Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus, Marketing Directors Are Just Different
Rob Trahan (248)    
Rob Trahan   
Posted Monday, June 30, 2008 (3 days 6 hours ago.) Viewed 1,870 times.
On this day, her 29th birthday*, SearchWarp.com took some time to get to know Susan Thom a little bit better. We've all been privileged to read her articles and comments, now it's time to find out about the woman behind the pen (or keyboard in this case).
SearchWarp: When did you first start submitting articles to SearchWarp? What brought you here?
Sue Thom: This past April was 2 years, I believe. My reflexologist thought I had talent writing as per my daily emails to her, and suggested I take a reading class. So I took one on line, loved it, and she suggested I write for a magazine. I started sending stories to all the magazines we all know, but no responses, so I went online. SearchWarp was the first one I went to, and I've been here ever since.
SW: What was the last book that you read?
Sue: Too long ago to remember-I read so much on the internet.
SW: If you could meet anyone in the world, alive or dead, who would it be and why?
Sue: Oh, God (first), then I'd love to meet Jesus, but I don't think they're a choice.
I'd have to say Oprah, because as much as people make fun of her, and as much as she is full of herself and admits to it, everything I have learned in the last 20 years of my life, has come from her show. Whether it is a self help book, or a spiritual book, or a show on alcoholism that made me see myself and seek help, to seeing Deepak Chopra, liking what he had to say, and eventually having the opportunity to see him in Madison, New Jersey, at Farleigh Dickinson University, and he had a seminar and then signed books, so I got "The Seven Spiritual Laws Of Success" signed.
SW: What do you enjoy doing when you aren't writing?
Sue: Spending time with my partner and kids, making my home look clean and comfortable and inviting to my family and me.
SW: Would you share an embarrassing or funny story (about yourself)?
Sue: I started cleaning houses at one point for extra money. My first day at a beautiful 1829 Victorian, I was pulling a canister style vacuum and vacuuming. When I had to change the plug, I turned around and saw deep ruts in the hard wood floor. I panicked. My heart started racing, and my mind was trying to think, and I was dizzy. I finally decided I'd just tell the woman, and the first year or so would be paying off to have the floor fixed. She came home, I told her, and she said, "Oh, they did that when they bought the piano in!."
SW: If you got to choose, what would your last supper be?
Sue: Alaskan king crab legs.
SW: What is your favorite birthday memory?
Sue: I have always told my kids I'd rather have them make me a card, than buy me one, and sometimes, I have gotten gorgeous store bought cards that I still have. But when I've been given a handmade card, and the words have been personally chosen, I can't beat that feeling.
SW: Where is the farthest place from your home that you've traveled to?
Sue: Texas
SW: Where would you LIKE to travel to, if you could go anywhere?
Sue: Jerusalem, I would like to see where Jesus walked.
SW: What are three of your favorites? (this could be anything from favorite color or favorite flavor of ice cream to favorite song or favorite drink, I'll let you choose!)
Sue: family
home
pets
friends
writing
freedom (had to)
Happy birthday, Susan Thom! Enjoy your day! Wish Sue Happy Birthday
Articles by Susan Thom
*ages have been changed to protect the innocent.
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Posted Tuesday, May 06, 2008 (58 days 7 hours ago.) Viewed 135 times.
Marketing Guru Seth Godin posted on his blog last week about signal vs noise on the internet. If you don't know Seth Godin, I'd encourage you to check out his blog, his books, any of his speaking engagements, conferences he presents at, and on and on. He's like Forrest Gump in the marketing world, he's a household name!
The meat of his post on signal vs noise was about how the internet used to be almost all signal (information) and very little noise (spam, junk, misinformation), but lately has become more noise than signal. More spam than substance. Too much information but not enough information (if you follow me).
The question for the authors of SearchWarp.com is, "How do we make sure we are providing a clear signal and not just more noise?"
Here are a couple of ideas. Feel free to use them, ignore them, blow right past them because you've heard it all before.
1. Give people more than a sales pitch. One of the reasons the signal-to-noise ratio is out of whack is because everyone seems to be selling something these days. There's nothing wrong with wanting to make money. Who wouldn't? But not everyone online is buying. Everyone online is looking for information, though. They are willing to stop for a story. They are willing to learn. Provide them that and you're providing them with signal.
2. Proofread. Edit. Then have someone else proofread. If it's not well written and clear, it's not signal. A reader's attention span online is short and if he has to read something more than once to understand it, it's just noise to him.
3. Provide something no one else can. OK, this one's hard at first glance. After all, you are not the only person who knows something about _______. But you ARE the only person who knows what YOU know about it, with YOUR experiences and YOUR opinions. That's what you can provide. It's more than rehashing what someone else knows or says. It's providing what YOU know. That's signal.
This is by no means the answer to the whole problem of too much noise, not enough signal on the internet that Godin sees. But hopefully together we can do our part to provide a little more signal and a little less noise.
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Posted Monday, April 21, 2008 (73 days 6 hours ago.) Viewed 2,443 times.
Marketing is an interesting concept. Marketing is advertising and demographics, branding and logos. But marketing is also customer service and evangelism, giving people reasons to come and reasons to stay.
That's my favorite part. I believe my job is to make you happy. I look forward to finding new and innovative ways to attract and keep great readers and writers just like you.
While I may be new to the SearchWarp staff, I am not new to the world of SearchWarp. I marvel at the level of talent and diverse viewpoints on display daily. There are a lot of things about SearchWarp that work really well and I am excited about adding to an already successful site.
With that being said, I would like to get to know you and what you are looking for in an article submission site. In the comments below, please feel free to answer any or all of the following questions.
1. What feature(s) is your favorite on SearchWarp?
2. What features would you like to see on SearchWarp that aren't currently offered?
3. What other article submission sites do you like? What do you like about them?
Thank you in advance for your participation. I look forward to great conversations with you in the future!
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Posted Tuesday, April 01, 2008 (94 days 5 hours ago.) Viewed 1,367 times.
It all started with a look. At least that's how Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton tells it in her exclusive interview with Oprah, set to air Tuesday. The senator from New York remembers fondly her first encounter with Senator Barack Obama on the floor of the senate chamber on Capitol Hill. Sen. Clinton was returning for her second term and Sen. Obama was the wide-eyed rookie.
"I ambled over to him and asked him who he was assigned to sit next to? He pointed to the other side of the room. I suggested he switch with Arlen Specter so he and I could get acquainted."
Clinton tells Oprah, through tears, that she was well-intentioned at first, but long nights spent together writing legislation intended to socialize everything from health care to grocery shopping showed the pair how much they had in common. Maybe it was the shared apathy toward the freedom of repressed people in the Middle East. Maybe it was years of Bill's late night "cram sessions." Whatever the motivation, it was lust at first sight.
According to Clinton, she and Obama met one evening after a subcommittee meeting on allowing bears to intermarry with bunnies. One thing led to another and nine months later, Ahmad Rodham Clinton-Obama was born.
Of course, it had to be kept quiet. Ahmad was sent to live with his paternal grandparents, which, according to Clinton, "tortured me every day that I was not able to be with him. Everyone knows how much children mean to me. I mean, I'm not those other politicians who use their kids to further their careers."
When asked why she was coming forward now, Clinton explains that, while she and Obama have long since split, she feels that a mixed-race child could really help her win over the minority superdelegates. Only time will tell if the campaign move will help. In the meantime, the Associated Press has obtained the only public photo of little Ahmad, seen below.
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