Tag: Blogging

10 Simple Tips to Becoming a Better Blogger Jeff Bullas has some interesting thoughts on how to become a better blogger:

Blogging plus Social Media

The rise of social media has allowed bloggers to display and market themselves and their content globally without having to pay a cent to a newspaper, television mogul or to the mass media elite.

Bloggers that were previously undiscovered became global brands on topics as diverse as food, fashion and technology. Marketing your blog was no longer restricted to building an RSS or email subscription list.

Publishing and marketing has been democratized. Freedom to express yourself globally is available in seconds and it is also mobile.

The age of the printing press is now threatened after 573 years. Print media marketing has now been surpassed by digital media for the first time in history.

So How do you Become a Better Blogger?

It is quite simple really.

  1. Blog late or early
  2. Blog while travelling
  3. Blog on holidays
  4. Blog even when your friends think you’re mad
  5. Blog on the bus
  6. Blog on the plane
  7. Blog when the boss isn’t watching
  8. Blog when your partner nags you to stop blogging
  9. Blog when your passion has taken a holiday
  10. Blog when you think no one cares about your blog

Get more here:  10 Simple Tips to Becoming a Better Blogger | Jeffbullas’s Blog

Jeff has a great perspective on the importance of blogging. Comment below or connect with me so we can talk about how this applies to you and your situation…

Related articles
0

7 Ways to Blog Without Writing

Stanford Smith has some great ideas on produce blog content:

WordPress rocks because it makes it point-and-click easy to share your content – any content. The default content type is text-based but you can do much more.

You can:

  1. Record yourself talking about a subject and upload the audio.
  2. Video record yourself discussing your topic and upload the video
  3. Publish illustrations, graphics, and captioned photos. Use a photo gallery template to show off your work.
  4. Use Google Hangouts to record an interview and link to it from your blog.
  5. Use Storify to create curated stories taken from blog posts, tweets and links
  6. Record your screen with Screenflow (Mac) or Camtasia (PC)  while you demonstrate software, teach a skill, or walk through a presentation. Upload your content to your blog, Slideshare,Scribd, and YouTube.
  7. Have someone interview you and upload the recording. This technique works well if you get tongue-tied talking to a camera.

The point is that there are many ways to create interesting content without writing. Find what you feel the most comfortable with and go with it. Focus on your preferred content creation method until you master it.

Get the rest here: Blog Mastery #16: 7 Ways to Blog Without Writing – Pushing Social

These are all tools that I use liberally on this blog. Comment below or connect with me so we can talk about how this applies to you and your situation…

Related articles
0

Darren Rowse writes:

Many business owners I speak to who aren’t bloggers scoff at the idea of having a blog. They look at their business and wonder who on earth would want to read about it.

But whether you’re a mechanic, baker, home cleaner, or a landscape designer, you can be sure that a blog could benefit your customers if you do it right.

Don’t believe me? Take a look at Dominick Del Santo’s story from earlier this year. His business—industrial dust collection solutions—isn’t what you’d call glamorous. Yet he tackled the job and owned his niche. Ryan Chritchett’s doing the same with his tech repair company blog.

You could do the same with a business blog in your industry.” Full story at:  6 Reasons Why Your Business Needs a Blog : @ProBlogger.

To Darren’s perspective I would also add this; many companies are already blogging to an audience of one at a time — they just call it emailing! Many emails could be the genesis of a blog post with a little tweaking. Instead of reaching an audience of one with their content, companies could exposé their ideas to billions via Google search. A blog can also serve as a homebase that drives other social media tools through auto or manual posting thereby simplifying participation in the social media process as well. Contrary to the opinion that blogging is just one more time suck, it can actually make a company’s marketing efforts even more efficient. Questions? Feedback?

0

Limit Screen Time, Limit Sitting

Leo Babauta writes:

One of the hazards of our modern lifestyle is our tendency to become more and more addicted to staring at screens, and more and more sedentary.

We look at laptops and desktop computers, iPhones and Androids and iPads and iPods, TVs and movie screens, play video games, watch videos, surf the web, socialize online, work online. And we’re sitting the whole time.

I’m a victim of this as much as anyone else. My family and I are drifting toward this lifestyle, and while I’m no Luddite, I do believe that we should live less as victims and more consciously.

Too much screen time means less active time, less personal socializing, less focus on the present, less time for cooking healthy food, less time reading novels, painting, making music, making time for the ones you love. And too much sitting means fewer years on your life.

So what’s a better way?

Limits.

Limit how much screen time you have each day. Limit your sitting to short periods with breaks in between.

I realize that many people have jobs that require them to have a minimum amount of computer time, and probably mostly sitting. So I don’t recommend a certain number, only that you figure out a limit and work with that.

What I’ve Been Doing

Though I’ve set limits for myself in the past, I’ll admit that they’ve eroded in recent months, so that my screen time has grown over time. And not just for me — for my wife and kids. So recently Eva and I set limits for ourselves, and we’ve been working with them.

We find them to be great. I find daily limits to be a better balance than going on week-long or month-long digital sabbaticals, which aren’t realistic for many people.

Here’s an example:

  • We set a limit of either 4 or 5 hours of total screen time a day. (We haven’t figured out what’s best yet, still experimenting.)
  • That total is broken into 30-minute chunks. So if it’s 5 hours total, that’s 10 chunks of 30 minutes.
  • At the start of a 30-minute chunk, I set a computer timer and put a tally mark on a text document, so I know how many chunks I’ve used today. When the bell rings, I close my laptop.
  • After the 30-minute chunk, I take a break of at least 30 minutes. I try to get up and move, stretch, play with the kids, get outside. I also often read a novel. The moving is good for my body, and helps me to think.
  • If I have things I want to look up online, or write online, I’ll just make a note of it and do it when I start my next 30-minute chunk.

This isn’t the only way to do it — you’ll have to find the limit that works for you, and the chunk size that works for you. But the idea is to set limits, and to break the total up into pieces so you’ll take breaks and do other things.

Benefits of the Limits

We’ve loved it: we’re reading more books, spending more personal time with each other and the kids, getting more chores done, exercising more, playing outside more.

It also means that because we have a limit, we have to figure out the best way to use that time. We have to make choices — what’s worthy of our limited time, and what isn’t? This means more conscious use of our time.

We haven’t instituted the limits with the kids yet, though we have been talking to them about it and getting them thinking about what would work best for them. And we do tell them to take breaks from devices throughout the day, so they’ll do other things.

For the kids, this has meant they have more unstructured, imaginative play, more reading, more art and music, more activity. Kids get addicted to screens just as much as adults do, and it’s not a healthy thing for them. We’re trying to teach them ways to live a healthy lifestyle, which is a lesson with lifelong benefits.

We’ve found this lifestyle to be healthier, better for relationships, better for our peace of mind. And to me, that means it’s something work keeping.

More reading:

via Limit Screen Time, Limit Sitting.

4

Just in time for this ‘milestone’ post, Chris Brogan provided this handy list that I’ll use as a preamble to what it is that I already wanted to share with you…

If you would like to get further into blogging, here is a brief primer:

  1. Get a blog. (Easy: tumblr.com, wordpress.com, blogger.com. Better: host your own -affiliate link.)
  2. Pick an area of focus, but one that has broad sides. (Mine: helping people do digital business in a human way.)
  3. Start writing.
  4. Start by planning to publish 1 post a week.
  5. Get daring and try for 2 posts a week (eventually).
  6. Make the posts more than 100 words and less than 1000 words most days.
  7. Spell-check.
  8. Delete the sentences that don’t matter.
  9. Realize that posts that are helpful to others get shared more than posts that are merely interesting.
  10. Never write a “sorry I haven’t written” post. Ever.
  11. Posts that just comment on other people’s posts and sum things up aren’t all that interesting.
  12. Do NOT get hung up on the tech. Get hung up on passion.
  13. The best way to write better is to read more. Second best: write more (often).
  14. Don’t try to copy other people’s style. Try to copy their proliferation.
  15. My best (most popular) posts were the ones I spent the least time writing.
  16. My least popular posts were the ones that took me more than a half hour to write.
  17. Pictures are a great place to start a post idea.
  18. Inspiration is a verb and a muscle.
  19. Lazy is, too.
  20. You’re doing it wrong. So is everyone.
  21. There’s not a single rule on this list that isn’t breakable. Break all the rules you want and enjoy yourself.

There. Write. Stop what you’re doing. Don’t comment. Don’t even share this post. Go write. On whatever came to mind. Delete it, if you hate it. But write. Now.

Source: A Primer for Blogging

Far be it from me to take issue with the great Chris Brogan, but regarding #1 I’ll say choose WordPress.com if you’re just getting started. Tumblr and Blogger are nice, but if you’re looking for traffic, nothing is better for Search Engine Optimization [SEO] than WordPress.com. You can always graduate to the self-hosted version of WordPress later if you want…

Regarding #2, sooner or later, you’ll have to face up to the fact that if you want to get good at it, your blog will have a brand. What is a brand?

“A brand is a “Name, term, design, symbol, or any other feature that identifies one seller’s good or service as distinct from those of other sellers.” Branding began as a way to tell one person’s cattle from another by means of a hot iron stamp. A modern example of a brand is Coca Cola which belongs to the Coca-Cola Company.” Source: Brand – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Simply put, if you’re going to find faithful readers, you’ll have to curate or create information on a narrow scope of topics so that people will know what to expect from you – what they come to expect of you is your brand. A blog gives you a share of voice on the internet which gives you a share of mind which may ultimately give you a share of market if you pursue it. You might even become a thought leader like Chris Brogan if you work your blog well enough! Thought leader? To me that’s a recognized expert that can be found in Google search. To become one you only need to do two things well; deepen your expertise [continuously learn – stay on top of your craft] and document your expertise [blog and engage in social media].

Regarding #11, I think curation is an important part of thought leadership and I think Chris ‘sums up’ more than he realizes! In this age of information proliferation, you have the ability to become a source that people trust through your blog by consistently curating and creating information that is useful to them. Also, I’m following rule #21 by breaking rule #11 and quoting Chris himself twice in this post! Here’s another great post he did this weekend about having a plan and working it;

“It’s a gorgeous and sunny day as I write this. I would like to be outside, maybe grilling up some steaks and drinking a beer or 12. But I’m working because that’s the plan. I have a short window of time to get a bunch of things done before I hit the road again, and because part of my business is to create media, that means writing and creating information that might be useful to you. Work the plan. That’s the message of the day. Work the Plan My media plan says I should be writing one of six types of posts:

  • How to
  • Vision/Perspective
  • Promotion
  • Interview
  • Do it Better
  • Review

In this case, I’ll call this post a “how-to.” It’s not the best I’ve ever written, especially because it’s so self-referential, but it proves the point. If your goal is to reach into the heads of the people you hope to reach, you’d best have a plan. If your goal is to make money, and this digital strategy is part of the plan, then what are you doing to stick to it?” Source: Work the Plan.

Only you can decide if my summary of Chris’ posts is ‘not all that interesting’…

btw, yesterday, I passed the 3,000 post milestone on my personal blog and I’m fast approaching 5,000 on my business blog but these are just the posts that have been published! Counting other blogs that I’ve done since I started 7 years ago I conservatively estimate I’ve created over 20,000 posts. I’m no Chris Brogan, but I have developed an efficient ‘lather rinse repeat’ cycle of blogging using Google Reader and WordPress. This screencast above shares some of my best blogging secrets with you – I promise you’ll learn at least one time-saving tactic if you watch the whole think [‘typo’ intentional]…

Related articles
0

In Monday’s epic post I mentioned the UM Dartmouth study on the death of blogging. Here’s the response I should have written if I were as smart as Gini Dietrich of Spin Sucks…

When I speak to CEO organizations, I typically run through a series of quick slides that show where technology is right at this moment.

For instance: There were 107 trillion emails sent last year, Facebook is at more than 900 million users, Pinterest is closing in on 15 million users, and there are three billion videos streamed on YouTube every day.

I do this to show how many people are using the web, to preempt the “My customer doesn’t use the Internet” conversation (yes, I still hear that).

But the stat I want to talk about today is the number of blogs on the Internet. According to Technorati, there are 158 million blogs floating around, which is partly why I’m so surprised to keep reading that blogging is dead.

I get it. It’s not an easy think to keep up. My guess is many people or companies say, “Let’s start a blog!” and then do nothing with it after a month or two because it’s so labor intense.

So, let’s say for argument’s sake, half of those blogs never see the light of day, either because they’re abandoned or no one reads them because they’re too self-promotional. That leaves us with 79 million blogs, which isn’t a small number.

USA Today reported this morning that more companies are abandoning their blogs in favor of Facebook, Tumblr, and Twitter.

Add to that, the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth released a  study earlier this year that says the percentage of companies that maintain blogs fell to 37% in 2011 from 50% in 2010, based on its survey of 500 fast-growing companies listed by Inc. magazine. Only 23% of Fortune 500 companies maintained a blog in 2011, flat from a year ago after rising for several years.

So, I see. Based on Wall Street and fast-growth companies, blogging is down, and now it’s time to claim the whole blogosphere is dead.

Here’s the thing, though. Those companies aren’t blogging because it’s hard. It’s hard to generate good content even once a week. It’s hard to cultivate a community. It’s hard to grow traffic. It’s a thankless job most days. So people throw something up there that talks about how great the company is, if only to check off “blog today” from their check list.

And the blog fails.” Full story at:  Is Blogging Dead or Are Companies Not Trying Hard Enough? | Spin Sucks

Go to the source if you want the rest of Gini’s perspective…

Thanks, Gini, for connecting the dots in a way that makes sense. Me? I always tell my clients that blogging is one of those things that takes more time than money and the organic Search Engine Optimization [SEO] is better than paying for Search Engine Marketing [SEM]. Gini, however, did a much better job deconstructing the UM Dartmouth study…

Related articles
3

Tumblr David Karp is no doubt breathing a huge sigh of relief as I’m officially announcing today I was may have been wrong about Tumblr…

Back in 2009, I was on the right track. I was very into Tumblr and the cool stuff they were doing but along came a bso [a ‘bright shiny object’] in the form of Posterous. I spent a very happy year with Posterous over the course of a 2.5 year period [don’t miss what I just said!]. Recently, I’ve been looking into Tumblr again and wondering why I ever left!

Recent experimentation with Tumblr has left me very impressed — in fact, I think Tumblr is the perfect curation tool for much of the work I do. While I’m still researching Tumblr’s Search Engine Optimization [SEO] benefits, I’m giving an early thumbs up to Tumblr as part of my blogging workflow. Again…

<script type="text/javascript" src="

Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa…

http://storify.com/e1evation/dollar-i-ve-posted-about-tumblr.js”&gt;

[&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a href=”

Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa…

http://storify.com/e1evation/dollar-i-ve-posted-about-tumblr&#8221; target=”_blank”&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;View the story “!@#$ I’ve posted about Tumblr” on Storify&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;]&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;br /&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt; &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;h1&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;!@#$ I’ve posted about Tumblr&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/h1&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt; &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;h2&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa…&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/h2&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt; &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;Storified by Todd Lohenry &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;middot; Fri, Apr 20 2012 15:48:15&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt; &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;div&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt; &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;h1&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;Some of my greatest Tumblr hits…&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/h1&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt; &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/div&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt; &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;div&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;Hmmm. I think I may need to rethink Posterous… | e1evationI’ve been a fan of tumblr for a long time, but the fact that Guy Kawasaki chose Posterous for his ‘Holy Kaw’ blog got me thinking and tes…&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/div&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt; &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;div&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;Tumblr Leaves Posterous in the Dust [?!] | e1evationImage via CrunchBase Rising social media rockstar Kelly Neuville of Envano sent me an article from ReadWriteWeb [you can follow the ‘via’…&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/div&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt; &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;div&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;John Mayer, Katy Perry Agree: Tumblr Crushing Posterous | e1evationvia observer.com Hmmm. I’m a massive Posterous fan – it truly has changed my life, my business and my workflow. I do, however, have to do…&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/div&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt; &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;div&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;Blogging platform Posterous takes preposterous swipe at Tumblr | e1evationDirect attacks and unprovoked hostility are usually reserved for gossip blogs, not the people who make the platforms that power them. But…&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/div&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt; &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;div&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;Tumblr Now Has More Blogs Than WordPress.com | e1evationvia mashable.com What does this mean? Stick around – I’ll be breaking it down for you real soon. You can follow the ‘via’ link above if y…&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/div&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt; &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;div&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;12 Essential News Media Tumblrs You Should Follow | e1evationvia mashable.com The world is all a Twitter about Tumblr, so I just took another look at it to see if there’s something I’m missing. Ther…&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/div&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt; &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;div&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;Two tools I ‘fired’ from my blogging workflow in 2011 | e1evationIt’s not me, it’s you…&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/div&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt; &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;div&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt; &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;h1&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;Things that got me thinking…&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;nbsp;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/h1&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt; &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/div&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt; &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;div&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;undefinedTumblr&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/div&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt; &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;div&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;How Tumblr Helped Put My Site on Top : @ProBlogger http://twy.la/JbTuAIe1evation&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/div&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt; &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;div&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/div&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt; &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;div&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;5 Ways To Use Tumblr To Increase Traffic To Your Website : Innovation :: American Express OPEN Forum http://twy.la/IcRkO3e1evation&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/div&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt; &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;div&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/div&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt; &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;div&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;Tumblr Reels in Big Traffic, Now 8x More Page Views Than http://Wordpress.com http://twy.la/HXSIBue1evation&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/div&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt; &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;div&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/div&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt; &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;div&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;How to get Tumblr Traffic http://twy.la/JeSaZ4e1evation&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/div&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt; &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;div&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;undefinedMshcdn&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/div&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt; &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;div&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/div&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;

3

I coach a lot of people on how to use WordPress effectively for ‘thought leadership’ marketing. One of the most important things to include in every post is a relevant picture. Why? HubSpot says:

If you’ve ever read a book with a child, you probably know they find pictures more interesting than words; but are adults really that different? I wouldn’t be surprised (or offended!) if you found yourself gravitating more towards the picture in this post than the copy. But images drive more than just attention — they drive engagement. In fact, just one month after introducing timeline for brands, Simply Measured reports that engagement is up 46% percent per post, and visual content (photos and videos) have seen a 65% increase in engagement.

via Why Marketers Should Invest in Visual Content Creation.

Effectively using images in a blog post is an issue however, that separates blogger sheep from goats. In this screencast I focus on a couple of ways bloggers can easily get images into their posts with an emphasis on my favorite blogging tool, Zemanta for both WordPress.com and hosted WordPress…

http://youtu.be/w5DJPH_lFWA

[View the story “Other ‘images in posts’ screencasts” on Storify]

Other ‘images in posts’ screencasts

Storified by Todd Lohenry · Mon, Apr 16 2012 12:10:24

I love Zemanta!toddlohenry
How I used Zemanta on this posttoddlohenry
Google Reader and Zemantatoddlohenry
Blogging with Internet Explorer and Windows Live Writertoddlohenry
Windows Live Writertoddlohenry
Enhanced by Zemanta
1

Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn And The Social Media Bill Of Rights [INFOGRAPHIC] – AllTwitter

Related articles
Enhanced by Zemanta
0

The first commandment of social media is ‘share, share, share’. A blog should be designed in such a way as to facilitate that sharing, both for the author AND the reader. Here are some practical tips on how I use sharing from my blog to drive traffic and engagement…

http://youtu.be/yocKV5iIso0

Enhanced by Zemanta
0

I’m a huge fan of curation as a means of attracting attention to your thought leadership position. Here’s a great perspective from HubSpot on the value of curation done well…

Curated content, or content aggregated from various sources into one comprehensive resource (be it a blog post, an ebook, a presentation, etc.) can be a valuable part of any marketer’s content mix. That said, the process of actually curating it isn’t easy.

There’s a misconception among marketers that curated content is lazy and unoriginal, but we think it’s the complete opposite. It takes time and careful evaluation to create quality curated content, and the result is oftentimes a very valuable piece of content that helps people seeking information on a given topic to cut through the clutter on the web and save time. After all, what’s better than one awesome resource? How about 15 awesome resources? All accessible in one place! There’s a reason art galleries are so popular.

So how can you take advantage of the power of curated content? Here are our top 10 ideas for great curated content.

Source: 10 Great Ideas for Valuable Curated Content

Go to the source if you want the 10 great ideas. Here are some of my greatest posts and screencasts on the topic of how to do it…
<script type="text/javascript" src="

Some of my ‘greatest hits’ on the topic of curation for content marketing…

http://storify.com/e1evation/on-curation.js”&gt;

[&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a href=”

Some of my ‘greatest hits’ on the topic of curation for content marketing…

http://storify.com/e1evation/on-curation&#8221; target=”_blank”&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;View the story “On curation…” on &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a class=”zem_slink” href=”http://storify.com&#8221; title=”Storify” rel=”homepage” target=”_blank”&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;Storify&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;]

Related articles
Enhanced by Zemanta
0

I’m a big fan of effective curation for content marketing and ‘thought leadership’. My preferred platform is Windows 7 these days, but many of my clients prefer MacOS. I put together a little riff yesterday outlining how use 3 tools to effectively curate content on the Mac. In this screencast I cover…

Enjoy!

http://youtu.be/M0XaKcFxcrk

Questions? Feedback?

Related articles
Enhanced by Zemanta
0

Monday is the day I normally post on my most important topic; blogging and content marketing for ‘thought leadership‘ marketing. As I was posting this morning, I thought it might be a good idea to do a screencast on the ‘mechanics’ of curation. You can see that post here…

http://youtu.be/SLBk9cdE86E

Doing the screencast, there were so many times I referred to other aspects of curation that I decided to round them all up in the following Storify story so here it is in one place; almost everything I think I know about the artful curation of content using Twitter and Windows Live Writer along with a host of other tools…

<script src="

Every screencast I’ve ever done on the mechanics of curation!

Every screencast I’ve ever done on the mechanics of curation!

http://storify.com/e1evation/almost-everything-i-think-i-know-about-the-mechan.js”>%5B<a href="

Every screencast I’ve ever done on the mechanics of curation!

Every screencast I’ve ever done on the mechanics of curation!

http://storify.com/e1evation/almost-everything-i-think-i-know-about-the-mechan&#8221; target=”_blank”>View the story “[Almost] everything I think I know about the mechanics of curation” on Storify][<a href="

Every screencast I’ve ever done on the mechanics of curation!

Every screencast I’ve ever done on the mechanics of curation!

http://storify.com/e1evation/almost-everything-i-think-i-know-about-the-mechan&#8221; target=”_blank”>Here’s a link to the Storify story in case it doesn’t display properly!]

Enhanced by Zemanta
2
English: The logo of the blogging software Wor...

http://storify.com/e1evation/this-week-in-blogging-at-e1evation

Related articles
Enhanced by Zemanta
0
twitter logo map 09

An editorial focus and calendar that reinforces it may be the single most important thing you can do if you want to blog for thought leadership. In his ground breaking book ‘Brand Stand’, Craig Badings writes…

The more research you do on the topic [on which you choose to focus] the more you will understand the space you want to enter. Ask yourself: Who is already playing in that space? What they are saying? Are they achieving cut through? Does our company have substantially more to say or something unique to offer in that space or not? Your deciding question should be ‘Can we own that space?’ If you cannot own a space my advice would be do not go there.

Badings, Craig (2009-07-08). BRAND STAND (Kindle Locations 790-794). BookPal. Kindle Edition.

If you have decided you can ‘own the space’, here is an overly simplified formula for achieving alignment in your content marketing strategy and getting ownership:

  • Brainstorm around your unique offerings in the space. Ask yourself “what are the problems my clients expect me to solve and how do I solve them in a unique way?”
  • Use Google’s keyword tools to research keywords around those unique offerings
  • Track trusted sites and keyword searches in Google Reader; read primarily those things that deepen your expertise in your unique offerings without losing the context of the whole space
  • Only curate or create content on your blog related to that unique offering
  • Leverage social media, etc. to amplify your content
  • Connect effectively with the readers you draw in

If you do those things in that order, you will have alignment around solving your customer problems and you will be found when people are looking for your solution[s]. In order to effectively cover my space, for example, which is content management and marketing for thought leadership, I track the topics content management, content marketing and ‘thought leadership’ marketing as well as the following tools:

  • Blogging
  • Facebook
  • Google+
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter
  • and supporting tools like Google Reader, Shareaholic, Storify, etc.

Thursday, for example, is Twitter day. Every Thursday I reflect on Twitter as part of a balanced content management and marketing for thought leadership strategy and ‘storify’ a summary of the best articles from the previous week. This tactical approach ‘forces’ me to not only review the best content from the previous week in Google Reader and Twitter, but be sure to cover it in my blog.

Questions? Feedback? Comment below or use the connect form. In the meantime, here’s a summary of the best of what I found in content marketing, LinkedIn and Twitter this past week…

http://storify.com/e1evation/content-marketing-linkedin-and-twitter-for-2-17-20

Related articles
Enhanced by Zemanta
2
Logo of Blosxom (new Version)
Image via Wikipedia

Happy Monday! Time to talk about trends in blogging and content marketing. First, though, a confession. I accidentally used decaf instead of regular and I’ve been dragging my butt around all day. This blog is fueled by coffee and now that I’ve had a good cup, life can start [at 3:27PM]!

Here’s my bias; blogging is a fundamental component of a successful content marketing campaign. I haven’t bought into the ‘siteless web’ model yet — I believe that a blog is the foundation of a successful online presence and I use a ‘homebase and outpost’ or ‘hub and spoke’ model for content marketing that I first heard articulated by Chris Brogan and Darren Rowse a few years ago.

There are three reasons that strike me as being important at the moment:

  • You own your blog — you don’t own Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn or Twitter
  • They are inexpensive and easy to update
  • According to HubSpot, active business blogs get 7x more traffic than static websites

These all sound like great reasons to me! If you need someone who is smart and beautiful, however, to tell you the same thing in more detail I highly recommend content marketing genius Heidi Cohen. Heidi had an epic post last week called Blogging Is Dead – Long Live The Blog!. In it she said…

“Call me a contrarian but blogs should be a core aspect of any organization’s marketing strategy regardless of whether you’re a B2C, B2B, not-for-profit or a solopreneur.” Source: Blogging Is Dead – Long Live The Blog! [Research] | Heidi Cohen

I soooo recommend you go to the source and read her article in toto. People usually turn to me after reading an article like this and saying to themselves “Makes perfect sense. Where do I get started?” You see, I’m not a content marketing expert like Heidi — I just tell people how to implement what she advocates. I can help you create a successful blog that is the focal point of your content marketing campaign…

Here are some great articles I read this past week about blogging and content marketin trends:

http://storify.com/e1evation/blogging-and-content-management-trends-for-this-we

Related articles
Enhanced by Zemanta
0
SR 99 construction bypass and ramp looking south

A friend who works with in construction industry is skeptical. He’s not convinced that ‘inbound marketing’ [blogging and other social media tools] can be applied to the construction industry. I respectfully disagree! I’ve seen content management and marketing for thought leadership applied to everything from Agriculture to Yoga and I believe it will work in the construction industry as well. Why?

Here are some of my beliefs:

  • Most companies have great stories and content — they just don’t use it as well as they could…
  • At the core, all great marketing is great storytelling
  • At the end of the day, every business is a people business

First, though what is this ‘thought leadership’? A simple definition might be a public display of expertise that can be easily found by people who are searching for it. How does a brand accomplish this? Though effective content management and content marketing. Because of my core beliefs, I think any company — even a construction company — can use the content they have or can create to tell great stories that attract people to their brand.

In his thought leadership classic ‘Brand Stand‘, Craig Badings tells the story of Dick Dusseldorp, a thought leader in the Australian construction industry before the phrase ‘thought leader’ was cool…

During the 1970s and 1980s, when union action on most construction sites in Sydney were crippling the construction industry, the sites on which Lend Lease was building suffered no such misfortune. This was because Dusseldorp’s philosophy was to create a community of interest between Lend Lease’s key stakeholders. When other companies around him were banging heads with the unions, with resultant long delays and cost overruns on projects, Dusseldorp was sitting down with the workers and unions and discussing their issues. The results were agreements, jointly committed to by workers and management, and a share in the resulting rewards for buildings completed on time. He was a master at getting people to transcend their traditional conflicts and work towards mutually beneficial goals.

Badings, Craig (2009-07-08). BRAND STAND (Kindle Locations 237-243). BookPal. Kindle Edition.

How did he do it? In part he used content management and content marketing along with other communication skills to position his firm at the thought leadership center of his industry in his country. Speaking of Dusseldorp’s organization Lend Lease, Badings says…

It launched a website… along with a four-part DVD series, using a former TV journalist to interview a number of independent third parties about their views on the future workspace and its impacts across business, design, people and location. As a result, Lend Lease reached those who made decisions about office space and helped stimulate and frame the debate around the impacts and implications of future work environments in Australia. Through the series, the company engaged communities linked to its industry and positioned itself at the centre of this debate. It is the logical place to be as a leader in the construction industry, but Lend Lease has done it in a way that doesn’t push the company’s point of view. It took the approach that it would rather invite leading experts in this field across various disciplines to participate in and frame the discus-sion.

Badings, Craig (2009-07-08). BRAND STAND (Kindle Locations 224-231). BookPal. Kindle Edition.

Joy Davis, CSI, CCPR, of CSI in Albuquerque, says…

“In many ways, construction is a relationship-driven business, and at the root of every great relationship is trust. No single person can know everything about construction, so we need trustworthy experts we can turn to who can help us achieve our goals. Thought Leadership is a strategy based on the idea that you can be your clients’ preferred expert – a person they trust, and whom they think of first when they have a question, or a new project.” Source: Thought Leadership and Social Media in the Workplace

Every business — not just construction — is a people business, but because of the critical nature of construction projects trust may be even more important. How can that trust be most effectively engendered? Content management and marketing for thought leadership may be an answer that the construction industry has overlooked! Comment, call or ‘connect’ so we can talk about how this applies to you and your organization…

Related articles
Enhanced by Zemanta
3
SoundCloud

This morning I had to travel 225 miles from Warrenville, IL to Algoma, WI at 5 in the morning. Needless to say it cut into my blogging time. I thought I’d use it as an opportunity to test SoundCloud for audio blogging. This was dictated to SoundCloud on my Google Nexus S while driving in the Chicago suburbs. Let me know what you think about the content and the format…

Enhanced by Zemanta
0
WordPress logo blue
Image via Wikipedia

Blogging is fundamental to an effective content marketing campaign. In my humble opinion no other tool is more effective in driving people to your thought leadership position. Why?

  • Blogs are easy to update and can contain a wide variety of content
  • It is easy to optimize their content for Search Engine Optimization [SEO]
  • Most blogging platforms are open source [i.e., FREE]

When you consider that 2012 is the ‘year of content content marketing’ and that you can add a blog to your website for free, my question to you is what’s holding you back?

I see three reasons why people hold back…

  • Perception
  • Fear
  • Time

I think the answer for most people is simple. The words blogging and blogger bring up images of 40 year old white guys sitting in their pajamas in their parents’ basement spewing out politcal rants. While that demographic has clearly capitalized on the benefits of blogging, it doesn’t take away anything from the power of blogging for content marketing.

Here’s another one:

[blackbirdpie url=”https://twitter.com/#!/e1evation/status/166135819520843776″%5D

I wouldn’t be too concerned about that one either. You or your brand can become a thought leader in your space if you engage in a content management and content marketing campaign tailor made to demonstrate your expertise.

Blogging, on one level, isn’t much different than writing an ’email to the world’ — from that perspective, most people or organizations are already producing more than enough content to feed an interesting blog.

Comment or use the ‘connect’ form so we can talk about how this applies to you and your organization. In the meantime, here are the best articles I found on blogs and blogging this past week. Enjoy!

<script src="

Good stuff I read this week…

Good stuff I read this week…

Good stuff I read this week…

Good stuff I read this week…

http://storify.com/e1evation/blogging-trends-for-2-5-2012.js”>%5B<a href="

Good stuff I read this week…

Good stuff I read this week…

Good stuff I read this week…

Good stuff I read this week…

http://storify.com/e1evation/blogging-trends-for-2-5-2012&#8243; target=”_blank”>View the story “Blogging trends for 2/5/2012” on Storify]

Related articles
Enhanced by Zemanta
0

Start a Blog at WordPress.com.

Up ↑