GoodBuyGuys Blog

We’re ready to roll out a new domain, and my task is to create new content to support this domain. We want to both make it more useful to our customers and appealing to search engines. While I enjoy the task and like the challenge, I am constantly wondering why I need to redo a job that someone else has already done, and probably done better.

Buymiccable.com is our latest edition of web sites at goodbuyguys.com. We know from lots of experience that there are few tools more powerful for building web site traffic than good, keyword enriched content. There’s not that much content online about mic cables, but what is out there is pretty good. When someone like Proco creates a really useful guide like “How To Choose The Right Cable“, then we are happy to link to it, even though we sell a competing brand of mic cables.

Rather than try to keep our potential customers away from competitors content, we’ll jump at the chance to provide our customers with good information, regardless of the source.

The challenge is, of course, to create new and useful content of our own that doesn’t simply restate the information that another web site has already provided.

I’ve got a lot of work to do!

GoodBuyGuys.com is your online source for Permacel gaffers tape, MagLite flashlights, Procell Batteries, Nashua duct tape, Bay State wire ties, Electratrac and Entertainment 1 extension cords, OnStage Stand mic stands , and, now, Hosatech microphone cables.

It may be the last day of April, but I just fell for a great April Fools Joke. It started when I googled “extension cord” to see how we were doing with that search engine. Much to my surprise, one of the page one search results took me to ThinkGeek for an ariticle about “wireless extension cords.” That’s right. WIRELESS EXTENSION CORDS!

When much of your business is based on cables and the tape that is used to temporarily affix them to the floor, then a concept like this is pretty scary.

I immediately sent a link to this article to one of our resident gadget geeks and asked him if he thought that this was possible. His analysis was “possible, yes” “safe, no.” He even referenced some work by Nikola Tesla from the late 19th century to support his opinion.

While it does appear that common household current could be turned into microwaves and transmitted wirelessly, it would create all sorts of electrical havoc, as well as more than a little risk for anyone who got in the signal’s path.

I couldn’t resist doing a little more research and found that lots of gadget oriented web sites like digg.com and the daily giz whiz had picked up on this article as well. Everyone had an opinion.

When I realized that the price for this potentially revolutionary consumer device was only $34.99, I couldn’t resist so I clicked on “Add To Cart”. Instead of a confirmation of my order, here’s what I got:

GoodBuyGuys.com is your online source for Shurtape gaffers tape, Duracell Procell batteries, MagLite flashlights, Nashua duct tape, Bay State wire ties, Electratrac and Coast Wire extension cords, OnStage Stand mic stands .

If you check by here periodically, you may remember that I wrote about a change in Permacel 665 back in February. The focus of my post was about how pricing on Permacel 665 gaffers tape was out of sync with the rest of the industry and how I anticipated that further changes were in the wind.

Were they ever!

Without any warning, a pallet of gaffers tape that hit our loading dock last week was in Shurtape boxes, even though we had ordered Permacel 665. The boxes were the familiar red and white and the product info said 665, but the name Permacel did not appear anywhere on the carton. The name that has been synonymous with gaffers tape since it was first brought to market had simply disappeared.

The next day brought a couple more surprises. When we received shipments of Permacel Professional Grade Gaffers Tape and Permacel 724 Paper Label Tape they were also in red & white Shurtape boxes with Shurtape cores. The “724″ and “Professional Grade” product designations survived, but, again, no sign of the name Permacel anywhere.

Since we got no advance warning about this branding change, we were not able to build up any significant inventory of these products with the Permacel brand. Anything you get from us from now on will be Shurtape, not Permacel.

We are beginning the task of chaning the info in hundreds of web pages to show this change. We appreciate your patience and apologize for any confusion you might encounter.

If you would like to know a little more about this branding change, here is a link.

GoodBuyGuys.com is your online source for Shurtape gaffers tape, Duracell Procell batteries, MagLite flashlights, Nashua duct tape, Bay State wire ties, Electratrac and Coast Wire extension cords, OnStage Stand mic stands, and lots of other useful tape products.

The online newsletter from Pro Sound News is a great source of news for the pro audio industry. It is avialble through a an online subscripton and there is always an item I find interesting.

Heil Sound, a company that made a name for itself in the 1970’s (they came up with the voice box sound heard on “Frampton Comes Alive“) is now a high end microphone manufacturer. Their special Pink Pearl Mirophone , a large diaphragm vocal mic, is being offered in a pearl pink finish in a fund raising effort for breast cancer awareness. This mic has a really flat response cure and an extremely linear cardiod pattern.

Working with the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, Heil will donate a portion of every sale of this mic to the Komen Foundation. They’ve pledged a least $6800.00 to the cause.

The Heil PR20 (pink and other colors available) has a special linux structure that handles very high sound pressure levels and is claimed to be immune from overload.

Here’s a link to the PSN story, and another link to the Heil announcement.

If you want to know more about the Heil Mic, click here.

GoodBuyGuys.com is your online source for Permacel gaffers tape, Duracell Procell batteries, MagLite flashlights, Nashua duct tape, Bay State wire ties, Electratrac and Coast Wire extension cords, OnStage Stand mic stands, and many other products sound pros need.

We’ve been selling a product called tie line for a long time. It is used by lots of theatrical and special events production companies for tasks like drapery hanging, bundling and cable management. It is also known by the name “trick line” becuase its matte black color means that you can’t see it on a darkened stage or against a black backdrop. Its handy for all sorts of special effects.

There’s not really a lot that can be done to improve this braided cotton cord. Or that’s what I thought until we received our first shipment from a new supplier for this product. For years, the tie line we sold had been wrapped on cardboard spools. I have used this product a lot myself over the years, and it seemed like before the tie line was gone that the spool had ripped, collapsed, or completely disintegrated through rough handling and packing into road cases and tool boxes.

This new tie line supplier had spooled their product on a heavy-duty plastic spool and it works much, much better. The spool can stand up to rough handling, sweaty palms and a little rain on an outdoor event site. The product is the same but it is now offered in a much better package.

This new vendor is also supplying us with new smaller 300 foot spools, so now you can buy a spool that will fit in your tool box or under the seat of your truck. No need to lug around a lifetime supply if you only need a small amount.

If you need tie line, but aren’t sure whether to buy the glazed or unglazed version, here’s a little info that might help. If you intend to tie and untie the knots over and over againg (say, for cable ties) use unglazed. It does not hold a knot as tightly. If your use is for something more permanent (e.g. tying a drape onto a truss or batten) use glazed. Knots tied with glazed time line remain tightly bound over a long period of time.

I never cease to be amazed at how a simple change in packaging can dramatically change the way I look at a product.

GoodBuyGuys.com is your online source for Permacel gaffers tape, Duracell Procell batteries, MagLite flashlights, Nashua duct tape, Bay State wire ties, Electratrac and Coast Wire extension cords, OnStage Stand mic stands, and lots of other useful supplies for cable management.

There’s an interesting feature on NPR these days, about once a week, called “This I Believe”. It’s a modern take on a broadcast feature from the 1950’s started by Edward R. Murrow. This weeks essay features Craig Newmark, the founder of Craig’s List. A couple of things really resonated with me regarding Mr. Newmark’s essay.

Craig Newmark has consistently refused to sell his website, even though it is estimated that it would fetch tens of millions of dollars. He enjoys the community he has built and he doesnt’ want to turn it over to someone else whose motives might be very different from his own. Instead of being the CEO directing a staff who manages a huge domain in cyberspace, he spends his days in customer service. It’s what he really enjoys.

As our business grows, I find that I am constantly being drawn away from what I enjoy most-talking to customers about solving their problems. I like to think that thirty-some years in the special events business has given me some unique insights into subjects like taping down cables and choosing the correct microphone stand. Answering the phone and responding to customers’ email inquiries is the only way to know if the knowledge that I have accumulated over the years is of any real value to anyone else. Using what we learn from our customers can then be incorporated into our websites and the information is available whenever anyone needs it.

The other observation in Craig Newmark’s “This I Believe” is his continuing affirmation that most people are honest and have good intentions. I have to make decisions every day regarding whether or not it is a good idea to extend credit to a new customer. Our experience with customers defaulting on their obligations is amazing. Everyone pays their bills. The default rate is less the 1/10 of 1% and this number has been consistent for years. Having our decisions about credit constantly reaffirmed makes us feel really good about the customers who want to work with us.

I doubt if I’ll ever get around to recording a “This I Believe” essay of my own, but it is good to know I share some beliefs with a cyberhero like Craig Newmark.

GoodBuyGuys.com is your online source for Permacel gaffers tape, Duracell Procell batteries, MagLite flashlights, Nashua duct tape, Bay State wire ties, Electratrac and Coast Wire extension cords, OnStage Stand mic stands, and lots of other useful supplies for entertainment production.

A lot of my time is spent in evaluating new products and deciding how they might meet our customers needs. We have always focused on expendables, but lately we have added some other products because they seemed like a logical extension of our product line.

Now a new challenge is on my desk. Periodically, I write about the good work of our web developer, Dale. He works tirelessly to build good web sites and get our pages highly ranked with the most important search engines.

Soon after he began working with us, we started a number of design projects as a way to see how we might best collaborate. One of these was wirelessmic.net. We did a lot of work on this site and then put it on the shelf while we moved on to something else. We learned a lot about web design and about collaborating. Building this site was a lot of fun.

Well, now that site has climbed to the top of the ladder for non-paid search for Google, Yahoo, and MSN for the search term “wireless mic”. Dale believes that building information-only sites like this can be used to bring traffic to our e-commerce sites. Buywirelessmic.net will bring customers to buybattery.com, or so the theory goes. Our customers prove the value of Dale’s theory every day.

Having such great search engine results for a very valuable search term makes it very tempting to begin selling wireless microphones. There have been lots of new developments in this field, and every new product generation seems to bring lower prices and greater features.

Still, the idea of tying up a lot of money in this sort of inventory is a difficult decision and would require that we reconsider how products are marketed to our customers.

Is it time to roll out buywirelessmic.com? We’ll let you know.

GoodBuyGuys.com is your online source for Permacel gaffers tape, Duracell Procell batteries, MagLite flashlights, Nashua duct tape, Bay State wire ties, Electratrac and Coast Wire extension cords, OnStage Stand mic stands, and lots of other useful products for audio production.

I spend several hours a day reading, and the bulk of my time is spent with technical journals. I never cease to be amazed at how willing publishers of magazines oriented towards the entertaiment production and audio visual industries are to underwrite the publication of dozens of really valuable journals. How can they do this? Advertisers like Duracell and Pro Tapes pay, not you!

Maybe this model is used in other industries, but this is the only one I am familiar with. These magazines are filled with dozens of really useful articles, and, many times, the advertising is filled with good info as well.

I use these journals regularly to find new products for our catalog. Its also really great to come across articles about our customers. I even saw one of our products in a photo accompanying a story about the NFL Playoffs.

Any student or hobbyist in sound, lighting or theatre tech can easily begin receving these journals by simply making up a business name. The magazines base their ad rates on the number of subscribers, so they are happy to add you to their subscriber list. They rarely do much to insure that you are a legitimate business with a large purchasing budget.

Journals like Pro Sound News, Sound & Video Contractor , Live Sound International, Church Production, and FOH Magazine are yours for the asking. They have great columns, handy “how to” articles, and honest equipment reveiws. The photo quality is first good and the editorial content, while advertiser driven, is still useful. Most of the writing is first rate.

Interested? You can sign up for regular subscriptions at any of the publication web sites in this article.

Goodbuyguys.com is a collection of web sites (including buytape.com, buybattery.com, buymicstand.com, buyextensioncord.com, buyaflashlight.com and buywireties.com) designed to deliver a great selection of production supplies.

Our primary involvement with wireless mics is as a battery supplier. That wasn’t always the case. For many years we operated a special events and sound equipment rental business, and wireless mics were a big part of what we did.

If you use wireless mics then you should pay close attention to legislation that is working its way through Congress. The Communications, Consumer’s Choice and Broadband Deployment Act of 2006 (S. 2686, H.R. 5252) could have a dramatic impact on you. Whether you use wireless every day on the concert stage, or once a week as a volunteer sound tech at your church, this law could complicate your life.

Implementation of this proposal would open up unassigned television broadcast channels to use by any number of unlicensed wireless devices. If you use UHF wireless mics, chances are your systems work in the UHF channel range between channel 50 and channel 70. This range will be available to lots of new devices and you won’t have any way of knowing when something new might begin operating on your same frequency. Battery failure will be the least of your worries!

FOH Magazine has taken the lead in organizing the pro sound community against this legislation. If you are concerned, here is a link to a letter that you can cut and paste, edit with your personal information, and send it to your congressman. The official comment period on this ends on March 2, 2007 so there isn’t mcuh time left for your voice to be heard.

Goodbuyguys.com is a collection of web sites (including buytape.com, buybattery.com, buymicstand.com, buyextensioncord.com, buyaflashlight.com and buywireties.com) designed to deliver a great selection of pro audio supplies.

One of the unfortunate aspects of expendable sales, is they create a lot of waste. Batteries are an important part of modern day life, but it does present a waste issue. Even recycleable batteries must be disposed of once they have expired.

The Rechargeable Battery Recycling Corporation (RBRC) is in the business of recycling recharageable batteries and cell phones. Rechargeable batteries are commonly found in cordless power tools, cellular and cordless phones, laptop computers, camcorders, digital cameras, and remote control toys. The mission of the RBRC is to keep these batteries out of the solid waste stream while preserving natural resources. When you see a battery recycling bin in a retailer like Radio Shack or Circuit City, it is probably a part of the RBRC network. Participating retailers display this seal.

The rechargeable batteries that RBRC collects are sent to a state-of-the-art facility where they are recycled to reclaim reusable materials that are used in stainless steel production (nickel and iron) and to make new batteries (cadmium). This organization collects cell phones as well, and refurbishes them or recycles the material in an environmentally sound manner.

If you would like to sign up your organization to participate in the RBRC recycling network, here’s a link to the sign up page.