Is your blog a waste of time?

Blogs have been categorized as:

• Pointless
• Ego-capsules
• Not read by anyone
• Overdone
• Underpaid
• Time wasters
• Not real marketing tools
• Should I go on?

That’s great. Go ahead with your bad self and believe that hooey. But it just occurred to me that my two main writing gigs right now (you know, the ones that are feeding and housing and otherwise gainfully supporting my family) are mine because of this blog.

After seeing/hearing one of the co-founders of gig #1, I wrote a post about my experience sitting in the audience and moving about my life in relation to what she’d spoken about that morning. I emailed her and thanked her and shared the link. The rest, as they say, is in the bank and on my resume.

When I began writing for company #2, the boss checked me out online—which led him here. Which led him to the realization that if I wrote for them the way I write on this blog, they would have writing and content creation and creative vision that completely broke out of the industry standard (in a good way).

What I get from these stories is this: people/companies/industries want to do it differently (or the good ones that are worth working for do anyway). They want to stand out. And they’re looking for something real, that resonates.

In both cases, I didn’t follow some weird, get rich quick gizmo. I was just myself. I was writing the way I wanted to write. The way that I love to write. The way that lights me up. I followed my own trail of happy. Hit my own personal sweet spot. And, kapow, it lit some other people up, too.

Remember when people sent wild and crazy resumes—in video, in varying shapes and sizes, in the guise of a gimmick? (That seems like it was the 80′s, maybe early 90′s? Because in the 80′s I was still a kid…so why would I have known that? Anyway, I digress.)

This is like that-ish. Only better. I say: create a space where you can be YOU. And don’t make it a one time deal like the resume. Keep it going, let it move and ricochet and travel with you. Let them see you write, sing, sculpt, build, sell, help, cook, run—whatever it is that you do in just that you-like way. Let yourself out. Fully.

Wonder if you’re wasting your time.

And then rev up your vacuum—first on the ‘blow out’ setting…until you’re ready to start pulling it all in.

Image credit: pittcaleb

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo meets Writing Roads (another girl with a tattoo or three)

I’m bad at picking books to read at the bookstore, you know, when it’s just me and shelves of beautifully packaged words. Apparently I missed that gene. I get swayed by the cover or the fact that the author’s name kind of looks like mine and I’m blinded by the dream of being published. Anywho, the ones I pick up on my own almost always disappoint.

Thank the good lord, I’m very good at taking book orders recommendations.

I might be a little annoying about it too. I ask a million questions, like: Do any animals get hurt? (I literally can’t take it) and Is it scary? and How fast, exactly, do you think I’ll be able to read it? (Because the world has to stop until I finish). I like to get the full review before I invest my time and I like to know what I’m getting myself into it. I demand full ‘word of mouth’ service.

As a result, I end up with superb books. Books that smart people told me I had to read. Or else.

Even though I like girls with tattoos…

And so it was with The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. First of all, I never would have picked this book up on my own. Even though I like girls with tattoos, I’m not into dragons. And it’s a murder mystery type of book, not my usual genre. But, my parents – who have a superb reading record (I did get that gene) – gave it to me for Christmas. And I saw their eyes light up when I ripped the wrapping paper away. And I knew that even though this book promised some unpleasant subject matter, and even though it started out with a lot of hooha about banking and business (yawn) – this book was going to be a keeper.

Turns out, it’s a trilogy: The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played With Fire and The Girl Who Kicked The Hornets’ Nest. Adding to the intrigue is that the author, Stieg Larsson, died of a heart attack right after he handed in his manuscripts. He has no idea that he’s sold millions of books, that this book is becoming a raving hit and that three movies have been made based on the trilogy. A writer’s life is just full of ironical detours, eh?

Is fiction ever really fiction?

There’s also more intrigue in that his life oddly mirrors much of his protagonist’s life. You know how I love when art imitates life and when fiction isn’t really all that fictional. And, for the geeky among us, this is the first book I’ve read where modern technology (laptops, email, the internet, hackers) are seamlessly interwoven into the story without seeming artificial.

My latest GIG…

And then the planets collided and I was hired to do the social media marketing campaign for the first movie. The author, the books and the movie are all Swedish, and they’ve reached cult status overseas, both the books and the movie have won prestigious awards over there. My campaign over here is going to be very bloggy. I’m staging a mystery for readers to solve across the blogosphere...so stay tuned. You could win premier tickets, meet-ups with the actual girl with the dragon tattoo, shirts, books…the whole bit.

I think books are best found through word of mouth…and now I’ve been charged with the task of putting this book into as many wordy mouths as humanly possible. How cool is that?

And, between you and me, the book is that good. So, read it. Or else. And then, tell everyone you know about it. Or else. And then, go see the movie. Or else. And then, tell everyone you know to see it. You know, or else.

Blog content: trunks, branches, leaves

I just came across a post by Ari Herzog where he answers the question, ‘Should bloggers only blog about one topic or is it okay for them to talk about a lot of different things?’

I was relieved actually to see that his answer was quite liberal; he (with quote help from Jake Halpern) said that bloggers need to blog about what interests them. If the topics start to spread, so be it.

But, I have to add something to that. I agree that if you aren’t writing about your passions, then the writing will fall flat. Still, I think there has to be a tie that binds. It could be an industry, a product, a service, a genre, a person, a group, a pair of pants…something.

When I talk to companies/business about blog content strategy, I use the image of a tree. The blog’s main topic, your main theme is the trunk of the tree. All of the posts that you write are the branches and leaves of the tree.

Some posts will literally spring from the trunk, like those first two or three branches that separate and grow up and out.

Some posts will be quite far removed from the trunk, they’ll be those teeny tiny branches, fifty feet out, reaching into the sun – but they will still be connected to the trunk, they’re definitively part of the same tree.

And then you’ve got the posts that are everything else in between. But there’s always a connection, no matter how small.

Why is this important?

1. You don’t want your readers to get lost or confused. Make them feel good and smart, not disoriented and dumb.
2. You want to have a point. Otherwise you might end up sounding disoriented and dumb.
3. If you’re blogging for business, it’s good to have a tie back to your product, service or industry. If your blogs purpose it to showcase your talents as a dance coach, I’m not sure how talking about the many ways to cook an egg will help you.
4. You’re building a relationship with your readers. If you always blog about painting and suddenly throw in some posts about roller derbies, they’re going to feel a rift in the relationship. They might even feel abandoned and leave you comments like, ‘I don’t even know who you are anymore.’

I’m all for expanding your content. The more branches you create, the more likely you are to catch the web traffic blowing by in your tree. Just do your readers a favor and maintain your core connection.

Image credit: joiseyshowaa

Channel the Saran Wrap

The only problem with it is that it’s not environmentally friendly, so don’t channel that part of the Saran Wrap™, but grab hold of everything else and apply it to your writing, online, blogging and social media efforts.

Saran Wrap™ is:

1. Transparent. If you aren’t transparent, you’re hiding something, which makes you untrustworthy…people want to connect with people, not businesses, NOT smoke screens.Transparency is about being really genuine – don’t just be a car salesman, be a car salesman who loves sandwiches, tennis, his kids and the novel you’ve been writing for the last year.

2. Clear. Be clear about your mission, your goals, your industry, your philosophy, your blog topic, the scope of what you do. Clarity is about your own personal understanding and connection to your professional life and plan. If you aren’t clear, you’re confused, disorganized and ineffective – things that will negatively effect your productivity, overall business, relationships, etc.

3. Sticky. If folks just breeze on through your blog, website, store – you haven’t really gotten anywhere. You want to stick to them, you want them to stick to you, you want them to subscribe, bookmark, buy, sign-up, return, remember you. The point is to build a long relationship and have it expand over time.

4. Connected. Ever notice how it’s very difficult to get just a little bit of Saran Wrap™ off the roll? The wrap is so connected to itself, like brothers in arms, a VERY tight network. Use this in two ways: 1) build your own network via your blog and your social networks and, 2) encourage this network to tell their own networks about you as well.

5. ‘The’ word to the extent that people think your name represents the entire industry – think Kleenex™ here. Saran Wrap™ is a registered trademark brand name, the product is actually plastic wrap. Word of mouth and a good product has made them the industry leader, standard and mascot.

6. A Tool. One box, all you need. Saran Wrap™ has the container, the wrap, the cardboard tube that keeps the wrap in check, the metal teeth to cut the wrap. Have all of the tools people need at the ready. Make it easy for them to contact you, purchase your product or service, use your product or service, tell their friends about their contact or service, etc.

Don’t pick the G.I. Joe action figure

Image courtesy of Destro

We have a toy philosophy for our kids that basically states: go open ended.

But, back to the toys. If you give kids a G.I. Joe action figure, you’ve basically defined for them the who, what, how and why of the toy. I mean where do they really have to go with it?

Juxtapose that with a wooden block. A wooden block can be anything. A dog, a car, a mountain…could even be G.I. Joe.

A static, brochure website is the equivalent of the G.I. Joe toy. Basically, it is what it is. You can change up your content or your images (if you have an easy to navigate content management system (CMS))…but to really expand it any way, you’d have to pay big bucks to a designer or coder. Just like you’d have to buy G.I. Joe’s new uber-tank to expand his outfit and capabilities.

But, the blog is the wooden block. It’s designed to be anything you want, anything you can imagine – and it’s made to grow by:

• the blogger him/herself
• the theme
• the blogging software
• the blog posts
• the plug-ins
• the widgets
• the links
• the readers
• the subscribers
• the sponsors
• the writer’s growing expertise
• the industry’s transformation
• the traffic
• the comments
• the search engine ranking
• the inquiries
• the relationships
• the technological advances
• the infinite possibilities…

Which one do you want??? Just askin’…

vacation: digging in, digging out

I’m still in a bit of shock, but it’s true, I took Labor Day Weekend (most of Friday and all of Saturday, Sunday and Monday) off. From work. Though my cell phone is a Blackberry and I couldn’t keep myself from checking my email every once in a while, it mostly just put me at ease because it confirmed that other people were taking a vacation as well. Imagine that.

So, I took a few days off. And, I liked it.

My biggest challenge was not thinking about this (Tuesday) morning. My biggest practice was to completely relax. My goal will be to dive into all that I have to do today, slow and steady, while trying to keep this wonderful feeling of calm with me as I work.

Vacations, and breaks in general are so important for our health – and I really do understand that – but then, there’s dealing with all of the time lost, the 300+ emails in my inbox, the piles of voice mails and the looooong to do lists. As a freelancer and owner of my own business, I continue to search for a way to take a relaxing vacation without having the stress of coming back. If you have any great strategies, I’d love to hear them.

Honestly, I was relieved to know that I could do this. That I could spend hours not thinking about work and actually enjoying myself.

Alright now, wish me luck, I’m going back in…

how to use twitter as a marketing tool

“I get most of this stuff, but I still don’t understand this Twitter thing.” Seriously, if I hear that one more time today. There is also the concern that not much can be accomplished in 140 characters…hah! Here’s how I recommend that you make Twitter work for you and your business:

1. Understand that the point of Twitter is to build a network that you can easily and quickly broadcast your latest news to – whether the point of your tweets is to: drive traffic, sell a product, market a service, establish expert status, share news or gather information, you are trying to get people to follow you (ie. be repeat customers, again and again). HOWEVER, Twitter is not about the hard sell. In fact, if you only promote yourself, product or service, no one will connect with you. Networking 101: build the relationship well before you ask anyone for anything.
2. Many people have Twitter linked into their phones so they can tweet and be tweeted wherever they are. We are no longer limited to mobile email or being connected only when we’re on our computers.
3. Use the search function to find people connected to your keytopics or keywords…and follow them. If you sell organic baby soap, search for: moms, dads, parents, babies, body care, eco-friendly products, baby gifts and on and on. You will find lists of people under each category that have listed those keywords in their profiles that may have good information for you and you for them.
4. Hopefully, when you follow these people, a good number of them will follow you back. But if they don’t you will have many opportunities to start conversations with them as a result of their tweets. Who knows when one of them will be looking for, say, an eco-product that you or one of your clients has – and they want to include it in a post they’re writing for Martha Stewart. The opportunities are endless. NEVER discount or disqualify anyone unless they’re spammers (selling selves, sex, pharmaceuticals, get rich quick schemes, etc.).
5. When you follow someone, send them a message introducing yourself and noting something positive about their work, site or tweets. Stand out by reaching out.
6. Respond to anyone who follows you by acknowledging the follow and, again, noting something positive about their work, site or tweets.
7. Retweet when it is deserved (Def’n: Sharing a particularly good tweet of someone you are following by rebroadcasting it to all that are following you).
8. Participate by tweeting on a regular, but not obnoxious basis.
9. Offer good tweets that share interesting information and real value. People tend to discount you if you always tweet things like, “wow I could really go for some Grape Nuts right about now.” They are much more likely to follow tweets that offer, “just found out the extrusion process used to make breakfast cereal renders the grain proteins toxic” (true fact, by the way). See the difference?
10. Give back by answering people’s questions. When @magpie is at her wit’s end about ants in her kitchen, tell her that a little rubbing alcohol in a spray bottle of water dispersed regularly over her counters will work every time. It doesn’t kill them, it just nullifies smells so the scout ants head somewhere else. This is true, but the point is that no one likes to ask a question and then sit around listening to the echo.
11. Follow me on Twitter…I’d love to connect.

Update: My good friend from Flexpaths, Erin, just left me a comment in response to this blog about a great video by Lee Lefeever that explains what Twitter is ‘in plain english’. This isn’t about the marketing side, just a great answer to ‘what the heck is this Twitter thing?’ Perfect for those visual learners…

web 2.0 is a two-way street

So, I have this friend…and this is how our conversations usually go:

Me: Hi! How are you?

Him: Great, things are really good. I just got a new client, the kids are growing fast, built a new playset in our backyard.

(pause)

Me: Sounds excellent. What did you do for the holidays?

Him: Oh, it was awesome – we went to the Bahamas. Jill’s parents rented a house for everyone, we stayed for 1o days.

(pause)

Me:  Wow! Fantastic. You said the kids are well? Little Oscar’s going into kindergarten just like my Sophie this year, right? Are you all ready for the big step?

Him: Yeah…we’ve been reading him books about school and walking the route to school, met his teachers. I think he’ll do great!

(Pause)

…and on and on…every single conversation.

Hopefully, you picked up on what’s missing here. These conversations are 100% one-sided. Never does he ask me about me or my life – even when I prod him a bit. And, honestly, I don’t have time for it. Not in my live social life and not online.

If you want to succeed in either arena, I suggest you join the conversation. Participate. Don’t be just a taker, ewww. It doesn’t feel good on the other side. It’s a big devaluing gust that no one wants.

Talk to your followers, friends, connections, other lenses, favorites – however you connect. Just a simple thanks, tell me who you are and what you do is a great way to start a conversation that can end up just about anywhere, but it’s usually somewhere good. You’re building your team, your network, your audience – plug in to them, they won’t forget. At least I never do.

webkinz marketing ploy or true groundswell?

For one of my clients, I have a Google Alert set for ‘environment kids’ and over the last week, the query has returned several blog and zine articles talking about how wonderful the Webkinz animals and website are. The articles are quite similar which makes me wonder if these bloggers and writers are desperate for things to write about (and recycling content) or if Webkinz is spreading this promotional material around.

My cycnicism might be connected to the fact that I think the only thing that Webkinz is teaching children is the art of needless consumption. Don’t these articles show that people are still drinking the Kool-aid? Because if it is the groundswell, then the people are speaking and they truly like the product. Maybe I’m too harsh, and the Webkinz franchise is good because it keeps kids away from drugs and sex.

Let’s just say that this article proliferation is the product of a Webkinz marketing programme. I wonder if it’s effective…and I imagine how it could be more so. Warning: There may be some true marketing nuggets buried under my glib attitude.

1. Get more people to post this article. I’ve only gotten about 15 returns (mind you my Google Alert’s reach is limited). If they really wanted to energize this thing, they could activate thousands of mommy bloggers by offering a free stuffed animal in exchange for a post. It would be a great investment because the toys are as addictive as crack…according to the articles.

2. Add some video. That’s where it’s at. Why ask people to read, when they can watch. Show us some adorable children playing with their toys and computers. Prove that Webkinz are so wonderful.

3.  Sprinkle in some links. The articles only have one link – and it’s to a Webkinz blog…not even to the Webkinz site! Hmmmm, very interesting. Maybe this blogger is behind it all!

4.  Try to shut down the articles. Nothing makes press like trying to get something removed from the web. If the company made a stink about this blog being linked to (even if it’s theirs) or about all of these unauthorized articles, it would be very loud and then the articles and attention would spread like poison ivy and eventually turn into money.

Don’t think I haven’t noticed that their ploy has worked on me. Here I am, talking about Webkinz. Something I vowed not to do, ever.

Have a wonderful weekend…

can a mentee fall in love with their mentor?

I find my blog stats wildly interesting. Through my own, I found that someone landed on my site after searching this question: ‘can a mentee be infatuated with their mentor?’ Presumably, I came up in the search results because I have written about mentors and mentees, though I haven’t tackled this particular situation. But, it’s an interesting question…

And the answer is yes.

You may or may not know this, but I hold over 500 hours of yoga training and teacher certification. Incidentally, this training provided me with quite a bit of information on this issue. Because be it mentor/mentee, teacher/student, doctor/patient, etc…this is a real issue for many people.

It’s natural for the mentee to imagine themselves or to actually become in love with their mentor. This mentor, afterall, has all of the information, has found success, is living the life the mentee yearns for and exerts a sense of omniscience, power and control – over all situations.

Because the mentor holds the power, I believe it is the mentor’s responsibility to maintain the boundary, not abuse their position, and act like a real person. There is a wonderful book called Ethics of Caring: Honoring the Web of Life in Our Professional Healing Relationships by Kylea Taylor, featuring a Foreword by Jack Kornfield, that I highly recommend. Yes, I realize that it say’s ‘Healing’ Relationships…and they are speaking to yoga teachers, doctors, healers, therapists. But sometimes I am all of those things to my clients. Marketing your business and self-promotion are intense, they require growth, risk-taking and a real and internal look. Maybe they don’t define ‘healing’, but they do incorporate critical points in the process of transformation and development. Anyway, my point is this book will be helpful if you’re in the ‘mentor’ roll.

If you are in the mentee, student or patient roll and you are struggling with feelings for your ‘mentor’ or if you feel that your ‘mentor’ is being inappropriate in any way, please get help and support. Talk to someone that you can trust or call the RAINN hotline: 800-656-HOPE (4673).