Jean Gazis Copywriting & Content Services

Here's what the NY State Legislature has brought us:

• Candidates who run unopposed...
• Late budgets year after year...
• Meddling in New York City government...
• The current deadlock...

Whether they contributed to this mess or just let it happen on their watch, they aren't doing their job. Let's send a message to politicians everywhere: politics as usual will end your career. Pledge not to vote for any candidate who was a NY State Senator in June 2009, for any future office, ever again.

I couldn't agree more with this article in Chief Marketer on How to Earn Customer Loyalty. It's the kind of thing we all know, but can stand to be reminded of now and then.

Now that I think of it, isn't it astonishing how much bad customer service exists out there, considering that all of the people involved must certainly also be customers themselves in other contexts?

I've been working on promotions for Event Horizons, an Internet Week event hosted by Box of Rain (aka my other half) that happens tomorrow at Webster Hall. My role was to do a slew of website updates (including pulling together content such as speaker bios that were needed, setting up a webcast player, and just tweaking things in general), do some promotion such as online event listings, write a press release, and create this postcard graphic for an email blast.

I'm psyched to try out some of the new stuff that the conference speakers & panelists are developing, especially Zeitbyte and Mobify.

As of now, there are 500 quotations in my "Quote of the Day" compilation. Woo-hoo! They are an assortment of wise and funny words related to writing, marketing, websites, and life in general. I hope you enjoy them.

I just realized that there are actually two of my photos in the featured member photo on My.Nature.org, which is part of The Nature Conservancy's website. One is of my son on the beach at Coney Island (which generated one of the nicest comments I've ever seen!), and the other of my husband and another dad walking at Clarence Fahnestock State Park. They were promoting a theme of "Spring Outdoors," so I submitted a few shots of nature with actual people in them. Mine are the 4th and 5th images if you scroll down.

I spotted this blog item today, on what I suppose is a competitive site, but it's either link the competition or plagiarize, so link it is:

"Stay Home, Make Money
"They might be staying home but they are not making money.

"No one is Learning More.
"No one is getting the Free Report.
"No one is taking the Final Step.

"Why?
"None of the links actually work.

"Here is a prime example of no proofreading in action."

'Nuff said!

Another of my photos was featured in the Sierra Club's "Daily Ray of Hope" email today. This is my third one to have been selected – not bad, considering there are over 900 contributors and more than 10,000 pictures in the Flickr pool.

Photo Credit: Jean Gazis
Location: Prospect Park in Brooklyn, NY

I took this on a "hike" with my sons' Cub Scout pack on February 20, in Prospect Park. (Near the small bridge over the small waterfall at the West end of the water by the Audubon Center.)

Used with this quote:
"If facts are the seeds that later produce knowledge and wisdom, then the emotions and the impressions of the senses are the fertile soil in which the seeds must grow."
– Rachel Carson

Maybe I should go submit some quotations, too.

Ideally, OTHER peoples' mistakes. Here's a great bit of marketing advice for web developers on applying lessons learned from the things your users do wrong to improve your site on Gaspedal's "Damn, I Wish I'd Thought of That!. This is also a very good email newsletter - you can sign up on the blog.

It's always cool to see something linking two of my favorite topics! I found this blog post on The Language We Use via Drupal guy Michael Angeles's user experience blog. It's a discussion of how the words employed can shape thinking without the speaker being aware of it.

Excerpt: "what can be dangerous about design patterns is that some patterns get TOO ingrained in our minds. They become the only way we can even conceive doing X,Y,Z, and we freeze our creativity."

I got this link from a Facebook friend, and it's well worth a look for anyone interested in building better websites. 10 Harsh Truths About Corporate Websites by Paul Boag.

Here's a great quote: "if you build a website for everyone, it will appeal to no one." There are is also some great stuff on content management systems and social networking.