Back-up plans, face plants and rice

I was going to post something different this morning, but then I almost died, so I changed my tack. Granted, my take on this morning’s events might be a slight exaggeration, but we’ll never know, now will we?

Here’s what happened. I work in a small studio space, one room, adorable, cozy, happy. And this morning I was making rice. I let it boil and then I turned the heat on the stove way down to simmer and walked away to work.

About 45 minutes later, I got up to get some water and realized that the flame on the stove was out, which made me realize that it smelled an awful lot like gas in my studio. And that I was dizzy (though that may have been psychosomatic – read, I have a very vivid, suggestable and active imagination).

So I opened up all of the windows, letting the rain and wind sweep through, literally clearing the air. The actress in me even stuck my head out the window and took in a nice deep breath.

After this close call, I’m thinking I need one of those buttons on my desk. A help button, an emergency button, an ‘I’ve fallen and I can’t get up button’. I mean, would I have had time to Skype Shauna or Ron or Leslie (who are always just an IM away) before my face hit my keyboard? Maybe if we had a codeword. Though my nose probably wouldn’t have the wherewithal to remember it, let alone enter it correctly as it falls forward.

As many of us here are freelancers – copywriting, designing, social media’ing – and work alone, I’m wondering: what’s the back-up plan? As in, who’s got your actual back? Is anyone aware of your whereabouts and health status? Is someone checking in to make sure you’re alive during the day?

How long would it have taken for someone to find me? I’m due at a Seder tonight at 5:30, so there’s that. But on a regular Monday? Oy, I shiver at the thought.

Personally, and for what it’s worth, if 5:00 came and went and I never bugged Shauna about one of the zillion client projects we’re working on or didn’t run something by Ron or didn’t just generally connect with Leslie or if one of them pinged me and I didn’t answer – they would know something was wrong. But by then it would be too late and I’d already be dead.

I’m very, uberly, wickedly superstitious. So now I’m worried that I’m writing my fate. If I do die mysteriously at my desk in the next few days, don’t get too creeped out, just know that I have mad intuitive skills – and see it as a nice little kick in the ass from me to: 1. Get some sort of back-up plan, and 2. Check your stove regularly when cooking rice.

Image credit: kharied

I’m sending you off on an adventure around the blogosphere…and the importance of a landing page

Really, I am. I’m sending you elsewhere…(but just for a little field trip).

Because today, I have a post that lives on a different blog. It’s a little, teeny, tiny blog with oh, I don’t know, over 100,000 subscribers and god only knows how many daily hits. (I like to fantasize that it’s a million).

But before I send you off, I have to share an important trick of the trade that I’ve learned via this particular guest posting experience. How many times have you read a guest post on one of your favorite blogs, loved it and clicked through to the author’s site only to land on their home page or blog where you poke around directionless before either 1) subscribing because you liked the guest post so much or 2) leaving because it’s all just kind of blah or 3) finding this blogger’s blog so enthralling that you read everything they’ve ever written?

When Sonia Simone, Copybloggers’ Senior Editor, emailed me to arrange my guest post, she recommended that I create a landing page for Copyblogger traffic. Brilliant. Really, this is such a fantastic idea. I immediately created a page that my guest post bio would link back to on my site instead of just sending them to my blog url. The page tells new visitors:

• Who I am
• What I do
• Where to find the things I want them to find on my site (ebook, teleclass info, blog, services, etc.)
• Special projects

You could also include:

• Links for people to buy your products
• Favorite blog posts
• Contact information
• And on and on

I’ve seen people use landing pages for Google Ads, their Twitter (or other social media sites), conference bios, etc. It’s your landing page, you are directing the flow of traffic exactly how you want to, total control.

Guest posting is a very good thing. It’s critical for bloggers interested in growing their readership. But, ceating a landing page for new readers so they know where to go and what to do and how to get the most out of you? As I said, brilliant.

And now, without any further ado, I’d love for you to click on over to Copyblogger to read my post. And you can find my landing page here.

Thanks y’all.

Image credit: waywuwei

Really? That’s your answer?

I’ve read several posts in my lifetime that offer the following advice, in one form or another:

If you don’t have anything good to say, then don’t post. Just step away from the computer. Never just put something up for the sake of publishing.

Hmmmm. Really?

I mean, I hear what they’re saying – which is basically, ‘Don’t post crap.’ But my response to that is this: Figure out a way to post something good. Work harder.

Every once in a while? Fine – skip a post. But, as a mantra? As a go-to M.O.? I’m not into it. That’s not what we’re here for.

Terry Starbucker wrote a fantastic post the other day – about leadership and optimism (which are the things he writes about) – called, The 7 Most Important Words Any Leader Can Hear (or Say). And they are:

“I don’t know, but I’ll find out.”

As Terry tells the story, one of his bosses, a long time ago, told him that it’s not a crime not to know. But it is a crime to use this ‘not knowing’ as an excuse to walk away and give up. Really – where is that going to get you?

This weekend, hard as I tried, I had a few hours where I couldn’t find anything good. (Okay, there were a couple of good things, but they were miles and miles away.) And the impulse was there, you know? To stop ‘posting’ as it were. And, I did, for the tiniest of whiles (when no one was looking), and then? I tried harder. I started looking around, I looked out into the insanely cosmic (blogging and live) community that I’m blessed to be part of. I met a colleague for coffee and heard her enthusiasm for an idea born from what should have been debilitating circumstances, I saw Terry’s post, I started to envision some of my own.

I didn’t know. I really didn’t. But, I set off to find out. And that was all it took.

The mere intention to reach up, lifted me out.

Image credit: Robyn Gallagher

Twitter isn’t so crazy

This morning I was out rollerblading and I crossed paths with these two lovely ladies that I see out there from time to time. They’re probably about 65 and they’re on their bikes.

We were traveling in different directions and passed each other three times. At each pass, we had these mini-flyby conversations, like this one:

As we approached…

Lady 1: I love your little car!

Lady 2: What is it?

As we passed each other:

Me: Subaru.

Lady 2: The Impreza?

Me: Yep.

Over our shoulders:

Lady 1: Do you love it?

Me: Totally. Awesome car. And affordable.

Both Ladies: Thanks!

The world, as I see it, is currently divided into two camps: those that love Twitter and those that hate it. Which is why I love when I see ‘Twitter’ enacted in real life. ‘Cause them I can say, ‘You know what? Twitter isn’t so crazy…it happens all the time.”

Image credit gianmerizzi

A tale of two bags

This is what happened to me last night:

Women on Fire

I went to hear a phenomenal speaker, executive coach, the founder of Women on Fire and the author of the book by the same name, Debbie Phillips. She talked about, well, being a woman on fire – the steps that you have to take for courage, inspiration, following your heart and the like. She was funny and motivating and charming – and everyone was très fired up.

And, then, Debbie invited us to have an experience. We each wrote on a card the following three things:

1. What is your biggest accomplishment from the past year?
2. What are you fired up about right now?
3. What do you need to help turn that fired up thing into an accomplishment?

Speaking out

We all wrote down our answers and then got into groups of four to discuss them. Five minutes later, Debbie asked people to stand up in front of the room (120+/- women) and share. If you haven’t noticed, I have a big mouth and I jumped right up – though not really because of my inability to keep my mouth shut.

The thing I’m fired up about is the writing of my book and the big mama publishing house that’s interested in it – but I’m watching myself stand off to the left of this fact. Do you know what I mean? I’m so excited, but when I tell people I feel like I’m peering around the trophy, not holding it square in front of my gut. I have a toe in the shoes, but I’m not standing in them. The news is too big. It is too much ‘everything I’ve ever wanted’. So, I thought, well, I’ll just get up in front of all of these women and say it, loud and proud. And I’ll feel it, believe it, own it.

After all, Debbie said again and again how important this process was – to be on fire and share it in the safe company of other women on fire. She said safe and connection and support so often during her talk, each enveloping and practically obliterating my fear. So I stood up. I said what I was on fire about. People clapped and cheered. Afterwards, many of the women asked me about the book and gave me huge hugs…

Pause

I’m going to pause now and tell you that someone very near, dear and wise to me believes that we have miraculous powers of manifestation and creation. That we call to us exactly what we need when we need it.

Obviously I’m struggling with some fired-up issues, which is one of the reasons I wanted to attend Debbie’s talk in the first place. I felt pulled to be around other women and to be inspired. Debbie herself says it best:

“I’ve always been inspired by the energy of brilliant, dynamic, caring women coming together to create something more vibrant than what they could on their own. I live near the ocean on Martha’s Vineyard and call this my ‘rising tide lifts all boats’ theory.”

Yes! So, according to my friend, I created this event last night so that I could experience the rising tide. But what about all of the worry and self-doubt? Where’s that energy going? What’s it creating?

Un-Pause

…and then BLAM. A woman standing right in front of me, eyeing me with a hardy dose of skepticism and perhaps a little disgust quivering about her upper lip, says, “Soooo…what’s this ‘book’ about?” I told her, and I swear on my MacBook, she says, “and they want you to write it?” As if she was questioning Hitler’s ability to pen a benevolent history of the Jewish people.

The safety had disappeared, vanished. I wanted to call Superman and beg him to fly backwards around the Earth several times so that I could pull the fire-laced words back into my mouth. Keeping them safe…you know…inside.

And so it is…

I’m carrying two big bags around on my shoulders. One is full of the excitement and thrill of a dream being realized. The other is a sack of shit:  self-doubt, creative blockage, paranoia, isolation and fear. And when I walked into that room – both sacks were waiting for me to confront, absorb and choose between.

The good bag was warm and spirited – it led me to achieve my answer to #3 (What Do I Need?) – which is a stable, consistent group of women that meets regularly to share, support and inspire each other. I started forming it last night, and I can’t wait to get started. I seek community.

The bad bag was a mean, nasty, seething troll. Competition, greed, insecurity, doubt…they all live there.

I’m going with the good bag.

Whew!!! It feels good to say that out loud.

Who’s with me?

Image courtesy of anikaviro

Blur the Lines

If you go to search Google today, you’ll find this in the top right hand corner of your screen:

Once upon a time, the list included ‘Blogs’ as a category. You can still search blogs exclusively if you click the ‘more’ carrot – but the significance here is that blogs have been absorbed into the greater category of ‘Web’. This didn’t happen yesterday, mind you – it’s not breaking news, but it’s a prime example of lines being blurred and the inclusion of social media in mainstream ‘information accrual.’

The other day, I was talking to the glorious Nevette Previd, and I was explaining social bookmarking. As I defined it in a narrow box kind of a way, Digg, Stumble, etc., she (who admittedly is not uber-familiar with social media) asked me, “wouldn’t links within blogs be social bookmarks as well?”

But, of course. And brilliant. It’s all so clear to those of us not bogged down by it, right?

For a while now, I’ve been referring to Twitter as a social bookmarking tool – but she is exactly right. All of the social networking sites and blogs are also social bookmarking tools – because links are being favorited, shared and saved.

And social networking extends beyond Facebook, Linkedin, etc. because we’re also networking, connecting and becoming fans on Digg, Stumble and Kirtsy and on blogs via subcriptions, blogrolls and comments.

And blogging? Well, we’re microblogging on social media sites with our updates and we’re leaving comments and reviews on social bookmarking sites…so that works too.

But don’t just stop there. Social media, new media, traditional media – they’re all blending. Or rather television and print journalism are integrating with new media at a neck-breaking rate.

The definitions are growing fuzzy and that’s good, I think – everything is being integrated. The best parts are being used, the bad stuff will be left behind. Maybe we’ll all be on the same page some day…or perhaps just on the same url.

Image by billselak

Open in a New Window

Just in case you weren’t sure quite how nerdy I really am…

The debate du jour surrounds blog writing etiquette and linking. We all know it’s best practice to link out from your posts – but is there a correct way to format these links? There are two ways to go:

1. Open link in the same window.

2. Open link in a new window.

When you open the link in the same window, it obliterates the page from which you received the link in the first place. This disturbs me as a reader because I lose track of where I was and can’t make my way back (especially if I was on a new site that I found and was focused on the content, not the name and url). To me, it’s the equivalent of falling down the rabbit hole. Who knows when I’ll find my way back.

As a blogger, it concerns me that my readers will experience what I just described. That they’ll click on a link and be lost forever. Via a lively debate on Twitter, Ron Miller said:

ron_miller @writingroads I know, but I still don’t think you have to have the link open in a new window. Your readers will come back.

Maybe…but what about the person that followed a link that looked like this: “is.gd/e9k5″??? They might not know where they are. And this isn’t some sort of writer’s insecurity for me. I can be reading the most fabulous post I’ve ever read, click a link and get lost or busy or distracted.

Some people feel very strongly that the link should be opened in the same window, here are a few:

adamconnor @writingroads opening links in new windows is typically a usability no-no. Have seen it confuse users in a few studies.

CharJTF @writingroads Accessibility-wise, opening in new window isn’t easier. Personally, I hate links that spawn new windows…I can do it myself.

The issue for them with opening links in a new window is that users suddenly have multiple tabs open. I love multiple tabs. I build them up as my day goes on. Firefox allows me to have over 20 tabs open, and I move with the dexterity of a jedi from window to window throughout the day. My ADD mind loves the options, the accessibility, the madness of it all.

But, I also love that when I click on a link, I can read it, close it and then find myself back on the original site without having to store any info in my crammed brain. Suddenly this site is before my eyes, and I say, “Nice site! Hey, I’ve been here before! Oh, this is where I was before I clicked to read that other article….” Understanding sets in and a warm, almost fizzy, feeling of recognition floods my body. No, I’m not ‘simple’ – just busy.

Is there a right way? Is there a wrong way? Not entirely sure, but there do seem to be a lot of opinions. As for me, I’m thinking: If I love Japanese food, but abhor Italian, why would I feed you lasagna? You’ll notice that I almost always open links in a new window.

Image courtesy of Qtea

Twitter Baiting

No, I didn’t say, ‘twitterbating’ – that’s another topic entirely.

Twitter baiting is the Twitter equivalent of link baiting – wherein people lure bloggers, visitors or companies to their site through a variety of tactics. According to Rob Sullivan on Search Engine Journal, link baiting sounds like black hat (or dirty and sleazy) SEO, but it’s actually just the process of getting other sites to link to yours.

Link Baiting is just like fishing. You publish a new page on a topic…and set it free on the web. Hopefully others pick up on the content as fresh and interesting and link to it. The article is the bait, and the link is the catch.

You just witnessed link baiting, as a matter of fact. Rob wrote a good article, and I quoted it and linked back to him.

It must be noted that some folks do fish for links in a bad way – with false claims, antagonistic or controversial content.

The Twitter Translation

So how does this convert to Twitter? Well, people are using their tweets to lure people to their sites, of course. Not for links only, but also for traffic, body counts, retweets, buzz. Twitter baiting happens in the following ways:

1. Controversial or attention-getting tweets
2. Contest, challenge or giveaway tweets
3. Asking for retweets
4. Misleading tweets that tease X and deliver Y
5. Plain, old-fashioned, good quality content

Sometimes it’s good: when the tweeted link leads to a quality site offering high value and solid information.

Sometimes it’s bad: sending you to product pushing sites, scams or long sales letters (or just junk).

Wait. And Eureka! Either way, Twitter baiting really isn’t that far from Twitterbating after all! I mean, it is all about self-pleasure…right?

Is Twitter Baiting good or bad? Is it all in how you do it? Is it simply the nature of the beast?

Image courtesy of Aaron_M

In the Flesh: Networking in the Real World

Of course this post presupposes that you’re like me – and you spend the majority of your waking hours plastered to your computer.

I’m writing, of course, but I’m also taking advantage of the opportunity that online networking, aka social media, affords me. We, you and I, can connect with people all over the world to collaborate on projects, build project teams, get new work. I’ve built an entire business in this virtual manner.

But, today, are you sitting down? Today, I’m going to a real live networking event. I know! It’s shocking.

You know I love my social media, but I believe high value is still to be found in meeting people live and in person:

• Nothing compares to looking someone in the eye and having a conversation.
• I don’t care how good you are (or your writer is) at crafting copy–charm and personality are not two dimensional. Caveat: Unless you don’t have any.
• As the service/product supplier, it’s helpful to have the body language of your potential customer at your disposal. Does this person need hand-holding, humor, a take charge attitude, old-school professionalism?
• People often come to seminars, workshops and networking events in pairs or groups. How great to have Billy say, “Jack, you’ve got to come over here and talk to this lady.” And then pull him over to you and say, “He needs you so bad!”
• I’ve been told that there are studies out there that say too much computer exposure is bad for our health, that sitting hunched over our desks isn’t good for the back and that a lack of in-person social interaction might make us depressed. That’s what they say, anyway.
• Live events are slower than the speed of, say, Twitter. You don’t have time to craft the perfect response to an inquiry when you’re face to face with it. Keeps us on our toes, right? Makes the heart pound? Love it.

When was the last time you left your computer for an event? How do you compare online versus live networking?

Image by Adactio

Your Personal Brand Doesn’t Belong to You

No matter how hard you work to build your personal brand, it won’t be airtight. Not everyone will get the impression you’re hoping to express.

Do you remember English class back in the day? One of my all time favorite teachers, Miss Riddle – swear to god, ask my mother – is the one that first implanted the concept of poetry on my brain. Not the rhyming or the rhythms – but the meaning of the poetry. And then, Dr. Puhr – the one who turned me into a feminist – explored the meaning of prose, of stories, of novels.

Both of these women showed me that, when interpreting someone’s writing, there is no one answer and essentially there is no wrong answer. The color purple could represent the heart of a woman, the ‘fount’ of a woman, bruises, emotion, the sky, femaleness. It could be just one of those things or it could be all of them, to another reader it could represent something that you and I – even Alice Walker – never dreamed of.

The analysis, the interpretation – all depends on us. As readers and be-ers, we attach our histories, our very souls, our experiences  to what we read and see. And from there we create our own understanding. It may not be what the writer intended – but it isn’t wrong. It’s real. As in ‘interpreter-based’ reality.

When you’re creating your identity for your self, your business, your work – you, just like a writer, craft your words and your message with a specific intention and meaning. But your clients and customers, just like readers, will bring themselves fully and without excuse to their interpretation of who you are and what you represent.

Your personal brand, therefore, is not singular or definitive – and I’d hardly call it your own.

Image courtesy of Earth and Eden