• If you want to produce, we can help you do that – writing, editing, video, slides, other media, we partner with you to help you make your mark.

• We find the best way for you to publish your work on the web, setting up flexible and adaptable websites and blogs.

• Next we help you in getting it to the audience you need to reach, and if you wish, we assist your navigation through the maze of Social Media.

Twitter Groups is Twitter application #37,941.  We’re trying it out right now, and have created a “Vancouver” Twitter group.  This, for now, is the home page.  The group’s page at Twitter Groups is here.

While working on a research project recently, I’ve been thinking about the nature of research itself.

When I was teaching Research Skills for Writers and Reporters, I shared many tips and tricks of the trade, including the reality of hours of searching that may or may not yield the result that is being sought. A simple research timelog reveals the process. Hours spent in one direction that brings another lead, then several, then the branching out of the mind from item to lead to dead end to lateral correlation to new lead, and so it goes through the windy twisty passageways. Research doesn’t always reveal the answer directly, but through resonance and correspondance leads are found. And sometimes, there is a big pay off! Aladdin’s Cave of treasure: it’s all there for the picking!

I see research as a subtle dance between intuition and intelligence. It helps if your mind has been trained to categorize and make connections. It helps if you can keep track of what you have done, to retrace your steps if need be. And it helps if you can trust a hunch, make a lateral leap of the mind, think poetically to synthesize concepts. Intelligence serves the intuition at that point, and new ideas are formed that make new sense of old information.

The results of research are more than just a list of quotes and places. They are a synthesis of the information. Information is easy to find. The need is to make sense of the information, to be in a position to prioritize that information and to define uses for the most salient aspects of the information. Research is more than finding and keeping, it is a process of sorting and defining that ultimately yields new information that can be acted upon.

Terrific designers are doing wonderful things with WordPress and Drupal, making the world a better place for many of us. As the social networking/marketing fusion occurs at an increasingly rapid pace, we see many people standing in the dust, holding their few remaining belongings and asking with their eyes, “What happened?” as they watch the big buses recede over the horizon. And the question remains: what to do now?

We can look to history. In the very old days there was a phrase about the world wide web (or was it the internet?) “Get on it or get out of the way.” There are still some people asking, “Get on what exactly?” “What does it have to do with my business?” Well if you watch, learn and participate, the answers will come to you through participation. All you have to do is jump in and start swimming, and we can help you do that.

What if you don’t even care about the technology, but just want to have a website that you can update and maintain yourself, one that is as dynamic and changeable as the seasons, but with continuity and presence? Well this is the moment for you. It’s all happening now and it’s easily available and affordable.

A year ago we dedicated Alphablogs to provide a bridge for the individual entrepreneur or the very small business or consultancy – a communications bridge that would make use of all this wonderful new(ish) easy to use and easy to update web technology. We knew that many clients don’t need a big huge setup. We knew that not everyone can afford a total communication PR package. Others want to keep their costs as low as possible. Some small-business people just want to have a website, and some arts organizations heard they needed blogs, and some artists were ready to take that step into this form of publishing of their work, or self-promotion. In our work for real estate clients, we became aware of many dynamics of the process. It was simple to take what we knew, and offer it to the entrepreneurial clients who could use these skills.

Now we see the environment has sped up tremendously, and there is a new dynamic social marketing component that has really gone mainstream in the last year. Everyone is using the same buzzwords. If you don’t know where to start, how to approach it, or what to do, we can help smooth your entry. Some people say: “I don’t want a blog or any of that other stuff. I just need a website.” We can help you do just that – and just in case you might want to blog someday, the site we create for you will be ready for that (because we create your site using WordPress to begin with.)

(Thanks to Jabbara Edwards for her photo of Zeppi at Valdez Island)

Just before the Northern Voice conference last weekend, I recorded this brief clip discussing some of the reasons why we started Alphablogs. I didn’t post it right away because I needed to get up to speed with the new interface for iMovie. (Which I now love, once I got over missing the timeline.)

Listening now to what I said then, there are some changes I’d like to make, but, hey, that’s videoblogging for you. What you see is what you get.

What would I add or change? Mainly the emphasis on the word blog. I actually think more in terms of site or blogsite. That will definitely be the topic of my next video dispatch.

There are lots of online tools for this, and here’s a free one that’s easy and engaging.

We offer much more indepth research services, as both Isabella and I have strong research backgrounds, so contact us if you’re interested in finding out how we can help you design research to position your work and engage your audience.

Do you want to have a dog too? Or a “person”?

Click on this banner to find out how.
(Apologies for the voice that just comes up on loading. I’ll try to fix that next pass.)

For me it was an ideal fit, having been an educator for many years, teaching writing skills and new media in community college and private post secondary settings. Before that I’d managed the educational media sales of a prominent Canadian distribution company, offering UK and Australian documentaries to schools, libraries and universities.

This Teaching Sells program came along at just the right time for me, and I’m using it now to transpose those skills to create marketable interactive courses delivered through membership sites.

Find out more about Teaching Sells here

A few weeks ago I participated in one of the member-only teleseminars that gave me great ideas to get going on the courses I’ll be preparing in the next year.

It’s amazing to have access to expertise like Brian’s at such a low cost. I recently saw in Problogger that he’ll be one of the presenters at the Elite Retreat this April, along with Guy Kawasaki and other major web movers and shakers to an exclusive group of only 35 participants. So I’m thrilled to be able to work with Brian and his colleagues as a Charter Member.

Much of the course stuff I already know (or think I know) but the approach using a variety of media for info delivery, and especially the advice on direct marketing and sales is incredibly valuable.

The year to come will see an even greater explosion of membership sites offering a cornucopia of training, information, skills, support and connectivity.

Creating courses positions your expertise and offers an evolving way to get you message out there, plus substantial income. Their free report explains this in detail.

The site itself is a model of simplicity, and a great example of the process they are teaching. Great perks are the active forums and teleseminars.

If this interests you, click on the free report image below, and if you want to talk to me about it, just leave a comment below.

I’ve heard that the price for the course will be increasing once they have all their Charter Members, so if you’re at all intrigued, check it out now.

Click the banner below for a free download of their report:

And if you have a great course idea and want help setting it up, let me know!

Back in December we posted our blogging goals. One of them was to come up with a mission statement for this blog. We finalized the first draft on January 15, just as planned (yay!). A draft? Yes, mission statements are always in flux, especially in the beginning. So we figured we’d post it here, air it out in the world, and see what happens.

What do you think of this mission statement? Does it speak to you? Does it make you want to write one yourself? Do you think it’s too long, too short, too … – or is it just right?

Core services
· Canada 9-5 – the only place on the internet that features Canadian business blogs
· Easy-to-digest information for people who are not 100% internet savvy
· “Dear Nettie” – an “emotional blog advisor” on communication and other psychological issues on the web

What makes Alphablogs unique?
· Alphablogs gives a Canadian outlook on the blogosphere
· Our writers are experienced and easy-going with lively interests that extend beyond IT
· Both writers have over 25 years of media, IT and communication experience – and still they’re not “geeks”
· Alphablogs offers practical, non-technical, hands-on advice
· Our “value package”

Our Value Package
· Community, collaboration and mutual understanding
· Right livelihood: There’s room for everyone to grow and be comfortable financially
· The power of creativity, communication and unique self expression
· Fun
· Self-determination: Your internet presence belongs to you, not your web master or a big, faceless mega-conglomerate

Our readers
· Of course, we invite readers from all corners of the world and all walks of life and work. However, as we present our posts, here is who we think of as our audience:
· Independent entrepreneurs, small organizations and artists
· People who don’t have the time or inclination to become experts in blogging
· People and organizations who need to transition or need to add web 2.0 and/or social media

What’s the background?
· This blog grew out of the enthusiasm of Carol and Isabella, two Vancouver creatives, for the medium of blogging.
· We live in an environment where trying to sell 50,000 identical widgets or services to people in our little world just doesn’t work anymore; the market has become global and wants tailor-made goods and services
· We need to give people what they specifically want and need, and that means we need to encourage conversations with our clients.
· There are a lot of people who feel a bit left behind – especially small business people, artists and small organizations. The internet grows so fast, it’s a continuous game of catch-up. Someone needs to help the people who live outside the “nerd fortress”.

Why Alphablogs?
· We want our clients to get to know us and our approach
· It’s fun
· We genuinely enjoy helping people get their stories out
· Blogging is such a versatile, inexpensive and simple medium
· We want to help as many people as possible explore this medium
· Because in blogging, there is so much potential for working together, and we really believe in collaboration