julie ferenzi: The Best Of Julie Ferenzi - This Is Not The End - 07/14/07 06:04 AM
I STARTED WRITING THIS POST WEEKS AGO. I started Right after Julie Ferenzi emailed me early one evening to say she was contacted by a Wall Street Journal writer to be interviewed because of her blogs.
She was giddy. You could see the smiles in every word of her email. Later we were instant messaging and every three or four messages she'd throw in, "Wall Street Journal :)" So, as a way of celebrating her joy, I thought I'd do a best of Julie Ferenzi post.
I was going to post it that day, but I decided to wait until the … (33 comments)

julie ferenzi: The Power Of A Plainfield Mom: YEO In Action - 05/15/07 02:49 AM
"When Julie Ferenzi of Plainfield read an online journal about a baby boy who was given six to eights weeks to live and needed a bone marrow donor, she went into action." Catherine Ann Velasco, The Herald News
Several weeks ago, you may remember a post by Julie Ferenzi entitled, This Has Nothing To Do With Real Estate But Everything To Do With Humanity. She wrote about a little boy named Trevor Kott who urgently needed a bone marrow transplant. She wrote from her heart. "I don't know why I feel it is my duty to help this family find this very … (28 comments)

julie ferenzi: What Rufus Xavier Sarsparilla Can Teach Us About SEO and YEO - 04/18/07 04:11 PM
I can  find "Rufus Xavier Sarsaparilla", but I can't find "he, him, or his."
It hit me as I was actively singing along to my kid's Schoolhouse Rock CD, that I unconsciously use pronouns for exactly the reasons that my favorite Schoolhouse Rock song describes. My favorite is called "Rufus Xavier Sarsaparilla." I loved it when I was a kid and I love it now. My kids get a kick out of me belting it out at the top of my lungs.
Here's the best part of the song:
Now I could tell you Rafaella Gabriela and Rufus Xavier Sarsaparilla and Albert Andreas Armadillo … (71 comments)

julie ferenzi: Promoting Community Events: A Video Chat With Julie - 04/16/07 12:43 PM
Since Julie Ferenzi is a couple thousand miles away, we use a variety of methods to communicate. 
Of course there's the old school telephone conversation. There's email and instant messaging as well. But my favorite is Video Chat. I'm on a Mac, so I'm using iChat and Julie is logging on via AIM on the PC. Today I recorded one of our sessions. I thought I'd record one of our sessions for a couple of reasons.
First, I wanted you to get to know Julie a little bit better. She's a Mother of four, so dealing with the pressures of starting out in … (33 comments)

julie ferenzi: Pimp My Blog: Give Your Blog A New Paint Job - 04/16/07 09:21 AM
Popular Wordpress blog themes are popular for a reason. They're good and they work. They're well written and come with the most features. But it also means lots of blogs will have the potential to look just like yours.
Julie Ferenzi's blog, Living In Plainfield, uses the Misty Look Theme by Sadish Bala. It is one of the top ten most downloaded themes for Wordpress. We chose this Wordpress theme for its clean look, wide post window and customizable header. But even after we changed the header, I would see other blogs using the same theme with the same basic color … (27 comments)

julie ferenzi: Project Blogger Has Me Screaming "Wufoo!" - 04/14/07 02:14 AM
Just so I make this perfectly clear... I did not set out to be the "gadget guy," Ines!
Or the "Wizard of Widgets" or the "Potentate of Plugins." Project Blogger is making me do this. I swear. Julie Ferenzi needs things for her Living In Plainfield, Illinois blog. One of my jobs as her coach is to teach her how to find and use really great tools. So I search until I find something I think will work for her.
Julie needed a contact form. 
Julie wanted a form to capture specific information. Julie wanted to be notified when someone filled out … (51 comments)

julie ferenzi: It's Not About SEO. It's About YEO. - 04/09/07 12:23 PM
The focus on search engine optimization in blogging is a distraction.
For the Project Blogger competition, I've actually told Julie Ferenzi to stop thinking about it. She was becoming a little fixated on the search engines finding her and was spending a lot of time reading about how to get good search engine placement. It didn't surprise me.
SEO tends to dominate discussions about the benefits of blogging and it shouldn't. Don't get me wrong, I'm a geek. (Did I say that out loud?) I like the "science" of SEO. I read as much as I can on the topic. … (145 comments)

julie ferenzi: Project Blogger: Let's Get This Party Started - 03/15/07 06:09 AM
"Never give a party if you'll be the most interesting person there." - Mickey Friedman
Even if I'm not giving a party, I still don't want to go if I'm going to be the most interesting person there. That's why I accepted the Project Blogger invitation. Look around at the other invited guests. I may just be the wall flower of the group! Yeah, that's my kind of party. That's why I'm here.
I'm here because I like a challenge. I'm here because I have some ideas that I'd like to try. I'm here because having a guinea pig to try these … (23 comments)