internet

Wednesday Webs: History Repeats Itself with Content Marketing

SniteArtMuseumI

When it comes to strategic business practices, content marketing is arguably the most essential out there today. Sure, it’s story-telling at its core, and that we know is as relic as marketing gets. But nowadays we’re telling stories in all new ways. Interestingly, the payoff is proving greater than any other advertising effort.

Need help with your content marketing? Adunate writes attention-getting content for B2B and B2C businesses. Contact me today!

 

Not Necessarily a Lone Egg; Just Inspiring Recources

robin egg

Yesterday, I found this robin egg sitting in my driveway all by its lonesome. It was so tiny and pretty, I had to get a picture.

Then I found this interesting poster about work. Actually, it’s an advertisement for Citrix. I’m not necessarily endorsing Citrix (I’m not not endorsing it either); I just don’t know much about the company other than I like how the second “i” is upside down in its logo. That said, the poster is super and I have to re-post it as an item of inspiration. It’s attention-getting and eye-pleasing. It offers a ton of information— instead of an infomercial, we have a postermercial! And most importantly for the company, it successfully communicates that more and more people are working globally (with Citrix helping them do it).

Anyway, the creative challenge I assigned myself for today was to tie these two seemingly unrelated images together in a single blog post. Actually, it wasn’t that hard.

Working globally, either as an employee or an entrepreneur, usually means working solo. I admit I sometimes feel like a lone egg sitting in the driveway. Or on a fence post. Or in a home office. But that’s not too often. Nowadays there are so many online resources to keep global workers connected to whatever, wherever, whenever.

My favorite tools these days are podcasts and webinars— one of my favorite podcast series is by Ilise Benun, of Marketing Mentor. Granted both are produced with underlying self-promotion motives, but in turn they are hugely educational and, best of all, free! (Oops, I guess I do know a little about Citrix since the webinars I watch often use their oh-so-easy GoToMeeting.)

So check out this cool poster. And share with us the online tools your organization is using—c’mon, leave a comment!
Citirix, on mobile working

Comparing Speeds of Internet

internet satellite dish

A couple months ago, in an extreme fit of frustration, I posted this whine about my slow internet. I even did a video, complete with irritating hum throughout, just so you could see how slow it really was.

Well, I’m happy to say we’ve made some changes and things have improved. Let’s do a little before and after comparison.

BEFORE: Local Wireless Broadband Provider

In the 15-18 years we’d been on the internet, we subscribed to a local, privately-owned internet service provider (ISP) company. We’ve always been advocates of non-corporate businesses and it was intriguing to be part of this company throughout its ground-up development.

We live in a rural area so for many of these years we were on dial-up. Remember that resonating screech of connection? If you want to relive the old days, here it is!

About eight years ago we broke down and purchased a wireless broadband antenna. To be specific, it was a Motorola Canopy Subscriber Module available through our ISP. We mounted this paddle-like antenna high on our 40-ft TV tower and from there it received transmission from an ISP tower located about five miles away. Purportedly, we were to get access speeds ranging from 2-6 Mbps (megabits per second). Megabits? Ha! I doubt we ever broke out of the gigabit barrior.

And then there were the lightening strikes, the interference from other 900 MHz users and the inopportune disconnects (are there ever opportune disconnects?). Combine these with a growing list of other frustrations and I had reached my limit. As much as I wanted to support a local company, the unreliable internet it provided was not acceptable. In fact, it was hurting my business. So for two days I went into full-time research mode, I learned more about the state of U.S. telecommunications than is comforting, and I calculated some comparisons.

Local Wireless Broadband Provider
Antenna Cost: $300, plus $199 installation (2005 rates)
Avg. Access Fee: $51.85/month, including website hosting ($622/year)

AFTER: WildBlue Satellite Dish

In 2009, Congress passed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. As part of this provision, specific communications companies received subsidies, which they in turn offered to new satellite broadband users by way of free setup and discounted rates. WildBlue Internet (Exede) is one of these companies. Yes, it’s a big, nationwide company, and no, it’s not one I’d normally patronize. Sometimes though, my high-and-mighty ideals just don’t work out.

So now we have this not-so-attractive dish sitting on our roof just outside our attic window. It connects to a satellite located somewhere in the southern sky and, for the most part, it’s bringing fairly reliable internet (no, there isn’t TV with this satellite). Recently, data showed my my speed clocking in at 10 Mbps—that’s not cable internet fast, but compared to what I had before, it feels like the speed of light! More importantly, it doesn’t cut out like my previous internet and, so far, working with the company’s service reps has been a pleasant experience.

WildBlue Satellite
Dish cost: $0
Installation: $5
Avg. Access Fee: $42.15/month ($505/year)
Website hosting with Hands-On Web Hosting: $4/month ($48/year)

So there you have it. I can probably quit whining for a while. But just so you know, the whole broadband issue isn’t going away soon. Here in my Badger state “a lack of reliable and affordable broadband service in many areas in Wisconsin is hampering the ability of individuals and businesses to capitalize on new technologies,” according to this recent Milwaukee Journal Sentinel article. Justifiably and thankfully so, there are many organizations pushing for change.

What about you? What internet are you using and how’s it working for you? What are your thoughts on better access in the U.S.?

Better Roads To Faster Internet

good roads movement in Wisconsin

“Decades ago, our state’s leaders literally paved the way for the Wisconsin dairy industry’s success by paving nearly every road that led to a dairy farm. This was a tremendous government investment and it paid off not only for dairy farmers, but also for their communities and our state as a whole.”

Lori Compas said this in a recent opinion article. As executive director of the Wisconsin Business Alliance, she was referencing Wisconsin’s Good Roads Movement, a state-funded program in the early 1900s that reassigned the responsibility of roads from the local level of government to the state level. Improved rural roads connected farmers to the rest of the world and allowed them to transport their product to market. These same improved roads went on to benefit the lives of every other Wisconsinite by way of better education, medicine, tourism and manufacturing, particularly that of the automobile.

Lori wisely used the Good Roads Movement to parallel our beloved Badger State’s need for improved rural Internet. Interestingly, small town and rural businesses are at the same crossroads dairy farmers were a hundred years ago. Non-urbanites lack affordable, high speed Internet. They’re stranded in muddied lines of slow DSL and deprived of important education, employment and business opportunities. Hey, Wisconsin isn’t the only state isolated from the information highway. This is a rural dilemma nationwide.

So What’s Being Done?

As part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA), $7.2 billion was appropriated to ensure that “all people of the United States have access to broadband capability.” Part of this became subsidies to companies like Echostar (Hughes Network), Spacenet and Viasat (Wildblue Communications/Exede), who in turn offered free setup and discounted rates to new satellite broadband users.

Another portion was awarded as grant money to specified states for technological development. Originally, Wisconsin was one of these states. But whenever change, money and politics (of course) are involved, nothing is easy.

Or free.

In Wisconsin’s case, a clash surfaced when the federal grant regulations got in the way of big corporate contracts. To the dismay of many, the state’s government chose to return the funding.

A Necessary Utility

All politics aside, poor Internet is frustrating at least, debilitating at most. Today, self-employment and small businesses are the fastest growing sectors of our economy. They’re an obvious answer to the unemployment in many rural areas. Yet, reliable Internet is an absolute must for a majority of these jobs.

Here’s the thing—most people living in cities aren’t aware of this not-so-remote problem. To help with that, I made this little (and highly unprofessional) video of a typical workday with my Internet.

(I actually do have broadband. It’s a fixed wireless broadband, but it’s…well, check out the video below and you’ll see what I mean.)

Speaking Up for the Small Guys

Today, one of my LinkedIn group members asked, “What if the internet was suddenly unavailable?” Of course a storm of comments followed.

Let me tell you what it’s like for me and my business. Like most, I’m completely dependent upon the internet. Sure, I could probably live without it. But let’s be real—there would surely be major backlash for everyone if we had to suddenly revert to pre-online days.

Unlike many businesses, however, I don’t have the luxury of reliable, high-speed internet. I do have internet, yes. But I operate from a small, 10-square-mile pocket that for some reason doesn’t get the clear connection other areas take for granted.

Cable or DSL? Not in these neck-of-the-woods.

Instead, I have WLAN, a point-to-point connection from my antenna to a provider’s tower. It’s hit and miss, expensive and limits my data usage. Inevitably, whenever I have a crucial deadline or a sort-of-large file, my internet fails (now you know why I love coffee shops and libraries:-).

Funny thing, I’m centrally located between Milwaukee and Madison, two of Wisconsin’s largest metropolitan areas. Not exactly Siberia. If I have trouble with internet, what about the thousands of small businesses in western and northern Wisconsin? What about rural areas in any other state?

Here’s an interesting chart of internet availability in the U.S. And here’s a New York Times article on how many areas of the U.S. still are without internet. Really? In the very nation that started the internet? At a time when self-employment and small businesses are considered the Industrial Revolution of our time, how does limited internet affect those opportunities?

Lori Compas, executive director Wisconsin Business AllianceLast week I attended the kickoff for Wisconsin Business Alliance (WBA), a new, non-profit, non-partisan membership organization representing Wisconsin businesses. As executive director Lori Compas says, “For too long, Wisconsin has been operating in a 21st-century economy with a 20th-century mind-set. Now more than ever, we need a new voice for Wisconsin businesses.”

The WBA is going to be that voice. It’s going to speak for entrepreneurs, particularly small business entrepreneurs, as they seek an “infrastructure that supports a resilient economy, including roads and rail lines, internet access, cultural assets, and public utilities such as power and water.”

I’m excited about this new organization and proud to be a charter member. When people join together and work for the good of all, great things are sure to happen.