Danny Brown

podcaster - author - creator

Latest posts from Danny Brown

Enjoy the latest posts from Danny Brown, and feel free to add your own thoughts in the comments after the post.

Chatting with Jason Crouch

If you’re interested, I’m chatting with Jason Crouch today on his Social Media Edge show over at BlogTalkRadio. It’s co-hosted by Jeremy Blanton, Ken Cook, Mike Mueller and T.S. Elliott.

Some of the things we’ll be talking about are social media, marketing, making meaningful connections locally and hyper-locally, 12for12k and probably a few other things. The show’s on between 12.00 noon and 1.00pm EST, and I think I’m on around 12.20pm onwards. If you have some free time, you can join in the fun here from noon.

Cheers, and maybe see you over there?

A Couple of New Additions

Nagra SNST RecorderJust wanted to give you a quick heads-up on two new additions to the blog, both of which you’ll see in the right-hand sidebar.

The first is the option to subscribe to this blog via a podcast format. However, this isn’t me doing the podcasting – it’s handled by Odiogo, an app that automatically converts blog posts into audio files. The audio quality is actually pretty good, considering it’s (at heart) a robot.

The subscribe options are iTunes, Juice and Zune, or you can copy the feed into your own audio reader. I just wanted to make sure that the blog is as accessible as possible to everyone, and Odiogo will hopefully offer a useful alternative to any visually impaired readers.

The second addition is my BlogTalkRadio channel. I set this up a while ago but haven’t had time to sit down and do anything with it. Until now, that is.

The first episode launches at the end of this month, on Monday August 31 at 2.00pm EST with Chris Brogan. Chris will be chatting about his upcoming book Trust Agents (co-authored with Julien Smith), as well as what it takes to be a trust agent and an informal chat about new media, business, marketing and much more.

If you click on the banner it takes you to my Blog Talk channel, where you can subscribe or set a reminder for the chat. Future shows will include Gary Vaynerchuk and David Henderson among others.

And that’s that. Feel free to check either (or both) out and hope you enjoy the changes. Cheers!

Creative Commons License photo credit: mab @ flickr

Making the Switch to Headway

300x250Regular readers here may have noticed my blog has a fresh new lick of paint in the shape of the Headway premium WordPress theme. This replaces the Thesis theme that I was using previously.

While I’m a big fan of Chris Pearson’s Thesis, I found it wasn’t quite so user-friendly for making major design changes (unless you were a decent level of coder). Because of this, many of the blogs using Thesis have a very similar look. Enter Headway.

Developed by Clay Griffiths, Headway takes some of the best ideas from Thesis, adds a whole bunch more, and mixes it all together in a powerhouse WordPress theme. Ideal for everyday WordPress users as well as intermediate and advanced coders, it’s one of the most flexible themes I’ve ever used.

I’ve only just started customizing my blog and already I love the way each page has a different feel. When I really get to work expect some real changes! (Note: the redesign took me around 6 hours from basic framework to fully customized, with no CSS or HTML coding – this is all from out of the box).

Some of the features include:

  • Drag and drop design.
  • No two pages the same.
  • SEO customization on no-index, no-follow, do-follow, meta, tags, posts and pages (everything, then!).
  • Unique “Leafs” system that lets you add text, media and widget boxes on the fly.
  • Easy visual color and font editor for making your own completely personalized skins.
  • In-house Twitter synchronization and social network options.

I could keep writing about how cool Headway is, but you’d get really bored of my praise, I’m sure. Instead, check out the Headway site, watch the videos, and check the theme out for yourself. Or, mosey round my blog and see the different designs for different pages.

Just a note. Since I’m a Headway affiliate, any sales of the theme result in a percentage for me. So, here’s a deal – for any theme ever purchased through one of my links or banners, I will donate 50% of the affiliate payment to the current 12for12k charity in your name. Sound fair?

  • Update Tuesday November 3 – the game just changed radically with Headway 1.5 and its visual editor. Check out all the details here.

Note: This blog no longer runs on the Headway framework. Instead, it’s a custom WordPress design by Lisa Kalandjian of SceneStealer Graphics.

AdAge and The Power of Response

Lines and LazinessThere’s an interesting story happening at the minute online with AdAge and Lindsay Ferrier, who blogs over at Suburban Toil. It concerns an article published yesterday on AdAge by Lauren Barack, and a quote she used from Lindsay’s blog.

In the AdAge piece, Lindsay is quoted as saying she deserves all the free swag that advertiser’s and PR companies send to blogging moms: “I worked hard for my swag, okay? I freaking deserved it.” Reading that quote, you’d think Lindsay was nothing but a shill that’s out for all she can get.

Where it becomes interesting is that the blog post the quote was taken from is a satirical piece, with Lindsay actually decrying the way this year’s BlogHer conference seemed to have devolved into a free-for-all grabbing spree by some bloggers. Lindsay mentions this in the comments section of the AdAge piece, as do several other replies.

Lindsay’s comment was posted at 9.17am this morning. As of writing (almost two hours later), there is no reply from either AdAge or Lauren Barack, nor has the piece been amended. This seems like a missed opportunity for AdAge and Lauren.

One of the things that is repeated time and time again in this space is the importance of monitoring the conversation. The slightest negative response can soon flare up into something much bigger, and this is now being seen in the comments of the AdAge piece, Twitter, and Lindsay’s blog.

What could have happened and what could happen next?

  • AdAge could/should have amended the article.
  • Lauren and/or AdAge could/should have apologized to Lindsay.
  • AdAge could/should do a follow-up piece about fact-checking, relevance and the importance of timely conversation.

There’s no doubt that AdAge offers an excellent medium for some of the best media news around. Lauren Barack is also an award-winning journalist. But it’s clear that what may have seemed a harmless quote was taken all out of context and could have been seen as questioning Lindsay’s integrity.

It could have been avoided with a simple email to Lindsay prior to the piece. Even when the shit hit the fan this morning, it could have been handled better with a clear response. So far, this hasn’t been the case.

If you’re still dubious about the importance of monitoring and responding, the AdAge/Lauren Barack/Lindsay Ferrier triangle is a great example of why you need to.

Are your ears burning this morning?

  • Update: Lauren has responded to the comments with this reply, although it could be argued it’s not exactly apologetic.
  • Update: AdAge has since added an addendum to the post, apologizing for the gaffe.

Creative Commons License photo credit: svenwerk