Please check out my new RobDKelly.com blog for all these postings and much, much more. Thanks, Rob Kelly

Here Are The 5 Major Stages of Startup Funding

A friend of mine recently asked me about the different stages of startup financing --  so I figured I'd write it down for you too! There are certainly other sources of startup capital besides the ones listed below, but these five are the top ones; and they're typically used roughly in the order I list them. File:Euro banknotes.png

5 Stages of Startup Funding

1) Seed Capital

This is typically the very first investment of money used to for market research and developing product. It can come from the founder's personal savings (e.g. from a severance package from the founder's prior job) or from acquaintances (aka a "Friends & Family" or "F&F" Round). Seed capital can be received as a loan… Continue reading

Remote Workers: Check Out Your New Virtual Colleague!

Here's a cool robot that can cruise around your home or office with a 5 mega-pixel HD camera with zoom due out this Fall from AnyBots. Not bad for $15,000. Applications/Features?
  • If you work from home, this robot can cruise to your front door and show you who's ringing your bell
  • This robot can be your eyes and ears at another location (while you stay put)
Check out these videos. This one is a corporate video from AnyBots.com (but it shows the robot in action): Here's an example of AnyBot checking out a White Board session (so that you don't have to be there to collaborate): Here's a separate story on AnyBots from Network World… Continue reading

7 Easy Steps On How To Set Up A Blog Using WordPress

My non-profit friend Emily asked me for advice on setting up a blog. I recommended she use WordPress (it's what I use in this blog) for the following reasons:
  • Cost -- WordPress is mostly free (you will have to spend $10 to $20 on hosting stuff (explained below)
  • Flexibility -- WordPress is open-source and has many different developers supporting it with widgets and plug-ins.
  • Google Loves It -- Wordpress appears to be indexed by Google faster than other blog platforms (including, ironically, the Blogger platform which is owned by Google). This quick indexing is important in terms of Google sending you free traffic.

7 Easy Steps On How To Set Up A Blog Using WordPress

Here's a 51-minute video tutorial by blog pro Chris Abraham explaining how to set up WordPress. In it, he explains everything you… Continue reading

5 Search Marketing Tips From SMX

My Search Marketing Expert friend Dan Rosenbaum was kind enough to let me share a summary of the SMX conference he attended recently. Here are 5 Search Marketing Tips he learned from the conference: 1. Don't bother creating separate site to appeal to Bing and Google. Back in the Bad Old Days, it was considered a good idea to code your website in such a way that it would appeal to the half-dozen or so search engines -- each of which wanted to see something different. Now that Google gets the majority of searches, people don't do that so much anymore. But with the rise of Bing, there was some concern that Bing might be focusing on different signals than Google. Rand Fishkin, of SEOMoz, showed some experimental data that… Continue reading

How To Select The Best Domain Name To Attract Search Engines

Did you know that one domain name could easily get you 5-times as much search engine traffic as another similar-sounding domain name!? Picking the best domain name for your business is an important decision...especially given that search engines will examine your domain name to determine how much traffic to send it. To pick the best domain name for a search engine, you're gonna have to consider:
  • What words or phrases are your prospective customers typing into search engines?
  • Should a search engine know about your location?
  • How many domain names should you own to maximize your traffic from a search engine?
  • What's the importance of "Micro-Sites" or "Campaign-Sites"?
  • And more!
To help answer those domain name/search marketing questions, I reconnected with my old friend Lana Goldenberg the other day (we worked together at Topica and Hot Topic Media). Lana… Continue reading