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The Nonprofit Technology Network – Get Your Org in Check with Tech

April 22, 2012 by Basil Puglisi Leave a Comment

NTEN Side (Photo credit: TaranRampersad)

At The Nonprofit Technology Network, developers aspire to create a world where nonprofit organizations can utilize available technologies with skill and confidence. NTEN is a membership organization with members who have a common goal – to help nonprofits utilize all elements of technology most effectively. Members of NTEN’s community share the belief that technology allows and encourages nonprofit organizations to work with a more enhanced social impact. Their focus is to enable other members of NTEN to strategically use available technology to help make our world a better place.

NTEN helps facilitate the exchange of information and knowledge within their community. Connecting to members with the intent to research and develop opportunities, educate others on issues of technology that may benefit their organization, encourage advocacy, and discuss remedies for technology issues that affect communities.

How Does Your Organization Use Data?

Check out this video to see if you are organizing your non-profit’s data effectively.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DOdfpFwPA4o]

If you are not, you may directly benefit from NTEN’s help and system of community values.

NTEN History

In the late 1990’s, the tech sector in San Francisco was booming. Many new tech companies and foundations wanted a way to help their nonprofit clients and grantees to operate more efficiently by utilizing technologies more efficiently. In order to meet this need, funders then hired ‘circuit riders’ who were formally known as nonprofit tech assistance providers. These circuit riders did everything from creating helpful databases to setting up secure computer networks within these organizations.

In 2003 the conference name was changed rom Circuit Rider Roundup to the Nonprofit Technology Conference, or NTC, to help better reflect the technology’s pervasiveness and potential, as well as to better reflect their increasingly diverse membership. As tech began to reach into the communications and marketing industries, it began to reach a bit further into the realm of development.

Today the NTEN continues to grow and lead the nonprofit technology industry.

If you want to check out the NTEN site, be sure to check out their programs, events, and community pages.

NTEN is a 501(c)(3) organization.

Author:

@BasilPuglisi is the Executive Director and Publisher for Digital Brand Marketing Education (dbmei.com). Basil C. Puglisi is also the President of Puglisi Consulting Group, Inc. A Digital Brand Marketing Consultancy that manages professional and personal branding for Fortune 500 CEOs, Hedge Fund Managers and Small Business Owners.

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Is Your Business Website Ready for Mobile?

April 16, 2012 by Basil Puglisi 10 Comments

Is your small business website ready for mobile? I am referring to the smartphones people have been overwhelmingly converting to. According to a recent Google Study using research firm Ipsos they quantified what devices costumers across five key global markets are currently using. Not surprisingly, the numbers show that smartphone ownership is on the rise. What caught some analysts off guard was the finding that in each of the countries polled, use of mobile phones had edged out use of personal computers in 2011.
According to a study by Compuware 71% of global mobile web users expect websites to load as quickly, almost as quickly or faster on their mobile phone compared to the computer they use at home.
Nearly 60% of web users say they expect a website to load on their mobile phone in three seconds or less, and 74% are only willing to wait five seconds or less for a single web page to load before leaving the site. 50% are only willing to wait five seconds or less for an application to load before exiting.
Below are some best practices for mobile websites suggested by GoMO:
1. Keep it Quick Mobile users want their information fast. To help them, design your site to load fast and make copy easy to read. Prioritize the content and features that mobile users need most. Use your desktop site analytics to see what mobile users are doing
2. Make it Easy to Convert No matter what your site’s objective is, your customers need to be able to do it with a virtual keyboard and no mouse. Make it easy to buy something or contact you!
3. Simplify Navigation No one likes to be confused. Clear navigation and, on large or complex sites, search functionality, will help your customers easily find what they need
4. Make it Local – Consumers look for local info on their phones all the time—from locating the nearest gas station to finding an open pizza place. Include functionality that helps people find and get to you.
5. Be Thumb Ready – People use their fingers to operate mobile devices – especially their thumbs. Design your site so even large hands can easily interact with it.
6. Make it Seamless – People now use multiple screens throughout the day. Convert as much of the functionality of your desktop site to mobile as you can to create a seamless experience.
7. Design for Visibility – A mobile-friendly site gets its message across without causing eyestrain. Make it easy for your customers to read – remember they may be in a place with low light.
8. Use Re-Directs – A mobile site redirect is code that can automatically tell if visitors are using a mobile device and send them to the mobile-friendly version of your site. Have your site developer implement this redirect code so your customers get the best version of your site for their needs.
9. Make it accessible. Your mobile site should work across all mobile devices and all handset orientations.
10. Good mobile sites are user-centric, which means they’re built with input from your audience.
It is time to consider all modes of electronic media in your business marketing plan. Mobile users will continue to play an ever growing part of how you will gain your customers. Start incorporating these processes now.
Author:

Marilyn Zayfert is a passionate digital strategist implementing online and mobile applications. She is a results-driven sales and marketing strategist with a proven track record of achievement and demonstrated success. Marilyn founded illumiNET Creative Media in 2009. illumiNET Creative builds and implements online marketing strategies for local businesses. Twitter @mzayfert
Website http://www.illuminetmedia.com
Sources:
http://www.investorplace.com/2012/01/google-study-mobile-phone-use-tops-the-pc-goog-aapl-dell/
http://www.ipsos.com/
http://www.compuware.com/d/release/592528/new-study-reveals-the-mobile-web-disappoints-global-consumers
http://www.howtogomo.com/en/d/why-go-mo/#mobile-best-practices

CEOs and Social Media Influence in the Workplace

April 15, 2012 by Basil Puglisi Leave a Comment

Although there is already a growing list of reasons why it is beneficial for every member of a company’s team to participate in social networking, there may be another new reason that should encourage further consideration.

BRANDfog Study

A recent study conducted by BRANDfog shared some rather concerning statistics about CEO participation in company leadership via social media platforms. The general consensus is that top business executives are slower than their employees and consumers when it comes to using social media for communications.

64% of CEO’s are NOT engaged on their company’s website or social media networks
Only 5% of all Fortune 500 CEOs are on Twitter
Only 4% of global CEOs have a profile on Facebook or LinkedIn
Only 13 Fortune 500 CEOs have active Twitter accounts

If that alone isn’t enough reason to encourage CEOs and others in similar positions in their company to join Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn, then it may be important to understand that on the same study, 86% of respondents rated a CEOs engagement on social media networks to be either important, very important, or mission critical.

Why CEO Engagement is Important

There are a few reasons why CEO engagement on social networks can be beneficial. During the BRANDfog study respondents answers also indicated that 78% of CEO participation on social media networks led to better communication. 71% of them agreed that it can lead to improving brand image, and 64% agreed that it provided more transparency, an element vital to a successful social media marketing campaign. The study has also shown that 82% of respondents listed as employees believe that a company can garner more trust when the CEO or leadership teams communicate via social networks.

Can a CEOs Social Media Presence Influence Purchasing Decisions?

The study says yes. The majority of the study’s participants, 77%, shows that consumers are more likely to buy from a business whose CEO uses social media opportunities to help define their company’s values and leadership principles. 94% of those respondents also agree that the C-list leaders participation in social media can help to enhance a brand’s image.

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What is in Our Mobile Future?

April 12, 2012 by Basil Puglisi Leave a Comment

In 2011, the number of Smartphone’s sold exceeded the number of personal computers. At its current projection, the number of mobile devices will significantly outnumber the PC’s in just a few years.

The Past and Future of Mobile

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7bvIIIVfLYA]

As mobile use increases in the future, AI may also have a large impact on the users mobile experience. Many online services will play a large part in helping us to organize and go about our daily lives. AI combined with vital algorithms will:

Organize and handle personal information
Alert us about important events
Help us decide which products to buy
Monitor everything from calendars to health care
Help us manage services with consideration for our personalized consumer needs

With a realistic projection on the evolution of mobile devices, it also indicates that we are likely to move away from typing all of our days jargon into tiny keyboards on Smartphones and more towards touch screen options, device ‘bumping’ or ’tilting’, sensory triggers, voice activation and other types of communications that mimic ‘human’ gestures and fluidity.

To Smart App Infinity and Beyond

Although apps will continue to play a huge role in the manner it does now, there will likely be more options for consumers in helpful virtual

programs that enhance what we have now for messaging systems, virtual shopping options, entertainment, news and more. We are currently seeing this type of forward progression in apps that offer a more personalized experience. They tend to learn the behavior of the user, continuously get smarter, and stay updated on you over a period of time. As our technology for mobile devices and apps continues to grow, so does our opportunity for new developments.

Be Prepared

Once you have decided to utilize mobile platforms for your business, there are many determining factors to consider when creating the most effective business plan for your personal business needs. If you plan to bypass desktop devices and putt full focus on mobile or just implementing it slowly into your businesses marketing campaign plans, you will need to have an idea of projected requirements to meet the same standards as time goes by. One of the best ways to ensure you are giving it the proper focus is to stay on top of trending industry news and be ready to implement new and helpful interactive programs, assistance, and mobile products in very short periods of time.

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Google Started Changing the Way Search Results are Shown

April 11, 2012 by Basil Puglisi Leave a Comment

Every time Google changes the algorithms of its search engine, it sends shivers down the spines of many who rely on that calculation to get a better placement on the search engine’s result page (SERP). That is why Google is very careful and secretive when a change like that is coming. But Amit Singhal, the top Google Search executive, confirmed recently they are working on something big.

What they are trying to do, he said, is for the search to work more like we humans understand the world. By cross referencing millions of entities that Google has been collecting in the past few years, the new search engine algorithms will attempt to understand the context of the query and give direct answers instead of sending you to a website to find out by yourself.

For example: If you ask what the deepest 10 lakes in the US are? Today, you are getting results based on the keywords and a list of websites talking about lakes, but not the exact answer to your question. In the future the first thing that will appear is a direct answer to your query. You can see it already happening with the “best guess” results. Type in “who is the chancellor of Germany” and see what you get.

Another example: If you ask information about a place, Lake Eerie for instance. Today you get all the websites that have anything to do with the lake. In the future, first you will get all the information Google has collected about the lake: depth, location, altitude, average temp and so on.

Google and Metaweb Tech

A little more than a year ago Google purchased a start-up company called Metaweb Technologies. The company had an index of 12 million entities; movies, books, companies and celebrities. (For the sake of comparison, Wikipedia has 3.5 million English entries.) Amit Singhal said that since this acquisition they have expended the index to 200 million by developing “extraction algorithms” that can organize data in a semantic way from around the web.

What would it do to the listings on the first page if a large amount of information will appear first? A person who was briefed on Google’s change says it may impact directly the results of 10%-20% of the queries. There are billions of queries performed each day.

Google hopes that with the new search results, people will spend more time on their page and see more relevant ads, but it is still unclear how it would impact the ads which appear beside the search results. People familiar with the project say the changes will appear in the next few months. Amit Singhal says it will be rolled out slowly and will be a year-long process.

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Improved Facebook Advertising Campaign Performance

April 10, 2012 by Basil Puglisi Leave a Comment

Image representing Facebook as depicted in Cru... — Image via CrunchBase

Social media marketing, research has shown, is the fastest growing platform for advertisers. With promises of increased customer engagement and low marketing costs, advertisers flocked to this platform in droves. 76% of companies in the US use social media. Over three quarters of marketing officers believe they will increase their ROI this year through social media and plan to increase their budgets. But ROI is not easy to measure with social media. The different metrics will yield different results. Are you doing whatever it takes? Are there some things you don’t know about?

Facebook is the most valuable platform, statistic shoes, with over 15% of the social media marketing business, while rating and reviews, Twitter, LinkedIn and Youtube are there as well starting at about 10%.

Last month, a company called Techlightenment unveiled its new product called Alchemy 2. The company which is a leading provider of Facebook marketing technologies, helps solve traditional Facebook challenges of scale and performance, and has features that reduce the time spent on manual processes because the platform does it for you so you can focus your attention on higher value decisions.

The company promises that marketers will get 80% higher CTR and 50% lower CPC using their platform compared to the average Facebook campaign. Alchemy 2 allows user to take advantage of what Facebook has to offer; timeline, Sponsored Stories and Custom Action ads.

Here is what this platform includes:

Create a campaign fast and easy. You can create hundreds of ads in a few minutes.

Combine location, target audience with your creativity.
The system allows you to dynamically insert keywords and locations.
Analytics will tell you how many end users you will reach.
Easy re-posting of campaigns in one click.

Optimize and track. About 70% of what used to have to be done manually can be done by alchemy 2.

Optimize by setting up rules based on which actions are taken.
Track multiple conversion points.
Control your budget by targeting groups and locations.
Optimize to CPA with tracking solutions and analytics.

Manage and Report.

Drag and drop the data you have to see how effective the campaign is.
You can easily change the metrics, and have complete control of how the budget is being allocated.
You can see CPA and conversion data at the ad level. The platform will calculate your margin and optimize accordingly.

Image via CrunchBase

Will Ashton, Managing Director of Alchemy 2 at Techlightenment said: “Alchemy was the first Facebook advertising platform to market in 2010. We have redesigned the platform for the release of Alchemy 2 to make it even more sophisticated and agile. As Facebook makes updates to its platform, Alchemy 2 is well positioned to be updated as near to real-time as possible, allowing users to make near immediate use of new features and ad formats.”

Techlightenment was bought by Experian in January 2011.

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Can Social Media Change Education Paradigms?

April 9, 2012 by Basil Puglisi 1 Comment

Sir Ken Robinson; author, speaker and international advisor on education in the arts to government, non-profits, education and arts bodies. He was Director of The Arts in Schools Project (1985–89), Professor of Arts Education at the University of Warwick (1989–2001) and was knighted in 2003 for services to education. You can view the RSA animate video “Changing paradigms in Education”

I watched the video of Sir Ken Robinson’s “Changing Paradigms in Education” talk given at the Royal Society on the Arts on YouTube. I don’t remember how I came across it but I was in awe. I watched 4 or 5 times over. I wasn’t surprised to hear someone else talking about how current public education is failing our students. Sir Ken Robinson’s simplistic approach to making small changes that can have significant impact on our children’s education was inspiring. I can see why it went viral. Sir Ken’s key points hit many of the core issues I believe our evolving education system is now facing.
His views are not new. The Montessori Method from the 1890’s involves the teacher in viewing the student as having an inner natural guidance for his or her own perfect self-directed development. The Reggio Emilia philosophy founded after World War II is based upon the following set of principles. Students must have some control over the direction of their learning; must be able to learn

through experiences of touching, moving, listening, seeing, and hearing; have a relationship with other students and with material items in the world that students must be allowed to explore and must have endless ways and opportunities to express themselves.
So what has changed? Sir Ken Robinson talks about how education reform can work. The current US education system was established during an Era of Cultural Enlightenment and the Industrial Economic Revolution. That education model worked for a while. We were automating and building our communities. People worked in factories or offices. Technology was changing American society. Health and medicine evolved due to research technologies. Many of our teaching programs developed over time met the variety of skill needs for our society. As we move forward in the technological revolution factory like school settings and un-stimulating classroom learning are becoming obsolete, so we find ourselves asking “What’s Next?”
According to Robinson, We are changing education to prepare our future generations but we don’t know what that future will hold since there is such rapid change. We are also trying to reform education to adapt to cultural changes while maintaining cultural identity, as the world’s cultures connect.
The System Requires Change
So how do we change the system without totally starting from scratch? Our education infrastructure is expensive so we can’t build a new one. Many people are hesitant to scrap the current system fearing unknown outcomes. There are ways Social Media could bridge the gap. Technology has enabled society to catch up with Montessori’s revolutionary methods of teaching. Collaborative learning and divergent thinking can take place in classrooms leveraging many of the Social Media tools we have today.

Social-Media-Cap-1 — Image c/o ioanalazarov.com/

Preparing today’s students for the unknown and quickly changing cultural and economic climates, must include the new ways we are communicating. Creating stimulating learning environments, allowing students to express knowledge through their creative means can be achieved by integrating Social Media technologies. Communication modalities are changing our lives, and we must adapt our teaching methods to work with emerging technologies.
We must raise standards to compete in the changing world economy. What should the standards be? Some tests can designate a person genius and others label them special needs. Who will set the standards?
Sir Ken says to change the Education Paradigms we need to think differently about human capacity and get over the old conception of Academic, non-Academic, Abstract, Theoretical…etc. Most great learning happens in groups- Collaboration is the stuff of growth. The current education system is crucially due to the culture of our institution: the Habits of our institution and the habitats they occupy.
I believe there are opportunities to make great strides with small changes if we introduce methods for implementing Social Media at different levels throughout the education spectrum.
Author:
Marilyn Zayfert is a passionate digital strategist implementing online and mobile applications. She is a results-driven sales and marketing strategist with a proven track record of achievement and demonstrated success. Marilyn founded illumiNET Creative Media in 2009. illumiNET Creative builds and implements online marketing strategies for local businesses. Twitter @mzayfert / Website http://www.illuminetmedia.com / Facebook: Mzayfert / Google+ Marilyn Zayfert
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RSA Animate – Changing Education Paradigms
Changing Education Paradigms
Reggio Kids Childcare Centers
Montessori Schools

Why Blogs Matter More than Ever for SEO

April 4, 2012 by Basil Puglisi 3 Comments

I recently showed a college student a blog post I was working on, and he asked me what percentage of the content I dedicated to keyword phrases. He had taken a course in SEO, and he understood keyword density. So do I. But even as an SEO copywriter, it’s not really something that I take into account when writing content anymore.
Rather than give him a percentage, I explained to him that the number of times a keyword is placed within an article isn’t as important as it used be. Yes, keywords still play a big role, but the quality of the content has become a more critical factor in getting higher search results. That’s where blogs come into play.
The Rise of the Blog
Back in the day (1990s to early 2000s), blogs weren’t as widely accepted as they are now. Saying you had a blog was like telling people that you’re kind of a geek and you really like to talk about yourself. Last May, eMarketer reported that 53.5% of Internet users would read blogs in 2011. That’s 122.6 million blog readers. Today, blogs have become an effective way for people to share their opinions; stay updated on news, trends and topics that interest them; and have ongoing conversations with others who share those opinions and interests. For businesses, blogs have become a necessary tool for reaching customers on a higher level and improving SEO.
The rising value of blog content has not gone unnoticed when it comes to search results – Google wants to put the content that people read in front of them, and right now, that means blogs.
Keep Your Content Fresh and Relevant
Google favors new, fresh content, and in today’s fast-paced market, content can get outdated pretty quickly. Maintaining a continually updated blog on your company website allows you to keep adding new content to your site without having to completely rework product or service pages. In addition, the content must contain valuable information – Google Panda updates now put low-quality content created solely for link building at the bottom of search results.
Guest Blog, Guest Blog, Guest Blog
Writing guest posts on other blogs has a number of benefits, one of which includes SEO value. Guest posts often allow back links to your blog and website within your blogger bio. Good relationships with authoritative bloggers can be incredibly valuable for SEO, especially if the blogs have high page ranks, as Google is impressed by link quality and diversity. Networking also helps establish your own blog as an authority in your niche.
Social Sharing
The better quality the content, the more it’s shared through social media. Google recognizes social sharing, such as tweets, retweets, Facebook likes and Google +1’s. Internet users are much quicker to share a blog post, rather than a website page, through Twitter. With the rise of Pinterest, blogs that post quality images are also being shared more, resulting in increased traffic and higher search rankings.
Do you have a blog? Are you using it to improve your SEO strategy?
Author:

Jacqui MacKenzie is a writer for Straight North, one of the leading Internet marketing companies in Chicago. She writes for a wide range of clients, from providers of GPS for vehicle tracking to broadcasting equipment specialists. Check out the Straight North blog! @ straightnorth

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Customer Engagement for Small Business

April 2, 2012 by Basil Puglisi Leave a Comment

Telling business owners that they need to have some plans for customer engagement is easy. However, once they have absorbed that tidbit of helpful information, many may be lost as to what customer engagement can actually entail. Most likely, there is nothing that you in particular are selling, that can’t be found somewhere else. So what can the small business owner do to show that their product is the right choice for the consumer?

Be a Customer for a Day

Spend a day emulating the actions that your prospective consumers do.

Call your customer service number.
Go through the motions of purchasing your own product.
Fill out your contact forms.

Make sure that your customer experience matches your outlook and ideas.

Build Communication Options

Not everyone uses Facebook and Twitter believe it or not. Make sure you have traditional methods of communication as well as digital ones. List phone numbers and a physical address for your business, even if it is online based.

Exercise and Act on Your Listening Skills

customer-engagement-cycle — c/o www.retailshakennotstirred.com

It isn’t enough to reply to customers questions or request with generic terms. When prospective consumers ask for discounts or other beneficial options, show them you are listening by enacting them. You will get no better word of mouth advertising then having a consumer who can say “I asked for a discount, and they gave me one!” This doesn’t mean you have to offer that discount to everyone who asks, but you should never outright ignore those request.

Show Your Integrity

Since bad news can travel with light speed on the internet, you may need to go out of your way to show your customers that not only are you expert at what you do, but that you back that professionalism with personal integrity. Show your customers that the people behind the brand care.

Let Your Customers Advertise for You

Anything that you can do to get your consumers to share their product or service experiences with the public will provide you with two benefits. Obviously it will give you the valuable advertising you are seeking, but it will also provide you with media that you can post to help build top-notch links for your site. Don’t expect your customers to do this for no reward though. Their time is valuable too. Try to run contest for the best written or video reviews of your project. Reward the winners appropriately for their time spent talking about your products and services.

Above all it is important that any consumers approaching you for your products or services walk away with the sense that you are a brand they can trust and rely on.

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StumbleUpon’s New Front End Approach

April 1, 2012 by Basil Puglisi Leave a Comment

StumbleUpon is a very popular social media sharing and aggregation site with over 20 million users. They recently launched an immense user-end overhaul that changed pretty much everything about their site.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=F8DtI9e4xZ8]

Though they have just recently removed themes, groups, and blogs from their site, the new changes seem focused on directing users away from the site and back to using their toolbar, whether they have the iFrame or installed versions.

Direct Link Removal

One move that seems to have surprised many in the industry is the removal of all the direct links that point to content sources from within Stumbleupon. Now there is a single button for ‘Stumble This’ that when clicked transfers the user to an iframed version of the chosen content.

This reason behind the controversy is that now that all content from the site is iframed, once logged into the StumbleUpon system, there is no way to remove the toolbar, always leaving you in the iframed version of their site.

The Reaction

Although a bit before the change was launched, StumbleUpon employees discussed how happy they were that their pages had high SEO value for content owners, it seems they may not feel that way anymore.

Rebranding?

Although this may be a part of their larger re-branding plan, forcing users to browse in iframes may not be the best move yet. Before, users could simply X out of the StumbleUpon frame if they wanted to visit a site directly. Now viewers are forced to browse within the frame. Once logged out of the site, the toolbar is easily X’d out, which leaves many users wondering how useful the new change really is.

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