Information overload is not a new concept for me. After all, I declared email bankruptcy way back in 2007. Sadly, that was a bit too well publicized at places like USA Today and the London Times, which means it’s REALLY embarrassing that I haven’t yet learned from my experiences.

Recently, I was reading Clay Johnson’s blog post on information dieting and attention fitness, which came at a very relevant time as I’m once again trying to figure out how to fit about a thousand hours of stuff in every 24 hour day. Last weekend at FOO camp, I attended a session Jane McGonigal held about hurry sickness and having time poverty. Scott Berkun, who was at the session, later did a blog post about the cult of busy.  I was talking about all of this on Twitter, and Scott Hanselman sent me a link to a talk he gave about managing information overload. I said what he talked about was scary. He asked me why. The answer wouldn’t fit into 140 characters so I thought I’d do a blog post.

I am, without a doubt, too busy. I absolutely suffer from what Scott Hanselman calls “psychic weight” and often find myself “thrashing to disk”. There’s so much that my brain can’t even figure out where to start. Part of it is inefficiency, sure. But a lot of it is simply having too much to do. At the FOO session, I described it this way: I say yes to too many things, but I want to say yes to lots of things. It’s what keeps life interesting and has gotten me to where I am now. I get to do lots of amazing things because I’m open to new stuff as it comes along. But Scott Berkun said, you gotta say no to stuff. You just have to.

In Clay’s post, he says the problem isn’t too much information, it’s too much consumption. Saying yes to too much. Trying to do too much at once.

But how to do we fix it? Maybe some of it is little things. Scott Hanselman suggests not checking your email first thing in the morning. Clay suggests keeping open tabs to a minimum and closing all windows except the ones you need to accomplish the task at hand. Which apparently means we should try to have only one task at hand at a time. But it’s also big things. Not saying yes to too much in the first place.

So why is the thought of figuring this out so scary? Why is it scary to consider NOT reaching for the phone to check email while still in bed in the morning? What’s so frightening about saying no? Anyone who knows me knows I want to do it all. But I want to do it all well, which clearly is difficult when you’re doing everything at once. So maybe I’m fearing the opposite of what I should.

So, I ask you: have you solved this problem? For the little things and for the big things. How do you get the information about the world that you want without getting so drowned in information that it bogs down your life? How do you keep on top of what you’ve said yes to? How do you keep from saying yes to too much?

PS – I don’t need another copy of Getting Things Done. I already have two.

Hi Everyone! Welcome to the new site. I’m still working on moving everything over, so you may find that a lot of the links don’t work and that other things are a bit wonky. Please let me know if you run into construction!

Special thanks to Nate, Cesar, Michael, Mohit, Chris, and his brother Patrick.

It may take a bit for the dust to settle, but I’m still planning to blog here, as well as use this site as the launching pad for all the ideas I come up with. As soon as I’m finished with these redirects, I’ll be back to give you a proper tour, but for now, feel free to look around!

I have been crazy busy with lots of things to write about but no time to write them.

In the meantime, check out this LA Times story on using the internet to broadcast details of our personal lives that we previously reserved for friends and family (specifically, using Twitter to document the Yahoo! layoff). Obviously, this topic hits close to home for me. I’ve been talking to people online for more than 10 years, I’ve blogged about my career changes, and I dug into the question of online identity at Gnomedex last year. I talked with the reporter about how we lose privacy but gain a sense of connecting with the world around us when we post online.

On a completely different topic related to the world continuing to move online, my latest article for Information Today magazine is up and focuses on the recent PEW Internet study that found that 77% of Americans are online and most turn to the internet for answers.

If you’re more into talking and listening than reading, head over to Search Marketing Expo West next week in Santa Clara! I’m moderating seven sessions: four on blended/ universal search, and three “wonder twins” sessions: blogging, social media marketing, and user-generated content. (Speaking of universal search, did you see the SEOmoz whiteboard Friday I did about it not too long ago?)

And if you’re more into listening and not traveling beyond your couch and laptop, check out the webinar I’m doing March 11th on how companies can successfully engage with customers using social networking.

Hope to see you all next week!

This is a post in two parts. First, a few words about marketing, and then, an answer, once and for all about Washington state’s primary and/or caucus situation. A couple of days ago, I mentioned that a great search engine optimization tactic is to provide useful information about what searchers are looking for. I know, it seems obvious, but it’s so simple that I think it can sometimes be overlooked. I noted that I did a search to find out the primary schedule for each state and I didn’t find a good result until #13. I suggested that political sites (candidates, activist groups, news organizations…) should figure out what their core audience might want to know and then create content for it. I gave a few examples in an article I did over at Search Engine Land about the use of the internet in this year’s election season.

I asked several other questions (about environmental issues, the war in Iraq, the economy) and official candidate sites weren’t returned on the first page for any of them. Candidate sites could be well served by a page that talks about the details of each major issue and how the candidate leans.

And proof that it works, my blog post about the primary schedule now ranks #1 for my original query, as well as for queries like “what is the difference in primary or caucus states”, “primary in each state”, and “when is each primary”.

One of the questions I asked in the original post was about the difference between a primary and a caucus and why Washington state has both. Suzan LeVine has put together a wonderfully comprehensive (and non-partisan) write up that she has titled “Caucuses For Dummies”. I’m copying her article with minimal edits below since I find the whole topic fascinating and I think a lot of other Washington voters are as confused as I was.

Caucus For Dummies: A Non-Partisan Primer On The Washington State Presidential Caucus and Primary By A Pre-First Timer
By Suzi LeVine

Key Messages

1. If you’re a Democrat – the primary means nothing. In fact, I think I will let my 5 yr old practice staying in the lines by filling in circles and playing “voting” on my absentee primary ballot. The Republican primary has 51% usefulness for delegates (see below for more details on this).
2. To find your caucus
• If you’re a Democrat: use the caucus finder or search for Washington State caucus
• If you’re a Republican: All counties are listed here; King county has a specific tool.
3. The caucuses are at 1pm on Saturday, February 9th and our delegates will really matter in this election!

I have never been or participated in a caucus before. This year, however, I’m more inspired than ever to have input into this system (if you don’t vote, you can’t complain). However, I had a hard time finding the information that would help me. So – I started asking some questions and digging up information for myself and also to share with you – with the goal to help more people have a voice in this election.

Q: Since our caucus is on Feb 9th – after Super Tuesday – will it even matter?
A: Quite possibly. We don’t know how Super Tuesday will turn out – so it’s best to be prepared to attend and participate in the Washington Caucus. We could be at a place where every delegate counts. Also – after Super Tuesday, less viable candidates’ delegates may be in play – so – our delegates will still be valuable. Plus – what a cool way to fulfill your civic duty!

Edit from Vanessa: Turns out, our votes count even after Super Tuesday!

Q: If Washington State has a caucus, then what’s all this I hear about a primary?
A: It’s crazy, but in fact, Washington State has BOTH a caucus (on Feb 9th) AND a primary (on Feb 19th). BIG WARNING!!!! Don’t be fooled by the primary (especially since absentee ballots will be distributed on or around Jan. 30th). The caucus is first and has more impact on who the people of Washington select for their presidential candidates than the primary. Here are some specifics to be aware of:

• Democrats select 100% of their delegates to the national convention based on the caucuses – even though there is a primary ballot for Democrats.
• Republicans will allocate 51% of their delegates based on the primary results and 49% based on the caucus results.
• An individual can vote/be represented in both the caucus and the primary – as long as they stay in one party for both (I could be counted in the caucus AND vote in the primary).
• The full text of info about the primary from the secretary of state is here as a PDF.

In other words – if you’re a Democrat – your primary ballot for president doesn’t really matter that much. If you’re a Republican, it does. Either way – you should still go to your local caucus.

Q: What is the timing for the caucus?
A: 1pm is the latest you should arrive. The first ½ hour is when folks get registered and acquainted and when they start chatting. 1:30pm is when nominating can begin.

Q: What is the experience/what happens at a caucus?
A: Again – while I’ve never been, I’ve spoken with a few folks who have and it sounds nutty but fun (kind of like a Snickers bar). Here is what I understand the main steps to be:

1. In advance of the caucus – find out what your precinct is and where your precinct will be caucusing (see the question about this below for how to do this).
2. Sat. afternoon, Feb 9th – you go to that location, walk in and sign-in (again – getting there by 1pm).
3. You gather by precinct and do some schmoozing and discussing.
4. At 1:30 – sub-groups will form around the candidates and a person will be selected from among each candidate group to speak to the larger precinct about that candidate.
5. Each candidate group will get to speak and, at some point, the Precinct Chair will ask people to align by candidate. People then shuffle around to where they are putting their support.
6. There may be additional speaking and deliberation.
7. If a candidate doesn’t have that much support – there may be some jockeying for those people by the other candidates.
8. At some point (not predetermined) – the Precinct chair will finalize the results, take a headcount and, based on the percentage breakout, distribute the delegates that have been allocated to that precinct based on population of the precinct (not based on caucus attendance). For example, let’s say a precinct has 1000 residents in it – it may have 10 delegates allocated against it. In the caucus, if there are 100 people who show up and 40 of them support candidate A, 40% candidate B and 20% candidate c, then candidate A will get 4 delegates, B will get 4 delegates and C will get 2 delegates.
9. Feb 9th is actually just the first round of delegate voting – but should be reflective of the final outcome of the state caucuses. The precinct elected delegates (they are chosen by the group at the caucus) then go to a district, county and then state caucus – with the final caucus selecting the delegates who go to the national convention.

Q: How do I know where my caucus is and what my precinct number is?
A: Your precinct number is on your voter registration card. However, your voter location IS NOT necessarily your caucus location. Use the tools listed below to find out your precinct number (if you don’t have your voter registration card) and/or to find out the caucus location.

• Tool on the Democrat site: 90% of registered Democrat voters will find their info there; the other 10% should call the number on that page.
• Tool on the Republican site: All counties are listed there; King county has a specific tool.

Q: Can kids come?
A: Kids are allowed to come (they won’t count toward the total unless their going to be 18 by the election in November). OR – of course- you could find childcare.

Q: Do I have to have an ID?
A: I’m still trying to determine that. I don’t think so, but it’s safer to bring it – even if it’s your drivers license, voter registration id, etc…

Edit from Vanessa: Looks like you don’t need ID.

Q: Do I have to already be a registered voter?
A: NO – you can register to vote at the caucuses – as long as you’ll be 18 by the November election.

Q: Do I already need to be registered for a particular party? Or – if I already am, can I only participate in their caucus?
A: While you will need to choose a party (or stick with the one you’ve chosen), even if you are registered for a particular party already, you can change your allegiance for the day (although you can’t participate in both caucuses on the same day).

Q: What if I’m religious and don’t write on Shabbat? How do I register to participate in the caucuses?
A: The only writing that I could ascertain is the signature when you register. SO – in theory, you could show up and still present arguments and participate in it in that capacity. There is a form to fill out so that you can have a proxy in the actual process. I couldn’t find the one on the Republican’s website, but here’s the one for Democrats. However, this needed to be submitted by Feb 1st to actually count!

Q: How do I get selected as a delegate?
A: It is done during the caucus process based on who has the cleanest teeth. (LOL) Seriously, the people in a particular group for a candidate select their delegates from among that group.

Q: What are the dates for subsequent district/state/national gatherings?
A: April 5th is the next one. More info can be found on the respective sites – listed below.

For more information:

• Democrats – Washington State Democrats Caucus information center
• Republicans – King County Republican Frequently Asked Questions

Seattlist also has a great post about the subject.

Sometimes search marketing is about optimizing your pages for phrases you want your site to be found for. But other times, it’s about paying attention to the latest trends and making sure that your site is answering the questions that are relevant to your content.

Super Buffy Tuesday?
Take for instance the current U.S. political season. I’m planning Buffy night this week, like I do most every week, and when I sent out an email suggesting Tuesday, Natala wrote back and asked if we’d be following primary results in addition to Buffy goodness. Huh. That’s not this week in Washington is it? I think maybe Tuesday is the day in California though. Surely a quick search will tell me.

Where’s the Primary Schedule?
I did a search for [when are the primaries for each state?] to woeful results. I mostly get pages describing the primary process and some stuff about Ron Paul (he has two listings on the front page; all other candidates have none). Should search engines be more sophisticated and understand that a “when” query is less about general explanations and more about dates? Maybe. But in the meantime, this is the type of situation that a smart marketer can make good use of. I get a great result at number 12: Boston.com’s coverage, which includes a handy map listing the dates for all primaries and caucuses (wow, that’s a weird word). The page also includes a text version of the information in a table. They also have a fairly good title tag (although I might add “dates” or “schedule” to it). I might also suggest an H1 tag and alt text for the “campaign08″ image that matches the image text, rather than uses the word “home”.

Apparently, lots of states(22!) hold primaries on February 5th, so I suppose it’s no wonder they call is Super Tuesday. Washington comes later (February 9th, and there’s some whole deal about how the state has both a caucus and a primary, which makes no sense, but in any case, nothing happens here this week other than the Buffy watching).

What’s the difference between a primary and a caucus anyway?
The primary process is a crazy one.

The boston.com page says “*Florida, Michigan, New Hampshire, South Carolina, and Wyoming had half their delegates taken away by the Republican National Convention because they violated rules by moving up their primary/caucus date. Florida and Michigan had all their delegates taken away by the Democratic National Convention for the same reason.” How is that possible? How could people in charge of whole states not know the rules? How could the national conventions not notice the schedules had changed and warned them in advance? And speaking of primary schedules, how is it that New Hampshire state law requires it to have the first primary? Do they just have to keep moving it up if other states schedule earlier?

What is a caucus anyway? (Ask Yahoo! gets the first result for that and WikiAnswers gets the second, which is just more proof that content sites in this niche have opportunities to make sure comprehensive, useful answers available. Particularly as the Ask Yahoo! Answer is more about doing a search for the answer than it is about the answer itself; the article referenced by the answer ranks third for the query, ironically enough). And why is “caucus” spelled so crazy? Republicans in Maine have a caucus that lasts February 1st through 3rd. Why do they get two more days than anyone else?

More patriotic through search
I can’t be the only person feeling a little inadequate in my Americanness for not knowing the answers to these questions and the search results tell me that now’s the time to get some good content out there to help us all.

You can’t always see trends coming, but many times, you can look ahead be prepared with just the right answer. I’ll help you get started on some others that I might be needing soon:

1. How can I dye the perfect Easter egg and beat the design of any kid on my block?
2. How did that crazy tradition of selling ugly stuffed ducks trapped in suffocating plastic balloons on the side of road for Valentine’s day start? Does anyone actually like those ducks? Or is it just a ploy that guys use to get their girlfriends to break up with them?
3. Green beer? Really?

Consider these my search engine optimization gift to you, for this super Tuesday. Known more fondly to my apparently unamerican self as Buffy night.

Back online after a brief hiatus and the domain suggestions have just been pouring in as comments, emails, texts, and phone calls. Yes, I completely agree I should spring vanessafox.com, but I’ve been trying to a while now and haven’t gotten very far.

Originally, vanessafox.com was owned by the Vanessa Fox who is a bridesmaid dress designer. Only she let it expire and it was snatched up by someone who started using it as a pornarrific made-for-YPN site. vanessafox.com eventually started targeting ads at bridal fashion (by way of uniquesearch.com), rather than porn.

The designer moved on to a new site, hosted by acuriouslight.com, but that site recently disappeared, although the cache of one of the pages is still available. And you can see the home page on archive.org from May of 2006.
I called the last known number for her NY store and it was out of service.

Curious indeed. I hope the fact that I pushed results featuring her way, way down for searches for our shared name didn’t cause her to go out of business or anything. I wondered what had happened — if she simply let another site expire or if she really was out of the designing business, but funnily enough — it’s difficult to find anything about her when I search. I’m hindering my own quest for knowledge by cluttering up the results with myself.

There should be a name for that — sort of anti-reputation management. When you do a search for something and get back only stuff about yourself or that you’ve written. Accidental ego results.

I will keep going after the domain, and particularly if the designer is no longer designing, a made-for-bridal-ads site might not be as lucrative as before. But fortunately, I have many back up names just in case.

My current favorite is vanessaness.com, suggested by Michael Dorausch. I’m also a fan of thevanessafoxshow.com, suggested by David Payne. I had to snag vanessafrocks.com, which Darren Barefoot thought up, although I have no idea what I’ll do with it. For some reason, I’m a huge fan of another of his ideas, youronlyhope.com, but sadly, it’s taken. Also taken is Larry Hosken’s fantastic rockin-penguins.com, which he notes coincidentally became taken shortly after he suggested it last time. Very shortly.

Other favorites include Charlie’s meetmeatthecrapstable.com, Jefferson Fletcher’s crazylikevanessa.com, Corey’s nessafox.com, and Plin’s vanessafoxage.com (I can always count on Plin to bring on the Buffyage!) Todd is thinking I should go with something more hobo-like, like vanessafoxhobo.com or maybe the hobolife.com.

And then of course, there’s Dave. He is forever my steadfast friend. But vanessafoxnaked.com might be a little too much of a departure. My aunt Brandy suggested vanessafoxnudeandtattoed.com, but I don’t know where she would get an idea like that. Crazy.

Anyone who knows me knows that I’m a bit of a hobo, always working on a million things and going a million places. I have loved working with Zillow — they are a dynamic, fun company with tons of potential and I’ve been working with a great team who I hate to leave — but with everything I’m interested in, I just don’t have the time to devote to them as I’d like. So, I’m moving on to my million things and million places.

One thing I have always known about myself is that writing is like breathing to me. I can’t really be without it. So, writing is one thing I’ll be spending a lot more time on. You’ll be seeing much more of me at Search Engine Land as Features Editor. (I wanted to be editor of awesomeness, but Danny stubbornly refused my fantastic title suggestion. Something about how they’re all awesome over there or something.) I’m still writing other places as well, including continuing to write for Information Today magazine. It’s fun to be looking at search from the other side of things and it’ll be great to have more time for that.

My other passion is helping to build the web and working with start ups on innovative, kick-ass ideas. I’ll be doing more of that, particularly as an entrepreneur in residence for Ignition Partners, based here in Seattle.

You’re also likely to see me speaking at the next conference you’re at, wherever that conference may be. Come say hi. I’ll buy you a beer.

If it’s Tuesday, it must be Buffy night. Tonight, we’re watching one of my all-time favorite episodes, The Dark Age. It includes this classic exchange:

Willow: I’m in Florence, Italy. I’ve rented a scooter that’s parked outside, and I’m in a little restaurant eating ziti, and there’s no more tables left, so they have to seat this guy with me, and it’s John Cusack.
Buffy: Very impressive. You have such an eye for detail!
Willow: ‘Cause, with the ziti.
Xander: What are you two up to?
Buffy: Just having a quick game of “anywhere but here.”
Xander: Oh. Amy Yip at the waterslide park.
Willow: You never come up with anything new.
Xander: I’m just not fickle like you two, okay? I’m constant in my affections. Amy Yip at the waterslide park.

Clearly, I’m making ziti tonight for dinner.

Speaking of Buffy, surely you all saw how the touring show of the Buffy musical episode: “Once More With Feeling” was shut down for so-called copyright infringement. You can sign the petition to voice your outrage. Or order some musical kits from the uncoolkids site and hold your own Buffy musical party. Having attended the touring show before it was so cruelly shut down, I can tell you that the kit and an assorted group of friends who will loudly (and badly) sing along are worth every penny.

This has been your regularly scheduled Buffy blogging. Tune in every random Tuesday for more Buffy goodness. Bonus Buffy mention at Search Engine Land.

ETA: True story that I just was recounting to a coworker and meant to include originally but clearly I haven’t had enough Diet Coke today. I was talking to Eytan, who you may have seen around, and I was saying that I wasn’t sure what we should munch on during the Buffyness. And he was like, ziti! ‘Cause the cheese! And yum, who doesn’t like cheese. And then I started thinking about how the episode we were going to watch featured ziti, as evidenced above. Only I didn’t mention that at the time since I figured knowing a random Buffy quote about pasta might be a little frightening for someone who I think still is a little scared every time he comes to Buffy night and quite possibly pauses at the door and wonders if he really wants to brave the kooky intelligent and insightful Buffy crowd. However, CLEARLY if he was thinking ziti for the same night we were planning to watch the ziti episode, he must, deep down, be a fanatical Buffy fan. He just doesn’t know it yet.

This is a test of the Vanessa blogging system. This is only a test. If this were a real blog post, it would contain interesting words and witty banter. Maybe some cat pictures. Instead, it merely contains links. And a few questions. Please stay tuned for your regularly scheduled blogging. Tomorrow when I’ve had more sleep. Or at least more caffeine.

Ahem.

First, the questions:

1. I know a lot of guys who have iPhones, but I don’t know of any girls who have one. I know I haven’t been so nice about the iPhone before, but if you admit to having one, I promise I won’t mock. Much.
2. What Facebook apps do you find to be the most valuable? I’m thinking Facebook could be much more useful if only I had something installed other than a way for people to send me virtual cocktails. Not that I don’t love the cocktails and I hope everyone who has sent me one knows I’m cashing them in for the real thing the next time we’re in a bar together. But still.
3. What should I set my DVR to record? Right now, it only records Scrubs reruns, but I’m assuming there must be something new that I’m missing out on.

Now, the links. I’ve done lots of writing at Search Engine Land over the last few days:

• Google Goes Dark for Lights Out San Francisco
• Facebook Opens Application Pages to Indexing By Search Engines
• Flickr Wants To Show You The World Through Pictures
• Google News Launches Facebook Application

Bonus blogging: In a sign that there remains a least a small amount of good in the world, I arrived at the parking garage this morning one minute after 9am. This may not seem of consequence; however, if you arrive before 9am, you pay $12 for one day and if you arrive after 9am, you pay $24. Sadly, my ticket was stamped 9:01. I lamented to the parking attendant that I sadly arrived just a moment too late and he grabbed my ticket and scribbled on it, critically turning back time. I may not have that mythical and longed-for time machine, but at least I have a nice parking guy.

The trouble with time is that there’s just not enough of it. I would work on a time generation device except that, well… I just don’t have time.

If We’re Drinking Martinis, Surely We’re Not That Geeky. Right?
Particularly in Seattle, all kinds of cool stuff is always going on. Case in point? Thingamajiggr. There’s no “e” so you know it’s all shiny and web 2.0 and stuff. I understand that there will be also martinis in addition to the shiny, so I’m hoping to find some of this elusive time I keep hearing about to stop by.

Another cool event in Seattle that I sadly don’t have time for is Localization World next Tuesday through Thursday. Jeff Howe from Wired is giving a keynote on crowdsourcing translations — engaging communities to translate websites and software apps. Google does this, of course with its translation console and it would be interesting to see how well companies are doing with this — how they’re motivating volunteers and how accurate the results are.

Get Mad Social Media Skilz! Now with Shiny Discount!
I can’t go to that because I’m going to try to make SMX Social Media — which, of course, also will be a bit about crowdsourcing. Particularly if you’re in NY, you should definitely try to stop by to check it out as well as the Best of the Web Internet charity party on Monday night. Speaking of shiny, use code SMX10offSM to register for SMX Social Media to get 10% off. I’m particularly looking forward to the keynote with Joshua Schachter of del.icio.us and Garrett Camp of StumbleUpon. I so don’t get StumbleUpon but it sure can drive visitors to a site. Maybe I can learn more about the magical mysteriousness that is social media traffic.

See Me Be Cranky!
I did find time to be cranky with John Dvorak yesterday. You should definitely check out CrankyGeeks if you want to know how I feel about cars made for women (finally our prayers have been answered and we women no longer have to worry our pretty little heads about complicated things like reverse and what that D means on the gear panel!) and learn how all the world needs to do is wrap itself in glossy paper to eliminate fire and terrorism.

I always have time to rant about glossy paper.