Saw this reading list yesterday. For future reference.
Any recommendations?
Saw this reading list yesterday. For future reference.
Any recommendations?
Why No One Pays Attention to Your Marketing – Whiteboard Friday
"if you don't test, you'll never know" http://t.co/9uk0hhiSaT
— âœ___CollectThisTweet (@nchenga) August 16, 2015
20 Ways To Get Your Content In Front Of Early-Stage B2B Buyers
Sometimes you hear the argument, social media is great for B2C but not B2B. This article lists ways to use social media for B2B marketing.
But notice also the recommendation to use traditional tools such as press releases and email newsletters.
A regular reader of Chiperoni.ch has suggested that I add a book list.
Yesterday I stopped by at the uni library and browsed thru the marketing section. I picked up “How Customers Think” by Gerald Zaltmann. And some pages caught my eye. The 10’000 feet view.
Ways to find original ideas and get out of the customary, surface-oriented thinking about consumers:
He describes the Titanic Effect here:
Another book I browsed thru is:
“Marketing-Erfolg im Internet” by Martin Blatter-Constantin. It stood out of the crowd ‘cos it offers nifty black and white icons in the left column. And I liked the fact that it talks about personas from the beginning.
Other books I brought along for reference purposes, include:
Last in today’s list is “The Marketing Mavens” by Noel Capon:
For future reference:
A reading list for aspiring knowledge workers
c.f. Definition of a knowledge worker
Nassim Taleb, “The Black Swan”
via
http://www.liftconference.com/black-swan
I recently read “Digging to America” by Anne Tyler.
It’s an easy read. I read the entire book in one day while travelling. I can’t really decide on my recommendation level though. I liked it because it feels like a biography and I tend to like biographies. It feels a bit like real life, i.e. it chugs along. No sudden surprises. No unexpected twists. A good description.
I stumbled across this in Miami:
Call centers take toll on Indian workers
I’m currently reading “The Last King of Scotland” by Giles Foden.
See also this BBC report from Kampala
I asked ChatGPT to write a blog post about search.
Here’s the generated text for your perusal:
Search in 2025 is no longer about keywords and blue links. It’s about working with AI agents that think through your query, read the web, and return something far more useful than a list of URLs.
Whether you’re researching for work, writing content, or just trying to understand a complex topic, here’s how search works best right now—from my perspective as a long-time blogger and web explorer.
This combo is my go-to.
“Act as a B2B SaaS growth strategist. Think step-by-step: 1) grab the 10 best articles on buyer psychology 2) cluster their learnings into three themes; 3) craft one copy angle per theme that sells a $49 HR upskilling course. After thinking, output a single 70-word post that blends the strongest angle with a CTA—no emojis, no fluff.”
It’s like giving an intern a research brief—but they return in 30 seconds with something halfway ready to publish.
Yes, Grok—the AI chatbot integrated into X (formerly Twitter)—has quietly become a powerful search tool for real-time trends.
“Example Q: ‘Top AI-policy headline today?’ Example A: ‘? EU weighs export caps on frontier models.’ Now—using DeeperSearch—write exactly 30 fresh X posts (?130 chars each, start with ?) on the biggest AI-founder moves announced today.”
It’s fast, punchy, and tailored to the social-media pulse.
Perplexity was once the “AI of search.” It’s evolved into a lean research assistant for professionals.
“Begin as a skeptical angel investor reviewing 2025 funnel-conversion data on $7 tripwire offers; list three red-flag metrics with live sources. Then switch voice to a CRO-obsessed growth lead; for every red flag propose one AI-driven fix projected to lift CVR ?20%. Footnote every data point with link references.”
It’s like giving GPT a Harvard Business Review hat.
When you need to go deep—not fast.
“Act as a private-equity analyst. Produce a 15-page diligence report on the total addressable market, growth drivers, competitive moats, and acquisition multiples for AI-powered LinkedIn-content tools aimed at SMBs. Use APA citations and close with a one-page investment memo summarizing risk-reward in plain English.”
This is real research, not just regurgitated blog summaries.
In May 2025, search isn’t just search anymore—it’s promptcraft. Knowing how to ask matters just as much as where you ask. And the best queries don’t just request information; they give structure, tone, and context.
— End of AI-generated text
I think one thing is clear. We are reading a ton of AI-generated articles in our daily streams.
Be wary.
Use AI like a productivity tool.
What won’t go away are:
ideas
opinions
insight
the need to create content for your company that describe your service or product in plain language.
the skill to position your service or product.
the need to generate citations and cross-references from 3rd party sites, e.g. press articles, podcasts, Reddit threads, 3rd party events and press coverage.
It seems only 1 out of 4 of the references AI uses are from a brand’s own site.
Southern Malawi was hit by Cyclone Freddy.
My home city, Blantyre, was hit badly. Many parts of the city experienced flash floods and mud slides. Soche, Manja, Ndirande, Chilomoni, Machinjiri.
Other parts of southern Malawi are suffering. Mulanje, Thuchila, Phalombe, the lower Shire, Zomba.
The equivalent of 6 months of rain fell within a few days.
The destruction is unprecedented. Many areas are cut off as bridges and roads have been washed away.
The worst storm in decades.
I have been watching Cyclone Freddy since the end of February. All along, I was worried it would hit southern Malawi.
I experienced Cyclone Ana last year.
And now Cyclone Freddy.
Since last weekend, I’ve been reading and amplifying tweets from Malawi. Connecting with friends on Whatsapp.
My thanks go out to Onjezani Kenani and team for their immediate response. You are heroes. Zikomo.
To all of my readers: Please don’t forget Malawi.
Please help Malawians to rebuild their livelihoods.
Buy Malawian products.
There are many world-class products. Macadamia nuts. Kilombero rice. Soybeans. Groundnuts.
Coffee from Satemwa, Mzuzu, Njuli, Chipunga, Namikango.
Tea from Mulanje and Thyolo.
Ask your local café to offer Malawian coffee and Malawian tea.
Consider travelling to visit Lake Malawi. Lakeshore hotels and cottages are open.
Support faith-based charities and local help organizations. My family founded and maintains Chombo children’s home in Chirimba, Blantyre together with a dedicated team.
Together we will help and rebuild.
Ancient poetry that I heard today:
God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging.
Psalm Chapter 46: Verse 1 to 3
I love this poem sent to me via Whatsapp
A CRY FROM MALAWI
by Nyambeye Wa SalanjeAmidst the rolling hills
and plains of green,
A storm has brewed, a tempest unforeseen.
Cyclone Freddy, with its fierce might,
Has plunged Malawi into a never-ending night.The rain has fallen, incessant and unrelenting,
Floods have ravaged, nature’s wrath unyielding.
The rivers have swollen, their banks overflowing,
Roads and bridges destroyed, the damage ongoing.The land is scarred, the mud and stones a grave,
As lives are lost, and families left to grieve.
Electricity is gone, water pumping halted,
Hunger looms, crops destroyed, the people dejected.Oh God, hear our plea, and see us through this plight,
Send us your love, your mercy, your light.
We call upon the world, to lend us a hand,
To help us stand again, and rebuild this land.Malawi may be battered, but its spirit remains strong,
Via Whatsapp
Its people resilient, despite all that’s gone wrong.
Together we shall rise, and overcome this test,
For our hearts beat as one, with hope and faith, we shall rest.
I chatted* Facebook support to get an issue at the day job fixed.
The Facebook support person decides to call me.
I answer the phone and don’t understand a single word.
Another call. The same experience.
Having spoken to a lot of support hotlines, I know the company wants my consent to record the call.
A robot is reading a German text with a strong American accent. I have a Swiss cell phone, live in the German-speaking part of Switzerland, and I am German-speaking. A German message is good.
However, a robot trained on American English will get the pronunciation totally wrong.
It was incomprehensible. Gibberish.
I chat with the Facebook support person. They still want to call me.
I try to press the usual keys, and get in on the 4th or 5th call.
Rather than dissing the robot for not knowing how to pronounce German, I say test your client-facing interfaces and channels. Most people will give up.
*to show I am 199% comfortable using digital.
When temperatures drop in Blantyre, tweets show up in my timeline. Kuzizira. Rainy drizzle weather. It’s chiperoni time in June and July.
I am far away from Blantyre in sunny and warm Basel.
Enjoying a very warm and sunny European summer.
Trying to get into the habit of writing on my own blog instead of someone else’s social media platform. I love reading old blog posts here on Chiperoni.ch.
Perhaps I can revive the habit and post regular updates?
June has been a great month in terms of personal sporting activities. I found a good cadence. I hope I can keep up the momentum in July. My motto is: Every little bit counts.
I found out that cycling in my neighbourhood is a way to catch up on those activity kilometres that I used to do on my daily bicycle commute. With less red lights and car traffic. Note to myself: do more of that.
I saw this Bufferapp article on declining social media traffic.
We’ve lost nearly half our social referral traffic in the last year
I say. No wonder. Everybody is online, creating tonnes of content. Most people are too busy to read, let alone follow so many data streams.
Many web pages don’t get any traffic at all. A few sites get all the traffic.
Interesting read. I recommend reading it.
My tip: don’t share or comment on articles that you haven’t read. Even bots can do that. Be human.
And. If you do like an article? Comment, share and write a blog post on it.
If you’re on Facebook and want to see better content, I recommend following Robert Scoble’s advice. The filtering is improving. And this week’s announcement on Facebook Search means we may have a viable alternative to Google Search. At some point in the future.
“It turns out a ton of things that people share socially on the Web, they don't read at all.” http://t.co/Qmbv259oex –> read b4 sharing!
— âœ___CollectThisTweet (@nchenga) October 3, 2015
Lucky chiperoni.ch. It doesn’t need to grow traffic.
Have a look at my photos on Flickr.
For future reference
Recommended reading – The Myth of Google’s 200 Ranking Factors.
Some time ago, the Malawi daily newspaper, The Nation, released a new web design. More recently Nyasa Times updated their web design. In both cases, it’s an improvement. And from my current home base here in Switzerland, both sites load promptly.
From family in Malawi I hear that the loading times for both sites have increased. It would be interesting to hear from others if they noticed the same.
Many people in Malawi access the internet via mobile devices. Only few have access to flat rates and most Malawi internet users probably use prepaid data bundles, i.e. every MB of data costs $$$.
In addition, some parts of Malawi and even parts of Blantyre don’t have a good connectivity.
IMHO opinion this is still valid today "Design your Website for Low Bandwidth" http://t.co/0fp5klcO
— âœ___CollectThisTweet (@nchenga) January 19, 2013
I think it’s important to find out how your target audience will access your site. And then optimize your site for low bandwidth. I’ve written about this topic before. (Click here and here).
I’m not a web developer. But I do think we need to step in and ask questions about page speed. Page speed is an important part of the overall user experience.
Responsive web designs are great. One content base serves web pages on different end devices from smartphone to large monitor screens.
But what about optimising responsive sites for lower bandwidth?
What kind of things should you adapt and change? Best practises for responsive sites?
I switched off a WordPress mobile plugin called Mobilepress ‘cos it was creating a lot of broken links which showed up in Google Webmaster Tools.
Should I reinstall a mobile plugin like Mobilepress on my WordPress site?
This got me thinking about responsive web design and bandwidth. I’ve started doing some preliminary reading and googling on this. Here are some links I’ve found:
Design your site for mobile devices first. The buzzword is mobile-first.
One important task is to optimise images. I found this Smashing Magazine article provided some helpful guidance on responsive image solutions. But minimizing the bandwidth impact of images isn’t easy.
Test your site to see what is affecting page speed. There’s Google’s Site Speed within Google Analytics, Web Page Test and Yslow to help you identify issues.
In my opinion, this list of web design guidelines for low bandwidth still holds true.
Good background article:
How and Why Responsive Design Can Go Wrong
Conclusion: Building websites isn’t getting easier. Ask your developers to search for ways to improve your site’s performance.
Tips? Ideas and suggestions? I appreciate your comments and suggestions to improve.
I love reading list articles. This one crossed my paths this week.
Just for fun, I’ll run thru the list and assess my own writing for the web style on this blog.
So let’s get started”¦
Provide a Reader’s Digest or Executive Summary version.
I don’t write a reader’s digest or summary for posts on this blog. But it’s definitely recommended/good practice.
Many of my Chiperoni blog posts tend to be short.
Next tip:
Key words in every post titles.
Good tip. Often the post title displays on its own. Key words that clear reflect what the blog post is about will help readers decide to click and read the article. And there’s the SEO aspect.
Self-assessment: I don’t spend much time on developing post titles for this blog. I often opt for descriptive titles. Copyblogger lists helpful formulas and categories.
Lead with the conclusion.
Answer the question “what is my benefit if I commit to read this post?”
Same applies for presentations. Straightforward advice. Often we tend to forget the reader’s perspective. Some posts may look confusing.
Chiperoni.ch is a collection of notes. More reviewing would be better.
Be sure and provide hyper links to your sources.
This is something I do diligently. It is only fair to provide a backlink to your source of inspiration. And it’s a way to document good online resources and build my own knowledge database.
Make your content scannable to the eye.
I try to keep paragraphs short and use bullets and headings. A further improvement would be to define H2s. I like the improved typography in web design.
Write in an Inverted Pyramid style.
Yepp. I don’t use this approach on my private blog. Again, the goal is to convey my main message in the top part of my post.
Use common language.
My writing style is simple and I tend to use common vocabulary. There are a lot of good reasons to use plain language.
Plain Language:
- Shows customer focus
- Communicates effectively
- Eliminates barriers
- Reduces time spent explaining
- Improves compliance
Get to the point, quickly.
We’re all busy. Impatient.
Don’t meander.
Get to the point, quickly.
Looking at my own writing style at Chiperoni central, I don’t edit my posts enough. But, I don’t waffle on for pages and pages either
Make your post visually pleasing.
Again, very obvious advice. Add graphics. Add photos.
I enjoyed reading this article by Nathan Barry:
Recommended read.
My summary in my own words:
Start marketing early – even before the product is developed. This helps to identify your audience and to write a marketing plan.
Write with a purpose. Set a goal and work towards the goal.
Analyze your starting point. Who do you have in your network? Who and what can help you reach your goal?
No marketing budget to buy ads? Start teaching. Teach everything you know. It’s a way to start building trust and building a relationship.
Create a good landing page with an email opt-in form.
Write educational blog posts. Focus on creating high quality blog entries that teach the reader. Re-write and edit your blog entries until you feel they could be part of a book.
Mention your product. Include an email opt-in form in each blog post. But don’t write to sell, write to teach.
Collect email addresses and send out a regular newsletter. Remember contacts go cold.
Plan your launch sequence. Communicate all details well in advance. Send a pitch email one day before the launch. On the launch day, send a simple announcement email. Publish your sales page. Consider offering a discount on launch day.
Say thank you to everyone who helped you on the launch.
I love reading list articles. Here’s one that appeared on my radar today:
6 Pillars of a Successful Blog
And just for fun, I’ll run thru the list and assess my own private blogging chez moi.
So let’s get started…
Purpose/Message/Mission
This is a private blog. The main purpose is to learn and reflect.
It’s an ever-evolving mix of learning, reflection, discovery and knowledge management. I’ve always said it’s like a scrap book. Chiperoni.ch will no longer do well from an SEO point-of-view, because the topics are too diverse, too sporadic. I write about the Internet and online marketing. I link to my huge Flickr collection of snapshots. I write about architecture and travel. I post Youtube videos. I try out WordPress plugins and themes.
If you’re setting up a blog for business purposes, think about your purpose. Brainstorm ideas. Put together an editorial calendar. This will help you stand out from the crowd.
Email Newsletter
I don’t send out an email newsletter for this blog. While this Google service still exists, you can get an email notification via Feedburner:
There are some pretty cool email newsletter plugins for WordPress. I briefly tried Wysija. There’s also Sendpress and Email Newsletter to try. And yes, I wholeheartedly agree… if you want your blog to grow, send out a regular email newsletter.
I do have a cool WordPress plugin called Thank me later, which sends auto-sends thank you messages to people that leave a comment.
A Free E-Book/Manifesto
There is no free e-book to download. There is no manifesto to link to at Chiperoni.ch. Yet. I have plans to write a book or two. Maybe. Some day.
David Meerman-Scott uses e-books very effectively for his topics.
I am a regular reader of the e-books at Hubspot.
IMHO, you should spend some $$ on your e-book layout to get a better return.
A Product/Business Model
There is no business model at Chiperoni.ch. I am here for fun. This is a private, non-profit blog. There is no advertising. So far I have not published any paid blog entries here. If this changes, I will publish a disclosure statement.
Again if you’re planning to offer a product or service, put some thought into your business model. A good starter is this business model generation canvas. It leads you through various business questions.
Site Design
I like minimal blog designs. Currently I am using themes by Elma.
If you’re building a business, test your site design using a poor man’s usability test. Ideally before coding; using a paper test. Find 5 people that fit your site’s target audience. Think of some site tasks you would like to test, e.g. how to contact you; how to ask for a quote. Ask your test person to think out loud while performing the tasks. And then sit next to them and quietly observe how your test person navigates through your site.
Check your site design from an SEO point of view. Are there enough text areas for your key phrases on your main landing pages? I would avoid overusing fancy carousel and slider plugins. Do you have one sentence explaining your main mission, written in HTML?
Effective Self Promotion
It’s 2013. You need to find creative ways to promote your business blog. The Internet is a vast ocean of data. Nobody is waiting for your cool product or service. If your self promotion is too low-key, nobody will notice you. If your self promotion is too heavy and your service offering doesn’t match, you will put people off.
I am stating the obvious. My only advice is to try various ideas and find a marketing mix that works for you. Trial and error.
Or build a private, non-profit blog like Chiperoni.ch. And as such I don’t need to join the success theater.
I recommended reading this article:
Success theater is boring. Directly related to the increasing lack of privacy. All the world’s a stage.
Social media featuritis is part of a never-ending cycle. Ironically the author mentions new tools (Snapchat, VidBurn and Facebook Poke) to replace the broadcast tools.
Keep calm.
Don’t join the rat race.
Use social media in good measure and in a personable way.
Create rather than consume.
Consider your true motive. Cost and benefit.
BTW, I’ve read some predictions about a blogging comeback in 2013. Experts predict that the author tag will get a higher Google rank.
Due to Google Panda and Penguin, everybody is talking about the need for high-quality content.
The reality is it will be extremely difficult for middle-of-the-road online writers to gain any kind of traffic. Compared to 2003 and 2004, the ocean of data has increased exponentially. Gone are the days where a private blog entry google-bombed its way into the top SERPs. I am not saying it isn’t possible. But it takes strategy, resources, commitment, personal drive, writing skills and some SEO expertise. And most of us with a day job, hobbies, and a long to-do list will no longer be part of the top Google rankings. At least with the current setup.
Here is an interesting slide deck on how social media will develop in 2013:
I wonder where “social everything” and “mobile everything” will take us.