Sephone has been developing and supporting Real Estate sites for many years.  Most recently- our clients have been using our product called RE/SourceMLS.  As a vendor to MREIS (Maine Real Estate Information Services) we receive hourly updates to MLS data that is reflected on our clients websites who use this service. (Note: they need to be registered with MREIS too!)

Recently, MREIS has made some changes to their offerings, like more images per listing and a few other perks-  Well, RE/SourceMLS has some too-

This service is available now to sponsoring clients!

Coming Soon to RE/SourceMLS
Reflecting the only non-MREIS map search web-based MLS listings engine around, RE/SourceMLS now supports the ability to override map coordinates.  Available in July 2010 ALL RE/SourceMLS subscribers will be able to override push-pin coordinates to make viewers aware of properties as they are closer to water frontage, roads or other notable areas.

For more info on this product, visit the website !

Can you believe this!?

This is the same as our friend from Nigeria who is looking for a trusting soul to move his uncles money-  Only this time it is a “a supposed Captain” in the United States Marine Corp.

For those who are already savvy- please excuse me as it is my obligation to inform the others…

DO NOT BELIEVE “capt.” Collin Lachappelle!  THIS IS NOT REAL, NEVER WAS REAL and WILL NEVER BE REAL!

From: IMCEAEX-_O=BRIDGEWATER+20STATE+20COLLEGE_OU=BSC_CN=
RECIPIENTS_CN=CLACHAPELLE@bridgew.edu
Subject: Personal
Date: February 8, 2010 8:17:52 AM EST
To: noreply@contact.com

I am Captain. Matthew Stamford with the United States Marine Corps (USMC). Hard to believe but, I have $900,000.00, found at the start of Operation Khanjari on July 4 2009, in Poshteh Afghanistan. I need to move this money out to a safer place. Can I trust you to receive it on mybehalf upon its evacuation from Kabul? Contact me on matstamford@admin.in.th

Thanks, I needed to do that-

It is a repeating effort that these low-life’s are using-
hoping that an unsuspecting individual, usually a senior citizen who is unlucky to receive this notice and thinks they are helping- will respond.

My first thought is, “Why did it take so long to retire that guy, the former Prime Minister, Prince, Son of the Prime Minister, Nephew to the Sultan? ”

The fact that they have moved on to US “soil” is disturbing, can they really believe that Americans are that gullable?
Again, unfortunately there are some that are, especially since it relates to patriotism and $900,000.00
So-

Pass this along, share it with your web-connected family and friends. If they want to help someone, donate to the USO, find their local Troop Greeters organization, or send $10 to Haiti;

Karma will know.

Wake up Mr. Bin Laden, Mr. Ahmadinejad and others (you know who you are)

Rodney King had it right when he asked “Can’t we all just get along”? Captain Kirk and crew had it right too in the 25th Century.

While reading the blog of Kelly’s (LadyOTrout) hero Chris Brogan- I saw this little diddy.  I thought I would share it with you all too-  Thanks Chris.

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/chrisbrogandotcom/~3/Rb0stU9lUug/  (you’ll need to go here to see it)

Chris Brogan found this video on Collaboration

CB “I got this via Maura’s site after she complimented my recent Twitter avatar.

What’s this have to do with anything? Nothing. Except, maybe, if you think about it: Twitter is a serendipity engine for the web, and maybe there’s a story in understanding that power. There might not always be profit, at least not in the business sense, but maybe there’s a lot more wealth in these hidden kingdoms than what you’re thinking about right away.

Just a thought.”

It isnt magical, or spiritual, I didnt understand one single word of it (since it was in Korean?) but it shows what we as a people across the world can do if we tried.  In this case it is kinda silly; but sillier things need to happen to make us forget our differences and see what is common between us-

I thought it was cute and if 100 people can take time out of their days to follow some web-based choriography to put a smile on my face, well they deserve my thanks and attention.

Why did I bring attention to the axis of evil-doers? well- 1.)  to catch your attention, and b.) to maybe catch theirs. 

We can all learn from this-  the Joe’s, the Scott’s, the Kelly’s; but also the Obama’s the George’s,  & the Kim’s, the Gordon’s & the Angela’s too!

Ok- quick and to the point.

Bill Gates, MS, AOL and INTEL are NOT going to pay you $245.00 per authenticated email address. Period. dot. the end.

I just received an email from an old coworker (hi Mel) asking to propagate an email that was sent to her.

It sounded way to good to be true and then of course being a little older, I recalled a previous incarnation of this several years ago.

To learn more about it- visit http://antivirus.about.com/od/emailhoaxes/a/maoltrack.htm

But in the shortened version- Supposedly someone saw this on ABC-GMA and assured it was true that Bill Gates and AOL are attempting to perform an email campaign to prove IE is the most  widely used browser-  DUH – it is!, unfortunately.

Anyway-  if this email is forwarded to others- MS, AOL and INTEL will pay upto $245.00 for the first person, and on and on…  whatever, blah blah blah!

Needless to say No One actually saw the GMA spot or recalled seeing the 2 page spread in USA Today as in some versions.  In all versions, senders are going on implied supposition that this is true; based on “quotes” from real attorneys.

It ain’t true-  dont forward the email;  dont add to the SPAM that your ISP is indeed going to wade through to deliver your other precious mail-  Resist the urge, I am sorry to have to say.

Bill Gates and AOL may be rich… Be assured they arent gonna give it away, especially like this

the email, incase you havent seen it…

Dear Friends,
Please do not take this for a junk letter. Bill Gates is sharing his fortune. If you ignore this you will repent later. Microsoft and AOL are now the largest Internet companies and in an effort to make sure that Internet Explorer remains the most widely used program, Microsoft and AOL are running an e-mail beta test. When you forward this e-mail to friends, Microsoft can and will track it (if you are a Microsoft Windows user) for a two week time period. For every person that you forrward this e-mail to, Microsoft will pay you $245.00, for every person that you sent it to that forwards it on, Microsoft will pay you $243.00 and for every third person that receives it, you will be paid $241.00. Within two weeks, Microsoft will contact you for your address and then send you a cheque.

I thought this was a scam myself, but two weeks after receiving this e-mail and forwarding it on, Microsoft contacted me for my address and within days, I received a cheque for US$24,800.00. You need to respond before the beta testing is over. If anyone can afford this Bill Gates is the man. It’s all marketing expense to him. Please forward this to as many people as possible.

You are bound to get at least US$10,000.00.

Remember the old adage, If it sounds too good to be true – it is. Emails promising riches are no exception. Forward them only to the nearest Recycle Bin.

Met a new client today and while discussing the ins and outs of content, design, architecture, etc – of course, we came around to Search Engines-

The site in question, (names have been removed for obvious reasons),  had not been changed in many, many years, thus, the site  was not ranking very well.  We did not go into details regarding how the site if- updated more frequently would assist in results ranking, because he stopped me before I opened my mouth-

“It ain’t gonna happen-  I don’t have the time,  It ain’t gonna happen”

OK-  I am a firm believer that the client is always right-  but our clients expect us to bring our expertise to the table, don’t they?  Sephone is a firm believer to share opinions, not force opinions. Sharing what you know and what we know, makes us succeed and faster. Since we fell on deaf ears, we decided to post this on our blog to get it out there anyway.

We all know the adage “Time waits for no man”-  Right?  This goes even more for the Internet-

Time waits for no website-(neither does Google).  If you do not spend time to manage or promote your site today, then tomorrow there will be more competition and it will be more challenging than ever.  Maybe, depending on your business – too late?

In order to stay relevant, timely and  competitive you need to be seen-  Depending on the type of business you are, or the services you provide to the pool of customers you want to wade in, as this is a dynamic pool, the answer is similar-  You need to be seen and you never know when someone is looking for you.

Simply stated-

• if your entire business is virtual then you need to get it as exposed as much as possible, within reason and within your budget (and time is money too, so social media efforts need to be realistic also).
• if your business is regional or local to any degree, you need to focus on that region or locality.

Exposure in this case is visibility to your target audience, whether through links, banner ads, traditional advertising, or in this case Internet Marketing, Social Marketing Services and SEO.

This includes traditional internet methods as well as socially based methods.  [It can also be extended to traditional 'print' advertising too.]

Your Website is your initial exposure to new clients- Your Online Brochure;  If it is not current, then you could be losing business.  Even if it appears to be dated, but isn’t; the perception is you are still using the 2003 catalog and not today’s calendar.

This goes for layout, info and images.  (info includes, text, press releases, testimonials and references).  If it is not current, you could be losing business, ooops I said that already, but it is worth stating again.

So, if YOU dont have the TIME for your business- why be IN business?   Now perhaps what the client really meant was:

“I don’t have the time to make updates to my web site, or the ability to make the updates or the “Know-How” to make updates;”

The response to that is- then find someone, an individual, a Company or LEARN how to make these changes; and you don’t need to know HTML!

That is where we come in with datAvenger  (see http://www.datAvenger.com ), but more on that later-

In addition to keeping your website current- there are other ways to do that, that can help-  If you BLOG, use FaceBook, Twitter or other social networking tools like YouTube-  these can be referenced on your website that show timeliness!  And these DO NOT HAVE BIG COSTS Associated with them-

This is  where time IS on your side as it is more YOUR time that you are already spending while doing these things that can be merged into (or linked) to your site!

So why not benefit from it and gain some well earned points and “‘cred” on the Internet for your business?

If you don’t Tweet, use FaceBook, etc-  you can still have a ‘presence’ but use someone to help you get started.  That can be a friend or someone like Sephone.  We can help you get started and then when you do feel comfy about it and you will, we can turn it over to you to keep fresh- but we are always here to help.

We don’t usually have “hit you over the head” posts like this with a sales pitch but in this case we (Joe) couldn’t help himself without offering any assistance- so please forgive us (him). And remember- Sephone is a resource for these services and you may have access to your own resources-

Therefore, we encourage our clients to consider timely updates to their sites, Search Engine Marketing and Social Media Services, no matter who does it.

Well another year has ticked  off since IMG (Interactive Marketing Group http://imgproductions.net ) and Sephone (http://www.sephone.com) decided to ‘merge services’.  What did/does that mean?

IMG and Sephone have not merged Companies; We are still two separate Companies operating independently, but because of the common desire to offer the best services we  can to our customers- we have come together to extend each others services to Our now combined customers.

IMG is still the local leader in Portal sites such as

http://www.MaineAutoMall.com, http://www.MaineGuide, http://www.JobsInMaine.com

Sephone is still the leader in website design, application development, content management, e-commerce and  hosting solutions

When you call IMG for updates to your website, Sephone provides that service to you- but you are still an IMG client because of your long-term relationship AND the fact that you have a presence in MaineAutoMall or  MaineGuide and have all of the others services like JobsinMaine too;  PLUS  WE HAVE WENDY!!

Sephone offers its Maine clients the opportunity to include themselves in one of the States top Portal sites to promote their business, with MaineGuide.  MaineGuide.com is a TOP referrer to Travel & Tourism related businesses in the State for the last 12 + Years!

In addition, Sephone & IMG have http://www.maineevents.com  a FREE Calendar Service for Maine businesses, organizations, and individuals.   In October ‘08, we launched http://www.NJhappenings.com and in February ‘09 http://www.FLhappenings.com

So- Happy Anniversary To John, Wendy, Scott, Kelly, Joe and the rest-  BUT also- to our collective clients too!

Sephone is credited for  online products such as,  datAvenger, the new datAvenger Lite, hulaCart, BroadcasterNow and other applications as well as Custom Development for clients across the U.S..

OK- so here is a little story-

Through a relationship with Central Maine Medical Center, we have a client,  Patrick Dempsey. Yes THE Patrick Dempsey.  Dr. Mc Dreamy. He has a new ‘Event’ he is promoting in October-  see  the Dempsey Challenge website for details.

While looking on Twitter to see if there has been any tweets related to Patrick Dempsey- I ran across a reporter in Florida  (Christi  Knight at WPFB  @Twochix1) who was going to interview Patrick regarding his  Car Race in Florida.

She tweeted “Does anyone have a question that they would like to ask Patrick?”

Jumping on an opportunity and a little experiment- I suggested she ask about his “Other Race”, the Dempsey Challenge!

, and Mc Dreamy

And what do you think happened?
She asked the question – and here is the TV Clip so you can see it for yourself!

Now, that in itself is NO BIG DEAL- considering anyone can do it- the DEAL is that there wouldn’t have been the opportunity to get the Dempsey Challenge mentioned in this interview as well as Patrick to have a chance to plug it in the clip if it had not been for Twitter!

Thanks Christi!

Thank you, Patrick!

Twitter and Social Networking WORKS-  Real World Example!

I read in TIME Magazine that the future in Newspapers lies in the public accepting to pay for the news.

They call it Micro-payments cuz they will be real small and hopefully we won’t notice the hit in our wallets sin e it will be billed to a credit card like iTunes.  Infact, iTunes was the inspiration!

The author cited that the high costs of production including the journalists,and photogs costs are increasing so some one has to foot the bill.

Don’t TV stations have the same dilemma? Do we pay for the news in that format?

Micro-payments shmicro-babble. That’s what that is. Don’t fall for it and more importantly don’t pay for it!

Like Agent Mulder used to say “the truth is out there”. Well so is the news and you shouldn’t have to pay to get it. It is the Free press anyway. Right?

Now Paying for something that you want or need is still reality-

Ya can’t get somethin’ for nuttin’, as they say

and in this world of ‘economization’ and down-sizing, what is wrong with smaller payments-  As far as paying for what you use or as you go- then a Micro-Payment for a different kind of subscription or service may not be a bad idea-

I guess my only beef is paying for hearing or reading about something that is public knowledge and is readily available from other outlets.

Hey-  what about micro-payments at restaurants-  A Micro-Payment based on the size of the serving you get-  If wallets ruled the waist line- maybe our bottom lines would be fatter at the end of the month.

Ok-  Politics and Religion arent necessarily the the highest on anyones list to bring up in a public gathering because of the wide variety of opinions that exists-  Someone will always get offended.  So to be PC, these topics are usually reserved for the dining room table, or the living room conversations between close friends and family.

In this case, I will make an exception.

If there is one thing that makes the highlight reel from this last election, and believe me I know there are many, but if I was asked to pick one, I dont think I would hesitate in stating that the use of technology by the Democratic Party is one of the top 5.  Hillary used it to announce her candidacy and some others too, but most specifically I am referencing how technology was deployed by the Obama campaign.  They were ‘the bomb’.

One of the first was the use of YouTube! and then the iPhone App.

This extremely well built, functional, feature rich little app was relevant.

“the word relevant is key here”

The target audience is 18-45* year olds.  And you didnt need to be a gadget monster either.  The iPhone being relatively NEW and the App Store being only weeks old, and lastly the actual app allowing individuals who drank the cool-aid to share the news, see local events, learn about the issues and see all the media generated…  This was great!!

The biggest problem I saw was that the other side didnt get it (yes I was a Republican, maybe), and if they did- it was too late to respond!

Anyway- why is this important to a Tech company, welll if we applied what we learned here in the real world of business, specifically e-business and the Internet, use the following guidelines:

“Identify your target audience and then identify with your target audience”

How?

By giving them what they need….  (what ever that is, is specific to you and your business, and it should be relevant, and nifty or easy to use or something that differentiates you and your business from the rest to make you stand out from the rest)

What can that be?

a simple refridgerator magnet for a Pizza delivery service …. an iphone app that with one touch tells the pizza delivery service what and where!

Sometimes it dont need to be tech-based, just something that meets a need and places you in the top-of-mind awareness so they remember you for the next time.  Being a neat little gizmo doesnt hurt

see http://iphone.mainetourism.com

The other night, our President came on TV to explain this $700 Billion bail-out the U.S. Government was unveiling to help stimulate our economy and bolster troubled financial institutions until things right themselves.

“Honey- these times are a changin’”

If this wasnt the icing on the cake to every homeowner and business owner that “Honey- these times are a changin”, then I don’t know what it could be.  No-  I am not naiive.  I watch the news, I read the Blogs-  yes, the times are different now.  Oil costs are high and Winter temperatures are coming and all- I know what is happening-  If there is any good in this its that we are all in this together- and together we need to figure out how to make it better.

Is the Bail-out that answer?  I don’t know-  I was thinking why not atleast extend the opportunity to allow the foreclosed-ees to pay what they can- instead of having Uncle Sam take the entire nut?

How do we keep the economy growing when we have mortgage, oil and grocery bills to pay?  What should we do?

In the words of the great 21st Century Philosopher Tommy Flanagan…
“Cut Back, yeah that’s the ticket!”

Cut Back!-  That’s the ticket-  Yeah-  Cut Back!  Stop spending money on the kids braces, don’t fix the leaky roof, don’t buy those shoes you need.

WRONG!

Those are necessities-  Those are products and services you need to keep going! Now and in the future.
If you are a business owner and you adopt that mentality- the first thing you would cut back on is Advertising & Marketing.  Right?-  It is a luxury area!-

WRONG!

Those are necessities too!-  Those products and services are vital to keep your business going and growing.  Your online presence is part of Advertising & Marketing of your business-  the last thing you want to do is to remove yourself from the public eye.

Businesses are unfortuately struggling now, and some will go away.  But if your business is competitive and viable- you need to stay  Top of Mind-

In order to do this you need to maintain your presence.  Grow it- Show that your business is thriving and going to be around when the market settles down.

I don’t mean unnecessary media buying or frivolous web components-  Let’s be smart about this-

Use your heads, don’t apply knee-jerk tactics- Do your homework and be smart-

Do what you can, seek out advice if necessary.  The bottom line here is stay visible and demonstrate longevity.

That is my opinion, I am interested in knowing yours.