We are only two days away from the Old Town Block Party and the entire neighborhood is buzzing with anticipation. As I mentioned in my last Block Party post, this was born out of a brainstorming session at eROI and now has grown into an event with over 20 booths, a record release party, Seven Planet store opening and a rummage sale just to name a few happenings. The eROI lounge will be by the exit on 5th, between Couch and Davis. Come down and say hi to us and all the other Old Town businesses. I can’t think of a better way to spend a Portland Saturday then with food, drinks, shopping and a lot of music. Let’s celebrate our community and help re-erect the Hung Far Low Sign!
When I first started writing for this blog, it was called “Email Days” and featured lots of examples of everyday emails, highlighting the importance of email in our every day lives, not just touting email marketing only. So, I thought I’d go back to my roots a little bit and tell you about an email a friend sent me last night. He is an avid cyclist and knows I like cycling as well, despite the fact that we both mainly commute to work by bike and don’t get to do long rides very often as our weekends are consumed with raising young kids and different kinds of activities then biking. He sent a link to the video below, which is filmed in Portland, Oregon, and really captures the humor of two different types of cyclists – hipsters vs performance. This is one of the funnier videos I’ve seen in a while and is very close to home, literally and figuratively. Enjoy.
OMS has been touring the country to spread the word on online marketing the right way. On June 29th, OMS set up in Portland for a day full of expertise. I brought something back from every speaker and got to watch. eROI’s own Alex Williams did a great job of breaking down the value of a good welcome email for the crowd. Here are some of my other notes from the event:
Aaron Khalow started the event off with key points like 63% of website visitors who don’t find what they are looking for will never come back. It makes a strong case for optimizing your site. He stressed that your website is your foundation but it won’t matter unless you have the tools to encourage people to find it. The three pillars were search – with SEO having the largest impact, email – the fabric that holds it all together, and analytics – customization is key.
Ray “Catfish” Comstock, from Business Online, went deeper into some of these subjects. He illustrated a search cycle that went from ranking to repeat customer.
Why is ranking so important? 90% of traffic happens on the first page of search engines which means you have to be in the top 10 results to have a chance. Like Khalow pointed out, analytics play a huge factor in how you get to the repeat customer. Finding out what keywords are relevant is extremely valuable, personalization and location are both key components.
Other strategies Catfish brought up were optimizing video, news and the use of internal linking. These techniques are effective because there is a lot less competition than with traditional searches.
I met Tom Szaky, barely 25 years old at the time, and a pure, scrappy, entrepreneur’s entrepreneur, at the 2007 Inc. 500 conference in Chicago. He spoke before keynote President Clinton and was clearly the more engaging speaker of the two (a pretty tough feat considering how dynamic Clinton used to be). Tom, born in Hungary, grew up in Canada, and dropped out of Princeton to start “The Coolest Startup in America” called Terracycle where every product and its packaging is made out of garbage. His story is fascinating and the lessons business leaders and public policy-makers can learn from his success are significant. The irony for Portland, one of the greenest cities on Earth, is that most business leaders and policy folks had never heard of him and were quite doubtful that some young kid would be any good as a keynote speaker at the wildly successful Greenlight Greater Portland annual event – thankfully, Tom proved them wrong with an excellent presentation of how to win by innovating and by being greener, better, AND cheaper. I don’t have his presentation electronically, so until I get it, you’ll have to settle for the YouTube video on his Good Morning America and Oprah appearances six weeks prior.
It’s first Thursday in the Rose City and that means shops opened late, free drinks, lots of hipsters and UNKL showing at Compound Gallery! UNKL started right here in Portland with the creativity of Derek Welch and Jason Bacon.
The duo partnered with eROI to create our very own KillROI who has been everywhere from San Francisco to Chi Town!
Alcoa presents (sorry, that’s the beginning of a TV commercial of “The Catch” in the 1982 NFL NFC Championship flashback when Dwight Clark levitated to grab a perfect pass from Joe Montana to lift the 49ers over the Cowboys). But, I digress. My mind faded to the dramatic music to Monday Night Football, but it’s now back on the prize – bragging rights to the Third Annual PAF Battle of the Bands at Someday Lounge in Old Town / Chinatown, Portland, Oregon where the creatives show their true colors after dark. If you want to take a look at videos from prior year’s Battle of the Band, now is your time to really soak in some entertaining video for 2008. It’s going to be almost impossible for eROI to win it for yet a third year in a row, but we’re going to bring our “A” Game. Check it (this is PAF’s main event email and all the info is below):
BATTLE OF THE BANDS
DATE:
Wednesday June 17, 2009
TIME:
6:00 pm
PLACE:
Someday Lounge
224 NW 5th Avenue
Portland, OR
As I was biking in to work this morning along Waterfront Park (Willamette River and Mt. Hood views), I caught up with a colleague of mine who works at the PDC and we rode the rest of the way into work together. It was one of those “Portland moments” where it would be unexpected anywhere else for a couple business guys who haven’t seen each other in 3 months connect on a morning commute into work. Portland, like Amsterdam, has a biking culture, and with the right gear, it’s refreshing to bike rain or shine (although SUN is so so much better). Here is the NY Times article my Dad (who lives in Washington DC) sent me as I arrived at my desk this morning:
“A LOT of good cyclists come out of Portland just because you can ride year-round,” said Bruce Rogers, an athletic-shoe designer visiting from his home in Hailey, Idaho. “I love coming back because I love the biking, no matter what time of year it is. More than fitness, it’s a fun outlet. As long as you have decent rainwear you can ride in any weather.”
Careering through streets on a bicycle in Portland, Ore., this time of year can be an easy weekend adventure that mixes showers, sunbursts, cafes and a robust bicycle culture. And equipped with a sturdy rain jacket, booties, fenders and a bike map (a waterproof version that folds to the size of a credit card is handy), visitors can enjoy the city the way locals do.
KillROI has been a busy robot, checking out the scenes that Portland has to offer. Thanks to Nancy’s creative use of her camera and for sending us the hilarious photos, we are able to share those adventures with you. Here is what Nancy had to say about KillROI’s adventures:
We’ve had a lot of fun touring around Old Town Chinatown, KillROI’s home (and mine).
From a First Thursday event at ANKA Gallery, to the Steel Bridge and the Portland Classical Chinese Garden, KillROI took it all in stride.
On a tour of the Central Library’s eco-roof, KillROI proved to have no fear of heights, and on a snowshoe trek to Mt. Hood’s Trillium Lake, KillROI conquered a mountain of snow.
My personal favorite is the “where’s waldo” version–the hood of an art car. Where next? Only the Shadow knows . . . .
Thanks again Nancy and we look forward to what lies ahead for our good friend KillROI!
Ever since we moved into the Technology & Arts Building on 505 NW Couch Street, we’ve loved it – it’s in the heart of Oldtown / Chinatown and 1 block from downtown. It has the coolest, hipest retail (Compound), favorite indie coffee place in town (Backspace), best Steak & Cheese sandwiches (Ford’s Cafe), killer drinks and ambience (Someday Lounge), and coming soon – the first and only upscale business lunch spot in the entire neighborhood (Davis Street Tavern).
However, this blog post isn’t about all the killer stuff currently in our building. It’s about the development happening across the street in the full city block parking lot that’s about to become the hotspot in town for upscale grocery shopping (Japanese + Chinese), retail, farmer’s market, and all kinds of other goodness. Check out this recent Portland Tribune article talking all about it!
It’s not totally a done deal, but it’s looking good. Ain’t life grand.
The skeptic in me says “I’ve never heard of this entity before,” “seems fishy,” “never heard of the award before,” “why did they send it to sales@ – a spam-related email.”
But the optimist in me thinks maybe there is 5% validity to this award.
Should I be a skeptic or think it’s real. Please comment below to tell me your thoughts.
Alright, so I’m incredibly biased towards local success stories in the Portland software community. I think it’s relevant to share an amazing story / article in Forbes on Jive Software’s meteoric growth in the web 2.0 collaboration space taking on behomeths Microsoft and Lotus.
Higher Office
by Claire Cain Miller
Upstart Jive Software aims to change the way people work by bringing social networking to the office. It’s up against some firm called Microsoft.
Jive Software chief executive David Hersh has a lofty goal: a world where office work is so fulfilling, inspiring and free of trivialities that parodies like Dilbert and The Office cease to exist.
There are loftier goals–ending genocide, famine, cancer–but Hersh’s is a good fight, and you can make a lot of money helping companies get themselves out of those endless e-mail chains and pointless meetings of office work. Jive’s software uses the Web to do that.
“People live in e-mail and documents no one else can see. We’re changing the way companies work,” says Hersh.
If you are wanting email marketing or interactive agency best practices, you’re not going to get it in this blog post. As a former prankster in high school and father of two daughters who will be in high school in a decade, I love coming across articles like this school just a couple miles from my house:
“PORTLAND, Ore. – Administrators at Lincoln High School are trying to find out who sent a hoax letter to parents about this Saturday’s senior prom.
The letter is printed on what appears to be Portland Public Schools letterhead and it says students will likely be drinking, doing drugs, and having sex on prom night.
The letter goes on to encourage parents to open their homes for parties so kids don’t drink and drive and even provides instructions on how much alcohol to provide.
District officials say they did not send the letter and that it is an elaborate hoax.
In addition to finding out who wrote and sent the letters, the district wants to know how the pranksters gained access to addresses of parents and guardians of Lincoln students.”
Thank you thank you, Jonathan Brinckman. You did a great job talking about how “something very different is going on in Portland, where a cluster of software firms have set up shop in and around Old Town:
Two crucial factors are driving the trend: Software companies — particularly those focusing on social networking, online advertising and finance — are thriving. And a hip office in a central location can be a competitive edge in attracting top-notch staff.”
Portland, OR – In a move that both shocked and surprised the city of Portland, eROI left the urban grid. After 12 months of negotiations, remodeling and settling into their new building in Old Town Portland, they just picked up and moved to a field of solar powered yurts just east of their world HDQs along the Willamette River.” Read the full story on eROI’s other blog: The Email Wars
Great Welcome Email - Every once in a while I get a nice surprise. I was told the other day that Levis had a great new welcome email and that it lived up to the promise on the home page. What was this promise? Well if you look at the home page at the footer they state “Sign up [...]
I am excited to join a great panel for an upcoming Software Association of Oregon event called 
