Every weekday, I am supposed to get up, have some coffee, walk the dogs, feed the cats, clean up any of last night's dishes I was too lazy to wash, and on and on.  This morning ritual, because I work at home, generally weaves into phone calls, emails, planning, pitching, fetching, Twitter, FB and, everything else. On and on it all goes, all day every work day. The daily slog we all call life.

And of all of it, the one thing I hate most is blogging.  Every day, I am supposed to sit down and wax on about some such thing that maybe will make people think or laugh or, if you yourself are a blogger, today maybe you will nod in the knowledge of common pain. I really doubt I have anything of note to say, I generally feel completely self-conscious about trying to say something lucid, let alone of value.  But blog I must.  And so must you.

Why?  Google.

Google me, Ellen Malloy.  Up pops my name with my content.  Content I control and create and try to get pushed to the top. Google my company, Restaurant Intelligence Agency.  Up pops my company with my content.  Content I control and create and try to get pushed to the top.

Now.  Google yourself. I just tried with a few of my clients.  Clients without blogs, active twitters, or facebook pages.  Funny, they don't control the message.  Actually, for one, they didn't even show up at all on the first page, other restaurants with a similar name did.  So, not so funny.

I learn a lot each day I Google myself.  Sometimes, when I feel particularly lazy and possibly even private and thusly not feeling like blogging, like today, I Google myself just to remind myself that I need to control what is being said about me.  It forces me to think up something to say, like today, when I decided that all I had to say was how much I hate doing what I am doing right now.

But then again, maybe this post will get you blogging, twittering, facebooking, finally.  In which case, maybe this morning's torture was a good thing.

I lost a client this week. I won't name names, but I have been working with the guy (or gal!) for a while. And, no, I didn't fire the client; it was the client's decision to let R.I.A. go.

There were -- are -- some caveats. The restaurant is small and it has run a pretty lean ship for the past few years. Since opening, in addition to running the place, the chef has served as chief cook during service. He's (OK, it's a guy) finally decided to hire a cook and achieve a little sanity -- a great idea, in my book -- but something had to be cut from the budget to make room for a cook's salary. Turns out that was us.

I'm bummed that our partnership has come to a close, at least for now, but I was truly glad to hear his reasoning behind his decision to leave the service. He said he couldn't justify designating part of his budget to PR when he knows it's social media -- Facebook, Twitter, Yelp and the like -- that's getting butts in the seats.

If it's possible to have a "Eureka!" moment while getting fired, I had it! That's exactly why I started Restaurant Intelligence Agency. I have said it before, and it bears repeating: The site is all about putting PR in its proper place, both in terms of time and money. PR is not the be-all and end-all, especially not in a media market where anyone can get news and reviews about restaurants at any time of day, and from any number of sources besides the newspapers -- Facebook, Twitter, Yelp, e-newsletters from restaurants, restaurant web sites, blogs like MenuPages Chicago, chefs' blogs, and (I heard this debuted at the National Restaurant Association show last weekend) text messages directly from your favorite restaurants to your phone.

All of that said, I don't believe PR should be eliminated except as a last resort. Building brand recognition is as critical, if not more critical, to your success as serving good food. To become regulars, people need to know they can expect you to deliver your unique dining experience, with the same quality and service, time and again. That's called "building your brand," and it's worth a cut of your budget to hire a PR pro who can help you think creatively about carving out and reinforcing your niche, day in and day out.

It's not worth it, on the other hand, to pay a PR pro's steep hourly fee so he can spend his time and your money tracking down tidbits of information to send to a reporter, or "packaging" your "news" into a slick release that any reporter worth his salt will know is bunk.

We all know what gets used by reporters and what doesn't. Before R.I.A.,  I was frankly sick of spending my time dressing up marginal ideas in fancy clothes, and I didn't think it was worth my clients' money.

Reporters just want the facts, gathered up fast.  It is why I created Restaurant Intelligence Agency as a low-cost alternative to paying out the nose for that type of task-oriented, gopher-esque work. It delivers information straight from chefs to reporters, eliminating the BS packaging and saving time -- as well as freeing up money you can put to much better use on PR services that actually build your brand.

Or, as is the case with my former client, buying advertising partnerships on Yelp!

Whatever side of the fence you are on with respect to the recent kerfuffle about John Mariani and his visit to Chicago, there is one thing for sure: it was a lesson for all of us.

We live in a transparent world and news, whether professional or personal, travels faster than the Chicago wind on a winter's day. You can either guide it yourself or you can watch in horror as the teeming masses do it for you.

For those spared the horrors of last week's Out the Critic festival (yes, I know he is not officially a critic, but it has a nice ring to it), Mariani came to town to eat some dinners. He was spotted by a few people who have had a few experiences with him and the twittering began. It wasn't pretty. A blog post followed, which outlined the unpretty tweets and unearthed some previously told stories of an unpretty nature.

It was a bit of a train wreck for Mariani and Esquire, who subsequently tried to contain the mess. No matter what you choose to believe, it was out there and it was going to stay out there.

I won't comment on any of that, being a restaurant publicist, and surely no matter what I say will be judged through that lens -- as I should -- but what I will comment on is that we all need to be mighty aware of what goes on online and we need to stay ahead of the conversation, because we can't contain it and we can't control it.

So. Five tips. Because I like five tips.

    * Google yourself/your restaurant. Read what is there on that first page. That is what people find when they look for you.

    * Accept that no matter what you think about Yelp and Twitter and Facebook and YouTube, people are talking about you there and if you aren't there talking back, what they say about you is all people are gonna hear.

    * Know that if you are part of the conversation, people are going to know what you are about ... and thus believe you more when you speak the truth. Because Mariani doesn't participate in social networking, no one really knows what he's about as a restaurant writer or probably even that he considers himself a writer and not a critic. So, the conversation about who he is and what he does rages on without him.

    * The time to start a social marketing campaign is not when you're being dragged through the mud. Mariani issued one rebuttal after the damage had been done, which means they didn't know him when he came out of the woodwork to defend himself ... he was just a guy in distress, defending himself after the fact.

    * It takes time to manage your reputation online, sure, but believe me ... the amount of time it takes to clean up a horrible mess is far greater ... especially if it means your restaurant's success or your career is on the line.

Just ask Mariani next time he is in town ... that is if he ever chooses to come back to our fair hamlet after the havoc we wreaked the last few times he was here!