Friday Productivity: The Monkey Rule

Filed Under Branding, Business Life, Productivity, Successful Blog, Survival Kit | 21 Comments

Not Just for Fridays

Problems don’t only happen on Fridays. It only seems like more of them do. That’s probably because what we’re looking for is a clean desk and a walk out to the weekend.

Instead what often happens is that folks stop by to hand us an issue that “just can’t wait,” and suddenly a Friday seems like it is piling higher and higher in front of that door that says ESCAPE.

Here ‘s a rule I use to keep control of my Fridays, Thursdays, Wednesdays — actually every day — come to think of it. Read more

Great Find: Notebook UP

Filed Under Business Life, Successful Blog, Survival Kit, Tools | 7 Comments

Find Yourself Scrunching?

I don’t usually talk about retail products, but this is one a tall girl could love.

Great Find: Notebook Up Product Info
Type of Article: Product specs and advertisement
Permalink: http://www.yankodesign.com/product_info.php?products_id=1077Target Audience: Notebook and laptop users
Content: If your only computer is a laptop and you find yourself scrunging down to read it, you should take a look at something like this. I haven’t tried it. I don’t know the company. I just think it looks like a solution that makes sense. Click the pix to find out more.

It seems to me the person who came up with this was tired of having neck problems.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Blog Link Leak Blog-to Show
Don’t forget the First Ever Successful Blog Link Leak Blog-to Show is open this weekend. Visit the Blog-to Show to kick some tires and see some new blogs to read by clicking the pix at the right.

Directories and Click Exchanges as Promotion

Filed Under Basics, Marketing, Successful Blog, Survival Kit | 20 Comments

Hey I’m Here!

I remember all too well when I had my blog set up. There were 6 or 7 posts and I had 6 or 7 readers — all friends who were doing me a favor. I wanted so much to find a way to say, “Hey, I’m here! Come read me!”

I’m not patient in such situations. I’m a person who likes to make things happen. So make things happen is what I did. Read more

Steve, Liz, & Ben Franklin on Learning

Filed Under Basics, Community, Great Finds, Successful Blog, Survival Kit | 25 Comments

Learning from Each Other

Benjamin Franklin said, “Things that hurt instruct.” I’m a curious sort. I learned how a stapler worked in kindergarten by putting a staple through my hand. I didn’t do that again. I even told my friends about it. I’m still telling you now. That way some folks won’t have to learn the way I did.

Steve Remington agrees with Ben Franklin and me. So much he’s started a blog about it called Why My Blog Stinks and on one page in particular he’s inviting bloggers to swap stories of small things that went wrong on their way to success. I’ve started it out with one. Take a look and add your own by clicking the title below.

It’s a great way to learn from each other. No one else needs to learn about staplers the way I did. Not all learning needs to hurt. I think Ben would agree with that.

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Related articles
NEW BLOGGER PAGE Lots of great posts on how to avoid problems on the new blogger page.

MUST HAVE: Content Theft Series

Filed Under Business Life, Great Finds, Successful Blog, Survival Kit | 5 Comments

This is more than a GREAT FIND. It’s a MUST HAVE. It’s going straight into the survival kit. Lorelle from WordPress has put together an amazing series of documents replete with facts on copyright and intellectual property that every blogger should have at his or her fingertips.

Great Find: What Do You Do When Someone Steals Your Content by Lorrell at WordPress
Type of Article: series on content theft
Permalink: http://lorelle.wordpress.com/2006/04/10/what-do-you-do-when-someone-steals-your-content/
Target Audience: Anyone who puts content on the Internet

Content: Lorrell at WordPress, one of my personal heroes and a highly respected web journalist, did extensive research to pull together a series of three documents on what to do when you find yourself in the unhappy situation of having your content stolen, hijacked from your blog or website. The series goes deep with uncountable links and resources. Her advice is straightforward and crystal clear. The series covers the topic completely. I’ll let her describe it.

This is the first of three articles. This article covers tips, information and resources to help you deal with copyright infringement, the theft of your blog or website content. The second article includes helpful links and resources for finding stolen content and copyright infringements. The last article in the series examines the growing trends in content theft such as image hotlinking, website hijacking, and abusive use of feeds to replace original content without permission, as well as other copyright infringements on the rise.

Lorrell takes you through each part with step-by-step advice and sends you to the experts for more information. I’ve taken classes on copyright that didn’t cover the subject nearly this well.

Do yourself and your content the favor of checking this out. Click the screenshot to get started.

What Do You Do When Someone Steals Your Content?

Part 2: Finding Stolen Content and Copyright Infringements

Part 3: The Growing Trends in Content Theft

I need to write a poem to Lorrell at WordPress like I did for Improbulus.

Some of you must have had experience with content theft already. What happened? What did you do about it?

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Related article
Great Find: How to Back Up Your Blog

Great Find: Success in Technology or in Life?

Filed Under Branding, Business Life, Successful Blog, Survival Kit | 6 Comments

Okay, so you may not call an editorial on technology and life a Great Find, especially one that harks back from last November. I’ve been keeping this one for some Thursday when I had the feeling that folks might be ready to think about the quality of life. Around here it’s about to be a glorious spring again. That seemed like reason enough to pull this piece out. It can’t be too preachy. It’s Wired News after all.

Great Find: Eat, Sleep, Consume, Die by Tony Long for Wired News
Type of Article: an editorial rant on life before technology
Permalink: http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,68742,00.html http://www.businessweek.com/careers/content/mar2006/ca20060327_414798.htm?campaign_id=nws_insdr_mar31&link_position=link18
Target Audience: Anyone who has tendencies toward work addiction

Content: Let’s face it. Research has proved it out. The laptop may have made our work lives easier, but it also meant that we are working longer. As Tony Long points out we’re living in a world where technology has this kind of impact in many places– in our homes, at work, and in our cities. Tony writes with intelligent phrasing and biting sarcasm. He’s decided there’s too much techonology being thrust on us, and he’s no shy about saying that it’s making him (and I think he’s implying us) cranky.

But that’s the point. My expectations have been raised to this ridiculous level by technology running amok through my heretofore-bucolic existence. I used to be a laid-back guy. Now I’m impatient. I chafe. I get irritable when my gratification isn’t instantaneous. And it isn’t just me. The whole world is bitchier these days.

It’s definitely a piece worth reading, especially now that we’re talking about how we’re treating each other. Being bitchy and overworked isn’t great promotion for your business, your brand, or your blog. As always, a click on the screenshot will take you to the article.

Wired News Eat, Sleep, Consume, Die Screenshot

I’m chaning my plan to work all weekend. I want to keep being the nice one.

I have a feeling this article will become more timely the older it gets.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Brand YOU–When An Apology Is in Order

Filed Under Branding, Business Life, Motivation/Inspiration, Successful Blog, Survival Kit | 7 Comments

The Challenge of Apologies

Handling an apology can seem like an overwhelming challenge, especially in a business situation. At the least, it makes everyone involved self-conscious. With a clear head and a eye toward resolution, apologizing can be the same as handling any other problem. Follow the same five basic steps.

Handle Yourself Not the Apology

Remember again to breathe.

Giving and Receiving Apologies

Don’t let the words, “I’m sorry,” scare you. They’re powerful words that, when given with care, can gain you more respect. An apology well received can do the same. It’s the fear of those two words that makes apologies go wrong.

Realize when you walk into a situation where an apology is going to happen that there is no person who has not behaved badly at some point in his or her life. If you’re having trouble starting, say so. If you feel you can say things more clearly in writing do so. Then offer the other person the choice to listen while you read it or to read it while you wait.

With apologies, less is more. Mean what you say and keep it simple. Don’t use an apology to move an agenda forward. Use these principles to uphold the integrity of your brand and to help everyone involved feel like a person of value.

When Apologizing

When Accepting an Apology

Have a conversation after the apology. It’s a chance to get to know that person in a new way. Be thoughtful and honest, and you may forge a stronger relationship built on new respect.

A True Leader

Once you have apologized or heard an apology, move on to cooler more interesting matters. Don’t keep apologizing or talking about the incident. The horse is dead. The sale’s been made–don’t buy it back. Too much talk about it will devalue what’s already been said. The power of “I’m sorry,” diminishes the more times you repeat it. It also makes for more discomfort.

Do spend quality time as one human being with another sharing undivided attention. You may not make a new best friend, but you will find a person who has a few things in common with you. That’s a starting point for a new working relationship. You’ve just been through something hard together.

Apologies are never easy, but they don’t need to be scary or humiliating. The ability to apologize with grace and respect is a quality of a true leader.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Don't Let Burn Out Singe Your Brand

Filed Under Business Life, Motivation/Inspiration, SOB Business, Successful Blog, Survival Kit | 1 Comment

Pulled Wire Thin

Recently I shared emails with SOB Dr. Deborah Serani about blogging, brands, and work stress in general. I asked her whether she had information regarding stress and burnout and within seconds I had an article in my gmail inbox. Now there’s a doctor who doesn’t make you wait!

I know it happened to me on my last major project. Timelines were tighter than humanly possible. Work piles were taller than the people working on them. Personalities were pulled wire thin. Everyone’s personal brand was summed up in “When will this be done?”

We Didn’t Know We Were Burned Out

Burn out was a serious problem–folks were working nights and weekends. They were coming in early and leaving late. Getting help wasn’t an option. This was intellectual property, by the time we caught someone up to speed the project would be done.

The worst part was we didn’t know that we were burned out.

Burn Out Is Serious

Burnout is a serious problem. It can tear down all you’ve done to build a reputation–your personal brand. It can cause folks to lose trust in who you are. It takes your confidence. It can steal your job.

Dr. Deborah Serani has a simple way for you to tell if you’re stressed and burning out and offers some things you can do about it if you are. Click the screenshot you’re worth it. We need you and your brand, thinking outside of the box.

Burnout Article Dr. Deborah Serani Screenshot

Thanks, Deb. It’s great to have a Dr. on our side.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Technorati's Family of Support Pages

Filed Under Branding, Business Life, SEO, Successful Blog, Survival Kit, Tech/Stats, Technorati | 13 Comments

Most people I know are like me in one respect. They would work for hours rather than ask for customer service help, especially where a computer is involved. Usually it’s because the folks in customer service aren’t much help at all. With Technorati, it’s either because the service has been touch and go, or because we understand how much Janice Myint and her Customer Service Team have to straighten out. . . .

So I figure a review of where things stand after this latests upgrade might let us all know what’s there the next time we need to find our way.

A Family of Support Pages

There is at least one addition in the Technorati household. The cute little fellow has a serious adult name. It’s called by the moniker, Technorati: Support FAQ. Perhaps the family is thinking it’ll grow into it.

Now Technorati has quite a family of support documents to choose from. They are all under the HELP link in the gray nav bar at the top of the page. A click there will lead you to all of this information.

About Technorati gives basic information about the blog search engine. This is where you find out that Technorati is currently tracking 33.1 million sites and 2.2 billion links.
Blogging Basics covers the most basic description of weblogs in a Q&A format.
The FAQ answers frequently-asked questions about Technorati and terms and symbols used on their site.
How-tos is a collection of posts by
The posts cover topics from hot-to hack Technorati, how-to build tags, to how-to use tags to increase your blog’s traffics. The links above are not all that you will find there. Some writers did more than one post.
If you like that page, there is Technorati Tools, which includes Browser Plugins, Bookmarklets, and more links–this time tools from users, including Lorelle VanFossen and David Smith, on tools for using Technorati to its fullest.
Of course, you’ve already checked out the Publisher’s Guide, which
gives the basics on claiming a blog.
Two pages: Blog Finder and Tags explain what the tagged web is about.
The Support FAQ. the newest addition, but I wouldn’t call it the baby.

The Support FAQ

The Support FAQ page is a concerted effort to address most of the issues that have been the talk of Technorati. Someone, or some ones, have spent some time putting it together, and though such things are never complete, this page is a fine start. Here’s what you’ll find there.

What to do you if you have trouble claiming your blog–with special notes on Yahoo 360, MySpaces, MSN Spaces
An explanation of the difference between post and blog tags
How link counts work
What you might do to when spiders aren’t reading your posts correctly
How to ping Technorati when your posts AND links from others aren’t showing up
How the Technorati user name display works
How to redirect a URL change so that you keep your links
What to do if you no longer want a post in the index–hint: don’t delete it!

Okay done. Believe me, I don’t, nor do I wish, to work for Technorati. I’m sure that’s a relief to David Sifry. I would like to stop by, though, the next time I’m in San Francisco to meet all of the folks who work on my blogs, especially those who made a big deal of Friday’s fairy tale.

Now we have all of the support options together in one post for a quick run down. Hopefully this will help us when we need to know our options. An even bigger hope is that we’ll never need to think of any of this again.

Of course, while I was writing this post, I repinged all of my blogs. Sigh.
Good thing, I’m still the nice one.

I’ve started a new category–Technorati. It’s become a case study in building a brand.

ME “Liz” Strauss

Introducing Symplebyte

Filed Under Basics, Community, Links, SOB Business, Successful Blog, Survival Kit | 2 Comments

SOB Directory Entry: Simplebyte by David Canfield

Easy as Easy

There are plenty of places on the web to get detailed, highly-technical information on how to use a computer and software. What’s really hard to find is simple information for users who are not experts. David’s blog, Symplebyte.com, is designed for them. His goal is to provide easy-to-use information about computers in a format that is easy to understand.

Notes from Liz: SOB David Canfield’s blog not only lives up to its name–easy to use and understand–it’s also easy on the easy. Every post offers a simple byte of information, in the way a good newsletter on a specific topic might. You could call this the Lifehacker of computer basics–quick snippets on how to use your computer or your software to get more out of them. Though Symplebyte is written in plain language, for beginners, it’s a wealth of those bits of information that, we miss or forget as we leave our beginner status behind. Check out David’s blog, if you don’t need it, some day in the future you will know someone who will, and David is a man worth getting to know.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

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Successful Blog

You're Only a Stranger Once

Not Just for Fridays

Find Yourself Scrunching?

Hey I’m Here!

Learning from Each Other

The Challenge of Apologies

Handle Yourself Not the Apology

Giving and Receiving Apologies

A True Leader

Pulled Wire Thin

We Didn’t Know We Were Burned Out

Burn Out Is Serious

A Family of Support Pages

The Support FAQ

SOB Directory Entry: Simplebyte by David Canfield

Easy as Easy

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