Lots of Great Reading

Recently I have been doing lots of great reading, well listening to learn more about the way the Internet works and how it is changing our world. You can keep up with my reading list in full using my LinkedIn Profile and the Amazon Application or I tend to blog about books I am reading here.

I read - Crowdsourcing: Why the Power of the Crowd Is Driving the Future of Business by Jeff Howe that examines how businesses and nonprofits can use the crowd (the 1 Billion Internet users) to communicate and interact in the new world. This book was a bit long but provided a lot of great examples.

John Brackney, president and CEO shared with me a book called Tribes. This is a short must read for anyone who is in business and those who want to know what the business world is doing. We are all in Tribes, our family, our city, our companies, our HOAs, PTA, Churches and Temples and everywhere else we are in tribes and we are looking for leadership. Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us by Seth Godin paints a very clear picture of what is happening and what we all need to do to move with the tides and not be pulled under by the current.

Right now I am working on two books - Satisfied Customers Tell Three Friends, Angry Customers Tell 3,000: Running a Business in Today's Consumer-Driven World by Pete Blackshaw a leader in understanding consumer generated content like this blog post about these books and The World Is Flat 3.0: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century by Thomas L. Friedman who shares why the world is becoming flatter and flatter with technology.

Each of these books have great information and their authors are well versed in their fields. I look forward to sharing my findings and gleanings on this blog, my sessions and in my Email Newsletter.

The Future of Microsoft Office

Microsoft Office is the most popular office productivity application in the world. Other vendors have been trying to break into this market by providing tools at less cost or with new features. Collaboration has been a primary feature in the fight for the most feature rich application.



Google has been a primary combatant in this war (and part of why Microsoft is trying to buy Yahoo). Google apps give users the ability to collaborate on text documents, spreadsheets and presentations.



Microsoft has some collaboration tools now but they require expensive licences and the full application to be installed. Since Microsoft Word is a very large application this limits what can be done. Accessing Microsoft Word and other documents in Internet Explorer or another browser will vastly open up the pool of people that can collaborate on a given project and potently shore up Microsoft as the office application winner.



You get more information in thisMicrosoft Release about Browser based Office Support or this video from Microsoft.

Firefox Targted by Malware

Users are often told to feel safer (including by me) if they use Firefox because of its more secure design and because less spy ware and malware is made for it. Today it was released that there is new Malware (malicious software) that "[the malware uses technology to] identify more than 100 financial and money transfer Web sites, including Barclays, Wachovia, Bank of America, and PayPal along with two dozen or so Italian and Spanish banks. When it recognizes a Web site, it will collect logins and passwords, forwarding that information to a server in Russia." http://www.networkworld.com/news/2008/120408-firefox-users-targeted-by-rare.html?netht=rn_120408&nladname=120408

The issue here is that the threat of malicious Internet users effects everyone. It does not matter what security software you have it is how much you pay attention to what you click on and install. Use safe Internet practices and have a good security program like AVAST! and you should be fine.

What to Blog On

At least 2 or 3 times a day I see things that would be worth blogging on but I cant blog on every technology article I see, the books I read, the new products I see. This is a challenge for me many bloggers. I want this blog to be high quality information and a lot of information but I don't want to post too much.

I wish I had a magic formula for myself and other bloggers to say this is what you do but I do not. I think the key is to think would I want to read this if I was on this blog or would the people who read my blog want to read this.

One key to blogging is to try and have constancy. If you blog 5 times in one week and then do not blog the rest of the month no one will know when to expect new content on your blog. Also, adding content to blogs and websites helps with Google and other search engine rankings.

If you have something you would like to see me write about comment on this post.

LinkedIn Ads

Denver DataMan will be hosting a Email Marketing seminar on 12/2 and I am trying to expand the audience for the session. To do this I started looking at LinkedIn events and I posted the event and then decided to connect this with a LinkedIn events ad.

Creating the event was very easy once I figured out how to get into the interface. I had to click on another event and then it showed me a main page for LinkedIn events. You can get into LinkedIn Event at http://events.linkedin.com. Like the rest of LinkedIn you are very limited on formating. You can see what an event looks like at http://events.linkedin.com/pub/15457.

I like that the events are linked to the person who created it so you can see their LinkedIn profile information. I also like that you can see the public profiles of people who are attending.

After you create an event it asks you if you want to buy adds for the event. I did not want to buy an add for the first event I posted - http://events.linkedin.com/pub/15453 - because the event is free but when I posted my e-mail seminar I chose to buy an ad.

Ads on LinkedIn are sold by impressions (number of times the ad will be shown). You can filter out who you want to see the add by geography, industry, gender, age, company size and similar demographic information. As you do this the size of the population of users you will reach is updated as well as the price. For example I paid $16 per-1000 impressions.

There is a $25 minimum order - and unlike other Ad tools there does not appear to be a way to set budgets. For example on Google you can say I want to spend up $50 over the month. Here you are pre-paying for impressions.

Overall I like the interface for both LinkedIn ads and LinkedIn events. I look forward to seeing how effective either will be for the promotion of events.

Whats in a Name?

eMarkerter Daily released a report this morning from a November 2008 study done by MailerMailer, that found that email open rates for commercial email has fallen. Though this may sound like bad news for those of us who use email as a marketing tool however don't fret we just need to return to core principals and we can beat the odds.

For example eMarketer sites that "Subject lines of less than 35 characters yielded an average open rate of 19.6% and a 3.1% average click rate. E-mails with subject lines of 35 or more characters drew average open rates of 14.8% and average click rates of 1.9%."

Getting your email opened is the first step, getting people to read and click through is the next. Value added content is the key! Define yourself as an expert and share information that your clients and prospects want to read.

Face-to-Face

Last week I read Judith Briles article in the Denver Business Journal called Tech devices are fun - but face-to-face talk is better. I would have to agree with every major point in her article especially her point to "Let technology enhance - not dominate - your personal and professional life."

I am writing this post a week after I read the article because I was thinking about this when I was on a webinar this morning. We had a quasi personal meeting with the person giving me a tour of their product and answering questions but it is not the same as meeting in person.

This just stresses how important it is that we make the most of the relationships we have with the people we are in front of and use technology to augment not to replace to face-to-face contact. Well, I am off to lunch with a another business person and it will be good to be face-to-face.

Denver DataMan Takes Best New Show

On Friday October 31^st Denver DataMan exhibited at the South Metro Chamber Expo. The Expo is an annual event that brings together businesses from all over the South Metro area to share the exciting products and services we have and to grow the general economy of the area.

The event was tons of fun. Because it fell on Halloween costumes were encouraged and I dressed up like the Denver DataMan logo. The Denver DataMan booth was awarded Best New Show (new exhibitor) and I won most original costume, thanks mom.

Congratulations to the following people who one prizes in our drawings:

1-Hour Social Networking Evaluations

• Kevin McClure
• Amy Gill of Award & Sign
• Alyssa Guirdy of GSE Technologies

Constant Contact T-shirts

• Robert Youngberg
• Eric Furnee of Wells Fargo
• Jack Hanchette of TriNet
• Tyshawn Bailey of World Financial Group

iTunes Gift Card

• Ruth Mees of Bank of the West
• Todd Morrissette of Corossol Software
• Don Cooper of The Sales Heretic

I would like to give a special thanks to VIP Exhibits who made my banner stand and Cuttlefish
Arts for helping with the graphic design for the stand.

Chase ATMs

I use technology every day, serving my clients, talking on my cell phone, connecting with friend on Facebook and in any number of other ways. I must admit it takes a lot to rely impress me with a new technology. I have recently found a technology that though it has been use in other ways for some time I love its new use.

Chase now scans checks inserted in the ATM making deposits available more quickly and even gives you a print out with copies of the checks you are depositing if you want that. You can also safely deposit cash because it can count cash when making a deposit. Check scanning has been used inside the branches for some time now but this new implementation helps me be more productive which I like.

The thing about technology is it is only great if it works to solve a problem or gives us something fun to do. Technology should not be about the coolest most flashy thing (especially for work) if it does not make us more efficient. This technology though simple compared to others excites me because it will help me be more efficient.

10-7 Ask the DataMan

On Tuesday 10-7 Denver DataMan celebrated joining the South Metro Chamber of Commerce. As part of this event Steve Kessler of Denver DataMan answered questions from the floor. Here are some the of the questions we addressed and the resources that were given to solve problems

· What is Firefox? Firefox is an alternative browser for accessing the Internet. Firefox is free and open source and does some things better than Internet Explorer and Denver DataMan believes Firefox to be more secure. You can download it at www.firefox.org

· What antispyware program should I use? Denver DataMan recommends AVAST! It appears to work very well and it is fast.

·Is it more important to use antispyware or antivirus? They are both critical to keeping your computer and your information safe in today’s world.

·How large can my Outlook file be? Your Outlook file can be larger than you would ever want it to be. When Outlook starts to get slow it usually is the size of the Outlook data file. You can create another data file and move older information into that email store. I would not worry about the number of contacts (including small pictures attached to them), calendar events, appointments, and tasks that you have.

· How do I know how much RAM I have? For Windows 95, 98, 2000, XP, and Vista right click on My Computer or Computer and go to Properties. You can also go to your Control Panel and go the system icon. You will find at the bottom of this screen it will tell you how much RAM you have (generally measured in either MB or GB) and the speed of your processor.

· Should I be using Microsoft Project for single person management of many tasks? Microsoft Project is designed primarily for many people to use at once. It is also a very costly program. One of my partners, recommends GantProject which is an open source application that does many of the same things. You will need to look at this solution and others to find what may be best for you.

· Is it a good idea to use open Source software? Open source software is freely available and that makes it attractive. It is often of a higher quality than some commercial solutions but it also sometimes has an overall feature set that is not as rich as the commercial solutions. Like all other software it should be evaluated and tested for your needs.

Other questions were asked as well but they are to specific to show on this page. For example how do I find information about a contact while I am currently speaking on my Motorola Q. Thank you for all who attended and made it a great event. A special thanks to Wendy Woods of Nexus Financial Services, Inc. for her help in arranging and promoting this event.

Defining Yourself as an Expert Online Part 6 of 6

For those who have read all my blog posts for the last 5 weeks about using the Internet to define yourself as an expert I appreciate it. For those of you who have not you might want to look at one or all of these articles to help you get more from this wrap up.

• Introduction Article
• Using Your Website to Define Yourself as an Expert
• Using Your Blog to Define Yourself as an Expert
• Using Social Networking to Define Yourself as an Expert
• Using Email Marketing to Define Yourself as an Expert
• Using Local Resources to Define Yourself as an Expert

Each of these articles provides one aspect of the parts of a plan. Your Internet marketing plan cannot work effectively if it is an island and not part of an overall plan to increase brand awareness and differentiate yourself from the others you compete with.

The reason for a plan is to see the big picture of what you are doing and evaluate what success means. It is very easy to invest all your time in answering questions on LinkedIn Answers or sending out the best eNewsletter the world has ever seen but if these things are not part of a greater plan how will they help you?

I love the book Good to Great by Jim Collinsand in the book the idea of a Hedgehog Concept is revealed. The Hedgehog concept asks three questions of a company that relate to a business plan but are the most overarching questions a business can ask should relate to marketing as well.

1. What you can be the best in the world at (and, equally important, what you cannot be the best in the world at)?

2. What drives your economic engine?

3. What you are deeply passionate about?

You can read more about this on the Good to Great Website but the crux of the story is that where these circles intersect that is your business. Once you know this about your business you can apply it to your marketing.

What marketing tools show that you are the best in the world as something that matches your economic engine and you are deeply passionate about. If you don’t like the idea of email and in fact you hate getting email you will not do a good job with it and it is not the right tool for you.

If answering questions online takes all your time than it does not match your economic engine. It is nice and important to share the knowledge we have but we must do it in a way that helps makes sure we have food on our plate.

It is important not spread yourself to thin. Is it better to be in more places with junk or fewer places with high quality content? I would hope you would say that quality is more important than quantity. Consistency is also a critical factor. Can you keep up the quality writing 4 blog posts a week or is it better to write 2 and sometimes three to keep up the quality?

Remember, email marketing is part ‘how we are doing this’ as well. Try to collect where you connect, meaning that if you are connecting with people ask for their email address for your email newsletter. You should have a form on your website, links on your blog and your social networking presence. Research suggests that email is the preferred media for reaching people over 30 and that it will be for a long time.

One of the tricks to all this is give people the information they want when they want it. You should provide links between your presences just like we talked about above with sign-up opportunities. The Denver DataMan contact page lists many ways and places to Contact Denver DataMan giving everyone the tools they want.

I hope you feel that you have better tools to define yourself as an expert. It is a lot of work and you will find there are things about it that are very hard but using it can also be a lot of fun. Share, grow and discover how these new technologies can help you.

Part 5 of 6 - Using Local Resources to Define Yourself as an Expert

As the Internet grows with more content, finding things in your local sphere of influence can be more challenging. A growing market of local search and information sites are becoming more popular and to use as a place to define yourself as an expert.

When search engines started to become popular, Yahoo created indexes categorized data by localities. Yahoo Local and tools on Google, in addition to many other search engines help users find things related to their location. You can use these indexes to get your content listed with local information. Looking like an expert online involves being found online where other experts are found. RachLocal is a service that helps you get on local searches and buy advertising with the search engines for local search.

There are index services that help find people in your area. For example, there is ColoradoBizBuzz.com. Merchant Circle is another site provides access to local companies. You can also find pay for sites like Angie’s List . However, I caution you to question the value in paying for the service with other free options.

Another aspect of Local Internet is local bloging sites. There are sites from the major players like Your Hub, The Denver Post, and others. Sites like Hello Denver, TDC Guide and Lone Tree Guide are other examples.

Getting involved in local search and local blogs is an important part of defining yourself as an expert.

Part 4 of 5 (now 6) Using Social Networks

One of the biggest buzz words in business and the rest of the world is social networking. Is social networking more than teenagers talking their weekend? It is, much more than this, especially as social networking sites grow. Social networks, as well as specific social networks, are becoming viable parts of a strategy to use the Internet to define yourself as an expert.

Stepping back from the main topic, two words in the last paragraph stand out as critical points to the overall series. The first is part – each of these articles discusses a piece of the overall puzzle. Just one part is not going to be effective unless it is part of a cohesive whole. The second word is strategy. The word implies that there is a plan and that your use of social networks or other tools is planned. Without a plan you cannot have success.

To get an overview of social networking you should read this article, but this blog post will cover the specifics of defining yourself as an expert.

The trick to defining yourself as an expert using social networking is to work with the social network and its norms. One should not to use it in a pushy way against the flow and norms of the network. For example, norms for LinkedIn questions expect you to ask and answer questions not by not trying to promote your products or services.

I am a user of LinkedIn AnswersLinkedIn Answers and I think almost any service business should be as complete. LinkedIn Answers gives business people a forum to ask questions about any topic under the sun. Answers can be voted as best and commented on. These best answers are ones that show your expertise but do not sell a specific solution. In this article on ReadWriteWeb there is a list of many Q&A sites and the types of questions they lend themselves too.

I have personally focused on LinkedIn Answers because one of these easiest ways to fail using social networks is to over-extend yourself. Answering questions for a bunch of different networks can’t be a full time job. Find one or two networks that you will focus on.
If your market calls for reaching young professionals, Facebook is your place. Facebook was started as a place for social interactions and it is exploding into a place for business. Facebook Pages and their connection to the Facebook advertising system are wonderful tools.

Squidoo is a network that has sections called Lenses where you can post content about a specific topic. If you are a florist, it might help your company if you discuss about floral arranging. Just because you write content about how to arrange flowers, it does not mean that the average Jane or Josh is going to be able to do their own. You have just given content that proves that you know what you say you know and that you are willing to share with the community. Read the book The Go Giver for more on why this works.

Meetup.com is another very popular site for use in business because it attempts to bridge the gap between social networks online and the real world . You can plan “Meet-up” events and then meet in person as well as keep in touch using the Internet site. The South Metro Chamber of Commerce is able to do this better than any other company I know.

Next week we will take this local and discuss how to use local Internet directories and resources. I will also be adding a sixth week to the series on tying it all together and making a plan.

Using Email Marketing to Define Yourself as an Expert Part 3 of 5

For the past two weeks of the five part series about defining yourself as an expert with the Internet, we have looked at web sites and blogs. Both of these tools are great, and if a reader of these posts wants information from you and he or she is therefore more likely to be in a buying mood The goal of an email is a bit different because email is something that comes when you send it and the reader chooses when to read it not when to receive it.

The value of email is to remind and inspire your contacts. The emails remind them about your existence and your position as an expert. They inspire a potential client to read more, buy something or take another actionable step.

For example, many of you readers are here because you found out about this five part series from my newsletter. The goal of that newsletter was to get you to my blog. The next step is to get you interested enough to read the remaining part of the series and then for you to see me and the Denver DataMan team as being experts in defining us as an expert using the Internet.

• Email marketing can take several general forms:
• Promotions
• Reminders
• Newsletters

We will focus on newsletters. Newsletters are key way to define yourself as an expert because you give your reader something special and say your product or information is something s to share it. When a business coach shares information about time management, they are showing that they are an expert so that you are willing to pay to get them to help you apply a specific concept.

The newsletter can have seminar reminders and even a special but it is about providing information. Here are some tips to add value to the information.

• Write about current issues
• Write about topics that your clients and prospects commonly ask about
• Make your newsletter feel exclusive

Each of these items will make people want to read your content and then will see that you are an expert. Come back next week for information on using social networks like LinkedIn and Facebook to define yourself as an expert.

Using Your Blog to Define Yourself as an Expert Part 2 of 5

Last week, I wrote about using your website to establish yourself as an expert. Blogs are another tool to sharing information with your clients, prospects, and partners, supports that will differentiate you from the crowd.

What is Blogging?

Blog stands for WeB Log, a type of web content that is used for sharing informal updates. Generally, blogs have at least one poster who shares information about their prospective about  anything in the world. Blog posts will generally have dates and be sorted chronologically. However, because there isn’t an Internet-wide guide for blogging, this can be implemented differently by different websites.   

There are bloggers who blog about politics, bloggers who blog about what they ate, bloggers who blog about parenting, bloggers that blog about their business, and those that share about anything else you can imagine. Because there is often no cost to blog, many people star a blog for the fun of it and the quality can vary greatly.

The quality of your posts must  be worth reading. I don’t always have my editor read my blog posts because they don’t need to be as formal as other items. However, this special edition is more formal and even though I am using my blog it has still been edited.

Blogs should be updated often to be effective. This can be very hard. We all have a hundred things that we should do and deciding to make posting on a blog a priority is not easy. However, if we want people to come back to our blog to see what we have to say, then we need to make the time. Popular blogs can have many people visiting them in addition to using RSS   to send updates. For example you can use RSS for  a feed of content updates about the DDM blog.

Other ways that people find your blogs are through links on your website, search engines like Google, and blog search engines like Technorati. Social bookmarking sites like Digg and Del.icio.us help drive traffic to your blog.

You can build a blog on your own site with the help of a web developer or you can use a blog service like Blogger, Word Press, Thoughts.com and others.  You should look for a service that is easy to use. I like Blogger because it is free, easy, and reliable. Ideally your Blog should look more like your website than mine does, but I am trying to demonstrate the use of a third party blogging site. 

Blogging on these sites are focused on text and having a few  ictures and video. Picture blogging, video blogging and podcasts are valid tools to use as well. If you want to make the assertion that you are an expert on a given talk, how better to do it than to make Podcast?  That is, if you have the time.

Video blogging, or blogging by posting video s something that is becoming more and more popular. This is still primarily a social trend, but if you have things you want to show or topics that require more of a demonstration, then video blogging can be done.  

Podcasting refers to audio recordings that are done regularly. Many news agencies and some companies are using Podcasting. You can use RSS tosubscribe to Podcasts so that they are automatically downloaded for you. iTunes may be the best tool for this job.

Overall, blogging gives you a less formal tool to help you establish yourself as an expert. Come back next week for part III using email newsletters. 

Using Your Website to Define Yourself as an Expert Part 1 of 5

Websites have been popular for some time now. In the past, look wasn’t so polished or or you would be forced to spend millions of dollars to play with big boys. Now the tools of big business are available to everyone and more people know how to access the web and expect me from it. Shifting trends in the cost of having a website and in the use of web sites make them an ideal tool to define yourself as an expert.

There are two nearly universal things that a business/nonprofit website needs to do. The first is share promotional information about your organization and the second is to give potential clients the ability to act on that information. Now, you can do this in more than one way.

One way: Write about your project with self praise and bombastic rhetoric. This is the same way that TV commercials discuss being the BEST. This may work if you want to sell Orange Juice. This is not necessarily going to convince someone that you are the best at a specialized task.

Another way: Provide sales information but also provide value added information about your products, services, organization that give someone a way to see that you are an expert. Look at my site for an example: I have sales information on the site, but I also provide value added content like the Articles Section, FAQs and the Glossary.

The first thing to establish about your site is that adding value is not free consulting. A glossary-even a great one- does not replace the need for a computer trainer. But, if you like the definitions I write in my glossary, hopefully you will see me as a more of expert than you might have before.

Building a site that facilities meaningful content takes thought and preparation. First, you need to make sure you have content worth reading. There is nothing worse than underdeveloped content because this will make people think you are just full of hot air, not an expert. Second, you need do your best to make a clear line between value added content and content that is there to sell. The value added content is a much softer sell and people who want to learn more before they buy can do so. Third, make sure the ability to take a next step is easy to find,/ If a viewer cannot figure out how to contact you, then the viewer won’t even think you are an expert.

The content that you put up should be meet the needs of your clients and should match their needs and ability levels. It is also important to make sure that your content is well written and you probably should work with an editor to check this. Well written content will be found on the Internet because more and more search engines are finding relevancy by quality and readability.

As we continue this series, we will talk about technologies that will draw people to your site so they find your content.

Stay tuned next week for Part 2 – Blogging. If you want to be notified of the release of that article, consider adding an RSS feed of this site.

Projectors

In general we think of projectors as being tools for showing presentations or maybe for watching movies at the theater. If you walk through downtown Denver right now you can see that the sides of building are canvases for projecting all the products that anyone could ever want. Verizon and
Cricket Wireless both have a big presence. The floor of the Westin also has a a logo welcoming the DNCC delegates using a projector. I just find it interesting how we find new ways to use technologies.



Reply with any cool uses of projectors that you see around Denver or wherever you are reading this blog from.

OLPC

I got to use an OLPC! OLPC or One Laptop Per-Child is a plan to put low cost, low energy using, highly durable laptops in the hands of children all over the world. The OLPC machines are made to be incredibly durable and can use a crank rather than outlet power to run. When they came out the OLPC Foundation let people buy one and give one and they are still very limited but I got to see one that a kid in America had today in Denver! The OLPC is amazing because it shows us what we can do in making an effective low cost ($100) laptop that could be mass produced with the features that most people want if we look to innovative thinking and open source.

Go to the foundations website: http://laptopfoundation.org/index.shtml to find out more!

Qwest Gives 1%

Want to give money to your local schools just for paying your phone bill? Check out Qwest 1% for schoosl. http://www.qwest.com/onepercent/

If you a Qwest user see if this will work for you.

Comcast Ruling

The FCC ruling that Comcast was blocking Internet content to sites that were not favorable to Comcast is a big step forward to clear net neutrality legislation. Net neutrality is the concept that all data on the Internet should be allowed and should not be altered by Internet Service Providers. Comcast was acussed of limiting the connection speed to some sites that were not favorable to it. This is important because what is to stop Comcast from not letting me go to directtv.com to reseach their competitor or giving better access to people who use Comcast services.

The even bigger issue is the fear that services like Skype or TV services would be blocked or limited because they are direct competitors to many Internet Service Providers.

This is a positive ruling for the Internet using public.

For more information read this article.

SkypeOut

SkypeOut is Skype's VOIP to standard telephone service and today was the first time I had an opportunity to use it. I am happy to report that I paid only 21 cents a minute to call Canada and the call was very clear. In fact I would say the call was clearer than local calls on my cell phone.

Ecommerce and Taxes

One of the many things I have learned this week is about the challenges with shippable ecommerce. I live in Denver and if I sell something to someone else online in Denver they pay state, city, county, and RTD taxes. What happens when I sell something to someone in Aurora? This is when it get tricky. What is even trickery is when you have small amounts of cities in diffrent special tax zones like the RTD tax or that just touch the county from which you are selling. Just one more thing to think about when considering the challanges of our Internet world.

Good thing there is software out there that can help mannage these complexities.

Thanks,
Steve

Constant Contact University

I am sitting at the Phoenix, Arizona airport waiting to head back to Denver after a fun day of learning more about Constant Contact, my favorite email marketing tool for small businesses. Today was a day to train the trainer and I picked up some ways to teach email markeitng and Internet marketing in general.

Here is one tip - check your sign-up emails and make sure they are still well branded. I checked mine and they were not - but now they are. Also make sure to collect where you connect and try and get people on your list whenever you can, speaking of which click here to join my mailing list.

I will be doing an introduction to email marketing in August and a hands on email marketing seminar in September using Constant Contact. See these and other upcoming seminars.

You can also sign up for a 60 day free trial and see what is all about.

Drupal Camp Colorado 2

Wow, 2 days of intense learning and I am ready to hit the ground running and keep building great websites. This morning I got to lead a seminar on an Introduction to Drupal. It was an honor to teach about something that I care about and to give back to the Druapl community.

Next year the Drupal Camp will grow and more people will be able to learn about Drupal and what is can bring.

The event was also a lot of fun with great energetic people.

Drupal Camp Colorado

I am excited to be spending the weekend learning and sharing about Drupal, the web development platform that I use for the Denver DataMan site and other sites that I have created . Denver DataMan is a sponsor of the Drupal Camp. At the camp I hope to learn more about creating custom themes (displays) for my content and to get better at incorporating multimedia into sites I create.

One of the speakers that I will be listening to and learning from is a 12 year-old from Poland. I would think this was even more scary BUT when I was not much older than him I was designing websites and participating in an international web development contest. Its crazy how the world of the Internet opens up opportunities for everyone of any age and location.

I will blog after the Camp and tell everyone more about what I learned and how I can better help others learn from it!

New York Times and LinkedIn Join Together

LinkedIn (business social networking site) has joined with the New York Times to provide relevant news to LinkedIn users according to B TO B Online. This is a big deal because it shows LinkedIn trying to become a portal for people to use has their entry point to the Internet. Look for LinkedIn to create more partnerships like this and for social networking to move to connect with all forms of media.

Moving

We all dread moving, but its exciting when its done! Denver DataMan is now headquartered in South East Denver to better service the greater Denver Area. The phone number is still 303-587-4428 to but or new mailing address is:

Box 281
1685 S. Colorado Blvd. Unit S
Denver, CO 80222

Denver DataMan is very excited for this move and we hope to hear from you soon!

Go Giver

I just finished reading the Go Giver by Bob Burg and John David Mann. This book does not have anything to do with computers, it is a top shelf business book BUT it is more than that it is a top shelf way of looking at life. Also check out their blog to see a good example of using social media to build knowledge and expand value.

I would recommend the Go Giver to everyone.

Acquisitions and Mergers Oh My

Acquisitions and Mergers are not new to the business world or to the technology world but today's major acquisition of two nonprofit centric companies brings the topic to the forefront again.

"Charleston, S.C. – May 29, 2008 – Blackbaud, Inc. (NASDAQ: BLKB), the leading provider of software and related services designed specifically for nonprofit organizations, announced today that it is acquiring Kintera, Inc. (NASDAQ: KNTA), a pioneer and leading provider of a Software as a Service (SaaS) solution to the nonprofit and government sectors."- http://www.blackbaud.com/default.aspx?pgpId=2531&PRID=260

This acquisition highlights the importance of moving applications to the Internet for greater access and mobility but it also shows that the bigger will eat the big and the faster will eat the fast in our economy.

A New Security Feature

The Lenovo IdeaPad Y510 notebook PC even offers an integrated 1.3 megapixel camera that combined with Lenovo’s unique VeriFace face recognition software, can control access to your notebook by recognizing when you are sitting at the keyboard. It can even lock the system if it determines that you’ve stepped away!

I am not sure what I think about my computer watching me. Security is important but we will see about this one.

Earth Day

Today is Earth Day and it gives us an opportunity to think about ways we can be more green in the ways we use our computers. Here are five quick tips that will be expanded on in the Denver DataMan eNewsletter on how to be more green with your computer.

• Have your monitor turn off (suspend) after less time - don't use the monitors power button
  
• Turn off your computer if you will be gone after several days
  
• Refill your ink and toner cartridges
  
• Avoid unnecessary printing
  
• Make sure your computer is Energy Star Compliant

If you do not already receive the Denver DataMan eNewsletter you can subscribe.

Dilbert Cartoon

Today's Dilbert Cartoon has great insight into what technology is doing to today's kids.

This cartoon comes fromhttp://dilbert.com/ and retains all its copyrights.

Buying a Mac

I helped a client buy an iMac on Wednesday at the Mac store on Santa Fe and Coal Mine and it was a great experience. I like the fact that they did not try and up-sell my client and helped her find the computer that best meet her needs. I am still a PC guy out of habit but Mac is a classy operation and their machines look great.

Walgreen's Free Ink Refill

Walgreen's is offering FREE ink refills on Tuesday! If you have an ink jet printer that needs ink and can be refilled take advantage of this great deal.


Denver DataMan does not endorse or warranty in any way services offered by Walgreen's and their affiliates.

Facebook Becomes More Secure

I already like Facebook because of the increased security and simplicity it has over its biggest competitor (MySpace). Facebook is now even better was increased privacy functionality. You can read the Facebook blog for details.

Always remember to be mindful of what information you put on your Facebook page. Presume anyone and everyone can see your page even with the new controls.

Increasing Email Opens

Increasing Email Opens is important if you do an eMarketing email. This article from Constant Contact has some very good tips.

You can sign up for a 60 Day Trial of Constant Contact.

HD TVs

When I hear all the new terms related to HD TVs and all the new related technology even I get confused. Amazon has done a great job with High-Def 101 page if you are in the market or just want to understand a little bit more.

Technology on my Trip

During my vacation between Christmas and New Years I saw several things in technology that I think are worth sharing on my blog.

Many talk about digital immigrants (those not born into the computer age) and digital natives (those who are born into the computer age) but this was made very clear when I saw a child less then a year old with a computer in its car seat on the air plane. The child was not uses the mouse or typing on the key board but it was very intently focusing on the screen. This to me was a great definition of digital native.

I went to the McCormick Tribune Freedom Museum which is a very well done museum about freedom world wide. The museum has many great interactive elements that take advantage of technology. For example here is a video of screens where you can use your fingers to scroll through documents like the Decoration of Independence.



The museum also features a miniature recording studio where you can record you thoughts and feelings on what it means to be free.

I also was intrigued by the new video ads on the sub way. Look out of the windows on your sub way car on the Red Line and you will see a video. I am not sure what projection technology they were using but it was something new and different.

Technology is clearly changing the way we travel, learn and experience the media.