Manic Melon

Use your own Melon!

I took a bit of time in planning the structure, content, and design of this site. My designer and I went through quite a few mockups in order to arrive at the look and feel we desired. But now, just one week after launch, I already see my design being hacked up and republished fraudulently. Let me explain...

Future Manic Melon Topics - Update 1

Lifestyle

• Fitness and cycling stats and updates - follow my path to becoming healthy
• Cycling Events such as Ragbrai and the MS150
• Lake of the Ozarks (LOTO) news, pics and video
• other personal topics including parenting, faith, and having fun

Business

• discussion of personal and business finances
• plenty of entries related to productivity and time management
• cashflow suggestions and tips
• *marketing* tips and concepts will be a key topic of this site
• my tips for startups, and how to grow a new business
• goals and progress for my company, Net Profit Services
• review / analysis of business articles and editorials, including a 'greatest links' list

Web - now a subcategory of the Business section

• the strategy and planning phase: what you the customer can do
• managing your project and your developer
• topics for other web designers and developers
• my greatest tips for Internet marketing
• technology topics such as ajax, php, browsers, operating systems, servers
• reviews and recommendations for web based applications

World (new)

• World Events
• Historical Events
• Science
• Politics

Everyone has good, bad, and ugly in their life. I'm no different. However, different from many, I'm quite motivated in changing my state of affairs. As it began with the weblog at NetProfitServices.com, I've found that publicly listing my goals helps me in holding myself accountable to make them a reality. As such, allow me to launch my blog with a full self reflection.

If you're spending the energy to construct a marketing message, it's only natural that you're hoping for the highest possible results from your message or marketing campaign. As Steven Pollard at EmailLabs writes, your Call to Action message (ie: 'Click Here' phrasing) is one area where message optimization can enhance your clickthrough percentage and ultimately your campaign's success rate.

As many of you know, I'm training for Ragbrai XXXV, which is an annual bicycle ride across the state of Iowa. This year's route consists of 490 miles in 7 days, during the week of July 22 - 28.