Net Neutrality aka Network Neutrality or Internet Neutrality is meant to be a neutral internet, unbiased, and equal to all. On Dec 21 2010 the FCC made three rulings regarding this very idea. The tight voting, which will also need congressional approval are:

1) Internet-service providers will not be able to block legal applications or services
2) Providers will have to disclose their network management techniques in a push for transparency
3) Providers will not be able to “unfairly discriminate” against content

The rulings were cut along party lines and with a Democratic President in office and a Republican Congress, the spin and swagger from the politicos is in full swing. Considering the billions involved in internet control (or lack thereof) it’s a red hot issue and ambitious politicians and lobbyists are eager to be heard. But let’s stay away from their tussle for this post and look at what it actually means to folks who rely on the web for their income and information.

This ruling has no bearing on mobile phones as the FCC declared cell phone networks to be a separate issue. With the tremendous growth rate of mobile internet users, separating the two seems short sighted and counterproductive.  Along with leaving out the mobile market the rulings are ambiguous.

The order prohibits network providers from charging application and content providers for access to the network’s Internet service customers. However, it does provide the possibility of “paid prioritization” with a very high hurdle.

So, the FCC has laid out the hoops for the poodle show, only the next act involves lions. Broad band providers like Verizon and Time Warner have indicated a tier pricing system that could become a pay to play structure. They say if they pay for and maintain the lines, which costs billions, they should be able to charge what they like. That sounds fair in a free economy right? Google says Internet regulations will hinder if not halt innovation. They say whatever they touch on the internet they make better anyway, and they specifically point to YouTube. Who wants to stop innovation? Not me that’s for sure!

Then there’s the proverbial writing on the wall. Can we rely on the network providers to do the right thing? Would they see a problem with disallowing competition to even come through? Can we depend on them not to extort the mom and pop shops to financially compete with the fortune 500 for page rank?

That’s the conundrum, when you listen to the network providers you hear the word “free” and when you hear the government they heed the word “regulation”.  I don’t know about you, but I pay for my internet as is and don’t really want to pay more especially for a censored version. And when the government uses the word “regulation” I hear taxation.

I don’t know, I can’t make up my mind. Should the government oversee the internet or should we let the providers call the shots?

Speak your blog.

There are many reasons why businesses aren’t blogging today and the number one reason I hear is that people just don’t have the time. Other excuses are; they don’t like to sit down and type or people don’t know how to spell that well or every time they have a great idea they’re not in front of a keyboard or don’t have any paper on them.  I wanted to show you through this Mobile Phone application called Dragon Dictation that you don’t have to sit at a keyboard, you can write your own content or speak your own content right into this application as I’m doing via my iPhone 4.

You can find Dragon Dictation on the Apple App Store, and here’s the big kicker, it’s for free.  Dragon Dictation is an easy-to-use voice recognition application powered by Nuance Communications that allows you to speak easily and instantly see your text or e-mail messages. In fact, it’s up to five times faster than typing on your keyboard. With Dragon Dictation you can also dictate status updates directly to your social networking applications like Facebook and Twitter or send notes and reminders to yourself all using your own voice.  So when you’re on the go, stop typing and start speaking from one short text messages to longer e-mail messages and anything in between. Right now Dragon Dictation currently supports US English, UK English and German and French. Italian and Spanish support will be added later this year.

I’ve tried other dictation to text devices before and by far Dragon works the best.

Some things to consider when using Dragon, is that if you shut off the application after you were  finished without copying you could lose your work so I suggest when you are done to immediately copy it and paste into a notes application which I’ve done for this process.

Coming up with fresh content isn’t always easy,  sometimes great ideas come to you when you least expect it, so now when you say you don’t have time to write a blog…..  It’s as easy as speaking the words, saving and copy-paste. With this application there shouldn’t be any new excuses why you couldn’t write a blog for your website.

So that’s it. Now this blog is written. All I had to do now was edit, make sure all the words make sense and if I had miss spoke to correct that, and also make sure that all the punctuation marks are placed correctly within my sentences.

Hopefully for some, this will solve the problem of  you don’t have time to write good content or you’re not a very good typist. So please speak your mind into the comments section, we would love to know what you think about this.

(This blog was written about 90% through the dictation application. You can click HERE and see the unedited version. Admittedly most of the corrections I had to make was because I misspoke or didn’t convey the actual thought I intended. It took me about 15 minutes to dictate and copy text to this blog. It took another 15 minutes to edit, and this is the first time I ever did this kind of thing.  Absolutely amazing how much time I saved and how easy this was. Below is a short tutorial on how Dragon Dictation works).

Fiber vs. T1 – is there really a choice?

When Cazbah moved into new offices a few years ago, we explored options for phone and internet service.  The only feasible option was to choose a conventional T1 line to be installed that would be split between a VoIP phone system and internet service.  We contracted with a major provider who coordinated the work between a number of companies and after a few months, our service was operational.  This approach also required the purchase of a standalone hybrid VoIP telephone system to “translate” between the T1 and our phones.  The system works fine.

Unfortunately, as it turns out, the build-out of a fiber optic network throughout Ontario County was not yet positioned for service into our facility.  A little background:  The $7.5 million ring of optical fiber being built in Ontario County is designed to bring high-speed Internet service and improved wireless and cellular service to all corners of the county. The ring is a project of the nonprofit corporation Axcess Ontario, also known as Finger Lakes Regional Telecommunications Development Corporation.  Additional information can be found at http://www.co.ontario.ny.us/tdc/index.html .  One national bit of recognition from the Harvard University’s Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation at the John F. Kennedy School of Government entitled Ontario County Fiber-optic ring garners praise can be found at http://www.rbj.net/article.asp?aID=185241.  All-in-all, the project has received significant recognition on a national level that should be saluted by all of us that have access to the ring.

Now, back to Cazbah:
We recently determined that our bandwidth was insufficient due to our growth and we went about the process of bringing in additional bandwidth.  We contacted a local company, Finger Lakes Technologies Group and were pleasantly surprised to discover that the ring was now totally accessible to our location and after a few simple conversations, we committed to the installation of a local link to the new fiber optic network that was now approaching maturity.

Here’s what it came down to:

Choice 1 consisted of the installation of an additional T1 that, although it would increase our bandwidth, involved a lengthy installation process involving more than 1 service provider.

Choice 2 would be to go with Finger Lakes Technologies Group and have them install a link from a local demarcation point into our facility.

The T1 would be a static increase in bandwidth that was based on conventional technology that has been around a long time.  The fiber optic link, based upon new but proven technology, has a very interesting feature in that now, when our continued growth demands additional bandwidth, we simply place a call and through a software modification, can instantaneously dial up the bandwidth without requiring the installation of any new hardware!

Oh, and by the way……  the economics of the fiber ring option certainly added to making the choice an easy one.  It is not exactly an apples to apples comparison, but the performance difference of 10 to 1 in download speed and 2 to 1 in upload speed along with a significant cost advantage certainly suggests that the choice between fiber and T1 is an easy one for those whose proximity allows access.

There’s nothing better than a fired-up client … a client eager to spend resources and energy on doing smart things in a smart way … a client ready for results and willing to do what it takes to get them.

And there’s nothing worse than having to tell that client to holster it back up because they aren’t ready to pull the trigger.

That is sometimes the situation we find ourselves in when our small business clients are interested in implementing social media strategies before they have made sure that the location they are driving traffic to – usually their Web site – is prepared to handle the traffic.

When it comes to marketing their own brand, many small- and mid-sized businesses are working with limited resources.  So a decision to increase focus in one area often inadvertently becomes a decision to decrease attention in another.

Embarking on a social media strategy is a major undertaking for any company, an effort that often manages to soak up a lot of internal resources.  This can mean that the more mundane efforts it takes to update the company Web site can often go ignored, leaving the place you are trying to drive more traffic to looking something less than its best. Why is this a problem?  Because social media efforts are just a means to an end, with your final goal being to convert traffic into sales.

It’s important that the first step of your social media strategy be taking a look at your Web site and making sure it is an effective end-destination for every tweet, blog post and shared video.

• Are there clear “calls to action” throughout your Web site?
• Are your products and service pages current, accurate and complete?
• If you are targeting a specific audience with specific services/products needs in your social media efforts, are those services/products easily found?
• Are your contact pages updated and complete?  Is it easy for customers to continue the dialog that you started with a social media vehicle?
• Is your Web site content of interest to your social media audiences?

Pages that need simple corrections should be taken care of right away.  Any section that needs more extensive effort should be avoided as landing pages for social media traffic.  Once you are comfortable that your Web site is ready and able to do handle the new traffic, your company can feel comfortable in taking its first shot at social media success.

Account Manager

Cazbah, an Internet marketing services firm, provides small to mid-sized businesses with everything they need to succeed on the Internet. Our highly effective solution includes a dynamic database driven Web site with simplified content management, search engine optimization, e-mail marketing, e-commerce shopping cart, and dedicated service and ongoing support. Cazbah customers gain a greater level of control and generate measurable results!

Responsibilities
Key responsibilities for the Account Manager position include identifying and defining our clients’ requirements and needs, managing all aspects of a clients’ online sales and marketing strategy, and understanding and applying the Cazbah capabilities to our clients’ situational needs. Responsibilities include:

• Training our clients on the Cazbah tool set
• Monthly contact with clients
• Development and implementation of Internet marketing plans
• Working with the Cazbah production team to implement Internet marketing plans
• Analyze Web site performance and make appropriate adjustments to Internet marketing plan.

Required Skills
Candidate must have Internet marketing experience and have knowledge of how Web sites are built and maintained. A BS/BA degree or equivalent work experience in customer support, marketing or technology industry is also required. Experience working with small businesses/start ups preferred. In support of this, the candidate will have the following:

• Excellent communication skills and feel comfortable dealing with their assigned clients on a daily basis
• Basic Web site editing skills
• Strong knowledge of MS Word and Excel, and basic photo editing knowledge

Preferred Sills
The ideal candidate will have a passion for small businesses along with a strong knowledge of Web development. Preferred candidates will be skilled in the following areas:

• Google AdWords knowledge / certification
• Google Analytics knowledge / certification
• E-mail marketing knowledge
• Social media marketing knowledge
• Sales and distribution knowledge for retail and manufacturing industries

Benefits
The Cazbah Account Manager position is a salaried position with a healthcare plan, and matching simple IRA.

Please send cover letter and resume via e-mail to careers@cazbah.net
No phone calls please. We are an EEO Employer.

Recently, I spoke with a new prospect, who decided not to participate in one of our webinars because he preferred doing business “face to face” and stated that if I wouldn’t travel to his office in Ohio, he didn’t want to continue in discussions. Understood – that is certainly his prerogative which I’m sure has served him well for many years.

It made me sit back however and consider objectively the pros and cons of online meetings. Online meetings are certainly both time and cost effective, and less intrusive but may lack traditional warm, personal contact. The challenge is to improve the ability to build a strong, personal relationship with customers through the technology.

I have been doing online webinars for almost five years and have used several tools during that time –like WebEx, Adobe and Gotomeeting and others. Regardless of the tool, what I found to be critical to a successful event is to maintain personal contact as much as possible. So here are some suggestions based on my experience.

At the start of the meeting, build a sense of community by introducing the participants to each other.  Let them each say hello to each other (assuming the group is small) just as you would if you were standing before them in a conference room. This is a polite courtesy you would do if you met in person, right? If the group is too large for personal hellos, address the group as you would in a larger auditorium with a nice welcoming statement that is as personable as possible. This will help everyone feel both included and valued. Let your personality shine through before getting into your formal product information.

For years now my customers have asked me about video on their websites and how that medium might be used to compliment their products and services sales. Until recently, I have always been a bit cautious because of the time and cost of producing videos versus the benefit received from such a marketing activity.

In the last year we’ve seen a number of tools introduced into the marketplace to increase value while decreasing the amount of time spent producing videos. Social media sites like YouTube and Facebook have made it very easy to upload videos and share them. Additionally, video camera and even cell phone technology have made it much easier to create videos and get them onto the internet for viewing.

Why
So why would you ever want to create a video for your ecommerce web site? You want sales. After all isn’t that why you have a commerce site? Video can give you a real competitive advantage by sharing your knowledge and advice on how to get the most out of the product or service you are selling. This will attract viewers who,if done correctly, can become customers.

How
I like to use a video camera called Flip Video. This inexpensive video recorder is small and easy to use. It creates quality video without a lot of complexity. Most importantly Flip Video has very easy to use software for editing and uploading your videos. Once you have shot your video you need to decide where to upload it. I use YouTube as the hub for my customer’s videos. YouTube allows you to store your videos for free and has a number of tools to allow you to promote them. Once I have uploaded the video to YouTube I can embed that video on my customer’s web site, blog, Facebook, etc.

Results
In the end the reason we do this is because we are creating value. We are showing the world what we know about our products and services so we can build trust and ultimately make more sales. This is precisely what a number of our clients have done. For instance take a look at my customer’s video listed on the Google search page for the term “saniguard spray”. My customer doesn’t just sell Saniguard spray, he creates value by showing how to use it properly. This video has done a lot to increase their sales of the Saniguard spray product line. Lastly I will leave you with a video that took me about an hour and a half to shoot, produce, and upload. I used a Flip Video, uploaded to YouTube and then embedded the video to my customer’s appropriate product web page. The “video value” my customer creates in this video will be sure to increase his sales. How can you increase your “video value”?

read more

(Today’s post is contributed by Jim Pearson, a senior, doing his undergraduate work in Information Technology at the B. Thomas Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences at the Rochester Institute of Technology. Jim is presently working as a coop at Cazbah in the IT department.)

When I was growing up, my Dad instilled in me early on a love for technology and all things computer related. He has always had a passion for it himself and thankfully, he passed that torch on to me.

Over the course of my years, I have seen technology change and develop at an exponential rate. This of course has impacted the way the normal person does business in a vast amount of ways. When we got our first family computer, it was (by standards then) a moderate machine. If memory serves it was a Pentium 166 with 32 Megabytes of ram.

Now though, you could buy that computer for around the cost of a dinner at any restaurant. Its mind boggling to think just how far we have come in the past 20 years with computers. Just the other day, I was in the kitchen talking to my parents and my phone rang. I checked it and casually replied “Oh, I have an email”. My Mom looked at me like I had grown a third arm. She couldn’t believe I could get email on my phone. I told her all the other things it could do (email, texting, Internet browsing) and her only reply was “It still makes calls, right?”. We laughed but shes right, my phone now is more of a computer than our family PC was for 10 years.

That’s not it either, as computers become more advanced so do the things we do with them. I can remember a time…a time before Facebook, before Twitter, and when Myspace was just starting out. If someone said the word “blog” you thought they were speaking some other language. In such a short span of time, the Internet (along with computers) has completely changed. People are able to stay in contact with just about anyone in the world. Companies are able to reach out to customers they were previously denied. Nothing, seemingly, is off limits with access to the Internet.

The biggest obstacle is actually knowing how to use the technology available to you, and using it to your advantage. It can be extremely daunting to someone unfamiliar with it, and that can breed hesitation to try new things. The best advice I can give someone who is in that position is to simply ask. Find someone who knows about it and sit them down. Once you know the pros and cons, then make a decision, don’t let fear of the unknown or untested scare you.

Technology has changed drastically in the past 10 years, and it shows no signs of slowing down. Embrace it. Adapt and grow with it because as it continues to change (and believe me, it will), the structure of the world and business around you will change with it.

Are you up for it?

(The importance of your differences cannot be overstated.)

The short answer to this question is, you do! If you want to do more business, more effectively on the Internet, then you definitely need a Unique Value Proposition.

The term Unique Value Proposition can be best understood by breaking it down into its parts.

Unique refers to the characteristics of your product or service offering that distinguish you from as many of your competitors as possible. Think about it. What is it about what you do that sets you apart? Take the time to really understand how you are different from your competition. Then, write it down!

Value is the intrinsic worth of your offering to your customers. In other words, it defines what your customers get for their money. If you’re having difficulty with this one, ask your customers to describe how your service or product has helped them. Take this input and translate it into several concise statements.

Webster defines Proposition as; a statement containing only logical constants and having a fixed truth or value. That pretty much sums it up! It is your factual and truthful proposal to your customer. Being able to qualify and quantify your claims is very important and makes your Unique Value Proposition that much stronger!

The Internet is a tremendous resource for gaining a better understanding for the UVP concept. There are numerous examples that you can find online through a search using any search engine, on the terms ‘Unique Value Proposition.’ Using the results of your search as a model, construct your own Unique Value Proposition.

Documenting your Unique Value Proposition and making it easy to understand is very important. As with goals, the elements of your Unique Value Proposition are not real until you have written them down. Once you have done so, place them somewhere that you are sure to see them. Reading them on a regular basis is an excellent test of their accuracy. Ultimately, your customer will determine how well you have captured your Unique Value.

As an aid in this process, ask yourself this question: “What is it about what we do that makes us different (better)?” And, “Why should anybody care?” Combining your honest answer to these two question with some objectivity and customer input will get you far along the path to identifying and documenting your Unique Value Proposition.

Use mind mapping to capture your Unique Value Proposition. Write your product or service features in the center of separate pieces of paper. Once you have documented the features in this way, draw a circle around each one. Then, write the benefits that your customers receive from that feature in smaller circles, surrounding the center. Connect the circles with lines, like spokes in a wheel. When finished, evaluate them all to ensure that they accurately represent your offering. Compile each feature map page into one sentence. Then, combine the sentences into an itemized list or paragraph. Congratulations, you have just created your Unique Value Proposition.

As I mentioned before, your customer will be the ultimate judge of the accuracy of your UVP. Take the time to test your newfound focus by sending it to some of your better, longer term customers to gain their insights. Their input will provide you with the finer points that will allow you to refine and sharpen your Unique Value Proposition even further.

All The Business!

We’ve been at this specialty small business online marketing game for the better part of 10 years now, and we have hundreds of successful specialty small business customers, for whom we generate literally tens of millions of dollars in new revenue from the web…

So here’s what really chaps my set-upon; I would have to say that every customer (to a one) that we’ve gotten (and still have by the way) over the years, has had at least one (if not several) bad experience with another web development company or so-called guru or expert, before we’ve had the pleasure of their business.

In most cases this has cost them tens of thousands of dollars in fees for a mediocre website and whatnot, plus the loss of revenues, i.e., the money they should have made but didn’t. This can easily get into the hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Being completely objective, which is difficult for me to do in this particular case, this is a blessing and a curse:

The Blessing — There are an ever increasing number of hucksters out there putting out an incessant commentary on the virtues (not that they would know virtue if it bit them) of Internet Marketing, in all of its varied forms and functions.

That’s good, because whether they realize it or not, they are advancing the cause, so-to-speak, by raising the awareness of the relatively uninitiated small business owner or entrepreneur for all things Internet. If there is anything we can use more of it’s awareness.

The Curse — These maleficent marketers who shill, bait and switch, sell a pig in a poke, have no concern for the bad faith and jaundice they create in the industry as a whole. I can’t tell you the number of times we hear things like, “You guys are all the same.” Or, “I just talked to a group that does exactly what you do.” Or, “I spent 2o grand with the company who did my website and now they want even more money to fix it. Why should I trust you?”