I’m going to give you a little peak into the email chain about blogging that occurred recently…

(Names shortened to protect the not-so-innocent.)

Team,
I’ve fallen behind on the blog reminders. I’ve decided to blame this on M for whatever reason. Anyway… Help!
Can I count on three of you to post yours by end of week? This would be so cool of you.
M and Julian, can I count on yours by next Wednesday?
High five,
D

From Julian:

You can count on me. I’m all in!

From M:

Wow. Well, D, because you blamed me, I don’t feel like you can “count” on me. Also, you typed “count” three times in your e-mail. It made me want to go “postal.”

From D:

M,

It’s cute that you decided to count the amount of “counts” I used in my email. This is a good sign that you’re paying attention in class. You might find this Youtube video right up your alley if you’re interested in some more advanced count theory.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJxKvwMIVtA

From M:

Proper punctuation and capitalization are important things to consider when writing business related e-mails.

Please review the following URL and consider it a handy resource: http://www.grammarbook.com/punctuation/capital.asp

From Joe:

Corrected: “Proper punctuation and capitalization is an important thing to consider when writing…”

And it continued. As you can see, we might not be the best about remembering our blog posts, but we sure do have a fun time encouraging each other in the process! So, take this as a little nudge from your friends over at JLB to schedule time to post to your blog. It can be as important as your next business meeting.

80′s Tang Pops
These remind me of hot September days in California.

6 tablespoons Tang
2 cups water

Mix together until the Tang is dissolved. Pour into popsicle molds and freeze.

Watermelon Popsicles

These were so delicious last summer–before I discovered I’m allergic to watermelon! My kids still love them!

3 cups seedless watermelon
1 cup strawberries
2 tablespoons Sugar
1-2 tablespoons lemon or lime juice

Put all ingredients into the blender and blend well.

Pour into popsicle molds. Freeze.

Yogurt Pops

1 cup vanilla yogurt
1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries, strawberries or raspberries
1 tablespoon sugar (to taste, if berries are sour)

Put all ingredients in the blender. Blend.

Pour into popsicle molds. Freeze.

So, are witty headlines dead for online content? Some search engine optimizers argue that humor has no place if you want people to be able to find your article or blog post. But, what about the CDC and Preparing for a Zombie Apocalypse? Supposedly within hours, that post was the most popular on the CDC’s blog to date.

If you want to read more, take a trip over to the Atlantic where David Wheeler explores the fact that “Google Doesn’t Laugh.” And then, if you’re ready for laugh, The AWL wrote a poem based on David’s article…

This Is Why We Can’t Have Funny Headlines (A Poem)

Google doesn’t laugh
It doesn’t even titter
It can’t guffaw like Facebook
It won’t split its sides like Twitter

Google doesn’t crack a smile
It won’t respond to mirth
There’s not a single laughing part
Not even Google Earth

Your title might be funny
Forcing chuckles from the chest
But Google sits there stone-faced
Resolutely unimpressed

Don’t try to brighten someone’s day
Don’t aim for “smart and winning”
Your goal is catching Google’s eye
And Google isn’t grinning

Best to stick to SEO
And trade your wheat for chaff
Forget the humor, blogger boy
‘Cause Google doesn’t laugh

The weekend of April 30-May 1 is my favorite–Main Street Festival! It’s so much fun to shop and eat and visit with all the friends you meet walking down the street. It is expanding this year with over 200 vendors, three stages for entertainment and two carnivals!

Celebrate Cinco de Mayo at SOL and join in a tequila toast to benefit a great cause. The toast is in effort to break a Guinness Book Record for the Largest Tequila Toast in the world. (I know you remember reading all through that book as a kid. You really used to know who had the longest toenails in the world!) The festivities begin at 5 with live musical entertainment.

Opening night for the Franklin Theatre is June 3 with a movie-themed street party featuring Gone with the Wind! Much of Main Street will be closed down to celebrate. After the opening, movies will be $5 for the first three months. Sounds like a great date night or girls’ night out. Rumor has it they will also have matinees for kids and live music performances too!

Remember to check out the calendar on Franklinis.com before you make plans!

JLB can help you keep your social networking message clear.

One thing is for certain though, people still visit Facebook by the droves! There are currently over 500 million Facebook users who spend over 700 billion minutes per month on the site. 10,000 new web sites add links to Facebook every day. Even with a little negative feedback, Facebook doesn’t seem to be slowing down.

So, since it looks like this social media site is here to stay, why not have a little fun?!

• Show your face!
• Share your story with Facebook
• Create tabs with more options for your business

Kids are out of school and snow is on the ground…time to go sledding! Half the fun is walking through the snow to get to the sledding hill. It hasn’t been this beautiful in our neighborhood in a while! The little ones love the ride and the dog can’t get enough of the snow. Needless to say our sweet girl loved flying down the hills on her birthday!

This year we got a special treat. The day we visited Jimmy Gentry himself was sitting out near one of the stables in an old rocking chair watching children play on the tire swing. As we rounded up the troops to head to the tractor ride, a man handed us a sketch by “coach” himself of our daughter enjoying the tire swing. What a fun souvenir…a drawing by a living legacy at his historical home.

Many web hosts will allow customers to use a shared SSL certificate for free. This sounds like a great idea, and for some it really is all that is needed. However, for a small fee, you can purchase your own dedicated or private certificate. So, what’s the difference?

1. The URL changes when using a shared certificate, but stays the same with a private certificate
   • Dedicated SSL will use your own URL in the address bar: https://www.yoursite.com
   • Shared SSL will use some version of the host machine information: https://darthvader.snhdns.com/~yoursite.
2. A shared certificate can cause a warning to pop up to users on some browsers since the certificate is owned by the host and not the web site owner. This doesn’t mean the certificate isn’t working, but it may cause concern with some customers. You are the owner of a dedicated SSL.
3. With a dedicated SSL, you can choose the level of security for your web site. With a shared SSL you inherit the security settings set by the host.
4. Some out of the box shopping carts require a dedicated SSL. For some reason, some carts just don’t know how to deal with the URL differences in a shared certificate, forcing the issue of purchasing a dedicated certificate.

Shared and dedicated SSL certificates both provide security for your web site. They both use the same encryption methods to transfer data over the web. They both make that little lock show up on the browser letting you and your customers know the information is safe. The decision is yours.  Take a look at your needs, the size of your store, your typical user and your budget for the site.  It all comes down to user experience and dollars and cents.

My little man has been helping me show kids how to paint Chinese characters. We also learned how to make yummy fried rice and can now speak a little Chinese. Well, I can say hi and sing a song. Little man just says “la.”

We’ve learned some interesting facts about China in the process. Did you know that the Chinese language has over 40, 000 characters? Did you know that ice cream was invented in China? Did you know there are over a billion people in China? Wow! I bet they eat lots of ice cream!