Monthly Archives: August 2006

Pittsburgh BlogFest 7

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If you have a blog or are thinking about starting one, please join other Pittsburgh-area bloggers at a social get-together, this Wednesday evening.
WHAT: Pittsburgh BlogFest 7
WHEN: Wednesday, August 30th, 2006, 5:30 PM to 9:30 PM and beyond!
WHERE: Finnegan’s Wake (near PNC Park, 20 General Robinson St., North Shore, 412-325-2601), in the Pub Room
WHO: All of you bloggers
AND: Creating Text(iles), Inner Bitch, Grabass (in absentia), and My Brilliant Mistakes.

As always, if you plan to attend, please RSVP by e-mailing blogfest AT closkey.com.

We planned this BlogFest to coordinate with this year’s International BlogDay. BlogDay is dedicated to discovering new blogs, in other regions and areas of interest. Find out more here.

BlogDay is actually on 8/31, but that also happens to be the night of a Steelers home exhibition game — as sensible Pittsburghers we chose not to compete with the world champions for attendance (not to mention parking on the North Shore). But it’s all for the best, because we can attend the BlogFest, meet new bloggers there, and then blog about them the next day.

I hope to see you there!

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The Art and Science of Marketing: Seminar announcement

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Business consultant Wayde Nelson is holding a seminar next week that’s perfect for small business marketers looking to hone their chops.

B$olutions is pleased to announce a comprehensive seminar on marketing. This seminar will reveal the tricks of the trade – practical insight into developing an integrated marketing strategy and plan for your business and ideas to increase your sales. Along with review of concepts, the seminar includes exercises to begin to develop a marketing strategy and plan for your business! Seminar includes a continental breakfast and handouts.

The Art and Science of Marketing
Date/Time: August 30, 2006 8:00AM to 11:30 AM
Place: Days Inn Butler, PA 139 Pittsburgh Rd/Route 8, Butler, PA 16001

For details and to register — the deadline is today! — contact Wayde at wnelson@zoominternet.net, or visit the B$olutions website.

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What are you having? The Happy Hour Hotline

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In the Bits & Bytes column of today’s Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, way at the bottom, there’s a little item about my “sideline” as mixologist-for-hire.

This service is my experiment with the web service Ether, which is an intermediary between experts and people looking for advice, conducted via telephone. (Their tagline: “Sell what you say.”) I wanted to see how well it works, should I recommend it to clients, etc.

I first thought of providing website advice, but that didn’t seem unique or compelling enough to attract attention.

What topic would catch people’s eyes and minds? Cocktail recommendations on the fly! I really did take a course in mixology, after all. So the Happy Hour Hotline was born. And sure enough, it’s got a bit of buzz right away.

If you’re curious about the Happy Hour Hotline, find out more over at my personal blog, My Brilliant Mistakes.

And let me know what you think — is it a good idea? Would you consider calling an Ether-based service for any purpose? What services would best fit the service?

Cheers!

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What’s in a (domain) name? Name unavailability leads to creativity

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Today in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Corilyn Shropshire looks at how companies deal with the problems of finding a great domain name (“Web is no bottomless pit for dot.com name seekers,” 8/16/2006):

The World Wide Web is running out of names — or at least the most popular names that end with a dot.com suffix. Dot.net, dot.org and other suffixes still have plenty of room to grow. They just aren’t all that popular.

Ms. Shropshire talked to several local web designers, including me, and all of us had examples of
domain names we wanted for our clients but couldn’t get, for various reasons.

I’ve found, though, that in the end it’s not a major obstacle. There’s always an available alternative, and having to be creative can produce a more original and memorable result.

And besides, having a great domain name doesn’t guarantee success. A great value proposition, good access to your target market, excellent coordination all along the supply and distribution chains, the right resources to fulfill orders — all of these are just as important. For an example, just think of Pets.com.

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