This seminar is part of our Career Checkpoint series.  Come and join us at midday on 16th October, 2008 noon to 1pm on the ground floor of Wellington City Libraries, 65 Victoria Street.  Roger Tweedy the Chair of the Work and Age Trust will be one of the speakers.  He has helped older workers rethink their careers and make effective work-life decisions. 

The other speaker will be Ginny Hopper from Quince Associates who specialise in helping people during times of organisational change.

MSE360 Search is a lovely new search engine.  Very clean lines, two boxes, one where you enter your query and the other a drop down menu for choosing country.  The results are displayed very clearly in four different categories, images, web results, wikipedia results and blog results.  View the entire list by clicking on next set of results on the bottom right hand side.  I tried looking for e-waste research and was impressed by what I found.

Thanks to Karen Blakeman

An old favourite when it was in hard copy, Kellysearch is now online.  Although U.K. based  and defaulting to the United Kingdom, this business-to-business search facility allows you to search internationally as well through its advanced search function.

Worth a look

Thanks to Karen Blakeman

Firstly, apologies for the long delay in posts.  I was away most of September (Alaska, Seattle, Eugene Oregon and San Francisco) and am now back to reality and work.

My first post contains ideas on how a company (large or small) can utilise twitter to enhance their presence online.  Chris Brogan advises businesses, organizations and individuals on how to use social media and social networks to build relationships and deliver value.  His “50 ideas on using twitter” are practical and concise.

Thanks to Karen Blakeman

The 2008 conference will be held on October 16, at Wellington’s Town Hall.  It will be of interest to any women in business, or who are wanting to further their career.  More details here

There is a new magazine aimed especially at the Wellington business owner.  It is called In Business Wellington.  Some of the articles are available at the website, but Wellington City Libraries has the magazine in its business section at Central Library.

Interesting, relevant articles, events and people in business.

A new publication from IDEA  “(a nonprofit organization that recognizes the Internet’s potential to transform the learning process by making information accessible and engaging)”.  Published in July 2008 this report pulls together the key findings from surveys which consulted “three different subject groups - nonprofit organizations and cities, web designers and firms, and the general public”.

A very interesting report - well worth reading and then looking at your own website with the findings in mind.

Thanks to Resourceshelf

For those of you who sell to  customers in the United States this recent article from the latest Advertising Age uses data from the U.S. to provide a indepth look at the changing consumer profile.  It includes the rapidly growing aging market and also  the regional differences as well as the new diverse youth market.

Thanks to Resourceshelf

Exhausting and exhilerating are two words that come to mind, but so worth the effort.

We had over 370 indepth conversations with expo goers and also other expo participants.  There was much interest shown in our free services and databases, including Press Display which shows newspapers from around the world with the same layout on the screen as they have in print, and Business Source Complete and Abi Inform.  We thoroughly enjoyed meeting everyone, and letting you know just what Wellington City Libraries can do for your business.

If you are interested in following up on our conversations, we would love to hear from you or you can email us at prosearch@wcc.govt.nz

These links will take you through to the Business Source Complete database, one of our online databases. You will be prompted first for your library card details before viewing the articles.

Fanbook
Coster, Helen
Forbes 28 January 2008 p 62

This article looks at how small businesses can use social networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook to connect with customers and potential customers.

Keys to Direct Marketing Success
Bayham, Alan
Home Business Magazine May/June 2008 pp 42-45

The writer offers advice on the use of direct marketing strategies for home-based businesses to to attract customers, and generating growth in the long-term. The advice includes how to develop loyal customers.

Making Inspiration routine
Lafley, A.G. & Charan, Ram
Inc June 2008, pp 98-101

Discusses market segmentation and looking for the underserved market. Gives tips on how to generate important new ideas and design processes, by hiring creative people.

SMBS feed on social networking input to grow
Schwartz, Karen D
eWeek 21 January 2008 p43

Another article discussing the importance on the use of social networking sites for anyone involved in business. The results were based on a study by the Institute for Corporate Productivity. The use of these sites in business-to-business connections is stressed, as is the use (47%) use of these sites to connect with potential clients.

Universal search is coming
Melburg, Caroline
Home Business Magazine May/June 2008 p 66

Another article from this useful magazine giving an overview of how search engines work, so you know the importance of keywords and phrases as well as meta tags when formulating your website. The article also suggests the usefulness of a blog in “search engine optimization”. Sounds like the article is well worth reading.

A 360-degree view of your customers
Bland, Vikki
New Zealand Business March 2008, pp 58-62

This recent NZ article looks at the growth of customer relationship management (CRM). The importance of the need to integrate CRM with a company’s online networks is stressed.

How a Fortune-500 process can help your firm reduce errors
Sherman, Peter and Sherman,
Peggy Journal of Financial Planning July 2007 suppl pp 10-12

Although Six Sigma management tool is often more closely associated with large Fortune 500 companies, this article discusses how beneficial it could be for small and medium-sized companies.