So a couple years ago, I was tasked to put together an article about this really popular social media thing-a-ma-jig called "Twitter". I was very happy with the end result...however, it was decided not to release what I wrote. The article has sat on my hard drive unpublished...until now. I think the introduction is quite dated and I leave it only for reference. However, what strikes me about the rest of the article is that the advice isn't dated and is still very actionable. If you are a business Read more [...]

“Either you bring the water to L.A. or you bring L.A. to the water”…Noah Cross/Chinatown Domain names are the real estate of the Internet and the people that have invested wisely in them have become very rich.  When I mean rich, I’m not talking about the "Life's Been Good To Me So Far" wealth of some of my search marketing friends.  I’m talking “F*** You” rich.  When I attended the 2007 Domain Roundtable, I was made keenly aware that I was in the same room with 2 Domainer Read more [...]

"The horror of that moment," the King went on, "I shall never, never forget." "You will though," the Queen said, "if you don't make a memorandum of it." Lewis Carroll, Through The Looking Glass So, I would like to have a do-over on this old post that I wrote.  Not that I think the post was wrong or bad…I actually think quite highly of it.  But, it wasn’t really what I wanted to say given its inspiration. Here’s the Read more [...]

“Only one is a wanderer; two together are always going somewhere…” Kim Novak, Vertigo So last week, some of my fellow SEMpdx Board Members and I got together for a SearchFest 2010 planning meeting.  We discussed many relevant topics (date, venue, topics, speakers, etc.) and at the end of the meeting, I was tasked with inviting a group of speakers, most of whom I consider some of my closest friends in our industry. Writing a “formal” invitation email to your friends is a bit awkward.  Read more [...]

If you do any sort of email prospecting for your business, you've likely come across a "hard ass" prospect like me who likes to try to have a little fun at your expense. If you encounter such a person, this woman's response to me is the absolute correct way to handle the situation. Even though I really didn't have a clue about her and the company she worked for, she definitely earned a bit of my time (and my respect as well). And, if you have a naughty streak like I do, feel free to try this Read more [...]

Adapted from Wallace Stevens I Among twenty snowy mountains, The only moving thing Was the eye of mesothelioma. II I was of three minds, Like a tree In which there are three mesotheliomiacs. III Mesothelioma whirled in the autumn winds. It was a small part of the pantomime. IV A man and a woman Are one. A man and a woman and mesothelioma Are one. V I do not know which to prefer, The beauty of inflections Or the beauty of innuendoes, Mesothelioma whistling Read more [...]

“I'm a model you know what I mean And I do my little turn on the catwalk Yeah on the catwalk on the catwalk yeah I do my little turn on the catwalk”…Right Said Fred So, the other day, I got this very interesting email from a domain seller: I am the owner of ______ . We are now offering our domain name www.______.com for sale to companies. with "______" in their company names who would benefit from the simplicity, elegance and ease of use of this single-word Read more [...]

“I ain't sayin' I beat the devil, but I drank his beer for nothing...Then I stole his song.” Kris Kristofferson 1 In the beginning (God / Tim Berners-Lee / Al Gore) created the World Wide Web. 2 And the web was without form, and void; and chaos was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the net. 3 And God said, Let there be online properties and domain names were born. 4 And God saw that domains were nothing Read more [...]

“His soul had approached that region where dwell the vast hosts of the dead. He was conscious of, but could not apprehend, their wayward and flickering existence. His own identity was fading out into a grey impalpable world: the solid world itself which these dead had one time reared and lived in was dissolving and dwindling.” James Joyce, “The Dead” So, I watched the John Huston movie version of James Joyce’s “The Dead” today. I’d read the story and seen the movie a long Read more [...]

"Lemme here you say...fight the power...we've got to fight the powers that be." ...Public Enemy So, I just got back from a Royal Caribbean Cruise. My father purchased berths for 4 families, including mine, to sail in the Caribbean for 7 days. I suppose I shouldn't complain since my family got a complimentary vacation but since this is a blog post, you gotta know I'm gonna complain about something :.) People in our industry know there are two types of hotels...those that offer free WiFi and Read more [...]