I wanted to get your thoughts on a subject that I’ve been thinking of for a while, since my professional blogger for hire post a few weeks ago. That post was exasperation at my unpredictable employment situation. I hear people ask how I find time to blog. How do you know what to blog about? What’s the big deal about blogs? Those are questions I haven’t asked.

I never tire of blogging. One time I thought I did for about a week, but it passed. The happier I am, the more I blog. I need it. I can’t imagine not blogging. So I thought, why not get paid to do something I love doing?

So I was brainstorming with a friend who also got laid off and we were a little down. Not ones to be passive, we started to think of our own company. I wanted to be a blog publicist (or bloglicist). We will write your company’s PR blog. It wouldn’t be an in-depth community blog written by an insider. Instead, it would chronicle the stories of a company. The inside scoop, the less formal voice and personality.

Today I got an email asking for advice about hiring someone to promote their product on blogs and forums. I gave it my best shot, which is it’s a fine line and you’ve got be careful. Transparency is best. If you aren’t completely open about what you are or aren’t, you’ll get found out and you’ll get peanut butter in your face (since that Yahoo manifesto, it’s not mud in your face, it’s sticky peanut butter).

I tried to reach a blog strategist who just moved to Utah but I haven’t gotten a response and the comments aren’t working for me on his blog. So I thought I’d turn it to you. What are your thoughts on companies getting bloggers to promote their products? Who is doing it well? Would you hire a blog publicist? How much would you pay for one?

I guess I wonder if this is a viable idea with enough demand. I know what I could offer and what I couldn’t offer. I see several people list blog ghostwriting as a service they offer along with others. I’d just want to be the blog publicist, nothing else.

I appreciate your feedback, as always.

I’ve begun my new job and I telecommute – or work from home.  For many reasons, like not having to drive in the snowstorm yesterday, it’s ideal. The noisiest place I’ve worked is in a newsroom. You have to learn to ignor noise. You have to focus intently on the phone conversation you’re on. The energy of stories and people rushing around meeting deadlines intoxicated me. It’s like living in Times Square. It fueled my ADD personality with a constant buzz. And this was just a college newsroom.

My office is in my home and well, it’s quiet. I realized how much I learned at Cymphonix by eavesdropping on the sales team. I relied on their conversations to get a quick grasp of our product and customers.

I have Skype conversations and chat. Still too quiet. I decided since I work for a company that hosts podcasting stations, I’m going to start listening to the internet marketing podcasts.

Speaking of podcasts, tomorrow (Thursday, Nov. 30) CopperRain is holding a podcasting class. It’s from 5-7pm at Provo Labs. To RSVP send an email to info@copperrain.com. There is no charge. Maybe I can learn to put my expensive MAudio to good work for more than just interviews!

The new year is coming and Chris Knudsen is running a contest to find the boss who is the biggest jerk of all. Don’t worry, no company or real names will be used and should not be submitted. Just the stories. Go to the above link for details.

He said it’s just for Utah jerk bosses. Still, I think if you have a good one, submit it. It might make Chris’s blog, even if you don’t win (link love).

My last boss rocked. But I’ve had bad ones just like anyone else.

Here are a few of my tips if you want to be nominated to be a crappy boss:

Read more…

Utah has a very low unemployment rate. If you’re looking here are some interesting positions (you can look for telecommute jobs by checking “telecommute” on your Craig’s List searches):

PPC Marketer with 3-5 years solid, demonstrated experience in managing $1million+ PPC budgets

Email Marketing Manager for United Online Web Services, Inc., a division of United Online (they bought Provo-based Freeservers a few years ago)

Spark Networks (owns LDS Mingle, JDate, and other niche dating sites) – Web Analytics Manager

Today is Thanksgiving and I’m thankful for a short job search. I’m so risk-adverse and this year has tested that. I’ve got a very strong sense of financial responsiblity. I wanted to start my own gig but it’s not the time in my life. I’m not there yet.
Truthfully the shock of losing a job that was going so well was tough to recover from. I didn’t even want to think about looking for something else. I worked with such fine people and one of the best bosses of my career.

Thanks to all of you for being a supportive community. I found it to be much stronger than I knew. Really, thank you!

Read more…

MarketingSherpa’s blog has a post about ebay and paid search. Interesting enough, the VP of Internet Marketing talks about his battles. Yes, even he has battles. One is convincing people that it pays to buy the keyword “eBay”.  Over and over it has proven profitable. eBay spends more on paid search (PPC) than almost anyone in the world.

Sometimes internet marketing demands a new mindset. I have had my battles about the long tail. People can’t get it out of their minds that it’s worth paying for keywords that aren’t generating a lot of clicks, even if those clicks convert at 50%! I got so beat up over that one and ultimately had to follow what my boss said and not increase the keyword buy even though I was dying to.

eBay has a database of over 250 MILLION keywords. They are actively bidding on 5 to 15 MILLION at one time. At times they have to prove to Google that the words are relevant. They have many terms that they pay 1 cent on.

http://www.marketingsherpa.com/article.php?ident=29783 – has a link to a podcast interview with eBay and others (bad quality sound, good quality info)

As I read the Yahoo manifesto that’s all over the internet I recognize the familiar strain. It’s all about Yahoo’s organizational problems, written by Brad Garlinghouse, a senior VP and reported by the WSJ.

The internet adds to an ADDness where companies are afraid to commit to a certain vision. The ground is constantly shifting and so are we. Are we afraid of a crash? Susceptible to chasing fads? Blame?

Does the internet evolve faster than we can? Do we wait for something to settle and try to occupy ourselves in the meantime?

Read more…

Tonight in a fit of brainstorming I found this list of blogging terms or should I say blargon. I can imagine these getting annoying but here are my favorite ones:

• Blaudience - your blog audience
• Blook - a book created from a blog.
• Blurker - a blog reader not posting comments, just lurking around quietly.
• Blego - Blog+Ego. Measuring blogger worth
• Spomments- Spam comments

Jeremy Palmer is a new cohost for the affiliate marketing channel on Webmaster Radio. He has an episode posted already another airing tomorrow. These are great quality shows. I’m going to add it to my RSS to listen to in iTunes.

As Kelly of Startup Princess points out, this is a terrifc explanation of what RSS is.  They list RSS readers. I use Bloglines as my RSS reader because it’s easy and free. This post was written in straightforward, non-geek terms. It’s a new creative approach (explained how Oprah would explain it). If you’ve ever wondered or not understood RSS, start there.

They next need to write about what is a podcast and how to listen to them!