My favorite things about Twitter lists.

Posted by Colin Clark on Oct 31st, 2009 | Comments home title

For those who don’t know already, Twitter lists is now live. If you only use tweet deck, you might want to log onto web-based twitter to check out the new features. Techcrunch has a comprehensive review.

Here’s why I’m excited and why I think Twitter has really pulled out the stops here.

You’re notified about which lists you’re on which is going to have a lot of utility for brands and individuals.
Lists act almost like users. You can @reply lists. Cool.
You can see everyone else who’s on a list. Basically other users can filter twitter for you using lists. I’m lovin it.

What are your favorite things about twitter lists?

YaToo: Y! Going Real Time (marketingpilgrim.com)
The Tweeting Masses Get Lists (blogs.wsj.com)
Impatient Brands Debut Real-Time Tweets in Ads (marketingvox.com)
Sweet! Tweet Delete Complete (marketingpilgrim.com)

Designing Websites with Netbooks in Mind

Posted by Colin Clark on Oct 30th, 2009 | Comments home title

When widescreen monitors first became mainstream a few years ago, web designers everywhere heralded the end of the limitations that the old standard computer monitors inflicted upon us.

We could make websites that were wider. We had to learn to use CSS more effectively. Now, there is a new contender to widescreen.

Challenges presented by Netbooks

While netbooks typically have wide screens, they are typically not optimized for ultra wide web formats. This is definitely something you should consider when building websites.

A good rule of thumb is to never go wider than 950 pixels for all the pages on your website. Any wider and you risk display issues with netbook wielding visitors. Remember, netbook owners are often tech savvy (I own one) and they are making up a larger portion of computer owners every day.

When you can’t think what to blog…

Posted by Colin Clark on Oct 28th, 2009 | Comments home title

Read your competitor’s posts.

Review a book you’ve read recently.

Watch videos on youtube for inspiration.

Find a blogging nemesis.

Be a filter. Make a reading list of good articles you’ve found.

Spend 5 minutes searching Google for terms relevant to your industry/topic.

Read your favorite news site. See if anything pops out at you.

Find someone to do a guest post.

Write something very short.

Or just don’t.

The Ultimate Tribeswell Pumpkin

Posted by Colin Clark on Oct 27th, 2009 | Comments home title

Laryn and I had some fun carving out the first ever Official Tribeswell Jack-o-lantern. It was a ton of fun and it really turned out great!

tribeswell jack o lantern

5 Ways to improve your Marketing – Instantly

Posted by Colin Clark on Oct 26th, 2009 | Comments home title

Get all your people on LinkedIn. Have them find everyone they know.
Start posting 1 blog post every work day. Doesn’t have to be more than 3-4 paragraphs. Short sentences are better.
Go to Google and type in ‘web design’ followed by the name of your city. Schedule a meeting with one of the companies that comes up and ask them approximately 1 million questions. Make sure you let them know you won’t be able to hire them right away.
Install Google analytics on your website and look at it every single day (I even do this on weekends). You have to know where you are before you can ever get to where you want to go.
Leave 3 blog comments on other people’s blogs every single day. Pick people in your market, in your geographic region, or even just blogs that interest you. Warning: this is harder and more time consuming than it sounds, but it’s worth it.

Taking your Site from One to One Million Users by Kevin Rose (slideshare.net)
Design and Content. A match made in heaven (integralwebsolutions.co.za)
Get To The Number One Position On Google (ronmedlin.com)
Google Analytics adds mobile reporting, iPhone/Android app tracking (mobilecrunch.com)

New Facebook News Feed & Facebook Lite – Headaches

Posted by Colin Clark on Oct 25th, 2009 | Comments home title

Facebook has made several changes in the last week. They just made Facebook Lite available for all users, which I’ve been using quite a bit and there have also been some pretty big changes to the news feed.

Facebook Lite

I really like Facebook Lite overall, but it definitely still has quite a few bugs. Some users don’t show up in the news feed and you can’t view their profiles (I know this because my wife can’t access facebook lite and you can’t view her profile).

I think this will probably get better over time as they troubleshoot the new system. I can’t wait.

The new News Feed features.

I’m honestly a little pissed about the new news feed. I really liked it the way it was. Now you have 2 options. News Feed basically is the most commented posts from the last 24 hours. It’s not really up to date, and frankly it’s not that useful.

You can also switch to a Live Feed. This is pretty similar to how it used to be, except there is way too much information. It’s irritating. There is supposed to be an ‘edit options’ link at the bottom of the feed. My account does not have this, but my wife’s does. Thanks Facebook. Thanks so much.

Facebook’s Latest Homepage Redesign Goes Live Today (mashable.com)
You: Facebook launches new homepage feed. (thenextweb.com)
Facebook pulls highlights back into the main news feed (digital.venturebeat.com)

Are marketers changing the world?

Posted by Colin Clark on Oct 23rd, 2009 | Comments home title

change the world

There are a ton of new marketing companies out there (like mine). Just look at the Top 50 Indiana Blogs… They’re mostly marketing blogs. (I’m also talking about most web development companies as most are involved in online marketing to some extent)

Why is this happening?

There are many causes of this phenomenon. The cost of running such a business is low. The knowledge and tools are exceedingly easy to come by. Our economy is volatile which encourages the adventurous to go for broke. Technology is changing the way we live and communicate and it is doing it at an alarming rate.

How are we changing the world?

A quick look at the news, newspapers, most websites, and really any form of media outlet might convince us that the majority of all businesses have adopted self publishing (blogging, twittering, facebooking, youtubing, etc.) as a major part of their marketing. We know this to not be true.

In reality, most businesses have not adopted the wholesale use of social media tools to go to market effectively. In fact in my experience there is still a lot of fear and confusion on how to adapt to the rapidly changing world.

What marketers are essentially doing is following a demand curve created by the shifts in technology and society. What is interesting about this is that as we create supply to fill the demand we also evangelize the new mediums which increases demand.

I think it’s an interesting phenomenon. How bout you?

Top Ten Reasons Why Your LinkedIn Question is Getting (Mostly) Pitches (conversationagent.com)
Blogging is essential for any business (wsioms.co.za)
Current and future use of email: info sources (email-marketing-reports.com)

Facebook ‘Lite’ is here – and it’s Breathtaking!

Posted by Colin Clark on Oct 21st, 2009 | Comments home title

This is a screenshot from ‘Facebook Lite’ the new stripped down Facebook interface that I am absolutely thrilled with. It is clean, functional, and clutter-free. I will be using the new UI exclusively for the next 7 days just to fully enjoy its every wonderful nuance.

Ever since the last ‘Facebook for iPhone’ update, which offered a great new interface, I’ve been using it for the majority of my Facebook posts. I found that because it was more stripped-down it was faster and easier to use. I’m thinking that with the new interface the web version might occupy more of my Facebook time.

to access facebook lite to to http://lite.facebook.com

Top 50 Indiana Blogs – Vote for your favorites.

Posted by Colin Clark on Oct 21st, 2009 | Comments home title

Top50_Header

The folks at Brandswag have an awesome contest going on right now where you can vote for your favorite Indiana blogs. Go to http://top50 indianablogs .com for the full details.

I absolutely love contests like this, because it exposes blogs that you might not have read before. Here are my top picks so far.

Michael Reynold’s Blog (who I nominated)

Lorraine Ball’s Roundpeg Blog

Kyle Lacy’s Blog

Lindsay Manfredi’s Linzstar Blog (a site that I helped design)

Jeb Banner’s Smallbox Blog

Patric Welch’s What’s Noo

These are all bloggers who I follow closely who consistently produce excellent content.

Who are your faves?

Banking tip for Web Workers

Posted by Colin Clark on Oct 20th, 2009 | Comments home title

manage subscriptions I’m in the middle of switching banks right now (from Old National to Regions). I’ve been looking for ways to keep my finances organized and streamline my business processes.

One of the reasons I chose to switch to Regions is that the manager of the Bloomington branch, Tim Frazier, has been a friend for several years and he also understands some of my challenges, because he does some web work on the side.

One of my biggest problems was that I have several web subscriptions that are billed on a monthly basis that I just really hate to keep track of. These expenses include CRM services, web hosting, subscriptions to premium wordpress theme services, and domain name renewals.

Tim’s solution was to create a dedicated bank account that’s dedicated solely to online monthly payments. That way I have a dedicated bank statement that relates just reflects subscription charges. I think it’s going to work out really well.

Has anyone ever tried this approach?