Smart web marketing: an ounce of practice worth more than tons of theory

As I was reading a piece of news on the site of BBC Newsnight, I noticed a smart marketing trick: the BBC lets you access a specific piece of content under the condition that you as a reader agree to”digg” the article. Suprising and smart method for an established media company.

Digging of course is web-speak; it does not involve any shovels or spades: it merely means that as a reader you somehow “vote” for the article and increase its popularity on a site called Digg that aggregates content from difference sources and allows its users to qualify and comment the articles. Digg is often the source of traffic for a web site as most recommended articles are viewed by Digg’s community and by non-members.

I know there has been quite some coverage lately about the BBC’s strategy for the Information Age. Strategy is necessary and potentially useful but actual implementation of a strategy is really what makes a difference for a company. More often than not implementation is visible through small details in a company’s operations, not fancy top management initiatives.

Oh, and by the way this post was written with BlogJet, a desktop blogging software package I am trying out. It seems a lot easier to use than Ecto, but I have not made up my mind yet. Any ideas?