Analog Networking Morning

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Just as Social Media can be a useful avenue to raise the visibility of your business face to face networking is also an important element to promoting your business and the service or product you offer.

I call that my analog networking time. And today will be full of that.

I’m heading to the eWomenNetwork event at the Savannah Southern Women’s Show. And while that may sound like it could be a bit of an estrogen filled morning, I find eWomenNetwork to be one of the most productive of the networking events I attend locally.

And I don’t say that just because Gorgeous is the founding Executive Managing Director of the Savannah chapter either. Though I will admit that probably adds just a little bias to my opinion.

Truth is women make or heavily influence something like 80% of all buying decisions in our culture these days. Couple that with the fact that this particular group is focused on intentionally making business connections and it adds up to a winner for my business.

The similarities between seeing results with analog face to face networking and with digital social media networking are striking. And when you get right down to it, your results are usually tied directly to how much effort you are willing to put into building those relationships.

So for now I’m off for a breakfast event.

Gorgeous Wins an Award

The past few weeks have been crazy for us here in the Cree household. Lots of great things going on.

One in particular I wanted to highlight for you is that Gorgeous was recognized last week for her outstanding achievement as an Entrepreneur. The local Savannah organization, A Working Woman in Need (AWWIN), hosts an award gala every year to honor the top working women in the city.

Gorgeous was nominated and selected to receive the honor for their Entrepreneur category.

That meant that I had to go find a tux to rent. Haven’t done that since we were married years ago.

Our local paper even had a little write up about the awardees the next morning.

Add to that the press release that went out and you begin to see why I keep telling folks that I married up!

Press Release:

NEWS RELEASE September 14, 2007 For Immediate Release: Sept. 14, 2007 Contact: Lisa Cree, 912-927-2838

Business Leader Wins “Top 10 Working Women of Savannah” Lisa Cree of eWomenNetwork awarded prestigious women’s award (Savannah , GA) Lisa Cree, Executive Managing Director of eWomenNetwork of Savannah was awarded one of Savannah’s “Top 10 Working Women of the Year for 2007″ by the local non-profit charity: A Working Women in Need, Inc. (AWWIN, Inc.). Lisa was awarded for the Entrepreneur category. The AWWIN, Inc. Awards Gala was held last night at the Hyatt Regency in downtown Savannah. “I am humbled to be chosen for this award. The business women of the Savannah Chapter of eWomenNetwork are the real success and this award is their award” stated Ms. Cree. To meet the growing need for the promotion of women in business in Savannah, Ms. Cree’s entrepreneurial venture culminated with the launch of eWomenNetwork of Savannah , the local chapter of the 17,000 member international membership-based organization connecting female business owners and professionals throughout North America . The Savannah chapter has grown to 70+ women business leaders in one year. eWomenNetwork is Savannah ’s most successful organization providing marketing opportunities for local women business leaders. eWomenNetwork is a community of women-owned business leaders who support and network with other dynamic women. This organization helps women access needed resources and creates business relationships that move from interActions to transActions. Local Accelerated Networking events are held monthly, along with other events including Strategic Business Introductions. Event information can be found at www.ewomennetwork.com or by calling 912-927-2838. The Local Chapter also raises funds for 2 programs: A) The eWomenNetwork Foundation’s Grant Award program, which will bring money back to a local non-profit that assists women and children in Savannah, and B) The Emerging Business Leader program, which honors and mentors a young emerging leader in the community. The Chapter recently sent Lisa Scarbrough, President and Founder of Coastal Pet Rescue, Inc. as an Emerging Leader Finalist to the International eWomenNetwork Conference this past June. eWomenNetwork of Savannah events host their monthly Accelerated Networking Events on the third Tuesday evening of each month from 5:00 - 7:30 PM at the Hilton Garden Inn Midtown Savannah located on Abercorn near Derenne. For more information, complete press kit, or to schedule an interview / speaking engagement with Ms. Lisa Cree, please contact Ms. Cree at 912-927-2838, fax 912-927-7143, email: lisacree@ewomennetwork.com or visit online at www.ewomennetwork.com.

AWWIN, Inc. “Top 10 Working Women in Savannah” awardees Lisa Cree (left), Executive Managing Director, eWomenNetwork, (Entrepreneur category) and Lisa Scarbrough (right), President/Founder, Coastal Pet Rescue, Inc. (Non-Profit category).

That’s my girl!

Update on our WGSA CW13 Experiment in Savannah

The other day I wrote about a problem a local business was having with their web presence in a post titled Savannah’s WGSA CW13 Has a Big Problem.

As a quick summary I told how they have a really nice looking web site that, unfortunately, is very hard to find.

Part of the reason got permission from them to write about their situation was to graphically demonstrate the effectiveness of blogging when it comes to search engine “findability”. I’ve found that it is always more powerful if you can use real world actual examples to demonstrate your point.

I figured I’d do a series of posts on the subject. I expected that over time my posts would climb up the rankings and it would show how blogging on a specific topic is an effective approach.

What I Didn’t Expect

So far even I’ve been surprised by the results.

It has only been 5 days since that post was published. Look what happens when you Google WGSA CW13. The first 6 search returns all point to that one post, either directly or indirectly.

With only one blog post I’ve managed completely dominate the Google search results for a specific keyword that I was targeting. In less than 5 days.

Granted it is an obscure key word. But don’t you think that most businesses would want to dominate the keyword that happens to be the name of their business? I know for a fact that WGSA CW13 does!

And if you happen to click on “repeat the search with the omitted results included“ it gets even better. As of this morning you have to go 27 pages deep in the search before you find a link that doesn’t point to me.

All because of 1 blog post. In less than 5 days.

And that, my friends, is just one real world example of the power of business blogging.

Savannah’s WGSA CW13 Has a Big Problem

What if you built a web site for your business and nobody showed up?

Do you think that would be an example of marketing dollars that were well spent?

My answer to that second question might surprise you. I’d say that those dollars probably were well spent. But I’ll attach a huge IF to that answer.

Here’s the more complete answer.

Those dollars are in fact well spent IF you do something to help improve your dismal traffic situation.

The site is already there and you can build on that foundation. Otherwise, if you do nothing, you’ve just dumped money down a hole and you probably won’t see it again. Read more

Georgia Podcast Network Posts Business Blogging 101 Session from Un-Con ‘07

The Georgia Podcast Network has posted the Business Blogging 101 session from our recent Un-Conference here in Savannah (facilitated by yours truly ).

Thanks to Rusty Tanton and Amber Rhea for recording the session and making it available for us.

If you are interested, go check it out.

Me, I’ve pulled it into my shiny new iPod and I’ll listen to it later today. And then maybe again tomorrow… And possibly on my flight on Thursday… (No, I’m not vain. Honest. )

Maybe I should give a Klondike Bar to whoever guesses how many times I said “um”.

Gearing Up for Un-Conference ‘07

Friday is the day we are all focused on now. And not just because it is at the end of the traditional work week either.

That’s the day for all the sessions in Savannah’s own very first blog conference. They’re calling it Un-Conference ‘07 and it promises to be informative as well as a whole lot of fun.

A quick look a the Session Topics shows attenders will be learning more about a wide variety of blogging subjects including Podcasting, Women, Social Media, Journalism, PR, Media, Corporate, and (my personal favorite) Business.

Gorgeous counted something like 75 people already registered for this free event. I expect in true Savannah fashion there will be at least a few more last minute registrants. So I expect there is still time to register if you are in the area and want to connect with some bloggers in Savannah.

Oh, and in case you are wondering what to expect, Drew over at BlogSavannah has a post up with a link to this post by Dave Winer that describes what an Un-conference should be all about.

I’ll be structuring my “talk” on business blogging so that there will hopefully be tons of discussion. My goal is to make it like a live blog post, with the same kind of interactivity.

It will be interesting to see how it comes off.

Hopefully I’ll see you there!

Surprise of the Night

OK. This is a new one on me.

It’s evening and I had clean up detail. Fortunately tonight all that was required was to scoop up the Zaxby’s boxes from the coffee table and toss them in the trash. We’ve had a long run this week and Gorgeous stopped off to pick something up on her way home. Yummy.

But the dinner clean up pretty much filled the trash so I decided to just take it out and be done with it. Savannah being the pleasant place it is in the wintertime I walked out around the garage in the dark barefoot wearing jeans and a t-shirt. A little chilly if I was going to be standing around. But I like it cooler. Besides I wasn’t going to be out long.
Read more

First Blogging Conference in Savannah is Announced

They’re calling it Un-Conference ‘07.

BlogSavannah has announced they will be hosting a conference for all things bloggish 25-27 January ‘07 right here in Savannah. Here is an excerpt from their conference page:

At this 1.5 day event we will provide a very friendly, laid back atmosphere in which to learn about, talk about, and disect the blogosphere both in the Low Country and the world around us. With each session being led by a noted blogger and the sessions being relevant to the blogger cause, we are hoping to start an annual tradition of technology and friendship! The cost is FREE and all you have to do is register and show up!

How did they manage to get the cost down to free, you ask. Read more

Announcement In The Works

There are exciting things afoot here in Savannah. Things are definitely happening in this town blog-wise.

We are working on something that we are looking forward to announcing in the next several days.

So stay tuned…