What Makes a Blog Compelling?

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Talk to Me

What will make a blog compelling to a user?

It’s a favorite question. Getting people to come and stay is what I do, and talking about it is almost as much fun. I might have said it in a slightly more corporate way, but what I answered was basically this.

Humanity is what’s compelling. We’re all hungry for a connection that makes us feel real.

Quality content that serves real human needs served up by a real human being is the combination of three things: head, heart, and practical meaning. Put them together and a blog — or rather one who writes it — can make a reader feel inspired, moved to action, and wholly alive.

People recognize the real deal.

Visitors to a barroom or a blog figure out quickly whether they get to be who they really are, and whether that’s okay with everyone already there.

Authenticity allows everyone to tell their own truth and feel valued for it.

When that “feeling valued” happens, we give back — in attention, participation, and loyalty. When we’re invested, we don’t walk away.

That’s the heart of compelling.

A compelling blog is human in every way.

What makes a blog compelling to you?

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz on your business!!

Recently, working with a client, I was asked the question,

In Business and Life: Books that strive to Motivate and Inspire Us

Filed Under Business Life, Motivation/Inspiration | 3 Comments

A Weekly Series by Teresa Morrow

I’m Teresa Morrow, Founder of Key Business Partners, LLC and I work with authors and writers by managing their online promotion. As part of my job I read a lot of books (and I love to read anyway!). I am here to offer a weekly post about one book I am working with and one book I have put on my reading list. The books will cover topics such as social media (Facebook and Twitter), organization, career building, networking, writing and self development and inspiration.

Where Did The Gift Go?

This week I would like to start off with a book I have read and working with entitled Where Did the Gift Go? by Ricky Roberts III.

I believe we all need inspiration in our lives, sometimes more than others. What I really enjoyed about Ricky’s book is the honesty and devotion to his message throughout the book. He writes about the gifts we each have within us to live our greatest lives and how we can regain these gifts at any time we want.

I would like to share with you a brief excerpt from “Where did the Gift Go?”:

“In this book, I ask, “Where did the Gift Go?”. I say the gift is here, right now, just to be. It’s in the essence of who you are and how you choose to live every moment that you are given. Live your life!
If you were to take ten people on a timeline, chances are they will all fall in different places on it. Naturally
some come in the world at the same time, or leave at the same time, but the chances of them coming and going at the same exact time are unlikely…”
“I, my friend, can tell you the exact moment of one thing, and that is your life, the gift. It is now!”

I see it, even in myself many times, I get going so fast, I don’t slow down long enough to really appreciate the gift of life staring me in the face. Each moment we are here on earth, we can make a difference within ourselves and help others do the same.

If you wish to pick up a copy of Where did the Gift Go? you can pick it up on Amazon.

About Ricky: At the age of seventeen, after being stabbed nine times, Ricky realized a higher calling in his life and has been driven to work that purpose since then. He is devoted to this path of service and is passionate about making a difference wherever he can.

Drive

Now is time for me to showcase a book I have not read but it is on my reading list. This week my choice is Daniel Pink’s latest book, Drive: The Surprising Truth about what Motivates Us.

About the book:
From Daniel H. Pink, the author of the bestselling A Whole New Mind, comes a paradigm-shattering look at what truly motivates us and how we can use that knowledge to work smarter and live better.

Most of us believe that the best way to motivate ourselves and others is with external rewards like money—the carrot-and-stick approach. That’s a mistake, Daniel H. Pink says in, Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us, his provocative and persuasive new book. The secret to high performance and satisfaction—at work, at school, and at home—is the deeply human need to direct our own lives, to learn and create new things, and to do better by ourselves and our world.

About Daniel:
I was born on the American east coast. Then I was reared (that’s the word we use) in the American midwest — where I enjoyed a steady diet of team sports, public libraries, and 70s sitcoms. After punching my ticket at a few outposts of what was once called “higher education,” I went to work, got married, and had kids.

If you would like a copy of Drive, go here on Amazon.

Again, I hope you have enjoyed this week’s post of these two books on motivation and inspiration. If you have read either or both of these books, please comment and share with us your thoughts.

Will Your Brand Survive the Culture Shock and Thrive on the Social Web?

Filed Under Business Life, Marketing, Successful Blog | 4 Comments

New Tribes, New Rules

It seems like every day now I meet someone who is trying to make sense of the social web. Most folks seem to understand that something important is happening, but just can’t connect to the value of what they’re seeing.

The social web is a vibrant new culture. Corporations, small business, and individuals are bringing their best to be a part of what’s happening.

47 million websites were added in 2009.
The web is a new culture occurring in a new virtual space.
Talking through a computer or smart phone doesn’t return the same results as talking in person does.

It helps to start out knowing that.

We Have the Problem of Speaking the Same Language

Anyone who’s been a military brat or moved around for their professional life knows that every new location meant learning the rules of the new school and the new community. Somehow that cultural difference is easier to see when we go to a foreign land, where the language has different sounds and a different alphabet. With such obviously linguistic differences we’re more likely to expect differences in values, traditions and how how people choose to connect into business and social groups and tribes.

When I traveled internationally, it took me about three years to identify those same cultural differences in the English speaking countries. We had the disadvantage of speaking the same language. So we often thought we were saying or doing the appropriate thing — We thought the same words meant the same things. We thought we were doing what worked in one place … but found it didn’t work in another.

I once signed a contract with an Australian friend. I thought it described a partnership. As things progressed I realized she thought she had engaged a channel of distribution. Each of us behaved according the premise we believed. Until we figured that out, we were constantly wondering why the other didn’t behave.

Will Your Brand Survive the Culture Shock of the Social Web?

Whenever we meet a new culture, we have the problem of figuring out what’s the same to all humans, what’s just our individuality, and what’s the culture. It’s no wonder that wise folks approach the social web with varying degrees of caution, suspicion, or confusion, fearing missteps or problems. It’s still a bit foreign that people connect via computers and smart phones. For others, it’s a problem of learning a new set of social rules and words that have different meanings in different contexts.

Until we sort those, we can be in a bit of a culture shock. After studying the tradtional symptoms of culture shock, I find that online, culture shock shares these common characteristics. The ones I list here are those that apply to both individuals and brands. With each I’ve added some ways to help you survive the culture shock to thrive on the social web.

• Sadness, loneliness, melancholy; Lack of confidence; Feelings of inadequacy or insecurity; Feelings of being lost, overlooked, exploited or abused — Does the sheer volume of noise on the Internet overwhelm you and minimize your effort? Does so much noise sometimes make it seem like you or your brand will never get the attention and respect that could be, should be, or once was yours? Find a community where your message makes sense. You’ll be louder and make faster progress.
• Loss of identity; Preoccupation with health — the health of your business. Have you less idea of who you, your brand, and your customers are now than you did when you got here? Do you or your brand find advisors to help you focus on a healthy Internet presence? Do you blame lack of productivity on Internet ADD and then seek out facts to prove it? Do you treat the Internet as a huge time sink? Are you overly occupied with statistics and connections that are meaningless to building your business? Look to what healthy online businesses are doing. Talk to the people who run and advise them. Learn what goals drive them.
• Insomnia, desire to sleep too much or too little; Unable to solve simple problems — Do you or your business have trouble stepping away from the computer? Do you binge blog and then avoid it? Have you gotten so caught up in the tools and numbers of followers that you no longer know how to fix simple issues without turning them into bigger problems? Do you meet your online customers offline? Develop habits that match the habits of your audience or the people you want to reach. Talk with them, write for them regularly where they are and when they are online. Their feedback will be the support to keep things going. Not every online problem needs to be solved online.
• Changes in temperament, depression, feeling vulnerable, feeling powerless — Does it overly affect you or your brand when you don’t get enough pageviews or a response from an influencer on Twitter? Are you certain those are good metrics? Do you spend the right amount of time figuring out why? Keep the Internet in perspective. It’s only one piece of a total business plan. Now more than ever, we need to be meeting our customers and friends online and off. Have a true strategy. Choose a mission and goals that support growing your brand and your business. Then choose the tools that will systematically move those goals forward in a realistic and practical way.
• Identifying with the old culture or idealizing the old country — Do you play a defensive game? Do you or your business try to make the web work the same as the offline world? Do you hold on to the old tools and the old office rules because they once made your business successful? Pick up the tools and learn how the culture uses them. Look for how the new ways make your business faster, easier, and more meaningful to you and your customers.
• Trying too hard to absorb everything in the new culture or country — Are you or your brand willing to join with a beginner’s mind? Pace yourself to set simple goals, meet one friend, and learn one tool at a time. Cultures, like businesses, are built, learned, and grow over time.
• Developing stereotypes about the new culture — Do you or your brand believe that “the Internet is the Wild West,” “Twitter is narcissism,” “Bloggers work in the PJ’s” or any other stereotypes? Putting people who want to buy from you into boxes with labels is not a great way win their interest and loyalty.

Culture shock is a lot less when you find a friend who can translate what’s happening and introduce you to others who live the culture every day. Don’t let the tools decide how you act, lead with the relationships you make.

As my friend, Chris Brogan says … “it’s always about the people.”

Great countries and great companies have been built by ideas and innovations that develop when two cultures connect. The key is being aware that VALUES ARE THE KEY TO BUILDING VALUE.
Listen, engage, interact, learn, and meet up at the core of the matter where our values align well.

What are the keys to integrating into this new culture of the social web?

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz to learn the culture of the social web!!

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Class with Masters Degree Students at CityU London - A Year Later …

Filed Under Business Life, Marketing, Successful Blog | 2 Comments

If You Don’t See Me Monday Morning

Last year I had the distinct pleasure of presenting a class to the masters degree publishing students at City University London, School of Journalism. This year, we’re doing it again.

The journalism school at City University London, — which “has accrued legendary status within the media,” according to The Independent — will be the setting for a transatlantic conversation on social networks, online business, and digital publishing. Course Director of MA Publishing Studies, Mary Ann Kernan, arranged for her MA students in the Work Placement Module to meet virtually with publishing veteran and social web strategist — Liz Strauss (um, me) — in the university lab.

The purpose of the class is to explore the values of digital publishing in this time of rapid change just as students begin their own “placement blogs.”

The Students: The group is masters degree publishing students, faculty mostly from the Journalism School, and other university attendees interested in the subject. The City University of London Work Placement class enrollment is half male, half career changers, with several world citizens. They’ve have a thorough grounding in the strategic impact of digital on the publishing industry; several will be doing digital projects on their imminent placements at firms such as: Penguin, HarperCollins, LittleBrown, a literary agency, CUP, Haymarket Mags, Sage, Wiley; in a variety of depts and potential roles.

Preparation — the Application and Equipment: The meeting will be via Internet, using the lab’s Adobe Connect application, my dual screen PC, and the City U’s lab equipment. Every student will connect via his or her own computer. Last year after several hours of attempting a full connection, the video only worked in one direction — from the UK to the US. We weren’t quite sure what caused the problem. The audio was up and working. The chat was fully functioning. We moved forward. This year, it appears that all is in working order for the connection.

The time will be roughly 8:00 a.m. in Chicago and 2:00p.m. in London.

Class Content — Last year the class was an exciting conversation with the next generation of digital publishing professionals. We discussed the use of blogs, Twitter, the variety of e-commerce opportunities for publishers. How one year has changed the conversation. This year the content has shifted to:

• How social platforms work and work together and how the cultures of each are unique. Also where blogs fit in that equation.
• Integrated strategy, tactics, and campaigns for individuals, communities, and mass audiences online and off.
• Digital natives versus online cultural natives.
• b-to-b, b-to-c, and b-to-n.
• Repurposing content.
• Brands as publishers.
• Mobile tech.
• Questions to drive their dissertations.

Today will be my third City University of London session. The first was 2008 ( with both the school of Journalism and the Cass Business School. We look forward to continuing our ongoing relationship as we both learn more about each other and how the technology can serve us across the Atlantic.

It’s virtually thrilling.

Any questions?

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!!

Social Media BookList: Let’s Talk Business, Tweets and Dreams

Filed Under Business Book, Business Life, Successful Blog | 2 Comments

A Weekly Series by Teresa Morrow

I’m Teresa Morrow, Founder of Key Business Partners, LLC and I work with authors, writers, speakers and coaches. As part of my job I read a lot of books. I am here to offer a weekly post about one that I am working with and one I have put on my reading list. The books will cover topics such as social media (Facebook & Twitter), organization, career building, networking, writing and self development and inspiration.

#DreamTweet

This week I would like to start off with a book I have read and working with entitled #DreamTweet by Joe Heuer, aka The Rock and Roll Guru published by ThinkAha books.

Last night while watching TV, I began to notice the commercials were predominately about the Winter Olympics. I watched and listened to the athletes as they talked about what it meant to them to be a part of this worldly event. The described how much dedication it took for them to reach this goal of a lifetime but they wouldn’t have it any other way because it was their DREAM. It was so important to them, that no matter what, it was the one thing they wanted to do it was a part of who they are as a human being.

Well, this is the kind of advice, tips and inspiration you will receive when you read, #DreamTweet by Joe Heuer.

Here are just a few of the wise words from Joe in #DreamTweet:

• Be specific in creating your dream. Clarity provides tremendous power. (pg 3)
• Find people who are living their dream and study them. (pg 19)
• You absolutely, positively gotta be the number one believer in your dream. No ifs, ands, or buts! (pg. 28)
• Fear is your dream’s adversary. The most effective technique for casting off your fears is to bathe them in the
  light of love. (pg. 49)
• Each day spend time imagining your dream in all its resplendent glory, while feeling the rush of positive emotion that accompanies it. (pg 74)

And Joe is a great role model for his kids because they had this to say about their dad:

“Our dad is the perfect person to write ‘DREAMtweet,’ since he’s living his own dream as the Rock and Roll Guru!” –Alex and Rachel Heuer

What else more can I say? So Rock on and live your dreams!

You can order your copy of download a copy of #DreamTweet at ThinkAha website.

Joe Heuer, is known worldwide as the Rock and Roll Guru (http://RockandRollGuru.com ). An entertaining speaker, author, and full-time rocker, he shares the nuggets of wisdom he has gleaned from Rock & Roll with professional audiences throughout this third rock from the sun.

He believes that in addition to being a groovy musical genre, rock and roll is a way of life that has served as his constant companion and inspiration. Joe has lived numerous dreams, including a stint as the youngest collegiate head basketball coach in the country… who never played the game.

He has written several books, some of which have actually been published. Recent titles include ‘The NEW Idiot-Proof Guide to Customer Loyalty’ and ‘The Rock and Roll Guide to Patient Loyalty.’ He also has several rock and roll books in the works.

His wife calls him an idiot savant for his uncanny recall of obscure rock and roll lyrics and trivia.

Good to Great

Now is time for me to showcase a book I have not read but it is on my reading list. This week my choice is Good to Great by Jim Collins.

When I picked up this book off my shelf, I happened to open the pages to the beginning of Chapter 6, subtitled The flywheel and the Doom Loop. There is a image there of a flywheel which portrays a timeline of buildup to breakthrough and discipline of people and action. But this is not what caught my eye. The saying, ” Revolution means turning the wheel”  by Igor Stavinsky did.

Sometimes, it does amaze me how things happen they way they do. I mean how pertinent that the page of Good to Great would up to that saying. It is so relevant to living your dream. You can not start living your dream unless you start somewhere living it. Change can not happen without action.

If each day you take a step toward your dream, you are one step closer at achieving it. But if you don’t do anything, you are still where you are right now-wishing and waiting for the dream to happen.

I look forward to reading this book because each of us can always strive to improve something in our lives.

Jim Collins is a student and teacher of enduring great companies — how they grow, how they attain superior performance, and how good companies can become great companies. Having invested over a decade of research into the topic, Jim has authored or co-authored four books, including the classic BUILT TO LAST, a fixture on the Business Week best seller list for more than six years, and has been translated into 29 languages. His work has been featured in Fortune, The Wall Street Journal, Business Week, Harvard Business Review, and Fast Company.

You can pick up your own copy of Good to Great on Amazon.

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