A sad tale of a business that could have been

I was once a business partner, in what would have been a

great new roller derby league in Florida.



One business partner was a former roller derby skater and trainer named Erwin Miller. Our other business partner was (and remains) Pam Burke, a very knowledgeable business person, with strong organizational skills.



Our plan was to combine Erwin's skating knowledge and skater training,

with Pam's and my business skills. The idea was a good one in theory.



The problems began to arise when Erwin decided to attempt a takeover

of the business. He has little business knowledge, but he attempted to

undermine any ideas that Pam and I put forward. The readers of my daily

roller derby blog, have a pretty good idea what those ideas were.



Erwin did not like them because he wanted control. His ideas for

marketing, publicity, public relations, and promotions were weak at

best and destructive at worst. After all, he is from the "derby is

different" and "if it is derby, they will come" school of anti-

marketing.



Those ideas are based on the theory that somehow a roller derby business is not really a business. Yes, you read that correctly. The other concept is there is no need to market the sport as people will simply rush out to watch. Not knowing about the sport, or even that a game is being held, is no deterrent. Obviously, fans of the sport were thought to be psychic.



There is a need for strong business sense and planning. In our case, Erwin Miller was opposed to applying business principles to roller derby. He insisted that "derby is different" and that somehow, ordinary business ideas do not apply to roller derby. He did not like any innovative marketing ideas or listening to the fans or skaters ideas. He believed "If it is derby, they will come."

He sabotaged any and all proven and innovative ideas.



He preferred no league at all, to one he didn't control.



The game was to be an "ad-lib" "working" game, where the skaters would

work together and there would be no pre-determined outcomes. That

would enhance the excitement for the fans, and give the game back to

the skaters. Erwin tried to change that over and over. First he would

talk "real" game, which it wasn't. He would then talk a "set" game

like RollerJam. We had thought the issue was settled.



In fact, no issues were ever settled with Erwin.



Pam and I had a well

thought out and constructed business plan. We covered marketing,

promotions, publicity, finances, and long range planning. We included

the ideas of the skaters and fans in our plans. Erwin was busily

undermining that solid plan with his weak "if it is derby, they will

come" mentality.



In mid 2002, Pam and I wanted to meet with him to discuss the issues,

including the game venue. Pam and I believestrongly in controlling your own building. It is necessary for financial viability and long term league stability. We had a building, but Erwin selfishly destroyed that deal. If he had not done

so, there would be a fully operational roller derby league in Florida

today.



In the meantime, my mother had become ill with breast cancer and Pam

had some personal family tragedy as well. We were understandably

sidetracked from derby for awhile. Instead of supporting us, Erwin

used that to go behind our backs, to join with a former skater named Gary Lockamy, who had been a skater in the RollerJam roller derby league. Gary was NEVER a partner in the league.



Together they went to Witchita, Kansas of all places to buy track

parts. Pam and I wanted to hold off on the track, until we had our

building secured for games and for practices. Erwin never listened to

any advice. He wasted thousands of dollars, in his obsession about

the track, on his Witchita wild goose chase. In his mind, he was

leaving our league, and he and Gary were going to do it Erwin's way.



We know how that turned out. I don't see any sign of Gary, and Erwin

is still, over a year later, "working" on his super secret track obsession.

Rollersport, his supposed league, is still nothing but a website and a lot of talk.



After Erwin Miller had solidified his partnership with Gary Lockamy, he

attempted to use legal means to push Pam and me out of the incorporated leahgue companies.



When that failed, Erwin resigned. By his resignation, he left everything

in the company to Pam and me. He even stated as much in his e-mail to

the skaters. Many copies of Erwin's e-mails had been sent to us by

various skaters.



Pam and I were shocked at the suddeness of the resignation, and its

abruptness. I phoned Erwin to find out his reasoning. What I heard was a

smug self satisfied response. His new league was going to span North

America and the world. Skaters were going to pour into his training

centres. He was going to have no outsiders (meaning non-roller derby skaters) like Pam and me around.



He told me right on the phone that I was an outsider and that he and Gary

knew it all. There would be no non-skaters in management in his league.



Erwin then proceeded to e-mail various former RollerJam skaters and potential

trainees. He told them that Pam and I were outsiders and were opposed to

all of his brilliant ideas. He said we were inflexible and unable to

help with a league as he saw it.



Of course we opposed his ideas. They did not work before. What made him

think they would work now?



He announced that he had found the "perfect arena" for his games. It was

a fairgrounds between Orlando and Daytona at Deland, Florida. Pam and I

ran the numbers on that venue. There was no way it could work

financially. The stated rental was only part of the cost. It also had

many added hidden costs, and the fairgrounds held the concessions. In

the past, when I offered to provide some numbers and a business plan,

Erwin had laughed at me. His mentality was" if it is derby, they will

come."



The numbers in my business plan for that type of venue could not

work, and I said so. Pam said so too. She could not make any budget work

for the fairgrounds. In the end, Erwin did not skate there....or

anywhere else. He announced a venue he had not actually leased! His

business plan for the fairgrounds was so bad, it would have been

laughable, if it were not so sad.



He invited the skaters to his Rollersport "headquarters". They were in

a storage unit in Daytona where he had stored his precious track parts.

The turnout, by all reports was not great.



When Pam and I had a skater meeting earlier, Pam and her daughter Heather secured the use of aluxury condo. What a difference! Of course, our policy for any league is to be professional and first class, within the necessary confines of our budget. I can't say that for Erwin and Gary.



Erwin got into a rush. He prematurely put up his wbsite, as he feared

Pam and I would set up a league of our own and bury him. He also had

warned the former RollerJam skaters that if they spoke to Pam and me,

they could not skate for him. Since we have had contact from most of the

skaters, he will either have to renounce all of the RollerJam skaters,

or go back on his word yet again.



As of now, Erwin Miller has not completed his super secret track or

secured a game or training venue. There is no longer any sign of Gary

Lockamy either, not even as a name and photo on Erwin's website. Erwin discarded him too.



As for the vow of no non-skaters in management, Erwin seems to have

forgotten that one too. His nephew Andrew Brumana is now listed as a

vice-president. Andrew Brumana was never a skater in any league.



The sad part is Pam and I had a chance to get a very good permanent venue and Erwin was opposed to that concept. He may have even deliberately derailed it.



That building is no longer available as an option.



In any case, there could have been a functioning league in Florida for

the past year. The league would have been skating regular games.



That dream never happened because of Erwin Miller's opposition.



The moral of the story is: be careful of your business partners.

Google and the Blog Directories: Get Listed

Google is the most important and most used search engine.



Other search engines, including AOL Search, Yahoo, and others, use Google's listings as well.



Is your blog indexed in Google's listings?



The first thing to do is find out.



Go to http://www.google.com and enter the short form of your blog URL into the search box:



yourblogname.com



If your blog is indexed by Google, your blog's title will appear in the search results.



The results will also include a link to check how many other web sites (already indexed blogs) are linked to your blog. Another link lists all of the web pages that mention your blog. If either or both of those categories include your blog, then Google has found you too.



After your search, you may discover to your dismay, that Google has not listed your blog. Your thoughts and ideas are not found in the largest search engine.



Don't dispair. All is not lost.



Here are a few ways to get yourself listed.



You can submit your site directly to Google at their Submit Your Site page. You only need to submit your blog's home page. Google will send its web crawling computer program (its "spider") called the Googlebot out to find your blog. It will then add the blog to Google's index.



Of course, this is not a fast method of getting indexed. It may take a couple of months.



There has to be a faster method.



Yes there is.



Faster. And better.



One way to get faster indexing is to find a link trading partner who is already listed in Google. When I started this blog, I simply linked to it from my other roller derby blog. Google listed me almost the very next day. You should be able to find someone willing to trade links with your blog. Bloggers are willing link swappers!



Find a friend who's already listed in Google and trade links. You'll find the fasted entry into Google's index that way!



Be sure to submit your blog to the many blog directories. They are frequently crawled by Google's spider. When your blog is accepted into the various blog directories, your acceptance into Google is sure to follow.



Simply fo to the various directory sites, find the Add URL page, find your appropriate category, and fill in the blanks. Most blog directories will include your blog in their listings within a week or two. Some are even faster than that!



Here is a list of some major blog directories. Get into all of them if you can. It's a couple of hours well spent on your part!



Blog Search Engine

Blogwise

Eatonweb Portal

Blog Universe

Popdex

Blogarama

Blogdex

Globe of Blogs

Blizg

Online Marketing Links

Weblogs Compendium

Octopus Files

Kmax

Open Weblog Directory



Another way, to get into Google's pages, is to post on various internet forums. There are a few forums that specifically discuss blogs and blogging.



Two such forums are:



Blogger Talk

Blogger Forum



Both forums require membership (free) to post. They also provide a special area for you to list and describe your blog, for others to read. Along with some welcome new visitors, you'll receive a visit from the Googlebot.



Many blogs offer comments and trackback features. By posting a comment, the search engine spider can follow the trail back to your blog. Once your blog is found, your blog will be indexed. When making blog comments, it's very important that you remain on topic, or your post may not get you indexed. It may get you deleted by the blog owner instead!



Getting indexed by Google is one of the most important ways to get traffic to your blog.



Get listed today!

Copyright on the Internet

Business bloggers are often concerned about the legal status of their posts.



Are blogs in general, and business blogs and writing blogs in particular, protected by copyright?



What is, and what is not, legally protected in your blog?



Here are the 10 Big Myths about copyright explained by Brad Templeton.



Brad spells out the myths and the facts, about internet copyrights, in plain language.



Some of his statements, about the legal status of your writing, may surprise you.



Thanks to Trudy Schuett for the link.

MyDoom Virus Removal Technique

The MyDoom computer virus is one of the nastiest ones to arrive in unnguarded e-mail boxes yet.



I hope you have your virus protection up to date.



Practice safe surfing!



David Clain at Swagu expresses doubt that computer users will ever be able to do more against viruses that just get a "stalemate".



Google Blogscoped offers a technique for removing the dreadful MyDoom virus.



It can be found here:



Remove the MyDoom Virus



In the meantime, don't open attachments to e-mails.



Even if they are from friends.

Blog Revenue: Donations

Donations.



Will they work as income for your blog?



The answer is likely a maybe, with a lot of caveats.



In order to receive any worthwhile amount of money, through reader donations, a blog would likely have to fulfil a number of requirements.



There would have to be large readership. Ten visitors per day is unlikely to provide much of an income.



The readers would have to be loyal to the blog. They would have to appreciate the value, offered by the blogger, in the form of information and/or entertainment.



The blogger would have to provide top quality blog content, that would not be readily available elsewhere. If the blog posts could be replaced by someone else for free, then no donations would be forthcoming. Why would there be?



Are there any examples of a blog that meets these criteria?



Other than a few celebrity bloggers?



The answer is yes.



Check out baseball blogger Aaron Gleeman.



While I have no idea about the amount of money collected, Aaron made a request to his readers for donations to his PayPal account.



Because of the high quality of his baseball analysis, almost unrivalled anywhere on the internet, he has a large and loyal readership. I am one of them.



Aaron meets all of the requirements, of a blog that can gain revenue, by getting donations.



His donation campaign was quite successful and Aaron thanked his readers for their support.



The quality of posts Aaron provides to baseball fans, are considered worth paying for, in the manner of a Public Broadcasting System (PBS) pledge drive. His readership appears to have taken that position.



While asking for donations is never easy for bloggers, there are some of you who may be quite successful with fundraising efforts.



The key is to develop a fairly strong readership base, that is loyal to reading your blog entries.



The way to achieve that goal, is to provide useful and interesting content, on a daily basis. You must maintain a high level of quality, like Aaron Gleeman, in his baseball posts.



With your loyal readership base in place, your blog can then be in line to receive some donations.



Think great content, first



That is always the first step to a great blog.



And to donations!

Google PageRank: Don't Split It Up

Don't split up your Google Page Rank.



Okay, you say.



What's Google PageRank? And what is splitting it up?



PageRank is Google's system for measuring the relative importance of a web page.



Note carefully that PageRank is for each individual web page, not the entire web site as a whole. Every page in the Google data base has its own PageRank. In other words, sites don’t have "rank." Rather, every separate page on your web site has its own PageRank.



Incoming links for web pages are, in the opinion of Google, votes in favor of that page. On the other hand, Google considers some votes to be more important than others. The simple number of incoming links to a page is calculated by Google, but the relative importance of the "voting page" is given even more weight in the mathematical formula.



The pages that are considered to be more important votes, in turn increase the importance of the page they link. More important pages pass along more voting power. This is measured numerically as PageRank.



The PageRank numbers range from 0 to 10. These numbers are usually expressed as PR0 (for PageRank 0) to PR10 (for PageRank 10).



The higher the number, the more more important Google considers a web page.



Be sure to always keep in mind that PageRank is not the same thing as your site’s ranking on the search engine results pages (SERPs). They are entirely separate items. PR is the relative importance of a page on the web, expressed as a number. The SERPs are where your site appears on a search for your keywords.



To read you PageRank, you need to download the Google Toolbar found at http://toolbar.google.com/. It is easily installed and provides a readout guage of every PageRank, of every web page you visit in your surfing.



You can also check the incoming links, for every internet web page, as recognized by Google. Note that Google only lists pages with a PageRank of 4 (PR4) or higher in its readout.



As you check your own blog's PageRank, you will see a number as you mouse over the gauge.



Note that the PageRank is for the page's URL.



When you make link exchanges with other blogs or static websites, be sure they use a consistent URL.



For example:



http://yourblog.com



is NOT the same URL as:



http://www.yourblog.com



in the Google calculation of PageRank.



When you check the backlinks of each version of your blog's URL, you will get a different total. You will also see some different URLs. Many of which are using the alternate form of your blog's internet address.



For this business blog, for example, I get entirely different totals and readouts for both URLs.



http://www.blogbusinessworld.blogspot.com



http://blogbusinessworld.blogspot.com



They are splitting the Google PageRank.



I always prefer the use of this URL, as the primary one:



http://www.blogbusinessworld.blogspot.com



Many of you will have a personal preference as well.



Some of you like the www included in your URL. Many of you prefer to list your blog without it.



The point is to remain consistent.



That way, your blog's PageRank will not be split between two separate URLs.



Your Google PageRank will rise much faster as a result.

DMOZ Directory: Getting your blog included

Everyone talks about getting their site listed in the Open Directory Project, better known as DMOZ, but not everyone knows what to do about it.



Here's some help.



The Open Directory Project is probably the single most important internet directory. Its listings are used by Google, and by many other search engines and directories, all over the internet.



http://www.dmoz.org



DMOZ is an entirely volunteer edited directory, where every site is examined by an editor for suitability. To get a listing in DMOZ, is to have several legs up, in the race to the top of the search results.



The first step to a listing, is to check the various directory categories, and find the appropriate one for your site. Be very thorough here, as submitting your site to the wrong category can result in very long waits, and possibly even rejection.



When you have narrowed your target to the most appropriate category, go to it, and click on "add URL". Be absolutely certain to read the instructions very carefully. They are not merely a suggestion. They are an absolute requirement. Be sure to submit just your home page to only one category. Multiple page or category submissions will likely be treated as spam, and your site rejected.



You will be asked to write a brief description of your website. This is not the place to be flowery and biased. Be as objective as possible. If the editors think your description is too promotional, they will certainly change it on you. Your site may even be rejected entirely.



Your site has finally been submitted. Now what?



Since the website submissions are accepted on a first come, first served basis, you wait. The waiting period can last anywhere from one week to six long agonizing months. Whatever you do, don't decide to resubmit your site. At best, your submission will be moved to the back of the line again. At worst, your site may be rejected.



In the meantime, you won't hear from DMOZ one way or the other. Keep checking their site each week for results. Keep updating and adding content to your website. The editors will like your site a lot better, and your chances of approval go way up.



Be sure you have no pages "under construction", as the editors will reject any sites that aren't ready for prime time.



If you have an "affiliate sales" site, be absolutely certain your site contains several pages of useful articles for your visitors. A site simply consisting of links and banners will almost always be rejected. Good relevant content is a must.



If you can't stand the wait, you can contact the category editor about your site's status, directly through their Feedback link. A better route, however, is to ask a polite question on the DMOZ public forum.



http://www.resource-zone.com



You don't have to be registered to read the forum, but you must register (free) to post a question. As always, be sure to read and follow the posting guidelines.



Happy submitting.



It's well worth the effort!



***Note this is a reposted article, that I wrote a few months ago. I have received numerous requests for information about the DMOZ Directory. Here is some information on getting your blog listed in DMOZ***

Carnival of the Capitalists

This week's edition of Carnival of the Capitalists is up and running at the esteemed political blog Winds of Change.



For those of you unfamiliar with Winds of Change, it's a politically oriented blog that places a heavy emphasis on international news and global issues.



My column entitled Google Goes to the Dance appears in this week's edition.



Google Goes to the Dance can be found immediately below this post.



That was handy for you!



Along with my column, there are other great posts included the Carnival of the Capitalists selections.



As always, I learned a lot by reading the top notch posts that appear on Carnival of the Capitalists every week.



Head on over to Winds of Change, and read away!

Google Goes to the Dance

Google is the dominant internet search engine.



That is common knowledge. Powering the informational searches for Yahoo!, AOL, and many others, gives Google a pre-eminant position among internet searchers.



There is unrest, in the ranks of the search engine optimization (SEO) community, however.



There are many reasons for this unrest.



Google is planning an initial offering of its shares, referred to as an IPO. Google had been a privately owned company, with its shares concentrated into a few owners' hands. Those shares are to be offered to the general public very soon.



Yahoo!, which once held the Number One search engine seat, has been using Google's results in its own search returns.



Yahoo! recently announced dropping Google's results. In the near future, Yahoo! will create its own independent search results. Owning the search engine Inktomi, considered and up and comer by the SEO crowd, strengthens their case.



Internet colossus Microsoft has been gaining some search share, with its own MSN search option.



Enter the recent so-called Google "Florida Update". With that watershed updating of over three billion web documents, within Google's data base, came a hurricane of controversy.



Sites that were accustomed to sitting on the first page of searches for their most important search terms (words entered by surfers into the search box) found themselves deep in the results. Sometimes they disappeared from the returned pages entirely.



Rumours of conspiracy abounded.



Some observers said Google was removing websites that broke its rules. Many thought Google was deliberately filtering certain keywords, so sites dependent upon them for traffic, would purchase Google's AdWords programs. Still other pundits pointed to Google as simply looking for better, and more relevant results, in a new way.



Yahoo! property Inktomi, and Microsoft's MSN Search were picking up new users by the day. The Google fixated SEO community went into a period of soul searching, blame, and then coping with the new search situation.



Fast forward to the present day.



Google is in the midst of yet another major update.



Updates tend to occur near the end of each month. During that time, the search results will often be highly variable. Google PageRanks (the Google measure of a web page's importance) may see some change, up or down. New totals of Google tabulated incoming links will also appear.



This potentially major updating event, already nicknamed "Austin", is creating yet another stirring of the Google results pot.



The search engine optimization community is holding its breath, after the wild ride through the "Florida Update".



Bloggers should simply remain calm.



If you continually add fresh content, related to the main topics of your blog or site, you have little to worry about. In fact, bloggers may have a lot to gain.



Content is king on the search engines. Fresh content is even more royal.



As bloggers keep adding fresh posts, on a regular basis, blogs are what the search engines love. It doesn't really matter, which search engine people use, to locate the search terms related to your blog. With fresh content, your blog will always rank well.



The other feature of blogs, that gives them search engine power, is links. Bloggers are linkers. Linking to one another's blogs, and to individual posts, is a fact of blogging life. Those who have never even heard of optimization, are scoring top postions, for their blog subjects.



By continually adding links, to and from other blogs and static websites, blogs are gaining Google PageRank at a rapid pace. That PageRank, and large incoming link totals, are helping to boost blogs to the front pages of searches.



Political and business bloggers are certainly taking note of those facts.



As the search engine community ties itself into knots, over every Google update storm, bloggers cruise through them with all sails set. Any search engine update can be very helpful to bloggers. It can be Google, MSN, or any of the others search engines.



It shouldn't matter to the blogging community which search engine is the most prominent.



Blogs provide what the search engines want, with fresh content and lots of links.



Bloggers should always dance well with Google.

Blogs updated faster at Technorati

Most of you are familiar with Technorati as a quick and convenient way to check which blogs are linking to yours.



Technorati began a recent major upgrade of its system. The site has just introduced an enhanced Technorati Beta version, complete with some improved new features.



By far the most noticeable improvement is in the indexing time. The time now from posting on a blog, to Technorati indexing that change, is seven minutes. In the past, the changes could often take days to be recorded.



A query of a blog's incoming links, and of the top linked blogs, is now much faster as well. The results are also listed over several pages, for ease of viewing. This is especially important for blogs that have received a lot links.



Technorati has installed a much improved spider (the computer robot that travels the internet crawling your blogs), enabling better and more complete indexing of the blogosphere.



Because the system remains in a beta version, there are still likely to be some bugs in the program. That is to be expected.



I think the potential of bugs, is more than offset, by the more comprehensive listing of incoming and outgoing blog links.



Thanks to The Blog Herald for the story.