There are countless reasons why someone from the search engine marketing industry operates a blog. It can be to share news, promote one’s services, create community, converse with clients and the public or raise awareness of issues.

I seek out positive thinking people and those who, in the face of negativity or peer pressure, continue to do their thing with class and integrity. Their reasons for doing whatever they do are often deeply personal and self fulfilling to them. For example, when an experienced marketer supports talented newcomers, or sometimes an industry leader gets into legal or reputation trouble and despite a harsh judging environment, they continue to work, learn and grow.

By now, in the year 2008, I figure that there are enough experienced web developers, search engine marketers and usability consultants out there who are taking their expertise and putting themselves into places that benefit something besides their business or work. These are the folks who volunteer, take up causes, teach, write books and articles and get involved with local events where their skills are helpful. They’re rarely paid, but money isn’t the point. Helping others is.

An excellent blog piece came out last night, written by Miriam Ellis of Solas Web Design. It’s an example of someone using their company blog to highlight an issue dear to their own heart, raise awareness and for Miriam’s family I think, express profound personal grief over a great injustice.

White Buffalo Inc. To Massacre Last Axis Deer - Shame and Infamy is her heartfelt sharing of a park system intent of killing off an entire species of deer. In an age where protecting animals is so important, it’s impossible to accept that a US park would not find alternatives to problems other than simply killing animals that live in our parks.

As Miriam wrote,

I am sorrowful to report that the last remnant of the Axis deer family will be destroyed during this week of Jan. 28th - Feb. 1st. They will be rounded up and driven into a hole by gunmen piloting helicopters who will then open fire into the hole.

I deeply respect Miriam’s decision to stop her daily routine of work and family to signal the world that something is terribly wrong in her neck of the woods. While her effort may not save the deer, she is helping to bring awareness of a situation that exists and it’s a sad reminder that humans still don’t know how to share this planet in peace.

Cre8asiteforums Discussion - An Example Of What Matters

I began to question where forums fit into the present day socially oriented Internet picture in November when I wrote Where Do Forums Fit on a Social Network Driven Internet? The consensus was that forums are still wanted, needed and could still serve.

For me, personally, to keep at it for what is now my 12th year as a moderator (10 years with my club/forum, plus 2 years moderating email list discussions before that), I needed to find ways to keep me interested and decided I was likely not alone.

There are many forums in the SEO/M, marketing, web design and development and software QA/dev space. Each has its devoted community. You can pick and choose and sometimes find a “home” in a forums environment that feels right for you.

For Cre8asiteforums, I wanted to do see what we could come up with for 2008 that would help the staff feel good about being there, and the Cre8tive Community feel inspired after visiting. We know our members are smart and busy people. How can we support them? What do they care about? What do they want to know more about?

My co-admin, Bill Slawski, and I, brainstormed with friends and forums staff. We changed the forums tagline to “Building Better Web Sites Together, For A Better World” because this matches what matters to us as people in the industries we serve and work in.

Today we’ve launched the first of our ideas. There will be more surprises as the months progress. We have several things in the works that we’re excited about, but because it’s nearly all done in our so-called “spare” time, it sometimes takes a bit longer to push out the door.

Two New Forums

Bill Slawski starts off with one of our new forums, called NonProfits on the Web. We want to learn how nonprofits market themselves. What issues do they face in search engines, marketing, branding, competition, credibility? What is a nonprofit site? Where do site owners network? Are there usability concerns unique to non-profit design vs profit? What keeps them inspired when the going gets tough and for no pay?

Within hours of launch, there are already three very good discussions there.

The other new forum is one we’re also very hopeful about for a forums where search engine marketers and web designers gather. This one is focused on advances in Internet technology and intends to explore new programming and potential usability or search engine issues related to them. Do you know what’s coming? Our Pierre Far leads the way with Cre8tive Tomorrow. Microsoft’s Silverlight, Adobe’s FLEX, Silverlight 1.0, Google’s Android, Gears, OpenSocial, and Facebook apps. Do any of these ring a bell?

We want to invite you to teach and share at Cre8asiteforums.

While I don’t do New Year’s Resolutions, I do have a simple tradition that I do every year around this time. I begin looking for new sources for inspiration to re-energize me for the new year. Usually what I find are ideas that “stick” far better than resolutions.

Two blog posts jumped out at me that fit the type of boost I look for, like new ideas or new thinking about everyday activities related to life, love, work, whatever.

The first is 5 Industries I Want To Work With In The Happy New Year Of 2008!. Miriam writes:

This morning, I found myself wondering who my husband and I would be meeting in this new year on a professional basis. Who will pick up that phone and call us and bring us into the world of their business, giving us the honor of being included in their efforts? I love getting to know new clients. I love learning about what work means to them. It’s exciting to think about all the new industries we’ll get a chance to learn about in 2008.

She lured me into her post with these statements because I feel the same away about my clients and their web sites. While I’m in a position of sometimes delivering bad news or a list of suggestions for improvements to their much beloved projects, I’m rarely ever detached. I know how much a client’s web site means to them and some folks are lots of fun to work with. I want them to be successful online.

Miriam goes into a list of industries her company wants to support. She writes thoughtfully and clearly. A true pleasure to read.

The next example comes from Blogher’s Virginia DeBolt, in another well written delivery called Do Your Neural Pathways Need a Shakeup? She begins with a reference to the movie, “What the Bleep Do We Know?”, (I read the book.) and expands on the idea that “Finding a new perspective or a new way of thinking once you’ve settled into your well-traveled and familar neural pathways is a challenge.”

Her posts presents a few books, articles and feedback on them, with quotes that serve to help energize and push past the cornflakes in my head at the end of the year. She writes,

If your current way of thinking keeps leading you to the same place again and again, perhaps you can change your life (and keep those New Year’s resolutions) by learning something about how to shake up your neural pathways with some innovative new perspectives on the issues affecting your life.

As I write this, I’m watching the first hockey game ever to be played in a football stadium in the USA. It’s Pittsburg Penquins vs Buffalo Sabers. Someone thought outside the box and decided to transform an outdoor football stadium into a hockey stadium with ice. There’s snow falling and it’s below freezing outside but they say something like 73,000 fans are in the stands watching.

Crazy. But a lot of people are loving it.

There was a theme for this year’s Thanksgiving holiday and it had to do with age. I attended two Thanksgiving dinners. One was with some of my husband’s gigantic family at an aunt’s home in Maryland, 3.5 hours away. The other was at my house, with our kids, my parents, more of my husband’s family and a perfectly brined turkey.

In Maryland, the conversation that I remember the most focused on how different life is for young people today. There’s no more science chemical kits for Christmas that could possibly blow up a house, for example. Somehow, the Elders marveled, they had survived lead paint in houses and toys, BB guns, Barbie, Bambi, RoadRunner and bikes that had no gears. In my house, we didn’t own a color TV. The Elders walked more, read more, and never had a clue beforehand who was calling on the telephone because there was no such thing as “Caller ID”.

They laughed and laughed about the things they created with parts and pieces of things, and the near misses of serious accidents like blowing off fingers from fire crackers rigged to do things they weren’t intended to do. They seemed grateful they had the chance to make mistakes and make their own rules when it came to play and creativity.

The discussion in Pennsylvania, at my house, was fascinating because much of the perspective of the old days came from my pioneering father, who worked for Philco and AMP (among a few big name companies) inventing radios and computer technology. He was a future thinking electronics engineer and yet today, he admits they had no idea that someday their ideas would be used in cell phones, tiny computer chips and ipods.

His idea of play was to invent new things. One afternoon in 1975, he showed me how he took apart a calculator and invented a light meter for a camera from its insides. He also built me my stereo from scratch when I was 16. I didn’t appreciate that feat then, but I do now.

The Elders didn’t complain about today. Rather, they wondered why things had changed so much.

I described how my kids read labels on everything because they’re hyper aware of warnings. They look for “Made in China” and don’t want to buy the product. They want every anti-bacterial product they can get their hands on. They read ingredients on food products because they understand that their health depends on wise choices. This surprised the Elders. They wondered how they survived growing up and what’s scaring young people so deeply.

Then I described how my kids don’t know how to be creative. The boys like to write stories in school but the stories are centered around themselves, not the world around them. It’s as if it’s not there at all. My daughter’s world is school, cell phone, TV and computer. All of them want PlayStation 3, when we already have PS2 and PS1. Or they’ll take XBox. They’d be cool with that. I’m not.

I grew up with a black and white TV, notebooks to write in and a mile walk to the bus stop. The kids laugh at me and how poor I was. And yet when I was 9 years old, I wrote my first book.

It was an anthology of short stories and poetry called “Let’s Create”. My third grade teacher was an artist and taught us how to use our imaginations. I wrote on any topic, including horses, bugs, my best friend and my little sister. I made a puppet that year and was supposed to be in a play but I never went on stage because I had severe stage fright (which carries over to the present as well.)

The Elders were shocked to hear that many schools don’t offer after school sports anymore for free (there’s a fee), no physical education (gym) classes, no metal or woodworking shop and no sewing and cooking classes. Several school districts around us have canceled these classes, but my kid’s schools still offer them. Therefore, my son came home beaming with his latest sewing project in which he made a cloth carry all bag to hold his sports shoes and clothes. He embroidered his name on it too. Granted, sewing isn’t his thing but there was no denying his excitement over having made something himself and making it the way he wanted to.

In usability oriented web design, I’m always thinking about how people use web sites and what they want from them. It’s interesting to me to study the Flash debate because on the one hand, Flash presents a way for limitless forms of Internet art and expression. However, it’s critically limited because not everyone will ever see it or have access to it.

The Elders felt that life today is about not taking risks and trying new things. For example, when my Dad invented a solution for something out of parts of something else, he was recycling. They didn’t call it that back then of course.

Back then, they weren’t ready to sit still and watch DVD’s, video games and go online shopping.

They were curious enough to take apart what they already had, to see what else they could make it do.

This week was powerful. It was the end of my son’s football season and I was so impressed with him that for two days I was in deep thought, even lying awake at night with the realization that my 14 year old son had become my hero. When everything that could go wrong, did, he scored the most amazing touchdown in the last 2 minutes of one of the games that had all the parents on their feet. And all he did was to show his heart.

Passion has always been my guiding light. It’s an odd light because others don’t always see it, when you know darned well it’s right there. This week I struggled to come to a decision about where I’d go with my usability work. Was I any good at this? Is there something else I can offer? How does usability work improve life for anyone? The answers came in this week’s discussions in several places about user personas, as well as positive feedback on work I had done for someone new.

User personas are about improving an experience for someone other than yourself. My light flickered and things felt right again.

Last night I presented a rough outline of a plan for the future of Cre8asiteforums to my friend and Co-Administrator, Bill Slawski, that I’d struggled and agonized over for months. The forums are five years old and its earlier incarnation was formed in 1998. I’m burned out one minute and energized the next. Is this normal? Where is the forums administrators support group?

It was funny to watch Bill read my official 4 page brain dump and see him making faces. I couldn’t tell what he was thinking and that drove me nuts. We had a meeting, surrounded by friends, one of my other moderators, Li Evans, and my husband, Eric. It was the moment where I needed to make a personal commitment to move forward and ask Bill if he was ready to stick it out with me a little longer. He said yes.

In a social media environment, what can we do to make our forums thrive and contribute value? For Bill and I, the answer is different because we’re different in how we think a forums should be run and what they’re for. Next week I’ll announce the first part in our projected plan to take the forums into a new direction, with an emphasis on contributing ways to support those who believe in building better web sites for a better world.

I don’t think it was any accident I was given the example of my son, Stefan, and his approach to his life in sports.

He’s very committed, even when he’s in pain. If the other team has 3 guys on him, he fights them off with one arm. When they pile up on him, the ball doesn’t leave his grip. When they’re losing, he still believes in himself. When their Quarterback was out on an injury and the offensive line lost its will, he did what Team Captains do. He tried to offer encouragement and instructions on what to do next, even though he was angry on the inside. In a sad losing game with no score for his team, he “chopped” his way down the center, for the last two minutes of the game and by brute force, got the damned touchdown.

When they were squashed in their last game of the season by an undefeated team (Stefan’s team was undefeated last year), his Dad and I walked out to meet him on the field afterwards to check on his condition. Before we could even reach him, a group of members from the opposing team and four guys from the High School Freshman team, where he’ll play next year, came out on the field, walked up to him and shook his hand.

Respect is something you earn.

Here are my notable article picks for the week, with my thanks to those who inspire me:

Designing for Nonprofits: User Experience Professionals Can Make a Difference in Society

We all find ourselves looking in the mirror at one time or another and asking ourselves if we’re doing all we can for the good of society. What’s it all for?

Those of us in the user experience (UX) profession can actually do something about it. As information architects, interaction designers, usability consultants, and developers, we don’t have to change our careers to do something good for society.

Balancing Usability and Search Engine Optimization

Search engine optimization is the process of designing a Web strategy so that search engine spiders will get the best picture of the Web site that they can. Usability is the process of designing a Web strategy so that visitors will be satisfied with their experience.

Design Engineering: The Next Step

Interaction design determines who the users are, what goals they are trying to achieve, and then creates a tangible, visible plan for how the product will look and behave to get those users to achieve those goals. Over the last few years, more and more companies have adopted interaction design methods. They have flight plans. Why, then, are so many organizations still repeatedly visited by those three ugly horsemen of software apocalypse?

My friends at DT are in the news (again) - Digital Telepathy Helps You Build Your Web 2.0 Startup

The concept is simple: Digital Telepathy offers three design my business options with varying service levels based on the length of each plan. The 15 day plan provides a wannabe startup with market research, strategic alignment, scalable revenue model, instruction manual for project completion and a concept summary delivered as a “Biz in a Box”.

This was a no-brainer for a “bookaholic” like me - Top 5 social web sites for book lovers

Search Engine Land’s Secrets : Mining SearchCap. Perfect for those who equate statistics to Fruit Loops. I am number 57.

Building a Data-Backed Persona is a detailed, well written article on a topic that’s on steroids.

Video presentation by Jared Spool - Delight by Functionality

And finally, Green Communities and Social Networks. Bill hit many of us in a good place with this list, giving us some new ideas and ways to meet others who dream.