Learn from Someone who Knows
Posted by Liz Strauss · 10 Comments
Blogging attracts intelligent people — people who like to read and write, people who like to explore new ideas. One thing many intelligent people have in common is that we often have had an easy time of learning things as we grew up and so we’re not used to, or comfortable with, having others watch us learn.
Yet the best advice I can give a new blogger is to learn from someone who knows.
Almost every really successful new blogger learns how from someone who has blogged before — maybe we do it by watching from the sidelines, being the proverbial “lurker,” reading blogs without commenting. That is one way, but not the best.
The advantage of learning outright from a successful blogger — by meeting one and asking questions — is that it raises the speed at which you’ll connect with your audience, get ranked on search engines, and establish a positive blogging relationship with readers, making them part of your organization’s team. It’s worth investing a few hours to make your blog the human face that you want your customers to get to know. It’s an investment well made to spend some time with a professional blogger before you start a company blog.
As an enterprise with a marketing plan, you’re actually at an advantage. You can strategize where your blog fits in your company’s overall picture. Guy Kawasaki, the wunderkind of Apple, is now the wunderkind of blogging. He knew exactly what to do going in, before he started his blog, Signum sine tinnitu by Guy Kawasaki. His blog is in the top 40 of the more than 40 million blogs indexed by Technorati, the blog index and search engine.
How did he do that? He made it an integral part of his marketing plan. Thousands of press releases went out before his first blog post went up. Now his blog supports his company, his speaking engagements, and his brand. It also lets people feel that they know Guy Kawasaki as a person, almost as a personal friend.
That’s a powerful transformation. How could it happen without a blog?
Liz Strauss
Want an hour of Liz’s personal consulting time? See the About Liz page.
Liz,
I don’t want to burst your bubble, but my blog and its marketing were not as well-planned as you think. No one was more surprised than me that it took off so fast.
I didn’t send out thousands of press releases. I did send out thousands of emails, though. Roughly, 9,000.
Thanks for your kind words!
Guy
That’s what’s so great about corporate blogging; it gives the company/businessman/entrepreneur a human face. Rather than hide behind a cold, unfeeling corporate website, companies should at least install a corporate blog of somekind that the customers can relate with. A simple feedback page isn’t enough anymore.
Hi Guy,
Thanks for stopping by. I think 9000 emails is lots of planning. Congratulations on your success.
Liz
Hi Taorist!
That human face sure makes a difference, especially one you’ve had the experience of interacting with one. The sense of talking to a flat, unfeeling feedback page is not the same. You’re so right. It’s not the same.
Cool Guy’s commenting here! Woohoo!
Hi Taorist,
He came by as a courtesy, because I talked about him. He’s a nice man like that.
Yeah!
The link to Successful-Blog seems to be wonky. Can you please check it out?
Lee,
It wasn’t the link. The blog was wonky on Sunday. Everything is working find now. Thanks for letting me know about it.
Liz