A client told me about his suspicion regarding a competitor lifting copy from his site for their own web site. In about 20 seconds, his suspicion was confirmed.

Here’s how:

1. Go to your web site.
2. Select a section of text and copy it — two to three sentences should do* (see below for more).
3. Head to Google, paste the text into the search bar, and put quotes around it.
4. Hit search.

If you see only one result (yours), you’re golden. Move on. If you see more than one result, however, it’s likely someone’s been hijacking your copy — or, umm… the reverse may be true (in which case, cut it the heck out).

What some people may not realize is that duplicate content can hurt search ranking.

Check out this page on the Official Google Webmaster Central Blog for more detailed information on that. Want do something about it? Visit this page on the Digital Millennium Copyright Act where you can file a notice of infringement.

Original content these days is more valuable than ever. We all need to take advantage of the uniqueness of our personality and the uniqueness with which we express it.

Cherish it. Use it. And yes, profit from it.

*When selecting text from your site, be sure to copy enough original text — in other words, text and syntax created by you. For example, if I select and search Google for the first sentence of this paragraph “When selecting text from your site, be sure to copy enough original text — in other words, text and syntax created by you.”, you’ll see it only exists in one place: on this post, meaning I didn’t lift that copy from anywhere other than my own noggin’.

I-10 east
I95 north
traffic on 278
Hilton Head South Carolina
Beachside Tennis
meat lovers pizza
booboos & band-aids
shrimp & grits
crabbing
biking on the beach
swimming
biking to harbor town
lighthouse climb
114 steps
smoked salmon, cream cheese, capers, chopped onions
Savannah, GA
Paula “not eatin there” Deen
river street
dockside southern style buffet
cornbread fried chicken collard greens mac and cheese stuffing
a salad
tiny beers with tiny limes — yes, coronitas
Claire Ben Ashley Julie Brandon
Myra Virgil
Jen Ruby Michael
Nicki — and Josh via text
stacy’s pita chips
ahi tuna salad
salty dog
missing Rodney
green ice cream with chocolate chips
chocolate ice cream
you really want cotton candy ice cream?
cool water currents
happy dolphins
shark!!
low tide rivulets
like walking in a dryer full of wet clothes
tandem bike drag
Italian night
grampa
stroganoff
effen raspberry vodka
canceled golf
early departures
i’ll-fitting merrells
low country boil
she’s eating broccoli & hot dogs?
beach walks
crabbin’
crab hats
hello kitty kite
butterfly kite
bi-plane kite
mushy sand
pizza flavored pretzels? yea, gross.
hummus
Italian night
fried calamari
diet sunkist & vodka? really?
bananagrams
cranium
harbour town
signe’s heaven bound bakery
traffic on 278
I95 north
I-10 east
get the dogs at MoJo’s
i don’t wanna cook either — Lucy Ho’s, please
that was a great vacation.
good night.
love you ruby.
love you mommy and daddy.
love you too.
can’t wait till next year.

What do you think? Is this fanning business getting out of hand?

Every email is not important and urgent.

The same with every phone call and voice mail.

Do you have to do every part of every project yourself? Or can you delegate?

Are you spending too much time on stuff that’s neither urgent or important? Like worrying about things you don’t have any control over? Or making mountain ranges out of mole hills?

In this era of 24 hour connectedness, time-management isn’t what’s needed. It’s you-management. The more the clock ticks and tocks, I sense it’s not about attacking a to-do list but about writing out a want-to-do list, and figuring out how to delegate or spread out the to-do list so that the want-to-do list gets done.

After all, spending more time on the things you want you to do versus the things other people want you to do is way more important. Those are the things re-fuel, energize us, and keep us going. Most importantly, they allow us to give more to the people who count on us.

So, how’s today looking?

The only comfort in grey is imagined.

Grey is a state of mind — a nebulous mass of indecisiveness. Grey is a maybe. Grey is nothing but an excuse. Grey says it’s okay to straddle the fence, delay the decision, and avoid a position. Grey keeps you average and impedes greatness.

Yes, grey exists, and it’s good to be able to perceive and understand it, but living grey is a whole other matter.

Be black. Be white. Be whatever color you want to be. But make it solid. And f* grey.

How are you doing these days? Hopefully well, but likely not. I don’t have to tell you what’s happening out there. You know the dirty details. You’re surrounded by them.

As the bad news begins to rise a little higher than you’re used to, think about this: leaving the agency setting and moving in-house.

(Wait wait! Before you click off. Hear me out. I’ll be brief, because I understand your attention span, like mine, is in a state of perpetual truncation.)

1. Why work with some clients you like and some you don’t? Why not work at one company you love?

2. Creativity can happen in so many places these days, with so many intricacies and layers, your options are limited only by your creativity.

3. To think that one copywriter and one art director can successfully handle more than one client’s branding needs throughout a myriad channels is simply foolish.

4. To think that one copywriter and one art director can successfully explore the myriad tools available to reach multiple audiences is, again, foolish.

5. (See reason #1) Why work with some clients you like and some you don’t? Why not work at one company you love?

Sure, a lot of the companies we creative people would deem “worthy of working at (or for)” don’t have an in-house creative department. So what? Build it yourself. You’ve spent your career selling smart campaigns to some of the biggest and baddest companies in the world. Selling a mid-size company with a portfolio full of promise on a way to save money and create better more insightful work should be a no-brainer for you.

So, should you take on the assignment, here’s a rough strategy statement:

Convince any one company I truly love and believe in that I can create more effective and insightful work than their advertising agency of record because I’m good enough, I’m smart enough, and gosh darnit, who’s got the money to keep paying for a big damn agency these days?

Thoughts? Ideas? I know you have ‘em. Leave ‘em here.

Have a good one.

Photo Credit Jim Frazier

Just about every time I mention twitter to a friend or client, they respond with a cockeyed look and pursed lips — like I’ve just squeezed grapefruit pulp into both their eyes.

It reminds me of the early years when I evangelized True Men Don’t Kill Coyotes off Red Hot Chili Peppers’ first album (check out that cheesy-awesome video below). Then making friends listen to Yertle the Turtle off Freaky Styley. Digging into Anthrax and deconstructing Efilnikcufecin.

All these shiny new tools and how we continue using and exploring them are a lot like the underground music that defined some of us way back when. Our love for the unique made us a little different, socially questionable.

Today, however, that is our advantage. We are connecting dots. We are painting pictures. We are doing remarkable things with very few resources — just like innovators have always done. With every tweet, blog, video, and podcast, we are essentially pushing deeper into the communications underground. The cool thing is there’s a lot more air and light down there than there is up here.

Thoughts? Comments? Love to hear ‘em. Let’s keep pushing.

When the icons start shaking and you’re having a bourbon with your father-in-law, sometimes you get a little silly.

Case in point, Scrapple — a delicious melding of “Scrabble” and “Apps” that will have you saying, “Dude, this is totally and utterly ridiculous!”

What words can you spell with your apps? Got ideas for rules? A point system? Log in when you’re drinking something harder than O’Doule’s and comment away.

Thanks for stopping in. Hope all’s well.

The further we tread through the warm 2.0 bouillabaisse, the more I consider our current modus operandi and human physicality to be incapable of accommodating the increasing demands of a new world order. If we are to survive, certain things will almost inevitably happen:

1. Time: The 24-hour clock will become a 28- or 30-hour clock. 24 hours is an already-insufficient amount of time to get everything done, and get sufficient rest to recharge.
2. Business: Hours spent physically at work will be reduced by half, smarter companies will reduce that time by more, allowing personal time and work time to coexist and make satisfied, productive employees.
3. Data: Server storage systems will come standard with every new home. Most likely, they’ll be buried in the yard to keep them from being eyesores.
4. Brain: The cerebral cortex will grow more dense to accommodate the increasing need for information storage and recall.
5. Fingers: Both the thumb and pinky finger will grow more muscularly complex to facilitate 2-finger typing on mobile device.
6. Eyes: will move independently of each other so that we can tweet and drive safely.
7. The End: Custom tombstones will be ready in 24-48 hours after tweeting your own epitaph. Some will be very very funny.

Thoughts? Predictions? Epitaphs?

Hope you’re well, and thanks for stopping in.

When was the last time you cleaned out your marketing? Gave it a good scrub? Cleaned the shelves? Looked behind the milk? Checked the expiration date on the cheese? Tossed the marinara sauce with a thin epidermis of… what is that, cotton?

If you haven’t done it in the last six months, do it now. Your brand needs you.

Grab every piece of communication you currently use and spread them out on a table or two. All of them. Business cards. Print ads. Brochures. Newsletters. Signage. Everything. And don’t forget to print out your website.

Now step back.

Is everything cohesive? Is everything written in the same tone? Does it all create the image you want to convey? Is everything up to date? What can you improve on? Most importantly, what can you obliterate from the process?

Branding starts from within.

If you can’t smell the bad cheese or see the black potato that’s somehow growing an onion, someone will — soon. And it may be someone really really important — like a current or potential customer.

What other things can businesses do to streamline their processes? Improve their image? Or just plain evolve?

Hope you’re well, and thanks for stopping in.