9rules List Take 2

Filed Under Analysis, Branding, Customer Think, Marketing, Successful Blog | 9 Comments

Hello

This is me. I’m Liz. I’m the nice one.
I love 9rules Network. This Not a critique of the blogs there.
I never imagined in a million years it would be taken as such.
I’m sorry it was mistaken for that.
My apologies. I am truly sorry if that was not clear..
It saddens me to think someone would mistake this as something like that.
I’m so very sorry to all of you and so embarassed.

So I set the record straight.
I loved 9rules and everyone I met there when I was member and I still do.
Paul Scrivens has only been good to me. I consider him a friend.
This piece was simply meant as study in how quicky readers can sometimes make decisions
That was all.
As my dad use to say, “Only believe 1/2 of what you see, and none of what you hear.”

Sincerely,
Liz

PS. This was a post about the mathematics of a customer’s quick scan. 13,5% of 111 made a “I wanna look later list. Read the post again. There is no critical malice in it. It is an emotional observation of my own behavior.
_______________________________________________________________

Going Down the List Again

A week ago the 9rules Network announced 111 new sites had been selected to join them. I had the interesting experience of going through the list of 111 domain names looking for the blogs of folks I knew. I learned a few things from that experience that I think are worth sharing.

UPDATE: It seems I need to update this. These are the response of a cursory look through a bunch of 111 blogs that I knew nothing about, except that within them there were a certain number I already knew well. I had a limited lime as I went through list to capture those that immediately grabbed my attention. This doesn’t mean those that didn’t have something wrong. I wasn’t judging a contest. I was supershopping as some customer on timed reconnaissance might do. There is no intended implication that the blogs I left behind have anything lacking. This is about 15 unnamed blogs I happend to pick up on my way through a list of 111 that were selected.

Think of these as observations from the field. Do what you will with them.

I don’t pay attention to domain names. I pay attention to titles. That meant I had to check every single one just to be sure I didn’t miss a great blog — a blog that has, for one reason or another, a domain name that is wildly different from its title. If you have a different name on your blog, make sure that folks know about it, before they have to go through search engines to find you.
Too much going on and nothing to look at. There were several sites that couldn’t hold my attention for longer than a second. They made it easy to click on.
I was in a hurry to get to the short list. Some bloggers actually said they weren’t good enough to be in 9rules. I decided to agree with them. When there are too many choices in a short time space, customers look for reasons to say no. At least I know that I do.
On a second look, only 6 of the 15 blogs I bookmarked still hold my attention. I collected what I thought were 15 winners. I went back to check them out tonight. I couldn’t remember what I saw in most of them. Most seemed unremarkable. Had they blown their wad to get in? Did they not stand up to a longer look?
This is not the time to think that folks won’t notice. One of the 15 still has the same post up — the post that says it was chosen to be in 9rules.

Only 6 out of 111. Granted I went through the list fast and furious, but . . . even 6 out of 15 is disappointing. . . . I’m going to keep watching all 15 of them. I’ll let you know whether things change.

PS — I still like the ones I knew were great going in.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Related articles
9rules Picked Great Ones
See the entire Customer Think Series on the SUCCESSFUL SERIES PAGE

Knowing How People Think — As a Business Tool

Filed Under Analysis, Branding, Business Life, Productivity, Successful Blog | 7 Comments

Creative Logical

Hardly anyone is right brain or left brain only. Some of us lean heavily one way or the other.The side favored by most people is the left-brain. It’s also the side that schools spend time developing. Most of us, however, use both sides of our brain when we need them.

Here are some interesting facts about the brains of men and women.

Men have more brain cells than women–about 4% and 100 grams more.
Women have more dendritic connections between their brain cells.
Women have a larger corpus collusum, which is the organic network between the left and right brain hemispheres.This means women have a faster data transfer pipeline between the two sides.
For most men, the left side is their dominate side.
For most men, language skills are only in their dominate side. However, more women seem to develop language skills on both sides.

Different not better is the key here.

Knowing about Thinking

We all have brains. It’s easy to assume that all brains workthe same like legs and arms do, but that’s just not so. Still we tend to think that people who think the way we do are smart . . . and those who don’t, well, they’re not. Read more

Right Brain Creative? Business Needs You

Filed Under Analysis, Business Life, Successful Blog | 22 Comments

Brain-Left What?

I won’t go crazy here on scientific theory, but it goes like this. Experiments have shown that each side of the brain seems to work on different types of thinking.

Left brain thinking includes:thinking that is logical, sequential, rational, analytical, objective, and looking at parts. Right brain thinking includes: thinking that is random, intuitive, global/holistic, synthesizing, subjective, looks at the whole.

To say it in other ways, people who prefer left-brain activities deal well with statistics, analysis that drills into data, information, language, and like to build from the bottom up. Right brain thinkers focus on aesthetics, arts and music, big-picture ideas, patterns, geometry, and creativity. and like to build from the top down. Almost everyone does both. Almost everyone has an inate preference.

Most schools are highly left-brain places, focused on academic subjects.

What does this have to do with business? Read more

7 Steps & the Key to Spotting Trends

Filed Under Analysis, Branding, Customer Think, Marketing, Successful Blog, Trends | 1 Comment

Getting the People Data

It’s easy to get the people data. Just become obsessive. No, I don’t mean get clinical. Don’t be grabbing people off the street and pulling them in under interrogation lights. I mean get steeped in the culture, become a saturation learner. You can see it in trendspotters — Seth Godin, Tom Peters, Prince Campbell – that they live people. breathe what people think. People aren’t just information on paper to them. People are what trendspotters think about, talk about, even when you’re not around.

They do it so much their significant others say, “Honey, don’t make me live it.” Read more

Trendspotting — Where 97.9% Fail

Filed Under Analysis, Branding, Customer Think, Marketing, Strategy, Successful Blog, Trends | 32 Comments

Learn Everything

We all want that ability to be able to see the next big trend before it happens — what people will be wanting, doing, needing, going to, and buying NEXT. We want to be there ready and waiting for those customers.

Some folks can see that next trend and hit it fairly often. No one can do it 100%. No one can get any customer base to behave 100% predictably.

Good morning, Class.
Find the next trend. Oh yes, 97.9% of you wll fail this test.

« go back — keep looking »

Liz Strauss at Successful Blog

Thinking, writing, business ideas … You're only a stranger once.

Hello

Going Down the List Again

Creative Logical

Knowing about Thinking

Brain-Left What?

Getting the People Data

Learn Everything

Good morning, Class. Find the next trend. Oh yes, 97.9% of you wll fail this test.

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Good morning, Class.
Find the next trend. Oh yes, 97.9% of you wll fail this test.