Blog Consulting, LLC.

How to Properly Capitalize the Titles of Your Blog Posts

For quite some time, I have bemoaned the fact that my proper writing skills are quite lacking.

Therefore, I have decided to produce a series of regular posts on this topic.

However, I would greatly welcome your contributions, constructive criticism, and perhaps you might even become a fellow pilgrim on the path to more refined writing skills.

To complicate all of this a bit, it would seem that there are quite a number of various opinions (styles) on this subject.  Nonetheless, most of what we need to know is outside of the gray areas.

Here are the instructions for the proper capitalization of post titles, from five different styles, from Mignon Fogarty's Grammar Girl's Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing:

• Capitalize the First Letter of Prepositions Over Three Letters Long, and Every Noun, Verb, Pronoun, Adjective, Adverb, and Subordinating Conjunction. (recommended)
• Capitalize the First Letter of Every Word Except Internal Articles and Prepositions.
  
• Capitalize only the first letter of the first word.
  
• Capitalize The First Letter Of Every Word.
  
• CAPITALIZE EVERY LETTER.

From now on, I am going to use the first style in formatting the titles for my blog posts.

How about you?  Which style do you prefer?

Blogging by Snail Mail Before Blogging was Vogue

Quite often, people will ask me why I have such an attraction to blogging, and social media.  The answer is easy, I was blogging in our business before blogging was cool.  The only difference was that I was doing it by snail mail (US Postal Service).

Each month I would send my clients a correspondence that we internally called the letter from the heart.  When people saw me in my starched pressed, french cuffed, tab collared shirts, replete with the obligatory power tie, all designed to flatter my individually tailored suits, they didn't get to really see the personal side of Dave Porter.

The letter from the heart took them behind the scenes, and allowed them a glimpse into the heart of the person, rather than simply being exposed to the mind of the businessman.

I was completely blown away at the overwhelmingly positive response of my clients.  Our relationship went to a much deeper, more personal place from those monthly letters.

Here is a copy of my very first letter from the heart, which also included the photograph to the right:

"Dear Friends,

I want to share with you one of the most frustrating parts of my business.  I get the privilege of meeting with people from all walks of life, and even all parts of the world.  I spend a few hours with them, get to know them a bit, the loan closes, and then the new friendship may go months or even years before we connect again.

Well, today I am writing you to let you know that I have decided to work harder on our relationship.  It is my intention to write you a letter every now and then just to let you know what is going on in my life.  Just like friends would share with each other.I mentioned to you in one of my last communications that I had recently purchased a new toy. 

Last fall I bought a new Harley-Davidson.  I have to admit this decision was not real popular with my wife.  She was convinced that mid-life crisis was in full bloom.  When I shared my exciting news with my close friends they looked at me like I was suddenly taken with some rare disease.  The clincher for all was when I also announced that I had joined the local H.O.G. (Harley Owners Group) club.

The day of my first H.O.G. event, I must admit, I was feeling a bit apprehensive.  Twice each week the members of the H.O.G. club get together to ride and have dinner. I had visions of roughneck, tattoo adorned individuals whose command of the English language was based on a solid bedrock of profanity.  Just what HAD I gotten myself into? When I got to the first “ride”, I was greatly relieved to see that the people in attendance where not founding members of “Hells Angels” as I had imagined.  They were business people, doctors, attorneys, factory workers, etc.  They were just a group of people who gathered together to share their love of riding Harleys.   Well, it was a blast.  You haven’t lived until you have rumbled down the road with 30 other Harleys. 

The best part of the whole experience is that my wife, Carol, has decided to join in the fun.  At first she wouldn’t have anything to do with my new hobby.  She thought I had gone off the deep end for sure.  However, she found that staying at home while I was out riding around the countryside was not very palatable either.  So after a great deal of soul searching she decided to try it out as well.  To my great surprise, she had a great time. Now she can’t wait for each week’s ride to get here.  I now not only have a new Harley, but I also have a Harley Momma.  Life is good!

Well, that’s all for now.  I hope that you have enjoyed your summer.  Fall is here now and we are enjoying the brisk mornings and the beautiful colors."

When you are writing text for social media, it is incredibly important that you let them see behind the curtain. They need to see your heart, or the heart of your organization.

Have you found this to be true in your organization? 

Finding your Voice in Social Media

You are likely not aware, but my undergraduate degree is in vocal performance. 

When you are a student of vocal performance, one of the first objectives is to find your voice.  This involves not only learning to use the voice, but in particular, finding your particular style:  your voice.  That which is unique to you.

Not willing to take the starving artist route after graduation, I decided to enter the business world.

Now, fast forward about 15 years, and you will find me the owner of a financial services firm.  In that business, the same thing held true.  Our company needed to find its voice.

What is it that will make our company stand apart from the others? 

After a few years, we found our voice in two things:

• we were determined to be the most learned in our field, and thereby offer our clients great advice, allowing them in return to make sound financial decisions.
• we built deep, life-long relationships with our clients.

Remarkably, after just 15 short years, this approach allowed us the opportunity to sell our business, and move to Scottsdale, Arizona with a wonderful financial foundation underneath.  Our clients greatly rewarded us because they found our voice valuable to their lives.

Now, having started this new company, in April of 2009, we find ourselves once again in the pursuit of our voice.  This time, we are looking for our voice in the social media consulting world.

I haven't quite found it yet, but I am very confident that my business experience, combined with my understanding of community building, will lead to a successful path.  I have a lot of experience to share, and we love to share.

Here are a few questions for you:

• why are you using the internet?
• are you looking to talk at people, or build relationships with them?
• how is your voice unique?  What will make you stand out from the noise?

Luciano Pavarotti was my vocal hero.  He had a very unique voice, and whenever I heard his voice, he caught my attention.

We are working hard to have a voice, in the social media world, as unique as Luciano Pavarotti.

Care to join us?

Continued bad news for the newspaper industry

The blood bath continues in the newspaper print industry: 

"Average daily circulation at 379 U.S. newspapers plunged 10.6 percent in the April-September period from the same six-month stretch last year, according to figures released Monday by the Audit Bureau of Circulations.

It's the largest drop recorded so far during the past decade's steady decline in paid readership — a span that has coincided with an explosion of online news sources that don't charge readers for access. Many newspapers also have been reducing delivery to far-flung locales and increasing prices to get more money out of their remaining sales.

The latest decline outstripped a 7.1 percent decrease in the October 2008-March 2009 period and a 4.6 percent decline in last year's April-September window."

The communication revolution continues.  Are you convinced yet? 

We can help you move from print to digital media. 

TechCrunch's Michael Arrington on Successful Blogging and Social Media

Michael Arrington is the founder of TechCrunch, which currently sits in the #3 spot on Technorati's Top 100 blogs.

That means that he probably has a thing or two to teach us.  Right?

When recently asked by Technorati CEO Richard Jalichandra the secret sauce for a successful blog, he answered:

"I'll tell you, I've started a few four or five companies now and the biggest success is TechCrunch and I never intended to start a company so I just scratched the niche and I found what I love. I mean this is clearly what I'm supposed to be doing with my life.

Not starting a payments company, which was the first company I founded; not starting a Netflix clone in Canada which was the second business I started, which is doing ok. Not starting a domain name auctioning business, which is also still an awesome business but I hated its dirty business.

If you find something you love like, say, knitting - I mean how many knitting blogs do you guys track? A lot right? Knitting is like a major blogging category and you know these people just love knitting, I'll bet there's a couple of people who are making money from these knitting blogs, right? I have to imagine they're making a living."

Did you get that? 

If you are going to be successful with your social media ventures, you had better make certain that the person driving the social media ship is genuinely passionate about your company, product, service, nonprofit, or what ever it is that you intend to communicate.

Marketing take away:  Make absolutely certain that your social media ventures come from an impassioned heart.  Without that, you will be given the big yawn, and will never find success in your social media quest.

Could this Amazing Two-Headed Man keep up with his Google Reader?

I love my Google Reader.

I hate my Google Reader.

Sometimes, I wish I was Pasqual Pinon, the amazing two-headed man.  Then, perhaps I could keep up with my Google Reader.

I suppose, at the end of the day, I need to do some more pruning in my Google Reader.

Do any of you have this challenge?  Have any of you solved this challenge?

Richard Jalichandra's (CEO of Technorati) Keynote Speech at BlogWorld Expo 2009

Blog Consulting, LLC - each year, at the BlogWorld New Media Expo, Richard Jalichandra rolls out Technorati's State of the Blogosphere report.

As a business owner, a nonprofit, or perhaps an individual contemplating a serious commitment to this space, this is a wonderful report to consider.

You will find in this report:

• overall trends of this rising industry.
• who is doing the actual blogging. 
• the what and why of blogging.
• the how of blogging
• blogging revenues and brands

Technorati is rolling this report out over the next few days, however, a nice way to glean an overview would be to watch Richard's keynote speech.

Unfortunately, there is a tremendous amount of hype around this new, and growing media channel.  Nonetheless, I promise, your enterprise needs to understand this medium, and needs to jump in with both feet.

There is a revolution happening in media, and you simply cannot ignore it, or you will certainly be left behind.

The other critical piece to understand is that this in not about the technology.  The technology is the tool.  You must not only have the tool, but you must become a master of using this tool as well.

This is exactly where we come in.  Our whole mission is not the delivery of technology, but rather how to use the technology.

Connect with us today.

Dear Apple Computer, please provide inventory before you attempt to sell the new iMac

In our business meeting this morning, my wife and I decided to invest in the new iMac that we saw on Apple's website.

Being a sort of techie-geek, I hopped in my car and set out on the journey to the closest Apple store to get me one.

Here's how the 45 second conversation went, when I walked in the door:

Nice Apple employee:  can I help you?

Me:  Yes, I am here to buy a new iMac.  (I must admit, my pulse quickened.  Just a little, mind you.)

Nice Apple employee:  we don't have any.  We haven't received them yet.  Maybe we will get some today.

Me:  your kidding...right?

Nice Apple employee:  no, I'm afraid not.  In fact, we don't even know when we will get any.  They never tell us.

Me:  That's crazy!  Why would you put them on your website without having them available, or at least saying that they aren't available yet.

I walk out the door displeased.  Come on Apple, you are better than that!

#BeatCancer Sets a Guinness World Record in Social Media Messaging

While we were attending the Blog World New Media Expo '09, the attendees were involved in a grand experiment to break a Guinness World Record for the greatest number of social media mentions in a 24 hour period.

From the press release:

"10.20.2009 – EVERYWHERE, a Social Media Marketing and Content Development firm based in Atlanta, GA set a record October 16-17th for the most widespread social network message in 24 hours. According to Radian6, the official online monitoring company, the phrase #BeatCancer set the record with 209,771 mentions on Twitter, Facebook and blog posts. This translates into an estimated number of impressions generated during this 24-hour period at over 100 Million. Attendees at BlogWorld & New Media Expo, which featured some of the biggest names in social media, were asked to send tweets and issue Facebook status updates with #BeatCancer in their posts. This massive viral effort spawned a worldwide online message that spread and quickly became the #1 most trending topic on Twitter. Not content to just perpetuate a hashtag followed by a message, EVERYWHERE sought out sponsors to raise money for non-profit cancer organizations. Sponsors eBay/PayPal and MillerCoors Brewing Company and Genesis Today were financial contributors to the #BeatCancer campaign and in the brief 24 hour period, over $70,000 was raised."

Marketing take-away:  what if the next time you had an important message to share, you enlisted the individual social media networks of your social media network?  This is an incredibly important concept to understand!  Do you see it?

Lijit: A Search Engine Tool for your Blog

While we were visiting the Blog World New Media Expo we had the opportunity to spend a few minutes with Grace Boyle (Development Manger Business Development for Lijit).

I have always been very, very impressed with Lijit's willingness to go out of their way to create raving fans. 

While at the expo, Grace loaded up my blog on her computer, made a few recommended tweaks, and then just followed up by e-mail to see if there was anything else she might do for me.

Wow!

I can highly recommend Lijit as a free search tool for your blog, but also tell you that I am a raving fan of their company.