Reflections & analysis about innovation, technology, startups, investing, healthcare, and more .... with a focus on Minnesota, Land of 10,000 Lakes. Blogging continuously since 2005.

Category: Weblogs/Blogging (Page 17 of 22)

A Brief Brush With Guy Kawasaki

Just a little diversion — I’m not done posting about PC Forum yet. But I wanted to pass along an experience I had after PC Forum wrapped up, before I had to drive back to Orange County Airport to return to Minneapolis. I had previously heard that Guy Kawasaki was going to be speaking nearby, at an event called the “Boomer Summit” (about marketing to baby boomers), at the Anaheim Convention Center. So, I Guykawasaki planned my morning so I’d get up real early and do a few hours of email and writing for my blog (it was way too cold to surf, anyway), then pack up and head north from my place in San Clemente to catch Guy’s keynote speech at 12:30. It would be a short drive from there to the airport, I figured. Well, I rushed and rushed and barely made it to the conference’s press room right about the appointed time, only to find out his speech had just ended! Apparently, they’d moved up the schedule. Darn, I’d missed it! Since I’d never actually met Guy — though I’d heard him speak a couple of times, and was instrumental in getting him to speak at a large technology event in the Twin Cities several years ago — I was bound and determined I was actually going to meet him this time (which circumstances had prevented me from doing previously). So, off I tromp, over to the Marriott, where I figured he might still be hangin’ around afterwards talking to folks. And, sure, enough, as I’m walking in and down the hall toward the meeting rooms, here comes Guy right toward me, carrying his briefcase, big smile on his face, slowly starting to make his way for the door. So, I introduced myself, and we had a nice chat as he walked together back to the lobby. After explaining that we had a common friend in Rich Karlgaard, I asked Guy what he spoke about (“the Art of the Start”), and how many were in the audience (200, he was told — many of them entrepreneurs launching businesses to market to boomers). I also asked him about his blog….of course! He seemed like he wasn’t all that impressed with his “gross numbers” so far. So, I asked how many visitors he gets, and he said, “Oh, I have about 10,000 readers.” I said, hey, that’s great. Then, I wished him luck, said I’d catch him somewhere else soon, and we both split. But at least I don’t feel so bad now about my 2000 readers last month. Gee, a fifth of the way to Guy Kawasaki — I’ll take that any day! Guy’s blog, by the way, which he just launched January 1, is here, and I also list it in my blog roll.

Screw AdSense – Bloggers Deserve a Buck a Word!

That’s the new mantra for bloggers seeking decent ad revenue according to online marketing guru Mike May, writing for MediaPost’s “Online Publishing Insider”. In his rabble-rousing piece, which went online today — “Compensate Citizen Publishers Like People, Not Web Sites” — he makes an interesting case. How did he arrive at a buck a word? That’s the going rate for freeelancer writers. And Mike’s proposal is based on this key notion: “The value of citizen publisher content to advertisers or sponsors should be no less than the value of freelance writing contributions to publishers.” Hey, I like it, Mikey likes it…what’s not to like?

Marketers: “Think Like a Publisher”

The best piece of advice I’ve seen lately for marketing people in this age of new media comes from David Meerman Scott in this excellent piece on MarketingProfs.com called “The New Rules for PR”. It’s this:

“Think like a publisher. Marketers at the most enlightened organizations recognize that they are now purveyors of information, and they manage content as a valuable asset with the care of a publishing company.”

I think David has it right. I’ve never met him, but I told him in an email I’ve been wanting to articulate that very same thought, but I like his version. In fact, his message about the importance of content to marketing is so good, so relevant to our times, that I went right over to Amazon and bought his latest book: “Cashing In With Content: How Innovative Marketers Use Digital Information to Turn Browsers Into Buyers”. (See it at the right under “Reading.”)

Have you noticed how the terms “marketing” and “PR” are starting to blend together? At least in the tech world… PR people I know everywhere are now more like marketers, and (somewhat) vice versa. Is PR coming into its own — kind of a new era for the profession? I say yes. Long ago, I gave up reading the legacy marketing titles like Ad Age and AdWeek. Now I read PR Week. The disciplines of PR and marketing are coming closer and closer together. And this is a good thing.

David Meerman Scott captures the key point: content is what runs through it all. And you won’t do well in either discipline these days if you don’t understand, generate, nurture, and encourage it. Really live and breath it. Content isn’t just king in consumer media and the new world of social media/Web 2.0. The same thing applies to business — the purview of professional marketers. Content has a direct impact on the viability and growth of any organization. David comes to all this with an excellent background: here’s his bio. He has a great blog, too, which I’m adding to my regular reading, and my blog roll. The man gets it.

‘How to Suck Up to a Blogger’ and ‘How to Almost Live on Blogging’

Two great posts I discovered on the state of blogging, and a killer article link at the end. The first I referred to earlier, but it’s worth a repeat mention: it’s Guy Kawasaki talking about who controls the buzz these days. Guess who that might be?

And the second is a Wired interview of Harold Davis, who writes the Googleplex blog. He also has a new book, “Google Advertising Tools” from O’Reilly [riveting title], which I’m reading right now and which you should buy — from my blog, of course! (It’s there in the righthand column.) That way, you can contribute to my “almost making a living” with this thing….in your own little, micropayment sorta way. 🙂

But I must say that Harold is a bit less rosy about bloggers supporting themselves than the picture painted by this excellent feature article just out in New York Magazine: Blogs to Riches: The Haves and Have-Nots of the Blogging Boom. Haven’t seen anything that gets into blogs making money quite like this piece…

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