Search results for: “reading”

  • Marketing reading list 2022

    Saw this reading list yesterday. For future reference.

    Any recommendations?

  • Recommended reading http://selnd.com/1a5WGbc

    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.

  • Reading List

    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.

    four challenges

    Ways to find original ideas and get out of the customary, surface-oriented thinking about consumers:
    for fleeing our worn cognitive hampers

    He describes the Titanic Effect here:
    the titanic effect

    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.

    anna analog vs achim digit vs dane digital

    Other books I brought along for reference purposes, include:

    • The New Rules of Marketing and PR by David Meerman Scott – a recommended read; I wrote a couple of blog posts here and here.
    • Marketing your Business, A Guide to Developing a Strategic Marketing Plan by Ronald A. Nykel – no opinion yet.

    Last in today’s list is “The Marketing Mavens” by Noel Capon:
    marketing maven

  • A reading list for aspiring knowledge workers

    For future reference:
    A reading list for aspiring knowledge workers

    c.f. Definition of a knowledge worker

  • For my reading list

    Nassim Taleb, “The Black Swan”

    via
    http://www.liftconference.com/black-swan

  • Holiday reading II

    I recently read “Digging to America” by Anne Tyler.

    digging to america

    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.

  • Holiday reading

    I stumbled across this in Miami:

    Call centers take toll on Indian workers

  • Reading

    I’m currently reading “The Last King of Scotland” by Giles Foden.

    See also this BBC report from Kampala

  • Searching

    I asked ChatGPT to write a blog post about search.

    summer time

    Here’s the generated text for your perusal:

    How to Search in May 2025 (and Actually Learn Something)

    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.

    1. ChatGPT + o3 + Web Search

    This combo is my go-to.

    • Why it works: The o3 model is currently the most capable general-purpose AI OpenAI offers. When combined with search access, it behaves like a mini analyst—summarizing, clustering, and even generating content with a point of view.
    • Great for: Thought leadership posts, growth strategy, market synthesis.
    • Example prompt to try:

    “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.

    2. Grok + DeeperSearch (on X)

    Yes, Grok—the AI chatbot integrated into X (formerly Twitter)—has quietly become a powerful search tool for real-time trends.

    • Why it works: “DeeperSearch” lets you scan the firehose of breaking news, creator commentary, and policy moves, especially around AI.
    • Great for: Headline scouting, social listening, quick post drafts.
    • Example prompt:

    “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.

    3. Perplexity + Research Mode

    Perplexity was once the “AI of search.” It’s evolved into a lean research assistant for professionals.

    • Why it works: You can choose the model, cite sources inline, and generate multi-step reasoning—especially strong in B2B or startup contexts.
    • Great for: Metrics, funding analysis, decision support.
    • Example prompt:

    “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.

    4. ChatGPT + Deep Research Mode

    When you need to go deep—not fast.

    • Why it works: “Deep Research” lets GPT generate long-form, structured reports, pulling from live sources when enabled.
    • Great for: TAM analysis, diligence reports, technical overviews.
    • Example prompt:

    “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.


    Final Thoughts

    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.

  • Please help #Malawi

    Please help #Malawi

    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 Salanje

    Amidst 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,
    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.

    Via Whatsapp
  • My robotic future

    My robotic future

    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.

    don't be a robot
    “Don’t be a robot”

    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.

  • Chiperoni weather

    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.

    summer time
    Summer time


  • I attended Medien-Barcamp 2019 – my notes and comments – #medienbc

    Yesterday, I set my alarm to 6 am and jumped on the 7:33 train to Zürich-Oerlikon. On a Saturday. To attend a barcamp on media.

    If you are unfamiliar with the concept of barcamps, a barcamp is a conference that organizes the talks by itself, on the day, Someone provides some rooms and infrastructure such as wifi and screens. And they send out invites via Twitter and other social media channels.

    And that’s how i found my way to #medienbc, the event’s hashtag.

    In yesterday’s case, the Medien-Barcamp organizers had access to the rooms of SRF, the Swiss public radio and TV station, in Zürich.

    It’s not my first barcamp. I’ve attended many and even presented topics at some. Yesterday I was in listening mode.

    #medienbc Medien-Barcamp 2019

    Here’s a brief recap of the talks that I attended:

    First, I attended a talk by Markus on Voice User Interfaces. He provided an excellent intro to the rise of voice. He says many new jobs are being created in this space. And I made a mental note to look up SSML.

    Fabian and David invited us to discuss how to get more “old” people engaged on social media. The discussion covered a lot of ground:

    • The decline in journalistic quality,
    • The change in speed,
    • The fact that today journalists have access to less proofreading, fact checking and editorial staff than ever,
    • Questions like do users want to see and interact with company content on Facebook (apparently yes, 1 attendee described how a Facebook ad influenced her decision to buy).

    Next, I listened to Vincenzo talk about the challenges and learnings of setting up an email newsletter for a small regional newspaper. A very honest and useful talk. His newspaper uses a tool called Revue, by a Dutch startup, cos it’s even simpler than Mailchimp.

    #medienbc Medien-Barcamp 2019

    I peeked into the session on no-budget video production. I would like to learn more about this.

    #medienbc Medien-Barcamp 2019

    I listened to a talk on analytics. Not new for me, but I was curious to see SimilarWeb. It looks a lot like SEMRush.

    We looked at the stats for Nau.ch that had just announced it is now making a profit. The stats showed Nau.ch is investing in organic search. Markus recommended that journalists do keyword research for their articles. I would think that is obvious by now.

    #medienbc Medien-Barcamp 2019

    In the last session of the day, I got valuable advice on how to prepare to speak in front of audience or take part in an interview. In my own words:

    • Stand firmly. Before you start presenting, assure yourself that you are standing firmly on the ground and that it will not disappear beneath you.
    • Find ways to relax and stand in an open, welcoming position, e.g. take deep breaths of air, yawn, make funny faces, turn into a loud and noisy monster shortly before your gig.
    • Remind yourself that you are valuable, e.g. imagine you were given a really expensive diamond worth more than 100 thousand CHF and walk thru the busy train station in Bern.
    • Prepare and know the content of your presentation. If you know your topic well, you will be persuasive.
    • It’s about your attitude and posture.
    #medienbc Medien-Barcamp 2019

    Thank you to the organisers and participants for an enjoyable and fulfilling event. Good food, awesome location, great speakers. I like barcamp sessions cos we can leave out the sales speak and dig deeper. I feel excited and encouraged.

    #medienbc Medien-Barcamp 2019
    #medienbc Medien-Barcamp 2019
  • Slides: SEO for small business websites

    Here are my slides from my recent Women in Digital talk in Basel. I made them “resource-full” with lots of background links.

    The session was interactive from the start. Lots of questions throughout. Wow. I think the topic hit a nerve.

    Notes:

    SEO for small business websites

    How do you get found in an increasingly busy and complex online search market?
    Are you a small business owner looking to get started with SEO? Already got a site up but the traffic is low? In my presentation I discussed key requirements for a web presence and how to stay focussed.

    Intro

    Be nimble, fast, smart – use your smallness as an advantage

    “Small businesses can compete with large companies if they keep in mind that search engine optimization is a marathon, not a sprint.”

    1) Learn the basics of SEO

    • Read “Intro to SEO” guidelines (MOZ, Backlinko, Google)
    • Take an online course

    2) Do your marketing homework!

    • What segment are you trying to reach?
    • Who is your potential client?
    • What is your core message?
    • How would you present your services/products in a telephone call/face-to-face meeting?
    • What kind of words does your potential client use when referring to your services/products?

    Carry out:

    • Customer Interviews
    • Keyword Research

    See also my previous blog post on SEO for B2B services and products

    3) Does your site match the intended purpose? Does it answer your client’s question?

    Google looks at your site as a whole, as well as on a per-page-basis. Keep in mind that SEO is evolving. There are lots of additional items you need to grapple with.

    • Usability
    • Engagement
    • RankBrain
    • Search Intent
    • Structured Data
    • Voice Search

    4) On-page factors

    • Page title/ meta descriptions
    • Internal links
    • Unique page, url, page title, meta description and content (don’t copy content from other sites or make duplicates of your own)
    • Alt image tag
    • Heading 1 and 2
    • Related terms

    5) Local

    • Claim or create a Google My Business listing.

    I expect Google to offer more local search results, based on location and tailored to smartphone sensor data.

    6) Technical SEO

    In 2018 technical aspects will re-gain importance. Test your page speed. Clean up crawl errors and duplicates.

    • Fast web hosting
    • Page speed – Get rid of bloat in your CMS
    • Make sure pages get indexed – Google Search Console is your friend
    • Minimize of crawl errors

    7) Plan your content

    • Editorial calendar with deadlines
    • Quality content
    • If you have a blog, blog at regular intervals. Freshness is (still) a ranking factor. Blogging helps you to find out what works or what doesn’t

    Text fonts and page layout matter:

    “On an average web page, users read 20% of the words.”

    Include:

    • Heading 2s
    • Bullet lists
    • Images

    8) Promote your site

    • Regular email updates/newsletter, e.g using Mailchimp
    • Content amplification – share on social media (Social Media link isn’t a ranking factor but it helps with getting attention; getting indexed by the Google bot; building a community of followers)
    • Network online and offline – present at barcamps, meetups

    9) Measure. Add improvements. Repeat.

    A page isn’t getting enough traffic? Why? Thin content? Go back and try and figure out why. Test how you can improve? Add Heading 2s. Add an additional paragraph.

    “What kind of web content would you find useful?”

    Ask your clients for website feedback.

    Or if it isn’t working, maybe you’ll need to re-think your marketing approach?

    Links:

    SEO basics for entrepreneurs: Easy tips for optimizing your website

    Small business SEO: Your questions answered

    How to Rank in 2018: The SEO Checklist – Whiteboard Friday

    How Google Gives Us Insight into Searcher Intent Through the Results – Whiteboard Friday

    Free add-on: Answers to the questions on Slides 9 and 10

    Before my talk, I asked some entrepreneurs in my community what SEO questions they have, what challenges they face. Here are some answers of the top of my head:

    Question 1: I don’t want to invent the wheel, so what basics do I need to know about SEO or do myself?

    My answer: I recommend reading Moz’s beginners guide to SEO. If you are publishing your own website content, please read thru the section on on-page ranking factors. On-page changes are the easiest to influence and take care of.

    The other thing to watch out for is that your small business website follows best practises.

    If you are using a content management system, make sure the site is fast. Try to reduce CMS bloat as much as possible.

    Check that each piece of content is accessible via only one URL.

    Duplicate content issues may arise when Google can access the same piece of content via multiple URLs. Without one clear version, pages will compete with one another unnecessarily.

    In developer’s eyes, a page is unique if it has a unique ID in the website’s database, while for search engines the URL is a unique identifier. A developer should be reminded that each piece of content should be accessed via only one URL.

    (Source: Strategic SEO Decisions to Make Before Website Design and Build)

    Plan your site structure. Decide on languages and regions.

    Question 2: What are the top 3 mistakes that I have to avoid?

    My answer: There’s lots of things that can go wrong.

      1. Avoid vague, sprawling websites with lots of sub-menus and thin content, especially if you are a small company. Put your client at the center, instead of your product/department/company achievements. Always ask yourself what search query does my site want to answer, what is the purpose, what keyphrases do my clients use.
      2. Not filling in the page title and meta description tags with a useful summary of your web page. The page title is the first part of your web page that web visitors see in the search engine result pages and it influences your SEO. Yet, very often you see “homepage”. The meta description helps web visitors decide to click on a link or not. On-page SEO is easier to influence and change.
      3. Get the basics up and running. Unstable, flaky web hosting or a broken user experience will hurt your web reputation. And make SEO harder.

     

    Question 3: Is SEO and web design totally connected, or can I outsource this to separate providers?

    My answer: Web design and SEO are connected by the words usability and user experience. Google looks at engagement metrics. If web visitors land on your web page and leave after a split second, despite having good SEO content, then it might be due to your web design. You don’t need to assign design and development to the same provider. The times when designers wanted to use Adobe Flash for their designs are thankfully over. If your website design follows common web design patterns, you’ll be fine. Make sure the fonts are easy to read on different devices

    Question 4: How do I select an SEO provider?

    My answer: Ask lots of questions. Be wary if they promise too much. Discuss your business goals.

    Via Moz here are some questions to ask:

    • What process are you going to use to accomplish my business goals, and why do you use those particular processes?
    • What is your communication and reporting process? How often? What metrics do you report on? How do those match up to the business goals?
    • What do you do when things aren’t working?

    Question 5: How regular should I, or my provider, work actively on the SEO to keep the good results? Or: what is my decay-time?

    My answer: It depends on the purpose of your website. If you are building a webshop or an e-commerce app, you will need to invest a lot more energy, time, resources, and money than if you are a consultant for a service that is highly in demand.

    As a newcomer, you’ll need to build a web reputation.

    If I’m building a consultancy business, I’d start off with blocking off 2 SEO time-slots per week.
    A typical, regular SEO content activity is for instance

      1. writing a new blog post and promoting it within my community
      2. re-visiting a core service page to add a new paragraph

     

    Question 6: Should I do SEO in every language of my website?

    My answer: Yes. Without adequate SEO keyphrase analysis, the translation doesn’t perform well. After translation, you should check and adjust headings and tags to match your primary and related keyphrases.

    Question 7: Is SEO scalable? Meaning: if I have set up my SEO properly, that with every added search word, I have proportionally more results? Or do I have diminishing returns, every time I add a search word, or content improvement? Where do I reach the optimum in money and effect?

    My answer: If you’ve built a good web reputation and found the topics that your clients are interested in, it will get easier. Please note: SEO is a mid-term or long-term investment. There’s a risk that Google will change its algorithm and something that worked 6 months ago may no longer work now. Google is investing heavily into artificial intelligence and in some ways this will level the playing field. I would focus on finding the topics and questions that your clients are looking for. Build a website that helps clients get their jobs done.

    Question 8: How do I measure success with SEO? Proof that it works!

    My answer: This is the huge benefit of digital marketing. It is measurable. Before starting any SEO project, decide on your measure of success and discuss in detail with your SEO provider.

    Again, consider your business goals: What’s the purpose of your website? Do you want to get more contact form submissions? More downloads? More shopping cart submissions? Measure a conversion rate that is important for your business success.

    I would avoid vanity goals like “more traffic”.

    Question 9: What are the content activities I should do that help with better SEO results? Like: weekly blog publication, news items, reposting other people’s content”¦ etc?

    My answer: Blogging is a good way to get started and to find what resonates and what doesn’t. If you have relevant news or if you are attending an event, I would also share these. I’ve moved away from “content curation” (= reposting other people’s content) for B2B purposes. Curating content is time consuming. If you see a piece of content that fits, I would quote it but try to write my own version. Consider other content types such as interviews, videos, audio podcasts. And build good pillar pages on your core topics.

    And once you have created good content, give it as much promotion as your budget and resources allow.

  • Referral traffic from social media has dropped

    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.

    Lucky chiperoni.ch. It doesn’t need to grow traffic.

    Have a look at my photos on Flickr.

    walk this way

  • Notes and photos from #UXcampch

    Some notes and photos from Saturday’s UX camp in Zürich:

    Adrian Sameli took us thru the process of building infographics. His tip on tools to use: Excel and Adobe Illustrator. He tried one or two infographic tools but didn’t like them much. In the discussion we looked at d3js.org.

    d3js.org data-driven documents

    Next, I attended a session on atomic design. Design systems not pages.
    Developers need to agree early on with designers on the semantics of the smallest, small and medium building blocks. These then are used in templates to build pages.

    Brad. Frost. Who?

    Background reading: Atomic design by Brad Frost.

    The discussion after the presentation got straight to the daily challenges. Questions like

    • How do you get developers to use the existing pattern? Nobody reads documentation. In an ideal world, developer and designer sit in the same room and discuss the initial elements and define the markup. In real life the UX team may be much smaller than the developer team and might be geographically distributed, etc.
    • Is anybody using Pattern Lab in real-life projects? Very few projects get paid to build a pattern library. Pattern Lab is really more for larger projects due to the effort involved. How can this be improved?

    Next, I listened to Simone Reichlin talk about the RITE method vs traditional user tests.

    Main idea: Often you see some obvious problems in your UX design after your first or second test person. Instead of going thru the whole test with the remaining test participants, change the prototype with your improvement between tests. And then continue testing your changed prototype.
    Main requirement: Designer needs to watch the user test. This shortens discussion time afterwards.
    Tools used: Sketch and inVision.

    Don’t change too much. Follow Medlock’s classification.

    Want to try RITE? Start with the traditional method first. Only use RITE after you have gained some experience in carrying out user tests.

    Next:
    A very good session by Vincent van der Lubbe on creating space in conversations. And we even got a reference sheet to take home. The hard part is putting this into practise.

    listening to Vincent at @uxcampch

    Fidel Thomet presented his B.A. project, Flaneur.io. It’s a Chrome extension to capture digital findings in form of text fragments gathered while browsing the web.

    Information Flaneur = Flanieren in grossen Datenmengen

    We briefly looked at Marian Dörk’s PivotPaths. This podcast by datastori.es was recommended.

    Unknown, useless fact about me:
    Once upon a time, I had to write a uni term paper on Walter Benjamin and Paris in the 19th Century.

    My snapshots are on Flickr.

    Disclaimer:
    All mistakes are my own. Please let me know if I got something really wrong. I’m here to learn. These notes help me to reflect and learn.

  • Responsive web design and low and expensive bandwidth

    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.

    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.

    (…) more than 12 percent of the world’s Web traffic comes from mobile devices. This fraction is significantly higher in nations with higher smartphone penetration and is expected to increase notably in the next few years as adoption picks up in Asia, Latin America and Africa.

    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.

  • Writing for the web – assessing my own writing style

    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.

    Why 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.

  • Keep this link: “How to launch anything”

    I enjoyed reading this article by Nathan Barry:

    “How to launch anything”

    Recommended read.

    space invaders

    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.

  • Successful blogging?

    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:

    Enter your email address:

    Delivered by 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.

    looking closely

  • Social media sending less traffic, less clicks?

    While analyzing website analytics on this blog and on other sites, I’ve noticed that, in year-on-year comparisons, website links within social media streams on Facebook and Twitter are getting less clicks. Despite more followers and more content activity.

    Reasons?

    I think many of us are nearing saturation point.

    Sharing and liking functions are everywhere. More networks. More info. On top of all of the other to do lists and requirements and optimizations and check lists and productivity methods. The time I spend on browsing and exploring has decreased. Meanwhile, the supply of web content is infinite.

    Gone are the days where I was in social media discovery mode. I haven’t downloaded Vine. Or tried Highlight. I didn’t even visit Pinterest since the re-design.

    In addition, Facebook decides where to display posts, based on some secret algorithm based on some secret mixture of likes and previous behaviour. Maybe nobody sees my posts to start with cos i don’t have any fans/likes?

    Another reason is that very often I no longer need to click the link to go to the site. I can read the article in my preferred app or reading environment.

    A surfeit of social media?

    Maybe. But IMHO there is also less interaction and engagement. The excitement of interacting online is no longer new. It’s pervasive. Ubiquitous.

    And there’s the very real fear of losing privacy. And trolls. And spam. And corporations owning and reselling our data.

    Free and open

    Let’s not take our connected world for granted. Let’s not forget the benefits of connecting and linking with others.

    Let’s acknowledge and thank our sources. Simple things like leaving a comment or adding a backlink. Creating and adapting rather than consuming.

    What does it mean for communications at your day job?

    First and foremost, do not assume that anybody is interested in your press releases, product announcements, emails or company fan page. We’re not. Remember, everybody has a tight schedule.

    If you want to fail, assume they’re interested.

    Give more than you take.

    Make it easy to find and read your message. You need to be aware of best practises for good content, usability, on-page SEO, online advertising.

    Be flexible. Try different distribution channels. If you think your potential audience is on Linkedin or on Pinterest, try it. Try new things. IMHO, you’ll need a mixed strategy of traditional, email-based and social media channels.

    Keep playing. Keep testing. Keep iterating.

    Related articles:
    http://www.mediabistro.com/alltwitter/b2b-social-traffic_b35539

    http://blog.kissmetrics.com/email-crushes-social-media/

    All The Marketing Statistics You Need To Know

  • Success theater is boring

    I recommended reading this article:

    Twitter : nchenga: "It's boring." http:::t.co:UXaVF5Pb

    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.

    2013: The Year of the Online Writer

    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.