TCOBaG - kNow ThiNkIng AllOwEd

A recent discussion on an email list I love (Paul Myers’ TalkBizNews) about how email marketers lie, trick, and cheat to get you to open their emails, made me pay extra attention to a recent post from a guy I trust a lot in the Public Relations field about similar tactics in PPC advertising. While some PPC services are very, very (read: sometimes wayyyyy too strict) some, as in this example, or way too lax.

Here’s an article by PR specialist Don Crowther on what not to do to win customers’ trust, and the sale. He gives a great example, well, _great negative_ example of a current ad running on Facebook.

Bottom line? Make your ad intriguing, but be honest, and upfront. The long run, what we’re all in it for, will see better results.

read more | digg story

Here’s a little silly song I wrote while messing around after some conversations about the sometimes misguided and misinformed try their hand at the social media site Twitter.com

Some people get it, some people don’t. Some people forget that what they’re ’saying’ is being read, and saved to be read (or found by SE’s later!).

Twitter is something I do use, participate in/with, but I’m by no means a maven. I like to think I’m pretty much the kind of user Twitter wants and works best for: someone who wants to have real time conversations about topics of interest with a wide variety of people that I have a connection, in some way, with, and to share a thing or two I find interesting/helpful/useful.

Anyway, here’s the video:

Feel free to leave a comment here, or at YouTube if you prefer, or pass this along.

Here’s the lyrics just in case my Kentucky accent got in your way

Tweet, tweet, twiddly-diddly-deet 3X

Maybe you’ve tried your hand,
At the latest net phenom.
In 140 strokes or less,
Share your life at twitter.com.
As long as you keep it clean,
Write anything at hand,
But some folks need to realize
“Don’t say it just because you can!”

Chorus

I don’t care about
the kind of coffee in your cup.
And I don’t give a hoot about
where your dog threw up.
Don’t send me links to sites
to help my organ grow.
Share something interesting
I might really like to know.

Chorus

Be careful who you follow,
and who follows you.
And telling everyone everything
in your day you do.
Just heed these words carefully,
or it could be your loss;
That silly @work follower,
Just might be your boss!

Chorus

But if you really get it,
and you’re none of the above,
you’ve got a life, but still some time,
then sign yourself up.
And if you think I’ve got some things,
you might like to see,
Then take some time to look me up,
And click the link to “Follow Me”

Chorus

Yes, I ’sampled’ from a little J5 for the ‘twiddly-diddly-deet’ And yes, it’s hard to keep saying that without tripping over your tongue, hehheh.

And, oh yeah, if you want to follow me on Twitter…

http://twitter.com/PowerMeUp

Today I had last class for several classes at Chukyo University.

It was another very interesting and fun semester.

Today in last period (4th) I took a couple of photos of the group just before everyone left and wanted to post them so the students could share them as well.

Here they are. If you’re in this group (my OC V-VI 4th period) then feel free to copy them from here.

Last Class, hurrah :-)

The real last hurrah! Thanks, gang! :-)

I have some larger file versions as well so if you need or want them, you can get them from here:

http://www.tcobag.com/images/Chukyo-OC-V-VI-2008-9.JPG

http://www.tcobag.com/images/Chukyo-OC-V-VI-2008-9-2.JPG

See you guys later.

Here’s a little poke for those of you who are struggling with continuing to build, grow, invest in your small business. It’s written by a friend of mine, Jim Kukral (yes, of the birthday song fame). Here’s an excerpt, and a link to the rest:
*******
It’s rough out there right now, I know. You
’re losing your cool in this tough economic market. You’re trying to make ends meet, while at the same time, you’re trying to push ahead and be successful as an entrepreneur. You’re working your a#* off and it’s getting you by, but not getting you ahead …

read more | digg story

Okay, so I’m not always on time, but hey, this time (at least) it’s not (entirely) my fault!

Jim Kukral, a friend, and a good guy, sings Happy Birthday to anyone who asks, records it even in video, very nice thing to do, so I wanted to do that for him as he’s now approaching middle age kicking and screaming.

So, I set things up real quick, knock off a video, throw in a little something aimed just at him, drag it into my computer, open up YouTube and get hit with a “we’re doing maintenance” (at least I’m not a YouTube Junkie going nuts, but still…)

So, video is done, and is loading to my site now, but still can’t display it just yet.

It’s coming though, and may well be worth the wait, or not, hehheh.

Anyway, Happy Birthday, Jim!

For now, maybe this link will work… edit, here’s the YouTube version.

This is on the deck right outside my home office. Yes, that’s my ‘good’ clothes for looking like the professional I am.

This was shot using my digital camera (Sony Cybershot). Just set it on my mini tripod, aimed it, and did it. There’s a slight glare from the sun off to my left, but hopefully the rest of the video is clear enough.

I’ll switch to a lighter/faster loading version asap, but for now YT is still doing maintenance and I don’t have the time to rework/edit this to make it smaller.