Favorite Online Resources - Podcast

Episode Seven of The Great Big Small Business Show is now online, where a bunch of contributors like myself talk for a few minutes each on their favorite online resources.

This weeks topic - favorite online resources.

I love the format: a few minutes for each person to talk on a topic. Short and easily digestible chunks of info.

Your comments are welcome.

"The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing" by Al Ries and Jack Trout

The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing by Al Ries and Jack Trout is a classic and quick read, unless you pause to think a lot as I did. Hey, we have laws of physics and other things, why not marketing?

It has 22 short principles, or laws as they call them, or marketing. Laws like :

The Law of Failure: Failure is to be expected and accepted - unless you take risks nothing exciting ever happens.

The Law of Success: "success often leads to arrogance, and arrogance to failure"

The Law of unpredictability: Long range planning simply doesn't work. There are too many variables.

An awesome synopsis is at Eric.Weblog(). Oh yeah, Eric invented The Internet too.

My Two Books are a Coincidence?

"One book is an accident, two are a coincidence, three are a pattern."

-Alan Weiss, Million Dollar Consulting Toolkit

Well, Alan is a very smart guy with over 20 books to his credit, but a coincidence? :)

No plans for a third book (but yes, I'm thinking, always thinking)

WNOETYA Blogging and Podcasting Cover

Book Cover done!

Finally, the cover is done. Did it myself (I'm lying).

Actually I had zero input and wasn't asked my opinion: book names and covers and cover copy (the words on the covers) are entirely up to the publisher. They know what works.

I like it!

Any opinions?

What No One Ever Tells You About Blogging and Podcasting: Real-Life Advice from 101 People who Successfully Leverage the Power of the Blogosphere

is my follow up to Blogging for Business. It's based on the thoughts of 101 people - both bloggers/podcasters and those who read and listen.

101 people is a lot, and everyone deserves kudos for their time and effort, and for signing the annoying interview release forms I pestered eveyone with!

Blog and Podcast Basics

What is a Blog - Randy Barron
What is a Blog - John Raleigh
Comments – Essential to Blogs? - Bryan Person
Blogging Platforms and Software - Tom Gray
The Three Types of Blogs - Seth Godin
The Value of Blogging - Bob Cargill
Why Should Companies Monitor Blogs? - Julie Woods
One Example of Great Blogging Results - John Kinde
How Many Readers Do You Need For Success? - Tom Vander Well
The Importance of Writing Well - Large John Brock
Dave Taylor on Successful Business Blogging - Dave Taylor and Ask Dave Taylor
Common Sense and Blogging - John Foster
What is a Podcast - Shel Holtz, For Immediate Release
What is a Videoblog - Michael Verdi
Introducing Social Media to an Organization - Joseph Thornley
It's All an Experiment - Robert French

Some Business Uses of Blogs

Blogs as Sales Research Tools - Jim Foster
Using Blogging to Learn to Write Well - Anonymous
Blogs as Reference Tools - Robert Porter
Knowledge Management - Luis Suarez
Blogs for Local Businesses - J.D. Iles
Internal Blogs Help Teams Communicate - Dan Smith
Blogs and Public Relations - Dan Janal
Building Great Business Relationships through Blogging - Phil Gerbyshak
Positioning Yourself as an Expert - Becky McCray, The Great Big Small Business Show
Blogging for Business Relationship Quality - Robert Rosenthal
Blogs and Podcasts at 800-CEO-READ - Todd Sattersten
Blog Humanize Companies - Jeff Foster
Blogging for a Big Company - Alfred Thompson II
Creating Buzz with Blogs - Ron McDaniel
Marketing With Content - David Meerman Scott
Blogging Interns - Christopher Salazar
Blogging and Your Career - Philip Hartman
Book Blogs - Michael McLaughlin
A Blog as a Web Portal - David Markovitz
CEO Blogs - Debbie Weil
Real Estate Blogs - Paul Chaney
Lawyer Blogs - Kevin O'Keefe

Planning Your Blog

Blogs and the Big Picture - Rick Short
Three Key Questions to Answer When Planning Your Blog - Mark White
The Who, How, What, and When, and When of Blogging - Richard Boyd
Five-Plus Tips to a Better Blog - Meryl Evans
Common Mistakes Professionals Make with Their Blogs - The Blog Squad
Quarterly Blog Reviews and Editorial Calendars - Michele Corey
Practical Blogging - Robyn Tippins
How to Figure Out the Content Dilemma - Tamera Kremer
Does Your Blog Stink? - Steve Remington
Blogs and Podcasts in The Enterprise - Dennis McDonald

Making Money with Blogs

Can I Make Money Blogging? - Chris Garret
Tips for AdSense and other Advertisements - Reg Adkins
E-commerce and Blogs - Jeremy Bloom
Shopping Carts for Blogs (and Other Web sites) - Tom Antion
Creating and Selling Information Products from Your Blog - Brian Clark
Andre the Splogger - Andre
Blog Networks - Paul Short
Blogging for a Blog Network - Bill Belew, A Man Walks Into an Office, TheBizOfKnowledge, RisingSunOfNihon
Passion, Persistence, and Profit - Bruce Allen

Promoting Your Blog and Tracking Statistics

Great Bloggers are Great Conversationalists - Stephen Turcotte
Evangelizing Your Blog - Guy Kawasaki
Search Engine Optimization for blogs - Aaron Wall
The Blog Traffic King on Building Blog Traffic - Yaro Starak, Blog Traffic School
E-mail Blog Interfaces - Phil Hollows
Tracking Blog Statistics - Easton Ellsworth
Tracking and Optimizing Feeds with FeedBurner - Mike Sansone

Podcasting Specifics

What makes a great podcast - Paul Gillin
Everyone should Podcast - Michael Pollack
Some Podcasting Advice - Martin McKeay
Talkr, Converting Blogs to Podcasts - Chris Brooks
Monetizing Podcasts - Michael Geoghegan
What Do Podcast Listeners Want? - Dan Sweet
The Financial Aid Podcast - Christopher Penn
Podsafe Music - C.C. Chapman
Waxxi, An Interactive Podcast Model Plus - Tracy Sheridan
Manic Mommies - Kristin Brandt
Rightlook Radio - Stephen Powers
Grape Radio, Guys passionate about wine podcasting - Brian Clark
MommyCast, An incredibly successful podcast - Gretchen Vogelzang
Promoting Your Music Through Podcasting - Brother Love

Other Blog and Podcast Considerations

Blogging within a Classic Command and Control Structure - Fred Minnick
Blogging and Legal Worries - John P Hutchins
Protecting Your Blog and Podcast Intellectual Property - Brett Trout
Security and Blogging - Pierre Noel
Blogging and Your Brand - Mike Wagner
Why I Blog Anonymously - Steven Ustaris
Blogging in the Classroom - Delaney J Kirk
Friday Squid Blogging, a blog can be professional and fun - Bruce Schneier
Passion, Profit, and MyYawp - Jeff Wuorio
Crisis Management and Blogs - Tom Taulli
Blog or Ezine? - The Blog Squad
The ROI of Blogging - John Cass
No Sitting Around Waiting for Demonstrable ROI - Jim Curtin
Blogs and Syndication - Bill Flitter
The Promise of Videoblogging - Ryanne Hodson
"Pitching" Bloggers and Podcasters Correctly - Mark Fortier
Ghost Blogging - Mikal Belicove
I Use a Ghost Blogger - Anonymous

The Future of Blogging, Podcasting and Social Media

The Future of Blogging - What can we expect? - Shel Israel
The Convergence of Social Software - Scott Allen
Those Involved Are Too Close To See What's Happening - Dave Kesel
Blogs and Podcasts, Where do We Go From Here? - Jeremiah Owyang

Ted Podcasts - The Great Big Small Business Show

Episode 6 is here, and is my first public podcast.

I talk, along with some stars, on organization.

What, me organized?? Well, I know organization is a weakness of mine, so I compensate when appropriate.

My comments on time organization are included - none of us have enough time to do everything

Your comments SOLICITED!

Best Practices vs. Better Practices

I'm complained about the brain dead acceptance of ANYTHING labeled "Best Practices" before here.

Larry Peters, a Contract/Vendor Relations Manager, sends his well thought out definition:

Best Practices: those practices based on experience, training, education, industry acceptance and understanding of the applicable operational environment that are implemented to produce the optimum condition or quality and that the appropriate change management processes are in place to adopt relevant changes to those practices as circumstances may require

Optimum is defined as "The point at which the condition, degree, or amount of something is the most favorable." This makes the use of Best Practice relevant to the potentially unique circumstances. Best Practice unbounded by the circumstances would most likely be unattainable for reasons on cost or practicality. When bounded by the outcome of optimum condition or quality then it should be obtainable.

Simple example: Best Practice to avoid getting sick is to lock yourself in a sterile environment and avoid contact with others which is unattainable for reasons of cost or practicality but is undeniably the BEST way to avoid getting sick. Eat healthy, rest, exercise and see your doctor is Best (optimum) given the need for practicality and relevance .

He adds:

I have always been a bigger fan of the concept of Better Practices. Best indicates as you discussed in your article do it once and you're done. Also indicates that Best is applicable to all so I thought I would share the contractual definition draft I will be using. "Understanding of the particular operational environment" recognizes that there may be a uniqueness involved

I agree whole heartedly Larry! Thanks for your input.

101 Interviews? - Ted bikes 101 Miles

For Damn Near Immediate Release:

Ted Bikes 101 Miles

PodCamp got me so excited -- the info and connections, that combined with my 101 interview based blogging/podcasting book going to the printer, I biked 101 miles yesterday to celebrate.

Far farther than ever before, and for those who have met me in person, I'm not exactly a svelte super-fit guy.

And know what, I felt fine afterwards and I do today too. I did sort of work up to it, but jumping from 64 miles max to 101 is somewhat significant.

Win a "Blogging for Business" book

The well respected MarketingSherpa is running a contest.
To enter, http://www.marketingsherpa.com/bookcontest.php

No complicated forms to fill in, no box tops to send in, etc.

Teleseminars on Business Blogging

People have been asking when I'll have another teleseminar on business blogging -- the answer is soon!

In the meanwhile, I have two past teleseminars available

1) FREE: Business Blogging with Rick Frishman (Visit Rick's site for his free 45 page resources for authors).

Click Here to Listen (or right click to download)

2) Inexpensive: Profitable Blogging: How to Blog Effectively & Efficiently and Generate Sales from SpeakerNet News.

It's fast paced and practical, and skips the basics. Think of it as Business Blogging 201. I assume you know the basics in this teleseminar. The syllabus is here.

Expect more soon.

Blogtipping Day

Blogtipping day is today, Sept 1st, and here are my tips for three blogs I enjoy:

Dan Janal's PR Leads - I'm not only a client but have become a friend of Dan's, and always look forewards to his words of wisdom and any other words he may have as well.

Make It Great - I'm looking forward to reading Phil Gerbyshak's new book 10 Ways To Make It Great soon.

Seth Godin - The Bald man speaketh daily here. This post on breakfast, errrr, purple cows, will be a classic.

Hmmm, just realized all three of these gentlemen are in my new book. Good thing I like their stuff.