Jon Luciano

I surf the net. Its what I do. I have a collection of sites that I bookmarked and visit often. There are many sites that I bookmark and are gone when I come back. I know sites are good reads or offer a cool service when they stick around for a while. Here are two sites that I visit often that I thought I would share:

http://postsecret.blogspot.com/

http://www.collagr.com/

I have installed, configured, designed, tweeked and managed many Wordpress blogs/sites. I have learned the very best of plethora of Wordpress Plugins. The plugins that I recommened should be used for every Wordpress blog, from the most basic of blogs to the most complex of blogs. These plugins should come standard with any Wordpress intall as they are, in my opinion, essential to any blog. Now, without further ado, here is my list of must have Wordpress Plugins:

All in One SEO Pack
If you want to generate traffic through organic search result, this is a “Must Have”. This plugin inserts a menu under the Rich Text Editor that allow you to enter text for the Page Title, Meta Description and Meta Keywords. Once entered, the plugin automatically inserts this content into your post or page.

Viper’s Video Quicktags
If content is king, then video content has to be queen. We love our viral videos and we love them anywhere we can see them: YouTube, Google Video, Vimeo….the list goes on and on. Instead of linking to a video on the hosting site, why not embed the video in your blog? Sounds easy right, but then there is formatting issues, dimension sizes and so forth. This plugin makes it simple to embed video from just about every video site. The approriate video site logo is in the Rich Text Editor menu, once clicked, you simply paste the URL in and the plugin does the rest!

Google Sitemap Generator
It is a best practice to submit a sitemap of your site to Google Webmaster Tools. The sitemap is an xml document that is housed at the root of your site and should be continuously updated as you add content to your site. This plugin creates, updates and submits your xml to google as well as other search engines.

cForms II
This is by far the best, easiest and most comprehensive form plugin developed. There are numerous settings and configurations to make this plugin work for you. I use this plugin mostly for my contact form, but it can be used to create just about any form.

MobilePress
With mobile phones serving a legitimate amount of traffic, it is important that your Wordpress site render on mobile phones. This plugin creates a mobile version of your site. This plugin also allows you to choose which mobile devices you want to present the mobile version and which to present the regular version. The iPhone, for example, can render the regular version of the site.

Sexy Bookmarks
In this day and age, you need to give readers a way to share your content. This plugin allows you to put icons for numerous social sites at the bottom of each page and/or post. Take a look below! I am using just a few that are available.

Dunstan-style Error Page
Many Wordpress themes have their own custom 404 page . These aren’t always the best error handlers. This plugin gives the user a great custom 404 page that allows them to go to the homepage, read previous posts and/or contact you. There is also a quick feedback feature which the visitor can click on and it sends you an email letting you know that someone has received an error page.

jQuery Lightbox
There are thousands of plugins to handle images. This is one that I like because it is lightweight and very simple to use.

Google Maps launched a new feature for their mobile version today The new feature allows the user to layer other maps over the current map. There is a Wikipedia layer that will overlay your current map location with stuff around you that has a Wikipedia entry. What does this mean? Why is this so cool? Great questions….

Due to the open nature of Wikipedia, anyone can go to www.wikipedia.com and create an entry or edit an existing entry. When Joe Public is driving around your area with his Google Maps app on his iPhone or Blackberry and enables the Wikipedia layer, your wikipedia entry will appear on his map! This is free and massive exposure!

In simple terms:

EVERY SMALL BUSINESS SHOULD HAVE A WIKIPEDIA ENTRY

This is one example of hundreds where a small business owner can create free exposure for their company with minimal effort and time. However, most small businesses are not willing to embrace technology. Some think that its too expensive, or that they need to hire someone to help them. Others believe that this new media is just a fad and that old school methods are the way to go. The reality is that if they just took a little bit of time to educate themselves on what is available to them and what it takes to leverage it, they would find that using technology is easy and fruitful.

I don’t know how much it costs to run an ad in the yellowpages for every market in Colorado, but I know its not cheap. There are also a few other issues with this old school method: there is no audience targeting and the user base is shrinking. Contrast that with Facebook and the argument seems easy: Both Facebook pricing models (CPM & PPC) are cost effective. The real value, in my opinion, is that you can target your audience with information from profiles (age, gender, city, state, education level, birthdays, keywords etc). While people who use yellowpages is dwindling, Facebook has a staggering number of users and is growing every day.

Facebook, Wikipedia and Google Maps are only a few example of hundreds (twitter, google local, craigslist, backpage etc).

Embrace technology and you will see your revenues grow!

I find it odd that consumers (myself included) are happy when we get a great customer service experience from a waiter, phone rep, cashier etc. We usually end up going back to that company to do business. The reason I find it odd is because companies are supposed to be giving great customer service. It seems that bad customer service is the norm these days. We have become complacent with mediocre or bad customer service and joyous about what we are supposed to have. But that really isn’t what this post is about.

This post is about the companies that do give great customer service and the thing they have in common. All of these companies do “the basics” correctly. They greet you and smile when you come in the door. They understand that your time is important and that you have a choice of where to spend your money. They make you comfortable at all costs. They get it. They know that they will make money if you are happy. They are doing the right things right, not just doing things right. They take care of the customer and everything else takes care of itself.

This also applies to “internet marketing gurus”, “bloggers”, and most people trying to make money online. They put up advertisements of products they have never tried. They promote companies they have never purchased from. They basically lie to consumers to make a buck. It works for a while but the well eventually dries up when consumers realize that they have been duped. These online money makers aren’t taking care of the thing most basic to business……the customer!

I think this concept also applies to each one of our personal lives. There is so much going on in the world today; it is easy to spend time on things that just don’t matter. I’ll put myself out there…..I own dozens of domain names, I have an login for every social website possible, and I try and manage dozens of web sites. I try and chase the dollar by doing a lot of things. But I have realized that I need to do the right things right. To do this, I need to get back to basics and everything else will take care of itself.

The next time you go to a place of business and get great customer service, take notice of how they made it a great experience. I would bet that they don’t do anything crazy or over the top. It will probably be simple and, well, basic.

Get back to basics in your personal life. Not only will you be happy, but life will be less stressful

I really wanted to get a cruiser bike, but after looking around and taking a look at different bikes, I really took a liking to the clean look of single speed & fixie  road bikes. I did a ton of research & talked to a co-worker who is well versed in the bike world and decided that I wasn’t hardcore enough to go with a fixie, but that I wanted a single speed road bike. I knew that I wanted to do this project and not pay a bike shop to do it; but how in the world am I going to do this? I have never really worked on bikes (apart from putting my chain back on when I was a kid). Kyle Brunger (my wife’s cousin) is a bike nerd and he agreed to help me with this project……now I need a bike!

I went to a few pawn shops and looked on Craigslist, but found “my bike” while at the Skul house. I saw an old (mid 70’s perhaps) Schwinn Varsity Deluxe hanging from the rafters in the garage. I inquired as to what the plans were for that bike as was told that I would be doing them a favor by taking it off their hands. After letting the bike sit on my back deck for a few weeks, I got off my butt and brought the bike over to Kyle’s house. We stood around and talked about what I needed to procure to make this happen.I know have my parts list and am in the process of buying all the parts and components that I need.

Bottom Bracket Conversion Kit
Cartridge/Bottom Bracket
New Cranks
New Chainring
New Wheels
New Tires
New Handlebars

When I buy each of these items, I will update this post with the cost of each.

Kyle sent me a few links to forums where people, in so many words, said that they wouldn’t waste their time converting this bike. The bottom bracket is not standard and the bike is somewhat heavy. After discussing this with Kyle, and with his urging, I have decided to convert this bike. I think it will be cool to make this bike unique and rock it with style.

At first, I thought it would be cool to paint this bike dark blue with all black parts/components. I still haven’t completely decided on color, but I am thinking that since I am a Bronco fan in Bronco country, why not pay homage to my beloved football team.

To Be Continued….

Most people, including me, doesn’t agree with what Kanye West did at the 2009 VMA awards. Taylor Swift was beginning her acceptance speech for “Best Female Video” when Kanye abruptly jumped on stage, grabbed the mic and told everyone that Beyonce should have won. What Kanye west did was brilliant for his career. Everyone in the pop culture world is talking about him right now…..EVERYONE! While is antics are not apprehensible, they certainly achieved buzz. This is not the first time West has done such a thing (I won’t catalog his antics in this post as they are covered much better on pop blogs).  Each time he puts himself in the spotlight with a negative action, he gets more PR than any publicist could get for him.

The takeaway here is that creating a buzz, getting people talking about you is an amazing way to give your company/business/product attention. I wouldn’t recommend the negative route for a small start up type of company, but there are plenty of positive things that a small business owner can do to create buzz and get media attention. Get creative, get attention!

Companies of all sizes have marketing and advertising budgets. Large companies have inflated budgets (I read Microsoft allotted $80 million to advertise bing.com), while small business may just spend a few hours at a networking event. In either case, money is being spent and it is often looked at as an expense. It will go on the balance sheet as an expense and it will be a write-off come tax season. This is all true of traditional marketing and advertising methods.

I contend that social media/new media is actually an investment and not an expense. Businesses will need to spend time, money or both to gain the benefits of social media, however the long-term benefits are amazing. Initially, there may not be a ROI and it might take some time to realize any return that directly relates to social media activities. I am not aware of any accounting practice that quantifies the return on building a brand. A reputable brand transcends both time and the expense of building it.

It is much more difficult to build a brand these days in large part to social review sites. There has never been a time in history where a consumer can get quality testimonials from other consumers from all over the world. Because of this, companies that make an investment in social media and build a brand will benefit from the time and money they dedicated to the cause. The days of creating a t.v. commercial or creating a newspaper ad and waiting for the customers to roll in are long over.

Your message must be repetitive across all mediums and the social one shouldn’t be ignored. Consumers that see your ad in the paper or on the tube are turning to the internet to see what others are saying about you. Shouldn’t your company have a voice on social sites instead of others speaking for you?

Your social media campaign success metrics shouldn’t be based on a monetary return. Consider your social media campagin a long-term investment that will pay off with a strong brand that stands the test of time.

It’s out there…go get it!

I have been conducting a Twitter experiment over the last few months. I have been very active on my own Twitter account (@jluciano); engaging in the community, re-tweeting, adding value by helping people with Wordpress issues, etc. I have also been using another Twitter account to tweet blog entries and URL’s of sites that I think are good reads, but really haven’t been part of the community. I just tweet and not really interact with the community.

You probably know what my results are. I have a thriving community on my own Twitter account (I’m up to almost 500 followers. Not very many comparatively, but I am proud that I have organically attracted them) , and while I have a small community with the other account, I can hardly state that its thriving. I don’t know any of my followers or who I’m following. Basically, I’m following them because they live in the same city as I do. Most of the people that are following the dud account are doing so because I followed them first. I really don’t think they are following based on my content since most of it is bland and doesn’t have a lot of passion behind it.

This boils down to two things:

1) a “social media agency” will be able to build you a following, but one that doesn’t have a vested interest in what you are tweeting.
2) if you want to be a member of the community, then you have to work at it.

I think social media agencies will serve you better if they teach you how to cultivate the power of Twitter instead of setting up a passive account that won’t drive traffic, create awareness or promote you. If you want to be part of a community, you will need to engage.

The hottest thing in the mobile world is “push” services, where data is pushed to the phone. In my mind, the hottest thing in the business world is “pull” sales. Instead of being pushed information (cold calling), business are initiating the conversation (pull sales). That might be a terrible analogy, but it illustrates how business are conducting business.

There use to be a time where businesses heard about a product only through a salesperson calling them on the phone…cold calling. The evolution of the internet has changed how businesses do business. Businesses can learn about products, see live demos and contact sales people via the web. They used to not know what they needed and only found out with a call, now, they go to the web to find out what they want and they initiate contact with the sales team.

The point of this entire post is that web sites and the use of social media now, more than ever, has to be more sophisticated and intelligent to deal with today’s business climate. Your web site must be able to communicate to eager spenders, to show them why they need your product or service. Your social media exposure must be broad enough to reach those who are seeking out what you have to offer. This is an exciting time for those who have a superior offering as smooth-talking sales people are on the decline and the performance of your product and service is on the rise. People are going to web sites to see how your product performs; they might be going to your site for a demo, going to youtube to see others use it in action. They are probably going to any one of the numerous social review and ratings sites (i.e. yelp.com) to see what others think about you and your business.

If you run a business, its time to step your game up. Make sure your product and/or service is legit and offer it to the world with your web site and social media. Present you, your business and your product to the world…..buyers will find you!

Are you a small business? Do you know who your target market is? Do you know the reach of your marketing and advertising? Your marketing and advertising efforts are likely centered on the large city of which you live, which is effectivly your target market, right? WRONG!

Your target market is the world! Your marketing and advertising efforts can reach anyone with an internet connection. If you leverage the tools and reach of social media / new media, you have an opportunity to literally get in front of millions of people. You are opening the door to a world possibilities for your business. Its very easy to have tunnel vision and focus on a particular geographic area, the area you live in. By doing that, you are leaving opportunities on the table, opportunities that someone will glady take.

Don’t be afraid of success. Its out there, go get it!

What is a Social Media Expert? Is it someone who knows every social media site? Is it someone who makes a living using social media? Is it someone who has passed a social media quiz? The answer is that there are no social media experts. There are people who have experience and success with social media, but an expert? Most social media experts, gurus etc are self-proclaimed.

This type of self-promotion is the reason why social media, SEO, SEM etc has the perception of being a black hat/deceptive industry. The people that claim they are a social media expert are the same people that tell business that there is a proprietary and patented algorithm, formula and software they have developed to make social media magic. This is complete rubbish….these people should be called out, put in the spotlight for everyone to point at them and laugh. These clowns are basically lying and stealing.

There are experts out there, but they have been deemed that by respected authorities in the industry. They aren’t self-proclaimed. If you are an expert, you know it and so do the people in your industry. There is no need for you to tell others.

I never thought it would come to this, but I had to unfriend someone on Facebook yesterday. It’s not that this person is a bad person, but I just couldn’t handle the number of Facebook posts. On top of that, it was someone that I went to high school with and kinda knew but not really and I certainly don’t have any type of relationship with now. As I started to feel somewhat guilty about unfriending this person, I began to think about why I unfriended them. The reality is that they added unnessecary clutter to my life. This is symptomatic of what I need to do with my life and unclutter my house, my inbox, my garage, my head!

I want to thank the high school friend that I unfriended on Facebook. They opened my eyes to a bigger problem and one that I will be taking care of this weekend. It feels good to unclutter, liberating really. I am going to start by cleaning my home office. There is so much paperwork and crap that I either need to throw out or file. Once that’s done, I am going to go through the shed. There is quite a bit of stuff in there that are “keepsakes” that I really don’t need or want.

I am about halfway through the book, but “The Power of Less” by Leo Babauta is an extraordinary book about how to unclutter and live better with less. There are several blogs out there that also give pointers on how to unclutter, I subscribe to www.unclutterer.com.

I am excited about freeing myself from useless stuff.

To unfriend someone from Facebook, simply go to their profile page and scroll down. On the left hand side, you will see “remove from friends”.

Gout is one of the most cruel and painful things to ever be introduced to the human body. I go to bed each night praying that I don’t wake up with a gout attack, and am thankful each morning when I don’t wake up with it.

To my surprise, not everyone has heard of this painful disease. However, the people that have heard of it and know someone with it, know how painful it is. It is unfortunate that gout does not get a lot of attention in terms of medical problem solving.

Gout is basically extreme bursts of arthritis. A gout attack happens when uric acid, which sits on a joint, crystallizes. Most people rid themselves of uric acid through normal digestion. But people with gout retain uric acid, leading to an attack.

When an attack happens, I am out of commission for about a week. There are a few days of ramp-up pain, a few days of extreme (don’t move) pain and a few days of ramp-down pain. I cannot wear a shoe during the extreme phase, therefore, I cannot work. Its a shame when I have to take vacation days due to a painful toe or ankle.

There are certain behaviors that I can change to prevent an attack, but I will always have gout. I can never rid myself of this disease; this is why I think the medical community should pay more attention to a cure. Many people in our country live with gout, too many to just prescribe a daily med that may or may not work. I know with other major incurable diseases out there (Cancer, AIDS, Herpes), gout will never get the attention is should have.

Be Well

I love playing softball for several reasons. I love competition, I enjoy the exercise and I like hanging around my buddies. But I am 100% dumbfounded at the fact that there are guys out there that play softball like its the world series. Don’t get me wrong, I love winning. But to take softball so seriously is a joke. These softball superheroes are going to hurt someone some day because of the way they play. They come in hard to second base, they throw the ball hard when they don’t have to, they pick fights with the other team and they throw bats when they pop it up.

These are your Uncle Ricos of the world: “If only the coach put me in the game, we would have won state”. The softball superheroes are the guys that rode the bench in high school, wish they played in college but tell their buddies that they were all-american ball players.

This is a plea to the softball superheores to get a life, or at least take up another hobby. Come out to the ballpark, drink a few beers and enjoy playing softball with your buddies. I promise you that there is not a big league contract, a world series ring or even a trophy if you win your league. In most cases, you get a lousy t-shirt. I hope all of your anger and seriousness if worth the price of the t-shirt.