Communication Is Your Friend

You use twitter – you send/receive about 20,000 emails a week – you direct message people on facebook YET you don’t understand communication?

When I was in the Air Force I could not believe the lack of communication between offices and overall staff. I was so intrigued by how ineffective some things were handled and how important other things were deemed. It depended on who had the upper hand – the highest official in this point. If they thought it was important then some how communication would be streamlined. If not…well, the paperwork was endless!

This goes in business. You call on clients. You email your staff. You speak with vendors. Yet the majority of businesses (or those that run them) don’t understand the power of communication.

Communication is a powerful tool. From Martin Luther King Jr to Adolph Hitler (no, they are not the same). In both cases they were able to motivate people. One for good and the other for well…evil.

Business communication is not difficult to grasp but it is difficult to implement.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Yes, a little late on the Christmas but I was finally able to spend some time with my family I tried to stay away from the computer as much as possible. Although the first couple days I was going through withdrawl and got the shakes pretty bad. Thank goodness for the wife’s over abundance of cookies.

Nonetheless I would like to wish you all a Merry Christmas – yes I say Merry Christmas and not Happy Holidays because I have belief of what this holiday is truly about.

*sidebar* When I asked what day it was to my 4 yr old son on Christmas the response warmed my heart more than anything, “Jesus‘s Birthday!”

Now that the mayham of Christmas is over (Thank you Jesus!) we can get ready for 2009.  My question to you – are.you.ready?!

Who Are You And Why Is It Important?

I don’t know about you but I like to ‘consider’ myself a humble person. I really hate talking about myself and the businesses I’m involved in. When it comes to a “self-description” I always hesitate as to not sound so boastful yet come across with confidence in getting a bid for a job.

In social media though this is the complete opposite. You have to let users know why you are so important to “follow” or “add as friend” or you’ll miss out on that connection.

In the past week I’ve gotten probably a dozen new followers on twitter but they have nothing interesting to say. They are just promoting their blog/business and basically not really human.

Back in August I wrote a post entitled “Who Am I and Why Are You Reading My Blog?” Where I went into why people actually read blogs – follow certain people on twitter or other social networking sites. They are

the filters in a particular market.

This goes along with it – why are you so

important that so-and-so would read your blog or follow you on twitter or connect with you at LinkedIn? These are questions you need to ask yourself. Here are three things I have come up with that might help you:

Make Your Strengths Known

Don’t be boastful but let people know what you excel in. If you are in the IT field then let them know what your proficient in. Don’t think you “know it all” – because people will turn their heads just as quickly.

Don’t Shy Away From Connections

Make a connection today with someone new in a new field. You never know what can happen. If you’re into computers and not ‘design’ connect with someone who has their own design company. Next thing you know your in talks with a joint operation for a big client. They do the design you do the computer work.

There is always a connection – you just have to make it.

Connect and Learn

This goes along with the previous point. Once you make that connection learn from that person. Look at their strengths and see what they’ve done and worked with/for in the past. Never. NEVER stop learning!

What do you think?

Finding The Right Theme

I’ve probably talked quite a few people into using wordpress. Since I started utilzing it I haven’t looked back. I started CMS using Joomla which was “ok” however for long tail WP has been the best.

Yet, trying to tell these same people the difference between a ‘template’ / ‘layout’  and ‘theme’ has been quite difficult. WordPress uses ‘themes’ for their ‘templates’. Not only that with being the top CMS wordpress has literally millions of themes out there for users. So how you find the right one?

Google Your Theme Request

That’s pretty much it. Almost.

You have a niche – let’s say ‘knitting’. Why not google “WordPress knitting theme” ?

Results 1 – 10 of about 607,000 for WordPress knitting theme

Wow. That’s a lot of results. From there you can just expand. Why not google “wordpress fabric theme”?

Test Out Your Theme

That’s right you need to look over EVERYTHING on the theme. From sample post to ‘about’ page. Majority of the time the developer will have these sample pages for you to view.

The last thing you want to do is get a theme and start using it only to want to ‘tweak’ it and when you try end up messing everything up.

Download – Install – Post

• Download the theme
• Install the them (wp-admin/contents/themes)
• Start Posting

It really is JUST.THAT.EASY

Try it for yourself and let me know how it goes. Those that have been using wordpress am I lying here?

Who To Trust in Blogs vs. News

Advertising Age recently ran an article entitled:

Whom Do We Trust? Online News and Newspapers

Consumers don’t trust personal blogs, but they trust the news they get online at least as much as what they read in newspapers, a new survey suggested this week.

Excuse me if I do not believe this…or to the full extent to what they are writing about.

I have found more and more people still turn to newspapers for information but on the trusting level they turn to their bloggers or in turn act as their filter systems to better determine the information. That’s the whole point of having dedicated bloggers in that niche, right?

If I hear a report about some technology break through I’m hitting up Live Crunch and Tech Crunch to see if the reports are accurate or just blowing smoke. More than likely I’ll read about the technology break via LC / TC and maybe turn to the news for a quick verification.

It’s a checks and balances when it comes to blogs and newspapers. As newspaper sales continue to decline and the cost of running an online one has some outrageous figures such as NYTimes.com Needs 7X More Traffic To Survive.

So, the question I want to ask you – the reader. What do you think about the battle between blogs vs. News – where do you lay your trust at?

Social Media Contacts Bookmarking

We have Digg, StumpleUpon, Sphinn and just about anything else out there that acts like a social networking bookmarking. One of the best from my person favorites have been StumpleUpon which integrates into your toolbar. It’s quick and painless.

We have all these website bookmarking options but what about social media contacts? We all use (or should be) social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Plurk and the thousands of others. As more sites go OpenID why hasn’t anyone put together an application that stores all your social media contacts across the board?

It would act like a database of contacts you’ve joined with on various networks that might have this application so that when you look to market to your networks you can easily see which network (facebook/twitter/etc) is better to connect with as well as which ones shows a ROI. This way you would be able to determine the networks that have the highest influence and connection possibilities.

While in every networking site out there you can ‘import’ your contacts but there isn’t anything that truly represents just the contacts itself. You have a contact in twitter but you want to connect with them in Facebook and store this information on your desktop and laptop. It’s simple not an option now.

These are things I think about.

What would you do if your social networking wouldn’t revolve around the actual network but rather around the contacts? Those in social media – I just blew your mind and you didn’t even know it.

We go to these networking sites by going to their main site or using a 3rd party application to connect with our contacts but what if we were able to skip that step and have a breakdown of each individual person in each network?

What are your thoughts on it?

How To Get Two WordPresses On One Domain

That’s right a simple and QUICK tutorial on how to get to WordPress (WP) on one domain.

Why? Well, it is something I recently tried out last night and I was pretty happy with the results after searching for basic instructions and for could not find any good ones.

This is a real example but depending on your hosting company things might not go according to plan.

If you haven’t noticed by now my ‘blog’ is at the domain: drivenmg.com/blog – I made it this way in order to be separate from my actual domain of my business: drivenmg.com

Here are the steps

Create A Separate Extension

This can be anything from domain.com/blog to blog.domain.com – it really doesn’t matter unless you’re thinking for SEO purposes which is whole another topic. What I will suggest is have the extension after the domain.

The way to create this is just add a folder on your FTP for your domain. After it is created just upload the WP files.

Upload Your WordPress Files Twice

Not sure why this is a hard step but apparently some people think if they have WP in one folder they don’t need it anywhere else. WRONG. You will need WP in the main folder and any extension.

Check Your Database Files

This is where it gets people every time. After doing some searching I found a lot of people forget this and give up. It’s not difficult BUT it may take a novice some time to understand.

In order to run two (or more) wordpresses you have to have separate database files. All you have to do is create two separate files by going to your cpanel (control panel) at your hosting company. Try to be as creative as possible but PLEASE write them down.

Make sure when you create these database files you make them for each WP you want. For mine I created one for “blog” and one for “main” as pertaining to the domain.

The next step once they are created and files are uploaded via FTP you need to go enter your phpMyAdmin from your CPanel. Once there locate your databases. Now you will probably notice that each database has the begining extension of “wp_” and the file name such as “wp_comments”.

The way WordPress works you need to change one database extensions from “wp_” to “wp2_” or whatever you would like BUT you must change ALL THE DATABASE FILES. If this is a”fresh” install then it shouldn’t take you more than 5 minutes.

The way to change the extensions is click on each database file or click on the check box and clicking on Operations. From there you want to “Table Options” which will have your “wp_comments” and you just make it “wp2_comments” – click on Go.

DONE!

Do this for all the database files and you’re all set.

Any question? Feel free to let me know how your setup went. The steps could change as it pertains to your hosting company.

Status Update: Sorry For Lack Of Post

Just wanted to apologize all for not posting anything recently. If you’ve been reading my tweets I’ve been moved to a bigger desk and no not a corner office. So, I’ve been busy moving files and getting things prepped for the holiday season.

In this transition I haven’t had time to jot down some post just some headlines that I would comes across that would spark some good conversation.

I will say this: all the projects  I am involved in for 2009 it looks like I will have my best year yet and I will have a lot more examples of a growing entrupenuer for you all. From music managing (see Sky 7th) to Affiliate Marketing I will be getting into pretty heavy and even some non profit marketing as well.

So, please be patient as I get things organized for the new year and get ready for some great things!

The Act of Giving in Television Over Being Dirty

Sometimes I look at humanity and am amazed at how some people actually breathe. I look at the masses and wonder how in the world they aren’t killing each other. I’ll even shake my head when I see people not doing the most simple acts of kindness such as holding open a door for someone even if you have to wait 5 extra seconds.

The attitude of “me against the world” is portrayed in media and this is one of the reasons I can’t even watch television. I detest watching the news when it’s nothing but stories of someone being killed or trying to steal something. This goes even into regular shows and even into reality shows. My wife loves those reality shows and I admit I did to at the beginning but years later I have to leave the room when she turns it on.

So, when I saw the headline:

‘Secret Millionaire‘ Appeals More Than ‘Dirty Sexy Money‘

I gotta admit I was taken back and had to question my view on humanity. Do people enjoy seeing others succeed? I mean I use to watch Home Makeover and I know they do well in ratings. The premise, if you are not aware, is basically a ‘millionaire’ works with a family or person without them knowing that they are really upperclass then at the end the rich pull a Robin Hood and write them a check. It could looked at as upperclass takes a visit to lowerclass and then gives them money.

Beyond just the headline here are the stats that amazed me though:

Fox’s “Secret Millionaire,” in which an incognito “have” shares with a “have-not,” won its 8 p.m. timeslot, rising 22% from its premiere program last week to a 2.8/8 rating and share in the ad-centric adult 18-49 demographic. Meanwhile, ABC’s “Dirty Sexy Money,” which celebrates the nothing- exceeds-like-excess ethos that no longer seems popular, let alone possible, was last in its 10 p.m. time period, ringing up a 1.8/5, which was 10% below its season average.

My question to you (whether you watch it or not): Do you think it is because of the ‘season’ that this type of show is doing so well (and will probably continue to) or is the face of humanity changing (maybe due to the economy)?

Advertising During Hard Times

I work in outdoor advertising as I mentioned several times and honestly the market overall has been down. In advertising all around it has been down. People are scared to advertise – I’ve seen this first hand. Small businesses would rather hold their marketing budgets until their sales turn around.

I get that. I truly do especially being a small business owner myself.

Image via Wikipedia

However thanks to @ridestory Audi has a different story. Audi has recently announced that they are going to advertise in this years Super Bowl.That’s right a car company will be advertising during one of the most watching programs of the year. Which means MILLIONS of dollars to do so.

So how can they truly afford to do so with the car market in downward spiral? The question truly should be how could they NOT!

According to Collective Intellect and Nielsen Buzz Metrics, Audi was the number two Super Bowl advertiser in total buzz after the game. In the months following the game, traffic to www.audiusa.com increased almost 200% and the Audi R8 became the top search term on Google immediately following the ad’s airing.

How does that equivalent into sales?

Audi experienced a record year for sales in 2007. In 2008, despite the worst sales climate in nearly 25 years, Audi has increased market share against other imported luxury brands to 8.6%, up from 6.2% just 12 months ago.

Now, one thing ‘should’ be noted Audi is not one of the car companies that are asking for monies for the bailout i.e. Car Czar. It should be interesting to see how well the stat’s show for this coming super bowls ad when a company in a dying market tries to survive.