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SOBCon08: In Celebration of the Conversation in the Comment Box

Filed Under Comments, Successful Blog | 16 Comments

You Don’t Have to Be a Blogger

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Once upon a time on a Tuesday morning, I wondered what would happen if I posted a photo of a microphone and invited folks to talk. That’s how Tuesday Open Comment Night began.

People came and the conversation started. I had no idea what it would become – a weekly adventure of playing, dancing, talking, and making friends in the comment box. I had no idea that I was investing 4 hours of every Tuesday for next “rest of my life.”

So many people have come along, left a word, made a friend, and moved on. That the comment box is filled with laughter, discovery, and wisdom. I could leave my blog today, and relationships and memories made here would still be.

When Terry and Chris first got serious about SOBCon07, I stood back wondering whether it was a good idea. They stood smiling and tall, shook their heads, and brought me along until I was with them. My gratitude will never find it’s way to the right words.

Last night, Joanna Young arrived in Chicago — her first trip to this continent — to meet everyone and share in something we started. She said

But as I was flying in I started thinking about all the people I knew in these mysterious places that have just been names on a map up to now, and it suddenly felt a lot more familiar and real.

I realize now that we had made a worldwide comment box on the ground.

C’mon. Let’s Talk!

You don’t need to be at SOBCon or in Chicago to know about conversation and connection. You don’t have to be a blogger to know how words can bring people to know each other’s head, heart, and purpose in life. You don’t have to put your thoughts and your feelings in the comment box every day to make a relationship that will last a lifetime.

But it helps.

Thank you to every person who’s ever joined the conversation.
You’ve changed the world.

Do we ever know how many lives we touch with what we say?

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!! SOBCon08 is May 2,3,4 in Chicago. Register now!

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Blog Post Fatigue? Please Take the Keys . . . Again!

Filed Under Community, Successful Blog | 51 Comments

The Day I Learned What I Know

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A turning point in my blogging history was called “An Open Thought: Please Take the Keys.” I knew when I wrote that piece that something was wrong; I even had a feeling what it might be. I had been looking for a way to bring it up. . . .

When I did, you were there. You stepped up and told me what I was doing wrong. It was the coolest thing. That was the day this blog became a community.

I’ve always been grateful for the day that you took the keys.

Relationships grow and change.

Last week at BlogHer I overheard someone say something. It’s something I’ve heard in passing on this blog. I’ve also heard the same thing inside the compliments that you give me and in the apologies that come when we talk.

The person at BlogHer said, “If they post more than once a day, they’re banned from my feeds.”

You’ve been more tactful than that, but you’ve been sort of saying the same thing.

Blog Post Fatigue? Please Take the Keys

Not to worry, it’s no longer about me being brave. This time it’s me asking you what you think, what you need, and what you like to read. I can tell from your comments a few things. I’m also perceptive enough to read a bit of what you’re not saying.

On the other hand, I’m as blind as every other human. No one knows that better than this human being.

You’re the people I trust and the people I serve. So, you’re the ones I’m coming to. I’ll lay out the problem, and I hope that you’ll tell me what you know.

The problem: I’m about head and heart, business and life, information and relationships, so I post twice a day at least. When I add in the projects I want to keep up with, references lists and resources, 200 outstanding blogs, and the questions/photos things I like to throw in for discussion, I’m feeling like I post way too frequently.

It’s not like anyone’s advice is going to change who I am, how I write, or maybe even what I do. I’m still the one who has trouble walking in a straight line. . . .

But you took the keys one time and you didn’t steer me wrong then. I’d be downright stupid not to listen now.

I’m many things, but stupid ain’t one of them.

Please take the keys.

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Is your business stuck?Work with Liz!!

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The 4 Keys to Reader Comments and Conversation

Filed Under Basics, Content, Successful Blog | 27 Comments

The People Connection

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The living web is built on relationships that grow through conversation. A certain magic happens when blog comments turn into conversation. When a blogging conversation happens, ideas, thoughts, and information gets passed from person to person. In the process, we find a human connection.

The Four Keys to Reader Comments and Conversation

These won’t surprise or stun you. You already know them. They’re what we all do when we talk to any person we value.

  1. Come down from the podium. Talk to me like a person who can listen. Let me be as smart as you are, even when I don’t know what you do.

  2. Leave what you say a little unfinished. Then I can add a word in. When a talking person fills in every idea and detail before anyone else talks, that’s called a speech. The response becomes applause or that awful noise.

  3. Blog your experience. I’ll respond to what you tell me. I don’t have to agree with you for what you say to resonate.

  4. Hold up your end of the bargain. Respond to my comments as you would my conversation. It’s only polite.

They say “no blog is an island.” But a blog can be one, and blogging is not the same in isolation. The ideas, thoughts, and information that we share in blogging conversation make us stronger and expand us, as people, not just as bloggers.

Therein lies the magic — we meet and make each other better.

–ME “Liz” Strauss
If you’d like Liz to help you make a plan to meet your goals, click on the Work with Liz!! page in the sidebar.

Related
10 Essential Needs of a Thriving Community
Writing for That One Most Important Reader: That Curious, Clever, Intelligent Individual
7 Great Ways to Connect with Other Bloggers While You’re Out Reading Blogs

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Blog Design Types: How Do They Affect Reader Comments?

Filed Under Branding, Comments, Design, Marketing, Successful Blog | 32 Comments

I've been thinking . . .
Yesterday, I had breakfast with Steve Farber. Our discussion included comments and conversation on blogs. I mentioned what I’ve been noticing as I begin working with a designer on a facelift for Successful Blog.

The key point is that the longer I study designs I might like the more I realize that design affects how and whether I comment.

It makes sense really. We recognize a restaurant we want to try by its decor. We decorate our houses to reflect what is important to us. Why wouldn’t blog design reflect the blog owner and the audience? It seems a natural next step to think that blog design affects whether I comment.

Not all readers respond as I do, but decades working with readers online and off has taught me that many do. So, I’ve collected these thoughts:

  1. Some designs are all rules or all whimsy. They might be mature and thoughtful, but they have no emotion. They might be fun and friendly, but they have no sophistication. It’s hard for me to find a fit in either. If I don’t fit, I worry that my comments will be misinterpreted. Designers should know I comment on these blogs despite design not because of it.


  2. Some designs are highly structured — all things are outlined and in boxes. I know from print, that some folks find high-structure a comfort and others find it limiting. High-structure design makes me feel there is only one right answer. I’m careful when I comment on blogs with high-structure designs. I think that information bloggers and corporate blog designers should know this about me.


  3. Some designs are wide open — the extreme example is the white page with no lines or boxes. The overall feeling could translate to standing on an open prairie where horizon is visible in all directions. I so like reading these blogs that I thought this was an option I might try, but when I went to comment on one my comment seemed so public. It didn’t mind sharing my thoughts in this venue, but I knew I’d never get in deep discussion. Someone who wants me to get to the point and keep moving should be aware of this response.


  4. Some designs have a sense of openness and intimacy about them. They offer a defined space with atmosphere that offers room to breathe and think, and a boundary from the rest of the world. These designs feel fresh and familiar at the same time. I seem to know I’ll like people I’ll find there before I start to read. Designers looking to build a community blog should understand the attraction of these intangibles.

We know Successful-Blog is about relationships and conversation. Our kind of dialogue takes place in comfortable spaces, in places intimate and nonjudgmental. High-trust environments don’t happen when there’s only one right answer, when the whole world is watching, or when we have no sense of where we are or who we’re talking to.

Great design weds emotion and structure. Great designers weave and craft the subtle and intangible values of a brand into a design. Great design underpins and underscores who you and your readers are. It is the visual expression of the story your blog is telling in the words.

My comments might begin with a thought, but the execution, the actual writing involves a personal, emotional investment — a putting myself out there. A blog’s design helps me understand whether I’ll be supported in that effort. I guess it tells whether my comment is welcome.

How does the design of your blog reinforce the story of who you are? What else have you noticed about how design makes you feel while you are reading a blog?

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Get Edgy: Contest Ideas to Push ANY Blog to the Remarkable Edge

Filed Under Community, Guest Writer, Motivation/Inspiration, Successful Blog, Writing | 8 Comments

Writing Contests as Edgecraft

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Writing contests, I know you’ve seen ‘em so have I. I’m a writer and I don’t have time to enter them. I imagine that most techies and other nonwriters pass them by completely.

If you want my attention, doing two things is important.

Mix something successful from over there to something you have here.

Find the edge of here — be noticed, outstanding, and remarkable.

Seth calls moving out to that remarkable edge edgecrafting. It’s knowing who you are, knowing what business you’re in, and not letting tradition or the perceived risk — that perceived risk that edging out comes packaged in. It’s investing in, inventing, or trying new things to make a mark that will get people remarking about what you’re doing.

A nonwriting blog — say a techie blog — having a writing contest is a remix with posibilities. Curious at the very least, don’t you think? Gotta get past curious to way out there, in order to be at the edge.

I’ve got some ideas . . .

How to Set Up a Contest that Works

Nothing is less fun than a contest where no one shows up. So let’s start with the basics that tilt the balance in your favor.

  1. Keep the rules few and the task simple.
  2. Keep the deadline definite and the timeline short, but not too short — a week is good.
  3. Announce it as many ways as you can. Remind folks daily on your blog. Send out email. Ask friends and colleagues to pass the word. Seek out and list your contest at sites such as competizione.

That being said, what kind of writing context might catch readers’ attention and get them to participate?

I’ve got a few ideas. . . .
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