Bellevue, WA Community

Daniel Genser

Member since: Apr 23, 2007
Last activity: Sep 14, 2009

35 comments |12
  • The weather the last couple days certainly supports that idea!

    I have to say I do like the idea of one speaker talking to the group about their knowledge area, that way it's a social thing as well as a learning thing.

    Aaron Gaul is just launching his search engine and pay per click marketing business. Maybe we can get him to give a little talk, introducing that world to the group.

    Posted Apr 06, 2009 Topic Ideas for Next Vashon Event? a conversation started by Daniel Genser
  • I like your idea Emily! Let's infiltrate with positivity!

    Posted Mar 20, 2009 Indie Business Climate on Vashon a conversation started by Daniel Genser
  • Looking forward to meeting you tonight, Nancy and Spike - welcome to Biznik!

    Posted Mar 19, 2009 Vashon Island Meet & Greet with Wine and Art hosted by Daniel Genser
  • Welcome to Biznik Gwynneth,

    My wife and I traveled to New Orleans last July as part of a conference for a disaster relief management software application we were volunteering our help on. While there we got a chance to visit St. Louis #1 and #3.

    St. Louis #1 is the cemetery made somewhat famous in the movie Easy Rider, and was to us the most fascinating. You can find some of our photos from it in the second half of this photo set: http://www.flickr.com/photos/teamgenser/sets/72157605948506769/

    Posted Mar 19, 2009 Historic Cemetery Researcher a conversation started by Gwynneth Anderson
  • Interesting thought, Aaron. I think there is a growing recognition that many things can be taken care of remotely, along with a growing awareness of when to escalate communications from email --> telephone --> in person.

    Posted Mar 17, 2009 since we live on an island... a conversation started by Scott Aaron Gaul
  • Looking forward to seeing you all there! In conjunction with the event, I've started a public Vashon Island group here on Biznik. Here's the URL: http://biznik.com/groups/vashon-island

    See you Thursday!

    PS: Please spread the word among other Vashon Islanders who may be interested.

    Posted Mar 16, 2009 Vashon Island Meet & Greet with Wine and Art hosted by Daniel Genser
  • This is an interesting, if very selective, read on our current financial climate. I agree that some of the reason for our current situation is due to an echo chamber effect, however the assessments you've made here are incredibly one-dimensional.

    Posted Jan 02, 2009 Economic Meltdown or Optimism Meltdown? by Catherine Yan He, MPH. MBA.
  • Excellent, easily digestible tidbits to counteract the claims, "But I'm too busy to network!"

    Especially the blog commenting part. It's too easy to be a passive reader and not a contributor.

    Posted May 30, 2008 Two-Minute Online Networking Drills by Zita Gustin
  • <blockquote>"...failure to use every marketing tool at your disposal is simply foolish."</blockquote>

    I disagree. That's like saying failure to use every ingredient in your kitchen is simply foolish. I do agree that selective sound usage on websites can be done well - but only when a visitor is expecting to hear it!

    You risk having your sound bit ignored (in the case of the 99% that sound is turned off in a business environment) to really annoying your audience (in the case of the 1% that didn't realize their sound was turned on.)

    Posted May 05, 2008 Enhancing Web Effectiveness With Audio Sound Design by Jerry Bader
  • Excellent reminder John. It's good to remember the purpose of getting good search ranking - to attract visitors to your website. Then what?

    That's a question that seems to be dropped sometimes by business owners after an initial interest in their new website.

    Posted Mar 14, 2008 Why you might consider a search marketing strategy before an SEO campaign by john andrews
  • Romeo & Juliet

    In his initial meeting with Juliet, Romeo made sure to lay the groundwork for the next meeting - he proposed marriage!

    :-)

    Posted Mar 07, 2008 We Met, We Wooed, We Made Exchange of Vow by Daniel Genser
  • Dan - where is your Biznik space for these classes?

    Posted Feb 22, 2008 Discover U closes Doors Leaving Students and Instructors stranded a conversation started by Shauna Brennan
  • Hi Laura and Corbin, Thanks for your comments!

    Corbin, managing multiple channels of communication is a challenge for everyone here, I'm sure. I think it comes down to choosing the right tool for the right task. I use phone/fax/email/IM but I try to manage expectations for each.

    For instance, email is by far my favored form of communication - it's searchable, archivable, and ascynchronous.

    For quick back and forth communication, especially among project members I love IM (especially the Gmail flavored IM - it's archivable and searchable within the Gmail interface).

    For intense conversations, though, there's usually a point at which the best possible IM response is simply "Call me". I most often use IM with my project partners. I don't push IM on clients unless they ask.

    For phones, as the article mentions, I use Grand Central to centralize my office phone and cell phone. I also get email messages when there's a voicemail.

    I try to gently steer clients away from phone calls for non-urgent matters by responding to them with an email instead of a phone call unless they've specifically asked for a return call.

    As much as I wish fax would go away, for getting contracts and proposals signed by non-tech clients, nothing beats it.

    I use the fax-to-email solution offered byFaxaway. They provide a free fax number, unlimited free incoming faxes delivered as PDF or TIFF. Outgoing fax prices depend on the country you send to, but for the US it's .11/minute, with a minimum of 1 minute per fax, along with a $1/month account charge. Their support team is top-notch too and ultra-responsive.

    I have almost no use for snail mail anymore except for receiving checks from clients who don't want to pay by credit card. In fact, as soon as we make our move we will probably be taking advantage of one of those mail filtering companies that scan your email and deliver it as PDFs and then recycle the dead trees.

    Posted Feb 22, 2008 How to Live in Peru and Work in Seattle - Our Approach by Daniel Genser
  • Great article, Aaron. Excellent nuggets of advice.

    While I mostly agree with challenging assumptions, it has to be balanced with the knowledge that web users have many ingrained patterns that they've come to expect and that challenging too many of those patterns all at once can lead to a frustrating user interface that will ultimately drive people away from your site.

    I think you allude to this, but it's worth re-stating that 'stickiness' isn't really something you can just toss in the website mix willy-nilly.

    The client has to be fully committed to the forum, comments, or email newsletter for it to be a success. There's nothing quite so sad as an abandoned web forum. :-(

    Thanks for the good reminders!

    Posted Feb 20, 2008 Five Rules for Great Websites by Aaron Post
  • Yeah I've never really been much of a Dreamweaver an cause of the bloat. I like a quick to load text editor ready to be launched at any time without choking my system.

    I know a lot of people swear by Dreamweaver, though. To each their own.

    Posted Feb 14, 2008 A Good Combination Text Editor and FTP Client for Windows? by Daniel Genser
  • Thanks for tip on WinSCP, Seth. FileZilla does that too, but I was looking for something that combined text editing and FTP in a lean way.

    Since writing this tip, I actually found that in the latest version of Notepad++, there's a FTP plugin that opens up in the sidebar of the app. So far it's worked fairly well and I'm back to Notepad++ as my everyday text editor.

    Posted Feb 13, 2008 A Good Combination Text Editor and FTP Client for Windows? by Daniel Genser
  • Good tip, Dan, thanks! I'm still getting used to planning with the iPhone in mind.

    Justin - you'll want to drop that line of code into your header.php file in between the <head> and </head> tags. You'll be good to go.

    Posted Feb 08, 2008 icon next to url a conversation started by Justin Baker
  • And in order to use the favicon you create on your website, you need to either place it in the root directory of the hosting account for your domain, and/or use this html tag in the <head> area of your website: <link href="http://www.yourdomain.com/favicon.ico"&gt;

    Happy favicon-ing.

    Posted Feb 08, 2008 icon next to url a conversation started by Justin Baker
  • I think it's important to make the distinction between using the voice of a Mom and Pop and purposefully using the Mom and Pop persona as a way to avoid implementing a brand strategy and/or great website.

    "Mom and Pop" doesn't necessarily have to mean cheap. Not that's what you were implying, but it is a common euphemism!

    Posted Feb 01, 2008 Website - Mom & Pop or big biz? a conversation started by Nicole Bandes
  • Thanks for your comment Joanne. Unfortunately, iChat isn't much of an option on my end, as I work in a Windows-based environment. I'm not anti-Mac by any means. I used to own a G4 iBook, but it didn't have a built-in webcam.

    My current laptop, a Sony Vaio, has a built-in webcam that works pretty well.

    Anybody know of any good iChat alternatives?

    Posted Jan 31, 2008 How to Live in Peru and Work in Seattle - Our Approach by Daniel Genser
  • I mostly agree with you, Daniel (I worked as a barista for a few years after high school). However, there is an incalculable benefit to having people spend time in your cafe. People are attracted to people. People in the cafe attract more people to the cafe.

    That said, I think most of us Biznik-ers are pretty aware of the freeloading factor. Personally, I'm a coffee-hound and most of the cafes I've spent a good deal of time in I know have appreciated my business. I've brought new customers and have talked up my favorite ones (eg - this article).

    I think of it kind of like a parking meter. After an hour or two you have to refill it. I usually don't spend much more than 3 or 4 hours working in any one place due to appointments, so I'll make sure I get an espresso drink and a treat, then get another drink if I'm there after a couple hours.

    Do you think that's a good rule-of-thumb?

    As in most things, balance is the key word here. Cafés provide wireless, because they want to attract customers who want wireless. Customers come to the wireless café. Customers buy things. Customers use wireless. I think everyone's happy except in extreme cases.

    Posted Jan 31, 2008 Finding The Perfect Seattle Wifi Café by Daniel Genser
  • I can only suggest what is working for me ... Regence Blue Shield's Breakthrough Individual plans.

    Surprisingly, these plans were more affordable then adding me on my wife's insurance policy through her employer.

    Posted Jan 31, 2008 How can I set up health insurance without breaking the bank? a conversation started by Greg Hoskins
  • That's a good question, Michael. It's one I've been thinking of lately too.

    Ultimately, I think your remote clients will have to be OK with the fact that you're not there in the flesh. For clients that really need personal face time, I don't if there's much that will get them beyond that.

    However for clients that don't need face-to-face, in-person attention, I think a mix of phone/web conferencing/video chat would work.

    I've toyed with the idea of purchasing a decent web cam for some of my best clients and offering to install it and show them how to use it to get them set up for web-based meetings, but I haven't found a killer web-based video conferencing solution yet.

    Has anyone else? I'd like to find one.

    In the meantime, Michael, I think just being responsive by phone and email and staying ahead of the needs of your clients will go a long way towards building up your client's trust enough that they don't feel they need you there in person to know you're working hard for them.

    Posted Jan 31, 2008 How to Live in Peru and Work in Seattle - Our Approach by Daniel Genser
  • Thanks for the referral to Highrise, Ryan. I hadn't seriously looked at it - I'll check it out.

    Posted Jan 31, 2008 How to Live in Peru and Work in Seattle - Our Approach by Daniel Genser
  • Hi Elizabeth - funny you should mention Motore, I used to work from there quite often when I had a contract job downtown. I get a kick out of the owner there. I forget his name, but he was pretty funny.

    Posted Jan 31, 2008 Finding The Perfect Seattle Wifi Café by Daniel Genser
35 comments |12