In October we're going on holiday to Skala in Kefalonia. We're staying at the Villa Costa, a small family-run hotel with just 7 rooms. Neither of us has been to Greece before and we're really excited about it - it'll be our first holiday for 12 months and it's been a busy year.
Skala wasn't our original destination. Back in January we made a booking for the luxurious Hyatt Regency in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, for the same week in October. It was expensive, but it looked worth it. We've been to Egypt before, cruising from Luxor to Aswan, and were looking forward to exploring Sharm.
Then in April the Egyptian government responded to the outbreak of H1N1 (known by the media as swine flu) by ordering the slaughter of more than 300,000 pigs. Putting aside the issues of potential religious persecution (the vast majority of pigs in Egypt are owned by Coptic Christians, the majority of the country being Muslim and non-pork-eaters), the bad science behind the cull (this is a human pandemic, the virus is not transmitted through pigs), and the potential public health implications (many of the pigs in Egypt are fed on organic waste which will now rot in situ), it was the nature of the cull that appalled us.
Few countries have the facilities to carry out a cull on this scale. The cull of cattle in the UK during the foot and mouth outbreak in spring 2001 showed how ill-prepared we were then. Although large numbers of cattle could be killed in a relatively humane fashion (although even here the use of captive bolt guns and intra-cardial injections was controversial), the logistics of disposing of the carcasses led to vast mass burial sites (up to 500,000 cattle in each) and the unforgettable pyres.
The solution in Egypt? Throw hundreds of live pigs on top of each other into dumper trucks, drive them some distance to mass graves, throw them into the pits and cover them, still alive, in chemicals including quicklime. This results in a lingering, painful death. It's a shocking way to treat any living thing, and as small-scale pig-keepers we know how sensitive pigs are.
Warning - you may find this video distressing.
So last month we cancelled our planned trip to Egypt, paid Sovereigh the 40 quid amendment fee, and saved about £1000 in the process. Some of this went to support Compassion in World Farming, who are campaigning for the Egyptian government to introduce animal welfare legislation outlawing this barbaric treatment of livestock.
We have a small problem: we can't move our ad budget through Google without compromising margins. As a result we decided to offer some money to the Yahoo people through their 'Sponsored Search' programme, which whilst sounding like the latest fund raising idea for the local primary school shares most of its characteristics with Google Adwords.
The initial sign-up process was largely uneventful although I'm not sure why all of the networks insist on the creation of a complete campaign, adgroup, keyword list and ad before being able to seriously look at how you're going to structure the account or anything else.
We had established that it was possible to upload our Google campaigns using csv files and chose the most straightforward example as our test - 6 ad groups in a single campaign. The import process starts with an export from the Google Adwords Editor. Top tip here is to only export one campaign at a time, since the Yahoo upload can get a bit lumpy otherwise.
Next you use the Yahoo interface to convert the file to its format before uploading it as a bona fide Sponsored Search campaign. This proved a bit tricky. The interface shows two fields where the link 'download' could be shown, unfortunately if there are errors in your file this lionk only appears in the comments box, and if you don't immediately realise that this combination of box and term are negative you assume all is well and try to continue.
At which point you have your first encounter with the message: 'The upload file you selected does not contain a valid header', which is Yahoo code for "You haven't sorted out the errors yet because you've taken this from the comments field and not the Converted Campaign File field where the nice downloads hang out".
The way you go about breaking the code is to do the same thing 3 or 4 times again before googling (sorry yahooing) the term and surfing the forums and blogs.
So if you're arriving here at this point in a similar journey I can tell you that "the upload file you selected does not contain a valid header" is almost certainly a result of negative keywords in the original Adwords Editor csv - just delete them, start again and you'll be back in business.... or will you?
No, you won't. Yahoo want to check your site out before running your ads and this will take them.... 3-5 business days!!
So our first impressions are, well none yet, unless we're talking about being a customer of Yahoo which, so far, is significantly less impressive than being a customer of their major competitor.
In May 2007 I started working with Turn2us, a then embryonic charity based in London. Their aim is to help people to to access money and support that is available to them, through benefits, charitable grants and other avenues.
Anita's story encapsulates what Turn2us is about - "Someone's there helping me in my time of need":
This series of videos is their first foray onto YouTube: if you enjoy them and want to support the aims of Turn2us please help to spread the word, or just give a nice rating. Ta.
I'm chuffed to say that this morning I passed my Google Adwords Professional examination and having fulfilled the other criteria of loitering for a while and giving Google a few bob in ad spend I can now sport the natty GAP logo.
Now the next step... Mooch is currently running 5 accounts with upwards of 3,400 adgroups and even though we've automated 95% of them (more of that in later posts) there's plenty to go at.
Our oldest account celebrates its first birthday on Monday and we've amassed a huge amount of practical knowledge (none of which appeared in the test...) that has made a significant impact on our effectiveness.
The single most important thing for us is (in the words of Douglas Adams) the 'fundamental interconnectedness of all things' that's to say all things in the customer journey. Therein lies the rub, the approaches we get from Search Engine Marketing (SEM) consultants only point at that end of the journey, they often revolve around a very limted number of keywords and they rarely concern themselves with the bigger picture of site structure and customer experience.
So we're thinking that someone needs to properly join the dots and that maybe it's us.....
It's about 18 months since Blether was last updated with any regularity, and I thought that an absence of that length deserved some explanation.
Just over two years ago I walked away from my safe, comfortable, gainful employment at Clackmannanshire Council to concentrate on my own business, Champion IS. It's been a big success, and I've been extremely fortunate to work on some fantastically interesting projects with a group of dedicated and talented individuals and companies.
Looking back I wish I'd made the time and found the energy to document that period of my life - I've learned more than I ever expected to, have been to some amazing places, and together with the teams I've worked with produced some quality work. The main reason I didn't post here was a lack of energy - over the past two years I've worked harder and longer hours than ever before, and coupled with an often stupid travel schedule (Johannesburg for the day being the stupidest) it left little for much else than family and sleep.
[As an aside and a preview of some future posts I've got lined up, here's my number one tip for anyone thinking of going freelance: the one thing you need that will earn you more money than anything else is enough sleep. The difference in your productivity between fully charged and dog-tired is exponential.]
My work through Champion IS has been diverse. Most people will know me from my web work in local government at Clacks, through speaking at Public Sector Forums and other events and the occasional bit of writing, and a good deal of my work over the past two years has been in the public sector:
As a consultant for London Councils during their redevelopment project, helping them develop their vision for their site, produce specifications and procure the most suitable CMS
As a strategist, most memorably with West Sussex County Council where we did some ground-breaking customer insights work as well.
A a trainer with lots of local authorities, most often covering accessibility, the fundamentals of HTML and CSS, and producing accessible PDFs
As an auditor, producing reports for bodies such as the Care Commission on their use of the web and plans for improvements
There will be case studies of some of these on the Champion IS site in the near future, once I get around to revamping it. We've got a fair bit of new public sector work on the horizon, and one particularly exciting new service in development, more of which anon.
One of the most fortunate and enjoyable working relationships I've developed has been with Landmark Consulting, in particular with the founder Alan Meekings. With Alan I've been fortunate enough to be involved in the birth of a new charity, to brainstorm in the South African bush, and to work with companies like Orange and Money Supermarket. I've also been lucky enough to work with and learn from top-notch web development companies like Reading Room and Clickthinking.
Business continues to be good, I'm having a ball and there's more to tell - in part two I'll talk about how Mooch Marketing came about.
My first ever blog..... a bit of an introduction maybe?
I have six suits because until 2 months ago I worked for a bank and suits were the order of the day... every day. I was considered something of a maverick as I mostly eschewed ties but that aside I was a 'suit'.
Now I wear anything really, my wardrobe and my day are my own. At the bank I had a role... I could explain it but we'd both be very bored before I finished - although at one point I was a 'senior leader' but they had to cut the junket numbers and I had that title revoked...
Now I'm a Web Publisher apparently (that's what I told my new bank and they didn't so much as snigger) and I'm talking to the world on a blog. As I look from side to side I see web standards, accessibility and the brave new world of the new economy....
I like it. I like the people who build inaccessibility for others to make accessible and I like wearing shorts and flip flops to work. I love the idea of affiliate marketing and decent price comparison. I'm amazed by Google with their analytics, adwords and webmaster tools.... such wonderful accessibility to every sort of data except that which tells you how (what) Google themselves think.
I think I'm going to like it here amongst the techies. I hope Mooch can do all of the things we want it to because more than anything I hope to throw away my suits....
When things started getting busy with the business, Blether was one of the first things to suffer. That maybe wasn't the wisest decision - apart from helping to make sure people don't forget I exist, blogging is good for your health, IMHO.
There have been many times since September (has it really been that long?) when venting my spleen or sharing a problem, or sharing a solution to a problem on Blether would have made me feel better, and potentially helped someone else feel better too.
Enough angst, Blether is in the process of resurrection (a few months too late to benefit from any Easter traffic) and is returning in some form. I'll be blethering (see what I did there, eh?) about different things, and being joined by my 'bro Mark. We're working together on various projects now, and this wind-swept, derelict place seemed like the ideal vehicle.
So thank you both for reading, there will be blood more.
One of the benefits of being freelance is the ability to dedicate more time to little side projects. I did this when I was fully employed, but without the freedom to pull an all-nighter when it was needed the possibilities were limited.
In our spare time for the past month or so my bro and I have been working on the first product of our new company, Mooch Marketing. It's called Wii Mooch, and if you own a Wii and live in the UK we hope you'll find it indispensible.
If you've got a Wii and have the time and the will to help us with testing let me know and we'll give you the keys to the backdoor. We're hoping to launch by next Friday, 19th September.
Even though none of the home countries feature in the european championships the anticipation is growing around these parts for what should be a cracking tournament. With so many top europeans playing in the english premiership there will still be plenty of home interest, and the inevitable Spanish under-achievement will remind us why it's maybe just as well England aren't there.
It's also going to be fun because we've just launched betMooch Euro 2008 Fantasy Footy. Sadly I can't actually claim any of the credit - it's almost all Cole's work and he's done a great job.
If you fancy putting together the ultimate team for the tournament head over to the website at http://euro2008.betmooch.co.uk/
Entry to the game is free and once registered you can set up your own custom leagues to pit your wits against friends, family, colleagues and arch-nemesi (sp?). There is even Steve McClaren's® Lucky Dip, so if you think Arshavin is something that should be done behind closed bathroom doors then get England's ex-manager to pick eleven random players for you.
If you do enjoy the site and think it is something others might be interested in then please do pass it on. The more the merrier and if interest is good then will see if we can sort some prizes out...
I've always been somewhat equivocal when it comes to choice of desktop operating system. For reasons of convenience more than anything else my personal and business workhorses have until now run on Microsoft OSes. I was a reasonably happy XP user for years - even if the experience of using it wasn't exactly a pleasure, it never got in the way of what I was trying to achieve.
Last summer my main office PC expired, and I had to get hold of a new one in a hurry. I plumped for a Dell - their service was exemplary and the PC itself is a nice piece of kit at a very reasonable price. But like a new girlfriend with an STD it had a dirty little secret that only started to bite once it had inveigled itself into my daily routine. That dirty little secret was Vista.
Vista has plagued my working day for the past 6 months, and my productivity has suffered. I've soldiered manfully on thinking that I could learn to overcome or work around the barriers Vista put in the way of my work, and loathe to write off the expenditure.
I was wrong. I know this subject has been done to death, but I cannot fathom how Microsoft can invest the time, money and effort they have into an nth generation operating system and produce something that is so god-damned awful to use productively. It. Sucks. Hard. I could install XP on it, but that's not a sustainable strategy.
So I'm joining the ranks of Apple Mac users, for lots of reasons not least that it will be a joy to be able to work with a Unix-based desktop OS, and to have my development platform of choice availble natively on the move. Add in no more UAC, TextMate and the beautiful display and I'm wondering why it's taken me so long to see the light.
Must say big thanks to Ann for helping me decide what exactly I needed. I'm off to order my MacBook Pro now, having resisted the temptation to head into Glasgow tomorrow to visit the Apple Store in person.
The way you go about breaking the code is to do the same thing 3 or 4 times again before googling (sorry yahooing) the term and surfing the forums and blogs.
Even though none of the home countries feature in the european championships the anticipation is growing around these parts for what should be a cracking tournament. With so many top europeans playing in the english premiership there will still be plenty of home interest, and the inevitable Spanish under-achievement will remind us why it's maybe just as well England aren't there.