An Austrian-Style Afternoon
I’ve been craving veal lately, so I decided to make some wiener schnitzel. It’s basically just breaded, pan-fried veal scallopini. Both of the wife’s grandmothers spent time in Germany, so this dish isn’t exotic to her at all. Her Croatian grandmother always pairs schnitzel with spaetzle. It makes sense. What better complements fried meat than fried carbs? The more butter, the better. To balance out the meal, I made some sweet and sour red cabbage. I’ve blogged these recipes before, but I thought I’d put them together in one place since they go...
Read MoreThe ten most annoying website mistakes
Your website is the virtual ambassador for your brand. It may be a storefront, an engagement platform, or a mere informational portal, but it’s meant to attract users. The best way to have your users bounce away is by annoying them. Web 2.0 has seen the demise of most of the annoying gimmicks of the 1990s and early 2000s, but there are still some bad habits that won’t go away. In my opinion, these are the ten worst sins that well-meaning websites can commit. If you’re doing any of them, you need to stop. Disabling the back button Remember when Christopher Walken played The...
Read MorePopular marketing and public relations news resources
In a meeting a few days ago, I was talking about facebook’s implementation of the timeline format for brand pages. A colleague asked if I could direct her to a few resources where she could stay up-to-date with the ever-evolving trends in social media and strategic marketing. I thought I’d just go ahead and blog it since I’ve gotten the question before. I’ve already explained how to import and manage RSS feeds, so I’ll just direct you to the resources. These are 20 feeds that play big parts in my PR, SEO, and Tech lists. How useful you’ll find them depends...
Read MoreBuilding a HTPC Console, Part 3
Like I said in my previous posts (part 1, part 2) I’ve been waiting for several years to pull the trigger on a Home Theater Personal Computer (HTPC) set-up. I wanted to fit everything ‘multimedia’ into a custom console in my den that kept my entire system streamlined, organized, and hidden from sight. This is how it all turned out. I’m very pleased with how clean the design looks in the room. These pictures aren’t great. I think I got some dust on the camera lens when I was out in the workshop. Click on the first image to enlarge. It may take a moment to load,...
Read MoreSuggested Reading: Business Books
Every few years, I brush up on all of the non-fiction/non-biography books that people have been talking about. I like to let the market filter the lasting hits from the passing fads. In the past year, I’ve gone through lots of titles, some good and some not so good. I thought I’d share the ones that were most worth taking the time to read. I’m ranking these in order of quality, with “quality” meaning a good balance of readability, insight, and prescience. The Thank You Economy Social media isn’t a fad; it’s a fundamental shift in the way we...
Read MoreBuilding a HTPC Console, Part 2
Like I said before, I used the dimensions of my new Home Theater Personal Computer (HTPC) components to sketch out a plan for a multimedia console that would allow cool air into the storage space, block most of the light from bleeding into the rest of the room, and neatly store everything without showing any wires. This was my plan. My measurements had to be cut down by a couple of inches during the build, but I stayed pretty true to the original design. Here’s all of the lumber. Since I was planning to paint the console, I got away with using select pine and plywood for the base and...
Read MoreTom Waits’ Best Music: A Cheat Sheet
All musicians whose careers span decades go through some kind of evolution. But few have changed as much over the years as Tom Waits. It amazes me how many people know of his work through other singers’ covers, and recognize him only from his roles in film. Waits emerged in the ’70s with a unique, hybrid folk/jazz sound that was very different from the acid-rock music that was filling the airwaves. His music was seen by some as a revival of the beat movement, almost like an amalgam of the styles of Louis Armstrong, Hoagie Carmichael, and Leonard Cohen. In the early ’80s,...
Read MoreIf you manage a website, you need to integrate with Google
Google integration is a service I offer to business owners. It’s something they can do themselves, and I usually recommend that they at least try before contracting with me, but they usually just pay me to do it because of my experience. They’re juggling sales and services and just want it to be done. That’s understandable, but it’s not optimal. I’ve said it before; if you think of your website as a sunk cost, then you’re doing it wrong. Your website should be thought of as a digital salesperson, promoting your brand across the globe and selling...
Read MoreBuilding a HTPC Console, Part 1
I’ve been waiting for a couple of years to pull the trigger on a Home Theater Personal Computer (HTPC) set-up. I wanted to fit everything ‘multimedia’ into a custom console in my den that kept my entire system streamlined, organized, and hidden from sight. When you live in a house as small as mine, you have to consider the aesthetics or else you look like a hoarder. I was pretty late to organize my media on my computer. The wife and I didn’t get our first iPod until Christmas of 2009 and we quickly filled our old desktop PC with burned CDs. We needed a new...
Read MoreUse industry and community links to increase SEO
I was emailing back and forth with a client the other day. I won’t get into his particular situation, but he was experiencing the same frustration with early search engine rankings that all new website owners feel. It’s very common and it’s understandable. You get the ball rolling, invest in a brick-and-mortar storefront, a virtual storefront, short-term growth initiatives, and then the output doesn’t match your input. I usually have to educate new business owners that the search engines have evolved to trust and promote known quantities and hedge a bit on unknown...
Read MorePoppy Seed Chicken
There’s nothing complex about poppy seed chicken. If you’ve made it once, you’ve probably memorized the recipe. The only reason I’m blogging it is because a lot of people think it’s labor-intensive. It doesn’t have to be. As long as you have a stand mixer and a little time, it’s one of the easiest meals you can make, even if it’s not one of the healthiest. This version is based on my mother-in-law’s recipe. Stand Mixer Poppy Seed Chicken 3-4 chicken breasts (depending on the size) 1 can chicken stock 1 can cream of chicken soup 1 stick...
Read MoreA more marketing-oriented website design
I’ve been blogging for almost ten years on various platforms. I taught myself HTML and CSS out of sheer curiosity and bouts of frustration. I settled on WordPress as my favorite content management system a few years ago and have been singing its praises ever since. Along the way, friends and family members started asking me for guidance in marketing and web development. As I explain on the About Me page, I’ve never minded dispensing some best-practice advice and cost-saving tips. But when the requests started piling up, I had to start charging a consulting fee. The...
Read MoreMicrosoft ad hits Google Docs where it counts
Everybody talks about how Apple and Google are driving the future of technology, and in a way there are. They’re hip brands that fashion-conscious technophiles want to associate with. But let’s not pretend there’s parity in the marketplace, especially when it comes to business practices. Microsoft is still the giant in the room and they’re putting out a lot of products and services that aren’t getting nearly as much attention as they should. Apple might dominate the media player market, but their reach in the computer market is grossly overestimated by most...
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As an experienced marketer and an avid social media user, I keep a hobby blog. It mostly exists as a public scrapbook for my out-of-state family. Feel free to take a look around and see what you like.
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