Patrick O’Keefe

I just wanted to mention that we launched a great competition tonight at phpBBHacks.com. It’s called phpBBHacks.com phpBB 3 Hacks Idol and phpBBHacks.com phpBB 3 Styles Idol.

Basically, all new phpBB 3 hacks and styles from this point through the deadline on July 4, will be pitted one on one against one another until we have two winners - one hacks winner and one styles winner. What’s in it for them, you ask? Their choice of an Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Asus Eee, Archos 605, iPod Touch or Amazon Kindle and a ton of other great prizes, provided by sponsors such as Chitika, W3 Markup and SitePoint.

So, if you can write a phpBB hack or create a phpBB style - please check it out! Should be a lot of fun.

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I do a lot of (more professional) writing for other sites and, because of that, I’m in contact with a lot of PR or marketing people. So, I was sent some information about the new MySpace design by someone at MySpace and I don’t really have anywhere else to post it. Yet, I found it interesting. So, I thought I’d post it here. Techcrunch has a story on it but they didn’t post up all the mockups and details, so I thought I would.

On June 14, MySpace will be announcing a global redesign that will include some big UI changes to the site’s homepage, navigation, profile functions, search and the MySpaceTV video player. It’ll begin on June 18 with the new homepage being redesigned. The design itself has been in development since December 27.

Here’s the full details as well as mockups of the design:

MySpace navigation (logged in):

(more…)

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I keep all of my domain names at eNom. Well, I may have a few scattered around at any given time if I purchased them from another party and assumed ownership at their registrar - but, when it comes time to renew, they’ll all be transfered over to eNom. I keep my domain names organized and keep a print out of all names ordered by expiration date that I go through every month or so and renew the ones that need to be renewed. So, I’m completely on top of my domain names because, really, you have to be. This helps give me peace of mind which allows me to deal with any odd things that come up… like someone trying to take over registration. Which brings me to a phone call I received yesterday.

I answered the phone and was greeted by a woman, saying something about one of my domain names (she mentioned it by name). She was a little hard to understand, so I missed half of what she said. But, the gist was that they had important updates regarding my domain name that required a fax number so that they could send them to me. I didn’t catch her company on the first go, so I asked her who she worked for and she said “Domain Registration Support.” Riiiiiiiiiiigggghhhhttttt. I told her that my domain names are all taken care of and she said good bye.

I can only guess that the fax would have been paperwork to transfer my domain name to who knows where. Usually, these sorts of things come via regular mail or e-mail, but this is the first time I’ve ever received one over the phone.

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I was interviewed by Jake McKee of Community Guy and Andrea Hermitt from Families.com’s Homeschool Blog (her article also includes a review of the book). Izzy Neis gave the former a nice mention on her blog.

On the reviews front, David Berkowitz of Inside the Marketers Studio, Jonathan Bailey of PlagiarismToday, Jason Bean of Uncover the Internet, Ramona Iftode of wTricks.com, Miranda Marquit of IdeaScope and Jeff Henrichsen of JKT Network all have reviews of the book.

Domaining.org.uk mentioned the book as part of three books that could help you increase the value of your domain names.

Finally, Wendy Piersall of Sparkplug CEO recommended the book in her “10 More Work at Home Internet Business Ideas You Can Do in Your Fuzzy Bunny Slippers” article. For each idea she mentioned, she recommended a book. “Managing Online Forums” was recommended under the “Niche Forums” idea.

Thanks to everyone for the interest and consideration!

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If you have a second, please take a look over at ManagingCommunities.com and let me know what you think. Thanks.

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I’ve been a user of StatCounter for quite a while, but I’m testing out Google Analytics on a couple of sites to compare numbers, features, etc. since a lot of people like GA and it is free where I am paying for StatCounter.

I noticed that on one of my site’s pageviews are about the same, but uniques are much less. And then, on the other, pageviews are less and uniques are much less. Not sure how to explain this. Either StatCounter is inflating it or Google Analytics is missing some. Both JavaScripts are on the same pages.

I also have my unique setting on StatCounter set to 24 hours, meaning you can only count as a unique once in a 24 hour span. So, kinda weird. Not sure which numbers to trust. I’m thinking some of the pageviews could potentially be a sort of cache issue, maybe? (Don’t know if that makes sense). But, the uniques, I can’t figure.

Besides that, though:

GA Pros: Much, much nicer interface and stats organization. Free.
SC Pros: Good customer service. Live tracking.

So, I’m thinking about it…

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Programming note (hehe): I’ll be appearing on WITN 7 News Early Sunrise sometime between 5:40 and 6:00 AM ET on Friday, May 23. WITN is an NBC affiliate located in Greenville, North Carolina. It will be a 2 minute (approximate) live interview.

They have told that that, although they post videos on their site and have a YouTube account, morning show segments are currently not posted online. However, I have some people recording it for me and I will try to see if I can get the OK to post it. I hope so!

But, if you happen to get the station and also happen to be one of the 3-4 people up at that time, please watch if you can and tell me what you think. :) Thanks!

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I gave a number of interviews recently that are now online. On the text based end, I did an interview with Website Magazine that is on their website and featured in the May issue of their print publication. I did a live chat (sort of) interview with Forum One’s LIVE Interviews Online. The transcript has been posted.

I appeared on the Meet the Experts, phpBB Weekly, Way of the Geek and JKT Network News podcasts. The hosts of the middle two shared their thoughts on the book during the show. The JKT Network News show featured a rebroadcast of the interview I did on the phpbbireland podcast.

The book was recently reviewed by Miranda Marquit of Yielding Wealth and Gary Pollock of searchoptimizepro.com. James Fintel of Cult of Cheese also gave the book a quick teaser review, with a longer one planned soon.

Thank you to everyone at these publications, podcasts, etc. for their interest in the book!

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“Managing Online Forums” was reviewed by MarketingSherpa as part of their regular book giveaway. Ken Davidoff of Newsday gave the book a mention on his blog. Douglas Bell of Webmacster87.info and phpBB Weekly reviewed the book on his site. Miranda Marquit of WorkShak reviewed the book, as well.

I recently did interviews with the Alternageek Tech Show (features a review from the hosts) and Inside Digital Media.

Finally, I have a couple of live appearances coming up soon. On May 7 at 2:00 PM ET, I will be doing a live chat interview with Forum One. Questions can be submitted on their website. On May 10 at 12:00 PM ET, I will be going on the phpBB Weekly podcast. So, if you have a chance, please tune in and tell me what you think.

Thank you to everyone who has reviewed the book or expressed interest in some way.

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I’m going to be visiting New York City, for a few days, at the end of May and start of June. I have decided to make Monday, June 2, book promotion day in NYC. I am going to do whatever I can, while I am there and specifically on that day, to promote the book. Whether that be giving interviews and/or talking to bloggers, journalists, podcasters, etc. or meeting people, speaking, signing books, whatever. I want to do whatever I can.

With a book like this and one day in NYC, what should I do while I am there? Where should I go? Who should I talk to? I’m totally open to recommendations and ideas. If you know anyone who would fit into the above categories, I’d definitely liked to be introduced to them and would appreciate it.

I am pretty well aware of general book promotion and I know how to use Google, MySpace, Facebook, Meetup.com, et all and how to search for people on there. I can look up newspapers, radio stations, TV stations, etc. etc. I’ve reached out to probably 200+ people at various publications and outlets. We’ve sent out over 100 review copies, we’ve booked 30 plus interviews online, in print, on radio and on television, the book is being promoted through my network, etc. etc. So, I’m not looking for general suggestions like “e-mail the top NYC tech bloggers” and the like.

What I am looking for is very specific information. Specific people I should talk in NYC, specific journalists in NYC I should talk to, specific organizations in NYC, specific venues in NYC, specific in NYC. That’s what I need help with.

I would definitely appreciate any suggestions or ideas. Thanks.

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