Archives for 2011

Think outside your comfort zone

December 2, 2011 By Jim Raffel Leave a Comment

Over the Thanksgiving holiday, my daughter Allison Raffel was home from college and asked me to read some of her writing. Of the half-dozen pieces I read, this one spoke to me more than the others. Upon asking myself why, I realized it's because it forced me to think outside my comfort zone. … [Read more...]

Foursquare changes OK but OpenTable keeps options open – Jim Says

December 1, 2011 By Jim Raffel Leave a Comment

This falls under our She Said, He Said blog post series. Join us tonight on Twitter at 8 p.m. CST for #shehechat where we'll be discussing all things concerning geo-location. We will touch on Foursquare, Yelp, OpenTable, GPS apps and more. Bring your own topics to the table for the chat! Are the … [Read more...]

Is Foursquare crying for Yelp? – Shelby Says

November 30, 2011 By Shelby Sapusek 4 Comments

This is another in our She Said, He Said blog series. Tune in tomorrow for Jim's views on this subject and our topics for our #shehechat on Twitter at 8 p.m. CST. I spent Thanksgiving week with family in Florida. My travel plans took me through five different airports and into some places I'd never … [Read more...]

Let's talk about link bait

November 29, 2011 By Jim Raffel Leave a Comment

What is link bait, really? It's a well-crafted headline or teaser text designed to get you to read an article or blog post. That's it. There's nothing evil or nefarious about that, is there? The real issue is why and how you choose to utilize link bait. Why use link bait? On the surface, the answer … [Read more...]

WordPress Enhancement Cyber Monday Picks

November 28, 2011 By Jim Raffel Leave a Comment

This is post 674 since I started blogging in July of 2005. For all of those 674 posts, I've depended on the WordPress platform to power JimRaffel.com. I've watched WordPress grow into the feature-rich, community-supported, open source solution it is today. As great as WordPress is, if you're goal is … [Read more...]

Use your experience

November 25, 2011 By Jim Raffel Leave a Comment

The other day I was watching our cat, Patches, as I started to grind some coffee. She froze and looked around. It was a far cry from the reaction she had a dozen years ago as a kitten in this house. Back then, she would have taken off running. It would have likely ended with her sliding on a hard … [Read more...]

Cultivate your community – Shelby Says

November 24, 2011 By Shelby Sapusek Leave a Comment

Dear She Said, He Said community: We will not be hosting #shehechat tonight because of the holiday. We will return next week at our normal time of 8 p.m. CST on Thursday. Enjoy the holiday! Yesterday, Jim talked about his view on maintaining the She Said, He Said community through curation. For the … [Read more...]

Curate your community – Jim Says

November 23, 2011 By Jim Raffel 1 Comment

This is another in our She Said, He Said blog series. Please note that, because of the Thanksgiving holiday here in the US, we will not be hosting #shehechat on Twitter tomorrow like normal. We will return next week at 8 p.m. CST Thursday. It occurred to Shelby and me that over the last nine … [Read more...]

Launch vs. Ramp-Up

November 22, 2011 By Jim Raffel Leave a Comment

For the last two years, I've found myself in almost constant launch mode. There have been lots of finish lines to cross. As I look back on it, that's the easy part and it's done with sheer determination and motivation. Then the hard part comes: Ramping up the launch into a money-making venture. That … [Read more...]

A modern day barn raising

November 21, 2011 By Jim Raffel 5 Comments

I've written before about Translator, the cool digital agency my friends, Mark Fairbanks and Cynthia Thomas, run. Last week, a group volunteered to help one of their clients, Milwaukee Brewing Co., package their new Pot Luck Pack. Yes, you read that right. A bunch of folks volunteered to help a … [Read more...]