Posts Tagged ‘creative blogging’

So far in the series of 7 sins, we have covered lust, gluttony, greed and sloth. The next in line is wrath - an uncontrolled feeling of anger or rage. When you combine this with the ease to publish content to the web, it can be very dangerous.

So what is the solution?

Don’t write when you are angry.

Wrong.

The solution is managed wrath.

Huh? What do I mean?

I mean that if you allow the wrath to control you, you can end up like…

…the woman who takes to her facebook page to complain about her boss and forgets he is a friend on Facebook?

…Or, tweeting about a job that you just got, and losing it almost immediately because of complaining about it like a new hire from Cisco did!

…Or tweeting about how much you can’t stand the town you were just in for an extremely important meeting like a Ketchum Exec did to FedEx and Memphis, TN.

…And there is always that blogger who goes a little crazy without sleep and a with new baby (and apparently a really bad Maytag washer).

But, if you can manage your wrath and filter it into something productive, you can wind up with incredible articles and stories like…

…when a health care company completely failed at its job, reported by Steve Woodruff

…then there’s Karen’s story about Steak and Shake denying a her service because she is deaf.

…and we all remember what happened when United broke a guys guitar.

These were all successfully put together and executed properly because they managed the wrath! That is the key. Writing sometimes needs a little anger and frustration, but only if it can be managed.

Have you seen an example of wrath that was either managed or mismanaged? Share it here!

In the last few weeks, I have gotten some amazing two word responses to my two words on Tuesday. However, that was not my original plan for these words.

Originally, I hoped that people would take my two words and either create a longer blog post with them, then link back, or to add a comment that does something with them…adds to them. But now, I realize that no matter what I thought it was going to be, once you give something to your readers, it is up to them! So, I am stepping back from what I though this should be, and letting it become whatever it is. Thanks to my amazing readers for showing me what happens when you ‘plan’ and forget who actually executes that plan. Take these words and really, do with them what you will (don’t forget to share, of course)!

Face Reality

I follow my stats every day, from both google analytics and stat press (although stat press is becoming less and less trustworthy, so I have been using Google analytics more.) Anyway, while I have still been writing every week day (going on 9 weeks!) I have found that over the last 2, while readership has actually gone up, the comments have gone down. And I am not sure why. I have scratched my head, wondered if it was my writing (nah, readership is up!), wonder if all my commenters have gone into hiding (have you?), maybe I’m not controversial enough (since my OCRegister ‘controversial’ blog got tons of comments) or if all of a sudden, people have stopped caring about responding (say it isn’t so!).

Rather than try and guess what it is – I want to get the straight answers.

Hopefully the comments will bring light to why or why not people comment, and this will help you to keep your comments consistent on your blog as well. After all, without comments, I’m just talking to myself here.

What makes you comment on a post? Or why don’t you comment on certain posts?

I am a firm believer in having a knowledge channel that you can go to for ideas and inspiration – for me, that channel is my Outlook RSS feed. I have over 40 blogs that I subscribe to and read on a daily basis. They range from business marketing and social media writers to sites good for a morning laugh. A few of my favorites are on my recommended reading list. There are many more that I read, but I only add them to the sidebar once I have been reading them for more than a month and feel that they are worth something to my readers. Obviously that list is always growing…

Anyway, while browsing the current posts from the blogs I subscribe to, I noticed one from Ari Herzog. He shared how he adds one new blog to his collection every day. I do the same thing, just never thought about telling people how I did it. But, I liked reading about how he did, so I figured I would share how I add to my knowledge base.

1. Use StumbleUpon. The tool bar for firefox is fabulous (don’t know about the one for IE), all I have to do is click the ’stumble’ button, and a new website pops up in whichever category I have selected at the moment. More often than not it is a blog, since most of my categories are writing, blogging, photography or creativity related. You can then vote whether you like the page or not and it learns what you like and therefore the results get better the more you use it.

2. Twitter. I have twitter searches running for many different terms, plus all of my great followers…which leads me to finding a lot of great articles. Once I have clicked on an article, if I like it, I will browse the rest of the blog. If I find at least 4 or 5 interesting articles right away, I will subscribe to it. There is no harm in testing a blog for a few weeks, if it stops being interesting, I can just remove it.

3. Searching Technorati. Simply enter a key term or phrase that you want, and presto…a bunch of great new blogs to check out!

4. Blogroll’s of blogs I already read. I have found some of the most interesting blogs through the blogrolls on sites that I already love. Although I do get all my articles via a feedreader, I try to visit each actual site once a week…see if there are updates/changes to the site, etc. Most of the people I read have a list of other writers they like. I usually find at least 1 new blog to read each week this way.

How do you find new blogs to read? Do you constantly add new ones or read the same group?

Oh, and just in case you missed it on Monday, make sure you’re subscribed here too!

I love reading blogs, almost as much as I love writing them. Over the last few weeks, I have read some exceptionally great ones. Not a single one came from a social media expert or marketing guru, they all came from people just like you an me, those who are passionate about what they do and it shows in their writing. Here are my favorite 8 blog posts from the last few weeks.

1. The secret password to customer service – Kyle Reddoch, The Everyday Web Expert

2. One of the best ads of all time – David MacGregor – Thought Spurs

3. 10 easiest ways to improve SEO – Brian Parks – Parks Design

4. Do they know what you want – Kneale Mann – One Mann’s Opinion

5. Creativity Tips: Use blue – Creative Instigation

6. Keeping up with social media upkeep – Brad Marley

7. Nail Salon – Angry Julie Monday

8. The Road to Hope – Suzanne Broughton – Alive in Wonderland

Make sure to share your thoughts with the authors – help build the conversation!

We are getting to the end of the problogger challenge, and as such, it was finally time for him to cover social media organization. The concern has always been where to spend your time and what to do while on those sites. Today’s challenge is to  develop a plan to boost your blog’s readership through the social media channels, without spending all your time on it. The post that he wrote is packed with information – I had to read it a couple times to get everything to sink in. I would definitely recommend checking this one out – it was really well done and had some killer ideas.

Anyway, the basic point I got from it was to focus on a select few networks where you can gain the most exposure from the right audience and hopefully gain more of the same type of readers. A few months ago, I analyzed my social media strategy, and what I did on a daily/weekly/monthly. But, the analysis wasn’t focused on what I did to promote myself. I took a look back through it, and a lot of what I do is to promote, but indirectly. The promotion exists because I am active in all the sites that I am a part of. This is the key. You can be a member of thousands of social media sites, but if you don’t interact and use them, then they area waste of time. The sites that I choose to spend my time on are:

And of course, I am a guest blogger on a few sites that help to drive traffic back to my blog. Not only does this improve my writing (and pay well), it gives me one more place that people and search engines, can find my name. Lastly, it also creates links between me and the blog, which improves my overall SEO.

Personally, I feel that I have a strong social media strategy and wouldn’t change how I spend my time. But, this article was definitely worth reading as it gave me reasurrance that I was doing the right things, and reminded me to stick with them.

Are you managing your social media strategy correctly?

Problogger’s challenge is giving me deja vú.

The 31 days to a better blog challenge is supposed to be 31 days of advice/challenges to improve your blog and your writing. It’s also supposed to have a unique suggestion every day. But today’s challenge is not only focused on someone elses blog, but the ideas in the post replicate many of his other challenge posts. Not really what the challenge should be, right?

For example, today he suggests leaving helpful and interesting comments on a post, but he also suggested leaving comments on day #20. Another suggestion from today (oh, and from day 5 as well!) is to email a reader. And one final ‘duplicate’ (although there are more), he suggests today, just like he did on day 22, to recommend them to your readers. Now I understand that ‘improving someone elses blog‘ sounds different then all these challenges on the outside, but when you really look at it, it’s not a different challenge at all.

C’mon problogger, I thought you were supposed to be the professional here. You have over 10,000 people doing this challenge, and this is the best you could come up with for today? I’m sorry, but when you have that many people trusting you to lead them in the right direction, you should take them down a path they haven’t already done a few times! Unless, of course, you tell them that it’s the same path, just wearing different shoes.

Now that I have cleared the air, I am sure many of you are thinking “well, if you’re so smart, what would you suggest”?

So here you go ladies and gentlemen, Kirsten’s take on day #26 of building a better blog:

Write a post that has nothing to do with your niche.

We spend so much time writing about what we know and what we love, what happens to learning something new? Today, I challenge you to do some research on a topic you know very little about, and write what you learned. Not only is it a great exercise for improving your writing abilities, but it is a great way to open your eyes. So, how do you decide on a topic to research?

1. Scan through stumbleupon’s top pages and see if a topic catches your eye
2. Is there an activity you have always wanted to try or a hobby you’ve wanted to explore?
3. What about a location you’ve never visited but want to learn about?
4. Do you find yourself asking a lot of questions about a certain thing?
5. What did you dream about doing as a child but never pursue?

What did you decide to write about? What do you think of problogger’s ‘cop-out’?

Today’s challenge from problogger is one I like – Asking questions of your readers! I am a huge believer in interaction and participation (if you haven’t noticed on twitter), so I find that asking questions of my readers is a great way to learn. I have written a few ‘questioning’ posts in the past (I’ve asked readers to act, and test their creativity) and almost every post I write ends in a question. Actually, now that I look back through posts, I end every post with a question!

Anyway, back to the challenge. Of course in problogger’s traditional matter, he gives long descriptions on 10 reasons to ask them questions and 12 tips for asking those questions. The brief overview of why to ask? Interaction with your readers! Of course there are couple other reasons, like incoming links, answers can create new post ideas and they are fairly easy to write. The brief overview of how/what to ask? An answerable question that will benefit both you and you readers.

So, what question did I decide? The question that haunts the minds of all of us:

MAC or PC?*

My choice?  A PC. I love Vista (I am not crazy). I love my Sony Vaio (pink of course). I can run all the programs I need to run. And most important?  It was half the cost of a comparable mac!

So what is your choice? MAC or PC? Oh, and if you have a thought on the commercials, feel free to add those thoughts too.

*Hey, I could have gone with coke or pepsi, but I figured I should keep it tied to my blog topics.

How many times have you said this (or at least thought it) when someone asked/recommended that you do something? I did it when I read the problogger challenge for today: Using a magazine to improve your writing. It’s a great idea, and probably a really beneficial challenge, but that doesn’t mean I want to do it.

So what do I want to do? I really want a deep tissue massage on the beach in Hawaii while sipping a Mai tai.

But that doesn’t benefit my blog, my readers or my business. The reality is, just because you don’t want to do something doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do it. Especially if the person suggesting you should do it is trying to help you improve. I know that problogger isn’t writing this challenge specifically for me, but I can’t deny the fact that doing the challenges every day has helped my writing and my blog. With that said, attempting to do something that you can’t wrap your mind and your passion around is difficult, and can be counterproductive. Don’t work past your creative breaking point, and don’t force yourself to do a task that you know will be done poorly.

In my case, I don’t want to do the challenge, that doesn’t mean I don’t want to write for my blog, it just means I don’t want to do that challenge for my blog. Now that I have determined the issue, I just have to find something else to write about that can benefit my readers and my blog, without having to do the challenge.

Oh, wait – I just did!

All joking aside, there are a lot of roads that lead to the same place, you get to choose which one you take to get there.

What don’t you want to do today? Which road will you choose?

Today, problogger challenges us to pay special attention to one (or more) of our readers. The point of paying special attention to an individual reader is 2-fold. First, it benefits the person that you recommend by showing your other readers more about them and it shows that you value them. Second, it shows your readers someone new and interesting, and that you value your readers.

The problem? I want to pay attention to ALL my readers! So, I chose one of the techniques he recommends for paying attention to a reader, that allows me to pay attention to a lot of readers.

1. Run a Reader Poll and Highlight Answers in a followup post

The Question: What makes someone a creative expert?

Your responses to the poll will be put into a post later this week, with your answers (and links) and my thoughts on the questions as well. The question is one that I have wondered throughout my experience on twitter (as many claim to be one) and through my writing (as I believe I am fairly creative). So, what are your thoughts?