Weekend Exploration

Ramp up your weekend with these six things to watch, read, ponder or do. Tour a VolcanoWatch:  National Geographic Balldur – bring relax and Luxory into your home.Look: Kickstarter 30 timeless lessons on creating killer content from one of the greatest business minds and copywriters: David OgilvyRead: WPCurve Life as a fire lookoutRead Excerpt: High Country NewsBuy the Book: ~$13: Amazon How to Create a macOS Sierra USB InstallerDo: Tekrevue You Suck at Excel with Joel SpolskyLearn: YouTube

Year in Places – 2015 Edition

There are only a couple of days left in 2015, but I think it is safe enough to say my Year in Places is complete with no more pending travel. While I didn’t hit as many overnight stops as I did last year, It was a fantastic year travel-wise. Road trips with the family, a trip to Disney World, a Wold Championship by my beloved KC Royals and more. Without further ado (multiple trips indicated by *): Omaha* (home base) Carroll, IA* Kansas City, MO* South … Read Full Post

20 Years

Today is an anniversary of sorts. 20 years ago today, I agreed to terms on my first freelance web development project. Two days later I was laid off from a seasonal sales job, so you could say the timing was fortunate. It is crazy to think that 20 years ago I embarked on a career path  that didn’t really yet exist. Domain names were expensive, and in fact it would be almost another two years before I purchased this domain, sh2.com, and even then I … Read Full Post

Year In Places 2014 Edition

road trips

For the last few years, I’ve kept tabs on my out of town trips. To make the list, at least one night must be spent in a city for it to count. The crown jewel of 2014 was a 12 day road trip from Omaha to Sacramento for my sister’s wedding. OmahaKansas City, MO*Denver, COVacaville, CALaramie, WYSalt Lake City, UTReno, NVSacramento, CAGreen River, WYCarroll, IA* “We must go beyond textbooks, go out into the bypaths and untrodden depths of the wilderness and travel and explore … Read Full Post

The Year in Places 2013 Edition

Road Trips

For the last few years I’ve been keeping track of my days away from home. The qualification is an overnight stay. “Travel brings power and love back into your life.”― Rumi 2013 was an odd year travel wise. We had several weekend trips lined up, but for one reason or another, a few of them were cancelled. It was also the first year in recent memory that I did’t have a single business-related overnight trip. I need to find some out-of-town clients this year, book … Read Full Post

Nebraska: The Good Life

Fly-overs of Nebraska via helicopter. Awesome. Get of the interstate, just ever a little bit, and this is what you’ll find.

SEO Isn’t Your Problem – Conversions Are.

“I need some SEO.” A statement that I hear frequently from clients and prospects. Search engine optimization – the goal of which is to rank #1 for your keywords of choice, a result which will bring riches beyond your imagination. SEO is both a worthy need and a much-maligned industry, but I don’t want to touch on that today. The first step when I deal with a client looking to bring optimization to their web site is understanding their goals. Small business owners ofter move … Read Full Post

Your Password Sucks

In the news this morning was word that Evernote’s user database was infiltrated by hackers. Usernames, encrypted passwords and other personal information was compromised – although payment information appears to be unharmed. Last summer (June, 2012) a similar breach happened with networking site, LinkedIn, where 6.5 million encrypted passwords were stolen. Combine both of these data breaches with ongoing evidence that most web users do not take password security seriously enough and this will only lead to further problems. The realities of the LinkedIn data … Read Full Post

Links from the last week

If you follow me on Twitter (@shartley, @shawnhartley), you’ve seen these recently. If not, enjoy some light weekend reading. Randy Riggs Structured Meeting Planner: http://davidseah.com/blog/2012/09/randy-riggs-structured-meeting-planner-dr02/ Top Six Content Marketing Mistakes: http://www.jeffbullas.com/2012/08/10/the-6-top-content-marketing-mistakes/ 37signals Earns Millions Each Year. Its CEO’s Model? His Cleaning Lady http://www.fastcompany.com/3000852/37signals-earns-millions-each-year-its-ceo%E2%80%99s-model-his-cleaning-lady Infographic: Check out these smartphone statistics http://www.healthcarecommunication.com/Main/Articles/807197aa-e8ad-43c8-878b-c47f7f051bb4.aspx 5 tips to make social media measurement easier http://www.healthcarecommunication.com/Main/Articles/19932490-d7db-4362-8499-4424675b8a3d.aspx (link broken 7/17/21) Physicians’ Stories told by Physicians http://thehealthcaremarketer.wordpress.com/2012/09/10/physician-stories-told-by-physicians/

Some Light Weekend Reading

If you follow me on Twitter, you’ve seen these recently. If not, enjoy some light weekend reading, and then question yourself as to why you aren’t following me. For the conversationalist version of me, @shartley; for the content curation version of me, @shawnhartley. Supercharge Your Energy for Ad Agency New Business: http://fuelingnewbusiness.com/2012/08/01/tips-to-boost-energy-for-agency-new-business/ New Research on Why CEOs Should Use Social Media http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2012/07/new_research_on_why_ceos_shoul.html Secrets of Super Negotiators – Monetize Everything http://www.forbes.com/sites/shenegotiates/2012/07/25/secrets-of-super-negotiators-monetize-everything/ Why You Shouldn’t Buy New Followers For Your Business http://www.openforum.com/articles/why-you-shouldnt-buy-new-followers-for-your-business Study: Ad Agencies Not Doing … Read Full Post