It was my birthday yesterday, plus it is six months since I launched this blog, so I am in a reflective mood while nursing a massive hangover :) Today I would like to talk about blogging goals and what we do to work towards them. Most people would agree that it is good to have goals when publishing a professional blog. I realised I have settled into a pattern of just doing what I do. In fact, in some critical areas I have not been taking my own advice. For my own benefit this has been a … [Read more...]

Just for today, how about trying this. Don't just browse your favourite blogs, seek out some new blogs and Write a comment Send a supportive email Bookmark at Del.icio.us Stumble at Stumbleupon Write a post linking to what you have found Why? Don't you think it would be a nice thing to do? ... and of course, you only get what you give. … [Read more...]

In response to my post the other day about short term versus long term thinking, a reader, who wished to remain nameless for reasons you are about to discover, let me know about her experiences with a traffic report from an Internet Marketing "guru". It seems this guru has recently discovered blogs. Actually, correction, has recently discovered splogs, along with "RSS Marketing", Trackback/Ping. You can imagine where this is going. Apparently this guy is making thousands of dollars … [Read more...]

For the second time in the history of this blog I have deleted a post. While that is an hour of my life I am not getting back I feel better for doing it. Anyone who grabbed the RSS up to about ten minutes ago will still be able to read it, but I am happier with it not on the blog.Sometimes what seems like a good idea in your head just doesn't work in reality. No matter how I edited the post it just felt wrong. I think it was never going to work because it was a negative post. While it didn't … [Read more...]

Have you read my free ebook "Creating Killer Flagship Content"? The single most popular question I get asked by people after reading it is "can you show me some examples?". One thing to understand is what a reader might think is a Flagship post for a blogger might be different to what the blogger his or her self considers their best work. If readers know you because of a particular piece of content or resource, or they come back to one piece repeatedly and tell their friends, then you have … [Read more...]

This post started out quite different. I was just going to tell you what I thought a Blog Post was, my definition, but then I thought it would be more interesting to open it up to you. The thought was prompted by a thread in the forum about an article by Jakob Nielsen advising people to "write articles not blog postings". My comment in the thread was that I thought he doesn't understand what a blog is. But am I wrong? Is it me who is confused about what a blog or blog post is? After … [Read more...]

Occasionally you will get people in comments or on their own blogs who disagree with you. I know from conversations with bloggers, especially people new to blogging, this is a cause of stress and upset. Particularly when the disagreement contains attacks or is forcefully put across. How do you deal with them? First of all I encourage people to disagree with me. We learn through mistakes, if I have made an error of judgement or delivery I want to know about it. It's a little easier … [Read more...]

One of the things people say about blogs they like is "personality". What does this mean?There are actually a few specific things this might mean. They like the writing style, they find the humour funny, the stories are amusing. It could also be an "attitude" thing.The best example of a personality blogger I have is Scott Adams (who I have linked to a ton of times but I do really like his blog!). His stories, turn of phrase, way of looking at life - he just cracks me up.Common sense I guess, but … [Read more...]

An old school friend just tracked me down through friends reunited and said he had been reading my blog. I asked which one. Surprisingly he had found me through my personal blog and hadn't realised I had others. I quickly made it more obvious in my sidebar that it was a personal blog to avoid confusion but it was his next comment that really made me take notice. "Why the heck do you have more than one blog?"Personal blogs, personal home pages, family sites, journals, whatever you want to call … [Read more...]

I was talking this morning with a clients team members. One is an SEO, the other a designer. My role on the project is to write, research and promote the blog. It struck me how many jobs a solo-blogger has. Do you ever think about how many hats you have to wear as a blogger? Blogging is called just "blogging" but really it's not one thing is it? It involves lots of small jobs, being able to switch roles in a breath. Writing - Obviously, blogging is writing. The whole point is the … [Read more...]