Review Blog, win books

Here is a simple contest.

Review the Entrepreneurial Blog of Matt Huggins and win free books, including Made to Stick, The Long Tail, and a couple of mine.

Simple directions here.

Google Crowns Author Ted Demopoulos Dullest Person

Google, source of all wisdom online, has recently granted me #1 status as "dull person" -- I'm flattered!
Yes, a Google of "dull person", returns my blog as the #1 hit.

I've made it through The Dip!

Not The Dip I'd choose to make it through, but sometimes we just can't hold back our natural gifts, our destiny as some would say.

Maybe there is a massive market for dull? Maybe my next book should be "Dullness for Business" or "What No One Ever Tells You About Why Dullness Rocks" ??

"Who Moved my Dullness" or "The Seven Habits of Dull People" ??

A coaching program to make the dull duller, and the interesting less so . . . ??

I think I'll go sort my belly button lint collection now

Ted, Amazingly Dull Individual!

Added: Here's the Press Release

Matt Huggins on Secrets . . .

Entrepreneurial Blogger Matt Huggins has some nice things to say about Secrets of Successful Blogging.

You can get your own copy from the link above, from Amazon, or in a few days win one from Matt's Blog.
Chris Brown also has some great things to say -- including her favorite blogging tip from the book on her Marketing and Branding Blog.

Another way to get a copy is just to find me in person when I'm in a good mood :)

The New Rules of Business explained

Book Review: The New Rules of Marketing and PR, How to use News Releases, Blogs, Podcasts, Viral Marketing & Online Media to Reach Buyers.

The rules have changed. Not just Marketing and PR, but business rules in general. No one understands that better than David Meerman Scott.

Practically every business has some online presence, from my cleaning lady to my mechanic to my bank. But just a static website doesn’t do much these days to distinguish you. Yes, most businesses should have one, but there is so much more a business can do online which can translates to more profitability in the long run – to hard cash, more customers, better customers,  . . .

I know a fair amount about these “new rules” as I consult and speak in this area, and still found concrete ideas I could use immediately. Even when it comes to business blogging, my particular area of expertise, I got some great ideas and insights. Most of these insights are obvious -- very, very obvious AFTER David explains them :)

I particularly liked the idea of creating buyer personas, which represent groups in your target market. I’m working on my buyer personas, and am explicitly creating content for them.
Here’s an example based on many of the people who buy my products and services:

Martin, age 40, income $60-120K+. Self employed business consultant and speaker. Moderately tech-savvy although wouldn’t describe himself that way. Always looking to grow professionally and personally. Reads and invests in himself a lot. Always looking for the “next big thing” but firmly grounded in reality. Belongs to a health club and works out semi-regularly.

Jenny, age 45, income $80-150K. Works for Fortune 500 company in a marketing, communications, or PR role. She knows the rules have changed and is figuring it out as she goes along as we all are. She is determined to drag her company into the new world regardless of their occasional complaining and insistence on following the “old rules.” Drives a VW and has a cat. Loves her job and usually the company she works for.

I’m writing on my blog and Web site specifically for Martin and Jenny (and Rasheed and Gabrielle and Eliza too). Hey, I like them, and hope they’ll like me and buy my stuff and hire me too.

So, what are the new rules?
In a nutshell, provide value to your marketplace. As Dave Taylor says, “Ask not what your market can bring to you, but what you can bring to your market.”
Or as David Meerman Scott says, “On the Internet, you are what you publish.” And I’ll add, do you want your potential customers to see you as useful? Or as an “old rules” blowhard talking about how great you and your stuff are??

Thanks to David Meerman Scott for some great ideas

I'm greatly enjoying David's new book, The New Rules of Marketing and PR, How to use News Releases, Blogs, Podcasts, Viral Marketing & Online Media to Reach Buyers.

More important than enjoying, I'm learning some concrete online tactics that should improve my online results.  They are really obvious -- very, really obvious once David explains them :)

His list of thanks -- people who helped with the book, is also a treasure trove of valuable links and reading. I'll be spending the next hour or so visiting some of the sites below I haven't hit yet.

Enjoy!

Robert Scoble Scobleizer
Adele Revella Buyer Persona Blog
Joe Wikert Publishing 2020 blog 
Steve Johnson
David McInnis   
Mark Levy 
David Hamm
Mike Levin
Colin Delaney epolitics
Steve Goldstein Alacrablog
Todd Van Hoosear 
George L Smyth Eclectic Mix
Mark Effinger 
Michelle Manafy EContent magazine
Kevin Rose Diggnation
Grub Street Writers
Dave Armon 
Britton Manasco 
Jordan Behan 
Nettie Hartsock 
John Havens 
John Blossom ContentBlogger
Larry Schwartz Newstex
Steve Smith 
Melanie Surplice 
Nate Wilcox 
Ian Wilker 
Cody Baker 
Dianna Huff 
Brian Carroll 
Ken Doctor 
Jonathan Kranz 
Barry Graubart 
Steve O’Keefe 
Ted Demopoulos 
Debbie Weil 
Paul Gillin 
Matt Lohman 
Seth Godin 
Rob O’ Regan 
Steve Rubel  Micro Persuasion 
Paul Gillin 
Joan Stewart  The Publicity Hound 
Dave Schmidt Word Currency
Glenn Nicholas  Small Business Inspiration 
Mac McIntosh B2B Sales Lead Expert
Jill Konrath  Selling to Big Companies 
Guy Kawasaki  How to Change the World 
Court Bovée and John Thill  Business Communication Headline News 
Grant D. Griffiths Kansas Family Law Blog
Robin Crumby  The Melcrum Blog 
Jim Peake  My Success Gateway 
Eli Singer  Refreshing the Daily Grind 
Duane Brown  Imagination+Innovation 
Scott Monty  The Social Media Marketing Blog 
Ian Lamont 
Blog Campaigning 
Rich at Copywrite  Ink
John Lustina SEO Speedwagon 
Adam Tinworth  OneMan+HisBlog 
Dave Schmidt Word Currency
Scott Clark  Finding the Sweet Spot 
Amanda Chapel  Strumpette 
Jennifer Veitenheimer  reinventjen 
Morty Schiller  Wordrider 
Matthias Hoffmann  the power of news 
Erin Caldwell’s PRblog 
Ferrell Kramer Talking Communications 
Anita Campbell  Selling to Small Businesses
Rugjeff 
Karl Ribas’ Search Engine Marketing Blog 
Tony D. Baker  Advanced Marketing Techniques
Tom Pick  The WebMarketCentral Blog
Tina Lang-Stuart 
Bryan Eisenberg  Jeffrey Eisenberg  Robert Gorell  and the rest of the team at Grok Dot Com 
Michele Miller  WonderBranding 
Publicity Ship Blog 
The Media Slut 
Brad Shorr  Word Sell 
Sasha  Where Business Meets the Web 
Ellee Seymour  ProActivePR 
Chris Kenton  The Marketers’ Consortium 
Paul Young  Product Beautiful
By Ron Miller 
Michael Morton 
James D. Brausch 
Janet Meiners Newspapergrl
Andrew B. Smith  The New View From Object Towers 
Cristian Mezei  SeoPedia 
Jim Nail  Cymfony’s influence 2.0 
Denise Wakeman and Patsi Krakoff  The Blog Squad
Forward Blog 
Ben Argov
Zane Safrit  Duct Tape Marketing—Business Life 
Will McInnes  Online Marketing Guide 
Robbin Steif LunaMetrics
Mike Boss 
Marc Gunn  Music Promo Blog 
Nancy E. Schwartz  Getting Attention 
Kami Watson Huyse  Communications Overtones 
Todd Defren  PR Squared 
Michael Stelzner  Writing White Papers 
Dee Rambeau  Adventures in Business Communications 
Glenn Fannick  Read Between the Mines 
Owen Lystrup  Into PR 
Morgan McLintic 
Mark Batterson Evotional
Jay Coffelt 
John Richardson 
Robin Good  MasterNewMedia 
Shel Israel  Naked Conversations 
Robert J. Ricci  Son-of-a-Pitch 
Mike Sigers  Simplenomics 
Dan Greenfield  Bernaisesource 
Brian Clark  copyblogger 
Lee Odden  TopRank Online Marketing Blog 
David Weinberger 
Carson McComas 
The FutureLab blog 
John Bradley Jackson  Be First  Best  or Different 
Wired PR Works by Barbara Rozgonyi 
Mark Goren  Transmission 
John Wall  Ronin Marketer 
MarketingProfs Daily Fix Blog 
John Koetsier  bizhack 
Steve Kayser Squareballs Entertainment
James Robertson's Smalltalk Blog
Linas Simonis
Dale Wolf  The Perfect Customer Experience 
Eric Mattson  Marketing Monger 
Scott Sehlhorst  Tyner Blain 
Seeds of Growth blog 
Hugo E. Martin 
David Phillips  leverwealth 
Terry  Affiliate Marketing Blog 
Gavin Heaton  Servant of Chaos 
Mark White  Better Business Blogging 
Eric Eggertson  Common Sense PR 
Michelle Golden  Golden Practices 
Liz Strauss 
Tony Valle  Small Business Radio 
Chris Heuer’s Idea Engine 
David Evans  The Progress Bar 
Todd Andrlik  The Power to Connect 
The New PR Wiki 
NewPR 
Pelle Braendgaard  Stake Ventures 
Lisa Banks  Search Engine Optimization Eblog 
Chris Brown  Branding & Marketing 
Graeme Thickins  Tech-Surf-Blog 
Ardath Albee  Marketing Interactions 
Lauren Vargas  Communicators Anonymous 
Lori  Smart Lemming 
Dane Morgan 
Jason Leister  Computer Super Guy 
Bill Trippe 
Jason Eiseman  Jason the Content Librarian
Reuben Steiger  Millions of Us 
Taran Rampersad  Know Prose 
John Richardson  Success Begins Today 
Valentin Pertsiya  Brand Aid 
Bill Belew  Rising Sun of Nihon 
Joe Beaulaurier  An Ongoing Press Release 
David Koopmans  Business of Marketing and Branding 
Chris Anderson  The Long Tail 
Roger C. Parker Design to Sell

And let's not forget David's blog too, Web Ink Now

Content is not only King . . .

"content is not only king, but president and Pope as well"

    - David Meerman Scott, The New Rules of Marketing and PR

A great book by David subtitled "How to Use News Releases, Blogs, Podcasting, Viral Marketing and Online Media to Reach Buyers Directly." I'm enjoying reading it and getting some great ideas -- more on the book later.

Can a rarely updated blog be popular?

Yes.

Although the most popular blogs are updated frequently, perhaps daily or more or at least weekly, a blog that is almost never updated can be popular if it offers extremely popular content.

For example, Rich Schefren's blog offers what many consider extremely valuable and interesting content -- his latest post has gotten over a hundred comments really quickly - probably hundreds by now. He posts a couple of times a month . . .  .

But I still suggest regular posting if you want to build your blog traffic!

Selling Ebooks via Amazon

Many bloggers write or want to write ebooks -- how do you sell them via Amazon?

Selling physical books/products via Amazon is easy as I wrote before.

Selling ebooks via Amazon is also easy, as Steve Web writes. He's also the author of the highly recommended book Plug Your Book, Online Book Marketing for Authors. His blog rocks too.

Great Blog Advice sources

I learn a lot about blogging from Mike Sansone, who I was very happy to include in one of my books.

Mike lists some of his "Blog Coaches" -- and I'm proud to be included! I'll be perusing his list over the next few days as I'm not familiar with all of them. Many I know well, and Mark and Robyn appear along with Mike in my book What No Ever Tells You About Books With Absurdly Long Titles Blogging and Podcasting.

Check them out, including Mike too, who many of you no doubt already read!

• Mark White at Better Business Blogging
• Claire Raikes at Business Blog Angel
• Divya Uttam at Blogging to Fame
• Laurence-Hélène Borel at Blog Till You Drop
• Shonnie Lavender at My Blog Coach
• Derrick Sorles at Business Blogging Tips
• Ted Demopoulos at Blogging for Business
• Alicia Dorset at BlogWorks
• Robyn Tippins at Practical Blogging
• Tan Kian Ann at Blogopreneur
• Toby Bloomberg at Diva Marketing Blog

Why do you blog? No, really . . .

This isn't about focus, or goals, or results, etc.

I blog because I like to -- period.

Yes, I have goals. Yes, there are concrete business reasons I blog. Yes, I have focus. blah, blah, blah.
I could achieve my primary goals of selling books and building my business many other ways.

I've got plenty to do everyday. My blogging gets results, helps me reach my goals, etc. But if I didn't enjoy it, I'd do something else.

So, why do you blog? Really.