Archive for September 2005

When I received Shel Silverstein’s CD to review, I was excited as I love his works (the children’s stuff) and I thought it’d be a great tool for practicing my listening skills. I was disappointed that most of it was set to music, but I didn’t let that interfere with my review as I have to judge it on its content not what I wanted. Read the The Best of Shel Silverstein: His Words His Songs His Friends review. Paul helped with the review as he knows and appreciates music.

If you do that one more time, I’m gonna scream… wait. No screaming allowed here. Is it possible to become a scream-free parent? Yes, but I don’t think anyone can go 100 percent (OK, maybe a tiny percentage of the world). Cutting back on screaming is always progress. Read the review of ScreamFree Parenting.

The first poem I memorized for school as a second grader was Shel Silverstein’s Captain Hook. Over the years, I repeatedly referred to his poems from the two more famous books The Light in the Attic and Where the Sidewalk Ends. Timeless. Funny. There’s another side of Shel Silverstein that few recognize — his country songs performed by the likes of Loretta Lynn, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Johnny Cash.

Listening to The Best of Shel Silverstein provided a pleasant trip down memory lane for Paul (hubby) and me. It has a nice spread of his poems and songs, covered by a variety of artists from Johnny Cash performing Boy Named Sue at San Quentin to Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show’s funky interpretation of Cover of the Rolling Stone, a song Paul shamefully admits he had forgotten, but sang right along the instant he heard it.

A word of caution to the uninitiated, this CD contains more than his wonderful children’s poems and songs. It includes several of his adult works including Freakin’ At The Freakers’ Ball, which contain themes and language not appropriate for younger listeners. Fans of Shel Silverstein’s aforementioned books won’t get what they expect to get with this CD though many poems from them appear on the track list.

My only complaint is from a technical standpoint in that the recording levels vary greatly from spoken word to the songs. To be able to understand Silverstein as he recites his poems with his whispery voice and elongated “s’es,” I had to considerably turn up the volume … only to be blasted out of my chair when then next selection was a song and I had to turn the volume way back down.

Parents might want to listen to the CD first and then pick out the safe ones for children. However, it’s possible that kids won’t “get” the adult references, but a few bad words pop up. Other than the technical difficulties and the unexpected “grown up” songs, this is CD is a joy and wonderful addition to my album… er… CD collection.

Every now and then I find myself thinking, “Lazy, lazy, lazy, lazy, lazy… Jane. She wants a drink of water, so she waits and wait and waits… for it to rain.”

That and, “Ickle Me, Pickle Me and Tickle Me, too, went for a ride in a flying shoe…”

Title: The Best of Shel Silverstein
Label: Sony
ISBN: B0009YNSKQ
Date: August 2005
Format: CD
Cover Price: USD: $11.98 Amazon: $10.99

I got an email from an anonymous coward (email bounced) saying that it’s wrong to use a div in the headers. Gee, really?

Excuse my ‘tude. I appreciate it when people write in about a mistake of mine, but not when they do it anonymously and with a finger shaking attitude that says, “Wrong-o, buster!” Naturally, it puts a person on the defensive.

Once a person wrote a harsh email about a Web site where I was one of a handful of people who was cc’d on email sent from readers. I wrote a reply as if I had a smile on my face (not a smirk, mind you) and thanked the person. He immediately apologized for his tone and followed with a few pleasant words.

It’s tempting — I’ve been there and I’ve given in a few times — to write a hurtful email to someone who aggravates you. It’s an awful feeling that seems like it won’t go away until you speak your mind. Doing so never has a happy ending while a positive response can. You never know if you and that person cross paths again. Better to cross it on amicable terms.

When running into a difficult situation, my mom takes her five-year test of time. She asks, “Will it matter five years from now?” I wish it were that easy. A situation has bugged me for a while now and my nerves won’t let go. I haven’t acted on it and don’t plan to. Perhaps, writing an email or letter that you never send could help. This didn’t work for me. I just stay busy, which keeps me from thinking about it too often.

What timing. I read the following Slovakian proverb while writing this.

“Anger is the only thing to put off till tomorrow.”

Indeed.

I plan to send gifts to my clients this year for the first time now that I’m a full-time Content Maven. The selection process has been difficult and I can’t make up my mind. First, I thought I would do shortbread cookies from a woman that fellow IVWCC members spoke of highly. But based on research, shortbread is not a commonly liked item.

Next I considered World’s Finest Chocolate. I sold these when I played on sports teams as a kid. It’s funny because I got sick of selling them, but the candy was high quality and tasty. They have a box that comes with miniature versions of the original bar.

My son came home on Thursday with the annual gift wrap fundraising catalog. The treats in there look delicious, but we’ve never tried them. It would be nice to help the school while thanking my clients. Anyone ever taste Sally Foster’s treats, which are Harry London Chocolates?

Then I came up ith a crazy idea of baking the gifts on my own. I nixed that as I am afraid the preservation and shipping process wouldn’t guarantee the baked goods arrive in high quality condition.

Then I talked with family and we brainstormed a great idea. I’m going to contact a couple of places in town (it saves on double shipping… sending it to me, and then me sending it to the clients) that make traditional Texas food.

This drives me insane. What have you done in the past?

Commercial Break…

Imagine sliding out of bed and knowing your “work” for the day is to
scuba dive along the Great Barrier Reef…mountain climb in the
Andes…or Kayak around the remote islands of the San Juans…
Passport to Romance: The Ultimate Travel Writer’s Course.

Back to your scheduled programming…

Even with high-quality Web editor applications, it’s good to know how to do markup. While there are plenty of excellent HTML introduction tutorials out there on the Web, most of them teach with deprecated (obsolete) markup. Knowing about deprecated markup is helpful so you can read the source of older Web pages. But why learn to do things the old way and then have to switch to the standard way?

In the first part of this week’s introduction to HTML and XHTML, learn about HTML files, elements and tags, and document structure. If this sounds like gibberish, it won’t for long. If you have colleagues, friends, or family driving you nuts with their basic HTML questions, maybe this series will help. Part II comes next week.

This book appeared at the right time because I’ve been trying to cut down on yelling and work through problems by staying calm, which is the approach Runkel, a licensed family and marriage therapist, advocates. The book is an easy read and doesn’t overwhelm the parent with too many steps as self-help books often do.

The clear, direct, and humorous writing style allows parents with hectic lives to quickly read the book, absorb its concepts, and put them to use. Each chapter ends with reflection questions to reinforce the themes from the chapter. The book continues its effectiveness whether or not the reader answers the questions. However, thinking about the questions might shed light on you, your kids, and your relationships.

The concept of parents not letting their emotions guide their response to a child’s troubles is not new, but Runkel shares stories, experiences, and explanations on how to do it. Sure, junior spilling juice all over the carpet can make any parent mad, but dealing with the situation while maintaining control has better results than a scream fest, spanking, or arguing.

Though the book focuses on parenting, its concepts largely address ourselves as individuals. For we have to take care of us first before others. Instead of permissive or dictatorship parenting, Runkel encourages judo parenting, which is “the art of going with another’s momentum.” He shows how to do this by providing the answers to the questions all parents get like “I’m bored,” “Are we there yet?” and “I hate you!”

Two nitpicks. First, there are a few religious references. I wish this had been omitted because religion is a hot issue and the book’s concepts fly well without the religious quotes or references. Using these unnecessarily limits the book’s reach as people who skim the book might get the impression it’s only for Christian parents. It’s not.

The second is not an issue, but rather a want for more examples of using the ScreamFree approach. The stories in the book explain the concept very well and having more would enhance the book’s usefulness.

When I told my oldest about the book, she said parents who yell are teaching their kids to yell when they become adults. Deep and accurate insight, as we’ve seen many children grow up to pick up their parents’ bad habits. Overwhelmed parents can begin with one step by picking one situation that pushes their buttons and applying the ScreamFree approach until they get the hang of it. Runkel doesn’t pressure the reader and the concepts are doable.

Title: ScreamFree Parenting
Author: Hal Edward Runkel
Publisher: Oakmont Publishing
ISBN: 0975998110
Date: March 2005
Format: Paperback
Pages: 256
Cover Price: USD: $19.95 Amazon: $14.42

Before each newsletter goes out, InternetVIZ runs it through an application to check the chances of the issue getting shot into the junk folder. One of the results said, “Shouting markup.” No explanation. That was THE explanation. We figured out that it is the use of bold, headers (h1, h2, etc.) and emphasis (AKA italics). It’s frustrating to see legitimate email newsletters using misspelling tactics like fr.ee and spaham to avoid the garbage pile. Who makes these rules? Read the rant in eNewsletter Journal.

Also, the September issue of meryl’s notes newsletter is out. Get links to sites related to things geeky, webby and wordy.

Email newsletters could fail the “test”
by Meryl K. Evans

The buzz word “standards” may cause an eyeball-rolling response, but without standards, we would have to buy specific media to work with our DVD, VCR and music player. Remember the software buying days, when you had to look for compatibility in terms of Mac versus Windows? Imagine having to do that with Web pages. This Web page is for Macs only … this one is for Windows. Thanks to W3.org, a body that sets recommendations for HyperText Markup Language (HTML) and other markup languages, we don’t have that issue.

Some sites, however, do look better in Internet Explorer than in Mozilla or Firefox. That’s because such sites use an Internet Explorer-specific markup language that is not standard. Let me explain. Let’s say the dreaded <blink> element is proprietary to Internet Explorer only (it’s not, but this is just an example). If an HTML page has it, and you try to view it in a browser other than Internet Explorer, nothing blinks on the page (not that we would want it to). This is a very simple example of what happens when a browser maker creates proprietary elements that works only with its browser.

Playing well with others

Creating proprietary markup code is much like DVD makers producing hardware that works only with a specific brand of DVDs. On one hand, it may encourage people to buy their DVD products. On the other hand, customers refuse to buy something that has such limits. Which would you rather have? A customer buying your product because it works with everything, not just item A, or a customer not buying your product at all because it works only with item A, which is also your product?

That’s the kind of thing we’re seeing with those popular single-cup brewers. I have a Home Café, which I received so I could review the product. The instructions explicitly say to use only Folgers or Millstone pods with the machine because using other brands will damage it. Yet, if you look at pods from Coolbeans.com or Starbucks, companies that don’t produce a machine, they are compatible with Home Café and other brewers such as the Senseo and Melitta.

I don’t like Folgers, period. So would Black and Decker rather me not buy its product because I dislike its partners’ pod brands, or buy it because I can use it with other standard pods? That’s why standards play an important role. They benefit all companies.

Does this mean a company can’t get creative? Not at all. Home Café, Melitta and Senseo look different. Two only brew one cup at a time while one can do two cups. The set up and usage are also different. The look and feel are distinctive. I’ve heard comments from people who prefer one brewer over another. If all single pod brewers work with any pod brand, then we have a choice based on which best meets our needs, just like with the standard coffee machines. Some love their Bunn. Some love their Braun. Some love their Krups.

Cars are the same way. The distinctive features, look and style separate one car from the others. But most of them run on unleaded gasoline. Imagine if we still produced cars using leaded fuel.

Standards for newsletters

So what about newsletters? Before sending this newsletter to you, we test it. Not in terms of beating it up and throwing it around like in the gorilla and suitcase commercials. Or running it into the wall with crash test dummies to test its safety.

Instead, we check for spammability as well as readability. How clean (or not) is the newsletter? Will it pass through the filters? Such a check looks at the fonts used, words and the markup code you don’t see unless you do a “view source.”

Once while doing a test on a newsletter, we received a warning that it had “shouting markup.” Wow. Not only do we have people who shout by capitalizing their text in email messages or instant messages, but we also have markup that yells. And apparently, it’s a bad thing in terms of filters.

When I write about Web design, I encourage using XHTML markup standards with CSS for layout. XHTML requires all markup uses lower case, as in <a>, <h1> and <p>, as opposed to <A>, <H1> and <P>. HTML doesn’t care if both are used.

But we’re talking about a newsletter’s ability to make it pass the filter, not about clean markup code. A newsletter checker shouldn’t care about the markup language. It should focus on the content. Yet, we get a warning that shouting markup, the use of upper case in the tags, is a bad thing and sends the email to the junk bin.

Words that do not pass go

Who decides the standards for declaring content as junk or legit? The bad guys keep changing their content to make it pass through the filters while the good guys fail. This article could send the newsletter to the junk folder because I use the word “spam.” Guess what? The real spammers wouldn’t use that word because they aren’t going to admit their content is spam.

Another “bad” word is “free.” It’s understandable. But it’s also legit. For instance, in the blog, we give a “complimentary” report to those who buy the report. Many businesses do this. Buy this and get this for free. Yet, I use the word “complimentary” or the phrase “no cost” to avoid using “fr33″ (that’s another one) and ending up in your garbage bin.

I get tired of seeing legitimate newsletters that I’ve requested using “fr.ee” or “spaham” to duck the filters. I want such newsletters to feel they can use normal words without getting creative. Yet I know spammers have gotten smart and now use periods and spaces in a word to sneak pass the filters, forcing the good guys to do the same.

What’s the solution?

If I had the solution to this problem, I’d be a millionaire. Phishers (bad guys who send you email leading you to believe it’s from a Web site with which you have an account) are getting smarter in tricking recipients into believing their email comes from a respected company, like eBay or PayPal, to get your personal information.

My email address has been blacklisted at Spamcop, a popular email filter, several times. Spammers find ways to use email addresses of people like you and me. Furthermore, they change their email and Web URLs as frequently as we change our clothes. My email server host provider offers the option of using a spam service like Spamcop, but I don’t use it. Too often, the newsletters I want have ended up in Never, Never Land.

Plus, on occasion, we forget we subscribed to so-n-so’s newsletter when we entered a contest or requested a free white paper. Some recipients report such newsletters to Spamcop, and a good guy gets jailed over a reader’s mistake.

Helpful applications, useless response systems

By using software on my computer, I put email management under my control. I’ve trained the program to recognize senders on my list. This product has done a good job and rarely sends a legitimate email to the junk folder. I always scan the junk folder before I empty it — this takes less than a minute.

Some people use the “response system.” You’ve seen these. You send an email to a friend and immediately get an email saying to click on this link and enter the code to prove you’re a real person. There’s a flaw with the system. Newsletters are managed electronically and will not catch these responses.

When I managed a list of over 100,000 readers, I watched for those response requests. However, it was easy to miss a request in the middle of all the “bad address” or “email box is full” messages. Some idiotic response systems require you to confirm you’re a human EVERY time you send a message to the individual. I gave up on several readers who had this in place.

I think the solution is to manage our emails at the host provider and local computer level. At least you have some control here. A good host provider gives you an option of using filtering services. If you do, it should store email messages in a junk folder you can access and review before they’re gone forever. If you don’t want to review them, simply empty the junk folder.

RSS enters the picture

Some online marketing experts are proclaiming the newsletter dead and all content should come through RSS feed readers (see RSS article for explanation on what it is). I’ve been using an RSS feed to make my content available for such readers before it hits the mainstream. I like this alternative, but I still like email newsletters coming to me.

Are you thinking I am promoting newsletters because I am in the newsletter biz? I wouldn’t do that. I believe in offering as many options as possible. My blogs and newsletters are available in RSS. Some people won’t read newsletters unless there is an RSS feed for them. Others don’t want to use RSS as they prefer content to “come to them” rather than having to open an RSS reader like FeedDemon or go to an online RSS reader like Bloglines.

I use both. The email newsletters I want to read regularly come to my email box. For those that aren’t as important, or that I want to access when I need information, I rely on their feeds and open my reader when I want to read them.

What about RSS readers that send content to your email box? NewsGator is one such application, and it’s excellent. I have so many feeds that when I run NewsGator, I get a ton of content in my email box in a folder set aside for feeds. The only way to get rid of the content is to delete the entries myself. That is the only pain.

RSS is not a replacement for email newsletters. It complements them. It provides readers with another option. Essentially, you’re getting the same coffee from the content, just using a different machine to get it. Some readers prefer one brand while others choose a different brand.

Applications that check your newsletter’s content for spam are useful. However, they should focus only on the content and make recommendations for changes to decrease a newsletter’s chances of being filtered. Reviewing markup should not fall to such applications. There are other validators that do that job.

So what ARE the rules? There are no set rules with email newsletters. However, we have published “our” rules in this newsletter and in the book. Every newsletter we produce follows this book. The rules are subjective, but they’re available to everyone who wishes to read them.

Everyone has a strong opinion on spam, but few experts explain what it is or how it is measured. We’re just as confused. Our experience has taught us that a publisher with a solid opt-in list is at risk from an overzealous “spam fighting” industry. The lack of instructions and support from companies who offer tools, especially the free ones as many use them, cause more problems for the good guys who don’t spam their lists.

The shouting markup. We obtained a lower score by changing the upper case HTML mark up to lower case. However, trying to find this rule and an explanation is fruitless. All the guidelines indicate are the message and the evaluation. The evaluation is meaningless as the one we received stated, “BODY: HTML has very strong ’shouting’ markup.” Nothing more.

Someone pointed me to the source code of the spam checker, which hints that shouting markup refers to refers to B, I, U, STRONG, EM, BIG, CENTER and H1-H6 tags. How is the typical newsletter publisher going to know this? Most of them are not HTML experts and would not be able to read spam checker’s source code.

Where are the standards? Where is there a manual that accompanies this popular spam checker and the implemented rules? It’s not a standard found in any RFC (request for comments), but an organization’s arbitrary ruling. We need guidelines and basic standards.

Meryl K. Evans is the Content Maven behind meryl.net, helping companies get better results through simple words that make a big impact. Contact her to discuss how your business can boost its profits.

And how they impact the newsletter biz

It’s been a long day at work and you’re in no mood to cook dinner or go out. Time to count on the reliable pizza delivery guy. The order is called in and he promptly arrives with smokin’ hot pizza within 30 minutes as promised. If it were only that easy with a picky family where no one can agree on the same restaurant for dinner. One wants Mexican, another wants Chinese, and another wants a burger and Mexican. Instead of running to three different places, you call a delivery service that goes to all of them and brings it to you. What could be easier in getting a meal without cooking it or fetching it?

RSS, XML, RDF, and Atom are the food delivery guy of the Internet. The content they deliver is mixed and cooked elsewhere on the Internet just like the meal isn’t made on your door step and the acronym fellows bring the content to you via software or an online application. Instead of trying to remember all the places where you like to go to get the latest news, it all comes to you once you order your food.

What to Do with the Funky Code

Click on any of those orange or blue RSS, XML, or RDF buttons and you see unreadable text. Some of it is readable, but reading between the <tags> is slow and difficult. In this case, you’ve got the raw ingredients of the content known as a feed. To make it easily readable, download a feed reader that can interpret (aggregate) the ingredients or sign up for an online service that can do the same.

When the software or application is ready to go, click on the orange or blue button (or “Syndicate This Page,” or whatever is along these lines) and copy the resulting URL from the address box. Paste it into the application to cook the ingredients where it’s delivered to you ready for your enjoyment. Lockergnome offers step-by-step instructions to making this happen.

Syndication Isn’t Just for Blogs

Syndication is a not a new concept on the Internet, but it’s growing in popularity as more Web sites and newsletters are churning content to turn it into syndicated files, which are fed into an aggregator. Think of it as the content that’s ready to travel anywhere it needs to go. Grab the feed and feed it to the aggregator, another way of bookmarking (or creating a favorite) a site because you wish to come back again another time. But how often did you go back to the site through your bookmarks / favorites?

I don’t use bookmarks often, but I regularly use the aggregator. Instead of schlepping from site to site in search of information, I have it all in front of me via the aggregator. The feeds are sorted in folders by topic for easy finding. If I’m writing about the latest virus or worm, then I open the security folder with the security-related feeds and scan them. Scanning content through aggregators is easier than on a Web site because it’s in one folder with headlines and maybe a short summary. On a Web site, you’re only getting the benefit of that site’s news and no where else. The folder has news from over ten resources including blogs, news sites, and newsletters.

Any content can be syndicated. It’s a matter of having the backend process in place, which is dependent on the application used for managing the content. If a site doesn’t have such resources, then there is software for entering content to create a file with the feed for posting on the site.

Most aggregators have exporting capabilities so the feed can be shared with others interested in the same topic. If you’re interested in my security feeds, I can export them into, in most cases, an OPML file and you can import it into your aggregator.

So What Does This Have to Do with Newsletters?

Spam filters are preventing readers from getting newsletters or they get lost in the spam pool. Offering a feed for the newsletter is a compromise. Readers can get the content, only instead of it coming to the email box, it comes through the aggregator. It’s a way around spam. Like everything else, it has its advantages and disadvantages:

Advantages:

• Filters can’t stop the newsletter from reaching its destination.

• The recipient will get it – if the server is down, it’ll download next time and email can get lost.

• The feed can be syndicated providing more exposure for your content.

Disadvantages:

• Rely on readers to open aggregators like they open email client, but some aggregators are built-in with an email client like NewsGator and there are online aggregators like Bloglines, which can be your home page.

• Metrics won’t be as complete, but it’s still there through the links (this is changing as we get more tools).

• Not as pretty as HTML-based newsletters.

If the feed is automatically created, what have you got to lose? You’re providing another way for your readers to get your content just like you can get pizza in different ways: go to the restaurant, have it delivered, or make it at home. More applications are adding syndication capabilities, which make the process effortless. Some have said they won’t read something unless it has a feed.

As for looks, already I’ve seen an example of a feed getting styled and that capability will be available for everyone soon enough.

Syndication works better than bookmarks. With bookmarks, you click on a site that might have the security information and arrive there to find it doesn’t. So, back to the bookmarks to click on another site. Lather, rinse, repeat. With aggregators, there is no jumping from site to site. Scan the headlines right there until you find what you need.

There was a time when we didn’t have the option to have pizza delivered to our doorstep. When we’re too tired, we know we can rely on the delivery guy. In term of content, expect to see it show up at your doorstep more often than the pizza guy plus it’s cheaper with the cost only coming from the software though there are many free options available. Syndication is here to stay and should be added to a company’s communication toolbox rather than as a replacement. Witness it by watching for RSS, XML, RDF, and Atom out there.

Seth is back already with another book. Only he isn’t the author of the book, but the editor. Overall, it’s a good book — but I haven’t gotten any bright ideas from the book. I do like to use humor and storytelling, but not when it’s forced — then it doesn’t sound right.

The book has inspiring ideas from the Group of 33, as the book references these successful business people, includes Mark Cuban, Dave Balter, Malcolm Gladwell, Tom Peters, and Guy Kawasaki. The aim of the stories or ideas is to show what it takes to become remarkable.

The book’s title comes from Godin’s previous best seller, Purple Cow which shows how to stand out in a world of brown cows. According to the book’s synopsis, “… sometimes you need something even bigger than a purple cow. You need a big moo — an insight so astounding that people can’t help but remark on it.” [ Read the review... ]