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March 30, 2007

FOUR FOR FRIDAY

Q1 - Education: Across the nation, state legislatures and local school boards are hearing from parents, educators and experts about school vouchers programs--initiatives that give parents vouchers that can be used for paying for the education of their children at a school of their choice rather than at the public school. What's your opinion on school vouchers? Good for kids or bad for communities?

Q2 - Health and Politics: When Presidential hopeful John Edwards and his wife Elizabeth Edwards announced last week that her breast cancer had returned and spread to her bones, and that his presidential campaign would continue, they sparked a national discussion about the choices involved. If you were in Mr. Edwards' shoes, would you continue your run for the White House?

Q3 - Auras: Many people claim to be able to see auras--a subtle field of luminous multicolored radiation surrounding a person or object as a cocoon or halo. Do you think people can really see auras, or as with all paranormal phenomena, seeing auras is just a bunch of phooey?

Q4 - Video: Do you have a webcam? If so, how often do you use it? If not, do you think you're likely to get one sometime before the end of this year?

Posted by Mikal at 8:48 AM | Comments (16) | TrackBack

March 28, 2007

THE NATIONAL RETAIL FEDERATION AND THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

I received a press release this morning touting the launch of the National Retail Federation's "newly-designed interactive and user friendly website." When I arrive at the site, this is the first thing I see (click to see a larger view):

For the uninitiated, the term "thought leader" or "thought leadership" is used to describe a person who is recognized among his or her peers for innovative ideas, and who demonstrates the confidence to promote those ideas in a variety of settings, i.e., writing, blogging, speaking, publishing, training, presenting, etc..

For the National Retail Federation--or any organization for that matter--to claim that "it" is thought leadership is disingenuous and absurd.

Organizations like the NFR are only as strong as their members, and as we all know, members of organizations come and go, just like beauty queens in one annual parade after another. Thought leadership cannot be proclaimed or instituted, and it certainly cannot occur by simply throwing a picture up on a Web site of a bunch a suits talking about who-knows-what.

The National Retail Federation is a great organization. I receive a lot of work-related benefits and insights by being able to tap into their resources. That being said, let me decide for myself who has thought leadership characteristics. Telling me youíre a thought leader without qualifying the statement only makes you look pompous and the rest of us skeptical.

Posted by Mikal at 9:20 AM | Comments (3) | TrackBack

March 23, 2007

Q1 - Freedom: The United States scolded Italy yesterday for arranging the release of three Taliban prisoners in exchange for an abducted Italian journalist, saying the move could embolden the Islamist militants. The journalist on the other hand said the Italian-backed deal for his release was justified. "I think it is right to negotiate if it means showing that we are different from the Taliban, that we know how to forgive and that we respect human life above anything else." What do you think?

Q2 - Parental Rights: A mother whose 7-year-old son weighs more than 250 pounds is concerned that South Carolina social workers will take him away from her because of his size. The woman says she's taken her son to different doctors over the past four years, but no one has been able to pinpoint the cause of his obesity. She told a local television station that the Division of Social Services has threatened to remove her son from their home if he doesn't lose weight. Under these circumstances, do you feel state officials should have the right to take this woman's child away from her?

Q3 - Superhero: If you could play any superhero in real life, who would you be and what are some of the things you'd do with your newfound powers?

Q4 - Protest: If your best friend asked you to participate in a public protest of the Iraq "war," would you? If you would not, what would you be willing to stand up and protest against right now, today?

March 16, 2007

Q1 - Terms of Conditions: "Neither we nor any third parties provide any warranty or guarantee as to the blah, blah, blah. And, furthermore, your use of this life and any dispute arising out of such use is subject to the laws of blah, blah, blah blah blah, and blah blah blah." Do you take time to read the terms of conditions when signing up for an Internet-related service, automobile rental, airline reservation, or any of the hundreds of other services you pay for, or do you skip over the fine print for what you believe to be one valid reason or another?

Q2 - Community: How do you define "community," and what communities do you consider yourself a member of?

Q3 - I Did It, And Oh Yeah, I Did That Too: Last Saturday, during a secret hearing at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, 9/11 terror suspect Khalid Sheikh Mohammed confessed to playing a significant role in the 2001 terror attacks on U.S. soil. "I was responsible for the 9/11 operation from A to Z," Khalid Sheikh Mohammed said in a statement read during a Combatant Status Review Tribunal at the U.S. detention facility in Cuba. Then, yesterday afternoon, the Pentagon released a revised statement of Saturday's confession, in which they say Mohammed also admitted to personally beheading Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl in February of 2002. Do you believe Mohammed, or are you of the opinion that this is all just a little too convenient?

Q4 - Fighting Crime: Do you believe events like the National Night Out (against crime) do anything to curb violent crime in the United States?

March 13, 2007

As I did back in January, here's a recent article I wrote for work and that I thought I'd post it here for anyone who might be interested in learning more about Really Simple Syndication (RSS). You are invited to reprint this article on your own blog or website, provided that all contentóincluding the "About the Author" and "Note" at the bottom is included and remains unchanged.

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Simple Exposure through RSS: Letting Customers Subscribe to Your Site
by Mikal E. Belicove, Director of Community & Education ñ Doba

As a business owner, you probably spend a good deal of time contemplating how to entice customers and, more importantly, keep them coming back for more. Add to the mix the fact that your business calls its home the Net and you have a bit of a quandary on your hands: How do you market your business and keep your customers informed of your latest products and services when your clients are worldwide and your budget isn't so vast? Sure, you can go the conventional route and send out mass eNewsletters every so often, but that option poses a few hassles:

• Your email may get lost in the abyss that is so many people's inbox.


• You actually have to find the time to compose, create, and send out the newsletter (or pay someone else to do it).


• You miss out on potential business because some people may not sign up for your e-listómost people these days are already buried in email and don't want to dig a deeper grave.


• Your email may get automatically filtered straight to a person's Junk folder.


• Emails simply aren't as easy to navigate as a Web page isóno clicks of buttons to send your customers straight to their destination.

Defining RSS

Simply put, RSS is the information junkie's prized means to an end. Just as syndication allows a professional writer to deliver an article to countless newspapers for print, it allows a website manager to deliver content to countless people in a very simple, streamlined manner. Here's how it works:

1. You create an RSS button on your website, linking to your feed.

A feed is essentially any content that you supply as a regular deliverable to readers. For example, if you're an artist who sells online, you could set up a feed link on your "Paintings" page to notify subscribers every time you update that page. Or, if you run an online clothing store, you can create a feed to send updates to readers whenever you add items to women's dresses (or any other line, for example). See the next section for more ideas for using RSS.

2. When customers browse your site, they click the RSS button to subscribe to your feed.

   This step is simple and self-explanatory; if you want to see what happens when you subscribe to a feed, subscribe to one such as Amazon.com's Gold Box/Deal of the Day.



3. As you create updates to the part of your site that links to the feed, a summary of the new content is automatically delivered to the "feed readers" of all your subscribers.

   Depending on how the feed is set up, customers may be able to choose how often their feed reader should search for new content. If that option isn't available, readers simply receive updates as they're made.

   In order to read content from an RSS feed, a customer needs an RSS feed readeróthese tools are available for free download online, and Internet Explorer 7.0 has a feed reader in the Favorites section to quickly and easily manage feeds. A couple of free downloadable feed readers include Feedreader, a freeware Windows-based application, and Google Reader. In addition, consumers can have feeds delivered right to their MyYahoo or personalized Google Web page.

RSS is a fairly new tool, so progressive online retailers are still refining its use ó in fact, the first reported use of RSS for online retail was in 2004. Corporations have been implementing the tool over the past few years in various ways, and small businesses are beginning to follow the trend. Following are a few places businesses can and do implement RSS to grow their business:

• Blogs and news feeds: This area comprises the most popular use for RSSóthink daily headlines or blog entries delivered right to your virtual feed mailbox. If you use a blog to cross-promote your online business, which we explain and recommend in our series "Blogging to Boost Your Business," you can include an RSS icon on your blog's home page so shoppers receive regular blog updates from you. When the feed is sent to readers, they read the feed summary, which includes a link to your websiteóif they decide from the summary that they want to see the whole feed, they simply click the link and are redirected to your site. The result: More visits to your site and the potential for more business.


• Product alerts: If you do not manage a blog, perhaps the most practical use of RSS for you is to send out product alerts. With this setup, your site features RSS icons near the products you're selling, with a message offering regular updates on those products. So, for example, if a customer is interested in the 10-piece HealthSmart Cookware Set you're selling, he could click on the RSS icon next to it to subscribe to your product alerts. Whenever you update your inventory of the cookware, he receives an alert delivered right to his feed reader ó at no expense, whether time or otherwise, to either of you.


• Concept-related information: In addition to blog feeds and product alerts, RSS is also handy for delivering concept-related information to your customers. For example, say some of your products pertain to a particular topic, such as home maintenance, wedding planning, clearance items, or daily deals. You can set up a feed to deliver all product alerts related to those categories to subscribers. This approach is particularly useful if you have general categories of items that will spark the interest of hobbyists or other folks in common situations (for example, when planning anything, from vacations to weddings to the first year of college).

RSS Is for eBay Too!

If you have an eBay business, check out eBay's feed generator. Although it doesn't enable you to set up RSS icons on your seller site, it does allow consumers to create their own feeds to which they subscribe. It requires a bit of explanation on your part, but you may find the time spent well worth the effort, so encourage your customers to create and subscribe to a feed that pulls directly from your eBay store.

eBay does a nice job taking customers through the step-by-step process of feed creation, but your customers will appreciate a general explanation from you of how the feed generator works. To see for yourself, wander through eBay's explanation at http://pages.ebay.com/affiliates/tools/rssgenerator/index.html.

Implementing RSS on Your Site

Setting up RSS feeds and placing the icons isn't as daunting a task as, say, creating the website on which they'll go, but if you're not skilled in HTML, we advise that you consult a Web designer or your site administrator to do the job. Prior to forging ahead with RSS implementation, consider the following:

• How many feeds do you want, and what do you want them to include?


• Where on your site do you want the feeds to be located?


• How do you want the feed subscription to work? For example, do you want customers to be able to select timed updates, such as daily or weekly, or do you want simple, standard updates that broadcast each time you update the affected item/category/blog/etc.?

Getting Customers to Subscribe to Your RSS Feed

The most obvious method of gaining customer subscriptions to your feed(s) is to simply put the icons on your site and direct customers' attention to them. In these early days of RSS, though, consumers are generally a bit behind on the technology, so you'll need to convince them that your RSS feeds are helpful and simple to use and won't clutter their lives like eNewsletters so often do. Be sure to incorporate a solid, clear explanation of RSS into your site, keeping it as particular to your site as possible. Also, direct readers to places from which they can download feed readers. As you well know, customer service and ingenuity are the crux of the business machine, so keep your customers in mind as you implement this tool, making sure your feeds are optimally user-friendly.

Also consider listing your feed in directories, which are essentially libraries of websites organized into various categories and subcategories. Listings are free, and as RSS gains more publicity in the mass market, directories will improve with their effectiveness. To see a thorough list of major feed directories, head to http://www.rss-specifications.com/rss-submission.htm.

If you do decide to take advantage of the marketing opportunity that RSS feeds offer, remember to be patient as RSS continues to grow in popularity. Although still young, RSS is definitely an easy means of promoting your retail businessóand, as with all great technological advances, consumers will eventually come around.

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About the Author: Mikal E. Belicove is an expert at building and supporting online communities of practice and Business-to-Business-related social networks. As Doba's Director of Community & Education, Mikal oversees the company's efforts to educate retail business owners and connect customers with one another. Mikal is the author of 2007 Edition of the Internet Yellow Pages (Que Publishing/ Pearson, 10/06), co-authored with Joe Kraynak.

Note: You are invited to reprint this article in your own newsletter or on your blog or website, provided that all contentóincluding this signatureóis included and remains unchanged.

March 9, 2007

Q1 - Waiting: Earlier this week, a federal court jury found Vice President Dick Cheneyís former chief of staff Lewis ìScooterî Libby guilty of obstructing an investigation into who leaked a CIA operativeís identify to the media. Considering that Libby was found guilty on Tuesday, March 6, do you think it is reasonable for the judge in case to wait until June 5th to hand down Libby's sentence, and for Libby to remain free on his own recognizance until the same time?

Q2 - Career: How did your parents' careers impact your plans for a future career?

Q3 - Cigarettes and Health Care: All 50 states and the District of Columbia impose an excise tax on cigarettes. New Jersey charges a whopping $2.75 per pack, while South Carolina tacks on just 7 cents per pack. Indiana's Mitch Daniels is one of eight governors proposing tobacco tax increases to help cover the cost of health care coverage for the uninsured. How do you feel about the government acknowledging on the one hand that smoking is bad for everyone's health (and going so far as to encourage people not to smoke), while at the same time assessing and collecting taxes on something that kills well over 360,000 people annually here in the United States?

Q4 - Best Place to Work: According to FORTUNE magazine, Google, Genentech, Wegmans Food Markets, Container Store, and Whole Foods Market are five of the best companies to work for. If you could change one thing about your workplace for the better, what new benefit, policy, or program would you put in place?

March 2, 2007

Q1 - Your Paycheck: If you could receive your entire paycheck in the form of a gift card, which retail store or restaurant's gift card would you choose?

Q2 - 911 Tapes : We have all heard them on the radio or television: 911 recordings between emergency dispatch and citizens in harm's way. Do you think 911 recordings should be made available to the public?

Q3 ñ What Would it Take: How much money would it take for you to eat nothing but McDonald's, Burger King, or Wendy's for 30 consecutive days?

Q4 - Scandal: Yesterday, federal officials in the U.S. broke up one of the largest Wall Street insider trading rings since the 1980s. Thirteen people, including executives and brokers at Morgan Stanley, UBS Securities, Bear Stearns, and Bank of America Securities, have been indicted for schemes that netted high worth individuals millions of dollars. Earlier in the week, an allegedly illicit steroid distribution network, which authorities are saying is responsible for Internet sales of performance-enhancing drugs nationwide, was broken up by the Albany County (NY) District Attorneyís office. Customers reportedly included Los Angeles Angels baseball player Gary Matthews Jr., numerous high school and collage athletes, a former Mr. Universe bodybuilding champion, and former heavyweight-boxing champion Evander Holyfield. Which concerns you more: Insider trading on Wall Street or the illegal use of performance enhancing drugs by amateur and professional athletes alike?