This morning, I noticed a perplexing problem: the function of numlock was reversed. When I turned on my macbook on the caps lock key and num lock key were already lit. When I typed my characters are in lower case font and the num pad wasn’t working. When I turned off num lock, typing on the keyboard gave me only numbers.

Doing my detective work — what happened BEFORE I noticed the problem — gives me only one possible answer. Yesterday a software install told me that I didn’t have enough privileges to install (which is ridiculous, since I was logged in as the owner/admin), so I logged out and logged in again. The problem didn’t happen until this morning, but that is the only thing that I can imagine was different. A search online tells me that I am not the only one with this problem, in fact some of the postings were 2 years old! Apple! Address this problem with a post on your site so people don’t get frustrated.

So, one solution is to zap the PRAM. I did it twice to make sure that the preferences were cleared. Here’s how:

Here are Apple’s instructions for doing this:

1. Shut down the computer.

2. Locate the following keys on the keyboard: Command, Option, P, and R. You will need to hold these keys down simultaneously in step 4.

3. Turn on the computer.

4. Press and hold the Command-Option-P-R keys. You must press this key combination before the gray screen appears.

5. Hold the keys down until the computer restarts and you hear the startup sound for the second time.

6. Release the keys.

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=2238

I have been creating online tutorials for designers for Graphics.com/learning for about a year now. Now merged with Media Bistro, we provide a high-quality on-demand instruction for the serious designer. Whether you are new on the scene or a seasoned graphic design professional, I create tutorials that are designed to be easy, fun, and a delight for the eyes.

My topics tend to be on the general subjects of good design principles, and practices, online media, and creative inspiration. You can view the introductions to each video; to see the entire show, you must be a subscriber to their service. It is a good deal for the price. My viewers tend to be either individual subscribers or employees at a larger firm that buys the subscription as an ongoing educational tool for their employees.

Check them out here or browse below.

Dress for Success with Typography (24:51)

Aliyah Marr showcases her favorite websites that have accomplished masterful messaging with typography. Ranging from blogs to brand sites, Aliyah’s faves will inspire you with their creativity,…

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Worldwide Comedy Club (29:19)

Aliyah Marr’s latest inspirational tutorial focuses on the power of humor as a design tool. Her diverse array of hilarious examples drawn from the web includes text-only sites, prime-time TV spots,…
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World Wide Fantasyland Studios (28:35)

Today’s top online designers are employing video, animation, social networking, and ingenious illustration to transform websites into fantasy spaces, and promotion into entertainment. Aliyah Marr…

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Designers With Double Lives (28:15)

Aliyah Marr profiles four professional designers who spend their “off hours” on creative projects–;painting, photography, short experimental movies–;that end up informing their design work in…
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Fishing for Inspiration? (27:10)

Aliyah Marr reels in a whopping netful of free online inspirational resources for designers. Ranging from archival trips through design history to cutting-edge displays of Flash wizardry, Aliyah’s…
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Smashing Your Creative Blocks (22:38)

Because professional designers don’t have the time to wait for inspiration, Aliyah Marr provides a set of practical techniques that you can use to jump-start your creativity when the ideas just…
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What Drives Interactive Design? (25:43)

Aliyah Marr presents an overview of the various ways in which a website can engage the user. She likens web design to driving a stick shift, with the five gears corresponding to levels of intricacy…

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Self-Promotion for Designers (28:27)

Self-promotion is a necessity for designers contending with today’s challenging economic climate. Unfortunately, designers often view self-promotion as an impossibly complex, expensive, and…

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Boosting Sales Through Effective Web Design (27:46)

Designer and author Aliyah Marr answers the question, “How do you design a website that sells?” As Aliyah points out, it’s all about how web design attracts, maintains, and directs the attention of…
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A sticky website is one that you can’t leave. Sometimes it is a matter of a technical wiz-bang Flash interface, or it may be just that the site leads you on and on down a path of deliciously sticky choices.

An example of the latter is Amazon. I can’t leave this site. Forget technical wizardry: I have an addiction to books that is so beautifully tickled by this site that I can’t leave. I find more and more interesting books and products the longer I stay.

I write tutorials for designers on MediaBistro. You can see my titles and intros on this page:

http://www.mediabistro.com/Aliyah-Marr-656i-ondemandvideos.html

I’d like to poll Twitter and the blog universe for answers on what makes a site sticky. Send me your candidates for the stickiest sites and why. They can be sites  that you designed or the site of your company, if you think they are truly sticky. Make sure you give me a URL and a reason why you think the site is sticky. If you post a comment, I will get an email. Otherwise, you can email me at: aliyahmarr [at] gmail. The sites that I pick will be featured on my tutorial and seen by the audience of subscribers. Thank you for your input!

Here are some reasons a site may be sticky:

• The interface: game-like, easy to navigate
• The content: what you want, when you want it
• The imagery: appeals to you, is appropriate
• The site architecture: aids your navigation
• The usability: just so easy to use, practical
• The product
• The brand
• Technical wizardry

Follow me on Twitter:

http://www.twitter.com/parallelmind

"Good Morning" by Jer Thorp

Information design began as a subset of, or synonym for, graphic design[citation needed] and is often taught as part of graphic design courses. One of the first uses of the term was by the London graphic design consultancy Pentagram, who used the term in the 1970s to mean their graphic design, as distinct from product or other kinds of design.[citation needed] Since then, the term has come to be used specifically for graphic design for displaying information effectively, rather than just attractively or for artistic expression.

But I like this Flash project anyway, because it shows a creative use of Twitter. If one defines creativity as a graph with the uber-creative project as being the one with no practical use and the less creative project as being very practical — uhh, usable — then this one would fall on the side of practical — even usable for marketing purposes.

http://blog.blprnt.com/blog/blprnt/goodmorning

Jer Thorp is an artist and educator from Vancouver, Canada. A former geneticist, his digital art practice explores the many-folded boundaries between science and art. Recently, his work has been featured by The New York Times, The Guardian, BusinessWeek and the CBC.

A few weeks ago I posted a question on LinkedIn to see how creative people were using Twitter.

Do You Have Any Unusual Ways to Use Twitter?

I have been tweeting excerpts from my book for the last two weeks and am only through Chapter 3 so far. Many people seem to be retweeting my quotes, and some of these people now follow me, so I am pleased.

How do you use this micro blog? Any great stories of Twitter use will be used in my blog on design and marketing, so please let me know if I can use your story and give me a link to your Twitter account and / or blog if applicable, so I can link to you from my blog.

Here are some of the best answers. I am reproducing the responses of only those people who gave me a Twitter address, and those who gave helpful, unusual answers, or useful links. There is no order in the following; nor have I rated the answers. Enjoy and tweet on!

—-

* note by author:

Since posting this article, I have received additional input, and have opened up the comment section below to allow other people to post their creative uses of Twitter. A new article will be generated from these posts. I expect a lot of hits again, so please include your Twitter handle and one other link in your comment. Too many links get put in spam.

Many people view this article, so your links will be followed! Please submit any creative use of Twitter that you have or know of, include your Twitter account: I will follow the best, most creative Tweeters.

Follow me at: http://www.twitter.com/parallelmind
On LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/aliyahmarr

I also have a newsletter on creativity and self-development at: http://parallelmind.wordpress.com

—-

Original responses:

I find Twitter to be compelling for many reasons. To answer your question about unusual ways to use Twitter…well, everything about Twitter is unusual. It is a new communication channel, that has more potential impact than email. From my tweets, I am picking up people with special interests that I don’t even know. Now that’s amazing…connecting, marketing and influencing a rapidly growing group of people of common interest to ‘me’, that are ‘following’ my assorted rantings, thoughts, promotions, recommendations and useful information.

One thought, as a reader of web content, make it easy to link to your Twitter account from ANYWHERE you have content. Please respond in the moment. Make it easy for them to retweet, follow you, check out your bio, website and other things that you care about. Make all of this personal.

I am using Twitter to help others get to know the REAL me. It is actually scary to be transparent to everyone that chooses to follow. Ok, so being real to strangers isn’t so bad, even if it is uncomfortable some times to be vulnerable to others. See, look how I’m bearing myself to you. It’s getting easier and people discern ‘real’. Perhaps what Twitter is doing for us is creating personal brand and trust, building corporate brand by building communities of interest.

http://twitter.com/TedTreanor

Ted Treanor

—

I have just started using Twitter in the past week as I beging the networking process. The people I have met have been extremely helpful in getting started. I have found that actually putting a question out is successful in not only addressing your needs, but in meeting new people and increasing your opportunity for people to see your work.

http://twitter.com/EvelynMcCPeters

Evelyn McCorristin Peters

—-

I use twitter to advertise my latest blog posts, note presentations I give across the US, find useful tools and trends that I see. It is great for marketing and getting the word out there as well as finding people tweeting about the same things to see what they have to say about common interests. I use shortened URLs to send links of interesting websites.

http://www.twitter.com/hgg101

Henrik De Gyor

—-

I have just posted a blog on this subject:

http://peterworsley.blogspot.com/

Peter Worsley

—

I have an account on twitter: myhairtalking – I have 100 followers within a few weeks. It is from my hair’s point of view. I write jokes, hair advice, I’m hoping to get a book. I also have myhairtalking.tumblr.com

I’d love people to come see me there. You can say and show a lot more on tumblr, but I’m just getting started.

http://www.twitter.com/myhairtalking

Lori Peters

—

I frequently write about Twitter at my Examiner.com

http://budurl.com/twitterbandwagon
http://budurl.com/twitterforcrisis

http://twitter.com/ZimblerMiller

Phyllis Zimbler Miller

—

I just followed you, Aliyah.
I tweet news on children’s books, mainly reviews.
You should check out the Twitter Mania Manual:

http://www.bookmarket.com/50WaystoTweet.htm

Download the Word document and just read it through.

If you ask “How do you use Twitter?” it’s like asking “How do you talk to other people?” The answer is: There are so many different ways but it all boils down to: be helpful, engage, be informative, and you may even be funny.

I particularly like quotes http://bit.ly/myquotes

http://twitter.com/calutateo

Carsten Peters

—

I avoided the use of Twitter for a long time as just another social media time waster – until I began getting emails in regards to a friend/design industry peer tweeting about the fact I wasn’t using Twitter. For a little over a year now, I have used Twitter to promote my books, speaking engagements, competition judging, published articles, and drive people to my blogs where they can learn much more about my design work. Twitter has also been used to inform others in my industry about related news-worthy topics, educational/conference opportunities, book submission and design competitions, and much more. I’ve also found Twitter to be incredibly valuable in promoting the creative efforts, books, and causes of friends/peers in design-related professions.

http://jfisherlogomotives.com

http://twitter.com/LogoMotives

Jeff Fisher | Engineer of Creative Identity | Jeff Fisher LogoMotives

—

I have been only using tweeter since August. I post mainly links i find interesting on social media, design, jobs, fashion, and everything else that catches my attention. I am using it because I wanted to give it a second try; i had created an account on the past but found it to time consuming. Today I have a different opinion.

This second time I started to follow much more people than i actually do now, but soon realized that it was just to much info at the same time for me to read and manage.

Meanwhile i am trying tweetdeck which i found that helps a lot managing your tweets, but again still pretty new…

Took a look on your tweets and i am following you know…here is mine, perhaps you are curious about it.

http://twitter.com/sofia_henriques

Sofia Henriques

—

Even if it’s OT: Don’t tweet auto updates from Massive Multiplayer Online Games (MMOG). I’ve tried it yesterday and lost 3% followers within a day. The next step is a security debate about third party authentication. Don’t do it!

http://www.twitter.com/birgerking

Birger Hartung

–

I use twitter to keep friends/followers updated on my life, my creativity, my work, designs, inspiration, dreams, poetry, & articles i find interesting…. I use it so people can get a sense of personality as well Thank you for your tweets… I’ve just added you…please add me:

http://twitter.com/TheDesignGenie

Carla Horn

–

Create a customer-attracting twitter contest

Links:
http://howwepartner.com/2009/07/get-more-customers-walking-in-your-door-with-a-twitter-contest/

Kare Anderson

–

One thing I think a lot of people miss with Twitter is conversation! Most people are savvy to self-promotion, and if all you post are info about yourself and your work, you’ll find limited, if any, success on Twitter (or MySpace or Facebook).

While I do post about my Christmas station and my record label, I also talk to people who I’m following (and who are following me). The instant interaction is what really makes Twitter tick.

Anyway, there’s my two cents.
http://twitter.com/SOCMusic

Ken Kessler

—

Hi Aliyah,
Twitter became my personal online daily pinboard full of interesting messages and activities of my own community (my followers). Before Twitter I checked so many blogs and sites to check out the newest stuff and innovation gadgets, interesting articles what so ever. Besides checking the messages of my personal pinboard, I use my online personal pinboard (twitter.com/mdenekamp) to post my own messages. My tweets gives me retweets and followers so my personal network is growing and also my personal online pinboard.

www.twitter.com/mdenekamp

Marjolein Denekamp

—
I don’t know that I’m doing anything particularly unusual with Twitter, though I do fall into Erica’s camp. Twitter isn’t a publishing tool, but instead a venue for two-way communication.

My main Twitter strategy is to serve as a resource on topics in my field of interest. (Web, design, marketing, social media, higher ed, science.) I do this by sharing links to interesting blog posts, answering questions, asking questions, jumping into conversations, reTweeting relevant posts and participating in Twitter real-time chats. The important thing about this strategy is that the information isn’t all my own. While I will Tweet various thoughts, opinions and links to my own blog posts, most content comes from elsewhere. Thus I function more as an editor than a writer.

This makes me a more valuable resource than if I was only sharing my own content, and thus Tweeps with an interest in my topics will follow me. To show my human side I also post random bits of fluff such as amusing videos, what I’m doing this weekend, etc.

As I mentioned above, Twitter Chats are extremely useful. I’ve found they are a great way to share ideas on topics such as blogging and social media. I participate semi-regularly in about 3 of them. I also have a blog post that explains more about these.

Happy Tweeting!

Links:
http://www.heidicool.com/blog/2009/07/27/twitter-chats/
http://www.heidicool.com/blog/2009/04/29/twitterfollowing/

http://www.twitter.com/hacool

Heidi Cool

—

Hi Aliyah,

I have a number of Twitter accounts and I use each for different purposes. My main account is VizCab, where I post about design. I’ll often use Twitter in conjunction with my Posterous blog. For example, I ran posts on Twitter and LinkedIn asking for input on my business card design which I uploaded on Posterous.

I was able to get around 1,000+ views and dozens of comments that were sprinkled between Posterous and LinkedIn. Using crowd-sourcing, I was able to see where parts of my initial design were confusing to people. I got a lot of good feedback (and some bad). I also got a lead on a better vendor to print my cards.

The Twitter community gives me a lot of fodder for my blog on information design at michaelrowley.posterous.com

I’m happy to share this story with you.

http://twitter.com/VizCab

Michael Rowley

–
Among the creative ways I’ve used Twitter:

* Follow people who provide links to subjects I’m researching
* Use my contacts to gain blurbs for my new book, speaking gigs, and client leads
* Use an ongoing search to add comments that sell my book and broaden my audience
* Be interviewed by a journalist in open Q&A, though I found this a rather frustrating format

http://georgekao.com/922s

Shel Horowitz
—-

Check out my free blog/newsletter on creative and personal development:

http://parallelmind.wordpress.com

I have been sharing my book, Parallel Mind, The Art of Creativity, through Twitter, by Tweeting excerpts in the form of quotes. I post quotes whenever I am online. The first 45 pages of my book gave me over 50 phrases that could be used as quotes. My Twitter account name is the same as my book:

http://www.twitter.com/parallelmind

Periodically, I “reprint” these quotes on my book’s blog. You can read some of them here:

http://parallelmind.wordpress.com/2009/09/14/seven-quotes-from-parallel-mind/

http://parallelmind.wordpress.com/2009/09/03/140-characters-or-less-tweet-quotes-from-parallel-mind/

Of course, this is one way that I have found to promote my book. I follow others who use hashtags such as #quotes, #inspiration, #creativity, #art, and #artists, and many of them now follow me, hopefully for the quotes. I wonder what other unusual ways people are using Twitter?

Tweet for hire: More big businesses hire tweeters

By HEATHER LALLEY (AP) – 4 hours ago

CHICAGO — People around the world interact with Alecia Dantico all day. Usually, though, they don’t know whether she’s young or old, male or female.

What her followers on Facebook and Twitter know is that’s she’s a friendly, sometimes sassy, blue and gold tin of Garrett Popcorn. That’s the icon of the popular Chicago-based snack food that has tourists and locals lining up around the block at locations here and in New York City.

And when Dantico sends out a “virtual tin” of popcorn to a fan over Twitter, she’s breaking new ground in the way companies market themselves, joining a growing number of social media experts hired to man Twitter, Facebook and similar sites.

“My day starts on Twitter and it doesn’t really end,” Dantico says. She keeps her BlackBerry on at all hours to respond to followers in different time zones. “It’s driving my family crazy, but that’s OK.”

Best Buy Co. Inc. riled up the social-media world earlier this summer with a job posting for a senior manager of emerging media marketing. One of the job requirements, as originally posted, called for applicants to have more than 250 followers on Twitter.

Read the whole article here.

I recently had a funky problem on my Mac that really flummoxed me. Here is a picture that shows a page from my own site: it has heavy black diagonal lines and triangular boxes slashing across the page. I discovered this error in various pages on the internet, in my email and in a Powerpoint presentation that a PC user sent to me.

I asked my Mac computer tech if he had any idea of what could be the problem. I had noticed this same problem years ago on my previous Mac laptop and never did figure out what it was because it eventually went away. Now it was back on my new Mac! This was really irritating. I found that the only way I could read some of these messed up pages was to copy and paste the text block into a TextEdit document.

The following email thread documents the problem and arrives at a final solution.

>> On Aug 15, 2009, at 1:26 PM, A Marr wrote:
>>
>> These are two pictures from my own site — one that works and one that’s messed up.

>> I checked the documents: both get the CSS from an external stylesheet. You’re right: the tags should not mix, plus the tag does not have an end tag, but this is not where the problem is, I’m sure.
>>
>> The error is in the Dreamweaver document too, but I don’t think that that is where the error lies, since I have seen the same problem on various websites when I browse the web. It seems to be connected with the browsers.
>>
>> Aliyah Marr
——–

Apta:
> Subject: Re: text problem?
>
> One easy thing to try is to log in as a different user and then go to the troublesome websites. You may have to create a new user (with Admin privileges) in System Preferences -> Accounts. If the sites look good then the problem lies in your user account. If nothing changes, then look for the problem outside the user account.
>
>
>
> Here are some suggestions from Adobe:
>
> 6. Restart in Safe Mode and then restart again to clear the font cache. (Mac OS X v10.4.x and later)
>
> In Mac OS X 10.4.x, safe mode disables all fonts other than those in the System\Library\Fonts folder, and it moves to the Trash all font caches normally stored in \Library\Caches\com.apple.ATS\[uid] where [uid] is a user ID number such as 501.
>
> To start up in Safe Boot or Safe Mode, do the following:
>
> 1. Shut down the computer.
> 2. Press the power button.
> 3. Immediately after you hear the startup tone, press and hold the Shift key.
> 4. Release the Shift key when you see the gray Apple and progress indicator. During startup in Mac OS X v10.4.x or later, you will see “Safe Boot” on the login window, even if normally you log in automatically.
>
> To leave Safe Mode, restart the computer normally, without holding any keys during startup.
>
> 7. Remove font files from all Mac OS X fontfolders, except the System/Library/Fonts folder.
>
> Mac OS X uses fonts–without regard to font format–from the following locations in the order listed:
>
> 1. Users/[user name]/Library/Fonts
> 2. Library/Fonts
> 3. Network/Library/Fonts
> 4. System/Library/Fonts (Avoid making changes to this folder. It contains .dfont fonts that Mac OS X requires for system use and display.For more information, visit the Apple Web site athttp://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106417.)
> 5. System Folder/Fonts
>
>
> Move font files from the Fonts folders in the Users, Library, and Network folders to the desktop or other location, and restart the computer. If the problem doesn’t recur, the problem is caused by one or more of the font files you moved. Replace font files a few at a time to determine which font is causing the problem. (For example, replace font files that start with A-E to the System/Library/Fonts folder, and then restart the computer. If the problem doesn’t recur, add another small group of font files. If the problem does recur, one of the font files you just added may be the cause: Remove the font files, and add them back one at a time, restarting the computer each time until you find the particular font file that causes the problem.) When you find the font file that causes the problem, reinstall the font from the original media.
>
> [After moving them, make sure you put the Font folders exactly where they came from!]
>
> 9. Try a third party utility to clean out the system font cache.
>
> Download Leopard Cache Cleaner from versiontracker.com. It works with Tiger, too. Run in Demo mode and select Caches tab with these settings:
Apta

——–

> I tried the Adobe fix. When I first emptied the font folder, putting the fonts on desktop, and rebooting, everything online was better, but the Powerpoint document still had problems. I decided to ignore the PPT problem for now and put back every font except the following:
>
> any TTF (true type font)
> any Microsoft font
> any font that wouldn’t come up in FontBook when I double-clicked
> any foreign font
> any weird font no one ever uses
>
> My online pages are fixed! As for the Powerpoint presentation, well, I know those guys are PC users. Who knows what fonts they used.
> New development:
>
> I was looking in FontBook and discovered the graphical error there in Arial Bold Italic under User account. The same font is OK on the Computer account. I figure the font from Computer has been duplicated and the dupe is corrupted. When I try to remove the font (from the user), it won’t let me. So I am going to create a new user, reboot under that user and remove the corrupted font. Then I am going to dupe it again from the Computer original. Should solve the problem.

Aliyah

—–

MS Office has its own font caches:
> Try deleting the following files/folders:
>
> ~/Library/Caches/.com.microsoft.browserfont.cache
> ~/Library/Preferences/Microsoft/Office Font Cache
> and check for persistence of the issue.

Let me know if that fixes it.

Apta

—–

Well, I couldn’t seem to get rid of the Arial Bold Italic font in the user folder; it kept coming back each time I deleted it from Font Book. So I created a new user account with Admin privileges, but once there, I couldn’t see the User account fonts in Font Book. So I logged out and re-logged into my original account.

Surprise! All font problems fixed! Even the PPT presentation.

Goes to show that whenever there is a funky problem on the Mac, one should first search everything Windows. The French say that whenever there is a mystery or problem, “Cherchez la femme.” Look for the woman.

My new quote: “Cherchez le Microsoft!”

I just removed the Microsoft caches as you suggested.

Thank you so much! I had no idea that it could be the fonts, but you keyed me into that possibility.

The thing that really let me know which fonts it was was looking in Font Book (the error was only visible in the browser window, not in the window that pops up when you double-click the font in FontBook), but I suspected one of the PC browser fonts all along as the browser was what was affected the most. Makes sense: Windows PPT users use the same stupid fonts. Especially those who aren’t designers.

Aliyah Marr

“What do you want to create today?”

LIFE PATH CONSULTANT / CREATIVE PROJECTS ADVISOR
I coach artists, designers, authors, and entrepreneurs through the entire creative process.

• develop a personal vision
• establish a personal brand
• creation of supportive materials (website, blog, book, webinar, video, etc.)
• market product/service
• promote via viral and social networks

www.aliyahmarr.com
www.freshasylum.com

AUTHOR
Parallel Mind, The Art of Creativity

—-

Final note from Apta:

Relogging in renewed the MS font caches with clean info.

Time To Impact

The Idea…

Turn around Paterson, one of the largest and poorest cities in New Jersey,
–180 degrees in 365 days.
A short time.
A big impact…

Watch the teaser trailer…

We have assembled a talented film and project team whose mission is to transform beliefs about what’s possible and incite people to stand up and make a difference.

HOW YOU CAN HELP:
Follow us on Twitter

Become a fan on Facebook

Watch the trailer on YouTube
Rate it and add nice comments
Email this to someone else if you like it
Visit our website

Richard J. Krasney, CFP®

These days, content seems to be king. But in order to get the eyes you desire, it seems that you have to provide lots of free content first.

I like to explain to my clients who wish to market themselves that they have to prove their value to their market-base. Look at it this way: it’s the same as applying for a job. If you are looking for work, you have to present a resume that proves that you have the education, the experience and the skills to do the work.

Social media and the Webscape works the same way. Unless you have an established brand behind you, you will have to prove that you can provide value first, before you can even think of making a sale.

All great entrepreneurs have had to start the same way: they had to prove that their product was worth buying. In the past, they had advertising firms to help them promote their products or services, today, the field is leveled. Anyone can promote their services on the internet, so several new hurdles have developed.

One hurdle remains from the past: an image of professionalism. Branding and professional design cannot be underestimated. One of the new hurdles that brands have to face is the idea of providing value. One can do that through providing useful content.

This is why blogs and micro blogs are so important today. The ideal blog is updated often; so it is valued by both robots (search engines) and by loyal followers. The trick is to give away valuable information without overburdening (the Twitterer who posts too often) the viewer or giving away the farm.

My recommendation is to update a blog at least once a week, and to update a Twitter account 2-5 times a day. I have noticed a huge range of Twitter habits; from once a week to once every half-hour. Someone like Guy Kawasaki seems to update constantly, something that I don’t mind only because his updates are interesting to me.

As to the subject matter of the content itself; make sure that you hold to your declared subject, the narrower, the better. Unless you are a movie star with a huge following of loyal followers, avid for the latest tidbits about the intimate habits of your poodle, it is preferable to have a smaller following of targeted members than a huge following of people who can’t remember why they started following you. These people are the same ones who drop you like a bad date.

What is the final purpose of providing all this free information? That is for you to determine. You may want to get them on your newsletter, which you should also provide for free, in most cases. Or you may want to make an immediate sale. You will have to determine how to best ask for that sale. Perhaps you don’t want to even do that, perhaps you allow ads on your blog or website, and that gives you revenue.

Some people don’t want to sell anything at all, and these people are simply helping establish their name and their brand. Many users on the internet expect only free information, so this may be a marriage made in heaven.

Many people are concerned about giving away information, especially if their main product is information. This is a valid concern, but it takes a bit of finessing to be able to give away valuable information without giving away your product. I prefer to err on the side of generosity: I give away valuable information because I believe that it is necessary to be generous in this life, but also because my generosity and sincerity are two of my most commendable qualities.

I know that the right client will be attracted to me for the right reasons. I give away a great deal of information, because I know that the right client will be attracted to me by the quality of my work, and by the truth that resonates in their hearts. A potential client who does not resonate with my words will drop my newsletter, and will never become a client. That is OK with me. I want only clients that appreciate what I can do for them, and listen to my advice.

Copyright 2009 Aliyah Marr

“Envision a New Future.”
Life Path Consultant / Creative Projects Advisor.

LIFE PATH CONSULTANT
I coach artists, designers, authors, and entrepreneurs. With a solid background in marketing, design, coaching and writing, I help individuals throughout the entire creative process all the way from developing their personal vision to establishing their personal brand and marketing their product/service.

CREATIVE PROJECTS ADVISOR
If you have a creative project that you want to develop, market, or promote, contact me via email. References are available upon request.

Email: myfullname@gmail.com