Boom!
Now, no more excuses. Register. We’ll see you there!
Location
Dynamic Worldwide – 4500 N. Lakeshore Dr. #695, Tempe, AZ 85282
And comments are still flowing in at about 1 per second! How long can this last?
To the song’s credit the percentage of likes has increased as former stats from first post 11% Likes to 89% Dislike. We have also considered that fact that most billboard hits per genre of music are probably not liked by a huge percentage of the overall population. There are those that will never listen to a rap song to even give it a vote. So, despite our cynicism, she has a target audience that can carry her song. We don’t know exactly how many times Friday has been downloaded, but she is currently at 72 on iTunes chart, down from her position at #20. So have a Good Friday!… Got to go. Got to get some cereal… I now need to decide which seat I can sit iiiiiiinnnnnn!
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If you have already heard this tune before, then I must apologize in advance. You know what I’m about to inflict upon you.
If you have not heard this song before, then it is your responsibility to humanity to partake in the horrific and graphic reality that I am about to describe that the rest of us are having to endure like yokes upon our backs.
First, the horror.
On February 10, 2011, Ark Music Factory posted a YouTube video that would help redefine the viral industry forever. No other music video has drawn as much attention and ire as Rebecca Black’s “Friday” single. From the lyrics to the video itself to the tone of her singing is, as a good friend of mine put it on Twitter, “like nails down a chalkboard and knives into my eyes.”
The song lashes out at you with lyrics such as “Yesterday was Thursday. Today is Friday…Tomorrow is Saturday and Sunday comes afterwards.” That is followed up by the brilliance of “Fun, fun, fun, fun!” Oh, the humanity!
It has been mentioned and scoffed at by almost every radio station across the country. Sports commentators are evening weighing in.
She is still a trending topic on Twitter and has been at least since sometime last week. That has to be some sort of Twitter record.
At the time of me typing this sentence, of the 47,706,751 million YouTube hits on her official video, there are 706,886 “dislikes” and 83,491 “likes”. Comments are literally being posted at more than one per second. The pace is astonishing.
So what’s all the rage about? …the song making the waves by Rebecca Black, Friday…
Again, I apologize to you, the viewer, but discussing this issue must be a group effort.
*10 Minute Update: Since I recorded those figures 10 minutes ago, the “dislikes” have climbed to 708,585 (1,699 difference) and “likes”, heaven forbid, are now at 83,689 (198 difference).
Now, the harsh reality…
Although iTunes does not disclose their sales numbers of songs, she is currently ranked on iTunes.com at #23 in the Top 100 of downloaded songs. On PopVortex.com’s release of their iTunes Top 100, she currently ranks #19, two slots ahead of Pink and well ahead of Usher, Katy Perry and the original YouTube sensation himself, Justin Bieber.
Forbes and Billboard differ in their estimation of just how many times “Friday” has been downloaded, but most estimate that it has been downloaded well over 2 million times. As iTunes scratches a check at $.70 on the dollar, Ark Music Factory has presumably cashed in over $1 million.
With 47 million views on YouTube, Ark Music is also cashing in on paid advertisements. As a pest control company on our scorpion video, we average about $.71 per thousand views. For us, this is enough to pay for fountain drinks at the gas station down the road. If we calculate that her video even earns $.50 per thousand views, Arm Music is still banking over $23,000. That will be enough to buy Rebecca a car when she turns 16 three years from now.
It is hard to know how many royalties she is earning, since Ark Music Factory produced and released the video. Since she is the one putting herself up on a pedestal for every American, minus 83,000 of them, to take shots at, we certainly hope she is getting the vast majority of those checks. Annoying voice or not, she is taking this all the way to the bank. Horrific lyrics or not, we are the ones filling up her bedazzled pockets.
Ark Music Factory is the engine that is driving these young teens to completely defame their own character and reputation at such an early age. We’re sure their cut of the pie is quite large, sadly. Is the Ark Music Factory business model the American version of sweat shops? Pesty indeed.
We pride ourselves on doing quality pest control, but there are some pests you just can’t get rid of.
10 Foot Big in the case of this ad. So if you haven’t caught on yet, take note… Local Search is changing the game.
Internet marketers are scrambling like a bunch of Austin TX fire ants after their mound has been kicked. Local results are showing up for searches like watches, shoes, and costumes. The example of costumes shared by BlueGlass is a little far from what I believe Google’s intent is. Google constantly refers to “Plumbers and dentists” as their local examples. These are truly local searches. Most people that search for a local service, like pest control, have an intent to buy locally. Restaurants would be the largest category here. The divide happens when we consider what is local? People in a rush to eat lunch are willing to pick up the closest burger. People looking to meet clients for lunch are looking for a joint with the right atmosphere.
Chiropractic did a quick study of what influenced real people in their dinner buying habits for local search.
1- Recommendation. What are friends or reviewers saying.
2- Recognizing the Name. This would be more on branding. When you’ve reached the status of the Salt Lick or Rudy’s BBQ and people from Phoenix AZ know of you, you are doing it right.
3- Location. How close or how far. Sadly the Salt Lick lost out for the PubCon conference because it was too far. Better reviews but too far for our crowd of friends.
So when it comes to searching locally for a restaurant those factors weigh in pretty heavy and search engine’s are not yet calculating your friend’s recommendations and are more concerned about “Location” then they are “Recognition.”
BUT WHAT ABOUT LOCAL SERVICES THAT VISIT A CUSTOMER’S HOME?
Yes. I have a little beef to pick with this one. A local service that covers the entire metro is totally different then a restaurant with only so much local pull. As good as the Salt Lick is, the customer must be willing to go the distance. Services that travel to your home, however, don’t require any more effort from a consumer. So as a consumer, if I am looking for an Austin pest control company, the 5 miles away or 50 miles away argument never really hits the table. As a consumer looking for a local Austin service, I am more concerned about “SERVICE”. So local results that cannot be sorted by 5 star reviews, or number of reviews, are a bit of a nuisance.
Either way, the 1 ton Elephant of Local Search is on the loose…. and don’t call your local pest control guy about crazy roaming elephants …or gorilla’s.
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…. and FYI – Austin Airport hasn’t claimed their Google Listing yet.
In a statement issued yesterday, Mazda is recalling over 50,000 Mazda 6 sedans because the 2009 and 2010 models are having….ready for this…..wait for it…..pest control problems. Apparently the Yellow Sac Spider has found its way into the fuel system of Mazda’s sport sedan, and can potentially wreak havoc by blocking air from filling the gas tank as gas is used. This can crack the tank and even cause fires. Although, to date, no fires have been reported. Mazda also confirmed that this issues seems to only be occurring in the 4-cylinder models, not the V6′s. (I didn’t just make up that last fact.)
Mazda currently sells six differing models of the Mazda 6. These six models are grouped in the following classes: Sport, Touring, Touring Plus and Grand Touring. As of yesterday, it’s only appropriate that Mazda add an additional class to the sport sedan group. We think it should be called the Mazda 6 Spider. Not Spyder. Spider. And the predominant color for this new car should be light yellow in color.
We’ve done a little bit of investigative work since yesterday and it appears to us that along with this issue affecting only 4-cylinder models, the affected cars also all have spider silk woven upholstery. This might explain the Yellow Sac Spider’s targeting of these particular cars. Are they just trying to feel at home? Or might they be protesting the exploitation of their only valuable commodity. Maybe they’re not getting a fair share of a honest day’s work?
Either way, this is an unprecedented opportunity for Mazda to make lemons (pun intended) into lemonade. What else can Mazda do to capitalize on this bizarre discovery? We also suggest that all models that come with navigation and DVD also come with free copies of Arachnophobia, Spider-Man 1-3 and Charlotte’s Web for the kids. If there was a way to get four more wheels on the car, that would be excellent, but we know that might be stretching it. At the very least drivers of the new Mazda 6 Spider should be allowed to freely drive in the carpool lane. Chances are there are 3 or 4 passengers somewhere in the car.
Now, if you don’t want those spiders in your car, or in your house either, call Bulwark Exterminating for your guaranteed spider control.
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