Background info: I browse the web a lot and dig into local sites more than anything. I take note of local trends and over time I’ve found there are a lot of generic sites –many of which are outdated, but there are tons. So I sat down and interviewed one.

Preinterview pic

Luis: I’d hate to take time out of your sitting-around-doing-nothing-and-helping-no-one period so I’ll start with some basic questions. First of all, who designed you?

Site: Well, I was made by some guy. I really don’t want to drop names so yeah…

Luis: No offense, but it was a no body wasn’t it?

Site: I’m not saying anything.

Luis: Taking a five second look at you and your layout it’s easy to figure out… but let’s move on. What was used to design you?

Site: A mix of great software!

Luis: Like?

Site: Uhmm. Microsoft paint, PowerPoint, Notepad, Publisher 2003, and a generic WYSIWYG editor.

Luis: Well, that’s special. What type of SEO techniques are implemented on you?

Site: S-E-What?

Luis: Search engine optimization. You know, the process of improving ranking in search engine results.

Site: Oh! I once had some hidden text on my footer! And then there was the links to me from all over the place, even sites that had nothing to do with me! I also paid other sites for links one time.

Luis: Ehh, next topic. You are… a totally static site. What do you think about interactivity and letting users be part of you?

Site: Well, I don’t know if I can do that. I might crash if I try!

Luis: I’d love to chat with you but I’ll have to end it here. It was nice getting personal with a local generic site. Thanks so much.

Site: I’m generic?

Luis:uhhh, bye!

[ending weirdness]

Spam isn’t new, spamming in ways that get to people core is also not new. But as of the last two weeks at the media has FINALLY caught on to our economic status in the US; I’ve gotten some spam that I know would appeal to most less savvy people. Yes, they did get caught in my spam filter, but this is Gmail, it’s good at what it does and other clients aren’t.

Here’s a quick snap at my spam. (Yes, its blurry –click it!)

The first highlighted. From “Debt Relief Experts,” yeah right…

The other “DebtHelp,”

And last but not least one from “FIRST BANK.” That email clearly asks the person receiving it to read carefully and sets up things up like its official email. The footer claiming it’s a “Member FDIC.” And a “Equal Housing Lender.” HA.

Well, when you open… its obvious Google has done its part.

“Warning: This message may not be from whom it claims to be. Beware of following any links in it or of providing the sender with any personal information.  Learn more”

Total awesome-ness on their part!

So while spam sucks. Gmail doesn’t. End of story. (in this case, end of post.)

A few weeks ago there was some posts on a few websites about “live” blogging using Google Docs. Today I decided to see how easy this actually was and actually put it to use by tracking breaking news on John McCain’s VP choice on my personal blog.

Using live blogging is really useful for conventions and anything you want readers to see instantly, maybe a conversation with the wife? Ok, maybe not. But there’s a lot of room for fun and you should give it a try; maybe even if its just for the sake of trying.

Instructions are on http://googledocs.blogspot.com/2008/07/live-blogging-with-docs.html, and of course you can see how I used this handy-dandy-blogging technique on my blog.

My About-Meme

I’ve been meaning to clean things up a bit on here and LuisRocks.com, but being a full time college student really limits my blogging time! Luckily, today was my last day for summer session II –I’m free! (For now)

My Point

Cleaning up blog posts is not only fun and easy, but just plain old informative and useful. I’ve managed to look back at my blog posts as a whole every six months; other bloggers like to take an inventory of sorts every year, either way it’s a good idea. I try to shine some attention on certain types for the sake of not letting posts die out.

I have a checklist of things I’m looking out for and how I react to them, here they are.

1. Popular Posts: When I stumble onto something that got lots of hits and/or comments or was simply great, I’ll re-read it, yank anything I screwed up on and then –here’s the key part, BLOG ABOUT THAT POST. I’ll incorporate the old post into a new one in some way. Whether it’s an update to that post or you just bring it in to something related, it’s a great way to get your older work some attention.

2. WTF Was I Thinking: Lets face it, bloggers are human too, and we screw up. There’s no shame in it either, but here’s a way to have fun with it. Write a new post talking about why and how you screwed up! People love acknowledgments of blunders and it can lighten things up a bit.

3. Posts that Should Die: There are also a few posts that do nothing for your blog besides make things weird. When you find these take a look at the actual content, take a look at user stats if you can and consider deleting them if it seems like the right thing. I can think of about 2 posts which I’ve killed, so take it easy and don’t get impulsive.

All in all, there are a millions things you can learn from looking at you old blog posts in terms of what got people talking and linking. You can also learn from your mistakes and improve upon your skills and style. So at the very least, take a look at your previous work at some point some time soon.

I browse the web a lot and probably pay too attention to the smaller things in life; So as a dork I can’t help but notice the dramatic clichés at every turn. It’s getting old –fast.

There seems to be a constant urge to make any company or organization feel like they are describing the Kennedy Clan–Camelot deal; with magic, curses, love and tragedies, with some sites and ad material verge on the edge of Chris Crocker-ness and his “LEAVE BRITNEY ALONE!” bit –ok maybe not that dramatic but surely there is no need for such weird-ness.

I recently clicked on to this UK based sign design site and the first thing I read was “Once upon a time,” With a huge story-book O. Needless to say I was quickly turned away from the story and not sucked in like I’m sure was meant. I went back and here’s a snippet:

“Once upon a time (26 years ago to be precise) a man had a simple need to make a sign for his business. After he made the sign his family and friends all told him how beautiful it was. With joy and delight the man would stare at his sign every evening thinking to himself: “What a wonderful sign I have made! There should be more like these!”

Oh come on! That might be cute for some people but most would find that a bit off. It was so terrible I’m simply moving on.

A great local example I stumbled upon recently came in the form of a brochure I picked up from an all around great place, the Boca Paila restaurant at Rancho El Charco in La Joya (20 minutes from McAllen.) I unfolded the cute little brochure and the first two words are “Imagine this;” which bring the question “why should I imagine anything?” Coincidentally this is also on their “Property Overview” page of their website, and of course that is only the beginning here’s a bit more.

“Imagine this: riding quietly in a mule drawn covered wagon rides over 3 miles of rustic and wild plant-life. You stop for a bit, step down, wipe your brow and take in the view: a group of longhorns beside a bundle of hackberry trees. Over there to the left, a few birds are perched on the back of a buffalo.”

Once again what if I don’t want to imagine it? Why not just tell me about it instead of going into what might be a lost part of Home on the Range? Yes the deer and the antelope play at Rancho El Charco, but come on. Here’s my 30 second rewrite.

“At Rancho El Charco guests can enjoy quiet rides on mule drawn covered wagons. The ride spans over 3 miles of rustic plant and animal life; with animals such as longhorns and buffalo, and gorgeous hackberry trees, there is a lot to see and enjoy.”

That’s it and I covered every point that was covered in the original but made it slightly less painful.

While I fully recognize that marketing teams and people in general love clichés, euphemisms, and figures of speech. They aren’t always the best solution. Why the heck make anything sound like it came out of a five year olds book?

Just to make things clear: Rancho El Charco, home to the Boca Paila restaurant is really great place to eat and hangout. I have nothing against anyone but their marketer or writer. Great food!

Also, the sign place does produce awesome work and even though I didn’t link to them you can Google the quote and find them for kicks.

And finally Chris Crocker might be cliché at this point but not retro-cliché.

Will Kill Your Site…

It’s annoying and lame… stop it! 

 /quickie

The Valley, and more specifically the McAllen - Mission - Edinburg area is growing at a phenomenal rate. There are literally dozens of small business starting out and expanding during any given week, filling niche after niche. With the growth comes opportunities for advertising agencies and design firms (the line between those two REALLY blurs in The Valley), so what can you get out of it?

If you want new clients, here’s my advice: Get out and go for a drive. That’s all there is to it, visit the new coffee or sandwich joint, the interior design places that are increasingly popular, visit these places and make friends.

One advantage you’ll get when targeting small businesses is you’ll usually final the owner on hand, buy something, ask questions about what they are offering, play nice, act smart, let the compliments fly left and right. At some point CASUALLY drop in some info about what you do who you are and some things you have to offer. Don’t overwhelm, don’t get pushy and don’t act like its all been planned because that might be a bit weird.

So that’s it for now. Take advantage of this growth folks -or I will.

Thanksgiving has come and gone, today is Cyber-Monday, so I figured I’d get in the holiday spirit with a quick post covering 5 easy ways to get some holiday clicks.

1. Personal Rant!  - Seriously,  just talk and talk about day to day holiday related junk, a funny story or two, worded properly can make a difference when it comes to getting first time visitors. Anyone remember snow in Rio Grande Valley on December 25, 2004 and how much fun it was?

2. Think local! - I cant stress how much you should always try to localize your blog if you’re a small time blogger.  From the ‘Candlelight Posada’ at Archer Park in McAllen, to the Christmas Street Parade on South Padre Island. THINK LOCAL and BLOG ABOUT IT.

3. BANG! - If your selling something, try to capitalize on this holiday rush and toss in some free services or products and so on…

4. Use the mailing list! - At one point or another most blogs and websites end up with a nice e-mailing list, use it this holiday season to simply wish then a happy whatever they celebrate and of course… remind then about what you have to offer.

5. Non-e-mailing list. - A nice piece of old-school paper goes a long way. Consider sending actual greeting cards to current and potential clients.  Also try and make them feel personal, I’m sure everyone has enough crap mailed to them everyday.

Think about it.

/quickie

So I was myspacing today, stumbled upon an old friend. When I was doing the whole 'add' thing-a-ma-bob I needed to fill out a captch. 6 minutes later I finally got it, I tried and tried, squinted and squinted, I SWEAR I GOT IT RIGHT EVERY TIME!

Oddly enough… as much as I hate captchas, I cant help but love what they do.

CAPTCHA - "Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart" Now that my friends… is an acronym.

 BTW, checkout http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=MySpace+captcha+bypass