Communications

Social Media Is NOT A ‘Cure All’

2012-01-26T19:44:00.000-08:00

Social Media is not a cure all for what ails you.

Introduction

“Social Media!!! Use it to expand your business, gain more customers and make more sales!!! Just buy my book, take lessons from me or hire my firm and I’ll show you how right now!!!”

We’ve all heard those sales pitches. We are bombarded by them daily. There is one problem with all of them: they are all BS. Why? Take a few minutes and I’ll lay it out for you. If you like what I’ve written, you can hire me because I need a job. If you don’t like it, all you have wasted are a few minutes of your time.

Social Media Promoters Miss the Mark

Social Media—Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc.—is a great way to promote a company, a person and/or an event. But there is one critical problem with how many people are using it: Many—most—users are using it as a newer version of the old newspaper ads.

Newspaper ads tell people something. They scream “Buy My Products!!!” And the critical part is these comments are made from the perspective of the seller, not the potential buyer.

Most social media promoters are using the same tactics: they are telling people what to do, namely buy their products or purchase their services.

The essence of most social media promotions and products aimed at businesses is no different than marketing tactics of 50 years ago: Tell consumers what you have and hope they will buy it.

Why? One method is using a pretty face—a young woman or man—to sell it. They are young and attractive. You want to be young and attractive—I’m neither—so by buying my product, you will think you are young and attractive … until reality sets in and you realize how much money you just spent.

These methods cost a lot of money and, while they generate some sales, are ineffective.

Your Customers Are Not Idiots

Are you an idiot with the IQ of a rock? No. Guess what, folks, your customers aren’t either.

This bit about telling them what to buy doesn’t work for many products. Your customers are smart and they have less disposable income now than they did several years ago. This means your customers are going to buy products that they—not you—determine best meet their specific needs.

You drive a white Honda Civic. One neighbor drives a red Toyota Highlander while another drives a blue Smart Car. Each person has different driving needs and each person bought the vehicle that best suited their needs, not yours. If you have a family of four or five, you need the space that a Highlander gives. If you work in the city where parking spaces are at a premium, you like the small size and great gas mileage of a Smart Car. If it’s just you and one other person most of the time, the Civic fits your needs perfectly.

This same methodology applies to every other product out there, from cell phones to restaurants. The needs of the one are not always the needs of the many.

Think … Like … Your … Customers

Instead of thinking like Madison Avenue, known for its wild promotions, consider thinking like the most important person in your business life: your customer.

Good businesses use a slight variation of an approach used by good writers: we think like a reader. In your case, think like a customer.

You can stop reading whenever you want. If you engrave “Think Like a Customer” into your core being, you’ve got the key to success.

Now let me explain why that is so important and how using social media the right way can help you do just that.

Start With a SWOT Analysis

No, I’m not talking about a scene in a cop movie. SWOT stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. Have a meeting and discuss these areas with your entire staff then make a list of each strength, weakness, opportunity and threat..

Examine your business model, your staff and your customers. Where are your strengths? Do you have some excellent communicators, people who are outgoing and vibrant? Do you have core products that can truly make a difference in your customers’ lives?

Where are your weaknesses? What problems are you having now? What problems do you foresee coming up?

Where are your opportunities? Who presents a threat to your business?

Once you’ve done that—ask everyone in the room, ideally everyone in the company, for their views—for your company, switch your viewpoint 180 degrees.

Perform a SWOT analysis on each of your current competitors and any firm you think may become a competitors. What are their strengths and weaknesses? What opportunities do you see being presented to them?

By now you should have some fairly long lists both dealing with your own firm and others. What’s next?

Apply Your SWOT Information To Your Customers

Look at these situations from your customers’ perspective.

You should be able to paint a picture of your actual customer, not your ideal one. Give him or her a name. Where does she live? How much money does she make? Is she single, newlywed, married with kids or retired? What kind of house does she live in? What type of car does she drive? How old is her car? Where does she go to have fun? How often? Who does she go with?

If you can’t answer all of these questions and many more, then you don’t know your customers. It’s time for customer relations research, which I’ll get into momentarily.

By the way, create separate customer profiles for every product or service you offer. You can compare and contrast them and see where they overlap and where they diverge.

Assuming you know your customers, look at each of your products or services through their eyes.

Are Your Products/Services A Good Fit For Your Customers?

This is another key point: looking objectively at each of your products or services and applying them to your actual—not ideal—customers.

The key question to ask yourself, from your customers’ perspective is: “Why should I buy this firm’s products or services?”

You, the firm, need to ask yourself, “What’s in it for me?” from the customers’ point of view. Why should they buy your stuff? What benefits do they gain by doing it? If the benefits you find are not sufficient to get customers to buy a specific product then you may be wasting your time and money.

Once you have looked at your own products, look at the SWOT analyses you performed on your competitors. Now apply that knowledge to your customers.

Ask yourself these questions: Can my competitors’ products meet my customers’ needs and wants better than my own products or services? Why or why not?

The Result Of Your Work Is …

Asking all these questions helps you understand the needs of your customers. You can then relate those needs to your products and those of your competitors. The result is a clearer picture of where you stand.

You may well find that your current methods are working perfectly. However, you may also find that some products need to be scrapped, revised or repackaged. The best news is you will undoubtedly uncover untapped markets or ideas for new products.

But before you look at where you stand, you need to complete your SWOT analysis. That is where social media can help.

Research what your customers need and want.

Use Social Media As A Research Tool

Properly phrased questions will generate responses from current and potential customers alike. Social media is a great place to reach out to the people you should care about: your customers.

Ask a series of questions but be sure every questions meets each of these three requirements:

1. Locate your questions where your customers are likely to read them. Running a series of individual questions on Twitter is a waste of time if your customers don’t use it.

2. Make each question need to be topical and directly related to the needs of your customers. Include questions like, “What features of our XYZ product do you find most useful?” List the features. An option is, “On a scale of 1-7, one being most useful and 7 being least useful, how would your rate each of these products or features?” Then list the products or features.

3. This third attribute will increase your response rate: let the respondents know you care. A personal note will go a long way to forming a positive relationship with a customer. Something simple like, “Dear Sally, Thank-you for participating in our recent survey. We value your comments. Please contact me with any suggestions or problems. Sincerely, Joe in Customer Service (joed@xyzcorp.com).”

Another important idea when doing market research is realizing that most people are not going answer questions over the phone or fill them out online. To combat this mental barrier, think like a customer. Give them a reason to answer your questions: a reward.

Go to any trade show and you will find companies holding drawings. Drop off a business card and win a shot at a prize.

With respect to surveys, consider emailing every respondent a coupon or a coupon code good for a discount on their next purchase. Completing your survey also enter them into a drawing for a more valuable prize. Promote the winner, which gives other people an incentive to participate in your next survey.

Social media is great for customer research. It is outstanding for one other important task: communicating with customers.

Social Media can boost customer service.

Use Social Media For Improved Customer Relations

Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and the like are no better than newspaper or magazine ads when you have a one-way message. In a one-way message, you tell the reader something and expect them to act.

Social Media is great, though, when you want to establish a two-way conversation. The goal is to create a dialog with your customers. You ask them questions and they give you answers. You also answer every question they have and—here’s what really helps—you respond in a timely manner.

You can just as easily respond to a direct message on Twitter from your mobile phone as you can from a desktop computer. Social media is easy to use, so use it.

When someone has a question, make it a point to get back to them quickly, regardless of the time of day, day of the week or how busy you are. This customer has a question. He or she could care less that you are late for lunch or you’ve got a meeting in five minutes. They want an answer, and they want it now. Give them a response, now.

An easy method that shows you care about each customer is to set a company-wide response time, then make sure every customer gets some form of response within that time. It might be 30 minute or an hour, but I wouldn’t stretch it much beyond one day.

When you know the answer to their question, send it to them. If you need to look it up, tell them that. Say, “I don’t know” when you don’t know something … but add, “however, I’m looking it up right now. I’ll get back to you with (your time frame).” If it’s going to be longer, tell them that immediately.

Taking the extra time to respond to each and every question with a personal response has a cost: more employee time. It also has a reward in greater sales and a better public opinion of your firm.

If You Want To Learn More …

… Contact me. I can be reached at davereyn83@gmail.com. I check my mail several times a day, every day. All I need are your questions and a way to reach you. We can negotiate a fee for my services.

Applying These Lessons

You have been reading a 2,200 word document that is highly critical of some companies’ reliance on social media. This document is an example of the bad way of reaching clients. This document is not customer-centric and may or may not provide value to you, the reader.

I have put out a product—a document—in hopes someone (you) will read it. I did not research what you, the reader wanted or needed, nor did I ask your opinions before writing it. In those respects, my adherence to the mantra, “Think Like A Customer (Think Like A Reader” stinks.

How can I do better? By getting you to contact me so I can help you. Do I want to do better? You bet. I want a job. If I perform well, you might hire me or refer me to someone who will.

If you gained any value from this document, pass it on. If not, let me know how I can make it better for you.

About the Author: David B. Reynolds is a former newspaper reporter and editor, a former retail salesman and an occasional marketing consultant. His education includes a bachelor’s in political science from San Jose State University (1979) and a certificate in technical communication “earned with distinction” from UCLA Extension (2008).

Corporate Data Security Is Everyone’s Business

2012-01-24T12:13:00.000-08:00

Computer security is everyone's business.

Introduction

Information: we all have it. We bust our behinds to get it. We can’t live or conduct business without it. Someone else wants to steal it.

Identity theft is a term most people are familiar with. The odds are very good we all know someone—maybe even ourselves—who have been victimized on a personal level.

What many people don’t realize, nor can they comprehend the scope, is that information is regularly stolen on the corporate level. A lot of people fail to understand why they need to worry about who has their work passwords, or what happens when—not if—important business information is swiped.

Sure, we have all see the Hollywood thrillers that have someone swiping a bank’s armored car route so crooks can rob it. We have all watched movies, or read books, where computer hacking is a key element. We need look no further than the late Steig Larsson’s highly successful trilogy of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo books. The heroine, Lisbeth Salander, is an anti-social hacker.

But what we don’t comprehend is this: information security is everyone’s business. You should know what happens, how it happens and what you can do to fight it.

You Should Care About Data Security

The data theft example above is what most people think of in terms of data security. You’ve got a credit card and bank accounts. When someone else uses your card or empties your accounts, you get upset. But a lot of people fail to understand why they should care if someone breaks into the office computer network.

You need to care about keeping your firm's data private.

You have a job. Your job involves products and/or services. This means a list if clients and how to reach them. It also means lists of what products or services they bought, when they bought them, how much they purchased, where the merchandise was shipped, etc.

Your computer network also keeps track of product inventories. It tracks how many completed units you have on hand, how many parts to make completed units are on hand and how many parts are needed to make more. It likely tracks where each item is in the delivery pipeline both to you from your suppliers and from your firm to your clients.

Now take an unscrupulous competitor. If your top opponent knew exactly how much you paid for your products and could undercut your prices, he could offer his similar items to your clients for less. Given today’s competitive environment, many of your clients would switch.

Here’s another example: if someone could masquerade as your firm, they might convince your clients to place orders with them. The problem is the thieves are getting the orders and taking the money, but not delivering the products. This happens once or twice before your firm gets some angry phone calls and the deception is uncovered. No matter how the matter is resolved, your firm is now suspect in the eyes of that client.

These above scenarios occur on a regular basis. When they happen too often, firms go out of business and people like you lose their jobs. Those two examples alone—along with many others—are reasons why you should care about corporate security.

Corporate Security Levels

One of the first steps when joining a new company is getting a user name and password. Typically the firm assigns you a password, which you change immediately to something you can remember.

What happens when we forget our password? We go to the information tech guys or our supervisor and ask them to retrieve it. They can do this because they have a higher clearance level so they can access more information.

This same situation works its way up the corporate ladder. The higher a person’s position, the more information they have access to.

And not only can these executives read what everyone else writes, they can change it, copy it, move it around and delete it.

So how can your boss or the IT guy reset your password and override the computer security system? One way is by them keeping a log of user names and passwords. You forget yours and they can tell you what it is. The second way is by having network administrator privileges that let them take steps you cannot.

That covers what most people know of keeping business data secure, especially from the inside.

External security—keeping unwanted and unauthorized people out of your network—is the job of firewalls. Firewalls are a combination of software and hardware designed to make it difficult for unauthorized people to get into your network. Firewalls work to keep most intruders out but determined thieves will find a way in.

Common Data Stealing Methods

We have all heard about hackers who use sophisticated programs to go through firewalls and corporate security measures. The brute force approach of breaking through firewalls is only one method data thieves use, though.

Other approaches are Trojan Horse computer viruses and keyloggers. Both software methods trick people into revealing their passwords so outside hackers can gain entrance to your network. Both approaches rely on registered users letting them, typically by making users such as you think they are someone else.

For example, someone at work uses an office computer to download pornography. Opening an image or visiting a website—remember, that person voluntarily went there—downloads the Trojan Horse virus onto their computer. Trojan Horses are programs that are something other than what they appear to be and like the one of legend, contain electronic “soldiers” bent on causing havoc. Keyloggers are programs that record computer keystrokes then send them to a remote computer.

Another method involves people opening email attachments from unknown sources. Opening the attachments launches the virus attack.

A third method involves gaining access to a computer inside the business—and firewalls—then using a removable flash drive to copy the data and take it away.

Less Common Stealing Methods

One of the methods Hollywood uses when showing data thefts is more common than many people expect: thieves take advantage of human frailties.

A thief gains access to a business. While walking through cubicle city, they spy an empty cubby. The user keeps a sticky note with their username and password on it underneath their monitor. Guess what the crook copies?

Many people these days also write down computer access codes and carry them in their purses, wallets or smart phones. Swipe the right wallet or phone and you’ve got a goldmine gaining access to a forbidden network. Credit cards? While steal hundreds of dollars when you can take millions?

What You Can Do To Fight Computer Crooks

The first step the average computer user can do to fight computer crime is simple: use a good password, then change it regularly.

Good passwords are words or phrases that mean something to you, but the average friend, relative or business associate would be unable to guess easily. Bad passwords are name of your current significant other, your birthdate, or a pet’s name. Good passwords might involve the name of a former “friend” who dumped you in high school, the name and birthday of a favorite teacher or perhaps the name of a friend’s long-dead pet.

Thinking of a word or phrase is the first step. The second involves replacing a few letters with numbers or symbols, such as using the number 1 for the letter “i” or lowercase “L,” and the + symbol instead of a “t.”

The third step is using different passwords for different accounts. Use one for work and different one for your personal computer, plus others for individual access situations like on-line banking.

So now you’ve got a ton of passwords. How do you keep track of them? One option is to download an encryption program for your iPhone such as For My Eyes Only. Another option is Pretty Good Privacy for desktop computers.

My Eyes Only requires you to enter a master password before gaining access to a list of usernames and passwords stored on your phone. The list is stored on your phone, but encrypted (think scrambled) to keep out anyone without the master password.

Pretty Good Privacy has been around for many years. It uses private key and public key encryption. The private key is a password only you have access to. A public key is one you can give other people to access selected encrypted documents.

The single most important step you can take is also the most obvious and the one many people overlook: secrets are no longer secrets if they are shared. Keep your passwords to yourself, period.

Those are simple steps every individual can use. Your best bet at the corporate level is to hire a professional security firm. Check around, ask your friends who they use and why before hiring someone.

Teach Your Children to Help Homeless Pets

2011-12-26T19:49:00.000-08:00

A Chihuahua ready for adoption.

Teach your children the true meaning of giving have then use part of their Christmas cash or gift cards to help a homeless animal. If you join your kids in making a donation, you can use it as an end of the year tax write-off to help pets and yourself.

Here’s an example Let’s say grandma gave a child a $25 gift card from Wal-Mart. The toy they want is $20, leaving them an extra $5. Spend it on a fleece blanket and take it to your local animal shelter. Blankets, towels, old bedding and warm clothes make great donations to both animal shelters—for use as bedding—and human shelters to keep people warm, too.

Another great way to help animals in general is by donating to two national organizations The Human Society of the United States and the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

Personal preference is to donate materials or money, and volunteer some of your time, at a local pet rescue. Bring your kids—even if you don’t have pets, or are considering getting one—so they get to meet the critters. The dogs and cats will love the attention, and your kids will have a blast. In addition, you can teach your children the responsibilities of pet ownership, such as regularly feeding and cleaning up after them.

Let’s say you have a specific breed of dog or cat and you want that breed. There are rescue organizations for every breed imaginable. Consider first searching online for a local or nearby rescue. If not, use this list to touch base with a national group that can help you find a local organization.

According to PetVR, the top dog breeds, followed by a link to an associated rescue group are:

1. Labrador retrievers

2. Golden retrievers

3. Yorkshire terriers

4. German shepards

5. Beagles

6. Dachshunds

7. Boxers

8. Poodles and mixes

9. Shi Tzu’s

10. Miniature Schnauzers

11. Chihuahuas

12. Pugs

13. Bulldogs

14. Pomeranians

15. Cocker Spaniels

16. Rottweilers

17. Boston Terriers

18. Shetland Sheepdogs

19. Maltese

20. German Shorthaired Pointers

Siamese are beautiful, independent and loving.

Some people like their pets to purr or they live in areas where dogs are not allowed, but cats are. If you want a registered purebred cat, visit the Cat Fanciers’ Association website.

According to home fashion maven Martha Stewart, the top 10 cat breeds (and—according to me—associated rescue groups) are:

1. Persians

2. Maine Coon

3. Exotics (shorthaired Persians)

4. Ragdoll

5. Sphynx

6. Siamese (multiple breeds, with some people consider Ragdolls a Siamese)

7. Abyssinian

8. American Shorthair (a common breed often found at shelters)

9. Cornish Rex

10. Birman

I will not personally vouch for any of these organizations since all 11 of my cats and three dogs are rescues. However, any help you can give any of these animals is greatly appreciated.

Speaking as a life-long pet owner, thank-you for any help you can give.

Six Simple Steps to More Effective Documents

2011-12-16T10:17:00.000-08:00

Have you ever worked your tail off writing a document andsent it out only to find no one bothered to read it? If so, the odds are good youare taking the wrong the approach.

Consider using the reader-centric “What’s in it for me?” and“Think like a reader” method.

This method is simple and far more effective because it isbased on what the readers—not the writers—want.

The traditional method is: write it, send it, hope someonereads it and replies to you.

The reader-centric method follows these deceptively easysteps, all of which take more work but also offer greater rewards.

Step 1: Create your message. Determine the general messageyou want to get out.

Step 2: Determine who will get your message. This is themost time consuming step because it involves researching your audience oraudiences and understanding the needs of each group.

Step 3: Modify your message based on the needs of each groupthat will be receiving it. Every group has different needs and different wants.Ignore them at your peril.

Step 4: Write your documents so they clearly explain thebenefits of your message to them. Use the advertising adage of, “Tell ‘em. Tell‘em what you told ‘em. Tell ‘em again” to repeat how they will benefit fromyour message.

Those four steps are the most critical. The next twooptional steps will help you immensely, though.

Step 5: Run your documents through a small group of peopleoutside your immediate organization. Use people with similar needs and desiresto your target groups. Ask them for feedback on your documents then modify yourdocuments based on their comments.

Step 6: Set up a method of asking for and using feedbackfrom wider audiences. Social media is perfect for this. Asking people on yourcompany Facebook page, “What do you think?” gets them involved. The greater yourreaders’ involvement, the better your documents will be.

Please contact medirectly with any questions, comments or suggestions on improving thisdocument. I can be reached at mailto:davereyn83@gmail.com.

Expand Your Reach With Multiple Social Media Accounts

2011-12-09T20:06:00.001-08:00

The author.

Summary

A lot of people use social media daily, typically accessing one account per type. There are advantages to keeping your work and personal online lives separate. Follow these tips to create and manage multiple accounts on Facebook and Twitter.

By the Numbers

Social Media is a hot topic these days, and for good reason. Literally millions of people—and billions isn’t far away—regularly use at least one on-line program to interact with others.

With more than 272 million people using the Internet in North America alone, and more than 2 billion users worldwide, interacting on-line is extremely common. (Source: http://bit.ly/t0uEBB). Of those, four in five actively use social media. (Source: http://bit.ly/tzNxgy).

Facebook tops virtually all lists with 800 million active users of which roughly half use the service daily. The average user connects with 135 friends and family, but not always frequently (source: http://www.facebook.com/press/info.php?statistics). This is up from 350 million in 2009 (source: http://royal.pingdom.com/2010/01/22/internet-2009-in-numbers/) and 600 million in 2010 (source: http://bit.ly/vMP8xQ).

Next on the list is Twitter, with more than 100 million registered users. How many use the service daily is open for debate, as this story illustrates.

YouTube, which is limited to video only, served more than 1 billion videos each day in 2009, according to the 2009 http:// royal.pingdom.com story and 2 billion daily in 2010 according to the same source (http://bit.ly/vMP8xQ).

Users will also access, and create, a whole heck of a lot of blogs with more than 152 million of the “web logs” available online, again according to http://bit.ly/vMP8xQ, which is the most recent number available. WordPress alone hosted 15.1 million blogs in January, 2011. (Source: http://bit.ly/vKoYcc). Statistics for Blogger, which is owned by Google, are not available.

As the above numbers indicate, an awful lot of people are getting news, information and social contacts from on-line sources. While I’ve been unable to find statistics to verify this, it’s probably accurate to say that most people use Facebook, and—according to the Nielsen study above—most people use more than one social media service. These same users often have one Facebook account, one Twitter account, one photo sharing account, one blog, etc.

The Advantage of Having One Account Per Social Media Platform

The majority of people find it convenient to have and use one account for each social media, such as Facebook, Twitter and for professional interaction, LinkedIn. These comments may range from the work-related, “We’ve got a new product or service” to the personal, as in “I’m here. Join me.”

Many people mix business and personal comments in their social media content and for good reason: it’s easier. It takes less effort and less time to keep up with one account in each platform than it does to have multiple accounts.

The downside is that your friends know about your business dealings and your clients—and sometimes your boss—know about your friends and “after hours” activities.

For example, saying you went out and got drunk and told everyone your boss is an idiot, smoked some weed, spent time with a hooker then did some gay bashing is likely to have one result: putting you on the unemployment line. While this kind of activity is extremely stupid in the first place, it’s severity is far worse when spread across the Internet.

Consider Multiple Social Media Accounts

When in doubt, keep your personal life private. This means having one set of social media accounts strictly for friends and family and another for work-related functions.

Facebook, for example, lets users control who can see their comments. Click here for a list of basic Facebook privacy controls.

Twitter is a program where anyone can read your comments if they follow you, but you cannot control who those followers are. The only way to control who reads your tweets (Twitter comments) is by carefully monitoring your followers then adjusting your comments based on them.

Another option for both Facebook and Twitter is to create one account for work and another for personal use.

Let’s say you are single, live in a metropolitan area and like dogs. You could easily create one user profile for dates and dating, a second for interesting places and activities and a third related to dogs. When you want to talk about dogs, you can post a comment on your Facebook page devoted to them such the (made up) “Woof-Woof-Me.” If you’ve got a comment about a favorite restaurant—beyond using ratings services such as Yelp—you could have a Twitter account like MyFavoriteEats and a separate one for your dog friends.

You can always share links between them, so if you have someone to hang out with on your personal Facebook page, you can invite them to follow your MyFavoriteEats Twitter account.

How to Set Up Multiple Social Media Accounts

Since Twitter requires a different email address for each account, your first step is to create a series of them. This way you can access the same electronic mailbox for each series of accounts. For example, all of your work-related Facebook and Twitter comments can go to a Hotmail account while your personal stuff goes to a Gmail account and your hobby accounts link to a Yahoo email.

To keep things simple, use the same basic contact information on each email account. For example, MyWork@gmail.com and MyWork@hotmail.com, then MyPlay@gmail.com andMyPlay@hotmail.com.

Next, you will want to keep these accounts secure, so spend some time creating passwords.

There are two schools of thought: using one password on all accounts makes it easy to remember but also easier for someone else to access your accounts. Having different passwords give you more security at the expense of remembering more data. Pick a combination, such as one basic password with easily-remembered variations, that works for you.

So know you have created your series of email accounts, one for each string of social media accounts.

Next, go into Facebook and create a new user account. Facebook remembers your settings. Do the same for Twitter and each other social media platform or service.

Your third step involves logging out from each social media service then creating your second identity with them using your second email account. Follow the same procedure for each additional identity.

Once you have taken the time to set each account up, it’s just a matter of logging off one account and logging on to another before you are ready to post your comments.

It’s also becoming easier to share your comments between social media outlets. For example, LinkedIn lets you automatically add your Twitter feed comments to your LinkedIn profile.

Contact me directly with any questions or comments. I can be reached at davereyn83@gmail.com, davereyn83@hotmail.com and davereyn83@me.com.

To Post on a Blog

2011-12-06T10:42:00.001-08:00

Follow these steps when you want to include links to web pages as part of blog posts. This process is independent of the software used to create both the blog and the page you are linking to.

Step 1: Open your blog page and select New Post. In a second tab of the same browser session, find the document you want to link to.

Step 2: Write your blog post and give it a headline (Capitalizing the First Letter of Every Word is a Common Headline Style).

Step 3: Make sure you blog posts describes the page you are linking to.

Step 4: Add a “click here” comment where you want the link to start.

Step 5: Copy the Internet address (the part that starts with http://) from the page you are linking to.

Step 6: Using Blogger, look for the icon that looks like a chain link and click on it.

Step 7: Paste the Internet address in the open part of the link window.

When you become comfortable after having done this a few times, these steps are enough. However, it’s a good idea initially to click on the “check link” box after you paste your link. If you’ve done it right, you should go directly to your website.

Let’s Start a Reading and Writing Barter Group

2011-11-15T08:25:00.001-08:00

Some fall color from my home.

“Unter vier Augen” is German for “under four eyes.” Having at least four eyes instead of just two reading your work can help any writer improve their fiction or non-fiction stories, novels or screenplays.

Barter is the act of trading services or goods for other services or goods of approximately equal value.

What I’d like to do is set up a group of people willing to read—not necessarily edit—works then provide feedback to the authors in exchange for similar treatment.

The basic concept is:

1. Writers willing to read someone else’s work will submit semi-final draft stories to people willing to read them.

2. The readers then comment on the stories, providing valuable and unofficial feedback.

3. Authors can then read the feedback and determine if the suggestions merit making changes to their manuscripts or not.

There are several requirements necessary to make this program work for everyone.

First, we need a group of writers willing to read someone else’s documents. Only having one or two people means this idea will die a quick death.

Next, we should have a non-disclosure agreement that prevents readers from telling someone outside the group what they are doing. The idea here is to help keep each author’s works private until they are ready for submission to a publisher.

We also need a plagiarism agreement that protects the original author’s ideas from being copied or slightly modified. If I turn your unsold suspense story into a best-selling romance novel that uses an identical plot, similar characters and a carbon-copy setting, I profit from your original ideas. That is unfair,unethical and not the way I work.

There should also be a general form each writer-reader combo can use that provides enough feedback for writers to benefit, but doesn’t take the time or effort of a full-blown edit. If writers don’t get enough feedback, they lose interest. Readers don’t want to spend a lot of time reading unless they are getting paid.

A final thought is this: Most published books have author comments where they thank people making valuable contributions. It’s a good idea for authors to publicly thank their readers here as a form of payment instead of cash.

Now I’d like to hear from you. Do you like this idea? Do you want to participate? How can we make it better for you? Send your comments to mailto:davereyn83@gmail.com.

Extinguish Flame Wars Before They Start

2011-10-23T18:41:00.000-07:00

Here’s a scenario that’s becoming more common: You fire up your computer or smart phone and get an email message from someone who disagrees with one of your emails or social media posts. You disagree with their comments, then the matter degenerates into name calling, or in social media jargon, “a flame war.”

How can you prevent this sort of thing from happening in the first place? Once a nasty war of words starts, how do you stop it? Read on and learn.

The Bottom Line

The quick response to the above questions is simply this: You are responsible for what you say, do and write, period. If you write something others consider offensive, then you should take the criticism. If your comments step beyond the realm of opinion and into the legal areas of slander, defamation of character or harassment (California Penal Code Section 653.2), you may be financially liable for any damage your comments cause.

Separating emotions and actions is tough … but necessary if you want your actions to be effective.

Step #1: Think First

The first step to preventing flame wars is simply thinking before you type. Ask yourself these questions from the standpoint of someone who stumbles upon your email, tweet or other post:

1. Would I take offense at either the entire content or a portion of it? If so, delete or tone down the potentially offensive comments.

2. Did I mention a person either by name or by using a description that applies only to one individual? If so, remove the name. Another option is to avoid using names or specific descriptions or choose something generic, then put it in quotes with a disclaimer such as “Mike Williams” (not his real name).

Gmail users now have a delay built in to the Send Email function. You have a few seconds to change your mind before your message goes out. Other email programs may offer similar functions.

If you are seriously concerned about offending one person or a group, save the message as a draft then wait until the next day before sending it.

But let’s say the flame war has already started and you think it’s gotten out of hand. How do you stop it?

The first way is to suck up your ego and apologize, even when you feel your comments were right and on the mark. Can you really afford to upset that one person or group? Sometimes you can’t but in other cases, their views and yours may be so far apart that you need set the record straight.

The next steps vary depending on how the comments appear, where, how frequently and if you can prove physical, emotional or financial harm. Your options range from blocking comments by the offending person or group to suing them in court.

Email: Blocking Specific People

These steps apply to Google’s Gmail. Most email programs offer similar options.

Block messages from a specific person is a simple, straight forward task when you follow these steps.

1. Just to the right of the “Search Mail” and “Search the Web” box near the top of Gmail’s Inbox window is a link to “Create a filter.” Click this link.

2. Now you have several options. You can:

a. Enter an individual email address. Use this choice if the offender only has one email address or create individual filters for a small group of them.

b. Enter terms you consider offensive such as “penis enlargers” or “breast enhancements”. You can include a person’s name here.

c. Subject line terms you don’t like, such as “You f***ing idiot”.

d. Delete all messages with attachments. If you are concerned about virus-laden attachments, use an anti-virus program or even better don’t open the attachments.

3. Enter the words or phrases that offend or upset you, then click “Next Step>>”.

4. Now you can pick from a range of actions that range from making these messages as important to automatically deleting them. When you pick the latter choice, you never see these messages.

5. The final step is clicking on the “Create Filter” button.

Twitter

If you think someone has been spreading nasty rumors or comments about you on Twitter, start by searching for yourself. Verify these rumors are true before responding with inflammatory comments of your own.

Twitter searches use the “hashtag” or number symbol #. Simply enter the # symbol followed by your name in the search box at the top and hit Enter. A list of posts matching those exact terms will appear.

Tip: use variations on your name, including some that use the underscore (_) character in place of a space. For example, I often go by Dave Reynolds instead of David Reynolds. My searches will include #DaveReynolds, #DavidReynolds, #David_Reynolds and #Dave_Reynolds.

So what happens when your search comes up a match or two? What do you do?

Twitter makes it easy for anyone to “follow” (receive Twitter comments) from anyone else. There is a way to control who gets your tweets. Click on your name, go to Settings and scroll down to Tweet Privacy. This lets you control who sees your comments.

There’s an old adage that goes, “keep your friends close and your enemies closer.”

With respect to Twitter, follow people who are tweeting about you and read their comments. If you don’t like what they are saying, send them a direct message saying “cease and desist” using your name or referring to you.

Facebook

Facebook makes it easy to hide offensive comments. Unfortunately, this doesn’t prevent people from writing them. You can appeal directly to Facebook by giving the user’s name and explaining how their remarks are offensive.

To block a person’s feed, move your mouse to same level as the sender’s name. A down arrow will appear. Click on the arrow and a list of options will appear. Next, select what you want to do, such as “Unsubscribe from …” and you will no longer receive their comments.
You can also "unfriend" them but that will not prevent them from writing about you.

Legal Options

If your appeals to the offending person doesn’t work, consider legal action. Remember, though, it’s up to you to prove their guilt.

For example, California Penal Code Section 653.2 defines harassment as, “A knowing and willful course of conduct directed at a specific person that a reasonable person would consider as seriously alarming, seriously annoying, seriously tormenting, or seriously terrorizing the person and that serves no legitimate purpose.”

A series of emails, Tweets or Facebook posts that achieves that, especially when it comes after your attempt to stop it, will help prove your point.

When in doubt, save the offending comments, save your responses and contact a lawyer.

How to Include A Link In A Blog Post

2011-10-10T16:54:00.000-07:00

Follow these steps when you want to include links to web pages as part of blog posts. This process is independent of the software used to create both the blog and the page you are linking to.

Step 1: Open your blog page and select New Post. In a second tab of the same browser session, find the document you want to link to.

Step 2: Write your blog post and give it a headline (Capitalizing the First Letter of Every Word is a Common Headline Style).

Step 3: Make sure you blog posts describes the page you are linking to.

Step 4: Add a “click here” comment where you want the link to start.

Step 5: Copy the Internet address (the part that starts with http://) from the page you are linking to.

Step 6: Using your blog creation software—such as Blogger.com from Google—look for the icon that looks like a chain link. Click on the icon, which opens the link window.

Step 7: Paste the Internet address in the open part of the link window.

When you become comfortable after having done this a few times, these steps are enough to accomplish your task. However, it’s a good idea initially to click on the “check link” box after you paste your link. If you’ve done it right, you should go directly to your website.

Two Sets of Eyes Are Better Than One

2011-09-14T18:49:00.000-07:00

Fellow San Jose Camera salesman Mark Cartwright and I belonged to the BMW Car Club of America’s Golden Gate Chapter back in the late 1980s. One of my tasks was creating the newsletter using an early Mac and PageMaker under Cartwright's direction.

A phrase Cartwright used frequently was “Unter Vier Augen” or “under four eyes.” Having four eyes—two sets or yours and someone else’s—still makes sense today.

One common problem many writers have is leaving ----- out (the missing word is “words”). Spellcheckers don’t see it because no word is misspelled. May grammar checkers also miss words that are not present. A second set of eyes belonging to someone other than the writer helps find these missing words, increasing the likelihood of an error-free document.

A second set of eyes—and a different point of view—also helps when writing fiction. Your co-author can spot errors not only in words, but in logic. For example, let’s say your action novel hero pulls a gun in one situation but uses her fists in another. If your scene permits her to use her gun, then she most likely will. Having her use her fists or a knife does not conform to the way your character logically behaves. A second—or a third or a fourth—set of eyes will catch situations like this, letting you revise the scene to make it more logical.

The best point about using a coauthor, though, is their ability to pose questions. Authors tend to have “one track minds” and believe their approach is the best way. Someone else may make a comment that, while on the surface seems offensive, can actually help you write a better story.

When writing non-fiction, the best feature stories have one subject with several people adding details about the person or event. These comments add clarity and detail, not confusion.

So when in doubt, and when time permits, have someone else read your documents before publishing them. Your documents—and you—will be better for it.

Use Screenwriting Styles From the Start

2011-09-14T11:18:00.000-07:00

Writing my first screenplay is an interesting experience. I’m learning a lot about how to do it.

My first few initial scenes were written using standard Microsoft Word styles, like Normal and Heading 3. Comments (dialog) were written using quotation marks and “he said” or “she said.”

While that worked briefly, I strongly suggest other novice screenwriters skip those styles and use common screenwriting ones from the very beginning. The reason is simple: when you force yourself to write using proper screenplay styles, it forces you to think in terms of Action and Dialog.

Word users can download a free template with styles here. An additional suggestion for Word 2007 and later users is to click on the little arrow in the lower right corner of the Styles Box. This keeps the template styles visible all the time, making it easier to switch between Character and Dialog or Action styles.

I made the switch from “regular” styles to the screenplay version to check my length. Screenplays use much wider margins than do standard documents. Which makes them spread across more pages. Since one page of script equals one minute of screen time, and you want to keep your document to 100-110 minutes, it’s more efficient to know just how far you’ve come and how far you have to go.

HEROINE speaks then pulls the trigger.

Instead of a “BANG!,” though, we hear a loud “CLICK.” The gun’s hammer has come down on an empty cylinder, not the last bullet.

HEROINE

You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can--and I will personally give you an iron-clad guarantee--will be used against you in a court of law.

Do you see what I mean?

I also think writing with screenplay styles helps you think more visually. Your Action descriptions, for example, will be more visual than, “she pulls the trigger but her gun doesn’t fire.”

An initial quick edit using screenplay styles became a major rewrite and I think, wholesale improvements in the screenplay. The more I wrote, the more I became the character who was either talking or acting. My scenes have become more logical using what each character has done before to help determine how they act now and in future scenes.

So if you are thinking about writing a screenplay, use screenplay styles from the start. Your work will be faster—fewer rewrites—and better.

There Is Such A Thing As Bad Press

2011-09-14T10:20:00.000-07:00

This blog is about helping people—you—communicate better. Part of that is marketing your services and products in a way that gets positive attention, not negative feedback.

What can I do to help you? Please email your questions, comments and suggestions to David Reynolds at davereyn83@gmail.com. Anything worthwhile will be taken into consideration and used. Your comments will be given the credit they deserve.

And now for the gist of this post: comments I strongly disagree with will be ignored.

Some people believe the saying, “There’s no such thing as bad press.” As a former reporter and editor, I disagree.

There is a huge difference between “good press” and “bad press.” Good press coverage shows you and your firm in a positive or neutral light. Readers and viewers either see your virtues being touted or are left to make up their own minds.

Bad press essentially is something that upsets and angers people. The result of this is (warning: the next few words are intentionally offensive) a bunch of pissed off reporters, editors, readers and/or viewers.

Supporters of the “no such thing as bad press” statement argue that even bad press puts a person, group or firm’s name in the public eye. But do you really want investigative reporters or private people who hate your comments looking into your past, literally digging through your trash, to see what other dirt they can unearth?

The potential impact of bad press is the complete dismantling of your group or firm and, depending on the severity of the response to your comments, legal action against you.

Here’s one other important point many people completely overlook: when many editors read or see something that offends them, and may offend their readers, they ignore it. Your statements may not get good press or bad press. They may—and often do—end up in the garbage can where they belong.

So when you are writing anything—press releases, blog posts, even personal comments on Facebook or Twitter—look at how you can put them in a positive light. The results will ultimately benefit you.

Use Logic To Buy The Right Computer

2011-08-29T13:36:00.000-07:00

Which computer brand and model do I buy? Do I believe Apple’s hype that its computers are easier to use or buy one with an “Intel® (processing chip) Inside”?

The answer is a resounding Yes… and No. Why?

Many people make a huge mistake when buying a computer, whether it’s their first or the latest in a long line of upgrades: they buy the hardware--the physical computer—first. This is a mistake because computers in and of themselves cannot do anything unless they have software loaded on them.

The solution to avoiding a potentially expensive mistake is also simple. Follow this equation:

Application 1 + Application 2 = Applications

Application 1 is your primary use. How and where do you plan to use your computer? While many people use their computers to get on-line to check emails, chat, play games and surf the Internet, others have more specific uses. These can be writing letters, creating graphics, editing digital photos, editing movies, digitizing music, learning a foreign language, performing statistical analyses and a whole host of other tasks.

Application 2 is your secondary use. This might well be one the tasks above or something else, like having a video conversation with a distant friend or relative.

Applications refers to the computer programs—also called applications, or in Apple parlance, “aps”—that let you perform these tasks.

Putting it bluntly: if you don’t have the right programs to achieve your tasks, your new computer is nothing more than an expensive doorstop, boat anchor or paperweight.

Every program has several common requirements before it can run properly. They are:

· A minimum processor type and speed, such as an Intel Core 2 Dual 2.14 MHz or equivalent. This explains how many digital instructions and computations the core chip or chips can process at any given time. Programs that are highly computational—video, graphics and graphic-intensive games fit this category—require faster processors. Writing and basic word processing requires far less computer power.

· A minimum amount of RAM, such as 250 MB. Think of RAM as temporary storage. What goes in gets used and cleaned out frequently during the course of a day. A motel is a good example: you rent a room, use it then leave.

· Hard disk or hard drive space, such 30MB on disk. Think of this as permanent space. This is like a home: you buy it and stay a long time.

· An operating system such as Microsoft Windows XP, Vista or Windows 7. This is a key choice in determining if the program you want will run on the computer you have your eyes on. Individual programs can only run on one type of operating system—Apple OS X or Windows—but some manufacturers make versions for more than one. If the program you want to use says it will only run on a computer using Windows, or only running OS X, then your part of your computer buying choice has been made for you. If you buy a computer than does not run that operating system, your software will not work.

· An Internet connection. Many computer programs get updates—minor program enhancements plus resolutions to hardware and software conflicts—on a regular basis. While many of these updates are quick if you have a high-speed Internet connection, such as cable or DSL, they can take forever if you are using an old-fashioned dial-up connection.

If you like what you just read, send me an email and I’ll answer your questions.

Blogs Are A Key Resource for Non-Profit Groups

2011-08-28T08:47:00.000-07:00

Non-profit groups need an online presence these days. While having a website was a luxury 10-20 years ago, not having one today is a major drawback.

A good starting point for any non-profit is a free blog through Blogger.com, which is just fine for most firms. These blogs are easy to create and easy for anyone, regardless of their technical skills, to maintain.

The difference between a blog and a "regular" website is a blog is limited to a single page, plus archives. You have one main featured article plus comments. Blogs are a great place to share news and opinions while getting comments from others.

For example, let's say you are part of a baseball coaching group. We can say the name of your blog is BaseballPurist (it would appear as www.baseballpurist.blogspot.com, assuming that name or the name you want is available). You write a comment about how Tim Lincecum's pitching motion is a prime example of good mechanics. Let's say someone disagrees and says no, Lincecum has a problem and does something wrong. He can write a comment. Then a third person and others can chime in.

Another example is a post describing an upcoming fund-raiser, a need for donations or a story on how your group gives back to the community.

Blogs give non-profits:

A place where people can read about you.
The ability to discuss your favorite topic (e.g., baseball).
Encourage comments, discussion and sharing knowledge.
And are easy to maintain by you or anyone else.

A second, complimentary, social media page is a Facebook page. You can have brief messages on it then refer to your blog for the longer comments. You can also get people to "friend" you so they are notified of announcements, such as upcoming meetings or clinics.

If you wanted more pages, such as a list of products to sell, then you should spring for a paid and hosted web page, which I can design for you. The drawback is the cost. You have to pay a company to host the page. If you want fancy features, such as video, you need special software tools (Adobe's Flash, which costs about $500, is a commonly used animation program).

By the way, many companies use a combination of all three--blog, Facebook and web page--to promote and sell their products. Here's an example: the Posh Puppy Boutique (disclosure: they pay me to write blog postings for them).

Posh Puppy's website contains thousands of dog-related items, many of them high-end clothing products. The firm's blog promotes products on the website with links to specific pages for individual products. The Facebook page lets people know about new blog posts and lets people--customers and friends of customers--comment on them.

My personal suggestion is to start with a blog and Facebook page, then go to the web page if and when needed.

The Time to Buy Stocks, Real Estate Is Now

2011-08-09T11:22:00.000-07:00

Uh, oh! The stock market is heading downhill—again—and housing prices are still at near all-time lows. Lowering the U.S.’s credit rating and those of mortgage lenders Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac means home interest rates are going to start heading up, and soon.

Panicked traders are saying, “Sell, sell, sell.” The markets are taking a tumble so pull your money out and head for the hills. Take a loss and save what you’ve got left.

So what should the smart American to do? The answer is one simple word: buy.

Basic economic theory says to “buy low, sell high.” The good news about cycles is that they go down, like they are now, then go back up. Sure, it may take years before the housing market returns to its pre-crash levels, but it will get there.

Take a look at two facts and the logical conclusions you can draw from them.

Fact 1: People need places to sleep. Whether they own or rent is not as critical as having a place to live. If you can afford to carefully research and buy property, then keep it for a few years, you will see a profit.

Fact 2: Just because the stock market takes a dump does not mean the companies listed on each exchange are suddenly worse off than they were before the crash. Look at the underlying numbers behind individual companies. If a particular firm looks solid, and their projections have merit, even if the firm’s stock price is low, then buy it. You might find yourself making a hefty profit in a month or two, maybe a year or longer.

Even though now is a great time to buy stocks and real estate—I have portfolios with Merrill-Lynch and Morgan-Stanley—understand these two cautions before plunking down a single dollar:

1. There are serious risks so don’t invest any money you can’t afford to lose. If you think you can buy a home in Las Vegas, Nev. today and sell it for a profit before your next mortgage payment is due, you are in for a rude awakening.

2. Your profit and risk reduction is directly proportional to the amount of research you do.

Before buying property, take a close look at the area. Get answers to these questions first or you may lose your investment.

Questions to ask are:

· Why would someone choose to live here, wherever “here” is?

· Are there enough jobs to support the people already living “here”?

· What is the economic outlook for both more jobs being added or a major employer canning everyone and sending its workforce overseas?

· What types of housing are most depressed in this particular area? What makes the most sense to buy? Suggestion: detached single family homes and condos/townhouses work well initially as rentals. Should property values recover enough, you can sell them.

· Are there “things” (such as schools, shopping and recreation) that make this area more attractive than somewhere else?

Before buying stocks, take a close look at the company. Does it have a solid financial base? Does it have a logical plan for future growth? Most importantly, is there a demand for its products and will that demand increase or decrease?

Every product has a cycle that starts when word first gets out about it, when it hits the streets, when it gets glowing reviews, when sales start to level off, and when the next new product comes out. Savvy investors get in early then either bail out before the end or, if the company has a track record of producing innovative products, stay with the firm for the long haul.

DISCLAIMER: The author is NOT a financial expert but does have a mortgage, IRA and investment portfolio. These suggestions are based strictly on logic, elementary economic education and experience. The author does not suggest ANYONE invest without clearly understanding that they could lose their entire investment.

Tips on Converting Word Files

2011-07-11T21:19:00.000-07:00

Problem: Someone just sent you a file created with Microsoft Word 2010 or 2007 and you have an older version.

Identification: Word 2007 and 2010 files use the .docx extension, which is a variation of HTML used in web page design. Previous versions used the .doc extension.

Solutions: Word 2007 lets you automatically save documents using the older file format through its settings control. An alternate option is to hit the F12 key and select “Save As” then select the file format you prefer.

Looking at the file name may not be enough to tell you if it was created in Word 2007 or Word 2010.

If the document was created in Word 2010, your simplest, least expensive method is to create a Windows Live account and create a free Windows SkyDrive account.

Start by going to http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/. Select #1 and follow the prompts. Be sure to select the option to “Remember Me” (or something similar), which makes it easier to open your SkyDrive account.

Unless you know for a fact that the people reading your document have Word 2007 or Word 2010, it’s best to save all of your documents in a universal file format.

The best formats to use are:

· HTML: The format of Internet documents, this option greatly reduces your design choices and restricts your document’s appearance. The advantage is that anyone with a web browser can view it.

· PDF: Adobe’s portable document format lets you save documents complete with formatting and, if you choose, embedding fonts (typefaces) in the document. Drawbacks are readers must have the free PDF viewer, which they can download and these documents cannot be edited.

· MS Word 2003-1997: Many computer users do not upgrade their software regularly. This results in occasional compatibility issues. Saving documents in Word 2003-1997 format provides easier opening while sacrificing some functionality.

· RTF: Essentially the “poor man’s version of Word,” this file format retains much of Word’s document formatting while shrinking the file size and allowing users of other word processing programs to open and edit these files.

What Screenwriters Can Learn From Burn Notice

2011-07-01T17:25:00.000-07:00

The design, themes and arcs are key reasons why USA Network’s “Burn Notice” is one of the most popular shows on television. This design allows new viewers to watch individual episodes, and while missing much of the background, still feel “tuned in” to the show. Other shows take the approach that if viewers miss one episode, they might as well skip the rest of the season.

Airing at 6 p.m. every Thursday, the series stars Jeffery Donovan as Michael Westin, a former CIA spy who was kicked out of the agency, or “burned” in the jargon. It also features Gabrielle Anwar as his gun-toting girlfriend, Fiona, Bruce Campbell as sidekick and ex-SEAL Sam Axe, Sharon Gless as Westin’s chain smoking mother. A relatively recent addition is Coby Bell as Jesse Porter, a spy Westin burns then gets reinstated.

The show is now in its fifth season. The first four seasons are available on DVD.

Taking a close look at the show reveals several consistent, non-human components.

Sets

Wide exterior shots tend to be aerial views of the greater Miami area. A frequent interior set—Michael’s high-ceiling loft apartment—has been kept virtually unchanged throughout the entire series three-year run. Other exterior shots, though supposedly from other tropical climates, are likely shot in the greater Miami area.

Some action-based exteriors can be shot anywhere, though visual clues lead viewers to believe everything happens in the greater Miami area. This includes using outdoor cafes, bars and hotels as sets.

Themes

Key themes are: Good guys may suffer occasional setbacks, but are never defeated (good triumphs over evil); wits and brains triumphs over muscle; violence is a last resort; and love of family and friends is more important than anything else.

These themes are consistent from episode to episode and season to season.

The themes also interact with the main and sub-plots in every episode, driving the main characters’ actions and motivating their choices. When picking one choice—Michael’s desire to resume his spy career over a long-term relationship with Fiona (career over love)—career wins out in the short term, but love eventually triumphs.

Plot Arcs

“Burn Notice” also has several hallmarks of good series television in its plot and character arcs and their evolution over time.

Each episode includes part of a series plot focus, season plot focus and episode plot, plus several sub-plots in the form of character interactions.

The series plot is Michael’s desire to resume his official status as a CIA spy.

The season plot focuses on steps he must take to resume that career.

Episode plots focus on single steps in the season plot line. Each episode tends to focus on a “save the victims from a fate worse than death” or good vs. evil. Roughly a quarter of each episode is spent advancing the season plot, which in turn advances the series plot.

Character Arcs

Watching “Burn Notice” over time shows development and maturity by the main characters.

For example, Michaels mother Madeline (veteran character actor Sharon Gless, who played a lead role in the detective show “Cagney and Lacey”) has evolved from being kept out of the loop to playing an occasional role in some of the shenanigans to now playing crucial roles in some episodes.

Bruce Campbell’s character Sam Axe was spun off into its own TV movie and has various guides on the DVDs.

The romantic arc between Michael and Fiona continues to develop over time as well, attracting some viewers. There have been on-screen fights and break-ups, plus plenty of lovemaking and making up, with an overall romantic progression.

Character Interactions With Plots

By this point, each actor (and the writers) knows their character well enough to understand what choices they would make, or not make, in a given situation. This knowledge and familiarity allows the writers to create their plots and text while much of the sub-text is done automatically as the actors express the emotional state of their characters.

A key concept is this: the characters’ actions are not only driven by the various plots, but also help drive plots.

For example, if Michael agrees to help someone in need, will the time taken away from his search for the people who burned him be critical? Will he learn something about himself while helping others?

Help A Friend or Relative: Give Blood

2011-06-01T18:33:00.000-07:00

Most of us have—or will have—a close friend or relative battling cancer. We will hear their horror stories of undergoing chemo and radiation treatments, drugs and possibly intense surgery to stop the disease’s spread. The worst part for us is feeling helpless to do anything about their pain and suffering.

Here’s some news: there is something you can do that takes very little time and effort on your part and will help them or someone else. All you need to do is donate blood.

Cancer patients need blood for three reasons:

1. Chemotherapy, radiation treatments and cancerous cells reduce the body's blood cell counts. Blood is frequently drawn from patients to check their white and red blood cell levels. When the levels drop too low, more blood is required. Consequences of low blood cell counts include anemia (low energy), infection and bleeding. Source: http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/cancer-treatment/CA00066

2. Blood is often required when surgery to remove cancerous cells is performed. Donating for an individual ensures blood is available for them.

3. Each blood donation saves the patient money when transfusions are required. Hospitals sell units of whole blood cells for amounts ranging from $150-$600 for whole blood cells, charging even more for the platelets used to treat cancer patients. The actual amount charged to each patient varies depending on their location, the supply of blood available at that moment and other factors. Fees are based not on the cost of blood--free from donations--but the cost of testing, storage, transport and administrative overhead.

Donating blood for a given individual is extremely simple. First, check with your local blood bank for their requirements. Assuming your blood bank’s requirements are similar to mine, you will need to provide this information when making your donation:

· Your friend’s or relative’s name and date of birth. If you don’t have the information handy, ask a close friend or immediate relation.

· The name and address of the hospital where they receive treatment. If you can get the name from your friend, you can find the address on-line by using a search engine such as Google or Yahoo!

I’m offering to help author Jay Lake (Joseph E. Lake, Jr.) who is battling cancer and whose Twitter comments I follow. He gave me the name of his hospital (Oregon Health Sciences University, 3181 S.W. Sam Jackson Park Rd., Portland, Oregon 97239-3098). His birth date is listed on his Wikipedia entry (June 6, 1964).

With that information in hand, I’m ready to visit my local blood bank and make a donation. Donors are required to wait 56 days between donations, which means I can next donate on June 9. Even though my blood type and Lake’s are not identical, he will get credit for my donation.

I’ll be bringing my photo ID (driver’s license) with me when I visit the Marshall Community Blood Center that day. Blood banks in your area will be in the phone book or you can do an on-line search.

Once I get there, every donor is required to fill out a form. Blood banks have rules that ensure your donation does not hurt you nor your blood affect whoever receives it.

Among the common questions asked of every donor are: Are you feeling well and healthy today? Have you ever paid for sex or drugs? Have you had any tattoos done recently? Have you traveled to the United Kingdom or Europe recently? Are you pregnant?

Taking some prescription drugs will either require you to wait a bit or disqualify you permanently. One of the most common drugs affecting men is Propecia, which is often found in hair loss treatments.

Filling out this form takes 5-10 minutes. Once completed, a nurse or phlebotomist (a person trained to draw blood) will check your blood pressure and draw a drop from your finger (the needles used now are very thin and cause very little discomfort). This drop is placed in a solution. If it sinks, you can donate. If not, you need to wait.

Assuming you’re ready to go, you get to lie back in a chair similar to a yard recliner. The actual blood donation process takes less than 30 minutes. You must wait about 15 minutes and drink water or juice afterward before heading out. Many blood banks also provide snacks like cookies and hot dogs.

While it’s illegal to pay you for donating blood, some blood banks give away T-shirts or gift-certificates to local businesses. Community service groups may provide a free breakfast or lunch. Check with your specific blood bank for any special offers.

Jimmy Buffett’s Lyrics Inspire Me

2011-05-16T18:56:00.000-07:00

Inspiration comes to us in many forms. It can be a 30-second spot on the TV news or an article we read, a casual comment directed to us or one we overhear, sometimes a line of dialog in a movie or even musical lyrics.

Put another way, “Sometimes you get shown the light in the strangest places if you look at it right¹,” one lyric goes.

Regardless of how we are inspired, we become energized to do something, hopefully something that benefits causes other than our own.

One person who still inspires me is a singer-songwriter, author, performer and businessman. He is less known, but still and inspiration for his humanitarian efforts: Jimmy Buffett, whose lyrics are quoted above.

Buffett’s charity work² includes:

· Co-founding the Save the Manatee Club, which generates money to save the endangered Florida species through special license plates.

· Initial funding (1995) for the Singing for Change foundation that helps children and family causes, the disenfranchised and environmental groups.

· A hurricane relief concert (2004) to help victims.

· A 2008 benefit for the Foreign Correspondent’s Club Charity Fund.

· A 2010 concert in Gulf Shores, Ala. To bring visitors back to the area following the Gulf oil disaster.

During my 10 years as a newspaper reporter and editor, I was able to interview many people. Some of their stories inspired me. A few inspired others.

Buffett is one of the many people I’d like to interview. If given the opportunity, though, I’d like to ask him these questions:

· What and who inspires him?

· Why does he continue to perform sold-out concerts every year?

· Why does he continue to help protect endangered species such as manatees and give back to the people of the Gulf Coast?

· Who are the most influential people in his life outside of family? (“Son Of A Son Of A Sailor” is a memorial to his grandfather while other songs—“Savannah Fare You Well” being one—honor other family members.)

· If he could ask his legion of fans known as Parrotheads to do one thing honoring him, what would it be?

In the meantime, I’m going to continue doing my thing: giving a pint of blood every eight weeks and volunteering my time and limited talents to selected groups. I encourage everyone, no matter your source of inspiration, to do the same.

Sources:

1: “Scarlet Begonias” written by Robert Hunter of the Grateful Dead and covered by Jimmy Buffett and the Coral Reefer Band on the album “License to Chill.”

2: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmy_Buffett

Use Social Media Even in Bad Times

2011-05-05T14:59:00.000-07:00

Social media is a great way to promote your business and yourself, especially when times are good. Profits are up, you are releasing new products regularly and life is looking rosy … until disaster strikes. How can social media outlets help you then?

Social media outlets such as blogs, Twitter and Facebook are designed to facilitate communication. Communication is not just you telling something to your customers, but providing a way your customers can talk back to you.

When disaster strikes—such as the earthquake and tsunami that leveled part of Japan—smart businesses use social media to continue communicating with their customers.

Here’s a scenario: your business is destroyed by a flood. You and your employees got out of the building safely but it and its contents are a total loss. That means no records (unless you were smart and backed up to a remote location), no way to create products and no method of getting them to customers. Adding to your stress: orders were in various states of fulfillment at the time the flood struck, but since your records were wiped out, you don’t know what was shipped. What do you do?

You use social media.

Start by explaining what happened. Tell the world what the flood (instead it might be a fire, earthquake or nasty computer virus) did to your company. Give some details.

Next, ask customers to contact you. Set up a website where they can provide you with their contact information and questions, such as their order status.

Then tell them what you are doing to recover from the disaster. Let them know if you are still gathering information. Give them a “best guess” idea of where your firm stands right now and how long it might take before you are back to normal.

Finally, thank your customers for their patience. Offer them some kind of reward for staying with you during this difficult time. For example, you could offer free shipping on all orders placed with a set time period, such as the next 30 days.

By keeping your customers and the public informed of what happened and what you are doing about it, you can use social media to retain customers.

One of the best ways to do this is by being honest. If you don’t know how long your production facility is out of operation, state that online. But also state that you will provide updates when new information arrives.

The truth, especially in the form of verifiable facts, is far more effective at preserving and protecting your company’s reputation than playing ignorant or outright lying.

Make Your Blog Work For You

2011-04-24T22:52:00.000-07:00

Effective blog posts are those that provide value to your customers while also helping promote your products and services. A good way to achieve those goals of providing value and promoting your firm is by limiting each blog post to a single topic then explaining how you help people with it.

For example, the Posh Puppy Boutique sells 10,000 dog and cat-related products. Writing a single blog post about every use for every product would both bore readers and be extremely long. Instead, blog posts have timely topics such as Easter Baskets for girl and boy dogs.

This particular post has a focus: Easter Baskets. Next, it uses links to take readers to the Posh Puppy Boutique’s website pages describing specific products, complete with a product photo like this pink bunny costume.

By focusing on a holiday, for example, then showing products created for that holiday, your blog can help generate sales. Including links to specific products not only showcases those items, it gets readers to visit your site.

Each blog post also includes photos that help attract and keep attention plus on-line and telephone contact information.

Any company selling products can use a similar approach.

But what about blog posts for firms whose products are the talents of its staff? In other words, how should you handle writing about services, not physical products?

The best method is to create a real-world problem scenario then explain how your services fix it.

For example, let’s say your firm sells flood insurance. Your example would describe a couple who are thinking about buying a home that sits in a flood plain. Even though there are no records of water ever having reached the elevation of their house, the parcel is listed as “subject to flooding.”

Your blog post could explain how much the couple might expect to pay if they had your insurance coverage … and how much someone else would be shelling out if they lacked a flood insurance policy.

Assuming flood insurance is only one product, you could use similar methods to write about each. The key here is to write about these topics at the appropriate time, discussing flood insurance during or just after a heavy rain storm, or fire insurance in mid-summer.

Do not start your flood insurance blog post with, “You need flood insurance because …” Instead, use an approach that hits home with your readers: “John and Jane are glad they have flood insurance after a recent rainstorm destroyed their downstairs.”

Good luck.

Reputation Management is Everyone’s Business

2011-04-08T08:08:00.000-07:00

Reputation Management is Everyone’s Business

Introduction

Reputation Management is a task that requires constant vigilance by every employee and manager of a company. Wikipedia defines it as, “the process of tracking an entity's actions and other entities' opinions about those actions; reporting on those actions and opinions; and reacting to that report creating a feedback loop. All entities involved are generally people, but that need not always be the case. Other examples of entities include animals, businesses, or even locations or materials. The tracking and reporting may range from word-of-mouth to statistical analysis of thousands of data points.”

Anyone associated with a business can have their actions reviewed and, if offensive enough, reviled. A pattern of undesired or undesirable action, or a single highly-offensive event can cost companies clients. In some cases, these events can cost employees or their supervisors their jobs.

Why? Because every employee—from the top manager to the lowliest intern—is considered by outsiders to represent that firm. An action by one employee reflects not just on that employee, but on the entire firm.

Every company needs to include a section explaining its reputation management policy in its employee handbook. Firms also need to include a way of dealing with reputation issues that can reflect badly on the firm. It should explain how these actions impact both the firm and individual employees.

Let’s start by taking a look at one alleged event, using it as an example.

An Example Scenario

This incident was overheard while eating lunch on Friday, April 1. Whether it occurred or not is irrelevant: it serves as a good example of the need for a reputation management policy.

The owner of an area law firm often brought her three-month-old puppy to work. Another employee objected to the pooch jumping on him that morning. He showed his anger by grabbing the dog’s legs then slamming the puppy against a wall. The owner heard a noise and was told the dog had “bumped its head.” The dog did not appear to suffer any harm from the incident and no one else witnessed the event when it happened.

This business owner, though, has surveillance equipment set up inside the office that recorded the action. After viewing the recording, the owner issued the employee both a verbal and written reprimand, which was inserted in his file. While no further action was taken, the business owner wonders if the employee will understand the severity of his action, or disregard it since his boss is a woman.

The use of surveillance equipment inside an office and the potential for gender bias are both covered in detail further on.

Among the other actions suggested by friends and relatives of the owner were: “Fire him immediately” and “report him to the police for animal cruelty.”

Events of this sort cry out for a stronger response. They also showcase the need for a reputation management policy.

Why Is This Policy Important?

Reputations, like trust, take a long time to build. Unfortunately, they can be destroyed by one jerk in an instant. A reputation management policy explains this in ways every employee can understand and makes maintaining the firm’s reputation relevant to them.

Lawyers, such as the firm’s owner, have a task: help people who are hurt by the actions of others gain compensation for their injuries. If a violent spouse hits their mate and injures them, these lawyers seek to ensure the victim is properly protected and taken care of while the offender is punished for their dirty deeds.

If, though, a law firm acquires the reputation of allowing its employees to abuse either people or pets, the firm could find itself without clients. The impact here is simple: no clients means no reason to keep employees on the payroll because no one is paying the bills.

Law firms—and every other business—spend a lot of money advertising their services with the goal of recruiting new clients. Firms do not spend money telling people, “We don’t need your business. Go away and leave us alone.”

When either a single explosive negative action—or a pattern of smaller ones—occurs that counters your firm’s stated goals of taking care of your clients, it has the effect of negative advertising.

This is especially important today with cell phones capable of recording and transmitting live video to the Internet where literally millions of people can see it.

Unfortunately, one effect of social media is: you don’t have to be convicted in a court of law these days. You are considered guilty in the court of public opinion once charges are leveled. Innocence is not a factor at all: just being charged is enough to make someone appear guilty … at least in the eyes of many people. Charging someone with the right type of offense can destroy their professional career in an instant, even if the charges are later proven wrong and without merit. Innocence and guilt are not on trial here: your reputation and your livelihood are.

Now that you understand the reasons why a reputation management policy is important, let’s take a look at what one might look like.

A Sample Reputation Management Policy

Feel free to use the following as a sample reputation management policy, adapting it to your specific needs and including it in your employee handbook.

“At insert your firm’s name here, we value your contributions. Your efforts and those of many other people have allowed us to become one of the preeminent firms in insert your field here.

“We have a reputation for always doing good work and taking great care of our clients. We zealously guard this reputation and all of the hard work it took to attain and maintain it.

“As a way of both protecting our reputation and our firm, we have a Reputation Management Policy. This policy protects not only our firm, but everyone who works with us and contributes to our success, especially you.

“Our Reputation Management Policy is this: any action taken by anyone—full-time, part-time, contract employees and outside vendors—that portrays our firm in a negative light is subject to an immediate review and possible termination of services. Any action that gains our firm positive publicity is also subject to an immediate review and possible reward.

“These actions—both positive and negative—can occur at any time, not just on company property nor during working hours. All employees represent insert the name of your firm here at all times, whether working or not.

“Should an event occur, facts will be gathered and reviews conducted by each person’s immediate supervisor. A description of both the review and its findings—regardless of the outcome—will be placed in the employee’s permanent personnel file.

“If the reviewer believes the action—or pattern of actions—can severely negatively impact our firm, immediate employee termination may be requested. Termination will be made pursuant to existing company policies.

“Employees accused of violating the company’s Reputation Management Policy have the right to contest any actions taken, so long as they do so in writing within a period not to exceed five business days. The employee’s submission will also become part of the employee’s permanent record.

“Employees accused of violating the company’s Reputation Management Policy are required to read, confirm the accuracy of any statements (or attach documents repudiating them), then sign and date any documents entered into their permanent personnel record. That employee’s supervisor must follow the same procedure.

“The act of accepting employment with insert your firm’s name here means this person understands and agrees to abide by the terms and conditions of this policy.

“The Reputation Management policy ensures that everyone is held to the highest standards. It also ensures that actions that could jeopardize our livelihoods are discouraged and those committing these infractions are held accountable for them.”

What This Policy States

The sample reputation management policy clearly states, and yours should also include:

· Why this policy is in effect.

· Why employees and management should buy into it.

· What could and will happen if the policy is violated.

· Who must sign any documents.

· What recourse the employee has.

· When countering comments are due.

· Where this information will be filed.

The policy’s goal is not to single out one individual or department. Instead, it is designed to create a pattern of behavior that meets the company’s standards. A reputation management policy’s ultimate goal is simply this: protect the company and everyone who works for and with it.

Having such a policy in effect earlier today would have allowed the law firm’s owner to write up, then fire, the offending employee.

Use of Surveillance Equipment and Social Media

Some firms install surveillance cameras inside their offices. These cameras are not there to spy on employees and learn their personal secrets nor watch their every move as in George Orwell’s novel 1984. These cameras are placed to protect every employee and ensure their rights in the workplace.

Your employee handbook should state what images from these cameras can and cannot be used for, such as investigating possible reputation management policy violations.

Employees should be repeatedly told that these cameras are there for their protection and to eliminate any ambiguity—“he said, she said, the recording shows …”

Social media—especially YouTube videos—is just as bad, if not worse, than in-house security cameras. Social media almost guarantees that when someone makes a mistake, it becomes public instantly. These videos can either prove that a member of the firm acted appropriately … or show them committing an intolerable offense. Employees should be told to watch what they are doing at all times, even in private. All it takes is one person with a grudge against either your employee or your firm and a lot of damage to your firm’s reputation could ensue.

Employees also should be warned about the personal use of company computer equipment, including email accounts. The short version is: if the company owns it, the company has a right—some might say a responsibility—to look at it.

For a detailed look at this topic, read My Boss is An Idiot in the archives at http://wordsbydavereyn.blogspot.com.

Along those lines, one common use of computers, both at home and the office, is downloading and viewing pornography. That leads to our final topic, gender bias and sexual harassment in the workplace.

Gender Bias and Sexual Harassment in the Workplace

The law firm’s owner said she wasn’t sure if the employee she reprimanded for throwing her puppy against a wall would curb his behavior, partly because it came from a woman.

Reprimands—and compliments—do not come from a man or a woman. They come from The Boss. Employees need to respect the title and the office even if they don’t respect the person holding that office. Any employee who lacks that respect should also be lacking a job.

Should situations occur where a person’s competence is questioned based on their gender (or race, religion, sexual orientation, etc.), managers should talk to the employee then make sure they reread your company’s policy on that topic. If your company does not have such a policy, you should add it to your employee manual.

Should an audit find pornography on an employee’s work-provided computer, that is generally considered a violation of sexual harassment laws. Employees of some firms have been terminated because of this.

Another approach to finding pornography on company computers is this: employees are being paid to work, not download and look at porn. Doing so on company time is a theft of company resources—the money your firm pays them to be productive—and that alone may be grounds to fire them.

Firms should tread very carefully when they suspect employees of breaking company rules and regulations. If you think there is a problem, research it, document it and make sure the employee signs a copy.

Please send any comments, questions or suggestions to author David B. Reynolds at davereyn83@gmail.com or davereyn83@me.com. My personal goal is to help people communicate better and through better communication, reduce conflict.

Good Edits Improve Readability

2011-03-21T09:31:00.000-07:00

Good editing can improve every document. How? By making it easier to read and improving readers’ comprehension.

Editing starts by having someone other than the writer read the draft or finished document. The first read should look for:

Basic grammar issues. For example, using “its” (meaning possessive) instead of “it’s” (meaning “it is.”)

Missing or extra words. Spellcheckers cannot catch words that ____ (are not) there. Spellcheckers will catch when the same word is used twice twice in succession, but not when an extra the word (“the” should be removed) is added.

· Capitalization, especially when dealing with proper names. When in doubt, consult a style guide such as The Chicago Manual of Style (http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/home.html), the Associated Press Stylebook (http://www.apstylebook.com/) or one specific to your industry.

Basic punctuation issues. For example, a phrase such as “for example” should be followed by a comma. Questions should be followed by a question mark, not a period.

Extra spaces. Journalists are taught to use one space after a sentence. Some professors still prefer to use two spaces. Some people also use spaces instead of indents, which are more accurate. For example, the indents on these paragraphs when viewed in MS Word will be .17 inches, or roughly the equivalent of three spaces.

Obvious factual errors such as unaligned days and dates. For example “Sunday, March 19” is wrong. The date is either Saturday, March 19 or Sunday, March 20.

A basic edit also checks for smooth transitions between one section and the next, such as this one and the next on good editing vs. bad editing.

Good Editing Versus Bad Editing

What is the difference between good editing and bad editing, since this is a value judgment?

Good editing, in my opinion, is one where the original document is improved without changing the original writer’s tone or voice. Editors make small changes automatically. Larger changes—such as deleting entire sections or moving them around—should be done in conjunction with the writer.

Good editors seek to educate their writers and improve the overall document quality, not go off on some ego trip. The original writer should be consulted and asked to make major changes to their document, or at least given input on the alterations.

Bad editors rewrite documents in their own preferred style, obliterating the original writer’s voice. The new document carries the original writer’s name but the editor’s voice, tone and errors.

How can a reader tell the difference between a good editor and a bad one? When documents are easy to read, with a smooth flow from section to section, they are the work of either a good writer, a good editor or both. When documents are blocky and nonsensical, going abruptly from one style to another without transition, they are the work of either a bad writer or a bad—or non-existent—editor.

Welcome to San Francisco

2011-03-16T18:42:00.000-07:00

These images were shot March 12 and 13 in San Francisco, primarily along Fisherman's Wharf, in China Town, near Coit Tower and in Ghirardelli Square.
Larger images and a much larger selection are available on request and for a fee. Email David Reynolds at davereyn83@gmail.com for details.

A Beginner’s Guide to Digitizing Photos

2011-03-16T18:37:00.000-07:00

A Beginner’s Guide to Digitizing Photos

Introduction

Many people, especially older ones, have shoeboxes full of old negatives, slides and photographs lying about. The problem is that no one except the person who took them knows what is where or anything about the photos.

A similar modern problem applies to the many digital photos stored on personal computers: the names are something DSC00110.jpg, which means absolutely nothing. If you are trying to find a specific shot or group of photos, you are out of luck.

Here’s some good news: There is a simple method to get organized. Once organized, finding photos and sharing them will be a snap, taking just a few seconds. The bad news is entering the information and the other steps take a lot of time if you want to do it right.

In the interest of simplicity, these instructions are being broken into two sections: one dealing with digitizing film (negatives, slides and prints) and one dealing with images already in a digital format.

I. Digitizing Negatives, Slides and Prints

Computer technology makes digitizing your stacks of photos simple, easy and affordable. Nothing, though, will eliminate all the work needed to turn your photo collection into one capable of being shared with anyone.

In addition to a reasonably current desktop or laptop computer, you will need these items: a flatbed scanner that can scan negatives and slides; photo image editing software; a separate computer hard drive to store the images.

1 A. Hardware and Software Requirements

The scanner converts your existing images into digital ones, the software lets you fix any problems, such as dust, scratches or color shifts and the hard drive gives you room to store everything without cutting down space for your main programs and games.

Scanners range in price from under $100 to over $1,000 for premium pro models. Good ones fall in the $150-$600 range. Companies to look at are Canon, Microtec, Epson, HP and Plustek.

A good idea is to buy scanners of 2400 dpi or greater. This quality lets you scan images that later can be printed up to 8 by 10-inches. Higher resolution (i.e., 4800 or 6400 dpi) scanners increase the upper limit.

For a review of one top-end desktop scanner, Epson’s V700, look at http://www.imaging-resource.com/SCAN/V700/V700.HTM. Use this review as a starting point and scanner primer.

Most newspapers, magazines and websites tend to use the established leader in image editing software: Adobe’s Photoshop. There are two versions: Photoshop Elements (about $100) which offers basic functions, and the pro version starting at $199 if you are upgrading from a reasonably current older version to $699 if you don’t have an earlier version. For pricing, visit the Adobe Store at www.adobe.com.

Scanners also tend to come with some basic image editing software, which is fine for initial, entry-level work. Over time, you will find the control Photoshop provides is invaluable.

External hard drives come in a wide range of sizes. Since scanned photos can generate huge files, hard drives in the 500GB-1TB range are a good idea. This should let you store plenty of photos and still have additional room.

TIP: Compare the hardware and software requirements of any computer equipment you are considering with your existing machine before you buy. You will want to ensure that your computer has a fast enough processor and enough RAM (short-term storage) to run the new items in a reasonable time.

1 B. Before You Scan

It’s a good idea to follow some basic precautionary steps before scanning any negatives, prints or slides. These include:

· Only handle negatives, slides and prints by the edges. Fingerprints will show up on scans.

· Use a can of compressed air to gently eliminate dust from both sides of your negatives and slides.

· Use cotton gloves to handle every image as a further precaution.

· Do not use solvents like negative cleaner unless absolutely necessary, since they can permanently damage your film.

· Make sure your scanning bed is clean and dry.

I C. Select Your Images

There is no reason to scan every negative, slide or print in your collection. A tip is to select the best shots from each roll and scan them, ignoring the rest. “Best” refers to those you like, such as those showing people with the best expressions. You don’t need to keep 12 shots of Uncle Bob drinking a beer when one good one will work.

Also, realize that good scanning software can help you restore some older images. Software lets you adjust the brightness, contrast and color balance for every shot. You can also dodge (darken) and burn (lighten) small areas in each shot, just like photographers do in a darkroom. This lets you bring out details in shadow, such as a person’s face. Your image may be lacking in quality, but you at least have something to see.

The color balance function also helps you restore images where the negatives or slides may have faded with time. Using your software’s auto color balance (CTRL, Shift B in Photoshop) will do some of that automatically for you.

1 D. Save Lots of Data (Applies to Scans and Digital Photos)

Scanning your photo collection is worthless unless you have an idea how to name every image so others can find it. One idea is to create a folder or directory for each major event then save images into that folder.

Give every photo a name that makes sense such as “Christmas 1982 at home.” Attach a number for those shots that are similar and taken at the same time and location.

Photoshop also lets you add metadata (information about each image) to your digital photos, giving you even more detail. Go to the File menu and select File Info. Here you can add “keywords” that make it easy to group and find similar images. For example, your Christmas 1982 images can contain the names of everyone in the photo, the location and other details you consider important. Every keyword or phrase is separated by commas.

Adding this information is the single biggest time consuming step you will face, but also the most critical. Without it, you will not be able to find your photos nor will your family know who is in each shot.

II. Dealing With Digital Images

Have you have found an old photo that looks so nice you want to enlarge it? The problem is once it’s enlarged, the quality vanishes.

That same issue can vex digital images, no matter if they come from a scan or directly from a digital camera. The simplest approach involves the most work: scan or shoot every image at the highest resolution your equipment can handle.

Top-end digital cameras, often those with interchangeable lenses, let users save their photos in DNG (digital negative) or RAW (a variation of DNG) formats. These formats retain all the information captured at the moment each photo was shot. As with a film negative, if you don’t like one print, you can adjust the digital image until you get what you want. The downsides are large electronic files (10MB or more per image) and formats that most people cannot view.

II A. Save Multiple Versions

One way around these issues is to save multiple versions of every shot, which again takes time. Start by adding your keywords to your DNG version, then make any additional exposure adjustments and fine-tune each shot here.

Next, save the full size image as a high-resolution JPG (a very common file type, viewable by internet browsers and many other programs). The high-res JPG file will be about half the size of your DNG version and about the same quality, but without the ability to fix any issues that come up. This image is the one you will want to use for printing, since you can get 8-inch by 10-inch or larger—some can be much larger—images from most current digital cameras. These images should have a resolution of 240 dpi or higher.

To check resolution in Photoshop, open an image, go to the Image menu and click on Image Size. This will give you the horizontal and vertical measurements and resolution measured in dpi (dots per inch). The keyboard shortcut is CTRL-ALT-I (letter “I”).

Your third step is to save a copy of your high-res image at screen resolution, which is 72 dpi. Since people are used to seeing 4-inch by 6-inch prints, do a Save As (CTRL-Shift-S in Photoshop) at 4x6 at 72 dpi. Make sure the Scale Size and Constrain Proportions boxes are check to keep everything normal. Personal preference is to give these files the designation “x72” at the end so viewers know they are looking at screen, not printer, resolution shots.

You can email the screen resolution images to friends and family and not require a long time to view.

There’s nothing stopping you from making even smaller copies, which help when using them on web pages. Just make sure each image is big enough for people to see clearly.

II B. Optional Steps

An optional fourth step is to make sub-folders within your main folder for the different resolutions. For example, under “Christmas 2010” you can have “DNG,” “High resolution” and “Screen resolution” folders.

An optional fifth step that helps when dealing with large numbers of photos is to use Photoshop’s Contact Sheet maker that puts all of the images onto various pages. You can adjust the number of rows and columns, plus the resolution.

You will find this function in Photoshop under the Edit menu, Automate, Contact Sheet II.

III. Even More Information

Some people like to have every bit of information about their photos at their fingertips. If that description fits you, consider making a database. Programs such as Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Works and the free Google Docs work perfectly.

A sample database might contain the date and location of each image, the keywords and, if you want to really get fancy, a small version of each photo.

The advantage of this method is it makes finding every image extremely fast without having to install a separate program or write your own code.

Questions or suggestions? Email David B. Reynolds at davereyn83@gmail.com.

Print Publishers Can Profit From Digital Technology

2011-02-14T10:09:00.000-08:00

Print publishers can thrive in the digital era if they use a combination of free and subscription services while also embracing technology.

As any print reader will attest, publications have gotten smaller so less news gets printed plus staffs are drastically reduced and underpaid so the writing quality suffers. The result is less incentive for people to plunk down more money for a poorer product than they did several years ago.

Successful print publishers are embracing digital technology, not fighting it. They are expanding their on-line offerings while the print products continue to decline. And the best publishers are finding ways to make money doing it.

How? Step one is by running the headline and first few paragraphs of the top stories from each front page as they appear in the print edition. The amount of copy run—three, four, five or more paragraphs—should be enough for readers to get a feel for each story and want to read the rest. Subscribers see the entire story without interruptions. Non-subscribers see a message stating the full content is available via subscription.

Next, run these sections in full, either at the same time as the print edition hits or one issue later. Subscribers see the content on time. Non-subscribers do not. Why? Because these topics are heavily read.

· Classified ads. While not as profitable as they once were, classified ads are still a major reason why people buy papers. Garage sales, for example, a very popular. You’ll seldom see people advertise them on Craig’s List but they are very common in small-town papers.

· Obituaries. People want to know who died, when and from what. Since page space—“real estate”—is limited in print, often causing abbreviated obits, papers can sell unlimited and (within legal limits) unedited on-line obit listings.

· Crime statistics. Run the full crime listings from local law enforcement instead of abbreviated versions in print.

Step three: offer people reasons to pay for on-line and print services. Give advertisers three options: print only, on-line only or a combination.

On-line advertising has several advantages over print from the production standpoint: no charge for color, audio and video can be included and length is not an issue. Publishers can take advantage of these attributes and use them to gain new advertisers.

Here’s another method print publishers can use to gain readers: encourage staffers to promote their print projects using social media. For example, a city hall reporter can tweet about a story on the budget crisis appearing in the next issue.

Step four: consider having separate print and on-line publications then using the subscription and advertising methods above to help pay for them. On-line editions will be more immediate and than the print versions and could include video shot by print reporters and photographers.

Step five: shaft the competition by paying for on-line submissions. Hold a contest for the best on-line submission. The winner gets paid. Only registered subscribers get to vote. Readers will provide material, especially when they have a chance at getting paid for it.

Contact David Reynolds (davereyn83@gmail.com) for more ideas on how print publications can profit from digital technology.

Keeping Customers Informed Retains Them

2011-02-04T09:31:00.000-08:00

One issue facing many companies is this: when do you communicate with your customers and when do you stay silent?

Example

Here's a personal example. Calnet is a local internet service provider. The small firm offers DSL and wi-fi services in the greater Sacramento area. They face stiff competition from giants such as A,T&T and Comcast and, given the rural nature of the Western Sierra, satellite providers like Dish Network. Satellite connections are prone to weather-related outages, which is why we switched to Calnet's wi-fi service (DSL is not available to us).

Several months ago, we complained about extremely slow connections, especially between 5-9 p.m. Monday-Friday and on the weekend. We were unable to access the net at 11 p.m. Feb. 3 nor at about 9 a.m. Feb. 4, prompting yet another call to Calnet's tech support.

It turns out that Calnet has been dealing with other technical issues affecting a different group of its customers, devoting all available resources to those issues and providing better service to this large group. Limited staff and limited resources means that while one group's issues were being addressed, other groups' were not.

Two Perspectives

There are always at least two sides to every conflict, the company’s view and the customers.

Calnet’s view, the senior tech support person we spoke with said, is to not give people false hope of improved service until the improvements are actually in place. People will be more upset if the improvements are not done at the time promised than if they never know the improvements are being made, he explained.

My view as a customer is this: our service was no better than it had been under previous providers. It was—and still is—actually worse in that connections were lost despite perfect weather. We would be more understanding if Calnet had taken the time to let us know what they were and are doing, and how their actions to benefit other customers impacts us.

Possible Solutions

Calnet’s view of not releasing information early means its customer base is split into three groups: those who are seeing the improvements take place; those who do not notice any change in service; and those—like us—who are calling and complaining.

The first group is happy, the second unmoved and the third concerned or angry. Part of the third group may decide that other options are better and move on. Companies in similar situations wanting to avoid losing customers should consider these communication techniques.

Email Newsletters

This a perfect way to get the word out that your company cares about its customers and is taking steps to insure their continued support. General information like updates on new areas reached and new milestones achieved are all ways of letting existing customers know your firm cares.

Include a section like “In the Pipeline” that tells customers what changes are being contemplated and asking for both help and patience. Proactive apologies—“Our tech support wait times may be longer than normal while we roll out this new service. Please bear with us.”—will help.

You can also include tips and comments to help people in the event of outages or other likely scenarios. For example, backing up your data to an external hard drive is a good idea.

The critical part is that by communicating what is going on with your customers, even if you are uncomfortable giving them precise dates, means most people will wait and work with you. Not communicating means some will feel your company does not care about them and move their business elsewhere.

A Sample Website Review

2011-01-12T11:27:00.000-08:00

Introduction
The following is an unsolicited website review. Names were removed to protect the group's privacy.
Look at every comment from two perspectives: How can each change help current members (or customers)? How can each change attract new members (or customers)?
Other groups can apply these same tips to their websites.
Special offer for non-profit groups only: Contact me directly (see the information at the end of this article) for a FREE, no obligation website review. If you like the suggestions, feel free to have anyone you choose update your site.

Website Suggestions

A random glance through (blank’s) website (www.----.org) shows even infrequent visitors like me that it needs some major work.

Please consider these suggestions when you redesign your site. I will help you in any way I can.

Before You Start

Ask yourself several important questions before beginning a website update. These should include:

1. Who are you trying to serve? In other words, is the website strictly for people who are already members? Are you looking to attract casual cyclists to the group? Do you want new businesses to sponsor or host events? Is the site for the media or government officials?

2. Ask yourself this question early and often from the readers’ perspective: “What’s in it for me?” Another way to put it is, “Why should I spend my time reading this material. How does it benefit me?”

3. Profile your typical members and the people you want to attract. You want to know: how old are they? Where do they get their information? Where do they ride? How often are they on a bike? What activities do they enjoy on two wheels? How politically active are they? What causes do they support both with their wallets and their time?

4. Use the information above to create a plan for reaching and interacting with your user groups. Create different plans for different groups, if necessary. If one goal, for example, is to attract business sponsors, be able to show them benefits of sponsorship like more sales.

5. Outline your goals based on your plan. Consider the best ways to achieve your goals and reach your targeted groups. Consider going outside your organization and paying for skills your volunteers may lack.

Front Page

Here’s an objective review of (blank)’s website. Comments are based on personal experience with the goal of helping you attract more people. It is not meant as a criticism of individuals but these comments, if taken to heart, will help you.

· The front page is boring. It needs a photo or two and a better overall design. Take a look at Artisteer (http://www.artisteer.com/) where you can preview sample designs and backgrounds.

· Consider a streamlined events calendar. Include times, dates locations and most importantly, a one sentence description aimed at casual visitors explaining why they should care about the event. Link that description to another page with photos and more details, such as a press release, volunteer sign-up sheet, a way to get more information about the specific event, a method of subscribing to your on-line newsletter, etc.

· Critical: make sure your top three projects are visible on a small laptop screen, even if they are not in proper date order. You want people to attend them, not miss them because readers didn’t scroll far enough down the page.

· Delete anything more than six months to one year old. No one is going to care about what happened in 2008, assuming the posted links still work. If you want to keep the old information handy, do it as an archive. Follow the calendar format above.

About

You might consider listing your pop-out links on the page as a drop down menu below the page heading. Other suggestions are:

· Update your content and remove old material. For example, one person is listed as Executive Director, a position now held by someone else. If that listing is wrong, it makes casual visitors wonder, “What else is incorrect?”

· Check your links. The meetings page, for example, does not work.

Advocacy

The front page is another snoozer. It needs a complete redesign. You’ve got a lot of content that could be more attractively organized. Other ideas include:

· Redo your Volunteer page. The newest item is dated July 20, 2003.

· Update your contact list. The last update was Dec. 4, 2007. Are these people still with the city or private group? Does the phone number and/or email address for each still work?

· Add data on the hazard incidents to indicate if the problem was fixed and when. Only list those items that are still a problem or were resolved in the last 4-6 weeks. You can archive older ones if you wish.

· The White Papers page is the same as your Advocacy page. Change one or both.

News

(Blank) conditions do not work. Consider links to sites such as Caltrans (http://www.dot.ca.gov/cgi-bin/roads.cgi), which lists highway conditions. A local weather link would also help.

· The Community link is invalid.

· No link to your newsletter exists. You should have one here. Consider displaying the lead photo, headline and the first two or three paragraphs from your top current story. Also consider adding, a comment like, “To Read the Complete Issue, Join ” with a link for your membership application. In addition, have a place to insert your membership number so current members can download the newsletter as a PDF.

Programs

One section, other than being four years old—it begs the question, “Why is it still being promoted?”—is the most interesting page on your site. The photos are large and filled with action. The text is concise and explains what took place, though there are some minor typos. Consider using slightly smaller images (about two-thirds this size) and using a similar style on other pages.

Resources

Why is “News Articles” in this section instead of News? It does not make logical sense.

The news articles listing is too long and goes too far back. Set a time limit such as 6-12 months and archive the older stuff.

Join Us!

Instead of a link to “Benefits of Joining,” consider including a condensed version on your membership page. The less work readers have to do, the better they like it.

Your application procedure needs to be updated for online submission. If you can include a way to pay via PayPal, include it. PayPal’s fees are worth it if your membership increases.

You have this method for donations, but not memberships. You should update it to handle both.

Tip: Include a privacy statement indicating personal data will not be sold or distributed to anyone outside without the member’s written consent.

Consider distributing your newsletter via on-line only, with a slight extra charge for those who want a printed copy.

General Design Tips

These tips apply to the entire site.

· Consider a slightly colored background instead of bright white. A light color reduces screen glare, making your text easier to read.

· Select three or four web fonts (typefaces) and use them consistently throughout the document. Use one for all of your body text, another for major headlines and a third for captions.

· Look at using graphics beyond just photos. Charts, for example, are a great way of visually showing change over time. For example, a chart showing how your free bike lights cut the number of bicycle accidents would be very helpful.

Conclusion

Using some or all of these tips will help do a better job of serving its current members and recruiting new ones. Recruiting younger members should always be one of your top three tasks since public service groups face steep drops in membership.

Contact me with any questions or comments. I can be reached via email at davereyn83@gmail.com or davereyn83@me.com, by phone at my home office in Placerville at 530-621-9956 or on my cell at 805-729-1269, on Twitter @wordsbydavereyn, and on Facebook. You will also find some good communications and marketing tips at http://wordsbydavereyn.blogspot.com.

How to Recruit the Right People

2010-12-20T13:09:00.001-08:00

Recruiting, especially on a large scale, can be a daunting task. It is considerably less challenging, and much less time consuming, if you follow some essential guidelines and use a careful, logical approach.

Start by making a pot of coffee because even reading this document, let alone performing this function properly and efficiently, takes time.

Keys to Success

Ultimately the success or failure of a recruiting campaign is identical to that of any other advertising campaign: Did you achieve the goals you set in terms of new hires (sales in product-based campaigns) while staying within budget and time constraints?

To achieve this success means taking these steps:

1. Treat recruiting just like any other advertising campaign.

2. Consider your ad copy from the standpoint of the people you are trying to recruit, e.g. “Think Like a Reader” of your ads.

3. Be logical in your preparation. Have your ads and support documents ready for posting before placing a single ad.

4. Create a database both to ensure you don’t waste time and materials and so you can track results.

Your Advertising Campaign

Being successful in your advertising campaign starts with researching who you want to attract, where you are going to look for them, what vehicles you want to use, when you want or need results and how much you can afford to pay in advertising. Your approach should be identical to a multi-pronged advertising campaign for a product except for one key difference: your company IS the product.

Who are you trying to recruit? Raw people who are new to your field or industry? People with some experience but are still willing and able to learn? Or experienced vets who can produce right now? Maybe your goal is a combination of these three groups.

Regardless, your advertising copy should be unique and appealing to each group. Entry-level copy should focus on “a rewarding new career” then list some of the rewards, such as salary, trips or the ability to grow with the company. Experienced people are usually concerned with one thing: how much does it pay? Intermediates will want a combination of both growth and pay.

The key element in each piece of copy—and all good writing—is to “Think Like a Reader.” Look at the job ad from the perspective of if you were the one looking for work, what would attract you to the company? Once you’ve got that angle, write your ads that way.

Determine Where to Advertise

Where you decide to advertise is also important, both from a geographic perspective and a media one.

If your top candidates are new college graduates, then your primary focus should be on where current seniors get their information. That comes in the form of on-line postings on college campuses (free from many single schools, with a fee for running the same ad at multiple schools) and on-campus job fairs. There may be a booth fee for the job fair; there will be costs with equipping it, staffing it and creating handouts and give-away items so students remember you.

If the people you want to recruit are experienced pros, go where they are likely to hang out. LinkedIn is a great—but not cheap—source of on-line recruiting since you can target specific user groups such as car salesmen. Time and budget allowing, you might also consider running a print display ad in the top industry publications, such as Advertising Age for ad pros.

When you need results is also an element that cannot be overlooked. If you feel that print advertising is the only way to go, be aware that many magazines have deadlines at least 4-6 weeks in advance of the publication. On-line jobs can be posted much faster but they don’t have the same visual impact because they generally are text only.

Where Do You Place Your On-Line Ads?

Let’s assume you decide to go the on-line only route with your job postings. Who do you use? The big guys like CareerBuilder and Monster? The middle-tier folks like Craig’s List, LinkedIn and Google Ad Words? Or the smaller job boards such as the free ones that many colleges offer?

Your budget, how many people you want to reach and how many resumes you are willing to sort through will dictate at least part of this. Monster charges $349 for one 30-day ad in the greater Sacramento area. CareerBuilder charges $419 for one job, one month. Craig’s List, which has job boards in most major cities, charges from $25-$75 per help wanted ad depending on the locale. LinkedIn and Google charge by the number of people who click on your ad “pay per click” or similar methods. The National Association of Colleges and Employers (the NACE Network) offers free ads for single campuses, but charges varying fees for national ads.

A good basic assumption is that inexperienced job seekers are going to look at the big guys first, followed by Craig’s List. When searching for job boards, they are far more likely to use a search engine they are comfortable with, such as Google or Yahoo, than one they may not use frequently, such as Excite.

Google Ad Words and LinkedIn make sense when your ads are part of your own website. They work by attracting job seekers to your site, not a job board.

Key Words

This brings up another key element in your ads: keywords. Keywords are words or phrases searchers (job hunters) are likely to use when seeking jobs. Writers are going to use “writing” and “editing” in their searches, but not “sales.”

An important method to use here is to “tell it like it is” in terms of what your job is, what new hires are expected to do and which skills you consider essential. It could be that AutoCad experience is critical to your job, so include the term—possibly with an explanation, such as “AutoCad design and drafting software”—in your ad. Don’t use a lot of jargon, but do use terms that people seeking your type of job are likely to look for, such as “commission sales.”

Sprinkling these keywords around—or covering them up using HTML programming code—just to get noticed is not a good idea. Why? Because many sites will not let you use HTML, others will skip sites that use keywords in the heading but not in the body copy and most importantly, if your copy is loaded with keywords, but doesn’t make sense, no one will read it.

The keywords, such as AutoCad in the example above, also help when you get resumes. If your key words are not in the resume, the candidate doesn’t have the skills or experience you seek. Delete the resume and move on.

Time is Important Also

An important consideration that rivals cost is time. How much time do you have to post the ads? How much time do you have to sort through them, delete those that are irrelevant and hold your first round of interviews? Do you need to fill this position next week or next month?

If you are going to run ads for several positions over an extended time, such as hiring for new offices in different parts of the country, realize that you may need to run multiple ads in each market. Prepare your ad copy accordingly. Make sure each new ad contains enough basic information so job hunters can find it, but enough new material in a different order that the job boards will not reject it as a clone of your earlier ads.

Organize, Organize, Organize

So let’s say now you are ready to research your ad postings and run some ads. What should you do?

Organized people prefer taking several steps before placing ads.

First, determine which online job boards are going to get your ads, then create a database with links to the posting parts of each.

Second, have your ad text ready. Save a copy as Plain Text” or “ASCII Text” then use simple text editors such as NotePad to copy and paste it into the online database. Don’t open your text with Microsoft Word because control characters that are invisible in Word are often shown in other programs.

Common items in all job boards are contact information, your website, the job location, salary, the job title, job detail, plus the ad start and end dates.

In addition to having your ad body copy (the main description) in plain text, it’s also a good idea to have a summary of your company handy. One simple method is to copy a short of the “About” part of your website.

Along with that, keep a simple list of essential skills such as required and desired experience and software proficiency handy.

Even if your main ad explains how to apply for each position, it doesn’t hurt to keep a separate set of application instructions handy. Posting it twice may be redundant, but it doesn’t hurt. If you’re going to link to a website, be sure to spell it out, using the http://www.etc format.

Recent experience suggests many sites do not display all the information you want or need, such as the length of time your ad will run. Keeping a text version of “request for more information” listing your contact information, corporate website and a reply email address is helpful if you are going to hit a lot of websites.

It also doesn’t hurt to have several versions of your corporate logo handy, generally in small sizes but always in JPG format.

Database Design

One of Murphy’s Laws states that any information you don’t record will be critical at the least opportune time. Keep this in mind when setting up your recruiting database or spreadsheet.

It takes time to create a recruiting database. But doing it once means the data is available very time you have a similar task. Taking the time to do a thorough job the first time means less time spent when you want to run a similar ad campaign later.

Organization starts with Database column headings. They should include the location (city and state), main website, direct link to logging in so you can post jobs, a special email address just for job replies, a log-in user name, such as the email account and a column for passwords (use something exclusive to the job postings).

Some firms use different website codes to track where each ad comes from. They will look something like www.myjobs.com?rid=0001001. The “rid” stands for reference identification, which corresponds to a specific website and ad. The first group of numbers can stand for a website reference, such as CareerBuilder in cities 1, 2 and 3, and the second set a specific ad, such as ad 1, 2 or 3. In the example above, the first “1” refers to the first ad (which your database shows is with a particular website in a particular city) and the second “1” refers to the first ad. Using 0001003 would be first city, third ad.

It also doesn’t hurt to have columns listing the dates each ad (#1, #2, #3, etc.) runs and expires, plus at least one column for notes or comments. For example, many sites must approve ads before running them. Posting ads on Friday afternoon doesn’t guarantee they will run that weekend; they not appear until Monday or Tuesday.

Time and energy permitting, it also helps to add columns tracking the results. Depending on how involved you want to be, adding columns listing the number of responses in weeks 1, 2 and three won’t hurt.

The goal here is to determine which sites work for you and which don’t. This way you know where you got the best response for time and money, and which sites were a complete waste.

Email davereyn83@gmail.com with any comments or questions.

Easy Blogging for Complete Morons--Like Me

2010-12-20T13:06:00.000-08:00

Introduction

With an estimated 50 million-plus blogs already on the Internet, and more appearing literally every second, isn’t it about time you created one for your business, yourself or your interests? If a lack of knowledge is stopping you, A Novice’s Guide to Blogging can help.

The Novice’s Guide is a short series of tips designed to help beginners get their first blogs going and keeping them up. We start by looking at blogs are, what they are not and elements they typically contain.

What Blogs Are

World Wide Web logs, abbreviated as “blogs,” are essentially short, simple web pages. Current software allows users to choose from a multitude of preexisting blog design templates that can be slightly modified, all without requiring a single line of programming code.

Each blog contains one or more comments or articles, commonly referred to as “posts.”

Blog posts generally fall into one of three broad categories:

1. Business. Blogs are used to keep employees, customers and the public up-to-date with your business. Topics usually include information not found on company websites. Examples are details about company participation at a local fund-raiser, staff additions, employee promotions and other positive “behind the scenes” information that gives your company a human, family touch.

2. Personal. Another way to look at blogs is considering them on-line diaries. “Here’s what I did today. Here’s what I’m doing tomorrow. Here’s where I’m going and who I’m hanging out with, etc.”

3. Interests and hobbies. People often write about topics of interest to them such as sports teams, recipes, fashion, pets, food, wine and innumerable other topics.

What Blogs Are Not

Blogs are designed to augment, not replace, company and personal websites. Blogs contain brief articles filled with information that changes frequently. Websites, by contrast, contain a lot of material that seldom changes, such as on-line product catalogs, descriptions and price lists.

Unlike websites, blogs are not designed to have nested layers of pages. One way to visualize the difference is considering your website a complete newspaper and your blog a one-page insert.

Blogs are also not replacements for interacting with your public using face-to-face, print and other on-line methods like social media (i.e., Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc.).

Blogs Have a Structure

All blogs have several common elements.

They are:

· A background, which is often a pre-made static design. An alternative is an image, such as a company logo.

· Overlaid on top of the background is your blog’s title. One example is Your Company at Blogger.com (www.blogger.com).

· Most blogs typically also have a short description of the blog at the top. This is where writers tell the uninformed public what their blog is about. A brief author biography is either included here or placed nearby.

· Most of the blog screen “real estate” is devoted to your current blog post. This is where 99 percent of your effort should be concentrated and where your blog’s success or failure is determined.

· Ways to subscribe to your blog, such as by using RSS (Really Simple Syndication). This way, regular blog readers are automatically told when your latest comment gets posted.

· An archive of past posts. This is important because a post from two weeks ago may be just what a new reader needs.

Next on Blogging 101: Content is King.

A Novice’s Guide to Blogging: Content Is King

The introduction to A Novice’s Guide to Blogging states that while all blogs contain several common elements, your posts—or comments, articles, stories—are the key to gaining and keeping readers.

Why?

People are only going to spend their valuable time reading material they find interesting. If they don’t like the topic, the post does not make sense or is poorly written, readers have one word for the author: goodbye.

Link Your Blog’s Name and Core Content

Your blog’s name should reflect its content and the content should reflect the blog’s core focus.

For example, let’s say your blog is about Joe and JoAnne’s Insurance Services. Your website contains details about the types of services you offer, a listing of agents and contacts plus related business information. Your blog omits this information, but should contain “for more information” links to your website and office.

Instead, your blog contains information that has no permanent, easy place on your website but stays on topics related to the business. For example, a list of common ways to winterize your home can be tied in with a comment like, “Make sure your home stays safe this winter. See us for a homeowner’s insurance check-up.”

Another topic might be, “JoAnne is speaking at the Garden Elementary PTA tomorrow night. Have you got an insurance question? Come ask her.”

A third option might be something like, “Tim Timmons needs help paying for an expensive medical procedure. We are helping. Can you?”

The idea behind blog posts on these and similar topics is creating building trust between the blogger and readers. Blogs help the public relate to you. By addressing comments and concerns you—or a member of your staff—hear, you help create that trust.

Don’t Stray From Your Core Subject

Politics and religion are very emotional topics for some people, topics that often polarize folks. Unless your blog deals with them, stay away. Stay far, far away from them.

Why?

Because you don’t want to lose your core audience. Your readers will leave forever if they don’t share your political or religious views. Readers are looking at your posts because they are interested in your main topic.

It is O-Kay to deviate from your primary focus, but not frequently. For example, our insurance agents might come across an unusual pumpkin pie recipe they want to share. Post it with a note like, “One of our clients, Mary Dolenz, shared her old family recipe for pumpkin pie. It’s fast, easy and healthy. Give it a try.”

This post is not directly related to insurance but by using a named client as the source, there is a link.

Next: What is in a name and why you should care.

A Novice’s Guide to Blogging: What’s In a Name

The first post in this series introduce novices to blogging. The second explains why your key emphasis should always be on blog article content, with a strong suggestion to keep your content related to your blog’s title.

Since readers do not skip the blog title and dive straight into your story, having a descriptive but brief title is critical to getting folks to read further. This post focuses on crafting that title.

Businesses have it easy in this respect. Libby’s Pottery Place can have an online store selling handmade pottery creations and a website devoted to her craft. Naming her blog, Libby’s Pottery Place Blog lets her write about new topics she’s interested while retaining her business identity.

But if Libby wants to write about another passion—like finding homes for lost and unwanted pets—she is better off creating a separate, distinct blog for that purpose.

Pick Your Name Carefully

As stated in an earlier post, your blog’s name should reflect its core subject. If you want to cover multiple subjects, don’t fret: create more blogs.

Libby could name her pet blog, “All I Want is a Loving Home.” Combined with a photo of a sorrowful dog or cat, readers quickly understand that the blog is about pets, not home repairs.

Other key points in picking your blog’s name are:

· Keep it short, simple and easy to remember. Libby wants you to know she sells pottery. Using her name plus the alliterative (the first letters have the same sounds) phrase “Pottery Place” achieve that goal. Naming her blog “All About Raku” does not help those who do not know this a type of pottery glaze, nor will it help people find Libby’s pottery products.

· Use the same name as your website if your website already exists. If that blog’s name is taken at one provider, find another one where it is still available. For example, there might already be a Libby’s Pottery Place at blogger.com, but not at posterous.com.

· If you create your blog first, give your website the same name. The idea is to make it easy for customers to remember you. If they remember you, they know where to go when it’s time to purchase your products or services.

· Pick a name that relates to your primary topic. Calling your blog, “The Elephant’s Ear” does not scream that it’s about Republican Party politics. Calling it “United Republicans of My County” does.

· Avoid acronyms and jargon at all cost. Remember, the goal here is to attract new people who are unfamiliar with you. Instead of “George Shaw, LLC, Inc.,” consider “Making Sense of Limited Liability Investing Partnerships.”

Next up: writing your first post.

A Novice’s Guide to Blogging: Your First Post

If you’ve been following this series, you know have an idea what blogs are about and how they are organized, the reason content is king and why picking an appropriate name is important.

Without going into a lot of details on good writing (see my archives for tips), lets focus on a few pointers aimed at making your blog stand out from the crowd.

The top three blog writing tips are:

Keep the topics consistent with your blog’s main subject. If a post’s topic is not transparently related to the blog—you start writing about health care when you sell insurance—spend a few words explaining the relationship. Writing about health care makes perfect sense if you sell independent health insurance policies.

Keep the posts brief. A maximum length is between 500-600 words, though shorter is better. Instead of combining three topics in one longer post, write three short posts.

Post regularly. One way to do this is by developing a new habit such as a writing your blog post after your weekly staff meeting.

Be Informative, Relevant

People want to read information that benefits them. Constantly asking yourself the question “What’s in it for me?” from the reader’s perspective allows you to do just that. Use your posts to not only discuss something you consider important, but how it benefits each reader.

You have the time and screen space to explain in detail why readers should care about your topic, such as a new service. For example, an insurance broker might have a new policy aimed specifically at returning military veterans.

Writing: It’s Not Rocket Science

Here’s the best news for some folks: blogging can be simple and fun. Ideally you want to use fresh, original content. However, you might some valuable information nuggets on your travels across the world wide web. When you do, post them. Be sure to include a link (copy the www.blank.com from the top of your Internet surfing software into your post) and attribute the original post.

Another shortcut is when you send out a press release, post a copy on your blog. Check it for the blog factors. If the release isn’t consistent with your blog’s theme and isn’t relevant to your audience, rewrite the release.

Good journalists find their biggest problem is not finding topics to write about. The problem is sorting through all the choices to find the best ones. Bloggers have the luxury of not paying for any ink so they can write as often as they want.

Adding Keywords Helps People Find You

Most blogging software lets you add keywords. What are they? What do they do? Why should I care?

Keywords are individual words and short phrases readers might use to pick your particular blog post out of the billions of others. Placing them in a key word box on the blog creation form (this depends on the software used. Some require you enter it manually, while others do it for you) makes it easier for search engines like Bing and Google to put your entry toward the top. The more specific your keywords are, the greater the chance of searches for those specific words to result in a positive search engine match.

For example, an insurance agency’s blog post on new health coverage plans for returning veterans would include these keywords: the name of your agency (so people looking for your agency might find you), veterans, health care, veterans health care, health insurance and other terms that are used in the story.

Next: Comments create communication.

A Novice’s Guide to Blogging: Comments Create Communication

Here’s a not too hypothetical situation all bloggers will not only experience, but avidly seek out: you just posted an update and someone wants to comment on it. What do you do?

First and foremost, make sure all comments must be approved before they can be posted. Why? You can into a ton of trouble if random, unedited comments are allowed to appear.

In addition to rude, nasty and generally offensive materials, you might also be subjected to: posts for unrelated products (spam) that if allowed to appear, show readers you don’t care what appears on your blog; links to websites that might contain viruses and other nastiness; even comments saying, “Your product sucks. Mine is better. Here’s a link to my site.”

If you are going to have a blog, it is your job to ensure that all content is suitable for your audience. This means editing it. Editing can be as minor as running a spellchecker and fixing bad grammar or as major as removing offensive language and killing the post altogether.

One problem with moderated blogs, especially those getting heavy traffic, is posters expect to see comments appear within a “reasonable” time. “Reasonable” can be loosely defined as 24 hours or less.

How can you handle this editing?

Many blog creation programs automatically send comments directly to your email address, which may or may not appear in the blog. So long as you regularly check your email—consider setting up a separate account for the blog—you’re fine. However you set up your blog, make sure—doubly sure—all comments are moderated before being allowed to appear.

Comments Serve a Critical Purpose

When you put up a blog post, you tell people something. When they comment, they are talking back to you. If you respond to their response, you have begun a conversation.

Starting conservations between yourself and potential customers is the number one goal of having a blog.

New products and services are great conversation starters. Mention a new product and people may say they like dislike or think it can be improved. Many a new product, or new use for an old one, as come from reader comments.

Reader comments are great, but with one important provision: that you respond to the comments and move the conversation along. If you stay mute, readers will—understandably—think you don’t care.

For example, let’s say your post mentions a new type of insurance policy. A comment asks how the new policy differs from the old. You could respond with a direct email to the writer, where only they would benefit, or you could respond to their comment. A public response allows you to explain the differences and why they should care.

Next: a brief look at four blog creation sites.

A Novice’s Guide to Blogging: Picking the Right Software

By this point you should be comfortable with the idea of blogging and how to do it effectively. At this point you might want to know this: what mechanism do I use to blog?

The good news is several very good, and extremely simple, free programs exist to help you blog. If one doesn’t work for you, you can have a blog up on a different site in a matter of minutes. Most of these programs are platform independent, meaning they work equally well on any machine. The key limiting factor is your internet connection speed.

Important Considerations

Consider these important questions before you decide which blogging program to use:

1. Who is writing and uploading the blog posts? You? Someone else? Several people? Make sure they can all use it.

2. Where are the blog posts likely to come from? A lot of people use their smart phones (e.g., Blackberries and iPhones) for a wide range of tasks, including blogging.

3. What is the computer literacy level of the main blogger? Highly competent people will want to play with the programming code and spiff it up. Novices just want to write, post and move on. When in doubt, err on the simple side. Your blog won’t look as pretty as something requiring more programming skill, but will still function and that is what counts.

Four (Of Many) Good Options

Assuming your company lets you pick your blogging software, take a look at two established and two newer programs: Google’s Blogger.com (www.blogger.com) and WordPress (www.wordpress.com) host literally millions of blogs each. Newer firms Posterous (https://www.posterous.com) and Tumblr (www.tumblr.com) were reviewed Oct. 23 by Ellen Lee at www.sfgate.com under the headline “New platforms make blogging more immediate, mobile” and they show promise as alternatives.

· Blogger.com is fast, simple and straight-forward. Users pick from among numerous templates, create their design and start blogging. Posts are created directly within the on-screen word processor, which offers typographic controls limited by html (the web page creation programming). It has limited design options but does include a template designer. Comment: a good choice for beginners.

· WordPress is frequently used in the business world because it provides easy access to html code, allowing users to customize their blogs. This customization makes it tougher for novices. Numerous books exist on how to customize WordPress blogs. Comment: excellent choice if you have a tech person uploading the content or you have specific design concerns.

· Tumblr is simple and easy to use, making it similar to Blogger. A key difference is this: you can create blog posts directly on the site or copy and paste them into Tumblr. Comment: good choice for people in the office and on the go.

· Posterous is similar to Tumblr except that posts are sent from your mobile device only. You cannot create posts within it. A brief look at the program indicates Posterous is primarily aimed at mobile-only users. Comment: if you’re seldom in your office, this is a good choice.

It’s important to realize that these are but four of many choices. The good news is any of them will work for almost everyone.

Now that you’ve got a good handle on how to do it, it’s time to stop reading and start blogging. However, you might want to read the final post in this series first.

Next: Blogging is only part of a communications strategy.

A Novice’s Guide to Blogging: Blogs Are Only Part of the Picture

Blogs are a great way to help communicate with people, but blog are not the only way. Effective communicators use blogs as one of many tools along with other forms of social electronic media and print publications.

Many individuals and companies also have public Twitter, Facebook and YouTube accounts plus web pages. Blogs belong in this mix and, when used with these other forms of social media, can help gain additional attention for your firm.

For example, let’s say you just posted a story about a new contest. Promote it. Include the same story under a “News” heading on your web page, send a press release to the local print outlets, run several Twitter comments with links to the blog post and mention it—and link it—on Facebook.

Another method, which some people might say falls under the heading “market research,” has you blogging and Tweeting about the contest so you can fine tune it before sending it directly to the press. The downside to that is many reporters scan the internet and blogs for story ideas.

Regardless of how you do it, your goal should be to get the word out to as many people as possible then develop two-way communications with them. Get the word out. Get comments from folks. Respond to their comments then respond to their responses.

Another very good idea is to add photos when appropriate. Good photos show, not tell, a story that words cannot. The combination of a good story and a good photo is more powerful than either alone.

On a personal note, I hope you enjoyed this series. Let me know how I can improve it.

It Takes Very Little to Help A Lot

2010-11-14T09:46:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving and the holiday season soon will be upon us. You can make this year memorable for yourself and others, and spend very little money in the process.

All it takes are three simple actions.

1. Donate blood. Blood banks face critical shortages this time of year, mainly due to alcohol-fuel automobile accidents. Allow about 90 minutes total to complete the paperwork, make the donation (the needles used are very thin and pain is minimal) and recover. It’s also a great excuse for a large meal.
Clean out your pantry of canned and packaged goods. That second jar of spaghetti sauce no one likes? Donate it along with those other items that might be great for the summer but not for cold weather. Food banks can use anything you care to give. Animal shelters can use any extra pet food, blankets or old towels too.
What about last year’s horrid ties, dresses or coats? Take them and any other old clothing, toys, furniture or other items and drop them off at a thrift shop. You get a tax donation—ask for a receipt—and other folks get low-cost gifts.

If you want to impress the importance of giving on your children, even if they are adults, consider volunteering at a community Thanksgiving dinner or joining a local service club. The Lions, Rotary, Kiwanis and others have a serious manpower issue because many of their members are too old to handle the heavy lifting.

Have you got other ideas for sharing? Post them here. I’ll promote them on my Twitter page too.

Blogs: What's In a Name

2010-11-04T07:38:00.002-07:00

A Novice’s Guide to Blogging: What’s In a Name

But if Libby wants to write about another passion—like finding homes for lost and unwanted pets—she is better off creating a separate, distinct blog for that purpose.

Pick Your Name Carefully

As stated in an earlier post, your blog’s name should reflect its core subject. If you want to cover multiple subjects, don’t fret: create more blogs.

Libby could name her pet blog, “All I Want is a Loving Home.” Combined with a photo of a sorrowful dog or cat, readers quickly understand that the blog is about pets, not home repairs.

Other key points in picking your blog’s name are:

Next up: writing your first post.

Blogs: Content is King

2010-11-04T07:38:00.001-07:00

A Novice’s Guide to Blogging: Content Is King

Why?

Link Your Blog’s Name and Core Content

Your blog’s name should reflect its content and the content should reflect the blog’s core focus.

Another topic might be, “JoAnne is speaking at the Garden Elementary PTA tomorrow night. Have you got an insurance question? Come ask her.”

A third option might be something like, “Tim Timmons needs help paying for an expensive medical procedure. We are helping. Can you?”

Don’t Stray From Your Core Subject

Politics and religion are very emotional topics for some people, topics that often polarize folks. Unless your blog deals with them, stay away. Stay far, far away from them.

Why?

This post is not directly related to insurance but by using a named client as the source, there is a link.

Next: What is in a name and why you should care.

A Novice’s Guide to Blogging: Introduction

2010-10-24T20:00:00.000-07:00

What Blogs Are

Each blog contains one or more comments or articles, commonly referred to as “posts.”

Blog posts generally fall into one of three broad categories:

3. Interests and hobbies. People often write about topics of interest to them such as sports teams, recipes, fashion, pets, food, wine and innumerable other topics.

What Blogs Are Not

Unlike websites, blogs are not designed to have nested layers of pages. One way to visualize the difference is considering your website a complete newspaper and your blog a one-page insert.

Blogs are also not replacements for interacting with your public using face-to-face, print and other on-line methods like social media (i.e., Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc.).

Blogs Have a Structure

All blogs have several common elements.

They are:

· A background, which is often a pre-made static design. An alternative is an image, such as a company logo.

· Overlaid on top of the background is your blog’s title. One example is Your Company at Blogger.com (www.blogger.com).

· Ways to subscribe to your blog, such as by using RSS (Really Simple Syndication). This way, regular blog readers are automatically told when your latest comment gets posted.

· An archive of past posts. This is important because a post from two weeks ago may be just what a new reader needs.

Next on A Novice’s Guide to Blogging: Content is King.

A Quick Exercise To Improve Your Writing

2010-10-23T00:04:00.000-07:00

Anyone wanting to quickly improve their writing need only perform a simple exercise, courtesy of public relations and marketing guru Bob Schumacher and several other folks.

First, pick a recent document designed for public consumption: a press release, report, white paper, “How To” guide, etc.

Second, take another sheet of paper and draw a column down the center.

The final two steps are where this exercise gets interesting: In one column, write down every instance of the words “I” or “me”. In the other column, write every use of the words “you” or “your”.

Your last step is simple: tally the instances of “I” and compare them with “you”. Every “I” is a negative and every “you” a positive.

Or as Schumacher says, “No one cares about “you” (the author). They care about “you” the reader.”

This leads to a topic covered extensively in earlier blog posts, namely: “Think Like a Reader.”

People are reading your words not because they consider you some gifted writer—you may be but that is not the point—but because they seek information, education, entertainment or a combination of these three. When writers consider their readers first, they create more engaging and much more useful material.

Put another way, consider researching and writing using these perspectives:

· What will my readers get from this document? It can be 30 seconds of important information, or 30 seconds of drivel.

· Does this document provide value to them? That is really the key. Non-fiction writers present facts and opinions designed to inform and persuade others. If your document informs or persuades readers, it passes the test. If it leaves them confused or uncertain, it doesn’t.

· Is the impression this document creates the one desired by either the writer or their client? For example, a press release on a new product should explain what it does, not what it does not do.

Ultimately, good writing boils down to one simple test: who benefits the most? The writer or the reader? Readers who regularly gain information and knowledge from your documents will continue to seek out your material. Those that feel their time is being wasted will not.

Applying the above exercise to this document finds no instances of the words “I” or “me”, but two uses of “you” and five of “your.”

Picking the Right Volunteer Group

2010-09-12T11:48:00.000-07:00

Picking the Right Volunteer Group

Earlier I looked at basic steps people should consider before starting their own volunteer organization. One suggestion was volunteering with other groups. But how do you select the right group?

Disclaimer: I’m a past member of the Bishop and Solvang Lions clubs, a guest speaker at several Solvang-area Rotary Club functions—including one on Sept. 11, 2001—a regular blood donor, past board member (briefly) of the Solvang Chamber of Commerce and Santa Ynez Valley Humane Society and long ago, the newsletter editor and vice-president of the Golden Gate Chapter of the BMW Car Club of America. Most recently, I donated some skills, equipment and money to the Grace Foundation of Northern California (horse rescue).

My volunteering experiences are varied, both in what I’ve done and who I’ve done it with and for. That was me. How do you pick the right group?

Try these general suggestions:

· Use your own interests as a starting point. If you like hiking, camping and working with kids, scouting is a great place to start.

· Consider your commitments both to yourself and your family. Join groups that mesh with your existing schedule, not those that take time away from your top priorities.

· Ask your friends which groups they like and which groups they can’t stand. Chances are good if they like or dislike one, you might like or dislike it, too.

· Gather information from personal contacts and on-line sources as to meeting locations, times, membership requirements, dues, etc. See which groups meet your needs. Lunch groups are great for retired folks, but a pain for working stiffs.

· Talk to members of groups you might want to join. Ask them what they like and dislike about them. Keep your eyes and ears open if you attend a meeting to see if it’s a group you can work with.

Your motivation is critical to having fun and enjoying your volunteerism, or being upset, angry and disappointed.

Volunteers must be motivated not only to join a group, but to stay with it. Organizations must want you as badly as you want them. Leaders appearing inflexible, cliquish, selfish or uninterested are signs of a dysfunctional group. Either don’t join them or leave once you see what is going on.

Personalities also play a key role. No matter what your past titles and experience, every new volunteer is essentially a worker bee, not a leader, until they have proven their worth. What some organizations fail to understand, though, is that the leaders must prove they know how to lead effectively. If your personality clashes with those of the leaders, drop the group and move on.

Also important is knowing your role in advance. Explain to them what you want to do and when you want to do it, then see if they will work with you.

Personally, I like donating blood and being part of a group. Blood donations take about an hour once every eight weeks, so the time commitment is minimal while the impact can be huge. Being part of a larger group lets me use other talents and skills while also meeting folks that might turn into friends.

Know that finding the right group takes time, as does developing friendships. Don’t rush it.

Power, Money, Sex and Marketing

2010-09-08T08:11:00.000-07:00

A frequent theme in my marketing posts is this: good communications continually answer the question, “What’s in it for me?” Digging deeper, we can make some deductions about why people want that question answered.

The ultimate goal for many people in many situations—not everyone in all situations—is obtaining and keeping “power.” Power is defined in this case to mean the ability to control thoughts or actions, whether their own or those of others.

“Buying power” is a common, frequently used term. What does it mean? Buying power refers to an individual’s ability to make informed, educated decisions on which products to purchase, and which to avoid. People are “empowered” by having information that lets them make these decisions.

Just below power on the top of the motivation pyramid are money and sex. Why? Because money and sex are both rewards for obtaining power—the more power one has, the easier it is to obtain money and sex—and ways to gain power.

As an example, look at any state or national political campaign. Far more money is spent running for office than the winner will ever hope to earn in salary, even if elected to a lifetime in office.

Power and money are also aphrodisiacs. Using politics—and business and religion, too—as an example, look at the numerous campaigns derailed by allegations of marital infidelity. Why? Because some people will do anything, including having sex with someone, to obtain even a small amount of it.

Let’s also look at sex and money in marketing campaigns. How many fashion campaigns have you seen showing clothes, shoes, jewelry or other items on desirable models (i.e., people others may want to have sex with)? These campaigns would bomb completely if the same clothes were shown on obese or “average” human beings.

The multi-billion dollar gambling industry is based on one key concept: people want money. They will spend what they have, and what they can get, in an effort to get more.

Now that we understand these motivations a little bit better, we have a better understanding of the importance of answering the “What’s in it for me?” question.

So how does this understanding apply to a press release? Read on.

“Jane and George Everyman want you to come to their new store’s grand opening and spend every cent you have and can get on products you don’t need that will not transform your home into a palace and you into a fashion model. Your money, though, will let Jane and George buy even more toys for themselves and give them the power to hire and fire more employees.”

A press release like this would generate either outright anger or—at best—disinterest.

“Everyman’s, a store offering high-end fashions for you and your home, announces the Grand Opening of its newest store. Everyman’s is packed to the rafters with items that will make you and your home the envy of your friends and neighbors. Shop at Everyman’s. Everyone else is.”

A traditional marketing approach contains the same information but in a sugar-coated way. These traditional approaches also answer our primary question (“What’s in it for me?” with the answer being sex appeal and the power to cause envy) but far less blatantly.

Understanding and using these traditional approaches, and finding new ways to say the same thing, is the key to marketing success and business survival.

When You Want the Best Photos, Hire a Pro

2010-09-07T15:04:00.000-07:00

When You Want the Best Photos, Hire a Pro

Point-and-shoot digital cameras have many viable business applications. But when quality is crucial, your best bet is to hire a pro.

Among the appropriate subjects for point-and-shoots are:

· Low-resolution employee mug shots for badges and websites

· General product shots in casual environments, such as construction shops

· Casual gatherings, such as staff birthday parties

There are times, though, when quality is the key. You do not want photos to be OK. You want them to be perfect in terms of focus, lighting and composition.

You have three choices in these situations:

1. You can use the office compact digital camera and hope it—and the person using it—can give you what you want.

2. You can buy an interchangeable lens digital camera and have someone learn how to use it.

3. You can meet with a professional photographer, explain your needs and your budget and see if they can handle it.

Using the company camera is quick and inexpensive, though extremely limited. Buying a new digital SLR, lenses and external flash will give you higher quality images, but cost several thousand dollars. It also takes years to develop the experience equal to that of a pro shooter.

The Cons of Using a Pro

Professional photographers offer advantages such as experience, having the right equipment and the ability to get the shots you need taken in a timely manner. They also some drawbacks.

Key disadvantages are:

1. Scheduling. Good shooters are in demand. Instead of adjusting their schedule to meet your needs, you may have to adjust your events or activities to fit their available time slots.

2. Varying skill sets. Some shooters like the precise lighting control obtained only in a studio. They hate the variations caused by natural outdoor lighting or the ugly color cast caused by artificial lights (correctable with filters and/or PhotoShop). Others prefer a more natural look, such as portraits taking in normal working surroundings.

3. Cost. Good photographers do not come cheap. You are paying for their time, their overhead and expenses, any assistants they require, transportation and lodging and possibly special equipment needed for your exclusive shoot.

4. They are mortal men and women. If your directions are vague, such as saying you want a “good” photo of the new CEO, they may come back with an image you do not like. Your directions must be specific and explicit. Showing them samples of what you are looking for, then working with them is the key to getting good results.

The Pros of Using a Pro Shooter

Good photographers know how to light subjects to their maximum benefit, highlighting certain areas and shading others. They know how to pose people to accentuate their beauty and hide any imperfections. They also know how to compose scenes to give viewers the right impressions.

These people have spent years learning and practicing their profession. As a result, they can provide you with quality work faster—and ultimately at a far lower cost—than trying to do it yourself.

Before Hiring a Pro…

Take a professional, thoughtful approach before hiring a photographer. Key tips are:

· Determine how the images will be used. Images for an annual report need to be far sharper and of higher quality than those for a website, for example. If possible, determine picture sizes in advance, since that determines the quality level they are shot at.

· Gather examples of similar photos then show prospective shooters what you are looking for. Explain what you like and dislike about the shots. Ask for ideas how they can help you achieve your goals.

· Set realistic goals, especially in terms of time. Thinking someone can shoot photos this morning for use this afternoon is not realistic. Shooters need time to adjust the photos.

· Get their feedback and ideas and see how they mesh with your own. If there is a personality clash, go with someone else. The more questions you ask, the better a decision you can make.

Email me with any specific questions and I’ll do my best to answer them.

Digital Cameras Are An Essential Business Tool

2010-09-07T12:37:00.000-07:00

Digital Cameras Are An Essential Business Tool

Why are cameras a critical tool? Because they provide visual proof of what is taking place.

The major “negative” uses are documenting problems with employees not doing their jobs properly, malfunctioning equipment or other areas that need work. Taking pictures lets firms visually say, “This is what is wrong. Here is what we (or someone else) needs to do to fix it.”

Photos also make excellent teaching tools. For example, a retailer can take a picture of a display then ask trainees, “What is wrong here?”

Photography, though, is a critical tool in promoting positive points. Take photos of new employees, new products and new locations and post them on the web. Even better, take photos of these new people and products interacting with your customers.

Digital point-and-shoot cameras are plentiful, inexpensive and extremely simple to use. As their name implies, you point the camera and push a button. The camera calculates the exposure and focuses for you, recording the image on a memory card (SD cards are the most common, but not the only card type being used).

Single lens reflex cameras are far bulkier and much more expensive than the “idiot proof” compact models. They are also far more flexible and much more accurate in terms of giving you exactly what you want.

Take a quick look at a few of the advantages and disadvantages of each type.

Compact Cameras

Pros	Cons
Designed for novice and infrequent photographers	Simplicity limits functionality for some people
Fully automatic exposures	Limited if any exposure controls
Automatic focus	Generally focus only on objects in the center, eliminating the ability to selectively focus and obscure distracting objects
Designed for general purpose photography	Inadequate for specific subjects, such as extreme close-ups (i.e., macro photography)
Lenses cover ranges acceptable for most uses	They lack extreme wide angle (needed in close quarters) and telephoto (useful for distant objects) capabilities
Tend to use the common JPG format, which is easily viewed on most computers and mobile devices	Being a compressed format, JPG does not allow precise adjustments of other recording methods, such as the RAW or digital negative formats

Single Lens Reflex Cameras

Pros	Cons
Designed for advanced amateur and professional shooters	It takes years to develop the skills and knowledge when to go beyond the basics
Allows complete exposure control	Experience teaches when to use which mode, such as shutter priority or manual
Permits manual focusing	Manual focusing is tricky when shooting moving objects
Bigger selection of available lenses	Each lens has its own positive and negative attributes. Experience is required to know when to use one lens versus another
Tend to give multiple format options	RAW images require more time to adjust, requiring far more time on computers than basic JPGs.

Which Camera is Best for My Business?

Use a point-and-shoot camera for everyday occurrences and functions, like head shots for employee badges. Use a digital SLR (single lens reflex) for serious photography, especially outdoors or indoors under tricky lighting.

A good tip is this: hiring a pro for special events will save you time and money. You will not have to train someone how to use expensive equipment, nor buy it. Pros already have the gear, know how to use it and most importantly, can give you what you want.

Before buying any camera, though, make a list of what you want it to do and the conditions where you expect to use it. Also determine who will be using it and their photography background. Match the gear to your needs and your people or your time—and a lot of money—will be for nothing.

Social Media: Keep It Professional

2010-08-18T14:22:00.000-07:00

Social Media: Keep It Professional

Recently I posted general tips on getting started with Twitter. The focus was on basics, such as having good content. Appropriate content, though, should be the main focus of all social media, not just Twitter.

A key here is putting some distance between your business and personal lives. How? By having distinct accounts for each.

I’m trying to persuade an organization I work with to activate its dormant Twitter account. Twitter can be used to promote business activities and inform the public of new offerings, such as recent Facebook posts or new newsletters.

Since this Twitter account is professional, I’m hoping to establish professional standards from the start. These standards should include some “Do’s” and a few “Don’ts.”

Do:

· Include announcements about new products or programs. Either include short announcements about them in Twitter or use Twitter to link to details posted elsewhere.

· Use social media to compliment people—especially volunteers—for their efforts on your behalf. If someone does a good job, tell the world about it.

· Keep people clued in on the public aspects of your organization. Most people could care less if you are reshuffling your board of directors, but they will care when new directors or officers are announced. What happens behind closed doors stays there.

· Social media is a great research tool. For example, you can use Twitter to ask people, “We are thinking about attending XYZ Trade Show. Any comments?”

· Keep the tone of all posts positive, upbeat and above all, professional. When one executive leaves the company, take this approach. “Thank-you, John Jane Doe for your years of service.” When the replacement arrives, promote the new person’s positive attributes.

Knowing what to avoid saying is just as important, if not more so. Do not:

· Criticize anyone about anything using a company site. If you must be negative, make your comments on your own private blog, Twitter account or SM site. For details, read “My Boss Is an Idiot” in my archives.

· Use company sites to discuss personal issues. People could care less that the head of a company just bought a new dress. They do care if the dress impacts their stock value.

· Put comments about politics and religion on your professional site unless they a direct bearing on your company. Odds are very good some potential customers will be offended.

· Obvious as it may seem, do not make trivial comments on your company SM sites. Using emoticons (“smiley faces”) is a big no-no.

My suggestion is to create a list of procedures and acceptable topics for your business sites. Make sure everyone who can post to company social media sites signs off on it, even if they disagree.

Get Started Using Twitter

2010-08-18T09:34:00.000-07:00

The Beginner’s Guide to Twitter

How do you use Twitter? A person I work with knows about the social media program but has almost no idea what to do.

Let’s take a look at some basics after assuming you’ve already taken these essential early steps:

Step 1: Open a Twitter account. The key here is using a name that is both unique and tells people something about what you do. Since I write about communications and my focus is on the proper use of words, my Twitter name is @wordsbydavereyn.

Step 2: Use an appropriate Twitter background. If you deal with horse rescue, a photo of a rescued horse makes a great image. An alternate is a wide-angle shot of your ranch.

The keys to effective Tweeting (the improper term I’ve heard used is “Twittering”) are:

1. Have good content while staying within the 140 character (includes spaces and punctuation) limit. If your content is boring, frequently off the subject, mundane or offensive, you will lose your audience.

2. Know when to tweet what subjects and if you are going to stray from your main topic, when to do it.

3. Tweet frequently but only when your content is interesting and how have something to say. Do not tweet just to pad your frequency statistics.

4. Follow people who have something interesting to say related to your main topic.

Good Content

Having good content is far and away the most important step. People could care less where you ate lunch or shopped … unless you saw something interesting. For example, “Filled up the car with gas. One isle over, Lance Armstrong was doing the same.”

The four most common ways of tweeting are:

· Providing good original content. These are your honest comments about topics germane to your tweeting theme. Don’t talk about religion when your main purpose is saving animals.

5. Passing on comments and links from others (e.g., “retweeting”). When one of the people you follow says something your followers might like, retweet it. I use “RE RT” for the next tweet. Here I explain why I retweeted the original message.

6. Passing on links to interesting websites and comments, such as your blog. Companies such as bitly shorten lengthy addresses so you can still include a message in your tweet. If you just created a new newsletter or blog posting, include a link to it and let the “Twitterverse” know about it.

7. Tweeting photos. Twitpic and TweetPhoto automatically shrink photos then include a link to them in your post. Take a photo of your new product and get it out immediately using this method.

When to Tweet

People are going to read your tweets when it’s convenient for them. Limit most of your business-related comments to business hours and days. If you are going to stray into personal areas or voice opinions, do it during the weekend when less people are likely to read it.

When promoting an upcoming event, start tweeting early. Give people time to attend and include links to websites providing details about it.

Tweet Frequency

I lost a few followers several months ago when I dropped people who had not tweeted in one or two days. If I’m going to follow them (“following” means their comments appear on your Twitter page) I want to read their comments. People who tweet too frequently create clutter. Their important messages are lost in the spam.

If you only tweet you’ve got something to say, but get at least one post a day during the week, you’re treading a happy medium.

Following and Followers

One measure of Twitter success is the number of people who subscribe to your feed and follow you. You assume these folks take the time to read your comments.

Unfortunately, some people follow thousands of people. You know that they seldom read any of these comments.

You can avoid falling into this trap by only following people with similar interests. For example, if are involved in animal rescue, following other animal rescue sites makes sense. Following (with a business Twitter account) a sports team does not.

Resources

A good starting point for novice Twitter users is Joel Comm’s book Twitter Power and its related website. Comm covers everything mentioned in this blog post, though his approach is more about using Twitter for marketing on the Internet than anything else.

Traditional, New Media Can Work Together

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Traditional and new on-line media are not exclusive. The two media types can be effectively used to compliment each other, with each attracting people the other might miss.

Mixing online and print/broadcast media effectively requires several steps.

Step 1: Start by writing a press release. Email it to various print and broadcast media partners. Also post it on your Facebook page and on your blog, then send out several tweets at different times of day to promote it.

Step 2: Get a traditional media partner to pick up your story. Have a staff photographer on hand recording the media folks when they arrive. However, do not interfere when they are working.

Step 3: Promote the interview on your social media sites. Include photos of the print or broadcast crew in action.

Step 4: When you have a publication or air date, promote it heavily on your social media sites. Let your community know when the story will run. If the date changes, let folks know the corrected day or time.

Step 5: Once your story runs, publicly thank the media folks for their time and effort. Send good shots of the media crew to the editor in charge as a way of personally thanking them.

Above Paul Westbrook of KCRA 3 in Sacramento interviewed Zoe Strachan-Payne on Tuesday at the Grace Foundation. Scheduled to air Wednesday, it was pushed back one day and aired July 29.

Free Photos Make Friends

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Offering people a free souvenir photo is a great way for non-profit groups to make friends, recruit volunteers and maybe raise a little money.

On July 17, I took posed formal photos of people attending the “Jack’s Family Adventure” movie premiere. I learned a lot both by what was—and was not—done.

The Grace Foundation folks provided me with a great assistant, Lori, who took care of the folks and let me shoot. However, asking the subjects to write their own names down might have saved time and could eliminate any problems if we misspelled a name.

We both used two key approaches when dealing with the public: we smiled a lot and never refused a request. The goal is for people to have happy memories, not recall how rudely they were treated.

Among the aspects we did perfectly are:

· Our finished photos have the Grace logo plus the name and date of the event embedded at the bottom.

· Each subject gets a 4-inch by 6-inch print.

· We are including a fund-raising letter with the photos, though we are not charging for the pictures.

· A version of every photo will appear on our new web page. This lets people see not only their own photos, but those of their friends, too.

· Other photos from the event, such as shots of the producer, director and several dignitaries, are also going up on our web page. The event was Saturday night; these photos were delivered Monday morning.

· I’m requesting we include a note stating electronic versions of these photos are available. Just contact the photographer—me—and I will send them a digital copy of their shots.

When I do something similar again, I will also use what I learned this time to make it faster and better for everyone involved. Specifically:

· Designate a space for photos then rope it off using string or tape. This lets your people know where to go and helps other folks avoid it.

· Put a small piece of tape on the ground for your subjects to stand behind. The tape gives them a reference point, reducing their stress.

· Bring a clipboard, large notepad and several pens. Having the subjects print their names and a way to reach them eliminates misspellings and other problems.

· To see more photos, visit the Grace Foundation of Northern California. Contact me if you have any questions.

Flexibility is a Key

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Step 6: Being Flexible

Being flexible is a key requirement of any organization, especially when it comes to non-profit groups. A few ideas include:

1. Be flexible in what you want to do. For example, your research might find several groups already doing what you have in mind. Instead of competing against them for money, volunteers and clients, ask what they need. An idea might present itself—they might need a grant writer or a public relations “face”—that dovetails with your interests.

2. Don’t adhere to a rigid, rapid schedule. Thinking you can get a non-profit rolling quickly is absurd. It takes time to do the research, file the paperwork, gather money and recruit volunteers.

3. Understand that forming a non-profit is a huge undertaking. It requires very deep pockets and nearly every waking moment of your time.

4. Be willing to downsize your goals. Instead of “I want to adopt out 1,000 dogs in the first year,” a realistic initial goal might be, “I want to find one dog a new home this year.” Why? Because the infrastructure for getting one dog and 1,000 dogs new homes is essentially the same. Without having the support structure in place, you cannot help any pets.

5. Be flexible in your professional and personal lives. Two-week family vacations will not exist once you start a non-profit. Those dinners with your spouse will be replaced by pizza with your executive staff while figuring out how to pay for critical repairs.

6. Adjust your financial goals upward, way upward. Your start-up costs are going to eat up every cent you can scrape together initially. Once you get going, figure that most (70%-80% or more) of your money will be spent on overhead costs, not those directly related to your task.

Before starting a non-profit, you might also consider volunteering and working with one. Taking this approach allows you to gather experience performing essential tasks—including the mundane ones of cleaning and answering phone calls—while also seeing how they operate from the inside.

Sure, volunteering delays starting your own organization. However, the experience and the “what works and what does not” knowledge you gain is invaluable. You may also find emotional fulfillment in helping an existing organization without going to the expense and work of starting your own.

Hopefully these comments help you help your community. Contact author David B. Reynolds with any comments or questions.

Step 5: Staffing

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Step 5: Staffing

No matter how hard you try, one person alone cannot effectively operate a non-profit. It takes a team of people, not all of whom will share your dedication to a cause.

Let’s face facts: some of your staff must be paid. Typically these people have the highest profile—and highest stress—positions, requiring the greatest experience. Common titles are Executive Director, Office Manager and Director of Fund-Raising.

Non-profit staffs typically have three or more levels. The top level is your Board of Directors, which oversees the general operation and makes the big decisions. The Executive Director is responsible to the board—and an invaluable asset—while also overseeing day-to-day operations.

The Executive Director leads your Executive Staff. They ensure supplies get ordered and delivered in a timely fashion, there are enough people to handle the typical tasks, everything is running smoothly and most importantly, they are calm in a crisis.

Organizations that deal with the public—and by extension, the media—also need an executive who looks good on camera. The “Face” is attractive, articulate and has a ready answer for every question. This person may not make the decisions but is responsible for conveying those decisions to the public.

Another key leader is the Fundraiser. They schmooze with business and civic leaders, politicians and anyone else with money. Their goal is keeping your coffers full enough so your organization can do its job.

Your executive staff also includes a Lawyer and an Accountant, both of whose advice is critical. Pet-related charities should also include a Veterinarian at this level since their input will help keep all the animals healthy and therefore adoptable.

Also part of the executive cadre are non-profit versions of department heads. They include:

· The Volunteer Coordinator, who assigns volunteers their various tasks and makes sure enough volunteers are on hand.

· The Recruiter, who constantly seeks out new volunteers. The Recruiter is always busy because volunteers come in, work for a little while, then get bored and move on.

· The Communicator, who writes and sends out the press releases, updates the online newsletter and lets the community know what is going on (i.e., what you need money for this time).

· The Adopter (for pet groups). This is the person who meets the people adopting pets, walks them through the adoption process and helps guide them as they select an animal. This person must be outgoing and friendly all the time.

· The Special Events Coordinator. Effective non-profits are always holding events, so it makes sense to have at least one person handle them exclusively. This person makes sure all the participants know when and where to meet, the performers are hired, contracts signed, etc.

Often people hold more than one title. For example, the Recruiter and Volunteer Coordinator might be the same person. Your task lies in having enough people to handle the myriad tasks that need doing yet not having so many staffers, large amounts of time are wasted.

The final group is the key to your success: the Volunteers. These are people who are giving up their time to help you. Volunteers need to be handled carefully because without them, nothing gets done. Praise them often and loudly. Thank them at every opportunity. Guide them but don’t criticize them.

Recruit them carefully and check references, especially when they deal with money or the public. Treat their positions like paid jobs. Teach them how to perform their tasks, make sure they enjoy them and if they don’t perform, assign them something else.

How you handle your volunteers is part of the next section, Step 6: Flexibility.