Central Perk

joi, 22 mai 2014

How Our Agency Survived Year One

Posted: 21 May 2014 05:17 PM PDT

There are some things in life you don't truly understand until you experience them. I was given plenty of parenting advice when my son was born, but it only took me so far. Nothing prepared me for the first time our baby decided to roll over… right off the bed onto the floor (luckily we had a pile of laundry serving as a cushion). If you've never been a parent, you simply don't have a lot of personal experience to draw from. It's a complete trial by fire, full of missteps, emotions, and anxiety.

In a way, starting Greenlane was a similar experience. Greenlane Search Marketing, LLC is my startup boutique SEO agency. It started in 2005 as a sole proprietorship consulting practice. It was my baby, and I had to let it grow up. Now it's a partnership between myself and a long-time colleague Keith Urban (not the singer). However, differing from the parenting example, I did have some practical experience to guide me this time. I ran an SEO department in a major digital marketing agency. Regardless, it became very clear we didn't know a thing about truly running an agency. We were new parents.

What to expect when you're expecting

We expected to be busy. We knew we'd make mistakes, and we thought we had a solid business plan in place. In the end we were busier than expected, made more mistakes than we care to admit, and our plan fell apart on a weekly basis. But I'm proud (and relieved) to say we're successful. We have a great staff of smart SEOs and digital marketers. We have happy clients. We have a great network of people to tap into. We're profitable, targeting half a million in fee revenue by the end of 2014. We survived year one, where 25% of startups crash. We're on yet another phase of growth, with our legal and taxation items well managed, our employment under control, and the company as a whole being positioned to overcome year two.

For me, that's an enormous win.

Specifically, what was our secret? Hell if I know. But I think it's this fuzzy formula: Take what you hear, mixed with what you've experienced in life, multiplied by your best guess, and divide by quick, brave decisions. But we also had a motto, one that became our backbone: "Always make it better!"

Making it better for you and your clients

This is a post about some of the more conceptual, "outside the normal" things we implemented to constantly improve our company from the start. These are based on my life experiences and recent business victories. My hope is that this will serve as fodder for your own company, even if you're not the proprietor. This post is not about tax management, or accounting, or filings—this is about the day-to-day behavioral things that can make your digital marketing company a great place to be, to the benefit of you and your clients.

And to sprinkle in a little fun, since I said life experience fed into many of our first year decisions, I'll supplement each section with something from my own awkward photo album.

On to the tips…

#1 - Think about your group experiences

For those who played team sports, remember when your parents said, "One day this will make you better at your job!" Go tell them they were right. Working as a team is an invaluable skill, improved only through experience and introspection. We've all engaged in group experiences, from grade school to our earliest jobs. Everyone has some kind of group or department participation to draw on. Maybe it's as simple as cub scouts, a yearbook committee, or in my case, a rock band.

Additionally, we've all either seen—or have been—the flunky in the group, doing the least amount to make the group as a whole succeed. There's also the opposite—a "Johnny-Come-Lately" who shows up with good intentions but sticks a giant crowbar into the gears, grinding progress to a screeching halt. We've seen the drama and anger that comes from personalities that just don't mix. Nothing slows down momentum more than an unfocused crew rowing in different directions. An agency is no different. You will always have bosses, clients, and employees that behave or think differently than you. You simply need to learn how to overcome.

Someone once told me you can't be a boss and a friend. I've never disagreed with something so hard in my life. A friendship presents an amazing bond of trust. At Greenlane we've carefully selected co-workers who we enjoy being around. We all have different talents and roles in the company, but you see virtually no instances of "pulling rank" over anyone else. There's a respect that drives each of us to do a good job for each other. It creates more open and creative dialogue. If you don't feel like you have anything to prove, you can more easily pause, listen, and learn. We don't want to let each other down, but we all feel empowered to counter an idea without fear. The best idea wins, and our clients (as well as ourselves) become more educated. We've nurtured a really powerful environment. The bigger your group, the harder this is, but certainly not impossible.

We take the same approach with bringing on clients. We call them partners—a term I took from an old gig. Just as we are being paid to help businesses be successful, their actions have a lot of bearing on our success as a vendor—not to mention our own happiness. I'll often tell a prospective partner, "just as you're auditioning us, we're auditioning you too." That could come off cocky, but any prospects we lost for that statement were probably not going to last in the long run. In fact, I ask all prospective clients to first read our website, where we openly talk about the kind of clients we're looking for. About two-thirds return super qualified, with the remainder vanishing forever. Those that return often say, "you are exactly what we're looking for." It's a bit like online dating.

I wish we could say we've never lost a client due to poor performance. We have. Two of them actually. But in retrospect, this provided good lessons on where we needed to improve. In one case it was due to never being on the right wavelength to begin with, and the other was simply based on poor communicating. We largely (and swiftly) pivoted internally to make sure we never make those mistakes again. As a company, we were all just rowing the wrong way. Catching it early allowed for a very quick adjustment.

By the way, I'm well aware that some internal hierarchies don't allow you to have a say on the clients that come in. While that is unfortunate, it is also common. But what's to stop you from climbing the totem pole and pleading your case?

The TL;DR tips:

Don't just act like you're interested in every word of your clients and employees, truly be interested. This is their time to talk, and your time to pause, listen, and ask valuable questions. Work together!
Ask your clients questions. Let them understand it's your job to pull information out of them. Don't be a yes man; be a friendly challenger in order to get everyone nodding in the same direction.
Work with your team, not against them. If you're not actively on the account and their day-to-day work, be careful not to break the flow of the meeting throwing out ideas that counter the direction the account managers want to go. Get yourself on the same page, even if you're the boss.
Have a postmortem on every lost employee or client account, and drop your defenses. Try to figure out what could have been improved as a group.
You've been an SEO for over 15 years? Good for you. Now sit down and listen to everyone else's ideas. Be an equal.

#2 - The people you meet could become important

I'm often asked how we perform lead generation. Our primarily lead source is our network. Keith and I are very lucky in that regard, both coming from the big agency world. Big agencies seem to organically create seedlings that go off to start new companies or work with other established businesses. From former clients to former co-workers, developing serendipity every chance you get, should be a 24/7 goal.

You never know when someone you've met will hit it big. If you leave a good impression, they may invite you to their next party.

Digital marketing is one of those rare industries. There are millions of lawyers and accountants, as well as designers. There are relatively few SEOs, PPC experts or affiliate marketers. Make the right impression and your name will get passed around quickly. If you have a bad reputation, or are generally unliked, the word spreads just as fast. I've picked against vendors for my clients (or when I worked in-house) simply based on how phony they came off. I'll probably have this put on my tombstone because I say it so much, "Perception Is Reality." Let that one sink in. It doesn't mean "fake it," but be genuine and supportive.

I wrote a post that I still think about often. It was called " Create Your Own SEO Serendipity." I don't know how, or where, or why I started doing it, but I've been in the "serendipity" game for a long time. "Karma" might be a possible synonym. Building up your network is one part of the puzzle, but building it so you're memorable is a whole other piece that may require a bit of introspection on your end.

In hindsight, I spent my entire professional career mirroring my personal life—be good and helpful to everyone you meet. Sure you get burned if others take advantage, but when a referral comes in from an old colleague, I'm thrilled. It's that warm feeling that makes "doing business" pretty damn fun.

The TL;DR tips:

Stay in touch with everyone you can by any means necessary. The tiniest little gestures—like endorsing a skill or expertise on LinkedIn, or buying someone a beer at a convention—can sometimes bring you top of mind when you need it most.
In my experience job titles don't necessarily mean everything. Personality and kindness go further. Always be willing to support someone's little needs. Free advice or work can turn into major opportunities.
Answer everyone's emails, tweets, texts, whatever. Very few of us really can't find the time.
Don't just wait for people to call you. If you generally feel good about all your encounters, there's nothing wrong with reaching out and saying, "Thanks for the great talk at the meetup last night. I wanted to see if I could help you solve that problem we were talking about."
Create serendipity every day.
Create serendipity every day (worth mentioning twice!!!).

#3 - Hire people smarter than you

Around 2009, I remember the CEO of GSI Commerce said this at a company meeting I attended (paraphrasing)—"I built this company by hiring people smarter than me." This off-hand comment was a real wake-up call for me. He's since sold his company to eBay, and moved on to restart something new. If this tip helped make someone a billionaire, there must be something to it

My partner and I didn't read many business books. Personally, I tried, but rejected most of them. I stubbornly refused to buy into some of the concepts. However, there were a few where I recognized common threads. Books like Good to Great, How To Think Like A CEO, The Outsiders, and The Corner Office didn't have a "fake it until you make it," or "kill or be killed" lesson. Instead, they highlighted leading by example, taking calculated risks, being human, and learning from everyone around you.

We candidly tell our prospects that we hire people with unique experience for the sole purpose of supporting the clients. We reveal that Keith's background is in data and analytics, Mike's is in design and development, Jon's is in PR and outreach, and so on. We're not all experts at everything. We're very clear that any of our team may work on an account dependent on a given strategy. It's honest and realistic, and goes over well with prospects. Meanwhile, in the office, we have a lot of co-mingling, where each teammate may join another to work out a specific problem. I'm the old dog in the group, but I'll tell you the honest truth—I learn something every day from this team.

The client wins, my company improves, and my own personal development grows. What more could anyone want out of a job?

The TL;DR tips:

Let smarter (or more experienced) people help guide you. It's a win-win situation for everyone involved.
Don't act like you know it all. Your employees and your clients will see right through this.
If you don't know the answer, let your clients know that you may have someone in your fold that might have the answers. When your company is hired, so is your entire organization. There's nothing wrong with this!
Encourage your team to speak their mind, take a chance, and kick your ass. When they do, give them a high-five.

#4 - Don't be so serious

Last but not least, have fun.

Keith and I don't need to remind ourselves why we took this risk. It's fun every day. Business is a game, and we're enjoying our time on the field. No more toxic relationships, no more loss of control, and no more sitting in the "peanut gallery" watching other people do it wrong.

Be serious enough to hit your deliverables, make your marks count, and help your clients win. But why not do it with a smile? I've always heard that working in marketing and advertising is one of the most stressful jobs you could have. It doesn't have to be.

We didn't build our company with a textbook or a degree. The more I experience, the more I see most people in our field didn't follow a rule book either. Great businesses are managed by CEOs who take chances, with varied personality traits and levels of intelligence—something school doesn't necessarily teach anyway. For years I thought I'd have to be an "American Psycho" type business-genius with an MBA, a big vocabulary, a clean haircut, and a country club membership. I have none of those. In the end, I honestly believe we were guided by our own experience, serendipity, and common sense. It's been a great ride so far, with a lot more learnings—and laughs—to be had.

Besides, if the business folds tomorrow, at least I achieved the biggest thing on my bucket list. So there's that.

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Tips & resources to help you pass the Individual Qualification (IQ) exam

Posted: 22 May 2014 01:04 AM PDT

The Google Analytics Individual Qualification (IQ) is awarded on completion of a 90 minute open book exam. It is used to provide proof that you have a certain level of expertise in Google Analytics – a printable certificate is available to successful entrants.

The exam:

Is made up of 70 multiple choice questions (including "select all of those that apply" options).
Is timed – you have 90 minutes to complete it, and you must score at least 80% to pass (that's 56 correct answers).
Can be paused, but you must complete it within 48 hours. The qualification is valid for 18 months.
Costs $50, but I managed to track down a Google Analytics Individual Qualification discount code (BrianCliftonBook2010) which knocks 50%, so works out at about £15 – thanks to Brian Clifton, you can check out his book on Advanced Web Metrics
Is frequently updated – Analytics is constantly changing, which means that the topics covered in the GA exam are also changing. The exam has seen a string of updates, most recently at the beginning of the year, so it's important to stay on top of the subtle and not so subtle changes. This can be anything from adjusting the terms used throughout GA (e.g. 'visits' are now called 'sessions' and 'unique visitors' are now 'users'), to major updates including Google Tag Manager and Universal Analytics.

I took the exam recently, so I wanted to share some tips and resources that helped me to prepare for (and pass!) the exam.

Top tips:

Lock yourself away from distractions

Whether you're doing this at work or at home, the best thing to do is find a quiet spot away from any distractions. You can pause the exam if you like, but try not give yourself too much of a break so that you can keep your revision fresh in your memory.

Pause the exam

You can do this as often as you like. You only get 90 minutes to answer 70 questions, but pausing it will give you time to think about the questions and dig into your GA account to come up with the right answers – this is also great practice, as you're more likely to learn from the experience.

While pausing the exam does cause the question you're on to disappear, there's nothing stopping you making a mental note or writing down the question (I guess you could even take a screen-shot, not that we're condoning this!).

Keep your resources separate

Open your resources in a separate window (or browser) to avoid losing track of the exam – you could lose valuable time if you have to keep flicking through tabs to find it.

Check your answers thoroughly

This may sound like an obvious one, but make sure you leave some time to run through your answers at the end. It's easy to misinterpret a question, especially when several of the answers can appear to be almost exactly the same.

You can mark any questions that you are unsure about as you go, making it easy to go back and give them some more thought at the end. You can also cross off any answers that you want to eliminate, allowing you to focus on the other potential answers.

Top Resources

Google Analytics Academy

I would recommend working through both the Digital Analytics Fundamentals and the Google Analytics Platform Principles courses. They are free and will help bring you up to speed on most topics that are covered in the exam (as well as providing extra resources throughout the lessons) via a set of video walk-throughs from Justin Cutroni, a Digital Analytics Evangelist at Google.

The fundamentals course is designed for people who have little or no experience with GA, but I would still urge you to flick through the units – you may end up missing the answer to one or more exams questions that are covered here.

The courses consist of several units (6 for the Fundamentals and 4 for Platform Principles), made up of between 1 and 6 lessons. Each has a short video to talk you through the lessons and a few multiple choice questions that you can answer at the end.

You can then take a final assessment at the end of each course, with questions that are presented in a similar format to the actual exam, and (in my case) even includes some of the same questions.

While the videos are easy to digest, I would also recommend taking some notes – if not to use in the exam, then to help you process and grasp the concepts covered.

Useful blog post

I would also recommend reading through the following blog post – in his post, JATIN SHARMA references some other useful posts which are also worth a read.

How to Pass the Google Analytics IQ Exam in Two Days: Zero to Hero

Once you’ve passed…

You can print your certificate as proof, but also create a link to share with others (great for your LinkedIn account) that provides details of the certificates that have been awarded, along with dates of when exams were taken and when the qualifications expire.

For details on how to set a link to your individual qualification, check out the 'Google Analytics Proof of' article. To see what this will look like, here's a link to my qualification details.

Good luck – If you’ve covered everything then you have nothing to worry about – you're ready to head over to google.starttest.com and ace this exam!

Please share your experiences and let me know if you have any other tips or useful resources that helped you to pass.

The post Tips & resources to help you pass the Individual Qualification (IQ) exam appeared first on White.net.

Seth's Blog : Your choice

Your choice

Habits are a choice

Giving is a choice

Reactions are a choice

Ideas are a choice

Connections are a choice

Reputation is a choice

The work is a choice

Words are a choice

Leading is a choice

No one can be responsible for where or how we each begin. No one has the freedom to do anything or everything, and all choices bring consequences. What we choose to do next, though, how to spend our resources or attention or effort, this is what defines us.

• Email to a friend •

miercuri, 21 mai 2014

Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis

Sarkozy Calls for "Profound" EU Overhaul Led by France and Germany; Farage "Earthquake"

Posted: 21 May 2014 10:36 PM PDT

In a last minute push to win votes in the European parliament elections, former French president Nicolas Sarkozy Calls for "Profound" EU Overhaul led by France and Germany.

In a clear bid to rally voters to his centre-right UMP party, which is under threat of losing in France to the anti-EU National Front, Mr Sarkozy broke a two-year virtual silence on political issues to issue a ringing defence of the need for the union to preserve peace in Europe and beyond.

Those who want Europe to break up "forget the lessons of history and will lead us to the abyss", he wrote in a long article published in Le Point magazine and the german newspaper Die Welt on Thursday. "France and Europe are inseparable geographically, historically, culturally and, now, politically. Europe should be vibrantly saluted and supported."

Addressing the key issue of immigration, the focus of much anti-EU rhetoric, Mr Sarkozy said zero immigration was an illusion. But he said if action was not taken rapidly to control the inflow from outside the EU, "our social contract will explode".

He said there should be an immediate suspension of the Schengen agreement on open borders within most EU countries, to be replaced by a "Schengen 2" which countries could join only if they properly imposed a common immigration policy.

Mr Sarkozy's intervention came as polls showed the FN, led by Marine Le Pen, leading the European election race in France with as much as 25 per cent of the vote, ahead of the UMP.

Mr Sarkozy called for "a great Franco-German economic zone at the heart of the euro" that would lead the single currency. He said there should no longer be equal powers within the eurozone for smaller members such as Malta, Cyprus and Luxembourg.

"There is no alternative to drastically diminishing the extent of (the EU's) competences," Mr Sarkozy wrote, saying it should retain power only over industry, agriculture, trade, competition, energy and research.

Power "Only" Over Industry, Agriculture, Trade, Competition, Energy and Research

Excuse me for asking but other than immigration, what is left? Better yet, what drastic cuts in EU power is Sarkozy proposing? More questions abound. Why should the EU control, agriculture when France is the primary beneficiary? Then again, that question has an obvious answer.

"Profound" Overhaul Nonsense

Sarkozy is in fantasyland if he thinks Malta, Cyprus, Luxembourg etc, will vote to cede power to France and Germany. To change the treaty, every nation will have to sign it.

Even if nations did cede power to Germany and France, what is it France and Germany agree on other than the need to agree? Not budgets, not stimulus, not a banking union, not retirement age, not work hours, and not the role of the ECB.

Farage "Earthquake"

The Financial Times reports Mainstream parties braced for Farage phenomenon

Nigel Farage has predicted "an earthquake", and by the time polling stations close at 10pm on Thursday night, his UK Independence party may have achieved what had once seemed incredible – it might have won a nationwide election.

The party once described by David Cameron as comprising "fruitcakes, loonies and closet racists" believes that it can win Britain's European parliamentary elections, setting off aftershocks in Westminster and Brussels.

Despite weeks of hostile media coverage, Mr Farage predicts that his party will emerge victorious when the ballot boxes are emptied, while building its base in a series of local elections across the country.

Mr Farage insisted on Wednesday that Ukip could build on these contests and win its first seats at Westminster at the next election, despite the unfavourable first-past-the-post voting system.

These elections should be fun. Results will be in shortly.

Mike "Mish" Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com

Is There a Shortage of Skilled Workers? My Own Personal Experiences

Posted: 21 May 2014 10:35 AM PDT

Given all the media hype about the severe shortage of skills in the US and the need for more education and training, inquiring minds may be interested in alternative views.

I offer my own personal experiences at the end of the discussion.

For now, please consider a viewpoint on the alleged shortage of STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) workers by the National Review: What STEM Shortage?

The idea that we need to allow in more workers with science, technology, engineering, and math ("STEM") background is an article of faith among American business and political elite.

But in a new report, my Center for Immigration Studies colleague Karen Zeigler and I analyze the latest government data and find what other researchers have found: The country has well more than twice as many workers with STEM degrees as there are STEM jobs. Also consistent with other research, we find only modest levels of wage growth for such workers for more than a decade. Both employment and wage data indicate that such workers are not in short supply.

In an article entitled "The Science and Engineering Shortage Is a Myth" for the March issue of The Atlantic, demographer Michael Teitelbaum of Harvard Law School summarizes the literature on STEM. "No one has been able to find any evidence indicating current widespread labor market shortages or hiring difficulties in science and engineering occupations that require bachelor's degrees or higher," he points out. Teitelbaum is one of the nation's leading experts on STEM employment, former vice president of the Sloan Foundation (a philanthropic institution essentially devoted to STEM education), and author of Falling Behind? Boom, Bust, and the Global Race for Scientific Talent, just published by Princeton University Press.

In looking at the latest government data available, my co-author and I found the following: In 2012, there were more than twice as many people with STEM degrees (immigrants and native-born) as there were STEM jobs — 5.3 million STEM jobs vs. 12.1 million people with STEM degrees. Only one-third of natives who have a STEM degree and have a job work in a STEM occupation. There are 1.5 million native-born Americans with engineering degrees not working as engineers, as well as half a million with technology degrees, 400,000 with math degrees, and 2.6 million with science degrees working outside their field. In addition, there are 1.2 million natives with STEM degrees who are not working.

Meanwhile, less than half of immigrants with STEM degrees work in STEM jobs. In particular, just 23 percent of all immigrants with engineering degrees work as engineers. Of the 700,000 immigrant STEM workers allowed into the country between 2007 and 2012, only one-third got a STEM job, about one-third got a non-STEM job, and about one-third are not working.

My Own Personal Experiences

I worked 20 years in mainframe computer programming after graduating from the University of Illinois with a degree in civil engineering. I have been through more bank mergers than one could imagine.

I was an assistant vice president at Harris Bank when Bank of Montreal bought them out. I did not like the cultural change so I left and became an independent consultant. My first contract was at Chase. That job ended when Chase and Chemical merged.

Soon thereafter, I was at First National Bank of Chicago which became First Chicago, then First USA, then Bank One, now Chase. I was there though Bank One.

I was on a project at US Bank in Minneapolis involving a merger or sale of a Piper Jeffrey trading system.

911 hit at the end of the US Bank contract. I was out of a job for over three years. In that timeframe, Countrywide Financial put out an ad only mainframe geeks could possibly understand. The job required IMS, CICS, COBOL, DB2, and Assembly Language experience. They also wanted banking and credit card experience.

There are an extremely limited people in the country who can genuinely profess proficiency in that skill set. To this day, I wonder if the job even existed because I could not get an interview. I never worked in programming again.

I am often accused of not knowing what it is like to be desperately in need of a job. Believe me, I do know.

I started my blog out of desperation, hoping someone would discover me and hire me as a writer. It never came to that. Even the Motley Fool turned me down for an opening they had. After all, I had no experience and no related degree.

Calculated Risk, who I met on Silicon Investor created the first template for my blog. Barry Ritholtz at the Big Picture promoted me early and often, and John Succo convinced Todd Harrison at Minyanville to take me on as a "professor" (an honorary term for frequent contributors).

So here I am, with thanks to numerous others who influenced me along the way. I picked up debt deflation ideas from Australian economist Steve Keen. Michael Pettis at China Financial Markets taught me nearly everything I know about trade, and Pater Tenebrarum at the Acting Man blog taught me nearly everything I know about Austrian economics. I met Pater under a different name on Silicon Investor in 2001.

Shortage of Skills?

There are hundreds-of-thousands of skilled programmers, engineers, chemists, lawyers, etc., out of work or working in jobs that make no use of their college degree. That does not stop the Obama administration, the education industry, and even the Fed from promoting education and training as the solution to what ails us.

Please consider a few snips from a speech made today by William Dudley, President of the New York Fed: What Kind of Jobs Have Been Created During the Recovery?

Firms often change the way they utilize workers and the mix of skills they employ during recessions and recoveries. The weakening demand during recessions forces firms to look for new ways to be more efficient to cope with hard times. These adjustments do not affect all workers equally. Indeed, it's what we typically think of as middle-skilled workers—for example, construction workers, machine operators and administrative support personnel—that are hardest hit during recessions. Further, a feature of the Great Recession and indeed the prior two recessions, is that the middle-skill jobs that were lost don't all come back during the recoveries that follow. Instead, job opportunities have tended to shift toward higher- and lower-skilled workers.

As we'll show, these same trends have played out in our region. While there's been a good number of both higher-skill and lower-skill jobs created in the region during the recovery, opportunities for middle-skilled workers have continued to shrink.

I believe it is important for us to highlight these job trends and to understand their implications for our region. There have been significant and long-lasting changes to the nature of work. As a result, many middle-skilled workers displaced during the recession are likely to find that their old jobs will never come back. Furthermore, workers are increasingly facing higher skill requirements in order to land a good job. These dynamics in the labor market present a host of challenges for the region to address. However one thing is clear: workers will need more education, training and skills to take full advantage of the types of job opportunities being created in our region, as well as across the nation. So, it's important that we work together to find ways to help people in our region adapt to these changes.

The idea that a "middle-skilled" person can go back to school at age 40, take a few classes and become a java programmer, an engineer, or a chef, and land a meaningful job in that field is nothing but hope-filled hype. Perhaps 1 out of 100 make some use of their training. The rest just end up deeper in debt.

Fed-induced boom-bust cycles that benefit the already wealthy at the expense of everyone else, and debt-overhang, including student debt that exceeds $1 trillion, are the major problems today, not the alleged shortage of skills.

Mike "Mish" Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com

Damn Cool Pics

A Luxury Hotel Suite That Costs $27,000 a Night
Very Rare Discoveries From Days Gone By
Largest Dinosaur Ever Gets Discovered In Argentina
The Weirdest Russians On Social Media

A Luxury Hotel Suite That Costs $27,000 a Night

Posted: 21 May 2014 12:58 PM PDT

The Burj Al-Arab hotel in Dubai is the only 7 star hotel worldwide and the Royal Suite is 8395 square feet with its own private cinema and spa. A night in the suite costs $27,000 and comes with a Rolls Royce and a chauffeur.

Very Rare Discoveries From Days Gone By

Posted: 21 May 2014 12:00 PM PDT

This list features some crazy stuff such as a 100 year old spider attack and a Megalodon jaw. It kind of makes you glad that these things no longer exist today.

A 100 million year-old spider attack, this spider was attacking its prey when it got caught in amber, the only preserved attack ever found. These bugs lived in the Hukawng Valley of Myanmar in the Early Cretaceous, between 97-110 million years ago.

66-pound rhino skull, this rare rhinoceros fossil was found in Turkey and was most likely killed in a volcano 9.2 million years ago. This skull probably belonged to a large, two-horned rhino. Its miraculous that the skull was preserved.

The largest Megalodon jaw ever assembled, the Megalodon dwarfed the Great White shark. It was the largest predator to have ever existed on Earth. The jaw measures 11 feet across and almost 9 feet tall.

Giant ant fossil this giant ant, named Titanomyrma lubei, lived 50 million years ago. Its body size was comparable to a hummingbirds.

Perus giant penguin, the Inkayacu paracasensis lived in Peru 36 million years ago. It would have been roughly twice the size of todays emperor penguin.

Saber-toothed squirrel, there are squirrels that used to have fangs that were 15 the size of their heads. They existed more than 100 million years ago. These squirrels most likely ate insects and not nuts.

Extinct whale fossil found on Santa Cruz beach, a fossilized row of vertebrae were found jutting out of some rocks. A Reddit user uploaded the picture and scientists believe these remains to be of a Pliocene-era whale.

A nest of 15 baby dinosaurs: A nest filled with 15 juvenile Protoceratops andrewsi dinosaurs were found in Mongolia. They were most likely from a single clutch from a single mother, all meeting their tragic end at the same time.

Perfect horsetail fossil, this plant was preserved perfectly for more than 300 million years. It holds secrets from the Carboniferous period. Its strange that it was able to stay in this condition for so long.

An oddly shaped worm fossil this worm, named Spartobranchus tenuis, was unearthed in Canadas Burgess Shale fossil beds in the Yoho National Park. Its strange looking but answered many questions for the scientists who found it.

Largest Dinosaur Ever Gets Discovered In Argentina

Posted: 21 May 2014 11:49 AM PDT

Paleontologists recently discovered the largest dinosaur ever in Argetina. Dubbed the Argetinosaurus, this monster is estimated to have been 130 feet long, 65 feet tall and would have weighed 77 metric tons. Could you imagine having this thing for a pet?

The Weirdest Russians On Social Media

Posted: 20 May 2014 09:19 PM PDT

Let's face it, a lot of weird stuff gets posted on social media but these Russians have definitely just won the gold medal for weird social media posts.