Tracksuit CEO

by Daniel Hope

Last April a bunch of you awesome people voted for and attended my SXSW Interactive session entitled: Blog on Company Time Without Getting Dooced. I had an amazing time and I want to do it all again so I put together Kill Your Job With a Corporate Blog. This panel will teach you bloggers and would-be bloggers out there how to start or take over your company’s corporate blog for instant promotion and industry-wide fame.

It’s my Tim Ferriss inspired approach to blogging in the workplace.

Vero Pepperrell listed my panel as one to vote for. So thank you to Vero who is going to be on Mel Kirk’s panel: Clear Your Ears for Instant Success: about how online conversations can’t happen if you’re constantly thinking of what you’re going to say next.

So please register and give a vote for Vero’s panel and while you’re at you should check out these panels too:

Ditch the Valley, Run for the Hills John Erik of Conjunctured will convince you that Austin is where you should launch your startup.

IGNORE: Hitting Your Social Quota Kristine Gloria of Austin 3.0 talks about setting a social quota or limit on the folks in your Social Network. @MikeChapman will sit on as the “resident contrarian”.

I’ll be adding to this list soon, I’m sure. If you guys have any question or comments on the panel be sure and put them in the comments section on the Panel Picker.

See you at SXSWi 2009!

by Tracksuit CEO

Well it was fairly lazy mugging and it might even fall under the category of aggressive panhandling, but it certainly did disrupt my evening stroll and left me with a few things to think about. I was walking home on Friday evening from the bus stop about 4 blocks from my house. I live on a very busy street near downtown Austin and have never had any trouble in my neighborhood, but when I passed the little neighborhood convenience store I knew I was in for a lively exchange. Two young teenagers accosted me asking me for 75 cents. I told them I didn’t have any money for them. See, I didn’t want to lie because I did have money, it just wasn’t for them. My money is usually for my wife or my 2 daughters, I rarely give it to random teenage thugs. But these guys really needed that 75 cents so they could go and buy a cigar. Now, I’m a cigar aficionado myself so this might have been enough to persuade me but they then told me they wanted to buy a Swisher Sweet. A Swisher Sweet? There was no way the cigar snob in me was going to give them my hard-earned pocket change for a Swisher Sweet.

Aside from stopping and facing them (I didn’t really want to have my back turned to them) they hadn’t made any real progress. In business terms they had so far failed to sell me on their proposal. Sensing this was going nowhere, the shorter and wider of the two (I suppose he was the brawn of the outfit) informed me that if I didn’t give him 75 cents, he was going to rob the convenience store (he motioned behind him with his hand). Okay, this ultimatum was so preposterous that I had to rephrase it to him. “So you’re saying that if I don’t give you my money then you’re going to go and steal someone else’s money?”. Normally I would have cared about someone else getting robbed but the ’someone else’ in this situation were the friendly but well-armed Syrian guys who run the mini-mart. “Good luck pulling that one off guys”, I thought to myself.

What negotiating mistake did this amateur make? He circumvented the traditional “your money or your life” imperative and went for a less traditional “your money or someone else’s money” approach. Needless to say this didn’t work on me. After restating it to him he even shrugged as if to say, “well, I tried”. Now the brains of the operation stepped in with a less heavy-handed approach, “Come on, man. We need a blunt and we just need 75 cents.” Okay, now he’s appealing to my better nature and he’s not telling me the fabricated and overly-complicated sob story I’m accustomed to hearing, “…my kid is in a hotel and he’s hungry and my girl is down in San Antonio and my car’s out of gas so I just need bus fare so I can…..etc.” The guy needed a blunt, plain and simple, and for just 75 cents he would be happy and leave me alone. I don’t know if these guys were purposefully playing Good Cop, Bad Cop but they should have left the talking to the Good Cop.

So now the ball was in my court and I decided to stand there deliberating for an uncomfortably long amount of time, like when Jack Benny was given the choice between his money and his life and he replied, “I’m thinking, I’m thinking.” So here we were with several failed attempts on both of our parts to come to a mutual agreement. I knew it was up to me to make them the offer they couldn’t refuse. I reached into my pocket and while I would have preferred to have given them each the contents of a can of pepper spray instead I pulled out 27 cents. I had evaluated the party across the table from me and had discerned one characteristic or trait they both had in common, I was going to construct my final offer on this one assumption. My assumption was that they were both very lazy and when I threatened to throw the change all over the sidewalk if they didn’t back off of me they both reacted just as I knew they would. “No don’t do that”, said one of them. The other said, “Be cool, man. Just hand it to me, don’t throw it!”

I ended up handing it to one of them, then to make sure that I had the last word, I pointed one parental finger at them and ended our little negotiation with some advice. All I could muster was, “Be good”.

I’ve always heard that sometimes the best negotiations are the ones you walk away from. I guess it could also be said that some of the best negotiations are the ones you walk away from still holding onto your wallet.

by Tracksuit CEO

Last month I wrote about Technorati’s acquisition of Twingly. I went on to speculate that the next Google acquisition would be Diigo. Well that may still happen, but instead they went and bought Jaiku. Adam Ostrow of Mashable writes:

This is somewhat surprising news considering the perceived dominance of
Twitter in the so-called “lifestreaming” space. Additionally, Twitter
is co-founded by Evan Williams, who was the creator of Blogger, which
was previously acquired by Google. In a world where price is no object
for Google, it’s interesting that they would opt for Jaiku and not
Twitter.

I agree that this is a surprising move. I could go on and on and compare the two services (Twitter and Jaiku) talking about what Jaiku has and doesn’t have, but what I really want to write about is the name - ‘Jaiku’. I know a little about the origins of the name, all having to do with the brief nature of the microblog posts (similar to the Japanese Haiku) combined with the Java-based scripting of the site. But there’s more there that I’d like to explore. I see a pattern in the naming of these Web 2.0 services and it’s similar to a pattern that I’ve seen in my own home.

I’ll explain what I mean but first you’ll have to meet the 2 youngest members of the Tracksuit Family. Camilla (4) and Violet (1) My youngest daughter is just learning to talk so the words she comes up with are fascinating, if usually indecipherable. My 4 year old, on the other hand, does some very interesting things with words and especially the names she comes up with for her dolls and stuffed animals. Sometimes the names stick but other times the same toy can have 4 or 5 different names in a single day. These are not names she’s ever heard before either, these are originals. Some of them are words that she has designated as names, like the dog named Recipe or the cat named Creative. But most of them are variations on names or words she’s learned in her 4 short years on this planet. And this is where I made the connection.

I don’t know if I’ve ever heard her name any of her toys Jaiku but I know she named one of them Joomla. This was long before I had heard of the Open Source Content Management System, Camilla certainly had never heard of it. Was this just a coincidence?

What about Hahlo? The way she pronounced it, emphasizing the ‘h’ sound in the middle of the word, H-a-h-l-o would have been the only possible spelling.

Or what about Maseesha? Well, that one hasn’t shown up yet, but I’m sure it will and when it does I definitely expect Camilla to get some credit.

Her knack for this is so uncanny that I’ve actually thought about setting her up with a Web 2-0 name consultancy. Here I’m going to list some of the other candidates and what type of service they might be used for.

Masheesa - like the aforementioned Ma-see-sha only slightly altered. Hey, it worked for Thumblicio.us.

How about Seema? This could be a Social Network based around people who love to sew (like Seemer pronounced with a NY accent). It could be the US answer to Switzerland’s Netgranny!

And if you still aren’t convinced of her skills then check this out. These names were all conceived in a single play session:

• Hambers (pronounced like hammer with a ‘b’)
• Dambers
  and
• Chambers

Of course we would have to alter these slightly. If I take a few liberties with the spelling and subdomains I submit to you:

• Hambrz
• Dambero.us
  and
• Chammb.rs

They were all part of a rhyme so the 3rd word is pronounced like (chāmbers), I threw in an extra ‘m’ for clarity.

I don’t know what type of services these names might work with but does it really matter? These are all solid gold.

For the ultimate resource of unfortunate Web 2.0 names you should definitely have a look at David Lloyd’s How Are You Spelling That? The Top 25 Stupidly Named Web 2.0 Sites Of 2006. It is a scathing rundown of almost 200 Web 2.0 sites. Lloyd introduces a rating system based on Contrived and Difficult Pronunciation, Absurdity and Subdomains from Hell, among many other factors.

If you can’t afford Camilla’s steep hourly consulting rate (you probably can’t), then my best advice for anyone looking to name a mashup, widget or Social Network is this — let your toddler have a crack at it. You might even run your revenue model by them as well. This sure would have saved the Flooz and DrKoop.com investors a lot of money back in the day.

In the notes: What are your least favorite website names? Are there any that you use but cringe when you have to pronounce them?

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by Tracksuit CEO

Last Wednesday I attended the 3rd SEO Meetup put on by our favorite SEO husband and wife team, Laura and Adam Alter. This meeting was dedicated to local SEO which is much different, but in some ways easier, than traditional SEO (Search Engine Optimization: i.e. showing up in Google).

Laura’s slide presentation walked us through, step-by-step, what it takes to get your local business recognized by Google. I was amazed at how many free options there are for businesses out there. Laura breaks it down into 3 steps:

1. List yourself in the local business directory of each search engine
2. Add your business to Yellow Pages-type websites and business directories that syndicate their content
3. Add your business to local review/directory sites

Laura’s post on this has a huge list of resources and links for doing the 3 steps above. These things are all free and all relatively easy to do. I love how this sort of levels the playing field for local, small businesses. Most small businesses can’t afford the big Yellow Pages ads, but they can afford to do this. All it takes is some time and strategic know-how.

Christopher Justice (@MegaJustice) had a great story about how his family business had moved every penny of their advertising money from YellowPages to online marketing and SEO. This move greatly concerned Christopher’s father/business partner. But the return from this online experiment paid off, giving them 20 times the business they had ever received from the phone book.

With numbers like that it makes you wonder if anyone can afford to advertise in the Yellow Pages, especially if they don’t have an online presence. And in case you’re wondering, Christopher’s business is not an online service, it’s not even tech-related, it’s a pest control company. Talk about a business you would assume gets most of its leads from the phone book!

Laura’s presentation is below and if you want the big list of services to submit your site to, check out Laura’s blog.

I had a good talk with Judd Lyon(@juddlyon) of Trif3cta, his notes about the Meetup on his own blog give an excellent overview of the session and sum up the overall Local Search space nicely. One thing that was not understated is the need for reviews (positive or negative). I wrote just last week that negative reviews actually lend to the authenticity of the positive ones. But that’s not all they do. Judd writes:

While getting inbound links is still crucial to the success of a site, Google acknowledges that it is unlikely that your local plumber has dozens of folks linking to his one-page website. As another method of gathering cues that the business is local, Google looks for online references to that business. The key point is that it doesn’t have to contain a hyperlink to have some weight.

This is just one of the many ways in which Local Search is a bit easier and friendlier than regular SEO.

If you’re in the Austin area and are interested in SEO (isn’t everyone?) then come to our next Meetup.
Here’s the SEM Meetup site.
This group has people from a wide range of industries and skill/interest levels, so don’t be shy. We can all learn a lot from one another. I think I had been doing SEO for about 3 years before I even knew about the acronym. Hope to see you there.

In the comments: If you were at the talk fill in any details I might have missed.

by Tracksuit CEO

What Mahmoud is doing right

Don’t ask me where she found it, but my wife sent me a link to The Official Blog of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. I quickly became obsessed with the idea of the Supreme Leader of Iran having a blog. What really surprised me was the personalized feel of it all, the heading reads Mahmoud Ahmadinejad: Personal Memos, which I like because not everyone knows what a blog is. Really! It’s true, in fact my friend was on a call recently with a major celebrity (a relatively young celebrity) who needed her website reworked. He was proposing a blog because she writes often and does a weekly show that could be converted into a podcast. That’s when she asked the million dollar question: “So, what is a blog?” We were both shocked. But we really shouldn’t have been, not everyone is going to know these things that we think of as being so basic. What is ‘old hat’ to us is cutting edge for a huge portion of the population. So Personal Memos (as opposed to blog) works great for the English version of this site (which is also available in French, Farsi and Arabic).

Mahmoud Makes it easy to leave comments

Now check out the right side bar. It features the most recent comments on the blog. Comments can be made either on the main page or on the individual blog posts. Being able to make comments on the homepage is a fantastic idea for a high-profile blog like this, take notes Chris Pearson! This feature is great but the most striking thing about these comments is that they’re not all positive! They really don’t seem to have been censored at all. The comments range from undying support to character assassination and each one has a little flag next to their name, denoting the country they’re from. There is also flexibility in the commenting, it allows you to enter as little or as much info as you would like and then goes on to offer a “I don’t want my comment being published to the public” check box. What if you don’t really have a comment, you have a question? There’s an option for that too! The Supreme Leader also answers the questions people submit:

The purpose & objective of the formation of this site was having a straight, direct and immediate contact with the visitors and addresses. After my first post, I preferred to spend all the time that I have allocated for this web log, to read the viewpoints of the visitors.Because I felt most of the individuals who have left a message – a suggestion, a question or even a reproof – they expect me to read it personally.

Mahmoud responds to comments and questions

Ahmadinejad goes on to field some of the questions that are posed through the submit a question option. He doesn’t shy away from the hardball questions either. If you don’t believe me check out Holocaust denial Q & A.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m not going to get into Ahmadinejad’s human rights policies (yikes!) or whether he is actively producing nuclear weapons (or Atomic Bicycles). What I do want to point out is the fact that this political pariah is doing things that still haven’t occurred to Fortune 500 companies. Something is wrong with this picture.

Mahmoud doesn’t censor negative comments

Or if he does, they must be very inflammatory because some pretty scathing insults show up there. Like the comment from Nicolas in the US:

Ouch Nicolas, he insulted Ahmadinejad’s intelligence and the authenticity of his blog’s comments, talk about a low blow! I have to say, his point would have been stronger if he had spell-checked his comment before submitting.

Even if the comments are censored, having a few negative remarks definitely lends to the legitimacy of the positive comments.

What Mahmoud is doing wrong

My first critique was going to be that no one from Iran was commenting, but then it occurred to me that not everyone in the world speaks English. So I visited the Farsi version of the blog and there they were, tons of comments with little Iranian flags next to their names. So my first complaint is completely moot unless those comments are all positive, but because it’s all in Farsi I’ll probably never know.

Mahmoud’s not updating often enough

This is just Blogging 101, if you don’t update your blog, it will wither up and die. Blogs need constant updating, tweaking and TLC or they will suffer from Neglected Blog Syndrome. Usually your community numbers will taper off and other things, like Technorati Rank, will suffer. Although, the rank on this blog is in the top 5,000 (2,395 to be exact) so it’s not exactly suffering.

Mahmoud needs to really open up

Aside from laying out his infamous world views, there is nothing about the Supreme Leader as a person, a regular guy.

I think D. Dubois put it best in one of the comments:

…your blogs are somewhat formal sounding. Why not loosen up the
language a little for the American readers? And could you tell us a
little about your home life and your family and what your daily routine
is like. Also what kind of music do you like? What is your favorite
color and what is your favorite sport?

Now that would really be interesting to see some family pictures from Mahmoud’s Flickr feed. Or maybe a Twitter badge like I have on the side of my site showing what the Supreme Leader is doing right now. I thought that was such a great idea that I went and set up a Twitter account for him. He’s @PrezAhmadinejad and so far he’s following me and @DickCheney, I thought it would be good for him to see some opposing viewpoints.

I wasn’t sure of the best way to contact him so I put my message in the comment tool:

I’ll keep you posted and let you know if he responds. If he does I’m going to offer him a free blog coaching session as a show of International good will. In the meantime you should go and follow @PrezAhmadinejad, he needs to get integrated into the Twitter community. Just look at his only Tweet:

So pay attention Corporate Blogging America, you could stand to learn a thing or two from our featured Persian Presidential blogger.

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