eMarviews

The key takeaway is this: once you realize that your job is to find and connect and lead a tribe, to give them something to talk about and a place to go, it's a lot easier to write a blog that works.

Seth's Blog: The number one secret of the great blogs Very interesting and it makes complete sense. I now see why I have more readership in some blogs more than others. For example, here's a breakdown in order of following and scope (narrowest to widest):

• The UNOFFICIAL Intellipedia blog - This is the blog has the greatest tribe probably becuase it is centrally focused on Intellipedia, the Intelligence Community wiki, and government collaboration and information sharing (though I don't really like that term, but that's for another post...) in general. I bet if I organized an event, even if it were online, the tribe would be interested.
• creiZ about Real Estate and Deals blog - This is where I write about any of my current real estate activities in Panama and other places, market trends, tips and comments on business news items that I come across that look interesting. As you can see, it is pretty general, so I suppose that is why there is a rather small following. What could I do to improve this? Should I focus more?
• This blog, eMarviews - This is where I post about anything that comes to mind that I want to write about. You name it, from social media to blogging to networking to going green to family (including arguing with your wife). I have a tribe of 1 here. Why? Probably because I am all over the place with this and maybe no one can really identify with the content. Could that be it? Should I break this up into multiple blogs?

(There are a couple of other blogs that I am inactive on including the Startup Events blog and the Deal Bake blog (to post deal haves and needs) that could be of use if I put more effort into them. I just need more time and energy or people that are interested...) So going back to Seth's point, the key is focus on the tribe, the audience, because when you really think about, the tribe is what really makes the blog successful or not.

Tags: greatestblogs, tribes, focusing, multiple blogs, seth godin, marketing, networking

Posted by eMarv at 11:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

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Why should anyone hire you to be a blogger/writer for them? You may think that you are the best (and even if you are), how do you let your prospective hiring authority know?

Here's how: Know and describe the 4 Ps to your hirer:

• Passion - This really applies for any gig/job (though I won't go into that...). You really need to have a passion for what you do for your sake (so that you can be happy) and for the sake of the hirer (so that they can be happy because you are doing something you enjoy doing).
• Personality - I think that having a personality (especially for blogging) is essential or else how do you distinguish yourself from the drab website brochureware? You need to have your own personality, not copy someone else's. Personally, I think it is an extension of how you really are, not a pseudo online personality.
• Prose - You, of course, should know how to write pretty decently. This doesn't mean that you must have a degree in English from the Oxford, but you must have decent spelling and grammatical skills. (Remember, there's always spellcheck and you can have a bud check your work.)
• Publicity - Especially in this day and age, having some presence on the Internet is necessary. Most blog hirers are looking to drive people to their site. The better presence you have, the easier it is for you to get the word out about your new gig and drive visitors to their site.

You should also always provide samples of your writing and links to relevant articles that are already online that you have created.

BTW, below is an example of a short description of my 4 Ps:

Why me? I am the perfect person for these blogs because of my 4 Ps:

Passion - I enjoy writing about topics that interest me and do it as often as possible. Real estate, international business and investing are great passions of mine.

Personality - I am an honest, positive and witty person who enjoys meeting and helping people and experiencing different things including cultures. (I really enjoy learning and practicing different languages and have native Spanish proficiency.)

Prose - I am articulate (most of the time :) and write as a colleague, advisor and friend. I consider my audience!

Publicity - I am open-minded and am open to people getting to know more about me. I am an active social networker with profiles on over 30 networks and most actively on LinkedIn (with over 8000 direct connections), Facebook and Twitter and would e able to drive traffic to the blogs from my current web presence.

Thoughts?

Tags: blogging, writing, bloggingjobs, advice, tips

Posted by eMarv at 01:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

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