I spent the weekend celebrating my birthday (thank you for the birthday wishes!) and out in the garden planting zinnias and planting my baby tomato plants in the garden. I mentioned before that this year I've grown a bunch of heirloom tomatoes from seed and it's been really intriguing to watch them grow. They're finally looking like real tomato plants so out into the garden they went. What was interesting to me was the way their roots wound around the outside of the pot--checking that boundary and feeling their way against the plastic. Now that their roots have much more room to explore, I know they'll once again test their new boundaries. And, of course, while I was planting the tomatoes into the garden, I was thinking about your business and wondering if it's time for you to "repot" yourself, too. I know for me, it's been awhile since I explored those boundaries, and it's also been awhile since I considered whether or not I needed a bigger pot.

With just 13 days until I turn one year older, and the sudden death of a next-door neighbor last week, I've been feeling really introspective lately. And what I keep realizing is how deeply, profoundly grateful I am for so much in my life. So, while today's article is all about keeping your website and business protected from hackers, hard drive failures, and other icks, I thought I'd start today's issue by sharing just some of what I'm really grateful for. I'd love to hear what's so right in your life today, too!

• I'm grateful for lovely clients like Steve and Tim (hey guys) who on a conference call on Friday said, "That's why we love talking to you--we always learn something!" Totally awesome. And I have some new thoughts about that giveaway you're planning; expect to get those from me later today.
• I'm thrilled by the three client websites (all brand new domains) that were listed in Google within 24 hours last month. I remember way back in the day when it took *six months* for Google to find a site. Granted, I have a few tricks up my sleeve these days that get a site listed in the blink of an eye, but a lot of the new speed is due to the fact that Google's been hard at work on improving search for both web users and website owners.

I’ve been knee-deep in hacked sites all week (last week, too, actually), so it seems like a good time to remind you of these five crucial things you should be doing regularly, but probably aren’t. Whether you do them often, or never, make some time to do them over the weekend.

1. Sign up for an online backup service. I use Carbonite, but Mozy also gets great reviews. Remember, an online backup service isn’t a stand-alone never-back-up-your-computer-again service. You’ll still need an external hard drive. But, this is a great way to have a daily (or hourly) backup of the files you change often. (Downloading a complete system backup from one of these online services will make you pull all your hair out–so, use an external drive for the complete [once a week or once a month] backup, and an online service for the daily backup.)
2. Buy an external hard drive. Get one that’s twice as big as your computer’s drive so you’ll have plenty of space. Then, get Acronis which will take a complete image of your entire hard drive and back the whole shebang up to your external drive. You know how, when you use your best friend’s computer to type up a Word document it takes you twice as long as normal because you’re hunting through all the menus for the stuff you like to use?

… Keep reading

If you're not getting much feedback from your newsletter or blog readers, chances are you're overlooking this playground behavior (that would have gotten you into trouble with the teacher) that makes it much easier for your readers to interact with you. Read on to find out what it is and how to leverage it in your next article.

We had a fabulous vacation. You can see the view I woke up to (yadzooks the sun is rising early these days!) over on Twitter, and I'll have more photos as I go through all the ones I took. I love my Olympus but sometimes I think digital makes taking photos way too easy.

Just like in the garden, weeds in your newsletter take up valuable space that could be replaced with something a lot prettier. The five most common weeds I see in clients' newsletters are:

• Jargon. Especially when you're telling readers just what it is your company does and how you can help them, make sure you use your words wisely.

One of the things I really love about writing a weekly newsletter is that it reminds me to stop and reflect on the previous week each Friday. Whether I write about one of my accomplishments (or mishaps) in the feature article or in the Editor’s Note or not, this weekly ritual has made me much more aware of how I’ve spent my time. Most of the time, at least some portion of my reflection does make its way into this newsletter, and even when it doesn’t, the time is never wasted. Read on for the five questions that lead to top quality weekly content...

Is your newsletter languishing because you don't have time to write new articles? Has your blog gone un-updated for months on end? Are you tired of feeling completely guilty because you're not generating as much content as you're "supposed" to? If you're not contributing to the hourly doubling of Internet content, it's time to change that. But when you've already got too much to do in a day, how do you become more prolific? Here's what works for my clients.

This weekend, I finally started my tomato seeds--a little behind schedule, but fortunately we have a long growing season here in North Carolina. Before buying my seeds, I knew the types of tomatoes I'd plant, but there was one that was a surprise... Though I'd never heard of it before, the story on the back of the package intrigued me and before I knew it, seeds for tomatoes I'd never heard of were in my cart. On the other hand, I also spent a half hour this weekend searching for a great coffee mug on Etsy, and came away empty handed. The mugs that I liked all suffered from one (or both) of two fatal flaws--no story, or no details. For me, one of the most important things to know about a coffee mug is ... how much coffee it'll hold, and yet click after click, there were no ounce measurements. Then, other listings were nothing but facts--and uninteresting facts at that. (Sure, it's probably good to know the mug is food and dishwasher safe, but as the only details in a listing they won't exactly get the mug sold.) I'm sure you've had this same experience--there's something you want to buy, but the buying process is so boring that instead of buying, you drift off to sleep (or to the next task on your to-do list). Or, there's something you weren't planning on buying that's made completely irresistible through the use of a great story.

There’s a virus afoot. No, not a computer virus. Or a bird flu virus. But rather a Sameness Virus.

See, most of the articles that wind up on websites, in ezines, and being circulated at sites like EzineArticles.com are very much the same.

In fact, if you spend a lot of time browsing through content, you might just start to feel like the article writers took the old Sesame Street song a little too much to heart–and avoid standing out at all costs.