A company blog is a great way to engage your customers, showcase your company and demonstrate your industry expertise to prospects. However, you have to provide useful, engaging content for the platform to have real use.
Good blogs are a goldmine of value for both your readers and your company. To learn what successful online writers include on their company blog, we asked 17 startup founders and YEC members for suggestions.
“Essentially, it is a challenge to do a podcast for 30 days in a row.
In 2012 Kreg Steppe was looking to give himself a little push in regards to recording his own personal podcast since he wasn’t recording it very often. That turned into a challenge for himself to record a show everyday for 30 days believing that after 30 days it would turn into a habit. Once it was mentioned to Chuck Tomasi he took the challenge too and they decided it would be a great idea to record starting 30 days before Dragon*Con, culminating with the last episode where they would record it together when they saw each other there.”
Last year for me was the year of visibility. That was my focus for the last year. That was the focus that I was sharing with everyone last year. You can be the best consultant, the best accountant, the best computer person, the best plumber, the best whatever, but if people don’t know what you do, it dos you absolutely no good. you are working a vacuum. Blogging is one way — along with podcasting and online video sharing and other forms of new media to gain visibility for what you do. Ok? The other important part is getting your message out to the people who want to see it and hear it. Too often we rely on other people to get our message out for us. Frankly,that’s because that’s the way technology works. If we wanted to get press coverage, we had to go to — the press. You had to get in the newspapers. You had to get on television. You had to get on radio. You had to get on the talk shows, whatever. That was your only method of getting out to people. For the first time ever in the history of media, as we know it. Since cuneiform tablets said, you know, “Joe is a favorite of the king today” or whatever. We now have the ability to take our message directly to the people who want to hear it.
Come and join me in the garden while I talk of new media consulting, YouTube and more. Strictly an old school, talking podcast today. Off the cuff. Stream of conscience. No editing. Just me, the Zoom H2 and a cooling beverage in the garden.
“Essentially, it is a challenge to do a podcast for 30 days in a row.
In 2012 Kreg Steppe was looking to give himself a little push in regards to recording his own personal podcast since he wasn’t recording it very often. That turned into a challenge for himself to record a show everyday for 30 days believing that after 30 days it would turn into a habit. Once it was mentioned to Chuck Tomasi he took the challenge too and they decided it would be a great idea to record starting 30 days before Dragon*Con, culminating with the last episode where they would record it together when they saw each other there.”
The strawberry runner we potted up on July 31, 2014 is already growing on its own, so I moved it to the potting bench and started the same process with another runner today. I hope to create at least 4 plants to start filling in one of our newly retrofitted garden beds.
Check out my collection of gardening essays, “From A Gardener’s Notebook” now available as a Kindle eBook. (You don’t need a Kindle to read it, though. Read it on your PC, Link: http://j.mp/fagnbook
“In the garden…” is a series for A Gardener’s Notebook highlighting what is happening in my garden, my friend’s gardens and California gardens throughout the seasons.
Working with any client is a dance — or at least it should be. Dancing partners have to learn a lot about each other — how they move, where they move, how they communicate their moves — and working with any freelance client is much the same. Just as when you are learning to dance, there will be mistakes, missteps and a few toes are sure to be stepped upon. It is part of the nature of learning and developing any relationship.
Still, despite the difficulties, freelancing and working with individual clients can be very rewarding. You have the ability to more directly effect the life and business of a client than you ever would in a larger, more corporate environment. You can develop personalized and unique solutions for their needs. You also learn much about yourself, your work and your own wants, needs and desires. You find your likes, your dislikes, your preferences. You’ll also learn what you do best, what you need to improve and what you need to learn.
It can sometimes feel like a harsh learning environment for you, but despite whatever stress you may feel, it will benefit you greatly. Sometimes the only way we come to understand our skills and expertise is in being forced to exercise them. We have to try — and fail — and succeed — to truly learn our own limits and where our interests lie.
This is another part of the client dance. Many will come to you with one question, but that might lead to other questions in far reaching areas of their life and business. With each question, you will need to decide how much expertise to you can bring to your answer — or, sometimes, if you have any expertise at all.
For example, In my New Media work, I am most comfortable working with the technology and the underlying philosophy of how it can be used to improve a person’s life, career and business. Due to the nature of New Media being used in all aspects of business, though, clients will often start to ask me questions about sales and marketing, business plans, billing, pricing and a host of other topics which are outside my usual areas of expertise. It is important for me to actively defer many of those questions elsewhere.
In any client relationship, I want it to be very clear where my expertise lies. I might offer my personal opinions on these questions, but I am always sure to preface my thoughts with the standard disclaimer, “I am not a (enter expert’s name here)” It is not in my best interest, nor yours, to pretend expertise in something you do not have. In fact, it can greatly damage your relationship with a client if you do. Do not put yourself in the position to disappoint your client. Be honest and clear with them the limits of your own expertise and the client dance will be much easier and more productive.
Sure, you might feel a bit inadequate or fear that the client will think less of you, but I have found over many years that people respect honesty in others and that will far outweigh any perceived inadequacies. They will see your honesty as respect and appreciate it more as your relationship grows. I never want people to feel I have taken advantage of them and this honesty about my expertise is one way of avoiding such situations.
That doesn’t mean you don’t still have a role with that client, though. I have often become a translator of sorts between the client and another consultant. Often clients can’t speak the language of a web designer or programmer. Perhaps I couldn’t help develop the program or site for the client myself, but I can help them communicate their desires to these consultants and translate the consultant’s technical talk into something the client can better understand. This focuses on one of my strengths instead of disappointing my client by claiming expertise that I do not have.
If you are considering freelancing, I hope you will see it — as I do — as a long and complicated dance. Starting the dance can be difficult and fraught with mistakes, but over time you will come to be better partners who can anticipate each other’s movements and needs. It is at this level where the best work, the best products, the best lives are created. Do the client dance well and you are well on the road to building the career you deserve.
Windows/Mac/Linux: If you’re looking for a great audio editor, our favorite is Audacity. If you’re looking for something a little faster and trimmer that’s a little more approachable, Ocenaudio is worth checking out. It’s free, flexible, and cross platform, and if light editing is all you need, it gets the job done.
“Essentially, it is a challenge to do a podcast for 30 days in a row.
In 2012 Kreg Steppe was looking to give himself a little push in regards to recording his own personal podcast since he wasn’t recording it very often. That turned into a challenge for himself to record a show everyday for 30 days believing that after 30 days it would turn into a habit. Once it was mentioned to Chuck Tomasi he took the challenge too and they decided it would be a great idea to record starting 30 days before Dragon*Con, culminating with the last episode where they would record it together when they saw each other there.”
Today it’s time for cornbread to take over to a friend’s house for a BBQ dinner. This recipe, combined with a well-seasoned cast iron skillet makes a great cornbread — fluffy on the inside with a great crispy crust.
To get some of those great collapsible measuring cups as seen in the video, visit this Amazon.com link
“Essentially, it is a challenge to do a podcast for 30 days in a row.
In 2012 Kreg Steppe was looking to give himself a little push in regards to recording his own personal podcast since he wasn’t recording it very often. That turned into a challenge for himself to record a show everyday for 30 days believing that after 30 days it would turn into a habit. Once it was mentioned to Chuck Tomasi he took the challenge too and they decided it would be a great idea to record starting 30 days before Dragon*Con, culminating with the last episode where they would record it together when they saw each other there.”
“Essentially, it is a challenge to do a podcast for 30 days in a row.
In 2012 Kreg Steppe was looking to give himself a little push in regards to recording his own personal podcast since he wasn’t recording it very often. That turned into a challenge for himself to record a show everyday for 30 days believing that after 30 days it would turn into a habit. Once it was mentioned to Chuck Tomasi he took the challenge too and they decided it would be a great idea to record starting 30 days before Dragon*Con, culminating with the last episode where they would record it together when they saw each other there.”
“Essentially, it is a challenge to do a podcast for 30 days in a row.
In 2012 Kreg Steppe was looking to give himself a little push in regards to recording his own personal podcast since he wasn’t recording it very often. That turned into a challenge for himself to record a show everyday for 30 days believing that after 30 days it would turn into a habit. Once it was mentioned to Chuck Tomasi he took the challenge too and they decided it would be a great idea to record starting 30 days before Dragon*Con, culminating with the last episode where they would record it together when they saw each other there.”
Why do you do it? we;;. first of all, to feed the search engines. My joke is — you may hear the term Search Engine Optimization. there are company’s out there — some of you may actually be doing this for people — of where you try to improve their search engine ranking. My joke is, my method of Search Engine Optimization is to bury Google in data. Ok? If you search on Douglas E. Welch. If you search on Doug Welch. I am the first hit in Google for Douglas Welch. I am the second hit for Doug Welch. That is a pretty common name. I know, because I see all the other Doug Welch’s that pop up. I dont’ do any gaming. I don’t do anything special. I don’t really thing about it that much, but what I do do is when I have something to say, I make sure it gets on one of my blogs. I put it out there. Google indexes it. It knows more about me because I put more out there. That actually is one of your first goals in a blog. It is to simply get more information out there. Why? Visibility for what you do and how well you do it.
Here is my introduction to this years Dog Days of Podcasting Challenge. Join me for the audio, video and photographic podcasts to come each day this month.
“Essentially, it is a challenge to do a podcast for 30 days in a row.
In 2012 Kreg Steppe was looking to give himself a little push in regards to recording his own personal podcast since he wasn’t recording it very often. That turned into a challenge for himself to record a show everyday for 30 days believing that after 30 days it would turn into a habit. Once it was mentioned to Chuck Tomasi he took the challenge too and they decided it would be a great idea to record starting 30 days before Dragon*Con, culminating with the last episode where they would record it together when they saw each other there.”
Working to craft the perfect profile at Facebook or LinkedIn? This infographic collects everything you need to know about the ideal photo size for different social networks.
The helpful folks at Mainstreethost reviewed all the requirements of the major social networks. They include guidelines for personal and business accounts, but they’re all subject to change. For now, though, they’re quite useful!
“I enjoy helping entrepreneurs figure out how to start and grow businesses. And I’ve had a chance to work with some new entrepreneurs at Starter School here in Chicago. At a recent talk I gave, one question stuck in my mind. The young entrepreneur asked, “Now that I’ve built a product, how do I get it to spread?” This entrepreneur recognizes that having a good idea and building a great product isn’t enough.”
When I first thought about including GenerikB in the Subscribed series today, I thought for sure that I had already linked to him for his Minecraft videos on YouTube. We have been watching — and greatly enjoying his channels for quite a while now. More recently, we have begun tuning into his live stream via Twitch.TV, too. The live stream is a different feeling, almost like watching a live show on television. You can also interact with GenerikB and other viewers in the on-going chat stream on the Twitch site.
GernerikB is a member of the Mindcrack server, whose many members we also follow and watch on a regular basis. He often collaborates with BDoubelO in the hilarious hijinks of the B Team. They work together so well, they recently launched their own Minecraft server and mod pack called “Attack of the B-Team” along with several other Minecraft YouTubers.
In the real world, GenerikB recently relocated to Sofia, Bulgaria to be near his wife’s family, so we have seen a glimpse of life in Eastern Europe with vlogs about their move and around scenic sites of the city. Since Bulgaria is about 10 ours different from Los Angeles, the live stream works well as mid-morning entertainment for us as he streams in his evening in Bulgaria.
GenerikB is a prankster, a truly funny guy, and a great entertainer. He also seems like a really nice guy, which is so important for the people I watch. I don’t need to fill my entertainment time with trolls and nasty people, so it is always great to find someone like GenerikB to keep the day light and entertaining.
Subscribed is a Careers in New Media series highlighting the Podcasts, YouTube Channels and Blogs that I follow on a daily basis. Check out this entry, and past entries, for some great New Media Content — Douglas
The fact is, the search engines actively try to prevent from gaming the system and so they hide their algorithms — the way they rank people behind, inside a “black box.” We don’t know actually what’s going on inside of that black box. We can make some assumptions and that assumption that I just gave you is one, which is, it seems to be through, you know, if you we study our stats and everything else, the more often we update our web sites, the more likely that search engine is going to come back and reindex our site. Because it learns. It says, “Wow, this site is updated on a daily basis. I need to go back there every day.” And you can actually text this. You may know that there are ways of putting in searches in Google — a system called Google Alerts — you can actually put in a vanity search and say put in your company name, put in your personal name, whatever. You’ll actually see then, when you post something, you’ll see an alert come back once Google has indexed that site and, in my case, I know that can post something on one of my blogs today and, within about 3-4 hours, I will see the result come back. So, I can, through kind of a weird way of testing, actually see that, Dang, that GoogleBot came around about every 4 hours and just taps my site. If you check your log files for your web site — which a lot of people don’t actually monitor their web sites and their analytics and analyze their log files — in your log files you can actually see every time, when one of these search engine “bots” comes and indexes your site. It’s another thing to kind of be aware of.
Today, Pinterest announced an update to its category pages. Each category page now has a whole new selection of related interests to browse through. You can also follow specific categories to get Pins from other like-minded users delivered to your home feed.
For example, if you go to Outdoors category you’ll now see related interests like Hiking, Camping and Running spread out across the top of the page.
Marketers and website owners rejoiced yesterday as an official Google Analytics app was finally released for the iPhone, two years after the app was released for Android. The iPhone app comes with everything you’d expect if you’ve ever used the Android version. Along with real-time and time-based reports, you can also use the app to view behaviors, conversions and more. An official app is a welcome alternative to the third-party apps that Google Analytics users have had to use up until this point. The official app takes full advantage of the sign-in features in Gmail, Google+ and the standard Google app for iOS. Not to mention the design matches the other Google apps for iOS.
