Sublime Thoughts

Test

Blake Raab — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 15:04:48 +0000

This is just a test post. My blog was hacked, and I want to see if there’s any way to put it back. You can see posts on the blog, but if you click a title, it takes you to my 404 page and not the post.

I'm on Squidoo

Blake Raab — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 05:39:53 +0000

I’ve been on Squidoo since August of 2007, but I haven’t really put much time or thought into it until lately. I have blogged before about some sites, like Flickr, being good for backlinks and SEO, but Squidoo, until now, had not really been a part of my strategy.

Now that I started Bears on Patrol, I took a second look at Squidoo because they raise money for charities with each lens that you create, if you specify in your settings that you would like your earnings to go to charity. I have sent the information to request that Bears on Patrol be listed as one of their charities, and I’m expecting that to be approved within a week.

Since I’m looking at Squidoo again, I’m starting to think about possible new lenses (which are Squidoo’s term for the “posts” or pages that you create). I have already written lenses about Bears on Patrol, my Zazzle gallery, and Blake’s Sublime Designs. I can see writing some more about amateur radio, especially my interest in using the radio to receive NOAA satellite images, and possibly Paint.NET and Inkscape tutorials.

There is definitely some potential there, and I am excited about getting others to specify Bears on Patrol as the beneficiary of their earnings once we are approved.

Spreading Bear Hugs – You Can Help!

Blake Raab — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 22:39:31 +0000

As many of you know, I recently launched a nonprofit organization called Bears on Patrol. Our mission is to provide police officers with free teddy bears to help comfort and distract small children in cases where they are involved.

Chase Community Giving is running a contest on Facebook that will award $5 million to the charities that get the most votes. All you need to do is become a fan and click to vote. The button below will take you to the page.

Please keep Bears on Patrol in mind this year. We have accumulated many expenses associated with incorporating and filing with the IRS, and we would appreciate any help.

Just a Few Updates

Blake Raab — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 21:48:52 +0000

I have a few updates for you. We are currently running a drawing on our Facebook fan page for any of our fans who live in the US. Every day in December, a randomly drawn fan receives a $10 gift voucher good for any purchase of $10 or more at our store. We encourage you to become a fan of our page for this opportunity. Please make sure that your location is visible to non-friends in Facebook or let us know that you live in the US if it is not.

We are also now on Google Wave. If you have a Wave account, feel free to add me as a contact. I’m currently using an account I set up for Bears on Patrol, so my account is at bearsonpatrol@googlewave.com. We may decide to hold similar drawings for the people following our wave.

As always, feel free to share your comments, suggestions, or questions here or on Facebook, Twitter, or Wave.

Legal Question

Blake Raab — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 16:13:35 +0000

I have a fan page on Facebook for my business, and I’m doing a random drawing in December for the fans. I’ve always heard other contests say that they’re only open to US residents. I will be offering gift vouchers to randomly drawn fans. Legally, do I have to limit this to US residents?

Some people hide their location on Facebook so you can only see it if you’re their friend. This would be a bit of a pain trying to get everyone to respond to me with their location. I could run the drawing with only the people I’m sure about, but that would limit the eligible people a lot.

Making Money on YouTube

Blake Raab — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 23:48:58 +0000

About two years ago, I made a simple video tutorial explaining how to remove the background of a photo in Paint.NET. I submitted it to Digg, and some of the other usual social bookmarking sites, and saw the views climbing nicely. Yesterday, YouTube contacted me and said that they were giving me an opportunity to make some revenue from ads placed beside my video since it “has become popular on YouTube”.

They are giving me 55% of the ad revenue, which is a nice surprise. I didn’t realize this was a possibility when I uploaded the video. I’ve been thinking about making some more tutorials, and seeing that I have this opportunity, I think it would be a good idea. Not only does it get exposure for my website, but also I can make a bit of money on the side.

New Site Layout

Blake Raab — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 01:39:24 +0000

If you haven’t been to our site in awhile, I encourage you to check it out. We have added several great new products, and we have also given the site a new look.

I’m very happy with the new look, although it took a bit of hacking into the PHP template files to get things working. Let me know what you think!

We Need Your Help if You Know PHP

Blake Raab — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 15:44:24 +0000

Bears on Patrol is my new charity to provide free teddy bears to police officers to use in calls where small children are involved.

I was talking with someone yesterday about doing something for kids who want to help out. They mentioned that the kids might like donating bears better than money, because it feels like they’re helping more directly. The only problem with that is that I need to make sure that the bears I use can fit into the custom shirts I make for them.

I thought about a system where they could “adopt” a bear, giving it a name, and maybe some other things. Then the website would have a feature where they could log in and see the profiles of the bears they’ve adopted, including where (city, state, police department) their bears ended up.

What do you think about this idea? I think it could work except that the younger kids wouldn’t really know enough to create a login to view their bears. Any suggestions? Would this be difficult or expensive to pay someone to create with PHP? If anyone here can do this and is willing to donate the project (hopefully we will be an official nonprofit soon), you will be given permanent credit on the site with a link.

The First Bear Goes Out

Blake Raab — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 03:42:11 +0000

The Bears on Patrol program is about to make one small step for a bear, and one giant leap for the program with the anticipated departure of Joey Bear to the Bremen Police Department in Bremen, Georgia. Joey will be going out tomorrow to my former employer, Stitch America until they contact a friend of theirs at the police department to see if they are interested in working with the bears.

Lessons on Business Branding from Barack Obama

Blake Raab — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 16:20:07 +0000

“Change.” “Yes We Can!”. A few months ago, if someone asked you what came to mind when they said, “Change”, what would your answer have been? Different? Coins? A chemical reaction? What would your answer be now? I would be surprised if it were not something involving Obama, his campaign, or ideas.

Barack Obama teaches us a good lesson about branding your business. Take a simple word or phrase, attach personal meaning that your audience can relate to, spread the word about these words or phrases, and you’ve built yourself a brand. Think of the wide impact of Obama’s branding efforts. Let’s pull some headlines from a few of the major news sites. (color added for emphasis)

‘Yes we did!’ A historic night in Harlem (MSNBC)
U.S. chooses ‘change,’ redraws electoral divide (CNN)
Obama rides wind of change to historic US victory (Reuters)
Obama vows change, agency by agency (AP)

When the news media picks up on your branding and begins using it in their headlines, it becomes that much more effective, and you know you’re doing well. What are your thoughts on this?