Chloe Forbes-Kindlen 03/09/2019 Chloe Forbes-Kindlen 03/09/2019

Marketing in the Faster World

A few weeks back, Jac and I took a week's vacation in the woods, with no access to our devices or the Internet. There was electricity and water and a small fridge, but there was also the basic requirement that if you wanted a meal, you had to start a campfire and cook over open flame. Imagine having to coax wood to burn, get some coals going, prep the food, and cook it slowly every time you felt like a meal.

Compare that to our regular fast world. We eat when we want. We get it delivered or pop something in the microwave. When we think about buying something, we can say "Alexa, order me more True Lime packets" and it will show up a day or two later. But if everything is so much faster, why is your marketing so slow?

Marketing in the Faster World

Your buyer doesn't have time to read Moby Dick. Mind you, they'll binge a whole season of Mindhunter in a day's time, but if you slow them down with print, it's not going to happen. (Says the guy typing this to you.)

I've been pushing the same simple (but not easy) marketing premise over and over: the snack, the show, and the letter. I'll repeat it here.

Snack - small media bites. Things like an Instagram posts, tweets, little bitty tastes of what's going on in the world of your buyer and what you sell to them.

Show - something longer, entertaining, and with more substance, like a podcast, a YouTube channel, or a well crafted newsletter (not to be confused with "the letter" I talk about next).

Letter - access to your prospect's inbox. This last one becomes the most important tool right now. Why? Because you can't trust someone to choose to buy or take follow-up actions when they're consuming snacks or shows. Besides, Google and Facebook own all the other access points to your customer. You own a direct path to their inbox.

The map of where to reach your buyer changes so often that we have to write it out in pencil. For well over a decade, people have asked me where people hang out online, as if that's the right question to ask. It's not. The question is and always should be: how do I get access to their inbox? And then: how do I get them to read what I send?

Device-Sized Messaging

The inbox is the phone. We keep forgetting. And anything we send in text has to be short form these days. So even when we earn their inbox, it's all about short messages well-targeted.

If you want to reach people in this too-fast, too-busy world, my best advice is that formula: the snack, the show, and the letter. Get clear about showing your prospects their problems and your solutions. Deliver a message that reminds them often that they're in the right place and you're the right guide.

And do it quickly. We don't have time to start a fire. People are hungry now.

Chloe Forbes-Kindlen 15/04/2019 Chloe Forbes-Kindlen 15/04/2019

You Don't Have to LOVE Making Video - You Just Have to Make It

I've been creating (almost) daily video lately on YouTube as part of an impromptu "challenge" with Joel Comm. The process is interesting because video is at once the hardest and also the easiest kind of content to create. I don't necessarily love making video, but it's what people consume these days. Far more than any other type of content. And so there I am, uploading video to YouTube, Facebook, and LinkedIn. Why? Because I want my ideas seen and absorbed.

You Don't "Have" To Make Video (Yes, You Do!)

At this point, you do. the US Department of Labor & Statistics reports that people on average spend a total of 19 minutes reading per day. That 19 minutes includes texts, email messages, internet memes, and so on. Precious little of that time is spent on reading blog posts and newsletters (though, of the two, I'd pick newsletters to be more read, if they're worth it. Mine is worth it.)

By contrast, people consume over 1 billion hours of YouTube each day. 100 million of those hours are on set-top boxes instead of TV. 300 million hours (and rapidly climbing) are consumed on mobile. And while maybe you aren't going to YouTube daily yet, you're already into Netflix or Hulu or Amazon Prime, and you're sliding more and more towards consuming even more video daily. The numbers are out there.

So how are you going to produce video if you don't love it?

By the way, here's a video I shot recently just to show you I'm out there eating my own dogfood:

Tips to Producing Video

There are so many ways to make video. #1 and easiest is to just take your smartphone, open the camera, and push record. It's so easy. If you can do your recording in one take, you might not even need to use editing software. If you're like 99% of the universe and want to edit your piece, run it through something simple and free like iMovie or Microsoft Photos (both free).

The video I shot up above is from software called Ecamm Live (Mac only, I'm afraid). It's the best video software I've ever bought. I can do Facebook Live, YouTube Live, or just record a file for my desktop to upload to everywhere later (this is what I do 99% of the time). It's inexpensive, lets me use multiple cameras, do screencasting, and much more.

My tips for video? Here:

Good audio trumps bad video. Get a nice mic. I use the Blue Yeti Nano.
Lighting doesn't hurt. I use two of these.
Editing IS something useful. The more you can trim the fat, the better.
30 seconds is a great length.
1 minute or 2 are great.
10 minutes to 15 works, too.
That space in between? Seems to be the worst length ever for a video. (Yes, the video above falls into that "dead" area.)
The best way to stop saying "um" is to practice saying nothing while you wait for your brain to catch up.
Make eye contact with the lens.
Address one person, not "you guys"
Practice recording and delete the files for a while before you publish. Takes the stress off.

I could give you more, but you probably have enough to start with right there, true?

But What Will People Want to Watch?

All humans, B2B or B2C, want to be entertained and informed. We'll take entertainment without information if you're super creative. We'll hate every minute of being informed if you're crappy at being entertaining.

Look to shoot videos more creatively and in more spots. Steal ideas from professionals like movies and TV producers and use those skills to make your videos more watchable in the longer run. Hey, I do talking head but I still make it visually appealing as I can.

Topics can be "how to," or interviews with staff, or instructions, or frequently asked questions. There are countless videos that you need to produce, actually. Welcome videos. Summaries of your differentiation might be nice. See?

Start Now

Don't plan. Don't fidget. Don't worry. Don't think you are missing the right equipment. You have a smartphone. Start there.

Trust that you'll get better with good practice.

And if ever I can help, contact me. I'm here to serve. Plus, I want to see your videos!

Chloe Forbes-Kindlen 28/01/2019 Chloe Forbes-Kindlen 28/01/2019

Why Your Company Needs to Understand Memes

This picture is my 13 year old son's recent project. He printed out the Sunday funnies (we don't get a newspaper so he went online and found some to print). Then, he chopped up each panel and sliced out each bit of dialog. Finally, he mixed them all up at random to make his own comics to see if anything unexpectedly funny would come of it. It was funny enough. The idea comes (roughly) from "Garfield without Garfield" and other remixes of old comics tropes.

Your Company Probably Doesn't Pay A Lot of Attention to Memes

Shortly after Barack Obama became US President, a lot of politicians and corporations decided to take social media a lot more seriously. Before then, it was "that thing kids do." Afterwards, I was hired by some of the biggest companies in the world (Coke, Disney, Pepsi, GM, Microsoft, and so on) to talk about how these tools could drive better human interactions.Memes and meme culture are that same thing all over again. And everyone's ignoring it. Again.

Okay, So What is a Meme?

The word meme (rhymes with "seem") take a little unpacking. The official definition is "an element of a culture or system of behavior that may be considered to be passed from one individual to another by nongenetic means, especially imitation."The other definition (the real one): "a humorous image, video, piece of text, etc., that is copied (often with slight variations) and spread rapidly by Internet users."It's these two words "spread rapidly" that should raise your eyebrow.Oh, and a quick aside: bookmark this site. It helps explain some of these.

Memes are a Fast Pass to "Insider" Feelings

Here are three things you might not know about right now:

A massive petition went out requesting the song "Sweet Victory" be played during the SuperBowl halftime show. This song is from the cartoon SpongeBob Squarepants, created by the recently deceased Stephen Hillenburg. It appears that Maroon 5 will be honoring this meme request and playing the song. (Wait and see.)
Elon Musk (of Tesla and SpaceX fame) just reached out to PewdiePie (YouTube's most subscribed channel with 82 million viewers) to host "meme review," after several memes and fake tweets were posted saying he would. (Memes drive reality.)
Teachers and companies all over are trying their hand at posting memes to interact with students and customers, sometimes hitting and other times failing, but definitely earning attention they otherwise wouldn't have.

Not everyone is there yet. And yet others know it feels weird but they want to participate.It's not that you care all that much about SpongeBob or PewdiePie or memes in general, but to realize that a multi-billion dollar event and a billionaire CEO are being influenced by memes is worth thinking about. The fact that memes are "technology" that travel fast, convey meaning in a VERY brief format (in a world that is attention starved) and that give you a potential quick connection into otherwise distracted and attention-starved people, that's worth thinking about.If you're already thinking of ignoring this, let me remind you that in 2008, no one thought Twitter or Facebook or YouTube were all that interesting, either.

About Memes

Often times, the point of the meme is easy to understand, even if you're not aware of the reference material:That's Squidward from SpongeBob. You don't need to know that to accept the premise of the meme.The format doesn't exactly matter much.This is just a graphic of a tweet that's spreading around as a meme. It's obviously a political jab at the current US President, cloaked in a reminder that other presidents were a bit more wholesome.Other memes come from adding an interpretation to a photo for multiple potential future uses:The obvious hinge of the meme is "but." We have all kinds of ways to use that. "I know you didn't ask for any opinions..." or "I'm not racist..." etc. Everything before the "BUT" is the joke.

Why Should You Care?

I'm least interested in convincing you to care. That's a hard rule I have. But you might become a bit more aware of this as a tiny media type, as a way to earn attention before seeking even more attention from the people you most want to serve. People are far more willing to invest the small amount of time required to possibly laugh and relate (even more importantly) with your meme before they decide to check out your larger and more time-consuming business content.This is most definitely a B2B play as well as B2C. Everything I'm talking about here is in play for as long as humans are your intended customer or prospect.As with all media types, a little bit of thought is required before execution. (By the way, I consult about that.) You might review any potential memes created to ensure they're not offensive to particular groups, and also to ensure that the content you're creating is reasonably current. One insanely frustrating detail with the world of memes is that they seem to have a shelf life of less than a week.But there's value in here. You might not immediately see it. That's okay. Other companies are noticing and they're adapting.Chris Brogan is a business advisor and digital marketing consultant. Get in touch with him here.

Chloe Forbes-Kindlen 10/11/2018 Chloe Forbes-Kindlen 10/11/2018

Use Your Voice

The biggest opportunity all this technology has afforded us is the chance to share what we find interesting and to potentially connect with others we can help or who can enrich our lives or businesses. Formally or otherwise, we have the most opportunity ever, in the history of humans, to connect with people who are into what you are into. It's baffling how few people choose to take advantage of this.

Use Your Voice

On the lighter side, if you really love recreating junk food in your kitchen, you could start the "Not Twinkies" website. If you are a LEGO minifig modifier who takes existing sets to create your own masterpieces, I know for sure there are others who love what you do. There's a bunch of people out there, no matter what, who want to talk about what you want to talk about.

Causes and nonprofits know this. People with medical challenges know this (or should). There's a group or a few strong voices out there speaking about whatever it is you're into.

And you can be very specific. If you're ONLY interested in talking with other female accordion players, there's definitely someone out there waiting for you to gather up ideas and share. If you grew up identifying ramen noodle packs by their colors, not their intended "flavors," there's a group that loves to talk about how orange is the only one to eat uncooked. (My Lyft driver says she snacks on the contents of the orange ramen pack UNCOOKED. "Like chips," she said.)

There Are Only Three Rules

Companies and people alike need to recognize that there are three important rules to this opportunity to interact and to build relationships with others:

Speak to the buyer’s story
Invite interaction
Build to serve

If you want to find these other people with your voice, you have to write (or make video or audio or all the above) in ways that make the person you're trying to reach the hero of the story, or at least make what you're sharing feel very accessible.Blathering AT people without making it easy to connect and interact beyond what you share isn't all that helpful. I find that I have great conversations with people from all walks of life on Twitter or through email, and in all cases, because I've made it easy to connect with me, people feel that they can reach out and ask whatever they want to ask.When I say "build to serve," the point of creating any media whatsoever should be to serve others. If you're writing about insomnia strategies, make it so that others might learn how to get a better night's sleep. If you're selling cloud storage solutions, share information that will help your buyers thrive. If you're going to build content, and use your voice, use it to serve others.

Don't Worry and Be Self-Conscious

The beauty of this time in our lives is that you don't have to be perfect. You just have to be honest about the interaction. If you're a marketing student looking to meet others in your future field, just say that. If you deal with depression and want to know how others tackle the black dog, just say it. It's an unprecedented time to reach out. Yes, some people might fight back against what you want to talk about, but you'll also find those who want to share what you're into.How will they find you? The way I would find you: google. Search. YouTube. I find you because if you publish your words and videos and thoughts and ideas, I'll find your voice on the internet somewhere.That's the big point. So? Get sharing!

Join me for free and get valuable insights that go beyond the articles posted here.

Your privacy and email address are safe with us.

And thanks so much for your support.

--Chris...

Chloe Forbes-Kindlen 26/04/2018 Chloe Forbes-Kindlen 26/04/2018

Customers Don't Want Content - They Want a Better Path

I'm in the business of helping companies use tech to drive better customer interactions. I help companies earn more customers. The most common way people employ me is to help them build content marketing projects, expand their existing ones, or in general, turn their marketing, sales, and communications efforts into something more effective.

Well guess what?

Customer's Don't Want Content - They Want a Better Path

The reason I'm so bullish on AI, blockchain, chatbots, IoT, and video media for the future of business is that in all cases, these technologies can be applied to improve the success of a customer's journey from prospect to so-happy-they-refer-people levels.

Here's a simple one. Parking lots. The Logan Airport central parking lot in Boston is a zoo. It's really hard to find a space, even when you pay extra for "Logan Express." And yet, my son and I went to a sensor-filled parking lot in Braintree that told me at every level how many spaces I might find. This was updated in real time. How? Sensors. Easy. A few dollars per sensor and maybe $100,000 total for the project, including the software. (That sounds like a lot, but if it improves commerce and satisfaction, isn't it worth it?)

That project isn't content. It's really grindy-basic technology. And yet, a customer would be MUCH happier with something like that installed.

Content is Useful Only When It's Useful

I'm typing this at a Dunkin Donuts at the airport. I wondered to myself which content a customer would actually want in association with coffee, donuts, and whatever else they sell. My thoughts were "A guide to sneaking in Dunkins while you're on a diet." I figured that would be fun. Video plus a downloadable PDF would be fun. Right?

But sometimes, a customer doesn't need content. They need a solution. They need something to work better/faster/clearer. They OFTEN need more communication. They OFTEN need more support. They OFTEN need a better sense of how to navigate something unnatural to them.

Content is JUST ONE of the Marketing Tools a Company Needs

I do think there's a benefit to content. But I think there's a massive opportunity to make the customer experience so much better with content *AND* some of these emerging technologies. A really well executed chatbot could change customer interactions immensely. Voice interface is here whether or not you're using it, and it opens up a lot of new potential use cases for you. Blockchain mixed with the Internet of Things and all those delicious sensors means that you can build some amazing new customer interactions that are fast, with less friction, and that serve everyone involved in better ways.

Sure, make a great piece of content that turns someone on and educates them and makes them feel smarter. But the time is now to look beyond content marketing, digital marketing, social media marketing, and *just* marketing as a way to drive more sales and retain more customers.

What's next is here now, and it's your job to make it work. Dig in and start learning, start drawing your customer experience paths, and you know, if you get stuck, drop me a line. I can help.

Chloe Forbes-Kindlen 06/04/2018 Chloe Forbes-Kindlen 06/04/2018

Bring the Edge to the Center and the Center to the Edge

If you've known me for a while, maybe you're wondering, "What's Chris up to right now? Why is he talking about stuff like AI, blockchain, chatbots, and the IoT?" I know. It feels weird, because maybe you have me categorized wrong like lots of people do. Maybe you thought I was supposed to talk about tweets and emails forever, as if they were ever the goal and not just the delivery mechanism.

Not going to happen.

What's Exciting is The Marketplace

I love the reality that's upon us right now. The marketplace of old, that physical crossroads where merchants and the community intersected to exchange goods, has long since vanished. Sure, a few bazaars happen out in the world, but mostly for show. They make good tourist pictures.

The marketplace now is at the edge. It's where we are. And so is the community. So are the opportunities. Everything is at the edge. It's nowhere. You don't have to BE somewhere any more, if you don't want. Or, if the somewhere part is important, you can bring what you need to the edge.

Bring the Edge to the Center and the Center to the Edge

I can be face down in writing this and say aloud, "Alexa, order me some more AA batteries," and they'll arrive two days from now without me having to think anything more about it. I'm at the center of the marketplace wherever I am. Amazon's Echo platform is an Internet of Things (IoT) play that hints ever so vaguely at what we'll all be doing naturally in the next few years.

My cultural intentions are easier to facilitate. My community of shared interest is easier to thread together. With blockchain, I'll very soon be able to order the KIND of electrical power I want to pay for (water, wind, solar) and thus be able to vote for my beliefs with my dollars. ( This is what I mean.)

The same way web tools like blogs and YouTube and Twitter and so on have allowed more and more people to be media stars, the NEXT layer of all this will be driven by blockchain and IoT and chatbots and AI and we'll have a lot more control of our data, a lot more options for extracting and sharing value, and many ways to curate and create the kind of interactions we want to have.

Social Networks for the Edge

Just as all the big social networks are feeling fatter and less about "us," all the little dating apps and simpler social networks are picking up steam because they're allowing like minded communities to form and bring all these people around all these various edges to a joined center.

It starts with dating apps (Tinder, Grindr, Bumble, etc) and moves into whatever other interests people want to gather around. I googled "Cannabis social network" and there were a dozen or more. I googled "LGBT social network" and found plenty. Vegan? Yep. Whatever you want to search for, there are now smaller and simpler social networks hiding in the shadows of the "big guys."

Data as Fuel and as Center-Makers

What comes soon (it's here already, but just not evenly distributed) are all the innovations in data being more available, faster, and able to be tailored to our interests. Right now we use Cortana and Google Home to initiate requests. Soon, our virtual assistants will sift massive stacks of information to pick what we teach them we care about. Oh, there's a Babymetal concert tomorrow in Boston AND tickets are only $50 AND two other people I know and like who like Babymetal have already said yes? Sure. Buy it. Done.

Right now, there's either no data, too much data, or no way to do something useful quickly with data for many of us. That will change. And as it does, the tools we use to work with that information will adapt and grow and learn to anticipate our needs and bring what matters to us to the center.

The Story Continues

The stories I'm telling through my Podcast and my Amazon Flash Briefing and via my newsletter (and my forthcoming book) are all building towards helping us figure this all out. The same way I showed you (and continue to show you) how blogs and podcasts and video are neato, I want to help you find your way through all the new stuff.What's the best way to build a chatbot that won't upset your customers?How can you thread together a few simple blockchain apps and suddenly get more business from the big guys?What will AI look like when it's just a service you rent the way you pay for web hosting?That's what I'm working on with you.I'll bring all those weird edges to our mutual center. Are you with me? It's going to get even more crazy (but in only the best of ways)!

If this has been interesting

Consider grabbing my newsletter. It's only going up from here.

Chloe Forbes-Kindlen 03/03/2018 Chloe Forbes-Kindlen 03/03/2018

One of Blockchain's Super Powers is Trust

In 2009, Julien Smith and I wrote Trust Agents. It was a book about how to be human across the web. Now, almost a decade later, I'm hot on the trail of how companies can extend their business relationships even more, and how emerging technologies like blockchain are helping deliver TRUST at a distance.

China's answer to Amazon, JD, has just started using blockchain to validate the authenticity of beef. Before I read the article, I hadn't really considered just how much of what we buy is based on hearsay and assurances. Did I just get Wagyu or Kobe beef? That's what the label says. But how do I know?

The blockchain is a different kind of transmission system the way the internet is. In the case of the internet, we move INFORMATION around. With the blockchain, we move the verification of VALUE around. It's not that different from the internet, but it's early days and hard to explain easily.

One big difference is that the blockchain uses very distributed systems to prove that everything is what it says it is, and that it's virtually unhackable. That means that if thousands of distributed systems all agree with a piece of information that you can trust (huge exclamation points and yellow highlighter here) that what is stated is accurate.

This is big. To be able to digitize trust will be a huge step forward in how we do what we do. And I can't think of a single company that won't benefit from equipping these changes.---If this is interesting to you, consider getting my newsletter. I'll cover this more in coming issues:

Chloe Forbes-Kindlen 30/12/2017 Chloe Forbes-Kindlen 30/12/2017

Amazon Alexa, The Need for Better CRM, and Trust

Amazon Alexa and Google Home have the same problem: they can do some really clever things that make them feel "real" to us, but the illusion is easily shattered. You might think "So what? That's Amazon's and Google's problem." But the thing is you need this, too.

Smart Speakers Aren't All That Smart

I can say, "Alexa, who am I?" She'll say back, "You told me your name is Chris." I can then say, "Alexa, my son's name is Harold." She will say: "Sorry. I can't help you with that." Meaning that the information really has nowhere to go. But this context is important. Let me explain out.

First, Alexa DOES know my voice from other people's voices. If my son Harold says, "Alexa, who am I?" she won't be able to answer it. She doesn't reply that he is Chris.

So that means that somewhere there's a data "match" to my voice. Meaning, there's some record stored in Alexa that says "Chris Brogan" is logged into this Alexa unit and I have a matching voice print for what I'm expecting him to sound like. Right?

But why, then, does Amazon need my "voice password" when I order something with Alexa? If she knows my voice is different than my son's, why does she need a four digit passcode? Isn't my voice a pretty good passcode? I guess "someone" could record my voice or splice up recordings to sound like I'm ordering them a Bugatti. So maybe that's why. But I think it's because Alexa was built to be dumber than we think.

(Note: every single time I'm saying Alexa, I mean Alexa/Google/Siri/Cortana)

And every time I'm talking about these big companies, I want you to think about YOUR place in this, because that's upon you faster than you think. Voice interaction is here now. Amazon Echo and Echo Dot were the #1 purchased Christmas gift in 2017 on Amazon's site, and the Alexa app was the most downloaded app on both the iTunes and Google Play store the next day.

Our CRM Needs to Get Smarter

Every company that sells something has a Customer/Client Relationship Management software (CRM). Whether or not they want it, they keep some kind of record of your purchase history tied to a phone number or a credit card or an email address. I suppose in more modern systems we can set the "unique key" to whatever we think will be most permanent. But every system has records of this nature.

But if you look at these, they are often mostly "dumb" data. You bought this thing on that date. You paid with this form of payment. The product was shipped there. All good to know, but not really smart enough.

I'll tell you a simple one. "Alexa, my son's name is Harold. Say hi to Harold."

I want Alexa to be able to store that data record and link it for me. I want to be able to say, "Alexa, did Harold add anything to his wish list last night?" Hell. I want him to be able to say, "Good morning, Alexa" and her answer back, "Hey Harold."

A lot of hotels are starting to add the option to use your favorite Internet apps there as well. When I check into the Residence Inn, I stick my Netflix (or Hulu or YouTube, etc) account into the room TV so I can binge Peaky Blinders on the big screen instead of my laptop.

Some hotels are adding smart speakers to their rooms so I can ask Alexa everything I ask her at home. (I'm in a hotel room writing this and I've tried talking to her about six times so far.) But will those also be tied to my account? And will it know I'm in a different location? And will my skills already be transferable to it?

Remembering is Part of Trust

This is basic, but also deeply true. Ask Jacq. If she tells me something she thinks is important and I forget what it was she told me, it hurts her feelings. She takes every instance of me forgetting (which happens a lot) as a slight against our relationship.

We humans tend to feel this way. We want to be known. We want to be remembered. I told you I'm staying in a hotel room as I write this. I've been to this property probably 20+ times over the last year. When I walk through the door, I want pretty much everyone working to give me that "Norrrrrm!" greeting (from Cheers - it was a TV show. Look it up!).

So when chatbots and robots and voice apps can't remember the absolute basics, it FEELS (and we definitely do feel emotions around these technologies) like someone (your company) has forgotten us. That feeling is massively negative to some and simply negative to many. If you treat me like a first time buyer, it shows me what little value you place on my loyalty or commerce.

Start with CRM

At this point, you might not be building your own chatbots, but what has to come first no matter what is a better way to store and access the data that will make the experience better for all those involved. The ability to capture non-sales-related data and "knowledge" about your customer, I believe, will be the most overlooked competitive business opportunity of 2018 and beyond.(tweetable)

This isn't massively hard work. Build in some fields to capture some more potential information, when available. Allow it to have flexible labeling sometimes. Because my example was "son" doesn't mean that someone wants to add in "dog" and "stepdaughter" and "crazy uncle." And then keep working out what other information might be useful to store that benefits both you and your buyer.

I promise that as "smart" speakers proliferate, the novelty phase will wear off quickly. We will not only demand more of companies using bots and voice interfaces, but we'll gravitate towards those companies who treat us through these artificial interfaces like we matter and like we belong. The gee whiz phase is now. You still have time. Help make the distance between your business and me smarter. Please?

Chloe Forbes-Kindlen 11/12/2017 Chloe Forbes-Kindlen 11/12/2017

Video Game Scholarships. Black Spider-Man. The Future of Cashless Commerce - The Brief for 12.11.17

Here are the notes from the Chris Brogan Media broadcast for 12/11/17. (You can watch this on my Facebook account).The goal of these posts is that there are trends and ideas here that might impact your business now or soon. Think on the stories here and look for ways to adjust your business accordingly. If ever you’re stuck, get in touch with me and I can help.This live video was all shot using Ecamm Live (client), the best way to do Facebook Live for Mac.Please note that all links may be affiliate links. If someone is a client, I'll call that out specifically.

Stories Shared

Your kid play a lot of video games? Do YOU? You can maybe get a scholarship for that.Lytro is dead. Sometimes the bleeding edge means you'll lose memories. Is that worth it?I learn a lot from looking at Africa. The cashless economy points to some interesting trends, because they're actually ahead of us in some ways.And hey, with all this Bitcoin mania, it's important to remember that bank robbery comes with all technologies.This is so brief. I'll explain it in the video. This is smart engineer humor about the Internet of Things and security.Now this is nuts. 3D printing wifi? I still can't fully figure this out. I'll let Chris Garrett at Maker Hacks sort it out first.They say all publicity is good publicity. Sean Spicer making fun of Dippin Dots SOLD LOTS OF DOTS for the company.Sometimes, my creative friends want to invent the world. This app shows you that sometimes, a really simple small idea can change the world in even bigger ways.It's the end of the year, so YouTube has released their 2017 Rewind video. While it's interesting, I saw several videos that were more interesting. I'll explain in the video above.Nerd alert. You can mix Destiny 2 with Alexa and get this cool game-based voice assistant. Here's why this is interesting: usually this is tech for little kids.Congrats to Sony for putting the new Miles Morales Spider-Man on screen. Okay, so it's animated, but it's a good move!Hey, if this has been interesting, consider picking up my weekly newsletter. It's all unique ideas by me about how to improve buyer interactions and grow your business. Give it a peek

What ELSE is News?

You want to get featured on the Chris Brogan Media show? Drop me an email: chris@chrisbrogan.com and let me know what's news!

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My newsletter is the best work I do every week. You can get yours here.

Chloe Forbes-Kindlen 21/11/2017 Chloe Forbes-Kindlen 21/11/2017

Why I Keep Pushing So Hard About Blockchain

If you've paid any attention to me over the last several weeks and months, I've repeatedly said that blockchain as a technology is a huge and major shift that will impact many businesses (probably yours) in the next handful of years. I've also said repeatedly that you need to get out in front of it and learn more now so that you don't repeat the mistakes you made in the DOT COM days, when you thought that might just be a whim. Remember then? Right. So let's get real about blockchain.

First, I know. It's really boring

What blockchain is that the internet wasn't is that blockchain is boring. It's about keeping better records. The whole system is about matching "ledgers" between lots of distributed computers. Are you snoring yet? I would be. BUT that doesn't make it unimportant. It means you still have to know about it, but it might be tricky to stay focused. Just keep reminding yourself that you will be very far behind really quickly, and that mistake will cost you lots of money. That's how I'm staying motivated, at least.

But it's necessary

Blockchain will take a lot of the "mystique" of annoying processes away. Wondering about car repairs won't just be a single company's job. You'll just have access to it. Finding out whether the deed to your land is accurate to the actual fence posts in the yard will be a few clicks away. Everything where you have to bother a lawyer about detail gathering will be part of this. It's important.Contracts. Real estate. Financial transactions. That's what blockchain does. Boring. But necessary.

The Basics

I've started collecting a lot of resources to help you with this. The FULL list is here.But these are a good start:Here's investor and venture perspectives on blockchain.IBM's explanation (they're a big player here already).This is a fun guide that has a bunch of ways of explaining it.Here's a Udemy course that might help. Plus, it's very inexpensive.And again, check out the whole pile of resources I made for you here.

Also grab my newsletter

I don't write about blockchain all the time. That would be about as boring as blockchain, but I do try to show you possible paths through the coming months and years and how this tech might help you drive better human interactions. For that, get my newsletter, which isn't the same as this blog:

Chloe Forbes-Kindlen 17/10/2017 Chloe Forbes-Kindlen 17/10/2017

You Need to Start Learning The Basics of Blockchain

In the early 90s, you started hearing about the Internet but brushed it off. Blockchain is that same experience coming to you again. Only this time, you can get ahead and learn a bit more before you feel like you're ten or more years behind everyone else.

I went looking for ways that people are describing and explaining even the basics of Blockchain technology and I put it together here for you. I know that everyone learns differently and that sometimes, we need to see something many times before it sinks in.Here's my effort to help you find more information on the basics of blockchain technology so you can start looking for ways it might change your world. There are opportunities here just like the Internet brought us many opportunities. Ignore this at your peril.

The Basics of Blockchain

I love this brief video from Wired where Bettina Warburg explains blockchain to a little kid, and then works it up from there.Blockchain ExplainedHere's investor and venture perspectives on blockchain.This is a technical guide from the NIST, (kinda dry but useful)I like how basic this article by The Fool is.IBM's explanation (they're a big player here already).This is a fun guide that has a bunch of ways of explaining it.Here's a Udemy course that might help. Plus, it's very inexpensive.I really like this description of blockchain and they went to a lot of effort to make it for you.Listed near the bottom of this post are some real world applications of blockchain.This one is a bit of a deeper dive told through massive slideshare decks.For those of you who prefer books, get this one by Donald Tapscott.

Audio Learners - Look Here

Great miniseries about blockchain by Fidelity people. It's really helpful. I like this one a lot.

Prefer a video?

Want it fast? Blockchain in 2 minutes (pretty good, actually.)Blockchain for Dummies Blockchain as it applies to Bitcoin A whiteboard talk can be helpful.A really nerdy but very visual demonstration of some of blockchain's details. (Worth it, but you're getting a computer guy's take and that might spook some people.)A conference presentation on Blockchain.

How About Live Events?

I found this guide of conferences and conventions. You might have to do a little research to validate some of the events, but hey, good place to start.

There are Plenty More But Start Here

I'm just saying "hey you, it's time to get smarter and smarter about blockchain because it's coming around in more and more ways and you might want to think about your place in all this."The goal is finding the gaps where you can use technology to drive better human interaction.

I'll Help You Get Smarter

My weekly newsletter features ideas and thoughts and actionable concepts you can use for your own business. It's fun and VERY different from what you normally get. Check it out here:

Chloe Forbes-Kindlen 11/10/2017 Chloe Forbes-Kindlen 11/10/2017

CBM101117

Here are the notes from the Chris Brogan Media broadcast for 10/11/17. (You can watch this on my Facebook account).This live video was all shot using Ecamm Live (client), the best way to do Facebook Live for Mac.Please note that all links may be affiliate links. If someone is a client, I'll call that out specifically.

Stories Shared

Yesterday, Bitcoin ALMOST made it to a record high value. This says we might still get there.Another cool use of blockchain technology? You can create your own loans for people without much of a third part between you.But if you're not ready to invest in cryptocurrency, this investment app by Stash has been a lot of fun.Speaking of investing, you should see what Oracle's planning in the world of blockchain support.And as a small business owner, you might want to check out how the Internet of Things relates to your search value.In Alexa news, the BBC is launching a new interactive show where you can choose your own adventure.And if that's not your bag, Google just bought a podcasting technology that helps delivery highly personalized short form audio content.Keep your eye out for these shifting media experiences. Apple just inked a big deal with Spielberg to create new programming for the Apple TV platform.My random plant-based story of the day is plant based sales tripled since 2016. This is more than a quick fad, at least so it appears.In another effort to fend of "porch pirates," Amazon is willing to deliver packages to your car's trunk. This is one of SEVERAL methods they're exploring for keeping your stuff safe.I'm just helping you out with this one. If you don't yet know what a "porg" is, this is a good start.Hey, if this has been interesting, consider picking up my weekly newsletter. It's all unique ideas by me about how to improve buyer interactions and grow your business. Give it a peek

What ELSE is News?

You want to get featured on the Chris Brogan Media show? Drop me an email: chris@chrisbrogan.com and let me know what's news!

Please Get My Newsletter

My newsletter is the best work I do every week. You can get yours here.

Chloe Forbes-Kindlen 10/05/2017 Chloe Forbes-Kindlen 10/05/2017

How to Write a Great Round-Up Post

Three times today, I've been asked by a "blogger" to contribute to their amazing "round-up" post, where they query experts for their opinions on some topic that they feel matters to the people they try to entertain with their "writing." In the last of these posts, I was addressed by my very secret title of {First Name}, indicating a very personal touch in how the person was seeking out help.

How to Write a Great Round-Up Post

Don't.

The idea almost makes sense. Hey, person who knows something: Come and give a sentence or two of your time about this topic. I'll collect it all up and then publish it. People will love it!

It's not true. Make yourself the reader, the consumer of that "content" for a moment. (I'm glad I don't have to pay for quotation marks. If you and I were talking face to face about this, my fingers would be sore from "air" "quotes" by now.) There's no reason anyone really wants to read the opinions of a dozen or so "experts" on anything in particular.

What do we want? We want research boiled down into useful data. Far fewer people read the actual survey results that others spend a lot of time gathering and tabulating. Instead, we read the summaries.

But do we want a bunch of people's random, spat out thoughts on a random topic hurled at us by some well-meaning low-end content producer? No. Never. I'm just going to say never.

Instead of Writing a Great Round-Up Post

Look. Roundup is a weed killer. It's not a way to convey useful information to someone who might need it. Instead of writing that next great round-up post, do this instead:

Brainstorm a list of topics your reader might actually benefit from knowing more about.
Explain the problem the reader is facing from their side of the story.
Provide some information on potential solutions.
Offer actionable information on how to improve or correct the problem.
Offer a follow-on or next-action that relates to what you sell, where appropriate.

That's what people want. Much more than your lazy gathering of a bunch of people's quickly-scribbled thoughts on a random topic.

Some extra reading on the topic of writing roundup posts from my esteemed colleague and friend, Christopher S. Penn.

And if you want to connect with your buyers? Stick with me. Get my newsletter, where I share ways to do better for the people you serve. And stop contributing to the round-up detritus that's littering the Internet.

Chloe Forbes-Kindlen 06/04/2017 Chloe Forbes-Kindlen 06/04/2017

Mastodon is Like The Early Days of Many Different Tech Things

I can't believe that I'm about to say this: I just started using the new social network, Mastodon. I'm not saying YOU should use it, YET, but I can tell you that there's quite a buzz about it.

What is Mastodon

It's a social network, but a distributed one. Instead of us all showing up on a bunch of servers we think of as "Twitter," we can sign up to a "home" "instance" of a server (I'm using quotes for mortals - developers are already making a face at me, but I write my posts for humans, not code monkeys). I know. Don't panic. This will take some explaining.

Mastodon is like Twitter. You got that part.

There are MANY home bases for it. The primary one was http://mastodon.social. But that filled up fast and said, "We're not taking anyone new right now." SO there's a list of "instances" (meaning servers up and running that other people have built) and you can sign up to any of these.

Think of "instance" a bit like "that stuff to the right of your @ in your email.

If you're chris@owner.media , the account is "chris" and the server is "owner.media." If you're bobross@yahoo.com (I just made that up so don't send this poor person email), it means your account is bobross and your "instance" is "yahoo.com."

With me so far?

Signing Up for Mastodon

I picked an instance of Mastodon off this list. I picked http://mastodon.rocks for nearly no reason. It was green, up, and had a few hundred users. Again, it doesn't "exactly" matter where you sign up.

I can't tell you which instance to pick. There's no guarantee someone won't just close a server tomorrow. It's wild west time for all this right now. Which raises another big issue. (Kinda.)

There's No Identity Confirmation

This is also the weird part. I signed up as "@chrisbrogan" on the Mastodon.rocks server, but it only counts there. Anyone can sign up as @chrisbrogan on any other instance, and people wouldn't know it wasn't me. (This is why twitter and facebook do a 'verified' by the way.)

Now, this isn't all that weird. I'm chris@chrisbrogan.com, but I'm not chris@yahoo.com and chris@hotmail.com etc. See what I mean? It's not THAT different than signing up for email. We don't force people to prove they're who they are when they get an email account.

Should Business Start Using This?

Absolutely not. No. Nein. Do NOT use this. Nyet. It's too new. It's too uncertain. It's too bleeding edge.

Should YOU Check It Out?

I have one unscientific thing to tell you: it FEELS like the early days of Twitter. It feels fun right now.

But fun in that "I didn't need another social network, but why not muck with it" kind of way. Fun in that "what if these guys get right what ultimately failed at Twitter. Fun in that "there's just a slight shift in how this is built that's worth thinking about" kind of way.

Fun because instead of "tweets," they're "toots." Who doesn't want to toot at someone?

The Early Days

I was into bulletin board services (BBS) back in the day. They were my life. Then AOL. Then early Internet. When we all had to learn things like URLs and email addresses etc, it FELT messy and nerdy and like no grown ups would do it. And then we all did. This feels weirdly like that. Kind of. But I'm not sold.

This could be another Jaiku/Pownce/Plurk/Ello and whatever else.

Find Me on Mastodon

My account is here. Feel free to follow. Who knows if it's useful. I'm not guaranteeing I'll follow you back. Because I did that once on Twitter and it was a disaster. So who knows?

And if this is your first time ever hearing about me, grab my newsletter. It's the best thing I do every week.Skimlinks Test

Chloe Forbes-Kindlen 22/03/2017 Chloe Forbes-Kindlen 22/03/2017

A Splintered Web Gets Even More Fragmented

This morning, after Jacq left for the gym, I spoke to two different bots on my phone. Poncho gave me the weather forecast and a little weird joke. Joy asked me how I was feeling because she wants to help me keep track of my mood and mental health. These are called chatbots and they're part of one of the new splinters of what used to be called the web.

A Splintered Web Gets Even More Fragmented

My buddy Martin is all into virtual reality. He met a girl he loves and now they're going to marry in VR. There are lots of people in Martin's tribe of "VR will take over the world." Facebook purchased VR platform company Oculus Rift for 2 Billion dollars. Many people are exploring VR as a new and very important medium for entertainment and communication.

I'm excited by voice applications, for one. I'm interested in Amazon's Echo/Alexa. It's another angle on the chatbots I mentioned above. Adrian Zumbrunnen turned his main website into a chatbot. It mostly shows off his skills, but the interface is intriguing because it's NOT the typical web.

In places like China, apps like WeChat have taken over the wide open web. This one's weird/interesting to me because it feels almost like a step back. Let me explain:In the old days, there were BBS platforms (bulletin board services). Then came AOL. Then, for some, The Well. Then, for all of us, "The Internet" for nerds. Then, the "Web," which is the pretty face of the Internet.WeChat acts kind of like AOL. It's a self-contained entity. And people in China love it. Because it handles a lot of their needs without having to go searching all over the place for whatever they want.There were chatrooms, too. I used to be a big fan of IRC (Internet Relay Chat). Then came Twitter. Later Facebook. Then Instagram if you didn't feel like sharing a post and a picture would do. Snapchat shows up to give us vanishing proof. My son uses none of these because he's a gamer. He uses Discord. Haven't heard of it? It's okay. It's not meant for you.YouTube: one billion hours of video consumed daily.Podcasts: on the rise and then some.Netflix/Hulu/CrunchyRoll/Plex servers... and on and on and on.

Now Imagine Trying to Reach And Connect With People

I've been blogging since 1998. I started because I wanted to share my ideas with like-minded people. It took a LONG time for people to find these ideas. And then it was even longer before it was easy enough to share them. Back then, blogrolls and curated lists were how we discovered like-minded people. But the blogroll is long gone and many attempts at curation fail (while oddly, others succeed).It's harder than ever to happen along and discover our tribe. It's too scattered. And less and less of it is showing up on a web page somewhere. Think about that. The concept of a "page" is becoming less and less valuable to people. Google search throws up its own cards that are often good enough that people don't have to click through to the original page.Or you can talk to a bot.Or you can surface the information via chat.Or you can get a virtual tour.Or...Or...This choice is wonderful on the one side. It's challenging on the other. If you're a marketer, if you run a business, if you just want to find others doing what you're interested in doing, where do you look these days?The answer is unclear.But I know this for sure: if you stay still, you'll lose your chance to connect. If you don't explore these new worlds, at least some of them, you might get left behind like the last keyword holder on AOL. And if you don't peek outside of the standard "web page," you're doomed to lose more and more of your potential opportunity to serve others.I'm exploring a lot of new avenues for reaching people, for serving people, and for keeping information available in a way that will help others accomplish their goals. It's upon you to do the same, and to stay tuned to the people who are doing some of the experimenting and exploring for you. Because these shifts have already happened for many, and you and I are in danger of being left behind. Again.

Chloe Forbes-Kindlen 01/03/2017 Chloe Forbes-Kindlen 01/03/2017

Start Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing is a way for publishers like you and me to promote products and services that we like and use to the people we serve through our platform. It's my favorite kind of marketing arrangement because when used appropriately, it's the perfect match of a person (me) promoting a product they like (made by someone else) to the people that have chosen to give me their attention (you). I want to talk about what it takes to start affiliate marketing.

Start Affiliate Marketing

Let me state two details at the beginning: there will be affiliate links in this post as there are in lots of my posts. (I disclose that fact on my about page, which is good to do and also the law in the US - more on that later.) Second, these are my simple methods for affiliate marketing. There are far more intelligent and complex ways to do this executed by the really smart people I've met at events like Affiliate Summit. Start with me, but if you get really involved in this space, go to that conference.

The purpose of this article will be to walk you through what it takes to build a media site (or sites) and promote products and services that you use and like. There are other methods to make and deploy affiliate marketing. I'm sharing just mine. My intention isn't to create some exhaustive tome. I want to get you started and get you on the path to making business happen. Oh, and if you want a handy checklist to go along with this, I'll trade you. Sign up to my newsletter and get the Start Affiliate Marketing Checklist. Good?

START

Before You Begin: What's Required

Like most any online business idea, people go a little crazy. They think, "This is super easy and I'll just set up a website and someone will drop bags of money off at my house." It never EVER happens that way. You will always have to work and people will only ever give you money if you're delivering some kind of value to them.

The method I recommend for affiliate marketing is to build a content media "property" around a topic of interest (YOUR interest) after determining whether there's some related affiliate marketing programs. That means you're going to do some blogging, maybe some podcasts, some video. You'll be in the media making and promoting business.

It's a hard time for this. There is a GLUT of content out there. Author Mark Schaefer wrote about content shock as far back as 2014. There's just gobs of people creating "content" for the world out there.

So why start? Why am I telling you about this in the first place?

Two reasons. 1.) If you're just going to phone it in, stop reading this article. It's obvious when you do this and no one will pay attention to you. 2.) If you feel strongly about some particular topic or topic area, it will require your effort to make something of value for people.

Requirements for Being a Successful Affiliate Marketer

To be successful in my method, you must do the following:

Treat affiliate marketing like a business - Serve people something of value or they'll go elsewhere. Put in the time. Work to make your product (good content) worth it.
Create new content at least once a week - And again, "content" means a blog post or a podcast episode or a video. Some kind of media that serves your potential buyer.
Make the content valuable - Anyone can make a few bucks delivering junk content, but that's not serving anyone. People will quickly realize your goals and abandon you. And Google will punish your search ranking badly if they suspect you're not working to help the people who show up on your site.
Always know the product you're promoting - This is important. Some affiliate marketing programs are lucrative but are in areas where you have no domain knowledge. Never promote something you can't vouch for. Either be an active user of the product and service or be closely connected with the company who sells it. YOUR relationship with the community you serve is at stake. Affiliate marketing is a 100% trust-based game.
Seek out ways to serve the people who give you their attention - Your relationship is never about selling the product. It's about equipping the people you serve with tools they might find valuable. That requires you to go looking for products and services that might enhance the experiences of those people who give you their attention.
Learn at least the basics of the technology you use to create this material - The very basic affiliate marketing that I do requires that you know how to copy and that you know how to paste. Beyond this, I'm going to recommend a few tools that might make the whole thing a little better. Learn how to post a blog post. Learn how to record and edit a podcast. Learn how to shoot and post a video on something like YouTube. You'll need these skills.

All right. Let's say you're down for this still. Let's dig in.

Step 1: Pick a Topic Area

This is likely the hardest part, but it doesn't have to be. Here at [chrisbrogan.com], my tagline is "Use media and community to earn more customers." That means I talk about business stuff around marketing and communications for the most part. Right? Pretty wide-stretching topic. The negative to this is that I don't rank highly on Google for many useful things. The plus is that I can pick lots more things to promote, where it makes sense.For you, I want you to consider Step 1 and Step 2 in the same time frame. As you start looking for a topic area, it has to match up with you well.

Is this an area you know well?
Can you list ten articles to write about?
Is there something people buy to improve their experience in this space?
Can you find products for the space? (See Step 2)

That's how I evaluate NEW projects. If I were going to start a brand new website from scratch right now around a space, I would go through that checklist.But listen. Very important. You MIGHT find ways to build affiliate programs into it indirectly. Let's say you like geocaching. Remember that? It's when you go out in the woods and cities with a GPS and find little treasure boxes that other people have left for you? Maybe that's your thing. You use it to exercise a bit and unwind.You might think: well, then I'll sell GPS products. Okay, but you can also sell backpacks, hiking boots, toys to stick in the boxes, snacks, thermoses, raincoats, umbrellas, and sunglasses. Bingo. Sunglasses are a HUGE internet product. Just check your spam if you don't believe me. See?Some people also like to bounce topic ideas of the Google Keyword Planner tool. Sometimes that's great, but if you are REALLY sure of your topic, don't fret if that tool doesn't back you up. I've made a career around creating my own keywords.You've got a topic, but you MUST determine of there are some affiliate programs that make it worth your time to build this out. (Again, provided your goal is to be an affiliate marketer and earn money promoting products and services that you vouch for to the people you have the pleasure to serve.)

Step 2: Research Affiliate Programs

There are many affiliate platforms and programs out there. You want to seek out companies that have some level of longevity. You want to evaluate whether they have good reporting tools. You'll probably want to Google any company you're evaluating to make sure there aren't too many scary stories about them, too.I'll tell you off the bat that I am a very big fan of Share-a-Sale, because I know and trust their founder, Brian Littleton, and because a lot of the companies I've worked with have chosen Share-a-Sale for their platform.This isn't a pure affiliate project, but IZEA is a company I appreciate and vouch for. I'm friends with founder Ted Murphy, and I've worked with this company since...2009, I think?There are sites like Commission Junction, Rakuten (formerly LinkShare), and tons more. There's also Clickbank and even platforms like Amazon Associates.You can pick who you want to work with, but do your homework.When you've decided on a company or companies to work with (many people have multiple affiliate accounts), it's time to research your topic to see if there are some potential products and services in the area you're hoping to develop.You can search by product name. You can search by company name. You can even just start typing stuff in and see what you find. Again, my big point (I've made it three or four times so far) is that you should only promote products and services that you've used or you can vouch for. Let that guide your searches, too.One little detail: sometimes, a company has a standalone affiliate program and for whatever reason, they opt to run the program themselves. That's fine. It means you have to go to their site, apply for their program, and hope that they are as diligent and professional as the programs I've mentioned above. I'm not saying not to do it, but I tend to stick to platforms that I know will actually pay me for my efforts. At the TOP of that list for me is Share-A-Sale, so sign up there.Then, it's time to apply for some programs.

Step 3: Apply for Affiliate Programs

Every affiliate manager (the person working with the companies selling the products and services) does their job differently. There are various ways they evaluate their affiliates, different ways they handle their relationships, etc. Some programs are open to anyone. You sign up and you're in. Other programs require an application and verification.In those application-and-verification moments, the manager is looking for the following:

What website will these links and banners be used?
What else do you promote there?
Are you legit or some evil spammer?
Do you have any kind of an audience?
Does your site even look nice?

I can tell you from my own experience that I've been denied from programs because the manager felt I wasn't the right fit. Fine by me. I've also been denied from programs because I wanted to use the links and banners on a site that wasn't yet developed and the affiliate manager probably wanted to see me launch before giving me an account with their company. Never take the denials personally. Realize that you can reapply and just move forward.

Focus on finding companies whose products and services you want to represent and work on getting approved for those.

Sometimes, I know a product, but the company vending the product is unknown to me. For instance, I am an affiliate marketer for a vitamin supplement company that I know very little about, but I use them because they sell products that I can vouch for. So before I put a single link up from this company, I ordered products from them myself like a customer. I evaluated the delivery. I contacted their customer service to ask a question or two. I made sure I could trust these people with someone if I sent someone there to get a vitamin. (I recommend you do the same.)

Okay, let's say you've applied. You've been accepted. You're ready to make a site.

Step 4: Build a Site

If you don't already have a domain (URL) for your website, swing by Namecheap or whoever you prefer and buy one. With all the new domain options like .club and .media and so on, you're likely going to be able to pick a decent name without much hassle.Some people prefer a name that matches a Google search like, "how-to-buy-a-car.com" or something. (Don't search that because I didn't.)My name choice is to create something memorable that you can own. When I dabbled with a nerdy site idea, I settled on NerdFront because I liked how bold it was. (Note: the project's on hold AND it isn't on StudioPress because I built it before that was an option.)Quick Disclosure: I have a strong bias for Brian Clark, Rainmaker Digital, and the StudioPress and Rainmaker platforms. My business runs on it and has for years. I will always recommend them because they've served me well for years now.

That said, it's important to build a site where you can do your affiliate stuff. You can build something simple, something mega complex, or you can build a media platform that handles blogging, podcasting,etc. I'll give you three to choose from:

Weebly - not a ton of features, but inexpensive and very fast/easy to throw together.
Rainmaker - the exact opposite. This is a massive and amazing platform. It does many things, has its own merchant tools, membership tools, a podcast network system, a learning management system and much more. I run my flagship site, Owner.Media, on it.
StudioPress - This is a newer offering from Rainmaker Digital and I put my Mom's website on it right away. I've got a new site going there, too. This is what I would most recommend for a affiliate marketing project because it's affordable (under $300 USD a year), built on a bulletproof hosting solution, has strong SEO (search engine optimization) added to it, and with its new approved plug-in partners, it's pretty easy to configure and launch a decent site with minimal technological knowledge.

I mentioned podcasting and video. You have a lot of options. I'll tell you what I picked for various projects and you can choose your own adventure.For my last two podcast projects, I used and can highly recommend Libsyn (Liberated Syndication). They've been in business for years. I know the founders and many of the team there. A lot of the biggest podcasters in the world trust Libsyn.I've also dabbled with the podcasting tools inside Rainmaker. It works really well and I'm going to run my next podcast on it. The team at Rainmaker Digital all use it and have launched hundreds (thousands?) of episodes on it.For video? Oh boy. You could ask a million people. I have a few thoughts.I use YouTube and intend to use it more. I've started using Facebook and Facebook live. I believe there's some "there" there.I also like those platforms like Vimeo and the rest. Don't ask. Use what you want. But I think it's a bit crazy if you don't use the big mega platforms as well. You can argue with me. Pick for yourself.Do you HAVE to do video? No. Should you? I say yes. Do it!SUPER IMPORTANT STEP: On your About page on your website, create an area for disclosures. In the US, this is a legal requirement - see more HERE.If you want to steal and edit mine, here's what I wrote:Chris promotes and sells various 3rd party products and services via affiliate marketing links. These change frequently. Presume that most links here have an affiliate relationship attached, but also understand that if Chris promotes it, he uses and believes in the product or service.Now, let's make some content!

Step 5: Create and Launch Useful Content

Let's talk about making content. I mean blog posts. I mean newsletter articles (not just your blog posts sent in email). I mean podcast episodes. I mean videos. That's the "stuff" of this job the way I do it.What do you write about?You can do lots of things:

Reviews
Guides
How-to (oh! Like THIS post!)
And sometimes just off-the-cuff stories where you find yourself talking about a product that you recommend.

There are plenty of other ways to do affiliate marketing. These are content marketing plays, not the other stuff like coupon sites, etc.

Above all else, I want you to be organic. Create information that will serve the person you're hoping to help. Browse through what I've written at [chrisbrogan.com] and you'll see there's quite a mix there. My reader is a business person. My reader is someone looking for new ideas and perspectives. Thus, I can mention whatever makes sense in that context.But I also talk about products and services from my life where it makes sense. I love my Yeti mug. I love it. So when I talk about it, I link to where you can pick one up. Because if you get one, you'll love it like I do.That's how I do affiliate marketing content. It's organic because the absolute goal of my efforts is to connect you with something I think you'll find useful and/or will benefit you in some way. That's my biggest message to you in this whole piece.The actual mechanics of how I post for affiliate marketing go exactly like this:

I write my blog post.
I identify links I want to place that point you to the product I want to reference.
I find those links on ShareASale (or wherever you've chosen).
I add those links to my post. *
I publish the post.

*There's an extra step because I've chosen it. I use Bit.ly Pro as a link shortener. That means I take a link from somewhere like shareasale that looks like this: http://www.shareasale.com/r.cfm?b=518798&u=287419&m=46483&urllink=&afftrack= and turn it into this: http://cbrogan.me/namecheap. I recommend link shortening technology but it's not VITAL.I do it for three reasons. 1.) Prettier links. 2.) More stats. 3.) I can replace a vendor with another vendor without upsetting the links I built on my blog and elsewhere.Like I said early on, you must also treat this like a business. And to do that, we move to our next step.

Step 6: Adjust Based on Stats

If you're not measuring your efforts, there's no real reason to do affiliate marketing. The goal is to help others and to earn something for your efforts. To do this, you need stats.

At the bare minimum, install Google Analytics.Look also for other tools to help with your efforts, too. For instance, I use Bit.ly pro for my link shortener. It tells me that my links have been clicked by people in 67 countries. It tells me that more people click my link for Rainmaker than they do my link for the Yeti mug this month.Your goal is to help others. You might find more information from your stat-gathering. For instance, let's say Google Analytics says 100 people clicked a link on your page to a great set of art pens you like and promote. Your Bit.ly pro account confirms those 100 clicks, too. But your affiliate program says made zero sales.

First, know that it could happen. People click but don't buy all the time. 1% is a good number to aim for. 100 clicks, 1 sale. But if there's no sale?
The people who click might not like the product. - Should you find a new product?
The people who click might not like the seller's website. - Should you find a new vendor?
There might be a disconnect in the content and the promoted link. Maybe lose the link and try something in a new post.

But there's other things that can happen. Software fails all the time. You might see 100 clicks in Google Analytics and only 10 clicks in the link shortener. Is there something wrong there? Or maybe 100/100 and the vendor isn't seeing the traffic? You might have to reach out to an affiliate manager for some help.See? Stats. They're important. Use them.Okay, last in my list.

Step 7: Look for Expansion

If your goal is helping someone, it's great to realize that people have more than one need in the universe. The best salespeople I've EVER met are those who are looking out for the larger story around me instead of just selling me one single product or service.

A long time ago, I used to pester Brian Clark for a copy of his WordPress theme. When he started selling a premium theme based on his old one, I was one of his first customers. Then, he sold a premium theme framework. Then, another. Then, hosting. Then a powerful website platform. And now a simpler one too. I'm in line every time he comes up with something new. I love about 85% of the things he's created. Pretty good number, right?

As an affiliate marketer, your job is to help people in a certain space. Maybe you're helping aspiring nursing students. You help them get scrubs and school supplies and links to books and whatever else. Maybe you find an affiliate program for study guides or something. Why wouldn't you look to expand what you offer to help students get what they need to do their job better?

Let's say this goes another way. Maybe you've done so great with nursing students that you think, "Hey, I'm into vintage 1950s memorabilia- maybe there's an affiliate project THERE!" That's awesome.What comes next? All the same seven steps above. Starting at Step 1.Because there are two ways to expand:

Grow the product lines to the marketplace you serve.
Create a new marketplace.

What wouldn't be a great plan is mixing the two. Don't try to sell nursing students 1950s surfboards or whatever. Make sense?That's how to expand.

Last Words

The trust you develop with the people you reach with your media is your first and foremost priority. Never trade your relationship for a few bucks. It'll never ever EVER be worth it.Serve the people you write and create content for and deliver them products and services you've used and/or can vouch for. Be diligent in this.Keep it light. You're here so you're not likely going into this business in any hardcore kind of way. But do this stuff lightly. Look for it to buy you a dinner every month. Then a few dinners. Then get yourself to where it can pay your mortgage. And so on. It's more fun this way. You'll enjoy the experience more.And remember that selling isn't evil. Selling without the intention of helping the other party is evil. Most every link I've shared above is an affiliate link. Did you feel like I was some kind of jerk? No. Because I'm pointing you towards resources you might want to use to build your own money-making affiliate marketing business.THAT is your goal. Help others. Make money. Simple as that.Now, do you want the checklist I promised? START To share this, please point people to https://chrisbrogan.com/start-affiliate-marketing. This article was written by Chris Brogan, (c) 2017.

Chloe Forbes-Kindlen 13/02/2017 Chloe Forbes-Kindlen 13/02/2017

Stop Getting Your News From Facebook - Build Your Own News Platform

"I'm getting sick of all the negative news on Facebook." Has a friend said this to you? Have you heard more and more of this? Are YOU tired of feeling like the information scrolling down your Facebook feed isn't what you care about? You can build a simple alternative.

What If You Controlled Your Own Attention?

Before we all got sucked into the fan blades of Facebook (and I'm not anti-Facebook - I'm just explaining that there's this other "build it yourself" Internet that came before it and still exists), the blogging revolution was delivered to us via RSS (Really Simple Syndication), largely thanks to internet pioneer Dave Winer. The name of the game was subscribing to blogs. We'd discover these by looking at the blog rolls (lists of other blogs you might like) that were a fixture on the sidebar of our websites.

I could get all nerdy-techy and also go deep into the "back in my day," but the part you should be thinking about is this: people CHOSE their news sources, curated their own interests, and managed their own consumption of media. They could stay connected to communities that mattered to them, and grow with the combined developments that were brought to light in those communities.

Facebook is swell at what it does: keeping you scrolling. But what it doesn't do is help you focus on what matters most to you. You spend a lot of your time clicking that red and white number to see what just happened, and less and less time immersing in something of value to you. It's not evil. It's just one tool. I want to remind you of another option.

Build Your Own News Reader

One of the simplest tools you can use for this is Feedly.

Your account there is free. I signed up using my Facebook account credentials (hey, universal login credentials is a really useful thing), but you can give them an email and password, too.
From there, you can start seeking out and adding whatever it is you'd like to stay more informed about. It's as easy as clicking the + symbol in the upper left of the screen.

Two Ways to Add Feeds
You can search without knowing what you want to find using the search bar or you can find a specific blog's content feed, if you know how to look.
My blog's RSS feed is https://chrisbrogan.com/feed. You simply have to put that URL into the search bar to add it to Feedly. But if you don't know the actual URL of the feed, you can search. I typed in "Altucher Confidential" to find my buddy James Altucher's material and I got this:

Use Folders to Sort Your Thoughts Even More

Let's say you're like me and have a lot of interests. I like business stories, world news stories, military and special operations stories, video game stories, and more. To keep those organized, click the little GEAR graphic in the top left like in this picture:

It brings up a page that says "Organize My Feeds" and allows you to add a New Collection. Call it whatever you want. It'll help you keep organized and allow you to drill down into exactly what you want to look at.

Ways to Use Your News Reader

Pick a topic that applies to your business and look for a news source that isn't your typical information. For instance, let's say you run a fence company in New England. I clicked the + in the upper left corner and I put in "landscaping" and "architecture" and "yard design" and a few other topics. I soon had dozens of potential news sources. I typed in "New England Real Estate" and found places that listed homes going up on the market. I imagine one time people would buy a fence would be right before they put their home on the market for sale. See?

Outside of the Feedly site, you can also go to Google and search both on topics to find potential articles, and/or people you're interested in following. I googled "interview with James Altucher" and looked at some of the people who had interviewed him. I found lots of people I know, but also a few I didn't, and those led me to new sources of information I might want, given that if these people were smart enough to interview James, they likely might interview other people I like.

Crazy Things to Track

Did you know you could subscribe to a search for products on Amazon? I found this Amazon Feed Generator app. I put in "Batman" and got this. You can narrow it down to a particular product category, too.

You can search hashtags. I went to a tool called QueryFeed and put in #batman (you know, in case you want to see what people are tweeting about Batman). It spat out a fairly ugly page. But I copied the URL up at the top, dropped that into the search bar at Feedly, and that let me subscribe to the results of that search. Kapow! (Now, pick the hashtag YOU want to search.)

You can get your weather in your reader via rssWeather.com. It takes a few clicks, but suddenly, I was getting a decent feed of my town's weather right there in my Feedly.

I googled state emergency management news for where I live and found a feed for that.

You're In Control

You have the power to create your own channel, to build whatever kind of information you feel like tracking. And you can choose how you spend your attention. Sure, funny dog videos are cool. But if you want to grow and thrive and get out of the bubble, you have the tools to do that, too.

One last thing about Feedly: there's a mobile app for iPhone or Android and it works great. You can be as mobile as you want to be with this tool.

In my next post, I'll talk about creating the news. But we needed a place to put it first. Want to be sure to get the next post in the series? Be sure to add my feed on Feedly!

Chris Brogan is a business advisor, keynote speaker, and the New York Times bestselling author of 9 books and counting. His next book, Make Your Own Game, is due out in 2017 from Wiley Books.

Chloe Forbes-Kindlen 01/01/2017 Chloe Forbes-Kindlen 01/01/2017

Why Should I Have a Website

The biggest change in business over the last fifteen years is our ability (in most countries) to create and launch our own business without anyone's permission. We have also been granted (via the Internet) the tools to reach our prospective buyers without anyone else's help. If you WANT to do more business, the first step (after having something to offer others) is to create a home base on the web.

The Idea of a Home Base

I started blogging in 1998, when they called it journaling. I did it for a really simple reason: I wanted to have a voice that was heard beyond my few friends. I wanted to share my ideas with others. That's it, nothing fancy.

In 2006, I came up with a strategy called "home base and outposts" to better explain how we might use the social platforms like Twitter and Facebook. The idea was that you build a home base (your primary website) where your most valuable contributions were, and you built and tended outposts (social media platforms) to interact with others and earn potential visitors to your home base. The idea's still accurate, though lots of people have abandoned their home bases to simply create on other people's territory like Facebook and Medium and LinkedIn. I want to explain/re-establish why a home base is important.

The business reasons for having a home base are as follows:

Create a "store front" where people can learn about your offerings.
Generate attention via the web from search traffic.
Express yourself and earn potential customers.

This works for all and any business. You could run an airline or you could run a pet grooming service. You could be in the database administration team of a big company. It works the same. People need to know how you help them. They need to find you through search (it's how we do it these days). They need to know a bit about who you are beyond the service.

What Does It Take to Create a Home Base

A home base is basically a website. You can make something super simple and fast with a site maker like Weebly. Not bad. It's actually a way to get launched a few hours after you have the idea. You might also buy a domain to go with the site, but maybe note. It depends how developed the idea is.

I prefer something a bit more robust. WordPress runs on a vast number of all websites on the Internet. I love using Rainmaker because it allows me to have a LOT of tools at my fingertips. I can make an absolutely basic website with any platform, which is what you need for a home base. The reason I love Rainmaker is that it allows me all this, also:

Sales/landing page creation
High SEO blog software
Merchant technology
Membership site management
Podcast technology (yep, you can start one!)

And a lot of other stuff.

What Goes On Your Home Base?

So you've picked a technology to make a website of some kind. Now what? What do you DO with it?

The goals are what I stated at the beginning:

Create a site that helps others know that you serve them and HOW you serve them.
Help people understand their challenges and how you solve them.
Make it easy to reach you so they can take next steps.

The primary pages you create are simple:

Home Page - make your offer clear and obvious. Make how you serve people clear and obvious. Look at chrisbrogan.com and Owner.Media for examples. Have an actual NEXT STEP in mind for when they've read the home page. Maybe that's "contact me" or "request a demo" or "choose your best solution."
About Page - People want to know who they're doing business with, and they also want to know whether you can help them. It's SO important that you realize this isn't the same as justifying why you're worth it. People turn their about pages into dense experiences in defensiveness. If I want a problem solved, I don't want to know about your 8th grade dance recital. I want to know that you'll do what you say. If you're lucky, people will be excited and want to contact you. Make that easy.
Product/Offering Page - Be clear on what you sell. I sell a handful of things and I'm fairly clear about them. I sell books, webinars, courses, professional speaking, and business advisory services. If you look at that, there's a simple progression: free/inexpensive/value-added/customized. That way, people know what I sell, how it's delivered, and can choose whatever fits their needs and level of commitment. End your offering page with next steps. Make sure people can contact you.
Contact Page - You might have guessed by now that I find this page important. People need to be able to reach you to ask questions, clarify anything they might not understand, and generally know that there are humans behind the website.
Content/Blog - If you've done the other four pages, then I'd strongly recommend creating content in the form of a blog. For your home base, this is the most punch for your money. You can create posts that explain better what you sell in different words. You can build in ways to reach you. You can make it easier to understand how to connect after the content.
And you can must add value. Your blog or podcast or newsletter isn't worth anything if it's just a bunch of junk collected up and shoveled together into a "post."
The goal with content is to help people whether or not they buy what you sell. It's a challenge, especially when you're hungry. But let me give you a really quick analogy: You can eat the seeds or you can plant the seeds. If you eat them, you're fed today. If you plant them, you're going to eat a while longer. When you write good content, it's planting seeds. When you sell, it's eating seeds. You need to sell to eat. You need to plant seeds to eat for longer. Make your blog posts about planting and earn the right to sell and serve. Make your sales letters about eating. Make sense?

What's Next?

If you're into all this, it's fairly straightforward: pick a domain, pick a place to host a website ( Rainmaker has that built into its price, too), set it up to match the above information, and get out there and make business happen. Should you have a website? Yes. Hell yes. Should it match who you are? Absolutely!

And then, if you want to get MORE from how to use it, check out these ideas, or at least sign up to my free newsletter. Either way, it's time to make it all work for you.

Chloe Forbes-Kindlen 06/06/2016 Chloe Forbes-Kindlen 06/06/2016

Blogging Isn't Dead

You can read (ironically) a blog post every day or so telling you that blogging is dead. They tell you to write into Facebook notes or into Medium or anywhere but on your own blog. They tell you that no one visits blogs any more. And whoever "they" is have lost tons and tons of opportunities over and over again while shifting between platforms while giving you that advice.

Blogging Is Not Dead

Blogging is alive and well. People create content of varying levels of value every day. There are dozens and dozens of posts created on some sites each day while other people have switched to a weekly frequency. But millions of new pages of content are created daily, no matter where you fit in the spectrum.

Visiting Blogs Might Be Dead

What might be dead is the act of visiting a specific website for a specific blog post, unless you got there via Google search. People don't eagerly work through their RSS readers (except the die hards). People are subscribing less and less to blogs outright.They're consuming blogs on places like Facebook and Twitter and Pinterest and elsewhere. They're clicking through from lots of various sources instead of coming directly to the blog.

The Value of Your Own Blog

Search is still one of the most important parts of discovery and opportunity on the Internet. Ads and search are pretty much it. There are two ways to get attention to your posts and your site and ultimately what you sell.* Ads* SearchThe value of Facebook advertising is going up. It's a very cost effective way to earn some attention if you have something useful to sell. There are other methods of getting attention through other ad networks but they work to varying degrees.Search, however, is alive and well. The rules have changed a lot. You actually have to have useful information that people will want. Gone are the days of "Just write something because we were told to have a blog by some 'guru.'" Instead, you have to have created something of value.

How Should You Use Your Blog

The best way these days to use your blog is as follows:

Write a really useful post about something that relates to what you sell, whether or not someone ultimately buys whatever you're selling. Within that post, have one or two links to that which you sell. (Otherwise, it's just information, which is useful, but doesn't help your business goals).
On the blog site, have a pop-up to offer access to your newsletter. (Make the content of the newsletter different than what you post on your blog - put your better stuff in your newsletter).
Write a summary of the post and put it on Facebook with a link to your blog post.
Do this on LinkedIn and/or wherever else you might hope to attract the attention of potential buyers.
Tweet links to your blog post at least 4 times in any given day, interspersed around other more useful tweets.
Re-promote this content over the next 2-3 days, and again a week later.

Your blog is built to capture the attention of the people you hope to serve and help in some way. You might not have to write a post daily to earn people's attention, so instead, focus on making that which you write more useful.Serve others and earn the right to help even further. That's the purpose of your blog.

But Why Maintain Your Own Blog Website?

Because you're only RENTING Facebook and Medium and anywhere else. It's not your URL. It's not your content. They have rules. They can kick you out whenever you want. You lose all Google juice for search purposes. You can't as easily sell and promote via those channels without some extra hoops and effort.That's why.

Learn More

I work with people via my Owner Unlimited webinars series to help with all the details of putting together the mechanics of owning your business. We have webinars like "Start Podcasting" and "Blogging for Business" and more. It's like Netflix. You get access to everything for one monthly fee. Take a peek HERE. Source post: Blogging Isn't Dead

Chloe Forbes-Kindlen 22/02/2016 Chloe Forbes-Kindlen 22/02/2016

One More Word about Staples (Not Sponsored)

This post isn't sponsored. I'm only posting it because I was thinking about another company and how they operate pretty much the exact opposite of Staples, and it made me want to write this to you.

The Best Allies Think Ahead FOR You

I just saw an ad for a high speed Internet provider. The rate they quoted was really attractive. I realized that I could probably get 40-50 more megabits of download speed and 90 more megabits of upload speed for $40 less a month than what we're paying now. And then it dawned on me that my current Internet provider sure hasn't done much to make sure I'm getting the best price.

Staples, on the other hand, does price matching. If I shop there, I know I'll get the best price, because if I find somewhere offering the same thing for less, they'll just fix it. Easy peasy.

My Internet provider won't do that. They'll argue with me. They'll tell me that the pricing is for "new" customers, so that I'll have to quit or threaten to quit. It's a dance. Both sides know it. And yet.

Reward Loyalty

Loyalty programs are more than plastic trinkets hanging off your keychain. And the best ones are more than "hey, here's 10% more savings." Loyalty means looking out for you in as many ways as they can come up with, and then helping even more.

I was really impressed that Staples even has a small business loan option. That was news to me, and it just made me even happier that I bring my business to them. They treat me like they're loyal to me, instead of like I'm someone to pinch out of money.

Choose the right people to work with. That's what I'm telling you here. And also, I'm glad that I've had the chance to do some work with Staples. They're one of the good guys out there.