Jason Unger

Your Bad Web Headlines Are Good For Me

Posted by junger - 11/16/07 at 12:11:02 pm

So few writers and editors publish good Web headlines with their stories … and I love it.

If you're not being clear and concise with your headlines, you're losing readers to your competition.

Individual stories aren't just a part of your Web site — they're a part of the entire social web. With links jumping from site-to-site, aggregates like Google News and Digg, and RSS readers, your stories aren't competing with each other.

They're competing with every other story published on the Internet. And that's a lot of competition.

There is no box for your Web site. There is no beginning and end. All your stories are out there.

Make them stand out and you'll have a chance at succeeding.

Here's 5 ways to avoid bad headlines:

1. Be Clear. Tell the reader exactly what the story is about.
2. Be Upfront. You've got two words to convince someone the story is worth reading.
3. Make it Personal. If it's not a news story, it has to have some relevance to the reader. Tell them why it effects them.
4. Sell It. You've got a lot of competition for their attention. Tell them why they need to read your story.
5. Don't Be Clever. You don't have a magazine. Your reader doesn't have your story in their hands with the headline, body and text. If there's no context (which there isn't), you can't be clever.

You obviously don't have to write good headlines. If you don't, it can only help me — your competition.

If 24 Were From 1994

Posted by junger - 11/15/07 at 04:11:38 pm

Since the WGA strike has pushed back the next season of 24 "indefinitely," it's refreshing to see some original content featuring our favorite hero, Jack Bauer.

Best. Parody. Ever.

"Dammit, George. You picked up while I was doing the Internet."

"He's got total control of our GeoCities page."

Those were the days …

5 Things I've Learned About Working at Home

Posted by junger - 11/14/07 at 04:11:09 pm

When we moved, I kept my day job with EH Publishing running CEPro.com — but now I'm working at home.

It's a totally different work style than the cubicle life, with its pros and cons. Here are five things I've learned so far about working at home.

You Work Harder

When you're not in the office environment, you work harder on the tasks at hand. You don't want to give the impression that you're goofing off or taking advantage of the work-at-home situation. You've got fewer people to chat with and less watercooler talk.

With more focus on "being at work," you get more work done.

Staying Connected is Important

No man is an island, and no virtual worker can be completely disconnected from co-workers.

Whether it's through IM, e-mail or, most important, phone, keeping in touch is key. But you have to find that line between keeping yourself in the loop and overdoing it. If you were in the office, would you send that e-mail? Or would you figure it out yourself?

It's Quiet

If you're not working in a shared environment, working at home is quiet. I need to have some sort of audible sounds — a podcast, the radio, iTunes — to keep going.

Obviously, quiet is also good for getting things done. No cell phones or sales calls are interrupting my day because I've set up the environment.

You Have to 'Go' to Work

Rolling out of bed and straight into the office is not a good idea. You're not in the right mindset and you're not prepared to do what you need to.

Get up, shower, get dressed, eat breakfast, and go to work.

When You're Done, You're Done

When I was working in the office, I didn't mind coming home and doing work on the side at night. It's a different location and, therefore, a different job.

But when I'm doing work for someone else in my own office and on my own equipment, I don't always want to sit down and work on my own things after hours. When the bell rings, I'm happy to go in the other room and relax.

Should I Buy an iPhone? Vote Now

Posted by junger - 11/13/07 at 12:11:11 pm

Right after we moved into our new place, we discovered a HUGE problem.

Our Sprint cellphones don't work inside.

The walls are so thick that we literally have no signal inside, except a faint signal by the windows. However, outside, we have at least 3 bars of service.

As you can imagine, this is a problem.

Since it took us a few days to get Comcast installed (a whole separate story), we were completely disconnected … except out on the porch. (We use Vonage for our landline.)

It's brought me to this question: should I get rid of Sprint and get an iPhone?

I'm a fan of the iPhone — it's a sweet device — but have held off because of the AT&T lockdown and because I'm in a service contract with Sprint.

But if AT&T works inside — T-Mobile gets three bars, while Verizon's signal is weak — it might be a great choice.

Here are the pros and cons, as I see them.

Pros:
- The iPhone is awesome. I would love to get one, even if I wasn't having signal problems with Sprint.
- Make calls over Skype using iPhone WiFi.
- Potentially have service inside. Don't have to sit out on the porch to make calls.

Cons:
- Have to break Sprint contract and buy new phone.
- Stuck with AT&T's inferior network.
- May or may not grab a signal inside.
- Can't make regular calls over WiFi (see Skype above).
- Price jump in service — from $38/month to $120/month

For what it's worth, I currently own the Samsung m610.

So, should I switch to an iPhone? Leave a comment and let me know what you think.

Home Again: Finally Settling In

Posted by junger - 11/10/07 at 07:11:49 pm

After making the big move down to DC two weeks ago, we barely had any time to settle in.

We moved in on a Thursday, went to Philadelphia for the weekend (with a stop in Harrisburg on Sunday), then back down to our new place.

But that's not the end of the traveling — while Debbie stayed home, I flew out Monday to Long Beach, Calif. to cover EHX Fall until Friday. So for the first week and a half in our new place, I spent a total of two nights here.

Thankfully, the traveling is over for now and we're starting to settle in. There are plenty of boxes still to be unpacked (mostly books, since our new place does not have the wonderful built-in bookshelves we used to have) but we're getting there.

We're all connected with the Internet and TV and phone, which is crucial considering we have absolutely no cell phone service inside. It works perfectly out on the porch, but inside the phone basically blows up.

Sounds like an excuse to get an iPhone, right? Stay tuned …