Successful Blog

Thanks to Week 245 SOBs

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muddy teal strip A

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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janet-clarey
justin-kownacki
oneorganizedbusiness
slymarketing
technology-for-mommies
upmo

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

SOB Business Cafe 07-02-10

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SB Cafe

Welcome to the SOB Cafe

We offer the best in thinking — articles, books, podcasts, and videos about business online written by the Successful and Outstanding Bloggers of Successful Blog. Click on the titles to enjoy each selection.

The Specials this Week are

Underway
Holidays, they are the high points of the year, where everyone celebrates. The Fourth of July is the largest national holiday of the year in the US. Many people plan for months for the perfect evening out.

Carol Roth
Anyone who says otherwise is lying

There’s a big white elephant in the room (or sometimes a tiny white elephant in the room) and that is size. You keep hearing people say that size doesn’t matter- in business, in social media, sometime in boxer briefs- but let’s call it like it is- it’s not really true. When you get to the debate of quantity vs. quality, the real answer is that both matter.

McCurry’s Corner
The problem is sometimes people working in service businesses get so wrapped up in following instructions, or completing the task at hand, that they forget about the most important part, the customer experience. It happens all the time, especially in a society where speed seems to take precedence over everything else.

We Blog Better
You sit down at your desk, turn on the computer with your to-do list in hand – all set to knock out a few blog posts and then maybe work on an ongoing project or two. You start your post, and then decide to do some quick research to validate a point you want to make.

One minute you’re finding interesting information that you’ve definitely got to integrate into your post but then you notice a few mentions on Twitter you’d like to respond to…

Todd Weiss, C.F.A.
In all seriousness, how does one write a good blog article? How can you quickly draw in readers and keep them reading? Or better yet, make a comment? A Re-Tweet? Or Subscribe to your RSS feed?

Harvard Business Review
Susan Harrison, my mother in law, died several months ago after a long and courageous battle with cancer. Like most of us, she was not famous. If you didn’t know her you probably didn’t know of her. She lived in the relatively small community of Savannah, Georgia.

Smart Blog on Social Media
LEGO is a classic example of how a focus on your fans can change everything for a brand. In the late ’90s, sales were down, product innovation was low, and the big retailers they relied on were telling them they didn’t know enough about their customers.

Related ala carte selections include

Congratulations to Eric Lukazewski
on his new photo blog!

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

I’m a proud affiliate of

third-tribe-marketing

Collaboration: How to Bring Back that Brand New Blog Feeling Again

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A Guest Post by Alexis Bonari

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If a blog is suffering from low readership, repetitive posts, or a general lack of innovation, chances are that it also lacks collaborative strategies. Some bloggers may be hesitant to even explore the idea of collaboration, foreseeing a loss of readership if they point out a better blog. However, experience shows the opposite: readers enjoy being introduced to new bloggers, so they’ll keep coming back for more.

Collaboration in Action

As an example of collaboration in action, take a look at remarkablogger and problogger as resources on blogger collaboration.

Setting Collaborative Readership Goals

From a remarkablogger post comes the idea of setting specific goals among bloggers for increasing their readership. A group of personal finance bloggers, inspired by a single challenge posted on Financial Samurai, agreed to increase their Alexa readership ratings within six months. Some aimed to join the ranks of the top 200,000; others challenged themselves to reach the top 50,000. But all 49 personal finance bloggers who answered the challenge observed significant increases in readership due to the collaborative nature of the goals they had set for themselves. One blog even managed to increase its rating from #1,432,262 to #215,606.

How did they manage this?

  1. They started right away without procrastinating. They didn’t make excuses about needing to think it over or question the feasibility of the task. They just joined up.
  2. They tracked something tangible. Whether it’s page rankings, readership, number of Tweets, or any other popularity indicator, this is an important factor in goal-oriented blogger collaboration.
  3. A concrete and desirable goal was set. Without focus, collaboration loses some of its efficacy.
  4. Keeping it casual enabled these bloggers to just “let the magic happen” as members of the challenge group created blog badges and set up tracking pages for collaborative commentary.
  5. They promoted each other. Small increases in readership added up for everyone and created a more synergistic partnership among bloggers.

Fresh Ideas for Effective Blogging Collaboration

A refreshing perspective characterizes problogger’s post the subject of collaborative blogging as a way to combat writer’s block. Recommendations include

  • guest blogging,
  • blog swaps,
  • joint posts,
  • interviews,
  • joint blogs,
  • joining a blog network,
  • chatting on IM or e-mail,
  • and participating in discussion forums.

    • Trying a blog swap (switching blogs for a day with another blogger) or joining up with another blogger to write interview posts about each other can liven up a boring blog. There’s no way to lose with these helpful strategies, so win-win collaboration makes immediate improvements for the savvy blogger.

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    What collaboration ideas have you helped you get back that brand blog feeling and reach for newer higher goals?

    ———-

    — Alexis Bonari is a freelance writer and blog junkie. She is currently a resident blogger at onlinedegrees.org, researching areas of online universities . In her spare time, she enjoys square-foot gardening, swimming, and avoiding her laptop.

    Thanks, Alexis! You’ve cited two of the best blogging collaborators I know!

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

    It’s the people and the great information inside that make me a proud affiliate of …

    third-tribe-marketing

Cool Tool Review: Chartbeat

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Todd Hoskins Reviews Tools for Business

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Todd Hoskins chooses and uses tools and products that could belong in an entrepreneurial business toolkit. He’ll be checking out how useful they are to folks who would be their customers in a form that’s consistent and relevant.

Cool Tool Review: Chartbeat
A Review by Todd Hoskins

If you’re not using web analytics right now, you need to be. When Google Analytics launched as a free service a couple years ago it allowed publishers and bloggers of every variety to know where web traffic is coming from and what their visitor trends are. It doesn’t matter whether you are a blogger with five subscribers or an eCommerce company. In it’s simplest form, it’s a copied and pasted line of code that requires no technical skills to set up.

Site visits and metrics such as time-on-site provide you with information. But visits don’t necessarily convert into sales, customers, or loyal readers, and time-on-site may be skewed by bathroom breaks and open browser windows. The information becomes valuable when it is actionable.

Here’s where Chartbeat has an edge. But warning: it’s addictive. Real-time statistics detailing what people are doing on a site right now has prompted me to change content on the fly and see how people react. Though it can be sheer entertainment, the real value is in being able to understand what is compelling to your readers.

Measuring traffic has long been a tantalizing trap. Counting people, whether it’s a political rally or eyeballs in advertising, is something we all immediately understand. How many visitors did we get yesterday? In our store? On our site? But there’s lots of ways to get people in the door or get them to click on a link. The key is bringing the best merchandise (content) to the front of the store, and then continue to either source more of the same, or take the time to educate the visitor on why something deserves to occupy prime real estate. Traffic is necessary, but engagement has often been ignored.

Oh, engagement. What a disputed word. With Chartbeat, they are getting more frequent “pings” from the visitor in order to understand what is happening multiple times per minute instead of the one ping like the doorbell announcing, “Someone’s here!” Engagement then can be captured, for example, with scroll depth. Is the visitor quickly viewing content and moving on, or are they taking time to scroll down the page.

On what pages is this occurring?
Where is the traffic coming from?
Where are they going?

Take a look for yourself:

For $10 a month, this is a steal. If you’re hesitant, get Google Analytics set up, and then sign up for a free trial with Chartbeat as well. Compare and let me know what you think.

Summing Up – Is it worth it?

Enterprise Value: 4/5 – Even Fortune 500 companies are using Chartbeat in addition to Omniture. There’s an API as well.

Entrepreneur Value: 5/5 – Want to be nimble? Web analytics are necessary.

Personal Value: 2/5 – Google Analytics is usually good enough unless your a geek like me.

Subtract The $5 From Brobdingnagian — Say What Now?

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By Terez Howard

This blog is brobdingnagian.

Are you scratching your head, wondering why I would talk like this? I don’t talk like this.

Have you already headed over to a dictionary website to see what brobdingnagian means? That’s where I found its meaning. My Microsoft Word Processor doesn’t even recognize it as a word.

Have you made it this far in my post without pulling out your hair? Congratulations!

Deduct $5 now

If you strip this 14-letter word of its pomp and circumstance, you get this: big. Brobdingnagian is one of those $5 words that do not belong in a blog post and can be substituted for a word worth a dime.

Why should $5 words be avoided?

  1. It takes unnecessary time for a reader to look them up. Most people have limited time and want to read through a blog without spending undue time with a dictionary in hand or in another tab.
  2. Brobdingnagian words are likely to send readers searching for more reader-friendly blogs. Who wants to read a blog that needs an interpreter? Not me.
  3. If you’re making a call to action in your blog, how can your readers act on something they do not understand?

I’m not saying that you have to dumb your writing down. There is no hard and fast rule that says you have to stick to words no longer than seven letters. People do have to understand what you’re trying to say. If they don’t, they are not going to stick around on your blog.

When I wrote for the newspaper, my boss told us that our readers’ level was that of fifth graders. He told us they would not continue to buy papers if we wrote at a higher level. I always remembered that because I used to write poetry, and I liked to pepper my poems with $5 words. That was fine for something personal, but for the public, it was unacceptable.

Explanations for technical terminology

Most of us writers don’t have a problem getting rid of complicated, unheard of words. However, we might be involved in a field that uses several acronyms and abbreviations. I didn’t know that a-s stood for all-sung.

There also might be words that are common in a certain field, like quadrille. But to laymen, that means absolutely nothing.

If your audience knows the acronyms and technical terms you use, you don’t necessarily have to explain them every time. But if you think you just might get a newbie or novice, I suggest you provide an explanation the first time you introduce the word in a post. After that, you don’t have to mention it again.

If you don’t want to do that, be sure to provide the resources for newcomers to your blog, so they can easily locate the meanings of words like concerto grosso and obbligato. The easiest way to do this is to add a glossary.

Add high quality

After you subtract all the $5 words, what are you left with? If it’s not much, you’re doing something wrong. Blogs should serve their readers as a well of resourceful and/or entertaining information. They should quench their readers’ thirst for knowledge.

When you provide your audience with a usable message, they won’t want a refund on your 10-cent words. They’ll take it to the bank.

What do you do to make sure people understand what you’re writing?

—
Terez Howard operates TheWriteBloggers, a professional blogging service which builds clients’ authority status and net visibility. She regularly blogs at Freelance Writing Mamas . You’ll find her on Twitter @thewriteblogger

Thanks, Terez!

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

Social Media Book List: #DIVERSITYtweet and Blogging All in One for Dummies

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A Weekly Series by Teresa Morrow

I’m Teresa Morrow, Founder of Key Business Partners, LLC and I work with authors to help manage their online book 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 author I am working with and one book I have put on my reading list. This week I will be highlighting ‘#DIVERSITYtweet’ by Deepika Bajaj. and ‘Blogging All in One for Dummies’ by Susan Gunelius. The books I discuss will cover topics such as social media (Facebook and Twitter), blogging, business, organization, career building, networking, writing, self development and inspiration.

‘#DIVERSITYtweet: Embracing the Growing Diversity our World’ by Deepika Bajaj

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‘#DIVERSITYtweet’ truly opened my eyes by adding this powerful medium to get our Diversity message out. Deepika truly hit a homerun on this one.”
Captain Ken Barrett, Diversity Director, U.S. Navy

People are transcending cultures and geographies and are embracing diversity in their experiences and interactions with others. Most importantly, this book is a thought provoking resource for managers and those who work with a diverse group of people, be it in the workforce, community projects, team building assignments, social gatherings, or business meetings. Organizations need to know how to manage diversity to be successful in the future, and in today’s competitive age, the flexibility and creativity augmented by diversity is crucial for success.

By the end of 2010, Twitter will have roughly 18 million registered users. What does this have to do with diversity and inclusion? The momentum has begun. The content is being developed in 140 characters; and identities are being created, new interpretations of diversity are being developed – with it we are observing new breakthroughs and breakdowns for Diversity. There is a paradigm shift – Diversity is the NEW NORMAL.

The book intends to create a bridge between a fresh and growing medium of expression and diversity and inclusion efforts. The message of diversity now transcends into thoughtful TWEETS and empowers the individual, an organization and its workforce. The big question is – Are you open to capitalizing on this momentum?

Here are a few tweets from ‘#DIVERSITYtweet’ I would like to share with you:

#1 Diversity in nature makes a case for respecting diversity in humanity.

#12 It is not the strongest of the species, nor the most intelligent, but the most responsive to change that will survive.

#24 Diversity cherishes mutually beneficial relationships to serve the increasingly diverse global market.

#37 Diversity’s ultimate goal: Preserve our individualism while integrating us with others’ lives and perspectives.

#53 Every single person, with his or her own combination of background traits and characteristics, is his or her own unique diversity story.

#72 Whatever your ethnicity is, it is not the external beauty that counts. No one will hire you for the shirt you wear. They want your attitude and aptitude.

About the Author:

Deepika Bajaj is the Senior Director at Working Mother Media, a company providing support and community for women to find work life balance and founder of Invincibelle, a company empowering diverse, multigenerational workforce and women to thrive in a multicultural world. Prior to this, Deepika has more than eight years of experience in telecommunications consulting and corporate marketing. She has served on the board of various professional organizations including the National Society of Hispanic MBAs and Women in Intel.

Deepika is currently writing another book. This book (yet to be named) speaks to her experiences of being a global citizen and what is shaping the new voice of diversity. She speaks and consults on diversity, blogs at www.deepikabajaj.com, writes a column on mom blogs at Working Mother Media and writes a column on social media for Active Garage. She is in the process to launch a new blog Diverseconomy.com. You can follow her on http://twitter.com/invincibelle.

Deepika holds a degree in Engineering from Bangalore University, India and has an MBA in marketing from Fordham University, New York. She is an honorary member of Phi Kappa Phi and Beta Gamma Sigma. She loves kickboxing, reading, music, and painting. Currently, she lives in California.
You can purchase a copy of ‘#DIVERSITYtweet’ online at ThinkAha Books or at Amazon

This blog post is part of a virtual book tour done by Key Business Partners, LLC and I have received a complimentary copy of ‘#DIVERSITYtweet’ by the author.

Blogging All-in-One for Dummies by Susan Gunelius

Now I would like to highlight a book on my “review” reading list–Blogging All in One for Dummies.

Blogging is one of the key elements to having a successful online business presence. Blogging All in One for Dummies offers you a multitude of information to not only get your started but how to maintain and even build your business through your blog.

Here is partial book description on Amazon.com:

Prepare to launch into the blogosphere — here’s your ticket!

What do you want to tell the world? Get started today with this guide to creating and solidifying your place in the blogosphere. You’ll discover all the strategies and tools you’ll need to launch a blog and get noticed.

From selecting a platform and writing your first post to including ads and using Twitter, you’ll be piloting a blog in no time!

* What’s your niche? — follow guidelines to choose a niche and set your blog up for success
* Build your business — create a business blog marketing plan and choose business bloggers
* Make the right decision — select the best blogging applications and blog hosts to meet your goals
* Extend and enhance your blog — from optimizing your content for search engines to creating blog feeds, get up to speed on the available tools
* Gain a following — discover the secrets of blogging success as you market your blog and build a community
* Show me the money — find out how to earn income by adding blog advertising, publishing sponsored reviews, and selling merchandise
* Enter the world of microblogging — learn how to create your Twitter profile, follow other users, write and publish tweets, and more

Open the book and find:

* Advice on choosing a blog topic
* The rules of the blogosphere
* Tips on selecting the right blogging application
* How to write to attract search engines
* Ways to analyze your blog’s performance
* How to find and edit images to spice up your posts
* Guidance on creating a podcast or vlog
* Secrets of making money from your blog

8 books in 1

* Joining the Blogosphere
* Niche Blogging
* Corporate and Business Blogging
* Choosing a Blogging Application
* Blogging Tools
* Promoting and Growing Your Blog
* Making Money from Your Blog
* Microblogging with Twitter

About Susan:

Susan Gunelius is President and CEO of KeySplash Creative, Inc., a full-service marketing communications provider.

Susan is also a published author and active blogger. As a marketing, branding and copywriting expert, Susan writes business nonfiction books through some of the largest and most recognized publishers in the world including Palgrave Macmillan (a division of Macmillan Publishing), Wiley, McGraw Hill and Entrepreneur Press.

Susan’s marketing-related articles have appeared on websites such as Entrepreneur.com, MSNBC.com, FoxBusiness.com, WashingtonPost.com, BusinessWeek.com, SmartMoney.com, TheStreet.com, Yahoo! Small Business, Yahoo! Finance, and more. She also writes articles and blogs for a variety of clients, including Cox Communications, Newstex, and About.com (a New York Times company).

With nearly 20 years of marketing, branding and copywriting experience, Susan is a seasoned corporate professional having spent much or her career developing and executing marketing programs for global and national organizations, including divisions of AT&T and HSBC.

*courtesy of Amazon

You can purchase a copy of ‘Blogging All-in-One for Dummies’ on Amazon

I truly hope you will check out these books and please comment and let me know your thoughts on them.