Overheard on Facebook the other day:

"I was asked to join twitter, but am not sure I understand what it is for. It just looks like a lesser version of Facebook to me.

Sigh.

I explained that it was really just a social cognitive surplus heat sink like Gilligan's Island used to be, better explained by Mr. Shirky here

"...instead of focusing on advertising, we should instead focus on making the product better and getting people excited about it. If people are excited about your product, they are more likely to post about it, giving you direct exposure to their readers.

...we’ve learned that good promotion just depends on the quality of your product and whether or not people are excited. So put your head down, improve your product, and get people excited about it."

Maybe its because I'm the son of a Dachdeckermeister (Master Roofer), but where are the roofers, plumbers, and masons that build the city and keep it from falling apart?

There was one Master Carpenter that is listed (under "Music" working for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra) that is making a handsome salary of over $150k. Today's youth needs to see this, that the trades are a viable option. They don't need an expensive 4-year degree that doesn't guarantee a job, but rather, an apprenticeship program with a tradesman.

I've held many jobs in my day, but I can say I've learned the most working for my father, in our family business. Sure, there was the stressful family-dynamic, but I got to see and experience first-hand all aspects of running a business. Sure beats fetching coffee for a summer as an intern at some Agency dot com.

I clicked submit and it came back now telling me that ZIP is required, and the 'partners' checkbox is now, again, checked

I think most folks, myself included, would miss this and correct the error. I know this wasn't done purposely, as the ZIP field is really only required when USA is selected for the country. Yet, with all those whitepapers up there, you'd think there'd be one or two about Quality Assurance?

But wait, there's more. After I logged in to check my profile, I see there's checkbox (checked) for receiving partner offers via postal mail. Whoa, where did that come from?

Remember, look both ways before clicking Submit.

Well, Campaign Monitor themselves only come up on page four of the Google search results, so I figured we had a lot of SEO work ahead of us. Who's first? Well, EliteEmail, that's who.

So, first I did a search to see who all's linking to EliteEmail, and that's where it gets interesting.

First, there's EliteAnswers (see link in footer "Email Marketing Software"), a 1,700 page site, part of the Elite network. And, if you don't see your site listed, you can add it via Elite Web .. get Express Submission for only $39! And, of course, there's a link for "email marketing" in the footer.

Then there's Elite Lottery Results. Again, with "email marketing software" link in the footer.

Why, even Z Bear Diapers is giving them link juice via a link their newsletter tool signup box (lower left corner)

Did I mention there's an Elite Scheduler? Only $25/mo .. an, oh, a link to "email marketing" in the footer.

So really the trick is to have a network of sites and services. Like I mentioned to my wife, I may not have a million-dollar idea, but I think a have a million one-dollar ideas now. Does that count?

Today, I see Ted is now working for TD Ameritrade, as a Virtual Investment Consultant.

Mike Maddaloni put cyber Ted to the test, read his chat here.

I guess this is why Volkswagen couldn't sell their $80k Phaeton here in the US. Although the factory they make them in is pretty cool.

Maybe after a visitor has clicked in a few pages you could accost them with the 'can we help you' type of chat popup, altho some people get freaked out by those too. We should engage the customer at their pace and convenience. If a visitor (prospect) requests (via email or web form) info, or certainly if they've ordered something, that's your cue to send some follow up questions.. how'd we do, what didn't you find, etc.

For business owners looking to use a survey as a 'virtual salesperson', I'd suggest having a more direct question, like Need Help? If yes, direct them to your search engine, show them your most popular products/services and or direct them to your FAQs, but anything other than a Survey.

Some may argue that they garner some insight from the few that fill out the form, but not at the expense of other users that you turn away with this tactic. Still want to keep your survey? Then please add a link to it somewhere prominently on your website, as those are hard to find when I actually do want to fill one out.

1. Innovative
2. Useful
3. Aesthetic
4. Self-explanatory
5. Unobtrusive
6. Honest
7. Durable
8. Thorough
9. Environmentally-friendly
10. As little design as possible

Getting started isn't immediately intuitive with the multiple windows, so here are some steps I put together for one of my guys today:

1. You need to setup the connection to the SVN server in the 'repositories' window:
- name: whatever you want to reference it as
- path: https://www.yourdomain.com
- username
- password

After that's entered, you can double click on its listing above the edit fields. It should then try to connect and display the most recent log messages. That's the first step to getting going.

2. Create the folder on your machine where you want the files to live. Go back to the svnX window that has the logs, below the log listings it should show "root" in the first column, Click on that and "trunk" should appear and begin to load its subfolders. With "trunk" selected, click svn checkout at the top and choose the folder you created. You can click show output to see the files getting added.

3. Then, in the svnX Working Copies window, create a new item. The 'name' should match what you used in #1 above for the connection name and the path should be the folder that you created, just the root, not the 'trunk'.

4. After you've added the working copy, double click its listing in the copies window. A new window should launch. Click Update to pull down the latest. Click Show output to see what changes if any were pulled down.

5. So every time you start a new session, you just need to fire up that last window to 'get latest'. Hit refresh to see any changes you've made.. click 'update' on the side to post your changes to svn and 'add' for any new files that aren't in svn.

Certificate Errors
You may get certificate errors when trying to connect for the first time, you'll need to subvert it by using the terminal

Hosted Subversion
I recently ran across Beanstalk, a hosted version of Subversion. I haven't tried it out,but it is supposed to integrate with Basecamp, another online application we use.

As a 3rd party, it is a bit difficult to obtain this information from an ISP if you don't have certain bits of information to identify yourself. Here are some steps that we had to go through to finally gain access:

1. Have the ISP send the login information to the email on record with the account. In this case, the person was no longer with the firm and their email was no longer active. However since email is something that we have control over, we will recreate that email address again so we can receive the account login instructions.

2. If the email on record is for someone with an email in a domain not in your control, then you have other steps. The ISP will probably ask you for the last 4-digits of the credit card used for payments as well as the name on the card. Our luck, this client didn't have this either.

3. Lastly, the ISP will require you to send them a fax with your information and requested changes on your company letterhead. Unless they verify the incoming fax number, this obviously can be pretty easily faked, IMHO.

If you don't have the login information for your website hosting service, you really should make sure you have it in your possession. If your web guy/gal is reluctant to give it to you now, it won't be any easier/better down the road when you really need it.

For a page to be secure, it needs to begin with HTTPS, which also puts the friendly padlock icon in the bottom of your browser, telling folks that everything's kosher.

You have to be a little comfortable with setting up websites and dealing with ISPs and whatnot to install your own SSL (secure socket layer) certificate. Otherwise, ask your webguy or gal to make sure you have one setup (and test it out to make sure your checkout is HTTPS and you get the padlock icon w/o any error messages!). It'll cost you about $60/yr to maintain a certificate from a place like RapidSSL.

If you're using a site like Yahoo stores, they include SSL with their package, so you should be cool with them. Same goes if you're using PayPal

No worries, I'll just go online and check my prior order status, they'll have the size AND style that I previously bought, making my repeat purchase even simpler. Nope, sorry, gap.com only keeps your order history for 14 days?

Amazon keeps it for years. Comon' guys.

"During the painting of the shell, a rod was inserted straight through the car allowing the shell to be spun round as it was painted.

The speedometer was originally put in the middle of the dashboard, cleverly covering the hole where the pole went."

From A Design Classic by James Dyson.