This Blog Has Moved to http://www.thestrategicguy.com/

It's true!  After four years and more than 400 posts, I have packed up my blog and moved it to the WordPress platform.

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The Best Places to Work Fallacy

For some, work is like spending a week at summer camp.

There are plenty of games to be played.  For instance, LivingSocial in Washington, DC energizes its staff with air hockey, Skee-Ball, cupcake eating contests and ziplining.

Your daily needs are met in one place.  Google is famous for its free food in company cafeterias, no charge laundry service and exercise facilities.

And there is an environment that fosters friendships.  Tax software company Intuit hosts what it refers to as “idea jams” to bring employees together.

This the life of employees at companies on Fortune Magazine's list of Best Companies to Work For and Washingtonian’s 50 Great Places to Work.  It’s so very sweet…or is it? 

Every time I read about a company-sponsored yoga class, billiards tournament in a chill out room or free after hours car service, I think here’s a company that aspires to keep you tucked away in their four walls. 

Life is about work, right?  If you’re going to be here 60 or 70 hours a week we might as well make it more tolerable under the guise of a zany culture.

More than four years ago Strategic Communications Group (Strategic) moved to a completely open and flexible work environment.  Work where you want, when you want and how you want.

We count on each other to provide a high level of client service, meet deliverables on time and invest in professional development without the need of a daily pep talk.  We’re all responsible adults. 

Plus, we’ve structured our environment to accommodate this flexibility.  That’s why we outsourced our technology to a partner that makes our entire infrastructure available anywhere there is Internet connectivity.

Is this type of work situation right for everyone?  It’s not.  Some people dig on Foosball.  That’s cool. 

For us, finding an appropriate work/life balance and making sure we spend time with family and friends is paramount.

Top Posts in 2011 are Remarkably Old School

My annual review of year-end readership statistics from the "Strategic Guy" blog was encouraging...and somewhat discouraging. 

Let's start with the good.  Although my pace of publishing declined from 87 posts in 2010 to 61 last year due to new writing commitments I took on with the Washington Business Journal, Washington Executive and Govwin, the quantity of unique visits to the blog site exceeded 10,000 with nearly 17,000 page views.

Web search is the primary driver of traffic, yet I also realized a consistent flow of readers from Strategic Communications Group's (Strategic) corporate Web site and presence in online communities like Google+, Facebook and LinkedIn.

An analysis of the blog site's most popular posts in terms of readership is where I grow concerned.  Here are the top three, each of which exceeded 500 unique visits. 

Three Phases of Social Media Maturation, published on April 12, 2009

Great SaaS Debate, published on January 19, 2008

Company Wide Social Media Engagement: A Bridge Too Far, published on March 1, 2011

Based on Strategic's competency in social media and focus on serving clients in the technology markets, these posts are all relevant topics that reinforce our expertise.  What's the problem?

Check out the dates of publication.  The most popular post is nearly three years in the can, while the second most popular is now four years dated.

Did the issues, trends, technologies and best practices I addressed in 2011 fail to resonate with readers?  And how should I evolve my editorial and content plan based on this review of analytics?

A couple of questions I'll be thinking about during the next few weeks.