Resources
We want your business to grow .
As passionate as we are about media and communication, the Otherside Media team is also dedicated to using technology as a tool for empowerment and eliminating the digital divide.
It doesn’t matter if you’re a small business, nonprofit or community organization, solo artist or everyday citizen, the world is changing and it’s becoming crucial that we all develop the technical skills necessary to be effective in tomorrow’s world.
So with that in mind we’d like this section to be a tip sheet for tools to maximize your business efforts as well as a resource page for information on culture and the arts, sustainable business, volunteer opportunities and political and community activism. Check back often, there’ll be a lot going on over here. And let us know how we can help you. . .
Some of the sites and businesses we use, know and love.
Business
Website tools:
Wordpress: The best web platform for your online business. A free to install, easily custimizable system with a thriving online community of users, developers and support forums.
BluHost: Function rich website hosting with plenty of space and a low yearly cost.
Google Analytics: The best free tracking and analytics tool on the market, period. Provides just about everything you need to track, target and more effectively tailor your website functionality. If you’re not using Google Analytics, you should get in contact with us to fix that. Today.
FileZilla: Our favorite File Transfer Protocal (FTP) client. Filezilla is easy to install and operate and upgrades automatically.
Marketing and Promotions:
PR Web: Promotional tools mainly for web based publicity.
Vertical Response: Create top notch email marketing campaigns.
WebsiteGrader: A quick and easy way to measure your website’s marketing effectiveness. Just enter your URL and WebsiteGrader delivers a detailed task list on how to improve your SEO.
Google Alerts: Get notified whenever someone’s talking about you online. This free Google service sends you an email whenever someone mentions one of your predefined keywords. The service can be used to track your company name, products, relevant discussions and competition.
Social Media
Seesmic Desktop: The best 3rd party Twitter client we’ve seen. Using the elegant (if memory intensive) Adobe Air platform, Seismic runs independent of your web browser and allows you to keep up with your fans even when you’re not browsing the net. The ability to manage multiple accounts, create groups and integrate with your Facebook account are great touches.
TwitPic: Create a Twitpic account and link it to your Twitter profile to send photos from your mobile device directly to your Twitter page. Let your fans see what you’re seeing.
Mr. Tweet: Your personal networking assistant, Mr. Tweet analyzes your Twitter account, recommends new users, tracks your followers and allows you to recommend people you follow.
Facebook:
Fan Pages: Claim your space on one of the world’s largest social media platforms. Facebook is becoming increasingly friendly to businesses and having your own page allows your business to interact with customers in a more personal, informal space.
Customized Tabs: This relatively new and little known feature allows you to create a customized tab for your Fan Page. The blank tab is HTML ready and can used to insert personalized introductions and content not available through normal tabs.
Facebook Pages Insider Guide: The nuts and bolts guide to creating and optimizing your Facebook Fan Page. Get the inside info from the people who created the system.
Other resources:
Friendfeed: While there’s been a lot of talk of how Friendfeed may one day overtake Twitter, right now we’ve found that it’s most useful as a way to link all of your social media accounts and sych information across multiple platforms. Works with all of the major services and offers RSS integration for blogs and websites.
Sharethis: An all in one service for sharing your information throughout the social media world. Web publishers can add a button to their websites to allow readers to easily share and repost information and online visitors can install a button in their browsers and broadcast their interests throughout their network.
Disqus: Turn your blog’s comment section into a full blown community forum. Your visitors can sign up using several different platforms, keep records of their comments and discussions across the web and be notified of new posts and replies.
Tubemogul: Online video is great. Submitting your online video to each and every video site sucks. That’s why Tubemogul’s is so useful. The free service allows you to upload your video once to their site and then it gets posted automatically to all the major video sites. You can even track views across the web and their paid service offers even more in depth tracking and submission options.
Artist and Creative Resources:
Sonic Bids: A digital meeting place for bands looking for gigs and promoters looking for the next big thing.
Etsy: The king of artist sites, Etsy features original arts and crafts by up and coming talents from around the world. The service is easy to use and offers a significant stream of income for many of it’s users.
DeviantArt: Like Etsy, but with an edge. DA is a great place to find original artwork by talented creators of all types. Artists sell everything from custom navigation and social media buttons to posters and photography. Some of the work is free to download and everything is priced reasonably.
The Foundation Center: The big mamma of grants funding information. With several physical offices offering workshops throughout the country, the Foundation Center’s website is a treasure trove on information for artists and organizations looking for grant and foundation information.
Red Room: Sometimes with all the emphasis on multimedia, the web can be a bit disconcerting to those dedicated to the art and craft of writing. Red Room is a social network just for scribes that features an impressive list of big name writers and a vibrant, supportive and serious group of peers and mentors.
Webdelsol: One of the oldest online destinations for writers, WDS is a huge collaboration of cutting edge literary magazines. The writing is high quality and ranges from traditional sonnets to multimedia experimentations. There is also an extensive list of grant and workshop opportunities.
Bay Area Technology and Business Training:
Public Media Collaborative: A group of media and techie do gooders who hold low cost social media trainings throughout Bay Area for community organizations, nonprofits and social justice groups. We’re also available for individual and group sessions.
Renaissance Entrepreneur Center: Bay Area based business and entrepreneurship program. Provides semester and short term classes on everything from business plan writing to billing and staffing.
Media Alliance: The first line of defense in the fight for media equality, MA has been offering media trainings and providing media plannings and strategies to progressive organizations for almost 30 years.
Bay Area Video Coalition: With what is arguably the most advanced multimedia training facility in the Bay Area, BAVC offers a full range of media skills classes ranging from video production and sound editing to flash animation and programming. BAVC also offers several certifications to advance your media career.
