by Mark Smiley | Apr 24, 2015 | Feature Story Middle Left
I warned you in January to make your website mobile friendly. I predicted it would happen in 2015, and unfortunately it came true in April. I say unfortunately because Google’s announcement to re-rank the way their search engine delivers search results can be drastic for those businesses without a mobile-friendly website.
Let’s start at the beginning. When you use Google to find a business (i.e. an auto body shop, restaurant, insurance agent, any Glendale business), your search results were delivered regardless of the type of business website. In April, Google decided to deliver results that had mobile-friendly sites BEFORE listing other sites. Note, this is only happening when searching from a mobile device, which makes up 60 percent of the web traffic.
Now, think of a recent search you performed and the results you received. Did you go past page 1? Page 2? A third of web traffic does not go past page one. What does this mean to your business? If your business does not offer a mobile-friendly site, you’ll end up buried on pages well after those with mobile sites. Consumers will not click through pages to find your business. If you were highly ranked previous to this change, your results will change overnight.
How can you prepare your business? Simply put, create a mobile-friendly site. This does not need to be a costly project. There are a few things you can do on a budget. Check out bmobilized.com. They offer to optimize your site for mobility for a nominal monthly fee. If you are a WordPress user, use the WPtouch Mobile Plugin. Either of these tools do not require an “IT” background. Fairly easy as a “click, click, go” approach. I would recommend reviewing some best practices. CIO Magazine has an article, http://goo.gl/pO0c22, recommending ways to make your business mobile-friendly. Mobility is driving a higher percentage of web traffic each year. Your business needs to be positioned to capture this audience. Don’t let your business website disappear!
I’m still on a cable-free kick. HBO Now was launched recently. For a monthly fee, much less than a cable provider, HBO can be streamed to your device. If only the other cable channels could follow in their footsteps. I would enjoy hearing from readers that are experimenting with kicking cable.
I’ve never been accused of being a green thumb, however I do give working on my lawn and garden an honest effort each season. With the flip of the calendar to May, it’s time to plant and fix the bald spots on my grass. I struggle to identify plants and flowers. If you do as well, take a leaf and place a white background behind it. Using your phone, take a photo and submit it to Leafsnap for identification. You’ll have an idea of what is growing in your yard. I don’t recommend this for poison ivy.
Garden Squared is an app that will assist you in planning where to plant your veggies within a given space. Throughout the year, I’m not certain what to place on my lawn. Do I use compost or fertilizer? Are they even the same thing? If you struggle with this topic, try My Lawn from Scotts. It will create a lawn care program based on the time of year, as well as recommendations of what your lawn needs to look green and healthy.
If your allergies are taking a toll on you, check out WedMD Allergy. It provides allergy information based on your area and gives treatment recommendations. AllergyManager offers an allergy forecast. The layout is a matrix of the allergy forecast along with what will be the result of the forecast, such as a runny nose, headache or another annoying symptom.
Allergies, gardening and Google changing their search results rankings are enough to give anyone a headache. Hang in there and enjoy the sunshine!
Do you have a favorite app you’d like to share? Contact Brian at brian@brianzabro ski.com, on Twitter @BrianZab or LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/in/brianzab.
Brian, a Corporate Account Executive with NetSuite, has spent nearly 20 years in the telecommunications and software industry. Businesses often have the same concerns: How do I increase my revenue and profit? How do I attract great talent? Am I easy to do business with? Is it simple to access my business information? If you’re a business that would like to learn how Box, GoPro, Groupon and FitBit have used NetSuite to answer these questions, then please contact Brian.
by Mark Smiley | Apr 24, 2015 | Valley Gadfly
May is one of the most beautiful months of the year. The garden begins to sprout, wild flowers start to bloom plus trees and grasses are turning green. The first full moon over the Valley is on May 3, 9:45 p.m. “Once in a Blue Moon” — a second full moon in the same month — often occurs in May. It’s May 21 of next year, again May 18, 2019.
The Kentucky Derby is the first Saturday in May. Mother’s Day is the second Sunday in May. Moreover, Memorial Day is celebrated on the last Monday in May.
Under a flower moon here are our choices for shopping, dining and entertainment because it’s May. It’s May the month when we can all say, and yes you may:
3 Get a May attitude ladies and attend the Women with Hattitude luncheon on May 7. The Women’s Voices Fund event supports playwrights and directors in DCPA’s Seawell Ballroom. Information: 303-446-4815.
3 Rare art sale at Philadelphia Print Shop May 4-15 is a supernatural delight featuring 19th Century through WWII prints. Information: 303-322-4757.
3 Everyone yell Mayday this month and begin heading to the Valley’s largest garden center. Paulino Gardens specializes in trees, shrubs and rose bushes plus vegetables and herbs. Information: 303-429-8062.
3 For Mother’s Day give mom a chocolate high at the Colorado Chocolate Festival in the Denver Mart, May 8-9. Information: 303-347-8252.
3 Fly high in May with rugs from Ten Thousand Villages’ Oriental Rug Event at Augustana Church, May 13-16. Information: 303-316-8773.
3 Go with your heart or on a whim, but do attend the Children’s Future fundraiser at Sullivan’s May 15, 5:30 p.m. Information: 720-545-5254.
3 Mom will spoon to the moon when you treat her to brunch the second Sunday in May at the Inn at Cherry Creek. Information: 303-377-8577.
3 Make it a May to remember by learning to launch your own business at CFU’s Un-Job Fair in Lowry, May 30. Information: 303-399-0093.
3 Think about the moon when you attend the annual Colorado Corks & Cuisine event May 21, 5:30-8:30 p.m. You are sure to write a song about the heart because it will howl with delight in the moonlight at Four Mile Historic Park. You’ll sample the fruits of local wineries, distilleries, breweries, and culinary artists while raising funds to support the park’s preservation and education initiatives. Information: 720-865-0815.
May was first named for Maia, the Roman goddess of spring and growth. The snow and ice are usually gone, but the hot temperatures haven’t arrived yet. When the moon gets big and bright it’s like walking on moon craters causing us to get hungry. We’re in luck because it’s National Barbecue, Salad, Salsa and Strawberry Month.
Fragrances waft through the air from the forsythia, violets and jack-in-the box that bloom in May. Birds build their nests this month to sit on eggs that will soon hatch.
It’s May; it’s May, that gorgeous holiday, declared Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe in the musical Camelot. “It’s mad, it’s gay, a libelous display with those dreary vows that everyone takes and everyone breaks.” Or to paraphrase another song, they don’t bark and they don’t bite, they keep loose because it’s moonlight in May.
— Glen Richardson
The Valley Gadfly can be reached at newspaper@glendalecherrycreek.com.
by Mark Smiley | Apr 24, 2015 | Feature Story Bottom Left
Would you date yourself? No seriously, are you the type of person that has the qualities that you look for in a potential long-term partner? Believe it or not there are quite a few similarities between building a product or a brand and dating. Let me explain…
When a business person is building a brand they have various goals to keep in mind before marketing their product to consumers. The key to building a solid brand is complicated but then so is dating, so this month I want to use this article to help you build your own personal brand (you’re the brand) resulting in an increase in your marketability. Here’s a quick rundown of things to keep in mind when you’re developing Brand You.
- Identify the demographic that you want to market yourself to and then begin your market research. Research what type of consumer (or sect of the dating pool) you are looking to target. Once you have identified and listed a handful of notable desires and needs that seem to have a consistent theme throughout your demo you can then move to the next step.
- Let’s just say for the sake of example that you have concluded that your desirable demo is looking for active, well off, established, honest, clean, family-oriented, honest people who enjoy travel, good food, intimacy and communicating. That’s a lot I know, but just an example for sure. Who knows, you might want someone who can burp louder than you and likes the same fast food restaurants. It doesn’t matter; the point is figure out what you want so you can market yourself to them properly.
- Now that you know who your consumer is, how do you develop your brand so that it has market appeal and gets noticed and purchased before your competition? This step is product development and at this stage you have to be very mindful of your potential consumer and not lose focus on creating a market niche for yourself. It always cracks me up when people want the world but they don’t have squat to offer. It’s like the world owes them a wonderful life yet they have nothing to offer the world.
- Now it’s time to start inventing your brand and remain patient during its development. The last thing you want to do is rush to market before its completion. Take the time to really get it together; if you’re broke save a few bucks; if you dress like a slob and you’re unkempt get yourself cleaned up; if you’re sketchy and untrustworthy start working on building your honor; if you never leave the city limits start exploring outside of your area; if you lack the ability to communicate effectively reach out to someone who can communicate for pointers. Whatever the case may be, once you figure out what your desired dating demo is looking for make sure you invent your brand accordingly.
- Taking your brand to market is your final step. Just like any good brand they market directly to their desired consumer. Example: you won’t find any erectile dysfunction commercials running in the middle of cartoons on Sunday morning. For obvious reasons, the business who owns the brand would just be wasting their time, money and resources on an audience that could give two sticks about their product. Translation, if you’re looking for a family oriented, career-minded person who loves to unwind at night by cooking a meal together and sharing it over a glass of wine, you probably won’t meet that person at a dive bar on Colfax. Market your brand smartly and don’t compromise it because you want to settle on the first taker. Test your brand a few times and see what the market has to offer before you sell out.
Lastly and most importantly, be yourself, just be the best self you can be and start putting thought into being someone you would actually want to date or commit to. If more people were conscious about who they are, what they want and what it takes to get there in a productive way we would all save time and energy by avoiding crappy products (people) who don’t last and end up getting tossed aside like yesterday’s news.
Announcement time! A lot of exciting things are going on in my world and I am very proud to share them with you! Most of you may know I host a radio show named The Modern Dater Show. TMD is a very fun part of my life and it allows me to meet tons of great people and see so many great bars, restaurants and events. Through that experience I really fell in love with the great state of Colorado and our culture. I really enjoy great food, drinks and friends and exploring the booming food and beverage that we are so blessed to have. Therefore I am thrilled to tell you about my new radio project with world-renowned Chef Jesper Jonnson called The Modern Eater which will air every Saturday at 6 p.m. on iHeart Radio and 630 KHOW starting May 16!
Lastly, The Modern Dater Date Club is on the brink of launching and FYI, last month when I said I had many more women than men who were interested and put a call out for guys to contact me, you fellas stepped up to the plate and evened things out! Fantastic! Now it’s last call for everyone out there who is interested in joining this exclusive club of relationship-minded people who are looking to go on low pressure singles excursions, hosted by me of course. Don’t let this pass you by, hit me up at themoderndater@gmail.com for details. Now get started on your brand and happy dating!
Your pal, Sheik!
by Mark Smiley | Apr 24, 2015 | Editorials
The City of Glendale’s recent announcement of an entertainment district along Cherry Creek brings to fore a vision that has been in the making for almost 20 years. Who first envisioned the concept is a matter of minor dispute with the Publisher of this paper Chuck Bonniwell and the present Mayor of Glendale Mike Dunafon both claiming paternity. But as a practical matter, the far harder task is bringing the concept to reality. There is no question that without Mayor Dunafon’s persistent and forceful leadership the vision would never have happened.
The challenges to the project were enormous, including but not limited to, the necessity of providing ample parking which will make or break the project. The city is willing to spend approximately $75 million for parking and other improvements which is no small feat for a city whose total annual budget is less than $20 million.
The city is able to do that through the miracle of tax increment financing and the state tax provisions for urban renewal districts. The taxing provisions allow the city to pledge not only its own municipal sales and property taxes but any increase from a base year of property and sales tax revenue from other applicable entities, including Arapahoe County and Cherry Creek School District. That allows the sale of tens of millions in bonds with the bondholders knowing that the city will have more than sufficient revenues available to repay the bonds.
Glendale throughout much of its history has been a booming town by adopting whatever Denver rejects. At the beginning of the 20th century Denver regulated out of business many of its dairy operations which Glendale welcomed with such open arms that the city became known as Cow Town. Denver rejected fireworks and Glendale had various fireworks stores up and down Colorado Boulevard, including one run by then Glendale Mayor Fred Repp.
In the early 1970s just when the baby boomer generation was reaching adulthood and the legal drinking age was being dropped to 18, Denver decided to massively restrict new liquor licenses. Glendale therefore gave them out to any qualified person who sought one. It resulted in Glendale becoming a bar, restaurant and youth mecca. Along East Virginia, Colorado Boulevard, Leetsdale Drive and South Cherry Street there were the Colorado Mine Company, Cork ’N Cleaver, The Lift, Mr. Lucky’s, etc. etc. etc. The sales taxes to Glendale flourished.
In the 1990s, in a return gift to Denver, Mayors Steve Ward and Joe Rice began terminating as many liquor licenses as they could until only five were left, turning East Virginia into a wasteland. Mayor Ward was infamous for having a small toy cannon at his spot on the podium which he would playfully shoot off every time a liquor license was revoked. The recipient of this revenue largess was Denver’s LODO, which thanks to Coors Field, was experiencing an extraordinary renaissance.
But just as Glendale seeks to perform a back to the future miracle with Glendale 180, Denver once again appears to want to create a potential partial act of economic hari kari. Denver Councilman Albus Brooks, whose council district includes downtown, has declared that the city wants individuals to have to think twice about bringing an automobile downtown. The so-called Denver Planning Board and the city planners say that they are not allowed to consider the traffic and parking impacts on new projects it approves in Cherry Creek and elsewhere in Denver.
The net effect of this deliberate head in the sand approach will make it increasingly costly and time consuming to drive an automobile in the City and County of Denver and particularly unpleasant in the areas where bars, restaurants and entertainment venues are concentrated. One of two things will happen. One possibility is that people will continue to pour into Denver by alternative means of transportation including walking, bicycles, light rail, cabs or short-term car rentals like Uber and Car To Go. This is the prediction of the city planners who are in cahoots with real estate developers who in turn are happy to provide as little parking as they can get away with.
Alternatively, the lumpenproletariat from the suburbs may decide not to do what the central planners of Denver decree and instead simply in part stop coming to LODO and Cherry Creek North bars, restaurants and entertainment venues. They will instead take their cars and money to places like Glendale 180 which welcomes them by providing ample and inexpensive parking, guaranteeing Glendale’s latest success.
By 2017 when Glendale 180 is scheduled to be open for business, the effect of Denver’s deliberate decision to create parking and traffic nightmares for automobile users will truly become ever more evident. Glendale is betting that it will just have to say, once again, thank you to Denver as it has been happy to do for most of its storied history.
— Editorial Board
by Mark Smiley | Apr 24, 2015 | Main Articles
by Danny Foster, Esq.
the managing partner of the law firm Foster, Graham, Milstein & Calisher, LLP
Recently the Denver District Attorney’s office, along with the city of Denver, unveiled their decision to participate in a public relations program sweeping the nation called “Start by Believing.” For those of you who are unfamiliar with the program, let me explain. “Start by Believing” is a campaign designed to encourage everyone (civilians, politicians, police, prosecutors, jurors, everyone) to immediately believe any person who claims to be a victim of a sexual assault as soon as they tell you they have been victimized. It doesn’t say “Start by Listening” or “Start by Supporting” it says “Start by Believing” them.
Yes, you read that correctly. The city of Denver and the Denver DA have decided that it is more important to believe any person alleging sexual abuse than to provide an alleged suspect the presumption of innocence. The concept of believing an alleged victim without any investigation specifically means that we must NOT believe the person accused of committing this act and presume them guilty. You can’t have it both ways. What a frightening concept. I am cynical by nature so it’s not a huge surprise that prosecutors’ offices across the country would embrace this notion. It makes it easier to secure convictions if there is an overwhelming PR campaign to bolster the credibility of victims. But when the city of Denver itself gets behind this concept and spends city funds on this issue to promote this unconstitutional concept, it causes me and many of those in the legal community great concern.
I want to stress that there are many real victims of sexual abuse. And, for those poor individuals who have been victimized, it is essential that we support them, help them and be there for them during the healing process. I have no doubt that many victims stay silent for fear of being blamed or not being believed. But this “Start by Believing” campaign is not the appropriate remedy to handle this problem. All too often we deal with cases where a “victim” says she was victimized only later to discover she lied for any myriad reasons, but by that time the damage has been done to the person who was charged with the crime. Once you are accused of being a sex offender you can never remove that label. That’s the term that sticks, even if acquitted of any wrong doing. That’s what happens when we “Start by Believing.” In my mind, there is only one type of person lower than the sexual offender, and that is the person who lies about being sexually assaulted and completely ruins an innocent person’s life. If you don’t think that happens, then all you need to do is look at the catastrophe on the University of Virginia campus this past year where a salacious allegation of sexual assault was levied against several members of a fraternity house. If it wasn’t for damn good legal investigation (NOT the investigation by Rolling Stone magazine) the “victim” would have gotten away with her lies and many young mens’ lives would have been ruined. These poor young men were eviscerated in the press, on campus and scared to death they could end up in prison for life. Frightening things happen when we “Start by Believing.”
Should the police and University have started this criminal investigation by “believing” the alleged perpetrators? Of course they should have. The Constitution demands that all people be considered innocent until proven guilty. Did the University of Virginia investigators start by “believing” the alleged victim instead? Of course they did. Why? Because it’s politically unpopular to ever question anyone who alleges being the victim of sexual assault. I get it, I understand the need for politicians and TV commentators and university officials to look tough on sex offenders. But this type of action CANNOT happen at the expense of violating suspects’ Constitutional rights.
Our office recently sponsored a free seminar to help prepare young men who are graduating high school in the spring and starting college in the fall. While a lot of the discussion revolved around the dangers of drugs/alcohol, the bigger concern was about how dangerous the climate is for young men on campuses across the country where even the slightest ambiguity regarding consensual sexual contact can equate to expulsion and criminal prosecution. I cannot sit idly by and watch more good kids get prosecuted and expelled for false sexual assault allegations. My colleagues and I believe this is absolutely our duty as lawyers to warn these boys about what could happen to them and how to avoid many of the pitfalls we have seen in the past. We have had to defend too many good people from outrageous allegations. While it would be nice if our seminar guaranteed they will avoid trouble, unfortunately it doesn’t work that way. All we can do is arm them with some useful information that we hope will give them an advantage. If you are a male, or have a son or grandson, BE FOREWARNED, men (and more specifically younger college age men) are in the crosshairs of an aggressive campaign led by victims’ advocate groups, prosecutors and the pandering politicians, to prosecute anyone who is even alleged to have committed a sexual crime. In Colorado that can equate to a life sentence in prison. And for those of you who don’t practice law, you should know that Colorado has a law called the Rape Shield statute. It prohibits an accused from mentioning anything to a jury about the alleged victim’s sexual past, even if the alleged victim has made false rape accusations in the past! The time has come to repeal this very dangerous statute.
Our firm has recently filed a lawsuit against a “victim” of sexual assault on the Boulder campus. Our investigation not only proved my client’s innocence, but the Boulder DA filed false information charges against the woman who lied to the police. She was convicted and now she can defend her actions in a civil lawsuit. She never even apologized to my client for what she put him through. No matter how much money we obtain from her, I don’t think it will ever even out the damage she caused by her accusations. Thankfully the Boulder DA didn’t “Start by Believing.” He started by doing what he is supposed to do, he started by investigating.
So, “Start by Believing?” How about “Start by Supporting” people who allege being victimized. “Start by Listening” to those who allege sexual assault. “Start by Loving” your kids and being there for them. And “Start by Investigating” the allegations of those who claim to be victims. But only Believe them when the weight of evidence points to guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, just like the Constitution requires.
Danny is a managing partner of Foster, Graham, Milstein & Calisher (FGMC). His practice focuses on personal injury. The law firm of FGMC, located in Cherry Creek, is a full service law firm focusing on: criminal defense, personal injury, real estate, litigation, liquor licensing, construction law, tax/estate planning, bankruptcy and zoning. This article does not create an attorney-client relationship and is for informational use only (what do you expect from an attorney!)
