Archive for the 'Business' Category

Is Blogging Killing Journalism? Or is Blog Popularity a Result of Bad Journalism?

Published July 6, 2008 Business , Internet , Media , Online Marketing 1 Comment
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Journalists and those who study mass communication could argue for hours the difference between bloggers and journalists. And although I agree that there is and should be a big difference – Is there a really a difference between bloggers and biased journalist pundits like Mike Huckabee, Bill O’Reilly and the right-wing news station they work for.

Over the past two years blogging has boomed, while traditional media outlets have been slowly downsizing. It is easy to blame blogs, bloggers and the Internet for this trend.

As a response to dwindling mass media consumption, many media outlets have decided to ditch traditional news stories for more fantasized, supersized and outrageous news.

And as funny as it may it seem – filling this void that they left as the watch dog media are the same people who have caused it go away. (bloggers)

As a person with a college mass communication degree, I often ask myself if I should be worried. And yes, I am – however I do not think the situation is helpless.

Here are few things I think journalists and bloggers can do to help the current situation:

  1. Engage in conversation with each other and don’t be afraid to call each other out when it comes to facts and fact checking.
  2. Take an oath to always tell the truth and stand by the reputation of the news outlet you represent.
  3. Like Tim Russert did so well, journalists should strive to report on complex situations in such a way that the common working man and woman can understand.

Website Redsign and Gen-Y Instincts

Published July 2, 2008 Business , Internet , Online Marketing , Search Engines 0 Comments
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Let’s say you are 45-year-old business manager and you put a lot of time, money and effort is put into building a new web site.

Three weeks later you hire a gen-y college grad and they suggest you upgrade your web site. How dare they, right? What the hell do they know?

It’s true they might not of thought about what they were saying and how they said it, nor could they explain exactly how you should improve things, but don’t be afraid to trust their instincts.

Gen-y is programmed to say what they think and they are also trained to judge a business by how slick and how easy a web site is to use.

If you don’t believe them, consider the following list of tell tale signs that it is time to upgrade your web site.

Signs that it is Time to Upgrade your Web Site:

  1. Your web site looks like to could have been built with geocities in 1998. What do I mean? You have 12 different font types, sizes and color. Images are from clip art. Things are slightly misaligned. Navigation is not universal and you have an image as a background.
  2. You are not receiving any organic traffic. This is a no brainer. Let your targeted audience think that they are the one initiating the conversation and good things will happen.
  3. People complain that things are tough to find on your website. If this is true, they might not trust you as a business manager. It might turn them off to the point that they don’t want to buy anything from your web site.
  4. Your website doesn’t reflect your business objectives. Within four seconds of visiting your site, it should be clear to a first time visitor what you do and why you do it better.

Cars that Run on Water Thoughts

Published May 25, 2008 Business , Green , Internet , Online Marketing , Technology 0 Comments
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A car that runs on water – It’s the subject of a new viral video being passed around on emails and posted on blogs all over the place. I posted it below.

Obviously I think the idea of a car that runs on water is fantastic, but I am also a bit skeptical. And it’s not about the technology. I’m concerned about what appears to be a lack of organization and investment dollars.

Look no further than their web sites and you can tell they haven’t made any money off of this innovation, as well they don’t have much of an organization.

My advice to Jimmy Kline, the new inventor of the water power car, is to find business mentor or CEO and allow him or her to concentrate on bringing the product to market. A good CEO should would help manage finances and the outsourcing of business functions like: legal council, marketing, lobbying, public relations, finance, manufacturing and sales.

For an innovation this good, a CEO should have no problem finding investment money to pay for their own services and the services I outlined above.

In closing, I found this video below about Stan Meyer – A guy who invented a car that runs on water 20 years ago. It is a bit eerie, although it would break my heart to what happened with this invention(nothing),  happen to the latest water powered car engine.

UPDATE: It appears as though Chevrolet created a hyrdrogen powered car in 2005. With gas at nearly $4 a gallon, this has me wondering where the public outcry is?

The Mashed Potatoes Internet Marketing Model

Published May 13, 2008 Business , Internet , Online Marketing , Search Engines 0 Comments
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I have been thinking a lot of how I would present Internet Marketing Strategy to people who have never heard of SEO, SEM, SERPS and Social Bookmarking.

As my mind wandered, I thought about a bunch of odd puns and clichés involving potatoes that might make such a presentation seem interesting and unique.

So with no further ado, here is how I explain Internet marketing using potatoes.

  1. Set goals and know what you want to accomplish with your website. Set-up your method of conversion, and limit the rest of your primary objectives to just two or three things. The rest is just small potatoes.
  2. Know what your potential customers want to find on the Internet and do your best to deliver on that.

Mashed Potatoes Internet Marketing
Now what do you do after you set goals and know what your potential customers frequently search for on the internet? – Mix them together like mashed potatoes.

I know this may be a bit simplistic, however I think it works well when explaining the importance and potential found in creating a corporate blog. And even if you decide to leave out the potato puns, maybe this article will get you thinking about the importance of creating content.

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About Allan Woodstrom

Minneapolis, MN, USA
Marketing and Communications Specialist
[AllanWoodstrom.com]

Marketing Breakdown

Read all of my marketing insights at MarketingBreakdown.com.
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