JD Thomas, Author at Unlimited Priorities

About JD Thomas

JD Thomas has a passion for exploring new ways to communicate, collaborate, and share information in ways that enhance the value and usefulness of the information. He takes pleasure in educating people on how to make the most of the technology that surrounds them in ways that pay real dividends for both individuals and organizations.

Author Archive | JD Thomas

Alzheimer’s Association Fundraiser Update

By JD Thomas on August 11, 2018 in Blog

Progress as of August 11, 2018

Unlimited Priorities is so grateful to all of you who are participating with us in raising funds for the Alzheimer’s Association this year!

Thank you for you for your help!

We wanted to give you an update: Our initial fundraiser went so well that we have increased all of our goals and we are now hoping to raise at least $12,500.

If you haven’t donated yet it isn’t too late – and if you have – you are helping to save a life!!!

Please know that we are really close to finding a cure. There are new announcements every day and every single dollar helps get us closer to that goal.

Please Please – take a minute to make a donation – honor a loved one who has, or is, or will be fighting this dreadful disease!

Donate Today

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When Is 1923 Going to Arrive and Other Complications in Searcher

By JD Thomas on September 7, 2012 in Blog

Searcher Magazine

In this month’s free article from Searcher: The Magazine for Database Professionals Peter B. Hirtle, Senior Policy Advisor at Cornell University Library sets the record straight on the complex world of copyright law in the United States.

Thanks to digital technologies, today everyone can easily be a publisher and, just as easily, violate copyright laws that were written with the assumption that all publishers would have New York or Hollywood lawyers review their use of copyrighted works and, when appropriate, negotiate permission fees. The public domain can be an escape valve. By using public domain music, art, and texts in digital mashups, the general public can step outside of our public-unfriendly copyright regime. The public domain is a cultural commons on which we can all freely draw.

All copyrighted works must eventually enter the public domain, but determining when that happens is not easy. That is because over the years the rules regulating copyright have changed, usually for the worse. In response to requests from copyright owners and in the absence of any evidence suggesting that it fulfills copyright’s purpose (i.e., the creation and distribution of new works), copyright terms have been arbitrarily lengthened, and the range of works protected by copyright has widened. Sometimes the changes are retroactive; others apply only to prospective works. As a result, a mish-mash of rules and regulations governing copyright duration and the scope of the public domain has arisen.

Read the full article at When Is 1923 Going to Arrive and Other Complications of the U.S. Public Domain.

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Christopher Carfi on the Social Engagement Journey

By JD Thomas on August 16, 2012 in Blog

Judith Aquino was at CRM Evolution 2012 in NYC this week and reported on Christopher Carfi’s talk on building and sustaining a loyal customer base:

Every company wants a loyal customer base, but only a few businesses are implementing effective strategies and pragmatic tactics to build their base of dedicated followers, according to Christopher Carfi, vice president of social business strategy at brand consulting firm Ant’s Eye View. “Social engagement is a journey,” Carfi noted Wednesday at CRM Evolution. “If companies are going to engage their customers, they need to connect with their influencers and advocates.”
Carfi shared several best practice tips companies can use to improve their engagement efforts with customers. The first step is to understand the difference between an influencer and an advocate. Although these terms are often considered interchangeable, they describe two different types of customers.
“Influencers are amplifiers when you get down to it,” Carfi explained. “They will make your message go further, faster, and louder, but it could be a positive, negative, or neutral sentiment.”

Read more at What Companies Miss on Their Social Engagement Journey from CRM Magazine.

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Hanney’s Helpers Efforts Recognized by the American Cancer Society

By JD Thomas on August 2, 2012 in Blog

The Relay For Life event only takes place for 18 hours once a year, but the fight against cancer continues year round. Our hope is that survivors, volunteers, businesses, and teams will support the fight all year so we can move closer to a world without cancer. One team from Cape Coral demonstrated that wide spread community support and the drive to continue fundraising even into the summer to benefit the fight.

Hanney’s Helpers – 2012 Relay For Life

Hanney’s Helpers, led by John and Iris Hanney and Bobby Bennetts, partnered with several local businesses to continue fundraising after the Relay For Life of Cape Coral this past April. This past week they reached $27,252 in the fight against cancer, making them the #1 fundraising team, not only in Cape Coral, but in all of Lee County in 2012! With the extra dedicated support of Barry Anton’s, The Lobster Lady, Anthony’s on the Blvd, and Water Medic, Hanney’s Helpers was able to reach this amazing total to create a world with more birthdays.

In addition to recognizing Hanney’s Helpers, and these supporting businesses, we want to acknowledge and encourage those who strive each and every day to support the search for a cure. Every dollar raised means we are closer to a cure. Every dollar makes a difference. Everyone has been impacted by cancer in some way. Everyone can do something. We ask you to continue the fight all year long in spreading the word about the programs and services of the American Cancer Society, continuing the fundraising efforts, and encouraging loved ones going through treatment that every day they are SURVIVING this disease. Together we will find a cure. Together we will keep the next generation from hearing those three ugly words. Together we will eradicate a major health problem and your children and grandchildren will know you had a hand in curing cancer!

Thank you so much, Cape Coral community, for all you do, and for helping to save a life today!

Sincerely,

Darla Betzer
Executive Director, Florida Division
American Cancer Society, Inc.

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Project Gutenberg Opens Self-Published Works Respository

By JD Thomas on July 16, 2012 in Blog

The generous souls at Project Gutenberg opened a new venue supplementing their traditional collection of public domain classics. (And, by the way, that collection of usually all the works, even minor ones, of major authors and the major works of minor authors now runs more than 40,000.) But what about contemporary works, particularly by people who have not found or perhaps do not want to go with traditional publishers?

Now Project Gutenberg has opened a separate collection and discovery area for such works referred to as a Self-Publishing Portal. Anyone can access and search the site to view and/or download documents. If the reader chooses to register with Project Gutenberg, as all the authors have, they can participate in the Authors Community Cloud Library and post comments, feedback, ratings, and reviews. A book details page and Wall will attach this social network style input for other readers to see.

Learn more from Barbara Quint’s full article at Project Gutenberg Launches Repository for Self-Published Works.

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Embedded Librarians in Special Libraries

By JD Thomas on July 11, 2012 in Blog

Despite budget cuts and other challenges facing libraries of all types there is room to grow and reach new levels of efficiency. As the library world comes together in Chicago next week for SLA 2012 Annual Conference & INFO Expo people will be talking about Embedded Librarianship.

This excerpt is from The Embedded Librarian: Innovative Strategies for Taking Knowledge Where It’s Needed, By David Shumaker. Continue Reading →

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11 Things Your Business Needs Online

By JD Thomas on February 15, 2012 in Blog

Whether or not to maintain an online presense is no longer an option for most businesses. Businesses and consumers both are turning to online research when they want to find a vendor or product to fill a need. Ensuring that your business has a solid presence online can help keep your brand and services in the running when someone goes looking for the answers and solutions you can provide.

Many small and medium sized businesses do not have the internal resources to create an online presence that goes beyond the digital equivalent of an introductory brochure.

Forming a marketing consulting partnership with a team of experts like those here at Unlimited Prioritiess, is often the best way for these organizations make the jump to a twenty-first century online presence smoothly and effectively — and without breaking the bank.

Here are eleven things every business services company needs to have as part of their online presence:

1. An Understandable Address

When people are talking about your business and sharing information about your products or services they will need to tell others how to find your website or contact you by email. This means your domain name needs to be clear and easy to communicate in writing and verbally. If you cannot pronounce your website’s address you may need to think about a change or at least a name that can redirect to your site.

2. A Clean Homepage

You must have specific goals in mind when planning your homepage. This may be the first impression you ever make on a potential customer so make sure it is the right impression. When people are researching businesses online they can make a snap judgement about you based on very little information. Your company’s mission should be clear immediately. Web pages are relatively cheap; there is no reason to cram everything onto your homepage.

Your homepage should be welcoming and provide an easy to grasp introduction to your products and services. Keep page elements separated and use short lists so new prospective customer can see and understand your core business at a glance.

3. Findable Pages

Your existing customers know who you are and where to find you. New business can come from a variety of sources, but one major way to ensure that your website can be found by prospective customers is to ensure that your website is built with solid white-hat search engine optimization techniques in mind from the beginning. Search engines read your web pages with programs called crawlers.

Web crawlers have come a long ways in the last few years, but they still need your help to properly index your website and return links to your pages based on search terms entered by their users. By using well crafted pages, complete with quality metadata and good document structure can help your site be found by the right people.

4. Scannable High-Level Pages

Prospective customers will land on your website with a single question in mind. “Does this company provide the products or services I need?” This means that your pages should be crafted to answer this question quickly for a visitor who is just scanning the page quickly. It is hard to resist dumping a lot of information about your company and its great products and services right up front but this should be avoided.

After providing a clear answer to that initial question, you can provide links deeper into your site to pages with plenty of details about your business and services.

5. A Unified Look

Branding goes way past the logo on your letterhead and your business cards. Do not skimp on the services of a skillful designer to create a branding scheme that includes logos suitable for a variety of sizes and uses, fonts, and color palettes. A prospective customer who stops by your booth at a trade show or receives a marketing email from you should recognize you immediately when they land on your website — or vice-versa.

6. Clear Contact Information

Your online presence does not operate in a vacuum. Your site should be designed in a way that ensures visitors are never more than one click away from your contact information. Your contact information should include online and offline methods to reach you.

No matter how complete you feel your website is, there may be prospective customers who want to pick up the phone and verify something they read about you online.

7. Some Customer History

Web giants like eBay and Amazon learned early on that customers like to hear from other customers — even when they know nothing about the person providing feedback. If at all possible your website should contain some testimonials from your existing customers.

Past customers who are willing to give a good reference can go a long ways towards building trust and comfort on the part of new business relationships.

8. A Long Reach

Your website should be a central hub of information about your business and your products and services. Keeping that information limited to just that site is a waste of your online efforts. Look at sites like LinkedIn, Google+, Facebook, and Twitter as other avenues where you can keep in touch with prospective customers. If you take the plunge into the world of social media for businesses, make a real effort and stay on top of it.

A Facebook page or Twitter account with a few lonely updates from months or years ago is worse than no presence at all. Share news and information about your business, but also share wider industry news that would be useful to your prospective customers.

Don’t be one of those businesses that fail at the social part of social media.

9. A Visible Human Side

Online communication is easy and is becoming expected by consumers. If you have a presence on social media do not try to hide the fact that human beings are behind the tweets and updates. This is not a suggestion to go wildly off-message, but your social media followers will appreciate the presence of a genuine personality behind the presence.

10. Depth of Expertise

Earlier we talked about making pages scannable with clear information that can be quickly absorbed in a few glances. That is the way to draw in customers by explaining what you can offer. Create additional pages on your site where you explain the how and why of your business offerings.

Albert Einstein is quoted as saying “If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.” Keep that in mind while writing your deeper explanatory pages. You are writing for a prospective customer with the goal of inspiring confidence in your ability to provide the services they need. Many companies create pages that read like a technical training manual instead of an explanation of their services.

Get a non-expert in your circle to sign off on every page of your site to ensure you are not writing copy that is only meaningful to people who know as much as you do about your business.

11. Fresh and Relevant Website Content

Do not treat your webpage as if it is chiseled in granite. Search engines reward fresh and current content that is relevant and well presented. In your professional life you are always learning as new information becomes available and technologies evolve. Your website should reflect any changes and new information as quickly as possible.

Revisit your entire site at least three times a year and make sure every page is fulfilling its mission in the best way possible based on today’s understanding of your business and your customers needs.

If your business presence online is missing some or all of these critical business building tools, contact us to learn how Unlimited Priorities can help take your business to the next level.

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