Here's another one for your Saturday night, click here to go there.
Saturday, August 02, 2008
Why are you Blogging?
It has been an interesting week. My Collective Wisdom Blog attracted over 100 recordable visits (according to Sitemeter) in 24 hours due to two items I posted regarding Dr. Pepper and Dr. J and also a story about the death of the Yellow Pages.
Who reads your blog? Do you care? Are you doing it for a select group of people? Or are you going for the masses?
In my email this week was the following from My Creative Team:
Posted: 01 Aug 2008 04:00 PM CDT
Most blogs have an audience of one: the author. So, you need to understand the landscape if you are going to build a blog audience. Did you know that there are nearly 113 million blogs being tracked by Technorati with an average of 175,000 new ones coming online daily. That’s 18 updates per second and 1.6 million daily posts. Wow, that’s a lot of competition for the blog-reader’s attention.
With all this competition how do you break out of the pack? There are many ways to build an audience and we’ll be talking about that here in the next few weeks. Let’s start with a few basics that I think every blogger should do.
- Select a topic. First, let’s review what is popular. The top blogs tend to fall into one of these categories: sports, news, politics, technology, humor and celebrity coverage. The top 250 tags according to Blog Flux include politics, news, music, travel, art, technology, marketing and business. Seeing a pattern? Now, if you are a world-class expert in any of these topics, maybe you can become one of the top blogs. Or, maybe you dig deeper and look for neglected topics for your blog.
- Set objectives. What is it you want to accomplish with your blog? Is it a corporate blog aimed at providing an open channel with customers, or is it a highly personal blog that allows the exposure of the “real” you? Different approaches that require specific approaches to audience-building and promotion. Do you want to build a mass communication blog, or do you want a small, fiercely loyal audience?
- Define your audience. Are you talking to all carbon-based lifeforms? Please don’t. Narrow down your audience. What do you know about them from demographic and psychographic perspectives? Are you addressing multiple audiences? If so, do you need to segment your audiences and develop emails with different messages? How will each audience profit from our communications.
OK, that’s enough from me. What thoughts do you have on the subject?
Friday, August 01, 2008
Do you know how to type?
I got an animated text message from my son this morning. Texters and Bloggers are now in the majority it seems.
More than 50% of US adults are using text messaging, blogging and other types of social media to regularly communicate with others, according to MediaPost, which reported results from the latest wave of Universal McCann’s large-scale “Media in Mind” tracking study.
For those 18-34 years old, the reigning form of personal communication is social media, which 85% of those in this age group say they use to connect with people they know.
Below, additional findings from the survey.
Older tech, such as email and instant messaging, are also still replacing analog communications:
- 22% of all American adults say they rely on instant messaging, up from 9% in 2007.
- 21% of adults age 18-34 rely on instant messaging, up from 14% in 2007.
Mobile media is becoming a dominant force as well, as evidenced by the pervasive use of texting:
- Only 41% of US adults say they’ve never sent a text message, down 8% from a year ago.
- Among 18- to 34-year-olds, the proportion of those who have never sent a text message has fallen to 22%, a decline of 16% from last year.
Self-publishing online and reading blog content also are growing:
- 10% of US adults now publish blogs. That number was only 5% last year.
- Younger Americans publish blogs at twice that rate: Some 20% of US adults age 18-34 publish a blog, up from 10% last year.
About the research: Universal McCann’s Media in Mind study is an annual proprietary survey of 5,000+ adults that analyzes how consumers relate to media and products in their daily lives.
More Useful Websites (the College Edition)
I have two kido's doing the college thing. Abby heads back to Purdue this month, and Josh starts his senior year in Maine next month except, for the first couple of months he'll be studying in Iceland!
So the other day the DLM blog had these tips for the college-bound:
A simple list to simplify your life.
When you first arrive at college you will be introduced to problems that you never knew existed. While no list will ever include a solution to all of your ills, this one hits on some things that you may not have considered.
Here are some cool and fairly undiscovered websites which will solve many of your everyday issues.
Trust me - finding these sites now will save you a ton of time.
Sasha
So the other day the DLM blog had these tips for the college-bound:
11 Things You Shouldn’t Leave For School Without
Written by Sasha R. Lahijanian, a reader of DLM that has no agendas to advance or blogs to promote, she just wants to help people.
A simple list to simplify your life. When you first arrive at college you will be introduced to problems that you never knew existed. While no list will ever include a solution to all of your ills, this one hits on some things that you may not have considered.
Here are some cool and fairly undiscovered websites which will solve many of your everyday issues.
Trust me - finding these sites now will save you a ton of time.
- Campusi.com – Instead of looking through dozens of different websites for books, this websites finds the cheapest books offered on the internet, and shows the prices from all the other websites as well.
- GetChunkit.com – Instead of clicking from link to link, this add-on is able to mine every link on a web page and pulls out the information for you. Makes researching 10x faster.
- Instacalc.com – Online calculator that can do everything, and allows you to share your calculations with others online.
- Ottobib.com – Enter the book’s name or ISBN, and this website does your bibliography for you in any format.
- Bugmenot.com – Bugmenot lets you find and share disposable logins for popular websites that force you to register. Also use “email.bugmenot.com” for quick disposable email accounts.
- Teleflip.com – Have your emails forwarded to your phone as text messages.
- eFax.com – Nobody has a fax machine in school. So when you want to receive faxes, just use eFax. eFax will give you a phone number that you can give to people, and your faxes will show up in your inbox.
- Qipit.com - Take a photo of your school notes or other documents, and this service will turn them into a readable, taggable document.
- FranceRadio.net – Because you need to stop using Youtube for your music. And because downloading at school is a no-no.
- Zoho.com – If you love free things and can’t stand Microsoft, then this office suite (and much more) is for you.
- A hug from your dog.
Sasha
35 of 50 Things
This is from www.marcandangel.com
Self-reliance is a vital key to living a healthy, productive life. To be self-reliant one must master a basic set of skills, more or less making them a jack of all trades. Contrary to what you may have learned in school, a jack of all trades is far more equipped to deal with life than a specialized master of only one.
While not totally comprehensive, here is a list of 50 things everyone should know how to do.
35. Flirt Without Looking Ridiculous – There is a fine line between successful flirting and utter disaster. If you try too hard, you lose. If you don’t try hard enough, you lose.
Thursday, July 31, 2008
A Very Personal Story
Last night I found a website that I found fascinating.
I could relate to the emotion and the memories of Phillip Toledano, I man I have never met, but because of the website dedicated to his father, I understand.
I am 48. When I was 38 my own father died at the age of 67. Phillip's father is now 98.
When you have 10 minutes, go visit and explore his site, Days with My Father.
My father passed away 3 years before my mother, otherwise, this story could have been mine.
See, my Dad suffered from some of the same afflictions that Phillip's father does. Namely short term memory loss. It got to the point where he stopped driving because he would forget how to get back home.
I'll give you some hints about navigating the site:
- If you move your mouse to the far left, you can click and go to a page of thumbnails which you can also click on and do directly to that page.
- I would urge you, though to simply scroll to the bottom of each page and you'll see the edge of the next page which you can click on. This is the best way to read and absorb the site.
- Some of the pages have naration on the left side, others are simply a photograph. There are 36 pages total.
- The picture above is a capture of the thumbnail page.
34 of 50 Things
This is from www.marcandangel.com
Self-reliance is a vital key to living a healthy, productive life. To be self-reliant one must master a basic set of skills, more or less making them a jack of all trades. Contrary to what you may have learned in school, a jack of all trades is far more equipped to deal with life than a specialized master of only one.
While not totally comprehensive, here is a list of 50 things everyone should know how to do.
34. Smile for the Camera – People that absolutely refuse to smile for the camera suck!
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Updating again
Trying to clean up this blog and add features that make it easier to know what's going on:
- The Local Blogger List has been revamped. It now has a notation letting us know when each blog was last updated.
- Some things will be removed. Too much crap and clutter.
- By the way, thanks to Kevin and Kristina and others for some help and inspiration for this updating process.
11 Lessons From Abe
It makes me sad that we have lost our Lincoln Museum in Fort Wayne. I knew some of the folks that kept that place running and one of my radio stations even did a fundraiser for them last year.
I have a jar filled with Abe's. Pennies, not Fives.
Museum or no museum, here's some Abe Lessons for us from the Life Dev Blog:
I have a jar filled with Abe's. Pennies, not Fives.
Museum or no museum, here's some Abe Lessons for us from the Life Dev Blog:
11 Lessons to Learn From Honest Abe, the Bumbling Entrepreneur
Photo by navycrackerjack74
It’s funny how most people believe the late Abraham Lincoln is one of the best examples of perseverance. It’s true, he’s an incredible success story. A kid born in backwoods Kentucky worked hard, became educated and eventually became the President of the United States. Pretty incredible.
However, most people think that the most fascinating aspect of Lincoln’s was that he constantly failed at life, but kept pushing on despite his circumstances. This is partly true, Lincoln did face many challenges in his life that he overcame. However, Americans have somewhat glorified the image of Lincoln as a symbol of perseverance. It turns out Lincoln didn’t have as many disastrous failures as folklore would let us believe.
The most compelling part of Lincoln’s life isn’t that he was constantly persevering. There are tons of examples of people who overcame obstacles to find success. No, the most fascinating aspect of Lincoln was how he consistently put himself in a position to succeed.
Many people overlook this trait when it comes to success. They attribute Lincoln’s being elected as President as circumstance, that he was in the “right place at the right time”. This is 100% true. However, how did he get to that place? Successful people do things every day to put themselves into a successful position.
“I will prepare and some day my chance will come.” - Abraham Lincoln
So in order to learn from the master, lets look at ways Lincoln lived that put himself into a successful position.
1. Carry your notes with you
Lincoln was famous for his large top hat, perched on top of his towering 6′ 4″ frame. His top hat was also famous for another thing: keeping notes inside of it. Lincoln was constantly scribbling notes to himself and stowing the notes in his top hat, so as not to forget his thoughts.
Ideas never seem to come at the most opportune time, and Mr. Lincoln must have known this well. Keeping track of ideas and managing idea capture is essential to any entrepreneur. Take Mr. Lincoln’s advice and always keep some device handy for capturing ideas: a scrap of paper, an iPhone, or a moleskine. Anything that allows you to save the idea long enough to revisit it later.
Source: Wikipedia
2. Learn the value of hard work
“Things may come to those who wait, but only the things left by those who hustle.” - Abraham Lincoln
Lincoln was an incredibly hard worker throughout his life. Not only did he understand the value of hard work, he also realized that it’s not necessarily the best part of life. “My father taught me to work; he did not teach me to love it.” Many times entrepreneurs look to find the quickest way to make a buck. This kind of success only happens 99.9% of the time. It takes working hard at something for a long time before you start to see success.
3. Didn’t fret about formalities
The President had a hard time with formalities, especially when it came to fashion. He despised dressing up in things like suits and gloves, and was much more comfortable walking barefoot around the White House (a social no-no). For this behavior Abe was constantly called names like “ogre” from the more genteel folk of the time.
So many times we’re worried about the formalities of creating a startup: hiring lawyers, moving to The Valley, thinking about scaling, getting staff in place… the list could go on. Instead of worrying about what everyone expects you to, just start creating. All of the formalities and will fall into place later.
4. Live fearlessly
Directly after the Union had taken the Confederate capitol of Richmond Virgina at the end of the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln marched with a handful of men into the capitol city, the heart of the enemies territory. The night of his assassination at Ford’s Theatre, Lincoln denied a large security detail to accompany him to play. Even though he knew he would probably be assassinated at some point, he wasn’t about to live his life in fear because of it. It was this same attitude that allowed a relatively unknown politician to run and win the office of the President.
Fear is a crippling thing, especially to the entrepreneur. There are always a billion things that could go wrong. You just might fail. But you’ll never know until you try.
5. Don’t be afraid to laugh and play
If Lincoln knew how to work hard, he knew how to play even harder. Abe always made time to play with his children, even while commanding the most stressful and gut-wrenching war the U.S. has ever seen. There are many tales of the President playing with his children on the White House lawn or chasing the children through the White House.
If you can’t have fun working on your own ideas, then why bother? Many times entrepreneurs take themselves way too seriously. It is, after all, just work.
6. Brush off criticism
Even compared to the current President, Lincoln was criticized considerably more. It seemed like everyone had problems with his policy. Yet Lincoln still managed to brush off criticism like a seasoned pro. For example, once Lincoln was accused of being two-faced. In response, he simply stated “If I were two-faced, would I be wearing this one?”
Entrepreneurs get plenty of criticism for their ideas. Yet we can’t take it personally. Sometimes the best way to handle of criticism is to either ignore it orbrush it off with a quick joke. At the same time, we have to be open to constructive criticism. These criticisms will help us shape and fine-tune our ideas into something better.
Source: Wikipedia
7. Spend time with friends and family
Often we entrepreneurs get so caught up in our own little worlds that we forget to spend time with those closest to us. So many entrepreneurs do anything (yes, even drugs) to stay awake and work hours Chuck Norris himself couldn’t live up to. Lincoln was one of the busiest men in the country during his presidency, yet he still made friends and family a priority. Lincoln knew the importance of disconnecting and interacting with the people who care most about us. Hanging with friends and family helps refill your tank and keeps us grounded.
8. Don’t be afraid to fail
While this may be one of the most trumpeted aspects of Lincoln’s life, he still did fail quite a bit. “My great concern is not whether you have failed, but whether you are content with your failure.” Failure is essential to any entrepreneur. It builds character and allows you to see what won’t work. Another famous president Teddy Roosevelt once said that “There is no effort without error and shortcoming”. It’s not until you fail that you show your true colors.
9. Keep Reading and Learning
Everyone knows the story of Lincoln doing his schoolwork by candlelight in his boyhood home, taking his schoolwork into his own hands. Yet many may not know that Lincoln was an avid reader and took time out his stressful day to read Shakespeare and other classic literature. During the Summer of the 1858 Lincoln-Douglas debates, Abe could be found with the Iliad in his hand. He knew that staying sharp meant learning about things unrelated to politics.
10. Simple is almost always best
The Gettysburg Address is one of the best examples of simplicity in politics. Given at a dedication to the Soldier’s National Cemetery, Lincoln followed a 2-hour speech by orator Edward Everett. The Gettysburg Address clocked in at just over 2 minutes, yet became the most quoted speeches in U.S. history.
More often than not, the simplest solution is the best solution. Don’t spend13,000 words on a speech, when you can say it more effectively in 271 (in the case of Lincoln and Everett).
11. Don’t fear adversity
Lincoln never shied away from controversy. He was once quoted as saying “No matter how much the cats fight, there always seem to be plenty of kittens.” And he was exactly right. You’ll never please everyone. There will always be critics to what you do. Sticking to your guns and following your heart is what defines who you are and will shape your success in the future.
“Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any one thing.” - Abraham Lincoln
33 of 50 Things
This is from www.marcandangel.com
Self-reliance is a vital key to living a healthy, productive life. To be self-reliant one must master a basic set of skills, more or less making them a jack of all trades. Contrary to what you may have learned in school, a jack of all trades is far more equipped to deal with life than a specialized master of only one.
While not totally comprehensive, here is a list of 50 things everyone should know how to do.
33. Make a Short, Informative Public Speech – At the next company meeting if your boss asks you to explain what you’ve been working on over the last month, a short, clear, informative response is surely your best bet. “Duhhh…” will not cut it.
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
The REAL Free Credit Report Website
For years, we have been told that we are entitled to a free credit report, once a year. So many people will go to FreeCreditReport.Com and think that they are getting a Free Credit Report.
WRONG!
As a service to you and anyone else that you may know, the REAL free credit report website is AnnualCreditReport.com, like the picture at the top of this article from their website.
I do not understand why the FreeCreditReport.com website has not been shut down for deceptive advertising. It's not really free. They do have a disclaimer:
32 of 50 Things
This is from www.marcandangel.com
Self-reliance is a vital key to living a healthy, productive life. To be self-reliant one must master a basic set of skills, more or less making them a jack of all trades. Contrary to what you may have learned in school, a jack of all trades is far more equipped to deal with life than a specialized master of only one.
While not totally comprehensive, here is a list of 50 things everyone should know how to do.
32. Paint a Room – The true cost of painting is 90% labor. For simple painting jobs it makes no sense to pay someone 9 times what it would cost you to do it yourself.
Monday, July 28, 2008
31 of 50 Things
This is from www.marcandangel.com
Self-reliance is a vital key to living a healthy, productive life. To be self-reliant one must master a basic set of skills, more or less making them a jack of all trades. Contrary to what you may have learned in school, a jack of all trades is far more equipped to deal with life than a specialized master of only one.
While not totally comprehensive, here is a list of 50 things everyone should know how to do.
31. Recite Basic Geography – If you don’t know where anything is outside of your own little bubble, most people will assume (and they are probably correct) that you don’t know too much at all.
Otherwise, you may end up like this:
Sunday, July 27, 2008
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