Tech news outside the mainstream
Uncommon news and information with a technical twist and some topics that are a bit out there. Enjoy...
LinkedIn is a source of cutting edge tech news from fascinating people that make it. Get inspired.
LinkedIn has evolved from a job networking site to something much greater and I hope will continue to grow into more of a news and information platform. The traditional media outlets are dead they just don't know it yet. I get my weather from an app and I really only need to see the radar to know what's up. Waiting and wading through commercials and pop ups adverts is a waste and a desperate attempt to monetize a couple seconds of valid content. Investigative reporting is all but gone, journalism has become a joke, paid political influence and other content so watered down as not to offend, just lulls and pacifies. But, if your time is valuable and you're tired of misinformation and redirection from what's really going on, you've probably already found new sources of information.
For tech news and events there is probably no better place than LinkedIn. I follow groups and many fascinating people for their perspectives, bleeding new technologies and inspiration. And, although I hope to never have look to work for another organization again, I stay plugged in to events and people I would like to work with for any of the several projects I have at hand. For me, LinkedIn is a way to learn from the advice of accomplished professionals and shortcut some of the hard tuition you'd pay in real life.
LinkedIn has almost a billion users worldwide. Here are some other demographics from Kinsta.com about the user base. If you don't have an account, get one it's free and it's valuable, whether you're looking to work, grow or stay informed.
If your business doesn't have a strong online presence, plan on going out of business.
Companies often allocate substantial funds to marketing campaigns in order to promote their products or services. These campaigns encompass various expenses such as TV and radio commercials, print advertisements and social banners. The objective is to enhance brand visibility and reach a wider audience, which typically necessitates a significant investment. A 30-second TV spot during prime time can cost around $110,000, excluding the additional costs for production and management. It is crucial that the target demographic does not miss these advertisements by channel surfing. Print advertisements are also expensive, with production costs and yearly commitment terms averaging around $20,000. Consider how your customers will find you and most people are less frequently viewing these mediums, everyone is online and it is the first place anyone goes to find anything. Bottom line, traditional advertising is very expensive and no where near as effective as a domain name and won't be going forward.
Any businesses that wants to survive and prosper must develop a comprehensive marketing strategy that centers around a domain name and a robust digital marketing presence. Recognize the value of domain names and the exposure they provide, opting to add different domain names for various product segments and growth. Domain names are marketing assets and they persist in value though mergers and acquisitions.
Become digitally enlightened and gain significant advertising value, extended market reach, brand recognition and authority all with the power of a domain name. There's no excuse today for being as short sighted as this management team.
Is the "Birds Aren't Real" movement a growing conspiracy or is it an epic marketing strategy?
You'll have to decide for yourself. The founder and lead activist Peter McIndoe has been written about in The New York Times, The Gaurdian, The Hill and on hundreds of other sites since the movement hit mainstream in 2017, but it's roots really began decades before. I suspect more grass than roots.
Did you know the word bird, B.I.R.D. means Bionic Information Recording Drone. If not all birds are drones yet, they may soon be along with flying insects. Keep a close watch on dragonflies and carpenter bees.
The right to privacy is slipping away like a bird though the forest trees. Don't be fooled by the government smoke show. Have you ever seen a baby pidgeon? No. But, you do see birds sitting on power lines charging up their batteries everyday. Yes, and there's a lot more down this rabbit hole.
Visit BirdsArentReal.com buy a t-shirt, create awareness and stand up against the surveillance state.
Quality domain names are drying up, get the best domain names while you still can.
Domain names are the real estate of the internet, and they are becoming scarcer every day. With over 4.5 billion internet users and countless businesses vying for online attention, the demand for premium domain names has never been higher. If you are considering investing in a domain name, now is the time to act before they are gone.
A domain name is an essential part of any online business or brand, and it can have a significant impact on your online success. A strong domain name is memorable, brandable, and easy to find, which can help drive traffic and establish your online presence. It can also help you stand out from your competitors, build trust with your customers, and establish your brand as an authority in your industry.
However, as more and more businesses and individuals recognize the importance of domain names, the supply is dwindling. Many of the most valuable domain names have already been registered, and the ones that are still available are being snapped up quickly. Once a domain name is registered, it is not available for anyone else to use, meaning that if you don't act quickly, you could miss out on your ideal domain name.
Investing in a domain name is also a smart financial decision. Premium domain names have been known to sell for millions of dollars, and even less valuable domain names can appreciate in value over time. By investing in a domain name now, you could be setting yourself up for a significant return on investment in the future.
If you are interested in buying a domain name, it is important to act quickly. Do your research to find a domain name that aligns with your goals and brand. With the right domain, you can establish a strong online presence, build your brand, and set yourself up for long-term success. Don't wait, buy those domain names today before they are gone.
Domain name values are rising for several key reasons:
First, they provide unprecedented advertising abilities and can reach out to new clients and interact with them 24X7 where no other media can't even compete.
Secondly, absolute creditability. People judge your domain name, your url, your address, this is how they find you and get to know you. How well your site looks and works is also a factor, I hope that is obvious. Don't lose the fish at the dock. But, if your domain name is off center, or has extra words, hyphens, number, all these make it weaker and harder to do business with your organization. Look at how you view and surf, how fast are you gone and less likely to put a credit card up when these two key points are off? 77 percent are gone in less than half a second.
Domain names are like real estate, they're virtual real estate, but the difference is domain names rarely and infrequently come back on the market. Once sold, they are gone. If they do come up for sale, it's usually in the aftermath of a merger and for 100X what it last sold for. Like real estate, inventory is low and depleting. The pool of good names is drying up at an accelerating rate.
Get the .com extension or you'll be giving business to it. Maybe a .org depending on what your business is, and a .us maybe a good thing 10 years from now, but get the best .com names while you can. For the all the reasons above, and most prominently, domain names are the most powerful advertising mechanism in place for the next 20 years.
Prices are going up. Open to offers, take a look here.
The key method of developing your business is advertising. Call it integrated marketing with all the other forms of getting your message out, but it still boils down to advertising, which is making it public and memorable.
You may advertise in a trade magazine or on a billboard, but your website is the only form of advertising that's constantly available to your audience. Your domain name is the focal point for all of these marketing components, at the corner stone, and the foundation from where you build your brand upon.
Get a dot com name. Other extensions may gain popularity in 20 years, but for the foreseeable future your marketing efforts will end up in the junk folder. Even in tech where .io and .ai have some traction with start ups, it translates into they're in beta, not ready for primetime. As a decision maker can you back your choice of doing business with an organization that's not really established?
Read my last post about Branding for Authority and Affinity for more information. Here are some premium domain names that I have for sale.
By now you have probably gotten an email from every company that you have ever visited on their COVID policy. No need to rehash washing your hands and social distancing here. The point that I want to stress is that we are all in this together, locally and globally, and it's going to take all of us to beat this thing.
I work for the government in my day job, maintaining transmitters along the coast of South Carolina. The government is just people. Some very hard working people that perform jobs that in the private sector usually pays much more for the same work. But, boil it all down, and it's just people helping people.
In times of crisis's past, like the hurricanes we've had, we didn't get extra pay or bonuses, just a good feeling at the end of the day that we made a difference. Getting through this is going to be difficult, but not something we can't do.
There are always two options you have in any situation. One is to do nothing. With COVID doing nothing is actually a good thing. Stay at home and you're not part of the problem. The second option is to try harder. I have to credit my father with that one. He was part of what they now call the greatest generation, but the greatest generation is really yet to come. We are all products of these generations, we are the hybrids. Let's try a little harder and figure this out. Figure out what you can do to help.
Sure it's scary, we see exactly how fragile our world is. And, the big brains say it's going to get worse before it gets better, but we will get through it and come out stronger. Helping others is really the name of the game.
Check on your neighbors, have empathy and employ compassion. We are all going through a lot. I want to be able to reflect back at the End of the Plague party and know I had a hand in making the world a better place. I may not invent a miracle vaccine, but I help keep emergency communications online over here, inspire hope and I lend a helping hand. I am very grateful for the medical, fast food, grocery workers and everyone involved in all these chains that keeping us moving forward.
Do your part and work harder. Patience, courtesy and humor go along way, act like you've been somewhere. Maybe this will spark a spiritual revolution when we finally realize that we are all the same, and that we are all connected.
This article is by Kasssey Lee on TLDInvestors.com originally from GrandSeeds.com
Your domain is the address of your store in the digital world. If consumers remember what you sell and where to buy it, that’s powerful marketing. Your brand helps them remember what you sell, and your domain helps them remember where to buy it. Therefore, you want your domain to be easily remembered. The easiest way to remember your domain is to make it match your brand.
It's never too late to get the matching domain name, it just gets more expensive.
Everyone makes mistakes from time to time, but this one I just can't see how the management team didn't see the future of their business. Back in 2000 the internet was more than thriving and Blockbuster could have bought Netflix for a mere 50 million. As of today Netflix is worth over 128 billion, down from and all time high of 180 billion. In the summer of 2000, Blockbuster CEO John Antioco said "The dot-com hysteria is completely overblown". His council went on to state how the business models of Netflix and just about every other online business were not sustainable and would never make any money. That statement couldn't be any more wrong then than it is now. Read the full article here on Inc.com
How did these guys not see that by delivering their product online would eliminate all of their overhead, shipping and logistical nightmares. Yes, management and vision are two different things, but they shouldn't be. Doesn't matter what business you are in either, not only do you need a strong online presence, there is an evolution going on of how your customers will interact with you and not just on social media. Developers are building virtual realities to showcase products. Imagine if your customers could experience your products before they buy. This will be very popular with the gaming generation as they become the most powerful purchasers of consumer goods in 10 years.
If you haven't read the worst business blunders in tech history I would suggest Googling that phrase and see what you get. Branding blunders are even more common and they happen all the time. Avoid a brand blunder and start with a great domain name. A strong domain name is the foundation for enticing and retaining customers with a memorable name. Your domain name also attracts B2B partners and lays the ground floor for building supplemental income streams. Streams turn into rivers and maybe even into a whole new business model for your companies' survival. Have some vision and get creative.
Here's a company I discovered while looking for some keyword analysis on my GeorgiaBeachHomes.com website, Wordstream.
Not only does Wordstream offer keyword advice and optimization, they have a suite of utilities to tune up your marketing campaigns. Wordstream is a Google and Facebook Premier Partner leading the industry in search optimization.
I like the design of their wesite too and they have a wealth of information for those of you just getting started with online advertising. Spend a little time reading though the Pay Per Click University and learn about bid management and conversion tracking.