Post directly to your blog using the ultimate speech recognition.

I have recently put to a new form of blogging using a pay service called Copytalk.

Copytalk uses a transcription model for which I pay around $50 a month. I am able to call up a phone number and just talk. The transcription is sent, I think to India, although I'm not sure, and typed by a real person who then deposits it in my e-mail box.

Since I'm using Squarespace for my blogs, I don't have the option of posting directly from email. However, there are a number of blogging options that allow you to e-mail a post directly which means that it can be set it up so that instead of coming to my inbox, it just appears on the blog. Now to post a blog, all I typically do is type 8 on my speed dial and start talking. That is how this post is generated. I'm curious to see after I have posted for a while using this method whether my blog post become more or less coherent.

Somebody stole my domain name.

Somebody stole my domain name, that dirty son of a bitch. I've had the domain www.ren-man.com for the last eight years from a former stint as an artist, it was my art site. Since I've been so busy lately, somebody came along and as soon as that domain expired, they snapped it up.

I can't really say I blame anybody except myself. I'm sure a bot snaped up a domain that's been registered for a long time immediately, as soon as it goes offline. I do have something of an ethical problem with the people that do this, since really, they're adding no value to anything the damn parasites. So now I'm going to have to register another domain and switch over my site. It could be worse, of course, but I still think it's kind of screwed up that these guys are allowed to register a domain, make a dead end with a bunch of paid advertising links on it, so that when you get there you have no option except to click a paid link. I hate that.

Is clicking an add without intent click fraud?

Comment from Does anyone else tip bloggers?

A tip? Keeping the PPC model alive and working? If you're clicking on an ad merely to reward the blogger, you're committing a mild form of click fraud and compromising the performance-based PPC ad system.

It’s reasonable to take the step of browsing the ads on a blog you would like to support, but you should click only when an ad genuinely entices you. Otherwise, you're doing all parties a disservice. At least that's this purist’s view.

That's John Lewis Needhams opinion. Of course, he does work for Google and since he's my brother-in-law he usually adopts the contrarian point of view. (Here's a picture of the do-gooder.)

I would argue this. PPC is someone elses business model and is simply advertising. Viewing advertising is not a promise to pay or anything else. If you're paying for PPC advertising (as I do) you know that your conversion rate is low. Advertisers are hoping that their landing page is targeted enough to get people to stay and hopefully buy. Using the web or clicking on a link instills no moral obligation to purchase anything. Google/Yahoo is pitching advertisers on a model that charges them only when a viewer takes an action (clicks on a link). Google/Yahoo or other PPC providers have no moral athority to determine 'why' someone is clicking on an ad if it's not a concerted effort to make money.

Clicking on a blogs link as a 'thank you' or 'tip' to the blogger isn't fraud. It's not even close. As an advertiser I want my business in front of potential buyers. If content based advertising works, any advertisement or ppc link that's provided should be of some interest to whoever's reading the blog.

Perhaps terrorists will be able to target the US PPC model?

Utah Bloggers offers you free pizza & t-shirt.

I thought the first Utah Bloggers whatchamacallit went well. Ryan (whom I know well) and Phil Burns (whom I do not) performed admirably with a first throw of the dice. I spoke with Ryan after the event and he claimed he'd have been happy with a turn out of 50. There were obviously were many more.

Here's my post-partum critique of the event and the attendees from the back row.

1. While a panel is fine as background noise while you chow down on the pizza, the general info being disseminated is not the optimal use of the event for those of us familiar with blogs and blogging. I think I'd prefer informal groups where I could find out about the bloggers.
   
2. Bloggers hide behind their blogs. Sheesh. It's like the 'geek' dinner. You'd think that speaking in person was a hazardous activity. I could care less about what type of software is used, I'd like to actually know who I'm reading.
   
3. Interest is high. It was equally obvious that bloggers are looking for a venue like this.

An excellent start. Makes me happy that Ryan Money is coming on as a principal in Fight Club.

Utah bloggers shindig

 For whoever reads this blog that doesn't already know:

Utah Bloggers Conference is coming soon.

• June 13, 2006 (6:30 pm - 9:00 pm)
• Miller Business Innovation Center
• Free admission, food, and prizes
• Hosted by my peeps: Ryan Money, Phil Burns, & others

Complete List of Blogs & Bloggers in Utah.

A list of Utah's business bloggers. Courtesy of Ryan Money.

Click to read more ...

Voice transcription service for blogging?

I was introduced yesterday to Copytalk, a transcription service based in India that records up to 4 minutes of voice, transcribes it, and sends it your or any 4 email addresses you want the same day. (It's $50 a month.)

Although I use squarespace to host my blogs, I'm aware and have used email to post remotely to blogs.

This service would allow Paul Allen to forego his cherished blackberry and shrinking thumbs and just speak into his phohe and see a new blog post appear. I'm quite sure that almost anyone can speak faster than they can type.

When Bloggers say: Hey! There's a lawyer after me!

I am an attorney. First, the legal comments and advice you are providing constitutes the practice of law and, thus, you could be facing criminal sanctions. Second, I have been contacted by one of your readers you wants to take legal action against you for improper legal advice. I suggest that you refrain from providing any further legal advice in your blog or have it reviewed by an attorney before posting it

Click to read more ...

Blog your business & your competition.

Business blogging? Here's my 2 cents.

I've been blogging for a while.

I'm sure I started out the way most bloggers do. I heard about blogging. Clicked a few links. Opened a free account at Blogger which I posted 2-3 sentences and then abandoned. Read a few more blogs. And then I started a blog at a paid service.

The paid part and the sense of familiarity that came with time allowed me to actually start writing.  (I'll leave the decision as to whether it's worth reading to you.) The tipping point came when I realized that I didn't have to write a book, that I was an authority on a number of things that others wanted to know, and that I enjoyed sharing that information and felt rewarded when people would read my stuff. It's not a thesis. It's a blog.

Now I have a total of three blogs, each with a specific focus.

The first blog I posted to was Medical Spas Online. MSO is a community blog that I write for occasionally  focused on non-surgcial cosmetic medicine targeted directly at physicians in that space. It's attracted a loyal redership of around 2000 docs.

Interaction in that space and a growing familiarity with blogging in general has built a sense of 'blog trust' in me. 

So I started two other blogs. (I'm also trying to talk my daughter into starting a blog on 'Three Day Eventing for Young Riders'.)

I've launched an experimental blog for my medical business. The Surface Medical Spas Blog is designed to be an interface between Surface and our patients. Our physicians and staff will post information on our treatments and technology, and answer questions in a format that is available to our existing  and potential patients. I'm excited by this since I haven't seen this kind of format used by any business in the way we're using it.

Then there's this blog of course. Startup venture, startup blog. 

A growing number of great blogs cover much of what I'll be blogging about here. Why would the bloggosphere be in need of anything I might ad? Who knows. I'm hoping to be able to accomplish a number of things. Focus my thoughts and strategy by forcing myself to commit my thoughts to paper (kind of). Interacting with other entrepreneurs. Attracting talent. Instigating a corporate culture. Buiding trust in our small business clints, and potential business partners.

Now before I get too excited, Chris Anderson has some feeling on business blogs; "the natural voice of the boss is fundamentally incompatible with the voice of the blogger, at least as regards their own company affairs."

 But wait, there's still hope. Chris goes on to say "The best business blogs come from the employees, not the bosses. They have more time, and are less prone to marketing gobbledygook and gnomic platitudes. And those kind of blogs are on the rise, not the decline."

In reading that, it seems like my wish list may be a tall order. We'll see what we can do. 

Why there so many sucky blogs and artists.

Blogging's not easy. It often feels like you're actually haveing to write something for an audience.

I've been reading a lot of business blogs lately and am struck with the number of posts that suck. (Not like this one.) While I  enjoy blogging I've come to realize that the actual writing is less than exciting. It reminds me of my artist days. As an artist you must be very comfortable being alone. All my paintings (almost all) we're created entirely by myself, in my studio, while I was working late at night and alone. Everyone thinks that the act of creation is exciting and fulfilling, and it is. But the joy of creation comes at the beginning and the end.

click to enlargeA painting is exciting at conception and fullfilling at completion. The actual act is not usually enjoyable at all. In fact it's rather tedious. The Jackson Pollock style of throwing paint on a canvas is not my experience. As a realist, I've spent countless hours painting and repainting. This is a painting I worked off and on for a year. (Total full time of maybe 3-4 weeks.) It's big. 5 by 6 feet.

Click to read more ...