Free Webinar Wednesdays

Some Changes at Google (like Google+, Photos and Hangouts) You Should Know About

Date: December 9, 2015 @ 1 pm Eastern

While to many this has been a long time coming, Google has been making some changes to their social network, Google+, and has removed a couple of the key elements that now are "living on their own. This week we talk a bit about Google Photos, Hangouts and some of the changes that make these pretty darn awesome services, and what that means to the Google+ network.

We also will spend a bit of time talking about some of the "un-bundling" of services in the cellular phone network and how Google's Project Fi is saving customers money by leveraging WiFi connectivity to make phone calls. If you're a user and don't happen to be on a wireless network for data, not to worry, the service also uses Sprint and T-Mobile cellular connectivity and will easily (and transparently) switch an active call from WiFi to the best signal of the two carriers. This allows you to start a call at home or the office on WiFi, but keep the call going if you have to leave and hop in the car.

Register Today

If you are not yet registered for the Free Webinar Wednesdays series, click here to register. We look forward to seeing you online!

About Free Webinar Wednesdays

Free Webinar Wednesdays was created as a community building tool to bring professionals together to share pertinent business development information, provide subject matter experts with a platform to open a learning dialog, and inspire small business owners to reach their professional goals.

Free Webinar Wednesdays is sponsored by Community Bank Consulting, Inc. and WSI Internet Consulting.

How to Super Charge Your Networking Efforts at Your Next Conference or Convention

Date: January 14, 2015 @ 1 pm Eastern

We have all been in this position at least once: You're attending a conference or convention and experience the uncomfortable moment of entering the event space and feeling lost and lonely. Certainly, the other attendees seem friendly and most likely keen on meeting new people, but the concept of “the room full of strangers” is intimidating nonetheless. So what do we do? Well, we often run for safety… looking down at our phones, seeking familiar faces, getting a drink, etc.

While technology will not replace human interactions, it is creating some powerful ways to mitigate this fear. Whether you're a conference organizer and want to get your attendees mingling or one of the attendees that wants to mingle, technology can help remove the various barriers for people to meet and engage.

To help us better understand how things are evolving in this area, we're excited to have Eric Francois of Topi - one of the premier providers of conference apps and networking engagement strategies. They have spent time with psychologists to better understand human behaviors around meeting new people and how to adjust these behaviors to make life easier for participants. All of course, resulting in a more positive event experience (and facilitated by technology).

During this week's webinar we will cover several key barriers to networking (for example physical proximity, group interactions, topics of discussion and “connectors” among attendees) and suggest remedies. The meeting industry is known for its strong focus on human relationships and we believe event organizers will continue to find innovative ways to leverage new technologies and make networking at events more efficient.

So join us this week and prepare yourself for your next conference event to be a networking master. Not only will you come away with great ideas from the speakers and presenters, but you'll be able to build your network connections with the attendees, exhibitors and others to get even more than you imagined out of your next event.

About Our Speaker
Eric Francois is the COO of Topi and has 14 years of experience in the finance industry advising executive management teams with market positioning and fundraising strategies. Former Lazard Frères Director and Cowen & Co VP. MA in Business and Marketing from Université de Paris Sorbonne.

Register Today

If you are not yet registered for the Free Webinar Wednesdays series, click here to register. We look forward to seeing you online!

About Free Webinar Wednesdays

Free Webinar Wednesdays was created as a community building tool to bring professionals together to share pertinent business development information, provide subject matter experts with a platform to open a learning dialog, and inspire small business owners to reach their professional goals.

Free Webinar Wednesdays is sponsored by Community Bank Consulting, Inc.and WSI Internet Consulting.

Foretelling the Future of Digital Marketing in 2015

Date: December 3, 2014 @ 1 pm Eastern

As business owners look to 2015 and gaze into their crystal balls to try and determine what elements are going to need to be part of their digital strategy, the choices seem endless. With mobile, social, search, email and all sorts of other opportunities around, making sure that you're focused on the right things for the coming year is going to be critical to your success.

This week we'll be sharing some of our thoughts on things that should be part of your digital strategy for the year ahead to make sure that you're remaining relevant and visible to both customers and prospects looking for the types of services and products you offer. 

We look forward to sharing our ideas for the coming year and ways to help you be better prepared for the year ahead. At the end of the webinar, you'll be provided links to download a helpful Marketing Guide as well as check out a cool infographic that supports the topics covered in today's session.

Register Today

If you are not yet registered for the Free Webinar Wednesdays series, click here to register. We look forward to seeing you online!

About Free Webinar Wednesdays

Free Webinar Wednesdays was created as a community building tool to bring professionals together to share pertinent business development information, provide subject matter experts with a platform to open a learning dialog, and inspire small business owners to reach their professional goals.

Free Webinar Wednesdays is sponsored by Community Bank Consulting, Inc.and WSI Internet Consulting.

Eric and Jeff's Share Their "Top Picks" from FWW's Past Shows

Date: September 17, 2014 @ 1 pm Eastern

On a recent show one of our regular attendees asked during one of the Q&A sessions: "What are your top three favorite shows were and why?" We thought that was a GREAT question, but decided right then and there it was too "big" of a topic for the time we had left. "What a great idea for a show" we thought...

Well, that show is happening this week as Eric and Jeff will be talking a stroll back memory lane and reviewing all of the shows we've had and share some of the top ones that stand out in our mind. Hard to believe FWW's first show was April 1, 2009 and has been going for over FIVE YEARS now! We've got our loyal fans to thank for keeping us going that long, as well as all the amazing guests we've had on the show.

So join us this week as Eric and Jeff take a look back and share their favorite shows. If you're looking for some webinars to put on your "watch list" this episode promises to give you some great ones to consider. 

Register Today

If you are not yet registered for the Free Webinar Wednesdays series, click here to register. We look forward to seeing you online!

About Free Webinar Wednesdays

Free Webinar Wednesdays was created as a community building tool to bring professionals together to share pertinent business development information, provide subject matter experts with a platform to open a learning dialog, and inspire small business owners to reach their professional goals.

Free Webinar Wednesdays is sponsored by Community Bank Consulting, Inc.and WSI Internet Consulting.

We're Back! Why Business Owners Must Be On Google+ with Thomas Petty

Date: Wednesday, April 2, 2014 @ 1 pm Eastern

Looking for the Excel Spreadsheet?
You can visit http://bit.ly/getfoundreport to sign up for Tom's newsletter and once you receive the confirmation, simply reply and let him know you'd like a copy of the Excel sheet that he shared during today's presentation!

After a bit of a break (two whole weeks), we're excited to be back and joining you this week for Free Webinar Wednesdays. This week we're excited to welcome back to the show our good friend Thomas Petty to chat about Google+. Launched in June 2011, G+ is Google’s answer to Facebook (and a lot more, really). There are over 550 million active G+ users as of late last year, compared to 1.1 billion Facebook users. 

Has Google+ grown up yet? In a word, yes. If you haven’t embraced G+, it’s time to step into the pool. Not only are there a lot of cool things that you can do with the network, it's owned by Google, so from a search perspective you know it's got to be a good thing!

Google experiments with a lot of different tools. Some of them are flops and some succeed. Do you remember Google Wave? Google Tags? Google Insights for Search? The latter was later merged with Google Trends, so even some of the "flops" turn out being useful some other way down the road.

We admit Google+ may have gotten off to a bit of a rocky start, but it’s gained a lot of steam in the last year or so. It’s grown up and become a very good social media tool, both for individuals, and for businesses.

How can you effectively use it to connect with your customers and your audience? How do you set up your business listing so it’s found on the search engines? How do you track your shares and know that they’re being clicked on?

There are some really cool features of Google+ that you may (or may not) know about too. Tune into this webinar as we discuss Google+, and what you as business owners and marketers need to do to use it effectively.

About Our Presenter

Thomas Petty is President of the Bay Area Search Engine Academy and has been involved with technology since 1989. He had a 21-year career at a Fortune 100 company, most of which was spent in the information technology arena. His background spans computer and server support, networks, data centers, web technology and software systems design and deployment. He has taught many different types of coursework including Windows, programming, networks and other classes, but now specializes in search and online marketing solutions.

Register Today

If you are not yet registered for the Free Webinar Wednesdays series, click here to register. We look forward to seeing you online!

About Free Webinar Wednesdays

Free Webinar Wednesdays was created as a community building tool to bring professionals together to share pertinent business development information, provide subject matter experts with a platform to open a learning dialog, and inspire small business owners to reach their professional goals.

Free Webinar Wednesdays is sponsored by Community Bank Consulting, Inc.and WSI Internet Consulting.

Five Key Pieces of the Puzzle on How to be Found Online

Date: Wednesday, February 26, 2014 @ 1 pm Eastern

Continuing from our great session with Krista last week about SEO and search rankings, this week we're going to chat about the changes with our friends at Google and what fallout has resulted for business owners. While on the surface these can seem to be challenges and cause problems, these changes are actually good for those businesses who want to compete effectively online.

Unfortunately for busy business owners, it's difficult to keep track of what all the changes are, what they should be doing to keep up. It's difficult to have a conversation with an SEO expert without getting into a lot of technical jargon.

So what's a business owner to do?

Business owners have a business to run. They don't want to spend a lot of time fiddling with code or trying to figure things out. The great news is that we're going to be joined by Thomas Petty, a frequent guest on Free Webinar Wednesdays. He's put together an easy-to-implement plan for all small business that fits within Google rule book, but doesn't require a lot of effort. Whether your business is a:

• Non-profit (like a church, outreach organization)
• Brick and mortar (local store, hair salon, auto repair)
• Destination (a restaurant, chambers of commerce, wineries)
• Service (electricians, plumbers, real estate agents, lock smith)
• Consulting business (web designers, accountants, business coaches, lawyers)

Each of these businesses must have an online presence to be found for the services that their customers are looking for. But what are the core five fundamentals that every business must do in order to be found online without spending a lot of time on web geekery?

In this week's webinar, Tom will talk about those five pieces that all small businesses can and must do to get found. Some of it is a take the time to "set it and forget it" type thing. Do it once and move on. Others are more "rinse and repeat". Find out what Tom's core fundamentals that will guarantee that you get found online by your customers without stressing about “doing it right”.

About Our Presenter

Thomas Petty is President of the Bay Area Search Engine Academy and has been involved with technology since 1989. He had a 21-year career at a Fortune 100 company, most of which was spent in the information technology arena. His background spans computer and server support, networks, data centers, web technology and software systems design and deployment. He has taught many different types of coursework including Windows, programming, networks and other classes, but now specializes in search and online marketing solutions.

Register Today

If you are not yet registered for the Free Webinar Wednesdays series, click here to register. We look forward to seeing you online!

About Free Webinar Wednesdays:

Free Webinar Wednesdays was created as a community building tool to bring professionals together to share pertinent business development information, provide subject matter experts with a platform to open a learning dialog, and inspire small business owners to reach their professional goals.

Free Webinar Wednesdays is sponsored by Community Bank Consulting, Inc.and WSI Internet Consulting.

The Ever-Shifting Sands Called Google with Thomas Petty

Date: Wednesday, November 13, 2103 @ 1 pm Eastern

On our last show with Tom Petty, we talked about SEO and how Google was changing up the rules (No More Page One In Google). Well, during that show there were a lot of questions about Google+, their own social networking platform (and so much more). Good news is that we've convinced Tom (it was pretty easy, actually) to come back and talk in a bit more detail about this particular topic.

Google is always experimenting with different online tools to get people to engage, deliver quality content, and of course, make them some money along the way too. They give us a LOT of fantastic tools for free - mostly because (we believe) they want our data. Google is in a massive data-gathering spree to map the human experience, They give us things like Analytics (measurement tool), Gmail (e-mail of course), YouTube videos, and more recently, Google+, their social media platform.

All of this comes at a price. Some tools they put out are complete duds. Do you remember Google Wave? It was pretty cool, but nobody could figure out what the hell to do with it. Another little experiment that I really liked, I was sorry when Google quashed Google Tags.

More recently, Google has been very busy pulling sand dunes out from under us in the name of Google Panda and Penguin. There are really good changes, it just means that we as marketers have to keep up with it. The new animal to come to show up to the party of course, is Google Hummingbird.

Google has been shifting things with Google+ as well. Remember when it first came out, you could only set up a personal page. Later they came out with business pages. Google Authorship became the new hot topic in online marketing, which I think is still valuable.

Tune into this webinar as we discuss the changing sands of online marketing, and what you as business owners and marketers need to do to keep abreast of it.

About Our Presenter

 Thomas Petty is President of the Bay Area Search Academy, Inc. and has been involved with technology since 1989. He had a 21-year career at a Fortune 100 company, most of which was spent in the Information Technology arena. His background spans computer and server support, networks, data centers, web technology and software systems design and deployment. He has taught many different types of coursework including Windows, programming, networks and other classes, but now specializes in search and online marketing solutions.Tom has been a guest of ours on FWW in the past and we're excited to welcome him back for this week's show.

 

Register Today

If you are not yet registered for the Free Webinar Wednesdays series, click here to register. We look forward to seeing you online!

About Free Webinar Wednesdays:

Free Webinar Wednesdays was created as a community building tool to bring professionals together to share pertinent business development information, provide subject matter experts with a platform to open a learning dialog, and inspire small business owners to reach their professional goals.

Free Webinar Wednesdays is sponsored by Community Bank Consulting, Inc.and WSI Internet Consulting.

 

The Google+ Difference: Ignoring is not an Option with "Doc" Berntson

Date: Wednesday, April 10, 2013 @ 1 pm Eastern

You're probably using Facebook (along with the 1 Billion others around the world), have a profile on LinkedIn and maybe even using Twitter. But are you using Google Plus (G+) yet...?

Yes, we said Google Plus, the social network created by Google that many are finding to be a more enjoyable experience than some of the other networks. Even some of the "big names" in social media have cut ties with other networks and are spending time exclusively (or at least primarily) on G+.

To help us better understand G+ and how to put the network to use for both personal and business use, we'll be joined byDarin "Doc" Berntson, Senior Community Manager for SEO.com. Doc has been involved in the Internet for a long time and was one of the individuals that got FWW co-founder, Eric Cook, interested in spending more time with social media. Maybe if we're lucky Eric will share the story (it's a good one)!

You have to think given that Google pretty much dominates the search world and everyone wants to be "#1" when it comes to rankings, that when Google puts their weight behind a social network it can't hurt to know what's involved and how you can get some benefit out of participating. So carve out some time this week to spend with us and see whether or not you need to make a place for G+ in your social networking strategy.

Register Today

If you are not yet registered for the Free Webinar Wednesdays series, click here to register. We look forward to seeing you online!

About Free Webinar Wednesdays:

Free Webinar Wednesdays was created as a community building tool to bring professionals together to share pertinent business development information, provide subject matter experts with a platform to open a learning dialog, and inspire small business owners to reach their professional goals.

Free Webinar Wednesdays is sponsored by Community Bank Consulting, Inc.and WSI Internet Consulting.

Last Show of 2012 - Recapping The Year

Date: Wednesday, December 19, 2012 @ 1 pm Eastern

This week's show will be the last one of 2012 and it's hard to believe the year has flown by as quickly as Santa's sleigh on Christmas Eve. As is typical with many "end of year" shows, we'll take a look back at some of our favorite guests (we love them all, of course) and look forward to some of your thoughts too.

Additionally, there were some interesting happenings in the arena of technology over the past couple of weeks and we'll talk about the arrival of the new Google+ Communities, some cool sites to help you visualize your own 2012 "year in review" on the social networks and now that Apple brought back Google Maps to the iPhone, there's a much better chance the "big guy in red" will be able to find your house this year!

We've enjoyed an amazing year with you all and thank our loyal Free Webinar Wednesday audience. Here's to celebrating a great year together and many more down the road.

Register Today

If you are not yet registered for the Free Webinar Wednesdays series, click here to register. We look forward to seeing you online!

About Free Webinar Wednesdays:

Free Webinar Wednesdays was created as a community building tool to bring professionals together to share pertinent business development information, provide subject matter experts with a platform to open a learning dialog, and inspire small business owners to reach their professional goals.

Free Webinar Wednesdays is sponsored by Community Bank Consulting, Inc.and WSI Internet Consulting.

Catching up with Eric and Jeff - Observations From Around the 'Net

Date: Wednesday, October 3, 2012 @ 1 pm Eastern

This week Eric and Jeff are "guestless" and will be taking time to reflect on some of our past sessions and get caught up. We've had some great sessions over the past several weeks, so we'll certainly be recapping the high points that made an impact on us. But, there's a lot of other "stuff" going on that we can catch up on too and as you know, there's never a shortage of discussion items when we get together. So, bring your ideas and thoughts (and topics you'd like to toss out there) and we'll make it a great show!

Register Today

If you are not yet registered for the Free Webinar Wednesdays series, click here to register. We look forward to seeing you online!

About Free Webinar Wednesdays:

Free Webinar Wednesdays was created as a community building tool to bring professionals together to share pertinent business development information, provide subject matter experts with a platform to open a learning dialog, and inspire small business owners to reach their professional goals.

Free Webinar Wednesdays is sponsored by Community Bank Consulting, Inc.and WSI Internet Consulting.