Hound Dog Blog

Spam kills permission

Social media made permission marketing obvious

All who read this blog are aware of my adulation for the wisdom Seth Godin writes and speaks—sometimes I wonder if he knows how out in front he was with permission marketing. 

Facebook— sometimes it seems like everybody is in advertiser. Or, at least, some people always think they have to be ... and this is so far from the truth. 

Social media has a way of making us feel as if we are doing something right, even though we might not be. 

For me, facebook and twitter were (and still are) places I went while I was alone and slightly confused as to the direction my life was going. 

I believed (and still do) that these media channels transcend human relations in a magical way. 

That's why any time someone flagrantly misuses my 'news stream' or 'twitter stream' it ticks me off. {sorry for the rant} ... and that is why ...

I HATE SPAM

... a LOT... what's so bad about junk mail is not that it's a useless, time waster, but how many 'defenses,' 'excuses,' and 'validations' that spammer's have. FYI: shameless self promotion is not spam, but it can be. It can be when you lose the human element of the message. Spam (at it's core) is a message. It's a self serving purpose—who likes that? Who wants to buy something from someone that only wants to help themselves? Not me.

ADVERTISING IS NOT BAD

What one person believes is spam is (I presume) important to someone else but this does not make it ok. In fact, this is precisely what makes it so bad. And... 

Uninspired

It drives me nuts to be uninspired. I can't figure out if it's a symptom of 'life' or some type of inherited artistic malady.


In either case, to be uninspired (for me) is unkind on my mental health. Maybe it's because when I'm happy, I'm REALLY happy.


Been working on a corporate blog at work. I'm really jazzed about it. I think it's gonna be huge. It's at Luxury Blog -- take a look... It's a WIP (work in progress), but that's what makes it all the more exciting. Maybe that's why i'm feeling a bit drawn & quartered... maybe all my inspiration is there... in any case, check it out...

Your thoughts and insight are welcome and needed! :)

SEO for jerseys

A blog is a website, but a website is not necessarily a blog, unless of course it is--in which case it is both.

Got it? Good. See, I don't even much know the difference except one breathes and acts more like a living organism than another. To this I ask, which would you rather visit? Hmm... TMZ.com made it into a TV show.

More importantly though is this ridiculous SEO silliness. SEO is sort of 'reverse backwards compatible upside down' thinking. For example:

if I'm looking for a new Florida Gator Tim Tebow #15 football jersey, I'm not going to type in "Tim Tebow." Nor would the jersey marketers heavily utilize his namesake. Of course the words "Tim Tebow" would be incorporated in the keywords, but more importantly -- the jersey, the gator quarterback shirt... I could think of them all day long. In fact, I can't imagine someone (even someone new to search) would simply type in Tim Tebow's name to find a souvenir jersey!

Ok - everybody's Googled their name... if you haven't go ahead. The results fluctuate anyway. SEO is only as valuable to the words that get people to your site. Just because Tim Tebow wears a Florida Gator #15 jersey does not mean you'll find it when you type in his name.

"What is the best font to use?"

Fonts are the key

Fonts are the most critical aspect of web design. More is not always better and less is not always more. For some reason this is the most over developed and overtly misused (and I, too, have been or am guilty of this) design aspect of websites. Too many different fonts on a webpage are a complete turn off—I have no empirical evidence here, but from personal browsing experience, too many different fonts and I'm clicking elsewhere.

Fonts are family

There is a reason why fonts are arranged in a family and it isn't because the font developer was trying to be cute. Fonts are arranged in a way that your eyes and your attention is are best suited. Of course there are exceptions to this rule, but the exceptions only prove the rule. When a font is decorated or hard to discern, you're brain is telling you you're better off with an easier to read font. Thus, just like your 'family,' the idea of a font family is just as important if you are laying out a page or creating a form or designing site or a real estate brochure.

Fonts are your handwriting

Unfortunately, the days of handwritten letters are behind us. Incidentally, it is precisely this that makes the gift of letter writing a skilled and valuable craft in the information age. Even more of a craft is the art of a well crafted email, blog, or website—mainly because that is how most people communicate. This is something that has been somewhat bastardized, mainly because 'non-designers,' like myself, are able to publish them. But, after much experimentation and many articles and books later, I have developed some semblance of an online handwriting (which is not as easy as picking your favorite font, btw, because browsers and operating systems render them differently—see links below about this topic). 

Tables and forms

I just read another blog post about how 'social media' is changing businesses and consumers. And all I can think is that it isn't changing anything. It has changed everything. Period to end. 

People resisting the forces of social media (or even more dangerous—businesses) are merely attempting to protect a system using yesterday's business tactics that aren't working (or, at least not as well anymore).

It's ok to not participate. That's the beauty of social media. If you ain't social, you don't have to socialize. But attempting to manipulate and malign the tools is just a plain bad idea. In fact, the forces of social media will effectively nudge you out the door. Sorry, don't mean to be so frank. But it's true.

It's the same thing with the person who was telling me about a fortuitous career ahead of him a a travel agent. Sorry to say, but the internet has changed that business... drastically. 

I don't know what my reaction is going to be the next time I hear:

facebook (or twitter) haven't proven themselves yet

I do know one thing though, I'm not going to run to a computer and do a competitive search analysis and line it up on an excel spreadsheet. I may, in fact continue to blog about it, tweet about, and post it to my facebook wall. 

Just embrace social media. Not because it's fun. Not because it's viral, but because it's good for business. Maybe not right now. But in a little while it will be... and a table and form-laden static website will be comparable to the pony express.

Sorry, but the need for proof that facebook, twitter, etc are powerful is called denial.

My blogging formula

The blogophone

I've written a lot about blogging. The pros, the cons and why it is something everyone ought to do. So much so, that it is getting more and more difficult for me to explain its benefits anymore. 

I was watching and listening today to a Seth Godin interview on technorati.com. {by the way, am I the only one who can't figure out what is going on with technorati?}

When Seth was asked the question—the benefits of blogging question—he really drove the point home. Especially with the 100 billion dollar question: Where's the money in it? A valid question, but it has become a painful one for me, primarily because it is usually shrouded with cynicism. 

He spoke to the point of communication, and remarked that many people have monetized the 'telephone' (not in the iPhone way), but in the way in which the telephone makes it possible to communicate and commercialize industries. To this end, this is what Seth points to with how one goes about monetizing a blog. It's a communication channel. 

There is really no better way to explain it. Except that if you don't understand it, you might benefit from understanding it. Blogging is one of the best mental exercises around and I don't even understand it, so I certainly understand why someone might think that Perez Hilton is the blogging standard of our time—and it may well be, but that is their platform, not Seth's. Which brings me to another point:

It's for a good cause

My mom sent me this article about the actor Paul Haggis taking a stand—ultimately denouncing a larger cause. I might add, it took him 35 years. 

Last night I attended a 'think tank' comprised of an array of marketing specialists. On the panel was a travel agent and a rep from a world renowned—and highly revered—department store. The travel agent was vehemently defending a business which has almost certainly seen its last day—that of a travel agent. The other rep from the store spoke in sobering truths. 

One of the issues was about cause marketing. Cause marketing is defined by Wikipedia here:

Cause marketing or cause-related marketing refers to a type of marketing involving the cooperative efforts of a "for profit" business and a non-profit organization for mutual benefit. The term is sometimes used more broadly and generally to refer to any type of marketing effort for social and other charitable causes, including in-house marketing efforts by non-profit organizations. Cause marketing differs from corporate giving (philanthropy) as the latter generally involves a specific donation that is tax deductible, while cause marketing is a marketing relationship generally not based on a donation.

This type of marketing psychology, however, is exactly the same type of delusion that actor Paul Haggis denounced. (I don't doubt that there are some that have excellent intentions)

At what point does the emperor have no clothes? At what point does a yellow wrist bracelet or a pink ribbon become just a piece of jewelry? I don't know the answer, but I'm certain that anyone who is quick to tell you everything about what they know and slow to find out anything about you is drinking Kool-Aid—the purple kind. 

Search gliding

There are so many different ways to reach your website. It's really amazing. You can put a photo like this:

You can put a photo like this:  

You can even put a link like this: with these words: The Hound Dog Blog and the way to see a picture of Alex Beattie smiling and Alex Beattie's hands playing a Martin guitar.

All of these (for now) are ways in which this site can be reached. Of course, that doesn't mean anything though... it's just an observation.

Also, you can find this site through this pic:

Tradeshow tripit and tweeting

If I were going to a trade show today—or a few days from now—I would do exactly what Wags talked to me about doing... especially for this reason: because nobody else is doing it.

Start a blog or a twitter account. Blog or tweet about the event, the details. Maybe even start a tripit.com account and send out to all your contacts your agenda as to when you are going to arrive. (Linkedin has an application you can integrate and merge with your contact list).

The blog wouldn't be about the 'hottest new thing.' It might even only be integrated with your twitter account. At the very least it will be an icebreaker for conversation.

The only safe bet at a show like as this is that you'll be lightyears ahead of the sponsors and the attendees. The sure bet is that your clients or prospects you engage will be all ears when it comes to how these social media tools have changed their industry—and you have embraced them, as opposed to trying to keep them out.

The other safe bet is that if you go out there without them it will be business as usual. And that is not what clients, prospects or (most) vendors are looking for. They are looking to improve business and build relationships. 

For the umpeenth time, why wouldn't you start a blog? No, not tomorrow. Your competition started one yesterday, and they've doubled their readership. And two days from now another kid with a 200 dollar netbook will already have cornered the other market, too. 

Again, Google was founded in 1998. A lot has changed since then. 1998!!! Just think about that for a minute. What were you doing in 1998? Imagine if you started a blog in 1998.  

Nineteen ninety eight

1998. Cool year, huh? Remember Michael Jordan's fade away jumper? John Glenn's trip on the Space Shuttle?

Seems so long ago. Not to mention the political scandal of 1998. {you'll have to Google that one} ... which is the point: Google. Yes, the verb, the company, our knowledge source... was FOUNDED on September 7, 1998!!!

I'm just glad there is a Google. I can't imagine being without Google.

"Trust me"

Trust is implicit in every relationship. No matter what level. If you don't have trust—earned trust—there is no future. Not only is there no future, but there is no possibility of earning this trust back.

We all have our quirks and idiosyncrasies but being deceptive is not a quirk. It's amoral. Amoral is different than immoral. In fact, to be amoral is far worse and usually is associated with what we consider to criminal or a sociopathic behavior. 

I have no authority about what is or is not right and wrong. And I don't proclaim any moral high ground. But, I've seen this happen to good people too many times to not nail this to the wall. 

You can always spot this behavior in this sordid type. This type can't look you in the eye. They always have something better to do. And they are quick to put you down, and don't look you in the eye when they shake your hand... you know the type... the type that always says, "Trust me."

^{photo by freg on flickr.com}

Yes, there is good in everyone. Yes, everyone deserves the benefit of the doubt. . . but . . .

I'm just not sure you can turn a liar into a person of integrity... This is just my experience, anyway. Don't say I didn't warn you. :)