Yesterday, I got the question “why do you blog?” of course I had around a million answers to respond with. Then I realized that the reason the person asked was not to find out why I blogged but to see if there was any reason to why he should blog.
This got me thinking about what [...]
Archive for January, 2010
Write the most important thing first – in any kind of email
I recently registered a new domain name, but for this one I tried another provider than the one I have for my other domains. I happy with my current provider, but as I didn’t want a web hotel this time, I had to try something new. Anyway, the whole registration was kind of made in a hurry, because it was an idea I got and then after I headed out. From the mail I received, I got the impression that I was going to get an invoice via Snail mail. So I just closed the email without reading all of it, and headed out.
After some waiting I still had not received any invoice, but neither had I taken the time to figure out when I today got a “reminder” to pay. Weird I thought and opened the mail, only to find out that further down in the mail there was a title called “How do I pay?.” But I never got that far down in the email the first time, thus never realized that I could pay online. Rookie mistake indeed, I would have understood that there was an online payment. But as some domain-resellers have your confirm the domain name with a signature by fax or snail mail, I thought that this was some variation of this.
Either way, make sure that you organize your emails so that the things that you really want to be said is not too far down in the e-mail, as people tend to start to read and then just browse through the rest. Believe I have more examples of this, or perhaps you can admit that you also do it?
3 Tips to Make sure that people read what you write:
- Put the most important things first, or at least a very noticeable notifier of what is coming.
- Track the click-through rate on all the links in emails (those that your send to many people atleast) to figure out what people read, and how they interpret what you are meaning.
- Consider ways to shorten your emails, because people are used to Tweeted information now, 140 char, that is!
Looking at the second advice here is what I’m talking about. Sometimes you put many links after each other in a sentence like: I recently wrote on my blog that I published a video on YouTube. Now, to me it is obvious that it’s only the link under “video” that defines the actually video I’m referring too. But other people might think that the link under blog refers to the specific blog post, or that the YouTube link shows the video on YouTube. You can track or at least anticipate what people think of this sentence by tracking the click-thoughts.
So, the next time you write an email with something important, make sure to start with it!
Any thoughts on this? Personal experiences?
This week’s challenge: do a spell and grammar check for your LinkedIn profile.
I’m the expert at missing a letter here or there when I type, especially when the missed or wrong letter only give me another word and thus are not caught by the automatic spell checker. However, I believe that in blog posts for example, people tend to forgive misspelled words easier than on a resume.
Lately I have read a lot of CV’s and personal letters as I’m about to completely rewrite my CV and personal introduction as it has been awhile since the last time. Though many people have managed to inspire me in with their CVs and LinkedIn pages, I’m still chocked of how people seem to forget to proofread and complete a grammar check on their LinkedIn page, something they tend to be better at on their other CV’s.
I think this is because people tend to spend less time setting up their LinkedIn profile than writing a CV. Also, I think is more likely that, people review their resumes before sending them out and do not have the habit of doing the same with their LinkedIn profile page. This is unfortunate, because almost all headhunters will Google you, and hopefully find your LinkedIn page. Thus, your LinkedIn page might be a big part of your application even though if you don’t link to it.
Therefore, I challenge all of you to do a spell and grammar check to your LinkedIn profile before the weekend!
Please share if you completed the challenge and if you indeed found any spelling or grammatical errors.
Preconceptions: Chocolate Pralines in a Red Tinfoil Wrapper!
As you might know, Belgium is famous for their wonderful Chocolate. So moving here I made it a habit to try new kind of chocolate; dark, milk, white, expensive, cheap, pralines and other kinds. Though it was not until recently I found out that I had preconceptions about chocolate and their wrappings.
As a Christmas gift I got this amazing chocolate box filled with delicious pralines from Neuhaus. I do not know if that is the case here, but in Sweden we have a tradition of giving each other boxes with chocolate pralines around Christmas.
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| Photo: Neuhaus |
Anyway, I many other situations I save the best for last, but with chocolate I do the reverse. So the last pieces in the box, those that I really do not care for become emergency chocolate for when I really crave it. In my box those that are left are usually wrapped in a red foil wrapper, to me meaning that it is a praline filled with cherry liqueur, (or some other type of liqueur) and I really don’t like them.
So when I got my Neuhaus chocolate box, I followed the habit and saved the praline in the red tinfoil wrapper for last. Only to find out that it did not contain any liqueur but some very tasty soft nougat mix. What a great surprise! After this experience I realized that I never even thought about the fact that this wrapper could mean one thing in Belgium and one thing in Sweden. So I even asked a few Swedes if they had the same preconception, and indeed they had.
Now thinking about this, I realized that launching a product as international as Chocolate in a new country could mean a lot more investigations about preconceptions and habits than one would think.
So you have any similar experiences? Have you ever launched a product in a new country and faced this kind of challenge? Share your experiences.
Try McAfee for Free: Benefits of the Partnership between McAfee & Facebook
From time to time, I help people fix various problems with their computers. Many of them use Norton Antivirus which at least used to slow your computer down. Therefore I recommended people to switch to another Antivirus software. Now it was a long time since I used Norton, so I do not know if this is the case anymore, especially as they recently released Norton Antivirus 2010, which has got a few great reviews.
However, I still recommend people to switch to McAfee Antivirus, the program that I have personally been using since I bought my last computer two years ago. I really like this Antivirus, because it only “contacts” me occasionally and when it does, I actually understand what it is asking for. Something that I have realized that other Antivirus software fails to do. Sure the program has many other benefits of using McAfee, but that is my personal favorite.
So why am I telling you all of this?
Here is why: In the Facebook blog the other day I found out that McAfee has a special offer on the McAfee Facebook Fan Page, where all fans get a six month complimentary subscription (Yes, that is correct complementary means free). Basically all you have to do is log on to their fan page “become a fan,” go to the tab “Protect Your PC.”
In addition they offer a reduced fee on the subscription after those six months for all the Facebook fans.
Now, they will ask for your credit card information when you sign up, but they won’t charge you anything. All you have to do is sign up for an account, fill in all your details, and download and install the software. (Before you do this, remember to uninstall any current antivirus software: here is why)
Now to the marketing:
Talk about a great offer and marketing campaign at a good time.
The offer is a result of a partnership between Facebook and McAfee, with the goal to: “Through this partnership, the two companies have jointly created security solutions that include McAfee security software, a custom scanning and repair tool, and consumer friendly education materials that Facebook will make available to its more than 350 million users. In total, this is a first-of-its-kind security offering that represents a major milestone in the fight to secure the Internet and reduce global cybercrime.”
The benefits of the Partnership
- As almost everyone is a Facebook user today, they manage to reach a big audience.
- People like me will spread and recommend this offer making the campaign viral, thus even bigger.
- Facebook shows humanity by giving their users a way to protect their computers.
- McAfee reaches new potential customers, from which they can earn long term profit.
Now, I hope you believe my words and my phrasing of McAfee and try it immediately and please come back here later to share your McAfee experience.











