News Stories That Encourage
In Sunday’s Washington Post: “Make Money Off Your Blog”
Nothing earthshatteringly new here, but a decent, if simplistic, summing up of the usual suspects: Google, BlogAds, affiliate programs, donation buttons and branded goodies. If you haven’t looked into this before, a great starter article.
Blogger Paul Chaney of Radiant Marketing made the front page of his local paper, the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal. Congrats, Paul!
Think It Might Be a Good Idea? Then Start a Blog!
I have just started reading Darren Rowse’s ProBlogger blog and it’s like discovering a treasure-trove of hints and tips for professional bloggers. Darren’s located in Australia, and has promised to answer a few questions about making a living by blogging, which I’ll blog about later this week (let me know if there is anything you would like me to ask him). In the meantime, don’t miss his great post today about researching whether a new blog topic will be profitable. Darren basically says, just go for it! The overhead for a new blog is so low, that he finds it more useful to simply start a new blog and see how it does than invest in a lot of research.
What Darren doesn’t say is just how to come up with those money-making ideas. He’s clearly got the knack of latching onto current issues appropriate for blogs, but not everyone does.
News Stories That Alarm
Frightening article on CNN.com today: “Freedom of what?”
...when told of the exact text of the First Amendment, more than one in three high school students said it goes “too far” in the rights it guarantees. Only half of the students said newspapers should be allowed to publish freely without government approval of stories.
Yet, stats show that a huge number of bloggers are these same kids.
Another frightening story from BBC News: “Blogging ‘a paedophile’s dream’”
She said: “This is just a paedophile’s dream because you have children uploading pictures, giving out details of their everyday life because it’s an online journal.”
Baby Blogs
It’s good to find another story about blogs in the New York Times, even if it does quote someone as saying that baby blogs are “narcissism in its most obscene flowering.” Read the Jan. 30 story “Mommy (and Me)” (registration required).
Daniel J. Siegel, a psychiatrist on the faculty of the Center for Culture, Brain and Development at the University of California, Los Angeles, and co-author of “Parenting From the Inside Out,” said that what is being expressed in these Web sites “is the deep, evolutionarily acquired desire to rise above invisibility, something parents experience all the time.” He explained, “You want to be seen not just by the baby whose diaper you’re changing, but by the world.”
The Thought Project
I’m filing this one in the design category, though I love it for more than just design. The Thought Project is a collection of photos and text collected by stopping people on the street and asking them to talk about what they were just thinking. This lovely little project is by Simon Hoegsberg, who spent three months stopping strangers (150 total) in Copenhagen, Denmark and NYC and collecting their thoughts.
It’s fascinating to see the underground thought processes walking down the street at any given time. Best of all, Simon has produced a beautiful online presentation of 55 of his strangers. Simple and effective, the site emphasizes the subjects, not the artist behind them. The intuitive interface means you don’t spend a moment thinking about how to see the next person. Don’t miss the “About the project” page for a sweet little solution to the Danish/English problem.
From one subject:
I was thinking on my way home… I’m working in a company over here of which I’m joint owner, and there is a person there who’s trying to barter money without actually being entitled to do so. And then I was probably just thinking of how I could bring myself in a position so that I could cheat him. That was… that was actually what I was thinking about. And just before finding the solution, then indeed I was accosted by you. So… so I haven’t got a solution right now, but I also have a long distance to walk from here, so, well, the solution will come.
And, of course, Simon has included a link to his contact information and more of his work.
Looking for Speaking Opportunities
If you saw my earlier post you know that the writing of Buzz Marketing with Blogs for Dummies is finished. But is the work of authoring over? Never!
My next task is to find ways to make potential readers of the book aware of it, so that they may (ahem) purchase it. To that end, I’m looking for conferences, seminars and other opportunities to talk about business blogging and its marketing potential, or really any aspect of blogging that people might be interested in, from monetizing blogs to how to set them up. If you’re organizing a conference, seminar or even a classroom talk about blogging and are looking for someone to do that talk, I’m your gal. Or, if you know someone looking for a blog speaker, or just know of a conference that I shoud pitch, please let me know. I appreciate any tips you might have.
I have spent years teaching undergraduate and graduate students online journalism, so I’m a good—though not loud—speaker. I come prepared, bring my own computer, and have backup slides of anything I want to show from the Internet in case the connection goes down. I play well with others on panels, and can handle any size audience you want to throw at me. You can take a gander at my resume, if you like.
I’ve also been kicking around the idea of setting up a series of business blogging events around the United States. I’d love to know if that would interest any of you, and if so, where you are.
All my contact information is available here.
Putting the Book to Bed
Today is an exciting day for me—Buzz Marketing with Blogs for Dummies goes to production today, which means the next time I see any of it, it will be in book form. I can’t tell you how wonderful it is to have it finished! And what a relief.
Technical books and books like this are written on a very fast turn-around of three months, with about another month of editing. I turned in the first 25% of the book in late September, and the final 100% on Dec. 5. In late December we added one more chapter to really make the book sing, and then there was the editing. It’s a very fast pace and I have so many people to thank for their help along the way.
Today, though, I need to acknowledge the folks at Wiley who have been patient through last minute changes, and who I know have been working madly this week to meet this deadline. I hope Beth Taylor, my editor, and the team of copy editors, graphics folks and all the others behind the scenes plan on celebrating this weekend. I know I’ll be lifting a glass to all of them.
Thanks, guys!
Post Now, Regret Later?
I was reading Darren Barefoot’s blog today and enjoyed his post about an old Geocities page he created years ago. This reminds me of a point made earlier this week at the Business Blog Summit: Many bloggers (corporate or otherwise) worry that they’ll post something and come to regret it later. It’s a real issue, especially if there are incriminating photos of you during the ‘80s out there on the Web. It’s certainly why I was never much into participating in newsgroups and mailing lists in the early Internet days. You won’t find posts from me in the alt.sex archives!
It’s especially an issue for people who go on to become public figures, like politicians, or whose personal opinions might make their professional lives harder, like journalists. But, at the same, time, if you don’t participate in the digital world, you risk becoming invisible, or simply not being able to respond effectively if you get discussed online. If you’re afraid now about what people will think of your opinions in the future, maybe you need some new opinions!
The best strategy may just be to buy yourname.com, post your resume and contact information and make sure that when someone Googles you, you have a chance of being able to speak for yourself. And then stay out of questionable circumstances (like sexual chat rooms and mailing lists) and be prepared to defend what you say online later in life.
My favorite anecdote in this area comes from one of the students I taught online journalism at the University of Southern California. During a discussion about controlling your own digital image, she Googled herself and discovered a page she had created in 5th grade (yes, it made me feel old that she was making Web pages in 5th grade) and that was hosted by her elementary school. The page wasn’t all that embarrassing—she had a drawing of a horse on it and a few words about herself—but because it had been online so long, it came back very high in the search results for her name. Since she was planning a career as a reporter, she decided it needed to come down, and contacted the school, who were happy to pull it off the Web for her.
Anyone out there have embarrassing search results when they Google themselves? I’d love to hear about it!
Staying Motivated
One of the tough things—well, for me, anyway—about blogging is keeping your forward momentum going. That is, posting often and regularly. It was easy early this week to post, as I sat in a blogging conference surrounded by the sound of typing as other bloggers posted to their blogs. Today, back at my desk, surrounded by other work and closer to distractions like the TV and books, is another story.
I thought it might be worthwhile to post something here about how to keep yourself posting, even when analog life interferes:
- Set up goals and rewards. Decide how often you absolutely have to post, and then decide on a way to reward yourself once you’ve accomplished that over a certain period of time. (And don’t reward yourself with days off from posting!)
- Ask your readers for feedback on what they want to hear about.
- Blog about not feeling motivated to blog. Ok, this is a little self-serving, but working through the issue is a valid way to get some resolution.
- Stockpile posts. Write evergreen posts—posts that will stay current for some time—and save them for days when you’re low on time or energy to post.
- Set up set times to blog and then stick with your schedule. If you have time reserved in your calendar each day for blogging, chances are you’ll more easily be able to get your posting done. If you are trying to fit blogging in around everything else, it’ll be harder!
- Ask a friend to help you out, or hire a guest blogger. If you simply can’t post for a while, get someone to substitute post for you. Ideally this person will know just what your readers are interested in and share that interest. Be clear up front on what you expect!
To keep myself going, I’ve started a bet with Tris Hussey. The two of us are holding a contest: two posts each week day and one on either weekend day. The first person to miss a post has to blog twice a day for a week on the other’s blog. The contest starts today, and after this post I’ve got one more to go!
UPDATE: Since posting I’ve read Amy Gahran’s Three Secrets to No-Pressure Blogging, and thought it was a good follow-up to this. Don’t miss it!
The Blog’s New Role in Crisis Communications…
Blogs have not been used much in crisis communication. “PR crisis” is a phrase that gets bandied about, but what we’re really talking about is business crisis or corporate crisis. A crisis is something that you can’t anticipate. An airplane crash is not a communications crisis. It’s a crisis, yes, but it’s not a communications crisis. That’s a drill. They have binders. They’re prepared for it.
Vote in the 2005 Business Blogging Awards
Vote opens today for The 2005 Business Blogging Awards, so head over and vote! You have until February 9 to choose winners in this first-ever awards event.
Blog, Not Flog
If there was a consistent theme (beyond that of thinking blogs are great) at the Blog Business Summit, it had to be that business bloggers must, above all, be truthful.
Some speakers went so far as to say that PR and marketing folks shouldn’t blog, and even that CEOs might not be the best choice. The point is to find someone who is real, who can give the company some humanity, some personality. I’d put it this way: You already have methods for putting out press releases and advertising messages, so do something new with your blog. Link to a press release if you want to, but don’t blog like one.
A business blogger needs to get it, from the philosophy of the company he/she is blogging for, to the needs and frustrations of the readers. Use a blog to put a human face on your company. Use a blog to get your customers and clients to actually like your company because they like your blogger. Use your blog to talk to your customers the way you would if you ran into one at a party and really wanted to be friends.
The Flickr Song: A Fan’s Love Ballad
I know I’ve posted about Flickr recently, but if you’re interested in this book about buzz marketing, you’ve got to take a moment to learn from these fine folks.
How many companies do you know that:
a) have their fans recording good songs [links to an MP3] about their products?
b) those songs don’t involve the words “[company] sucks big-time”?
c) post the songs on the company blog and share it with the world? Can you imagine Paramount linking to the best Star Trek fan fiction? (Maybe they should!)
Sure, I know there are plenty of songs that mention products. Think of Prince’s “Little Red Corvette,” as one significant example. But Prince was already becoming an established artist, and Chevy didn’t immediately rush tell the world about the song. (They have, however, recently used it in their ad campaigns.)
If you listen to the words of the Flickr song (lyrics below), you can discover part of why Flickr’s is so successful at using buzz. This isn’t a just song about Flickr and its API and feature set—that’s the sort of thing a marketing department might try to make into a jingle.
No, this is a song about this guy and all his friends. Flickr just happens to be the “place” where they meet—a virtual “Cheers” bar. Flickr, by extension, becomes a part of this guy’s friendship circle. And the way that Flickr’s staff anthropomorphizes the site in the site’s blog further creates the idea that Flickr, the service, is your “friend.”
Turn your customers into friends (with each other, and with you)—not with gimmicks, but with actions and fair treatment— and you’ll be floored at how helpful your customers will be for you. I mean, think of how far out on a limb you’d go to help a friend.
Lyrics to “The Flickr Song”
Emdot, Oldhamedia, Tomahawk’s Kid and Jetblasts2K,
Duchess, Yoshia, Homingpigeon, Silverstar and Rav-Rav
Charlottewebgal, Underbunny, Meta4, and Tisay
Selkie is naked again!
I love my Flickr friends
I’m addicted to their images and photostreams
I love my Flickr friends
They’ve crawled under my skin and into my dreams
One More Pernod, Pandarine, Juli.P and Roger B.
AsciiArtPaul, Sebastian’s Belle, and Smiling da Vinci
Off My Front Porch, Solea, Atari Girl and Aikterese
Selkie is naked again!
I love my Flickr friends
From now on I’ll be surfing their brains
I love my Flickr friends
They keep me coming back again and again
Etolane, Shoegazer, McArtist2, and Kariobinja
Fion, Spacecake, Dreamtiger and Vinathegreat
Airchild, Coffee Break, Ring Xie, and Awfulsara
Selkie is NAKED AGAIN!
I love my Flickr friends
I love their art and the light they bring
I love my Flickr friends
Can’t get enough of their Flickr thing
CherryVega’s hair is red
CherryVega’s hair is white
CherryVega’s hair is blue
CherryVega’s hair is…….
I love my Flickr friends
(I love my Flickr friends, it’s troooooo)
I’m addicted to their photostreams
I love my Flickr friends
(I love my Flickr friends, I do)
They’ve crawled under my skin and into my dreams
I love my Flickr friends
(I love my Flickr friends, it’s troooooo)
From now on I’ll be surfing their brains
I love my Flickr friends
(I love my Flickr friends)
They keep me coming back again and again and again!
Disclosure: I have a Pro Flickr account I paid for myself. I was not mentioned in the song.
Tip for Speakers
Here’s a tip for the next time you have to give a talk with a laptop hooked up to the Internet: turn off instant messaging programs.
MSN Blogging Policy
Microsoft has a semi-informal blogging policy and Lenn Pryor (Director, Platform Evangelism) went through them at the Blog Business Summit today. These are the ideas that guide the MSN bloggers, of whom there are many.
- Above all, “Be smart.”
- Respect existing confidentiality agreements
- Don’t break news; don’t disclose confidential information
- Be cautious with third-party information
- Respect prior employers
- Identify yourself
- Be cautious in how you offer support or advice
- Speak for yourself
- Think about reactions before you post
That a company the size of Microsoft with the kind of PR problems that Microsoft has had historically can implement such an informal policy seems nothing short of miraculous to me. I would certainly not have predicted such an outcome. I think it’s an interesting lesson for other businesses considering starting a blog and that are worried about possible legal issues: It can be done without involving the lawyers in reviewing every post.
About
This blog is the companion Web site for "Buzz Marketing with Blogs for Dummies," a book for business professionals looking for advice and solutions for business blogging by Susannah Gardner. In stores now!
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