Internet Marketing Tips and Freebies

“In December 2009 world leaders meet in Copenhagen to agree on a post-Kyoto policy for tackling climate change. One billion people voting with their light switch during Earth Hour will create a powerful mandate for our leaders to take strong and decisive action on climate change in Copenhagen.”

 “Switching off your lights is a vote for Earth, leaving them on is a vote for global warming.”

Earth hour is Saturday March 28, 8:30 PM – Wherever you live on the planet.

I am asking you to do your part to show our world leaders in a very visible way that we want them to take decisive action on climate change.

It’s easy, you don’t have to leave home, give any money or devote hours of your time.

All you have to do is turn off your lights for one hour on Saturday evening.

Here is what I have planned for my earth hour.

I will be turning off all of our computer equipment and shutting down my network, unplugging all of our other power consuming devices, turning off all the lights lighting a few candles and having a glass of wine (organic of course) by candlelight to toast mother earth.

This is the perfect opportunity for all of us to unplug!

Take advantage of it and spend time with your family. Light a candle, have some conversation and let everyone know that you are committed to positive climate change.

As Active Rainer's and contributors to this group I am sure you have things planned for earth hour already. Share them with us by commenting. Better yet, video, photograph or otherwise record your experience and blog about it on Sunday!

It is imperative that we present a united stance on a global scale on March 28.

The Cathedral of Notre Dame, l’Elysée, the President’s residence (in France), the Senate and the French National Assembly, The Eiffel Tower, Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro, Table Mountain in Cape Town, Merlion in Singapore, Sydney Opera House, CN Tower in Toronto, Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, The Great Pyramids of Giza, Acropolis, The Empire State Building in NYC, Petronas Towers and over 377 cities in 74 countries will be switching off for Earth Hour March 24, 2009. For more information about earth hour, visit http://www.earthhour.org/ What have you planned for earth hour? Share them with us all buy commenting or Take pictures during earth hour, shoot video and blog about it!

For more information about earth hour, visit http://www.earthhour.org/

source earthhour.org website- Vote Earth! Image created by Shepard Fairey  for Earth Hour 2009

It is interesting to wonder what the Internet will be like in 5 years much less 10.

The more applications are developed and the more information we are willing to share the more interactive the web will truly become.

When remote desktop access was first introduced, I was blow away by the fact that no matter where I was I could get that file I left at work or home.

Then along came, on-line file and information sharing. Once again, I was in awe.

Now, welcome Live Mesh developed by Microsoft. Live mesh is a combination of both plus more... It just keeps getting better and better.

Right now, Live Mesh is in beta and the 5 GB “Live Desktop” is free.

Live Mesh allows you to access all your devices, including your mobile devices, and even your Mac (you need to install some software) from the Internet (most browsers are supported).

You can share files with others and get notified whenever someone changes a file.

When you sign up you get what Microsoft calls, your “Live Desktop”. This is 5 GB of storage on their server to put your shared files.

Manage your files, access, changes, post messages, chat with members (using messenger) and change synchronization settings from an area called a “Mesh bar”.

If you only need a quick snapshot of what is happening with your mesh you can use “Notifier”. It gives you a status of all of your synced devices and folders.

“News” gives you a continuous feed detailing everything that is happening on your mesh. You will know when someone has viewed, changed, or posted a comment.

“Live Mesh Remote Desktop” – Just what it says, it allows you to access a desktop or mobile device remotely. The nice thing about this is say you have a Mac laptop at home, a PC at work and your blackberry. Live mesh allows syncing to share and access your files. Receive mesh updates on your blackberry or any other mobile device.

I see amazing possibilities for this in our business.

In the days to come I will tell you how Live Mesh is working for me.

I knew that my affair with print media was ending when PC magazine stopped printing their magazine in January of this year.

The reason? Nicholas Carlson at Business Insider.com (Silicon Ally Insider) reported in November of last year,  “Gadget and PC shoppers stay on-line now, preferring sites such as AOL's Engadget, Gawker Media's Gizmodo or CNET to print.”

With the escalating costs, loss of ad revenue and the advent of twitter and live blogging, news hits the blog sphere before the AP can even report it.  The newspapers and magazine publishers are dropping like flies.

Which brings me to the point of this blog, is on-line marketing really better?

I think so, and so do others who at some point in the not to distant past worked for print media. To illustrate my point…this weekend I was tuned into HubSpot TV on-line and they did an Interview with Paul Gillian, in his words, “long-time technology journalist who’s worked almost exclusively on-line since 1999”, and they talked about a blog he had posted “Why on-line matters more than print” .

Because I have an insatiable appetite for all things marketing, I had to surf over and read the article. Once I read the article, I felt compelled to comment (leaving a link to my site of course). I let everyone know in my comment what I do for a living and that I had followed a link from Hubspot TV to the article. Because I loved the post and the writing style drew me in, I subscribed to the blog and newsletter.

Bingo! My behavior perfectly illustrates why on-line marketing is more effective than print marketing.

Yet, I still run into the print vs. on-line scenario every day. Many of my clients still insist that spending on an expensive ad in the newspaper or magazine makes their clients “happy”. No matter how much I try to persuade them to rewrite their marketing plan and focus on-line and no matter how many papers go under.

Why do sellers and some agents refuse to face reality why?

What does a “happy” client really mean?

Will seeing their home all glossy and in print really make them happy?  What will agents do when there are no home magazines or newspapers left in which to place ads?

Is print marketing an ego thing with sellers or are we just doing a crappy job of selling them on reality?

I am interested to know what you think and what you tell the client who thinks they can advertise their listing on line so (so in their mind, for your exorbitant commission) they expect print advertising.

I am a little sad that magazines and newspapers are going away because I will need to find something else to read at lunch.  The affair is over, I just have to accept it. We all have to accept it.