Chiperoni ku Basel

Author: nchenga

  • Successful blogging?

    I love reading list articles. Here’s one that appeared on my radar today:

    6 Pillars of a Successful Blog

    And just for fun, I’ll run thru the list and assess my own private blogging chez moi.

    So let’s get started…

    Purpose/Message/Mission
    This is a private blog. The main purpose is to learn and reflect.

    It’s an ever-evolving mix of learning, reflection, discovery and knowledge management. I’ve always said it’s like a scrap book. Chiperoni.ch will no longer do well from an SEO point-of-view, because the topics are too diverse, too sporadic. I write about the Internet and online marketing. I link to my huge Flickr collection of snapshots. I write about architecture and travel. I post Youtube videos. I try out WordPress plugins and themes.

    If you’re setting up a blog for business purposes, think about your purpose. Brainstorm ideas. Put together an editorial calendar. This will help you stand out from the crowd.

    Email Newsletter
    I don’t send out an email newsletter for this blog. While this Google service still exists, you can get an email notification via Feedburner:

    Enter your email address:

    Delivered by FeedBurner

    There are some pretty cool email newsletter plugins for WordPress. I briefly tried Wysija. There’s also Sendpress and Email Newsletter to try. And yes, I wholeheartedly agree… if you want your blog to grow, send out a regular email newsletter.

    I do have a cool WordPress plugin called Thank me later, which sends auto-sends thank you messages to people that leave a comment.

    A Free E-Book/Manifesto
    There is no free e-book to download. There is no manifesto to link to at Chiperoni.ch. Yet. I have plans to write a book or two. Maybe. Some day.

    David Meerman-Scott uses e-books very effectively for his topics.

    I am a regular reader of the e-books at Hubspot.

    IMHO, you should spend some $$ on your e-book layout to get a better return.

    A Product/Business Model
    There is no business model at Chiperoni.ch. I am here for fun. This is a private, non-profit blog. There is no advertising. So far I have not published any paid blog entries here. If this changes, I will publish a disclosure statement.

    Again if you’re planning to offer a product or service, put some thought into your business model. A good starter is this business model generation canvas. It leads you through various business questions.

    Site Design
    I like minimal blog designs. Currently I am using themes by Elma.

    If you’re building a business, test your site design using a poor man’s usability test. Ideally before coding; using a paper test. Find 5 people that fit your site’s target audience. Think of some site tasks you would like to test, e.g. how to contact you; how to ask for a quote. Ask your test person to think out loud while performing the tasks. And then sit next to them and quietly observe how your test person navigates through your site.

    Check your site design from an SEO point of view. Are there enough text areas for your key phrases on your main landing pages? I would avoid overusing fancy carousel and slider plugins. Do you have one sentence explaining your main mission, written in HTML?

    Effective Self Promotion
    It’s 2013. You need to find creative ways to promote your business blog. The Internet is a vast ocean of data. Nobody is waiting for your cool product or service. If your self promotion is too low-key, nobody will notice you. If your self promotion is too heavy and your service offering doesn’t match, you will put people off.

    I am stating the obvious. My only advice is to try various ideas and find a marketing mix that works for you. Trial and error.

    Or build a private, non-profit blog like Chiperoni.ch. And as such I don’t need to join the success theater.

    looking closely

  • For the boring flower snapshot gallery

    Another addition for my boring flower snapshot set:

    flower power

    Carpe diem. Enjoy today. Don’t fight and argue. Meditate on beautiful and worthy things. Create something. Relax. Life is very short and fragile.

  • Is there life after death?

    Just heard very sad news via Skype about a tragic traffic accident.

    Is there life after death? How will you measure your life?

    Wir werden geboren, quälen uns ab, dann sterben wir. C'est tout

  • It’s ok to hate Twitter

    Interesting article:

    it may also reflect a changing attitude about social media: Our participation is still our choice, so maybe it’s time to talk about our problems with it, to think about ways to make our social lives better online.

    Just bellyaching because they can? Or is it a trend?

    From the archives:
    Will the masses ever use Twitter?

  • Identity and culture

    Somewhere deep inside of me, I have this blog post bubbling up and forming about identity. It is influenced by my own state of being an eternal foreigner, an Auslandsdeutsche. But also influenced by other observations on organizational cultures and the changes within the internet.

    I started watching this talk by Anil Dash:

    He says being a blogger in the early years (a decade ago, from approximately 1999 to 2006) was an identity. Bloggers had a shared set of values. There was a culture and a common understanding.

    Nobody calls themselves a Facebooker.

    I recommend viewing this video and reflecting on the thoughts.

  • Social media sending less traffic, less clicks?

    While analyzing website analytics on this blog and on other sites, I’ve noticed that, in year-on-year comparisons, website links within social media streams on Facebook and Twitter are getting less clicks. Despite more followers and more content activity.

    Reasons?

    I think many of us are nearing saturation point.

    Sharing and liking functions are everywhere. More networks. More info. On top of all of the other to do lists and requirements and optimizations and check lists and productivity methods. The time I spend on browsing and exploring has decreased. Meanwhile, the supply of web content is infinite.

    Gone are the days where I was in social media discovery mode. I haven’t downloaded Vine. Or tried Highlight. I didn’t even visit Pinterest since the re-design.

    In addition, Facebook decides where to display posts, based on some secret algorithm based on some secret mixture of likes and previous behaviour. Maybe nobody sees my posts to start with cos i don’t have any fans/likes?

    Another reason is that very often I no longer need to click the link to go to the site. I can read the article in my preferred app or reading environment.

    A surfeit of social media?

    Maybe. But IMHO there is also less interaction and engagement. The excitement of interacting online is no longer new. It’s pervasive. Ubiquitous.

    And there’s the very real fear of losing privacy. And trolls. And spam. And corporations owning and reselling our data.

    Free and open

    Let’s not take our connected world for granted. Let’s not forget the benefits of connecting and linking with others.

    Let’s acknowledge and thank our sources. Simple things like leaving a comment or adding a backlink. Creating and adapting rather than consuming.

    What does it mean for communications at your day job?

    First and foremost, do not assume that anybody is interested in your press releases, product announcements, emails or company fan page. We’re not. Remember, everybody has a tight schedule.

    If you want to fail, assume they’re interested.

    Give more than you take.

    Make it easy to find and read your message. You need to be aware of best practises for good content, usability, on-page SEO, online advertising.

    Be flexible. Try different distribution channels. If you think your potential audience is on Linkedin or on Pinterest, try it. Try new things. IMHO, you’ll need a mixed strategy of traditional, email-based and social media channels.

    Keep playing. Keep testing. Keep iterating.

    Related articles:
    http://www.mediabistro.com/alltwitter/b2b-social-traffic_b35539

    http://blog.kissmetrics.com/email-crushes-social-media/

    All The Marketing Statistics You Need To Know

  • Murten walk

    I followed another recommended walk from the little yellow booklet, published by the Swiss heritage society.

    for my photo tours this spring

    This time I headed to Murten to see the city wall.

    day trip to Murten and Bern

    It was snowing quite heavily. The lake was invisible in grey clouds. But still fun.

    Especially with a cup of hot chocolate.

    day trip to Murten and Bern

  • Banana Bread Recipe

    Squishy bananas.

    So I tried to make this:

    Banana Bread Recipe by Simply Recipes.

    But unfortunately, I added a lot of variations. Such as nuts and dried apricots and cocoa. So I can’t really recommend the recipe or write a review. But despite the odds, the result is delicious.

  • Moving from Google Reader to WordPress.com

    Even though Google Reader showed up prominently in yesterday’s SERPs for “best free RSS reader”, someone at Google has decided to end the product life of Google Reader.

    Heh Google Search! Google Reader is closing

    It’s time to move on to a new RSS reader.

    Several RSS readers managed to survive despite Google Reader’s dominance. And some new ones emerged. These tools are getting frequent mentions:

    • Feedly
    • NewsBlur
    • RSSOwl
    • Zite
    • The old reader

    Digg decided to build a new reader the day Google announced the end of its Reader. In some ways, that’s the silver lining. RSS readers are getting more attention than in the past years combined.

    WordPress.com

    This is how you can import your RSS subscriptions into WordPress.com.

    First, go to Google Takeout to download your Google Reader data:

    google-takeout

    The process is fairly straightforward.

    Google Takeout

    Click Download and save the zip file on your computer.

    Google Takeout

    Voilà. Saved the data for future use. Who knew! I’ve got 6.5 MB of shared Google Reader articles.

    WordPress.com offers an RSS reader. I don’t know if I’ll make WordPress.com my RSS Reader, but there’s one advantage. I already have a login for WordPress.com. And it’s easy to try out. This is what I did to add my RSS subscriptions (not my past shared articles!) to WordPress.com:

    Wordpress Reader

    Click Import your subscriptions.

    Wordpress Reader

    I used the special service: Import your Google Reader sunscriptions directly.

    I allowed WordPress.com to access Google Reader.

    That’s it. Done.

    Wordpress Reader

    The challenge: so far WordPress.com isn’t in my regular flow of news sites that I visit. I use it for special photo projects, Akismet and Jetpack.

  • e-bike rage, i haz it

    I think i am developing a bad case of e-bike rage. Two days in a row, the same two e-bikes (bicycles powered by an electric engine) overtook me (cycling on a regular, muscle-powered bicycle) so closely, I thought they’d hit my bicycle handlebar.

    This morning I was waiting at a red light. A car was standing in the lane next to me. Just when the robot lights changed to green, and i started to pedal away, an e-bike hurtled thru from behind between my bicycle and the car.

    Next, just 2 minutes later, another e-biker on a black and white Cannondale had to overtake me in a small roundabout; while I was entering and exiting a roundabout. Kind of risky. Cos if i had taken the next exit, we would have collided.

    And I am pretty certain I saw the same two e-bikers yesterday….

    E-bikes are very popular here.

    Please don’t overtake at junctions, robots or in roundabouts.

    OK, thx bai.

  • Sunday photo walk

    Die schönsten Spaziergänge der Schweiz - heute: Saint-Ursanne (JU)

    I went photo walking again.

    I took the S3 from Basel to Saint-Ursanne today. It was beautifully sunny.

    BTW, I am planning to work my way thru this little guide by the Swiss Heritage Society.

  • Integrated

    For future reference:

    Better SEO through Integrated Content Marketing

  • Cafés in Basel

    Via Tageswoche, a list of cafés to visit in Basel:

    Your faves?

  • How to spend more time on the important tasks?

    Multi-tasking between several assigned projects can lead to situations where project team members can’t spend enough on their prio 1 tasks. Obviously the best remedy is to assign enough time resources for a project. But in reality, lots of big and small tasks pile on. Urgent. Last minute. And your strategically important project gets sidelined.

    prio-1-tasks

    The question is:
    How do you allocate enough time to your prio 1 tasks? Some things that work for me:

    1. Schedule and block time in your calendar for important projects
    2. Start your work day with the important tasks
    3. Set yourself reminders
    4. Seek active collaboration with other project members

    Your tips?

  • Khachapuri

    Inspired by a., I tried making khachapuri, Georgian cheese bread. It was a fun project and very tasty.

    snapshot by chiperoni.ch

    There are lots of recipes.

  • Urban flower pots

    a chiperoni.ch snapshot

  • WP Jetpack comments blocked

    If you get a message like this on your WordPress site:

    Error 403

    We’re sorry, but we could not fulfill your request for /wordpress/wp-comments-post.php?for=jetpack on this server.

    You do not have permission to access this server. Data may not be posted from offsite forms.

    Your technical support key is:

    The security plugin Bad Behavior is preventing the comment from being published.

    You can either 1) go to Settings > Bad Behavior and select this option:
    Allow form postings from other web sites (required for OpenID; increases spam received)

    Or 2) you can simply deactivate Jetpack Comments.

  • Content curator’s future

    Everybody’s pumping content into the Internet ocean. The ratio of good, useful content vs me-toos will most likely decrease even further. But how will we discern the high quality content from the rest? One recipe is to look at the social signals.

    I am not sure this path will provide such great results, cos it depends on me as a user *liking a post* and *following* the right kind of content creators. That’s a difficult and time-consuming task. Most likely I’ll follow friends and influencers in my small niche. And rely on corporations and news organisations.

    In the long run, will this ensure democratic, free access to information?

    #time hole

    “The single biggest threat to content marketing is content marketing”

    I’m wondering if there’s a new approach to this / a new web app?

  • The 5 steps metrics model AARRR!

    For future reference:

    Acquisition Activation Referral Retention Revenue!

  • Agile Marketing

    Sub-consciously I’ve started following content streams on Agile Marketing. The topic seems to pop up everywhere I turn. Or maybe there are more people writing about this topic?

    Even Copyblogger had a post on How to Create an Agile Content Marketing Strategy

    IMHO it makes a lot of sense to apply agile management methods to Marketing. Content delivery is becoming more complex – there are smartphones, tablets, regular business monitors, large monitors. There are high expectations that a website will lead to an increase in conversions, while at the same time the sheer amount of data has increased exponentially. SEO requires high quality content. Every content page should be a good landing page. Etc.

    I am interested in exploring this topic further, esp. from a B2B point of view.

    Please feel free to send in your ideas and comments.

  • Photo walk

    I walked up Tüllinger Hügel and took some snapshots:

  • Poetry

    Here’s a link to ancient poetry ringing in my ears:

    Blessed are the poor in spirit,
    for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
    Blessed are those who mourn,
    for they will be comforted.
    Blessed are the meek,
    for they will inherit the earth.
    Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
    for they will be filled.

    For your literary analysis.

  • Bufferapp stats for tweets and posts

    I am confused by the analytics view shown in Bufferapp. Consider the 2 tweets i posted this morning:

    bufferapp stats

    One has 0 (zero) clicks and one has close to 200. I am not questioning the 0. It’s a known fact Twitter engagement has gone down. Disappeared. But… I am fairly sure that nobody clicked on my other tweet either. The number shown must be the total number of clicks on this bit.ly link, right?

    Is this useful for me?

    Why show me the total number of clicks worldwide on this link? My educated guess is that Bufferapp (or any other Twitter stats tool for that matter) can only count clicks via the URL shortener service. I.e. close to 200 clicks where registered for http://bit.ly/P0Hjpe. Which is somewhat misleading. Or, in other words, it shows me which tweets are truly original vs entries which are just part of a larger echo chamber.

    I guess, it can be said in this day and age, we really need to closely at how stats are derived.

    For example, a tweet starting with @name will still generate up to 10 views on Flickr. While the tweet is public and can be viewed by others, I sincerely doubt that the views displayed on Flickr are *human* views.

    “Traue keiner Statistik, die du nicht selbst gefälscht hast”

  • Lightweight Linux distros

    For future reference:
    Revive Your Old PC: The 3 Best Linux Systems For Old Computers

  • Success theater is boring

    I recommended reading this article:

    Twitter : nchenga: "It's boring." http:::t.co:UXaVF5Pb

    Success theater is boring. Directly related to the increasing lack of privacy. All the world’s a stage.

    Social media featuritis is part of a never-ending cycle. Ironically the author mentions new tools (Snapchat, VidBurn and Facebook Poke) to replace the broadcast tools.

    Keep calm.

    Don’t join the rat race.

    Use social media in good measure and in a personable way.

    Create rather than consume.

    Consider your true motive. Cost and benefit.

    BTW, I’ve read some predictions about a blogging comeback in 2013. Experts predict that the author tag will get a higher Google rank.

    2013: The Year of the Online Writer

    Due to Google Panda and Penguin, everybody is talking about the need for high-quality content.

    The reality is it will be extremely difficult for middle-of-the-road online writers to gain any kind of traffic. Compared to 2003 and 2004, the ocean of data has increased exponentially. Gone are the days where a private blog entry google-bombed its way into the top SERPs. I am not saying it isn’t possible. But it takes strategy, resources, commitment, personal drive, writing skills and some SEO expertise. And most of us with a day job, hobbies, and a long to-do list will no longer be part of the top Google rankings. At least with the current setup.

    Here is an interesting slide deck on how social media will develop in 2013:

    I wonder where “social everything” and “mobile everything” will take us.