Welcome to My Blog
Here is a basic blog layout with a right sidebarWhy doesn’t Google advertise on its homepage?
For one thing, they have a policy of only showing advertising that is "relevant," and you can't think about relevancy until someone types in a search query. For example, if I type in the search, "Dogwalker rates in Washington DC," Google may decide to show me an ad...
Who benefits from the Icelandic Volcano Crisis (and how we’ve been preparing for it)
The last time the Eyjafjallajokull volcano in Iceland exploded 187 years ago, it didn't stop erupting for over a year, according to the Washington Post. (As an aside, one thing that I love about this crisis is that, unlike almost any other crisis that humankind is...
The importance of a personal network for social media managers
If you manage a social media plan for an organization, one of your most important assets is your personal network. (Don't think for a second that professional social media managers have a substitute for this.) One of the reasons that the social media space scares so...
Baby steps toward success with social media
"Baby steps, baby steps, baby steps through the office, baby steps out the door -- it works!" - Bill Murray, What About Bob? Today I read a great blog post by Darren Rowse over at Problogger, which was in turn about a great post by Chris Brogan, both of which...
Is your website simple, or rewarding?
A lot of people who design websites or manage social media profiles are focused (smartly) on making things simple. This is generally a good thing, because visitors to your website need to be able to find what they're looking for, and they need to be able to...
Three things I learned from my honeymoon
Amy and I went on a mini honeymoon, and we had a great time. We stayed on an organic farm and bed and breakfast in Madison County, Virginia, where I had to resist the urge to offer unsolicited online marketing advice (they are such a unique, interesting, and well-run...
This is my 100th blog post
My hero Seth Godin once wrote that the first are the hardest, and by the time you write that many posts you'll have developed a habit that will be hard to break. This is my 100th blog post since last November, and I can already feel positive momentum, which is...
What’s the real value of social media for communicators?
's an article in the Wall Street Journal that says that some entrepreneurs are questioning how valuable social media really is. The premise of the article is simple: some people have done great things for their business with social media, but other people...
Don’t forget about email
One of the most important things you can do to market your organization or yourself is to have a simple email strategy, and there are two things that will make your email strategy effective: (1) you need to have a process in place by which you add high...
When should you add new features to your website or blog?
You should never use a new feature just because it's awesome. This is because "awesome" isn't awesome unless it advances your goals.My blogging platform (Posterous) added a new feature recently: this feature allows you to add "page breaks" into your blog posts,...
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