Eco-Friendly Digital Marketing Internship

Have an old VCR collecting dust? Or did you already just toss it out? Well the day and age has come for us to start recycling ALL of our electronics. This is now made possible in several ways. If you have some gadgets that still work, but you have no more use for, check out Gazelle. The year-old site has been redesigned to make it quicker to sell electronics in more categories. It also adds a feature that lets people recycle goods that have no resell value.

So if you have an iPhone that you no longer want, you type in the product name and input information on its condition to find out what it’s worth. Gazelle will send you a shipping slip and/or a box. Once received, Gazelle wipes the data clean and sells it online. You get paid by check or PayPal.

If you’d rather just drive them down the street and drop them off for recycling, that’s been made pretty simple now too. For those of you in the Ann Arbor area, Recycle Ann Arbor started accepting many electronics free of charge for recycling. A national leader in recycling and waste programs, they’ve opened their Drop-Off Station 9am-5pm Monday thru Saturday. It is located at 2950 East Ellsworth, just west of Platt Road. They’ll take desktop and notebook computers, printers, copiers, fax machines, VCRs, stereos, and even microwaves!

Televisions are used on average for less than two years. For computers, it’s three. Recycling, or “E-cycling,” these and other electronic items is critical for preserving landfill space and for ensuring that hazardous materials used to make electronics are properly disposed.The Telecomunications Industry Association (TIA) has set up a great way for you to find electronics recycling centers anywhere in the country. Head over to E-cycling Central where you’ll find the simple map below, just simply click your state and instantly see a list of centers in your area where you can take your electronics.

As you see it’s getting easier and easier to recycle those enviornmentally hazardous electronics. You could even pick up some extra pocket cash for them. So don’t hesitate! Now you know how to get started with E-cycling today!

In the past few years, user-generated content has been on the rise. Nowadays anybody with access to the internet can create reviews, videos, articles, and much more. Compared to ten years ago, more people have internet access and have faster connections to upload photos, videos, music, etc. Amateurs can become celebrities through YouTube or MySpace and become experts through Wikipedia and various review sites. Social networking has become a very popular way to meet professionals and to stay in touch with friends. However, with the public having so much power in creating and editing information, there may be a need for professionals to step in to make user-generated content more reliable.

The internet has become notorious for inaccuracies and scams. The demand for a more reliable web and the potential for more advertising money have given the experts their jobs on the web: to edit user-generated content to make it accurate. Advertisers are willing to pay more for space next to trusted information. With Web 3.0 on the way, the experts are likely to come with it, adding a refined layer to user-generated content.

For more information, go to:

Newsweek

Entrepreneur.com

To help out the environment and keep money in your wallet, simply drive less often. This can be accomplished by using alternative modes of transportation, such as public transportation, bicycle, or by carpooling. If you must drive, drive slowly because it uses less gas, reduces harmful emissions, and reduces accidents.

In my short time here at Ingenex I have already learned a great deal about the digital marketing world. It all started with self-branding. What is that you ask? Self-branding in the digital world is basically just getting your name out there, creating an online presence. There are many ways to do this, starting with avenues such as LinkedIn and AboutUs, you can create professional profiles. These new pages on the internet are searchable in all major search engines, letting you control what potential clients/leads may read about you.

Another very useful tool Derek has taught us is the manner of linking, or intertwining, these new pages. Once there are credible links going in and out of your pages, you have now become even more easily searchable on the vast web. If you do a good enough job optimizing the words on your page, even Google will recognize it with their Page Rank system. Keep things concise and professional, but be informative as possible.

Creating profiles on the two pages listed above, as well as starting (and maintaing) a blog, is a great beginning to your new digital presence. Try WordPress to get your blog going, and be sure to link all of these new sites together (insert a link to your new blog and AboutUs page in your LinkedIn profile, etc.).

You’ve just got your feet wet in the exciting world of Social Media Marketing (SMM), a form of internet marketing used to achieve branding (you are self-branding) through participation in social media networks. Don’t stop there! Continue to build out your pages, and explore additional channels for you to gain more recognition on the internet.

Gas Discounts for Cash Purchases

In an attempt to maintain profit levels, gas stations have started to offer discounts of up to 10 cents a gallon for drivers willing to pay with cash. These discounts are being offered as a way to increase traffic to convenience stores attached to gas stations as well as to limit the transaction fee associated with credit card transactions. By paying cash, consumers are able to skip out on the transaction fee that is normally charged to them to use a credit card.

For more on Credit v. Cash, visit CNN.com

This is the site where the Ingenex Digital Marketing Eco-Friendly Internship will live and breath. This internship trains students and recent graduates in the skills of Digital Marketing. Our first class in the Summer 2008 has been doing some amazing things. Read about them here.