using my head

Well I guess it was only a matter of time: the ‘for Dummies’ series of books have just added Corporate Blogging for Dummies to their arsenal of practical how-to books for business. Douglas Karr from the Marketing Tech blog is one of the authors, and if the blog is anything to go by, I am sure this book will be chock full of really useful and implementable tips. Currently only available in the USA, it releases here in the UK on the 19th – and Amazon are already taking pre-orders, so get in there!

The really great thing is that Douglas and Chantelle (co-author) have set up a microsite to accompany the book. One of the most useful things on the microsite is the list of good corporate blogs, which is a great place to start reading if you are thinking of blogging for business. I always recommend that people start by reading blogs relevant to their industry BEFORE they ever even consider starting a blog, so this list is sure to have something relevant to you, as it’s quite a comprehensive list (I’ve bookmarked it already myself).

There’s also a wealth of good info on the Marketing Tech blog, so have a looksie at their b2b blogging posts… and here’s a couple of my own posts from the archive which might be of interest, too:

• How to start blogging at work – part 1
• How to start blogging at work – part 2
• How to start blogging at work – part 3

Happy blogging!

This year Diamond Light Source (the UK’s rather fancy and very shiny synchrotron scientific facility) is exhibiting at The Royal Society’s Summer Science exhibition, and they decided they’d like a microsite to help educate people about the talks they will be giving at the exhibition, as well as keeping the dialogue going with visitors, reporting on each day’s highlights and showcasing photos taken at the show.

Because they wanted to be able to easily update the site remotely from the exhibition, and to allow scientists (not just web people) to be able to contribute without needing training, we opted for Squarespace as the platform for the site. The ability to upload a zip file of photos straight from the camera, and have the system automatically unzip and resize them all was a real plus.

I designed the site to match their exhibition stand, and also incorporated some Flash and interactive elements that help people understand more about what the heck a synchrotron is. Have a play around in the Machine section of the site yourself: it’s not quite the same as playing with a real particle accelerator, but it’s definitely a lot safer for us non-scientists!

We’ve also incorporated some audio interviews with the scientists who use the synchrotron and who will be at The Royal Society talking to visitors about their projects. There are some really interesting stories – my favourite is Joanna Collingwood’s study of metals in the brain, and their role in disorders such as Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s.

I certainly learned a lot on this project… and as a side effect became slightly addicted to playing with the particle accelerator interactives (my fave is the Vacuum). If you’d like to find out more, The Royal Society exhibition opens this Friday and runs until 4 July. Or visit the microsite now… and try not to get addicted like I did!

Tonight I had the pleasure of speaking at this month’s Women in Publishing event, sharing my experience and advice on blogging. I was also lucky enough to meet and sit alongside a proper blogging celebrity, Nadine Jolie, who had quite a glamorous and exciting story to share about how she got into blogging and how it changed her life.  Have a read of her bio and you’ll get a glimpse into her experience as a blogger – if not into the amazing back-story about how her confidential beauty blog lost her 2 jobs but gained her 2 book deals and a career as a pro blogger. Nadine shared her own experiences and advice on how to find your voice, what to write about, what success looks like and more. And she looked fabulous too – she must be taking her own beauty advice

As for me, I stuck to what I know best, which is giving advice and coaching people on getting started in blogging, particularly from a business perspective. I thought it might be useful to point people at my series of How to start blogging posts, so here goes:

How to start blogging at work – Part 1
This covers what to think about and do before you even set up a blogging account/tool

How to start blogging at work – Part 2
This post includes getting internal approval/buy-in and creating your first posts

How to start blogging at work – Part 3
This post gives some tips and advice on how to keep the momentum going, writing tips, and tools to make the whole process easier

Enjoy!

Tomorrow night I will be speaking about blogging at the June Women In Publishing event. I’ll be sharing some of my previous experiences coaching people on blogging, as well as sharing some tips & things to think about before you start, as well as common pitfalls and hurdles – such as dealing with comment spam, blog guilt, writer’s block and more. If you are interested in meeting women who work in all areas of publishing (writers, printers, editors, publishers, etc), fancy a drink and some casual networking, and/or want to know more about blogging, why not come along? Details are here.

My latest website overhaul project is for Hackney’s youth charity, Off Centre. They are a lovely organisation which helps young people who live, work or study in Hackney deal with issues such as violence, depression, neglect, sexual health, family breakdown and all the other things that can have such a huge and lasting impact on people. I was really excited to be working with them on a new site, as they have a real opportunity to make a positive difference by using the online medium to reach and communicate with young people who need support.

Having just gone through a rebranding, they wanted a new website that reflected the new brand ID as well as the vibrancy and energy of Hackney, one that would appeal to their core audience of inner-city 13-25-year olds. The site had to feel like a place that young people could identify with, a place where they would feel welcome, and most importantly, a place that didn’t feel clinical or too far-removed from the environment where they live. We opted for an urban illustrative design, allowing the colours of the new brand to stand out. Because Hackney is such a culturally-diverse area, the illustrations also ensured that no specific race, age, social or ethnic background was depicted photographically, meaning anyone in their core audience could identify with the site.

Filled with helpful information, activities and explanations, I think the new site will be a rich resource for Hackney’s young people. I think it looks really amazing, if I do say so myself! It’s definitely one of the sites I’m most proud of, for many reasons.

Oh, and in case you’re interested, the site was built on the Squarespace platform once again, because it’s so easy for non-techies to use. We’ll also be plugging in a few 3rd party tools such as Eventbrite and Polldaddy to flesh out the functionality.

As it’s Friday, here’s a little chuckle to welcome in the weekend:

Remember the heady days of the 90s, when everyone suddenly jumped onto this new-fangled internet thing, and created multi-coloured, flashing, clashing web pages that would make your grandmother’s eyeballs fall out? Wish you could relive those days now? Well the good news is that you can! Mike Lacher at Wonder Tonic has created what he calls a ‘Geocities-izer’, which converts your shiny lovely website into something that looks like it was designed by a colourblind chimp on acid.

Here it is in all its multicoloured glory: Geocities-izer a-go-go!

(make sure your sound is turned up to experience the full audio-visual extravaganza!)

My latest client WordPress site may look clean & simple, but there’s a lot under the hood. Visual Seating is a new service which offers theatre-goers the ability to ‘test-drive’ seats before booking tickets. They can click on any seat in the theatre’s seating plan, and see a real photographic view of the stage from that seat.

My job was to build this functionality, so site visitors can see the service in action. You can have a go yourself on the online seating demo. It seems pretty straightforward, but getting WordPress to play nice was a little tricky. We got there in the end…

In addition to the demo, I also customised a WordPress theme to tie in with the client’s brand. I think the result looks great, and allows the images to speak for themselves.

On Tuesday 6 April, I’ll be acting as host at this month’s NetTuesday event: Digital Storytelling. If you’ve ever wondered how you can add audio slideshows to your online communications, come along and learn from the lovely guys over at SoundDelivery, who will be the evening’s speakers. They will be highlighting examples of charities and other third sector organisations who are using audio to reach out to their audiences online.

But we won’t just be talking about audio slideshows, we’ll actually try to produce one on-the-fly – so make sure you bring your throat spray and practice your articulation!

Today is Ada Lovelace Day, and I have joined the pledge to write about a woman in technology whom I admire. Having written about someone whom I have admired from afar last year (Lynda Weinman), this year I decided to write about someone anear (is that a word?) – the woman who started Ada Lovelace Day, an inspirational woman in her own right, Suw Charman-Anderson.

I first met Suw several years ago B.F. (Before Facebook), when the whole concept of corporate blogging and social media in business was still in its early days. I was inspired after seeing her speaking at a conference, and then contracted her to work with me in my role as Head of Digital Media at NESTA, where I was convinced that joining the conversation should be a part of the organisation’s mission statement. She helped me coach the staff there into taking their first leaps into communicating without the mask of pre-approved text and official statements, and helped build my own confidence in believing in what I knew to be right: that people want to be treated as people, not ‘audiences’ or ‘target markets’, and that everyone wants to know that there’s a real-life human being behind every brand, company or organisation.

Even if you haven’t had the pleasure of working with Suw directly, you’ve got to respect her involvement in the Open Rights Group as well as being one of the UK’s longest-standing and prolific social media bloggers. She’s got a lot to say and makes a lot of sense (check it out for yourself here or here). Not to mention her enthusiasm and reach in mobilising thousands of people to write about, spread the word and join in the cause of celebrating the achievements of women in technology, by starting the Ada Lovelace phenomenon. I learned a lot about Ada Lovelace (and other sometimes under-appreciated women) through this, and I feel all the richer for it.

But the real reason I felt driven to write about Suw today is because we have a lot in common:

1. Each of us has a totally unique name, with no one else in the world sharing it.

2. We are both addicted to cats and crochet – and we both know it’s not something that usually mixes well.

3. We both think that the web can be a really powerful tool in connecting people, making businesses work better (and smarter) and empowering those who may not have had a voice before. It’s an awesome thing, and I hope that you’ll join me today in taking a moment to appreciate just how amazing it is to be alive and online today.

Well someone did:

This is my personal favourite intranet secret. You see, those lovely peeps at ThoughtFarmer have created a new blog called Intranet Secrets, where you can anonymously post your deepest, darkest secrets about your company’s intranet. I have posted one of my own… but I’m not telling you which one is mine! If your company has done something silly, useless or downright stupid with your intranet, why not get it off your chest. You will feel better knowing others can finally point and laugh along with you.

Random Disclaimer: I’m not paid by or associated with ThoughtFarmer, but I sure do recommend their product, having used it myself twice, both as a client and as a consultant. It’s pretty freaking awesome, if I do say so myself.