As a business owner, you need to know what your customers are putting into the search engines to find your business and/or products. Then you need to optimize your website and content so that it reflects those keywords. Content is key! Nobody knows your business or products like you do. Write about them. Get your customers to write about their experiences and add it in to your content. The more relevant content that you incorporate to your site, the better off you are going to be when it comes to internet marketing and search engine optimization.

If you have more than one website or blog, don’t use the same content on both. That will actually hurt you in the long run. Repurpose your content for the second site. You can be creative with your words and make it 40-60% different so that it benefits you on both sites. You are a treasure trove of information, once you start writing it will start flowing. Or hire a writer to learn about you and your business and be your voice. Whatever you do, you need to something, because without internet marketing and search engine optimization, you aren’t going to go anywhere online!

I created a BLaST Creative account last week and started adding a few boards and pins, within 1 hour I had over 50 spam emails and continue to receive between 50 to 100 spam emails a day. It is absolutely ridiculous! Is Pinterest selling our email addresses?

We use Facebook and Twitter and don’t have anywhere near the spamming problem. Pinterest is a nightmare and yet it is a good marketing tool! So what do you do?

1. Don’t use Pinterest!
2. Set up a second email address that you use only for Pinterest so that the spam emails go there and you don’t have to deal with them.
3. Block the spam emails as they roll in-which is what I did.
4. Continue to complain to Pinterest, but that doesn’t seem to be doing much good.

Because of the popularity of the site, Pinterest seems to be attacked by spammers and doesn’t have the appropriate safeguards in place. So enter at your own risk, for the moment, spammers control Pinterest!

These are all sayings we’ve heard, but it seems few people really embrace change. So how can we address this within a team or a group? People may resist it, ignore it, talk around it, but rarely want to address is directly, much less embrace it. If you’re facing any type of change, consider introducing it subtly and simply, using a team meeting.

Consider a change in the time, the place or the space. Small changes will more than likely throw people off who are resistant to change, but may help in introducing change. Just a simple change in time may generate discussion. If changing the time is not feasible, schedule to meet in a different space. Take the team to a coffee shop, another area in the building or outside. Be creative.

If introducing a new venue is not an option, change the area. Move the table out of the room. This removes the physical barrier between the team members and also addresses the blackberry bobs, the iphone inclines, and the droid drops that seem to permeate so many meetings. Eliminating the table can also naturally open up the team. If you cannot remove the table, change the seating in some way. Sit in a different seat. Encourage others to move to a different spot.

A simple change in the meeting can generate a discussion surrounding change. Be prepared though, as this small difference may in itself produce resistance. How your team members respond, may help you gauge their attitude toward change. If a person complains, they may have difficulty with change. If a person seems excited about the change, they may embrace and actually thrive on change. If a person seems non-ruffled yet accepting, they may be someone who adapts well to change, and who in turn can help others feel calm about it.

As the leader, use this simple tool to generate discussion about a change that may have already occurred or about a future change. Use it more than once. Making small changes on a regular basis may help your team make the necessary adjustments more seamlessly when facing larger changes. Equally important, be aware of your own attitude toward change, as this may greatly affect the team’s attitude toward change.

Finally, if the change seems too much for you to tackle on your own, enlist the assistance of outside support. Canvas Creek Team Building helps teams address difficult and challenging issues, including change. Free consultation and team evaluation available. www.canvascreekteambuilding.com

Billings will “remain a good hub for energy, and a good location for Sanjel” for a considerable time, Alan Olson told a tour group during a visit to the company’s maintenance and training facility. Olson, who might also be recognized as a Montana State Legislator, is manager of the Billings facility for Sanjel Corporation Billings, a service company which fracks oil wells. “We are primarily a high-pressure pumping company,” explained Olson.

Members of the Big Sky Economic Development Authority’s tour in mid-June saw one of the behemoth $3 million trucks which pumps the fracking fluids into the oil wells.

Sanjel’s facility at Cordova Street in Billings is where they train crews to do the hydraulic fracking and maintain the trucks, for fields in Montana, North Dakota, Wyoming and Texas.

The Billings facility has a counterpart in Huston, Texas. The company’s headquarters in the US are in Denver, and the home office is in Calgary. With a facility also in Miles City, the company employs 500 people in Montana and North Dakota.

Olson explained that in Billings they are usually running two training classes at a time, with about 20 people in each class. “Billings is a good place for this kind of facility,” he said, “There is a good workforce here.” And, there is good access to everything — technical support, parts for diesel motors, transportation, plus land is cheaper than in Williston.

The company runs five truck fleets – two out of Williston and three out of Miles City.

Olson explained that their crews encase the holes that go into the earth in concrete, to depths of 2000 to 4000 feet. Cementing the holes keeps the fluids from migrating, and it is done to protect the ground water and to prevent contamination.

Tour members peppered Olson with questions. He was asked his perspective regarding longevity of the Bakken play. It will remain active at $82 a barrel, he assured, nothing, however that the $82 price equates to $62 a barrel in the Bakken.

But, as oil prices drop so does the cost of doing business, said Olson. Price extremes at either end, stop production and exploration, he said. A good price range is $60 to $80.

“Every time we have a boom we get further ahead with technology. The price differential happens because of a lack of pipeline. Companies have to ship out oil by more costly means. The failure of the Keystone XL Pipeline to get approval increased that differential from $10 to $20 a barrel for the Bakken,” said Olson.

A fracking job costs about $1.2 million The cost of completing a well is about $10 million. And not all wells produce 1000 barrels a day, noted Olson.

Olson was asked about oil activity in central Montana.

He replied that there has long been a lot of interest in the Heath formation, which is what is being explored there. The first oil in Montana was found at Roundup in 1919. But the area has never proved overly productive, but they hope that the new technology “can get it to work.” “We are optimistic,” said Olson. There are currently three major oil companies operating in the area.

News of the permitting failure of the Keystone pipeline pushed the price of oil in central Montana and Musselshell County down to $50 a barrel. The oil from Musselshell is shipped by truck through Billings to Silver Tip, Wyoming.

“We were looking forward to the Keystone XL,” said Olson.

One gentleman asked if the oil sent to the refineries in the south will be sent to other countries, if so, “what benefit is that to us?”

Olson said that some of the oil would undoubtedly go to other countries, after being processed in US refineries. He pointed out though that the oil market is a dynamic one in which some oil is shipped out of the country, while other oil comes into the country, such as from Venezuela, which has no refining capacity and sells oil through Citgo outlets in the eastern US.

The Keystone Pipeline has “a lot of benefits,” said Olson, “most especially in knowing it is a secure pipeline.” He added that if the Canadian crude, which will also be transported by the Keystone, doesn’t come to the US it will go to China. “Where would we rather see that oil go, China or the US?” he asked.

Olson added, “anytime we can manufacture something and export it, that is the best kind of economy we can have.”

Having watched a pipeline being built before, continued the gentleman, it didn’t appear to him that it employed that many people. Olson replied, “It’s not just the guys you see on the right-of-way, on the ground, there are a lot more behind the scenes.” The building of a pipeline employs engineers, suppliers, transporters and a host of other support services.

Now, the key point in this post is that money, as used in this context, can take a wide variety of media– green dollar bills, helping out a less fortunate individual, giving when one can afford to give, sharing the excesses are all ways in which “Money Begets Money.”

From a philosophical standpoint, one can learn that helping others is a valuable tool in improving mankind.  We can get into some deep philosophical ideas rapidly– we are not going there today.  However, what we have seen and what many of our clients have experienced great success with is sharing with others that have a need that you can fulfill.  It may be green dollar bills, it may be time, it may be physical assets, the key point is that when you help others, you help yourself.

This idea of “helping others” is prominent in the rural environs of our country.  Farmers help farmers with crops, raising barns, helping during a family emergency– again, it is all “Money Begets Money.”  Think about this the next time that someone needs some help, aid or assistance.  I think that you will find that the return you receive will be greater than the amount that you invest.

To learn more about Solomon Bruce Consulting LLC, visit their listing in the Synergy Station Directory or the company website.

I think most of us realize that oil exploration and drilling is an extremely hazardous profession.  But, the risks don’t end there.  This video was taken by an oil field worker on his day off near the Montana / North Dakota border (near Fairview) at @ 11:00 am on Sunday, February 12, 2012. Although you can’t see it in the video there were three storage tanks that were ripped open, the wellhead had detonated (according to the first responders), and a tanker truck parked next to the storage units was a ball of molten steel.  Thankfully, no one was injured or killed.

If more details become available, we’ll update this post.  LKM

Extended winter weather during the first part of 2011, along with spring flooding left oil drillers behind scheduled during the first part of the year.  But, with “favorable fall weather conditions” and “strong crude prices” ($100 per barrel this week versus $75 per barrel in November 2010) drilling production in the state’s oil patch has exceeded expectations according to Lynn Helms, director of the North Dakota Department of Mineral Resources.  North Dakota’s Industrial Commission reflects crude production in September of 464,122 bopd driving crude production to approximately 105.8 million barrels for the month.  State statistics generally lag two months, but Ness concludes that with the current drilling activity, North Dakota has already surpassed 2010 numbers during the month of October.

Daily rig count, the prime barometer for measuring new oil and gas activity, only averaged 126 during 2010.  As of last week, a record number of 204 rigs were drilling in western North Dakota, nearly all focused on the Bakken and Three Forks oil shale formations.  Even at the high point of production in 1981, rig count only totalled 119 per day; a previous record.

By the end of 2010, North Dakota reported 6,008 wells capable of producing oil and gas within the state.  As of September 2011, the state has a record 6,071 producing oil wells alone, up 120 from August 2011, and nearly 1,000 more than a year ago.

In spite of these record numbers, a general lack of fracking crews in the North Dakota oil patch has hindered progress.  Currently 35 fracking crews operate in the state’s oil patch and it’s estimated that this number will grow to 45 crews by spring of 2012.  Getting the crude out of the shale formation is only one step in the process of bringing Bakken to market.  According to Justin Kringstad, director of the North Dakota Pipeline Authority, the daily takeaway capacity for North Dakota and eastern Montana is currently @ 773,000 barrels which is a combination of 438,000 by pipe and 335,000 by rail.

Although the North Dakota Petroleum Association estimates current rail capacity greater than 300,000 barrels per day, they project rail capacity to increase significantly by 2013 to almost  600,000 barrels per day (NDPA Newsletter June 2011, pg 2).  Moving crude by rail was common through the late 1800′s until John D. Rockefeller realized it would be more cost effective to transport oil by pipeline.   With major US oil refining centers located in Texas and Louisiana, and the cost of transporting oil by rail higher than by pipeline, there is a discount on Bakken oil prices when shipped by rail.

So what if I stop viewing my life through the rear view mirror of the choices I’ve made; make a paradigm shift and examine the decisions I will make from a forward thinking perspective – essentially start with the end in mind – the end game.  And, from that vantage point I craft my first blog.

If you’re like me, with more than a few miles on the chassis, you didn’t grow up in today’s techno jargon world of Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter.  As my adult children will attest, I still struggle to program the universal remote control!  I had to Google “blog” to gather that it was a web log.  Wow, wasn’t that clarifying!

But, after scratching more than just the surface of an initial Google search, I discovered that blogging is simply a tool that allows us to quickly and easily create and publish new content; it empowers us to contribute feedback, react to that content, and even more importantly to participate in that content.  It is dynamic – not stagnant.  It’s evolving, up to the moment, two way communications.  It allows us to educate one another via our diverse background and experiences.  It allows us to engage one another – to synergistically collaborate – to create community with a common purpose.  It is “word of mouth” at the speed of light.

Poster by Honorablemention CC

Social media – I finally get it !    Now that I’m equipped with this amazing tool I want to use it for everything.   I’m like a kid in a candy store with no parental supervision.  But, before I can run amok, a parent tape replays in my head, “Use the right tool for the right job” when seeking to solve a problem, overcome an obstacle, address a challenge, or effectively accomplish the task at hand.

There is little doubt, that social media is a game changer. If we had any doubts, Mark Zuckerberg as Time’s Man of the Year in 2010 should convince us.  It has changed how we communicate, how we collaborate, how we educate.  So why not use one game changer to impact another – let’s connect one disruptive process (social media) with another; the world class, technology oil play in the Bakken Shale Formation currently creating more economic opportunity in North Dakota and Montana than in recorded history due to horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing.

I now arrive at my why and why now.   If any situation needed word of mouth efficiency at the speed of light, it is the utter chaos that operates 24/7 in those communities impacted by the Bakken firestorm of activity.  How do you determine whether this is a boom or a bust….or the next big thing ?  How do you decide as a business owner if and when you should take advantage of this opportunity?  How do you, as someone looking for a job, know that you can handle the extreme weather and working conditions, the long hours, and the remote living conditions?

Okay – way too cerebral….How about something more basic – where do I live, sleep? Where do I do my laundry?  Where do I buy something…or for that matter anything? Where do I get my mail when I go from one man camp to the next?  What can I do in my down time?

Let’s use social media to provide these answers and more !  Synergy Station is actively looking for contributors to fill in the blanks in our collective blog to find solutions, overcome obstacles, address challenges, and effectively accomplish the tasks at hand.  Let’s carve out a superior economic future for all stakeholders during the process by clearly understanding the end game !

Below is a video produced by the Time Money Group to show a visual presentation of how many well spuds were started in 2010. A spud is the term used when drilling begins on a well. They show totals at the end of each quarter to give you an idea of how many wells were started during that period. The presentation was made with Google Earth.

If you want to get information on current spuds, you will find a list of current active drilling rigs from the North Dakota Oil and Gas Division. They also publish a confidential well list.