My Map Strings web site has made $6.50 in ad clicks this month vs. ‘nothing’ most months (a 22,000% increase). I’m assuming this has something to do with Apple maps, but let’s look at the data:
Visits started going up Sep 5 and peaked on Sep 6 at 42 visits a day, but averaged 30 a day for the next 20 days. Most keyword searches are for ‘google maps for kindle fire’ or some variation. How To Run Google Maps On the Kindle Fire is the top content post, making up the majority of the traffic.
So I guess it has nothing to do with Apple maps, but what would cause the increase starting on Sep 5th? Maybe this stuff:
So apparently Amazon had a meeting on September 6th and announced two new Kindle Fires and because the Kindle doesn’t natively come with Google Maps (or Apple Maps) my nifty guide on how to manually add it seemed to resonate with people. If you’re interested in the new Kindle Fires, details below:
The Kindle Fire HD is $199 and comes with a 1280×800 HD display, Dolby audio, dual-band, dual-antenna Wi-Fi for 40% faster downloads and streaming (compared to iPad 3), and a 1.2 Ghz dual-core processor with Imagination PowerVR 3D graphics core for fast and fluid performance. It has integrated support for Facebook, Twitter, Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo! and more, as well as Exchange calendar, contacts, and email. But here’s the kicker: free Skype video calls with front-facing HD camera and free unlimited cloud storage for all your Amazon content. Wowsers.
Here’s the bottom line: if you’re looking for a media device that can deliver Amazon content like Amazon Instant Video, you can’t get that on an iPad. This is where it works best.
I do IT services for dentists and dental offices, specifically Dentrix training and implementation, Google Apps intranets, and WordPress websites.
I’m an IT Business Analyst that provides IT services for dental offices. I’ve been providing IT services for 7 years after graduating from IU in Indianapolis. I’m A+, Network+, and Microsoft certified. I have experience with Dentrix G4 and G5 and am looking for other dental offices who are considering switching to Dentrix.
IT Business Analyst and Indianapolis Dentrix Expert
I recently upgraded a dental office in Indianapolis from Dentrix G4 to Dentrix G5. I’ve also helped them with their dental website design and online marketing efforts from Facebook to Twitter to Google Adsense. In addition to technical design and implementation, I also do business consulting in the form of staffing models.
It’s become cliche to say you’re experienced at Microsoft Office, but I’d say I’m a pretty advanced Excel user. I even made an analogy at my last Indianapolis Marketing Meetup meetup that Google Analytics’ database could be manipulated similarly to a pivot table in Excel. Excel is a great tool and one I’m fond of for organizing and displaying information, which is something I really like doing.
In fact, you could boil almost everything I do down to organization and display because whether I’m setting up a Windows server, a network architecture, a website in WordPress, an Intranet in Google Apps, or a custom dashboard in Excel, I’m always doing the same thing: categorizing, organizing, and displaying information so it’s easy to follow, easy to read, and useful.
Do I always succeed? No, but I’m continually seeking ways to get better – and I adapt to my users. Dentrix is a perfect example of this. I didn’t set out to learn Dentrix, but when no one in the dental office knew how to use it, they asked me to learn it and teach others – so that’s what I did. Now I realize that Dentrix is just CRM software to organize and display patient information to dentists. Who would have thought?
While white roof paint is a great way to save energy, sometimes you want to make more energy too. This UL-listed 120-Volt AC solar kit is truly “plug & play”. The 240-Watt “DeckPower120” is designed for ease of use and allows you to simply mount to a deck or outside post with included deck bracket. Simply plug the DeckPower120 into a standard dedicated outside electrical receptacle, and that’s it, no electrician required!
Buy one panel, or buy up to five at any time for up to 1,300 watts of household AC electricity on one circuit! NO costly installation, NO headaches, and NO worries: the “DeckPower120” is a technological breakthrough that offers up to a 50% reduction in wiring requirements by eliminating all DC-side design and installation issues! The deck bracket assembles quickly and attaches to your deck railing as-is with no modification of your deck, and it’s adjustable for a “just right” angle to the sun year round!
DeckPower120 kits are eligible for the 30% Federal tax credit, and additional State tax credits may apply, further reducing your payback time! With SpinRay Energy’s advanced technology, our panels require no maintenance, are easily expandable, and have a 15-year limited warranty. Just sit back and enjoy the lower electric bills!
Here’s what one reviewer had to say, “This is a great way to get started in “green” energy. When combined with the SpinRay deck mounting kit this was made for the “do-it-yourselfer”. It took about 30 minutes to unpack the panel and mount it on the home deck railing. The customer designed mount allowed the solar panel to be mounted securely and easily to the deck rail. After mounting, just plugged it into the outdoor deck electrical outlet nand it was creating over 200 watts of power that was feeding into the house electrical system. Just need to find which deck railing direction had the most sun exposure. What is great about the solar power system, is that additional solar panels can be easily added and plugged together and do not require additional outdoor outlets. Really like all the water proof components and electrical connections.”
Another reviewer said, “Well, purchased both the 120 and 240 volt AC panel and kits from SpinRay Energy. I plugged in the 240 watt panel a few days ago and today I did the same to the 120 volt system. Was super easy to get running. I opened the 2 boxes, panel in one and mounting kit in the other. I put the deck mounting kit together and mounted the panel on it. Took about 20 minutes to assemble. After I got it put together I went over to my deck and it easily hooked onto it, AMAZING….lol. Then I plugged it into an outside plug that I use for my hedge trimmer, outside lights, etc. I also purchased a “kill a watt” electrical monitor from them and to check to see if this panel/inverter worked correctly. After 5 minutes of the system getting electricity from the house plug the inverter turned on and started producing about 218 watts, when you unplug the house plug the solar panel stops producing power, just like it supposed to. The system came with UL certifcates that say the solar panel and the inverter are UL approved and listed so I guess nothing is more safe then that. And after plugging in and unplugging a dozen times I feel safe that this system works as advertised.”
Von Neumann helped develop quantum mechanics theories, economic and game theory, nuclear technology, and computer science – so one should take notice when someone is quoted as being “The Next von Neumann”
Arnold Neumaier, who some call, “The Next von Neumann”, is an avid Christian and physicist interested in the global Optimization (integrating convexity, optimization, logic programming, and computational algebraic geometry), foundations of mathematics (building an automatic mathematical research system), the foundations of theoretical physics (interpretation of quantum mechanics and statistical physics), and applied mathematics of all sorts (from protein folding to cattle breeding to uncertainty modeling in space system design). He has written books on topics in finite geometry, numerical analysis (Introduction to Numerical Analysis), and Lie algebras.
One of Neumaier’s most cited works (coauthored with Martin Fuchs) is entitled, “Autonomous robust design optimisation with potential clouds,” which states that, “The task of autonomous and robust design cannot be regarded as a single task, but consists of two tasks that have to be accomplished concurrently.” Neumaier writes, “Science is the truth only in matters that can be objectified. In the spiritual world, where values, goals, authority and purpose are located, science has nothing to say. It is a poor life that is restricted to the scientific standard of truth, where you and I are nothing but a collection of atoms without meaning and purpose. Realizing the narrow-minded nature of science opens the gate to an understanding of God that complements the scientific truth and gives life, love and peace.”
When you’re a new or growing business, when you’re ready to add employees, it may be better to hire temporary employees or what are called “virtual assistants”. Virtual assistants are workers who work by the hour on things you would have had to do yourself.
Depending on the firm, virtual assistants can help you with everything from checking your email and making appointments to web design or other web services. This is similar to the term, “long hallway”, which means a distributed company. I’ve provided a couple of different types here:
American Virtual Assistants:
eaHELP is the leader in sourcing busy professionals with high-quality American executive virtual assistants.
Longer Days provides a single point of contact called a team lead that enables customers to accomplish a wide variety of work that would traditionally require a half a dozen employees.
Overseas Virtual Assistants:
GetFriday is your personal virtual assistant. GetFriday can undertake any task, business or personal, that does not require our physical presence.
Brick Work India created a unique business solution, the virtual office, to cater to the specific needs of such companies and CXOs.
Other Types of eWorkers:
Elance allows you to post a job with a bid to get proposals from multiple freelance workers across the globe. Also consider Odesk, Guru and vWorker.
A friend of mine recently started testing two social media tools, Seesmic and Path. Here is what he discovered:
I would recommend Seesmic. It currently is free only because it is in beta. It will be a pay service when it comes out of beta.
Pros:
-Can post to multiple social media outlets at once (and can easily switch your mix in-message)
-Can handle multiple iterations of the same social media platform (your can connect as many twitter, etc. accounts as you want)
-Can schedule post and reliably deliver at the scheduled time
-Adjusts the “Characters remaining” indicator according to the max of the minimum social media platform (i.e. it shows 5000 char remaining if just facebook and 140 if twitter is in the mix.)
-handles photos, links, and tags accurately and intelligently
-interface is simple, efficient, and aesthetically pleasing; good UX
-has a “save drafts” queue
Cons:
-Only posts to facebook, twitter, and linkedin
-their icon/badge (especially on facebook) looks stupid and will be on your messages viewed on the web
-the cost of service is unknown
-there isn’t a “pending posts” for posts that have been future dates
-setttings management is somewhat limited on the iphone app – some things have to be done on web
-links aren’t auto-shortened (may be too long)
As an alternative, there is Path. Compared to Seesmic, Path’s advantages are:
-free
-can post to tumblr and foursquare also (but not linkedin)
-can be used as one-stop social media manager and public-or-private quantified self tool
-added functionality to tag with people, places, music
As an alternative to Seesmic, Path’s disadvantages are:
-can’t schedule posts
-no characters remaining gauge
-no “saved drafts” page
-can only establish one profile per social media platform (1 facebook, 1 twitter)
-difficult to add new profile once you have it set up
With due diligence and a lack of self sabotage things will continue to get better. They are good right now, but there’s room for improvement. I’m expanding my focus from WordPress web design to Google Apps and it’s corresponding marketplace apps such as Salesforce.com to be a cloud app shop more than just a design shop. This is what Small Box Web might call becoming more integrated.
I’ve always been a business analyst/consultant in a designers clothing so now I’m just letting more of the tech side shine through. I had other brands like Telablue, Growmotion Marketing, Professional Technology Consulting, Geek Hand, Managing Actions, and Ether Fleet, but I consolidated those late last year into one Watershawl brand. After redesigning my logo to have a “water shawl” around a user head I saw the connection between the “water shawl” and a “cloud” and saw an opportunity to rebrand my services as cloud apps.
I struggled for a long time with how to connect web design with technology consulting, but once I realized the connection was cloud apps, it was easy because WordPress and Google Apps both live in the cloud. Essentially I want to be an Appirio for small businesses. I looked at applying there, but it looked like I wasn’t qualified even though I’m doing a lot of that stuff already. Instead I’m just going to learn from them.
In high school I ran a club and when it came time for me to graduate I handed over leadership to a sophomore named Mike Martin. Mike went on to get a degree in computer engineering and now works at Appirio. I’m having lunch with him on Monday to pick his brain and see if he’d be willing to freelance with me on some projects.
I’d love to get a client in Evansville. If you run across a company that has a website, but is still using a Comcast or Gmail email address then they are a candidate for Google Apps. It’s free for up to 10 users and after that $50 per user per year. Once they are on Google Apps they can add CRM, project management, or accounting software easily and cross-selling a web design becomes easier.
In April of 2009, Steve Blank and Eric Ries gave a presentation on Customer Development at a Startup2Startup Conference in Palo Alto, California. They called it The Customer Development Model, which stated that, “More startups fail from a lack of customers than from a failure of product development”.
But it’s not just startups, more companies fail from a lack of customers than from a lack of a great product, yet most of the time a company forms around a product and then tries to go out and find customers for that product. What if there was a way you could find the customers first, build a product for those customers, and then create a company? There is and it’s called Customer Development.
Customer Development is a rigorous methodology developed by Steve Blank to bring the scientific method to the typically chaotic, seemingly disorganized startup process. Blank’s first book, The Four Steps to the Epiphany, detailed the Customer Development process and his second book, The Startup Owner’s Manual, is a step-by-step guide to building a successful startup, offering practical advice for any startup founder, entrepreneur, investor or educator.
According to Steve Blank, Customer Development involves four steps:
Customer Discovery – Create a hypotheses about who your customer might be and then ask those customers what they want, how they work, what they hate, and what they want more of.
Customer Validation – Develop a repeatable and scalable sales process. Only “earlyvangelists” are crazy enough to buy.
Customer Creation – After proof of sales, creation is where you “cross the chasm”. It is a strategy, not a tactic.
Company Building – (Re)build your company’s organization and management. Re-look at your mission.
Credit: Steve Blank and Eric Ries
But what if you’ve already started your company and you already have products? You can still use these same methods to find out who your target customer is, what they want, and how they talk in order to create custom marketing directly to them.
Steve Blank says, that “Customer Development is about testing the founder’s hypothesis about what constitutes product/market fit with the minimum feature set.” What is product/market fit? I would define product/market fit as the moment when the iterations of your product match the desires and needs of a market in a way that the customer would actually be mad at you if you didn’t let them have the product. Once you’ve achieved this state, it’s time to “fuel the engine” as Eric Ries says, and build it fast. This is the moment you’ll want to attract funding and start adding as many customers as possible (Customer Creation) in order to build a company. In this way, the entire company is built around the customer, not the [by]product.
Customer Discovery
Customer Discovery involves “getting out of the building” and doing Customer and Solution Interviews. Part of the Lean Startup methodology, which combines Customer Development and Agile Development to create a business model that values learning, these interviews are the best way to find out your customers wants and needs – so that you can solve them. Like Agile methodology, Lean methodology uses iterative processes and the Scientific Method to hypothesize, test, and learn in order to create a product that customers actually want before building it. Once they have this “product/market fit” they built it as fast as possible.
What are your customer’s pain points? What are they complaining about? Where do they hang out? What words do they use? It’s only when you know the answers to these questions that you can then determine if they are both able and willing to pay for the solution. The first part of that question is called a Customer Interview.
Here’s an example of a customer interview:
You “get out of the building” and meet with a potential customer in your market and ask them what sort of problems they run into on a daily basis. The business owner tells you about having too much spam in their email.
Now that you know the customer has a problem with too much spam, you create a hypothesis about what product might solve this problem for the customer and set up a second meeting called a Solution Interview to determine what the customer thinks of the solution, if they are willing to pay, and if they are able to pay for it.
Here’s an example of a solution interview:
You meet with the customer, present the solution to them, and ask if they would be willing to pay to have their spam reduced.
Write down any feedback you get because the point is not to sell the product at this point, the point is to learn as much as you can so you can go back and refine the product to create product/market fit. Even if you can’t change the product, you can still iterate your approach or how you you’re using the product to solve that problem. It could be that your product is a better answer to another problem or that a new product is needed.
Applying Customer Development and Lean Methodologies to Content Marketing
Joseph Dager, Lean Marketing consultant and author of Lean Marketing House, says that “Lean Sales and Marketing is about applying Customer Value to the Demand side of your business.”
If you’re solving clients problems you won’t have to do much marketing at all – the customers will seek you out. If they aren’t seeking you out, you might not be solving their problems. But how do you identify what your customers pain points are? The simplest answer is to ask your target client or existing client base what things are bothering them most and when you start to see a trend, you can start to ask if they’d be willing to pay for it to get fixed.
Content/Market Fit
We believe that content marketing is the best way to attract customers when marketing online.
We’ve adapted the customer development process for content marketing and developed a way to create content that achieves a product/market fit that we call content/market fit. We spend more time on content development so that our client’s customers find them. Why? Because the content we develop content that solves a problem for our client’s customers. Whenever they search for the problem they’re having, our client’s solutions are displayed as the answer. In this way, you’re working more in sync with Google’s goals of wanting to deliver the most relevant content to users seeking out answers to their problems.
We help business bloggers write content that answers their customer’s problems.
By spending more time finding out what problems your customers are having, you’ll spend less time in the customer creation process and more time making money in the company building process. How can Erich Stauffer help you build your company? Contact us for one hour of free consultation. Just mention this code: CMF.
If you’re using WP e-Commerce to turn your WordPress website into an online shopping cart, you may have ran into a Paypal error that says, “Error Detected, Your shopping cart is empty.”
This can happen when you’re trying to pass a required field like “Name” over to Paypal, but it’s blank. Why would it be blank? Because one of the fields in the Product page that Paypal needs to process the order is empty. It can happen when you start to add variations to an item, but you don’t name the variations.
You need to put in a name in the “Name” field under the “Variations” under each product in the Dashboard. Once you do that, that Name is what is sent to Paypal during the checkout process. It doesn’t work without that.
You can tell which product have variations by looking at the “Stock” category in the Dashboard > Product page. If the variations are turned on, it will show “0~”, other wise it will show “NA”. Once you go in to edit an individual product, you’ll see a “Variations” module. If the “Sizes” is checked, the “Name” field has to be filled in for it to work.
All products with variations need the name field filled in, in order to pass that name to Paypal.
If this doesn’t fix your problem, try one of these references instead:
Arnold Neumaier, who some call, “The Next von Neumann”, is an avid Christian and physicist interested in the global Optimization (integrating convexity, optimization, logic programming, and computational algebraic geometry), foundations of mathematics (building an automatic mathematical research system), the foundations of theoretical physics (interpretation of quantum mechanics and statistical physics), and applied mathematics of all sorts (from protein folding to cattle breeding to uncertainty modeling in space system design). He has written books on topics in finite geometry, numerical analysis (Introduction to Numerical Analysis), and Lie algebras.
Depending on the firm, virtual assistants can help you with everything from checking your email and making appointments to web design or other web services. This is similar to the term, “long hallway”, which means a distributed company. I’ve provided a couple of different types here:
