Dwight Design offers these 11 website design mistakes that you shouldn’t be making. If your website commits any of these sins, it’s time to have a word with your webmaster (unless you insisted on them over their objections, in which case it’s time you sat down in front of a mirror and repeated “I am NOT a web designer” until you really, truly get it.)
The ladies over at the Bitchery are discussing the concept of authors promoting their books in Second Life:
…not only can authors promote themselves in the “real world,” but they can promote themselves in virtual worlds as well, with avatars representing their actual selves, interacting with an entirely different audience of potential readers. (Or you can be really pessimistic about it and shriek to yourself, “OMGWTF I have to promote myself in TWO UNIVERSES NOW?!”
It’s 1:30am. Do you know where your avatar is?
(BTW, if you’re interested in some weapons-grade visual humor and not offended by a little man-titty - okay, a lot of man-titty…a lot of scary, scary man-titty - spend some time working through their Covers Gone Wild category on the Archives page, where they roast God-awful romance and erotica book covers. But save it for home. Some items are most definitely not safe for work, and most of them will provoke sounds that could cause co-workers to call in EMS on account of your having a choking seizure in the next cubicle over. A recent commenter’s angst sums up this collection quite effectively: Saying “behind the fold” isn’t nearly warning enough. You ought to add “viewing these covers may permanently damage your DNA and affect future generations.”)
author, bitchery, books, marketing, promotion, publishing, second life, virtual worldFrom BusinessWeek’s SmallBiz Magazine comes this quick take about an entrepreneur in Second Life:
Rhonda Lillie makes about $12,000 a year selling virtual shoes to virtual people in a virtual world…Lillie, 38, who lives in Oxnard, Calif., rents land in Second Life for about $8 a month. She sells her shoes for $4 to $10. Because the shoes are just images, Lillie has an unlimited supply.
Lillie, 38, currently does not have a day job. Says Lillie: “I wouldn’t have any idea how to run a real-life business.”
Yes, folks, this is the new face of business. Granted, she’s not setting the Fortune 100 track on fire. But others are. How are you planning to meet your customers who view Second Life and other online worlds as just an extension of their meatspace reality? Do you have any idea how to compete with, collaborate with or learn from her and others like her?
Know this: this is reality. It’s going on right now, it’s growing very quickly and “real world” money is flowing through the virtual world in big, splashy gouts that are only getting bigger and splashier. If you’re not at least aware of it and how it can affect your business for good or ill - and how your competitors may be using it to do an end run around your meatspace-only biz - you’re missing some vital data from your business plan.
business, business week, cyberspace, entrepreneur, meatspace, second life, small biz magazine, virtual world