(Birmingham, Mich) – Featuring the designs of world-renowned designer Jeff Garner of Prophetik, The Uptown Group (TUG) will host the “Green Breeze Fashion Show for Land Conservation” – showing going green not only helps our environment but it’s fashionable too. The unique green fashion show is Saturday, July 24 (Doors open 7 p.m. /Show at 8 p.m.) at the Royal Oak Music Theatre. Proceeds from the event benefit The Greening of Detroit and The Community House.

“The Green Breeze Fashion Show for Land Conservation” will bring the distinctive, all-sustainable fashion lifestyle line of Jeff Garner of Prophetik to the runway for the evening. Organized by TUG (The Uptown Group) – a collection of young professionals dedicated to making a difference in Southeastern Michigan through fun and innovative social events, cultural programs and community outreach – the evening will offer guests an evening of fashion, on-site vendors, food and music.

Celebrities who support the green movement have also been invited to the event. Celebrity guests already scheduled to attend the event, include actor Thomas Ian Nicholas of “American Pie,” “Rookie of the Year,” and “The Chicago 8,” as well as Alexandra Rush, a Michigan native who has appeared in GQ Magazine, “Sex and the City 2,” “Celebrity Apprentice,” and “Real World Brooklyn.” Local rockers Catfish Mafia add their amazing rock and roll grass music as the featured artists during the show and StyleLine editor Karen Buscemi will serve as emcee at the beginning of the show.

“TUG is excited to be working with Jeff Garner not only for his commitment to eco-friendly fashion, but also because he has a passion for teaching and educating children about living an environmentally-conscious way of life while growing the connectedness of people, resources and organizations around the world,” said Sarah Szirtes, chair of the Green Breeze Fashion Show. “We are also very excited and thankful to have such wonderful sponsors working with us on the event, including Mijo-a’ Beauty Studio, Figo Salon, Whole Foods Market, Kashi, Arbonne, Shaklee, Center for Yoga, StyleLine, Media Genesis, Premier Pet Supply, Achatz Handmade Pies, City Style, B’drizzled Gourmet Popcorn, Butzel Long, The Cupcake Station, Michigan Green Safe Products, The Inn at Black Star Farms, The Townsend Hotel, Envo Water, Eco Posh Events, Rock Out Entertainment, Clark Hill PLC, and Healthcall of Detroit.”

Prophetik is focused on environmentally friendly materials including organic cottons, hemp, flax, Greenspun (recycled bottles) and organic pigment dyed, GOTS (Global Organic Textile Standard) certified fabrics. The label has been part of London Fashion Week’s Esthethica for the past several seasons, and the line not only focuses on sustainability with fabrics and production, but also in the heart of giving, raising funds and awareness for a select charity each season.

Tickets ($100 VIP – includes runway seating, VIP gift bag & 2 drinks; GA seating – $25 & $50; GA Student & Balcony seating – $15) for “The Green Breeze Fashion Show for Land Conservation” are now on sale and may be purchased at the Royal Oak Music Theatre box office or on-line at www.theuptowngroup.org , www.tickets.com, Center for Yoga (Birmingham, West Bloomfield, Ann Arbor), Figo Salon (Birmingham), and Mijo-a’ Beauty Studio (Rochester Hills).

Student tickets can only be purchased at the Royal Oak Music Theatre box office and students must present ID upon purchase. All ticket proceeds will benefit The Greening of Detroit and The Community House. A portion of ticket purchases are tax-deductible (to the extent covered by law). Doors open at 7 p.m. For more information on The Green Breeze Fashion Show for Land Conservation, email greenbreeze@mediag.com.

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Social Media & Pre-Sliced American Cheese

A lot can be said about how we portray ourselves and our businesses through social media channels. Some advisers will recommend not to post anything that may alienate your audience (the “pre-sliced American cheese” or “greatest common denominator” philosophy).

But there is more to social media than being non-offensive or inclusive. The trick is to be non-offensive, inclusive AND CON¬CURRENTLY: interesting, available, current, occasionally funny, informative, and not-too-busy-to-pay-attention-but-not-too-idle-to-over post. Oh, and ditch the social media ‘I just opened my account’ generic page/avatar uniform as soon as you can (Need help? Give us a buzz).

Social Media & Baked Goods

A social media post is like a baked good. Imagine you and I are visitors to a bake sale. We walk past the first table: dry multi-grain muffin. We move towards the second table: over baked biscuits. Third table: two day-old cornbread. Are these things horrible? Maybe not, but we both know what we were really hoping to find: a freshly baked, decadent, velvety cupcake with half of a ripe strawberry wedged in the frosting.

The Recipe

1. Be ready to display excessive persistence.

2. Don’t find things to re-post. Find INTERESTING things to re-post.

3. Think about what your readers/followers/friends need: A laugh?
Product advice? Coupons and deals? A human behind a logo?

4. It never hurts to educate and inform – that’s where the web’s roots are.

5. Don’t annoy. It’s bad enough when a person is thought of as “spam”, it’s worse for a company or brand.

6. Please don’t annoy. (Don’t over post. Don’t re-post the most popular web buzz. Don’t only post external links without bait: good descriptions or pictures associated with the links.

7. Don’t let social media be a chore. Hundreds of people would love to spend time on Facebook or Twitter while at work. You have a valid reason to (believe me, you do), so, for the sake of the rest of us: enjoy it.

The IRS has established a procedure for charitable groups to apply for tax-exemption by incorporating as non-profits, known as 501(c)3 organizations. Doing so enables them to receive donations that are tax-deductible for donors, as well as receive grants from foundations and other funders.

While the procedure for applying for tax-exempt status is not difficult, it is strictly prescribed. In addition, individual states have their own rules regarding incorporation and tax-exempt status, and both levels of government have specific rules and reporting requirements to maintain a group’s status.

In simplest terms, an organization applies to the Federal Government to obtain an Employee Identification Number (regardless of whether they actually have paid employees). The group then incorporates in their home state. In Michigan, this process takes as little as four days and costs only $20.

The group then applies to the IRS for its tax-exempt status, which can take as little as two weeks. The fee for the Feds is based on the group’s expected income for the upcoming fiscal year, either $300 or $750. The basic forms and core documents required by the IRS to determine whether the group will be awarded the status are straightforward: official organization name, mission statement, constitution, bylaws, and a list of initial board of directors with contact information.

Even though the documents required by the IRS are also the basic forms any organization would be wise to create, that step in the formation of the group is key. It is critical that the group answer basic fundamental questions before they write these required documents: What is the group about? What does it plan to do with any monies it collects? Where does it plan to operate? Who does it plan to serve? Will the group be member-directed or board-directed? The IRS will be looking for these answers in the core documents to determine whether the group merits tax-exempt status.

The most successful non-profits are program-driven rather than grant-driven. Sometimes, in order to obtain grant funding, non-profits “tweak” grant applications to appeal to a particular funder, and in the process, “stretch” their mission in order to qualify under the funder’s guidelines. This is not a wise idea for several reasons.

First, non-profits who stray too far from their stated mission run the risk of losing their tax-exempt status; the IRS does check. Second, organizations may lose their philosophical way of chasing funds rather than improving their programs and documenting the good they actually do. Trying to be all things to all people simply doesn’t work, and funders have become savvy about such tactics.

Bottom line: charities should do some serious soul-searching about their purpose before applying for non-profit status, and then carefully craft their mission and bylaws to reflect who they are and what they do.

As traditional print newspaper readership is declining, online content is becoming more and more predominant. Just fewer than three-quarters of Internet users gather their news today online, according to the 2010 State of the Media Annual Report by the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism. People are exploring various media outlets to get their news when they want it, especially as the amount of information continues to grow online.

But this transition presents itself with issues. Daily print newspaper circulation has dropped just over 25 percent since 2000, according to the State of the Media 2010 Report, and in September 2009, industry-wide circulation fell just under 11 percent from a year earlier. “Those declines, however, pale by comparison to the loss in revenues, which represent a more significant problem,” stated the report.

Both online and newspaper ad revenue has fallen over 40 percent over the last three years, concluded the report. According to a new survey on online economics, online users simply ignore online advertisements; “79 percent of online news consumers say they rarely, if ever, have clicked on an online ad.”

Newspapers such as The Wall Street Journal have tried a different approach to make money online by putting up a paywall. Beginning in January 2011, The New York Times is also implementing a type of a paywall. After users view and read a number of articles each month, the reader must pay a fee for unlimited access. Print subscribers will receive full access to the website, said an article in the New York Times. This paywall, the New York Times stated, should not have much of an effect on the occasional visitor but will target the devoted readers.

However, less than ten percent said to the State of the Media 2010 Annual Report that they would actually pay for online content. When polled if they had to pay for content, over half choose the subscription model – access to all the content on the site. Some readers do not feel this type of content is worth paying for.  Most audiences of a typical news organization are not willing to pay for online content, especially as many are beginning to gather their news elsewhere, such as Facebook, Twitter and Google.

Many readers feel online content is and should be different than what is found in the print product. Online content is something one should be able to transmit quickly, as well as provide the means for one to keep up-to-date on local, statewide, national, and international occurrences. The stories should be short or long, providing as much or as little information as needed to get the point across.

Newspapers will need to determine how to produce high-quality online content users are willing to pay for, or if readers are not willing to pay for the content, journalists will need to rethink their model for digital delivery. The industry must do more or the readers must adapt.

We at Media Genesis do not feel that regular news outlets should charge for online content, though. If news organizations want to maintain a readership, providing free online content is how they’re going to keep it.

But while online content should be free, this freedom comes at a cost: whether it is the newspaper cutting back on jobs, the advertisers generating new ideas to create revenue or the readers paying for content. Maybe the “payment” will appear in other means.

Whatever the cost, if traditional journalists and newspapers that have built up credibility after all these years are replaced by citizen journalists and bloggers, for instance, who will produce the news that gets fed to various search engines that people can trust? Will there be partnerships between old and new media outlets? Maybe collaboration between citizen and traditional journalists will be possible. Perhaps aggregators will find ways integrate original content, becoming the “new” news provider.

While the future cannot be predicted, Journalism has continually evolved and must continue to evolve as the industry moves forward. Journalists will have to find innovative ways to adapt, yet it might just be a little different than to what most are accustomed.

5. Your website is Flash based

• As a best practice your main business website should not be completely in Flash. Now, this does not mean you have to swear off using any Flash within your site. Having Flash modules to add interactivity to your site is perfectly appropriate if you want to simulate how a certain product functions or a process. A couple issues with having an entirely Flash website are:
• Search engines view an all Flash site as one file, meaning there is not the same opportunity to optimize different pages for different keywords, titles and descriptions.
• Flash files, particularly those using sound effects, embedded movies or bitmap images, may take some time to load. How fast it takes your website to load is a factor in how Google will ranks your page.

4. Your website does not provide a call to action

• If you are selling a product or service, you want to have to have a call to action if you want your website to be any kind of an asset to your business. A call to action could be filling out a contact form, signing up for an e-newsletter or becoming a fan of a Facebook page. Make it easy for users to get information or to contact you – don’t make them search.

3. Your website is not search engine friendly

• If your website is not search engine optimized then you could be missing a lot of potential traffic to your site. Below are some SEO best practices to strongly consider when redesigning your site.
• Use targeted keywords in the page copy and headings
• Use keywords in the page titles and descriptions
• Use alt tags on all photos and file names showcasing what the photo is
• Add a sitemap to your site, which has links that point to the important parts of your site. This provides another way for your users to navigate your site more easily.
• Add Google analytics to your site, which is tool offered by Google that tracks and generates detailed statistics about your sites activities, such as visits, page views, pages per visit, bounce rates and average time on site, etc. Using Google analytics is a great way to measure the return on investment (ROI) of your website.

2. Your website has not been updated in the last 2 years

• If your website has not been updated in the last two years then chances are your website:
• Has not been tested in the latest browsers. Different browsers can affect the way people view your website. So you may be seeing everything perfect in Internet Explorer 6, but people using much new browsers such as Internet Explorer 8 could be seeing a site that appears to be broken.
• Does not abide by the standard resolution size (1024 X 760)
• Does not incorporate other newer technology such as social media. For example social media such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and blogs can be incorporated / feed right into your site. This content not only has the ability to engage and draw users in but also gives the appearance that the site is fresh and new.

1. Your website is no longer relevant to your company’s business objectives.

• Your website needs evolve along with your business. It should be used as a marketing tool to promote new products and/ or services that your company offers and if it no longer does that, then your website is no longer benefiting your business. Redesigning your site is a great way to reevaluate how you want to position your business on the web.

MySpace: MySpace was a way for those to establish their own personal space. Deodorant was not invented yet, only flowery perfumes to mask odors. MySpace was created so bodily vapors did not suffocate others near you.

Facebook: Facebook was the equivalent of a “Wanted” poster. Walking around town, you’d see various people’s faces posted on saloon doors and parlor entrances. Whether a man was looking for a good time or the town was to be on the lookout for those committing treason, Facebook provided networking in the general vicinity, so messages and status’ of others could travel near and far.

Twitter: Twitter was just another name for one’s carrying pigeon. If your horse isn’t fast enough and you needed a message to travel across towns quickly, sending a short, light message through your own carrying pigeon proved extremely efficient.

Flickr: Flickr could be found in just about everyone’s home. Since electricity was not invented yet and candlelight was the popular method to provide light, this candlelight made it easier for visitors to see their host’s faces, as well as the paintings hanging around the house.

“We have always found Chicago to be a great market and have wanted to expand there for some time,” said Media Genesis CEO Brad Frederick. “We are extremely excited about the opportunities in terms of reach and growth a second office can bring to the company.”

And Chicago isn’t the only place Media Genesis has stretched its geographical horizons to. Recently, Media Genesis has taken on a project in Texas for the Fort Worth Housing Commission, traveling to do a photo shoot in Colorado for BSST, provided an analysis and website design for Dana Holding Company in Ohio, and developed a website for the County Commissioners Association of Pennsylvania using Microsoft SharePoint.

“The stability of Media Genesis has always been based on our diversification of project type, client size and industry, and now through expansion of our geographic presence and reach.” Frederick said.

Media Genesis specializes in services ranging from consulting, interactive multimedia, audio/video, application development, E-learning, online promotion, and hosting.

For more information about our new Chicago office please call 312.985.6375, or visit www.mediaG.com.

If you are reading this, there is a good chance you are tethered to a power strip which is tethered to the socket in the wall. If you are one of the unlucky ones, that socket may be deep within the cave under your desk, or worse, behind the couch.

If you aren’t plugged in (as us laptop users sometimes brave against the waning tide of battery life), you’re likely nervously watching the battery icon in the corner of your screen.  In which case, I hope you can finish reading before you’re rudely interrupted by the shutdown.

But what if we could break away from the wall? What if I said that you never had to reach underneath a piece of furniture to plug into an outlet?

This is where the VoltPot comes in. VoltPot is a unique table that uses soil and grass to charge your laptop. This segmented counter/ planter pot has a built-in Microbial Fuel Cell. A microbial fuel cell is a device that converts chemical energy to electrical energy making it capable of generating enough energy to charge small electronics.

According to the creators of VoltPot, Nectar Designs,  this new commodity is currently still a product idea which is being constructed on this new promising technology of Microbial Fuel Cells.

“As opposed to a chemical battery, a Microbial Fuel Cell uses the metabolic energy of microbes present inside soil samples & converts it directly to electrical energy to generate low intensity, but continuous output of energy. The basic construction revolves around making an anode and a cathode soil chambers, just like a conventional battery,” Nectar Designs said.

The premise of individual objects generating electricity is exciting.  Just imagine never tripping over a stretched out power cord again. Better yet, imagine the future possibilities for your office, or the planet.

For more information on Voltpot, visit www.nectardesign.com/ecotopia-shujoy-chakraborty-voltpot

Photo from www.nectardesign.com

10. Your site has dead links

This might not be the sole reason you redesign your website, but might be the first step into evaluating the content, design and brand and how these play into your online reputation of your company. A free Microsoft tool to find dead links on your website is http://www.microsoft.com/web/Downloads/platform.aspx

9. Your website is not optimized for mobile users
Using a smart phone for phone calls is almost becoming a secondary feature. People are now using them more frequently to find information on the go and your website should take into account the way people will be viewing it. Below are some things to consider for mobile web users.

• Be conscious of font size – small text can be hard for mobile users to read.
• Have clear and concise content – people viewing your site on a mobile device are not usually at home. They don’t want to read a book, they want quick, useful information.
• Make sure your images are optimized for better loading time. Using Flash within your site can create slower loading time, thus decreasing the usability and experience for mobile users.
• Provide a contact number on every page.

8. Structure of the site – using Divs vs Tables

You may not think so, but the way your site is structured can affect how optimized your site is, your maintenance costs and limitations with functionality.  Using Divs instead of tables is becoming a best practice on how sites are coded and structured. Divs are HTML tags used to create containers around blocks of content such as images or body text. So if your site is built in tables rather than using Divs, then it might just be time for a new site. Below lists some of the positives of using Divs and the shortcomings of Tables.

• Using Divs reduces the file sizes within your website, which makes it easier for Search Engine Spiders to crawl your website.
• Coding a website with tables creates a lot of additional markup, making it not only more time consuming to make edits, but harder for search engines to decipher between code and content.
• Tables also reduce a website’s flexibility in accepting different media and design elements, and they often limit a website’s functionality.

7. Navigation is confusing to users

A user should be able to find the information they are searching for within three clicks. If not, then it might be time to examine your site structure and the paths needed to get to important information. Good navigation and organization will only make the user experience more enjoyable and increase their chances of them returning. Also, for better usability, have a search field on your site.

6. Content is dated
Having news on your site that was last updated a year ago does not give users the greatest first impression of your company. A user may then think the rest of the information on your site is old and irrelevant to them as well. You should give users a reason to come back, whether it be in the form of keeping your site current or having occasional giveaways. So when redesigning your site think about having it built with a content management system or in other words, a tool that can allow you to edit content and images on your site without a strong knowledge of HTML or any other programming language. This will save money and time in the long run.

Reason 5-1: To be continued

Every internet user is all too familiar with the concept of online advertising, be it in the form of a too-good-to-be-true offer, a survey, a pop-up window advertising myriad of services, and the text that runs along the bottom of streaming online video. As consumers have turned off their televisions and plugged in their PCs for home entertainment, the very nature of these advertisements has changed abruptly and in a noticeable way.

Taking the place of boilerplate, generalized advertisements like those that run on network television, we see customized and targeted information directly related to the content of our emails, our interests on Facebook, and our connections on LinkedIn. While this information is still used to sell products, a movement towards using this idea to address the social concerns of users has been quietly growing across the web.

This platform allows the users and vendors to truly engage in a dialogue, whereby one can select their own personalized ‘advertising experience.’ It is both refreshing and exciting to see the non-profit community benefiting from this new mentality towards user-driven advertising content. Major non-profits such as Kiva.org, the micro-loan marketplace endorsed by Presidents Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter, have taken full advantage of this new movement, and websites such as YouTube and eBay have followed suit by partnering with various other charitable groups.

The benefits of addressing each user’s concerns through these means are clear, and with such major players as Hulu, Google, eBay and YouTube on board, the future of online advertising in the nonprofit realm looks promising. While these advertisements can still be irksome and easily ignored, this new trend serves both the interests of the user and the needs of the nonprofits.