sustainability

Your Turn – Question For My Readers

by JimRaffel on August 20, 2010

This week I have shared four of the actions I take to get readers here and to keep them coming back once they find me. Here’s a recap of those activities:

  1. Why Images in Posts Work
  2. Consistency and Reliability Gain Readers
  3. Use as Many Channels as You Can
  4. Don’t Forget email

a few questions for my readers

I’ve been watching the Google Analytics for this site and I am pleased to report that, due in part to the above actives, traffic on this site is growing at a sustainable 30-50%/month right now. So, if you don’t mind, I’d like your help answering a few questions:

  1. What am I doing right?
  2. What got you here?
  3. What keeps you coming back?

If you have a few minutes to leave a comment, I’d appreciate knowing your answers.

Photo Credit

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Continue Reading 14 comments }blogging, personal development, sustainability, WordPress, Writing

Plan B – Have one for your home base?

by JimRaffel on April 24, 2010

After reading Chris Brogan’s post “When Google Owns You – A New Chapter.” First, my heart went out to him as I’ve managed to destroy about four cell phones while on the road with no plan B. I could relate to the sense of isolation and perceived helplessness.

201004241259.jpg I had just finished my plan B, which is to regularly back up all my important web-sites. I’m talking really backed up here as in six ways to Sunday. As long as I can find a server to host it, even my provider going out of business won’t interrupt the sustainability of my sites because I have a plan B to get them back up and running quickly. I own and control the domains, content and for the most part delivery methods for JimRaffel.com and other important sites in my business and personal life.

Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, and even Google can change and “enforce” their terms of service at will. Sure, @raffel on Twitter could disappear tomorrow for what the operators decide is a violation of the terms of service. *Poof* there goes one conduit of communication for me to reach more than a thousand people each day. Good luck silencing JimRaffel.com that way.

Do you have a plan B and a plan C for your life on-line? Your backup plans should not depend upon a single specific provider like those listed above. Instead your plan should focus on your presence being back on the web as quickly as possible should something terrible happen to your current plan.

I understand many of my readers are not techno-geeks like me (and some are even more geeky – I get that too). A simple plan B for a blogger might mean having a backup site built on Tumblr if you use WordPress. Know how to use the alternative platform and have the framework in place to move your home base at a moments notice, should your current provider go nuts and mess with the Terms of Service. (Yes, it really does happen *cough* FaceBook *cough* Twitter).

What’s your plan B?

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Continue Reading 3 comments }blogging, social media, sustainability, Twitter, WordPress

Unplugged on my Birthday

April 13, 2010

Today I turn forty-six (and still feel 26). Following are some unplugged thoughts I had this morning. Warning this post is probably rated like PG-13. I decided to cuss a little like I do in real life. 1. I want world peace (no really I do). On my birthday even I get to be idealistic. [...]

Body Weight Only Exercise Routine

March 28, 2010

Over the last year I have had success with a body weight only workout routine. I am not a trainer and I highly recommend you contact your physician and a personal trainer before starting this or any exercise routine. The routine is a combination of stretching, push-ups, sit-ups and squats. I can complete this entire [...]

Social Media Is Killing Traditional Sales

March 19, 2010

The traditional sales prospecting model is becoming increasingly ineffective over time. Five times in less than two weeks I have been solicited by voice mail message or email. Wait, by the same person! This is downright annoying. Obviously I have the tools to filter this noise out of my communications stream and I have. It [...]

Measure Your Way To Success

March 18, 2010

A proper measurement methodology is how to gauge success. How can you know where you are going and if you have arrived, when you don’t even know where you are? Want increased sales? Determine an accurate way to measure sales today. Using sound business principals calculate what sales need to be in the future. Then, [...]

Business Must Sharpen The Saw Continuously

March 17, 2010

As I checked into a brand new Hampton Inn earlier today, it struck me that this is not the same hotel chain I started staying at over 20 years ago. Hampton Inn has done a great job applying Stephen Covey’s seventh habit, Sharpen the saw. While Mr. Covey’s focus is on personal self-renewal, Hampton Inn [...]

Goals Define Choices

March 12, 2010

Everything you do in life takes you closer to your goals, or further from them. Without clearly defined goals you have no standard by which to judge your choices. Yesterday I shared four of the key choices I have made in my life over the past year. Each of those choices has brought me closer [...]

Printing is Not Dead or Even Dying

March 8, 2010

If printing is on the verge of death, then why when I searched Twitter for “Is Print Dead“  did I find over 20 tweets in the past 4 hours? For something dead or dying, printing sure generates a lot of conversation in the Twitter community. The blogosphere also has plenty to say about printing being or not [...]

Life Needs a Compelling Why – What’s Yours?

March 7, 2010

My “why” is making JimRaffel.com the best blog I can. Writing for this blog everyday is following my passion. That passion is what drives my desire to find ways to make ColorMetrix more successful with less and less of my time. I’ve managed to reduce my ColorMetrix work week to about 50 hours (down from [...]