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miercuri, 10 decembrie 2014
Michael Waddington: "Are Incompetent Civilian Lawyers Flooding the Military Justice System?" and more videos
Lessons from the Front Line of Front-End Content Development
Lessons from the Front Line of Front-End Content Development |
| Lessons from the Front Line of Front-End Content Development Posted: 09 Dec 2014 04:15 PM PST Posted by richardbaxterseo As content marketing evolves, the list of media you could choose to communicate your message expands. So does the list of technologies at your disposal. But without a process, a project plan and a tried and tested approach, you might struggle to gain any traction at all. In this post, based on my MozCon 2014 presentation, I'd like to share the high level approach we take while developing content for our clients, and the lessons we've learned from initial research to final delivery. Hopefully there are some takeaways for you to enhance your own approach or make your first project a little less difficult. This stuff is hard to doI hate to break it to you, but the first few times you attempt to develop something a little more innovative, you're going to get burned. Making things is pretty tough and there are lots of lessons to learn. Sometimes you'll think your work is going to be huge, and it flops. That sucks, move on, learn and maybe come back later to revisit your approach. To structure and execute a genuinely innovative, successful content marketing campaign, you need to understand what's possible, especially within the context of your available skills, process, budget, available time and scope. You'll have a few failures along the journey, but when something goes viral, when people respond positively to your work – that, friends, feels amazing. What this post is designed to addressIn the early days of SEO, we built links. Email outreach, guest posting, eventually, infographics. It was easy, for a time. Then, Penguin came and changed everything. Our industry learned that we should be finding creative and inventive ways to solve our customers' problems, inspire, guide, help – whatever the solution, an outcome had to be justified. Yet still, a classic habit of the SEO remained: the need to decide in what form the content should be executed before deciding on the message to tell. I think we've evolved from "let's do an infographic on something!" to "I've got a concept that people will love – should this be long form, an interactive, a data visualization, an infographic, a video, or something else?" This post is designed to outline the foundations on an approach you can use to enhance your approach to content development. If you take one thing away from this article, let it be this: The first rule of almost anything: be prepared or prepare to fail. This rule definitely applies to content development! Understand the technical environment you're hosting your content inNever make assumptions about the technical environment your content will be hosted in. We've learned to ask more about technical setup of a client's website. You see, big enterprise class sites usually have load balancing, pre-rendering, and very custom JavaScript that could introduce technical surprises much too late in the process. Better to be aware of what's in store than hope your work will be compatible with its eventual home. Before you get started on any development or design, make sure you've built an awareness of your client's development and production environments. Find out more about their CMS, code base, and ask what they can and cannot host. Knowing more about the client's development schedule, for example how quickly a project can be uploaded, will help you plan lead times into your project documentation. We've found that discussing early stage ideas with your client's development team will help them visualise the level of task required to get something live. Involving them at this early stage means you're informed on any potential risk in technology choice that will harm your project integrity later down the line. Initial stakeholder outreach and ideationWay back at MozCon 2013, I presented an idea called "really targeted outreach". The concept was simple: find influential people in your space, learn more about the people they influence, and build content that appeals to both. We've been using a similar methodology for larger content development projects: using social data to inspire the creative process gathered from the Twitter Firehose and other freely available tools, reaching out to identified influencers and ask them to contribute or feedback on an idea. The trick is to execute your social research at a critical, early stage of the content development process. Essentially, you're collecting data to gain a sense of confidence in the appeal of your content. We've made content with such a broad range of people involved, from astronauts to butlers working at well known, historic hotels. With a little of the right approach to outreach, it's amazing how helpful people can be. Supplemented by the confidence you've gained from your data, some positive results from your early stage outreach can really set a content project on the right course. My tip: outreach and research several ideas and tell your clients which was most popular. If you can get them excited and behind the idea with the biggest response then you'll find it easier to get everyone on the same page throughout your project. Asset collection and researchNow, the real work begins. As I've written elsewhere, I believe that the depth of your content, it's accuracy and integrity is an absolute must if it is to be taken seriously by those it's intended for. Each project tends to be approached a little differently, although I tend to see these steps in almost every one: research, asset collection, storyboarding and conceptual illustration. For asset collection and research, we use a tool called Mural.ly – a wonderful collaborative tool to help speed up the creative process. Members of the project team begin by collecting relevant information and assets (think: images, quotes, video snippets) and adding them to the project. As the collection evolves, we begin to arrange the data into something that might resemble a timeline: After a while, the story begins to take shape. Depending on how complex the concept is, we'll either go ahead with some basic illustration (a "white board session") or we'll detail the storyboard in a written form. Here's the Word document that summarised the chronological order of the content we'd planned for our Messages in the Deep project: And, if the brief is more complex, we'll create a more visual outline in a whiteboard session with our designers: How do you decide on the level of brief needed to describe your project? Generally, the more complex the project, the more important a full array of briefing materials and project scoping will be. If, however, we're talking simpler, like "long form" article content, the chances are a written storyboard and a collection of assets should be enough. Over time, we've learned how to roll out content that's partially template based, rather than having to re-invent the wheel each time. Dan's amazing Log File Analysis guide was reused when we decided to re-skin the Schema Guide, and as a result we've decided to give Kaitlin's Google Analytics Guide the same treatment. Whichever process you choose, it helps to re-engage your original contributors, influencers and publishers for feedback. Remember to keep them involved at key stages – if for no other reason than to make sure you're meeting their expectations on content they'd be willing to share. Going into developmentObviously we could talk all day about the development process. I think I'll save the detail for my next post, but suffice it to say we've learned some big things along the way. Firstly, it's good to brief your developers well before the design and content is finalised. Particularly if there are features that might need some thought and experimental prototyping. I've found over time that a conversation with a developer leads to a better understanding of what's easily possible with existing libraries and code. If you don't involve the developers in the design process, you may find yourself committed to building something extremely custom, and your project timeline can become drastically underestimated. It's also really important to make sure that your developers have had the opportunity to specify how they'd like the design work to be delivered; file format; layers and sizing for different break points are all really important to an efficient development schedule and make a huge difference to the agility of your work. Our developers like to have a logical structure of layers and groups in a PSD. Layers and groups should all be named and it's a good idea to attach different UI states for interactive elements (buttons, links, tabs, etc.), too. Grid layouts are much preferred although it doesn't matter if it's 1200px or 960px, or 12/16/24 columns. As long as the content has some structure, development is easier. As our developers like to say: Because structure = patterns = abstraction = good things and in an ideal world they prefer to work with style tiles. LaunchingBig content takes more promotion to get that all important initial traction. Your outreach strategy has already been set, you've defined your influencers, and you have buy in from publishers. So, as soon as your work is ready, go ahead and tell your stakeholders it's live and get that flywheel turning! My pro tip for a successful launch is be prepared to offer customised content for certain publishers. Simple touches, like The Washington Post's animated GIF idea was a real touch of genius – I think some people liked the GIF more than the actual interactive! This post on Mashable was made possible by our development of some of the interactive to be iFramed – publishers seem to love a different approach, so try to design that concept in right at the beginning of your plan. From there, stand back, measure, learn and never give up! That's it for today's post. I hope you've found it informative, and I look forward to your comments below. Sign up for The Moz Top 10, a semimonthly mailer updating you on the top ten hottest pieces of SEO news, tips, and rad links uncovered by the Moz team. Think of it as your exclusive digest of stuff you don't have time to hunt down but want to read!       | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| The #LocalUp Advanced 2015 Agenda Is Here Posted: 09 Dec 2014 03:31 AM PST Posted by EricaMcGillivray You may heard that in partnership with Local U, we're putting on a local SEO conference called LocalUp Advanced on Saturday, February 7. We're super-thrilled to be able to dive more into the local SEO space and bring you top speakers in the field for a one-day knowledge explosion. We're expecting around 125-150 people at our Seattle headquarters, so this is your chance to really chat with speakers and attendees one-to-one with a huge return on investment. Moz Pro or Local U Subscribers $699 LocalUp Advanced 2015 Agenda
And if that doesn't quite tickle your fancy... Workshops!We'll also be hosting workshops with our speakers, which are amazing opportunities for you to dig into your specific questions and issues. I know, sometimes I get a little shy to ask questions in front of a crowd or just want to socialize at the after party, so this a great opportunity to get direct feedback.
See you in February, friends. And please, don't hesitate to reach out if you have any questions! Sign up for The Moz Top 10, a semimonthly mailer updating you on the top ten hottest pieces of SEO news, tips, and rad links uncovered by the Moz team. Think of it as your exclusive digest of stuff you don't have time to hunt down but want to read!     | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Seth's Blog : The thing about a clean sheet of paper
The thing about a clean sheet of paper
...is that it still has edges.
It's tempting to believe that creativity comes from starting fresh. But even when we start fresh, we approach projects and problems with self-created boundaries.
You can't do real work without edges, without something to leverage, but those edges don't have to be the same edges as everyone else uses.
Creative people often excel because they change the shape of the clean sheet.
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marți, 9 decembrie 2014
Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis
Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis |
- CIA Torture Reports: Frozen to Death; Rectal Rehydration, Broken Limbs; 54 Countries Assist US; Dick Cheney War Criminal
- Temper Tantrum in Greece; Snap Elections May Pave Way for Eurozone Exit; Expect Bribes
- Physical Gold and Silver vs. Paper Gold and Silver: How Much Markup Are You Willing to Pay?
- ECB Kills Covered Bond Market; Buyers of Only Resort; Japanization of Europe Continues
| Posted: 09 Dec 2014 04:36 PM PST Today the US released its CIA report on torture. The results are shocking. For example, the New York Times provides 7 Key Points From the C.I.A. Torture Report.
Here's the full 525-page sanitized and redacted Congressional Study on CIA Torture. Various reports and excerpts follow: Rectal Rehydration, Broken Limbs, 180 Hrs of Sleep Deprivation The Guardian reports Rectal Rehydration and Broken Limbs: Grisliest Findings in CIA Torture Report. While parts of the programme had been known – and much more will never be revealed – the catalogue of abuse is nightmarish and reads like something invented by the Marquis de Sade or Hieronymous Bosch.Frozen to Death At COBALT, the CIA interrogated in 2002 Gul Rahman, described as a suspected Islamic extremist. He was subjected to "48 hours of sleep deprivation, auditory overload, total darkness, isolation, a cold shower and rough treatment".Forgotten Man Chained to a Wall One CIA interrogator at COBALT reported that "'literally, a detainee could go for days or weeks without anyone looking at him', and that his team found one detainee who 'as far as we could detrmined', had been chained to a wall in a standing position for 17 days'.' Some prisoners were said to be like dogs in kennels: "When the doors to their cells were pened, 'they cowered.'"Lies What did all of this accomplish? The answer as any rational person might speculate is "nothing". Please consider Senate Report on CIA Torture Claims Spy Agency Lied About 'Ineffective' Program. Also consider Stop Believing the Lies: America Tortured More than 'Some Folks' – and Covered It Up. For the past few days, we have seen many of the same resentful politicians and former CIA leaders in charge of the torture-denial regime being handed virtual royalty status by the American media to respond to pre-emptively respond to the report without much of any pushback. Dick Cheney basically got to write his own interview in the New York Times, while Michael Hayden, the former NSA and CIA director in charge of lying to the Senate for years, was handed softball after softball by Bob Schieffer of CBS News to make his case. It is borderline propaganda.Still Classified Borderline propaganda? No, it's blatantly obvious political propaganda of the worst kind. By the way, the full committee study, at 6,700 pages, remains classified. What the hell else has yet to be disclosed? Map: 54 Countries Assist US Vox has a nice Map of 54 countries that helped the CIA with its torture-linked rendition program. The CIA torture program was even bigger than the details released in the Senate Intelligence Committee torture report might suggest. The reason is that the CIA didn't just have its own torture program, run out of its "black site" secret detention and torture prisons broad. It also used a vast network of other countries to help capture, detain, transport, and, yes, torture detainees.Cheney Praises Torture Yesterday, in advance of the release, Former Vice President Dick Cheney Dismissed Senate Report. The reported conclusion by the Senate Intelligence Committee that the C.I.A. misled the White House, he added, "is just a crock." "They deserve a lot of praise," Mr. Cheney said. "As far as I'm concerned, they ought to be decorated, not criticized." Dick Cheney War Criminal My take is that Dick Cheney is a war criminal. He should be tried in a court of law, and if justice is served, sentenced to death and buried in the same grave as Sadaam Hussein. The same goes for everyone involved in the torture schemes especially former CIA director George Tenet. There is absolutely no excuse for this kind of behavior. Ever. By the way, at a meeting on December 12, 2002, Tenet assured president Bush that the evidence that Iraq had WMDs amounted to a "slam dunk case." Obama's Limp Response Today president Obama issued this limp response: "I hope that today's report can help us leave these techniques where they belong, in the past. ... It reinforces my long-held view that these harsh methods were not only inconsistent with our values as nation, they did not serve our broader counterterrorism efforts or our national security interests." No charges will be filed and the rest of the classified report will be swept under the rug. And just two days ago Obama transferred Six Guantanamo Detainees to Uruguay. The detainees were a Tunisian, a Palestinian and four Syrians who were captured in Pakistan and Afghanistan more than a decade ago and turned over to U.S. forces. "Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel initially was reluctant to approve the transfer."Obama's Promise to Close Guantánamo Bay Torture Facility In 2008 president Obama promised to close our Guantánamo Bay Detention Facility in Cuba. We are still there. On January 28, 2013, The Wire posted a Timeline of Obama's Failed Promise to Close Gitmo noting "the office responsible for closing the prison has itself been closed." On January 22, 2014, the National Journal reported Five Years After Obama Vowed to Shut It Down, Guantanamo Bay Remains Open. "The pace of the push to close the controversial camp has slowed in recent years, and doesn't show signs of picking up."Why is the US Still in Cuba? Can anyone please explain why the US is still running a torture operation in Cuba? Obviously not. As usual, it's nothing but a pack of lies from this president. Color Me Cynical As far as torture goes, I am cynical of Obama's announcements. I suspect the biggest change will be for the CIA to stop putting its torture practices in reports as opposed to actually stopping the torture. Cynicism aside, there is a zero percent chance president Obama will ever hold those responsible for the torture accountable. Mike "Mish" Shedlock http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com |
| Temper Tantrum in Greece; Snap Elections May Pave Way for Eurozone Exit; Expect Bribes Posted: 09 Dec 2014 02:02 PM PST Yesterday, Greek prime minister Antonis Samaras called a snap presidential election hoping to retain power even though he failed to deliver on his promise to end Greece's €245bn troika-sponsored bailout. Today, the markets threw a fit. Yield on the Greek 10-year bond soared from 7.258% to 8.17%. This is below the spike high on October 16, but the trend is clear. Yield is up 257 basis points (2.57 percentage points) since September 10. Greece 10-Year Bond Yield  I commented on this on October 16, predicting snap elections: Greece 10-Year Bond Yield Soars to 9% as Prime Minister's Gambit Explodes; Snap Elections Likely, and Opposition Syriza Would Win. The hissy fit resumed today, following the actual snap elections announcement. Athens Composite Stock Index  That was the biggest one-day decline since December 1987. Balk shares led the way. Attica Bank lost over 26% and Piraeus Bank declined 17%. Exit Fears Once Again in Greece The Financial Times reports Snap Election in Greece Reignites Fears for Eurozone Greece's political woes re-erupted as a threat to global financial stability yesterday, triggering the biggest drop on the Athens stock exchange since the 1980s and sending reverberations through world markets.Question at Hand Will the stock market decline and surge in yields help or hurt Samaras? Certainly the political class in Greece, in Germany, in France, in the US and for that matter everywhere will be out in full force denouncing Syriza. Nonetheless, Samaras will fail on the first two presidential votes. It's the third vote that matters. In the past, the IMF, EU, and other outside influences swayed enough politicians to matter. It's by no means certain they can do so again. National Elections vs. Presidential Election By the way, these aforementioned snap elections are to elect the president, a largely ceremonial post. The Greek constitution mandates dissolution of Parliament and a national election should the Greek parliament fail to appoint a president. Syriza holds a substantial lead in national elections.  Expect Bribes If it appears the final vote for president is headed the wrong way, watch German Chancellor Angela Merkel come out with some wishy-washy praise for Samaras including some small offer of debt relief or other favors. If threats and praise do not work but the vote is close, there's always money under the table to buy a few needed votes. Should bribes fail, expect the stock and bond markets to react with even greater volatility ahead of the next national election because Syriza party leader, Alexis Tsipras, threatens to renegotiate Greek debt. Mike "Mish" Shedlock http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com |
| Physical Gold and Silver vs. Paper Gold and Silver: How Much Markup Are You Willing to Pay? Posted: 09 Dec 2014 10:57 AM PST I am a gold bull, but I am also concerned about seriously misleading hype regarding alleged shortages. For example, a friend recently emailed an article that contained this claim: Gold Selling for at least 50% over Spot in Asia-Rob Kirby. According to Rob Kirby "In the Asian market, if you could find physical bullion as cheap as spot plus 50%, you'd be doing really, really, really well and you'd be hard pressed to find serious tonnage at that price in Asia."Misleading Gold Hype Kirby's statement is purposeful hype. The phrase that Kirby relies on to make his statement semi-factual is "serious tonnage of bullion". However, people don't generally buy serious tonnage of bullion. Instead, they buy bars. Even with that phrase, I would expect arbitrage to whittle away at the alleged 50% markup. Markups normally decline the more one buys. Anyone can ascertain that by checking refinery, mint and bullion dealer prices for direct sales online. Of course, if someone demands "tonnage" of bullion or coins and "tonnage" is not available, then one cannot readily get it at any price. Regardless, the average person can buy physical gold and silver in small or large quantities with very tiny markups. I will mention numerous ways in just a moment but first let's consider silver. Silver Bars and Coins Reader Mark emailed me a few weeks ago when silver was trading at $15.72. Mark complained that his dealer wanted $24.50 for an American Silver Eagle (ASE). That's a markup of $8.78, nearly 56% over spot! On silver bars, the dealer markup was spot plus $3.50. That's a markup of about 22%. That small coins and bars are so expensive does not mean there is a shortage of silver. Nor does it mean there is a difference between physical silver and paper silver. All it means is there is a shortage of silver eagles and small bars. I believe it's crazy to pay such prices. And although I am pretty sure one can find better dealers with lower markups, coins and small bars are simply not the best way to go in my opinion. Three Options Mark asked me for some options. I noted three of the most popular vault options for gold and silver, but there are others. Here is my standard reply to such inquiries: In general, I do not recommend purchasing gold and silver coins and small bars because the markup is generally very high. There are additional concerns and risks should you want to sell your holdings. Finally, should you decide to take delivery yourself, there are ongoing storage concerns, including insurance.Please do your own due diligence. There are numerous alternatives and you may find an alternative you like better. The important point is that unless you insist on taking immediate possession of small quantities of silver and gold, there are numerous ways you can buy physical gold, silver, and platinum at tiny markups. And as long as you can buy precious metals at small markups, these stories of physical metal prices vs. paper metal prices are purposeful hype. Mike "Mish" Shedlock http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com |
| ECB Kills Covered Bond Market; Buyers of Only Resort; Japanization of Europe Continues Posted: 09 Dec 2014 12:59 AM PST ECB president Mario Draghi set out to stimulate bank lending by purchasing covered bonds. Yields plunged, which is precisely what Draghi wanted. Now, the average covered bond yield of 0.53% is so low that investors won't touch them. Numerous bond deals have been cancelled due to lack of demand. The buyer of only resort is the ECB. This all transpired since September. Please consider ECB Blamed for Covered Bond Shortage. Covered bond supply has reached its lowest level in nearly two decades as the European Central Bank has been accused of crowding out investors from the market by pushing up prices and depressing yields.Japanization of Europe Continues Economic madness did not help Japan, and it will not cure Europe either. But Central Bankers do not care about losses or failures. Central bank policy remains: "If it doesn't work, do more of it". And so they will, On December 4, the ECB announced a Broad Stimulus Plan, All Assets but Gold on the Table for Purchase. ECB President Mario Draghi said that policy makers "won't tolerate" a prolonged period of low inflation, and that officials discussed "all assets but gold" as potential targets for purchases. The council asked internal committees last month to design new unconventional stimulus measures to help fuel growth and inflation.Japan issued numerous statements of a similar nature over the past two decades. And after decades of fighting deflation with more debt hoping to spur inflation (an amazingly counterproductive strategy), Japan is caught in a trap of its own making. Japan wants inflation but it's balance sheet is so bloated that a rise in interest rates of a mere 2% or so would consume 100% of government revenue. No investors would touch Japanese bonds in this setup. Buyers of Only Resort The buyer of only resort for Japanese government bonds is the Bank of Japan. The ECB is on a similar same path. Having cornered covered bonds, the ECB wants to expand the program to other assets. The Law of Bad Ideas is clearly in play. Mike "Mish" Shedlock http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com |
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