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

GasPedal is doing something special for folks who deserve it.
We’re trying to raise a ton of money for some very deserving groups that need the cash, so we put a few BlogWell tickets up on eBay. 100% of the proceeds — EVERY PENNY — goes to charity.

PR 2.0 lays out the state of affairs in our socialsphere.
As networks become densely populated and new communities arise and thrive, we’re experiencing a fundamental shift in content creation, distribution, and consumption, thus creating an Active and Participatory Media society that is inspiring and seeding a more literate and enlightened generation.

Business is Personal lays out the meaning of real.
When marketing a product to women, there’s one thing you simply have to try to do if you want to hit a grand slam home run: Get yourself or your product on Oprah.

The reason is simple and I hope, obvious: Oprah’s viewers trust her.

Doc Searls Weblog explores our relationship with living inside each others’ heads.
Traditional journalism is static. Its basic units are the article, the story, the piece. The new journalism is live. It doesn’t have a basic unit any more than a river or a storm have a basic unit. It’s process, not product.

The Ripple Effect reports on what the economy didn’t cause.
A customer in front of me asked why they were closing and one of the employees remarked because, “You don’t come in on Sundays. We don’t make any money so we are closing.” The comment was said in such a way that it could have easily been taken to mean their livelihood or lack thereof on Sunday’s was somehow this poor lady’s fault.

Remarkable Parents address problems with human resources.
First, a word about the incident that prompted this memo and took place at headquarters yesterday. Many of you, I know, heard it—or heard of it—and I need to clarify actual events to dispel any notion that the CEO of Coddled Teenage Boy Enterprises was at fault.
Because, as you know, it’s never my fault.

Confident Writing addresses a timely writing issue.
We live in a time poor, information overloaded world. That means your readers are information overloaded, time poor too.

It also means you can use time to your advantage by showing your readers that you respect, and value, their time.

Related ala carte selections include

Do It Myself shows us the real deal.

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

skelliewag reveals the power of breaking the rules.
It was a little painful to read Darren Rowse’s series of posts on letting your blog go. It hit a nerve with me for reasons that are probably self-evident: in the last four months there have only been eight new posts at Skelliewag.

Writing on the Web reports and reminds us that we work to get paid.
Because that’s how blogging works. You write relevant content to make your readers’ lives better and one day, they respond to your offer of a service or product. There’s more to it than that, of course.

Pajama Professional reports and details two ways to right a wrong.
I wanted to build a list to occassionally share information outside the blog and maybe promote a few products. I wanted it to be an avenue for useful information, but I felt like “saving” stuff for my list might lower the quality of the information on the blog.

Read, Write, Web reports and reveals the benefits of a feedreader at work.
We recognize that the single biggest barrier to feeling justified in reading blogs on the clock may be that most people simply don’t know how to find the best blogs that are relevant to their work. For that we refer you to our recent post Comparing Six Ways to Find the Best Blogs on Any Topic and we discuss specific tactics you can use below.

Marketing Diva reports, relates, and tosses out a few pink boas.
Networking on iPhones and Blackberries. Networking in-person. Tweets on screens. Tweets on cells. Parties and People. An industry finding its way. New companies. New technology. New bloggers. Conference Word: Vulnerability

Related ala carte selections include

Six Revisions goes gorgeous.

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

Seth’s Blog offers a thought on noisy people.
Should you listen to the loud ones, the ones who call the sports radio stations to complain about the pitching, the ones who post websites about your lousy service, the ones who organize nationwide boycotts?

Talking Story weaves a lesson about friendship and learning.
I find I am thinking about friendship, and what it has done for me over the course of my life.

Punctuality Rules gives journalism new meaning.
Did you ever really think about the fact that “Journalist” has two completely separate meanings?

Blogsessive rocks on blogging.
Have you ever wondered what was it that made blogging turn into such a mass phenomenon, with billions of bloggers and readers spread all over the world?

spatially Rrelevant is inviting community intelligence.
If you find it particularly useful, feel free to let some folks know about it. The concepts in the book are a continuing area of interest for both Sheryl and me, so feedback appreciated.

Pistachio sheds more light on listening.
Any brand looking to “get” social media must learn to listen, first. People are talking about your company, brands and products. They’re also discussing preferences and desires about the market your product serves.

Essential Keystrokes shows the gymnastic skills of WordPress.
The first decision I had to make was whether to code the new WordPress site from scratch or to use another theme as a base.

Related ala carte selections include

zefrank rejiggers his own memory game.
based on your advice here is an updated version of the Flickr Memory Game :: if you have the time i would love your advice on making it better ::

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

I’ve been gathering tips and suggestions on e-mail etiquette for a while now, and looking for the opportunity to share them. ‘Respect’ seemed like the right framework, so with no pretences at originality, here’s are some classic ways to disrespect my inbox plus a collection of great links and resouces on how to get it right.

Confident Writing is exploring an in-box epidemic.

Christine Kane is exploring fixes some folks search a lifetime to find. Read both parts.
The problem with all of it is this:

It’s what I call “fixing the outside form.” It’s like trying to change a movie plot by rushing up to the screen and shouting to the characters what they should do next. Very tiring. Not very productive.

the Blog Herald is exploring handwriting analysis in a new way.

business Opportunities and Ideas is exploring how to fix a lack of attraction.
Sadly advertising does not work for the majority of small businesses. So they give up believing that advertising is only something “big businesses” do, claiming that “advertising doesn’t work for my type of business”.

Write to Done is exploring the “writes” of success.
I love reading about my favorite writers and what writing habits led to their success. Below, I share with you some of my favorite writers’ work habits … and it’s obvious that there’s no single way to success.

David Airey is exploring words that look good.
Inspiring typographical Flickr collections, for designers and type nuts. The following groups contain more than 50,000 images showcasing typography. Just about enough to quench your type desires.

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Carpe Factum is exploring that eternal question . . . while you’re there contact him about the deal he’s got on group purchases of his business fables.

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

own your brand has thoughts about creativity.
“I can help him!” declared the neighboring teller.

“No, you can’t!” replied “my” teller.

BIGG Success has thoughts about how to get where we’re going.
In this age of personal branding, a coach can do the same for us – take us where we can’t take ourselves. We’ve found that our coaches save us time – we get where we want to be faster because they help us identify what’s most important.

the brandbox has thoughts about things rolling downhill.
All of us, at one point or another, have had a bad experience with a company. Sometimes, it’s mild enough for us to grumble for a few moments and go on our way, and give them another shot another day. Other times, it’s bad enough that we’ll never do business with that company again, but we don’t spread that to other people.

Bold Enterprises has thoughts about checking out and checking in.
If you were to lose your job, how surprised would your network of acquaintances be to hear from you?

Occam’s RazR has thoughts about tricks to get your attention.
Which is worse:

Or that sinking feeling in your gut where you realize you’ve been gamed through human engineering?

Related ala carte selections include

influx technology has visuals on the future of information retrival.
Mac Funamizu a web/graphic designer working in Tokyo, Japan has developed some great visuals showing some interesting concepts around the future of search.

Have a few thoughts about that brand new feeling. . . .

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