Posts Tagged ‘positive’
Monday, August 10th, 2009
By Robert Lockard
I love keeping promises. In my earlier blog entry, “eHarbor, Inc. softball ends season in good form,” I said, “[eHarbor’s softball team] might play again in the fall, so I’ll keep you posted if we do.” Guess what. We are playing softball again, and I get to keep you informed on how we do again.
The eHarbor softball team, which we affectionately call the eHarbarians, ended its spring season with their best record ever, 6 wins and 4 losses. We then made it two games into the playoffs before being eliminated. It was a fun rollercoaster.
For our first game of the summer/fall season, we played a team sponsored by a local Hogi Yogi restaurant. Ironically, Hogi Yogi provided the food for our company-wide meeting earlier this month where the July MVP was announced. Funny. Anyway, our team played on Wednesday, August 5, 2009 at a new field in Orem, Utah, instead of Provo.
And we won!
That’s right, we fought hard and brought home a 9-8 victory. Hopefully we’ll have many more victories to report as the new season progresses. Be sure to keep coming back to the eHarbor Blog for updates on our company, as well as helpful tips on Internet marketing and ecommerce.
Tags: baseball, eHarbor, event, Fun, game, MVP, orem, positive, provo, sport, update, utah
Posted in Fun, eHarbor | 1 Comment »
Wednesday, July 15th, 2009
By Robert Lockard
Facebook is among the kings of social media, when it comes to total users. But it’s lagging behind in the amount of money it makes because its focus is so much on customer growth. However, one of Facebook’s board members expects annual revenue to soar into the billions of dollars by 2014.
Facebook currently has 225 million users, and it is expected to generate an estimated $500 million in revenue in 2009, according to an article in Reuters, entitled “Facebook revenue to be ‘billions’ in 5 years: board member.”
In the article, Mark Andreessen, an entrepreneur who has invested in Twitter and is a member of the board of directors of privately held Facebook, says Facebook’s value is about to explode. He also suggests the company could earn more than $1 billion this year, but it’s wise not to because if it did it might end up like MySpace.
Several years ago, MySpace was the most-popular social network, but then it tried to turn its popularity into profits by adding more ads and not improving its content as well as it could have. Now where is MySpace? A distant second to Facebook. It’s losing members while Facebook is rapidly picking them up.
Facebook faces a delicate balancing act trying to please both customers and investors. Its investors include heavyweights like Microsoft, Accel Partners, and the Russian company Digital Sky Technologies. You can read more about the Russian investment in Facebook in my eHarbor Blog entry, “Facebook’s $200 million boost a win for social media.”
As I said before, Facebook has the power to transform social media. It might take a few years, but it will be exciting to see when Facebook finally comes into its own and becomes a stronger company.
The photo of Facebook’s headquarters in Palo Alto, Calif. is from Flickr, and it is the copyright of steven.walling.
Tags: article, Ecommerce, facebook, Microsoft, myspace, news, online, positive, Reuters, Social Media
Posted in Social Media | 1 Comment »
Thursday, July 9th, 2009
By Robert Lockard
Each month, eHarbor, Inc. singles out one of its employees as the Most Valuable Player or employee of the month. They announce the winner at a company lunch on the first business day of each month. The MVP is someone who has done extraordinary work, going above and beyond his or her duties to help the company succeed. On July 1, Alisha Walton was named MVP for her exceptional actions in June.
It takes an amazing kind of person to come back to work so soon after enduring a terrible car collision, a month-long hospital stay and several surgeries. Alisha is definitely an amazing person.
She was riding a motorcycle in May when a car came and hit her at full speed, knocking her to the ground and breaking her neck. Thankfully, Alisha’s neck injury did not paralyze her. She spent a month in the Utah Valley Regional Medical Center in Provo, Utah. You can read a quote from her about her experience in a Daily Herald article, entitled “UVRMC trauma team: Life in the balance.”
Six days after her June 3 release from the hospital, Alisha returned to work while still wearing her halo and being confined to a wheelchair. Amazingly, she got right back into her job, despite the pain and struggle she faced. She has a great sense of humor about her situation. For instance, she said her hobbies include photography, reading, surfing and now wheelchair racing. Her spirit is truly indomitable.
I’ll keep you updated on MVP winners each month from now on. We have quite a few exceptional workers at eHarbor, so it will be great to give them the recognition they deserve. By the way, I was also named the MVP for June along with Alisha, but I prefer not to call attention to myself. It’s nice to be noticed for my hard work on the blog and other projects, though.
Be sure to enjoy our great blog posts on ecommerce and search engines next week in the eHarbor Blog!
Tags: article, company, Daily Herald, eHarbor, humor, MVP, news, positive, provo, utah
Posted in eHarbor | 1 Comment »
Friday, July 3rd, 2009
By Robert Lockard
John Adams, one of the Founding Fathers who signed the Declaration of Independence and went on to become the second president of the United States, wrote on July 3, 1776:
I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward forever more.
What he was referring to was, of course, the Fourth of July. His words are literally fulfilled every year on July 4 as we celebrate our independence as a nation and a people. Few holidays measure up to the greatness of this one, in my mind.
Here are some interesting facts I recently learned about the Fourth of July, which I would like to share with you:
- The first Fourth of July celebration as held one year after the Declaration of Independence was signed in 1776. In Bristol, R.I. and Philadelphia, citizens fired 13 gunshots in honor of the 13 colonies.
- Bristol is also noteworthy for having the highest number of consecutive Fourth of July celebrations, starting in 1785.
- The term “Independence Day” was first used in 1791.
- In 1870, nearly a hundred years after the country was founded, Congress made Independence Day a federal holiday.
- In 1931, Independence Day became a paid federal holiday.
I must say I’m impressed by the Fourth of July celebrations I’ve encountered in Utah. As a newcomer to this land, I am excited to see what America’s Freedom Festival holds this year. It will culminate in the Stadium of Fire at Brigham Young University’s LaVell Edwards football stadium on July 4. I don’t know if I’ll be able to attend that event, but I hear it will be great.
Be sure to keep coming back to the eHarbor Blog for tips on ecommerce and Internet marketing. But in the meantime, enjoy your Independence Day!
The photo of fireworks in Salt Lake City, Utah is from Flickr, and it is the copyright of deltaMike.
Tags: eHarbor, event, Fun, history, holiday, origin, past, positive, provo, United States, utah
Posted in Fun | 1 Comment »
Monday, June 29th, 2009
By Robert Lockard
Microsoft’s Bing “decision engine” is still making headlines weeks after its May 25 debut. In the Business Week article, “Bing Gains In Search Share,” author Paul McDougall points out Bing’s share of the search-engine market increased from 13.7 percent in its first week to 16.7 percent in its third week.
In my earlier eHarbor Blog entry, entitled “Bing decision engine good for online marketing,” I said Bing can be good for ecommerce. It will probably force Internet marketers to get more specific in the keywords they target for search engine optimization and pay-per-click campaigns.
Plus, Bing includes a cashback feature that allows online shoppers to compare product prices and earn discounts at certain stores. If you’re looking to expand the number of potential buyers you reach online, you would be wise to take part in this service.
The Business Week article also says Bing is trying to compete with Google and even emerge as the top search engine some day. However, Google accounts for 65 percent of all searches done online right now, so it might be years before we’ll see who will be the victor.
Competition is great and it’s certainly going to inspire better services in both Bing and Google. Hopefully, these changes will continue to benefit the ecommerce industry.
The photo of Bing vs. Google is from Flickr, and it is the copyright of Tom Purves.
Tags: article, Bing, Business Week, Ecommerce, eHarbor, internet, marketing, Microsoft, news, online, Pay-Per-Click, positive, search engine, SEO
Posted in Ecommerce, Search Engines | 5 Comments »
Thursday, June 25th, 2009
By Robert Lockard
eHarbor, Inc.’s softball team closed out its regular season on Wednesday, June 18 with a 6-4 record. That is the best record we have ever had.
The final game gave eHarbor a rematch with one of the teams it lost to a few weeks ago. You can read about that game in my blog entry, “eHarbor, Inc. softball humbled by 2 losses.” The good news is that our loss against this team was by a much closer margin than in our previous game. Hopefully, we’ll meet them again in the post-season, which began this week, and we’ll win when it really counts.
Here are the highlights of our last game of the season:
- Two players went 3 for 3
- Our outfielders made several amazing catches
- Our defense was strong, keeping the other team from scoring too many runs
Some season highlights include:
- The top batter on the team went 13 for 15
- Two players had batting averages above 80 percent
- 12 of our 13 batters had batting averages of 50 percent or better
- Oliver Bigler, our CEO who is featured in BusinessQ magazine, went 10 for 17
As I said before, our record this season is quite good for an Internet marketing company. We’ll keep you posted on our post-season games in the eHarbor Blog. We hope to make it all the way this year!
Tags: baseball, company, eHarbor, oliver bigler, orem, positive, provo, sport, utah
Posted in Fun, eHarbor | 2 Comments »
Tuesday, June 23rd, 2009
By Robert Lockard
As promised, here is a follow-up to my blog entry on the eHarbor summer party, which was held on June 12 and 13. That was a fun event. Many eHarbor, Inc. employees came to Kelly’s Grove in Hobble Creek Canyon, near Springville, Utah, on that Friday night to enjoy a barbecue and play games.
I had expected to watch a movie on Friday night, but we instead sang karaoke. It was a lot of fun, and we learned more about each other’s personalities through our singing than we would have by watching a movie. Oliver Bigler, our CEO who was recently profiled in BusinessQ magazine, emceed the karaoke and he even sang a couple of songs, himself.
My wife and I don’t have any camping supplies, so we decided to go home that night instead of camping out with many of the other families in attendance. The sky had been threatening to rain most of the evening. We heard thunder and saw lightning several times before we finally headed home.
On the way, the rain became so heavy it was almost blinding. It felt like a flash flood. Being from Washington, I’m used to heavy rain, but this was beyond what I’m normally prepared for. It was as though someone was dumping a bucket of water on our windshield every second we drove.
We stayed off the freeway and took a regular road home because I could hardly see the lanes, and I felt safer going at a slower speed. We made it safely to our destination and enjoyed the rest of the storm from the safety of our home. I love falling asleep to the sound of rain. The thunder was elegant, as well.
On Saturday morning, I had planned on returning to the eHarbor summer party, but the clouds still threatened to rain, so I thought it best to do something indoors. I heard the E-lympics were fun, though. I would have liked to have seen and participated in them. Oh well.
Tags: company, eHarbor, event, Fun, game, oliver bigler, positive, utah, weather
Posted in Fun, eHarbor | 1 Comment »
Thursday, June 11th, 2009
By Robert Lockard
Those of you who read my April blog entry “eHarbor summer party coming in June” know this weekend is the time of this long-awaited event. It will be held in Hobble Creek Canyon, near Springville, Utah. On Friday night, we’ll enjoy a barbecue and outdoor movie. I’m definitely excited for that.
eHarbor, Inc. employees will be able to camp out that night and compete in water e-lympics Saturday morning. Here are some of the activities the e-lympics will include:
· Water volleyball
· Watermelon-eating contest
· Water-balloon toss
· Water kickball
· Hula-hoop contest
· 3-legged race
I hope the clouds will begin to part and the rain will stop by Friday. I grew up in the Puget Sound area of Washington state, so I’m used to rain and clouds. But here in Utah, I’ve been trying to get used to the extreme cold of winter and extreme heat of summer. I don’t mind having cool weather in the summer, but it’s starting to throw me off a little.
Anyway, even if it’s not the best weather, I’m sure we’ll have fun. On Monday, I watched a play of “Beauty and the Beast” at the Scera Shell outdoor theatre in Orem, Utah. It rained on us for a while leading up to the start of the play. But I enjoyed that play so much I hardly minded the rain at all.
Before the summer party, each eHarbor department (Support, Marketing/PR, Design, etc.) was asked to create a flag to represent it. There were some really creative designs, and I am excited to see them at this event. I hope to get some great pictures of them and other things for a future blog post.
The photo of the tarp sagging with rain is from Flickr, and it is the copyright of nalilo.
Tags: company, eHarbor, event, flag, Fun, movie, orem, positive, sport, summer, utah, Washington, weather
Posted in Fun, Movies, eHarbor | 2 Comments »
Tuesday, June 9th, 2009
By Robert Lockard
Microsoft’s new Bing search engine is quite an impressive tool for Web users and online marketers. I read an article in USA Today, entitled Bing it on: Microsoft overhauls search, again, which gives some excellent info about this new search engine.
Bing includes search suggestions on results pages to help people narrow their searches and find exactly what they’re looking for. This is what I talked about in my eHarbor Blog entry, “Paid search about to get complicated.” Web users want to find information, products and services faster, so they’re using an increasing number of keywords in their searches.
Including suggested search terms on a results page is nothing new. Google includes them on many of their results pages, as well.
I noticed there are no paid listings on Bing results pages. Maybe that is because the service is just getting started and has not yet had time to develop pricing and other metrics to charge for pay-per-click ads. This could present a challenge to ecommerce, but there is probably a solution, whether it is more investment in search engine optimization, social media or other marketing strategies.
Microsoft calls Bing a “decision engine” instead of a search engine. That has a nice ring to it. They call it that because it is supposed to help people make decisions, instead of just provide a whole slew of disorganized information.
I like the fact that Bing gives price comparisons and reviews of products, 30-second clips of videos on results pages, and its image results page is huge! You just scroll down to see all the images, instead of clicking on lots of pages in Google and waiting for them to show up.
What does Bing mean for ecommerce? It will probably reward companies that work hard on online marketing on SEO with high search ranking and quick access for consumers to their websites. We’ll need to continue to refine the search terms we target. It’ll be interesting to see everything that happens.
The photo of the Bing search engine is from Flickr, and it is the copyright of Kimberly Saia.
Tags: article, Bing, CNN, Ecommerce, eHarbor, google, marketing, Microsoft, msn, new, online, Paid Search, positive, PPC, search engine, SEO, Social Media
Posted in Ecommerce, SEO, Search Engines | 2 Comments »
Friday, June 5th, 2009
By Robert Lockard
As a follow-up to my eHarbor Blog entry on Facebook’s growing pains, I would like to talk about Facebook recently receiving $200 million. I read about it in a CNN article, entitled “Facebook scores $200 million.”
Facebook has certainly not had any trouble getting new subscribers during this recession. In April, it surpassed 200 million users, an amazing number considering the company started just four years ago.
However, Facebook has had a bit of trouble obtaining investment capital since the start of the recession. That’s understandable, since investors and consumers are trying to be extra careful about where they spend their money.
I found it particularly interesting that the article mentioned Facebook’s overall value fell from roughly $15 billion in October 2007 to about $10 billion in May 2009. That drop coincides with my blog entry “Marketers cut social media presence when they need it most.” As times get tough, companies cut back on things they consider to be nonessential, and social-media sites like Facebook and Twitter are being neglected a bit.
Social media is an important part of marketing strategies now that so many of our potential and current customers are using those services. It’s a great way to stay in contact with them. Facebook’s growth and success could affect the way we market products and services in the future so it is wise to be a part of it. Just remember that social media is not search engine optimization, and both should be used to effectively reach customers.
The Russian company that invested $200 million in Facebook said they think Facebook could become one of the largest Internet companies in the world some day. Seventy percent of their users are already outside the United States, so they’re on their way.
The photo of the pile of dollar bills is from Flickr, and it is the copyright of mmarchin.
Tags: article, CNN, company, Ecommerce, eHarbor, facebook, future, marketing, news, positive, Social Media
Posted in Ecommerce, Media | 2 Comments »
