Featuring marketing tips, tech news, digital wonders, some personal things and everything in between . . .
Category: Judith-Helfand
GOOGLE Reader Going, Going, Gone
Monday July 1, 2013
Reading Time: 3minutes
“The demise of Google Reader, if logical, is a reminder of how far we’ve come from the cuddly old ‘I’m Feeling Lucky’ Google days, in which there was a foreseeably-astonishing delight in the way Google’s evolving design tricks anticipated what users would like.” James Fallows
Google Reader was officially put to rest today…
If you are shocked that Webconsuls is publishing a blog post today, we’re not surprised. There was a time when we published a post every day of the week. A couple of years ago, when the economy started to improve we found that our clients needed our assistance in so many new ways…writing blog posts took a back seat. In fact in 2012 we only published 18 posts. But we tried to stay abreast of SEO and SMO news by using Google Reader.
Today there are a number of news articles about the termination of Google Reader, and we were particularly taken by one article that offered a very informative infographic that is appropriately called The Google Graveyard.
A Google Projects Resting Ground
Elisa Gabbert of WordStream wrote a great post and included this fabulous infographic. Read the infographic carefully, you might learn about the coming demise of other Google products.
Hope you have enjoyed stopping by today. By the way, last week we updated our website, please stop by and take a look around. Let us know what you think.
This post was originally published in 2009, but we thought it still a good way to learn about Memorial Day and share some personal stories. Happy Memorial Day Weekend 2012!
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This weekend, more particularly this coming Monday, May 25, 2009, Americans will “celebrate” Memorial Day. I thought today I would spend a few minutes remembering Memorial Day, with some history, honor and humor.
As a youngster I came to know Memorial Day as May 30th, celebrated really as a day to remember those who had given their life in service to our country. It didn’t really matter what day of the week May 30th occurred, it was a Federal holiday, a day off from school and it meant we would proudly display the American Flag on our home and we would attend a parade. After all I grew up in a military town, just outside San Diego, CA, and my father was a retired Naval officer. These parades weren’t always grand, but they were a nice tradition.
If you would like to learn more about the history of Memorial Day there is a very interesting Library of Congress web page with wonderful information. Two historical items of interest:
1. “In 1971, federal law changed the observance of the holiday to the last Monday in May and extended the honor to all soldiers who died in American wars.”
2. “Protocol for flying the American flag on Memorial Day includes raising it quickly to the top of the pole at sunrise, immediately lowering it to half-staff until noon, and displaying it at full staff from noon until sunset.”
Additionally, I came across a History Channel presentation of the history of Taps and the playing of Taps for our fallen military. Here is the YouTube video.
Memorial Day is to be a day to honor those of our armed services who died during an American War or as a result of an American war. But since my father’s passing in 1979, I always like to honor him on days like Memorial Day and Veterans Day. I have talked about my father, Joseph Eagen, in other blog posts. He led a very interesting life, but what defined his adult life was his commitment to the US Navy. On December 30, 1935, at the age of 17 years 11 months, he completed his Navy enlistment application. He needed his mother’s permission to enlist! Ten months later, on October 13, 1936, his enlistment was approved. For the next 17 years he served and was retired due to a service connected disability on June 30, 1953. The photo shown here is one that I have always loved. My father is the tall one on the right. I believe it was taken in China between July 9, 1937 and November 3, 1938, when he served aboard the U.S.S. Augusta. What I love about this photo is the sheer expression of joy in my father’s sparkling eyes and smile. (By the way, the dark mark on his cheek is just a defect in a very old photo.)
Now you are probably wondering how I could ever remember Memorial Day with humor. Well, this story will take you to a day in my life at Cranmore Mountain Lodge, located in Carroll County, Town of Conway, Village of Kearsarge, New Hampshire. The year is 1987. Our country inn was situated on plus or minus seven acres and our property line went up a hill to abut the property line of the Kearsarge Cemetery. This cemetery is very, very old and it is the type of cemetery that people will often visit to do headstone rubbings.
On this Memorial Day 1987 a lady came to the inn. She introduced herself as a member of the Kearsarge Cemetery Association and she wanted to know if we were aware that our two young sons had been visiting the cemetery with her grandson, Eric. I told her I didn’t know they had climbed the hill to the Cemetery and then she asked me if I noticed that my children were running around outside with many little American Flags in their hands. I told her I had noticed that and that is when she told me that Aaron (6.5 years), Dan (3 years)and Eric (4 years) had “raided” the cemetery and removed all of the Memorial Day flags that had been placed to honor the war dead!
As you celebrate Memorial Day take time out of your weekend to remember those who gave their lives for our country. And let me know how you remember Memorial Day.
P.S. I do not know the names of the other two young men in the photo with my father. Should anyone out there in the world wide web recognize them, please let me know.
Reading Time: 5minutes
This week I have been researching reported problems with Google maps. I have read through many forums, blogs, and news articles; however, last night I came across a Google forum in “Maps help”. The topic was Incorrect information in Google Maps / local business center and the poster opens her post with this statement “To the poor already-beaten-up soul at Google who looks at and responds to these issues…” I implore you to read through this forum. It starts on April 1, 2009, and on April 6th Joel H Google Employee joins the forum to aid these Google users. Before you know it people are posting from all over the world and Joel H is being besieged with questions and he is responsive through April 22. Others keep posting but no word from Joel H. Where’s Joel H Google employee?
I googled this phrase {Joel H Google employee} and found mention of him in other blog posts and other Google maps forums. I will say this, Joel H seems to want to help and if you read these forums carefully you will see he even admits when he is wrong.
I am going to give you two examples of what I have witnessed in Google maps for two of our clients.
La Fuente Restaurant in Tucson, AZ: Their Google map listing under local results for Mexican Restaurants Tucson AZ suddenly displayed the wrong domain name (that of a locksmith) and the wrong phone number.
Kingsleigh Inn Southwest Harbor, ME: Suddenly their Google map listing under local results for lodging Southwest Harbor ME disappeared; however, the inn next door to them is listed – including 78 reviews of the Kingsleigh and a number of photos of the Kingsleigh Inn!
I can only assume that somewhere worlds have started to collide in Google Maps. Issues like duplicate listings, scrapings, mergings, suppressions, and conflating listings on this page complicate the user experience. The bottom line is this is a “free” service offered by Google. I could offer the old adage “it is worth what you paid for it”… but really, if your listing is wrong through no fault of your own, how much is this costing your business?
My advice to every business owner is to check your listing. Take the time to review and learn about Google’s Local Business Center.
I hope Joel H Google Employee reappears in these forums and that Google can solve the “implosion” mystery. Let’s remember these listings are the lifelines for many businesses, this is not a game of “Where’s Waldo”.
Reading Time: 4minutes
Another famous penguin – OPUS (circa 1985)
There has been much written about GOOGLE’s Penguin update which was released on April 24, 2012. This is one of the latest algorithm updates that GOOGLE has been working on – to improve search results. But let’s try to remember: improvement, like beauty, is usually in the eye of the beholder. Indeed some businesses have seen their results improve, while others have witnessed a free fall.
The purpose of today’s post is to share with our readers and our clients some good resources to understand GOOGLE’s Penguin goals and take a little time to review your site. Here are a few things to consider:
GOOGLE like every major player in search engines is making updates all of the time. Some updates gain more notoriety and some happen quietly. To appreciate how often GOOGLE updates their algorithms, take a peek at this algorithm change history.
GOOGLE is known for naming their updates. This is a common practice in the IT world or any project driven business. It makes discussing or recalling the project, that much easier.
GOOGLE does share their best practices guidelines. They encourage webmasters to read and understand their Quality Guidelines. However, if you have a website for the purposes of promoting your business, be proactive and read the guidelines, most of it is written for the non-technical person.
A good rule to follow when creating and updating your site: “Say what you do and do what you say!” Create one great site, avoid duplicate content and mirrored sites. Or as GOOGLE says: “Create a useful, information-rich site, and write pages that clearly and accurately describe your content.”
As promised, below we will provide links to a few interesting articles about Penguin. You might also like to watch these videos of GOOGLE’s Matt Cutts discussing penalties and web spam.
We know it seems like of late we have focused a lot on business Facebook pages. A couple of weeks ago we talked about putting some finishing touches on your business page. Then we shared the evolution of Webconsuls’ Facebook cover photo. But here’s the catch: Like we said before, it seems Facebook is never finished and always evolving. So today let’s talk about your business profile picture.
On April 18, 2012, Facebook page managers received the following message in their weekly Facebook page update.
“On April 26, we will be updating the size of the profile picture on all Pages. We are letting you know about this small change in advance so that you can update your profile picture on April 26. The new profile picture will be 160 x 160 pixels and will sit at 23 pixels from the left and 210 pixels from the top of the Page.”
Here are a few hints to consider when you are updating your profile picture:
It does not need to be a picture of just your logo. Many logos are horizontal and do not fit neatly into a square. For example, Coca-Cola has a horizontal logo, but their profile picture is of a Coke bottle which sends a complete message.
If your profile picture is not sized correctly it will be blurry. You know you have seen many business pages with blurry profile pictures. Just last week we helped our client Clear View Business Solutions update their profile picture.
You can opt to incorporate your “logo” in your cover photo and have your profile picture feature a product, people or a tagline/written message.
If you are struggling with your logo, reach out to your web design company or a friend. Try to have different sizes and shapes for your logo. Remember your Facebook page could be your first and last impression!
Here you can see the latest version of our Facebook page. Notice the Profile Picture got slightly larger in the past couple of days. Remember you can click on the image to make it larger.
Hope you will leave a comment and let us know what is your favorite business Facebook page.
Reading Time: 6minutes
Two weeks ago I talked about adding some finishing touches to your Facebook business page. In particular, I urged you to create your business Facebook “cover photo” and to think through what message you wanted to send with that photo. Of late, I used our Webconsuls Facebook page to feature our clients’ Facebook cover photos. All the while, I was working with our Webconsuls’ team members to determine what our cover photo should say about us.
Here is a little of how this process went: We are not a traditional brick and mortar business, so we knew we wouldn’t present a photo of our storefront. We also knew that our team members live in five different states and three time zones, so getting together for a group shot was not going to happen. Additionally, we felt that taking the approach that we use on our Twitter page, that is listing our services, would not really make us unique or tell our story.
So how do we tell Webconsuls’ story? What makes us unique? I remember when Dick and Dennis first decided to form Webconsuls. They went back and forth about what to name their business, how would they convey their vision. The good news is they committed this history to a press release and here is what they wrote November 16, 1999.
‘The name Webconsuls was chosen very deliberately. A consul is an official appointed by a government to advance the commercial interest of its citizens in a foreign country. Webconsuls is conceived as describing “a firm which advances the commercial interest of its clients on the World Wide Web.” As Dick Fay recently remarked, “Web sites do not automatically produce dollars. Success is realized when web sites are carefully marketed and targeted, those activities being integrated into a tailored, well–orchestrated business campaign.”‘
And so, between a few emails and phone calls the Webconsuls’ team decided our cover photo should be a collage of the team members. It is not about being techies or understanding all the latest software and tools, but more about being people who work with other people to promote the success of our clients’ businesses. It is a collaborative process and we think that is what our current cover photo says.
Webconsuls’ FACEBOOK Cover Photo April 2012 – click on it to enlarge!
What do you think? Notice I said current, because we can refresh it and keep it vital. Like any collage it tells a story…Dennis, Judy and Dick meeting 31 years ago at an ARCO training seminar, Malik’s college graduation and enjoying a California sunset, Heidi receiving her master’s from NYU and “horsing around”, Alycia and Bill celebrating their wedding in Hawaii, Dick supporting his beloved DUKE and the Phillies, Dennis meeting with clients, Daniel working with animals and ‘dressing to the nines’, Keith enjoying life and supporting the Toronto Blue jays…the story goes on.
We look forward to your comments or stop by our FACEBOOK page and “like” us.
Reading Time: 3minutes
Just about two and one-half years ago I wrote a post about GOOGLE’s WAVE. The post was entitled Eight Google WAVE Invitations – Is Anybody Going to Wave Back? Guess what? Nobody waved back. So I thought I would do a public service announcement for our clients and regular readers to let you know it is official. The sun is setting on the final wave.
Today I received the following email message from The Wave Team:
Dear Wavers,
More than a year ago we announced that Google Wave would no longer be developed as a separate product. Back in November 2011, we shared the specific dates for ending this maintenance period and shutting down Wave. Google Wave is now in read-only mode. This is reminder that the Wave service will be turned off on April 30, 2012. You will be able to continue exporting individual waves using the existing PDF export feature until the Google Wave service is turned off. We encourage you to export any important data before April 30, 2012.
If you would like to continue using Wave, there are a number of open source projects, including Apache Wave. There is also an open source project called Walkaround that includes an experimental feature that lets you import all your Waves from Google. This feature will also work until the Wave service is turned off on April 30, 2012.
The following YouTube video is dedicated to The Wave Team.
Reading Time: 3minutes
Did you know March 8, 2012, is National Proofreading Day? The very fact that there is such day must imply that proofreading is important. Don’t you think? I know Jay Leno’s nightly routine continues to include making fun of proofreading errors. For myself I will tell you that I spend an inordinate amount of time proofreading our clients’ submitted text for their websites, newsletters, blogs, etc. I also spend time reading blogs that deal with text content and the power of good content, as it applies to making a good impression with potential customers and current customers.
You might think when it comes to proofreading that I am only concerned with assisting our own customers. This is not the case. Do you remember when I wrote “Bystander Effects on Broken Blogs and Websites”? Basically I really believe that if you come across a glaring error on someone’s site or blog you should do the right thing – tell them! They will appreciate it. Go ahead “pay it forward”.
We all make mistakes. Our eyes play tricks on us. We can read something so many times that we don’t “see” the mistakes. For that reason, many companies (large and small) have staff that edit and proof text multiple times prior to going to “press.”
So today I want to share with you 15 Grammar Goofs That Make You Look Silly. These tips are coming to you by way of Brian Clark at Copyblogger. Believe me when I tell you that almost every day I learn something helpful from the Copyblogger team.
Enjoy and remember to pass this on to others and “pay it forward”.
Do you have a business Google Plus page? A number of our clients have inquired about setting up a Google+ page for their businesses. We have been trying to stay abreast of this new social media arena and for a couple of months I have been gathering article links to share with our clients. (You can see these and more below.) But in the meantime…
First: Watch A Short Video from GOOGLE
Second: Check Out Useful Print Screens of How to Start Creating Your Business Google Plus Page
On your GOOGLE+ home page look for the “Create a Google+ Page in the right margin and CLICK
Pick a Category and get started
Third: Consider Buying Chris Brogan’s Latest Book
Now you are probably thinking this might be strange advice. But consider this: Chris’ latest book is “Google+ for Business: How Google’s Social Network Changes Everything” and according to the McClatchy-Tribune News Service Chris Brogan’s book is one of the top 25 books that Corporate America is reading. Go ahead and visit Amazon, (not an affiliate link) you can read reviews and/or buy the paperback book, the Kindle Edition or an audible Audio Edition. Here’s why I think you will find Chris’ book helpful:
If you read Chris’s blog, then you already know he is a good writer. His writing is interesting, but at the same time easy to follow.
We have introduced you to Chris many times here at Webconsuls. Chris should not be a stranger to you.
Fourth: Enjoy A Video of Chris Discussing GOOGLE+ For Business
Ok, this is our full report. We hope you find all of this information helpful. Remember, as a business owner you really need to understand and manage this social media platform for yourself. Only you can tell your story…
Time flies, good times or not. I realized the other day that we have not posted here since November 15, 2011. That’s 90+ days, one quarter of a year or three months! Like many bloggers who take a hiatus, we have plenty of good reasons why we haven’t written lately. Let’s see:
Holidays are always a good excuse. In the last 90 days we have celebrated some or all of these holidays: Thanksgiving, Christmas, Chanukah, New Years, Martin Luther King Day, Presidents’ Day, Valentines…
Closing out the year-end books for any business can and does take time.
Vacations or business trips impact all of our schedules
Working with new clients, designing new web sites is always a good way to spend time
I think it is obvious that the above list could go on ad nauseum. I am also pretty sure you get the point, time is precious and we need to manage our time to accomplish all that we would like to with our blog, personal or business. Isn’t this what we tell our clients? Engage!!!
Let me tell you what really brought this point home to me. Last week one of my favorite bloggers, Julien Smith, posted “A Short Contest”. He was asking his regular and new readers to tweet a quote from one of his posts. I was game and here is the quote that I tweeted:
Julien’s quote “If you aren’t current, you may as well not exist” isn’t just about social media in general or blogging in particular; it really has to do with all aspects of our lives and the success of our businesses. Be inquisitive, learn about new software, read about new business concepts, dust off the shelves, do an inventory, wash the windows, and don’t cheat yourself or your clients. And as another blogging friend says: “Don’t cheat on your blog!”
Today I am pushing the reset button on Webconsuls’ blog. I hope you will subscribe and if you want to share some stories about how you “reset” your blog, please leave a comment.
A Tucson sunset can inspire you to push the reset button!
The street sweeper just drove through your GOOGLE Place page. And it might have been swept clean of reviews. Go ahead…mosey over to your GOOGLE Place page. You will notice a few changes. The most important visible change is, according to GOOGLE:
“Based on careful thought about the future direction of Place pages, and feedback we’ve heard over the past few months, review snippets from other web sources have now been removed from Place pages. Rating and review counts reflect only those that’ve been written by fellow Google users, and as part of our continued commitment to helping you find what you want on the web, we’re continuing to provide links to other review sites so you can get a comprehensive view of locations across the globe.”
Ok, here is what GOOGLE is saying: Let’s say that you own a country inn and you have a GOOGLE Place Page. Up until July 21, 2011, the number of reviews displayed to the right of your GOOGLE Place Page result on the search engine results page would have been the sum total of all reviews: Google users + Trip Advisor + Bed and Breakfast + Yahoo users. Now the number of reviews displayed will be the total of GOOGLE users, and if NO GOOGLE users have reviewed your property then it will just display the words Place Page. Now you really need to take the time to reach out to your customers, clients, guests, shoppers. If they are GOOGLE users encourage them to write a review. And should they write a review (good or bad) respond to the review.
Like I said at the beginning of this post…the street sweeper went down your GOOGLE Place and if you are a business owner you might want to make sure the street sweeper didn’t change the look of your property too much. You know what I mean. Think back to where ever you have physically lived before. Did the street sweeper come by once a week, maybe every month? Remember the street signs that would say “No Parking 9:00AM-Noon TUESDAY STREET CLEANING”? Did you ever forget to move your car?
The GOOGLE Places update that took place last Thursday happened quickly and without warning. It might have been nice to know the street sweeper was coming. What do you think?
Were you ever in a school play, pageant, band, or orchestra? It could have been grammar school, middle school, college, Summer Stock, regional community theatre, or Broadway…do you remember the “director” calling out: “Places, everyone!” In grammar school it was the Benedictine (O.S.B.) nuns who tried to control me and in high school it was Mr. Van Vleck who taught drama. I am pretty sure I annoyed him.
Today I saw a Tweet that said something like this: “Google Places just got better!” I was intrigued and I thought I need to write a post about whatever is new at GOOGLE Places, because I keep trying to stress to our clients the importance of GOOGLE Places. Suddenly, I thought maybe I can get everyone’s attention by calling out “Places, Everyone!” GOOGLE Places, that is.
This is what is new with GOOGLE Places.
‘Starting today [June 13, 2011], Google Maps search results in the U.S. and Great Britain will include some of the phrases which are most frequently used to describe those places. These phrases come from sources all across the web, such as reviews, web pages and other online references, and they can help people quickly identify the characteristics that make a particular place unique. It’s like an opportunity to ask the business owner or its patrons “What’s good here?” or “What do most people get here?” ‘
I also learned that if you want to stay on top of all things about GOOGLE Places, then you can:
Subscribe to the GOOGLE Places Blog
Follow GOOGLE Places on Twitter @GooglePlaces
And if you have even more free time you can review GOOGLES’ Blog Directory and subscribe to other GOOGLE Blogs.
Have you claimed your GOOGLE place? If so, do you update it regularly to keep it interesting?
Do you send thank you notes? Not email thank yous, not thank you phone calls, I am talking about old-fashioned thank you notes or letters. Here at Webconsuls we often receive phone calls or emails thanking us for a job well done. It is great to feel appreciated. Most recently we received a unique thank you card that I want to share with all of you. It was the kind of thank you that makes you smile.
The hand-made card came by U. S. Mail from our client Big Brothers, Big Sisters of Mid-Coast Maine. Take a look, a thank you from some of their “littles” – the children.
Click on the photo – it will get larger!
Sending a thank you or receiving a thank you will always put a smile on your face. Years ago I saw a Marx Brother’s movie A Day at the Races. There is a funny scene filled with thank yous.
It has been a while since we talked about BING. Lately clients have been asking more questions about BING. Sometimes they think it is an entirely new search engine and then they realize that prior to two years ago they knew BING as Live Search, Windows Live Search or MSN Search. In July 2009, Keith Hansen wrote a post about Microsoft & Yahoo agreeing to a search partnership. In the last few months a few clients called to verify why their Pay Per Click charges referenced BING, instead of YAHOO. On April 11, 2011, BING launched their Business Portal beta, which is:
“a new service from Bing to help business owners create and control their online listing, making it easier for their customers to find them on Bing. With it, owners can even create deals and promote the offers on both the Bing desktop and mobile experience – for free. The BBP will replace the Bing Local Listing Center (LLC), and all existing listing on LLC have been seamlessly migrated to the Bing Business Portal.”
So now it is time for you to claim your listing(s). Don’t worry, it is free; but it will take a few minutes. And BING wants you to know that by claiming your listing your business will have a better chance of being found on BING and you will be able to highlight your strengths and create campaigns that you can even publish to your FACEBOOK account.
OK, like I said: You need to claim your listing…so start by going here and See How the Bing Business Portal Can Help Your Business Grow. Follow the step by step instructions and if you have more involved questions you can visit BING’s Business Portal Frequently Asked Questions.
Let me know how you do or feel free to contact me if you have more questions.
This past week has been filled with historic anniversaries like President John F. Kennedy’s 1961 Inaugural Address and while this is a business blog, I think it is important to sometimes stop and remember the impact of these significant events. When I talk of impact I am not just talking about personal memories, but also how events shape our creativity and spark our willingness to take a chance. In today’s world it appears we don’t really have to rely on our personal memories or historical facts. Easy enough to “Google it” or search Wikipedia, as our brains have become cluttered with usernames and passwords.
I have written previously about my memory of Man’s Walk on the Moon. It was a great day for Americans, important for all mankind, but we should today stop to remember a cold winter day, January 28, 1986, when we watched live as the Challenger lifted off from Cape Canaveral.
People of my generation were raised on the space program. It is our program. From the very early days families were committed to watching each endeavor on television. We were deeply saddened, horrified even, when on January 27, 1967 (44 years ago yesterday), the crew of Apollo 1 died in a cabin fire during a pre-launch test.
So it was on January 28, 1986, I was living and working in Conway, New Hampshire, and we were all excited that Christa McAuliffe of Concord, NH, was chosen to be the NASA’s Teacher in Space. I for sure was going to watch the lift off. It was a Tuesday; I believe NASA may have decided to plan this take-off to occur on a school day so that students throughout the nation could watch the event on live TV (CNN). We had an old black and white television in our work lunch room. At about 11:00AM I walked downstairs and took a seat with my co-workers. There was a lot of excitement in the air. The news cameras actively panned the public observers at Cape Canaveral, including Christa’s parents. And as we all watched the final countdown and lift-off the cameras panned back to the crowd and then we knew by the look on Christa’s parents’ faces something was terribly wrong. The trail in the sky was not normal…and they were gone.
In shock, we continued to watch CNN for a while longer. I reached for the phone and called Dennis. He was watching at home. I went back to my office and throughout the day my co-workers and I took turns monitoring CNN’s coverage. And so the day went.
This February 1st we will stop to remember the 8th Anniversary of the Columbia disaster. Yes, I was watching live coverage on that Saturday morning, too. Like I said this is our program and it came to be because of a young president’s challenge 50 years ago.
25 years…hard to believe. Here’s to the crew: Michael J. Smith, Dick Scobee, Ronald McNair, Ellison Onizuka, Christa McAuliffe, Gregory Jarvis and Judith Resnik.
We all have “aha” moments. Or better yet, we smack our forehead and say to our self “Why didn’t I think of that?” This morning I had one of those moments. I passed by the television which at the time was tuned to MSNBC. A promo ad was playing for MSNBC’s Sunday Morning show Your Business highlighting uBlanket.
It is such a wonderful idea, great gift for birthdays, weddings, anniversaries, showers, retirements…the list is endless and it is a functional, cozy memory blanket – a keepsake that tells a story.
I don’t want you to think or assume that uBlanket is our client. They are not (yet), but I love what they do and I think they have a great business model. Plus, I get a kick out of how simple the idea is. Think about it, or better yet, get up from your computer right now and walk over to your clothes closet or dresser (I am assuming you are at home or imagine you are at home). How many of these “memory or souvenir t-shirts or sweatshirts” do you own? I am going to bet dozens to 100s.
Here’s the thing. Yes, this is a great idea, but it is not original. You know how I know? As I wrote today to Brett Snowden, Co-founder uBlanket.com:
“about six years ago I was sorting through “stuff” with my younger son and we came across a bag filled with little t-shirts that had belonged to my older son. You know the kind of souvenir t-shirts that you buy babies and children when you are traveling, etc? Well, the older son stopped by the house and the younger son handed him the bag and told him to “do something with these shirts!” About four months later I received a package in the mail, a t-shirt blanket quilt made with the little t-shirts! Aaron and a friend had created the blanket.”
But you see, an idea doesn’t have to be original to be successful. It has to be acted upon. You have to think it through, plan it out, and do it! In this case it really seems that Brett Snowden and John Murch are doing it right. They are doing it green and they are helping the homeless, too. You can follow them on twitter @uBlanket and like them on Facebook.
Let me know what you think? Do you have an idea you have been thinking about? Or did you have an idea that you wished you had developed?
Do you see the Disney T-shirt on Aaron’s Memory blanket?
If 2010 was nothing else, it was a fast year. It seems only yesterday Dick Fay and I were working on our 2009 Winter Newsletter and now here we are writing our 2010/2011 Winter Newsletter. We want to take a few minutes to: Thank our Webconsuls’ clients, introduce our newest clients, highlight some marketing and software ideas, suggest two resolutions for you and support our not-for-profit clients who assist children in need.
Thanking our clients…
Webconsuls and our team appreciates our clients. We learn from each and every client by optimizing their sites, designing new sites, building blogs, coaching our clients on new software and responding to their marketing needs. As you may know, we have clients across the United States (actually in 11 states) and in two foreign countries, representing industries from hospitality to law, health care to home maintenance, real estate to retail, sports and recreation to performing arts. There is never a dull day.
Introducing our clients who joined us in 2010…
We invite you to meet our new clients and visit their websites.
Highlighting some marketing and software suggestions…
We know the internet is fluid. It changes daily. We try to keep our clients abreast of these changes by writing this blog, researching our clients’ requests, providing news’ feeds on our website, and publishing our newsletter. Over the past few years we have blogged a lot about social media/Google/Twitter. We have built blogs for our clients, we have worked with our clients to establish their Facebook business page. Additionally, over the past year…
Dick has been particularly active assisting our clients by adding shopping carts with either PayPal or Authorize.netfunctionality.
Dennis worked with clients to add a LIVEPerson feature for online customer engagement.
Malik, our lead designer and web developer, is also proficient in designing clients’ e-newsletters using Constant Contact and Vertical Response.
Keith, our PPC specialist, works closely with several of our PPC clients to utilize phone conversion optimization software.
Alycia, our branding expert, has been focused on improving Client Web 2.0 and specific SEO-related enhancements.
Suggesting two resolutions for you…
The first is to start reading our Webconsuls’ blog on a regular basis. As we said above, with our blog we communicate new information that we think is important to on-line marketing and social media.
The second is to start and maintain your own blog. Our clients with blogs generally receive more traffic than clients in similar fields without them. Blogger now allows you to easily monitor your blog stats. A blog is easy and relatively inexpensive to create. Routinely writing posts can be a challenge, but it can be rewarding with more virtual exposure, traffic, and new business. You might start by also reading some of our clients’ blogs like – Delytes – A ‘green’ fine foods company or Attorney Carilyn Ibsen’s blog or Attorney Will Bruzzo’s blog.
Finally supporting our not-for-profit clients…
This year, as in years past, Webconsuls made a donation in honor of our clients to those not-for- profit clients who work to support children and families in need.
The Promises Foundation Miriam’s House
The Promises Foundation is committed to restoring hope for families by creating a safe environment for mothers and their children to grow and develop the tools they require to live meaningful and self-sufficient lives.
The Forrest General Healthcare Foundation is the philanthropic arm of Forrest General Hospital. The foundation helps ensure that the hospital’s vision of C.A.R.E. becomes a reality for the 17 county region that the hospital serves. Initiatives include the Inpatient Hospice Home Project, the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit Renovation Project and the Spiritual Grounds at Pine Grove.
We wish you a healthy and prosperous New Year. Let us know if 2011 is the year you want to add some new features to your on-line marketing. We will be happy to discuss these opportunities and plan a strategy with you.
Sincerely,
Dennis, Dick and Judy
Reading Time: 4minutes
If you have a business website it is probably safe to assume that on occasion you might feel overwhelmned by GOOGLE. “How do I get my site to be #1 on the search engine results page (SERP)?” “How can I move up on GOOGLE Places?” “How do I deal with negative reviews that appear on the web?” In the past we have written a few posts about reviews and guest (user) experience. We have tried to give you our best business advice along with our best on-line marketing advice.
Are you wondering where I am going with this? Here’s the deal. On November 28, 2010, I saw a New York Times tweet that said: A Bully Finds a Pulpit on the Web. I couldn’t resist clicking over to the story and after reading this shocking article I then forwarded it to Dick and Dennis. On Monday morning my brother-in-law sent me a link to the article, he too was shocked. I kept wondering what if anything can be done about an on-line merchant that is so bold and conniving. Unconscionable is really the best word to describe this merchant.
Now comes the good news. GOOGLE decided to get involved. I don’t want to speak for GOOGLE, click here and you can read their post about their algorithmic solution. It is fascinating and gives me hope that GOOGLE is really trying to provide a good service. As they said:
“We can’t say for sure that no one will ever find a loophole in our ranking algorithms in the future. We know that people will keep trying: attempts to game Google’s ranking, like the ones mentioned in the article, go on 24 hours a day, every single day.”
I would like to thank the New York Times for running the article about the merchant, Vitaly Borker, and I would like to hear what you think about this news. Leave a comment, won’t you?
Reading Time: 7minutes
Have you claimed your GOOGLE Place Page yet? Remember when I talked about GOOGLE Local becoming GOOGLE Places? In September I wrote about how GOOGLE Places was upgraded to a TWO-WAY STREET. Webconsuls subscribes to a number of SEO/SMO on-line newsletters and also makes SMO and SEO News Feeds available for our site users. One of our favorite newsletters is Planet Ocean’s Search Engine News and we read with interest their current article “Must Do List for November: Create, Claim, Improve Your Google Places Page.” Here is a bit of what they have to say:
“Google has rolled out Place Search which is a whole new way of displaying search results. This combines the natural and the local search algorithms and completely eliminates the traditional 7 pack and integrating it within the top 7 results. This is huge! The new algorithm relies heavily on Place Pages and it’s clear that without a Place Page you may be left behind. Here’s a location specific search that shows exactly what’s changed:
“One thing to notice is that all the top results had very complete place pages that included pictures, reviews, links etc. As time goes by the consequences of the changes to local search will become clearer. The one thing we can tell you right now is you MUST have a complete Places Page for your business or you WILL be left behind in local search! Regardless how completed or not your Place Page is – make sure it is as complete as possible before December. This is the advice you pay us to hear…do yourself a favor and listen.”
Ok, I am going to run through this information again. Follow these steps:
·Go to Google Places
·Sign in with your business GMail address
·On the new screen click on LIST YOUR BUSINESS
·A new screen will appear and you will be asked to enter your non-toll-free phone number and then hit the button that says: Find Business Information
·Your current business address will appear and you will click on EDIT to update your listing.
·A new screen will appear where you will be allowed to give all of the pertinent information about your business.
·At the end of this process, when you hit submit, GOOGLE is going to call you within seconds to give you and PIN number to activate your account.
·It is very important that you be there to answer the non-toll-free number. This is one of their ways of verification of business ownership.
You may be wondering why we just don’t take care of this for you. We have found that this free Google service is better managed by the customer for a number of reasons.
Google frowns upon 3rd party management of these accounts, as we are not the business owner.
While we could go in and perhaps enter all of the information correctly, we are not sitting at your phone to take the call from Google and to try to coordinate that with you or your employee can be very difficult.
Now that Google Places allows the business owner to respond to REVIEWS (good and bad) you really need to manage and understand this tool. We cannot respond for you.
Should you decide you need help with this, I would be happy to tutor you over the phone while you CLAIM YOUR PLACE and LIST YOUR BUSINESS. Let me know if you have questions.
Let’s make it a goal: Get your GOOGLE Place Page in Order!
Your Parking “PLACE” (Page) Awaits YOU!
Reading Time: 4minutes
Today marks a milestone for Webconsuls’ blog. Yes, today when I hit the “publish post” button you will be able to read our 501st blog post! Ironically today I want to introduce you to a new on-line community 501 Mission Place.
Over the past year I have written a lot about my on-line friend Chris Brogan. I try to learn from Chris and I like to share what I learn with our clients and our readers. Yesterday Chris Brogan unveiled his latest project: 501 Mission Place. Chris said it best:
“I’m so very pleased to announce the launch of our first Human Business Works community and education project, 501 Mission Place. This community is geared towards non-profits and charities looking to improve their efforts. From fundraising to the use of new marketing tools to in-depth interviews with the people out there on the front lines doing successful things to grow their non-profits and charity projects, the goal is to give you the tools you need to thrive in this ever-changing economic situation, where funds are drying up at the exact moment that you need them most.”
Let’s face it; we are all touched by not-for-profit 501c organizations. Whether you serve on a board, work behind the scenes as a volunteer, or benefit from their continued and varied efforts – eventually not-for-profit 501c organizations impact our lives.
If you have been fortunate enough to be intimately involved with a not-for-profit 501c organization, then you know how often you might ask: “What would be the best way to manage our fundraising?” It could be you have a new board, a young board, a tired board, needs that outweigh your current means, new regulations – the list goes on. How great would it be to know you have an on-line community with experts at the helm and fellow on-line community members who have a wealth of experience?
Do you know a not-for-profit 501c organization that could benefit from 501 Mission Place? I know I do and today I am going to personally reach out to our not-for-profit 501c clients and encourage them to visit 501 Mission Place.
