Three Tips On Blogging To Help A Friend
October 23, 2008
So I saw a tweet this morning, where a friend of mine was told that “he shouldn’t blog anymore.”
Well, that’s really extreme. The whole point of the internet is share your voice, right? And everyone has something to say.
But, as with so many things, it’s how you say it. Sure, maybe some folks shouldn’t blog – but this guy has been bringing folks together for awhile and has some really valuable information. He should have something to say.
I had to put some thought into his “ask,” which is – What are 3 tips to be a better blogger?
Getting it down to three is a challenge. So here’s my three, and I’d love to hear yours.
1) Content is King. Voice is Queen. (not my words, it’s via Merlin Mann). Have a voice that is uniquely you (amazingly, you come packaged with one right out of the box), and stand for something. I’m an unabashed urbanist. My friend Beverly (who incidentally won “Blogger of the Year” yesterday for her Global Business Perspectives blog) truly believes that by bringing down walls, we can bring the world together for peace. And SHOW that voice. Be a zealot. Make a statement. Let your passion for what you do or you’re talking about come through.
There are a lot of people who disagree with both of us – but I also know people who disagree with us read us and are actually really valuable members of the community. Few are going to make time to read a milquetoast.
2) Tell a Story. If you sit down and watch REALLY good TV or a movie that engages you, it’s because there’s a storyline. What does this post today have to do with what I wrote last week? How can I build upon that knowledge or revelation? How can I serve my readers by expanding on the paths they’re interested in? Go listen to a great storyteller. Take your readers with you and help them as you’re doing it.
3) Write Every Day. Every day, you should put some sort of effort into your blog, even if it’s 15 minutes. I do not think you should have to post every day, however. Edit. Edit. Edit. Edit. Edit.
3.5) Write For Your Mentor. Who is it that you would want to impress so much so that if they read your blog they would find it so compelling that they wanted to meet you? Who is your gold standard?
There are no shortcuts. This takes effort. Your first few posts (as mine did) are going to stink. That is OK, as long as it’s your voice and your passion that comes through.
p.s. I will answer the question – when not to blog. When you don’t care about the subject that much, and/or when you have no energy for it. If a blog is part of your SEO scheme, or another traffic gizmo, that’s when it becomes useless. No question, it has those benefits – but they only can be maximized if you do it right.
Open City Detroit Helping People Succeed
October 23, 2008
Open City Detroit had their October meeting on Tuesday the 21st, at the stunning Cliff Bell’s, located on Park, in downtown Detroit.
The focus of the meeting was “Learning from a panel of Detroit’s newest business owners.”
The meeting was hosted by Claire Nelson, owner of the Bureau of Urban Living, and Liz Blondy, owner of Canine To Five: Detroit Dog Daycare.
Liz Blondy moderated the discussion, and the panelists were Kelli Kavanaugh and Karen Gage, owners of Wheelhouse Detroit (located on the riverfront), Greg Mudge, owner of Mudgie’s (located in Corktown), Torya Howell, owner of Good Girls Go to Paris Creperie (located downtown), and Richard Ban, owner of Urban Grounds (located in Eastern Market).
There were about 50 attendees at the meeting, and tons of good advice to be had.
The panelists answered questions about their businesses, why they decided to locate in the city, experiences with finding locations, and starting up their businesses.
One of the most informative segments was when the panelists were asked to share their experiences of going through the process of licensing and acquiring permits. The panelists were very open and honest about their individual experiences, and offered many good tips and strategies for dealing with this process. This was very good information for anybody who may be thinking about opening or expanding a business in the city of Detroit.
The panelists also discussed experiences with business partners, “greening” of their businesses, seasonal challenges, future expansion, and advice to people thinking about opening a business in the city.
The panelists were also asked how their businesses were going, and their responses were remarkable positive, most notably, the amount of good local media coverage they have gotten, and the strong word-of-mouth publicity within the community.
The panelists offered a wealth of knowledge about starting a business in the city of Detroit, and I would strongly advise any person who is starting, or wants to start, a small business in the city of Detroit to attend future meetings.
For more information, visit http://opencitydetroit.com/
Why Change May Kill The Car Company
October 22, 2008
Notice I didn’t say “The Big 3″ or “GM.” There’s a reason.
With change being one of the biggest factors in new purchases, even in these economic down times, as well as truly “new” and “innovative” products, I think the car company as we know it is dead.
If anything, the recent success of Toyota is more timing than anything. The automotive development cycle takes years – what, five? six? – to come up with something new. And in general, although there are “new models” every year, as far as true innovation, the same platform may exist for a decade or more.
Toyota was more fortunate than anything to be in the right place at the right time (I won’t take away credit from them for that, they deserve it). However, they haven’t addressed – nor has any big 3 company – that market tastes have become more fickle across the board in all consumer-bought products. The public wants innovation in almost everything they buy, and they want it now.
Seth Godin likes to say “The Factory is Dead” in his latest book, “Tribes.” He might be right in this country – and in order to succeed, the current structure of “manager says this – I do that” needs to end in order to speed up innovation. The current union/company structure with a large dose of animosity just is failing completely (as evidenced by continuously declining market share), and it’s shown in what Americans continue to buy. “Made in America” alone is not an applicable marketing angle in most areas of the country anymore; but stylish and hip are, even though many times people have been paying more for the “foreign” brand (many foreign cars are 50%+ US content now anyway, except for oddballs like the Audi).
The companies that are going to succeed in these tough times are the ones who are able to innovate and use varied strategies. Kudos to Ford for bringing on Scott Monty to work in Social Media; and General Motors’ blog and other outreach programs have been decent, too. However, as much as those guys are sharp, it’s more than just the marketing, the core culture has to change. The first car company to crack the innovation problem and start doing truly new (or enough change to be perceived as new) models in two years or less when there is a demand shift is going to be the one who is going to be able to succeed and adapt accordingly to these whiplash shifts in market demand to have product ready.
I know it’s easy to say that, and more difficult to implement. But that challenge should be taken up – I hear from auto folks a pervasive “I can’t” and have for a long time, be it management or union employees. That attitude is very destructive for any organization.
This is the same with a lot of other businesses, if not all. Being nimble is very important; and you even can be if you’re a large company and work in teams that are small enough to collaborate. We’re working with a company to unite their “tribe” so that there is a common sense of purpose as well as the ability for the different work groups to share their successes with eachother. But the negatives of hierarchies need to be addressed at many companies in this region because no longer can you succeed with workers being a “cog” in the wheel; after all, what I’ve seen is most companies reliant on “cogs” send them to India or China because those cogs are cheaper and do the close enough to the same thing to make the cost savings way worth it.
Tuning Out The Noise
October 20, 2008
To a lot of people first getting involved with online and social media, a lot of it can initially sound like noise (and frankly, some of it, a good deal of it, is).
With all of this chatter around, how does one stand out from the crowd?
By focusing on what you want to accomplish as a business or organization.
A fellow blogger (but in a completely different field, Real Estate; as well as he runs the Great Lakes Investment Fund) has an “axiom” if you will – Activity or Accomplishment?
There are lots of things you can do online to create activity – that’s the simple part. Accomplishment? That’s another story.
Using online to tip the scale from interest to opening wallets is a challenge, but it can be done. How?
Quality and value.
Quality posts, quality podcasts, quality content, that provides value. Always ask yourself the question – if someone comes by, are they going to need this? Is this important?
Look at the leaders in the space you’re in, not just the popular ones but the ones who make money or forward their business with it. Most times, it’s about quality. It’s about the little things (and big things) – hosting things on your own domain, making sure the blog matches the brand and looks professional, podcasts that sound like they’re in a studio (98 of the top 100 are created by professionals, many times in studio situations), making sure your content has a voice and you’re interacting with people in meaningful ways (i.e. no spam).
If you want to be the best, you need to execute like the best. You can take different tacts; you can try new technologies. But it all should be good, if not great. As Seth Godin says in his book, “The Dip,” there is no room for the mediocre or average.
Web Search Strategy Simplified from Commoncraft
October 16, 2008
I don’t always just forward stuff on, but I think this is the best explanation of how web search works and why it’s important to be specific. As always, the Commoncraft people do a great job of getting things across simply.
Hat Tip to @dannysullivan on Twitter for passing it around.
