Fictional Interlude... Life on the Coast of Maine

I wake to dense fog pleasantly and quietly cocooning our little house. All is not quiet, however. I can hear a fog horn punctuating the distance. A gull caws. Someone is hammering. A car goes by.

Our cottage is not as remote as I'd like (it's on the edge of town) but it's ours, all ours. And a place to think and read and write.

Why Corporates Should Write Like Bloggers

Seth Godin nails it in a recent post. Short answer: because good blog writing is more engaging and more persuasive than any press release or home page ridden with corporate-speak. I especially like these two tips: use headlines and don't say it all at once. Get the rest on his blog...

1. Use headlines. I use them all the time now. Not just boring ones that announce your purpose (like the one on this post) but interesting or puzzling or engaging headlines. Headlines are perfect for engaging busy readers.

2. Realize that people have choices. With 80 million other blogs to choose from, I know you could leave at any moment (see, there goes someone now). So that makes blog writing shorter and faster and more exciting.

3. Drip, drip, drip. Bloggers don't have to say everything at once. We can add a new idea every day, piling on a thesis over time...

- Seth Godin (April 7, 2008)

Continuing the meme: thanks to the journalism prof who truly inspired me

Paul Gillin just tagged me, following Kami Watson Huyse's Thanksgiving meme. This one struck a chord so I took a crack at it. I'm taggng Karen Christensen of Berkshire Publishing fame; she's currently in Shanghai;  Karen Wickre, the force behind Google's corporate blog and Shel Israel, co-author of Naked Conversations. I bet they've got great stories.

The teacher who most inspired me

His name was Wilmott Ragsdale and he taught in the journalism program at the University of Wisconsin where I got a masters degree.

Rags, as we called him, was the real thing. He was a veteran reporter for TIME, Newsweek and The Wall Street Journal. He had a professorial mustache and always dressed in a tweed jacket. He was always smiling,  always funny.  

What I remember most was his gentle, wry touch whether he was lecturing to a class, talking to a student one-on-one or writing comments on a story you'd turned in. (Yes, we wrote on paper back then and the teacher marked up our copy and handed it back.)

He taught by asking questions and always had the perfect provocative one... asked gently, of course, that made you realize you could improve.

'It's not quality... it's quantity'

But his underlying message was strong: you can become a great reporter. And you can do better than you're doing now. Keep at it. Keep trying. I've been most inspired by his favorite aphorism about writing: "It's not quality... it's quantity."

In other words, keep writing and writing... and writing. Don't concentrate on a few well-written stories. Write more! (Sounds like good blogging advice... doesn't it?) And if you care enough about the craft you'll turn into a great reporter. Which, of course, he was.

I suppose I still think of myself at bottom as "a writer" and a journalist even though I'm in business and marketing. Seems to me that the authenticity he begged us to include in our stories is pretty much the same thing as what makes a good blog.

Before turning to teaching he'd been - among other things - a boxer, a merchant seaman, a poet and a war correspondent (we're talking World War II) for TIME, Newsweek and The Wall Street Journal.

Another of his favorite sayings which I loved, for some reason: "Journalism is not a profession... boxing is a profession."

Unbelievably, I just found a link to a TIME Magazine story about Rags and what a great reporter he was, dated June 29, 1942. I've been watching Ken Burns' The War on DVD for nights now, so this really struck a chord. Army gliders are shown in the film. They're very fragile and, it turns out, not terribly effective:

From TIME - 1942

TIME'S Wilmott Ragsdale wasn't sure you could do a loop in an Army glider until he went up in one at the new glider school at Twentynine Palms, California —suddenly felt his safety belt tighten and saw the desert above him.

He wasn't sure how you get down, either —until his pilot banked the wings almost vertical, fell off into swooping circles and came out at 90 m.p.h., 400 feet above the ground.

Probably you didn't know any more about these things than he did—so I think you will be especially interested in TIME'S story on Page 48—and in knowing a bit more about Ragsdale and his part in making the story so clear and real.

Ragsdale works out of TIME'S Washington office, but because of his rough and tumble travel experiences he is apt to be ordered anywhere. Educated at the University of Washington and at the Sorbonne, he has been a professional fighter, a logger, an oil driller, an extra in the Ballet Russe, a stevedore in Alaska, a publicity man for a symphony orchestra —and he sailed in the fo'c'sle to South America, the Caribbean, Europe and the Orient.

He originally got into the news business to make enough money to marry a girl he met in Paris —worked for the Wall Street Journal before he came to TIME... Continued...

- TIME magazine (June 29,1942)

Personal Branding Global Telesummit marks 10th anniversary of Tom Peters' article: The Brand Called You

Join me at the round-the-clock Personal Branding Global Telesummit on Thursday Nov. 8, 2007 to mark the 10th anniversary of the publication of Tom Peters' now iconic article: The Brand Called You. This 12-hour teleconference is FREE and you can dial in from anywhere. Choose from dozens of sessions on topics related to personal branding. Mine is How to Write a Great Business Blog (session starts at 11 AM Eastern on Nov. 8th). 

Speakers include William Arruda, Nina Burokas, Krishna De, Kirsten Dixson, John Jantsch, David Meerman Scott, Guy Kawasaki, Andy Sernovitz and many others. All are donating their time, BTW, and 100,000 participants are expected. Each is being asked to make a donation to Kiva, a microfinance organization. Register here [look for little box on right-hand side] to get the dial-in number.

Special Offer - US $47 value

I'm offering a freebie in conjunction with the event. One of my favorite chapters in The Corporate Blogging Book is Chapter 7 ("Top Ten Tips to Write an Effective Business Blog"). Buy my book on Amazon (or UK edition; or Mandarin Chinese). Then email your Amazon receipt to me at debbie.weil(at)gmail.com. I'll send you gratis the downloadable audio recording of my one-hour teleconference on Writing a Great Corporate Blog (value US $47.00).      

Why you need a (multi-talented) blog editor

I talked about this today in my teleconference on How to Write an Effective Corporate Blog.

The challenge, as I see it, is to identify someone in your organization who is capable of doing a number of different things which draw on different skills. A blog editor needs to:

1. Manage the technical or backend of the blog

This isn't hard to do once a blog is set up in TypePad, for example. But it still requires time to master the interface. You need to be a teensy bit techie in order to be comfortable doing this. It helps a lot if you can do simple HTML coding.

2. Understand the content strategy of your blog

What's the goal? Who is your audience? What kinds of topics / editorial voice fit that goal? What articles in MSM (mainstream media) should your blog be linking to and talking about? What bloggers should you be linking to? Which of the Comments left on your blog do you need to respond to?

3. Monitor the blogosphere and MSM

This goes hand-in-hand with #2. In addition to setting up RSS keyword searches (this is free, if a bit hit or miss), a blog editor can ask that everyone send him/her newsy links they run across. If you have a larger budge, you can use a social media mining service like Nielsen BuzzMetrics.

4. Be a great editor

Oh I almost forgot this. Your blog editor needs to be a great editor so he/she can smoothe out syntactical gaffes, correct spelling and otherwise make the blog sound graceful and compelling. And also a great writer as he/she may be doing some of the writing.

Given the breadth of these skill sets / knowledge / talent, maybe the blog editor job needs to be split among several people in a large organization.

How GM's FastLane does it

Note that GM's FastLane blog is managed by a team that includes Christopher Barger, GM's Director of Global Communications Technology (love the title), along with Alicia Dorset, who is titled "blog editor." I know that GM also works closely with their PR/interactive agency, Haas MS & L on the blog.

What are your thoughts on who and how to manage a blog (or a number of blogs) for a company? I'd love to hear what you have to say.

The Nitty Gritty of How to Write an Effective Corporate Blog: May 24, 2007 Teleconference

I'm running a 60-minute teleconference on Thursday: The Nitty Gritty of How to Write an Effective Corporate Blog.

Hope you'll consider tuning in. I'll be addressing the following:

- How to choose your blog writer(s)
- What the role of a blog editor is
- Ghostblogging: drawing the line between editing and ghostwriting
- How to train your writers in the basic elements of blog writing style
- Advanced tips for effective blog writing (linking tricks)
- How to keep the momentum going (finding content, motivating your bloggers)

Here are the details:

DATE: Thursday May 24, 2007
TIME: 1:00 PM Eastern (10:00 AM Pacific; 11:00 AM Mountain; 12 noon Central)
DURATION: 60 minutes
FEE: US $97 per person
Register now

Included with your registration

An MP3 audio recording and enhanced PDF transcript are included with your registration fee.

The teleconference will be available in 24 hours for replay as an MP3 audio file. The edited PDF transcript includes all URLs referred to as well as pointers to other resources.

It always sounds better in French: Un bon blog repose sur une belle plume

Ah, the language of Proust and the madeleine. I told my son the story of the madeleine when he was a little boy (how a tiny taste of a madeleine cookie unleashed a surge of memories; in fact, Proust's very long book, À La Recherche du Temps Perdu).

He was fascinated and always insisted on ordering madeleines whenever he saw them - hoping to spark some memories, no doubt.

Congratulations Eliza and Minor!

Now my older daughter, Eliza, is getting married in two weeks. Congratulations Eliza and Minor! And she and her fiancé have madeleine biscuits on the dinner menu (paired with a tomato - lobster soup; it's delicious - I've tasted it).

All by way of saying that there's something magical (at least to me) about the French language. I went to school in France for a year when I was 14. And still speak fairly passable French. I've got a great accent but a schoolgirl's vocabulary.

Good blogging is good writing

I was tickled when I ran across the blog entry above in French, translating and enumerating seven blog writing tips from my little guide, "Top 7 Tips to Write an Effective Business Blog."

Chief among them: good blogging is good writing. Which translates, rather lyrically, to "A good blog derives from a beautiful pen - or writing."

Grab a free copy of my updated "Top 7 Tips to Write an Effective Business Blog"

I've just updated the guide and you can grab a copy free by clicking here.

Why humor is important in writing a (corporate) blog

Well, because it's fun and funny if it works. And because it predisposes the reader to feel positive (even warm and fuzzy) about the blogger. And that's a great way to start the conversation and strengthen the connection with your audience.

MSM (mainstream media) gets how to do this. The Wall Street Journal ran a story yesterday titled:

Experiments Suggest Birds May Be Capable of Planning Ahead
Birds aren't so bird-brained after all... - Wall Street Journal (April 13, 2007, page B1)

In other words, be tongue-in-cheek and say something that runs counter to what people normally think. It's an old journalistic technique but it works. Try it!

Oh and about the birds... turns out scrub jays cache food for the future and a crow was observed fashioning a wire into a hook to grab food.

April 12, 2007 teleconference: How to create a content strategy for your blog

You can pre-order the audio/print bundle from today's session on how to create a content strategy for a corporate or organizational blog. It includes:

- MP3 audio recording of the session
- Enhanced PDF transcript
- Content Strategy Workbook (19-page PDF; download immediately)

Pre-order now (US $97).

During this one-hour session I addressed many of the most nagging questions about content for a corporate blog.

Your key content questions

- Who should write our blog?
- Can we ghostblog for our CEO?
- Can it be multi-author?
- How do we choose topic(s)?
- Do we need a blog editor and what should his/her role be?
- How do we get our readers to leave Comments?
- How should we publicize our blog to other bloggers and to MSM (mainstream media)?
- How will we measure the ROI of our blog?

Come armed with additional questions (you'll have a chance to submit them beforehand). I'll dig into all the issues and provide practical tips & recommendations you can take back to the office. This will be a meaty, interactive audio conference. All you need is a phone.

Date: Thursday April 12, 2007

Time: 1:00 PM Eastern Event is over but you can order the audio recording and enhanced transcript. See below.

Duration: 60 minutes

Cost: US $97

Included:

• MP3 audio recording of one-hour event
• Enhanced PDF transcript
• 19-page Content Strategy Workbook (download immediately as a PDF)

Special thanks to my teleconference sponsor, Conference Calls Unlimited.

 

Why senior exec Russell Stalters blogs (and no, it's not to make money per se)

Had a great lunch yesterday with Russell Stalters, CTO of a system and software engineering firm and author of BetterECM (stands for enterprise content management).

He works nearby and a mutual friend suggested we get together. When I asked Russ what his blogging ROI is, he responded with a slight wince that "no" he couldn't pull a dollar figure out of the air and yes the blog does take time.

But he thinks the benefits are tangible. Namely:

1. Lead generation for his company, Applied Information Sciences.

2. Name recognition for him (he gets invited to speak at events like Gilbane's content conferences).

3. He meets interesting people (they leave comments on his blog or he discovers them on other blogs).

4. Writing the blog helps him gather and articulate his thoughts (he's been working on one blog entry for several months - it will be a definitive statement on where ECM is headed).

The lead gen piece is significant and a perfect example of what I try and explain to would-be corporate bloggers. A blog (with good content) is a heck of a lot more interesting / compelling / persuasive than a static site.

Send your prospects to your blog. They'll find their way naturally to your site. And they're much more apt to be in a positive state of mind about doing business with you when they get there.

Russ said his contacts at Microsoft (AIS is a Microsoft partner) send prospects to his blog first, as do his colleagues.