Spaces on the Wall

E-mail Etiquette

Dear Family,

It's really great to hear from everyone. Shawn and I talked this evening and we have a few tips on how to use e-mail effectively that won't drive us mad.

Please:

• Don't reply to all. Seriously, it's annoying if the message is not directed-at or pertains-to me in a meaningful way.
• Use e-mail to announce something important or worth knowing. - otherwise we'll start glazing over future messages.
• Change the subject line if the contents of the e-mail message has shifted gears significantly. When trying to follow a train of thought, it really helps to have concise subject lines, and not ones that refer to a message 10 replies ago.
• Don't use profane language - there are other ways to get your point across.
• Spell check. It's really easy to do and should become a habit before sending any correspondences out - Again, I'm just trying to make out what you're saying as quickly as possible.

Please don't take this personal or as a list of demands - just some food for thought when using the medium properly. Cool?

How Am I Going To Get Up There?

It's Not That Easy

"C'mon, SEO must be easy? I mean it's not rocket science right?" I was posed the question last week - during an irrational, mind numbing session on how company x is planning on gaming Google.

First half of the meeting is focused on how they want to do it. The other half focused on why it's such a bad idea. 

I'm getting pretty good at letting companies down (gently). Besides, "you just don't deserve to be number one" is a hard pill to swallow. But it's a realty check, and one I'm happy to administer. Because once the (insert stupid SEO hack here) is off the table and out of minds reach, we can actually focus on what should really be done, and how it can really be achieved. No tricks, no magic bullets. Just hard work.

The companies that stick around are the ones who get it (and are the ones we can add value to).

Siftables: No More Islands