This was a great project because we got the chance to put together a lot of solutions to make a more powerful (and easier to use) final product. We use MySpace for social networking, Flickr for images, Del.icio.us for links, Google apps for Calendaring and business email, and Wordpress for publishing and tying everything together.

I have high hopes for this site – Discology already has a strong real-world network, and hopefully the new blog and MySpace page will allow the store to grow its network online.

I encourage you to take a look at the links below, as well as to stop in and see the shop. And get the word out, it’s an easy way to support a spunky independent small business in Reno.
View their website.

View their MySpace page.

I have tons of ideas brewing about how to help local businesses (the kind with character!) get online and promote themselves inexpensively.  But, that’s another post (or two, or three…)

I wish I agreed.

Blogging is hot. Its a great online marketing tool. If you are reading this then my point is proven. Blogging is easy -kind of. Blogging is easy to set up, its easy to get started, but it is really hard to do correctly, and even harder to maintain.

A blog isn’t any different than a website. A blog is an idea that is executed by various different types of code, products, vendors, etc. When you have a blog you have the idea of consistent portable content that people can respond to right now – that’s it. It’s not Wordpress, its not Livejournal, its not Moveable Type – those are all mechanisms for executing your idea.

Those mechanisms are really easy to set up but harder to integrate into your traditional website effectively.

Most blogs have no value and fail faster than a small business. Why? They don’t have a plan.

Blogs needs regular content. They need a focused theme. The need a schedule for writers to post to.

Without focus, your business blog becomes just rambling and you don’t want to ramble to your clients to you? Your client doesn’t need to know about your dog, or your issues with in-laws, or how hard it is for you to deal with them. Blogs can be dangerous territory.

Without regular posting you blog withers and dies. There is no reason to revisit a blog whose content never changes – it’s like the business newsletter that always has the same three headlines – it becomes junk mail.

If you think a blog fits creatively into your business or your businesses’ marketing strategy then write up a mission statement, a growth plan, and a schedule of posting. Then sit down with your team – even if it is only you – and brainstorm the first dozen posts. Only then is it time to go look into WordPress or LiveJournal and get your blog set up.

So, please note that as of now, everything here is shiny and clean. But I make no claims on future posts until she’s had a look. (Oh, and she proofs all my client sites before launch, by the way.) A big thank you to Erin for all her time and effort.