General Blogging Stuff

I wrote something in my newsletter recently about how hard it can be sometimes for a solo entrepreneur - we don't have a Finance Director or a boss to question our decisions and make suggestions.

Image: renjith krishnan / FreeDigitalPhotos.net  read more »

I'm not sure when it started, but it has become cool and trendy in on-line circles to promote on the basis of exclusion. There's much talk about recruiting tribes of like-minded people and being as clear about who your offerings aren't for, as you are about who they are for.

Image: Francesco Marino / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

I'm not sure I understand the logic. It seems a negative way to market anything.  read more »

I did a go kart Grand Prix yesterday. The format was that we ran several heats, each time starting from a different grid position, and then our points were totted up to produce a winner. There were seven of us, so the lowest starting position was 7th. The key to remember is that one serious mistake - a spin, or hitting a barrier, basically means a last place, there isn't enough time on each heat to recover.

The event was won by the guy who did best from his races at the back of the grid, and I was interested to analyse his tactics.

Safety  read more »

If you follow me on Twitter, you'll know that yesterday I did the first of a series of ocean swims which we've been training for this summer. It was a reasonably easy one, only 1.8KM, although we did hit some current and a pretty choppy section.

In all, just over 150 people took part, swimming from one beach to another. The kind of people who do this fall broadly into three categories:

1/ Serious (often professional) athletes

2/ Ordinary folk who are pretty good swimmers (that'll be me)

3/ People who aren't great swimmers, but just want to "have a go"

Even in group two, I'm nowhere near the fastest, although I'm not bad for my age group.  read more »

Failure is a fact of life for all business people, and of course, that includes bloggers. But we have to deal with failure more than most, because our business is so multi-faceted.

On a small level, there are the daily failures, like:

• People unsubscribing from your email list
• Unpleasant comments being posted
• Not quite getting the tone or meter of a post right
• Messing something up on the working side of your blog
• Reaching a temporary traffic plateau

And then there are the big failures:  read more »

Short answer: Take some time off!

Long answer: I've just had three fabulous, action packed days off from the internet. Somewhat inspired by Gwen Bell's Digital Sabbatical, I didn't read an email or look at any social media on Friday, Saturday or Sunday.  read more »

I was reading Chris Brogan's post "Is a social crash coming?" His point was that with close friends, social media can be a reminder that we've had little or no "real" contact. Chris explores the notion that he digitally "brushes past" people all the time via social media, and those close friends are constantly being reminded that he's around but hasn't been in touch.

Image: renjith krishnan / FreeDigitalPhotos.net  read more »

This was meant to be a learning experience, a training exercise. We asked a group of fairly inexperienced bloggers in our Beyond Blogging Project to create, design and make ready for market an E Book. The idea was that they would learn the process, and understand the planning.

I always expected them to do a decent enough job - they're a talented bunch of individuals, with a lot of business and real-life experience to support them.

But I wasn't expecting to be blown away by the finished product.

And I have been.  read more »

I've been playing with an iPad this week. What a fabulous piece of kit!

Image: Carlos Porto / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

But in the end I couldn't think why I'd want one. Other than to do stuff online while I watch TV, and as I don't watch TV, that's no use at all. It's not as good as the Kindle as a reading device, and it's not as good as my laptop for anything else I might want to do away from my main computer.

Then there are the other, well documented limitations of the device.  read more »

I was being interviewed by someone the yesterday on video. In the preamble they described me as a "Social media guru."

Rest assured, that won't appear in the final cut. I put them right.

Image: Gregory Szarkiewicz / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

I'm still learning and still experimenting with social media, but I feel I'm beginning to understand it reasonably well, and I think now is a good time to share how I give and gain from the three key social media sites in which I invest time.  read more »