Seven North Web

Not necessarily the best recommendation, but in this case I’m proud that Uncle Sam uses open source software like WordPress so widely. This list is from M. Jaquith, who writes the fine Mark on WordPress.

Here is a list (probably not all-inclusive) of United States government agencies or organizations using WordPress (whether privately or publicly):

Air Force Army Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Coast Guard Defense Intelligence Agency Department of Energy Department of Homeland Security Department of State Department of Treasury Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) Marine Corps Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) National Geospatial Intelligence Agency National Reconnaissance Agency National Security Agency (NSA) Navy

Full article here.

-Via Cozmolabs:

WordPress is slowly making it’s way into the corporate world as well: Yahoo, CNN, New York Times, Ford, Nike are just a few of big names that implemented it for it’s ease of use, fast development times, cost reduction and easy maintenance of the platform. Oh… and U.S. Government Agencies are also using WordPress.

Depending on how you use it, Google RSS Reader can be a discerning filter, a news funnel or an indiscriminate and overwhelming firehose of information/trivia. It takes a little practice, but the world’s most popular online RSS reader is a business blogger’s best friend.

Here’s a diagram of Seven North’s recommended SMM set up:

(Via Mashable)

Your business is primarily local in scope– How do you use Twitter to build community and market your products within a few miles of your office?

Finding local Twitter users to connect with is great for networking, but also for getting relevant, real-time, local information about things like jobs, news, politics, weather, food, and more. Someone tweeting from London can’t help you find a good place to eat in New York City, and if you live in Chicago, tweets about the weather in Los Angeles won’t be very enlightening. Here are nine ways to locate Twitter users in your town to help you get the most out of Twitter.

Read the whole story on Mashable!

• Twitter to Launch Verified Accounts (mashable.com)

(Via Fast Company)

I don’t think it gets any clearer than this, from Dear American Airlines:

I redesigned your website’s front page, and I’d like to get your opinion.

I’m a user interface designer. I travel sometimes. Recently, I had the horrific displeasure of booking a flight on your website, aa.com. The experience was so bad that I vowed never to fly your airline again. But before we part ways, I have a couple questions and three suggestions for you…

Fast Company sums up the exchange here.

(Via ReadWriteWeb)

The ReadWriteStart Channel has up-to-the-minute advice for new and re-visioning small business-people. Here is their much-referenced advice on URLS and company names.

Relax (But Avoid Really Horrible Ones) URLs matter a lot less than it would seem when you are starting out. One can think of plenty of terrible names that did great and vice versa. We are now moving away from destination sites. Search engines and browser capabilities, such as Firefox’s awesome bar, will help people find you. If you are relying on a great name to build traffic… don’t. Unless you have a lot of money to buy an existing domain — and that is probably not a good use of your cash — there are cheaper ways to build traffic. So then, “okay” is good enough. Don’t obsess over the URL. Save your obsessing for usability design. But avoid the real stinkers, the names that make people laugh at you and then ignore you. We live in a global world, too, so do check that your great URL does not mean “Your mother is a mangy dog” in Chinese, French, or whatever.

Read the whole piece at ReadWriteWeb.