Cshel Chicago SEO, PR and Web Development

First official appearance on Rush Hour

Posted on 18. Apr, 2007 by Carolyn Shelby.

Today was my first “official, official” appearance on Rush Hour (Wednesdays at 4 Eastern, 1 Pacific on WebmasterRadio.fm). I was fashionably late and missed the intro and I was all kinds of nervous, but I think for the most part things went well. I’m looking forward to getting more into the swing of things and having much smoother future shows.

Today, we recapped SES NY, discussed the rumors about the StumbleUpon acquisition by Ebay, talked about leveraging Del.icio.us, Neil was surprisingly quiet and Cameron went on a bit of a rant about Michael “Graywolf” Gray encouraging conference attendees to practice ethically questionable social media tactics. I’m very eagerly awaiting Graywolf’s response, I’m sure it will be fun :)

You can listen to the podcast of the 10th episode of Rush Hour here.

Popularity: 17% [?]

Continue Reading

Cshel on Webmaster Radio’s Rush Hour

Posted on 29. Mar, 2007 by Carolyn Shelby.

Yesterday afternoon, I chatted with Neil Patel and Cameron Olthius on their WMR show “Rush Hour” about how to leverage social media marketing to get traffic for my city guide, Lafayette Online.

It was an interesting conversation because I don’t think, in general, there would be tons of interest in the goings on in Greater Lafayette, Indiana… at least not amongst the diggers and whatnot. A lot of the suggestions to get digg attention that were thrown out involved manufacturing titillating or sensational news items — generally involving drugs and jackassery — and that’s just really not something I have the option of dabbling in. I don’t want to do anything that might jeopardize the nice in-links I have built up.

Here’s a summary of the advice for my site (lots of local content, relatively dry and un-diggable):

• Integrate as much opportunity as possible for users to contribute content or help evangelize the site (include social media buttons, comment areas, user submitted photos, etc.)
• Diggers are attracted to infantile or somewhat immature subject matter (e.g. drug use, videos of delinquent-type behavior, hot chicks, etc) so when possible or permissible, write headlines and news items with a sensational angle.
• If the naturally occuring news doesn’t have enough zest to qualify as linkbait, spend time researching and creating reports and stories that are buzz worthy. (Think more John Stossel than NPR)

Listen to the whole show here. The Lafayette Online segment is maybe the last ten minutes. The first parts of the show cover the Jason Calacanis SEO Challenge, some Digg/StumbleUpon discussion, Neil’s trip to Shoemoney’s Elite Retreat, and YouTube/Google Videos.

Popularity: 15% [?]

Continue Reading

Not exactly twitterpated with Twitter

Posted on 15. Mar, 2007 by Carolyn Shelby.

I started futzing with Twitter yesterday. It’s interesting, but it’s not causing me angst if I can’t get back to my machine to update what I’m doing. So far it’s been a vehicle for me to whine about being sick, complain about having to go to meetings, complain about being in meetings, and make silly little notes to myself about what I should remember to not order when I go out for Chinese food.

That being said, it is fun to tell people I’ve been “twittering” most of the day. It’s hard to say it without smiling. So I definitely give them an A+ for picking a cute domain name that can be easily used as a verb.

Also, I think I might be more into the whole thing if I were having update txts sent to my phone. Getting txt updates on what my friends are doing while I’m in eternal meeting hell or otherwise not by my computer and bored would make my day more entertaining. (I don’t have an unlimited txt plan with my phone, otherwise I’d try it.)

Anyway, if you’d like to see what I’m doing (or currently kvetching about), please feel free to come be my friend over on Twitter.

Popularity: 11% [?]

Continue Reading