Rank higher in Robotics Online search results with free POP points!

By Brian Huse, Director, Marketing & PR, Robotic Industries Association

 

For a limited time, you can get free POP points that allow you to rank higher in Robotics Online searches. Normally $495, POP points are included at no charge with any advertising bundle order in October.

 

What is a bundle?

Qualified members get free or deeply discounted ads in the Robotics Industry Directory. A bundle upgrades these ads from good to better and includes online ads at discount rates. Bundle advertisers save money and stand out online and in print.

 

What is a POP point?

Similar to how AdWords work on Google, POP points increase your visibility to Robotics Online users through a weighting system that jumps member content ahead of those with less points in a category. You choose the categories and apply the POP points yourself. Order an ad bundle and get FREE POP points!

 

Why October?

Robotic Industries Association goes into production for its 2009 Robotics Industry Directory soon. Members must tell us now of any plans to use their ads. For most, that is free. The bundle is for anyone anticipating 12 months of online ads beyond the print Directory and interested in an arrangement that saves money. POP points are for good customers and a way for us to give sincere thanks.

 

Order Bundle by                   Get this many POP points

October 10                             10 ($4,950 value!)

October 17                             8 ($3,960 value!)

October 24                             6 ($2,970 value!)

October 31                             4 ($1,980 value!)

 

How to order a bundle

Call me and I’ll handle the paperwork (see below for rates). At some time, the process will be run from the Member Control Panel. Soon, it will be so you can purchase and manage your ads in full from this dashboard. Until then, please contact me at 734/994-6088 or by email.

 

For people in the business, Robotics Online is the number-one website on industrial robotics technology and generates thousands of advertising clicks every year. According to Google Analytics, some 18,000 “Absolute Unique Visitors” come around each month and do so much they make better than five times their mass in “Pageviews” running toward 98,000 per month. Thanks to search engine optimization, it is common to see member content indexed by Google and served up from Robotics Online in their searches. POP over and see what you get – great things are waiting for you.

 

FYI – Bundle Rates

Bronze Supplier: $1,500 ($2,160 in pieces)

Silver Supplier: $7,900 ($11,420 in pieces)

Gold Supplier: $7,500 ($10,135 in pieces)

Platinum Supplier: $7,300 ($11,535 in pieces)

 

Integrators: $3,910 ($5,535 in pieces)

 

Sincerely,

Brian Huse

Director, Marketing & PR

Robotic Industries Association

900 Victors Way, P.O. Box 3724, Ann Arbor, MI 48106

734/994-6088

bhuse@robotics.org

 

New Version of Ask the Experts on Robotics Online

By Brian Huse, Director, Marketing & PR for Robotic Industries Association

 

Ask the Experts provides a running message board of questions and answers and is a great way to find companies that know how to help overcome specific challenges.

 

Questions are refereed by RIA staff and once approved an email goes to experts to invite input. When a question is answered, an alert goes to the email address of whoever asked.

 

What’s New

Answers from the experts include a link directly to their company profile – now it is quick and easy to find what each expert has to offer. Not only do you get specific answers to your question, but you find contact information and listings of products, services and any content published on Robotics Online by the company your expert works for.

 

From old robot parts to advice on careers, Ask the Experts is RIA’s pipeline to people and answers that help you succeed in the robotics industry.

 

To participate as an expert you must be an RIA member. Access is provided through the Member Control Panel, the members-only section of Robotics Online. (Call today for login information: 734/994-6088.)

 

 

 

Ode to Vern Mangold: Reborn December 26, 2007

 

He is blessed, this man who has lived in this industry.

We are blessed to have this man in our industry.

He might well be gone;

If not for effort most valiant;

. . .Saved from a bleeding aneurysm in the brain!

Able to walk and talk again!

And grateful are we to whom he extends his thoughts.

 

In a verse of good praise and news he did explain

To his friends

And to many good people

And to his family

A thanks for the chance “to thank everyone!”

‘Twas given to me by Jeff Fryman himself as a

Printout on which Vern said himself. . .

A MAJOR LIFE CHANGE FOR VERN MANGOLD

 

I guess so.

 

He’s back, folks. Welcome again, Vern.

 

Blessed are we to give thanks that you are well

And praise be to all that has made you whole.

 

Robotics Online 2.0 in the Making

By Brian Huse, Director, Marketing & PR, Robotic Industries Association

Two weeks ago a contract was signed to re-do the Robotic Industries Association Web site. The agreement was the culmination of more than two years of study, committee input, database investigation, specifications writing, a few bidding rounds, and high powered consultation. Meanwhile at RIA, event management continued unwaveringly and membership grew both those years, especially in the user and integrator categories.

In the last two weeks, RIA and its Web developer (AIMG out of New Jersey) opened up the secret lab where ingredients were mixed to grow the DNA of the new Robotics Online site. The new site’s life will have its inspiration drawn from basic building blocks developed about four years ago by RIA’s MARCOM Committee. Also contributing to the magic is bits and pieces from the Statistics Committee, the Membership Committee, the New Markets Committee, the Education Committee, Board members and others with a stake in the robotics industry.

Even people who visited the old site (i.e. the one that’s up while I write this blog) contributed through survey input. The tradition of comprehensive inclusion continues.

Along with a rich heritage, big changes are at hand with the new site. For one thing, database interaction will be enhanced exponentially. Flood gates will open and more data than ever will transfer to site visitors and members. Members will have dashboard access to their corner of a site that is alive with thousands of visitors per day.

Visitors who always have been drawn to the site will have far more to be attracted to when it comes to robotics. Search aids will speed their navigation and increase their productive time on the site. Information will flow from far more sources as the Association enhances its database with more functionality. Results will be easier to get, ever more relevant and increasingly meaningful.

Stage one of the Web site is scheduled to role out in time for Robots 2008: What’s Next. More than 3,000 documents will be touched when it is done. Member’s Only access will be more than rewarding; it will be useful in running a business.

In the last two weeks, we here at the RIA lab have been working on deployment of a new Robotics Online Web site. It started with intense data mining, and will commence with a fury, building at the same time a marketing wave launches for Robots 2008 this June. Look out, cyber world and robot buffs everywhere; Robotics Online “two-point-oh” is in the making.

Unauthorized Site Contains Interesting Video from Robots & Vision Show

by Brian Huse, Director, Marketing & PR (RIA)

What would you do if you found an unauthorized Web site about your company’s “family jewels”? I recently bumped into a site that highlights the Association’s International Robots & Vision Show, our biggest and most elaborate event, and was delighted to see it was done in such an interesting manner. Nelson Bridwell came to the 2007 Show and (with permission) shot footage and interviews on the floor. 

It turns out that Mr. Bridwell, 55, used to work for Intel and is now running a startup business called Mirage Robotics in Beaverton, Oregon. After a brief search, I was able to find his number and have a quick conversation to see what makes him tick. 

Nelson Bridwell foresees a day when robotic applications are incorporated into the transportation industry, specifically in ways that are now being explored in DARPA’s Grand Challenge which is a competition for developing autonomous vehicles. He hopes this leads to spin-off technology in the automotive market for the elderly or in the delivery sector. 

An admirer of Joseph F. Engelberger, the “Father of Robotics,” Nelson sites a sentiment he credits to Joe that there is little merit in creating humanoid robots for the sake of an emotional reaction. (This certainly is the kind of thing I’ve heard Joe talk about.) Mr. Bridwell hopes to see more practical applications for non-industrial robots, and feels the biggest bottleneck for progress is software, not hardware. 

It was an interesting few minutes with Nelson. His site is not sanctioned by the Association, but if you want to see it and all the videos and other commentary, go to http://www.mobilerobot.org/RobotsVisionShow/2007.htm.

Robots & Vision Show Update: Promotional Activities

Promotions are well under way for the Robots & Vision Show, June 12-14, 2007. The audience is comprised of some 500,000 industry prospects from various magazines, Web sites and house lists. The new Show site went live February 23, and ad insertions are already in March trade magazines. Internet marketing is in gear, and we are developing the official Show Directory with Assembly magazine. Here are some highlights: 

Print Ads

• Assembly magazine (March, April)
• Photonics Spectra (March, April, May*)
• Quality magazine (March, April)
• Test & Measurement World (April, May)
• Vision Systems Design (March, April)
• Imaging & Machine Vision Europe (April)
• Automotive Design & Production (April)
• Motion System Design (April)
• Advanced Imaging (April)
• Automation World (April*)

* Asterisk indicates ½-page, four-color ad. Publications in red were added as of March 14, 2007.

Online Ads & Insertions

Several electronic insertions are pending for sites from the above list of trade journals and other publications. You’ll find an editorial placement we arranged in the latest Assembly magazine newsletter (click here).

E-mail Blasts

RIA’s twice-monthly newsletter to more than 20,000 subscribers has included updates for several issues, and targeted blasts to promote the Show will be a monthly occurrence between now and June. A combination of house lists and rented lists means nearly 400,000 e-mails will be broadcast during this period (maybe more).

List Rentals and Target Audiences

About 20 sources will be utilized for target lists. In the example of Assembly magazine, 24,000 subscirbers will receive advance copies of the Show Directory with their May issue. A more detailed accounting will be available soon.

New & Other Business

RIA Integrator member benefits have been expanded to include tabletops at the Show. An e-mail blast on this matter went out today to current and potential members in this category. We continue to take applications for the Hands-on Highway and in some cases, we will still consider speaker abstracts (contact Jeff Burnstein at jburnstein@robotics.com for these details).

– posted by Brian Huse (bhuse@robotics.org, 734/994-6088)

RIA Membership Committee Sets New Goals, Invites Users

When you have a group of high energy idea people like the ones who belong to RIA’s Membership Committee, it is always a pleasure to convene and talk business, which is exactly what we did in Raleigh, North Carolina recently. This group clearly enjoys the task of addressing membership issues, and takes its job seriously even while finding time to have fun and cultivate relationships. 

Chairing the committee is Catherine Morris from ATI Industrial Automation, and she was our gracious host for a “pre-game” tour of her company’s growing corporate headquarters followed by dinner at the Morris home. We had a wonderful steak dinner cooked to tender perfection, and Keith, her husband, has a roomful of vintage pinball games that he opened up for our amusement.

That evening, February 28, we spent time brainstorming ways to appeal to new and current members. In particular, time was spent on the importance of serving the user members in ways that benefit them. It has become a priority to recruit a user and an educator to the committee, which was on all our minds when we left for the night.

A longer, more in-depth meeting took place the next day at a nearby hotel in Cary, North Carolina. A new membership goal of 300 was set for 2007, which is the big Robots & Vision Show year, and assuming retention stays at 87%, that means the Association will need 71 new members. Each of the last two years have been growth periods for RIA, but this goal represents a stretch beyond the usual 50 or so new members per year.

It is very rare for a trade association to include user members and makes it difficult to compare RIA to other industry trade groups, but the Membership Committee embraces the challenges involved in serving both users and makers of robotics technology.

There are many organizations for manufacturers, and no doubt some make an effort to value customers that buy products made by their members. Thanks to the Membership Committee, RIA elevates the concern for users and educators to the point of inclusion. If you are a user company or an educator, please contact Brian Huse (bhuse@robotics.org, 734/994-6088) for more information on joining this committee.

New Robots & Vision Show Site Debuts with Strong Google PageRank!

We’ve just launched a brand new Web site for the International Robots & Vision Show, and as soon as it went live, it had a solid Google PageRank of five. The site was designed and produced 100% by our Association staff in a few short days thanks largely to part-time Webmaster, Carrie Warolin (webmaster@robotics.org). I may be unduly biased, but I think she did a great job – thanks Carrie!

Emphasis on Hands-on Demos at the Show

A lot of emphasis is going into a new strategy to cultivate hands-on demonstrations at exhibits on the Show floor. Here are the criteria for participation in the Show’s Hands-on Highway:

• There is a hands-on, self-guided demo in the booth 
• Four minutes is the time limit for hands-on demos
• Demos must communicate “ease of use” of the technology 

Hands-on Highway maps and other collateral will help attendees find these demos. We will create opportunities for visitors to plan ahead so they can incorporate the Hands-on Highway in their Show experience. Thanks to the Hands-on Highway and other interactive arrangements, this is now more than a trade show. It is an interactive experience that answers questions about the technology that no amount of Web surfing can answer. 

We are grateful to the Show Committee for guiding us toward creating this new activity for attendees. Their input, and that of other committees, is what shapes the strategy and tactics for the International Robots & Vision Show and many other Association endeavors.

Let Me Answer Your Questions (Click here for the form)

You may have questions on how to participate in the Hands-on Highway, or on other aspects of the Show and Conference. We feel confident that companies of any size can participate, and I’m happy to help you figure out how. Post comments and questions here, or contact me directly at bhuse@robotics.org (734/994-6088).

Cool Robotics Web Sites

Here’s a fun, interesting Web site from Autotool, one of RIA’s integrator members. It has animation and sound, interesting pictures of real work cells, and is so inviting that it makes me want to visit their brick and mortar site. Have a look! 

http://www.autotoolinc.com/