In order to fix the leaky pipe, get the car to start, or, in my case, remedy an ailing website, you have to give someone the keys and stand back. We, the service providers, have to get up close and personal with the inner workings of your house/car/website/life to correct the problem. It’s this unintentional close examination of what’s broken and the surrounding area that can tell a distinct story to the people who want to listen.

This idea of service provider intimacy isn’t new (is anything anymore?) but the point was made very clear to me recently.

Greatness up close

I recently traded cash and time to a friend who creates amazing art with aerosol paint (the piece above). One of the things he asked me to do was to trace a few of his sketches and convert them to vector format.

I’m still honing my pen tool skills in Adobe Illustrator so I was glad to have the practice but, for the most part, this is a tedious job. What I didn’t expect, though, was just how incredible it was to see the lines and shapes that make up his work.

It wasn’t until I got into the groove on the second drawing that I started to look beyond just the vector lines over scanned pencil and see what made each piece so beautiful and natural. Pose2 has this amazing ability to create very organic drawings and paintings in any medium he chooses.

The job went from something I was doing for trade to something I was honored to have a part in. The vector files are going to be turned into jewelry so they had to be “corrected” to make sure they could be cut out of metal. I found it very difficult to correct anything on these pieces because the first pass, the pencil drawings, were so gorgeous.

The care, skill, and mastery that Pose puts into his art is the same kind of love and expertise that some people put into their business. I realized, adding anchor points and stretching curves, that I have this kind of relationship with every individual and business that I work with and it’s easy to see when people care about what they do, who they work with, and who they serve.

What it takes

You see, I know all about greatness because I exude it every second of every day. Well, maybe not every second. What I do have is the knack for recognizing it in others, even when I’m not doing it myself.

Look closely, you can see a level of care and skill in the way great people conduct themselves:

• What they say is kind, honest, and conversational. You can see this in their email, on their website, and in their social interactions online.
• They are anxious to learn more, even if it threatens what they already know.
• They are more scared of staying the same thing than they are of changing, growing, and improving.
• Their output is not always perfect but it shines in a very unique way.
• Knowing them and interacting with them makes you want to improve what you do and who you are (thanks Stephanie!)

The opposite of greatness

If greatness is expressed through the actions I listed above, then what does the opposite look like?

• A pattern of dishonest, negative, or unnatural communication
• Desperation to hold on to entrenched truths at the cost of expansion and growth
• A fear of change and experimentation, even if the current methods are not working
• Output is cold, templated, unoriginal, and safe.
• Their presence hardens your own thoughts on the world, particularly things you already know to be false

How are you great?

I want to know, how are you great? How do you recognize greatness in others? How do you find and retain great people in your life?

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The whole review landscape has changed for the better lately. What used to be just lazy one-liners have turned into a type of creative outlet for people with something to say about the things they consume. The more I research the more I find people taking their own time to really give back to people they’ll never meet. Also, with the proliferation of Twitter and Facebook connect, reviews have gone social. Reviews have gone from an anonymous thumbs-up to a network-wide recommendation.

It’s easy to forget that this valuable information comes from real people taking their own precious time to construct helpful and sometimes very creative reviews to help others avoid pitfalls and find the best [insert anything here] available. There are people out there with nothing better to do, that’s true, but so many reviews (mine included) come from a strong desire to give back to a community that caused the discovery of something great. It’s more about community than ego, more about making sure this system stays healthy than just quenching boredom.

So I’m here to remind you in the nicest way possible to get out there and write reviews about the stores and products you can’t live without and the ones you want to annihilate.

Write a Review to Help Out a Buyer

There are a disturbing number of options out there just waiting for our approval (watch this great TED talk about how the massive proliferation of choice has actually made us less happy). There are a million meal choices, thousands of different car models and configurations, and hundreds of individual options for each consumer good we decide to consume. Honestly, there are too many choices to make.

Take, for example, buying a printer. First, you have to decide how you’re using the printer. That will help you determine how the image should get on the paper. Now, do you need color? For photos? Do you need to scan as well? How about faxes? How fast should it print? How many ink cartridges? Do you have a brand preference? Is size important? Do you need wireless? At every turn you’re faced with a cacophony of pros and cons making you feel less and less capable of making a simple decision for yourself.

Here’s where product reviews come in. Pick what you have to have, choose a price range, and pick the best rated model. If you don’t have as much trust in an anonymous community of people as I do, this, at the very least, can help you narrow down the choices. I certainly wouldn’t pick a printer that 10 people gave a 1 star rating, would you?

In order for this great system to work, we all have to give back. So…

1. For every product you buy before of user ratings, go back and review that product on the site you used. Even if there’s already 100 reviews, add one more.
2. If you’re head-over-heels, write a love letter. If not, just give it an appropriate number of stars, add a couple sentences of explanation, and leave it at that.
3. If you’re going to take the time to write something, explain your rating. Stars are great for the aggregate but it’s the comments that really help us all decide.

Write a Review to Help Out a Business

One of my prime motivators for writing reviews is the small business that I’m helping because of it. I’m all about giving back to the digital community but I love the idea of a small Thai restaurant or an auto body repair shop or a bar getting the credit it deserves because of something I said. Allow me to explain using two recent experiences.

At one favorite place looking at another

I drove way out east to eat at a Thai restaurant a few months back. It is called Thai Taste and it gets great reviews on Yelp. We had eaten at (and enjoyed) all the Thai places in our area and wanted to try something different so we went to Yelp. It was a longer drive than we’d usually make for a quick bite but the reviews compelled us. The place was almost totally empty but the woman who took our order was very friendly and the food was quick. I was talking to her while paying and told her that we came because of Yelp. Her face lit up and she told me how nice the people were on there and how it had driven a good amount of new business. She seemed so delighted and surprised that these strangers would say such nice things about her. The food was great and we’ve already been back again.

I’m selling my car to make way for the 2010 GTI being shipped to me from Germany (sorry, had to mention, I’m really psyched about it). A couple years of street parking had scuffed the bumpers up fairly bad and it needed a professional scrub-down. I found a place called Bumper King just by searching the area but needed more than just a website with pictures. I called and got an estimate but wanted to shop around a little. I went to Yelp to check him out and saw one good review from a returning customer. I also found a ton of great reviews on Google so I made the appointment. Not only was the owner about the nicest guy I’ve ever worked with, they came and picked up/dropped off my car two different times, were incredibly flexible about the times they came by, and did a fantastic job. I returned the favor by writing a great review on Yelp which caused someone to message me to tell me they were using him because of my review. This guy deserves all the business he can get.

Businesses are people too. Give back to the great ones…

1. Write your review as a sales pitch. You really are marketing on their behalf so make it count.
2. Assume that the business will read your review. Help them understand what was great and, more importantly, what could be improved. Even good reviews can include an improvement suggestion (if applicable).
3. Don’t be a troll. If you had a bad experience, write honestly about what happened and if it seemed like a one-off thing (poor service on a busy night, say), give them the benefit of the doubt.

If You Don’t Research Before Buying, You Should

With things like doing a search before asking a question and using on-line applications like Gmail to manage and backup your contacts I find it tough not to assume everyone just does it. Same thing goes for on-line research; I can’t make any move involving the exchange of currency without consulting The Oracle (read: Google). But not everyone does and I’m here to help so here are a few times.

• For consumer electronics, there is no better place to go for reviews (or, typically, prices) than Newegg.com. There is a core cabal of super-users, IT professionals, and gadget freaks that don’t hold anything back. If you’re in the market for a cell phone, a computer part, or a digital camera, this should be your first stop. If you’re still stuck after Newegg, try reviews.cnet.com or Amazon to augment.
• I mentioned Yelp but, for those not in the know, Yelp is the best place to find anything in your area. Want a great place to eat you’ve never heard of? New to an area and want to see the best stuff? Just can’t decide where to go? Start here. If you’re a business, by the way, there’s nothing wrong with starting your own page and asking your customers to post a review.
• For reviews on anything and everything else, try Amazon, they probably sell it, other people have probably bought it there, and some of those people probably left feedback about how it turned out.
• Looking to find the straight dope on a particular car, new or used? Try the Car Lounge forums at forums.thecarlounge.net. The on-site search function is not fantastic so the best way to find your answer is to use Google to search the site. On the top right, you’ll see a link “Google Search.” Click that and try a few queries like “2010 GTI” or “used Outback.” You’ll get a lot of results back unless you’re specific but it will be real-life information (combined with a little silliness and probably some arguing).
• Google seems to be compiling quite a bit of reviews these days which makes perfect sense since it’s where most people start when they’re looking for something. Whether it’s product reviews on the shopping site or local reviews on Google Maps, there’s plenty of information to be found and a lot of feedback out there. Watch out, though. Google doesn’t require you to have an account to place a review so I find them a bit thin at times and not always the most useful.

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Having said that, it’s terribly easy to use email poorly. Email is a disconnected way of communicating which makes it tough to get just right. It’s also subject to abuse in so many ways.

Because email has been my primary method of communication over the last several years, I want to share with you a few things I’ve learned about communicating via email. I’ve learned these tips by making mistakes, hearing from other people, and just practicing over time. Hopefully I can help you like others have helped me before!

Note: though several of these apply to personal emails, I’m speaking generally about business email. I write long, pointless, unfocused emails to my mom and have no shame in admitting that.

Answer everything that is being asked

I’ll be honest: this one comes from a pressing desire to eliminate this vile habit in other people. There is nothing more frustrating than asking 4 questions and getting 2 answers back. Is the person mad? Are they avoiding the question? Did they forget? What the heck?

When I respond to a long email I type my reply first, then I read the original email I’m replying to a second time, then I re-read my own. I make sure each question asked has an answer and that I’m providing all the information needed for my recipient to make their next step. Emails are like meetings: unless you know what to do afterward, you’ve just wasted a bunch of time.

Use numbered bullet points to organize your questions/answers

Bullet points are the weapon of choice for web content writers the world over. There’s no better way to present several distinct, discrete pieces of information than a list of bullet points. They let you deal with each piece separately and make the document you’re producing much easier to scan.

Here are a few great ways to use bullet points:

• Assigning several distinct to do items (bonus points for numbers indicating priority or chronological order
• Providing multiple points of feedback
• Answering or asking several questions (again, numbers provide great context)

Also, don’t be scared of multi-sentence bullet points as long as each one is a distinct point. Bullet points can suffice for paragraphs if the separation between each idea is great enough.

Strike a balance between complete and succinct

When you’re a long email writer like I am, you regularly reach a point during composition where your instinct kicks in and you hear “hey, buddy, too long… seriously.” I probably hear this little voice more than most and try to be very cognizant of its warning. A too-long email is both inconsiderate (you’re asking someone to take their valuable time to digest your myriad words) and can lead to unnecessarily delayed replies (long message = long reply).

On the other hand, a too-short email can seem terse and incomplete. Striking a balance is tough but it’s just a matter of     saying what needs to be said and hitting send. Answer all that is asked, include all pertinent information, add enough niceties to indicate a good tone, and fire away.

Think about your subject line as a headline

I think I’m more cognizant of this than other people because of the number of emails that I write and because I use online forums a lot. Posting on a forum is like creating a tiny wiki entry: it’s easily findable by Google and it could be a very important piece of information for someone. As such, I try to be as descriptive as possible in my titles.

Email is the same for many people. Gmail’s organization is a combo of user-created labels and a strong search function. If the word I need is in the subject line, it’s much easier to find what I need. It also helps me know if I need to open the email right away (“SH*T! THE SITE IS DOWN!”) or I can wait (“Do you have some extra time on your hands?”).

Reply quickly

There’s one slight caveat here: don’t follow this rule if you hate communicating over email. As I mentioned before, I like emails, particularly for work requests. Because I want people to use email as much as possible, I try to reply as quickly as possible. This creates a great reason for people to send me an email next time they need something.

Besides that, it’s just a polite thing to do. When you wait 4 days to reply to an email you’re sending a distinct message: I don’t want to communicate with you (whether you mean it or not). If you’re too busy to reply completely to someone’s email, send a note setting expectations (“got your email and I’ll send you a complete reply soon”). This is better than leaving what amounts to a pregnant pause.

Mind your tone (or complete lack thereof)

I learned a very important lesson about email tone when I was about 23 years old. At the time, I was working as a corporate trainer for a large wireless company and was very green the whole management gig. A group of the new employees I was training had scheduled time off during the six-week long session and I was left making exceptions and changing the very strict schedule. Admittedly, I was pretty angry about the whole situation but I composed what I thought was a rational explanation and sent it to all the managers I worked with. As it turned out, it WASN’T a rational email and there was a subsequent price on my head for a few weeks thereafter.

It’s much easier to read an email in the tone which you intended rather than in the one that it could be taken. I use a very simple rule now: if there is even a chance in hell that I could be misinterpreted, I re-write it. Sarcasm is hard to detect, humor is tough to convey, and a misplaced sentence could easily change a neutral–sounding email into a thinly-veiled attack. When in doubt, delete and try again.

I hope these tips help you communicate a little better over this wonderful medium we know and love!

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I always like sharing my interactions with people here on my blog. Partly because it adds a really human side to my business and shows prospective clients that I’m more than just an email address. The main reason, though, is it creates a much deeper understanding for me when I write it all out and re-experience the conversation. Like many, I need to iterate to understand and it’s easy for me to forget an important insight I came across while interacting with someone else if I don’t work it through after the fact.

"network cables" by pascal.charest on Flickr

So, this is a “conversation” I had with someone about networking. By conversation I mean it was a transcript of a monologue on his side and an email reply on mine. Quotes are, for the most part, complete and without editing.

With all this networking going on by different business owners you would think we’d all be highly successful. The truth is I don’t think networking works at all, and if and when it does, it is in very few circumstances.

I think traditional networking, exchanging cards at dinner, etc, is dead and not likely to come back unless we just call it socializing  rather than essential for business. “Networking” in a bigger sense, however, has really combined with marketing and branding to become “interaction” (if we can even ascribe words to the awesome social stuff that is going on right now). Take Southwest Air for an example. Look at their twitter: http://twitter.com/SOUTHWESTAIR. Do you see all those messages that start with “@?” That’s directed at someone on Twitter, one person. They are marketing their product, talking directly to people, and creating a consistent and fun environment. Are they networking? Are they marketing? Are they branding? All of the above… they’re interacting. Grey areas abound!

The reason I say that has to do with an observation that came to me. I’ve always wondered why most businesses with ideas that a good or bad always seem to [get to a] certain level and stay there. I surmise that this is because of the business owners network of people that he knows directly or indirectly. His business can only grow as large as his network.

That’s disturbing to me but it makes sense and fits into my experience. It seems like so many companies are willing to stay frozen in one spot, repeating the same mistakes, and chasing after the same customers. Zero innovation, zero real experimentation, zero perceived risk, and, consequently, zero or negative growth. Certainly not the rule but easy to identify when it’s going on.

Under most circumstances, networking is highly inefficient, time consuming, and the return for input is miserable if not totally useless. Over the last four years, I can remember two people that referred more than two clients to me over that period. One of them was an attorney that I had never met. The other is a woman who owns a catering service and is really into networking. But that’s it for me.

I can say at least half of my business now has come through interaction through twitter or person-to-person email. I have great word-of-mouth, a big virtual network, and people who know me as the go-to guy. Did I network to get them? I’m not sure but I certainly didn’t advertise (in the traditional sense) or market (again, traditionally). I’m branded as Josh Can Help and I answer every question people send me through Twitter or otherwise. Interaction.

The only way to gain scale for a business is to have a method to get it out to a lot of people that you’d don’t know. It used to be mass mailing and now it’s the Internet. But with as many eyes and ears that can be reached by the Internet people still do not use it effectively because of a lack of understanding, the time involved, and the expense. That sounds like me.

Absolutely but the rules have changed and change again almost daily. Marketing isn’t one-way anymore just like media isn’t one way anymore (think the decline of TV and newspapers lately). Now, the key is to get yourself into the hands of the early adopters, the bloggers, the twitterati, the people who tell people. Bring them a phenomenal product and ask for their honest opinion and you’re golden. The bar is raised, however. Now you actually have to have something great. Apple makes great products but they’ve only seen their incredible growth and market share grab recently (last 5+ years) since people have become so vocal about the products they use and enjoy. You can’t ignore millions of screaming fans whether it’s music or technology.

Let’s take about all that. Individuals will do with the most comfortable with over and over again even if it doesn’t result in the objective they seek. We want to be comfortable not successful. Being successful requires thinking and acting outside of the box. That requires change that requires uncomfortable, unknown circumstances.

I want to be comfortable and successful. What then? :)

People will do the most comfortable thing, that’s totally true. I think the key to success these days is looking for something that doesn’t work well and then looking for the rules to break to make it work better. That’s what I’ve been thinking about lately, hence the iteration thing above. What if you could predict the outcome of an iterative process? What if your iterations were massive improvements each time? I think Google is the best example of this. They know SO FREAKING MUCH about how people use online tools that they can’t help but to put out incredible products all the time (this is IMHO). I’m hard pressed to think of software I pay for that works as well as free Google stuff. I couldn’t have a better email program, calendar, document sharing, chat program, web site analytics…  each new product is a giant iteration on their last amazing product.

Now I bet the networker spends more time and more money than he ever would for a simple website that is simply targeted to what that networker is trying to sell. Networking is an ongoing highly ineffective use of resources for a value that has an unjustifiable net present value!

Hence, I say, that networking is a total waste of time. And going into next year, 2010, I expect to do little if any of it from here on out.

Traditional networking is lame now only because it lacks focus. Now, you can interact with exactly the people you want to exactly how and when you want to do it. The barrier to entry is low, time taken is low, and, since you can read about someone on-line, you choose to interact only with the people you think are going to bring the most value (in whatever terms you define).

I threw the question out on Twitter (“Networking is dead… what say you?”) and got a great perspective from David McKendrick, owner of Fused Network.

@DavidandGoliath

That’s a damned lie. :p
Resulted in me being a half-millionaire. //shrugs.
Least on paper. :D But really, networking is everything.
And I don’t mean walking around at dinner parties handing out business cards, either. Or handing out any business cards.
Sitting on twitter *is* networking.
The ROI of word of mouth is limitless. Problem is it can bite back in the same way.
And really, it’s a better way to spend time than IM & facebook ;)
Marketing is worthless. Ads don’t get clicked. Branding & interaction pay off.
Sure, but ‘traditional’ is dead. Again, what we’re doing now is networking. Here, now, twitter.
Life isn’t about making money. Nor should that be the sole reason to meet people, that’d be a boring life.
Me on the beach has more ROI than handing someone a business card.
The problem with traditional channels is there’s too much time spent moving. Instant, scalable and doesn’t interrupt life.

What do you think about this whole thing? Do you attend events? Is it productive?

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The Google Docs CMS

See the GDocs CMS in action!

For those not in the know, a CMS is a Content Management System, a web application that lets you add and edit live web content. WordPress, the system I use over-and-over (for good reason), is a CMS and a great one at that. But, in some cases, it is a bit over the top. What if you just needed to publish information without a lot of regard to the intricacies of presentation? That’s where this system comes in.

The Google Docs CMS lets you publish and manage information on the web using just a Google Docs spreadsheet published as RSS (easy to do, I’ll show you how). The script takes each row and turns it into its own page then creates a list of pages on the left. A site example (which serves as documentation) can be seen here: Google Docs CMS.

How do I use it?

All you need to do is download the package, follow my directions to create a spreadsheet, put a line of information into the script, and upload it to your web server. The script takes the Google Doc feed, parses the information for each page, and displays it a certain way.

What can I do with it?

In an effort to make these sites as easy to manage as possible, I restricted the number of built-in content to 4 types:

• Regular paragraphs (which can accept HTML)
• Headings (h2 tags only)
• Images (can pull automatically from your server or an external source)
• Links (creates  its own line and doesn’t support link text [yet])

Just indicate the content type in one column and the content itself in the next. It’s all in the documentation.

Can I customize it?

I created an external stylesheet that can be used to change how the page displays (you’ll need to know your way around CSS). I also built in a few configuration options in the beginning of the file to change a few functions. I am very much a beginner with PHP so the code should be simple enough to understand for those in the know.

Questions? Problems? Issues?

Please go ahead and leave comments below if you are having trouble or want to know how to change something. Also, if you’re a PHP developer and have some feedback for how this was implemented (good or bad), I would really appreciate it.

Download the GDocs CMS

As an aside…

This is my first attempt at a self-contained (and remotely useful) programming project of any kind. Like I mentioned, I’m a PHP beginner but use it a lot between WordPress customizations and static sites. I really enjoy using the language and the documentation on php.net is really, really impressive (the user comments are amazing). I try to use it as much as possible and I think the only reason I’m not much better with it is that I don’t give myself (read: have) a lot of time to practice.

Anyways, this was a very eye-opening exercise and one that I enjoyed very much. Truth be told, I wrote this during a long weekend I spent back in Seattle, so, essentially, on vacation. There was a little bit of frustration but a lot of “oh wow, cool!” – enough to keep me plugging away at it. String functions in PHP are fantastic and it’s amazing how easily XML documents can be parsed with just a tiny bit of code.

I’m looking forward to putting out little piece here and there, including a WordPress plugin in the future (I think that’s just to say I can). As I mentioned above, your feedback is very important to me, particularly if you’re skilled enough to find problems in the code and can tell me how to do it better.

Thanks!

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Your website should be doing two very important things:

• Provide an easy way for people to find more information out about you. This supports email marketing, in person networking, and any kind of word of mouth that you provoke. At the very least, your website should do a great job at doing this. It should be easy to find the right information, the site should showcase your strengths, and there needs to be a path forward for people wanting to take action. Just getting this right is hard enough without help.
• The other thing a successful site should be doing is concentrating on the actions that bring in revenue. Helping people find out about what you have to offer is great and, at this point, basically due diligence for all businesses. Identifying what it is that you want to do and where your revenue needs to come from is a critical step to having a site that pays for itself and more.

OK, here’s the straight dope, ready? I think the fundamental issue with many, many websites out there is that few people have identified what activities contribute the most to their bottom line. Who buys what you have to sell? Who emails you about your product? Who perks up when you talk about what you do? Who do you really want to work with?

Here are a few things to think about:

• Do you know who your buyers are? Do you have an idea in your head about who buys your product or hires you? This is critical. If you don’t know who it is you need to talk to then your message will be weak and your efforts unfocused.
• If you do have an idea, even a vague one, of who these people are and how they find what you have, are your events targeted towards them? Are you emailing them? Do they have blogs? Do you read them and comment on them? Can you find them on Twitter? Are you following them? Can you recognize one out of a crowd?
• You have a national audience because of your website… that’s great but that means your competition is also 100 times larger. If, however, your product or service has more of a local appeal, think about paring down the focus of your site, email marketing, and otherwise. The more focused your efforts can be, the more success you’ll have.

So, what can we do for your site? At this point, nothing. There is not much that can be done with a website until we really know WHO you’re talking to and WHAT you need to say to get their attention.

What can we do for your predicament? So, so many things!

Here’s a few steps to move this process forward. Each of these steps could take 10 – 20 hours apiece if you’re serious about really making a change to your business.

1. Figure out, through your previous buyers and anyone who has expressed interest, who your audience is. Talk to everyone you can to get a profile of who buys your products or who needs your service. Do they buy other types of products? What software do they use? Where do they spend their free time? You’re looking for a profile of the type of person you need to seek out.
2. Sit down with what you have (hopefully many pages of notes) and FIND THESE PEOPLE. Look for commonalities and find where they go. Send out an email poll through your email service and find what they’re reading, what websites they are on, what events they go to, what kind of food they like, where they drink coffee. Know these people in and out so you can speak directly to them. If you know what they do, where they go, and how they interact, you’re in a MUCH better position to find them and talk directly to them (literally and otherwise).
3. Now, take a long hard look at this profile you’ve built and figure out what you’re doing right and where you’re going astray. Does your website appeal to your potential buyers? Ask them directly. Are you holding events they would be interested in? Have you found the site that they all frequent?

Sound a bit like stalking? Well, if you’re concentrating on one person then, yes, I imagine this feels a little creepy. But the goal here is to discover a profile of a person, the theoretical client. If you’re not right where your clients are, where are you? Where are your competitors?

I know this is more “brain storm” than “step-by-step” guide to success but I’m much more of a fan of finding your own path. I also find it hard to believe that one persons path to success will work for everyone else. Without a true desire to succeed and the ability to just get out there and try a few things, you’re not going to get anywhere.

Sit down with a laptop and a pad of paper and FIND YOUR AUDIENCE!

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Tweet in question:

Holy crap, I hope not! There goes an income source…

You can gauge (if you couldn’t predict) my first reaction: um, no.

What I’m meaning to say in so few characters is that “having a company website” is like saying “having a steady job,” it doesn’t say anything specific. One company website could be a static, 8 page online brochure built poorly in 2002 and not kept up-to-date (but left online for due diligence). Another company website could be a WordPress-based blog site with a Twitter feed, a Flickr feed, a Facebook group widget, and loaded with videos from Youtube. These are both company websites.

But @pevachon is touching on a very important subject for a company that wants to build a new site or rebuild an existing one: what does having a website really mean and what’s the best way to go about it? Whether you have information posted on Squidoo or a Posterous blog or a LinkedIn profile, you have a place for people to find you. Do you need your own blog? Do you need to control exactly how everything looks? Are you OK with your content and information being owned by someone else?

@pevachon replies:

@joshcanhelp not sure but why not use all the spaces already available on the web?

Why not, right? There are so many sites and pages and companies begging to hold onto your information, most of the time for free.

As usual, the question comes down to what you want to accomplish. If you’re looking to get the word out about yourself, your cause, or something you’re selling, just having a website isn’t going to cut it. Alternatively, if you’re looking to showcase something or need more control over presentation, starting a Facebook group won’t let you do what you need to.

@pevachon I’d argue that’s like saying why have a business card when you could hand someone a post-it note :)

There’s nothing wrong with your number on a post-it note, right? But doesn’t a custom designed and printed card say so much more?

I think @pevahon and I would both agree: if you think a solid web presence stops at a website, there’s a lot out there you’re going to miss.

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10 low-cost, high-value Web 2.0 strategies (saved on Delicious )

Some big tips and some small tips but some excellent concepts to think about. It’s very easy to get very lost in the buzz of social technology, mobile applications, and new techniques. This article lists some of the basics of website ROI and how to use it to your advantage. Also provides a handy PDF!

“Clearly there is something very different happening now. The Web is becoming the dominant platform.” Here’s our list of top 10 Web-oriented tools, technologies, and ideas that promise to deliver the most value at the lowest cost

Three Keys To Non-Profit Success In Social Media (saved on Delicious )

I’m working on a web and social media strategy for an animal shelter in Washington state. It’s pro-bono mostly because I believe deeply in what they’re doing but partly because I have a lot to learn about this space. Jason Falls talks about the main things non-profits need to concentrate on to see success online. When I was reading his article, it all sounded like common sense but it defintiely drove the point home. I come back to this article weekly to reinforce what we’re trying to do. For the record, his advice rings true for businesses if you replace “give” with “buy.”

The three keys to non-profit success, in my opinion, are: 1. Have a compelling story to tell. 2. Make a specific ask or establish a specific goal to reach. 3. Make it astonishingly easy to give.

CSS Sprite Generator (saved on Delicious )

CSS sprites help your page load much faster by only accessing a single image (like the Google one above) instead of many. This only works for non-repeating images called as a background in your CSS file. For more info, see this A List Apart article and this Smashing Magazine post.

Twitter links

What makes a good logo: Good logos always have this certain feeling to them but it’s more than metaphysics at play.

Virl URL shortening: I love bit.ly and all but these guys have a great service and I made their favicon!

Top 9 Services to Transfer Big Files: Email doesn’t typically work for anything over 10MB. Try one of these sites out for big file transfers.

Misunderstanding Markup: XHTML 2/HTML 5 Comic Strip: Very creative strip explaining XHTML2 and HTML5… I feel enlightened!

Carsonified » How to Make Your Web Design Stand out from the Crowd: Great overview of what makes good web design (hint: don’t follow trends!)

Are there any links you’ve found recently that you can’t live without? Anything you’ve learned from above? Let me know… I’m always looking for more bookmarks!

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The more I use Delicious, the more I like it (and the more I appreciate its sparse, utilitarian design). The other day, however, I “discovered” something pretty incredible.

The Search Function

You see, I was looking for a link in my own bookmarks and, being the efficient web browser that I am, I decided to use the search function. I was looking for a privacy policy generator link so I searched “privacy policy.” right at the top was my link but below it was, basically, the best information out there on privacy policies. Not even just the best, the ones people find the most useful. Whoa.

I assume that most people use Delicious how I do: as a bookmarking platform first (because it’s great) and as a social platform second (because the bookmarking is so good). I’m picky about what I bookmark… not because I’m picky about casting a vote but because I’m always wary of information overload. So, what ends up in Delicious is likely something I will want to use again later, not just a nice tidbit.

This means that Delicious is very powerful but certainly not suited for everything. I still use Google 90% of the time because I’m not entirely sure what I want but, in certain cases, Delicious search is an amazing resource. Here are a few scenarios that work great:

• Learning a new skill: I’m trying to learn JavaScript beyond my very basic comprehension. I could Google “JS tutorials” or comb through some great development blogs… or I could type “learn javascript” into Delicious. I get W3Schools (perfect), several beginners guide, and a few advanced options. A perfect place to start!
• Finding tips or tricks: Various lists and tips and tricks find their way into my Delicious account… but only the best ones. Let’s say I was buying a house and didn’t know where to start. Searching “buy a house” gives me an awesome first-time buyers guide, a great WikiHow article, a piece on negotiation, and several other good links. And this is only the first page!
• Getting information about technical topics: It’s safe to assume a lot of geeks (cough) use this service so if it’s a technical thing you’re looking for, this is probably the best place to start. Try a search on “spyware” or “algorithm” or “windows.” You’ll not only find some excellent resources but you’ll probably come across at least one link that will blow your mind.

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While I gained more experience over the last year, I realized my passion really centered around the web but it was more than just laying out sites and coding them. I was enthralled by how people could connect to one another, use simple tools to solve their problems, and create a name for themselves or their business in a way that was never possible before. What motivated me was how anyone could leverage fairly simple technology to reach their goals. I realized that my energy was amplified when I was talking about WEB STRATEGY.

What is Web Strategy?

For all I know, I could be stealing a term from someone else so I apologize if this has been coined in some way before. It’s important to me to know what everyone else thinks about this term as well so your comments are appreciated (but, you know, read this post first).

"Seafaring Cities and Knights of Catan" by P M M on Flickr

In one sentence, web strategy is creating a track-able, improvable, and repeatable plan to achieve a specific goal on the internet. If I could add another sentence I’d also say that this strategic plan would always seek to provide a clear return on investment and would be simple and (relatively) inexpensive to execute.

That sums the term up nicely but there are very important components to creating a plan that works for your specific situation. I’m going to give you my take on the subject and I invite you to help me come up with more components.

Web strategy … is scientific

At my core, I am a scientist. This would explain my chemistry degree but it goes beyond that. Scientists use the scientific method which is a rigid, iterative, step-by-step process:

1. Come up with a theory (hypothesis) based on existing research to explain a particular phenomenon.
2. Design an experiment to test that hypothesis (the important word here is test… not prove); a critical part of this design is data collection
3. Organize, combine, and report this data as completely as possible
4. Parse and deconstruct this data objectively and completely as it relates to you hypothesis
5. Rinse, repeat

In a perfect world (or lab), this method is driven by the desire to DISPROVE your hypothesis. Experiments are designed to find where the hypothesis fails, where the logic is flawed, and where more research needs to be conducted. If, during the course of this process, the evidence supports the hypothesis then you have a solid foundation to move your research forward.

Hopefully you’re seeing how this relates to the web but, if not, let me show you how the scientific method can be used in web strategy.

Building an effective (read: successful) website starts with a goal. Let’s start with a popular goal for people on the web – increase sales leads/inquiries. This goal can be achieved a number of different ways so let’s say we’ve decided one of the ways to increase leads is to create an easy to use contact form. So, we have our hypothesis:

Creating a simple and easy-to use form will increase sales leads.

I think you see where this is going. The experiment, in this case, is to design a simple form using suggestions from people who have done the same. You could try a few different forms and switch them out occasionally, collecting data from each one. The data is the number and quality of sales leads generated from the form and the analysis will speak to whether the form increased the number of inquires, increased the quality of inquiries, or did nothing.

Designing your plan like a scientist keeps you focused on the goal, objective about the results, and ready and willing to start over and try something new.

Web strategy … is focused on returns

I consider my aesthetic sense very pragmatic. I like looking my best as much as possible but you’ll never see me in a pair of shoes that hurt me throughout the day. I’m also a big car nut but I just wouldn’t enjoy driving a car that isn’t comfortable or one that I was filling up twice a week.

Relating this to what I do professionally, I’m always seeking to place function in front of form in all of things I produce – documents, websites, logos, etc. I start my designs in a text file mapping out the information structure and the content organization before I ever open Photoshop. An idea of how I want the site to look appears in my head very early but I don’t make that design come to life until I know what the underlying structure will be.

This all relates back to RETURNS. Spending money on any kind of web technology before you’re clear on how that technology can help you achieve your goals is wasteful and definitely not strategic.

Seeing the returns on your web investment can be difficult or easy, depending on what you’re trying to achieve. If you set out to receive more sales leads and, after a complete redesign, you are getting more leads, that’s great. If you set out to increase brand awareness, it’s a bit more difficult (but not impossible).

But it’s more than just “yay, I did it!” You need to ask yourself a few questions (using the sales lead example from before):

1. Did I increase the number of leads AND the quality or just one component?
2. Do the website leads become sales or are they just vague inquiries?
3. Am I properly set up to react to these leads or am I dropping the ball?

Spending money on a website or spending time marketing your business online is not just due diligence. Have a outcome in mind and be sure that what you’re doing online helps you reach that outcome (unless you’re just screwing around on Twitter because that’s fun sometimes).

Web strategy… makes things better, not worse.

Chores: I hate them. Washing the car, taking out the garbage, cleaning the bathroom… I just feel like I have better things to do with my time. The have-tos in life are a drag, that’s for sure. Why create more of them?

Being truly strategic on the web means that you’re not creating two hours of extra work each day. Being strategic means finding ways to automate repetitive processes and outsourcing (however that’s defined) boring or unappealing tasks. It’s also about finding time in your day by using great, online tools that make your life easier.

But I’m going to take it one step further. Web strategy is about doing new, fun things. It’s about connecting with people in and out of your industry. It’s about expressing yourself in a new way and putting yourself and your ideas out there. It’s about learning new things, sharing your domain knowledge, and getting to know your customers and clients.

The online world is a vibrant, amazing, supportive, strange, and fantastic community. Building your web presence and connecting to that world should be fun and eye-opening. If it isn’t, you’re probably doing something wrong.

Web strategy… is what I do

When I wrote this, I was on a flight back to San Diego from a visit to friends and family in Seattle. I find my trips home very restorative because of the quality time I spend with the people that are so important to me.

This trip back found me in a conversation about the web with almost everyone I saw. People wanted to know why I was on Twitter, how the web could help them promote their business, what that interesting link was that I posted on Facebook, and how my own web strategy was going.

Everyone I talked to was really energized by what I told them about what this limitless online world. One friend made me iterate through each site that I use and why I used it. My dad wanted to understand blogs, LinkedIn, and Twitter better. My mom wanted to know how we could use the web to promote this great idea she had. Another close friend was all ears as I told her about how we could increase the amount of money coming into her non-profit. No one was bored, everyone wanted to know more.

The web is one hell of a place right now and it’s poised to improve without bounds. Sure there are thieves, viruses, hackers, assholes, and problems on the web but what you can achieve and learn there is worth the effort.

If you’re excited as I am about this whole thing and just don’t know where to start, contact me and I’ll get get the gears moving!

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During this conversation, the topic of how to market and promote the site came up. Dad has already joined LinkedIn and, with a little help, gotten his profile up and running. The site that inevitably came up after that was Twitter. I can’t say I was surprised; I saw a few articles in his pile of “things to discuss” so I knew the question was coming: “WTF is Twitter?”

In the end, Twitter is different things for different people but the information below definitely got a sincere “A-HA” out of dad.

Twitter is digital networking

When I first started this whole gig, someone told me “you have to get out there and network.” I’m a very social person but the idea of hob-gobbling with a bunch of people I didn’t know for business purposes made me queasy. Why would I talk to a stranger about a business relationship if I didn’t already know we were a good match? This is the same reason I never did well in the bar scene…

But I digress… Twitter turns this whole networking thing on its head. Making a connection with someone (by following them to see their updates or mentioning them using their name [@joshcanhelp]) is easy and non-committal. Knowing that you want to connect with them is also very easy (read their bio and check out their link). The barrier to connection is very, very low.

That doesn’t mean you can’t go a step further. You can have a short conversation with someone you’ve never met before (or may never have an opportunity to meet). This is powerful and the basis of a few off-line business relationships I’ve made. When making a connection is easy and taking the next step is just as easy, you have a powerful tool to meet relevant people and exchange ideas very efficiently.

Twitter is the best content hot off the presses

Staying on top of your industry is time-consuming to say the least. If you’re in an industry you enjoy, it’s fun too but that doesn’t mean it’s any easier (might even be harder in that case). If only there was a way to gauge content relevancy on the web…

Here’s another way I use Twitter. The people I follow are mostly people in the SEO, web design, development, business, and communication communities. Since every third tweet I see is an article, I’m getting exposed to a LOT of different articles, new pieces, blog posts, and other pages. If I see it with an “RT” in front (retweet… means that someone is reposting someone else’s tweet), that means that it’s been posted at least twice and might be worth a look.

I’ll admit that having a stream of mostly relevant, potentially engaging content is quite a time sink. Still, once you get into the swing of things, you really learn how to scan quickly, gauge your interest, and move along if it doesn’t fit. If I’m in Twitter, I read maybe 10 articles a day (maximum) compared to 50 that I click on.

Twitter is a good time

In the end, nothing you use is a great tool unless you get some kind of enjoyment out of it. Gmail, Remember the Milk, and Dropbox are all things that make my life better and are so simple to use that it’s hard not to use them.

Same goes for Twitter. It’s easy to pick up the lingo, simple to understand the interface, and hard to stay away from for longer than a day. I’ve met many, many interesting people, found paid work, and read some very useful things. The people that I’ve found and follow on Twitter spread positivity, give me feedback when I need it, and really enrich my online life. I haven’t found a BFF on there or anything but I’ve made connections that moved past just replying and retweeting.

This makes it easy for Twitter to be a pretty effective “waste” of time like anything else. I don’t spend more than 15 -30 sporadic minutes on the site in a day and if I find myself going longer I always get the feeling that my “time ROI” is going down (there are only so many interesting people you can find in a day).

If you’re still confused, feel free to contact me or, if you’re just getting started, follow me and tell me you read this post! I’ll follow you back!

No related posts.

You are an [sic] Digital Collaborator

If you are a Digital Collaborator, you use information technology to work with and share your creations with others. You are enthusiastic about how ICTs help you connect with others and confident in your ability to manage digital devices and information. For you, the digital commons can be a camp, a lab, or a theater group – places to gather with others to develop something new.

I’d say they nailed me.

Their questions were well thought out and covered a lot of ground. I told them that I feel the internet has helped me stay in better touch with people, stay more productive, and helps me learn new things.While I’m happy to share my own tendencies, I would like to see the results so far… maybe that’s a later post.

Other interesting things I learned from all over the site:

• 61% are anchored to stationary media; though many have broadband and cell phones, coping with access is often too much for them (here)
• 75% of women and 73% of men use the internet (here)
• The internet penetration increased at the greatest rate between 1995 and 1997 (here)

So, what kind of tech user are you?

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I’m a member at StumbleUpon and have only recently been using it on a regular basis. The idea of pressing a button and going to a totally random website is very entertaining and exciting. It’s also gathered me a nice trickle of traffic to this site.

Part of using any social networking or media tool is connecting with people you know. Meeting new people is great and a major feature of these sites but finding existing friends is important. The best way to do this is to use some kind of “add your friends” feature that noses into you email contacts and allows you to add them (or not). StumbleUpon calls this “Connect with Friends.”

There are two aspects to this seemingly innocuous function:

1. Finding people who already use StumbleUpon to invite them to be a part of your network
2. Inviting people who are not using StumbleUpon to join the network

There’s nothing inherently wrong with either one of these functions but they invite a social disaster. Here’s what happened to me.

I typed in my Gmail address and password (I trust them not to store this information) and was presented with two lists: one list of people who are already part of StumbleUpon and another list of email addresses corresponding to people who aren’t on the site. Both lists are checkboxed so you can “check all” and invite everyone. The first problem is that both lists are on the same page so one button is used to both invite people who already use the site and those who don’t.

For my Gmail account, none of my email addresses were checked which means 452 are not going to get spam from me asking them to join this site. This is a good thing. Many people on here have only been contacted once or twice. So, I click Connect Now, add the existing “Stumblers” to my friend list and move on.

I thought “that was easy, might as well do it for my Hotmail account.” So I did and got to the same screen as above… but is it the same? Can you spot the critical difference?

Exactly, all of my addresses are now checked off. It’s 400 less people than Gmail but it’s 57 people that I don’t want to PERSONALLY send spam to. Looking over the list, there were several people that I had not talked to in a while and this is not how I wanted to reconnect with them.

So, without thinking about it, I pressed Connect Now and noticed, right after clicking, that all those addresses were checked. Not only was I tricked into inviting all these people, there wasn’t even a “Are you sure you want to send 57 emails to a bunch of people who probably won’t join this site?” pop-up box. That sucks, plain and simple.

What happened? This came from someone close to me:

Subject: I HATE THESE F*CKING THINGS… You sent me that stupid thing about “a friend wants to share his favorite sites with you” and then it sent that same thing out to all the people on my hotmail list….  That feels so f*cking invasive.  It sent one to ____ and he was kinda weirded out by it because we haven’t talked for years and then this f*cking thing comes thru.  If you did that don’t do that anymore – if you had someelse do that – tell them to not DO THAT.

We’re fine now but this person was tricked into the same thing. I actually found three people that signed up because the email that was sent to them made it seem like I wanted them to see something and share it with them. So they sign up, see nothing, and are then, from what I gather, are faced with the same window to invite friends. Wow! That’s really, really bad.

Did any of this HAVE to happen? No. Could I have stopped everything by watching each screen closely to make sure the pattern isn’t broken? You bet; in fact I learned an important lesson, one I should have learned long ago (though this is the first time during years of using sites like this that this kind of thing ever happened).

But, guess what? StumbleUpon now has a terrible name with three people who signed up needlessly, got irritated, and then deleted their accounts. Not only that, I was tricked into breaking a social contract (no email spam from friends) that I’m typically very good at honoring.

It doesn’t matter whether it’s a book or a software application or a brochure or a marketing piece or anything that you’re creating, there are ways to help people do the right thing and there are ways to make it harder. When you make it easy for people to do the right thing (most people, the vast majority, don’t want to spam their friends with your site), you’re showing that it is more important that you respect people than it is to reach your goals. When you trick people into helping you reach your goals (change a process mid-way, use dishonest language, don’t check with your users to make sure they know what they are doing), you’re telling me you don’t care about me and you don’t care about my relationships. At a company like StumbleUpon, a major social media and networking site, everyone should know what spam is and how to avoid it. Apparently, what they don’t know is how to help others do the same.

Bad form!

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I really enjoy poking around in the design group that I’m a part of and have been recently adding my two cents here and there. One of person I responded to, Breanna Cooke, reached out to me directly through LinkedIn and asked me a question. I thought I’d share my answer with everyone…

I was reading your thoughts on social media and wondered about any tips on balancing your personal online presence with your day job’s online presence?  I’m trying to do a better job of branding myself as a designer, but am feeling conflicted in where to draw the line with the social media I leverage for myself and what I want to leverage for my 9-5.

This is an interesting question, one that I’ve been reading about more and more lately. I don’t know that there is a right answer but I think you can maintain both.

First and foremost, you have to be ok with overlap between your personal and professional life. For me, the two are very intertwined so I’ve stopped trying to draw a distinct line beween them. I don’t maintain two separate personas anymore, probably because I haven’t received a W2 in years. This is something I’ve become comfortable with because my business comes both from professional circles (networking, LinkedIn, through other clients) and personal ones (friends of friends, friends of family members, through school). For me, it’s worth it to keep my business in mind with every online interaction.

That being said, my line, if any, is drawn between sites and email accounts. Facebook, for example, is more geared towards personal interactions. I don’t add anyone I haven’t met in person (or have known for a while online). I post a few personal photos, I’m likely to be more sarcastic, and I’m less concerned about grammar/spelling. At the same time, I’m wary about what I write and I keep details about my social life to a minimum. I have people I work with added on there so it’s worth it to me to be careful. (Though, to be honest, there’s not really anything I’m doing right now that would warrant extreme discretion.)

I use LinkedIn differently. I restrict connections to people I know personally or professionally or have at least talked to (virtually) about something business-related. I am, however, a bit more open about connecting with people and, as such, keep my conversation very “business-oriented.” Friends and family aside, I assume that every person I talk with is potentially someone I could work with on a project.  I keep personal details to a minimum (I can be a bit of an over-sharer sometimes) and I keep the conversation on track. I try to avoid “:)s” and spelling/grammar errors and I stay away from “internet speak” (LOL, OMG, WTF… I really don’t use those anyways).

I think the biggest piece of advice I can offer is to always keep in mind that online conversations CAN and WILL cross over, no matter how separate you try and keep them. Being comfortable with this mingling I part of being a good social technology user. That assume that everything you write, every comment, every post, every picture, unless it’s being shared over email to someone you trust, has the possibility of becoming very public. I might have something unconstructive to say about someone or something but, unless I’m prepared to put my name behind it (like a bad review of a product/service/company), I’m not going to type it out and post it.

Keeping in mind that your online life is, for the most part, entirely public offers you a chance to show a unique side of yourself. Not many people want to hire an automaton and, if they do, you’re probably doing yourself a favor by scaring them off with your fun personal life. My humor and personality and creativity flows through a lot of what I do and that makes me a gerat person to work with if you’re interested in doing something interesting, trying something new, or pushing the boundaries a little bit. I see the sum of my personal and professional interactions online as a vibrant, intimate resume that goes far beyond what I can compile in a PDF.

So, to summarize:

• Keep it positive and productive
• Treat everything online as though everyone can read/see it
• Make it work to your advantage

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Josh is not a social media expert, consultant, or maven. Josh is a social media/network participant, promoter, and fan.

I saw this post, “8 Questions You should Ask Your ‘Social Media Expert’” and I liked the thought process is sparked. I’m a big fan of posts that call people out for two reasons: 1) schadenfreude and 2) because, if I can answer a couple of them, I feel good. In an effort to make my professional life as transparent as possible, here is my $0.50 on the subject.

It should be said, if it wasn’t implied, that the questions below come verbatim from the link above. I omitted the 8th one because it was silly and I’m dead serious. That was a joke.

Can you give me an example of social media work you’ve completed for a client recently?

For the time being, the social media “work” I’m doing are just suggestions via email, phone, or in person. This is, incidentally, why I usually “consult” over lunch or coffee with colleagues, friends, or family.

With clients, my BREAKTHROUGH VICTORIES are as follows:

• I convinced one client to get on LinkedIn to help her artist representation company. She’s slowly but surely getting up to speed.
• I’ve seen another client start to get active on Facebook to connect with potential fans.
• I got my marriage counselor client to start blogging (indirectly) to gain attention for his book.

So, in short, I’ll help you understand it and give you a few ideas for the low, low price of an iced tea and an open mind.

How do you go about pitching bloggers?

I’ve never had to pitch a blogger before but I’m sure the time will come (in fact, I have a few  in mind). I would/will do the following:

• I’ll try to connect with them via a “non-committal” method (Twitter, blog comment, forum). Since my pitch will be genuine, natural interaction will as well.
• I’ll approach them quickly and respectfully. An email will not be at midnight on a Thursday and I’ll make sure my grammar and spelling are up to par.
• I’ll try, at most, twice without a reply (including direct contact through Twitter, etc) before I consider the possibility dead.
• If I get a response, I’ll make sure my pitch is clear, concise, and has an easy “way forward” (i.e. I’ll make it easy for them to help me).

Gears are turning…

How do you monitor what people are saying about you?

I Google myself (still sounds dirty to me) and my business, of course. I also check up on Twitter search now and then. I haven’t signed up for alerts yet because it just feels egotistical.

For clients looking to monitor their brand, Google Alerts and Twitter Search are essential, of course. Trying the different search engines with various combinations of keywords is important (with spaces and without, misspelled, with “.com” or “.net”).

Where can I find you online?

I maintain a pretty solid web presence, half for networking and half because I really like to do it.

• You can find  me blogging weekly here at joshcanhelp.com
• You can find me on LinkedIn posting in groups and writing recommendations
• You can find me on twitter.com/joshcanhelp retweeting good tips and posting my own
• My friends and family can find me on Facebook commenting on pictures and posting links (I don’t really use it for business networking)
• You can find me on Flickr… sorta. I don’t take a lot of photos but I some up now and then

• You can find me at vwvortex.com talking about design and car nerd stuff
• You can find me on stumbleupon, liking links from time to time

I think that about covers it!

Can you (ghost) write my blog for me?

Well, no, but thanks for the compliment. Here’s what I will do for you:

• I’ll tell you everything (relevant) that I know about blogs and help you understand the world you’re about to enter
• I can show you how to write for a blog audience and how to target keywords (do as I say, not as I do)
• I’ll work out a schedule and show you how to keep it
• I’ll read through your first several posts and show you how to improve them
• I’ll subscribe, comment, and check back because if I worked with you, I probably like what you do

How do you measure results?

In the end, the only true measure is your ROI (whatever you’ve decided the return to be). If your goal was to sell more shirts and you’re selling more shirts by the time we’re done, that’s the result. If your goal was to connect with more people and you’ve got 500 followers on Twitter and have met up with a few groups of people, mission accomplished (in the true sense).

Concrete results, for me, come from:

• Analytic data from a website showing a positive conversion path (basically people on your website doing what you want them to do) combined with an actual increase in [insert goal here].
• Increased opens, click-throughs, and forwards from an email campaign combined with an actual increase in [again, insert goal here].
• Increased number of incoming links, positive mentions online, positive responses, comments, and replies.

How would you define social media?

Social media is social interaction surrounding submitted media. Vauge, no? The terms themselves are so vague that their definition, together could be anything. When clients/friends/family asks me what this “social media” thing is, I tell them…

• It’s a collection of websites that make finding the best of the best on the internet much easier then it’s ever been.
• It’s an extension of pop culture that lets people interact and have a say on what is happening.
• It’s a place to find like-minded people and garner attention for things that merit, in your mind, more attention.
• It’s the perfect place to start if you have no idea where you want to go
• It’s a time sink

How did I do?

It’s really up to you how I did. If you like what I said and want to talk, send me an email with what you had in mind and let’s connect!

Great comic from Hugh at gapingvoid.com

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Facebook vs Blog: Internal Risk and Fear

Just seems like joining a Facebook group would potentially be a little less risky/scary. I think there is still mystery/confusion for many people around the blog idea, so this could be a way to walk them into the deep end nice and easy.

Personally, I think you have it backwards. Most people who see a blog think it’s just a website or an updates page. Also, a blog isn’t something you have to commit to or admit affiliation with. When people join a group or become a fan, they’re tied to that group/fan page. Also, blogs are “liked” more by Google than FB pages.

I’ve been blogging for over two years now and I still get an interesting reaction from people who don’t blog or don’t read them regularly. One time, I was pulled aside and jokingly accosted by someone who thought it was ridiculous that anyone who blogs could be so vain. True story!

The word “blog” is a hot button word. Most people know what they are but they don’t quite know why people create them, use them, and work so hard on them. In this case, here is an example of someone who sees blogs as “risky” or “scary.” For someone who blogs, this is a strange reaction but if it represents a larger group of people then there is certainly still work to be done.

In the “Facebook vs Blog Debate,” the winner is clear to me. Blogs pull traffic directly to your site, blogs can disseminate information and be a little bit biased while being helpful, and blogs can have 1,000 people per day that visit anonymously. The visibility is higher, the traffic is stronger, and the format can be completely customized. While I think a Facebook group works for a lot of things, personally, I don’t see a benefit in aligning myself so strongly with any particular product.

Company Buy-In: The Eternal Struggle for ROI

I really think we can’t go wrong either way, and would prefer to do both, but am wondering about internal buy in. I personally think it would be great for you to explore blog options/ideas, not sure how others would feel about it.

The main point of a blog is information dissemination which works to attract links and search engine attention. The secondary purpose is online conversations. In fact, many blogs don’t have a comment system in place so, really, it’s just a series of articles and stories. In the end, it’s the conversation you generate and DON’T hear about that is the most important. “Did you read that thing about insert product here?” Internal buy in is automatic when people understand the great ROI that a blog can have.

Great corporate blogs contribute to corporate transparency, brand building, and trust. Plus, there are not a lot of great info sources for our topic these days.

What is missing from every blog without an audience and every Facebook group without a lot of fans is  quality content. The buy-in she is talking about (I believe) pertains to the amount of time it might take to maintain a blog on our topic of choice. But what if we created a Facebook page without a constant flow of information people care about? Who would attach themselves to a brand that didn’t really mean anything? Probably just the people working for that company.

In the end, whether it’s Facebook versus a blog, a blog versus Twitter, or Twitter versus Flickr, it all comes down to what you can offer. I’ve found that I can offer a lot over a blog and a lot through Twitter but not a lot through Flickr. I’m on Facebook a lot but that’s more personal. For a brand to be built using the social technology of the web, the brand has to have something to offer people beyond it’s logo and marketing spiel. Once it is determined what kind of unique perspective or information they can disseminate, then it’s time to figure out where to go. With so many options out there, the tool can’t dictate the content, the content MUST dictate the tool.

Sometimes All It Takes Is a Good Example

I enjoyed the corporate blogs you sent along – it’s a totally different animal than recreational blogs, obviously, and I had not seen a “good” example of a corporate blog.

It’s only been recently that I’ve been distinctly aware of how segregated marketing channels are now. Have you ever seen Mad Men? If not, it’s about an ad agency in the 50′s. What’s so interesting is that they design campaigns that every potential customer would see. It’s radio, TV, and print. Nowadays, there could be three different channels of marketing, each of which reach a different group of people. You could advertise on XM, television, and through SEM and reach three completely different groups of people.

My colleague had never seen the blogs I sent her (GM Fast Lane, MailChimp, and Freshbooks). She has been in advertising and had not yet seen an example of a good corporate blog. I think this says a lot about the internet landscape and how it all comes together. She probably never needed an HTML email sending application (MailChimp), is probably not interested in the auto industry (GM), and has never needed an online invoicing system (Freshbooks). I think this also means that the brands she reads about and the companies that she is interested in don’t maintain a blog (or don’t maintain a quality one or don’t have a good enough reach).

In the end, it’s not a matter of Facebook vs a blog, it’s a matter of participation. The blog you create might not reach the majority of your customers or potential customers but that’s not the point. For the ones it DOES reach, your believability and the trust for you in the marketplace goes up (if, of course, you’re spreading quality, truthful information). If you can become just one more trusted voice for your audience, people will notice. It’s not the 10,000 (or 500 or 100,000) people who read you every month, it’s how many people THOSE people reach. It’s not the individual visits to your page, it’s what those visits translate into. If you can position yourself or your company to be a part of the online society that talks about what you care about, you can direct that conversation or, at the very least, appear to know what you’re doing.

Go ahead, get out there, get writing and sharing! Your friends, customers, and employers have been waiting for you.

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