Posted by Dave Lorenzo - Business Coach

I’m making a conscious effort to focus on the quality of original posts I put up on the blog network.  I have noticed that the reaction from my readers is far more positive when I post good quality original content than when I source information from other venues.

This has been an important lesson for me. 

Linking to other blogs is important.  It helps people find good quality content from the many sites that are available as resources.  It is even more important to share information in an original way. 

I’m lucky to have readers who help keep me on my toes.

Thanks for helping me become more focused on the things that are important to you!

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Posted by Dave Lorenzo - Business Coach

Bill Marriott is one of my heros.  I worked for Marriott International for 10 years and I had the honor of meeting Mr. Marriott several times.  He is dedicated and focused.  He is professionalism personified.  He coined the philosophy I use to manage my business:  Take great care of your employees and they will take great care of your customers. 

Mr. Marriott is now on the web.  He has a blog.  It’s actually quite good.

Give his blog a try and I’m sure you’ll learn something.  Every time I have interacted with this business legend I sure did!

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Posted by Dave Lorenzo - Business Coach

Buzzoodle has picked up on the Z-List Movement posted on The Viral Garden.  You can also find it on Mike Sansone’s blog Converstations.  Here’s the Z-List:

Shotgun Marketing Blog
BrandSizzle
bizsolutionsplus
Customers Rock!
Being Peter Kim
Two Hat Marketing
The Emerging Brand
The Branding Blog
CrapHammer
Drew’s Marketing Minute
Golden Practices
Viaspire
Tell Ten Friends
Flooring the Consumer
On Influence and Automation
Kinetic Ideas
MSCO
Buzzoodle
NewsPaperGrl

The idea is to drive some traffic and links to these blogs.  Don’t do it just because I’ve asked you to.  Do it because these blogs are good.  In fact, some of them are terrific.

Please check them out. 

 

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Posted by Dave Lorenzo - Business Coach

It’s the end of the year so this is as good a time as any to clean out your RSS reader.  I have over 300 blogs in there and I only really read 50 or so each day.  I’m going to go through it tomorrow and clean it out.

My rule of thumb is that if 20 posts or more pile up and I don’t read them, chances are I won’t miss them.

What else can we clean up or simplify at the end of the year?

 

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Posted by Dave Lorenzo - Business Coach

According to CNN, the web now has 100 million sites on it.  I guess we should not be surprised. 

There were only 18000 websites back in August 1995.

Imagine where we’ll be ten years from now?

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Posted by Dave Lorenzo - Business Coach

I asked a computer-savvy friend what attracted him to his favorite blogs and kept him coming back. In his opinion, “Timely updates and quality content are by far the two greatest features in a quality blog.” If you’re using your blog as a promotional tool, be sure to stay on top of it. A blog that never gets updated appears stale and can give an impression of neglect or apathy. Try to establish a rough schedule of how many words per day or week you will post and stick to that. And naturally, the better the content, the higher your readership.

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Posted by Dave Lorenzo - Business Coach

Here are some interesting numbers (courtesy of Steve Rubel and Advertising Age):

• 7% of American adults write blogs and 22% read them (Jupiter)
• About 8% listen to podcasts and 5% use RSS feeds (Jupiter)
• 88% of the at-work audience doesn’t know what RSS is (WorkPlace Print Media)
• 92% of brand conversations were taking place offline (Keller Fay)

What these numbers mean to me:

• The blogosphere is still a place where “the little guy” can have a big impact.  The content in my blog is read by over 100,000 unique visitors each month.  It would be difficult, if not impossible, for an individual to have that kind of reach without this forum.
• Podcasting and blogging can help develop more intimate relationships between a brand and its users.  The corporate world will eventually catch on to this.  This blog is a great example of a large company – Esselte – working with a blogger to help develop deeper customer relationships.  This is a work in progress but the first 20 days have been overwhelmingly positive.
• We are in the infancy of social media.  The boom is yet to come.  At this point in time,  this type of communication is limited to people who love technology, political pundits and a small percentage of the corporate world.  The adoption of blogs, podcasts and video media will mirror the Internet.  In five years these three forms of interaction will dominate this space the way static web pages do now.

If you are reading this and you want to bring this type of interactivity to your company, there is still time to be on the cutting edge……but you need to hurry. 

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Posted by Dave Lorenzo - Business Coach

Blogs are excellent business and communication tools. Entrepreneur magazine says that 50% of consumers are “more likely to be influenced by blogs and e-mails than by TV or radio advertising”. Having a blog that you update regularly generates traffic to your site, which leads to increased exposure and business. How can you maximize the impact of your blog for optimum gains? I asked some friends, acquaintances, and clients recently what attracts them to their favorite blogs, and here’s what they had to say:

• The best blogs are the ones that are updated daily. I’ll often check my favorite blogs on my lunch break. I want something that’s going to make me think or make me laugh. Personally, I like posts that are short and to the point. I only stay interested in a long article if the post is really good. (Leslie, sales rep)

• I like variety and a light-hearted feel. I don’t want to do any heavy reading online, really. Mix up the post length, topics, and approach, and I’ll keep coming back. One of my favorite design blogs covers material from a wide spectrum—high-level industry to art student work. I like the range. It gives me ideas and keeps me intrigued. (Tracy, graphic designer)

• A clean interface really attracts me. Of course, I’m a computer geek, so that explains that. I want something original that I can’t find elsewhere. Links are OK sometimes, but I really want good, unique content from the author. I like some professional commentary mixed with personal insights. (Lance, IT consultant)

• If a blog writer is good at condensing a lot of information and presenting it in a digestible format, I’m hooked. I don’t have time to gather a bunch of facts and trends from different sources. Do that work for me and I’ll be loyal. (David, accountant)

• Personally, I like an editorial vibe. I want to know what the writer’s opinions are, no matter how far out they might be. I can get facts anywhere—the best blogs reveal a unique and singular perspective. I might not always agree with the blogger, but I often give serious consideration to different points of view when they’re well articulated. I have changed my mind on a couple of pretty serious issues based on things I’ve read online. (Eric, HR manager)

These comments represent a range of tastes, but the preferences seem to boil down to a few key characteristics. According to most readers I surveyed, the best blogs are:

Current: If you want to excel in your field, you need to stay on top of trends and developments. To hold your readers’ interest and keep them coming back, you’ve got to write about topics that are relevant to them right now and keep refreshing the information you offer. A stale blog that never gets updated is a lead weight dragging your site down. It sends the message that you are not on top of your game and your business is sluggish. Update regularly on topics relevant to the times.

Varied: Successful people master a number of functions in their careers. They are good negotiators, persuaders, presenters, socializers, learners, marketers, and strategists. Successful blogs embrace a range of functions as well. They inform, entertain, educate, persuade, illustrate, and illuminate. Make your blog multi-faceted, just like your career.

Clear: Good blogs, like good Web sites, offer quality content. A flashy site with a lot of whistles and bells is not going to keep people coming back over time. Easy navigation, a clean layout, and ready information is what surfers are looking for. People don’t have time to figure out a jumbled site. Keep it simple, and you keep your readers happy.

Concise: Just as you don’t want to waste your own time reading and responding to pointless e-mails and listening to endless jabber in unnecessary meetings, you don’t want to make your visitors sift through a lot of fluff and padding to get to the good parts of your material. Communicate clearly, directly, and simply—doing so will naturally trim the fat.

Bold: By and large, people want to read original opinions and ideas. Your blog needs to make an impression. Just as your career will be boosted by your personal brand, so will your blog. Establish the themes you want to emphasize, and find strong and effective ways to do just that.

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Posted by Dave Lorenzo - Business Coach

I love blogging.  I do it for many reasons.  Here are a few (not in any particular order):

Helping People – Hopefully you get some good information from this blog.  I hope it makes your work life a little easier.  At least once a week someone sends me an e-mail telling me that one of my posts helped them.  That makes everything worth it.

Entertainment – Sometimes I try to be funny.  Sometimes people just laugh at me.  Either way it’s entertaining and hopefully you come back.

Competitive Nature – I’m an extremely competitive person.  I love numbers and stats that measure performance.  Blogs are easy to measure and visitor activity is great to track.  It helps me improve.

Building a Community – I have made many new friends by blogging.  I’ve learned a lot from them. I share what I know and they do the same.  This is terrific.  It’s one of the best things about this medium.

Marketing – I’d like to sell a few books.  Buy one if you like what I write.

Now for the nastiness.  I’ve noticed that a couple of people who regularly read this blog have begun taking the content verbatim without attribution.  As far as I am concerned, everything I write here is fair game.  Copy the entire posts if you’d like.  Just include a link back to this blog.  That’s not only reasonable, it’s the unwritten “code” of blogging.

Those of you who are using my writing without including a link – you know who you are – please go back and update your posts.  I’m not going to do you the favor of recognizing you here because I don’t want to give you more traffic for being a terrible person. 

Bottom line – there’s no shame in passing along what you feel is good information.  Please just give credit where it is due.

As for everyone else – sorry to bum you out……now back to your regularly scheduled blogging…..

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Posted by Dave Lorenzo - Business Coach

Steve Rubel offered us his commentary this week on the shake-up at the most successful v-log around. 

“Amanda Congdon, star of Rocketboom, announced today that she’s leaving the program apparently over some disagreement with her partner, Andrew Baron.”

Steve predicts:

“I wouldn’t bet against a TV network or studio signing Amanda to a contract. Now is their opportunity. After all, both Lennon and McCartney went on to be very successful in their own right after the Beatles broke up”.

I think Steve is correct about Amanda Congdon, but I think the more interesting story will be what happens to Rocketboom’s viewership.

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