The Nally Notes

Why Are Social Media Meet-Ups Important?

The inimitable Ted Murphy is putting together Izeafest for Orlando in October. He's bringing a whole lot of social media people together in Orlando for learning and activities. (Maybe geekfest would be a better name for it...)

Hey, don't we all hang out together on the internet--on places like Twitter--all day, everyday? What on earth do we need a get-together for? Isn't that kind of redundant? Actually, no.

Hours on the internet, emails and tweets and direct messages, can't replace looking someone in the eye. They can't replace the intimate back-and-forth of real live conversation for building relationships and trust between people. It's at events like Izeafest that internet friends become real friends.

And that is why I want to go to Izeafest. To turn internet friends into real friends - and maybe make even more of both kinds.

(And LauriePooh can be my first new Izeafest friend if I win the tickets to it that she is giving away on her blog...)

Wanted: Full-time Blogger (for free)

Since I formed my media company and registered it as an LLC almost 6 months ago I've been working hard to match my websites with affiliate advertising programs that are relevant and compatible to the sites' content and readership.

But apparently, some of the highest-profile advertisers in some of my areas of interest expect me to work for them for free - or simply aren't interested in my readers' business - because they won't admit me to their affiliate programs.

I work hard on my sites. They are family-friendly. They exist to provide people with real, useful content. The advertising is on them as a way of compensating me for the huge amount of time and effort I put in creating the sites (not to mention the expenses involved).

The beauty of affiliate marketing is that if used properly, it works for everyone. I get to select programs that are appropriate for my site and that I am comfortable using. It doesn't cost my readers anything extra to compensate me for my services by clicking on one of my sites' links and giving me a cut of a purchase they are making. The advertiser gets advertising - and doesn't have to pay a dime for it unless it actually works.

So if it is a win-win situation, how come it is so hard to get into so many programs? I have been repeatedly turned down for the programs of some major advertisers on two networks I belong to, and can't even get into one whole major network despite following instructions to the letter for my application.

I understand the need to keep spammers and "adult" sites out of their networks. I don't understand what kind of favor anyone thinks they are doing their company by keeping my company out of their affiliate network. I may not appear to be a huge earner but then, you don't know what potential I have until you let me try, do you? And even if I make a company only a few dollars, as far as I know being associated with me isn't so harmful that companies need to sacrifice the future sales I could bring them to avoid it.

While I don't mind writing something sometimes that promotes a company that doesn't have an affiliate program, getting turned down by those who do has left a real sour taste in my mouth. I won't work for those companies for free. I will be avoiding whenever possible writing about those companies. Why should I write about them? They apparently think they are too good to associate with me.

Another thing that I will be doing is avoiding if at all possible spending my money with those companies. After all, if they don't think I am good enough to work with to earn them money, why should I give them the money I earn while earning other companies money? I'll take my business elsewhere, thank you. To a company who doesn't think it is too good to be associated with me.

I'm not sure what these programs think they are protecting themselves from when they turn me down, but I will tell you what they actually are protecting themselves from having: my money and my readers' money.  And in today's economy, can these companies be that picky?

Nothing Is Ever Finished

I just realized this truth about my world: nothing is ever finished. I seem to have a talent (or a passion) for taking on the types of projects that are never done. Genealogy - there's always another dead relative to dig up. Scrapbooking - there's always more pictures being taken. Websites - there's always more entries to write.

Between these projects and the churning demands of daily life, no wonder I constantly have a mile-long to-do list and lie awake at night thinking about all the things I need to do. I will never be done. The best I can hope for is under control and manageable.

I came to this realization while contemplating the launch of a new website that I want to create. I keep thinking that I will do it when I am finished building out my current sites. While going over plans for those sites today and making updates and changes to them, it dawned on me that they are constantly changing. The very nature of a website is that it isn't static.

There is always another new tool to try, design to freshen, advertising to experiment with or update, or new content to add. There is no such thing as a "finished" site when you are maintaining it.

So I've had to decide to set new goals and standards for myself. I'm going to make a list of high priority content and changes that I want to add to the existing site and then I will move on to creating the new site. Because if I don't, the new site will never happen. Because "finished" will never happen.

To SLR or not to SLR?

The Nikon d40. It's taunting me...the price continually going down, and down. But I can't quite pull the trigger on it.

Way back in the old days (I'm old enough to have those), I used a film SLR camera. My SLR was the Pentax K1000 that is still popular today to teach the basic elements of photography in many places.  But then I became a mommy and point-and-shoot seemed a better option for grabbing quick kid shots. I didn't have time anymore to practice "art" with my camera, or fuss with settings. Same thing when I changed to a digital camera several years ago. I bought a point-and-shoot. DSLR's were still very expensive then (relative to how they are now) and I didn't have time, with a two year old in the house, to learn a complicated new camera and fuss with settings on an SLR.

But now I am getting frustrated with the limitations of my point-and-shoot, even though it is a really great camera for its class. My Canon A610 takes great quality pictures but it is only 5 MP, limiting the amount of cropping that I can do in editing. And like all point-and-shoot cameras, its performance in low-light is mediocre at best, and then only if I use manual settings. I get frustrated by the camera's shutter lag trying the capture the movements of my energetic almost 5 year old daughter.

That description sounds like moving up to an SLR should be a no-brainer. But there would be a downside as well. RAW files would give me more control, but I would have to spend time processing them. My current camera is more discreet and easier to carry around than a larger SLR would be to lug. And of course there is the price: I could uprade to a better point-and-shoot than my current one for a fraction of the cost of a DSLR, and that would just get me the body and one lens. I know from past experience that once you start down that road there is always the lust for the extra flash unit, new and better glass, filters, etc. That is not so much a problem with point-and-shoots (although there are some cool teleconverters and an add-on flash available for the Canon A-series that I love!)

For now, I've convinced myself that the 6MP of the D40 just wouldn't make me happy, and the Nikons with more megapixels are out of reach financially. So I guess I will just have to wait, and watch for new models and prices to fall.

But that won't stop me from having a long Amazon wish list containing my latest favorite camera and accessories...

My Favorite Lifehacks

As an avid fan of Gina Trapani's first Lifehacker book and follower of the Lifehacker blog, I was thrilled to hear that edition two was coming out, titled "Upgrade Your Life":

I did something rare for me: I pre-ordered it and have been poring over it since it arrived, absorbing the new tips (and refreshing myself on the old ones to see if they may apply to me now) and deciding what I want to implement. I've already successfully implemented a few and am loving my new Foxmarks extension to coordinate my recently purchased desktop with my laptop!

This "lifehack evaluation" has inspired me to want to share with the world some of my favorite personal lifehacks. Some of them are common place and some of them are my own quirky little things, but I hope that in there some of you find a nugget of something useful.

So, here are some of my personal favorite lifehacks:

• Two laundry baskets: I use two side-by-side laundry baskets, approx. the same size as my washer, to pre-sort dirty laundry as it is generated. Then when one of the baskets is full I know I have a complete load, all ready to go in the washer.
• A full pantry & freezer: I try to keep an extensive pantry and freezer on hand of all basic household foods and supplies which means that we are flexible on when we have to grocery shop except for a quick run for perishables like milk. This is great for when schedules get tight or we are all laid out by the latest cold or virus going around. This plan also extends to having backups for cleaners and toiletries - when a tube of toothpaste gets opened, it goes immediately on the shopping list to buy a replacement the next time out. We started this practice as an preparatory measure when I had a high-risk pregnancy with a high probability of bed rest, but discovered that it made our lives easier on an everyday basis and so we've kept doing it.
• Two shopping lists: I keep two magnetic shopping list pads on the refrigerator for easy writing on of items that we need to purchase. One list is for the grocery store, and the second list is for "other stuff" - fertilizer from the garden center, etc. Keeping the two lists separate avoids cluttering the grocery list with irrelevant items, and avoids the labor of rewriting it after shopping to put "non-grocery" things back on the list.
• Online shopping: Where we live it takes 20 minutes or more each way to get to any decent stores. I've found that for a lot of items I save time and money shopping online, comparing prices and just having the item shipped to me. I buy most of my electronics, books, and craft supplies online, as well as occasionally clothes and other items.
• Online bill pay: I use my bank's services to their maximum potential. Not only do I use the online bill pay to schedule automatic payments for items like the car and house payments, but I also have several bills set up to come electronically to my bank's bill pay service and then be paid automatically on the due date. I literally don't have to do anything! (I do receive a copy of the bill so I know what is being paid.) The rest of my bills are paid in seconds by entering the amount and the desired date into the bill pay service.
• Silk plants: They are always green and beautiful and require no watering, fertilizing or trimming. And even I can't kill them!
• Routine: Despite the fact that I work at home and could actually have a lot of flexibility in my day, I try to make as much of my day as possible run on a routine. Routines cut down on decision-making about what to do next, which takes time. Routines require no thought - they are automatic and thus quicker than deciding at intervals what the next step will be.
• Do like tasks together: If one small trashcan in the house needs emptying, I try to do all of them. I grab one big trash bag and just move from room to room. Doing them all at once when you already have the bag in hand is faster than getting a bag out every time one can needs emptying. Same thing for dusting. If I notice that my bookcase needs dusting, I grab the box of Swiffers and move about the house for ten  minutes hitting all the favorite dust hide-outs that I can for a quick touch-up on the whole place.  It's way more efficient (and means I only have to have one big allergy attack instead of several small ones).
• Storage Baskets: My husband has called me the basket lady on more than one occasion. (I suppose that is better than being a basket case?) I have baskets of all kinds in use all over our house to corral things and instill a sense of neatness while still making them easy to use. The bathroom counter has plastic baskets to contain the jumble of toiletries (and make them easy to move for cleaning). The living room bookcase shelves have fabric and woven baskets to contain the plethora of my daughter's toys and books that have invaded the space. Most of my craft supplies are stored on a bookcase in a variety of wood and woven baskets. I use baskets inside our kitchen cupboards to make things easier to pull out and get into. Baskets can be cheap, but can also be decorative if you want. For me, they are the perfect easy storage solution to instill order out of chaos.
• Keep things where I use them: If I find myself regularly getting up to get something, or walking into another room to get it, it means it is stored in the wrong place. That means I need to find it a new home near the place that it is being used most frequently. I did this recently with my stamps. I used to store them in the kitchen desk by my greeting cards, but found myself often walking from my office out to get them because I was much more frequently using them for business than for personal correspondence. They now have a home in my office to save me time and footsteps in my work day.

I hope that my list inspires some lifehacking in some of you! Go to it!

The Internet Is Personal

I stumbled on this old blog entry by blogger Meg Fowler today while I was surfing on Digg. I think it says a lot about the state of human communications on the internet. And it seems especially appropriate to my life right now.

How Not To Be An Asshole On The Internet

Oh, and I totally want one of the t-shirts that she put up on Cafe Press:

Florida Bloggers Uniting For Education (And Fun!)

On this Friday, Sept. 28th, I will be gathering together with bloggers from around Florida (and around the country) to attend BlogOrlando 2007, an unconference dedicated to sharing information and learning about blogging. (And there will also be some social events the night before and day after - Epcot with a horde of bloggers sound like fun, anyone?)

No, that was not a typo. I am attending an "unconference". What is an "unconference?" It is an event that for ease of planning, is free to attendees, offers limited services to attendees and has limited expenses that are covered by sponsors. For this event, meeting space is being donated by Rollins College, and other resources have been donated by a variety of event sponsors to cover schedules, t-shirts, logo design, and the domain registration. Speakers, many of whom are well-known in the social media field, will be uncompensated for their appearances.

The opening keynote will be by Shel Israel, co-author of Naked Conversations: How Blogs are Changing the Way Businesses Talk with Customers, and closing remarks will be by Chris Heuer of the Social Media Club. Between the opening and closing remarks, attendees will divide into four different tracks: PR/Marketing, Media, Technical, and Life/Local. A few slots have even been left open in the schedule to allow for "break-out" sessions that develop from the interests of the attendees as the sessions take place.

A wide range of bloggers, with professional and personal sites, will be attending the event. The format should allow for a great exchange of information and ideas, and I am looking forward to learning a lot and sharing a lot with my fellow bloggers.

Now if I could only decide which track to follow...they all look so interesting!

Saying Goodbye to a Friend I Never Met

The internet is a wonderful thing. It allows me to do a job I love, from my home. It lets me share the things I love with others who also love them, and gives me resources of information and materials that extend far beyond this small town I call home. And on days like today, it leaves me struggling to explain it to people who aren't as active in that world as I am how the internet, and the people that I've met on it, can touch my very soul.

I am a very active member of the online scrapbook community, visiting regularly on several forums with a large group of women. Some of us are part of the scrapbook world professionally, some are passionate hobbyists. All of these women share a large part of themselves through their creative endeavors and their socializing with each other.

I've met some very special women in these forums that I am proud to call my friends. They have cheered my victories and lifted me up when I am down. I've anxiously awaited the arrival of their new babies (and excitedly bought gifts!), and sent condolences on their losses. Some of these women I've been fortunate to meet in person at various events, but some remain on the other end of the internet, modern penpals via email and message board.

Last night I received the horrible news of the unexpected death of my friend Alleen. She died suddenly at age 48 of a brain bleed, leaving behind a husband and two school-aged children. Despite the fact that I never met Alleen in person, she had been a presence in my life for a long time and the news of her loss was hard to fathom. Both of us were writers and both of us suffered the loss of baby sons.  For those reasons and many more, I always felt she was a sister soul of mine. A day later, it still doesn't seem possible that the warm woman with the wicked sense of humor who cherished her family (and her cats) more than anything was just taken in an instant. And even more than seeming unreal, it doesn't seem fair either.

Rest in Peace Alleen. I hope you are with your angel Duncan, cradling him for all eternity. I for one am better for having known - although never having met - you, and will never forget you.