Disqus - Latest Comments for pchaney

Re: Will AI Fundamentally Change Bass Playing Forever?! - The SBL Podcast | Scotts Bass Lessons

Paul Chaney — Thu, 02 Mar 2023 12:15:45 -0000

I just instructed ChatGPT to do exactly that -- write a bass line in C Major in the style of Paul McCartney -- and it did! Simple line, but a bass line nonetheless. Now, I'm going to try it again in the style of Geddy Lee. :-)

Re: Scott's Journey With Focal Dystonia with Scott & Ian - The SBL Podcast | Scotts Bass Lessons

Paul Chaney — Tue, 10 May 2022 16:03:15 -0000

Scott, I mean no disrespect in making this statement, but I think you should sell a SBL branded version of the glove and donate the proceeds to research on focal dystonia. Seriously, the glove is one of the reasons we love you, man. And we're pulling for you in your fight to deal with this malady.

Re: How to Create the Perfect Writing Space

Paul Chaney — Thu, 26 Aug 2021 08:57:13 -0000

I am fortunate to have a nice office space with many of the amenities you list in the article. I have plenty of light, too, which helps. I could do with a better chair -- the one I have is comfortable but I've never sat in a Herman Miller Aeron chair, so I don't know what I'm missing. That would be the one upgrade I'd like to make. Otherwise, thanks for the information. I found it very helpful... and confirming.

Re: Swimming and Open-Air Restaurants Open: Lunch at Ramon’s Village

Paul Chaney — Thu, 21 May 2020 17:56:40 -0000

Ramon's is a wonderful place. I met Richard Headrick, the owner, many years ago. He lived in the same small town that I did, so it was a shock to find out, years later, that Ramon's Village is his! Anyway, that said, I can't wait to get back to Belize and hope to come in September for a trip to Placencia.

Re: You Have Too Many Content Channels. Let’s Kill Some.

Paul Chaney — Thu, 14 May 2020 10:03:16 -0000

Thanks, Joe, for the advice -- hard to swallow though it is. It reminds me of the fast-food brand, Raising Canes. They started out focused on one product -- fried chicken strips -- accompanied by their amazing "Canes sauce," fries, cole slaw, and texas toast. You know what they do now, many years later? Fried chicken strips, fries, cole slaw, Canes sauce. The brand's tagline is "One Love," and they do what they do better than anyone else.

At my company, the blog and email newsletter are our mainstays. I've tried to move us into other arenas -- podcasts, webinars, etc. (not with great success) -- but perhaps I should forego those attempts and stick with the blog/email combo, making it better.

Again, great advice. I registered for the webinar, and look forward to learning more from the content master!

Re: How to get published where it matters most

Paul Chaney — Thu, 14 May 2020 09:28:56 -0000

Excellent points regarding how to pitch. I downloaded the template and plan to use it going forward.

Currently, we're attempting to pitch an op-ed written by our CEO to major business publications, starting with Forbes. If that doesn't pan out, fortunately, we have built relationships with several industry publications (that's who we typically pitch to), but in this case, wanted greater exposure.

Re: Pelican Rescue: Be Careful with Our Dive Bombing Friends!

Paul Chaney — Mon, 10 Feb 2020 09:33:37 -0000

What a wonderful story. Thanks for sharing. Prompted me to donate to ACES.

Re: Top 100 Digital Marketing Influencers according to BuzzSumo

Paul Chaney — Tue, 11 Jun 2019 15:55:35 -0000

Surprised that I'm not seeing the likes of Jason Falls, Ann Handley, Chris Brogan, and Lee Odden. I guess the page has turned to some extent.

Re: Belikin’s Octobeer Fest 2018 rolls out the Black and Tan!

Paul Chaney — Mon, 08 Oct 2018 08:20:10 -0000

Mary, we'll be in Belize tomorrow for a week's stay and I will definitely be trying the B&T and all of Belikin's beers! Thanks for the recommendation.

Re: Let’s Get Real About September & October in Belize

Paul Chaney — Tue, 04 Sep 2018 17:49:49 -0000

We're arriving in October and I'm okay with less tourists and crowds. Add to that the fact we scored great savings on a wonderful resort. What's not to love?!

Re: Going Slow in Caye Caulker, Part Two: Photos, Hotel and Food

Paul Chaney — Thu, 09 Aug 2018 09:33:45 -0000

We're coming to Belize in October and had planned to only stay in San Pedro and visit Caye Caulker for the day. But plans change. Now we're spending the first 24 hours on Caye Caulker and so excited. We love this little island so much. Go Slow -- that's kind of our motto these days.

Re: Going Slow in Charming Caye Caulker, Part One

Paul Chaney — Tue, 07 Aug 2018 13:52:29 -0000

We visited Belize for the first time last year and spent the entire trip on Caye Caulker. It holds a special place in my heart. We're heading back to Belize later this year and will devote some time there again as well.

Re: My Cost of Living on Ambergris Caye, Belize

Paul Chaney — Fri, 03 Aug 2018 09:10:22 -0000

Thank you for your honest and realistic appraisal of the cost of living in Belize. Some estimates I see are fanciful at best.

My wife and I are planning to move to Belize part-time in a few years and are looking at either Ambergris Caye or Corazol. It's been a couple of years since you wrote this, so have prices gone up? Would you estimate your COL to be higher now? If so, by how much?

Again, thanks for giving us the real story on expenses there.

Re: One Million Dads

Paul Chaney — Tue, 25 Jul 2017 22:58:07 -0000

Let he who is without sin cast the first stone. I am not; therefore, I will not. What I will do is pray that God gets glory out of this situation and that what the enemy planned for evil, God will use for good.

Re: Blog Comments: Open or Closed? Review the Pros and Cons

Paul Chaney — Tue, 15 Nov 2016 12:47:59 -0000

Open. It's not a blog otherwise. Also, it's best if you can use an app or plugin that pulls in comments from other sources, such as Facebook or Twitter. The conversation is distributed, as we all know, but if it can be collated into a single channel, that's helpful -- especially when no one actually leaves a comment on the blog itself.

Re: Hillary Clinton Email Scandal Reaches Its Sorry End | National Review

Paul Chaney — Wed, 06 Jul 2016 22:17:04 -0000

"Laws are for little people." #itstheclintonsstupid

Re: We’ve Lost Nearly Half Our Social Referral Traffic in the Last 12 Months

Paul Chaney — Mon, 01 Feb 2016 10:46:23 -0000

Late to the party but just read the post "The Consumer Isn't a Moron..." on Medium, which referenced this post.

I have to say that, for Web Marketing Today, the site I manage as editor, referral traffic from social has never been more than a few percentage points relative to total traffic. We produce one piece of practical content per day, which we share on social but see few results. As such, we place a lot more emphasis on vying for organic search ranking.

I do agree with Mark Schaefer that we've reached a saturation point where there is so much content to choose from (particularly web marketing content) that consumers have a plethora of choices.

Also, I think we live in a Buzzfeed world where shock value plays a role.

As to a remedy, identifying a marketable niche with a focus on addressing their concerns seems to be one answer. Our companion site, Practical Ecommerce, has done an excellent job with that.

The site targets smaller online businesses as its audience and has built a substantial following as a result. Web Marketing Today, not so much. Our content is less audience specific - we've tried, with a focus on local small businesses - but it's not proven to be enough.

In the end, I feel it's best to think of social, not as a channel but as a "layer" that integrated with other marketing formats.

Ultimately, there is no easy answer. Sometimes, we just get lucky, and see an article get a huge increase in social shares. All I know to do is to continue experimenting and trying to grow organically as much as possible - plowing the row every day by making our content as useful as possible.

Re: Debt is Good — for You and the Economy

Paul Chaney — Mon, 04 Jan 2016 09:33:26 -0000

I've always considered debt - at least too much of it - to be a bad thing. As a result, I've been working to reduce the amount of debit I've incurred, and am focused on learning to live within my means. You've certainly opened my eyes to the benefits of debit, but I have to agree with Julia's comment: it scares me as well. Consider me to be risk averse.

Re: 5 Keys to Small Business Success in 2016

Paul Chaney — Wed, 23 Dec 2015 11:13:57 -0000

Excellent insights, Stephanie. You've given me a lot to think about as it pertains to the technologies and marketing practices that local businesses will need to incorporate in 2016. You've also peaked my interest in the use of POS, call-tracking, and digital loyalty programs. Thanks!

Re: The 3 Phases in the Life of a Digital Marketer

Paul Chaney — Mon, 21 Dec 2015 10:54:53 -0000

Speaking as someone in the "Age of Enlightenment" category (11 years and counting), I appreciate these insights. Thank you.

Re: 5 Reasons Why Local Marketing Will Mature in 2016

Paul Chaney — Wed, 16 Dec 2015 11:42:26 -0000

Great insights, Gary. I agree with Jim's surmise that small businesses face time-delimiting issues, which comprehensive, yet simple to use technologies can help resolve, particularly for business owners determined to do everything themselves.

Re: Recopilatorio #134: Cómo crear una estrategia de contenidos sin necesidad de tener blog

Paul Chaney — Wed, 16 Dec 2015 10:16:27 -0000

Thank you for including Web Marketing Today's article on gated vs. ungated content. We appreciate it. ~ Paul Chaney, Editor, Web Marketing Today

Re: Private: 6 Game-Changing Social Media Trends for 2016 – The Influencer’s View

Paul Chaney — Tue, 15 Dec 2015 11:26:19 -0000

Thank you for including me among such a stellar list. I'm honored.

Re: Why You Shouldn’t Give a Damn About Twitter’s Share Count

Paul Chaney — Thu, 10 Dec 2015 13:03:24 -0000

Alex, I manage a digital publication and, like you, Twitter was the chief source for sharing. Without it, our share count, which we published on the index page next to each article, went down dramatically.

For example, a share count of, say, 100+ served as a tacit suggestion to readers that this was an article worth considering. Conversely, an article with much fewer shares (which was case post Twitter's action) sent a signal that it wasn't "all that and a bag of chips," even though it may have contained great content.

It's all about social proof and Twitter, by its decision to remove the share count, penalized us, in effect. In my view, it's no different that Google penalizing content, resulting in fewer SERPs.

Ultimately, we had to remove the share count from the index page. And while I get your points, I wouldn't be surprised if it doesn't result in fewer page views for us. That remains to be seen, of course, but I'll be watching those numbers even more closely in hopes that I'm wrong.

Re: The Price of Free Listings Revisited: A Hyperlocal Business Perspective

Paul Chaney — Thu, 12 Nov 2015 10:19:49 -0000

Scott, what would you propose as the solution? I'm very interested to hear your thoughts on the matter.