What Does Everyone Think Of The New Digital Point Forum?

Yeah, I'm curious to see the overall feedback and long-term success with the new platform. While I don't "love" losing my itrader history which I had built over half a decade, I do think more limitations to the Marketplace for more verified members or those who wish to take the time to become an active member, is better. It helps the overall SPAM of the forum and keeps the quality level up.

One other aspect I noted but wasn't sure was accurate, was the flag assigned to my name? Is that only in the profile so far? But I do like that, proves my location and have had issues in the past where I hired someone who was from "New York" but turned out to be from overseas.

I'm also curious to see how the trophy points system works out and whether or not it is sufficient for showing the establishment and longevity of a user on a forum. Overall, the new design is pretty smooth and I'll definitely agree with a few others that the old template was getting to be exactly that: old. Excited to see how DP can continue to evolve to better serve it's member's!

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is digital point is using vbseo for vbulletin?

Join DateJun 2011Posts78

is dp is using vbseo for seo and is vbseo is very important for seo of vb forum or u can do seo of forum without vbseo?

By Pixelrage in forum vBulletin Replies: 20 Last Post: Nov 29th 2009, 6:44 am By *Mayank* in forum vBulletin Replies: 68 Last Post: May 12th 2009, 12:36 pm By totalmasala in forum Signature Links Replies: 1 Last Post: Oct 1st 2007, 6:24 pm By totalmasala in forum Signature Links Replies: 0 Last Post: Oct 1st 2007, 9:18 am By Davey Crocket in forum Suggestions & Feedback Replies: 10 Last Post: Oct 11th 2005, 10:55 am You may not post new threadsYou may not post repliesYou may not post attachmentsYou may not edit your postsForum Rules

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Hello Digital Point Gurus

Hello!

My name is Nancy. I've been in the colocation, dedicated servers, hosted solutions and bandwidth business for about 5years, but this is my first foray into actually managing websites. This means I am learning as much as I can about website monetization, SEO, SE tools, building quality posts and engaging readers. These forums on DigitalPoint are all very intelligent and interesting. Looking forward to learning about new programs and trading information.

Thanks!

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How to Sue for Infringement of Digital Intellectual Property

5 authors | 6 revisions | Last updated: December 12, 2012

SeaStar, Capone5547, BR, Flickety, ZareenPin ItArticle EditDiscuss

Intellectual property infringement is widespread on the Internet, both because it's easy to do and because many people don't understand that some of their actions are infringing someone else's intellectual property rights. Infringement occurs when someone other than the owner of the intellectual property uses that material in a way that violates the rights of the intellectual property owner. Common cases of infringement include a person illegally downloading music from the Internet without paying the creator for it or using a copyright photo for their website or content from another site without permission. Suing someone for infringing on your digital intellectual property can force the infringer to stop violating your rights and can force them to pay you for your work, provided you're persistent and have the funds to pursue it.

Edit Steps1Consider whether your intellectual property actually has been infringed. There are exceptions under different laws pertaining to copyright and other types of intellectual property. For example, some works may be covered by fair use, fair dealing or free use, such as taking a screenshot or a news report. Perhaps you forgot that you marked some of your work Creative Commons or copyright-free, or that you gave someone permission to use your work some time back without reneging it (or because you had no choice under an employment contract or law)––be sure that none of these things have happened. Also, there is still debate as to whether it's possible to copyright a tweet on Twitter or an update on Facebook––it'd have to be remarkably unique and creative to be protected as your original intellectual property.2Ask first. Before spending a cent, ask the infringer to stop infringing your work. Send a politely worded email or message, or call them, and ask them to stop using your intellectual property without permission. In many cases, this can be enough to enlighten the other person that they're doing something wrong. Even more importantly, it lets that person know that you're aware of their misuse. If this doesn't succeed in changing things for you, proceed to the next step. In some jurisdictions, showing evidence of asking may be needed as mitigation of the harm to you, or as evidence that you have tried to stop the infringement but to no avail. Talk to your attorney if you're unsure how initial contact will impact your legal rights.Assume the best initially. It can be very easy to get into a lather after finding your work on another site, blog or forum. But remember that many online users honor the moral obligations not to infringe without recognition and will be embarrassed to find out they have done so. Often pointing out the error works wonders, as does being gracious enough to allow that person the opportunity to admit the error and fix it.Be open minded. Sometimes there may be a good reason to go ahead and give permission for using your intellectual property but only after exchanging an agreement setting out well understood terms that include your own limitations. Not everything has to end in a lawsuit and winner takes all. Be prepared to compromise if it serves your purposes too, such as increasing your exposure to blog readers or getting free advertising.3Visit an attorney or intellectual property lawyer for advice. Intellectual property law is a complex and technical field of the law. As such, it requires in-depth knowledge of how the law works. Before you think about suing, get professional advice to see if there is even a legal ground to pursue your action with. The initial advice won't usually be free (unless you have a good lawyer friend happy to advise you gratis) but it will be money well spent as it could resolve the matter before even seeking to sue.While bringing a lawsuit against an infringer on your own behalf is possible, due to the complexity of intellectual property law, it is not advisable. See the sources below for a link to the American Bar Association’s Intellectual Property section; similar bar or law associations exist in most jurisdictions.Consider where the infringement occurred, if you know. While the Internet can open up jurisdiction to the whole world, it may be necessary to seek advice from a lawyer or attorney in a country different from your own. And while it is now possible to be served virtually in numerous jurisdictions, even if you should succeed, getting compensation may be quite another story. Be aware that enforcement of intellectual property varies a great deal worldwide.How big and how valuable is the work that has been infringed? Courts are likely to be much more sympathetic to a huge theft of commercial intellectual property than to a spat between two bloggers. This isn't to demean the value of your blog content but it is a realistic viewpoint to take when assessing how worthwhile it is to chase the offender. There are less expensive ways of getting an offender to stop, such as asking the website to pull their content or even their user status due to infringement of intellectual property and letting others know to be wary of this person's online actions.4Register your work with the proper government agency if you haven't already done so. Registration of some types of intellectual property is not required in order to have intellectual property rights to your work, but in most cases you must register your work as either a trademark, patent, or trade secret before you can bring a lawsuit. In the United States, copyright can be registered as well, and in some jurisdictions there may be some additional process protection available (ask your legal adviser for more details). In some cases, registering your work after you learn of infringement but prior to bringing the lawsuit is acceptable. Since many intellectual property claims involve determining who came up with the intellectual property first, make sure you pinpoint the date you created the work on your registration. This will help you prove your claim.5Gather evidence of the infringement. Depending on what type of intellectual property was infringed and how it was infringed, you will need to gather different information about the infringement to give to your attorney so that he or she can build the case. Gather any and all evidence that shows that you own the intellectual property in question and that the other person or people have infringed on your rights. Evidence may include email discussions, messages, photos, dated screenshots, file notes, original files/drawings/photos, etc. You can help to reduce costs by putting everything in a chronological order for your attorney before giving it to him or her (if not, they'll do it for you, and charge you). Make a note of anything that you think stands out in particular and draw this to your attorney's attention.In the case of digital intellectual property infringement, saving screenshots of websites that improperly use your work is a good way to show the infringement.If your work was uploaded on a public site by someone other than you without your permission, make sure to capture a screenshot of the username or any other identification of the person who uploaded your work.6Review your chances with your attorney and ask for an honest assessment. The time to decide to go ahead and sue should be one of certainty that you have no other alternative, that this is the right thing to do and that you're financially able to go through with it.7Have your attorney file the lawsuit. After discussing your case with your attorney, if he or she thinks that you have a good case for a lawsuit, have your attorney file it. Be prepared for a long wait––lawsuits of this type are often time consuming, as well as costly.Keep passing on any new evidence supporting your case during the trial. Your attorney will figure out whether it is relevant or not.8Consider settling out of court. Many intellectual property infringement cases settle out of court, and it is rare for an infringement case to make it to an actual trial. It is often in your financial interest to get the infringing party to settle the dispute out of court because intellectual property lawsuits are very costly and there is always a possibility that you will not win the lawsuit. Settling out of court avoids the high expense of a trial and still provides you with your intended result, which is typically financial compensation for the infringement and the infringer no longer using your work.

Edit TipsWhat can be infringed? Almost everything online! Photographs, drawings, graphics, content, poetry, stories, video, artwork, sales photos, portfolios, cartoons, words you've posted, plans or drafts, music you've made, etc., are all potentially protected by intellectual property rights and therefore capable of being infringed where permission has not been gained.Be aware that a site does not have to display a copyright symbol to be protected by copyright. It is a good idea for you to do this as a wise reminder but even without the symbol, you are still covered. (There are still a few countries that didn't sign the Berne Convention, which is the international treaty that did away with the requirement to display this symbol. That aside, most countries are covered.)Brush up on your understanding of copyright and related law by reading the WIPO booklet Understanding Copyright and Related Rights at http://www.wipo.int/freepublications/en/intproperty/.../wipo_pub_909.pdf (PDF).You will always retain moral rights to your work, even if you've sold the copyright on, where moral rights are supported by law (this means most countries, as international treaties back up moral rights). Moral rights protect you from unfair attacks, mutilation or distortion of your works, or placing of your works into a light that damages your reputation.Copyright of your blog, website or web work will endure 70 years after your death if you're in the USA, America and a few other places. For many countries, the length of time that copyright endures is 50 years. An interesting fact not of much use to you if you're dead though! Of course, this does mean that so far, there isn't a blog or website on the planet free of copyright for the reason that the blog's author has been dead long enough!

Edit WarningsFiling a lawsuit for intellectual property infringement without the use of a lawyer is usually not a good idea since intellectual property law is complicated and chances are high that you might make a mistake when pursuing the case that could cost you money and hinder your ability to continue pursuing the infringer.Suing isn't just financially costly––it can be emotionally wearing too, especially where the subject of the lawsuit revolves around your life and soul's creations.

Edit Things You'll NeedTrail of evidence (make both digital and hard copies for both yourself and your attorney)Original documents/images/music/files/sounds, etc.

Edit Related wikiHowsHow to Choose an Intellectual Property LawyerHow to Defend Against Intellectual Property Violation ChargesHow to Prove Intellectual Property TheftHow to Copyright a BookHow to Copyright a Song

Edit Sources and Citationshttp://www.americanbar.org/groups/intellectual_property_law.html – research sourceArticle Info Featured Article

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ROPE: 4 Essentials for Global Integrated Digital Marketing

The definition of integrated marketing continues to evolve beyond simple channels – toward device, geography, and increasingly complex segments.

Most global organizations have established unique intra-departmental processes and alliances across divisions, and some have become more sophisticated than others.

Companies that have chosen to invest in the digital marketing channel the longest are currently reaping the most rewards from owned and earned media efforts, and have very refined paid strategies.

However, integration continues to be a problem, especially across organizations with a global market presence online. Complicated marketing, content, regional and brand communications silos often collaborate infrequently and impersonally with IT teams and forget to work toward a common goal: the target segment in that country for that product suite or service.

Here are four key areas for organizations to focus on improving in 2013, in order to drive online marketing integration and enable efficiency across global regions.

1. Regional Authenticity

Many marketing pundits and practitioners can agree that valuable content continues to be the darling of both search engines and humans. One observable trend among global brand websites is that many are simply translating content to various country-specific sections. Sites that are doing this should launch a clear path toward creating unique content that is regionally-relevant, styled, and appealing to local target segments.

There are many ways to customize the content other than just translating it. It’s not enough to add some fresh content about the Parthenon to a Greek site.

In some countries, there may be more of a split between B2B and B2C client targets than in others. There is no substitute for having real “locals” provide input to content development and style.

The point: for search engines to like it, humans have to like it, which is everyone’s favorite usability goal! Simply repurposing local press releases or event/sponsorship content isn't enough, although that's another current trend.

Even starting small would be a step toward better regional performance. A strategy of going with one business line or category, selected by country and its potential ROI or other performance story. Starting small allows for process set up which we will discuss below, but also can speed up the time to implementation and results, which can then immediately be heralded in order to gain more funding to do more.

2. Organizational Alignment

I feel that more attention should be focused on what has been defined as “marketing orientation” or “interfunctional coordination.” That is “dissemination of the intelligence across departments and organization-wide responsiveness to it.”

Most companies don’t take full advantage of everyone in their organization that can actually help grow the bottom line. Especially overlooked are the IT and administrative/sales worlds.

Site structure, as well as feedback from phone-in clients, often gets overlooked when defining the best user experience for users in specific countries. How many global marketers reading this have ever tried to get feedback on a country-level and incorporate it specifically for that region’s content, if it lives on a main domain? I am willing to bet that the answer is very few.

In 2013 we have to assume we are already aligning our paid, owned, and earned media efforts. If your social team doesn’t speak with your search team there is a problem.

The real point of organizational alignment however goes far deeper than trying to bridge less frequently crossed gaps. It involves the actual country teams and regional or country-level content owners working together toward common goals, and understanding that they can each be responsible for influencing future or existing customers at all points above and through the funnel.

True evangelism and clear buy-in from senior leadership is required. If people continue to think that the online channel is the little brother or sister of offline media, it will continue to be treated as such – loved but often ignored and occasionally kicked.

3. Process Excellence

Most global organizations figured out long ago that suddenly changing everything around can have a profoundly negative impact on employee performance and in some cases morale. Trying to suddenly launch a process to update all regional content across geographies as described above would probably fail in a variety of ways around the world.

Some may argue that this could in fact deliver a greater sample of potential roadblocks, but it would come at a cost.

Build a process by using a just one or two countries, and focus to the lowest common denominator in terms of organizational structure. (For example a single product set for a retail organization or a single Business Lines’ product suite for financial services, such as retirement accounts.)

Updating global search and media processes requires a strong internal leader with proven experience managing integrated marketing campaigns. This person will likely be supported by at least one agency, given today’s typical digital climate.

Although it may seem self-serving since I work at an agency, but I do strongly believe in the collaborative value that an agency plus in-house team can bring to sophisticated campaigns. Typically, among other things, agencies are very adept at project management and obviously should have experience with working with truly local partners or resources in supporting integrated marketing.

Process needs to include one central online marketing team that coordinates with IT as well as other internal teams to manage the development and ongoing measurement and refinement of campaigns.

Time considerations should come into process discussions as well. It makes sense to consider having one side of the world have to wake up in the middle of the night, only every few calls at most. However, these types of teleconferences are crucial to globalized integration, and should not be skipped in favor of regional meetings that occur at different times.

4. Enthusiastic Perseverance

It may seem that “enthusiasm” simply makes a nice “e” for “rope,” but in fact my original goal was to have “passion” listed as the most essential theme for global integration. Having been raised in a diplomatic household, I understand and believe in the power of positivity, and this should be bred into global marketing teams.

Most marketers are by nature gregarious, but can become reserved within formal settings, and stifle their own creativity and passion. In order for true global integration to occur, leadership must encourage and foster enthusiasm and a common goal attitude. This takes time and perseverance, but a positive attitude coupled with passion and armed with truly effective data-driven tactics make for continuously growing performance. It’s that simple.

Summary

Ideally these four principles for global integration can help marketer focus on integrating and accelerating performance growth across geographies into 2013 and beyond.

We have so many advanced toolsets and capable marketers both on the agency/consulting side and within large organizations, that it should be guaranteed that we’ll keep up with consumer desires for the types of content they can find, learn from, and share, no matter what country they are in.

Image Credit: 123RF Stock Photos

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Social PR Tips to Get Fit for 2013 Digital Marketing

If you’re in the digital marketing world you know the keyword drill – visual, social, mobile, local, and content marketing. They’re the vitamins, nutrients, cardio, weightlifting and supplements that brands need to stay healthy, vital, and in shape.

2013 marks the year fit brands of all sizes can win the war against the competition and the race to gain or maintain a customer relationship.

The gimmicky yo-yo-SEO days are over – that was so last decade. Today’s healthy brands are doing press releases because they’re newsworthy, attracting links as a result of good content, and collaborating between all departments, including creative, public relations, digital marketing, advertising, and customer service.

Build a Community, Think Different

The traditional business model is changing thanks to social media communities and social conversations. Digital marketing experts report that the majority of a company’s sales cycle today happens without a company’s participation; brands and agencies that “get it” will survive.

“Small businesses all the way to the enterprise level should think entrepreneurial,” Copyblogger CEO Brian Clark shared at BlueGlassX 2012. “In order to appear on the customer’s radar early and expand marketshare, brands must shift the mindset to become media producers and think like an editorial team whether it is content, social or search.”

So how do you create a relationship with your audience before the sales cycle starts? Digital marketers chimed in offering tips on how smart brands can gain market share (and muscle share) by leveraging the best practices of content marketing and thinking like a media company.

Social PR DosFind ways to get in the social and mobile newsfeed. More organic visibility equals more publicity. “If you want to grow your social presence, and right now let's admit that means Facebook, you have to find ways to get around the limits that Facebook is putting on organic visibility for your posts. Sure you can pay to show up in your fans’ newsfeeds, but you have to get creative to show up to a large percentage of your fans without paying. Right now that means images!” said Rob Woods, director of marketing, Reinvent.Go visual by using pictures your audience can identify with! But they don't need to be, and in most cases shouldn't be, directly related to your brand. Woods offers this tip: Make the images 403 pixels wide by 271 pixels high. That's the best size to look great on the web and on mobile.Dial into local mobile search. “The biggest under the radar opportunity for local brands in 2013 is the explosion happening right now in local mobile search. Smartphones are now the fastest spreading technology in human history, and – as Mary Meeker just reported – 13 percent of all Internet traffic now comes from a mobile device, up from 4 percent just two years ago,” said John Denny, VP Marketing, Advance Digital.Encourage users to “Google” your brand to find you rather than typing in your domain directly. “You still get the visit, but in addition to the visit you are getting a powerful signal to Google that you should rank for terms related to your brand, and you are teaching users to repeat that searching behavior,” Woods said.Think like a magazine. Smart brands will have a chief content officer charged with an agile content marketing plan that includes an editorial calendar, non-promotional types of content, strong visuals, email marketing, and offline advertising.Utilize paid search for positive and negative public relations. Remember that what people are talking about drives search trends on a daily basis. Janel Landis Laravie Founder, Chacka Marketing, offers this social PR tip: Everyone knows that they need to incorporate special offers and promos into their paid search campaigns, but don’t forget about positive and negative PR. If you are in the spotlight for good or bad reasons, utilize paid search to make your response the first result searchers are seeing on the results page and drive traffic to a dedicated page or blog post about it. Bidding on related terms to a recall or a community event will also let you assess just how big of a deal the subject is to your customers, because you will see how many impressions and clicks there actually were on the related keywords.

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