My Life, My Work, Writing, Travels and Lessons I've Learned.
You know, I could not wrap my head around what wordpress was and why we should use if for several years. I got to this dashboard that you are in now, got totally befuddled, and ran back to Dreamweaver with all of it’s clunky and hair pulling out problems. WordPress is much easier, far far easier. If you are new to it you just need to understand a few things about how it works … Read More
Web Master Marketer Michael Cheney said to me once: “The minute you start doing something you ARE that. Don’t let anyone tell you differently.” Meaning: You launch your first website to become a web marketer and YOU ARE NOW A WEB MARKETER! You are that, you work at it, you become that. You have begun. It means, I do it seriously and with INTENT. Are you a photographer or a person who takes photographs? … Read More
Blogging was meant to be a web log. Not a tweet, not a facebook post, but more of a “Dear Diary”. There to read, but not to be imposed on people like the tweet about being at Starbucks, then going to the bathroom, then getting your latte. I read a statistic that 90% of the tweets are generated by 10% of the users. Add Lindsey Lohan or whoever else to that, and you get … Read More
Hi guys Well, sometimes in this world you come full circle. Content, Content, Content is King. If you are an old hand at Internet Marketing, Web Publishing or Blogging, you should know by now that content rules. And without fail I have seen one thing on the web. If Your Content is not Helpful for People, YOU WILL FAIL. I think a general rule of life is that if you aren’t helpful, you’ll fail. … Read More
I read years ago: don’t overestimate what you can do in a day or a week, but don’t UNDERESTIMATE what you can do in a year, or 6 months. I wanted to share this with you to remind you that what we do in Web Marketing is long term build and not a short term win. Build pages each day, brick by brick. And then, in a year look back. And by all means … Read More
I read a quote from Mark Twain about 3 years ago, and it captures how I would like to learn to live. “I’ve have a horrible life, 99% of which never happened” How Samuel Clemens could encapsulate in one sentence the irony of our bad thoughts-ridden brains is a thing of wonder. He also said, “There is a release found in swearing, that is denied even to prayer”. I have to explain that quote … Read More
In my last lesson, I talked about how if you start something, and intend to be it, you are IT from the moment you begin. Even though you are it, recognize that you need to learn more. To Master the IT. What is the best way to Master this field? I learned this the hard way: Anything you are becoming cannot be learned from a book, you need a teacher. Why? Because with a … Read More
The title of this post was a bit of wisdom I got from my wise friend, Jack. “The Italians say: I regret missing an opportunity to remain silent.” This dovetailed nicely with another bit of wisdom from a colleague: “You cannot be hurt by what you do not say” Put them together, and it’s a powerful combination. I wish I had just shut up sometimes. I’m better at that now. …
Hi Guys, Mark here! Building niche sites is a lot like French Bread. For years, the fantastic, traditional artisan made baguette was deteriorating due to being mass produced. The wonderful symbol of the french diet, with it profound craftsmanship was dying. There were even billboards around Paris saying EAT BREAD OR THERE WON’T BE ANY, meaning support your local bakery or it will go belly up. So guess what. THEY WERE ABLE TO MASS … Read More
I’ve got a term I internally coined and don’t really share, until now. “Don’t fight the Phase” All things in life are phasic. Everything you go through, is a phase. Best not to fight it. Like a wave, better to try and ride it. Learn its boundaries, don’t make it bigger (or smaller) than it is, and ride it until it’s over. Let it transform you. By all means, find the peace and positiveness … Read More
Hi Guys, Mark here! Indeed Rome was not built in a day, and guess what, they had a lot of free help in the form of slaves. There is no sin, and indeed everything to gain in considering farming out, outsourcing or just plain getting help in building good web properties. Personally, I hate to write. I really do unless it’s this stuff I write now. I have writers I use all over the … Read More
Welcome! Do you know, what that word implies to me? WELCOME! It means, come in, be comfortable, find nourishment and company here. Find warmth, Hospitality and companionship. Be at home here. Why am I saying this? Because what separates the good from the bad on the internet is CARE. “Web Hospitality” I’m not sure if that is an already coined word, but if not it’s copyrighted to me, Mark Singley 2010. I only found … Read More
Beware people’s need to be made to feel important even if they do nothing important. It can damage, embarrass and aggravate you beyond repair. Copyright 2011. Mark Singley. All Rights Reserved.
One thing that I believe is that we are all NOT born salespeople. Some of us are better at it, and some of us, INCLUDING ME, hate it. Loathe it. Makes me feel as cheap as a sleazy used car salesman. My old Internet buddy Brian J. Johnson said to me once “we’re salesman, after all” and I cringed. I just had a bad association with it. But making good money on the internet … Read More
When I first got to New York, I had never really worked anywhere aside from college part time jobs. My wife at the time had gotten a job, and I was going with her to New York. Frightening to say the least, but I was going to do it. I was the country boy that wasn’t going to go to New York, or maybe anywhere for that matter (maybe Baltimore) because I didn’t like … Read More
In the OLDEN days of the web, we had to hard code html for our pages, and if we wanted a website, we had to copy the look and feel of the site over and over so the pages looked consistent. Then we got various programs like Dreamweaver, Adobe Golive, etc that really allowed us to organize and template the sites we were building. But they were clunky, and it was hard to do … Read More