EightBlack.

This session proved so popular last year, that the event organisers ran it again this year.

Essentially, budding young start-ups get 5 minutes each to present to the audience and to a panel of hardened venture capitalists. The audience then gets to decide the best pitch after each presentation.

Moderated by John Battelle and Brady Forrest, the session attracted big numbers and was held in the main ballroom of Moscone West.

At this year’s Launch Pad, 6 finalists presented their case.

To be honest, I didn’t get all of them but the one I liked best (along with the rest of the audience) was a company called Triggit, which is all about “website monetization made simple”. As soon as the guys from Triggit demonstrated their application using “drag and drop”, the audience had their “ah-hah” moment.

Battelle and Forrest did a good job of keeping the pace of the whole thing.

My takeaway from all of this. If you’ve only got 5 minutes to present to 500 people and a judging panel, people won’t remember your slides.

They will however, remember your marketing - and the guys from Triggit just happened to be wearing very loud red shirts with their logo emblazoned on the front. True, their product was simple to understand and their website straight to the point.

Simple works. Even in Silicon Valley.

If you author your own blog, one of the things you notice when you read other blogs is the platform its written in. There’s really only 2 that most people use - Moveable Type and Wordpress.

Our blog is written in Wordpress. For a technically challenged person like me, I find it simple to use. And extremely customisable.

We use Wordpress for all our client blogs. And we’re building some large scale CMS environments using WP. After all, Wordpress is nothing more than a very malleable, open source Content Management System.

There’s a good article here which compares the 2 (link courtesy John Battelle). And happy to answer any questions regarding Wordpress and how we use it. (Actually, it wont be me that answers the questions, but someone a lot smarter!).

Most websites are static. That is, they’re like a silent movie, just sitting there.

Audio and video are proven “engagement” methods which when used correctly will increase online conversion.

We recommend the following audio and video tools.

Audio Generator and Instant Video Generator.

You can watch a sample of how well it works on an Eight Black Group client website here.

Welcome to my blog. I hope you engage in some or all of the conversation. This blog is not for technology geeks - there are far better forums than this if thats what you’re into.

I set up this blog for the average business person to gain a better insight into the world of search and the internet in general. And to write in a language that I understand - and hopefully you will too.

What do I do?

Well, I run a business called The Eight Black Group.

It’s a PSF (Professional Service Firm).

A Consulting Group.

A Sales & Marketing Agency.

It’s all these things. More importantly, and at the heart of everything we do is the internet. Our commercial life revolves around it. And if you’re in business, so should yours.

If you want to talk, here’s my number 03.9225.5500
Or my email is here.

PS. A lot of the blog is dedicated to my conversations, thoughts and views on Google. I own no Google shares nor do I work for them as a consultant or contractor.

But I do believe in their business model more than Yahoo’s, for reasons I’ll try and explain.

I also think Google has a personality that I identify with.

Yahoo to me is a giant entity that lacks soul.

It doesnt mean though that Yahoo isn’t pushing the boundaries nor is their search solution second rate. Yahoo Search Marketing is valuable tool for business, but Google Adwords is more efficient.

More later.