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handful of internet plans

Taking my own advice to do as I say, not as I do

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It’s a common conundrum among those who develop or work on other people’s websites and web presences: we neglect our own.

I’ve spent more than 15 years working on other people’s, and most of that time I’ve had to say “do as I say, not as I do”. If not out loud, than implied by reality, where I urge people to develop a regular pattern of posting to their blogs and to social media, and generating content and revealing themselves to their audience…meanwhile, I post sporadically (that’s being generous), and most of my “revealing myself” lately conists of adding cute photos of my 4 year old to her photo album on Facebook for my friends and family only.

To be fair to me (a.k.a., this is the excuse I lean on)–in the years before I put out my freelance shingle, I had been posting like mad, and revealing myself pretty exhaustively on the web. My main blog had ~2000 blog posts by 2003. And I had been community manager of a large forum site for years, posting hundreds of times there. And before I had my own one of those, I posted hundreds more posts at a prior community site. And I had sites on Angelfire, and Tripod, and GeoCities even before all of that. (Not to mention MySpace and Friendster.)

So I’ve walked the walk. But ever since I started encouraging others to walk the walk, and spending my time focused on helping them do so, I’ve walked it a lot less. Like, a lot.

I have other excuses beyond “been there, done that”. Procrastination, prioritization, relocation, distraction–pretty much the same issues plaguing many of my clients. I am human after all, just like they are. (You probably are too!)

Perhaps my best excuse is this: Since 2005, I’ve worked almost exclusively based off of repeat business and referrals. I’ve never had to advertise or do any marketing at all and have had pretty steady business most of the time. Though I’ve had a few relocations that have thrown that formula off over time (mostly due to my own lack of follow-through to keep clients on board through and after the move).

That almost sounds like a legit reason: if I don’t need to generate business, then I don’t really need to do the steady drip-drip online marketing stuff…right?

No. Not right. I’ll address why in part 2.

WordFence: 9 WordPress Plugins Targeted in Multi-Year Spam Campaign

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I’m really happy to report that I’ve never used any of the plugins mentioned in this report on my sites or any of my clients’ sites.

Thanks to WordFence for all the hard work they do investigating things like this. As the WP ecosystem grows, there are more people looking to swindle and make a cheap buck (or cause a cheap disruption) using WordPress sites as their launchpad, and it’s good to know folks like those at WordFence have our collective backs.

People targeting a technology is an issue with any and every tech platform, really. From Android to Windows to Linux to Bitcoin, and even precious Apple. It’s not unique to WordPress. But what is unique to WordPress are the millions of users and developers in the open source community that are dedicated to making sure WP is a safe and solid platform, and that scammers, spammers, and malicious malcontents are identified, frustrated, and ultimately squashed.* Hats off to all of them for helping to cut the legs off of schemes like this one.

Source: 9 WordPress Plugins Targeted in Coordinated 4.5-Year Spam Campaign

(*I realize that other technologies, like Linux, also have large open source communities looking out for the user community. I’m simply saying WP’s community is better. ;-) Come at me, Linux people!! I’m ready!!!**)

(**Please don’t actually come at me, Linux people. I’m really not very ready. I’m in the middle of a move, I’ve got a lot of organizing to do…you know how it is.)

Some key principles that guide my advice to clients

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Things I keep coming back to again and again:

  • Everyone has something worth blogging about, and anyone who is willing can gain from having a blog.
  • Small business owners should understand and control as much of their Internet presence as possible. This doesn’t mean you yourself have to do every single thing, but you should understand and control it, as much as you do with the brick-and-mortar side of your business. (If not more.)
  • The individual beats of learning technology and Internet stuff are not difficult; the number one obstacle to that learning is the idea that it is hard. It is not. 70-year-old men who have never used a computer before sit down and learn this stuff. Therefore you can.
  • The power of the Internet and the “social web” is on a par with natural phenomena like electricity, fire, supernovas, and nuclear technology. It is immeasurably and inconceivably powerful. It also has elements of magic, and miracles, and incorporates things like serendipity and synchronicity and karma. It’s the power side of it that scares you, but you can’t do much about that (beyond taking basic safety precautions). Focus on the other stuff – the fun and the magic.
  • Your experience has value. It’s up to you whether you do anything with that or not, but it’s there.