Do I Need to Adjust My SEO Every Month?

NO.




Sorry. Allow me to elucidate.

I get the question all the time and not everyone likes my answer. The question generally comes from a client or potential client who heard from someone something to the effect of: "Yeah, Google's always adjusting its algorithm, so you've got to mix up that SEO every single month to keep up."


The Plan

Say you or a service provider puts together an all-inclusive, rear-kickin' SEO plan and executes it perfectly. Every page has a definitive focus, reinforced by the page title - h1 - copy Holy Relevance Trinity. Your meta data is tuned (if not always used), alt and title attribute tags are playing some killer backup and your copy is sufficient but not overkill, readable but keyword-dense.

What then?

Well, assuming the necessary submissions, robots.txt, autodiscovery are in place and nothing is done to accidentally sabotage the outcome, you've got a pretty good chance Google et.al. will begin indexing your pages or raising your rankings. After a couple weeks to a couple months, that is.


The Someone Quote

"Yeah, Google's always adjusting its algorithm, so you've got to mix up that SEO every single month to keep up."

The first problem with that general idea is the timing. Yes, you can be certain that the good folks at Google don't take one day off making tiny changes to the algorithm. But as we just mentioned, it may take a couple months to get moving. So what were you tweaking?

The second problem with the quote is the absolute arrogance it encompasses. That Someone does not know a whole lot about the algorithm, let alone the little adjustments; if they did, they would be busy on a yacht.

The last problem is necessity. If you already have a clear focus on your pages and a solid search engine optimization setup, how much can you accurately make that better by small tweaks from month to month? The answer is: you can't.


The Con(clusion)

The person who tells you that you need SEO adjustments every month either does not understand search engine optimization or is lying in order to perpetuate that myth - and perhaps even rope you into an unnecessary, expensive 12+ month SEO contract. Their gain, your loss.

In a worst-case scenario, you're looking at a never-ending game of ghost cat-and-mouse: "Sorry about the lack of any measurable results, but we're doing everything we can and Google keeps switching it up."

(Can you guess which parties do not appreciate my answer?)


A Recommendation

Search engine optimization does change, but except for the HUGE revisions (hint: they have names), the little tweaks aren't going to drastically affect your rankings, and the little tweaks that would be done to your site monthly are something a small- or medium- sized business has absolutely no need for.

After I explain this to a client, I give them a realistic recommendation: Yes, Google does change, but your focus does not, not by much. So after 90 days we'll take a look at analytics, at rankings, (at no charge) and if we see something that could increase your rankings, at THAT time we'll put together suggestions with justification into a proposal for additional SEO work.

In my professional opinion, anything else is either ignorance or deception.


(Sidenote for another post: Be wary of anyone separating web design from SEO, e.g. "And this is our SEO Package." "SEO Friendly" is what you get if you don't choose that package, which generally means "If you want it later, we'll tear out the drywall in your house to add the electric. Until then? Nothing, and we'll wait for your call.")

Google Shuts Down IE6? Hope hope?

Every developer's plea* of "Dear MS: Make IE6 die pls. k thx." was brought one more giant step towards fruition. In my inbox this morning was the following from Google:

In order to continue to improve our products and deliver more sophisticated features and performance, we are harnessing some of the latest improvements in web browser technology. This includes faster JavaScript processing and new standards like HTML5. As a result, over the course of 2010, we will be phasing out support for Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0 as well as other older browsers that are not supported by their own manufacturers.

We plan to begin phasing out support of these older browsers on the Google Docs suite and the Google Sites editor on March 1, 2010. After that point, certain functionality within these applications may have higher latency and may not work correctly in these older browsers. Later in 2010, we will start to phase out support for these browsers for Google Mail and Google Calendar.

Google Apps will continue to support Internet Explorer 7.0 and above, Firefox 3.0 and above, Google Chrome 4.0 and above, and Safari 3.0 and above.

Yes, this is where you smile and sigh and possibly float a little. It's okay. I'll wait.

But maybe you're saying "Wait a second, IE6 is just a little older. What's the big hubbub?

The Big Hubbub about IE6

The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) is an international group that works to develop a set of standards for how websites should be coded. And if browsers followed their recommendations, all would be well: A website viewed in IE6 would look the same as IE7 and 8 and Firefox, Chrome, Safari, Opera...

But all has never been well in the world of internet browsers. As a matter of fact, until Firefox 3 and IE7, the land of web development was a sad and desolate place full of angry programmers yelling at their computers at how a website would show up in a particular version of a particular browser because that version didn't follow a W3C spec.

All is not milk and honey quite yet, but it's getting better. Word on the street is Opera is the most compliant, but if you develop in Firefox and fix for IE bugs, you'll probably be fine - just check it in all of them to be sure.

The IE6 Scent Lingers

The souring of development continues. Why? IE6 is still alive and remains the biggest W3C compliance mess out there. Based on the January 2009 numbers, the browser still has a little over 10% of the market share.

But there is hope with the note from Google. There is hope that IE6 will just die, will go away forever. How practical that hope is, only time will tell. All we can do is educate people and spread the word.


So what's your favorite browser? Do you stick with a version of Internet Explorer, shun all but Safari, give Google love on Chrome, or something else? I'd love to hear from you.


* I am personally aware that there are multi-million dollar corporations with active web apps that will not function properly in any browser except IE6. For those developers we weep, say a little prayer, and hope corporate gets on the stick with that, our small exception.

Monday Motivation: Know Thyself, Know Thy Day

Can't find your motivation in the wee hours of Monday morning? You're not the only one.

Despite the morning rituals I've put into place, despite the practice of resolving chaos, some days I can't - laying there in my comfortable bed - fire up that drive to get moving.

On those days, I find my inspiration elsewhere.

No, that doesn't mean a bottle of Jameson or anything; it means knowing my day.

The Practice:

When you wake, when you're lying there in bed, when you can't get yourself to move: use that time. Imagine your day.

First: Put together a workable list of things you need to get done. Imagine yourself not only gathering those things but making sure you get them done. Do a quick thought experiment on how that would happen, how you'd knock out those items. See yourself happily done with your day, and what will follow.

Let that focused, visualized success drive you, move you, then - Get out of bed!


Unless you're afraid of success (perhaps next week's topic), this should help you get moving, get going, and get ready to change the world (and make some money in the interim).

Have a great day!

A Tale of Google, Foolishness, and the MCC

I'm currently managing several Adwords accounts and it was about dang time to set up my own My Client Center. Google's My Client Center is a wonderful interface that allows you to manage several independent Adwords accounts in one place. Hey, I've already got an Adwords campaign set up for EJM Designs, so how hard could that be?

Yeah.

Turns out that if you have an Adwords account associated with a Google Account, you can't use that account to create an MMC. So along with my personal Gmail and my professional Gmail and my site running through Google Apps email, I was forced to create an entirely new account to handle my MMC.

Okay, I understand that. It's not ideal in any sense, but if that's how they're driving the bus, that's how they're driving the bus.

But then I tried to adjoin an existing account I was managing to my MCC. And I got a message to the effect: In order to link this account to your MMC, you will have to Contact Us. Hrm?

So I emailed and contacted them and about 4 days later got this back:

Hello Eric,

[sic] for emailing me to link a client account (Customer ID xxx) to your MCC (xxx). You weren't able to link the accounts because the would-be client account is using a beta billing interface, which makes it unable to be managed by an MCC. The new interface is being tested on just a limited number of new accounts, and we're working to give them full functionality as soon as possible. I'm sorry for the inconvenience, and I wanted to offer you a couple of options. Please reply to this email and let me know which you'd prefer.

OPTION 1: You can create a new account through the link in your My Client Center

...

OPTION 2: Ask us to move this client account to the previous billing interface

...

Please let me know which option you'd like to take, and we'll continue from there.

Thanks for your understanding.

Sincerely,

[CSR] B.
The Google AdWords Team

(I picked option 2 because I'm not reinventing an already well-oiled wheel.)

But what? When I initially created the account, there was no mention of "Hey, we're testing a new Billing Interface!"


So this post is not intended to poo-poo the Google that I know and love, just to bring some of those more interesting glitches and hoops to light so when you're about to do the same thing, you don't wonder why something didn't work or get fired up about WTF is going on.


Short version: Have Adwords? Don't try to add MCC to that account, and always add new accounts through your MMC to guarantee compatibility.


Oh, and I guess this came to light last year, but Google Adwords is not supported on the Opera Browser. Looks like all other Google applications are fine, but just not Adwords. Again: weird.


So what are your thoughts about my tale? Have you run into this? Do you have any other advice for others, your own warnings, so to speak?

Holiday Inspiration

I don't mean to get all Bill Murray on you...



...but Christmas was a special time for me this year. Not because of any specific event, but because I got to spend a wonderful few days with an amazing family. And my favorite part was the ability I have to give to them and the ability I have to give to others.

Not everyone has that time. Not everyone has the family I (or you) may have.

But everyone has the chance to experience that spirit of giving.

It doesn't have to be Christmas or any other holiday. It doesn't have to be yesterday or tomorrow or any day but today. Give. Give your time. Give your wisdom. Give your heart. Help someone. Now.

"You can make them a sandwich and say 'By the way: HERE!' ...then the miracle can happen to you too!"

I guess I did just get all Bill Murray on you.

Give.

You'll be better for it. All of us will.

Networking: Do the 1-on-1

Often times, as a social media evangelist of sorts, I get the question: "Okay, so I'm on all these sites, but what now? Where is this all supposed to lead?" And because generally I hear this question at a networking event, my answer is "You're already here."

Social, online media has the unfortunately intuitive feel of something that is supposed to distance you from people. However, I always argue that the opposite is true: social media is a tool that you can use to extend your presence, enforce your branding, and - perhaps most importantly - get out there and meet people. You may have a killer product and great marketing plan, but without action, without shaking hands and interacting in the real world, you are but a cannonball without gunpowder.

So my comment about networking events being the end of that road, while appropriate, is not entirely accurate. Getting out there is great and if you're lucky you get a chance to pop a 30 second commercial and add awareness of your product and/or brand. But let's go one step further: The 1-on-1.

What's That?

Getting in front of 30 or 50 people and dropping spiel is the shotgun approach, and it works fine for getting a rough idea of what everyone in the group does. But some of those shots in the air should look to you like flares. How so?

For example, EJM Designs Limited is all about web design, SEO, and internet marketing. A great way for me to grow my business is to get to know people who run or work for collaborative enterprises, such as a public relations company who might not have a dedicated web person or a print company or a marketing company. But it doesn't have to be limited to those relationships.

I get ahead of myself. If someone has piqued your interest, simply approach them and see if there's a time to get a coffee or have lunch together to learn more about their business. If you're shy, don't worry too much about it. It's not a date. It's a business 1-on-1.

So What Happens Then?

You get together for lunch or coffee (I prefer coffee; not a huge fan of eating a meal while trying to have a discussion) and you talk about yourself and your business and the other person talks about their business and you see if there's any way to help each other out. The conversation is about trust and comfort while at the same time learning about the other person and their business. It generally takes about an hour and ends with a "Thank you" and a much fuller understanding of what that person does and how you can help.

In the way that a networking event is social, a 1-on-1 is personal. You're both investing time in understanding the other to develop a stronger business bond.

A Couple Tips

• This is not a sales call - This is about building a business relationship, not selling your 1-on-1. There is no better way to turn OFF someone to being another champion voice for your cause than to push them into buying what you're selling


• LISTEN. This is a two-way conversation. Another turn-off: someone who won't pause for a second to ask for feedback.


• Ask questions - The only way to make sure you have a clear understanding of what that other person does.


• Ask if they have any other questions - make sure they understand you.


• When discussion your business, always mention your target customer or client, and ask about theirs if they don't.

And that's about all there is to it. Do this at least once a week and before you know it, you've got many, many advocates for you and your business and the growth will show for it. Just remember to offer yourself as a resource first, to focus on giving, and you'll be surprised at what can happen.


So what about you? Have you had a 1-on-1 recently? How did it work out for you? Do you have any questions if you haven't done this?

Do You Have Video in your Linkedin Profile?

Simply Zesty provides an excellent tip on adding video to your Linkedin profile.



Well, get on it then!

Web 2.0 FAIL

Ever look into the mirror and see the back of your head? Weird.

Social Networking: Check the Politics at the Door?

I attend several networking events every week and for the most part I've been wonderfully pleased with the interactions, meeting people briefly, getting to know the face to the tweet, setting up some 1 on 1's. All very on the level, always a step in the right direction.

But I was at a networking event last week attended mostly by business owners and service providers and listened as someone used a good deal of their time to promote the Tea Party Movement. And I was quite surprised.

Cincinnati has always been described to me as leaning conservative. Hamilton County went for the Democratic candidate in the last presidential election. There is a good mix of people on both sides of the political spectrum in this - and most - cities around America. And right now, politically, people all over the country are very polarized. And to take a solid stance on one side of the political arena might be off-putting to those on the other ideological side.

I'm not going to dig into my own personal politics here, but I would have been just as surprised if someone had announced something as polarizing from the other side. Actually, I was. If I remember correctly someone else took some time to promote the idea of ending all war.

It all gets quite messy. But the purpose of this post is more to pose a few questions than anything. I respect anyone who has a passion about politics, a drive to change things for the better. But is a business networking meeting the right place to do that? Is it better to alienate a portion of your potential clientele or business contacts in order to build a greater respect from others? What do you think about mixing politics and business?

Is there a solid answer?

Social Media Tuesday: Ping.fm

No, it's not a radio station or a ping-pong website, or a ping-pong website that works as a radio station that adjusts on how you play the game and your aggregate score.

Ping.fm went public a little over a year ago and hadn't been of much interest right away for me. What is it? It's a simple way to organize your updates if you just need to blast something out.

For example, I signed up for Ping.fm and linked my (deep breath) Twitter, Facebook, EJM Designs Facebook Page, MySpace, TBN Ning, Google Talk, LinkedIn, FriendFeed, Plaxo, and Yahoo status.

I probably hit my Twitter 2-5 times a day, Facebook and LinkedIn every day or two, and ...wait. I still have a MySpace? Exactly. As a part of so many social networks, I don't really have the time to dig into every single site and update each status. And because stagnancy and silence is the death rattle of social media credibility, Ping.fm rocks out to that purpose. I'll still personalize my Twitter and Facebook and LinkedIn more often, but to keep the rest fresh, I love this for a simple solution every couple days or so, or if something that important needs to be passed on.

The best part? Simple. Email, password, name if you choose. The rest is just setting up logins. One post and BLAMMO - everyone knows your business.

Let me know if you've had any experience with Ping.fm and if you have if it's been a positive or negative one.


Bonus Trivia: the top-level domain name ".fm" is for the Federated States of Micronesia. Awesome!

Networking Cincinnati: Do It In Person - Positively!

Those of you who have been reading along have noticed that one of my running themes has been the "in person" aspect of networking (a couple months back I got a great response from an overview of Cincinnati's social networking events).

As I mentioned in a few past posts, a smile and a handshake is worth a thousand Tweets. And then some.

Whenever I encounter someone who bemoans that their Twitter account is not making them money, my first question is: What value do you add to your followers?

Because it's not about what services or products you offer - not right away, and never for some followers - it's about what value you add. Who is going to pay attention to you if all you're doing is tweeting a product and linking to your site 3 or 10 times a day? Who's going to even keep following you?

And it goes further than that. Even beyond the value you add to your readers is: how well do they really know you? After you've done what you can to add value and gain genuine followers and connect to the online community, what are you doing to connect to the local community in person? What are you doing to be the face of your brand, the smile, the handshake in the living flesh?

You need to get out there. In the post above I mentioned several of the in-person types of groups or ways to find groups.

You need to stick it out there, both online and in person, risk flowing into reward. Especially for small businesses, social media almost requires that your face is now a recognizable part of your brand. Brand is not just a logo or the crafted copy of your website; it's the personality you inject into your blog and Tweets, it's your avatar, and it's the attitude you show when you meet someone else. Again: risk and reward.

Plan accordingly. We'll cover some other issues in online etiquette in another post, but if you're a grump in the morning, don't attend morning networking events. If you go to bed at eight or have a personal grudge against anyone who raises a beer, don't attend after-hours events. Play to your strengths, show up your best, and that's what people will remember.

Just remember to smile. And keep that handshake firm.

How Much Does a Domain Name Cost?

$10 or less.

Back after the internet transitioned from military to civilian and Network Solutions set up a fee schedule and was the only way to register, it was $100. Now it has been decentralized so much that you can get domain names for $7 - $10 at places like GoDaddy, NameCheap, and many more sites.

The reason I mention this is that I've had experiences with clients (see my post on Portability) who were not aware of their options and I even received a letter from a company today - a company with whom I did not register my domain names to begin with, but who wanted me to transfer to them at $30 per year.

These companies are not just trying to stretch their profit margin, they are preying on people who simply do not know better. This is bad business and unethical by its very nature

To be clear:

Under no circumstances should you ever pay more than $10 per year on .com, .net, or .org domain names.

Be wise. Shop around. And always have someone you can talk to (for free) if you have a question about web stuff. It'll keep more money in your pocket.

And if you don't have that person, my number is in the sidebar ;)

Portability: Who Really Owns Your Website?

In the past couple months, with clients and potential clients and friends and some folks I'm just advising, I was both surprised and horrified that the topic I'm going to be addressing here actually needs to be addressed. But I guess there are those businesses out there that need to make the extra buck and/or need control and really don't have the client or end-user in their best interest.

The question is: Are you portable? In other words, if your registration or hosting or even development company folded, would you be able to switch without a complete crippling of your website?

Who really owns your website?

Here are 4 things you need to check.


1. Domain Name

What's your website domain name? You know, that WWW thing, that branding that you can recite in your sleep. Excellent, you're doing great so far.

Now: do you know exactly where it lives, how to access it, and who actually did the purchasing of that name?

Your domain name has a home. That home is a registry or hosting (or both) company. Through that account, you can renew the ownership of the name, control where the name points to go for the website files, or redirect it somewhere else.

I have seen very recently an instance where a non-profit group had an internal spat and the person who originally purchased the domain name logged into the registration site, renewed the site for 7 years in his name, and changed the password.

I've also heard tales of companies like AT&T doing the registering on the client's behalf but maintaining control to guarantee a service contract.

Take-Away: You need to guarantee from inception that you have control over your own site name, that either you or someone you trust registers that domain name - in your name - and can (they should immediately) provide you with login information.


2. Hosting

The hosting service is where the files for your website live. This can be the same company (like GoDaddy.com or namecheap.com) where the domain name lives and was registered. And that's fine. Problems arise in the same way as they do with the domain name issues.

I spoke with a client I'd just begun working with a few months ago when they forwarded me an email from their dual registry/hosting company. The dual company claimed that if my client did not renew their previous registration at some $50/yr that when it expired they would hold the website in default until a $200 fee was paid to them.

This is fraud. Quick 101: Domain registration can be found reasonably from $8 to $15 per year, depending on how many years you're renewing. If someone is threatening a hostage act like this, they fully intend to wait for the second of expiration and buy the domain name themselves, as any person in the world could do. Then they point it wherever they want. And when you pay, do you get control back? Or do they maintain ownership?

Take-Away: Often said is "Possession is 9/10ths of the law." That may not be fair, but it is true. Unless you have full copyright on your business and paperwork that you've purchased your own domain name and hosting through your company, fighting for control could be expensive in both time and dollars.

Do you have all hosting login information? The login to the hosting account and FTP information? Who else has it?


3. Programming

There is a city on the East Coast that I do some newsletter work for from time to time. They awarded their government contract for a website to a company that built their site in a proprietary content management system. The company also maintains the site. When discussion began about the city doing their own updates to the site through the CMS (which is - generally - the intent), the company said "Sure - as soon as you go through our 80+ hours of training on how to use the CMS."

Their website is being held hostage by this company and their only options are to continue paying the ridiculous monthly fee, paying a great deal more money to this company for training, or paying about an equal amount to go somewhere else and have the site reconstructed.

Take-Away: if something goes wrong with your service provider, are you able to walk away with those files? If you are, will another programmer be able to take those files and understand how to change or manipulate them?


4. Pay Per Click and Social Media

Pay Per Click campaigns, whether Adwords or Yahoo or Bing, can either be created separately and managed at a central location or created within one account. If you have someone create an ad campaign, do you have access to it? If you don't like the job someone is doing with that account, can you take it with you?

The same login issues exist with Social Media: Do you control the account? Did you create it? Was your Facebook fan page created and administered through your own Facebook account or someone else's?


This is the essence of portability when it comes to a website: regardless of who you have doing the design and build and programming and optimization and social media, you should have logins and administration ability for everything, even if you don't want to touch it.

That way, should anything negative happen, should anything unexpected happen, and you have the need to change service providers or just get rid of the one you have, you control all the assets.


As owner of EJM Designs Limited, that is one of the most important aspects of how we work, and a subtext of guarantee for any client we work with: we build on best practices and portability.

Make sure anyone you are currently or eventually going to work with does the same. It's good business.


As always, feel free to ask any questions in comments, or directly at eric (at) ejmdesigns dot com or any of the other connections you can make through the website.

Funniest Craigslist Post This Week

I am considering making this a regular feature, not because I post so much about Craigslist, but because I can easily find the fodder for a regular post. Here's your mental candy:

I need someone who has great talent and passion for what they do but has very low self-esteem and is willing to work for $15 an hour - after I ask you to go against everything you've learned in school and beat you down so that you're a broken shell of a designer, I may pay you up to $20 at that time.

This is going to be a HUGE business - one day I hope to be handling at least 10 local small-business websites we'll rip the design off of from templatemonster and you're definitely going to want to get in on the ground floor of this deal!

Either a joke or wonderfully candid. At least it doesn't read "perfect for a student" which means "crap pay."

FYI: Most CL gigs out there are pushing $20-$30/hr for work. No. If you want to catch a decent web developer, you should offer at least $50/hr. This might get you in contact with someone who takes the time to tell you they'll consider the job for $75/hr, though they usually charge more. As for the flurry of emails you'll get drooling over the offering, make sure you request a link to their website's portfolio page. No show, no go.

Expect a post about designers and hourly rate next week. We need some chatting on that.

Wednesday Twitter Headlines: Golden Ratio?, Ted Kennedy, No Teen Twitter for Privacy?

Twitter's Golden Ratio

The Washington Post has an article called Twitter's Golden Ratio in which they begin:

If you're new to Twitter, life is easy. A notification comes in that someone is following you, and you probably follow them back. After all, you're going to want some tweets in your stream. After a couple dozen of those, you may start using more discretion, looking over the person's profile and their most recent tweets. But that gets old quickly as well, and inevitably you turn to using the secret ratio that nearly everyone knows (whether they realize it or not) to determine who is worth following back: "Followers" versus "following".

It's cute and endearing from the point of someone who actually manages their follower list. They may have nailed one item or two, but if you've read my post on 10 Reasons I Will Not Follow You Back on Twitter, it's a moot point.

There are at least 10 (and probably 20-30) reasons why any one person will not follow another on Twitter if they are deliberately trying to increase the value of what they see daily on their stream. And a golden ratio is not a be-all, end-all of any sort.

It is nice to see the mainstream media taking notice - and a shot at understanding - for those of us in it every day.


Ted Kennedy

Whatever your politics, we lost an amazing statesman early this morning. Check out this article to see some of the comments.

Sorry, but they're also novices and apparently no one thought to use a hashtag.

R.I.P. Ted Kennedy. You will be missed.


Teens Shunning Twitter

This article from PC World talks about how teens would rather text than tweet. That can make sense. Until you see this bit:

So why aren’t the kids down with Twitter? Perhaps because they don’t want the authority figures in their lives — parents, teachers, and other downers — knowing what they’re up to. Texting, by comparison, is an inherently private conversation between friends. It’s the wireless equivalent of passing notes.

First problem: no one's been "down" with much since '03.

Second problem: Accepting the "they don't want authority figures in their lives" argument completely side-steps any of these so-called "private" teens' complete embracing of Facebook.

Facebook updates and comments are an enormous, thorough view of what those teens are doing. No Twitter? So? They're pushing more of their lives via updates and comments and photos and tagging photos via Facebook with less effort and software or interfaces than they'd be able to with Twitter.

To say they're eschewing Twitter because they're into privacy is a fanciful, ignorant romp into social media. NYT may not know better, but I'd expect PC World to have a better finger on the pulse of what the hell's going on in social media.


You turn! What do you think about these stories? Does the Washington Post have a finger on the pulse of Twitter behavior? Is Tweeting TK's death okay? Does the NYT or PC World have any idea about what's going on in social media?

As always, comments appreciated.

Social Networking in Cincinnati

I've been doing a great deal of networking over the past few weeks and have had some excellent experiences and met fantastic people. Here's a quick guide to some of the events and groups I've been interacting with.

Cincinnati AMA
The Cincinnati chapter of the American Marketing Association has over 600 members in the Cincinnati/NKY region. With about a dozen monthly events planned around SIGs like Business-to-Business and International Marketing, there are plenty of opportunities to get to know people in your niche in both structured learning environments and more social mingling that the Young Professionals group gravitates towards. The fee is reasonable and scaled for business size, but non-members can attend just about every event.

Tristate Business Network
TBN's mission is to bring businesses from all over the Tri-state area together to meet, network and help each other grow business relationships. They have a monthly speed networking event (90 seconds - go!) and daily - yes, I said daily - meeting and networking opportunities in and around greater Cincinnati. With over 200 official members and a constantly changing flow of visitors, TBN focuses on giving first. A modest membership fee is worth the friendships and connections.

New Media Cincinnati - Second Saturday
If you don't know about this one, check out the New Media Cincy site. A relaxed gathering every second Saturday at the Pub at Rookwood organized around new media of some sort by Daniel Johnson, Jr., you can see some of the Twitter traffic by searching #newmediacincy. Event is free, food and drink are attendee's responsibility.

Jelly Cincinnati
This is the #CincyTweetup coworking event that takes place at Crossroads at Ridge and Madison once a month. "The idea here is to have folks who work in many different job functions working together in an open environment. The expectation is that creative juices will flow and new friendships will be forged." Honestly, more networking happens than actual work getting done, but there are people coming and going all day and always someone interesting to talk to and learn from. Was started by @researchgoddess (we'll miss you!) but is now headed up by @hellogerard and @blecount. Event is free.

Market and Profit (MAP)
Twice a month a speed networking event (where you're the only in your field in your group) followed by open networking and a meal. Excellent turnout every time. Very small fee to attend (joining group is free) and another great way to meet professionals and business owners in Cincinnati. Keep abreast of the events through the Linkedin Group. Over 600 Linkedin members.

Social media helps you get out your message and helps to build your presence for your face and your brand online. But nothing substitutes meeting people face to face and growing real-world relationships. Remember: A smile and a handshake is worth a thousand tweets.


So where do you go to network? What groups do you belong to or mingle with? I'd love to get your feedback.

UPDATE!
Thanks to some great feedback through Twitter from @newmediacincy and @hellogerard, we've got some more resources to toss in there, and some things I needed reminding of:

Job Search Focus Group
The Job Search Focus Group of Hyde Park is often lauded in Cincinnati as one of the most extensive "in transition" groups in the region. I was able to attend once and the resources and networking are great; if I ever moved from owning my own business to in transition, that's the first place I'd stop. Follow some of the Tweeting with #jsfg

Cincinnati Social Media
Follow the tweets at #cincysm. And set your alerts! The Enquirer event coming up 9/9 knocked down 50 seats in 45 minutes and the Social Media Breakfast usually goes faster than that.

Resources for Women
I've heard nothing but good things about the Cincinnati Women Bloggers (@cinwomenbloggers), Girlfriendology (@girlfriendology), and the women's publication Cincy Chic.

Additionally, Breanna Gaddie's Networking With Passion blog is always a great read, and Krista Neher created a post a while back that covers some of the items I did not in this post.

Oh, and Thursday, August 20th is networking at the Hofbrauhaus in NKY at 11:30 (thanks @justinrains

Anything else? I'm always up to update!

New Schedule for The EJM Designs Limited Blog

I recently wrote on why a blog publishing plan can save you many hours the rest of the week.

And this is the next step in that idea, which is creating a thematic calendar for you to follow. The upsides to putting together a calendar for yourself are twofold:

1. I have just created a template for myself. That means no more fretting about what to do for each day; I've already got a topic. And I've just saved myself more time by creating that lens for each day.
2. For your readers, you are giving them (that'd be you) something to follow, an expectation and a repeat business. Keep up with that schedule and you grow a dedicated following.

Here's my weekly list of themes that can be seen in my right column from here on out:

Monday
And...GO! Getting your week going, on Mondays we'll be addressing items of motivation and inspiration, or how to avoid lack of those things when running your own business.

Tuesday
Social networking ideas. What's going on in Cincinnati and elsewhere in the world of marketing and networking and making it personal. Yes, that means getting out there and shaking some hands.

Wednesday
Twitter in the news! We use Twitter every day. Here's how that's playing out for other people through the headlines. You'll be sure to find humor and concern as people misuse, disuse, and learn to cope with ubiquitous technology.

Thursday
Tech Fetish. Tech wonders from around the world - what's hot, what's new, what's way the hell weird. All brain candy.

Friday
YouTube you need to tube. Interesting videos that might provoke thought but will probably just hearken LOLz. It's Friday. Just enjoy.

Saturday and Sunday
That's the time I spend with my business, myself and my family. Move along folks, nothing to see here. But there might be. And that would be bonus for you.

And 5 posts a week is not the be-all and end-all of the plan. There will always be something more during the week. Maybe not daily, but I've got a whole lot to talk about.

Point being: putting together a vague plan is not an option. You must court your audience with promises of certain types of news. The witty commentary is up to you.

Thoughts, recommendations, experiences with scheduling? Comments are always open!

You Are Dead to Me! My First Twitter Block

If you read one of my previous posts - 10 Reasons I Will Not Follow You Back on Twitter - then you know I have a set of criteria that governs the decision whether or not to follow back.

Blocking?
Generally that is enough. If I'm not following them, I don't see their updates and no worries. However, there is one step beyond the passive "not following," and that is to block someone. If you get email alerts that someone is following you, the link to block them is right there in the email. When you visit someone's profile, in the column to the right you will see "block" user (just under "message" if they're following you). Tweetdeck has it on the avatar under the "Other" star > User > Block.

What is blocking?
When you block someone, you do not see their updates, they do not see yours, and they are not able to follow you.

Why would anyone block?
As I said, just not following is fine. And PersonXYZ (no, I will not say who) was ignored for multiple reasons: 0 updates, no profile pic or location information or bio information. But then PersonXYZ followed me again. And then again. At the third time I sent PersonXYZ a direct message stating that I only follow accounts that add value and they had no updates. Then I was followed again.

And that is why I blocked PersonXYZ. If you're not going to add value and constantly follow me over and over again, that is annoyance and lowering the value you add to a negative number. Done.

There are dozens of other valid reasons to block someone, and I'll cover that in a future post. But this was my first official block and I wanted to share that experience with you and - if you've never done it - let you know that it's okay. It's part of the etiquette cycle within Twitter.

What are your thoughts? Should blocking be used more liberally? Never at all? Comments always open.

Smile! 30 Seconds to a Positive Outlook

One of the most important aspects of having a powerful, productive day is first generating that positive attitude that will carry you through your tasks and experiences.


How can you do that in 30 seconds? It's a basic psychological trick.

Action --> Emotion

If you're groggy, apathetic, or downright negative first thing in the morning, you can turn that right around. Because actions can change your emotional state. Why do you think that actors and actresses who act as lovers so often end up as lovers in real life?

Action --> Emotion

So here's your trick: Stand in front of the mirror and smile. Hard. And by hard I mean contort your face into the most exaggerated smile you can contrive. And hold it for 30 seconds. You may begin laughing. That's fine. Don't fight it.

And when you're done, your outlook on the day should be much brighter.

Why does it work?

Your brain has a very strong link already built in concerning smiling and the neurochemistry associated with it. Like Pavlov's dog salivating to the bell, the simple activation of the smiling muscles elicits the activation of some of those chemicals that - under normal circumstances - trigger the smile. The psychological component is an internal justification for smiling; your brain says: I smile when I'm happy, so if I'm smiling, I must be happy. And the final piece is the mirror. You recognize yourself in the mirror, smiling, and reinforce the psychological component of the justification loop.

Action --> Emotion

If it didn't work well enough, do it longer. If you need a refresher, do it often. But be warned: it works negatively for frowning. And if you're dead set on being melancholic, it probably won't do much good.

So smile in the mirror every morning, smile at people all day, and keep that positive attitude and drive. You'd be amazed how it can change your outlook.

Old News Education: Flash Can Still Kill SEO

I would say that [potential] client education is one of the most important parts of what I do. And sometimes I forget, because I do it all day long all the time, that there are still some items that need clarification to most people. Today's education will talk briefly about Flash animation and how it should and should not be used.

There are basically 2 points:

1) Flash will kill your search engine optimization (SEO) - still
Search engines are still having trouble with Flash websites. While Google and those other two or three have said they are making strides to pick up on that Flashy content, it is still a crippling venture to choose to develop your entire website in that flowing, textured beauty (when done well, of course).

In the very best case scenarios and future scenarios where the search engines can pick up every word of copy on your site, your Flash site is still, functionally, a single page because the entire Flash piece exists on one page. So even if you have hundreds of Flash "pages" of content, even if you knock out best practice SEO for that page aside from the Flash bulk, you have an entire site that is essentially your homepage. And that's it. And you are effectively irrelevant.

I'm specifically nailing this to the ground right now because we had a nice little chat about it at Podcamp Ohio 2 and I just saw - today - that one of my favorite places to get a haircut and massage redid their website: entirely in Flash. Almost 1/3 of my business over the last year has been re-designing the work of a mediocre - or worse - designer/developer. And that shouldn't happen.

The people and businesses who are in the market for a website redesign need to know this information and the development companies providing these sites are either ignorant or deliberately misleading for the "wow" factor. And that makes me sad for the businesses and angry at the service providers.

Now, with that said...

2)Flash is NOT the Devil
Flash is - and has been since its inception - an excellent and attractive (again, if done well)addition to a site. If you want some of that pretty-pretty moving picture stuff on your site and don't want to make it invisible by creating the entire site in Flash, that is the preferred method of execution. The only thing that you must remember is that any text that lives in Flash components is potentially un-readable to search engines. So either reiterate that in copy or keep it to lovely images retaining all copy for straight-forward HTML text.


In the spirit of full disclosure, I am a web designer and developer that works hard for my clients to get them the best SEO results. In the spirit of honesty: I'd rather see a business spend money elsewhere knowing what they really need to purchase as opposed to wasting money and ending up with me, angry, distrustful, and just wishing they'd done it right the first time.

Get it right the first time: Never pay for a website that is entirely designed in Flash.