chrisg.com

Front page Diggs, Stumble traffic, and so on is not just a blogger obsession any longer but big business. If you are selling product online then you need search rankings, and to get those rankings you need links. Right now, everyone is getting into link bait.

Conventional wisdom is to build up a power account to submit your stories, but is that really the answer?

The idea of course is that your story will gain more attention and therefore traction. This part I do not question, being submitted by a skilled and popular social media user is not just a good idea but probably essential.

Does that social media user need to be you though?

I’m thinking no.

There is enough to keep a blogger or business operator busy without having to spend the time creating powerful social media accounts, especially when you consider there are a growing number of mainstream and niche social bookmarking venues.

By all means you should have accounts, and you should especially take part only when you have time.

What I do not see the return from is stressing out over making your account have the kind of influence that is required to fire a story right to the homepage. If top users like MrBabyMan and MSaleem need hundreds of hours of quality concentrated Digg time, how on earth are you, starting from square one, going to get anything else done?

My advice is to make friends. Lots of friends. Find and make contact with as many people in your niche as possible.

Just to clarify, I am not talking about making fake friendships for the sake of improving your social media standing, “friends” are what Digg calls your contacts. This is about networking and mutual benefit but with giving first before you even think of getting in return. 

Don’t hassle the very top guys unless you can do them valuable favors in return, you can be sure they get enough hassle already. Instead find the consistent performers that match your own topic and get talking to them. See if they need a hand with anything, get talking on email and IM.

Most of us are not going to get to the powerful status of the top Diggers, but neither do we need to. Take part on Social Media but don’t fret about dominating it. Focus instead on creating the content for others to Digg.

A couple of events have made me think about how people perceive failure lately.

I don’t want to draw your attention to the individuals but the basic sentiment I am seeing a lot is that people in the public spotlight shouldn’t do something unless they are sure of success.

I’m worried about that. Personally I think everyone should be given the chance to try, fail and yes, maybe make a mess. We learn by doing. Sometimes we learn the hard way, but we still learn.

Many times our biggest lessons come from our biggest and most public failures. We all try stuff and crash and burn. It’s easy to say that we shouldn’t care, and not take notice of what others think, but I think that is unlikely. What we can do though is not let those factors hold us back.

Financial loss, or harm to individuals is one thing, but trying something that doesn’t work out and might be embarrassing we can get over. People will laugh, but ultimately go on to the next news. Our friends will still be our friends and if we have been nice folk in the past we can usually count on support from our customers and readers too.

I’ve made some mistakes, some big and some small. It’s not so long ago that my most public contribution as a CEO of a well thought of company was shutting it down and telling 30,000 customers their data was no longer going to be available. Not my finest hour. Out of the ashes of that though I learned a great deal, still hold most of the contacts made as good friends, and I am still here doing what I do relatively unscathed.

Failure is one of those charged words. Just thinking about it can fill you with fear. Better to try and fail though than never try at all.

There are so many sources of conflicting advice it is difficult to know who to listen to. Each new piece of advice can be as convincing as the one that came before it. What should you do?

How do you choose who to listen to?

Do you take the word of

• the most influential,
• the most popular,
• the most convincing,
• the loudest,
• the most confident,
• or maybe what they perceive to be the safest.

As a person who dishes out daily doses of advice I am as guilty as anyone out there who tries to offer opinions of what you “should” do.

The fact is, at worst people do not have any idea what will work for you, and at best they can only rely on their own experience. Certainly I give you the benefit of what I have learned through my work, but you still have to work out what will work for you.

I am still learning, things still take me by surprise. You may have read me say before, I am of the opinion you can learn something from every person you meet. Your job is to not blindly accept what you are told but collate it, cogitate on it and apply it in your own unique way.

Work out the approaches that suit you best, that fit what you are trying to achieve and how. Which stories resonate with you, and enthuse you, separate out those that leave you cold.

You can never take the same journey twice, your journey is yours and yours alone, but you can learn about possible pot holes and beauty trails from people who have traveled a similar path before you.

With any project the idea is to get from where you are now to where you want to be. We all understand that, but sometimes we don’t act like this is the case.

How many times have you looked at your situation and wished that it could be instantly different? Or looked at a competitor and wanted what they have? Sometimes we will see someone seemingly have an overnight success and wonder how they managed it.

One Step at a Time

The thing is no matter if there seem to be immediate results for others, or if your results take time, in all cases there has been a journey from A to B. Some people start out closer to their goal but there is always a journey and there are no magic wands.

If you want to succeed with any project you have to first understand that you have to travel the distance. You have to work out the steps that are required and then follow them. People think they can teleport, they look for short-cuts, secret tricks and cut corners.

Stay on Track

A lot of the time when people do not succeed it is because they didn’t stick on the journey they set out on. People start one journey then switch to what looks like an easier or more fun route. One day they are going to be a day trader, the next they are going to me doing affiliate marketing, no - wait, FaceBook applications …

Imagine if this was a real journey. You would obviously never arrive at a destination because you are constantly turning around or changing direction. The traveling would only end when you were too tired to go on.

Don’t Give Up

When you are on a real journey you don’t give up half way. You at least try to get somewhere. Yes, you might stop for a breather. Have a rest, gather your thoughts. But you head on back out until you get where you intended to be.

A lot of this is confidence. Knowing that you can and will get there. Not allowing doubt to cloud your mind, and being willing to accept help when required.

Sometimes Journeys Take Time

“Are we there yet?”

Half the benefit to any kind of travel is what you see and experience on the way. Each journey leads to the next. We build on experience and we gain experience by doing. It is one thing to read about another’s travels, quite another to experience it for yourself. With this mindset a long journey can be a joy not a chore.

Also journeys are often made up of smaller trips. You can tell you are making progress by the milestones and landmarks you pass. Each is an achievement in itself.

Not All Journeys are Plain Sailing

There will be speed bumps, hills and obstacles. That is not the universe conspiring against you, just how it is sometimes. Just keep going then when you look back you will have the satisfaction of knowing you overcome everything that was put in your path.

Summary

Before you set out on your journey you need to know where you are going.

• Where is it you want to be?
• How far are you from your destination?
• What are the steps you need to make to get there?
• Can you take the first step today?
• How will you know when you are there?

Whatever it is you want to achieve, make a deal with yourself that you will start your journey today.

I was at Starbucks yesterday waiting for my caramel macchiato when I overheard a conversation that went something like this:

“So I just put my handbrake on and sat there. There was no way I was moving, school or no school.”

“What did they do then?”

“They had to drive around me. One mounted the curb right at the school gates. There could have been an accident”

“Drivers around here are so rude aren’t they?”

Now, I don’t know these ladies, nor did I get the full story, but I had an idea what might have been going on. The first lady seemed to have a drivers grievance. You know the type; road rage before they have even unlocked the drivers side door. She had taken out her anger right in front of a school, right at the school run. Then she wondered why she was on the receiving end of a torrent of parental abuse.

Fact is, I imagine there are a lot of driving incidents we have no control over, but I wonder how many of her problems with other drivers are not a reflection of her own actions. If you assume the worst or drive angry, how are others going to react?

What you put out comes back

The same goes for bloggers. I know there will always be trolls, and the more traffic you get the higher the number. Some people though seem to draw them out like magnets, and not just on a full moon.

At the other end of the scale I was taken by surprise recently by a warm, positive but simple gesture. In the post I received a hand written note. It simply said how much the person valued me. That kind of thing warms your heart. I went out into the world with a spring in my step. Everyone seemed happy that day. Wonder why?

To me the concept we need to grasp is a lot of the trouble or joy out there starts in here, between your own ears. It’s a feedback loop. Garbage in, garbage out.

Smile and the world smiles back

Imagine walking up to a mirror, scowling and clenching your fists. No matter how much you shout at the mirror, you are not going to change that reflections mood. Put on a happy face though and the reflection changes. It sounds daft but isn’t raging against our reflection, ie. the world, exactly what people do? We project anger or paranoia and wonder why the world isn’t a happy place.

Your blog is a reflection of you. Your business is a reflection of you. Even your email correspondence.

If a lot of the comments or feedback you receive are negative, have a good think about why. It could be the source is close to home.

When you write, meet or talk, put a smile on your face. Remember what you get back depends on what you put in and every little helps.

I have mentioned editorial calendars a couple of times here but I have always been thinking of something electronic. As it turns out there is a company who has developed a physical planner almost designed for the job!

What you need in an editorial calendar is days laid out calendar style with space to write brief notes. What this planner from AGlobalWorld adds to the mix is international holidays.

Intended for travelers, these holiday details let you know when there is a national holiday happening so you can plan around it. Extremely useful I am sure you will agree if you have ever been stranded in a strange place wondering why all the restaurants are shut. For bloggers this is useful to know when traffic is likely to be light and what the devil a “boxing day” is.

These planners can be customized with your own company logo and details for giveaways and merchandising. The one I have has a simple black and gold cover which doesn’t look exactly “designer”. It is scratched already so combined with the lack of attractive design you couldn’t say it looks posh enough to leave lying around, but it’s the practical details that matter rather than appearances. That said, these contents in a moleskine kind of package would be nice.

As you might be able to see from the pic above, in some places the space to write is quite cramped, so I am going to have to work out a set of abbreviations or index system. I am going to see how I get on with this planner but if you find anything else that would do the job even better, do let me know!

Since leaving the world of marketing agencies to work from home, my meetings have gone from mostly physical to mostly virtual. The vast majority of my clients over the last few years have been overseas. Whereas before I would hop on the train and go see clients, now I spend most of my time conversing using email and Skype.

While email allows a great deal of work flexibility, especially when it comes to scheduling, in many cases people like to deal with a human being directly rather than stare at text. Even for dyed in the wool internet geeks like me, holding voice meetings is a valuable skill to develop.

Here are some quick tips for better Skype conversations:

• Add contacts as your first job - Rather than waiting till the last minute it is best to swap and add contact information before. Also share landline or mobile numbers in case Skype fails you. It does happen, bad lines, connection drops, service downtime, so best to be prepared.
• Arrange a suitable time - Consider work schedules and timezones. Plan using a World clock service. Neither party will be on their best if the time is set too early, late, or in the middle of family time. Sometimes it is unavoidable, but it is best if participants are not yawning or distracted by kids jamming toast in the DVD player while trying to hold a conversation. Be aware also what time of day you are at your best so you can give 100%.
• Consider Skype devices - If you do a lot of calls get a headset. They have come way down in price and the call quality does improve. Also think about being portable. My PDA and now my cell phone (Nokia n95) can also do Skype just in case I have to dash out I can still make the appointment.
• Be there before and after - Do not come online right when the meeting is to start and stay a while afterwards. There have been many times I have been emailed 15mins beforehand to reschedule, or contacted 20mins later to correct some erroneous comment. This has saved me a lot of wasted time for the sake of extending the time you dedicate by a little.
• Decide a duration - It is usually good to know the end time. You can go over but it means all parties are focused on making best use of the time alloted and means you do not make things drag on uncomfortably. I find when a duration is set the last 1/3 of the meeting achieves way more than with no end point.
• Do your research - You might have arranged the call to be open ended but there is almost always some basic information you can gather before hand. Do not waste time finding out stuff you could have known already. Have key information to hand, especially costs and stats.
• Know who you will be talking to - What does this person do? How knowledgeable are they? Discover the limits of their responsibility, are they in charge? Do not expect an entry level person to make decisions there and then. See if any other people will be joining or can be on hand.
• Create a scope - Know what they want. Know what you want. Decide what the meeting is about and not about.
• Listen - You know the saying, you were given one mouth and two ears - talk and listen in that ratio!
• Turn off email and other distractions - If the other person hears you tappity-tappity they know you are not giving 100% to the call.
• Decide actions - If there is to be any use to the meeting then you either need to share information or get something done. Create actions including who, what, where, when, how.
• Make notes - Do not rely on your memory. Inevitably you will be distracted or delayed and forget. Some people record all their calls, I prefer to make notes. Either way, know exactly what was said and what you need to do.
• Follow up - You do not have to share detailed notes but if you agree on something it is always good to send an email and get the other party to confirm. It’s very easy for everyone to go away happily ignorant that there were differing ideas of what was said until it is too late.
• Follow through - Meetings are not a replacement for doing! If you agree to something, make sure you do it.

Those are my tips, I bet you have your own. Please do share how you make Skype and telephone calls work better

The end of the year is approaching so I am looking backwards and forwards as I do every year. As I am sure many of you do too. One conclusion I have to draw from this year that I will take into the next is how I have squandered my time.

Squandered might be too strong a word, but I must say I have kicked myself over wasted time and missed opportunities. Perhaps this is familiar:

• Tinkering with social media sites with little to no payoff
• Projects started but not pushed through to completion
• Direction less surfing, tweaking and chatting
• Discussions and enthusiasm for potential opportunities that go nowhere
• Etc

I don’t want to be too down, as well as wasting time I have achieved some good stuff. The important thing is not to dwell on mistakes but learn from them. So I need to plan for productivity.

The first step towards this plan is I have decided to abandon Facebook. I am afraid I have had enough of the service, it just seems a terrible waste of time and a distraction.

I’m also going to take more breaks, turn off the computer at 18:30 and not turn it on again until I start work the next morning. Being online and available practically 24-7 rather than helping me get more done, is actually hindering my productivity through loss of energy and poor sleep.

I have said before I would take regular breaks and not gone through with it. Soon I will have no excuse, we just bought a puppy who is going to need walking!

This and other common sense stuff will help, but the core of my plan will be to focus on what directly or indirectly produces results.

My action plan:

1. Monitor where my time goes, plan my time better
2. Trim the 20% of non-productive tasks that leach 80% of my time
3. Focus on the 20% of tasks that produce 80% of revenue and results

As you can see, I am aiming to base my work around the 80-20 concept.

This 80-20 rule, or Pareto Principle, suggests that a small percentage of your effort brings most of your results, while a much smaller part of your achievement comes from where most of your time goes. Homing in on the time-draining aspects versus those productive tasks could be a quick and easy fix. It is identifying the correct targets for promotion or deletion that is the tricky part.

This is where the time log will come in. Starting today I am going to record what I do, when, for how long, and to what end. Hopefully after a few weeks of this, possibly sooner, I will know what exactly I do with my time. By the new year I will know what to cut and what to emphasize. At least, that is the plan.

I am sure there are other things we can do to make 2008 more productive than 2007, share your advice, let me know your tips, articles or links in the comments

Much as we would all like to have magic wands that put us instantly right where we want to be, in the perfect situation, surrounded by the right people, in reality we have to work towards it. I read a lot of biographies and find that the majority of so-called overnight sensations take many years of preparation and hard work to pay off. How do you make sure the work you are doing is helping towards your goals?

The first task of course is to have goals. What outcome would you like to see?

I would say most of us go through our day to day responsibilities not giving much thought to where we hope to end up. We have ideas of what makes us happy, provides enjoyment and fulfillment or things that energize us, but in terms of concrete ambitions I find they are rare.

It is fine to have vague goals if they motivate you sufficiently but the vaguer the goal the harder it is to track progress towards it. For example, say your goal is to be “rich”. Each step you make towards the goal could put the goal further out of your reach as your definition of what “rich” means would keep changing as you earned more money.

Be specific. What do you want to achieve and what is necessary to get there?

Many people will disagree with me but in my experience it is better to have a few complimentary ambitions, some more “achievable” (as you will see, sometimes we are really not a good judge) than the others. I know there are life coaching experts who say you should have laser-like focus on one thing, but that assumes everything happens in an A, B, C straight line. I just feel like life is a bit more random.

Through my life I have had a series of ambitions and I have achieved almost all of them. Some were very small, such as passing my driving test, some seemed unachievable at the time I set them but happened almost by accident, like having a book published, etc. Other ambitions I decided were not meaningful for me any longer, such as earning a degree.

While you are working towards a big ambition, it helps to be able to tick off smaller ones.

Even small successes should give you a sense of achievement and confirmation you are on the right track. As it happens with me I get little pride out of my achievements, I am one of those people who thinks “If I managed it, then how hard can it be?”.

For me all of my sub-goals work towards my main goal of getting my family back over to Canada. The big dream would be for us all to be living happily in North Shore Vancouver, with a view of the sea in front of us and mountains behind, but right now somewhere on the continent would be a big start. (deep sigh). Everything I do needs to put me closer rather than further away. While there are setbacks on the way, I can keep driving forward while I know I am headed in the right direction.

Are you doing right now work that makes you closer to your goal?

We don’t always have the luxury of doing exactly what we need to be doing according to plan, but there are times when we have a choice of what work we take on. If you are looking for your next job, or a freelancer taking on contracts, which role or project you do next can have an impact on your ambitions.

In general you want to be doing work that provides you with …

• More time - If you can earn the same or more money in less time then you have more free time to do exactly what your goals require, or you can have a much nicer lifestyle with more free time.
• More motivation - Tasks that motivate you tend to be easier to accomplish and more enjoyable. It always helps to want to get up in the morning to go to work.
• More energy - Can you do work that is less draining? I have worked in jobs that sucked the energy right out of me. I am so glad I escaped!
• More contacts - A really good gig will put you in touch with good people to know and expand your network. If the work sucks but you get to know good people then you might still come out ahead.
• More visibility - Getting your name out there can help land bigger and better opportunities. If you can earn decent money at the same time then all the better.
• Confidence - I find one of the key traits that hold people back is their own self confidence. Sometimes getting to a certain level, breaking through to a milestone or achieving a task can make you feel more confident for the next, bigger one.
• Expertise - Can you learn from the work? Will the job stretch you and build your knowledge?
• Experience - Is this something you can leverage for future work?

If you find people who have goals that align with yours, work with them.

Projects shared are much easier than trying to do everything on your own, and I really do believe that who you know is as important as what you know. Sometimes other people can have a massive impact on your goals.

Sometimes it is only when we look back that we see the thread of how everything we do fits together to get us to where we are. Little pockets of experience, chance encounters, little bits of news, the story of how we get to where we are can seem random at the time but in hindsight is like dominoes all falling into place.

Even when it doesn’t feel like it at the time, you can be working towards your goal. Fix firmly in your mind where you want to be. Know the kinds of things you need to be doing or learning.

Either with strides or inches, keep moving forward and one day you will get there. 

Yesterday we moved house and today I am still without a broadband connection or even telephone line. Luckily I have my trusty PDA and 3G otherwise you wouldn’t be hearing from me today.

This whole week has shown me I need to be more prepared for off-days but another thought struck me related to bloggers income. People often say that blogging is a passive form of income, but is it really?

If you are not familiar with the term, “passive income” refers to earning streams that do not require you to “work”. While strict definitions differ, in most cases people would agree if you can take a month off and still earn then you have passive income.

Examples of passive income would include book and music royalties, while your standard 9-5 job or freelancing would be examples of an active income.

The reason blogging is often put into the passive category is because if you use direct monetization through Adsense, banners, etc, you earn while you sleep.

So not all blogging provides passive income, some of us earn in other ways. If you are paid to blog then obviously you have to keep blogging to get paid.

I’m guessing even a popular blog that is monetized with ads will have to keep posting to maintain the income level it enjoys. A good spread of monetization strategies is a good idea for all of us anyway, but in theory the more sources of non-work income we have the more passive and stable we can make it.

The only truly passive blogging I can think of would be a group blog that is wholly maintained by paid writers, lead by a paid editor.  They would have to be paid because volunteers would have little to force them to keep writing. The only work for the owner would be paying up and the occasional interaction with the editor.

Do you think blogging is good for passive income? How do you arrange it so regardless of what life throws at you there is always money coming in? Please share your tips in the comments …