about what you’re thinking and about something Chris Brogan said.
Every day people ask me about you and my blog. They ask the about time I spend, about the investment and return. People make suggestions about how I might change things to make more money.
Chris Brogan said this about me on a blog post yesterday.
When I look at the networks people have built around them, there’s value there. Tangible value. Consider someone like Liz Strauss. She reaches out deeply into her community to build events like her popular and successful SOBCon. She gives and gives, and then when she needs something back, Liz has a strong network of multi-layered contacts to reach into for her needs.
It’s amazing, really. Liz alone is a powerhouse to hire, but if you really did give credit for her extended network, which reaches into the largest companies in the US, UK, and for all I know, the rest of the world.
How do you place a value on that?
I’m working on a new expanded version of the design of this blog. One that would make it easier for folks to see the depth and breath of what’s already here. Truth is that as I take back the keys, I’m working to get a training business off the ground. I could use your help and insights on a few things. Would you answer three questions for me?
- What do you hope to find when you come here?
- What would like me to see more of my blog?
- What product or service could I make to better serve people like you?
I’ve added a sign-up box for a community newsletter in my sidebar, if you’d like to participate more and to hear about new things coming, please sign up there.
I’m also giving away 10 — that’s TEN — free blog / business consultations ($1500/value) during the month of June. I’ll pick the winners from the most insightful comments on this post.
Chris said, “She gives and gives, and then when she needs something back, Liz has a strong network of multi-layered contacts to reach into for her needs.”
So I’m asking, will you help me make this an even more successful blog?
Liz,
SOBCon was such a blessing for me. Maybe a way for us to see all the great things the attendees have been doing with their blogs, like a highlight of someone weekly. I would love to revel in my friends successes, it’s so hard to keep in touch when your being pulled from every direction in life. Everyone left SOBCon with goals and a new direction. It would be fun to see what everyone has done and is working on!
P.S. You know I launched my new blog right after SOBCon, it helped me so much to make key decisions that gave me confidence to move forward. Love Ya Liz.
Vicky H
Liz – that’s a fantastically generous offer! You are an inspiration. I’ll need a bit of time to think about your great questions and will be back later with more. CB
Hi Liz, Charlene’s right – an incredibly generous offer. Your blog has tons of information and tons of conversation. I wish there was a way to go through your archives more quickly. It would be nice to see archived posts in a simple summary format that displayed post titles and number of comments. The Popular Posts page is awesome – I wonder if you ought to expand it.
Hey Vicky!
Updates on bloggers is a great idea! I don’t think we need to keep it to SOBConners only, do you?
Smiles,
Liz
Hi Charlene,
Thanks for your support this time and all through the years. You’re an unforgettable friend.
Hi Brad,
I’ve been thinking along those line. I almost have three blogs here.
I’m looking for ways to make all things more accessible.
Meanwhile the ebook line might help too . . . when it starts.
Absolutely everyone! I was just using SOBCon as an example because we all left the conference with goals, plans, and new ideas.
I’m not really that familiar with the meme concept, but isn’t it where someone starts with a group of questions and then a group of people that participate each answer each question.
That may be a great way to get the conversation started about what people are doing now, where they are headed in the future, and their goals in between.
Vicky H
Liz,
Much deserved words from Chris!
Here are some of my thoughts:
1. What do you hope to find when you come here?
A sense of belonging to something greater, something beyond just being a lone blog writer
A sense of connection to the part of the blogging world I like — that area filled with people following passions, helping others, and being positive examples
A new perspective on writing or blogging
A person who will respond with genuineness
An inspirational moment
A motivating insight
A bigger picture of the world and myself
A friend
2. What would like to see more of in my blog?
Examples of how you and similar bloggers make your connections to readers happen
Insight into the nature and future of blogging
More insightful challenges to the self, the blogger, and the writer in us
How we can work as a community toward something like elevating the public’s understanding of blogs and blogging
How you look critically at improving a blog
3. What product or service could I make to better serve people like you?
Ebooks or other compilings of your best stuff
Take one blog every now and again and critique it, or apply one area your critique to several blogs or more posts like “5 Type Turn-Offs that Are Exit Only”
Hi Vicky!
A meme is like tag with blog posts. Yeah the question “How are you doing on your goals?” would make a great meme. You should start it. 🙂
Sage,
I can always count on your for exacting wisdom. Thank you for that comment you left here. It’s just what I need. 🙂
“Would you answer three questions for me?”
Liz, I trust that you know I will do pretty much anything you ask of me.
1. What do you hope to find when you come here?
I come looking for conversation, for pointers to what others are doing and saying. Your audience is very broad, they see more things in a day than any one of us can possibly aspire to and they come her to share the best of what they have found. It may be a link, or a sentence, or a paragraph – but it is something shared that makes us all better.
2. What would you like to see more of on my blog?
I am currently thinking about/working on community-building. You obviously have a strong one, I’d love to see some concrete actions steps that folks can take to build communities of their own. How to engage their readers. How to instigate Comments.
3. What product or service could I make to better serve people like you?
An e-book, perhaps, based on a collection of posts in a single category (like “Perfect Virtual Manager” or “Inside-Out Thinking”). Having all of that info compiled and edited for clarity would be extremely valuable!
Liz-
You’re one of the high preistesses of the Web and certainly the blogosphere. So you have tons of clout. Here is my wish: I would like to see this worldwide community of bloggers embrace some universal standards for ourselves, as the new voices, the new media, as editors, and as colleagues. It is time for Web 2.0 to grow from being a surprising development to becoming a more sustainable communications platform.
Because I work with traditional media, which is being eroded daily by the blogosphere, I have come up understanding how to help reporters do their jobs, and how to harness the media to advance my own agenda, which is to create a more humane culture.
There are guidelines involved. Press releases, pitches, editorial board meetings, culturvation, sourcing. It’s a recipe everyone follows because it helps everyone get the job done and have a life. It’s efficient and occassionally fun, because your focusing on the content, not on the machinations of your approach.
(Okay, I’m a left-leaning, ex-hippy and I can’t believe I am calling for rules and regs. so bear with me.)
I recently had a discussion with a group of fellow bloggers about a Privacy Rights campaign we are working on. I was stunned to learn that of the four of us, each had a completely unique way of wanting to be engaged. Me, I like it straight. “Here’s what we’re doing, here’s why you should care, here’s what we need from you.” Period. Yeah or nay.
Others in the group expected people to get to know them, hang out on their blogs, post comments, then be embraced. Jeez! Wake the F— up! Who has time for that? Besides, it smacks of reverse elitisim to me. What is this, pledge week at the bloggers sorority? Do they have to like my hairstyle or I’m not getting in!
Now, I realize that blogs are very personal. Many people are diarists, others pundits, still others dole out business and life advice. Fine. It’s all good.
But if the Internet is going to realize its potential as a tool to create a more democratic, humane medium for a new world, and I believe it has that power, then bloggers need to adopt some standards for the exchange of ideas and information. We need to see ourselves as chroniclers, reporters and editors and decide how we want the flow of information to come to us. And finally, we need to get over ourselves a bit. Otherwise, many of the very bloggers who hope to monetize their investment of time and creativity will remain marginalized, amatuer pip-squeeks. No money in that!
Because you are in the amazing position to make a huge impact on the Web and it’s mileau, I encourage you, Liz, to address this matter on your new site and in your training. You could change the Web. And that could change the world!
With my warmest regards,
Patricia Martin
Hi Liz,
yay to chris brogan for speaking to the intangibles that come from blogging, relationship building in the beginning isn’t something you can immediately hold onto and yet when it’s built consistantly – man it’s there when you really need it
I come here to find you, your example – because I believe you lead by example – you show us grace, giving, and thoughtyness – you ask, and you ask us to ask.
I am very grateful for this safe bloggy space. You know that it’s safe here right??
I also come here to find people who have been hand picked by you…because I know that you don’t share just anybody, you pick selectively. Your sharing has shown me the vast avenues and ways to express via a blog – sobcon showed me even more deeply but equally sobcon cemented the “be you” part about being a blogger.
Sometimes I found myself comparing – I was pleased that so many appreciated me for exactly who and what I am at my blog – it was very affirming
In celebrating a year ( tomorrow!!!) of blogging, I find I am hungry for more. I have so much I still want to learn. Monetizing completely intrigues me but how to do it in a mother earth way ?? And how to learn about it and have that not consume me, especially if maybe monetizing isn’t a fit for me – does that make sense?
Hi Stephen,
Thank you!
I agree with your description of the audience here. I’d love to have them share more. Any ideas how?
I’ve been starting to think that I need to go back to revisit those topics of community and interaction, but I’m looking for a fresh view. It’s hard to write what I’ve written before. It seems like less. I want to ramp it up some.:)
I think this blog is many books on many subjects. The first will be done very soon. 🙂
Patricia,
In the same way I cannot write your book or your blog post, I cannot carry your banner. I hear the passion in your argument, but the rules you call for don’t call to me.
I’m not the high priestess. I don’t have the clout. I all about inclusion, not rules. I’m sorry.
Mother Earth!
Thank you for your insight and explaining what you find here. Yay for you for seeing it’s your individuality that makes all of the difference. It does you know.
Liz-
Thanks for responding. Forgive me. It was not my intention to imply that someone should write my blog for me, or write a book for me. (Tempting as that would be…can you imagine!)Look, I think what we are all sorting out in this new medium is a way to have it create value, meaning, and in the case of your forum, money. (I notice lots of posts and comments about that, even though monetization is not the reason I blog.) The monetization of anything as ethereal as e-content will over time need more structure. The Internet is offering us a brand new opportunity to shape communication based on inclusion–many voices, many minds. We agree on that, I think. But I also believe that there is a relationship between monetization, the building of a business model, and some universal protocols. I call them standards, you call them rules. When the path to participation is transparent, more people can play and succeed with dignity. Informal protocols in any culture, over time, have the opposite affect. They create barriers. A thousand pardons if I gave the impression that I expected any blogger to write for me. I recognize that many bloggers look for newsworthy content to help them attract and keep their audiences. My point was simply that for those bloggers, it should not be so byzantine to give them what they want.
Cheers,
Patricia
Hi Liz
Been mulling over your questions, and I’m going to answer it in a slightly upside down way, in relation to what *you* want, and how your blog fits within your bigger business or life purpose.
You have so many raving fans we’d all happily give you ideas and suggestions for things we’d like more of and that would suit our needs.
But what might be more interesting is the frame that needs to go round that, the parameters if you like, that come from *your* wants and needs: they might be things like wanting to blog less (or more!) frequently; to spend more time off line (or vice versa); to experiment with a different style or topic; to focus on one dimension or get more creative by sending out streams with many…
I don’t know what they might be (because they’d be yours), but that to me is where the whole exercise becomes interesting and valuable for us as listeners, readers, friends, because those are the same challenges we need to work through. And we’d get to learn from you…
How to deliver the material that’s working for our readers at the same time as achieving the things that need to work for us.
I hope that makes sense. It does in my head but I’m not sure I’ve translated it too well into a meaningful comment.
Joanna
Hi Patricia,
So sorry if I misled you, all I mean was I can’t walk your direction. I didn’t for a minute mean to imply you were asking someone to do your work for you. 🙂
I would love to have coffee to talk about this more, as I’m finding the comment box woefully in adequate, but I’ll give it a go here anyway.
I don’t see the Internet standards of behavior any different or any more controllable than the business standards in the offline world are. We can form a list of best practices, but they’ll not be enforceable. My belief is that the more we try to detail such things, the more we invite people to find loopholes in the system.
That’s why this blog has one rule only: Be nice. It’s worked so far.
Does that help any? I hope so.
Hi Joanna,
What an interesting challenge you pose here, I’m going to think it through to how I might just peel back the curtain and show more of what I’m thinking. It’s a question of how to do that — for sure.
Liz-
This IS a nice forum, full of very nice people. The vibes are good and the bloggers smart. Here’s what I also think. You, as convener of the forum are a big person (read as confident and self-possessed, not big as in big shot) and that’s why I felt I could spout off a bit. Just like in your dad’s tavern, sometimes a guy comes in after a long week, has a beer and states an brash opinion. People get to listen, disagree or go to the restroom. You should be very proud of your establishment, my friend.
Patricia
Hey Patricia,
You are welcome to talk here any time you wanna. You’re one of the incredibly cool people who makes this place a place I still like coming to.
Bring it on, but I still want that coffee. 🙂
Liz and Patricia:
I found this interesting Wikipedia section about Community Building, and how M. Scott Peck approaches it. In that section is this quote, “…Peck’s community-building methods differ in principle from team development. While teams in business organizations need to develop explicit rules, guidelines and protocols during the “norming” stage, {what Peck calls} the “emptiness” stage of community building is characterized, not by laying down the rules explicitly, but by shedding the resistance within the minds of the individuals.”
Sage-
You are well named. Brilliant find. I followed your link, and also saw this. More evidence that SOB is building True Community which Peck defines as: “Having worked through emptiness, the people in community are in complete empathy with one another. There is a great level of tacit understanding. People are able to relate to each other’s feelings. Discussions, even when heated, never get sour, and motives are not questioned.”
Thanks for enlightening my day. Now, back to work–which I’ve been resisting!
Patricia
Thank you, Sage and Patricia,
What you’ve said is such a testiment to the people who come to visit here. 🙂
When I first came here, I was on the hunt for wisdom and guidance necessary to improve my own blogging. I have found that, both from you and from the community you’ve inspired. In fact, it’s the community that keeps me here. There are plenty of successful blogs out there but few whose author actually gets to know the readers and challenges them to greater heights at the same time. In fact, I’ve often thought about replicating some of your techniques on my blog but haven’t figured out how to do it without just being a cheap copy of you. 🙂
Sheesh that was a long rambling answer to question 1. What do I hope to find when I come here? Community.
Question 2: What would I like to see more of on your blog? Is it okay to think that things are great the way they are? You’re still in my RSS reader because your blog is a quality product. If you’re putting energy into other pursuits like the training and ebooks, why stretch yourself too thin with changes to something that isn’t broken?
Question 3: What product or service could you make that would help people like me? I think a new compilation of your past writings would be helpful, arranged by topic. I love the idea of training eBooks and look forward to your publications. You have written so much here that’s buried in the archives. It would take a great deal of time for a new reader to go through it all. Simply collecting related posts and publishing them together would definitely have my attention.