Trancelogic.club

I've been listening to my station a lot now, and I've come to the conclusion that my playlist is ready to move forward. When I first started this venture I really thought I'd be posting a lot of long sets. But in reality, nobody wants to hear a long set unless they're in a more intimate environment. 

Even after 15 years of being an all out EDM sewer rat I still have no idea who the biggest show is and all that stuff. I can find that out any time at Beatport or something like that. I keep getting sidetracked with older tracks that I really want to play because I believe they are really good and that people will like them. That would be awesome if people liked them.

So here I am thinking that "yeah, I know everything there is to know about Trance music" - yeah right. I knew nothing  and make it a point to continue to know nothing. I know I fell in love with Oceanlab about a million times last night. For real.

I'm hoping to get some written content up this week. I have two ladies who are anxious to get started on their writing careers here in Halifax and they've blessed me with their time to develop that. I need to find some sources for video content. I'm still very happy.

www.trancelogic.club

Let's Build a Radio Station on Shoutcast

I can guarantee that listening to this station will wake you up and get you moving at work, during your exercise routine or your 420 sessions. It is the" pick me up" that everyone wants to find in their life that isn't drug induced.

I have been building the station myself over the last couple of months, and I have enjoyed every minute of it. This is  a bucket list project for me, so if I succeed, I will be able to scratch it off my list and sit back and just enjoy the music and entertainment.

During the course of trying to build up, I have come across numerous characters and have come to realize that all is not always as it seems. Some people love commitment, others run from it like it's the plague. As I sit here and listen to my music, I am lapsing into a comfort zone.

I have actually had people say "I don't get it" when I explain to them what I am doing online. They're baffled. Not that I think everyone needs to know about the web, but you should be able to put two and two together and figure out that it's a creative business venture. Or at least that's what I think.

It's going to take me a while to get up and running as I would like to have it. But until then, please visit often. I am making the builds online and doing it live for the most part, which most people who do this sort of stuff would cringe at. But in any case, I will persevere and hopefully my ratings will continue to climb. 

http://www.trancelogic.club

The Survey.

A comprehensive customer or consumer survey can go a long way to help you plan and implement your marketing strategies for your company. A good survey can take some time to prepare because the number of questions you ask should be limited to keep the attention of the survey subject.

The survey can be done in person, or it can take place online, and it usually helps to offer some kind of incentive to those that agree to take the survey. Plenty of people will give you friction, or they will just pass you by totally and not participate.

But diligence will ensure that you get a favorable number of surveys completed. What is the magic number? Well that’s hard to say. I have a friend that spent the better part of an entire day soliciting people in a high income are of  Toronto, and even with an offering a token gift for their thoughts, she only managed to get ten willing respondents out of  thousands who travelled by.

Tenacity and patience are certainly good characteristics to have when doing your survey. Keep in mind though, that metrics are very important.

How you set up your questions is up to you but keep in mind that a long survey will probably result in less participation. The KISS method is usually the best method of all.

If you choose to do your survey online, be sure to use your Facebook, Twitter and other social marketing accounts to direct people to your survey. In general a ten percent return on invites to complete the survey is quite good.

I've done surveys for everything from newspapers to broadcast operations, and have grown quite fond of the challenge that harvesting respondents. Do you need more information about this or other concerns with your small business? Remember; Scream Media is always available for a consultation, in person or via telephone.

Contact us at 902-229-8230
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So Much To Do.

Starting a new business can be a daunting task. So many papers, so many decisions, so many things to do to give your business legs. In the rush of wanting to get things done, sometimes we forget how important it is to be organized and deliberate with our marketing efforts. It is very important to know what the "bigger picture" of your marketing plan is so that you can make better decisions in the future about where to spend those precious marketing dollars.

One way of getting organized is by downloading an annual expense "template" from the internet. There are tonnes available, particularly at www.microsoft.com, and they will help you get it together by providing you with a worksheet that has been developed particularly for tracking your monthly marketing expenses. Another way of achieving organization is to set up your own spreadsheet in programs like Excel or Quickbooks. If you have access to one of these programs, use them to build a twelve month snapshot of your marketing dollars hard at work.

Why is it important to have this snapshot? Well, first, you want to know where your money is going. Second, you want to be able to put some kind of metrics behind your marketing choices, for example, ad "x" is working in that dollar range, directory listing "y" doesn't seem to be performing as you had hoped at that cost. The benefits of keeping your marketing activities organized far outweigh the couple of hours it may take to get them on a spreadsheet or on paper.

If you're starting a business or just trying to get the one you have organized, and you feel that it's a task you'd rather not deal with, contact Scream Media for professional advice about marketing plans, business plans, digital marketing, and many other business related products and services.

Call Social Media Guy!

Do you find yourself with a great idea for a product or service, but without the skills to bring them to market? Let Scream Media and our sister company that deals with SEO and digital marketing, Social Media Guy, show you how to bring it all together and monetize your ideas today!

Audio Blogs

What is an Audio Blog? 

An audioblog is a blog with vocal recordings as its central part. For example, a podcast, a a type of digital media consisting of an episodic series of files subscribed to and downloaded through web syndication.

How can I take advantage of the audio blog on my website?

An audio blog gives you the opportunity to shine as leader or an expert in your field, a top seller for your product, or simply act as much needed fresh content to your website or web presence. Giving your audience a voice to recognize with your brand is a powerful way to sway sales your way by proving that you have what it takes to take listeners on as customers while offering solid suggestions about how they might use your products to keep the status quo or to innovate a process or service.

As mentioned, the audio blog can be presented in multiple formats, but is usually created in an mp3 format. Depending on your desired outcomes, an audio blog can be a heavily produced piece or three simple channels of audio - your expert, your interviewer and whatever technical background you desire. 

Setting up an audio blog requires varying degrees of expertise. A three track layout is simple to use, but in order for the blog to flow properly both the presenter and the marketing professional putting the blog together must have a certain amount of knowledge about that which they are blogging about. 

Generally, audio is produced using some type of mutli-track software. This type of software is easily available on the web for purchase. As usual, steer clear of "free" software offers as they usually end up being some type of scam or malware. 

Not unlike radio journalists, audio bloggers may choose to write scripts, voice pieces of the blog separately and have multiple interviews within the interview. In any case, the audio blog is a worthy, tech possible source of portable content for your web collateral. 

For more information about audio blogs, please contact me. I would be happy to identify areas that would be appropriate for further development in you organization.

Want a Website?

These days, everybody wants to build a website. Not just a good website; a custom website with all the bells and whistles. Thank goodness, you can do it yourself with no coding experience at all. Have the best site on the net, maximized for SEO, all with a couple of keystrokes and well placed text.

Well, if you're any kind of a web person, you can see how these claims are just a bit over the top, no matter how good the authoring tool is.

Lets consider the off the shelf kits. For the most part, these kits make their money with extended hosting packages and email sales. It's been my experience that, not only are these kits inadequate when it comes to authoring, but they leave much to be desired when considering SEO for your website due to a total lack of access to the back end of the sites they produce.

Other, web based authoring tools are clumsy, and again don't allow for back end access in order to tweak for SEO. It's not an ideal situation. In any case, putting a website up takes thought, determination and some idea of architecture in mind prior to the building process.

A good site is aptly planned out on paper before ever hitting the production stage. Recent experience has proven to me that people really have no idea what's involved with making a site work properly; nor do they care. They just want what they want when they want it and  that's it.

If you're after a personalized website without doing any code, the best advice that I can say to you is to purchase a copy of Adobe Dreamweaver and dive in. A manual comes with the software, and for the sake of a reality check, it might be good for you to see what actually goes into web development. For those of you humming and hawing about all of the "free" options available online, go ahead, try them out. Let's see how far that takes you before you hit dirt.

There's a reason why real web development costs money. It's because any decent developer has put the time in to actually know what he/she is doing.

If you're a small business and you need a web presence, I would suggest either Telus or Web.com. either will produce a professionally landscaped website for you for under $125 per month. Balking at the price tag? Maybe you should reconsider your marketing strategy to include web property before you ask Jimmy down the road to do it for you. Remember, you get what you pay for.

How Come You Didn't Tell Me My Domain Expired?

You have no idea how many times in the run of a day I get asked that question. People seem to think that, along with the purchase price for leasing the domain, comes a built in babysitter that will watch your domain and let you know that it is about to hit the market again.

There is, in fact,a service you can purchase with most Registrars that will do just that; let you know when the name will expire well ahead of time. But no babysitter service is going to be able to keep track of your new email address, the "guy" that built your website or any of the other information that is necessary to keep track of your dot coms.

This is why it is so important that you don't ignore those ICANN (The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) emails when they come to your email address. You should pay strict attention to these messages because they are sent out to help you keep your information with your registrar up to date. This is important because, should you need to have access to your account (maybe to move a domain name to a different registrar) you will be able to do so without wasting time trying to figure out access codes and "whois" information about your account.

Should the worst case scenario happen and you do let your domain name expire, there is still hope that you can recover it within a certain time frame. Beyond the first 30 days of expiration, your domain name will sit in what could be considered domain name "purgatory". While there it simply sits parked, waiting for you to recover it. And of course, as with any type of recovery, there is a cost associated with it.

If you're lucky enough to get in under the thirty day wire you will have to pay for the domain name registry again (usually cheaper for a multiple year renewal) and you will have to pay the parking fee, which can be anywhere from $30 to $60. After the 30 days, your domain name will re-enter the pool at your registrar for regular sale or as a premium name,depending on the name itself.

What are the repercussions of letting your domain name go? Well, first and foremost, if you have a website or email addy attached to your domain name you can kiss them goodbye. Re-establishing your domain name can cost you real money beyond the reinstatement fee. If you don't have the expertise to deal with the back end of your site, then you're going to have to get your developer involved in real time repairs. And just think of the damage losing a branded website and email accounts - you could be cut off from your customer base.

Remember, when you are handing out responsibilities in your workplace and you make someone in charge of your registrar accounts, be sure to keep yourself up to date with passwords and challenge questions to gain access to your profile. Time and time again I hear "oh that person with the passwords is no longer with us" or "my web designer has all that information". Moral of the story is to keep abreast of your registrar account and hosting information; it'll save you a ton of frustration, money and time better spent working on your business.