Successful Blog

Beach Notes: Surf Temple

by 2 Comments

by Guest Writers Suzie Cheel and Des Walsh

surftemple

There was a big surfing championship recently at the famous Snapper Rocks surfing break at Rainbow Bay, where we walk and swim most mornings. Coming upon this black, cylyindrical structure on the reef, early one morning just before the big event stated, we thought it looked like a temple.

A temple to the surfing gods?

Actually it was a tower built to provide a vantage point for the people filming the event.

Then again, given the semi godlike status some of the champion surfers have in these parts, maybe the temple idea was not so far off the mark.

What’s the vantage point in your life?

Suzie Cheel & Des Walsh

Thanks to Week 230 SOBs

by 1 Comment

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.

muddy teal strip A

att-small-business-insite
compukol-connection
media-buzz
metaspring
tims-strategy
transideation

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.

deep purple strip

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 03-19-10

by 2 Comments

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

Do It Myself
Yesterday I was interviewed via email by CBC Radio about “Social Media and the Paralympics”. It was to air this morning on CBC’s Early Edition. However, my interview responses were cut from show, which raises a larger question about traditional media and representation of people with disabilities.

Barry Moltz
It’s not really a conference or even a festival as the organizers say it is. It’s a happening. At 30,000 people, it is so large and complex, you don’t really attend SXSW, it just happens to you. …

Read Write Web
Social CRM: The New Rules of Relationship Management, a report from the Altimeter Group released earlier this month, serves to help companies and organizations understand the changing territory. The report offers a thorough framework with which companies can strategize their adoption of social CRM projects.

Marketing IQ
If you know what to listen for and how to separate signal from noise, it should propel you towards action and engagement the right way. If social media is a blend of art and science, engagement is definitely the art of it. If you approach it in a heavy-handed or inauthentic way, you may scare people off and mar your reputation.

emergent by design
This weekend I experienced a snowcrash; a moment where the seemingly disparate pieces of information floating in my head came together. A synapse fired, a new connection was made, and I was brought to a new level of consciousness, a new way of seeing the world. In reading this over, it almost sounds obvious, but it took me a while to get here. I hope that by sharing with you, it’ll help you “get it” too. So let me take you on my thinking trail.

Related ala carte selections include

gapingboid
has a word …

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

Buy the ebook. Learn the art of online conversation.

Register Now!! for sobcon-vmc

Personalised? Potential Problems? Perhaps …

by Leave a Comment

A Guest Post on Personalised Search by Christopher Angus

cooltext451585386_trends

Anyone that’s been in any branch of internet marketing such as Search, SEO, Social Media Marketing and the like will fully understand what I mean when I say that Google is always changing. The animal we seek to master is impossible to tame, if merely for the fact that the algorithm behind the Google search engine is never really still. Stable, arguably so, but the fact remains that engineer upon engineer, programmer after programmer are spending their time constantly tweaking the code and structure of Google, often leading to unexpected twists in the SEO trail.

The point that I’m getting at is that as a marketing expert, Search professional, or SEO company, one must be prepared to change with the times. Resistant to change some of us may well be, but change we must, if we are to survive. Of course, some changes are easier to accommodate for than others, some are small, some are large, the difficulty to change with the times sometimes – but not always – scales with the size of the change.

However, once in a while comes a change that is just incredibly awkward to deal with. A change that is so downright frustrating that it makes you wonder why you ever got into this business. A change like that has happened in recent days and continues to still happen. That change is typically referred to as “personalised search”, the process via which a Google search can become “personalised” or “unique” for a given user, particularly when logged in to one’s own Gmail/Google account.

It works by giving alarming priority to popular branded sites (presumably ones that Google thinks has a high amount of “trust” built up) and pushes these to the top of related search results, so you end up being more likely to find these branded sites in a better position than other, smaller, “less trusted” websites. This also has a literal knock-on effect of pushing the websites that were previously ranking well for related keywords (the smaller sites) out of the way entirely, as they’re moved to one side to make room for the “big ones”. From an SEO point of view, I’m sure you can understand the frustration here.

The popular stuff is getting clicked on all the time, which then subsequently becomes personalised and then you’ll continue to keep seeing those same websites every time you search for those related keywords. Search is rapidly becoming a popularity contest instead of a relativity contest, or at least whatever you want to call it: it’s not that anymore.

Another hurdle on the path to success @ Search has arisen and so we must deal with it, or it will deal with us.

How are YOU dealing with the idea of personalised search?

—–
Christopher Angus is a successful internet marketer and SEO, having been rated the 26th most influential marketer in the world in 2009. His company is Warlock Media and he can be reached via email at info@warlockmedia.com

Thanks, Chris. I love learning about new tech … 🙂

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

Buy the ebook. Learn the art of online conversation.

Register Now!! for sobcon-vmc

Social Media Book List: Writing for your Business & The Power of Twitter

by Leave a Comment

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.

The Customizable Style Guide for Coaches who Write by Linda Dessau

styleguide_cover_spiral_noamp

This week I would like to start off with a book I have read and worked with the author entitled Customizable Style Guide for Coaches who Write.

The coaching industry is increasing every day. The International Coach Federation has over 13,000 members in more than 90 countries. Coaches have discovered success by sharing their guidance through books and e-products, expanding from the traditional one-on-one or group coaching methods. And since coaching is a global industry, most coaches rely heavily on the Internet as a marketing tool. Professional, concise writing is crucial for success.

Whether they’re writing to earn passive revenue or to market to new or existing contacts, this book will help coaches to write without fear. No more false starts or procrastination, no more puzzling over why something just doesn’t look or sound right, and best of all, no more pouring their heart and soul into their writing, but failing to make that crucial connection with their readers or to get the results they hoped for.

About the Author

Linda Dessau, MTA, CPCC, is an editor, writer, accredited music therapist and certified life coach. She has been writing for the web since 2003 and her articles about self-care and creativity have been widely acclaimed and reprinted.

She is the author of several e-books, including Ten Ways to Thrive as a Creative Artist, and e-courses, including Roadblocks to Creativity.

She created “You Talk, I’ll Write” in July 2005 to combine her passion for coaching with her gift for writing. Her client roster of coaches and speakers rely on her to collaborate with them and bring clarity, structure and greater impact to their ideas. She has a clear and warm writing style that immediately connects with the intended audience.

Linda Dessau is a member of the Editors’ Association of Canada and lives in Toronto.

You can pick up your copy at Coaches who Write.

Twitter Power

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 Twitter Power by Joel Comm.

Do you know what Twitter is? You should–if you’re in the business of promoting your business. This is just what I say ABSOLUTELY! Social media is so important to all business owners who are looking to increase the marketing of their business. It is a great way to make incredible connections and joint partnerships with others.

Twitter Power shows you how to leverage the power of Twitter for instant business results–like reaching new markets and increasing sales.

In Twitter Power, Internet marketing and Web innovation expert Joel Comm shows businesses and marketers how to integrate Twitter into their existing marketing strategies to build a loyal following among Twitter members, expand awareness for their product or service, and even handle negative publicity due to angry or disappointed consumers.

The book also presents case studies of companies on the forefront of the Twitter movement, to help you develop your own social networking strategies. Twitter Power is the result of extensive testing and participation in the social networking community and is a must-have for any business that wants to keep up with the social media movement. Twitter Power features a foreword by Tony Robbins.


About the Author:
Joel Comm is one of the world’s leading expert on strategies for making money online. He is an in demand speaker of conferences on internet marketing and business, and also the author of The AdSense Code and Click Here to Order.
You can pick up your copy of Twitter Power on Amazon

Have the BIG Idea for the Next Twitter? What’s that Worth?

by 4 Comments

A Guest Post by Carol Roth

cooltext443809602_strategy

What if you had the BIG IDEA that trumps Twitter — the one that could get everyone to leave the Fail Whale for your newly imagined super-site? Or maybe your idea is for the next VitaminWater or Under Armour – what would that be worth?

You may know someone who came up with a great idea, or maybe you came up with one yourself – an idea that someone else pursued and made major money from. If you could just find a way to get paid for thinking of the next big business idea, you would be set for life. .

The problem is, you can’t.

The biggest bummer about business is that the ideas behind them aren’t worth anything. As Chris Brogan says, “I could totally do that doesn’t mean anything if you don’t.”

A penny for your thoughts … if you’re lucky

Nobody whose head is screwed on straight will buy a business idea from you (or anyone else) because any value related to a business idea is in its implementation. Maybe if you give someone a business idea they will one day send you a coupon for a free product, but that is about it.

The further something gets away from an idea, the more value that exists. Things like

  • customers
  • profits
  • innovative technology
  • competitive barriers to entry

create value.

The reality of the lack of value in business ideas is a shock and a disappointment to many people who want to get compensated for thinking of “the next big thing.”

Sure, the idea kicks off setting the business in motion, but coming up with an idea is a one-time thing that isn’t particularly difficult, doesn’t require much risk and doesn’t take a lot of work. Even if you laid in your bed fine-tuning the idea every night before you went to sleep for six months, this work pales in comparison to the amount of work required to get the business started and to make it successful. The more action you take and the greater the results that you achieve from that action, the more value you will create.

That BIG Idea for the next Twitter, Vitamin Water or Under Armour really isn’t worth anything at all.

All of the other facets of starting and running the business, of which there are many, are quite difficult to do. They require a lot of risk to do and to do well. They aren’t done once, but have to be attended to on pretty much a daily basis. They take a lot of hard work. So, in looking at this whole thing we call a business, would you place a lot of value on a one-time idea that took no risk to produce, or on the other myriad tasks that have to be done indefinitely, day-in and day-out, that take a ton of risk and hard work?

Bottom line: It’s not the idea; it’s the execution over time that counts.

Are you ready to put the work into that BIG Idea of yours?

—–
Carol Roth writes Unsolicited Business Advice (TM) or aspiring entrepreneurs, solopreneurs and other small business owners, at CarolRoth.com You can find her on Twitter as @CaroJSRoth

Thanks, Carol. Ideas are everywhere. Execution is not.

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

Buy the ebook. Learn the art of online conversation.

Register Now!! for sobcon-vmc