Ten Years of Tips -- Still One Web Marketing Mission

We are celebrating the support of our colleagues and clients on this anniversary as we start our second decade of our Newsday Tuesday emails! From the beginning, our mission has been to outfit clients with the tools and skills needed to market the html out of their websites.

The first Sprocket Report was sent in 2010 when Jim and Susan Nagy of J&S Tech Designs joined forces with Kate and Don Gingold of Gnu Ventures. But The Sprocket Report continued a newsletter tradition that began on April 29, 2003 when the debut issue of Gnusworthy Tips landed in email inboxes.

Dog years are short, but that’s nothing compared to tech years. Think back to what 2003 was like, technologically speaking:

• While iPods are two years old already, they store 5 GB of data compared to the 160 GB we get on today’s “iPod Classic.”
• MySpace, based on Friendster, is the hot, new thing.
• Apple releases Mac OS 10 “Panther” and the Safari browser.
• Mark Zuckerberg is tinkering with something called “Facemash.”
• We’re still two years away from YouTube, three years until we can Twitter and we have to wait four more long years until the first iPhone is released.

Back then websites were treated like a novel addition to traditional marketing practices. Today traditional marketing supports a company’s online profile. Regardless, our bi-weekly tips continue to offer advice for small- to medium-business owners who are competing against marketing departments with deep pockets.

The newsletter is one way to assure our clients that we’re paying attention to the changing internet landscape. The intent of The Sprocket Report, like its predecessor Gnusworthy, is to keep folks updated with tech and marketing news appropriate to SMBs, written for smart, if non-tech, entrepreneurs.

Armed with this knowledge, our clients can make better decisions about their website and online marketing. Being informed, they can see behind the smoke and mirrors of less-scrupulous web companies. They recognize the effort we make to provide the right product and service at a realistic price. And they know we will be here for them in the future, just as we have been for the last ten years.

The newsletter has changed over the years as we try to anticipate and respond to our clients' needs. In its current form, we offer several short articles of interest to SMB owners, a list of local business events and also links to tech news for further reading.

Some of the folks on our contact list have been receiving our emails the entire ten years, which tickles us pink. Getting internet tools into the hands of small- to medium-business owners and teaching the skills to use them is why we started in the first place. We are grateful for our clients' confidence and invite all local entrepreneurs to take advantage of The Sprocket Report.

Now, let’s all get out there and do some business.