I’m not sure if this is good blogging judgement, but I’m going to take a blog-vacation for a few days. If for some reason you need me, feel free to comment/contact me via JoshuaRussak.com. I’ll be hitting the slopes in Utah and wish you all Happy Holidays and a Happy New Year!
Posted under Blogs
This post was written by Joshua Russak on December 25, 2008
I was recently invited to present in front of a panel at the Ultra Light Startups in January. I’ve been to these meetups in the past (ie Open Source CMS), but this is one is different. I’ve been selected among 5 other presenters to the Revenue Model Workshop. At this event they selected 5 startups to give a brief presentation of their business, focusing on their revenue model. A panel of experts will provide insights, suggestions, and helpful alternatives for the entrepreneur to consider as methods to generate more revenue from their business more efficiently.
This is a great chance for me to learn how to monetize it RezRedo.com (advertisement to the left of this blog). VC Fred Wilson said on his blog, “Most web apps will be monetized with some kind of media model. Don’t think banner ads when I say that. Think of all the various ways that an audience that is paying attention to your service can be paid for by companies and people who want some of that attention.” The question is which model to choose?
Chris Anderson of Wired.com, put together a strong Media Business Model list of revenue models you can find in the media industry, all based around a core of free or almost-free content:
A lot of your revenue model choices depend on B2B vs. B2C. Some work for both, while others are particular to the type of regular transactions that will be taking place. At this point, I have narrowed down my choices based off of this list and I hope this helped you do the same.
Posted under Events, Online Marketing, Social Networks, Ultra Light Startups, Viral Marketing
This post was written by Joshua Russak on December 24, 2008
President George W. Bush Celebrates Hanukkah (Photo By: Shealah Craighead)
Living in New York City, it’s natural to feel overwhelmed by the Christmas spirit. It’s very easy for Hanukkah to feel like the underdog. A lot of apartment complex and building managers will make a point to include both a menorah and a christmas tree. Besides that you would think Hanukkah’s marketing efforts were at an all time low. Adam Sandler hasn’t done a Hanukkah song in years, Dreidel hasn’t made it to a single casino yet and The History Channel keeps covering the history of Jesus and the New Testament.
You would think that Hanukkah wasn’t getting equal and proper respect in America? WRONG!! In the White House on December 15th, President George W. Bush hosted a Hanukkah reception in which he delivered remarks during the lighting of the Menorah. (Though the holiday actually started last night, at least they tried.)
Following the lighting, President Bush had a surprise appearance for the audience, Jewish A Capella Group Kol Zimra. They put together a harmonious collection of Hanukkah classics and combined them to create the following…(watch video)
President George Bush was the first president to have a Hanukkah Menorah lit in the White House residence (source). He started this tradition in on December 10th, 2001. Here’s a little history as to what the US Presidents did before 2001:
Posted under Events, Viral Marketing
This post was written by Joshua Russak on December 22, 2008
This is one of the most heartwarming Viral Marketing campaigns I have seen. Global document management company, Xerox, is among a group of companies (GalleryCollection.com, Hallmark Cards, Pitney Bowes, and more…) supporting American troops overseas by mailing them greeting cards. Xerox runs a year-round program which hosts a Web site, LetsSayThanks.com, to provide a way for individuals across the country to recognize U.S. troops stationed overseas.
By submitting a message through this site you have the opportunity to send a free personalized postcard greeting to deployed servicemen and women. According Carl Langsenkamp, director of public relations at Xerox, about 10 million cards have been sent overseas since the website went up about a year and a half ago. “All the companies are donating time, money and/or services directly or in partnership with nonprofit organizations to spread Christmas cheer to soldiers far away from their loved ones at Christmas time.” (BtoBOnline.com)
With LetsSayThanks.com, you don’t have the ability to pick who receives the card, but it will go to a member of the armed services. I originally found out about this opportunity in an e-mail from my girlfriend’s father Leo Catallo. “Regardless of how one personally views this war, rather amazing it would be if more of the population spoke in this manner. It has to pretty much suck big to be over there right now. Sometimes I believe we tend to forget that.”
Featured on local and national TV outlets, newspapers and other blogs, this has gained a lot of attention. MSNBC’s Consumer Man, Herb Weisbaum, outlines the entire process in his article, “Want to send a card to a soldier? Here’s how“:
There are 53 postcards to choose from, all drawn by kids from across the country. They’re bright and colorful — lots of bald eagles, American flags, hearts and the Statue of Liberty.
Click on a card and you will see the first name and age of the child who drew it, plus the city where they live.
Once you find your favorite design, you can write a message or choose one of 10 pre-written greetings, such as: “Sending you big hugs and cheer from home. Thank you so much for your service and bravery. Come home soon!”
Xerox prints the cards. A non-profit group, Give2TheTroops, puts them in care packages and ships them overseas.
Now it’s your turn to go ahead, click on the link LetsSayThanks.com, and donate 1 minute of your time to make a big difference!
Posted under Online Marketing, Viral Marketing
This post was written by Joshua Russak on December 18, 2008
My company, AC Lion, just had their Holiday Party and it was a blast! It seems we’re not the only ones out there doing it. “Secret Santa” is a big deal for many companies:
“Secret Santa is a Western holiday tradition in which members of a group are randomly assigned other members to whom they anonymously give a gift. Often practiced in workplaces, or amongst large families, participation in it is usually voluntary. It offers a way for many people to give and receive a gift at low cost to those involved.” (Wikipedia)
The issue is how complicated it can get from re-gifting, to trading, to other stupid rules that make the game last forever. In order to clean up this process, I found 2 companies that’s major business was built around making Secret Santa more efficient. First off there is SecretSanta.com, the free online Secret Santa gift exchange event planner! It breaks down 3 different versions of gift giving. (I imagine this is the only time of year they see any traffic.) Then there’s Elfster, labeled as the Web 2.0 of Secret Santas, they are the premier online provider for group-generated gift exchanges.
It seems they’re monetizing a rather small niche in the holiday marketplace. I also stumbled upon the Mashable.com article “CHRISTMAS TOOLBOX: 20+ Tools For A Merry Christmas” in which they’ve gathered together a small taste of what’s out there on the web to help you make this the merriest holiday season ever. XMas is just a very monetizable holiday…why else would I be blogging about it? Enjoy and Happy Holidays!
Posted under Events, Online Marketing
This post was written by Joshua Russak on December 18, 2008
Wordpress just released version 2.7, and wow, they have completely reorganized their dashboard. The menu bar has been moved to the left hand side and the there’s a “QuickPress” option for quickly posting to your blog. I am currently testing that function now.
Overall, it looks amazing, but I’m still testing it out. If you’re on WordPress, you should upload it automatically using the “Automatic Upgrade” plugin. It’s easier than doing it manually and automatically alerts you when the next version has been released.
Posted under Blogs, Online Marketing
This post was written by Joshua Russak on December 13, 2008
For all of you who don’t know Seth Godin….IT’S ABOUT TIME! He was founder and CEO of Yoyodyne, the industry’s leading interactive direct marketing company, which Yahoo! acquired in late 1998. He is also a bestselling author, entrepreneur and agent of change. Godin is author of ten books that have been bestsellers around the world. He also has a very successful blog under his own name, Seth’s Blog.
The reason I’m talking about him is because he made a fantastic blog post. I really can’t summarize, or state it even remotely as he put it himself. The issue is that by quoting him, I am going against everything his article stands for. Read it and you’ll see what I mean…(I almost feel guilty):
Due to the extraordinary explosion in video, blogs, news feeds and social network postings, the internet is dangerously close to running out of room.
Nothing can grow forever, and exponential growth is always short lived. We’re running out of disk space, so if you have something left to say, better hurry. Once it’s full, it’s full.
Of course, the decentralized nature of the net means that it will never be physically full. As long as we can keep making hard drives, we won’t run out of space to store those inane videos of your Aunt Sally. What is full is our attention.
Ten years ago, you had a shot of at least being aware of everything that mattered. Five years ago, you had to be really selective about what you took in, but at least it was possible to know what you didn’t know. Today, it’s impossible. Today, you can’t even read every article on a thin slice of a thin topic.
You can’t keep up with the status of your friends on the social networks. No way. You can’t read every important blog… you can’t even read all the blogs that tell you what the important blogs are saying.
Used to be, you could finish reading your email, hit “check email” and nothing new would show up. Now, of course, the new mail is probably a longer list than the mail you just finished processing.
…now you understand why I feel guilty? I’m just adding to the clutter. But here’s where I think he went wrong (man oh man, I hope Seth doesn’t see this). “See A Need! Fill A Need” is largely the reason new sites pop up every day. If there’s a need, why shouldn’t it be there? The major issue is when one company feels they can “do-it-better” than the other. That is when you see 1,000’s of social networks, similar blogs, etc. popping up.
Seth also didn’t include a solution and in my originaly blog post, I had one…but it was horrible so I took it out. I’m hoping Seth see’s this and offers a solution of his own. “Seth, if you’re out there in cyber-space, HELP! How can we stop this epidemic?”
…now I sit and wait.
Posted under Blogs, E-Mail, Social Networks
This post was written by Joshua Russak on December 10, 2008
I recently attended my 5th Ultra Light Startups and as expected, it was a success! I have covered their recent event topics including Monetization via Ads, then Outsourcing, & last months SEO/SEM. But this months topic was highly controversial: Open Source Content Management Systems (CMS). Topics included:
For those of you unaware of this event, the mission is simple: “Tech entrepreneurs, sharing techniques to launch faster and cheaper!” It is a great source of networking with a panel also included to help drive engaging/helpful discussions to improve your startup.
As usual, the night kicked off with 1 minute elevator pitches by the event participants. Rami Weiss of Boomerater.com, explained why this was so crucial: “Pitching is important and practicing your pitch is the only way to perfect it!” (His tips included: Stand Up, Explain What you do, Your Business Model, Funding, Size and Other Stats). There were a lot of web-design and CMS design companies present, but a a few stood out from the crowd.
Also, a last-minute addition, the creator of the website Overheard In New York, Morgan Friedman, talked about how he achieved success with his ‘ultra light’ startup. The best advice he gave came from his Rabbi: “Any problem that can be solved by money isn’t actually a problem”. Following his speech, came pizza+pop+networking which is a core to this event. After a 1/2 hour of business card collection the panelists took their seats. The panelists were as follows:
In the past, I covered the events in a Q&A format on my blog, but I decided to try a new form of event coverage: Flip Video! First suggested to me by Melissa Salas (Director of Marketing, Buy.com, met her at Affiliate Summit Social 2008), the Flip is a great way to quickly video-capture events and easily upload them 1-2-3 to social video networks. So…instead of taking notes at this event…I put a fun little video together. Questions covered in the video include:”Describe your CMS…“,”Examples of websites that use your CMS“, “CMS Developer Communities“, “What’s next?” and more…
If you liked what you read here, come out to next months Ultra Light Startup Event: Startup Revenue Models. I look forward to seeing you there.
Posted under Events, Ultra Light Startups
This post was written by Joshua Russak on December 8, 2008
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