Marketing /Sales / Social Media Archives - Page 166 of 174

Chicago Goes Wi-Fi . . . What Does that Mean to Business?

February 19, 2006 by Liz

Philadelphia. . . . San Francisco. . . .

Marguerite Reardon
Staff Writer, CNET News.com

Large cities such as Philadelphia and San Francisco see wireless broadband technology as a low-cost solution to providing broadband access to low-income residents.

They also believe that these Wi-Fi networks can help them save millions of dollars in operational costs by providing broadband connectivity for public-safety and other agencies within city government. Many believe the networks will help boost economic development by drawing more people to the city.

Philadelphia, which plans to have its citywide Wi-Fi network up and running by summer 2006, is the poster child of the municipal wireless movement.

Now Chicago. . . .

By DAVE CARPENTER
AP Business Writer, BusinessWeek

Chicago has hundreds of Wi-Fi hotspots in places like coffee shops, bookstores and libraries, where anyone can walk in, sit down and connect to the Web. Hoping to extend that wireless blanket to all 228 square miles, the city plans to ask technology companies this spring to submit proposals for the project.

While it’s too soon to say how the system would operate, the goal is to make Internet access “broad and affordable” for residents and heighten Chicago’s appeal for businesses and tourists alike, according to Chris O’Brien, the city’s chief information officer. . . .

“We think it’s important for residents of the city and tourists and businesses to have lots of different ways to connect,” O’Brien said. “For a city as big as Chicago, with the vibrant business community and diverse citizen base that we have, you want to make sure all kinds of technology are available to them as they work and enjoy entertainment options.”

If all goes smoothly, the system could be running as soon as 2007 . . .

Other cities with or planning Wi-Fi networks include: Anaheim, CA, Arlington, VA, Brookline, MA, Denver, Co, Miami, FL, Minneapolis, MN, Grand Rapids, MI, New York, NY, Pittsburgh, PA.

What Does This Mean?

While you and I may or may not be going Wi-Fi, the world around us is. Cities large and small are planning for Wi-Fi and putting networks up. Even Google has a hand in Wi-Fi with something called Secure Access which is secret. Find out more about it at Secure Access FAQ. (Thank you, Wired News.)

The goal, of course, is national-wide access. With that come the large, long-term legal, moral, ethical, practical, business questions:

Who runs it?
Who owns it?
Who pays for it?
Who makes sure no one is shut out?
How do you prevent conflicts of interest?

However, there is one immediate, compelling elephant in the room.
Any business that isn’t online needs a plan to get there now.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Click the screenshot to read the BusinessWeek article.
Cities Unleash Free Wi-Fi by Wired News
Google Moves Into Wi-Fi Arena
The citywide Wi-Fi reality check
CNet Cities Brace for Broadband War

Success Is Seeing Opportunities to Promote Your Business

February 17, 2006 by Liz

Three Promotion Opportunities

Some of the best opportunities for promotion happen naturally. They’re part of our everyday environment, so much a part that we often look right past them. Or we see them and think, not this time I have to . . .

How many times have I have done that in the last month?

These three opportunities all offer a unique chance to showcase yourself, your blog, and your business–free advertising to a new audience.

Next Week’s Marketing Carnival Is at

That’s right! Our own SOB, Mike Siger’s hosting the Carnival of Marketing starting Sunday, February 19. I’ve sent my submission in. Many of you wrote posts about marketing, promotion, sales in the past week. Why not submit them? It’s a great way to invite new readers to see your what your business is about.

Click Carnival of Marketing to find details of how the Carnival works. Then choose a post you’ve written recently or write a new post and email to Mike at mike@simplenomics.com. Get your submissions there before Sunday if you can.

Educational Technology and Life is Looking for a Show Person

If you’re a tech-inclined and in Orange County, this could be a great way to get some real exposure for your business. I’m betting Mark at Educational Technology would work with you to involve parents along with teachers–both are potential clients–in what you might do for him. For a few hours a month, you would be getting some great promotion for your business. Click the logo to check out the opportunity that Mark has to offer.

Writers Blog Alliance Needs Fiction Stories and an Editor

If you’re a writer with a fiction short story, here’s your chance to be part of a spectacular anthology. Some of the best writers on the Internet are already included. Take a trip over to the Writers Blog Alliance to see what it’s about. Also visit the original post on Successful-Blog. For more information on how to submit email Liz at email lizsun2@gmail.com.

All of these represent one more way to get your name, your blog, your business connected in new ways to new communities. Isn’t that what promotion is?

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Why Pete Townshend Doesnât Need to Do Promotion

February 16, 2006 by Liz

Pete Townshend started a blog last September. He is writing a novella. As far as I know, his only promotion was to mention it on his website. Granted his website is more promotion than most of us could wish for, but the entire content of the blog–even more–is at at the website.

Go ahead. Check them out. I’ll wait here.

Pete Never Was One for Convention

From his days with The Who, it was clear Pete marched to a different drummer. When it comes to blog marketing and promotion, it seems the same way. As far as I can tell, Pete didn’t follow any of the recommended wisdom.

He didn’t get his own domain name.
He’s using an unadorned blogspot template.
He didn’t list his blog in Robin GoodÃ¢â¬â¢s RSS Top55 – Best Blog Directory And RSS Submission Sites.
He doesn’t post consistently or often.
He doesn’t read his comments.
He rarely comments back.
It’s probably safe to assume that he doesn’t comment on other blogs.
Community doesn’t seem to be important on Pete’s blog.
He doesn’t have an RSS feed or subscription button anywhere in sight.
I suspect he doesn’t spend time thinking about keywords.

Well, he does have a picture, under the picture it says

What is well known is that I’m a rock star. You are not worthy etc. In fact you are worthy. And so am I. We deserve each other.

That’s how Pete writes.

I read four of his comments. One is a request to offer up prayers. One is a statement that visitors are reading the chapter wrong. One was a joke, I think. It was hard to understand. The last is an apology that the next chapter isn’t there.

Where Does that Get Him?

Pete Townshend’s first post–Sept. 24,2005–has 347 comments. Pete’s current post has 1,107 comments. His commenters are the same 30 or so people who talk to each other about all kinds of things. His site meter is locked, so I can’t tell you how many visitors he has had.

Technorati says he has 1,995 links from 529 sites.

His Wholinkstome profile looks like this:

Pete Townshend doesn’t need to do promotion for his blog.

Why Doesn’t Pete Townshend Need to Do Promotion?

Pete Townshend is a rock star. He doesn’t need promotion. He is a brand. He’s a big idea of his own. He can start something new, and his customers find him. He can ignore all of the rules and ride the interest on the quality music and the top-notch promotion that’s already been done. It’s been compounding year after year in his “virtual marketing account.”

But he’s Pete Townshend–definitely an exception to how things work.

Me? I have to do all of kinds of promotion like everyone else does. I figure I always will. So I do some every day. My virtual marketing account is barely open. Still I’m counting on the lasting value of every little investment I make.

What have you done lately to add to your virtual marketing account?

Sorry, Pete. I wasn’t talking to you.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Blog Promotion: Checking Out Curb Appeal

February 13, 2006 by Liz

Steve McKee writes the Smart Answers column in Business Week. Last Friday he was talking about how everything a company does comes down to marketing. His column was replete with examples and well made points, but I was particularly taken with this story.

. . . The other night, my wife and I decided to try a new restaurant. But when we turned down its street, we just kept on driving, never even getting out of the car. It was the sign that gave us pause. It was simply a flat, translucent panel with an amateurish, one-color logo slapped on — the kind of sign you would see on a check-cashing operation in a seedy strip mall. The sign was of low quality and in bad taste — imagery not well associated with a fine-dining establishment. With plenty of other good choices we simply didn’t want to take the risk of spoiling our dinner date.

For all I know, the food would have been amazing and the chef an undiscovered gem, but the restaurant never got the chance to prove it because we naturally assumed the experience would be as unprofessional as the sign. As a result, we passed.

Perhaps after a few more quiet weekends the proprietor will realize that marketing is everything and will do something about the sign. Perhaps not. But I’m determined to apply the lesson to my own business and think about marketing in a much broader context. Are you?

–Steve McKee, Business Week, Smart Answers : All Together Now “Marketing Is Everything,” February 10, 2006

Checking Out Curb Appeal

After I read Steve McKee’s story, I started wondering. How many readers are choosing to drive by our blogs–the same way Steve and his wife chose to drive by that restaurant–because they lack curb appeal? We do make assumptions based solely on how a blog looks. Try this test to see how blog curb appeal works for you.

memory, dragons,

fortune.

2. Do the search on Google Blog Search, Technorati, or another blog search engine. Keep your search results window handy in case you need to return to it.

3. Randomly choose 3-5 blogs from the search results.

4. Without reading a word, rank the blogs in the order you predict they might rank based on linkage from other blogs.

5. Then do a link search for each blog on Technorati Advanced Search or another blog search engine to get their actual link stats. ( On Technorati–>[Search>Options>Links to This URL] On Others–>[link: domain.com] )

6. Rank the blogs again based on your findings from the links search.

7. Compare your prediction to reality. Did your prediction come close?

Curb appeal changes how we value things. To say it another way. Perception changes reality.

Granted curb appeal isn’t everything. Curb appeal gets folks in the door. Content keeps them. Even without curb appeal, if you can folks to read quality content, they’ll come back again. Still that doesn’t change the fact that curb appeal makes a HUGE difference in whether a stranger stops to read word one.

Curb Appeal in the Technorati 100

In the Technorati Top 100 Blogs, 10 are My Space Blogs. Who says a template blog can’t have curb appeal? Here are three My Space Blogs from the Technorati Top 100 and their link stats as of today.

Technorati 19 has 16,141 links from 4864 sites.

Technorati 81 has 6673 links from 2214 sites.

Technorati 96 has 5792 links from 2290 sites.

Obviously readers find these blogs have enough curb appeal. Like beauty, curb appeal is in the eye of the beholder. Our blogs need to match what our readers expect to see from a blog like ours. A Disney Blog shouldn’t look like Brooks Brothers or a hiphop blog for that matter. We all have sense what our readers will find confusing or won’t find attractive. Don’t we?

Steve McKee’s story stuck with me because my decision tree always starts with eliminating the negatives. That way I have fewer choices to work from. I might be missing something spectacular, but I don’t have the time to kiss all of the frogs I’ll meet just to find that spectacular something.

So many blogs and so little time. Don’t let me drive right by yours, just because I didn’t see the quality on your sign out front. I’m going out to check my sign one more time right now. How’s your sign looking these days?

–ME “Liz” Strauss