Yesterday was Thanksgiving in the U.S., one of my favorite holidays. It’s simply a time for family and friends to get together, have a good meal and enjoy each other whether it’s with football or something else. No gifts. Little work (just the cooking). Paul and I were talking about the kids. I said, “… … Read more
How do you pronounce “Casio’s G’zOne?” That’s what Strategic Name Development asks. Just the other day when I volunteered at my kid’s school book fair, a few of us were talking about Mo Willem’s Knuffle Bunny because we all love the Pigeon books. I thought it was pronounced “nuffle bunny” like “know.” The librarian thought … Read more
“Pet Peeves in Customer Service” looks at common annoyances with customer service. Considering it takes me longer to make phone calls using the relay, I probably get annoyed faster than the average user. Pet peeve #1: Calling a customer service line, an automated voice asks you to enter your account number or some other identification … Read more
Thanks to Web sites and email newsletters, white papers have become a great way to market a product or service. A visitor can get a free white paper in exchange for signing up for an email newsletter or basic information. People can’t resist a free offer and white papers — when done right — can … Read more
Management using jargon like blue sky thinking, brain dump, thinking outside the box, get our ducks in a row confuse staff more than encourage them. We may have heard “thinking outside of the box” for years (I met that term in my first job out of college), but BBC News reports these terms don’t go … Read more
Many grammar geeks tend to be snobby about corrected incorrect grammar. I try not to be. It depends on who the person is and my relationships to them. If I’m writing a general article to an open audience, I try to have fun and in some cases, come across as the grammar police. ChangeThis features … Read more
SitePoint Newsletter and forums have an interesting discussion on clients who don’t respond or are slow to respond. Almost every freelance and small business can count on this happening. It happens to me once in a while. A client wanted me to write his web content and we went back and forth on that. She … Read more
In 2000, I wrote an article about Internet and tech terms for Webreference and followed up with others. I revisited the capitalization of Internet, email vs. e-mail, and e-words. Reading WebMarketCentral Blog’s entry (including this one that’s mentioned) motivated me to visit the topic again. The No. 1 rule remains: consistency. No one will get … Read more
My parents returned from a two week trip to the Orient and reported the trip was grand and tiring. They brought back maps, tickets, papers and documents for us. One thing caught my eye: a card printed with English and Chinese phrases. I ask Mom about it. She said that taxi drivers don’t speak or … Read more
I worked in process management for ten years, some with the federal government and most of it in the telecommunications industry. I’m a supporter for having processes because: * Avoids reinventing the wheel * Ensures you don’t miss a step * Helps others know what to do * Simplifies improving the process But there’s such … Read more