Patrick

Hello, KarateForums.com recognizes one member every month as the Member of the Month for their positive contributions to this community. The August 2011 selection is... Liver Punch. Congratulations! Thanks, Patrick

Long post alert, long post alert. I had a few thoughts and then it grew longer. Here is that stream of consciousness: This really isn't anything new. Sideburns, you mention the Yellow Pages. Let's think of it in that context, since the Yellow Pages have been around for a while. Are all martial art schools in the phone book? No, they aren't. Why weren't or aren't they? Well, they have their reasons. Everyone has different goals. Some people don't want others to discover their school - or, perhaps, they only want people to find out about it through referral. That's totally cool. Everyone is different. It's important to remember that. It's good to have diversity. The tried and true method of having people actually come to your school, as you put it Sideburns, hasn't changed at all. What has always been true is that to come to your school in person, they actually need to know it exists. And that's where the Yellow Pages, the internet, good signage, good location, an advertisement, word of mouth, etc. all come in. If you want people to discover your school, consider attending it, learn more about what you teach, etc., then you want to put yourself in a position to be discovered by them. To do that, you need to be where they look. Different people look in different places. And, for many people, that's the internet - and Google is probably the largest part of that. For what some martial arts schools spend on marketing and promotional materials that aren't internet related, generally speaking, I think they would be better suited to spending a couple of thousand dollars to get themselves a nice website, with it's own domain name, that they can keep up to date. Not Facebook, not some free website creator, not some website that you put together over the weekend. Where the Yellow Pages limited you by space, online, you have as much space as you need to tell your story. That's very powerful. But, a lot of people think they know better and cut corners where they gladly spend money on things they could cut. As Sideburns mentioned, a nice website isn't indicative of the quality of a school. But, given the choice between a nice website and one that looks a bit more amateurish, why choose the second one? I suspect it is unfair to try to take anything negative from having a website or not having one. I disagree with the thought that if you have a website, you are more likely to be a McDojo. On one hand, you expect McDojos to have a website because they are supposedly great marketers. But, on the other hand, I bet that there are plenty of McDojos that operate on the idea of secrecy and mysticism to lure people in and part of that secrecy is not needing a website. In a way, it's also good marketing. "You won't find us online, we don't want many people finding out about us. We're a very exclusive art." On a local level, especially, someone might be able to make quite a bit of money running that sort of game. Let's throw some numbers behind this, as well. Check out the Google AdWords Keyword Tool at https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal. What this tool shows us is how many times people search for a given phrase on Google in an average month. Type in your city and then the word karate. Replace karate with martial arts. How many global monthly searches are there? In Danielle's case, she went to the University of York. There are 2,900 searches for York taekwondo each month on Google. That's not all looking for York in the UK, of course. But, the number one listing is for a school in the UK. Even if Google says that there are zero searches or inclusive data for the term that you enter into the keyword tool, it doesn't mean no one searches for it. Also, look below and see the "keyword ideas" section for related terms and how often people search for them. Think of search engines in two ways: discovery and research. When a martial artist is moving to a new city, as Danielle was, one of the things that many of them do is start running Google searches looking for the martial arts options in that city. Even if it is a small town, they are just as likely to do this. If you are on that first page (especially in the top 3-5), you have a reasonable chance of them considering your school. Let's say you are in a big city where there are a lot of schools and you may have no chance of ranking well for that city. That's where the research kicks in. Let's say they hear of your school. Obviously, they don't know you or how good you may be. So, they start researching and they enter your school name into Google. You don't have a website, so what they see is either nothing or other mentions online. It's better to have a website where they can find out more about you. Plus, with your own domain with the name of your school in it, you have an extremely good chance of ranking number one when they search for your school on Google. They may want more critical sources or someone else's perspective (as we often have people ask here at KF, "what do you think of this school?"), but if you don't have a website, you don't have a voice in this particular matter. I am sure some do fear the internet. But, the reality is that people will always talk about your school and always have. Now, it is just easier to find and easier for you to address. If we accept that people will talk, it's generally better to have a voice than not have one. Just some thoughts. Hope they are valuable to people who run a school.

Thanks Alex. Patrick

Hello, Thank you for visiting KarateForums.com. Today marks a big milestone for Brian, perhaps better known around here as bushido_man96. It was five years ago today that he joined our staff. Brian has been a tremendous contributor to this community. Some people look at post count as an important, serious metric, for determining someone's standing within this community. From managing KarateForums.com for over 10 years, I can tell you that is not a good indicator. I say this knowing that Brian has 20,331 posts, which is the second highest number of any member here. I fear that he will eventually catch me, which is why I can never take another vacation for as long as I live. In reality, I look forward to that day. But, of course, what is a better indicator of someone's standing in this community is the content of their posts. What they say and what they share is important, but just as important is how they say it and how they treat other people. The content of Brian's posts is what makes him such a beloved member of this community. In my role as administrator, I see everything that goes on here. I see the public stuff that members know about and I see the (sometimes very nasty) private stuff that I have to deal with. Once in a while, there is a member who becomes popular here, who a lot of people gravitate towards and, privately, I know them to not be the nicest person in the world. My job isn't to share that information with anyone, but to keep that knowledge private. However, I can say, with absolute honesty, that the popularity of Brian within our community is well deserved. He's a great influence on this community. He's a great guy with a great love of KarateForums.com. Though the KarateForums.com Awards aren't to be taken too seriously, I believe there is good reason that he has been honored by the community with the Community Spirit Award for the past five years, which is an amazing feat (as well as the 9 total honors he's received). This passion that he has is one of the things that I love about him. Myself, and the current and former staff members who have been on the team with Brian know him a little differently, as someone who offers thoughtful feedback on site related matters, is a great team player and takes serious the responsibilities that I've given him. It's been a pleasure to get to know Brian well during his five years on staff, here on KarateForums.com and elsewhere. It was great to meet him, and his family, in person at the Podcamp Topeka conference last year. Thank you, Brian. Thank you for all of the great contributions that you have made to this community and for all of your efforts to help maintain this community. Your support over the years means a great deal to me. Sincerely, Patrick

Welcome aboard, kumite. Patrick

Good luck, Celeste. Patrick

Hello and welcome, Tim. Happy to have you. Patrick

I'm not sure if it would help you get in faster (it might bypass that "closed for now" stuff), but would you like me to send you an invite, Derwentbob? Patrick

Hello and welcome, Tay. Patrick

Welcome aboard, Barry. Patrick

Hey Derwentbob, Yes, that sounds right. Circles are, more or less, a more visual way for you to see who you are sharing with. In my view, it makes it easier for you to more carefully share content with specific groups. Like coworkers, family, close friends, the public, etc. Thanks, Patrick

That's cool, Justice. Nothing is for everyone. After all, most people aren't on KarateForums.com. Hehe. Danielle, it's pretty cool. You should have a look around. Patrick

Happy to hear it. Patrick

Google+ is the new social network from Google. Are you on it yet? My profile: https://plus.google.com/117051433761426339015 Patrick

Welcome aboard, Celeste . Patrick

My brother goes to so many concerts! He's seen half the bands that you guys are posting.

Happy to hear it.

Happy Birthday to Jeff (Jeffrey on the forums). Thank you for all of your great contributions to our community. Sincerely, Patrick

Thanks MasterPain. I am familiar with Dr. Demento through "Weird Al," though by Dr. Demento's own creations. Patrick

Hey LittleW. Welcome! Patrick

I am a huge, huge fan of Diddy. I love most of what he and Bad Boy Records has touched and it's also a hobby of mine to collect it all and various other pieces of memorabilia. I'm a big fan of The Notorious B.I.G., Jay-Z, Ryan Leslie, TLC, Kanye West, Michael Jackson, Will Smith, Eminem, Total, 112, Mary J. Blige, Lady Gaga, Fabolous, Drake, Nas, The Lonely Island, "Weird Al' Yankovic and more. I'm always listening to music. I can bop along to a lot of stuff, though. You can view my listening habits on my Last.fm profile, as well: http://www.last.fm/user/iFroggy

Welcome aboard, Richy. Glad to have you. Patrick

Thanks for sharing, everyone. What shooters do you play, Jeff?

Congrats Liver Punch. Patrick

Haha. Yeah. Congrats. Patrick