Web2.0 PRmeasure

Client Work: The Toronto Debt Recovery blog

Howard — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 16:05:06 -0400

Reasons Why Going to Small Claims Court on Your Own Is Not the Best Way to Collect on Outstanding Debts

Unless you are a retired person with no demands on your time and fairly strong nerves, your most cost effective move is to have a licensed paralegal represent you. There are a broad variety of factors that we discuss in the article.

For more click HERE:

or visit the home site of the blog at http://torontodebtrecovery.wordpress.com.

Home site of the company is Canadian Corporate Legal Services.

New Blog Site

Howard — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 13:42:14 -0400

We have moved over to WordPress at http://prmeasure@wordpress.com.

Please visit us there.

New Presentation: Recruitment Strategies Using Web 2.0 Social Networking Technologies

Howard — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 11:13:20 -0400

A new workshop presentation by Howard Oliver for HR professionals, exploring the application of Web2.0 to recruitment strategies. Topics:

- Using social networking tools and word of mouth to increase marketing and brand your organization

- Measuring the ROI of social media

- Adopting social media to supplement traditional media

- Suggested pilot project for HR professionals.

What If What Next Sponsors Voike News

Howard — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 10:47:06 -0500

What If What Next is sponsoring Voike News, a daily online spoken news report covering Web2.0, social media, and emerging technology. Drop daily at http://ho.voike.com to hear what is hot online.

PR and Marketing Professionals -- Get in on the ground floor with Voike - a Great New Social Media

Howard — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 12:34:21 -0500

There are new Web 2.0 sites popping up every day. Can we suggest one of the best ones to recently emerge? VOIKE (http://www.voike.com) is a phone-to-web Web2.0 mash-up that provides the functionality of a cloud based personal PHONE COMPANY housed on a site like Facebook. Voike is a feature rich twitter with sound. Perfect for PR and marketing professionals!

The core of Voike is the mutated blog/control Voike panel. "Voikers" can use their Voike panel to manage their multi-media Voike communications to publish content to the web, emails and other social networking sites.

Voike, Inc. is a privately held Florida start-up. Voike uses a utilizes a proprietary telephone engine and social platform, which allows users to create and post voice messages, music, and telephone conferences on their personal social networking spaces. These would include Voike web site and links to Wordpress, Facebook, MySpace, and other social platforms. This technology also enhances the impact of e-mails and conference calls, with the ability to e-mail, forward, redistribute, re-play, reply, comment, and relay interactive voice messages.

Voikers who do PR and Marketing can reach out to thousands of people sending personal and public spoken word greetings, music, messages, pictures, links and text to customers, prospects, partners, friends and random folks around the world. So PR and marketing folks can use a new technology and get notices on www.voike.com. Make memorable noise! Reach more people and make them happy!

More advanced applications include using Voike to add spoken word content such as, group conference calling, short stories, product and book reviews, interviews, live performances, "jam" sessions from multiple locations, personal rants, proposals, and conference call. Several corporations are exploring adding advertising to messages. All these are enabled with true social networking interaction.

Voike's tagline is appropriate: Find Your Voice & Speak Your Mind! They have a growing list of PR and marketing professionals using Voike in truly interesting ways to get get their message out.

Client Article: The Security Challenge of Ultraportable Laptops solved with EsoteraS3

Howard — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 15:04:19 -0500

New Client Release

Howard — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 14:31:17 -0500

Voike Launches Voice-to-Web Social Networking Technology

Miami, FL (PRWEB) December 17, 2008 Voike, Inc., a privately held Florida start-up, announced today that it has begun beta testing their newly developed social networking technology. The technology utilizes a proprietary telephone engine and social platform, which allows users to create and post voice messages, music, and telephone conferences on their personal social networking spaces. These would include Voike web site and links to Wordpress, Facebook, MySpace, and other social platforms.

This technology also enhances the impact of e-mails and conference calls, with the ability to e-mail, forward, redistribute, re-play, reply, comment, and relay interactive voice messages.

"Voike's tagline is appropriate: "Find Your Voice & Speak Your Mind!" said Jaime Jaramillo, CEO, Voike, Inc. "We have a growing list of people using Voike in truly interesting ways. The core application is to use the Voike dashboard as a Blog and message center to disseminate spoken word messages, comments, and other content to Blogs and social networking sites.

"More advanced applications include using Voike to add spoken word content such as, group conference calling, short stories, product and book reviews, interviews, live performances, "jam" sessions from multiple locations, personal rants, proposals, and conference call. Several corporations are exploring adding advertising to messages. All these are enabled with true social networking interaction."

Voike users - often called "voikers" - register at www.voike.com. The technology is as easy to use as other leading social media sites. Initially, Voike's services are offered at no cost. Voike is actively seeking alliances with future voikers and interested social media entrepreneurs and corporate sponsors. Ideal partners would be companies and individuals interested in applying the technology to their websites for rich media and advertising opportunities.

Voike's product development team is eager to continue developing technology in order to make Voike America's favorite Web 2.0 and Web 3.0 platform. Voike is open to any and all ideas from users everywhere. Please send ideas to: suggestions(at)voike.com.

The Company:
Voike (www.voike.com) is a new social media company dedicated to bringing rich mixed media mash-ups, such as the spoken word, music, text, and graphics to the Web. For more information contact: Jaime Jaramillo, CEO, Voike, Inc. Miami. Florida, 305.527.0974, jj(at)voike.com.

SaaS, Web2.0, Social Media mashup

Howard — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 16:58:14 -0500

Please follow my audio and text exploration of the SaaS, Web2.0, Social Media mashup on our Voike blog widget:

http://www.voike.com/browse.php?category_id=20&voiker=ho&voiker_pass=670b14728ad9902aecba32e22fa4f6bd&offset=0&lim=10

Social Bookmarking Sites for Software as a Service (SaaS) Companies

Howard — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 16:36:49 -0500

SaaS firms use social bookmarking and other social media to communicate their value with purpose and organization, yielding innovation, productivity, and responsiveness.

Please down load this new article.

Good discussion on SMO or Web Marketing versus SEO

Howard — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 13:54:55 -0500

I have been part of this discussion today;

http://www.afhill.com/blog/2008/11/10/seo-is-dead-long-live-social-media/#comment-86678

Howard

How do you calculate the ROI on SMO?

Howard — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 11:30:21 -0500

Use Social Media Optimization to build revenue and brand value from an inactive blog in a 30 day relaunch. THINK 10X ROI!

- Standard web analytics

- User engagement on seeded page including comments

- Cross pollination effect – activities on Digg, Delicious, StumbleUpon, industry portals, etc

- Conversions: registrations, subscribing, clicking on ads, downloads

- Link building overall

- Ranking on long tail or target marking terms

- Branding and mindshare

- Media hits

- Sales and enquiries

White Papers

Howard — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 07:29:09 -0500

White papers optimized in social media will bring traffic to your site. White papers are perceived to be very valuable by many different types of prospects. They should contain the voice of the customer and show leadership.

For example, a recent study by MarketingSherpa showed that for software companies and ASPs: White papers are the most effective forms of lead generation (36% reported), followed by webinars (31%) and free trials (28%).

Social media go mainstream!

Howard — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 11:02:31 -0400

A US consumer poll done in the second quarter of ’08 found that 75 percent of Internet users participate in some form of social media, up from 56 percent in 2007.

Adoption rates vary by the type of activity. For example, Forrester found large growth in participation among those reading blogs and writing product reviews. “Spectator” rates jumped from 48 percent to 69 percent. Likewise, those identifying themselves as “critics” increased from 25 percent to 37 percent.

Yet other areas saw more modest increases. Maintaining RSS feeds and tagging Internet content remain far from the norm. Just 19 percent fell into that “collector” category, up from 12 percent a year ago.

Rates of content creation have slowed considerably. Those publishing a blog or personal Web page saw incremental growth: 21 percent versus 18 percent. In fact, blogging grew just 10 percent, well behind the 39 percent growth in starting a social network profile. Still, blogs remain a highly popular form of social media: 48 percent of respondents said they have read one, a nearly 50 percent increase

from 2007.

In another sign that social media has gone mainstream, Forrester found the participation gap narrowing among age groups, though younger demographics still rate higher. Forrester found 35-44-year-olds increasingly entered the ranks of critics, joiners and spectators.

New Media Release from dataSentinel

Howard — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 09:37:00 -0400

Dragons’ Den left the real value on the cutting room floor for St. John’s-based dataSentinel™

Company offers enterprise solution for protecting highly sensitive, unstructured data files

St John’s, NF, October 27, 2008 - Dragons’ Den left the real value on the cutting room floor for St. John’s-based dataSentinel™, in an episode aired yesterday on CBC Television. dataSentinel™ is not a generic online storage solution. dataSentinel™ is a software as a service enterprise platform that protects sensitive, unstructured data files from disastrous theft, loss or leak. dataSentinel™ is extremely secure due to a patent-pending encryption method and triple-redundancy storage technique. Interested Chief Technology and Chief Technology Security Officers and others are invited to evaluate the technology firsthand at http://www.datasentinel.com/contact.php.

“I would like to thank Dragons’ Den for the opportunity to present dataSentinel™ this week (Monday, October 27, 2008 at 8:00 PM (8:30 PM in Newfoundland) on CBC Television),” said Tom Chalker, President and CTO, dataSentinel™. “Four years ago, I invented the dataSentinel™ solution to help IT and computer security departments securely store highly sensitive, unstructured electronic files. dataSentinel™ is essential for organizations that could fail or be highly compromised if secret files are stolen, lost or leaked.”

The dataSentinel™ solution eliminates the need to store sensitive data files on any vulnerable storage device as backup. This hard-drive-independent enterprise-grade solution provides security conscious enterprise customers with a never-before-available combination of complete data discretion and worldwide user mobility.

About dataSentinel™

dataSentinel™ offers a unique solution to large organizations with their own unique challenges when it comes to data security, sharing and mobility. dataSentinel™ is the world’s first data security system to actually deliver both greater accessibility and portability while also allowing increased security. The patent-pending technology allows files to be accessed by authorized users from any Internet-connected computer, anywhere in the world, while securely locking out everyone else. dataSentinel™ is surprisingly easy to set up and use, and can be configured to meet any company’s operating style and needs.

Company Contact

Tom Chalker, President and CTO,

877 455 3282, 709 738 7517, tom_chalker@datasentinel.com, www.datasentinel.com

Media Contact

Howard Oliver, What If What Next™ - Web 2.0 PR, 905-709-8582, 2900 holiver@whatifwhatnext.com

Make your Landing Page Work:

Howard — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 15:00:00 -0400

Here are some elements which I think would really make these mini-sites work:

Single-issue. Deal with a few topics.

Reference-friendly. Make your site more linkable. Cover an issue in full, through original content and external links.

Novelty/Simplicity. A single-page website work best. Use a clean, unique and topically relevant site designs will always help.

Viral components. To make people spread the word, encourage them by providing sharing options like an email-a-friend feature or link-to-me banners. Favorite tools that marketers have used include quizzes, videos and polls. Anything interactive.

Link. Use a link to an email list or master site

Business Applications for Twitter

Howard — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 11:28:02 -0400

Find Prospects. Twitter can be used as a means to find potential customers or clients online. Do a search for keywords related to your product on Twitter Search and then follow users. Tweet about topics parallel to your product and close prospects away from public channels by using direct messages or offline communications.

Notify Your Customers. Set up a Twitter feed for the specific purpose of notifying customers when new products come in. Customers can subscribe via mobile or RSS for instant notification. Twitter can also be used to provide mini-updates for one-on-one clients.

Direct traffic. Twitter can be used to get traffic to your websites or the sites of friends. If you ask your friends to tweet about it, the message will spread faster and further as other active users pick it up. There is a viral nature to all types of news, even on a site like Twitter.

Personal Branding. Twitter is a social media platform you can use to build your personal brand. It has the primary benefit of developing a casual persona and establishes you as a social personality that is connected and approachable. As Twitter adoption increases, new users will be drawn towards well established Twitter personas.

Get Feedback. Need an alternative perspective on how a website looks or the right course of action to take? Blast out a message asking for advice and you’ll receive replies from other users. This collective intelligence can be used as fodder for articles or projects.

Would appreciate hearing about your experiences!

Howard

Cloud Computing

Howard — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 08:55:59 -0400

CIOs don't really care about the cloud. They care about budgets, security and compliance. All the buzzwords in the world won't help innovative technology unless it maps directly onto CIO pain points.

Visit EsoteraS3, a new cloud security computing solution:

http://www.esoteras3.com

3D Spaces - Rooms not Worlds

Howard — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 14:56:02 -0400

Interesting that Microsoft does not seem to believe in Open Source virtual worlds such as Second Life.

We see that AVITAR construction is not yet ready but 3D spaces don't have to be totally immersive counter-culture. In fact they can be just another view of a conventional file system. In that context they would leverage the excellent 3D spatial memory ability of the human brains.

Open source platforms – not "synthetic virtual worlds" – but spaces or rooms seem more likely.

With the right tools, 3D space could be low cost, easy to design, develop and manipulate. It would be a medium where people can architect the presentation of data, collaborate, work on projects, learn and teach, conduct transactions and generally build a sense of community.

BTW - If this is an area that interests you, I have been given access to a new resource to build special environments - open source 3D project spaces, classrooms, war rooms, secure data repositories etc. .

I’ll also be exploring this area in some detail in the coming months – stay tuned

Read the complete article at http://www.pcworld.com/article/151613/real_life_will_trump_second_life_microsoft_says.html

The brightest spot in an ad recession is direct response.

Howard — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 13:12:43 -0400

The brightest spot in an ad recession is direct response. As Ad Age noted recently:

"Many analysts now agree that when marketing budgets come under pressure in a stressed economy, those sectors that can best document their connection to ROI, such as search-engine advertising, are far more attractive to corporate chiefs than other kinds of less-trackable traditional advertising."

Our direct response, WebVoyaging™ Campaigns deliver proven ROI and are highly trackable see http://www.whatifwhatnext.com/webvoyage.htm.

Google continues to do well because….

Howard — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 12:29:41 -0400

Google is delivering on its promise that its online advertising system would do relatively well in an economic downturn. The company exceeded Wall Street expectations, reporting a solid 26 percent jump in net income to $1.35 billion, or $4.24 a share, from $1.07 billion in the third quarter of 2007. The company also said that the number of times users clicked on its ads grew 18 percent from a year earlier, roughly the same rate as in the previous quarter. The results were supported by strong gains in online advertising and cost reduction measures.

Google makes its revenues from on-search ads, the fastest-growing segment of the market. Marketers use these ads to lure people to their Web sites, and are among the last thing advertisers would cut during a recession. Google’s business model has proven successful because of its focus on performance. In tough times, no one wants to turn away a customer! Advertisers are willing to take all the clicks they can get.

The Web 2.0 PR work What If What Next™ is doing currently to build business development vessels – like the Clipper Ships of the past – that integrate social networks, trade routes, dynamic content, business relationships and commercial transactions is continuing do good things for our clients. We are growing nicely because we are focused on measurable results.

New piece written by Howard Oliver to be published in Weighing & Measurement+

Howard — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 15:04:30 -0400

Dimensioning Equipment Optimizes Warehouse Facilities

By Howard Oliver, CEO, What If What Next™

Here are two examples of warehouses ...

Brands and Blogging Go Mainstream

Howard — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 11:16:10 -0400

Emarketer.com reported this week, based on a Technorati-sponsored survey, that the lines between blogging and the mainstream media are disappearing.

The number of professional, semiprofessional and passion/enthusiast bloggers who are creating real media experiences has grown. In parallel, mainstream media are putting emphasis on blog content

Bob Lutz, Vice Chairman of General Motors, writes a public corporate blog and is one of a rapidly growing number of high-powered CEOs who recognize that blogs are a necessity in today's marketing environment.

Add Amazon, Boeing, Cisco, Cox Communications, Hewlett-Packard, Sprint, Xerox, Texas Instruments, and many other goliaths to the list of bloggers who (according to Technorati™) put up an estimated 120,000 new blogs every single day!

Advanced blogs are incorporating Web 2.0 social technologies such as blogs, podcasts, instant messaging, text messaging, customer online accounts, and chat features that facilitate online collaboration with customers and others.

Blogs had 77 million unique visitors in the US in August 2008, compared with 75.1 million unique visitors to MySpace and 41 million to Facebook. In July 2008, the top 10 entertainment Websites included four blogs.

This makes the role of the blogging “brand advocate” extremely important. A large percentage of bloggers worldwide frequently share personal experiences with companies or brands (34%) and frequently include product reviews (37%), according to the study.

With advanced blogging, you can create a community, become collaborative, and create a participatory environment. These Web2.0 strategies will change your relationships with customers and your market. The customer becomes an integral part of a new customer-centric marketing process. They collaborate with your business to help building your brand and corporate identity.

The way you brand yourself, the way you communicate and interact with prospects and customers becomes very different. The current down turn in the economy will not change this trend. In fact, it will only accelerate it, with customers looking for the brands that provide the most value and opportunities for interaction.

Corporate Brand Communications

Howard — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 21:01:18 -0400

I'll be speaking at this conference tomorrow on branding tomorrow:

http://federatedpress.com/pdf/CBCT0809-E.pdf.

Multilingual Website Development

Howard — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 09:47:29 -0400

Web 2.0 and blogs are main stream now. How can a company stand out in the crowd - REACH ACCROSS THE WORLD and find new customers? Multilingual web sites are a no brainer. We are evangelizing the concept especially for small and medium sized North American companies that are struggling. Luckily, we are being sponsored by Bitrix (http://www.bitrixsoft.com), a firm that markets a Site Manager with UTF-8 support that enables multilingual web development.

WebVoyaging(R) Post to Wired

Howard — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 09:45:18 -0400

http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2008/08/mars-phoenix-he.html

On earth there is way too much information on everything. What an ironic pleasure to get just another shred of information from Mars, with the dramatic tension that that brings! Looking forward to the Mars Science Laboratory next year.

Posted by: Howard | Sep 3, 2008 6:43:45 AM

The Olympics, Multilingual Web Sites and Content Management Systems

Howard — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 09:46:04 -0400

Recent article by Howard Oliver, CEO, What If What Next

The issue of international Web sites has been broadly discussed recently because of the Olympics. The purpose of this article is to examine the importance and functions of multilingual Web sites.

The multilingual Web site is still in its early stages, but it will inevitably become part and parcel of an Internet presence. It is a trend that your company should be part of, whether you operate a small company looking to take off and establish a foot-hold in foreign lands, a mid-sized firm looking for new markets or a large-scale global enterprise.

Hundreds of other global businesses such as Apple, Microsoft, eBay, Amazon, and Coca-Cola are using multilingual Web site marketing to get in contact with many more people from different language groups around the planet. These people might include partners, suppliers and, of course, potential customers! The Internet has made it so much easier to establish your brand on a global scale.

Gaining the ability to communicate with new international audiences in their own language will boost sales and create awareness of your brand, service or product. With every language added to a Web site, there is the potential for an increase of more than 100% in sales.

Click here for the complete article.

2 is Enough!

Howard — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 12:59:13 -0400

I like to use 2 social networking sites at a time and then some very industry specific forums that would be places the cleitns of my clients might hang out.

Twitter and Plaxo are my current fav’s

I would caution you to avoid sites that are saturated with consultants talking to other consultants. Social networking is all about networking with customers not your peers or worse competitors.

Multilingual Website Series

Howard — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 18:17:21 -0400

"Google is very keen on international marketing strategy they have a very good understanding of the significance and importance of these practices. Google is currently available in a staggering 97 different languages. There are literally hundreds of other global businesses such as Apple, Microsoft, eBay, Amazon, and Coca-Cola who have used international internet marketing practices very successfully. Multilingual website marketing is a fantastic way to get in contact with many more people. These people might include partners, suppliers and of course potential customers. The internet has made it so much easier to establish your brand on a global scale. Many popular examples include Coca-Cola and Pepsi. Multilingual website marketing is very important to consider when a business is developing an international marketing strategy, and is excellent way of testing a new market."
From: http://www.marketing.centylion.info/2008/07/02/guide-to-understand-how-multilingual-website-marketing-and-international-marketing-strategy-can-work-for-your-business/#comment-1191

This Multilingual Website Series is sponsored by Bitrix (http://www.bitrixsoft.com)

Top 10 reasons for Multilingual Websites

Howard — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 17:48:00 -0400

Here are 10 main reasons why you need a multilingual website today rather than later:

1. Shift Away from English Internet Users: English speakers will soon be in the minority when it comes to internet use.

2. Cost Effective Marketing Tool: Having the ability to communicate to a whole new international audience in their own language will undoubtedly yield results not only in a financial sense but also in terms of marketing and creating awareness of your brand, service or product.

3. New Customers: Ultimately what a multilingual website brings you are new customers. By having your site accessible to potentially thousands of people you are showcasing your company across the globe.

4. Sales: With every language added to a website there is the potential for an increase of between 100% in sales. There are few other ways to get such an increase for such little investment.

5. Customer-Centric: A multilingual website demonstrates you are thinking about the customer.

6. Trust: For many cultures there is an issue of trust when it comes to buying over the internet. Offering them a language alternative allows the customers to feel secure in the fact they know what they are buying, how and who from.

7. Culturally Sensitive: This automatically puts the user in a 'cultural comfort zone' due to their being able to navigate, understand and interact with the website.

8. Beat Competitors: Look at your competitors - if they have multilingual websites then why don't you? If they don't, then why not lead the marketplace and establish your company or brand abroad before they do.

9. Shows International Nature: A multilingual website demonstrates you think, work and deal internationally.

10. Search Engines: Search engines lead people to your site. In countries such as China, Japan and France, Google, Yahoo and MSN are not the default search engines. Home grown search engines are emerging and they are proving successful because they work in native languages and are focused on the habits and needs of their users. Many of the key search engines, especially Google, are developing the capacity to run searches in foreign languages. Having pages of your site available in those languages ensures maximum potential for your site being picked up in searches.
Please note that our client Bitrix offers multilungual site development with Bitrix 7.0

see: http://www.bitrixsoft.com/sitemanager/demo.php for a demo.

Multilingual Websites

Howard — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 17:56:37 -0400

Business continually sees shifts and changes. At present the multilingual website is still in its early stages, with mostly large multinational companies using them to secure an international foothold. However, the trickle down effect will naturally occur and the multilingual website will become part and parcel of an internet presence.

When searching on the internet most people will use their native language, in fact only 1% of users search in other languages. This goes to show just how important multilingual website marketing campaigns are to modern day businesses.

Using an English website you can expect to communicate to around 16% of the population, however if you have a German, Spanish, Italian and French website then you can deal with 74.1% of the European market.

A multilingual website marketing strategy is not just a simple translation of your English website; it should also cater specifically for that unique country.

Bitrix Site Manager can with UTF-8 support enables a multilingual web development. It is now possible to create and fully support various language packages in Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, and other languages. (for reference http://www.bitrixsoft.com).