As you read this I will be frantically packing my gear and even some clothes for the Microsoft TechEd Europe Conference in Berlin, Germany next week, from November 8-10. I have been invited to the conference by Nokia and the people at WOMWorld/Nokia.

For those not familiar with the conference, it is one of many such global events held my Microsoft every year. I attended a few back over a decade ago when I was working on the KWorld project at KPMG and Microsoft was a major partner with us. Sessions and speakers talk about the current state and future direction of technology and how Microsoft products fit into those directions. In short, it's a geefest! My connection through Nokia is around enterprise mobile technology, otherwise known as how businesses are using smartphones and other portable wireless devices.

Questions And More Questions

In addition to the speakers and breakout sessions I will be attending, I, along with Dennis of Wap Review, will have the opportunity to have face-to-face Q&A sessions with several Nokia executives who work with enterprise mobile. I am eager to hear what they have to say, and of course already have a list of questions in mind. If anyone reading this has any questions, please feel free to post them in the comments.

This should be an interesting conference, and a great learning experience. Nokia soon will be releasing its E7 device, the enterprise version of its recently launched N8 device. I am of course hoping to get my hands on an E7, as well as talk about it and the entire enterprise mobile arena, which is certainly a busy place.

An Amazing City

Of course I will be taking in some of Berlin. I visited the German capital several years ago, and had a great time. The mix of culture, history and modernism makes it a must-visit place. Not to mention some great chocolate!

Watch The Hot Iron and @thehotiron and #tee10 – the conference’s hashtag - on Twitter for updates on the event and any notes and news from the conference. I will write a recap when I get back. I should close with the fact that Nokia is sponsoring my trip, and here’s more information about my relationship with Nokia which is being stated specifically to keep the US Federal Trade Commission off my back!

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Announcements • Mobile Technology • Strategize • Technology • (3) Comments • Permalink

This past Friday was likemind Chicago. This monthly meetup (with the exception of 1 date for November & December) brings together an eclectic mix of people. Where typically people work in and around the Web, media, advertising and marketing, it also brings out a number of people who work in different fields who have interests in these areas. We meet at Argo Tea on Adams and Dearborn Streets at 8 am, where their great teas and coffee compliment what’s happening.

Myself and Bruno Pieroni “host” the meetup – we greet everyone, but we are by no means the pivot point of the gathering. Over the past couple of years we have been proud to host the local meetup of what is a global networking meetup. We have had people from around the world – literally – come by as they attend a likemind gathering in their home city. We also have many people who come by each month, and some who come once and we never see them again.

Where Were You?

On average a dozen people come to likemind, and I have always wondered why more don’t. Where we meet at 8 am, surely people are up at this hour. Maybe people indicate on Facebook they are coming but don’t really plan to. Rather than overanalyze this, I thought instead I would share some of the topics of conversation at last Friday’s likemind, and leave it to you to determine if you are missing out on anything!

Here goes, as many as I could write down, in a somewhat chronological order:

• Pek gave a demo of his “Amazon instant” Web app called ShelfLuv and iPad app BizTome
• Erin talked about SteepandCheap.com where she got her 66 North jacket, and we talked about how it was an Icelandic brand, and told the story about an employer who bought a coffee pot for a late-night project
• BookBook is an iPad case that looks like a vintage book binding
• Ryan showed us his Droid X, which he bought to “fit in” with everyone else’s smartphones
• There is a likemind Chicago location in Foursquare, and Mike took the mayorship from Bruno
• Kate said the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum is more than butterflies
• Talk about various marathons around the US
• How Foursquare’s School Night badge is awarded for checking in anywhere after 3 am, even at work
• Bruno referred to a colleague as, “my other Pek” and talked about an app he created called GeoPollster which integrates with Foursquare and you can tag a location with a political party
• Interhoods is a location-based designer and developer showcase, now in Chicago, New York and San Francisco
• Sortfolio is another location-based showcase, which presents project price ranges
• A lot of discussion around passive, recurring revenue
• Victoria is working on a Web site for the Girl Scouts
• Mike inserted QR codes into conversations whenever and wherever possible
• Discussion on examples of augmented reality
• Comparing TEDx Windy City vs. TEDx Midwest vs. TEDx Naperville
• Mike brought up the Nokia Qt mobile development platform and some wondered why they hadn’t heard about it
• Discussion around where people worked and some asked Mike about OfficePort Chicago
• The Windows 7 Phone compares with Android and the iPhone

As well, a few things were talked about which some felt were private conversations and shouldn’t have been mentioned here!

All this, in just under 2 hours. Would you have learned something being there? Could you have contributed? Watch for the announcement of the next likemind Chicgao on our Facebook group.

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Business • Strategize • Technology • Thrive • likemind • (14) Comments • Permalink

Editor’s Note – This post is in follow-up and support of The State of Your Web Site, a checklist from Dunkirk Systems, LLC which helps guide Web site owners to objectivity on the current state of their Web site. You can download a free, no obligation PDF copy at TheStateOfYourWebSite.com.

Do you have goals for your Web site? Did you ever think of setting goals for your Web site?! As a Web site is a living, breathing 24/7 representative of your business, you should have goals – even just one goal – set in writing for your Web site. This fact is why it is near the top of the list on The State of Your Web Site checklist.

Yes, “goal” is a 4-letter word. Whenever people talk about goals, they often cringes or get defensive or have some adverse reaction to it. Even if they have goals for their life or their business in general, when it comes to their Web site, they will wonder why they are needed. With the expense and exposure that comes with a Web site, there is the reason right there to do so.

Where To Start

What your goals should be depend on your business and the Web site itself. If you have a store but do not sell products and services online, your goals would be much different from someone selling online with an eCommerce Web site. A “brochure” Web site is also much different than one with an extensive support forum.

Like anything in business, start someplace with goals, and review and refine as necessary. Write down statements such as “drive more traffic into my store” and “10% of overall sales made online.” Then you will want to ensure your Web site has the content or functionality to accommodate these – a printable in-store coupon and an eCommerce are part of this. Then measure – review your Web site analytics and ask new customers who come into your store how they heard about you. This is a simple example, but a point to start from.

If you are still unclear about your Web site’s goals, talk to your Web consultant. At Dunkirk Systems, LLC we work with our clients, both those with established Web sites or new ones, to set such goals, and integrate their measurement into their overall business analytics and review.

Do you have goals for your Web site? How has the goal-setting and review process worked for you? And if you do not have goals, why? Please share your thoughts in the comments for this post.

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Business • Strategize • The State of Your Web Site • Web Design • Web Development • (0) Comments • Permalink

In the September/October 2010 edition of NFIB MyBusiness magazine there is an article called “Click Here for Profits” which is geared towards new, moderate and experienced Web site owners. The magazine is published by the National Federation of Independent Business and is geared towards its members, all business owners. In the section titled “Getting Online for the Moderately Experienced” by Christina Galoozis, I was proud to have been able to contribute to this part of the overall article. You can read the article here at the NFIB Web site.

In the article, I shared several points, including offering a variety of content in your company’s blog, planning and writing a blog consistently, and on local search. I had a great conversation with Christina who asked me very insightful questions, and related my thoughts very well in the article.

Thanks to Christina for the opportunity to be in this article, and if you are visiting The Hot Iron as a result of the article, welcome! I also welcome your thoughts and opinions on the article here in the comments to this blog post.

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Announcements • Business • Strategize • Web Design • Web Development • (0) Comments • Permalink

Recently I heard from a friend who had questions about starting a blog. As their questions were not personal in nature, and could benefit others as well as them, I have decided to respond in an appropriate manner, in an open blog post. Here are the questions and my responses.

Q – How did you come up with the name of your blog?

A – The name “The Hot Iron” is a play on the term “strike while the iron is hot” and is something I had thought of a few years before I actually started the blog. The idea for the name being I would write about not only topical items but would write while something was fresh in my mind.

I registered the domain name thehotiron.com right away, and it was ready for me to use when I decided to start blogging.

Q – What are the top 3 things I need to think about as a new blogger?

A – Audience, promotion and time.

Where you could be simply writing a personal journal out in the open, ideally you are writing for the benefit of others as well. Keeping in mind your audience, not only as you start but on-going, will help you focus on what topics to write and how to present the information.

If you write it, people may not necessarily come and read it. You will need to spend time to promote your blog. Whether it’s emailing all your friends, getting links to other sites or any other method, you will need to spend some time to do so.

And as you can guess, writing for and managing a blog take some time. However much you decide to spend on it is up to you, but keep this in mind with everything else you have going on.

Q – Are there any mistakes you made that you learned from when you were just starting out that you would pass on to a new blogger?

A – Are you asking about mistakes I made in the past, or continue to make?!

Whenever you start a blog, you have energy and excitement. Over time, this can change, and usually will decrease. You will need to motivate yourself to maintain a consistent blogging schedule.

You may also write something that will tick off someone, as I have done before. They may contact you offline to make a change to what you wrote. Don’t do it. I have made a couple of small tweaks to posts over time, showing goodwill to these people and in return asked them to comment on my posts, but they never did. A cease and desist letter form a lawyer is one thing, but in general your blog is your opinion, and you should be true to your convictions.

Q – Do you think there is a life span to a blog?

A – As someone said to me moments before he got married, “nothing is forever!” Everything has a lifecycle, and a blog could as well. When you get to the point where you think it’s over, you may have options to either shut it down or transfer or sell to someone else. But you’re just getting started now, so nothing to worry about regarding this now. Oh, and that guy has been married for almost 20 years now.

Q – What are your suggestions for evaluating hosts?

A – As I build blogs for a living, I recommend hiring my Web consulting firm Dunkirk Systems, LLC to build your, including offering and managing your hosting! However, there are many options out there. You could have your own hosting and then manage your own installation of a blog platform, like WordPress or ExpressionEngine. Or you could go with a hosted platform, like WordPress.com or Blogger.com.

However you go, I strongly recommend you do 2 things. The first is use your own domain name for the blog, and not use the default URL that may come with the host or hosted solution. Also, use Google Feedburner to manage your blog feed and not the default feed URLs that come with either. By doing these, you have flexibility to move to a new platform or host and not lose users or feed subscribers with a new URL for each.

Q – What blogs do you read regularly and would send me to view as I begin this process?

A – I subscribe to the feeds of over 200 blogs. This does not mean I read all of them, in some cases I simply skim the headlines or titles. I recommend setting up a Google Reader account, and then begin subscribing to the RSS feeds of various blogs, from ones in the same vertical of which you are planning for your own blog, to news services or blogs in different categories. Some blogs do all things well, many do some a few things well, and some do most everything poorly.

One blog I will recommend is ProBlogger – it is a tremendous resource for blogging, whether for someone new like yourself or a seasoned blogger like myself.

Good Luck

Good luck with the launch of your blog! As I wrote these questions out in the open, I welcome anyone to comment on these, and make any recommendations they may have for getting started with blogging.

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Blogging • Business • Strategize • (2) Comments • Permalink