Dan Nicholson

SEO. Analytics. Marketing. Feminism. Awesome.

Posts by Dan Nicholson

Changing Your Sir-Name

Posted on April 22, 2013

Hello My Name Is

Equality. It’s a very broad stroke. For myself, it means that everyone is equal regardless of their race, gender, sexual orientation, disabilities—anything. It’s a goal that I firmly believe in, and I believe that the world would be a much better place if all people were treated as equals.   I’ve been dating a wonderful woman for nearly four years. She is my best friend and I would do anything for her, as she would for me. Early on in our relationship we discussed the topic of equality and what it meant to both of us. In particular, we discussed equality in a relationship and the importance of teamwork, communication, and cooperation—a small list of values that I would hope is relevant to every…

Studying for the Google Analytics IQ Exam

Posted on February 8, 2013

Delete Cookies Cookie Monstor Google Analytics IQ Exam

I want to say that I successfully completed my Google Analytics Individual Qualification exam this week. It was a long time coming, I just never seem to have found time until one day I said “Let’s do it.” There’s a lot of study material out there regarding the Google Analytics IQ exam, so I this post is to hand off all of my study notes to you. Studying For the Exam If you’re starting to study for the exam, chances are you’ve Google’d “How to Study for the Google Analytics IQ Exam” and chances are you’ve found the SEOMoz blog post, Google Analytics Certification and How to Pass the GAIQ Test. If you somehow found my blog before SEOMoz; I very flattered, but I highly…

New MySpace Opens Up

Posted on January 16, 2013

New MySpace

The “new” MySpace opened up today to the public. Funny enough, I’ve been anticipating this news for a long while. Ever since Justin Timberlake announced the redesign back in late September. I was never one for MySpace – it didn’t appeal to me and the design of the profile pages was just brutal. From what I’m aware, it eventually grew into focusing on music rather than a personal space. I’m not sure who still used it previously (if anyone did) but I have to say, this redesign has me really excited.   Initial Thoughts The design is slick and really sets the bar for web design for 2013. The “cover” photo is an amazing piece of real estate, and makes my Facebook cover photo…

2013 – Year of the Google Plus

Posted on January 10, 2013

Google Plus

I’m calling it right now, 2013 will be the year of Google Plus. Sure, you’re probably laughing at me, but I’m sticking by this and this blog post will convince you otherwise. Social Media: Not a Buzzword First of all, social media should no longer be a buzzword in your vocabulary. Social media is a communication tool and there are literally hundreds of different social media channels to choose from – all tailored to personal interest. Some examples are Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube, FourSquare, Dribbble, etc.   During the Don Draper era, Television was the buzzword. Television has long been considered a communication tool and there are literally hundreds of different television channels to choose from – all tailored to personal interest.…

New Year’s Resolutions

Posted on January 3, 2013

Calvin and Hobbes New Year's

2012 was a year of many up’s and down’s, and I still recall saying that it’s going to be an awesome year for me. And it was overall. My partner and I moved from Halifax to Winnipeg right before Christmas 2011. I landed a job as a Digital Marketing Coordinator at an ad agency calledThink Shift for a position that I loved and I received a promotion to Campaign Analyst in November. It was a great year, but there were personal hardships also – none that I’ll write about here.   I’ve never been one for New Year’s resolutions, but yet, here I am, writing a blog post about it. A lot of people have the same things on their list, such as exercise  more often, drink…

Social Media: Your Friend, Your Enemy

Posted on July 4, 2012

Dan Nicholson and McDonalds

McDonald’s. This is a very large company that spends millions (probably even billions) of dollars on their marketing campaigns. If you think back (pre-social media), you can probably remember some great campaigns that worked for them. I personally enjoyed this commercial as a kid because I loved Michael Jordan (like every other 90s kid). About a month ago, Colleen showed me an amazing new marketing campaign from McDonald’s. What’s wonderful about the campaign is that it opens up transparency of the business. They started a website called “Your Questions” and left it to anyone who has a question about McDonald’s so they could have their question personally answered. You can see all the questions here. After that initial viewing, I never really went back to the website.…