Just updated the blog with the amazing P2 theme. Customizations to follow.
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Cristiano
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Cristiano
Working on the Web is Risky Business
Working on the web is risky business.
Why?
You have no set working hours, you don’t have to physically get out of your house to work, you don’t receive promotions, rewards or anything of the like.
Basically, you don’t look like you’re working.That is risky for two reasons:
1 – Work burnout is sneaky if you work for yourself. Right because of the fact that you don’t have any set working hours, it’s much harder to keep track of how long you’ve actually spent working. And this might lead to stress which is bad for your health, both physical and mental.
2 – Being lazy is much easier. The other side of the medal; you have no set working hours and you can’t feel guility for working one hour less than you should if you don’t know you’ve been doing just that. Of course, though, you can feel guilty if your uniques have dropped by a few percentual points, or you made 1k$ less than you did the month before.
3 – The people around you think you “do nothing all day” (and tend to think of you first when something has to be done and no one else can do it because they’re busy). I can’t begin to tell you how much I loathe the expression that some people assume when I say “I can’t do that, sorry. I gotta work today”. They raise their eyebrows as if they’re saying “Right, right, you don’t wanna do that. Sheesh!”.
I might not have an office in the strict sense of the word, I might not have a boss in the strict sense of the word, but I DO WORK TOO (and probably more than most 9-5ers).If you’re a webmaster/web marketer/webdesigner or you just simply work from home, please share your thoughts by leaving a comment
P.S. One other thing is risky: living alone. No wonder there is a profession called ‘housewife’. Taking care of food, clothes and the house itself is a full time job.
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Cristiano
Benjamin Franklin’s Thirteen Virtues
1. Temperance: Eat not to dullness and drink not to elevation.
2. Silence: Speak not but what may benefit others or yourself. Avoid trifling conversation.
3. Order: Let all your things have their places. Let each part of your business have its time.
4. Resolution: Resolve to perform what you ought. Perform without fail what you resolve.
5. Frugality: Make no expense but to do good to others or yourself: i.e. Waste nothing.
6. Industry: Lose no time. Be always employed in something useful. Cut off all unnecessary actions.
7. Sincerity: Use no hurtful deceit. Think innocently and justly; and, if you speak, speak accordingly.
8. Justice: Wrong none, by doing injuries or omitting the benefits that are your duty.
9. Moderation: Avoid extremes. Forebear resenting injuries so much as you think they deserve.
10. Cleanliness: Tolerate no uncleanness in body, clothes or habitation.
11. Chastity: Rarely use venery but for health or offspring; Never to dullness, weakness, or the injury of your own or another’s peace or reputation.
12. Tranquility: Be not disturbed at trifles, or at accidents common or unavoidable.
13. Humility: Imitate Jesus and Socrates.
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Cristiano
No more bullshit
I have recently come across what is probably the best blog post I’ve ever read.
It is from Merlin Mann, creator of 43 Folders, and it is a sort of mission statement of where his website is going from now on.
The message is simple and yet incisive: no more bullshit.
“This is now a site for people who want to finish things that they care about — but who still occasionally need help, inspiration, and the courage to push all the bullshit off their work table. This is about clearing that space every day, and then using it to do cool stuff that makes you proud.”
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Dolven922
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Cristiano
Marketing is Free
Webmasters usually forget what makes people WANT to visit a website. And that is if that website is valuable.
If a website creates value, then it will be visited.
So what is value in this context?
Value is anything something that attracts visitors. Is that website good? Is it entertaining? Does it have the information I need? Does it provide me with the service I was looking for?Think about it, the same concept also applies to products: if a product is useful, properly concieved and well-built, chances are it will be successful.
What is the difference with the offline market?
Everything is faster on the internet: if you do something as simple as adding a means for your users to share the valuable site they’ve just found with others, they will do and you’ll have a free and much more incisive marketing campaign than the usual AdWords stuff!
I say more incisive because after all who are you gonna believe more, a 468×60 pixel banner or your childhood friend telling how much “this website he’s found” is awesome?One last note: I was listening to a training program for telemarketers by Anthony Robbins a couple of days ago, and there are lots of ideas that can be transposed to the online world. One of the more important ones is that people buy their WANTS, not their needs. So, clearly a website that people WANT to visit because it’s really good, is much more prone to have long-term success and NO NEED for marketing than a website that people NEED for whatever value it provides.
An example might be the best mortgage website versus Youtube. What is more prone to lasting success? You might need the former at one point and browse it daily, but it will soon lose its value for you (i.e. when you don’t need anymore/already got your mortgage). Youtube instead, with the service it provides and the content it has received over the years, is now the object of many “wants” and so it will be for a long time still.So eat your heart out SEO experts and marketing gurus, we don’t need you!
It sounds obvious, but it obviously is not: want a popular website? Make sure it’s valuable first, the rest will follow. -
Cristiano
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Cristiano
New CristianoGiardina.com design in the works!
Here is a sneak peek at the new layout I am currently designing for my personal website.
- The overall layout so far – check the detail pics at the end of the post.
I had in mind an old-world/piratesque look and, obviously, there had to be some wooden planks, a piece of parchment and ink..
I am pretty happy with what I have so far, even though I feel I might have gone a bit overboard and over-designed this theme, making it way less usable than I’d like it to be.
Please, oh please, if there are any expert designers out there, comment with suggestions on improving this! Also, I am not really sure I’ll be able to code this properly, so any CSS cheat/tip/hack for the most “difficult” elements is appreciated as well.
Thank you!
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Cristiano
L’Albatros
Le Poète est semblable au prince des nuées
Qui hante la tempête et se rit de l’archer;
Exilé sur le sol au milieu des huées,
Ses ailes de géant l’empêchent de marcher.– Charles Baudelaire
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Cristiano
Today is..
08-08-08
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Cristiano
Life without poetry is not worth living.
It is just a brutal and banal travesty.
Find poetry in everything you do.
Dolven922 is discussing. 
I dont know what to say. This is definitely one of the better blogs Ive read. Youre so insightful, have so much real stuff to bring to the table. I hope that more people read this and get what I got from it: chills. Great job and great blog. I cant wait to read more, keep em comin!:)