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Blogging Under A Rock

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I hope these key words in this headline don’t draw more readers…no one wants to blog under a rock, least of all moi. But, that’s what I’m accusing myself of absolute – I’ve been oblivious to anything outside of my immediate purview – client billable work, drafting content for my blog and a few guest posts, too, and that’s about it.

Here’s what prompted this post (and Steve Farnsworth and Paul Roberts thought I was kidding):

On Friday afternoon Steve tweeted me this awesome PR33 Blogs List from Paul Roberts’s blog. I thought, cool, I need to see this; thanks, Steve. Lo, I read the list to find myself included, much to my utter amazement. (And, thus the over-the-top thank you in comments that likely included my embarrassment at being late to the party.)

You see, I had not previously met Paul Roberts (that I knew of; unless we had drinks one night, Paul?), and here he had amassed an incredibly influential list of PR bloggers with insightful comments about each. (Again, thanks, Paul.)

AND, I DIDN’T KNOW IT!

So, I’ve been blogging under a rock, and that rock has bashed my head. Here’s what I’m guilty of and will attempt to change:

Problem: I use Triberr religiously to comment on bloggers in my tribes, and rarely do I hit others’ blogs to extend my reach. (I still like Triberr, and we’ll address that topic another day.)

Change-Up: Form another tribe with new folks and interact with their writings as much as original tribes.

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Problem: I go to familiar blogs with familiar communities who frequently come to my house and return the comments in familiar ways.

Change-Up: Get out of your comfort zone, Jayme! This becomes too routine; change it up, Girl!

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Problem: I realize the labor intensivity of extending blog reach, and while I sometimes comment on new blogs, it’s often isolated and not consistent.

Change-Up: Quit your whining and add “subscribe to comments” on all those blogs to keep you engaged.

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Problem: I go where I’m invited;  if you ask me to come, I’m there.

Change-Up: That’s not a problem; just stop waiting for an invite – insert yourself on more occasions.

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Problem: I am failing at a consistent focus on Facebook community building, and now that Google has slammed all of us with forced participation, I’m worried how I’m going to manage enhancing all these channels.

Change-Up: Anyone got a solution to this one? I’m overwhelmed and want to go back under my rock.

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Problem: I’m a Twitter girl to a fault; I keep it open all day long, attempt to work the stream and open new conversations on occasion, yet my faves column is filled with just that – faves! Twitter is my first love, my first channel (even before a blog), and I won’t let go of it, but maybe a little less here and more elsewhere?

Change-Up: Hah. Yes, create a new column called “Tweeps To Know” and head in their direction each day.

What problems and change-ups might you include to ensure you’re not blogging under a rock?

Should Health Of Blog Community Align To ROI?

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I had a post all ready for today, and then @TheJackB spat all over my blog in comments. I could not let that slide, so this post is a compilation of his musings and mine. (You get co-authorship, TheJack, but just not in the byline…heh.)

The Sales Lion wrote a post yesterday about why community is not Holy Grail of blogging that I’m sure is creating a slew of comments, not the most of which is Gini Dietrich (although I’ve not been over to comment myself). Marcus said something to the effect that “Gini shocked the blogosphere admitting her business almost went bankrupt in 2011 in spite of her healthy blog, Spin Sucks, and its huge community with lengthier commentary.” (paraphrase)

IMHO (In my humble opinion), Arment Dietrich is a service firm; it delivers professional services and seeks clients to pay it to stay viable. Gini is the point person, face, poster child, CEO, founder, biz dev artist for her firm, and, oh, yeah, she’s chief cook and bottle writer for her highly popularly ranked and accoladed blog, Spin Sucks. Her new product, Spin Sucks Pro, for which peeps will subscribe to content and teachings via webinars and writings from around the ‘sphere, launches soon (after a one-year delay during which she had to fire a tech team and start from scratch). (Never write sentences like these two.)

When you’re running a successful digital marketing/PR shop with staff and expensive headquarters near the Merchandise Mart in Chicago, and you’re launching a brand new online moneymaker that fails and requires an immediate new investment in tech dollars and clients refuse to pay you for six months and the economy sucks (like Spin), then what’s so surprising about a firm nearly going belly up (in spite of a successful blog and community)?

This dilemma is one many successful entrepreneurs face —  how to clone oneself. We are the brand and brain power clients wants, hire and require. Using Gini Dietrich was a poor example to showcase that a profitable business has nothing to do with a healthy blogging community, and here’s why:

The target audience for Spin Sucks Pro are PR, marketing, social media peeps; a healthy community of such is required to ensure that Gini’s new $ venture succeeds. Can you imagine if she had attempted to launch Spin Sucks Pro without putting all the sweat and tears into building a healthy and growing community at its precursor? Right.

 

Here’s what THEJACKB had to say in comments here yesterday:

Yep, I commented on Marcus’s post. I was half awake at the time and uninterested in picking that post apart but I am not convinced that there is a relationship between Gini’s biz and comments.

Fact is that if you can demonstrate to brands that your blog reaches the eyeballs that they want to get in front of then you can make money blogging. It happens, and any one of us has the opportunity to make it happen. It might not make sense for some of us to pursue that path but the opportunity is there.

Let’s circle back to comments and community. You and I (Jack and Jayme) have talked about this, and I’ll repeat that I don’t see comments as being currency. They aren’t always useful social proof for whether a blog is popular, influential etc.

But that doesn’t apply across the board. Fact is that many of the people that speak at blog conferences get their positions as faculty because of their community and the comments. It is not impossible to get a gig without, but it is much easier when you have it.

Data mining is useful for bloggers. When you start to break down who your readers are you can learn all sorts of interesting things. During the past four days more than 4k uniques took a moment to read my post.

Two PR agencies and several brands were camped out on that post for extended periods of time. I don’t believe that they hung out there solely because they loved the writing. There is something more going on. My job is to figure out why. Maybe it is because they are looking for a writer or maybe it set off a keyword alert, but I’ll put money down that there is a money making opportunity tied into it.

Let’s circle back to the question of can you make money and approach it in a more direct manner. Let’s pretend that blogger XYZ has a product/service that they sell and that there is a valid value proposition tied into it.

Blogger XYZ needs to learn how to close. Ask for the order. Stop pussy footing around with “you might be interested or want” and ask for the sale. Remember Alec Baldwin in Glen Garry Glen Ross- “Always Be Closing.” (Excuse me while I reconnect the IV, the coffee drip just ran out.) (Indeed, Friend, you exhausted yourself with that spittle.)

What say you? (This is edited; thank you, Marcus.) Are business success and community related? Need you have a thriving blog community to also have a thriving business?

 

Blogging Voice, Topics, Gifts

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There are more than a million blogs and no way to hit them all; nor should you try. As a blogger, it is so hard to keep motivated and keep on publishing.

Someone paid me a huge compliment the other day about the quality of the content I publish, and it brings me back to these few things (probably alive and well in the echo chamber yet bears repeating):

Make Your Blog Yours

Your blog is what you make it. Only your commitment will make it successful. Doesn’t matter how many subscribers you have; peeps come because of what you say and the passion with which you write.

I have noticed many bloggers writing about life, depression, motherhood, struggle with medical issues or family woes who earn hundreds of comments and RTs. I try not to look at my less-than-10 RTs or 30 comments in comparison because it makes me wonder what’s wrong with what I’m saying and whether it has merit.

The answer is…NOTHING.

I write a specialty blog (not about life and emotion) about my profession in public relations, business, marketing, social media, and whatever strikes me in re current events and global affairs. The peeps who visit are similar or same. That’s a major point…what you write about breeds a community of likes. You will attract dog lovers if you write about dogs; you will find numbers guys if you promote analytics. More mommies will read your blog than non-parents when you write about kids every day.

Topics

When you write a blog that is a mash up of various and sundry topics, can you realistically expect your community to grow if they have no idea what they’ll get when they visit? Humans, by nature, appreciate few surprises. Goes the same with a blogging community…take a look at yours and see if you’ve been able to capture and keep 10 peeps in your community.  If I’m right, it could very well be that your content is too broad; test the waters for a few weeks and write about a theme or topic you appreciate. Watch your passion come alive and your community, too.

Motivation & Voice

Motivation and voice are huge factors to blogging success. Let no one tell you how frequently you have to blog; do what’s comfy for you. The very best tip I can offer is to strive to find your voice. I have two significant pieces on voice coming soon to Spin Sucks and Spin Sucks Pro. In one of them I say “I write like I talk and sprinkle f-bombs and flowers all over.” (That’s mostly in comments, but it’s very true.)

Do you write like you talk? I visited Jason Konopinski’s blog for the first time and was so shocked at his voice, I asked him in comments whether he always wrote in this style? My surprise came because his comments are laden with snark and cajoling; when I read his academic voice upon my first visit, I was blown away. Here’s the deal…it works for him! He’s the blogger, he owns his writing, style, voice, and ideas; so, too, do you. Have the confidence to put yourself out there because you can!

Blogging Gives Back

Blogging provides the opportunity to give back. I loved, loved the gifts I gave around Christmas inviting peeps to Share Your Blog Here and the subsequent follow-up post 50+Bloggers To Know Now. All over, peeps are saying in comments “I found your blog at Jayme’s 50 list.”

I received comments, thank you notes, tweets, a growing community, and more hidden gifts I can’t realize.  The best thing is I didn’t expect any of it!

Blogging provides these hidden rewards and the friendships you create and grow via the written word. So keep on, Friends, and if you have a question along the way, please ask. Every blogger’s journey is never smooth; when the twists and turns go straight, from there it’s a clean sail.

 

 

 

 

Share Your Blog Here

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This post is inspired by new commenter in the Soulati-‘TUDE! community, Adam Clarke. Thanks, Adam!

Today marks the first in what’s hoped to be a continuing series for bloggers to share their blogs. My goal is to get 50 bloggers to give a blurb about their blog, its topic(s), and of course some link love. I will visit each of the bloggers who share and try to keep those regular visits happening. If your blog is from a vertical other than social media, marketing or PR, then ALL THE BETTER!

If I already know you and you’re a part of this community now, no matter! We all can be reminded what you’re writing about and try to get introduced to new peeps. If you’re at all like me, my time is limited and I rarely get a chance to visit others as I want and need to. Perhaps this will make it easier (is that selfish?).

So, I’ll begin:

1. Soulati-‘TUDE! was born in March 2010 and it’s all about whatever I want, heh. But, it’s highly geared to public relations, social media, business and marketing. I’ll write the occasional off-topic post because I’m inspired to share a rant or three, but generally that’s what you’ll find here.

2. The SMB Collective was a trial run for a blogging community launched October 2010 with about six core contributors. Its topics are aimed at small business owners and anything is game for the writing. The blog still exists yet is highly dormant due to time constraints and the need for fresh writing. If anyone wants to help me push this blog back to new heights, I’m game and interested! Please…!

Now, it’s your turn…please share…and let’s get to 50 new blogs we all want to know about! Thanks for playing!

Where Am I Blogging?

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Funny title, eh? Indeed, where the heck am I blogging when this space has been empty all week?

Let me share, so you know I have been busy…just elsewhere:

On Law in New York

>> JD Match, is the first online law student recruiting service that allows law student member to rank law firm members and law firms to rank law students based on hiring criteria. Launched in April 2011, the service is run by Janet Stanton, CEO, and Bruce MacEwen, president (also of Adam Smith Esq. fame).

The guest post I wrote for them appeared Monday this week, called “Becoming A Lawyer Begins By Building A Solid Foundation.”

 

About Respect for Life in Romania

>> When I wrote my post a few weeks back about the Mexican drug cartel decapitating bloggers/journalists, my friend Stan Faryna reacted. He invited a repeat of this article on his blog in Romania to help spread the word about the disrespect for life.  Today, Stan kindly ran a repeat of the post, and there are several wonderful comments contributing to the discussion.

You may access it here, “Murder Will Not Silence Us.”

 

I welcome your visits on these two blogs and will engage with you there when you stop in. Thanks to those who already have!