Arcade Digital is proud to launch WWW.CFDBLAZE.COM

Posted on March 5th, 2010 by John Sostak

The CFD Blaze

The CFD Blaze are the Chicago Firefighter and Paramedics Football Team.  They play in the NPSFL, which is the National Public Safety Football League.  Arcade Digital is very happy to take their new site live.  Click here to experience the CFD Blaze.

Arcade focused on the user interface, and back-end functionality developing a very sophisticated content management system (CMS) and Wordpress blogging platform.  The site is an Arcade custom web design and user interface built open source with WP 2.9.  Although not completely populated, is still a fun site to visit.  Like the team, the website has a strong blue-color feel, and an intuitive navigation and user interface.

This site will be rich in media,  These guys are not only football players, but firefighters, so they have great media content and a fabulous story.   We wanted to make compelling galleries and video as accessible and easy to share as possible.

Marketing needs demand social media integration, and with compelling media, we can use social media websites and Internet sharing as a low cost marketing solution.  By using YouTube and Flickr, we have social media partners that also contribute to the reach of this first year football team.

The 2010 season will be the first year the Chicago Fire Department fields a team in the 14 year old NPSFL.  A 1st year not-for-profit is as; or more, challenging then a young entrepreneurial for-profit start up.  Arcade wants to make sure that the compelling message of the firefighters and paramedics that compete in the NPSFL is well spread online.

Each of the players, coaches and administrators in the NPSFL, and the CFD Blaze are volunteers.  No one involved in NPSFL Football receives a salary, and they play for charities.  The Chicago Fire Department charities include The Burn Camp, which is operated by the IFSA and has been renamed Camp I Am Me.  It is a summer camp for Illinois children that have been scarred, and is a place where these children can interact without feeling uncomfortable because of the injuries and scars they have sustained.

The CFD Blaze are also playing for the Gold Badge Society, and Ignite the Spirit.  Ignite the Spirit is a very high profile organization, responsible for the annual Chicago Firefighter Calendar as well as the annual Chicago Firefighter-Paramedic Ball.

The Blaze are playing their first official NPSFL Football game on April 10th in Chicago.  They CFD Blaze will be playing the seasoned CPD Enforcers.  The CPD Enforcers are the Chicago Police Department’s NPSFL team.  I am certain that from game one, this will be a fun rivalry.  They play each other in baseball every year, and it is a great game, held at Comiskey Park (US Cellular Field).  Keep track of the Blaze on their site.

Some modules that will be introduced on the Blaze site very soon will be the Blaze store, which will make posters and t-shirts available.  The current store link on the site is merely a redirect to the Ignite the Spirit website and store, which has a few Chicago Firefighter calenders remaining.

The Blaze site will also offer ticket sales.  They will play 2-4 Chicagoland area games annually, as well 2-3 road games.  Our online ticket process will make it easier to lock in game tickets.  The men are playing stadiums that will be crowded, so as family, friends and fans, we want to insure we are in the arena.  Online ticket sales also allows for more efficient Internet marketing, with clear conversion statistics, which benefits the club, and the charity.  To be able to clearly predict what a game or fundraiser will generate allows the CFD Blaze to more accurately sponsor charities in need of benefactors.

Arcade Digital is looking forward the CFD Blaze season, and I hope everyone who reads our blog commits to helping the newest team in the NPSFL and the Chicago Fire Department Charities.

Tags: CFD BLAZE, CPD Enforcers, flickr, football, Internet Marketing, NPSFL, social media, youtube

Do most businesses really need “exclusive, custom” websites?

Posted on March 5th, 2010 by John Sostak

ReWork, the new book about business by 37Signals.

Do most businesses still need websites?  Would we be better served to operate our Internet hub from a business appropriate social media site?

Are we being fair to our clients when we sell them expensive websites?  In this day and age, with the big social media outlets, does EVERYONE need a website?

Think about being an online retailer, maybe you sell through Amazon?

Many of us on LinkedIn are consultants.

Facebook is a wonderful outlet for traditional retailers, clubs, celebrities and individuals.  You are able to interact in a place people spend a lot of time in.

You Tube may be one of the single most influential guerilla marketing resources ever made.  I can’t imagine Reuters or AP being able to push traffic online the way a viral video on You Tube does.

Can anyone deny that Blogger, and Wordpress are great?  Matt Mullenweg has taken a blogging platform and turned it into a sophisticated Internet marketing and software development vehicle, through the wordpress.org open source community.

The rules are changing again, and with a renaissance mentality, perhaps, as Internet marketers and consultants, we can do more for our clients.

My professional thoughts are that a website that acknowledges mobile, and has appropriate social media share functionality can be well built, on a very modest budget.  This approach should work for 90% of businesses.  These same businesses still need Internet budget.  It should be invested in social media, email marketing, mobile web strategy, image and branding, search and ppc.  In that order.

I think ALL companies need a thorough Internet business strategy, and it rarely requires a complex personal website.  Resources could be used more efficiently if you commit them to the sites that could yield a return based on carefully targeting your business goals and needs.

I would love feedback on this philosophy.  I have been applying it to two clients, and it is in it’s early stages.  I know there far savvier Internet marketers that could contribute to our new direction.  Guy Kawasaki, Seth Godin, Matt Mullenweg, Jason Fried, any thoughts you care to share?  And yes, I already bought Getting Real, and have ordered Rework (can’t wait to read it), thank you 37Signals.

Tags: 37Signals, email marketing, Internet Consulting, Internet Marketing, Jason Fried, LinkedIn, Matt Mullenweg, Seth Godin, social marketing, social media, website

Tiger Should Just be the Bad Guy-Crush Golf Balls, & Ass, & Don’t Apologize for it.

Posted on February 21st, 2010 by John Sostak

Elin and Tiger Woods

Whether or not you’re a fan of Tiger Woods or golf, if you turned on a TV Friday, there was no escaping his announcement. It was talked about on CNN, Fox, ESPN, MSNBC, AP newswire, even NPR, and every blogger on the planet.  Now his speech/apology is being played around the world. They even noted that trading on the Stock Market slowed down while the speech was on live.

I was watching it at Lottie’s, golf on one TV, ladies curling on another, then Tiger apologizing on the rest of the television’s.  I watched with Joe, who is an enormous golf fan.  Joe even caddies part time in the summer.  He noted Tiger was not wearing a wedding ring, and could name everyone in Tiger’s audience, which included Elin’s mom.

Why is this deemed worldwide top rated news?

Who does Tiger really owe an apology to?

His wife, because they did make vows to each other, which I’m sure included he would not cheat.

His family, for the embarrassment.

Possibly his employees, because people like, Steve, his caddy, need Tiger to play to make a living.  That one is a stretch, since they have done well because he is the best golfer in the world.  If they feel they need to move on because he has sat out a few tournaments, buh bye.

He does not owe the world an apology.  He does not owe his sponsors an apology.  In my opinion, if he now has a “tarnished” image, he may as well embrace it.  Be the bad guy.  Tell the media when he comes into their town, he’s gonna crush golf balls, and ass.  Pop pain killers, get great ass, and win golf games.  Let’s keep in  mind that if he never has a sponsor, he still earns millions of dollars every year.  He is the greatest golfer alive.

But we have hoards of people critiquing his apology on sincerity and authenticity, whereas I don’t want to waste my time with this nonsense- and it is a WASTE OF TIME.

This is one of the big things I hate about Main Stream Media. They have to be EVERYTHING TO EVERYONE. 24 hours-365 days a year with about 50 stations, and millions of websites competing for our attention.  Years ago, before the Internet, this would be considered entertainment news.  Tiger’s exploits would be reported on a sports or entertainment news show, not prime time news, and every media outlet.

Instead of following the latest star gossip, why don’t the mainstream media run bios of the American soldiers that died in the line of duty, TODAY?  Why not spend time explaining the environmental dangers we are overlooking, and help motivate people to turn lights off, and recycle their beer cans?  If it bleeds it leads, and everyone loves to hear about a villain, especially a famous golfer that we are all jealous of.

Tags: golf, Tiger Woods

Google Adsense is User Friendly, & a Lot of Work.

Posted on February 18th, 2010 by John Sostak

I started furlough on Monday.  Furlough is a Fire Department word for vacation, or holiday.  I have 5 shift days off, which equals 17 days without having to show up at the firehouse.  Great gig.

When I have a vacation, I like to figure out how to pack more work into this valuable “time off.”  My mission began with the successful roll out of FF911.  But there is a lingering issue I needed to address.  Domain name management, and affiliate traffic.  Doesn’t seem like there is heavy lifting in this mission.  There was, and I am sooo glad it is over.

I own about 150 domains, and manage about 300, for clients.  I am very aware that everything depreciates, and have been trying to find time to address the domains, what is parked at each domain.  This also means I need to go through the affiliates analytics. Commission Junction and Google Adsense are the big ones, and we have about 20 small ones.  This is a painful process.

The days of spamming lists are gone.  I hate to be the guy to reveal this to the countless spammers trying to sling me dick pills every day, but it doesn’t work.  We are being delivered the same bullshit messages way to many times for any online pharmacy, dating site, Nigerian lottery, to work.

I am curious what the conversion on this crap is.  I wish I knew a spammer (I know a couple) that is honest enough to tell me the truth.  I suspect it isn’t working.  We have everyone in the US online, so the first fools are no longer as fresh as they were when they first plugged in their PC and jumped online, through AOL.

I am always thinking about our traffic, where it came from, where it is going, and why.  If you are careful, there is an enormous amount of information in every visitor, and each click.  This information is potential revenue.  Google and Go Daddy are huge, because they protect the pennies.  They spend money, but these small revenue streams that are all service and advertising related are never overlooked by the big Internet pioneers.  Google has turned pay per click into billions in revenue.

So much of our world is automated, I forget how to plant myself in front of reports, and make the small changes, that require a little thinking, and a lot of mouse clicking.  Adjustments and tweaking are needed, but it is painfully slow.  It isn’t exactly grunt work either.  It doesn’t take skill, or talent, but you have to address the research and care enough to make changes that help the conversion of your traffic.

The past three days I have been dialing in these small elements that affect affiliate traffic, SEO, PPC, and advertising revenue.  It is the kind of thing that can go on forever.  When you are working inside of Google Adsense, and then tweaking banners, links, keywords, you lose track of how much time passes.  Each action requires multiple changes and corrections.

I have been working in Go Daddy for redirects.  Google for Adsense, and Analytics.  Create smart zones and populate some with PPC advertising through Google, others will carry Banners that pay through affiliate sales.  Contacting affiliates, like CJ, HostGator, Go Daddy, 37 Signals, etc. to get better landing pages.  Each web page (which equals 1,000’s) must be considered, so, I need to update XML site maps.  While checking site maps, might as well address broken links.  Broken links mean 404 redirects….  This is not fun.

I was just reminded that marketing 101 is relevant, and hard work.  May not be the same as fighting a fire, or pouring contract, but hard.  I think what really makes it painful, is you never feel like you are done.  If you walk away, you know there are things that still need to be done, and you have to be back on it, or your marketing campaign is less effective.

The fun activity in marketing has NOTHING to do with PPC, SEO, or affiliate marketing.  Yet, PPC, SEO and affiliate marketing are the tools that monetize the fun stuff we do in business, and online.  Luckily I can drink beer while doing the tweaking of our domains, PPC, SEO and affiliate accounts.

Tags: Go Daddy, Google, social media

Greg Whisenant Founder of Crimereports.com Profiled on Reuters.com

Posted on February 17th, 2010 by John Sostak

Reuters.com, Chicago small business and entrepreneur reporter Deborah Cohen reported on crimereports.com, and Greg Whisenant.  This is a very nice story, Greg’s success story can be found on Reuters.

Read the entire article on Reuters.  If you are a small business owner, entrepreneur, or just a fan of hard workers, this is a great story.  Greg is an example of a guy that creates success.  His idea was great, but his dedication and commitment is why it has worked.

“I’d never been a crime activist or particularly concerned about my personal safety,” said the founder of CrimeReports.com www.crimereports.com, who was working as a Washington lobbyist when he began attending community policing meetings in the D.C. suburb of Arlington, Virginia. “But I raised my hand, everybody clapped, and I was off the races.”

The early CrimeReports web site, which allowed police departments to register for free, essentially served as an elaborate email system, creating a conduit for municipalities to send localized alerts to members of the general public who signed up.

Today CrimeReports provides comprehensive local crime-mapping data to some 750 police departments, including cities such as San Francisco and Boston, and the entire states of Maryland and Utah.

Depending on their size, clients pay between $100 to $200 a month for data on homicides, break-ins, auto thefts and other crimes occurring in their service areas. The company also has a handy iPhone application, and offers police internal analytics for an additional monthly fee of $300 to $1,000.

“President Obama has made it an issue to be more transparent,” said Whisenant, whose public-policy career included stints as a legislative aide to U.S. Senator Robert F. Bennett (R-Utah), and later as a law-firm lobbyist working on technology and telecoms issues for large corporations. “There’s a lot of appetite at the federal level for more visibility and transparency, so it’s helped us.”

CrimeReports received a second round of venture financing totaling $7.2 million in August of 2009, and it expects to be profitable later this year. In the last year Whisenant has expanded his full-time staff from 10 to 37, made up mostly of engineers, sale reps and support personnel.

Whisenant called this growth a “rollercoaster” ride, recalling how for years he operated the site out of his home as a sideline project that wouldn’t go away.

“If the site ever went down, I’d start getting calls from the police and the public,” he said, noting that he sometimes ignored CrimeReports for months at a time. “I knew there was something there.”

Tags: entrepreneur