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03.15.06
How Do You Take Your Blog Ketchup?
 By
Andy Beal
When I scan thru the headlines on my RSS aggregator, I'm quickly trying to determine if the post is worth exploring further.
I do that with everyone of the some 150+ feeds I subscribe to, except for one.
When ever Kim Krause-Berg posts to her blog, I instinctively click straight thru to the site. I know that when I get there, I'll be better for reading what ever she has to say.
Today's offering is no different. While many are trying to define blogging, Kim comes up with the perfect analogy. Blogs are like an order of french fries with ketchup. Different people have different ways of taking their order, but its all still fries with ketchup.
With blogs and fries, you get used to the same delivered order. You get familiar with the blog cook. You come to expect the plain fries blog, where you scroll down and grab the news in bits and pieces, hoping it's not a re-run you just read at another blog. Sometimes you get a catsup splattered blog, which has embedded links, pictures, quotes, categories, tag clouds, and comments. You get your fingers wet because there's lots of places to stick them.
So where does MP fit in the analogy? I like to think that we're the ketchup that stays put in the bottle. You know there is something good inside somewhere, you just hope that you can get to it before you run out of fries. ;-)
Brighten a writer's day with your words of appreciation.
About the
Author:
Andy Beal is President & CEO of Fortune Interactive a full-service interactive marketing agency specializing in search marketing and blog marketing. Considered one of the world's most respected interactive and search engine marketing experts, Andy has worked with many Fortune 1000 companies such as Motorola, CitiFinancial, Lowes, Alaska Air, DeWALT, NBC and Experian. You can read his internet marketing blog at Marketing Pilgrim and reach him at andy.beal@gmail.com.
The Blog [Buzz] Bump
 By
Mike Manuel
Ross Mayfield nails one of the biggest problems of marketing to bloggers:
"The initial target market of almost every consumer internet startup these days is blogspace. Smart companies were doing this a couple of years ago. The cost is nominal, reach expansive and early adopters are exposing their preferences post by post. Most any company that can carry a conversation can get the blog bump and gain overnight growth of up to 1 million users. However, bloggers abandon tools as quick as they adopt. Making it over the hump after the blog bump into the mainstream is a real challenge. But heck, at least it can get you a first venture round."
Amen. Almost any startup can boost its short-term pool of beta testers with smart, conversational blog marketing -- the trick is how you groom and grow these testers into paying customers over the long term, once you're over the blog bump, once all the blog buzz subsides. Some would say, "just blog more." Do yourself a favor, before you buy into that, take a long hard look at your communications game plan and ask just one question: is blogging the *best* use of your (your team's) time?
About the
Author:
Mike Manuel is the founder of the award winning Media Guerrilla blog. Media Guerrilla is an insider’s take on the practice of technology public relations with a focus on the issues, tactics and trends that are specific to the tech industry. |
