Successful Blog

Great Find: Blogs about Blogging

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Great Find: Blogs about blogs, blogger, and blogging by Barry Bell
Permalink: Blogging/wurk.net/
Target Audience: Anyone interested in Blogs about blogging

Content: Somtimes you can read someone’s writing and know you’d have a fun time at dinner with him. That’s how I feel about Barry Bell. In this, what amounts to his Top Nine blogs about bloggers and blogging he gives a tongue-in-cheek review of who should be reading each blog and why they should read it.

Included are Problogger, Jack of All Blogs. Blogebrity, Workboxers, Performancing, Successful Blog, Blogherald, Blog Network Watch, and Pajamas Media. In it he says things that I realize I’ve known unconsciously, but never actually put the words into a thought of my own. One or two of the descriptions were so perfect, they made me laugh out loud with their honesty.

For new bloggers, especially those who’ve not taken a course in marketing this review shows fine examples of product differentiation. All of these blogs basically “sell” the same thing. However, each has chosen to serve a differerent market niche and has developed their blog to that audience with that purpose in mind. The product differentiation is so clear that Barry Bell as a reader can state in a few words who each blog is meant for and what purpose it serves.

Barry has nailed it, and done so in a post that is an easy, fun read. Seven of the eight of the judges give Barry a ten and pass this one into the gold medal final round. The judge from New Zealand, who’s still sleeping–he phoned in a 9.9. The NZ judge does that sometimes.)

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Fun Find: DONTCLICK.IT

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Great Find: DONTCLICK.IT by Institute for Interactive Research
URL: www.dontclick.it
Target Audience: Anyone interested in web interfaces and interactivity

Content: The Institute has packed more information than first meets the eye when you enter this award-winning, flash-driven website. Everywhere you mouse over you will find options to learn and invesigate without ever needing to click.

Dont click it

You can play a game called Housecamp. It’s a bit addictive and not easy. You can cast your vote for clickless interactivity and try out several types of clickless button interfaces. You can explore the history of computers, leave a message in the crowd of visitors, and much, much more. Look for something behind every word you see. In the experiment lab, you can replay how others moved through the site. This website is like a giant puzzle. Enjoy and explore at the same time.

Be sure to mouse over the gold seal on the opening screen before you go in.

Who knows? There may come a day when the words click here will be history.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Got a Post that Belongs Here?

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Join the Conversation
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Every voice has something to add to the conversation–an insight, an experience, a unique point of view–something our readers see the rest of us have overlooked. Successful Blog is a community where every voice is welcome, every contribution is valued, and where there’s always a “glad you said that” waiting in the comment box.–MES

Would you like to start a conversation?
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Do you have a post . . .

  • that takes an idea further than we’ve taken it so far?
  • with fresh, relevant content we’d enjoy learning about?
  • that explores a new angle on an old subject?
  • about a tool that belongs in the Survival Kit?
  • about an experience that might help a new blogger?
  • on a trend, a plug-in, a tool, a blog, or anything that we should all check out?
  • about something you’ve found that’s just plain blogging fun?

    • OR

  • Do you have ideas about another way that we might collaborate?
  • Do you have a question that you want us to talk about in our Sunday night discussion?

Share what you know, and we all get better. For details on how, see the Want to Be a Contributor? page.

Remember, the 1849er said, “Fergit the gold in them there hills. There’re links in them there posts.” 🙂

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Be part of something bigger than one– Successful Blog–where blogging means Community.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Thanks to Week 7 SOBs

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Successful and Outstanding Bloggers

Let me introduce the bloggers
who have earned this official badge of achievement,

and the right to call themselves
Successful Blog SOBs.

I invite them to take a badge home to display on their blogs.

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They take the conversation to their readers,
contribute great ideas, challenge us, make us better, and make our businesses stronger.

I thank all of our SOBs for thinking what we say is worth passing on.
Good conversation shared can only improve the blogging community.

Should anyone question this SOB button’s validity, send him or her to me. Thie award carries a “Liz said so” guarantee, is endorsed by Kings of the Hemispheres, Martin and Michael, and is backed by my brothers, Angelo and Pasquale.

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Want to become an SOB?

If you’re an SO-Wanna-B, you can see the whole list of SOBs and learn how to be one by visiting the SOB Hall of Fame– A-Z Directory . Click the link or visit the What IS an SOB?! page in the sidebar.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Great Find: GraphicPUSH

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Since this week has been about Design, I thought you might enjoy exploring this Great Find over the weekend.

Great Find: GraphicPUSH by Kevin Potts
Target Audience: Everyone who’s looking for or learning about design
Site Type: Design Site
Content: The quality of Kevin’s work shows in his own site’s design, in the relevancy of the topics and transparent, well-thought, well-written content of his posts. He markets his work with generosity by providing a quality free offer–three sets of beautifully-rendered free icons to spice up your own blog’s design or your desktop.

Notes: Don’t cheat yourself by jumping straight down to click through to the free icon sets. There’s plenty to see, and to learn about, if you go exploring on this site. Be sure to read the 9 rules that he wrote. No I didn’t realize this was a 9rules network member when I found it. I went there for the free icons I could get for you–and was delighted to find so much more.

More Great Blog Designs to Discuss

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Collaboration Link 2: Topical

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Collaboration Link 2: Topical
Two or more blogs agree to write on the same topic at the same time and link their posts

Topical collaborations can take many forms depending on topic and the blog owners involved. Darren Rowse at Problogger put out a challenge last September for bloggers to choose another blogger as a subject. He called it a Blog Crush, and it was meant to get bloggers to write posts about what they admire about another blogger. The original posts were linked to the admired, and Problogger linked both the writer and the subject.

If you follow this collaborative link example you’ll find out who was my Blog Crush.

Other Topical Collaborative Links include:

  • Ongoing Series Collaboration Two or more blogs in the same niche agree to write about the same topic, but different aspects of it. They post on the same day or days in series.
  • Posting in Parallel Collaboration–Points of View Two or more blogs agree to post on a controversial topic on the same day to argue their side of an issue.

Collaboration is a great foil for feeling like you’re all blogged out. It can bring new energy to an old topic, and liven up a tired crowd. Next time you’re wondering what to talk about, talk to another blogger about collaborating on your next post.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Collaboration Link 1: Image and Text
Collaboration Link 3: An Event
Collaboration Link 4: Movable Posts
Collaboration Link 5: An Interview
Collaboration Link 5: Begs the Question
Collaboration Link 6: Media Events