Lindsey and I took a road trip to Boise Idaho to visit my sister Cami and her family over the weekend and had a fun time. On our way back, I snapped this picture of Lindsey and Sadie at the Idaho/Utah border. Although we’re always open to wherever opportunity may take us, we’re definitely happy to live in beautiful Utah as the image indicates.

Video synopsis: With only three seconds left in the game, BYU throws the game-winning touch down pass to beat the University of Utah 33-31. For those out of the loop, this rivalry matchup is forcefully called the “Holy War” because (most) disgruntled Utah fans feel slighted they live in a state dominated by Mormons which BYU is operated by. Best game ending I’ve ever seen, in my bias opinion.

[via Paul Allen]

Lindsey and I watched an excellent inward-looking and feel-good report on ABC last night about charitable donations in America: who gives and who doesn’t. The report suggests that roughly 75% of Americans donate, and individually they are more generous with their time and wallets than any other country’s citizens several times over saying “no other country comes close” when it comes to giving.

But our Federal government only ranks 21 out of the top 22 charitable countries on a percentage basis despite monetarily donating more money than anyone else? But that’s only half the story: “While the U.S. government gave about $20 billion in foreign aid in 2004, privately, Americans gave $24.2 billion… Regardless of what our government does, Americans are anything but cheap.”

Why is my biased American self saying this? Because despite the fact that the US has its flaws, the argument that America is stingy is trite and cliche. As a bonus: “Immigrants in America send about $47 billion abroad to family members and home towns. That’s anything but stingy.”

So shall we live it up and boast in our plentiful giving? Not at all. 20/20 also discloses which group of Americans gives the most on a percent basis: the working poor followed by select rich individuals. The middle class as a whole gives the least and cites “not enough money” as the reason for not giving. That’s classy.

And “liberal” is synonymous with giving so surely those who profess to be more generous towards others are on the whole, right? No. And don’t call me Shirly: “It turns out that this idea that liberals give more… is a myth. Of the top 25 states where people give an above average percent of their income, 24 were red states in the last presidential election… conservatives give about 30 percent more, and incidentally, conservative-headed families make slightly less money.”

While I’m sure many devout liberals donate, talk is cheap at the consensus level as the article notes: “You find that people who believe it’s the government’s job to make incomes more equal, are far less likely to give their money away.” [DISCLOSURE: I skew conservative but vote for democrats around 40% of the time.]

And finally, what’s the biggest indicator that an individual will give? Religious participation by “silly inferior people” with a belief system. “The single biggest predictor of whether someone will be charitable is their religious participation.” And that’s not just to their own churches in the form of tithing, it’s all across the board even giving more on an individual basis to secular charities than others.

But the real point is, however, that everyone can give more. We are all blessed. All should give equally and generously and we will find greater happiness, health, and peace of mind in the process. Yours truly very much included.

See also:

• Billionaires leading by example
• Fortunate and spoiled sons

I was interviewed by Inc. Magazine this week for an article on what to look for when selecting a small business web hosting provider. Here are some of my thoughts from my own experiences:

What are some common mistakes small businesses make when looking for a web hosting service?
They purchase a cheap, shared hosting platform that gives them more headaches than the discounted price is worth. I made this very mistake while starting my company several years ago prepaying 12 months of service for a cheap host that I could only use for two months before having to make the switch to a better provider. I had to eat the cost.

What are some questions companies should answer before they start looking?
Is it shared or dedicated hosting? If you’re serious about your site you want to go with the latter. And make sure to see how many, if any other sites, will be hosted on your same server as many times “dedicated hosts” still share sites.

How tech-savvy do you have to be to make an informed web hosting decision?
You need to know you’re way around, but there are a lot of resources to help the “tech inclined” such as asking associates and doing your due diligence.

Are email hosting and domain purchase usually included? What should people expect in the package?
A lot of times, yes. But go for the more reliable hosting service. Don’t fall for immaterial value-adds like free domains and email.

What budget range should businesses allocate for web hosting?
$50-100 per month should get the job done for almost any small business looking for reliable service. That goes up the more traffic your site gets.

Do hosting companies usually charge monthly or annually?
They generally discount the price the more you prepay, so paying a year in advance lowers your long-term costs, but be wary of lock-ins at unproven providers.

Finally, is there a reliable web site or service you’d recommend for finding web hosting providers?
Not really. A lot of hosting providers create bogus ranking websites to mislead prospective buyers. The best resource when considering a web hosting provider is word of mouth; ask around and find out what other people have successfully used.

Entrepreneur Norm Broadsky says: “The less interest you have in doing a deal, the more likely you are to get one you’ll find difficult to refuse.”

Playing hard to get even works in business…

In an effort to sync up my YouTube account with my contacts, I decided to import over 1,000 Gmail contacts into my account. Rather than just import addresses, YouTube’s importer went ahead and decided to spam every one of my Gmail contacts on my behalf, never informing me that an email would be sent, nor did I want it to. Very lame, and I feel like a smoe.

So if YouTube spammed you on my behalf, my apologies.

Forgive the sappiness: I am not a morning person. I like the night when things are quiet and I can get lost in an extreme amount of focus. That being the case, I get up later in the morning, anywhere between 7:30-9:00 AM. Though my wife falls asleep much earlier as I work from bed, she is a lover of snooze and generally wakes in the morning the same time I do. And luckier still, our 13 month-old daughter Sadie does the same.

So when we all finally get up, my wife runs into Sadie’s room to get her ready for the day. While bursting down the door, Lindsey shouts the exact same thing every time, genuineness never wavering: “Well, Hello!!!! How are you??!!” Sadie freaks out in her crib smiling like you wouldn’t believe and doing everything but cartwheels to express her excitedness. It never gets old.

What’s your favorite personal occurrence of the day?

An associate and I recently had a discussion on why companies fail, and I left the conversation with the following thought: “Recognize your weaknesses to fill in the gaps with the proper personnel.” While the idea may be trite, it’s a true principle.

For those who don’t know me, I’m a video game enthusiast. Though I don’t get to play as much as I’d like due to blogging on the subject, I was really looking forward to the new Nintendo that launched on Saturday. Well I didn’t get one due to outstripped supply, and I’m pretty bummed.

Here’s a snippet from my sob story: “Everywhere I go strangers are right there beside me asking the same questions: ‘Have any Wii’s in stock? Know when you’ll get more?’ Customer service departments aren’t even transferring me to electronics anymore. They snap at me in curt fashion not allowing any inquiries, ‘No, we don’t’ have any Wiis, and we DON’T know when we’re getting more!!!'”

The nerd in me will keep trying.

I was recently interviewed by a freelance writer on blogging for use in a local business publication. Here are a couple raw thought answers of mine:

Why do you blog? What got you into it in the first place and why do you continue to do it?
I blog in hopes to influence people in a positive way, even if only at a grass roots level through blogging. While I had heard of the phenomenon in late 2003, I didn’t start until after my sister started one in early 2004. I like the concept, and have enjoyed it ever since. Blogging is an integral part of my day to formulate my thoughts, opine on subjects I’m passionate about, and just good ole fashion writing.

How do you think blogging contributes to the world of business — both from the perspective of those who read blogs and from the perspective of those who write blogs?
I think, when done correctly, blogging keeps people honest, both for businesses and consumers. It’s an attempt to add more authenticity in our dealings, communication, and information exchange as humans. Speaking commercially, blogging is a more democratic approach to the buying and selling of goods. Both consumers and companies can benefit from the application when performed in a genuine fashion.

So let’s hear it: Why do you blog, and how does blogging contribute to the world of business?

Paul Allen examines the importance of website usability testing and an easy way to do it as prescribed by Jakob Nielsen. From the article: “Invite 5 people to use your web site and you will find 85% of the usability problems. The cost of doing this is ridiculously low and yet most companies never watch real people try to use their web site. Therefore, many usability issues go unresolved, costing companies money every day.”

Family members and casual web users work just fine and are ideal.

Podlinez has just announced their new service that lets podcasters listen to their favorite podcasts using any phone, without having to download any audio files. Granted, I prefer the higher-fidelity of downloaded MP3’s to my iPod, but this is just a great service. And you can create a unique numbers for your favorite podcasts to boot!

Looks like I’ll have to update my phone book to include podcasts when I’m stuck on the road or in a place that I can’t access the internet but still want fresh content.

[By the way, pardon my ugly blue template dust. I accidentally deleted my site without back ups and have to go through the tedious operation of manual restoration. Wait for it…]

AP reports: “Prisoners returning to a southwest Missouri county jail damaged in a failed breakout will find a new color scheme — pink with blue teddy bear accents. The Dallas County Detention Center is being repainted a soft shade of pink in an effort to better manage sometimes volatile detainees… ‘Basically, if [prisoners] are going to act like children and commit a childish act, then we’ll make a childish atmosphere. And its a calming thing; Teddy bears are soothing. So we made it like a day care, and that’s kind of like what it is, a day care for adults who can’t control their behavior in public.'”

Hilarious my friend.

[via Leezy Lindsey]

According to Wikipedia, the internet classic Star Wars kid was recorded just over four years ago (original here). Amazingly, it still makes me laugh to this day. I understand the kid went through some tough times due to humiliation, but dang, it’s so funny. From the article: “At the height of the video’s popularity, two webloggers (waxy.org and jish.nu) began a fundraiser to buy Raza an Apple iPod. In less than a week, they raised over $3,200 and shipped him a 30GB iPod and a $2,600 gift certificate.”

[via Angie Daniels]

What was once a reported 7 seconds now seems to be even less according to a new study. From the Akamai report: “Four seconds is the maximum length of time an average online shopper will wait for a Web page to load before potentially abandoning a retail site. This is one of several key findings revealed in a report made available today by Akamai, commissioned through JupiterResearch, that examines consumer reaction to a poor online shopping experience.”

When will web producers finally realize they need to ditch the glitz (here’s looking at your over-users of Flash and Ajax) in favor of speed? Don’t let your website get in the way of delivery what users visit it for; content. Remember: Liquid is the most important part of a glass of water, not the container it resides in.

[via Slashdot]

Ivko Maksimovic has been a developer for over 15 years, coding more than 2.5 million lines of code ranging from BASIC to PHP languages. What has he learned from the experience? In his own words: “Smart people create products, smarter people sell them.”

While all kinds of craftsmen are important to the successfulness of a product, is there really anyone more important than the rainmaker?

[via Digg]

It’s been an exciting year for Griffio. The web company has found a lot of success riding the whole blog craze, which is a good thing ’cause I’m a big believer in the power of blogging. Though many of our prospective clients don’t “get it” (i.e. “We’re gonna start this blog to hard sell our products, and it’s going to be awesome!”), it’s good to see companies exploring the medium in an effort to grow their businesses. Regardless, its been a great year.

We’re really excited about a new Ruby on Rails project were developing for Chad Blodgett (he’s a class act even though he’s paying us) of Weight Loss Wars. Chad’s taking a risk and investing heavily in a new social site that will serve as a free weight loss community that bundles paid competitions. We’ve finished the web analysis, planning, and development phase 1/3, and its coming along nicely thanks mostly impart to our excellent Rails ninja, Robert Bradford. Robert has been developing Rails apps for 11 months now and used to be a die hard PHP/MySQL developer for several years until discovering Ruby on Rails. That should tell you something about the framework. We’ve definitely enjoyed using it.

For all those who have been kind enough to refer word-of-mouth work, I thank you. You’re support and belief in what we do is golden. Where do I see the company heading next year? That’s to be determined, but we really like helping companies weigh all viable website strategies before making a development recommendation (what we call a “Discovery Package”). Far too many companies go into a web project thinking they know what they want when they don’t. They then request bids from developers before actually doing any research. The result largely ends up being close to what was desired (and sometimes not) without ever knowing what was really needed. Companies don’t need a desired website, they need one that leverages existing technologies and marketing given their modus operandi. We’re trying to change that one site at a time. Research, planning, engineering then coding. Too many developers (and companies) overlook steps 1-3. But I digress, thanks to a solid year and for reading Smooth Harold.

I’ve slightly paraphrased Calacanis:

“The greatest sign of success in business is when lesser-known competitors spend their time complaining about the coverage of their companies as opposed to focusing on making their companies great.”

It’s a cruel world out there. Get over it already.

Professional blogging (which I’ve been doing for over a year now) has a lot in common with traditional journalism. While I don’t consider myself a conventional journalist, I do follow proven methodologies without having my articles edited prior to publishing (you know, spelling, integrity, neutrality, etc). As a blogger, I’m asked to never take anything at face value, find the best angle in a story, add new context to a subject, open a topic up for discussion, and critique PR fluff for the consumer’s benefit. I really enjoy the work and hope to do it full-time someday.

Lately, however, I’ve been feeling a little cynical because of all the scrutiny I perform. Sometimes I feel like just being a consumer once in a while, but that consumer emotion is at odds with the service I try to render for my readers. I guess this post probably exposes the feelings of a newbie reporter after being involved in the space for an extended period of time. I just want to be more optimistic.

Nothing says “cheap” quite like the above ads with added images. Nothing wrong with ads, but this is just amateurish. You stay classy blogosphere while trying to make some extra scratch. Ad optimization is approaching SEO superstition levels…

While AJAX helps speed up user interaction on websites, there are some other things about HTTP request that can help optimize page loads even more. Die.net writes: “For many sites that reference dozens of external objects, the majority of the page load time is spent in separate HTTP requests for images, javascript, and stylesheets. AJAX probably could help, but speeding up or eliminating these separate HTTP requests might help more, yet there isn’t a common body of knowledge about how to do so.”

Hit the source link for the full skinny and tips on optimizing page loads, web geeks.

Lindsey, Sadie, and I live in beautiful Orem, Utah right up against the mountain. Our city also makes the list of the 25 safest US cities placing 12th (Woot!). My hometown of Atlanta, Georgia, doesn’t favor too well, however. ATL or Hotlanta ranks as the 17th most dangerous cities in the nation. Holla.

We don’t need no stinkin’ pretty pictures (though these ones are pretty funny).

A hard to find BBC documentary about Tetris and its creator Alexey Pajitnov. Also covers the rivalries between Nintendo and Atari and the absurdities of buying copyrights for software from a country that doesn’t believe in property, much less intellectual property. Ultimately, a great documentary about a very important game.

Regardless if you like games, this is a fascinating show on business, communism, and rights management. Though long, it really is well worth your time.

“Viral is the opposite of brute force. The more force you use, the less viral it becomes.” – Maker of the Blair Witch Project

It’s amazing how many marketers talk about virality, but aren’t even close to getting it. In reality, I’m not even sure a marketer can produce something viral… It just happens by building a great product that gives the end user so much ownership or interest they want to be the ones sharing it. Marketers, generally speaking, always try to force something. It takes force to glamorize a product or service.

My good friend Nic examines how a small group of people defining what grammar is are wrong: “Grammar books don’t make grammar rules; populations do. In the past, language changed much more slowly, or at least, our ability to track changes in language was slow. However, that is no longer the case. So, next time, you go to use ‘E-mail’ just because it’s in a grammar book be wary because you probably mean ’email’.”

It started snowing here at our condo in Orem, Utah about an hour ago. I like snow right up until I have to drive in it, which is all the time living in Utah. Even my last name is Snow, but that still can’t change my dislike for mother nature’s frosty precipitation.

Snow: you dig it?

Live Science reports: “Scientists have sniffed out the reason for the musty, ‘metallic’ odor you smell after handling coins or touching metal objects. A new study finds that the smell of iron is, ironically, a type of human body odor, created by the breakdown of oils in skin after touching objects that contain the element.”

So that’s why coins and metal smell bloody…

Note: I have been dishonest a few times in my life (okay, maybe more than a few times), but hopefully I’ve fully left the practice behind since my younger years in favor of piece of mind and an honest life. I also want the Tigers to win the World Series. But apparently, baseball and some of its journalists embrace and condone the practice of dishonesty, at least in moderation. Case in point: Last night in game two of the World Series, Detroit Tiger’s pitcher Kenny Rogers (yeah, the same guy that beats up cameramen) was asked to wash “something” from his pitching hand after reports by Cardinal batters claiming the ball was “doing something funny” during the first inning.

ESPN reports: “Rogers was spotted by the Fox cameras in the first inning with, well, something mucked all over his pitching hand.. by the second inning, he’d washed whatever it was off his hand.” In a post game interview, Rogers denied allegations that umpires asked him to wash a foreign substance from his hand, saying only that umpires came and told him how much time he had between the innings. He later admitted that it was “a big clump of dirt.” You just let a clump of dirt stay on your hand for the first 18 pitches of a World Series game, eh chief? I remember pitching in little league, and I could care less what was on my throwing hand. Happened all the time!

Worse still is how one Fox analyst reacted to the event in the post game. And I paraphrase: “It doesn’t matter what was on Roger’s hand in the first inning, ’cause he pitched seven excellent subsequent innings [which he did] after washing the substance off.” That’s brilliant. Hey kids, you can cheat a little, so long as you don’t do it for entire games. It’s not like a little cheating ever hurt anyone. Heck, you can be a 41 year-old major league pitcher having never learned the concept of honesty and lie to get an edge. The sport of baseball even encourages cover ups and acts like children when it comes to owning up to mistakes. So how many “little cheats” has Mr. Rogers previously performed to become the pitcher he is today?

At least one columnist got it right. Jayson Stark writes: “See, it wasn’t just his pitching hand that Rogers soiled on Sunday night. It was, regrettably, his whole sport. And that’s a stain that will take a lot longer to wash off.” Baseball- a great game governed by idiots.

I bought a new mouse for my PC last week and don’t see how I lasted so long without it. First off, I love Logitech’s base optical mice; the cheap wired kind. I bought my first one over four years ago and finally buried it after the left-click button was worn making it difficult to click.

Why no wireless optical mouse? Because I don’t even use my $50 blue-tooth mouse for my PowerBook ’cause the ergonomics stink. My new black Logitech mouse feels like a charm, and I picked it up for a cool $12 (2-day shipping included!) from the highly recommended Provantage.

Here’s to better click productivity!

Two BYU professors, which are subsidiary employees of the LDS church, errantly solicited funds from university alumni on behalf of US president hopeful and Massachusetts Govenor Mitt Romney reports the Boston Globe. “It wasn’t something BYU did, it wasn’t something I probably should have done, and it was bad judgment,” said associate dean of the BYU business school Steve Albrecht. While emails were sent out, no responses were forwarded to Romney members. Both the LDS church and BYU are prohibited by federal law from advocating a particular candidate or political party as tax exempt, non-profit organizations.

The New England paper suggests that The Church knowingly organized meetings between the Romney camp and church official Elder Jeffrey R. Holland in an effort to organize church sponsored fund raising efforts. While Holland did meet with members of Romney’s action committee, a church publicist claimed that the meeting was “simply a response to an appointment requested by an old friend” and to “make sure that they were doing [things] properly and to inform them of the church’s political neutrality.” The paper also claims, albeit unsubstantiated, that LDS president Gordon B. Hinckley “expressed no opposition” in helping Romney, this despite publicly and consistently reaffirming political neutrality, most recently in an advisory sent out last week to congregations nationwide. While The Church endorses no politically party, verbally or financially, members are individually encouraged to do so.

If anything, this was a lesson learned in grey areas for certain enthusiastic supporters. No harm, no foul. But a friendly note to Romney and his fund-raisers: Keep it clean, boys. While Mormons are sure to be a big help to your cash flow, ensure you’re using valid grass-root efforts so as not to jeopardize the church’s neutrality or place it in a compromising situation.

The NY Times reports: “According to Nielsen Media Research, last year, the average household watched television 8 hours and 14 minutes a day, a 3-minute increase from the 2004-5 season and a record high.”

TV and its exposure based (read: non-cost per click) advertising is not dead, nor was it ever. Maybe an increase in online video like YouTube only helps the medium, though I personally watch very little, if any TV.

Except post-season baseball playoffs (which are on now).

I consider Joshua Steimle a local associate and friend, despite the fact that his company sells competing products with mine (web services). In a recent post on his blog, Josh responded to unfavorable comments about another competing web agency like this:

“To be fair, there are probably [unsatisfied customers] for every web development firm out there, including my own. The nature of the business is such that it invites misunderstandings and ensuing client/developer disputes in which both parties at parting feel that they have been wronged by the other. I’ve learned to steer clear of clients that complain about the last web development firm they worked with, and to steer very clear of those who complain about the last five or six firms they worked with, as the chance of my firm being next on the list is probably a high one.”

Having had my share of “non-good fit clients,” I couldn’t have said it better myself. To The Children’s Place: can you hear the classiness of said statements on one’s competition?

Lindsey and I watched a Discovery Atlas documentary on Brazil last night and it was excellent. Shows (on Brazil, China, Italy, and Australia) air every Sunday at 10PM MDT. The Atlas series aims to achieve epic coverage of a country while telling personal, individual stories, and it does a fine job. The cinematography, music, and storytelling are top notch.

After living in Brazil for two years as a missionary (1999-2000), I can honestly say the documentary is very faithful to Brazilian culture and its way of life. I even learned a few things to boot (like the Sao Paulo helicopter pilot story. Who knew Sao Paulo had one of the largest helicopter taxi systems in the world…?)!

I miss my friends from Brazil and can’t wait to return some day.

Many music services are in favor of ditching MP3 protection rights (DRM) in an effort to challenge Apple’s iTunes monopoly. Keep in mind, only iTune files and unprotected MP3’s play on Apple’s iPods which make up more than 70% of all portable audio players. Reuters reports: “Despite a music catalog limited to independent label fare, [eMusic] facilitates more music downloads than any other save iTunes. The reason? eMusic’s entire catalog is available to consumers as unprotected MP3s.”

Now give me unprotected MP3’s at a better fidelity than 128 kbps (which is what iTunes sells and are less than CD quality), and watch digital music purchasing take off like never before, though stealing will always be around.

My wife went shopping with our 1-year old girl at the mall yesterday. She went to two different stores to find a snazzy little outfit for Sadie, our daughter. After making a purchase at Gymboree (a children’s store), she accidentally left her debit card (Look out, ID theft!) on the counter before proceeding to The Children’s place to buy a shirt. In Lindsey’s own words:

“[When] I realized my debit card was missing I told [Children’s Place] I would be right back and went back to Gymboree. Luckily, my debit card was there. I went back to The Children’s Place to finish my purchase. Everything was going just fine until the cashier asked me where I had left my card. I told her it was at Gymboree and another cashier standing behind the counter said, ‘Well, that’s your problem. You shouldn’t shop there.’ The two women then started talking bad about Gymboree. Didn’t they see the dotted bag in my hand? Didn’t they understand that the only thing they were accomplishing was turning me off of their store, not their competitor’s?!”

The idea of hoarding customers away from your competition is archaic with only your best interest in mind. Great customer service is about matching the customer’s best interest with your valued service. Never is a transaction solely about your company’s best interest. Imagine what my wife would think of the Children’s Place if the employees had said: “Oh, Gymboree is a nice store.” What more respect Lindsey would have for them instead of the recent drop in respect she now has from her experienced. Nice job, Children’s Place.

Jason Kottke explores the fascinating new book by Michael Lewis (his book Moneyball is, well, money) called The Blind Side. The book examines the increase of importance and pay of left tackles in football. Jason writes: “Many of the left tackles that Lewis talks about in the book can run faster than most quarterbacks, they can throw the ball just as far or farther, possess great athletic touch and finesse, have the intellect to run an offense, move better than most QBs, know the offense and defense as well as the QB, are taller than the average QB, and presumably, at 320-360 pounds, are harder to tackle and intimidate than a normal QB.”

From the book: “[Jonathan Ogden, left tackle for the Baltimore Ravens] looked around and noticed that the quarterbacks he was protecting were… rather ordinary. Here he was, leaving them all the time in the world to throw the ball, and they still weren’t doing it very well. They kept getting fired! Even after they’d won the Super Bowl, the Ravens got rid of their quarterback, Trent Dilfer, and gone looking for a better one. What was wrong with these people? Ogden didn’t go so far as to suggest that he should play quarterback, but he came as close as any lineman ever had to the heretical thought.”

No wonder left tackles are now the second highest paid position in football, second only to what appears to be inferior quarterbacks in terms of athleticism.

Here’s my current definition: The trick to motivating others is to avoid demotivating them.

How do you motivate others when needed?

BoingBoing suggests: “Content isn’t king. If I sent you to a desert island and gave you the choice of taking your friends or your movies, you’d choose your friends — if you chose the movies, we’d call you a sociopath. Conversation is king. Content is just something to talk about.”

Excellent point. But the focus of companies should still be on content, which inevitably creates good conversation for consumers.

Is anybody else bothered by how big Google is getting now with their $1.65 billion stock buy out of YouTube? They’re like the online version of Microsoft now. Regardless, the two founders of YouTube and their 65 employees just struck it bigtime. You can’t even imagine how bigtime…

The thoughts on genuine blogging (or increasing lack thereof) have weighed heavy on my mind as of late. I can think of three examples as the catalyst:

1. I caught an associate using a link tracking code after recommending an online service via his blog. Granted, the tracking code doesn’t guarantee that he’s getting paid to blog about the product, but if so, he should have disclosed the sponsorship. If it smells like crap, it probably is.
2. Another colleague of mine posted an article a while back discussing several companies and industries (as if an outsider) that he’s involved in, without a specific disclaimer. I know for a fact he has a significant financial stake in several of the companies and industries mentioned, and the dubious act left me feeling uneasy.
3. Lastly, the whole PayPerPost issue and their recently raised $3M in funding from a prominent Silicon Valley venture capital company (see also: TechCrunch podcast on the subject). When search engine marketing links started appearing next to natural links, many people criticized the product as unethical. The disclosed “Sponsored” listing wordage seems to have taken care of the initial problem, but that’s what PayPerPost is lacking: Advertiser requirement that a paid blog post must be disclosed as such. If an individual blogger wants to be shady, that’s their ethical stance. Advertisers that want to work this way would also be wise not to mandate a favorable review. A neutral (stating the facts) post is okay, but full blogger control over what’s being said is preferred.

I, by no means, am perfect. But the one thing no one can take from me is my integrity (cue Braveheart or some other big Hollywood soundtrack).

My daughter turned one today, and I wanted to wish her a happy first birthday. Though she can’t read, I’m hoping she’ll visit Smooth Harold someday in the distant future. And I gotta thank my lovely wife for the excellent mother that she is.

If you run a blog that has significant traffic, you really should be leveraging the power of user-generated story tips via your readers. This is how it works: you display a prominent “tips” link above the fold, asking your readers to tip you with interesting stories or content. Then sit back and watch as the user-generated leads roll in.

I blog for a large site that gets upwards of 100+ email tips per day. Another smaller site I run gets as many as 15/day. Some of the biggest stories I’ve run as a blogger came from tipsters, not my RSS feed or offline experiences; stories that drive insane traffic.

The reason is that tipsters can be the source of exclusive or obscure content that no other sites have (read: a major differentiating factor). Always encouraging user-generated stories with proper credit (i.e. “Thanks, Blake! after a post) as a best practice. Then watch your traffic increase through more unique content.

Graphic designers only: While I have been developing sites in PhotoShop for over five years now, I think I’m starting to prefer OmniGraffle (diagramming software for Mac). It’s more intuitive and friendly than Visio and has some advanced features I’m still not used to. Until I figure out the program’s full graphical features, I’ve been designing effects in PhotoShop prior to importing in OmniGraffle. Diagramming software manages layers much more quickly than PhotoShop, and I’m really enjoying the process so far. With that said:

See also:

• What HTML editor do you use?
• Information architecture: List of tools for diagramming

I just got done reading Fast Company and spotted a new Microsoft ad pitching the company’s software. It said this: “When you give your people the right tools, success is inevitable.”

Now I understand this is fluffy marketing but just because someone has tools, even good tools, doesn’t mean success is certain. The ad is a prime example of “sound good” statements that don’t mean anything. While tools are a big part of a craftsman’s output, they in no way guarantee successful results.

Next.