Master Business Blogging Free Video Course with The Blog Squad

Most of you know I'm a big fan of the Blog Squad. These ladies really know their stuff and I w as very happy to interview them my my last book, and we've met in person since.

Their Master Business Blogging Video Course is getting rave reviews, and is well worth your time.

Don't let the (currently FREE) price tag discourage you - click here to check it out.

It's a five part series, and send me your feedback. It's all been VERY positive so far.

Balancing Corporate Blogs and Social Media

Andy Piper has an insightful post on balancing corporate blogs and Social Media, looking at both blogs inside and outside the firewall as well as social media in general.

Of course not all blogs are done well or have reasonable expectations or goals when setup, and you can't simple claim success because "we have a blog." Any goes into these issues quite well, and rather than ramble on, just click here to check out his post

Andy and worked together at the UK post a decade or so ago, and love the thoughts he's putting out.

How to Build Your Brand with a Blog

Dan Schawbel has a free 52 page guide to building your brand with a blog. Everything by Dan is worth reading.

I love how it's broken up into beginner, intermediate, advanced, and expert sections, and it should contain something useful for everyone.

My only quibble, and a minor one at that, is that WordPress is not the only blogging platform out there. It's great certainly, but most people are better off with TypePad - it's not about the technology, and with TypePad you don't worry about such arcane things as plugins, FTP, software upgrades, etc. You just blog.

Great job Dan! Get Blogging Your Brand here, and let me know how you like it. Dan certainly knows personal branding and blogging inside out.

Blogging Your Way Into A Job

Tara Weiss at Forbes has a great article on Blogging Your Way Into A Job.

Getting a job is competitive today, and every edge helps. Blogging can help position you as an expert, and companies like to hire experts.

You don't even need to tell anyone you blog. Most job applicants are googled these days, and guess what? Your blog will show up.

Tara says it at least as well as I can: check it out here: Blogging Your Way Into A Job

She also quotes me a couple of times, and anyone considering hiring me may be impressed I'm in Forbes.

Oh, by the way, I doubt Tara would have found me and I wouldn't be in Forbes if I didn't blog . . .

Can a Post Belong to more than one Category?

When you write a post can you add it to more than one category?

YES, of course! For example, I'm adding this post to my "Blogging 101" and "Weblogs" category.

Sometimes people wonder about the so called "duplicate content penalty from Google. Hey, there is NO duplicate content here! (besides, people in general freak out and don't understand this duplicate content thing -- most of you can entirely ignore it).

A long confusing thread full of misinformation and confusion on the Warrior Forum made me wonder if perhaps other might be confused by this?

It's simple: when writing a post, add it to all appropriate categories and just be done with it! Unless of course you are using one of the rare blogging platforms (like Blogger.com) that don't support categories)

Blogger Relations: PR folks take note

Dianne Huff's post on Blogger Relations: How to Pitch Me is right on!

Hmmm, I received 5 press releases today so far (and it's not even 9AM!) on things I have zero interest in. Anyone who reads my blog, even a cursory glance, would know that.

I hate press releases anyways -- don't send them to me!

You can send a personal email, especially if you've initiated a relationship, perhaps by leaving the occasional intelligent comment.

Personal email -- that means USE MY NAME, not "Dear Blogger" or anything else inane.

Dianna puts it all far more intelligently, and doesn't ramble like I'm doing; click here to check out her thoughts.

Ohh, another thing -- I'm busy, probably busier than you (3 little kids, etc.). Even the perfect pitch doesn't always score. Nothing personal . . .

#1 Rule For A Successful Blog

So, what is your #1 Rule For A Successful Blog?

Mitch Joel asks that question at his blog.

His answer is simple:

Finding your passion is one thing. Uncovering a unique niche is another. Attempting to turn a six-figure income from your Blog might be what drives you, but what will really keep the momentum going and your readers engaged is if you create a platform to not only share your own insights and personal thoughts, but use it as a place to really connect with those readers and enable that to turn the entire Blog into a thriving community.

Mine is simple too:

My #1 -- goals. If you don't have goals, how do you know if your succeeding (or just having fun which is fine too). Goals can be as fine grained or coarse as you want. You can have regular goals, and "stretch" or "home run" -- if everything goes perfectly goals.

The #1 goal for my first blog was simply to experiment with blogs and see if they had any business value. The #2 goal was to reposition myself not just as a techie, but as a business dude with strong technical skills. Oh, I had fun along the way too.

It's worth it to Click Here and read the whole discussion

No Time to Blog - CEOs and others

From Shel Holtz, friend and my co-author of Blogging for Business.

I was running a daylong seminar that led one of the participants to fire off a blogging proposal to her CEO via her Blackberry. She shared with me the two-word answer that came back within minutes:

“No time.”

It wasn’t the first time I’ve heard this issue raised; I’m certain it won’t be the last. Whether it’s a CEO or any other employee, if it makes sense for that individual to communicate by blogging, time shouldn’t be a problem. Here are some thoughts on getting around the “no time” argument.

==Reallocating resources==

One executive with whom I spoke recalled receiving a communique from his company’s board of directors. The board took issue with the amount of time this CEO was committing to his blog. His answer was succinct: He wasn’t spending any more time communicating now than he was before he took up blogging.

5 Reasons Not to Blog

In a recent teleclass with Dianna Huff called "Is a Blog Right for You" we discussed 5 reasons NOT to blog. We went over a lot more info too, available on the recording and in the transcript, but these 5 reasons are pretty important!

The teleclass is focused on B2B (business to business) blogging, but 95+% applies to all blogs.

Drum roll please . . .

1) You just want to dive in.

If you're not familiar with blogs -- you shouldn't just "dive it! Take at LEAST a couple of weeks to read blogs in your area and get a feeling for them.

You can find blogs in your area with the blog search engines like Technorati.

2) You are not passionate on the topic.

If you don't care a lot, why should anyone else? If you have passion, it's going to show in your writing. If you don't, you can only fake it so long,and you'll probably get bored anyways, which doesn't help make an exciting and successful blog.

3) No one is willing to commit!

Most blogs are written primarily by one person, and that one person (you?) needs to commit to blogging long term. Sure you might quit after a few months saying it's not for me,  but you need to give it a serious attempt for at least a few months.

I also see more and more multi-author blogs where no one has taken or assumed ownership. Multi-author blogs can be great, but someone needs to be in charge and champion the blog.

4) It’s impossible to write the blog yourself without interference from others.

This is primarily a problem in organizations. Imagine if every post needed to be approved by legal and marketing!

I have a friend, an independent consultant, who had the same problem -- his biggest client wanted to see his posts before they were published.

Sorry folks, this doesn't work. You may end up with a smooth and polished marketing piece, but not a conversation blog, and it WILL show and experience shows time and time again that this just doesn't cut it!

An example was the Captain Morgan blog based on Captain Morgan Rum. Captain Morgan doesn’t exist, but I guess that’s okay. The blog was a sort of fun, lighthearted thing. They had the -- I think they called them the “Morganettes” -- which are essentially college-age scantily clad women, supposedly all submitting blog posts. All the posts were written as though the Morganettes were literary scholars, and perhaps some of them, were but the blog got a lot of ridicule and essentially didn’t work. A lot of people noticed and made fun of it and it had a negative effect.

5) It's a checklist item -- perhaps "The boss said we need to start a blog" or we think we "need to add it to the marketing mix."

This always fails -- no surprise!

Much more in my teleclass with Internet Hall of Famer Dianna Huff "Is a Blog Right for You"

A sample blog workflow

Chris Brogan has written an interesting sample blog workflow.

Lots of things I do (that I have rarely if ever thought about!).

Notice that purpose and goals come FIRST, before any tasks. Your blog needs a primary goal, and each post may have a specific goal as well.

Also notice the number 1 task is READING -- seeing what others are saying. This includes in blogs, other online media, as well as in dead tree media, for example headlines in the newspapers at the local store.