Friday Quick Links
As you will have noticed I don’t often go in for link posts but every now and then people send me links that I think will be interesting or useful to you my dear readers 
Jan Hemmingsen has an interesting take on my Problogger post “Is Your Blog Truly Valuable?” asking Who Should Get to Decide?
If you can create value for others while creating value for yourself then all the better. However if your sole motivation and what defines value for you is the creation of value for others then you might not only struggle defining your purpose and finding your way, but also have difficulty finding true and lasting value for yourself though.
You might also want to read my post on a similar topic “ Who Is Your Blog For?“.
Mark Silver has posted an excellent piece of advice encouraging us to pre-sell our products. I have dropped hints about my (loooong delayed) ebook but I am going to take his advice and give you more information once I get back from Norway. If you are thinking of releasing a new product soon, make sure you read the article
Preselling means that you are making a commitment to them, not just to yourself. Making a commitment to yourself to finish a product is about you. Making a commitment to your customer to finish something that will help them is about being in service.
Finally the Search-This team have a great post that all bloggers should read - Why Your Blog Struggles
Since there’s no Chapter 11 for blogs to file - we really can’t measure the success rate of a blog. What we can do is look at some common reasons why your blog might be struggling.
Added: Breaking news, Tony O points out that I appear (well, my content) 5 times in the “top 25 blogs about blogging“, see if you can see where 
Tags: blogging, problogger, tips, news, sales, marketing
Posted on June 08th, 2007 by Chris Garrett in News
Some good links there. And yes, enough hinting about your ebook. More info already!
If I get chance I will post something about it over the weekend or monday, but I need to make sure I pack and sort everything out before I leave early tuesday morning. It will be worth the wait
Thanks for the links. I’ll be following up on that pre-selling your products one for my readers too.
Incidentally, you should feel free to also give away a copy of my new ebook (out today, as it happens) as a free bonus when you give away a copy of yours.
Mine’s primarily aimed at independent musicians and music businesses trying to figure out the best way to deal with the online environment, but the overlap in terms of business blogging — or any other online creative enterprise — is significant: SEO, the importance of regularity, thnking about your audience… and so on.
In fact, one of the best things that music entrepreneurs can do is to become business bloggers of sorts.
The 20 Things You Must Know About Music Online is free from New Music Strategies here:
http://newmusicstrategies.com/ebook
If you get a chance to have a look, I’d be really interested to hear what you think of it too.
Much appreciated.
Thanks for the link
I am pretty pleased with the post as it is since it was written quite quickly. I am wondering how good the English is though so any feedback on that would be welcome. If everything is understandable and if you spot mistakes I do repeatedly I mean.
Not being a native English speaker can really have its drawbacks when you want to reach out to the world
Can I ask why you are going to Norway? btw Beware, it is probably the most expensive country in the world so do pack your platin card!
Well, gollee. Thanks, Chris, for spreading the info in that article. I have to admit I was scratching my head when subscribers started showing up, mentioning they saw me on your blog. i thought it was just the comments I left in your last post- and then I saw you linked to my article.
I look forward to hearing more about your ebook, and seeing you pre-selling it. Since I first learned the details about pre-selling from Sean D’Souza I’ve been a pre-selling fool with everything, and it’s had quite an amazing effect on my business- and on my relationship with my clients.
Enjoy your weekend.
Peace
-Mark
@Dubber - I will check it out when I have some time, thanks
@Jan - Looks good to me. I was in Norway helping a client. Fantastic place, would love to go back. Luckily the client paid for everything but a few times people commented on the prices and how much cheaper the UK is. It doesn’t feel cheap here so MUST be pricey in Norway
@Mark - No probs on the link, it’s a fine article