I wrote this recently on my personal site although it’s the prefect content for our business site as well.

Over the last few weeks my company, sixty4media, has themed, coded, and tweaked quite a few WordPress sites (and even more over the years before we even had the company). I am often asked what I use to code or theme so here are some of the basic tools that make my life a whole lot easier.

MAMP
MAMP allows you to run a mini WordPress web server from your computer so that you can theme sites locally, without having them published online or on a development site.

FTP
You need a good FTP application for uploading files and images on the fly. I’m using Cyberduck right now but I’ve had many suggestions for more productive tools (and I can’t for the life of me remember the one that Tod recommended).

Smultron
For Mac OS X and Leopard
A great text editor (used for PHP files) that works nicely with Cyberduck by selecting it as your file editor under preferences. It colour-codes nicely and is very simple to use.

CSS Edit
MacRabbit - CSS Edit (for Macs only)
All in one CSS editing tool. Allows you to eyedrop colours, shows your properties in a sidebar, knows where to place brackets etc. and even auto-completes some elements. In the sidebar it also displays colours on anything that has a background colour ie. if your footer is blue, it will show up blue in the sidebar list.

WordPress Codex
This last one isn’t downloadable, the codex is an online resource for all issues, questions, and reference materials in the WordPress realm.

John is usually on top of all the latest applications and is even a beta tester for some upgraded versions of the software listed above. He’s great at staying on the cutting edge and then passing the knowledge on to me so I’m sure my staple apps will probably change soon, but for now - they’re great basics.

Last month I wrote about using Twitter for Business and it was the most popular post we’ve had on sixty4media to date.

Tech Crunch just released some Twitter stats and the proof is in the numbers: Twitter is here, now, and it’ll be staying for quite some time.

Twitter is having its hockey stick moment in terms of its growth just shooting up. Last week it may have delivered its billionth Tweet, at least nominally. And it looks like it is approaching escape velocity. If it doesn’t break up from all the pressure and is able to keep its service up and running more or less, it could soon—gasp!—break into the mainstream. [TechCrunch]

When I was first on Facebook some people laughed, “Why would you need to do that? Who wants to know all that?” and since they’ve recorded 15.8 billion page views in 2007 [TechCrunch]. Twitter was next. It is the latest platform (even though it’s been around since 2006) to start slowly and build momentum - just like the Tech Crunch article says, this could now be going mainstream - and it can definitely be used for Business.

The popularity of social networking is skyrocketing and it’s encouraging to see Twitter taking off. However, even though it is a microblogging platform, there is still such a stigma attached to blogging in general. I’m waiting for the day someone can say “I’m a blogger” and not be immediately pictured sitting in their parents’ basement in their pajamas writing a diary blog entry about their cat.

All of these social media sites are tools that can help you and your business reach the world, or your own specific local audience. Websites these days can have the full functions of a blog but not necessarily be just a blog. They become content management systems that can integrate blogs, pages, Facebook and Twitter updates. It’s for this reason that all of these technologies (together) are so beneficial. It’s where your audience is, so it’s where you need to be.

As a blogger (on my personal site) who is sometimes approached by other businesses, PR firms or marketers, the one thing that makes me click “delete” on an email almost instantly is the opening phrase, “Dear Sir or Madam”. Aside from using the correct pronouns you don’t want to sound like a press release, a robot or a faceless entity when dealing with bloggers and the same goes for running your own business blog.

Last April I attended Open Web Vancouver and sat in on two amazing keynotes, one of which was by Tim Bray. I have since used some of his quotes in presentations and have seen his sentiments echoed across the social media sphere since they are simple, accurate, and they make the most sense.

On the topic of writing your content, here are a few suggestions:

Be human: Don’t have an eleven step editorial process ie. if you’ve ever been in an organization that needs to put out a press release. You may have experienced that it could take 2 weeks for 2 page release and “then you end up with something no human being would have ever written…. or now would want to read.”[From Miss604 Live Blog]

Think about the text you put on your site. Write long, then cut short. If you have 100 words you can fit into a screen without scrolling, write 150. Then, slash back to 75 and see if you’ve got the right message. “Say what you have to say with the fewest possible words.” [Crawford Kilian at the IMC]

Aside from writing in a readable and comfortable tone for your audience you also need to put a face to your blog. This doesn’t mean hundreds of self portraits from your webcam, it just means that people, clients, and customers respond better to names. “Admin” or “Company Name” as an author on your site may not be as well received as “Betty”, “Jim”, or “Sue from Marketing”.

Example: Carnival Cruise Lines

The final tip is to not dupe your audience. If you are an official blog of ABC Company, please state that in your sidebar or on your about page ie. “This is the official blog of ABC Company”. That way it lets readers know you are a reliable resource, and you are accountable for your content. Disclosure is everything.

For many reasons, some companies may be apprehensive about sharing too much or being too transparent in the online realm and that is a valid concern. However, having a reliable, strong, and open community within your business blogging space can still be achieved if you are calm and professional. Write in a readable tone, disclose your objectives, address readers as people (have authors that are “real” people), and start conversations with your audience.

Most importantly, read other blogs (especially if they are in the same industry as you). You can see what others are doing right, have discussions, and make real and lasting connections.

It’s been just over three months since I dove into the deep end of self-employment and I’m having a blast so far. So much so, that I thought Wednesday was Friday - either I accomplished enough work in 3 workdays to make my body think it was Friday or I’ve been so buried by projects I haven’t noticed what day it is on the calendar. Either way, I’m really excited about what sixty4media has been doing; we have clients across North America, my freelance writing is going strong, and I’ve had the time to speak at events like Ideas on Tap and plan the successful Food Bank food drive we just had at Third Tuesday.

The only snag I’ve encountered is the need for a meeting place when I collaborate with clients or do interviews. Since I work out of the home I suppose I could enlist the services of Workspace (I hear they have amazing coffee) or The Network Hub, however I have just been heading to coffee shops for this purpose.

A few weeks ago I hit four seperate coffee shops across town (for four different meetings/interviews), and seeing as how I make sure to purchase something at every location, I was pretty buzzed on coffee (or peanut butter cookies) by the time the afternoon rolled around - I recommend switching to water on days like those.

So what do I look for when I want to pick a coffee shop? The most important item is wifi, and the most extensive listing of internet-juiced venues around can be found on this site. You can also check the FreeTheNet map and browse by neighbourhood downtown.

Next, they need to have a good atmosphere; perhaps some couches or loungers along with tables and chairs that offer enough of a buffer between you and the other patrons. Also be sure to find a spot away from the barista as bubbling steamy coffee-making noises can be rather loud at times.

Note to coffee shops, if you’re going to offer and advertise free wifi, please make sure you have enough power outlets as well (I know my friend Raul would appreciate that one).

Working with friends occasionally is also highly recommended (especially if you miss having an office crew). I know, it sounds terribly geeky but if I meet up with a friend in a coffee shop we not only get to have a treat and catch up, we can also plug in and work on our various projects. It allows for instant feedback or help should we need any problem solving or comments about a new post or idea.

A few spots that I can recommend downtown (that may also have other stores around the Lower Mainland) include Waves, Blenz, and Raging Bean in Yaletown. Take 5 Cafes also have wifi, and if you need a full breakfast or lunch on the go, there’s always Cactus Club or The Templeton on Granville as well.

It’s only been just over a year since I started blogging remotely (on my lunch break while working a 9-5 job). Now that I’m free to be wherever I want, whenever I want, I actually do miss office camaraderie and in all honesty (in some strange way) I actually love cubicles. But being able to wake up early, head to the gym, come home, put on a pot of coffee and accomplish a ton of work before 9am is still pretty awesome.

I love being my own boss although I think the only drawback is that I can get burnt out easily since my projects, events, and commitments could have me out several evenings a week - on top of the work I do all day. Mandatory down-time is recommended, which is why you may notice me blogging less over the weekends on my personal site.

As sixty4media grows, I look forward to meeting more people, getting out and about, and expanding our operation. Until that time I’m enjoying all the city has to offer a young business like us, especially great remote working spaces (and coffee).

Sean Moffitt writes the Buzz Canuck blog, which admittedly makes me do a double take when I see it in my feeds - thinking it should be under the sports tab, but I digress.

He is “Canada’s Word of Mouth Firestarter” as the President of Agent Wildfire and recently added to this post, “The 6 Dangerous Fallacies of Social Media” by Jason Baer by writing his own, “12 Massive Oversights of Social Media“.

I’ll list the “myths” and topics here in point form, in the hopes that some discussion may follow, as Sean notes, “It would appear both the aloof corporate types and the social media zealots in their distracted apathy and/or super-enthusiasm have attributed social media with traits it simply does not have.”

1. Social media is the end game…
2. Social Media is Facebook…
3. Social media is a fad…
4. Social Media should be well planned…
5. Social Media Drives Exposure and Awareness…
6. Social Media is Frugal…
7. Social Media is Quick Relief…
8. Social Media is Avoidable…
9. Social Media is a Panacea…
10. Social Media is Predictable…
11. Social Media is a Media…
12. Social Media is Technology…

You can read all of the details, comments, and explanations over on Sean’s post.

The first thing we did when launching sixty4media was pick a domain name, from there we were able to register everything we needed and get the company off the ground. The next few steps were establishing our online presence and that pretty much started with Twitter, a service we have been using individually since early 2007.

John and I each have our own visibility but taking sixty4media out of the shrink wrap and putting it out there is currently one of my biggest tasks. A large part of being online and being visible isn’t necessarily judged by how many FriendFeeds, Tumblrs, Plurks, Jaikus, BrightKites, Identi.ca or Pownces you happen to be on. If Blog World Expo taught me one thing, it’s that the population is on Twitter.

sixty4media’s account is alive and well, although admittedly we have to step it up a bit since right now it’s a publishing platform for our new blog posts. The main thing is that we’re there.

Now, some people think Twitter is a joke - that it’s nothing more than a chat room or Facebook status updates on steroids. I would love to take a few minutes and educate the population about social media and the “power of millions” that Twitter has harnessed. One need only look at the election stream to see the effectiveness of an open global conversation online.

Not only can you find out what Bobby had for dinner or what Susie’s cat just chewed, you can also use Twitter for business. It’s a way to engage your audience, update, take polls, and share information. To prove it, here are a few choice examples:

Whole Foods Market
Blog: Whole Story
Twitter: @WholeFoods
Updates: Whole Foods updates their shoppers on in-store events and specials, as well as their latest blog posts and podcasts.

Learn more about cooking dried beans at home with this week’s food podcast: http://poprl.com/1ky [October 2008]

We’re sponsoring this year’s Chicago Gourmet event at Millennium Park and hosting a special family friendly section: http://is.gd/38p3 [September 2008]

Carnival Cruise Lines
Blog: By Senior Cruise Director John Heald
Twitter: @CarnivalCruise
Update: Carnival loves featuring their talented staff, crew and even interns through videos, blog posts and promotions.

Meet the Carnival Splendor crew- check out a video interview with Claudia, Casino Host extraordinaire - http://tinyurl.com/6n7yer [August 2008]

Commemorating the arrival of Jacksonville’s largest cruise ship- http://tinyurl.com/4k7qoo [September 2008]

Taking our social efforts beyond onboard fun - http://tinyurl.com/6eo8jq [September 2008]

Luxor Hotel and Casino
Blog: Luxor Insider
Twitter: @LuxorLV
Updates: The Luxor’s updates include featured performers at the hotel, Las Vegas trends, marketing tips, and during Blog World I was able to pick up some drink vouchers at Aurora thanks to their answering their shout out on Twitter for bloggers. The updates also have a nice personal feel.

At Mandalay Bay… Big meeting with all my counterparts from our sister properties. We’re talking about mobile mktg [September 2008]

Headed to CatHouse for a CRISS ANGEL Believe cast and crew party! - http://bkite.com/01GXP [September 2008]

Another great thing about Twitter (compared to other microblogging clients) is that there are so many applications and outside tools you can use to update such as the WordPress plugin, WordTwit, or managers like Tweet Deck or Twitterffic.

Because of their authenticity and genuine interest in social media as a way to keep in touch with their clients, and potential customers, I can see people having more trust in businesses like those mentioned above. I am probably more likely to book my next Las Vegas visit at the Luxor because of their outreach, and I’m seriously interested in this “Blogger Cruise” I read about on John Heald’s blog.

Twitter can be professional and also productive, as with any service you need to know when to ignore all of the noise and find out how this powerful tool can work best for you.

Photo by miss604 on Flickr

Rebecca had the extreme pleasure of attending Blog World Expo 2008 in Las Vegas this past weekend. Needless to say, there is wealth of information to be shared at this event. True to her live blogging skills, you can see many of her posts on miss604.com.

As we have been slowly molding sixty4media into shape, we have recently made our very own Twitter account open and available to the public.

Twitter is a popular social media site that combines micro-blogging and instant messaging to an international phenomenon of letting people know what you’re doing. Sounds insignificant to some, but there are more ways to use it other than telling people that you’re hungry or doing the laundry.

For instance, we use a great plugin for WordPress called WordTwit. This was made by our good friend Duane at BraveNewCode, and the whole purpose of it is to make an update to your Twitter account when you publish a new post on your WordPress site. Combined with any other updates we do on the account, you can get the latest news from our site as we publish it.

In the age of iPhones and Blackberries, what better way to connect to your audience directly?

Continuing in their series of explaining all things new media and Web 2.0, the great folks at CommonCraft have released “Social Media in Plain English“. You can view the video below and help yourself understand what social media is all about. Better yet, use this to help yourself explain what social media is to those who might not be in tune with what social media means.

If you would like to see some of the other creations from CommonCraft, please visit their website.

One thing that came up in reference to the last post we made about the MOMAR blog was the added advantage of having a RSS feed on the site, something that was not possible with the previous design and easily implemented by our ability to install WordPress into the site.

We understand that a lot of people don’t know what a RSS feed is, yet alone how it can benefit to have one implemented for the content on your website. Thanks to our friends at CommonCraft, they made a great video helping to explain RSS in plain english.

RSS has the ability to take your message to the world in a more effective manner than just simple page views or Google searches. There are people around the world who might be interested in what kind of content you are producing, and this technology is a great way for your target audience to subscribe and stay up to date with your message.