All Things Cahill

David Churbuck’s posted here and here on the subject of lurkers and forum engagement in online communities, as did J.P. Rangaswami on his ConfusedofCalcutta.com blog.  David suggested that I post on my experiences in working with him on the Reel-Time.com forum since 1995 or so. Here’s the critical stat from J.P.’s post: “I’ve always believed in a simple rule-of-thumb about opensource communities: * For every 1000 people who join a community: * 920 are lurkers, passive observers * 60 are watchers, active observers…

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I tried to get some online work done yesterday, but was surprised to find that the 50 mph gusts had knocked out powerlines in many areas, so I had a (welcome) surprise day off.  We’ve been having trouble with our 8 year old, who’s a bright kid, but suffers with ADHD and doesn’t focus well. Of late, we’re getting a lot of math worksheets back and they’re not complete; it’s obvious she’s having problems with fundmentals.  You see, somewhere along…

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I spent most of the last week debugging things for IE 7 and generally changing the way most of the sites I’ve developed handle CSS (cascading style sheets).  To put it mildly, I am not an utterly happy Microsoft client today.  Let me share my pain. Standards are standards, and we’ve had the approved spec for HTML and XHTML for sometime.  Is it too much to ask that IE 7 should work with existing standards-based code? 

I’ve been thinking a lot about relevance in online marketing in the past day, since reading this statement from the D/C Strategic post I blogged yesterday:  Whereas it was Survival of the Loudest. Now it is Survival of the Relevant. Relevance is the buzzword du jour, but the case is well made in many places.  I thought I might add my voice to the fray.

http://dc-strategic.com/?p=41 Domanic Canterbury at D/C Strategy takes his marketing seriously.  He’s got a great post about how marketing has changed and what you need to do to survive.  I won’t bother explaining, just go to his site and read.  If you really need a teaser: In the new marketing landscape you can’t just relentlessly tell people you’re better.  Instead, be better and you will find the growth you seek.

Maureen Rogers has an excellent post on OpinonatedMarketers.com entitled: “Words of Wisdom from Seth Godin” which features his awesome “Top 10 Secrets of the Marketing Process.” Seth’s 10 points are excellent – they generally boil down to having utter conviction in your campaign and being willing to put yourself fully behind it.  His point #8 is a true classic: 8. Compromise in marketing is almost always a bad idea. Extreme A could work. Extreme B could work. The average of…

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What’s the difference between a quote and outright theft of intellectual property?  Well, as a blogger, I worry I’ll miss an attribution.  The problem is, there are blogs out there that don’t take things nearly as seriously.  Case in point:  Read this article by Al Lautenslager- 10 Marketing Tactics Under $10 and published online at Entrepeneur.com with the following clearly displayed: “Copyright © 2006 Entrepreneur.com, Inc. All rights reserved.”  Then go to this site (link removed, the owner removed the…

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Eric Kintz from HP has started a group post for online marketers called “Open Post to All Marketers – Why Blogging Matters” which has been picked up by David Churbuck here, Peter Blackshaw here,  Dan Greenfield here, David Armano here, and Will Waugh here. Why should we read? HP, Lenovo, Nielsen, Earthlink, Digitas and ANA – a worth collection of companies, and a talented group of new marketers.  Here’s the topic list that’s been covered: #1 – PR and Blogging…

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Steve Rubel had another great post on Micro Persuasion about the Internation Herald Tribune offering customized text to speech podcasts – a logical extension to my mind of their “clippings” service.  Steve’s observation, which I completely agree with: The International Herald Tribune recently launched a feature I wish every newspaper would offer. They enable readers to create a custom text-to-speech podcast with the stories of their choosing. NXP semiconductors has signed on as the initial sponsor of the service, which…

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John Dodd of Make Marketing History posted today what has to be one of the best lists of New Marketing does and don’ts that I’ve seen.  A quick sample of his top ten: 7) Technical Support is marketing. In the absence of all of the above, your users inevitably need help. A technical support department speaking in non-technical, hand-holding language transforms their purchase from waste of money to life-enhancing boon and is the greatest marketing tool you have.