Successful Blog

10 Blogger Best Practices: Guides as You Extend Your Reach

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How to blog series

Know Who You Are

All year long I’ve mulling on a thought I first considered when I was under 5 years old. I wrote about it on my first blog.

“Square peg in a round hole.” That’s what people used to call it.

Even as a kid I knew it was a silly waste of time to put a square peg in a round hole. That was just plain common sense To make the peg fit, it wouldn’t be a square peg anymore. It would hurt the peg, and the hole wouldn’t like it.

Whenever I try to make myself fit a situation, it’s like trying to teach a pig to sing — sounds awful and the pig gets mad. I turn into a louder, sort of a shiny green spandex facsimile of the real me. Is it a wonder then that people don’t respond well?

It’s really no surprise that trying to be something “other” doesn’t work with a blog either.

Relationships are a lot more fun with people who know themselves. Our blogs are reflections of how well we know who we are.

10 Blogger Best Practices

Here are 10 Blogger Best Practices for the social web. These 10 best practices guide me as I write and meet new people on the social business web. They help me stay focused on my quest and explain it when people ask. When I remember them, they serve me well. I hope they’ll serve you too.

  1. Know yourself. Know what you’re about and always walk, talk, and blog your own truth. You can’t write my blog post. I can’t write yours. More on that from this great speech about how Oprah found her voice.
  2. Find the people who explore thoughts the same way you do. They’re the ones who’ll enjoy what you write. Share what they say. Pass links to comments on Twitter. Use Twitter Explore to find people talking about common questions and ideas. They’re the one’s who will constantly inspire you. We always think that people who think as we do are incredibly smart.
  3. Talk about what you blog in ways that show you value what you have to offer. Talk about what you want to share in ways that make people proud to pass them on. Don’t fear the blog link that points to a blog post a friend wrote. I know you’d never use a blog link to attract attention from away someone else to you.
  4. When you meet someone new, be interested in who they are and what they’re about. Ask questions. Learn details. Find out their passions. Ideas come from being curious about what people are doing and why. Meeting someone new can be as revealing and invigorating as a rare celebrity interview.
  5. Step away from the podium. Forget what you learned in school. Writing on the internet is about conversation and listening, not presentation. Write for an intelligent friend who just doesn’t know what you do. Leave lots of room for questions and thoughtful interpretation.
  6. Whatever you blog, bring your experience to it. Tell how you learned it, how you found it, how you felt before and after you knew it. Tell the story of the information from your point of view. People come for the you in the information — the information without the you is in other places.
  7. Leave room for visitors to add to the conversation. Be complete but not thorough. You can start a list and let the folks who come add to it. If you end with a question, consider the question carefully. Make it intriguing enough that you would want to stop to answer it.
  8. Open doors and showcase others whenever you can. Connect people to information, to other people, and to answers to their questions. Serve the people who love what you do. The best promotion for your blog is promotion other people. Talk about the the people who visit your blog.
  9. Always be happy to see people who say hello! Call them by name and let them know you see them. Let them feel that they can move around freely. Make sense?
  10. Be you. Information is everywhere. It’s the you inside the information and the you that responds that will bring people back.

I’m about how relationships, conversation, and how businesses and communities grow. I help people understand the culture and sensitivities of the written word in the fast-paced Internet world and show companies how to connect with people. I’m always going to write more about how to use the social media tools to forge relationships than I’ll ever write about the tools straight out.

Knowing that makes it easier to extend my network. I can do what I love in service to people who think what I do is pretty special.

What guides you?

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!!

Jammies, Teary Eyes, and My Dad's Saloon: Is Your Best Behavior Authentic?

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But I Want to Wear My Jammies!!

Have no fear of perfection – you’ll never reach it. — Salavdor Dali

When I was small, it was rare that my mom would take me to my dad’s saloon. Usually we were there to return the family car so that he could drive home when he locked up in the wee hours of the morning. Naturally the folks at the bar knew her and knew me as my mom and dad’s daughter. While we waited for my dad to drive us home, we’d be saying “hellos” to friends of my parents.

Once when I was about 5 years old. I took a great challenge. I went to my bedroom and got ready for bed on my own. I had new pajamas. I couldn’t wait to wear them. They were pale green, thin cottony shirt and pants stamped with teddy bears all over them. I prized my favorite new jammies. They had buttons and a collar. They were like real clothes to sleep in.

Rather than being proud of my self-dressing accomplishment, my mom was thrown by it. She made a face. She said it was’t time yet. I was told I to change back into my clothes. We had to take the car to my dad at the tavern.

I suggested we show everyone my new pajamas. I pointed out that they looked like real clothes. She made it clear that my thought was out of the question. I got teary-eyed and pouty. My mom got adamant that I wouldn’t wear the pajamas and that I would find a way to a new attitude. She said some behavior was for just at home.

I was the daughter of the owner. His customers were also his friends. I grew up learning that my pajamas and teary-eyed mad attitudes didn’t belong in my dad’s tavern. I met those people with my best behavior.

Is that authentic?

Is Your Best Behavior Authentic?

One of the best things I ever heard a young mother say to her kids was, “Act as if you know how to behave.” Her children were polite, kind, and a pleasure to spend time with — both in public and at home. That’s what my mom believed too.

In this brief video, Melissa Pierce offers another way to look at it. The words posted under this video suggested that authenticity may be the wrong question.

I think I agree with her about the question.

Perhaps authenticity is rooted in intent and purpose.

Showing up as my best, cleaning my house, and doing the rest, help me . . .

  • show my respect for you and for myself.
  • raise my game and my investment
  • communicate with sensitivity and grace

For me, that’s authentic. Wearing my denim shirt with teddy bears all over it is also a statement of authenticity.

How do you see it? Are you authentic when you’re on your best behavior?

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!!

Will I See You at BlissDom'09, February 6-7?

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It’s Already SOLD OUT

Apprentices and Mavens are meeting at the Hotel Preston, in Nashville, February 6-7 for BlissDom’09 — a conference about blogging writing, social media, marketing, and book deals. This is the second BlissDom event. Looking forward to the conversations started by the speakers on that list. The participants are equally impressive.

At the Blissdom conference …

Throughout the weekend you’ll learn from other women about building your blog, your brand, and your business while achieving bliss in those other areas that are so important too: being a mom, a wife, and being true to yourself. We’ve got some amazing panels in the works with women who are all defining what Bliss means to them that are passionate about paying it forward and helping you find your Bliss.

I’m delighted to be a part of Blissdom’09! Blissdom is hosted by Blissfully Domestic magazine and One2One Network. Thanks to Allison Worthington and Barbara Jones for inviting me.

Let me know if you will be there too!

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!!

SOBCon09 is May 1, 2,3 in Chicago. Register!

SOB Business Cafe 01-30-09

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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

Brian Gardner Media explores real life action on the Internet.
Haven’t you ever seen that video clip, where the guy drops his camera at the zoo, and panics, because he just spent a lot of money on it? So he climbs over the fence and just when he thinks his life is bad enough, he realizes that he just entered the lion’s den?

Duct Tape Marketing explores tools we may have forgotten.
Having lots of channels and lots of ways for folks to receive relevant, education based content is a must.

While social media and other web based marketing tools are getting most of today’s hype, email marketing to a list of willing recipients is still a very powerful way to market.

Beth’s Blog explores insights of online experiences.
Last year at this time, I was in Austin, TX doing a keynote workshop for Legal ervices Corporation on the ROI of Nonprofit Technology. I interviewed technology practitioners from the poverty law community about how they approach ROI and significant technology systems investments like client databases, document assembly systems, or video conference systems.

CC Seed explores a finding a new place in time.
The empty aisles I found while visiting Binghamton, NY should not have surprised me, but they did.

Related ala carte selections include

PerkettPRsuasion explores do-it-yourself work of the wrong kind.

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

A Symphony and SOBCon: Are You Part of Something Bigger than Yourself?

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A Symphony in My Head


There’s a song in my head.
I heard it first quiet in the night at my computer.
Then it came again when I woke.

It never really left me.

It began … looping in and out of days … over two years ago.

I considered it an insignificant melody,
a memory tracing, some forgotten top-40 wonder.

Until I asked … until I tried … until I found …
no one, not anyone, could
recognize it, identify it … hum along,
then I knew.

It was mine.

Not a song, but a score.

When I claimed it, it grew
louder, broader, deeper.
It transformed into a symphony, with horns, woodwinds and strings.
I hear the most delicate and the most booming percussion
with a triangle and an ever-changing, but not-so-different drum.

Yet a symphony in a person’s head is hardly an idea.
It’s colors and rhythms that move hands and words.
(maybe feet when it’s certain no one’s looking.)

It’s still a thought.

To be a symphony it needs
a composer to score it
an orchestra to express it
an audience to participate and receive it …
and a conductor who understands
the music, the instruments, the players, the audience,
and the meaning of intentional serendipity.

A symphony takes breathing and doing
and more than one human being.

A symphony is expertise, artistry, community, and trust made real.

NOTE: When the symphony is playing, I might add room for a little thinking
about possible choreography for occasions when no one’s looking …
or even those when they are.

It’s true I have a symphony in my head. It started as we planned SOBCon07.
And it’s still playing louder, longer, stronger as we plan SOBCon again.

It has me thinking about the phrase “conducting business.” Somewhere inside that phrase is the idea of turning leadership from one to many. A conductor leaves space for the expertise and decisions of the players who know their instruments. Likewise in business, a leader steps back to let many people and their relationships — clients, developers, buyers, sellers, teachers, learners — come together in the best ways. Leaders produce something bigger any one person.

Maybe that’s why that symphony started playing right before SOBCon.

To build the conference, we knew we had to give ourselves over to the people who would be there. We had to step back and leave room for the many relationships — speakers, attendees, sponsors, signers, site managers, bartenders — that come together in the best ways to produce something bigger any one person. We designed it so that attendees would have as much time to talk each other about the ideas — as they did listening to the speakers. We trusted that every person in the room would bring expertise.

People who knew the value of working together were the ones who came to sit at our tables.

The first year we became “an awesome event.” The second year, we began teaming up together. We talked about and tackled real problems. We’re partners, teammates, and coauthors. We’ve entered joint ventures. After we left, we still call each other for support and advice. We still meet, talk, and Twitter. This year we’re coming back with more to offer to each other and every person who joins us. We only have one rule: Be Nice. But we also like it if you’re serious and you come with trust.

And I personally plan to bring more than anyone else in there — including my dearest friends, Mr. Starbucker, Ms. VanFossen, Ms. Piersall , Mr. Clark , Mr. Smith, Mr. Solis, Mr. Bullock, or even my poptart partner Mr. Brogan.

I’m also bringing a special guest … who said he’d help me.
Don’t worry, it’s a fabulously GOOD secret.

Because a symphony is a challenge to bring all that we are. And I plan to be playing with every bit of my head, heart, and purpose.

Every great event, every true community, every well-run business is a symphony, isn’t it?

Ever been to the symphony? Every played in an orchestra? Ever done anything like that? Are you part of something bigger than yourself?

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!!

BlogWell 2 Chicago: Some Big Companies Do Connect

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Experience Is The Best Teacher

If we hang too long in the wrong corners of the social web, we might form the impression that all big companies are evil or inept. The ones I met yesterday were anything but.

Great companies — big and small — have always cared about customers.

Yesterday, I had the experience of BlogWell 2 Chicago: How Big Companies Use Social Media, a 1/2 day seminar, offered by blogcouncil and gaspedal. The event was under the care of gas pedal CEO, bestselling author and Word of Mouth Maven, Andy Sernovitz.

I attended on a press pass, and I’m delighted that I went. The seminar wasn’t what I expected. I was surprised by familiar “blogger passion and camaraderie” of the event. Possibly that open atmosphere could be the strongest proof that these companies are set on getting social media “right.”

Blogwell is framed around 8 major brand case studies presented as two tracks of four. All are taped on video so that participants can see the case studies they don’t attend. The companies presenting were:

  • The Home Depot
  • Mayo Clinic
  • H&R Block
  • Sharpie
  • US Coast Guard
  • Allstate
  • Molson
  • Procter & Gamble

The sold out room was filled with big companies, consultants, and members of the press talking every possible minute about how social media might fit their business and how businesses might find ways to help people connect. [Check the sidebar to see the Videos from BlogWell 1]

The compelling thread that seemed to run through every story was that despite the size of the company or the brand — from Sharpie to Procter & Gamble — the social web initiative was something that started with a passion for the space and a willingness to learn. I attended four sessions and the messages seemed resoundingly clear … Listen before you act. Start where you are. Move in manageable ways. Know where you’re going. It’s a lot of work. The end game is helping people connect.

The open conversation and communication about moving from the known to the unknown toward the community in ways the community responded to was natural and filled with the positive learning culture all successful thinkers value.

The break conversation was equally refreshing, friendly, and informative. I enjoyed the interactions I had every point of the way. BlogWell was simple, elegant and totally delivered on it’s promise. Don’t hesitate to attend.

These huge brands are tackling the same social media problems we are — we’re building answers from the outside in and from the inside out. I left with the hopeful thought that the digital divide might be closing sooner than I thought.

Thank you, Andy. I hope have that experience again.

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!!