Internet Technologies for Businesses - Part 1

Thursday, October 18, 2007 | Tagged as business, blogging, resources, internet, speaking, churches

One of the toughest situations for most businesses and organizations today is that they are so focused on their own clients that they do not have the time, nor the means to really dig deep and research some of the latest Internet technologies, trends, and social movements within the culture. The second piece that organizations struggle over is budget - how much do we spend on these things, especially if they are not tested, if they are a trend, or we just don’t have the capacity to do it in-house.

We were recently invited to host a workshop at the Christian Chamber Business Expo in Cherry Hill, New Jersey to discuss this very topic. In dealing with this topic everyday we truly found that there are technologies that will allow businesses to remain comfortable and not spend any money, and then there are those technologies that can stretch the comfort level of a business and can also can stretch the budget. In our hour long presentation we took a deeper look into these technologies. Even though we were invited to share with business owners, the same principles could be applied to non-profits, ministries, churches, and schools - not just businesses. Here’s a recap of the Internet technologies we reviewed:

Blogging

Blogging is an easy and very affordable way for businesses to create an interactive space on their Web site, and its widely accepted. Blogging can provide many wonderful advantages for businesses:

  • Allows you to increase awareness of your business, products, & services.
  • Provides customers with an inside look at your business.
  • Can touch a whole new customer-base.
  • Increases your search engine optimization.

Although statistically speaking blogging is a very popular activity on the Web, it has been shown to have hits its peak. The reason being is that blogging takes work and it takes readers, and without readers typically the author gets discourages and gives up the activity. So the biggest thing to know and understand is that blogging is a time commitment, because you must keep your blog up-to-date, and current. If you blog is not current, then your readers will give up on you. Secondly, blogging is not only a time commitment to write and maintain your blog, but its a time commitment in that it make take the coarse of time for your blog to catch on with other readers. Just because your write it doesn’t mean that people will come and read it! Give it some time and promote yourself in your industry - become an industry expert.

Blogging with ‘No’ Budget (FREE)

  • Blogger - http://www.blogger.com Blogger is possible one of the most well known free solutions out there. Blogger has even provided a means for allow you to post your blogger site on your own Web site. Its an easy to setup, easy to use, and actually looks good from a design perspective. If you are curious about blogging but don’t want to make a commitment, Blogger is the web to go.
  • LiveJournal - http://www.livejournal.com LiveJournal is another great solution from the makers of MovableType (Six Apart). Live Journal tends to be more than than a blog for most people, it becomes their site because LiveJournal has taken it a step further and provided ways to turn your site into a private journal, a blog, a forum, and more.

Blogging with a Little Budget (under $1200 a year)
Let me put a small disclaimer here - when I’m referring to $1200 a year, I’m not saying that you are going to spend $1000 per year. I’m saying that this is the most you should spend, because you can spend WAY less!

  • TypePad - http://www.typepad.com TypePad is a hosted solution that you pay a monthly subscription to the providers.
  • WordPress - http://www.wordpress.org WordPress is an Open Source solution and is free to download. However the costs come into place because you do have to pay for your own hosting and domain name. Also if you’ve never installed a blog or any other Web software you may need to pay someone to set this up for you.

Blogging with a Big Budget
Blogging with a big budget typically means a custom built blogging engine around your specific design and requirements, and typically involves a complete integration with your existing Web site.

Over the next few weeks we will add more technologies that were reviewed during the Business Expo (podcasting, email marketing, and social networks).

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