Rafael Marquez Online

Photo by: engineroomblog on Flickr I like how this article addresses this issue. At times, I struggle with the idea of whether I’m a “journalist” or not. It used to be, that only people that were published in a magazine, or a newspaper were “real” journalists. The rest of us were just “wannabees” or “not good enough to get a job writing for the paper” or the second rung plain and simple “bloggers.” Bottom line, I keep a “journal” which [...]

The reason I like this article, is that not only does the writer tell you what to do, he shows you samples of how to do it right and how not to do it. The main reason I dislike this post, is that you can’t really create viral content. Content goes viral, or it does not. You can do things to help content go viral, but you can’t just “create” viral content. Why do I say it like that? Because [...]

This is a good read, but let me save you some time. Look up “Monroe’s Motivated Sequence.” Everything that I’ve seen and read that deals with writing a sales letter, or selling something in general always reverts back to Monroe. The sequence is this: 1. Attention – aka build rapport – aka “I’m just like you” or “I know you” 2. Need – remind them of their pain – aka “I bet you’re here and it sucks” 3. Satisfaction – [...]

Guys, this is my panel for SXSWi. It was my first submission ever. I’d appreciate votes and/or feedback. Thanks! Rafael Marquez at SXSWi Amplify’d from panelpicker.sxsw.com Books lend legitimacy and authority to their authors. Writing and publishing a book, is a lot easier than people think it is. I plan to go over tips and techniques people can follow to complete their first book. I also plan to show people how they can self publish their book as well. I [...]

It was a fund raising event to help a local hospital in England buy a new mammogram machine. The BBC has a video from the event, and unless you work at Dell or someplace like that, the video is safe for work. Can you imagine doing something similar to that here in the states? I bet we could get more than 102 people to ride a roller coaster nekkid, what I doubt is that we’ll find a venue that will [...]

This is great news for us wandering iPhotographers, and the rest of us that walk around with a camera on us at all times. Amplify’d from www.popularmechanics.com Today, most people walk around with a camera of some sort in their possession. Point-and-shoots, DSLRs and tiny video cams–not to mention cellphones–have become ubiquitous. And yet it seems that in many public locations, security officials are touchier than ever about letting people actually use those cameras. Our guardians of public safety often [...]

I like what he says about subscriptions. 6 years ago, when I created my first website, I wanted people to subscribe to cut out comment spam. Fortunately, I figured out other ways to cull spam and keep comments. The rest of the items, in the list pretty much outline how big sites like MSN, Bing, Yahoo, ABC, Mashable etc. handle their pages. I don’t think that those big sites are going to change, ever. I really disagree with his comments [...]

This is video from the most recent 48 hour film festival in Austin. I’ve participated in the 48 hour film festival in the past with most of the same people on this team and I had a blast. If you don;’t know what this festival is about, you get 48 hours to write, shoot, produce and edit a 10 minute film. You’re not given any topics in advance, so you go in cold turkey. On Friday night, you’re given your [...]

I think the bottom line is that people will follow inspired leaders for themselves before they follow someone for the money. Money isn’t enough to motivate people to greatness, a desire to be great is what inspires people to be great. If money is your primary motivator, you won’t amount to much.

This is a pretty cool video. For the record, a flash mob is essentially a group of people that show up suddenly someplace and start dancing or doing something else. I think this particular flashmob is great since it’s in a casino. Here’s another flash mob, but this one is an MC Hammer one. I’d rank it higher than the first one, but it was produced by A&E to promote a TV show: I love the look on people’s faces [...]