DISQUS

I guess I got listed as a spammer because today my account of almost 2 years was suspended. I hope I get it back. Not sure what I did wrong.
-Janet
@newspapergrl (formerly)

They really need to cut the video in 1/2. I couldn't sit through it. They need to invent Flutter for video. Just give me a synopsis.
-Janet

I agree - biased research. If you look at the numbers, subscriptions have fallen dramatically and keep falling. I like both print and blogs, but I'm sure I'm the minority.

I just finished blogging about the Rocky Mountain News closing. I think reporters should start their own online newspaper. Call it We'll Climb this Mountain. Keep writing what they write and see if they can get donated space for a newsroom. I wonder if they'll auction off their desks or something and they could buy them back.

I went to the site and it's unclear if they plan to continue anything online. Maybe they could negotiate getting the site and put ads up. I don't see a single ad anywhere on the site.

Then perhaps they can print just a weekend editions of the paper (Fri-Sun) with the best of the online version and additional stories. Charge more for it - like you'd pay for a magazine - $4-5.

Online classifieds (Utah's KSL Classifieds are a HUGE hit) and also the obituaries. Why not charge for those. When they allow comments (moderated) they become so much more meaningful.

Anyway, most blogs are volunteer run or run by a single person. I don't think they can adequately take over the job of reporting in the same way newspapers do. A hybrid would be great and with the state of the industry, it would be a great story if someone reinvented this successfully.

Janet

Janet Meiners Thaeler's last blog post..Twitter Started as a Side Project - Blogger Too

here are my thoughts:
- I loved Randy's sense of adventure and what matters in life (and what doesn't)
- His theme of brick walls and how he went around them was inspiring (I loved how he resigned as a faculty advisor and became a journalist so he could use a loophole to realize his dream of zero gravity)
- I felt like he should've left out the weak part about how his wife had dreams too - like to have kids. It came off as if she really didn't have any. She doesn't sound like a dreamer in the way he was - and that's ok. Most people aren't!
- His courage to take things head on and not take the least painful route was inspiring.

Anyone could write a book like his - with short stories and the lessons you learned from experiences. It would be a good way to capture your life for your kids. We're all going to die someday, we can leave what we learned as a legacy.

Also, I want to check out his Alice project now.

Thanks for the review.

Janet

John - Congrats - that's great news! I hope to hear how your Kindle sales compare to your other sales.
I also like to read several books at one time. I went to Amazon to check out Kindles but they're sold out. It's next on my list.
-Janet

@Jesse - same thought I had. My blog is already slow with too many plugins. Don't know how to program them. Would love to know which plugins will weight down a blog because right now I'm testing them ONE AT A TIME.

@Andy - thanks for your generosity in sharing your secret plugin sauce.

-Janet

Janet Thaeler's last blog post..Utah Tweetup Party Review

@Rick
Actually they are official: http://www.google.com/intl/en/adwords/reseller/yodle.html. They should link to it on their home page so people can easily verify it.
Thanks
Janet

Janet Meiners Thaeler's last blog post..Incentivize your Customers to Leave Online Reviews

@Anaokulu
I bet the people asking how to change their name are women who are getting married. I know because I recently had to find out how to do that! It's interesting that while we have the top results, we don't have intent.
It's fun to see how people commenting on this post read the search terms. We have to guess what people are really looking for. A philosophical answer about the purpose of life? A name change because they don't like their name?
That's where the creativity comes in...what are people thinking? Sometimes it's easy, other times, not so much.
-Janet

I love the dialog from all over the world. Last night it felt like New Year's Eve celebrations. The news showed people partying in the streets - wish I'd gone to a party.
Obama and McCain both have stepped forward with a strong message to unify our country and world. I can feel so much energy. I've never seen an election like this one.
-Janet

@SoLinkable - thanks for the update. No surprise there.
- Janet

Thanks for the great comments. Buzz Corps obviously "gets" the blogging community and can build relationships between bloggers and companies. No small feat.

This was not only very hands on but it took expertise, creativity, and a large investment of both time and money (they work 3-12 months on most campaigns). On all sides.

In my experience though most companies aren't willing or ready to invest this deeply (but want the results).

I'm encouraged that we'll see more partnerships like this as marketers realize the influence bloggers can have on their businesses and learn to navigate the culture.

Janet

Janet Meiners's last blog post..Pilgrim’s Picks for October 1

Andy,
Love the image - thanks for the laugh. Going with the transparency theme, I highly recommend you dress up as a skeleton for Halloween this year.

I just wrote a post for OrangeSoda about the topic and referred to yours:
Reputation Management.

Congrats on getting in MarketingSherpa - that has to be good for your reputation - even though it's already stellar.

Janet

I think the government should pay for Twitter. It's in their interest to support free speech and this is a great way to do it. Plus, they don't seem to mind taking on more debt.
Janet

Andy,
I agree - it's disconcerting. Google can be dictators. Like you it makes me nervous depending on something you could have pulled without notice.
I got shut out of Google Adsense years ago but eventually got my account back.
This year my blog went down because my credit card on file at Bluehost was expired. No email or warning.
I learned the hard way that Wordpress can also shut down your blog (if they host it) for even so much as one link that's on their kill list.
When something is free you can stomach it but when you pay you expect more.
Google needs to address this - it's surprising they haven't already. Next time you're on a press call, maybe you could ask what they plan to do about it and let us know their answer.
Janet

Rob,
I agree, the early adopters read & recycle the same news and what's new quickly becomes old. We forget that most people don't even know what we're talking about. But it's the Internet, we're not only used to things changing quickly - we expect it.
Plus, it doesn't really help most people to know about all of this. Not very practical. Marketers should care. Oh, and everyone who bookmarks web sites should use Delicious. Beyond that, it's just fun.
When blogging was new all I wanted to do was talk about it. Now I'd rather teach these things than write or talk about them.
Thanks for your insightful post - it greatly expanded on mine.
Janet

John,
Thanks for your comment. I wasn't taking any political sides. I simply summarized the popular blogs for each category.

The report says Huffington Post and Daily Kos "topped the list." They noted that "two-thirds of reporters saying their content was very or somewhat credible."

So the majority of the people who responded (over 66%) thought those were credible sites. In other words, they agreed. There were other sites that were more credible but not as many respondents agreed.

Maybe the type of journalist to answer an email survey are the types of journalists who are more left-leaning.

Either way, it's interesting to note what blogs journalists read most.

Best
Janet

Jordan,
You're my inspiration - you totally have the snarkiness nailed ;)

Here's my only regret - I don't have the graphic design skills to do. I wanted a superhero graphic with a "G" on the chest and Eric Schmidt's face.
Too bad it would take me hours and still look horrid.

Janet

@Michael D - that's why over time, SEO is often more cost-effective. The natural results get the majority of clicks and you don't have to pay for each click.

@Steve
It could be the economy - I couldn't find anything in the data that suggests why. Perhaps more people are becoming savvy to how much you can save and realize how much easier it is to compare if you search online.
Janet

@spectregunner - thank you for the clarifications, I updated the post to reflect your comments.

-Janet

I think a reason they are successful is that they didn't wait to focus on their intentions. Their intentions are what guided them to success and sustainability.

Google keeps gaining marketshare and power so their goal to "do no evil" gets more & more complex. Their assertion to "do no evil" is quite bold. It's not something written somewhere and never talked about, it's part of their culture.

But what's even bolder is to say as a web company (a business that couldn't even exist 20 years ago) they need 300 years to realize their mission! That is vision.

I know Google is a business and I don't agree with everything they do. But often as I write about them, I'm in awe. I'm awed at the brainpower, the number of products, the value, the way they wing certain things, how they leave products in beta forever, their style of marketing and PR, etc.

As the article I quoted from points out, they are now the standard of a great company. They're who everyone studies.

Janet

David,
I loved that post. I also wrote about Online PR and Google News.
Since Yahoo News is much bigger, I wonder if you or our readers have any good references to Yahoo ranks news stories.
Thanks
Janet

Happy birthday Pilgrims! You almost had Mozilla to add to the list of birthday celebrations today. Here's the Wikipedia page about April 2nd.
cheers
Janet

And this is why it's tricky to write about Google sometimes. Products that morph into other products or simply disappear. There are combinations of names, portions of software that are free, and some that are paid.
Corporate communications must be challenging. I need a cheat sheet!
Janet

@AdvertiseSpace
Thanks for clarifying. I couldn't find information on when Google Ad Manager was started. I clarified the post - it's not directly related to the deal. However, the ad manager sounds similar to DoubleClick services, only for smaller businesses.
Best
Janet

Thanks for the update Cece. I'll make note of it in the post.
-Janet