If you are like me, you have more work than you can possibly get to. There are two attitudinal directions you must take if you are going to keep your head above water:1. You have to prioritize. Peter Drucker is famous for reminding managers that doing the right things is even more important than doing things right. Cleaning out your junk folder may give you a sense of accomplishment, but it is far less useful than working on that project that will bring in revenue.Drucker distinguished between the two by saying that doing things right is “efficiency”. Doing the right things is “effectiveness”.... [...]

Guy Kawasaki has something to say to all marketers about productivity, effectiveness and authenticity in our use of social media. On May 13th, Hubspot.com posted his explanation of how he uses social media. Now he has made that article available in a MS Word file, and he has given us permission to make it available to you. You can download it here:Guy Kawasaki on How He uses Social MediaThis originally appeared in the HubSpot.com article here:HubSpot Article by Guy Kawasaki [...]

Software is a funny thing. Because of hidden flaws that are only exposed in odd “boundary conditions” (also known as “corner conditions”, situations outside the mainstream of operation) software can misbehave at seemingly random times. We use the Total Cache plugin for improved loading speed. Last weekend, Total Cache decided to stop working. As a result, no new posts were visible on out home page until we noticed the problem and found a solution about 150 posts later.During that time, our home page was stuck on May 11. All the new posts were in the blog, but unless you... [...]

I was poking around the Kindle marketplace and found several Kindle books that online marketers will find helpful. I don’t how long they will continue to be free, but they are free today.It’s way more than a week’s worth of reading, but get them while they are free. I did.If you are looking for low-cost or free advertising, you might like thisTwo about market research;Here’s a two-volume set about niche marketingHow about an introduction to WordPress:Here are four on how to be productive and manage time:William Horton, famed blogger Kevin Hogan and my friend,... [...]

In my marketing class years ago, we were taught that there are many things that are a part of the “marketing mix” and by finding “Unique Selling Proposition” in any of these areas, you can potentially build a successful business. Location is a key part of the mix. If you are in the right spot, you can charge a premium and still sell your product. The classic example is hot dogs at a ball park. The hungry ball fan is glad to pay extra because (borrowing a metaphor) it’s the only game in town.Put your store where there’s a lot of traffic and you can charge extra... [...]

The subject line of an email should make the reader want to open the email, and just as important, not deceive the reader into opening the email. Both of these rules are intentionally violated by marketers. In the first case, so many marketers think they are being smart to not tell the reader what their note is about, using some silly headline instead. How many times have you gotten an email with subjects like:Are you still up? (I may talk in my sleep, but I don’t read in my sleep. Of course, I am up.)Re: Hey (this actually is both silly and deceptive. It doesn’t encourage opening... [...]

If you aren’t familiar with Marketing Sherpa, I suggest you visit their site, http://MarketingSherpa.com. They have a lot of information for online marketers and they don’t mind sharing it. They usually make a report available for a week at no cost; then they move it into their vault of historical reports that you can subscribe to. Their reports are based on research and case studies. They aren’t trying to sell anything other than their research. If you are diligent and visit their site each week, you can get most of it at no cost. This week, I was struck by a chart they presented.... [...]

So often marketers think it’s smart to hide their true identity in their emails. In the last 24 hours, I have received emails from people only ideltified as “Admin”, “Notice”, “Support”, Christy, Sean, Dorothy, Clifford, “Download Dept.”,Preeti, Phil and RayWhen I open the mail, they usually don’t do any better, signing it with only a first name. The ones above were signed [three first names], [blank], Jessica, Christy, [blank], Dorothy, Clifford, Anastasia,[blank] , Phil, and [Congratulations, Ray. At least you got it right on the... [...]

One of the worst things a marketer can do is ignore his/her followers. I have been guilty on occasion, and have lived to regret it.But I have been the victim of stupid marketers even more often. For example, six months ago, I opened a ticket on the help desk of a marketer in Asia. It has sat there for 6 months with no answer, despite my adding a supplementary response a month later to try again to get his attention.Do I ever want to buy from him again? No. Do I want to be an affiliate for his future products? No. Do I ever want to run a story about him? Only on a very slow news day (and I never... [...]

We don’t publish all the internet marketing news items we receive, but we haven’t been too restrictive, either. So we have published information about well-known marketing trainers, as well as info about lesser known people and their work.This has served our readers well for years. However, the time has come to apply additional criteria to stories we publish. The specific problem I currently see relates to webinars.With the recent introduction of systems that make it easy to record a webinar and repeatedly broadcast it ad infinitum, we have been seeing a large number of repetitive... [...]