This month I have been horrible about blogging. Between client projects, trying to enjoy the summer, some time off and building the new DDM website blogging has not risen to the top of the list. This is not a good thing. Finding time to write even a short blog is important, because we can to keep readers coming back, Google coming back and just to be interesting.
One of the ways DDM will work to add more content is by bringing in posts from social networks. The new DDM blog will aggregate(collect) posts from Twitter and Delicious and possibly other networks as well.
Denver DataMan has lots of exciting things going on and we hope to share them with you soon, on the new DDM blog and website top be launched next week and some of our client projects. A very special thanks to Chris Reed for his efforts as the Denver DataMan, summer Intern (computer super hero in training) for working to migrate content from one site to another. None of this would happen without him!
I learned several things at Denver DataMan, I've studied the components of a website and its development such as:Content Management System,Search Engine Optimization, organizing and categorizing data, improving website presentation to the client(s), and other skills.
Content Management System that uses a database and allows the person(s) who designed the website to make alterations without changing the code of the page. Search Engine Optimization makes it easier your website to be found on the internet.
Presentation the the client is of significant importance for helping the client know what we do or for mutual business activity. Denver DataMan helps you learn other valuable skills if one wants to be a part of the Denver DataMan team.
In business we often hear the mantra ABC or always be closing. Closing sales is always a good thing in business. The mantra skips any mention of how effective the close will be. That is why I like the manta ABL or Always Be Learning. If you keep learning you will be able to provide more value to your clients, in doing so closing more sales.
This weekend I have been at Drupal Camp Colorado learning about the Content Management System that Denver DataMan uses for our clients. I have attended sessions on topics that not only fall in my normal comfort zone but have also required me to learn new skills as well.
Whether you are learning about computers, something in your field, or something completely unrelated to your field remember to ABL.
This morning I went to a forum at the South Metro Chamber of Commerce on a very charged issue. The forum had people with various political leanings on the issue, some who would shout their opinions from the roof tops and others who would not share without some level of privacy. Even when we are not talking about politically charged issues seeking feedback and using that dynamically in presentations and the way we interact with our customers is critical for effective communication.
At this morning’s event the team that did the presentations gave each of us a credit card sized remote with the numbers 1 - 10 on it. Many questions from demographics to opinions about the issues were asked and the skilled presenters were able to use the data to discuss the view of the room in comparison with the views of others in the State.
The software that presenter used had tabulated the results instantly, giving immediate feedback to the room using graphs. The data is also being collected so that they have an arsenal of live data to use in other forums and when lobbying.
This type of active feedback is not only important for public presentations. How would it be to have an “I Will Buy It Meter” over every prospects head? We could know so much more about how to better engage with prospects and even the casual browser who might walk out of our store and tell his friends how cool the new gadget he/she saw.
The Internet provides us tools like this. In the past I have written about analytics and how we can look at data retrospectively to understand how our sites’ visitors use our website.
New technologies like live chat and polling make it easy to find out what our customers want as they are engaging with us in our informational websites as well as online store fronts.
Think about all the great ways you can engage your clients and prospects and be dynamic.
I often get the question where should I blog or if I blog on my website should I do it with a different domain name?
The best place to blog is on your website. If you don’t have a website that let’s you easily add content without knowing code or needing a computer science degree. If this is not the case for you then Blogger (where this blog is held) is a great free and easy tool.
Building a blog on your own website should be done by a professional. When blogs are made well they are great search engine optimization (SEO) tools. You are adding lots of new content about the topics; you want people to find you with text so Google and other search engines can pick it up.
The question of whether or not you should use a different domain name (website address) requires a little more SEO knowledge. Search engines try and make sure they are sharing the most relevant content. Mind you, we are asking a computer to define what relevant content is. One of the things that search engines use to determine the relevancy of content is its uniqueness and another is how often you update the content.
Because we want our content to be unique we want to write an article or blog post and put it in one place. We then want to link to it from many places, we just don’t want to copy and paste the same article in multiple places. For example this post is on my blog, I do not want to turn around and put this same exact post on Teach Street for example. I will however, link to it from Facebook, Twitter and other sites.
The frequency factor in determining relevancy is also very important. Blogs give you an easy tool to add keyword rich content to your site on a regular basis. Denver DataMan recommends adding content at least once per-week to any site you want to be found using search engines.
In general our goal is to get people to come to our main site. Provide value added information and by doing it in a venue where a sale can be closed is all the better. If you use an alternative URL for your blog you are gathering traffic for an address that is not your primary website. If you have your primary website address for your blog and another address for your blog you can be hit with the duplicate content problem if you don’t do it right.
In general I think that not having a separate address for a blog is a good thing. Tell people denverdataman.com/blog not someothersite.com. I think it gives you a clearer marketing platform as well as a good SEO strategy.
Now, you might ask why am I reading this article here and not at denverdataman.com/blog? Well, you see, when I built this blog I thought demonstrating a free tool was a good idea. Since then I have not been able to capitalize on the SEO value of the content I create. This is why the re-designed DenverDataMan.com will have the blog on the site.
Ever wonder how they make that new tech thing so small? Ever complain that you laptop battery does not make it the whole flight? These are the questions that a business person might ask when they are designing new technology. When Coby Leuscke makes something new he wants to know he can make it smaller, lighter, faster and run with less electricity in the harshest conditions on earth.
Cody is the president and stunt scientist for Metanomy a nonprofit in Fort Collins that works to create technology that can anywhere for first responders in disasters and eventually anyone who wants to do extreme things with technology.
One project is BeakGeek that monitors what birds come to a bird feeder by taking pictures and then uploading them directly to the Internet. You might ask why? I did. By taking pictures of birds when they feed all over the country those interested could track birds for science or fun as they migrate around the country. This is great for science students and natural scientists and each unit can be made for around $300 including the solar panels.
Pictures from BeakGeek units are put on Flikr (a photo sharing site) where people from around the world can use social networking to comment, tag and share the images collected. This is open source science.
Another project that Coby highlighted in his presentation tonight to the CNTC group is a trailer that is designed to be a mobile command post that can make it to any disaster in the world and is smaller and costs less than anything else currently produced.
All of Coby's projects are green because the use of solar and other sustainable technologies requires them to be. When you need to make sure a computer stays on for 3 days you ought to be green!
The presentation that Coby gave on behalf of Metanomy was excellent and opened my eyes to many new things.
This is a good example of a YouTube video that is being used for commercial benefit.
The premise of this video is very true. We have to keep advertising or we will loose ground with our brand. However, given that there are shifts in the current media market that have impacts well beyond the current economic situation focusing on the right place to put yours advertising dollars is critical. Look at tools in the social media that might save money and have a better more relevant reach.
This video is a great example of a way to post an ad in a social forum and to use the social media to your advantage. The biggest lesson here is that this ad does not look like it was posted by its creator but it was still posted. If you do not use social media your clients or ditractors will use it for you!
I am starting to work on the new Denver DataMan website that will be done by the end of the summer if not sooner and it is helping me refine my process that I do with my client in helping them develop their websites.
When a client comes to me they have an idea what they want from a website. They say things like I want it to look good and be found on Google or maybe they say it they want it to have a blog. I am not much different, I know I want it to look nice, be easy to navigate, have lots of valuable content, be found on search engines and many more nebulous things. Now, I have to take these goals and make a plan for how execute the new site.
Some the key areas that will be tackled in the new Denver DataMan website will be:
Better design with more graphics
Better navigation
Integrated Blog
Better event registration
Integration with social networks
Making these goals a reality takes working out the organization of content and then developing a design that matches the navigation. A website is the place that your brand can be most clearly expressed; It is also the place where you have the ability to best share your organizations story. The navigation of your website should move your visitors through the narrative of your brand.
Better navigation will also make it easier for visitors to find the content that is on the your site that right now goes unused or underused. Moving the DDM blog on to the main website rather than hosting in on this Google Blog Spot will help provide more content for Google to index.
Having better event registration will make the site more valuable as a business tool but also be easier for my clients to register for events.
With the site upgrade DDM will be on the new version of the content management tool (Drupal) that we use for websites and there are many more tools for integrating with social networks for us to use. Being more connected with social networks makes it more likely that visitors will share the site with others.
Developing a new website is not easy for reasons far beyond the technical challenges of moving content, users, design, etc. It is hard because if you don’t take the opportunity to make sure you are telling your story better then you are wasting your time.
Today I clicked on an ad on from Facebook for Sprint and I got to the new Now Widget which is one of the coolest/strangest things I have ever seen. From this talking widget you can see how many sticky notes are being created, top words being used online, Google searches as they happen and news. This disying aray of content is put together to promote the Sprint Now Network.
I wonder if Sprint will see sales from this site? This site just goes to show you that there are many things left to try with social media and the Internet.
It has been way to long since I last posted on my blog. I am breaking my own rule that companies should blog at least once per-week. Blogging is good for establishing yourself as an expert in the community as well as for providing food (information) for Google to eat up (index).
Now if I was to just right that first paragraph - that would be a cop out and not a valuable post. So, I will tell a story about a photographer I am helping build their potential blogging strategy.
The photographer who will remain nameless is hesitant to blog because he does not know what to share. This is often a common problem with bloggers. You will find that if you make an effort to think about opportunities there are more than enough and you don’t have to be boring or give away trade secrets.
Remember if the data makes you look like an expert, tells a story and is interesting then it will be read and help you define yourself as an expert.
One of the things that I teach people as Denver DataMan is how to be more efficient in the ways they use the computer. This means finding software within one’s means that will help them do a task better than they could do before. This does not mean doing a task quicker, so it does not come out as well or so that you annoy others who will have to interact with the software.
Recently I have been asked to schedule meetings twice on a website called TIMEBRIDGE . It is a great idea. You send people times they might be able to meet and get back what times work and send out a link for the meeting. This is similar to an Outlook meeting request, without having to know that everyone is using Outlook. In theory this is wonderful but when the system does not let the recipient propose a new time. Also when the sender moves the time and the recipient gets three emails back this cannot be efficient for either party.
Evaluating software is like evaluating any tool. What does it do? What does it do well? What does it not do so well? What is the net gain? What is the cost?
With all of the great tools on the Internet we can’t use them all nor do we want to. Find tools that work and make you more productive. If you’re not sure what will work for you then ask a friend or a consultant to help you evaluate a product.
Just because an Internet product is free today does not mean it will be free tomorrow. Lots of products run very long public betas (test cycles) and the software is free at this time. Take Jott.com, this service was free for a long time and then they scaled back what was free and then started charging for everything. This is something else to consider when choosing services and software.
This past Tuesday I had the great opportunity and honor to be on the Experience Pros radio show to talk about Contact Relationship Management and how DDM can help people to leverage it. It was great to be in the studio with Angel and Eric and to learn from them.
I hope you will listen to the show and follow along with the CRM Scorecard.
There is great technology that is getting better every day where you can see others in real time from anywhere in the world but when I hear the idea broached that we might have virtual doctors this just does not sound right. This is a short reminder that social networking is a great tool but only to augment in person communication not eliminate it.
What does not scare me is the idea that if doctors have a rare case that they can consult with each other through a network or build connections to share trends and case information. This is how knowledge grows and flows!
Today I was asked if every business uses social networking how will we find any businesses and will there still be any value? This got me thinking….oh no! If every business and nonprofit had a blog, a Facebook page, LinkedIn business profile and so many other others things out there would there be even more junk out on the Internet.
Please forgive me in advance for my indecisiveness. Since I don’t have an answer I am going to give a few plausible answers and try to come to a conclusion.
Because people are pulling information and it is not being pushed on them there cannot be too much information. People will find the information they want and as Internet technology evolves so will search. In the short time it may seem like there is too much, however, over time developers will make this work. Look at cable TV and you will see the same problem and solutions are being developed to manage it.
Since there is so much content people will give up and stop looking for commercial content. Just like we have used TiVo to skip past TV commercials we will find ways to skip Internet commercial information. I don’t think this is viable because so much of the information that users want is commercial in nature.
Facebook and other servers won’t be free forever. Even a low cost of entry will take away people who are not serious about making their business social. Just putting a page on Facebook and starting a blog is not enough. Businesses will need to make their organization social and to do this right the investment in time is greater than the uncommitted will be willing to do.
New and creative campaigns and uses of social tools will make the right places float to the top of the pile. Better search and better content will make things worth seeing available. Also, since part of the power of social networking is the ability to share things of value. Buttons like the Facebook Like button and tools like Digg will clarify what has value to users like you.
The truth is that some hybrid of these answers will be the end result of social networking. Start thinking about what it means to make your business social (watch for the upcoming book Connect and Contribute: Creating a Social Business) and start paying for attention.
I not a numbers guy, I need to see success and numbers are a good indicator but I would rather hear from someone they were forwarded my blog than have a bunch of people simply read my blog. This is all well and good but it does not mean much in the long run. Numbers count when it comes to the Internet and for so many things. There is no reason not to have these numbers and make the most of them.
5 questions to ask yourself:
How many unique visitors viewed your website last Tuesday?
How did visitors last Tuesday find your site?
How long does the average user spend on your site?
If a user enters your site from a search engine do they spend more time than if they enter your site directly?
How long does the average person read the letter that you sent them telling them about your new service?
All of these questions should have an easy answer for you except for question number 5.
The Internet gives us a scary level of access to the way people use our websites. Short of watching everything in our stores our websites give us the next best level of information.This makes for interesting discussions on consumer rights and for very targeted marketing from savvy marketers.These types of information are called analytics. Your website should be connected to a service like Google Analytics that collects information about the use of your website and those who visit it. This information can be used for determining the value of your website, the content you should post and figuring out how to make your website more accessible.
Most things we do on the Internet cannot be tracked with the same granularity as our web presence. Your website and your email blasts are the places where you have the best opportunity to count. Facebook pages and LinkedIn profiles also have some tools as well, but are not nearly as robust as the content we can get from our own web page. There are other tools out there for monitoring your mentions on the web but that is for another post.
Use analytics to track trends and to track success with a specific campaign. I like to look and track specific things, such as how many people visit the page I set up for my radio commercial with the Experience Pros radio show. This is something that tells me a lot of information. Other information is far more valuable over time and also far more valuable when you are ready to start a new project or thinking of adding a new feature. Remember, You Got to Know the Territory.Talk to your web developer and make sure you are collecting this information. Make sure you know how your numbers add up.
Recently, I have been pondering and discussing how social media is guiding us to redefine our definition of an expert. True experts will always be those people with the information and skill level to get a job done at the highest possible potential. The key here is sources.
There are three types of sources that we generally accept in our understanding of an expert, and these are not changing. We allow people to show expertise by sharing experiences and observations, by doing qualitative research, and by citing others in research and experiences (case studies). We know that there are times and places for each of these methods; this applies on and off-line. We also know there are different sets of standards; we have different expectations for our doctor than we do for our mechanic.
Wikipedia, the encyclopedia which any Internet user can contribute an addition to the article, receives a lot of flack about its open structure. What does the average person know about writing an encyclopedia entry? Co-founder Jimmy Wales considers himself an anticredentialistwho is letting people break down the walls around knowledge to let anyone share content. Wikipedia has a strong community who edit posts and determines if users cite valid sources and stay away from commentary. For example, in this article about Anshe Chung, editors have flagged the content. Here is what the content looked like on March 8th. You can go to the article and see what it looks like now.
In an excellent and extensive article How accurate is Wikipedia's content? out of the Wharton School of Business, a case looks at Wikipedia as a middle ground between academic journals and free-form content. Kendall Whitehouse, senior director of information technology at Wharton, explains the most interesting question is “whether the wisdom of the crowd [in authoring ‘citizen-authored content’] is ultimately a better approach compared to scholarly review and edited content,” pointing out that Wikipedia’s strength is that it has thousands of eyes looking at it. The editorial eyes are there but as the content grows Whitehouse and other critics are still concerned about the process as well as the ability and the willingness to edit all the content.
When I use Wikipedia, I take everything with a grain of salt, and I expect that I need to evaluate the validity of the content. I like Wikipedia for quick lookups and for leading me to other sources. Writing the encyclopedia is hardly ever the main source use to prove a point – it is the resource used to help guide research and lead to primary sources. Peer-reviewed articles have a different place than an encyclopedia.
The eyes on Wikipedia and other content are a valuable tool for defining an expert online. Comments will surface when content might be viewed as inconsistent. If your blog get lots of traffic or well respected, perceived inconsistency may be broadcasted on the evening news as a reason not to trust the blogosphere, but it’s also a triumph of the medium to get instant feedback from a community of interested co-creators.
When I write about social networking, many consider me to be an expert. I get my expertise by citing other research and writing. I also cite case studies both of my own experience and of others. Citing a case study of how a company handled a given situation is a valid a source as more numbers centric research in many cases.
Take a look at LinkedIn Answers, where users establish their own credentials to post about topics ranging from economics to management to technology, but answers are reviewed by all the others users with access to the question. This form of peer-review provides for a higher level of questions and answers. The fact that question askers can award a top answer also helps to give other credentials and creates a system for knowing who an expert is.
Forums online that bring together experts have a slightly different issue; experts like to cite their own opinions. For example a forum exists for carpet cleaners to ask questions of the community on technical issues, business practices, and many other random topics. When you bring together many diverse views and abilities you can tease out great answers and many success stories.
I hope (notice this is an opinion) that people don’t fight the change in definition of how we define an expert, but rather force their peers to reach higher standards of citation by supporting those users that do so. If no-one reads a blog, the author won’t post. If the bloggers’ readers write on my blog – please cite a source, authors will hopefully get the idea.
Please let me step on to my soap box. This also means that schools need to teach students to know how to properly evaluate a text. A student should see “I hope,” and know that this is an opinion. Students must learn to cite and care about sources or this shift will result in a population with fewer experts.
Go out, become an expert in your field. Read, write, cite, research, read more, write more, cite more, comment more, become an expert and prove it to others.
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