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TypePad Titles SEO Friendly?

Rich Brooks at the Flyte Blog suggest that a few tweaks in your Typepad Page Titles may be beneficial. The experiment starts with his own blog.  I think it’s good advice and may implement this myself.

If you’d like to get these changes, Rich is offering to assist for a small fee. If you take advantage of the offer, make sure you ask for your titles to be links in your Main, Datebased and Category pages. This is also a simple fix:

In your entry-list template, change this:

<h3 class="entry-header"><$MTEntryTitle$></h3>

to this:

<h3 class="entry-header"><a href="<$MTEntryPermalink$>"><$MTEntryTitle$></a></h3>

UPDATE: You’ll need to also change one line of code in your Main Index Template, Datebased Archives and Category Archives – very simple. Change this:

<$MTWeblogIncludeModule module="entry-list"$>

to this…

<$MTInclude module="entry-list"$>

Though I could do this, I’m just one person – Flyte has a team. They look like kids, but I’m sure they have a fine crew.

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Whistle Stops – 03/27/06

Whistlestops_5BAM – Three abilities to make you stronger in business and life:

  • Buzz-ability What’s Your Buzz Impact Score? by Ron McDaniel at Buzzoodle Buzz Marketing (feed): If you score 40+, you’ll be talked about. I scored 43 (I dress plainly).
  • Approach-ability - The Single Most Important Personal Attribute by Rachel Cunliffe at cre8ed design (feed): None of us came into the world full of knowledge. Help others as others have helped you.
  • Market-ability - Your Resume – The Brand YOU Brochure by ME ‘Liz’ Strauss at Successful Blog (feed): Good tips and I’ll add this…put your resume on your blog site. HR pros know that resumes are a lot of fluff and often written by copywriters. A resume/blog will give your prospective employer a pre- and post-interview glimpse into who you are. Nice idea now – a standard practice in the future.

Technorati Tags: , Success-Abilities, , Resume Blog

Blogging Has Two Roles…

…and every business should take part in at least one of them.

Is your company still deciding whether or not to start a blog? Glad to hear you’re considering it. It’s not going to be tomorrow? That’s fine too. But…you can still start blogging today.

If blogging is a form of conversation – and it is – remember there are two roles. Talking and Listening. And frankly, if you’re not at least listening – you’re standing on the tracks and the train is headed your way. As Ted Demopoulos recently asked, "Are you Insane?"

Quick Tips:

  1. Go to Technorati.com and sign up for a free account.
  2. Find the Watchlist link at the top of the screen.
  3. Type in the name of you or your client in quotes (ex. "Mike Sansone")
  4. Subscribe to the feed (Search Once and Subscribe)
  5. Type in the URL of your business or your client/prospect.
  6. Subscribe to the feed.
  7. Whenever something comes up for your client – send them a link.

They’ll know you care. It’s better than ‘touching base’ with a call, "Just seeing how business is." Which is really saying, "Don’t forget about me, I’d really like to sell you something soon." If your business depends on long sales cycles, you’re all to familiar with this type of contact.

Rich Brooks at Flyte Blog shares a video tutorial on how to subscribe to a Technorati Watchlist.

Did I mention Search Once and Subscribe? Are you still paying for a new clipping service?

Technorati tags: News Clipping

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Whistle Stops – 03/25/06

Whistlestops_4 There are many great series and themes around the blogosphere. Here are some worth bookmarking subscribing to:

  • Distinguish Yourself by Rajesh Setty at Life Beyond Code (feed) There are 116 of them thus far, each one a gem.
  • InBox Zero by Merlin Mann at 43 Folders (feed) It’s helped keep my e-mail down. Wish I practiced this stuff years ago.
  • Finding Ideas Outside the Box by ME ‘Liz’ Strauss at Successful Blog (feed) Great Eye-deas, keen insight. Tap into all your (common) senses.
  • Money-Quotes by David Lorenzo at SOHO Savvy (feed) I forget who said (Churchill?) that a person will become smarter by reading quotes over anything else.

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Small Business Blogs

Pj

Just as I was reading some of the cool sties that Brian Brown has been posting about in the new Pajama Market: Small Business Blogging, Shel Israel mentions that Brian’s looking for small business blogs to write about.

There are several in the Small Biz Blog Examples on the right, and I’ll alert Brian about those. If you’re a blog consultant or publishing a small business blog, let Brian know about it.

Better yet, if you’re considering launching a small business blog, subscribe to the Pajama Market feed and keep up with all the Small Business Blog of the Day postings. I wonder if they get awarded that cool button.

I gather that the focus is on businesses that blog, rather than those blogging as a business – something like Two Maids and a Mop.

Technorati Tags: Small Biz Blog, , Pajama Market,

WDM City Manager Blog

Wdm From the desk of West Des Moines City Manager Jeff Pomeranz, the WDM Blog extends gratitude to the EMS Public Access Defibrillation program.

I’d like to join Jeff in extending thanks. About a year ago, my mother-in-law passed away. She lived with us for over two years. Five times in that last year, we called on the WDM EMS teams – and each time they seemed to arrive before we got off the line. Each instance we called, they arrived in time. Mom passed away peacefully in her sleep in April last year.

I’d also like to extend thanks to Jeff Pomeranz. It’s great to see a leader step up and engage in a conversation with the community. Here’s the feed to subscribe to Jeff’s blog. Here’s a one-page primer on RSS and feeds.

Technorati Tags: , Jeff Pomeranz, , ,

Whistle Stops – 03/24/06

Amazing, Genius, Re:new

  • Want to Do Something Amazing? see Lisa Haneberg at Management Craft (feed). I might do this one myself!
  • Does Genius Come From the Head or the Heart? Paul Williams at Idea Sandbox (feed) looks at 20 Characteristics of Genius.
  • "Networking is Dead" – so says Kirsten Osolind at re:invention (feed)" A ruffle-your-feathers post? More like a clean-out-the-cobwebs. Off with the old, on with the new!

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Search Once and Subscribe

SearchSearch Once and Subscribe.

Your Name, Your Company, Your Keywords and Phrases, Your web or blog URL, Your Competition, Your Industry, Your Clients, Your Prospects.

Next time you search – Search Once and Subscribe. Why?

1) Saves time. How many times have you repeated a search this month, this week, or even today? Most search engines allow you to subscribe to the RSS feed (what is RSS?)of a search string. Search once, subscribe, get notified of changes. Search Once and Subscribe

2) Instant Knowledge. Know when something good or bad is said about you or your company. Know when someone links to your web site. Know when a news item is published about you, your competitor or your industry. Search Once and Subscribe

3) Show You Care. Repeat the same steps for your best clients or prospects currently in the sales cycle. If something comes up that interests them, you can forward it and prove that you care for them. Use these tools as a news clipping service. Search Once and Subscribe.

4) It’s Free. For now.

You can either do this as you go or invest an hour and get it done. Get in the habit of Search Once and Subscribe.

Here’s what I use for my own Search Once and Subscribe:

News: Google News & Topix
Blogs: Technorati Search & Google Blog Search
Conversations: Technorati Tags
Social Bookmarks:del.icio.us Tag Search
Site URLs: Technorati Watchlists
General Web Search: Yahoo Search

Feed Readers: SharpReader and Bloglines

This post has a subliminal message: Search Once and Subscribe!

Photo at Flickr by hellohereiam

Technorati Tags: , , , , , , , , Sharpreader,

Whistle Stops – 03/22/06

A few stops from Euroblog 2006:

Technorati Tags: Euroblog 2006,

Whistle Stops – 03/21/06

In honor of the graduates of today’s Get Started Blogging workshop, our stops visit blogging hacks and tips:

  • Blogger Hacks at Freshblog (feed): A master list of hacks, tips and tricks for those using Blogger blogware.
  • Typepad Hacks at Typepad Hacks (feed): New blog has quickly developed a community of users. A site to watch and learn from.
  • Typepad Tips at (yep) Typepad Tips (feed): Getting the most out of Typepad by following the feed on this site.
  • WordPress.com category by Lorelle on WordPress (feed): Lots of tips on this site, but this link is just the dotcom posts.
  • 10 Technorati Hacks and 10 RSS Hacks at Micro Persuasion (feed): There are other hacks on this site – use the search, subscribe to the feed.

Other sites discussed today:

Technorati Tags: Blog Workshop, ,