Chris Garrett
Build your business by sharing what you know
Several people have pointed me to the Guardian piece about blogs by Victor Keegan. Sorry guys but you won’t find me getting hot under the collar, I don’t jump up and down defending blogs any more (I got that out of my system years ago). Here, since people asked, is my (hopefully calm) thoughts. If …
It’s been said so many times it has lost all meaning. Focus on the content. Content is king. Write! Fine. Why then do some people create crummy but popular content? How is it that brilliant writing is often overlooked? So it can’t be just about the content. Something else is necessary. Do you buy bottled …
I have been going through my emails since arriving back in the UK, only 165 left. One of the messages prompted me to write this short post. The message included the phrase “I guess though he must be right, after all his blog is huge”. I realised reading this I might be partly to blame …
It seems this vacation was never going to offer a reliable internet connection. After getting to an internet connection I said I would resume blogging, but then reality happened. It seems my Mac just didn’t want to work for more than a minute or two, even over a ethernet connection. I’m back home with internet …
Best laid plans eh? I figured I had this mobile blogging thing sussed. With my trusty MacBook and PDA combo I am good for network, wifi, bluetooth, 3G/GPRS/UMTS. I didn’t count on rural Manitoba. Lesson learned, when someone tells you there will be internet access double and triple check. I couldn’t even get cell phone …
Todays critique is Garrett Albright’s Ray Gun Robot which has the tagline “Tech with Personality” – a good start! Right away I have a feel for what the blog will be about. Great stuff. I know the name of the blogger The domain and blog name is catchy “Tech” helps define a target audience, the …
First victim customer of my blog critiques is Not Just Cricket Initial Impressions Nice template. Tiny font. Does look pretty but people with not great eyesight would appreciate a larger font size? “Not Just Cricket” … sports blog? No “about”? No “Author” … no name listed that I could find … Looking down the categories, …
What is a trackback? What are trackbacks used for? Why should you care?
Recall my interview with Sean D’Souza? Since the interview I have been poking him with a pointy blogging stick and he has finally started his blog to stop me nagging at him. He has already posted some great stuff, like this one about getting your customers to actually consume what you deliver them … Why …
I am a sucker for memes, one day I will have to say “enough is enough” and just stop responding to them ๐ But not today, I was tagged with Gotta Get Goals In a new post, write about the top 5 to 10 goals that you “gotta get” so that you can truly say …
In my last post I said I loved Seth Godins blog but hated that he doesn’t have comments enabled. He responded to my complaint with an email saying he reads and responds to his own email. I’m honoured. That’s great. It’s good to hear, but who would know? The public perception is still, and please …
I know this blog is not a success just yet. Why? People do not hate it. Wuh? It’s true. People do not dislike it so bad that they just have to tell me about it. There is no “love” feedback either. I just don’t get those sorts of messages. Sure, I get plenty of “You …
Every day I get emails from people asking I go look at their blog, or swap links. Some work and some do not. This post is about why. Actually let’s take a step back. The first type of request says “please look at my blog” but actually means “please link to me”. I can tell …
Why do I answer every single comment made here? A couple of people have asked why I did my Reader Appreciation post. Some have even implied that I have a big enough audience to not need to do this. What is it about comments I am so obsessed about? There are three critical aspects that …
Some people actually do ignore their readers. It amazes me how many blogs leave comments unanswered. But sometimes you can ignore your readers unintentionally as Brian found out. Read his post “My Contact Form Has Been Broken For Months“. A timely reminder to test your contact form and ensure any contact details you publish are …
Another week, another Killer Flagship Content ebook review roundup! Don Campbell There are no cheap tricks here, only guidelines on creating quality content that your readers want and need. Nathan Briggs the first time I’ve seen all the information in one cohesive well presented package. Definitely a useful file to have on your hard-drive “Colbs” …
I thought I would just take a moment to thank my top commenters. Thanks for all your contributions, it is very much appreciated ๐ Bes Zain Dawud Miracle Marc Chase Andrew Ferguson John Liz Strauss George Ahmed Bilal Maki Doug Karr Krishna De John Wesley Ashish Mohta Jack HMTKSteve jhay James Colbs Anthony Baggett Tony …
Terry has added a fun feature to his blog – Blog Fight! Now you can have your own blog fight between A-List Bloglebrities and the like, using this nifty Technorati-powered tool below. Of course I am only happy because my blog won its bout ๐
A commenter called John asked why I “censor” comments. I was taken aback. Obviously the implication is I pick and choose what appears on my blog. Of course I do, but not based on if the commenter agrees with me or not. I thought I would take a moment to explain how I go about …
Andrew Ferguson has posted up a great post on where to find Great Free Photos for Your Blog Knowing where to look is just as important as what you find. I know most people’s first instinct is “Google Images!” Ignore that instinct. Google Images is useful for some things, but not really for this. There’s …
This week I was pulled up on my comment links having the default “no-follow” attribute. This led to me installing the WordPress “do-follow” plugin and also to questions about if no-followed links have any value. First of all let me explain what “no-follow” means. The idea was hatched to prevent spammers profiting from carpet-bombing blogs …
One way to get more productivity out of yourself and your team is to understand what motivates them and supply more of it. Seth Godin says many companies are full of two types of people I now firmly believe that there are two polar opposites at work: Thrill seekers and Fear avoiders I can see …
Since my post on the benefits of commenting I have been asked this question a few times so I thought it must be something bloggers puzzle over. Here is the question as asked by “Haacked” in the original thread: Sometimes I find I am writing a loooong comment in response. So I abandon the comment …
More bloggers have been reviewing my free Killer Flagship Content eBook. Randa Clay I have a lot of respect for Chris and have really benefited from reading his blog. Chris’ writing style is particularly engaging and easy to follow. Raj Dash Chris practices what he preaches, turning his ebook Killer Flagship Content into flagship content …
Remember last week I asked you to try commenting more? Please try this. For the next week make an effort to comment on more blogs. Each day post more comments than the last, on more blogs. Comment well, not just “ditto”. Add something of value, your own thoughts. So what was all that about? I …
Something a bit different for this post. The other day I had an opportunity to talk to Sean D’Souza, a cartoonist, marketing guru and expert on sales psychology based in Auckland, New Zealand. We cover a fair amount of ground but some of the highlights include: Why he doesn’t believe in advertising How he is …
A reader asked me about my monetization plan for chrisg.com and was surprised that I didn’t feature Adsense. My answer? Adsense is too fragile for me. Then I read Darrens Speedlinking post Shoemoney posts an email from someone trying to extort money from him as an AdSense publisher by threatening to close down his AdSense …
More reviews are coming in for Killer Flagship Content … Dax Desai The eBook is an excellent read for any blogger. If you wish to take your blog from interesting to must-have bookmark, you need to read this eBook. Mac Dean How can you pack so much information into 14 pages, I have no idea. …
Aaron Potts Tagged me with his “Simply Successful Secrets” meme. *Sigh*. Memes. I love reading them, find it hard to do them. This one could be interesting though. Here are the rules. Compose a new blog post listing the top 5 to 10 things that you do almost every day that help you to be …
Threadwatch.org reports on a Ad Age study researching blog reader habits. It showed they are loyal, reading the same blogs regularly, and judge them based on quality of writing. A specific topic focus is also valued highly. Most interesting to me was the confirmation of how people find new blogs 67.3% of the respondents follow …
Two tips I always advise when someone asks about starting a blog Read lots of blogs Comment often and well Before even considering setting up a blog I think you should do those things, and when you have started blogging you should do them even more. I imagine most of you already do read blogs. …
As a strange hybrid of Internet Marketer and Blogger (amongst other things) I noted with interest Darrens worry about Talking to Internet Marketers about Blogging The —หdaunting’ feelings don’t come from being afraid of public speaking (I’ve been doing that for years) but more because to this point I’ve always found internet marketing —หtypes’ to …
Ever feel you don’t have enough time? Not enough money? I’m sure it is a familiar thought. There are lots of things I would like to do “if only I had the time”. I wish I could afford … lots of things. Thinking about this though I have found there is often enough time to …
Digg reckons their algorithms can spot paid-to-Digg patterns. Looks like they can’t. Annalee Newitz has successfully paid a company to Digg her blog, read about it over at Wired I can tell you exactly how a pointless blog full of poorly written, incoherent commentary made it to the front page on Digg. I paid people …
Garrett French learned the hard way how to approach forums for content and traffic One key difference is that I opened a forum thread to DISTRIBUTE content rather than to ask a question and start to GENERATE content. I did ask a question at the end of the thread, but my intention was partly to …
Guest writing on blogs can help you reach a new audience, build a better profile, network and perhaps grab a powerful link or two. While it is a great opportunity you have to do it right. It’s a topic that has been on my mind recently after being invited by a couple of bloggers to …
I have just read Seth Godins post on Name tags and I think some of his thoughts apply equally to blogs if you don’t know someone’s name, you are hesitant to talk to them. if you don’t talk to them, you never get to know them and you both lose. if you are wearing a …
A reader of my digital photography blog asked me how I find new blogs to subscribe to. At first I was surprised at the question, I add new blogs to my feed reader all the time. In fact I really ought to trim it down. It is an important issue after thinking about it. Thinking …
Reading over at ZDNet.com, Dave Winer has been blogging ten years. In April, Dave will have been blogging for ten years. He can be considered the proto-blogger and developer of the proto-blogging software. Today, about 70 million blogs have been created—โtens of thousands per day sprout up. Most of them don’t get much sunlight or …
Yes, powerful headlines are vital. No need to go over that. There is one factor though that is even more important. So important that if you don’t get it right … even the most compelling headline will flop. People pass by. The reader yawns. What is this vital factor you ask? While you are reading …
