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Mesh Top 10 List – Managing Community Online

Posted by AGORACOM at 10:14 PM on Monday, April 6th, 2009

Earlier today, I was very proud to announce that I had been invited to speak in a panel discussion at Mesh, Canada’s premier web conference. My panel is called Managing Community Online and is described as follows:

How do you develop and foster a community on the web? What strategies
work best when you are trying to both encourage and support a community
and business objectives? These and other questions will be tackled by this
group of online community pros.

The panel includes some people that have made a career out of creating and cultivating community – not an easy thing to do in a world full of intense competition.  As such, both attendees and myself are sure to learn some valuable lessons.  The place will be packed so get there early! (Assume my opinion is horribly conflicted).

For my part, I’ve taken the liberty of posting my personal Top 10 List of Do’s and Dont’s for developing and fostering an online community. I’ll cover some of these on Wednesday but doubt I’ll be able to get through all of them as I listen to my smarter fellow panelists.  Enjoy:

1. Figure Out A Biz Model or Die.

  • What Does Your Space Need? Find It and Fill It.
  • Adsense Will Not Suffice
  • Find Paying Customers. Focus On Business Not Individual Subscriptions.  SaaS, Data, etc.
  • Making Money Isn’t Selling Out. You Need It Before You Can Change The World

2. Position Yourself As A Premium Site – Focus On Content, Not “Cool”
3. Recruit Members/Leaders To Create Great Content and Traffic. Poach Weak Competitors. Dog eats dog.
4. Customer Service, Customer Service. Customer Service. 24/7/365 for clients AND members.
5. Hire Developers That Understand Your Business, Not Just Code. Hat Tip To Our Developers.
6. Knock On Local Doors – A Lot Of Them – And Business Will Come.
7. Attend and Network At Conferences Attended By Your Customer Base.
8. Search Engine Marketing – CPC CPC CPC CPC
9. Don’t Launch A Major Upgrade Without Input From Key Members
10. Don’t Add Features Without A Reason. “Feature Creep” Will Kill You.

…OK and 1 Bonus

11. Don’t Pitch Technology To Clients, Pitch The Business Result!

There you have it. If you are serious about building a community that will survive long into the future, then take this list seriously.

Regards,
George

Posted in All Recent Posts, Web 2.0, 3.0, ... | Comments Off on Mesh Top 10 List – Managing Community Online

Speaking at Mesh ’09 – Canada’s Leading Web Conference

Posted by AGORACOM at 2:58 PM on Monday, April 6th, 2009

I’m proud to once again announce that I’ve been invited to speak at Mesh ’09, Canada’s leading Web Conference, being held at the MaRS Centre in Toronto on April 7th & 8th.

I will participate in the panel discussion called “Managing Community Online”, which will also include other very successful web entrepreneurs who have made a career out of creating, managing, and monetizing online communities.

In my experience, online financial communities are more passionate and vibrant than any other kind of community because they deal with people’s financial well-being. As such, our experiences in building a successful community should be extremely beneficial to those in attendance. I’m grateful to our entire community for helping AGORACOM get noticed and to the Mesh team for inviting me to participate.

I attended the inaugural Mesh Conference as a Web 2.0 rookie but was anxious to learn about the space, sort out the useful tools from the trendy ones and apply them to help create a sustainable business model. Given the incredible knowledge I gained at Mesh, it’s only fitting that I give back to the conference and help others build great communities of the future.

On March 3rd, 2009, AGORACOM reported 2008 traffic results that included:

• 1.31 million unique visitors
• 7.9 million visits
• 96 million page views

Mesh is the result of event organizers believing that Toronto deserved to have a world-class conference where people with an enthusiasm for the Web could talk about how it is affecting the media, marketing, business and society as a whole.  My hat goes off to the following gentlemen for making Mesh a reality:

The panel discussion on “Managing Community Online” is on April 8th and is scheduled to begin at 4:10 pm. To view or download the Mesh schedule click here.

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Posted in AGORACOM News And Events, AGORACOM Presentations, All Recent Posts, Web 2.0, 3.0, ... | 1 Comment »

New Dawn Mining (ND:TSX) Exports First Two Gold Bars To South Africa

Posted by AGORACOM at 9:54 AM on Monday, April 6th, 2009

AGORACOM Client, New Dawn Mining (ND:TSX), released significant news this morning from both a revenue and policy point of view.  Specifically, the company exported its first two gold bars from it’s 100% owned Turk Mine in Zimbabwe to a refiner in South Africa.

This is ground breaking considering the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe did not previously allow for direct marketing and selling of gold by local producers.  More importantly for shareholders, this should allow the company to improve on its 2008 performance in which it generated $US 7.48 million from 8,650 ounces of gold as the company aims for full production out of the Turk Mine in calendar Q2 2009.

The complete news release can be seen here but here are the highlights:

KEY POINTS

  • New Dawn Mining Corp. (TSX: ND) announced that it has delivered its first two bars of fine gold, totaling 20 kg’s (645 ounces) from its 100% wholly-owned Turk Mine in Zimbabwe to Rand Refiners in South Africa.
  • The transaction marks a turning point for New Dawn’s gold mining and production operations in Zimbabwe and follows the recent, positive changes presented in the Monetary Policy Statement issued by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe in January 2009 that permit gold producers to both market and sell their gold directly and receive and keep 100% in foreign currency (U.S. dollars) as payment.
  • New Dawn anticipates that it will be shipping an additional 20 to 25 kg’s (645 to 805 ounces) of fine gold to Rand Refiners in South Africa for payment in U.S. Dollars during April 2009.
  • New Dawn anticipates resuming full-scale mining operations at the Turk Mine in Zimbabwe during the second calendar quarter of 2009, and expects to report to shareholders in this regard in the near future.

Congratulations to President and CEO, Ian Saunders, and his team on this achievement.

Regards,
George

Posted in AGORACOM Clients (New), All Recent Posts | Comments Off on New Dawn Mining (ND:TSX) Exports First Two Gold Bars To South Africa

AGORACOM Financial News TV – Breaking Small-Cap And Micro-Cap Financial News At The Open (Apr 6/09)

Posted by AGORACOM at 9:00 AM on Monday, April 6th, 2009

Good morning to you all. Please find enclosed a summary of the breaking small-cap and micro-cap financial news we highlighted on our TV show this morning. It’s April 6 and we’ve found 5 great press release and stock halts from both sides of the border to report on at the open. Another great day for small-cap and micro-cap financial news.

If you are new to the show, it is a daily, fast-paced, edgy report that we put out at or before the open everyday that strictly reports on the best small cap and micro cap news of the day in 3-5 minutes. You can watch AGORACOM TV right from our home page .

If you miss an episode or want to search for your company in our archive, you can visit our industry leading Small-Cap Podcast site at any time:

If you want to subscribe to our Small-Cap RSS Feed or download our podcast everyday via iTunes, or your favourite podcatcher, just use the following:

As always, don’t forget to visit the AGORACOM Marketplace where we list compelling summaries for over 85 great small-cap and micro-cap companies that you can sort by exchange and industry to suit your personal investing tastes.

TODAY’S SMALL-CAP AND MICRO-CAP BREAKING FINANCIAL NEWS BEFORE THE OPEN

Our daily show focuses on content over form so that you can get profitable information into your hands as fast as possible. The same holds true for these entries in our small-cap, micro-cap news blog, where I simply cut and paste my TV notes for your benefit, without any editing, so don’t give me a hard time!

Now, onto our show notes for the day.

** Denotes an AGORACOM Client. AGORACOM TV Only Reports News From AGORACOM Clients That Meets The Same Newsworthy Threshold Of All Other Press Releases.

  • Sino Clean Energy – OTC BB:SCLX $0.19
  • **New Dawn Mining Corp – TSX:ND $0.50
  • Guangzhou Global Telecom – OTC BB:GZGT $0.007
  • China TransInfo Technology Corp – NASDAQ:CTFO $3.00
  • Argentex Mining Corp – OTC BB:AGXM $0.39 TSX-V:ATX $0.49

Posted in AGORACOM Small-Cap TV | Comments Off on AGORACOM Financial News TV – Breaking Small-Cap And Micro-Cap Financial News At The Open (Apr 6/09)

AGORACOM Financial News TV – Breaking Small-Cap And Micro-Cap Financial News At The Open (Apr 3/09)

Posted by AGORACOM at 9:00 AM on Friday, April 3rd, 2009

Good morning to you all. Please find enclosed a summary of the breaking small-cap and micro-cap financial news we highlighted on our TV show this morning. It’s April 3 and we’ve found 2 great press release and stock halts from both sides of the border to report on at the open. Another great day for small-cap and micro-cap financial news.

If you are new to the show, it is a daily, fast-paced, edgy report that we put out at or before the open everyday that strictly reports on the best small cap and micro cap news of the day in 3-5 minutes. You can watch AGORACOM TV right from our home page .

If you miss an episode or want to search for your company in our archive, you can visit our industry leading Small-Cap Podcast site at any time:

If you want to subscribe to our Small-Cap RSS Feed or download our podcast everyday via iTunes, or your favourite podcatcher, just use the following:

As always, don’t forget to visit the AGORACOM Marketplace where we list compelling summaries for over 85 great small-cap and micro-cap companies that you can sort by exchange and industry to suit your personal investing tastes.

TODAY’S SMALL-CAP AND MICRO-CAP BREAKING FINANCIAL NEWS BEFORE THE OPEN

Our daily show focuses on content over form so that you can get profitable information into your hands as fast as possible. The same holds true for these entries in our small-cap, micro-cap news blog, where I simply cut and paste my TV notes for your benefit, without any editing, so don’t give me a hard time!

Now, onto our show notes for the day.

** Denotes an AGORACOM Client. AGORACOM TV Only Reports News From AGORACOM Clients That Meets The Same Newsworthy Threshold Of All Other Press Releases.

  • China Agri-Business- OTC BB:CHBU $0.21
  • Sunovia Energy Technologies – OTC BB:SUNV $0.08

Posted in AGORACOM Small-Cap TV | Comments Off on AGORACOM Financial News TV – Breaking Small-Cap And Micro-Cap Financial News At The Open (Apr 3/09)

Small CAP CEO Lesson – Issue Press Releases By 8:30 AM EST

Posted by AGORACOM at 1:00 PM on Thursday, April 2nd, 2009

THIS POST IS FROM APRIL 2009 AND IS EVEN MORE RELEVANT TODAY

I first published this story in August of 2007 – but it is worth repeating.

Now that AGORACOM Small Cap TV is approaching 500 episodes, one of the things I have noticed is that small-cap companies continue to release news just at or before the open. This might have been an acceptable practice back in the day when only brokers could access press releases on their screens but it made no sense once the web opened them up to the entire world.

It makes even less sense now. Why?

Folks, we are in a Web 2.0 world in which citizen journalism and analysis is becoming a bigger, more important research tool than Wall Street and finance portals. As a result, small-cap and micro-cap information is being analyzed and discussed by Twitter,  bloggers, podcasters, and vloggers everyday – all of which is being fed into every corner of the web via RSS feeds, other Twitter members, iTunes, blogs, podcasts etc. on your behalf – and for free!

THE LEAST THAT YOU COULD DO

However, if you want your great news covered by these incredible reporting sources, you have to give them a chance to see your news, digest it and report on it. Just like traditional news, Web 2.0 sources have deadlines as well.  AGORACOM TV, for example, has a cut-off of 9:00 AM so that we can tape at 9:20 and be up by 9:45. I’m certain others are not much different.

As such, if your press release is coming out at 9:30, you’ve robbed yourself of potential mass coverage by one or more sources that might have otherwise picked up your news and sent it right around the world.

Bottom line – put your news out by no later than 8:30 AM EST.  In fact, somewhere between 7:30 and 8:30 AM EST makes the most sense …. unless shunning free coverage is actually part of your business plan.

Best,
George

Posted in All Recent Posts, Online Investor Relations, Small-Cap CEO Lessons | Comments Off on Small CAP CEO Lesson – Issue Press Releases By 8:30 AM EST

AGORACOM Financial News TV – Breaking Small-Cap And Micro-Cap Financial News At The Open (Apr 2/09)

Posted by AGORACOM at 9:00 AM on Thursday, April 2nd, 2009

Good morning to you all. Please find enclosed a summary of the breaking small-cap and micro-cap financial news we highlighted on our TV show this morning. It’s April 2 and we’ve found 4 great press release and stock halts from both sides of the border to report on at the open. Another great day for small-cap and micro-cap financial news.

If you are new to the show, it is a daily, fast-paced, edgy report that we put out at or before the open everyday that strictly reports on the best small cap and micro cap news of the day in 3-5 minutes. You can watch AGORACOM TV right from our home page .

If you miss an episode or want to search for your company in our archive, you can visit our industry leading Small-Cap Podcast site at any time:

If you want to subscribe to our Small-Cap RSS Feed or download our podcast everyday via iTunes, or your favourite podcatcher, just use the following:

As always, don’t forget to visit the AGORACOM Marketplace where we list compelling summaries for over 85 great small-cap and micro-cap companies that you can sort by exchange and industry to suit your personal investing tastes.

TODAY’S SMALL-CAP AND MICRO-CAP BREAKING FINANCIAL NEWS BEFORE THE OPEN

Our daily show focuses on content over form so that you can get profitable information into your hands as fast as possible. The same holds true for these entries in our small-cap, micro-cap news blog, where I simply cut and paste my TV notes for your benefit, without any editing, so don’t give me a hard time!

Now, onto our show notes for the day.

** Denotes an AGORACOM Client. AGORACOM TV Only Reports News From AGORACOM Clients That Meets The Same Newsworthy Threshold Of All Other Press Releases.

  • China Biologic Products – OTC BB:CBPO $2.25
  • China Ritar Power – OTC BB:CRTP $1.65
  • RINO International – OTC BB:RINO $2.50
  • OmniaLuo – OTC BB:OLOU $0.26

Posted in AGORACOM Small-Cap TV | Comments Off on AGORACOM Financial News TV – Breaking Small-Cap And Micro-Cap Financial News At The Open (Apr 2/09)

SURVEY RESULTS: 59% Of AGORACOM Members Want ETF Forums

Posted by AGORACOM at 5:59 PM on Wednesday, April 1st, 2009

In a recent survey, we asked AGORACOM members if they would like us to launch ETF Forums.  227 members responded in about 24 hours (thank-you!) and here are the highlights:

  • 59.2% would like us to launch ETF Forums
  • 16.1% don’t know what an ETF is

The three most popular ETF’s were as follows (members could choose more than one)

  • 58.7% want a Gold Long ETF Forum
  • 45.3% want an Oil Long ETF Forum
  • 40.7% want a Gold Short ETF Forum

Interestingly, the least desired ETF Forum was anything Short US Indexes.  The responses came just before the hot month of March, so was this a sign investors did not think US Indexes could go any shorter?

In any event, some great information here.  Looks like you’ll see ETF Forums on AGORACOM Shortly!

Regards,
George

Posted in AGORACOM News And Events, All Recent Posts, ETFs, Surveys | Comments Off on SURVEY RESULTS: 59% Of AGORACOM Members Want ETF Forums

Hey, Stupid. E-Mail Spam Doesn’t Work! There Is No Investor Relation Silver Bullet

Posted by AGORACOM at 5:26 PM on Wednesday, April 1st, 2009

I can’t get enough news from the SEC when it pertains to busting stock spammers.  I hate to get emotional when I post but who is a bigger dumb ass?

  • Small-Cap CEO’s that pay for stock spam with under the table cash; OR
  • E-Mail stock spammers that think this still works.

I need to create a survey – but I’m going with CEO’s that continue to think investor relations is a silver bullet that can solve their problems by hitting “send”.

SURVEY

I’d like to hear from you – please take this 1 question survey.

Regards,
George

Posted in All Recent Posts, Stock Scams | Comments Off on Hey, Stupid. E-Mail Spam Doesn’t Work! There Is No Investor Relation Silver Bullet

Small Cap CEO Lesson: Millionaires Are Now Trading Online

Posted by AGORACOM at 5:01 PM on Wednesday, April 1st, 2009
If Thurston Had Internet, Hed Be Trading From Gilligans Island

If Thurston Had Internet, He'd Be Trading From Gilligan's Island

I know this doesn’t come as a surprise to many of you but there are still a number of CEO’s out there that continue to believe online traders are – for the lack of a better word – flakes.  They fail to realize that online investors are take charge, self-directed, open minded and very intelligent.  I know this because I’ve watched them for years on AGORACOM and blogs around the web.

For those CEO’s that don’t want to take my horribly conflicted word for it, you might want to take a look at this article in the Wall Street Journal:  Some Millionaires Trade Online.

(UPDATE:  It looks like the WSJ no longer has the story available – but here is a cached version of the article)

The article specifically talks about Canada – but I think we can all agree it applies to US online traders as well.

You can continue to ignore online investor relations – but do it at your peril.

Regards,
George

Posted in All Recent Posts, Online Investor Relations, Small-Cap CEO Lessons | 1 Comment »

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