Welcome to the SOB Cafe

We offer the best in thinking–articles on the business of blogging written by the Successful and Outstanding Bloggers of Successful Blog. Click on the titles to enjoy each selection.

The Specials this Week are

Chris Brogan explains how to sort through the social media landscape.
If you’re in the business of delivering a service, such as coding skills, design, marketing expertise, sales, etc, there’s a whole lot of factory work that you do that’s not easily displayed.

Confident Writing explains the value of taking on a challenge.
I also share the two biggest stumbling blocks in starting to podcast (1) not liking the sound of your own voice and (2) plain simple fear…

And the solution to both of them.

Genuine Curiosity explains how to use a new product.
I’d looked at it before and didn’t like it, but they’ve made significant improvements since then and now I think it is awesome. What’s so cool about i-Lighter? Read on…

Lip-Sticking explains why marketing to women is becoming EVEN MORE important.
So, who’s reading your blog, visiting your website, contemplating your products and services?

It’s a girl. Or, her Mom.

O’Flaherty explains that we’re defining ourselves every day.
If you take the economic factor out of it, the choices that we make ultimately become a matter of personality and the image we wish to portray of ourselves.

skelliewag explains how to digg dugg digging.
In this post, I want to talk about the most often overlooked aspect of what is required to write content with strong potential on Digg (and the same principle applies to StumbleUpon, Reddit, or any other social media service you can imagine).

Related ala carte selections include

Abundance Highway is my new healer.
Driving back I thought well I have attracted this to me and I don’t have time to be sick. I was immediately aware that I had used the word DON”T, so what did the universe hear? TIME TO BE SICK.

See you at WordCamp Dallas.

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
Work with Liz!! SOBCon08 is May 2,3,4 in Chicago. Register now!

Welcome to the SOB Cafe

We offer the best in thinking–articles on the business of blogging written by the Successful and Outstanding Bloggers of Successful Blog. Click on the titles to enjoy each selection.

The Specials this Week are

Problogger explains five ways to get your conference return on investment.
Conferences can be a prime space for bloggers to recruit new readers. Last week at SXSWi it was fascinating to watch hundreds of bloggers attempt to standout from the crowd, network and develop fruitful relationships with others there.

Copyblogger explains how to keep your blog ideas red hot.
Specifically, your content has become flat and routine. You’ve found a modest audience that likes you, but your ideas and your writing aren’t sharp enough to pull in, energize and keep new readers.

bub.blicio.us explins how a new product might change our view of the Internet and the people we relate to.
It not only allows you to bookmark and save notes in an easy to retrieve place, it adds a new dimension to the Web itself by revealing, at the page level, the community of people who have also interacted with the content.

Virtual Impax explains how knowing your customers makes a difference in your business.
I am his IDEAL client. His themes are incredibly well coded and I don’t EVER have to contact him about “support”.

Blog about Your Blog explains what we might have gotten wrong.
Recently I tried my own linkbait, 8 reasons to link to our blog today. I wouldn’t say it failed because we did get some links (which I definitely appreciate). However it wasn’t as many as I had hoped.

Related ala carte selections include

eMom explains how she chooses her conferences and which she recommends.
Many of you know that I spoke at / went to a lot of conferences in 2007. Each was great in its own way, and I’m trying to get back to every single one of them again this year, plus hoping to add a few if I can.

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

Welcome to the SOB Cafe

We offer the best in thinking–articles on the business of blogging written by the Successful and Outstanding Bloggers of Successful Blog. Click on the titles to enjoy each selection.

The Specials this Week are

Copyblogger has the story on how we outhink ourselves.
I know what you’re thinking. “Wait a minute, here. We’re talking about people with seriously insightful thoughts! I’m just an average person. I can’t think up great ideas like that!”

PR 2.0 has the story on what was the most talked about public event at SxSW.
I’m sure you heard about the infamous Mark Zuckerberg SXSW keynote hosted by well known author, Business Week columnist and Yahoo TechTicker host Sarah Lacy. Just in case you haven’t, let’s just say that some of the audience wasn’t supportive of the casual, conversational format or her style of engaging Zuckerberg in public.

45 Things has the story — a whole series starting — on making sure your voice represents you well. And she’s right I do care about it deeply.
Many bloggers have never had these discussions, and that makes sense. The medium has clearly outpaced the ability to discuss all the ramifications of what is written, but it’s time we took a deep breath and did just that.

Small Biz Survival has the story on networks, going viral, and exponentiality.
The reason people say a product or site or blog has gone viral is because when one of these goods/services “takes off” and begins to grow it’s network of users takes on the same growth pattern as the spread of viral diseases, like the flu.

David Dalka has the story on SixApart’s quest to win over WordPress users.
Anil Dash has put up quite an intriguing post arguing the case. Matt Mullenweg are you listening?
I’m gonna add a few more reasons to his list of reasons why it would be wise to do so, but before I do that I thought I’d tell Anil why I’m not doing that…YET…

The Broad Brush has the story on information everywhere, including on pirate sites.
It’s then you find it; there’s a site aggregating your content. A site that is taking your feed and posting it right back onto the front of their homepage. Not just an aggregator clearly showing that you’re a contributor but not related to their company, but an aggregator selling ads on the side.

Related ala carte selections include

Social Media Explorer has the story on SOBCon08.
I caught up with Liz at South by Southwest (SXSW) to talk about SOBCon2008 in Chicago, May 2-4. Be sure to pay close attention to her description of the format, which is a unique and engaging offering for those in attendance. And the speakers aren’t the only attraction. SOBCon attracts many of the top bloggers in the world as attendees. You can’t come to this thing and not learn a lot about blogging, business and more.

For more on SOBCON2008, check out sobevent.com. To register, click here.

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

Welcome to the SOB Cafe

We offer the best in thinking–articles on the business of blogging written by the Successful and Outstanding Bloggers of Successful Blog. Click on the titles to enjoy each selection.

The Specials this Week are

Read, Write, Web demonstrates what might be this year’s SxSW killer app.
FriendFeed is a super simple way to view all your friends’ activities on Twitter, del.icio.us, Mag.nolia, YouTube, Flickr and lots of other sites – all in one place. It’s going to be great for SXSW. Flickr is a big part of tech events but FriendFeed is going to make it even bigger, with all of a photographer’s friends seeing their photos – not just those that go to Flickr itself.

Confident Writing demonstrates the layers of wealth in group projects.
I have learned a lot from running this project: some new insights into the lives of old blogging friends, meeting new readers, discovering new blogs, learning what’s important to you about writing. There were some fascinating themes that emerged

Case-Notes from the Artsy Asylum demonstrates the value of social interaction that starts with text.
The problem with the bloggosphere, and the twitterspshere – and all the Social Mediaspere is that it’s personal.

And the good thing about the bloggosphere, and the twitterspshere – and all the Social Mediaspere is that it’s personal.

and then delivers in spades over at Boobs on Ice

carpe factum demonstrates the value of honking your horn.
I heard a lot of pain and fear about making noise to the executives. It seems a few people have witnessed messengers being shot. Ironically, I saw this sign in New York City this morning, and I just had to share it. I wonder who is enforcing it, because honking is a language in and of itself in a city that hears about every tongue imaginable spoken.

Pistachio Consulting demonstrates how less can be more.
Why aren’t presentations becoming generally better despite so much great thinking on how to fix them? Is it because many come together at the last minute?

chrisg.com is demonstrating how to take control of your authority.
It seems that Technorati misses a lot of the links pointed at your blog. This leads to a familiar frustration for many bloggers who feel that they are not getting the recognition they deserve.

Related ala carte selections include

cube rules demonstrates a need for integration.
A “congratulations on your new job” card read in Europe while we were there last week: . . .

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

Welcome to the SOB Cafe

We offer the best in thinking–articles on the business of blogging written by the Successful and Outstanding Bloggers of Successful Blog. Click on the titles to enjoy each selection.

The Specials this Week are

Common Sense PR and 14 others see the value of WOW!
Just as important as the product or service you deliver is the way in which you do it.

Today we celebrate some examples of people and companies that create a sense of occasion, a sense of specialness.

Essential Keystrokes sees value in flexibility for project design.
The power of the WordPress platform absolutely amazes me! I recently finished a project for a design company called TwistnShout which completely stretched everything I knew WordPress could do and then some.

Just Creative Design sees the value in resources.
Below is a list of 99+ graphic design resources, in English and (and a few other languages), that all designers must know about.

Dumb Little Man sees the value of saying “no.”

As an online entrepreneur, you will, at one point or another, start to receive all sorts of propositions. Some will, of course, prove to be great opportunities which you definitely need to take advantage of. Others, on the other hand, are nothing more than time-wasters you need to steer clear of.

Carl Ocab sees the value completing his first year.
Blogging has taught me hundreds of things since then. Today, I’ve compiled them and picked the best to share it with you. I’d suggest you bookmark it, print it out and save it in your desktop.

Make It Great! sees the value in offering you a fee service until March 15!!!
I invite you to head over to MinuteFix and check us out. There’s no cost until March 15th, so I’d bet you can get a few of your problems fixed, or at the least, you’d know that we are a great company and one you can count on to fix those annoying computer problems you’ve been having for years.

Related ala carte selections include

Word Sell, Inc. knows the value of humor as a marketing tool.

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

Welcome to the SOB Cafe

We offer the best in thinking–articles on the business of blogging written by the Successful and Outstanding Bloggers of Successful Blog. Click on the titles to enjoy each selection.

The Specials this Week are

Duct Tape Marketing has reasons to suggest we repurpose an old slogan.
A lot of people are telling you that content is king, and to a certain degree it is, but your head is swimming and you’re thinking, “how do I create all this content and education based material when I’ve got a business to run? You say I need a blog, newsletter, white papers, podcast, training courses, instructional videos, I mean, how do I get it all done?”

Abundance Highway has reasons to think life has plenty to offer.
Last Sunday we parked in a different place and I saw the wonderful tile montage above, on the wall of the Local Family Day Care Centre.

I don’t normally take my camera to the markets, but at the last minute I had put it in my bag. I had the idea for this post but didn’t imagine capturing something so wonderful.

Alister Cameron has reasons to be calling out uber WordPress Theme testers.
So Vanilla adds a simple admin screen offering most of the layout options available with the YUI grids. This means that theme developers can now create new WordPress themes (or retro-fit old favourites) so that they can accommodate any one of dozens (maybe hundreds?!) of different layout combinations.

Online Public Relations has reasons to say, “Buyer Beware!”
Many have come up with fantastic theories about how votes followed by actual comments can bring a certain number of visitors; social media gurus wrote pages and pages about how to increase Stumble traffic, how to become a “top stumbler” and so on, and so on! Apparently everyone wants to fool or game the system.

Thinking Home Business has reasons to remind us it’s okay to think small about home business.
As a small business – indeed home based – provider of coaching and social media consulting services, I doubt I’m unique in feeling sometimes that I am at a disadvantage in competing against bigger companies, with more people, deeper pockets, big brands, often with “incumbency rights” with clients I would like to have.

Barry J. Moltz has reasons to like a company that break the rules.
I called the American Airlines Admirals Club to allow her admission even though I am a member (and an Executive Platinum Flyer) but not her.

Related ala carte selections include

Essential Keystrokes has reasons to come to Chicago and I can’t wait until she does!
Have you seen the pictures from last year? Everyone I interact with daily in the blogosphere and consider to be leaders in the field was there! Anyhow, I have checked the calendar (May 2-4, 2008) and it looks like I just might be able to sneak out to Chicago this year. I’m not missing this opportunity twice.

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