Is Web 2.0 high school all over again?

August 25th, 2007

I know Web 2.0 is getting to be an old and definitely overused term, but I think it’s the best fit for my thoughts today! Since I began blogging in the last year and trudged along my crash course in social networking, it’s occurred to me that this brave new world of blogs and social networks is a lot like high school…

Blogging is putting your thoughts and feelings out there for everyone to see and yes, possibly ridicule. The exact thing many of us spent ridiculous amounts of time and effort avoiding back in our school days.

Reading other people’s blogs can tend to feel like eavesdropping on the cool kids and hoping they don’t notice you’re listening. And actually putting yourself out there enough to leave your comments or thoughts is as terrifying as the thought of showing up for homeroom the day after a complete hair color disaster.

And then of course, there are the social networking sites…my favorites at the moment are Digg, Technorati and StumbleUpon …that are pretty much akin to running for prom king and queen or student council president.

Right here, right now, I will cop to watching my posts and articles ratings and rankings on just about every site out there, just hoping that someone likes me enough to let me into their online clique!

It’s amazing to me that after thinking that thank God, those queasy moments of waiting to see if people liked me, thought I was smart or cool were long gone 10 years ago…I find myself back in the game all over again! Or maybe it’s just because I recently attended my 10th reunion, so those good old high school insecurities or at the forefront!

Saint George Carlin?

August 25th, 2007

So I’m checking around on my latest article Building Street Cred for Your Small Business and I have to say I was quite amused…sort of. I know that people steal stuff online…it just happens. I also know that people buy “so-called” private label rights articles and put them out as their own work just changing a word here or there. I personally can’t stand the thought of putting my name on something that I:

1) didn’t write and 2) don’t think is good

…but that’s an entirely different issue…

So for the first time I’ve run into a ridiculous hybrid. This blog “Or Capital On At” whatever that’s supposed to mean…and no I am certainly not going to link to them, has put up the following…

Building Street Cred for Your Small Business

“As a substance of principle, I never go to the first yearly anything.” - Saint George Carlin

As an entrepreneur, one of the toughest barriers you run into when first starting out is edifice your reputation. Whether you are in a service industry or merchandising your ain new merchandise line, how make you carry prospects to go clients? At times, it can look like an impossible task, but take heart, there are things you can do.

My first piece of advice for any new concern proprietor is usage the people you know! Whether it’s friends, family, past employers or neighbors, do certain everyone you cognize (and everyone they cognize for that matter) is in the cringle about your new concern venture. I would propose sending out an e-mail to everyone on your contacts listing giving them a dislocation of what you’re doing and asking them to go through it along to anyone they cognize who might be interested in your service or product. You’d be amazed how fast your contact listing can multiply by just asking the people you cognize to go through your information along. You can even include a particular Family and Friends offering or discount. Remember, it takes a batch of work and money to acquire your concern off the ground. Even if you only interrupt even or lose a spot of money on these sales, the portfolio and/or great mentions or testimonies you addition will be invaluable in the hereafter of your business!

Ok, so maybe you got a few gross gross sales or undertakings out of that and you have got a few solid mentions under your belt, now what? I would propose before you throw a clump of money into conventional advertisement that you take a small more than clip to really construct a first social class client list. I’ve establish one attack to tapping into a grouping of possible clients that is a small friendlier than your tally of the factory cold-calling assault. Range out to prospects that you already have got got something in common with or a connexion of any kind.

For example, when I began selling my web land site designing business, it was indispensable for me to have a solid portfolio before I could anticipate company’s who ran across me through conventional advertisement or hunt engines to swear me enough to set their company’s online mental image in my hands. So after contacting friends and household and completing a few undertakings for them, I took it a measure further.

I reached out to little concerns and enterprisers locally. By specifically approaching that group, I had at least two things in common with these new contacts: location and the battle of starting out. I establish this extremely effectual and made some great connexions by being completely honorable and unfastened with them about what I was doing and what I was hoping to accomplish. And of course, I always included information about how a website could assist them in their selling efforts.

Once I had pretty much exhausted those possibilities, I racked my encephalon for another grouping of prospects I could approach. I thought of what groupings of people I would have got some kind of natural resonance with and whom I would be fairly comfy contacting out of nowhere. For me, this mark marketplace came to mind on a Saturday afternoon while at a Equus caballus show. I grew up riding Equus caballuses and still bask my Equus caballus time! I then realized that there was a big per centum of barns I was familiar with that didn’t have got websites. So from there, I began contacting each and every barn that had an address, telephone figure or e-mail computer address listed! I got a nice amount of concern out of my attempts and managed to construct a solid portfolio to boot.

Starting out in the concern human race is always a challenge. When it come ups to little concern success, repute and mentions are key. Don’t acquire discouraged, just happen your ain grouping of “friendly” prospects and leap in!

Feel free to check out the real article here.

So is that what those software programs they sell that change articles enough so that they’re not identical to the other copies out there? It’s like Mad Libs on crack! Dear God, I’m glad my name isn’t on that! I also apologize to Saint George for even having his quote trashed…but hey, at least he gained sainthood!

If Architects worked like web designers…

August 12th, 2007

I just found this great old post on Software is too expensive to build cheaply  It’s funny cause it’s true!

Dear Mr. Architect:

Please design and build me a house. I am not quite sure of what I need, so you should use your discretion. My house should have somewhere between two and forty-five bedrooms. Just make sure the plans are such that the bedrooms can be easily added or deleted. When you bring the blueprints to me, I will make the final decision of what I want. Also, bring me the cost breakdown for each configuration so that I can arbitrarily pick one.

Keep in mind that the house I ultimately choose must cost less than the one I am currently living in. Make sure, however, that you correct all the deficiencies that exist in my current house (the floor of my kitchen vibrates when I walk across it, and the walls don’t have nearly enough insulation in them).

As you design, also keep in mind that I want to keep yearly maintenance costs as low as possible. This should mean the incorporation of extra-cost features like aluminum, vinyl, or composite siding. (If you choose not to specify aluminum, be prepared to explain your decision in detail.)

Please take care that modern design practices and the latest materials are used in construction of the house, as I want it to be a showplace for the most up-to-date ideas and methods. Be alerted, however, that kitchen should be designed to accommodate, among other things, my 1952 Gibson refrigerator.

To insure that you are building the correct house for our entire family, make certain that you contact each of our children, and also our in-laws. My mother-in-law will have very strong feelings about how the house should be designed, since she visits us at least once a year. Make sure that you weigh all of these options carefully and come to the right decision. I, however, retain the right to overrule any choices that you make.

Please don’t bother me with small details right now. Your job is to develop the overall plans for the house: get the big picture. At this time, for example, it is not appropriate to be choosing the color of the carpet.

However, keep in mind that my wife likes blue.

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Google loses faith in the government

August 10th, 2007

I just read a hilarious post over at Gray Wolf’s SEO blog.  I have run into these kind of things so many times!  I’ll let you go over there and check it out, but suffice it to say that perhaps the US National Park Service should get a few SEO experts in on their web team!

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