WordCamp Israel is over. It was fun and interesting, and you can read my complete review of the event over here. But, there is no rest for the weary, so it's on to the next event: this Tuesday I'll be giving a free workshop on using blogs as a marketing tool. Here's more info: The Oct. 30 meeting of the Yokneam Forum of Technical Writers (Elephant) will feature a workshop on "Using Blogging as a Marketing Tool". Meetings of the Forum are free and open to the public (most are technical or marcom writers, but others are welcome). The standard ...

Last night I went to my first iDrink event. For those of you who are not familiar with iDrink, it's a party/event for Israelis in the Internet and web industries. The format usually includes presentations by startups and sponsors of the event, some free drinks, and a lot of socializing and networking. This was their seventh event, and there were tons of people there. At first, we couldn't even get into the bar, and people were literally spilling out the door. But that was ok, cuz even the door was a social place to be. We got inside in time to hear/see the end of a presentation by a startup called ...

Someone just wrote to me on facebook from Seattle asking me how can go about becoming a copywriter. I wrote him back, and I thought my answers might help others, so here they are (slightly modified): Study English Literature. I don't know about all English Lit departments, but in Bar Ilan we had to write a million papers proving ideas. We had to explain our hypothesis, prove it, and summarize it at the end. That's basic marketing writing! "Our widget can help you become a better cook [intro]. Its advanced fast-forwardizer streamlines the cooking process [proof] so you will enjoy your newfound ability to create foolproof muffins in half the time! [summary]" See - Shakespeare at his best! If ...

Yes, we've revamped our website, and it's about time! If you're reading this in a feed reader, come on over and check it out. Our old site was divided into two parts: one part was a static site built on old-fashioned HTML, and the second part was the blog, sitting separately on WordPress. There were a few problems with that setup: Updating the static site was not fun, especially if we needed to update elements that were repeated across the site, like the navigation bar, or the footer. The blog should have been tied into the site for better search engine results. The blog was sitting on a really old version of WordPress. It was the old story of ...

WordCamp Israel is fast approaching, and I wanted to update you on what's going on. First of all, the registration closed a little over a week ago - capacity has been reached. I know there are a lot of disappointed people who really wanted to come, but hopefully it will either work out for them this year, or they'll manage to register in time for next year's conference. Second, I'm going to be moderating the panel on Blogging and Business. We have a really great panel, and I hope it will be enjoyable and informative. Here's a bit about our panelists: Me. My company, illuminea provides blog development and strategic consultation services to businesses....

Two separate studies conducted on the topic of women's impact on businesses - one in Europe and one in the US - indicate that having women at the top of a company is good for the bottom line: McKinsey research released a study showing better-than-average financial performance by European companies with the highest proportion of women in influential leadership roles. The study found that these companies do better than their sector in terms of return on equity, operating result and share price growth. The management consulting firm also reports that companies around the world where a third or more of the senior team are women score higher, on average, than ...

It’s now official - Lorelle Van Fossen (yes, THE Lorelle) is going to be the keynote speaker at the upcoming WordCamp Israel blogging conference! When: Oct. 25, 9am to 4pm Where: Michlelet Afeka - Bney Efraim, Tel Aviv Tel: 1-800-37-37-10 Cost: Free! But you must register to reserve your place. Among the topics to be covered at the conference is blogging and business (I’m on that panel ), how to create an effective web presence with WordPress, and practical tips on installing WordPress and using Plugins. The conference now ...