Posts tagged blogging

How Blogging Started

Blogging

BloggingAccording to Wikipedia, the authoritative source on everything, the term “blog” wasn’t coined until the late 1990s, but the history of blogging started in 1983.

I disagree!

Recently I was watching Big Trouble in Little China.  Awesome movie from 1986 by the way (although my wife disagrees).  Jack Burton, played by Kurt Russell, is truck drive that’s dragged into a centuries-old mystical battle in Chinatown.  The storyline isn’t what’s important…it’s the opening and closing scenes that are paramount to this blog.

Blogging started with the Citizen Band Radio — yes, that’s right, the CB Radio started the blogging revolution.

You remember that really cool silver and black box your dad used to have mounted under the dash of the car set to channel 19 and making all that static.

Well, maybe some of you don’t remember that…possibly some of you don’t even know what a CB Radio is or was.

The citizens band radio originated in the United States  in 1945 to permit citizens a radio band for personal communication (e.g., radio-controlled model airplanes and family and business communications).

The CB Radio

After the 1973 oil crisis the U.S. government imposed a nationwide 55 mph speed limit, and fuel shortages and rationing were widespread.  The CB radio was used, especially by truckers, to locate service stations with better supplies of fuel, to notify other drivers of speed traps, and to organize blockades and convoys in a 1974 strike protesting the new speed limit and other trucking regulations.  One trucking leader was able to almost singlehandedly coordinate this interstate highway blockade of hundreds of tractor-trailers in eastern Pennsylvania using the citizens band radio in his truck.  His name was J.W. Edwards and his radio name (handle) was “River Rat”.  The blockade began on I-80 and quickly spread throughout the country, with “River Rat’s” messages literally being relayed from one area of trucks to the next (sounds like retweeting, doesn’t it?.  The radios were crucial for independent truckers; many were paid by the mile, which meant their productivity was impacted by the 55-mph speed limit.  The use of CB radios in late 1970s films such as Smokey and the Bandit (1977) and Convoy (1978), popular novelty songs such as C.W. McCall’s “Convoy” (1975), and on television series such as Movin’ On (debuted 1974) and The Dukes of Hazzard (debuted 1979) established CB radio as a nationwide craze in the USA in the mid- to late 1970s.

It was in the movie Big Trouble in Little China, where Jack Burton laments over his CB Radio his personal journey of the Pork Chop Express (essentially blogging to anyone listening).  This is how the story opens…Jack is riding in his truck on a stormy evening wearing his dark sunglasses and preaching over the CB.

When some wild-eyed, eight-foot-tall maniac grabs your neck, taps the back of your favorite head up against the barroom wall, and he looks you crooked in the eye and he asks you if ya paid your dues, you just stare that big sucker right back in the eye, and you remember what ol’ Jack Burton always says at a time like that: “Have ya paid your dues, Jack?” “Yessir, the check is in the mail.

So, don’t you go thinking that blogging is anything new.  It’s been around with CB radios since the mid 40’s.  As Jack Burton always says…

Just remember what ol’ Jack Burton does when the earth quakes, and the poison arrows fall from the sky, and the pillars of Heaven shake.  Yeah, Jack Burton just looks that big ol’ storm right square in the eye and he says, “Give me your best shot, pal. I can take it.

Over and Out, See You On The Flip Side Good Buddy!

Selling yourself, not products, through blogging

Blogging Meandering Genius

Last night I was on a free teleconference regarding becoming a successful speaker. The actual title was How to Become a Highly Paid Speaker Quickly. It was a hour and a half presentation and the first 30 – 45 minutes were some tid bits about being a good speaker. Then the teleconference evolved into a sales pitch for their speech coaching service.

Blogging is just like that teleconference. Its a free service where you can provide information that people might find interesting and valuable. As a matter of fact, yesterday’s blog on Blogger’s Block turned out to be extremely popular, so I thought I would continue to talk about blogging for a while.

However, there are three kinds of blogs, which are free information shared to people:

1. Blogs fully dedicated to selling a product or service, which pretty much are nothing but wordy advertisements. These blogs promise when you open them up to provide good information, but are really fully focused on providing you information on what they can do for you in regards to that information.

2. Blogs that are informative to a point, but then (normally at the bottom), become an advertisement. These blogs give you some information–enough to get you interested, but not really enough to do anything with the information. Then they hit you with the “if you want to learn more or how to do this, this is why you should contact us.”

3. Blogs that share information openly without holding back information. Simply put, they’re giving the recipe away for free. Yes, they might have some contact information at the bottom, but they’ve really shared the whole story and held nothing back to sell to you.

These approaches are all forms of what has become known as Content Marketing. It’s marketing, even if you didn’t know you were doing it, because the marketers have coined what you’re doing and they are packaging it up to sell–even though many of your have been doing this for a while.

The problem is that Content Marketing is really what cause blog type 1 and 2. I’m sure you’ve fallen into the trap of opening a blog that looked really cool by its title and first paragraph only to be fully disappointed by the blatant marketing of the body. Much like the teleconference I was in yesterday.

Last night I was looking for information on how to become… However, what I got was, an appetite wettener for what I wanted and then a how to buy their service.

So, let’s talk about true Content Marketing.

Content Marketing is about selling your capability by “giving it away.” Many bloggers out there today have been “giving it away” for years and inadvertently selling themselves without even focusing on the act. That is true Content Marketing.

When the likes and follows blew up yesterday after my Blogger’s Block article, that told me that many people were interested in information about blogging itself. Hence, I figured I would write another blog about blogging. Why, not because I want to sell my services as a blogging mentor or something like that, but because I want more people to enjoy, share, like, and follow my blog.

As a blogger, your focus should be on selling yourself and you should provide stuff that your readers find interesting. That interesting stuff is called Content and getting more and more people to read your blog is called Marketing.

Yes, it is that simple.

One thing that the presentation did share with me, before it went marketing crazy and I hung up, was that when speaking, you have to be genuine. Genuine speeches are what attract listeners and genuine and genuine blogs attract readers.

That’s why I’m blogging about blogging again today. Yesterday, my Blogger’s Block blog received a lot of attention’ so I wanted to continue with what you might want to read.

I’m not doing this to attract followers and get you to buy something, but to share information and hopefully learn something back in the process.

True Content Marketing is just that. Anyone can openly share information–Content–with their readers. Hopefully their readers will find their content interesting and continue to come back and read their blog. Better yet, they will follow them and share what they’re saying to others. This is true Marketing without selling anything.

Somewhere in there, someone is going to read their blog and be at the point that they need help in that area. They will see, through their multiple of free blogs, that this company or person is really good and knowledgable at whatever they’re talking about. Then they’re going to contact that person and see if they can get their help. Or, someone who has been reading these interesting blogs has a friend that has a need and they’re going to share the name of the company or person that has been providing all these great blogs.

Anything in the 1 or 2 category of blogging is nothing but marketing and no one is going to follower share that. Even if you want to ultimately sell your services or products, be genuine in your blogs.

I’m not the all knowing expert in blogging, but I am pretty darn good at strategic communication. I wouldn’t want anyone to really ask me to be a “blogging coach” or something like that, but I can definitely help companies build and implement strategic communication plans.

However, my purpose in this is to not sell that or any other service. My purpose is to share my opinion on blogging and using blogging to sell yourself, not something else.

As always, as all bloggers should do, I ask for your thoughts on blogging and content marketing. If you don’t want to comment’ but like the blog, please like it, follow me, and share this to others. I won’t mind.

Dealing with blogger’s block

Blogging Meandering Genius

If you plan to write regularly, even once in a while, you may run into writer’s block and not know what to write about for the day. In boll going, I call that blogger’s block.

Since I blog daily and six out of seven of my blogs each week aren’t planned, blogger’s block could be a real issue. When you are coming up with a new idea to write about every day, then this issue can hit you at any point.

If you are prone to blogger’s block, then here are some ideas on how to deal with it. As always I welcome your thoughts and inputs.

The first thing you can do is actually draft up a list of topics for a period of time…say a week. Let’s assume you blog daily…on Wednesday, sit down and write ideas for Monday through Sunday. Every week you are preparing what you’re going to write the following week. Having a list of blogging ideas and topics can help you generate your blog without thinking about it. My weekly blog, Think Big, Take Small Steps, is planned for several months out with an outline of different topics. I have the title and the subtitle, which provide me with enough information to write do each weekend.

Sometimes, writing needs to happen when you have time every day and when you won’t be bothered. I’m up early every morning–4:30 during the week–and I write my blogs over coffee while my wife and the dogs are still asleep. Having a similar time of the day to write when you’re blogging helps you think and possibly research topics.

If you tend to have a lot of time at only one time during the week, consider pre-writing several blogs when you have the time and prepping them to go out. Remember, it’s best not to blog more than once a day, but you can schedule blogs or have them ready in draft to send. This way you have a blog a day (or so), but you are only writing a few times a week.

Having trouble coming up with ideas? Here are some ideas that might help you generate ideas…I think it’s much easier to generate ideas when on the computer, but every day I write on my phone or tablet.

Have a set of topics or categories that you like to blog about and know something about. For me, I try to focus on blogging and writing itself, process improvement, employee engagement, change, human capital planning, strategy, and other things like that. Having a set of categories in my head helps to come up with ideas on the fly.

If you have an idea, put it in a google search engine and search for images related to that work or phrase that represents your idea. Add that picture to your blog and then center the message and your thoughts around the picture that represented the idea you started with.

I have four quotes and proverbs applications on my phone. In the morning, I like to read each one of them for the day. I haven’t written about anything I’ve read yet’ but the ideas get my mind moving so that I’m more stimulated to write. You could use these type of devices to generate your ideas.

There is a month each year where many bloggers participate in this A to Z blogging event. For 26 days, every day, but Sunday, they post a blog corresponding to the letter of the day. There is no reason what you couldn’t apply this technique to every month and make sure that the letter of the day ends up in your title each day.

As an active and longtime Toastmaster, we always researched the word of the day. Everyone was required to use the word of the day in there speaking to practice extemporaneous speech. You can get a word of the day from apps and from the computer and blog to that every day…or just the day you are trying to get over blogger’ block.

One of the last ideas, is to write about the very thing that your are fighting against–blogger’s block. Honestly, I wasn’t dealing with blogger’s block, but I was thinking about ways that I might deal with it and thought this would be a perfect blog to share and discuss. If you are suffering from a block, then talk about it…discuss why you think you are having a block. Maybe there’s a story in there after all and you just couldn’t see it.

That gets me to my last point…almost like I planned this blog ahead of time. Sometimes, it just helps to start typing and then the words start to flow. Except for my weekly strategy blog entry, I never know what I’m going to talk about day to day. Additionally, I never know what the blog looks like or how it’s organized. However, when I start writing that first paragraph…the one that everyone is going to see, I start thinking about the structure of the blog and the main points. Even with this blog, I put it together roughly as I started writing and formulated it’s I wrote. For me, this gets my mind moving in the morning.

Dealing with blogger’s block, is a personal thing, but there are many ways that you can prepare or deal with it on the fly. Who knows, maybe these tips will help you move from a weekly blogger to a daily blogger.

Looking to hear from you on the subject.

Interested in blogging? Here are some tips.

Meandering Genius

If you have given a thought to blogging, there are some things I have learned that might help.

Two years ago, I was seriously blogging, along with my business partner on SAXtreme Magazine. Lisa, my business partner taught me some things about blogging that I’m reminded of as I write my blogs every day. If you have any tips after reading this, please share.

Some of her blogging advice I don’t follow like I should, but it’s with reason, but I digress.

Blogging is a lot of work…if you want to do it right. Yea, anyone can put their thoughts done on electronic paper, but can you get your thoughts read?

Let’s start with the blogging platform. WordPress has proven to be a good platform for me, but there are many out there. Choose a platform that provides a lot of tools and free statistics and has a good companion app. WordPress’ app has come a long way, but it still needs a few tweaks.

One of the key things your blogging service must do is auto post your blogs to your social media sites. As a minimum, you should set up a Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter site and then link your blog to them. This helps get your blogs out to the public for consumption. A few people might stumble across your blog in the blogging site, but in today’s world, people expect things pushed to them versus them having to find it.

When thinking about a blog, you need to consider frequency. If you plan to write two or three times a month, then, as my friend Ved says, “Forget about it.” You should blog every day–yep, you heard me right. You should honestly post a blog every day. This will encourage traffic to your site and keep it fresh. If you blog once in a while, then people won’t be too interested in what you have to say.

Also, you should only post one blog a day. This can be hard, because you might have all kinds of things that you want to say in one day and you just want to get them out there. More than one blog is overload for your readers. Keep your blogs to once a day–no more. You can always save blogs for later and on WordPress, when on the computer (not app), you can pre post blogs to release on future days. Lisa and I used to write blogs so much that we would have up to two weeks of blogs pre-posted and ready to go out. On the WordPress app, you can save your post in draft.

Also, you should either write and post your blog early in the morning or schedule it to release early in the morning. This way, the normal people who get up at 8 and log on with their coffee will see your newly posted blog on the top of their mail. Posting later in the day means it might roll down pretty far on someone’s reading list and not be seen. I don’t always follow this rule, but I try.

Having something interesting to say is one thing, but saying it in the title is another. People want to read interesting blogs, not mindless stuff. Leave your daily activities to Facebook and Twitter and blog about your more interesting thoughts. However, if you want someone to read it, make sure you have a title that catches peoples’ interest. Also, keep the title short–no more than 75 characters. This allows it to show on Twitter. Additionally, make sure the first sentence is catchy too. That will show up on Facebook and LinkedIn, so make it memorable if possible.

Here a two tips that I don’t do very well during the week. Mainly I don’t follow them because I use the app and it’s more difficult. Number one is to add tags to your blog. Tags are key words that search engines will find and make your message a bit easier to find by those not on a social media site. The WordPress app doesn’t have. Tagging feature for blogs that you are writing. Second is to add links to other related material. This makes your blog more interesting and effective. If possible link to content on WordPress, if you are using WordPress. This sends a link to the owner of the content and encourages them to come check out your blog–neat huh? The app allows linking, but it’s not easy to find content and link on your mobile phone.

Spelling, grammar, and sentence structure are important. You should read over what you write before you post. I do this much easier when I’m sitting at my computer, but I try on the phone. I like that the phone has auto correct and it works well most of the time. If you are on your computer blogging, then write out the blog in Word first and read it over and then post it. This helps keep it well written.

If you blog from your computer, create a Word template to write in. Every Saturday, I write a very specific blog on this site about Strategic Planning. It’s part of a bigger storyline called Think Big, Take Small Steps. I have a very specific format I follow and my template allows me to stick to the format. I use links to other blogs in the storyline to broaden reading as well, which works. The opening blog is set as Sticky on my site so it stays on the front page when logging into my site.

Using categories on your site allow readers a way to browse your work that they might be interested in. This blog is posted in my Meandering Genius category, which for me means my basic daily thoughts. I think we all come up with interesting things to say…I’m just trying to say them.

Another thing you should do is add a picture with alternate text to your blog. Keep it small when posting unless it’s a photo you are trying to share. This way when the blog posts on Facebook and LinkedIn, the photo goes with the title and tagline. I don’t do this on the app again because it’s just difficult. I always do this on Saturday.

One trick I also found is that once you post your blog you can promote it to LinkedIn. If you click the LinkedIn button at the bottom of the post (after posting) it allows you to post it to LinkedIn. What I use is the post to groups and the. You can select groups you belong to to share your post. I do this on Saturday with my strategic planning blog. This generates the most publicity around your blog and I recommend it.

Well, the last tip is to encourage in your blog feedback and action. Ask your readers to comment and share their thoughts. What I ask from you is to share your ideas on blogging. Tell me if any of these ideas help you. Also, take the time to follow me on the blogging site and let me know you care. 🙂

An opportunity to vent regarding ASQ

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Well, thank you American Society for Quality (ASQ) for providing me with a topic for today’s blog.

My faith in ASQ has been restored.  All I can say is that when something doesn’t seem right, challenge it.  That’s really what ASQ is all about anyway. (see recent blog)

I have been an extremely active member of the local ASQ Section in San Antonio for many years, not only attending most meetings, but speaking at several of them.  I’ve been on their standing list for the last three years to call upon at the last minute if they need a speaker and I speak at least twice a year.  I’ve been a member of ASQ since early 2000, soon after returning to the states (retired from the military in 2008).  I even attended the world conference last year and had planned on attending this year–I offered to present at the world conference this year, but ASQ wasn’t interested in my topic.

I’ve been going to school for a long time–11 colleges to date–due to military moves and earning four degrees.  I’ve been a management consultant for the last 20 years (internal and external) and my recent Master’s Degree is in Quality Systems Management.  I also have earned Lean Six Sigma Green Belt, Black Belt, and Master Black Belt certifications and I have two Change Management certifications–Prosci and a Master’s-level certification from Georgetown University (Change Management Advanced Practitioner).  Additionally, I’m trained to be a PMP, but never bothered with the certification.

There are three main categories of membership in ASQ, Full, Associate, and Student.  Full Membership in ASQ provides little difference from Student, except price–Associate cost less then Full, but more than Student, but has very little benefits.  Because I’ve been a student the entire time I’ve been an ASQ member, I always selected the Student membership category.  It has pretty much the same membership benefits, but is much cheaper.  This year’s renewal would have gone from student to full since, for the first time in many years, I’m not a student, but I am considering starting my PhD in Organizational Psychology this year, which would have made me a “student” again.  However, I didn’t “chose” the category because of the price, but simply because I’ve been a student for my entire membership and plan to continue with school in the future.  After all, it is a category of membership, right?

This year, instead of staying with the Student category, I thought I would apply for a special category–the Senior membership category.  I had thought that with my experience, education, and involvement with ASQ, that would be the right decision at this point in my life.  I had actually hoped to someday be considered a Fellow with ASQ, but you have to be a Senior member for three years minimum first.  These advanced memberships are for loyal and longtime members that serve as the backbone of the Society.  Regarding Senior membership, ASQ says, “Leadership and professional achievement do not go unnoticed by ASQ.”

Well, I submitted for the Senior membership category this week and I received this email from ASQ yesterday:

“Thank you for applying for Senior membership.  We are unable to process your application at this time due to one requirement has not been met.  You must be an ASQ Full member in good standing for at least one year prior to the date of application for advancement.  Your currently not an individual full member but are a student member.”

I seriously would recommend ASQ consider not using membership levels as their criteria.  Senior Member in my mind denotes someone with a high level of experience, education, and involvement with ASQ–punishing someone because they’ve been a student for several years (it’s a category of membership after all) really doesn’t make sense.  However, if a ‘full membership level for one year’ is their key “requirement” to be considered a Senior Member over experience, education, and involvement, then I’ll guess I’ll have to consider whether I’m with the right organization or not.  It would seem that money is more important to them than accomplishments.  Maybe I’ll simply let my membership drop since clearly the Senior membership in ASQ means very little in the grand scheme of things–people will look at it and simply say, “Oh, he just paid more money.”  Now I wonder if being an ASQ Fellow means anything either.

Needless, I’m very disappointed with ASQ–they seem to have lost focus on what is important as a professional organization.  What are your thoughts?

It’s been a while…

Blogging Meandering Genius Publishing

I was just looking back at past blogs and my last one was when I released my paperback, One Dead Marine. That was in 2012.

Back then the WordPress app was pretty weak, so I literally had to sit down at the computer and write. Now, when the thought hits me, I can put a daily blog together. That seems to be inspiring me.

Lately I have been examine lots of productivity tools in the area of phone apps. The market seems ripe, but I’m not seeing a lot. At work I often think about some of the apps that could really speed up things. We use Good for the Enterprise and often I don’t see much Good in it at all.

A couple of years ago, after I got my iPhone, I bought the Lark at Best Buy. It’s an armband that tracks your sleep at night and wakes you up by vibrating. I’m thinking there are better tools out there today for this.

In a world where Google Glasses, Autonomous Vehicles, and 3D Printers are taking the center stage, I think we have a lot of room to improve on what we have today.

What are your thoughts? Do you use any apps that make your life more productive?

Totally New Year

Blogging Books Meandering Genius Publishing

So begins another year.

How many of you started this year off with resolutions? How many decided not to have resolutions?

This year, I put my planning juices to practice. I not only have several New Year’s resolutions, but I developed a plan to implement them. That’s right, an actual year-long plan of all things.

Top on my list is to get back into shape this year. Several years ago I worked toward this and then I kinda just let go. Selling two houses, moving twice, getting married, a huge water leak–things just got a little overwhelming. Well, this year I’m back on the wagon. I’m starting out slow and plan the whole year to get back into the groove.

I’ve always been focused on reading, but this year it’s one business book a month. This month is Starting with Why. I started it last month, but will finish it this month. I already have the next three books lined up.

That brings me to writing. My business book–first one–Overcoming Organizational Myopia is done and I just need my editor to finish it. I plan to stay on her this quarter so I can publish it. Finishing it was my goal last year and I did that. Now I need to get it on the shelves. But blogging is something I used to do and I have decided to do again. My plan is to gradually get to a blog a day (lesson Lisa taught me). For now I meet my goal if I do one a month–check.

I downloaded the WordPress app and expect to exceed my goal and get to one a week or more soon. Of course, my plan is to reengage my strategic planning blog and get the whole thing finished, but I will also blog thoughts and ideas.

What are your thoughts on blogging? What do you like to read about–what interests you?

For now, I’m signing off, but I’ll be back sooner than you think. I look forward to your thoughts.

My Meandering Genius

Books Business Consulting Change Management Meandering Genius Photography Publishing Strategic Planning 3 Comments

This is where I let spill my brilliance in the form of mindless blog posts, much in the manner that Aristotle did in the Lyceum (Lyceum is Latin for “worldwide web”).  My faithful followers use the buttons below to share my genius with all their less enlightened friends.  They may even leave comments about how smart and attractive I am.

Actually…

I take this time to share the mild meandering of my muddled mind and hope that you honestly find it interesting and worth of commenting on or sharing with others.  In all good fun, let’s talk about the many interests I’ve experienced over the years.  Please check out my site for more information about this person, I refer to as John (I’ll not utter the names others have used).

Happy reading…