I’m writing and thinking a lot about social media and at the same time trying to expand my offline network to other communities besides bloggers and geeks. You know, having people to dinner and friends to go to movies or shows with. Going out with my husband. Going to the park with my son. Things like that.

Today Justin Hackworth - a wedding photographer - took headshots which will become part of my long overdue blog redesign. I have a new logo and once I get the pictures I’ll get my first customized theme and fresh look. Geeks tend to care more about functionality than design. I tend to care more about getting my thoughts down than about functionality or design (I am a geek too!). But it’s time I practice what I preech. Which is, that all of those elements are important.

So this business caught my eye - the Smash Shack. You pay to break things - like fine china plates - in soundproof rooms. You can even write a message on the plate and hurl it at a wall while you play music (like Nine Inch Nails). Crazy. Can they make money at it??  Next thing they need to do is introduce some form of voodoo dolls - or punching bags (right now it would be CEOs of Fannie Mae, AIG, etc as well as politicians).
In college I was particularly mad at someone and I remember that I grabbed a handful of rocks and threw them at the ground. And it helped. Now I prefer going to kickboxing class. Doing something physical is a great way to blow off steam! Our world is full of pressure and expectations so providing safe ways for people (including children) to express anger and frustration is important. I’m aware that this is why some people love sports.
This isn’t coming up with solutions or blaming people, it’s simply getting beyond the feelings to thinking. I can’t think logically about issues until some of that pressure is gone.
So my idea is this - zuchini baseball and fruit festivals where people can throw rotten tomotoes. Last night I picked cantelopes and watermelon in fields that were going to be plowed under. Most were rotten, but we found the good ones and threw the rotten ones. We lobbed watermelons and jumped on mushy cantelopes and all went home feeling happier.

In Spain they have a festival at the end of the growing season where they throw tomatoes at each other in the street and the entire road runs red and people get covered in tomato. I think you should could pitch them and hit them with a baseball bat (or an overgrown zuchinni). Perhaps some of this comes by being married to a neat freak. Our home is beautiful and I love it. But sometimes I want to mess things up a little (without stressing out my husband).
I think there needs to be an outlet for people who deal with “customer service” (what an oxymoron!) agents who either don’t provide it or they can’t because their business only cares about profits (which for me recently has been Criket and Qwest).

Businesses who care about profit over customers usually fail (Google seems to be the exception here - maybe because they make such amazingly useful and practical solutions that are self-serve and let someone else do the service. Or because there isn’t any decent competition for what they do).

Employees don’t like working at places where this is the case and long-term I think it harms our world. The pressure is so intense that people lie about profits or they get so greedy that they lie. There has be room for both but profits may not be as high.
I will be interested to see if Smash Shack can make a profit providing this service. I’m wondering if I could or want to organzie a festival with the farmers around town. I think both would be therapuetic and fun - just like this post.

“what the hell is a slug, is it going to eat my wordpress garden?” - Matt

Wordpress is so cutting edge on security and the new features coming up are amazing. I didn’t realize Wordpress is being used so much by the government: the Coast Guard, the Marine Corps, Homeland Security, Drug Enforcement, Navy, Dept. of Treasury, etc. I also learned that Bluehost upgrades a new version of Wordpress within 12 hours.

Matt just detailed what is coming on the next version(s) of Wordpress:

• Can browse and install themes and plugins within WP dashboard, also upgrade WP
• Can bulk edit posts and respond to comments
• Threaded comments
• Turn off and drag/drop components of blog (like tags section, categories, etc)
• Wordpress TV - high def videos on how to use Wordpress by feature, video of WordCamps, etc.
• A private social network (your own Facebook) with IM, blogs, profiles, groups, etc!!!!! We got a preview and Buddy Press will rock.
• House all your social networking sites info (not a lot of details here)

Android app coming, as well as a better iPhone app and API. It’s great that someone on the Inc 500 list is so laid back and transparent about what is happening and coming next.

I have so many problems with spacing and typeface. Matt said you had to change the font via CSS, not on a per-post level. It only has heading tags that bold the font. You can’t change the font face. I wish it were like MS Word in that way - that the “kitchen sink” let you control the look of words easier. I often want to make a page look better but the options are limited or time-consuming. I didn’t get very far in this request. It would help if I updated my version of WP and my theme (coming)!

Here are some other posts from attendees (feel free to add yours in the comments):

WordPress 2.7 and Beyond – Keynote by Matt Mullenweg at Wordcamp Utah 2008 by Tom Johnson(and the next 2 are also by him)
WordPress and Podcasting — Wordcamp Utah
Using WordPress as a CMS — Wordcamp Utah Carrington by Ma.tt
WordCamp Utah - Meeting Matt Mullenweg by Paul Wilson (new blog)

One of the first women I recognized told me what I taught her at a previous event about SEO is working for her. I saw good friends and made new ones. Kelly, founder of Startup Princess, did a great job. I wish I could’ve stayed for the whole conference.

I was impressed with the presenters and their easy confidence. I want to learn to relax and speak naturally in front of groups. I write and I’m online so much that I swear some of my social skills have eroded. I’m more comfortable behind a keyboard where I can edit and re-write, pause and think. However, the rewards of a good presentation are so good that I’m driven to continue to improve this part of my professional life.

I got in some blog talk, and tomorrow it’s all about blogs at WordCamp (where the crowd probably won’t be full of skirts or pantsuits!). Which brings me to the next point - blogging isn’t for everyone - despite how well it works. This frustrates me but I must accept it.

I’m convinced that blogging is an ideal way for a small business owner to gain visibility for their business because there are few layers and it’s easier to be transparent and authentic when it’s just you or a small staff. Blogging when you have a legal department or lots of red tape takes the joy out of it. If you don’t get it and aren’t committed to learning it, it’s probably not the time for you to blog (or other channels may be better suited to your business). Or you better hire someone who can be fairly close to your business to take over that role.
Ad Age wrote about why you shouldn’t blog and I agree with a lot of it. Commenting on her post was a pain, so here’s my response:

B.L. Ochman (what a great name for SEO!) writes how CEOs should be “willing to update a few times a week. All of that takes anywhere from two to four hours a post.” I’ve never spend two or four hours on a single post. I feel like I’m too slow when it takes more than an hour! The beauty of a blog is that you can write quickly and there isn’t a set length.

I liked what she said here: “A blog is not a quick fix — the results come in the long term, the same way they do with PR,” and I’ll add - social media. I wholeheartedly agree that to be a good blogger you should read. I read so much. I know a few gifted people who could fill pages for years and never run out of interesting things to say. But most of us need to read and think deeply to be good writers.

Another source of good blog posts - conferences where you get to hear smart people share what they know. Expect more after WordCamp tomorrow.

This is a pain for me and most clients have no idea how to do it, so here’s an easier way.

Even though I recognize they are not the solution for everyone, I like working with Bluehost. I admit the interface is a little cumbersome and they are not perfect. But they do have great customer service, 24/7 and will host unlimited domain names for $6.95 a month. In other words, it’s a good solution for small businesses.

Here are basic steps to setting up your blog on Bluehost

1. Register a domain name - your own unique web address. You can buy one for about $10 a year through Bluehost or www.GoDaddy.com or your favorite place. I like to use domainsbot.com as a way to quickly see if your domain name is available.
2. Sign up for Bluehost and login and it will take you to the control panel.
3. There is a long list of icons, scroll down until you find the Software/Services section. Find the icon that says “Simple Scripts.” That’s where you can find how to install Wordpress automatically.
4. This will set up your blog and give login information, including the URL to manage your blog.
5. Bluehost makes it easy to upgrade to the latest version of Wordpress. If you don’t upgrade you can run into a lot of problems and Bluehost is not proactive in telling you. Your blog will just stop working (you usually need to upgrade at least yearly to avoid this).

If you want to download the software yourself then call Bluehost and ask for assistance. Preferably in the middle of the night when there is no wait time!

Then on Saturday I’ll be at WordCamp Utah. Matt Mullenweg, who created blogging software Wordpress will be there as well as good friends I haven’t seen as often since I moved. Matt was recently included (again) as one of Inc. 500’s Top 30 Entrepreneurs Under 30.

The most important update is that I’m working on redesigning this blog. This is long overdue. I’ve gotten help from my friend Paul Wilson who will start guest posts soon. So there is a lot to look forward to!

There are a few times when the client and I can’t come up with news that could make a good press release, but most of the time we can work together to find a good story. The first step: Google your name, your CEOs name, or major brand names and see if there are results you can write about (like you were featured in a major publication, speaking at an event, etc).
Here are the web sites I’ve recently discovered to give me ideas on what to write about and how to focus a press release:
Trend Hunter - www.trendhunter.com - this is a site that spots trends and I use it get ideas for stories based on current trends. Use these to come up with a way to tie your story into a national story and instantly expand your audience. This is a good way to get higher score on PRWeb and therefore bigger distribution.
Google Insights for Search - http://www.google.com/insights/search - use Google Insights for search to see news items and get ideas for keywords or geographic focus. It will identify hot topics that can give you ideas for more stories or press releases. Type in words that have to do with your business and do some research to see what is hot about your industry online.
Help a Reporter - http://helpareporter.com - sign up to be on a list of requests for experts that journalists can quote for stories. This free service can give you ideas on what to blog about, what to write a press release about, and what’s on journalist’s mind from the big media outlets to the small and niche publications. I skim through this email every day and I love it.

If you’re a publisher or reporter, you can also sign up to post your request to the group. This is great for freelancers. After being spotlighted on Seth Godin’s blog and from the volume of requests, I wonder if it will get so big they’ll have to segment the list (large, mid-sized, and small business requests).

There you go, now you know some of my press release secrets.

at Westminster College, in Salt Lake City, Utah Building: Foster Room: 101

Topic: Pay-Per-Click Search Best Practices

Chris Finken will discuss PPC search best practices; sharing knowledge across multiple engines and platforms, and what can be learned from Yahoo to help with Google and visa versa.

All WOMA members are invited to attend, as well as anyone that wants to come and check WOMA out for the first time.  First-timers need to RSVP to rsvp@wasatchonlinemarketing.com by Wednesday, September 10^th.