Slamdot Celebrates 5 Years in Business

Slamdot, the Knoxville web design and hosting company I've been with since its early beginnings in 2005, is celebrating 5 years in business this month! Our official birthday was August 5th, but we'll be having a big anniversary party on August 31st here at the Slamdot Store.

It has been an exciting venture, with a lot of hard work, but a lot of fun at the same time. I've thoroughly enjoyed being a part of the company and the brand, while helping to grow our presence and our customer base alongside my friend and Slamdot founder/owner, Sean Christman. We have so many exciting ideas and concepts launching soon, I can't hardly stand it. The next few months will be a great start to the next 5 years of Slamdot's ongoing growth. For those customers of ours, and those friends, family and colleagues who have supported us, thank you for everything! We look forward to serving you for years to come.

Facebook, Why Did You Change?

Wow, I've been mad ever since Facebook started changing their tune around 2006-2007, and I happened to see this great Facebook-related blog post from Shaun Fossett via @HowellMarketing today. And while I haven't abandoned Facebook myself, I agree with every single point in his list. I've been thinking these same things since Facebook began to open up to high schools and beyond. Thanks for the great post, Shaun!

The Switch to Blogger Custom Domain

Leave it to me to procrastinate. I waited until 11:30 pm the night before Blogger was going to shut down support for FTP publishing before starting the migration of my blog. I'm hoping my work was a success. It appears everything is resolving OK, except for my missing files host, but that I can check later. You may see some missing images here and there. I'll work on fixing those as soon as possible.

If this post gets published OK, then I'll be good to go!

Google Buzz: Social Media Revenue Opportunity?

Right now, social media companies are trying to figure out how to get revenue to continue operating and providing great tools for their users. One idea is going to paid subscriptions. Of course, the crowd uproar begins with the mere thought of that, so this may not work for individual applications. However, I think Google is heading in the right direction with Google Buzz. If it can be further defined by its users, and continue evolving, it has amazing potential because it will be enhanced by the fact that many individuals and organizations are using one or more of Google's existing tools, such as Analytics, Local, Adwords, Alerts, Apps, Webmaster Tools and many more, all of which help with web marketing and PR goals.

I think where Twitter, Facebook and other social networks may struggle to find a solid revenue model to sustain them, Google Buzz will have more to offer overall, and be able to charge a subscription fee. They will actually be able to offer an enhanced social networking experience that ties into email (Gmail), video (YouTube) and so on, as well as Facebook, Twitter and other web applications, while also linking together the Google tools you're using already. I would be happy paying a small subscription to access all of the services they offer now, but even more tightly integrated, and having the social networking piece right there in place.

Of course, to make that work, the other social networking platforms, like Twitter and Facebook, would still need to survive if they weren't directly incorporated into Google Buzz, so at some point there would need to be some collaboration and friendly play, or something more.

Knoxville, TN: America's Best Business Address

I'm excited to be living and working in Knoxville, TN, a city poised to become America's Best Business Address. This initiative is being led by the Knoxville Chamber, of which our company, Slamdot, is a member. I think the concept is great, and I know it's possible. I also think it can happen somewhat quickly, given the natural beauty of the area, it's centralized location at the crossroads of major Interstates connecting a majority of the U.S. population within a day's drive, and the excellent resources, from Oak Ridge to the University of Tennessee, along with the presence of many large companies such as Pilot, Bandit Lites, Regal Entertainment, Bush Brothers, Sea Ray Boats, TVA, HGTV and so on.

The focus is on broad issues like infrastructure, transportation and more, along with tools to help businesses diagnose, analyze and find resources for inefficiencies or possible fallacies in multiple areas, from accounting and marketing, to technology and HR. If these are all improved drastically, along with education in the area, then we can easily become a top location for businesses and families to relocate and grow. There are signs and existing proof that we're already in progress towards that goal, and have been for a few years now.

Get engaged and involved by joining the Knoxville Chamber Facebook Fan Page as a fan, and following Knoxville Chamber's Twitter updates.

Good luck Knoxville!

Great Tips for Cutting HVAC Costs and Saving Energy from Rocky Top Air

One of our good customers, Rocky Top Air, is a Knoxville heating and air company that provides a lot of great money-saving tips and advice for cutting your winter heating costs and helping save energy. If you own a home and want to maintain your HVAC system, keeping it working year-round and getting the maximum value from it, then I would highly recommend their Rocky Top Club program. This is a no-brainer for all the benefits you receive at such a low price. The quality of your indoor air, and the necessity of heating and cooling from season to season, definitely requires that you get regular check-ups and take the necessary steps on your own to get the most out of your system. Or determine if you simply need to replace old equipment!

The Rocky Top Air blog is a great resource, from learning about programmable thermostats to the reasons why a humidifier might be good for your home.

I would definitely use their website to learn all you can, and call them when you have a need for anything related to your home or business' indoor air!

New Slamdot Website Launched!

To kick 2010 off right, we recently launched the new Slamdot website, with focus on our company, our website design packages and our painless web hosting. We look forward to using the new website to make it easier than ever to stay connected with us and provide our customers with more resources and expertise.

We appreciate the support of our friends, family and clients over the last 4 years, and look forward to a great 2010!