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marți, 6 noiembrie 2012

Posted: 06 Nov 2012 08:56 AM PST

Narrowing down all the fantastic posts featured on Freshly Pressed in a month to just ten is a challenge, but one that we relish — it reminds us of how much great content you’ve published, and of the depth and diversity of the WordPress.com community. Here are some of October’s standouts:

Silk Road Ramblings: Lost Empires, Gobi Fugitives, and The Secret Meth Habit of Marco Polo

I have conquered the Silk Road—venturing through the wild frontiers of Central Asia all the way to the dynastic heart of China, through a land of unforgiving beauty and a blood-splattered past; a land of lost empires, camel caravans, mummies, treasure-filled caves, and Imperial tombs. I am a modern-day Marco Polo, except I can't grow impressive facial hair or call people 'Orientals' or 'barbarian mongrels'

We read many great posts about travel each month and scope out tons of great photography, but Backpackology gave us a rare fusion of beautiful imagery, hilarious storytelling, and accessible history. The combination of irreverent writing and deep respect for the history and culture of China had our eyes glued to the post. We didn’t just want to travel there — we wanted to travel there with the author as our guide.

Defining Crazy

Getting away with these things is a privilege of the well behaved, sane, and normal. The moment Dr. Doctor diagnoses (or even intimates) a Condition, you lose the right to behave badly. Suddenly, those spending sprees start to look like Mania. A hot temper resembles Emotional Disregulation. Moodiness fuels suspicions of Bipolar Disorder. Every move is scrutinized by doctors, therapists, loved ones. Dealing with a mental maladaption means living under a microscope.

This piece on the imperfect process of diagnosing and treating mental illnesses struck a chord with us, and with you — the post has over 300 comments. Trying to find balance in an area of health that’s still largely trial-and-error is nearly as challenging as dealing with the underlying disorder itself, something that came through loud and clear in this searching, candid post.

Interview With a Semicolon

Gething: You sound bitter.

Semicolon: I am bitter. I feel angry; I feel hurt; I feel betrayed. In speech we use pauses and intonation to convey meaning. Why can't we rely on perfectly acceptable conventions of punctuation, including the semicolon, for the printed word?

The much-maligned and oft-misused semicolon gets his (her?) fifteen minutes of fame in a witty post that immediately caught our eye. Blogger Tom Gething gave the venerable punctuation mark the opportunity to make a spirited defense of its continued usage. Hundreds of Likes, comments, and shares later, we feel confident in saying that the semicolon has more popular support that first suspected.

Oh Johnny . . . Honey. No. Just No.

His artist statement says that he "purposely does not denote a tribal affiliation to the majority of my subjects, rather, I attempt to give the paintings an authentic appearance, provoke interest, satisfy my audience's sensibilities of the subject without the constraints of having to adhere to historical accuracy." If that sounds like a load of wank to you, it's because it is. Sattler's "innate interest in the world's indigenous cultures" amounts to nothing more than cultural appropriation to create an exotic 'Other.'

Among the many Johnny Depp fans awaiting the release of The Lone Ranger, starring Depp as sidekick Tonto, blogger Alex offers a sharp critical perspective. Eschewing cultural criticism-speak for blunt language, she exposes and then picks apart the ways this portrayal of a Native American plays into tired stereotypes that re-victimize those communities all over again.

Going Home

Photographer Steve McCurry, best known for the iconic National Geographic cover photo of a young Afghan girl, one of the world’s most recognizable images, makes a home on WordPress.com. He organizes his stunning, saturated images by theme, interspersing them with relevant quotes and his own musings. Going Home collects images of the structures we call “home” and the people who really make them so. Hopping from Russia to Tibet to Peru to Mali, we couldn’t look away from these compelling photos.

Where we sand and stain the floor. But first try to kill each other.

I'm sure I don't need to point out—that it is OBVIOUSLY not my fault that the actual stain was significantly different from the sample. Right? This is obvious to you. To anyone, really. Except to Paul. To him I was the wrench in his plan. And therefore the bane of his entire existence. And? When that happens? I think: oh really? This is the bane of your existence? You have not seen anything yet.

Anyone who’s ever attempted any kind of home renovation project (or even just disagreed with a partner about what color to paint a wall) will find themselves somewhere in this post, which follows the author from outrage to madness to surrender. In a classic example of how the blogosphere encourages schadenfreude, her exploits had us laughing all the way through . . . and swearing to never take on another home-improvement project.

My Dark Secret

At that time I was diagnosed with Systemic Lupus. I was severely sick in the past, and my doctor was telling me the 'worst case scenario' that I would be on bed rest the entire last half of the pregnancy. I ran it through my mind, prayed, became numb, even put off the first appointment. But I didn't want it to draw out, I did what I thought I had to do: went to the clinic. I had an abortion.

We have nothing but admiration for bloggers who put themselves on the line in the name of healing and supporting others. We can only imagine the courage it took to publish this post about the decision to have an abortion and how it continues to haunt, knowing what a divisive subject it is. It was an emotional post to read, and it’s wonderful to see the outpouring of support and fascinating (and civil) conversation it sparked.

It’s Debatable

Democrats? Republicans? They're just two parents in the middle of a nasty divorce, and you have to decide who you're going to live with for the next four years. They're so busy hating each other and trying to take the biggest piece of pie that they have forgotten that they love you at all. And you're not sure you like them, either.

Here in the US, it’s hard to go thirty seconds without seeing, reading, or hearing something about the presidential election. While we read a lot of interesting political analysis on WordPress.com over the past month, this simple post comparing the acrimony of the campaigns to a squabbling family resonated with us.

Getting Old: The Side Effects of Aging

Getting older often means allowing novelty to be slowly superseded by nostalgia. You start talking about "the good old days" which was a time when music was better and people had their priorities in line. It was also a time that never existed.

A topic we can all relate to — check. Cartoons — check. Biting wit — check. Good advice — check. This post had us laughing at ourselves, which is a uniquely satisfying (and educational!) kind of laughter. This look at the lessons learned from aging also skewered some of the preconceptions we all hold about what getting older means. We cracked up while also resolving to buck the trends toward dogma, technological illiteracy, and high-waisted pants.

Ode to the Blogosphere

We were charmed by this poem extolling the joys of being part of the blogosphere, and so were you.

Social media?
Yes,
but not like Facebook
and not like Twitter.

Blogging is people
taking the time
to write
or photograph
or paint
their lives,
their loves,
their passions.

She nailed exactly why we love being a part of this world: finding others who share our passions, learning about lives drastically different from own own, sharing our stories, making connections. Reading through the poem and all your comments gave us the warm fuzzies, both as bloggers and as people who make blogging possible for others.

What were your favorite October reads? Sound off!

Want more? Read the latest Freshly Pressed picks; check out our writing challenges, photo challenges, and other blogging tips and inspiration at The Daily Post; visit our Recommended Blogs; and browse the most popular topics in the reader.

For editorial guidelines for Freshly Pressed, read: So You Want To Be Freshly Pressed.

The WordPress Bestseller List

Posted: 05 Nov 2012 03:57 PM PST

Move over, New York Times bestseller list.

Millions of people across the globe turn to WordPress to build their websites and blogs, and we’re proud to say WordPress is home to many bestselling writers and winners of prestigious literary awards and prizes, including the Pulitzer Prize. In other words, we have our own bestseller list!

Take a look at the bestsellers and award winners who use WordPress — and be sure to scroll down to read about the notable works and WordPress-powered websites of twelve authors we’ve handpicked from this impressive list:

Jami Attenberg
Released this month, Attenberg’s third novel, The Middlesteins, is a story of marriage, new and old love, family, and our culture’s obsession with food. In addition to her novels, Attenberg has contributed both fiction and nonfiction to many outlets, from the New York Times and Salon to The Awl and numerous anthologies and zines. We love that she took all of the photographs on her site (except the one of herself!).

Margaret Atwood
We’re thrilled that Atwood, one of the most honored authors of our time, has a blog hosted on WordPress.com. (Hooray for the Pilcrow theme!) As you scroll through her posts, you’ll find a surprising mix of content: notes on publishing conferences, poetry, ideas, and even galleries of personal photographs. Just like her active Twitter handle, the blog adds an extra dimension to the author’s public persona.

Lauren Beukes
Winner of the 2011 Arthur C. Clarke Award for Zoo City — and shortlisted for various other awards — Beukes is a South African novelist, comics writer, and screenwriter (she’s currently adapting Zoo City into a screenplay). We dig the simple yet modern design, with a splash of yellow: it’s bold, fresh, and inviting.

Michael Chabon
We love poking around on the pages of Pulitzer Prize-winning author Michael Chabon’s website. On the About page, you get lost in an entertaining timeline of his youth, educational and romantic pursuits, and other morsels of information, and the Uncollected section is an archive of literary introductions, political pieces, and other essays you’ve probably never read.

Junot Diaz
Clean and elegant, Diaz’s website reminds us of his simple book covers — bold black type and abstract imagery against a plain, light-colored background — suggesting the power of his words. Winner of the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Critics Circle Award in 2008 for The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, Diaz maintains a minimal site, though keeps his interviews and publishing news section up to date.

Anthony Doerr
No stranger to prestigious awards, author Anthony Doerr has won four O. Henry Prizes for his short fiction, and has received two Pushcart Prizes, the Rome Prize, and numerous other awards and fellowships. Essays and science columns can also be found, respectively, at The Morning News and the Boston Globe. We enjoy the variety of writing on his site and especially like his ever-changing footers devoted to biological classification. (Take a peek — you’re guaranteed to learn something new.)

Tim Ferriss
“The rules of reality can be bent. It just requires thinking in different terms.” You’ll find this advice on the blog of Tim Ferriss, a business innovator and bestselling author of The 4-Hour Workweek, a guide to lifestyle design. His blog, ranked number one among the top 150 management and leadership blogs and shortlisted by Inc. Magazine, is regularly updated with a mix of inspirational and practical content and out-of-the-box thinking.

Laura Hillenbrand
For 42 weeks, Hillenbrand’s first book, Seabiscuit, stayed at number one on the New York Times bestseller list. Unbroken, a World War II biography of Louis Zamperini, has spent nearly 100 weeks — and counting — on the list. On her website, you can listen to an audio excerpt, read about Unbroken‘s characters, and read discussion questions.

Salman Rushdie
British Indian novelist Salman Rushdie is the author of 11 novels, including Midnight’s Children and The Satanic Verses; his books have been translated into over 40 languages. The featured slider on the home page highlights some of his work, and the imagery evokes his magical realism style and themes of East and West. His newest book, Joseph Anton: A Memoir, was released last month.

John Scalzi
A WordPress.com VIP blog since October 2008, Whatever is science fiction author and online writer John Scalzi’s long-running blog, which was created in September 1998. It’s one of the most visited personal blogs on the web, and is generally updated daily (and sometimes more than once a day, which we love!). Here, you’ll find anything and everything, from books and politics to technology and photography (his outdoor shots of Ohio are lovely).

Rebecca Skloot
Skloot’s first book, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, tells the story of Henrietta Lacks, whose cells were cultured to create an immortal cell line for medical research without her knowledge. An important piece of nonfiction on ethics, science, and reporting, it was named by more than 60 critics as one of the best books of 2010 and is required reading at many schools and universities. Her site has teaching resources, a HeLa Forum to engage the conversation between the scientific community and the public, and other extras like videos.

Gene Luen Yang
We love the color and energy of Gene Luen Yang’s site, which complements his comics and graphic novels. In 1996, he began self-publishing his own comics under Humble Comics, and ten years later published American Born Chinese, which became the first graphic novel to be nominated for a National Book Award. Yang is an advocate for using comics and graphic novels in the classroom, and we like reading about his projects and efforts that promote this education.

Feeling inspired by this crop of literary powerhouses? Here’s a tip for November: participate in National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) and write a 50,000-word novel by November 30. Learn more on the NaNoWriMo website.

[New post] Email: Friend of Foe? [INFOGRAPHIC]

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45 PSD Format Icons in HQ – Fresh and Free

Posted: 06 Nov 2012 04:29 AM PST

(Powered by LaunchBit)]

(Powered by LaunchBit)] In today’s rapidly advancing technological world, there is immense need of high quality work as that is the only chance of safe survival, high quality and original content, of course. Just like any other design element, PSD format also needs to be high quality so that the overall project turns out good. [...]

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You Cannot Win A Race Standing Still. Yet So Many Brands Try To. How To Avoid It.

Posted: 05 Nov 2012 06:17 AM PST

"You cannot win a race by standing still". When you see it written down it looks really obvious, and yet so many businesses and brands do end up trying to compete by standing still. This article explores why companies fall into this trap, and offers some tips on how to ensure that you do not try and compete by standing still.

If you are running any race and you stop and stand still, you will let your competitors run ahead. It is impossible for you to win. So why do so many companies and brands lose by doing just that? Usually it is because they are not constantly changing, and assuming that the reason that they have succeeded in winning an order, or closing a sale, today will be the right and best way to keep succeeding.

The world of sport teaches us that to stay in contention you have to constantly do things better than you are doing today.

There are at least 2 examples from the London 2012 Olympics that drives this point home very strongly:

The popular Team GB swimmer Rebecca Adlington only won a Bronze Medal in London 2012, even though she actually swam much faster than when she won a Gold in Beijing.
In the Olympics Men's 800 Metre Final the runner (Andrew Osagie) that came last would have won the Gold Medal at the last 3 Olympics with the time he ran the race in.

What does this teach us about competing in the world of business?

When you are "the winner" you become the focus of attention. You become the focal point and target that the competition are looking to beat. When you are coming up from behind, you have the capacity to surprise and do the unexpected as there is less focus upon you. Once you succeed, you become a target and resources are actively spent on beating you.
The Competition will be actively analysing what you did, and are doing, to achieve success. They will design plans to replicate, do better or out-manoeuvre you.
The Competition will focus on where you are susceptible, and where your weaknesses are.
The Competition are not going to be constrained and limited by "what has worked" and "if it in not broke, don't fix it mentality". They will not be constrained in their thinking and cautious to change their "formula" for success.

So how do you ensure that you keep changing and competing better and more effectively?

In order to ensure that you keep changing and competing more effectively, the secret is to avoid focusing on your personal best. You must keep a focus on those that you compete with. Just as athletes are less concerned with their personal best but what their competitors personal bests are, so should brands be. It is no good beating your personal best if that falls behind what others are achieving. Unfortunately this is where many companies go wrong, and the business planning process encourages and reinforces this flawed approach.

The Annual Business Planning Process does a lot to encourage managers to focus on incremental "personal best" performances.

This activity is, in my view, one of the main causes in laying down a plan to lose the race. In the annual planning process the focus is on sales and profit, and so managers are more comfortable and are usually rewarded on building in steady stable growth numbers. Targets that show steady and achievable improvement on past performance. This is the equivalent of delivering a good new "personal best", ignoring what is happening in the market around you,

There are 3 key actions that you need to take:

1. Do not benchmark and measure your performance based on improvements to yourself. For example, many Western companies make the mistake in fast emerging markets like China and India as they get excited and pleased with growths of say 20%. This is staggering growth for Western Minded companies versus their established markets. But the markets are usually growing double that, and so you are building in falling behind.
2. Incremental improvement over what you did in the past to deliver your brand's "personal best" is unlikely to be enough. You need to ensure you have plans that will ensure that you are improving faster than the competition.
3. Focus not on what the competition are achieving now, but on what they are capable of or could do. Both Rebecca Adlington and Andrew Osagie found that out at London 2012. They beat their personal bests, but that did not matter as all the competition had got much better and faster. Blockbuster, the video and DVD rental company, did not focus on how to deliver content in alternative forms. They focused on DVD rental and maximising that. They did not focus on what competition was capable of doing, and so have been hammered by on-demand and streaming of content.

Summary

You can not win by standing still. You cannot be focused on just on improving your personal best performance and methods. You need to focus on what your competitors are capable of doing, just as world class athletes do. They know that speeds will be getting faster and jumps getting longer or higher. It is part of their attitude and ethos. Brand Owners need to embrace that more. Incremental personal best improvements are not going to be enough to win every race.

Action

Challenge yourself: are you focused on improving your past performance (sales, profits etc) or truly focused on what it will take to beat what the competition is capable of?

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Images: "Businessman run to success / Shutterstock.com"

The post You Cannot Win A Race Standing Still. Yet So Many Brands Try To. How To Avoid It. appeared first on Tweak Your Biz.

HOW You Say WHAT You Say... And WHERE You Say It

Posted: 05 Nov 2012 05:44 AM PST

Elevator pitches / Marketing materials / Introductions / Business cards / Proposals / Letters / Websites / Social media

What do all these things have in common?

They all represent you and your business. They act as a calling card, a reference, a reminder, a point of contact for people to connect with and contact you. Get your messaging right and you're memorable, appropriately tailored and connected to the right audience. Get it wrong and you're simply wasting your time and money. If you're a little sketchy on this detail, then listen up [or, more accurately, read on!].

Start afresh

Sometimes we can become very entrenched in our businesses [a touch of the 'woods-for-the-trees' syndrome]. It's perfectly natural, business is personal - it's our creation and betimes it can be hard to distance ourselves from what we think we should be saying about what we do as opposed to what we actually should.

Take a step back from your business; does your messaging succinctly and clearly illustrate your value-add? Do you convert a strong message to the right segments? Which marketing channels do you use to convert that message? Do you use the right mix of media? Or are you hanging around the wrong places trying to attract the right clients?

A simple equation

Want a simple way to remember effective marketing practice?

Segment + Message + Channel = Sales Output

It's fair to say that there is some groundwork required in getting to the point of this equation however the key is in remembering it and constantly evaluating whether it is being used. Successful messaging and marketing requires targeting, clarity and customer intelligence. It also requires strategy and a long-term view. Don't be short-termistic in your approach as you'll suffer poor results and frustration [and plunder budgets too!].

Are you fishing where the fishes are?

Be brutal with your marketing strategy. Are you fishing where the fishes are? Or codding yourself [see what I did there?] by toying with a marketing mix which is not in any way tailored to your market segments? In the same way that you must audit your business's finance and operational successes and failures, your marketing requires just as much attention. That's why target and focus play such significant roles.

How you say what you say... focus on your NOSE

Pitching and introducing your offering can often feel like a painful experience, not least because many business people aren't exactly radiating joy when asked 'what they do'. The reality? If you can't succinctly communicate your offering - the what, the why and the how, don't expect to generate any interest from your target audience. It all comes down to your NOSE... Or Needs, Outcomes, Solutions and Evidence. A helpful view: what do I do? Why would it be beneficial to xx customer [being your target customer] and how it is beneficial / useful/ a solutions-provider? Don't forget to illustrate with evidence or examples... we all like validation.

Is your business sending the right message?

The ultimate question you have to ask yourself [following the other steps], is whether your business really is sending the right message to the right people in the right places. It might sound like a simplification of sorts, but ultimately, if you can't stand over your market positioning and the types of marketing communications methods you're using, then you are probably going to continue wasting time and money on a strategy which just doesn't work. Full stop.

Make time to evaluate what your marketing activities are producing - remember marketing's role is to make selling [more-or-less] superfluous, so at the very least you should be able to validate and monitor what is working. More importantly, it's key to understand what isn't working and quickly reassess its worth.

Don't make your messaging a casualty of no-review paralysis; review it regularly and ensure your business is sending the right message.

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Images: "Marketing Words / Shutterstock.com"

The post HOW You Say WHAT You Say... And WHERE You Say It appeared first on Tweak Your Biz.

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marți, 6 noiembrie 2012

[New post] Create Harmony In Your Bedroom [INFOGRAPHIC]

Create Harmony In Your Bedroom [INFOGRAPHIC]

[New post] How To Create Websites [INFOGRAPHIC]

How To Create Websites [INFOGRAPHIC]

How To Get People To Your Website

How To Get People To Your Website

Silk Road Ramblings: Lost Empires, Gobi Fugitives, and The Secret Meth Habit of Marco Polo

Defining Crazy

Interview With a Semicolon

Oh Johnny . . . Honey. No. Just No.

Going Home

Where we sand and stain the floor. But first try to kill each other.

My Dark Secret

It’s Debatable

Getting Old: The Side Effects of Aging

Ode to the Blogosphere

[New post] Email: Friend of Foe? [INFOGRAPHIC]

Email: Friend of Foe? [INFOGRAPHIC]

Dzineblog360

Dzineblog360

Bloggertone updates

Bloggertone updates

The world of sport teaches us that to stay in contention you have to constantly do things better than you are doing today.

What does this teach us about competing in the world of business?

So how do you ensure that you keep changing and competing better and more effectively?

The Annual Business Planning Process does a lot to encourage managers to focus on incremental "personal best" performances.