Tuesday's push is for MyMunster.com, a networking site for Munster Rugby Supporters. Tuesday Push is a coordinated spread of an idea launched by Damien Mulley.
Adrian Wreckler thinks that Irish Tech companies should get Government Aid. I don't agree fully. While I do think SFI is a bloated money black-hole, I think there Seed Capital is missing in Ireland. A lot of people seem to think European companies are over-government reliant - and while I do agree, I think they're forgetting that the US Government was extremely interventionist until the private sector took over. The US Government established the Small Business Investment Fund in 1958 as a precursor to VC. The EU followed suit in 1994. Private sector VC took off in the US in the 1970's. However, Seed capital funding is far easier to get in Europe and the US than it is in say, Limerick or Cork Or Tipperary or Dublin. I think the Government has a big role to play, particularly in the recovery in 2009. Have your say here.
Bizcamp Limerick, the business startup site for Limerick, now has 123 sign-ups! The Bizcamp is taking place on the 21st March this year and looks like it will be a cracking event. The RTE news video on the Dublin Bizcamp, which was an outstanding success is also on the site. Well done to the organisers of both!
We've been appointed SEO providers to Munster Energy Solutions with their new website, www.mes.ie. Munster Energy Solutions are BER Assessors in Limerick, Cork and Kerry. They are also able to assess commercial buildings, which not all BER Assessors are certified to. All new houses/apartments sold in 2009 will need a BER Certificate as will any existing house or apartment let in or after 2009.
World Vision Ireland announce a new blog for their mini-marathon fund-raiser. Best of luck!
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Thursday, March 5, 2009
While the EU, US and UK cut rates, taxes...
...we're too busy finding new ones or raising old ones. Raising new taxes, existing ones and VAT will dry up the spare money we have, contribute towards deflation (which sounds good but really, really isn't) will result in more domestic companies closing - particularly consumer related like food, retail, property and so on...Yet nothing is being done about economic stimulation. Training will not help. New jobs are not being created. We have too many solicitors, accountants, architects, IT professionals, teachers. And these are quite well educated people.
Actually the government has just confirmed my worst fear: apparently SME's can't help themselves - we need the councils to help (although they already have Enterprise Support): http://www.rte.ie/business/2009/0305/sfa.html. What a dire waste this will be.
Limerick Open Coffee Club was a great success. I met Tony Frattaroli, the Limerick Entrepreneur who went on to the Dragon's Den and shared the behind the scenes experiences of the grueling 1hr30's he spent discussing his ideas with the Dragon's as well some other insights we as an audience don't get to see. Tony is a dynamic, determined and self-motivated person - a perfect entrepeneur - just the type we need to be encouraging more of in Ireland.
We were appointed SEO to www.PolskiQuote.ie, which has a fluent Polish brokerage team (Ubezpieczenie samochodu).
We're also doing the SEO for accomplished beauty clinic, www.Akina.ie, who provide a range of treatments include skincare treaments, laser treatment and beauty treatments among others!
Actually the government has just confirmed my worst fear: apparently SME's can't help themselves - we need the councils to help (although they already have Enterprise Support): http://www.rte.ie/business/2009/0305/sfa.html. What a dire waste this will be.
Limerick Open Coffee Club was a great success. I met Tony Frattaroli, the Limerick Entrepreneur who went on to the Dragon's Den and shared the behind the scenes experiences of the grueling 1hr30's he spent discussing his ideas with the Dragon's as well some other insights we as an audience don't get to see. Tony is a dynamic, determined and self-motivated person - a perfect entrepeneur - just the type we need to be encouraging more of in Ireland.
We were appointed SEO to www.PolskiQuote.ie, which has a fluent Polish brokerage team (Ubezpieczenie samochodu).
We're also doing the SEO for accomplished beauty clinic, www.Akina.ie, who provide a range of treatments include skincare treaments, laser treatment and beauty treatments among others!
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Friday, February 27, 2009
Rocketjobs announces Primary Position as SEO Partner
RocketJobs.ie, Irelands newest jobs website, has awarded us the contract for providing Search Engine Optimisation for it's website. Derek Hardiman, founder and CEO or RocketJobs made the announcement today in Dublin after choosing from a number of very strong proposals and we're delighted to have been selected.We put together a very comprehensive programme and proposal, which began about 3 weeks ago, to increase the visibility and traffic to the RocketJobs site and we're looking forward to seeing this site more frequently at the top of the job search listings in Ireland.
RocketJobs announced the partnership on their blog and you can read the full release at http://blog.rocketjobs.ie/2009/02/27/rocketjobsie-selects-primary-position-as-seo-partner/.
About RocketJobs.ie
RocketJobs.ie is an industry wide jobs site focussed on making the search and application process as easy and as quick as possible for job seekers. With a number of the major agencies already on board RocketJobs.ie is poised to increase the number of roles on the site significantly in the coming weeks. With a continuous attention to improving the user experience of the site RocketJobs.ie has recently released the first Twitter job search capability in the Irish market, with more social networknig features to follow in the short term.
More information is available on our site and our blog.
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Wednesday Web Wrap-up
AIB and BOI are each to get €3.5 billion each in re-capitalisation. Please call them if you need to be recapitalisedICTU have a plan - we'll all just find new jobs after we get skills. Somehow they missed where those jobs will come from...absolutely no reference to job creation. Apart from Government hires of course.
Lots of posts for yesterday's Tuesday Push (which I missed) which was for Sxoop Technologies' Twitter Mosaic Tool, which is pretty cool!
Niall Harbison has rebranded iFoods.tv as LookandTaste.com. Congratulations and best of luck!
Save money on your bills - shop for alternative Broadband, digital TV, Insurance and Travel with uChoose.ieLooking for Corporate booking and hotel search? Try MustBook.ie.
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Reacting to the Recession- VC for Limerick (& Others)
The Limerick Open Coffee Club is meeting tomorrow at 11:00am in the Absolute Hotel. All welcome. I've been getting some great support and feedback and even a few offers for the Bizcamp and the Incubator, now christened "Greenhouse Limerick" by it's founder, Evert Bopp.
After reading Nev Farell's thought provoking post, I've been thinking. I'm sure the government will get a programme up in Limerick - sometime. To the best of my knowledge, they did an ok job with developing Galway and tech development there, based on larger grants and % claimable, and larger tax benefits on BES (I could be wrong), under the BMW Invesment incentives.
But these incentives were dished out, albeit in higher quantities, through the usual agencies. And these agencies have their hands tied in terms of what they'll support. Even if you meet the somewhat questionable requirements (why emply 15 people over 3 years, whats wrong with 12 per sè?)
Some of the worst ideas
The Tax incentives for building hotels - this was a disaster of an incentive. According to one publication on www.taxwatch.ie, prepared by John Heffernan, shows that "room occupancy levels across all regions were 5% below the 2000 levels in 2004" yet the government ploughed ahead.
This was despite a 2005 report by Indecon, prepared for the Deparment of Finance, shows that" €664m capital expenditure was actually incurred on tax based hotel projects with a further €651m to €1302m likely to be incurred on future projects".
Why couldn't the government put this into developing small business in Ireland? We've known for years the high exposure we've had to foreign multinationals (not they haven't had a great positive influence, we've just been a little over dependent) and to manufacturing industries. How is Ireland supposed to develop it's own? Irish people don't invest in ideas. As one colleague said to me today, about Irish Innovation: "If someone else isn't doing, then we definitely won't". People who do have ideas have nowhere to go, and this is particularly true with the onset of the Credit Crunch.
Even a special localised VC fund of just €50 million would do wonders in Limerick. We could start a multitude of smart, innovative companies. Most companies stray from their original ideas but the original idea gets them started or creates the right set of questions and answers to get it started. We can't reproduce great idea generating in a scientific method but we can grow them by supporting innovative thinkers, sponsoring incubation centres, facilitating networking and providing funding.
Enterprise Ireland
Sadly I've heard more bad stories than good but I've also seen quite a few companies become successful thanks to aid. Unfortunately too few. They have strict, rigid meeting and education systems instead of open networking events. It's too much like school, it's too inhibitive.
The solution
We need to throw out our tax incentives and start looking inward. We had €70 billion in 2008 in the National Pension Reserve Fund. If we hit 10% or 20% unemployment, whats the point of having a massive retirement fund. Dublin has lots and lots of VC. No wonder the government cannot decentralise. Why can't we put €8 billion into Cork, Limerick, Galway, Waterford, Ennis and Sligo, in proportionate amounts, into BUSINESSES, not into hotels, property, roads.
The government and civil servants will not and cannot solve innovation, invention and enterprise growth. Private sector businesses can and need this funding. This funding would create a safe haven for banks to invest in and for the agencies to deliver grants and other inestments. €1 billion invested in Limerick and Cork, say, could help create up to 2,000 companies with 5 employees. That would remove 10,000 people from the dole.
Incubation centres, according to Wikipedia [?], have an 87% success rate even after 5 years. If just 50% of these were successful, and just 1% became big enough to employ more than 500 people, it would be a roaring success. Plus they'd have a base in Ireland, not North America where they currently have to go.
After reading Nev Farell's thought provoking post, I've been thinking. I'm sure the government will get a programme up in Limerick - sometime. To the best of my knowledge, they did an ok job with developing Galway and tech development there, based on larger grants and % claimable, and larger tax benefits on BES (I could be wrong), under the BMW Invesment incentives.
But these incentives were dished out, albeit in higher quantities, through the usual agencies. And these agencies have their hands tied in terms of what they'll support. Even if you meet the somewhat questionable requirements (why emply 15 people over 3 years, whats wrong with 12 per sè?)
Some of the worst ideas
The Tax incentives for building hotels - this was a disaster of an incentive. According to one publication on www.taxwatch.ie, prepared by John Heffernan, shows that "room occupancy levels across all regions were 5% below the 2000 levels in 2004" yet the government ploughed ahead.
This was despite a 2005 report by Indecon, prepared for the Deparment of Finance, shows that" €664m capital expenditure was actually incurred on tax based hotel projects with a further €651m to €1302m likely to be incurred on future projects".
Why couldn't the government put this into developing small business in Ireland? We've known for years the high exposure we've had to foreign multinationals (not they haven't had a great positive influence, we've just been a little over dependent) and to manufacturing industries. How is Ireland supposed to develop it's own? Irish people don't invest in ideas. As one colleague said to me today, about Irish Innovation: "If someone else isn't doing, then we definitely won't". People who do have ideas have nowhere to go, and this is particularly true with the onset of the Credit Crunch.
Even a special localised VC fund of just €50 million would do wonders in Limerick. We could start a multitude of smart, innovative companies. Most companies stray from their original ideas but the original idea gets them started or creates the right set of questions and answers to get it started. We can't reproduce great idea generating in a scientific method but we can grow them by supporting innovative thinkers, sponsoring incubation centres, facilitating networking and providing funding.
Enterprise Ireland
Sadly I've heard more bad stories than good but I've also seen quite a few companies become successful thanks to aid. Unfortunately too few. They have strict, rigid meeting and education systems instead of open networking events. It's too much like school, it's too inhibitive.
The solution
We need to throw out our tax incentives and start looking inward. We had €70 billion in 2008 in the National Pension Reserve Fund. If we hit 10% or 20% unemployment, whats the point of having a massive retirement fund. Dublin has lots and lots of VC. No wonder the government cannot decentralise. Why can't we put €8 billion into Cork, Limerick, Galway, Waterford, Ennis and Sligo, in proportionate amounts, into BUSINESSES, not into hotels, property, roads.
The government and civil servants will not and cannot solve innovation, invention and enterprise growth. Private sector businesses can and need this funding. This funding would create a safe haven for banks to invest in and for the agencies to deliver grants and other inestments. €1 billion invested in Limerick and Cork, say, could help create up to 2,000 companies with 5 employees. That would remove 10,000 people from the dole.
Incubation centres, according to Wikipedia [?], have an 87% success rate even after 5 years. If just 50% of these were successful, and just 1% became big enough to employ more than 500 people, it would be a roaring success. Plus they'd have a base in Ireland, not North America where they currently have to go.
Saturday, January 31, 2009
The top things that twitter Social Media Experts DONT tell YOU
They're everywhere on twitter. Easy to spot and fit into the same profile. They are twitters self-acclaimed "Social Media Experts" (also: Ninja, Gurus). Niall Harbison and others have posted about them - they're a modern day plague.
If you've been on twitter for longer than a week, then chances are you already know them! The bio's with big cheesy smiles, often American, self proclaiming their Social Media/Marketing expertise based on the 10,000 followers and a blog containing 10-, 15- or 25 top tips to market on twitter. Nuggets of information like "Top 10 Tools used by Top Twitter Marketeers".
Well they aren't experts - they may be taking advantage of a very open and friendly social media tool - and the people who use them -but they are not top marketeers. There is nothing wrong with mixing business and social media if it's done right. But you don't go around to your freinds house and repeat every 2 mins "I can make you rich. Log on to my blog right NOW to find out how!". It's ridiculous, shameless self-promoting at it's worst.
If you've been on twitter for longer than a week, then chances are you already know them! The bio's with big cheesy smiles, often American, self proclaiming their Social Media/Marketing expertise based on the 10,000 followers and a blog containing 10-, 15- or 25 top tips to market on twitter. Nuggets of information like "Top 10 Tools used by Top Twitter Marketeers".
All of them proffer advice about marketing but it's always twitter-related. Twitter DVD's about "Traffic Explosion 2" and "How to get 45,000 followers while eating a small sandwhich." etc.
Well they aren't experts - they may be taking advantage of a very open and friendly social media tool - and the people who use them -but they are not top marketeers. There is nothing wrong with mixing business and social media if it's done right. But you don't go around to your freinds house and repeat every 2 mins "I can make you rich. Log on to my blog right NOW to find out how!". It's ridiculous, shameless self-promoting at it's worst.
Time to shed some light on them with my
Top Things Social Media Experts DON'T tell YOU!
Top Things Social Media Experts DON'T tell YOU!
- They claim to be online marketing experts. They have a blog about it. Truth: Funny how their blog often has no PageRank or a low PageRank (i.e. Google doesn't think much about it) and their only visitors come from twitter. That's not online marketing! Real Online marketeers, whether using social media or SEO have been at it for longer than 2 months and have some PageRank. It's a good test for anyone.
- They back up their claims with the 4,000 followers they "gained" while putting on their socks this morning. Truth: They may be following your tweets (for a while anyway) but they're not hanging on your every word! The reality is that when you follow someone, they follow you back, it's polite. It's not because you're a genius. Having followers on Twitter doesn't make you a leader.
- Twitter is broadcast channel and they are the News Desk. Repeating the same message daily about sharing Aloha or how they got $4,000 in one hour (and you can too!). Truth: After getting bored, most people stop following and ignore them. Twitter and tweeters don't need this and if most of your followers are selling the same thing, how are you going to sell to them.
- Twitter is great for marketing. And you need them to tell you how! Truth: Twitter is great for marketing if people recognise you as a leader in what you do and recommend you or write about you. If people just promote you or link to you because they want to get promoted, you end up with a meaningless list of sheep. Just share your thoughts, news and information and -if it's good - people will follow you automatically.
- They're getting thousands of visitors while just sipping on a soda. They clearly have the magic formula and you need to buy the ebook before it sells out. Truth: They have lists of followers as long as highway BUT - here's where it falls down - 90% of them are selling the same message.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)