Successful Blog

Jeff Pulver Sent Two BIG Ideas My Way

by

What’s His Big Idea?

I enjoy watching Jeff Pulver take on life. He’s a guy with BIG ideas. He also makes them happen, This week via email and a couple of blog posts, Jeff passed two of his great ideas on to a few folks that he knows. I was lucky. One of those folks happened to be me.

What’s Your “bestof”?

Friday, Jeff wrote about blog posts he’d like to make “sticky.” His idea seems simple enough — we might all consider it. His thoughts were that we mark certain signature posts with the same tag so that first-time readers could find them easily. After an email conversation, the appropriate tag chosen was “bestof.” Tom Evslin, offered to program something that would tie the posts together — if it rains this weekend. (I didn’t want to hope for rain, but the code will be nice. I’m guessing Chris Brogan, Jeff Jarvis, and Kfir Pravda — all part of the same conversation — might have been thinking the same thing.)

Imagine the value of this “bestof” tagging convention, if it caught on — readers would know to Google a name and “bestof” to find the work that defines a writer’s viewpoint. Reporters and other bloggers could find a blogger’s expertise with ease.

I’m updating the About Liz page in the sidebar to include a “Bestof” section that will include a handful of posts that I think fit this category.

BlogDay2007 Tag from Jeff Pulver

Three years ago, Nir Ofir started blogDay. As he says,

I initiated the blogDay in 2005 with the belief that bloggers should have one day which will be dedicated to discover new blogs and expose them to the world.

blogDay 3 is August 31.

Today Jeff Pulver launched a game to encourage folks to join the celebration — BlogDay Blog-Tag: A Game to Celebrate BlogDay3. He asked me to play. Jeff offers these simple suggestions for how to make it work seamlessly.

[R]ecommend five blogs, preferably Blogs that are different from [your] own culture, point of view and attitude. The goal of this version of blog-tag is for the readers of our blog posts to find themselves leaping around and discovering new voices and Blogs to explore. This in turn will help celebrate the discovery process of finding new people, their voices and their blogs.

When creating your BlogDay blog entry, please try to follow these instructions:

1. List five Blogs that you find interesting and if you can tell, include the city/country where they are from.
2. Identify five Bloggers to tag to join in this game with you. I recommend emailing the bloggers you tag to give them a heads up of you tagging them.
3. Use the tag: BlogDay2007 in your blog post.
4. (Optionally): Contact the owners of the blogs you shared as your “blogs to take a look at.”

I can do that.

I wonder who Ann, Sean, Chris, Troy, Phil might also recommend as world blogs we might explore.

Thanks, Jeff, for getting me to stretch in these ways.

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!!

Leading Dots

by

Connecting dots with The Idea Dude

Connecting Dots logo

I used to think looking good was something you only had to do during a business presentation. Beyond that, my work and talent would take care of my reputation. Many years ago, I read Tom Jeary’s Life is a series of presentations. He said Whether you are talking to a soccer coach or potential client, the way you present your thoughts and ideas to people have a profound effect on the shape of your life..

I felt like someone poured a bucket of ice-cold water over me. I learnt to value each individual who stood before me and take the time to be nice. I don’t always succeed and sometimes under duress or tiredness I walk away from a conversation wishing I did better. But it became part of my DNA. To be deliberate in the experience I wanted to leave with the person I was interacting with.

dotdoticon-tiny

The first dot that went blink, blink, blink in my head the whole week was Anna’s. Anna blogs about business leadership and has many terrific things to say. But the thing that made her dot blink for me was her tagline right at the top of her blog. People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel. I’m willing to bet that if you met Anna, she would be one of the 10 people you would never forget even if your paths never crossed again.

dotdoticon-tiny

Dot #2. It reminded me what Liz said about being good and nice.
Being good at what you do is important, but a strong personal identity includes both good and easy to work with.
Sometimes when we’re good or hold positions of authority, we forget to be nice. It’s not only a business rule, it’s a life rule.

In fact, if I recall, it is the ONLY rule that Liz has on her blog.

Speaking of personal brand, what I found most interesting is that the people who were clearly leaders and had a profound effect on me had a common attribute.

They led by serving.

What a paradox! or is it? You’re the people I trust and the people I serve., Liz says in her post this week

I’ll never forget in all my years in business, the companies I wanted to work with were those who asked me the question at the end of the meeting (even though they were 10 times bigger than we were).

So how may I be of service to you?

dotdoticon-tiny

Let me take you to another favorite dot of mine, his name is Drew. Drew is an extremely smart person and very well-read in the blogosphere. He’s take on how to write an outstanding blog post?? It’s all about you. It is that humility and generosity that makes Drew compelling.

dotdoticon-tiny

This particular journey would not be complete without stopping to visit Steve. The title of his Greater than yourself mashup series already defines who he is as a blogger and thought leader. The one sentence in his blog that resonated the most with me?

I have to give of myself before I expand myself.

I was reminded of one of my kids’s favorite jokes. How do fit a an elephant into a matchbox? Take out the matches!

As Liz would say, make room for the conversation.

May the dots be with you!

Vern, The Idea Dude

121: How Do You Use Social Media to Stay Customer Centered?

by

one2one blog post logo

Customers Inside Everything

I just got done reading Dawud’s answer to my question . . . What do you want from your business when it grows up? Isn’t he the most amazing?

At the end of his article, Dawud left me (and you) with a question.

How can social media/blogging help businesses stay customer-centered?

You’ve probably noticed that Dawud has uncanny timing.

Here I sit alone in a room just outside of D.C. I’ve spent the past two days and will spend the next two thinking about products, marketing, and customers. I’m launching a new project soon. Questions like this one from Dawud are high and heavy on my mind.

How do I use Social Media to Stay Customer Centered? Not very well actually. But I know a few folks who do it really well. I’ve been watching and listening. Hopefully, I’m picking up a few things. . . . Here’s what I see.

Rodney Rumford commented on Robert Scoble’s video. Rodney’s customers are Facebook citizens. He’s listening to everything they say and responding.

Jeff posted a link about homerooms and social media. Jeff’s post prompted some feedback that added some insights to Jeff’s thoughts on the subject.

Over on Twitter, Chris Brogan asks questions and invites experts to call him.

Folks all over Facebook, LinkedIn, Pownce, and StumbleUpon are asking and answering questions on discussion boards and in personal messages.

You get the idea.

I suppose that there are vast customer groups for whom it would be less than useful to gather information from Social Media. Customers who don’t blog aren’t likely to be well-portrayed or accurately described by a medum on which they don’t participate, (as much as we might think they need to, if that’s our opinion.)

At this moment, I’m still learning. I’m a little shy about social events, even those that are only virtual ones. If you’re not, I’d appreciate any help you offer.

While I stand by the wine and cheese watching, I’ll leave you with this question.

What advice would you give to a friend whose audience wasn’t his niche market group?

If you’re reading this, I’d love to hear your answer too.

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!!

One2One is a cross-blog conversation. Find the answer at dawud miracle on Monday. You can see the entire One-2-One Conversation series on the Successful Series page.

Thanks to Week 93 SOBs

by

muddy teal strip A

Successful and Outstanding Bloggers

Let me introduce the bloggers
who have earned this official badge of achievement,

and the right to call themselves
Successful Blog SOBs.

I invite them to take a badge home to display on their blogs.

muddy teal strip A

They take the conversation to their readers,
contribute great ideas, challenge us, make us better, and make our businesses stronger.

I thank every one of the SOBs for passing on what we’re saying.
Good conversation shared can only improve the blogging community.

Should anyone question this SOB button’s validity, send him or her directly to me. This award comes with a full “Liz said so” guarantee. It is endorsed by Kings of the Hemispheres, Martin and Michael, and backed by my brothers, Angelo and Pasquale.

deep purple strip

Want to become an SOB?

If you’re an SO-Wanna-B, you can see the whole list of SOBs and learn how to be one by visiting the SOB Hall of Fame. Click the link or visit the What IS an SOB?! page in the sidebar.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

SOB Business Cafe 08-03-07

by

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

Chris Brogan is thinking like a leader.

Chrisg is thinking about the kinds of bloggers we are.

Escape from Cubicle Nation is thinking about how we can run ourselves ragged.

Life Beyond Code is thinking about the stories we tell.

Servant of Chaos is thinking about creativity.

Alex Shalman gets to thinking about his goals.

Related ala carte selections include

This Garden Is Illegal is thinking about a flower.

Sit back. Enjoy your read. Nachos and drinks will be right over. Stay as long as you like. No tips required. Comments appreciated.

Have a great weekend!

–ME “Liz” Strauss