Tafuro Communications

Now that we do more blogging with and for our clients as part of their online marketing efforts, I have found often that our clients are not really certain that the content we produce together will be read.

While the Marriott is certainly not the closest comparison of a small business in Tampa Bay, it is certainly a good example of the fact that when people find relevant information to what they are searching for they will in fact read it.

This Washington Post article from last week is a good read on the benefits and some of the pitfalls to be careful of when blogging.

I received this humorous video on Fonts today from a friend.

http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1823766

Fair warning that unless you are in design or otherwise associated with people in the process you might not “get it” and think I am crazy.

As we are making the transition to Tafuro Communications, the new website is a big part of that process.  While planning for the website the question of doing a Flash or traditional website came up. This of course sent us off to the web to see what everyone else was doing.

The discovery process has resulted in an interesting observation about how traditional and interactive agencies are approaching the web.

Traditional agencies, while claiming to understand interactive media and the value of Web 2.0 etc. are still clinging most often to full Flash websites. The sites are very visual appealing but are absolutely not as dynamic as the websites of interactive shops.

An Interactive agency example, imc2, has a hybrid site with only some Flash components.  Compare this to the traditional agency, Draft FCB where you see a completely Flash website.

A traditional agency I would say has embraced the mentality of interactive shops would be Ogilvy.

How do we keep a majority rule in a country where a majority doesn’t even vote?

Yesterday the primary elections were held and if you are a resident of Hillsborough County you were entitled, regardless of party affiliation, to vote for one countywide school board seat and five judicial races. If you are a registered Republican or Democrat, you had a number of additional contents that should have received your attention.

According to the Hillsborough County Supervisor of Elections website however it seems most of the county had no clue, didn’t care or just plain ignored a right that thousands have fought and died for in our 200 plus year history.

According to the website, of 650,739 registered voters, only 66,150 cast ballots or a 10.17% voter turnout. However, considering that Hillsborough County’s population is about 1 million that turnout is truly only 6.6%.

That behavior, no matter where you stand in your political views, is truly a pathetic figure.

As we get closer to November, if you are one of 93.4% of people that did not vote in the primary, please do not think you have the right to debate my political views in national or local politics.

Involvment must begin at home!

Sitting at a local bar watching part of the Olympics, a commercial aired that featured the Geico Caveman playing golf and promoting ESPN.

A sample from the campaign can be found here as I cannot find the actual spot online.

The best part about this was listening to some of the bar patrons discussing that the actor who played the Caveman is now out on his own due to being shafted or otherwise let go from Geico.  According to them he had truly secured an agent and was booking new gigs.

I don’t really know what to think of that of it. Is it funny, sad or truly scary?

A friend pointed out The Wall Street Journal online article, “How to Create a Successful Web Site For Nothing” (or Almost Nothing), to me as an article to send the way of those prospects that as a professional we may not want to deal with.

However, to see that much space dedicated to such poor advice is truly sad. Not only is most of it not appropriate for a small business website, the estimate of website hosting costs (one third pay over $1,000 per year) are absolutely wrong or the result of terrible research.

A small business with that kind of hosting cost would not be the target of the “build it yourself” small business crowd and more likely a small business that functions mostly online or has very customized hosting needs.

Hardly the type of estimate to include in a “guide for owners looking to make the leap online” as stated.