Crock-Town

Insider Secrets of Online Reputation Management, or, Ecclesiastes & Your Internet Presence

2011-01-13T11:27:00.001-08:00

"...small businesses have reached a level of sophistication where they want their Total Web Presence created now, rather than starting out obscure with plans to 'someday' have a real online presence."

When I was a kid and started noticing patterns in life, my mom affirmingly said to me, "There's nothing new under the sun... That's in the Bible, Crockett."

I just looked it up, and here it is:

Ecclesiastes 1:9

What has been is what will be,
and what has been done is what will be done,
and there is nothing new under the sun.

Today, I've been running a business working with search engines and web sites since 1994. I've observed many of the "hottest newest best things" come and go... and come again... and again- but with new marketing labels each time: N-Tier Application Development, Application Service Providers, Software as a Service, Web 2.0, working in "The Cloud" - These are a few examples of stuff that's pretty much the same as it ever was, just relabeled each time we reach a new level of capability with the development and enhancement of new clients/servers/tools/languages.

My point is that most of what is sold by internet consultants (myself included) is the same stuff that has always been good for business, only repackaged and redefined in a context that is more appealing to our current culture and market. Indeed, there is nothing new under the sun.

"Hey you promised to give me insider secrets of online reputation management! Where are you going with this?"

Here is the Insider Secret: Online Reputation Management is no exception to the "nothing new under the sun" rule. There, I said it. There is nothing novel about Online Reputation Management. It's all part of any thorough, high-quality, "Total Web Presence," strategy. As consultants, we differentiate Website Development, Search Engine Optimization, Search Engine Marketing, Social Media Marketing, Off-site Link Campaigns, etc. in order to properly set expectations, compartmentalize ideas, and simplify the concepts of the services we offer, all in the service of not totally blowing the minds (or boring to sleep) of our beloved clients.

Today, however, mainstream internet users and small businesses have reached a level of sophistication where they want their Total Web Presence built and managed now, rather than starting out obscure with plans to "someday "have a real online presence.

That's what we do at CDLLC.

And I'm happy to tell anyone exactly how we do it.

"What? Why would you tell me how to do what you want me to pay you for???"

I'll tell you exactly why. Engineering a Total Web Presence is a lot of work. A lot of work that requires lot of time. And a lot of expertise. And that expertise takes time to gain.

In addition to the benefit of hiring a specialist, there are other economies of scale, and therefore the simple reality is that it is more cost effective to pay my team to take care of engineering and managing your Total Web Presence than trying to directly manage contractors or do it in-house.

If you are the tinkering type and you do want to take this on yourself, here is some information to get you started.

Do it yourself Total Web Presence Engineering and Monitoring:

* Check your presence on Google/Yahoo/Bing.

Not just your Page Rank, or how high you come up in the search engine result pages (SERPs) for targeted key phrases. Also build a profile** for you or your business (Google Profile, Yahoo Pulse, Bing Community), and create content in as many of the top 3 providers' services as possible: Google Places, Yahoo Local, Bing Local (be sure to read the terms of service to avoid getting penalized for being too aggressive with your key phrases). The local listings require telephone or mail validation to "claim" your business listing as well as a few days for the listing to be reviewed, so be patient and don't forget to follow-up. You will also need to inform a person who is available to enter or receive a special confirmation PIN by phone, or keep an eye out and not trash the confirmation code that comes in the mail. There is information freely available online about how to create a positive, optimized local listing.

While you're in Google, make sure you are setup with Google Analytics and Webmaster Tools- these require validation that your webmaster can help you with. As for the other search engines, Yahoo and Bing have Yahoo Site Explorer and Bing Webmaster Tools respectively. Get your site maps submitted to all of these. You can build our own XML sitemap with plenty of free online tools. Learn more at sitemaps.org.

It certainly helps to run a Google Adwords campaign.

Get yourself on YouTube (which is a Google service, and shows results inline with Google "everything" search), too, with key phrase rich descriptions, and links to all of your other web properties. Don't have any videos? Consider a slideshow. And remember to complete all of the fields for each video AND your channel. Consider building some playlists. Get involved in the community around similar topics.

Are you selling directly online? Then you need a presence in another Google service: Google Merchant Center (Google Product Search/Shopping, formerly Froogle). You can read Google Help about how to structure the XML feed for your product(s). Depending on the complexity of what you sell, you might create the feed manually, or have your shopping cart software export an updated feed as inventory changes. IMPORTANT- you have to update your feed before it expires every month.

At this point, you have a handful of "control panels" that require periodic monitoring: Google Places, Yahoo Local, Bing Local, Google/Yahoo/Bing SERP rank (checkout free or paid rank checker tools), Google Webmaster Tools, Yahoo Site Explorer, Bing Webmaster Tools, Google Analytics, YouTube, and Adwords if you use that service. In order to keep track of all of these properties, you will want to create a spreadsheet that contains rows for each web property, and columns for the URL, admin URL, username, password hint, content, and notes (to-do/have-done).

Within a couple weeks, once all of your services are active and listings are confirmed, you should begin pushing out a consistent marketing message to all of these web properties, ensuring that each web property contains links to all others. Most importantly, you will see these "local" listings scraping the internet and aggregating mentions and reviews of you, your product(s), and your business on other websites. These sites, which include Angie's List, Yelp, CitySearch, Manta, and many more (specific to your industry), have their own procedures for registering and claiming your profile, so be sure to document all that information in your Total Online Presence spreadsheet as well.

Remember, there will be up to two weeks before you are ready for the above item, so what to do in the meantime?

* Google yourself for any negative content you want to have removed or buried. I say "Google" yourself meaning not just searching Google, but Yahoo and Bing as well.

* Begin your Off-Site Link Campaign - get involved in communities related to your industry. Contribute information, and plug your business and website at every opportunity. But remember, you must give to get, so don't spam without offering relevant information.

* Begin your Social Media Campaign - This is really just part of an off-site link campaign. Build out your profile and contribute to sites like Facebook, Twiiter, LinkedIn, MySpace, Blogging... you can take this as far as you want- Identica, Friendfeed, Plurk, Jaiku, Delicious, Bebo, Plaxo... the list goes on.

* Analyze your website for On-Page Search Engine Optimization (SEO) opportunities. You can read online all about techniques of on-page SEO.

* Check out your top competitor's presence in ALL of the above web properties for ALL of the above campaigns, and cover at least all of the places they have covered.

* Setup periodic monitoring for new and updated mentions of you/your products & services/your business on the WWW. You can do this manually, sign up for a free service like Google Alerts, or use a paid service to aggregate information and filter results for you. Many of the online directories and review sites allow you to be notified via email whenever a comment or review is posted, so be sure to sign up for that option.

* Create a schedule for periodic contributions to social media & blogs. This scheduled time each day/week/month is also a good time to go back to step one and review your progress as mentioned in the periodic monitoring.

If you have followed the steps above, you now have a clear idea of your online presence. But what if there is already information out there about you that you don't like? This is where Reputation Management and Monitoring comes into play. Many sites allow you to respond to negative reviews. Inappropriate reviews can often be removed by request. It is always possible to suppress negative reviews and comments by implementing a practice of regularly soliciting positive reviews.

In conclusion, there is nothing new under the sun. This is not rocket science. All of the information needed to manage your total web presence is available online. Although some of the websites monitored will vary by industry (for example, with reputation management for doctors we work with Healthgrades, Vitals, UcompareHealthcare, Wellness, and more). The REAL requirements to manage your total web presence, including your online reputation, are time, patience, discipline, and diligence.

Crockett Dunn
CDLLC
(408) 607-2200

** Important note- ALWAYS READ THE TERMS OF SERVICE wherever you create a profile. In certain communities, such as Facebook, it is a violation to create a "personal" profile for a business (as opposed to a business page), and the consequences of such a mistake can include deleting of your personal account and business page. Every web property's listing has its own set of rules, some of which are stricter than others.

Posted via email from crockettdunn's posterous

2010-12-27T11:21:00.001-08:00

Unwinding and looking forward to a visit from my family and lots of playing in snow with nephew & niece!

2010-12-22T14:26:00.001-08:00

Listening to the Baja Men, "Who let the dogs out?"

It's almost over. I'll just tough it out.

2010-12-09T17:19:00.001-08:00

Ever inadvertently typed a password into a tweet or FB?

SEO Tip: Incoming Links

2010-12-08T08:42:00.001-08:00

Incoming links are a heavily weighted factor in establishing your search engine ranking (your Google Page Rank). However, it is not the QUANTITY of links that is important (in fact, too many links from bad sources can actually hurt you), so much as the QUALITY of incoming links to your site.

OK, so what is this "quality" I am referring to? To define that, let's step back for a moment. To define what are quality in-links for your specific search engine campaign, you have to first have established your objective. This involves a thorough analysis including:

Defining your competition
Determining how your competition is being found on the internet (Read, in this context: extracting the key phrases your competition is successfully targeting)
Thoroughly analyzing the competition's targeted key phrases to derive similar key phrases and discover targeted words your competition may be missing
Performing a similar analysis of the competition's in-links and deriving a strategy including opportunities the competition may be missing

There is obviously a lot more to the above list, but I can stop there and limit the scope of discussion to factors related to in-links.

*Shameless plug: CDLLC can help you through the process of competition analysis and key phase targeting (steps 1-4), as part of an initial, discounted consultation. Our special tools automate the initial process of checking your key phrases against the reality of how Google sees you and your competition.

Once you have your competition defined and analyzed, it is possible to evaluate the QUALITY of incoming links of your competitors. Quality factors include:

The search engine rank of the linking page/site (#1, #5, #50 in Google results page)
The number of key phrases in the linked text of the page/site
The Google Page Rank (different from the search engine rank #) of the linking page/site
The number of quality links (quality defined by the criteria herein) to the linking page
The key phrases in the TITLE of the linking pages
The number of relevant incoming links.

At this point, you have a good idea of your competitions in-link situation, and it's time for the fun part (ok, maybe it's not everybody's idea of fun, but I love it): embarking on your link campaign!

-Crockett Dunn
CDLLC

Posted via email from crockettdunn's posterous

Google Blended Search, Revisited

2010-12-02T15:16:00.001-08:00

Sometimes clients look at me sideways when they find out they need to be discussing their products on YouTube or Facebook and Twitter. Why bother?

The short answer is: Google recognizes and rewards "buzz" about your website.

For the long answer, and an explanation of Google Blended Search Results, a.k.a. Google Universal Search, read on...

Since May 2007, we have been hearing about Universal Search and Blended Search. Google was the first of the major Search Engines to unveil blended results as part of their main search results in May 2007 with Universal Search. ASK was second in June of 2007, followed by MSN in July 2007 and Yahoo in October 2007. Yet here we are two years later and the discussions have died down a little. When’s the last time you heard someone in your office discuss blended search? Of course there are exceptions and early adopters, but in discussions that I have with many, they are not yet leveraging blended search optimization. How is blended search affecting B2B websites? Should B2B sites be optimizing for blended search?

What is Blended Search Optimization?

Blended Search optimization is simply the process of developing relevant content in a format other than a typical web page so that it appears as part of the different types of search results within the major search engines. There are numerous types of blended search results that are now being featured as part of a search engines main results. Types of blended search results include videos, shopping results, images, news results etc.

Why is Blended Search Important?

The short answer is that searchers (i.e.. users of Search Engines) are expecting richer experiences. They are looking to find relevant information that answers their questions and their need for timely, relevant information. In the past, this need was satisfied by newspapers, print, radio and television. With the digital age and with the emergence of digital natives (More on Digital Natives here) and millennials, people are looking for dynamic types of content. Not just a blue link with a somewhat relevant description. Hence the need for blended results. Some users relate better to articles and press releases, others to podcasts, images or videos. The fact of the matter is, depending on the nature of the searcher’s query, the type of results that they are looking for will vary. This is why blended search is important. Someone looking for a new CMS solution may be more tuned in with a video demo as opposed to a webpage that describes what a CMS is. Blended Search results provide a richer experience and search landscape for the user. Searchers are looking for this. They are no longer satisfied with ten blue links on a results page.

Does Blended Search Work for B2B?

The short answer is that yes blended search optimization can work for business to business websites. It depends on your blended search strategy. For example, we know that unlike a B2C site that may feature a large variety of products, for B2B sites things such as optimizing shopping feeds to improve visibility with shopping results may not be the best avenue to pursue (for the simple facts that a typical B2B site may not have a series of "products" to submit). However, things such as video optimization, news release optimization, image and blog optimization can all help increase the visibility of a B2B site on a search results page. From an SEO perspective, blended search optimization can work well for B2B sites.

The SERP landscape has become hyper-competitive over the past three or four years. Being found in Google, Yahoo, Live Search or even other vertical search engines is becoming increasingly difficult. While it is not necessarily about the rankings, it is about the visibility and about the click. A 2008 study on blended search from iProspect outlines, the continued importance for marketers to ensure that their digital assets are found within the first three pages, if not the first page, of search results. Blended Search provides an opportunity to accomplish this and in some cases effective blended search optimization can allow an organization to dominate the real estate of the Search. We have clients who actually represent 30-60% of a Google SERP for a given key phrase as a result of strong blended search optimization.

The secret with blended search optimization for B2B sites is that there is no secret. You simply need to understand your audience and the type of content that they prefer to engage with. For B2B sites, this means testing the type of content that you feature on your site. Do users engage with videos better than PDFs? Or is your audience looking for news updates and articles describing your service/product offering? Perhaps they are looking for content that is updated frequently such as blog posts or maybe they are simply looking for user reviews and testimonials about your brand. This is where a social network result such as Facebook or Twitter may prove beneficial. While technically not a blended search result, social network results for your brand are a different type of result that elicit a specific response (participating in a community setting) from the searcher which is why we classify social network results as a "type of blended result". The fact is, the searcher may be looking for a different type of result when searching for your brand or related key phrase.

Past search research dating back to 2004 shows that typically users will not look past the third page of search results, in fact many might not even click through to the second page of results. As a B2B site, having the ability to "own" multiple results (and multiple types of results) on page one of Google or Yahoo for a non-branded key phrase can provide a great return in terms of intercepting your audience. This is what blended search optimization can do for a site. You can have a traditional website result as well as a video result or perhaps a news result to intercept these clicks and gain this traffic.

Three Types of Blended Results That B2B Sites Should Focus On

While the following is not specific to B2B sites, here are three types of blended search optimization that B2B sites should focus on:

News/PR Optimization – optimizing articles and press releases is a great way to find your site within the blended results of Google, Yahoo or MSN. The Engines (and searchers) tend to treat news results as more relevant due to the timely information that is within them. Launching a new version of your software or a new strategic partnership can provide useful information to your target demographic. As a result a well optimized press release can show up in Google News and in the blended search results displayed by Google. Not to mention that in Google, News results tend to appear above the top organic results of the SERP or after the first one or two organic results meaning that they often occupy prime real estate within the results page. Furthermore, deeper analysis from the above mentioned iProspect study indicates that search engine users click "news" results more than twice as much (36%) within blended search results as they do when they use the vertical "news search" (17%).
Video Optimization – for whatever reason video results seem to appear more often than other types of blended results such as image results, book results etc. All B2B sites should feature some video content on their site and/or on a video aggregator site such as YouTube that demos a product, explains their service, communicates their unique competitive advantage etc. Video may resonate better with certain demographics and as a result create more engagement with your brand from the SERP. The messaging in the video can be more targeted than say the information that a user receives once they click through the "blue link" result from the results page. Perform a search in Google for "supply chain management". Depending on the data center that you hit you should be returned with a couple of video results (as well as a couple of image results) in addition to the typical blue link text results that would normally appear.
Blog Optimization -blogs, love them or hate them are garnering more trust as a resource than typical web results. Optimizing your blog posts and posting regularly can be a great way to tap into the blended results for a topic specific keyword query. Blogs that feature relevant and informative posts about a specific topic have been known to show up in the main search results of Google. The thing with blog results are that they can appear "blended" in within the normal results, meaning that they look like a typical result, or they can be labeled as a "Blog Result" indicating that they are in fact a blended result. A search for "online marketing" or "Susan Boyle’ in Google returns both.

Blended Search is all about content and the type of content that you optimize for your audience. Does it apply to B2B? Yes of course it does, for blended search optimization is simply another way to gain visibility in the organic/natural search results of a search engine. So while rankings may be dead, visibility is not. Blended Search allows you to optimize content and different types of content in order to intercept your audience to begin or build a relationship between the searcher and your brand. So while they may not convert on this initial visit, they will at least engage with your brand and become more aware of what your organization has to offer.

Originally published at marketing.jive.com: Does Blended Search Optimization Work for B2B?

Posted via email from crockettdunn's posterous

SEM: Does an industrial material handling equipment supplier and forklift parts distributor need a social media campaign?

2010-10-29T19:18:00.001-07:00

http://store.hgmforkliftparts.com/

When the on-page optimization is maxed out, and the tie-breakers are all off-site variables, the answer is a resounding "heck yes!"

If you click the link above, I will not give you a free iPad, but Bill Gates will send you to Disneyworld if you forward this to a friend.

Posted via email from crockettdunn's posterous

favicon for iPad and iPhone!

2010-10-27T22:18:00.000-07:00

Web peoples:

Remember the exhilaration you felt when you figured out how to make your first, cool favicon.ico?

... or your first "optimized for IE/NS 3.0" website?

... or when you locked yourself in the lab, deciphered the DOM, and emerged 2 days later with your first hand-coded DHTML creation?

... when you through 87a to the wind and produced your first animated gif89a?

Well, time marches on, and we've moved far beyond the old, gray "Netscape Now" icons, to a new world of shinier, sparkly buttons... on touch screens. BEHOLD!

How to make a bookmark icon for the iPhone or iPad:
from http://lifeinthefastlane.com/2010/07/the-little-button/

1. Create your icon…

With the advent of the iPod Touch, Apple updated their devices to allow users to add website links to their home screen. These home screen icons are created by taking a thumbnail screenshot of your current view on that website. Pretty cool, but…boring!
Now Apple has provided web site owners the ability to specify an icon to be used in-place of the screenshot (apple-touch-icon.png). You can also explicitly specify which icon should be used when the iPhone’s browser visits your site by specifying a ‘link‘ tag in the portion of your page’s html.
There are lots of websites which help generate a favicon for your website…but my favourite is Flavor Studio Tools and Resources. Note that the size of an iPad Home Screen icon is 72×72 pixels, so you may need to re-size the downloaded images.

This icon is also compatible with the iPhone and iPod Touch. The size of the icons on those displays is 57×57, but you do not have to create an alternate version. Those mobile devices will shrink down your 72×72 icon automatically. (Of Zen and Computing)

2. Upload the icon to your blog/website

Upload the completed icon to your site as a transparent PNG named apple-touch-icon.png .
It is recommended that you place the file in the root public accessible directory…but I didn’t know what that was, so uploaded as a media file and copied the file url to complete the final stage.

3. Add some code

To allow the iPhone/iPod Touch/iPad to know where to find you icon you need to add the following tag code in the section of your HTML header:

link href="http://www.website.com/apple-touch-icon.png" rel="apple-touch-icon"

(except you need the <> and the closing link tag- having trouble encoding for blogger)

Change the url value of the href attribute to reflect the location of your site’s icon and change webiste.com to your own domain name.

from:
http://lifeinthefastlane.com/2010/07/the-little-button/

-Crockett Dunn
Owner CDLLC

favicon for iPhone & iPad

2010-10-27T22:02:00.001-07:00

Web peoples:

Remember the exhileration you felt when you figured out how to make your first, cool favicon.ico?

... or your first "optimized for IE/NS 3.0" website?

... or when you locked yourself in the lab, deciphered the DOM, and emerged 2 days later with your first hand-coded DHTML creation?

... when you through 87a to the wind and produced your first animated gif89a?

Well, time marches on, and we've moved far beyond the old, gray "Netscape Now" icons, to a new world of shinier, sparkly buttons... on touch screens. BEHOLD!

How to make a bookmark icon for the iPhone or iPad:
from http://lifeinthefastlane.com/2010/07/the-little-button/

1. Create your icon…

With the advent of the iPod Touch, Apple updated thier devices to allow users to add website links to their home screen. These home screen icons are created by taking a thumbnail screenshot of your current view on that website. Pretty cool, but…boring!

Now Apple has provided web site owners the ability to specify an icon to be used in-place of the screenshot (apple-touch-icon.png). You can also explicity specify which icon should be used when the iPhone’s browser visits your site by specifying a ‘link‘ tag in the <head> portion of your page’s html.

There are lots of websites which help generate a favicon for your website…but my favourite is Flavor Studio Tools and Resources. Note that the size of an iPad Home Screen icon is 72×72 pixels, so you may need to re-size the downloaded images.

This icon is also compatible with the iPhone and iPod Touch. The size of the icons on those displays is 57×57, but you do not have to create an alternate version. Those mobile devices will shrink down your 72×72 icon automatically. (Of Zen and Computing)

2. Upload the icon to your blog/website

Upload the completed icon to your site as a transparent PNG named apple-touch-icon.png .
It is recommended that you place the file in the root public accessible directory…but I didn’t know what that was, so uploaded as a media file and copied the file url to complete the final stage.

3. Add some code

To allow the iPhone/iPod Touch/iPad to know where to find you icon you need to add the following tag code in the <head> section of your HTML header:

<link rel="apple-touch-icon" href="http://www.website.com/apple-touch-icon.png"/>

Change the url value of the href attribute to reflect the location of your site’s icon and change webiste.com to your own domain name.

from:
http://lifeinthefastlane.com/2010/07/the-little-button/

-Crockett Dunn
Owner CDLLC

Posted via email from crockettdunn's posterous

Reputation Management & Search Engine Marketing

2010-10-19T08:40:00.001-07:00

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=130646918
Reputation Management, SEO... Hey that's what I do. Nothing sinister about it, as long as it is REALITY being propagated, rather than fiction... just like marketing in any other medium.

Posted via email from crockettdunn's posterous

Windows 7 Tip: Easy Tutorial Creator

2010-08-21T18:48:00.001-07:00

http://cdllc.blogspot.com/2010/08/windows-7-tip-easy-tutorial-creator.html

While Windows 7 was in development, the engineers over at Microsoft had the smart idea to build a troubleshooting tool called, "Problem Step Recorder."

What this tool does is follow your mouse and record screenshots in order to document what you're doing. You can also enter notes as you go about recording your business. It even creates an HTML file slideshow for reviewing the actions, screenshots, and comments.

Turns out, this is a great way to document actions for tutorial purposes!

Check it out: Start: psr.exe.

Enjoy!

[source: maximumpc.com ]

-Crockett Dunn Owner CDLLC

Posted via email from crockettdunn's posterous

2010-08-21T14:12:00.001-07:00

one two three four fives

2010-07-18T21:44:00.001-07:00

good day I say

2010-07-15T14:20:00.001-07:00

wow I had no idea the BP operation had gotten so NASA! http://ping.fm/x4ude

2010-07-02T07:36:00.001-07:00

CHiPs theme song stuck in my head again. Not even the upbeat, high-action part- but the lame bridge with the soft strings and the drama.

2010-07-01T20:19:00.001-07:00

BP should pay Mel Gibson for distracting us from things of actual consequence.

2010-06-16T19:29:00.001-07:00

In Beach Boys "Good Vibrations," during the chorus, there is the ghost sound from the old "Ghosts and Goblins" video game. No kidding.

2010-06-08T22:51:00.001-07:00

Liking HTC Tilt2. Stuff that required hacks is now built-in: RDP/VoiceCmd/Re-mapPTT/TouchFlo [no HSPDA:( ]. I wonder what the new hacks are!

2010-06-03T09:27:00.001-07:00

A professional Crisis Manager's $0.02 on BP: http://ping.fm/EEi1a

2010-05-31T19:05:00.001-07:00

Time Perception and Culture: http://ping.fm/8VP9d

2010-05-19T11:15:00.001-07:00

LA County tax collector has a phenomenal voicemail labyrinth. I seriously navigated for 30 minutes.

2010-05-18T17:52:00.001-07:00

why do bikers where helmets but joggers don't? I'd feel safer running with a helmet. But I certainly would not want to be the only one.

2010-05-12T21:45:00.001-07:00

"Silent Running" by Mike and The Mechanics is stuck in my head

2010-04-22T07:32:00.001-07:00

just another easy-going dog: http://ping.fm/zmLTc
without gravity

2010-04-17T11:01:00.001-07:00

After browsing Craigslist (SEO guys?) I think much $$ can be made with a standardized browser plugin for a computer breathalyzer.

2010-04-14T21:11:00.001-07:00

Today my blind dog got stuck (lost?) under a bed and I had to rescue her.

The Current State of Popular-Inquiry According to Google

2010-04-14T15:52:00.001-07:00

http://cdllc.blogspot.com/2010/04/current-state-of-pop-inquiry-according.html

A recent study of Google's suggestions for questions of the "WH" variety (who, what, when, where, why, how, which) revealed the following top themes (after normalization for celebrity a television media):

Pregnancy, Marriage, Love, and Kissing Skills
Weight Loss
Poop

The original study can be found here.

Posted via web from crockettdunn's posterous

2010-04-13T12:04:00.001-07:00

goth a fwiwing im my toof. mouff ish vewy nwumb.

2010-04-12T09:40:00.001-07:00

raining a lot here this april. heard someone say, "we better have a lot of &*#$ May flowers!"

2010-04-12T09:19:00.001-07:00

i have this cat, that, whenever startled while eating, opens her mouth, let's one or two pieces of kibble fall out, then stares at me. So dramatic!

2010-04-09T19:19:00.001-07:00

"you all, everybody!"

Feeding Froogle: Search Engine Marketing for E-Commerce

2010-04-06T11:49:00.001-07:00

http://cdllc.blogspot.com/2010/04/feeding-froogle-search-engine-marketing.html

Products are listed in Google Product Search by name, category, description, price, original website, and other attributes—sometimes, even a picture is used and indexed by Google. The result? A giant storefront you can be a part of.

Remember when the Internet was simple?

The all-important e-commerce beast Google Products was originally known as Froogle. Froogle was a pioneer in compiling products from many online stores and websites into one big "store front."

This idea we call "The Dog Pile" approach (by the way, dogpile.com was a pioneer in multi-engine key phrase searching, way back before Google was . . . Google) to product searching, has resulted in new opportunities for marketing discreet products.

Presumably, you want ALL of the information about your products to show up in search engines. And this is in addition to the traditional marketing of key phrases!

Why does this matter? Because, there are OPPORTUNITIES out there you don’t want to miss. Opportunities for not just a second or a third, but many additional store fronts.

Now add this: there's a synergy to be created between your product search results and your key phrase results. Done right, this causes dramatically higher search engine listings for both!

In e-commerce, there are other places to rank high. We don't usually recommend putting a great deal of effort into the "other" search engines, but in e-commerce you create traction for your brands by paying attention to several commerce tracking and promotional engines. These include Amazon, Google Products, Yahoo Shopping, eBay, Bing Shopping, Nextag, Shopzilla, and more!

Getting listed on some of these are free. Others have payment structures similar to Google AdWords and Pay-Per-Click, where you pay for views and clicks, or bid and pay a market-established rate for views and clicks.

To take advantage of these opportunities, you need to know how to feed them. Grossly over-simplified, that means you setup an account, then either manually enter your product data or feed a specially structured data file to each service.

Not a big deal, until you realize that to maintain ranking you need to monitor each service for changes in product listing requirements, or resubmit data after specified expiration periods, which may vary from one service to the next.

Of course, this is one of our areas of expertise. We've been feeding Froogle hundreds of thousands of products since it was a fledgling Google Labs pre-beta product. We've created top ranking for large sites and small, trained clients to manage their own data entry, and done it for them (when they realized that programmatically extracting thousands of products and attributes into specially structured files according to the requirements of each product listing service was something we could do better and more cost-effectively).

We often say that much of what we do isn't rocket science; if feeding the e-commerce search stream is something you're interested in doing yourself, good news: there are volumes of information available online on the topic.

But just because you can do it doesn't always mean you should. If you want someone to get you up to speed, or skip the learning curve and outsource it altogether, give us a call.

Happy Search Engine Marketing.

-Crockett Dunn
Owner CDLLC

-Jeff Yablon
Chief Operating Office, CDLLC
President
Answer Guy Central Business Support Services

Posted via web from crockettdunn's posterous

2010-04-05T17:54:00.001-07:00

prepare to watch Duke kick the butt out of Butler.

2010-04-04T08:11:00.001-07:00

Will someone please tell the magic candy bunny where I live now? It comes to all the kids houses in the neighborhood but seems to have missed us.

2010-04-03T18:06:00.001-07:00

Duke vs. West Virginia... more like Worst Virginia.

Zing!

2010-04-02T20:33:00.001-07:00

..."the room is full of milkmen. Some of whom are very old." One of my top 5 fav movie quotes. http://ping.fm/UyOQk

2010-04-02T14:06:00.001-07:00

Ever get blocked from PayPal when doing a bunch of testing for a website? I think my IP address just did.

2010-03-27T17:32:00.001-07:00

purdue purdidn't

2010-03-26T19:03:00.001-07:00

Purdue? PURDON'T. I predict burn-out, foul-out... tournament-out.

2010-03-21T10:38:00.001-07:00

saw the movie "Control." I never knew about Ian Curtis & Joy Division preceding New Order. I bet undercover goth Analisa knew, though.

Albert Einstein On Experimentation, Investigation, and Internet Technology

2010-03-17T15:02:00.001-07:00

Albert Einstein didn't just pioneer modern physics with his enduring and revolutionary theory of General Relativity, he also said some smart stuff about the value of independent curiosity and experimentation.

http://cdllc.blogspot.com/2010/02/albert-einstein-on-experimentation.html

Let's apply some of this to how you can use the internet to help your business.

Words of Wisdom

"The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing."
"Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new."

If Al's second quote scares you, fear not; we're talking about research on our dime, not making mistakes with clients' time and money. Here's what it all boils down to:

Ask, ask, ask, inquire, question, and ask some more. Then experiment, test and do some more experimenting.
Investigate and Innovate—don't be afraid to lead rather than follow. Then when you've got it all figured out, be sure to keep testing—and verifying results.
Never settle into a finalized "method," because the only constant in the internet world is the light-speed change (get it, physics people? light speed... constant?). Yesterday's thinking never works for today's internet.

At CDLLC: we've already done the research. The experimentation, the investigation, the trial and error for you, on our dime. We've got close to fifty combined years of experience with this stuff. And we keep doing the research. It's part of our business.

Tested results are what matter, not just copying what you read in an instruction manual, or delivering the status quo, or doing what everyone else is talking about and doing. With the internet, any documentation on the right way to do something, especially SEM and SEO, is outdated by the time it's published.

And Google's "what matters and what doesn't" rules aren't published at all; experimentation and ongoing research are the only way to ensure the great results we deliver.

We're fond of saying that most of what we do isn't rocket science. Dr. Einstein, tongue planted firmly in cheek, would have said the same about his work. And he's still the guy we all go to when it comes to relativity... and space... and time.

It's time for your business to get serious about its Internet Presence. We're here to help.

-Crockett Dunn
Owner CDLLC

-Jeff Yablon
Chief Operating Office, CDLLC
President, Answer Guy Central Business Support Services

Posted via web from crockettdunn's posterous

2010-03-15T10:20:00.001-07:00

ooh! http://ping.fm/8YCi0 I've always wanted to race on a NASCAR track without a helmet!

2010-03-09T16:49:00.001-08:00

SEO/SEM: Are People Searching For the Words You're Paying For? http://post.ly/RkoM

SEO/SEM: Are People Searching For the Words You're Paying For?

2010-03-09T13:50:00.001-08:00

http://cdllc.blogspot.com/2010/03/seosem-are-people-searching-for-words.html

Business owners generally have a pretty good idea about what to say to their customers and what's important to them. Why? Because they know them.

But what about web-based, potential customers? Can you know customers you don't have yet, can't identify, and even once you acquire them might never meet?

Internet search-engine-based marketing (or SEM, of which SEO is a part) is different than making yourself available to people on terra firma. You need to know what people are looking for and how that relates to your business. It's not for the faint of heart, either. You almost certainly want to hire an experienced, expert SEO/SEM consultant (and yes, that's us)

We could turn this post into an advertisement for what we do, but let's instead point you at a freebie: here is some information on "choosing key phrases". Go ahead and read it; we'll wait . . .

Head spinning? Asking yourself how you can check all that stuff? Let us explain the process:

When you hire CDLLC to do your SEO, the first thing that we do is look at the key phrases you're thinking about marketing. We look at your site, your industry, and similar or competitive businesses, and we create a list of keywords that we know we can use to boost your presence.

Why? because if you're an obstetrician (for example) and want to rank high for the phrase OB/GYN, OB-GYN, OB GYN, or OBGYN you'll find three problems:

competition for high rankings on generic phrases is tremendous
most people who search on any of those phrases are not really the people who are seeking your services
the four phrases look the same to humans, but are all different to Google.

We address these issues by gathering information on the words that you believe are important. We tell you how many people are searching for these words, and how competitive the fight for each word is.

Here is a simplified version of what it looks like:

Top of the list (competitive, popular phrases):

Bottom of list (unpopular, noncompetitive phrases):

And then the fun begins: we make sure you're spending your money going after the right traffic, in the right way. Which is fun for you because we do it for free, and fun for us because we understand and like this SEO stuff.

It's only after you have a good strategy and can spend your money wisely that we go to work. Yes, that's right; the research phase is on us. Contact us now if you like. We love working this magic.

-Crockett Dunn
Owner CDLLC

-Jeff Yablon
Chief Operating Office, CDLLC
President
Answer Guy Central Business Support Services

Posted via web from crockettdunn's posterous

2010-03-06T18:13:00.001-08:00

today I met a llama in calistoga and it kissed me on the face.

2010-03-05T15:28:00.001-08:00

doc has me doing exercise called woodpeckers... looks like a crazy person taunting the wall. A mom & toddler were making fun of me.

2010-03-05T13:16:00.001-08:00

today is good.

2010-03-04T11:56:00.001-08:00

reading http://ping.fm/azCMg Turns out physicists don't care which model of time is 'real.' only what works for explaining reality.

2010-03-03T20:11:00.001-08:00

reading http://ping.fm/azCMg . Promises to define "time" as a real "something" (not an abstraction). We'll see.

"Zen and the Art of Restoring your Work Enviromnent."

2010-03-02T08:03:00.001-08:00

http://cdllc.blogspot.com/2010/03/avoiding-6-hour-windows-7-hunker-down.html
"...hoarding. That's what this all boils down to. The human desire to hang on to attachments and not lose anything— that's what keeps us stuck and creates a problems. And letting go of attachments? That is the key to, "Zen and the Art of Restoring your Work Environment."

This month, many power users found their pre-release copies of Windows 7 expiring. As with many software pre-release-becomes-the-real-thing software events, a smooth upgrade (you know—so you keep your apps and settings?), was not an option.

Time for the dreaded custom/advanced installation. The "clean install."

Let's step back a moment and begin to look at this Zen view of upgrading one's OS and restoring one's work environment. Over the years we've done hundreds of OS installs for ourselves, and hundreds more for clients. So, yeah, we're qualified to speak a little on the topic. Here goes:

Change is painful. We all like to be settled. We have routines we're comfortable with, we like knowing where things are, how things work, to whom what responsibilities apply, and when things happen. This applies in both our "real" and virtual worlds. (And of course, telling those apart seems to get harder every day.)

So when you boot up your computer after a clean operating system installation and see a blank slate (no email, apps, bookmarks, memorized passwords... none of your precious "stuff!"), it can be a little overwhelming. And the temptation is to hunker down and reinstall everything just exactly perfectly right back where it should be.

This is what we call, "The 6 Hour Hunker-Down."

RESIST! Yes it may seem like the right thing to do, but if you can tolerate a little discomfort (that which does not kill us . . . ), you will be rewarded.

Take it easy, one step at a time. If you have planned properly (see below*), there is no rush.

Here's the big secret to keeping your sanity and not withdrawing from the world for hours, maybe days. This is the trick to a Zen method of reinstalling your work environment:

REINSTALL YOUR STUFF ON AN AS-NEEDED BASIS.

Seriously: you will save a lot of time, and likely some misery. And you will have avoided the all-too-common mistake of copying all of your old garbage (you know the stuff you have been meaning to "clean up" on your hard drive, in your bookmarks/favorites, on your email system?) to your new work environment.

Quick case study:

Installed Windows 7. Everything is different; all my stuff is missing. Most of my day is spent in a web browser (hosted software services are no longer just a VC buzz-word and a promise), but there are some things I don't use the web for. Some desktop apps I depend on. For example, I still use MS Office, Adobe Photoshop, and a handful of other programs that don't have web-based alternatives I like (hey that's just me).

So this afternoon I reinstalled my favorite business tool, MS Outlook. I configured my email accounts, restored/configured my primary and archive PST files, and then I stopped. Seriously I just stopped and resumed my business as usual.

There's lots more to do, but none of it is immediately critical. For example, my email handling "rules" included a lot of outdated, no-longer-necessary stuff, so I chose to trash them all and rebuild each rule AS NEEDED, when I see emails come in that would have previously been sorted, moved, or whatever.

This time I even trashed my web bookmarks/favorites and re-built those as I went about my real business (of course I have an emergency backup). Seriously: why carry with you hundreds of links you've long forgotten about, and may even point to resources that no longer exist? In the physical world, that would be considered a borderline mental disorder. Compulsive hoarding I think it's called.

Web development software? Graphic design apps? I'll install these when I next use them. And it'll happen, but . . . I don't need everything today.
Back to hoarding. That's what this all boils down to. The human desire to hang on to attachments and not lose anything— that's what keeps us stuck and creates a lot of problems. And letting go of attachments? That is the key to, "Zen and the Art of Restoring a Work Environment."

That's my $0.02 on reinstalling a work environment. Now please read the fine print that follows.

*Although this article talks about a philosophy for reinstalling one's work environment after a clean OS install, it DOES NOT cover process specifics. Always back up everything on your computer and work with a consultant before performing any software upgrade.

-Crockett Dunn
Owner CDLLC

-Jeff Yablon
Chief Operating Office, CDLLC
President
Answer Guy Central Business Support Services

Posted via web from crockettdunn's posterous

2010-03-01T18:50:00.001-08:00

Hey look my Windows 7 is labeled made in Puerto Rico.

2010-02-28T18:22:00.001-08:00

Yesterday I sat, for quite some time, at a red stop SIGN waiting for something to turn green.

Two Cures for Boring Website Syndrome. Part 2: Content & Function

2010-02-26T09:52:00.001-08:00

This is part two of our two part series on Boring Website Syndrome.. Part one can be found here, http://cdllc.blogspot.com/2010/02/two-cures-for-boring-website-syndrome.html

When approached by new clients, there are a few common opening statements, requests, and complaints we hear, such as:

I need "Help" with my website.
I need a complete "Redesign" (which a lot of the time has more to do with engineering than design).
I need "something more 'current.'"

But our favorite opening statement—and perhaps the most honest—is this one:

"My Website is Boring."

The Boring Website Syndrome is our favorite because it presents an opportunity for further diagnosis. We have the opportunity to get to know our client better and probe for unique needs relative to the business they're in.

15+ years experience in internet consulting have taught us that Boring Website Syndrome breaks down into one of the following two categories, and often both:

1) The website looks old.
2) The website doesn't offer or do anything . . . it doesn't engage visitors.

Today we will look at #2 My Website Doesn't Engage My Visitors.

Have you ever thrown a party, only to see your guests milling around for just as long as they felt necessary to appear polite—and then bolt for the exit? More than likely, these people didn't feel engaged.

On the Internet, failing to engage your visitors means they'll be leaving . . . immediately. Let's look at what it takes to keep your visitors hanging around longer:

The first issue is content. It's possible to have an incredibly ugly website that offers good enough content or functionality that the bad design does not interfere with its popularity. Some long-tail blogs are like this ["long tail," is a term coined by the book, The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business is Selling Less of More.].

Want examples? Click this link to see who carries Google's #2 ranking for "growing habenaro". Or look at Authorize.net's members' section. Although slightly updated in past years, the Internet's most prominent credit card processor has lived through poor organization and design inconsistencies, but it always "did the job".

The point? With incredibly valuable content (here content refers to words and functionality), it is actually possible to overcome poor website design (outdated fashion). However, it is the rare & very fortunate company that can simply say, "Click here to buy my stuff, and that's all you need to know," or, "Your eyes will just have to tolerate the pain of horribly designed site if you want my brilliant information."

The point is, to attract and keep visitors you must offer something valuable, words or tools, and in return they give something; their time.

It can be as simple as offering specific, detailed information about your offerings, or as advanced as leveraging your hard-earned, de-facto, "expert blogger," position on a topic.

Everything above discussed the "words" or "content" part of what a website offers. Now let us look at functionality.

All of the "stuff" that can be done on a website is a comprehensive enough topic for a week of articles. So for now, let's just list a few website functionality ideas than will engage your visitors, and maybe even get them to return. Consider:

How easy is it to give you money? Do you take credit cards? E-checks? Does your business accept these 24x7x365, from any computer or mobile phone, via an automated, no-staff-intervention-required method?
Do you accept reservations and appointments via an online scheduling system? Make it fast and easy for people to schedule with you from anywhere/anytime!
Are you taking advantage of an online store front?
Are you collecting inquiries from your website? This is the easiest way to convert curious visitors into customers.
Does your website include a Help or FAQ section? This brings customers back to your site, helps them solve problems, and converts them into repeat customers.

There are even more advanced offerings that are surprisingly easy to add to your web site, like live, online support, incident tracking/trouble-ticketing, optimizing your products into search-engine specific feeds, and creating password protected areas for "special people." And people love when you make them feel special.

"Boring Web Site" means out-of-fashion, out-of-date, and/or non-engaging. The solution? Consult with a web firm about content, functionality, and style overhaul, using the above list to beging the brainstorming process over what your website should offer visitors.

You can even use CDLLC if you like . . .

-Crockett Dunn
Owner CDLLC

-Jeff Yablon
Chief Operating Office, CDLLC
President
Answer Guy Central Business Support Services

Posted via web from crockettdunn's posterous

2010-02-24T10:07:00.001-08:00

this is punk rock:
http://ping.fm/ZeJeL

Two Cures for "Boring Website Syndrome." Part 1: Fashion

2010-02-24T08:28:00.001-08:00

We were recently referred to a new client who asked us to make their website more engaging.

The simplicity of the word, "engaging" is terrific. It's more personal than interactive. More descriptive than customer-oriented or useful.

And so the thinking began . . .

Generally, we're approached about existing sites with a variety of opening requests, including:

People need "Help" with their website.
Companies want a "Redesign" (which a lot of the time has more to do with engineering than design).
A request for "something more 'current.'"

But our favorite opening statement—and perhaps the most honest—is this one:

"My Website is Boring."

15+ years experience in internet consulting have taught us that Boring Website Syndrome breaks down into one of the following two categories, and often both:

1) The website looks old.
2) The website doesn't offer or do anything . . . it doesn't engage visitors.

Today, let's explore number 1, the Old Website.

This is the easiest one to qualify, but hardest to quantify. It's very subjective. Website old-lookingness is a function of fashion. There were technologies in style 5-10 years ago that have gone the way of leisure suits and bell bottoms, and these technologies resulted in a distinct look, or "fashion," in the sites that employed them.

Some "old-fashioned" items:

* The gray-background, center-aligned website.
* Embedded background music.
* The 3 resizeable, big-bordered frames/panels.

. . . we could go on and on.

And there are technologies available today that weren't options 5-10 years ago. Some will stand the test of time, while others will go away. And this is one of the many areas in which we can help you. After so much time in the web world, we're pretty good at separating the passing, frilly technologies from the solid, lasting ones.

And, of course, we're well-versed in the latest design fashion—this includes the layout of your website container, global elements like navigation and search, the look of your deeper menus and navigation elements, and the division/layout of the primary page content inside each page container.

All of these, geeky as they sound, come back to the very practical issues of both the way your site looks and its function.

We've pointed out before that getting you set up on a Content Management System (CMS) creates drastic time and money savings by making redesigns and content publication a snap. Now let's add to that:

Making your web site look good, act the way you need, and easy to administer all go together. And we want that to be as simple for you as possible.

-Crockett Dunn
Owner CDLLC

-Jeff Yablon
Chief Operating Office, CDLLC
President
Answer Guy Central Business Support Services

Posted via web from crockettdunn's posterous

Luddites: How May We Be of Service?

2010-02-22T09:10:00.001-08:00

http://cdllc.blogspot.com/2010/02/luddites-we-understand.html

"Years ago Dad came home from his business and informed us, "'hey took away my calculator and replaced it with a computer.'"

... Like so many others during this time, he was pushed into accepting technology change.

Just last month, Dad-in-law announced something similar. "I got a computer so I could look up specs on our website. It's quicker and easier than the paper catalog." Slightly different from the above case, he was responding to the reality that technology makes a lot of things easier.

Do you know the word Luddite? Today its most-used form is to refer to a slow adopter of technology. But historically the term's roots are a reference to the anti-industrial revolution movement in the early 1800's. British textile artisans rebelled against wide-framed looms, fearing for their livelihoods in the face of technological advancement. They took their name from the fictional textile rebel Ned Ludd, and acted out by destroying mills and factory equipment.

Everyone resists change. Answer Guy Central is a whole business devoted to addressing this.

Evolution made us naturally conservative. But with virtually all of our evolving happening before technology we're stuck with this cool but hard-to-understand stuff and a fast-moving economy— and we have built-in aversions to both.

This aversion is no illusion. An interview with the authors of TechnoStress reveals that EIGHTY-FIVE PERCENT of the population feels uncomfortable with technology. And there are real and measurable physiological stress responses to technology: sweating, increased blood pressure, elevated heart rate, and dry mouth!

Why is an internet company talking about Luddites and TechnoStress? Because we can help. There are all sorts of stress coping mechanisms, but let's take a lesson from the industrial revolution—outsource difficult change to the specialists (that's us).

Both of the Dads above had the same great reason for being late technology adopters, personally. They each run highly specialized businesses . . . so why be an expert in something else when you can rely on outsourced expert IT support to take care of everything for you?

That's what we do with websites, search engines, e-commerce, back-end business/database systems, document management, forms, online payment... whatever you need chances are we do it.

Anything that makes money, saves money, and/or increases efficiency . . . call us.

-Crockett Dunn
Owner CDLLC

-Jeff Yablon
Chief Operating Office, CDLLC
President
Answer Guy Central Business Support Services

Posted via web from crockettdunn's posterous

2010-02-21T14:17:00.001-08:00

whenever I enter bed bath and beyond I feel like my mind is being violated

"However beautiful the strategy, you should occasionally look at the results," or, Winston Churchill & Search Engine Marketing IV: Conversion Analysis

2010-02-19T15:23:00.001-08:00

"Beyond measuring where your website traffic originates, you'll want to keep track of..."

If you enjoyed our riffing on Confucius, you'll love what's next. Ladies and Gentlemen, Sir Winston Churchill will now address your needs for Search Engine Marketing!

Amazed that a man whose heyday was several decades before there was an Internet has so much to say on the topic? This will take four installments:

"To improve is to change; to be perfect is to change often."
"Continuous effort - not strength or intelligence - is the key to unlocking our potential. "
"We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give."
"However beautiful the strategy, you should occasionally look at the results."

Today, #4:

We know a guy who works in the restaurant business whose entire strategy comes down to one phrase: "Inspect, don't expect." There's an SEM equivalent: Check Your Results.

Traffic comes from many sources. Don't you want to know from where, and which of your efforts are paying off (the question was rhetorical; of course you do!)? Think for a moment about the many ways site promotion happens. Here's a quick list:

Websites
SEO
Off-page factors (linking strategies)
More comprehensive SEM activities (Adwords, Pay-Per-Click, etc.)
Blogging
Newsletters and direct email
Other offline marketing

We have techniques to measure ALL of these—yes, there are even tricks to measure your web traffic from offline marketing!

Beyond measuring where your website traffic originates, you'll want to keep track of a some important measurements:

Conversion: What's conversion? Conversion is when a visitor is CONVERTED into something more. It could be a direct sale, a viable lead, a client, an appointment, or even something as simple as an entry on your mailing list.

Aggregation: A fancy word that in SEM terms means traffic origination measurement combined with and compared against conversions to figure out what return you get from each source of traffic.

Once you have monitored the above metrics (and potentially more metrics, depending on your business needs), it's time to do the...

Fine Tuning: The complexity of what we do at CDLLC starts to creep in here, but here's one simple concept —SEM takes time, both because it's a cumulative process and because you need to resist the temptation to cut corners by altering many variables simultaneously. Change one variable at a time and wait for results. Changing too many things at once as you pursue SEM Nirvana removes your ability to identify the changes that lead to positive results.

And you thought this was easy. It is: Just contact us, and we'll do the rest . . .

-Crockett Dunn
Owner CDLLC

-Jeff Yablon
Chief Operating Office, CDLLC
President
Answer Guy Central Business Support Services

Posted via web from crockettdunn's posterous

2010-02-18T17:17:00.001-08:00

bleeding edge:
http://ping.fm/PpGRl

"We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give," or, Winston Chrchill & Search Engine Marketing III

2010-02-17T11:54:00.001-08:00

At CDLLC we've been building web sites for a long time- since the WWW was just a little baby...

Enjoyed our riffing on Confucius? You'll love this: Ladies and Gentlemen, Sir Winston Churchill will now address your needs for Search Engine Marketing!

Amazed that a man whose heyday was several decades before there was an Internet has so much to say on the topic? This will take four installments:

"To improve is to change; to be perfect is to change often."
"Continuous effort - not strength or intelligence - is the key to unlocking our potential. "
"We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give."
"However beautiful the strategy, you should occasionally look at the results."

Today, #3:

At CDLLC we've been building web sites for a long time- since the WWW was just a little baby. And we're proud of our work. Some of our clients have sites designed with very simple purposes in mind, while others are quite complex, and broad in their scope. But one thing they all have in common is that they look good . . . to the person or company they represent.

Hopefully, of course, they also look go to the people who stumble upon them. And people that we drive there with SEM efforts. But since others' reactions are tricky to gauge, the way a web site looks really does have to reflect the personality of the party displaying their corporate personality before anything else.

The problem with this is the potential for your web site to become a vanity project.

How do you create a web site without it becoming just an advertisement? How do you create a website that attracts people rather than talking at them?

The answer is simple. Be honest. Share information. Just like life, you gotta give to get.

So whether it's a newsletter, website, or blog, share, share, SHARE knowledge and information. Similar to this new world community and global economy we are living in, the days of business information protectionism are limited.

Offer something to your prospective target. In doing so, you get to prove your expertise while increasing the likelihood of winning business... and loyalty.

To echo what we said in our previous post. Publish, publish, publish. Tell people what you know about the things they're interested in, and keep your target audience in mind , rather than writing to existing customers and vendors already in your industry.

People will notice.

-Crockett Dunn
Owner CDLLC

-Jeff Yablon
Chief Operating Office, CDLLC
President
Answer Guy Central Business Support Services

Posted via web from crockettdunn's posterous

2010-02-16T19:43:00.001-08:00

the time thing has bugged me since middle-school, and the REAL problem: every time I asked a teacher or bring this up to someone, THEY GET REALLY BORED.

Concert is starting now. Bye.

2010-02-16T19:40:00.001-08:00

fascinated that time is called primary unit by SI, but time can't "be" w/o motion. there has to be distance comparison (clock hands, crystal vibrations, planet orbit, light particle).

2010-02-16T09:20:00.001-08:00

Monitor #3 is dying. My left eye is strained from the purple-red pre-death monitor syndrome.

"Continuous effort - not strength or intelligence - is the key to unlocking our potential," — Winston Churchill's SEM Part II

2010-02-15T08:07:00.001-08:00

In the previous segment we talked about the need to publish regularly. The success of your SEM efforts depends on it. Today, we extend that point to include the way you say things in your published works and what you say.

If you enjoyed our riffing on Confucius, you'll love what's next. Ladies and Gentlemen, Sir Winston Churchill will now address your needs for Search Engine Marketing!

Amazed that a man whose heyday was several decades before there was an Internet has so much to say on the topic? This will take four installments:

"To improve is to change; to be perfect is to change often."
"Continuous effort - not strength or intelligence - is the key to unlocking our potential. "
"We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give."
"However beautiful the strategy, you should occasionally look at the results."

Today, #2:

In the previous segment we talked about the need to publish regularly. The success of your SEM efforts depends on it. Today, we extend that point to include the way you say things in your published works and what you say:

You say important things repeatedly.

Do you remember how many time you were told "look both ways before you cross the street!" as a young child? The message sunk in. We all know way more about Coca-Cola and McDonalds than matters, but we sure do remember who they are. And like these examples of repetitive message delivery your job in SEM is to drive points home over and over again.

Whatever you feel about that message, the point is clear, isn't it? Tell a story. Tell it again. Then look for new ways to tell the story and new places to tell it in. Wash, Rinse, Repeat. Which, naturally, brings us to budget.

We've seen businesses "do search engine marketing" once, and then stop. And it works! But just like with Yellow Pages advertising, the SEM work you do has a limited shelf life. Buy a Yellow Pages advertisement just once and it will become less useful when next year's version of the book comes out and progressively less useful over time as people replace the book that has your listing in it with a newer copy that has no such listing. And when was the last time you looked in a Yellow Pages, anyway?

The Internet has all but replaced that way of looking for people to do work for you, and a new version of the Internet "comes out" every single day. Churchill was right about that continuous effort thing, don't you think?

Lacking continuous effort, you'll ride an SEM campaign up the search engine rankings, sink soon thereafter, and then then sink even further until you start your SEM efforts again. And each time you allow a sink cycle you make it a little harder to climb back up.

Budget for Adwords, Pay Per Click, Sponsored Links, Off-page links, Blogging, and on-page optimization, implement them all, and stay on top of them. Or . . . you guessed it . . . let us take care of the whole thing for you.

-Crockett Dunn
Owner CDLLC

-Jeff Yablon
Chief Operating Office, CDLLC
President
Answer Guy Central Business Support Services

Posted via web from crockettdunn's posterous

"To Improve is to Change; To Be Perfect is to Change Often," or, Winston Churchill and Web Content

2010-02-13T09:15:00.001-08:00

If you enjoyed our riffing on Confucius, you'll love what's next. Ladies and Gentlemen, Sir Winston Churchill will now address your needs for Search Engine Marketing!

Amazed that a man whose heyday was several decades before there was an Internet has so much to say on the topic? This will take four installments:

"To improve is to change; to be perfect is to change often."
"Continuous effort - not strength or intelligence - is the key to unlocking our potential. "
"We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give."
"However beautiful the strategy, you should occasionally look at the results."

Today, #1:

Anyone in business—especially the INTERNET business—over the past 15 or 20 years knows that the only real constant in business is that there is no constant; you must count on change being a continuous state of being. Agility in coping with that change is important for all businesses on many levels. In search engine marketing terms that level is your web content.

Search engines like you more the more often your content changes.

Search Engine Marketing is the art/science of getting your content ranked highly, in the places you need it to stand out. While there are many other factors involved (and we take them all into account) in getting you top ranking in Google and other search engines the single most important one is fresh content. An unchanging, static, stale website will torpedo your efforts. And unlike the unreliable German U-Boat torpedoes Churchill so easily countered, this one will sink you fast.

Truly, short of a major offense getting you thrown out of the search engine indexes having a stale site is the worst thing you can do for search engine ranking .

While "perfect" is too strong a word to associate with a single factor of change, I can say with confidence that CDLLC can and will get you a perfect (#1) listing in the search engine(s) of your choice. But it starts with content.

Bottom line—publish, publish much, and publish often. This is the easiest, most common sense thing you can do for your search engine ranking. We can even help you create content if you aren't sure where to start.

And then, we'll take care of the rest. Churchill may not have been willing to forecast the upcoming actions of Russia, but we can forecast better search engine rankings—and make them happen.

-Crockett Dunn
Owner CDLLC

-Jeff Yablon
Chief Operating Office, CDLLC
President
Answer Guy Central Business Support Services

Posted via web from crockettdunn's posterous

"Never trouble another for what you can do yourself." -Thomas Jefferson and Web Design

2010-02-10T15:30:00.001-08:00

In his letter to Thomas Jefferson Smith in 1825, Thomas Jefferson included the following two items in his Decalogue of Canons for Observation in Practical Life:

"Never put off until tomorrow what you can do today."
"Never trouble another for what you can do yourself."

Just as with our friend Confucius, TJ's wisdom applies to your business web presence.

In web context the translation is this: Eliminate the bottlenecks that slow down and reduce efficiency in your web content publishing process. i.e. : reduce unneeded expenses of both time and resources.

Everyone is a content contributor—or needs to be. Why send word processor documents to a webmaster for translation to "Internet language," when you can handle most of the work yourself in your content management system (CMS) , having authors self publish? Yes, there are times when you might want the kind of relationship with your webmaster where he does certain things for you that you could do yourself. However, if someone's time is more valuable spent programming and working on databases and web servers than acting as an administrative assistant, shouldn't you strive to work that way?

With CMS, you can often publish web information as easily as you can write it on a word processor. That's the kind of process CDLLC implements, and you should ask us how simple it would be for us to do it for you.

Save time. Increase efficiency. Save money. Make your life and those of the people you work with easier and more satisfying.

Or just keep throwing away money instead; your choice.

-Crockett Dunn
Owner CDLLC

-Jeff Yablon
Chief Operating Office, CDLLC
President
Answer Guy Central Business Support Services

Posted via web from crockettdunn's posterous

CMS is a Beautiful Thing, or Confucianism Part IV

2010-02-08T09:22:00.001-08:00

"Good people distinguish things in terms of categories and groups."

In prior Confucianism-inspired posts, we talked about the benefits of using Content Management (CMS) at your website. We've made the case for organizing, ordering, and arranging web pages, so now onto breaking bottlenecks in controlling costs and maintaining efficiency while moving forward with today's standards. With navigation management addressed, here are some other bottlenecks that we eliminate by using a CMS:

1) Without CMS, each time you redesign the website look-and-feel you create a need for extensive programming. This becomes both a people management and a cost issue.
2) Now add the need for multiple contributing editors/authors having to get their content to a "webmaster," and costs explode. Again.
3) Adding functionality, like forms, e-commerce, and online payment? More programming and webmaster skills get added, too. A CMS reduces the costs associated with these—tremendously.

CMS makes life easier by separating/disentangling content editing, copy writing, and navigational elements of your web site, design, and functionality.

1) Design becomes a separate module- a wrapper for the web pages. With CMS you change this design wrapper in one place, and the changes take effect globally throughout every page of the website.
2) As many content editors as you need can login, protect pages, and change just the content they're responsible for without the risk of breaking the design.
3) Applications that "do stuff" are programmed and arranged independently, so modification and re-programming creates no risk to the rest of the website.
4) And while we've already mentioned this, it bears repeating for the cost savings it brings you: changing the order and hierarchy of the navigational links becomes as simple as making a few clicks with a mouse.

Sounds almost like magic, right? With a CMS, the magic comes from putting all your stuff inside a database, grouped and categorized with an eye toward Internet presentation as needed to suit your company's needs relative to customers, vendors, employees, and whomever else stumbles upon it. The pieces are stored separately so they don't get entangled with one another, and "global site elements", like search engine META tags, polls, online payment, and sign-up forms are all grouped separately so changes to them only have to be made once!

And with a database, EVERYTHING is easier to categorize and group. For example, if you set up and write an FAQ section and it grows unwieldy, it's stored in the database so modification of the Q&A is a snap.

CMS is all about simplicity. How much so? Let's take our buddy's words, and summarize them as though he was hosting a radio program, circa 2010:

Confucius, out. (thanks, Ryan Seacrest!)

-Crockett Dunn
Owner CDLLC

-Jeff Yablon
Chief Operating Office, CDLLC
President, Answer Guy Central Business Support Services

Posted via web from crockettdunn's posterous

From Web Pages to Web Sites, or Confuciansim Part III

2010-02-05T10:42:00.001-08:00

"Good people order and arrange" Had enough Confucius yet? 'Cause that old dude had the Internet pegged! http://cdllc.blogspot.com/2010/02/from-web-pages-to-web-sites-or.html

Posted via web from crockettdunn's posterous

Planning Your Business Web Presence, or Confucianism Part II

2010-02-04T11:29:00.001-08:00

"Study the Past if You Would Divine the Future" - Confucius. http://ping.fm/N3Pqb

Nostalgia

2010-01-25T15:27:00.000-08:00

I remember when this was totally cutting edge and like the coolest:

Oddly, this was cool, too:

Then again, this was really cool, too (you know the guy from Pulp Fiction?):

Happy Holidays

2009-12-24T11:51:00.001-08:00

It says, "Wishing you happiness and time to 'paws' and celebrate life this holiday season."

Analisa & Crocket Summited Mt. Tallac... who'd a thunk it?

2009-07-15T16:56:00.000-07:00

# # #

This just in: photos from the real photographer in the family:

MORE HERE:

http://www.flickr.com/drmarkidunn/

# # #
Newsflash.

Pictures of our own hike/climb, here (http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=91701&id=531650997). Look at the freakin' terrain!!

# # #
A few hours ago Analisa and I just climbed a mountain.

I had NO idea what I was getting into. Analisa said we were going "hiking."

Just look at that monster!

Seriously, though, I'm glad I had the experience and look forward to many more... I'm hooked!

In another life, I have ice-climbed tethered to a crevasse-crossing team, camped on glaciers, canoed/portaged hundreds of miles of the border waters in the Canadian Quetico wilderness area, survived being trapped by mudslides from a tropical storm in NC's Pisgah forest, hiked Washington, Oregon, climbed Mt. Baker, and so on, etc.

However . . . my lifestyle has become, let's just say, a *bit* more sedentary as of late. I run a web technology gig (cdLLC) that involves lots of management via phone & email.

Translation: Much time is spent with my rear-end planted to a chair (when I'm not working from the world-famous internet treadmill workstation). I digress...

This was a BRUTAL hike/climb.

It's only five miles up, but at times, the trails seemed as if they were actually "booby-trapped" to roll an ankle or send a hiker plummeting off a rock face!

Loose rocks everywhere. Some small, creating the effect of hiking a trail paved with marbles, and others large and jagged.

And every rock is a surprise :). "Are you a loose rock, a wobbly rock, perhaps a foot entrapment rock?"

Snowbanks turning the trail into mud at the narrowest point where there is sheer mountain wall drop-off to the other side. "Keep your hands on the snow and lean AWAY from the death drop."

Here is a website that tells the story of our journey (exact same trail). Read it if you want, but definitely check out the photos. They are amazing panoramas of the view, and great shots of the unique rock formations

http://www.tahoebackcountry.net/hiking/desolation/tallac.htm (credit: all photos on this post are from the aforementioned site)

It was not until we returned that I discovered this hike is rated a 10/10- the black diamond of climbs.

Now I feel victorious and am psyched up again.

Kilimanjaro, here I come!

Oh hey- I almost forgot. ATT HSPDA net access is available at the summit and many other trail segments, so you can video chat to prove you really made it. Or bring along the laptop, set up camp, and park your mobile office there for a few days.

Good times

Iran prepared to track dissent on social networks - Washington Times

2009-06-20T01:29:00.001-07:00

Iran prepared to track dissent on social networks - Washington Times

Shared via AddThis

Funny is Everywhere, Installment II

2009-06-10T10:24:00.000-07:00

The fine print is not completely legible at this resolution, so I have transcribed it for you.

The copy reads,"Please keep away. Thor, mighty god of thunder and lightning, locked securely inside (for past several thousand years). Kindly do not open as your immediate death, followed by 40-day-rain with flooding will result.

I think it's weird, you know, that it's just right there at a mall in Pacific Grove.

The Libertarian Farmer and the Federal DEA Agent

2009-06-09T09:06:00.000-07:00

A DEA officer stops at a ranch in Montana , and talks with an old
rancher. He tells the rancher, 'I need to inspect your ranch for
illegally grown drugs.

The old rancher says, 'Okay, but do not go in that field over there'
as he points out the location.

The DEA officer verbally explodes saying, 'Mister, I have the
authority of the Federal Government with me.' Reaching into his rear
pants pocket, he removes his badge and proudly displays it to the
farmer. 'See this badge? This badge means I am allowed to go wherever
I wish...on any land. No questions asked or answers given. Have I made
myself clear? Do you understand?'

The old rancher nods politely, apologizes, and goes about his chores.

A short time later, the old rancher hears loud screams and sees the
DEA officer running for his life chased close behind by the rancher's
prize bull. With every step the bull is gaining ground on the officer,
and it seems likely that he'll get "horned" before he reaches safety.
The officer is clearly terrified.

The old rancher throws down his tools, runs to the fence and yells at
the top of his lungs.....

'Your badge! Show him your badge!

The weird sh... err, "stuff," that I think about

2009-06-07T10:38:00.000-07:00

This is very real, quantum physics and string theory. A change in one of a separated sub-atomic particle pair, up to a mile apart, triggers a change in the other. There is a connection in a realm we do are yet to perceive. Subatomic particles also travel backwards in time.

The content below is the best analogy to help in the understanding of higher dimensions/different universes/things beyond our perception, the foundation for Stephen Hawking's string theory. Yet it was written in 1884, 6 years before the invention of the bra, around the time of the plank road boom, I believe.

FLATLAND SUMMARY:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flatland

The copyright has expired and it's free for all to redistribute:

FULL TEXT:
http://xahlee.org/flatland/index.html

AUDIO VERSION:
http://librivox.org/flatland-a-romance-of-many-dimensions-by-edwin-abbott-abbott

In closing, a quote by Albert Einstein:

"The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and all science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead: his eyes are closed."

I might need to go back to school to satisfy my lust for wonder. And this time I could party AND study!

Funny is everywhere

2009-04-30T19:28:00.001-07:00

From: http://www.flickr.com/photos/crockettdunn/3489619255/

DANGER!

While body surfing in flames, take extra care to prevent placing the flame source in the line of your surf ride.

Primary Sources- I'm a big fan

2009-04-20T18:35:00.000-07:00

From The Huffington Post, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/04/16/bush-torture-memos-releas_n_187867.html

Holy shit!

The media...

...the POWER...

... THE MEDIA'S POWER TO SHAPE OUR THOUGHTS!

[I wish I controlled the media!]

Check the spin:

On some sites, these are referred to as "Obama's Torture Memos."

Other sites say, "Bush Torture Memos released by Obama."

Objective sites refer to, "Torture memos."

Wow. I wish I controlled the media. No, I wish our 2 party system would GET OVER THEMSELVES AND THEIR CHILDISH WIN-LOSE WORLDVIEW!

Anyway, I think they're all here, for those of you who are interested in forming your own opinions from primary sources.

Worth a listen

2009-04-12T17:16:00.000-07:00

from:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HvFz8ghX4Gs

"Interfaith... East-West... Peace," or, "Picking up the slack for the US Government."

2009-03-28T17:39:00.000-07:00

Fed up with U.S. partisan politics? NGOs (non-government organizations) can make a difference. Here is an example:

From: http://www.jordantimes.com/index.php?news=15251

King briefs leading CEOs on reforms

Their Majesties King Abdullah and Queen Rania on
Sunday pose for a photo with members of the Society of International Business
Fellows (Photo by Yousef Allan)

AMMAN (JT) - Their Majesties King Abdullah and Queen Rania
received on Sunday a delegation from the Society of International Business
Fellows currently on a visit to the Kingdom.

At the meeting, King Abdullah briefed the delegates on the performance and
competitiveness of the Jordanian economy, highlighting the economic reforms the
country has embarked on over the past few years as well as its efforts to
attract projects and investments.

The Monarch also noted the steps Jordan has taken to mitigate the effects
of the global economic crisis on the strength of its economy.

Created in the US city of Atlanta in 1981, the society is a not-for-profit
entity that comprises about 450 directors and CEOs from around the world.

On politics, the King underlined the need to exert all possible efforts to
bring about peace in the region based on the two-state solution, which, he said,
is the sole solution to end the conflict in the region.

The two-state solution, the King said, is the key to addressing the
problems the Middle East faces.

Referring to the Common Word Initiative, which has become the leading
project for interfaith dialogue between Christians and Muslims, King Abdullah
emphasised the need to build bridges of communication and understanding between
followers of different religions.

In response to a question, Queen Rania said Jordan will continue to invest
in education and provide the best possible environment for educating Jordanians
and enhancing teachers’ effectiveness.

In this regard, the Queen referred to the Madrasati initiative she launched
in April 2008 which aims to make education a social responsibility and improve
the conditions of public schools across the Kingdom.

Queen Rania also stressed the importance of enhancing concord and
humanitarian cooperation in addressing misunderstandings and misconceptions.

23 March 2009

"Sustainable Building Solutions," or, "One Button for Pee-pee and One Button for Poo-poo"

2009-03-23T11:41:00.001-07:00

More later, but wow!

I was out of the loop for a few weeks, and I just learned my sister Rebecca Bryant and associates have started a Sustainable Building Solutions green architectural consulting firm.

I may have mentioned, I used to think my big sister was a big meanie until I realized she was a genius (see related links below). While studying at CU Boulder in the early 1990's, she somehow saw the future and was hammering on me and family about all the green stuff that everyone is talking about today. 20 years ahead of mainstream America [little brother aside: I saw the future the same way for the internet, but that's another story].

Now that I have lived in California for some time, experienced "running out of electricity," (rolling blackouts), and water rationing, I have a great respect for Green Design and Green Consulting. If you take a second to think about it (or two gulf wars), it really just makes sense.

I have to admit, when I visit Rebecca and hang around her home on the coast near Mobile, AL, there's a sense that something is just right about the way her green home just fits right into the lush, forest-like surroundings. There is a sense of peace about it. I guess that's what Sustainability and Green Building are all about.

Almost forgot... the company is http://www.watershed.pro/.

Related links:

"a weekend of record breakers!" or, "Better Wang Parameters!"

2009-03-22T12:14:00.000-07:00

One of the simple joys of being an IT professional is watching the spam/counter-spam wars, specifically, the metaphors, synonyms, and other methods used by the snake-oil sales-people to slip through the spam filters.

Just two days after announcing Crock-Town's new, most awesomest t-shirt, I am pleased to announce the following.

After almost two years, the #1 silliest spam subject, "your penis make shadow like tree," http://crockettdunn.blogspot.com/2007/09/penis-make-shadow-like-tree.html, is being bumped to #2.

Our new winner?

Based on pushing the limits of ambiguity and slang while still retaining comprehensibility:

"Better wang parameters!"

The subject of an email I received minutes ago.

[If only we could harness the power of these wordsmiths for good.]

newest most awesomest t-shirt

2009-03-20T09:35:00.000-07:00

Sometimes...

It's the simple things that get me through the day.

With that, I present you with the official new favorite shirt of Crock-Town:

Close call...

2009-02-27T01:00:00.000-08:00

Thank heavens I noticed this sticker just before I was going to seal buttercup in a plastic bin and leave her in the car with the windows up.

I think I shall start a collection of these absurd disclaimer stickers, starting with the "don't pull the vending machine on top of you and die," one

I fear for the intelligence of our society.

Steelcase walkstation vs. Home-cooked Internet Treadmill Workstation & Home Gym

2009-02-24T12:52:00.000-08:00

Anyone catch Steelcase's Walkstation featured on Regis and Kelly last week?

Say it with me now:

"Crockett Dunn sees the future."

(re: the Crock-station Internet Treadmill & Wired Home Gym, conceived in 2003, featured here http://internet-treadmill-workstation.blogspot.com/2008/12/welcome-statement-of-purpose.html).

Steelcase's first generation exer-station was also featured in TIME a while back, "DANGER: Walking While Working," found here: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1862448,00.html.

My editorial didn't make the cut, but seriously- being married to Analisa, a medical professional, I am keenly aware of our health as a society and the costs associated therewith. Not only that, being a knowledge worker in the midst of the post-information-revolution/gamer/obesity epidemic in America, the message is as seriously as a heart attack (yes, pun shamelessly intended).

Salut!

a wee bit more biz talk

2009-02-21T17:38:00.000-08:00

To all of the loyal members of the CDLLC Global Alliance (you know who you are):

I want to express my sincere gratitude for your work: your commitment to delivering top quality software, on-time, and to specification exceeds that of the "average" e-lancers out there, and I am glad to have the opportunity to work with you.

This growing group of class-act software developers, graphic designers, CMS administrators (YOU) has enabled CDLLC to take on a tremendous amount of new work as businesses scramble to cut their costs and streamline their operations... basically cutting back on the "brick-and-mortar," if not entirely closing that storefront, and going totally virtual.

In closing, I could not have done it without all of you guys and girls around the world, and I look forward to feeding you more work and further strengthening the team.

Rock on!

world through the eyes ofa business owner

2009-02-18T19:20:00.001-08:00

I recently received this email from my super-conservative, ultra-libertarian friend and found it interesting. It's a little disjointed because of the number of topics covered: mixing in the concepts of welfare, employees' perceptions of business owners, and politics. But it's still worth a read, in my humble opinion

# # #
A Bosses letter to his Employees...

To All My Valued Employees,

There have been some rumblings around the office abut the future of this company and, more specifically, your job. As you know, the economy has changed for the worse and presents many challenges. However, the good news is this: The economy doesn't pose a threat to your job. What does threaten your job however, is the changing political landscape in this country.

However, let me tell you some little tidbits of fact which might help you decide what is in your best interest.

First, while it is easy to spew rhetoric that casts employers against employees, you have to understand that, for every business owner, there is a Back Story. This back story is often neglected and overshadowed by what you see and hear. Sure, you see me park my Mercedes outside. You've seen my big home at last year's Christmas party. I'm sure; all these flashy icons of luxury conjure up some idealized thoughts about my life.

However, what you don't see is the BACK STORY:
I started this company 28 years ago. At that time, I lived in a 300 square foot studio apartment for 3 years. My entire living apartment was converted into an office so I could put forth 100% effort into building a company, which by the way, would eventually employ you.

My diet consisted of Ramen Pride noodles because every dollar I saved went back into this company. I drove a rusty Toyota Corolla with a defective transmission. I didn't have time to date. Often times, I stayed home on weekends, while my friends went out drinking and partying. In fact, I was married to my business -- hard work, discipline, and sacrifice.

Meanwhile, my friends got jobs. They worked 40 hours a week and made a modest $50K a year and spent every dime they earned. They drove flashy cars and lived in expensive homes and wore fancy designer clothes. Instead of hitting the Nordstrom's for the latest hot fashion item, I was trolling through the discount store extracting any clothing item that didn't look like it was birthed in the 70's. My friends refinanced their mortgages and lived a life of luxury. I, however, did not. I put my time, my money, and my life into a business with a vision that eventually, some day, I too, will be able to afford these luxuries my friends supposedly had.

So, while you physically arrive at the office at 9am , mentally check in at about noon , and then leave at 5pm , I don't. There is no "off" button for me. When you leave the office, you are done and you have a weekend all to yourself. I unfortunately do not have the freedom. I eat, and breathe this company every minute of the day. There is no rest. There is no weekend. There is no happy hour. Every day this business is attached to my hip like a 1 year old special-needs child. You, of course, only see the fruits of that garden -- the nice house, the Mercedes, the vacations... you never realize the Back Story and the sacrifices I've made.

Now, the economy is falling apart and I, the guy that made all the right decisions and saved his money, have to bail-out all the people who didn't. The people who overspent their paychecks suddenly feel entitled to the same luxuries that I earned and sacrificed more than a decade of my life for.

Yes, business ownership has is benefits but the price I've paid is steep and not without wounds. Unfortunately, the cost of running this business, and employing you, is starting to eclipse the threshold of marginal benefit and let me tell you why:

I am being taxed to death and the government thinks I don't pay enough. I have state taxes. Federal taxes. Property taxes. Sales and use taxes. Payroll taxes. Workers compensation taxes. Unemployment taxes. Taxes on taxes. I have to hire a tax man to manage all these taxes and then guess what? I have to pay taxes for employing him. Government mandates and regulations and all the accounting that goes with it, now occupy most of my time. On Oct 15th, I wrote a check to the US Treasury for $288,000 for quarterly taxes. You know what my "stimulus" check was? Zero.. Nada. Zilch.

The question I have is this: Who is stimulating the economy? Me, the guy who has provided 14 people good paying jobs and serves over 2,200,000 people per year with a flourishing business? Or the single mother, sitting at home pregnant with her fourth child waiting for her next welfare check? Obviously, government feels the latter is the real economic stimulus of this country.

The fact is, if I deducted (Read: Stole) 50% of your paycheck you'd quit and you wouldn't work here. I mean, why should you? That's nuts. Who wants to get rewarded only 50% of their hard work? Well, I agree, which is why your job is in jeopardy.

Here is what many of you don't understand ... to stimulate the economy you need to stimulate what runs the economy. Had suddenly, the government mandated to me that I didn't need to pay taxes guess what? Instead of depositing that $288,000 into the Washington black-hole, I would have spent it, hired more employees, and generated substantial economic growth. My employees would have enjoyed the wealth of that tax cut in the form of promotions and better salaries. But - you can forget it now.

When you have a comatose man on the verge of death, you don't defibrillate and shock his thumb, thinking that will bring him back to life, do you? You defibrillate his heart! Business is at the heart of America and always has been. To restart it, you must stimulate it, not kill it. Suddenly, the power brokers in Washington believe the poor of America are the essential drivers of the American economic engine. Nothing could be further from the truth; this is the type of change YOU can keep.

So where am I going with all this? It's quite simple. If any new taxes are levied on me, or my company, my reaction will be swift and simple. I'll fire you. I'll fire your co-workers. You can then plead with the government to pay for your mortgage, your SUV, and your child's future. Frankly, it isn't my problem any more.

Then, I will close this company down, move to another country, and retire. You see, I'm done. I'm done with a country that penalizes the productive and gives to the unproductive. My motivation to work, and to provide jobs, will be destroyed and, with it, will be my citizenship.

So, if you lose your job, it won't be at the hands of the economy; it will be at the hands of a political hurricane that swept through this country, steam-rolled the constitution, and will have changed its landscape forever. If that happens, you can find me sitting on a beach, retired, and with no employees to worry about....

Signed,
THE BOSS

US Airways Flight 1549 Air Traffic Control Audio, Video

2009-02-16T12:06:00.001-08:00

I just listened to this and was very moved.

I had read that there had never been a zero-casualty water ditch. I have also read that water ditching is not even included as a scenario in the flight training simulators anymore.

This is powerful, when you hear the air traffic controller say, "they're gone," at the end, when in fact, as we all know, they they were not at all "gone," but very much "there."

If you are interested in this topic, here is an article and audio about Air Traffic Controller awards, including audio and commentary about amazing events, including a traffic controller talking down a daughter after the pilot (her father), and the mother, both suffered incapacitating medical emergencies.

Story & Audio from NPR, here: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4654062

Annoyed with Your Push-to-Talk Button? Re-map it to MS Voice Command.

2009-02-08T09:06:00.000-08:00

Not exactly breaking news, but during this flight (Hello again Denver!), I just got around to re-mapping my ATT Tilt's bothersome PTT (Push to Talk) button. You'll need to backup your registry and be enough of a tinkerer to know how to edit the registry in Windows Mobile.

PROCEED AT YOUR OWN RISK. INCORRECTLY EDITING THE REGISTRY CAN KILL YOUR PHONE.

Background:

There is a button on the top left of the HTC Kaiser a.k.a. 8125. With the, "ATT Tilt," branded version of this phone, this button, when depressed, asks something along the lines of, "Are you sure you wish to activate Push-to-Talk? Additional service charges will be incurred."

I'm not a walkie-talkie, "where you at?" kind of guy, so I do not wish to activate and purchase PTT Service. Heck, even if I wanted that capability, I could probably find some freeware IM/Voip app to work just fine, rather than purchase a new "service."

This reminds me- post a comment if you would like me to create a blog post about the Internet Connection Sharing app already built into Windows Mobile. There is no need to purchase a separate "computer" data plan and PC card. With a standard USB cable and Windows Mobile, the functionality is already available.

Here is the good stuff:

REMAP PTT, FROM,
http://forum.xda-developers.com/archive/index.php/t-335995.html

Worked for me. You have to read the whole post.
For my own purposes as well, here are the consolidated steps to take. Until someone improves on this, I keep all this stuff in a directory so I can reconfigure my device as necessary. Here goes...

I think the trick is the PTT settings take precedence when the device boots up so delete the PTT registry settings under HKLM/Services/PTT.

Delete the whole sub tree, then
From HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Shell\Keys
Add a new key called "40C6"Add a string under the key called "Name" with the value "Button 6"

Add a new key called "40C7"Add a string under this key called "Name" with the value "Button 6 (hold)"
(Note, do not enter the quotes, thare are to delimit what belongs in the registry entry)

Go to the Buttons settings and assign a program to the new entries. [Crockett note: I use MS Voice Command].

Do a soft reset [Crockett note: use a paperclip or pen to hit the reset button in the tiny pinhole on the bottom of the phone, or take the battery out] which will remove the PTT settings from the buffer and enable your key changes.

Thanks for all the help.

I'd say the only caveat is if you some day want to use the PTT features, it would be a good idea to take an inventory of what is under the PTT node in the registry.

Crockett Dunn [via Mobile Device]

The Real Rebecca Dunn Bryant

2009-02-07T11:18:00.000-08:00

[REPOST: update 2009.02.07: Check this out: http://www.al.com/business/press-register/insider.ssf?/base/business/1232878660174400.xml&coll=3 "You go green girl!]

I don't like my sister's name having a #5 result in Google, so here is some clarification- this is the Real Rebecca Dunn Bryant, as featured on her architecture firm's site, Walcott Adams Verneuille Architects, headquartered in Fairhope, AL: http://www.wavarchitects.com/

Rebecca's (the real Rebecca Dunn Bryant) profile can be found here:
www.wavarchitects.com/ab_detail.php?recordID=9

Gitmo

2009-01-31T19:48:00.000-08:00

Jump to ~5:36 in the video below. This is brilliant, using comedy to dissect the concept of terrorism, and how to win without declaring an indefinite war on it.

Related story: http://crockettdunn.blogspot.com/2007/06/end-of-era.html

I married a Spanish-Language Television STAR, w0ot!

2009-01-23T10:26:00.000-08:00

[continuation of this one layman's observation of the life of an MD, http://crockettdunn.blogspot.com/2007/02/woman-amazing.html]

This was totally spontaneous, on-the-spot, no prep... they just walked in and setup the lights and cameras:

La Doctora Marki-Dunn, Part I

La Doctora Marki-Dunn, Part II

CD

A Little ZEN to go with you iTunes GENIUS

2009-01-23T08:46:00.001-08:00

This morning on the treadmill, I was noting that I listen (pretty much every day) to Ah-Ha's, "Take on Me," in its entirety, simply because I am not warmed up enough mentally or physically to change or filter the music. [I suppose one day I will be shuffling toothless around with a walker singing the lyrics to this song with 100% accuracy.]

Anyway, iTunes has built in 3 varieties of "Shuffle By," but I need more.

Thus, I coined, "Zen Playlists"... every time you listen to a song within one of these playlists (filtered by play date), that song no longer meets the playlist criteria, and is removed from the list:

You can go back as far as you like in the past, depending on how your files are tagged, and you can go up to the prior year.

--CD

If you dig this kind of thing, see http://internet-treadmill-workstation.blogspot.com/.

most awesomest picture

2009-01-17T19:59:00.000-08:00

Not much time to post this month.... when it rains it pours (in a good way).

This is the best picture ever.

Flea from the Chili Peppers, totally in the zone. I like to imagine he's doing the solo from Stone Cold on Mother's Milk.

Compliments of the company formerly known as Groovetography, (http://michaelweintrob.com/portfolio/)

Michael, a high school colleague of mine, has a press pass and does this for a living- once sold a Rolling Stone cover I think, but there were other plans for the week of 9/11/2001.

Michael's success has led him to put his name on the company, http://michaelweintrob.com/

3 items:

Michale Weintrob takes incredible, one-of-a-kind photos
Michael Weintrob has a wicked-cool job: livin' the dream
I desperately want Michael, rather, Michael Weintrob Photography, (http://www.michaelweintrob.com), to sell me the high-res version of the above print.

Collectors- check out this "one of a kind" list: http://michaelweintrob.com/pdf/mweintrob_stock_list.pdf

BACK IN STOCK!!! Carnivorous Plant Set (top candidate for most awesomest 2009 list)

2009-01-10T11:06:00.000-08:00

BACK IN STOCK!!! Carnivorous Plant Set, from ThinkGeek.com:

Little Desktop Of Horrors...

Here at ThinkGeek, we truly understand you have needs. Especially at work where minutes often last hours and hours become days. You need to be entertained, you don't want your neurons to prematurely atrophy. You crave stimulation. You crave a Carnivorous desktop plant set. Perfect for the casual office worker who delights in watching insects slowly meet their makers as they are painfully digested by an engaging variety of meat-sucking flora. Nothing quite like it.

So what's our recommendation? Grab a set and grow your own collection of feared and famous carnivorous plants. This deluxe set has seeds from over ten varieties of carnivorous plants! Watch these fascinating plants grow into bug-eating monsters and delight in creating your own authentic bog with the included peat planting mix, blue Swamp Rocks, three Bog Buddies and full color decals. This rare and unusual collection of carnivorous plants will flourish for years in this specially designed terrarium with proper care...

Each Complete Kit Includes:

Growing Dome
Planting Mixture
Carnivorous Seed Pack:
- Venus Fly Trap
- Yellow Trumpet
- Hooded Pitcher Plant
- Purple Pitcher Plant
- Pale Trumpet
- Temperate Sundew Plants
- Cobra Lillies
3 Photo Decals
3 Bog Buddies
Swamp Rocks
Instructions and Information Manual

NOTE: Unlike Insta-Pets(TM)like Sea Monkeys or Triops, your carnivorous plant set will take several weeks to get started. But have patience friends, the blood-curdlingplant-on-insect action will be worth the wait! We guarantee it or pay us double!

2008 Year in Review: Crock-Town's "Most Awesomest" List

2009-01-07T17:38:00.000-08:00

Most awesomest people toys:

This RULES. If you know me, you know I tend to have quite an obsessive personality. This serves me very well while I am obsessed with a client's success. However, it can be a liability if I am obsessing over clearing Tony Hawk Pro Skater.

So this is the great thing: with these electronic RC helicopters, you only get about 10 minutes of batter life per charge... it's self limiting. The first time I circled the Christmast tree and landed, I felt like I "cleared a level" or "beat the boss" on a video game. Same as when I first lifted off downstairs and set her down upstairs.

Twin Engine, 3 Channels Chinook Helicopter

Images:

Temperature-Sensitive Color Changing Faucet Light

AND Shower Light!!!

Most awesomest dog toys:

In the past, I've been disappointed in dog toys, because the dog gets to have all the fun. This year, however, having moved into a town with abundant off-leash dog parks and open spaces, that has all changed. I'm not sure whether it is I or B-Rock who has the most fun when we play dog games.

Franklin Soft-strike Teeball & Mini-Wooden Bat:

I was a little disappointed. For some reason I can only find the mini-wooden bat with two multi-color balls at Longs Drugs out here in California. The multi-color action adds to the fun. Here is a customer image of one of the blue balls:

They also come in red and silver... TONS MORE FUN.

I don't know what's up, but I can't find a link to the mini-wooden bats online. It's like they go from foam directly to full-size wooden or aluminum.

Soft T-Ball + Mini Bat= GREAT FUN, because I can strike myself out very easily. But the memories of nailing the "sweet spot" on the bat and slamming a line drive past the 2nd base man bring me back to the greatest joys of my childhood. I find myself tossing the ball up (pitch to me), and saying, "B, do you like your sugar with coffee.... or CREAM!!!!!!" as I slam a homer!
Hyper Dog Sling Shot: 2 Ball Version:

Hyper Dog Sling Shot:4 Ball Version:

- Warning, this can be a lethal weapon. Note the fold out, assault-style wrist support.

Dog must always be out of the line of fire.

But the great thing about this is I get to play target practice. It's a lot like archery: calculating the ratio of drop to distance. So I setup a chair in my backyard (a taught, bouncy chair), and practice hitting it. The object fired from the sling shot, when it hits the chair just right, bounces directly back towards me at a 45 degree angle, letting B turn on a dime and chase the other way. Good times are had by all.

Perhaps the greatest thing about the HyperDog Sling Shot is that for each time it is broken, it only becomes more powerful (for I clip the torn rubber tubing even shorter).

Again, this packs some serious punch. Use with extreme caution- like old-school lawn darts.

The combination of these two toys makes me feel like a total mercenary bad-ass warrior when I arrive at the off-leash dog beach. Donning my camel-back hydrating backback, with bat in sheath behind my back, and high power sling shot locked and loaded in hand, I turn many heads. At first I was worried people would think I was going dog hunting or seal clubbing, but now I'm a regular and it's all good.

Happy new year everyone!

-Crockett

The Real Rebecca Dunn Bryant, cont'd

2008-12-13T18:18:00.000-08:00

The ratio of my big sister's skill set to her internet presence is still deemed unacceptable by my standards. Thus, here is an addendum to the original Rebecca Dunn Bryant (the original) post.

I say addendum rather than continuation as the title implies, because this is more of a prequel than a sequel.

Enjoy.

# # #

Rebecca Daughtry Dunn, soon (within just about a quarter century) to become Rebecca Dunn Bryant, was born back when grown-ups still wore bell bottoms... and not to be silly. I have pictures (are you listening Rebecca?), but that is for another forum another day.

I used to think my big sister was a big meanie, until I realized she was a genius.

Which is really funny, because I was the math science wizard in the family- master of all the easily quantifiable.

But true brilliance lies in a deeper understanding... the kind of understanding of truth accepted by the forebrain, midbrain, and hindbrain... the scientist, the lover/artist, and the caveman.

But I digress.

Back to what I was saying about, "until I realized she was a genius." Rebecca Daughtry Dunn (now closer to becoming Rebecca Dunn Bryant), attended university at C.U., commonly known as the University of Colorado at Boulder. She must have listened, read, and otherwise absorbed a lot, because from year 1 she was a changed woman.

Whew! This was the peak of what I perceived as her chief meanie phase. All this talk about sustainability and urgency and greenhouse and collaboration and blah blah blah blah blah...

I didn't want to hear it... I was big man on campus at Mountain Brook High School in Birmingham, Alabama. What do I care about all this crap? The cold war is over... woo hoo! (or booh hoo?)

If I have my math right (I'm going to get a real resume from sister soon), Rebecca Dunn Bryant graduated around 1996. Which sucked, because I could no longer go visit Colorado in summers anymore.

Some of my fondest memories are of building a factory out of raw materials found all around us (it's really cool- just like the stuff I learned in Civil Engineering in college, except you dig it up/chop down/harvest the stuff around you, then test it, until you find the acceptable building material properties).

Plus, it was just great to get away from EVERYTHING. One time, Myatt Harvill and I got barricaded in our tent by what turned out to be a cow. STOP LAUGHING... Everything is scary at night.

So I double-digressed.

Here's the deal: over the past decade, I have come to believe that the most powerful thing that can be affected in this world during one's life is to change the thinking of others. It is pretty much sad/tragic/pathetic that our political system has so much power of redefining words and drilling [by repetition], drilling [by repetition], drilling [by repetition], drilling [by repetition], ideas into our heads until we believe them (who thought oil when I said drilling?).

The second most obvious wielders of this power are the Television Commercial Advertisers and Product Placement people. No comment there. Trying out libertarianism.

Was that digression number 3? Back on track:

Rebecca Dunn kept telling me stuff about this "changing of thoughts," and SO much more, when she was in college, but I did NOT understand.

Meanwhile, Crockett Dunn was in college, too. And he/I took a course on architecture. To keep it short, this lead to my belief that the two most powerful jobs a human can hold in one's lifetime are architect or educator.... this is how one changes a society's thinking.

This is how one changes a society's thinking overtly, openly, kindly, graciously, POSITIVELY.

So now we've survived what I like to call, "Gulf War, Esquire," and somehow made it through Y2K (Buddy Dunn asked me if toilet paper would be affected by y2K. That was the funniest thing I'd heard in 18 months), and now we're in the middle of, "Gulf War II: Mission Accomplished."

At this same time, my sister, Rebecca Dunn Bryant, went first to C.U. and then to Tulane Architecture School, where she learned how to change the hearts and minds of fellow human beings with beauty and composition.

And she learned how not to take more than she gave. And she learned all the stuff that we all know deep inside, as I burnt myself out trying to "get ahead," in my business.

But the cray thing... she got all these certifications with words like GREEN, and LEED, and stuff that meant nothing to me- she got all these after college (is it called post-grad?), and they didn't mean anything to me.

Now, it appears my big meanie sister had it right all the time. Even FOX News routinely agrees with her! Green, LEED Certified, Sustainability....

That's when I realized Rebecca Dunn was not a meanie but a genius.

the case for DVR, and why TiVo has the best UI

2008-12-08T18:29:00.000-08:00

Protecting kids (and adults) from Commercial Advertisements on television is a life molding choice.

To illustrate, when I recently visited with family, my niece was telling us to be quiet during the commercials, telling us why she liked the commercial... and she knew what happened at the end.

At this point in my life, being a 8+ year DVR user, I resent having to watch any television commercial. Luckily, with TiVo, I do not have to.

Why do I resent the advertisements? Because they are sinister…. drilling into my conscious and subconscious mind what I should like/dislike, covet, or purchase;

Implying a new duster/mop/floor cleanser will save my marriage;

Telling me a new car will make me feel like an 18 year old man again.

Moreover, these are the same strategies of repetition that the Bush administration used to drill words into our minds like "WMD," "No Child Left Behind," and others. In fact, all good political strategists use these techniques.

And guess what? So does commercial television advertising. This is about as close to evil as you can get.

It takes away one's creativity and freedom of choice and signs you up to be a rat-race consumer member.

As it happens, that is why I choose TiVo as part of my internet desk station, where I can email and excercise simultaneously, or take a break and watch my

Riddle me this...

2008-12-07T12:04:00.001-08:00

I was told by a woman very close to me, that the to the left, reading "I shower naked," is "just not funny."

I do not understand this. This shirt is hilarious.

Furthermore, to add to my neverending confusion about this gender named female, the very same woman laughed aloud and said the t-shirt to the right, reading, "I'm naked," is hilarious.

Fully clothed and confused,

Crockett Dunn

Job Opportunity

2008-11-21T11:09:00.000-08:00

Ideal candidate for job will determine how to apply for the position.
01101100 00110011 [&&] M3Q= [&&] 103 108 111 [&&] 62 61 6c