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Archives for February 2010

Scribe SEO Plugin: Love at First Site

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Yankee legend Mickey Mantle worded it this way:  “It’s unbelievable how much you don’t know about the game you’ve been playing all your life.” – Mickey Mantle

Starbucks legend Joi words it this way: “Holy cats. I didn’t know what I thought I knew.“

Funny, isn’t it? You can do something for what seems like your whole life and then suddenly realize that you didn’t know quite as much as you thought you did.  It happened to me recently and I’m still reeling.  You might think this would be a distressing, sickening feeling but, truth be told, I’m completely invigorated and excited.

Knowledge does that to me.  Especially when it comes bearing fruit such as new horizons, fresh opportunities, and unlimited possibilities.

As you know, I’ve been working online for well over 12 years.   Currently, I have 14 blogs and websites.   When it comes to traffic, generating income, and so on – the majority of them do quite well.   They’re like kids.  Some are over-achievers, some are under achievers, and some are so quiet, I forget they’re even in the room.

Since I work from home, I”m allowed the luxury of researching seo (search engine optimization), themes, plugins, and so forth.  I know (and use) the best themes online and work hard to stay on top of the best plugins, optimization practices, and so on.  Quite honestly, I thought I was sitting on a seriously impressive amount of information and skill.  Then…..

“Holy cats! I didn’t know what I thought I knew.“

I recently installed the Scribe SEO Copywriting Made Simple plugin on a few of my blogs and have been overjoyed with what I’ve seen so far.   I want, not only to make my future posts and articles as SEO-friendly as possible, but to go back to older posts and perk them up as well.  You know, the early posts of a blog when you didn’t even know what SEO or Meta Descriptions were.   These old posts can still get traffic and they still have a lot to offer – but they’ll never reach their potential if no one knows they’re there.

Originally, I was going to use Scribe SEO  for a few weeks, or even a month, and see if the results were impressive enough to recommend to my readers.  As you know if you read Self Help Daily regularly, I absolutely, positively am not in the hait of recommending very many products or services. One of the reasons for this is that when I do – I want you to know I flat out mean business.  It’s also a personal thing, I hate, loathe, and despise any newsletter or blog that sees me as nothing but a dollar tree with nothing but bracelets and money on its branches.   If a product, tool, theme, or service convinces me that it could help some of the people I value the most (my readers) – I’ll share it with them.  But I hold these things under a magnifying glass for quite a while first.

The problem with this original “wait and see” plan was that I fell in love with Scribe on the first date.  Indeed, it was love at first site.

From Scribe SEO.com

In the old days, a scribe was a writer entrusted to record the most valuable and important information for kings, nobles, and cities.

These days, Scribe™ helps writers create content that gets found online, and that’s become as valued and important as any old scroll or parchment.

Scribe is an SEO software service for WordPress that analyzes the content of web pages, blog posts, online press releases, you name it… at the click of a button

Scribe is as easy to use as pouring a cup of coffee.  After installing and activating (easy, easy, easy), you simply write your post, article, or page as you normally would.  The Scribe Content Optimizer shows up on the right with the other WP-Admin widgets (Post Tags, Categories…).  When you think you’re finished, click the button that says Analyze.  In a few seconds, Scribe lets you know what you’ve done well and what you could improve upon.

Before installing Scribe, I knew it was going to be fantastic.  Brian Clark (Copyblogger) is behind it and he would never put his name on anything that wasn’t 100 percent golden.  Because of this, he has a reputation online that few attain and all desire.   However, over the years I’ve seen a lot of tools and services come around the bend.  Most of the time, you get either what you expected or less than you expected.  This is one of the few times when I got far more than I expected.

What Scribe Can Do For You

Okay, let’s get down to the heart of the matter.  I know a lot of my readers are bloggers.  I know a lot of you are very talented and successful authors with blogs and websites of your own.  I also have quite a few publicist friends who follow Self Help Daily.  While all of you are, no doubt, happy for me and my new beloved plugin, you’re no doubt wondering, “What can Scribe do for me?”

  • Scribe can help you rank better in the search engines – The better you rank, the more people will find you.
  • Scribe can free up the time you have to spend actively looking for visitors, buyers, prospects, etc.  This SEO tool will cause people to come to you rather than you having to go to them.
  • Scribe will give you a valuable education in SEO, keywords, meta descriptions, copywriting for search engine optimization, and so on.  If you desire a strong online presence and following, this education is priceless.
  • You won’t have to wonder if you did “this” or “that” right – Scribe will let you know… all with the click of one button.

Scribe as Your Own Personal SEO Assistant

I work online all day.  Everyday. I also am an avid cook who isn’t quite happy if she can’t spend at least a couple of hours each day cooking.  Add to this a house that refuses to clean itself, cats that think it’s always the right time to play, movies that must be watched, shopping that must be done,  flower and herb beds to work in, birds to watch, articles to write, daily exercise, and a host of other things that fall under the category LIFE.  Because of the blissful business, I’ve often thought, “How cool would it be to have an assistant?!”  Because I’m not trained in the ways of search engine optimization, the assistant in my fantasies always was an SEO genius.  And worked for free.  Well, I’d give her all the coffee she could drink.

Now I have my assistant and I don’t have to share my coffee.  The Scribe Content Optimizer is a virtual SEO assistant – sitting right beside you as you work, giving you advice and coaching you in the ways of  SEO.  What’s more, Scribe is very inexpensive.   I know for a fact that it could be priced higher than it is.  The opportunities that this service will open up are nothing short of outstanding.

When I first saw all that Scribe SEO entails and saw, firsthand, what it can do for my blogs/sites, I felt a little bit ill.  I couldn’t help wondering where my sites would be right now if I’d been utilizing these simple techniques all along.  I couldn’t help wondering how much more traffic my sites could have, how much better they’d rank in Google, how many more advertisers I could have generated, and so on.

Then it occurred to me, the game is far from over.  I can create search engine friendly posts forevermore AND go back and tweak all of  my older posts.  After all, it’s a never-ending game.  The sweet thing is Scribe just put Albert Pujols in my starting line up.

Batter up!

I strongly urge you to go immediately to Scribe SEO Copywriting Made Simple and give yourself the edge you need – not just to compete in the competitive world of blogging – but to win.  (This link is an affiliate link – but I had this post written and published BEFORE the affiliate program was even in place.)

SEO Copywriting Made Simple

EDIT:  I’ve had mad success with optimizing old posts as well as new posts thanks to the Scribe SEO plugin.  You know my “Save the World” complex?  It’s so kicking in – I wish I could put the Scribe SEO plugin in everyone’s arsenal.   Like I said at the first, I didn’t know what I thought I knew. Holy Cats.

Mickey Mantle: The Man Behind the Legend

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After I hit a home run I had a habit of running the bases with my head down. I figured the pitcher already felt bad enough without me showing him up rounding the bases. – Mickey Mantle

If there’s a better illustration of character, than the quote above gives, I’d love to see it.  In an era where most athletes love nothing more than gloating and showboating, Mickey Mantle could teach everyone a thing or two (or a gazillion) about what it really means to have character as well as talent.  After all, the talent will fade eventually whereas character never has to go anywhere.

As we lead up to Baseball season (I’m as big a baseball fan as you’ll ever find – whether it’s my St. Louis Cardinals or any random team, if there’s a baseball game on tv or the radio, you’ll know where to find me), I thought it’d be fun to look at a different baseball player each week and learn a little more about them.  I’ve pulled out some fantastic quotes and stories from some of these men and I know you’ll enjoy them, whether you’re a baseball fan or not.  (If you aren’t a baseball fan, please don’t tell me.  I… I… don’t want to see you like that.)

Mickey Mantle:  The Man Behind the Legend

Mickey Mantle was born in 1931 in Spavinaw, Oklahoma – a small town put on the map by the baseball giant.  Mickey’s parents were Elvin Charles Mantle and Lovell Mantle. Mickey’s dad, a huge baseball fan, named his son after Mickey Cochrane, a Hall of Fame catcher for the, then, Philadelphia Athletics.

Mickey Mantle always spoke very highly and lovingly of his father, calling him the bravest man he ever knew. “No boy ever loved his father more,” he said. Tragically, his father died of cancer in 1952 at the ridiculously young age of 39.  To compound the tragedy, he died just as his son’s amazing career was just getting started.

“A team is where a boy can prove his courage on his own. A gang is where a coward goes to hide.” – Mickey Mantle

Mickey Mantle was called up to the majors on April 7, 1951.   How’s this for high praise? – Joe DiMaggio, in his final season, called Mantle, “the greatest prospect I can remember.”

After a bit of a slump, Mantle was sent down to the Yankees’ top farm team, the Kansas City Blues. Possibly due to frustrations and putting too much pressure on himself, Mickey struggled and became so overwhelmed that he was ready to throw in the proverbial towel.   He even called his father one day and told him, “I don’t think I can play baseball anymore.”  Like any good father would, his dad drove up to Kansas City that very day. When he arrived, Mickey remembered that he said, “I thought I raised a man. I see I raised a coward instead. You can come back to Oklahoma and work the mines with me.”

The mines never saw the younger Mantle.

Mickey immediately broke out of his slump and after 40 games, he was called back to New York.  For good.

The great number 7 was retired by the New York Yankees in Mickey Mantle’s honor and he was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1974, as soon as he was eligible.

“I hated to bat against (Don) Drysdale. After he hit you he’d come around, look at the bruise on your arm and say, ‘Do you want me to sign it?'” – Mickey Mantle

Unfortunately, even great baseball players have their demons and Mickey’s was alcoholism.  He sought treatment and got the upper hand on the demon.  Sportscaster Pat Summerall was one of the main people who urged him to go to The Betty Ford Clinic.

Mickey Mantle spoke with great, deep-seeded remorse and heartache about his alcoholism in a 1994 Sports Illustrated story. He said that he was telling the same old stories, and realizing how much of them involved himself and others being drunk, and he decided they weren’t funny anymore.

“It was all I lived for, to play baseball.” – Mickey Mantle

He acknowledged that alcohol had caused him to often be hurtful or neglectful to his family, friends, and fans, and that he wanted to make things right.

Mickey Mantle became a born-again Christian thanks, in part, to his former teammate Bobby Richardson, an ordained Baptist minister who shared his faith with him.

Mickey died in Dallas on August 13, 1995.  During the first Yankee home game after his death, Eddie Layton played “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” on the organ because Mickey had once told him it was his favorite song.

In his eulogy, sportscaster Bob Costas described Mickey Mantle  as “a fragile hero to whom we had an emotional attachment so strong and lasting that it defied logic.” He added: “In the last year of his life, Mickey Mantle, always so hard on himself, finally came to accept and appreciate the distinction between a role model and a hero. The first, he often was not. The second, he always will be. And, in the end, people got it.”

“Somebody once asked me if I ever went up to the plate trying to hit a home run. I said, ‘Sure, every time.'” – Mickey Mantle

See Also: Quotes by Mickey Mantle

Respect: Is It a Word We’ve All But Forgotten?

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Every human being, of whatever origin, of whatever station, deserves respect. We must each respect others even as we respect ourselves. – U Thant

I’ve been thinking about respect lately. Not necessarily having respect for yourself and definitely not demanding respect from others. I’ve been thinking about respecting others and the blatant lack of this practice these days. I’m not a Pollyanna – I know we’ll all disagree with one another from time to time. I know there are some people who we’ll disagree with more often than we agree with them. Seriously, there are some individuals that I think would say grass was orange just to stir up a debate.

But this isn’t about the other person, is it? Respecting others begins in our own hearts and minds. If we consistently show a lack of respect toward others, the problem isn’t with them as much as it’s with us.

As you may know, I’m from the south – a fact that I’m very proud of… just as I’d be very proud to be from Minnesota or Iowa if my birth certificate boasted these states instead of Kentucky.   I think that being from the south often gives one a different view of the world. Maybe it’s the way we’re raised and the way our ancestors were raised, I don’t know. Anyway, where I come from….

  • men open doors for ladies
  • ladies appreciate the opened door, smile, and say “Thank You!“
  • men try very hard not to swear in front of women
  • men and women respect their Presidents, servicemen and women, Police Officers, etc.
  • The Bible is the Good Word – always has been, always will be
  • God is God.  He isn’t just a “higher power” or “the Man upstairs.”  (Come on, God isn’t such a hard name to say!)

The list goes on, but these are simply things I grew up with.  I suspect that many of you did as well – whether you’re from the north, south, east, or west.

Back to respect.

I am astounded lately at the number of people in the media, on blogs, in books, on television, and so on who show so much disrespect toward our Presidents –  Whether it’s President Obama or recent Presidents Carter, Clinton, Bush Sr. or Bush Jr.    I miss the day when people respected the office and the men in the office, whether they agreed with everything they stood for or not.

Yesterday, I was reading a really good (make that really, really, really good) book by an author who came across as highly intelligent, witty, and very gifted.  Then, out of the blue, this author referred to one of our recent presidents as a “fool.”  I re-read the passage again, to make sure I hadn’t taken it wrong.  This wasn’t even a political book for crying out loud.

A President.  In print.  A fool.  Not cool.

Men are respectable only as they respect. – Ralph Waldo Emerson

Again, I know I have different opinions than many people (including this author) and I have an incredibly idealistic view of the world.    I know that, I own it as surely as I own my obsession with chocolate.  I admit, I don’t even care for the comedians who mock President Obama or Sarah Palin.  I know that’s going too far on my part, but there you have it.  I also didn’t like a particular magazine cover that displayed Mrs. Palin in shorts (looking like she’d been working on a farm), with a headline asking what we were going to do about her. Where’s the respect in that?  You may not agree with everything she or President Obama do or say, but a level of respect isn’t so much to ask for.

After all, when we show respect to others it reflects directly upon us and the level of respect we command.  Do you respect disrespectful people? Neither do I.

Something else, while I’m on a roll.  I hate the unprofessional manner that a lot of people are doing business online.  To use your blog, forum, social media, or whatever platform to attack another person’s integrity, work, ethics, popularity, or even hairstyle (don’t know where that one came from to be honest) just isn’t cool.  You know what it’s like?  When one adult “calls out” another adult on their own turf, it’s like a 13 year old girl running down another 13 year old girl on her own MySpace.  It’s her turf, she can say whatever she wants about the other girl – vent, baby, vent!  What’s more, she can have her own friends respond and say, “You’re so right! I don’t like her either!”

But you can’t expect all 13 year old girls to have the maturity to take up disagreements and disputes face to face, without an audience.

Kids call names and try to create a “pick sides” atmosphere.  Adults don’t.  Adults shouldn’t.

Again, a lot of it comes down to our buzz word of the day: R-E-S-P-E-C-T.   Now I guess you found out what it means to me…

What does it mean to you?

Respect for ourselves guides our morals; respect for others guides our manners. – Laurence Sterne