I will be teaching two classes for Santa Cruz Parks and Recreation this Fall:
1. Expand Your Reach with Social Media (co-teaching with Karen Kefauver)
Tuesday, September 28, 6:30-9:30 PM at NextSpace.
We will explore how to use social media for promotion. The focus will be on the most popular tools, including Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and blogging. You’ll learn how to better promote your website and how to increase your online presence even if you don’t have a website. The class is for beginners and will focus on Social Media basics for businesses, nonprofits, freelancers and entrepreneurs.
2. Build a Blog or Website with WordPress
Tuesday, October 12, 6:30-9:30 PM at NextSpace.
We will explore blogging for beginners, including:
* Why blog, anyway?
* Using blogging to bring visibility to your business or nonprofit.
* What if I’m not really a writer?
* Create an easy-to-use, simple, free blog or website.
Class includes a live demonstration showing how to set up your own blog or website at WordPress.com.
Register here. (You’ll need to wait until Parks & Rec opens Fall 2010 registration.)
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Tagged as:
Classes,
Parks & Recreation,
Santa Cruz,
Social Media
I spent the day at Freelance Camp PRO at NextSpace in San Francisco yesterday. It’s 24 hours later and I still have the buzz.
For those that don’t know:
Freelance Camp is a place to discuss and explore the different approaches to running a successful freelance business / service company. We have based our events on the Barcamp format, which is a network of user generated participatory events whose content is fully provided by the participants. Anyone with something to contribute or with the desire to learn is welcome and invited to join.
Was it worth the time? Yes. Why?
- It felt like an historic event — first <something> at NextSpace SF — and we were there!
- I enjoyed getting to know my NextSpace Santa Cruz comrades more than I already did, in a relaxed atmosphere, both in the carpool and in the camp. During a typical workday, I’m usually rushing or optimizing or focused. It was fun to be at this event without my laptop (I left that at home on purpose) and without my work so I could focus on people, topics, and reflect on work, not do work.
- I enjoyed that there were two kinds of people in the room: those I recognized and those I didn’t. I felt like I belonged — to my Santa Cruz NextSpace tribe, that is, those I recognized. Thanks for being there Eric, Jorie, Mike, Iris, Jermy (new name from Mike), other Sara, Shane, Peter, Chris, Chris, Vania, Pat, Paul, and others. I’m forgetting some names.
- It was great to meet the BarCamp newbies and see their eyes light up seeing the whole camp in process. These were strangers from SF and I recalled how pivotal the first Freelance Camp in Santa Cruz was for our community. Actually, that was historic.
- It was interesting to hear about other freelancers’ struggles and successes, tips and hints, wisdom. I’m sure I learned something, or several things, but mostly I felt inspired and grateful and entertained.
- Great freebies. That’s S.W.A.G. Not, Schwag.
- Yummy lunch in the restaurant downstairs.
Looking forward to Freelance Camp Santa Cruz on October 2, 2010!
One of my favorite lecture series continues in June…
What’s Next’s June 24, 2010 lecture will be about “The Future of Work.”
Panelists include best-selling author Rom Brafman, Joyce Shimizu, VP of Innovation at Plantronics, and Fabio Rosati, CEO of Elance (invited). Sandy Skees, CEO of Communications4Good will moderate.
For more info, go to http://whatsnextlectures.com/
To get your ticket go to http://whatsnextlectures-work.eventbrite.com/
See you there!
[One big bummer is that this event conflicts with Nina K. Simon's Santa Cruz workshop and lecture on design for participation which also takes place on the evening of June 24. So, some of you, go there. For more on that, see http://museumtwo.tumblr.com/post/56982357/presentations-and-conferences. To learn more about Nina, go to http://www.museumtwo.blogspot.com/]
The following great overview article about Google Caffeine comes from http://www.axandra.com.
Google Caffeine is the name given to Google’s next algorithm update that is going live after the holidays. It seems that Google Caffeine will be more than Google’s regular updates. It will probably be a major overhaul of the calculations that Google uses to rank web pages.
What is going to change?
Of course, Google hasn’t revealed the details of Google Caffeine yet. However, the new index has been live on some test servers and some Google employees also talked about the next index. The following factors might play a larger role in Google’s next index:
- Website speed: if you have a slow loading website, it might not get high rankings on Google.
- Broken links: if your website contains many broken links, this might have a negative impact of the position of your web pages in Google search results.
- Bad neighborhoods: Linking to known spammers and getting a lot of links from known spammers isn’t good for your rankings in Google’s current algorithm. The negative impact of a bad neighborhood will probably be even worse with Google Caffeine.
- The over-all quality of your website: Google’s new algorithm probably will take a closer look at the over-all quality of your website. It’s not enough to have one or two ranking factors in place.You’ll probably need good optimized content, a good website design with a clear navigation, good inbound links, a low bounce rate, etc. The number of social bookmarks might also play an increased role.
Factors like the age of a website, its past history, authority etc. will still play a role in Google’s new index. However, the effect of the different factors on your rankings will shift.
How can you adjust your web pages to Google’s new Caffeine index?
Although Google’s Caffeine update hasn’t been release yet, there are some things that you can do to increase the chances that your website will get good rankings in Google’s new index:
- Remove all spam elements from your web pages. Anything that might be considered spam can and will have a negative effect on the position of your web pages sooner or later. This includes text that has nearly the same color as the background, cloaking and fully automated linking systems.
- Check your website design and the navigation of your website.Your website should have a professional look and feel. The navigation should be easy to understand and your web pages should easily be parseable by search engine spiders. You can test this with the search engine spider simulator in IBP (Select Tools > Search Engine Spider Simulator in IBP’s main window).
- Get links from social bookmark websites. Social bookmark links already play a role in Google’s current algorithm and that role might increase.
- Check your links. You shouldn’t link to websites that look like spammers. It’s better to focus on selected quality links instead of as many links as possible.
Google Caffeine is going to be released after the holidays. If you follow the tips above, your website will be in a good position when Google’s new index will be online.
Tagged as:
Google Caffeine,
Search Engine Optimization,
SEO
Yeah, I finally bought my iPhone yesterday but before I did, I bought the BEST iPhone case . It’s called a backflip. It has a kickstand so the iphone stands up by itself. Way cool!
Interestingly enough, I wasn’t looking for this case but saw it advertised on the Santa Cruz New Tech Meetup event page last month, and Pierce Buxton, VP of Business Development, was at the meetup, promoting his great new product. Way to go Pierce!
Then, today at NextSpace, I happened to meet Ken Kannappan, CEO of Plantronics, and in the process of talking about blue tooth ear pieces, pulled out my new iPhone and got him interested in this case. I’d love to find out if Plantronics connects with Backflipcase.
Click here to visit www.backflipcase.com
Tagged as:
backflip,
cell phone case,
iphone,
iphone case,
kick stand,
kickstand,
Phone Accessories
The location has been set and this event is a go!
The Santa Cruz Chamber of Commerce has a very popular new speaking series for Women in Business called Caffeineighted.
On Nov 5, 7:30-9 AM, I’ll be giving a presentation called Create a Free WordPress Blog in 1 Hour at the Santa Cruz Chamber of Commerce, Women in Business, Caffeineighted Series.
[Click here to Register]
Full Details:
Women in Business will host its small-meeting networking series, Caffeineighted, Thursday, November 5, 7:30-9 AM
Location: New Leaf Community Markets
1101 Fair Ave
Santa Cruz, CA 95060
“Create a Free WordPress Blog in 1 Hour”
We continue with Web 2.0 Marketing tools with Sara Isenberg who will show us how to create a blog.
Sara Isenberg, principal consultant at Sara Isenberg Web Consulting & Project Management, has extensive experience in the corporate software industry, much of that as a technical account manager where she managed technical relationships between software engineering teams and strategic partners and clients.
Sara began working as an independent project manager in 2005, serving web producers and small businesses.In addition to working as a web consultant and project manager, Sara is a Technology Advisor with the Silicon Valley Small Business Development Center’s Technology Advisory Program.
Sara has a B.A. in Computer Science from University of California Santa Cruz and a B.S. in Sociology from the University of Oregon. She is listed by We Magazine for Women in “101 Women Bloggers to Watch for 2009″.
For more about Sara:
twitter: @saraisenberg
website: http://www.saraisenberg.com
blog: http://www.saraisenberg.com/blog
linkedin: http://www.linkedin.com/in/saraisenberg
facebook: http://www.facebook.com/saraisenbergconsulting
Limited to 30 participants, the session will also include introductions and conversation. A light breakfast will be served. The cost is $15 for SC Chamber members and $25 for non-members.
Caffeineighted is held the first Thursday of each month. Caffeineighted is an outgrowth of the Chamber’s Women in Business programs, designed to create a more intimate atmosphere and an opportunity for teaching and learning.
Tagged as:
Chamber of Commerce,
Santa Cruz,
Sara Isenberg,
Web Consulting & Project Management,
WordPress
Do you know someone in Santa Cruz that you’d call a trailblazer, an innovator, or whose work or passion inspires you? Santa Cruz NEXT is accepting nominations for the 1st Annual NEXTie Awards.
Submit Your NEXTie Award Nominations!
The NEXTies honor young people in Santa Cruz who are doing amazing things locally or globally. These inspiring individuals could live anywhere, but they choose Santa Cruz to apply their talent and passion. These individuals might include entrepreneurs, artists or volunteers who are leaders in their chosen field and are making an impact on the community or the world. Nominees live or work in Santa Cruz County, are between the ages of 22 and 45, and have an inspiring story to tell.
(*) Jeremy Neuner
Why Jeremy Neuner?
1. Jeremy is one of the co-founders of Nextspace (see http://nextspace.us) a fantabulous co-working space in downtown Santa Cruz that is one year old as of mid-October 2009.
2. Jeremy is a light hearted but incredibly effective leader of the Nextspace organization. The community respects him.
3. Nextspace is not only vital to the Santa Cruz community, it’s a great place — interesting and fun, feels like the entrepreneurial epicenter of Santa Cruz — for an entrepreneur, or solopreneur, or techie — or anybody else — to work.
4. Jeremy frequently credits the members of Nextspace for its success, rather than claiming that success for himself. However, much of the environment of Nextspace is due to Jeremy’s style of leadership. He’s been the right guy at the right time.
5. Many local success stories have come out of NextSpace:
http://nextspace.us/2009/05/nextspace-members-in-the-news/
6. Nextspace puts Santa Cruz on the map (in a good way):
http://nextspace.us/2009/08/more-than-just-surf-city/
7. Nextspace has good connections with UCSC:
http://nextspace.us/2009/06/nextspace-and-ucsc/
8. Want more? Watch this video:
NextSpace: 1 Year of Success in an Economic Downturn
http://vimeo.com/7102787
Tagged as:
Jeremy Neuner,
NextSpace,
Santa Cruz,
Sara Isenberg,
Web Consulting & Project Management
Sara Isenberg
Sara Isenberg
Sara Isenberg
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