JamieSanford.com » Content Creation

Happiness is a Word Cloud of Praise

Jamie Sanford — Thu, 18 Nov 2010 16:03:43 +0000

Christopher S. Penn sent along this idea in his recent email newsletter.

Here’s a personal branding tip to help you clarify who you are and what you do. Collect all of your recommendations from LinkedIn, all the complimentary tweets about you on Twitter, and any other place you’re likely to have nice words about you. Stuff them all into Wordle and see very clearly the words other people use to describe you. This is very powerful, especially if you’re at a loss for words to describe yourself on resumes, web sites, etc.

So, I used my LinkedIn recommendations to create the cloud you see here. I’m really pleased with it.

What would your word cloud look like? Will you be happy with the words that show up?

My Top 5 Posts.

Jamie Sanford — Thu, 21 Oct 2010 20:49:21 +0000

Photo by Svenwerk on Flickr. Image is clickable.

I’ve never actually done one of these, but I figured why not. I am slightly disappointed that over time, the most popular posts have been ones that I never really expected to perform well, but isn’t that always the way?

Product Review: Aura Paint by Benjamin Moore

Cosmopolitan magazine: good marketers, or an audience full of sheep?

Flickr Stats: Better, But Still Room for Improvement

Photo: Brahma Shrine at Caesar’s Palace, Las Vegas

Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater has a terrible photo policy.

Spam Comments Appealing to My Ego

Jamie Sanford — Thu, 27 May 2010 03:30:45 +0000

We have reached a new low, or have we?

On my other blog, I am getting spam comments a lot, probably because of the content, I talk about shopping and post links to lots of online shopping opportunities.

Most of the comments are obviously crap, and most don’t get through the spam filter. However, this is a little something different.

Yay for me! Wow, someone thinks that search engines should find my post about buying a Bonsai tree and make it the top search result for related searches!

Oh, wait.

So, maybe not so much.

Chris Brogan talked about a similar situation, but his spammer left a comment relevant to the post. What is better? Since I don’t have nearly as many readers as Chris, maybe this person felt like flattery was the way to go, in terms of “what can I do to get through the filter and then NOT get manually flagged as spam?”

Too bad for you, “study abroad scholarships,” I think enough of my content that I will not be keeping your spammery around.

Polyvore

Jamie Sanford — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 21:51:21 +0000

I love the Internet. I imagine everyone else has these moments where you find something that you love and it just reminds you of how great the Internet is?

I was introduced to using Polyvore today and it is ridiculously fun. I created this outfit based on the idea of spending a fabulous spring day enjoying NYC and using that baby blue camera.

Baby Blue Camera 3-13-10 by JamieSanford featuring Tarina Tarantino jewelry

Items in this set:

Gary Bigeni – Kelvin Painless Kimono Sleeve Dress – What’s New -…, $310

Mod Retro Indie Clothing & Vintage Clothes, $65

Zip Code Heel-Mod Retro Indie Clothing & Vintage Clothes, $35

Vintage Signed, Sealed, and Delivered Hat Case-Mod Retro Indie…, $50

Forever21.com – Accessories – Hats & Hair, $4.80

If you create an outfit, please put a link in the comments.

Comments versus Blog Posts

Jamie Sanford — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 23:01:10 +0000

This is one in a series of posts pulled from Chris Brogan’s “100 blog topics I hope YOU write.” (#70)

My ratio of blog posts to comments is pretty large, I don’t get comments all that often. I mean, let’s be clear, I have minimal blog followers. However, I try hard to bring my post content together at the end in order to ask the audience a question. I don’t write that often, so when I do, it’s generally a topic on which I feel inspired enough to write and so would love to discuss.

I think I feel disappointed at times because of past experience on a little site called Open Diary. I started posting there 10 years ago, in March 2000, when the site seemed like this amazing thing and such a great idea! I still write there and have recently gone back to it on a more regular basis, I think in part because I missed having people respond to what I was writing about.

I’m not trying to be whiny, I get that the spaces are different. In addition, my account on Open Diary is kept private and only available to those people whose diaries I have been reading for years, many of whom I’ve even had a chance to meet in person. I have friends there, and I don’t expect nearly that level of interaction with the readers of my blog. Anyone reading on Open Diary can’t subscribe via RSS, and those seeing my blog content in a reader probably aren’t coming to the site to comment since they are going to read or skim my content and then move on to the next item in the feed. I am guilty of that myself.

Something that I would love to have installed is a signature feature. This is an Open Diary standard where you go to leave a note, and you simply sign a blank note, generally done in order to tell the person that you stopped by and read that entry. It’s a courteous “hey I read this” message that I always try to utilize when I read so that I’m indicating that I was there. I appreciate all of the content I read, whether or not I feel like I have something to add to the conversation, but it would be great to be able to give some love to the person who spent time writing that content.

So here’s that italicized question:

Is there a tool available that you know of that would accomplish my signature thing? Would you check a box, etc, if it was an available feature, to let blog authors know that you read their post?

How I Find Blogging Ideas.

Jamie Sanford — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 04:35:13 +0000

This is one in a series of posts pulled from Chris Brogan’s “100 blog topics I hope YOU write.” (#9)

Travel is one of the things that inspire blog posts. Photo credit, uricacid.

I will create yet another list to address the topic of “how I find blogging ideas.”

Travel
Photography
Friends
Family
My job
The Internet and all of the wonderful tools that we have access to
The people I interact with online
Blogs I read, including specific things such as the list of blog topics that I’ve been working on lately
The grocery store
Television
Magazines
So much more.

What inspires your blog posts? Do you have any one thing that generates more ideas than anything else?

Pay us what you think our content is worth.

Jamie Sanford — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 16:23:18 +0000

They already "pay" what they think our content is worth.

I read this post by Cory Doctorow this morning on BoingBoing, called “How are you coping with collapse anxiety?” It features a photo of a sign outside of a cafe that read “Pay us what you think our food is worth.”

Immediately it occurred to me that this is what bloggers and other creators of free content are already doing. Pay us what you think our CONTENT is worth, pay us with traffic, pay us with an increase in Whuffie. Pay us with great comments that spark further conversations.

Of course these things do not come quickly (most of the time) or without quite a bit of work and perseverence. Chris Brogan has mentioned a few times that it took a while before his blog really caught on and turned into the comment party that it is nowadays.

Are you getting “paid” what your content is worth? What currency is important to you?

Photo credit, gruntzooki

I’m writing on Ada Lovelace Day.

Jamie Sanford — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 03:08:54 +0000

The question is…who should I write about? I’m taking suggestions.

New Year, changing it up.

Jamie Sanford — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 19:35:14 +0000

Hi everyone.

I haven’t written in some time.

I don’t like resolutions since I haven’t really ever stuck to one. I am working to change the way I do things online, starting with this morning’s overhaul of my Google Reader and iGoogle Homepage.

I would like to aim for 15-20 blog posts per month. I don’t think that daily is going to happen, but I will certainly try.

I also am working on a plan to improve my connectivity. Yes, I’m all set up at home and at the office, I post lots to Facebook and Twitter from my cell, but I need to have more connectivity to keep up with everything. I went on a road trip from December 19-29, and while we had our new netbook along, I could only connect in the hotel and my husband and I can’t both use that netbook at the same time, and if he gets to the computer first, I’m ready to sleep by the time he is done. My parents house doesn’t have wireless and their computer isn’t my computer and I got the netbook so that I wouldn’t have to use other people’s computers.

To resolve this a bit, I think I will need to upgrade my phone to something with a bit more going on. I would love recommendations on this from anyone willing. I have not heard good things about the Blackberry Storm and the data plan is more than I’m willing to spend. I could go Blackberry Curve, but I really am in the dark because I wasn’t interested in my phone being so involved in the past. However, I don’t think I can do all that I want to do without having my phone work with me as well.

I want to keep sharing photos, even though I’m pretty active on Flickr, I love sharing here as well. I want to talk more about what I don’t know and what I’m doing to learn.

I turn 30 this year, it’s really dawning on me although I would like to think that age doesn’t matter. It apparently does, and I’m hoping that this helps to motivate me to do all of these things this year.

Happy 2009. See you soon!

How could I use this in my business?

Jamie Sanford — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 16:40:32 +0000

Of course I’m having embedding issues for this video. Check it here.

I would love to work with Gizmoz to create a video that my audience would love to be a part of, and let them come to my site to access it. I’m thinking it would be a bit more appropriate than my surfing video here.