Legendary Artist Etta James – Sunday Morning Blues

February 7, 2010 by Kathy Drewien · View Comments
Filed under: Personal Days - Blues and Coffee Breaks

R&B songstress Etta James was hospitalized in California last week with a blood infection, according to reports. The singer’s son, Donto James, has been acting as her spokesperson and revealed to Reuters this week that the 72-year-old star has also been contending with Alzheimer’s disease for some time.

The legendary artist is most famous for her smash hit, “At Last,” and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993.

“At Last” -- Etta James -- The Millennium Collection

Etta James “At Last” performed by Beyonce in Cadillac Records

20 Questions to Answer Before You Install Your WordPress Site

January 12, 2010 by Kathy Drewien · View Comments
Filed under: Social Business - Strategy & Networking

WordCamp Atlanta answered questions about WordPress

WordCamp is a conference type of event that focuses squarely on everything WordPress. Everyone from casual end users all the way up to core developers show up to these events.

Presentations at WordCamp Atlanta covered design, development and content for beginner, intermediate and advanced WordPress users.

Several people I met at WordCamp Atlanta are not yet using WordPress. They have creative ideas and stories to share, and are attracted to the open source platform — the support of the WordPress community.

It’s easy to install WordPress and dive into blogging. Install and write. Easy-peasy.

Now, some of us are stepping back to consider more strategic questions.

Who am I? Where am I going? Why?

Seth proposed a list of questions we need to answer before we spend money on a website. WordPress is free, so we get started first, ask questions later. To be successful we must answer these strategic questions:

What is the goal of the site? In other words, when it’s working great, what specific outcomes will occur?
Who are we trying to please? If it’s the boss, what does she want? Is impressing a certain kind of person important? Which kind?
How many people on your team have to be involved? At what level? Who are they?
Who are we trying to reach? Is it everyone? Our customers? A certain kind of prospect?
What are the sites this group has demonstrated they enjoy interacting with?
Are we trying to close sales? Are we earning permission to follow up?
Are we telling a story?
Are we hoping people will watch or learn?
Do we need people to spread the word using various social media tools?
Are we building a tribe of people who will use the site to connect with each other?
Do people find the site via word of mouth? Are they looking to answer a specific question?
Is there ongoing news and updates that need to be presented to people?
Is the site part of a larger suite of places online where people can find out about us, or is this our one sign post?
Do we want people to call us?
How many times a month would we like people to come by? For how long?
Who needs to update this site? How often?
Does showing up in the search engines matter? If so, for what terms? At what cost? Will we be willing to compromise any of the things above in order to achieve this goal?
Will the site need to be universally accessible? Do issues of disability or language or browser come into it?
How much money do we have to spend? How much time?
Do we understand ‘everything’ is not an option?

What’s your experience? Did you dive in and start writing? Is your site a strategic decision? Let’s talk about it in the comments.

Catchin’ Up in the Feed Reader | June 5

June 6, 2009 by Kathy Drewien · View Comments
Filed under: Bloggers Say - Updates from My Reading List

I’m always reading ‘round the web to stay on top of small business trends, social media, and emerging technologies.

By creating News to Use I have a built-in bookmark for stuff that captured my attention.

Don’t miss the news. Subscribe to this blog in your feed reader, or use the email subscription box.

Run a Google search on “social media ROI” and you’ll get 1,140,000 results. So, starts Tim Walker’s post Social Media and the Acid-Bath of ROI. “The good news is, much of what you can do in social media today is cheap. That low “I” means that if you can hit even modest “R” numbers, your ROI gamble will pay off.”

Matt Cutts notes “WordPress takes care of 80-90% of (the mechanics of) Search Engine Optimization (SEO)” Slide #12. That really captures the essence of why WordPress is so popular – especially with beginning or casual bloggers. A blogger can get plugins and tools to get the maximum search engine optimization for their blog – but the mere choice of WordPress hits 80% of the SEO needs and all the other heavy lifting is to get that final 20%. ~ David Silversmith

When you’re an independent consultant, eventually you’ll experience one or more of the “negotiating tactics” hilariously illustrated in The Vendor – Client Relationship.

So you want a Facebook Fan Page for Your Nonprofit? Here’s the Scoop! The piece provides 16 tips for setting up your fan page and some good nitty-gritty how-to information.

One of the most important parts of being an online entrepreneur is maintaining an intellectual edge. 20 Must-Read Blogs for Online Entreprenuers introduces 20 useful, thought-provoking and potentially lucrative sources of news and ideas.