I think it comes as no surprise to you that Nic and I enjoy travelling. We love the sights, the shopping, the people and the beer among many other things…

We realise it’s still early in the year but we’ve already got that holiday feeling so we’re going ON TOUR! Here’s our only dilemma: Where we goin’?

Believe it or not, money does not grow on trees up here in Glasgow, so we’ve decided to turn to our trusty friends at PintPrice for some destination ideas! Here’s what they are telling us:

Top Country by Pint Price

1. Ethiopia - £0.20
2. Myanmar - £.31
3. Korea N - £0.32
4. Byelorussia - £.32
5. Bhutan - £0.36

I’ve never been to Bhutan…

Having considered these great options, we’ve also taken into account some other factors such as flight prices, visas, inoculations, etc and come up with a more reasonable top 5 list, by city. But hey, let’s let PintPrice make the ultimate decision:

Top City by Pint Price

1. Prague - £1.08
2. Vegas Baby - £2.02
3. Ibiza - £2.10
4. New York (always a fave of ours…) £3.16
5. Amsterdam - £3.35

So….. source your full body Spanx NicNac, it looks like Prague or Ethiopia! Nothing set in stone here people, we’re open to any suggestions!

Where would you like to see Nic n Cher on Tour next?

• 30.03.08: So, What Was the SES NY Chat?
• 25.03.08: SES New York Pics Ready and Waiting
• 23.03.08: Picola and Beryl Survive SES New York!
• 14.03.08: Nic n Cher Let Loose...

Check us on the ball…  The one day we can undoubtedly promote High Five Grab and Shake and, we miss it!  What the…

For those of you that are interested and aren’t tired of hearing about High Five Grab and Shakes, here’s the gist:

High Five Grab and Shake takes you on a journey of High Fives and variations there of.  It also covers at length our obscure take on the gesture: Whereas High Fives are a recognised symbol of celebration, the over zealousness of the added grab and the shake makes us feel uncomfortable…  More explanation on the site.

Not only is it informational, it also has personal significance, a brainchild of one of our annual SES NY trips, it represents the good times and good friends we met that year in New York Effin City. You know who you are kidlets, I hope we can replicate soon!

Even though National High Five Day is over, don’t let that stop you! Go on, get out there and High Five Grab and Shake someone, just don’t do it around us…

• 05.05.08: Nic n Cher on Tour Again! Where We Goin' Lady?!
• 16.04.08: Keep Your Friends Close Your Enemies Closer?
• 09.04.08: Check it Out! New Blogging Competition!
• 08.04.08: Instant Messenging for Conducting Business - Hero or Zero

This is the premise of a new ‘anti social network’ called Farcebook. Much like it’s predecessor, Hatebook, this network is the opposite of Facebook. (Hmm, stating the obvious seems to be my specialty this week…)

Quoted in WebUser, Farcebook’s founders, software engineers Christopher Myers and Justin Davis state “the idea was that by turning the social network upside down, we might convince people to reevaluate the role of social networks in their lives”.

Of course there are still those of us out there that don’t feel a re-evaluation is needed either because one, we have a handle on our ‘wasted’ time or two, we have absolutely no enemies….

It seems that my old boyfriend Rick Astley is not fairing as well, although he is only second on the most hated list, he is top marks for stabs with 2809! To put it into perspective, Hilary Clinton only has 235 stabs and Bill Gates only 179.

Christopher and Justin are looking for a big payout much like Facebook’s price tag of $15b and Bebo’s £450m but, I think there’s a better chance of me topping the hated list. I can be pretty nasty!

• 05.05.08: Nic n Cher on Tour Again! Where We Goin' Lady?!
• 18.04.08: National High Five Day....Was Yesterday!
• 09.04.08: Check it Out! New Blogging Competition!
• 08.04.08: Instant Messenging for Conducting Business - Hero or Zero

Our friend Loren Baker over at Search Engine Journal has broken news of their new Blogging Competition!

Lots of reasons why this is a winner!  First and foremost of course, is their list of prizes. Not to mention the increased exposure you will get from their reader base, a link and bi-line on your company (or yourself) and the long term search engine indexing potential.

The topic is pretty wide open, from rss feeds to Microhoo, hit them with your best shot! You can enter as many times as you’d like until the 15th of April. Keyboards at the ready then…

Pros for participants covered, how does Search Engine Journal benefit? I don’t mind stating the obvious… unique (hopefully), relevant content. And lots of it!

Brilliant.

• 18.04.08: National High Five Day....Was Yesterday!
• 08.04.08: Instant Messenging for Conducting Business - Hero or Zero
• 04.04.08: My Sister is a World Champion!
• 13.03.08: AOL Buys Bebo for $850 Million Cash! What the...

Just when you think it’s all roses… I throw down a Pros & Cons list! Our latest hap involves conducting business using Instant Messenging. Here’s the good, the bad and the ugly:

Pros:

• Instant contact
• Free service
• Can work from home or long distance
• Web meetings can accomplish a lot more than a phone call
• Can record all correspondence effortlessly
• Can have group chats
• Can easily share files

Cons:

• Tendencies for mis-communication
• Non-personal contact (could be a pro as well, depending on who you’re dealing with lol)
• Being sent snippets of conversation that have been copied and pasted into what the sender wish they’d said
• Coming across nasty cases of IM Courage - “surely you wouldn’t say that to my face?!”
• You may not really know who you’re dealing with, i.e. no facial expressions, hand gestures, casual conversation, etc
• Similarities between Instant Messenging Behavior and Road Rage… Whereas passing someone a bit too closely on a sidewalk will not provoke an instant barrage of profanity and threats, for some reason the same cannot be said for both motorists and IM users. If they feel slighted in anyway… look out! Great segway into my last Pro:

It’s comical to witness someone catch the IM Rage. Just sit back and watch the vulgarities fly! Then hit ctrl s.

• 05.05.08: Nic n Cher on Tour Again! Where We Goin' Lady?!
• 18.04.08: National High Five Day....Was Yesterday!
• 16.04.08: Keep Your Friends Close Your Enemies Closer?
• 09.04.08: Check it Out! New Blogging Competition!

I’ve yelled it from every other rooftop, so why not on Nic n Cher! We have a firm belief in keeping NNC a bit personal, in case you haven’t noticed…

Anyway, last month I blogged about sista from the same mista Jenn curling in the Scotties Tournament of Hearts (basically the Women’s Canadian Curling Championships), as part of the Jennifer Jones rink representing Manitoba…. they won. So last week they competed in the Women’s World Curling Championships, as Team Canada and yep, you guessed it!  They won!

So, I’m officially the sister of a World Champion! Yep, my sister realises a life ambition but it’s still all about me… that is typical.

I am extremely proud and happy for her.

In fact, she even passed the random drug test, (yes, there is even drug testing in curling), with flying colors… lol well done Jenn!

Watch this space for word of the Jones rink competing in the Olympic trials!

• 05.05.08: Nic n Cher on Tour Again! Where We Goin' Lady?!
• 18.04.08: National High Five Day....Was Yesterday!
• 16.04.08: Keep Your Friends Close Your Enemies Closer?
• 09.04.08: Check it Out! New Blogging Competition!

Besides the always amusing chat lines… there was some other rather valuable chat we happened upon during our week at Search Engine Strategies New York last week. Never wanting to deprive anyone of our opinions & observations, here’s the gist:

Agencies are doing it all! - Or are they? One difference we came across from last year’s conference, was the shift in the strategies of most “Big Dog” agencies from mainly doing SEO, PPC, and some Social to now including Web Analytics, Email Marketing, Affiliate Marketing, Link Bait, Corporate Blogging, Brand Awareness, Landing Page Design, Bid Management and more. Two Nic n Cher observations: the first is there really seems to be a gap in the market developing for the “wee pups” concentrating on a niche. And, are these agencies actually ‘doin’ it all’? Or is there an opportunity here for the niche companies to pick up some outsourced work as well.

New Video Optimization Software. Is it the answer we’ve been waiting for? - The Blinkx booth was buzzing with news of a new video optimization technology they have developed. In short, the software transcribes the audio of a video into text, allowing it to be searchable and at the same time taking a shot at tag spam. I guess depending on your online ‘goals’, this an be a good thing or a bad thing… Regardless, I was sold!

Internet marketing in the finance industry still a struggle - Nic and I were interested to hear how others who are marketing online in the finance industry have weathered the ‘Credit Crunch‘ storm. There were a lot of casualties on our side of the pond, but things look as though they are starting to bounce back. Feedback was certainly not hard to find! A hot topic still on the lips of many, the responses were mixed.

Having ridden out the worst, we have now found ourselves benefiting from lower costs per click and better conversions. The volumes are also on the rise as the housing market, albeit questionable a few months ago is showing signs of stabilizing once again. Unfortunately, the US market sounds as though it still has a way to go. With the housing & lending markets still lingering below the average. This of course is still being reflected in the exchange rate… $1,000,000 = £2 (one of those super new jokes).

Affiliate programs where were you? - Yep, we realise there are better events out there for affiliate sites and networks, however, we’ve always enjoyed conversing with a few at SES as well. Of course our old favorite www.888.com was not there, but we spent some time again at the MarketHealth (previously JoeBucks) booth. There was a serious lack of some of the other staples including Adbrite & AzoogleAds who have been at past events. To be honest, we were looking for something a bit different (shocker) but it turned out we ended up not finding anything at all!

High Fives for the Pro-Activity of MSN AdCenter Representatives! - Unfortunately I haven’t had many good things to say regarding my experience using the AdCenter since it’s inception a few years ago. Oh how the tables have turned today! I spoke to two reps who were out on the town! You heard me, not at the booth and not even in the Hilton, but out at some of the parties! Not only that, I was approached and flat out asked for my feedback on the program. Uh, she probably didn’t expect the mini, but constructive rant she got in return… “Sorry, I’m passionate about my PPC”. Anyway, after our conversation, I’ve come back with an open mind towards the AdCenter and have every intension of giving it another shot. Well Done MSN!

Reading back it sounds as though we’re suckers for the sales pitch, a walking target on the expo floor, if you will. Hmm, not really the look we were going for but it gave us some new things to think about, not to mention some free stuff, namely a banana every morning from a booth who promised they could increase our conversion rate, until we divulged our conversion rate, at which time the pitch was replaced with “Well Done“! Am easily pleased.

Cher

• 05.05.08: Nic n Cher on Tour Again! Where We Goin' Lady?!
• 25.03.08: SES New York Pics Ready and Waiting
• 23.03.08: Picola and Beryl Survive SES New York!
• 14.03.08: Nic n Cher Let Loose...

Omg, how many pictures can two girls take in one trip to New York Effin City?!

That would be one of those retorical questions I learned about while there…. Don’t answer, just have a look.

• 05.05.08: Nic n Cher on Tour Again! Where We Goin' Lady?!
• 30.03.08: So, What Was the SES NY Chat?
• 23.03.08: Picola and Beryl Survive SES New York!
• 14.03.08: Nic n Cher Let Loose...

Pennywise put it best: Laugh a minute was only the beginning…

Laughed when Nicola posted our New Effin York avatar and wished everyone luck.

Laughed when we checked in and the Hilton gave us a room with one bed…. again!

Laughed when we sat at the Hilton bar and the bar tender remembered our two Buds….

Coyly giggled when Chris Boggs realised he was sharing an elevator with Nic n Cher “the famous bloggers”! (Must thank our 5 readers for spreading the word). 

Seriously laughed when someone thought Nicola’s name was Picola and someone else thought mine was Beryl…. on the same night! Pic n Ber was born…

Laughed and did a small jig when an Irish Pub actually made it rain indoors on St. Paddy’s Day! Many thanks to Daryl and Kristine for their bang on rain dance!

Laughed and almost dialed 911 when our good friend Jill gracefully ’surfed’ a table at the BOTW - IMNY Charity Party! All for a good cause JS! $16,000 was raised for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.

Laughed continuously for days when one of our favorite people Jared made a revelation about the affects of too much Gin. Next one’s on us old boy!

Laughed and rocked along with our friend Avi and his slick karaoke moves at the Webmaster Radio Searchbash party.

Secretly laughed at an unprovoked ‘Curtain’ comment.

Laughed at DannyFunk’s galliant attempt at attending the sessions.

Laughed all the way home when we realised that even though our luggage was twice the weight, we had only spend £2 on the week…

Reading back, it sounds as though our trip was all play, but let me assure you, it was hard work! As always, we met a ton of brilliant people throughout the week and loved having a laugh with old friends.

Happy Endings for all.

Good times aside, now the real work begins. See you next year! Watch this space for pics…

Nic n Cher

• 05.05.08: Nic n Cher on Tour Again! Where We Goin' Lady?!
• 30.03.08: So, What Was the SES NY Chat?
• 25.03.08: SES New York Pics Ready and Waiting
• 14.03.08: Nic n Cher Let Loose...

It is that time of year again for Nic n Cher to get crazy on our annual SES NY trip.  See you there.

Good luck everyone…

I told you there was a theme starting.

• 05.05.08: Nic n Cher on Tour Again! Where We Goin' Lady?!
• 18.04.08: National High Five Day....Was Yesterday!
• 16.04.08: Keep Your Friends Close Your Enemies Closer?
• 09.04.08: Check it Out! New Blogging Competition!