Great information piece.  Hey you managers out there!!

http://www.cnn.com/2010/OPINION/12/05/fried.office.work/index.html?hpt=C2

We had an excellent day speaking in Parry Sound yesterday at the Charles W. Stockey Centre for Performing Arts.  It was the Georgian Bay Country, Georgian Bay Women’s Network and the Parry Sound Area Chamber of Commerce seminar on Social Media for business.

Great crowd, and a fantastic venue.  Here is just a little view of the day!

Thanks again to Anna Marie and her team for putting on the event!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MpOx3N1iTBo

Now this information makes you think….:

70% of the U.S. population regularly use the Internet
Over 1 billion people in the world are online
The average adult spends 3 hours more a day online than watching T.V.
These are all encouraging statistics for small business owners. It means you have a very large target market, and as long as you have a website, you have a better chance of being found online than in a phonebook, flier, or other advertisement.

But…
There are over 400 million active websites &
The average person only gives a website 10 seconds before deciding whether the site is worth their time.
Which means, you’ve got ten seconds (or less) to:

1) attract the viewer
2) declare your message &
3) get them to take action

IMPOSSIBLE YOU SAY.  Hell NO!

Now we have been saying this for a looooooooooooong time now.  So instead of hitting our heads against the wall, we have found someone to say it for us.  Excellent blog post about golf and social media (and its not us saying it!!)

http://bx.businessweek.com/business-of-golf/view?url=http%3A%2F%2Falanhammond.posterous.com%2Fis-social-media-connecting-for-the-golf-indus

I think I am like most people.  I get bombared each and every day with TV ads, direct mail pieces in the mail…etc. etc.  You all understand where I am coming from.  The think I hate most about these advertisements is that it is very rare to find one that engages me.  I am looking at it, I am reading them before they go into the trash.  Bloody Hell…someone get me excited about their product or service!  Enough already with the fancy pictures and the features and benefits.  Blah Blah Blah.  Where is the story?  Where is the excitement?  Where is the freaking call to action?

Enough ranting by me.  It is becoming a lost art.  Well someone sent me a couple of examples of advertisement copy and I just thought it was great.  So here you go.  I hope you steal some of the nuggets these ads have in them.

Good Ad – Oprea

Good Ad – Offer