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Sunday, July 15, 2012

Why Advertising On Your Blog Doesn't Work

Blogging is a great exercise in creativity.  It gives you the platform to express your opinion about something you're passionate about or at least interested in.  When your excitement about the topic comes through, the blog post is compelling to readers who share that interest. 

What is not interesting to readers is advertisements disguised as blog articles.  We are regularly inundated with advertisements and I don't know of many people who are actively looking for places to read more advertisements.  So I try to keep promotional material to the barest minimum in my personal blog.  In the cases when I do want to promote a product or service, or even a movie or book I am interested in, I try to follow this rule: express an opinion. 
What You Think Is Interesting To Others

What you and I think about something, even if it isn't a popular or accurate idea, is more interesting than a bland invitation to buy or use a product.  When I try to sell a reader on the merits of a product I believe I'm not going to make a connection with the reader as well as if I write about my take on it. It is my experience that readers don't enjoy being lecturer to.  So if I'm passionate about something such as Journaling As A Spiritual Practice I pay attention to the tone I use in my article so that I don't come across as a know-it-all or an advertiser.  I try to find what it is that I enjoy about journaling and write about that.

Expressing your opinion is more effective than writing an advertisement. 
In the world of movie making, word-of-mouth is as good as gold, because movie makers know that you and I are more likely to go see a movie (even if we previously decided against it) when someone we know expresses a positive opinion about it.  We're far more influential than advertisements when we express our opinion.

Ideally the focus of your blog should be obvious to visitors.  You might have a passion for technology and as an early adopter of every new gadget you might write about your joys and disappointments.  Or you might have be fascinated in gardening and write about how you help your orchids survive (I'd need to read that blog for sure).  Having too wide a focus can make it difficult for your blog to be noticed by the people who share your interest.  (I use my blog to demonstrate how to create blogs, and to share my opinions, and, and, I confess, there is too much going on here.)  On the other hand, being excited and authentic about your writing is the key to success, so if you're excited about a lot of things, write about them.

It's all about you and what you think and no one has to read it if they don't want to.  So write about what you think and don't copy and paste content from other places on the web.  I feel passionate about that, and probably come across like a know-it-all.  Ah well, rules are for breaking, no?
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Friday, July 13, 2012

Blogging for Beginners: Follow The Rules And Float To The Top of Search Results


Everybody loves a good secret!  That's why the word "secret" is so effective in advertising.  We seem to be drawn in when we think there is something that other people don't know that we can have access to to improve something.  There are whole bunches of secret in the world of blogging, simply because you don't know about them yet.  Some of these "secrets" are common sense, others are merely the rules of the game, that if you follow them, you will start to float to the top of search results.

I love helping people get into the world of blogging and I particularly enjoy helping them get results with simple easy to follow rules that don't cost anything to put in place.  I primarily work with people
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Thursday, July 12, 2012

Starbucks: Where it all began

I'm sitting in the Starbucks store on 1st and Pike in Seattle, just around the corner from the original Starbucks where it all began. The first store has a line going right out the building onto the sidewalk. It's a coffee pilgrims' destination and apparently they come from all over the world to pay tribute to the starting place. I stood in the darker shop, darker than the everywhere-present bright and cheerful Starbucks that are the same from Hong Kong to Ubud. This first shop has cardboard boxes stacked along walls in a half-hearted effort to conjure up the atmosphere of, I'm guessing, the first days. People are speaking Spanish, and German and snapping photos and looking over each others shoulders to get a glance at what?

What is so fascinating about it? And why did I make sure it was on my own agenda to stop in at the Starbucks Mecca? What is everybody hoping for?

The sign above the register says that this is where is all began and there is some magic in that
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Thursday, July 5, 2012

In Love with Spirit: The Devotional Prayers of Ernest Holmes – Diane Tapogna, RScP

A long time ago I started a monthly Prayer Music and Meditation service on the first Wednesday of every month. When finally I had to skip a Wednesday because of travel, I had to look around for someone who could step in and work with Christopher, our music director, to maintain the spirit and flow of the service.  It had become a popular service and those in attendance often named exactly why they made a monthly date to sit with us.  They enjoyed the tone of the service, the selection of prayers that were read, the interlaced music, and so on.  

I had worked with Diane Tapogna on other projects before, and her mindful attention to detail in those endeavors sprung to mind.  So I asked her to co-present one of our First Wednesday evening services.  We sat together on stage and inbetween music that the
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I have been through the book three times over three years, and am starting it again. This is not because the material in the book is not working, but because it is working so well! The weekly lessons keep me on track and focused on what is actually true and important, and help me experience more good in every area of my life. LS

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