Archive for July, 2008
Life in the Clouds
When you lose a hard drive on your computer, it stinks. When you lose two in a few month’s time, it really stinks. When your computer makes a weird “grrrrrrrr” sound and goes black, and won’t boot up even the little tiny apple, well, that’s deadly. That’s how things started out for me in the morning.
By 10, I’d called my boss and asked for a new laptop. By 3PM, I had it in hand. Tonight, when I had a moment, I pulled out my external storage drive, plugged it into the shiny new Mac, and turned it on.
It took an hour to restore everything to the last good save (a week old, but not horrible).
Because of the way these last several weeks have gone, I’ve learned a few things that I want to share. This might prove useful to you in a few ways: one, if your computer dies. Two, because this is the way I think things will move in the future.
Life in the Clouds
SEVERAL of my most used applications exist as web applications that I can reach via a browser:
- Gmail for email.
- Google Calendar for appointments.
- Google Reader for news.
- Evernote for notes.
- BatchBook for contact management.
- Flickr for photos.
- Blip.tv for movies.
- Google Docs for documents.
- Picnik for photo editing.
- del.icio.us for bookmarking.
It turns out that most of the apps I use in a given day exist on the web. But here are some exceptions that I would need if I had to rebuild another computer from scratch. (Note: this is a Mac list).
- TextWrangler - for complex text editing and text scripts
- Cyberduck - for FTP
- Adium - for IM client
- Skitch - for screenshots
- Keynote - for presentations
- Firefox - web browser
- Evernote - the desktop app side
The rest are all good to have, but I could live with just those and the built-in apps that come with a Mac.
Takeaways
What I’ve learned over the past month is that I can do lots of stuff on the web from any browser (have to remember that firefox bookmark sync addon - what’s it called?). I’ve learned that backups are important, and not to go more than a few days between them. I’ve learned that Time Machine for the Mac is a really powerful backup tool.
Further, I’ve learned that I need to get a file storage space on the web, too. The few things I lost access to involved files in progress in my documents area. I have most of them, but lost a few between backups. I’m going to check out a service like Mozy for storing some of that for me. That will complete that part.
How about you? What’s your experience been in this regard? Are you doing any of this differently?
Related articles by Zemanta
Announcing Project Dogfood
Project Dogfood is the latest thing I’m working on at CrossTech Media. It’s a project where you’re invited to come talk about which social media elements a company should consider adopting. In this case, because the whole premise is to “eat our own dogfood,” we’re starting with a revamp of our own New Marketing Summit website for an event we’re running in October.
I’m working with David Meerman Scott and Paul Gillin on this project. David and Paul are co-chairs of the New Marketing Summit event, and after a conversation I had with Nick Saber (my president and colleague) snowballed into a much more animated conversation with David and Paul, we find ourselves at Project Dogfood.
You’re invited to create an account (the platform we’re using to talk about this all is Jive Software’s Clearspace platform), and jump into the discussions. Though we’re talking in this case about one of our own websites, I feel the conversations will be broader in nature, and will be of interest to web technologists, marketers, attendees of conferences in general, and social media evangelists. Think about it: we’re going to transform our sites based on recommendations and interactions with the community.
That will certainly give us opportunities to mess up in front of you, but hopefully that means the project will be a learning project.
When it’s all said and done, it’s something we’ll talk about at the New Marketing Summit this October 14th-15th at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, Massachusetts. But further, the methodology we come up with from the process and through your participation will be something we can talk about and share with people looking to transform their own sites and online marketing efforts.
I’m excited about this because it’s a chance to do more than just blog about it. We’ll implement things, test them with you, and learn through conversations.
What do you think?
Stop by Project Dogfood and check us out.
How to Create Business From a Blog
This post was a request from Eric.
How to Create Business from a Blog
First, let’s agree that there are many ways to create business from a blog. I’ll cover a handful to start. You’re very welcome to share more advice and ideas in the comments section.
Straightforward Sales
Blogs are a wonderful piece of software to use as a home base for several kinds of website projects. For example, I believe Chris Pearson used a Wordpress blog to build his DIYThemes.com site. There, he’s selling a beautiful theme called Thesis for $87. That’s one way to create business from a blog: a simple sales platform.
Affiliate Marketing
Another way is through Affiliate Marketing. For example, go back and hover your mouse over the URL for the two links to Chris’s latest project. You should see this: http://diythemes.com?a_aid=t4ag3 . That part after the ? is an affiliate code. Some sites don’t really divulge that they’re doing affiliate marketing. Others make disclosure very vital. Now that you know to look for it, you might look at other blogs you read and see when they’re slipping you an affiliate tag here and there.
Want to learn more about Affiliate Marketing? I’ve been reading Revenews, and I also plan to attend (and speak at) the upcoming Affiliate Summit event in Boston in August 2008. One reason why I plan to attend is to understand this space more, because I’m still not 100% sure how I feel about the variations on the theme. Affiliate marketing is a multi-billion dollar industry, so there’s something there to consider.
Lead Generation
Blogs are a great way to establish thought leadership, and further, to encourage lead generation. For instance, a lot of what I do by writing this blog is share with the world at large what I know about social media and how it might apply to your business. My primary goal is to give you as much information as I can possibly share, so that you can likely run off and solve most things on your own.
My secondary goal is to encourage you to contact me, should you have business needs. I work with CrossTech Partners to help me fulfill larger projects (such as building Market Relationship Management platforms and the like). This blog often starts conversations with people who need next-step help. And that’s great. It’s another value, and another way to create business from a blog.
A great person who gives in abundance with her blog is Liz Strauss. She derives some amount of leads from her thoughtful and meaningful efforts, too.
Content Marketing
He could tell you this every day, but Brian Clark has been praising the value of content marketing since 2006. This is basically how the Financial Aid Podcast brought millions in revenue to Christopher S. Penn’s Student Loan Network. There’s nothing shady about it. Chris creates great podcasts and blog posts and uses the trust earned through information sharing and helping others as one way to drive sales of his primary product: student loans. He’s the only student loan guy I know who gets profiled by BusinessWeek, The Wall Street Journal, and all kinds of other press.
See also Gary Vaynerchuk, the only wine seller I know who has a Hollywood agent. He’s that cool.
Content marketing is essentially doing great things with content but with a goal that this work leads back to a sale on top of being useful and interesting. To me, this is where it’s at right now. If I were looking to build even more business, and I might just do so, I’d blend content marketing with a mix of my own products, and perhaps some well-chosen affiliate opportunities, and start from there.
By the way, content marketing has the added benefit of helping you with organic search engine optimization, meaning it helps people searching for things find it easier.
Other Opportunities
There are lots of other ways to make money from a blog. I’m definitely not qualified to talk about search marketing, for instance, but this article by Paul J. Bruemmer looks like a useful starting point. There are also projects like Ted Murphy’s Izea, which covers pay-per-post and Social Spark. I’m not versed enough to talk about any of these, but maybe Ted will stop by and talk about his, or you can swing by the IZEA blog.
The web is an interesting place to make money these days, and there are many ways to take a swing at it. Be open about what you’re doing. Be helpful. Offer value. And maybe something will come of it for you.
**Update: I’m not sure how I forgot Darren’s and Chris’s book - ProBlogger: Secrets for Blogging Your Way to a Six-Figure Income . (And yes, that’s an affiliate link). ;)
Your Ideas
If you have some other great ideas for creating business from a blog, let’s talk about them in the comments. Some will be promoted to the main post via updates, so please fill out your URL when you comment, so I can give you credit if I use it in the post.
What do you think?
The Social Media 100 is a project by Chris Brogan dedicated to writing 100 useful blog posts in a row about the tools, techniques, and strategies behind using social media for your business, your organization, or your own personal interests. Swing by [chrisbrogan.com] for more posts in the series, and if you have topic ideas, feel free to share them, as this is a group project, and your opinion matters.
Get the entire series by subscribing to this blog, and subscribe to my free newsletter here.
Photo credit, Rochelle, et al
What Do You Want Next
Tell you what: this is a collaborative community. You’re part of the team. I’ve got dozens and dozens of topics to choose from, but you’re giving me your time in attention. Seems only fair that I ask YOU what you want.
What shall we talk about next? Where can I be helpful to you? What’s a topic you want me to start that we can all talk about?
Make it your blog. : )
BlogCatalog- A Social Network for Bloggers
My friend and PR professional Alan Weinkrantz did a yeoman’s job of giving my a break a few days back when I was struggling, so I feel I owe him a look-see at his new client, Blog Catalog. (Note to other PR types: Alan built a relationship with me well before he needed it, and so when he asks for things, I try to be helpful where I can.) >>Side note: Alan - please don’t make me have to get an account to comment on your blog. It keeps me from commenting there.
BlogCatalog is a social network for bloggers. The features on the site involve profiles, discussion lists, groups, a directory, some widgets, and I think that’s all (ish). If I had to guess what the site hopes I do most, it’s engage in discussions with bloggers. There’s also a directory, which would help folks (like PR and marketer types) find which types of bloggers signed in.
Okay, truth: I didn’t see any bloggers I know. Not a one. But hey, it’s not like I know *everyone*, and I’m not knocking on the folks who have an account there. I do. I’m also not sure what I want to talk about there, but here’s a sample of the discussion:
There’s something there in those discussions, and it could well be a very helpful space for bloggers looking for advice and support. But my knock is that I want there to be groupings around the threads. Everything’s all willy nilly, and I couldn’t really find a topic that engaged me right off the bat without a little digging. If it were broken into categories of discussions, I could skip threads about love and pictures of babies, and move into the topics I might want to discuss.
If you’re a blogger, it wouldn’t hurt to go there, get an account, list your blog there, build up a profile (yet again), and look around a bit. If you’re looking to do blogger outreach, there’s something useful there. Beyond that? I’m not so sure.
Are you there? What’s your take?
Related articles by Zemanta
- BlogCatalog Launches Political Blogging Channel
- Blogworld Expo: Building Relationships with Bloggers
- Some Differences Between Pitching Mainstream Press and Bloggers
Is Google Putting a Horse Head in Cuils Bed
Look at this Google Search result:
I just did a search on “Cuil” in Google, and the first result is a Google News post about why Cuil’s not much of a threat. That *really* ranks above the main site?
**Update 2: Matt Cutts came to the comments section to refute the post. I guess the brevity of my post didn’t permit me to give the right amount of disclaimers: 1.) I would never dispute the Goog’s search algorithms. 2.) Most everything I run my life on starts with G. 3.) I was mostly surprised by the result, not actually claiming that Google would manipulate a search result. 4.) Hey, Matt Cutts came by! Cool, eh?
**Update: I’m #5 because of personalized search. Guess I’m not #5 to everyone. Well, it was fun while it lasted. .. >>Formerly: And hey, I’m #5. Woohoo!
My point: is search a battlefield? People writing about Knol think so.
Related articles by Zemanta
- Google News Source Filtering
- Knol Proves The Importance of Transparency
- All the Cuil Kids Are Doing It
Preserve Your Authenticity and Stay Transparent
Imagine you’re watching the TV news, and your morning anchors have a couple of iced coffees sitting in front of them. Would you notice them? You might. Perhaps you’d wonder if it was Starbucks or another brand. You might even empathize, because hey, you drink iced coffee, too. What if the beverages were a plant? What if someone paid for them to be on the table? You don’t have to imagine.
Some of you might already be saying “so what?” But this is the news. We have a little filter in our head that says, “We hope the news is as authentic as possible” and “we accept that TV shows and movies have product placement.” Those are two completely different contexts. It’s like one of my favorite sayings, “If I have you over to dinner, but then present you with a check at the end, something is wrong.”
If You Are a Company/Brand
Placing a product into some other form of media isn’t evil, but it takes some consideration. Further, you might work up a quick set of guidelines for disclosure, especially if you’re thinking about placement in some kind of independent media. Entertainment might be an easier place to practice a placement strategy than something intending to be more editorial or newsworthy. Some blogs and other media walk the line between the two.
Also, think about a crisis strategy, in case something goes wrong. In the article I point to above, people weren’t all that pleased once they learned about the product placement. Be ahead of that possibility, and give some thought to an honest response.
If You are Independent Media
Here’s probably where the trickier part is. What do you do if someone wants you to promote their product? How do/should you disclose? What do you do to stay authentic and transparent?
One way is to consider building a disclosures page on your site. I haven’t gone that route yet, but might just, given that I have more opportunity lately to receive things to evaluate for free, and I want to be clear when I’ve had that opportunity.
Another is to just be clear when mentioning the product/service in a post. For example, when I talk or write about Utterz, I throw in that I’m on the advisory board. It’s just as easy to write about a product or a book or a software app you’ve received a free copy of, and takes not much effort.
Do it up front, though. Don’t wait for someone to “expose” you. We, as a people, and as media consumers, are really darned sick and done with people trying to pull the wool over our eyes. I bet you can name about five fake campaigns that rankle you. I know I can. Let’s you and me try not to be another such incident. Fair?
What do you think?
—
The Social Media 100 is a project by Chris Brogan dedicated to writing 100 useful blog posts in a row about the tools, techniques, and strategies behind using social media for your business, your organization, or your own personal interests. Swing by [chrisbrogan.com] for more posts in the series, and if you have topic ideas, feel free to share them, as this is a group project, and your opinion matters.
Get the entire series by subscribing to this blog, and subscribe to my free newsletter here.
Diffusing is Confusing But Necessary
Struck by something in Dave Winer’s post today, near the bottom:
…but I’m hoping we escape the grips of centralized thinking and remember that what made blogs work was that everyone gets their own platform to speak their mind. TechMeme takes us back to the place that didn’t work, where everyone fights for scarce attention.
Our websites are a point in space, and a moment in time, but they are not the end-all of our online presence any longer. To be engaged, fully, on the web, is to build your passports, configure your listening tools, and launch off to all the various places that hold pertinent conversations and information at hand.
Is search the most important tool, or just the most used? How’s listening starting to rank for you? Because to me, listening is a big part of the game.
Get the Newsletter Too
The latest edition of my newsletter went out this morning at 6AM. It was a special edition talking about podcasting and how it might impact your business. The difference between my newsletter and what’s normally on [chrisbrogan.com] is that the newsletter is usually just a bit more geared towards newcomers, and of course, the newsletter is easier for you to share with people, so it travels better in email circles. I’d love for you to consider subscribing for free if you feel you’d like more tips and ideas sent to your inbox. It doesn’t come more than two or three times a month, so don’t worry about being overwhelmed. I’ll stick to the blog for that. And thanks. : )
Photo credit, place-light-having-ideas
Cuil Misses Me
I just tried out Cuil, which is supposed to be amazing and better search engine, and what not (that’s what they told Mike Arrington). But it didn’t work for me.
I searched on “Chris Brogan” and found all kinds of relevant info, including random pictures not related to the text results beside the search, and none of them my main URL.
I searched on “chrisbrogan.com” and it couldn’t find my URL.
I searched on “chrisbrogan” and it found a bunch of social networks where I’ve used that username.
Call me egotistical, but if you can’t find yourself in a search engine after a decade of littering the web with your presence, I’m thinking it’s not much of a search engine.
