Easy Bake Weblogs

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Easy Bake Weblogs

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Thanks for dialing in to today’s call on blogging and how it can help you market, manage and incubate your coaching business. Free preview

As I said on the call, I do have a ‘preview’ version of my teleclass for free download. It has everything you need to get started blogging in the next 15 minutes.

To access the preview go to http://easybakeweblogs.com/preview/

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If there’s other organizations or groups you’d like to introduce to blogging. Just give me a call to schedule a one-hour intro just like you heard tonight. Copyright

TypePad trademark, screenshots and website © Six Apart, LLC. Use of TypePad in this documentation does not imply endorsement of this training by Six Apart, LLC.

This documentation is provided as-is and without any implied or expressed warranty or guarantee. Do not use software you do not understand. Use of this documentation releases the author and associated entities from any liability. Contact

Andy Wibbels 440 W Barry #606, Chicago, IL 60657 [email protected] 773-665-9415 Coachamatic.com ▪ Coachfilter.com ▪ EasyBakeWeblogs.com ▪ Andymatic.com ▪ StartStarting.com

What’s a weblog?

A weblog (or ‘blog’ for short) at it’s most basic is an easily, instantly and frequently updated website around a topic, industry or personality. A brief history of blogging

Geeks hate to do anything more than once. Geeks got tired of updating the front page of their online journals and then having to update all the archives and ensure that there were no broken links in the site. Gradually the geeks got fed up and started programming their own content-management systems that could manage a database of entries or links and quickly update and rebuild the site as needed. All blog tools are in some way content-management systems. Like a large corporation will use a CMS to manage a 10,000 page website for a 10,000 member organization – a blog tool does this on a personal level.

The term "weblog" was coined by Jorn Barger in December 1997.

"Weblogs are often-updated sites that point to articles elsewhere on the web, often with comments, and to on-site articles. A weblog is kind of a continual tour, with a human guide who you get to know. There are many guides to choose from, each develops an audience, and there's also comraderie and politics between the people who run weblogs, they point to each other, in all kinds of structures, graphs, loops, etc." Dave Winer.

The shorter version, "blog," was coined by Peter Merholz who in April or May of 1999 broke the word weblog into the phrase "wee' blog" in the sidebar of his. Usage spread during 1999 and the word was popularized by Pyra's creation of their weblog service Blogger. The Oxford English Dictionary has even considered including it in their dictionary.

Since their introduction, a number of software packages have appeared to allow people to create their own web log. Blog hosting sites and Web services to provide editing via the Web have proliferated.

Blog tools can speed up the website updating process by removing the contracting cycle with a web designer.

How a blog works

In the above example the blogging tool is hosted with a third party (in this case, TypePad) and the blog’s web pages are also hosted with a third party (Typepad). Some blogging tools can live on your own webhost’s server and publish to your own webhost’s server. Who reads blogs?

BlogAds, a company that distributes advertisements on thousands of Weblogs conducted a survey of over 17,000 blog readers. Among the findings:

Blog readers are older and more affluent 61% of blog readers are over 30, and 75% make more than $45,000 a year.

Blog readers are more cyber-active. 54% of their news consumption is online. 21% are themselves bloggers and 46% describe themselves as opinion makers.

Blog readers are media-mavens. 21% subscribe to the New Yorker magazine, 15% to the Economist, 15% to Newsweek and 14% to the Atlantic Monthly.

Whether on the left or right, blog readers have traits in common that often are absent in today's public spaces: passion and initiative.

Blog readers have apathy towards traditional news sources. 82% say that television is worthless. 55% percent say the same about print newspapers. 54% say the same about print magazines.

Meanwhile, 86% say that blogs are either useful or extremely useful as sources of news or opinion. 80% say they read blogs for news they can't find elsewhere. 78% read because the perspective is better. 66% value the faster news. 61% say that blogs are more honest.

Blog readers appear united in their dissatisfaction with conventional media and their rabid love of blogs.

You can read the full results of the survey over at http://www.blogads.com/survey/blog_reader_survey.html How blogs help businesses

Angie McKaig (www.angiemckaig.com) nailed it when she said that a weblog is a fantastic component of a business's emarketing approach because it provides:

1. fresh content on a daily or at least very regular basis 2. an informal voice that visitors can respond to and get to know 3. useful information via outgoing links

People hate being marketed to. We receive thousands of marketing messages everyday and every year it becomes harder and harder for businesses to get above

the noise and get their message heard. We have become savvy to the techniques of modern PR and advertising and quickly become immune to each new message.

Blogging subverts the command-and-control, one-way nature of traditional advertising.

Brand versus personality

A brand is a one-way channel of communication. Nike really doesn’t care what I think of it’s brand as long as I keep buying.

But blogs are a conversation.

Blogs divorce themselves from the PR department. It’s corporate communication without the sterile happytalk. It adds a human touch – a human face and a human voice. And it is this personality that turns people on.

Suggested reading: Cluetrain Manifesto. You can read the first chapter at Cluetrain.com.

Dating your customer

Blogs are useful to businesses for the same reasons that email newsletters are: you can date your customer.

How many couples plunge into marriage after the first date? How many customers buy the Big-Ass WonderProdukt after the first salescall? Blogging allows you to demonstrate your expertise and point of view, quickly and easily and also allow the customer to receive your updates in the format they enjoy most. A human voice is sometimes very hard to find on the internet - especially on a business website.

Fire your web designer

Anytime, Anywhere, Easy, Instant Updating. You login to any browser in the world, you type, you click publish and BAM! your thoughts and expertise are instantly available for anyone to read. It's no wonder why weblogging has revolutionized online publishing - it's super-duper easy. It delivers on the true promise of the web – that anyone, anywhere can ready anything by anyone.

Build your network

Blogging allows you to easily link, agree, rebut or expand on anything you read online. Through commenting and cross-linking, you can begin to develop a rich network of colleagues and contacts to further your professional development and networking.

Share the love

Blogging allows you to effortlessly invite others to join you in reporting on the latest issues in your industry. Through skillful partnering, you can create, collaborate and cooperate in making your own marketing buzz to drive your business to thrive.

Develop new ideas faster

Weblogs are the perfect forum to test out new ideas and get instant feedback. Get your customers and prospects in on the act now and let them help you help them - invite them to talk back! Let them see how you develop your products and services and they can show you how to best to serve them. Who has time to read weblogs?

I was on a teleclass giving the lowdown on blogging when one of the callers, exasperated called out: ‘Who has time to read these things? I don’t have time to read everything I see on the web!’

Neither do your prospects, clients and colleagues. Think of all the information that your potential customers and current clients need to know. I don’t have to read 100 marketing magazines, journals and websites each month – I just find a handful of bloggers I trust to filter the information for me.

What if you can become the filter for your clients?

What if you can become the lens for your clients?

Think of a blog as a welcome packet that never ends.

Anatomy of a weblog

What’s a permalink?

Permalinks serve as the permanent home of a post so others can link to it for posterity.

Let's say you link back to the latest post on my weblog - which is currently showing on the front page. Once that post moves off the front page of my blog, anyone clicking on your link to my blog will end up at the front page and be pretty clueless what you were linking.

Permalinks are a great idea - not just for blogs - but for all websites.

Extra credit: The gradual decay of link integrity is called ‘link rot’. Blogging as an attitude

There’s really no reason why a conventional website can’t have the quirkiness of a weblog. The very ephemeral and immediate quality of blogs makes them a great permission slip to be truly authentic and honest.

This doesn’t mean that you have to disclose personal information about yourself – it means you don’t have to put on your corporatespeak hat each time you want to talk to your customers. It means posting a picture from your family vacation with the book report on the management bestseller you just read. It adds depth.

Blogging tends to have a renegade spirit behind it as well. It came from the underground of the internet and still retains a spirit of rebellion.

Blogs are

 Informal instead of sterile  Renegade instead of a cog in the machine  Passionate instead of watered down  Spur of the moment instead of carefully considered (you can edit later!)  Instant publishing instead of multiple chains of approval and review  Two-way communication instead of a forced-feed Blogging as a tool

Once the buzz about blogging dies down – the usefulness of them will remain.

Instant publishing

I find new bloggers are totally blown away by the immediacy of blogging. That they just type a few paragraphs and hit Publish and instantly their thoughts are available for all to read. It’s like heroin for writers.

Globalize and mobilize

As digital tools and formats converge, blogs become more useful as a way to catalog a life and business with writings, links, pictures and sounds – posted from anywhere in the world. This is a trend called ‘life caching’.

Knowledge management for individuals

In the corporate sector, knowledge management means taking what’s in the brains of the workforce and getting it down into a searchable, accessible database. Blogs are knowledge management for individuals.

Multiple formats

Blog tools allow you to spit out your content into multiple formats: email newsletter, web page, handheld – even formats that are easily read by hearing or sight impaired users.

Separation of content and style

Because blogs keep your content and a database and then pour it into your templates – updating the look and feel of your website is infinitely easier. Why political blogs are so hot

If you check sites that monitor blogs like Blogdex.net, Daypop.com or Technorati.com you’ll see that political blogs are among the most trafficked blogs on the internet. The reason for this is two-fold:

1. A constant stream of new content (a 24-hour news cycle) 2. A distinct, honest, passionate and provocative perspective on the news

How can you take current events and developments in your industry and put your own personal spin on them?

How can you take events from other industries or fields and apply them to your business?

What are the dirty little secrets of your industry that nobody likes to talk about?

What are the big elephants in the room? Examples of great blogs

TomPeters.com – The business guru has re-fitted his website to blend the traditional static elements of a website with a day-to-day report out on trends and tips from him and his team.

ThinkBigRevolution.com – Michael Port’s weekly calls to inspire those who aspire now have an online connecting point. Designed by Andy Wibbels. © Andy Wibbels. EasyBakeWeblogs.com. Free preview at: http://www.easybakeweblogs.com/preview/ 9/11 Easy Bake Weblogs

Metafilter.com – A community weblog that find the ‘best of the web’ and spins it out for commentary and discussion.

Watchblog.com – A fantastic idea: three blogs in one to show the wide range of political viewpoints on current events across the ideological spectrum. I’d love to see how this could be applied to business.

Sethgodin.typepad.com – The famed marketing man keeps an up-to-date tally of ideas and notes on marketing and success.

CoachSappho.com – Barb Elgin ditched her website and went completely blogged with her site on coaching for lesbian businesswomen. Easy Bake Weblogs alumn.

NoodleFactory.typepad.com – Coach and writer Pat Gundry moved all of her sites to the blog format and now saves $150 a month in webhosting. Easy Bake Weblogs alumn.

Change Log

v1.0 8/1/04 AW Draft for August 2004 seminar v1.1 8/8/04 AW Draft/excerpted for ICF teleconference v1.1b 9/6/04 AW Draft/excerpted for Michael/Beth teleconference