SOB Business Cafe 05-30-08

Filed Under Great Finds, Successful Blog | 7 Comments

Welcome to the SOB Cafe

We offer the best in thinking–articles on the business of blogging written by the Successful and Outstanding Bloggers of Successful Blog. Click on the titles to enjoy each selection.

The Specials this Week are

Duct Tape Marketing points out:
It’s my belief that you need to employ all three approaches in order to generate the right kind of know, like and trust building that will attract your ideal customers.

The 3 Cs of Lead Generation

Attract More Customers says:
Business can be a lot simpler than the consultants and MBAs claim. Craigslist, for example, just listens to its customers, then gives them what they want. No wonder they’ve been profitable since day one.

Craigslist CEO reveals secret profit strategy

Vandelay offers:
For those of us who are interested in always learning new tricks and improve our design skills, we’re fortunate to have a number of very valuable websites and blogs that regularly publish high quality, informative tutorials.

My Favorite Sites for Web Design Tutorials

Technosailor plans
The Situational Analysis is probably one of the hardest sections you will [write] because you are essentially laying out how the product will function in various environments and how it will be perceived in the marketplace.

Marketing Plan Series: Part 2 - Situational Analysis

The Positivity Blog advises

How to Keep Yourself on Track: 5 Helpful Questions

Illumiblog explores
All this focus of resources and positioning to woo this small group of individuals who are considered to be influential and well-connected enough to capture the attention and business of untold number of consumers may not be so effective, according to new research from sociologist Duncan Watts of Columbia University.

Discovering the “Accidental Influentials”

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Rick Mahn smiles . . .

Happiness CXCIV

Sit back. Enjoy your read. Nachos and drinks will be right over. Stay as long as you like. No tips required. Comments appreciated.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Tags: Great Finds

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SOB Business Cafe 05-23-08

Filed Under Great Finds | 12 Comments

Welcome to the SOB Cafe

We offer the best in thinking–articles on the business of blogging written by the Successful and Outstanding Bloggers of Successful Blog. Click on the titles to enjoy each selection.

The Specials this Week are

Freelance Folder answers the question of how to get more repeat business.
What if there was a way for you to increase customer satisfaction, get more repeat business, and multiply new business from referrals?

The Best Business Secret That You Already Know

Brain Based Business has a question about using our heads.
You could say … successful people deliberately refocus their brains for better shots at success. Does that describe you?

Giving Your Brain A Competitive Edge?

Telling It Like It Is asked a question of behavior — Have I seen this on Twitter?
If you think that bullying is only a problem for school-aged kids, think about the people in your life or business office who ridicule others because of their physical size, racial prejudice, social status (or the lack therein) etc, and you will likely be able to come up with a few people you know that are bullies.

Might I remind you to “be nice.”

The Lines That Divide Us: Surviving High School

Sun Coach Blog took on a question of dramatic proportion.
Their lives are about survival and so it’s natural that they react so quickly and dramatically. but what about humans? Beyond our physical safety instincts, do we need to create drama in our lives?

Do We Need The Drama?

The Viral Garden answers the question of how to release a hit concert tour.
In a few weeks, many of the top artists in the country will begin their big summer concert tours. So now’s the perfect time to talk about your social media strategy for promoting your artist’s big summer concert tour. What? You say you don’t have one?

Open letter to big labels/artists

SuccessCREEations took on a challenging question.
The reason the question isn’t easily answered is that blogs are simply tools. It would be like asking “What is a hammer’s competition?”

Competition for Blogs

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Untwisted Vortex might make you question an assumption.
Text messaging by cell phone, not by computer (most of the time), promotes illiteracy and can even result in death. You may be thinking to yourself that I’m completely full of shiitake or some other colorful metaphors, but I don’t have to prove I’m right.

Text Messaging Causes Illiteracy and Death

Sit back. Enjoy your read. Nachos and drinks will be right over. Stay as long as you like. No tips required. Comments appreciated.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Tags: Great Finds

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SOB Business Cafe 05-16-08

Filed Under Great Finds, Successful Blog | 3 Comments

Welcome to the SOB Cafe

We offer the best in thinking–articles on the business of blogging written by the Successful and Outstanding Bloggers of Successful Blog. Click on the titles to enjoy each selection.

The Special Edition this Week are:

Creative Think had been shaking up our heads again.
The more often you do something in the same way, the more difficult it is to think about doing it in any other way.

Give Yourself a Whack on the Side of the Head

Essential Keystrokes was showing what to do when we have too much of a good thing.
I have not even had a chance to write between being without my normal high speed Internet (6 days total) and the amount of client work (good) I have going right now. Anyhow, there is some good stuff out there and I don’t want you to miss out on it!

6 Posts Too Good to Miss

Social Media Explorer points out the value of simplicity.
If there’s one social media tool, or more appropriately, one technological advancement which enhances social media I am beholden to above all others, it’s RSS. Really Simple Syndication redefined web surfing for me. I’m convinced it can do the same for the rest of the world, whenever they come around to it. I’m even happy to spread the joy.

Stronger Signal, Less Noise

Carpe Factum has a great idea. Everyone should consider taking him up on it.
So I’m proposing a blogospheric recycling meme (besides, it’s been a while since somebody did one of those annoying meme posts).

The question is this: If I could select my top 5-10 posts which received little to no attention, what would they be?

Y’all Come Back Now, Ya Hear?

Middle Zone Musings has always been able to steer us in the right direction.
How do we get where we’re going, anyway? Come to think of it; how do we get anywhere?

How to Get Where You’re Going, Part 1

Chris Brogan chimes in with a slew of resources for keeping connected.
The NTEN community reached out to have me as part of their “Ask the Expert” sessions. I told them I’d give them some blogging and social media resources.

NTEN Rocks

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Sonia Simone at Copyblogger is advocating a little less clothing.
Dooce’s version of naked would make me pretty nervous, but I’m downright wild compared to Godin. Decide how much personal “skin” you’re willing to show.

Feel Great Naked: Confidence Boosters for Getting Personal

Sit back. Enjoy your read. Nachos and drinks will be right over. Stay as long as you like. No tips required. Comments appreciated.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Tags: Great Finds

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SOB Business Cafe 05-09-08

Filed Under Great Finds, Successful Blog | 4 Comments

Welcome to the SOB Cafe

We offer the best in thinking–articles on the business of blogging written by the Successful and Outstanding Bloggers of Successful Blog. Click on the titles to enjoy each selection.

The Specials this Week are

Christine Kane has a new mantra. It seems to be working well for her.
In her incredible new book, Steering by Starlight, Martha Beck writes about a mantra she made up…

Just This

Conversation Agent has a timely question.
. . . I was inspired with the body of work surrounding social capital — the value of personal relationships in the workplace.

Are You a Social Capitalist?

Cubicle Nation has a reponse to life’s changing terrain.
I was halfway through writing on another topic when I got this call on my cellphone.

Is life just one damn thing after another?

Get Rich Slowly has software to manage something we can all use.
“How much time do you spend blogging?” people often ask me.

“I don’t know,” I say. “A lot. Probably forty to sixty hours a week.” I’ve always wished I could provide a better answer to that question. Now I can.

RescueTime: Free Time-Management Software

Inspirationbit has more than a bit of news and a question. Can we help out?
What I’ve learned about the corporate world the last few months I wouldn’t find in any book. It is a crazy, unreliable world out there, full of uncertainties. And although I’ve got my plate full with concerns at the moment, my future somehow doesn’t feel as unpredictable — at least I know that it all depends on the way I conduct my business.

Design Costs vs. Values

Rick Mahn has few words about ownership.
There is some growing interest in the Personal Branding space on scenarios of people with the same name. I was fortunate enough to have a great conversation on the topic with Kristen King of BizChicksRule which she turned into What if Your Name Is Jenna Jameson?

Who Owns Your Name?

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Copyblogger has written a classic.
It was three years ago today that they wheeled me in for emergency surgery, and I said goodbye to my wife, not quite three-year-old daughter, and newborn son. I knew that sometimes people don’t wake up from brain surgery, and this might be the last time I saw them.

The Snowboard, the Subdural Hematoma, and the Secret of Life

Sit back. Enjoy your read. Nachos and drinks will be right over. Stay as long as you like. No tips required. Comments appreciated.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Tags: Great Finds

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SOB Business Cafe 05-02-08

Filed Under Great Finds, Successful Blog | 9 Comments

Welcome to the SOB Cafe

We offer the best in thinking–articles on the business of blogging written by the Successful and Outstanding Bloggers of Successful Blog. Click on the titles to enjoy each selection.

The Specials this Week are

All Things Workplace features a description we might find familiar.
Helped orient you to your job
By “orient,” you mean get my photo IDs and have me sign a bunch of papers, then yes…otherwise, that would’ve been the actual people in my dept.

Systemic HR: This From The Real Workplace

Connected Content features an explanation we could all us.
Too many folks, not just tech writers, work for companies that seem caught in an endless loop of misdirection and no direction. They have processes and flowcharts that, while detailed, don’t always reflect what’s actually having to be done on a day-to-day basis…many times at management’s own instruction.

Why Tech Writers Feel Like Bartleby The Scrivener

David Bullock features a look at the order of stuff.
Are you checking the right things in the wrong order and not getting the results that you want?
Too many times when I speak to clients, they are using the right tool at the wrong time.

Understanding Sequencing: Optimizing Your Sales Process Correctly

Thomas R. Clifford features a way to test stickiness.
I think you’ll have fun taking this little quiz. I did! The “The Stickiness Aptitude Test,” or SAT, was designed by The Heath Brothers and Guy Kawasaki.

Are Your Ideas Sticky? Take This Test

Lives Less Ordinary features another view.
The images above are all taken through the viewfinder of my children’s kaleidoscope. Every time I slightly adjust the kaleidoscope, the patterns change. The components remain the same, but the view alters radically.

Meme: Passion Quilt - Kaleidoscopic

Best of Mother Earth features a new natural attitude supplement.
In the land of what I do best, I sort all that hype and gobbly gook and help my clients figure out what might be a fit for them. I like everyone to feel that they actually know why this stuff is going into their body.

Attitude Vitamin “B” Happy

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Chris Brogan features new beginnings.
Start at your own pace, and go as slowly as you need to for you to feel comfortable getting to understand all these services, but here is a list . . .