By Jim Connolly |
Here’s a great 16 minute video interview, where Chris Brogan talks to Robert Scoble about social media, content development and the value of being a curator, plus lots, lots more.
Enjoy!
If you can’t see the video above, click here.
You can get more from Robert Scoble via his blog, Twitter and Google+.
You can get more from Chris Brogan via his blog, Twitter and Google+.
Video credit: Robert Scoble / Rackspace
By Jim Connolly |
So, why bother blogging?
Here are just 15 reasons, why I recommend you add a business blog to your marketing mix:
By Jim Connolly |
From as early as I can remember, I have boxed. It was a popular sport in the rough area of London where I grew up and a way for poor kids to channel their energy into something better than crime and drugs. Today, I’m a 46 year old successful business owner and I still get the gloves on a couple of times a week.
One of my trainers had a fantastic phrase he used occasionally in the gym. He used it to describe people who loved to grunt and scowl as they worked on a punch bag, but who wouldn’t get in the ring and fight. He used to call them punch bag heroes. As he said, anyone can look tough hitting a punch bag, because the bag just soaks up the punches and doesn’t throw concussive punches back at you.
When I started blogging, I quickly figured out there were lots of blogging equivalents of punch bag heroes. I found bloggers who would refuse to give their readers the power to question them, by deleting comments that disagreed with them.
A few weeks ago, I had a big problem with spam comments to this blog. I was getting around 2,500 a day. One of the options open to me was to turn comments off. It would have saved me time and completely eliminated the problem. The reason I decided to do whatever was required, in order to leave comments enabled, was that I figured out it was a cowardly option.
Here’s why:
So, the comments are staying on here for as long as this blog exists!
It’s easy to publish anything, when you know your words will never be challenged within your own tribe, because you delete comments that disagree with you or because you refuse your readers the right to question you in public, by turning comments off. However, it takes courage to open yourself up to critics and allow people the freedom to question what you say, where you know it will be seen by your readers.
I believe a conversation based, accountable approach to blogging helps a person improve the quality of their work and the value of their blog.
By Jim Connolly |
I was reminded of 3 lessons this week, which I’d like to share with you.
The week started well. A long running throat problem I have been struggling with, has finally started to mend. It seems that the mixture of being surrounded by farmland and our area being hit by some very weird weather, resulted in me suffering from an allergy, which made my throat dry and inflamed. Just 1 day after taking hay fever tablets, the problem was recovering and has now almost fully recovered.
The middle part of the week started disappointing. The great author Ray Bradbury passed away. On the day of Mr Bradbury’s death, Seth Godin published a tribute, but inserted a sales message into it. It’s here.
There was a small uproar, quelled by a quick, successful damage limitation post, apologising. Sleazy, Seth.
The week ended on a real high! On Friday, I was contacted by a childhood friend. The last time we met, we were just 13 years old. He was the kid next door, but his family moved from London, back to Jamaica. He found me via this blog and saw my photo – leading him to ask where my hair was! ;) Anyhow, we spoke on the phone for over an hour and I freely admit, I welled up with tears, when his daughter and son spoke to me. They are the age now, that their father and I were when we last met. It was a truly wonderful experience.
So, I started my day today, grateful for good health, laughter and good friends.
By Jim Connolly |
Do you copy what you see the top people doing, hoping to use it as a short-cut to success?
I received an email today from someone who started blogging a few months ago. He said that he had copied what Seth Godin was doing on his blog, by disabling comments and using a very basic looking blog design. It wasn’t working. He wanted to know why, as it was working fine for Seth.
His problem is common and highlights a potential pitfall, when you copy a strategy or tactic that works for someone in a very different situation to your own, with different goals.
Seth Godin says he needed to remove the comments section from his blog, in order for him to have the freedom to write things his way. With hundreds of comments coming in, it was just too time consuming and frustrating for him to respond to so many people, over so many different posts, every day. However, disabling comments is not necessary for 99.9% of bloggers.
This got me thinking. I chatted with Robert Scoble last week, about his issue with poor noise control on Google+. Robert currently has 1.7 MILLION circling (following) him on G+. I myself have just 13,000 people circling me and it can be a little hard to deal with at times. With 1,700,000 following you it must be mayhem. However, Google+ noise control works well for 99.9% of G+ users.
In short: It’s extremely useful to learn from the triumphs and lessons of others. However, before copying what you see the top .1% of people doing, ensure you know how and why they are doing it.
By Jim Connolly |
Someone asked me a great question last week, about a new page I added to the blog. She wanted to know why I bothered to publish a new page all about cookies, (that’s browser cookies, not the delicious ones!)
I explained that there was a new ruling here in Europe. It means that every Europe based site that uses cookies, has to make its European based readers aware that the site uses cookies and what they use them for. In case you don’t know, cookies are stored on our Internet browsers and are used for things like the Twitter and Facebook buttons we see on blogs and also for the software that people use, to measure their site traffic. Cookies are also used on sites that carry advertising, sites that have a commenting section and sites that allow you to personalise your visit, etc. As a result, pretty much every blog uses cookies and the massive majority of websites do too.
I wanted to be among the first to comply with the cookie regulations, so the page went up along with a new banner in my sidebar, so people could see it on every page they visit here.
Over the past few weeks, many bloggers have told me that they are in no hurry to disclose their use of cookies. It isn’t that their blogs do anything weird with them. Their concern was that by being among the first to offer cookie disclosure, they may lose traffic.
Their logic looks like this: Most people (and many bloggers) have no idea that almost every blog uses cookies, so if they make a point of highlighting THEIR policy, before the other bloggers, some readers will wrongly assume the other blogs don’t use cookies. They think this, even though cookies usually make the reader experience better and allow the blogger to improve the quality of their blog.
One of the best kept secrets in business, is the amazing power of transparency. People like the idea that the people around them are being open and honest with them. Conversely, they lose trust in people, who they discover have been hiding something relevant from them.
In my experience, whenever you are gifted with an opportunity to display your eagerness to be transparent, you should grasp it with both hands. This is even more important online, where people often connect with your work, before they have the chance to meet you or check you out in person. Transparency helps us earn trust and build credibility.
Those are 2 extremely valuable assets, which every business needs.