August 30, 2007
Search engine optimization is big business these days, and for good reason, since it’s a key part of any PR strategy that involves online communication. And don’t they all?
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SEO helps our clients cut through the clutter of cyberspace and create the ever-important “Google Juice” that drives Web denizens to our sites. At Kent State, we include several lessons on SEO in the “Public Relations Online Tactics” class. And we’re happy to have our own SEO expert from the PR office demonstrate her magic.
For the uninitiated, SEO is “the process of improving the volume and quality of traffic to a web site from search engines via “natural” (”organic” or “algorithmic”) search results. Usually, the earlier a site is presented in the search results, or the higher it “ranks”, (sic) the more searchers will visit that site.” (Wikipedia)
Though SEO is a critical part of most online strategies, it’s also inherently manipulative — even potentially evil. Using SEO, we design our sites and distribute related communication with the intent of boosting our position/ranking with the search engines. On one hand, we’re helping the public find our information, and that’s a good thing. On the other hand, we’re manipulating the search process — messing with nature, if you will — and telling no one we’re doing it. Read the rest of this entry »
7 Comments | Public Relations, Public Relations Ethics, SEO, Strumpette | Permalink
Posted by Bill Sledzik
August 21, 2007
Returned Sunday from points north, but be forewarned, I’m NOT all the way back. Lake Superior keeps a part of you every time you visit. It’s her way. For 10 days, we connected with things natural, including these two bal library-1037.jpg
d eagles perched unassumingly above my wife’s head. We learned that the eagle is thriving and we learned that flat-water paddling on Lake Superior is anything but flat. We met the headwinds, and we beat them.
I learned that sleeping on the ground and going without running water still sucks. But that’s the price you pay to live in the back country of Gichigami. It’s a bargain. Really. Call our outfitter if you’re interested.
Superior is also a place for sunsets. You’ll find a dozen or more of them on my Flickr page. I’ve also included a photo fantasy on my Facebook page, but it’s open only to “friends.” If you’re wondering about that beautiful lady who’s in all those pictures, I can’t really say what she sees in me, either. And I don’t ask.
My post of August 8, the one about my impending divorce from PRSA, caused a minor stir and triggered some solid readership numbers in my absence. Jack O’Dwyer wrote about it, and I got a few contacts from national PRSA leaders. But more than anything, I received emails from folks who understood my frustration — not just with PRSA, but with all professional groups and their seeming inability to serve senior practitioners. It’s an old saw, so I won’t be saying much more about it.
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For the Kent State faithful, rest assured that our commitment to PRSA and PRSSA remains. Me? I’m going to try some other things. It’s time.
For the next two weeks I’ll be settling into my new offices in Franklin Hall, the shiny new home of Kent State’s School of Journalism & Mass Communication. We’re moving now — about 3 weeks before we really should. I don’t have a desk yet, but, hey, it’s a virtual world. Use something digital. You’ll find me. Just Google “toughsledding.”
4 Comments | Lake Superior, PRSA, Public Relations | Permalink
Posted by Bill Sledzik
August 9, 2007
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Yeah, I’m checking out again — this time for at least a week. The MacBook stays in Ohio as we head off for a 5-day kayaking adventure in the Apostle Islands, Lake Superior. That means I won’t be reading email or approving comments, but don’t let it stop you from sending or posting. I’ll also be out of cell phone range most of the week. Nice, eh?
I’ll post pics on Flickr when I return.
Summer reading. Had hoped to share impressions on my summer reading, some of it interesting, some not. But I ran outta daylight. Here are the I-mean-business books I’ve read so far, with links to reviews that are way more intelligent than anything I could say! One book has no link, since I didn’t find a worthwhile review. Read the rest of this entry »
3 Comments | Cult of the Amateur, EverythingisMiscellaneous, Lake Superior, PR, Public Relations, TransArcticExpedition | Permalink
Posted by Bill Sledzik
August 8, 2007
I don’t pay much attention to anniversaries. Just ask my wife.
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But when the August issue of Public Relations Tactics arrived in the mail, it reminded me that 2007 was my 25th year as a PRSA member. It also may be my last. You heard it here first.
I’ve been thinking about this break-up for 7 or 8 years now, but the triggering event was the announcement, on the cover of Tactics, that “acclaimed actress and mia-farrow.jpg
humanitarian activist Mia Farrow” will be a keynote speaker at PRSA’s national conference this year.
I haven’t followed Mia’s career much since that creepy Woody-Soon Yee thing, but I had a wicked crush on her when she played the oh-so-hot Allison McKenzie in Peyton Place, back in the day. And could Frank Sinatra be wrong?
God bless Mia for her humanitarian work, whatever it is. But I’m not interested in hearing about it at my professional conference. Nor am I interested in having my registration fees pay for celebrity keynoters. Read the rest of this entry »
19 Comments | IABC, Mia Farrow, PR, PR Tactics, PRSA, Public Relations | Permalink
Posted by Bill Sledzik
August 3, 2007
I just read the dumbest book. So dumb that I’m almost embarrassed to tell you about it. A colleague gave me “The 4-Hour Work Week.” He purchased it out of curiosity after reading of it on Steve Rubel’s blog. Steve gave 4HWW a decent review, which puzzles me. But it was the book’s promotion campaign that prompted PR’s 4hhw.jpg
top blogger to write about it.
You see, 4HWW was marketed exclusively through social media. And the campaign worked, turning Tim Ferriss’ first book into a best-selling self-help/get-rich-quick manual. The book presents a nifty little fantasy the author claims to be living. Ferriss then entices you to jettison your miserable, meaningless, 9-to-5 existence to join what he calls the “New Rich.” Some may see it as a sirens’ song for the 21st Century, but don’t bother lashing yourself to the mast. And if you want a fantasy, read Harry Potter.
Why even mention 4HWW if I hated it so? Because even the dumbest book will offer a few lessons. Here the sum of what I took from 4HWW. Read the rest of this entry »
5 Comments | PR, Public Relations, fourhourworkweek | Permalink
Posted by Bill Sledzik
August 2, 2007
Since launching this site last September, I’ve had type on my face — you know — in the blog header. The basic WordPress template won’t let me off-center the name and tag, and I’m too cheap to buy the upgrade.
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Thanks to my son Todd, a graphic designer at a NE Ohio ad agency, the type has moved right and turned a forest green to match those Minnesota hardwoods behind my head. A geek would have figured how to do this alone. But hey, I have an artist in the family. Thanks, bud!
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Staying on the family theme, my younger son, Chris, and the 6-man TransArctic Expedition team, has crossed the Arctic Circle 6 weeks after departing Great Slave Lake. They celebrated by paddling backward across the imaginary line. Ain’t GPS amazing? Not to mention satellite phones!
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The men are on the Back River less than 50 miles from Chantrey Inlet on the Arctic Ocean, and journey’s end. Last week, Chris landed a 40-lb. lake trout, which I suspect fed the troops for several days. Can’t wait to see the photos. If he puts them on Flickr, I’ll send you the link.
******* Read the rest of this entry »
2 Comments | Facebook, PR, Public Relations, fourhourworkweek | Permalink
Posted by Bill Sledzik
