Thinks I find along the way
Interesting! Immediately after coming across this quote from Andrew Carnegie, this podcast from Joel Osteen came up in ‘random’ rotation. When this happens, I believe the Universe is trying to tell me something. If the quote resonates with you, I encourage you to listen to the podcast…
A few resources for my Facebook class today…
http://storify.com/e1evation/facebook-thoughts-tactics-and-tools-7-24-2012
I spent 20 years in the Mac camp; 20 as a fanboy, 3 as an employee, but the Apple I worked for disappeared over a decade ago. Think about this…
I spent 20 years in the Mac camp; 20 as a fanboy, 3 as an employee, but the Apple I worked for disappeared over a decade ago. Think about this…
…that works hard for you! From time to time, the clouds part and I realize that someone else may benefit from an approach that I’m taking. I put together some thoughts on tools and tactics in the screencast above. Here’s the Pearltree:
Every Friday I hang out in Google+ and talk about social media. Here are some curation tools and tips you might want to mess around with this weekend:
Just in time for this ‘milestone’ post, Chris Brogan provided this handy list that I’ll use as a preamble to what it is that I already wanted to share with you…
If you would like to get further into blogging, here is a brief primer:
- Get a blog. (Easy: tumblr.com, wordpress.com, blogger.com. Better: host your own -affiliate link.)
- Pick an area of focus, but one that has broad sides. (Mine: helping people do digital business in a human way.)
- Start writing.
- Start by planning to publish 1 post a week.
- Get daring and try for 2 posts a week (eventually).
- Make the posts more than 100 words and less than 1000 words most days.
- Spell-check.
- Delete the sentences that don’t matter.
- Realize that posts that are helpful to others get shared more than posts that are merely interesting.
- Never write a “sorry I haven’t written” post. Ever.
- Posts that just comment on other people’s posts and sum things up aren’t all that interesting.
- Do NOT get hung up on the tech. Get hung up on passion.
- The best way to write better is to read more. Second best: write more (often).
- Don’t try to copy other people’s style. Try to copy their proliferation.
- My best (most popular) posts were the ones I spent the least time writing.
- My least popular posts were the ones that took me more than a half hour to write.
- Pictures are a great place to start a post idea.
- Inspiration is a verb and a muscle.
- Lazy is, too.
- You’re doing it wrong. So is everyone.
- There’s not a single rule on this list that isn’t breakable. Break all the rules you want and enjoy yourself.
There. Write. Stop what you’re doing. Don’t comment. Don’t even share this post. Go write. On whatever came to mind. Delete it, if you hate it. But write. Now.
Source: A Primer for Blogging
Far be it from me to take issue with the great Chris Brogan, but regarding #1 I’ll say choose WordPress.com if you’re just getting started. Tumblr and Blogger are nice, but if you’re looking for traffic, nothing is better for Search Engine Optimization [SEO] than WordPress.com. You can always graduate to the self-hosted version of WordPress later if you want…
Regarding #2, sooner or later, you’ll have to face up to the fact that if you want to get good at it, your blog will have a brand. What is a brand?
“A brand is a “Name, term, design, symbol, or any other feature that identifies one seller’s good or service as distinct from those of other sellers.” Branding began as a way to tell one person’s cattle from another by means of a hot iron stamp. A modern example of a brand is Coca Cola which belongs to the Coca-Cola Company.” Source: Brand – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Simply put, if you’re going to find faithful readers, you’ll have to curate or create information on a narrow scope of topics so that people will know what to expect from you – what they come to expect of you is your brand. A blog gives you a share of voice on the internet which gives you a share of mind which may ultimately give you a share of market if you pursue it. You might even become a thought leader like Chris Brogan if you work your blog well enough! Thought leader? To me that’s a recognized expert that can be found in Google search. To become one you only need to do two things well; deepen your expertise [continuously learn – stay on top of your craft] and document your expertise [blog and engage in social media].
Regarding #11, I think curation is an important part of thought leadership and I think Chris ‘sums up’ more than he realizes! In this age of information proliferation, you have the ability to become a source that people trust through your blog by consistently curating and creating information that is useful to them. Also, I’m following rule #21 by breaking rule #11 and quoting Chris himself twice in this post! Here’s another great post he did this weekend about having a plan and working it;
“It’s a gorgeous and sunny day as I write this. I would like to be outside, maybe grilling up some steaks and drinking a beer or 12. But I’m working because that’s the plan. I have a short window of time to get a bunch of things done before I hit the road again, and because part of my business is to create media, that means writing and creating information that might be useful to you. Work the plan. That’s the message of the day. Work the PlanMy media plan says I should be writing one of six types of posts:
- How to
- Vision/Perspective
- Promotion
- Interview
- Do it Better
- Review
In this case, I’ll call this post a “how-to.” It’s not the best I’ve ever written, especially because it’s so self-referential, but it proves the point. If your goal is to reach into the heads of the people you hope to reach, you’d best have a plan. If your goal is to make money, and this digital strategy is part of the plan, then what are you doing to stick to it?” Source: Work the Plan.
Only you can decide if my post is ‘not all that interesting’ because I ‘summed up’ Chris’ post — obviously I think it’s beneficial or else I wouldn’t do it…
btw, yesterday I passed the 3,000 post milestone on my personal blog and I’m fast approaching 5,000 on my business blog but these are just the posts that have been published! Counting other blogs that I’ve done since I started 7 years ago I conservatively estimate I’ve created over 20,000 posts. I’m no Chris Brogan, but I have developed an efficient ‘lather rinse repeat’ cycle of blogging using Google Reader and WordPress. This screencast shares some of my best blogging secrets with you – I promised you’ll learn at least one time-saving tactic if you watch the whole think…
…in which no one shows up for the first hangout, so this is just a brief overview…
“Flee the evil desires of youth and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.” http://bible.us/2Tim2.22.NIV
I find in this verse a threefold approach to spiritual and mental health.
It’s not enough to simply stop doing something — I believe you have to START doing something else and it’s great to have help from likeminded people who will support you in your quest…
Posted from WordPress for Android
This is a tad oxymoronic for my liking…
Posted from WordPress for Android
“Information, if viewed from the point of view of food, is never a production issue. … It’s a consumption issue, and we have to start thinking about how we create diets and exercise,” said JP Rangaswami in his TEDx presentation.
For a man who currently has 38,000 books in his collection and lives in Calcutta, India where they are known for their rich, savory and sweet Southern Indian cuisine, his is a theory that could very well make sense!
Since most of us consume food according to a certain diet, minimize our surrender to sinful indulgences, measure our nutrition intake to make sure we have enough of everything; it’s possible that we’ve been doing the exact same thing all along with our consumption of data – or perhaps we should. As Plato the philosopher once said, “Knowledge is the food of the soul”.
“When I saw Supersize Me, I started thinking, now what would happen if an individual had 31 days of nonstop Fox News?” joked JP Rangaswami.
What do you think? If you saw information the way you see food, what would you do to digest the knowledge differently – nibble, bite, scoff or binge?” via How To Eat Information | FinerMinds.
Long before I saw this TEDx talk on eating information, my thinking on the topic was galvanized by Clay Johnson’s book The Information Diet which I highly recommend if you are intrigued by JP Rangaswami’s thoughts and are looking for more on the topic…
Me? I ‘eat’ information via Gmail, Google Reader and Gist and then share the best of it here and at business.toddlohenry.com, Twitter, Twylah, etc. Johnson’s book and Rangaswami’s statement about “Information overload or ‘filter failure’?” address the heart of the matter — just because I can track almost anything or anyone in Google Reader or Gist doesn’t mean I should in the same way that I shouldn’t eat everything I find at the Piggly Wiggly and I certainly shouldn’t eat it all at the same time! As the Apostle Paul said “All things are possible but not all things are beneficial” — tools without forethought result in poor tactics. Johnson and Rangaswami’s thoughts can help us ‘eat’ information on purpose instead of by accident…
If you want to ‘eat’ better, I suggest you need better thoughts, tools and tactics. One way to do that might be to read my free ebook on ‘personal news aggregation’. Register at http://elevation.company/pna/…
I hope my friend David Kanigan will not be upset that I made an example of his content here…
Here’s an excerpt from a post I did yesterday over at my business blog…
“Tools without thought or tactics are worthless so I try to remind myself that email is best used as a tool for ‘just in time’ information – information that affects relationships and revenue. All your ‘just in case’ information belongs in a virtual newspaper like Google Reader. Think of how much lighter your email load would be if you didn’t let newsletters and other detritus in? How often have you started down the path to Inbox Zero and then been waylaid by a Victoria’s Secret or Cabella’s catalog in your inbox. There’s a time and a place for that; the time is your ‘personal news aggregation’ time and the place is Google Reader. My advice? Use Gmail for email with a touch of Merlin Mann’s Inbox Zero and David Allen’s ‘Getting Things Done’ and you’ll be an INBOX HERO in no time!
If you’re looking for help in this area, try my online book on ‘personal news aggregation’ or how to create your own personal news agency. You can register free at http://e1evation.com/pna. Here are two recent lunch and learns I did on the topic of Gmail and Google Reader as well…” via Coping With Email Overload | e1evation.
If you’re overwhelmed by email, check it out…
For the first time in my 7 years of blogging, my personal blog [this one] has a higher Alexa ranking and is getting more traffic than my business blog. A couple of datapoints…
Continue reading “Something interesting happened this week…”
Tumblr David Karp is no doubt breathing a huge sigh of relief as I’m officially announcing today I was may have been wrong about Tumblr…
Back in 2009, I was on the right track. I was very into Tumblr and the cool stuff they were doing but along came a bso [a ‘bright shiny object’] in the form of Posterous. I spent a very happy year with Posterous over the course of a 2.5 year period [don’t miss what I just said!]. Recently, I’ve been looking into Tumblr again and wondering why I ever left!
Recent experimentation with Tumblr has left me very impressed — in fact, I think Tumblr is the perfect curation tool for much of the work I do. While I’m still researching Tumblr’s Search Engine Optimization [SEO] benefits, I’m giving an early thumbs up to Tumblr as part of my blogging workflow. Again…
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Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa…
http://storify.com/e1evation/dollar-i-ve-posted-about-tumblr.js”>
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Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa…
http://storify.com/e1evation/dollar-i-ve-posted-about-tumblr” target=”_blank”&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;View the story “!@#$ I’ve posted about Tumblr” on Storify&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;]&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;br /&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt; &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;h1&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;!@#$ I’ve posted about Tumblr&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/h1&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt; &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;h2&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa…&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/h2&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt; &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;Storified by Todd Lohenry &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;middot; Fri, Apr 20 2012 15:48:15&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt; &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;div&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt; &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;h1&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;Some of my greatest Tumblr hits…&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/h1&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt; &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/div&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt; &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;div&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;Hmmm. I think I may need to rethink Posterous… | e1evationI’ve been a fan of tumblr for a long time, but the fact that Guy Kawasaki chose Posterous for his ‘Holy Kaw’ blog got me thinking and tes…&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/div&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt; &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;div&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;Tumblr Leaves Posterous in the Dust [?!] | e1evationImage via CrunchBase Rising social media rockstar Kelly Neuville of Envano sent me an article from ReadWriteWeb [you can follow the ‘via’…&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/div&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt; &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;div&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;John Mayer, Katy Perry Agree: Tumblr Crushing Posterous | e1evationvia observer.com Hmmm. I’m a massive Posterous fan – it truly has changed my life, my business and my workflow. I do, however, have to do…&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/div&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt; &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;div&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;Blogging platform Posterous takes preposterous swipe at Tumblr | e1evationDirect attacks and unprovoked hostility are usually reserved for gossip blogs, not the people who make the platforms that power them. But…&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/div&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt; &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;div&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;Tumblr Now Has More Blogs Than WordPress.com | e1evationvia mashable.com What does this mean? Stick around – I’ll be breaking it down for you real soon. You can follow the ‘via’ link above if y…&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/div&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt; &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;div&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;12 Essential News Media Tumblrs You Should Follow | e1evationvia mashable.com The world is all a Twitter about Tumblr, so I just took another look at it to see if there’s something I’m missing. Ther…&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/div&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt; &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;div&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;Two tools I ‘fired’ from my blogging workflow in 2011 | e1evationIt’s not me, it’s you…&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/div&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt; &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;div&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt; &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;h1&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;Things that got me thinking…&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;nbsp;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/h1&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt; &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/div&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt; &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;div&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;undefinedTumblr&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/div&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt; &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;div&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;How Tumblr Helped Put My Site on Top : @ProBlogger http://twy.la/JbTuAIe1evation&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/div&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt; &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;div&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/div&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt; &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;div&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;5 Ways To Use Tumblr To Increase Traffic To Your Website : Innovation :: American Express OPEN Forum http://twy.la/IcRkO3e1evation&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/div&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt; &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;div&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/div&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt; &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;div&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;Tumblr Reels in Big Traffic, Now 8x More Page Views Than http://Wordpress.com http://twy.la/HXSIBue1evation&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/div&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt; &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;div&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/div&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt; &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;div&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;How to get Tumblr Traffic http://twy.la/JeSaZ4e1evation&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/div&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt; &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;div&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;undefinedMshcdn&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/div&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt; &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;div&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/div&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;
I coach a lot of people on how to use WordPress effectively for ‘thought leadership’ marketing. One of the most important things to include in every post is a relevant picture. Why?
Go to the source: How to easily include images in your posts… | e1evation.
I coach a lot of people on how to use WordPress effectively for ‘thought leadership’ marketing. One of the most important things to include in every post is a relevant picture. Why? HubSpot says:
If you’ve ever read a book with a child, you probably know they find pictures more interesting than words; but are adults really that different? I wouldn’t be surprised (or offended!) if you found yourself gravitating more towards the picture in this post than the copy. But images drive more than just attention — they drive engagement. In fact, just one month after introducing timeline for brands, Simply Measured reports that engagement is up 46% percent per post, and visual content (photos and videos) have seen a 65% increase in engagement.
Effectively using images in a blog post is an issue however, that separates blogger sheep from goats. In this screencast I focus on a couple of ways bloggers can easily get images into their posts with an emphasis on my favorite blogging tool, Zemanta for both WordPress.com and hosted WordPress…
[View the story “Other ‘images in posts’ screencasts” on Storify]
Storified by Todd Lohenry · Mon, Apr 16 2012 12:10:24
There was a time when “spring cleaning” meant dusting the bookshelves, straightening up your drawers, and packing off a few things to consignment, but with a broad array of organizational websites and mobile apps now conveniently at your fingertips, why stop at just the house? These days, you can get a handle on everything from your bank account to your biceps—all from the phone in your pocket—and many of these new tools take getting organized a step into the future by harnessing the very powerful tool of analytics. After all, as they say, if you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it. Vogue.com has pulled together ten of our favorite new startups and digital classics that help you to tidy up that closet and get yourself in top form.
via SpringCleaning.com: 10 Websites to Organize Your Life – Vogue Daily – Vogue.
Follow the ‘via’ link above for some good organizing resources. To Vogue’s list I would add
These are all ‘websites, too!
One of the greatest things about computing and the internet is the wide variety of “good, fast, and cheap” tools we have for ‘thought leadership‘ marketing. One of the worst things about computing and the internet is that if you are on your own, that means you have to be your own IT [information technology] department. You may or may not be up to that task…
Last year we celebrated the 30 anniversary of the first desktop computer from IBM. The thing that amazes me most about computers? Power? Yes, but the thing that amazes me MOST is that they haven’t really gotten easier to use! Most people don’t realize that the best day they have with their new computer is the first one and that as they install software, load and unload files, etc. their computer becomes slower and slower until the day they decide they need a new one and the process starts all over again…
If this resonates with you, you might want to use a tool I use called Tune Up Utilities 2012 — it keeps my computer running in top form so that every day with my computer is my best day because it’s always running at maximum capacity. You can download a free trial here and learn how to optimize your computer here:
You might also be interested in this post I did a few years back on how to keep your computer running as fast as the day you bought it [Note I recommended Tune Up Utilities then and still do; that is a testament in itself!]. If you the video and the posts seem intimidating, I can do it for you over the internet through “Personal Digital Coaching“. Comment below or use the ‘connect’ form…
Bright, shiny objects! 
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