Good marketing is a balanced mixture of art and science. Here’s an article that bemoans the tendancy to focus only on the science.

Thanks to Wil Reynolds for the heads up on this SEOptimise post that offers you “10 Non-Google SEO Ways to Promote your Business Online in 2009.” Good stuff.

The Independent in London calls it “the biggest internet revolution for a generation.” WebPro News calls it “a new way of searching.” It calls itself a “computational search engine.”

Lots of hype. Launching this month.

ABC News reports on the humorous side effects of swine flu. They left out Pooh and Piglet.

Well, most of them, anyway: EcontentMag reminds us that “only 16% of consumers trust corporate blogs, reported Forrester Research in ‘Time to Rethink Your Corporate Blogging Ideas,’ a study published in December 2008.”

The article goes on to state something that should be far more obvious than it evidently is:

“A successful corporate blog has to provide the reader something valuable: industry news, answers to questions, something funny, a place for feedback or to connect with other users. A blog should also be the human face and authentic voice of the company. Blogs can answer questions like; What’s it like to work for this company? What’s the CEO’s typical day like?  They can also spotlight an interesting company project or process that reveals some of the company’s inner workings. Quality content is a must for corporate blogs; without it, you will be unable to build or sustain a following.”

This isn’t new stuff. Indeed, it’s pretty much cliche by now. Or should be. So I can’t help but wonder: Is that 16 percent figure because so many companies blogging still don’t get it? Or is it that people will never trust companies, no matter how honest they are … or seem to be?

Maybe people are realizing there’s a lot of truth in the old saying: “Once you can fake sincerity, you’ve got it made.”