TechChix Thinks Aloud

Thanks, Ben. Your post was thought-provoking and needs to be said by SOMEONE for goodness sake. I think my only addition to his post would be this:

A trade association, or other similar organizations, whose sole purpose is to serve their paying membership, should not focus on serving the lowest common denominator all the time. Too often - in my daily work for an association - the question (any question really) receives the answer: “Do it the same way as last year.” And while repetition of previous success does have its place, I think more is to be gained from trying new methods because even bad ideas that prove to be wrong help us all LEARN something. As Ben said, once you crossed the ocean in a boat and now we fly. The result is the same but the method is more effective.

And here comes the ultimate question… how does everyone combine their talents, interests, passions into one mission? Where is the place that is safe for new ideas to emerge, and solid/proven ideas can merge into the kind of forward movement that carry associations into new territory? I seek that place.

… but one of the questions I frequently get from people who want to get into technology - more specifically social media and blogging - is how they can garner a higher page ranking. So…. let me share some secrets with you. I preface this with the fact that I believe in full disclosure, and I do not think there is a secret. However. I have know many bloggers or techno-snobs who prefer to keep information to themselves. Which I think is just stupid, quite frankly. So here are some tips from me to you.

Search Engine Ranking. I don’t use any specific tools to achieve a high ranking, but I do use some surefire techniques. Before I get ahead of myself - let me make a strong point. Go ahead and look up “ainsley mcdougal” or “techchix” in Google, yahoo, ask.com, msn, dogpile, and altavista - the predominantly ranked entries on the first page come up and legitimately credit back to me. How did I get there? By methodically building my online “cred” over time.

When I sign-up for a new site, I almost always get Techchix as my username. Which is a kind of branding online - at least to search engines. Even though I read most web sites thru my google reader, I take the time to thoughtfully respond to posts which actually interest me or ones where I have VALUABLE commentary to provide. I give the link-love to those whom I read, enjoy and admire/respect.

I focus my efforts intentionally. Once upon a time I toyed with putting google ads on my site, but ultimately decided that I prefer to freely contribute to the mass of knowledge on the net. AND I don’t really believe people, you or me, should make money from that. To be honest, I never click on ads from anyone else’s site, nor do I use those as my source of shopping for anything. REALLY. You would do better to focus on providing information, or just using a blog to spout your own opinions and thoughts.

My third good tip for you is something that has LONG peeved me about other blogs. WHY do bloggers insist on posting pictures that not only do not relate to their post, but do not help make a point? I am very tired of this type of blogging.

Lastly, I do not offer a feedburner option because I prefer to subtly track loyal readers via other means. The key word being subtle. My stats are every bit as effective and I let people subscribe to the RSS readily via the domain name in the reader of their choice. No need for me to email my posts. Some would call this counterintuitive, but it makes sense to treat my readers how I want to be treated.

That’s all I’m willing to share at this time, hopefully this helps someone.

two converging factors have contributed to my decision to disable comments on my blog. first, i received over 1,200 spam comments on my blog last week alone. second, spamkarma2 is no longer in development by its creator and eventually someone will crack it. so if you want to email me directly its techchix-at-gmail-dot-com.

lastly, i have always thought seth godin had it right in the first place.

So. technical issues abound which is why i have been absent so much as of late in the blogosphere. Wordpress upgrades not going well - although I’ve heard 2.6 is great. For some reason, while testing, my posts disappear from the page. (weird, right?) Then we’re trying to upgrade servers and make DNS changes… I’m not sure why 1-and-1 is having issues, but they seem incapable of doing what I need. THIS is why I want to host my own servers, have my husband manage it himself, and just forget dealing with vendors. Two words for you… CUSTOMER SERVICE.

(sigh) In other news, I am now an iPhone 3g 16GB owner. WOOHOO! And yes, I LOVE it. Years ago, dreaming of the perfect PDA phone… I think apple Grokked me and answered the call. So we are officially a fully MAC household. We have 1 inadequate pc for compatibility testing on our website designs, but that’s it. Why did I wait so long to make the switch?

More to come soon and if someone has tips for converting…I’m open to suggestion. Might have to bring in the big guns for this one.

I met Aaron at BlogPotomac, and ever since I’ve been avidly following his blog. He published this post and I want to link it so that all my readers - blogger and non-blogger alike - could get an understanding of what constitutes an acceptable line for online opining.

Did any of you read the article about that art student at Mount Holyoke who created an art project using fellow students online pictures?

I’m going to leave you all with that thought for today… go ahead - send me emails. (I know you will)

PS - Yes. This means I’m officially back from hiatus and posting again. (quit sending emails)

I read a post recently on Acronym and it reminded me of a process I often observe among decisions-makers. Given my experience in owning a technology company, I have worked with a multitude of clients. Do you know what I ask most often? What are you trying to accomplish?

If I may make an observation… It has bothered me tremendously for quite some time that all manner of bloggers (business and personal hobbyists) make use of a variety of tools to generate money from their thoughts, observations and ideas. Now, it is true that these are all predominantly new intellectual property of the individual blogger. Above all, I applaud individual thought. Seriously. If you have an opinion, the internet is for you. And I am willing to wade through the masses to find out whose opinion interests me.

Now. Having said that, I would like to clear my throat and make a very important observation. One that most people, in their money-grubbing lust for power and riches… neglect. Yes, I said they neglect it.

Here it is… People like things for free. And I believe they should get it. Oh, I’m not a socialist and I don’t give away my time and efforts for free. But when someone asks my professional opinion, and I sense that they are genuine in their desire to hear it. I give it. For that reason alone, I have more loyal clients and supporters than ones that I have gained through any kind of advertising. Anyone familiar at all with marketing techniques, know that statistically word-of-mouth is the most valuable asset you have in marketing yourself or your services.

Let’s explore this… My husband and I own a business. (www.DigitalPure.com) We do a variety of things and we started it for several reasons.

1. We believe it is important for a married couple to share a vision or goal, towards which they work TOGETHER. Prior to our marriage we owned separate businesses, and simply merged them seamlessly after our marriage.

2. We enjoy creating web pages, logos, marketing campaigns… helping people start their own business or helping a small business owner transition onto the web or helping a charity realize a dream to have their own website presence.

3. We consider what we do to be both a business and a ministry.

4. We are very transparent about who we are and what we believe.

5. If in idle conversation, someone asks me a serious question about their site, logo or their web presence in viral or social marketing niches… I give them an honest answer.

Because of ALL these reasons, we have many LOYAL clients. Let me make a suggestion for all your bloggers out there. QUALITY. Not quantity.

In counseling our clients, we advise them in this same manner. If your goal is to come up first in google, then you have to ask yourself if you really seek to create useable content for clients or readers…. OR if you just want to be perceived as the coolest blogger on the block.

Some suggestions:

1. Quite writing e-books and selling it on your site for money. Just publish it. People will THANK YOU for sharing your knowledge, and will refer others if they find it of any benefit.

2. Using Google Ads on your site just annoys your readers, and detracts from the overall design.

3. Placing stupid and un-related cross-links in your site MAY increase your google ranking. It will not, however, engender trust and reliability to a truly devoted reader. It only annoys us.

4. Inserting pictures into your post which are un-related to the topic, JUST BECAUSE you read somewhere that people will stay longer for pictures… well, I would ask you to quite contributing to the increasingly short attention span which people claim to have… Instead, try writing good content and including pictures that actually communicate something.

5. Disgracing yourself by fighting directly with other bloggers. Some of you are saying this is hypocritical of me - I know you might think that - but you will notice I never NAME any one blogger here. They all remain anonymous if I am feeling critical about something on their site. Picking a fight with another blogger just gives us all a bad name, and creates a war that WINS NOTHING.

This concludes my post for now. There are other things I would like to add… but I can save those for another post.

My internal thoughts frequently center around two areas, when I think of God.

Part One: How can I learn more about Him and His Word? Lord, what would you have of me today, next week, this lifetime? The answers to those are actually easy and straightforward. Read the Bible regularly. Meditate on His words, day-and-night. Pray as if your life depended on it. And Still your thoughts to allow God to speak into your life.

Part Two: How can I inspire others to want to know you, Lord? How can I encourage Christians to engage in their belief? Lord, keep me humble so that I may not grow frustrated with those who know You, and don’t talk about You. How can I empower others to find their part to play in God’s great commission? These answers are ever so difficult.

Focusing on Part Two above, seems to be the great challenge of my life as a Christian of some maturity. On a personal level, I am the type of person who prefers conversation that “gets to the point”, quickly. My husband laughs at me for telling him, “I love you, but can you give me the Reader’s Digest version?” It can seem rude, but I really feel that time is a commodity that is not abundant at this time in my life. As of April 2008, I will have been a believer in Christ for 10 years.

As a brand-new believer, I fondly recall telling my mother (who is still a non-believer) that she was “going to hell”. Asking her if she cared at all about her eternal salvation. I know, I can hear you all laughing as I write this post. Let’s just say that I am not a Relational Evangelist. I am fonder of beating people “upside the head” with God’s Truth. And no, it has not proved effective. So I feel that my ministry to others relies entirely on (1) me setting the example for others in all aspects of my life, and (2) ministering and mentoring other Christians.

Even five years ago, I would not have necessarily picked either of those two options and proclaimed them to be part of God’s intended mission through my life. Through prayer, patience, learning - it has become abundantly clear to me that God gave me natural talents in the areas of Leadership, Teaching and Communication. These lend themselves perfectly to those two areas of focus I mentioned.

I won’t bore you with the details, but it has recently become a tremendous passion of mine to empower, encourage and challenge Christians to “step up” and take hold of God’s will in their life. Remember what God said: “(15) I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot; I wish that you were cold or hot. (16) So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth.” (Revelation 3:15-16, NIV) To me - I interpret this as God saying that Christians should be strong, forthright in their belief, and that we should be in this world and not “of this world”. Rise above the mediocrity in which people choose to live; be excellent in all your ways.

One of the ways that I believe one can empower themselves to “live out loud” as Christians, is to read good books AND subscribe to Christian websites that publish QUALITY e-newsletters. One of these sites to which I subscribe (and highly recommend) is FamilyLife.com which is owned by Dennis and Barbara Rainey. They produce a variety of Quality e-newsletters on many topics: Marriage, Family, Children…

[UPDATE-CORRECTION: FamilyLife is not owned by Dennis and Barbara Rainey but is a ministry of Campus Crusade for Christ. Dennis and Barbara did cofound the ministry in 1976, and Dennis is still the ministry’s president and CEO. (Thanks to Scott W!)]

Continue reading below where I have pasted their recent series entitled, “Entering Lion’s Country”. It’s fantastic and totally worth reading. It is a Call to Action for Christians everywhere. Below I have pasted Part One and Part Two. Read both of them.

Let me introduce them with a quote by C.T. Studd, who is a missionary - “Some people want to live within the sound of chapel bells, but I want to run a mission a yard from the gate of hell.” I feel exactly like that…

(more…)

Anyone who has been reading this blog for anytime can attest to my forthright opinions on a variety of topics. And just as refreshing is my interest in hearing what YOU think. You MIGHT even sway me, but don’t think it will come easily. My husband will be the first to tell you that the one thing he both loves about me and frustrates him most about me… my stubborn streak. Well, c’est la vie.

Recently I have come upon several sites that I find are interesting and are written in a somewhat blog style. That is perfect for my brief attention span since the content of many of these is usually mildly interesting but occasionally oustanding. I LIVE for those outstanding moments when writer and venue meet in one happy place.

YET, there are some sites out there who stubbornly deny the importance of RSS feeds. WHAT?!?! (I know, I couldn’t believe it either) PLEASE PEOPLE, let us enter the new century and realize that VISITING your site is less important to me than gleaming the content that most interests or applies to me. I know this circumvents your handy Google ads setup, but really, I am inundated with enough advertising already. You are never going to make big money on those things!

How many of you read that and instantly KNEW exactly what I was talking about? Come on… you know those people who create their blog posts and then cross-link the HECK out of them. Seems like every sentence has 2 links contained in them and you’re wondering why they bothered writing their own content at all, if they simply wanted to use cross-linking so Google would rate them higher. (Give ME a thousand breaks!)

Of course, if you don’t have anything interesting to share I guess cross-linking makes sense. At some point I will write a post about how excessive stock photos and color text in a post rubs me the wrong way. BUT maybe its just because I’m a graphics designs AND lucky enough to be opinionated… Does no one else think about these things?