SurveyMonkey Buys Wufoo SurveyMonkey is expanding it’s offerings by acquiring the online forms start-up Wufoo, details on this transaction have not been released, but it is estimated that the price was around $35 million in combined cash and stock. Other recent purchases include the telephone-polling firm Precision Polling, SurveyMonkey also bought a minority stake in the U.K based survey provider, ClickTools on Salesforce.com’s AppExchange. Yahoo Buys IntoNow Yahoo has bought the Palo Alto start-up, IntoNow, designed to make an iOS app allowing users to “check in” to T.V. shows and movies they’re currently watching. It works by using a built-in microphone on either an iPad, iPhone or iPod Touch that recognizes TV shows or movies playing nearby and then allows users to view the show and share it with others via Facebook, Twitter or their IntoNow account. This app just launched in January, and 12 weeks later, it sold for millions (between 17 and 30 million according to reporters). The app was produced by a team of only 7 people, the CEO being Adam Cahan, former employee of Google and MTV. Google Buys Talkbin Talkbin was acquired by Google less than five months after the company was founded. Talkbin allows customers to provide immediate feedback to local businesses through mobile applications and businesses can then read and respond to comments through a web app. The word is that the app has been temporarily shut down by Google, but plans to reopen the service to businesses in the future. New Version of Google Analytics Released The new version is currently available in beta to all Analytics users in all languages. Users will now be able to see a link in top right corner of their account when they sign in. New features have been added, and Google promises that they are just the beginning. 5 things you can try in Google Analytics v5 : Create an additional dashboard to focus on your important metrics Set up an Event Goal to track interactions like downloads and video engagement Graph and compare any two rows over time with Plot Rows Check out your favorite report (Did it move? The Report Finder can help) Flip between your different...

Google’s new +1 button has already started surfacing on the internet. Even though it is appearing well ahead of schedule, it’s hard to believe it is just being integrated into search now. Similar to Facebook’s Like button (which started popping up on the web 1 year ago), a user with a Google profile can +1 a website in the organic listings as well as +1 advertisements in the pay per click sections. Digg came out with a similar and very successful concept years ago, where the most dugg articles would rise to the top, only they took it one step further and allowed users to bury articles they didn’t find useful. Whether you like it or not, Google is moving into the social realm and has slowly been incorporating features such as real time tweets and social group buying sites that will rival Groupon. The internet marketing industry is moving at a fast pace with no signs of slowing down thanks to Google and their constant changes to their algorithms and increased functionality. To be find out exactly when Google’s new +1 button will officially go live and be available in webmaster tools, click here. Hopefully this feature is more than just their yearly April fools joke!*Update – Helvetica...

Scan with your smart phone QR codes have been around for more than 10 years and are widely used in countries such as Japan. These codes are just now starting to make their way into the North American market. What is a QR Code? A QR Code, also known as a two-dimensional bar code consists of black and white modules in a square pattern. These barcodes are unique because they are readable by smart phones and are capable of storing encoded information such as text, contact information, URL’s and data. More and more smart phones are incorporating QR code readers into their operating systems. Google’s mobile Android system and Nokia’s Symbian system are equipped with QR code readers and while Apple’s iOS does not include a pre-loaded reader, there are over 50 free Apps available to choose from. Some Interesting Facts: QR codes were first created by Toyota subsidiary Denso-Wave in 1994 for tracking parts in vehicle manufacturing The QR code is one of the most popular types of two-dimensional bar codes QR stands for Quick Response as it allows for stored content to be decoded at high speeds QR Codes for Marketing QR codes are becoming more and more popular in commercial applications targeting smart phone users, this is known as mobile tagging. It is now possible to embed vCard contacts, compose an email or text message and direct people to a URL. QR codes storing URL’s have been popping up in magazines, guerilla marketing campaigns, billboard signs, product packaging and on business cards. These campaigns are proving to be very successful because of their ability to generate intrigue and curiosity. This can be achieved by allowing certain demographics access to exclusive information or the opportunity to win prizes. Some Notable Marketing Campaigns In January 2011, the Memphis Rock ‘n’ Soul Museum launched a clothing line featuring a QR code on the right back shoulder directing people to the museum’s web site or artist interviews LBP.me has created a QR code for all user generated levels in LittleBigPlanet 2 for the PlayStation. If you print that QR code and hold it in front of the PlayStation 3’s camera while the game is running,...

Collabo is proud to announce it is a Hubspot partner! Hubspot is not only a great software tool to help manage inbound marketing campaigns for businesses (SEO, SEM, SMM), but it is also a very good resource for online marketing beginners and business owners alike. Founded by MIT graduates and located in Cambridge, MA, this 5 year old startup company has recently come across some well deserved good fortune. Hubspot has recently received $32 Million dollars of investment money from Google Ventures, Salesforce.com and Sequoia. Hubspot gained popularity due to it’s widely used free website analysis tool WebsiteGrader.com that has over 3 million users. Brian Halligan, CEO of Hubspot is recognized in Wikipedia as the one who first coined the term inbound marketing. It’s no wonder Hubspot has over 4,000 current customers and growing. At the starting price of $3,000 per year for small businesses and $18,000 for large corporations there is a package for each level, which if utilized properly, will definitely pay itself off over and over again. Free 30 Day Trial or 20% Off Your Hubspot Software Contact Collabo...

Social media is all the rage these days, with facebook and twitter logos popping up on every major retailers website and even commercials. The beauty of twitter is that it isn’t as personal as facebook, so you can accumulate a large following of strangers who are all interested in whatever it is you do or tweet about. This is great, because you no longer need to hire an expensive PR firm to get your word out, but rather tweet it to your many twitter followers. That being said, what is the best time to tweet in order to make sure your audience is seeing it? There are all sorts of blogs and fun tools scrutinizing the statistics in order to come up with the best time to tweet. From what we have read the single best time to tweet is at 9:00 am PST (Pacific Standard Time). The reasoning is fairly simple: you are reaching audiences all around the world at major break times. For example at 9:00am PST, people on the west coast of North America are just getting into work, logging onto their computers and seeing what is going on in the world. On the east coast of North America, it is 12 noon EST, which means people are on their lunch break and again trying to get caught up with their friends and happenings around the world. It also coincides with end of the business day in London – 5:00 pm GMT. For this reason it is believed that 9:00am PST is the single best time to tweet. Although this may be true, we think it really has to do more with who your audience is. If your audience is a bunch of college students, one thing we noticed from our days in the dorm were that people flooded to the internet on Sundays and spent all their time on ICQ, MSN or Facebook instead of studying. Or if the majority of your followers are professionals on the west coast of North America, you may want to tweet during major break times such as morning, lunch and after regular business hours (PST). Tech And Life believes you should retweet your message...

Google Adwords is quickly becoming the swiss army knife for online marketing specialists (and now offline!). For those of you that aren’t familiar with Google Adwords, it is the advertising platform that makes Google all of their money! With an Adwords account you can create online ads that appear on the Google search engine results page (SERP) or on millions of affiliate web pages that use Google Ads to generate an income. Adwords gives you complete control of your Pay Per Click Campaign, allowing you to set your budget, schedule when and where you want your ads to display and fully track your ads performance. For those of you familiar with Google Adwords, you may want to take a closer look as new features just keep on popping up. Long gone are the days of simply entering a little ad copy and running the campaign. Now, you have access to keyword research tools, trending information, you can advertise on mobile devices, insert geo location and phone numbers (complete with tracking) and you can even advertise on TV! Cheap Advertising on TV with Google Google has outdone themselves with this one. You no longer have to be a big PR firm and have all the connections with the broadcasters. For as little as $20 for a tv advertising spot, anyone with a little video editing skills can showcase their talent, business or products. It hasn’t made it’s way to Canada yet, but at the pace Google is setting, it won’t be long. For more information visit Google TV Ads. Watch out communication firms, Collabo will soon be helping businesses grow online AND offline! Phone Call Tracking For Online Advertising Business owners like to see the stats. Knowing your return on investment is essential, but being able to drill down and analyze conversions is crucial to improving your profits. Google Adwords now allows you to add phone numbers to your ad campaigns and actually track the number of calls each keyword receives and the duration of these calls. They call this Adwords extension Call Metrics and it is a free and easy method of phone call tracking. Of course you could do this manually by getting...

The majority of Canadians are online and searching the web every day. According to Stats Canada, over 80% of Canadians are online. With a country of connected people, it is no wonder that our .CA country code domain names have been a success with over 1.5 million .CA domain names registered already. As some of you may or may not know, CIRA (Canadian Internet Registration Authority) is the governing body in charge of the .CA extension. Recently they made huge improvements to their services and created a new streamlined .CA registry system for an improved customer experience. Due to this update, domain names which were scheduled to be dropped got locked in the system. Thanks to this upgrade, we are seeing an unprecedented number of domain names being dropped TODAY (Dec. 1st, 2010). Over 33,000 .ca domain names are being released to the public making this the best time for you to grab the perfect domain name for your business. For more information on picking the right domain name click on the link or contact Collabo today and we’ll be happy to assist...

We can’t believe it has already been one year since Collabo moved its head offices from Ontario to Vancouver, British Columbia. It’s safe to say that we have all been very happy with this decision and love working and living with the mountains and oceans right at our door step. We have had the opportunity to meet and work with a wide range of great new clients from all different industries and would like to take the chance to thank everyone we had the pleasure of doing business with. To celebrate Collabo’s one year anniversary out on the beautiful west coast of Canada, we are launching this new Collabo.co website. This does not mean we are abandoning our original CollaboConsulting.com website, but as the company continues to expand, expect to see these two sites head in different directions. Once again, thank you to everyone involved and expect to see great things in...