Successful Blog

$2,000 of SOBCon and Chrisg Consulting Prizes

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Be a Winner! Come to SOCon08

Blog Catalog

Are you looking to be an authority blogger? Join the Authority Blogger Contest!

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Blog Catalog SOBCon08, and Chrisg have come together to make an exciting new contest offer. It’s all set to help you launch your yourself this year as an authority blogger with the plan, the models, and the support that you need to be off to a successful career.

What IS SOBCon08?

As you may already know, SOBCon08 is small and focused on buidling an actionable business plan. It’s a series of mastermind meetings. The folks from Blog Catalog are joining us there to grow their business and they want you to grow yours! So they’re support the event with this contest over at Chrisg.com

Check who else is on the SOBCon08 the program

Speaker/presenters include: Anita Bruzzese from Gannett USA Today, on online reputation management, Brian Clark, Copyblogger, on online business models that work, Lorelle VanFossen of Lorelle on WordPress, one focusing your business to get noticed, Chris Garrett, on managing the editorial, Muhammad Saleem, on what makes an appropriate social networking portfolio, Chris Brogan, on social media choices that produce, Dave Bullock, a sales model that converts, Liz Strauss, how to build an irresistible offer and Wendy Piersall on success management.

So get on board with the contest!

Authority Blogger Contest Prizes and Rules

It’s always fun to start with the prizes. What the Blog Catalog, SOBCon, Authority Blogger will win:

    $1000 budget to pay for SOBCon08 registration and travel expenses
    which also includes:

    • a copy of ProBlogger: Secrets for Blogging Your Way to a Six-Figure Income by Darren Rowse and Chris Garrett
    • 60 attendees will get free design and SEO consults from Network Solutions experts.
    • a $99 lifetime hosting offer from THC
    • a pro account at E-Junkie
    • a free subscription to Blogger & Podcaster Magazine and a chance to join their new USA Today guide
    • a professional video interview on you and your biz for BlogTV sponsored by Fuel My Blog
  • A hour of consulting with Chris Garrett, face-to-face if possible.
  • The complete Authority Blogger online course when it launches.
  • An introduction to all of the speakers at the event.

It’s a fabulous prize package!

To Enter:

  1. Write a blog post explaining why you’re the best candidate to be the next authority blogger. What you’ll add to the event, what you hope to learn from a personal consultancy with Chris Garrett and the wealth of great business bloggers in that weekend in Chicago. Be sure to write with authority. Tell your compelling story.
  2. Have your post published by March 31st.
  3. Leave a trackback to this post on Chrisg.com or a link in the comments, so that we know you’ve enterred.
  4. Your post can include pictures, but should be no longer than 1000 words.
  5. Liz Strauss, and Chris Garrett will select the winner on 1st of April.
  6. In the case of a draw a representative from Blog Catalog will have the deciding vote.
  7. Yes registrants can enter!
    The winner will be selected based on the strength of the argument, the understanding of Chris’ meaning of Authority Blogger, and story of how attending SOBCon08 will contribute to their future.

Make sure you sign up for Chris’ Authority Blogger newsletter to be eligible for the full prize and to see all the competition announcements.

Don’t miss the deadline, then you really would feel like an April fool.

Good luck!

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!!

Work with Liz!!
SOBCon08 is May 2,3,4 in Chicago. Register now!

A Word from Our Local Baker

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THC logo
When we launched our corporate site last year we had a clear vision of where we wanted to go and we understood pretty fast that we were not choosing an easy path. The web hosting industry is extremely competitive, but the competition was a secondary concern. This sounds hard to believe, especially since we promise to match any competitor’s price guaranteed, but the promise has more to do with our commitment to customer satisfaction than it has to do with fighting to becoming the most popular web host. We are not even aiming to go there, but we want to be bloggers’ first choice for web hosting.

Last year we read a lot about SOBCon and the fine bloggers who attend this extraordinary event. This year the event sounds even more promising and we are proud to be among the first companies to sponsor it. It simply makes sense for us to promulgate our corporate values by sponsoring excellence. If you take a look at our online history and read the numerous testimonials about our company, services and customer support, you will see that excellence is something we also strive for.

We host hundreds of websites and we carefully monitor their activities. There are many reasons why we do this and we can easily summarize the most important ones. We pledge to be a family safe web host – meaning that we will not allow mature content on our servers. We will also delete any website that promotes any type of questionable content without further recourse. These are serious concerns that help us maintain our integrity as a brand. However, when we monitor the sites we host the most rewarding experience is to learn from our customers, to grow with them and to promote their work if we can. This is how THC differentiates itself from other web hosting companies.

Our company philosophy is: to treat our customers with utmost respect, to create a bridge between our company and them, to offer room for real conversations and real relationships.

Do you remember the small neighborhood bakery where the cakes tasted better because the seller knew how to be a baker? Do you remember the little cookie he always kept aside for your child and do you remember the way he hand it out to your child with an open smile? He didn’t charge you more to be kind, did he? Besides, you always knew that if there was something wrong with the cake you bought, the baker would have solved the problem immediately. No false excuses. No extra charges. Well, THC is your local baker.

Twittering at Hollywood and Vine

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Come to SOBCon and Find Out Why You’re There

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Everyone knows some folks who invest time on Twitter.

Successful business folks make conversation, relationships, alliances, and connections. What they share is witty, intelligent, and useful. They’re curious, interested, and interesting. I’ve learned about surveys, trends, and what’s important to people who’s opinion I value. I’ve also found breaking news that keeps me aware of the larger web community.

Other folks go to Twitter to be seen. They spend time like girls in the 50s waiting at the drug store at Hollywood and Vine — hoping someone will discover them.

The difference between the two groups is that the successful business folks think about why they’re there and how being there fits with their business. They go in looking at the purpose of investing their time.

The same thing happens on every social networking site I’ve seen.

How do your social networks serve your business?

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!!
SOBCon08 is May 2,3,4 in Chicago. Hear Muhammad Saleem speak on which social networks are right for you! Register now!

Gratitude Goes Deep

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Wow! Where to Start?

heart in the sky

Thank you to everyone who’s been keeping the story of SOBCon08 alive while I’ve been not well. Also thank you to the new clients doing new business is always a pleasure.

I’m hanging my heart over Lake Michigan for you!

Here are a few of the folks who’ve been there for us.

BTW No one seems to have told Matt that we’ll be there –> sobcon08

If you have time to help with SOBCon08, please email me at lizsun2 [at] gmail [dot] com

If you’re writing about SOBCon08, let me know, I’d like to include you in a list like this. If you already have and I’ve missed you. Dead sick doesn’t mean I’m not grateful. I’d like to thank you too. 🙂

Back to the blankets.

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!!

Work with Liz!!
SOBCon08 is May 2,3,4 in Chicago. Register now!

Are You Letting the Internet Think for You?

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Back Again to the Idea of Signal to Noise

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When I first got to the Internet, it was about finding out about blogging. I was intent upon writing and developing content. Then I became part of a community. Soon enough one community begot another, and another. I began to read and listen. The result was more information that this single person could process in a week. I was taking that much in everyday!

The subliminal messages were strong, loud, and constant. Be a producer! Have idea! Make things happen! Look at what everyone else is accomplishing!

I got to work having ideas and thinking about how I could change the world immediately!

I was at no loss for ideas, but somehow I managed to forget a basic principle I learned in publishing — anything worth doing requires a well-thought plan. Starting with fire and no plan often ends in a lot of smoke and nothing more.

I began to notice that a whole lot of a people with great ideas weren’t making any money.

Are You Letting the Internet Think for You?

I started a few projects with a few friends and I found out some truths about the Internet. Folks have ideas, but they don’t always think them through. I know.

Yesterday I had a conversation with a friend who has a thriving Internet business. Whenever he considers a change or a new product, he leaves the Internet for a week or two just to think. He was saying that the reason that he does this is because he doesn’t want to be like the guy in this story.

My friend changes his “business” every 9 months to a year. He just did it again. He left behind all that he had built in readership — just left them. He’s decided to follow another Internet guru. He built a new blog, dressed it all out, and then came to me to ask, “How do I make money with it?” What was he thinking?

What was he thinking? I suspect that he was letting the Internet think for him.

I repeat something I said earlier this week, “A blog isn’t a business any more than a building is a company.”

If you want to make money on the Internet, make sure you have three things crucial to any business.

  • Have a value proposition — a product or service that people want to buy
  • Have a plan — know how you’ll offer it and deliver it and how it will support you
  • Have a someone outside the thinking to work with you as you make decisions so that you stay on track

Thinking it through is harder when a barrage of signal to noise is always assaulting us. The noise from the Internet often repeats things that have nothing to do with good business practice.

How much time do you spend thinking your own thoughts about your business –questioning what the Internet says to do?

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!! SOBCon08 is May 2,3,4 in Chicago. Register now!

Questions to Get Closer to You: Question 16

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Get Closer to You

This is a series of questions, I don’t know how many. They are the ones I ask when I help folks get closer to their personal identity.

What is thing you do for other people? How is their life easier, better, more fun because they know you?

I’ll answer first to get things started.

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Check out the Work with Liz!! page in the sidebar.

Related< a href="https://www.successful-blog.com/branding/branding-5-ways-to-help-you-find-out-who-you-are/">Branding: 5 Ways to Help You Find Out Who You Are

Questions to Get Closer to You: Question 15
Questions to Get Closer to You: Question 14
Questions to Get Closer to You: Question 13
Questions to Get Closer to Your Brand: Question 1
You’ll find the entire series of Questions to Get Closer to you on the Successful Series page.