When the blogosphere works

I just happened upon something really happy – it’s a cliche, it’s nothing new – but it reminds me about the power of blogging and why we’re here – either personally or for business.

Here it is: Heather Armstrong just had a new baby. A beautiful, healthy girl – Marlo Armstrong.

(the cliche is twofold: 1. babies, puppies, duh, and 2. everyone loves Dooce – told you, nothing new)

If you don’t know Heather Armstrong – she’s also known as Dooce. She writes a phenomenal blog with 4.9 MILLION pageviews per month, sells advertising for a lotta, lotta money, got a major book deal with Simon & Schuster, wrote two books, has been featured on every major news outlet you can imagine, received numerous awards and on and on.

I titled this post, When the blogosphere works because after live tweeting her labor and then announcing her new babe on Twitter and her blog, Heather has wracked up 2,463 comments on that post to date. I didn’t read them all – but I scanned through the majority and they’re all sweet, kind, supportive, joyful variations of: Congratulations! Her name rocks! I’m so happy for you! Thank you so much for sharing these pictures and your experience with us!

The blogosphere has worked, and Dooce has worked it, because she has created a community of love and support around her. These commenters/readers are here for the long haul. They feel like they know Heather. In short, they are her people. In the world of marketing, she’s acquired lifelong customers, trust, a relationship. They’ll buy the next book and the next calendar and the next…

Dooce represents the dream of many bloggers that I know. She’s one of, if not the biggest, bloggers of her kind out there. How did she (and how can you) do it? To follow her example, here’s what she’s done well:

1. The shock factor. There’s no denying that Heather has been raw-er and naked-er than most. What will she do next? brings people back.
2. The real factor. Raw and naked really only work when it’s real. This is a genuine sharing and reveal of a woman’s fascinating and hilarious life as a recovering Mormon in Utah.
3. The voice/brand factor. Pure, recognizable and comfortable. Like your favorite shoes that make you look hot and feel good all at the same time.
4. The intent factor. When Heather started her blog, blogs were not what they are today. She started the blog in 2001 to rail against her boss, who fired her as a result. She inadvertently coined the phrase, Dooce – check wikipedia, it’s there. And it’s always interesting to compare the people who ‘fell into’ this sort of success as opposed to the ones who ’set out to make it happen.’
5. The writing factor. Heather Armstrong is an incredible, phenomenal writer – it can’t be denied.
6. The creativity factor. Heather takes hilarious pics of her dogs. She has a monthly post/letter to her first daughter that captures the events of that month. She uses video, audio, images, words. She rotates mastheads every month and people wait to see what’s next. This point could fill up pages.
   
7. The ear factor. She’s done well because she’s listened. Oh? People like the daily Chuck? (pics of her dog) Then I’ll make a calendar and sell it on my site. In the end, she’s listened and given the people what they want in a multitude of ways.
8. The IRL factor. Heather goes to conferences and meets people, in real life. Is she available? Can you talk to her? I don’t know to what degree. But sadly and realistically, it’s impossible for someone with that kind of traffic and everyone wanting a piece to connect one to one. Has she stayed wide-open via her blog? Yes. And some people, like Chris Brogan, remain engaged as often as humanly possible as a practice…you decide what you want to do.
9. The hope factor. If Dooce can do it, so can I. She’s an American rags to riches success story. And many others have experienced this kind of success or a portion of it. Too many to count want it.

I, for one, was thrilled by the outpouring of love for the Armstrong family today. It showed me that the blogosphere does, indeed, still work.

Image courtesy of eyefruit

The Big Unplug

I once read somewhere that one of the biggest blog writing faux pas was to start a post with something like, ‘It’s been forever since I’ve blogged!’ Which I totally understand because:

1. Why call attention to the fact that you haven’t blogged or have a hard time with commitment?

2. Many people will land on specific blog posts due to a referral link or a specific search – and they aren’t necessarily repeat customers – so this information about your blogging habits will be superfluous, fairly ridiculous and, quite possibly, a turn off.

But what about the flipside? Beyond those random visitors, we all have regular readers and subscribers – don’t they deserve an explanation if there’s to be some sort of blogging gap?

Me…In a Hole

That said, I wanted to let you all know about a little experiment I’m about to begin. My brother is getting married this weekend in a state far, far away – and the family is in full pack it up and move it out mode.

I’ve been stuck in my little hole here, working away for some time now…years without air, years without an unplug beyond maybe a day. Wait, who am I kidding. My Blackberry never leaves my side, so it really has been years without taking a break.

The Big Plunge

So, I’ve decided to go on this trip without my MacBook and without my Blackberry.

When I first considered it, I immediately began to shake. I thought I must surely just be kidding. But I’ve been working so hard, that – now – I’m pretty gosh darn excited. The idea grew rather fast in my head over the past month.

As such, this is the last post for a good week…and I wish you all productive, valiant and fabulous days while I’m gone.

Oh, and if you hear something on the news about a woman that ran screaming into a Best Buy and smothered herself in Berrys, phones, laptops and headsets…you’ll know it was me – and that I just couldn’t take the ‘ripping out’ of the cord.

Image courtesy of FHKE

When people are searching for Dirty Dancing, but find You

As much of a control freak as I am, there’s something that I love about the randomness of the internet and social media. Perhaps because the form this randomness takes is in wowzah bursts of opportunity. You know, that you can start talking to someone on Twitter about dogs and the next thing you know you’re writing the blog for the American Kennel Club. Or you reconnect with an old friend from high school and they hire you to ghostwrite their shark taming memoir.

Neither of those things has actually happened to me…yet. But other wild things have, so I’m not ruling anything out. The point is that anything can and will happen when you cast your net.

Last Search Terms

If you have a blog or a website, and it has any sort of analytic capability, you’ve probably noticed that there’s a section within your stats that serves as a bastion of randomousity. (Yes, I made that word up.)

In my blog stats, this section is called ‘Last Search Terms’ and it shows me what word or phrase visitors typed into their search engine that led them to my site.

I marvel when those terms include ‘marketing writer,’ ‘how to use Twitter,’ ‘optimism in recession’ and ‘copywriter, finding my niche’ – the search engines really earned their paychecks there.

Dirty Dancing

But, some time ago, I wrote a post about viral marketing that was inspired by the Oprah show. Oprah featured people who had found fame and fortune via YouTube and their (cough) ridiculous viral videos. One of these videos included a bride and groom that learned that final Dirty Dancing dance and performed it at their wedding. In true Oprah fashion, Patrick Swayze came out and danced with the bride on the show. The picture at the top of my post shows Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey mid-dance in the movie circa 1987.

I’m shocked by how many times my ‘Last Search Terms’ shows that people landed on my site having searched for ‘Dirty Dancing.’ At least twice a day, every day. Just imagine their surprise. They do get their Dirty Dancing picture, but it comes along with a blog and website about copywriting, marketing, freelancing, social media…the works.

While I don’t actually know if those random customers become readers, subscribers or clients (I mean, really, who would admit that in the end), I can only guess that some of the people searching for ‘Dirty Dancing,’ ‘elevator music writing’ and ‘yoga book children’ arrive here, look around and stay – deciding to continue looking for all things ‘Nobody puts baby in a corner’ at some later date. That this randomness of search landing has actually led them to something and someone they needed (even if they didn’t realize it originally) is pretty cool.

Getting caught in the branches

When you write your blog, start with a clear goal and a main theme. This is the trunk of your blogging tree. Then, each post will contain variations on the theme, offshoots, branches. Some will be thick and sturdy, very closely related to the main concept, and others will be smaller and thin – still connected, though perhaps more far reaching. Build a big tree – with plenty of branches for easy and intriguing landing for a wide range of people and interests.

Unless that branch is hanging on a neighboring tree or lying on the ground, it is connected. And as the winds of the internet blow by, you never know who’ll get stuck in your branches, eat a leaf and fly on, and who will build a nest – long lasting and here to stay.

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’…

Poor John Grogan: he had no blog

Warning: spoiler alert, though, come on, it’s obvious.

On Christmas afternoon, I went to see Marley & Me, the screen adaptation of John Grogan’s memoir about his insane yellow lab and his life as a journalist. I loved the book, loved the writing, loved his dog (because I love mine.)

But, as I watched, I got stuck on something non-doggish. Grogan, who started as a reporter, was soon pigeonholed as a columnist – because he was really good at it. And, it, in this case was humorously documenting his life, his dog, his family and his community on a ongoing, regular basis to a wide, growing and devoted audience.

At one point, he left his column to try to be a reporter, again. But, he couldn’t take himself out of his articles. He pitched a column again. At home, he had an album full of his columns, cut out from the paper and pasted in…

And all I could think about was that he was a born blogger.

Ninety-nine percent of my tears were because the dog died (that’s the spoiler, but not really, it’s obvious and was in the book). There were so many tears because I’ve lost a yellow lab and it was like losing an arm – and because I do my best crying during movies.

The remaining percent of the tears goes to the tragedy of  John Grogan not having a blog during the beginning of his journey as a writer. Let me repub this part:

Humorously documenting his life, his dog, his family and his community on a ongoing, regular basis to a wide, growing and devoted audience.

Thankfully, blogs were eventually created…thankfully, John Grogan has his own blog today. I came right home to find it, and I was correct: he’s really good at it.

The brilliance of blog comments for writers

Have you ever written something on a blog about grape jelly only to come back an hour later, read your comments and realize you were wrong – that you actually wrote the post about peanut butter?

It doesn’t happen to me often, but it happens.

Blog comments offer us an incredible view of what we said, how we said it and how it lands with our audience. Did we, in fact, communicate the message we were hoping to deliver? Did we sound angry when we meant to sound passionate? Negative when we meant to be realistic?

What an opportunity to learn, to be critiqued in the pseudo-privacy of our own blog’s backend.

When this happens, I go back and reread what I wrote. I’m curious to see if I can find the place(s) that led my readers to that other place. I try to figure out how I can do it better next time…or if my readers tapped into something more fascinating than I could have, originally, imagined – which is quite often the case.

The best things you could ever write about

While I’m interested in a pretty wide range of things in this world, there are plenty of things that I’m profoundly not into. GI Joe & Barbie, Velveeta, heavy metal, comic books, hunting, skydiving, fruit cake and video games top the list.

Can you imagine if I had to write about them? Sitting down in front of the blank screen, I can imagine searching wildly for my muse to no avail – she hightailed it to a beach in Tahiti at the first mention of Toys-R-Us.

Whether you’re a marketing copywriter, a freelance writer, a blogger and/or a business owner, you will always be looking for good content, the next job and the mojo to write and make it good.

Of course, I understand the argument that the need for a paycheck might necessitate that we write about things we aren’t inspired by. But, really?  I’m taking issue with that concept.

What if I follow my interests and because these things light me up so brilliantly, I write so well that I get accolades for that work and then more of that same kind of work? What if it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy?

I’ve written before about the fact that your energy comes through to your readers via your writing. That readers pick up on your writing emotions, even if they can’t really identify why they feel a certain way. So, if you write about GI Joe and don’t like him (or what he stands for or how he directs kids’ play into war and fighting), the reader will get that – no matter how subliminally. And let’s just say it won’t be the best ad copy we’ve ever seen.

If you’re a great or solid writer, it’ll be fine. But, don’t you want more than that? Don’t you want to be inspired, fed by your work creatively, satisfied, feeling good, making a difference with your words?

I do.

how do you blog? blogging checks and balances

I was working with a client who I do marketing, blog and writing consulting for, and we were working on her blog writing strategy when she asked me, ‘But what are the rules for blogging?’

She’s a life coach with an incredible family story who is working on a blog about/surrounding her upcoming book about coaching.

It’s important to note that we had already had an involved conversation about how she could find a voice that was conversational, not preachey, yet still full of power and information. (I couldn’t understand why that was confusing and difficult.) But seriously, my advice to her on this point was to find the person to write to that makes her feel really good, that loves/likes her unconditionally, whose relationship holds no negative emotional charge (meaning do NOT pick your spouse or your mother), who supports her, who’s a huge fan, who also calls her on her shit, who brings out her most incredible self. She has to pick that ‘you’ that she’ll be writing to. For the sake of this post and to avoid confusion, let’s call her ‘Jane’.

So, when she asked me about the rules, I told her, ‘You need checks and balances.’

As I see it, she has 4 perspectives tugging at her pen. She can’t, and shouldn’t, keep them equally balanced at all times, but her goal is to make sure that no matter what she writes, each of these corners is okay, taken care of, considered.

Here’s the plan:

• Make 4 cards, one for each perspective. In this case: 1. Jane. 2. Book Mission. 3. Personal Life and Family. 4. Coaching Work.
• Under each heading, write the definition of each perspective, the gist of what each perspective stands for, perhaps their boundaries. (Examples below)
• Tape them up in front of your computer.
• As you write, remember each perspective and make sure they’re okay with what you’re writing, that you meet each of their standards and requirements.

Here’s an idea of what those cards look like, all flushed out -

1. Jane: Confidence, energy, humor, total support, real connection, authenticity, acceptance.
2. Book Mission: to help people with life in general, decisions, challenges, time management, relationships, balance, etc.
3. Life: children, husband, safety, personal boundaries (ie. Little Rosie doesn’t want her middle school drama plastered all over her mom’s blog, but the realtime negotiations of curfews or friend choices is fair game.)
4. Coaching: Coaching Philosophies, mantras, lamposts, rules, ethics.

If you really need reigning in, you can add photos to each card to hold you accountable.

What do you think? Any other ideas on staying on track, on topic, on mission, on post, on blog…???

is blogging the new letter writing?

Dear…all of you,

As I was explaining the concept of blogging to a non-web-type the other day, she asked me, ‘So is blogging the new letter writing?’ It’s been percolating in my brain ever since. My immediate answer is that I would love to think so because:

1. I can’t really write with a pen anymore. Literally. The hand muscles that have to work to hold the pen are practically atrophied from non-use, so it’s physically uncomfortable and my hand writing more closely resembles that of a 3rd grade boy every day…but I type really fast.
2. I have serious issues with sending things. I get hung up on things like finding an envelope, licking it shut (eww and I watched Seinfeld), finding a stamp and then getting it to the post office. Meanwhile, hitting the publish button comes easy to me.
3. I like my communication served with a big old scoop of instant gratification. Letters take 2, 3, 4 days to cross the U.S. – even 5 or 6 if I’m just trying to send them from one end of my tiny little island to the other.
4. I always tell my bloggers-in-training to write the blog as if they were writing directly to someONE (friend, family, ideal client) – make that connection, let your post be personal or authentic or apropos (pick at least one.)
5. It would make comments and return visits the ‘letter back’ – and everyone wants a letter back, an answer, a response. So, your posts should ask questions, elicit strong feelings, make people feel welcome, inherently give good information while emboldening your readers to answer back with their own thoughts and brilliance.
6. Blogging over letter writing saves paper, transportation fuel and your fingers (from papercuts)…though computers use electricity, I think more energy is saved via blogging.
7. We still have email for the private stuff, this is a live broadcast from the heart and guts…blogging is a letter to the world.

Write back soon and tell me what you think.

Be well,

Julie