Backup in websites and Construction Marketing

About 15 months ago, I migrated the primary Construction Marketing Ideas blog from this site to one on a server under supposedly under my control, using WordPress software and templates.  When I switched things to the new site, I considered whether to redirect the posts here to the new location, and essentially shut this blog down -- but decided instead to leave things alone, perhaps posting less frequently.The decision to leave this blog intact (in general) has proven to be wise -- especially after things went very wrong last week on the new blog.  Suddenly, spam comment postings -- previously blocked by the blog's software -- started...

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Price, relationships and value

Last night, before our sons' hockey team started playing, an entrepreneur updated me on his construction marketing challenges.  He distributes an environmentally effective LED lighting system -- in fact, a few years ago, he was one of the first to the market with this low-energy lighting model, and discovered (with some incredibly positive media publicity), distributors clamoring at his door for the opportunity to sell his product.  In other words, as a true early adaptor with positive publicity behind him, he had found (at least temporarily) the holy grail of business/entrepreneurship -- a market so strong that individuals would actually...

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The power of respect

Bill Caswell's Respect Revolution is one of my primary resources."Respect" is an interesting and challenging concept in defining relationships, both in business and personal life.  The concept advocates that you acknowledge and sometimes even honor indivudals whose views may diverge from yours and who might even be hostile to you.In business, and in life, the respectful attitude has some rather major advantages, even though these may seem counter-intuitive at first impression.With respect, you disarm the competition and diffuse anger.  Now anger isn't always a bad emotion but if you let it get to your head, you can do dumb things, especially...

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Rebuilding your business: Some guidelines

In the current Construction Marketing Ideas blog, you can read some simple guidelines -- based on hard experience -- on how I moved beyond conflict to discover opportunity.I've learned that, while in business we need to stand up for ourselves if competitors or others seek to bring us down, equally, we need to respect and grow from the experience, which sometimes requires a healthy dose of humili...

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The Construction Marketing Ideas newsletter

This morning, a few thousand people will receive the latest Construction Marketing Ideas newsletter.  You can register (and receive the newsletter beginning next Tuesday) here.The newsletter this week tackles and reports on some of my ethical and business failings.  Yes, I've made plenty of mistakes -- almost at one point, putting my business near the edge.  Ironically, the start of this blog also marked one of the most dramatic turn-arounds in business I've ever seen.  (You can find clues in the "about" box at the new Construction Marketing Ideas blog or go into the deep archives of this bl...

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The Best Construction Blog competition: The final week of voting

var host = (("https:" == document.location.protocol) ? "https://" : "http://");document.write(unescape("%3Cscript src='" + host + "constructionnrhroup.wufoo.com/scripts/widget/embed.js?w=1Mtl6YPRjDW7eM2t9k0ROiwuslashU2wuBe2DJa8vdwKDZNY2hTU=' type='text/javascript'%3E%3C/script%3E"));The final week for popular voting for the Best Construction Blog competition is approaching.  The polls will close at the end of the day on Monday, March 7.You can vote for as many blogs as you wish, once from any email address. (This means, yes, if you have more than one valid email address, you can have more than one ballot.)  It is okay for you to campaign to get out the vote.Parallel with the voting, a judging panel is evaluating the blogs which entered the competition and the three judges will report...

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Construction Marketing Ideas on Facebook and LinkedIn

You can follow Construction Marketing Ideas on Facebook and LinkedIn (as well as Twitter).I generally focus my blog postings here and on the "new" Construction Marketing Ideas blog site, but the LinkedIn group has close to 1,000 members and the FaceBook page has several hundred supporte...

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