Disqus - Latest Comments for jonbuscall

Re: Do we live like we learn – Socialmedia aficionados

jonbuscall — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 09:01:11 -0000

My main tool is my blog. It's the hub from which I work and try to drive contacts back to it to help foreground my work. It's the best way of getting business, I find.

I use Twitter a lot to connect with people, share ideas and interrupt my day with a bit of social chit-chat. As a web worker it's important to have social contact, even if you're stuck at your desk.

Facebook is more of a private discussion place for me with friends and so on. That said, I also run a FB Fan Page for a client and that is a very useful tool for driving their traffic and building their community.

Googlewave and Google Docs are part of the way I work with clients. Useful, but I'm a bit wary of putting all my eggs in Google's basket.

I aslo use Basecamp with clients. That's excellent as it combines a working space, blog, contact info and timelines to get projects completed on time.

Great post, Anders. I think we have to be early adopters to stay fresh but it's important not to lose sight of the fact that we have to complete tasks. In other words: don't experiment with new cool tools just for the sake of it.

Re: Top 5 Social Media books you must read

polarunlimited — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 08:29:12 -0000

Jon, I agree. They weave some great stories in there that really give the whole space some perspective. My favourite is the Donnie Brasco analogy.

Re: Top 5 Social Media books you must read

jonbuscall — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 14:08:36 -0000

I enjoyed Trust Agents a lot. It was nicely written and engaging. The best thing about it was the tone of the book. It's written in a way that even the slowest CEO will get it. Put it on their Christmas list and prepare to go social.

Re: Google: Docs a Viable Alternative to Office by Next Year

jonbuscall — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 13:54:06 -0000

A lot of the companies I work with here in Sweden use Google Docs. It's almost a surprise NOT to get a document shared with me.

Everyone bitches about Google owning all our information but they still use it. Especially in the PR and ad industries.

Re: I Couldn’t Have Said It Any Better Myself – Gary Vaynerchuk Throws It In Your Face

jonbuscall — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 10:44:49 -0000

He's got a great amount of energy and I really appreciate the sense of just doing it because you've got passion. But you also need the right kind of strategy and that's what I like about Gary. He's committed to communicating with his audience and sharing quality, helpful content.

Thanks for posting this clip.

Re: Rumors of the Death of Blogs are Greatly Exagerated

jonbuscall — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 12:55:40 -0000

Thank you for putting such detailed data together in such an accessible way.

I'm intrigued to see so many more men still blogging compared to women. Over here in Sweden I've started to feel it had switched around with women being really active blogging and tweeting, overtaking men.

Perhaps the Nordic region is a precursor to what will happen elsewhere.

Re: Surf’s Up! Or…Are You Having Problems Getting Waved

jonbuscall — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 06:39:23 -0000

Google Wave has a lot of possibilities but it needs some explaining. This guide will get you up to scratch.

I added Twitter to my googlewave this morning and found it works quite well for posting but the feed updates were a bit clunky.

Not sure it merrits all the hype THAT video created but it's still early days yet.

Re: Thesis Ups Its Game With New Design Options

jonbuscall — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 15:17:36 -0000

I used EE for years and was very happy with how easy it is to customize but it was just seriously lacking when it comes to SEO despite hours of tweaking. I missed EE for a couple of days but I've found the SEO effect of WP/Thesis a massive boost.

The draw back with WP is all the security upgrades and plugin upgrades but I've found the community very supportive. There is just so much support.

The other factor is new tools. It took the EE community ages to come up with the equivalent of Tweetmeme plugin.

Re: Thesis Ups Its Game With New Design Options

jeremyvaught — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 15:11:21 -0000

Oh? This is interesting. I've been using Wordpress since b2evolution and was thinking of dabbling with Expression Engine. But your post puts a serious dent in that. :)

Thanks for the WP encouragement, Jon.

Re: Thesis Ups Its Game With New Design Options

jonbuscall — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 13:08:05 -0000

I am a big Thesis fan too. It's the theme I recommend to clients and use on my own website(s). After ditching ExpressionEngine at the start of 2009 and switching to WordPress + Thesis I've seen a massive increase in sales, hits and page rank.

Happy !

Re: Starting Your Social Media Case

jonbuscall — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 07:27:23 -0000

I've found this strategy works with schools too. We took this approach to convince management at a Swedish senior high school to develop a Facebook presence, YouTube channel and get on Twitter. The results have been exciting as we've seen a 200% increase in traffic to the school's website since the summer; the school appears to have more personality now and social media is helping to make transparent the great work the teachers and students are doing.

Trust Agents was given to the school principal as a final piece of encouragement :=)

Re: Guest blogging

andysp — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 05:09:19 -0000

Thanks Jon. Yes it will be great meeting up with you and I also feel that the conference will give me new energies as well. All the best back too you too Jon! See you soon! :)

Re: Guest blogging

jonbuscall — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 04:24:06 -0000

I'm really looking forward to Disruptive Media. I got a lot of energy from the last event. Great that you're going to be with too. Will look forward to catching up with you there! All the best, Jon

Re: Happy Birthday and a Present for You

jonbuscall — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 07:31:11 -0000

Happy Blog Birthday, Danny!

You really make a difference. When you linked to a post I'd written a couple of months ago I saw a major spike in traffic and plenty of those people stuck around, according to Analytics. So I appreciate the work you do and the conversations you get involved in.

I'd love a copy of Headway for the non-profit site I'm running for Engelska Gymnasiet, a high school in Stockholm. We're using the blog to promote the work of the kids and the unique atmosphere of an international state school in Sweden. You'll find the site over at www.engelskagymnasiet.se

Even if we didn't win Headway, we'd love the book by Mitch Joel. The school principal is trying to get her head around social media and I think that would really help :=)

Re: Engagment level – and why so silent?

andysp — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 17:01:53 -0000

Thanks for the suggestion Jon. I will look into that, and there will come a solution soon. I have worked so hard to build my new future that it has too.

Re: Engagment level – and why so silent?

jonbuscall — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 08:24:59 -0000

Hi Anders,
Hang in there, mate. I am sure something good will come around.
What about approaching some of the Swedish gymnasium here in Stockholm ahead of gymnasiet mässa. There's a lot of schools looking to recruit students and they don't know how to use the web / social media for marketing.
Maybe you could approach one of them to run a project? Sort of consult them on how to build a social media profile and then use it to engage with their potential customers?

Of course, a lot of teens are on instant messaging and Facebook. Schools aren't doing enough to exploit this so there could be a niche out there for a bit of project work.

Good luck with your writing project. I'm juggling clients this week. Business is good.

Re: Mycket blir det

andysp — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 06:05:50 -0000

Tack Jon. Jo det gick bra, skönt att ha ett sånt stöd som jag får där.

Re: Mycket blir det

jonbuscall — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 04:58:18 -0000

Hoppas att mötet med din rådgivare går bra!
Ser ut som on du har mycket på gång. Lycke till!!

Re: Are you actually using your analytics?

jonbuscall — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 08:22:42 -0000

Great post! Thanks for sharing this. Like you I have a bunch of keywords that I want to target but I also get some odd things showing up. I looked at the odd posts that crop up and then went back and rewrote them to suit my target audience more.

The Disruptive Media conference I was at earlier in the year got me onto this and I've found it quite useful for converting weird traffic into potential leads and jobs.

One thing I found was useful for tweeking my keywords was to think about all the questions people put into google that relate to my work. Then write headlines and articles that match.

So for your site I would start targeting posts/titles (keywords in brackets) with titles such as:
*Want to hire a creative designer? The pitfalls (hire creative designer)
*Why you need a YourTown freelance writer (YourLocalTown freelance writer)
*How to use a semi-colon correctly....

Showing that you can help is a great way to get people on to your site and putting your call-to-actions in front of them.

Re: The 5 emails you need to write today!

jonbuscall — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 14:55:52 -0000

Spot on ! I think we all have to be more positive in reaching out to people. It goes around.

Re: What can you do in 2 weeks to change the next 2 decades?

jonbuscall — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 06:25:00 -0000

Interesting post, Kirsten. I think I'm with you on Getting into a Routine. I find because I do a hotch-potch of different things I'm always juggling too many different things. I'd love to divide myself in to Marketer, Accounts, Copywriter and Sales person. Just not enough hours in the day.

I think it's typical for freelancers. Maybe that's why so many form virtual agencies (or join them).

Good luck with your plans.

Re: Nothing in life is free

jonbuscall — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 12:30:55 -0000

Given that I am just listening my way through Chris Anderson's book this came as a timely reminder. Appreciate your view.

Re: New commenting system, courtesy of Disqus

kirstenwright — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 15:15:05 -0000

Jon,

I was looking for a plugin that would let readers subscribe to comments and respond to other commenters, just like this. It was a one click install on wordpress. Definitely easy and so far, I love it.

Re: New commenting system, courtesy of Disqus

jonbuscall — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 13:28:08 -0000

Cool, K. I've been mulling this over myself. Why did you decide to change?
Was it easy to install?

Re: TweetDeck Desktop vs Seesmic Desktop: REMATCH!

jonbuscall — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 05:42:46 -0000

Nambu updated recently and I have to say I prefer it to either of these aps. It feels more Mac and doesn't use up so much juice in terms of systems performance.