Stephen R. Dill asked what my process is for my newsletter. I haven’t gone over this in a while, so here it is. Each issue of the Almost Timely newsletter begins in social media. Every day, I share 5 items that I think are worth reading and sharing, a process I call #the5. This lets…
Stop me if you’ve heard this one. At every time management training ever, someone brings up the analogy of a jar with a pile of rocks and sand, and emphasizes that you have to put the big rocks in the jar before the sand, as an allegory of prioritizing tasks. Here’s the problem with this…
One of the cardinal rules of social media is “be human”, which is general advice suggesting that companies interact with their customers using a human voice and personality, rather than a faceless, monolithic voice of an organization. In theory, it’s the difference between talking to a neighbor and talking to the Borg. That same advice…
SEO tricks continue to get devalued. Google keeps getting better at picking up tricks and rendering them valueless. So how do you know what’s a trick that is a waste of time or at worst will get you penalized? Here’s a simple rule. Anything that can be repeated and scaled can be automated. Anything that…
In a recent Wall Street Journal report, the allegation was made by the IAB that 36% of digital advertising traffic was fraudulent, driven by bot networks, fake websites, and hacked computers. I don’t doubt these figures for a second, because the measurement system by which payment is made for advertising is the click, and clicks…
Over the weekend, a bunch of people tagged me in a Facebook meme about my top 15 literary influences. The first thing that came to mind was, “what an interesting opportunity to promote people I actually read”. The second thing that came to mind was, “I don’t have time to do this right”. What was…
Ever wish you could be more productive, get more done, work without distraction, or waste less time each day? There’s an interesting answer to this problem if you’re willing and able to do it – front loading your day. Something funny happens to East Coasters when we come to the West Coast. Our days automatically…
Got writer’s block around a particular topic or blog post? There are dozens of different ways you can break writer’s block (some of which are unsurprisingly outlined in Marketing Red Belt), but one of the most reliable by far is to grab your digital camera (or smartphone with camera) and go on a photowalk. If…
Google Analytics is one of the most powerful marketing analytics solutions you can obtain for no money. It does for free what other software and services cost thousands of dollars to do, which means it can be a huge playing-field leveler for small businesses and underdogs. However, most people are using it with the good…
Seth Godin is trying to get you killed. Perhaps not in a literal, go jump off a bridge sense, but his recent advice about not requiring success before you have confidence is dangerous. Take a moment to think about confidence. Go back to ancient Rome, in which the word confidere means to have full trust.…
