I just realized I never got around to posting the relevant content from the back issues of my personal newsletter, so over the next couple of days, we’ll get everyone caught up. Some of the stuff won’t make it here because it’s woefully out of date (like events) so it’ll just be the pieces that are still relevant. If you’d like to get the newsletter when it’s actually released, just click here to subscribe.
June 2010 Issue
Two reminders about LinkedIn. First, I forward nearly every employment-related connection request. If you’re looking for work right now or know someone who is, please make sure we’re connected on LinkedIn. As of this writing, I’ve got 5,723 first degree connections. That puts me in touch with 1.7 million people in two degrees. If I can use those connections to help put you or someone you know back to work, ask.
You can connect with me on LinkedIn at [email protected] or this URL:
https://www.christopherspenn.com/youve-discovered-the-missing-link/
Second reminder. If you’ve heard me speak at a conference, trade show, or event and you enjoyed what you heard, please check my LinkedIn profile for that event and leave me a recommendation. It’s super helpful to make sure I keep showing up at events you’re at – nothing makes a conference organizer more comfortable than seeing recommendations for a potential speaker. I really appreciate your help.
The profile is here: https://www.christopherspenn.com/youve-discovered-the-missing-link/
Neat Stuff
There’s been a rash of neat and useful tools lately, and I mean that in a good way, not in a “requires anti-fungal cream” way. Here’s a couple I think are worth your bookmarking.
- SpyFu: If you’ve never used SpyFu to check out your competition, you should. You can see what they’re paying for pay per click advertising, see what their ads look like, etc. It’s a terrific insight tool that not enough people know about, and frankly, I’m happy to keep it that way.
- Bloomberg’s iPad/iPhone app: I love this thing for the news and market data. Most news is full of celebrity fluff, dogs rescuing kittens, and stuff that doesn’t move the needle. I read Bloomberg because it’s the news that’s going to move money, and money moves a lot of other needles. Their apps are free. Their terminal service, which you don’t need for the apps, is something like $2,000 a month. Search for the app in iTunes.
- Open Site Explorer: This is what Google Webmaster Tools should have been, honestly. I use this every time I’m evaluating my own site or a competitor’s site to see what makes a site stronger and where they’re getting their links from. Invaluable. The free version is good enough for casual use, but you have to pay for really in-depth results. Still, the free is probably good enough for you for 90% of your research.
Stuff For You
What’s been popular among my stuff? This list. By the way, I generate this by looking in Google Analytics at Content > Top Content and looking at the last 30 days. This is a helpful way to generate “best of” lists that requires no subjective opinions. The data tells you what people like about your stuff.
- Are you ready for the Twitpocalypse? On June 30, 2010, Twitter ends basic authentication. Find out what this means for you and your favorite Twitter apps, sites, services, and widgets.
- Silly human trick: when the iPad came out, I made a bunch of wallpapers (which are just cropped 1024×1024 images). Took a bunch of old photographs, slapped the magic iPad word on them, and voom! Off they went. If you do any digital photography, hit up your own photo library for some hidden gems you can make all shiny and new with magic Apple pixie dust.
- Last issue, I highlighted Rory Sutherland’s TED Global talk. Apparently TED liked him too, so they brought him back for a new talk called Sweat the Small Stuff. I like it, and it gives you some good thinking material.
- Over on the work blog, I talked about three email marketing metrics that are worth paying attention to, and a whole bunch that aren’t. If you’re doing any email marketing, it’s worth a read.
- Want to motivate a team? This short video, 212 Degrees (YouTube), has become wildly popular in the sales motivation world. It’s worth the three minutes or so of your time, and if your team responds to this kind of motivation, it’s probably worth sharing.
- Finally, if you do any kind of web page optimization, you’ll want to check out and print out Search Engine Land’s READY conversion optimization checklist/grid. It’s the best, most compact way to look at page conversion factors that I’ve seen recently.
Stuff You Did
In the spirit of you get what you pay for, I’m paying it forward to the people who share my newsletter with your networks. This issue, I’m profiling two people who moved the needle. Jason Falls brought in the most new eyeballs (167), while Jenn Selke brought the most action with clickthroughs (43).
Jason, if you don’t already know him, is a whip-smart thinker on social media and one of the few people who can actually help you move the needle and make social media work. He’s also absolutely unapologetic about telling you that social media isn’t for you if it’s true. His blog is over at SocialMediaExplorer.com and you can follow him @jasonfalls on Twitter.
Dr. Jenn Selke is one of the leading scientists in coaching, development and behavior, and using vehicles like summer camps to get kids on the right track in life. Her research interests include: job satisfaction and job tenure, brain based education and training, and the use of technology by adolescents and young adults. Very cool stuff. Check her stuff out at JennSelke.com and TheCampDirector.com, and follow her on Twitter @jennselke.
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