5 Ways to Become a Better Writer in 2012

become a better writer in 2012

I wrote my face off in 2011. Both professionally and personally, I wrote more words this past year than any other in my life. I can now honestly tell people at parties that I’m a writer and not have it be some part I’m playing in my mind. I’ve worked my entire life to get [...]

5 Lessons From my Biggest Blog Fails of 2011

blog fails of 2011

I failed a lot this year. My gut reaction was to quietly sweep my failures under the rug, whistle, and walk away. But instead, I figured I’d scrape the bottom of the barrel to see if there was any gold. Sue me. I’m an optimist. Instead of a collection of successful case studies, this post [...]

A Farewell to Content Overload

content overload

When writing about simplicity, it’s almost impossible to not sound like a bumbling idiot. Therefore, I’ll get right to the point: Creating a simple interface for your content is the greatest thing you can do for your audience. Here are 5 reasons why:

Why the Fate of Your Website Will Be Decided in Less Time Than it Takes You to Read This Sentence

Why the Fate of Your Website Will Be Decided in Less Time Than it Takes You to Read This Sentence

Speed kills on the web. The same people who a decade ago would wait patiently through the screeching greeting of a dial-up modem are now frustrated when the homepage of CNN doesn’t refresh as quickly as a wiper blade across a windshield. Consider the following:

A Magazine is Not a Broken iPad (No Matter What Your Baby Says)

broken ipad, not a magazine

Homer Simpson understands children. Well, his children. All right, maybe just Maggie because she rarely speaks. But he knows enough about the relative predictability of kids to have once uttered, “You couldn’t fool your mother on the foolingest day of your life if you had an electrified fooling machine.” Bravo, Homer. This is why you [...]

5 Things I Learned at the FOLIO Show

folio show

Earlier this month a group of us traveled from TMG in D.C. to the Marriot Marquis in New York to “join the media revolution” at the FOLIO: Show. The event had tracks on monetization, content, management, and marketing—and great key notes from the likes of Mashable’s Pete Cashmore and Time Inc.’s Fran Hauser. Here are [...]

QR Codes: Misunderstood? Or Are We Missing the Point?

qr codes: are they misunderstood?

Until recently, I didn’t have a smartphone, so I never paid much attention to QR codes since I wasn’t able to scan them anyway. But now I’ve finally joined the ranks of 72.5 million (and growing) smartphone owners in the U.S. and I downloaded a free QR code scanner from the App store so I could try [...]

Harvey Levin: Sensationalist or Soothsayer?

old newspapers never die, they just fade away

“Leave the heavy stuff. Just go.” That’s what the voice inside my head said when I read in The Washington Post (WP) that TMZ founder and celebrity gossip peddler Harvey Levin recently addressed journalists at the National Press Club about the future of news media. It wasn’t the first time I’d considered hightailing it. I [...]

Is Your Twitter Account a Ghost, a Witch, a Pirate or a Vampire?

twitter ghost

Halloween is the one day every year people can dress up as anything they want and not be stared at strangely in the grocery store. So we put a lot of thought into what we might wear to capitalize on the opportunity. But we don’t always think about what kind of costume our Twitter account [...]

Born to Write: 3 Lessons from Rock Stars to Writers

rockstars to writers

It’s rare that I’m surprised by music. I am a product of my father’s musical tastes, so as a teenager, I was baptized by Neil Young’s “Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere”, Jethro Tull’s “Aqualung”, and the Moody Blues’ “Tuesday Afternoon”, rather than new releases by Foo Fighters or the Red Hot Chilli Peppers. Call it [...]

Quality Down to the Last Crumb

Cheetos

Having grown up in a household in which we ate simply and fairly close to the land, I’m pretty sure I didn’t consume my first Cheeto until college. I don’t remember the exact occasion—I like to imagine it as a coming-of-age moment, along with my first taste of Twinkie and ferreting out the existence of [...]

7 Tips for Developing Your Webinar Strategy

developing a webinar strategy

As a content marketing strategy, webinars can be highly effective – positioning your organization as a thought leader or the go-to resource of valuable information. According to a recent B2B content marketing survey, nine out of ten B2B marketers are using content marketing, and of the ten content marketing tactics rated for effectiveness, webinars rated [...]

A Letter from Mark Zuckerberg*

letter from mark zuckerberg

Editor’s note: OK, so this is not a real letter from Mark Zuckerberg, but it’s a real satire of what could be in a letter from Mark Zuckerberg, hypothetically speaking, of course. Hey there! It’s Mark Zuckerberg, everyone’s favorite socially awkward billionaire! I am here to walk you through our latest exciting changes at Facebook. [...]

Look Before You Leap When Creating a Marketing Plan

stake your marketplace claim

Is your company brand image a Mercedes or a Ford Fiesta? Before you try to answer, the key question you must answer to figure out how your company stands out from the crowd is, “what is your value discipline?” The answer is not as straight-forward as it may sound.

7 Ways for Your Company to Break the Ice with the Blogosphere

blog ice breaker

Does your organization have a blog? Though it seems the evidence that blogging pays off is everywhere, some companies are still struggling to get a blog up and running. (Consider this 2011 HubSpot study where 69% of businesses surveyed attributed their success with lead generation directly to blogging. Business is built on consumer interest, and [...]

5 Future-proof Ideas For Your Website

future of websites

Predicting the future of the web is nearly impossible. Ever-changing technology provides fodder for our imagination to run wild. And it typically does. Imagination outpaces invention. And invention outpaces convention. Which is why we should focus less on technology, and more on human nature when we’re future-proofing our websites. If we bet on technology, we [...]

4 Reasons Your Facebook Fan Stopped Liking You

4 Reasons Your Facebook Fan Stopped Liking You

“You like me, you really like me!” It’s hard not to get excited when someone likes our organizations page on Facebook, especially early on. It could be the beginning of a beautiful romance of brand and consumer. But then things go wrong. Brand statuses are ignored. Questions are left to wither alone in silence. The flame is [...]

Why Distractions Mean Failure in Football and Marketing

distractions and content marketing

Once, after a loss, former Tennessee Titans’ coach Jeff Fisher made this statement to the media about his team’s effort: “I think you have to be able to deal with distractions, put them in perspective and move on. Distractions are the primary reason for losing football games. ” He didn’t chalk up the loss to [...]

Finding Inspiration in the Written Word on the Anniversary of September 11th

american flag

I was inspired today, and also humbled. I was moved, saddened and carried away by storytelling. As we reach the 10th anniversary of 9/11, The Washington Post published a series of articles featuring individuals who had been directly affected by the terrorist attack. The articles may be too difficult, too heart-wrenching, for some to read. [...]

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