SEO. GTD. LDS. FTW.
Author of Zero to Superhero and Economtricks.
SEO Copywriter @ Just Say ON. Founder of BookmarkBroker and ProComments.
Instigator.
Beware Game Mechanics In Social Media
If this post tickles your fancy, consider subscribing to my blog.
It's late, but I've got to hammer this post out now, before my thoughts or enthusiasm to write this goes stale.
BTW: Props where props are due: My opinion was sparked from this article Awesome By Proxy: Addicted to Fake Achievement and Achievement Porn (a post spawned by the first). Okay. Tin foil hat time. If you are using any of the popular social media platforms out there (Facebook, Twitter, FourSquare etc) understand that you are kinda sorta being gamed. Consider that your motivations for extending your network and building your brand may not be entirely yours. It may not even be as beneficial to you as you think. You may even be wasting your precious time. Lately, my Spidey Sense had been tingling since reading Peter Kim's Applying game mechanics to social media (read it if the term "game theory" makes you furrow your brow with perplexity). It's made me conscious of the game theory elements developers and designers baked into these social media sites. Why? Because gaming elements make a website stickier, and compel users to stay longer and achieve more within the website. These "achievements" may be more followers, more comments, more fans and friends - whatever. These achievements may seem important, and perhaps critical to personal and professional success, but are they really? You have to wonder.How many honest-to-goodness, true blue dyed in the wool leads have you generated from Twitter or LinkedIn?
I know it happens. I've done it. But is the promise of ROI being fulfilled? What's your signal-to-noise ratio like? Do you know your SocNet Efficiency Ratio?SocNet Efficiency Ratio = (Leadgen Opps in $SOCIALMEDIA) / (Time Spent in $SOCIALMEDIA)
If you're going to engage in Social Media, you better know the REAL score. Make sure the metrics you take are truly important to you, and not what seems important on the surface.
A hundred thousand followers don't mean jack if they're all spambots (for example).
Let's take a hard look and ask ourselves why are we are really logging into Facebook 15x a day.Is it for you, or are you being played?
The Internet Sucks. Stop Fooling Yourselves.
After trying in vain to order a pizza online for someone in Provo Utah, then failing to find a live video feed of Olympic hockey, I've come to the awful conclusion that the Internet is lame.
We have robots the size of molecules, yet I can't order a vegetarian pizza online? The internet is being hyped too much. So many "knowledge workers" toil away at their computers for stretches of time that would make a Chinese rice farmer blush (for about the same take-home pay) and yet this society extols the Internet as the promised land of opportunity? A lot of the internet is still theoretical. There is a big disconnect between what the possibilities are and what is actually working right now.All hat and no cattle.
I say, until we - as a modern society - can successfully order a pizza online in any mid-sized city, we should all just SHUT UP about how great and wonderful and efficient the internet is. Because it isn't.P.S. The Internet sucking shouldn't prevent you from subscribing to my blog ;)
Broken Theme / "Stylesheet Missing" Error in Wordpress
Ever get that stupid "Stylesheet Missing" error when you try and install a theme in Wordpress? It's usually late at night when you should already be asleep.
Is this what brings you to my blog? Hopefully I can help you out. First, take another look at the files of the Wordpress theme you uploaded. You can do this easily via your ftp client. Do you see a lot of files ending with php? If so, you may need to delete the files online and upload the "Theme_Name" folder within the "Theme_Name" folder so the following directory structure prevails: /wp-content/themes/Theme_Name/stylesheet.css If you do NOT see any php files in the root folder, you may have uploaded a website css template, which will not work as a Wordpress theme. I've experienced this error several times myself, and it's because css website templates accidentally get listed among Wordpress themes. To use the css website template, remove the Wordpress installation via Fantastico or whatever you've got working in the backend of your CMS. Hope this helps. Now get some sleep :)
TENSO. Portuguese Internet Meme
Tenso is Portuguese for "Tense". It's also the name of a hilarious
internet meme. Images from TENSO.tumblr.com
This Is Me
No, it's not me on the video. What I mean is Randy Komisar perfectly described how I operate. I try not to overthink things. I just do it and figure it out as I go along. Kind of like a novelist would start a story without mapping out the plot beforehand.
Don't bother trying to get it right the first time. You won't.
Cracking my knuckles. Getting ready to write copy for another startup idea that I hope to launch soon. Maybe even today.
I just finished BookmarkBroker.com, and I'm ready for something different. Bookmark Broker will go on, and I'll be behind it 100%, but I'll let it grow organically. No big SEO marketing campaigns on this one. The concept can survive and thrive on it's own merits.
Or maybe not.
But here's what I wanted to say to entrepreneurs who are grasping for the perfect internet business idea:
Don't bother trying to get it right the first time. You won't.
Don't try and protect yourself from failure, or mistakes, or wasted time. You can't.
Stop thinking and asking questions and doing research and formulating the perfect domain name. Make your move.
And It Will Be Wrong.
Hey, don't sweat it. It's the cost of being agile.
But here is the good part. When you discover what is wrong, and you face the ugly realization the beautiful new startup you built with many lonely hours and sweat equity sits there like a pile of rubble at your feet, use it as a stepping stone to move up and onward.
If you climb over enough failures, you will eventually be high enough where you can see the panoramic business landscape. You will be at a unique vantage point where you can see above others, and see where the opportunities really are.
Be courageous. Continue failing, and climbing higher and higher.
See you at the top.
Working with Clients: The Initial Design Phase
I sometimes hear of website designers who propose multiple design ideas to the client (as wireframes or an Illustrator pasteboard.) The client, confronted with so many choices, can't decide on one design, but rather chooses elements from several designs, which then must be frankensteined together, creating less than desirable results.
I do things a little differently.
I only show one design to the client. That solitary design will be the most appropriate design for their brand, according to our discussions, their needs, and my professional opinion.
However, there is something I do even before the initial design stage. I ask for the client's trust.Since I have been designing websites for over 10 years, and educate myself on UX and conversion optimization nearly every day, I feel most final decisions on design would be best left to me, and not the client.
It's sounds presumptuous, I know, but this way of working has proven to be extremely efficient in time and cost, and my clients have always expressed complete satisfaction with the final product*.
I think the secret (if it even is a secret) is that most clients want a confident designer who will take the "bull by the horns" and make sound decisions on their behalf. Showing a client too many ideas may be misinterpreted by the client as the web designer lacking certainty or confidence. Too much choice also tends to creates stress for the client, and raises the possibility of cognitive dissonance or second guessing down the road.* Let me state here that I am not a top level designer. I do not program in anything fancy like ActionScript or even AJAX. I develop simple, fast loading microsites and landing pages that are lead generating engines.
Masters Of The Blogosphere: Explode Your Blog's Potential [ FREE PDF ]
These killer articles from were compiled awhile back as a free PDF for my Economtricks readership (back when the blog supporting the book was in existence), and I thought you might benefit from some of the advice within. Please enjoy.
You can also download the PDF here: Masters Of The Blogosphere: Explode Your Blog's Potential
SERPs, Straight Up, Hold The Personalization
For those who want to look at SERPs without Google's new personalization variables factored in, don't hunt for the opt-out switch, just type in &pws=0 after the URL of the search query.
Try it. You may notice a significant difference in the rankings. SEO to catch their eye, copywriting to make 'em buy - http://JustSay.ON.ca