Coachella Trading Company - recent posts from Business Interests community

Paso Robles Real Estate Update-June 2009

2009-06-08T15:57:15-07:00

Is it really June already? The summer months are upon us, and in Paso Robles, that means hot days and cool nights, concerts in the park, the MidState fair, day trips to the beach, and usually, an increase in real estate activity. If you are not from Paso Robles and are considering a move here, learn more about the area on my website, or request a free DVD entitled”Come For The Weekend – Stay For A Lifetime.”

If you are looking for a place to retire, Sierra Bonita is a quiet, modest neighborhood in Paso Robles, and all residents are at least 55 years of age. The best value in Sierra Bonita today is 1168 square feet, which is larger than any other model, has 2 bedrooms, 2 baths, an den/family room and is in pristine condition. At $199,000, it’s a fantastic investment.

Call or email for more information!

Paso Robles Real Estate Update-May 2009

2009-05-01T16:12:44-07:00

The California Association of REALTORS has announced a new plan for mortgage protection for first time homebuyers. If you are considering a real estate purchase, but a little wary of the current economy, this might ease your mind a bit:

“Through the C.A.R. Housing Affordability Fund’s Mortgage Protection Program, first-time home buyers who lose their jobs due to layoffs may be eligible to receive up to $1,500 per month, for six months, to help make their mortgage payments. A qualified co-buyer also can participate in the program, and receive a monthly benefit of $750 per month for up to six months. Program benefits also include coverage for accidental disability and a $10,000 death benefit. ” (CAR.org) For more information, contact me or visit www.car.org/aboutus/hafmainpage/carhafmortgageprotection/.

Start your home search!

The real estate inventory in Paso Robles has dropped in recent weeks, and this could be a sign of a changing market. The last several years have been a slow market, with many listings too few buyers. Now that interest rates are low, there are more buyers, and many sellers are able to refinance their home instead of sell it, which mean fewer homes for sale. This makes for a more active and competitive market! You need an agent will be constantly looking for homes for you, will notify you when there is a new listing, and will work hard to get you in to the home of your dreams, so visit KristinaWesley.com.

Was the site really down for 12 hours?

2009-04-09T21:20:22-07:00

Yesterday we were editing some products and adding a few more and we blew it. In short, sometimes you have to take a step back to move forward. That happened to us and we’re happy to report that we are back up and running. We lost some product upgrades and pricing which we will be redoing over the next couple of days so we ask you to please bear with us if you see any errors. There was no compromising of the site or any of your personal information so there is no need to worry. We apologize if you were inconvenienced and thank you for your patience and business.

Current Stock Market Condition-Jan. 9th, 2009

2009-01-11T16:08:55-08:00

Jan. 9th, 2009
The S&P 500 (SPY) is in a downtrend, slightly bearish but should be
watched this coming week for a possible move.
The market is trying to decide to end the multi-month downtrend or
resume the downtrend. The next 10 days should be very important.
Stockcoach
View my Blog
http://stockcoachsmith.blogspot.com

Office Christmas prank...not so jolly! (video)

2008-12-25T12:05:08-08:00

This guy is not too happy about his prank gift.

Merry Christmas.

Questions to ask your Commercial Lender, ME..

2008-09-22T19:09:42-07:00

1. What is the maximum amount I can borrow?
2. Is there a balloon payment?
3. How soon will I have a solid commitment, and how soon can I close?
4. Will I have to maintain minimum assets or deposits?
5. What are the documentation requirements?
6. How much financial reporting is required, and what financial covenants must I make?
7. Is the loan assumable?
8. What are the total costs associated with getting the loan?

Buying real estate is quite the investment. Most often, when businesses are looking for commercial real estate, the loan they acquire can play a large role in the success—or lack thereof—of their company. The kind of commercial real estate loan you can receive depends largely upon property type, location, condition, value of the property, and the amount of income stream it can generate.

There are many different factors included in determining how much money a business can receive via a commercial real estate loan. As a general rule the most money you are able to borrow against investment and commercial property is eighty percent. The only exception to this rule is for owner-occupied business properties that receive money through the Small Business Administration loan program (SBA). (taken form the commercial loan advisor).

Not afriad to say.. ASK ME if you have a question

2008-09-21T13:10:09-07:00

I work for KeyBank in Oregon, specializing in Commercial Lending and SBA Lending. My “official” title would be Vice President, Small Business Relationship Manager, but those that know me would say I can be a creative guy when it comes to finding solutions. If you have questions, or are looking for ideas, send me a message or give me a call.

It's me, Eric.

2008-09-20T15:17:25-07:00

I thought it’s time to formally introduce myself. I’m Eric. I live in Washington with my family and work here in both Oregon and Washington. Outside the office I am a dad to 2 young boys as well as a husband. Work keeps me busy, even in the crazy market we are in, but in my spare time we like to travel and enjoy being in the outdoors.

DUPLICATE POST: deleted by admin

2008-09-08T12:46:36-07:00

DUPLICATE POST: deleted by admin

Issue 12 of Conceptualize! Meeting News and Know how: Industry Trends with our suppliers.

2008-09-02T10:20:40-07:00

Concepts Worldwide is proud to announce the latest issue of our meeting industry publication, Conceptualize! Issue 12. This is a special edition featuring articles from some of our suppliers discussing trends in their respective industries.

From the opening remarks by Concepts Worldwide President and CEO, Terri Breining CMP CMM:

At Concepts Worldwide, we are fortunate to partner with some of the best suppliers in the meetings industry. From hotels to air and ground transportation, web marketing to conference publishing, we know our success depends on the expertise and professionalism of our partners. For this issue of Conceptualize, we asked some of these friends to tell us what’s on the horizon in their respective industries, and the result is a 360 degree look into the future of the meetings industry. I am grateful to these resident experts for their contributions, and hope you all benefit as much as I have from their collective genius.

We hope you enjoy the issue, and invite you to subscribe to our Conceptualize! mailing list to keep up on the news, events, and trends affecting the meeting industry.

Read Conceptualize! Issue 12 today!

Concepts Worldwide www.conceptsworldwide.com is the recognized leader in strategic meeting management with a 20-year proven track record of planning thousands of successful meetings around the world. Innovation, experience and collaborative processes enable the company to function as an integral member of their client’s team, producing impactful events that deliver measurable results with the highest return on objectives—and investment. Services encompass strategic planning, contract negotiation, theme design, logistics management and program execution, as well as consulting services. A privately held company with headquarters in Carlsbad, California and an office in Memphis, Tennessee, Concepts Worldwide is one of only a handful of companies certified in Return on Investment Methodology from the ROI Institute, and has a prestigious Women’s Business Enterprise certification from the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council. Founder & CEO Terri Breining, CMP, CMM, voted one of the 25 most influential people in the meeting industry, served as past Chair of Meeting Professionals International (MPI) and currently chairs the APEX Commission, charged with establishing meeting and exposition industry standards.

iPod repair, iPod cases, and lot's of opportunity!

2008-08-16T15:43:19-07:00

New community member Du6 (aka Dugz at dugz.biz , Doug Donovan in Second Life , and du66y at ebay ) repairs iPods. If you’re iPod is on the blink visit his SPOT and to post a message for him, send a private message or visit his site to email or call him to see if he can help you out.

I bring that up in the hopes of drawing some extra attention to a new community member as well as taking the opportunity for some shameless self promotion and point out that the store here at CoTradeCo carries a variety of iPod cases (still adding all the types, brands, and styles). But beyond just selling iPod cases, we have a TRADER program for Sales Reps and affiliates that we mention around the site but have not begun to promote too heavily while we work out the kinks and build a good program. The point here is that Du6 could join the program (I haven’t contacted him directly yet) and offer iPod cases for sale either direct through his site as an extra service as a Sales Rep for CoTradeCo or simply by referring people to the CoTradeCo to shop.

We will be contacting Du6 about the mutual opportunities that might be available. But I wanted to take a moment to let everybody know that CoTradeCo is a trading post and a free form experiment in creative commerce and community interactions and we would love to hear about ways we can work with all of you to do some new and interesting. Have a product, service, club, hobby, or profession related in some way to the communities or the specialty products in the store? Contact Trader Dan or myself to discuss ways we can work together for a good cause, be that saving the world, having a good a time, or just making a few bucks.

Anyway, read Du6’s introduction in the Business Community say and say hello.

Merry day. Take care everybody.

hi. hows it goin? im du6.

2008-08-15T21:15:35-07:00

im new here, as you probably have noticed.
i like the site alot, although i have to admit i dont really know just exactly we do here lol.

im a stagehand with IATSE local 122 in san diego, CA.
i have a website and an ebay based business where i buy and sell used/repaired iPods (mainly minis and first generation nanos, because theyre easy to fix and they have that cool, retro look!),
car stereo equipment,
computer software/hardware,
other random crap.
i can sell your stuff too.
- just get in touch with me for consignment type activities.

my web address is:
- http://dugz.biz.
on ebay, im du66y.
i have offices in second life (doug donovan, bristow 87,37,46)
i look forward to making friends as well as business associates here, and having fun.
send me a message.
have a lovely day!

They're here now Pelican 1510LOC's

2008-08-06T20:38:03-07:00

We just got the first ones in and they look incredible. Well designed and fitted out nicely the 1510LOC laptop computer/carry on case is ready to go. The padded envelope in the lid holds your computer securely and is quick and easy to take out for TSA inspection. They come in tan and black with wheels and an extended handle for pulling through the airport. If you travel a lot this could be the real deal for you.

MeetingNews selects Terri Breining of Concepts Worldwide among 25 most influential people

2008-07-23T13:16:05-07:00

From MeetingNews Magazine:

The 25 Most Influential People in the Industry 2007

July 24, 2007

For the 13th year, the editors of Meeting News have selected the 25 Most Influential People in the Meetings Industry. Some are familiar names —veritable pillars of the industry. Others are newly minted, deserving honorees.

As you read through the list, take a moment to reflect on just how many people are affected by the ever-growing economic footprint of the meetings and hospitality business. Only then can you put into perspective the effect our honorees have on the well-being of countless people. Most impressive, indeed.

Terri Breining, President, Concepts Worldwide, San Diego

From her beginnings as a one-person operation in the late 1970s, Breining has come a long way. Besides running her 27-person independent planning firm, various other industry engagements keep her finger on the pulse of the meetings business. The most prominent one: Since January, she has been chairwoman of the Accepted Practices Exchange (APEX) commission, an industry initiative launched in 2001 that identifies and disseminates the best practices in the meeting planning business. The effort has the backing of every major association in the industry, and Breining, through a raft of speaking engagements, is spreading the good news far and wide that help is here for planners of all types of events. When Breining got involved with planning meetings “by accident,” she says, the activity was not even considered a career path. So, for years now, she has been a zealous member of the movement to bring the value of meeting planning front and center before corporate executives. And to prepare the next generation of meeting and event planners, she teaches meeting planning at San Diego State University.

Read the original news clipping and other press releases and announcements in our news and announcements section.

See the full list and article at MeetingNews

Bad day at the office? Not after you see this...

2008-06-05T00:35:07-07:00

So you think you’re having a bad day at work? Well I’m pretty sure not as bad as these folks.

I’ve seen a few office freakout videos, but this compilation of several, put together by Maverick51883 makes these office freakouts even funnier.

To the best of my knowledge no office workers were (severely) harmed in the making of this video.

Patents on a Pig? Part one.

2008-06-01T15:30:55-07:00

What Can Be Patented taken from the United states Patent and Trademark Office website http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/pac/doc/general/index.html#whatpat

“The patent law specifies the general field of subject matter that can be patented and the conditions under which a patent may be obtained.

In the language of the statute, any person who â€œinvents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent,â€? subject to the conditions and requirements of the law. The word â€œprocessâ€? is defined by law as a process, act or method, and primarily includes industrial or technical processes. The term â€œmachineâ€? used in the statute needs no explanation. The term â€œmanufactureâ€? refers to articles that are made, and includes all manufactured articles. The term â€œcomposition of matterâ€? relates to chemical compositions and may include mixtures of ingredients as well as new chemical compounds. These classes of subject matter taken together include practically everything that is made by man and the processes for making the products.

The Atomic Energy Act of 1954 excludes the patenting of inventions useful solely in the utilization of special nuclear material or atomic energy in an atomic weapon 42 U.S.C. 2181 (a).

The patent law specifies that the subject matter must be â€œuseful.â€? The term â€œusefulâ€? in this connection refers to the condition that the subject matter has a useful purpose and also includes operativeness, that is, a machine which will not operate to perform the intended purpose would not be called useful, and therefore would not be granted a patent.

Interpretations of the statute by the courts have defined the limits of the field of subject matter that can be patented, thus it has been held that the laws of nature, physical phenomena, and abstract ideas are not patentable subject matter.”

I fail to see how pig gene sequences that naturally exist do not fall under the laws of nature or physical phenomena, which as stated above are not patentable. If this patent is approved I seriously fear for the future of humankind. I plan on calling the patent office tomorrow to see what the status of these applications are.

Measuring ROI of training presentation

2008-05-25T23:16:30-07:00

In my experiences, and the stories of others, in the work force I have seen and heard many occasions where companies train too little or even too much. The worst is my personal experience at retail outlets where either the too little or too much training scenario is at play.

This slide show examines training methods and how to measure the return on investment for that employee/staff training.

More on what Web 2.0 is and isn't

2008-05-25T19:48:04-07:00

After posting the Web 2.0 business model slide show I realized that some more web 2.0 discussion might be in order. I found this slide show that might help put some of the business model discussion in perspective.

Is your business taking advantage of a Web 2.0 business model?

2008-05-25T19:29:29-07:00

There is a new way of thinking happening, not just socially, but in the business world. What started out as a catchy phrase referring to a design model, has become an entire mode of thinking for how information is used and interaction takes place in the 21st century. This presentation covers a nice primer on what a WEb 2.0 business model is and how it is affecting the world, and how it could affect your business.

Revisions to the New York State tax law

2008-05-21T17:18:51-07:00

A lot of interesting and useful information crosses my desk, as does the trite and useless. In a third less defined category are the useful bits of information that don’t apply to me directly. This post is one of those. While it is unclear exactly how CoTradeCo intends to be a premier source of useful information and enlightening entertainment, I will simply continue to post items in the blog until we figure out how and what to do with these sometimes useful and sometimes random bits of modern life.

This particular announcement came by way of an email from Commission Junction.

If you conduct business in New York you should be aware that new tax law has been passed.

As you may already know, the State of New York recently enacted new legislation that addresses tax registration, collection, and other time-sensitive obligations. As with all laws, this law may or may not apply to you and your business. We are actively monitoring the law and will use reasonable efforts to protect ourselves and our publishers as we deem appropriate.

The application of the law is dependent on particular business and factual circumstances, and Commission Junction is not in a position to provide legal and tax advice regarding this law. However, we encourage you to perform the appropriate due diligence as it relates to your business.

For your convenience, we have provided a link to a memo from the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance, Office of Tax Policy Analysis, Taxpayer Guidance Division that addresses the new legislation:
http://www.tax.state.ny.us/pdf/memos/sales/m08_3s.pdf

Sincerely,

Commission Junction

Now I can delete that email without fear that the correspondence was in vain. Phew!

Walters Wholesale Electric

2008-05-18T10:30:57-07:00

Please give a hearty welcome to all of you who are friends of Walters Wholesale Electric in Brea, California. Walters has been serving Southern California since 1953 and currently has 23 locations. Geoff Beveridge manages the tool division and he currently has 4 tool trucks, with more coming, who visit their customers demonstrating their capabilities of the tools they offer at the job site. Give him a call at (800) 293-0439 for help on Benchmark FR Clothing and Jackson Safety Products.

New book discusses ROI for meetings and events by Terri Breining of Concepts Worldwide

2008-05-01T16:07:33-07:00

I am proud to announce the new book, Return on Investment in Meetings and Events by by Jack J. Phillips and Terri Breining, founder of Concepts Worldwide.

Return on Investment in Meetings and Events (paperback)

The new book, Return on Investment in Meetings and Events by Jack J. Phillips and Terri Breining illustrates and explains the Phillips ROI Methodology of utilizing the five levels of evaluation, which are essential in determining the return on investment.

Introduces and demonstrates Jack J. Phillips’s well-established ROI measurement methodology
Addresses the growing demands from stakeholders to prove the value of meetings through data
Endorsed by MPI (Meeting Professionals International)

“Although associations generally have an appreciation for the value of conferences and meetings, a tool that can prove the financial viability of meetings will greatly enhance their perceived value, for both the organization and its members. This book spells out in a clearly defined process, what and how to report a quantifiable return on investment for meetings. If put into practice, the ROI Methodology can help an organization identify which meetings are most valuable, which might need a tune-up, and which have outlived their usefulness. This information supports an association’s goals of sustaining financial stability and growth, while serving the needs of its members. This book is a must-read for anyone responsible for the development and/or execution of meetings.” -John H. Graham, CAE, President and CEO ASAE & The Center for Association Leadership

“This groundbreaking new book provides details, tools, templates, and many techniques to help capitalize on the opportunity to truly elevate the conversation of measuring the return on investment for meetings and events. It is organized in an easy-to-understand, step-by-step format and gives the reader authentic examples of proven ways in which the ROI Methodology has been used to provide substantial value to meetings and events across the globe. It shows how to calculate the ROI from all perspectives participants, sponsors, exhibitors, and organizers. It is essential reading for every professional involved in meetings and events.” -Deborah Sexton, President and CEO, PCMA and PCMA Education Foundation

From the description at Amazon.com

The Phillips ROI Methodology utilizes five levels of evaluation, which are essential in determining the return on investment.

At Level 1 – Reaction and Planned Action, attendee and stakeholder satisfaction from the meeting can be measured. Almost all organizations evaluate at Level 1, usually with a generic, end-of-meeting questionnaire. While this level of evaluation is important as a stakeholder satisfaction measure, a favorable reaction does not ensure that attendees have acquired new skills, knowledge, opinions or attitudes from the meeting.

At Level 2 – Learning, measurements focus on what participants learned during the meeting using tests, skill practices, role-plays, simulations, group evaluations, and other assessment tools. A learning check is helpful to ensure that attendees have absorbed the meeting material or messages and know how to use or apply it properly. It is also important at this level to determine the quantity and quality of new professional contacts acquired and whether existing professional contacts were strengthened due to the meeting. However, a positive measure at this level is no guarantee that what was learned or whether the professional contacts acquired will be used on the job.

At Level 3 – Job Applications, a variety of follow-up methods can be used to determine if attendees applied on the job what they learned or acquired at the meeting. The frequency and use of skills are important measures at Level 3. While Level 3 evaluations are important to gauge the success of the meeting, it still does not guarantee that there will be a positive business impact in the organization or for the attendee.

At Level 4 – Business Results, the measurement focuses on the actual business results achieved by meeting participants as they successfully apply the meeting material or messages. Typical Level 4 measures include output, sales, quality, costs, time and customer satisfaction. Although the meeting may produce a measurable business impact, there is still a concern that the meeting may cost too much.

At Level 5 – Return on Investment, this ultimate level of measurement compares the monetary benefits from the meeting with the fully-loaded meeting costs as expressed in the ROI formula.

All levels of evaluation must be conducted in order to determine the ROI of a meeting or event. The data collected should show a chain of impact occurring through the levels as the skills and knowledge learned (Level 2) are applied on the job (Level 3) to produce business results (Level 4).

Learn more about Return on Investment in Meetings and Events and buy the book at Amazon.com

Quality marketing through newsletters

2008-05-01T15:54:28-07:00

Inspired by learning of the Conceptualize! Meeting News and Know-how newsletter from our latest community member, Annette Gregg of Concepts Worldwide, I decided to do some research on newsletters for business and discuss my views of newsletters.

In the age of rapid publishing through blogs, social networking, and syndicated content, the newsletter may not attract the same amount of subscribers as it once did, but does not make it any less important in your marketing tool kit.

Email Newsletters as marketing tool

It seems so obvious. Generate a mailing list, slap together some promotional info, blast your newsletter to inboxes around the world, and watch traffic and conversions rates go up. At a glance the digital newsletter appears the holy grail of affordable and effective marketing and lead generation.

Unfortunately many companies don’t get much farther than this. Many businesses simply put a mailing list form on their site under the impression that they are building a useful list of hot leads, without actually considering what value the newsletter is actually offering, and consequently, what message it is sending to the recipients.

While having a newsletter can be an invaluable tool in the growth of your business, there is more to consider than how many names are on your list.

Newsletter as confidence and trust builder

Providing a regular newsletter is an amazing way to demonstrate the expertise you and your company have to offer new and existing clients. There are very few, if any, industries where one company isn’t struggling against serious competition. Often times the offerings between rival companies are so identical right down to pricing, that potential customers are often choosing between which company they believe will do a better job of delivering. When cost and feature sets are not enough the customer will begin turning to other factors for making a purchasing decision such as branding and overall presentation, testimonials, and quality of support. Too often, companies overlook an obvious method of attracting and keeping customers: better content.

Good content, and a lot of it, not only helps improve organic search results and increase traffic, but begins the process of building customers for life who know and trust that your company doesn’t simply offer a product or service, but fully understands what it is offering and is willing to help their customers to understand it just as well. By providing a quality content rich site, you have more than a marketing piece, you have a valuable resource that people will refer back to over and over.

The newsletter is the logical extension of this. You have the content, you have the knowledge, and now you have the customers and visitors who are already using you as a trusted resource. Creating a newsletter is an easy way for individuals and other businesses to not only learn more about your company but have relevant and useful information delivered to them.

This is where the trust and confidence building comes in. When faced with similar companies, consumers and business purchasers will gravitate to the company that knows what they are talking about and can trust. Once your company has created a useful online presence that is attracting visitors, having a cogent newsletter consisting of more useful information than another ad in an individual’s inbox is a powerful message that you are organized, efficient, and willing to go the extra mile.

Making a useful newsletter

Nearly any half way decent newsletter will result in increased exposure. A truly useful and informative newsletter will result in real benefit to your business.

Consider the content

What information is your newsletter offering that isn’t already on your website or readily available through other sources?
Where can you expand upon and discuss in further detail information that does exist on your website or is discussed elsewhere but only in brief?
Consult colleagues and your customers. What do they want to know? How you can you help them with your newsletter?
Where is your current marketing lacking and how could you use the newsletter to reinforce those areas?
If your company regularly presents at conferences or within trade organizations, take advantage of content and messages that you already have at hand
Subscribe to newsletters from competing or similar industries

Do your research and strive to provide the most valuable resource in your industry. When considering content, be aware of the message and intention first, then begin thinking about format.

Consider the format

While it may seem an easy thing to put some information in an email with links to your site, it is a whole other thing to present a precise and effective newsletter that people are doing to read.

The format of your newsletter includes:

Theme
What “frame” are you using to present your information
Style
How the information will be presented
Schedule
When and how often will you send out the newsletter

The all inclusive newsletter or email blast

Picking the actual format and theme of your newsletters is vital. I found a few great examples of newsletter formats and themes from NAZCreative

Tip of the Week
Top Ten List
Three Ways To…
Before and After
The Checklist

For more details on these formats see the original article How to Create a Successful Newsletter for Your Business at NAZCreative.

These formats represent what I would describe as the all inclusive newsletter. The entire message and content are presented within the email itself and should include some relevant call to action or invitation to visit your site. This type of newsletter gives immediate exposure and instant gratification, without mandating a visit to your site.

The advantage of this type of all inclusive newsletter is the time required to produce it is lessened and the commitment level of the reader is reduced. Also the expectation towards the type of content expected is altered, allowing for information presented in easy to create lists. In fact sending out in-depth articles in this way can be detrimental as it can simply overwhelm the recipient. Not everyone is interested in receiving a white paper in their inbox every week.

The cons include annoying your subscribers with too frequent and hollow communications. Be careful not to overextend your ability to create new original content. Better to publish less often than create weak content to make unrealistic schedules.

A more traditional newsletter or digest

Many companies opt to mimic the traditional printed newsletter, creating a virtual publication akin to a small magazine providing a much more resource rich and diverse resource. Indeed these same companies often publish a printed newsletter and the email version is an effective and affordable extension.

With a traditional style newsletter you are creating an online resource, presenting various articles and resources into a single issue. Here you can create more journalistic resources and explore topics in great detail without driving off readers, while still being able to take advantage of the list style formats of the all inclusive newsletter.

Extra care must be taken when publishing a traditional newsletter to ensure valuable content is being presented. A digest style newsletter implies that you have assembled a collection of articles and resources that are noteworthy and worth the subscribers time.

The newsletter you are emailing becomes more of an announcement or invitation to your newsletter. This style of newsletter cannot effectively share it’s entire contents in the email itself and therefore must be an invitation to view that cannot be refused. A concise email with snappy and informative headlines including brief and pertinent introductions that are easily scanned and digested with key points of interest will result in more readers. Use bold and bulleted text to draw attention to the most important elements that will entice the viewer. In some cases the email announcement of a traditional digest style newseletter might include the full contents of the lead article with headlines and links only for the other articles.

The advantages of the digest newsletter include a more substantive resource where various articles are brought together and reinforce the message. Where an email blast newsletter often hops from topic to topic, the digest should create a more solid and coherent presentation where every article in each issue should have some sense of overlapping utility.

The disadvantage of the digest newsletter is the increased commitment on the part of the subscriber. Because the content of the newsletter is typically at your site, it requires action from the subscriber to participate. Also the content expectations are going to be much higher requiring a larger commitment by your organization to create effective and useful content.

Consider the cost and time

Regardless of the format you choose, people often overlook the real costs of publishing a newsletter. While sending out a thousands or even millions of emails is a negligible monetary cost, actually producing the newsletter does.

Who is going to manage and organize the newsletter?
How much time is it going to take them to create effective content?
What daily tasks will be impacted by the extra time spent operating the newsletter?
What software or service are you going to use to manage subscriber lists and sending the newsletter?
Are you buying content or paying authors?

When creating a useful newsletter the cost of time and resources from staff working on the newsletter or paying for professionally produced content is an important consideration.

For larger companies with devoted marketing teams this becomes much easier to manage, but for smaller companies where staff might wear different hats with overlapping duties, time and resource considerations become as important as direct monetary costs.

With simple planning and forethought however, a newsletter can prove an invaluable asset that your customers and potential customers will surely appreciate.

Archive the newsletter

Regardless of the format, or formats, you choose to use for your newsletters be sure to maximize their effectiveness by publishing them on your site. Create a resource library of some kind that are easily indexed by search engines and found by visitors to your site.

If you are publishing a digest style newsletter you could even consider a separate domain from your corporate or catalog site to house the articles, expanding your web presence and creating valuable cross linking between your domains. Creating a devoted domain for your newsletter has the advantage of increased search engine exposure and streamlining your user interface and navigation to keep pages focused and lean. Be careful though not to present duplicate content between the domains or confuse visitors if you choose this route. Make sure to create a seamless experience and brand continuity between the sites.

Now you’ve got a newsletter…where are the subscribers?

I found a handy list of tips for increasing subscriptions to your newsletter at businessknowhow.com. Below are few of those tips:

Make a subscription form a prominent feature of your website
Put a subscription box on every page of your website
Ask people to subscribe to your newsletter mailing list when they complete a purchase
Ask current subscribers to forward your newsletter to their friends
Promote your newsletter at seminars and talks
Promote your newsletter in your elevator pitch
Link to past issues in each newsletter
Offer a free gift
Encourage colleagues and friends in your industry to talk up your newsletter
Never stop soliciting subscribers

For more details on these tips of getting subscribers see the original article 17 Low-Cost Ways to Get Newsletter Subscribers at businessknowhow.com.

And from my personal experience, I would add that making the subscribe and unsubscribe process as simple and obvious as possible. I am far more inclined to join a newsletter mailing list if I feel confident that I am not going to be stuck in a spam cycle or unable to easily get off the list.

Blogs, RSS, and social networking…Beyond the newsletter

If your business or site provides regularly updated informational content, syndicating your content via RSS is a great way to take advantage of content you are already creating for your visitors without the added time and expense of a devoted newsletter. Not only does providing an RSS feed of your content mean that individuals might be reading your website regularly from the convenience of their RSS reader, but that RSS feed can be submitted to places like Technorati for increased exposure. And if you are publishing a newsletter it should definitely be accessible via RSS as well as on your website.

The blog has in some respects taken over the role of the newsletter. The revolutionary ease of publishing information through a blog has changed how people get information and news. Like the newsletter, a well written, focused, frequently updated blog can be invaluable. The key difference and disadvantage is that while providing useful information, it does not require the reader to share any information with you. Even where your blog inspires ongoing dialogue through comments and responses, the tact of putting people on mailing list who give you their email address to post a comment is different. Blog participants are not necessarily consenting to be on your mailing list, and if you want to build a mailing list this way take extra care to not make people feel tricked into signing up.

Social networking offers whole new opportunities for connecting with people both in a group setting and one on one. Nearly all social and professional networking sites have some means of communicating to the group as a whole. Content that you might have previously used in newsletters is often appropriate and welcome in this environment and has the added benefit of acting as free advertising while providing direct networking opportunities.

Quality is still king

In the end, regardless of what methods you use to communicate with existing and prospective customers, the quality of the communication is preeminent. Simply creating a newsletter and building a mailing list might get you traffic and leads in the short-term, but better content will bring people back. You have more options and opportunities than ever before to interact with and introduce yourself to the marketplace. Take advantage of it by offering something of value that your visitors will truly appreciate and they will reward you with word of mouth promotion and loyalty.

Annette Gregg with Concepts Worldwide

2008-05-01T11:56:16-07:00

My name is Annette Gregg and I am the Vice President of Concepts Worldwide, a strategic meeting management and meeting planning firm located in Carlsbad, CA, and serving a global list of companies and industries.

I was invited to participate at CoTradeCo by zoe, our designer and web consultant for Concepts Worldwide through his other company imotion design.

From time to time I will be posting a variety of information and resources relating to event planning and strategic meeting management, as well as company announcements that might be of interest to decision makers at companies who might use CoTradeCo and are considering professional event services.

Some of the resources I will be sharing will come directly from the Concepts Worldwide quarterly newsletter, Conceptualize! which is free to the public and offers a variety of useful tips, trends, and even amusement regarding the meeting management industry.

If you have any questions about meeting planning or are interested in strategic meeting management consulting and planning don’t hesitate to post to the community blog here at CoTradeCo, send me a private message, or visit the Concepts Worldwide home page or team directory page .

Get your website reviewed for free…new website review site coming soon

2008-04-14T17:41:32-07:00

That’s right, as part of a campaign for my new website review business venture, to get pre-launch word-of-mouth marketing, real testimonials from real website owners, and simultaneously encourage the use of our community blogs here at CoTradeCo I am offering free website reviews for my new website review business (notice the redundant keyword cramming in the previous sentence – I highly discourage this practice!). My new service will save you thousands of dollars (see verbose explanation below), get your site on track, and either amuse you a lot or make you really mad.

Two levels of service:

Quick review
More thorough review

For the free website review, I will choose which service level you will receive depending on the site, whether I think I like you, and what mood I am in that day. This is not a public review, this is a private consultation by me to help you improve your site, your business, and the internet on the whole.

How to get your free website review

Sign up for a free SPOT here at CoTradeCo
Create a new commmunity blog post in:
- Business interests
- or Digital Life
Put the words “review my website:” and the site name or address in the title
Answer the following questions in your post (you can copy and paste the questions if that will help):
- What address should I review?
- What is the purpose of your site?
- What is good/unique/original about your site?
- What concerns you about the site?
- Who should find/use/enjoy your site?
Be sure to include your credit card number, social security number, and bank accounts (just checking to see if you are actually reading any of this)

That’s it. You will recieve a free website review by email (well in this case a private message through CoTradeCo until the new site is up and running). Reviews can take up to 48 hours but might be received in as little as one hour! That’s right one hour (results not typical)!

All I ask in return is that once you have received my amazing review of your website and taken the appropriate amount of time to consult your attorneys to see if anything I said could be construed as libel, please write a warm and well thought out testimonial that will someday be used to promote my brilliant work to the unsuspecting public at large.

And that’s not all!

As a part of my regular website review service, for both levels of service, if I like your site (i.e. I think you are doing something useful or original for the people who you say should find/use/enjoy your site) I will also write a public review/plug/promotional and post it on my sister site. This site will only feature useful website review articles/blurbs for sites that have used my service and are contributing something to humanity (even if it is just selling another widget).

That’s right you will receive at no extra charge (like you were paying in the first place) the chance to get a glowing review from me and a soon to be coveted and high pagerank backlink to your site. Just be sure to send that testimonial in (or else) and follow my advice (or my review or site my show up better in rankings than your own).

What the heck is this all about?

As an owner of a web and graphic design firm, I have performed detailed analysis of many websites over the years. I have done casual website reviews in various forums I have participated in just because people asked. And I have read at least two articles on what a good website should be.

Now that I am slowly getting out of the web design business and launching several new businesses and online services such as CoTradeCo, I thought of a great new way to continue using my skills as a
designer, developer, and marketer. I will review people’s websites really cheap.

Why would I review websites for cheap?

There are too many places to list that will perform professional analysis of your website, analyze keyword density, perform SEO, do keyword research, do benchmark testing of online applications, identify your target market, build demographic profiles, and make your massive reports with lot’s of charts, tables, and graphs that you can use at your next board meeting. These potentially dubious services will also cost you several hundred to several thousand dollars.

And, like an automotive repair shop who is offering free brake testing, they will also have a convenient package to sell you to actually implement all the wonderful recommendations they have made and give your colorful charts and bar graphs meaning.

But somehow, I don’t think you should trust the same people to analyze your site that are going to do the work.

I don’t want to do the work. I’ve got enough clients and businesses of my own.

But by offering my unique, skills, expertise, and attitude to you cheaply I can make some extra cash doing two things I am good at and like a lot:

Looking at websites
Being hyper-critical

Someday you will pay someone for fancy charts (but not yet!)

You could spend thousands of dollars today to get started on your road to internet superstardom and extreme wealth. But I bet you don’t have thousands of dollars you want to spend on that right now.

And more importantly, why waste the time of a big firm and your precious money fixing things and taking care of basics you should have dealt with in the first place?

My service is perfect for individuals and businesses of all sizes who want to avoid doing stupid things that will drive their customers away the second they land on the site (we call that bouncing – if you don’t know what bouncing is you definitely need me to review your site) and get you banned from Google for the next decade.

I know that fancy tables of data and pie charts are really important to long term success, I’m not knocking them in any way. Someday, once you have experienced the joy and success that is getting your website reviewed by me, you will be able to afford the consulting firm that will give you those life affirming charts.

But you don’t need any of that today.

What you do need is a website that isn’t ruining the internet

I can’t tell you how many websites are painful to look at, impossible to navigate, and worse offer no substanitive content to their visitors.

I’m here to help you with that and spare the rest of us the shock and horror of yet another poorly made, ill-concieved website.

Why me?

I offer uniquely useful web site reviews. I will look at, think about, and react to your web presence like a person who actually wants you to succeed not just an analyst.

Every website review also discusses all the typical stuff everybody thinks is important like design, user interface, structure, layout, SEO, and marketing effectiveness.

Additionally I will tell you what I think from my experience as a designer, developer, artist, writer, and generally nice and honest person.

The bottom line is I know what I’m talking about because I took some community college and have websites for dummies right in front me. How many of those other fancy places with all their charts, tables, and graphs can say that?!?

And remember…

For you, for a limited time, this is all free. The website review, the possible glowing public review and valuable backlink, and the leather carrying case…FREE!!!!

So send those urls in and let’s review some websites.

Web2.0 Business Model Check (for dummies ;-) image from Alex Osterwalder at Flickr under a Creative Commons license.

Apparently Alex has his own blog and consulting firm that I feel obligated to promote and might actually read later…

Maybe he would like a free website review…hmmm…maybe I’ll spam him later! Seriously though, notice how I credited my use of his work, utilized forward thinking concepts like the Creative Commons, and even gave him valuable backlinks to his site. I obviously know what I am doing!

Seeking independent sales reps for CoTradeCo

2008-04-06T15:14:26-07:00

We are currently seeking to expand our sales representatives positions, especially to those outside of California, and those who have specialized knowledge, expertise, or connections with the industries and individuals we serve.

Learn more about our sales opportunities and how to get involved in our resource library.

Musicians Making Money image courtesy of Jingles the Pirate at Flickr under a creative commons license

Switching to Gmail and other google apps

2008-04-03T13:52:46-07:00

It has been a long time coming. I have been searching for an outlook replacement for a long time. Unfortunately this proved near impossible. Had I never left Outlook Express the task would have been easier. Thunderbird from Mozilla is a superior “express” replacement. But once you ever use the scheduling and tasks inside Outlook, once you have had a palm pilot or similar device, once you have hundreds of contacts stored, finding a replacement is damn near impossible.

For years I have also been contemplating moving away from Windows entirely. And while that really is its own story, it is important here.

I have decided to being using Gmail full time. Obviously I use various Google tools already, such as Analytics, Adwords, Adsense, and Webmaster tools.

But by switching to Gmail I have begun the slow road to getting rid of Microsoft.

But Gmail isn’t exactly an Outlook replacement

True, it isn’t. Not exactly.

Accessing and sorting email is wildly different with Gmail. Their interface uses a predominately search based interface for accessing and browsing. There are no such thing as folders or sorting by from/to/date.

Instead you label things, which in practice is similar to folders but still completely different. So instead of moving emails to folders you use a combination of labels, searching, and archiving to keep your mail organized and accessible.

All emails of the same subject are grouped by their subjects into what Google calls “conversations”. For some, like Mark Johnson of Dali Racing this was insane and ridiculous. For me also this is radically different and may be very hard to adjust to. However, I appreciate what I believe they are attempting to accomplish with this type of functionality.

It seems as though the modern world has converted email from a communication tool to a task management tool. People send email after email managing projects adding to task lists that never leave the inbox.

By treating email as an ongoing conversation, where applicable, inspires more focused conversations on subjects, turning email into a type of forum instead of stand alone messages that might coincidentally be on the same subject. And I think I like that idea. But it might make me rethink how I respond to emails and change/update subjects as they go. Also I might create more intelligent subject lines. But then, maybe that is exactly the point.

This is going to be a somewhat difficult transition. The semantics of Gmail are so different it might take a while to get used to. Like many people I have become addicted to sorting things by folders and not being able to simply stow email away either for later use or archival purposes is going to be a big change. But I am willing to do it to get Microsoft mostly out of my life.

And while Google also offers a calendar it does not seem at first glance to be readily integrated with Gmail in any particular way. But for how little hard dates I have to schedule this shouldn’t affect me too much. I haven’t found the easy task manager yet, but we’ll see. For now I will simply start exclusively dealing with tasks using MS OneNote, which I will mention more in a moment.

As for all the other items that used to be a deal breaker for the Outlook replacment: I no longer us a Palm Pilot type device, I would rather sacrifice the same old interface (that hasn’t really made me anymore productive) for a new mode of thinking (that has the possibility of enhancing productivity), and once I tried to start using IMAP with Outlook and that proved utterly useless in its implementation I will finally be full of glee to have access to my email from anywhere. All told the potential benefits seem to outweigh the disadvantages, and now finally maybe I can start working out at coffee shops and similar places more often, since I won’t be chained to my desk for my email to do list.

Google also offers MS Office replacement tools online, though it remains to be seen if I am prepared to make that radical of a switch. But theoretically between Google Docs and Open Office (and an open mind) I should be able to ween myself away from most of the MS Office suite this year.

And then, as I save my pennies and look to the future, the ultimate goal will be to move to a Mac and say goodbye to Microsoft, almost entirely.

Why not all the way? Because while I have various problems and issues with Microsoft, I have always believed that you stick with the superior product. And Microsoft did a bang up job with OneNote.

OneNote is an amazing “notebook” software, that allows you to take notes and organize information in an easy “notebook” style interface, replete with binder style section groups, section tabs, and pieces of paper. But unlike an analog paper notebook, it can be searched, reorganized easily, and it even has the ability to flag different types of notes so you can quickly display a list of related notes and information over hundreds of pages.

OneNote is great, and even if I manage to switch to a Mac, I will likely continue to use OneNote.

But for now, we’ll take it one day at a time, starting with e-, er g-mail.

Google inbox image flagrantly “borrowed” from the blog of Ask Bjorn Hansen

Follow the story in the post Switching to Gmail and other google apps…the saga continues

What's your business? Tell us all about it.

2008-02-27T17:10:02-08:00

As we have mentioned before, CoTradeCo is about community and helping people to network and promote their own interests.

If you are a small business owner, we encourage you to sign up and get your own SPOT here at CoTradeCo, and do some promotion. Give us your pitch. Tell us how you got into your industry. Share with us inside knowledge and wow us with your expertise and unique value proposition.

Along with other social networks online CoTradeCo wants to be a part of helping to get the word out about your business, products, and services.

So get YOUR SPOT. Introduce yourself in the Business Interests Introductions community blog topic and post a free advertisement or promotional in the “Shameless Promotion” topic.

For more information on how to optimize your exposure on CoTradeCo visit our resource article Tips for promoting your business, club, or organization at CoTradeCo

SCORE's 5 Tips for Effective Business Planning

2008-02-27T17:00:33-08:00

If you are not familiar with SCORE, they are self described as Counselors to America’s Small Business and America’s premier source of free and confidential small business advice for entrepreneurs.

They provide a variety of services for all types of small business, but can be especially useful to new companies and business owners. One might call it an invaluable resource if you are a first time business owner following a dream.

But their simple list of 5 Tips for Effective Business Planning is advice that a business of any size would do well in reviewing:

Clearly define your business idea and be able to succinctly articulate it. Know your mission.
Examine your motives. Make sure that you have a passion for owning a business and for this particular business.
Be willing to commit to the hours, discipline, continuous learning and the frustrations of owning your own business.
Conduct a competitive analysis in your market, including products, prices, promotions, advertising, distribution, quality, service, and be aware of the outside influences that affect your business.
Seek help from other small businesses, vendors, professionals, government agencies, employees, trade associations and trade shows. Be alert, ask questions, and visit your local SCORE office.

List brought to you by SCORE “Counselors to America’s Small Business.”

For more useful business advice and resources visit the SCORE website .Best of luck in your business ventures.

Forget niceties; how about just being pleasant

2008-02-27T15:50:30-08:00

After reading a post by Hal Becker at bizjournals.com entitled _ Being friendly takes only a second of our busy lives_
I was reminded of a variety of things.

In his article, Hal poses the question, “What happened to being nice,” and goes on to describe how he has seen a steady decline in even the smallest pleasantries in the past years.

“Is it our busy lives now, with so much stuff hitting us each day, such as e-mails, voice mail, faxes and regular mail? Or is it the pressures of just trying to keep up in this increasingly fast-paced society?”

He goes on to suggest two simple suggestions for building “nicer” habits in the modern age.

Wave. Yes just wave to say hello, I am acknowledging your existence. Could be coworkers, strangers in the car next to you when you make brief eye contact, or whenever.
Smile. Same thing as waving but even easier and less “time consuming.” Just smile when you make that brief eye contact with anyone.

I would go further and suggest that maybe we even say, “Hello.” Out loud and to the person. You don’t have to turn into Crocodile Dundee, attempting to personally greet everyone who is walking down a busy street. But if you are standing in line at the bank or the grocery store, try smiling and acknowledging the existence of the person you behind you.

Hal Becker points out that the decline of “being nice” in the modern age might easily unlearned by consciously choosing to “be nice” and in turn break what might be little more than bad habits.

While suggesting people be nice to strangers, we can certainly apply this to everyday business. I can’t tell you how many businesses I may never revisit because the workers and sometimes even the owners/management (you actually deal directly with owners/management in many smaller businesses) were unpleasant. More than simply lacking a jubilant attitude, but flat out being unfriendly.

We all have bad days, I understand that. But if there is a decline in pleasant courtesy in general society, this is going to “trickle-down” to the people who are representing your business. Making the need to build a happier society a potentially “mission critical” business move.

This concept extends to digital communications. It is a tired and well known fact that people are more inclined to write things in an email that they would never say directly to a person, as well as making comments and remarks that require a “tone of voice” to truly appreciate and comprehend. While I don’t endorse overuse of emoticons (and especially not animated smilies) modern business owners need to be vigilant to remember that their digital communications are a part of their brand, and an easy way to maintain and build healthy client relations.

I agree with Hal. The modern age seems to be getting less nice. And we should all consider the implications of that. Everybody is talking about green issues, and how we should want to leave a better world for the future. Well I think that includes the occasional smile and random conversation with a stranger.

I also agree that behavior can be modified by consciously choosing to break bad habits. So take a few moments each day to be more pleasant. You might just save the future of the world, and improve your business relations in the process.

Work hard & be nice to people… image courtesy of Wurz at Flickr under a creative commons license.