Starting a Website? Learn From My 4 Mistakes

This post was suggested from a coworker and friend of mine, Suba Naganathan. He has a very well designed website at www.suba.ca that he admittedly doesn't give enough love to. 

Mr. Suba, this post is for you. I hope it's everything you've hoped and dreamed for, and more.

Before I shares my Dos and Don'ts, I want to be very clear that any web property is in a constant state of development. You will NEVER work on a website and then be "done". That being said, here are some good starting tips. I start with the don'ts because these ones are the ones that you really wish you hadn't done after the fact.

DON'T:
1- Register your name through Google Apps. I originally did this because I was trying to ensure I have everything that Google Apps had to offer on my site; email, team collaboration, etc. The problem is that all Google does here is act as a third party and buys the name from ENOM for you. Once this happens, if you want to create a customer HTML or Wordpress hosted website you are out of luck. This was a really big learning for me that there is a difference between buying a domain name and buying hosting services.

Solution- Go directly to ENOM.com or Godaddy.com to purchase your domain name.

2-Download a free trial of an FTP program. An FTP program is what you use to upload your HTML (or other) files to your hosting server. I made the mistake of downloading a trial version of one and then after 30 days I had to scrap it and start over.

Solution- I currently use FileZilla which is open source and most importantly free, and I'm very happy with its ease of use and functionality.

3- Ignore the copy on your website until the last minute. I didn't really think about the words that I actually wanted to put on my site until I had the site designed. Then, when I put in the copy, everything didn't look exactly as I want. Even to this day, I'm not really happy with the content on the site (outside of this awesome blog of course!!).

Solution- When thinking of the website design, write out your copy and work on revising it as the site comes together.

4- Forget about SEO. Search Engine Optimization almost doesn't mean anything to me anymore because it's such a popular buzzword. Essentially its creating your site in a way that makes it easy for search engines to find it. Although I knew about the concept I didn't know anything about it in practice, so I'm well behind the curve on this one. I only realized AFTER my site was up that Google has tons of tools that can help you get the basics built into your site.

Solution- Read up on the basics of SEO so when you are developing your site you can build some of the easier pieces into the design. There are tons of SEO services out there that will charge you an arm and a leg. My opinion is that you need to do the basics and unless you are a big company these services probably aren't worth your cash.

DO:
1- Research on your hosting options. I cannot stress this point enough. I was in a big rush to get y site up and running once it was designed, and I just went with the first company that was recommended by a friend (www.dotCanada.com). I do not have any complaints about this quality or service of this company, however, a few days later I was talking with Bill Pitcher who shared what he paid for his hosting, and the price was FAR superior.

Result- Saving Cash

2- Use Google Apps on your site. I know from experience that you should never actually purchase your domain through Google, I do believe you should set up Google Apps on your site once you have purchased the domain and hosting. This allows you to use all of the familiar tools from Google (gmail, calendar, etc) and also a host of other business focused applications.

What this means is when I go to mail.coreytyhurst.com, it actually brings me into my coreytyhurst.com gmail account. Likewise for calendar, etc. I must say that right now I do not use these features much, but if I were going to be using my site for a small business this is a great way to do that. You can also add as many emails you want for employees or friends if that is something that is required.

I must admit, accomplishing this does require a bit of reading and learning about DNS settings (they were confusing as hell to figure out, but once I got basics down it wasn't too bad to set this up). If you are trying to use Google Apps on your site and you need help, please let me know as a few screenshots of my settings should be able to help you on your way.

Result- Usability and Scalability

3- Hire someone with a sense of design to make your site beautiful. I do not recommend spending lots of money on this, but if you are not good at design like I am, it's well worth a small investment. My site was designed by Kait Souch (www.kaitsouch.com, @misskait) and I was very happy with her work.

Results- Your site is pretty!

4- Add Google Analytics to your site, on every page. Google Analytics is a free way to track the traffic on your site, and it is used by companies large and small around the world. I am not an expert by any means on this tool, but I have used it to verify that my home page is not compelling at all, and definitely does not encourage anyone to visit the blog tab of my site. Still working on this, but I highly recommend adding Analytics to your site, even if you aren't sure what you would use it for yet.

Results- You can measure and react to your visitors.



Overall Tip: DO SOME RESEARCH!

I have to admit, I thought making my own website was going to be a piece of cake. It's not that it's hard, but there are some technical steps along the way if you want the type of functionality I speak of above.

Good luck on your own site and please let me know if I can help in any way!

It's Official: Empire Avenue Knows I Was Adopted [SATIRE]

No, seriously. I think I may have been born in the United States and adopted by a nice Canadian family. It amazing I turned out to look exactly like my "adopted" Father. Look at us! There's no way we aren't related right!?

Ok, Ok, The apple doesn't fall far from the tree.... but maybe the conspiracy is deeper? Maybe the stork society just totally dropped me off on the wrong side of the Detroit River? Heck, maybe the stork even mistook Windsor for Detroit... I need to write a letter to the Stork council or something.

Growing up in Essex Ontario, I always knew about a saying that says "Ontario stops at London". I never really knew what this meant until I moved away for university.

Example 1: Despite being a huge music buff my whole life, I was not privy to many of the great Canadian bands until I made the move to St. Catharines for school. Can you believe I only knew 2 Tragically Hip songs!? And to top it off, most of my friends from the Toronto area didn't know who Bob Seger was... BOB SEGER.... CMON PEOPLE!!!!

Example 2: Every single one of my university friends lived out their childhood experiences using Toronto as a home base, whereas my home base was Detroit. In 2nd year my friend and I were talking about how awesome the Zoo was as a kid. At the end of it all he commented on how amazing the Toronto Zoo was. I paused for a moment, and then realized I had never been to the Toronto Zoo and I was picturing the Detroit Zoo in my head! The same was true for Hockey Games, Monster Truck Rallies, and even Science Centres*.

*I did visit the Ontario Science Centre as a child, but my most vivid memories are of the one in Detroit.

Example 3: When I first took my internship at P&G (an American-owned company I might add), I consistently got asked if I was from the US. Somewhere between the "accent" that I had and my passion for NASCAR, I guess I was giving myself away! I believe both my accent and passion for NASCAR have waned, but the memories of this time still persist.

Example 4: During my internship I had the opportunity to visit Fayetteville, Arkansas to check out our sales office there. Anyone who knows anything about the consumer goods industry knows we have a little company down there we sell to, so I won't bother mentioning it. :)

Well, while I'm down there eating a $5 steak that is more delicious than any $50 I've ever had in Canada, I am telling someone about how I'm on the Canadian sales team. What's the response you might ask? "Oh, but you aren't originally from Canada are you?"

The way I see it, if the folks in Arkansas mistake me for American, I'm either doing a really bad job at being a Canadian, or I've been misplaced somehow!

My 5th and final example: I've denied it for a long time, but it's official. Without any effort of my own, social media has now classified me as an American. On a little site I've mentioned before (www.empireavenue.com), they just implemented some new leaderboards. The are organized by your default country. Sure enough, I look on there and I wasn't showing up in Canada, but I WAS showing up on the global list. Turns out, even though my location is listed in Toronto, the leader boards have me showing up in the US list!!

So Dad, your little secret about how you smuggled me across the border as a young child is safe with me. I suppose it was a lot easier to do such things back then. Somewhat ironic, because with an economic situation like we've seen lately, I hear it's a pain in the butt to go back the other way.

UPDATE: @dups has shared with me that the location for that feature is actually determined by your IP address so that people can't toy with their location to get a good spot on the leaderboards. I have a sneaking suspicion that my VPN to Cincinnati is likely what put me in the US list. Either way, it has been fun being an American for this short time! 

Online Analytics: You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet

Facebook, Twitter, Posterous, LinkedIn.... These are all common social networking sites that millions of people visit everyday. While of course the key benefits to these networks is networking, engaging in conversation, and spreading your influence in the world, that's not where the real "power" of social media may lie.

In fact, those who operate their own websites and use Google Analytics have known the dirty little secret of the online world for some time... data = power.

I don't mean power in some draconian sense of the world, but data is what enables analysis and understanding of behaviour, which then in turn can help you influence that behaviour and monetize it.

There are many sites that an average consumer can use to access online behavioural data, including Google Analytics, HootSuite, and Facebook Insights. There is also a premium class of analytics tools, generally used by enterprise customers including SocialTalk, Radian6, and Spiral16 to name a few. Not sure what the deal is with the sixes in the names, but I assume it would make a good conspiracy theory.

These enterprise class software packages are very powerful, and are getting moreso by the day. Take a look at this video of how Spiral16 can map out the relationship between two political campaigns.



Of course, it's a cool feature to map out a network in 3D, but what real use does it have? This is where it begins to get exciting. This type of technology could previously only be discussed in theoretical networks or carefully controlled studies in universities, but now real data can be used in real time to analyze real networks. This has implications on how we divy up public resources like healthcare, how we target new products, and even how we share news on a natural disaster in the most efficient way.

Nicholas Christakis, a Harvard sociolist specializing in networks explains it all in the following video. It's a long one, so I'll give you the shorthand too.

The most efficient way to spread something through a network is to pick people at random and then ask them to select a friend. That friend will inherently be closer to the center of the network, and that's where you should focus your message/product for most impact.


Nicholas talks about many of these ideas in terms of the flu, but it can apply to anything that spreads through networks including ideas and product innovations.



Net: If you think social media and the web are important to business in the future, I highly suggest you dabble in the analytics space at least part time. As they say in business, 


You Get What You Measure.

What Is Your Lighthouse Product?

You never actually reach the lighthouse, but you use it as a guiding principle every step of the way in order to dock your boat in the harbour successfully.

I heard this very interesting idea in a meeting when the concept of a lighthouse product was shared with me. A lighthouse product is something that will likely cost too much money and time to ever create, but everything you do should be moving you in that direction.

To that note, my friend Bill (owner of www.empirebuilding.net) and I have begun a new Facebook community page called The Social Branding Network. It essentially replaces my experiment of the coreytyhurst.com fan page, and has a focus on discussing issues surrounding personal and professional branding in everything you do, particularly online.

The name is very deliberate:


Social- This is a place for conversation, debate, and asking questions. I've learned from my mistakes that there is no point in having a community page unless you are active in it!


Branding- It's all about branding; personal, professional, location, product. You name it, we want to talk about branding it.


Network- You cannot have a conversation without a network. As such, this is a place for those who may or may not know each other to meet others and explore what different perspectives have to offer.

You'll also note that the logo design is very similar to the Empire Building Network. This is deliberate as well. Bill and I are working together to help promote our social networks, and we wanted that to be clear to everyone involved.

If you are interested, you can visit the page or "Like" it via the big box on the right, or by clicking here. I expect it will often contain articles from your favourite sites like Mashable and Digg, but we also hope that it can have some unique content; be it user created or even pictures and videos that exemplify how important it is to take your brand by the horns and actively manage it.

There is still much work to do on www.coreytyhurst.com as well as on my personal blog to be sure. However a career in brand building can take many paths, and I feel like this step is moving me a little bit closer to my lighthouse product.

The Dilemmas of Political Campaigns

Being a politician isn't all cocktail parties and fancy fundraisers. Sure, that's what the media is often focused on when they are covering the Prime Minister or the President, but like any other profession it takes a lot of hard work and dedication to make it to that top spot. This often requires many hard hours canvassing and speaking with countless constituents to understand the issues in the area the politician is attempting to represent.

I've been working with Chris Tindal (www.christinal.ca) on his campaign to become the next City Councillor for Ward 27 in Toronto. I've been canvassing the ward with Chris and trying to get the word out on what he's all about. It has been a great experience, and I'm going to continue to do it, but I have come across a couple of interesting dilemma's while doing this:

Dilemma 1)
Politicians are constantly criticized for being out of touch with the public, but a lot of people don't want to be bothered when a potential politician wants to hear about their issues.

I completely understand where the people are coming from on this one. After all, we see politicians make decisions that we don't agree with on a daily basis... they obviously aren't listening to us! At the same time, I really don't want every politician who represents me stopping by my doorstep or calling me on the phone at dinner time every night to ask me what I think about certain issues. I (somewhat) have a life afterall!

I was going to write a whole piece here about how social media can help enable this, but let's be honest, I'd bet it's a pretty skewed population that is looking to their politicians online. One only has to look to the Obama campaign vs. the McCain campaign to see where the demographics are on that one.

Although there is no real solution to this, my advice is if you get the chance, take a few minutes out of your busy day to talk to your potential candidates. Whether it's at your door or online, grill them on their issues and make sure they know their stuff! I guarantee you that the person is not walking around your whole neighbourhood talking to everyone for a selfish reason. Although you may not agree with their personal stance on things, they will be happy to listen and share their thoughts with you.

Dilemma 2)
The taxes are always too high, and the services are always too low... and the Government is wasting it all.

Again, I really can't disagree on this one. Who doesn't want lower taxes and more services!? I think the Government(s) of the past and present are the ones who are really driving this lack of faith in the system. I think the majority of people don't mind paying their taxes, but most people express a feeling that taxes are going up while service levels continue to decrease. This inevitably leads to the third variable in this equation, government waste.

I am fairly privileged in that I got to study economics in school. Also known as the study of scarce resources, the basic principles of economics states that there are always winners and losers in any political or economic decision. It's unfortunate that this is the case, but that means that anytime any government makes a decision to fund a certain project or initiative, there WILL be another project or initiative that doesn't get funded... keep that in mind next time you see a politician making a decision. What is s/he giving up in order to make this decision?

Again, there is no solution to this per se, but my advice to people would be to keep a watch on what their politicians are doing. Are their choices good for society as a whole, or are they choosing to focus on a certain group/area for political gain? As a society we've been living beyond our means for some time, and this likely means at some point in the near future our politicians at all levels are going to be making some tough choices in the future. Ask yourself if you'd want someone representing you who's willing to make the tough choices, or if you would prefer someone who happens to fund your individual project/initiative.

Well, now that I'm ending my little piece on the dilemmas of modern democracy, let me leave you with this...



After all, at the end of the day, regardless of a politicians party affiliation or policy decisions, they can always use a little help from their friends. Volunteering for a political campaign is a great way to learn some things about your local neighbourhood and really make a difference. Try it out!

PS: This blog reflects my own personal views only. I do work on the Chris Tindal campaign as a volunteer, but he is his own man and all of his personal views can be found at www.christindal.ca

GMAT- The Other White Meat

Anyone who knows me well or has been following me on Twitter/Facebook knows I've been studying to take the GMAT test so I can get into business school.

What's surprising to me is the actual topics that I need to brush up on. Pre-GMAT studying, I was given the advice that some of the hardest questions are the dreaded "data sufficiency" questions. Funny enough, during my undergrad in economics we did these questions regularly!

What I really find myself working on is basic (I'm talking like Grade School here) math and grammar. Take this basic math problem for example:

If a and b are different prime numbers, which of the following must be odd?

A) ab

B) 4a + b

C) a + b + 3

D) ab - 3

E) 4a + 4b + 3

 There's a few key rules you need to know in order to get the correct answer:

-The definition of an odd number
-The definition of a prime number
-The rules for arithmetic on even and odd numbers

I just find it interesting, as I spent 4 years of my life doing differential calculus and deciphering mathematical logic to get a degree in economics, and then in order to go get my MBA, I need to brush up on what a prime number is.

Isn't the world grand?

PS: The answer to the above Question is E. Here's the explanation.

 

 

 

 

 

Slowly But Surely

I am feeling pretty good about myself and how far I've come in this online journey I've been calling coreytyhurst.com. Slowly, but surely the site is coming together nicely. No doubt I have much more work to do on content, and I have some really basic SEO that I need to work on, but at least everything is looking decent on the surface.

The latest addition to my blog is the Facebook "like" button. I added this because its been working wonders over at www.empirebuilding.net, so we'll see how it works here. I must admit, I haven't exactly figured out the right strategy for my Facebook page, as I'm not selling anything and don't really have a reason for people to go there aside from me piping in all of the articles which I deem interesting.

The experiment continues!

My First Case of Writers Block

I never thought I'd be THAT guy.... the one who is up in the wee hours of the morning trying to work on his blog posts. To top it all off, with my never ending stream of opinions on everything, I'd never think I would be the guy with the writer's block. Sometimes no matter what you write it just doesn't flow the way you want!

Alas, here I am. I don't think I should be surprised however, given my history.

I've never considered myself much of a writer even though I think I've always showed some of the characteristics of a blogger. I enjoy staying up late, I work the best when I feel like working; not at some predetermined hour, and I thrive off of deadlines.

The only reason I'm even up at this hour on a Sunday is because I'm on vacation from my day job this week. I must admit though, I haven't been sleeping well lately. I am truly excited about the launch of www.empireavenue.com, and I'm so happy that I have been able to participate in the site since the early beta stages.

During my undergrad in Business Economics, I frequently wrote my papers and marketing plans in the wee hours of the morning, but yet somehow the thought of staying up late and writing articles seemed like something that was in my realm of interest. I must say, since I've started this blog in January, and from my last month or so blogging with www.empirebuilding.net, I think this is becoming a secret passion of mine.

Now that I've distracted myself for a bit on the advice of Cliff over at the Empire Building Network, I wonder if I can go back and finish the damn work that I wanted to get done tonight. Hell hath no fury for a guy trying not to wake up his gf in the other room while he figures out what the hell he wants to write about.

Primerica: If You Aren't A Scam, Please Don't Sound Like One

Today I got a random phone call. I normally don't answer calls from numbers I don't recognize, but I was working from home today and it could have been business related.

A professional sounding gentlemen began asking me whether I was interested business opportunities, etc, etc. I have had calls from headhunters before, and they are usually straight up with you: 

"I work for a client who is looking for x. This is the job, this is the company, would you be interested in talking?" 

As I explained in a previous post, I enjoy hearing the selling techniques employed at other companies, as it helps keep me on my game, plus it gives me something to blog about! He gave me his full name when I asked for it, so I was willing to listen to the pitch. In addition to that he seemed to be able to answer the general questions I was throwing at him about the opportunity in question.

But then the specific questions started coming from me, and it wasn't so obvious that this was legit anymore.

The gentleman asked me if I'd be willing to come in for an information session. I said that I wasn't going to commit until I could get a chance to check out the website and give him a call back. I felt like this was a reasonable request, as I am very happy in my current job, and I wanted to know about the company he was touting, Primerica Canada. This guys job is obviously to close the sale, so he wasn't satisfied with that answer. I completely understand that.

The Call Turns Suspicious
Here's what happened next that started making me suspicious:
-When I mentioned visiting the internet to look up his company, he was gave me this line about how his company had spent millions on marketing, including a website, and if the website was the best way to disseminate information to people, he would spend most of his day emailing folks. My question then is: why spend the millions?
-He asked me if I wanted to bring a trusted friend, or a spouse to the information session with me. While I understand that changing careers is a big life choice, they can't be THAT selective if they are just bringing anyone they want to these information sessions. I have since learned that this is common in financial services, but I didn't know this, so a reputable thing to do would have been to mention that this is normal in the industry, and practiced by firms such as the Investors Group.
-When I asked him out of curiosity how he got my name and cell phone number, he started getting vague and would only refer to someone named "Arek". (I asked him to spell it for me).
-When I Googled the gentleman I was speaking to on the phone after the call, I had to really work to find him. If you were "regional VP of a financial services distribution company", wouldn't you have a LinkedIn profile?
-When I Googled Primerica the first thing I kept getting was "its a scam", "beware", etc.
-Even on the official Primerica Canada site, there was a whole page dedicated to "important disclosures", which says it IS a subsidiary of Citigoup.

Transparency Enables Clarity
After sharing what I had found on Twitter and how I felt this could affect ones personal brand, I got a few polite messages about how my information was incorrect. I'll admit that I didn't spend hours researching before I tweeted, but thats why I shared it, to get feedback to find out what the real story was. Also, the subsidiary piece is right on the website, so I just tweeted what the company itself told me.

From what I can gather from all sources, it seems like Primerica IS a legitimate company, but due to its agent based structure, there are inconsistencies in the level of ethics across branches. There is also evidence that the company used to be worse, but since going public it has cleaned up its act. I'm perfectly comfortable with this, but frankly, that should have been one of the first things mentioned when I began asking about going online to check out the company. I can deal with past mistakes, I REFUSE to deal with not being transparent.

If they truly are changed, they should acklowledge there were issues in the past and pledge that they have rectified the situation. I honestly would have expected something on the Primerica PR site (which btw, says it's NOT a subsidiary of Citigroup), but nothing to be found. Being listed on the stock market doesn't automatically indicate youhave good business practices. I think we all remember that little company named Enron.

This gentleman was polite, proactive, and well spoken. I don't know him. I'm sure he's an upstanding guy. I gotta say though, even after doing the research, I'm still not exactly sure how Primerica is or isn't related to Citigroup at this point due to conflicting sources.

My suggestion for Primerica
If you aren't a scam, try not to sound like one.

• If there have been past issuesaddress them head on instead of trying to ignore them. If you don't make it clear where you stand, the internet will. 
• Be straight up with what is true or isn't true and you'll attract the kind of people you need to grow your business.

**UPDATE- July 21: SO the gentleman called me back today and gave me some line about how "There was so many people there last night (the original appointment day) that he didn't get a chance to talk to everyone". Either they had a group of 100 people in there for an information session (very scam sounding) or he was just lying through his teeth, as I did call and leave him a message confirming that I would not be attending.

He didn't press the issue of me coming in to talk to them anymore, so I'm assuming they found someone they were looking for. I wish them both the best, but again, doesn't sound like other legit companies I've worked with.**

I Love Jib Jab so much. It's. Just. Awesome.

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

The video pretty much speaks for itself. For $12/year I can send as many ridiculous cards and put as many of my friends into hilarious videos as I want.

The Facebook integration is brilliant, they've clearly been doing their work on the business end (Star Wars 30th Anniversary, World Cup, and now promoting the new Season of Mad Men).

Here's the one I made of me in Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back. Btw, if you are planning on scoring points with your gf on this one, be sure she is Princess Leah as opposed to someone else. Just trust me on this one.

And, if I'm not interested in shelling out the cash, I can still watch a hilarious video making fun of every single event that happened in a year.

In short, Jib Jab is a great site, and it's been one of my favourites for a long time.... ever since John Kerry thought he could give Bush a run for his money.

Social Media, Canada, Independence- 3 Great Days All In One Weekend!

The mass exodus from the city to the cottage for the Canada Day long weekend is well underway in Toronto. This was evidenced my my super speedy trip to Best Buy to pick up a Pink Nintendo DS Lite for my girlfriends birthday (she chose the colour of course).

During this fine weekend our neighbours to the South also celebrate their own independence and I can't help but think about the long standing relationship our two countries have had in making North America a great place to live.

While we celebrate long standing traditions, this weekend also brings us closer to the future. Mashables Social Media day, celebrated in many countries all over the world yesterday is a testament to how the world s changing through technology.

We are quickly moving to a world where its less about that I live in Canada or have coworkers who live in the US. The Internet (with Social Media as a large component of this) has quickly began erasing the concept of borders, reminding us that we are all citizens of the Earth before we are part of some political organization known as a country, and that thinking globally will be the only way for our planet to succeed in the long run.

As I head out of town for my own Canada day celebrations, I urge you to take pride in your country, take pride in where you are from, but remember that we're all human, and thats what really matters.

Come To A Social Media Day Meetup On June 30th!

Our friends over at Mashable have declared June 30th International Social Media Day, and frankly, I couldn't be happier!

There are meetups happening all over the world; 91 countries, 571 meetups working towards 10,000 people according to @mashSMday. I have to say, this is truly an amazing time in our existence where a company can declare an international day for something and it just starts happening around the world. It's not just the geeks either, the city of Victoria, British Columbia has dedicated the day to the cause officially as well. Check out the hastag #smday on Twitter if you want to join the conversation!

I hope by now you are asking "How can I participate"? Well, start off by heading here. That is the link for the Toronto meetup at The Madison Pub, sponsored by Netfirms. However, even if you aren't in Toronto there is a little box on the left side that will show meetups near you.

Personally, I'm going to have a few drinks, and meet some of the people I've been interacting with over the past few months since I've gotten heavy into the social media world. I know for a fact I want to find Will Pitcher over @empirebuilding and find out how he has been building his share price so consistently in my favourite new online stock game.

Whether you are into Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, FourSquare, Gowalla, Empire Avenue, or just want to learn more about marketing or social media, this is a great way to network and learn something!

PS: Don't forget to join coreytyhurst.com on our Facebook page. We're launching the new website/blog soon! I promise!

The coreytyhurst.com Journey Continues- With the Help of Empire Avenue

So I'm still struggling with trying to drive traffic to my Facebook fan page. I think perhaps once I get a beta version of the website up it will be easier to solicit info from people than just a pdf mockup. Luckily for me, my readers are not swayed by a mere $25. This tells me I have classy readers! Whining aside, I've signed up with a new service that I have already began seeing results on; Empire Avenue.

Check out the YouTube video below explaining Empire Avenue in more detail... It's a little bland, but a hell of a lot better than I would do!


Essentially the game is a stock market program where you or your company is a stock that is measured on the value of your influence on the web. You link it to your Facebook, Twitter, RSS Feeds, and Flickr so that it can measure your influence and allow other influencer's to buy shares in you.

I've already met some very active, influential people through the service, including William Pitcher (RZR), who is a philanthropist turned Empire Avenue guru at http://empirebuilding.tumblr.com/. I highly recommend you check him out, as he's leading the thinking on Empire Avenue strategy, and definitely a stock to watch.

I think the site has obvious potential for the professional blogger/influencer, but the average joe can find value in it too. I'm probably not going to be pushing my stock price up over 20 because I just don't have enough time to spend posting and blogging (although I really wish I did!), but I've already found a ton of cool blogs to check out, and am quasi-networking with people who are clearly interested in the web and social media. I've even seen people send out advertisements of "Buy shares in me and I will help you with any problem you are having on the web". An Interesting premise!

Stay tuned for my next post I plan on talking about why platforms like Empire Avenue are not a fad, and are a new reality of the connected world.

Personal Marketing Plan Fail- I Probably Need Better Content!

Well, my first attempt of getting people to give me and kaitsouch.com feedback on the design for coreytyhurst.com hasn't gone very far, but I am staying resilient! To be fair, I haven't really been around to promote my $25 reward for helping Kait and I design my new personal website, but I thought for sure someone in my network would have at least liked my fan page and made a snarky comment. I probably overestimate the amount of time my friends actually spend online compared to me.

Luckily for me, this lack of traffic has allow me to notice that when I post something to my personal Facebook as well as the coreytyhurst.com page it will send out dual news feed updates. This would be uber annoying for anyone who has actually liked the fb page and has me in their news feed. What I'm not sure about is what to do about this...
On one hand, I could only post somethings to my personal page so I know my friends will see them... but then my fan page doesn't get updated. The other option is to only post to my fb page, but then all of my two fans will see the updates... I guess for now I just have to be choiceful and find a more convincing way for people to join my fb page than offering cash and interesting commentary!

One of the good things is that this gave me an opportunity to play around with Facebook ads. I put in a bid of $0.50 per click and a maximum of $2/day during the promotion (till the end of June). So far I've gotten 2 clicks, no signups, and a bill for $0.92!! Hardly successful, but this is an experiment more than a true ad campaign, so I'm not that upset by it.

Another interesting thing that I learned is that until you have 25 1000 people as fans, you have to have an obscenely long URL (mine is http://www.facebook.com/pages/edit/?id=107132832663434#!/pages/coreytyhurstcom/107132832663434). Once you hit the magic number of 25 1000, you can set up a custom username/URL so it's easy to find and search for your fan page.

June 10 Update: Apparently Facebook just changed the threshold to 1000 people for a custom URL. Gonna need a whole lot more likes!

I think it just speaks to one of the truisms of the net: CONTENT IS EVERYTHING!! I guess I have more work to do! :)

EAVB_DUVHXDGAHT

Make $25CAD... the easy way!!

Want to win $25 in cold hard, Canadian cash? If so, check out coreytyhurst.com on Facebook and let me know what you think of my new website mockup! In collaboration with kaitsouch.com, I am launching the official coreytyhurst.com website in a few weeks, and I want my loyal fans (all 8 of you!) to give feedback and help make the site as good as it can be!

Kaitlyn Souch is a fledgling web designer and she has done a great job in preparing a site that really reflects my personal brand. I would recommend her work to anyone, so I thought I would share her expertise with the world by asking for input into the design of coreytyhurst.com.

Leave your comments... when the site launches Kait and I will pick the best fan feedback and I will send then $25CAD in cold, hard cash. It's easy, give constructive feedback, make sure it's better than everyone else', and you win $$$
(Note, this contest is for individuals only; no companies or 3rd party advertisers are permitted to win)

Here's the initial design (don't mind the spelling and language stuff... its just a draft!):

This puppy is going to be linked to my Blog, LinkedIn, Twitter, and the coreytyhurst.com Facebook page, and many of my other social networking sites. If you like it, become a fan of coreytyhurst.com on Facebook!

About coreytyhurst.com:
This is a personal website where I will be sharing my latest endeavors in technology, media, video games, politics, economics, and anything else that I find interesting about how people interact in the crazy world we live in. I'm not out to make money, simply share my experiences with the world.

About kaitsouch.com:
Kaitlyn Souch is a web design student at Sir Sanford Fleming College. She has produced many multimedia projects, including websites, print, and photographic works. Her passion for design and her bubbly personality ensure that your project is done on time and without hassle.

You Can Skip Everything Online, Except LinkedIn

 I am the youngest person at my job. This often defaults me to being the "expert" on computers, the internet, and all things geek. Personally, I love taking this role because it affords me the opportunity to show people who I respect in the workplace all of the great tools that are available to them to boost their competitive edge.

I believe that LinkedIn is one of these core tools. I've said it before, and I will say it again, as an individual, you can  afford to skip Twitter, skip Facebook, and skip a bunch of the other social networks (I don't recommend it, but not everyone wants to live their life in front of a screen as much as I do). However, if professionals do nothing else online, they should be on LinkedIn. Period.

I've put together a presentation on Slide Share that explains some of the benefits in general, but this post is really to tackle those professionals who have had a successful career, do not plan on moving companies anytime soon, and just can't figure out why a "job searching" website would be of any value to them. It's a completely valid question, as most how-to guides for LinkedIn focus on how to use it to find a job. The reality is, that it's a networking tool... a superb one.

Common Barriers:

1- I am not looking for a job, I don't see how this site can help me

 In today's competitive business world, you need every edge you can get. Even if you plan on staying in your job and company for many more years, having up to date, current information on companies, the job market, and potential candidates for your team helps you keep one step ahead in your professional game.

2- I am busy managing my work and my employees, I don't have time for this.

Even if you are not into the internet and building a personal brand online, it's very likely that your employees are. As a manager of other people, one of your core roles is to help build your employees skills and career through your guidance and expertise. If you participate in helping your employees build their brand, they are far more likely to be loyal to you, and your company. 15 minutes a week of reading about updates in your network and providing testimonials to your employees work publicly can do a world of help for employee motivation.

3- I have a strong network in the "real world", I really don't feel the need to put myself out in the world publicly

This is a fair barrier. Some people do not want to make their work and academic history available for all of the world to see. If that is the case, then LinkedIn probably isn't for you. However, if you have a Facebook profile, then this argument is bunk!

I'm sure I could talk in length about some of the other benefits such as LinkedIn answers and Recruiting, but I'll give you the meat!


How do I get Started?

1- Create a free profile at www.linkedin.com
2- Add http://ca.linkedin.com/in/coreytyhurst
3- Join your companies group. If it doesn't exist, make it!
4- Start networking (only add people to your network who you are willing to be associated with)

Keys To Success:

1- Spend 15 minutes each week browsing profiles and reading about companies in your industry. You'll be surprised at what you can learn
2- Keep your profile up to date
3- Join and participate in some select groups that are relevant to your career. The key here it to pick a couple relevant groups and participate in the conversation... or start one! You'll be surprised at how strangers will be willing to talk about common interest related to their area of expertise.

If you liked this post, please let me know. If you have other barriers or issues you'd like me to address, please let me know!!

**UPDATE- May 26**
Here's a really cool infographic on LinkedIn and some of its more fun stats from around the world.

Improving Your Local Community

Think Globally, Act Locally- It's quite the cliche at this point... but I guess that cliche's exist because a lot of people are on board with the idea.

I truly believe that people are what make the difference , both online and off. This is one of the reasons I love social media so much; it's not about the information that you are discussing per se, its the people behind that information and the debate that their opinions spark that interests me.

This may seem a bit Utopian, but I truly believe that participating in Web 2.0 will make the world a better place. This isn't a new concept for me, more of an extension of my offline life. Before the "new web" even existed I was participating in Beavers, Wolf Cubs, and 4-H. All of these organizations have a goal of inspiring youth to make the world a better place in their own special way.

The reason I am writing about this today is that I am participating (for a 3rd time) in the Junior Achievement program "Economics For Success". It's a program that helps Gr. 8 students understand what living on their own is like, and how investing in their education can help them achieve their individual goals, whatever they may be.

I participate through my company along with other employees, but JA is open to anyone who is interested in offering their time to school age children. In JA, I've learned 3 things specifically:

-Gr. 8 kids are a hell of a lot smarter than you think. I don't know if I just forget what it was like at that time in my life, or if our kids are just leapfrogging us in intellect, but I am always hopeful for the future when I hear the thoughtful responses from the future leaders of society.

-Teachers don't get enough credit. I work long, hard days in a knowledge based industry dealing with some of the smartest folks in the world. However, after a day of intense interactive learning with a group of Gr. 8's, I am whooped. It's humbling to play the role of a teacher and think about the importance of their job to our future.

-Learning is supposed to be fun. I think as adults sometimes we look upon learning as "getting in the way" of the things we need to do. Kids have the uncanny ability to make even the most mundane task fun, to the disdain of their teachers of course!

Here's my shameless plug for JA... The video isn't the flashiest thing around, but remember, this is a not for profit run mostly by volunteers. :)


Anyone can work hard, get a sweet job, and make some good coin... but are YOU doing enough to give back to your local community?

Application Overload

I'm addicted to the internet. There, I said it. I have plenty of friends who are addicted to coffee, smoking, sleeping, etc. In my mind, I could have far worse hobbies.

Part of my addiction to the internet is wanting to try out the latest and greatest applications on the web. In marketing they call people like me the "bleeding edge"... those early adopters who are out seeking new products just so they can be the first ones to have it. One of the most important points in the definition of bleeding edge is that there is no consensus on how things should be done!

This is becoming very obvious to me as I am really starting to get more ingrained into this world that we call social media. As an example, when I first got Twitter I started using Seesmic web on my home computer, but hated how they sent me emails all of the time about their tweets, so then I switched to Tweetdeck, which was working perfectly fine. However, I've been doing some more research and decided to check out HootSuite, as it had the web component of Seesmic, and seemed to have some good features (including being able to link to ping.fm). I'm sure that by next month, there will be some other great new program or application out there to rival HootSuite, but I guess thats just how it goes in this crazy new space.


My willingness to try new things will ultimately get me to a better place I think, but the passion I have makes me wade through a lot of crap, including signing up for new services (and then deleting them) when I realize they aren't what I'm looking for.
Random thought: (Here's a great website that helps you delete profiles on most major social sites)

I'm really considering making a full flow chart for how my social media is all connected, as I think it could help me organize things... but that sounds like a project for another weekend when I'm not busy checking out new web apps!

What about you? Do you ever get bogged down with all of the choice out there? Or do you just stick to the big popular platforms?

Word of Mouth, The Best Gig In Town

Marketing has come a long way in the last 100 years or so. Ever since our boy Sigmund Freud figured out that we could actually use media (among other things) to manipulate how humans perceived products/brands/etc it's been quite the free for all.


Case in point:
1960: Barney takes a "Winston Break"





2008: A random song and dance outside a big tobacco company's headquarters



There's no doubt that we've come a long way to at least not trying to sell cigarettes to children, but even the current tactics are becoming obsolete. We are bombarded with so many messages daily its pretty much impossible to drown out the noise.

Enter word of mouth marketing. While not a new concept, in this world of marketing noise has made it a necessity to ensure people are having conversations about yours brands.

I was on the subway the other day and this group of women was speaking very loudly about all of the great things that Cineplex Odeon had done for her, as she had just won a year of free movies. More specifically, she was pumped about the great customer service she received so that she didn't have to pick up her movie tickets every week as the original deal intended. (See my previous post on customer service here.)

Honestly, this woman was like an evangelist for the brand to the point where I was skeptical of whether she was a real person or whether she was some guerrilla marketer getting kickbacks from the company. I continued to listen, and all of the women were sharing about their interactions they had with various brands over the course of the last few weeks, both good and bad. I had to assume they were legit, as I doubt most companies would be paying people to bad mouth another brand, but maybe I just too benevolent for my own good. ;p

Either way, as a quasi-marketer I was blown away at how these ladies were just listing off all of the brands they interacted with and their opinions with such passion. I just thought to myself: If they were talking about my brand, this would be a gold mine!

Of course it is not that easy to get people talking about your brand positively, but if you can capture the elusive beast, you'll be part of the best gig in town.

The Paradigm Shift- Can Video Games Help Implement Open Government?

I got into a great debate over the weekend with my stepmom over the values of the baby boomers vs. generation y and the merits/pitfalls of each. I won't share the whole debate, but one of the things she brought up is how my generation doesn't realize "what we are losing" by relying so heavily on technology. I probed a bit deeper and she began to talk about how we are communicating through a machine instead of talking face to face like her generation has previously done. I found this fact very interesting as Growing Up Digital explained this exact phenomenon where Baby Boomers actually see the act as "using technology" while my generation sees it literally as talking to another person. My step-mom's point was that even though we are gaining in terms of collaboration and connectivity, we are likely losing something in the process... likely privacy, and the "social skill" of interacting face to face. The other valid point she had was that if my internet goes down or if you take the blackberry/laptop out of my hands we are unable to function very efficiently, if at all.

Question: Do you think that as a society we are becoming too reliant on technology?

As our debate continued, I began sharing with her why I have such a strong belief in the internet. One of these reasons is the potential power to fundamentally shift the way our institutions work. As I started surfing around I found this 7 part mini-doc about this very topic:



After watching this series, I was particularly blown away by the event where the residents of the town decided what projects should be funded with the $20K up for grabs. What was truly amazing was that even the older gentlemen who did not receive funding, were generally OK with it because they realized there were other more pressing issues in the community. The wheel cogs in my head started churning, and I had a light bulb idea on how how the government could be run under a very similar model.

Imagine that we take a version Ontario Budget Simulator for whatever level of government and pair it with A Campaign Platform to take in feedback on policy issues. The government would still have a role in saying, we are going to give $X certain region, and then you lock in your vote via the budget simulator and the aggregate decision is what the government implements. This is really what I think Jane McGonigal is talking about when she says we need to "make the world more like video games" in order to enact change. Afterall, if you can play a videogame and improve your community by doing it, isn't that a way more powerful influencer than handing out flyers for your candidate hoping that he/she is going to do what they promised? I think she's on the right track more and more everyday.

There are definitely some issues with this model, but I think a whole redesign of the system would have to be completed in order to make this successful. For example, how far/often is the public allowed to run a deficit? How do I avoid any one large demographic from completely ignoring another demographic in policy issues? I need to do some more research on this idea to find out if its unique or not, so I think my first stop is Wikinomics.

Question: Do you think that political participation would be greater if it was more like a video game?

As a closing thought, one of my favourite lines from the Us Now videos is that we have "implementation issues, not reasons that we shouldn't do it"... so let's go figure out how to implement these new models for society, and ultimately make our world a better place.

Who needs traditional advertising when you have ambitious students?

I know that Brock University, the lovely institution that allowed me to get the sweet job I have now has invested lots of money over the years in advertising. That's all well and good, but I have to ask, if they spent a little bit of money to help fund projects like this more often, who would need advertising!?



My old roommate (1:19.... rocking the standy Jeffie Pie Leather Jacket) is in this video, which makes it extra fun. I always knew when he started getting involved with Brock TV he had found his calling.


SURGITE!

Is Our Concept Of "The World" Coming To An End?

The title of this post is really for shock value... but it came from this:

I figure if Twitter is having issues on a Friday... it must mean the world is in true peril!


Jokes aside, the importance of electronic communication in our society is not even a question anymore... it's a given. So what happens when these tools are unavailable or we aren't able to access them? Well, the world as we know it practically falls apart. This is very apparently in my office, where if/when the network goes down, nearly everyone in the office says "I guess I'll go home and hopefully the network will be up later so I can finish my work". THAT'S how dependent we are on technology!


And thats's just a single server.... when the power goes out the world practically stops. Heck, when we had that huge power outage a few years back we couldn't even pump gas to put it in our cars!


Either way, I'm on a tangent here (surprise, surprise). These tools do make us more interconnected (and therefore more vulnerable), but I came across this excellent video from TED where Jane McGonigal is trying to convince the crowd about how Gaming can actually change the world as we know it.


Take a peek and tell me what you think. I think it's a stretch to say gaming can save the world, but I think the novel idea here is "how can we organize the world to be more like a game... with targetted incentives and a constant sense of reward, even when the challenge is difficult and takes a long time to achieve?"


PS: She talks about World of Warcraft a lot... so check out the title link for a peek into my WoW life. :)

A Weekend Off The Grid Was Much Needed... Even If I Couldn't Wait To Get Back

It's official.

I have an internet addiction... ask my gf, she'll tell you. This is me after about 1.5 days without access:

Now, it's more like a Coffee addiction than say, hard drugs, but it's an addiction nonetheless. I spent the weekend at my lady's parents house eating delicious food and playing with their new puppy (who is adorable), but in order to get the great scenery and sounds of the great outdoors, I was confined to only having dial up internet access. I must admit it was a great throwback (my gf and I had a good debate on the merits of ICQ... but eventually decided we didn't need to redownload it for nostalic purposes!)

I did manage to survive it all, and I have about 5lbs worth of extra weight to prove there are other unhealthy things that I could replace my internet use with... but for now, I'll stick with the highspeed!

If I was less of a procrastinator I wouldn't need technology... but alas, I am.

I've gotten myself pretty backlogged (in both work and personal life) over the last few weeks, and I have no one to blame but myself. Luckily for me, I've has a great week technology wise and I should be able to use my "electronic crutches" to help me get back on track!

On Thursday I brought in my work computer to get the external backup software looked at. Luckily for me, the gentleman working on it was extremely helpful. He realized almost right away that my duocore laptop was somehow set to only work on one processor! To be honest, I had no idea that could even be done... I knew that software may not take advantage of the duocore, but the processor was literally working at half capacity. I was annoyed that i didn't know to look for this myself, but frankly I was ecstatic that my poor little HP had hope of running faster than molasses on a cold day in Quebec... and this was just the beginning!


 Friday I did manage to upgrade to Office 2007 which is a VERY welcome change to my work technology experience. I'm still waiting on my license for OneNote 2007, but that should be ready to go when I get in tomorrow morning. These new software packages alone are going to make my life substantially better and easier to keep myself organized. As to why I'm upgrading to 2007 software in mid 2010, I think I've already covered the issues with large corporate systems in a previous post.

As I sit here now, its a dreary Sunday afternoon, so it's not so bad that I've let my work week creep into my weekend. I'm sure my weekend has creeped into my work week someone, hence the backlog situation I'm in now. My current task is to organized a multi-tiered project across a number of organizations. For this I wanted to create a fancy timeline I could share with people, but honestly after some searching I couldn't find something that suited my needs. I found tons of templates based in Excel or Word, but frankly, I can put one of those together easily. I also found some really awesome looking web-based timelines like this (but this would not allow me to include sensitive information in the timeline as its outside the company firewall), as well as some software based packages, both free and paid (I almost shelled out the 50 bucks!). To be honest, I couldn't find exactly what I was looking for, so maybe it doesn't exist!

After wasting a couple hours doing that, I realized that I really just needed a simple project management package similar to Microsoft project, but without all of the bells/whistles/costs. Creating/managing a simple task chart was all I needed. I'll save the whole story, but I looked through a bunch of options including Gantt Project, but after downloading and trying it out, I realized its export features were too limited for my liking. I eventually settled with Openproj, which is probably way to powerful/complex for what I need, but it seems fairly intuitive, and its license allows anyone to use it for personal or business use so it's safe from any "not for commercial use" warnings. It still doesn't have perfect Excel export features, but I can at least get the task list and key dates copied over to Excel to share with colleagues.

Most importantly though, it should help me keep all of my various project tasks organized.

I'm hoping that by this upcoming weekend I'll have my work life fully organized via OneNote, so I'll likely have some opinions to share on that. :)

Last.fm is pretty cool if your are an audiophile... could use a better UI

I signed up for Last.fm today and I've been pretty impressed so far in terms of music selection. 

Think of lastfm like a mashup of Facebook and MySpace music profiles. As you may or may not know, management at MySpace has been shifting around (read leaving) quite a bit lately, so that could potentially help people make the switch from MySpace... we can only hope.

Either way, it was easy to set up lastfm and import my library, but i must say I think the user experience leaves one wanting. I downloaded the built in tool (with a cool name like Scrobbler who could resist?) and it automatically shares my itunes playlists with my profile... easy! However I wish it there was a button to just "play all" from an album instead of having to listen to the radio channel... maybe I'm just doing something wrong, but when I look up Dr. Dre and I want to listen to a certain album, thats pretty much what I'm there for.

I also don't like how when you leave the radio station on it automatically adds the songs to you last played, even if you skip it.... maybe this is just something I need to turn off. :p

Anyways, overall it's a pretty cool site and a great way to expand your musical horizon

ps: My gf just decided she's going to start her own blog, she just needs a topic... more to come on that!

When Your New Shirt Doesn't Fit... Just Go Back To Bed (Attempt 2)

**Warning- This is a total nerd rage post. :)**

I should have known today was going to be a doozy… I woke up to try on my brand new shirt from Burlington Coat Factory (a steal at $9.98 I thought) only to find out I grabbed the wrong size… way to go Tyhurst.

I brushed it off, as it was only 10 bucks, plus I was able to get some sweet deals on some sandals, a belt, and a shower bag that are working for me just perfectly! I then headed off to work and my training session first thing in the morning everything was running smoothly. The guy giving the training, a sales guy turned IT department kind of fellow, commented on how unusual it was to have no technical difficulties at all for a training session such as this.

So, picture this… it’s 8am, your shirt didn’t fit, and your meeting is about to start without IT difficulties… trust me, this had bad omen written all over it.

I continued on through my day messaging my gf via text message and updating my twitter. Of course, I wasn’t getting many responses today because my gf had a big exam, so I knew she was focused on that. Most of the day at work went off without a hitch… another indication of awful things to come!! :p

Eventually I get back to the hotel after a quick break for lunch and then I realize that the internet isn’t working NOR are my texts/tweets going out from my cell. Not a big deal, I’ll do some work offline and then hopefully the net will come back up. Did that till about 8pm… still no dice.

This is when the story started going downhill. I hadn’t heard from my gf and I wasn’t able to check Facebook so I figured I’d shell out the $3 for the international call on my cell phone to give her a call and check in. Sure enough, she was still alive, but as I was on the cell phone clock, we didn’t get a chance to talk long.

So, I head out to dinner to try this Brazillian steak place (www.boinabraza.com). I had been by this place on several occasions on my previous trips to Cincinnati, but I had never went in to try it. I finally decided to take the plunge, but to be honest, I wasn’t ready for the bill I was about to get. I got the special, which was absolutely delicious, I had some lamb, some filet mignon, some breaded parmesan pork loins, as well as a large salad with mashed potatoes. The food and service was great, but so was the bill… let’s just say this one will have come out of the Tyhurst personal budget and not the travel budget… and I’m not going back for a while. lol

So dinner was bittersweet, but it continued to get worse as I came back to the hotel… I asked the front desk about the internet situation… no change.

They gave me a code to use in the “business center” aka The Closet with 5 computers attached to credit card readers that doesn’t have any climate control. I fumbled with the code for about 5 minutes, but it was clear that the number of digits on the tag I was given did not match the number of digits I had to enter to get internet access! The gentleman beside me was equally confused so I decided to ask the front desk for help. Of course they gave us the wrong codes so once they sorted that out we were good to go. I only had 15 minutes of time (how ghetto) so I quickly checked my facebook and decided I’d use the rest of the time to write a blog post about how I can’t live without the internet and my smartphone (This was attempt 1). Wouldn’t it be my luck that as soon as I go to publish it (3 minutes still remaining on the clock), the internet on those computers conked out and I lost my post. At that point I said “screw this” and stomped upstairs irritated as hell.

Luckily for me, I have an amazing gf who always knows how to take my mind of things. We spent an hour debating the merits of statistics courses at the masters level (trust me, this was not the best choice of debates), but it served the purpose nonetheless. Then, when I realized my mistake of focusing on the stats thing too much, we had a good discussion on social policy relating to the homeless. Again, probably not the greatest topic, but I don’t think either of us thought about stats during this time. :D

I began writing Attempt 2 of this blog post in a word document, but as it stands it’s 11:47pm, my internet is back on, and I have to get up at 4:30am in order to catch my plane.

SO, the only thing left to do is publish this bad boy, go to sleep, and hope that the shirt I put on tomorrow fits, because if it doesn’t, I’m just going to go back to bed.