Gitr Knows WoW

Better known as eMom, Wendy has something to say, and we’d better listen or she’ll come over and hug us. 🙂 She is a gratuitous hugger, that’s for sure.

While only touting 16 links, she made a post about being an unsuspecting success in blogging. She was too chicken to post it, but Darren Rowse told her to submit it in the Group Writing Project that he does. The next day, her post wasn’t on the site and she submitted it again, thinking it was lost. It wasn’t there again…it’s a sign!! Oh noes!! After a couple more days, she decided that she had nothing to lose by submitting it again. In the end, Darren posted it alone, outside of the others. That post put her on the map as a blogger.

We broke up into pairs with someone we haven’t been introduced to yet. I paired up with David Armano and we shared our most embarassing moment with each other. The reason is to get used to getting outside of your comfort zone.

Everyone here got to the conference as a result of a link, e-mail, or phone call from someone in the room, and that is an amazing reality to get your mind around.

Muhammed Saleem spoke briefly about his blogging experience since September of 2006. Brian from Copyblogger left him a comment back then and they traded contact information and was just offered a position at the new and improved Copyblogger. This is how he keeps creating opportunities from having a presence on others’ blogs and making an impact in the networking way of working.

[tags]SOBCon, SOBCon07[/tags]

Robyn Tippins with [tag]MyBlogLog[/tag] helps people improve their community. They even work with your problems to fix issues, and that is what sold Chris Cree on using it. The stats package did okay, but it is the widget that took off with the ability to see who visited your blog without them needing to leave a comment. (We got “inside” information about some up-and-coming changes to the site and company that we can’t wait for!)

Diego Orjuela with [tag]Evoca[/tag] has a vision to help bloggers and users post their voice on the Internet. There is a lot of text, but there is something about the human voice that text can’t convey.

You can make your first recording with your microphone or with a telephone right away.

Vernon Lun with [tag]TheGoodBlogs[/tag] adds dynamic content to your sidebar. The widget treats you as a free advertiser in the same way as a link ad, but you are also cross-linked on everyone else’s blogs.

[tags]SOBCon, SOBCon07[/tags]

First, some link-love: Mike Sansone, Drew McLellan, Mike Wagner. The first thing they did was reveal myfeedstream.com to combine content from multiple sources into one.

A blog is a free sample of your brand. People have 2 different brands: default and intentional. To build an intentional brand only requires 2 skills:

1. Be remarkable, unique, creative. You have to believe that you are creative if you don’t feel like you are. If you were ever a child, you can be creative.
2. Care. People are attracted to people that care about them or what that person cares about.

[Read more…] about Mike Sansone, Mike Wagner, and Drew McLellan Speak at SOBCon

Word of Mouth Marketing in 5 Easy Steps…sounds like fun.

Good word of mouth Drury Inn, an inn that gives you free long-distance calls. We all know the first thing you do when you get to a hotel is call home and get screwed on those costs if you use the hotel phone.

People love to talk…you want them to talk about you. Remember when Krispy Kreme came out? What was the thing about their doughnuts? They were HOT! No advertising was used in spreading the popularity of this great American Icon. What happened? They lost their special “thing” then they started shrink-wrapping those delectible pastries and selling them where? Gas stations!! No one talks about the food they get in gas stations. They are slipping now as a result of the loss of word of mouth marketing.

Word of mouth marketing is:

1. Giving people are reason to talk about YOUR stuff.
2. Making it easier for that conversation to take place.

[Read more…] about Andy Sernovitz Speaks at SOBCon

Rodney Rumford comes from PodBlaze, among other ventures. Video trends and the convergency of video, blogs, community, and connections using VideoSticky.

There are 80-100k new videos uploaded every day. They can’t all be bad, though most of them are. Streamers had greater Internet usage than non-streamers by 67%. YouTube has allowed people to realize that they can deliver content with a new media.

Video engages users and creates longer site visits. If you offer video, you offer extended branding and as a valued resource.

Bloggers have the opportunity to differentiate and lead because people consume content in different ways. Some prefer text only, text and audio, text and video, etc. Why force your personal views upon them…”My web My way.”

Provide context for video content (Yay, I did that last week with my quest video post) and promote deeper people connections. Share a channel of relevant video content with your blog readers. You don’t need to create video to liven up your blog.

[tags]SOBCon, SOBCon07[/tags]

[tag]Ben Yoskovitz[/tag] writes at Instigator Blog and is here today to talk about [tag]podcasting[/tag]: take advantage of your opportunities. Opportunities abound.

Podcasting is easy, but it takes more time than blogging and the comfort level isn’t always there. Start simple with inexpensive equipment and Skype for interviews.

Use Audacity/GarageBand 3 for editing and podsafe for free music. Host yourself or use a hosting service to record, publish, and host your podcast.

Things to keep in mind:

• length doesn’t matter
• quality needs to be high
• use music
• write a script, but keep it an outline
• keep it in a conversational tone
• link to others; best blogging practices
• draw in your audience

What is the future of podcasting? We are all media channels and we have strength in numbers. Niches will rule (Yes!!! I might do something right! Now for the podcast…) Audio books will take root and become or take over the ebook.

[tags]SOBCon, SOBCon07[/tags]