While it seemed that Facebook was simply focused on building their 900 million user powerhouse and mobile was backburnered as a result, that may not have been the case at all.

CNBC reports that as a result of early investor meetings there has been a change to the filings for Facebook’s IPO which indicates the trouble Facebook has with mobile.

Facebook said growth in the number of users using Facebook on mobile devices, which is hard to monetize, “may negatively affect our revenue and financial results.”

In an amended regulatory filing, the company said the number of people logging into Facebook is continuing to grow more quickly than the number of ads delivered.

Facebook said this is in part because more people are using the social network on mobile devices, where it shows a very small number of ads.

Could Facebook actually be the victim of the world’s move to mobile which is happening so rapidly right before our very eyes? Back in February when the first announcements for Facebook’s mobile ad plan were brought to light, this concern was there. At that time Facebook had admitted that it had failed to monetize the already 425 million mobile users it had and it did not go unoticed

The disclosure sent up red flags for analysts, because the company also said it does not “currently directly generate any meaningful revenue from the use of Facebook mobile products, and our ability to do so successfully is unproven.”

Facebook’s stating this initially was concerning but moving to the new wording that seems wary of rapidly growing numbers of mobile users and its potential to negatively affect revenue and financial results is a big jump. It should also be one that makes us all wonder just what can Facebook possibly do to monetize their mobile presence without frustrating users with too many ads in too small of a place. I’m not an analyst but this sounds pretty bad. Insurmountable? No. Pretty bad? Yes.

Maybe this is why Google has been content with letting Google+ slowly grind away in the background. Google already has the mobile ad thing working with search which is further bolstered by a 95% share in the mobile search game. It doesn’t need Google+ for monetization (although that doesn’t mean they won’t try). Imagine people en masse discovering that Google+ could be the place to connect with people in a mobile environment without being pitched every 2 seconds? Could Facebook’s absolute need to monetize the mobile experience be the reason for people to finally consider Google+ for real?

Far fetched? Maybe but I don’t see this development for Facebook as something that can be easily overcome. Could Facebook have missed this one so badly and painted itself into a corner that it may not be able to get out of?

What are your thoughts and impressions? As Internet marketers what does Facebook become if it cannot deliver in the mobile space?

If you thought James Cameron’s megahit Titanic is a bit boring, you’ll probably love the new version.

Titanic Super 3D brings new motion feel technology, sea monsters, plenty of unnecessary explosions and a modernized soundtrack.

And if all that is not enough for you, the Imperial Forces from Star Wars have interfered, too, though we’re not sure whether they want to sink or save the Titanic.

Of course, it’s not really something you’ll actually see in cinemas: the video below is just a fake trailer for an “upgraded” version of the movie, but it’s a fun watch nevertheless.

Also, we don’t guarantee that someone, somewhere (probably in Japan) isn’t working on such a version of Titanic. In fact, we have our fingers crossed.

More About: 3D, titanic, trailer, Video, youtube video of the day

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When you visit the Miracle-Gro farm, you’re prompted to visit their Facebook page. That action delivers a free, branded tomato plant and a bottle of Miracle-Gro Insta-Gro. It also makes you eligible for discounts and real-world rewards.

According to Zynga, 8 out of 10 FarmVille players enjoy actual gardening. Like the kind you do outdoors with real dirt and seeds. A very interesting stat and it makes me wonder about the people who enjoy games like Grand Theft Auto or Mafia Wars. But that’s another story.

The takeaway here could be about aligning your business with a popular, but related game or activity. But here’s the real take away. When you go to Miracle-Gro’s websitethere is a huge slider ad for the FarmVille promo. It has a button labels “Get Farming”. Click it and here’s where that happy, spring-oriented, gardening promo takes you:

Really. Cute Santa, but it doesn’t encourage me to keep on clicking, does it?

Today’s takeaway: check and double check all promo links. If you’re linking out to an affiliate or any third-party location, make sure you’re using a promo-specific link so you don’t end up with homepage conflicts like this.

Have a great weekend and Merry Gardening everyone.

Pinterest has shown us that sometimes, even 140 characters is too much. What people really want is a picture.

Visual images are popular on the web. They appeal to us emotionally rather than intellectually, and they cause us to take notice. It's commonly known among professional social marketers that pictures get more engagement on Facebook, mostly because even though people tend to breeze past lengthy passages, 

Maggie Georgieva of Hubspot recommends the following steps to get on board with visual content in your social marketing:

Get on board: Join a visual storytelling platform and start posting some of your existing image-heavy content. Make sure the pictures you upload convey value and are consistent with your brand identity. Don’t forget to optimize the description of your posts and include links back to your website.

Include calls to action: Make sure that your visual content includes calls to action that take viewers to a landing page on your website related to the specific visual content. This will be your way of qualifying prospects and getting them to convert into leads. For instance, you can include calls-to-action at the bottom of infographics, in the descriptions of images, or on the last slide of presentations as a natural next step for readers who want to further engage with your brand.

Measure impact: At the end of the day, what’s going to matter most is the levels of traffic, leads, and customers you generate via a specific platform. Use marketing software that tracks how your traffic is changing, and has the capability to compare different sources and provide you with reliable reporting. With access to such insights, you can revisit your strategy and prioritize the efforts that deliver the best results.

…More at The Rise of Visual Storytelling In Marketing

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• 4 Ways to Build Your Email List With Facebook Timeline

Pinterest has shown us that sometimes, even 140 characters is too much. What people really want is a picture.

Visual images are popular on the web. They appeal to us emotionally rather than intellectually, and they cause us to take notice. It's commonly known among professional social marketers that pictures get more engagement on Facebook, mostly because even though people tend to breeze past lengthy passages, 

Maggie Georgieva of Hubspot recommends the following steps to get on board with visual content in your social marketing:

Get on board: Join a visual storytelling platform and start posting some of your existing image-heavy content. Make sure the pictures you upload convey value and are consistent with your brand identity. Don’t forget to optimize the description of your posts and include links back to your website.

Include calls to action: Make sure that your visual content includes calls to action that take viewers to a landing page on your website related to the specific visual content. This will be your way of qualifying prospects and getting them to convert into leads. For instance, you can include calls-to-action at the bottom of infographics, in the descriptions of images, or on the last slide of presentations as a natural next step for readers who want to further engage with your brand.

Measure impact: At the end of the day, what’s going to matter most is the levels of traffic, leads, and customers you generate via a specific platform. Use marketing software that tracks how your traffic is changing, and has the capability to compare different sources and provide you with reliable reporting. With access to such insights, you can revisit your strategy and prioritize the efforts that deliver the best results.

…More at The Rise of Visual Storytelling In Marketing

More Reading

• 4 Ways to Build Your Email List With Facebook Timeline

Pinterest has shown us that sometimes, even 140 characters is too much. What people really want is a picture.

Visual images are popular on the web. They appeal to us emotionally rather than intellectually, and they cause us to take notice. It's commonly known among professional social marketers that pictures get more engagement on Facebook, mostly because even though people tend to breeze past lengthy passages, 

Maggie Georgieva of Hubspot recommends the following steps to get on board with visual content in your social marketing:

Get on board: Join a visual storytelling platform and start posting some of your existing image-heavy content. Make sure the pictures you upload convey value and are consistent with your brand identity. Don’t forget to optimize the description of your posts and include links back to your website.

Include calls to action: Make sure that your visual content includes calls to action that take viewers to a landing page on your website related to the specific visual content. This will be your way of qualifying prospects and getting them to convert into leads. For instance, you can include calls-to-action at the bottom of infographics, in the descriptions of images, or on the last slide of presentations as a natural next step for readers who want to further engage with your brand.

Measure impact: At the end of the day, what’s going to matter most is the levels of traffic, leads, and customers you generate via a specific platform. Use marketing software that tracks how your traffic is changing, and has the capability to compare different sources and provide you with reliable reporting. With access to such insights, you can revisit your strategy and prioritize the efforts that deliver the best results.

…More at The Rise of Visual Storytelling In Marketing

More Reading

• 4 Ways to Build Your Email List With Facebook Timeline

Image by tonynetone via Flickr

Pinterest has shown us that sometimes, even 140 characters is too much. What people really want is a picture.

Visual images are popular on the web. They appeal to us emotionally rather than intellectually, and they cause us to take notice. It's commonly known among professional Facebook marketers that pictures get more engagement through likes and shares. Part of the reason is that Facebook favors showing photos in the news stream, but that doesn't explain the entire story. All other things being equal, photos still get more engagement because they catch the eye and our minds are able to read a picture much quicker than a paragraph. 

Maggie Georgieva of Hubspot recommends the following steps to get on board with visual content in your social marketing:

Get on board: Join a visual storytelling platform and start posting some of your existing image-heavy content. Make sure the pictures you upload convey value and are consistent with your brand identity. Don’t forget to optimize the description of your posts and include links back to your website.

Include calls to action: Make sure that your visual content includes calls to action that take viewers to a landing page on your website related to the specific visual content. This will be your way of qualifying prospects and getting them to convert into leads. For instance, you can include calls-to-action at the bottom of infographics, in the descriptions of images, or on the last slide of presentations as a natural next step for readers who want to further engage with your brand.

Measure impact: At the end of the day, what’s going to matter most is the levels of traffic, leads, and customers you generate via a specific platform. Use marketing software that tracks how your traffic is changing, and has the capability to compare different sources and provide you with reliable reporting. With access to such insights, you can revisit your strategy and prioritize the efforts that deliver the best results.

…More at The Rise of Visual Storytelling In Marketing

More Reading

• 4 Ways to Build Your Email List With Facebook Timeline

Influencer marketing—the practice of engaging with an influential audience outside of your target market—can be a powerful tool for brands to promote their content. Among all the tactics used to create relationships with third party influencers, blogger relations programs might rank among the most difficult and yet most rewarding, according to Marketing Sherpa.

All ‘influencers’ are not equal.

SAP, for example, considers industry analysts, the media and bloggers to be three distinct audiences that have to be cultivated in unique ways. Bloggers tend to be passionate, knowledgeable and insightful about the topics and issues they cover, according to SAP. They do not blog out of a duty, but out of enthusiasm. Bloggers also tend to share analysis and opinion, rather than reporting and breaking news.

Two very practical conclusions therefore must be kept in mind:

• Bloggers are not simply there to report, but to analyze. The best way to engage with bloggers isn’t to push content at them, but to ask for their analysis and to engage them in conversation, says SAP.
• The value is in the conversation ‘between’ the bloggers as much as it is in the conversation ‘with’ the bloggers. Marketers should consider engaging conversations among and between bloggers.

“The problem with many blogger relations efforts is that PR pros tend to pitch based purely on serving the brand’s need for exposure instead of thinking about what would make the blogger interested and even excited to use a brand’s information in a blog post,” said Lee Odden of the Online Marketing Blog.

When engaging bloggers, don’t use the standard pitch.

When a brand deals with bloggers, “there is no market for messages,” said Brian Solis, author, blogger and principal analyst with Altimeter Group. By that, Solis means bloggers need to be approached more like customers than journalists, with an eye to “what’s the value” for the community the blogger reaches.

Unless there is value—meaning a bit of content the blogger knows has value for the audience—a pitch isn’t going to succeed. Content must be tailored to a blogger’s typical audience to get pick-up and drive drive traffic for that blogger. 

Image via Shutterstock.

The old saying “don’t judge a book by its cover” is sometimes hard to overcome in the business world. How you present yourself aesthetically is important, no matter how solid your business plan is.

It’s become crucial for companies to have a presence on the web, whether it’s a simple landing page, a blog or some social media profiles. And while content and products you’re offering should be valuable to your audience, the design of your site or blog can play a big factor in keeping your fans engaged. No one will stay on a poorly designed website.

However, not every small business owner can hire a graphic designer at a moment’s notice. It can be expensive, and depending on the size of your business, it may be unnecessary. But never fear — there are small things you can do to improve the overall look of your web presence.

“One step that a small business owner can take is to look at other sites that they think are well done,” says graphic designer Emily Caufield. “Take notice of the style, font choices and overall aesthetic of the site, and try to make similar choices when it comes to choosing what is best for their own.”

If you’re on a tight budget and don’t already have a designer, there are several great themes on WordPress that are free, and plenty of premium themes that require a small, one-time fee. The blogging platform’s customizability makes it user-friendly, while allowing room for creativity.

One thing that’s often overlooked, even if designs are in the works, is the font used to represent your company. Remember, the easier it is to read, the longer people will stay focused on what you’re trying to tell them. This applies to not just the content, but from a design perspective as well. Learn how to pick the right font — and how to avoid one that will turn off your possible customers.

What font do you use for your website? Let us know in the comments below.

Choosing the Right Font

When crafting the proper typographical look for your company, Caufield suggests sticking with two fonts: a display or decorative font for headers and a font for body copy.

“The display font can be more fun or bold, something that adds personality to your site,” says Caufield. “Usually this type of font works well larger — for headers or call-outs — but is probably not very legible on screen at smaller sizes.”

For the rest of the copy on your site (or any stationery and promotional copy, really) it’s best to go with a simple, clean and legible font. Caufield recommends something like Arial, Helvetica, Verdana or Trebuchet.

“It is also nice to choose a font that has a family — this gives you the option of using the bold, medium, thin and italic versions of your typeface,” she says.

Setting the Tone With Your Font

Believe it or not, the type of font you go with can be very expressive — it sets a mood for the story you’re trying to tell. When choosing a font, think about what your business does and who your audience is.

“A bank website is going to use a typeface that is clean and simple, because their customers would not feel confident handing their money over to an establishment whose entire website was in Comic Sans,” says Caufield, adding that a company in the business of throwing kids birthday parties or something of that nature has more room for fun fonts.

“In [that] case, choosing to not use a youthful and playful font might actually hurt their business,” she explains.

What to Avoid When Selecting a Font

After polling numerous designers, one thing is certain: Comic Sans and Papyrus are two fonts that are advised against for business websites.

Normally, it’s better to go with something classic and timeless rather than something flashy. Think of a font like you would an outfit for an important event, such as the dress you wore to high school prom. It’s always best when you can look back on it and it still feels fresh and authentic.

“It’s sometimes smarter to choose a font that is going to stand the test of time versus something that is going to fall out of favor in a year,” says Caufield.

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Images courtesy of Flickr, Gabriel Figueiredo and iStockphoto, JoKMedia

More About: features, fonts, open forum, trending, typography, web design

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Here's a great chart of what life is like for a startup. It was designed by Paul Graham of Y Combinator, but we just saw it on Fred Wilson's blog.

Wilson used it to illustrate a point about startup life: "Many people think startups are up and to the right all the time." They're not. Sometimes it goes sideways for a while and then takes off.

(Of course, sometimes it goes sideways and crashes, but no need to be negative here.)

Follow the Chart Of The Day on Twitter: @chartoftheday

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Join the conversation about this story »

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• FREAKY: Art Display At SXSW Shows Which Web Sites Are Tracking You