Successful Blog

Just Sayin – With Grace

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This week on Twitter I noticed the usual people tweeting the “rules”, the usual complaints about “spammers” and  the regular complaints about auto-DMs. I also noticed a LOT of talk about unfollowing. (My response to all of that? Surely there’s more important things available from the whole wide world at our fingertips than *that*) 

I watched discussions in the stream and through blog comments that talked about relationships, feeling used, anger over being unfollowed, and hate towards people regarding their choice of how they use a social platform.


I started wondering if the web has afforded us a false sense of confidence. I wonder if this confidence leads to a certain bravado that influences the way we behave towards others because we don’t actually have to physically face them. For example, if someone chose not to have a conversation with you at a large gathering would you grab a podium and announce to the crowd you disapproved? 

We all have aspirations, goals, and intentions that guide our behaviour; a core belief system that influences our every action. Sometimes we live our life according to that “moral code” and sometimes we ignore it.
 
I choose to live my life online the same way I do offline. I aspire to live in a state of grace. I work at that daily. Just sayin’. 

What do you think?

U2 Lyrics – Grace

Grace
She takes the blame
She covers the shame
Removes the stain
It could be her name

Grace
It’s a name for a girl
It’s also a thought that changed the world
And when she walks on the street
You can hear the strings
Grace finds goodness in everything

Grace, she’s got the walk
Not on a ramp or on chalk
She’s got the time to talk
She travels outside of karma
She travels outside of karma
When she goes to work
You can hear her strings
Grace finds beauty in everything

Grace, she carries a world on her hips
No champagne flute for her lips
No twirls or skips between her fingertips
She carries a pearl in perfect condition

What once was hurt
What once was friction
What left a mark
No longer stings
Because grace makes beauty
Out of ugly things

Grace makes beauty out of ugly things

from Kathryn Jennex aka northernchick

From Out of Ideas to New Energy Everywhere

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I've been thinking . . .

about being out of ideas.

Oh yeah, billions of us log on to the web everyday, but I only know a few and the few I know are a lot like me. If I’m not careful I find that everywhere I go I hear people saying the same things. Funny, it’s easy when everything is too the same to start comparing things. That’s also when I start to feel out … out of gas, out of sync, out of ideas.

Yet, I think the problem may be that I’m in — not out enough.

A person, a product or a business has to stand out to perform.

When I’m tired of feeling out of gas, out of sync, out of ideas. I get out of that routine, out of my way, out the group and scene I’ve been and suddenly I discover I’m into all sorts of outstanding new things.

Sometimes the fastest way to move my mind is to move my feet off the usual path away from the usual group I’m in.

Then new energy, new ideas, and a new view surrounds me everywhere I am.

Know what I mean?

Liz's Signature

The Mic Is On: Glenda Watson Hyatt Is Talking About Accessibility

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It’s Like Open Mic Only Different

The Mic Is On

Here’s how it works.

It’s like any rambling conversation. Don’t try to read it all. Jump in whenever you get here. Just go to the end and start talking. EVERYONE is WELCOME.
The rules are simple — be nice.

There are always first timers and new things to talk about. It’s sort of half “Cheers” part “Friends” and part video game. You don’t know how much fun it is until you try it.

With Guest Host Glenda Watson Hyatt


Watch Glenda’s Video From SOBCon09

How POUR Is Your Blog?

Blogs need to be Perceivable, Operable, Understandable and Robust.

  • Have you ever tried working without your mouse?
  • Are your tags written for readers who can’t see the pictures they mark?
  • Does content work across all operating systems and mobile devices?
  • How can you put your community at the center of your blog?

Join us tonight and bring links and your questions to add to the discussion.

The rules are simple — be nice.

Do be nice. 🙂

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Related article
What is Tuesday Open Comment Night?

Showcasing the Professional You Are to Land that Job

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Jobseeker, Freelancer, or Entrepreneur

We all need meaningful work to pay the bills and feel good about who we are.

In the past six months, I’ve had the experience of interviewing candidates for positions with my conference and a new roles for a company that’s starting up. What I’m finding explains a lot. Most of us don’t know how to talk about ourselves, our personal vision, and our successes. Few of us have a real strategy..

To bring it down to it’s most basic form, most people only think they are actively looking for work. They are waiting to be hired. That makes their role to react to a “job offer.” In hopes of getting more they open their net broad and wide, and then wider, and wider to take more and more potential customers in.

Unfortunately, most people who are hiring aren’t looking for anyone who do anything. We want someone unique who’s passionate about working for us.

Showcase the Professional You Are to Land that Job

We start by defining you and who you love to serve — the ideal employer, client, customer. I’ll ask questions that get to the heart of who you are — your successes and your passions. It won’t take long — maybe an hour. We’ll pull out the relationships and patterns to define what talk most about and where you excel. We’ll discuss the kind of problems you enjoy solving and identify the passion at the heart of your business.

The Complete Story

We’ll get to a business profile of you that includes
1. What your professional strengths are and what you want to be known for.

  • What problem do you solve?
  • What is your unique value?

2. What you can promise and will deliver — this usually is bringing people or customers to the table, getting people to buy, act, move,

3. The a partnership you offer — that you hear them and will be there, that you can think as they think, what you bring to any work situation that no other person will, what work situations you thrive in and what sort of people you want to work with.

4. A “do” line — the brief answer to “What do you do? With a tagline that describes you that’s easy to remember because it expresses the authentic you.

We’re all attracted to people who know who they are and where they’re going. We know people like that get things done and moving. They have time for ideas and action.

Don’t fit yourself into a job, find the job that fits you.

Yes, you can afford this. It’s a special offer for 15 readers of my blog. Email me lizsun2@gmail.com . . . It’s fun. Really. It’s what I’m good at. If you like that, we can keep going and make a longer plan for your business.

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!!

Buy the ebook. Learn the art of online conversation.

Open Mic 7pm Chgo Time: Glenda Watson Hyatt Will Be Talking About Accessibility

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Join Us Tonight

JOIN US TONIGHT AT 7PM

With Guest Host Glenda Watson Hyatt


Watch Glenda’s Video From SOBCon09

How POUR Is Your Blog?

Blogs need to be Perceivable, Operable, Understandable and Robust.

Is yours? Find out tonight.

Join us tonight and bring links and your questions to add to the discussion.

The rules are simple — be nice.

Do be nice. 🙂

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Related article
What is Tuesday Open Comment Night?

Great Headlines on the Web Always Win … Except When They Don't

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how to blog series

Got Traffic? Want Traffic?
Why Do the Clickers Come?

If you’ve been studying How to Get Literally Everyone’s Attention on the Internet, you probably know that headlines count.

An attention-grabbing headline is everything. Whether it is something completely original and novel, ultra-specific and geared towards a niche, or just incredibly compelling, good headlines on the Web always win.

They always win, except when they don’t.

A great headline will get traffic and attention, but what sticks? What turns a click into a subscriber? Strong businesses are built on strong relationships. What transforms a clicker into someone who hangs around?

It starts with with the reason the clickers came. People come to a website for information, entertainment, and communication / engagement. When they click through on that headline they’re looking for one or more of those three.

Our greatest achievement in building a Web site is helping a person achieve his or her goal. During our research our biggest discovery proved to be that navigation and content work best when they are wed tightly together. “It seems that you can t really separate content and navigation” says Jarod Spool, “without losing something important in the process.” How to make your Web site fast and usable

If folks who click find something that delivers on that promise in that headline they stay and possibly return. If not, they feel thwarted and leave. Here are five things you can do to make it more likely they get what they came for.

Five Ways to Deliver to the Clickers Who Follow a Headline to Your Blog …

  1. Deliver what your headline promises.
  2. Deliver it in short paragraphs using subheads surrounded by lots of white space so that people have room to think and breathe.
  3. Deliver it without making folks jump over ads or through hoops to get to the prize that the headline promises.
  4. Deliver it by recognizing the people who take time to comment.
  5. Deliver it by making it easy for folks to stay..

The most important thing is deliver — do what we say we’re going to do.

It’s not the click that doesn’t come that’s a loss. It’s the click that comes to find that we’re not what we suggested we would be. A great headline followed by something less doesn’t win. It doesn’t even finish.

Great headline, lame blog post — you’ve been there. What’s your response when you end up on one of those?

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!!

Buy the ebook. Learn the art of online conversation.