Successful Blog

Shine Even Brighter

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Even the Humblest Star Still Shines

Shine!

Just a few words, a reminder, that we’re all meant to be brilliant.

It happened recently — to a friend, to me, and to another.

A dark voice tried to steal light by making false and nasty statements. It’s a tactic straight from the playground. He’s never got past that, but we’re adults. We turned the channel.

As far as we know, the world didn’t appoint that one voice with the right to make public judgments based on no information.

Loud, dark voices can’t take your attention. So don’t give it to them.

Shine even brighter. Say thank you, and leave those dark voices to their playground. Shine until you remember the kids you knew who were even tougher.

Shine with the things you’ve accomplished and those you still will. Shine knowing that you’ll never need to make someone feel smaller to shine as bright as you are.

Liz's Signature

The Mic is On: We're Having a Cookout Tonight!

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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.

It’s a Picnic! It’s a B-B-Q!!

Let’s get some friends and enjoy the evening in the backyard.

  • What shall we eat?
  • What shall we drink?
  • What shall we talk about, besides the neighbors?
  • Bring your kids, your pets, and your fireworks too.
Chicken on the grill

image: sxc.hu

And, whatever else comes up, including THE EVER POPULAR, Basil the code-writing donkey . . . and flamenco dancing (because we always get off topic, anyway.)

Oh, and bring links of your favorite CookOut things to share!

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Related article
What is Tuesday Open Comment Night?

Open Mic 7pm Chgo Time: We're Cooking Out Tonight!

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Join Us Tonight

It’s a Picnic! It’s a B-B-Q!!

Let’s get some friends and enjoy the evening in the backyard. What shall we eat? What shall we drink? What shall we talk about, besides the neighbors? Bring your kids, your pets, and your fireworks too.

Oh, and bring links of your favorite CookOut things to share!

The rules are simple — be nice.

Do be nice. 🙂

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Related article
What is Tuesday Open Comment Night?

Would You Like to Be a B.A.D. Business Blogger?

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Hello, Hello! I’d Like to Talk to YOU!

BAD Blogger Button

I’m bringing back the BAD Bloggers. For folks who weren’t around then, B.A.D. — Blogger a Day — is an invitation to any blogger who wants to connect via a telephone or skype conversation. I had to give up the old program because a year of writing the follow-ups took over my time and my blog.

Still, the value of the personal conversations is something I’ve been missing. I think I’ve found a found a way to get the high value for everyone with a sleeker investment.

This time around, I’m calling it BAD Business Bloggers, and every day I’ll report back with a simple few words about the person I’ve met and his or her business. It’ll be a warm hello, a chance to introduce you, and a little promotion for what you’re doing.

So tell me, do you want to be a B.A.D. Business Blogger!

If so email me at lizsun2 at gmail [dot] com and put BAD Blogger in the subject line.

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!!
Check out Models and Masterminds too

Is It Time You Rewrote Your Blogging Goal?

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My Blogging Goal Updated May 27, 2008

The Living Web

It was a turning point for this blog when I took up Darren’s Challenge and wrote my blogging goal. Friom that day forward, every decision I made was easier, faster, and more purposeful. I knew the direction I wanted to go.

People who succeed are directed and “in with both feet.”

We built an online community on conversation. But we’re having most of that conversation with each other . . . and the occasional random folk who join us along the way.

Now it’s time to open up the conversation to the offline world — to reach out and invite them to join in.

Business online is affecting offline business models. At the same time, we’re at risk of ignoring business wisdom collected up to now.

Online and offline businesses have so much to offer each other, yet we don’t compare notes nearly often enough.

As Terry and I build out SOBCon to a yearly conference and a Models and Masterminds business, my blogging goal has grown. I work with businesses, universities, and entrepreneurs who are welcoming their online communities into their culture. I work with individuals who are fitting their jobs to their strengths rather than the other way around.

My blogging goal is to connect the online conversation to offline businesses so that we can work together in a profitable way.

What are you doing to connect your online conversation to readers who work offline? Is it time you rewrote your blogging goal?

Drinks and snacks are still available in the sidebar.

Thanks Todd Jordan for the conversation that inspired this post.

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!!
Check out Models and Masterminds too

Surely You Have a Blogging Goal?

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The Ultimate Guide to a Wildly Sticky, Successful and Outstanding Blog
A SERIES

Finding A Direction — Goals, Titles, and Taglines

Whether you blog for money, or you blog for fun, a successful blog works like a successful small business. Every post is product made for customers called readers. Quality counts. So do schedule and budget. Having a mission and goals, knowing the what and how, and using the right tools for the job make your chance of success far greater.

Surely You Have a Goal? No? Gotta Get One!

A blogging goal gives a blog a heart and a direction. It’s powerful exercise in getting your thoughts focused in on why you’re actually doing this. In essence, a blogging goal provides a measure of success that is there to work toward.

  1. Should you be blogging? 23 Questions for Prospective Bloggers – Is a Blog Right for You?

  2. Wondering whether a blog is for you? Do you see yourself in this list of Top 10 Reasons to Start a Blog?

  3. Goals for New Bloggers is a straightforward outline of how approach setting up a blog on the path to success.

  4. We all have different reasons for why we invest time and sweat equity into blogging. Darren’s Blog Goals – Group Writing Project. Check out the complete list of submissions to read the goals of experienced and new bloggers who participated in the writing project.

  5. In the end, when it comes to Measuring Blog Success: It’s the Goals, Stupid! — No one else can decide the destination you’re seeking.

  6. Things changed dramatically the day I wrote My Blogging Goal. Every decision that I’ve made since has been to support what wrote in my blogging goal.

A Blog Title — Who Are You?

Names are the most important words that we know. They’re the first words we learn about ourselves. They’re how we begin to sort the universe. We say them soon after “hello” when we meet a new person. A blog name says something about the blog and about the person who named it.

Most importantly, outstanding blog titles are memorable and describe what the blog is about.

  1. If your goal is to write for yourself and few select friends, name your blog however you all might find meaningful. If your goal is to write for a large audience, name your blog using words THEY will understand and be drawn to find out more about. One way to draw them is to include Key Words in your blog title. Titles that Grab Readers are titles that simply say what the blog is about.

  2. Dorai answers the question How Do You Choose a Blog Title?

  3. For a look at the most popular keywords already being used, see How Do You Call Your Blog? Be careful on following advice in the post and comments. The information is interesting, but I don’t necessarily come to the same conclusions reading the data.

  4. Nick Wilson collected seven more articles on Killer Titles.

A Tagline — What’s Your Promise?

A fabulous tagline says what’s in it for me — the reader. It makes a promise that I can resist, a promise the blog never fails to deliver successfully.

5 Blog Taglines

Do you recognize these?
You’re only a stranger once. . . . Helping Bloggers Succeed . . .
. . . Copywriting tips for online marketing success . . .
Make money online blogging . . . create your blog free

They are: Successful Blog, Performancing, Copyblogger, Problogger, and Blogger taglines. Each one tells the promise of the blog they describe.

  1. Follow this step by step coaching session on to write a killer tagline.

  2. For more resources, you might review the 25 additional links to posts about taglines included in this piece.

A blog on its own is not really a business, but a wildly sticky, successful and outstanding blog has plenty in common with one. The more you know about your product, your readers, and what brings them together, the easier it will be to catch the attention of those who love what you do.

How are you serving the folks who read your blog?

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!!