Live Blogging Session #1
Robby Slaughter, Slaughter Development
Lesson #1: Almost all bloggers quit eventually
95% off all blogs are abandoned.
Lesson #2: Amazing Blogs are Regular
Great blogs are updated frequently.
Patterns create success.
Lesson #3: Quality doesn’t matter (much)
We’ve all owned a car that just gets us from point a to point b.
Bloggers actually debate the value of grammar and spelling.
Every blog has terrible entries. It’s out there and part of the blog’s history.
Lesson #4: The most recent post wins
When you have a baby, you are the most important person in the world for your friends & family. Until another baby is born.
Google loves recent content. ~Doug Karr, Marketing Tech Blog
Lesson #5: We are all vain
Bloggers write because they like being read. Otherwise, you’d keep a private journal under your bed.
Blogs succeed when people talk about them.
Engaged visitors = people who buy.
Applying the lessons
1. Everybody quits:
Pick a day to blog – put it on your calendar.
Pick times to blog – choose 2, one to get it started and another to finish/publish.
Develop a process.
2. Great blogs are regular:
Don’t imply otherwise.
Don’t apologize for not blogging.
“I haven’t posted in a long time is the Web 2.0 version of Under Construction.”
3. Quality doesn’t matter.
Let go of pet peeves. (should be part of your process)
Repetition is more important than creativity.
4. Newest post wins
Bury bad posts with new posts.
Respond to headlines. If something happens, write your own post about it. Commentary on current events puts you in the forefront.
Get the last word. The conversation never ends in the Blogosphere—you can always have the last word.
5. We’re all vain.
Get attention by praising other blogs. Talk about it, write about in your own blog, email it to your friends. Mention posts that you liked and expand on them in your own blog.
Get attention by arguing. Picking a fight/disagreeing with another blogger gets attention.
Promote your blog—tell people it’s great. Go to their website, comment on posts and mention your own posts on similar topics.
We’re all vain—accept it and use it.
Blogging Faster:
Characterize Blog Posts:
- Response— to another blog, news article or op-ed content
- Summary—of an event we sponsored or attended
- Continuation—of a previous post, possibley from months or years ago
- Perspective—on a bit of common knowledge or an everyday expression
- Announcement—of an upcoming event or proposed action
Schedule & Constrain
At most 1 hour
No more than twice daily
Start with once weekly
Divide by activity
Brainstorming (coming up with an idea)
Writing (putting together the post)
Editing (polishing—grammar, spelling, layout)
*Everyone isn’t good at all 3—find partners that can meet your deficiencies.
Blogging in 600 seconds:
Write your topic into the post title just to keep in mind what you’re writing about. You can change it later. (Tip: write the topic in all lowercase to remind yourself that it isn’t the final title.)
Write something you know. Create a lead.
Include a plug—talk about something else you do well that’s related.
Q&A
Q. How much does the editing process take away from the tone?
A. The balance between being readable and accessible vs. formal depends on the style of the blog. Be careful that your editing doesn’t destroy the tone of your overall blog. Maintain a common style or voice.
Q. Do you typically add images to your posts?
A. It’s pretty tough in 600 seconds, but usually visuals are good. Photos can even become your inspiration. Use them as part of the brainstorming process.
Q. How do you know where to stop?
A. Use a timer. Limit your words. (Slaughter Development has a 500 word max; Robby’s personal blog is long essays and has a min of 1500 words)
Q. How do you use networking to drive productivity?
A. Include networking as part of your process. Twitter the posts; if it’s a response to someone else, comment on their blog and use a quote from your post.
This is my first attempt at live blogging. I need to take notes and this seemed like the best idea, given the topic. These are my raw notes as they happen. I’ll come back later to fix obvious typos and errors, but if I decide to expand on anything I heard, it would be in a separate post. To quote my girls, “You get what you get, and you don’t throw a fit.”
“Bury bad posts with new posts.”
I totally do that. And then, I’m totally embarrassed when a bad post gets lots of comments- I want to yell “That wasn’t worth commenting on guys! Comment on my GOOD stuff!”
Thanks for the mention and great synopsis!
Thanks, Heather!
The slides are online at:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/18546003/Productivity-and-Blogging-blogINDIANA-2009
I’ll make sure we get a post up that summarizes this talk after the conference, but it will be tough to beat your efforts!
@robbyslaughter
@slaughterdev
@joanna — yes but that brings up another related point: The posts you THINK are bad often aren’t!
Or, it raises a point that your readers find interesting. And THAT is more important than what you thought of the post.
Follow what people comment on.