ConverStations | Archive | September, 2007

Archive - September, 2007

Elements of Emulation

By Mike Sansone on September 28, 2007 in Blogging, Cool Tools, Marketing with 4 Comments

Found this over at BrandAutopsy and also on TheBrandingBlog:

Built by Kolbrener, corporate branding experts

Couple o’ things:

Notice how Kolbrener made it easy for others to grab and share the content by putting up code to copy and paste. There are also social bookmarking buttons for Digg and StumbleUpon. Give your audience easy ways to share your message in multiple ways.
Kolbrener took something we’re all familiar with (the elements table) and did a bit of SCAMPERing to create something new with something old. Imitation is a form of flattery.

I should get to work in the lab. What would the Elements of Blogging include (please – someone beat to the punch on this)?

What would the Elements of <Your Business> Look Like? I look forward to your post.

Related Post: An Invitation for Emulation

BlogWorld Expo: Important Stats

By Mike Sansone on September 28, 2007 in Blogging with 5 Comments

Found this list of numbers at BlogWorld Expo

Over 12 million American adults currently maintain a blog.
More than 147 million Americans use the Internet.
Over 57 million Americans read blogs.
1.7 million American adults list making money as one of the reasons they blog.
89% of companies surveyed say they think blogs will be more important in the next five years.
9% of internet users say they have created blogs .
6% of the entire US adult population has created a blog .
Technorati is currently tracking over 70 million blogs .
over 120 thousand blogs are created every day .
There are over 1.4 million new blog posts every day .
22 of the 100 most popular websites in the world are blogs .
120,000 new blogs are created every day .
37% of blog readers began reading blogs in 2005 or 2006 .
51% of blog readers shop online .
Blog readers average 23 hours online each week .

See the top five numbers? There’s little room to wiggle when wondering IF your business should blog. If you think blogging is a fad – that 4th line is a signal that this stuff isn’t going away.

There are still discounts available for the BlogWorld & NewMedia Expo (Nov. 7-9), but not for long. The conference schedule is filled to the brim with blogging brilliance. If not for prior commitments, I’d be there with you.

ConverStations Goes Mobile with FeedM8

By Mike Sansone on September 22, 2007 in Cool Tools, RSS Feeds with 8 Comments

I put this blog site through the quick-n-easy FeedM8 process yesterday. Took about all of about 7 minutes.

I like it so much, I’ve put it in the navigation, making it easier to read ConverStations on a mobile device.

I’ve been suggesting to web developers around here to make sure they test their client’s sites on mobile devices – though these are the same Horse ‘n’ Buggy folks I tried to get on the blogwagon a couple of years ago.

You can see what the site will look like by clicking on the image here. In the simulated phone, click around (and even subscribe on your phone).

Digital Do More Challenge – $1,000 Prize

By Mike Sansone on September 22, 2007 in Brain Stew with 0 Comments

The Greater Des Moines Partnership’s Digital Do More Challenge is accepting video submissions until the end of the month.

The Official Rules include a few suggestions on how to put your best video forward, including the judging criteria:

Originality (40%)
Overall Appeal (30%)
Likelihood to Motivate People to Move/Stay in Greater Des Moines (30%)

They’ve created a Digital Do More Challenge Group and the contest is open to anyone in the U.S. So if you agree that Des Moines is a great place to live, work, or play – give it a shoot.

Business Bloggers: Mingle With Your Audience

By Mike Sansone on September 20, 2007 in Blog Coach with 2 Comments

In Get Out From Behind the Counter, we talked about eliminating barriers from our customers in an offline setting.

As business bloggers, it may be more of "Get Down Off the Pedestal", remembering to get out into the audience once in awhile. Off the stage, into the audience.

In a recent workshop, while I was in front of the group, the mood was a bit…tense (Technology Blinders?). We came to the point of building a quick blog site. I went into the audience so we were all looking from the same view. What happened?

The mood quickly changed. We were all on equal ground. Just as it should be.

So get out from behind the counter, get off the pedestal, mingle with your readers. They won’t bite.

IowaBiz Breakfast Series Kick-Off

By Mike Sansone on September 18, 2007 in Brain Stew with 2 Comments

It’s been a privilege to work and blog alongside some brilliant small business experts over at IowaBiz.

Now, this great resource is going offline with a monthly Business Building Breakfast series, sponsored by Professional Solutions Insurance Services. Each hour-long event begins at 7:30 AM.

Come hear some Iowa business brains share their expertise on various small business matters. Here’s a starting sample:

September 19 – Marketing and Branding with Drew McLellan, McLellan Marketing Group
October 17 – HR and Leadership with Shirley Poertner, Poertner Consulting Group
November 28 – Business Insurance with Brian Honnold, Professional Solutions Insurance Services
December 19 – Life/Work Balance with Mitch Matthews, Kick in the Pants Coaching

All of the events will be held at:

Professional Solutions
14001 University Avenue, Clive, Iowa

Let’s review:

Experts who can help you build and grow your business — FREE
Time and access to ask any questions you have about YOUR business — FREE
Networking opportunity — FREE
Hot breakfast and plenty of coffee — FREE

No gimmicks. No sales pitches. No boring speakers.

Take off the Technology Blinders

By Mike Sansone on September 17, 2007 in Blogging with 8 Comments

Sometimes it’s like those old westerns. The final scene. Just as the gunfighters appear on the street, it happens. Windows slam shut, doors are barred, everyone under cover. Now, we’re ready for the fight.

As we begin to talk about blogging and social media, I can hear the sounds of doors and windows in people’s minds as they run for cover. AAACK -Technology! I look behind me to see if I have a power cord coming out of my backside.

Relax folks. I’m not a techie, just a small-business person unafraid of technology. Besides, it’s not about the technology.

Connections we make
Influences we earn
Relationships we build
Conversations we conduct
Leveraging newfound knowledge, we
Engage in new projects, collaborations…friendships. And then, we make new connections…

It’s not about the technology. Peek-a-boo. It’s about the people.

Photo on Flickr by petalpics

UMCVB Fall Conference

By Mike Sansone on September 16, 2007 in Blog Coach with 1 Comment

I’m in Siouxland early this week, speaking at the UMCVB Fall Conference, being held at the Marina Inn.

I’m not the only blogger on the docket:

Keynote Steve Siemens just got started – though he doesn’t accept comments yet. Hopefully we can have some dialog about that.
Keynote Bill Giest’s Zeitgiest might have just missed the Z-List (shouldn’t "Zeitgeist" be automatic there?), but he’s the foundation of the T-List.

With two breakouts (Monday: Listening; Tuesday: Talking), we’ll put the Upper Midwest CVBers, tourism pros, and event planners in a position to engage an audience already talking about them.

One of the key sponsors, Midwest Meetings, offers three different RSS Feeds — a great place to start the listening (Wisconsin leads the league with 49 results linking to their site).

I still think Savannah’s Creative Coast Initiative is setting the bar in this space and has kept it up for awhile.

Fresh Feeds – An ‘Awareness’ Engine

By Mike Sansone on September 14, 2007 in RSS Feeds with 2 Comments

One of my mantras is "Search Once and Subscribe" – a way to use RSS feeds to monitor what people are saying about you, your company, your clients, your customers….you get the idea.

If knowledge is power and time is money, then MORE KNOWLEDGE + LESS TIME seems a good business equation.

I’ve been looking forward to playing with Andy and TJ’s new tool, Fresh Feeds:

"Fresh Feeds is not a search engine. Fresh Feeds is an awareness engine . It finds recent items published, mostly in
the new media realm, and packages the results up in an RSS feeds and delivers it
to the subscriber"

Smart companies will know what’s being said in the Conversphere about anything that’s important to their business. Fresh Feeds will help them gain that knowledge easily.