Wednesday, August 30, 2006
Joe Barter Forges New Partnerships to Benefit Members
Sure, there are plenty of great (and free) features at the joebarter.com web site. There's Joe Trading Post, where registered members can barter or sell legitimate products and services at no cost, and Textbook Traders (at Joe University), where, this coming semester, college students can trade or sell textbooks with classmates on campus and save tons of money they'd normally spend at the campus bookstore.
Plus, there's free access to networking resources at Joe Deals & Discounts, Joe Jobs and Joe Media. Joe knows his members have high expectations. That's why he's forging strategic partnerships with other companies to provide added value.
He's also developing a referral rewards program for members who introduce others to the joebarter.com site that will offer the following incentives:
- Hollywood Sports Parks tickets: Free admission for two to a 30-acre theme park where visitors can enjoy paintball, dirt BMX, extreme soccer, beach volleyball, Euro-bungee and the Colossal Rock Wall
- Music Downloads: Free download of a song from the vast music archives of Music Interactive.
- Cell Phone Updates: Receive five free cell phone updates that alert you to offers made for any product or service you've listed for barter or sale on Joe Trading Post
And that's only the start. In September, Joe plans to meet with one of the most popular and widely used Internet companies in the world to negotiate a strategic partnership.
Stay tuned to this blog for more details.
Also, watch out for the September issue of Joe Networking News, where we'll update you on company developments. Our newsletter will be sent to our registered members' e-mail addresses, or you can read it online at joebarter.com in the Joe Media section.
Monday, August 21, 2006
Joe Meets Jack!
Joe Barter was kinda jazzed when he scored a bunch of tickets to the Saturday, Aug. 19 Jack FM concert at the Verizon Amphitheatre in Irvine. The show had been sold out for weeks, and now Joe would get the chance to rock with Violent Femmes, Cheap Trick, Billy Idol, Journey and Def Leppard, along with tens of thousands of other devoted fans.
Being "Average Joes" and not the kind of people who get free stuff and complain, we took it in stride when we saw that our seats were so far away from the stage that we were in a different county. Yeah, we brought binoculars, but these seats were on the "lawn" and so high up and far away, we'd need oxygen masks to breathe and a telescope see the action on stage.
That didn't faze Tom Daley, President and CEO of Joe Barter, or his guests, Dr. Richard Gelm from the University of La Verne, and Paul Hernandez with 360 Global Management. The three of them began to slowly navigate their way to the stage as soon Violent Femmes opened the concert. Meanwhile, Donna Camp, our vice president, sales and marketing, and her guest, Rachel Lesinski from UCI, stayed behind to guard our seats.
It wasn't easy maneuvering past fans who'd paid big bucks for choice seats, so we linked up with some fighting men from the USMC who graciously escorted us to the stage. Semper Fi, guys, and thanks for all that you're doing for your country (and for the Joe Barter Team).
For the rest of the concert, we were so close to the action, we could feel the performers' sweat. It was cool. We felt guilty about Donna and Rachel, though, so Tom text messaged Donna to ask if she could even see anything from our seats. While he waited for her reply, a spotlight picked out two women on stage with backstage"crew" passes.
It was Donna and Rachel!
They'd been picked out of the crowd by a Jack FM staffer and ushered back stage to introduce the band Journey! The crowd went wild! After their brief stint in the spotlight, they were escorted to front row seats where Tom and the Joe Barter team were now sitting.Joe's team was together again (minus the telescope).
Being "Average Joes" and not the kind of people who get free stuff and complain, we took it in stride when we saw that our seats were so far away from the stage that we were in a different county. Yeah, we brought binoculars, but these seats were on the "lawn" and so high up and far away, we'd need oxygen masks to breathe and a telescope see the action on stage.
That didn't faze Tom Daley, President and CEO of Joe Barter, or his guests, Dr. Richard Gelm from the University of La Verne, and Paul Hernandez with 360 Global Management. The three of them began to slowly navigate their way to the stage as soon Violent Femmes opened the concert. Meanwhile, Donna Camp, our vice president, sales and marketing, and her guest, Rachel Lesinski from UCI, stayed behind to guard our seats.
It wasn't easy maneuvering past fans who'd paid big bucks for choice seats, so we linked up with some fighting men from the USMC who graciously escorted us to the stage. Semper Fi, guys, and thanks for all that you're doing for your country (and for the Joe Barter Team).
For the rest of the concert, we were so close to the action, we could feel the performers' sweat. It was cool. We felt guilty about Donna and Rachel, though, so Tom text messaged Donna to ask if she could even see anything from our seats. While he waited for her reply, a spotlight picked out two women on stage with backstage"crew" passes.
It was Donna and Rachel!
They'd been picked out of the crowd by a Jack FM staffer and ushered back stage to introduce the band Journey! The crowd went wild! After their brief stint in the spotlight, they were escorted to front row seats where Tom and the Joe Barter team were now sitting.Joe's team was together again (minus the telescope).
Friday, August 18, 2006
Keep that feedback coming.
Joe Barter launched this past July, and like most Web sites, we're dependent on users to tell us where we need to enhance navigability, functionality and design. User-friendly is a term we take seriously.
Presently, Joe's working on one of the most requested additions to his site, an "Edit" button that will allow users who post products or services at Joe Trading Post to edit their posting, not only before approving it, but also after it's been posted. This "Edit" feature will save users time -- if they want to edit after posting, they won't have to re-post -- and improve our tracking ability.
Joe Barter members also should check out other site improvements, in the design category. We are constantly improving the look and feel of the site, a new bolder look and less copy. But most importantly, we have invested time, money and lots of energy on the "behind the scenes" features. Things like loading graphics, uploading and editing information, security and back-end functionality.
Joe says, "Thank you" to all the users who've taken the time to navigate the joebarter.com site and provide us with their valuable feedback.
Keep up the good work!
Presently, Joe's working on one of the most requested additions to his site, an "Edit" button that will allow users who post products or services at Joe Trading Post to edit their posting, not only before approving it, but also after it's been posted. This "Edit" feature will save users time -- if they want to edit after posting, they won't have to re-post -- and improve our tracking ability.
Joe Barter members also should check out other site improvements, in the design category. We are constantly improving the look and feel of the site, a new bolder look and less copy. But most importantly, we have invested time, money and lots of energy on the "behind the scenes" features. Things like loading graphics, uploading and editing information, security and back-end functionality.
Joe says, "Thank you" to all the users who've taken the time to navigate the joebarter.com site and provide us with their valuable feedback.
Keep up the good work!
Saturday, August 12, 2006
Joe Congratulates Ticket Winners, Enters Davey Awards Competition
Joe Barter awarded two pair of Jack FM concert tickets to lucky drawing winners Maurice Taylor and Joe Servia. Maurice and Joe will see Cheap Trick, Journey, Def Leppard, Billy Idol and Violent Femmes perform at the Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre on Aug. 19.
In other news, Joe Barter entered the 2006 Davey Awards, which is billed as an "international creative award focused exclusively on honoring outstanding creative work from the best small firms worldwide." We entered seven categories: branding; community; schools/universities; navigation; home page; small business; and other.
The inaugural Davey Awards introduced last year drew more than 2,000 entries. The competition includes ad agencies, interactive agencies, production firms, in-house creative professionals and the like. We're not drafting acceptance speeches or renting tuxedos yet, but we think our Web site at joebarter.com is pretty darn professional looking. More than that, it's useful to small to mid-sized business owners and business professionals who want free access to our barter site and online networking resources.
Hop on joebarter.com and check our features out, especially Joe Trading Post, an online interface that allows regsitered members to trade or sell products and professional services at no charge. That's correct. No fees or commissions per trade when you register at joebarter.com and use the site to barter.
Advertisers should check out our competitive pricing, too. Just visit Joe Deals & Discounts to view our very affordable rates, starting as low as $15 monthly for a gold sponsor banner ad on this page.
Saturday, August 05, 2006
We're in the News!
Joe Barter got launched in the media. It's time to celebrate, briefly, that is, then get back to work. Tom Daley, our founder, and Donna Camp of marketing were interviewed Friday, Aug. 4, by writer Rodney Tanaka of the San Gabriel Valley Tribune. It was published Saturday, Aug. 5, and is really informative. The article also appears in the Pasadena Star News and the Whittier Daily News. Tell us what you think. Here's the link: http://sgvtribune.com/business/ci_4138975
We'll be gearing up for a media blitz in late August and early September of this year. That includes some huge sponsorships (still secret), media interviews, the debut of our Joe Newsletter and e-mail campaigns. Stay tuned to this blog.
We'll also sponsor some Joe Barter events in the Fall, including networking functions as well as financial and business seminars. When you get the invite, be sure to register early because space will probably be limited.
The Joe Barter team can't wait to show off all our services and the gifts we've selected for members. We're planning to spoil you.
Please keep informing us of glitches, errors or ideas that would help us all. Thanks for your support!
Joe and his team.
Thursday, August 03, 2006
Slowly but surely . . . we're coming along.
The Joe Barter team thanks everyone who's visited our site at joebarter.com and taken the time to look around. Some of you have given us some great feedback and recommendations.
We're going as fast as we can, fine-tuning each section, so that it works to your expectations. Joe Trading Post is up and running smoothly for those of you who want to barter or sell products and services. We do need to revise and add some categories to our products and services lists. Also, we'll perform some minor tweaks to add a feature that allows a member who posts a product or service to communicate (safely) with a person making an "offer" before any acceptance. This will really be a powerful tool for Joe Barter users.
The interface and search features at Deals & Discounts are almost completed. This section allows average Joes to promote their businesses in a big way for a small fee: Platinum Ads are $25 per month; Gold Ads $15 per month; and Silver web site link ads are free on joebarter.com if your business posts our link on your site. Remember, Deals & Discounts is where members can go to find the best deals and discounts offered by our advertisers to Joe Barter members.
We'll be finalizing some big deals with corporate partners in the next week, and we're also finishing up our monthly newsletter to help you stay in the loop with Joe's family.
Joe Barter will keep you posted on more developments as they occur.
