It’s my pleasure to announce that tomorrow I will be joining the search marketing team at MarketNet in Dallas. MarketNet is one of the few true full-service interactive marketing agencies in the Dallas / Fort Worth area. With a constantly growing staff of 30+ hard working, creative individuals, MarketNet has established itself as one of the premiere agencies in DFW.
I will be assuming the role of senior search specialist for several of MarketNet’s clients as I do my best to fill the shoes of the much beloved Bill Hartzer who recently joined Vizion Interactive (the company I worked for last year). It’s an odd twist of fate, yet an ideal situation for all parties involved.
I will continue to blog at CultureFeast.com, ReputationAdvisor.com, and my other pet projects as time permits. I’ll also still be available around the clock via Twitter (username - danielthepoet).
This completes the “news” with a new year, new baby in the family, and new company. Wish me the best, and I hope to see some of you at a conference or two before year’s end.
Daniel Dessinger
It’s been extremely frustrating for me to see the rise and growing popularity of linkbait over the past two years. Only a small percentage of these exploitative or list-based posts contain content worth reading. But they strike a chord with the public. What do people really get out of reading linkbait?
Most often, they get a list of ways to improve their lives in some way, shape, or form. Everyone’s on the fast track to retirement and big money, and we’ve become addicted to lists and tips and tricks as we fantasize about reaching the American dream.
I’ve turned down several opportunities to make good money writing linkbait. Not all were based on my latent snobbery… but most were. In the end, I see fluff for what it is, and I despise myself for having participated in it at all. We’re building one big hype machine with all the linkbait floating around on Digg, Reddit, Propeller, Mixx, and Stumble Upon. We’re building something we can’t maintain forever. This too shall pass.
There are only so many ways you can give tips for marketing or blogging success. Eventually, you face the same problem every blog faces: repetition is the kiss of death. Once each blog has covered the quality content they envisioned, they move on to linkbait. Once the linkbait machine has given up the death gurgle, expect little more than repetitive news coverage. News is the one constant thing that will give us information we haven’t already covered. Of course, once we get to the point where most blogs are rehashed news reports, you’ll realize that you can get more professional coverage on CNN, ESPN, or somewhere that’s been doing this for a lot longer than you, and you’ll have to decide if continuing on is really worth it.
Every fad has a shelf life. Every fad reaches a tipping point, and eventually finds itself replaced by something more relevant, exciting, or hyperfocused. What will take the place of blogs? Who can say? Probably some sort of live vidcasting where you can see paparazzi literally chasing Britney Spears down the street. Why settle for a written account when you can hang out with the vermin who monetize celebrity mishaps? It’s coming. Just wait. You’ll probably think it normal by then, too.
Some of the hardest lessons to learn are the easiest to describe. I’ve returned to my “brain guy” to get my brain “zapped” a few more times this week. It’s been a year, and the initial sessions went so well that I thought I should see what a few more might do.
Brain zapping is an art form as well as a science. It’s technical term is “neurofeedback”, but that doesn’t sound nearly as dramatic and life altering as “brain zapping.”
No matter. The important thing is that my brain is being optimized. It is more efficient and effective in executing its processes than it was before the zapping began. The latest EEG test shows that I have a very active right hemisphere. There is an abundance of signals there, but I need to be able to resolve those thoughts and ideas rather than continually bounce them around inside my head.
Yay for the brain zapper! It sounds hokey or intimidating to some people I tell. That’s okay. The point is that I have many more opportunities available to me now because I am not getting in my own way like I used to. I am much better at finishing tasks than I used to, and I expect to be even better off after my next four sessions this week.
The goal is to resolve some of my creative ideas before hatching too many new ones. For example, I own somewhere in the neighborhood of 40 domain names. Of those 40, I have created some 10 or more blogs. The rest of the domains are just sitting there collecting dust. Rather than continue trying to blog on 10 websites sporadically, I am getting one website staffed with bloggers so that it virtually runs itself. Once that is accomplished, I will move on to blog #2 and repeat most of the same stages. Eventually, I will have 5-10 blog websites staffed with bloggers who love what they do. I will make a little bit of money from the ads on each site, and that will enable me to either sell them off for a profit or to enhance them even further to increase profit and pay my writers something for their time.
All the great ideas will have to wait, including the ever elusive novel. One thing at a time. Conquer one hill, then take the next. And in the end, you have conquered a countryside. And all because the brain zapping has enabled me to think clearly enough to see the benefit of seeing a project through to completion rather than flitting from excitement to excitement as I did for many years prior.
Yay, brain zapping!
Do you believe that faith is a personal thing? So personal that you can’t or won’t discuss it with other people? I don’t. I’m sorry, I just don’t.
My #1 concern with owning a blog under my own name is that it will likely be the first place someone looks to find out more about me. So what face should I put forward? The politically correct one that never says anything negative? Or the realistically human one that has both positive and negative opinions and is chalk full of bias?
Your words will be used against you if you make them public. It is the inevitable downside to blogging and social networking. You can apologize for offending and explain yourself, but you can never retract your words. And whereas people are likely to forget your spoken words over time, your written words last forever for all to see.
So each of us has a decision to make. Do we compartmentalize ourselves and reveal only the parts that are hire worthy? Or do we go for the gusto? In my opinion, you should say what you want and accept the consequences of doing so. Then again, I say that but I’m not excited about having my opinions aired for everyone to see. It’s a catch-22. Maybe I should go back to keeping a journal.
