Charlotte Internet is Coming

Charlotte Internet Blog

Charlotte Internet is coming...back! What started as the first Internet community in Charlotte, North Carolina, headed by Dave Beckwith back in 1995, will now become Charlotte's low-cost, high-value internet provider...thanks to the help of the legend himself, Scott Huffman -- longtime captain of Webkorner Internet Services. Webkorner will continue to offer internet services, but will focus more on broadband and business applications.

But Charlotte Internet does not stop at the internet's edge. There are many facets to the net, and many different professionals and artists who make it run well and beautifully. If we can't do it for you ourselves, we can direct you to those who can...as part of our new referral service.

If you are in the Charlotte area, and would like to try out our new service, or get involved in our referral program, drop us a line, and we'll set up an appointment.

In addition to Internet and referral services, we also offer blogging and marketing services. You can have your business, product or service featured on one of our network of blogs such as this one (Trade Street Journal) or one of our other fine blogs...including Carolina Art Blog, Wanderblogger, The Charlotte News, Idea Consultants, Carolina Blog Consultants, Planet Bizblog, and others.

Other exciting developments include VoIP (Internet Phone), IPTV, Podcasting, and much more still coming down the pike.

Why Search Engine Optimization Matters to Small Business

Search engine marketing (SEM) is a large area that we won’t try to cover all of in this article. SEM is the implementation of a variety of search engine processes and services to help market your business via a search engine. Today, however, we are focusing on Search Engine Optimization (SEO).

Optimizing your web site to perform well on search engines can be a critical part of your online success. Search engines play a large role in how people navigate the Internet, so if someone is looking for your services or products online, sooner or later they will use a search engine. Your relevance to these search results can significantly impact the ability of search engines to deliver a user to your site. Studies have shown that those sites that show up on the first page of search results for a keyword receive six times more traffic than they did prior to their appearance.

The first thing I ask a client when we begin discussing SEO is “where does your web site get its traffic?” Most successful small business web sites glean only a small percentage of their overall traffic from search engines, if any at all. They have gotten their traffic from either their current client base or their promotions on their vehicles or other traditional advertising methods. My objective at this point is to see if an SEO plan would be good for them.

The next step is to review actual Internet search usage. The tool we use most frequently for this is the Keyword Selector Tool from Yahoo! Search Marketing. Using this tool, we can look at past activity on the Yahoo search engine. A rule of thumb is that Yahoo represents about 25% of all search engine traffic, so when you see the number of searches associated with a term, multiply by 4 to get a general idea of Internet search demand.

Oftentimes, a keyword is typed in and the telling response of “No suggestions for this keyword” is returned. You would not believe the keywords that some business owners believe are used to find them on the web. This exercise teaches us very quickly how to jump into the seat of the search engine user. Afterwards, we fairly quickly begin to identify keywords that do apply to the business that are also experiencing at least some demand based on the Keyword Selector Tool.

Now we have some direction.

The next step is to take this list of 20 or so keywords and determine with which the best opportunities exist to optimize your site. We do this several ways. One, we simply do a search on those terms and visually see how relevant the results are and what the pay-per-click activity against that keyword is. I typically just use Google and Yahoo for such research. This method is fairly ambiguous and depends a lot on experience.

Secondly, we run what is called a KEI analysis. This fancy acronym stands for a formula that looks at the demand for a particular keyword and then the supply of pages out on the Internet that are relevant to that keyword. In my opinion, opportunity exists for my client with any keyword with a KEI of 10 or higher.

Finally, we evaluate how best to deploy those keywords over your site. Should we optimize just the first page? Or should we look at creating sub-pages as well?

Once we have narrowed the list and decided on which pages to optimize, we go through the process of making your site relevant for the keyword selected. In my company, we use an optimization tool that considers the current search algorithms from Yahoo and Google (as best as they can be determined through observation) and lets us know what changes we need to make to the particular page in order for it to achieve the ideal level of relevance. Once these changes are completed, we then move on to the next page and perform the same operation until your site is relevant to the keyword selections from the previous process.

Optimizing for keyword relevancy, however, is just one battle in the effort of search engine marketing. In my next article, we will take a look at the importance of link popularity and the role it plays in placing your site above the crowd when you are all equally relevant.

Darryl Parker is the founder and President of Internet marketing and Charlotte web site design firm Parker Web Developers. This series on web marketing is intended to present useful tips for business owners and decision makers. The series precedes an upcoming book compiling these topics. Your feedback is greatly appreciated.

The Power of Affiliate Sales

On the Internet, the classic referral system has morphed into a highly automated and accountable affiliate sales program. Utilizing an affiliate program allows you to empower other people to sell or market for you in exchange for payment per lead and payment per sale, as either a flat rate or percentage of the sale. An affiliate program offers an extremely measurable return on your investment because you only pay when a sale or lead is generated.

There are two ways to approach an affiliate program. The first is to purchase your own affiliate software and establish your own distribution network through the people and web site owners with whom you have relationships. This is the very least expensive route as well, with software typically priced at $100 or more. You determine the price per lead or per sale and there are no additional fees.

The second route, which we tend to endorse more frequently, is the inclusion of your promotions in an established affiliate system. These systems typically cost a bit more to set up, but give your web site exposure to hundreds of thousands of potential affiliates and their clients. After setup, you determine the price per lead or per sale and the affiliate system provider typically charges a percentage of that price as their fee. Typically the fees associated with the system are in direct proportion to the number and quality of affiliates that can be brought to bear upon your campaign.

Once you are an established merchant within an affiliate system, you must then gain affiliates. Affiliate web site can range from link farms – sites with hundreds of links back to merchants and their products – to well-established and high volume specialty sites. My opinion is that no link is a bad link. I tend to apply very few filters, if any, to those willing to send traffic and potential sales my way.

After commission rates, the next item that attracts affiliates are the creative graphics and promotions that your company offers. Empowering your affiliates goes beyond just establishing yourself as a merchant. Once embarking on an affiliate program, time each month should be budgeted for evaluating the performance of your ads, creation and delivery of new ad campaigns, gauging hits versus sales (conversions) and interacting with your affiliate base. The more you do to help your affiliates succeed, the more successful you will be.

A final note is that affiliate programs are not overnight success systems. You are building a network of affiliates that requires time and maintenance to be successful. This network, over time, could be enormous and truly make the difference in the success or failure of an ecommerce site, but time must be allowed for that monitored growth.

The company we recommend most for affiliate sales is ShareASale.com. Based out of Chicago, ShareASale.com has a very reasonable entry price, provides an array of tools for tracking and interacting with your affiliates and, most importantly, has over 100,000 affiliates available. Check them out at www.shareasale.com

Darryl Parker is the founder and President of Internet marketing and Charlotte web site design firm Parker Web Developers. This series on web marketing is intended to present useful tips for business owners and decision makers. The series precedes an upcoming book compiling these topics. Your feedback is greatly appreciated.

Utilizing Online Press Releases

The value of doing a press release is the exposure of your newsworthy items to a large crowd that would otherwise not know about your efforts. The phones are not going to ring off the hook, but as our analysis below show, there are benefits.

The secondary value is the improvement you gain in composing your thoughts about your company. Writing about your company is important. Blogging is one thing, but when you issue a press release, you are literally saying "PUBLISH THIS" and it has caused me to be more aware of my message.

The Trial Balloon

Using my release Trends, Taste & Travel Goes Podcasting as an example, let's explore the experience of these two different services and the overall advantage of doing a press release.

PRWeb - www.prweb.com - tracks the performance of your release via "views". I submitted my release on 9/14/05. I spoke with someone at PRWeb and the term "view" was defined as the combination of page views from the web site, views from the various RSS feeds, and views from their network of emails. They also track the "Printer Friendly Version" and "Email this story to a colleague" buttons on the release. PRWeb offers an upgrade for a minimum contribution of $10 and on up. I was pleased with the $30 level because my release showed up in Yahoo! News and Google News within a few hours of the release time.

PR.com - www.pr.com - free business registration and submission of press releases. I submitted my release on 9/17/05. However, I found their site to be a bit cumbersome and have a long laundry list of items they wanted completed. The benefit is that apparently they have many subscribers. I was able to find my release through them coming up in search engines with a few days - and not just on their site.

The Results

As of this writing, 9/24/05, I am seeing decent results in the search engines. When I type in the phrase "Travel Goes Podcasting" in quotes (necessary because of the ampersand special character), I received 583 results in Google, 6 results in Yahoo, 133 results in MSN, and 12 results in Altavista.

PRWeb.com reports the press release was viewed 115,539 times. 550 of those views were by what they estimate as "Pickups" which tracks media outlet views. I would guess they do this by email address or known IP addresses. The release had 7 prints and 1 forwarded email (which was me).

I could not find statistical data on PR.com.

My business site typically gets about 25 hits a day (average over the last few months). This went up to mid-40s right away and did go into the 50s per day (I put out another release on this past Monday). Both sites (www.cyemerus.com and www.parkerwebdevelopers.com) both experienced a temporary surge in link popularity as the release went out. As of this writing, the link popularity has returned to previous levels on Cy's site. Also, my hit count on my business site has returned to the mid-20s.

We did see a 10% gain in podcasting views and subscriptions, which at the end of the day is a payoff. Neither of us got a call from a potential customer or a writer, but we were both able to use the press release in three different sales calls (1 for Cy, 2 for me). I see this as another payoff. Finally, I was encouraged enough with the perceived value of the release to my sales team, that I issued another. The feedback I am getting is that it is good to have these to refer to as almost historical data. There is also some level of legitimacy perceived by potential clients when your article is showing up on Yahoo! News and such outlets.

Darryl Parker is the founder and President of Internet marketing and Charlotte web site design firm Parker Web Developers. This series on web marketing is intended to present useful tips for business owners and decision makers. The series precedes an upcoming book compiling these topics. Your feedback is greatly appreciated.

How to Select and Manage a Business Domain Name

Selecting and managing a domain name properly can save you a lot of frustration in the future. Here is some guidance I offer my friends and clients when they ask me about this most important task:

1. Does the domain end in .com? The .com top level domain (TLD) is by far the most popular and most recognized TLD. The most successful and most memorable web domain names will end in .com.


2. Does the domain reflect your business correctly? The company name is the best route here. When either that is not available or if you are trying to promote a particular campaign, keep in mind that someone should be able to look at or hear your domain name and understand what it is that you do.


3. How long is the domain name? Not that size always matters, but the shorter the better in this situation. My domain, www.parkerwebdevelopers.com, is a bit to bite off, but I selected because it is my company name and there is no question as to what I do.


4. Is your domain easily misspelled? Some examples are fortimes.com (could be fourtimes.com or 4times.com) or an uncommon name or word that may be hard to spell. Other examples are intentional misspellings of words so that you are able to find a .com address that is available (i.e. smallbiz.com or webkorner.com). If you are concerned about this, tell a few people the domain name and have them write it out for you. This will give you a quick idea of the effectiveness of the domain.


5. Multiple domains for a single company are not a bad idea IF you are planning only on using them to track your traditional advertising efforts. However, I do NOT recommend using multiple domains for your online promotion effort. An important factor in your Internet presence is link popularity and this effort should not be diluted by more than one domain to promote. If you go the multiple domain route, select the primary domain that will be used online with search engines and other promotions and stick with it.


6. Buying a domain. Purchasing domains is a fairly straightforward process. I recommend www.godaddy.com for price and ease of use and ongoing management. For less than $10 a year, you can have your own domain name reserved. By managing this process yourself, you can save a lot time in the future (especially if you have multiple domains).


7. It is also my recommendation that you set up your domain to automatically renew. There is nothing like being successful a year later and all of a sudden your domain expires and your site drops. I’ve seen it happen, it isn’t pretty and, more times than not, it seems to happen just when the site is needed most.

Darryl Parker is the founder and President of Internet marketing and Charlotte web site design firm Parker Web Developers. This series on web marketing is intended to present useful tips for business owners and decision makers. The series precedes an upcoming book compiling these topics. Your feedback is greatly appreciated.

Stephen Denning be the Lunch Speaker at New York Business Blogs Workshop June 9

Portals and KM

"This one day session will be similar to the session on June 7 in Boston that I wrote about on Tuesday. It is based on our book, Business Blogs: A Practical Guide and is designed to help you decide if a business blog is right for you and equipment you to achive a successful start in business blogging."

*Just a reminder that Charlotte will be hosting a similarly focused conference in a few months, date yet to be determined.

Charlotte Internet

...now under the excellent management of Mr. Scott Huffman.

Dave Beckwith's "Idea Management" comes of age

Information Week and more on "Idea Management"

A few years ago, Information Week called me on the phone and asked me to tell him about Idea Management, since they had ascertained that I have coined the term, and had the first website on the topic. I told him I really hadn't done much with it other than create the website, which wasn't what he wanted to hear. So sorry Charlie!

Here is an article they wrote about it. Not sure if it was the one I was to be involved in.

It is amusing to see how it has grown, and now I think I will take up the reins and get back into it. First I want to see what others are doing with it.


In May, 1998...seven years ago this month, this article surfaced:

A Proposal for Web Idea Management
by Alexei Falaleev

in which the author has the following couple of paragraphs:

The term "idea management" is a little idea itself, as well as a unique word pattern that is searchable after the idea of the term appeared. I tried Altavista to check whether I was first to find it, and alas, I found that "Idea Management is a term that was coined ... by Dave Beckwith". I spent just a minute for the checking. That is the way it should be for a huge amount of little and large ideas identifiable by word patterns.

The first idea banks and idea searching tools have already appeared on the Web. They are easily searchable, so I am not going to describe them here just to show my competence. As a start point for surfing, I could recommend Idea Management.

It's mine! It's mine I tell you! And I want it back, as well as all of the profits made from it!
Gimme gimme!

Aw...what the heck. Keep your money. I have enough.

Trade Street Journal, Idea Management and Idea Consultants goes way back, and Darryl Parker and I were among the very first blokes in Charlotte to carpe the internet diem. For more on that history, see Idea Consultants blog. We are not a flash in the pan group of folks. We have been doing this for years. And we know the future. Our history bears this out.

Charlotte Bloggercon notes

After having seen (from afar) BlogNashville, it is my contention that we should shoot for one day, and a limited number of people…at least for the first one. I heard several complaints about the length of BlogNashville, which seemed to get on some people’s nerves, or at least tax their patience. And having 300+ Bloggers to have to juggle seemed to tax the administrators as well.

Limiting the size of the venue might be a good idea as well. If we have a hundred people in a room built for a thousand, the perception will be that it was a weak showing, both within and without, whereas if a hundred people cram into a space meant for 75…the perception will be that it was “standing room only”…thus implying popularity, success, etc.

Greensboro and Chapel Hill may well have been too short. My impression was that people wanted to stay longer…which is probably a good thing. Leave them wanting more.
And Greensboro was perhaps too large a venue, as it left room for people to spread out to the point where it was hard to interact with each other…at least while in the auditorium.

We could create a DVD from the texts, pics, video and audio from these other conferences, and have them available, so that attendees will come away armed with much of what was covered in other conferences, as well as what we cover. This way there is little need for duplication. We can move right into mindblogging, thoughtpodding, and more recent and futuristic aspects of blogospheric activity.

Suggestions are always welcome...

CONE MILLS CELEBRATES 100 YEARS

Charlotte Observer | 04/26/2005 | Century of spinning

The world's largest manufacturer of blue jeans celebrates 100 years.
As it turns out, the NC Cones still know how to spin, only know it is stories and blogs being woven. Long live jeans and blogs!

Radiant Marketing Group

Among those the Charlotte blognoscenti hope to visit with at BlogNashville is the Radiant Marketing contingent, where there is always something to learn.

Among the recent offerings are:

- If the Blogosphere Were a Nation...
...who would be its elected officials?
- What Are Weblogs and Why Do They Matter?
- Mass is Out, Niche is In
- Business Blogs Subject of Business Week Cover Story
- Business Blogging on the Rise
- The First Business Blogs
- Promote Your Company With a Blog
- Hugh Hewitt's 'Blog' - Quick Review
- Blogging for AllBusiness.com

...and more. Always a fascinating read.

Blogs Will Change Your Business

NO BLOG? NO BUSINESS.



Attn:
Charlotte Observer, Business Editor.

Business Week: Our advice: Catch up...or catch you later

excerpt:
Go ahead and bellyache about blogs. But you cannot afford to close your eyes to them, because they're simply the most explosive outbreak in the information world since the Internet itself. And they're going to shake up just about every business -- including yours. It doesn't matter whether you're shipping paper clips, pork bellies, or videos of Britney in a bikini, blogs are a phenomenon that you cannot ignore, postpone, or delegate. Given the changes barreling down upon us, blogs are not a business elective. They're a prerequisite. (And yes, that goes for us, too.)

I'm reminded of the updated
UNIVERSAL BUSINESS BLOG MANTRA...
Authenticity.
Passion.
Transparency.
Originality.
Integrity.
Interactive Community.

If your business does not have a blog, or its equivalent, the assumption will be that you are inauthentic, you lack passion, you are hiding something, you are unoriginal and lack integrity, and you are not community-friendly.

Well...maybe it is true! And perhaps you deserve to lose customers to more receptive, friendly, and open providers. Maybe business blogging will help weed out those who are only in it for themselves anyway. We obviously aren't. We share information like banshees, who were also very keen bloggers. Well, maybe.

Everyone learns from each other. Or at least they could, if they factored in sharing.

UPDATE

Now I hear that the Blogfather, Mister Ed Cone, is going to take the matter even further in the upcoming ZD publication. We'll let you know when that one comes out. These are exciting times!

Microlocal Blogging in Charlotte

Microblogging & The Growth of Blogotopias

Charlotte is starting to be an expensive place to live, and the economy doesn't seem to exuberant, rationally or otherwise, and so it is not imprudent to consider cutting expenses. And oftentimes it is ones place of residence that is the largest drain on one's purse or wallet. There is not one bill, but many.

Not so with a simple apartment. And if one can live close to work, get rid of the car, have just enough roof, but not too much, and pay one bill, not ten, and pay less that a thousand dollars a month in total...well that would be something worth looking into. At least for some people who considering such adjustments to their wherewithal. And were it not a thousand, but 400 bucks, in all, two bedrooms, nice park, amenities, proximity, large oaks, tree-lined paths and streets, fountains, creeks, libraries, bakeries, a Penguin...well, you just might find yourself developing an even keener interest in the matter. Even as a substitute for hotel expenses when merely visiting Charlotte.

Anyway. It's true. You can even have a six-month lease.
"2 Bedroom Special - 6 month lease - 399-439/month" reads the sign on the office window.

As a blog aficianado, you'll also appreciate their blog, which I write, and which has links to important places and sites. It's not perfect, but Morningside is a damn good value. As I look out the window at hills with massive oaks casting marvelous shadows across the verdant and ample lawns, I find little to criticize.

The view from your home is more important than the view of your home. And here, both are quite pleasant. Well worth the price.

Bike Charlotte: Tuesday, April 19, 2005 6:30 PM

BikeCharlotte.com - Your Local Biking Resource

Tuesday, April 19, 2005 6:30:00 PM
Moderate | Road | 25-30 MIles | Every Week

Cannonball Tuesday Training Ride
Myers Park Presbyterian Church Parking Lot Corner of Providence & Queens
Harry
704 525 4900
harryjohnson@att.net

Ride will start on the Booty Loop... lap 1.5 times depary for Runnymeade to Colony Rd. to Carmal Rd. to Quail Hollow Rd. to Sharon Rd.. back to the Booty Loop.

Charlotte Observer - Resist the urge to start blogging

Charlotte Observer 04/04/2005

...and whatever you do, don't get on the Internets. It might put you ahead of us, and that would be unacceptable. We are the smart ones. Not you. Shut up and read. DO NOT WRITE. DO NOT EVEN ATTEMPT TO WRITE. WE ARE THE DESIGNATED WRITERS. NOT YOU.

It is laughable really, being a visionary and all, and seeing slower heads leading even slower heads...in the wrong direction.

I'm beginning to think certain institutions are being a wee bit pussilanimous. Either that, or getting marching orders from on high. It doesn't reflect a love for knowledge and information, thank you very much.

Well guess what. Information is going to reach the people anyway. And you could have helped bring it to them.

Listen to what is written in the official press:

This Internet stuff has gotten out of hand, and just because widely available, simple-to-use technology makes it possible to share your goofy opinions with billions of people doesn't mean you should.

Blogs -- Web logs -- are sources of rumor, innuendo and downright lies, and there's no control over what goes into one. Doofs too naive to discern ravings from reportage cite them as if they were factual. There are enough misinformed people already, thank you.

Blogs are also a lot of work. Oh sure, it sounds fun, ragging on Ryan Seacrest one day and posting your plan for Mideast peace the next. But then you realize that if you don't keep updating the blog, the pack of dimwits hanging on your every word will dwindle.

I'm offended by this dreck. What is the point? Is it that the Observer lives is an either-or universe, when they could be living in an and-and universe? Look. Some day everyone will be communicating with telepathy, and someone will try to figure a way to get into the supply chain and make a profit from every thought transmitted. But I'm always reminded of the words of Epictetus, who counsels us to "never pass up an opportunity to be generous."

We know that some news organs are essentially controlled by the Pentagon and the White House and big-spending advertisers and such, and for the sake of transparency, it would be nice if those that are, would disclose that connection.

I do not understand obscurantism, and consider it a disservice to humanity. And granted...there has been a brain drain from traditional media, as the internet siphoned off the quick, the deep and the free. And now the quick, the deep and the free are blogging, among other things...but that doesn't mean that the quality of the traditional media has to fall so precipitously. Or does it? And are they pushed down by those who should really mind their own business?

People are so quick to assume the competitive posture. Even though we know that cooperation is a more successful model when done properly. And I can imagine a day when the latest and best killer app is not the blog, but some other potententially competitive activity. Many bloggers will become defensive and start hurling insults at the new toy in town. But blogging really is the new killer app. Like email was at one time. Or the WWW.

RESIST THE URGE TO USE E-MAIL

Sounds pretty silly doesn't it? Like some schoolkid in love with crayons.

I really do wish the Observer would at least try to keep up. Create a Future section, and pretend blogging is still in the future. There are bloggers at the Observer. Let them show the rest of of the folks how and why it is done. Or ask the folks at the Greensboro News and Record. Now that is an advanced news source!

When Charlotte plays host to the Blogger Conference in a few short months, will the Observer send representatives, like they did in Greensboro? There are some bright folks up in those hallowed glassed in boxes. When will they carpe the diem? A simple perusal of this very blog should be proof enough that blogging is an important and essential untapped resource...for business as well as many other sectors of society, religion included.

WFAE radio is soon to be podcasting, and probably blogging. Glad there is some leadership in our media midst.

"If a company doesn't have a blog or a podcast... I'm gonna go spend my money somewhere else."

HOW TRANSPARENT IS YOUR BUSINESS?

Mike Collins: "What do you think the marketing potential of this podcasting world, blog world, is, Steve, ultimately, because we are in the infancy of all this? Where do you see it going in the next five or ten years?"

Steve Rubel: "Customers are gonna say...if a company doesn't have a blog or a podcast, and isn't willing to engage in a conversation with me in real time, I'm gonna go spend my money somewhere else... Blogging is changing Microsoft right now. Microsoft has 1200 employee bloggers..."

[Transcribed from their conversation on Charlotte Talks with Mike Collins.]

Blogging featured on Charlotte Radio

WFAE 90.7 FM - Charlotte Talks with Mike Collins

Rather than bothering with all the revolutionary changes happening in our own backyard, Mister Collins cast his net to New York and California.

Among his guests were:
ITConversations
and
Steve Rubel of MicroPersuasion
...who said that businesses will do well to include blogging, since in time their lack of communicability will cause potential customers and clients to go where there IS communication, or in other words, blogging.

I hope Mike will take it upon himself to learn more about blogging and podcasting, and realize there are giants in our midst. Talk with them next time. They can help localize it.

Thanks for the effort.

Another Poke At Tags As Search Savior

Search Engine Watch

excerpt:
I've been dubious before about tagging in relation to search, but Steve Rubel's Targeting Through Tagvertising article makes me want to poke at them a few more times for a reality check. He writes:

Type the word "blogs" into Google and it can't tell if you are searching for information about how to launch a blog, how to read blogs, et cetera.

Sure -- and that's true of every major search engine, an age old problem. They generally solve it by offering query refinement tools, such as the related searches links that Yahoo offers. Google's problem is that it among the majors has never offered query refinement and is long overdue to do so. Google Suggest, if ever rolled out to the main site, will help.

Steve Rubel was guest on Mike Collins' "Charlotte Talks" today.

Blogging, Podcasting & "Social Media" on Charlotte Talks with Mike Collins

Friday, April 15, 2005 at 9:00 AM on WFAE 90.7 FM Your NPR News Source

You can also dial in from the internet, like Iddybud from New York does.

Here is the description:
We'll explore a developing form of communciation on this edition of Charlotte Talks with Mike Collins. Dubbed "social media" by one of our guests, blogging and podcasting are two young stars of the internet landscape. Web logging or "blogging" has made regular citizens into political pundits, journalists and government watchdogs while podcasting is creating a new world of amateur talk hosts and making programming controllable for the every-day listener. Learn more about this on the next Charlotte Talks and join us by calling 704-926-WFAE (9323) or 1-800-603-WFAE (9323) or email charlottetalks@wfae.org.

NYU School of Journalism's Jay Rosen on local happenings

What's in PressThink's Pocket? Citizen Journalism!

4. The 101 sites spread. Will there soon be a network of local switchboards? First there was Greensboro 101, a local blog directory that became a local portal site, a natural competitor, and possible partner to the local newspaper site. Then there was Charlotte 101, kind of a franchise deal with Charlotte bloggers Dave Beckwith and Darryl Parker to do a similar thing. Now, cleverly timed to BlogNashville, there is Nashville 101, the third operation from Roch Smith, Jr., founder of Greensboro101.com. See my earlier interview with him. ("I've been contacted by media people wanting to replicate the Greensboro101 concept in other cities.") He e-mailed me with his expanded strategy:

Our plan is to provide turn-key 101s for individuals or groups who wish to operate one in their city. We have over 200 [cityname]101 domain names registered and plan to promote them as local citizen media cites through cities101.com (not up yet).

In addition to gearing up to roll out more cities, we are in the process of developing an ad system that will not only coordinate the placement of advertising on the 101s (the revenue from which will be shared with the participating operators ), but that will also allow participation by local bloggers who will also share in the revenue. The idea is to create geographically targeted online advertising opportunities that can sustain localized citizens media to the very end of the long tail.

And so we can squint and see a local infrastructure in place, nationally. Not that Smith is going to corner the market any time soon. There are many similar sites going in other cities, and each one may be considered a potential contender with the local newspaper in the race for a Journalism 2.0 approach that works. See PhillyFuture for one example. SanDiegoBlog for another. Here's one in Vancouver.

In Journalism 2.0 (the way I explain it to myself) the People Formerly Known as the Audience, safely considered "consumers" during one era, are more involved in production. Interactivity makes daily journalism into a better, faster learning machine, which means it can improve its accuracy many times over. And in the 2.0 era new ways to pay for good work emerge from a variety of directions-- the media industry is only one, and not the most likely solution.

Civic entrepreneurs like Roch Smith, Jr.--who are paid in influence, and the satisfaction of seeing your creation thrive--are equally likely to have good answers to the puzzles presented by Journalism 2.0. With most in the industry unwilling to spend, the need for experiment and innovation is being met from outside.