2007 December

Oodles and oodles of blogging goals

By isabella

A few days ago, we posted our blogging goals. This was part of a group writing project on Daily Blog Tips.

I looked at about 8 or 10 of the 78 blogs that participated and categorized them to see what people are up to. The impression I get from these blogs is that blogging is still quite a bit about providing something for the readers (e.g. goals about content and design) or getting something from them (e.g. increased RSS readership, monetization) – not so much about back-and-forth interaction. For example, there was only one person who wanted to have increased comments.

Whatever you make of it – these goals here and the ones included in the list of links below provide some wonderful ideas to follow up on.

Content (17)

More basic tips on making wine and beer
A series on different beer styles along with recipes (for a beverage-related blog)
Make this site a better site with more tips on how I resolve my never-ending issues with programming languages, gaming obsession, online games, and other various distractions of the great web.
Post at least every other month about the benefits of RSS in easing your daily blog reading, including a link to my feed.
Interview more and more bloggers;
Interview blogging dads that skate (that’s for the skating dads blog)
Friday post for news articles, opinions and rants
Have a video series launched by January 31
Grow the Canada 9-5 series into an influential go-to for Canadian businesses bloggers. Post at least one video tutorial a month - I am planning on having how to’s for trick tips and building skate ramps etc.
More guest posting
Improving my personal skills - Let’s face it, I am merely a passable writer. If I’m ever going to get anywhere with blogging, I need to improve my game. To this end I have purchased several books on grammar, by far my weakest area, and hope to get through those early this coming year.
Add in more of my reviews
Link my work in Higher Education with this blog (for a university-related blog)
More regular writing;
Post at least once every other day - Once a day is going to be a bit of a stretch for me.
Writing content that people will actually want to save for later reference.
Write posts well in advance of publication

Social media and other types of interaction (10)

Greater use of social networks
Three mentions of linking with other bloggers
Make a meaningful contribution through social media. We’d like to research and find ways to meaningfully enrich social media – not just for business purposes. We don’t want to be part of the machine that steals the social from social media.
Do at least one big group writing project
Get the “do follow” plugin working
Explore more interaction with readers – more comments but also more … what? Social media type interactions? Let’s see.
Average one email a day sent to me from a reader who enjoyed or learned from a post I wrote
More commenting

Statistics and Ranking (9)

50% increase of Daily Page Views
Google Pagerank: I would love to be a PR5 by this time next year.
Three mentions of increasing RSS readers, e.g. “I dream that by the end of 2008, my readers will be around 10,000 per day. No joke. I do dream of this figure every day.”
Increase in video use for posts
Increase my Alexa ranking
Own the “Blogging Dads That Skateboard” - I think I am the only one so that should be easy!
Treble readership (both subscribers and casual)

Design (6)

Learn how to customize a WP theme.
Greater integration with image and video sites
Improved navigation to find tips
Four mentions of changing/improving the theme/design

Monetization (7)

Get 4 reviews per month for $200 in the year 2008. That would mean another $800
Electronic affiliate payments only
Sell my sidebar button Ads here at $300 a piece, which will make me $1,800 monthly.
Make $600 monthly from my other ads,
Rounding up my monthly income for this blog to a nice figure of $3000 per month.
Look at at least 10 ways of blog monetization and implement at least three
Explore the possibility of monetizing the blog

Promotion (6)

Inform universities of this blog (for a university oriented blog)
Set aside time to communicate with academics, students, influential people.
Let Student Unions know about the blog too and engage with them to find out what students are looking for help/advice with.
Increased cross-promotion with my other sites
Look into including an RSS subscription button in each post
Create a badge for the Canada 9-5 series

Niche (2)

Finding my niche - For too long I have meandered hither and from with my content. The idea that I could write about whatever was on mind my day that was just too enticing, and I gave in to it far too many times. So the time to settle in to just a couple of subjects has probably come, but picking those categories will be the tough part. I think my biggest problem is that everything I am passionate about (movies, music, tech, etc) are already extremely well serviced markets.
Return to my original blogging niche: web trends and behaviours

Miscellaneous (4)

Become more respected
Finish my eBook and give it away free on this blog
Figure out how to lure more RSS subscribers, comments, readers and more blog reactions to be listed in Technorati
Put together a mission statement for the blog

Still want to read more about this? Here are the posts of all the people who participated in this project:

Posted in Blogging ideas · 9 Comments

5 goals for 2008

By isabella

One of our blogging friends here in Vancouver, InspirationBit, alerted us to a group writing project about blogging goals for 2008. What a great idea! So Carol and I sat down and came up with … tada! Five goals for 2008.

Look at at least 10 ways of blog monetization and implement at least three. One possible way would be e-books, another courses (we could leverage the fact that Carol has experience with running a continuous education department and Isabella has a Masters Degree in distance education). And of course we’ll also see how we can adapt what John Chow of “Make Money Online” fame and infamy has to say. One thing we’re really interested in is ethical monetization. (I know some think that learning from John Chow and ethical monetization are mutually exclusive – we’re happy to engage in a conversation about that)
Have an Alphablog video series launched by January 31
Put together a mission statement for the blog by January 15. Yes, that may mean that some of these goals may be revised – but that’s ok. At least we’ve made a start and pinned down some ideas.
Make a meaningful contribution through social media. We’d like to research and find ways to meaningfully enrich social media – not just for business purposes. We don’t want to be part of the machine that steals the social from social media. We want to be part of the new economy that’s emerging through the internet.
Grow Canada 9-5 into an influential go-to for Canadian businesses bloggers. First thing to do: create a badge for it for the next edition on January 18.

(Image by bloggerdeblog)

Posted in Blogging ideas · 8 Comments

Welcome!

By isabella

Mark Givens has a great idea - create a special welcome page just for those people whose blogs you’ve visited:

Since first impression is huge, I plan on making a simple welcome page specifically for each blog that I post comments on. The link to my blog will send the visitor to this special page welcoming them to my blog.

For example, if I post a comment at whateverblog.com, the link I enter will be something like http://www.markgivens.com/welcome1.php, which when clicked will take them to the special welcome page specifically for those that visit from whateverblog.com.

The welcome page will mention all the benefits my blog offers and thank them for visiting and all that kind of stuff, which is much better than letting them fall on the main page with no one there to greet them, or is it? It’s basically like a fancy “about page” with a twist.

The only other thing I would add is to maybe just use it for blogs that you visit for the first time.

Oh, and I guess the reciprocal of that is the “CommentLuv” plugin. That little doodah fetches the last blog post of a commenter’s blog and pastes it in at the end of the comment. Leave a comment and try it for yourself!

Posted in Interactivity · No Comments

Canada 9-5 - Fourth Edition

By isabella

Welcome to the 4th Canada 9-5 Carnival, the last one for this year. This carnival collects the diverse voices of Canadians who blog about their work and public affairs – from small business to corporations to not-for-profits of all stripes.

Many of our neighbours to the South have latched onto the power of Web 2.0, a truly connected internet, but here in Canada, business and work related blogging is still something that happens very rarely. The blogs you find here are truly pioneers.

Construction Marketing
Construction Marketing Ideas is a blog that understands the power of blogging to disseminate ideas quickly and easily. It’s chock full of marketing tips that are useful not just for the construction industry but for all business owners.

Don’t you hate it when you get a marketing call and the person on the other end just reads from a script, no matter what you say? In an article on cold calling, there are some very useful suggestions for connecting with strangers in a respectful way:

For Successful Phone Calls:
* Plan, but don’t memorize, your calls. Think about what you’ll cover and how. Have a specific objective in mind like getting an appointment or determining the extent of any upcoming construction program.
* Don ‘t start with the trite “how are you?” Instead, say, Hello, my name is….”
* Concisely cover vital information in the first several seconds of the call. Explain who you are, who you believe the other person is, why you’re calling, how you heard about this project, what possibility you see for working together and how long this should take.
* Assess how the other person sounds. Ask if this is a convenient time. If not, suggest that you call back at a specific time. Showing respect for a prospect’s time builds your credibility.
* Establish what the other person knows about you. (”Perhaps you heard Bob talk about me, I’d like to tell you more”).
* Help people visualize you, (”I’m calling from Vancouver”).

Blogging
Lincoln McCardle has a neat idea – he thinks every blog should have a theme song. I find that intriguing. On the one hand, I have to admit it bugs me when I go to a site and it assaults with with some awful muzak – but if it’s good, like here, for example (great site if you like philosophy and Chopin), it’s a real joy.

Foodies
Notes from the Vegan Feast Kitchen is the kitchen journal of Bryanna Clark Grogan, a vegan food writer. It contains “ideas and recipes I am working on; culinary flights of fancy; opinions; passions; discoveries; and more.” In Cranberries, and a short rant she asks why people dish out huge amounts of money for exotic juices when they can have the same effects from home-grown fruit, like the cranberry.

Civic affairs – Vancouver: The mayor
This is the blog of Vancouver’s mayor Sam Sullivan, of all the blogs here definitely the most “corporate” one. This just shows the wide variety of uses a blog can be put to. Sam Sullivan’s blog has the format of what one might call an “interactive press release”. Discussion and deep interaction - a la Liz Strauss’ Open Mic for example - is probably not what is sought here. Rather, I would say that this blog is meant to spread information, to solidify the idea of Vancouver being leading edge, and to give citizens an opportunity to voice their opinions. The Millennium Line Survey is a good example of that.

Civic affairs – Montreal: The UN?
Spacing Montreal chronicles what happens in Montreal, for example, in this article about the possibility of the UN moving its headquarters:

Last week, La Presse reported quite breathlessly that the federal government, which owns the Port of Montreal and much of the land along its waterfront, has been lobbying the United Nations to move its headquarters from New York to Montreal. The rationale, apparently, is that the UN’s current headquarters, housed in an iconic complex built in 1949 along the East River, needs nearly $2 billion worth of renovations over the next couple of decades. It would cost a lot less to simply pack up and move to Montreal, where a state-of-the-art new headquarters would be waiting on the site of the Silo No. 5 and on adjacent piers.
You have to admit, as outlandish an idea as this may be, it would be pretty cool to have the United Nations in Montreal.

Civic affairs – British Columbia: A NAFTA superhighway conspiracy?
C.I. Bennett, erstwhile leader of the Green Party of British Columbia, has candid thoughts, green political ideas and new leadership thinking on his Victoria Bound | Green Political Ideas by C.I. Bennett. Here he presents rumours of a plan to build a superhighway:

You’ve heard the rumours for months. Most have chalked this up to a stupid conspiracy theory with no truth to it. Yet yesterday, 2351 people ‘dug’ this story on digg.com. A secret NAFTA Superhighway being built between the US and Canada.

That’s all, folks! Join us again next year, on January 18, for the next edition of Canada 9-5. Anything written by a Canadian blogger that’s work-related is fair game. Have a blog post you want to submit? Click here.

Posted in Blog reviews, Canada 9-5, Interactivity, Vancouver, Web 2.0 - the new web · 4 Comments

Seth Godin, Steve Mann and Jeremiah Owyang on social media for business

By isabella

I just participated in an interesting online seminar put on by My Venture Pad, featuring three people in the know about social media for business: Steve Mann, Jeremiah Owyang and Seth Godin.

Here are my notes. You can also find more material, as well as a replay of the whole seminar, here on Steve Mann’s blog.

what’s social media? Jeremiah: easy to use web tools that lets anyone share ideas online
media can’t be social, people are social
the power of information has shifted to a wider, broader base, as a result, communities are sharing
Seth: 100 years ago, mass marketing was born: impersonal ads to people who didn’t want them. The idea that you can buy attention is new - and is disappearing again. Now, we need marketing from 1880 or 1592 but not marketing from 1960
we have to get out of the idea of marketing = advertising
Steve: we need to drive customer intimacy; want to be closer, more connected to our customers, want to co-create with customers. E.g. customer recommendation system
Question: What social media monitoring system should a business use? How do you keep track of people talking about you online?
Jeremiah: Not much out there right now – only free and haphazard systems like Google alert and very expensive large scale systems
companies should think about employing community managers and social media strategists; it’s a PR expense that can replace advertising expense
Question: what about bogging
Seth: before you blog, think about the people (stakeholders), your objectives, and your marketing strategies. Where does a blog fit in?
the problem with marketers as we know them is they don’t necessarily bring humility - but now, with social media, they need it. How much can you do for the people with whom you interact?
in the digital world, the more they do for their users, the more they get
the enemy online is not piracy, it’s obscurity
Steve: we’re going to do whatever we can to earn attention. People who earn the attention are the ones who monetize
the credibility factor is extremely important in driving the brand
customers want a thick pipe to provide feedback
build a community of power users who influence and support one another
research shows: prospects who engage in community interaction at the beginning are more likely to convert
Jeremiah: The future is in the distributed web - wherever customers decide to go (as opposed to where you want them to be)
how do you get started? Hard costs aren’t high. Soft cost: labour involved in interfacing with customer
figure out - what kinds of tools are your community using? how do your customers use your web participation ladder?
Question: why do blogs matter?
Seth: if you go to social media to “get new business” the old way, it won’t work very well
internet is a great way to keep in touch with people you already know but not a good way to “interrupt” people
if you want to get to know new people through the web, what are you giving them? (don’t be an insurance salesman - people won’t want to do business with you)
blogs matter because everyone can talk now, anybody can say anything about any topic. That means we have given a global voice to everyone. That changes everything
now word of mouth is huge
if you’re a small company, this is tremendous
e.g. Joel on Software, a small company, has managed to influence big companies
his writings help customers
it’s about conversation. Don’t be a narcissist.
problem with traditional CEOs blogging: they are self involved, they can’t write, they have a hard time being generous, they don’t acknowledge other people
you need to get kindliness and candour into your vocabulary
Steve on co-creation: if we invite customers on the types of content that we should provide, then the customer takes ownership over the problem and the solution
make it a relevant and delightful experience for them, as well as entertaining
Jeremiah: Microsoft rewards experts/customers
much better chance to build a new product if you allow collaboration.
have customers join in internal conversations
how do you reward customers? Give them access to information, let them look behind the curtain, have their name attached to the product, they’ll defend your product
Steve: management needs to be changed because of this, this is a new management style
Seth: what about PR, and how can PR be transparent?
PR can mean managing your company so that people talk about you in a certain way
PR can mean publicity. You hammer on the media until they write about you
but that doesn’t work in social media
the easiest PR is e.g. when you make a video that is irresistible, when something is really newsworthy
e.g. Apple iPhone, they made a product that people became obsessed about and then people started blogging. Very little marketing from Apple
the most important a marketer can do is to refuse to promote a product that’s not worth it
that’ll raise the game of production
Question: what about negative experiences that are being blogged about?
Jeremiah: have someone on point, that person’s job is to create a process: what’s the best way to have a conversation about it online?
always respond and respond with passion. Just let them know that you hear them even if you can’t do anything about it.
and of course not all conversations are constantly positive
sometimes there is more value in the negative comments, helps build better products
research on customer loyalty: if complaint is handled well, this increases customer loyalty
Jeremiah: the power has shifted. What power? The power of trust.
earlier, companies talked at customers. Now, social media allows people to interact with each other about a product
Forrester research: opinion of a friend: 83% trustworthiness. Online review by a blogger: 30%
Question: are there companies that should stay away from social media?
Seth: most organizations should stay away from social media
if it’s just an add-on, if it’s not in your DNA, don’t do it
there are industries where it’s inappropriate to be transparent: monopolies, the CIA
if you can’t do it well, don’t do it
Steve: the millenials think differently and social media is perfect for them
but companies need to understand how this works
Question: what about non profits?
Seth: Looking at the top 40 non-profits. All of them are the same compared to a few decades ago, except for 3. It’s the opposite for corporations.
it’s a slow moving industry that resists change tremendously. They have a very conservative governing body.
they need to start with measurable projects that are likely to succeed. Don’t do the tempting stuff because you don’t want to “burn” your customer
Question: examples of companies that are doing well with social media?
Threadless - all their t-shirt designs are done by their customers [note: I immediately went there and spent money. Their system sure works on me!)
it works because they’re doing this because they believe in it. Generally, a small company like this has a better time with social media
Dell’s ideastorm
Last question: What’s the first thing to remember when thinking about social marketing?
Jeremiah: let go
Steve: evolution not revolution
Seth: be remarkable

Posted in Interactivity, Marketing and PR, Web 2.0 - the new web, Your clients · 4 Comments

Hansel and Gretel and the social media crumbs

By isabella

Here – have a free report on business blogging.

Among other things, this report lists mistakes business bloggers make:

1. They don’t get their own domain name for their blog.
2. They use the blogging platform’s preset defaults.
3. They don’t read other blogs.
4. They blog a sales and marketing campaign.
5. They don’t allow comments or trackbacks.
6. They don’t leave comments and trackbacks on other blogs.
7. They don’t create a blogroll.
8. They don’t submit their blogs to blog directories.
9. They don’t ping any/enough news aggregators.
10. They don’t post often enough.
11. They blog like corporate CEOs.

Don’t understand some of the terms? Read the report – or ask us.

Now I’d like to tell you how I found this because it’s a great example of how Web 2.0 works.

Remember last week? I stumbled into Hawaii Online Advertising’s social media article.

“Stumbled” is a good word – I think I found that blog via Stumbleupon, one of my favourite social media sites. Here’s my account, in case you have a few ~~days~~ minutes to look at my collection of links and friends there.

HOA’s article prompted me to write an article here - Being social. A few people mentioned in the article left a comment, one of them Jeremiah Owyang.

On his blog, Web Strategy, Jeremiah has a link to his Twitter account. Twitter is my other all-time favourite social media site (here’s my account). In 140 words or less, Twitterers post about what’s important to them right now, anything from “I think I’m going to have a beer now” to late-breaking news to links to interesting web sites – there’s no limit to the topics. It’s like a fast-paced free-for-all forum – except you only get to see the posts of your friends, the people you “follow”. So I decided to follow Jeremiah.

This morning, Jeremiah twittered about a free web-based seminar he and Seth Godin are giving this coming Friday, Using social media to grow your business. I happened to have the time, so I signed up.

Now this seminar is run by My Venturepad, an online community for business owners and managers. On My Venturepad’s collection of blogs, Bud Bilanich’s article on blogging for business stood out - and that’s who linked to the flyte.biz blogging report we started out with.

It’s a bit of a Hansel and Gretel story, isn’t it? All those social media crumbs led me to something really yummy – and it certainly wasn’t the witch’s house.

A little confused about all of this long, winding tail? Let me give you the short version:

Stumbleupon led to Hawaii Online Marketing’s article on social media
HOA’s article on social media led me to write an article here on Alphablogs, “Being Social”
“Being Social” led us to Jeremiah Owyang
Because Jeremiah advertised his Twitter account on his blog, I started following him on Twitter
Jeremiah twittered about an event
I signed up for the event
I explored the web site attached to the event
I found an interesting article on business blogging on that web site
That article led to the free business blogging report
… and that led to this post here.

(Image by Alan Hoyle)

Posted in Web 2.0 - the new web · 3 Comments

Accumulation of Content

By Carol Sill

As you consistently put together blog postings, you’ll find that there can soon be a considerable accumulation of content. If much of this is time-based, you will notice that this content goes out of date quickly. That’s fine for the immediate communication that your blog gives you, but if you are looking for “evergreen postings” that will bring readers to your blog long past the date of posting, consider finding information and material that has a more lasting value to your audience. One or two such postings in your blog will create an accumulation of more valuable content.

We know that historians look back at the diaries of people long past, and find little interest in notations like: “the weather looks good today, and the fine wind means we will have a good day tomorrow.” Over time this kind of note loses even slight value. However, if on that day the diarist mentioned a world event, or a birth in the family, or something that would have a wider interest base, then the diary ultimately has more than personal value.

You know your blog is more than a diary, and yet the daily or events that it chronicles could end up being a soup of personal details of little or no interest outside of your closest friends. We help bloggers get the most out of their blog posts, so they can reach a wider audience and also to begin to expand the potential of what these posts can do. After a year of accumulated content, there is often enough material to create a print or e-book publication. In addition, your post could have information of interest to others 6 months or more along the line. Remember, your archived posts are a wealth of accumulated valuable content, which audiences can access again and again over time.

Posted in Alphablog services, Writing and editing · No Comments

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Oodles and oodles of blogging goals

5 goals for 2008

Welcome!

Death by PowerPoint

Canada 9-5 - Fourth Edition

Seth Godin, Steve Mann and Jeremiah Owyang on social media for business

Hansel and Gretel and the social media crumbs

Accumulation of Content