I’ve Moved!

Thanks for visiting! I’ve permanently moved my blog here: joelwidmer.com

Check it out for updated posts and contact info

How to rotate text boxes in Keynote

Heres how to rotate text boxes in Keynote ’09. This also works for Keynote ’08 and Pages.

1. Create a text box.

2. Click on the “metrics” tab on your inspector.

3. Drag the rotate button or choose your rotation degree.

Updated for August: Facebook Pages vs Groups

If you’ve read anything on the difference between Facebook pages and groups that’s older than two months, chances are it’s probably outdated. The Facebook team has steadily been updating the pages and group features every other month! Groups in particular had been lagging behind in features until facebook recently revamped them. (see chart)

Here’s an updated guide to the features of Fan Pages and Groups. If I’ve missed anything please leave a comment and let me know. I want to keep this list current!)

Fan Pages: brand produced; fan driven

Pages are good for Brands, Celebrities, Bands, Companies, Non-Profits etc…

Think the energizer bunny. Pages don’t ignite like groups do but, if done right, they are great as a long-term solution to interacting and learning about your customers.

Groups: content produced; member driven

Groups are good for Common Interests, Protests, Petitions etc…

Think of a drag race or political campaign. They take off and gain momentum extremely quickly but the growth usually plateaus after a short period of time. I look at groups as either a great place for discussing common interests or raising awareness quickly.

Pages_vs_Groups (click for full size)

Pages vs Groups

You don’t have to be Zappos to offer Great Customer Service

A week ago I was frantically searching the internet for 3000 square campaign stickers. My client need them dirt cheap and a guaranteed 7 day turnaround for an event they were hosting in 8 days. I found a site that gave a good price but couldn’t guarantee the in-hands date. If they arrived late, the stickers would be useless.

It was then I remembered a gentlemen I had met at a meeting several months ago that worked for Embroidme, a local promotional product supplier in Murfreesboro, TN. I dug up his business card and gave him a call. Long story short, because he was so close he was able to guarantee the in-hands date and on top of that, blew the competitors price out of the water. It wasn’t an expensive order to begin with so I know the guy hardly made any money off the order. It was the best customer service I’ve experienced in a long time and I’ll definitely be recommending Mike in the future. It’s such a pleasure working with people who have a passion for what they do. Thanks Mike!

Got a great customer service story? Let me and the people that deserve your thanks know!

Need a break from the radio?

I love the radio.

Having been a DJ for 5 years, I have a great appreciation for the radio. I still love to skip from station to station in my car. But I can only take so much classic rock and commercials. More and more I have been downloading podcasts and listening to them in my car.

I find myself mostly  listening to business, tech, and productivity podcasts. So here are my current top 5 favorites within those categories:

1. Harvard Business IdeaCast: Features interviews, commentary, and ideas from leading business and mgmt thinkers. Definitely check out
2. Pop!Tech Pop!Cast Videos: Great videos from a 3-day summit that draws a huge number of visionary thinkers in science, busienss, technology etc..
3. Ted Talks: (video) This is one of my favorites. Talks from some of the worlds most fascinating people.
4. Get-It-Done Guy’s Quick and Dirty tips to work less and do more: Short 5-6 minute podcasts offering useful tips ranging from how to focus when your on the computer to remembering names and faces.
5. iinnovate: Stanford students lead 15-minute interviews with leading entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, and entrepreneurs. I definitely recommend the interview with Scott Cook, founder of Intuit.

Any great podcasts I’m missing?

What Happens After You Sell A Product For Free

Chris Anderson is the editor-in-chief of Wired Magazine and author of The Long Tail.

Recently Chris came out with a new book (he’s giving away) that is causing quite a controversy.  If Seth Godin is with Anderson, I’m going to have to side with them as opposed to Malcom Gladwell. But that’s not the point.

The point, regardless of who’s right, is the POSSIBILITIES this pricing model creates.

Getting creative with this new pricing model may just save the music industry and many others that are slowly dying due to digital distribution.

Read it for yourself. You have 3 choices.

Free Itunes download. Full unabridged book

Free Full e-book on Scribd. Also available for download

Buy the book on Amazon for $26.99

What do you think?

How to Think Visually

I have been making an effort to think through things more thoroughly and develop my ideas from start to finish. Sadly, I have gotten in the habit of taking my ideas from incubation to excitement to putting them in storage for a later time. So I did some research and found a few great resources to help through the process to execution. Here are the top 5 resources that have helped me be a better visual thinker and ideator.

1. Dan Roam’s book, Back of the Napkin. Nope, it’s not free but it’s worth the couple dollars. The book is packed with info on solving problems and selling ideas with pictures. If your not convinced, check out his site and download some of the free pdf’s. The <6><6> rule has been especially helpful for me.
2. Bubbl.us is a free brainstorming app that allows you to create and save mindmaps online. It’s a little tedious at times, but I can’t complain for the price. They just released a beta version that’s also worth a try. Great for showing the relationship between different groups of ideas.
3. If your not sure which method of visual thinking would be the best, try exploratree and check out their pre-made templates.
4. Learning by example is one of the quickest and most effective ways to learn new things. David Armano’s flickr account is packed with amazing visuals. Check them out! Great for inspiration and ideation.
5. David Armano also put together a great presentation which helps to put the above in context.

Notes from Viral Marketing Webinar with Guy Kawasaki

Smartbrief put on a Webinar today called “From Brainstorm to Firestorm: Creating an Environment for Viral Marketing Success” – Round table with Guy Kawasaki, Andy Sernovitz, and a couple other hosts.

Save yourself an hour and a half and check out my notes from it. The nuggets are highlighted in yellow.

Thoughts?

Smartbrief_roundtable

Why Zillow is up 67% in this Real Estate Market

When I saw this headline on a Smartbrief  it intrigued me. I worked in the real estate world for about 2 years. It just so happened that when I decided it wasn’t for me, it plummeted. When I skimmed the article, I found it interesting that they were doing so well right now so I posted it to Twitter (naturally). It wasn’t until my friend Dave direct messaged me and asked why I thought they were doing so well that I actually dug into the situation.

Here’s what I found

Contribution is King

Turns out, a big piece of what Zillow is doing is what Scott Cook did years ago at Intuit. Something called the Contribution Revolution. They had the brains to realize that they didn’t have all the answers to home buyers and sellers question. So they let the hungry Real Estate Agents do the work with Zillow Advice. There are over 200,000 active Real Estate Agents and 12,000 lenders ready to build value through your questions.

One-Stop Shopping

Zillow used to be a fun tool to check out your home’s value in comparison with your neighbors. Now that’s just the start. They offer:

• Instant Mortgage quotes
• Homes for sale
• Every category of advice from home improvement to local topics
• Directory of real estate agents
• My Zillow: where you can save searches, houses etc…
• Zillow Iphone App: 535,000 downloads and counting

The Real Estate Market

Face it. When times are tough, people are looking for all the free convenient resources they can get to make the best financial decisions. In this case, the plunging market worked in Zillow’s favor. And they are proving it by constantly adding new features to their site. But is it a business model that is going to always do the opposite of the market? We’ll see when Real Estate is on its way back up.

Welcome!

Thanks for visiting my blog! Let me take a sec to let you know what it’s all about.

I have an attention span of about 5 minutes. So if you don’t like to read long posts your in luck! In my blog I’ll cover:

• Useful sites and applications and how to use them.
• Using social media personally and for your business
• Implementing digital business design into you business
• Presentation design tips and tricks
• Lessons from industry leaders
• and much more!

This blog is for anyone who is just stepping into the world of social media or is already in but not sure of the next step. Feel free to leave a comment or if you have a question let me know and I’ll do my best to answer it.