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May 8, 2008

The Ultimate Guide to a Wildly Sticky, Successful and Outstanding Blog

ME Liz Strauss wrote this at 11:22 am

A SERIES

Experts on Successful Blogs and the Blogosphere

Before you go anywhere, you have to know where you’re going. What’s your destination? What’s your plan? Building a blog of quality and relevance is an accomplishment. It’s not something that just happens by letting your fingers type anything. It takes planning, heart, and “a village” to make a successful blog, but a great blog is worth every minute invested in pulling those three together.

What Makes a Successful Blog?

Every individual has his or her own definition of success. I’m sure you have yours too. Take a look at what folks hold up as guideposts. Keep cornerstone advice close. Here are a few expert opinions to help you set bar of what you might strive for when build your successful blog.

  1. Let’s start with the key ingredient. You can put stock in Chrisg when he says, “Online or Offline, this is the Key to Success.” Thank you, Mr. Garrett.

  2. You’ll be a much more relaxed blogger if you have a sense of where you fit. You might want to take the Blog Review Checklist — the most comprehensive evaluation review tool. It’s backed by 20 years of working with readers and how they interact with text (online and off.)

  3. Pay attention to success reported by smart bloggers in their first year. They not only care about what you care about, but the learning curve is the greatest in the first few months. How to Build a Somewhat Successful Blog: 16 Lessons I Have Learned from the Positivity Blog is a top-notch example.

  4. A part of any blog’s success is related to links, tools, and measures. Read about Google Page Rank, Alexa Rank, and discussions of blog surveys and the ways a bloggers opinion of success can change over time. Meredith Wolfwater discusses these in What makes a blog successful? from Information Wants to Be Free

  5. Website or blog, the principles are the same. Listen. Seth knows what he’s saying. How to create a great website

  6. Becoming part of the community, the conversation, and the creativity of blogging are Essential Requirements to Starting a Successful Blog

  7. Understand that success comes from within. You’ll need the wherewithal to come to your blog and your readers every day. Three Traits of Successful Blogs - Focus, Passion, and Originality

  8. Know that readers know a lot about what makes a good blog tick. They share if you take the time to ask. What Makes a Blog Successful?

  9. Follow the lead of those who’ve been there and succeeded before you. How I Chose 18 Thought Leaders to Follow (and Their Links)

  10. Do the work and understand what works. As with life, success with a blog is more investment than luck. How to Build an Authority Blog: Tips from the Experts

The Culture of the Blogosphere

Once we realize that people are talking to each other on the Internet, it’s not long before we figure out that blogosphere has a culture of its own. New circumstances often inspire new ways to interact. We can’t see who’s on the other side of the screen. We only see the words, images, and sounds send us. The filters we use in person don’t work to decide who is telling us the truth. Authenticity and transparency are two words that you’ll find important to the community and culture of the blogosphere.

Check out the blogosphere. Get to know what blogging is about. Find your favorite blogs and bloggers. Figure out what it is that keeps you returning to read them. Just as important, notice what turns you off.

  1. A great start is John Dvorak’s Understanding and Reading a Blog (for Newcomers) This entry is timeless, relevant content.

  2. Get to know all of the ways you can read a blog . . . The Blog Realm: RSS, Aggregators, and Reading the Blog Fantastic by Greg R. Notess

  3. Know what to do to make the most of the experience. “Ah… blogs - one of the best ways to waste lots of time. Here are the top 10 tips we’ve found for being more productive when reading blogs.” Top 10 tips for effective blog reading - part 1 by Nev a Dave

  4. Honor the cultural traditions and mores of Internet interpersonal communications. Act with netiquette to show you are a respectful and savvy citizen of the virtual world.

  5. If you’re trying to figure out what makes a blogger a blogger, this quick look works as well as any other.What Is A Blogger?

Just know that the blogging community is worldwide and incredibly helpful. Finding your way around the blogosphere doesn’t have to be arduous or take from here to forever.

Ten Blogs on Blogging

Ten that I find consistently readable in no particular order.

  1. Bloggers Blog
  2. chrisg.com
  3. ProBlogger
  4. SEObook
  5. Lorelle on WordPress
  6. Freshblog
  7. dosh dosh
  8. Copyblogger
  9. Daily Blog Tips
  10. seomoz

I’ve listed ten blogs on blogging. Now, here’s my challenge.

I’ve left out plenty that could be on this list. Add them in the comments. When I return I’ll compile them. We’ll set up criteria. Then we’ll determine which blogs you suggest make

The Ultimate List of
Wildly Sticky, Successful and Outstanding
Blogs on Blogging.

Which blogs do you nominate?

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Want to know what’s wildly sticky? Work with Liz!!

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May 8, 2008

A Liz Interview at City University of London!

ME Liz Strauss wrote this at 6:33 am

The Schools of Business and Publishing

City University of London

I leave Friday morning to join a collaboration at City University London. I get to meet with members of the Senior & Professorial staff and students of the Cass School of Business, and The School of Journalism and Publishing. The meeting is a two-hour event that takes place on Tuesday, May 13. We’ll be exploring how blogging can make a difference.

I mentioned this to a few of you last weekend in Chicago. It’s something I’m looking forward to — it brings together my background in education, international publishing, and online practice. To say I’m delighted would be an understatement.

I can’t wait to learn what students and professors there are doing. I can’t wait to tell them all about we’re doing. Most of all I can’t wait to have BIG IDEAS about what we might do together.

Is there something important that you think I should tell them?

Business, writing, thinking . . . I’ll be the one with the accent.

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Want to make a difference? Work with Liz!!

As a bonus, I might get to see a few bloggers I know — Joanna Young, Amy Palko, and . . . who knows?

Next week:
Look forward to a series on freelancing by Deb Ng.
Phil Gerbyshak and Diego Orjuela host Open Comments and your computer questions
A new writer named Roads
And other surprises.

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May 7, 2008

The SOBCon Influence According to BuzzLogic

ME Liz Strauss wrote this at 8:45 pm

Conversationally

BuzzLogic logo

This news from Valerie Coombs at BuzzLogic . . .

I just did an influence query on “sobcon liz strauss” and got these results.

How did we get these results?
BuzzLogic’s influence algorithm takes a dozen factors into account in determining the influence of posts and a blog overall. They include:

  • a blogger’s credibility and expertise on a specific topic over time,
  • who is linking in,
  • the quality and influence of all in-linkers and
  • the popularity of a post overall.

Congrats to Lorelle VanFossen for the most influential post in the entire sobcon conversation!

SOBCon Remembered and Recommended

See below the Top 25 right as of the close of SOBCon.

  1. Liz Strauss
  2. Lorelle – Lorelle has the single most influential post ever about SOBCON!
  3. Phil Gerbyshak
  4. Brain Based Business
  5. David Armano
  6. The Blog Herald
  7. James D Walton
  8. Timothy L Johnson
  9. Bootsnall travel community
  10. Ben Yonkavitz
  11. Joe Hauckes
  12. Tim Draayer
  13. Des Walsh
  14. Dawud Miracle
  15. Jon Gatrell
  16. Drew McLellan
  17. FutureLab blog
  18. Kent Blumberberg
  19. Geoffrey Philp
  20. Robert Hruzek
  21. Christine Kane
  22. Amy Palko
  23. problogger
  24. Mary Schmidt
  25. Adam Kayce

See the screenshot of the Social Map around Lorelle’s post. Click to see it full size.

BuzzLogic Conversation around the Most Influential Blog Post

We will continue to watch the conversation and update you on changes…. Valerie, BuzzLogic

Do you have influence? Will the SOBCon blog posts you write change this listing?

For more about BuzzLogic, visit Jeremiah’s post of Shel’s Interview with the Co-Founder. Sandra and Valerie are both in the vid.
–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!!

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May 7, 2008

Joanna Young at SOBCon08

ME Liz Strauss wrote this at 2:32 pm


Joanna Young of Confident Writing (http://www.confidentwriting.com/) is a joy and a wonder. Here she is in Chicago at SOBCon08.

Liz Strauss,
Founder of SOBCon

Community Specialist, Product and Content Analyst, Social Web Strategist
Be irresistible.
Mobile post sent by lizsun using Utterz.  Replies.

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May 7, 2008

Questions to Get Closer to You: Question 19

ME Liz Strauss wrote this at 6:15 am

Get Closer to You

This is a series of questions, I don’t know how many. They are the ones I ask when I help folks get closer to their personal identity.

What have you been doing to make your life easier?

I’ll answer first to get things started.

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Check out the Work with Liz!! page in the sidebar.

Related Branding: 5 Ways to Help You Find Out Who You Are

Questions to Get Closer to You: Question 18
Questions to Get Closer to You: Question 17
Questions to Get Closer to You: Question 16
Questions to Get Closer to Your Brand: Question 1
You’ll find the entire series of Questions to Get Closer to you on the Successful Series page.

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