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A Take on Magazine Publishing for the iPad, An Interview with Rajesh Jyotishi

May 4, 2010 By Leave a Comment

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Hot off Desiree's speaking engagement at the Magazine Association of the Southeast, we speak with an award winning publisher Rajesh Jyotishi, publisher of Khabar Magazine. Khabar is focused on the Southeast Asian community of Georgia and surrounding areas.

 The topic of magazine publishing and content creation is very interesting taken as a bellwether for the direction that internet development is headed.  As consumer electronics in the form of an iPad become more prevalent with widespread adoption, the magazine industry and publishing in general will be looking at everything from production and distribution to revenue opportunities of the future.  It is great to have an industry leader to discuss the way some publishers are dealing with the changes.

Ipad-nytThe business model that RJ has employed for the course of his 17 years as a publisher is one where the costs are subsidized by the advertising revenue only. This allows him to publish a free digital version on his web site that can be read beyond his geographic target audience without cannibalizing any revenues.  This also provides some added value to his advertisers who might in fact reach some customers outside of the Georgia area.

The application provider, or digital publisher, that RJ uses for Khabar is called Page Suite. There are competitive companies that are also looking to help bring digital publications to the web. Another option would be Issuu.com. At the very basic levels these services allow you to turn a print document into a robust format that includes links, embedded video and reporting features for a solid business option.

There does need to be some distinction made between publishers building applications compared to creating a simple digital version of a magazine.  Popular Science magazine has been a well used demonstration version, and this is a great video that explains what their development team had to consider when building the app. 

Mag+ live with Popular Science+ from Bonnier on Vimeo.

As you can see, building a magazine app is completely different than taking a current print edition of a publication and turning into a digital form.

From a publisher's perspective, RJ considers it a necessity to have a print edition to compliment all of the digital options that are available to us today.  His belief is that many will still want to have the tactile interaction with the content, especially with his niche audience.

Desiree's straw poll was that it is an even split regarding preferences for digital over a print version at this point. Other factors to consider in a digital publication is the ability to include affiliate marketing or performance marketing links which provide real ROI to an advertiser based upon reader activities.  Also, the social media "sharing" capabilities place additional value to a digital edition.

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Interview with Robert Covington, Business Telecommunications Specialist

April 27, 2010 By Leave a Comment

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Our guest on this week's edition of The Bella Buzz podcast is Robert C. Covington, President of eNable Business Solutions and BIZTech, focused on providing outstanding technology and telecom services to small and medium sized businesses.

Fiber-Network-Google The most recent mainstream news that had to do with telecommunications, was the offer from Google to provide fiber optic connectivity to select communities. Municipalities and business interests were developing creative campaigns to attract the attention of the decision makers at Google, positioning themselves as the most deserving of this ultra-high speed service.

Google will deliver Internet speeds more than 100 times faster than what most
Americans have access to today with 1 gigabit per second,
fiber-to-the-home connections. They will offer service at a competitive
price to at least 50,000, and potentially up to 500,000 people.

The overall topic of connectivity is a serious issue as it impacts everything ranging from the economy, education, businesses .. all of our livelihoods.  Robert reminds us that we are still in the 4% – 5% range of internet connectivity comes via dialup service. He believes that it is going to take some type of government program similar to early initiatives for telephone and electricity to ensure that all residents will have access to broadband.

A current package offer that is under consideration is AT&T U-Verse which is a combination of television, internet and phone service, based upon fiber technology.  This service is only available in certain locations.

As we go through these changes in telecommunications options, it might become more important than ever to have the resources that a consultancy like Robert's can provide. There are no easy answers to the best combination of services, and a package deal might not provide the best overall option. Robert can put together custom combinations to ensure best price and best service.

One significant piece of advice that got both Desiree and I laughing, was the answer that came to mind instantly for Robert .. Check your phone bills carefully!  He suggests that you regularly review the various line items that may appear due to old versions of billing software or random changes to plans. If there is something that you do not understand, question the carrier.  This goes for cell phone bills as well.

Looking down the road, the next big thing is VoIP, voice over internet protocol. Services like Skype are looking for business models that will continue to provide the excellent quality that they are currently providing, but more companies are getting into the space that is becoming a hot sector.

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Interview with Chad Elkins: Celebrating Foursquare Day in Atlanta

April 20, 2010 By 2 Comments

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Our guest on this week's edition of the Bella Buzz podcast is Chad Elkins. You may remember Chad from the conversation we had about regarding the excellent social media efforts he is conducting on behalf of The Oakland Cemetery in Atlanta. We are happy to have Chad back on the podcast with us to discuss Foursquare Day in Atlanta.

We invited Chad back to The Bella Buzz to tell us all about the hottest networking app Foursquare, and the grassroots event that took place on April 16th called Foursquare Day.

Foursquare_logo_boy Foursquare is a location based application, which takes advantage of the social gaming excitement that has been most prevalent on Facebook. However in this case, Foursquare provides opportunities for real life customer acquisition and retention strategies for business. By checking in (identifying yourself as being present) at various locations, users can earn badges, points and even a classification as "Mayor." If it ended right there, it would be a fun game that did not have much relevancy. With a back end built for business, it provides opportunities for incentives to users for checking in, privileges for Mayors, and at even more sophisticated levels, deep analysis and actionable user data.

Foursquare users can see others who are in a location where they have checked in, or simply just the Tips (reviews) they have written about the place. Since this is a location based application, it may push specials and offers from nearby locales as well.

Chad was putting together a group of venues who would participate with offers during Foursquare Day in Atlanta and for many this was their first foray into the service, so this application is still in its very early adopter stage.

In celebration of the "global social media holiday", there were swarm parties hosted around the world where Foursquare users would gather to celebrate the event.  The founders of Foursquare were gathered in New York City, while Atlanta guests attended an event at The Cheyenne Grille as seen in this coverage from MetroMix.

Rumors appeared recently that Yahoo was making a bid to purchase Foursquare, however these are the founders of the previous location based service DodgeBall that was purchased by Google but ultimately was discontinued. 

There are some serious branding campaigns that are using the badge features of Foursquare including Starbucks, Bravo and The History Channel. Chad has a great story about using the History Channel tips on a pilgrimage to the famous magnolia tree from the home of the Atlanta Crackers, Ponce de Leon Ballpark.

For more information about Foursquare, you can watch their blog and for Atlanta based activities watch Chad's site at Foursquare Atlanta.

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Using WordPress as an Effective Content Management System

April 13, 2010 By Leave a Comment

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This week on The Bella Buzz podcast, we discuss a publishing platform that provides site owners an easy to use tool for managing content, WordPress.  The platform is expected to be releasing its version 3.0 in the very near future according to information that Desiree received at the WordCamp Atlanta that took place this past January.
Wordpress-250x250
Desiree points out that one of the major upgrades to the platform will be the ability to manage multiple users across multiple web sites.  Currently this would require individual logins for each user on each site.  This is just one of the many additional features expected with the launch.  According to this post at Mashable, the Beta of 3.0 is now available for testing.

One of the misunderstandings about using WordPress is that it is only a "blogging" platform, when in fact it can be a wonderful way to set up a site with static pages that only need infrequent updates.  Bella Web Design recently built a new site launched on this platform at BrightClaim.com.  Looking at this site, you will see a very fresh well laid-out site that does not have the appearance of a WordPress format.

A key aspect to the use of WordPress is the open source nature of the platform.  Since the code is easily accessible many plugins have been created to expand the functionality of a WordPress site beyond its strong baseline features.  As a service to Bella Buzz listeners we have made a list of suggested plugins that you should consider, in no particular order:

Google XML Sitemaps – This plugin generates a XML-Sitemap
compliant sitemap for stronger SEO
Share This – Let your visitors share a post/page with others
Twitter Tools – A complete integration between your WordPress and Twitter, passing links to posts via your tweet stream.
WordPress Database Backup – On-demand backup of your WordPress database.
Powerpress – The plugin gives you everything you need in one easy plugin to
use WordPress for Podcasting.
Akismet – Akismet checks your comments against the Akismet web service to see if
they look like spam or not (Comes pre-populated in WordPress & is a valuable tool).
Dagon Form Mailer – easily customizable contact form
All In One SEO – this plugin helps you to optimize all of the critical aspects of site design to achieve better ranking results.
WP Super Cache – this is a very efficient way for a site to load faster. Indications are that Google is looking a site load time as a factor in ranking, and this should help that requirement.

We should note that there are other options to consider when deciding on a content management system and we would at least call attention to Typepad and Squarespace, Joomla and Tumblr as other potential platforms.

As a guide for learning how to use WordPress, there are great resources that you can Google, but there is a site called WP Beginner that can be a big help.

There is also an iPhone app that allows easy access to the platform for managing posts.

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Best Public Relations Practices in a Social Media World: Interview with Rebekah Lovell

March 24, 2010 By 1 Comment

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Rebekah Lovell from Renown Promotions is our guest on this episode of The Bella Buzz podcast.  We discuss the field of public relations and how social media has changed the game for small and medium sized business.  Renown is a communications consulting company that specializes in
community-minded marketing and PR for small business. From copy writing,
to full campaigns, they are a source for original and creative approaches to
communication challenges.

Change is a constant in this day and age, and nothing has been impacted more than PR. We begin by looking at the way a PR professional goes about practicing client communications.  Rebekah points to the fact that the old form of a press release is dead. The thought leader David Meerman Scott wrote the book The New Rules of Marketing and PR, and promotes the paradigm shift from a press release to a news release, and advocates that companies become publishers themselves. You no longer have to rely on the media as being the gatekeepers of information distribution.

In the past, a cultivated and proprietary media lists used to be one of the greatest assets that an PR agency could own, ensuring that a client's story would be seen by the right media person covering that industry.  In today's social world, there are tools available for everyone to access with details about contact information. Sarah Evans has developed the extraordinary resource called Media on Twitter.  Using this social form of communication eliminates the prior practices of mailing or faxing, however it has shortened the pitch time for presenting the story and gaining interest from a media contact.

A valuable insight that Rebekah shares with us is how to use Twitter Lists to see what the media is talking about each morning. She can direct client messaging and ensure real relevancy as a source on the latest topics.

The latest form of communication distribution comes from the web site pitchengine.com, which combines written and visual elements into what they term a social media release. Desiree points out that a key feature of this type of release is a "Share" button, allowing for easy re-broadcast of a message. An SMR will also provide good search engine optimization benefit delivery traffic to a web site.

The one thing that has not changed with the implementation of social tools is the clear and concise delivery of a story.  There is no time for fluff and filler to appear in a pitch, with the speed of the news cycle, and it is even more of a challenge to pitch within the confines of 140 characters.

When trying to decide whether to work with a PR professional, make sure to look into the ways in which that person is practicing the profession.  Someone who is simply spamming and broadcasting re-purposed press releases and calling it social media will not be successful in effectively representing you and your brand. There is a great shift in the balance of power where the smaller specialty agencies can be quick and nimble in applying new technologies as they prove successful, while a larger agency must be concerned with maintaining billings.  This allows for affordable, high quality work for clients who might not have been able to use a professional in the past. 

In the end, good media relations is a mutually beneficial relationship where the client's message can be presented to the right person at the most relevant time.  A PR person will know what the media member is writing, their niches, how they prefer the stories to be presented .. whatever is necessary to make sure that the reporter / blogger is successful as well. 

BTW, we are celebrating our one year anniversary here on The Bella Buzz! Birthday-cake We are so grateful to everyone who has inspired us, appeared with us on the show, left us encouraging feedback .. and most of all, to the listeners who graciously allow us to express ourselves each episode! Thank you for all of the great comments and message you send us about The Bella Buzz!

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How The Historic Oakland Cemetery Uses Social Media to Attract Guests

March 2, 2010 By 3 Comments

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On this week's episode Desiree speaks from the cockpit of The Bella Beetle, as we welcome Chad Elkins, the voice behind the social media strategy of the Oakland Cemetery in Atlanta. He first came to our attention through a writeup on the blog Not Easy To Forget from its author James Ball. 

For those who are not familiar with this Atlanta landmark, Oakland Cemetery is one of the oldest cemeteries and
one of the largest green spaces in the City of Atlanta, and it is on the
National Register of Historic Places.  Famous "residents" include Bobby Jones the golfer, Margaret Mitchell the author, Maynard Jackson the former Mayor of Atlanta, and Joseph Jacobs who was the proprietor of the soda fountain where Coca-Cola was first served in 1886.

Cemetery Night Skyline Chad brings a great perspective to his use of social media in attracting new visitors to the cemetery, and believes that his use of a Twitter account has reached a different demographic than the traditional destination / attraction marketing that tourism venues typically enact.

The content that Chad likes to generate through his social media efforts include the same types of things that any business should consider distributing.  Don't let the fact that he is interacting on behalf of a cemetery fool you!  He is looking to engage in conversations about events and answer customer service type questions, plus he can include some interesting history that makes his tweet stream an interesting read.  Chad believes that it helps to share information about other things that are happening around the City of Atlanta so that it incorporates Oakland Cemetery as part of the "eco-system" of venues.

Successes include driving measurable traffic to the web site at Oakland Cemetery.com, as well as seeing additional friends and fans attend their events such as the Run Like Hell 5K, Halloween Tours, and Sunday in the Park. All of their events had record attendance which can be attributed to these efforts.  It also pays off from a volunteer recruitment standpoint (and must also be applied to employee recruitment in more traditional business).

Chad suggests that the Atlanta Tourism community look into something like the new location based application Four Square. Another service of this same ilk is Gowalla.

The success that Chad has witnessed on behalf of the Oakland Cemetery demonstrates a couple of key points that we stress on the Bella Buzz podcast, it can be accomplished no matter what the business is. If a cemetery can find a voice in social media, anything can have a voice.  Also, Chad works on a volunteer basis so it is not an all consuming time commitment requirement.

We have often heard the question raised that it can be a complicated scenario when an employee who has taken on the social media responsibilities, in effect, has become the voice of the organization, leaves for other opportunities.  Have the gains made been lost? Does that employee end up carrying the followers with them to the next stop?  Chad beautifully answers this concern by stating that the "voice" of the organization should simply be a reflection of the internal culture within the organization.  The term that we have used, and Chad reinforces is transparency.  By being honest and transparent, and reflecting a community culture, there should be no loss in effectiveness when reassigning the social media duties and responsibilities.

Chad can also be found at the Twitter handle @Ratpack

Just as we are about to sign off, we end up talking about Listening tools such as the ones we discussed on last week's episode.  One item we did not bring up last week was the search for commonly misspelled terms that you are monitoring.  Chad keeps an eye out for the misspelled Cematery and uses it as a chance to reach out to a potential visitor.

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Link Building: Why it’s Important and How to Get it Done

February 23, 2010 By Leave a Comment

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Google-bot-logo robot cuteWe quickly acknowledge the fallout from the Kevin Smith is Too Fat to Fly on Southwest Airlines controversy we had discussed on the last episode of The Bella Buzz, recognizing that social media has the ability to generate headlines in all forms of media now.  The story was covered everywhere from ABC News to Entertainment Tonight, spreading loudly and rapidly.

Should we be concerned with how much power does someone with many followers hold over a company?  Could it be that someone who grows a following (for whatever reason) might decide to use that voice for negative purposes? A blackmail opportunity?  Fortunately, Desiree points out that in a straw poll regarding the Kevin Smith situation 58% of respondents said they were on the side of Southwest. So maybe that points out an interesting development.  It might be considered that social media does actually portray a "wisdom of the crowd" mentality, and the greater good or the best opinions might actually win out in the end over sheer numbers. 

Our main topic for this episode is Link Building.  It was instigated by a thread in a Webmaster World forum that is one person's live link building process. He actually lays out his process in step by step detail that gets the topic flowing in regards to the value of the effort.

Without a doubt, the early days of the Google algorithm required that links point to a web site so that the search spiders could discover and index the site.  The higher authority of the site linking in, would pass along some of the relevance "weight" so the Google could get a signal about the importance of the site.  However, as the algorithm has become more robust, should the focus be more on creating incredibly powerful content and let the links come naturally?

Desiree describes that process and service that she uses with clients as a way to get a site useful inbound links. A valuable link must be looked at two ways.  There are links that bring value through actual visitor traffic, and there are links that bring the Google Bot and page rank value.

With her search specialist, a client's site can require up to 40 hours of intensive research and submission looking for sites to link to.  A Google search within a particular niche will uncover potential sites to inquire.  She looks at all of the many directories out there as valuable targets for inclusion. This is a regular monthly task to address to some degree, since there are many new sites cropping up all the time.

There are also consumer review sites such as Kudzu.com or Yelp that would have quality link value.

A service like Link Popularity can provide some information for measurement regarding the number of sites linking to your web page, or the Google webmaster tool using the parameter "Link:www.yourdomain.com" to see where the links are coming from.

Of course as we have said many times, creating quality relevant content is the best link building strategy for the long term.  It might be a short term effort to grow organic search engine ranking through link building efforts, but it takes quality, evergreen content that will provide long term inbound links.

Be aware as well .. the 40 hour commitment that Desiree shares does not mean that the listing will be at the top of the search results at that point.  What she means is that the foundation is set for the links to start appearing on other web sites so that the search spiders can crawl and index the link in the first stage of getting a good ranking.  It will take many months and years to achieve the highest ranking possible.

We are still in a Link Economy.

How do you do your link building?  Can you share with the rest of the Bella Buzz community how you go about getting others to link to your web site?  Share in the comments.

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Superbowl Ads 2010: A Lost Opportunity for Some, A Lesson for All

February 9, 2010 By 7 Comments

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It is a Super Bowl commercial postmortem on this week's Bella Buzz podcast.  Desiree and Joe break down the effectiveness of the advertising dollars that the big brands spent during Super Bowl XLIV, or should we say lack of effectiveness.

Last year, the expectation was more and more of the big brands would find creative ways to incorporate social networks into their traditional campaigns.  The rating for social media usage by this year's advertisers is once again a big #FAIL.

We know we tend to see things from within our bubble of online marketing and social media practitioners, but it's time for the big brands (and more specifically the big brand agencies) to start leveraging the dollars they spend on broadcast advertising by driving customers to interact via social networks.  The opportunity exists right now to engage a customer, capture some of their key contact data and then continue to interact with that customer so that they become a true brand evangelist.  Why are they wasting this media buy!?!

On the podcast, we did dig into a couple of the ads directly to discuss our reactions to them and the first one we reviewed was the Google Ad:

We had both heard that a spot was a possibility, so we were on the lookout for it to appear on the broadcast.  It was a very well done spot which subtly displayed how search is completely embedded in our lives. Google just needs to be careful about how well they present information for web searchers.  They could be accused of "scraping" so much content from web site owners and content producers that the traffic no longer actually clicks to the original site.

Throughout the night's broadcast there was a considerable amount of conversation taking place on Twitter using the hashtag #BrandBowl you can still see some activity there by following that link to the Search.Twitter service.  These large brands HAVE to be aware that there is a large, receptive audience ready to interact with them if the creative is done correctly.  That hashtag was different from the #SB44 which was mostly game specific conversations.  Brands should be able to manage the variety of conversations effectively by understanding the difference.

At the very least consider what we call the Offline Ask.  At every opportunity in front of a potential customer you must make the ask.  Ask them to become a part of your community whether it be to follow you on Twitter, join a Facebook Fan Page or submit an email address.

What specific actions should a business owner take when participating in the Live Web?  Get involved in the conversation around a particular event.  If you come with relevant, interesting, eloquent insights that make someone take notice and check out your profile .. which in turn, drives someone back to your business web site, you just might gain a customer.  

How did the Super Bowl ads work for you? Were you expecting anything in the social media space that didn't appear, or maybe you did see some things that we might have missed?  Let us know in the comments, we would love to know what you thought.

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A Conversation with Tricia Molloy; CRAVE Your Social Media Goals

January 19, 2010 By 3 Comments

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This Martin Luther King, Jr. day brings a special guest to the Bella Buzz podcast.  Joining Desiree and Joe is Business Consultant and Author Tricia Molloy.  She is here to share with us her CRAVE program and how it can be applied to social media practices.

CRAVE Desiree introduced Tricia to many Bella Buzz listeners recently in a video post, but in case you haven't seen it, here is a link to the Bella Web Design YouTube Channel. Tricia is the author of Divine Wisdom at Work; 10 Universal Principals for Enlightened Entrepreneurs and is here to share some insights from her eBook called Crave Your Goals!

It is a very relevant topic these days as many are trying to determine the ROI for social media and have literally jumped in with both feet without really knowing their personal goals.  Tricia can attest personally that she had initially abandoned Twitter because of a lack of understanding the true opportunity. Desiree personally convinced her to return and she can be found as @WisdomDiva.

We talk about applying her CRAVE program to our own specific social media goals as we go through the conversation.  Tricia has shared with us the pillars of her program and we use this guide to structure today's podcast.

CRAVE Your Social Media Goals!

Clean Out the Clutter:

Figure
out what tools work for you and what don't and focus on a few, instead
of spreading yourself too thin. For me, it's Facebook, LinkedIn and
Twitter.  Use tools to make it easier without losing your personal touch.

We touch on Twitter as containing a lot of clutter when focusing too much on the numbers of followers. Desiree has an excellent suggestion to use Lists as a way to maintain quality content in the stream without limiting the numbers.

TriciaMolloyc Raise Your Vibrations:

People
want to follow and engage with people who are positive and helpful and
generous. They also appreciate others who spend more of their SM time
promoting other people's ideas and services more than their own. These
practices raise our vibrations to attract other high-vibration,
successful people. (Being too commercial and boastful is a quick way to
lower your vibrations and theirs.)

We talk about it on the Bella Buzz a lot, but it is worth noting that many of the social media "rockstars" consider a re-tweet as a major factor in growing their online community.  Having a positive approach to sharing makes this channel successful.

Affirm Success:

Most
of my profiles start with, "I love to remind people how wise they are!"
That's an affirmation that keeps me focused on why I engage in social
media. When I get apprehensive about technology, I affirm: "I embrace
technology!"

Tricia shares with us that humans have internal conversations approximately 10,000 times per day, and 80% of that tends to be negative as humans will look to protect themselves with "worst case scenarios". By taking steps to turn some of that negative into positive can have a great impact on success.

Visualize:

One
way to communicate your social media goals to your subconscious mind
(so it can seek out resources and opportunities for you) is by creating
a vivid picture in your mind, engaging all your senses and infusing it
with the emotions you would feel as if it were already true. A Vision
Board or Treasure Map is a great tool to accelerate the power of
visualization.

As many know, top athletes will use the power of visualization as a way of motivating for success.  Tricia's nine year old son Connor even put the practice into his Little League efforts, when he "imaginated" catching the inning ending fly ball!

We also get to hear about the practice of using a Vision Board as a way to help the brain visualize. Desiree has shared her Vision Board in this YouTube Video.

Express Thanks:

Since
what you focus on expands and what you appreciate appreciates, take the
time to express gratitude for your social media successes and show
appreciation to those who engage with you and support your goals.

One of the most important aspects of all of these programs is to incorporate them as a habit more so than another task.

We need to end the podcast by diving into the question of how Tricia came to write these successful books and ebooks with the motivational programs that we discussed.  In many ways, the universal principals of visualization and affirmation were something that she had done even as a child.  Once she had moved into a marketing practice for herself she used these practices with her clients.

As a writer by trade, she realized that she could express herself well in the form of a book and then determined that it was a business itself, where she could mentor and speak about putting these principals into practice.

Tricia realizes that the work that she does "is her purpose in life".  What a great situation to be in! Isn't it all anyone can really ask for?

To find out more about Tricia Molloy, visit her web site at TriciaMolloy.com and follow her on Twitter @WisdomDiva

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WordCamp Atlanta 2010 and The Use of the WordPress Platform

January 12, 2010 By 2 Comments

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It's all about WordPress and the WordCamp Atlanta on this week's episode of The Bella Buzz. Desiree braved the icy roads of Atlanta to attend the Conference on Saturday for a chance to network with over 200 attendees interested in hearing about best practices and upcoming enhancements to WordPress.Wordpress-logo-cristal_thumbnail-300x300

The WordPress platform can be called a blogging tool, a publishing platform or a content management system (CMS).  Whatever the terminology, it has become a factor across the web for developing vibrant web sites.

The open source tool was first launched in 2003 by Matt Mullenweg, and according to WikipediA as of September 2009 is being used by 202 Million websites worldwide.

Bella Web Design and Fluid Media both use the WordPress platform as part of the tool kit we use with clients who are looking to establish a solid web presence.  Based upon the flexibility of design and functionality, it has become a logical choice when looking for ways in which to present content.

(Attention: WordPress designers you can enter a contest the Bella Web Design is hosting, check this site for details and how to enter.)

When considering the use of WordPress as your web platform, there are choices that you can make based upon needs.  Plugins are available to add practically any functionality that you can imagine for your site, and from a design standpoint you can look into Themes.  Themes are available for free that can be easily implemented into a site for a nice graphic feel for visitors, while advanced implementations can include custom themes designed to achieve specific graphic standard requirements you may have.  It can be an interesting business model for a designer to focus exclusively on building and marketing themes via the "freemium" model.  Freemium by the way is a term coined by Venture Capitalist Fred Wilson for when web services are offered at a basic level for free, with the intention of moving users into paid versions with additional features.

The WordCamp Atlanta Conference was a multi tracked event with beginner, intermediate and advanced tracks, with many quality presenters including locals such as Amani Channel, Dougal Campbell, and Rusty Tanton. As well as national figures such as Mitch Canter and Aaron Brazell.

We will update this post as the video presentations from all of the sessions are posted in a single location, but check out the Speakers page of the Conference web site to see who presented so you can search for presentations.

If you are interested in seeing what other people are saying about WordCamp Atlanta, search for the Twitter hashtag #wcatl.

Our discussion veers into a little segment about the changing role of "spec" creative in the design world. In the past, any client who asked a creative shop to provide designs prior to awarding the work was looked down upon or simply avoided.  Today, the approach has changed to where entire web sites such as Template Monster and Boxed Art have sprung up to handle the demand of creative work distribution.

As we turn the corner on 2010 and get into conference mode, keep an eye out for the next Metro Atlanta event SoCon10, January 29 – 30, 2010.

Theme music for The Bella Buzz is Fallen by Digital Chemistry, available for download at the Podsafe Music Network.

You can subscribe to The Bella Buzz directly from ITunes by following this link, and we would be happy to receive listener feedback and ratings at The ITunes Store.

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