Always insightful Timo Wadhawan at Heartwood Studios shared this gem with me on Saturday.
“A tourist will always find what he or she is looking for”
Think about it as a tourist. You will find what you are looking for. You can be at The Louvre but not know how to enjoy the artwork or you can be at a park and be mesmerized by the trees and birds. You will always find what you are looking for.
You can easily extend this to our life. In a way we are tourists to this world and we will JUST find what we are looking for.
So, may be, MAY BE you are here because you are where you are JUST because you were looking to be there
There are so many things “to do” to grow your blogging empire. Search the internet and you will find a ton of advice. I have got here nine things that you should “not do” on your journey to blogging success.
So, here they are:
1. Mediocre participation:
It is important not just to blog but to participate on other blogs. But let that participation be of high-quality. It has to lift the level of the conversation, one notch higher.
Mediocre participation can be in the form of
1.1 Useless comments: Write something irrelevant just so that you get a link back to your blog.
1.2 Irrelevant pingbacks: Write something irrelevant on your blog and link to a good blog post so that you get traffic via ping backs.
People can see through this very easily. You may be able to get some spurt in the traffic but you rarely can maintain the momentum.
There is really no point in “tricking” people to come and visit your site. It just won’t work!
2. Demonstrating Fake loyalty
You can read a blog for a long time and reach out to a blogger OR you can read a blog post and reach out to a blogger and say that you have been reading the blog for a LONG time. The second one is fake loyalty. You can use that and only thing that can be guaranteed is that you will get “caught” sooner than later.
That is not the identity that you want to build in the marketplace.
3. Making Costly Requests
There is only a small percentage of people who are blogging full-time. Most people have other jobs and blogging is an “extra” activity for them.
Making costly requests will drain their energy.
A few examples of costly requests:
3.1 Reciprocal links: Posting a link to their blog and asking them to link back because you linked to them.
3.2 Demanding Attention: Asking them to take actions (as simple as reading a book) that may not be relevant to them.
3.3 Free Consulting: Requesting assistance to a specific problem knowing that – that takes up a lot of their time.
The ultimate scarcity in people’s lives is probably TIME and if you don’t respect that, it’s hard to build a long-term relationship.
4. Engaging in Armchair Analysis:
Analyzing someone’s blog with limited information. Being unfairly critical based on what you read in a single blog post.
5. Fake Identity:
This can be as simple as posting anonymous comments. I have seen that time and again people post negative comments anonymously. They want to make a point but don’t have the backbone to stand behind it. Don’t say something that you can’t actually say in front of someone.
6. Showing Authority without Credibility:
Pretending to be an expert when you are not. Trying to pontificate on a topic where you have no significant accomplishments won’t help.
7. Attempted Takeover:
Trying to voice ONLY your opinions by taking over someone’s blog or craving for attention beyond what is reasonable.
8. Endless Argument:
Endlessly arguing about a point on someone’s blog when you can make an alternate point on your own platform (your own website or your blog)
9. Copying content without Attribution:
This is also called as “stealing”. It takes time and energy to create original content and copying it without permission or not following rules set out in licensing policy is bad.
Trying to create a Yahoo! id for my son and these are the captcha challenges that I encountered. There were more complex ones in the beginning but I started captured a few of them:
#1
#2
#3
#4
#5
If you feel like being challenged today, why not try to create a Yahoo! Id for yourself?
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Note: For other 39 posts in the same series, please visit my Squidoo Lens on the same topic. Here is the link: Squidoo Lens: Smile Please
LinkedIn wants us increase our contact count. Twitter wants us to communicate with 140 characters. iPhone and Blackberry want us to be always connected. World IS moving fast for sure. In the Professional Services world, the world seems to move a bit more faster.
However, skills required for long-term success (such as building a personal brand, building lasting relationships etc.) are built slowly and over a long period of time. The dilemma we face is to continue to invest in skills that provide results only after a long period of time when the world just wants us to move FAST.
Rajesh will highlight a few of the long-term skills we all need in our life and an approach to blend practicing these kills in the fast paced world of Professional Services.
The talk will include a few excerpts from my upcoming book
“BRANDTASTIC!” Personal Branding 2.0
I am looking forward to meeting with the attendees who are all involved in leading Technology Professional Services Oraganizations.
I love this video on sticky notes. It is simply brilliant. Hats off to Fritz Grobe and Stephen Voltz, the people behind Eepybird (creators of the video). The video is sponsored by OfficeMax and I am sure they are VERY happy with what Eepybird has produced. Simply brilliant!
I love this mini saga (a story told in exactly 50 words) by Sterling.
The Child
The small child lovingly hugged his grandfather and shouted “I went to the zoo! I saw snarling lions, laughing hyenas, shrieking monkeys and the elephant has a long gray nose. You should see it!”
“I do see it” replied the old grandfather gleefully, though he could not see at all.
- Sterling Lanier
Sterling is our Vistage Chair and has been one of my mentors for a LONG time. I am fortunate and thankful for that and this contribution.
I am using a personal example here but I have talked on this topic to MANY people and the experience has been the same.
Today I received a mail from an acquaintance. It was a long email about a milestone that their organization achieved. It included a detailed explanation of what the milestone was with quotes from company executives in all colors. Overall what could be said in one sentence was said in more than a page.
Remembering from earlier emails from this contact, I have never received anything in the past that was not a “Me Mail”.
There has been never anything that is of relevance to me.
Unfortunately from now on, I will move this contact to a “Me Mail” list.
I have a few other acquaintances who are in this list. All their emails are detailed descriptions of something that is
a) relevant to them
b) totally irrelevant to me
They are all on the “Me Mail” list.
Now, what do I do with the emails from people on the “Me Mail” list.
The answer is simple – Nothing.
Nothing at all.
I don’t have to bother to read them anymore because I am “almost certain” that there will be nothing of relevance to me in their emails.
Emails are usually read. MeMails are usually discarded.
I have talked to a number of people that I respect and their strategy, while not exactly same is similar on these topics.
Do NOTHING!
I am sure you are not one of the people who are sending MeMails. If you are, then I BEG you to stop sending them.
And, may be, MAY BE start sending YouMails
Cheers and have a great week ahead!
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Note 1: For links to the other 194 entries in the “Distinguish yourself” series, please visit my Squidoo lens on the same topic: Squidoo Lens: Distinguish yourself
Note 3: My latest manifesto on ChangeThis was published on August 6, 2008. This is a photographic manifesto featuring 15 of my mini sagas (stories in exactly 50 words). Here is the link:
Blogging Starter Checklist is a lens on Squidoo that I started a few years ago. At that time, it was really a “starter checklist”. It has, of course, grown over the years and many people tell me that it is no longer a “starter checklist”.
It has become a collection of a more than 150 resources and articles on how to get your blog to the next level.
I have updated the checklist once again. In particular, I have added the sections called “Commenting Platforms” and “Spread the word” (for word-of-mouth marketing)
If you know of any other resources that should make the list, please add them in your comments here or on the lens. Thank you.
When I hear the words “Breaking News” on TV, I smile because usually now the news is already “broken” by blogs, websites and twitter.
The last few times the “Breaking News” was about Merrill Lynch, Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers and AIG – really about companies that were literally “breaking”
May be for these kinds of news, they should start calling it “Breaking ‘Breaking’ News” or something
Have a great week ahead!
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Note: For other 38 posts in the same series, please visit my Squidoo Lens on the same topic. Here is the link: Squidoo Lens: Smile Please
Always insightful Timo Wadhawan at Heartwood Studios shared this gem with me on Saturday.
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