Archive for November, 2008

A little late on this week’s Stumbling report…enjoy!

1. The world just witnessed one of the greatest sales job of all time. A relatively unknown, relatively inexperienced Senator from Chicago defeated a celebrated war hero with a 30-year track record public service and politics to become President of the United States. As if those odds weren’t long enough, Barack Obama also had to overcome the reluctance of a nation to elect an Africa American to the highest office. Yet, he accomplished both of those feats by a wide margin. At WebInkNow, Scott Merrmen offers 10 marketing lessons from the Barack Obama Presidential campaign, many of which can be easily transferred to your business.
2. Sometimes, writing a blog can feel like claping with one hand — difficult to make any noise. You come up with a great post idea, craft your words carefully, and sit back to wait for reaction and good conversation, only to be disappointed when your work is met with deafening silence. BlogKori suggests seven ways to get more comments on your blog post.
3. Speaking of blogging, getting visitors to leave comments is sort of of like icing on the cake. Getting them to even read your post is the first challenge. At SEOptimise, the oddly-titled “The Lazy Bloggers Guide to Quality Content & Social Media Success” offers 5 reasons why you should forget about writing the perfect piece of quality content.
4. As the previous Stumble showed, adding interesting photos to your blog post can increase interest. But where can you find photos? Google images is sometimes a good source, but often you are seeing copyrighted work that someone else is using. The folks at Digital Image Magazine have compiled a list of 25 free stock photo sites and a brief review of each one.
5. Keeping a journal seems so old-fashioned these days. I rmember my creative writing professor requiring us to keep a journal way back in the Stone Age (1974). It seemed like such a burden when I had much more important things to do. Writing at makeGenius.com, Ivan Rios makes a compelling argument for keeping a journal and offers several suggestions of the kinds of things your should keep in it. Come to think of it, I wish I had kept a journal all these years; it might help explain how I got to where I am.

Popularity: 30% [?]

Came across an interesting survey from the Sagefrog Marketing Group. They’ve been doing a Business-to-Business Marketing Mix Survey for three years now, so they have some solid data to chew on.
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Another interesting week of Stumbling, including a stop at a site devoted to Kurt Vonnegut’s tips on writing. There’s was something surreal about him being online. But then again, most of his writing is surreal. I haven’t read Vonnegut in 30 years…may just have to dig out my paperback copy of “Cat’s Cradle.”

1. You spend a great amount of time thinking about how your website should function and you pay programmers of thousands of dollars to make it happen. You get plenty of traffic but not enough sales or subscribers. What’s the problem? Over at Conversion Rates Experts, there are 14 free tools that might help explain why people leave your website. Warning: these seem highly technical. Use at your own risk.
2. As loyal readers know, social media remains a fascination, if not an actual marketing tool, for me. I’ve seen various arguments for and against Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and sundry other sites. But the folks at Traffika offer a compelling argument on the overall importance of using social media marketing.
   
3. One of my all-time favorite authors is Kurt Vonnegut. I used to while away the boring hours working in a medical school mailroom back in the 70’s by reading his novels. I would have no idea what the hell he was talking about, yet I couldn’t stop reading. When I finally finished a book, I still wasn’t sure of the point, but I knew it was a damn good read. I never dreamed that 35 years later, I’d be sharing his tips about writing with style with the world via a blog.
4. I’m always looking for definitive answers to my writing questions. Spelling, grammar, meanings, quotes, historical references…there’s always something that comes up in the midst of a writing session. Internet-Resources.com has compiled an exhaustive library of resources for writers. Even if you’re not looking for a specific answer, this site can be a fun place to browse when you have a few minuters. I guarantee you’ll learn something you didn’t know.
5. If you listen to most “experts” there’s a fortune to be made by writing for online sources. I’m not sure it’s all that, and separating the legitimate sites from the scam artists can be a time-consuming, frustrating and expensive process. Sydney Hazlerton runs down nine legitimate writing sites that pay at Writinghood.
6. Bonus Stumble: for anyone who has trouble waking up in the morning.

Popularity: 20% [?]