A few months ago, I wrote about finding a “Victory Tower” moment in your life to help you boost your confidence. That was directed at helping you avoid damaging self talk which limits your potential. Today, I’d like to look at this from another side and talk about making excuses. A closely related topic, but slightly different.

My inspiration for this is the video below. Yes, I know it’s an informercial-type thing promoting a product. Check it out anyway and look at Art’s attitude as he goes though an amazing transformation:

You know, he could have just rolled over and died …

… or, he could have given up and stayed miserable for the rest of his life …

… or, he could have wallowed around and made excuses as to why he couldn’t change and improve himself.

And he likely did make excuses for some time before he decided to get up off his butt and start making some positive changes in his life. Look at him after 5 years of dedication and attitude adjustment.

It’s not all about the yoga. That was merely the vehicle for him getting back into shape. The important thing here is the actual moment of choice when Art decided enough was enough and he was going to do something about his circumstances.

So What’s Your Excuse?
A little over two years ago, I spoke with two people who had graciously offered to chat with me about my career path and making some changes. The advice they gave me was excellent, and I incorporated much of it into my life much to my benefit.

Each asked some tough questions. One question in particular, the same question from both, caused me to stop and reflect my circumstances. Instead of hitting it straight on, I hedged, and deflected with a ready-made excuse. It was a question I”d already asked myself, so I was prepared in a way. Perhaps I was trying more to convince myself I couldn’t do what they suggested. Looking back, I realize it was lame and ridiculous. Mulling it over reminded me that I really can do pretty much anything I put my mind to.

In the past several years I have come to know of some amazing people who were born with built-in reasons why they could just lie back and coast through life. Yet these folks are some of the most determined, and most successful, people in their fields. If those folks don’t lie around in self-pity and make excuses for not doing things, why do the rest us? Look at Art. He was told by a bevvy of experts that his life was pretty much over, yet he made some changes and went beyond what they – or he – thought he could do.

In the end it’s really up to you.
Others can help, but you have to make the first move by deciding you want to make positive changes. You have to decide to quit making excuses and start moving forward. Once you do, things may seem to move slowly. Once inertia takes over, though, you’ll be amazed at the great things you’ll accomplish and the positive things that’ll start happening to you.

So, what’s it going to be?

Did you miss out on your reading this week? No problem, I’ve put together some interesting articles from the week of May 7-11, 2012 covering topics such as Leadership, SEO, location-based online marketing and the history of online search …

Monday

• Is SEO still “SEO” or should be call it by another name? That’s a question which has been bandied about over the past several months. On SEO Watch, Ray Comstock offers his opinion on the thought: SEO Should Be Called Integrated Digital Marketing. To me, the biggest problem doesn’t lie in what we call ourselves, but rather in how we explain what we do to those outside the industry. Another vexing issue is how we differentiate those who posses skill and who do quality work from those who just hack at stuff and sometimes cause more harm than good.
• I’ve said many times that Veterans make great team members. Apparently Amazon agrees as they are on a streak of hiring Vets as pointed out in this CNN Monday piece by Adam Lashinsky, Sr.: How Amazon learned to love veterans

Tuesday

• On the Official Google Webmaster Blog, Kamila Primke has some more updates on the Webmaster Tools “Spring Cleaning” – Navigation, Dashboard and Home Page
• Everything old is new again. Check out this 1992 “Calvin and Hobbes” comic about targeted advertising in magazines. Seems like we’ve come full circle online.
• Eric D. Brown shares some leadership wisdom today: The Marginalization of Employees. I was thinking along similar lines last year when I wrote about “The Age Old Question.”
• Outspoken Media takes getting involved in the community very seriously, and for good reason. Check out Corporate Social Responsibility and Success by Michelle Lowery.

Wednesday

• From “The Lighter Side of” Department comes an interesting item from Barry Schwartz on Search Engine Roundtable: Yahoo’s Logo Copied From 1968 Edition Of MAD Magazine. The similarities are striking.
• Hire an SEO Agency or an in-house SEO? I did in-house SEO for a long time and I’m just starting out doing agency work, so I found Andre Alpar’s piece on Search Engine Watch very interesting: In-house SEO, SEO Agency, or Both? 17 Points to Consider

Michelle Lowery is another person I met at PubCon. (If you’re getting the idea that you can meet some great people at PubCon, that’s because you can!) I just finished up a session in which I mentioned I graduated from the Defense Language Institute when I was in the Army. Michelle came up to me and introduced herself, telling me she went graduated from DLI during her time in the Air Force. Michelle is one among the very sharp people on the Outspoken Media team and is a killer player of word games. Let’s read what she has for us …

What are you working on right now?

Outspoken Media is going through a bit of an evolution right now, as last week’s series of blog posts about our organizational development process discussed. We’re positioning ourselves for growth, and continued success. My part in that will entail (among other things) focusing more on content strategy, both for clients and internally, and I’m very excited about it!

What is the one thing you wish you could tell the world about marketing on the web?

Online marketing businesses exist to make money, and people hold down online marketing jobs for the same purpose. But if you make helping people part of your strategy – whether it’s your coworkers, your clients, or your industry colleagues – you open yourself up for much more success than if you only focus your energy on yourself.

What’s on your “trends” radar for the next 12-24 months we should be paying attention to?

Whether it’s Panda or Penguin, or whatever black-and-white animal Google decides to name their next update after (my money’s on Honey Badger), the best way to ride it out is by producing quality content, linking to quality content, and following SEO best practices. You may not have as much control over your inbound links, but if you work on keeping what you can control in good neighborhoods, and avoid the bad ones, you won’t have to worry so much about your sites getting hit.

Thanks, Michelle, for sharing with us. I think she hit the nail on the head regarding “algorithm-proofing” your site. If you concentrate on the basics and don’t take cheap shortcuts you’re more than half-way there.

You can learn more about Michelle and what she’s up to …

• Outspoken Media
• Twitter: @MichelleDLowery
• LinkedIn
• Facebook
• Google+
• Pinterest

Here are some articles which I found particularly interesting during the week of April 30 – May 5, 2012 covering such topics as leadership, social media, Google and search …

Monday

• Dan Zarrella posted some information about a new tool he’s released called TweetCharts: Introducing TweetCharts: Get The Twitter Data You Need. This allows one to search Twitter for data relating to search words you enter. Here’s an example of a search I did for the recent BlogathonATX event I attended.
• Over on Search Engine Roundtable, Barry Schwartz tells us about Google Webmaster Tools now showing historical data for 90 days instead of 30. This is a good thing for those of us who use that very valuable tool: Google Webmaster Tools Query Reports Now Up To 90 Days

Tuesday

• Seth Godin discusses Volatility and value on his blog. Short version: shoot for value.
• On the Chief Marketing Technologist blog, Scott Brinker discusses a recent article by Andrew Chen which is about … you guessed it … the need to marketers to have more and more technical chops: Silicon Valley Marketing Technologists: Growth Hackers. Some of you may wonder why I keep bringing this up. I do because being technically savvy will make the difference between a good marketer and a great marketer.

Wednesday

• On Sidera Works, Amber Naslund rightly points out that sometimes things need to be done even if they don’t increase revenue in the short term. I agree, sometimes you need to invest in relationships, training and education for the long term. Check out Important Questions About Measuring Social Business Success…In Addition To ROI
• On Marketing Pilgrim, Frank Reed tells about Google’s new style guides for HTML and CSS. Take them with a grain of salt if you like; but, since Google is the search leader, Frank rightly points out the search giant “… at least indirectly, dictates how websites should be built.” Google Publishes Newest Style Guide for HTML and CSS

Thursday

• I’m naturally an introvert. This may come as a surprise to some who know me, but it’s true. On the Outspoken Media Blog, Michelle Lowery has some great advice for introverts: Corporate Culture for Introverts. I especially appreciate her advice about getting out of your comfort zone. I can certainly say moving out of my comfort zone has benefited me greatly many times over.
• On Marketing Pilgrim, Frank Reed shares another reputation management issue. This time it’s with Spirit Airlines and their iron-clad no refunds policy: Is Spirit Airlines No Refund Policy Worth the Reputation Damage? I understand the need for companies to have policies and standards, but in some instances flexibility is in order. Check out the story and see what you think.

Friday

• On All Things D, Ian Lurie responds to a Forbes article by Eric Jackson which surmised that Google and Facebook could be gone in 5 years. Although Eric has some good thoughts, I think he misses some excellent points, which Ian brings up in his response: Why Google Is Not Going Away. It would appear many Forbes reader disagree with Eric’s ideas as shown in the poll at the then of the article.

Saturday Bonus

• I think most people understand that companies, especially publicly-traded ones, have a responsibility to be profitable. However, when profit becomes the sole focus of the company’s existence, it starts to lose more than it gains – not necessarily in dollars and cents, but in talented people and prestige. Seth Godin shares his idea that the antidote to this is to care more. I think he has an excellent point: A simple antidote to a corporatized, unfeeling, profit-maximizing world
• On Marketing Pilgrim, Joe Hall writes along similar lines when he calls out unfeeling marketers and sales people: Cup of Joe: You Might Be A Scumbag. The best sales people are the ones who care about their customers and help them solve problems.

Bernadette Hill is a Lancaster, Pennsylvania-based recruiter I met late last year while I was poking around for new job opportunities. She heads up Talent Tap. Her office is located in The Candy Factory coworking site, which is an actual former candy factory renovated into office space. I invited her to jump in on Three Question Thursday because she works in the recruiting business; a field which is very active in social spaces. Let’s read what she has for us …

What are you working on right now?

Building out a professional contracting division for my company, TalentTap, to source experienced freelancers for client projects. We’re interested to hear from experienced programmers, web designers, SEO experts, copywriters and graphic designers!

What is the one thing you wish you could tell the world about marketing on the web?

It’s all about engaging your ideal audience with relevant content to drive the behavior you’re seeking – period.

What’s on your “trends” radar for the next 12-24 months we should be paying attention to?

Facebook becoming a professional hub for economic activity and more meaningful networking.

Thanks, Bernadette, for sharing with us. I have been getting a lot of invitations to connect with people on the BranchOut app on Facebook. Maybe I should check it out.

You can learn more about Bernadette and what she’s up to …

• Talent Tap
• Twitter: @talentapstaff

Today I’m at BlogathonATX – a fantastic one-day blogging conference held in Austin a couple times a year. I apologize for the Saturday Summary running a little late, but since I’m at a blogging event I thought it would be appropriate to actually write while I’m here.

Here are some articles which caught my eye during the week of April 23-28, 2012 covering such topics as analytics, SEO, leadership and marketing technology …

Monday

• Avinash Kaushik has some great advice on looking at your web analytics data on Occam’s Razor: You Are What You Measure, So Choose Your KPIs (Incentives) Wisely!
• On the SEOmoz Daily SEO Blog, Kate Morris shares some advice on innovation for your web efforts: Modern Business and Content Guidance from Bell Labs

Tuesday

• Jonathan Simon shares some updates to Google Webmaster Tools in the Official Google Webmaster Blog: Webmaster Tools Spring Cleaning
• Eric D. Brown shares some great ideas on focus, and focusing on the right things: The power of focus (after you find something to focus on)

Wednesday

• On the Official Google Webmaster Central Blog, Gary Illyes shares 1000 Words About Images.
• On the Chief Marketing Technologist blog, Scott Brink poses the question: Are agencies hopelessly screwed or on the verge of a spectacular Renaissance? As with any big change, there are lots of opportunities opening up.

Thursday

• Do you have a people strategy? Seth Godin asks this very important question because people look at social media as some amorphous thing that needs a strategy. Communication with people is really the same no matter the tool used to facilitate it.
• On Marketing Pilgrim, Frank Reed tells about a new feature in AdWords which allows customers to sign up for email updates using the signup boxes inside the ad. This is a very interesting new development: Google Testing Email Marketing Technique Inside Adwords

Friday

• Continuing on his theme from Wedneday, Scott Brinker suggests companies start working to develop their tech talent to help avoid a coming tech talent shortage: The tech talent time bomb in marketing

Saturday Special

• In this morning’s Cup Of Joe on Marketing Pilgrim, Joe Hall opines that it’s worthless for non coders to bother learning code. I usually agree with what Joe writes, but on this point I don’t. I have been advocating for some time that those who work in marketing, and especially online marketing, should hone some technical chops in order to do their jobs better. Learning some coding can help with that kind of effort.Now, I do agree with Joe that one whose job is not primarily coding need not learn a lot. I also agree that bad coders can make communicating with them difficult.I think, though, with marketing becoming more and more a technical field, marketers need to be more technical. Check out what Joe thinks: Cup of Joe: Don’t Waste Your Time Learning To “Code”

When I was getting together a local group of social media- and web marketing-savvy people, one of the first I thought of was Bonnie Johnson who coordinates online efforts for Perry Office Plus. PerryOP is a Central Texas-based office supply chain. Not only are they a great local business, they compete quite nicely against the “big guys.”  Bonnie has a good idea of what it takes for SMBs to be successful online and she’s not afraid to “call ‘em like she sees ‘em.” Let’s read what she has for us …

What are you working on right now?

Our company just recently dove into the promotional products market and it has kept me pretty busy. I’ve found that it’s more than just pens, shirts and mugs (although, those are big sellers — and they work!). It’s about helping clients take an idea for a promotion or event and turn it into an effective sales tool for their business or organization.

The “idea” part is what really fires me up. Look around your desk – you probably have at least one or two promotional products with someone’s logo on them. In such a digital world, I think it’s pretty impressive that these tangible marketing methods still work. And when you can add a QR code to your promo item, you bring the two worlds together!

What is the one thing you wish you could tell the world about marketing on the web?

I sympathize with small business owners – these hard-working, passionate people are often doing the work of a dozen people. And yet, I have a bone to pick with some of them.

You know who you are – you’re the small business owner who has been told by everyone (who’s anyone) that you need to “be on Twitter”. But your time and resources are limited – I get it. You’re stretched thin and an online service promises to automatically post your generic sales pitches and fast facts on Twitter on a regular basis FOR you! It’s like you’re there without being there. How could this be bad, right?

Please stop. I don’t know everything about social media, but I have to believe you are doing more harm to your brand than good. You are creating the social media equivalent of junk mail. I won’t follow, retweet or reply to you, because as far as I’m concerned, you are a robot. And once you burn me with a few incessantly repeated automated sales pitches that take up my valuable Twitter feed space, you will have a hard time getting my attention again.

If you can’t afford 15 minutes, once or twice a day to be a real person online, wait until you have the resources to do so. I know this is harsh and I know you’re just trying to stay on top of the trends. Just stop being a robot. Robots are great for blockbuster movies. Not for social media.

Ok, stepping off the soap box now … whew.

What’s on your “trends” radar for the next 12-24 months we should be paying attention to?

I know it never really went away, but I think email marketing will make a bit of a comeback, but with a focus on being mobile-friendly and creating an immediate response (sign-ups, referrals, downloads, etc). Desktop computers and even laptops are becoming the last place we read email.

Thanks, Bonnie, for sharing with us. I have to agree on her take to full automation of social efforts. It’s very tempting, but really counterproductive.

You can learn more about Bonnie and what she’s up to …

• Perry Office Plus
• Twitter: @PerryOP
• Facebook
• Google+
• Pinterest
• LinkedIn

I’ve had several discussions of late about attitude and morale and how they relate to leadership. I thought I’d share some of my thoughts with you in case you’ve ever wondered about it yourself.

Attitude
Attitude is a personal frame of mind. Although many people don’t consider it this way, a person’s outlook and attitudes are a matter of choosing how to look at life and how to react to events.

I’m referring here to long-term things. Certainly, everyone gets hit with something which will cause their mood to sour. For many, just getting up on Monday morning after a great weekend will dampen their spirits. The type of “bad attitude” I’m referring to is a long term – the person with the “Eeyore” attitude where everything is gloomy all the time.

Long term, bad attitudes are a hard habit to break; but, a habit is what they are.

Morale
While individuals on a team may have occasional bad attitudes, morale is more of the overall climate of a team or organization. When everyone is getting along and the overall atmosphere is positive, your group can be said to have good morale. But, when the overall atmosphere is bad, people are edgy, and the mood is generally negative, your group can be said to have bad morale.

Both attitude and morale are leadership issues. While a leader should deal with the person who has a bad attitude individually, dealing with bad morale requires a different approach. Because morale is a systemic problem, it needs a systemic approach. Take a look at your organization or team …

• Has there been a lot of change? Is there a lot of FUD going around? Perhaps some clear and forthright communication will help improve the climate.
• How do your recognize achievement? Perhaps a reward system for good effort ala an Employee of the Month program can offer a fun way to improve morale.
• does your team lack direction? Perhaps offering a clear vision and some goals to the team will help give some “reason to be there.”

This is certainly not an exhaustive list, busomething’s few things to get you thinking in the right direction. The main thing leaders need to remember when dealing with a bad morale situation is that he or she needs to own it. Without ownership, solutions will be hard to come by.

What say you? What do you think about attitude versus morale? What are some of the causes – and their solutions – of low morale. Please feel free to share in the comments.

Some articles which I found particularly interesting during the week of April 16-20, 2012 covering such topics as SEO, online reputation management, social media, corporate culture, web site strategy and customer service …

Monday

• Tom Anthony hits us with an interesting article about link building on SEOmoz’s Daily SEO Blog. He outlines how he believes Google is starting to look at the “who from” rather than the “where from” when it comes to ranking links to pages in their algorithm: How Authorship (and Google+) Will Change Linkbuilding
• A couple of years ago I was involved in a sponsored Twitter chat organized by a marketing firm to promote a web site. I thought it was quite successful for many reasons. The following week, the firm sent their participation report filled with what I considered greatly inflated numbers. I countered with my own report which showed more realistic numbers which still showed the chat was quite successful. Today on the Unmarketing Blog, Scott Stratten calls “BS” because many PR and marketing companies are still offering inflated stats for social outreach: When We Exaggerate Our Size, Everyone Loses.
• Speaking of measuring, Frank Reed has an interesting piece on Marketing Pilgrim outlining how Aol is using the Neilsen system to determine ratings for online video. I have to wonder along with Frank if this isn’t a step backwards: Aol Adopts Nielsen Rating System for Online Ad Measurment

Tuesday

• I said it before and I’ll say it again: You are a brand ambassador. You are even more so online. Frank Reed has an interesting case of tweets gone wrong on Marketing Pilgrim which exemplifies this quite well: Social Media Dust Up Highlights Interconnectedness of the Online Life
• Hiring people who fit your culture is a great idea for businesses. Elad Gil shares some great ideas on the whys and hows to doing just that: Never, Ever Compromise: Hiring For Culture Fit

Wednesday

• Scott Brinker shares 5 Colorful Sketches On Conversion Optimization on Search Engine Land

Thursday

• Is your web site “over-optimized?” Check out this quick (and humorous) Foxworthy-esque list of questions to find out: Your Website Might Be Over Optimized If … by P.J. Fusco on Search Engine Watch
• The web site should be the foundation for any business’ web site. It’s important to remember fundamentals – like contact information. Miranda Miller shares data from a study indicating less than 20% of SMB web sites have some kind of contact information on their sites. Check out Majority of SMB Websites Fail to Provide Social Links, Contact Info [Study] on Search Engine Watch

The "Arbeit Macht Frei" Gate at the Dachau Concentration Camp

Today is Holocaust Remembrance Day. It’s a good time to step back and take a look at ourselves and realize that at times we humans are not “all that.”

I was very fortunate to have lived in Germany for six years. It’s a beautiful country filled with wonderful  people.

There is also a darker side, though. That would be the remnants of the horrors that the Nazis inflicted on those who didn’t agree with them and follow the party line as well as those whose ethnicity didn’t line up with their idea of “purity.” Whenever someone would visit me, I would make sure to take them to see the concentration camp in the city of Dachau. I felt it was important to see the memorial to those who perished there as well as to remind ourselves that we can be very horrible at times.

Walking around in the woods around Darmstadt, south of Frankfurt, one would often run into abandoned railroad platforms. These were abandoned remains of efforts to ship human cargo across vast distances.

It wasn’t just the Nazis who mistreated others during that era. To be sure, Stalin carried on a holocaust of his own, killing untold millions during his reign over the Soviet Union. My friend, Alan K’necht, recently shared his father’s story of being forcibly moved from Poland to the Soviet Union during World War II.

In more recent times we’ve seen first-hand the atrocities inflicted one against another in The Balkans and in some African nations.

History is filled with stories of one group trying to eliminate another. Let’s take this day to note that we can be cruel and inhuman if we allow ourselves to be so. Let’s learn from our dark history so we can avoid it in future.

No matter what our politics, I think we can all agree that as a whole we could certainly learn to be more tolerant of each other. Live and let live should be our motto.

That’s what this day means to me.