Posted: 23 Jul 2011 05:13 AM PDT

maze I studied political science in college and one of my professors used to always say, "As political scientists it's our job to study the system from the outside. Like traditional scientists that study rats in a maze, we study politicians in elections." I never really felt comfortable with that analysis, because it seems to me that when you study something from the outside you are missing all the details. Details that can make or break a campaign. During school and shortly after I worked in politics and quickly learned the difference between running and talking about campaigns. There's a lot you can't see by looking in from the outside.

But, the big picture is still extremely important. One of my daily frustrations is dealing with clients that don't have a clear vision for the things I am building, but they know exactly what type of software language, feature sets, APIs, and platforms that are needed. The problem is that once the product is finished they have no idea how to sell it, because they don't have that big picture vision.

Others focus on things like branding, and throw details like technical SEO by the wayside. Which means that their brand might have a strong name, but users might not be able to find it in search engines. Gary Vaynerchuk is one if these big picture guys that thinks SEO is just details, and quite honestly has shown significant ignorance of SEO in the past.

But, for Gary that doesn't matter, because hes damn good at what he does. In my opinion he's probably one of the best web video personalities of all time. Gary's content carries his brand and business to a point where it doesn't matter if he's good at SEO or not. On the other end of the spectrum we have Demand Media who is building an empire on mastering the details of SEO. For Demand Media building an amazing brand with compelling content isn't their top priority. Because they know that by executing the right SEO strategy, they can drive enough traffic to build a sustainable business.

So I guess the question now is, do you focus on the big picture like Gary, or master the details like Demand Media? I would advise neither. The truth is, the chances to find success by only focusing on one or the other is extremely slim. Gary and Demand Media are able to do it, because they are extremely good at what they do. The likelihood that you or I are going to reach the level they have in their respective areas is slim.

Instead entrepreneurs need to be equally grounded in both the big picture and the details. Let the big picture guide you on your journey and the details get you there.

StumbleUpon Tests New Explore Feature

Posted: 22 Jul 2011 12:28 PM PDT

Last week, I made a prediction that StumbleUpon was on the way up again as a useful tool in the online marketing arsenal. Now, they just did themselves one better with a feature called "Explore."

Currently, the only option for discovering new pages is to choose a general category such as parenting or marketing. With Explore, you can drill down to a specific keyword like "strollers" or "email marketing software."

The problem with StumbleUpon traffic is that it's never been highly targeted so it results in a large number of junk hits. But with the Explore feature, the results are so much more relevant that they could actually turn into conversions.

The feature is currently being beta tested and it has some holes. As you type, you're given choices in a drop-down. If your word or phrase doesn't return any results, it won't appear as an option and you can't move forward. I searched the names of my favorite TV shows and got nothing, but when I typed in the names of the stars of those shows, the results were excellent. Cities also fared well, as did food items like Chocolate Chip Cookies.

With the Explore feature, StumbleUpon goes from being a fun, time waster to a useful search engine. How about that?

If you haven't Stumbled your current blog post, web update or Facebook page, go do it now and you may be singing the praises of StumbleUpon come Monday morning.

Google+ Chart Worth A Thousand Words

Posted: 22 Jul 2011 12:27 PM PDT

No matter what side of this tiff about Google+ and their mishandling or whatever of the business profiles ( I suggest we all put our laser sabers down and get back to neutral corners where sanity exists) the following chart tells a story that will make one say "This looks real to me" (thanks to GigaOM for sharing). Have a great weekend!

No Rise in Back-to-School Spending Says NRF

Posted: 22 Jul 2011 11:16 AM PDT

Back-to-school is the second largest seasonal shopping event, but this year it's barely holding its own. New numbers from the National Retail Federation show a very slight dip in the expected spend. This year's average spend for families with kids in grades K-12 is $603.63. Last year, the figure was 606.40 and that includes apparel, school supplies and electronics.

That still adds up to $22.8 billion in sales for the lower grades alone. When you add in college buying, the number climbs to $68.8 billion.

NRF President and CEO Matthew Shay says,

"Families aren't opposed to spending on what they need, but parents want their children to take a good look around at what they already have before deciding what to buy for back to school this year."

Here are a few other ways the economy is impacting buying:

Where will folks be spending their money? 68.4% said they'll be shopping at a discount store and 57% said they'll be doing most of their shopping at a department store. For specific items, clothing stores will get 48.7% of the shoppers, while 38% head to the office supply store and 21.7% to the electronics store.

Online shopping is up slightly 31.7% vs. 30.8% last year, as is drug store shopping.

School may be more than a month away but 42.4% of savvy shoppers are already filling up the backpacks with supplies. Shopping early allows them to be take advantage of deep price cuts and online buying.

If you're still putting together your back-to-school campaign, consider this;

When it comes to how much say children have in parents' buying decisions, nearly two-thirds of parents (61.2%) say their children influence 50 percent or more of back-to-school purchases.

So mom may want the best deal, but it's the kids who are going to choose the style, color and logo for back-to-school.

Want to learn more? You can download the full back-to-school shopping survey at the NRF website.