The 2009 Construction Expo in Raleigh was a great success for Web Full Circle

August 25-26, 2009 Ken Widger and Scott Levy lectured on the importance of Internet Marketing in today's rough economic climate. The crowd was made up of mostly construction professionals that were energetic and were easy to engage. The atmosphere was electric and proved to be a successful day for Web Full Circle

Here are some photos taken that day:

WFC at Construction Expo

Monroe Economic Development Internet Marketing Seminar Was a Hit

Monroe, N.C. – The “Internet Marketing” Seminar Wednesday August 19, 2009 at South Piedmont Community College was a success.

As the lights dimmed, the presenters, Ken Widger and Scott Levy of Web Full Circle took the microphone. With a large crowd of students, small and large companies focused on them, they gave a presentation on the importance of Internet Marketing and Web Development for business to business lead generation that hit on all cylinders.

“The seminar could not have turned out any better,” said Ron Mahle of the Monroe Economic Development. Mahle went on the say “The presentation that Web Full Circle gave was insightful and thought provoking. This is important for the businesses of Monroe to realize that Internet Marketing is effective and a powerful tool to drive business in today’s market. Monroe has a lot to offer and can thrive if we can harness all of our assets.”

The City of Monroe, through the creation of the Economic Development Commission, has made the recruitment and retention of industry their top priority. According to developmonroe.com, the past three years, Monroe and the other communities that make up the Charlotte Region have been recognized by Fortune Magazine as #1 in "pro-business" attitude

Web Full Circle, a Charlotte based Internet Marketing and Web Development firm wants nothing less than growth for the Charlotte Area. Providing over two decades of expertise, Web Full Circle is on a mission to help educate the business community on their profession and the importance of it.

For any further Information about the Monroe Economic Development contact EDC at www.developmonroe.com . For more information on Web Full Circle, contact Nathaniel Smathers at 980-322-0518 or nathaniel.smathers@webfullcircle.com.

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Web Full Circle Is Ready for the Caffeine Jitters.

Charlotte, N.C. -- Google is nearly ready to launch an updated version of its search engine and Web Full Circle is ready. Nicknamed Google "Caffeine" is still in the testing phase. But the new search engine will improve the speed, accuracy and comprehensiveness of search results according to Google.

“The formula itself, in some ways, has changed. Google engineers have actually rewritten parts of the search engine's infrastructure,” according to JR Raphael of PC World. Raphael goes on to say,”Of course, Google isn't disclosing exactly what has been altered, but in a nutshell, search results show up faster and in a somewhat different order. The difference may or may not even be noticeable to you”

The difference is very much noticeable. To the untrained eye it just seems to be a few searches switch places. You can see it in action at Comparegoogle.com. "Caffeine” will be more complex and influential to business that relies on SEO to drive business. When the new platform is released all present methods will have to evolve to function with the on slot of Google algorithms.

Google makes almost constant changes to its search algorithms and infrastructure, but it hasn't made an update of this magnitude since 2006, said Matt Cutts, a principal engineer at Google.

The team at Web Full Circle is amped and ready to crack the code. It is no easy task to keep up with Google; now that it’s jacked on java the job has become that much harder.

After the news leaked a few months ago the Web Full Circle began to prepare for the new version of Google. The Charlotte based Internet marketing firm has made it clear that the quality of service will not be affected and will continue to provide top ranking for their customers.

For more information about “Caffeine” please contact us.

App's Battle On

In the big picture of mobile marketing the iPhone platform has 10 times the number of mobile applications of its nearest competitor, and, according to Nielsen, iPhone users are five times more likely than the average mobile subscriber to download an application. And the device's user experience and built-in goodies such as GPS and a motion-detecting accelerometer make it a great canvas for creativity and utility.

Marketers be weary, the iPhone may not be the holy grail of mobile-marketing, Weigh your options.

Some experts suggest it's time to warm up to Android, as the Google-backed, open-source mobile-operating system is set to power a growing numbers of handsets, making it an equally vital, if not bigger, long-term play. We all need to keep watchful eye on all Google actions! And though there are only two Android-based phones available in the U.S. (the second one was only introduced last week), Google said 19 Android-based handsets will launch by year-end worldwide, from the likes of LG, Samsung and Motorola, and folks in the app-development space predict about half a dozen of these will be unveiled stateside. Android's platform is also open source, meaning that unlike the iPhone, anyone can build a device or create apps for it.
The following quote was taken from the AdAge.com article by Rita Chang, Aug. 10 2009.

"Android's open platform will invite innovation from multiple participants across the ecosystem, ultimately leading to new benefits for marketers," said Ken Willner, CEO of Zumobi, which has developed iPhone apps for Pepsi, Adidas, REI and others.

But if you are considering making an application for your business keep this in mind: Only 20% of U.S. mobile users carry a smartphone. In analyzing 30 million iPhone app downloads, analytics firm Pinch Media found only about 20% of consumers return to use a free app after the initial download; 30 days later, less than 5% are using it.

We Are Ok

BBC- Facebook told BBC News that the strike was aimed at a pro-Georgian blogger known as Cyxymu.

The attack caused a blackout of Twitter for around two hours, while Facebook said its service had been "degraded".

Google said it had defended its sites and was now working with the other companies to investigate the attack.

"[The] attack appears to be directed at an individual who has a presence on a number of sites, rather than the sites themselves," a Facebook spokesman told BBC News.

"Specifically, the person is an activist blogger and a botnet was directed to request his pages at such a rate that it impacted service for other users."

Botnets are networks of computers under the control of hackers.

The machines were used to mount a so-called denial-of-service (DOS) attack on Thursday.

With all information still coming in, Web Full Circle assures you that we are ok from the attack and all our accounts a safe and sound. This is a scary thought for individuals and business that have gravitated to Facebook and Twitter to promote and sale.

Keep an eye out for more news about this attack to come…

Elmer Wheeler's Methods

I got this Idea from an employee here at Web Full Circle that suggested that I mention Elmer Wheeler’s methods as a Tweet conversation and I thought to myself, "what a wonderful Idea." Before I jumped right into it, I would like to give you a little more information on our friend Elmer.

Elmer Wheeler was an advertising solicitor some time ago on the Los Angeles Herald, and then on the Rochester Journal, the Albany Times-Union, and the Baltimore News-Post, he developed what to him was a fine sales presentation for retail merchants.

He would inform them, with considerable sincerity, and volumes of figures under his arm, that his newspaper had the largest circulation in town, and therefore more people who needed shirts, hosiery, umbrellas, needles and thread, and pots and pans would read the merchants advertisements in his paper and be down to their places of business the next day to buy.
A convincing sales argument, he thought, but Mr. Merchant would always shrug his shoulders and say, “So what?”

He would then point to the hundreds of people in the aisles of his store and inform Mr. Wheeler that perhaps he did represent a newspaper with plenty of circulation that brought people into his store – but people just didn’t buy. The merchant called them “shoppers,” “lookers,” and “walk-outs.”

This sales obstacle had Mr. Wheeler perplexed for many years, because as a newspaper representative his only job was to get the people into the stores. Then one day it occurred to him that maybe this wasn’t the end of his job – but really the beginning.
Therefore he set about making a careful analysis of the merchandise sold to the stores by the manufacturers. It was the right merchandise, sold at the right price and at the right season.
On going over the stores advertisements, he found that they were usually pretty effective. He then narrowed down the problem of why people came to the stores and purchased so little to the salespeople themselves behind their counters.

This would later become the premise to his famous Wheeler Word Laboratory were Mr. Wheeler would analyze multiple selling sentences and their actual ability to make the customer buy.

For our first method Follow on Twitter

Good By DVD rentals

This post is a bit off the beaten path from what I usually report on, but I had to comment on this story. Renting movies will become something of the past. This article is about Netflix partnering up with Disney. That is one big partnership, one bad thing for rental stores like Blockbuster and Pick-a-flick. It is about streaming of television series. I really don't know if they will be doomed by more streamed movies and t.v. shows but I do know that it won't help. Check it out.

http://adage.com/mediaworks/article?article_id=138258

Virtual Office for Small Business offered by 5050BIZ “Facebook for Business”

The following article was written by Jamie Bsales, an award-winning technology writer and editor.

"5050BIZ, LLC recently launched its namesake Web platform aimed at giving entrepreneurs a single destination for a range of online activities. 5050BIZ combines aspects of social networking sites, such as interactive bulletin boards and expert advice on various topics, with online management, collaboration and communication tools such as videoconferencing and virtual meeting rooms. The company intends its site to serve as a one-stop-shop for businesses that offers the community environment of a social site coupled with popular digital business tools not currently offered as one package by other business sites.

“We saw how people were sharing ideas on MySpace and Facebook, and wondered if there was a business-person’s version of [sites like that],” explained Leif Hartwig, founder and CEO of the venture. He envisioned a site that businesses would use every day, not just on occasion like LinkedIn. The result is a home page that acts as a “virtual office” for the various online solutions a business might want. “Our goal was to have everything just one or two clicks away.”

The virtual office includes a range of features, such as news, a search function and alerts of incoming messages. Members can also add customizable links to their commonly used sites, such as Facebook, Wikipedia, QuickBooks Online and other sites they frequent beyond 5050BIZ. There’s also tool to import contacts, a link to a business’ private bulletin board (which can be used like a secure intranet site), and links to 5050BIZ’s online workshops. The site offers videoconferencing services—a private-label version of conferencing solution DimDim—for use with outside clients or remote team members. 5050BIZ also delivers chat and messaging features.

A company’s Conference Room is a secure bulletin board on 5050BIZ that lets employees communicate about projects, set and track goals and so on. A handy shared events calendar lets team members see upcoming meetings and events and check the availability of others. And 5050BIZ will soon add capability that will let team members upload shared documents so they are easily accessible.

As with LinkedIn, 5050BIZ members are encouraged to create a professional profile for colleagues and clients to see. Members can create connections to other 5050BIZ members both inside and outside their organizations. 5050BIZ has also partnered with job-listing aggregator Indeed.com for its Career Central area on the site, where members can post job openings and search for open positions.

5050BIZ’s ProTeam feature delivers advice from industry experts in a range of fields pertinent to small businesses, such as human resources, accounting, law, real estate, technology business coaching and more (16 in all).

The site also offers a free membership that lets people post and search professional profiles; upload and manage contacts, access Career Central listings, and read public bulletin boards dedicated to various industries. A Gold membership ($24.95 per month) lets a member create and join networks, chat and IM with other members, post to bulletin boards, connect to ProTeam advisors, post advertisements and job openings, access a private conference Room with a secure bulletin board and more.

Monthly team packages range from $49.95 (for five team members) to $499 (for 100 or more members), and add advanced features such as the private intranet site, goals and results progress-tracking, secure office chat and the shared event calendar. “

I always knew that a “Business Facebook” would come out when the original facebook that only allowed college students became accessible to everyone. 5050BIZ figured it out. I am sure that there will be another platform out in hours but a Small business should look into this type of network. We have to embrace social media and adapt when it goes a different direction. Keep your eyes and ears forward.