Madison Who’s Who Registry
August 16, 2008
Like everything else in the 21st Century, the century-old Who’s Who professional registry is sounding, looking and behaving a bit differently these days.
First published in 1899, Who’s Who in America was intended to “chronicle the lives of individuals whose achievements and contributions to society make them subjects of widespread reference, interest and inquiry.” For many years, the Who’s Who represented the “men and women who were influencing the nation’s development.” To be registered was to be recognized for achievement and accomplishment.
The Who’s Who listings began to pave the way for an upsurge of more socially inclined Blue Book registries. These popular bound volumes were less reflective of accomplishment and more suited for promoting interaction between upper crust socialites.
Over the years, the Who’s Who message began to change. Of late, the book is more a compilation of persons willing to be recognized and have their identity referred to mass marketers. Typically, a biography now includes birth and parentage information as well as education, creative accomplishments, civic achievements, political and religious preferences, a career biography and address.
Who’s Who – the future
Times have changed. Like the 21st century, the professional world is now linked through a broader, re-defined platform. This platform employs Web 2.0 and social networking online to assure members a responsive opportunity to connect.
LinkedIn and other online professional networking applications owe some of their existence to their leather-bound predecessors. The idea of a who’s who directory online isn’t a new one, but there are well-established, major players that stick out above the noise.
Foremost in this revolutionary process is Madison Who’s Who.
Madison Who’s Who provides its approximately 275,000 members’ a state of the art, easy to access, easy to use social platform for establishing and maintaining contact with accomplished professionals from around the world. In addition to their leather bound registry, members receive a username and password to enter a secure portal that opens to a world of benefits, information and connections.
And so the Who’s Who Registry goes Web 2.0.
Madison Who’s Who members have access to powerful search tools, on-line networking, a classified section and current world news updates. Members are able to update biographical information as merited. Member Registry is respected and only available to Madison members.
Note the abundance of actual professionals holding down real world jobs as well as internet-based pros with, again, real jobs and genuine desire to connect professionally. That’s what a lot of online directories only talk about in the finer print to appear more useful and important to professionals than they really are.
Madison Who’s Who hosts multiple forums on diverse categories and members are encouraged to interact through polls, queries and discussion groups. Members can request e-mail notification for relevant topics and can link to web logs or URL’s.
Nothing New Under the Sun
Lots of people think that professional directories started on the web. In fact, they’ve been around for over a century. They were just waiting for the web to enable them to reach far greater audiences.
Given the growth of networks like LinkedIn and Fast Pitch, along with their “anything goes” internet vibe, there’s still a bit of prestige attached to the Who’s Who-style directory when that directory has its roots in the century preceding Web 2.0.
Madison Who’s Who encourages business and individual professional memberships. Members report satisfaction with career developments and exposure. The result is a user friendly membership community specifically designed to bring professionals together in the 21st century. Like the original Who’s Who, this meeting place has an eye to the future.
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New Warrior Forum Review
August 10, 2008
Allen Says has changed my mind again. I have been very bad at getting over to the Warrior Forum in the last year. Forums in general haven’t gotten much play from me lately. I just have so much more fun at the social sites with all the networking tools, that forums seems seriously out of date and boring to me.
I am sure there is a forum that has all the new features Allen has put into the all new Warrior Forum. But I don’t care about those others. The Warriors is where I got my start long, long ago. If I had to choose any single forum on the web for regular participation, it would be Warriors. I’m freakin’ loyal!
The Problem With Forums
Nevermind the time-sucking a good forum can do. Get too involved and the rest of your business can go to hell. My biggest problem with them is they are so one-dimensional. Threads and replies. Topics and threads. Yucko. Tired of it. Sick of it! Boring!
What a forum should look like in 2008
Allen has brought the forum into the brave new internet. Forum 2.0. Complete with all the social stuff like blogs, groups, friends and tons of other little niceties that you expect everywhere else these days. I’m not going to comment on why it took so long. I’m just tickled that a major forum has gone 2.0.
If you are a Warrior member and haven’t logged in in awhile, like me, you’re in for a major surprise. It took me an hour or so just to use all the stuff and get my profile with all the new features set up. Regular forums, you just put in your signature file and fill out a couple things and you’re done.
I want to commend Allen on this major upgrade. Not only to the Warrior Forum, but for raising the bar for all forums. Especially those of you still running forum software from 1999. C’mon!
What’s Going to Happen
The Warrior Forum is going to become an even bigger player than ever before. Mark my words. It is dynamic. It has groups and friends and networking abilities on par with any 2008 social site.
Social sites grow for very specific reasons. Allen now has all the same components that make social sites go wild in popularity.
I can’t wait to see how everyone settles in to the new system. I will be a frequenter of the Warrior Forum again, that’s for sure!
My Review: Out-Freakin-Standing!
Tags: allen says, internet marketing warriors, social forums, the new warrior forum, warrior forum, web 2.0 forumsMaking your Stumbled Pages Sticky
August 4, 2008
I’ve been meaning to throw some love at “TheNanny612″ (Shana Albert) for awhile now and she’s just given me an excuse I can’t ignore.
If you are a Sphinn user, you’ve read TheNanny612’s recommendations before. You can’t escape them. She’s a prolific social media writer and a great source of news at Sphinn.
Today I found her latest recommendation “Are Your Stumbled Pages Sticky?” to be right on the mark.
StumbleUpon traffic can stick and can prove valuable. Much more so than Digg or other socially-driven traffic. But you have to know how to handle a Stumbler and what tools they use to browse the web and block unwanted ads. You have to know what Stumblers want and give it to them.
If you dig the stuff she finds, follow Shana’s lead at SocialDesire.com.
Technorati: social media, social marketing, stumbleupon
Tags: shana albert, social media, sphinn, stumbleupon traffic, thenanny612Site of the Day: Shutterbugsource.com
July 31, 2008
Want to see a beautiful site? Head over to Shutterbug Source and check out a well designed Wordpress blog.
Owner: Barbara House (SPL member)
Topic: Photography
URL: http://www.shutterbugsource.com/
Jack’s Review: Great content, excellent layout and navigation, beautiful photos everywhere, really pulls you in. Smacks of quality content right from the start and sets itself apart from the vast majority of sites on the same topic.
Pic:
Search Engine Land: Small Is Beautiful
July 14, 2008
I just came from reading some excellent material at SearchEngineLand’s “Small is Beautiful” column.
In their own words:
“Small Is Beautiful is for the millions of small businesses that have to compete against larger, often better staffed and funded rivals for top positions in search rankings and ads. Columnists offer creative advice and tips that smaller, nimble search marketers can exploit to gain a competitive advantage online.”
I particularly liked this post: “Representing Your Business on the Social Web” by Bill Slawski. Bill wrote a fine piece here which applies to every marketer using social media for exposure.
There are some quotes and pointers to further reading in this one that I highly recommend.
There are also several other great posts in the Small is Beautiful series. Check out their ongoing case studies of small online businesses too.
Tags: marketing tips, search engine land, searchengineland, small is beautifulHow To Take Immediate Action On Reese Video #3
July 13, 2008
If you watched John Reese’s latest video, you know he’s really into software development as a traffic and business building tool.
He talks about all kinds of great uses for simple software apps in different example niches in this latest installment.
As happens so often, great minds think alike. Two weeks ago we did a training with our members on software as a product development and monetization component for online businesses.
Software is a way to separate yourself from everyone else…
Proprietary software, whether free as a lead or buzz generator, or more sophisticated apps that are designed to boost revenue, is something we have been urging our members to look into even if they don’t know a thing about programming.
The obvious question arises at this point: “How do I get software developed? I don’t know a thing about programming!”
John does an excellent job in his Traffic Secrets video of laying out the common options available to non-programmers. Much success has come out of scripts and programs developed by programmers found through the “lances.” (Elance, Scriptlance, etc.)
There are pitfalls for non programmers…
But a lot of grief, wasted money and poor programming have also been generated by those services as well.
It is hard for people who don’t know the programming world to talk to programmers in their “language” and get the result they are looking for. If you don’t know how to write great “specs” for a software idea you have, you aren’t likely to have a smooth process with any programmer.
There will be a lot of back and forth just to reach a clear understanding by the programmer of what exactly you want. This can result in small or large delays in getting the product programmed and launched by your desired deadline.
A Unique Solution: The BytePit
If you were turned on by what Reese had to say in his latest video but turned off by the prospect of the learning curve, time, and expense involved with getting successful work out of the lances, there is a new alternative for non-programmers and pros alike.
William Frazier, a former partner of mine who has struck out on his own to start BytePit, recognizes the pitfalls for inexperienced entrepreneurs who have great ideas but who have been burned with low quality programming.
William spent 10 years in Japan studying and working in the entertainment industry and has several CD credits. He worked with the me for 3 years developing software for my company. He’s also worked in corporate America as a systems analyst for 5 years and has been programming, in total, for over a decade.
He got really good at taking my “notes” about software ideas and turning them into real specs he could use to develop my ideas into real, powerful software. I didn’t do him any favors. I don’t write good specs!
Helping Average People Develop Killer Software
Even before starting his own company, William saw an opportunity to help people get software developed by stepping in as an intermediary. He helps his clients create great software specs from their initial ideas, and then have their projects developed by a dedicated team of high-end programmers with a collective 150 years of experience. A team that can develop everything from web apps and desktop software of all kinds to cutting-edge mobile apps.
And, surprisingly, he does it at lower cost to his clients, including the programming fees, than you would experience with the average hourly rates found on the lances.
I consider BytePit the next generation of software development firms who actively participate in brainstorming with clients to come up with even better, tighter software designs than the original ideas.
Most people don’t want to take a course on developing software and laying out good specs for programmers to follow. They just want the software to go live as soon as possible.
By having someone who speaks the languages of both programmers and entrepreneurs, you are far more likely to get the product you desire faster and at less expense than striking out on one of the freelance programming sites and taking chances on unknown programmers.
As Reese pointed out, owning even a free Facebook app that goes popular can change a business over night. And with the vast opportunities that exist with all the social sites and innovation that has gone untapped so far, now is the best time ever to brainstorm cool apps!
Tags: bytepit, john reese, programmers, software companies, software development, william frazierSite of the Day: Mahalo
July 10, 2008
Jason Calacanis is really growing Mahalo into something special.
Mahalo is a human edited search engine (he calls it web “curation”) that seeks to eliminate spam from results by 100% through the use of real people writing search results instead of a “gamable” algorithm.
Dmoz failed at the human edited directory eventually. Calacanis seems to have found the formula for making it work this time.
He has a paid staff to review link submissions and has figured out the best way to put a TON of people to work for the company through his Greenhouse program.
If you sign up for the Greenhouse program you are paid to submit search results, or what they call “writing search results pages.” A staff member will review what is submitted and, if accepted, you get paid or you can have the funds sent to their chosen charity, the “Wikimedia Foundation.”
Under this model, Mahalo has what Dmoz did not: an army of willing search editors to fill the site with search results fast.
Volunteerism was a cute attempt for Dmoz when the web was much smaller, but it worked out miserably under their editor model and as the web grew. Volunteers, especially when there aren’t that many, couldn’t or wouldn’t keep up with the web. I was never accepted in my categories at Dmoz. I fit the bill with great content, but no one was on the other end editing my submissions. Many categories at Dmoz ended up this way because they didn’t get the input they needed from tens of thousands of people.
Instead they limited and restricted their editor program so much that it was impossible for the directory to become relevant to users. Too much missing, worthy information and links in every niche.
The Result is Better Results
Mahalo is producing some very good results in many niches and they are fast building a large community of contributors. They have a great, fighting chance of actually keeping up with the growth of good content on the web with this model.
I recommend readers grab an account at Mahalo and play around with it. It really is neat what they’re doing inside. There are a lot of social networking features where you can build a fan base around the links you submit and keep up with other users who are submitting results you’d be interested in.
I don’t think Google can be killed, but if it could, Mahalo would have the best chance of driving the stake through Google’s heart just because people are so sick of search spam.
Tags: curation, human edited directories, human search, jason calacanis, mahaloSite of the Day
July 7, 2008
I feel like Stephen Colbert, just adding a segment to FTR like it is an ongoing and scheduled segment. “Site of the Day” seemed like a good one to start. Maybe I will keep up with it, maybe not. But today’s pick deserves SOTD recognition.
Original Signal is a must-bookmark, must-follow Web 2.0 news site!
It aggregates news from sites like Mashable and TechCrunch and, what it calls, “the best web 2.0 blogs” out there. Though my blog is missing from their list, I’m still recommending them. That’s how I roll.
Really, there are at least 3 articles on the front page today you should find hyper-interesting if you are at all into social marketing and web 2.0 news.
Tags: mashable, original signal, social news, techcrunch, web 2.0 newsTop Marketing Blogs
May 27, 2008
I have some favorite marketing blogs to pass on today. Some you may have seen before. Others you need to see. For all of them, please do yourself a favor and subscribe to their RSS feeds.
The sites below are very much worth tracking on a regular basis. Each is a great example of an authority site too.
Tags: expert marketers, expert marketing blogs, marketing blogs, top marketing blogsBill Myers Online: I was just looking for some teleprompter software for some videos I have to do and Bill came up in Google. I should have known to just head over to his site right away since he’s one of two video guys I trust to deliver the goods. You won’t believe the cool resources he has over there. He has to be one of the most prolific how-to video producers online.
Mike Stewart: The other video guy I trust to deliver killer information and products. I just caught up with Mike at World Internet Summit in Dallas this past week. He’s unabashedly a total audio/video geek and one of the best keyboard players I’ve ever heard. (And I’ve seen Allman Brothers in concert a few times!)
Stephen Pierce: Stephen’s DTAlpha Talkback blog is one of a kind. His method of publishing is short posts with podcast presentations on a very regular basis. (Hard to find among marketing gurus.) I also got to spend a few minutes with Stephen at World Internet Summit and watched him do one hell of a presentation. Pierce is a genuine article on the marketing scene. Another hard thing to find in this business.
Armand Morin: You guessed it, I met with Armand at WIS and realized he has a pretty regular blogging schedule now. He raised a huge sum of money for charity by leveraging his contacts (which are plentiful) as a demonstration at WIS. He’s also one of the biggest Karaoke nuts I’ve ever known next to Michel Fortin. Together they close down bars, singing into the wee hours.
Michel Fortin: Everyone has their favorite copywriting guru. I consider Michel (Mee-Shell) the Michael Jordan of copywriting. His blog is crammed with professional copywriting tips everyone should memorize. He can speak French with my Cajun wife too.
Dave Lakhani: Dave is my favorite Art of Persuasion expert. I am not sure if it is because I truly feel that way or if he made it so via NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming). But I’m pretty sure I regard him highly because of his killer content, his books, and his awesome presentations. (He spoke at both of our Authority Summit marketing conferences in Vegas.)
Miguel Alvarez: Marketing Factor is his new blog, but this guy has been on the scene as a highly successful marketer for at least as long as me. He has a wildly successful hosting company and has fully embraced blogging as his mode of communication and training. He also owns Copywriting.com, which, by the domain alone, should tell you how long he’s been on the web!
A Badass Marketing Blog is Born!
May 15, 2008
My friend Miguel Alvarez just launched one heck of blog at MarketingFactor.com. Not only it is pretty, like Muhammad Ali, it’s already loaded with killer content. Certainly not like most new blogs with the default Wordpress template and one “hello world” post.
Miguel is an incredible designer and video editor. Check out his Twitter marketing video for example.
I am excited about keeping up with Miguel at his new home. He’s no newbie when it comes to creating killer, informative sites. He is also the owner of CopyWriting.com (yeah, he’s been around long enough to have a domain that cool).
I highly recommend you put Marketing Factor on your regular reading list and subscribe to Miguel’s RSS feed. Trust me, you’ll feel much “cooler” by being a subscriber and Miguel will help you get more traffic for sure!
Tags: marketing blogs, marketing factor, miguel alvarez
