http://www.google.com/support/mobile/bin/answer.py?answer=138740

Setting it up as a gmail account may work, and in fact has for me on several occasions, but every once in a while, it just doesn’t work.

This is what Google says right from the link in the Forwarding and POP/IMAP link:

Why do you suppose it’s different?

Why is that?  Well, 3 reasons.

1. Users are looking for something that meets their needs.
2. You are looking for users that are interested in what you have to offer.
3. You really want to build a relationship with your users and your users want to build a relationship with you.

The online dating community purports to be pros at compatibility.  They all say that they have the best way to match you and someone else.  Their primary function is to build a relationship between 2 people, to show information about one that is interesting to the other and to build understanding and trust in order to inspire one to make a commitment of some sort to the other.

How is this different from what you’re trying to do on your website?  Probably more so than it should be.

Think about it.  What are you trying to do online?  Unless you really don’t care if anyone listens or sees whatever you’re doing online, you’re probably looking for customers, donors or readers to to take some sort of action.  And how do you inspire commitment?  By getting your readers to learn about you, to feel comfortable with you and start a relationship with you – just like dating.  If they’re not comfortable with what they see and learn from you, then they’ll move on to someone else – just like dating.

So do yourself a favor and have another look at your own website and compare it to some dating websites to see how you stack up against these common qualities from some of these online dating sites.

• Character
• Passion
• Intellect
• Humor
• Energy
• Kindness
• Confidence
• Education
• Honesty
• etc…

Are you exemplifying qualities that will inspire someone to make a commitment to you?  If not, maybe you should be.

1. How do I change the feed address without losing my subscribers? since I didn’t want to add the addresses again.
2. If I needed to add the addresses again, could I import them via CSV?
3. If I can change the address, and keep my subscribers, when Feedburner runs, will it send the new posts since it last ran. or will it send ALL posts in the specific category?

Question 1 was easy. At the top of the Feedburner account page, Google says this:

You should not change “Original Feed” unless you move your original feed to a new domain or a new location on your existing server. Also, changing “Feed Address” will require you to update your feed subscribers with your new address; the previous feed address will no longer work.

After I read this sever times, I understand it means that you can change the ORIGINAL FEED address and keep your subscribers.

But, if you change the FEED ADDRESS, you’ll lose your subscribers.

Question 2 was even easier.  After searching a while, I found many responses to this question from Google over the last few years saying “no, you can’t import as it would be a spam/security hole.” and I certainly didn’t want to manually enter all the addresses again, so I wasn’t going to touch the FEED ADDRESS.

Question 3 was more difficult to find.  In fact, I never saw anything definite about it. So I tried some tests and changed some mostly abandoned feeds to see what would happen. Since I wasn’t confident that my tests were going to be 100% accurate, I didn’t put a lot of faith in them.  But, it looked like the feed was going to send more than just the last post.

We ultimately decided that we could manage the issue of readers potentially getting several posts again in a single Feedburner email and wrote a post to that effect so the readers would get that too.  So, we changed the Original Feed and waited…

After a couple hours, after dinner and after the kids went to bed, the feeds started coming in.  I signed myself up for all 5 feeds we transferred and, (spoiler alert) all 5 feeds sent the last 10 posts in their respective categories, and not the only ones posted since the last feed was delivered.

Ultimately, it’s pretty easy to manage in Feedburner, but a couple things would be more helpful.  Especially, if Google could remove many of the REALLY OLD posts that don’t seem to help much anymore.

If you have questions, let me know.

I noticed this article in my Daily Smart Brief for Social Media email today about the over use of the List Post format in Blogs.  It’s called The One Reason You Read So Many List Posts.  I very much agree with Jay Dolan about this.  There have got to be better ways to title and promote your content without using lists all the time (the Bad way).  Really, the only place I still like them is when Letterman uses them (the Good way).

Speaking of which, here’s the one from yesterday:

Top Ten Ways To Mispronounce Muammar Qaddafi

10.Mallomar Cookie

9.Milli Vanilli

8.Grande No-Foam Latte

7.Live! with Regis and Kelly

6.Lady QaQa

5.Mumizzle Qadizzle

4.Mouthful of Taffy

3.Kathy Mavrikakis

2.Qadaffi Duck

1.Qarmelo Anthony

Ok, to be fair, sometimes List Posts do have their place and can be beneficial.  I do also like them when they’re on a topic that I think I know at least something about and then getting some quick, new insight is pretty nice.  But, you can also tell when bloggers are just looking for some quick, cheap and easy Google Juice.

Anyway, this post really didn’t start out to discuss the List Post, nor was it supposed to head down the Letterman tangent.  Really, I thought that the email I got from Daily Smart Brief displayed the article in a somewhat ironic way (the Irony way) that I wanted to share.  See it below:

The anti List Post irony....

So, Let’s be creative and start looking for additional ways to promote your content. And to be fair, I’ve done it too and am not proud of it. Maybe I should’ve call this post “2015 characters to support my point that you shouldn’t use List Posts for everything.”

I think my next article will be called: “Three ways I’ll stop using List Posts to drive content.”

And I’ll have it celebrity-Tweeted by Garfield, Hobbes and Marmaduke.

@Gangsta_Claus tweet

Fortunately, Someone I work with, @paulknipe, translated this for me:

“Have you heard the news that I have a Twitter page? I highly encourage you to follow me right away. Click the follow button. It doesn’t cost anything.”

Thanks Paul, I think you are right on!  (But how would I know, I imagine I’m a little out of touch…)

So, here goes, in no particular order.

Why Should a Business Have a Social Media Marketing System in Place? – Social Media Bits

WordPress Firewall Plugin – SEO Egghead

Here’s What You Should Do to Improve Your Blog Today – Pro Blogger

How to Make an Absolute Fortune From Your Blog (Really) – Pro Blogger

5 Tools I Am Willing to Pay for [And Recommend] to Improve My Blogs – Pro Blogger

Valedictorian Speaks Out Against Schooling in Graduation Speech – Swift Kick Online

15 Excellent Corporate Blogs to Learn From – Open Forum

5 brand blogs to learn from – iMedia Connection

8 Cool WordPress Photo Gallery Plugins – Chase Sagum

Corporate Blogging — Expert Series: Interview with Lou Hoffman. Part 1 – Steve Farnsworth

The 10 Best Infographics for Internet Marketing Pros – Marketing Pilgrim

100 Days of Real Food – Jason Leake & Lisa Leake

Getting started with “Getting Things Done” – 43 Folders

21 Simplicity Tips from the Worlds Most Popular Bloggers – Live Simply

10 Easy To Implement Flash Based Mp3 Players For Your Website – Web Design Booth

Five Rules For How To Make Things Go Viral – Tech Crunch

What I’ve Learned From Blogging Weekly Instead of Daily – Justin Kownacki

Yeah, solar and wind power are nice. But you need the grid to get off the grid. – Christian Science Monitor

50 Surprising Facts About Social Media – EduDemic

Alex Bogusky interviews Robyn O’Brien – The FearLess Cottage via YouTube

Technology to liven up your creative – iMedia Connection

8 Powerful Ways to Use Facebook Landing Tabs – Social Media Examiner

Website design: 12 sites dissected – Going beyond “pretty” – iMedia Connection

How Women Use the Web – Mashable

But, upon further examination, and something everyone should do BEFORE you click a link, is to hover over the link and see what appears.  You just might learn something the easy way.

Remember, always be careful what links you click on in your email.

Or to see it on the BP site, go here:

NOTE: Please be aware, this is a live stream and may freeze or be unavailable from time to time.

Recently, I came across this interesting article with 13 Tips for Actually Getting Some Writing Done. The article is technically for people who want to write a book or novel of sorts, but I find that it’s truly effective for just about anything you ant to write.   I’ll summarize it here.

1. Write something every work-day, and preferably, every day
2. Even if you have just fifteen minutes, you can write something
3. Don’t binge on writing
4. Sometimes it’s easier to stop in mid project and then continue later
5. Don’t get distracted
6. Write regularly and frequently
7. Just get ideas down, lot’s of great writing comes in the revisions
8. Find a way to keep track of your thoughts
9. Be comfortable
10. Limit or eliminate interruptions
11. “Wait” or do it “Now”
12. Take a walk or read something else
13. Have something to say

I would add a last item to this from my old public speaking days.

14. Write what you know about.  Don’t try to write about things just because you think someone will want to read it. If that’s all your interested in, you won’t last.  In fact, if you follow this one tip (#14), it usually solves most, if not all of the other tips.

Their Oath is:

As a Thunderbird and a global citizen, I promise, I will strive to act with honesty and integrity. I will respect the rights and dignity of all people. I will strive to create sustainable prosperity worldwide. I will oppose all forms of corruption and exploitation. And I will take responsibility for my actions. As I hold true to these principles, it is my hope that I may enjoy an honorable reputation and peace of conscience.

The article inferrs that business schools are focused on getting the highest paying jobs for their graduates and that this needs to change.  Apparently, not all their students like it and some have refused to sign or recite this oath at graduation.  Makes you wonder if when you’re hiring from business school, or any school, if it’s worth asking about the school’s oath and whether the student participated or not.   The oath certainly isn’t required and not part of their professional, student record, but, would you hire someone who refused to take an ethical oath?

Also see the Thunderbird website.