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We're intelligent creatures. We know the basics for using our iMacs, and we can most definitely figure out how to eject a disk. If you're old-school Mac, you know you can drag the icon to the trash can, although that often instills momentary fear thinking, "I don't want to destroy that!" Then there are the basic options of clicking the little eject button beside the disk name in Finder, or right clicking on the icon and selecting "Eject". And for those of us that never even thought to look, the full-size keyboard for the iMac comes with an eject button in the upper right above the Delete key.
But like I mentioned, we're all intelligent creatures, and you didn't need me to point those out. Besides, you can find other solutions on Google. The one problem is they almost all rely on your iMac recognizing the DVD in the first place. What do you do when your iMac is being stubborn and won't recognize the DVD, and won't eject it either? You can reboot your system holding down the mouse button, but most of us don't really want to reboot. Here's a handy little one I just found. Open up Terminal (it's found in the Utilities folder in your Applications), then enter "drutil eject". Happy iMac-ing...
Social media is rapidly becoming every bit as important as having a website, in some cases even more important. Social media is all about people interacting with their personal networks online, through such sites as Facebook, Twitter, and Google+. People are talking, and they're probably talking about you and your business, which is why it's important to harness the power of social media. I'll be writing more about all of these soon, stay tuned for more articles about social media in the coming weeks.
In the meantime, if you're new to all this, it can easily become overwhelming. Here are a few resources for learning how to master Twitter:
- If you haven't figured it out yet, Twitter can be found here: http://twitter.com. Go create an account and start tweeting!
- The book, Twitter for Good: Change the World One Tweet at a Time
 by Claire Diaz Ortiz. While this was written for non-profit and fundraising organizations, it is applicable to any organization. This is a great place to start.
- Once you've mastered the basics, the next step is to figure out how to get more followers. http://twittertoolsbook.com/get-more-twitter-followers-ethically/
- "Going Viral" is how you get an exponential amount of exposure. http://twittertoolsbook.com/15-tactics-for-going-viral-on-twitter/
Happy tweeting!
A couple of years ago I developed a private library for housing scientific parameters, with the goal of sharing information and facilitating peer review of said parameters. It was a very detailed application with extensive regulations on what information was entered, how it was entered, and who was allowed access to view, edit or comment on each individual parameter. The part I found most intriguing was how they intended to use it for facilitating peer review. The goal was to make this the go-to source for parameters in this particular field, for scientists around the globe to share their data, and to review each other's research. Being married to a scientist but not one myself, I could only grasp at the implications, but it seemed pretty radical to me, and therefor exciting.
Unfortunately, that project is a closed project, so no one can see or evaluate it. However, for the first time today I just stumbled across another site with similar goals. The PLoS ONE online journal exists for the same reasons, although they target a much broader audience (all types of scientists), with limited requirements for data format and no restrictions on access. Fascinating!
http://bit.ly/nhtcy5
Do you ever wonder about the first impression visitors have of your site? What does the average person think when they stumble onto your site? Well wonder no more! CLUE is an app by Zurb that creates memory tests of your web page, then gives you the results. Remember my article about the "5 Second Rule"? You only have 5 seconds to capture a new visitor's attention when they first land on your site, or they will click away. CLUE gives the user 5.5 seconds to look at your site, then asks the user to jot down 5 things they remember about your site.
You can view the results of my site here: http://www.clueapp.com/50269+
Or learn more about CLUE here: http://bit.ly/p8Pwee
If you would like for me to run a CLUE test on your site, just ask! It's quick, easy and free!
If you sell products on your site, you need to be aware of how important those photos are, they can make or break the sale. This article has good information about how to improve your photos for little cost, and suggestions for what works well when incorporating video.
Facebook is better used as a customer-loyalty program, not a customer acquisition program. Some interesting facts:
- 84% of a typical brand's Facebook fans are existing customers
- Only 117 brands have over 1,000,000 fans
- Visits to an average website of a Fortune 100 company is down 23% from last year
- Facebook fan counts of major brands are 10 to 100 times higher than their websites' monthly unique visitor counts
- 52% of US Americans have Facebook accounts (even my dad!), 11% have Twitter accounts, and only 4% have geo-location accounts
What does this mean? Facebook needs to be an integral part of your online marketing plan, targeted at maintaining loyalty with your fans. Stay in touch with the people you know, get their feedback, reward them, but don't plan on Facebook getting you lots of new customers. Some, yes, but it's more useful at keeping the ones you have and increasing their loyalty.
http://adage.com/article/digital/brands-facebook-a-loyalty-program/229561/
A frequent question I'm asked by my clients is how to find the right keywords that people are searching with. My first answer is always, "Start with your common sense." Typically, you know your site's content better than anyone, because it's your area of expertise. If that's the case, you know the industry jargon. Now spend some time thinking about all of the different terms your customers use. That will give you the best start. However, there are more opportunities for expanding your list of keywords. Here are some good places to look:
- Keyword tool suggestions (such as Google AdWords Keyword Tool, if you're an AdWords customer)
- Similar/related sites, see what words they use
- Alternative search query suggestions in ranking results (see the bottom of the list in Google searches)
- The dictionary and thesaurus
- Top ranking pages (competitor sites that rank better than yours)
- Wikipedia and other authoritative sites
- Books on the topic
An interesting article on how to write search engine optimized copy for your site (and where several of the above ideas came from) can be found here: http://searchengineland.com/seo-copywriting-tips-optimizing-for-multiple...
Interesting article, written for the travel industry but applicable to all industries. It offers three basic steps in marketing to build customers' trust, that all come down to being trustworthy, behaving in such a way they believe in your integrity, reliability, honesty and competence.
- Demonstrate mastery of your subject.
- Show commitment to your clients. Use language that speaks to their benefits. Testimonials are valuable as well.
- Recognize they are individuals with unique needs. Empower your client, educate them, soothe their fears.
http://www.travelresearchonline.com/blog/index.php/2011/08/trust-me/
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