Sublime Thoughts

September 12, 2008

Strength in Numbers – Business Networks and Computer Networks

Filed under: Business, social networking — Tags: , , — Blake Raab @ 11:24 am

Don’t worry.  I won’t be discussing routers and switches, but business networking and computer networking are very similar.  Don’t believe me?  Let’s take a look.

  • Shared resources - This is one of the biggest reasons for having a computer network or a business network.  One computer has easy access to the files and resources of the other computers on the network, and an individual can easily share and use resources of others in a business network.
  • Common languages and protocols - Computer networks use protocols like TCP/IP so that each computer knows what to expect and how to handle information on the network.  Likewise, business networks are often set up in similar ways to make it easy to begin using the network and working with other businesses.
  • Division by similar interests – Think of a computer network for a large company.  There are many “divisions” of the company (Marketing, Accounting, etc.), so the network is divided into subnets.  It wouldn’t make sense for Marketing to share the subnet with Engineering, and it would result in unnecessary traffic for both.  In the same way, business networks often have groups for similar business types so that they can more easily communicate and find content relevant to them.
  • Visibility – When a computer connects to a network, it essentially sends a message saying, “I’m here!” so that the other computers know that its resources are available and can find it easily.  Being a member of a business network increases your business’s visibility to potential colleagues and customers.

I’m a member of several business networks, and have found great benefit from them.  You can see my social networking info on this page.

Can anyone think of other similarities that I missed?

August 30, 2008

This Blog is Retaggr-enabled

Filed under: Business, graphics, social networking — Tags: , , , , — Blake Raab @ 1:51 pm

This is an impromptu blog post, because I’m excited about adding this function to the blog.  I have already had experience with retaggr and am using it on my Social Brick Wall (add yourself!).

As the title states, the retaggr plugin has been added to the blog to give it all of the functions they offer.  If you aren’t familiar with retaggr, I’ll explain.  When you sign up, you get a virtual business card where you can add links to your profiles on many social networking sites, such as Facebook, Digg, LinkedIn, and many more, as well as your blog and any other sites that you specify.  I have tagged the image below with my card.  Hover over it, and you will see a yellow square.  Click on it and you will see how the system works.

This image has been tagged with retaggr

This image has been tagged with retaggr.

When you hover over an image, you will see the icon at the top right of the image.  Click it and you can then tag yourself or other people.  You will need to log in to retaggr to add your own card.  I think this is a very powerful social networking tool and a very easy way to get more exposure for our blogs and profiles.

Comments are also retaggr-enabled, so your retaggr card will be added by your name.  You will see a small “i” icon beside the names of people with retaggr cards.

August 18, 2008

New Hosted Blog Test

Filed under: Business, promotional products, social networking — Tags: , — Blake Raab @ 12:30 pm

This is the first post since I’ve moved this blog to my own domain.  Everything seems to be working so far, but I wanted to make a test post.  I still need to figure out how to change the blue behind the header image, but the rest seems to be good.

Undergoing MyBlogLog Verification

August 11, 2008

Maximizing the Wall and Free Advertising

Filed under: Business, advertising, marketing, social networking — Tags: , , — Blake Raab @ 12:05 am

The Wall

If you’ve read some of my previous posts, you will remember that I mentioned The Social Brick Wall.  This is a project where your picture gets posted on the “wall” along with links to your Twitter and Facebook profiles and your blog.  It’s free and a fun way to get exposure.

We have added several new people to the wall lately.  I know that they have been working on getting profiles set up, but I wanted to offer a suggestion to everyone else to maximize their experience on the Wall.  Linking to the profiles I mentioned is great, but there is another way to link to virtually unlimited profiles to maximize your social networking power.  All you need to do is sign up for a free profile at retaggr, customize your virtual business card, and you can then tag your photo on the Wall with the card.  That way, anyone can click on your photo and find your profile on any website you choose to include in your card.

The Special Offer

To get the Wall membership kick-started, I am making a very special offer to anyone who joins the Wall.  You will notice at the top of the page that there is a slot for rotating banner ads.  You get a free month of advertising there just for joining.  For an unlimited time, I am offering one free month of advertising for every person who joins the Wall from your referral.  Just tell them to give me your name when they join, and I will keep running totals of your free advertising.

Now there is even more incentive to join and invite others.  The more people we have on the Wall and visiting the page, the larger the audience for your ads.  Let’s build a Wall together!

August 2, 2008

Are You on the Social Brick Wall?

Filed under: Business, Uncategorized, marketing, social networking — Tags: , — Blake Raab @ 9:00 pm

If you haven’t heard of retaggr, I strongly encourage you to have a look and consider it.  Retaggr is a system with multiple parts to help you compile your social networking information in one place.

The first part is a custom business card, which you can embed on websites, forums, and even email signatures.  WordPress doesn’t support embedding JavaScript, but here is a link to my “full” card.

The second part is a bit of code added to your website which gives you (and anyone else, if you choose) the ability to tag themselves and others in any photos on your website.  If you are tagging yourself, you can even add your retaggr card so that it shows up when someone clicks your name on the photo.

I found retaggr yesterday, thanks to Lindy Asimus, and started thinking about the possibilities.  I thought, “Why not put together a page with a wall of small photos and let everyone tag themselves and add their retaggr cards?”.  I could add text below the images with names and links to businesses.  The text would be very small, since the retaggr cards would be the important part.  It would just be there for the benefit of search engines.

I just put up this page to get it started.  If this sounds like a good idea to you and you would like your photo and text added, please contact me with your photo attached, and let me know what the text should say, and the URL.  Please note that retaggr only works with images larger than 125 pixels.  I’ve made the photos on the wall 135.  I would like to keep the images small, since we may have quite a number on the wall.  You can send a large photo, but it will be resized appropriately.

I hope to see you soon on the wall!

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