I was not going to do IT. I was not going to brag about my new iMac. That is until Wednesday this week when Microsoft put me and thousands of other users of XP that have ZoneAlarm Security Suite out of action with their weekly update. Read all about it in Information Week. I lost a whole day trying to reestablish my Internet connection when I started work on Wednesday afternoon.

Seems like I no sooner finish a Web site and the client wants to know why they are not top-billed in Google. Google has a very complicated algorithm for determining positioning in its indexes, but there are some known reasons. Here are my reasons:

OK, I am normally not into hyperbole about new software. Last time I installed a piece of Adobe software (Adobe Elements for Photoshop and Premiere 5.0), I ended up logging onto their Web site and sending not so nice emails to any address I could find. But Adobe CS3 Web Premium edition is different.

Yesterday was supposed to be the day I would start up my blog. The plan was to launch the blog Jan 1, 2007, but that date passed without getting the Compton Communications Web site redone. I wanted the newsroom to have a link to the blog. Finally, this week the new newsroom should be up.
 
I used XOOPS as an online newsroom application, but I found it to be too labor intensive to keep going.

[this original article was published in May 2005 and updated with notes recently]

Book Review: “The Father of Spin” by Larry Tye
Edward Bermays and the Birth of Public Relations, New York: 1998

Larry Tye is a journalist with the Boston Globe. This book is one of the first on Bernays since his death at 103 and paints a rather disjoined view of the man, his campaign and his work in fathering an industry – public relations.

Although content is king for building a quality newsletter, list software is critical for a maintaining the subscribers. There are 6 essential factors in deciding what software will work best for your enewsletter.

“Propaganda” by Edward Bernays, New York: 1928, 2005 by Anne Bernays

How did the grandson of Sigmund Freud become the father of “public relations”? His book introduced by Mark Crispin Miller and just released in paperback by Anne Bernays shows us how the “master manipulator” used scientific principles and publicity gimmicks combined in propaganda campaigns for his corporate clients.

You should already be using Web Style Guide by Yale University, now in the second edition. It contains a wealth of information on what to do in writing for the Web, using graphics, typography, design, editorial style and multimedia. Certainly every news writer and editor uses the AP Stylebook as reference in putting together news articles. But, you also need to look at creating a style guide for your e-newsletter.

Every consultant that works on newsletters gets the same question. I once spent 20 minutes in a marketing meeting debating what was the optimum frequency. Marketing managers, newsletter editors and readers are all concerned with the frequency issue. Too frequent and the reader opts out. Not frequent enough and there is too much to cover.

My standard answer is “that depends.” You might phone your mother once a month, but you probably phone your spouse every night when on a business trip.