IncPlace

Ka-ching for Beijing

2007-08-17T09:04:00.000-05:00

China's maturing Web 2.0 industry is also an emerging VC hotbed, thanks to investors' desire to monetize growing Chinese social networks, blogs, wikis, and other Web 2.0 companies.

In fact, venture capitalists invested a whopping $200 million in growing Internet and information services firms in China during the second quarter, according to Forbes' new Acceleration: Global Venture Capital Insights Report 2007. That's *double* the amount China saw in the first quarter.

Further proof of the industry's maturation in China: Google's recent partnership with Sina, one of China's biggest Internet portals. Sina now uses Google China's search and advertising services on its portal.

Note, however, that companies receiving funding are in advanced stages of development. Many VCs burned by the dotcom burst now wait until later rounds to invest in companies, when there's greater certainty the company is financially stable and will do well in the market.

And as the Forbes report shows, VCs are investing in companies around the globe, looking for the safest and most promising returns, whether they be in China, India, or elsewhere.

So with so much VC attention on China, will American Web 2.0 companies face increased competition to secure VC dollars? Not if they take the right steps to promote their business plan.

The most important thing is to show VCs that your business is solid. Provide a clear report of your target markets and customers, marketing plans, and budget. Also show your product development road map with reasonable milestones and strategies for meeting them.

And don't forget the competition. Provide an overview of your competitive landscape, where you fall within it, and your plans to rise above competitors. Together, this information creates a comprehensive sales pitch to VCs, and helps secure the dollars you need to support and grow your business.

Use reviews to increase views

2007-08-10T08:57:00.000-05:00

Want to push your business ahead of the pack? Then draw on the strength of your customers' opinions.

That's according to e-consultancy and Bazaarvoice's Social Commerce Report 2007, which demonstrates the positive effect of customer product reviews on conversion rates, site traffic, and average order values at e-commerce sites. Other benefits include improved retention and loyalty, and improved search engine optimization.

In addition, more than half of the 800 America and European online sellers surveyed consider user-generated content either extremely important or very important to company strategy over the next year.

So you'd think these companies would be falling over themselves to create channels for effective, efficient customer feedback, right? Wrong. Only 28 percent of these forward-thinking respondents actually use customer ratings and reviews.

Why the disconnect? One adoption barrier is companies' fear of negative reviews, a concern one-third of respondents hold. (This is the same fear, incidentally, that prompts many corporate blogs to monitor or block comments.)

Another potential barrier might be the company's actual product. The report says online reviews have the most impact for complex and high-ticket items, such as cars and electronics, that require significant buyer research and investment.

So, if the product is low-risk or low-investment, such as apparel or groceries, sellers might not consider structured customer reviews a viable part of their marketing mix.

That said, I still support inviting customer feedback and ratings. It increases an organization's transparency, and demonstrates levels of customer satisfaction and service. And in the end, this open, evident commitment to quality is what really grows the bottom line.

The world thinks the world of Web 2.0

2007-08-09T11:19:00.000-05:00

Just this week, global Internet information provider comScore released a study revealing social networking's dramatic global expansion over the past year, especially among major social networking sites.

Here's what I found most interesting (in light of our recent Friendster post):

"While attracting global users, specific social networks have a tendency to skew in popularity in different regions. For example, both MySpace.com (62 percent) and Facebook.com (68 percent) attract approximately two-thirds of their respective audiences from North America. That said, each has already amassed a large international visitor base and both appear poised to continue their global expansion. Bebo.com has a particularly strong grasp on Europe, attracting nearly 63 percent of its visitors from that region, while Orkut is firmly entrenched in Latin America (49 percent) and Asia-Pacific (43 percent). Friendster also attracts a significant proportion of its visitors (89 percent) from the Asia-Pacific region. Both Hi5.com and Tagged.com exhibit more balance in their respective visitor bases, drawing at least 8 percent from each of the five worldwide regions."

These figures are an important reminder for North American businesses to forego regional myopia, and remember the “world” part of World Wide Web. Tapping into an area's preferred social network -- rather than your preferred sites -- and reaching out to your intended audience on their turf increases your chances for connection.

Better yet, find out why these sites are more attractive to people in different regions. How do they use the sites? What features or benefits appeal to them? You can then use this insight into their style and usage preferences to further develop your online product or service.

The result: By expanding your digital worldview, you'll broaden your business's horizons, too.

Do you see a VC?

2007-08-08T09:39:00.000-05:00

Heard this story before? Smart person gets idea for new widget. Person ropes in one or two other smart people. The smart team perfects amazing widget in garage on shoestring budget.

Then team starts free blog about widget. Other smart people take notice, and become widget devotees. News spreads. Widget sales soar. Original smart team retires obscenely rich.

This scenario, of course, is every Web 2.0 entrepreneur's dream. But it can also be a venture capitalist's nightmare, according to Fred Wilson writing in Social Computing Magazine.

Why? Because business development that used to require $20 million can now take as little as $60k to achieve the same results, thanks to cheaper, faster, and easier Web services and capabilities.

So what's a VC to do when business owners can run the show themselves? Wilson's answer: Wait for stage two of their growth. Sure, startup costs might be covered by cheap Web apps and free blog PR, but success leads to expansion.

And that means more staff, more customer service, more infrastructure, more advertising -- and a need for more capital. Wilson sums up the VC opportunity here:

"Venture capital still plays an important role in financing web entrepreneurs. But the need for capital comes later in the company formation process. And that is a very good thing for everyone involved. Because VCs can scale their capital (i.e. risk) exposure as the risk is mitigated from the opportunity. They can still get their $10mm per deal invested, but they will put less up at the start and more up later."

On the flip side, business owners should factor expansion into their long-term business strategy, and consider VC funding for future rounds.

Hopeless entrepreneurial romantics need not fear; calling on VCs won't damage the company's original Cinderella story. Rather, it ensures the company has a reasonable chance for success at a point when DIY techniques can no longer sustain the growing enterprise.

Don't get me wrong, companies' original spirit and customer interaction should remain intact with blogs, forums, and a strong Web presence. But later-stage VC can give Web 2.0 widget-makers a leg-up in a competitive space, and grease the wheels for the next round of invention.

Giving voice to blog posts

2007-08-01T09:10:00.000-05:00

First there was vox humana. Then came vox populi. Now we have vox post -- or voice posts -- unrolled last week on sites such as OhGizmo and Boing Boing.

But wait! you say. The concept sounds vaguely familiar. That's because voice posts aren't new. Odeo's Audioblogger service hit the scene a couple years ago and partnered with Google and Blogger, only to be laid to rest in November 2006.

Still, it was enough time to pique interest among forward-thinking bloggers. And now HP is resurrecting the technology as a marketing strategy.

You might also be thinking voice posts are podcasts by another name. Well, not quite. Voice posts consist mainly of voice recordings sent by mobile phone, and posted directly to blogs. Essentially, they are aural versions of traditional text posts, where authors speak their views instead of typing them.

Podcasts, on the other hand, are digital media files distributed via syndication feed, and available for download and playback. They often feature interviews and shows, which range in production value, length, and complexity.

Voice posts offer some unique benefits to experimental authors. Faithful blog audiences get to hear raw, unedited views expressed in their favorite bloggers' actual voices. This strengthens a personal connection to writer and content.

Plus, varying written and spoken formats add interest and texture to blog sites, and can attract a new subset of followers who prefer listening to reading.

Now the drawbacks. Some authors express themselves better through the keyboard than the recorder. And while blog posts aren't usually heavily edited, their publishing structure does let writers add some spit and polish before sending them into the great wide Web.

In contrast, off-the-cuff voice posts risk becoming rambling streams of consciousness, where the most cogent points are lost in the babble, rather than called out on the page.

That said, I think authors who apply basic blogging guidelines for readable text to voice posts will make the format work. These best practices include offering clear, concise information; calling out links; and providing interesting analysis for your audience.

If any of you already use voice posts on your business or personal blogs, let me know how it's working out. We welcome all dos, don'ts, and dohs you've discovered along the way.

Advertisers: All signs point to the Web

2007-07-31T08:29:00.000-05:00

Tech entrepreneur David Pitlyuk is learning the lessons of advertising the hard way -- by starting with newspaper ads.

He got zero leads from a $200 ad he placed in a few local Maryland papers. I'm not surprised. This approach only reaches local readers who happen to turn to that page of the paper. Plus, consumers don't really read the newspaper to research businesses and products.

Both challenges can be solved with -- you guessed it -- an online presence and online advertising. When people are looking for a product or service, the Web is by far the first place consumers hit, and for one simple reason: It puts a world of information at their fingertips.

Consumers can quickly and easily find what they're looking for with a few key stokes and mouse clicks. They can also complete the commerce cycle in one sitting -- research businesses, learn more about their products or services, select one, and make a purchase.

Plus, with online advertising tools such as pay-per-click and pay-per-call, the Web offers some of the most powerful and efficient ways to attract consumers to your business and Web site (as we've discussed before).

So my recommendation for Pitlyuk and any other businessperson looking to spread the word about their company: Refresh yourself on our words of wisdom, take to the Web, and let the cash register ring.

Put some fun in your features

2007-07-26T12:19:00.000-05:00

I'm always talking about the ways Web 2.0 can help businesses. Well, the Miami Herald agrees with me, and backs it up with some pretty impressive numbers.

The article pulls examples from two major companies, Carnival Cruise Lines and Burger King. Both have zeroed in on Web 2.0 to reel in customers.

Side note: While these are examples from large corporations, you can certainly use similar Web 2.0 strategies on a smaller scale to reach your customers. Ok, now back to the juicy stuff!

Let's start with Carnival. After only two weeks, its Web site's new interactive features are already the company's strongest marketing tools.

One of the features, Funship Island, lets browsers get an up-close and personal tour of a Carnival cruise ship. It offers everything from a walk on the cruise deck -- realistic enough to make you seasick -- to a dizzying trip down the water slide.

The day it launched, Funship Island attracted more than 200,000 unique visitors, with many of them spending more than an hour on the site.

In addition, the new Carnival Connections page helps visitors plan a cruise for every event, from birthday parties to weddings. Carnival also set up a blog, which became so popular they scheduled a cruise exclusively for fans of the blog -- all 1 million of them.

But interactive Web 2.0 isn't just for luxury vacationers. Burger King created an interactive Web site feature that lets customers scan a picture and "Simpsonize" themselves. This shows them what they would look like as cartoon characters, and then helps them share their images with the social networking sphere.

In the first three days of Simpsonizeme.com's launch, the site received more than 16 million hits, and more than 700,000 photo uploads. In fact, visitors were uploading an average of three photos each, and spending about 12 minutes on the site at a time.

The bottom line: Entertaining Web 2.0 features -- from elaborate, interactive video demonstrations, to clean, simple blogs -- draw more eyes to your company's site, and engage people with your company name. It's a surefire way to ignite word of mouth, and encourage repeat visits.

What dotcom bust?

2007-07-25T09:23:00.000-05:00

Great news for start-ups' bean counters: The Financial Times reported yesterday that U.S. venture capitalists invested more in the second quarter of this year than in any three-month period since 2001.

And the news gets better for Web 2.0 start-ups: Total investment in information services companies reached nearly $1 billion for the first time since the dotcom implosion. This includes Internet companies that focus on social networks, blogs, and wikis.

So people can talk about their cool MySpace pages all they want, but the real proof of social networking's strength is its increasing cash flow. Savvy venture capitalists wouldn't put their money into Web 2.0 coffers if they didn't think the investment would pay off big.

But how big? And when? More 2.0 companies are born every day, and most are clamoring for spare change from these forward-thinking VCs. The wallets are bound to dry up at some point. Favor will shift. Other sectors will get the goods. And late-to-the-game start-ups will be left with empty palms and evaporating business plans.

All the more reason to develop your own Web 2.0 business practices now, and make the most of a favorable investment climate.

Four pillars make a sturdy network

2007-07-20T07:50:00.000-05:00

What makes certain social networking sites fly, and others flop?

Web 2.0 and social computing expert Dion Hinchcliffe has the answer. He analyzed the components of successful social networking sites, and distilled them into four simple methods -- the pillars of social networking.

You can read Dion's full explanation in Social Computing Magazine, or you can enjoy the Cliff Notes version here:

Establish handles. Pure anonymity in the social networking sphere is often a direct path to a chaotic and inefficient site. Require participants to use handles, or user names. It will help you track who said what, and ensure people use your site properly. Handles also let users find each other and form groups within the social networking site, which builds community.

Allow for members in good standing. This is a fancy way of saying "lead by example." Create a connection between handles and their social behavior, and it will show other users what is and is not permitted. It also helps you recognize users who contribute positively to the site.

Build barriers to participation. Controlling who can and cannot participate on your site gives the site greater focus and credibility -- and gives you greater control. Basically, it's another layer of protection against chaos, and builds a social order without stifling the conversation.

Protect conversations from scale. Most Web conversations are two-way communications. So when you have hundreds or even thousands of users, tracking conversations and participating becomes nearly impossible. Create a method for users to organize themselves into smaller, more manageable groups. It will increase their involvement, and build your community.

As Dion says, "the exciting part of the Web is that it's made of people." That means YOUR challenge is to make the experience exciting for your audience, and useful for your business.

Tagging: You're not it

2007-07-18T14:00:00.000-05:00

Who's doing what online? The answer's in a recent BusinessWeek chart based on Forrester Research about social networking users and usage.

The first takeaway: The age of the medium directly reflects the age of its core audience. The Web is twenty-something years old. So are the vast majority of its users. And I bet if you researched who watched the most television -- a 60-year-old medium -- you'd see older boomers and seniors glued to the tube.

The second takeaway: Collecting ain't all it's cracked up to be. Collectors number less than 20 percent, no matter their age. This means RSS feeds and post-share-vote sites like Digg and Reddit have barely made a dent in the social networking landscape, despite the persistent buzz.

To be honest, I'm not sure why RSS is doing so poorly. It's a useful tool that helps you scan information quickly, and saves you the trouble of revisiting sites for updates -- a terrific innovation for a time-starved era.

Conversely, no wonder tagging services are tanking. They add steps by asking people to post and vote. If folks really want to share interesting stories, they can simply e-mail them, and move on to the next thing.

In any event, being a creator, critic, joiner, or spectator is where it's at in social networking. That's why multi-faceted sites like MySpace, Facebook, and YouTube dominate the market: They offer all these functions to any taker. And in doing so, they grab the repeat visitors, the eyeballs, and the ad revenue.

Keep this in mind as you craft personal or corporate social networking strategies. Put your resources where they will reap the greatest reward -- into building a community, developing content, and inviting participation in the medium that matches your audience.

I want my Web 2.0 -- at work

2007-07-17T11:04:00.000-05:00

Want to use Web 2.0 tools at your company to change the way you interact with customers? Then skip the CFO and middle managers, and ask your CEO. Oh, and bring a cost/benefit analysis with you, too.

That's according to “Serious business: Web 2.0 goes corporate,” a study released by the Economist Intelligence Unit, and sponsored by FAST. The report examines how large corporations around the world apply Web 2.0 to their business practices.

The overarching result: 79 percent of respondents see Web 2.0 as a way to boost revenues, and cut costs. Drilling down, 85 percent of C-suite executives view Web 2.0's collaboration functions as an opportunity to increase revenue and/or margins.

These top-level execs are also more inclined to think Web 2.0 is 'transformative' (35 percent vs. 28 percent), and can significantly impact the company's business model (41 percent vs. 22 percent).

Just don't ask your CFOs first. They're the most skeptical about Web 2.0's benefits, and are less likely than other C-level execs to understand or support it.

And even though middle management is pro-2.0 at 75 percent, there seems to be a disconnect between the boardroom and the cubicle about best practices for actually implementing the tools.

Still, leery CFOs and hog-tied managers must not be getting too much in the way of progress, because nearly 60 percent of the companies say they are inviting customers to contribute content that helps develop and support products.

Here's where the bottom line boost comes in, according to the report. Most companies said that Web 2.0 makes acquiring and supporting customers much easier, which then increases revenue. It also cuts costs for customer support, advertising, PR, and product/service innovation.

And early adopters are cropping up all over the world. This includes the United States, Germany, China, India, and the United Kingdom. The top industries: entertainment and media, technology, travel and tourism, and professional services.

So where does your company fall on this Web 2.0 adoption spectrum? How have your managers and leaders responded to the technology? Share your thoughts and experiences here.

James Kotecki rides our airwaves

2007-07-12T11:05:00.000-05:00

We couldn't resist. It wasn't enough to blog about James Kotecki's political YouTube channel. We had to invite him for a podcast, too.

But we didn't talk about politics. Instead, we grilled James about how he creates his videos, connects with his subjects and audience, and works across social media and traditional media platforms.

He also gazed into his crystal ball for the next big social media innovation, and predicted his own place in the media landscape come 2008.

Considering he started his video blog in January -- and it's already garnered enough attention to land him on CNN, NPR, Fox, and others -- James's story is worth a listen for anyone aspiring to market themselves or their business through the online airwaves.

So play it here, download for later, and share with 1,000 of your closest friends.

Bringing the customer closer

2007-07-11T09:58:00.000-05:00

Business isn't what it used to be. Past generations of customers didn't have many choices. Shopping was usually done in the town where they lived. So if the shoe store didn't have the color sneakers someone wanted, too bad.

But in today's world, customers have all the power. They can now shop online to find the products they want, and search from Tennessee to Tokyo.

So how do you connect to this new breed of customers across the country and around the world? Businesses used to build reputations through personal contact, but the detached nature of the Internet makes cultivating relationships tricky -- unless you know the tricks of the trade.

Social Computing Magazine tells all with a list of the Top 10 Web 2.0 Technologies for Getting Closer to Your Customers. The takeaway: Communication between companies and patrons has never been easier, even though many customer service departments might never see a customer's face.

I've often discussed the importance of social networking, blogging, and podcasting here , but that's only the tip of the iceberg. As the list shows, there are plenty of methods to try. My recommendations:

* RSS feeds. This keeps customers and partners automatically updated about changes in your company or services.

* Search engine optimization. You can include key copy in your Web site that makes sure search engines send relevant queries right to it.

* Tagging. Customers can rate the usefulness of answers and information provided. And with each rating, merchants gain important feedback they can use to improve customer service and effectiveness.

In the end, personalizing a customer's experience in a largely impersonal technological realm can make a world of difference in repeat business and sales.

The secret is to foster conversation between customer and company, and build a strong user community, in whichever Web 2.0 medium works best for your biz.

YouTube for me, EUTube for you

2007-07-05T08:57:00.000-05:00

It's no secret that YouTube has rapidly become a leading form of advertising for businesses and publicity for public figures. Now, it's adding government information sharing to that list, thanks to the EU.

The European Commission just launched its own YouTube channel to make its audiovisual content more available to the global public. The clever moniker: EUTube.

EUTube's video content ranges from documentaries about EU activities and history, to interviews with European commissioners. Hot button issues such as climate change, energy, and immigration are also covered and available on the channel.

Interestingly, the green for the scheme is coming from citizens' tax dollars, which has generated a flurry of mixed reactions. Publicly published comments vary from "Great initiative," to "This site shows very well how European Commission spends stupidly our money. Before to through (sic) out away our money, you should ask us first our autorization (sic). We work hard to make this money and it's a very bad idea to waste it on useless politics."

Hmm. Do 'useless politics' include environmental protection, working for a smoke-free Europe, and expanding diversity? If so, then color me surprised. I see nothing but good in this technological advancement, which gives European citizens immediate access to pertinent information.

In fact, the U.S. should learn from the EU's info outreach, and start making reliable, accurate, and comprehensive resources available online in digestible AV formats. The technology is ready, the world is shrinking, and the audience is thirsty -- the perfect storm for any Web-savvy nation.

Election 2.1: Dorm room as campaign stop

2007-07-03T09:52:00.000-05:00

Breaking news: Key primaries for 2008 will be held in New Hampshire, Iowa, California, and the YouTube nation.

That's because blogging apparently isn't enough for current candidates. Their social media outreach is extending further -- and their influence, wider -- thanks to Georgetown student James Kotecki.

Armed with a video camera, a blog, and pictures on pencils, James interviews politicians right in his dorm room, and posts the segments online. He also critiques and analyzes the use of online video as part of campaign strategies.

James' meteoric rise as political commentator makes him a great outlet for candidates to get in front of, and dialogue with, a wired generation. (Check out Dennis Kucinich's video response.)

But beyond politics, James exemplifies the power of social media optimization. He embeds videos on his blog, posts his media hits, invites comments, and links to his MySpace and Facebook pages -- all in a single, clean, readable site.

It's cross-pollination at its best, maintaining a single unified message across all media platforms. Politicians -- and businesses -- would do well to go back to school themselves, and learn a thing or two from the kid with the pencil puppets. He's doing the right thing, the right way, and enjoying phenomenal results.

Election 2.0

2007-07-02T10:34:00.000-05:00

Note to 2008 candidates: Blog smart, or get flogged.

So says a new report from the IBM Center for the Business of Government. Titled “The Blogging Revolution: Government in the Age of Web 2.0,” the report aims to help public officials incorporate blogging into their communications campaigns.

That way, they can enjoy the benefits of blogging's direct outreach, without getting burned by the lack of filter (a la George Allen). The top recommendations, according to FCW.com:

1. Define yourself and your purpose.
2. Write the blog yourself.
3. Be sure to dedicate the necessary time to the blog.
4. Post updates regularly and respond to comments.
5. Don’t use the blog for self-promotion.
6. Accept criticism.
7. Run spell-check.
8. Don’t give the reader too much information.
9. Make the blog easy to use and try adding multimedia features.
10. Become a student of blogging and learn from others.

Hmm. Sound familiar? Oh, that's right -- these are the best practices for ANY blog, be it personal, professional, or political.

Granted, public officials operate largely in the public eye, so they must tread carefully with their words and messages. But they are people first, which can be their greatest asset if they know how to use it.

Indeed, a little humility in one's humanity goes a long way in the blogosphere. It keeps content honest, genuine, and accessible, and helps the audience identify more closely with the reader.

And isn't that the entire purpose of campaigning -- to win others' hearts and minds to a political agenda? Again, it's not terribly different from a business blog, where an organization aims to win hearts and minds to the product.

If done right, candidate blogging will open up stumping beyond the standard talking points, and make a refreshing addition to pressing palms and kissing babies. I'll be curious to see how this plays out in the 2008 election. Have a prediction? Leave it here, and we'll check back throughout the year.

Friendster? Really?

2007-06-29T14:58:00.000-05:00

File this story under "Great Comebacks of the 21st Century," right after the Boston Red Sox and before Lance Armstrong.

VentureBeat reported that pioneering social network Friendster experienced a 41 percent surge in page views in May -- about 9 billion views total. This gives it a 4th place finish in the social networking race, and a leading position among second-tier sites. (Keep in mind that Friendster has gained its popularity in secondary markets, which are not as valuable as the U.S. market.)

Friendster's resurrection is a good case study for other Web 2.0 businesses just getting started, or trying to overcome market setbacks. Here's the backstory: The company crashed and burned three years ago. It relinquished its market leadership to MySpace and then Facebook came in which didn’t help either. The future looked bleak.

But Friendster refused to admit defeat. Instead, it re-architected its site. The debilitating technology bugs were fixed and improved. And the company went toe-to-toe with rivals by adding classifieds, classmate search, invite prompts, and automatic friend updates.

Friendster also relaxed its views on who could be a member of the site, and stopped deleting accounts for cities, colleges, clubs, and people who just liked adding random people to their contact lists. In effect, they began copying the business model that killed them in the first place.

Now place this transformation within the context of social network community growth. Friendster passed through early buzz, plunged into obscurity, and presently enjoys self-sustaining growth (in member acquisition, not necessarily bottom line growth) in secondary markets to the United States.

Friendster will never regain the spotlight that it once had before being crushed by MySpace, but it can gain some ground in markets where MySpace doesn’t hold a death grip on the market.

It's already capturing valuable share in the Pacific Rim, and can overtake MySpace and Facebook in these markets if their growth continues at a decent clip. That said, I am not optimistic that it can continue at this rate without strong penetration in the U.S.

Will Friendster’s victory over MySpace in secondary markets happen tomorrow? No. Will Friendster ever become a leading social network in the U.S. and not look like a ghost town? Probably not.

After all, it took Friendster three years just to reach this hopeful turning and possibly tipping point, so reaching the No. 1 spot could take another few years, if ever.

Still, market velocity might be Friendster's new best buddy. Web 2.0's offerings and audience are growing exponentially and rapidly. This in turn will accelerate the growth model, and drive social networks along the curve faster than expected.

So what can start-up social networks learn from Friendster? One, business is business, online or off. Survival always demands strategy, flexibility, and adaptation.

Two, Web 2.0 is unpredictable. Friendster came back once, but they could easily slide back. And a new social network might be waiting in the wings, ready to make its own grand entrance and upstage the classic sites.

The takeaway: Just because there's a market leader doesn't mean you can't come along and redefine the space with a better, smarter feature set that reaches more users or a different set of users. Most recent example: the Apple iPhone, which has upset the telecom industry simply by attempting to redefine what a mobile phone is.

So take the existing paradigm, and reinvent it or break it -- even if that paradigm is your own.

Wooing the new

2007-06-26T08:25:00.000-05:00

The young have spoken. And they want Web 2.0.

According to a recent article in InformationWeek, employers are finding that their younger workers -- such as the new batch of college graduates entering the market right now -- are pushing to have Web 2.0 technologies available in the work place.

Employers are also finding that if companies don't adopt the technologies, such as wikis, blogs, and social networking sites, their younger employees are likely to use them covertly, which eliminates an employer's control, management, and ability to secure these networks.

Many IT managers have already started preparing to integrate Web 2.0 technologies into their business practices, a common topic at last week's Enterprise 2.0 conference in Boston.

For the new generation of budding employees, these tools are just as valuable as technologies such as e-mail to the generation of workers that preceded them.

Employers take heed: Martina De Beer, a senior VP with Cisco Systems, says that if these technologies are not provided, younger employees will leave for a more tech-capable environment.

So if you're looking to attract and retain the tech-savvy generation quickly seeping into the work force, I suggest you go Web 2.0 now. No matter what, dealing with its integration will soon be necessary. So what's stopping you from jumping on the movement now?

Podcast like a Fox

2007-06-21T08:31:00.000-05:00

Maggie Fox says she's never met a medium she didn't like. We say she's our kind of woman.

She's the founding partner and chief blogger of Social Media Group. This is Canada's first agency devoted exclusively to helping businesses navigate the world of Web 2.0, and harness the power of emerging social media channels.

Maggie certainly practices what she preaches. This communications and content expert blogs, writes, produces, strategizes, and counsels on social media around the world. She also hosts the weekly Social Media Today podcast for the Social Media Collective.

We decided to podcast the podcaster, and turned our mic toward Maggie to glean her thoughts on defining social media, translating offline business experience in Web 2.0 success, and crafting effective blogs and podcasts.

It's 20 minutes well-spent with an industry insider. Listen, absorb, and share with other eager minds!

Testing one, two, three ... testing ...

2007-06-20T09:20:00.000-05:00

The eyes of the world are on Philadelphia ... or at least on its upcoming free WiFi network for city residents.

After three years in the making, it appears Philadelphia is closer to realizing city-wide Internet access. The Philadelphia Inquirer just reported that the city and its partner EarthLink successfully conducted a 15-square-mile test project over the weekend.

It's given them the confidence to test the system over the rest of the city's 135 square miles. Certainly this will help local small and medium-sized businesses break out of the national marketplace box, and reach customers on the global stage.

For more of that local perspective, check out our interview with Greg Goldman and Thomas Kim from non-profit Wireless Philadelphia. We podcasted them earlier this year about what this wireless initiative means for folks in Philly.

The upshot: There's still a lot of work ahead for the Wi-Fi partners, but the end result will be worth the wait.

Are you blogging "Are you blogging this?"?

2007-06-15T13:46:00.000-05:00

I love to blog. According to Technorati, so do 70 million other people and organizations.

No one more cleverly sums up this ever-growing phenomenon than David Lee King, whose video I found on Tim O'Reilly's blog:

King's take is humorous, but he speaks the truth. Every Web 2.0 service mentioned in his song is a useful tool for getting an individual's or organization's message off the ground, and into people's homes.

The video's production proves its content. King filmed the piece in his cubicle, posted it on YouTube, and watched it go viral through blogs. How's that for practicing what you preach?

And with more new services coming every day, there will be plenty for us to blog about -- and plenty to learn. Click away, friends.

Web 2.0 meets Darwinism

2007-06-12T10:50:00.000-05:00

The jury’s in, folks -- Web 2.0 is not a fad.

More businesses are using new technologies such as blogs, podcasts, and social bookmarking to get out their message, and seeing powerful results.

That’s according to a recent poll conducted by NetBenefit. In it, 60 percent of respondents attending Internet World said Web 2.0 provides real value to their businesses.

What struck me most was that 83 percent of respondents saw Web 2.0 technologies as the Internet’s evolution, rather than a radical change in the way we use the Web. Think of it as the Web's progression from the Paleolithic to the Neolithic era.

This begs the question: Is Web 3.0 around the corner? I say yes. So keep your business walking upright by embracing social networking technologies now.

Full steam ahead for podcast popularity

2007-06-11T09:08:00.000-05:00

Podcast listening is on the rise.

So says a new study from Edison Media Research that reveals the latest statistics, questions, and trends about podcast consumption.

From 2006 to 2007, podcast awareness in the United States rose 15 percent -- from 22 percent to 37 percent -- while podcast listening increased, from 11 percent to 13 percent.

Some skeptics have squabbled over these results, pointing out the disconnect between the awareness and adoption rates. But remember: Even a 2 percent increase in the estimated 219 million American Internet users means almost 44 4.4 million people.

Tom Webster, Vice President of Edison Media Research, comments on the varying opinions of what this means for podcasting, referring to what he considers "the glass half empty" syndrome.

Plus, podcasting can now shake the stigma of geeky tech boys in glasses working out of their garages. Statistics show podcast consumption is almost equally split between men and women.

And advertisers take note: Almost half of all podcast listeners are between the ages of 24 and 44. This spans some of the most lucrative consumer groups in the country.

The study also touched upon podcast producer demographics. Turns out the majority of podcasters are well educated, with at least a college degree, and are more likely to live in high income homes.

My conclusion: Consumer-controlled content is the future of audio and visual production, with podcasting taking the lead.

Google and Apple consummate relationship

2007-06-05T11:20:00.000-05:00

I own one mighty crystal ball. Four months after I predicted Google and Apple would join forces for full-length video distribution, the deal has come to pass. (Check out the full story at BusinessWeek.)

Well, it sorta came to pass. I had envisioned entirely Web-based distribution, where audiences could download full-length movies directly to their iPods, and watch them on the go.

Instead, Google and Apple are connecting computers to televisions. The link is Apple's new digital transmitter Apple TV, which puts customers' iTunes libraries -- movies, TV shows, music, and podcasts -- on their TV sets.

Under this new agreement, Apple TV will carry clips from YouTube. This helps the site's fans watch cute puppies, Coke-and-Mentos experiments, and 'Dancing with the Stars' segments from the comfort of their living rooms.

Note the mutual back-scratching here: Google can cross-market even more user-generated content, and Apple can tap the video-sharing site's popularity to stimulate Apple TV sales.

So, while my prediction was not completely realized, this partnership marks another big step in the Google/Apple (Goople? Aggle?) relationship.

In the end, will their total media domination come true? My Magic 8 ball says, "Without a doubt."

The great customer hunt: Selling to social networkers

2007-06-01T15:43:00.000-05:00

Your target market is out there, tapping away at their keyboards as we speak. The question is, how do you reach them?

Some of the newest and, some say, most efficient methods of communication are the Web's social networking sites.

Over half of Canadians who use the Web are on some sort of social networking forum, according to an article by Kathleen Lau for Canadian Technology News, IT Business.

That's roughly 11,220,000 people on social networks in Canada alone. And in the U.S., an estimated 70 million people now use social networking sites, with the number increasing daily. Now add in the rest of the planet.

Companies are discovering these groups are more effective than advertising, because they organically foster word of mouth -- which is free, and more effective, because it's inarguably credible.

Better yet, this audience is inhaling the 24-hour, all-you-can-eat social networking smorgasbord, just waiting for your business to pop up and feed their need for whatever it is your business does -- if you understand how to communicate in this realm.

Are you ready to mine these social networks? If you are, stay tuned. We'll show you some techniques to get started in our next posts.

Study uncovers surprising social networking trends

2007-05-30T10:17:00.000-05:00

Welcome back from Memorial Day, everyone! I hope you had a pleasant break from your energy-consuming business ventures (and cash-consuming gasoline prices).

I spent the morning getting back into the swing of things by trolling the blogosphere for interesting articles. I stumbled upon a fascinating article in a most unlikely place: Rent to Own Online. The site covered various studies, trends, legislation, news -- all the resources that impact business operations.

One article that caught my eye highlighted just-released survey results from the Institute for Corporate Productivity (i4cp). Its key finding: 65 percent of business professionals now use personal AND professional networking sites.

Intrigued, I tracked down the original study: The Social Network Practitioner Consensus Survey, conducted by i4cp in conjunction with HR.com just this month. A total of 323 organizations participated.

Some of the highlights:

Professionals' top picks. LinkedIn, Yahoo! 360, and MySpace led the charge as the most popular sites for professionals.

New social networks for traditional business uses. Just over half (52 percent) of respondents whose organizations use social networking sites do it to keep internal staff and remote employees connected. Forty-seven percent tap the networks to connect with potential clients and showcase their skills. And 35 percent say they job-hunt through social networks.

Social networks as organizational IQ boosters. Over half (55 percent) of businesses who have internal social networks use them to share best practices with colleagues, while 49 percent use them to get answers to pressing issues or challenges.

Turn non-users into users. Some respondents don't use social networks. The top reason for 37 percent: They just don't know what networks to use. However, the majority of respondents (59 percent) said they would get on board with social networks if they knew it would assist their professional development. And 77 percent would definitely join the parade if they thought networks could aid organizational efficiency.

Interesting stuff. For me, the study raises as many questions as it answers. How do organizations set up these networks? How do they choose them? Do the business managers run them, or do they require IT staff and support? Do they rely on external networks, or build them internally? How do they get employees on board? And what do social networks offer to smaller businesses who have lean staffs?

I'm trying to get in touch with Jay Jamrog, i4cp senior vice president, to see what more there might be to this study, and see if he'd like to join me in a podcast to discuss same. Stay tuned.

I get by with a little help from Sandra Wilks

2007-05-25T03:55:00.000-05:00

And so do small businesses and non-profit organizations, thanks to Sandra's lifelong passion for helping people achieve their career goals.

She's a Philadelphia entrepreneur who works in conjunction with the Community Capital Works at Philadelphia Development Partnership. Her mission: to help microenterprises develop core business skills, and get their concepts off the ground.

It's a fitting role for a woman who got her start in business 50 years ago selling household goods door to door. And her later experiences running a grocery store with her husband taught her about the trials, tribulations, and triumphs of small business ownership.

Now, she draws on these lessons to teach other start-ups how to find capital, obtain licenses, develop consistent marketing tools, and refine organizational vision.

We called Sandra up for her direct insights into the small business universe. The result was an informative, inspirational podcast that will give new business owners actionable advice about where to start.

And, whether you're a new business owner, or know someone that is, send the podcast along to spread the resources.

Presenting the classical online business example

2007-05-23T10:08:00.001-05:00

You won’t find Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony on the Billboard Top 100, but you will find it at Arkiv Music LLC. The online music store sells the hits from three centuries ago, and plays to the tastes of classical music lovers.

But why use a modern medium to sell antique music? The site’s creators, President Eric Feidner and COO Brian O'Connor, thought that distributing classical music through the Internet would be more efficient and cost-effective than establishing a brick-and-mortar store.

Their reasoning: Classical music doesn't sell the volume of CDs and DVDs that would warrant stocking shelves, but its demand is significant enough to generate brisk online sales.

Their instinct proved correct. Five years later, over 350,000 customers worldwide have purchased CDs and DVDs from Arkiv Music. The result: sales that return 25 to 30 percent growth each year.

Of course, it's best to hear the story straight from the source, so our podcast team interviewed Brian at the Main Line Chamber of Commerce event.

Brian’s background also includes Director of Operations of Music Boulevard, which has since merged with CDNOW.

Listen to Brian’s advice for starting a successful online business -- we promise it will be music to your ears.

Taking Pogue beyond user-generated content

2007-05-22T14:30:00.000-05:00

I was catching up on some blog reading last week, and this post by David Pogue -- one of my favorite tech writers on NYTimes.com -- caught my eye.

In his post, Pogue says many Web 2.0 and user-generated content capabilities are still waiting to be discovered. He spins a few ideas of his own, such as a site where people can report what sickness they're coming down with, and where they live, so other people can determine if germs are heading their way.

Interesting stuff, but there's much more to Web 2.0 than user-generated content. Read my response to Pogue's post for the full download. And don't forget to leave your comments for me here!

Powerselling mother knows best

2007-05-21T10:08:00.000-05:00

Danna Crawford is not your typical stay-at-home mom -- unless mothers who make their living entirely off eBay have become the norm since my childhood.

That's because Danna is an eBay Power Seller, trading assistant, and education specialist based in Ocala, Fla. She's also the proprietor of AskDanna.com and PowerSellingMom.com, and the author/editor of various e-books ranging from instructional eBay guides to Irish cookbooks.

With her fingers in a wide array of digital pies, Danna has been able to work from home since 1997, pay her bills, and make her kids her No. 1 priority -- all because she had an Internet connection and the determination to make the most of it.

We got on the horn with Danna to discuss her techniques and strategies for self-employment through the Web. She gave us great insight into the eBay universe; offered advice on maintaining a consistent Web identity across multiple sites; and alerted us to some cool services geared toward small business owners.

This podcast is for anyone who wants to sell goods online, but has no idea where to start, or who wants to kick personal e-commerce efforts up a notch. Listen, absorb, and pass along!

E-mail made the radio star

2007-05-18T08:07:00.000-05:00

Remember my post on successful e-mail strategies?

I got to build out those ideas even further for Entrepreneur Magazine Radio last week, when Lee Mirabal interviewed me about ways to implement and execute effective e-mail campaigns.

Check out the third link on the right side -- '13 Tips for a Successful e-Mail Marketing Campaign.' And thanks for the opportunity, Lee!

Artist architects new career online

2007-05-17T13:40:00.000-05:00

What do you do when you suspect your avocation won’t pay the bills? Give it up? Choose a related career path? Or find a way to turn your talents into a viable job, and jump into a new venture with both feet?

Artist Jaye Coltharp chose the last option, and is now standing tall as a small business owner. She's the sole proprietor of Fashioned by Jaye, an arts and crafts store she opened in Springfield, Mo., this past September.

Seven years ago, however, Jaye was on her way to a career in architecture. It wasn't until she started selling her artwork on eBay that her true passion found financial stability, eventually enabling her to open a brick-and-mortar space.

Jaye's journey from trading wares on the Internet to buying a downtown shop is a great case study in using online tools to support offline business. Her presence on eBay and MySpace has gained her recognition, ensured a reliable customer base, and attracted artists eager to sell at her store.

And her visible storefront in Springfield fuels word of mouth from satisfied customers, encouraging local people to return. The upshot: Marketing is the one small business challenge Jaye doesn't have to worry about.

We caught up with this artist/businesswoman for a podcast to discuss her career path, successes, and lessons learned. So if you're thinking about pursuing your dream job, or want to reinvigorate your existing business, this is one interview you don't want to miss.

Seth Godin dips into book tour

2007-05-16T08:47:00.000-05:00

Did you catch last month's podcast with Seth Godin? Intrigued by his latest book, The Dip? Interested in seeing him live?

If so, you're in luck. Seth is kicking off his book tour today in Philadelphia at World Cafe. Although tickets are already sold out there, seats might be available at the door.

And if you miss him here, he will also be appearing throughout the U.S., from New York to Santa Clara. So check your calendars for May, see if he's coming to your neck o' the woods, and make a date to hear him speak.

It's a terrific opportunity to learn actionable marketing advice firsthand, and transform it into new strategies for your business. And no worries if you don't catch Seth on this round -- his next book comes out in January.

Have fun!

Word gets out about word of mouth

2007-05-15T10:26:00.000-05:00

What do religions, roadsters, and razors have in common? Their popularity and adoption is spurred by word-of-mouth validation.

That type of validation was the topic of our conversation with Ed Keller, CEO of Keller Fay Group; author of the seminal book, The Influentials; and President of the Word of Mouth Marketing Association (WOMMA).

Clearly Ed's career revolves around making sure the word gets out -- literally. Today, companies can no longer simply push brands on consumers. That's because consumers are pulling information themselves to share, discuss, and even contest.

The corporate impulse is to try to control online buzz. That's why many companies remain fearful of starting corporate blogs, for example. Instead of fostering word of mouth (buzz), they avoid it. They think it opens the floodgates for negative feedback that will tarnish their brand.

As you will hear in our podcast, Ed says that's all hooey. He counsels corporate marketers to join the conversation; accept, learn from, and improve products and services through online criticism; and ultimately, strengthen trust with customers.

In turn, they will spread the good word on your behalf -- the most powerful form of advertising.

Of course, that's just a nutshell of Ed's advice, so tune in our podcast get the full frontal on fostering positive word-of-mouth, both online +and+ off. Then practice what he preaches by passing it along!

Putting Web 2.0 on the map

2007-05-14T08:10:00.000-05:00

Ferdinand Magellan was the first to sail around the world. Lewis and Clark were the first to go overland to the Pacific and back. And now xkcd is the first to give us a cartographic breakdown of Web communities.

I wouldn't recommend using this map to traverse the globe, but even with tongue firmly in cheek, the cartoon highlights where people are congregating online, and how they're using the Internet. Case in point: the enormous MySpace continent.

Think for a moment what this map would have looked like 10, five, even two years ago. Google, Yahoo!, Amazon, chat rooms, and other Web 1.0 states would have taken up half the area, crowding smaller players into their own island clusters.

One can only imagine what changes lie ahead, as Web 2.0 continues to alter the online landscape, and whatever comes next (Web 3.0 anyone?) rattles the planet. Boundaries will be redrawn, continents will shift, seas will shrink, and fortunes will be won and lost.

The not-so-accidental tourist

2007-05-10T13:10:00.000-05:00

Actually, make that the not-so-accidental tourism marketer. We're talking about -- and with -- Annie Heckenberger, Social Media Director at the Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation. (You have to love her title!)

Annie is part of the dynamic team behind the City of Phildelphia's image. She's an expert in new media, which includes online outreach, mobile content, and even computer gaming.

One of Annie's most visible efforts has been uwishunu, a blog her department created to tap the talent of Philadelphia's creative class, and tout what Annie refers to as "unconventional city life." (Here's the complete 411.)

The secret to uwishunu's success as a tourism initiative: Annie's team used the right approach for the right audience. They needed to reach tourists who wanted to 'stay like locals' in the city. And they knew these people had near-total use of Internet tools to research, purchase, and plan travel.

So they met them on their own turf, with a funky, well-designed blog that attracted fresh content from local artists, musicians, foodies, and more. The result: a fun, informative source on the newest regional hot spots that reached its intended audience, and convinced them to visit Philadelphia.

Listening to Annie's podcast is a fast and effective way to glean her proven insights on creating and leveraging a successful tourism blog. And if you like what you learn, pass it along to spread the good word!

Web advice you can bank on

2007-05-09T08:40:00.000-05:00

Here's another dose of business guidance from the Main Line Chamber of Commerce event -- this time, courtesy of John Durso.

John is the marketing manager of St. Edmonds Federal Savings Bank, one of Philadelphia’s oldest, yet smallest banks, with only six branches. He helps organize local events that encourage small and mid-sized businesses to leverage the Web and technology.

When we interviewed John, he echoed what I've long evangelized here: Using the Internet to grow your small business is the only way to increase market visibility. Competing against larger businesses is difficult, perhaps impossible without it.

John practices what he preaches at St. Edmonds. The bank recently upgraded its Web site to make it interactive, and increased its leads as a result -- proof that a well-conceived Web presence works.

But better to hear the story directly from John, as he stresses the importance of being online.

Untangling Web 2.0, part 3

2007-05-07T13:20:00.000-05:00

Let's get the week started by picking up where I left off last week. I've laid the groundwork for understanding social networking, creating profiles for your business, and learning best practices for building contacts.

And now the best part: How to leverage those guidelines to build traction for your business.

Like skinning a cat, this can be accomplished in several ways:

Send individual e-mails. A feature of every social network is a personal Inbox where you can send messages to your contacts and other members. By crafting clear, well-focused, short messages, you can pass along brief information about your business.

This works well when you want to converse quickly with one person. They're also good for individual follow-up questions about your company.

However, sending e-mails one at a time is time consuming. And if they're not short and punchy, the receiver might not even read it. So it's important to quickly and succinctly sneak your message in.

Comment on your contacts' profile pages. Leaving a friendly hello on your contacts' profiles is a good way to get to know your neighbors and form relationships. Once you build rapport, you can try subtly plugging your product, service, or business in your comment.

You can take it a step further by adding an occasional picture or video to your comments. Think of commenting as a public e-mail. Anyone who comes across that person's profile can see it. Also a bit time-consuming, but it's a great way to market yourself, have people stumble upon you, and request you to be part of their contacts.

Post bulletins. This is where the real bang comes from. Posting bulletins basically means sending mass e-mail to your contacts. However, instead of going to your contacts' Inboxes, the message is posted in their internal bulletin boards page. This way, you can efficiently spread your message to your entire network without clogging mailboxes.

Just go to the internal bulletin board (MySpace has the best one), click 'post new bulletin,' and type a message. It's in the same format as e-mail, so use the same guidelines that you would for any e-mail message.

Start and join groups. You can form groups about ANYTHING -- from the serious, such as Green Thumbs (if you have a landscaping business), to the wacky, such as People Who Love Cherry-Flavored Lollipops (if you love cherry-flavored lollipops). Then you invite members to join.

You can use groups in a few ways to build traction for your business. One is to form a focus group, and ask members for their opinions on your products and business. People will usually be honest -- whether positively or negatively -- especially the college kids. If they think you are selling junk, they will tell you exactly that.

The key is not to get discouraged by negative comments, and instead dig deeper to find out why that comment was posted. How do you do this? Simply use the e-mail function, and do a follow-up with that particular person in the way I outlined above. (See how all these tools eventually come together? They make life a heck of a lot easier.)

Likewise, be on the lookout for groups to join. You can easily search for groups by topic, and click to join them. You can view the members' profiles, too. It's a great way to network and build more relationships with other like-minded people.

Blog within the community. I've talked about blogs so much lately that I'm blue in the face. So, check out my 13 blog tips. They all apply to blogging within a social network, since there's no difference between having a blog on your personal Web page, or within a social network.

The purpose is the same: Opine on your passion, cultivate an audience, and get people talking about your business. A blog on a social network can act as your everyday blog if you want. Just direct all your clients to that blog through your social network profile.

This might look like a ton of stuff to digest, but if you look at it piece by piece, you'll see that none of it is tough to do. Plus, you don't even have to be tech-savvy. That's the beauty of the Web 2.0 revolution, as it makes the Internet accessible to anyone. And now that the Web is untangled, it's more understandable, too!

Ben McConnell reveals marketing's 5th 'P'

2007-05-04T13:33:00.000-05:00

Any B-school grad worth their salt had the four P's of marketing drummed into their heads: product, price, place (distribution), and promotion.

But did you know there's a fifth P? Neither did we, until we spoke to author, blogger, and consultant Ben McConnell.

Ben and his business partner Jackie Huba are the brains behind the pioneering Church of the Customer blog. They're also the authors of "Citizen Marketers: Where People are the Message," which hit bookstore shelves last month.

The book discusses how regular people are the new cultural influencers, using nothing more than a laptop, a broadband hookup, and their own research and opinions to shape business products and practices.

And they are directly responsible for the marketing mix's new 'P' -- participation. By giving customers ownership in the business world through participation, a business can build loyalty and grow profits.

There's more good stuff where that came from in the podcast, so click it, take it, share it, and learn from it.

Here I am with Ben (center) and Andy (right):

And here's our producer, Warren, interviewing Ben:

Sasha Issenberg: Raw and unedited

2007-05-03T13:30:00.000-05:00

I've got one of the biggest fish tales you've ever heard -- that's hundreds-of-dollars-per-pound big.

It starts in Japan, about 30 years ago. The fish in question is tuna. Sports fishermen caught the fish, and sold it for pennies as an ingredient in cat food.

Fast forward to today. That tuna isn't going for pennies anymore. It's being harvested at record rates, and Tokyo auctioneers sell millions of dollars of the fish every day to create one of the world's most coveted epicurean delights: sushi.

Now you see sushi restaurants at every street corner and on every menu -- even at places like pubs and sports bars.

Why? Well, I wondered that myself. And there's no better person to ask than Philadelphia Magazine writer Sasha Issenberg. His new book, "The Sushi Economy: Globalization and the Making of a Modern Delicacy," has all the answers, and it hits bookstores today.

The book is the product of a 15-month global tour interviewing fishermen, chefs, and just about anyone else involved in the sushi trade. The result: The entire history of sushi, from its beginnings as a Japanese snack to its current status as a global phenomenon.

But we couldn't wait for the book to come out to learn how this fish story ends. We met up with the author earlier this week at Genji, a great sushi restaurant (come on, was it even a question?) in downtown Philly.

Sasha dished on how the sushi trade grew in a global market over such a short span of time, reflected on whether we might be in a sushi bubble, and reveals his favorite type of sushi (we couldn't help but ask).

And as luck would have it, we captured the convo here. Although you can't mount this one on your wall, you can download it, sync it to your iPod, and take it with you.

More untangling of Web 2.0

2007-05-03T08:33:00.000-05:00

The first step to solving your problem is admitting you have one. I'm admitting it. I'm addicted to blogging. But I'm not too interested in solving it, because where would that leave all you loyal IncPlace readers?

Case in point: I just had to return to my keyboard and bang out part two of social networking how-to's. Let's get started!

First, activate your account and build your profile. This can be as easy or as difficult as you want. Most social networks have templates you can choose from, so you don't have to be a designer in order to have something that looks professional.

Like I said before, these social networks are geared to individuals, so the areas to fill out info might seem a bit strange. However, they can be adapted for business use. In the "about me" section, fill out any info that you want people to know.

In the "interests and hobbies" section, you might list your products, or keywords relating to your business.

The pictures section is a great place to put your company logo, and those shots of you at the company Christmas party.

Don't forget that you can join more than one social network, so your messages should be tailored to the audience that visits the networks. If you can relate to them, they can relate to you.

Once this basic info is set up, it's time to grow your network and meet vital contacts.

Don't be intimidated -- this is pretty easy to do. Start by browsing profiles and adding them to your buddy list. Browsing for profiles is a very simple task, since all social networks do it the same way.

It's important to keep two things in mind when adding people to your friend or contact list. You can add anybody you want -- but remember, you're a business, so you want to add people who share common interests with your product or service. You also want to find your target market.

This is why I recommend MySpace as the best option to date. You can do a site search to find members who fit your audience. For example, if you sell trendy clothes, you might want to search for people who are into fashion and friend request them.

Once you start adding friends, you'll see the networking effect take place. Soon people will be requesting to add you to their contact list. But beware, some of these accounts are fake. The good news is, it's pretty easy to tell the fake from the legit. Here are my guidelines for what's fake:

Friend requests from a celebrity, such as Tom Cruise or the ever-popular Jenna Jameson. Chances are celebs don't have an interest in your business. The proof? Search a social network for Tom Cruise. There are hundreds of impersonators.

On the other hand, if your goal is to just add as many people as you can, then by all means, accept Tom's invitation. You're not going to be in any type of online danger. However, it might weaken your credibility if you have a ton of celebs as buddies (unless you're an agent).

Friend requests from someone in Alabama. In order to create mass spam accounts, people use computer programs to automatically make specific profile choices. The easiest location choice is the first on the drop down menu: Alabama.

This is also the reason many webcam girls come from Alabama. Check out this post from Seun for an explanation.

Friend requests from someone who asks you to check out their webcam. Don't click on the webcam -- no matter how tempting it might be.

Profiles without pictures. Social networkers tend to be quite a photogenic bunch, so accounts without pictures, or just one picture, are likely fake.

Profiles full of nonsense comments. Something like "Thanx for da add" is probably the work of a robot. Also, accounts with no signs of intelligent back-and-forth chit-chatting between friends are probably fake as well.

Profiles containing get-rich-quick schemes. They're a scam, simple as that.

"Now Andy," you might say, "it sounds like I'll be stuck with a ton of fake accounts, and all my personal information will be stolen." This is not the case. I'm just giving you a heads-up about what is out there.

Above all, use your common sense. Street smarts work well in the online world, too. If someone off the street offered you free money, you'd just keep walking. Online is no different.

Now that you've got your profile up and made some friends, what do you do with them? PARTYYY!

Well, not quite ... Uh oh, Seun just walked in front my desk with an urgent matter. BRB, friends, I'll have the final installment of social networking 101 soon!

Oh, what a tangled Web 2.0 we weave ...

2007-05-02T08:50:00.000-05:00

Quick! When I say Web, you say 2.0. Web! [2.0!]

Web! [2.0!]

Web! [2.0!]

You got it! ... Or do you?

Web 2.0 is all about community, collaboration, and social networking. This is all fine and well if you understand how to use it to your advantage. And that's what I'm here for, folks.

Many business owners ask me how they can become part of these online communities. Most believe it's hard to get involved in community-based networks, and even harder to use them. This is a myth. These things are so easy to use, even a diaper-donning baby can have great success with them. (Well, you get the point.)

For those who don’t know what social networking is, let me take a moment to clarify. It’s the new buzzword for what used to be called word-of-mouth advertising (WOM). The buzzword was created so that some guy could rake in millions by making something people already did sound brand-new -- a total crock, but who am I to argue with a great business plan?

In order to understand how to use social networks to grow your business and spread the word online, we have to first define what networks will give you the most bang for your buck. And by buck I mean time put into networking, since most of the sites are free.

Consider the big three: Facebook, LinkedIn, and MySpace. These sites are the most well-known social networking sites. Facebook caters to the college- and high school-based audience.

LinkedIn is a resume-trading site that's fairly complex and difficult to navigate. It's the only network of the three that was intended for any type of business use. But there really isn’t much else to do on it besides share resumes with friends and coworkers.

And then there's MySpace. Anyone can join it. And even though it's not business-oriented, it is the most viable option for businesses right now because of its open policies.

The real work starts from here, so buckle your boots. I'll have more social networking tools and tips soon!

Jim Shulman looks back to look ahead

2007-04-30T15:25:00.001-05:00

Remember my incredible luck when it comes to door prizes? Well, I'm equally fortunate when it comes to finding interesting people to interview.

On today's podcast menu: Jim Shulman, a local Philadelphia-area businessman, and the president of Marketing Results. We met him at the Main Line Chamber of Commerce's “Web-based Business Discussion: Build Your Own Business” event last month.

In this interview, Jim discusses how small businesses still have major business needs, and how Web-based companies are facing similar challenges that other new business sectors (i.e. catalogs) faced when they started to hit the big time. Listen, learn, and pass along!

Show us the Wray

2007-04-30T10:15:00.000-05:00

Meet Steven Wray. He's the Executive Director of the Economy League of Greater Philadelphia, a nearly 100-year-old organization focused on making the region more prosperous.

He leads a powerful board of directors made up of influential business leaders from around the region, all of whom pursue a number of initiatives, including accelerating minority business development.

We first met Wray at the CCPA event in February (the same event that gave us Krista Bard and Thomas Morr), and followed up with him to get his thoughts on the past, present, and future of the local economy, and how businesses can play a role going forward.

I won't give away the store here, so check out Wray's podcast for the big picture.

Lucky 13: Tips for a winning e-mail campaign

2007-04-26T15:40:00.000-05:00

Getting your business off and running requires reaching out to the masses, and letting them know you exist. How do you do this, you ask? Through a solid marketing campaign.

And in today’s Web 2.0 world, an e-mail marketing campaign is the best course of action. It’s the most convenient and effective way to drive customers to your site.

To put you on the right course, I’m offering 13 tips for putting together a can’t miss e-mail marketing campaign that's sure to heat up your ROI.

1. Set appropriate goals.

Before putting the campaign into motion, make sure you identify the goals for your campaign by asking yourself the following questions:

Are you selling a product or service? Do you want to bring people to your Web site or an Internet-specific destination? Do you want to increase traffic in a brick-and-mortar store? Are you offering coupons or special promotional deals? Are you trying to get potential customers to sign up for a newsletter?

Asking yourself these questions will dictate the direction and messaging that your campaign needs to follow. Your main goal is to produce results and get people to respond to your e-mail by asking for more information. Make sure your goals allow for people to feel not bombarded, but instead walked through a process that is simple, yet leaves them wanting more.

2. Set a reasonable response-rate goal.

The chances of reaching double-digit response rates are slim, so a response rate in the lower half of single-digit numbers is pretty good. Don’t be discouraged if only one or two percent respond. Those are decent industry-standard response rates. Remember, you will have the opportunity to follow up with those respondents, and potentially start long-lasting relationships.

3. Know what you're buying.

If you’re planning to purchase e-mail lists from third parties, make sure you’re buying what you want. Many services do not check if e-mails are still active, yet charge you for their use anyway.

Ask the e-mail provider if their information is for sale or for rent. There is a big difference between the two. If the information is for sale, you obviously can reuse the e-mail addresses over and over again.

The charge per e-mail is usually a bit higher than if the e-mail is rented. When it is rented, you have no control over who receives the e-mail being sent out. All you receive is an invoice from the company saying they sent 5,000 e-mails out on your behalf -- but you don't know who that is.

4. Resist the shotgun approach.

In other words, don’t send e-mails for the sake of sending e-mails. It is ineffective and costly. If you can’t pinpoint a target audience, then re-evaluate your marketing strategy. A shotgun approach will drastically diminish your ROI.

5. Write great copy.

Your audience doesn’t want to receive e-mails or letters with bad grammar or spelling errors. It’s unprofessional, and will likely be discarded. Put yourself in your customer’s shoes. If spelling errors abound, then your message goes straight to the spam folder.

Keep your copy short and to the point. You don’t want the reader guessing what you’re offering, or have any doubt about what your message is. The average reader’s attention span is already short. Just think how many long e-mails you like to read. And attention spans get even shorter when the e-mail is coming from someone people might not already have a relationship with.

Don’t bore them with every detail. Hit them with the most important facts, and make sure they make sense. Use short paragraphs consisting of three short sentences.

One- or two-word sentences work well. For example, Sign up, Buy, and Save. The word free also will get people to respond. Who doesn’t like free stuff? Even if the free stuff you’re offering is limited to a report, people will want it, simply because it's free.

6. DON'T USE ALL CAPITAL LETTERS IN YOUR MESSAGING.

IT LOOKS OBNOXIOUS, AND GIVES THE READER THE IMPRESSION YOU ARE YELLING AT THEM!

Instead, keep your text on a conversational and informal level. You want the recipient to feel comfortable with you, and not feel they are being force-fed propaganda, which they are. But if you follow these tips, they won’t think they are.

7. Give a call to action.

Make sure you have a proper call to action in the first two or three sentences of your e-mail. Describe what you’re offering in the most concise way possible. Make sure the prospective new customer knows how to reach you. Do they visit your Web site? Do they respond to this e-mail? Do they call you on the phone?

Include all of this in the beginning of your pitch. Like I said before, don’t leave the reader guessing, or they will get frustrated and move on.

8. Set deadlines and termination dates for the product or service you offer.

Even if you extend those dates, or don’t have drop-dead dates at all, people don’t want to miss out on special deals. If they feel that they have a limited time to act, the rate of impulse buying goes up.

9. Offer plain text.

If you are sending an e-mail with graphics in an HTML format, also offer a plain text format in the message. Some e-mail browsers will not display HTML-based e-mails. And nothing is worse than spending the time, money, and effort on a campaign that some recipients can’t read.

If you have pictures and other interactive features in your e-mail, make sure the file size does not get unwieldy. Nobody is going to download any e-mail from someone they don’t already know and trust.

Save the file attachments and PowerPoint presentations to follow up e-mails once you receive a positive response from an e-mail recipient.

10. Let recipients unsubscribe.

Don’t forget to have a way for recipients to unsubscribe from your list. If there is no way to unsubscribe and a recipient gets e-mails from you every day, you will be flagged as spam. This increases your company's chances of ending up on a spam list, and blocked from e-mail services such as Google or Yahoo! Mail.

11. Test, test, test.

Don’t roll out your campaign until you test it. Send the e-mail to all of your coworkers. Set up e-mails in different types of e-mail services so you can verify that all of the elements described above are correct, and that your message is in fact what you want it to be. Get everyone’s feedback, and implement the appropriate changes.

12. Track, track, track.

Make sure you can track your e-mail results and responses. Otherwise you can’t calculate your ROI and figure out if the campaign was successful and worth doing again.

An easy way to track responses is to direct that e-mail to a Web site that only recipients of the e-mail can access. Then you only have to track the views you get on that specific Web page.

13. Grow your bottom line.

Obviously, the whole point of an e-mail campaign is to accomplish something that grows your company’s bottom line in some way.

To do this, follow up with any respondents' questions or responses you receive from the e-mail campaign. If a customer has to wait a week to hear back from you, they will lose interest. You want to keep the prospect hot and thinking about your offer.

Also, follow up quickly, and have your follow-up tailored to the question or response the e-mail recipient poses.

Follow these steps, and you’ll be able to match the right customers with your business -- and reap greater profit in the process.

Mayor of Lumberton on line 1

2007-04-25T15:48:00.000-05:00

We're on a roll with podcast interviews this week. This time, we grabbed the ear (and mouth) of Patrick Delany, mayor of Lumberton, N.J.

Why Lumberton? I seem to remember a recent news story that put the white-collar town of 12,000 people on the e-commerce map: eBay named Lumberton its most active community of buyers and sellers in America, on a per capita basis.

You're probably thinking, "Wait ... Lumberton, N.J.??" That's right, folks. Over 46,000 eBay listings originated from Lumberton during three weeks in November, and over 3,000 residents are members. And most of those are small businesses and individuals operating out of their homes.

As online biz junkies, we had to get the mayor on the line, and ask him just what it is about Lumberton that makes it such a happenin' eBay community.

But that's not all we talked about. I learned a of couple personal things about Mayor Delany, too. But if you want to hear it all, you gotta listen to the interview. Curtains, please!

Blogging 101: Back to basics

2007-04-24T13:54:00.000-05:00

Over 70 million blogs now populate the blogosphere, and thousands more are started every day. Some are successful. Others are not. But all have become an integral part of many people's daily lives.

And if they haven't yet, they should be. Yes, I obviously drink the blogging Kool-Aid. But I believe blogs will soon become an unavoidable tenet of online life, so everyone should be clued in.

To that end, I have taken a step back from my usual level of blogging advice, and developed five guidelines for blogging beginners. (If you're more intermediate, check out last month's post on making your blog pop.) Here goes:

1. Blogs are easy to understand, and even easier to start.

A blog is like an online journal, or weblog (the origin of the word blog), where you write your thoughts about anything. However, this journal has no lock and key, and is wide open to the public.

Getting started takes minimal effort. All you need is a blog template, which you can download for free from sites such as Blogger or Typepad. Once you choose your template, you can customize the colors and design to reflect your personal Web site, current mood, corporate branding, or however the spirit moves you.

2. Pick your passion.

Now that you have a workable template, what's next? Write about a topic that draws out your creativity and passion. It's easy for anyone to write about their day, but who out there really wants to read an hour-by-hour account of your life, starting with what you ate for breakfast last Thursday morning? Even if that breakfast was amazing, I guarantee no reader will be as excited as you.

Once you find your peg, blog daily. Also, make sure your writing skills are up to par, your message is clear, and your thoughts make sense. If you type blog posts with enthusiasm, that relish will rub off on your audience, and actively involve them in reading and commenting on your posts. Which brings me to my next guideline ...

3. Cultivate your audience.

Let’s tackle where to find an audience. Web 2.0 has created an abundance of new technologies that help bloggers network and build followers. Look for readers on social networks such as MyBlogLog, Technorati, Digg, and MySpace.

These sites are free to use, and paves a path toward meeting people with common interests. If you interact with them on these sites, they will interact with you on your blog. Through it all, remember blogging's golden rule: Create something of value for your readers, or they will not return.

4. Sidestep common stumbling blocks.

There are a couple issues many new bloggers encounter. One is information disclosure. Always remember that your blog is a public journal, so any information that you put out there can be read by thousands of people. As such, don't post any information you wouldn't share with the average Joe.

An important subset: Avoid blogging about your job. Blogs' universal access means that if you're griping about your boss or belittling a coworker, your chances of being discovered increase.

The second problem is lack of direction. If you use your blog to talk about the rainforest, then talk about the rainforest -- not the score of the Yankees game from the night before. Scatterbrained blogs turn readers off.

The last issue is accepting criticism. Many bloggers become uncomfortable when people critique their blog, and simply give up writing. Imagine if you did that in the offline world -- you'd eventually have nothing left to do or talk about! The fun part about blogging is that you can start an online debate, and embrace feedback and criticism. It can only help you and your blog grow.

5. Reap blogging's benefits.

Believe me, blogs are awesome. Here's why. They open the door to meeting new people in your daily life, seeing where readers come from, and hearing what they have to say.

And the feedback you get from your readers will expand your own horizons and thinking process. View your blog and other blogs as a place to learn more about yourself and your community. Plus, blogs get you to do research on the Internet, and explore new avenues that might have intimidated you before.

Blogs can even be a source of revenue. You can place Google AdWords or other advertising on your blog, and get paid for it. That way, you are not only writing and sharing your thoughts with tons of people, you're making a couple of bucks on the side. And if your blog becomes really popular, you can take blogging on as a full-time job.

So if you're a total blogging neophyte, or are on the fence about starting one, I hope I've shown you it's not as intimidating as you originally feared. Sure, blogging takes some elbow grease, but it's also FUN. And the rules for it are still being written, so it's the perfect opportunity to leave your digital mark.

OK Godin!

2007-04-24T11:24:00.000-05:00

For owners of mid-sized to large businesses, Seth Godin needs no introduction. But how many small business owners have heard of him? I'm betting not many. But that's about to change.

Seth Godin is one of the top bloggers emeriti in the blogosphere. He's the author of The Dip (out May 10), in addition to many other bestsellers about business, marketing, and blogging. And as if this doesn't keep him busy enough, he's also the founder of Squidoo.

Many of America's most successful organizations take Seth's advice. Now he has turned his attention to small business, and is offering up his own unique counsel for achieving marketing success online.

We've closely followed Seth's work in this area, and we think it's important to help him bring it to the forefront. That's why we've got him on podcast. Give him a listen, and in 20 minutes, you'll know why so many people are searching for Godin.

We also encourage you to download Seth and take him with you. Send him to friends. Or leave comments and questions for him here.

The pay-per-click pay-off

2007-04-20T16:14:00.000-05:00

Humble apologies, IncPlace readers! Andy got caught up in MySpace, so I'm picking up where he left off yesterday. Hopefully we haven't disappointed you too much. Now onward with the pay-per-click show!

Like Andy stated in his other post, pay-per-click (PPC) is one of the most popular and efficient ways to advertise online. And we have a few words of wisdom to get you started on a successful PPC campaign:

Make sure you have a well thought-out budget. Figure out how much money one new customer is worth to you, and then bid accordingly. This also helps you determine your ROI.

Don’t get caught up in the auction hype. Many people lose sight of their budget, and bid ridiculous amounts because they want their ad listed in the No. 1 slot. If you figure out how much money a new customer is worth to you, then you should have no problem bidding accordingly. And you'll be able to keep your costs under control.

Consider the low-hanging fruit. Just like Andy's SEO advice, having the No. 1 keyword might not be the best route. Pick some second-tier keywords; they might be more useful, cheaper, and still generate an effective PPC campaign.

Experiment. If you're unsure of what keywords are first-tier, second-tier, and so one, or what's going to get you better traffic, run test ads. Create a few ads using different keywords, and limit the number of times people can click it.

This way, you won’t be out of pocket too much. Plus, if you see that the second-tier keywords generate more traffic, and your click allowance depleted faster, you know that keyword is a good one to go with.

Likewise, buy keywords on second-tier search engines or ad platforms. Yes, Google and Yahoo!'s traffic is amazing, but you're paying for it. If you take our first piece of advice, you should know your maximum price for customer acquisition. Second-tier engines might let you to get that price, and still bring sufficient traffic to your site.

Take that a step further and look at it from an SEO standpoint. Your site will gain more traffic and activity, effectively making it more desirable in the larger search engines rankings. So for pennies on the dollar, you get the traffic you want, and you get SEO’d at the same time -- a win for you, and your business.

Use multiple ad platforms to display ads. If you find second-tier ad platforms work, spread your ads among the different networks to gain the most exposure for your ad.

Make your ads diverse. All of the ads you create do the same thing: They take people to your Web site. So the more ads you have, the more opportunity you create for people to click your ad and be directed to your Web site.

If you sell several different products, create an ad for each product, and use lesser-known keywords. For example, if you have a hardware store, don’t advertise your hardware store. Make separate ads for “new hammers”, or “latest power tools to hit the market.” This way, you'll have an army of ads working for you cheaply.

Target your ads by region. If you're selling a local service, geo-target your ad using an advertising application. It will look at which city or geographic area people are searching from, and display your ad only when someone from that area searches for the type of service you offer.

This really helps ROI because you won't get someone in Australia clicking on your ad for plumbing services in New York.

Create well-designed landing pages. Make sure your landing page -- the Web page the ad directs people to -- clearly displays the information that will guarantee the close of a sale. This information includes call-to-action text and links to contact the company.

The last thing you want to do is direct a potential customer to the wrong page, and make them figure out where to go to buy the product or service. I can guarantee they will leave the site immediately, and you won't be able to get your money back from the wasted click.

MySpace: About to kick the bucket?

2007-04-20T02:45:00.000-05:00

MySpace's impromptu decision last week to disable Photobucket's capabilities for its users has caused quite a stir in the blogosphere. So I thought it was time to give my two cents on the matter.

Faithful readers know I pull no punches when it comes to MySpace (see evidence here). And this latest move by the social networking giant solidifies my latest theory: This is the beginning of the end for MySpace.

Yes, I know that with 170 million users, MySpace must be doing something right. But therein lies their downfall. The reason MySpace is where it is today is because it gave people what they didn’t have elsewhere -- total control.

If you have an open community where users control their environment, you cannot ban services the community wants to use. In the case of MySpace, the demographic is so fickle that they will leave the site if they can't use their preferred tools to create and update their pages. And the niche social networks that do allow for users to control their environment will clean house.

From a business standpoint, however, I understand MySpace's perspective. They have the right to make changes that affect their bottom line. But remember, their bottom line is directly attached to their fickle user base -- a classic Catch-22. So it'll be interesting to see if users leave MySpace over the Photobucket debacle, and where they make their next online home.

In the meantime, if you are looking to become one of these new niche sites, GogaOM offers some advice on how to avoid MySpace's current scenario.

Go where the eyeballs are

2007-04-19T09:04:00.000-05:00

Yes, eyeballs are in your head. But they're also on the Web. And no one knows this better than advertisers.

Online advertising is growing by leaps and bounds. It's already a multibillion dollar industry, and expanding at double-digit rates every year.

The reason, of course, is that everyone is online these days. They're either blogging, chatting, meeting people, searching for information, conducting business, shopping, and whatever else people like to do with their computers and an Internet connection.

And like loyal bloodhounds, advertisers follow. Then more advertisers pick up the scent, and so on. This means businesses that don't advertise online will struggle to make profits while their competition -- who uses the Internet to market -- slowly steals away their market share.

But don't freak out yet. I have a three-letter answer: "PPC."

They stand for pay-per-click, the most efficient, easiest, and popular way to advertise online these days.

In order to get started with a PPC advertising campaign, you have to understand exactly what it is, and how to budget for it. (Refer to my post on SEO, as some of these ideas overlap.)

In a nutshell, PPC is keyword advertising. You know the list of "sponsored links" that appears on the side of your screen when you do a Google search? Those are PPC ads. You might see PPC ads on other search engines, too, such as Yahoo! and MSN.

That's the short explanation. The more detailed explanation can get a bit complicated, so stay with me here. Advertisers bid on keywords they think people would type when searching for them, their competitors, or information related to their business.

For example, a real estate lawyer would bid on keywords such as "real estate lawyer" or "real estate law." Other real estate lawyers are probably bidding on the same words.

Then when someone searches for a keyword, ads by the top five to 10 advertisers that won the bidding on that keyword appear on the search results page. The ads are ranked by the amount of the bid, with the highest bidders landing on top.

When people click the ad, they're taken to the advertiser's Web site. The advertiser pays the keyword bid price when someone clicks their ad.

Here's where PPC can get expensive. Some top keywords might go for up to $15 a click, while others for pennies. It all depends on the popularity of the keyword ("real estate lawyer" would be more expensive than, say, "condominium lawyer in Philadelphia"), and where your ad falls on the sponsored link list.

But even something that sounds cheap, like 25 cents, can actually get quite expensive. Here’s how:

1. Your keyword makes the top of the list for a quarter.
2. You ad shows up every time someone searches Google with that keyword.
3. Google gets millions of page views a day.
4. Millions of people can potentially see your ad.
5. They click it, and you get charged a quarter each time.
6. Before you know it, you owe Google thousands of dollars.

This might not be bad if you have the budget for it, but you have to make sure you can effectively calculate your ROI. PPC ads work best if you have a product for sale directly on your page. It's easy to track how many clicks you got, and then how many sales occurred in a time period.

However, if you're a service-based company, people might just click to your site, surf around and not use you. You're still charged for the click, making it much harder to calculate your ROI.

Also something to keep in mind: When you buy PPC ad space, you have to create your own ads. Whether it's coming up with unique copy for your text-based ad, or making a flash-based ad, the time and money investment is yours.

There are companies that can assist in developing ad copy for you, but this can get expensive, too. If you use one, you're not just paying for the clicks, but also the creation of your ad. That needs to be factored into your ROI as well.

So where do you go from here? I'm all typed-out for now, so that, my fellow bloggers, is the story of tomorrow! Check back then for my advice on developing an effective PPC campaign.

Web 2.0, what art thou?

2007-04-17T08:38:00.000-05:00

I blog a lot about Web 2.0, but have I ever really defined it for you?

This piece by Erika Morphy in E-Commerce Times discusses the various "definitions" of Web 2.0. And it got me thinking: What would I say if a reporter stuck a mic in my face, and asked me for an on-the-spot definition of Web 2.0?

I'd say Web 2.0 is a movement within well-established technology, not a replacement for it. It's an evolutionary step in the way media and information is shared and provided day-to-day.

In fact, the Web 2.0 movement is much like the Industrial Revolution. Back then, business practices became easier and more streamlined, leading to massive industrial growth. The same thing is happening on the Web. The technology is becoming more accessible, making it easier for people to get on board and build their businesses.

Yet, despite this revolutionary change, the Internet is still the Internet, just as business is still business. Methods and approaches adapt, but the overall concept stays the same.

To that end, Web 2.0 will eventually take on a new form and definition, as people learn new skills to navigate the online world, and reinvent existing technology to make the Web easier and more progressive.

With that said, here's my definition of Web 2.0 (as of today): a technology revolution aided by the public and their enthusiasm to share ideas.

Now where are all those mics???

Bloggers rule -- by not imposing any

2007-04-16T17:40:00.000-05:00

Remember last week's blogosphere brouhaha with Tim O'Reilly's call for a blogger code of conduct? You knew it was only a matter of time before I chimed in ...

Coming up with rules for blogging defeats the purpose of blogging altogether. What is that purpose? To have an online journal where you can express whatever you want, about whatever you want, whenever you want -- similar to how a 13-year-old girl keeps a diary.

Besides, last time I checked we could say what we wanted under the First Amendment. Putting conduct rules in place online would, in effect, limit that constitutional right.

Don't get me wrong -- it's terrible that Kathy Sierra, blogger and friend of O'Reilly's, received a death threat at her site (the catalyst, incidentally, for this entire uproar). But at its most basic level, how is that message different than receiving a death threat via the post office?

Any law-abiding citizen knows that sending a death threat is illegal. Just because it came in the form of a blog comment doesn’t mean we should put restrictions on blogs. After all, we're not shutting down the U.S. Postal Service when threats are mailed.

Yet O'Reilly proposed similar restrictions last week. Among them:

Bloggers adopt a finished version of the code, and adorn their Web sites with an icon of a sheriff's badge bearing the words "civility enforced."

Bloggers averse to behavior rules can mark their Web sites with an icon of a stick of dynamite with a lit fuse and the words "anything goes."

Just think if you had to post these stupid little icons on your blog about your business or product. If someone writes a bad comment, you immediately discredit your blog -- and potentially scare away new customers -- by placing a dynamite icon in the corner.

The correct response: Deleting the offensive comment (if you have a transparent policy about monitoring blog content), ignoring it, or using it as a springboard for constructive online discussion -- the true purpose of blogging's open structure.

Instating a blogger code of conduct makes extra work where it's not needed or wanted. Such suggestions only remind me of overzealous, fanatical book burnings and literature bans from our early history -- essentially, a whole lot of fuss over a whole lot of nothing.

Detroit loves my face

2007-04-11T15:56:00.000-05:00

At least, the Detroit Free Press does, as demonstrated in Carol Cain's terrific article about blogs as marketing tools.

Yes, those are my blogging tips in the sidebar. Yes, those are my quotes in the article. And yes, that's the reason my head swelled to such ginormous proportions that the paper had to print an equally humongous picture of me. (It gets bigger with each click, too.)

Anyway, please let me know if the tools mentioned in the article are helpful for you and your business. I love a good success story, so post 'em here when you get 'em.

Who knows ... we might even spin your story out into a post, and feature YOUR huge smiling face on IncPlace! That alone is worth a comment.

The secrets to a vital viral video

2007-04-11T14:47:00.000-05:00

We all receive viral videos like this in our Inbox that make us yell, "Holy #$%@*, that's insane!" Then, like the good Internet soldiers we are, we pass it on to our friends and colleagues, with the subject line "Check this out! It's crazy!"

Thus enters the "viral" part of viral videos. But what makes us furiously forward one video, and instantly delete another?

In my experience, those that click are over-the-top and unexpected, rather than simply clever. Think about it: You're more likely to forward a viral video of someone surviving a plane jump after their parachute doesn't open, than, say, those "Priceless" Mastercard ads.

My point is, people like to see shocking things that leave them in disbelief. And for businesses looking to get their own viral video going, your efforts should be just as bold.

The good news is you don't have to have a slick Hollywood production to accomplish this. Plenty of videos on YouTube and other video sites are very low-budget, yet pack the shock appeal that makes them go viral.

So it's unnecessary to hire a huge production company to make the video. Leave that to the big boys who are making “clever” video spots. Instead, go to a local college campus’s film school to find students interested in filming something over a day or weekend.

This approach ensures you get people who want to create a good video for their film school portfolio, while building their name recognition. And film school students are bastions of creativity, just waiting to create that one totally original masterpiece -- a hunger many big production companies lack.

And remember, the content of your video doesn’t necessarily have to do with your product, service, or business. Just create something outrageous that gets a great reaction. Then all you have to do is tie it in loosely with your messaging at the end of the video.

If you must show your product, do something preposterous! How many of us have seen those "Will it Blend?" videos on YouTube? And how many check back to see what will be chopped and pureed next? This one outrageous idea gets people excited every time a new video gets released. If people are excited, your company’s bottom line will get excited, too.

Speaking of bottom line, make sure you flash your company name, message, and Web site address at the video's conclusion. The purpose of these videos is to drive traffic back to you, increasing your exposure and revenue. It would be a shame to have a video with a million views, yet people have no clue where it came from.

And lastly, don’t be boring. Might seem obvious, but it's amazing how often entertainment value is overlooked. Many people tell me they made a video showing off their product and its benefits, then wonder why they don’t get any traction. The answer is simple: The video is not unique or engaging. It's more like sitting in a classroom, or at a dentist's office.

Once your video is complete, make sure you post it everywhere. Set up accounts on sites such as YouTube, MySpace, Metacafe, Revver, and Google Video.

Then tell all your friends and e-mail contacts about it. The more comments and views these videos generate, the higher they go in the rankings (see yesterday's post on SEO). And some sites, like Revver, will even pay you when your video goes viral. This is the ultimate win-win situation -- getting paid for gaining exposure!

So grab your camera (or film student), and put that one big idea into action. Who knows? You may end up being the next Diet Coke and Mentos phenomenon. After all, 1.5 million views ain't too shabby.

9 things to know about SEO

2007-04-10T14:46:00.000-05:00

Got a Web site and no visitors? Don't despair, my fellow tech friends, Andy Leff is here to the rescue!

One reason you don't have any visitors might be that your site it boring and ugly. But I never had a flair for color coordination, so if that's your problem, I'm not your man.

I am your man, however, if your site is not optimized. An un-optimized site is often the reason for low traffic. The good news is, it's easy to fix.

The process is called search engine optimization, or SEO. This means making your Web site accessible to search engines to improve the chances that they'll find it. The more easily they can find your site, the higher it appears on search engines' results page. And that means more people will see your site and click the link to it.

You might already be familiar with SEO. If not, check out Wikipedia's SEO entry before reading further. And if you are, I'll add one blog to your must-read list: Search Engine Land. It's chock-full of great SEO info, tips, and news.

In either event, no post is complete without my two cents -- or in this case, nine. Here are my top pieces of unsolicited advice for optimizing your Web site:

Structure your site properly, code it cleanly, and use necessary keywords. This is the most important way to optimize your site. Sites that have the proper architecture in place and are not slapped together have a better chance of getting picked up by the major search engines. Also, putting keywords throughout your site lets search engines “crawl” it, and pick up on relevant terms. However, it's important that you don't overdo it. If a search engine's algorithms interpret your site as a keyword hog, it will pass it by.

Link your site to other sites. Not only does this increase traffic to your site, but search engines also pick up on the number of times people link to and from your site. This boosts your rankings.

Submit your site to the major search engines. This way your site is indexed to them. Make sure to submit to these three main search engines: Yahoo, Google, and MSN.

Add lots of text. The more text on your site, the better. Remember, though, text within Flash-based components of a site won't help you much. This text is not accessible to the search engine site crawlers, and will not get picked up. So yes, Flash looks cool, but it won’t help you boost your search rankings.

Sneak in keywords. If you have a tab navigation-based site, there are a couple ways to sneak in keywords that will get picked up. First, make sure the tabs are text-based and not Flash-based. Second, if you use dropdown menus, you can add more text to them without taking up too much space. A great example can be found on the Wired.com homepage. Mouse over the tabs, and you'll see a box appear full of text links that take you to different parts of the site. All of these links are in effect more keywords, and more keywords means better site optimization. This is a sneaky way to overdo the keywords without being penalized by the search engines.

Make sure all your site headers and footers are text-based and not strictly image-based. Again, more text equals more text for search engines to crawl and pick up keywords.

Sign up for different online communities, and add their links to your site. For example, set up a MySpace page for your business, and link it to back to your site. This can be done very easily by adding a link to your Web site in the 'about me' section of MySpace. Personal MySpace pages take precedence over other pages in Google and Yahoo search rankings, so this is a good way to get optimized and bring people to your site.

Blog regularly. Search engines also look for high site activity. Set up your blog on your personal Web site if possible. When you create a blog post, it creates more text and pages on your site -- another surefire way to get ranked higher.

Engage an outside firm. If all of this sounds too complicated to do on your own, there are many companies who can do it for you. Just be aware that many SEO options carry a big budget with them. If you engage an SEO firm, ask yourself:

What keywords are most important for my site to be optimized for?

What keywords are the low hanging fruit that I can optimize for? (Chances are, if major companies appear in the top 10 search engine results, it's going to take a lot of time and money to dethrone them, if it is even possible.)

What will it cost me to do this, and is the ROI worth it?

Keep in mind that an SEO campaign is not instant. Many people think that the first day they sign up for one, their page is automatically launched to the top of the rankings. In reality, it can take up to 18 months to start seeing results, depending on all the issues I brought up in this post.

If your SEO representative tells you they can have you optimized for search in a day or a week, they're probably lying to you, don't really know what they're doing, or just want the business. Be patient!

Another money-saving tip is to start small. Place some second-tier keywords on your site, and see if they bring you more traffic. It would be a shame if you decide to use big established keywords, and you gain no traffic from it. Then you're out a ton of money for no good reason.

SEO is not for everyone. There are so many keywords and variations thereof, that it's impossible to be optimized for everything. If your goal is to do something broad, then you better hope your investors have an equally expansive bank account.

Select Greater Philadelphia selects IncPlace

2007-04-09T14:53:00.000-05:00

Thank you, Select Greater Philadelphia, for sharing the link love!

Here's the power of blogging at work, folks. We interview influential community leader Thomas Morr. We turn the interview into a podcast. And Tom, in turn, highlights our post link on his organization's site. Pretty sweet stuff.

In other posting news, we'll be putting up our podcast with business consultant Sandra Wilks later this week, plus sharing need-to-know tips on search engine optimization and viral video production. Stay tuned!

Internet: What's the point?

2007-04-06T11:06:00.000-05:00

Call me officially dumbfounded. I thought I’d seen it all until I came across this article, which reports that one-third of U.S. households aren’t connected to the Web -- and don’t plan to be.

I'd love to start a conversation with this one-third, and find out why they don't see the value in the Internet. But since they're not online, this would be a one-sided conversation, and I have enough of those as it is.

Of course, there will always be some who aren’t connected because they can’t afford it. But even that's slowly dissolving as an excuse (see today's earlier podcast with the guys from Wireless Philadelphia for proof).

I believe that those who can afford it, yet don’t connect, will regret it in the long run. Case in point: It’s becoming increasingly harder -- if not impossible -- to advance your career by combing through the newspaper.

Classifieds sections are being crucified by Craigslist, Monster, and CareerBuilder, to name but a few of the hundreds of online jobs sites out there. I predict that five years from now, all job searches will be conducted solely online.

And once major cities begin to follow Philadelphia’s lead and implement area-wide WiFi, I’ll bet many people will wonder how they ever lived their life without the Web.

But I’m preaching to the converted, aren’t I? ;-)

Say hi to Philly WiFi

2007-04-06T10:01:00.000-05:00

Unless you've been living under a rock for the last three years, you know that Philadelphia has joined forces with Earthlink to become the first city to offer free WiFi to its residents.

While painstakingly slow to develop, this is a great initiative, and puts Philly at the forefront of the wireless world. In fact, San Francisco, Boston, and Houston are all following Philly's lead.

And now Wireless Philadelphia has joined the fray. The local nonprofit has teamed with Earthlink to bring the Internet to low-income families, and bridge the digital divide.

We recently caught up with Wireless Philadelphia CEO Greg Goldman and Operations Manager Thomas Kim to discuss their program.

But better to hear it straight from the source. Listen to Greg and Thomas speak about their efforts to get the entire city online. It's fascinating stuff.

And here's Seun and me with the men behind the Wireless Philadelphia mission. That's Thomas on the left, and Greg on the right.

Identity 2.0

2007-04-05T16:34:00.000-05:00

A VC blog gets the online party started with this post about the future of social networking -- emphasis on the "social."

Lead A VC blogger Fred Wilson makes some great points about the appeal of a more personal Web. How quickly we forget what it was like before sites such as Facebook, MySpace, and Flickr brought us all together into a greater online community! We just wandered around in a cold, connection-less cyberspace, searching for a kind human touch.

So it only makes sense to tap into the friendly synergy created by this new phase, and spread the love. In many tech circles, this is known as Identity 2.0, the next step in Web networking that will replace the singular experience of message boards and forums with interactive online communities and open, distributed networks.

And it's already catching on, especially on sites that aren't necessarily Web 2.0. The recently revamped USAToday.com, for example, invites readers to comment on articles, provides a tagging option for recommending stories, and even color-codes article categories. (I classify Tech as burnt sienna.)

Color wheel aside, we're clearly on our way to a socially-based Web. And it pays for business owners to board this train now before it pulls out of the station, and they are left in the lonely, anti-social world of Identity 1.0.

When opportunity knocks, go for the door prize

2007-04-03T22:11:00.000-05:00

I love door prizes. I win them everywhere I go. It's the only way I can see the symphony, enjoy a Stephen Starr restaurant, and get microdermabrasion without draining my wallet.

My latest door prize opportunity was at the Main Line Chamber of Commerce's “Web-based Business Discussion: Build Your Own Business” event. The night proved good things do come in small packages.

Though attendance was lower than at our last outing, the discussion was dead-on for its audience. Brian T. O'Connor, partner of Arkiv Music LLC, presented excellent, actionable advice on taking a good idea, and building it into a successful virtual company (podcast coming soon).

I say virtual because Brian and his 15 employees all work from their own homes with the help of e-mail and call-in numbers. They have no central office or warehouse -- truly a Web-based business.

Brian hit on a lot of key points during his 30-minute presentation (many of which we've discussed on our blog). Among the highlights:

Keep tight control over costs. Brian's business model included plenty of bootstrapping. Case in point: He and his partners did not take salaries for the first year Arkiv Music was around, so they could instead grow the business and invest in better equipment.

He also said $90K servers and hosting companies are well and good for the Amazons of the world, but that there are plenty of cheaper, more efficient hardware options on the market for the little guys.

Personally finance your business. On this point, Brian and I couldn't be further apart. I did not agree with Brian's credit card vs. VC approach. Instead of seeking venture capital, he signed up for every credit card offer he received, and bankrolled the company that way. The result: massive debt. This is a huge risk, especially for an unproven product.

Granted, he did it to avoid giving up company control to a VC firm -- a caveat many entrepreneurs don't realize when they recruit VC money. Many people will argue that every startup goes the VC route, so why worry? Well, if every startup jumped off a bridge, would you?

Brian's correction: We definitely did not use credit cards to finance the operation of ArkivMusic. We were able to keep the operation running with the partners’ original investment, plus the revenue that began to come in pretty quickly from online sales.

I did make a reference to “signing up for every credit card offer I received”, but that was me personally -- not the company. Since I had no income for a while, I did sign up for a lot of credit cards, just in case things didn’t go well with the company.

And I did actually use a credit card to pay for my family’s health benefits one month. But other than that, I was able to stay away from credit card use in general (happily).

Each business situation is unique. If you can fund it yourself, in ways that make fiscal sense, then you don't have to seek outside capital if you don’t need it. (OK, off my soapbox and back to Brian.)

Have clean, usable Web site design elements. The simple truth is, if visitors can’t understand what is going on, they will leave immediately. And it takes more than snazzy graphics.

The key is integrating three crucial components of your site: your merchant bank account with your internal accounting system, your payment gateways to your site, and your shopping cart to your site. He also stressed the importance of understanding state tax laws where you do business.

Remember that e-commerce is safe.This scored big points in my book. The most common misperception among newly minted e-tailers is that identify theft is imminent and unavoidable. That's a load of hooey.

The seven gajillion layers of security monitoring and encryption on reputable sites make e-commerce perfectly safe -- so much so, that the rare instance of fraud should not deter businesses from going online.

To truly succeed today, all business -- small, medium, and large -- must have a Web presence. If they sit on the sidelines, Brian predicts they will go the same route as Tower Records.

Create a niche business. If you can offer a product, service, or new way to convey a message, then you will have greater success online. Brian's niche has been classical music since 1994. Now he boasts 350,000 online customers.

Hire the right people. Brian credits his hiring strategies for his success. He seeks out strong employees who worked for original online music pioneers like CDNow, people who understand his niche, or experts in growing an online business.

Embrace online advertising. Arkiv Music has slowly moved away from print ads to Google AdWords. Brian suggested everyone pursue an online ad strategy, as long as it makes sense for their business model.

I agree. There is no better way to hit your audience than online, thanks to the growing amount of time people spend online instead of watching TV or reading traditional print pubs.

For all of Brian's great advice, however, I was dumbfounded by the relative cluelessness of the audience. It never ceases to amaze me how little many business owners know about leveraging the Internet.

Once people found out Seun and I were bloggers (a.k.a. 'the young guys not wearing ties'), they bombarded us with questions about gaining traction online, promoting goods and services, and more. Most of them had never heard of blogs or social networking, much less understood them.

Luckily, I could help them out, and pointed them to IncPlace for more info. Oh, and in case you were wondering, I won the door prize. Media Theater of Performing Arts, here I come!

Please sir, I want some Morr

2007-03-30T11:40:00.000-05:00

CCPA -- the organization that keeps on giving! (Podcasts, that is.)

We recently caught up with Thomas Morr, President and CEO of Select Greater Philadelphia, and one of the expert panelists at CCPA's State of the City event.

The result of our conversation: a fascinating look at how regions market themselves to businesses, and how new media supports those efforts.

But it sounds even better when Tom says it. So turn your ears over to him and listen ...

Roeder trip!

2007-03-29T10:40:00.000-05:00

Takes one to know one. That's why we immediately zeroed in on Linda Roeder, one of the chief writers for the Social Networking Weblog, as the perfect person to talk to about social networking and blogging.

And what better way to hit up the queen of the Internet than through e-mail? Here's an in-depth Q&A that shares every insider tip known to man -- all from a lady who knows her stuff.

Tell us a little bit about yourself, Linda. How did you become involved in social networking and blogging? Why did you start?

In 1998 I became the guide for the Personal Web Pages site on About.com. When I first started the site, the word "blog" was non-existent. Back then they were called online diaries, and some of them were really artistic and well thought-out Web sites. In fact, some of them are still around today.

The main focus of the [Personal Web Pages] site was to teach people how to create their own personal Web site. This often meant teaching HTML, showing people how to organize their pages so people can find what they're looking for, and teaching design, color, and layout. As the site grew, HTML started to become less important, because a lot of sites started coming out with editors that let people design without code.

One day the word "weblog" crossed me, soon shortened to "blog." Blogs, wikis, and social networking sites started popping up all over the place. I tried a little of each. I like the idea of blogs. Blogs create a sense of community on the Internet. I've discovered that bloggers like other bloggers.

Social networking sites create community too, but only within the specific social networking site. It works even better if the social networking site is topic-specific -- you know, those that focus on specific things like athletes or weight loss. Wikis are a great way to create community, too. I don't know why they're not being used more.

Anyway, I started my blog to talk about my kids. One is an aspiring star on the bicycle racing circuit, one has Asperger's, and the other has PDD, a high functioning form of Autism.

I needed a place to vent and show off my kids, so I started a personal blog. I didn't do it to meet people, but I did end up giving the URL to other parents of kids with PDD and Asperger's. I ended up meeting new friends and getting advice.

I have a photo blog for my oldest son where I chronicle his bike racing. I like to add pictures and create a story out of them. People have told me it's very funny.

I started social networking to find old friends I went to school with. I managed to find a few, but I live in an area where, it seems, not very many people are computer literate.

What were you doing in your previous life (lives)?

Before I started working with About.com (formerly The Mining Company), I was an accountant. Funny, isn't it? I have a BA in accounting and business administration. I worked as a material buyer and assistant controller for a factory Pillsbury owned before I started working on the Net.

I was always fascinated with computers. I had my first computer when I was 13. That was a big thing back then. It was an Apple, and you had to plug it into the TV because it didn't come with a monitor. You needed a boot disk to start it up, and if you started it in the wrong order you had big problems.

I learned to code in eighth grade. I don't remember the name of the language.

Is this your first tech-reporting venture? What other experience do you have in this space?

Before working for Creative Weblogging doing the Social Networking site, I wrote for several other sites, and still write for a few of them.

As I mentioned above, I run the Personal Web Pages site for About.com. I also write articles for Suite101 about the Internet and Bike Racing. I used to write a site for AllInfoAbout.com on the topic of raising boys, but recently gave up that site.

Other sites I write for are How To Do Things and Associated Content.

What made you decide to launch (or come on board) at Social Networking Weblog? What attracted you to it?

I had been working as an editor for Suite101.com. When they restructured their business model in January, they cut half the editors. I was one of those laid off.

While looking for something else to do, I had been told of the Creative Weblogging site before, so I went to there to see what they had to offer. I asked about writing a different blog, but they thought I would be interested in doing the Social Networking blog. I accepted.

Since I worked with social networking sites a lot on my Personal Web pages site, it seemed a perfect fit for me to do the Social Networking Weblog. What I've learned from my Personal Web Pages site helps me write the Social Networking Weblog, and what I've learned while doing research for the Social Networking Weblogs improves my Personal Web Pages site. It's a win-win situation.

How exactly did you (or the Social Networking Weblog creators) launch the blog? Take us through the steps.

The Social Networking Weblog was already launched when I took it over. It's currently 19 months old, and I have been doing it for two months. They just gave me the tools and the password, and let me go at it.

I use Movable Type to write the blog. Creative Weblogging has another area where I can manage the links on the site and get my stats.

What do you do to get the blog noticed? How do you reach out, and to whom?

I go to blogs similar to mine and post comments. This is especially fun if they posted comments on my site first, or when they find my comments and come to my site to post something for me.

I try to link to other blogs and add them to my blog roll. I also make sure my site is listed with the major search engines, and make sure that some of my posts are optimized for search. I Digg my better posts.

I also have profiles on quite a few social networking sites. I don't have time to actively participate in all of them, but I do make an effort to choose a couple each week and do something with them.

What’s the No. 1 lesson you have learned about starting and writing blogs? The biggest challenge? The biggest surprise?

It's hard to get people to read more than one page at a time. A blog is like a story; you need to read more than one page, but most people don't.

So you need to bring something unique to the table. Talk in real words and talk to the reader. Don't talk about the same thing all the time. Shake it up a little. It's also hard to monetize a blog.

My biggest surprise would have to be how many good comments I get. I'm surprised that people like what I have to say, and actually respond to it in a positive way.

What’s the unique value of Social Networking Weblog? Why should this blog make the short list for blog readers?

This blog talks about more than just what the latest social networking site is -- the site de jour, if you will. I like to talk about how to stay safe on the Net, how to design your site so it's not just like everyone else's, what's going on in the news with social networking, what's happening in the world of social networking, and much more.

It's more than just social networking sites, but social networking on the Web in general. Sometimes I get a little more into the realm of what your site should have or shouldn't have on it, and sometimes I like to talk about making friends online.

Take us "behind the screens." How does a typical day go for you? How do you generate ideas and topics? What’s your writing routine?

I get up at 5:30, and get my husband and my teenage son up and moving. Then I go through all my e-mails for the different things I do. Then I get my husband and son out of the house, and get my other boys up and ready for school.

Once they are dressed and eating, I check to see what I have to do that day. I have a list broken down by days of the week. I have three different sites I write for regularly, so I need to keep it all straight somehow. Then I open all the Web pages and tools I'll need to start that day's work.

After I get the kids off to school, I start working. I'm not good at sitting still for too long, so I take a lot of breaks. This helps to clear my mind and maybe get some laundry done or something. Some days I work on the Social Networking Weblog, some days I work on my Personal Web Pages site, and other days I work on my Suite101 articles or writing for other sites.

To get ideas for the Social Networking Weblog, I typically see what's going on in the news or what other blogs are writing about. The best way I have found to do this is by using Google Alerts. I tell them what keywords I want and it sends me what blogs, news, and other sites are writing about that topic.

I like to put my own spin on everything when I can. Some posts are just telling about a new social networking site I've come across, and what I like or dislike about it. Others are more opinion on how to do or how to avoid something that's going on. Sometimes I come across a blog post, and will tell why I agree or disagree with what they are saying.

Why write about social networking and blogging when so many others are writing about this space? How does a new blogger/social networker add value amid so much noise? Specifically, how do YOU add value?

Since I have been writing about online social networking since before the term existed, and before there were online social networking sites, I think I bring a unique perspective. I know what people on the Internet want and are looking for because I've been answering their questions for nearly nine years now.

A new blogger or social networker who wants to add value has to add a unique voice to the Internet. They have to say things that people want to know about, or that people want to hear about. Choose a topic and stick with it.

I like to add my opinion and base it on something in real life. I also like to link my blog to others’ by commenting on their post, writing my own opinion about what they said, and have them comment on my post. I think this will get readers of either blog to read further into both blogs.

What are the top issues in the social networking space?

Security is up there, especially when it comes to kids. Kids are very naive, VERY, even the street smart kids. I recently wrote about my niece who was putting all kinds of personal information on her MySpace profile. She's 16 and had no clue how dangerous this was. It's dangerous for adults, too. We all need to be more aware of this.

Design is important to a lot of people. They want their profile to look special, say who they are. They are out there looking for templates to add to their social networking sites so they can personalize their profile and have it look the way they want.

Also, the ability to add things like music, video, and toys to profiles is important. I think what people really want is a personal Web page that they can alter and add to all the time. Some social networking sites let you add things, and others don't.

And how about spam? Man, I hate that stuff. I'm always getting messages on MySpace from sites that no longer exist.

I think there are many ways that businesses and other Web sites can use things like social networking and wikis to enhance what they already do. News sites are starting to use social networking, and I think shopping sites like Amazon should start using them too.

What’s the prevailing view about social networking and blogging? Do your views differ? How do you zag where others are zigging?

I think the prevailing view is that social networking is primarily for the young. I don't believe this for an instant. I know lots of 30-, 40-, 50-somethings and even older people who use social networking. I use it to connect with friends -- new friends, old friends, online friends, offline friends -- and I'm 30-something myself.

There are lots of different reasons people use social networking sites, though. Like I said, I use them to connect with my friends. Some people use them just to make as many "friends" as possible. Others use them instead of creating a personal Web site just so they have a face on the Internet.

I see social networking as a tool. Blogs and wikis are tools, personal Web pages are tools. They all serve their own purpose. I have at least one of each, or more. They are there for their own reasons.

I like to connect them all together and create one big master site for me where people can come and socialize (social networking), read about me (blogging), join in (wiki), or just see what my life is about (personal Web site).

What blogs do you regularly read? Are you part of any social networks?

I guess you could say I regularly read the blogs that are on my blog roll. I read through them once a week to see if there is anything I want to comment on or post about.

I'm part of many social networking sites. I join a lot of them to see what they're about and browse through them so I can write about them. Some of them I add to my bookmarks and visit regularly.

There are so many social networking sites coming out that are topic-specific. There are social network sites for weight loss, parenting, military families, women, NASCAR fans, sports, artists, and even for children. My oldest son belongs to two sports social networks because he is a bicycle racer.

What’s the No. 1 mistake you see other people make in the social networking/blogging space?

Giving out personal information is a biggie. I can't believe how many people like to tell the whole world where they live, where they work, where their kids go to school and play. This is just so dangerous in the world we live in. I wish the Internet could be as carefree and innocent as they make it out to be on cartoons, but it's just not.

The other thing is background colors. I like background and unique designs as much as the next person. But if your background is too busy, or too close in color to your text and the other things on your site, people will not be able to read anything or tell one thing from another.

What’s your best piece of advice for people who want to start a blog or social network?

If you want to start a social networking service of your own, make sure you are unique. Most social networks don't make it past the first year. Why? One, because it's hard to get people to join a site that doesn't have people on it yet. Two, because they are not unique enough, and people get bored easily.

If you want to become a big blogger, same thing goes. Be unique and be yourself. People can tell when you're fake. Be honest; people like to hear it like it is. Blog every day. Again, people get bored. If you want people to keep going to your blog, you have to give them something to go there for.

eBay rising, take two

2007-03-29T09:00:00.000-05:00

I had to chime in on this topic, too. These insertion fees confirm what I've long suspected: eBay is losing its common touch.

In eBay's early days, founder Pierre Omidyar wanted to let the masses sell through his innovative service, so he kept prices low and gave everyone the chance to make money.

But with company growth comes new strategies. And it appears eBay is now calculating it doesn't need everyone's business after all. Otherwise, why put higher-end listings at risk by charging so much to post them?

It just doesn't make sense. Jacking up prices will drive out high-end products, and retain only the low-cost ones. And then our lauded eBay will become a garage-sale FleaBay -- with sellers paying the price.

eBay rising

2007-03-28T09:07:00.000-05:00

As promised, we're keeping our eye on eBay for you.

I was reading this thought-provoking post by eBay 'top seller' Corey Kossack about the structure of eBay insertion fees, and how they increase with higher-priced goods.

It got me thinking about the online reseller's ultimate viability. Corey makes an excellent point about the diminishing profit margin for items that require reenlistment in order to sell.

Once more sellers realize the dent this puts in their wallets, eBay will look much less attractive, especially for big ticket items. My prediction: eBay stores will price themselves out of the market if they're not careful.

So I ask all you eBay sellers out there, what do you think? Comment away, or, take our Zoomerang survey for a spin to share your thoughts.

Is your Web site DOA?

2007-03-27T12:11:00.000-05:00

It doesn't have to be, according to StartUpNation, which shares nine tips for bringing new, successful Web sites to life, and reviving old ones.

Effective Web site development is a problem faced by many small biz owners. It happened all the time with my own clients at Element Web Solutions. Many of them really didn't grasp the Internet or its capabilities. They thought slapping together a site and throwing it online would have thousands of visitors knocking down their doors within the hour.

I, of course, preached otherwise with one consistent message: Simply building the Web site is the smallest part of what a business can do to harness the power of the Internet, and grow their business.

It's a gospel I still believe today, which is why I was so jazzed by StartUpNation's pointers, particularly:

Do your research. See what's happening online within your industry. You will see what the competition is doing, be inspired with fresh ideas, and better position yourself to stand out. Also, gathering information from experts and peer groups is beneficial for any business owner daunted by online development.

Involve others. Nobody benefits from a static Web site, least of all your business.
Seek and respond to feedback from your customers. Take advantage of Web. 2.0 tools that are now available to facilitate building a social network.

If you sell it in a store, sell it online. E-commerce is the icing on any merchant's cake. In olden times, you relied on brick-and-mortar storefronts and local support. But now you can offer your goods to the world with a simple shopping cart and payment system.

Check out the whole list, and try out a few steps if your site is in need of CPR. Then write back to us, and let us know how the resuscitation went. We hope you get well soon!

NBC, News Corp. build BoobTube

2007-03-22T12:11:00.001-05:00

File this under 'well-known secrets': News Corp. and NBC Universal have announced that they're joining forces to create a YouTube rival.

The specter of this news has floated around since early summer, with some media mavens speculating that the companies would buy Metacafe.

I said it then, and I'll say it now: There is no way this venture will kill YouTube. YouTube's allure lies in the fact that the user community provides the content, not that corporations jam it down their throats.

Like Mark Cuban said when Google first acquired the video site, only a moron would buy YouTube for over a billion dollars. Conversely, only a moron would try to destroy YouTube with a business plan that has nothing to do with the real reasons behind the site's popularity.

Lay your bets down now ... I'm predicting that user-generated video will not even be offered on this self-styled 'YouTube Killer', because that would take more control out of big media’s hands.

That's why this deal is such a pathetic act of desperation. News Corp. and NBC are scared to death that they're losing hold of the media (which they are), trying to win it back (which they're not), and never realizing that their heyday might be gone for good.

I am also dumbfounded by News Corp.'s inexplicable involvement in this scheme. They already control MySpace -- the 2nd largest video-content sharing site on the planet behind 'GooTube' -- yet they risk cannibalizing their own product with another video site.

It begs the question -- how much legitimate, thoughtful planning actually supported this decision? I wonder if these suits really know how much money it takes to run a YouTube. Just crunch the numbers for the servers and bandwidth costs, and see if your checkbook doesn't start crumbling.

News Corp. and NBC will discover soon enough that running their own shop will be more expensive than striking a deal with YouTube, and mooching off their IT infrastructure. Enter the ultimate solution: a contract with YouTube to legally show video clips. This would dramatically increase big media's reach, at relatively low cost, and without the long ramp-up time of a new site.

But that's as likely to happen as pigs flitting past my second-story window. Instead, the media giants will continue their Quixotic march, and further damage their reach and drain their resources.

It's a shame, really. All they have to do is recognize the change of guard from traditional media to user-generated content, and learn to play nice with their new buddies. Only then can they credibly access the online community, and capture the millions of potential new viewers that await them there.

Rich Tolsma takes on vidiots

2007-03-21T11:26:00.000-05:00

Are you a vidiot? That is, someone who doesn't know how to approach a video project ... so won't even try?

If you are, then it's time you got schooled in video production basics. Multimedia is fast becoming an expected component in marketing materials. Make one investment in a solid, expertly produced piece, and you can incorporate it on your Web site, share it on YouTube, embed it in your company blog, and more.

But you don't have to take our word for it. Hear it from the 'reel' deal: Rich Tolsma, producer, director, editor, and head honcho at Rich Tolsma Productions in Philadelphia.

We caught up with him at the CCPA event (the same evening that brought you Krista Bard), and pestered him with lots of questions about why and how businesses of all sizes implement the power of video.

Lucky for us -- and for you -- he had great answers. Listen, learn, and let your inner Spielberg loose!

InformationWeek strengthens our convictions

2007-03-20T12:56:00.000-05:00

Think social networking is a dying fad? Then you're in good company with a recent article on InformationWeek's Mobile Weblog -- and out of step with our response.

Like I said to blogger Stephen Wellman, who was covering Michael Hirschorn's piece from The Atlantic Monthly, social networking will never die. It will simply be reborn under a different moniker, and continue reconnecting online lives.

Just something to consider if you're worried about dipping your toe in the social networking ocean. We say, be brave! Take the plunge. It's well worth it.

The Bard of Philadelphia

2007-03-19T13:17:00.000-05:00

"Why, then the world's mine oyster,
Which I with sword will open."
-- The Merry Wives of Windsor (II, ii, 2-3)

These stirring words from one Bard help us introduce another -- Krista Bard, President of CCPA, whose 'State of the City' event we recently attended.

Krista has the honor of being the subject of the first IncPlace podcast. Here, she discusses how small business collaboration and community support go a long way in growing a business.

We hope Krista's expertise provides just the sword you need to crack open your own business oyster (you get what I mean). Many thanks, Krista! And happy listening to all.

And for your viewing pleasure ... here I am with Krista the night of the event.

Seun joined in the fun, too. Here, we're discussing small business Web development.

Behold, the actual podcast production! Here's Julia Rocchi, one of our producers, with Krista hot on the mic.

Hearin' now

2007-03-16T11:52:00.000-05:00

The podcasts are coming, the podcasts are coming!

Thanks to our trusty microphone, snazzy recorder, and lots of free time, we're ready to start posting podcasts. Doesn't get any better than this, folks -- real conversations in real time from real people, all available for immediate listening and downloads.

Believe me, the entire production process has been a prime example of flying by the seat of our pants. But we've learned a heckuva lot, and we know you will too, once our interviews hit your speakers/headphones.

After all, business knowledge is only as good as the people imparting it. That's why we're going where the rubber meets the road -- grilling industry experts, bloggers, analysts, business owners, customers, and community leaders on your behalf.

And remember: This is for you, so let us know if you like what you're hearing, how you respond to what you're hearing, and who you might want to hear next. Feel free to pass us along to friends and enemies -- we want their feedback, too.

In the end, we're all ears. And we thank you in advance for yours!

Mello says hello

2007-03-15T11:15:00.000-05:00

John P. Mello, Jr. is our hero.

He's the lead blogger for the MyTech blog over at Small Biz Resource. And he just wrote an awesome profile of IncPlace for the world to see.

Seriously, though, you need to check out Small Biz Resource, and not just to further inflate our rapidly expanding egos. The entire site offers lots of useful tools, tips, and products that make entrepreneurial life easier.

John's blog, in particular, focuses on the latest, greatest gadgets and services for the inquiring tech mind. A must-read for any business leader who wants to stay on the cutting edge.

Free advice for entrepreneurs

2007-03-15T10:53:00.001-05:00

They say there's no such thing as a free lunch. But there IS such a thing as a free entrepreneur networking event.

Two days ago, Seun, Kate, and I joined the Entrepreneurs Forum of Greater Philadelphia (EFGP) at their monthly networking-slash-education event. March's topic: “How Philadelphia 100 CEOs Leverage Technology for Company Growth.”

The networking part of the evening turned out to be much more valuable than the panel discussion. I got the chance to speak one-on-one with a number of attendees, many of whom own and operate small businesses or consulting shops.

I found out they're all facing the same challenge in their business development right now. They all want to figure out how to leverage the Internet to set up shop, boost sales, or grow their business. That's why they came to this event -- to get advice from expert panelists on effective use of tech.

However, the panelists presented technology solutions in a big enterprise context. They talked about integration of complex systems in order to work payroll, sales, and management issues, rather than steps small businesses can take to gain online traction for their goods and services.

Still, some of their advice was useful. Panelist Chris Burkhard, founder and president of CBI Group, had the most to offer in terms of speaking to a small business audience. First, he discussed the importance of bootstrapping to ensure a business doesn't grow faster than its infrastructure can support.

Burkhard also stressed getting employees involved in software solutions at work. As he put it, this makes them 'road warriors using the software,' and puts them squarely 'in the trenches'. And my ears perked up when he noted the importance of blogs, wikis, and other online collaborative tools as a way to increase productivity.

Panelist Gerard Ferro, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of SUNRx, focused more on large-scale enterprise solutions such as SalesForce.com or different software methods to increase the productivity of call centers and customer support units. (Definitely good advice for any business owner considering scaling their business, but perhaps a bit beyond this particular audience's needs.)

And he affirmed Burkhard's point that everyone at the organization needs to be involved in IT implementation to avoid confusion and hiccups. Drew Morrisroe, founder of CTN Solutions, Inc., seconded (thirded?) this, adding that the CEO must have a thorough understanding of IT issues at all times.

Morrisroe also pointed out that IT is a major investment. As such, it requires a decent budget, though he warned the audience to expect cost overruns. Morrisroe then raised an excellent point about the importance of keeping software updated, and knowing how those updates affect hardware and budgets. One tip: Design the organization's technology plan along the same lines as the business plan.

The real star of the evening was the guy who got up and gave his elevator pitch about his product 'Alligeter,' a device for pulling objects out of a garbage disposal. This final portion of the event -- when people could pitch their ideas to the whole audience -- was definitely worthwhile, and showed that the audience was focused on getting their small businesses noticed.

My advice for EFPG, should they cover this topic again: Provide information about free collaborative online services, and discuss in greater detail the new Web tools available to businesses. This will be of far greater and more immediate value to your small business audience.

And if you need any help, just give me and Seun a call. We're happy to contribute ;-)

Eye on eBay

2007-03-13T12:07:00.001-05:00

We’re interested in how businesses are using eBay. We want to know what challenges businesses face, how businesses feel about eBay services and features, and what successes (if any) the average Joe and Josephine are having.

What better way to find out than a survey? We've posted one on Zoomerang, and invite you to take a few minutes to complete it, if you're an eBay seller.

The responses are completely anonymous. We're not capturing any e-mail or personal information. That said, if you want a copy of the survey results before we publish them here, you'll be given an opportunity to opt-in to our mailing list.

We're also planning to pen a series of posts that take direct aim at the issues the respondents identify through the survey.

If you're an eBay seller, or you have an eBay Store, give the survey a whirl, and tell us what's on your mind.

And if you know anybody else who's selling on eBay, by all means, pass the survey along. We want to hear from, and help them, too.

Afterbirth: Extra blogging resources

2007-03-09T14:12:00.000-05:00

I just came across a few sites that can help you implement the steps Andy outlined earlier today:

Jumpstart Traffic to Your Blog with These Web 2.0 Steps (Business Blog Consulting)

Web 2.0 for the non-Web CEO

68 Web 2.0 Design Tutorials

And the best offline reading? Naked Conversations by Shel Israel and Robert Scoble. Hands-down the most comprehensive introduction to the blogging universe.

13 tips for birthing your blog

2007-03-09T10:40:00.000-05:00

Admit it -- you have blog envy.

You cruise the blogosphere, peruse diverse blog designs and topics, and think, “I could do this! I could blog for my business!”

So you pick a Blogger template. Brainstorm a funky title. Sit down to type. And then ... nothing. You've been stricken by blogging dysfunction (B.D.), a common side effect of starting a blog without having a clue how to sustain it.

Seun and I are committed to eliminating B.D. from the Web 2.0 world, and YOU are our first patient. The prescription: Read these 13 tips (no longer the unlucky number) and comment in the morning.

1. Passion makes perfect. Don't even THINK about pursuing a blog strategy if you have no real passion or excitement for the topic. Ambivalence will manifest as lukewarm, uninspired posts -- a huge turn-off to potential readers. Passion, on the other hand, breathes life and interest into the blog, and encourages readers to come back for more. Besides, loving what you blog about will reinforce your commitment to update and manage the blog.

2. Go at it regularly. Write on your topic(s) daily, weekly, monthly -- whatever works best with your schedule, material, and audience. The important thing is to stay consistent and reliable. This assures your readers can count on new material, and you can get into a regular habit.

3. Write well. Make sure your writing skills are up to par. If you can't construct a simple sentence, or if you simply hate writing, outsource the material. Find a writer or company who can adopt your voice and craft your posts.

4. Be transparent. The blogosphere will tear you limb from limb if they discover you're a 'flog' (fake blog). Stay completely transparent and honest about the blog's purpose, its contributors' backgrounds, and its source material.

5. Variety = spice of life. Choose a variety of topics that impact and interest your customers. This kicks the blog up a notch from product or service pitching, and transforms it into a relevant resource for your target audience. They'll read you, share you, reference you, and, most important, get to know you.

6. Find the link love. Read and understand other bloggers in the universe who cover the same topics. Link to them on your blog, let them know you endorse them, and hope that they reciprocate with a similar shout-out. This is called 'link love' -- establishing relationships with the other bloggers for mutual exposure.

7. Comment to encourage conversation. Blogging is a conversation. It doesn't work one way. Take the time to review and respond to comments left on your site. This serves two purposes: It personally connects to your readers, and it helps you gauge if you're reaching your intended audience. Conversely, comment on other blogs, and link back to your blog. This will help you tap more interested readers, and offer them your relevant material.

8. Claim your blog on Technorati. This blog tracker searches, surfaces, and organizes blogs and other online content. Registering with Technorati increases your exposure, and helps promote the blog to a specific audience. Plus, it will help YOU navigate the nearly 71 million blogs now in existence.

9. Digg your blog for del.icio.us results. Add Digg and del.icio.us links to your blog. This makes it easy for readers to tag your stories, sending them into mainstream readership. If the post is particularly eye-catching, it might even become featured on the taggers' homepages -- a terrific way to reach thousands of new readers.

10. Build your social network. Most social network sites offer free profile setups. The obvious example is MySpace, the biggest and most popular with millions of users. If you do choose to set up a profile, remember your audience, and network with the appropriate communities.

11. Design matters. Just as your fingerprints mark your identity, so should your blog design speak for your business. Keep it clean and simple. Too much clutter, and people won't read. Too little content, and they won't stay.

12. Buy Google AdWords. Evaluate your budget. If you have the money, you might want to invest in online advertising. This technique, which is gaining popularity among businesses, is another helpful way to drive traffic to your blog.

13. Go viral. Companies are increasingly turning to YouTube and other video sites to air commercials, presentations, and other videos. Producing a viral video is a cheap, fast way to expose thousands of eyeballs to your business. Once it's up, include the video on your blog to get the ball rolling among your core audience.

There's much more advice where this comes from, but we'll wait for future posts to dish it out. In the meantime, good luck and God speed, fellow blogger! We look forward to reading you.

What's your worth?

2007-03-07T13:21:00.000-05:00

You're not lazy. Quite the opposite. You're a hardworking entrepreneur who wears every hat at your small business -- from clerk, to beancounter, to CEO. As a result, your time and your nerves are stretched to the breaking point.

That's why you'll love this Web 2.0 resource compilation from Null and Void, a definite must-read for a Web 2.0 beginner-slash-business owner.

It breaks down the top 25 Web 2.0 applications by business function, including finance, marketing, and workflow management. (The list even includes social networking. Be still, my beating heart!)

While you're at it, check out PayScale.com, one worthwhile resource overlooked by Null and Void. Think of it as the people's version of Salary.com, in that it relies on user-reported data to generate salary ranges and reports.

It's a great tool for employees who need help figuring out their workforce worth. Also, the service's user-generated aspect stays true to Web 2.0 principles, and gives control to customers, rather than site owners.

But employers derive the most benefits from a site like PayScale. On its most basic level, it sidesteps industry payroll trend analysts, saving them time and money, and shares all pertinent info in one convenient location.

Employers can also get averages of what a specific position in an industry makes, and compare their payrolls to actual industry numbers. This helps cut costs where applicable.

Moreover, the data clues them in to the marketplace climate, which improves their recruiting methods. For example, if an employer is offering 35K a year for a bookkeeper position, but bookkeepers actually average 45K a year, the employer can align the salary to expectations before posting to the classifieds.

This information also helps during salary negotiations. Employers already know the salary ceiling, which alleviates concerns about over- or under-offering. Plus, they have solid numbers backing them up if potential hires question them.

Of course, the usual caveat still stands -- do you trust the users behind user-generated content? The info is only as good as the data supplied to PayScale. And if people misrepresent their salaries, or too few employees in a given field submit data, then reports will be skewed or incorrect.

That said, PayScale seems reliable for most professions, and, at the very least, can augment additional salary research. Happy headhunting!

Mark (Cuban) my words

2007-03-06T17:27:00.001-05:00

Let me introduce you to my blogging soul mate: Mark Cuban, the blogger behind Blog Maverick, and the only online guy who's as edgy as I am!

He just wrote a rant about companies' ongoing inability to 'get' social networking. I couldn't agree more, so I chimed in with my own analysis.

Read in tandem, these posts should give you enough curmudgeonly chit-chat to get you through the week. But if not, share your beef with me, and together, maybe we can get companies to realize the error of their Web 2.0 ways.

Philadelphia: A city's state

2007-03-05T15:55:00.000-05:00

Last week, Team IncPlace went native.

That is, we attended Philadelphia’s Fifth Annual State of the City, hosted by the Center City Proprietors Association (CCPA). This event brings together local business and civic leaders to discuss achievements and failures of the past year, and set goals for the coming one.

This year, it also brought me and Seun, who live and work in Philadelphia, putting us in the unique position to comment as citizens and businessmen. Here are our observations.

Philly's Top Challenges

Some of the speakers talked about making the city friendlier to venture capitalists and financial institutions to attract new business, and help the city incubate strong business ideas. Easier said than done in our fair city, thanks to several significant roadblocks.

One, nobody wants to pay Philly’s high business privilege tax. Apparently, no one on the panel wanted to discuss it either, and never explained why the business tax hasn't been lowered yet, or removed entirely.

One panelist even went so far as to defend the tax structure, saying Europeans find us a bargain, thanks to the exchange rate. This is more than a non-sequitur, it’s total crap. How many mega European conglomerate companies do you see investing in downtown Philadelphia?

Point is, favorable tax structures encourage business development. You can’t have one without the other. Philly has neither.

Two, Philly is not generally viewed as a progressive city. Other cities have boasted skyscraper-rich skylines and strong business communities for years. But the new office towers in Philly's skyline are recent, and old ones are mostly vacant.

Moreover, only two of those new towers are successful right now: the Cira Centre and the Comcast Center, which is under construction. And the reason for their leasing success? The offer of 10-year tax abatements. (See point number one.)

Finally, Philadelphia lacks the Internet infrastructure to tap into the global economy. To its credit, the city has several WiFi programs in the works. When completed, these will help local business access new opportunities online, reach new audiences, and participate fully in the global exchange.

Until then, however, businesses are under economic house arrest, confined to the national marketplace.

Philly's Best Opportunities

Lest readers outside the area think Philly is a business development backwater, here are a few ways Philly is poised to fully earn the title ‘next great city.’

I was intrigued by the use of new media at Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation. President and CEO Meryl Levitz spoke about her organization’s efforts to embrace new social media as a way to spread their messages. They’ve even hired a social media director to spearhead the changes.

No time like the present! The current Web 2.0 landscape is the perfect breeding ground for such expansion. Communities and businesses have tremendous opportunity to promote themselves over many different channels, and reach a large, diverse audience quickly and inexpensively.

Social media can also support Thomas Morr’s call at Select Greater Philadelphia for outreach programs that educate organizations about doing business in Philadelphia. The right promotional materials, applied appropriately, can be a great complement to the city’s revamped image, and help reinforce positive positioning.

The most telling moment of the evening came at its very end. Krista Bard, CCPA’s president, directly expressed her concerns to me about how businesses must get online in order to succeed.

She’s heard countless stories of business owners frustrated with getting online these days. Yet why is this even an issue, she asked, considering all the new Web 2.0 community building tools available, and the supposed ease of e-commerce?

Sad, but true, Krista. There’s a business side to the digital divide that few discuss, but many experience. And it’s preventing small businesses from capturing e-commerce profits, and large and mid-sized business from capturing new customers and vendors.

Herein lies Philly’s biggest opportunity. The city can deliver a one-two punch to the competition by attracting new businesses, and then helping them all get online, too. This will put the City of Brotherly Love on the map, online and offline, and turn the Sixth Annual State of the City into a celebration.

Web 2.0 litmus test

2007-03-02T15:58:00.001-05:00

In case you were living under a rock in February, I am bringing this awesome Web 2.0 video to your attention:

Now, for purposes of discussion, watch this one:

Both teach viewers much about what defines Web 2.0. Yet compare their page views. 'Web 2.0 ... The Machine is Us/ing Us' boasts over 1.5 million views. 'Web 2.0' -- a mere 68,000.

Herein lies the true educational value of these videos. The first video claims the lead because it actually embodies the Web 2.0 spirit. It's dynamic, interactive, catchy, and personal. It showcases all related technology, such as XML. And it draws the entire concept back to Web 2.0's real power source: people.

The other one -- a boring, static, dry presentation that sucks all the air out of a exciting concept. No wonder people aren't watching it.

Now apply this lesson to your own business. Are your Web operations modeled on the energy of the first video ... or stuck in a rut like the second one? Like it or not, your answer will determine your online viability.

BONUS: If you liked 'Web 2.0 ... The Machine is Us/ing Us,' then you'll love this interview with creator Michael Wesch on John Battelle's Searchblog. Enjoy.

Commenting. That was easy.

2007-03-01T17:18:00.000-05:00

Speak of the devil! Jim Hopkins read my mind today about establishing credibility. And as you can see in the comment section, I gave him a piece of it back.

It's a cool Web 2.0 world when a young entrepreneur can respond to points made by the former Staples CEO, become part of a conversation on USA Today, and perhaps even teach people something new.

I'm psyched ... are you?

Looking good is half the battle

2007-03-01T08:47:00.000-05:00

Credibility. It's a small business's strongest currency, the special sauce that dazzles investors, employees, and customers. That's according to the results of the Panel Study of Entrepreneurial Dynamics (PSED), summarized at Inc.com.

Here are some of my own suggestions for kicking your venture's success up a notch.

First, don't be afraid to forgo formality. Traditional business plans are not always necessary. A brief executive summary, a short competitive analysis, and a simple budget outline often make good starting points. People often spend (waste?) months perfecting their business plans, only to be shot down by an investor at the first meeting.

That's because the idea of a 'perfect business plan' is a myth. You can't be perfect, because the market and competition are always shifting. Your business has to hit the moving target.

To do so, you must constantly monitor your space. Continue to refine your company goals. Be innovative. Keep moving forward. Maintain flexibility. Be open to change. And check your ego at the door. Few things go right on the first go-around, so be prepared to fail.

Next, find business mentors, and pick their brains for valuable advice or lessons learned. Same goes for internal strength. Seek partners and employees who are open-minded, collaborative, and open to feedback.

One simple trick: Hire people who are smarter than you, and then leave them alone to do their best work. Micromanaging limits company growth and creativity (not to mention drives everyone bonkers).

Finally, take advantage of real-world education. College degrees certainly have merit, but day-to-day business also requires common sense and situational awareness. The more attuned your senses, the faster you can act -- and with better results.

America 'hearts' entrepreneurs

2007-02-28T15:14:00.000-05:00

Three decades ago, there were hundreds of people for every one Bill Gates who had excellent business ideas, but no resources to realize them. Not so anymore, according to CNN Money -- entrepreneurs are seizing the day.

Technology is one environment factor that has significantly lowered entrepreneurs' barriers to entry. Today, with so much commerce happening online, all they need to get a company up and running is a computer and Internet access.

Consider the flood of dorm room entrepreneurs. I was one myself. As a junior attending Temple University, I didn't want to slave away at an unpaid internship from 9 to 5 every day. Instead, I started building Web sites for family and friends -– a much more fun, flexible, and lucrative operation.

Within a year, my little side project grew into a full-fledged design company called Element Web Solutions, employing a team of part-time staffers. Our apartments doubled as offices, because all we needed were computers and the Internet.

Such casual surroundings belied our serious work. We built corporate identities and branding campaigns for over 70 small to mid-sized businesses, including law firms, restaurants, private hospitals, non-profits, construction companies, and real estate developers.

You might find my story unique. But I wasn't the only one with the bright idea to start an online company. Hundreds of other Web design firms popped up all over the place, run by kids just like me.

Now, how many of those shops are still open today? Only a handful. This disappearing act proves one of our most important IncPlace maxims: Flashy ideas are great, but they need strong business models for support.

Still, my personal experience shows how online capabilities have helped ambitious, creative entrepreneurs hit the ground running. The question now becomes, how do they keep from tripping in a risky, rocky marketplace?

Taxing YouTube

2007-02-27T13:08:00.000-05:00

No, I'm not suggesting we place levies on YouTube (though it is as addictive as nicotine). I'm talking about the TurboTax Tax Rap contest, featuring Vanilla Ice.

This is a terrific example of business embracing viral videos. Granted, the rap is ridiculous, and Vanilla Ice is a no-talent hack, but numbers speak louder than opinions. This little ditty has generated nearly a million page views ... and the ticker's still counting.

Not too shabby for DIY tax and accounting software. The Turbo Tax takeaway: Integrating Web 2.0 media in appropriate, effective channels brings people and communities closer to the products and businesses they use. And that means more G's for companies.

Word to your motha.

Insecurity wins the race

2007-02-26T09:48:00.000-05:00

Here’s a subject I’ve believed in -- and lived -- my entire 28-year career: the power of insecurity.

I went into the family business full time in 1978. Our company, J.W.S. Delavau, Inc., manufactured high-volume, low-margin nutritional supplements. At the time, we got little respect and even less attention within the industry.

Our facility reflected our spirits. We worked in a 100-year-old, five-story building in a rough Philadelphia neighborhood, with zero capital to invest in expansion or upgrades.

Our bad situation soon worsened. The bank told us we had 60 days to get our act together, or it would pull our loan. Then we lost our top two customers. Insecurity was running high, and the wolves were at the door.

To survive, we had to be innovative and lean. But the turning point didn't come overnight. First, we focused on improving our primary product line, calcium. It generated good press over time, and we slowly gained more business.

This revenue let us buy better equipment. We refined our unique processes, and increased throughput by 50x. We also recruited better management personnel, and hired people with deep experience in larger pharmaceutical companies. And we moved our facility to a new building, finally gaining full control of our process, product, and costs.

The industry noticed our 180-degree transformation. Soon, we attracted branded pharmaceutical companies to buy from us, as we were one of the only companies that could meet their standards. This established us as the low-cost producer with high-end quality.

Ultimately, we became the most profitable company by percentage in our industry, employing over 400 people. Our reputation as innovators preceded us; other firms clamored to see how we did it. In 2002, an LBO firm in New York acquired us, with the promise to expand on the company's upward movements.

Step by step. Inch by inch. Lot of crossed fingers and holding breath. As the company's key decision maker, I was responsible for keeping the house of cards erect. But even at our most successful period, I never shook the mindset that it could crash at any moment. I did not want to go back to the “good old days” -- truly some of the worst in my life.

These fears and insecurities focused me on keeping a competitive edge. Without the early challenges, I could not have forged the company -- or myself -- into our ultimate successes. We were always out to prove that we were as good as or better than every other company in the industry. And it turned out we were, thanks to hard work and sheer grit.

As my life experience shows, insecurity is a great motivator, especially when you understand it, and know how to leverage it. Remember, though, to temper your fears with belief and confidence in your abilities. Otherwise, you'll be crippled before you even enter the race.

Startups finish first

2007-02-23T15:20:00.001-05:00

I’m a Yahoo! fan -- have been since its early days as a leader in online innovation. In the Internet's youth, Yahoo! embodied what it meant to be an Internet success, similar to YouTube's status for the Web 2.0 era.

Today is a different story. Smaller startup companies are succeeding, while Yahoo! sits at a standstill.

Why the switch? As Internet companies like Yahoo! grow, they shift their business focus -- a necessary evolution. Yet they also shed the startup spirit that made them successful in the first place.

No wonder, then, that today's entrepreneurs can take on established companies. Their ample supply of startup spirit drives innovative thinking. Their lean teams -- five employees or less -- keep them nimble and creative, which leads to newer, cutting-edge products much faster than at companies with 10,000 people ... like Yahoo!.

Google is a rare exception for large companies. They have sustained the startup environment throughout rapid growth. Also, they're well-known for hiring the very best people, and giving them a comfortable place to brainstorm day and night -- an approach that keeps them ahead of the pack.

With such high consumer expectations in this Web 2.0 era, company size no longer matters. Rather, a company must recruit forward-thinking, creative people, and focus on building innovative products.

If a company can make life easier, cheaper, smarter, or better, they will change the way people function. That's what will set them apart, and put them ahead.

Microsoft vs. the world

2007-02-22T23:52:00.000-05:00

Microsoft is having a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.

Google just released Google Apps, a cheaper, Web-based software suite backed by Google's clout, and perfectly positioned to dent Microsoft's monopolistic armor. The Bill Gates Behemoth also had to pony up $1.5 billion to Alcatel-Lucent SA for violating two digital music patents.

I never advocate kicking somebody when they're down, but I find these head-to-head challenges strangely satisfying. It's the age-old tale of David versus Goliath, the underdog taking all. And in light of recent behavior, Microsoft deserves every punch.

Consider the hubris of the Vista launch. The company slotted the product for a midnight release, presuming the masses would come in droves to pick up new operating systems. (Apparently, no one told customers that in Raleigh, N.C., when only 12 people showed up at an overstaffed CompUSA.)

The marketplace response has been similarly underwhelming. BusinessWeek reports:

During its first week on the market in late January and early February, U.S. retailers sold 59% fewer copies of Windows Vista than they did of Windows XP during its first week of sales in 2001, according to market researcher NPD Group. Dollar sales were down 32% compared with XP. In New York on Feb. 15, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer told financial analysts to temper their revenue forecasts from Vista during the company's 2008 fiscal year, which begins July 1, calling them 'over-optimistic'.

For all that, the system has created a ripple effect within the industry. Some ancillary firms are profiting by developing software patches that fix Vista's reported bugs and holes. Yet other companies, faced with the challenge of designing Vista-compatible applications, are bleeding cash. (And let's not even get into the recent death matches with Apple over advertising, Mac rip-offs, and Zune/iPod compatibility. That's another post.)

The takeaway remains the same: Microsoft is slowly but surely falling behind the times, and becoming more vulnerable. In this state, David can take down the most daunting Goliath if he hurls enough stones. Just watch for a few more days like today, and the software giant will be down for the count.

Bon voyage, VC!

2007-02-21T13:14:00.000-05:00

Yesterday, I said India was a magnet for VC tech investments -- and a chief competitor to Silicon Valley. Today, Europe wants to give the U.S. tech hub a run for its money, too.

More VC companies are funding startups outside of the United States as the Internet becomes more popular in other countries. The impetus: bigger bang per buck in places like India and China, where labor is cheap and the standard of living is low.

Now Europe hopes to nurture its own under-developed tech sector by drawing VC funding its way. And if it succeeds, America will be forced to make some changes.

For example, U.S. companies don't bootstrap enough. They waste money on unnecessary line items, when they should re-invest in more strategic company operations and initiatives that actually grow and establish the organization. No wonder VCs are looking outside our borders –- they want ROI, and it's becoming less likely they'll get it stateside.

Foreign investment in Internet startups is ultimately a blessing. It connects global communities, and fosters cross-border collaboration. Even better, it forces U.S. firms to be at the top of their game, and present sophisticated, well-developed plans that truly deserve coveted funding.

I doubt VC firms will ever pull out of the United States entirely. But that doesn't give American companies license to fall asleep at the wheel. They must stay savvy, sharp, and ready for a fight.

India: The next Silicon Valley

2007-02-20T12:36:00.000-05:00

Let's play Word Association: Global Edition. China -- manufacturing. Japan -- electronics. India -- outsourcing.

India's technological savvy and abundance of labor has already drawn many U.S. companies to its shores. Now it is adding more fuel to the outsourcing fire by positioning itself to become the most bandwidth-competitive country in the world, thanks to new government regulations.

This is terrific news for American companies who want to start an Internet-based company or application for less money. Increased bandwidth in India lowers startups' barriers to entry, and saves larger, established corporations more cash. This, in turn, injects good ol' fashioned competition into the global marketplace, keeping businesses hungry and monopolies at bay.

But it's terrible news for American employees who might see more jobs sail overseas. If bandwidth costs drop 20 percent to 25 percent as predicted, new hosting companies will spring up all over India, and offer significantly cheaper services. This is likely to put smaller, U.S.-based hosting operations out of business, sending employees to the bread line.

Either way, India will reap rewards. Many VC firms are investigating investments there, giving small Indian shops the big funding options U.S. firms currently enjoy. Couple this cash flow with the drop in bandwidth prices, and India is poised to become the next global tech hub, joining South Korea and China as early tech adopters.

I can picture the new word association now: India -- Silicon Valley. The change is closer than we think.

A not-so-Comcastic idea

2007-02-15T16:09:00.000-05:00

Same news, different impression. (Andy can't have all the fun!) Here are my two cents about the Facebook-Comcast deal.

It was only a matter of time before this happened. The unexpected success of viral videos make the network and cable giants salivate over the millions of eyeballs at stake. Comcast's solution: Team up with Facebook to offer user-generated video content on demand, so viewers bypass YouTube, and instead watch the same content from their couches.

Some in the industry call this groundbreaking. I call it stupid.

Putting these videos on television bypasses the most important component of viral video success -- the online community. The ability to network, share, tag, network, post, and comment is what gives videos such tremendous visibility.

Let's be honest ... Most YouTube videos are idiotic. Many involve bodily harm or bodily fluid. And don't forget the videos of grown men dancing to Spice Girl records in their bedrooms. (Yes, that is me, and yes, 'Wannabe' is an awesome song. No judging.)

But factor in viewers' boredom and natural voyeurism, and you've pegged the power source for the viral video phenomenon. Soon, people are watching countless hours of these videos, reading every comment, and forwarding the whole schmeer to equally bored yet connected friends. The videos simply appear in inboxes around the world -- no fuss, no work, no problem.

How can this ever be replicated on television, a non-Internet medium? People will have to work for their cheap entertainment. They'll have to turn on their sets, scroll to the viral videos section, and make a conscious decision to watch me act like Scary Spice. (Really ... once I'm in a dress, the resemblance is uncanny.)

If they make it that far, then they'll have no one to share it with, no place to leave feedback, and no way to instantly pass it along. And Comcast will have wasted valuable time, money, and energy on a easily avoidable concept if someone had simply sat down and considered its feasibility.

At least my impression of Scary Spice won't meet the same fate as Comcast's Facebook content. I'll be delighting (or disgusting?) the online masses for generations to come!

Beware the 'Gray Hair Effect'

2007-02-14T14:28:00.000-05:00

Last word on my recent Facebook and follow-up posts, I promise. The soapbox has one more good rant in it ...

‘Young’ does not equal ‘stupid.’ Yet many people believe it does. I call this phenomenon the Gray Hair Effect, a.k.a. ageism. Or in this case, youngism. Because I’m not talking about discrimination toward senior citizens. I’m talking about discrimination toward younger business people.

I’m 25. I have a start-up venture to my name. I’ve worked as a partner in my family investment firm. Usually before I meet with someone, I call them, introduce myself, shoot the breeze, discuss the agenda -- anything to make the meeting warmer and more productive later.

Then I show up. Here, the Gray Hair Effect comes into play. The same person I just spoke to on the phone will ask, “Hey, where’s your boss, Andy? You know, that guy I talked to on the phone?”

And God forbid I arrive with an older partner. Then most conversation is directed toward them -- even if I’m the one asking the questions. It’s like a bizarre, late-in-life interpretation of ‘children should be seen and not heard’.

I recognize that most people who hold power positions in companies tend to be older. After all, it often takes time, education, and experience to reach positions with greater responsibility.

What I don’t understand is their negative attitude toward younger businesspeople. Why should anybody care how old you are when dealing with business? The last time I checked, some of the most successful people in the world started off young, particularly in the Web 2.0 world.

Some fast facts:

* Michael Dell started his computer company in his dorm room at U niversity of Texas at Austin. He was 19. He is now a billionaire.

* Sergey Brin and Larry Page at Google started a search engine when they were in their mid-twenties. They are now two of the richest people in the world.

* Chad Hurley, Steve Chen, and Jawed Karim started YouTube -- that’s right -- in their twenties.

* Tom Anderson and Chris DeWolfe were in their twenties when they founded MySpace.

* Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg was 19 -- another dorm-room upstart.

* Kevin Rose of Digg.com was on the cover of BusinessWeek. He’s now 30.

Let’s face it: Age is no longer a prerequisite for success. Good ideas are good ideas, regardless of time spent on the planet. The face of business is changing, and it counts fewer wrinkles.

Now I want to hand the mic over to you. Young business people: Have you faced age discrimination in the business world, from peers or from older workers? If so, how have you responded to it? What lessons have you learned?

Older business people: Same questions! Have you faced age discrimination from peers or younger workers? Your responses? Lessons learned?

Go. Type. Respond. In the meantime, here are some tips I follow to combat the Gray Hair Effect in my own life: (Though I think this is sound advice for any age group.)

1. Be a domain expert. Know what you’re talking about. Do as much research as you can on the topic you’re meeting about, especially if you’re pitching a business idea. The more facts and figures your grasp, the more respect you will command in a business situation.

2. Practice your presentation. Never go into a meeting cold. And please, don’t open with a cheesy joke. This shows lack of confidence and originality in the presenter.

3. Observe your body language and the audience’s body language. When someone is speaking to you, lean in towards them to show your interest. Conversely, avoid sitting back in the chair with crossed arms -- an indicator of insecurity and disinterest.

4. Use your hands when speaking. Count ideas on your fingers. Point to people you connect with. Bang your hand on the table to emphasize a strong point. Scan the crowd, and make eye contact with everyone in the room. And don’t wring your hands -- that screams nerves.

5. Get excited! Raise your voice when you are making a strong point about your product. Emphasize ideas that catch the attention and imagination of your audience. If you’re not engaged in your own work, how can you expect anyone else to be?

6. Ask questions. This counts even in lousy meetings. You never know what tidbit of info might be useful later. Keep your ears open, and write everything down.

7. Don’t burn bridges. Swallow your pride when necessary, however unpleasant it might be. None of us have crystal balls, and we never know whose path we will intersect later in life, or in what capacity. The more polite and professional you remain, the more willing people will be to work with you at any point.

And one final caveat to my peers in the business world: Time does not stand still. I already count 15 gray hairs on my head. One day, we’ll be the older workers, and a new generation will be complaining about us. So let’s remember where we came from, and snuff out the Gray Hair Effect forever.

MySpace: Storefronts or whorefronts?

2007-02-13T14:17:00.000-05:00

MySpace hosts over 100 million active accounts. But how many of them are real?

I casually browsed some profiles recently. Don't quote me, but I estimate at least 70 percent of all listed profiles were somehow related to porn, either in content or advertising. Yet scattered among the smut were legitimate business profiles -- law firms, entrepreneurs, musicians, and more -- all using the networking service for its original purpose.

It reminds me of Times Square years ago, when prostitutes, drug addicts, and pimps packed the streets, scaring tourists away. But brave visitors who ventured in anyway occasionally stumbled upon a day care center, a bakery, or another real business -- quite the anomaly in the seedy Square.

MySpace case in point: Roni Deutch (legit biz) vs. Dawn (smut peddler).

After seeing Dawn's profile countless times, I had to ask myself -– is MySpace the behemoth it claims to be? More important, do businesses want to be there?

Yes. And yes. Now pick yourself up off the floor, and hear me out.

MySpace is not an outdated elder statesman of the Web 2.0 phenomenon. It still plays an important role in the social networking landscape as one of the most recognized and extensive online communities available today. And like any tool, it is most powerful when properly used, fostering connection and communication.

However, here's what has to happen to make sure MySpace retains that power:

First, MySpace administrators must crack down on flagrant porn accounts. They exacerbate the issue by ignoring it. The site is slowly turning into a profile trash heap, with actual users lost in the pile.

Then MySpace must reclaim and recommit to these users. This requires caring about them, and seeing them as customers, not just one of 100 million notches on a headboard. It means asking them if they are getting any value from the site, and if not, what the company can do to fix that.

MySpace needs to be Rudy Giuliani. It needs to clean up its act for the good of its own business, and for all the smaller shops that depend on it for social networking. Otherwise, the real users will drift away to one of the countless new networking sites that pop up daily -- and not return.

Unless, of course, they're looking for porn.

Making companies cool

2007-02-12T17:57:00.000-05:00

I'm a younger adult -- 25, to be exact -- and I'm a small business owner. This helps me see both sides of a touchy subject: older companies reaching younger audiences.

And talking about Facebook's deal with Comcast the other day got me thinking about concrete ways businesses can avoid the corporate stigma, and foster genuine 'cool' in their outbound communications (Web sites, marketing, advertising, etc.).

My first piece of advice to older generations: Whatever you see on MTV, or read in a teen-geared magazine, DON'T USE IT. Young people can immediately tell when somebody older is trying to act younger.

I experience this everyday. I can't hide my age when I go to business meetings. In response, older people in the room dumb down concepts and conversations, assuming I won't understand them. Worse, they start using outdated terms like 'gettin' jiggy with it', 'wazzzzzzzup', and even words such as 'rad', 'sweet', or 'badass'.

Forget about me and my peers ... even my parents don't use those terms anymore. It's not impressive to do so. In fact, it's embarrassing -- so much so that I tell all my friends how moronic most corporate suits are.

Opinions and approaches are bound to conflict between generations. However, one element remains constant -- respect. Treat youth with respect, and you will receive it right back.

Honesty falls into that category, too. Don’t market yourself as a company or product you're not. Be comfortable with your company's goals. Don't try to appeal to the group; rather, be transparent about your goals, and how you want to serve us. Youth will appreciate and respond to your candor.

And if you really have to look 'cool' to youth, say for a Web 2.0 service or network, then ask them what they want. Conduct focus groups with them, but without pandering. They will tell you if they like your idea or not. Use this information to fine-tune your product or service.

Final word of wisdom: My generation has strong opinions, and we're not afraid to air them. Use this to your advantage. After all, the entire Web 2.0 community would never have flourished if my generation didn’t have anything to say, or the liberty to say it. So let my generation speak without imposition and censorship, and you will begin to look cooler than you ever dreamed you could be.

Conspiracy theory #2: Two-faced Facebook

2007-02-11T13:23:00.000-05:00

Proof there really is nothing good on TV: Facebook is teaming up with Comcast to create a TV show based on user profiles.

Thankfully, no one is going to watch it.

MySpace tried the same tactic last summer with their show 'Project MyWorld'. It featured hot girls driving around in a bus looking for people who had the 'best' MySpace profiles, and interviewing them on why they loved MySpace so much. But I just checked local listings, and this show is definitely MIA. Or, more accurately, DOA.

It failed because it wasn't authentic. And Facebook will suffer the same fate for the same reason. I can picture the train wreck now: Ed Snider, wearing a Facebook T-shirt, delivers speeches where every other word is 'dude' or 'cool' ... because that's what the youngins' want to hear!

In this case, corporate giants at Comcast are pulling the strings to make the Facebook puppet dance. They desperately want to be cool, hip, smooth, edgy -- anything to get in front of today's youth.

But that over-eagerness is driving their coveted audience away. Young people are not stupid. They can spot a poorly executed corporate strategy from a mile away. And they want nothing to do with corporate big wig posers.

I'm surprised Facebook creator Mark Zuckerberg is being so compliant. He himself is 22 years old. He takes great pride in not looking too corporate. He shows up at professional functions wearing a suit and Adidas flip flops.

This says 'I don't give a s***' loud and clear to Wall Street. And to an audience comprised of high schoolers and college students, that is true cool.

If (when) this proposed TV show tanks, Facebook will long for the days it could have sold the biz to Yahoo! for $1 billion. And it'll have to face all the front-page press about the program's dismal failure, just like it did when it added the much-maligned news feed system last year. (I think both events are PR stunts designed to stir debate and heighten awareness, but that's a conspiracy theory for another day.)

Then again, PR might be Facebook's one redeeming outcome in this whole fiasco -- and Zuckerberg's real intent. It's another opportunity to blast its name out there, grow more viral, and draw more users to the site. I've heard it didn't experience the hoped-for surge of members when it opened their service to the outside world last September. Most members are still in the school crowd.

If increased sign-ups are indeed Facebook's goal, then the deal with Comcast is a boon. It will help it create effective viral videos to pass through countless e-mail accounts, and create greater buzz for new members.

My final grades for Facebook: 'A' for adding video to its site, 'D' for letting Comcast convince it that a TV show would be 'totally rad' -- a.k.a., remotely a good idea.

Google in bed with Apple

2007-02-07T15:15:00.001-05:00

One more thought about conspiracy theory #1. (Sorry, I just can't turn my brain off about this stuff ...)

Another turn of events that wouldn't surprise me: Google leveraging their warm relationship with Apple to achieve total video domination.

Let's follow the trail of bread crumbs: Google CEO Eric Schmidt sits on the Apple board. Apple sells full-length movies online through iTunes. Once Google owns the short video clip market, it'll want to move to streaming full-length movies.

Hmm ... you smellin' what I'm cookin'? It wouldn't be hard for these media behemoths to craft some sort of mutual profit share, and offer full-length movies for download over YouTube that leverage iTunes' well-regarded DRM and installed base of 88 million iPods.

This, in effect, will give them yet *another* way to monetize their services ($en$ing a trend yet?). Moreover, the natural extension of the user-generated video would be an actual, 'cable-esque network' that lets Google go up against the ABCs, NBCs, and CBSes of the world.

This would pressure traditional networks into signing up for Google video services and live TV content, because they would have no other way of competing with Google and their followers.

It's been widely reported that the large networks already have relationships with Google. And some networks (Fox Interactive and NBC) were believed to be in partnership talks to acquire a video sharing site (Metacafe) to battle Google in the market.

But I don't see how any media company, large or small, can win that battle, because all the eyes -- and the ears -- and the dollars -- belong to Google.

Is Web 2.0 a no-go?

2007-02-06T15:57:00.000-05:00

Is Web 2.0 getting out of hand? The answer: A definite maybe.

Look at this list of Web 2.0 companies. Many have received mainstream press coverage by piggybacking their business plans off of MySpace. Or, they offer a service so entrenched in a niche market that there is no significant potential for sustainable, profitable business plans.

Take Slide.com. They have received millions in start-up funding. But all they do is make a slide show of pictures that you can post to your social network account after adding some Flash-based text. Why does a company whose main product is a glorified widget need millions of dollars??? (Whatever pixie dust they sprinkled in their business plan ... I want it.)

I'm not alone in my incredulity. Companies like Slide.com are the reason why many bloggers and analysts believe there is a new Internet bubble growing -- a dot-com redux.

There's one key difference between the two bubbles, though. In the Internet's early days, dot-coms were going public with no substantial revenue base. The hype would build for these companies (classic example: Wine.com), and many speculators would invest, thinking, 'Everybody else is doing it -- why shouldn't I get rich too?'

As a result, much of the general public was invested in these companies, which then crashed. All hell broke loose. People lost their shirts. Women wept. You get the idea.

I doubt that will happen in this Web bubble. There aren't really any huge IPOs happening. Plus, the major business strategy appears to be 'let's sell our application to Google'. (Brilliant! Never been done!)

Let's take another look at the list. Many companies on here do have interesting ideas, and are using new community-based functions to their advantage. MySpace, YouTube, Craigslist, Facebook, Webshots, and Flickr are obvious stand-outs, with plenty of room for future monetization.

These companies also prove there is room for multiple community-based applications in the market, each generating revenues while offering most of their services for free. And with the growing double-digit rates in advertising spending, these sites will grow right alongside.

But what happens if the advertising market finds the hot new thing next week, and pulls ad dollars out of these communities? Web 2.0 will be SOL. Better to set new strategies today, than panhandle tomorrow.

This fancy logo chart screams one thing above all: Barriers to entry for a Web-related business have drastically dropped since the early days of the Internet. Anybody with a good idea -- or even a bad idea -- can go out, spend a thousand bucks, and put their site out there to see if it sticks. The problem is, they don't ask the most important question: How will it make money?

So, is the Web 2.0 market over-saturated? Maybe. The mere existence of a Web 2.0 site like Go2Web20.net -- one that makes money by compiling other Web 2.0 sites -- gives me pause. Stay tuned over the next few months: I guarantee you'll see more of these companies closing their doors, because they'll finally realize a good idea isn't enough to keep the lights on.

SuperPages' social network far from super

2007-02-02T14:44:00.000-05:00

File this news under "Right Idea, Wrong Way": SuperPages just launched 'Reviewer of the Week', a competitive program intended to spur user-generated content and reviews.

Too bad it's doomed to fail.

Nobody is going to make SuperPages their destination place for social networking. It's too corporate. Hell, it's a phonebook.

The company is making an artificial social network because 'social network' is the buzzword of the day. I see this turning (and burning) out the exact same way Wal-Mart's social network attempt did: as straight garbage nobody cares about because the corporate entity controls everything.

In fact, that's the No. 1 reason such contrived networks fall on their faces: People can't get a sense that their input is valuable or valued.

People typically don't want to help large corporations. They consider them money-grubbing giants, which is why Google had the whole "We're not evil" lobbying campaign going.

A million to one, people want to help other people -- namely, their friends and community. And they are not dumb. If a company tries to create a false sense of community, their audience will know.

Yet this seems to be where SuperPages is headed. I certainly don't see 'Reviewer of the Week' as a threat to organic, vital, honest social networks. It's only a cheap marketing ploy to get viewers to the site.

Conspiracy theory No. 1: Google's evil plan

2007-01-31T12:47:00.000-05:00

Time for my daily conspiracy theory-slash-rant! Today's springboard: YouTube's announcement that it will share profits with people who generate enough content to draw advertisers.

This business model will pan out in one, and only one way. Google (YouTube's parent co.) has a huge purse of money -- at last count, around $7 billion. They can and will dip into it to pay their most prolific video uploaders.

This will get everyone onto YouTube which, overnight, became Google's most recognized brand. Google will then make even more money, and slowly push sites with similar profit-sharing models -- Revver, Metacafe, and Break.com, among others -- into death by 1000 cuts.

Then, as these smaller players asphyxiate, Google will acquire them. This, in turn, adds more market share for their own video services, as they fold these other services into YouTube.

And once they have control of the video market, it would not surprise me to see them roll out advertisements embedded in their videos (such as what AdBrite is doing in beta mode) to make -- all together now! -- even more money.

The final nail in the digital coffin: Google AdWords all over these pages. This will make them the dominant multimedia site on the planet, and win them an almost-but-not-quite monopoly.

Sweden says 'Ja' to Second Life

2007-01-30T12:45:00.000-05:00

Move over, IKEA and meatballs! Sweden is staking another claim to fame by becoming the first country to establish an official embassy within Second Life.

This is ridiculous. Yet it's an excellent example of how far people and organizations are willing to push the envelope when it comes to social networking.

And going too far is arguably better than going nowhere at all. How does your business stack up in the social networking arena? Are you connected to other businesses in your space? Can your network-savvy customers find you? Moreover, can the right advertisers find you?

Ask these questions now, and you increase your chances of getting the right virtual passport for true social commerce.

Gazing into the MySpace crystal ball

2007-01-29T12:44:00.000-05:00

Hot off the social network presses -- MySpace is planning to double the number of countries it serves by the end of 2007, but as of yet, is not naming names.

My prediction for one of those undisclosed markets: South Korea. Wouldn't surprise me in the least if MySpace launches there, considering it's essentially the tech hub for Asia, with the highest broadband penetration in the world.

Now enter the competition. There's already an active, popular South Korean social networking site called Cyworld. (Here's the U.S. version, for those of you who don't have time to brush up on your Hangugeo.)

Think Second Life, but bigger. Plus, Cyworld makes a ton of money from advertising, hosting corporate-sponsored pages, and selling backgrounds, charms, graphics, and music for individual sites.

Cool, right? Well, this is even cooler ... Cyworld attracts approximately 90 percent of people ages 16 to 28 in South Korea. And what U.S. company wouldn't kill for such broad access to that coveted demographic?

Also, wouldn't surprise me if MySpace starts to position itself to take a whack at Google in 2007 by buying up companies and making itself a huge portal. It's already got the traffic -- now it just needs the real estate. (Hmm. Maybe it can get some in Cyworld ...)