Seth Godin Is Writing About You

Best selling author, top blogger, “America’s Greatest Marketer,” and fellow smokin’ hot piece of brain candy (sorry, couldn’t resist) Seth Godin is writing about you.

This paragraph from his recent post “Death of the Personal Blog?” caught my attention:

There’s a difference between a blog about YOU (I call this a cat blog) and a blog about the reader. Guy Kawasaki’s blog, and my blog for that matter, are not about us, about what we ate yesterday or how great we are. They are about you, the reader.

It’s really pretty simple. If you want:

• people to read your blog;
• people to follow you on Twitter;
• prospects to come to your website;
• sales -

you have to make it About You – the reader, the follower, the prospect, the customer.

How To Add Social Bookmark Buttons To WordPress.com Blog Posts

Being frustrated about there being no built-in way to add social bookmarking buttons to my WordPress.com blog posts, I went looking for an easy way to do it. I found one on another blog and made the video below to demonstrate the technique and help those even less technically inclined than I. If you’re using WordPress.com for your blogging, I hope this video helps you drive a lot more traffic to your blog!

Incredible (and Free!) Video Series on How To Use Blogger

Here’s an incredible resource for anyone that is interested in blogging on Blogger.com.

First, if you’re new to blogging, there are a number of free blogging platforms you can use to start and host a blog. The blog you are reading right now happens to be on WordPress. Another popular blogging platform is Blogger.com which I use for some other blogs I have.

Both WordPress.com and Blogger.com have their plusses and minuses, but the general consensus seems to be that Blogger is a bit easier to use than WordPress.com. That’s especially true when you take into account the video series on how to use Blogger put together by Bob and Josh Summers of RecognizedExpert.com.

It’s a comprehensive collection of 118 videos (and growing) that cover everything from setting up a Blogger account to converting your Blogger blog into a website – and everything in between. I’ve used Blogger for a couple of years now and I’ve still learned a lot from this video series.

I’m sure that everyone from the blogging virgin to more experienced users will find this video series to be an amazing resource.

The One Thing You Must Understand About Doing Business Online

There’s a lot of talk about the internet and the “new” way of doing business or the changing face of business. What easily gets lost in all the excitement of building and running an online business is that the fundamentals of building and running a successful business remain the same.

Before starting an online business or taking your business online, you must understand:

There’s nothing new online, just a new and (usually) more efficient way of doing it.

So remember:

• Blogs are just a way to start a conversation with prospects and customers
• Social networking sites are just a way to meet people and expand your network of contacts (aka “sphere of influence”)
• Wikis are just a way of collaborating with customers
• Websites are just a way of presenting your sales message, company information, products, etc. to prospects and customers
• Google AdWords is just a form of direct mail (on steroids)
• Podcasts, emails, and web feeds are just a way of letting customers subscribe to your message (ie. giving you permission to share information with them)

All these tools provide a more efficient means to accomplish your goals. However, to build a successful online business:

You still have to provide a product or service that people want.
You still have to demonstrate the value of that product or service.
You still have focus on your customers’ needs, not yours.
You still have to provide excellent customer service.
You still have to work hard.
You still have to deliver the goods.
You still have to exceed expectations.
You still have to reach the right audience with the right message at the right time.
You still have to build a loyal following.
You still have to put in the time.

Henry Ford’s assembly line made building cars faster, easier and cheaper than every before. However, if his process had produced a pile of crap and he had given no thought to what his customers wanted, Ford would not have succeeded.

The internet makes it faster, easier, and cheaper to do business, and with a far greater reach, than ever before. But if you get caught up in the technology and forget about the underlying fundamentals, the internet also makes it faster and easier, though not necessarily cheaper, to go out of business than ever before.