Telling Better Stories – or “I Went to a Mall”

It’s been forever since I’ve made a post and I don’t really have much to add now. More will be coming on search, local, and social. I promise.

Yesterday I went to UnSummit 3 which is a fantastic event, geared for full participation on topics from marketing, social media and even music. One particular session was called Telling Better Stories. This was the first time I’ve seen Jake Nyberg from ThreeVolts speak and was beyond impressed. It had to do with attempts to make videos go viral and how it can backfire on you.

Ok, this is only loosely related. I don’t have a video to try to make viral, and not even much of a story. In fact, this is only about my dock connector which didn’t allow me to import UnSummit pictures to iPhoto so I had to replace an accessory.

Where do you buy one of these? The Apple Store at the MOA. There are some people who know how I feel about malls in general, especially if there’s a traffic jam.

Finally inside and no surprise, the first thing I see is Favre love.

I did not stop here.

Once I got to the Apple Store, the transaction was fast and painless. The clerk even complimented my Deftones T-shirt.

Apparently, wearing a worn out Deftones T-shirt makes me a perfect candidate to buy very expensive hand cream at a kiosk. I played along.

Here, stick your hand inside our magic bowl with crystals.

Smooth hands, huh? Buy two jars and we’ll give you a “today-only” discount.

This guy was really persistent. I told him I needed to check with my wife hoping he’d go into the “oh, you let HER make your decisions” pitch but he didn’t. Nope. I didn’t suddenly get married – should probably work on that.

Walking further, the lady at the Hair Extensions kiosk did not stop me to try to sell me extensions. I’m guessing her kiosk sales pitches work better for those who are not follicly challenged.

Oh, big surprise. More Favre love.

The way home included a stop at Holy Angels HS for a rec-level soccer game. This is Al running with the ball. We lost 3-2, but that’s not bad for a bunch of 40 year olds. Go Weasels FC!

So that’s the story. The new USB cable allowed me to import my UnSummit pictures to iPhoto which are now up at Flickr.

I do plan to get more posts out about search, local and social. Hopefully I’ll be able to tell stories that go along with it.

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Brettrodome Site Coming Soon

Yep, we’re talking about Brett Favre here. See the back button above? Go ahead and click it. No one would blame you.

Still here? Cool. We’ve all seen the media circus regarding the chosen one now with the Vikings. Rather than joining them, it’s time to have some fun with it. The site/blog will be a parody poking fun around the continuous media circus whether Favre performs or busts.

So far, we do have an initial social media presence. Feel free to check it out. Brettrodome is on:

Twitter
Flickr
YouTube

As I type, we’re “ideating” with a fantastic company in Minneapolis to bring this site to life, and in the right way. I’m very optimistic and hope it works out.

The site will definitely be interactive with the opportunity for you to enter YouTube vids and Flickr photos for contests. This should be really fun! Here’s an old picture of the chosen one at the Austin Spam Museum/Store:

Old pic of Brett Favre at the Austin Spam Museum

More to come…

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Cedar Rapids Flood – Running Tour 15 Months Later – Day 2

Yesterday, I arrived in Cedar Rapids and decided to run a first leg of the Cedar Rapids flood driving tour and made it from Point A-I. Early this morning, I got up to run the remaining Points J-Q.

This morning’s jaunt was a bit longer and more humbling. Yesterday’s run had remnants of homeowners rebuilding their houses waiving at me as I ran by. This morning’s run was virtually vacant. It was in southern downtown and west in the Taylor neighborhood which still smelled like flood – 15 months later.

A couple blocks from my hotel I found an unknown checkpoint at a barber shop.

Barber Shop

From there, it was to southern downtown to Point J, the Legion Arts Building which had 11 feet of water.

CSPS - Legion Arts Building

Across the street, a gutted out House.

House by Legion Arts Building

From there, it was about a 6 block run to Point K – St. Wenceslaus Church. There was complete damage to the basement and some on the main floor. It appears to be back up for services.

St. Wenceslaus Church

Across the street? Not so pretty with a row of vacant, gutted homes.

Gutted Out Homes

Point L was next at the National Czech & Slovak Museum & Library where the water reached 8 feet. It appears to now be functional.

National Czech & Slovak Museum & Library

A view of the Czech Village from the north. About half the business appear to still be vacant.

Chech Village

Another Czech Village view from the south.

Czech Village

Here’s a vacant, gutted out house in the Czech Village.

Gutted Out House In Czech Village

Point M says it all. Total gutted out home for this Cedar Rapids resident.

Point M - Another Gutted House

Near there is a Flying Wienie Chicago Dogs shop. People really seem to like it. I don’t know if it is open or not.

I couldn’t find Point N, but a house nearby has a message.

Keep Off Yard

A couple blocks from there, a family is trying to rebuild their home. No one is picking up the trash on their boulevard.

Trash on Blvd

Point O is the Linn County Administration Building. It doesn’t look damaged although they still have temporary headquarters elsewhere.

Linn County Administration Building

Between the next check point, a couple of drunken tweens still up from the night before were looking for 40 ounce beers. I did not have one on me. I’m not against a bad 40, but don’t prefer to carry one when I run.

Near there, a particular home has a message.

Cedar Rapids - Forgotten City

I got lost for a bit but then found Point P which is Taylor Elementary School which received 3 feet of water. This is a good 7 blocks from the river.

Taylor Elementary School

Point Q was the last on the list. The Cedar Rapids Community School District still have temporary locations.

Cedar Rapids Community School District

On the way back to the hotel, I noticed an official driving tour sign at the Veterans Memorial building.

Driving Tour Point at the Veteran's Memorial

Back to the hotel, there were plenty of these signs.

Rebuild Downtown Cedar Rapids

These two days of running was somber and it allowed me to truly appreciate the city. For readers in Minnesota, Cedar Rapids is not much different than a Rochester or St. Cloud which has rivers within it. The biggest difference is that Cedar Rapids is larger.

These pictures alone doesn’t do justice. You’d have to be there.

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Cedar Rapids Flood – Running Tour 15 Months Later

More of a personal/fun/somber post… I’m in Cedar Rapids today and will be in Iowa City Sunday and Monday. Remember the 2008 flood that wiped out so much of Cedar Rapids? There’s a very informative Cedar Rapids flood driving tour to view the damage and rebuild.

This sounded like a good idea but I wanted to run it and learn more about the flood. The hotel shuttle driver was very kind and dropped me off at Ellis Blvd by the Cedar River northwest of downtown. From there, I felt somber and lucky. Here’s what the Cedar River looks like today.

Cedar River on a Normal Day

I didn’t see the Time Check House at Point A, but a couple minutes into the run this house was in front of me – 15 months after the flood.

Gutted Out Home

After a block of these homes, there was one that was completely redone.

Rebuilt Home

Point B on the list was the Boys & Girls Club. The building still stands, but is considered close to a total loss with original three feet of water into the 2nd floor.

Cedar Rapids Boys & Girls Club

Just a block away are some still-abandoned homes.

More Boarded up Homes

Point C is the Mother Mosque. It had 10 feet of floodwater, lost a ton of items and is now fully restored. This is seven blocks from the Cedar River.

Mother Mosque

Here is one of many porta-potties that unfortunately still stand on corners.

Porta Potties

Point D is an old-fashioned A&W drive in which is still gutted. Just down the street, there were kids playing ball.

Gutted A&W on Ellis Blvd

A couple blocks away, this house was just totally destroyed.

Demolished Home

Next door? Two abandoned homes.

More Abandoned Homes

Point E was the Diamond V. Mills manufacturing plant. They’re very close to the river and somehow got to be up and running in a little over a week.

Diamond V. Mills

Point F wasn’t far from there. It’s the Cedar Rapids Central fire station. 12 feet of water went through and a ton of equipment, files and supplies were lost.

Central Fire Station

Before the next point, I ran across the 1st Avenue bridge where a local was fishing. He stopped me and asked if I had any cigarettes. Although I do like to multitask, smoking and running are not things I choose to do simultaneously. I did ask him how high the river rose last year and he said it rose to right about the bottom of this picture.

Flood Crest

Point G is visible in the above image. It’s the Veterans Memorial Coliseum/Cedar Rapids City Hall. Most of their damage was in the basement.

Veterans Memorial Coliseum

Point H is the Paramount Theatre downtown. Flood waters reached eight feet and I don’t know the current status.

Paramount Theater Cedar Rapids

Point I is Sokol Hall and from what I understand is an niche extension of the University of Iowa. I could be way wrong on this. Nonetheless, boarded up hall 15 months after the flood.

Sokol Hall

A jewelry store has a graffiti message on their boarded up business downtown. It shows how much commitment Cedar Rapids folks have.

Bent Not Broken

Back to the hotel. Turns out it’s connected to the US Cellular Center, which would be awesome if there was an event there I wanted to see. No such luck. To age myself, I have been to a concert there before. Cheap Trick and Ratt back around 1987.

US Cellular Center

Overall, I’m humbled by this. These pictures don’t really show the damage this flood has done as 90% of my run was completely underwater 15 months ago. One thing is for sure, the folks in Cedar Rapids don’t give up. It’s still a great city, second in population to Des Moines.

Tomorrow morning I hope to run the remaining points J though Q. We’ll see as it’s quite a jaunt. I’m in Iowa City at 10:45am for my nephew’s baptism so timing will be a crunch.

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Pimp Your Studio – Minneapolis Event is Official for October 9th and 10th

Pimp Your Studio Event

It’s been official for about a week but we needed to wrap up a couple loose ends. We’re excited!

The first Pimp Your Studio event will be at the Ramada – Mall of America Hotel on Friday and Saturday, October 9th and 10th. In a nutshell, it’s a real-time workshop for photographers and other creative professionals to get local and be social online, and using this knowledge to help bring customers to your actual studio.

First, the good stuff.

Here is where you can register for the event.

• Or, check out our Pimp Your Studio blog (highly recommended for periodic discounts and even a couple giveaways)
• More info about the event which describes the workshop in greater detail
• Our public Facebook Page
• Our Twitter Page
• Heather’s Portrait Design portal
• Lew’s Photography site

We narrowed the locations and decided to clearly go with the Ramada – MOA hotel for a few reasons. One is the location. It couldn’t be more convenient. (map)

The hotel is completely wireless – just turn on the Interwebz. The conference room is big enough at 1900 sq. ft. that you’ll have more than enough room to stretch and move around. We’re going to have half-round tables which allows you to work as a team while being able to watch us guide you at the same time.

Since you’ll need to bring a laptop for this workshop, there will be plug-in strips under every table to avoid any battery issues. This… is awesome.

Also, for the Saturday full-day schedule we’re providing a free soups/sandwiches/salads buffet for lunch.

The Ramada itself is completely renovated, yet unique with hints of the old deco when it was the Thunderbird. They have a huge bar and they’ll even section off part of it after Friday’s afternoon session for a happy hour. This would be a great way for us to get to know you better and give honest advice. For more info on the hotel, feel free to visit their site.

The hotel event planner was a big plus. It was obvious she put all of our needs over her commission. Room rates are $89/night for any attendees who choose to stay overnight. This is a tad better than a discounted rate of $250/night a hotel down the street gave us.

We hope to attract many from out of town. If this is you, please consider staying for the weekend. The Twin Cities is more than awesome. The Mall of America is literally under a 10 minute walk from the Ramada which includes a light rail station that will take you to downtown Minneapolis for a whopping 2 buck debit/credit card swipe.

Mall of America from the Ramada

If you’re traveling from somewhere further like Madison, Des Moines, Sioux Falls or Fargo/Moorhead and would rather fly, we’re this far from the airport and the Ramada provides free shuttle service.

Plane flying into MSP

To say we’re excited about this is an understatement. Instead of presentations to give you ideas, this workshop is to literally let you create and/or improve your local search marketing and social media profiles on the spot. If you know anyone who would benefit from this, definitely let them know! They will leave the workshop with profiles set along with the knowledge and confidence to continue efforts on their own.

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Print Yellow Pages Advertising and Getting the Best Rate

Last week, I met with a local business who specializes in different home repair projects. When I asked what their main form of advertising was they said it was through the Yellow Pages. Ok, good enough.

In the Minneapolis area, we get three print books a year. One from Dex which is our local distributor by default, one from Verizon and another from Yellowbook. I asked them which particular one they use, they sighed in sadness and said “all of them”. They’re losing money. Ugh!

Let’s take a look at these three distributors.

• Dex Doesn’t Know
• Returning a Verizon Phone Book
• Yellowbook Shows Opt-Out Incompetence

So, which print book should you choose when you advertise?

If any print book, I would say Dex. They’re the official “local” distributor to Minnesota.

So, how do you negotiate with other Yellow Pages reps who tout highly-inflated circulation stats? Some tips…

• Negotiate a final price for your ad
• Conservatively, lets say 20% of these books are thrown at boarded-up houses, closed businesses and to households who simply don’t use them. Negotiate 20% off from there.
• Considering in Minneapolis we receive three different print books a year, negotiate the deal at a third of the 20% off price.

This seems fair. It’s good for the local business and would hopefully entice the YP Association to implement a true opt-in system. I’d love to hear thoughts from anyone in the YP Association.

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Bro-Sis + Lew Marketing Update – Minneapolis Workshop Coming Soon for Photographers

The last time I gave a bro-sis marketing update was from the great time we had presenting in Madison in May. Well, we’re back and we’ll be doing something different this time, right here in the Minneapolis area.

On Friday, Oct. 9th and Saturday, Oct. 10th we will be giving a two-day workshop on local search and social media, specifically for photographers. Just as in Madison, the extremely talented photographer Lew Everling from the Indianapolis area will be joining us. Stay tuned in for further updates.

This workshop will be different. Attendees will have their own laptops in-hand literally ready to go. We’ll be guiding them to create local search and social media profiles on the spot, and truly understand why. We’ll also be providing strategies and tactics for them to use on their own.

Lew, Heather and I will all be in contact to finalize everything. Here’s what we have so far for detailed topics.

• Google Maps
• Yahoo Local
• Bing (MSN) Local
• Google Alerts (online reputation management)
• User Ratings and Reviews
• Facebook (profiles, ads and public pages)
• Twitter
• Flickr
• LinkedIn

For the venue, it’s looking like a hotel conference center TBD. Considering this is a two-day event, it allows out-of-metro attendees to book a room at a reduced rate. It’s narrowed down to a few, mostly centered by the Mall of America and a Minneapolis LRT stop. This may also include a reduced Saturday night stay for those interested in spending a whole weekend enjoying the MOA or a half hour light-rail ride to downtown Minneapolis.

We haven’t determined an attendee price yet, but it will definitely be in the lower three digits. If you know of any photographers who would be interested, definitely let them know. From experience, we take the BS out of search marketing and social media and go out of our way to help.

More to come soon.

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New Google Website Optimizer Tool and Having Writers Write Your Posts & Ads

In other words, when you’re using Google’s Website Optimizer you can have them automatically turn off stuff that don’t work.

If you’re unfamiliar with Website Optimizer, I recently put up a Search Engine Guide post which includes a quick, cool YouTube tutorial. Feel free to read the whole post. I’m still here.

A few notes about the post. If you read it and notice that the writing style is a bit different or just flat out better, there’s a reason for that. I originally wrote the piece, but then handed it to Barb Prindle of Snap Communications who writes for a living to edit the hell out of it (I should have just asked her to re-write it).

Turns out a professional writer who has been in the industry for 16 years after graduating from Carleton College (private college in Northfield, MN) with a journalism degree is a bit better than some guy (me) who blogs a lot about stuff. I’ve been writing for Search Engine Guide since 2005 and why I haven’t used a professional writer is beyond me.

This should be a post on its own, but using a writer to come up with compelling PPC ad content is fantastic as well. A trained writer can learn the basics of using keywords in the ad copy very easily. Plus, wasn’t it (arguably) Mark Twain who wrote “if I had more time, I would have written a shorter letter”? If you have 25 characters for a title and two lines of 35 characters for a description, I’m going to trust a trained writer.

Long story short, I started using Barb on a PPC campaign and it’s going fantastic. I suppose it also helps when the writer also writes the different landing pages.

One more Kudos goes out to Clint Danks of ThinkSEM. Half of the posts I put up on SEG are from his ideas. I’d give him more link love from the SEG posts themselves (they hold some weight!) but I don’t write nearly as much for them as I would like and don’t want to abuse any powers by giving too much link love from authority sites I have the privilege of contributing to.

Oh, if you missed the SEG article at the top, here ’tis.

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Favorite Posts and Blog of the Week – Yellowbook, Social Media Then & Now, bg Theory, LLC

It’s been awhile since the last post, and almost two months since a favorites post.

Ed Kohler comes up on the favorites quite often and for a reason. He’s local and not afraid to speak his mind on controversial subjects. A post last week titled Yellowbook Shows Opt-Out Incompetence triggered close to 100 comments as of this writing. Ed and I share some similar views.

1. The Yellow Pages print book are useful for advertisers who find it beneficial.
2. For those who want to opt-out of print books, good luck. As of yet, it simply does not work.
3. Print book advertisers get screwed by circulation stats which includes delivery to boarded-up houses, vacant businesses and to the many households who do not wish to receive these books.

His video on this:

Next, Jason Douglas from SpyderTrap writes an insightful post titled A Social Media Then and Now. Much of it has to do with Twitter and how his messages have evolved sense his first tweet. I really like one of his ending sentences.

It is now acceptable to show more personality within your tweets, while maintaining a level of professionalism.

I absolutely agree.

Last but not least, I just want to suggest a blog for those of you who do PPC advertising. It’s the bg Theory blog from Brad Geddes. I first heard of him five years ago when he was at LocalLaunch.com and have been impressed ever since. My friend Clint from ThinkSEM happens to be fantastic at PPC and attended his recent two-day Google AdWords seminar in Minneapolis. He quoted something like “you think you know everything about PPC and then you see Brad present”. Big kudos to Brad.

If you’re on Twitter, you can follow him at bgtheory.

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New LinkedIn Subgroups – Uses and How to Set One Up

Last night I received an email from LinkedIn. Here’s part of it.

LinkedIn Subgroups

It’s pretty slick. I logged into my LinkedIn account, went to a group I created and a prominent Subgroups tab appeared right on top.

New Subgroup Tab

Click on the Subgroups tab and you see this.

Subgroups

This gives a good generalization of what makes up a Subgroup. What it doesn’t do is show you how to create one. Luckily, it’s not too hard to figure out but initially takes some digging around.

If you’re on your LinkedIn home page, you can click on the Groups icon. From there, you can over the Actions link which will give you a drop down menu with a link to Create a Subgroup. Note: only managers of the group will show the Subgroup option.

Create a Subgroup

From there, you can then create a Subgroup very similar to how you would create a group itself.

I admittedly don’t do nearly enough with the localmn group itself and don’t see any Subgroups in the near future.

So, what are good examples to create Subgroups? One could be national brands who want to localize their groups. This makes sense. Any other ideas? I’d love to hear your input.

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