Next time you or your project comes under criticism, try simply asking questions in return. Be careful to not work out your anger or feelings of rejection in your questions. Leading or pointed questions are not exactly what we are recommending. Instead, simply use the questions as a process of better understanding where your critic is coming from.

This may help in a number of ways. For one, you will benefit to understand the agenda of the critic and the goals of the critic. It will help your position to view your project through a different lens–even if you don’t change anything about your project, presentation or stance. Secondly, good questions will open a sense of empathy between you and your critic. This is a good base for gaining support in your endeavors. If the critic feels understood, they may also be more open to readjusting their stance–and taking a look from your perspective as well.

Whether or not the criticism aimed at you or your project is well founded, taking a more interested and invested approach through asking genuine, exploratory questions will create a spirit of colaboration and thus garner a base of broader support for your endeavors.

Ironpaper, Inc.
Ironpaper is an all-in-one web agency, whose services include design, web development and programming, online marketing and search engine optimization (SEO) to consulting and training.
Phone: (347) 722-1758
ironpaper.com

Josh Watkins Design
Lexington, KY
Custom Web & Graphic Design, (X)HTML, CSS, Ruby on Rails, Javascript, Flash Animation, and/or Video Editing for personal, non-profit, or commercial business sites.
joshwatkins@gmail.com

Elite Online Design
Louisville, KY
Elite Online Design, Web Design, Hosting And Marketing. Web Design Package Starting At $300.00.

Vasser Web Design
Frankfort, KY
Standards compliant web sites – viewable in any browser. Web site and database design
Phone: 502-695-0628

Wes Peery
Bowling Green, KY
We offer low cost web hosting solutions and domains as low as $8.95. Website Design packages starting at $395. Wes Web Design in Bowling Green, KY

Co-working is a way for work-at-home professionals or independent contractors or business people who travel frequently to have a non-isolated work experience. Co-working is a social gathering of people who may not be part of the same company but come together to work and at times share ideas. Business accelerators, business incubators and executive suites are not always the best answers for all freelancers and small businesses. Co-working can be a very rich and valuable experience.

Co-working is a concept that has gained a lot of attention in cities such as San Francisco, New York, Seattle and LA.

Co-working Locations in Kentucky:

Collexion
Located in Lexington’s Distillery District
Phone: not available.
http://collexion.net/

**We will post more co-working locations and options as they become available.**

During the 2nd quarter of 2009, food prices overall had slightly decreased (year to year). Food prices began to increase by the third quarter of 2009–marking the first increase in 12 months.

Source: kyfb.com, Kentucky Farm Bureau

How do I sign up?
Visit the Creative Cities newsletter form for more information and sign up details: http://creativecitieslexington.us1.list-manage.com

One way to grow your business online is to offer updated content on a regular basis– not only for your visitors – but also for the search engines. With a content management system in place you do not have to know HTML and you do not have to hire a full-time, in-house web programmer.

Content Management Makes Publishing Content Simple

Content management allows you to manage content creation, modify, and remove content from your Web site, without knowing HTML coding.  It also allows you gather information and updates it to your site with ease. Content management system features include:

• Format management
• Revision control
• Indexing
• Search
• Retrieval
• Web-based publishing

The information that you offer your visitors is one of your greatest asset. So, it should be managed on a regular basis.  Those without a content management system tend to struggle gaining new prospects.

Make Your Web Site More Search-Engine Friendly

A content management system also allows templates to be created and re-used. This also promotes consistency of your web pages and it makes it easier to employ cost effective information to be presented in a professional manner.

In order for the search engines to be able to find your content, they require websites to be consistent as far as finding relevant content on a site quickly and efficiently. In other words, having a content management system makes your site more visible and more search-engine friendly because your content is database driven.

With a content management system, you can create content and it can be re-used several times. This system allows you to post the same content to more than one location in a variety of presentation formats and in numerous languages. Please keep in mind that exact/duplicate content used on numerous websites will NOT help with SEO ranking–it will in fact hurt ranking. However, publishing snippets of an article and then linking to the full article, can greatly help user experience by providing users a “preview” of the page and allowing them to determine beforehand if they are interested in the full article.

Protect your family’s personal assets

Tax advantages
An incorporated business can reduce the amount of tax owed to the IRS by deducting any costs that are related to the business. Depending on your type of business, there are numerous tax benefits for home business owners. Besides equipment like books and computers, you can also deduct salaries, bonuses, and medical and retirement payments paid to employees.

Establish credibility
A formal business structure provides your business with a sense of legitimacy in the eyes of your customers, vendors, and banks.

Raise money by selling stock
Should your business need more capital, you can issue shares of stock to investors from an incorporated business. Capital can be raised by selling stock whether your business is a startup or is a well established company that is seeking to expand.

The internet is a key resource for advertisers and for public relations. Cost and the ability to measure Return On Investment are key reasons for moving towards the web with both advertising and PR. When combined with off-line efforts, online marketing with social media engagement can be extremely effective at winning new relationships, strengthening reputation, and expanding visibility.

Dos and Donts Guidelines
Social media strategies should take into consideration various dos and don’ts for how employees should conduct themselves online. We feel it is not productive to discourage employees from joining and participating in social media. In fact, there may be a lot to lose from have employees disconnected from social online engagement. One strategy is to keep private accounts personal. Don’t allow employees to speak on behalf of the company. Give them clear guidelines on how to handle questions or comments directed at their company. Provide employees with a point person in the PR department. Also give them links to the company website for reference, rather than allowing them to make the mistake of answering a question wrong and causing damage to a company reputation. If the employee is blogging on a topic related to their work, provide them topical guidelines and require them to post a clear disclaimer that 1.) the employee is NOT blogging on behalf of the company and 2.) the opinions do NOT reflect the opinions and beliefs held by the company.

Employees can be great ambassadors of a brand. Enthusiasm and excitement from employees can reflect well upon the company. In certain cases, companies may want to consider maintaining social media accounts a requirement for certain types of employees, and requiring such online engagement a job requirement. This may help companies become more in tune with their customer base and with their industry.

Social Media Accounts
Some employees will have personal social media accounts from a range of service providers such as Facebook, Twitter, Ning or Delicious. For this reason, we advise companies that they should create some ground rules for social engagement. Don’t drive your employees underground by banning their accounts altogether, which just creates an air of distrust and bitterness. Simply provide them with rules for how they can acknowledge and not acknowledge their professional lives.

Blogging
Blogging is perhaps one of the oldest forms of social media engagement. Many people own personal blogs and use these blogs as a central hub for all their social media engagement. We suggest business managers become aware of such blogs, but do not discourage them. Try to imbue good stewardship guidelines for personal blogs with your employees. It is important to honor copyright laws with images and text for example and showing respect towards piers. However treading too heavily into an employee’s personal affairs can be demoralizing and can hurt valuable relationships. This is why unified guidelines are our recommendation.

Encourage quality
It may be beneficial to provide some employees with a basic how-to guide for social media engagement. Give them some reference points. For example, explain how “hard selling” a product or service is generally frowned upon in the online community. Encourage them to be participants rather than snake-oil sales people. The online social universe is all about dialogue and conversation–not forcing products down each others throats. If you, as a business manager, do not feel qualified to write a persuasive how-to guide for social media then simply link to the many, good quality references sources on the web. Education is a two way street.

Legalities
It is always best to consult your legal team when drafting these guidelines. Legal advice can save time and money. Remember, keep the language clear and readable, so that employees have a good understanding of what is possible and what is discouraged.

Web Analytics

Whos.Amung.Us

http://whos.amung.us/

About this tool: Real-time stats for your website or blog. This tool is free and no registration is required.

Histats

http://www.histats.com/

Real time stats and online user count/list and search engine trends. No limit on log file size.

Site Meter

http://www.sitemeter.com/

Comprehensive real time website tracking and counter tools that gives you instant access to vital information and data about your sites audience.

Web Site Communication Gadgets

Woopra

http://www.woopra.com/

Woopra is the world’s most comprehensive, information rich, easy to use, real-time Web tracking and analysis application. And it’s free!

Global Environmental Service of Georgetown or GESG is an electronic waste recycler licensed by the Commonwealth of Kentucky.