Naked Conversations, written by Robert Scoble and Shel Israel was on eof the first primers on blogging. Some favorite lessons from the book:
Elements for Blogging Fundamentals and Success
2 fundamental rules for blogging about a subject
1. Transparency is achieved by welcoming and accepting criticism, by listening through dialogue, being open and honest and by attempting to improve while all eyes are watching.
2. Authenticism is achieved by being the unedited voice of an individual. It's not an organization speaking. It's informal. The writing has been untouched and untainted by marketing, advertising and communication teams.
Passion. Show your passion for the subject by posting often. Connect with others interested in the same topic.
Authority: Blog what you know, showcase your knowledge.
One bookstore allowed its employees to offer personal reviews on books on its blog. This boosted the c ompany’s image. While other stores still only offered online catalog's of books, this company b ecame a recognized authority.
Six key differences between blogging and any other communications channel
You can find any of these elsewhere, but not all.
- Publishable: Anyone can publish a blog. You can do it cheaply and post often. Each posting is instantly available worldwide.
- Findable: Through search engines, people will find blogs by subject, by author, or both. The more you post, the more findable your become.
- Social: The blogoshphere is one big conversation. Through blogs, people with shared interests build friendships unrestricted by geographic borders or other barriers.
- Viral Information: often spreads faster through blogs than via a news service. No form of viral marketing matches the speed and efficiency of a blog.
- Syndicatable: By clicking on an icon, you can get free "home delivery" of RSS-enabled blogs. RSS lets you know when a blog you subscribe to is updated, saving you search time. This process is considerably more efficient than the last-generation method of visiting one page of one web site at a time looking for changes.
- Linkable: Because each blog can link to all others, every blogger has access to millions of other bloggers.
Five Blogging Success Tips
- Talk, Don't Sell. Blogging is about Anti-Pitch Sentiment. People visit blogs to see what others care about and know. Successful bloggers avoid selling on their blogs. It won't work and you will lose credibility.
- Post often and be interesting.
- Write on issues you know and care about
- Blogging saves money but costs time
- You get smarter by listening to what people tell you. Your readers/customers are collectively smarter than you. Even the nastiest of comments can be valuable.
[From the Great Books Series. Also see The Success Manual - Encyclopedia of Advice, which contains summaries of 100+ Most useful books.]
Permalink 
