• A monthly sizable cable bill or perhaps satellite
• A netflix account
• A bank of movies stashed someplace for a rainy weekend.

I know for me, there is nothing more frustrating in cruising through the channels and seeing nothing interesting or even worse those darned infomercials!

If you have a computer, smartphone*  and a connection to the internet, then I have a couple things to share with you.

Hulu.com describes itself as “Watch your favorites. Anytime. For Free.”  Alex Baldwin had done some commercials around superbowl time, so you may have heard of it.  There are a variety of channels, Home and Garden, Games, Sports and lots more.  There is even a tab where you can see the most popular ones.  You create a profile, (user name – which is your email address) and a password and it is free.  After you tell it your interests, (during the profile process), it will even suggest things for you to make your search easier and you may get a suggestion of something you never thought of!

Then there is another thing that I really enjoy and that is called USTREAM.tv.  These are LIVE feeds that you can watch on a variety of things one of those things is that awful oil leak that is spewing nearly 5,000 feet below the surface of the ocean.  But not all of it is bad, there are some great wildlife LIVE cams, one of my favorites are the Peregrine Falcons that are up here in Maine it is managed by the Biodiversity Research Institute. Now, keep in mind there is no editing, these are live cameras.  AND there is the opportunity to chat in a chat room next to what you are watching if you want.  But again, there is no censorship, so keep this in mind, if you are watching with kids. I can honestly say, there hasn’t been anything too bad, except this BP Oil gusher seems to have “unleashed the hounds”  in the chat rooms.

AND if you would like a LIVE Broadcast of your own, your son or daughter’s soccer game or recital, you can have your own shows.  For those of you with iPhones, you can film right from the event and tell your distant family members and friends and they can enjoy what is happening LIVE!  Once you stop filming it stops broadcasting.

So give it a try, there will be a lot of summer events worth sharing and rainy days may make for some down time to check out Hulu and USTREAM.tv

*check your plan for potential data charges.

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 !

In the passed 3 weeks we have had 3 clients that have had ideas about “getting their word out”, interestingly enough 2 of them were not specifically related to their businesses, but to causes that they find dear to them.  They want to do something good, share an experience, raise some money for their cause.

Many people that use social media tools like Facebook and Twitter all ready have had success creating buzz, getting people to attend an event, raise cash for a cause, this is nothing new and the people using these tools, in a few clicks they have spread the word to people that want to listen rather than to waste time with those less interested.

You can do this with girl scout cookies or a PTO event, saves lots of time and money on the phone.

If you have a long term project or cause that you are working on, perhaps a blog may work. (Here’s a “How To” Link) Blogs can keep people engaged over the long haul. Friends and family far and wide.  One of my friends used “Caring Bridge” while his wife was in the hospital and in treatment for breast cancer.  Hearing the perspective from a husband with a family struggling through this time was inspiring and was so different from many others having these experiences.  A young husband, with twin boys helping mom (and wife) through the fight of their lives, the good news is they are winning the fight now!

Even if you haven’t embraced these tools quite yet, people that have are seeing results.  You may be amazed at how many folks you know are and how “out of the loop” you may be by not participating!

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.

Sephone Resource Center - for people who feel like this when editing their website. (Photo from http://lolcatz.wordpress.com)

And so the Sephone Resource Center was born! We often have similar questions about the “how-to’s” for the person that is just learning, or if there is a new person doing the job.

The Resource Center is a collection of tutorials for how to do common (and some uncommon) tasks in services like our content management system, datAvenger and datAvenger pro. This list of tutorials will continue to grow with new text and video tutorials and will continue to cover even more Sephone services.

Here are some examples of tutorials that are currently available:

• Adding links
• Adding images
• Uploading images and documents
• Managing User Accounts
• Reordering navigation

Check it out! Visit sephone.com and click on ‘help’.

Let’s think about Google for just a minute.   100 Million servers means web servers, database servers, application servers, file servers; lots of different computers all working together to serve all of Google’s web properties, Search, GMail, YouTube, GoogleDocs,  etcetera, etcetera.  Some fast facts gathered from doing a Google search:  1.  Google claims it takes 1 kJ of energy to answer a typical search query.  2. Their data center in The Dalles, Oregon uses enough energy to power Tacoma, Washington  3.  Google’s estimated monthly bandwidth usage is 184 petabytes (a petabyte is 1000 terabytes or if your counting 1 Million gigabytes) and 4.  Google’s annual bandwidth cost is 344 Million… about a 1 million dollars a day.  These are really, really big numbers.

So, aside from just being astounded at the enormity of Google (or Microsoft, or Facebook) there is a very practical reason for talking about it.   Today’s websites demand much more server horsepower then in days past.  Not long ago, at the beginning of the decade, it was quite possible to host hundreds of websites on a couple of reasonably powerful web servers.  But web servers up until then were merely file servers doling out images and HTML as simple independent HTTP requests, a really simple task.   And remember that web servers are just computers and can only do so many things at one time.  When they try to do too many things at once, they slow down… or worse.

The last five years has seen an explosion of complexity in websites with much more intricate designs, increased functionality, improved user experience and enriched media.  All of those things that we now take for granted when we shop online, update our Facebook status, or pay our Credit Card bills online.  Today’s websites need need to talk to database servers to deliver dynamic content, or talk to media servers to deliver video, or talk to Ad servers to delver banner ads, or talk to external websites to grab RSS feeds, Tweet streams, or Facebook status updates.  As users we expect more.. in fact we demand more from the websites we visit.  All of this means that web servers have to work extra hard to deliver what are now considered basic sites.    Multiply that by ever-increasing Internet traffic and all of the sudden you might actually need a dedicated server to support just a handful websites or in some cases several servers to support just one website.   If your website is complex and gets a fair amount of traffic, you just might need your own server.   Think about it… Google has over 1 Million web servers, Facebook 30,000.  Those are WOW numbers.

Here are just 3 quick reasons why this may be so:

1. The site was designed several years ago and doesn’t conform to Google’s latest search engine practices.
2. The content doesn’t change on it very often.
3. Your company has changed and the look and feel of your site just doesn’t match what goals you have in your mind for your recent marketing efforts.

These are all easy things to have happen. And these things are all things that can happen to anybody.  Looking at your site objectively is just as challenging as looking at your business objectively.  It is like a parent thinking, “My child is ugly.” – that just doesn’t happen!

A website needs a “facelift” using SEO and most often a new design if any of these 3 things are the case.  Oftentimes you can do all the perfect SEO things and still your web traffic isn’t what you want it to be.

Why?

Is it because your website may be “ugly?”  I don’t mean “ugly” from the definition of “ugly,” but I mean Google can rate you top on the list all day long, but if people continue to get to your site and decide it wasn’t what they thought it may be, or it was frustrating to find their way around, Google finds out and you will slip in your rankings. 

This is because your website no longer makes the user engaged when they get there. They have no reason to care to learn more.

And hey, that’s good information to have!  If your business isn’t growing or changing with the challenges of the times, then you are not doing business!  One way this can really pop out at you is to be engaged in marketing your company online, you insert a link to it, once people get to the site, they “BOUNCE” off it.  (Maybe you are doing some social media, Facebook fan pages, etc.) The visitor doesn’t like it, it isn’t what they thought it might be, they could be confused by your message.

Who was the person that said, “Part of the problem is recognizing there is one” ?  No one is telling you, your business is bad, your company is bad, you don’t even know who these people are!  But they are telling you something needs to change.  Either a new look and feel, spruce up your logo, change the content on the front page, add some new things that draw them in .  What is your competition doing? When you change the message so it reflects how your company is NOW. – Depending on your company perhaps people want to interact with your website?

A website isn’t meant to look the same, be the same, act the same for eternity.  How people are using the internet today is different than they were 5 or even 3 years ago.  You probably are too!  So spice it up a bit.  If you are marketing a site that isn’t really who you are or isnt being found, all the programming your web developer can do to get your ranking in Google better may not matter because once your potential customer gets there he may be saying, “Ewwww.”

We talk about Search Engine Optimization on this blog all the time.

Here are some links if you would like to read more:  Click here

Here is one about Site Measurements

Remember “Search Engine Optimization” is like painting a house. A fresh coat of paint looks nice from the outside, but if the house is falling down and in bad repair, then you need to look at the HOUSE (your website) itself.

Some bad person or robot  decided to use my Twitter address to SPAM my followers by sending them a direct message about some quiz I wanted them to take.  My followers (I have only 800 or so) started sending me notes because they knew I don’t do that.  So I go in to my Twitter account and changed the password.  Then I believe that same robot kept trying to get into my account (using the old password) and I got locked out of Twitter when I tried to log in.  It also effected my Tweetdeck Account. Twitter is such a great tool for me, when I couldnt use it, it completely threw me off guard and my schedule just flew out the window. AND I had to wait for Twitter and Tweetdeck to unlock my access, which took a lot longer than I thought it would.  If you are looking for any help like this on Twitter, click here.

THEN, I tried to synchronize my Blackberry using Desktop Manager. Unfortunately, because I had tried a trial version of MissingSynch earlier this year and didnt like it, I decided to never used it again. Couldnt figure out how to uninstall it. When I tried to synch using Desktop Manager it kept bumping into MissingSynch which kept telling me to buy it for $39.95 and wouldn’t allow Desktop Manager to synchronize for me.  SOMEHOW, as I looked over at my Blackberry I noticed that I had this spinning hourglass on the screen that was all it did, spin and spin.  When I “Googled” the error code it was horrible news.  Google sent us to Crackberry.com. At first glance it looks like a store, it is more than that! There are helpful forums and here is a link to them. So I learned then my whole operating system was history.  I still don’t know exactly how it happened, but with the help of Central Maine Wireless and my business partner Scott, I was able to get a loaner Blackberry and uninstall MissingSynch (the uninstall file was missing, so we had to be cautiously creative to remove it!) I will never recommend this application to anyone, even though I am not sure what happened in my situation but I am very leary of it.

The good news is, I have a copy in a secure cloud of my stuff that didn’t get effected.  The bad news was, I didn’t dare synchronize it with my loaner because I didn’t want to risk anything else happening! So finding people’s phone numbers and other information that I had in my original phone has been problematic.

Maybe it has been the full moon or just technology gremlins, but when it happens to you, take a deep breath and know the world isnt over, it just has slowed down a bit!!

Who’da thunk it?

My friends, family and business partners can attest for it, but what about in Social Media areas?  How do people know that you REALLY CARE?

Or better yet, “How  do you know who doesn’t and is just pretending to care?”  It seems like these days 60-75% of my work time is dedicated to doing something in Social Media and it is increasing every week.

Social Media brings us together and yet distances us all at the same time. Periodic non-visible online interactions take longer to sort out who is real and who isn’t.

I recently attended a conference where Chris Brogan spoke (it was my first time meeting him and I was sooo excited)  Mike Volpe also made a great presentation.  If you don’t know Chris, he is amazing you should follow him.  He is as real as they come and in person, he can make you laugh so hard that your sides split.

Mike Volpe of Hubspot fame was a lot different than I thought he would be.  I watch their podcasts religiously and read their blogs and I would recommend anyone feeling intimidated about social media and applications you can lurk around on any of these sites and learn a ton.

What did I mean when I said Mike Volpe was different than I thought?  I knew he was smart, I knew he knew his stuff.  His podcast partner Karen Rubin, is mega bubbly.   When I met Mike at the conference, what I met was a kind of shy guy.  Not what I expected.  He puts forth so much confidence on his sites and podcasts, I was a bit intimidated at the idea at the face-to-face.

Chris Brogan has this message that he calls “Be Human”, he has a great post here outlining what this means.  In fact, when you Google the term “be human” his blog entry comes up in the first 5 searches.  Rather than to reiterate what these captains of industry have to say, I included several links here so you can easily find them.

Clients will ask me, “Why do I care if someone’s eating high fibre cereal for breakfast?’ or “That their kids soccer game was a blow out?” Truth is YOU may not care, but one of the thousands of other readers may. If you were one of the people in the battle to fight cancer, you could provide support to many in different situations and stages just by seeing these buzz words.

This makes a “human” connection that is important to an often hard to connect with medium.  Some of us don’t use real photos as profile shots all the time.  Some of us are vague about how to find us.  Maybe our user names aren’t exactly intuitive. The internet is full of great people as well as weirdos.  That doesn’t necessarily make you a “Nervous Nellie,” but if someone is trying to learn about you or your business, you may seem a little less “human.”  What you have to deliver and say becomes that much more important.

First impressions can be misleading.  Establish yourself or your business as the someone you ARE.  Stick with it on blog comments, blog posts, other platforms.  Because after all, the keyboard doesn’t type itself. A HUMAN does!

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!

I know I have mentioned before, my old boss used to say, “You can eat an elephant one bite at a time.”  And though often I failed to see eye to eye with him on many occasions, now that I am older I can really see his wisdom in so many things I thought before as crazy, misguided prattle.  (Jeez – I hope he doesn’t read this blog!  AH!)

But he was THE GUY that told me in the early 90’s that the internet was a fad.  And to his defense, he held on to fundamentals.  Sales and Marketing as a plan not as a lark and certainly the internet to him, was “a Lark” back then. WHO KNEW back then what the internet would be today?  So thanks Phil, for making me work harder and understand the world I was in, while allowing me to reach into the fire and find out which time I would get burned.  I love him for that, truly.

So here we are again.  The NEW lark -  “Social Media” – Wow!  There are so many!  But which one to try first?  I say, try one that works for YOU FIRST – PERSONALLY. Then you will feel more confident about trying something or appreciating the web for your business promotion.  If you have a TWITTER account, start looking for people that are interested in the same things you find interesting.  If you have a FACEBOOK account, start REALLY reading what the folks are doing and engaging to a point that you feel comfortable.  If you don’t have one, then start one, you wont be sorry. It is easy to use and you can connect with family, friends and even business contacts.

I have to admit, I have tons of social media outposts and some I use all the time and some I haven’t had time to use at all.  But I do try to make an effort to play with a new toy at least twice a month.  But that is ME.  Doesn’t mean it is YOU.

Not forgetting to “eat your peas” or “eating an elephant one bite at a time” is a recognition that it is OK, NOT to take the plunge, but to just stick your toe in the water and find your way at your own pace.  Don’t be overwhelmed my the technology, just try it, it is FREE and if you don’t like a certain one, dump it and move on.

The appreciation of all of it, is really useful in making your own decisions in trying to navigate the new way to promote and connect!

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.

But I am finding those moments more challenging as every day passes, I find myself anxious when I cannot connect or be connected. Who knows where that path will lead us? Text messaging from friends, relatives, or my cell phone going off in the middle of the night, with an email that can wait until Monday- it isnt their fault it is mine! I know lots of people and I love them all, but sometimes I need to unplug and I am sure everybody is feeling those pressures.

But if you truly disconnect for a bit, will your customers and friends feel abandoned?

Has our microwave mentality (need it now, need it done) over taken the understanding for personal space, family time or just time to regroup?

Last week, I went to a soccer game of my best girlfriend’s son and I truly wanted to be there.( As I am sure many others did.)

But what did I see?

Blackberries and iPhones going off everywhere in the stands and people craning their necks to look at the small screen – meanwhile they miss their son making the play of a life time.

This post is a bit of a reality check. We are HUMANS and as George Costanza so eloquently put it, “We are a society!”

But are we burning ourselves out worrying about NOT knowing everything that is going on with everything in the world at every second of our 24 hour day?

And more recently, a Business Week Article of the same.

DDOS attacks have not been confined to just Twitter and Facebook but have been responsible for many very high profile sites falling victim to this type of activity. A Fact:  25% of all web servers online are currently vulnerable to these types of attacks and that number is growing every day.

How can that happen?
What happens is a “flurry” of messages that go to a web server that are irrelevant lines of code. This confuses the server. When we say “flurry” we mean, tens of thousands in a matter of seconds or minutes that continue until the web server raises a white flag and surrenders.

A “DDOS” can also be a result of a malicious attack on software or operating system vulnerability on a given server.   Kind of like leaving your back door open and someone you don’t know comes walking into your kitchen.

What does this mean to you?
If you are a website owner it means your site is very slow to serve or perhaps it doesnt serve at all. So online you are hanging out the CLOSED sign or in geek speak you get “404 page not found” message on your screen.

As a web application and service provider, we need to say we have been victims of these attacks ourselves and it is very challenging.  In fact,  we had one recently. During this attack, one of our servers fell prey to the maliciousness effects of the hacker.  This caused the server and all sites on it to stop operations. To fix it, Sephone technicians worked at all hours going to the backup and then rebuilt a new server so the sites could be re-hosted and work properly. But  every situation is different and the troubleshooting is vital to learn the root cause and fix the actual PROBLEMS and not just the symptoms of the problem.

Hackers are very busy writing scripts and setting them loose on the web-just for the fun of it. It doesn’t seem to cause any long term damage to the website or application, but it does create a huge short term inconvenience to your business and to ours.

In our goal is to be a consistent and conscientious web service company. We are always looking to see how to provide the best service, how to stay on top of things to combat the what seems to be countless people from IP addresses located in far off countries like Russia, Phillipines, China, etc. with little or no regulation or laws.

There also are many blogs and stories on line about this and other types of malicious hacking activities. Most all of them more technically written than this post. Here is an example. But it has always been Sephone’s policy to try and explain things in a meaningful way as opposed to using words that can be confusing or words only “geeks like us” understand, because we want YOU to understand.

We thank you for being our clients and trusting us with your online presence. When you thought the “WWW” meant “World Wide Web” it really can mean “Wild, Wild, West” at times and we will continue to fight our fight, providing you the best service at a fair price while remaining vigilant in the cause. We will recommend new technology – when it makes sense and always keep our eyes open for the best ways to do things within the always changing internet environment.

If you have any questions, remember we are right here on the other end of the phone!

Wireless Sign

We are located in Eastern Maine (Bangor) and have a variety of clients located out of state that have a vacation home in Bar Harbor or have local clients with limited time for meetings. Hence the “lunch meeting.”

Considering the fact that practically EVERYTHING we talk about (after the personal stuff), is something that can be easily explained, viewed or demonstrated on the internet we enjoy going to places with wireless internet.

In fact recently, I went to a restaurant over the weekend and the owner said to me, “Hey where have you been, we haven’t seen you in a while?’

I said, “Well, I need connectivity to the internet during most lunches.”
He said, “Most times you can pick it up from the hotel next store.”
I said, ” Not today and not the last time I was here,” as I glanced down at my iTOUCH.

I love this restaurant and it actually has a location in Bar Harbor also and what a great way to introduce someone to it when they are meeting with their all time favorite web company! Yes we have iPHONES and Blackberries, but how long can you look at a tiny screen at a website that may not be really optimized for a mobile device.

The service at this restaurant is excellent, the atmosphere is perfect and the menu selection is vast. AND it is locally owned.

Call me old fashioned, but I support my customers businesses first and local businesses that may not be my customers (yet), next.
Loyalty is important.

Now some restaurant owners might say, “If I have wireless, then people will come in and drink one cup of coffee and plug up the place.”

True that could happen, but not bloody likely when you handle it right. I know I choose to take a client(s) to a $35-$50 lunch JUST BECAUSE of wireless being available.  And offering wireless is not an expensive proposition.  A few customers coming to your place and spending $50 will pay for your monthly fees in addition to paying for that one time $60 modem.

Wireless is a reality as a business expense, you all ready have a great menu, great staff and you aren’t some loud no name place that lacks the local flavor of the place people are visiting.  Work with it, tell your customers and it will more that pay for itself!

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.

Marketers have always had a tendency to jump on the bandwagon of some latest craze and pound it to death.  I can say that because I am one to the core and with the advent of social media the buzz is louder and the clicking sound is that of a smoking keyboard or cell phone with all of “those people” talking to each other agreeing and singing the praises of the ideas that are exchanged between them.

Sound familiar?  But are the Marketing people the only people “getting it?”  Is this all a fad that will fade away like the Cabbage Patch Doll?

Being from Maine, Maine folks are known for not appreciating a lot of “fluff,” also we adapt to things that most need attending to, like shoveling the driveway, taking a friend to a doctor’s appointment, making sure the bills are being paid.  IMPORTANT stuff.

Right now Social Media, just may not seem that important and it is okay to feel like that, but it is July (almost) and the snow shoveling is a few months away, make part of your summer reading articles in periodicals that can give you the quick info you really need to know!

First take a quick 3 minute look at this video.

Then here are 3 quick things to read that may help you make sense of it:

1. Twitter a 140 character exchange between people from the mundane to the very important.  This article is from the periodical “The Week.”
2. Something  from a “traditional” type media about Twitter is an article in Business Week and its effect on recent events in Iran, certainly one type of media did not change life in Iran, but the fact when used along with “the old fashioned way” of doing things it helps support what was all ready happening.
3. Facebook isn’t necessarily only something your kids use to keep track of their friends whereabouts, it is really creating some unique opportunities for businesses to advertise to “specific” demographics at very reasonable costs.  Business Week has an interesting article here.

We know you don’t have time for this.
We hear this all the time.

If you want to promote your business yourself and not pay for yellow page ads (which are becoming dinosaurs) and daily news papers, (depending on which one you read, readership has declined in some cases nearly 75%).  How do you know someone, the RIGHT someone even sees your ad?  Cash a bit tight these days? Think again about Social Media.

If you have a rainy day (which so far this summer, it seems like all we have had is rainy days), go to YouTube.COM and search for “How To” or use other keywords to learn about things you may have questions about.  YouTube isn’t just a collection of senseless videos, there really are great things there – and if your business wants to produce something that you want the world to know about, here is your free way to promote it.

Also, looking for something to talk about with your nieces and nephews, or grandchildren?  Ask them about their facebook page or about how they text to keep in touch with their friends.  You may be surprised what you can learn and where you can learn it!

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..

All ye be warned – it be April Fools’ Day!

Remember the horror of 911 and then shear joy of watching the firefighter that sang the Star Spangled Banner? It was covered on all networks – we heard it over and over.  It gave us hope. People still traveled to New York City for visits, people dealt with inconvenience related to air travel, we picked ourselves up by the bootstraps and moved on, though we never forgot.

So now we are in an economic slump. This is no 911, for sure. But searching for some GOOD news out there, some hope, some light at the end of the tunnel is human nature in any crisis.

Considering there are so many news stories about Social Media today you gotta wonder, “Is this my silver bullet?”  “Will this solve my business downturn?”  Everybody is jumping on the band wagon. Media professionals are pretending to be experts, when truthfully learning about this is ongoing for everyone.  Even the “experts.” The reason you are hearing about it, is because it is a “Marketing thing” and Marketers talk, and talk and talk – sometimes until it comes true.

Here is a post from Mark Collier that I found after I had written this blog post. He figured this out last August and I am just daring to write about it now!  I am no expert, I like to call myself a “student” as situations and options evolve I am always striving to learn about them.

Social Media and all the “faces” it takes, Facebook, MySpace, Stumble, Digg, Twitter (the list goes on and on), can really feel overwhelming to any business owner.  In addition to the fact that JUST when you think you have it figured out, Google shows up and we need to change something again.

Remember, YOU know YOUR business.  YOU know YOUR business better than ANYONE.  What you need is a solution that works for YOU and YOUR business.

If you feel you need more traffic to your website and that will grow sales, great.  If you need more people to come to your retail store and that will grow sales, great. If your website is getting traffic but people are ditching it on the first page, not so  great. Each business has a unique set of criteria of how they succeed.

What the “experts” need to do for you is “LISTEN.”  LISTEN to what your goals are, LISTEN to your challenges, come up with measurable tasks and help you decide what your strategy is to accomplish these goals. WHICH tools should you use?

Social Media is not a “silver bullet,” nor does it have to feel like “mumbo-jumbo” and just like anything it is a means to an end. While some words spread quickly, other words more slowly, the important thing is to get started and you don’t have to do it alone. Spreading the word is great, but getting people to act, to buy, is most important.

Social Media does not change the fact that you still are the expert about your goals and when we listen we can help you get there.