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The Sourcing Innovation Blog

Sourcing Innovation (SI) FAQ 1.0

Table of Contents

Advertising / Sponsorship

(Editorial) Content

  • Will you cover my story? Answer
  • Will you post my press release on your blog? Answer
  • Will you publish my article? Answer
  • Will you do a sponsored post on a particular topic? Answer
  • Can I submit a guest post? Answer
  • Can I become a regular contributor? Answer

Disclaimers

  • What associations does SI have? Answer
  • What are SI's policies? Answer
  • Where does SI stand on privacy? Answer
  • What are SI's comment rules? Answer
  • Can I re-publish your material? What are your copyright rules?Answer

Events

  • Can I advertise my event on your site? Answer
  • Will you promote my event? Answer
  • What about a media partnership? Answer
  • Will you attend and cover my event? Answer
  • Will you speak at my conference, roundtable, seminar, or event? Answer
  • What about sitting on a panel? Answer

Requests

  • Can I link to your site? Answer
  • Can I subscribe to your blog? Answer
  • Where else can I find Sourcing Innovation? Are you on the social networks? Answer
  • Will you write an article for me? Answer
  • How about writing for my newsletter? We have X,000 subscribers on our list! Answer
  • Can you help me? Answer
  • Are you on (Social) Network X? Can I connect with you? Answer
  • I'm new to sourcing/procurement/supply chain and I noticed you have collected a great deal of solid information and resources. Where should I start? Answer

Resource Site

  The Sourcing Innovation Resource Site has its own FAQ. Here are the answers to the most commonly asked questions.

  • Can I submit my company? Answer
  • Can I submit my event? Answer
  • Why does it say my URL is invalid? Answer
  • Why should I submit my event on SI? Answer

Reviews

  • Will you review my product? Answer
  • Why should I have you review my product? Answer
  • Will you review my service? Answer
  • Will you review my portal, web service, social network, or community? Answer
  • Will you review my online offering if I sponsor the review? Answer
  • Will you review my book? Answer

Unsolicited Offers

  • Would you like me to optimize your site for search engines? Answer
  • Would you like me to redesign your blog? Answer
  • Would you like to see the great redesign I have for your resource site? Answer
  • Would you like to be listed in our directory? It's only 999.99! Answer
  • Would you like to be an expert in our network? It's FREE for the first three months! Answer
  • Would you like our PR Agency to help you get better visibility? We have an introductory special for new clients. Answer

Answers

Advertising/Sponsorship

Can I (banner) advertise on Sourcing Innovation? Home

Unless you want to advertise an event that is acceptable to SI (see below), no. SI does not do (traditional) advertising, only sponsorships. More information on sponsorships can be found on the Sponsorship Information Page.

What about text-link advertising. It's unobtrusive and I can make it worth your while.Home

Definitely not! the doctor loathes text link advertising that takes you to completely unrelated subject matter when you click on a link. (He doesn't need your Viagra and he's willing to bet his intelligent, sexy, energetic audience doesn't either!) Furthermore, suggesting you can make it worth my while only makes me laugh. You need to understand that I'm a PhD who has turned down, and left, six figure jobs in the past because I had moral or ethical objections to what I might be doing or whom I might be working with. So if you think I'm going to do something I loathe for a few measly thousand, You've Got Another Thing Coming.

Will about sponsored links in your posts or on the sidebar?Home

No. SI does not do sponsored reviews, sponsored posts, or sponsored links. The only advertising currently permitted is sponsorships (which give sponsors a logo) and select event advertising. Furthermore, even sponsors, who get one link, are only allowed to link to resources of an educational nature.

Will you do a link exchange with my site?Home

If you have to ask, the answer is no. The resource site only links to supply chain resources (which you can submit if you have them) and the blog only links to relevant resources that the doctor thinks are truly exceptional. (And if the resource site won't link to them, the blog certainly won't.)

How can I sponsor Sourcing Innovation? Home

Everything you, as a discerning forward-thinking company, need to know is on the Sponsorship Information Page.

Can we do lead generation instead? Home

Definitely Not!

First of all, that violates the very core of Sourcing Innovation's openness and impartiality policies. (Even sponsors don't get leads! While I do make a verbal commitment to mention a sponsor anytime someone asks for a list of solution providers who offer a solution the sponsor also offers, I also do my best to also offer at least two additional alternatives.)

Secondly, in the doctor's view, this is the most backwards-thinking advertising strategy you can employ. Most enterprises only get to make big solution purchases once a year, at most, when new budgets are allocated. This means that they can generally only consider a purchase during budget request season, and only make it when the budget is granted. This says that you can only make an impact with a potential customer twice a year, which will generally not be when you are doing your big annual marketing push where most of your potential customers are concerned. The only way to reach every potential customer is to be sure they remember you during budget request season and again when their budget request is finally approved and they get to issue RFPs. That's only going to happen if they are repeatedly exposed to your brand over a long period of time, which is only going to happen if you focus on long-term brand building and not short-term lead-generation. For a deeper dive into what works, and what doesn't, see the marketing posts I have indexed on the Sponsorship Information Page.

(Editorial) Content

Will you cover my story?Home

Generally speaking, SI doesn't do "stories", it's an educationally focussed blog that covers best practices, innovation, and solutions for the supply chain (with the occasional rant on the latest "dumb" trend to get the doctor's goat). If your "story" doesn't fit into one of these categories, chances are, no.

That means it's not interested in the fact that you just appointed a new CEO, signed 10 new clients, published a new white-paper, or won a (meaningless) "award" from a publication or analyst firm whose sole intent in giving out the award was to generate press in an effort to make said publication look more important than it really is. It only cares how that new CEO is going to lead innovation, the processes that you used to help an existing client see a significant ROI, or the process or technology innovations that led you to publish a new white-paper. Unless you want to share the down-and-dirty details, SI has no interest in publishing your "story".

Will you post my press release on your blog?Home

No. Sourcing Innovation does not post press releases. Don't ask. It will just result in the creation of a new auto-delete rule.

Will you publish my article?Home

Depends on the article. While Sourcing Innovation does publish guest posts from recognized thought leaders in the space on a regular basis, most of the unsolicited articles that SI receives are rejected. This is because SI has strict rules when it comes to guest posts. Specifically:

  • the post must be educational in nature
  • the post cannot market a specific product or service;
    while you can mention your company and your product, and even include a link, that's the limit of what you can do from a marketing perspective -- the rest of the post must be vendor and solution agnostic and describe how a certain type of service or solution solves the problem being addressed, which must be clearly defined
  • it cannot mention results obtained from proprietary or patented processes and methodologies unless the processes and methodologies are defined and explained
  • it must be written at a level a college student can understand
  • it must follow commonly accepted rules of grammar and composition and should not be written in a journalistic style
  • unless you have permission for a shorter or longer piece, it should be between one and two pages in length
  • unless the article is fantastic and not likely to be noticed by SI's audience, it should be a first-run submission

In addition, if you are a recognized expert and an experienced writer who believes in education and innovation and is comfortable with SI's format, you could inquire about becoming a regular contributor.

If you want to write (a) guest post(s) for SI, please contact the doctor. If you have a specific idea, you can mention it. If not, you can just indicate the topics that interest you and you will be added to the list of invitees next time SI runs a special series on a selected topic.

Will you do a sponsored post on a particular topic?Home

No. SI does not do sponsored reviews or sponsored posts. Like lead generation, this would violate SIs openness and impartiality policies.

Can I submit a guest post?Home

Sure! Anyone can submit a guest post for consideration. Just be sure to follow the rules. If you're unsure about whether the subject matter would be appropriate, feel free to e-mail the doctor first and he'll let you know.

Can I become a regular contributor?Home

If you are a recognized expert and an experienced writer who believes in education and innovation and you are comfortable with SI's format, you could certainly inquire about becoming a regular contributor. However, I will want to see numerous examples of your work, and a few guest posts, before you get the coveted contributor status.

Disclaimers

What associations does SI have?

All of the doctor's associations with vendors in the space can be found on the disclaimers page.

Its important to note that the doctor is one of only two bloggers in the space who made all of their associations with vendors in the space known since the beginning because this shows that SI does its best to practice what it preaches.

What are SI's policies?

Very simple, they're:

Where does SI stand on privacy?

Sourcing Innovation takes your privacy very seriously. That's why you only need an e-mail address to sign up for the blog or Sourcing Innovation's mailing list and why Sourcing Innovation will not sell, or share, these lists with anyone -- not even with sponsors. (The only exception, as per the comment rules, is spammers who spam the Sourcing Innovation blog get their e-mail address added to the Spammers Wall of Shame.)

Because Sourcing Innovation takes your privacy so seriously, it will not give in to BI marketer requests to install 3rd party tools that track your movement, inspect your cookies, or collect enough data to personally identify you as an individual. Hopefully the recent AOL fiasco (see this TechCrunch article or watch the recent expose in the CNBC special "Inside the Mind of Google" in which the reporters managed to track down a woman using just the "anonymized" search queries from the data AOL released) is enough to convince you that you need to be very careful not only in terms of what data you enter on a web form, but what web site you visit in the first place.

What are SI's comment rules?

All of SI's comment rules are summarized on the comment rules page. In summary, they are:

  1. No spam.
  2. No churlish or boorish comments.
  3. No personal atacks on an individual or vendor.
    (However, heated debate is allowed and encouraged.)
  4. No direct attacks.
    (Disagree all you like, but don't tell your oppenent her ideas aren't worth a molding loaf of bread if you're not going to back it up!)
  5. No impersonations.
    (And definitely don't impersonate the doctor.)

Can I re-publish your material? What are your copyright rules?

Generally speaking, content, which is the copyright of Sourcing Innovation, may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, without the express written permission of the doctor, the "Editor in Chief". Some exceptions apply, and you can find them on the page dedicated to SI's copyright rules.

Events

Can I advertise my event on your site?Home

If your event (conference, webinar, etc.) is open to all supply chain professionals, then, yes, Sourcing Innovation will allow you to advertise your event with a "logo" on the blog sidebar (below the fold, under "Contributors" in a new "Events" box) or with a "banner" in a (weekly) upcoming events post. Full details are below. Note that by "open" I mean that any supply chain professional who wants to attend must be allowed to attend if they submit their registration (fee) before the deadline / registration limit is reached. So, if you're a vendor, you can't limit your event to customers and "potential" customers only and advertise your event on SI.

Sidebar

  • the maximum logo size is 174 * 108
  • animated logos are allowed, but no more than 3 states
  • advertising intervals are multiples of weeks or months
  • pricing is 500 / week or 1500 / month (USD)

Upcoming Events Post

  • the maximim banner size is 234 x 60 pixels (industry standard for small banners)
  • animated logos are allowed, but no more than 3 states
  • you can pay per post, or buy a group of posts at a discount
  • pricing is 500 / post or 1500 / group of 4 (USD)

Sidebar & Upcoming Events Post

Buy both for the same timeframe, and get a 50% discount off of the upcoming events post prices.

  How do these rates compare to industry standards?

They're quite cheap. The industry standard is anywhere from $20 to $100 per thousand impressions (CPM) on popular / niche sites. Considering that Sourcing Innovation, as of November 1, 2009, averages 5,800 hits (which includes 2,500 direct article accesses) a day from 1,700 visits, or 176,000 hits a month from 52,000 visits, you could be paying up to $17,600 for the same number of impressions! However, SI recognizes that

  1. Placement Matters
      (sponsors get the best real estate, events second best)
  2. Advertising budgets for many events are limited
      (and further strained by the down economy)
  3. Even small events can pack big value
      (and should be able to afford advertising)

As a result, just like it did with its tiered sponsorship packages, Sourcing Innovation has decided to offer bare-bones advertising packages that everyone can afford, even though the value is at least three times what SI is charging.

Will you promote my event?Home

Maybe, maybe not. If your event is supply chain related, you can submit it to the resource site (where you will find a submission link at the top of every page of event listings). If it's related to one of the central themes of SI, it might make a regular Recent Additions post. (But if you want it to stand out, you'll have to advertise it.)

Generally speaking, the doctor will only mention events that he plans to attend or events that he feels represent a unique offering among the hundreds of events that a supply chain professional has to choose from. (Thus, mentions are few and far between, but that's just the way it is.)

What about a media partnership?Home

If the doctor plans to attend your event, he will definitely consider promoting it but given that his time, like blog space, is limited and that initial attempts at media partnerships in the past did not work, as a rule, SI does not do media partnerships. If you really want your event promoted, consider event advertising.

Will you attend and cover my event?Home

Maybe. It depends on the event.

Vendor Conference

SI's vendor conference attendance and coverage policy is as follows. the doctor will consider attending any vendor event in the supply chain space in North America or Europe provided that:

  • the doctor feels that the vendor is a significant player in one of the core product or service areas covered by SI
    this significance can be in terms of size, customer base, or solution capability -- in other words, if you're big, if you have a number of customers who are considered best-in-class, or if your solution is innovative, you probably make the significant player cut
  • you cover all expenses
    which will be 0 if you hold your conference in beautiful and historic Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
  • you get your request in at least two weeks in advance, and preferably four weeks to six weeks

the doctor will consider events outside of North America and Europe, but given that these are not accessible with a normal business day of traveling, and that the doctor would likely lose an entire week to attend and cover your event, he can only do it if there is revenue associated with the event. In other words, it would have to be a paid speaking engagement or panel or directly precede or follow a consulting engagement.

For-Profit Non-Vendor Conference

SI will consider attending any conference put on by a for-profit organization in North America or Europe provided that:

  • the doctor feels the theme and content is relevant to SI's audience, timely, and first-class material
  • you cover all expenses
    which will be 0 if you hold your conference in beautiful and historic Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
  • you get your request in at least two weeks in advance, and preferably four weeks to six weeks

Generally speaking, the doctor cannot consider events outside of North America and Europe unless it is a paid speaking engagement or panel as he would lose an entire week attending and covering your event (as travel to what is a remote location for the doctor would take more than a normal business day). (The only other exception is if you luck out and the doctor has a consulting engagement preceding or following, but I wouldn't bet on it.)

Non-Profit Non-Vendor Conference

SI's policy on Non-Profit Non-Vendor Conferences put on by non-profit organizations or academic institutions are almost the same as those for For-Profit Non-Vendor Conferences. The only difference is if the doctor is nearby, he might take a short side-trip pro-bono if you provide a media pass (and feed him).

Webinar

There are so many webinars in peak season now that SI can barely track them all, let alone attend them. Thus, as a general rule, SI will only attend and/or cover select webinars of clients and sponsors. The only exception is if the doctor finds the topic to be of particular interest, in which case he will register and/or ask to attend on his own. (And if you've listed your webinar on the resource site, he'll know of it.)

Seminar / Workshop / Training Class

Generally, no. The only exceptions are if it is what SI would consider to be core curriculum for SI's audience, on-line and of relatively short duration or if it is a seminar being giving by a reknowned expert, in which case the conference attendance policies apply and you will have to cover all expenses. Furthermore, if the doctor can't review all of the materials in half a day, it's too much effort for a post. (You need to remember SI is not the doctor's full time job and, as it is, he'd make more money spending his time on consulting than he makes from the blog.)

Will you speak at my conference, roundtable, seminar, or event?Home

the doctor will consider speaking engagements at any event related to the subject matter of Sourcing Innovation provided that:

  • you ask the doctor at least a month in advance
  • you agree to cover all expenses
    which could be 0 if you hold your conference in beautiful and historic Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
  • you understand the engagement will be a paid speaking engagement unless you are a non-profit and all profits from your (audited) event are going to a charitable or sustainable cause, you are a client or blog sponsor and the speaker's fee is waived under an agreement, or the doctor owes you a favor

What about sitting on a panel?Home

the doctor will consider speaking engagements at any event related to the subject matter of Sourcing Innovation provided that:

  • you ask the doctor at least a month in advance
  • you agree to cover all expenses
    which could be 0 if you hold your conference in beautiful and historic Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
  • you understand that if any preparation is required on the part of the doctor, the engagement will be treated as a paid speaking engagement unless you are a non-profit and all profits from your (audited) event are going to a charitable or sustainable cause, you are a customer or blog sponsor and the speaker's fee is waived under an agreement, or the doctor owes you a favor

Requests

Can I link to your site?Home

Of course! That's the whole point of the web -- a system of interlinked hypertext documents designed to be open by Sir Berners-Lee. You only need to ask if you want to republish content in a way that might violate copyright law. (See Sourcing Innovation's copyright rules.)

Can I subscribe to your blog?Home

Yes, the blog supports Atom 1.0, RSS 2.0, and e-mail feeds. You can subscribe to the blog on the subscriptions page. The top box allows you to subscribe to the blog and receive the daily posts in your e-mail. (And you can unsubscribe at any time via a link at the bottom of every e-mail.) The bottom boxes allow you to subscribe to the Sourcing Innovation Mailing List. Sourcing Innovation occassionally sends out newsletters and special announcements to those who have signed up. (And you can unsubscribe from the mailing list at any time via a link at the bottom of every e-mail.)

Where else can I find Sourcing Innovation? Are you on the social networks? Home

the doctor has no use for the pure social networks that do not have any useful business applications and that do not provide value to your professional career and, as a result, avoids social networks such as FaceBook (he's faceless) and MySpace (and spaceless). (And he especially dislikes Twitter.) However, since the business-oriented networks offer some value, he is on Linked-In and Plaxo, and you can join the Sourcing Innovation Linked-In and Plaxo groups. He's also on SlideShare and ki-Work and will join other networks if he sees that they bring real value to their members.

Will you write an article for me?Home

That depends. Are you a vendor, publication, or blog? What do you want the article on? How long does it have to be? And how much notice are you providing me?

Vendors

Sourcing Innovation has two offerings that might interest you: sponsored Illuminations, which are 5-7 page educational white-papers that Sourcing Innovation advertises on the blog and resource site, and private label white-papers. Contact the doctor for more information.

Print Publications

the doctor will consider writing any article on request at standard rates if your request falls in one of my areas of expertise. If you are looking for a free submission, it has to be on a subject of interest to me, generally not more than 3 pages (unless you're a major publication and it's a feature article), and you must be giving me at least three weeks notice for me to be able to consider the request.

Blogs

SI is a big fan of new media with a purpose similar to Sourcing Innovation's. the doctor will entertain any request from a fellow blogger for a special contribution if time permits, and bloggers who return the favour or who have participated in Sourcing Innovation's cross-blog series and invited series get first consideration.

How about writing for my newsletter? We have X,000 subscribers on our list!Home

If you are a sponsor or client, then I will consider it if time permits.

If you are not a sponsor or client, No. Why?

Two reasons.

First of all, literally every vendor and their dog has a newsletter these days. Figure over 600 software and service providers in the space that I know of, and that's an awful lot of providers with an awful lot of newsletters. Since SI tries to strive for fairness in all of its policies, that could translate into way more requests than I could handle.

Secondly, even if you had 10,000 subscribers, that would still be a minimal traffic boost for SI. A newsletter is push. Yes your customer signs up for it, but think about how many newsletters you get now and how much time you have to read them. Like the big publication e-mail blast lists, you soon reach a point where only 10% get opened (20% in extreme cases). Then, less than 30% of people who open the newsletter will read a particular article. Maybe 50% of those will catch the author and his or her affiliation and then maybe 20% of those will actually visit the author's site. So, if we're generous, that's 20% of 50% of 30% of 10% of 10,000 or 30 potential hits for me. This blog generates hundreds of "new" hits a day from Google, and I expect that each of those hits represents a potential new reader who has just as much chance of liking the site and sticking around as one of your readers, as it's random either way.

However, if you really do want to publish something from the doctor in your newsletter, you could take advantage of my Free Content for Fair Use offer. If you find something you like in the archives, ask permission, agree that you'll only use it for non-commercial purposes, and agree to publish it unedited (or edited with my express consent) with permalink URL, chances are I'll let you run with it.

Can you help me?Home

Well, that depends on what you need. the doctor, who's been a professor, professional trainer, enterprise software developer, enterprise software architect, researcher, modeller, project manager, R&D director, IT Consultant, supply chain consultant, and writer, among other things, has deep expertise where technology and supply chain meet and has the potential to help you in a number of ways. However, since each situation is unique, you will have to contact the doctor with your request for specifics.

You might find these posts to be of interest if you want to find out more about the doctor:

Are you on (Social) Network X? Can I connect with you?Home

the doctor can be found on:

While the doctor is all for the use of on-line tools that improve our professional lives, he loathes time-wasting social networks and intends on remaining faceless, spaceless, and twitter-free as long as those networks are nothing but time-sucking tar-pits. Please don't ask him to join time-wasting social networks of little or no business or educational value. (If, however, you stumble upon a new business network that might be useful to supply chain professionals, you should feel free to add it to the Resource Site Community Listing).

I'm new to sourcing/procurement/supply chain and I noticed you have collected a great deal of solid information and resources. Where should I start?Home

the doctor recommends:

  • The blog archives, indexed by category.
  • The e-Sourcing Wiki.
  • PurchSearch, which searches a large number of relevant blogs that can direct you to more great resources.

Resource Site

Can I submit my company?Home

If you're not already in the company listings and you supply a supply chain software or service solution, you are free to submit your company.

Can I submit my event?Home

If your supply chain (related) conference, roundtable, seminar, training class, webinar, or workshop is not already listed, then you are free to submit your conference, submit your roundtable, submit your seminar, submit your training class, submit your webinar, and to submit your workshop.

Why does it say my URL is invalid?Home

Are you entering a valid, fully qualified, URL?
www.xxx.com is not a valid URL. As per RFC 1738, a valid URL is scheme ":" schemepart where scheme is "http:", "https", "ftp", "mailto", etc.. Thus, the submission pages will only accept "http://www.xxx.com/" or "https://www.xxx.com/".

Why should I submit my event on SI?Home

Because if you don't, it won't be in a regular upcoming events post on SI, and considering that, as of November 1, 2009, SI gets an average of 5,800 hits from 1,700 visits every day, that's a considerable amount of free publicity for something that takes less than 60 seconds of your time that you are sure not to get. (It's true that there are no guarantees that your event will make one of these posts, but it definitely won't if you don't submit it!)

Reviews

Will you review my product? Home

Sourcing Innovation will consider a review of any supply chain software platform that offers value to Sourcing Innovation's readership if timing permits provided that:

  • you accept that SI will not sign an NDA
  • you accept that SI will not embargo any information you put forward for more than a short amount of time (and not more than a week)
  • you understand that SI requires an actual (web) demo;
    a PowerPoint presentation does not count
  • you accept the 10-slide PowerPoint limit for "introductory framing" and follow this format:
    • 1 slide overview of your company (optional)
    • 1 slide overview of the solution space you address (optional)
    • 1-2 slides to frame the problem you're solving
    • 1-2 slides to frame the solution you're presenting
    • 1-2 slides to outline some of the unique capabilities, challenged assumptions, or a-ha realizations you will be addressing
    • 1-2 slides to address interesting points of note (optional)
  • your request comes with reasonable notice, which SI defines as no less than 3 days and no more than 3 weeks
  • you will not ask SI to deal with an external PR Representative who does not have full access to your calendar and who can not schedule the demo with reasonable certainty in the 3 day to 3 week timeframe

You might also want to review the following posts:

Why should I have you review my product? Home

What's the Benefit?

Well, what's he benefit to doing anything on a PR / Marketing Front? What's the benefit of talking to an analyst? What's the benefit of talking to a journalist? Are they going to write about you / promote you? Where? And even if they do talk about you in their offering's premiere publication, is anyone going to read it.

"They have 100,000 'subscribers' to the print pub." So? Are even 10,000 going to pick the magazine up? Or is it going to sit in their lobby? Are the 10,000 that might pick it up going to even flip to the page with your article? Read it?

"The analyst firm is the most prestigious in the space?" So? What if only their membership has access to the brief? Since most of us won't pay 495 to 995 for a 5 page 'report' that contains information we can probably get for free on your website and the blogs, that won't do you much good.

What's the benefit of talking to a leading blogger? Hard to say ... depends on the blog, the following, and their spin on your solution.

But I can tell you this:

(1) SI is pull, not push. People come here to read and find information. 1,000 pulls are generally MUCH better than 10,000 pushes.

(2) SI does extremely well in the search engines ... and the entire archives are always available. There are posts from year one that will still get hundreds of hits a month.

(3) While it is certain that a single post will not be noticed to the same extent as a lead sponsor's logo on every page of Sourcing Innovation, a well-written contribution could easily be seen by a few thousand eyeballs looking for innovative solutions and solution providers. I know of multiple instances where a single guest post on Sourcing Innovation generated almost a dozen contacts for the author (and his or her firm). And even though those contacts might not be looking to buy at the moment you post, that could be a dozen contacts you might not have made otherwise... and who might be looking for new solutions as we approach a new budget season.

(4) Generally all you have to do to get a post is give me a live demo (not a PowerPoint) that demonstrates your product meets its worthy goals and contains innovation.

(5) It's totally FREE. It only takes a couple of hours of your time to prepare the demo, deliver it, and answer any questions I might have as I am thinking about it and preparing a write-up.

You have nothing to lose and everything to gain. In the worst case scenario, where only a few of the individuals who make the fifteen hundred to two thousand daily visits to SI read it and none of them are interested, you still have an independent review you can point to on the resources section of your website that buys you credibility. And it stays there ... and maybe in three months time a potential customer on the edge reads it and decides to give you a shot.

What are you waiting for?

Will you review my service offering? Home

Sourcing Innovation does not review service offerings directly, as it's hard to review a service you're not receiving. If, however, you have a great -- fresh -- supply chain success story at a major client who is willing to go public with the story, Sourcing Innovation will consider reviewing your success story providing that your are willing to share your full case study and schedule a joint conference call between SI, your company, and your customer. The rules for product reviews also apply.

Will you review my portal, web service, social network, or community? Home

Generally speaking, Sourcing Innovation does not review web sites, portals, and communities.

Will you review my online offering if I sponsor the review.Home

Definitely not. To maintain impartiality, Sourcing Innovation does not do sponsored reviews. (Everyone is subject to the same rules when it comes to reviews and blog posts, including blog sponsors.)

Will you review my book?Home

If your book is about supply chain, innovation, sustainability, green, analysis, modelling, optimization, or another topic regularly covered on this blog, and it is of interest to the doctor, SI will definitely consider reviewing your book provided that:

  • you ask first
    if your book arrives unexpected, expect it to end up as a nicely wrapped goodwill donation
  • you send a(n) (e)-copy promptly after acceptance
    if it takes too long to arrive, something could come up and push the review to the back burner
  • you insure that you can get the book to me at least a week in advance (and two is preferred) if you want the review by a certain date

Note that, unless a post states otherwise, a book review on the blog is generally on a book that the doctor has received a free (e-)copy of.

Unsolicited Offers

Would you like me to optimize your site for search engines?Home

No. First of all, as a CS PhD who was teaching internet technologies before you even knew what the internet was, and an IT professional who also happens to have years of enterprise software development under my belt, I'm quite capable of doing my own SEO.

Secondly, I'm already doing at least twice as good as any other blog or publication in the space against my corpus of common supply chain search terms.

Thirdly, if I did want help, I wouldn't hire some random yahoo barely out of diapers with no formal training who can't even construct proper sentences in a short e-mail. I'd hire a conscientious professional who I've worked with in the past and who I can trust to only use white-hat SEO techniques that won't get my site banned from the major search engines.

  But we do multilingual!

Good for you. I still don't care. Right now, SI only publishes in English. And while I include Google translate for 15 languages in the resources box, it's far from perfect and not something I really want to advertise at this time.

Furthermore, should SI go multi-lingual in the future, the techniques it's already using still apply. Therefore, I still won't be interested.

Would you like me to redesign your blog?Home

No. While it's true it could be flashier, SI isn't about flash. It's about substance. Furthermore, it's also about accessibility and availability. I don't want a site that only works in IE 7.0.5700.6 on Windows Vista Build 5536 on your HP Pavilion dv9000, and I don't want a site that's down more than it's up. That's why I use a hosted service. As the biggest domain name provider and one of the biggest hosting providers out there, GoDaddy's business depends on its web sites being accessible in all major browsers 99.999% of the time. If it goes down 5 minutes after I go to sleep, I know it will be up again in a matter of minutes because they will be flooded with inquiries by customers in a different time zone the minute their sites are unavailable for 60 seconds. I gladly accept some limitations in blog structure to not have to worry about up-time or cross-browser, cross-platform accessibility. Besides, I'm a big fan of the KISS principle, and the design, and maintenance on my part, is very KISS.

Would you like to see the great redesign I have for your resource site?Home

No. While I admit it could be better, the next time I decide to update the site, if I do decide to hire someone, I'm not going to hire just anyone to do it.

First of all, the site has to fulfill its purpose, work and successfully manage the large number of resources it currently manages. This requires a fairly sophisticated code-base under the hood, and it's not something that you can just throw together for a few thousand dollars, and if you tell me you can, I'll laugh in your face.

Secondly, if I do decide to spend money on a flashier look and feel, I'm going to hire someone I know can get the job done, not a poorly educated high-school kid with an Microsoft Access database who thinks he has all the answers (and that's what I'm judging most of you are giving the poor grammar and unprofessionalism of the e-mails that clog my spam filter).

Would you like to be listed in our directory? It's only 999.99!Home

You're kidding, right?

You're not? Then what are you tripped out on? Pan Galactic Gargle Blasters?

Only a complete idiot is going to pay to list in your directory when there are thousands of directories out there that she can list in for free. Furthermore, as cheaper, better, free alternatives present themselves, even the suckers you convince to sign up aren't going to renew. Thus, your directory is doomed to failure from the start unless (a) you offer a heck of a lot more than just listings, (b) you already have a widely established community, and (c) you have a tiered model with free and paid listings. And even then, it has to be good. Damn good. And even then, I'm not going to be interested since a lot more people will find SI from Google than from your directory.

Would you like to be an expert in our network? It's FREE for the first three months!Home

Ha, Ha, Ha! You're funny!

What planet are you from anyway, Eadrax? Why would I want to pay to be part of your lackluster community? So I can talk to all three of your users?

But seriously, who's going to pay to be part of your community when there are dozens of business networks and communities that let members, including experts, join for free. Where do you think most of my audience is going to be? Not in your community, for starters.

Would you like our PR Agency to help you get better visibility? We have an introductory special for new clients.Home

How about you read my PR series and then tell me if you really want to be asking me that question:

Now, while there are PR professionals whom I like, respect, and get along with (and at least one who has brains and beauty that I'll slobber over), these individuals are a rarity. Generally speaking, the doctor is not very fond of external PR firms. Too many bad experiences over the years.


 


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