Reduce your travel budget with our new web event and online meeting tool

Interactive Media Lab a progressive multimedia laboratory in Louisville Kentucky specializing in the design and development of interactive, video and online solutions for businesses introduces a custom tool for streaming online meetings and web events. Increase your audience size while reducing your overall presentation costs. Make presentations in real time to unlimited customers, prospects and employees – wherever they are.

• Set up Webinars quickly and easily with full support
• Present anything from one locations to unlimited viewers
• Present live with PowerPoint and Video
• Integrated tools for remote audience response and questions

  For a demonstration click here http://demos.interactivemedialab.com/imlspc

IML hopes to link local business people through new social media website!

Linking Louisville is the first interconnected network for professionals focused on the Louisville area. Brought to you by Interactive Media Lab and Big Talk on Small Business Radio. Collaborate and network with professionals that you would like to meet and work with. Let’s face it, most small business is done locally. Why search through the 500 million people listed on the global social networks when the people you need to connect with are right in your own backyard? Join Linking Louisville to connect with co-workers, business prospects, people with similar interests, family and friends, or simply find a new tennis, golf or running partner! Linking Louisville provides a complete communication experience. Get started now. It’s Free. www.LinkingLouisville.com

Trides – We need you to lead!

I am reading this book and would reccomened it to small business owners who are interested in keeping their brand top of mind.

The following are some notes about the book

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Tips for Working with a Web Designer

Get exactly what you want for your business’s website–on time and on budget.

A lot of businesses start with less than ideal websites. A friend of a friend knows a guy who knows a girl who made a site for her brother’s band, and, well, you know the rest. We call them Drive-by programmers. They get your website up and running but if you ever need it changed in the future good luck in getting them to even return your calls let alone update your website.

Every business reaches a point where it needs a professional online appearance. Unfortunately, commissioning a website isn’t as simple as ordering office supplies. Web professionals and businesspeople don’t always speak the same language, and the learning curve for an already beleaguered entrepreneur can be steep. Here, we will explain how to select and collaborate with a designer to create an attractive and effective site that actually meets your needs–on time and on budget.

1. Do your homework
The first step in finding a designer you like is finding designs you like. We recommend that small-business owners start by looking at the sites of their competitors and similar businesses. The key is to find sites that match your own taste.

Ask around when you’re shopping for a designer, and look at their work and their programming platform to make sure that you will get final control over your content so you website stays current. “Don’t just go to Google and pick the first one.

But taste is only one consideration, many designers specialize in creating a particular kind of site, he says. A designer whose previous work includes only small, brochure-style sites might be a poor fit for a large online store, so it’s important to consider the scope of your project as well.

2. Know the basics
Even for web professionals, keeping up with technology is difficult. Fortunately, as a small-business owner, you don’t need to know the ins and outs of the latest trends to commission a website, but it does help to understand a few fundamentals.

It’s good to know the difference between a domain name, a web host, and a website.

A domain name is a site’s web address–yoursite.com, for instance. These addresses are rented on a yearly basis from online registrars. A web host, on the other hand, provides server space–the virtual home where the site will live. Finally, there is the website itself–the collection of files that contain the actual design, text and media.

If all of that is unfamiliar, don’t worry; we are happy to recommend reliable domain registrars and hosting companies when we work with clients.

3. Be prepared to collaborate
Once you’re ready to approach a designer, your input is key. Many people don’t realize how much direction they’ll need to provide in order to give their designer a successful starting point.

The fantasy people have a lot of times is that they’re just simply going to be able to call a web designer and say, “Make me a website and show it to me in two weeks when it’s all done.’”

The reality is that the process is a collaboration–from start to finish. In the beginning, designers typically ask for detailed descriptions of what prospective clients needs from their websites, as well as for links to other sites that the client admires. If a designer provides an online questionnaire, potential clients should answer it as thoroughly as possible.

4. Get comfortable
Because collaboration is so important, a shared aesthetic isn’t enough–personalities matter, too. Once prospective clients have contacted us we recommend a brief meeting to determine whether we are a good fit.

It builds a rapport, and it lets us listen to the client and really hear what they want. That first 30-minute meeting right at the beginning is really important to set the tone for your project.

Clients should also take care that a designer doesn’t seem too eager or hurried. Reputable designers tend to be selective in whom they work with, because they understand how important a good match is to a project’s success. We also recommend contacting a designer’s previous clients to ask about their experiences.

5. Know what you’re paying for
Once the match is made, a contract is the next step. And here clients can’t be too careful. Everything that’s meant to be included in the project–from the payment schedule to the number of revisions that a client is allowed to request–should be spelled out. While some designers are flexible about small changes, clients shouldn’t count on it.

Read it thoroughly, because anything that is not in that document is going to cost you extra.

Clients should also be prepared to put down a deposit before any work begins.

6. Be honest, but don’t nitpick
Generally, designers provide clients with a mockup of a proposed design before transforming it into a working site, and this can be the most delicate part of the collaboration. We adamant that clients should be honest if they want to see a different design, but they were equally adamant that wholesale revisions are usually better than a lot of small changes.

If you feel like the design is way off the mark and it doesn’t feel right for your business, speak up. At the same time, understand that requests like ‘put more space on the left and right, and add these 10 things to the sidebar’ may leave you with a design that resembles Frankenstein.

7. Hold up your end
While the designer provides a site’s visual and technical framework, the client is usually responsible for providing the site’s content–most commonly the text. Failing to do so on time can delay completion of the project, sometimes drastically.

If the text isn’t already prepared, we recommend that clients consider hiring a professional copywriter. Aside from taking the burden off the business owner, a copywriter can provide text that’s customized for search engines, which will help potential customers find the site when it’s finished.

8. Be decisive
Content aside, the most common cause of delays or extra costs after the contract is signed are sudden changes or additions.  Many people don’t understand how long certain changes will take to implement, so they’re quick to call and ask for what we call the “just-add.” such misunderstandings are another example of the importance of establishing a good relationship between designer and client.

“A good relationship established before contracts are signed often helps ensure these issues are handled professionally and calmly on both ends.

Do the necessary preparation when making your decisions–and then to stick by those decisions until the project is complete.

 

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Social Networking is for Old People?

I recently found the following article in Time. It is a funny story about how old people are taking over social networking. It says Facebook was designed for college kids. But it took people thier parents age to fulfill its ultimate destiny…

Thursday, Feb. 12, 2009

Why Facebook Is for Old Fogies

By Lev Grossman

 

Facebook is five. Maybe you didn’t get it in your news feed, but it was in February 2004 that Harvard student Mark Zuckerberg, along with some classmates, launched the social network that ate the world. Did he realize back then in his dorm that he was witnessing merely the larval stage of his creation? For what began with college students has found its fullest, richest expression with us, the middle-aged. Here are 10 reasons Facebook is for old fogies:

1. Facebook is about finding people you’ve lost track of. And, son, we’ve lost track of more people than you’ve ever met. Remember who you went to prom with junior year? See, we don’t. We’ve gone through multiple schools, jobs and marriages. Each one of those came with a complete cast of characters, most of whom we have forgotten existed. But Facebook never forgets. (See the best social-networking applications.)

2. We’re no longer bitter about high school. You’re probably still hung up on any number of petty slights, but when that person who used to call us that thing we’re not going to mention here, because it really stuck, asks us to be friends on Facebook, we happily friend that person. Because we’re all grown up now. We’re bigger than that. Or some of us are, anyway. We’re in therapy, and it’s going really well. These are just broad generalizations. Next reason.

3. We never get drunk at parties and get photographed holding beer bottles in suggestive positions. We wish we still did that. But we don’t. (See pictures of Beer Country in Denver.)

4. Facebook isn’t just a social network; it’s a business network. And unlike, say, college students, we actually have jobs. What’s the point of networking with people who can’t hire you? Not that we’d want to work with anyone your age anyway. Given the recession — and the amount of time we spend on Facebook — a bunch of hungry, motivated young guns is the last thing we need around here.

5. We’re lazy. We have jobs and children and houses and substance-abuse problems to deal with. At our age, we don’t want to do anything. What we want is to hear about other people doing things and then judge them for it. Which is what news feeds are for.

6. We’re old enough that pictures from grade school or summer camp look nothing like us. These days, the only way to identify us is with Facebook tags. (See pictures of a diverse group of American teens.)

7. We have children. There is very little that old people enjoy more than forcing others to pay attention to pictures of their children. Facebook is the most efficient engine ever devised for this.

8. We’re too old to remember e-mail addresses. You have to understand: we have spent decades drinking diet soda out of aluminum cans. That stuff catches up with you. We can’t remember friends’ e-mail addresses. We can barely remember their names.

9. We don’t understand Twitter. Literally. It makes no sense to us. (See the top 10 celebrity Twitter feeds.)

10. We’re not cool, and we don’t care. There was a time when it was cool to be on Facebook. That time has passed. Facebook now has 150 million members, and its fastest-growing demographic is 30 and up. At this point, it’s way cooler not to be on Facebook. We’ve ruined it for good, just like we ruined Twilight and skateboarding. So git! And while you’re at it, you damn kids better get off our lawn too.

IML help Louisville Science Center Use Social networking website to reach more students

IML developed a social networking website that combines Youtube and a science fair to reach students all around Kentucky. The following story is from the courier-journal. It tells how the science center is using new media developed by Interactive Media Lab.

In a song she wrote last week, Aria Watkins sings about installing a water-efficient shower head and other ways to conserve water.

“Don’t take a shower for an hour,” sang Aria, 14, an eighth-grader at Kammerer Middle School. “Don’t leave water rushing while you’re brushing.”

Her song is among dozens of submissions to the AT&T Virtual Science Challenge, which the Louisville Science Center is holding for the second time this year. The contest is designed to get fifth-through 10th-graders across the state involved in science by creating videos that focus on energy, water and exercise.

“It’s like science fair meets YouTube,” said Danielle Waller, communications manager for the Louisville Science Center.

Kammerer science teacher Dustin Johnstone got most of his eighth-grade students involved in the challenge after learning about it during a field trip to the science center.

He let his students vote on whether to take part in the project and only 12 of 140 opted out. Students could do individual projects or work in groups to develop their science challenge.

With only about two weeks for students to do their projects, “they had to be committed to it,” he said.

One group that completed its video early shared it with the class last week. It focused on muscles and exercise. Students laughed as video of four boys “sweating to the oldies” played on a large-screen projector.

Meanwhile, Grant Teague, 13, compiled a list of healthy foods along with the calorie counts for snacks such as popsicles and fruit smoothies and fast-food items from McDonald’s.

“We’re going to do a Food Network show about it,” he said.

Waller said creativity is a big factor in the contest, and she enjoyed seeing what the students came up with.

“This is not like the Intel Science Fair,” the world’s largest pre-college science competition. “We want them to use video and technology and make it fun,” she said.

Molly Carpenter, life-science coordinator at the Louisville Science Center, visited Johnstone’s class to see how the projects were progressing. She said the group is the first entire grade to participate, and she hopes other schools will follow its lead.

“Teachers can use this as part of their curriculum,” Carpenter said. “It has a lot of different components. We tie it in with the national standards. … This lets the kids apply science to their everyday life in a way that they enjoy.”

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Small Business Gets Social

According to the Discover Small Business Watch monthly report, 38 percent of entrepreneurs surveyed said they used Facebook, Linked-In, My Space or Twitter, up from 22 percent in October of 2007.

A little less than half of those people, however, said they used their social-networking accounts to promote their businesses.

“Of those who use the internet to network, more say they use it for purposes other than getting new business leads,” states Ryan Scully, director of Discover’s business credit card. “I think this speaks to the fact that there just aren’t as many leads out there – on the internet or elsewhere – and open-minded small business owners are trying more avenues to develop new prospects.”

Discover notes that 62 percent of entrepreneurs surveyed don’t have websites for their endeavors. If you are one of the 62% who need to get your business online and your message out to more prospects give us a call to discuss affordable self managed online solutions.

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Web 2.0 Attracting Small Firms

The number of small businesses using social networking is expected to double in the next year, a study finds.

More small businesses are catching on to Facebook, LinkedIn and other social networking sites as powerful workplace tools, a new study shows.

According to AMI, the number of small companies using integrated social networking services is expected to jump from 300,000 to more than 600,000 in the coming year. The current figure represents only about five percent of all U.S. small businesses, the New York-based consulting firm said.

To encourage more businesses to get involved, many sites now offer features aimed specifically at smaller companies, including contact and client groups.

Within the next year, about 500,000 businesses will use social network as tools for promotional efforts, researchers said.

“Those businesses not currently using social networking services will find that the resources available will be especially useful in competing under current market conditions,” AMI analyst Nikki Lamba said in a statement.

In a similar study by 8e6, an Orange, Cali.-based Internet security firm, about half of 500 employees interviewed said they used social networking sites at work. Younger workers were especially likely to communicate with colleagues, prospects and clients through social networks.

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At First, Funny Videos. Now, a Reference Tool.

I was rummaging through piles of newspapers and an article jumped out at me. It’s from earlier in the year, but the content is current nonetheless…

I know that video is a more efficient way to communicate ideas. It’s interesting now to see how much the use of online video is changing. Below is an article from The New York Times about a nine year old boy who searches YouTube instead of Google when he wants to learn something. I wonder if YouTube will be the next Google?

(Excerpted from The New York Times, by Miguel Helft)

Faced with writing a school report on an Australian animal, Tyler Kennedy began where many students begin these days: by searching the Internet. But Tyler didn’t use Google or Yahoo. He searched for information about the platypus on YouTube.

“I found some videos that gave me pretty good information about how it mates, how it survives, what it eats,” Tyler said. Similarly, when Tyler gets stuck on one of his favorite games on the Wii, he searches YouTube for tips on how to move forward. And when he wants to explore the ins and outs of collecting Bakugan Battle Brawlers cards, which are linked to a Japanese anime television series, he goes to YouTube again.

While he favors YouTube for searches, he said he also turns to Google from time to time.

“When they don’t have really good results on YouTube, then I use Google,” said Tyler, who is 9 and lives in Alameda. Calif.

Tyler’s way of experiencing the Web — primarily through video — may not be mainstream, at least not yet. But his use of YouTube as his favorite search engine underscores a shift that is much broader than the quirky habits of children.

The explosion of all types of video content on YouTube and other sites is quickly transforming online video from a medium strictly for entertainment and news into one that is also a reference tool. As a result, video search, on YouTube and across other sites, is rapidly morphing into a new entry point into the Web, one that could rival mainstream search for many types of queries.

Read the rest of this article at the following link. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/18/business/media/18ping.html?_r=2

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Investments Rise in Rich Media, Social Networks, Mobile

Web commerce businesses this year plan to invest in the delivery of new rich media and merchandising features, as well as social networking, mobile, and personalization applications to enhance online customer experience and drive conversions, according to the third annual Adobe Scene7 survey from Adobe Systems, Inc.

The survey, which was run in conjunction with industry trade associations and online publications located around the world, found that more than 20% of all respondents have deployed blogs, RSS feeds, user ratings/rankings/comments, and syndicated content:

Comparing these results with the Scene7 2008 survey on deployed features, blogs, RSS, and user ratings significantly rose in usage (up to a 40% increase), Adobe found.

Moreover, respondents are planning to deploy the following features in the coming year:

• Blogs (32%)
• User ratings, rankings and comments (31%)
• 360-degree spin (29%)
• Catalogs & circulars (28%)
• Podcasts or live video feed (28%)
• Product comparisons (27%)
• Videos (27%)

Respondents indicated that increased clicks, usage and conversion rates remain the top metrics used for measuring effectiveness of deployed features. This, together with revenues and order size metrics, are used for measuring effectiveness of online marketing efforts.

Additional survey findings:

• 92% of all respondents will be conducting customer experience projects within the coming year. Compared with last year, when more 53% were planning new projects within six months, this year’s projects have shifted to the second half of 2009.
• When analyzing only the rich media/merchandising area, the top four rich media features deployed, representing approximately one-third of all respondents, were (in order) lifestyle imagery, alternative views, audio/animation, and zoom; while the top four most effective features were zoom, visual filtering & advanced search, lifestyle imagery/photos, and search landing pages according to worldwide respondents having deployed or planned these features.

• Globally, the highest ranking planned rich media features for 2009 were 360-degree spin, online catalogs, podcasts, product comparisons, and videos, each with over 25% of respondents. The greatest adoption of planned vs. already deployed rich media features are in the areas of product comparisons, podcasts, 360-degree spin, mix and match, and 3-D visualization.
• Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) had the use of microsites/brand boutiques as one of its top deployed features, higher than zoom. For zoom, EMEA was significantly lower in deployment rate (21%) versus North America (36%).

“Web marketing continues to be an area of investment and innovation because in challenging economic times it can deliver high-impact marketing programs that can be easily and immediately measured,” said Doug Mack, VP of consumer and hosted solutions at Adobe. “More than 90% of our survey’s respondents are planning to invest in new rich media and social networking technologies to ensure their brands and products stand out on the web.”

About the survey: The “Adobe Scene7 2009 Online Customer Experience – The Next Generation Survey”(registration required) received 474 responses from brand-name retailers, as well as agencies, media, manufacturers, and high-tech companies worldwide that sell a variety of products and services online. Retailers represented the highest number of responses, representing more than 22% of the total.

If you are thinking about developing or deploying rich media give me a call to discuss your options.

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