Marketing /Sales / Social Media Archives - Page 138 of 173

Bookcraft 2.0: Book Research at Amazon, the Data Giant

October 16, 2006 by Liz

Hitting the Market

Whether your plan is to sell your book or give it as a value-added premium, it’s a shame to invest the time to build a resource that no one is going to read. Book ideas aren’t different from other product ideas. They need market research to validate their worth.

No idea is a great just because someone had it.
It becomes a great idea when we prove it solves problem or meets a need in a new and remarkable way.

If you start from scratch or work from your own blog, a trip over to Amazon for research is the first place you should go once your idea begins to take form. Because I was new to Phil’s blog, it took time to get to that single — Hey this might be it! — idea. So we’re on our way over that right now.

Come along.
[Read more…]

If You Want Me to Care, Tell Me Who You Are

October 14, 2006 by Liz

Identity, Credibility, Humanity

It happened twice last night. I was reading a new blog and got interested. I went to the About page and there was none. . . .

Most blogging templates come with an About page — a page ready for the blogger add a bio and background. Here at Successful-Blog the About Liz page is so often visited, the page itself has a Google Page Rank of 5!

Why is that?

It’s not because I am so particularly fascinating. It’s because people want to know who’s talking to them.

When I study my referral logs, I check the visitor paths. New readers come. They read a while, and then, go to the About page. It’s not unusual for visitors who read several posts,to return to the About page more than once in a visit. I see that happen daily.

A well-written About page offers asset value and provides a service to readers. It begins a relationship on three levels.

Identity. An About page welcomes visitors who come to your blog by telling them something about you.
Credibility. It lets your readers see your personal stake in the blog and how only you could write it.
Humanity. The About page lets readers know there’s a person behind the blog. Without it, you’ve left an anonymous letter.

Write an About page that introduces you. It’s sets up your brand and starts our relationship. It makes that first connect between us as writer and reader. We’re all so busy and anonymous sources are unreliable at best.

I want to care about what you write. Please tell me who you are.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

You Should Have Seen the Links Leaking!!!

October 11, 2006 by Liz

Did You See That?

People came to see what Open Comment Night was about and were we surprised when we had a guest visit from — the one and only code-writing donkey himself, BASIL! We also saw sights of the world both natural and virtual. Then the links started leaking as they always do.

The Link Leak Virus seeped into every thing we saw. — The Link Leak Virus is a special strain of the indie virus with blogtipping mutations that occur in threes at Open Comment Night they become a link free-for-all.

Welcome to all of the new folks who came. It was great fun having you!

You should see the links that were shared.

Let’s See

You gotta see who was here!
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The Mic Is On — Things You Gotta See!!!

October 10, 2006 by Liz

It’s Like Open Mic Only Different

Here’s how it works.

It’s like any rambling conversation. Don’t try to read it all. Jump in whenever you get here. Just go to the end and start talking. EVERYONE is WELCOME
The rules are simple — be nice.

There are always first timers and new things to talk about. It’s sort of half “Cheers” part “Friends” and part video game. You don’t know how much fun it is until you try it.

Tonight we’re talking about things you gotta see!

We might also talk about

a rainbow in the shape of a circle
the glacier in Alaska
St. Elmo’s Fire in Australia
the Alps, the Rockies, the Amazon

AND THE EVER POPULAR,
Basil the code-writing donkey, and Milton the Moose.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Great Find: List Your Writing Contest At Competizione

October 8, 2006 by Liz

And the Winner Was . . .

Are you getting tired of finding out about writing contests AFTER they are over? Musingwoman was too — enough that it spurred her to action. A new blog was born so that folks could keep up woth upcoming contests and rules. So, competitors, start your keyboards.

Great Find: competizione
Permalink: http://musing.typepad.com/competizione/

Audience/Topic: Folks interested in announcing or participating in writing contests.

Content: This new blog which started just this month already has a list of competitions, and invites you to send in competitions you’re having so that you can attract more entrants. The guildelines are clearly stated. To briefly summarize them:

Contests can be for blog or for a task — win a ___ by writing a ___.

Information should submitted by email and need to include a link to the contest announcement post, the deadline date, limit to entries (if there is one) and any other pertinent information.

No profanity, pornography, or discriminatory content.

Sites with adult/mature (R-rated content) should be labeled when submitted so that competizione can alert audience visitors.

Contest submitters are asked to link to competizione. The submitter’s site link will remain on competizione after the contest post has been deleted.

Have a contest! It’s a great way to show off your blog and attract new readers. Let Musingwoman tell folks about your contest — free promotion is an excellent deal. It’s a chance to expand your network of relationships. Stretch your brand a bit. I can see your blog growing already . . . yep. Click on the title to see what’s there for you.

A writing contest is even more exciting outside a writing blog. . . . On a techie blog? a real estate blog? a travel blog? Really? You bet. All bloggers have to write, don’t they? Imagine the kind of contest you might invent.

UPDATE: NOT ALL CONTESTS ARE FOR WRITERS — ALL THE MORE REASONS TO CHECK COMPETIZIONE OUT!

–ME “Liz” Strauss

SOB Business Cafe 10-05-06

October 6, 2006 by Liz

Welcome to the SOB Cafe

We offer the best in thinking–articles on the business of blogging written by the Successful and Outstanding Bloggers of Successful Blog. Click on the title shots to enjoy each selection.

The Specials this Week are

Business Blogwire has some ideas for what you might do with your Fridays.

Life Beyond Code offers a way to build relationships while building a personal brand.

R Web Designs wants us to check our adsense code.

It’s Not About Your Stuff reminds us that we need to value ourselves when payday comes.

John TP interviews a digg gamer on how the game works.

Related ala carte selections include

Creating Passionate Users wants you to know it’s not too late to show what you’ve got.

Sit back. Enjoy your read. Nachos and drinks will be right over. Stay as long as you like.
No tips required. Comments appreciated.

Have a great weekend!