Seriously, this is what happens when two web designers get together in a room full of microphones. I had our friend Cynthia LaLuna of Rowboat Media in-studio this week, talking about the good, bad and ugly that comes with building websites for businesses.
We talked about Flash, we talked about SEO, we talked about WordPress and lots of stuff in-between.
This is definitely a good listen for anyone in the market for a new web design who just isn’t sure where to start or how to make sense of all the advice (and sometimes conflicting) being dispensed by the web people they talk to.
Thanks for being an awesome guest Cynthia!
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Apr 27, 2011 | Entrepreneurs, Free Advice, Shows, Small Business | Leave A Comment »
Is marketing truly “going mobile” or is it just a fad? Does text message marketing work? Are QR codes EVER going to really catch on? Andrea Busse and her company Intelatext work with companies big and small, helping them achieve incredible results through mobile marketing campaigns. Mobile messaging tools like SMS and MMS are in her toolkit as are mobile landing pages and even QR codes.
And what’s the deal on QR codes by the way? I’ve been on the record as saying that despite the incredible potential of QR codes as a marketing tool, they may never hit the mainstream. Never hit the mainstream? Andrea says they’ve already arrived.
Want to hear some practical, real-world examples of how mobile marketing really works? Listen to the podcast below. We’ll see you next week!
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Apr 14, 2011 | Entrepreneurs, Free Advice, Shows, Small Business | Leave A Comment »
We had a really cool guest in-studio, my friend Mike Lorey who has been managing social media for Crop Mob ATL in his spare time for the last year. As you’ll gather from the interview, Mike is a humble man. But the results speak for themselves.
Building on nothing but the model established by Crop Mob in North Carolina, the Atlanta group has amassed over 1100 fans/friends/likers on Facebook and met their volunteer recruitment goals for every event they’ve done, about one a month on average since they started last spring. And along the way, they’ve earned media coverage from Atlanta INtown, CNN, Atlanta Magazine, Good Day Atlanta and others along the way.
So what, you may ask, does Crop Mob ATL actually do? Glad you asked. They recruit volunteers — mostly city folk — to spend a day doing hard labor on a farm. For free. The thinking is that with so many small, sustainable farms within driving distance from Atlanta metro, the greater community should want to support them by coming together and helping to work the land for a day. Just like farming communities used to come together. And yes, the only reward is the satisfaction of an honest day’s work and a shared meal to celebrate a successful day in the field. No money changes hands.
By the way, Mike is also an accomplished brewer of beers and meads. His mead will soon be for sale at Montaluce Winery in Dahlonega, GA so be sure to check that out as well.
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Apr 11, 2011 | Entrepreneurs, Free Advice, Shows, Small Business | Leave A Comment »
It’s so nice talking to a business owner who really “gets it.” Mark Tioxon of LeahandMark.com runs a photography business with his wife Leah and they understand what’s important: a quality product, customer service and building meaningful relationships with clients and their team of interns.
Mark talked with Jim Hodgson and I this week and gave us the secrets to his success in a highly competitive field that’s only become more crowded with the influx of hobbyist photographers armed with high-end consumer equipment.
They have also implemented one of the most inventive internship programs I’ve seen in a small business which is probably worth a show on its own. Listen to our interview with Mark below and we’ll be back next week!
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Mar 31, 2011 | Entrepreneurs, Free Advice, Shows, Small Business | Leave A Comment »
Was group texting really all the rage at SXSW this year like the Mashable guys predicted? What was new and interesting? Who might you expect to see chilling in Austin if you were at SXSW this year? Well, Stephanie Frost was there and she’s got answers to all these questions and more.
Most importantly, Stephanie gave us the inside scoop on what’s going on with Atlanta’s emerging interactive festival, Digital Atlanta and what we can expect to see in year two of this conference when it kicks off in November.
It’s an entertaining show so have a listen to the podcast below and we will see you next week!
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Mar 25, 2011 | Entrepreneurs, Free Advice, Shows, Small Business | Leave A Comment »
This week, Jim Hodgson and I talked about online chat with Vincent LaMantia of WhosOn, a chat platform by Parker Software.
As online chat has increased in popularity, a lot of business owners are trying to decide if this is a good solution for their firms but might not know what to look for or what the best practices are. Vincent gave us some really good tips though on how chat can be used effectively and how to avoid misusing or abusing it on your site.
We talked about applications for chat both in sales and support situations and Jim issued Vincent his biggest challenge of the interview — a very important conversation for anyone interested in running chat on their website should listen to. Check out the podcast below!
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Mar 15, 2011 | Entrepreneurs, Free Advice, Shows, Small Business | Leave A Comment »
Josh Linkner is creative. He founded ePrize the groundbreaking promotions firm who were among the first to help brands bridge the gap between online and off. He is an accomplished musician. He is a venture capitalist bent on returning his community in Detroit to its past economic glory.
By contrast, many people do not consider themselves creative, especially when it comes to business. But Josh believes that EVERYONE can be creative… All it takes is a push and the right process. His new book, Disciplined Dreaming provides that push and that process and, if my opinion counts, it’s a terrific read and chock full of good advice and wonderful anecdotes.
Buy the book, and by all means listen to this interview — Josh has great insight on how we can all harness the power of creativity for profit.
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Mar 11, 2011 | Entrepreneurs, Free Advice, Shows, Small Business | Leave A Comment »
We had the privilege of speaking with Kelley Hagen of Mindframe Marketing this week. It was definitely a fun show and I definitely encourage listening :) Kelley’s experience is mostly focused around restaurants and entertainment, which definitely gives her a unique perspective on the challenges of growing those types of businesses.
Kelley also shared a particualrly heartwarming story about her experience working with an entrepreneur starting a dog-walking business in Atlanta. This show may be worth a listen just for that.
Oh, and if you do get in touch with Kelley, be sure to ask her what you might consider getting your sweetheart for Valentines Day. Just trust me on this.
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Feb 08, 2011 | Entrepreneurs, Free Advice, Shows, Small Business | 1 Comment »
I have to say this was one of my favorite shows of the last few months. Jim Hodgson and I had Pete Reilly of Retality in studio and we talked about everything from location-based services to augmented reality to Groupon and many things in between.
Although I love Foursquare, I’ve always questioned its relevance from a business perpective. Pete feels the same way and his firm is actually in the process of working with big brands to help them develop proprietary location-based loyalty platforms to keep customers coming back.
Later in the show we talked about online couponing, augmented reality, QR codes and how the whole thing may fit together. Great show overall and MANY thanks to Pete for being an incredible guest.
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Feb 04, 2011 | Entrepreneurs, Free Advice, Shows, Small Business | Leave A Comment »
We didn’t have an official show this week, but I did get a chance to talk blogging and Bloggernaut with Lee Kantor and Stone Payton on Atlanta Business Radio. The interview was terrific — there was a LOT of good information and discussion about blogging (along with the common pitfalls). And, of course, we got to go into all the details about what makes Bloggernaut by Zero-G Creative such a great tool for busy entrepreneurs. You can listed to the podcast below.
We’ll be back with a new edition of GFR next week. Seriously.
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Jan 26, 2011 | Announcements, Entrepreneurs, Free Advice, Shows, Small Business | Leave A Comment »
This week’s show with SEO expert Sean Hakes of iClick Creative almost degenerated into sort of a twisted performance art piece as we struggled to get our phone system to cooperate. But if you like terrific SEO insight mixed in with periodic frustration and the occaisional awkward silence, this is the show for you.
But in all seriousness, this was a terrific show even with all the malfunctions. I would encourage you especially to listen for what Sean says about watching out for “Black Hat” SEO and how you might get more bang for your buck in online advertising by spending with Bing or Yahoo! pay-per-click rather than on Google adwords where competition has inflated pricing.
Thanks to Sean for bearing with us through all the technical issues and thanks as always to Jim Hodgson for having a fantastic sense of humor. See you next week!
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Jan 04, 2011 | Entrepreneurs, Free Advice, Shows, Small Business | Leave A Comment »
It was our final show of 2010 and we couldn’t have had a better guest than Colleen Jones. An online content strategy expert, Colleen has just released a new book entitled, Clout: The Art and Science of Influential Web Content. The book is a remarkable read and provides a wealth of information on crafting content that gets results.
In studio, Colleen gave us wonderful insights on how content could and should be brought to the forefront of a firm’s online strategy, ethics in writing and how all the different types of online content your company may create (i.e., marketing, SEO, social media, PR etc.) can be engineered to work together.
Thanks so much to Colleen Jones for joining us and thanks as well to Jim Hodgson for continuing his glorious tenure as guest co-host. We’ll see you in 2011!
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Dec 21, 2010 | Entrepreneurs, Free Advice, Shows, Small Business | 1 Comment »
This week Jim Hodgson and I spoke to Ben Hudson, author of “How to Find Work When There Are No Jobs.” Ben’s philosophy is simple but exactly on point: the job market is hopelessly broken and the best hope for unemployed professionals may be in circumventing it altogether.
In his book and in his lectures, Ben teaches corporate exiles how to reinvent themselves as consultants which saves them from being lost in a thick stack of resumes while improving their earning potential and putting them back in control of their own destinies.
This book is a must have/must read for any unemployed professionals — it may very well change your whole outlook. This show is also definitely a must listen, there is a lot of very helpful material.
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