Entries Tagged 'Blogging' ↓

ATTENTION: If Your Subscribers Use Gmail Read This – Online Marketing, Visibility and Business Blogging Tips from Denise Wakeman: “Essentially, any URL that has a capital letter after the http:// is not an active, clickable link in Gmail.”

Denise learned about this from Alex Mandossian’s Productivity Strategies Facebook page.

Essentially if immediately after the ‘http://’ the first character is a capital letter the URL becomes just text. Click through to Denise’s article to see some examples.

St. Louis is home to some interesting people, not the least of which also blog. Each week I’ll highlight a few of our metro area bloggers. You’ll find the serious, the fancy, and the fun, and hopefully you’ll find a connection with them.

First up is the American Red Cross St. Louis Chapter. This blog is not only a multi-author blog, but allows anyone to submit an article. A recent article covers the Red Cross Earthquake Preparedness and Response guidelines. The blog is updated frequently and is content heavy. Check them out.

Next up is a fairly new blog, Hello My Avocado. The blog description says this:

This is the blog of a 28 year old vegan while she lives, cooks, eats, and tries to lose 30 pounds in Saint Louis. Welcome.

Carol shows her smarts though. This isn’t a whiner’s blog. It’s a real person sharing her life. I’m interested to track her success via the blog as well as get to know her better. So why not drop by at the link above and cheer her on.

Third and final for this week is brought to us by Terry Blastenbrei, The Bosque. The Bosque is home to Terry’s manifestos as he calls them. A professional courier, Terry comes across a world of interesting. A recent adventure found him at an autopsy room. Cool stuff.

If you’ve got more cool, unique, or even regular joe blogs you’d like to see here, drop me a comment, send me a tweet, or shoot me an email, tojosan//gmail.com.

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St. Louis is home to some interesting people, not the least of which also blog. Each week I’ll highlight a few of our metro area bloggers. You’ll find the serious, the fancy, and the fun, and hopefully you’ll find a connection with them.

Zoe Feast, @stlwebdesign, founded the company Indigo Image in 2000, to ‘provide “Grade A” design solutions at affordable prices complemented with excellent customer service.’ Their blog, Indigo Thoughts, shares how Indigo Image brings positive impact to their customers. A recent post, A ROI Website Success Story, talks about a before and after story of Ruth Hasser, a St Louis wedding Officiant. Great story that takes place in St. Louis by St. Louisans.

Melody Meiners, @CosmosGirl, not only blogs but heads up the team of writers for Girls Guide to the Galaxy™. The team of St. Louis ladies blogs on every topic from fashion to fun. A recent article, The Good Buy Girl’s Guide to Surviving A Sick Day, covers the agony and the essentials of taking a sick day.

Steve Patterson, @urbanreviewstl, blogs at Urban Review STL. The site takes a close look at the City of St. Louis and the entire St. Louis region. Recent weather sparked this informative recent article, Lingering snow creates accessibility issues. Steve and other contributors to Urban Review STL don’t shy away from the issues.

These blogs were all spotlighted by recommendation of their fellow St. Louisans. Here’s a round up of those links again:

Indigo Thoughts

Girls Guide to the Galaxy

Urban Review STL

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Disqus is currently installed here on The Broad Brush and other blogs I run. I settled on it a good while back and it’s generally been good to the blog and the commenters.

Their team has released a new version in beta. I’m a fool, so I’ve installed it in place of the current release. So far it appears it didn’t eat the old comments. Let’s let it rip.

What do I want from you? Even the smallest comment you feel up to leaving. It’s easy. There is no registration required or you can sign in with  your Twitter or Facebook or other IDs.

Say anything, leave a cryptic code, include a link or three. Try to break it if you’re up to it. Oh, and leave a video comment if you’re brave.

Cheers to Disqus.

Run for it! by Tojosan, on Flickr

St. Louis is home to some interesting people, not the least of which also blog. Each week I’ll highlight a few of our metro area bloggers. You’ll find the serious, the fancy, and the fun, and hopefully you’ll find a connection with them.

Chris Reimer, aka @RizzoTees, started a new blog, The Basement Entrepreneur. His latest post, Why are You Starting a Business, is another thoughtful piece. He’ll remind you of Gary Vaynerchuk.

Stef, aka @cupcakeproject, runs the sweetest blog in St. Louis, The Cupcake Project. Started as a blog chronicling her adventures as a wedding cupcake baker for friends. Her latest post, Mango Rum Cupcakes – Four Baking Lessons and One Life Lesson, touches on the sweet tooth as well as the craziness that is baking.

Milli, aka @milligfunk, is a small town girl that’s well traveled, sharing on A Small Town Girls Guide. Her viewpoint is fun and insightful. The latest article, Ste Genevieve Chocolate Walk Pt. IV: Tour de Missouri Art Bikes, continues a run on her Ste Genevieve tour with a focus on local art.

That’s it for this week. Here are the links again:

The Basement Entrepreneur

The Cupcake Project

A Small Town Girls Guide

Please click through and show some love. I promise you won’t be disappointed.

If you have a favorite St. Louis area blogger you’d like me to profile, leave a comment today.

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Chris aka @RizzoTees on Twitter by Tojosan, on Flickr

Chris Reimer introduces us to his new blog, The Basement Entrepreneur, with this statement:

My name is Chris Reimer, and in a mad fit of personal branding hubris, I dubbed myself “The Basement Entrepreneur.”

So what is a basement entrepreneur? In Chris’ words:

• We’re the guys and gals starting Internet-based businesses in our basements.
• We saved and borrowed almost enough money to actually start the business of our dreams.
• We run our businesses off Macbook Pros in coffee shops. (or a PC if you’re a big baby about Apples.)
• As David Siteman Garland once told me, we “MacGyver” everything in our businesses just to get by.
• We “get” Social Media, and how it’s disrupting everything you think you knew about finding new customers and taking care of the ones you have.
• We band together to help each other, instead of building insular walls around our businesses.
• We work our f**king face off, as @garyvee would say, because we love what we do, not because someone tells us to.

Chris isn’t some guy you’ve read about in Millionaire or on the cover of Cigar Aficionado, there’s no GQ cover yet either. Chris is a real guy, a husband, father, working class guy and he works his tail off.

Rizzo Tees is a his personal business and has become synonymous with Chris himself. It’s a bit edgy and yet a hit with real people. I’ve purchased a few tees there already. Let me say he’s quick and friendly on customer service, getting the goods out, and engaging with those that show some interest.

Engagement. Big word but Chris isn’t that type of guy. He’s the type that swaps stories with you, asks about your kids, and buzzes your news out to the world. Along the way he might recruit you to model one of his tee designs.  Heck, he’s followed the Threadless model and begun outsourcing his new tee ideas to the world. A bold move for a small businesses man.

Social networking doesn’t scare Chris. He’s not afraid to make conversation on and off the net, attending and participating in social media and networking events around St. Louis. He’s a strong contributor to the St. Louis Social Media Club.  His take on things, coming not from a marketing and PR background, brings fresh insight to social networking and business.

I tip my hat to Chris aka RizzoTees. Bring it on bud!

Visit The Basement Entrepreneur today and see what an up and coming success looks like.

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child and dog looking through the glass door

What I learned from children

Children see all creatures big and small, human or not, as having feelings, intentions, and some sort of intelligence.

D, our youngest granddaughter, really exemplifies this with pet dogs. She wants to greet each one with a hug and a kiss, as she likes to be greeted by loved ones.

When the granddaughters call, they always ask after our pet, both Gizmo, and now Charlie. They’d often times ask to talk to him on the phone. Each wanted to tell him they loved him.

This behavior extends beyond making pets into playmates, they’ll take anyone as a playmate, now matter how young or old. It’s awesome to see them involving their great-grandpa into reading books and playing board games.When visiting the in-laws, they immediately invite even the littlest baby to play with them.

I’m not sure it’s innocence or naiveté that allows these behaviors. I’d like to think it’s wisdom and acceptance, perhaps two qualities we tend to give up on as we age.

What have children taught you?

(This article was written as a contribution to Middle Zone Musings: What I learned from children, part of the monthly groupwrite series.)

One of my favorite Twitter buds, and local to St. Louis, @KBestOliver, is now the Novice Foodie for the Riverfront Times. In her new role, she’ll be blogging about her food experiences. As the title implies, she’s bringing a fresh face and open mind, not to say mouth, to food reporting.

Her latest article, The Novice Foodie Experiences the St. Louis Food & Wine Experience, should have been titled, Novice Foodie versus St. Louis Food & Wine Experience. Kelli shares her honest surprise that the wine side of the event was more focused on than the food.  Not to say she didn’t eat anything. Far from it, but to note she doesn’t mention one special or unique dish served.

The funniest part for me was her mentioning about spitting. If you’re in the know about wine tasting, spitting is what keeps you mostly sober. Gary Vaynerchuk made spitting and wine spittoons something ordinary folks talk about. Apparently Kelli missed the etiquette lessons. This made for discomfort on her part and laughter on ours.

I encourage you to show your support for Kelli’s food blogging adventures by reading her latest article and leaving a comment.

UCity Homes, a great new blog about University City in Metro St. Louis, kicked off a new article series today, Friday Faces.  Linda Bogie, skilled photographer, will be bringing us the faces of University City.

Linda has a special touch for candid photos. I’ve gotten a preview of some of the great shots to be shared, including my own that stars the series.  You won’t be disappointed.

A bit about the UCity Homes Blog from their site:

Nicknamed UCity by locals, the area offers historic brick housing, stable subdivisions and a diverse population. UCity is home to many different ethnic groups and offers housing to meet the needs of working class, middle class and affluent families.

Located midway between downtown and the western suburbs, UCity offers a short commute to residents regardless of where they work. The proximity to Forest Park, Central West End, downtown Clayton andMetroLink light rail, gives residents ample opportunities to experience the best of St. Louis’ culture and entertainment.

But UCity residents don’t need to leave their city when they are ready to have fun.

Do you want to start a blog, but you’re not sure where to begin?

Do you have a blog, but you want to know how to take it to the next level?

If so, the New Blogger Boot Camp may be for you!

Presented by blogger, copywriter, and consultant Kristen King, the New Blogger Boot Camp 8-week webinar takes beginning bloggers through the process of creating a strong foundation for a strategic, sustainable blog.

From figuring out whether blogging is right for you and making technical decisions to planning your content and growing your readership, New Blogger Boot Camp is a high-energy, step-by-step guide to carving out your place online.

You can still get in at the beginning. Kristen is offering those that register now the previous lessons as well.

New Blogger Boot Camp gives you direct access to Kristen King on a weekly basis. This will give you a kick start with someone that’s already done it and wants to share.

Some of the upcoming topics:

• SEO
• Best Practices
• Monetization

A little bit about Kristen:

Kristen King, MPS, is a prolific blogger and social media user who’s been writing for the Web since the late 1990s. Her freelance writing blog, Inkthinker, was named one of the Top 10 Blogs for Writers in 2006, and she won several recognitions as a women’s health and women’s business blogger at global media network b5media from January 2007 through October 2008.

Disclosure: Kristen is part of my ongoing SOB team leading not only herself to success but the four other members of our group.