Viral Video Pages

Better Nusiness Networking? Its About Time!

2008-11-22T10:28:00.000-08:00

Business Networking has always been a healthy thing. Prehistoric cave men probably got together and talked about the business of fire and about innovations that led to the wheel. Lately, with the advent of sites like Biznik and Meetup, there have been great advancements to the way in which and the ease with which networking both generates and proliferates. What about the way business networks facilitate benefit for those who become involved? Often times it seems this aspect of networking is still in the stoneage. Something fresh along those lines is happening in Seattle however.

Mundane networking meetings have almost always been about talk. There may be coffee, or donuts, or even a little lunch, but talk almost always wins out as the primary function of a network meeting.

We want to see purpose driven business networks that do more than just talk though. Safeway and Radio Shack collaborate with others in the sharing of traffic in Strip Malls. That's a form of networking. Boeing and Chrysler may have networked on projects that are not commonly known. The majority of business owners who desire to network are looking for less specialized relationships too, relationships that can bring them new clients or a stronger position in their market or field.

In actuality, many business owners are not sure what they are looking for. They just know they are in need and they're looking for help. In order to network helpfully in practicality a company has to actually do more than just say somthing at a meeting. They at least have to put up an ad, exchange a link, or trade leads. Even better yet, they need to establish purpose, then platform, and then regulate function.

In Seattle, there is a community organizer bringing companies together in free, weekly workshops to help them do just what we’ve described above in a strategic matrix of multi dimensional online ways. The goal is to get a group of business owners together, help each and every one of them to establish a broad spectrum online presence, and then go on to spend a couple hours per week in a wireless enabled venue with 20 or 30 laptops open and all participants linking to each other, clicking on each other, posting to each other, and otherwise trafficking and promoting each other's web presence through the roof.

Through this exercise, the participants find ways to network together in practical ways. They get to know each other's holdings online. They also get coached in strategies and activities that actually work so that they can actually promote their network partners with no downside to themselves.

One rule of these groups is, DON'T buy online products or services as one off's. Wherever possible and practical, get together and negotiate for package deals and for economy of scale. Another maxim is, DON'T ignore each other's needs. While you spend an hour or two each week looking after the interests of 10 or 20 other companies, there are 10 or 20 other people at the same time looking after yours.

Many vendors don't like the idea of customer bases getting together and holding them hostage for better deals. These days however, some companies actually enjoy the prospect. It dilutes the market, but the market is dead right now anyway. What about the future? An old saying rings true; "A live dog is better than a dead lion." And so a diluted market is better than no market at all.

In order to make the effort pay off for the participants, the groups need strong internet strategists and operatives to help them register domain names, host and launch web sites, create unique content, deploy and post to blogs, enable audio and video media in their footprints, and otherwise help them to diversify and energize their online presence. Providers that are already present benefit from including their companies in the program and gaining trafficking support from the collective in return for reduced and collective rate services.

The point is for every one to use as many avenues of promotion as are available on the internet. For example, everyone is encouraged to post video to the free sharing sites in promotional strategies. Every one is asked to write articles for blogs and to comment on each others content as well. Ghost writers are available for content development. RSS feed management and article submission activities are a big part of the collective itinerary each week. Creating and managing additional web sites and pages, some of them ad listings, some of them cross subject landing pages that serve to join the ranks of otherwise non-synergistic companies are important ongoing activities too. MySpace and FaceBook campaigns where companies promote each other are all regular, consistent efforts that go on like a heartbeat in these unique networking workshops as well.

In the tradition of the cavemen who came up with the wheel, we applaud the advancement and glorification of simple practicality. Nothing against coffee and donuts, but the active click of many links and the rapid strokes of many keys on many keyboards sounds much better to the ears than traditional old Homer Simpson networking meetings.

Effective Sales Today Requres Being Comfortable on the Internet

2008-11-22T09:15:00.000-08:00

There was a time when a person could promote him or herself shamelessly on the internet or in person. People responded to pressure sales, and salesmen were not afraid to apply the pressure. These days though, a lot of pitches are being made online. The pitches we see today are seldom hard sell. How is the soft touch working, and why does it work?

People do not like commercial advertisements. The old days of the television where the station programmers hold the audience hostage and irritate them with a few minutes of ads during breaks in the programming are no longer here. That may still happen, but TeVo and the remote control have defeated that old champion for good. People want their entertainment without being hassled to buy something. Frankly, I do too. You catch more floes with honey than with vinigar.

If people watching television are that way, then internet buyers are even more sensitized to ads. 'In Your Face" advertising is slowly being replaced by a more gentle approach. Have you ever heard these words; “Blatant Self Promotion”? The popularization of that term online means only one thing. Commercials are becoming more and more frowned upon in the inner circles of the internet culture.

So, if we can’t engage in hard sales successfully on the internet, why be there as a busuness in the first place? The answer is, “so that you can relax”. Yes, learning to relax is the current main occupation of internet marketers. Blogging has made that a profession.

You see, people are honestly looking for valuable, meaningful interpersonal interaction. Or else they want insightful windows into an area of expertise that you might have. Blogging is what that represents. If someone likes your blog, they will come back to it, recommend it, comment on it, and promote it. Your soft touch can increase the traffic to your online portfolio. How does this translate to sales?

Well, your blog is only one area of your online portfolio. You also have some type of profession where you earn you living. Linking your pseudo personal portfolio to your pseudo professional portfolio is comfortable for your clients. They have learned to value your opinion, to trust you insights, and to like what you do. That is important in a sales relationship. Hit and run sales tactics don't require that, but a "Sales Relationship" does, and that's what we want to have online. Return buyers and recurring sales are a good thing.

The point of being in business now is simple; GENERATE TRAFFIC! This is done by attracting the visitor, and once he’s entered the site, to keep him there for a while to make an impression on him. As we discussed earlier, advertisements drive traffic away. Giving something away draws people in. Promotions are still the number one way to get people into your store. Have you ever thought of a blog as giving something away? That’s exactly what a blog is, and that’s why it works.

The newspapers do the same thing. They give away news that they have fought hard to find. Then, advertisers pay to ride along because the newspapers put their messaging into a high traffic stream, and then it becomes a simple numbers game to the advertiser. TV does the same thing, and so does radio. A blog is the same idea. Video blogs are even more thinly disguised. To blog though, you need to attract people. You need to give of yourself and to be comfortable in doing it. Otherwise, no one will come, and no one will stay, and no one will make it to the professional side of your portfolio.

Are you comfortable sharing of yourself? Have you shirked the traits of a hard driving goods pusher? Have you become comfortable and confident enough in what you have to offer the world that you can compete in today’s weird world of sales? Then congratulations. Make yourself at home.

Fundamentals of Powerful Business Networking

2008-11-01T17:31:00.000-07:00

Business Networking is as old as business, which in turn is as old as the human sentient state. What are the underlying, unchanging precepts of networking in a competitive, goods and services oriented arena? Understanding these principles can put us in a powerful position in the business world if we understand, practice, and apply them.

One of the elemental issues revolving around active business networking is the competitor, non-competitor matrix. Simple strategies of networking can only involve non-competitive interests. If you are networking with your direct competitor, you will tend to be very protective, and this inhibits the flow of benevolence back and forth, thus throwing cold water on networking activity as a result.

More advanced and sophisticated networking strategies however, can and do engage fierce competitors into deep cooperation. This is a huge advantage if you can achieve it, because your competitors market is also yours. Again though, there has to be some pretty advanced tactics in order to gain that position. We’ll come back to this issue with more insight after we establish a few more important fundamentals.

The next matter involves forums. Forums are simply the venue in which your network can operate. There are meeting style networks that meet once per week for breakfast, or once per month for coffee. These companies are employing the “Meeting Forum”, and it is great for some types of exchange. There is also the telephone forum. Sometimes, local service providers use the phone extensively. Maybe there is a roofing company, a painter, a window cleaner, and a landscaper in a localized network. These companies are not competitors, so they feel free to share leads with each other. The telephone is a great forum for this kind of network exchange.

In the last few decades however, the most intensive networking forum has been developing more and ever more intensity. This, of course, is the internet. (net in internet is a reference, after all, to network). The internet is a forum that can be geographically far flung or localized. It can handle nearly every kind of business exchange from communication, to information, to monetization, to what ever else we can devise to help us relate to another entity.

This is not to say that the other forums for networking are things of the past. The face to face, voice to voice, personal touch is a very valuable factor that the internet does not do well, although there is video conferencing capability that is becoming ever more fluent. Even so, a mixed forum approach to business networking is a sign of good health and a fundamental factor in success.

Another important base concept in networking involves traffic, messaging, and real estate. There is virtual real estate upon which we can post our messages, like Television or Radio. Likewise, there is literal real estate, usually along a busy thoroughfare, where we can place our signs. The internet has real estate in the form of internet addresses, and some are traffic oriented, but others are process oriented. Just like some companies are not located on busy streets, but they do place their signs there, likewise, some internet addresses are not in the traffic, but they do put their links on sites that have a lot of traffic, like entertainment sites and the like.

Understanding this brings back to our mind the literal competitor and the physical proximity issue. If a competitor is geographically proximate to us, there is little comfort in networking with him, but if he is in another city or state, there may be a large reward in letting our guard down a little. So, we can discern a typographic element to intelligent networking that is part and parcel with the geographic one.

A non-competitor may be synergistic with your company typographically. In that case, the active market of that company is likely to interest you. On the other hand, if the networking prospect is not in proximity to you typographically, then there would be less potential benefit in business network exchange. This is where the concept of network to network association becomes viable. A business to business relationship is more delicate than is network to network, and value could be gained from that more involved approach.

A final though is about expansive interests and localized interests. There are local networks, regional, national, and global. Some regional companies want to expand to national reach, and some global companies want to be able to drill down into targeted localities. As we begin to transcend the limitations of our own immediate interests, we can see more clearly the coalescence of higher cognitive manipulation of accumulated networks.

Reflecting back on the trail of principle we’ve left behind in this article, we can begin to imagine how the engineers of the global economy are type categorizing not just entities, but actual networks too. Networking has indeed reach the age of true power through internet categorization, traffic, messaging, and virtual real estate.

Recognizing and Capitalizing on "Open Benefit" Viral Movements

2008-11-01T16:45:00.000-07:00

There has been much written and otherwise espoused about the truly exciting phenomenon of socially viral online movements. The entire history of the internet is a viral one, even though you’ll seldom hear it openly defined that way. Those who understand the elements of viral stratagem stand to benefit most efficiently if they have the programming savvy to launch their own viral effort, along with the money (and the luck) to make it succeed. The strategists, the programmers and the funding investors are the risk takers, and normally they will be the benefit takers as well, leaving the rest of us to simply enjoy the novelty of the movement rather than any of the unfathomable material gains realized out of it.

Less efficiently, there is benefit for those who understand the strategic elements in that they can profit hugely through wise exercise of that knowledge. But there are few opportunities, these are all early on, and they can be gathered from only what we call the “Open Benefit” movements. Here are a few things to look for. If you find an effort that matches these requirements, drop everything, get in right away, and ride it up before you miss the ride entirely.

The first thing to look for is something that is being given away for free. This is easy to find, so there must be some caveats to this first identifier. There is. It needs to be something that you feel people will really pick up and use, but not only that. You should feel strongly that people will recommend it also to their friends. This is what drives a social viral movement. It is THE number one hard requirement in a true viral phenom.

Secondly, it needs to be easy to deploy and easy to manage. Easy however, does not necessarily mean simple. There should be some elements of true manageability to the viral element. If it is too simple, it will not be very useful. This is an absolute metric of factuality. The simpler it is, the less useful it becomes, but the more complex it is, the less USABLE it becomes. The viral element needs to strike a balance here in order to really catch fire socially.

The third thing is that the viral element of the movement must have cross social utility. In other words, individuals should be attracted to it, business should see the benefit for themselves, education, charity, government, who-ever looks at it should be able to see themselves benefiting from its use. The broader the user ship categorically, the greater the explosive potential.

The fourth factor is benefit ratio. There must be multi level benefit built into the strategy. The top level (the company launching the movement) needs to have a sufficient benefit horizon, and a realistic one. That will certify that your involvement benefit will not die when the sponsoring company fails. Secondly though, there has to be benefit that trickles down to you too, and to a few other levels under you.

We are not talking about MLM here. We are talking about being able to fire up a first generation of users and guarantee them some piece of the action in order to get their undivided enthusiasm. Then, once their interests are met, the first level needs to shut off in order to do two important things. First, it protects the interests of the first generation participant, but secondly, it increases the value of the second generation participant and lights new enthusiasm on that level. This process should continue strategically at least five or ten tiers deep, and you need to get in on the upper tiers. Be fast though. In a viral movement, the top positions disappear within months. It is really a true get rich quick happening.

The sixth thing is to help to push it out. Secure your interests, understand them, and settle down to help start the fire and fan the flames. That is the only reason you have been invited into the potential is so that you can work like a mad, insane, crazy person for a month or two in order to retire for the rest of your life in luxury.

With the above information you should be able to identify a viral effort that is young, that is open benefit, and that has true and realistic potential to rocket into the stratosphere. If you have trouble finding one, it would be insightful to contact the information source that gave you the deepest insight into the subject. That depth usually comes from inside information.

Internet Marketing, the Real Story

2008-11-01T06:59:00.000-07:00

In order to get someone to work with you, you need to be able to offer them something in return. If they have something that you want, how can you get them to share? Equitability is the answer. Networking is a simple function of that equitability. What do you have that they want, and visa versa. If you can establish that, then you have the start of a good relationship.

The current era of internet marketing has taken that personal aspect out of the equation. It has resulted in mass confusion over which the big players online have taken great delight and profit. So many duped souls have forgotten that the internet really does level the playing field and they have become enslaved, working hard for a benefit that few will ever attain. What are we talking about? Working to promote the big guys and getting nothing in return.

If you want to market on the internet, you have to have something to market. Many so called internet marketers have nothing to market, so how could they actually be? Really, what most are doing is trying to make pennies from the products of real companies who have hired real internet marketers to dupe you and I into spreading their message and their cause on the promise of a rarely materializing income stream.

How is it that these real internet marketers have convinced so many of us to work for them for little or nothing in return? It is a combination of factors that have contributed to this strange phenomenon. First, most of us have nothing to promote, but these people convince us that their stuff is actually ours. Then we talk about our stuff, we get passionate about our stuff and we promote that stuff with a passion, pouring intense time and resources into that promotion. The only thing is, it isn’t really our stuff, and we’re getting paid pennies for dollars worth of effort.

Can this work? It has worked to make some people wealthy, but only in the beginning. If you could get ten people together and you all worked hard to make the value of my stuff grow from $100.00 to $1,000,000.00, I would share that with you 10 people. You have helped me to establish my stuff and I’m now going to go on and get really wealthy. After that deal with the initial 10 people though, why would I want to share the rest of my stuff with the rest of all of you? I don’t want too so I’m not going too. It doesn’t matter what the marketers tell you, I’m going to keep my stuff because it is not yours.

The point is that you don’t have to work for someone else. Get your own stuff and work for yourself. Get an internet address and if you want to be an internet marketer, promote yourself, find other companies that you can work with and promote them. Don’t just throw all your efforts into something that will yield you nothing in the end and yet provide huge gains for the really big guys that are laughing at you behind their hands.

Misconceptions About Online Marketing

2008-11-01T06:51:00.000-07:00

A lot of people write about online marketing and offer advise for free, or for a fee. As we attempt to sift through the avalanche of material and to make some sense of it, there are a few things that begin to come clear through the fog. The subject is very complex and there are many variations on a theme. Let’s try to distill a few important fundamental facts out of the fray.

By far, the vast majority of so called experts in “Internet Marketing” are really not what they claim to be. There are many gullible fish that have bitten the bait of real online marketers and who then try to get others to bite smaller hooks with less compelling bait, and on down the line in like manner. Rather than biting more skanky bait, we need to look carefully at the basics.

What people and companies really want to do is to promote their message or their product and to get it out as widely as they possibly can. That’s what you want to do if you’re an online marketer on interested in being one. Behind the effort to do that is a pretty basic motivation. We need to earn a living. The better their income, the better we like it. So when we evaluate a marketing effort, we need to be able to see the motives of everyone involved. Just getting into an affiliate program is not going to do us much good. That program represents a long list of interests, and the chances of anyone at the bottom of that chain understanding what’s really going on are pretty small. The rewards for promoting that chain are smaller at the bottom too.

The best thing to do is to get in at the top. Even better yet, be the top. So, what should we really do? Again, the answer to that question comes down to the basics. The internet is all about networking. That is what Internet Marketing is. It is exactly the same as if a Pet Store on the corner by your house asked you to put a sign in your yard promoting their business. Think of it like Real Estate and traffic.

The Pet Store wouldn’t want to put it’s ad on your lawn if you were the last house on a dead end street. They are interested in the house on the corner of two major arterials. So if you want to have a valuable marketing presence, then you need a busy piece of online real estate. Your ADDRESS should see a lot of traffic.

Getting an address is pretty easy (Real Esatate). Putting a site up on it is easy too. Getting the traffic to your site is the hard part, and it takes some commitment, some time, and some expertise to do that. Actually, if you think about it, that’s what the Pet Store was trying to do in the first place, increase their traffic. So, if the Pet Store has a lot of traffic coming into their store because they’ve done a good job of putting signage on every busy corner in town, then other companies will be wanting to put signs in their store window, put brochures on their front desk, put flyers on their bulletin boards, and business cards in their cookie jars. This is networking. This is what the internet does so well, and that’s what true internet marketing is all about.

So, when you’re listening to people talk about affiliate links, or about viral marketing, or about blogging, or article submission, or whatever else, just remember that real value comes when you have your own real estate and when you have a lot of traffic in and around that site. If it’s not YOUR site, what value you are able to attain and what income you do generate will be mostly for other people. For example, if you were renting the house on the corner of the arterials and you allowed companies to put signs in your yard, the landlord may allow you to share some of the value of that, but when you moved out, who would retain the value of what you had built?

Here is where the problem for many so called experts lies. They are advocating that you work very hard to promote other people’s interests. Why would they do that? Because that is what they are doing, and if they can get you to do that too, then they make a few temporary dollars off your trafficking. Now you’re suppose to be the last guy on the totem pole and try to make money by getting people even lower than you? Most of it is really very shallow.

Find local companies and network with them. That’s how to really build value. Before you can do that though, you will need to have your own presence with a value point. Putting ads on a website is not hard. Finding companies that will network with you is pretty easy too. Start local and work up to regional. Put together groups of non-competitive companies and promote them. That is what the internet is all about. We do not have to give all of our efforts out to the huge internet interests and receive little and temporary benefit. Put the same effort into building real value for yourself and for organizations that are reachable.

Business Networking and the Internet

2008-10-31T08:29:00.000-07:00

How many of us have gotten involved in business networks that went nowhere? We go to regular meetings and we talk across steaming coffee cups over boxes of donuts, hopeful at first, but ever becoming more disillusioned as the months roll on. Wouldn’t it be great to network in profitable ways instead of simply wasting our time?

The internet is a network, as the name implies, and there are some powerful tactics to be employed there-in. Many are seldom used. Combine internet networking strategies with intelligent street level tactics, and forget about the donuts! Bigger things can happen, and do!

The first thing to look at is, “Who should my network consist of?” Joining an existing network is great, if it fits your needs. Non competitive participants are best, however you define that. Sometimes a company that is in close geographic proximity is a competitor because they provide comparable goods or services, but the same company that is geographically distant can be a great non-competitive partner. In the second scenario, both of you can usually benefit from cooperation.

Otherwise, there are companies that are non-competitive and synergistic. A window cleaning company and a painting company are good examples. After the painter has finished the house, the windows will really need to be cleaned. Of course, there are companies too that are non-competitive, but not really synergistic either. These can fit into their own networks, and then networks of synergistic companies can network together as well.

The point is, custom networks usually serve the interests of all better than just falling into something randomly. Obviously however, in a customized network someone will have to have taken the initiative organizationally in the first place.

Next, there is the consideration of what KIND of benefit you can bring to each other. There is messaging assistance where one company will allow the other to pitch its message to their audience. There are also straight referral activities that businesses can trade in. In order to perform these tactics effectively, it is good to prepare what we, at Dragnet Marketing, call a Media Map. This is an exercise that identifies what kinds of media each company already uses. This can be telephone book ads, radio or TV commercials, vehicle or storefront signage, or any number of other common or uncommon media activities. If everyone in the network knows the media map of the other companies, then intelligent economy of scale tactics, as well as blended messaging and other strategies can be enacted, driving down the cost of message delivery, and at the same time increasing the effectiveness of it.

Peer Maps are another Dragnet Marketing concept where each member of the network looks at the different interface methods that it has with its micro market. One company may have an in-home presence either in sales, or installation, or both, while another company has a strong walk in market. How can these access points be shared to the benefit of both while at the same time not being detrimental to either. Email messages can have references to other synergistic companies on them without detracting from the legitimacy of the primary company. Also, business cards have two sides. The primary side can be a normal card while the secondary side can say, “We Trust Company #2”.

Peer Maps and Media Maps are great exercises for business networks to go through. They can see very quickly how to benefit each other without hurting each other. Every one forgets about the donuts pretty quickly when the very real prospects of doubling or tripling business come into view.

The internet is an indispensible means of networking. Linking company websites together is the primary contemporary means by which organizations network. One of the problems with that is basic. Few brick and mortar companies want to have their hard earned traffic siphoned off by intentionally posting the enticements of another company, competitor or not, on their own main website. So, in comes the concept of setting up a secondary network of pages that point to, and are pointed to from, the primary company sites. Online listing services do this, but usually in a crude, one way, boiler-plated manner. Businesses that decide to network together should each put up a page that intentionally lists the other partners in the network. Efforts can be made by all in the network to increase traffic to these secondary pages as well as to their own primary sites. By working together in this way, again, the result is to maximize resources, gain economy of scale, and benefit each other without detriment.

In review, great business networks are custom created by good organizers. Media Maps and Peer Maps can help business networks to see where and how to equitably capitalize on each others micro markets. Secondary customized web pages networked through ads and messaging and promoted independently can create great shared benefit without detriment to the autonomy of individual company sites. Use these tactics and strategies, and others will appear to you in obvious abundance.

The Rise of Streaming Video Content Online

2008-10-31T08:26:00.000-07:00

Video has notoriously dominated the entertainment industry, and thus the advertising industry for a half century. Recently though, the 300 pound gorillas of the video entertainment industry have taken a beating. So many factors have curbed their power, and now we are looking at an emerging opportunity to gather some of that power to ourselves by using the hypnotic mystery of video ourselves in the online venue.

The internet has certainly brought the middlemen of nearly every sector to their knees. If we look at entertainment brokers as middlemen, could we imagine creating our own content, promoting our own productions, and controlling more of our own traffic and advertising potential? Some innovative web developers have taken us halfway there.

YouTube, Guba, Google Video, Blip TV, and many other providers of free video sharing sites have given all of us the power to publically publish our own video content. The productions are rightfully short due to the issue of bandwidth as well as file storage, but there is also the issue of the truncated attention span of the modern day internet surfer. Even with these episode length curtailments, there are still many respectable serials up on these free sharing sites, and they are quite well done. As a matter of fact, there is something to be said for short, powerful punches of entertainment. In effect, serials made up of short streaming episodes can add up to impressive, award winning quality, production results.

We would like to advocate the concept that a new art form is being organically developed as we speak. There does seem to be a further impediment to the serious pursuit of the art by the masses however. This is not to say that there is no pursuit at all, just that what is being done is not really serious. It might be guessed that a factor in the inhibition to the seriousness of the majority of the efforts we see on these video sharing sites is that there is really no incentive for anyone to create gripping, well thought out, well crafted, and well acted content. What we’re talking about is money. There is no compensatory incentive.

This is not to cynically say that the only legitimate motive for quality from the unwashed masses is cash. We simply have to understand that most people need to spend their time on activities that will put food on the table, not on self expressive, artsy whims of fancy. Some may have the luxury economically to do both, but most of us do not.

There are also technical barriers. While shooting and editing video is an activity that is well within the technical savvy of more and more people, there is admittedly still a predominant portion of our contemporarium that are not yet up to the entire task; not to mention being up to the frustration of posting that finished production up on the internet for all to see.

What we do see however, is that there is a vast sea of tech capable people now in our culture. These people do take time to shoot random, not so well crafted, moderately well edited, video content. There is really a huge volume of it. With this knowledge, there is a certainty that if the art could be made economically viable, people would try to do better at it. If it were possible to make a living, people would flock to the opportunity and give it their best. I think it safe to say that we haven’t seen the best yet.

In conclusion, may we just say that it should be a goal of programmers and strategists to figure out how to make the art of short episodic streaming video a profitable profession for main street Dick and Jane. Let them in on some of the profit potential and some of the advertising / networking power. Some strategists have been working programmatically on that kind of application. I know this, because I am one of them.

Finding and Exploiting Viral Opportunity Online

2008-10-31T08:22:00.000-07:00

Many of us with an online presence have seen the explosive growth of web companies over and over again. Netscape was the early pioneer of online viral marketing, but other companies soon eclipsed them. Hotmail was another example. Those of us who do wish to grow our stature in a kingdom made up mostly of internet Peasants, look to these and other online Princes and Kings with dreamy longing. How could we ever hope to achieve even a fraction of the relevance of these towering icons of success?

Knowing that the power of viral marketing is there for anyone to strategically employ is excitingly enticing. The potential of doing something viral and hitting it big is actually much more realistic than the hope of winning the lottery. Is it realistic enough for us to actually make an attempt? If so, how should we go about the effort? These are questions that taunt us as internet peasants. The possibility keeps us scratching at the base of numerous established castles, hoping beyond hope to scale their walls and establish our own place upon the battlements.

In the meantime the giants laugh. The traffic and activity that we bring to their establishments raises them even higher on piles of cash and bounty. That mounting treasure is coming from you and me. It results from our nickels and dimes as we strive to rise above the sweating, clawing masses.

Online, the viral concept is what separates the men from the boys. Control over the power of that exponential traffic expansion as it explodes tremendously onto the scene gives the controller a place among the royal nobility of the online culture. Again, could that actually happen to us? The answer is YES, it could!

In network marketing the term “downline” has come of age. The power of the pyramid is not all bad, even though the unscrupulous use of the principles has given the concept a bitter taste. Pyramidal benefit sharing is not endless, and no-one should ever promise that it is. Also, each lower tier of the “downline” has less value than the tier above it, and no-one should ever promise that that it doesn’t. This having been said, there is huge value in the upper tiers of a viral entity. The problem that the Peasant faces however, is that the Kings and Princes will not partition any of that power out to the Peasant population. It seems a cruel irony and a socio-economic inequity that these same desperate Peasants are the ones upon whom the nobility depend for their prominence, prosperity, and power.

You and I are actually members of multiple downlines. We all probably have downlines ourselves that we cannot benefit from and that we are often not even aware of. If you have a profile on a social networking site, you almost certainly have a downline. Do you imagine that the King of Facebook will allow you to profit from your Facebook downline? The answer to that question is not as simple, or as cynical as you might think.

When Facebook first got started, the King was likely a simple Peasant, just like you and me. At that point, the Peasant of Facebook may well have been willing to share power to begin the viral process that resulted in the establishment of his ivory tower. As that establishment began to develop however, the one time Peasant of Facebook began also to join the ranks of the online royalty.

Not knowing this scenario to be true, we can yet imagine that there were other Peasants that grew to Nobility along with the Prince of Facebook. We can also imagine that as they all came up in rank, the opportunity for others to mount that rocket faded and died. The window of opportunity closed, and here we are talking about it in big eyed wonder, and with more than a twinge of jealousy to boot.

So, what do we draw from the imaginations of this land of fairy tale and fancy? We come to understand that there must be other opportunities like the one we’ve fancied, and that these are out there right now. It is to these that we should look for a viral opportunity. We need to find one that is destined to go exponential, and we need to find it early on, while the window is still open. Tupperware parties and Mary Kay make-up parties have burned themselves out. There is no more room for valuable spots in the downline because the efforts are too far along. Netscape is burned out. Hotmail and Facebook have no more need for ambitious, want to be Kings.

So look for that opportunity in your online expeditions. Take great care however in your search for a new rising star. Don’t believe promises that are obvious lies, and get your relationships in writing. But be assured that there are real and substantial opportunities out there right now and that you can find them. Get in early, get a strong position, and work hard to make it a success. That’s our best bet at getting in on the benefit of the viral phenomenon.

What is a Good Focus for Life

2008-10-30T22:57:00.000-07:00

Life is not like a box of Chocolates. There are a lot of pitfalls in this modern social climate, and biting into things randomly is not often a sweet experience. Either I wish that things really are as they were for Forest Gump, or I wish that I was dumb enough (or smart enough) to let the harshness slide.

I feel that the best parts of the forty three years of my life have been when I have been able to help others feel what I wish that I could feel more consistantly. I truly believe that it is possible to be sincere with other sincere people and to gather great happiness and joy from that experience. Unfortunately, there is a lot of pressure on people, myself included, to be insincere and predatory. I resist that voraciously, but am sometimes less than pleased with my behavior.

In saying that, I do not mean to imply that I'm an unscrupulous bastard. I do not believe that to be the case at all. I've certainly helped more people in my life than I've hurt, but there has been the odd occasion where-in someone has been negatively impacted through some direct influence that has come their way in my name. I don't choose to believe that any damage inflicted was deliberate on my part, and that position is heartfelt, but when I look myself square in the mirror, I have to answer to myself honestly about those rare scenarios. Can I? Asking that question makes me uncomfortable because I need to explain, and explaining can sound like excuses, and excuses usually indicate guilt.

So, what is a good focus in life? Being kind, being helpful, and being sincere. It must be that simple. Is that position some kind of weak penance for the mistakes of the past? I don't think so. I think that position is as realistic now as it was when I was twenty.

My father always told me that cynicism was directly proportionate to age. That's what I call a cynical view of things. Events in life are not always under our control. They can jerk crazily askew suddenly without our conscious intent, and when that happens, they have the potential to damage everyone in proximity. Events in the lives of others have done that to me without the conscious intention of the relevant party. I found in not difficult at all to divorce them from any negative intentions. I do find it harder to excuse myself however, when the same dynamic emanates from me in hurting other people.

Maybe at some time I will express in detail some of the particulars of my consternation. Until then I hope that one thing stands out as clear with regard my own persona. That one thing is this, and it is quite important to me. I do not ever want to look at my fellow man as immaterial. I want to impute respect even where it seems not deserved or due. I want to exalt the condition of the sentient being and show kindness, helpfulness, and support where-ever I go.

The human personality with its advanced attributes is a majestic and exalted phenomenon that should always be protected by sincerity. What other protection is there than that? I really agonize over the possibility that in my life I have failed to be true to that precept. In this expression I hope to engender a passionate commitment to the concept in others as well.

Simple is as simple does, but the box of chocolates is too simple. Let's take life seriously and give homage to our amazing nature. Let's commit to never hurting each other and to admitting that this takes some deliberate, conscious effort in the complicated time within which we live. I love Forest Gump, but I wouldn't put a lot of stock in his advise.

Viral Marketing and How To Get in on the Gain

2008-10-30T18:42:00.000-07:00

“Viral” is a term that has two connotations. It is a word that can raise either excitement, or fear, depending on the context in which it is spoken. The principle that the term describes is one of mass, self perpetuated proliferation, and the model looked to, of course, is the virus that penetrates the human bio defenses and invades the body, making us sick to whatever degree of malevolence to which the particular virus equates. In the context of this article however, we are looking into the positive usage of the term. How can I get my message, or better yet, my interest, to self proliferate at a viral rate and scale?

Modern astronomers have philosophized around the concept of using a viral model to explore the universe. They imagine a self-replicating Robot / Space Ship that would land on a planet, gather raw material, make 100 copies of itself, and then launch en-mass to 100 new planets, each new ship re-replicating itself, and then repeating the process over and over in a “viral” manner throughout the cosmos. This would be an example of a positive application of the “viral” term.

As we look at the strangely lifelike nature of the internet, we see examples of viral pervasion online. Social Networking sites like MySpace and Facebook are prime models. These sites allow users to launch new pages at will. A person could launch thousands of these profile pages if they wanted to, but most people have only one. The freedom to launch a new page has resulted in unprecedented user ship, and that audience of users just keeps growing.

The entire internet phenomenon has been a viral one. Web pages continue to appear in exponential formula and the addresses that host them are virtual. The literal real estate on planet earth is limited, and we are making a good run at populating it to the maximum. The virtual real estate on the internet however, is unlimited and endless. Addresses can continue to scale exponentially, limited only by server capacity, and this is scalable too. As a result, the playing field for strategic viral activity in cyberspace is essentially unlimited as well.

The natural ideological result of this line of insight is that the war of viral strategy is under way and will continue to heat up. We will see a maturation evolutionarily of the revenue capturing concepts that correspond with the evolution and maturation of viral methods.

If we do not expect this process to advance, we should immediately start to do so. Not only should our expectations arise, but so should our desire to participate and benefit. The question we should ask is, “How can I get in on the viral spiral?”

One difficulty in riding someone else’s viral rocket is that the rocket is someone else’s. What that means is that, even if the organization that launches the virus allows you into the craze (and it will because that’s what makes it viral), this does not necessarily mean they will let you in on the potential. Understandably, they seem to want to hoard that entirely for themselves. Wouldn’t you?

A related issue is that once the strategy catches and begins to scale up, going exponential, there is no longer any reason for the organization to let anyone in on the potential.

These truths seem to dictate the obvious course of action for those of us who predict an increase in the development and scale of viral activity. Get in early on a good program, and garner for a larger, deeper stake in the potential.

So, as we scan the horizon of the virtual world looking for opportunity and for ways to spread our cause, maybe we should be training ourselves to recognize budding efforts to go viral. Finding them is the first step to riding them, and more amazing programs are coming.

Capturing and Holding the Attention of the Contemporary Internet Surfer

2008-10-30T18:38:00.000-07:00

The proliferation of internet players and their pages are certainly diluting the attention of the contemporary surfer. Capturing the attention of a body of relevant traffic has never been easy, but it is getting more and more difficult with the explosion of goods, services and information providers clambering for an audience.

The online forum has been changing the way we grab attention, and the way we give it. In the world of cyberspace, fewer and fewer people have the concentrative patience to devote long moments of attention to text. In a general trend, bullet points are replacing paragraphs. Bulleted columns define outlines that are powerful in immediate impact but weak on detailed information. Animated graphic ads and dynamic sound effects succeed in getting but not holding attention. The average internet surfer just does not have the mindset to settle on the details, and that's what a web manager wants them to do. What changes are we seeing that should affect the way we attract and interface with our online audience?

Online informative Audio and Video have come of age. The recent past has presented inhibitive restrictions on the use of these medium due to file size/band width issues. In the past few years however, great strides in compression, computing, and infrastructure have removed the impediments to a large degree for a large portion of the global population.

The internet format provides a unique opportunity to use blends of imagery both motion and still, sounds both effects inspired and content driven, and text both bulleted and extrapolated. We are seeing more intelligent and blended use of these mixed media methods, and the population responds to it. Although the context and circumstance should dictate what mix and measure of media a site manager decides to use, video has a powerful history of success in capturing a loyal returning audience. Circumstance aside, this fact seemingly demands that video be re-scaled to fit the online realm; re-calibrated to bring its power more concertedly to bear on the relatively new world of the internet.

Short episodic streaming video serials are a new art form that is beginning to be explored. It is a blend of the old and the new. In the past, video programming that was mostly entertainment oriented and serial in nature commanded a position of dominant advertising power in the industry. Advertisers would interrupt the primary content with secondary ad messaging. Currently however, people do not want to have their attention interrupted and no longer tolerate that approach. The internet experience has absolutely contributed to the coalescence of an intolerance that has been long in coming but now is here. What do the internet and the art of short episode streaming video serials bring to the table for advertisers and site promoters in this climate of intolerance?

Advertisers might think of developing video content where-in the advertisers are actually characters in a serial program. Entertainment is a huge content sector, but so is education. Cooking shows, healthcare issues, charity efforts, financial advisors, and a near infinite list of additional subject potentials lend themselves to the task of effectively capturing and holding the attention of large bodies of internet traffic. The best advantage of the video approach is the proven ability of video programming to bring the audience back again and again. Do we really need high paid Hollywood writers, producers and actors in order to create captivating video serials?

The technology exists for video dominance on the internet, and it is in use. The strategies are teetering on the cusp of commonality but they yet lack a lot of relevance. The video content that dominates is not serious or professional. If video over text is a new and improved future for internet interaction, then it would be wise to get on the bandwagon early on with a controlled volume of serious serial video programming. Leave the bulleted text on the page. That's what the Search Engines like to see. Deliver the details in rich media though, with a creative flair that entertains and educates.

The old and crude HTML websites are really not conducive to the new world of web management. There needs to be hardcore computer programmers behind the sites of the future. The content needs to change often to hold the attention of a frenzied audience of viewers and Search Engine spiders. Video and audio has to be administrated fluently, along with still graphics and text. Begin looking for providers to appear with programming that allows you more free usage of these established Web 2.0 technologies, and that turns some of the revenue control over to you. YouTube and MySpace type services hand over a little bit of the power, but are not willing to allow page or revenue autonomy. In that way they retain control of the traffic and the value of user content.

Is there any way for a site manager to capture some of that power and control? The expensive way is to hire a good programming team and risk the capitol cost of development that may or may not pay off. The other way is to find programming already in place that gives you that power and control. It is out there, and more of it is coming.

Employing Tomorrow’s Business Tactics Today

2008-10-30T18:24:00.000-07:00

Internet promotional tactics change rapidly and on an ongoing basis. What worked yesterday will still work tomorrow, but not as well as it did yesterday. Promoting a website requires that one be continuously and actively involved in numerous approaches, including some that are cutting edge and not yet widely used. This is how certain kinds of people stumble onto the next great thing. They are simply out ahead of the rest. They spend a lot of time looking like they’re wasting it, and sometimes they absolutely are. But when the new craze hits, it hits them first while the rest of us don’t even catch on until the initial pop is over.

There is a general rule of thumb in this modern fast paced world. That rule is simply this; if everyone else is doing it, it’s probably too late to capitalize on it, whatever it is. This rule of thumb is like riding a wave. The people who get out far enough to catch the wave early get it at its greatest point of power and are able to ride it in while it’s cresting. They usually get off the wave before all the others even get on. Why is that? It’s because they are headed back out to catch the next big swell. They get out ahead and they stay there.

Article submission is obviously a good way to get attention to your site, but only if your articles generate interest. A few writers truly generate consistent gripping content, but most of us are wallowing in mediocrity. Besides, everyone else is doing it. The volume of available content is expanding exponentially like a mushroom cloud. Blogging efforts can contribute to site traffic, but the same is true here as is of article writing. Traditional media can drive temporary increases in traffic, but only at huge upfront costs. Newspapers are dying, Television advertising is dead, and Radio is localized and serves only as a frequency medium to raise awareness. It has proven ineffective in online traffic generation. Newsletters are great, but they suffer from the same weakness that other writing approaches currently do. There is so much of it already logged in, and the tide is continually rising.

Is there a better way to increase site traffic and there-by online value? The first step is easy. It is this; don’t just say something, actually do something too. So many sites right now exist only to vomit banter and gush drivel. If you’re trying to make a living with old affiliate efforts, pay per click programs, or other outdated means, you will be poor for a long time. Very few really make money in this way, and the ones that do have something substantial already to offer. Remember the rule of thumb. If everyone is doing it, it’s probably too late for you.

After you’ve decided to do something real, then you have to decide what that will be. If it involves the internet, then networking will probably be involved. The internet is all about networking. That’s why they named it what they did. Well then, once you decide what to do, a strategy of networking might be a great way to generate traffic.

Networking requires strategic planning because the competition will not necessarily want to network with you, but there are companies of substance with active websites that will. Networking is great because it can serve both to increase the effectiveness of promotional activity and decrease its cost. Strategy can even work a situation around to where a competitor will want to associate with you, even giving you access to his market if it makes strategic sense for him to do so.

Isolationist efforts to be something meaningful online when you really are not will never yield value for your presence. Doing something real and having real relationships of value will stand you in a position to stay relevant. From that position, you can seek the new future rather than focusing on the present and the past.

So, to sum up, try doing something real rather than just generating content. Content is important, but not without substance. Then, network with other real sites. Create intelligent, beneficial strategies that will entice even your competitors into working with you.