It seems that “building community” is back in vogue and once again on every one’s lips…Building community is now at the forefront of every marketing strategy and outreach effort…
At Webgrrls, since 1995, we have been building and maintaining our community of professional women all with the goal to help them to strive for and achieve success, however they define it…it is not just about building community, but, about seeding and fostering a relationship…it is not just the community, it is the conversation… the interaction.
It is not just a one-way or even two-way conversation either. It is an omni-directional conversation. You might seed the conversation but then the conversation takes on a life of it’s own within the community and having your conversation extend to other communities should be the goal.
A lot of companies are concerned about controlling the message but they are trying to control things that they can’t control anyway to a great degree…people talk…that is just the way it goes.
Companies will have to realize the power and speed of “word of mouth” and that the empowerment of your users, encouraging them to have a voice and to share it, is a winning strategy…and talk about cost effective…it is free marketing.
Conversations build awareness…awareness builds trust and trust makes for loyalty and loyalty increases participation…or if you are selling a product, sales.
Below are some tips to help you build and foster your communities:
Continue Reading “Tips on building and fostering online communities”
I wanted to share a handy tool called YouSendIt that I use quite a bit when I want to send large files to someone without the hassle of FTP servers. You just upload your file to the YouSendIt site, enter the email addresses of the people you want to share the file with, and then add an optional message to go with the email. YouSendIt then emails a link to the addresses you listed that allows people to view or download that file.
You can send up to 100 MB and 100 downloads for free. The link stays active for a few weeks (I couldn’t find the exact date in their help section).
Their free service has always met my needs, but you also have the option for paying for additional features, like:
- Files up to 2GB
- Password protection
- File tracking
I just wanted to pass it along because I find it a quick and useful way to shoot a file off to someone without having to upload it to your own server.
In recent years XML has gained a lot of popularity in the IT industry, mostly because of its ease of use. XML provides a standard method to access information, making it easier for applications and devices of all kinds to use, store, transmit, and display data.
XML has no dependencies on the programming language type, operating system platform, databases type, or even human languages and that makes it the perfect data format to allow programmers to build cross platform applications.
With the wide adoption of blogging, one of the most successful uses of XML has been RSS. RSS is a tool that uses the blogging data that is stored as XML and allows bloggers to push that data to ANY RSS reader on ANY device.
While XML is here to stay and is important to learn, it can be overwhelming to get started. Below are some great resources that will help you get on your way.
XML in 10 Points
Getting Started with XML: A Manual and Workshop
How Can XML be Used?
Using XML
My life is immersed in technology. With my own work online and the client work that I do and with all of the sites where I have registered, including credit card, online banking, subscriptions to site etc…I have so many user names and password that one can’t imagine and for security and privacy reasons each one is unique. For my passwords, I use all of the tricks…letter, symbol and number combinations… Managing, remembering, and keeping my passwords safe has become a major issue for me and I have been looking for a good software application to help me do just that.
I think I found it…based on what I have read…
PassPack is a website that allows you to securely manage your passwords online. They use a process called Data Packing.
When you enter and send your data to the PassPack server, it is encrypted on-the-fly before leaving your browser. They use the AES algorithm, and only you can decrypt your information using your secret Packing Key. Your Packing Key never gets sent or saved to the server, so not even PassPack staff knows it. As far as the world outside your browser is concerned, your Packing Key is a complete mystery. Without it, your data can’t be read.
In addition to Data Packing, they have a very extensive list of security features:
- Anti-phishing protection
- Disposable Logins
- Scrambled Password Field
- Offline Version (optional)
- Password quality tester
- Make personal backups
- Strong password generator
- Double Access login technique
- Locks up when unattended
- US Gov’t approved encryption
The other great feature and time saver is the auto-login. You will be securely and automatically logged in to any online website that you create an entry for and enter username, password, and website url. It also allows quick and easy access to your saved passwords.
An offline version download is also available so you can have access to your information at all times.
With the growing popularity of handheld devices, you should constantly be checking to see what mobile users are seeing when they look up your site. One way is to type the URL into your wireless device, but how do you test on devices you don’t have? Or what if you’re not a mobile user? Now you can use mobile device simulators on your computer to see what mobile users with different handheld devices are seeing.
For a quick and easy look, you can try the pocket device simulator from G-site. This site lets you type in any URL and see what mobile users might see. It displays the page in a generic handheld device.
| For example, here’s a screen cap of yesterday’s Webgrrls Wisdom blog using G-site: |
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Sites like G-site meet many people’s needs. However, they don’t take host files and other local settings into account. To test your site on specific types of devices or to play with more advanced options, you might want to install applications from the different mobile device creators.
| Microsoft allows you to download emulators that can be used with or without Visual Studio. Here’s a glance at the same Webgrrls blog post using the Microsoft Mobile Emulator: |
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BlackBerry also provides its own mobile simulators for BlackBerry devices for you to download, and the Palm Developer Network provides free access to mobile simulators for Palm devices as well.
You can no longer afford to hope for the best when it comes to mobile devices. You should find out what your customers are seeing and then seek out ways to make the user experience on mobile devices simpler and easier to use.
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