Social media is hot. It's what VCs are investing in, and bright entrepreneurs are looking for investment in. It seems to me like there are three groups involved in this brave new world of media: The new New Media companies that are popping up every minute, each hoping to be the next MySpace or the latest hottie, Facebook. The people who use existing platforms to create and lead a community: the bloggers, the Ning community builders, the forum managers, etc. The audience: those who join the communities, forums, etc. and enjoy the ease with which they can publish online. Group 1 wants to make money. Group 2 also wants to make money, although there are ...

Facebook is on everybody's minds these days (or blogs). It's the latest killer app/site/web 2.0/social/community thingy. Well, it's not really the latest, since it's been around for a few years, but since they opened up registration to non-college people, it really took off. Since I joined Facebook, I've been able to create a continuous connection with family and friends who are overseas, and rediscover friends from days of yore. I've had people contact me who I haven't seen or spoken to for 15 years! Cons of Facebooking for business But is Facebook a good business tool? I'm not sure. A number of bloggers believe that Facebook is a good business tool, ...

Ok folks, the next Entrepreneur Breakfast is coming up next week, so mark your calendars! The topic: Creating Financial Models for Assessing the Success of your Business. Read on... Entrepreneur Breakfast is a not-for-profit effort to strengthen the small business community in Israel. The group meets monthly and the idea is to come together to gain valuable knowledge, advice, and support from each other. Date: July 31, 2007 Venue: Cafe Joe, 38 Keren Hayesod, Jerusalem - corner of Keren Hayesod and Jabotinsky. Time: 8:30-10:00 am; Cost: 45 NIS Lecture topic: Creating Financial Models for Assessing the Success of your Business Speaker: Mark VanGelderen, Manager of Israel Resource Network Financial Planners. Mark has been in the financial planning business in Israel for over ...

Have you ever asked someone for directions in Israel, or given directions yourself? Giving directions in Israel is an art and almost a religion. While there are those who will misguide you, many will take five minutes to tell you exactly where to go, and if you ask someone who is in their car, they will often tell you just to follow them. And streets in Israel aren't like in Toronto (where I grew up) - there, everything is north, south, east and west. Giving directions there is easy since it's all about the number of blocks until you turn right or left. In Israel, parallel roads are never exactly parallel, and they can end up meeting each other at some point. ...

Small businesses have small marketing budgets. In a previous post, I listed 5 low-cost ways to market your business. Two of the methods mentioned were advertising on Google Adwords and Dapei Zahav. Since bootstrapping businesses need to ensure that every advertising dollar is justified, I decided to conduct an unofficial study comparing Google Adwords and Dapei Zahav (the Israeli version of the Yellow Pages). The winner with no holds-barred: Google Adwords. Here is a comparison of the features of both advertisers: Dapei Zahav: For a relatively low monthly fee, you can have your business appear on their site at the top of the classification of your choice. I put ...

In Israel, businesses may set up Google Adword campaigns that use their competitors' names and brands as keywords. In August 2006 an Israeli judge ruled that Crazy Line, a women's clothing retail chain, was not guilty of any wrongdoing when they set up an Adwords campaign using the keywords of another clothing store, Matim Li. But I still think it's a bit sneaky to do that kind of thing. If a person is looking for a certain store, it is unfair to shove your brand in their face. It's pushy, and even demeaning to try to ride the wave of someone else's success. Whether it's right or wrong, imagine my surprise when I discovered ...

There is still the perception that business is a man's world. I would maybe say that it's a "man-style world," i.e. women are welcome as long as they act like men. From conversations with other women who run their own businesses, I see that many feel very self-conscious about being women in what they see as "a man's world." Some make efforts to suppress or hide signs of femininity, and try to blend in with the men around them. As a result, many women will also never discuss the fact they are mothers, and will even ...

Netvision apparently thinks that they are the rulers of all things Internet in Israel. They may have a large market share of Internet accounts, but their bravado with regards to Internet standards really takes the cake. Background: Like many services or technologies that are used worldwide, such as telephones and electricity, the Internet has Standards. These standards ensure that websites are accessible to all in all places because they all follow certain rules related to domain names and the like. The organization that develops and enforces these standards is ISOC, which is short for The Internet Society. ISOC has many branches all over the world, including ISOC-IL, the Israeli branch. It ...