manage to experience

MacArthur Foundation Fellows

It's that time of the year: The MacArthur Foundation has announced its 2008 Fellows (aka "Genius Grants"). The list includes a farmer, an historian of medicine, and a music critic.

SEO Q&A

Marketing Sherpa answers a few questions about SEO. Considering these are questions I often hear, it's well worth reading.

Fast, cheap and under control

The agency web site (read: lack of) is a thorn in our sides so it's back near (read: vying with way too much other stuff) the top of my to-do list.

I have a concept. It's gaining traction.

Now it's time to build it.

I'm liking this groove I'm in: Identify problem, brainstorm solution, implement solution. Move on.

Work in progress

Yes, The Bloom Agency needs a new Web site. It's on my to-do list, below some interesting projects in which I've immersed myself. But I will get to it sooner than later.

Those projects:

• The redevelopment of a large community college Web site; lots of attention to site architecture. And, recruiting talent to rapidly develop the site.
• Planning and launching a Foundation micro site.
• Consulting on multiple email marketing campaigns.
• Guiding work on national and regional print advertising for a large logistics industry client. Writing treatments for a video for the same client.
• Planning the development of a pro-bono site for the local JDRF chapter.

No worries about staying busy, that's for sure.

Three old school things this tech guy can't live without

1. An analog watch. Sure, my Blackberry can tell me the time, but I like to easily see what time it is relative to another time.
2. A ballpoint pen. Not just any old Bic, but a fat Montblanc. I finally got tired of a stream of bad, disposable pens.
3. My growing collection of Moleskine Cahiers notebooks. Because tapping away at a laptop while talking with someone or participating in a meeting is, well, obnoxious. All my meeting notes reside in Cahiers that line a shelf.

A business strategy that makes sense, but seems to have fallen out of vogue.

Do one thing. Do it very well.

Worse than an inconvenience

If I forget to brew coffee in the morning I'll often stop at Port City Java on Market St. for a cup. Chains get a bad rap, but this store serves up excellent coffee and the staff is welcoming. My wife, who's also a regular, reported that the store is moving closing next month. They call it moving because a new store is opening on Pisgah Church Rd. But that's miles out of my way so to me it's just as if they're closing shop.

Considering the frequency of my meetings there, it's also like I'm losing a remote office.

Why Zappos Pays New Employees to Quit—And You Should Too - Bill Taylor

I haven't shopped Zappos.com, but I know several people who rave about their service. This article explains how Zappo's cultivates employees who are not only better than average, but exceptional.

"It’s a hard job, answering phones and talking to customers for hours at a time. So when Zappos hires new employees, it provides a four-week training period that immerses them in the company’s strategy, culture, and obsession with customers. People get paid their full salary during this period.

After a week or so in this immersive experience, though, it’s time for what Zappos calls “The Offer.” The fast-growing company, which works hard to recruit people to join, says to its newest employees: “If you quit today, we will pay you for the amount of time you’ve worked, plus we will offer you a $1,000 bonus.” Zappos actually bribes its new employees to quit"

Read the whole thing.

The Noise Economy

Merlin Mann expressed an idea that's been swirling around in my head for a while:

"Politics, celebrity gossip, business headlines, tech punditry, odd news, and user-generated content.

These are the chew toys that have made me sad and tired and cynical."

Hey, wait. This isn't about to become a rant about how the Internet has failed as a medium, and now all that's left is to get out before you're the last one left in the room with the Hiltons, Paris and Perez. But in between the bits of insight -- the content that has some heft to it -- there's a distracting amount of noise. Noise that usually takes the form, as Merlin writes, of "...our portfolio of shallow but strongly-held opinions about nearly everything."

Of course, there's a whole economy built on noise, and who am I to deny anyone the pleasure they get from it? But I don't have to consume it (read seems too generous) or generate it. And after one too many glances at Techmeme (let me save you the trouble: "f'ng Arrington/Scoble/Jobs!"), I'm feeling some noise fatigue.

Meanwhile, away from the abstract world where some dream of owning Web 3.0, there's  healthy stuff happening. Mostly in the form of connections -- some with people who I eventually meet face to face, and with others who I have a consistent online relationship. But never in the hyperconnected way that declares people and things cool! and then moves on to the next cool! thing without a pause to understand.

I think Merlin's on to something, and I'm curious to see what he has to say about it. For a long time, "joinng the discussion" has been about being the quickest, loudest, and snarkiest. Me, I'm ready to pay attention to the most thoughtful.

More data about your AdWords spend from...Microsoft?

There isn't much detail here, but apparently the Microsoft CRM team plans to let CRM Online customers track the sales performance of PPC campaigns including, presumably, Google AdWords.

I have a lot of specific questions about how granular the tracking is (sales performance by keyword, geography, etc?), but I can't see how in principle this is anything but good. AdWords is something of a black box, and anything that shines daylight into that box is welcome.