Podcasting Dentists

I just went to the dentist. No surprises, just a cleaning and checkup. Same conversation as always: "So, you're a coffee drinker. How about red wine?"

No reason for my dentist to podcast. He has more biz than a 70+ year old man can handle and everything is routine.

Now if I needed a dentist for something NOT routine, like some sort of cosmetic work, perhaps having my teeth capped or moved around because I thought I had ugly teeth, or some serious dental stuff to save my horribly diseased teeth, I'd need to do some research.

Maybe if my teeth were green and I'd never been to a dentist since 2nd grade and I was terrified of them for example, I'd need more than just research -- I'd need to find a dentist that scared me less!

Helaine Smith is a podcasting dentist. She just started recently podcasting with help from Dianna Huff. If I was scared of dentists, I'd much rather goto one I know! Listening to someone's voice helps in this regard bigtime!

Now I have wonderful healthy pearly whites (OK, healthy but not so white -- remember the coffee and red wine?). But if I had teeth like Austin Powers, and was self conscious like he is, I would tend to chose a dentist who educated me on my options. If they podcasted on techniques to improve my teeth and smile, I'd love that because I love audio -- it's a great format I can listen to in the car or while at the gym or even while brushing and flossing.

Helaine is the first Podcasting Dentist I know of -- but I'm sure more will follow, just like many lawyers and Realtors are blogging and podcasting.

Oh yeah, Helaine's got a great smile too -- go figure :)

Blogging for Business at Internet Retailer 07, Dull Packing Tape and Hammocks

Dave Olsen and I have a great conversation at the teardown of the Internet Retailer 2007 tradeshow. You can even hear packing tape in action in the background as Dave interviews me for the Get Elastic podcast.

We talk about all sorts of Web 2.0 things, such as buying a hammock online, the importance of being Earnest dull, how social media shortens sales cycles, the importance of comments and more.

Now if we had recorded our conversation the previous night at the Martini and Chocolate Fountain party after hours at the San Jose Museum of Technology it might have been even more interesting, but slightly less on topic. For the record, I abstained from the chocolate other than a token taste, but not the martinis (and also for the record, I drink real Martinis, and that means gin, straight up, scorching dry, with extra olives and two cocktail napkins please, but I don't drink them very often)

Big Career leaps through Blogging

Penelope Trunk writes, "One of the best ways to make a big leap in your career is to blog. Blogging allows you to create a high-quality network for yourself based, not on the old model of passing out business cards, but on a new model of passing out ideas."  Read more here.

She makes numerous great points on her Brazen Careerist blog, including that blogging is like being constantly immersed in a course on your specialty, what you're blogging on, as much of the time spent blogging you're reading and conversing with other bloggers on your topic.

Couldn't agree more!
I also recommend her book  Brazen Careerist: The New Rules for Success

Facebook on fire with Bloggers

Social networking site Facebook has suddenly gotten very popular with bloggers.

I'm on Facebook although I've never sent 'invite friend' requests to anyone. Lately however, I've been getting plenty of friend requests and messages through Facebook.

Some recent bloggers added as Facebook friends include:

Krishna De, BizGrowthNews
Guy Kawasaki, How to Change the World
Chris Garrett, Chris Garrett on New Media
Allan Jenkins, Desirable Roasted Coffee
Brian Clark, copyblogger

(all nice blogs I'll add)
Thanks for the add requests!
If you want me to add you, just send a request, and if we haven't met, tell me why!  For example, do you avidly read my blog, have we met in a drunken stupor and gotten along fabulously but I blacked out,  etc.

Employees Blogging Secrets

"We can't let employees blog. They may let company secrets out."

I hear this sentiment more than you may imagine. Is this a legitimate concern?

Well, we heard the EXACT same thing about email 10-15 years ago: "We can't let ordinary employees have email. That is an absurd idea! What if they email proprietary business information?"

Maybe we had the same brouhaha when telephones were new? "We can't let employees use telephones. What if they tell someone something they shouldn't?" Don't know -- I'm not that old, but I can imagine it!

Is this a legitimate concern?

Employees blabbing secrets, yes. Blogs being the problem? Absolutely not, no more than email or telephones or smoke signals (errr, that's why most companies have written employee communication policies, which say things like "Thou shalt not release company secrets, under penalty of excommunication, possible termination and/or stoning").

How many categories should you have?

How many categories should you have?

I've got 18 categories, which includes the "catch-all" misc and Weblogs categories, yet others have far more. For example, I've written maybe 4-5 posts on educational institutions and blogging, all very popular, so should they get their own category?

I notice that Chris Abraham's Marketing Conversation seems to have like a hundred, and I like how it's done, but is it an effective use of screen real estate? It obvious works for him, as do my 18 categories for me.

Obviously there is no right or wrong answer, but this is a question I've never pondered before.

Since the collective experience of you, my readers and commenters, obvious dwarfs mine (as it should in a Web 2.0 world), any thoughts, opinions, or advice ???

Mashable's Blogging Toolbox: 120+ Resources for Bloggers

Mashable has a great list of 120+ Resources for Bloggers.

I'll be doing some surfing later this afternoon as I don't know all these resources. And I'll add I'm proud that Blogging for Business is included!

Converting Ezines to Blogs

Shel Horowitz write that he's converting from ezines/e-newsletters to blogs.

Shel's text below. He's now sending a short email with links back to his blog -- what do you think?

While I've been blogging since 2005, I've been publishing the first two of my monthly e-newsletters all the way back to 1997 (I added another one in 2003, and had planned to launch a fourth soon).

At the time I started my zines, I had one website, spam was almost a non-issue, and you could be pretty sure that when you sent an e-mail it would be not only delivered but likely read. At that time, I only had one website: FrugalFun.com, which went live in the spring of 1996.

But I've been thinking for quite some time that e-newsletters have lost much of their effectiveness I know that e-mail deliverability is by no means certain anymore, and you can't rely on getting a bounce notice if it doesn't get in.

Indirect Direct Marketing on the Internet slides from NEDMA07

Indirect Direct Marketing Slides from my presentation at the New England Direct Marketing Conference 07 this week are now available.

I talk about blogs, podcasts, social networks like MySpace and Facebook, Viral ebooks, videos, etc.

I had a great talk (or at least I had a lot of fun and people were polite!) and the conference was wonderful as well.

Indirect Direct Marketing Slides (PowerPoint format)

The Ultimate Blogger Comment

I was recently paid the ultimate compliment  as a blogger.

I told the story at the Internet Retailer conference last week, and Anthony St. Clair blogged about it! (The conference was great by the way).