Where have I been?
For those that have been following my blog you have noticed that for the past 30+ days I have not been updating my website. There is a reason for my absence; it is a two parter.
1. I have never been busier then what we have been in the last two months. Thanks to my awesome team at LIME we have been slammed. As a side note we are hiring!
2. I have been working with a good friend in Hollywood on a national book deal. Now it is not done, nor will it be done in the next few months, but the wheels are in motion and I have begun the process. Thanks to all of your emails and your support. The readers of my blog and my story have been amazing!
Time will only tell where things go from here. I had advice to stop writing for a bit till we got a few things in line. Now those things are in line and my writing will again begin.
I wrote a few months ago about your reach and how it may surprise you–tonight I pulled up my blog’s stats from while I was “away” and I am truly surprised. The readership and reach of my blog has been amazing again thank you to everyone, let the adventure begin!
These are where the readers have come from in the last 7 days.
The 7 Link Challenge
Darren Rowse from ProBlogger.com had a great idea and challenge. He is calling it the “7 Link Challenge”. The idea is to highlight a few of the blog posts a blogger has made and bring them ‘back from the dead’ if you would. Giving new readers a way to quickly see the blogs history, potential and vision.
I thought I would take this challenge. Now being that this blog is new and I used a poor blog service before that didn’t allow me to archive or export my blog posts I can’t take you too far back, but we will give it a shot.
Comment away and let me know your favorites or if I missed something! Here are the questions to the challenge:
1. Your first post -
My first post was Chapter One and Two of my story. I will go with Chapter Two: Here is the link
2. A post you enjoyed writing the most -
This was a tough one because there are a lot of posts I enjoyed writing. I am going to give you two. One from my story and the other was a business post. Chapter Three and The Digital Door is Wide Open
3. A post which had a great discussion -
As many of you know I have both a FaceBook and a Twitter page that I am very active on. This means that often after I write a blog post I get several tweets, DM’s or FaceBook messages about my post. There is one post however that has not only gotten me an overwhelming amount of digital comments, but also ‘real world’ comments. Not to mention I was even asked to speak on the topic at a local business function. It is a two part post, enjoy! The Myths About Marketing
4. A post on someone else’s blog that you wish you’d written -
I get a lot of inspiration and ideas from other bloggers. Many times I will see a blog post and it will get me thinking. Those thoughts usually end up on my blog with a different ( or my ) spin on the topic. I wouldn’t say I have seen a post that I wish I would of written, but being that this is a challenge I will say—I wish I came up with this ”7 Link Challenge”!
5. Your most helpful post -
This is an open ended one. Most helpful for me or the audience? Well this has been the most helpful for me: Time for a Time Out and through feedback I have learned that this post has been the most helpful to readers: Killing the Mosquitos
6. A post with a title that you are proud of -
I love titles! In fact I truly believe that the Title will make or break your post. I have so many favorites, but truly the one that got a HUGE amount of traffic in just minutes was: Do You Have a Beethoven or a Hasselhoff?
7. A post that you wish more people had read -
I had to laugh at this question what blog post doesn’t a blogger wish more people had read? With that in mind however this is a blog post that I feel got decent traffic, but more would of been nice: The Dinosaurs are not extinct yet!
Well there you go enjoy!
Do you have a Beethoven or a Hasselhoff?
I am an avid music lover. So much so that my iTunes is filled with over 529 days ( or over 13,000 songs ) of playable music ranging from classical to rap. Music to me is one of the truest ways to express yourself or a message you wish to convey. Those with musical talents truly have an art of expression and that art is a powerful and effective way of transportation of information. With this said, what if I told you that your brand needs to ‘sing’?
Brand is another word that is often thrown out there in a general state not really understood. Your company’s brand is the overall imagery of your mission statement and is not limited to your logo or color schemes. Your brand is truly any messaging tool your company uses to express its self. Your brand can be the way you handle client related issues or it can be the way you handle your social space. Your brand however does have roots and those roots need to be planted, watered and fed correctly.
So what does brand have to do with music or art? Everything. Like music, your brand needs to engage the audience. It has to communicate with a wide group and it must display your overall commitment to your industry and client base. When you have truly identified your brand it will be a thing of beauty, it will be a modern piece of art. Planting your brand starts with planning, planning and more planning. Watering your brand means you look after it and you ensure that those you hire, outsource to and interact with all have your brands best interests at heart.
Now feeding your brand, is the fun part. This is the part in which you are able to become incredibly creative. Where you are able to work with your audience to share with them your visions, ethics and dreams. Feeding your brand correctly, will take your business to new heights and you will soar above your competitors for years to come. You may have set backs and feed your brand some raw meat, but it is always curable.
In today’s market place your brand must be ready to flex, but not break. Your brand must be fine tuned, but not over the top. Your brand must follow the curves, but lead the pack. Do you think your brand is up to the challenge? Re-branding an existing company or branding a newly formed idea is one of my favorite tasks and one of the most challenging. It takes time, energy and a commitment to understanding. It takes being an artist and understanding your canvas. Not all brands are created equally, but all brands have the chance to become something great!
Your brand can be as amazing as Beethoven’s Fur Elise or as painful as a David Hasselhoff’s* solo album, it is truly up to you and those you surround yourself with.
*I have nothing against the “Hoff” as long as he isn’t singing.
Get Them To Commit
In our personal lives we all aim to get that special commitment, or special some to say ‘yes’ when we ask the big question. Fear drives us not to ask and the thought of rejection often freezes us in our tracks.
In business we have the same dilemmas. While you might not be asking your clients to marry you ( although you might ) you are asking them to trust you, your product/service and then offer up the Benjamins. This is a task all on it’s own. I want to share some scary numbers with you about business commitment rates.
The below are all examples of some type of business, their efforts and the results ( commitment level ) of such efforts.
- A good preacher should to be able to get 70% of the people who showed up on Sunday to make a donation.
- A teeny bop rock group might convert 20% of concert goers to buy a shirt or souvenir.
- A great street magician can get 10% of the people who watch his show to throw a dollar in the hat.
- Direct marketers used to shoot for 2% conversion from a good list, but now, that’s a long shot.
- A blogger might convert 2% of readers to buy a book.
- And a twitter user with a lot of fans will be lucky to get one out of a thousand to click a link and buy something. (.1%)
Do you see the disparity? It is quite clear. Who on the list above has the most personal connection with the client base? As we get father away from the personal human connection we start to see a dramatic loss in commitment. Why?
Easy of the ‘no’ or the ignore. How easy is it to ignore a tweet or a FaceBook update? How hard is it to ignore a human being standing two feet in front of you? Although technology is great and can help you reach the masses it has to be understood that there is no easier way to get clients to commit then offer a personal human connection.
This doesn’t mean you don’t need your social space or you should not focus on it. Just understand what you can really get out of it. I fear too many business owners are investing and counting on Twitter to grow their business ( aka get new clients to commit ) that they abandon the core of business—knowing people.
Want more commitments? Commit yourself to human connections.
Stats reviewed and drawn from Seth Godin - http://sethgodin.typepad.com
Comments, who needs them?
Ever heard the saying, “If you have nothing nice to say, say nothing at all!”? If you have, you are part of the minority when it comes to web users and blog readers. It is funny how many of my clients, friends or like mined individuals will dive into the world of online publishing only to find out that people are quite or plain mean!
The online world of content delivery is hands down the best invention since the light bulb, but it is still very misunderstood. One of the big mysteries is commenting. Each time I have a client post a blog or a social media status I field the phone calls and questions about the comments. The phone call either goes one of two ways. It is either, “I have posted 3 articles and NO ONE is commenting on my posts, why and what am I doing wrong?” “Lets take a step back,” is my reply. I continue by stating that facts are facts. Your blog is new, people are still getting to know you. They are learning to trust you and learning your style of opinions or information.
Blogging and social media connections are much like starting a new friendship in the physical world. You aren’t going to jump into a room full of people you don’t know and have everyone tell you how amazing your shirt looks or how smart you look. It takes time, it takes getting to know people and yes some people have an easier time with this and some bloggers do as well.
Just because people are not commenting or replying doesn’t mean they are not reading. I have been to many functions where someone will comment to me directly how they enjoyed a post I wrote or saw a status update on my FaceBook wall. Some people just feel more comfortable telling you to your face, rather then to a comment box on a website.
I also remind my clients that if they or their company have different portals of online communication, say a twitter account, a FaceBook account and a blog, their customers may find it easier to tweet them a comment about their latest blog rather then comment directly to the blog. The number of comments on your blog is in no way a direct reflection on the blog’s or article’s impact.
Continuing to post is the key and then when you do get that comment reaching out to your opinion or information it is critical that you reply. Develop an open line of communication with your readers and show them that yes you do care about what they have to say.
Next the client will tell me about some hateful and spamming comments their blog is getting. In some cases the comments can be hurtful and damaging to a blogger’s morale. I can’t tell you how many comments and painful statements I have gotten in my blogging and social media endeavors and that is exactly what I tell my clients. Everyone will get the negative comments and hate mail. Every blog will be spammed by Viagra ads, you simply have to ignore them. People will hide behind their computers and there is just nothing you can do about it.
Now in some cases the comments need to be addressed. They may be negative, but true. It could be about your companies poor service or a bad experience a client has had with your firm. You need to address them in an open and professional way and good things can happen. Here is a live example of this from a project I am running:
The customer was upset and was quite open in his statements. We worked with him, not against him and in the end we have a fan of not just our one app, but our company as a whole.
Comments are a tricky thing in the online world of blogging and social media. Not everything you write or ‘status update’ will get replies, but that doesn’t mean people aren’t reading. Give it time, let it mature and ignore the online garbage.
