photo credit: zieak

(Add to your Maven lexicon: bissel is Yiddish for little.)

So while I’m taking a quick breather between projects and waiting for the start of yet another phone conference, here’s a few items I’ve been saving for a catch-all post like this one!

• This made my husband laugh … Silly Internet Traditions: A Concise History, if you’ve been online since the dawn of time, you’ll laugh, too.
• While I’m not completely on my tagline game, a whole bunch of folks are having a tagline creating blast over at the Copyblogger Tagline Clinic. I’ve added a few but am finding paid work distracting me from all the fun
• Also at Copyblogger is my latest Maven Marketing Plan Makeover for OnceWed.com … take a look, add a comment!

Lastly, but never leastly, is my overdue promotion of the upcoming Age of Conversation, Volume 2. I was honored to be included in last year’s compilation effort of 100 voices. This year, we found even more folks who had something to say, 237 to be exact. This year, like last, all sales proceeds will go to support the Variety Children’s Charity.

Here’s a shout-out to my AOC colleague contributors!
Adrian Ho, Aki Spicer, Alex Henault, Amy Jussel, Andrew Odom, Andy Nulman, Andy Sernovitz, Andy Whitlock, Angela Maiers, Ann Handley, Anna Farmery, Armando Alves, Arun Rajagopal, Asi Sharabi, Becky Carroll, Becky McCray, Bernie Scheffler, Bill Gammell, Bob LeDrew, Brad Shorr, Brandon Murphy, Branislav Peric, Brent Dixon, Brett Macfarlane, Brian Reich, C.C. Chapman, Cam Beck, Casper Willer, Cathleen Rittereiser, Cathryn Hrudicka, Cedric Giorgi, Charles Sipe, Chris Kieff, Chris Cree, Chris Wilson, Christina Kerley (CK), C.B. Whittemore, Chris Brown, Connie Bensen, Connie Reece, Corentin Monot, Craig Wilson, Daniel Honigman, Dan Schawbel, Dan Sitter, Daria Radota Rasmussen, Darren Herman, Dave Davison, David Armano, David Berkowitz, David Koopmans, David Meerman Scott, David Petherick, David Reich, David Weinfeld, David Zinger, Deanna Gernert, Deborah Brown, Dennis Price, Derrick Kwa, Dino Demopoulos, Doug Haslam, Doug Meacham, Doug Mitchell, Douglas Hanna, Douglas Karr, Drew McLellan, Duane Brown, Dustin Jacobsen, Dylan Viner, Ed Brenegar, Ed Cotton, Efrain Mendicuti, Ellen Weber, Eric Peterson, Eric Nehrlich, Ernie Mosteller, Faris Yakob, Fernanda Romano, Francis Anderson, Gareth Kay, Gary Cohen, Gaurav Mishra, Gavin Heaton, Geert Desager, George Jenkins, G.L. Hoffman, Gianandrea Facchini, Gordon Whitehead, Gretel Going & Kathryn Fleming, Hillel Cooperman, Hugh Weber, J. Erik Potter, James Gordon-Macintosh, Jamey Shiels, Jasmin Tragas, Jason Oke, Jay Ehret, Jeanne Dininni, Jeff De Cagna, Jeff Gwynne & Todd Cabral, Jeff Noble, Jeff Wallace, Jennifer Warwick, Jenny Meade, Jeremy Fuksa, Jeremy Heilpern, Jeroen Verkroost, Jessica Hagy, Joanna Young, Joe Pulizzi, John Herrington, John Moore, John Rosen, John Todor, Jon Burg, Jon Swanson, Jonathan Trenn, Jordan Behan, Julie Fleischer, Justin Foster, Karl Turley, Kate Trgovac, Katie Chatfield, Katie Konrath, Kenny Lauer, Keri Willenborg, Kevin Jessop, Kristin Gorski, Lewis Green, Lois Kelly, Lori Magno, Louise Manning, Luc Debaisieux, Mario Vellandi, Mark Blair, Mark Earls, Mark Goren, Mark Hancock, Mark Lewis, Mark McGuinness, Matt Dickman, Matt J. McDonald, Matt Moore, Michael Karnjanaprakorn, Michelle Lamar, Mike Arauz, Mike McAllen, Mike Sansone, Mitch Joel, Neil Perkin, Nettie Hartsock, Nick Rice, Oleksandr Skorokhod, Ozgur Alaz, Paul Chaney, Paul Hebert, Paul Isakson, Paul McEnany, Paul Tedesco, Paul Williams, Pet Campbell, Pete Deutschman, Peter Corbett, Phil Gerbyshak, Phil Lewis, Phil Soden, Piet Wulleman, Rachel Steiner, Sreeraj Menon, Reginald Adkins, Richard Huntington, Rishi Desai, Robert Hruzek, Roberta Rosenberg, Robyn McMaster, Roger von Oech, Rohit Bhargava, Ron Shevlin, Ryan Barrett, Ryan Karpeles, Ryan Rasmussen, Sam Huleatt, Sandy Renshaw, Scott Goodson, Scott Monty, Scott Townsend, Scott White, Sean Howard, Sean Scott, Seni Thomas, Seth Gaffney, Shama Hyder, Sheila Scarborough, Sheryl Steadman, Simon Payn, Sonia Simone, Spike Jones, Stanley Johnson, Stephen Collins, Stephen Landau, Stephen Smith, Steve Bannister, Steve Hardy, Steve Portigal, Steve Roesler, Steven Verbruggen, Steve Woodruff, Sue Edworthy, Susan Bird, Susan Gunelius, Susan Heywood, Tammy Lenski, Terrell Meek, Thomas Clifford, Thomas Knoll, Tim Brunelle, Tim Connor, Tim Jackson, Tim Mannveille, Tim Tyler, Timothy Johnson, Tinu Abayomi-Paul, Toby Bloomberg, Todd Andrlik, Troy Rutter, Troy Worman, Uwe Hook, Valeria Maltoni, Vandana Ahuja, Vanessa DiMauro, Veronique Rabuteau, Wayne Buckhanan, William Azaroff, Yves Van Landeghem

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• My favorite resource on landing pages - The ultimate guide to writing and designing effective landing pages - Marketing Sherpa’s Landing Page Handbook, 2008 (aff)

“There are no bad words. Bad thoughts. Bad intentions. And woooords.”

photo credit: katielips

In my daily post from the Judaism forum at Beliefnet.com came this interesting set of soul exercises. Having written a fair number of emails in my day — and who wouldn’t want a soul workout — this particular one seemed intriguing so I’m sharing.

Read an E-mail from God

Basically Rabbi Brian (Rabbi Brian? What kind of name is Rabbi Brian? ) posits that you imagine you open your in-box and find an e-mail with the subject line: An e-mail from God. (or G-d for us Hebraic types.)

Now making the giant leap that this email wouldn’t have been sent directly to your SPAM box … AND … depending on the identity of the email’s sender, what do you imagine the message would offer?

• Praise?
• Condemnation?
• An answer to a question that you’ve been asking?
• Advice?
• A forwarded joke? (would it be a dirty joke or uplifting?)
• What?

And once the woo-woo Twilight Zone music in your head stopped, how would you reply, if at all? (Or would you simply ask God for HIS (for argument’s sake) Twitter name so you could answer in short, 140-max character tweets?)

After a few hours of cleaning the garage today, I’d be hoping MY email from G-d would answer my prayer and tell me that I’m next in line to win the Mega Millions - just a few million because there’s no need to be greedy. My reply - a simple, elegant - THANK YOU, LORD and recite the Shema and a Shehechiyanu.

Barring that, I’d take the joke and hope that it’s funny. That way, I could send back a ROFL and a big

So, how about you?

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• The ultimate guide to writing and designing effective landing pages - Marketing Sherpa’s Landing Page Handbook, 2008 (aff)

photo credit: John Kratz

First, let’s just get this part said. I LOVE digital communications.

I have since the first time I read about France’s Minitel in the early 1980s. I got my first email address (JUNKMAIL) in 1986 via GEnie and met my husband online two years later on the same service. I even networked my Las Vegas divorce via unseen GEnie “pals” who arranged for an apartment, a car and all matter of necessities for my 6-week visit to Clark County. I was a “Section Leader” for the Religion and Sex forums on CompuServe for several years just to earn free online time.

So like I said, I get it. I also “get” Twitter. But getting it and liking it are two different things.

More and more, though, I’m finding I don’t like Twitter. Not because of the frequent outages. Not because it’s an incredible time-suck. Nope, that ain’t it.

What I don’t like is tweeting into the cyber wind, the Matrix-like vortex that hums incessant and unrelenting … and not getting a response.

I come from a direct response background. I’m trained to write copy, get it out there and wait for the orders to come in. I’ve done stand-up comedy. Tell your story and wait for your audience to laugh. I’ve trained my kids to answer when spoken to and to look me in the eye when responding.

Not so Twitter. Not so talking with my mother-in-law.

My mother-in-law is a very nice woman. She raised a fine son. For that, I’m more than grateful. But she’s a talker. A constant, nervous talker who finds any sort of silence, no matter how short, deafening and a little bit scary.

But being a chatterbug doesn’t make her like Twitter. What does is that she’ll talk even when she’s not sure anyone is actually listening.

My father-in-law will continue to read the newspaper while she chatters. My husband offers the occasional grunt in response, but to nothing specific she’s offered. My kids basically ignore the chatter, breaking into only to make a specific request of Grandma to play cards or to show her a picture they’ve drawn.

I used to feel badly that no one was paying attention. I’d sit and listen. I’d look for ways to make connection. But then I realized she didn’t need my connection, or in the very least, it just wasn’t required.

Talking without connection? What’s the point of that?

Exactly. From my personal comic/direct response frame of mind, what IS the point of communication without connection?

And who/why are all these people following me on Twitter? What pearls are they waiting for me to deliver?

Way too much pressure. I am not worthy.

Yes, I know that Twitter offers great opportunities for social interactivity, information distribution, etc. with unparalleled speed (when it’s not down, of course.) Recently, there’s been an explosion of news about Twitter’s reach and technology. For freelancers and home-based business owners, Twitter is like ALL-TALK radio and can be great, even comforting company.

But truth be told, I think I prefer the radio. Because I don’t expect the radio to talk back (especially through my personally crafted, lead-lined tin-foil hat. )

I’ll continue to keep my Twitter tweeting (and y’all are welcome to follow me as I do), but I’m going to have to adjust my expectations for the medium. Like my mother-in-law, I’ll need to content myself with the simple act of chat. If someone is actually paying attention and responds, well … I’ll just consider that a gift.

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• The ultimate guide to writing and designing effective landing pages - Marketing Sherpa’s Landing Page Handbook, 2008 (aff)

photo credit: jsc*

I’m still playing catch-up from my whirlwind weekend in NYC with #1 girl child, so here’s a sprinkling of the stuff that’s caught my interest in a reading fly-by:

• If you do any sort of SEO copywriting work, this is a tidy list to keep handy: Fifteen places you must put your Keyword Phrase and the why behind it…
  
• You just can’t read too many stories about teen-speak finding its way into student essays and the like: Language that makes you say OMG … also the author introduces KMN (kill me now) to the online lexicon.
• Last Day to Register! I know I’m super late with this, but if you haven’t already checked out Mike Stelzner’s Marketing White Papers online seminar, now’s the time. One of my copywriting students wrote me having seen the first video and loved it. Maybe you will, too.

Have a great weekend! I’ll be back next week with a few interesting takes on Twitter, among other things.

• Enjoyed this post? Get free updates by email or RSS
• Need a copy critique or a consult? Contact the Maven
• The ultimate guide to writing and designing effective landing pages - Marketing Sherpa’s Landing Page Handbook, 2008 (aff)