Monthly Archives: June 2010

I am bleary eyed. Yesterday morning I was in Dearborn with a few other moms and the team from Ford.

Ford is introducing a new safety feature on their SUVs and crossovers called Curve Control. I promise you a Curve Control post at some point after a nap. The short story is that it aids drivers immensely in keeping control of the car during a high speed turn. The long story (pending) will include telling you about the crash test dummies, and the drive we took in a top secret car that was covered in velcro, and how it can slow a car down by 10 mph in just one second.

As I was standing in Dearborn at The Rouge, I was missing my family. The Rouge Factory Tour is a marvel for everyone at every age. I know my son would have loved to see some of the classic cars, just as I know that my daughter would have been thrilled to know about the green technology that the plant is using. My husband, like I, would have just been slackjawed and thinking, “how did one man do this?” And then I remembered why I love cars so much.

Every time I look at a car I think I know who will love that. They’re like puppies to me. I don’t necessarily want a puppy, but I recognize that they are adorable, and a perfect fit for someone. Every few years we get new cars, similarly families tend to get a pet every decade or so.

So when I got to drive a Fiesta a few months back, all I could think of was how adorable the car is, how sporty and responsive and nicely priced. I don’t see myself in a Fiesta, but I can visualize my teenage cousins in one, or even my 20 something friends. If I was 20 something again I’d be plunking down cash for a bright green car. It’s impossible to look at it and not smile.

Which is not the point, but really it is the point. Yesterday we got to drive in a partly finished 2011 Ford Explorer that was equipped with Curve Control. I’ve owned a Ford Explorer, one of my first cars was a Bronco 2, the small SUV is part of my life, but it’s not part of my life right now. Which is fine. You see the Explorer is like that bigger puppy, I know people who want big puppies, even though I’m looking for the little one.

I can mark my milestones with my cars. We brought Jane home from the hospital in a Honda Accord, and Alexander in an Explorer. I was married while driving a Mercury Capri, and practically danced for joy when I got a Chevy Tahoe that would carry both my children and my aging grandmother.

So as I prepare to tell you about Ford, I’m trying to think of why I cannot possibly be objective. It’s because I just love cars. When I see this:

It gives me the same cuddly feeling as this:

Photo via wikipedia

Eclipse is bad in every way. It is heavy handed, poorly written, and poorly acted. Eclipse is unique in that it is also a horrible place to take a $48.50 nap.

Jane is a huge fan of the Twilight series, she begged me to take her to a 12.01 am showing of Eclipse, which was okay in theory, except that it was my thirteenth anniversary. To further complicate things, I’d be flying back from Detroit that morning, which means no sleep, but rather a series of naps. Eclipse is sucktastic for a mom who wants to nap.

I watched the opening of the show, Edward and Bella kiss in a meadow of crocuses and the sunlight radiates from his every pore as they kiss. Which is odd, aren’t the girls supposed to glow? The dad is supposed to be funny, but appears to be robotic. When the director shoots in all gray, we’re dealing with vampires. Which is exactly how I’d shoot it except there’s one problem, I’m a housewife not a director. There was some dialogue, some crappy cakey makeup, and a glimpse of a plot that I challenge anyone over fifteen to care about, and then there was sleep. Blessed sleep, because Jane took off her sweatshirt, and I was able to roll it up into a pillow and take a nap.

Except that Eclipse audiences are screamers. They scream every time they see… I don’t know what they see, because my eyes were closed and I was jittery from not having slept, but suffice it to say they are a loud audience.

I’m going to talk to Jane and her friend today about the message of the movie. Apparently Bella wants to give up being human so she can be with Edward. I need to explain to these girls that falling in love and being with a man doesn’t mean giving up anything.

The movie was stunning in it’s mediocrity, and the audience was stellar in it’s devotion to teenage vampires.

I love my daughter, a lot. That was rough.

Thirteen years ago today Mr. G. and I were married under the chuppah.

We’ve had two apartments, three houses, two children, a handful of hamsters, two cats and a few dogs. We’ve read 4,748 issues of the LA Times together, we’ve shared more than 10,000 meals and at least twice as many kisses. We’ve overcome huge obstacles, and we’ve operated nicely as a team. My husband has supported my every endeavor with kind smile.

I returned from an interesting two day trip to Detroit, exhausted and dirty only to turn on cell phone and find out that my friend Cassie was interviewed by NPR today. I believe (though I’m not quite sure) that they read at least part of my letter to my twenty year old self. Today I would like share with one thought again, “Building something  side by side with a good man is infinitely better than being given everything by a not so good man.”

I have spent thirteen wonderful years with the most generous man a woman could ever hope to find. I imagine another fifty will be a lot of fun.

Just one?

Is it just me, or does the word “summer” let you hear the waves crashing? I can sit here and smell the ocean, while I feel the hot sun, and taste the salt on my lips. I loved living on the beach, and particularly knowing that sunbathing was an activity.

Laying in the sun was considered doing something. Amazing.

And artichokes, eating artichokes in the back yard, while butter dripped down our hands.

Heh. Laundry, and maybe dusting too.

I know it’s shallow, but I’m okay with that. I would live in the world’s cleanest house. My floorboards would gleam, and I wouldn’t have to bring my laundry upstairs again, ever.

I understand there are wiser ways to use minions, you could make yourself fabulously wealthy, you could combat global warming, or even start a religion. Why not, right?

My life is perfect, with two big exceptions. I hate putting away the folded laundry, and I hate dusting the floorboards. Clearly I need minions.

You?

Today I had not one, but three, three emails from friends and relatives who were all asking the same questions.

Which bloggers should I approach?
How should I approach them?

My answer to them in short form is, “You shouldn’t.” Bloggers are wonderful, small business owners are fabulous, but if you’re in the business of making sweet potato fries, my suggestion to you is that you make the best sweet potato fries you know how to make, and talk about it on your own site. In the first person. The folks at Label Daddy have done a great job of this, and you could certainly use them as an example of “how to”.

I almost always respond to these emails with, “I would caution you from reaching out directly to bloggers, but I would recommend ___, ____ or ____ to help you reach your goals. I like to recommend three different people (or agencies), in part because if things go south I’ve recommended a FEW, not just one. I also like to recommend three because I’ve worked so many amazing teams that I really do think my friends and family can benefit from more than just one of them.

If you absolutely insist on DIY blogger outreach do NOT blame me when it explodes in your lap.

Who to contact: Bloggers who want to be contacted probably have an “about me” page. If you hear a blogger’s name crop up over and over again in multiple circles you might want to think about contacting them, however, nothing is guaranteed. Once you have identified a blogger that is of interest to you, it’s time to make sure they are relevant to the discussion you want to have. Quantcast, Alexa and Compete will give you some data about bloggers. Recently I heard that larger firms are using comscore only, very few bloggers are currently found on comscore.

When you plugin the bloggers URL to any of these services you may or may not get results. If a blogger is hosted on a wordpress.com or blogspot.com site, it is virtually impossible more difficult to get data regarding their readership. You may have to ask the blogger to self report, or you can ask them to give you access to their stats.

For a blogger like myself, who is self hosted, it’s relatively simple to get demographics and data. If you go to Quantcast you’ll see that my audience likes politics, science, parenting, fashion, home & gardening, auto news & info, science and technology, babies and books quite a bit more than your typical internet user.

For example my readers are 1.7 times more likely than the typical internet user to visit categories and sites that relate to science, nature, parenting, fashion and cosmetics. If you were looking to buy advertising here I’m pretty sure a line of organic skincare would be a good match, right?

Further, check out my demographics. Y’all are old, educated and rich. Blogger outreach should take the audience into consideration, not just the writer. I’m writing to men and to women, I’m also writing to people who have been college and to grad school. There’s no need to dumb down a message here.

Similar information can be found at Alexa and Compete. Most of it is somewhat reliable, but I must stress the somewhat. Quantcast counts approximately a third of my traffic, as does Compete, Alexa has been more reliable at times, but everything seems to be an approximation.

With the amorphous nature of web reporting how would a sweet potato fry maker know who to target? Without being a part of this wacky little word, it’s very complicated for a small business to dive in.

I always suggest using twitter as a place to listen. If you are listening to what people are saying about you, and about your industry, you just might be able to have a conversation with them that is meaningful.

Understand that bloggers are not marketers. Few bloggers will have passion for your sweet potato fries, and of the three that do, only one will have reach that is relevant to your market.

Do you have a plan to deal with a blogger who does not like your product? Do you have a plan for the blogger who sees your pitch as spam? What is it that you expect to get from your relationship with a blogger? If you think that blog posts can directly translate into sales, forget it.

My question for you, small business owner, is: do you want to spend your days trying to find the blogger who cares about sweet potato fries, or do you want to spend some time making great fries?

I’ll continue my practice of connecting great people.