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Angus now grazing in Mountain View, CA

Bob Angus — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 15:11:40 +0000

It has been too long since I have posted. I have an excuse though. My family and I have moved from the beaches of So Cal up to the green hills of Silicon Valley. Yes, I bid a fond farewell to my friends at Commission Junction (you guys rock!). I have joined a great team, including some old friends, to do product marketing in the SSL division at VeriSign.

Well, my excuse for not blogging here is not really that good. We moved to Mountain View… um… 5 months ago. I also broke my promise that I would start making some serious cash from affiliate marketing, since I was no longer under the rules of Valueclick. Nada.

What can I say? I have been working my tail off at VeriSign. I am responsible for marketing 3 of our SSL brands and the partner channel. Plus, there is sooooo much for me and my family to do here in No Cal. We even got to see my old team, the Modesto Nuts, play the San Jose Giants.

Blogging and making money online have had to take a back seat. Actually, that is not exactly true either. I just launched a new blog at VeriSign… Bob Angus: The Ecommerce Evangelist Blog. It is not your standard corporate sales pitch thinly veiled as a blog. The blog focuses 100% on the world of e-commerce news, trends, and best practices. Please check it out, subscribe to the feed, and join the discussion.

Since you are here, please subscribe to BobAngus.com and/or follow me on Twitter.

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Launching a New Theme for BobAngus.com

Bob Angus — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 05:14:48 +0000

Welcome to the new BobAngus.com! A complete redesign of my blog theme has been a long time coming. My primary goal is to increase the total amount of time you spend on this site. Great content is the #1 way to achieve that objective, but an excellent theme is incredibly important to properly deliver that content.

The new theme is based on Stephan Miller’s More than Multiple Widgets theme. This theme is fantastic to work with and hopefully provides you with a much better experience. Plus, Stephan was very helpful in answering some questions that I had. Thank you Stephan!

All of the structural elements of the new Wordpress theme are complete. Only a few minor tweaks should be necessary over the next few weeks. Now I can spend more time writing posts!

Here are some details on what the redesign has added to the website and how I have customized a great free Wordpress theme.

New Theme

More than Multiple Widgets is a free, professional 3-column theme that is chocked full of features. I like the theme for 4 key reasons:

Easy to read – The large content area and white background make my verbose ramblings much easier to read. Plus, the header, sidebar, and bottom units allow for better navigation and visibility of what readers are interested in accessing.
Flexibility – The layout is very flexible and accommodates all the plugins, features, and links that I could ever want. I manually edited the header, sidebar, and bottom units, but Stephan has set up all of the core areas so that you can also use the drag-and-drop functionality of Wordpress Widgets.
Options – This theme steals a page from many Wordpress plugins by offering a complete Options tab. This is rare for themes, but can save you hours that otherwise would have been spent changing colors in the stylesheet and fiddling with Gravatar images.
Clear Code – The structure, style, and documentation of More than Multiple Widgets’ various PHP files are exceptionally easy to understand. This makes manual customizations a snap. It is obvious that Stephan spent a lot of extra time polishing this theme so that it could be accessible to novice bloggers.

New Plugins

I have added several new plugins and features to help you read the posts and information that you want. I have also kept fundamental parts of my old theme, like Feedburner subscriptions, New Tag Cloud, and blogger network widgets from BlogCatalog and MyBlogLog. Here is a brief summary of the new elements.

Most Popular Posts – I am using the template tags functionality of Alex King’s Popularity Contest plugin to display the most popular posts from BobAngus.com. This plugin offers an amazing set of options that allows you to calibrate each factor of the “popularity” algorithm.
Related Posts – Yet Another Related Posts Plugin by mitcho (aka Michael Erlewine) can dramatically increase readership by adding a list of related posts at the bottom of each post or page. YARRP is the best Wordpress plugin I have found to contextually determine relevant posts and present them effectively.
Valuable Content – I have added two common plugins Recent Posts and Recent Comments that helps you find the latest activity on the blog. Additionally, I have manually added a sidebar element called Featured Post, which highlights a post that I feel offers extraordinary information.
Testing 1,2,3 – Redesign projects can feel like changing the tires on a car while the car is moving. No worries about exposing your new theme or any possible hiccups while tinkering thanks to Theme Test Drive by Vladimir Prelovac. Here is my previous post on this new must-have plugin.

Next Steps

Now it is time to get back to producing awesome posts and marketing tools that you can use to make money online. Some of those posts are definitely going to be about the key lessons that I learned on this redesign project and instructions on how I did it.

I have a list of about 20 minor tweaks that I plan to implement over the next few weeks. More importantly, I would greatly appreciate your feedback on the new theme… or this blog in general. After all, this website is for you.

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Get Out the Vote with Your Children

Bob Angus — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 01:23:21 +0000

What was the first election that you really remembered? For me it was Carter/Ford in 1976. It was a tumultuous time. Even as a 10 year old, I picked up how important the presidential election was. Did I get that feeling from TV or radio? Nope. I understood the importance of that event from my parents. That is why it is so incredible for me to now share the experience of voting with my 5 year old daughter.

Voting is a habit formed when we are young, but so is not voting. Yes. Children learn about elections, democracy, and politics from many sources – schools, churches, the guy standing outside the grocery store and, of course, the media. However, parents are by far and away the biggest influence in transforming that learning into action.

The best way to teach your children about democracy and elections is to lead by example and have them go with you when you vote. My wife has taken my daughter to every single election since she was born. They love the experience. My daughter proudly shows off her “I Voted” sticker and talks about how Mom voted ‘yes’ or ‘no’ for this or that.

Today is Super Tuesday and the first time California has had their presidential primary this early in the campaign. For me, it was a much bigger day. Today was the first time that I got to vote with my daughter.

If you are interested in teaching your child about voting and elections, they are never too young to start. Here are some great resources for children of all ages.

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My Favorite Super Bowl Ad of All-Time

Bob Angus — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 20:09:06 +0000

I am really looking forward to the Super Bowl on Sunday. I expect a better game than the point spread indicates. Of course, the Super Bowl analysis will be on two fronts – what happened between the lines and what happened during the commercial breaks. Here is my all-time favorite Super Bowl advertisement.

Thank you eTrade for reminding us how much fun we had during the tech bubble of 2000!

The early Budweiser frog advertisements are also favorites of mine. Which Super Bowl ad is your favorite?

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Wishing Everyone a Happy New Year!

Bob Angus — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 18:07:30 +0000

2007 has been absolutely incredible in every way – from the happiness of my family to making many new friends to my personal achievements to being a part of the invigorating internet advertising industry. I am grateful for the good fortune and the many opportunities. I hope that 2007 has been just as amazing, gratifying and successful for you.

In about 12 hours, it will be 2008. The end of a year is a time when we often take time to reflect on the past and think of the future. New Year’s resolutions are always inspired. Our goals are given a clean slate with the desire to build momentum and achieve something great. 2008 looks to hold opportunity unlike any other year. It is time like no other to think big.

Happy New Year!!!

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Teaching My 5 Year Old the Gift of Giving

Bob Angus — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 13:10:43 +0000

It can be hard for children to understand the amazing importance of giving to others, especially at Christmas time. At 5 years of age, my daughter has understandably been swept away by the exciting dream of what she is going to get from Santa Claus. The consumer fever and marketing of today only adds to the frenzy.

How can parents help their child understand, enjoy and actively participate in charities? After all, charitable giving is totally different than the concept of sharing where the child understands that they will eventually get something in return. The good news is that children get the same powerful emotion of joy and inspiration that adults get when they help others. So much so, that the gift of giving can become a habit, not just a once a year activity.

For my daughter, my wife and I have focused on four key elements:

Actions speak louder than words

Children look at their parents actions more than anything to learn what to do and how to do it. If I write a check to make a donation, my daughter will not fully appreciate the act. It is the same as writing a check at the grocery store. I recommend taking action together as a family. Earlier this year, our family volunteered to help with the ice skating competition for the regional Special Olympics. My daughter helped me serve lunch for the athletes and later got to cheer on the speed skaters while my wife timed them.

Help other children

As much as they look up to you as parents, children know what it is like to be a kid. They want other kids to be happy and take a special interest when they can help a fellow kid. Donate to a toy or clothing drive that is specifically for a children’s organization. Ask your child to choose a toy or clothes that he or she no longer uses (don’t do it for them). Then, take them with you when you drop off the items. My daughter just did this with her collection of books for a program run by our public library.

Projects lead to great achievements

Children love activities and they love to work toward a goal. One of my favorites is a program at our local YMCA called the 12 Days of Fitness. Any member who swims or works out twelve times in December and brings in at least two food items for the food bank is entered into a drawing. What my daughter loves more than the chance at a prize is that she gets a sticker to track her progress on a board posted in the lobby. Everybody wins with this program.

Reinforce by having them come up with the idea

My ultimate goal is to build charitable giving as a habit, just like reading or riding a bike. The best way that I can help is by not doing it all for my daughter, even if it is tempting sometimes. To help me write this post, my family brainstormed and researched some other fun ways to give back to the community. Here is a list of additional projects and ideas that we liked:

Ask your local Humane Society or shelter if you can help walk dogs or feed smaller animals.
Pick out an extra item to donate to the local food bank every time you go grocery shopping.
Bake cookies for the homeless shelter.
Rake the leaves, pull weeds, or help plant a flower garden for elderly people in your neighborhood.
Start a charity donation jar and put in part of the weekly allowance (or paycheck for me).
Also, we just ordered The Giving Book: Open the Door to a Lifetime of Giving by Ellen Sabin. We look forward to getting more fun projects and charitable programs from reading it.

My wife and I are really just starting to teach our daughter how important it is to help others. She is doing great so far. We look forward to doing even more for charities and the community in 2008. If you have other ideas for children or stories about charitable giving that you have done, please add a comment.

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Contemplating my 2008 New Year’s Resolutions

Bob Angus — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 16:07:22 +0000

I love to build action plans. I have my Commission Junction work objectives and my Angus personal/home to-do list always within in reach. Setting clear, measurable objectives truly excites me. And there is no better time of year than late December… It is time for me to define my 2008 New Year’s Resolutions!

However, this year is going to be different. I want to break out of my normal mold. No, I do not have a problem with achieving the resolutions I set. No, the fundamental structure of my resolutions is not going to stray away from the classic SMART formula (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, time-based). No, I am not going to dramatically mess with the critical thinking framework that was imprinted into my brain while getting my MBA at Babson. What will change is…

I AM GOING BIG IN 2008

I have been reading a lot of great discourse on goals, dreams, and taking a leap into the unknown. I have been visualizing some lofty dreams. They are keeping me up at night. Today, I read Christine OKelley’s How to Achieve Ridiculous Goals. That article pushed me over the edge. I have to go big.

My recent goals have pushed me. They were not easy to achieve and they made me stretch into doing things I have never done before. For example, my 2006 and 2007 running goals have been incredible at transforming my daily life (and my health). However, I knew that I could meet my goal with conventional methods and perseverance from the outset.

In 2008, my resolution or resolutions will be out of bounds, even ridiculous. My objectives will be incredibly meaningful, yet I do not know how to get there today. Stay tuned. My 2008 New Year’s resolutions post is coming soon.

USC to Rout UCLA – My Running Goal Gets a Boost

Bob Angus — Fri, 23 Nov 2007 18:25:49 +0000

I am heading into the last month of my 2007 Running Goal. I am on track to hit 200k by Christmas day. What I need is a little incentive for my finishing kick… the USC Trojans crushing the UCLA Bruins on December 1st!

I have joined a USC vs. UCLA team running challenge on the Nike+ online community for an extra push in the last month of my personal 2007 running goal. I am supporting the highly favored USC Trojans. The challenge is the team with the most total miles by the big game wins. It kicks off Saturday, November 24th and ends on gameday Saturday, December 1st. Fight on!

I also joined another challenge to help me work off all the great holiday food and festivities. I signed up to run at least 30 miles by Christmas. That is exactly a 1 mile per day average for the next 30 days. Ho! Ho! Ho!

Updated: I removed the Nike+ widget that showed the updated status of the USC vs. UCLA challenge. For some reason, it was messing up the formatting of this post. Also, the UCLA team was kicking the USC’s butt. Going into Saturday, UCLA had run 103.8 miles this week versus USC running 46.3 miles. Fortunately, the results on the gridiron will be very different!

The Health Kick in Affiliate Marketing

Bob Angus — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 18:14:50 +0000

The health kick is spreading like a wildfire through out the world of affiliate marketing. First, Scott Jangro started running like a madman. Now, the latest entry is the Affiliate Fit Club. Six high profile affiliates have thrown down the gauntlet with a team based weight loss challenge. The finish line is in February at Affiliate Summit 2008 West in Las Vegas. Until then, I highly recommend supporting both teams as they strive to crush their goals.

For my part, I have a unique motivational challenge for Team Blue member Lisa Riolo. Since we went to college together at Claremont McKenna College, I have access to rare photos of her as a star Division III basketball player… 20 years ago. If she hits her personal goal, I won’t have to make those pictures public. Yes, that’s evil.

Also, please check out my own personal 2007 Running Goal. I ran my fastest 5k time this morning, clocking a speedy 24 min, 14 sec time. Now I am just 3k off the pace for my ultimate goal of running 200km by the end of the year.

Updating bobangus.com

Bob Angus — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 03:26:50 +0000

Welcome to the new bobangus.com! It’s time to step up with my blog, much like my new personal fitness challenge. I am going to be doing some major updates to this site over the next few weeks. That does not mean I am doing a total redesign or changing the fundamental objective of bobangus.com. I will be taking a new, aggressive approach to creating valuable content and improving the site through some well-known best practices.

Rather than just jumping in and making these changes, I always like to have a plan. Here is a summary of my action plan for improving this site…

The Goal: This site will not be yet another affiliate marketing blog or search marketing blog or blogging blog.

The Action Plan:

(More) content is king – Simply put, I need to post more and provide more valuable, actionable material for you. I participate in the most dynamic industry, internet marketing, and I learn something new or have key lessons reinforced every day. I have to share that experience. More importantly, I have to share it in a way that helps you to take action.
Grow traffic – I have to follow the fundamental, well-known steps that all successful bloggers practice to drive traffic. Darren Rowse’s Problogger.net and other sites dedicated to blogging have been a fantastic source for ideas and guidance.
Track and learn – For the longest time, I did not have any website analytics tools on this site. The data that is contained in Google Analytics and other tools is invaluable, because I can learn and adjust based on that information. I have installed the Ultimate Google Analytics plugin for Wordpress to easily enable the Google’s free site analytics.
Keep trying new stuff – I want this site to be a sandbox. I will be constantly trying out new technologies, ideas and fun stuff. Of course, too much experimentation and cluttering in the main posting area is disruptive. Therefore, I am building a new page called Bob’s Sandbox. Check it out.

Now it’s time to make it happen.