As an aging COBOL programmer, I must take this opportunity to confess my participation in the Y2K fiasco. Yes, it was absolutely my fault! I carefully coded all my date fields incorrectly for at least 15 years in the traditional English style: DDMMYY … and this, as history records, almost brought about the End of the World.
The forgetful iPhone 4
On Monday November 9th, 2010 the iSomething generation all across USA may be arriving an hour late for work. Using the well-worn Microsoft technique of releasing all software without adequate testing, Apple has just been made aware of a programming bug that means all pre-set iPhone alarms will ignore the ‘Fall-Back’ change in Daylight Savings Time at midnight tonight.
iPhone users in Europe and Australia reported the problem as their DST changed last weekend. The notice is too soon for Apple to make a fix and so, on Monday morning, non-iPhone users in USA will possibly enjoy an extra hour of peace in the office.
How the US economy will survive without a proportion of the iFolk at work for an hour on Monday is uncertain.
One thing for sure is that this time, Apple cannot blame me. I didn’t do it.
How to fix your iPhone:
- Open the Clock application.
- Click on the Alarm icon at the bottom of the screen.
- Click the “plus sign” icon in the top right corner.
- Create an alarm and make sure you have the “repeat” option set to “never.” (The glitch only occurs with repeat alarms, such as those workers set to wake them up at the same time each weekday).
- Select the appropriate time and sound, and click “save.”
Alternatively:
Stencilled hand paintings in the Cueva de las Manos, Argentina
Using a template is not a new idea. Wall paintings in the Cave of the Hands in Santa Cruz, Argentina date back some 9,000 years. It is believed that the stencilled hands on the cave walls marked a rite of passage into manhood.
Woodcuts, from the 9th century onward are another form of using a medium where a basic design could be used to recreate a structure – which could then be enhanced with color or other means.
Contemporary art holds well-known examples. Perhaps Andy Warhol is one of the most renowned. His portrayal of well-known cultural icons as diverse as Coca Cola, Marilyn Monroe and even Queen Elizabeth demonstrated how a templated design could be transformed into free-standing versions of an otherwise identical theme.
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Just Do it!
Each blog title you write should be a slam dunk. It should be optimized, engaging, educational, easy to read, relevant, and it should encourage your audience to act in a manner that supports your business.
It’s easy, right? Like writing poetry, or sticking to a fitness plan, or getting your two-year-old to take a nap, or just saying no to drugs (thank you, Nancy Regan).
My favorite Internet marketing blog, HubSpot, would have you believe it’s easy. And maybe it is…This morning HubSpot gives us “Six Easy Ways to Get More Visitors to your Blog” here they are:
1. Make your blog interesting
2. Make your content easy to read
3. Make your content Search Engine Optimized (SEO)
4. Encourage Interaction
5. Include Social Sharing Buttons
6. Link to Other Relevant Blogs
It seems pretty straightforward. Just like wearing red shorts and flying to the hoop, right? Straightforward, yes. But easy? Not all the time. But it can be done, if you (pardon my predictability here) Just Do It. Take it one step at a time. Read some relevant blogs, notice what you like about them, and if you are inspired, sign up and make a comment. Commit two hours a week to the health and wellness of your online presence and it will definitely payoff in the end.
The stats are out there: Businesses that blog get 55% more visitors, have 434% more indexed pages, the benefits are numerous. Check out the social media stats on Fortune 100 Companies. There are some other stats that are a bit more difficult to classify. The biggest of them is trust. Sure brand recognition is essential, but there is something deeper: community.
If you are too busy doing what you need to do to keep your business going, please don’t neglect your blog. Your community will suffer for it. Hire someone to blog on your behalf. It’s that important. Engage your audience and keep them engaged. Start to build some trust.
Time for my yoga and situps…
“His Airness” image courtesy of Sports Business Digest
This spring Huffington post did a story about how men with iPhones are more likely to get dates. Tim went out and got an iPad to boost his appeal (we are still waiting). But the tables may be turning on the sexiness of smart phones.
To some, the Smart Phone is the ultimate business communication tool, but to others the trendy device is more obsession and less bling. Many in the mobile generation depend on their smart phones for information, entertainment, even companionship. As Gen-exers pay more attention to their mobile devices than to their sweethearts, we may see a decline in pregnancies.
The savvy are finding a balance between communication and distraction on their Smart Phones, this group even includes some public schools. For me, the jury is still out on the use of Smart Phones in schools. In the 1970s they brought televisions into inner city class rooms, so we could boost our spelling skills watching Sesame Street and The Electric Company. All I gained was a life-long infatuation with Morgan Freeman. Not necessarily a bad thing…
In the work place, though, the balance brings prosperity. For one of our clients, Bud Kleppe, a thirty-something Realtor in St. Paul, the Smart Phone underscores his success. “He’s more likely to sell a home… if he responds to client e-mails within 20 minutes and to texts instantly.” (Quoted in Our Mobile Lives on CNN.com).
But no matter where you stand on the Smart Phone debate, if your business is online, it must be visible to mobile devices. Engage your audience where it lives! Even if your audience is “over the hill” (according to a recent Nielsen study, 36% of iPhone users are between the ages of 35 and 54), your site must work with mobile devices.
A recent article published on CNN says :”Most Americans still don’t have smart phones” and goes on to say that 17% of Americans have smart phones. CNN is a glass half empty organization, I mean imagine if 17% of Americans had solar power, or if 17% of Americans ate only organic food. The resulting impacts would end global climate change!
My favorite bumper sticker of all time is “In case of rapture, this boat will be left without a pilot.” It was on a water taxi in the Bahamas. Mobile visibility for your site isn’t that much more expensive and ensures that your site will not be abandoned during the Smart Phone rapture.
There have been all kinds of articles about kids and the Internet. Kids are warned about online predators, teens “unlike” their parents on FaceBook, psychologists study the effects of Social Media addiction.
But the news currently is all about the fact that Facebook and other social media have become the latest venue for bullying. Remember the “Urgency of Now” during the Obama campaign? Cyberbullying presents a similar poignant urgency online.
Bullying has become as popular today as bell-bottoms were when we were growing up. And cyberbullying, with the real-time power of social media and the Internet, packs an even bigger punch. It’s not just the “Susie is ugly” posts on Facebook that cause irreparable damage. I’ve seen businesses spend thousands on reputation management. It gets worse…
The recent news about Tyler Clementi brings us to a heightened urgency. Clementi was a Rutgers student who was outed on YoutTube, and subsequently jumped off the George Washington Bridge to his death.
Life online is in the moment. We must live it more responsibly and with care for those around us. It’s not just a matter of good manners, people’s lives are at stake. My grandfather used to say “If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all.” His advice is as good now as it was then.
While our web design office is in Vermont, our market is the Internet, which as you know reaches far beyond our lovely little state into the nether regions of the Universe, there are some things we do here in Vermont, however, that tend toward the local. Food is paramount among these.
Take breakfast at Daylight this morning, for example: cranberry nut granola from Manchester Center, honey crisp apples from Shoreham, and soy milk from Hardwick (OK, you’re right, the Brit had his with ‘arf and ‘arf from Monument Farms Dairy in Weybridge, he doesn’t fancy soy milk, dahling).
The granola and a new office in Maryland inspired this post, But let’s start with food first: the granola is made by the Vermont Maple Granola Company. The balance of sweet to salt in this particular blend is absolutely spectacular. Check it out if you have a chance: they sell it online!
Now on to business: Daylight is expanding! Tim is moving south and we’re taking an office in the Baltimore, Annapolis, D.C. Area. We will also be keeping our office in Vermont. Daylight Websites South is on the Chesapeake Bay, so I’m sure lunches there will include Maryland fish cakes. Beyond the fish sandwiches and salt breezes, we also look forward to bringing our SEO and WordPress services to the D.C. market, where business is booming.
Internet marketing world dominance, one office at a time…or should I say one meal at a time?
My son is taking a “Psych” class this year, last night he wrote a paper about Freud. So like any good, somewhat meddlesome, mom, I picked up my Mac and Googled the good doctor. As it turns out, Freud would have been the best blogger. Not only did he invent concepts like “passive aggressive”, he was also a great marketer and the ultimate networker.
I found a goldmine about Freud in a single post, check it out: The Sigmund Freud Guide to Marketing written by Susan Giurleo, a psychologist by day; a marketing superhero by night. She built her tiny solo practice into a powerhouse with an 8-week waiting list. If you are a therapist, you should read her blog. If you are interested in marketing, you should read her blog.
Freud got to be the father of modern psychology by marketing himself.
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Will Google Instant be the death of SEO? Not on your life (and that of your online business). It may well be the end to proper spelling and grammar as we’ve come to know and love it, but content still rules!
As Google continues to cater to the misspelling masses, you and I still need meaningful engagement on our websites. Whether we’re selling luxury real estate or yoga retreats or SEO, our websites still need the traffic that matters most: visitors engaged with our content and our message.
There is still no substitute for good, interesting, well-written, educational, inspiring content. No matter how you spell it.
Of course, the jury is still out on Google Instant (check back for more in the fullness of time). But for now, please join Roger and Tim and I: Meet the new boss; same as the old boss. We won’t get fooled again.
Hubspot came through again as I was wrapping up a great project with a wonderful client: The Aloha Foundation.
Hubspot is an online marketing company whose blog empowers readers to take online matters into their own hands. The Aloha Foundation is the parent organization of several Vermont summer camps. One of their camps is all about empowering teen-aged girls to become to women they want to be.
Here’s the quote from Hubspot that made the connection for me: Create content that stands for something: ‘Higher purpose content marketing.’ This was in a blog post entitled “60 Proven Ways to Increase Your Online Marketing Influence“. The project with Aloha allowed me to dive into two of my favorite causes: empowering clients and more importantly empowering young women…Well, I’m not empowering young women directly, but I did help Aloha’s Communications & Alumni Relations Manager make some changes that will bring more girls to the site and to the camp.
Aloha has made great use of Facebook. Like them and let them inspire you. Hubspot publishes the best daily marketing blog. Subscribe and let them inspire you.
I’ll leave you with a quote from Hubspot that seems to have been written for Aloha: Make people around you more successful than you are, and share stories from the heart.
Dontcha just love synchronicity?
The Genuine Article: an old Mercedes. Like good content, it will always get you to the top in the end.
The more things change, the more they stay the same. As technology changes at the speed of light, authentic content remains the only constant. Well… that and change.
At the gas station this morning, a guy said to me “Wow, what an amazing body!” Damn, he was talking about my car, a 1982 Mercedes-Benz 240D. The guy said he’d had one years ago and it was his very favorite car. His had the wonderful incongruity of a pressure treated wood rear bumper. He regaled me with stories of his old car’s amazing hill climbing prowess.
When this Mercedes was first introduced in Europe in 1973, it was priced at four times the cost of the average car. And don’t you wish you’d bought one then? More than 30 years later, the 240D is still considered one of Mercedes-Benz’s most reliable models. Why? This car is the real thing. It was built well in the first place; it’s low-tech and easy to maintain.
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