Webinar from Mzinga: Marketing Communications in a Social World

Although it might be clichéd to say that social media is revamping the way people and businesses communicate online, it is definitely true. Businesses today need to know about the commonly used applications that are available today. And business owners and marketers need to have a strategy for how they will approach these communities.

Mzinga has a free webinar next week that you will want to sign up for to get a basic knowledge of how to form your strategy. I've attended at least one webinar they offered previously and it was pretty well run and well attended. Read the following description.

From everyday blogs and micro-blogging sites like Twitter to social networking giants like Facebook and LinkedIn, social media has emerged as an essential component in every media-savvy company's corporate communications and marketing outreach strategies. But with so many tools, applications, and websites to choose from, it's important to fully understand your options so you can decide which applications are best-suited to your company’s unique needs and goals. Join early Internet and social media pioneers Dan Bruns and Rusty Williams as they discuss how social media applications and social networking sites are changing the way organizations across all industries approach corporate communications internally and externally.

Would you like to learn more? Sign up for this event: Marketing Communications in a Social World.

Solutions Stars: The Social Opportunity

Network Solutions produced another video to benefit our clients who are mostly small business owners.

Here is the description from the video.

Small businesses have a fantastic opportunity to bypass conventional media and advertising to directly reach their stakeholders. Whether that's through social networks or blogs, entrepreneurs and marketers can engage their conversations in one on one relationships.

Join us on October 29th at 1pm Eastern for this free, live video conference. You'll hear from 34 renowned small business and online marketing experts. Details at www.solutionsstarsvideo.com.

LinkTogether.com Launches!

Network Solutions just launched a new Beta community portal that I'm pretty excited about.

Web Developer Community for Designers, Developers, and Coders | LinkTogether

As the title suggests, this site is for web professionals of all varieties.  Unlike MySolutionSpot, which is for business professionals and marketers, and the more general Network Solutions Forums for clients using our hosting or e-commerce products, LinkTogether addresses a specific need and community. 

What I really like about the image featured on the home page is that it shows a bit of the behind-the-scenes process of creating and building LinkTogether prior to it's launch.  You have a conceptual whiteboard with the current features "Today" and the roadmap spelled out in "Next Steps." 

I'm not in a department that deals with the LinkTogether planning and development, but the great thing is that this niche community will grow itself and is already getting some active members. I can't wait to see where this will go.

If this new community sounds familiar, it was originally posted about on Solutions Are Power. Go check it out!

Introduction to the Semantic Web (For Noobs)

This got posted internally at work, and I found it important enough to cross-post where applicable.

Technical Support Supervisor

The e-commerce technical support team here in Belleville is awaiting an announcement concerning an opening for a new Technical Support Supervisor. Personally, I've applied for the position and am interested in this new job role. The interviews were completed in the last two weeks so we should hear something this week. I'm not a betting man and I don't have a good view on who might be the best candidate. Humbly enough, it might not be me and I'll have no problems with the decision if I'm not chosen.

A good philosophy is that all job interviews should be approached as a learning experience, as well as practice for the NEXT job interview.

More information will be posted as it becomes available.

Update (2008/03/14): Congratulations to Dave L. who received the promotion from Senior Technical Support Representative to Technical Support Supervisor. I haven't had a chance to post an update about the announcement until tonight, but I wanted to. He's earned it. In addition to Dave, they have also hired one external new hire to fill a third supervisor position. Growth continues.

I'm in the Top 11 Posters

An interesting fact I discovered today on our forums is that I am in the top 20 posters. In fact, I'm 11^th in total number of posts. Also interesting is the fact that besides one client, I'm the only member of this top group that has been active in the last month. See the Member List for more details.

Why'd You Remove That Feature?

My Opinion Below

Whenever there is an upgrade to a new version of any software program, inevitably there is some amount of confusion with the new system. It is up to the technical support department to help ferry clients to a new understanding of the new system. One of the most commonly asked questions we will hear regards features that were being used in the previous version but that aren't available or readily apparent (or as easy to use) in the new version.

Why would you remove a feature that our business depends on?! I used that every day! I certainly understand the frustration here. This happens commonly to me with other software programs and I experienced it very strongly in the upgrade from Microsoft Office 2000 to Microsoft Office XP. There was a certain undocumented feature that I used quite often that was not in Office XP. It was several weeks or more of adjustment on my part to get used to the change.

Having seen this side of the software development cycle, I have a little more perspective on it, but I still find it annoying. The cause of these sorts of issues is that the development department is creating a new product from scratch. In most cases like this, the feature that is being referenced wasn't specifically left out on purpose. There wasn't a board meeting where some group decided which features to nix. Instead, there were several meetings where they reviewed usage and importance and functionality of each new feature to be added versus the time and resources that were available to release the product. The important point to take away is that there are always business-based decisions behind every step in the plan, and although that might hurt or inconvenience some clients in the short term it is not done personally. If the option is major critical to users it will be implemented in upgrades to the new system down the line.

This does beg the argument that perhaps it is better to fix current versions and not create a completely new version from scratch, but there are many other considerations to consider here that have to be taken into account. For instance, perhaps the current version of the software uses ASP, but the new version will be written with ASP.NET and gain all the benefits there. You can't simply take the code of the old version and update it as it wouldn't work on the new hardware. So instead you start with code line zero.

It sucks. But it's the nature of the beast.

Shopping Cart Software by MonsterCommerce - Ecommerce Solutions

Several great things have happened in the last 24 hours or so that I feel like celebrating.

• First, a new version of our pro e-commerce software has been released, sometimes called version 7.0 Pro. As discussed on the forums, current clients on v4.6 will not be updated to the new version until after the holidays and we are sure that we have a stable and fully tested upgrade/migration script.
• Second, a big update of our standard e-commerce software has been applied, bringing this version more in line with our pro version, albeit still with only the standard features. This version was considered v5.0, but the new version will be called v7.0 Standard.
• Thirdly, to keep pace with the new look and feel of these new programs, our home page has been updated graphically and with more information relating to the new software.

Haven't seen our home page in a while? Stop by at MonsterCommerce.com. You can see screen shots as well as a graphical demo.

MonsterCommerce Helps "Neighbors for Renewal"

The following was featured in an internal company wide announcement.

Several employees of the Network Solutions Belleville office have been donating their Saturday mornings to help Neighbors for Renewal in Belleville, a not-for-profit corporation that acquires homes that are in severe disrepair, rehabilitates them using (primarily) volunteer labor, and then makes those homes available for sale at a reduced price to low income qualified families.

The Belleville team of volunteers is currently working every Saturday morning from 9am to 11am rehabbing a home that was built in the early 1800's. The house, when complete, will be used as a community-wide food pantry for the Belleville community. Once this project is complete, the team of volunteers will begin work on another house which will be used by Belleville High School District 201 as a transition house to teach housekeeping skills to autistic and learning impaired students so that they may live independently.

MonsterCommerce | eCartReviews

Here is an independent blog and forum site with reviews and information about e-commerce software like ours. I've linked to the blog category referencing MonsterCommerce | eCartReviews.

MonsterCommerce Live on WebmasterRadio.FM for TownHall Meeting

I personally use Google news alerts to have any new information about subjects that interest me automatically sent to my email inbox. The following story showed up on Sun, May 1, 2005. The article is posted to PRWeb.

The WebmasterRadio.FM MonsterCommerce TownHall meeting is an hour long radio special airing May 4th at 6:00 p.m. EST.

Fort Lauderdale, FL (PRWEB) May 2, 2005 -- MonsterCommerce senior executivesDan Kennedy (VP Client Services) and Jen Heil (CTO) are set to co-host a live "TownHall" meeting on WebmasterRadio.FM scheduled for Wednesday, May 4th at 6:00 p.m. EST. To tune in, visit http://www.webmasterradio.fm.

The WebmasterRadio.FM MonsterCommerce TownHall meeting is an hour long radio special. Listeners will have the ability to either call into the show live or post questions or observations in the Lounge (formerly known as the chat room). The TownHall meeting is open to WebmasterRadio.FM listeners currently doing business with or interested in finding out more about MonsterCommerce. This program is a continuation of their strong outreach program to the webmaster / on-line business community.

"As e-commerce experts, we feel that providing an open forum for WebmasterRadio.FM listeners allows us to show our continued support of webmasters and the industry in general," Dan Kennedy explained.

MonsterCommerce is the industry leader in web-based e-commerce storefront systems, trusted by thousands of companies to manage their vital e-commerce operations. A provider since 1998, MonsterCommerce powers over 5,000 stores with their customizable and integrated services including domain registration, storefront systems, merchant accounts, Web site promotion, SSL security and e-commerce power hosting.

MonsterCommerce also offers Reseller Packages with deep discounts for webmasters with multiple stores. To meet customer needs in accordance with the company's dedication to exceptional customer support, promotion services and design are also offered.

About WebmasterRadio.FM
WebmasterRadio.FM strives to lift the "veiled curtain" of the Internet to bring the business community together through an interactive radio network. Its listeners are a global group comprised of everyone from corporate executives and decision makers to individuals who work for themselves, small and mid-sized businesses to those just starting out. The WebmasterRadio.FM listening audience has a vast appeal to anyone looking to learn industry-specific information from the most successful marketers and technology experts in the world. These Internet "influencers" create, learn and listen in a true community destination. Visit http://www.webmasterradio.fm to join in the MonsterCommerce TownMeeting or to check out the stellar lineup of programming.

Media Contact:
Brandy Shapiro-Babin
303-882-5246

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