Recently in Blogging Category

We all want to look our best. I have some particular needs regarding health and beauty that I think any and all readers should get something from. I am writing this after doing some meal plans and reading up on the latest findings on food and nutrition as it affects bloating, water retention and other nagging things which undermine self confidence.

Don't skip breakfast. Drink things that contain lots of water, no alcohol. It's Sunday. I may break that rule on alcohol. The key is moderation in all that I do. Since I have goals, I sometimes really plan out what I'm going to have. I am lucky enough to have a grocery store in my building. I don't have to plan very far out.

This morning, I knew I had some wheat bread for toast, a tomato and a little yogurt in the refrigerator. That doesn't sound like much. It's fairly well-balanced though, all in all. I also had one serving of Kashi cereal left. That's actually all that I have save for coffee and tea. I tread lightly when I can.

Nutritionally, the wheat toast gives me carbs for energy and mood balancing serotonin. The cereal adds fiber and additional carbs from the grains. It also contains protein and omega-3 from flax seeds. The main thing I'm missing, I can easily make up for at lunch time. I'm missing protein.

Eating flax seeds is not the ideal way to get any of the nutrition, since they should be ground up and not whole. They are whole in the Kashi cereal. That's no good. Grinding causes them to deteriorate within 8-hours, and it's messy. I don't enjoy grinding flax very much these days. I used to a decade ago.

I still have a dedicated grinder for when I might use it for a meal. It goes well with yogurt, on cereal or salads. It adds good nutty flavor and a load of fiber and nutrition. The yogurt, with it's probiotics, is really good for digestion and reducing water retention weight. Avoiding sodium and eating Potassium rich foods will help balance this.

For lunch, I should prepare something like a baked potato and something that will add to the protein for the day. I'm actually looking at new recipes now, planning a trip to the store. It's too hot for Lollapalooza. Maybe next year. I want to stay in the cool building and do some development work today.

Stay tuned.

Powerful words must be in your copy. Make it real copy. Use subject matter that you get to write about authoritatively. Speaking of subject matter and good writing, one fascinating thing about how we grow as people living the cultural life, wherever we are, is that our use of language shapes the very essence of our being. Words are that important.

Language affects the attributes of our life skills. Choose good words. This should come as no real surprise. That is why there is no glory in being proud that one can't write or spell correctly. It amazes me that that has any cache, especially in an industry that is so strongly tied to business success as online writing and marketing. It's the very unruly nature of the Web that allows for this.

The power of the medium actually allows people with little to no writing skill to write and appear authentic or smart, no matter if they really are. Don't get caught in the trap of playing along, silly. It's short lived success with a glass ceiling at best.  Be authentic without showing off any inability to spell correctly, not without true wit. It does not come across well to the right sort who can see through it.

Words are seriously powerful. They can affect how you live your life. Words have already probably shaped how you are. In a Newsweek article, I read about evidence that our language has an influence on our very abilities, our skills with living in this world. That means the higher the language abilities that you can attain, the better odds you have for achieving greatness.

Don't shy away from learning to write better. Read from those whose prose speaks to you. It'll help define you and your style. If your style is about celebrating the heights that you can reach, versus cashing in on darkness and deceit (as search marketing is so often accused of doing), then you can operate on higher levels and succeed while enjoying the good life.

Stay tuned.

One of the last coffees I had the chance to enjoy before hitting the road back in May, bound for Portland and Bend, was at Intelligentsia. I had the chance to meet at the cafe with SearchReturn link builder Sophie, who is working on two of the most important link building projects. Her rate is consistently over 10% acquisition. She has scored as high as 16% links from high quality webmasters. No reciprocals needed.

When I met with her, we had a coffee. Whenever I get the chance to have a great coffee where they style the top, like they do at Intelligentsia, I take a photo. I have one or two other pictures I took before heading to Portland, Bend and then Seattle, which I'll feature in more posts. Here is a picture of that coffee I had with Sophie back in May.



Sophie is the staff member with the most experience using the link building application. She has been working with the program since it was first developed. Her feedback has become part of the application. We've adopted one or two features based upon her direct suggestions. Sign up for link building, and chances are you'd have Sophie helping with strategy and potentially link building. Her success rate with clients is high.

Stay tuned.

It's been a while since I last optimized my Tweets. It was back in February when I needed some fast rankings for Disa Johnson. I recall looking at the current rankings for my name, noticed rankings appearing quickly for a negative blog posting about me, I immediately commenced my reputation management campaign using Twitter.

It only took hours for Twitter to rank above the blog post that attacked me. Not bad at all. I recorded everything from then on to document the entire process. The thing I didn't like was my Tweets weren't all that natural anymore. I wanted to stop tweaking them for my name. Above all, you have to be authentic in Twitter.

In an interview I gave last Friday, I stressed the authenticity factor for success with Twitter above all others as the most important thing. Sure, there are ways to get your message in. It falls on deaf ears though, unless your Tweets are natural and authentic. Then you can succeed, like I am succeeding.

After I got top rankings by changing my name at my company site Search Return LLC, and I got this 'Disa Johnson' blog started, (started unexpectedly for Reputation Management needs, can you believe it?), then I started another personal blog and a Disa Johnson Bio site. I populated every profile that was ranking in the top 30.

It all worked perfectly. I no longer had to juice my Twitter profile with Disa Johnson. I was ranking perfectly well and basically legally flooding Google, which was the only place the negative post appeared top 10. It's still in the top 10 results but is now slipping again with Twitter. The more the guy writes about me anymore using nasty headlines the more a fight will continue.

Luckily for me, it would now be a fight where the purpose has been successfully usurped by me. The more attention the matter gets from now on, the more my real story gets out in the face of his false facts and hate speech. As long as there is no fight, then I get to make it just a sidebar issue in my life, and simply refer to it for fun every now and again.

To me? That's perfect Reputation Management. I sustained the onslaught of personal attack by a blogger and his fans. I survived intact, lived to tell the tale and at my own pace. Is there a negative ranking? Yes. It's slipping away into the past. Maybe soon it will only surface top 10 using advanced search.

Who knows? Who really wants to promote falsehoods? I'll just point it out where people do, including the original post itself without promoting it in search engines. I think it's become a nasty little liability for the author, not me. That suits me fine. What was strange for me today, was noticing the Twitter ranking is number one again, just like before I changed my name at my company site. Twitter is beating us all on my name even after I started flooding.

I'm not the only one who noticed this new Twitter ranking power. I thought it was just me yesterday when I recorded the ranking change for my own purposes. Then I noticed this Tweet from @ogletree and realized that it isn't just me. That's an interesting development, but not one of great consequence (except a positive thing for my little campaign). It's great for me.

Stay tuned.

 Coffee post for the day!



So, reading my Sunday copy of NYT, I was informed as a 'discerning reader' that my rate for home delivery is going up. Fine. Damn. So, how do I really feel? I'm much better thanks. You can expect a few more blog posts as I return from being sick with the flu. Not *that* flu, mind you. By the way, that coffee was taken to go, and back on the 18th. I have some catching up to do! Do you like my orange thongs?

The flu. Mexico City must be commended for alleviating what could have been a much worse and far wider flu epidemic. I'm sure people are tired of hearing news about it, and some actually think the whole issue was overblown. It makes me upset that people think the news was overblown, that it was too much. It really got the attention it should have gotten, that's the underlying truth on the matter, regardless what less scientifically inclined people think.

You know what I think? The increased access to sources of information has created an atmosphere of information overload more now than ever before. People used to wonder about the Internet causing information overload, and that was long before now. The people that were noisy about it in the past, have since been silenced because of search engines. Search engines were to find the needles in haystacks of information glut, and served to shut them up.

Now the noise has has reached a fairly serious fever-pitch level today. I'm not on an anti-freedom rant here, but I think it's too much nonsense. Don't mistake what I'm saying. Information overload is a well-known way to obfuscate actionable information. I continue to subscribe to my physical copy of The New York Times because the information in it does not need to reach me at the speed of light.

The journalism in physical papers tends to be superior than anything the Internet can produce, unless a valid journalist produces it. If I go looking for some special piece of information, the Internet usually is a great source for that, for it is incredibly vast. The news? Other than for stupid pet tricks. I don't need the Internet for news other than anything big and quick breaking and serious all at once, like some new freaky storm about to blow my house down. Global warming will kill us all in the end.

The Internet is great for fast breaking news. It's the news in the middle where the Internet leaves me wanting. The middle is where I can read about who President Obama nominates for the next supreme court justice. I'm not in politics (yet), so I don't really need to know the very second he makes a choice like that. I want to read about what people think after Obama makes his choices.

People write utter nonsense and speculation on the Web (like what produced my recent Reputation Management crisis), it pollutes the world with misinformation and utter nonsense. Some people spam dating sites with posts and one liners in order to find a wife. I see that junk all the time. I'm amazed how gullible and naive people are. Has everyone given up? I think all this has corroded the Web and blithe bloggers with little to no HTML skill are largely to blame for wrecking it. Thanks.

I'm not going to trust any blogger on the Internet to tell me what to personally think (I'm amazed how many do). I'm going to make sure I get my view from the thoughts of people that I trust to give me a perspective that I can believe in. As for Obama's supreme court justice choice? I'm going to see it, hear it and read about it in my sources of information (radio, print, TV *and* Web).

It's the thought provoking analysis that beats the immediacy of the Web in my opinion. The Web is great for stupid pet tricks and entertainment news. It sometimes breaks newsworthy events that are then properly supplemented by traditional media perspective shortly afterwards. I view it all. That's me, in a nutshell. I'm a savvy information consumer with today's news sources (worried about the future of newspapers).

Stay tuned.

This image courtesy of Disa Johnson's fun at Intelligentsia Coffee in Chicago! What's true is, so much has gone on since this was taken, including the Bing launch, that a whole series of upcoming blog posts are due. That will include some photos from Chicago festivals, as well as thoughts on the new Bing search engine from Microsoft.

I can't tell you how great it is to have such a fine restaurant as The Publican so close to the Coop. Not only did I get the chance to have a nice dinner with Sam and Patrick just two nights ago, but I also had gone there myself to try it out back on the evening of April 27th. This is a picture of my chocolate tort with hazelnut ice cream, Intelligentsia coffee, cream and raw sugar cubes. Check out the stylish platter and silverware.



It was a meal to remember. This is my coffee of the day post. Since this coffee came with a whole meal that included fantastic beer, I will at least offer you a peek at the dinner. I had a great chicken dish, perfectly prepared. What's notable is that I weigh less today (and when I ate this meal too), than at any time during my thirties. Who says you can't eat like this and get fit at 40?



Well, it would go much faster if I didn't eat like this, I know that part is true - hah!

Stay tuned.

Last night I had the chance to hit the Chicago Tribune CLTV's 'The Cheesburger Show' Tweetup with @cshel and @daver. The sliders were good, or so I hear (since I had eaten and didn't try them). The drinks were good and I can attest to that one or two times. It looks like I'll probably head out of town tomorrow and up to Schaumburg to hang out again over drinks and food.

We stayed out late and got ourselves a meal after midnight. It was three in the morning by the time I made it home. So, getting up for my color and cut at Maxine's wasn't the easiest thing for me to do. I knew it was going to be another incredible moment where I would be transformed and so I was excited enough that lagging from the late evening didn't really slow me down.

What can I say? Patricia and Jasen at Maxine Salon are simply amazing. A huge part of what I'm able to accomplish is because I have gotten such quality help from consummate professionals. Jasen has maintained my hair the perfect color since January. Patricia was my original starting point for transformation last year She is the well from which all this springs, and Patricia is just such a great personality that I have to have her on the air with me after we launch AirDisa radio.

I'm a sucker for nostalgia. I recall my teenage wasteland and listening to records. That's vinyl records to those who grew up without them. I spent a lot of time in record stores. I can't shake calling an album a record. It makes referring to database records more fun too, just because of the word. Here's something you get at a physical record store (Reckless Records in Chicago on Record Store Day) that you can't get from online music stores. Free Posters!



The image of records and music is indelibly inked on my mind. Perhaps I'll get a tat someday too, so it'll be visibly etched on my skin. It's 22 minutes a side for an LP. Imagine. LP stands for Long Play record. A double LP is exciting for both the artist and the fan. All the inspiring artwork and images that accompany tunes on a double LP, I would pore over it for hours.

Quicker than a sinking newspaper, music on the Web and the digital format fully wrecked the record business. I got into computing in the late eighties because I knew what was coming. How many search marketers know that I had a career as a musician? Probably less than ten. How many know that I learned computing and search in order to learn how to succeed as an artist?

I can trace my thoughts all the way back to years before seeing Peter Gabriel in concert. The Peter Gabriel 'So' album was the first record, recorded entirely digitally, mastered digitally, and pressed onto compact disc - a new digital format back then. Yes, I'm a dinosaur, but for some reason, I sort of prefer it that way - please don't ask me why. It's probably because I love record stores.

A few years earlier, I had seen a LA Times piece about a new-fangled thing called a digital modem, and I determined then and there that music could (in theory) be transmitted computer-to-computer over PBX phone lines. I knew then and there that it was only a matter of time before people would begin doing so. I wanted to do so.

What a revelation it was for me! My first comment on a blog, (actually the precursor to blogs: a guest book) was exactly my rant about this possibility, announcing what I intended at the time. I wanted to start distributing music independent of a label, my music and the music of friends. I could get music out to the public without being a signed artist. I could be an online label for others. I was way ahead of my time. It was the mid-nineties. Only one search marketer has ever seen that post, and we laugh about it to this day.

Hearkening back to those great old days, and from even before then, I now have a radio show on the way with AirDisa. I am far more interested in getting back to my roots than moderating or speaking. Music, art, even fashion (yes!) and other topics I want to explore to extend the search marketing advice I will freely give away on the air. I'm really excited about Disa Johnson and AirDisa Multimedia. Multimedia. I'm a sucker for nostalgia.

I've moderated or appeared on conference panels for the last 10 years. I don't really need to moderate any longer. I admit, it's rather fun to help panelists shine, or at least communicate to the audience, even when I don't necessarily agree with what they are saying. I plan to continue to support Danny with his conference series, and will make very few exceptions to appear anywhere else.

So, here's today's coffee post for you. I'm at Reckless Records for Record Store Day, listening to musicians and browsing the tunes. They have a great domain, don't they? For this entry I took a quick coffee break so that I can enjoy a nice cup from Intelligentsia, which is a block and a half from the store. The store is moving even closer to Intelligentsia. All the more reason to call this a favorite spot to spend a great Saturday in Chicago, such a great music town. Enjoy!



Stay tuned.

After previewing this post, I checked Twitter and at least one follower is headed to Reckless Records today too. That's fairly awesome. A mini tweetup with jamesus. Yay!

If you think I'm being smarmy for posting delicious pictures of buns, you're right. I couldn't resist these buns. I love a little sugar in the morning. It's a nice treat, and these buns did it for me today. That, and a good cup, I was ready to take on the day. Enjoy!



Stay tuned.