Random thoughts on Internet Marketing, SEO, Social Media and whatever else floats my way.

Yes I _do_ have a clue and am not happy with the layout. This blog is still under construction while I finish making the transition from Blogger to WordPress. Once I make the rest of the site look lovely I’ll make an announcement.  Otherwise feel free to say hi, I’ll get back to you. Thanks for stopping by!

I was reading SEOBook’s post on how to migrate blogs from Blogger to WordPress , excited to see a step-by-step process for something I really need to get on since WordPress provides a lot more flexibility and customization. But once I saw the first step, I started to panic:

Step 1: Download and install Wordpress (also requires setting up a MySQL database).

Umm, I don’t have a clue on how to set up a MySQL database. Or hack CSS by hand, or create conditional php statements, or rewrite .htaccess files. So how am I supposed to take advantage of the SEO benefits WordPress provides when I’m technically lost?

I consider myself technically-savvy, many colleagues and friends can attest to that. But after I read that blog post I started thinking of the value of marketing vs. technology. Where does search marketing really fall? If I had the best, most up-to-date technology, will search follow? It’ll help I’m sure, but unless I create value, fill a need, and engage with community, does it really matter?

So I’m still considering WordPress because it really is better. But what I may just do is just provide a static link back to Blogger. That sounds nasty, it won’t be well-optimized, but I just don’t have time to learn php. I could always just stick with Blogger and forget about WordPress altogether. Unless someone out there feels generous and wants to help - I’ll be happy to reciprocate.

This is a short post about social media going full circle. Not about long lost relatives, or high school buddies, but a story about social network and social media and why people should just get it.

This morning I checked my email to find a LinkedIn request from Jay Ehret. I don’t know Jay Ehret, but thanks to LinkedIn they require a little information to invite connections. According to Jay, I was a “Business Partner” (more like contributor) to the new Age of Conversation book coming out later this year. This is not completely out of the blue, a few months ago I did contact the editors about contributing, but never heard back. In the meantime, I changed jobs — alas, email — and assumed they found better, more qualified, more enlightening contributors than I could ever be.

But wait, there’s this random guy who said I am. So I did a little research, and found my name on a list of 275 people.

So I contacted Drew and Gavin, hoping it’s not too late to provide a chapter for the new 2008 edition of “Age of Conversation: Why Don’t People Get It?”. Of course it is, they’ve tried contacting me at MaineToday.com and never heard from me. Darn. Maybe next year.

But the point — social media was used to connect with me about writing about social media. Even better, the premise of the book is that people don’t get it. What’s not to get? Here’s your example.

And I’m still going to get the book.