For the rest of us learning to play an instrument is a pain. If you didn’t get dragged off to lessons as a kid you probably never got a chance to even try your hand at the piano. Jon Klein thinks he’s solved that problem and come up with a simpler way to learn the piano. We worked with Jon to create his site GetUpAndPlayPiano.com. What I love about this site is that it approaches learning piano in the same way you’d set up an email campaign. It’s simple step-by-step methodology is exactly what the stuffy world of piano teaching needs. Good luck Jon!
If you are an online marketer then you have probably heard of hubspot.com. If you haven’t, then jump on over to their website right now and read up about them. Among it’s various online marketing tools, Hubspot has developed a website grader tool (http://grader.com), allowing individuals to examine the strength of their website from a quality score and detailed report.
I am happy to announce that as of today www.freshtilledsoil.com’s current website grader score is 99.7. What does this mean in terms of SEO?… well, a lot. Much of the website grader score is based on the marketing effectiveness of your site. Out of 1,655,774 websites that have been ranked thus far, freshtilledsoil.com ranks in position # 5,795 and scores 99.7 percent higher than the other sites evaluated.
It’s entirely important to focus both on your off-site and on-site marketing and SEO efforts to help increase the web presence and popularity of your site. In turn, you will be able to increase your overall traffic and the amount of potential leads you receive.
The feature in Twitter that suggests people to follow seems to be more like a gossip magazine cover than anything really useful. I have no interest in following any of these people suggested in the suggestion list. Given the availability of simple search recommendation technology would it not be more useful to read my profile description, collect keywords and suggest other members that have similar profiles or interests?
As defined:
blog [blog]
A weblog.
intr.v. blogged, blog-ging, blogs
to write entries in, add material to, or maintain a weblog.
overload [v. oh-ver-lohd; n. oh-ver-lohd]
(used with object)
to load to excess; overburden: Don’t overload the raft, or it will sink.
n.
an excessive load.
Be careful, combining the two words mentioned above can be an extremely unhealthy combination, especially for someone trying to launch their own blog. If you are someone developing your own blog, you will more than likely find yourself hunched over your computer, dishing obscenities into the air, on your sixth double shot espresso from Starbucks, wondering why you ever thought blogging would be a good or even fun idea. Sounds pleasurable, right? Or you may be like many of our clients and hire an outside firm to create your blog, but once it’s done how will you populate the blog and keep the momentum going? Fear not my friends, a blog can be launched successfully and you can avoid “blog overload” as long as you are prepared with the proper tools. Anyone can create a blog, but only a few blogs come to full fruition and are truly successful at mastering the blog-o-sphere.
Launch [lawnch, lahnch] – to set going; initiate: to launch a scheme.
You should only launch your blog when it is complete. Sounds simple, but more often than not individuals rush to launch a blog before it’s entirely ready. Launching a complete blog means that the blog is working correctly and that all information is present. Forgetting to add a contact or about page may decrease your blogs overall success, or potential leads you receive from the blog. Take your time. Review the template, navigation and make sure every element of your blog is functioning properly before the big launch.
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Skill #4: Financial and Employee Management is Daily Task
Do you know how much cash you have in the bank? Do you know who owes you money and how late their payments are? What’s your sales pipeline look like? Who’s the person in your business most likely to leave in the next 6 months? What projects are profitable and which will lose money?
If I called you any time night or day would you have these answers at your fingertips? The only way you can know these things is to have systems which are updated daily. It doesn’t matter how big or small your business is you need to know what’s going on every day. Don’t wait for the monthly management meeting or the annual sales conference to get the bad news. Know every day how the business is doing.
We use a series of very inexpensive web-based tools, project management systems and processes to monitor our business. We’ve even gone so far at to use our iPhone’s to monitor or bank accounts, projects and profitability. On a recent trip overseas I was able to check in on the team and the fifteen or so project we were working on. In about 5 minutes I was able to check on the work progress, project and employee profitability, accounts receivable and payable and cash flow.
We use a daily list of tasks to manage everyone’s schedule. These tasks are broken down into simple daily to-do lists. Each morning a team member will check the backlog and know exactly what their priorities are. The managers can check the aggregated to-do lists, called universal backlogs, and see who is doing what.
If you’re a manager you need to be spending about 30 – 40% of your day working directly with your team members. This might be a series of short meetings or updates. On the days that I’m in the office I walk around and ask each person a series of informal questions. Some examples are, “what are you working on?”, “anything you need help with?”, “any client or project issues that you need some help with?”, “is there anything blocking you from getting your project done?” and “have you spoken to your client contacts recently?” I find that by doing this daily I can solve lots of small issues instead of waiting until review time when the issue has now become a monumental festering problem.
There is a dangerous culture to the web world we live in. It’s the belief that as a web entrepreneur you can have success without making money. The recent article in the SvN blog makes a strong stand against such businesses. There is an illusion that is perpetuated by the media and by entrepreneurs themselves. An illusion that all you need is a cool looking web app and some media coverage to secure your financial success.
Every year we see hundreds of new businesses pass through our doors. Even though most of our clients come to discuss their websites and digital strategies we always end up discussing their business models and economic ambitions. Through our own entrepreneurial experiences and those of our clients we have become really good at recognizing the ones that are hyped up on this illusion.
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Yesterday the team at Vlingo launched the new site we created alongside the talented designer Henry Brown. The site is a huge step forward in terms of usability and overall design aesthetics. Our Flash guru, Dave Newbury, was able to create an interesting phone selection mechanism that both functions intuitively and looks great. Kevin Leary, our senior UI master, worked his magic on the code to make the entire site, including the social network feeds, run smoothly. Thanks to all involved.
Ever wondered when your virtual self would start to over take your real self? This new image editing business, ThinnerView, might be the many ways that we’re making that transition. I actually like this business concept. There’s a real satisfaction in seeing the positive changes these image manipulations create.
From the site: “ThinnerView helps you reach your weight loss goals more effectively and successfully by letting you see yourself at your goal weight BEFORE a single day of dieting! Many studies have shown the positive and powerful effects of visualization, saying that when it is utilized success rates dramatically increase. So, by creating your digital “after” picture, we give you a concrete image you can use to keep yourself motivated and focused on your road to success! Additionally, seeing the dramatic change that can be achieved when your weight-loss goals are reached, will give you a huge motivational boost!
This is a great selection of graphics from the Information id Beautiful blog. It shows that Twitter posts are mostly crap but that like anything there is some value buried in there. The question is how do you access those good posts and avoid the insane ego trip garbage?
I haven’t seen this movie yet but it looks like it’s in the genre of Helvetica and Objectified. It’s a commentary on advertising and inspiration. From the trailer…
“ART & COPY is a powerful new film about advertising and inspiration. Directed by Doug Pray (SURFWISE, SCRATCH, HYPE!), it reveals the work and wisdom of some of the most influential advertising creatives of our time — people who’ve profoundly impacted our culture, yet are virtually unknown outside their industry. Exploding forth from advertising’s “creative revolution” of the 1960s, these artists and writers all brought a surprisingly rebellious spirit to their work in a business more often associated with mediocrity or manipulation.”