Customer Paradigm's Blog

Welcoming PlayFairToys.com to the Customer Paradigm Client List

2009-07-15T22:19:00.002-06:00

We're so thrilled to welcome Play Fair Toys to the Customer Paradigm client list.

As a local company, PlayFair Toys goes beyond the standard "specialty and educational toy store" approach to bring you a complete system of play that they call Magical Educational Fun™.

It's also proud to be the Planet's Only Toy Store Run by a (Slightly Eccentric) Science Professor!

View more about this local Boulder-based company here:
http://www.playfairtoys.com/

Facebook Users Up 70.8% In US – How Small Business Can Use This Social Media Opportunity

2009-07-14T14:37:00.001-06:00

Great blog posting about this subject:

Per Facebook’s own Social Ad Platform, they now have 71.9 million US users as of 7/4/09. That is a 70.8% increase since 1/4/09. The most significant increases come from from the 55+ crowd. Losers are at the younger end with 16.5% less high school users, and 21.7% less college users. What does all this mean? We constantly hear about the amazing stats on Facebook and how great an opportunity they are for entrepreneurs to Fortune 500 businesses.

Read more here >>

Why are there fake grapes in the meat department at the Deli?

2009-07-14T09:34:00.002-06:00

Why are there fake grapes in the meat department at the Deli?

My two daughters and I were at the grocery store the other day, and my about-to-turn-five-year old asked a great question: "Why are there grapes with the meat [at the deli]?"

It's a great question, and one that I never really stopped to think about before. They look nice, but what's the underlying marketing reason for this?

So I wondered out loud with her, and we came up with an idea that grapes don't usually stay fresh for very long - maybe a few days or a week before they go bad.

The answer we "found": When the (fake) grapes are mixed in with the meat, it creates an underlying psychological association that the meat is very fresh too (even though it's wrapped in plastic and often stuffed with preservatives).

It's a great way to use one trigger (fresh grapes) to create an impression that the meat is also fresh, too.

Sometimes it takes a child's wonder of the world to ask a question that makes you really look at how things are marketed.

Have you seen other examples like this? Let us know...

New Website for Hepatitis C Legal Help - Big Story in Denver, Colorado

2009-07-07T15:34:00.002-06:00

As a former Emergency Medical Technician, the news story about a woman who stole IV pain medication from hospitals, and left Hepatitis C-infected needles behind for up to 6,000 patients made me feel angry. It undermines the trust and confidence that patients put into their caregivers and medical staff.

We were asked yesterday to put together a site that allows people to find out their options and how they can get legal representation if they were a patient that underwent surgery at Rose Medical Hospital (from October 21 2008 - April 8, 2008) or Audubon Ambulatory Surgery Center, Colorado Springs (May 4 2008 - July 1 2008).

In less than 24 hours, we put together a basic design, implemented our PageDirector content management system, including a contact form, and had them up and running quickly to serve the community of Denver and Colorado Springs.

View the Hepatitis C Legal Help site here >>

To read more about this news story, visit here:
http://www.9news.com/news/article.aspx?storyid=118945&catid=339

How to take a graph from Excel and save it as a jpg

2009-07-01T11:35:00.001-06:00

You'd think this would be easy to do, but it's not... If you want to take a graph from an Excel spreadsheet, and then save it as an image, here's a few easy steps to make it work on most PCs:

Microsoft doesn't make it very easy to take a graph from Excel and then save it into a graphic.

Here's one way to do this, however, using the Paint program, that comes with all PCs...

1. In Excel, view the graph at 100%. Press ALT-PRTSC (Alt-Print Screen)
2. Open up an image editing program. Photoshop is probably the best, but Paint also works, and comes with all PCs.
3. In Paint, open a new window (File --> New)
4. Paste in the image with Ctrl-V (Paste)
5. Use the rectangular select tool to select the area of the graph you want to have saved as an image.
6. Right click and select "Cut"
7. Open a new file, and press paste (Ctrl-V)
8. Go to File --> Save As --> save as type jpg

I'm sure there are other ways, too...

Google Voice is a joke...

2009-06-30T11:47:00.003-06:00

I received an invitation to sign up for Google Voice. Great concept - one phone number that can ring all of your numbers, have integrated voicemail that will transcribe it into text.

The big problem? The phone number I selected doesn't work. Each time I try to call it, I get a message that says, "We're sorry. Your call cannot be completed at this time. Please hang up and try your call again later."

When it comes to reliability, this service has a long, long way to go. I tried sending feedback, but unfortunately there is nobody to talk to and my question has gone unanswered for more than 24 hours.

I'm sure they'll get it together soon. But for now, Google Voice is a pass.

I also just tried to create a new calendar in Google's Calendar system. After typing in all of the information, I got a message: "Oops, we couldn't save changes, please try again in a few minutes." (UPDATE / Note: I later closed my browser, and restarted it, and the errors for Google Calendar seemed to go away).

What is up with Google today?

One Earth Future Site Launches

2009-06-29T08:48:00.002-06:00

We're thrilled to have launched a new website for One Earth Future, and be part of the solution for world peace...

Here's more information on them:

The One Earth Future (OEF) foundation’s vision is to achieve a world beyond war within one hundred years, by creating and implementing more effective systems of global governance.

The current system of global governance, with only nation-states as legitimate actors in international relations, clearly no longer works effectively. OEF intends to create new architectures of global governance that include business societies and civil societies in addition to nation states in the decision-making process. OEF believes that these inclusive structures will be more effective and efficient at solving global problems. more

OEF intends to focus particularly on bringing business to the global governance table. In order to bring in business as partners, OEF will show, through active multi-stakeholder projects and case studies, how business societies benefit from reliable and effective governance architectures. OEF will then encourage them to use a portion of that benefit to support the creation of such systems, resulting in systems that are not only inclusive, effective, and efficient, but also replicable and self-sustaining. more

Visit the One Earth Future site -- click here >>

CAREER CONFIDENTIAL: Is this what you were looking for?

2009-06-29T08:38:00.003-06:00

My friend Liz Ryan and I sat down for lunch... but just before, she tried to find my phone # to confirm. Here's her article that describes how our search engine personalization module, built into our PageDirector system, allowed her to find me quickly and easily...

http://www.dailycamera.com/news/2009/jun/29/career-confidential-is-this-what-you-were-for/

Thanks, Liz!

Michael Jackson's Death Crashes Twitter + Causes Google To Think It's Under Attack

2009-06-26T08:37:00.003-06:00

The King of Pop died... and there was so much traffic that, according to the BBC:

Traffic was so thick with people sharing news that Twitter crashed.
Even Google, the search giant, believed it may have been under service attack.

Crazy! Not to date myself, but I still remember the Michael Jackson record (LP) where he was in a white outfit on one side, and a red one on the back.

Update: here's a great story that gives more details of this:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1195651/How-Michael-Jacksons-death-shut-Twitter-overwhelmed-Google--killed-Jeff-Goldblum.html

Web 3.0 Semantic Web - RDF Conversations Going Back and Forth

2009-06-25T14:26:00.002-06:00

One of the things I try to become involved in is looking forward to the future of what's next on the Web and what we need to start laying the foundation for 3-4 years from now in the future.

I'm involved in conversations on RDF (Resource Description Framework) language that essentially is a family of World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) specifications designed as a metadata model using XML but has evolved to be used as a general method of modeling knowledge, through a variety of syntax formats.

Here's the article thread for those interested in joining in...
http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/semantic-web/2009Jun/0222.html

Thanks,
-- Jeff

Boulder Jews - Common Calendar For Jewish People in Boulder, CO

2009-06-19T13:40:00.000-06:00

Boulder Jews - Common Calendar For Jewish People in Boulder, CO

Here's a new site that we created to synchronize Jewish event calendars in Boulder, CO. Still in the early stages, but is a lot of fun!

New Combined Calendar for Boulder Jewish Events in Boulder, Colorado

2009-06-18T09:48:00.001-06:00

We recently took the calendars from five different Jewish organizations here in Boulder, Colorado, and created a combined calendar, so Jewish people in Boulder, CO can view all of the events from the different congregations. Not everyone is on it yet, but it's a fun way to keep everyone on the same page.

Check out the combined Jewish Events Calendar in Boulder, CO:
http://www.adventurerabbi.org/boulder/

ComScore: Bing is Still Going Strong

2009-06-17T15:59:00.000-06:00

I saw this posting and thought I'd pass this along:

http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/comscore_bing_is_still_going_strong.php
Written by Frederic Lardinois / June 17, 2009 10:27 AM

Right after Microsoft launched Bing, we already saw some indications that users were quickly warming up to this new search engine. Just a few days after its launch, Bing had already passed Yahoo as the #2 search engine in the U.S. according to StatCounter. On StatCounter, Bing is now back in the #3 position, though with almost double the market share that Microsoft's Live Search ever had. According to the latest data from comScore, however, Bing's daily 'searcher penetration' has slowly moved up in the last three weeks since the launch and is now at 16.7%.

In addition, comScore found that Bing's share of search results pages in the U.S., which it sees as a proxy for overall search intensity, climbed to 12.1%, up from 9.1% from where Live Search was just before Bing launched.

When Bing moved up quickly in the rankings just after launch, we wondered if this was due to a lot of interest in the launch, but it looks like Bing can stand on its own and that Microsoft is doing a good job at retaining new users. Of course, Microsoft's multi-million dollar advertising campaign is surely helping here as well, but the general quality of the search results on Bing is quite impressive. In most cases, it rivals what users can find on Google.

New Multilingual Site Launches

2009-06-15T14:50:00.002-06:00

We've just launched a new multi-lingual site for our client, CTI Inks (http://www.ctiinks.com/).

The site is in both English and Spanish... with a Mandarin version coming soon... This is using our PageDirector content management system to keep everything organized.

World Map of Social Networks - Whats popular in what geography

2009-06-12T15:59:00.001-06:00

A great interactive map of social networks around the world. Takes a moment to load on the page, but worth it:
http://blogs.sun.com/startups/entry/world_map_of_social_networks

According to the map,
Some visible patterns to highlight:

- Facebook has almost colonized Europe and it’s extending its domination with more than 200 millions users
- QQ, leader in China, is the largest social network of the world (300 millions active accounts)
- MySpace lost its leadership everywhere (except in Guam)
- V Kontakte is the most popular in Russian territories
- Orkut is strong in India and Brazil
- Hi5 is still leading in Peru, Colombia, Ecuador and other scattered countries such as Portugal, Mongolia, Romania
- Odnoklassniki is strong in some former territories of the Soviet Union
- Maktoob is the most important Arab community/portal

Other country specific social networks:

- Iwiw in Hungary
- Nasza-klasa in Poland
- Cyworld in South Korea
- Friendster in Philippines
- Hyves in Netherlands
- Lidé in Czech Republic
- Mixi in Japan
- One in Lithuania
- Draugiem in Latvia
- Wretch in Taiwan
- Zing in Vietnam

The Web in Numbers: Twitter’s Phenomenal Growth Suddenly Stops

2009-06-10T16:30:00.002-06:00

A great article by a number cruncher about Twitter's growth flattening out:
http://mashable.com/2009/06/09/web-in-numbers-may/

While YouTube is attracting an ever increasing audience, and Facebook is still growing fast, Twitter’s growth has suddenly stopped, at least according to the numbers from Compete.

Is it the sign of the end of the media fascination with Twitter?

15 Social Media Maxims for Marketers

2009-06-01T13:49:00.002-06:00

Social Media keeps coming up... in the SEO Workshop last week that we ran, it took up nearly 1/5 of the presentation.

Here's a great posting about the 15 Social Media Maxims for Marketers from Search Engine Watch:
http://searchenginewatch.com/3633934

Thanks,
-- Jeff

Recent SEO Stats for Google, Yahoo and MSN

2009-06-01T11:48:00.002-06:00

Last month Google took 64.2% of U.S. Internet searches -- up half a percentage point from the month before -- handling 9.5 billion out of a total of 14.8 billion searches.

Yahoo was a distant second with 20.4% of searches and Microsoft third with 8.2%, both down slightly from the month before, according to data firm comScore.

And Microsoft is about to launch their new search engine, Bing. I tested it out this morning, and it seems to work pretty well. Although not so amazingly well that I'd switch from Google right now.

Also, the previous post was done in a live SEO Workshop that I led last week; we posted it and then did a google search 10 minutes later for text in the post, and it showed up! Very cool stuff.

Oh... and one other interesting posting came in through the web over the weekend. Think MillionDollarPixel site... but tatooed on a guy's back. Ughhh... Get your spot for only one thousand Euros. www.DesignMyBack.com

This is a post from the BMG SEO Workshop in Boulder Colorado

2009-05-27T14:53:00.001-06:00

Hello from the workshop. This is a post from the BMG SEO Workshop in Boulder Colorado

Johnny the Bagger - A Very Poignant Video about Customer Service

2009-05-22T10:28:00.004-06:00

I was at a seminar yesterday for the Boulder Marketing Group, and the speaker (from Brand Ascension - www.brandascension.com/) showed a very poignant video of a young man who redefined customer service for a grocery store.

I did a quick search, and here's a link to the video for this "unforgettable true story about a young man with Down's Syndrome who changes the culture of a grocery store by being creative and giving the customers more than they expect."

View the Video >>

Should I Sell on Amazon or eBay or Both?

2009-05-18T09:32:00.001-06:00

FYI, this is a great article for anyone who is trying to figure out if they should supplement their ecommerce sales on eBay or Amazon (or both). Great comparison:
http://www.skipmcgrath.com/articles/amazon-vs-ebay.shtml

New Twist on Business Cards

2009-05-14T08:53:00.002-06:00

For anyone looking for an interesting new business card, Jesse on our team found these:
http://www.meatcards.com/

Not ideal if your clients are vegetarians. But great if you have a business meeting at the US Beef Council (I did actually ~~meat~~ meet with them a few years back for a potential project).

Enjoy!

BMG SEO Workshop - May 27, 2009

2009-05-07T14:40:00.001-06:00

BOULDER MARKETING GROUP EMAIL MESSAGE

May 7, 2009
BMG SEO WorkshopWednesday, May 27, 2009

12:00 pm - 5:00 pmBoulder Country Club

Search engine optimization ("SEO") is critical to any web marketing strategy. Effective SEO strategy and execution does not happen by accident. There are a huge number of web sites competing for the same traffic. To make matters more challenging, search engines have changed dramatically over the past several years, meaning techniques and approaches that worked in the past may no longer be effective. The people and companies that take the time and effort to truly understand SEO and keep up with the latest advancements in website implementation techniques will reap the benefits at the expense of those that don’t.

So how do you make sure that you and your organization are getting the most out of this targeted, low cost and high return marketing channel known as "organic" search? By joining us for a hands-on half-day workshop covering all aspects of search engine optimization and marketing.

During this jam-packed session, expert practitioner Jeff Finkelstein will teach you practical, actionable strategies and tactics for SEO, such as: how to evaluate your website (or your competitor’s); what works and what doesn't when it comes to influencing search engines; what techniques provide the biggest bang for the effort; making your database-driven website "search engine” friendly, and much more. Practical knowledge will also be gained through analysis of real case examples of both B2C and B2B sites, including what worked and what didn’t.

Register for SEO Workshop Here >>

Who Should Attend:

Sales and marketing executives of any organization using its website for sales or marketing purposes.
Marketing personnel involved in online or integrated marketing strategies and/or implementation for their organization.
Anyone wanting to be considered knowledgeable about search marketing or online marketing to employers and colleagues.
This workshop is designed with non-technical marketers in mind. But even the Internet-savvy techie will get a lot out of this highly-focused workshop....

Click here for the complete workshop description.

Topic:
Search Engine Optimization Workshop

Speaker:
Jeff Finkelstein of Customer Paradigm

Date:
Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Time:
12:00 pm - 5:00 pm

Location:
Boulder Country Club7350 Clubhouse Rd.Boulder, CO 80301 [Map / Directions >>]303.530.4600

BMG Member Pricing:
Early Bird (register by 5/18/2009): $125Regular Price (after 5/18/2009) $150
Non-Member Pricing:
Early Bird (register by 5/18/2009): $175Regular Price (after 5/18/2009) $200Not a BMG member? Click here to join, or learn more about the Boulder Marketing Group.

Includes:
Buffet Lunch, Presentation Materials, SEO Site Review & Analysis

Register:
Visit Here to Register >>

Special Offer:
The first ten paid registrants will get an interactive, real-time critique of the site’s search engine findability during the workshop.

Everyone who signs up will have an opportunity to:

Attend an optional, SEO 101 introductory Web Seminar to give you the basics of search engine optimization, prior to the workshop.
Review your site with the Customer Paradigm's staff, prior to the workshop.

About the Presenter:
Jeff Finkelstein is the founder of Boulder-based, Customer Paradigm, an interactive marketing firm that has helped clients including Xcel Energy, 3M, Level 3, BP achieve top rankings through search engine optimization and web marketing. Finkelstein is an adjunct professor for Colorado State University, and has lead workshops around the country teaching companies how to better optimize their websites and get found.

Finkelstein has written syndicated columns on web marketing, and reaches tens of thousands of people each week through Customer Paradigm's eLearning Series newsletter.

Finkelstein also helps his wife, Rabbi Jamie Korngold, run the Adventure Rabbi program. Through search engine optimization, reporters from Good Morning America, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, CBS News and Ski Magazine found out about the organization and ran articles and TV segments. This intense media interest sparked a book offer from Doubleday Religion, who published Rabbi Korngold's best-selling book, God in the Wilderness, in April 2008.

Finkelstein has been featured in The New York Times as a Web Guru, and his company has received numerous awards, including the prestigious 2008 Rocky Mountain Direct Marketing Association Supplier of the Year Award.

Register Here >>

Our client's new book is released! The Unhealthy Truth: How Our Food Is Making Us Sick and What We Can Do About It

2009-05-05T09:04:00.002-06:00

FYI, our client and friend, Robyn O'brien's new book, The Unhealthy Truth: How Our Food Is Making Us Sick and What We Can Do About It, was released today! Check it out at http://www.robynobrien.com/

Congratulations, Robyn!

Have you ever wanted to respond to someone who wants to give you a lot of money if you give them your bank account info?

2009-05-04T09:38:00.003-06:00

Here's what came in via email to the AdventureRabbi.org site:

Dear Friend , My Name is Alan Hagen. l wish to donate the sum of $1million into your account for last passover feast.lt is a Vow that l pledge to do in the past. My Father was a Rabbi in the 70's and he always instruct us to donate for Passover Feast. lf you will accept my offer.The Funds will be transferred into your account in few days from a UK Bank. l will require your full information to instruct the UK Bank to do the transfer immediately. l am serious about this. Alan Hagen AIG

-------------------------------------------------
... To which I wrote:

From: Jeff Finkelstein, Lead Guide for Adventure Rabbi
Subject: RE: Alan Hagen -- alan.hagen@yahoo.com.sg Contact Me Now
To: "'Alan Hagen'"
Date: Friday, 1 May, 2009, 12:55 AM

Alan-

Please send us the funds in a check to our address, or use our online payment form to pay by credit card:
http://www.adventurerabbi.org/donate/

Thanks,
-- Jeff

Jeff Finkelstein

Get the first chapter from Rabbi Korngold's book,
God in the Wilderness (Doubleday - April 2008):
http://www.GodInTheWilderness.com/

--------------------------------------
Alan replied:

Dear Jeff,
l cannot send you a check.
British Laws has stopped checks of amount more than $500.000.00
lt can only be done through transfer from Halifax Bank by the Oversea Credit Commission UK in few days if you accept.
You can open a new account to receive the $1million.
l will authorise the Bank to start the transfer as soon as you respond to this mail.
Alan

-----------------------------------
I told him to send us two checks instead of one... We'll see... :)

-- Jeff

------------------------------------
UPDATE: May 5, 2009:

Here's what I wrote:
------------------------------------
Alan- Please then break the payments into three checks and send to us. We'd appreciate it! Thanks,
------------------------------------
... and his great response:
------------------------------------

From: Alan Hagen [mailto:alan.hagen@yahoo.com.sg] Sent: Tuesday, May 05, 2009 2:01 AMTo: Jeff Finkelstein
Subject: Postage

Rabbi,
That is true.

l have given the instructions to the Halifax Bank UK personel.l am on a trip to Australia to attend a meeting of insurance Companies.l represent AIG.

My Account officer at Halifax Bank will require you to pay for DHL Courier of the checks.lt will cost only 250pounds each.

lf you can do that l will instruct the officer to do that.
Or the check will be sent to you from ZENITH BANK PLC.They will still require postage or courier fee to send the checks.
The Voucher of the checks have been raised and they cannot deduct Courier Fee from the checks.
Unless you have to wait until l return from my trip on 16th may 2009.

lf you can foot the little bill for the postage.let me know and remember to send me all your neccessary details to enable you get the checks safely.

l will be expecting your response.