Online Business Networking in Chicago
I'm a web designer or developer working in Chicago. Even in such a big city, it's pretty easy to forget that there's a whole world of opportunity beyond just the paths that we travel each day. Not that long ago I spoke on a radio show in DeKalb on the topic of Internet Development for Small Businesses. After the interview, I drove all the way into Chicago from the west, listening to the same radio station from my car. The reach of that station was amazing! It was still coming in clear over 50 miles away. The thought of how many people were in the range of the broadcast was staggering.
Every business should consider this idea: your business can reach as far as you can imagine - so don't limit your thoughts about where your "ideal audience" is. Communication of mediums like radio and the world wide web can transcend any narrowing ideas you may have about who your customers are.
Say you're a small coffee vending store in a train station. You may think that only people who live or commute through your station are your potential customers. Not true - think around some corners! Take a look at niche or
specialty coffee suppliers. These businesses make their way by differentiation amidst a sea of commodity. Say you carry their coffee, and your regulars love it. It's a local success. But don't stop there - take it online. People can exhibit
fierce brand loyalty. You can leverage this by peppering the internet with content on your business, and it's experience with this brand of coffee. Here's just a few options for maximizing the online marketing opportunity presented by this scenario:
- Build a web site - basic business facts and personality for your business. Gives you basic online visibility and a base for communications.
- Send thank you's and testimonials to the your specialty supplier. Recommend that they publish the messages online and link to your site in a "Where can I find your brands?" context.
- Share your business success story with other mediums: Chamber of Commerce newsletters, newspapers, online networking groups-
- Enjoy the fruits of your new networking prowess!
What fruits, you ask? Well think of these scenarios: People looking for a good cup of joe, and people who know that specialty brand will go out of their way to find that brand: often to neighboring communities or further. I'd even go as far as to say that someone may take a job in your little community based on the fact that they could get that good cup of coffee at your store.
If you make your business really and truly visible on the internet - you have the potential to communicate with a broad and deep audience. Doing online networking, simple business building, will really help grow your business both online and offline.
How To Grow Your Business
Late yesterday morning I received a call from a deep-voiced individual, asking me to appear on a radio show in DeKalb, IL at WLBK, 1360 AM. I'd contacted the station's anonymous inbox last November, to find out more about the show on the recommendation of one Jen Swanson of TicketsNow.com who had appeared on the show with their president, Mike Domek. Her feedback was that there was a large number of questions from call-ins to the show about basic, get-online-for-the-first-time peoples. Since that time, I'd heard neither hide nor hair until the mysteriously-voiced caller.
I was excited to hear from Jen about this show because it smelled like opportunity, and I really enjoy just talking about internet strategy, technology, and solving problems on and off-line for people. This show seemed like a natural fit.
Boy were we right! I can't say how much I enjoyed speaking with the host, Mike Bellamy on and off air about internet and business. We talked up what I do as Inquiline, and what people can expect from attempting to do business online. There's lots of challenges and pitfalls, but also great rewards. It's difficult (like getting over nerves about appearing on the radio), but few things worthwhile are easy.
A guy smarter than myself professed:
... if you're trying to choose between two theories and one gives you an excuse for being lazy, the other one is probably right.
Even better, they're going to be supplying me with a recording of the show, so I can go home and listen to my geeky self pontificate and use overly
big words. This will be immediately followed up by my agonizing over how I sound in the 3rd person. Hearing your own voice from outside your head takes some getting used to - believe it or not.
How do you interact with forms?
I got into a debate at the office about the differences between the default and the expected operation of form elements. I'm curious about other opinions on the subject.
Examples>> w/ questions.
- You encounter a text field and a submit button which is part (or whole) of a form. The default behavior for the form in standard, vanilla HTML is that you type in the text field, and click the button to submit. Other default behavior here is that you can type into the field and press enter, and the form will submit.
a. Which do you do more often, Click or Enter to submit? Do you expect the form to work both ways?
- If you have a stand-alone select box (sometimes called drop-down lists), do you expect it to operate like a "jump-menu," utilizing Javascript to submit the form when you change the menu? Does it depend on the context? (i.e. if it appears in a navigational area on a page.)
a. Which behavior do you prefer - the one using onchange, or not?
- If a select box has a submit button next to it, and you alter its state (by choosing an option) do you expect to be able to hit enter and have it submit the form?
- If you encounter a field set within a larger form collecting a telephone number in a segmented format, meaning that there are 3 short fields for the different "parts" of the number, do you expect that the form will use Javascript to advance you from field to field?
a. I know most heavy web users have tripped on forms that have and haven't implemented this "feature". Is there a way to indicate to users, "keep typing"?
In examples 2-4, there's a clear difference between the default behavior, and an often encountered "enhanced" behavior. My perspective is that if the enhancement makes things easier and faster, then it makes the interface better as long as it's "intuitive" for people learn how to operate. But if you're trying to keep things a simple as possible, then perhaps using only the default set of behaviors would be a better option.
What do you think?
