Bridging Media: Addressing the Challenges - this Saturday, March 29, 2008, 9:45 am – 3pm

Aimed to provide a bridge between the two communities of film/television and interactive/social media, I think this event comes just at the right time. The expertise we have here in Vancouver is remarkable, and the panelists assembled for this event have a lot to share in the short time they have available, so it looks like the whole day will be power-packed.

The tools are here and easier to use than ever, and the panelists are articulate and experienced in the slippery ever-shifting world of web/mobile/social media. Its free, its informative and it can change what you think you might know about social media, and more. Plus there is a door prize: a free pass to nextMEDIA, just before the Banff Television Festival.

Want to know who’ll be there? Go to the registration site and take a peek.

And did I mention that lunch is sponsored? Yes it is a free lunch!

Brainchild of Megan Cole and Erica Hargreave, the event now has a terrific team putting this together, with good will and sharp skills:  Cinci Csere, Monique Trottier and Monica Hamburg. I’m really glad to help out with this event and be in their company!

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)

The February edition of Canada 9-5. Canada 9-5 presents the crème de la crème of Canadian business bloggers, people who use the power of blogging to showcase their professional and business expertise and to better get to know their customers and clients. We’re concentrating on non-IT bloggers; for IT people, blogging is second nature – it’s people whose business isn’t in IT already who, we think, need some help seeing the magic of blogging.

Today we have a virtual assistant, an expressive arts facilitator, a blog that helps with bankruptcy issues, a foodie blog, a small business blogger, and a personal coach right here from Vancouver.

Take it away!

Virtual Assistant Looks At Iceberg
I like the 30 Days of Resources project by Business Services Etc., a company of virtual assistants. In this project, BSETC features 30 products that will make the life of any business person easier. This one is about Icebrrg

Have you ever been wanting to add custom forms to your website or blog but weren’t sure where to find one or how to program them just so? Fear no more. I have found you a service that resonates well with me because (a) it’s easy and (b) it’s name reminds me of the snowy part of the planet I currently live on.

Introducing Icebrrg… The instant (and easy) form creator. It’s a wonderful little web-based program that you sign up for (they have a free account) and once registered, you just follow the prompts to create your web form. It also generates the HTML code for you to place on your blog or site.

I like it! I think I’ll try it out. This blog is a great example of showcasing expertise and paying it forward by providing the reader with valuable information.

Bankruptcy In Canada – What’s A Consumer Proposal?

Are you:
· Having trouble paying all your bills, even though you have a good job?
· Thinking about filing bankruptcy, but not really wanting to?
· Simply looking for more information about ways to deal with your debt?

That’s where a consumer proposal might be a good solution. What’s a consumer proposal? Bankruptcy Canada explains it in this three-part discussion. Part 1 is entitled How a consumer proposal might be right for you. There’s also a video you can watch.

A Foodie Blog – Buying Local
As an avid CBC radio listener, I’m quite familiar with Don Genova, a journalist and broadcaster who used to regale West Coast listeners with yummy tidbits of BC food stories. I remember once he listed all the goat cheeses to be had from Saltspring Island. So this here is his blog. (The things you can learn from a blog: Apparently, until the end of last year he was in Parma – yes, the home of Parmesan cheese – where he studied for a Masters of Food Culture at the University of Gastronomic Sciences. What an intriguing field of studies!)

The entry we’re sampling here is about buying local food

a visit to a Culinary Tourism Conference yielded some interesting info on companies and individuals trying to make it easier for consumers, chefs and other food service operators to get access to local produce and value-added products. … Most of these programs match you up with a farmer who will deliver a box of goods from their gardens throughout their growing season. … Don’t forget farmers markets. Some run year round, others will start in the spring.
You can listen to the 6 minute documentary by going to Don’s blog.

Dancing, Drumming and Children
Barbara Karmazyn’s site is a repository of information and images about the expressive arts. Dancing, drumming, storytelling, singing, crafts – all these are things Barbara brings to children, teachers, parents, seniors as she draws them together in magical circles of joy and creativity.

Barbara Karmazyn uses blogging mostly as a content management system; it looks more like a “normal” web site than a blog. Most of her material is on static pages, like this one about personal development playshops.

Small Business – Email and Customer Service
Selling to Small Business is a blog by Torontonian Evan Carmichael. This post here reminds us that we ignore email at our own peril. Love the title: Killing Your Brand Softly.

Personal Development – What Happens When we Get Sick?
One Man Can is the blog of a personal coach here in Vancouver. I like his open, honest voice; he’s not one of those coaches who continually tell people what to do. Example:

periods of stress that affect the physical body often lead to short bursts of illness. So, watching the signals from the body sooner can allow corrective action sooner. Myself, I like to think I’m invulnerable sometimes and let things get the better of me. Just took a temperature of 102…. oops.

Back to bed.

That’s from his post, Illness of the Body.

***

And that’s it for this edition of Canada 9-5. If you have or know of any interesting Canadian blogs that talk about work or business, send them in – you can use this form.

The next edition will come out April 8, 2008.

Good night and good luck!

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.

In fact, if you’re the average internet user, you probably will not even be able to tell right away that this is a blog. The first thing you see is a full navigation bar, directing the reader to exactly the kinds of information they’re looking for – news about skateboarding, skateboard parks, links to more information.

It’s a great communication tool, perfect for an association. It has

• information for the casual looker like me, whose interest in skateboarding stems mostly from our blogging friend Tina, who used to be very involved in the community
• information for skateboarders who may be visiting or new to Vancouver
• information and news for the existing skateboarding community in the area, including information about volunteering
• private communication capability for members
• images
• video

They’re up-to-date, and they offer lots of ways to contact them.

Ideas for improvement would be to put some information in the “events” and “donations” area, or, alternatively, take those links off until the information can be posted. Also, there could be a few more categories.

All in all – I really like this blog. In fact, I’ll recommend it to VanCal, a new blog about inexpensive entertainment in Vancouver.

technorati tags: vancouver, skateboards, events, communities, parks

Sometimes, that’s true. But blogs are so much more:

• an easy, quick and inexpensive way to create a web site – your presence on the internet
• an inexpensive, quick and easy way to supplement an already existing web site
• a communication tool that opens a two-way, interactive channel between you and your customers
• a quick and easy means for storing and sharing information, be it words, images, audio, or video
• a way to learn more about customer interest
• an effective and trackable means to drive traffic to your business

Let me tell you a little bit about the first one.

Setting up your first web entry on blog platforms such as Blogger or Wordpress is just about as easy and quick as setting up an email address and writing your first email. And if you don’t need your own domain name, it will cost you nothing.

You may have heard of no-cost web sites at places such as Free Websites , Tripod or Angelfire. However, using a blogging system still makes much more sense. Why?

One, because free blogging software often does not have advertising. Free website hosting always comes with advertising. Often, it will advertise your competition.

Two, even the best web site builders (and some of them are quite good – I like Tripod) are much clumsier to navigate than a site like Blogger. My not very internet-savvy 10-year old just started a site on Blogger; that would have never been possible with a web site.

Now you’re probably wondering how you can use your blog as a web site.

It’s quite simple.

First of all, a blog is a web site. Its “back end” technology and, how should I say, “web philosophy” is a little different than old-fashioned, so-called static websites but that doesn’t really need to concern you. (We at alphablogs don’t worry about that, either).

Second, you can simply treat every “page” of your web site as a blog entry. One might be an “About” entry, another one could feature client testimonials, another could feature your services.  And another “page” could hold all your blog posts.

Our alphablog site is a good example of this.

Now we’re not saying that using blogs as web sites is the perfect solution for everyone. However, it’s a great, inexpensive and flexible solution for most small businesses or many other businesses that are not focused on e-commerce (i.e. businesses that sell mostly via the web).

Focusing on the needs of small business and independent entrepreneurs, we have been working to create Alphablogs, as a division of Alpha Glyph Publications Ltd.

We know blogging and we can help you get started and keep your blog going. We also help your blog find its audience, ultimately reaching many more clients and contacts through application of the latest web technology.

When you wish to reach an audience with your message, the blog is the ideal way to contact your clients, both current clients and clients-to-be. With the capability of indepth info (as much as you wish to generate) and the potential for many-to-many contacts that web 2.0 offers you will find yourself in the new universe of 21st century communications. Your blog posting can also be converted to a newsletter which your clients may subscribe to for up to the minute info.

Enter the realm of transparent communications, which the new web offers. It’s much more than just a blog, but can truly replace the old idea of the website completely. You will find that there can be continual updates on your info, and you can make those updates yourself. No need for high setup fees: for under $500 you will have a website ready to go with all the high functionality you will need to be confident in the 21st century marketplace.

We will patiently guide you into the workings of this new communications environment and will give you the tools to do as much of it yourself as you want to handle. Or we can set it all up and run it for you. Get yourself an alphablog, and find out what we are talking about.

Add video or audio to your site easily and inexpensively. Prepare your own information or we can put it together for you. And we help you get hits for your postings. Each blog posting is like a tiny website in itself, and is viewed independently by search engines like google. What this means to you is that you have the potential to reach many more clients through micro-targeted content. It also means that you don’t have to be one-track-minded in your messaging, but can branch out to the subtleties and overtones that are the intangibles that make your business tick, and that make your approach to your business unique.

Ultimately it is up to you. Your vision of your work and field of endeavour can be personally and professionally reflected through an alphablog site. Need a website? We can set that up for you. Need a blog? Naturally – it is our first love! Need a video blog or audio podcast? We can get that started for you and keep it going. Comprehensive sites use many capabilities which we also provide, including writing, editing, research, SEO for blogs, photos and images, links, comments, and community development (if needed).

We are really excited by the potential and possibility of this new aspect of publishing, and will be officially launching alphablogs soon. Meanwhile, for more information, you can reach us through the Alpha Glyph contact info.

Check here for some examples of work to date.

When people talk about harnessing the power of web 2.0, what can that mean to an individual entrepreneur such as a realtor, a financial manager, or a consultant? It means that you now have the ability to individualize your communications as if they were one to one. It also means that you can truly target specific areas that otherwise you wouldn’t have the resources to reach and affect. It can mean that you reveal more of yourself, and your opinions, offering clients a more transparent and personal approach to your work. It means that clients can interact with you on a whole other level. It is a revolution.

You may already know that whether for business, or for your own archival purposes, the blog medium can adapt to your needs, and present your work to the world. You may wonder, “How do I get in?” You may feel the time has come to take the plunge, but, as you look into it for yourself, issues like time concerns and technical barriers naturally arise. That is where our blogging service comes in. We act as a bridge between the technology and the messages you wish to send out, and we can also guide you in the process of creating community around those messages.

Marketing guru Seth Godin has said the next wave of communication will feature ubiquity, connectivity, and identity. Blogging can be your first step toward functioning in this new world of interconnected identities, and we can help you find your way.