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Thanks to technological advances, business has been transformed forever. Websites, e-commerce, online marketing, online communities and web-based content can all serve to enhance a company’s bottom line.

Web marketing has become such an effective tool for businesses that many businesses have forgotten the importance of face-to-face human interaction.

While a great website or a well-written blog have the ability to put a human face on a company, there is still much to be said for the importance of face-to-face human interaction.

WHERE TO NETWORK

INDUSTRY EVENTS

Virtually every industry has associations and virtually every industry association holds events. They can be annual meetings, regional meetings, sub-specialty events or even pure networking events.

Make sure that your key executives attend these events. If possible, try to have your key executives present to the conference as either a keynote speaker or as a panelist. Once you’ve established yourself as an expert among your peers, the word gets out and business flows in!

EVENTS OUTSIDE OF YOUR INDUSTRY

When asked why he robbed banks, Willie Sutton reportedly said “Because that’s where the money is!”

Attending events geared toward your target client audiences is the networking equivalent of robbing banks.

While it’s nice to “schmooze” with people in your industry, it can be far more profitable to meet people in industries that can use your services. That’s why insurance companies attend medical conventions, why law firms attend corporate conventions and why web developers attend conventions in the industry verticals they serve.

CHARITY, SERVICE AND PRO BONO EVENTS

There are many reasons for attending charity events and/or giving time to service organizations. First and foremost, it is important to give something back to the community… to the world.

On a business level, though, involvement in such groups can often lead to making terrific contacts. Any time people are in a social situation, the topic of work invariably comes up and such conversations can be very, very productive.

HOW TO NETWORK

There is no single way to network. Every person has a different personality, a different style. The biggest mistake is trying to be someone who you aren’t. As in any social situation, if you are not being yourself, people will see right through you.

While we all have our own styles, there are a few universals to networking:

• Networking is a two-way street: While you want to get your company’s message out to the world, make sure you spend at least as much time listening to others. Every business can use partners and many terrific business alliances have been made at networking events.
• Be civil: Just because someone can’t be of immediate help to your business, don’t blow them off. Business relationships are often built over years. Even if someone doesn’t appear to be of immediate help to you, don’t be rude, don’t brush them off. People frequently move from company to company. Someone you meet at this week’s event may turn out to be next year’s client… or colleague.

While this may sound obvious, bring enough business cards! Business cards are a relatively small investment- never put yourself in a position where you run out in the course of an event. It makes a terrible impression.

HOW TO FOLLOW-UP

Speaking of business cards, too many people just put them in a pile when they are done collecting them. Obviously, you are not going to do business with everyone whose card you’ve taken. As a rule of thumb, within 24 hours of collecting business cards at an event, I try to:

• Sort and Classify
  • Priority: These are cards from people I feel I can do business with immediately or in the near future
  • Possibility: These are cards from people where there could be professional synergies, but there is no immediate prospect of involvement
  • No Chance: These cards can be from terrific people, but they are not professional contacts.
• Respond: No matter which category people end up in, you should make a point of trying to respond to all.
  • Priority: Don’t let the opportunity slip. Propose a firm time for further discussions.
  • Possibility: Keep the channels of communication open. Suggest a follow-up in a few weeks.
  • No Chance: Drop a polite “It was nice meeting you” e-mail. You never know if you will cross paths under different circumstances.
• Follow-up: Make sure you keep the contact information well organized. If you can, enter each person into a contacts database. Use the contact information for personal communications and for news about your business.

IN CONCLUSION

While LinkedIn, Facebook and other online social media platforms are conducive to attracting, establishing and maintaining business relationships, there is still nothing like fact-to-face interaction.

Well-honed networking skills will land you new business, new clients and even new colleagues. You might even enjoy yourself!

For more information check out www.bluefountainmedia.com

Just having a website is not enough. Your website is often a potential client or customer’s first exposure to you and your brand. As such, your website should present your brand in the best possible light. The design, content and functionality are all key elements to engaging your visitors, while an integrated online marketing program is essential to attracting such visitors in the first place.

Once the decision has been made to create a website or redesign a current website, businesses must make the decision as to how much they are willing to spend.

If you Google “Web Design,” you will find companies offering $500 website or even $199 websites. When new clients come to our offices, they are often surprised to learn that a sophisticated e-commerce web project can cost tens of thousands, even hundreds of thousands of dollars.

So, how can a person know how much to spend?

This is actually the wrong question. The more important questions to ask are:

• What am I trying to accomplish with my website?
• How will my website enhance my brand?
• What are the bottom line numbers I’m trying to achieve through my website?

A poorly designed and engineered site will not only do little to bring clients/customers to your site, it can damage your brand and reputation, thus jeopardizing relationships with current clients/customers.

So what factors go into the cost of a web project?

The first factor to consider is the quality of work you’ll be receiving. Great websites are created by great professionals. Look for a company with highly trained and experienced designers, managers and developers.

These people are paid for their time, much the same as professionals in any industry. Where does the time go?

• Planning: At the outset of the project, time is invested in learning about your current business, checking out the competitive landscape and understanding the precise ways in which you want your website to work for you. If this stage is not given proper attention, the project is doomed to fail.
• Technical specifications: How sophisticated is the functionality you are seeking? Are you looking for e-commerce solutions? Advanced reporting options? Customized content management systems? Many of these features require complex engineering.
• Design specifications: How much customized design are you looking for? Are you content to have the same basic design for all of the pages of your site, or are you looking for unique design elements for each of the sections of your site?
• Marketing strategies: How much traffic are you looking to drive to your site? Search engine optimization, online marketing and social media marketing all require time to strategize, implement and monitor. A well crafted marketing program can be expensive, but the returns can be enormous.
• Maintenance: How much attention to I want to give to the site once it has been launched? Ongoing SEO, site analytics and adding features and functionality require investments of time and money, but can do a great deal to bring in further revenues.

The amount of time and effort spent in all of these areas can vary greatly from client to client. Every client has different requirements.

At Blue Fountain Media, we make it our business to serve those needs. We have built highly successful websites for $3500 and have built complex, multi-platform sites for several hundred thousand. We are proud to say that clients at every price point have enjoyed a terrific ROI on their web projects.

We encourage you to call us and get the process started. From the first contact, you will be dealing with professionals who make a business of creating results driven solutions. We don’t just launch websites, we launch success stories.

Los Angeles- The Emmy Award nominations were announced today and to the surprise of nobody, 30 Rock dominated the comedy categories, while Mad Men led the way for drama series.

About the only surprise was the sheer dominance of 30 Rock, which netted a record-setting 22 nominations. The show, which won best comedy series last year, scored Best Actor and Actress nominations for Tina Fey and Alec Baldwin.

Mad Men, garnered 16 nominations- including Best Drama, Best Actor (Jon Hamm) and Best Actress (Elisabeth Moss). Hamm, in a crossover role, was also nominated for his Guest Star stint on 30 Rock.

On a sad note, Farrah Fawcett, who never won an EMMY during her life, was nominated for Outstanding Non-Fiction Special for “Farrah’s Story,” the documentary about her battle with cancer.

Along with 30 Rock, the other Best Comedy Series nominees were Entourage, Flight of the Conchords, How I Met Your Mother, The Office and Weeds.

The other nominees for Best Drama Series were Big Love, Breaking Bad, Damages, Dexter, House and Lost.

The Emmys will be broadcast on Sept. 20 on CBS from the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles. How I Met Your Mother star Neil Patrick Harris, who did a brilliant job as emcee on the recent Tony Awards, has been tapped as the emcee of the Emmys.

COMEDY

BEST COMEDY SERIES
Entourage
Family Guy
Flight of the Conchords
How I Met Your Mother
The Office
30 Rock
Weeds

BEST ACTOR IN A COMEDY SERIES
Alec Baldwin, 30 Rock
Steve Carell, The Office
Jemaine Clement, Flight of th Conchords
Jim Parsons, The Big Bang Theory
Tony Shalhoub, Monk
Charlie Sheen, Two and a Half Men

BEST ACTRESS IN A COMEDY SERIES
Christina Applegate, Samantha Who?
Toni Collette, United States of Tara
Julia Louis-Dreyfus, The New Adventures of Old Christine
Tina Fey, 30 Rock
Mary-Louise Parker, Weeds
Sarah Silverman, The Sarah Silverman Program

SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A COMEDY SERIES
Jon Cryer, Two and a Half Men
Kevin Dillon, Entourage
Neil Patrick Harris, How I Met Your Mother
Jack McBrayer, 30 Rock
Tracy Morgan, 30 Rock
Rainn Wilson, The Office

SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A COMEDY SERIES
Kristin Chenoweth, Pushing Daisies
Jane Krakowski, 30 Rock
Elizabeth Perkins, Weeds
Amy Poehler, Saturday Night Live
Kristin Wiig, Saturday Night Live
Vanessa Williams, Ugly Betty

GUEST ACTOR IN A COMEDY SERIES
Alan Alda, 30 Rock
Beau Bridges, Desperate Housewives
Jon Hamm, 30 Rock
Steve Martin, 30 Rock
Justin Timberlake, Saturday Night Live

GUEST ACTRESS IN A COMEDY SERIES
Jennifer Aniston, 30 Rock
Christine Baranski, The Big Bang Theory
Tina Fey, Saturday Night Live
Gena Rowlands, Monk
Elaine Stritch, 30 Rock
Betty White, My Name Is Earl

DRAMA

BEST DRAMA SERIES
Big Love
Damages
Breaking Bad
Dexter
House
Lost
Mad Men

BEST ACTOR IN A DRAMA SERIES
Simon Baker, The Mentalist
Gabriel Byrne, In Treatment
Bryan Cranston, Breaking Bad
Michael C. Hall, Dexter
Jon Hamm, Mad Men
Hugh Laurie, House

BEST ACTRESS IN A DRAMA SERIES
Glenn Close, Damages
Sally Field, Brothers & Sisters
Mariska Hargitay, Law & Order: SVU
Holly Hunter, Saving Grace
Elisabeth Moss, Mad Men
Kyra Sedgwick, The Closer

SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A DRAMA SERIES
Christian Clemenson, Boston Legal
Michael Emerson, Lost
William Hurt, Damages
Aaron Paul, Breaking Bad
William Shatner, Boston Legal
John Slattery, Mad Men

SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A DRAMA SERIES
Rose Byrne, Damages
Hope Davis, In Treatment
Cherry Jones, In Treatment
Sandra Oh, Grey’s Anatomy
Dianne Wiest, In Treatment
Chandra Wilson, Grey’s Anatomy

GUEST ACTOR IN A DRAMA SERIES
Edward Asner, CSI: NY
Ted Danson, Damages
Ernest Borgnine, ER
Michael J. Fox, Rescue Me
Jimmy Smits, Dexter

GUEST ACTRESS IN A DRAMA SERIES
Brenda Blethyn, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
Carol Burnett, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
Ellen Burstyn, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
Sharon Lawrence, Grey’s Anatomy
CCH Pounder, The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency

REALITY

REALITY COMPETITION PROGRAM
The Amazing Race
American Idol
Dancing With The Stars
Project Runway
Top Chef

HOST FOR A REALITY OR REALITY-COMPETITION PROGRAM
Tom Bergeron, Dancing With the Stars
Phil Keoghan, The Amazing Race
Heidi Klum, Project Runway
Padma Lakshmi (Host) and Tom Colicchio (Co-Host), Top Chef
Jeff Probst, Survivor
Ryan Seacrest, American Idol

REALITY SERIES
Antiques Roadshow
Dirty Jobs
Dog Whisperer
Intervention
Kathy Griffin: My Life On The D-List
MythBusters

May 17, 2009 (New York City)- Billy Elliott The Musical blew away the competition at the 54^th Annual Drama Desk Awards, winning 10 awards, including Best Musical, Best Director, Outstanding Featured Actor and Actress and Outstanding Music (Elton John).

Shrek The Musical was a distant second with three awards, including one for Brian d’Arcy James, who took home the honors as Outstanding Actor in a Musical. Other big winners included Lynn Nottage, who took Best Play honors for Ruined, The Norman Conquests, which won for Outstanding Revival of a Play and Hair, which won for Outstanding Revival of a Musical.

In the acting categories, Geoffrey Rush was named Outstanding Actor in a Play (The Norman Conquests), Janet McTeer was Outstanding Actress in a Play (Mary Stuart) and Allison Janney, of West Wing fame, took Best Actress in a Musical for her work in 9 to 5.

Other big-name winners included Angela Lansbury (Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play) and Stephen Sondheim (Outstanding Lyrics for Road Show).

Billy Elliott is now the dds-n favorite to dominate the upcoming Tony Awards.

THE WINNERS

Outstanding Play:                                                Ruined by Lynn Nottage

Outstanding Musical:                                          Billy Elliot The Musical

Outstanding Revival of a Play:                         The Norman Conquests  

Outstanding Revival of a Musical:                    Hair

Outstanding Music in a Play:                             Dominic Kanza (Ruined)

Outstanding Actor in a Play:                              Geoffrey Rush  (Exit the King)

Outstanding Actress in a Play:                          Janet McTeer (Mary Stuart)

Outstanding Actor in a Musical:                        Brian d’Arcy James (Shrek The Musical)

Outstanding Actress in a Musical:                    Allison Janney (9 to 5)

Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play:             Pablo Schreiber (reasons to be pretty) off Broadway

Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play:         Angela Lansbury (Blithe Spirit)

Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical:       Gregory Jbara (Billy Elliot The Musical)

Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical:   Haydn Gwynne (Billy Elliot The Musical)

Outstanding Director of a Play:                         Matthew Warchus (The Norman Conquests)

Outstanding Director of a Musical:                   Stephen Daldry (Billy Elliot The Musical)

Outstanding Choreography:                              Peter Darling (Billy Elliot The Musical)

Outstanding Music:                                             Elton John (Billy Elliot The Musical)

Outstanding Lyrics:                                             Stephen Sondheim (Road Show)

Outstanding Book of a Musical                         Lee Hall (Billy Elliot The Musical)

Outstanding Orchestrations:                              Martin Koch (Billy Elliot The Musical)

Outstanding Set Design of a Play:                   David Korins (Why Torture Is Wrong and the People

                                                                                                          Who Love Them)

Outstanding Set Design of a Musical:             Tim Hatley (Shrek The Musical)

Outstanding Costume Design:                         Tim Hatley (Shrek The Musical))

Outstanding Lighting Design in a Play:           David Hersey (Equus)

Outstanding Sound Design:                              Paul Arditti (Billy Elliot The Musical)

Outstanding Solo Performance:                       Lorenzo Pisoni (Humor Abuse)

Outstanding Lighting Design in a Musical:     Rick Fisher (Billy Elliot The Musical)

Unique Theatrical Experience:                        Celebrity Autobiography: In Their Own Words

New York, NY (May 5, 2009) – The 13^th annual Webby Award winners were announced today with big winners including Jimmy Fallon (Webby Person of the Year), Trent Reznor (Webby Artist of the Year) and Twitter (Webby Breakout of the Year).

Other special achievement honorees included Sarah Silverman, Lisa Kudrow and Seth MacFarlane.

Multiple winners were led by NPR (7 Webbys), NYTimes.com (6 Webbys), NBC.com (6 Webbys), Next New Networks (5 Webbys) and PBS (4 Webbys).

The Webby Awards are presented by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, a 650-person judging academy whose members include David Bowie, Harvey Weinstein, Arianna Huffington, Matt Groening, Vinton Cerf, and Richard Branson.

This year’s award presentations will take place on June 8, 2009 in New York City.

While Williams was on hand at the Vienna presentation, another major winner was not. Nojoud Muhammad Nasser, a 10-year-old Yemeni girl who fought against her forced marriage (at the age of eight) to a 30-year-old man. After being sexually abused by her “husband,” Masser was able to successfully sue him for divorce.

Yemeni officials- citing the child’s “safety”- prevented Nasser from attending the event. Nasser has become the poster child for abused young women worldwide and an embarrassment to the Yemeni government.

Other major honorees included Marianne Faithful (Lifetime Achievement Award), Kelly Clarkson (World Entertainment Award) and Angela Missoni (World Fashion Award).

Women’s World Awards have been presented since 2004 by Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Mikhail Gorbachev, the President of the World Awards. According to the organization, the awards are presented to “fascinating and talented women whose exceptional achievements in a variety of fields give courage and provide inspiration to millions of others: unique personalities with vision, personal strength, commitment to their ideals and, above all, a passion for creating a better world in the 21^st century.”

Winners are chosen in up to 15 categories. Previous winners include Queen Noor of Jordan, Oprah Winfrey, Christiane Amanpoor and Whoopi Goldberg.

For Full Women’s World Awards Coverage CLICK HERE

What have we learned?

* Meryl Streep will be nominated for an Academy Award … and lose (15 nominations with just two Oscars on the mantle).

* The Directors Guild of America will make their choice for Best Director (Slumdog Millionaire’s Danny Boyle) and that winner will go on to win the Oscar. The DGA has picked the ultimate Oscars winner all but six times since 1948.

* A performance of a lifetime will be the last of a lifetime. It happened with Heath Ledger (The Dark Knight) this year. Other fantastic final performances include Peter Finch (Network), James Dean (Giant), Vincent Price (Edward Scissorshands) and Henry Fonda (On Golden Pond).

* There will be inexplicable Oscar snubs. This year had plenty. Bruce Springsteen not even getting a nomination for The Wrestler, no acting nominations for Slumdog Millionaire, no acting nominations for Sally Hawkins (Happy-Go-Lucky) or Colin Farrell (In Bruges) and no Best Picture nomination for Wall-E.

* There will be  dozens of inexplicable Emmy snubs. Let’s start with Friday Night Lights. Snubbed for Best Drama, Best Actress (Connie Britton) and Best Actor (Kyle Chandler). Two huge Best Drama snubs- Big Love and The Wire. Biggest Comedy snub? No nomination for Flight of the Conchords.  Other acting snubs included Jenna Fischer (The Office), Kristin Wiig (Saturday Night Live), January Jones (Mad Men), Mia Wasikowska (In Treatment) and Tracy Morgan (30 Rock).

* The Grammys still love the oldies but goodies. This year’s Grammy Winners included Robert Plant, The Eagles, Metallica, Bruce Springsteen, Al Green, Jose Feliciano, B.B. King, Dr. John, John Williams, George Carlin, Peter Gabriel and Pete Seeger.

* Tina Fey is a comic genius.

* Laura Linney may well be the best actress working today.

* Paul Giamatti, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Sean Penn turn any project they work on into gold.

* Richard Jenkins and Melissa Leo are overnight success stories that were decades of brilliant work in the making.

* Don’t let looks fool you. While Brad Pitt and Algenina Jolie may be too beautiful for words, both are remarkable actors as well. This year’s Best Acting nominations were no fluke. Both have a history of turning in extraordinary performances.

* Hugh Jackman is extremely talented…. but his talents are far better suited for hosting the Tonys than the Oscars. Billy Crystal… we miss you!

* Don’t you wish Mickey Rourke had won the Best Actor Oscar? … even if it was just to see his acceptance speech.

* Since the Oscars treat comedies like second-class citizens, shouldn’t they follow the Golden Globes lead and give separate awards for dramas and comedies? Outside of a win for Penelope Cruz and a nomination for Robert Downey Jr., comedic writers, actors and directors were all but ignored.

* The final thing we learned? That in no time, we’ll be going through all of this again.

If you really love awards, then visit www.awardsandhonors.com, where awards season lasts all year round. Check in for news on nearly 900 awards, including the Pulitzer Prizes, the Nobel Prizes, the National Book Awards, the Presidential Medal of Freedom and even the Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Champion.