Nancy McCord – Page 14 – The Web Authority

January 10, 2011January 8, 2011

Introducing our Spokedog Keebler

Keebler the McCord Web Services spokesdog.

We would like you to meet our spokesdog Keebler. Keebler is the McCord family pet and our new fun way to connect with dog lovers, business colleagues, and people just interested in knowing more about blogging, AdWords, SEO, and social media.

Keebler was adopted on October 2009 as an adult dog from the Northern Virginia Sheltie Rescue. Although Keebler is not a pure bred Sheltie, she had enough of the Sheltie look to qualify for the rescue group to take her in from a shelter. Keebler is actually a Sheltie Corgi mix. She has the Sheltie look with the cute short legs and long body of a Corgi.

These wonderful people at the Northern Virginia Sheltie Rescue find then adopt and foster many needy and older dogs from shelters or direct donation right in their own homes. They are serious about the dogs and look to find the very best adoptive home match for the dog and family.

Keebler had been a street dog and then had been adopted twice by families. She had not been able to get along with other dogs in the family and had been returned for re-placement. The Rescue group loved her, but found her difficult to place until we came along. What we saw was a great dog who needed to be the “queen” of the household and be a part of a high energy family. It has turned out to be an excellent match for us, a one dog family, and for Keebler.

Our spokesdog’s best features are her wonderful smile and bubbly personality. Although adopting an adult dog can be a challenge sometimes, our family welcome Keebler to her new forever home with open arms. We fondly say that our dog has a mental illness when it comes to squirrels. She hates them and tries to chase them in the yard, then she will run circles around the kitchen table to work off her anxiety energy until stopped. She could run until she falls from exhaustion if allowed. We have learned that our high energy dog just needs a bit of special loving help when squirrels are in our yard.

There are a few ways you can connect with Keebler. She has her own Facebook page, she has her own Twitter account called AskKeebler, and she regularly interacts to answer questions on the McCord Web Service Facebook Business Page. If you want to join in the fun, ask web visibility questions, see funny videos that are silly yet viral, you need to connect with our spokesdog Keebler, it is all done in fun!

If you want candid answers to your web related business questions, have a light hearted laugh, want to share dog pictures, or ask about how to promote your business on the Web, you need to just Ask Keebler!

January 7, 2011January 8, 2011

Did You Review Your Year End Results with Peachtree?

The year is just over and I myself poured over my 2010 financial results. I find that the bigger your company is the more strategic you become in regards to goal setting and working to manage profitability. I have make reviewing my business results easy by letting Peachtree Accounting Software do all the work. I invested in Peachtree Premium Accounting 2011 this past year.

Peachtree was able to allow me to compare my results this past year with those of 2009. I found some very interesting sales anomalies that have newly directed my business direction for early this year. I am great at statistical review, but no accountant by any means. By investing in software that keeps my books accurate, I am freeing up time to focus on creating goals and selling strategies that I will be enacting this month.

If I have not taken the time to do a careful financial review, I would not be addressing one of the biggest challenges in my business so far and would have been focused on growth but not profitable growth.

Please note I am not paid by Peachtree for this blog post, I just use and love the product.

January 5, 2011December 31, 2010

Web Writing Is Not Blog Writing

There is a difference between writing for a website and writing for a blog. Here is a short list showing the differences between the two.

Web Writing
1. Written with marketing action and focus on features and benefits.
2. Desired action is to get a client to contact the office for more information or to buy something.
3. Written to expose your products and services in-depth and supply adjunct informative information.
4. Although is user centric the focus is on selling and putting you in the best light.
5. Content typically does not change with any degree of frequency.

Blog Writing
1. Informational in nature and tone and is focused on current news events.
2. Written in a very conversational style and with casual use of slang terminology and euphemisms.
3. Short one topic per page piece. Typically about 250 to 350 words maximum.
4. Does not hard sell your services. May mention your website or service but soft sells.
5. Typically is not all about you, but a newsworthy article or event, but may refer briefly to you or your website.

There is a very big difference in the quality of writer that should be used for blogging and for web content creation. The price is indicative of the quality of writing. It is not uncommon to spend $1 per word to $70 per hour for research and writing for website content.

Blog content on the other hand is more production oriented and is typically not done by a highly skilled and degreed journalist, but rather a good writer who may or may not have the critical marketing and communications background that a professional journalist or professional copywriter may have.

It is very important that if you are looking for web content writing that you not consider blog content or a blog writer an appropriate source for important website content. Rather a content specialist who has website content creation experience is the most appropriate choice. You will pay more, but the quality will be more appropriate for the use.

January 3, 2011March 4, 2012

Google Explains the Name HotPot

Google sent me a note on Twitter when I tweeted about Google HotPot recently when I had blogged about it last week. Turns out there actually is a story behind this queer name they chose for their terrific new online review interface.

“Hot pot, the dish, is about community. You and your friends huddle together and add ingredients to a pot of boiling broth, creating a delicious soup to be enjoyed by all. Sometimes you take your own food from the pot, and sometimes you taste what your friends have added. This shared experience of gathering around a fire to cook and eat communally is a fundamental illustration of how we’ve come together to enjoy food from the earliest days of humanity.” Read the full article on the HotPot blog.

So it appears that the Google HotPot team is watching Twitter which that in itself is an interesting note. Okay I’m not sure I buy into the HotPot thing for food, who wants people double dipping into food you actually will eat, but the concept of sharing information on reviews, restaurants, businesses, hair salons, all makes perfect sense.

I like Google HotPot, it is similar to Four Square, but I like HotPot better as I can be at my computer updating Facebook and jot a note in HotPot. I don’t have to be on my mobile phone to write a review like you do with Four Square. The sharing aspect is cool and I am personally using it to write reviews for the local businesses that I use.

Even more interesting for me is that HotPot is integrated with Google.com and Google Places. So anyone who is in my HotPot group has their reviews shown on my Google.com searches and all HotPot reviews appear on Google Places. I think Google has a winner with HotPot, but here are a few names that I ask them to consider while they are at it: Stew Pot, Add to My Stew, Fondue It, Tell Me More, Crazy Spot. What weird and wonderful names can you think of? Just put them in comments below. Google appears to be listening.