[InfoGraphic of the Week] The Growth of Social Media

August 31, 2011 Blog No Comments

Social media — and social networks, in particular, have been growing by leaps and bounds. Few other areas of digital media have grow as quickly. The impact of “social” can be felt all around the web, and increasingly, in the physical world. This infographic, while not as up-to-date on some of the metrics it represents visually, gets the main point across. Social is important — no, critical — to business success in the always-on world in which we live. What do you think? Is social changing the organization for which Read the full article…

Help Us Update Our Image: The Content Wrangler Logo Design Contest

August 30, 2011 Blog 1 Comment

Are you a graphic artist or logo designer with a flair for smart design that works well in our socially-connected world? If so, now’s your chance to prove it — and earn $500 cash. The Content Wrangler is seeking submissions for a new corporate logo. What’s needed is a logo set that works in many places (on this blog, as well as on social network profile pages on Twitter and Facebook) where size requirements are exacting. What we’re looking for The trend is toward logos that are square — they Read the full article…

[Infographic of the Week] A Visual Explanation of Crowd Sourcing

August 26, 2011 Blog No Comments

Created by social media strategy company oBizMedia.com.Show them some love. Visit their site and check out their other work.

Software Advice Answers Common Questions about SaaS

August 26, 2011 Blog No Comments

by Derek Singleton, ERP Market Analyst at Software Advice Software as a service (SaaS) is finally starting to reach a tipping point and is being seriously considered as a viable alternative to on-premise software solutions. At Software Advice, we’re noticing an increased interest in SaaS. However, we’re also noticing that buyers have a ton of questions and aren’t completely tuned-in to the technology, or the “cloud” computing phenomenon. Since we know there must be many others in the same position as the buyers we speak with, I recently decided to Read the full article…

Continuing Education: Reserve Your Place At XML Summer School, University of Oxford

August 25, 2011 Blog No Comments

by Joe Gollner, Director of Gnostyx Research One question that comes up with some frequency is “how can an organization build up an in-house technical competence with XML?” This is a slightly different question than “how do I introduce my content teams to working with XML editing tools?” The latter question is a very important one but it is also one that is best addressed, in my experience, using customized training programs that are integrated into the work activities of the content teams and delivered in increments over a period Read the full article…

Free Ebook: Winning The “Zero Moment Of Truth”

August 25, 2011 Uncategorized No Comments

Google has a new eBook they’d like you to read — it’s free. It’s called Winning the “Zero Moment of Truth”, a powerful new eBook by Jim Lecinski, Google’s Managing Director of US Sales & Service and Chief ZMOT Evangelist. Jim shares how to get ahead at this critical new marketing moment, supported by exclusive market research, personal stories, and insights from C-level executives at global leaders like General Electric, Johnson & Johnson, and VivaKi. Google says, “if you’re a marketer, a CEO, a sales rep, or an aspiring entrepreneur, Read the full article…

Mashing It Up For Your Enjoyment: The Content Wrangler Interview With DJ Clivester

August 24, 2011 Blog No Comments

by Scott Abel, The Content Wrangler I love music. All types of music. But I have a special love for dance music — remixes, white labels and mashups, specifically. DJ Clivester is one of my favorite mashup artists. One part musician one part magician, Clivester creates seamless audio masterpieces by combining snippets of voice recordings and other audio sounds with tracks from various musical artists. The result: A totally new creation, made from recycled audio. And, they’re amazingly addictive to listen to. In this exclusive interview, I chat with the Read the full article…

Personas in User Experience

August 23, 2011 Blog 2 Comments

by Theresa Putkey Creating user personas is a fantastic way to get stakeholders to focus during design and content creation. You’re not just designing or writing for people who like… well, everything… you’re designing for that particular someone who likes to do something particular. I always say, “Ask for what you want and you’ll get it. If you don’t ask, people won’t know what you want.” This article is for designers and writers looking to create more effective designs and write more effective content. For designers, whether they be information Read the full article…

[Webinar] Kristina Halvorson: Don’t Overlook Governance! Understanding The Need For Control In A Web Content Strategy

August 18, 2011 Blog 1 Comment

Friday, August 19, 2011 10:00 AM – 11:00 AM PDT — Register today! In an agile world, the need for speed is critical, especially in highly competitive markets. The web allows us to publish information quickly — in near real-time, from an increasing array of mobile devices — and to make changes to our content on demand. While streamlining content production processes and being able to react quickly to threats from the competition is a good thing, the lack of control — or more specifically, governance — is troublesome. Far Read the full article…

[Webinar] Managing the King: Why Terminology Management is a Critical Component of Successful Content Strategies

August 16, 2011 Blog 1 Comment

August 18, 2011, join Val Swisher, CEO of Content Rules, for a lively discussion with Scott Abel, The Content Wrangler, about the importance of adopting terminology management as part of an effective content strategy. The discussion will highlight the need for managing writers and corporate terminology at a strategic level to ensure that relevant, quality content is provided to those who need it. Scott and Val will discuss the terminological disconnect between organizations (writers, editors, strategists, marketers, IT and management) and the customers they seek to attract, inform, entice and Read the full article…

The Best Minds In The Business Join The Content Wrangler For Content Strategy Day at tcworld 2011

August 8, 2011 Blog 1 Comment

by Scott Abel, The Content Wrangler There’s been a lot of talk about content strategy, but few people truly understand what a content strategy is and what’s involved in creating one. That’s because content strategy is a relatively new discipline and its practitioners don’t all use a universal set of practices. Nor do they follow the same standards or collect the same metrics. They don’t share a common vocabulary. They come from a wide variety of backgrounds, each with a different focus. The end result is confusion. That’s why The Read the full article…

Join The [Technical] Conversation: An Argument For Open Software Documentation

August 5, 2011 Blog 3 Comments

by Amanda Cross, Documentation Manager, ExactTarget [Editor's Note: Don't miss "How Interactive Documentation Builds Corporate Value (and Esteem from your Colleagues)" Friday, August 12 at 10am PDT/1pm EDT -- a free, one-hour discussion between Scott Abel, The Content Wrangler, and Amanda Cross, Documentation Manager, ExactTarget.] Many people I encounter, even very tech savvy people who have active online lives, are shocked and frightened by the notion of making their product’s technical documentation openly available on the Internet and indexable by search engines, let alone trying to incorporate it into the Read the full article…