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Dreams, age 30 & no blogging

Alain Saffel — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 17:22:24 +0000

I'm alleged to have bought an ugly coffee table which may or may not resemble this one.

Do you ever have weird dreams? My wife informed me this morning she had a weird dream last night.

I was out at Tech Wing Wednesday at Hudson’s last night (for real) and apparently I had too much to drink (she dreamed). So, instead of calling her for a ride, I located a late-night furniture store (in dreams, stores have convenient hours) that was willing to deliver me, my new $650 butt-ugly coffee table and my scooter back to my house.

We had a good laugh about that this morning. My wife left early to go to work for a 1.5 hour course on how to enter her time sheet.

She didn’t look in the garage before she left.

I’m definitely 30+

While sipping on my coffee I picked up one of the many books lying around my house.

I cracked open Old Shite’s Almanac to a short piece:

Accepted indications you’ve reached the age of thirty

You leave clubs before the end to “beat the rush.”
Before going out anywhere, you ask what the parking is like.
When sitting outside a pub, you become envious of their hanging baskets.
Before throwing the newspaper away, you look through the property section.
You buy your first t-shirt without any writing on it.
You always have enough milk in the house.
Instead of throwing out an old pair of trainers (shoes), you keep them because they might be good for the garden.
You are unable to resist the lure of self-assembly furniture.
You find yourself saying “is it cold in here, or is it just me?”
Instead of tutting at old people who are slow getting off the bus, you tut at schoolchildren’s lousy grammar.
You wish you had a shed.
You have a shed.

I’m not guilty of all of them, but a good number! And, I do have a shed. I’m happy about that, but even better? I have a garage. A double garage!

Why haven’t I been blogging?

As you can see, my blogging has been rather sparse so far this summer, something I can attribute to a large amount of work on my plate. I had thought the summer might be slow for me, but it’s been anything but!

So instead of sipping Coronas on the patio, I’ve been in front of my computer all summer. Don’t take it as a complaint! I have added several new SEO and copywriting clients lately, which have contributed to what I think has been a good summer, but not in the traditional sense.

Will autumn be slower? I hope not, though I do hope I can take a bit of a holiday at some point. At the very least I promise to blog more on exciting topics such as Michael Jackson’s death and the healthcare debate in the US. I do have some blog posts in the works that should be good for a laugh as well.

May Social Web Meetup in Edmonton

Alain Saffel — Wed, 06 May 2009 16:19:41 +0000

I went to the Social Web Meetup at NAIT Monday evening. They are typically on the first Monday of the month, and I think I’ve been to all of them so far.

The usual format is that there is a presenter who talks about the latest social media related project they’re up to, and then we have a group discussion about current social media topics.

iNews 880 – on top of social media

This Social Web Meetup had two presenters. First was Brittney LeBlanc, a reporter with the Edmonton radio station iNews 880 talking about how the station she works for uses social media.

Brittney is definitely an avid Twitterer (Tweeter?), and is, apparently, one of the first Edmonton media people to be on Twitter. Many other Edmonton media personalities have jumped on Twitter recently and are still learning. Brittney (@britl on Twitter) seems to have mastered Twitter.

Dub5 – web-based calendar

Also presenting was Adam Rozenhart of Dub5. Dub5 is a web-based calendar application being developed in Edmonton.

Adam said the genesis of the calendar project came about when a friend realized he’d missed a friend’s wedding. It was the day after the wedding and he woke up thinking about buying a wedding gift, wondering when the wedding was. He realized his error once he found the invitation.

It looks like an interesting application. I haven’t signed up for it yet (going to). It will send out text messages to people associated with an event to remind them it’s happening.

Adam said all the big calendar applications like Google Calendar, Outlook and others are all in their space. He said calendars seem to be an afterthought of those companies and aren’t as well-developed as they could be; something Adam’s company intends to remedy.

Good attendance for Social Web Meetup

The weather is getting better here in Edmonton and I was worried not many would show up for the social media gathering, but we had 28 people show up for the Meetup. I suspect the summer turnout, if the meetings happen in July and August, may be low. That of course depends on how the weather is then. Let’s hope our “spring” is no indication of how our summer will be.

I was surprised just how good the attendance was at Brewster’s Pub afterwards. We’ve made a tradition of heading over to the Oliver Square location after the meeting and this time we had around 25 people show up for that.

It’s always a good discussion after the meeting and good for networking too. I know most of the people at the Social Web Meetup, but we usually have a few new people show up to each meeting.

The discussion after the presentations was quite good, as usual. One of the main topics was whether or not the media is sensationalizing coverage of the swine flu outbreak. There’s too much to cover here, but it was fun.

My Edmonton SEO company

For me it was a good opportunity to hand out a few of my new temporary business cards for my Edmonton SEO company, Page One SEO. I’m making it official with my new website.

I’m quite excited and it’s been a long time coming. I’m doing search engine optimization, copywriting and editing and Internet marketing consulting. Many of you are already aware that I have been doing search engine optimization independently since October 2008.

So, if you’re an Edmonton company looking for search engine optimization, website copy, press releases or pay per click advertising campaign setup & management, I can give you a hand. I’d be happy to meet with you and discuss your Internet marketing needs.

Zi.ma is gone, @martinbowling in jail

Alain Saffel — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 23:07:47 +0000

I have always been a big fan of a little website called zi.ma. I was sad to learn yesterday that the creator of the site, Martin Bowling, was sentenced, just over a week ago, for committing credit card fraud.

I guess Martin fraudulently used credit cards to purchase just under $5,000 worth of goods. It’s really a shame he did that. He was sentenced to three years in West Virginia for the crime. I’ve chatted with Martin on Twitter and I like Martin. That won’t change either. It’s a shame he’s ruined a promising career and everything’s come crumbling down around him.

What I’m pissed about, and apparently there are many others who are upset in this case, is the sentence. Three years for credit card fraud? Doesn’t that seem a little harsh for someone who has no record? There have been many people who’ve been convicted of far worse crimes and only had house arrest. I remember one case where a guy molested his daughter many times and never ended up in jail. The judge should be convicted of stupidity in that case.

I think judges should really weigh whether it’s worth the cost to the taxpayer to keep someone in jail who’s not violent or dangerous, depending on the severity of their original crime of course. I don’t think crime should go unpunished, but why not community service, restitution and fines?

What’s happened to zi.ma?

The great thing about zi.ma was that it was a URL shortening service that tracked visits through the URL you created. Now it’s been redirected to kl.am. Apparently the arrangement is legitimate, but kl.am pales in comparison. The name sucks too. But, I’ll use it because I don’t know of any other service that does the same thing. Know any?

It’s nice that the old zi.ma URLs have been recovered to an extent, along with the statistics. I’m not sure how accurate or complete either are.

Martin Bowling’s future

According to the story, Martin could get out of jail on parole within 12 months. Let’s hope he does and that he gets back on the path to success quickly. I hope for his sake that it does happen. Hang in there Martin! You do have support out there.

Story update:

March 24 – Martin Bowling hoping to serve sentence at home

Life is good in Edmonton

Alain Saffel — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 06:56:35 +0000

It’s been pretty busy around our house lately. We’re getting ready for the holidays, reorganizing and attempting to relax, all at the same time.

We moved in to our new house in August. Life has been upside down for months as we figured out what we wanted to do with the place, sorted out issues with contractors to install some hardwood flooring and finally decided to do it ourselves with help from family.

Throw into the mix my being laid off in September, finally getting my incorrect record of employment this week (still waiting on vacation pay and severance pay) and contract work, and it’s made for a very busy and interesting autumn.

With a couple of solid contracts doing communications work and search engine optimization (SEO) I have been keeping quite busy. I have a nice office to work in at home now, so I can keep organized and be productive. No more working at the coffee table!

I’ve found that keeping a positive attitude through all of this hasn’t always been easy, but it’s certainly made life a lot better when I can. I’d say the majority of the time my attitude is positive. It’s not always easy, and I completely understand how it would be easy to fall into a negative frame of mind.

Alberta: economy still strong here

Despite the economy heading into recession everywhere else, Edmonton and Alberta are still doing well. The dramatically lower oil prices ought to slow the economy a bit, but I think companies will be able to get some projects done a little more easily now. The oil prices will be heading back up; perhaps not as high as before (at least not immediately) but they will go back up, and probably sooner than we’d hope!

We have a lot to be thankful for in Alberta and I’m glad I’m here. It’s been a beneficial move for me and my family. There have been a few hiccups along the way, but it’s all worked out for the best.

I am working with great people and have been working on a lot of really interesting SEO and social media projects of late. I have continued to meet a lot of talented and nice people here in Edmonton and I’m looking forward to meeting more of you! The Tweetups, Meetups and other events I’ve attended have been great. I really enjoy meeting the people I talk to online.

My hope is that I will be able to get out of Edmonton in 2009 to some conferences and meet more of the SEO and social media people I chat with.

I hope that the Christmas season is positive, happy and fun for you and your family and I hope you have a Happy New Year!

Alain Saffel

How can you make money online?

Alain Saffel — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 07:26:24 +0000

Does the idea of making money online sound intriguing? How would you like to stay at home surfing and watching TV while you have websites out there making money?

This sounds ideal, doesn’t it? Sound easy? Well, according to some people, it really is.

If only life were so easy. It would seem that all you have to do is put up a blog, drop in some content on a regular basis, put in some Google Adsense ads and boom! You’re a millionaire.

There’s a number of issues that come up here.

Get rich quick ideas
How much is content worth?
Working at home
Website advertising

I should preface this whole conversation by saying this: I am not opposed to making money online. Is that clear? Hope so. How you make money online is something I am more interested in.

How much is content worth?

I’ll start with this one because it’s near and dear to me. I’m a writer and I value what I write. I hope that my readers do too.

So how much would you expect to pay for a 250-word article? Do you want it professionally written and edited? Do you want it to be well-researched and stand up to scrutiny? How about making sure it’s all original and not plagiarized?

This isn’t something you’re going to pay a penny a word for. Are your site visitors worth more than a penny a word? Copy doesn’t cost $2.50 for a professionally written 250-word article.

If you’re serious about getting some professional writing done, contact me and I’ll tell you how much I charge. Not to worry. You won’t need a second mortgage!

These types of articles are a little different from a blog post that might be strictly opinion and take less effort to write. It surprises me how many companies want to cheap out and pay a penny a word for any kind of writing. The kind of writing you get for a penny a word is not going to be the kind you want to have in front of your customers.

Get rich quick ideas

If only I could just do no work and get rich. Isn’t that a nice dream? There aren’t many who’ve done it.

You’ll run into sites on the net where people think they can do that. They put up sites with content of little or no value, run loads of Google Adsense in the site and hope you’ll click on the ads because they’re more interesting than the content.

Frankly I think this borders on dishonesty. It’s a modern form of bait and switch. My philosophy is to give people solid content. They say content is king and that’s what people are looking for.

So, spend $2.50 on an article, buy a domain name, cheap hosting, put up a blog, sign up for Adsense and you’re in business. Sounds ideal, but the margins are thin and you’re not making much per site.

I’d be interested in trying this just to go through the process. I think it would be a challenge just from the search engine optimization perspective. Put in some decent content and all of a sudden you have a legit website. One person I know said that nobody will click on your ads then. Interesting.

I think this is in the same league as domaining, where you buy a domain name and have one of those fake search pages up. They make money when you click on the ads.

These two techniques are legitimate and legal, but hardly going to make you a millionaire, unless you have a lot of sites out there.

It’s a shame that some great domain names are wasted on these kinds of sites. I view them as the stagnant waters in the ditches that run along the information superhighway.

Working at home

I don’t mind working at home, but I really enjoy having an office to go to. I am one of those sick people. I like the group dynamic and being part of a team. I like going for lunch with coworkers. I like going out for a beer after work. That is the part that sucks about working at home.

Sure, it’s great to work in your pajamas, sipping coffee all day. You can take a shower whenever. Don’t have to shave. You can swear at the TV or chat with the Jehovah’s Witness that just rang the doorbell.

I’ll take the office any day. I like a more professional atmosphere.

Website advertising

I’m not going to knock website advertising, because I think it can be valuable. The problem I have is that so much advertising on websites just doesn’t apply to me. It would be nice if they tried or in any way attempted to target me!

This is possible on Facebook and also in Google pay-per-click ads. Adsense isn’t bad in some ways. It’s topical. More often, Adsense is irrelevant. The ads are often poorly written and targeted so you don’t even bother. We’re conditioned to ignore them.

I experimented a little with Adsense on a blog a while back. The Adsense ads that came up were about blogs! Even when I picked a topic that should have seen the ads change, they didn’t. Admittedly, I wasn’t a pro at the time. Perhaps it’s improved now. I do plan on exploring it again.

Another point of view, especially if you’re selling products or services, is that you shouldn’t have Adsense on your site because it just takes visitors away from you. Good point. They might even go to your competitors. How crazy is that? I know you can filter the ads to an extent to avoid this problem.

Banner ads!

I routinely ignore banner ads as well. If I see another ad for those annoying smileys I might just rip my eyes out. : ) They continue to advertise because people keep clicking on these damn ads! Will you people STOP! Please don’t ever click on them, not even out of curiosity. Don’t encourage them!

I remember once clicking on an ad for K&N air filters. I had no intention of buying it. I already had one for my vehicle. I clicked on it more out of shock that there was an ad for a product I was actually interested in. Do you know how rare that is?

Here’s a tip. If you’re running a website, figure out what your visitors’ demographics are. Not always easy, I know, but try. Then, put up ads that would interest that demographic.

I’ve used this analogy many times before, but think about one of your favourite magazines. Maybe it’s about sewing or maybe about diesel pickups. When you read those magazines, do you look at the ads? I’d be willing to bet that 99 per cent of you do!

But why? Well, if you bought that magazine, you’re interested in the topic. You have likely learned that ads in a magazine like that appeal to your interest and often have good information that is RELEVANT TO YOU.

I came to this realization one day. It seemed so obvious, but it’s not to many people. It’s just a contextual ad. It’s like the guy who advertises in the sports section of the newspaper because he knows his market reads that section. Funny how so many people online don’t get it.

Don’t take the easy way out

I am curious what other people think about these ideas. Do you think you can get rich quick? Or, is it better to take the long-haul approach and build with quality?

Oh, look, I would have made $12.74 (at a penny a word).

Comments:

Greg Balanko-Dickson Says: November 12th, 2008 at 6:07 pm You definitely can make money online, I have built my business almost exclusively since 1998 using my blog and online networking to meet people and develop relationships.My experience in operating and selling my businesses over the years is it is a marathon, not a sprint. With the major recent economic hiccups we need to do more and use longer time lines than before.Relevancy is the foundation of any successful business. Understanding customer needs is what allows us to create relevant content.
Alain Saffel Says: November 21st, 2008 at 12:24 pm It’s good to hear that there are people out there who are making money online successfully.It’s definitely possible. I think people just need to watch out for the get rich quick schemes. Too many people have the ‘quick score’ mentality and aren’t in for the long haul like you’re saying.
Alain Saffel Says: November 25th, 2008 at 8:56 am Be careful about posts that talk about making money online. The spammers will sniff them out!

SEO presentation at the University of Alberta

Alain Saffel — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 05:42:46 +0000

Search engine optimization (SEO) presentation

Today was the big day and I managed to make it through my SEO presentation at the University of Alberta in Edmonton without having a heart attack or putting anyone to sleep.

We got good feedback, which is nice to hear. I was pretty worried about it. I haven’t done any major public speaking, well, ever! I’ve spoken in front of smaller groups before, but not as big as the one today. I think there were around 55 people total.

I realized some flaws in how I presented that I’ll work on for my next one. I think the information I provided was good, but I ran over my time a bit. Agh! I think I had too many notes on my speaking page, which made it a bit choppy as I had to read a bit while presenting. Nothing like shaking that rust off!

I recorded the whole presentation which included Melanie Nathan from Status Firm and James Klassen from Epiar. I thought Melanie and James did a really good job on their part of the presentation and I learned a few new things along the way. I put a few tweets up on Twitter too.

Our presentation was about search engine optimization (SEO) basics, website content optimization and keyword research. We only had 1.5 hours, so it was a quick overview for the University of Alberta librarians and some government employees.

I enjoyed doing my presentation and I’m looking forward to being able to do more of them. I did record it and I will convert it to MP3 and put it up on here. I’m hoping the recording quality will be good, but I know it won’t be perfect.

I’ll also be putting my presentation up here after filling out my slides a little more. : )

Comments:

1. John Sinclair Says: November 10th, 2008 at 9:17 pm

The presentations on SEO were all well-received and the feedback quite positive. Thanks for your contribution, Alain, and congrats from the organizers!

2. Alain Saffel Says: November 18th, 2008 at 11:50 am

I really enjoyed the presentation. I was a little apprehensive, as it was my first presentation in a while. Looking forward to doing more. :)

Writing press releases & more this week

Alain Saffel — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 03:30:04 +0000

I haven’t blogged all week, so you must be wondering what I’ve been up to. It’s been a productive week I must say!

I have worked on my next big article entitled: “how to get the media to pick up your news release.” Still not done yet. I think I’m writing a book on it! I want to polish it up a little more before I send it out. It might end up being a multi-part story.

I don’t like to rattle off poorly thought out blog posts and would rather have a better quality article instead of a shoot-from-the-lip piece.

That being said, I’ve been doing some search engine optimization work on some of my sites, client sites and have had a couple meetings with potential SEO clients. I’ve also met with some potential public relations clients, mainly doing press releases and media outreach.

I love this kind of work. It really gets my creative juices flowing. It’s been four weeks since I was laid off from my last job (now I’ve started my own Edmonton SEO company). I’m not seeing it as a bad thing necessarily. I’ve been writing a lot more and felt more creative in the last few weeks than I have in a long time. It’s been great!

I have rattled off a half-dozen articles this week and plan on publishing those in the near future, so make sure you keep checking back.

While the fruits of my labour might not be out there for all to see (yet), they will be soon.

Will write for food!

On that note, I might as well see if there’s anyone who needs any writing done. I am capable of writing just about anything, but if it’s a sequel to War and Peace, that’s going to cost you!

I was thinking more along the lines of blogging, articles (I’m a former newspaper reporter), press releases, website copy, ad copy, ebooks, etc. I might even do an obituary if you really want. Maybe you’d like yours done in advance? Don’t leave it to the last minute!

I believe in writing well-researched, quality copy. I think that there’s a sad lack of quality writing out there these days and people know it. I believe that readers appreciate well-written articles and web content. If you’re looking for something like that, let me know.

Just go over to my new Contact page to get in touch with me.

Cruising around Edmonton

I was out on my scooter the other day in one of Edmonton’s many beautiful old neighbourhoods. I found the La Boheme building down 111 Ave. This city has many architectural gems. I love these old buildings. It’s nice to see a city that preserves its heritage.

I’ve lived in places where heritage doesn’t mean much and the cheapest construction is preferred. I’m not sure if I can take cinder blocks and metal siding anymore. Not making much of a statement with that kind of construction.

I am happy to be living in Edmonton. We made a good choice coming here. The people are friendly and it really is a beautiful city.

Comments:

1. Adam Snider Says: October 24th, 2008 at 2:26 pm

I’m not sure I’d say that Edmonton preserves it’s heritage. I mean, we’ve been doing better lately, but in the ’70s and ’80s (the last oil boom) a lot of old building were destroyed in the name of progress, and cheap, ugly, concrete rectangles were erected everywhere because they were the easiest and fastest things that could be built.

While there are a lot of gems in Edmonton, the city is unfortunately pretty ugly compared to most major Canadian cities (especially older, eastern cities).

Don’t get me wrong, I love Edmonton and I think there are a lot of beautiful areas in the city. But, taken as a whole, I’d have to say that Edmonton is pretty ugly because, for so long, no one cared about history and no one cared about erecting buildings that actually had some architectural merit.

2. Iris Says: October 24th, 2008 at 2:38 pm

Alain – I am a PR girl, and if you have some sure-fire ways of getting the media to pick up one of my releases, PLEASE fill me in! My clients would appreciate it.

Adam – I have to reluctantly agree. The fact that Edmonton’s history is so short and the fact that for so long, we didn’t care about preserving that history, has turned my beloved city into a bit of a eyesore, save for a few lovely neighborhoods (Old Glenora, Ada Boulevard etc)

3. Mack D. Male Says: October 24th, 2008 at 3:11 pm

I’d say on the whole, you’re right Adam, Edmonton is not as nice to look at as other major cities. But that’s what makes the gems, such as the one Alain found, all that much better

4. Alain Saffel Says:October 24th, 2008 at 3:49 pm

Thanks for your comments!

Adam/Mack: I can’t speak for the past, but I do see a lot of nice old buildings here. At least they’re doing the work to preserve them now. You can never preserve all of them, but there are some that definitely should be.

I will quarrel with you about being an attractive city. There are a lot of attractive areas here. The new shopping areas, I’d agree, aren’t attractive. Some of the old, run down areas, I’d agree, but look at cities everywhere. They all have run down areas. They all have these clone malls.

It’s impossible to compete with the history of cities back east, but I think Edmonton is doing a good job generally. If you want to see an ugly city, try my hometown of Prince George, B.C. It’s better now, but has a long way to go. Kamloops has a nice downtown.

And how could you possibly hope to compete with the natural beauty of Vancouver?

I think Edmonton’s bigger issue is the rate at which we’re consuming productive farmland for what amounts to ugly sprawl. To me, row upon row of condos is not attractive. More non-descript shopping malls are ugly.

Iris: I’ll have my article out next week so you can check it out. I wouldn’t say they’re sure-fire ways, but will improve your odds. Let me know what you think once you’ve read it.

Marketing & communications: to cut or not to cut

Alain Saffel — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 06:35:45 +0000

When a recession looms, every business faces the question of whether to cut back spending with marketing and communications often being the first target.

Should you cut marketing and communications spending with a possible recession on the way?

Tough question and it needs to be answered individually. I did get some food for thought this afternoon from the PR Web (news release company) webinar I heard today.

I have successfully used their service with one recent release gathering nearly 2,800 links.

It can be a very valuable way to build links and it doesn’t cost that much.

News releases: maximizing your marketing budget

One presenter suggested news releases are a great way to get more for less with your marketing dollars. Keeping your marketing and communications budget at the same level could be beneficial because your competitors are likely to cut their spending.

This would help to increase your visibility as your competitors are reducing theirs. The result? Hopefully that will mean increased business for you, even in a weak economy.

The weak economy can also be beneficial because traditional media outlets are often willing to strike deals to keep the ad dollars flowing. Keep that in mind when you’re talking to your ad reps.

Earned media: free advertising

I have used news releases and public relations to get what is known as “earned media.” It’s essentially getting a media organization to pick up your news release and run it as is, or write their own story with your release as the basis for the story.

If your release does get picked up, most reporters will not go with it as is, but you will likely be one of their sources.

Devoting more of your marketing budget towards communications tools such as news releases could help to substantially raise your company’s public profile. The second benefit is that it can really boost your search engine optimization (SEO) efforts by increasing the number of links pointing back to your site.

Cut the marketing budget?

Before you take any drastic action, make sure to assess how you and your competition are engaging your customers. A marketing plan is a good start. Make sure that if you do cut your budget it won’t have the unintended effect of driving business to your competitor. If you can afford it, keeping your marketing budget the same might effectively be increasing it, compared to your competition.

In my next article I’ll talk about ways to get maximum value from your news release: “How to get the media to pick up your news release.”

The Opening Salvo

Alain Saffel — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 03:16:03 +0000

It’s about time I finally got back to my personal blogging. If you’ve done a search of my name you’ll have discovered my old blogs that I had on Blogger. I finally decided to start it up on my own domain. I thought it would be a good thing to blog on my own domain using WordPress. I like WordPress because of the power and flexibility.

No doubt this has partially been precipitated by my recent change in employment status. I’ve had more time to contemplate what I really want to do. Blogging is certainly going to be part of that.

Professional SEO & Internet marketing in Edmonton

On a professional basis, I plan to continue in Internet marketing in Edmonton. I will be doing search engine optimization (SEO), pay-per-click marketing, web content creation, web analytics, public relations (press releases, articles), media outreach and more. What form that will take has yet to be determined.

I won’t be leaving this field of work. I really enjoy it and want to continue. One thing’s for sure, the power of social media has really helped me in the transition after being laid off. I was a little overwhelmed at the response I’ve received, both in support and interest in possibly working with me.

We definitely made the right choice in coming to Edmonton. It might be a city of over one million people, but it’s certainly been friendly.

Blog direction: Internet marketing, SEO, life in Edmonton

The direction of this blog will be a bit of a hybrid. It will be my personal blog where I comment on just about anything I feel like, but it will also have a professional element where I talk about Internet marketing, search engine optimization and assorted other similar topics. I definitely need an outlet for all the ideas running through my head.

Alain Saffel

Comments:

1. Tony Ratcliffe Says: October 14th, 2008 at 12:13 am

Congratulations on your new blog, Alain! I look forward to reading it.

2. Marianne Lennard Says: October 14th, 2008 at 4:11 am

I find it very interesting to see what others post in their blogs … nice to keep up with what’s going on in others’ lives. The opportunites for your future sound abundant … I look forward to reading more, as the weeks unfold. Take care~

3. Melanie Nathan Says: October 14th, 2008 at 7:33 pm

It’s great to see your blog up and running. Man you work fast! You’re making me look bad lmao ;)

4. Alain Saffel Says: October 14th, 2008 at 9:19 pm

Well, I have to give credit to some of my Twitter friends for helping me to sort out a few technical issues! Without their help, you wouldn’t have anything to comment on. :)

5. Leslie Robertson Says: October 15th, 2008 at 2:49 am

Alain, glad to see your blog and I look forward to seeing what you have to say.

6. Shawna Says: October 21st, 2008 at 11:22 am

Hi Alain, Shawna here from Sandler Sales. Remember the Signature Capital consultant. Hey, I heard you are on your own (business that is) and am wondering if you are looking for ways to expand your business. reach me at 860-7973. cheers.

alainsaffel.comSEO | alainsaffel.com

Dreams, age 30 & no blogging

I’m definitely 30+

Why haven’t I been blogging?

May Social Web Meetup in Edmonton

iNews 880 – on top of social media

Dub5 – web-based calendar

Good attendance for Social Web Meetup

My Edmonton SEO company

Zi.ma is gone, @martinbowling in jail

What’s happened to zi.ma?

Martin Bowling’s future

Related links & stories about Martin Bowling:

Story update:

Life is good in Edmonton

Alberta: economy still strong here

How can you make money online?

How much is content worth?

Get rich quick ideas

Working at home

Website advertising

Banner ads!

Don’t take the easy way out

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SEO presentation at the University of Alberta

Search engine optimization (SEO) presentation

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Writing press releases & more this week

Will write for food!

Cruising around Edmonton

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Marketing & communications: to cut or not to cut

News releases: maximizing your marketing budget

Earned media: free advertising

Cut the marketing budget?

The Opening Salvo

Professional SEO & Internet marketing in Edmonton

Blog direction: Internet marketing, SEO, life in Edmonton

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