Successful Blog

SOB Business Cafe 07-18-08

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SB Cafe

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

gregverdino shares a logical look at the importance of community.
You can understand a lot about the importance of social connections by looking at the punishments we bestow upon individuals who do wrong.

Copyblogger shares a technique that builds performance.
In fact, being a master at writing killer bullet points is one of the most important copywriting skills around, second only to headline-writing.

chrisg shares advice on putting your blog to work for you.
Rob has done a good job of putting his photography front and center, and his photographic ability shines out of his work. That said, there are a number of ways he can make his site work harder for him.

chrisbrogan shares friends of his who are our friends too!
Using AllTop’s new Frienderati page might help you find Becky McCray, a small town business professional who focuses on how the web can help out small business owners, especially those in rural areas.

Social Media Explorer shares a view of social media marketing management.
Can social media as a toolset deliver sustainable ROI for a wide variety of goals? Abso-freaking-lutely. But on your first formal attempt to enter the space, if your ROI consists of “we learned an awful lot” then I say “Well done, Skippy.”

A Deaf Mom Shares Her World shares wisdom on social skills that apply to everyone.
What she said next, blew me away. The mom revealed that it was the first time since they moved three years ago that her sons had friends over to their house.

Related ala carte selections include

Sillyness, werd. shares the fun of a well-timed surprise.

Thanks to everyone who’s bought and blogged about the eBook!

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

Time to Change Your View?

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I've been thinking . . .

about seeing and looking.

Some plants only grow in sunlight. They’re often the ones we see first. They offer vibrant yellows and reds that are meant to catch attention. Butterflies, bees, hummingbirds are drawn to their flowers. It’s not hard to see them.

Some plants only grow in the shade. They’re not less beautiful. They’re in a different light. We have to get closer, change our view, to see them. It not hard to miss them.

This morning I uploaded some photos I took on Monday. A nondescript picture under a tree caught my attention. I pulled it up for a closer look — I found something unexpected. It changed how I thought about that plant and how I valued the photo.

heart-on-a-leaf-by-liz-strauss

Don’t look at the flower. Look at the leaf.

When we change our view, it changes what we see.

It works with more than flowers and leaves.

Liz's Signature

Image: liz strauss

Targeting the Offline Customer: Do You Blog For Non-Bloggers?

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by Scott McIntyre

Scott McIntyre — The Avid Blog Reader Without a Blog

In the first part of this series, when I shared my perspective on connecting with offline customers, it was clear from your comments that this is an area of business activity which many of you are keen to develop.

I was also very interested to learn that some of you have already adopted this as a business goal, and are taking steps to focus in on attracting this particular audience – a group that is, I would suggest, waiting for you to find them and to address their consumer needs.

Helping you to grow your online business by reaching out to non-bloggers, is a subject close to Liz’s heart. She previously hosted a lively session on blogging outside the blogosphere with Wendy Piersall which opened up the debate.

Today, I would like to explore a little further the issues behind whether your online business could be profitably served by aiming for customers outside the blogosphere.

The Nature of Your Business: Is Your Audience Bloggers?

Let me ask you whether there are people within your own network of current, or potential, contacts who either (a) don’t read blogs or (b) are not bloggers themselves?

I would hazard a guess that there are.

At first glance, the vast majority of blog readers would appear to be other bloggers. Or, at least, that is the impression I get when I read the comments sections on almost every blog I have visited. The vast majority of commentators have links to their own blogs in their signature.

Either other blog readers without a blog are few and far between or else, as I suspect, they are reluctant to get involved in the conversation.

It’s a missed opportunity whichever way you look at it.

Are other bloggers your ideal target audience?

The nature of your online business will strongly influence any decisions you make as to whether you might usefully channel resources into targeting offline customers as your primary marketing strategy.

If your product or service is aimed specifically at bloggers, it seems entirely appropriate for your business to be aiming for customers within the blogosphere.

If your market offering, however, is non-blogging based then it might be best to look for potential customers offline.

To focus only on bloggers as your target audience is to miss out on an army of potential customers — people with money to spend — who are not aware of blogs (yes, they do exist!) or who do not blog themselves.

Next week, I will be looking at some of the practical methods and communication channels you can use to spread your message to this potentially lucrative, offline market segment.

If you’re a blogger, leave a comment to let me know your views on whether it’s right for your business to target offline customers. If you’re a blogger already targeting customers outside the blogosphere, what are your experiences in trying to attract this audience to your online business?

If you’re a non-blogger, let them know what they need to do to get your attention.
–Scott

Scott McIntyre is a freelance writer based in Scotland, who only recently discovered the wonders of the blogosphere. He’s a writer on a personal mission to live a colorful life, and to write about it along the way. You can find out more at LinkedIn, or be one of the first to follow Scott on Twitter.

SOBCon 08 – The Update

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Greetings all!

@Stephen’s mugStephen Smith here, or @Stephen as some of you may know me. Liz and Terry have invited me to do a little guest-posting here at the SOBCon blog and I am thrilled to be here.

I trust that you are all still as excited as I am about what you learned and the people that you met at SOBCon 08. I am working diligently on applying this crash course in Biz School for Bloggers and can hardly wait to show you all what I have been up to (it would go faster if I was better at code!). I’d also love to see and share what all of you have been up to as well.

To that end I have volunteered my services to Liz, Terry, and Co. to get in touch with all of you and help you get the word out. These are some of the things that the SOBCon community is interested in:
taking notes at SOBCon

  • Do you have a new blog, inspired by something that you learned?
  • Do you have a new product or service?
  • What are you doing to make your blog into a business and what would you like to tell the SOBCon community?

How would you like some help in getting the word out to the thousands and thousands of subscribers that we collectively communicate with? Of course you would, and here is how you can do it.

Please send me an email [stephen at hdbizblog dot com] or

DM me at Twitter [hdbb_stephen],

I will be happy to write/collaborate with you on an article for the newsletter and/or the SOBCon blog. We all have our own communities and could definitely benefit by sharing our efforts in new circles, to new eyeballs.

Who knows? One or more of us may be able to help you over an obstacle, see a new perspective, or make a suggestion about something that you haven’t anticipated.

Two heads are better than one, even if one is a cabbage. Think about how much 200 heads can achieve!

I am looking forward to hearing from you.
All the best,
@Stephen

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Social Media and Greener Grass

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Look Down and Think

relationships button

They say that the grass is always greener . . . over there where the other guy is.
In a world of social media networking, it’s easy to get overwhelmed with insignificance.
Turn away for a minute and real or imagined distance seems to happen.

It’s can seem that the world has left us bereft and virtually homeless.
It’s not an unknown feeling. Thoughts of being a social outcast have been with us since we’ve been with each other.


Shakespeare even bemoaned such feelings in my favorite sonnet.

When in disgrace with fortune and men’s eyes
I all alone beweep my outcast state,
And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries,
And look upon myself, and curse my fate,
Wishing me like to one more rich in hope,
Featured like him, like him with friends possessed,
Desiring this man’s art, and that man’s scope,
With what I most enjoy contented least . . .

It was love that saved him.

Yet in these thoughts my self almost despising,
Haply I think on thee, and then my state,
Like to the lark at break of day arising
From sullen earth, sings hymns at heaven’s gate;
For thy sweet love remembered such wealth brings
That then I scorn to change my state with kings.

And someone probably looked at Shakespeare “desiring his art.”

Last Monday, I was thinking about all of this, when I looked down to see that
the grass at my feet was as green as I could ever wish.

Grass-is-greener-Liz-Strauss-photo

Sometimes I take other folks’ grass too seriously.
Have you thought about what you already have that other folks only hope to experience?

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!!
image:LizStrauss

Connecting with Customers: More Talk with Mack Collier

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A SERIES in the quest to know more about the offline world

Part 2 in A 2-Part Interview with Mack Collier

Monday, I shared the beginning of a conversation with Mack Collier about connecting with new customers. This is part two of that interview with Mack.

What do you do when your potential client needs to sell him or her company on the idea of social media?

Make sure they understand how social media can improve their businesses. Many cos/organizations want the ‘monetization’ part built from the start. Social media is often viewed as a potential monetization channel, instead of being a communication channel. What I try to do is make sure the potential client understands that money can be made with social media, but that it comes as a byproduct of using the tools to facilitate connections with current and potential customers, and build those connections into relationships.

It’s very counterintuitive at first because many cos don’t want to enter into a space unless they can see direct monetary benefits. It takes time and much hand-holding in some cases to help businesses realize that successful social media initiatives are based on creating value for others. As you create more value, an INDIRECT benefit is that you can see sales increase, positive equity/awareness grow, etc.

What do most new clients ask for your help with? What misconceptions do they bring?

When the questions start to shift from ‘what do I get out of this?’ to ‘what do my readers/friends/customers get out of this?’ And I think that’s a normal progression for anyone that’s using social media, I was the same way with my blogging and Twittering at first. But after a while I began to understand that the more value I created for others, the more value came back to me. We need to remember that companies need time to learn these same lessons.

. . . It seems that we — you and I — have more questions, and I’ve confirmed that Mack has more answers. So Mack and I have agreed to extend the interview. Watch for parts three and four next week!

Thanks, Mack!

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!!