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I am the co-host of a weekly podcast called The Bella Buzz with the CEO ofBella Web Design, Desiree Scales. We have good conversations about topics related to online marketing. Thought I would also post the programs here for the Overflow audience. This is episode 53.
A good friend and colleague of The Bella Buzz drops by to discuss this past weekend’s successful fundraiser for children’s cancer in Chattanooga, in association with a foundation called St. Baldricks. Dawn Skowronnek joins us with the story of how she and her son Jack became involved with the charity.
As a new family in the area, living on Signal Mountain in Tennessee, Dawn used social media tools as a way to develop a strong network in the area. She used Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn to develop online relationships which helped her when it was time to generate interest in this event. Volunteers and participants were all a part of these social networks, including a photographer named Rich Smith who she recognized in the grocery store one day, based on his avatar image.
The Facebook Fan page Jack Shaves for Kids Cancer was a major factor in communicating and connecting about this event.
This is the second year of this fundraiser, and it all began after Jack had completed some recommended reading called Drums, Girls, And Dangerous Pie by Jordan Sonnenblick. It is the story of a middle schooler, who’s brother is diagnosed with lukemia, and as a show of solidarity the big brother shaves his head. Jack was so moved by the story he decided that he wanted to shave his own head. Dawn suggested that he take the opportunity to raise some money to help support cancer research. The first year was a “virtual shave” that raised over $1200 and has led to this year’s bigger event topping out over $3000 and counting!
A nice moment for Jack this year was getting to speak via Skype with the author during his shave. He has also received additional recognition, but for this 11 year old the reward is just having a chance to make a difference.
An additional social networking tool, used for reaching out for participants and donations, was this YouTube video. Once again it demonstrates how it is important to take actions across a broad range of networks so that the message can reach its audience wherever they may be.
For those considering fund raising strategies, it never hurts to ask, which is how the Signal Mountain Cookie Lady became involved with a donation of 70 St. Baldricks logo’d cookies.
The best way to contribute to this cause is through Jack’s Facebook Page which provides a direct link to the St. Baldricks event page where donations can be placed via secure web payments.
UPDATE: After our taping, Dawn was contacted by the Chattanooga Market who is interested in hosting the event next year. This will now give the event city-wide exposure and will allow Dawn to include many more people in the coming year. Her friend posted the event on her Facebook page and the owner of the market read it and contacted Dawn. Another “win” in this huge social media story!
Theme music for The Bella Buzz is Fallen by Digital Chemistry, available for download at the Podsafe Music Network.
You can subscribe to The Bella Buzz directly from ITunes by following this link, and we would be happy to receive listener feedback and ratings at The ITunes Store.
I am the co-host of a weekly podcast called The Bella Buzz with the CEO of Bella Web Design, Desiree Scales. We have good conversations about topics related to online marketing. Thought I would also post the programs here for the Overflow audience. This is episode 50.
The Bella Buzz podcast devotes an entire episode to the vast change that is taking place in the web development world regarding the use of Flash. As anyone with an iPhone or the new iPad from Apple knows, Flash applications are not supported on these devices. Since these types of devices are becoming the norm for our mobile computing, we thought we should address the subject with an eye towards the future.
The topic has really come to the forefront as Steve Jobs was questioned about the lack of Flash support on the iPad, and he has written a post title Thoughts on Flash that is prominently featured on the Apple.com web site.
We are heading into an environment where we have moved away from the desktop as the sole form of computing, with a keyboard and a mouse as the way to navigate, to a more mobile device that requires touch and tap capability to access the information we desire. It is this lack of functionality that removes Flash as a way to distribute rich media content.
The uses of Flash really flourished as bandwidth allowed for quick rendering of larger file formats in the browser. It provided designers with a great way to include animation and rich graphics on their web sites, as well as a way ultimately to wrap multi-media elements such as video and podcasts. It has also flourished in the online gaming environment.
As sites are redesigned in the near future, migration away from Flash should be a priority conversation with consideration given to jQuery, HTML5 standards or Quicktime.
Desiree is starting to investigate some solutions for sites with major graphical elements including one for a photographer at A Day in the Life Photography, which will be going towards a jQuery solution for his portfolio. Desiree is suggesting that site owners make this change sooner than later so that they can be assured all devices will properly display the site and not some missing plugin icon.
NOTE: The Bella Buzz podcast will be taking a hiatus as Desiree does some international traveling. We will look for some great insight into overseas technology as well as some uploaded photography upon her return. The next podcast recording is scheduled for June 14th.
Theme music for The Bella Buzz is Fallen by Digital Chemistry, available for download at the Podsafe Music Network.
I am the co-host of a weekly podcast called The Bella Buzz with the CEO of Bella Web Design, Desiree Scales. We have good conversations about topics related to online marketing. Thought I would also post the programs here for the Overflow audience. This is episode 48.
The topic of magazine publishing and content creation is very interesting taken as a bellwether for the direction that internet development is headed. As consumer electronics in the form of an iPad become more prevalent with widespread adoption, the magazine industry and publishing in general will be looking at everything from production and distribution to revenue opportunities of the future. It is great to have an industry leader to discuss the way some publishers are dealing with the changes.
The business model that RJ has employed for the course of his 17 years as a publisher is one where the costs are subsidized by the advertising revenue only. This allows him to publish a free digital version on his web site that can be read beyond his geographic target audience without cannibalizing any revenues. This also provides some added value to his advertisers who might in fact reach some customers outside of the Georgia area.
The application provider, or digital publisher, that RJ uses for Khabar is called Page Suite. There are competitive companies that are also looking to help bring digital publications to the web. Another option would be Issuu.com. At the very basic levels these services allow you to turn a print document into a robust format that includes links, embedded video and reporting features for a solid business option.
There does need to be some distinction made between publishers building applications compared to creating a simple digital version of a magazine. Popular Science magazine has been a well used demonstration version, and this is a great video that explains what their development team had to consider when building the app.
Mag+ live with Popular Science+ from Bonnier on Vimeo.
As you can see, building a magazine app is completely different than taking a current print edition of a publication and turning into a digital form.
From a publisher’s perspective, RJ considers it a necessity to have a print edition to compliment all of the digital options that are available to us today. His belief is that many will still want to have the tactile interaction with the content, especially with his niche audience.
Desiree’s straw poll was that it is an even split regarding preferences for digital over a print version at this point. Other factors to consider in a digital publication is the ability to include affiliate marketing or performance marketing links which provide real ROI to an advertiser based upon reader activities. Also, the social media “sharing” capabilities place additional value to a digital edition.
Theme music for The Bella Buzz is Fallen by Digital Chemistry, available for download at the Podsafe Music Network.
You can subscribe to The Bella Buzz directly from ITunes by following this link, and we would be happy to receive listener feedback and ratings at The ITunes Store.
I am the co-host of a weekly podcast called The Bella Buzz with the CEO of Bella Web Design, Desiree Scales. We have good conversations about topics related to online marketing. Thought I would also post the programs here for the Overflow audience. This is episode 46.
Our guest on this week’s edition of the Bella Buzz podcast is Chad Elkins. You may remember Chad from the conversation we had about regarding the excellent social media efforts he is conducting on behalf of The Oakland Cemetery in Atlanta. We are happy to have Chad back on the podcast with us to discuss Foursquare Day in Atlanta.
We invited Chad back to The Bella Buzz to tell us all about the hottest networking app Foursquare, and the grassroots event that took place on April 16th called Foursquare Day.
Foursquare is a location based application, which takes advantage of the social gaming excitement that has been most prevalent on Facebook. However in this case, Foursquare provides opportunities for real life customer acquisition and retention strategies for business. By checking in (identifying yourself as being present) at various locations, users can earn badges, points and even a classification as “Mayor.” If it ended right there, it would be a fun game that did not have much relevancy. With a back end built for business, it provides opportunities for incentives to users for checking in, privileges for Mayors, and at even more sophisticated levels, deep analysis and actionable user data.
Foursquare users can see others who are in a location where they have checked in, or simply just the Tips (reviews) they have written about the place. Since this is a location based application, it may push specials and offers from nearby locales as well.
Chad was putting together a group of venues who would participate with offers during Foursquare Day in Atlanta and for many this was their first foray into the service, so this application is still in its very early adopter stage.
In celebration of the “global social media holiday”, there were swarm parties hosted around the world where Foursquare users would gather to celebrate the event. The founders of Foursquare were gathered in New York City, while Atlanta guests attended an event at The Cheyenne Grille as seen in this coverage from MetroMix.
Rumors appeared recently that Yahoo was making a bid to purchase Foursquare, however these are the founders of the previous location based service DodgeBall that was purchased by Google but ultimately was discontinued.
There are some serious branding campaigns that are using the badge features of Foursquare including Starbucks, Bravo and The History Channel. Chad has a great story about using the History Channel tips on a pilgrimage to the famous magnolia tree from the home of the Atlanta Crackers, Ponce de Leon Ballpark.
For more information about Foursquare, you can watch their blog and for Atlanta based activities watch Chad’s site at Foursquare Atlanta.
Theme music for The Bella Buzz is Fallen by Digital Chemistry, available for download at the Podsafe Music Network.
You can subscribe to The Bella Buzz directly from ITunes by following this link, and we would be happy to receive listener feedback and ratings at The ITunes Store.
I have been co-hosting a weekly podcast called The Bella Buzz with the CEO of Bella Web Design, Desiree Scales. We have good conversations about topics related to online marketing. Thought I would also post the programs here for the Overflow audience. This is episode 45.
This week on The Bella Buzz podcast, we discuss a publishing platform that provides site owners an easy to use tool for managing content, WordPress. The platform is expected to be releasing its version 3.0 in the very near future according to information that Desiree received at the WordCamp Atlanta that took place this past January. Desiree points out that one of the major upgrades to the platform will be the ability to manage multiple users across multiple web sites. Currently this would require individual logins for each user on each site. This is just one of the many additional features expected with the launch. According to this post at Mashable, the Beta of 3.0 is now available for testing.
One of the misunderstandings about using WordPress is that it is only a “blogging” platform, when in fact it can be a wonderful way to set up a site with static pages that only need infrequent updates. Bella Web Design recently built a new site launched on this platform at BrightClaim.com. Looking at this site, you will see a very fresh well laid-out site that does not have the appearance of a WordPress format.
A key aspect to the use of WordPress is the open source nature of the platform. Since the code is easily accessible many plugins have been created to expand the functionality of a WordPress site beyond its strong baseline features. As a service to Bella Buzz listeners we have made a list of suggested plugins that you should consider, in no particular order:
Google XML Sitemaps – This plugin generates a XML-Sitemap compliant sitemap for stronger SEO Share This – Let your visitors share a post/page with others Twitter Tools – A complete integration between your WordPress and Twitter, passing links to posts via your tweet stream. WordPress Database Backup – On-demand backup of your WordPress database. Powerpress – The plugin gives you everything you need in one easy plugin to use WordPress for Podcasting. Akismet – Akismet checks your comments against the Akismet web service to see if they look like spam or not (Comes pre-populated in WordPress & is a valuable tool). Dagon Form Mailer – easily customizable contact form All In One SEO – this plugin helps you to optimize all of the critical aspects of site design to achieve better ranking results. WP Super Cache – this is a very efficient way for a site to load faster. Indications are that Google is looking a site load time as a factor in ranking, and this should help that requirement.
We should note that there are other options to consider when deciding on a content management system and we would at least call attention to Typepad and Squarespace, Joomla and Tumblr as other potential platforms.
As a guide for learning how to use WordPress, there are great resources that you can Google, but there is a site called WP Beginner that can be a big help.
There is also an iPhone app that allows easy access to the platform for managing posts.
Theme music for The Bella Buzz is Fallen by Digital Chemistry, available for download at the Podsafe Music Network.
You can subscribe to The Bella Buzz directly from ITunes by following this link, and we would be happy to receive listener feedback and ratings at The ITunes Store.
